Chapter Four - Trials and Tribulations
"Love?" asked Mrs. Granger, with a pointed expression at her daughter. "Is there
something...?" It was at that point that she saw the ring her daughter was
nervously twisting on her finger. "Hermione Jane Granger! Where did you get
that?"
"Harry gave it to me, " Hermione said quietly.
"I think your father and I need to have a talk with you and Harry, Hermione. And
then I think Harry needs to go home for a while until we get this sorted out."
"Mum, I think it's a bit more complicated than you realize," said Hermione, and
then realizing what that might sound like, "I'm not pregnant mother, really, I'm
not. But things are extremely complicated right now, and I need you and Daddy to
listen to me and Harry and the Weasley's carefully. Please. " Hermione was
begging, something she seldom did, but this was very important to her.
Elizabeth Granger sighed, and said, "Alright, lets go in the sitting room and
all sit down. Can I bring anyone tea?"
Fred and Ginny declined, while Hermione, Harry, Ron, and his mother accepted.
"May I help?" asked Molly.
Elizabeth looked at her for a moment, and then smiled. "I don't suppose you
could just magic it out her, could you? It would save me the trouble of having
to go get it."
"Well, I can't 'magic' your tea set out her, but I can certainly conjure up a
pot of tea and some cups."
"That would be fine, " said Elizabeth.
They went in the sitting room, where Mrs. Weasley, Ron, Ginny, and Fred all took
seats on the large couch that adorned one wall, while Harry and Hermione took
the loveseat on the other wall to her mother's obvious displeasure. Her mother
sat down on a chair across from the big couch. Mrs. Weasley pulled out her wand
and waved it across the coffee table, conjuring up a steaming teapot and eight cups.
It was at that moment they heard the front door open, and a male voice call,
"Hey, whose car is that in the driveway, hon?"
"We're in here, Bob, " answered Elizabeth.
Robert Granger entered the room and stopped dead. "What's going on?" he asked.
"That's what I'm trying to find out, " answered his wife.
"Hi Daddy, " said Hermione quietly.
"Hermione! Are you all right?" He went over to give his daughter a hug, and then
he noticed Harry.
"Hey, aren't you that young man that pushed my daughter out of the way of that
madman's gun?"
"Yes, sir, " answered Harry, nervously.
"That isn't all he did for our daughter, Bob, " said Elizabeth, "Take a look at
her ring finger."
"Hermione?" he said.
Sighing, she held up her ring finger and showed him the ring. "Hmm, well he
definitely has good taste, I will say that."
"Bob, this isn't a joking matter, " said Elizabeth angrily.
"I wasn't joking, honey, it is a beautiful ring."
"Well, sit down so we can figure this out. Hermione insists that she isn't
pregnant, but that things are complicated, and that they have some things to
explain to us."
"Okay, " he said, and took the chair to his wife's right. "Who wants to start?
Hermione?"
"Well, Daddy, I went to check on Harry yesterday. He'd been worrying me for a
while, and I wanted to tell him how I felt about him. He didn't have the best
home life, and I was hoping to cheer him up."
"The best home life?" inquired her mother.
Hermione looked embarrassed for a moment. "The people he was living with were
rather abusive, mother. After all, the man shooting at me and Harry was his uncle."
"His uncle?" asked her father, incredulously. He looked at Harry for a second.
"How can you even be up walking around, anyway? It looked from the news footage
that your were bleeding and that the bullet intended for my daughter hit you?"
Harry coughed. "Actually, Mr. Granger, that bullet did hit me, right about here, "
he said, indicating a spot on his lower back directly above a kidney. "That
was the second one; the first one broke my shoulder.
"Son, how are you walking around? You should be in a hospital."
"Actually, Mr. Granger, if it hadn't been for Hermione, I'd be dead. As it was,
if she hadn't gotten those healing potions into me when she did, I would have
still died."
"Magic is that powerful?" asked Elizabeth.
"It can be, " answered Molly Weasley, "Plus there was some additional magic at
play we didn't know about at the time. But I'll let Hermione tell you about that."
"Hermione?" asked her mother.
Hermione was twisting her hair nervously. "Well, I mentioned that I had gone to
tell Harry that I loved him, right?"
Her parents nodded.
"Well, this is where it gets complicated. The wizarding world does things
differently in a lot of ways, but none more so than engagement and marriage."
Hermione paused and took a sip of tea. "The wizarding world doesn't have
adultery, or marital abuse, or very much divorce at all because engagement and
marriage are magical contracts that are entered into, and the nature of the
contracts does not allow any of that. For instance, adulterers typically have
very bad luck, luck that can be bad enough to kill them, or abusers have any
abuse they inflict on their spouse magically inflicted on them at the same
time."
"What's that got to do with you and this young man?" asked her father.
"Well, entering into these contracts creates a magical bond between the two
people. Usually, it is only through specific rituals that these bonds are
created, however, sometimes magic takes things into it's own hands."
She took another sip of tea, amazed that her hands weren't shaking, as she so calmly
told her parents about why she was engaged to a young man they barely knew.
"As near as we can tell, " said Hermione, "The trauma of..." here her voice
broke and she had to set the teacup down before she spilled it. Harry took her
hand in his and squeezed it tight. "The trauma of watching Harry nearly die,
after he got shot protecting me, when I hadn't even been able to tell him how
much I loved him..." She finally broke down into tears at this point, and Harry
somehow found the strength to continue.
"That trauma, " said Harry, "created what is known as a betrothal bond between
me and Hermione. Essentially we became magically engaged without me even asking
her to marry me." He smiled at that, "although I rectified that oversight later
when I gave her the ring. But, also, that bond is why I'm sitting here today. It
enabled Hermione to heal me, without even realizing what she was doing. If she
hadn't done that, I'd still be lying in bed. Oh, I'd be in better shape than a
Muggle would be, who doesn't have access to healing potions, and couldn't use
them even if he did, but I'd still be in bed."
"Why couldn't a Muggle use them?" asked Hermione's mother.
"Because they use the magic internal to our bodies. Muggles lack that internal
magical ability, and so there's nothing for the potion to work with..." Harry's
voice trailed off in amazement as even Ron stared at him with open-mouthed
astonishment.
"Mate, where are you coming up with this stuff?" asked Ron. "You're sounding
like Hermione."
Hermione snorted at that and looked up at Ron. "What was that, Ron Weasley?
Perhaps I should let you do your own homework for a while, instead of helping
you with it, then maybe you'll learn some of this stuff."
"But he's right, 'Mione. I know I don't know some of this stuff, but you do..."
Harry trailed off. Closing his eyes, he felt for the sense of Hermione that
floated around the back of head, and tried to zero in on it. As soon as he did
so, he immediately recognized that the bond was the source of the knowledge he
now possessed. He opened his eyes and laughed, and turned to see Hermione
looking at him curiously.
"I felt you touch me," she said, "in my mind."
He nodded. "You're the source of my new-found knowledge. Apparently I'm pulling
it right across the bond." He smiled. "I bet you know a whole lot of useless
Quidditch trivia now that you didn't before.
Hermione's parents were staring at them with an indefinable emotion in their
eyes. It almost looked like jealousy, but then disappeared.
"So, you two are getting married," asked her mother, "just like that?"
"Do you have one of these bonds, Mrs. Weasley?" asked Hermione's father,
interrupting his wife.
"Oh, yes, " she said. She smiled fondly at Harry and Hermione, "mine isn't
nearly as strong as theirs is, but then they both are special. Arthur and I
can't read information out of each other's mind like they can. Those two are
probably the strongest wizard and witch in recent history."
"Well, I'm glad to hear that my daughter is so talented," said Elizabeth with a
smile. "Harry, if you don't mind my asking, just why were you living with those
people?"
Harry's face darkened and he said quietly, "Because my parents were murdered
when I was just 13 months old."
"Murdered?" exclaimed Mrs. Granger. "Was it a robbery gone bad?"
Harry shook his head. "No, they died protecting me. The man that murdered them
was actually trying to kill me."
"What? Why? You were only thirteen months old! What could you do?" asked Mr.
Granger.
"It wasn't what I could do then, it was what I could grow up to do." His face
tightened and some of the Harry he'd been at the end of last year came back.
"It's what I'm going to do," he snarled.
"Harry?" said Hermione calmingly.
"I'm sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Granger," he said with a quick smile, "This is the
nasty part of what we have to tell you."
Between the Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione, they managed to explain to the
Grangers about Voldemort, his aims, and an edited version of what they had been
facing so far. By the time they were done, it had grown dark outside, and the
Grangers definitely knew more about the wizarding world than they ever really
wanted to.
"So you are saying that my daughter will be safer from this Voldemort person if
she stays at this house of yours, than if she stays here?" asked Mr. Granger.
His wife just sat quietly, her eyes never leaving either Hermione or Harry.
"Yes," said Molly. "He Who Must Not Be Named and his followers don't know where
the house is, and there is no possible way of finding it. She will be very safe there."
"Hermione, are you sure about all of this?" asked her mother.
"Yes, mum, I've never been more sure about anything."
Her mother nodded. "Alright dear, that's good enough for me. Run up and get your
things, you may go."
"Yes!" Harry, as Hermione and Ginny ran upstairs to get her school stuff.
"Mr. Potter, " said Mr. Granger, "I expect you to take very good care of my
daughter, do you hear me? You won't like what happens if I hear that you aren't,
you understand me? Magic or no, I will find a way to make you miserable."
"Yes, sir, Mr. Granger," he replied.
Mrs. Granger came over and gave him a hug. "You will come and visit, won't you?"
"Mrs. Granger, I have no intention of keeping Hermione from seeing you. Besides,
I doubt she would let me get away with it." He grinned. "You have a very
strong-willed daughter."
"I know, " was all she said.
Hermione and Ginny came clumping back down stairs with Hermione's trunk, and
Crookshanks in a cat carrier.
"A cat carrier?" asked Harry.
"It does make him easier to carry," she said.
At that moment, the fireplace flared and Dumbledore, Tonks, and Mad-Eye Moody
stepped through.
"What the..." said Mr. Granger. "It's never done that before," he said, looking at
the fireplace curiously.
"Yes, Indeed." said Dumbledore with a smile. "Good evening everyone, " he continued,
as Tonks and Moody went around casting silencing charms on the windows, doors and
walls of the room. Tonks gave Harry a wink as she went by him.
"I am afraid that I am going to have to ask everyone here to accompany me to
number 12 Grimmauld place immediately," continued the Headmaster. "Hermione, if
you would help your mother through the Floo, and Harry, if you would be so kind
as to help Mr. Granger. Thank you."
It was at that moment that a searing pain shot through Harry's scar, and he
dropped to his knees in agony. He was dimly aware of Hermione shouting his name,
and he felt her grabbing his hand. As soon as she touched him, the pain
vanished, and Harry gasped in relief.
"Harry, was that Voldemort?" she asked.
"Yeah, " he gasped. "He's outside, and very happy about something."
A head appeared in the fireplace and said, "Albus, we're having trouble holding
the connection open to the network. Something is attacking it. You're going to
have to hurry!"
Tonks and Mad-Eye went through the room, handing out Floo powder to everyone
present.
"Go ahead, Ms. Granger, take your mother through." Hermione held her mother's
hand and said, "Remember, step when I do, and don't let go of my hand." She
tossed down the Floo powder and said "Number 12 Grimmauld Place!" They
disappeared in a flash.
"Interesting way to travel," was Mr. Granger's comment.
"I'm glad you think so, " growled Moody, "'cause you're next. Go on Harry."
"Yes, Professor Moody."
"Call me Mad-Eye, Harry. I never actually taught any classes at that school of
yours. Bit difficult to do, being locked up in a trunk, don't you think?"
"Yes, Mad-Eye."
"Go on, get out of here. And watch out for trouble. Remember..." he growled.
"Constant vigilance!" they finished together.
Harry tossed down the Floo powder and said "Number 12 Grimmauld Place." They
vanished in a burst of flame.