Chapter 21
He was in the Department of Mysteries again, in the room with the veil. He could hear voices from the veil,
Harry leaned closer and closer still, having a strange feeling that he had done this before. "Harry," came
Sirius' voice from inside the veil. "You can ssstill sssave me Harry, I'm waiting here, we can be together
again." Harry stepped back, he knew where this was going. "LIAR!" A high, cold, laugh came from the
veil. "You will come, Harrry Pottter, one way or another you will come." Voldemort stepped out of the veil
clutching Ron's dead body, laughing...
"NOOOO!" Harry screamed, sitting straight up in bed, drenched in sweat.
"Harry? Harry what happened?" came Ron's voice with a hint of fear.
"It's that dream, only this time it wasn't Hermione it was..."
Harry trailed off and looked straight into Ron's eyes.
"Me?" Ron asked weakly, although he already knew the answer.
Harry nodded. Ron jumped along with Neville, Dean, and Seamus as the boy's dorm door flew open.
"HARRY!" Hermione exclaimed, and she ran in and hugged him across the neck. Harry had to pry her arms off him, she was holding on so tight Harry thought she may strangle him to death.
"What was it Harry? Was it that dream again?" Harry nodded. "Only it was Ron this time, not you."
"But I don't understand Harry, I thought Voldemort couldn't get past your occlumency?" Harry shook his head. "I have been forgetting to do it lately, he just caught me off guard. It's alright Hermione, you can go back to bed. I know he's just trying to lure me out of here, but I'm not stupid. I'm not going anywhere."
Hermione shook her head defiantly.
"I'm not leaving you Harry." Harry could tell from the look in her eyes that there was no way she was going to leave that room. Harry sighed and pulled his covers up. "Okay, but let's just go to sleep now, alright?"
She nodded and crawled into his bed. Seamus for once, did not make a crack about Harry and Hermione, but instead nodded and went to sleep. The others followed suit, Harry could only assume that all the people listening intently at their door would go off to sleep as well. Harry wrapped one arm around Hermione and closed his eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep.
Everyone was talking about Harry's dream the next day, and no doubt nearly the entire school already knew that Hermione had come running into their room after his scream-and that she didn't leave.
"Have another nightmare Potter?" Malfoy sneered as he passed them by in the hallway. "Not nearly as bad as the one's your father had in Azkaban Malfoy."
Harry retorted. Malfoy, for once, did not turn away but leaned in close and whispered menacingly,
"You and your mudblood girlfriend will be dead by summer Potter." Harry watched him stalk off, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. Harry couldn't say anything back as it was taking all his self control to not use a curse on Malfoy right now.
The Cruciatus Curse came to mind for one, but Harry knew that no matter how much he despised Malfoy, he would never use an unforgivable curse in battle again.
The day got worse as they went on, and Harry did terrible in transfiguration so that he was held back by McGonogall, who was fuming at him.
"I have no doubt that last night was very emotional for you Potter," she told him through gritted teeth. "But I never want to hear that Hermione Granger slept in your bed while at Hogwarts ever again. We have two dormitories for a reason. Do you understand?"
Harry nodded and left. He didn't care. He knew that he Hermione had done nothing more than sleep, but did the rest of the school honestly think they had done more?
Apparently so. "Umm, Harry," Mark Evans said to Harry over lunch hour. "Is it true that you and Hermione uh, you-know-what last night?"
"No Mark," Harry replied. "She slept in my bed, that was all. Got it?" Harry said this a little more harsh than he had intended to, and Mark ran back to the other first years nearly in tears.
"NO!" Seamus boomed, so that the whole hall turned to look at him.
"I mean no," he said, lowering his voice.
"Nothing happened, alright?" Harry beamed at him, Seamus was standing up for them now too.
When the Easter holiday's came so did Hermione's annual start to studying for their exams. "They're only 2 months away Ron," Hermione said, nose buried in a book. "Oh stop laughing!"
Harry and Ron looked at each other and did their best to not to burst out laughing. Hermione got so worked up the last few months of every year.
"Harry, Ron, Hermione," came Professor McGonogall's voice.
"Yes?" they all said in unison.
"Dumbledore would like to see you, now." Harry instinctively grabbed Ron and Hermione's hands and prepared to apparate. McGonogall gasped loudly. "Goodness no Potter," she glanced around the room. "There are people everywhere."
Harry rolled his eyes.
"They all know professor." McGonogall stared at him in shock, and then again in realization.
"Very well, he is waiting, do be quick." Harry apparated immediately, and the three of them landed gracefully in Dumbledore's office.
"Take this," Dumbledore handed them a pillow. "It's a portkey. It will take you straight to Grimmauld Place where Ron and Hermione can start their apparation training. Mr. Evans is already there."
"But.." Hermione started.
"Yes, I am well aware that I told you all that you would not be leaving Hogwarts until the end of the term. But as Voldemort seems to be gaining more power, we believe that it is necessary for the two of you to be as well prepared as possible for the coming war."
All of a sudden Harry felt himself being tugged forward, and when he opened his eyes he was standing in Grimmauld Place.
"Well that was kind of a surprise, don't you think?" Harry said turning to Hermione. She just smiled sweetly and stood on tiptoe to kiss him on the mouth. This turned out to not be such a great idea as Hermione's parents were standing in the room, next to Mark and his folks. Harry had completely forgotten that Mark and Hermione's parents had come to live at Grimmauld place.
"Er, hi mum, hey dad," Hermione said, blushing magneta. They sort of stared at her for a moment and then rushed forward and each gave her a huge hug. Then they turned to Harry.
"It's good to see you again Harry." Mr. Granger said, holding out his hand. Harry grinned as he took it.
"Nice to you again to Mr. and Mrs. Granger." They both smiled at Harry and Hermione's face lightened considerably.
"Okay then," Lupin said, coming into the room. "Let's get started then shall we?"
After five solid days, Hermione had finally mastered apparating, and then Ron and Mark followed suit a day later. "You have all been registered and approved by the ministry now." Lupin told them on the last day of Easter holiday's. "You will return to Hogwarts tomorrow with another portkey, understood?"
They all nodded and headed for bed. Because there were four of them and only two beds to a room, Harry and Hermione had talked the adults into allowing them to sleep in the same room, and they had gone all of easter holiday's without incident.
"Hey Harry," Hermione said sweetly their last night at Grimmauld.
"Yeah?" Harry asked, somewhat annoyed, he had almost been asleep.
"Do you want to go for a walk?" Harry shrugged.
"Sure." So the two of them snuck downstairs and out the door, and walked down Grimmauld Street in silence together.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Five death eaters apparated in front of them. "Don't apparate Harry!" Hermione squealed as he took her hand. "They'll track you!"
Harry nodded and pulled out his wand, Hermione followed suit. Lucius Malfoy laughed.
"You're really going to fight us Potter?"
The rest of the Death Eaters, whom Harry recognized as Macnair, whom still had a very swollen eye, Nott, Crabbe, and Goyle, laughed as well.
"Oh I doubt it would be much of a fight." Harry told them threatenly. "I'll give you five seconds before we attack."
The death eaters laughed even louder. Taking this as an invitation to fight, Harry made a quick apparation behind Crabbe and Goyle, and Hermione had already used the bat-bogey hex on Malfoy, putting him out of the fight. Harry stunned Crabbe and Goyle immediately, and Hermione had screamed "Expelliarmus! And caught Nott's wand and snapped it clean in half. A quick impediment jinx took down a stunned Macnair, and then Harry wrapped them all up with an anti-apparation charm-the same one Dumbledore had used on these death eaters last year-and then Hermione stunned each of them in turn, and snapped all of their wands and evaporated them with a wave of her own. They stared at each other and then back at the death eaters. The whole battle had lasted maybe twenty seconds.
Harry and Hermione brought the unconscious death eaters back to #12 Grimmauld Place with a locomotor charm, and then beamed at the amazed faces that greeted them.
"I'll take them." Moody grumbled, and he was off with the death eaters, presumably to take them to the newest wizard prison at Alcatraz in the United States.
"Where are their wands?" Ron blurted, curious about the battle.
Hermione beamed at him.
"We snapped them all, then vanished them." Lupin immediately asked them to relive the battle, which they did proudly.
Lupin however, was not happy. "You two are lucky you weren't seriously injured." His voice rose to a level that Harry had never heard him use before. "I NEVER, NEVER want to hear about you to walking off on your own again got it! Death eaters may be a joke to you Harry, but what if Voldemort had shown up? And you could have gotten Hermione KILLED! Harry, upstairs, in my room, Hermione, you in your parents. I will be reporting this to Dumbledore immediately!"
With that they trudged to their rooms, kissing each other goodnight as they parted. Harry was grinning. No death eater would dare mess with him now. He couldn't wait to see the look on Malfoy's face when he learned that Harry-no Hermione actually, had put his father in alcatraz.
A/N:
Oh boy, there's a few more Pulitzer-Prize material sentences in that chapter *rolls eyes* Hope you liked it anyways, R/R!