Chapter 34: Can't We Even Go On a Date in Peace? Part 2
******************Hogsmeade, The Three Broomsticks************************
"I'm worried Harry, I still haven't seen Ron or Luna come in." Hermione said quietly over the top of her stew. Absently, she took a bite of the dark bread that had come along with the meal. She looked over at the bar, where Hagrid sat working on his second keg-sized mug since they had come in, then at the door as if expecting their friends to enter any second now.
Harry ran a hand through his hair, messing it even further and causing long strands to fall in front of his eyes, "Yeah, me too, let's finish and get back, we can use the map to find them, if they're not in the tower. But if they're up in the Room of Requirement on a 'study break'..." Harry and Hermione shared identical affected grins at the thought, though neither believed it. Ron might very well be occasionally irresponsible, and Luna more than a little flighty as individuals, but together they were really rather put together. Harry took a last sip of his butterbeer, full strength thank you, and got up, tossing some change on the table. If they were lucky they could get out before Rosmerta tried to give him back his money.
With a snap of pain, that plan ended. Harry's left hand shot up to his scar, while his right dove under his jacket for a wand. Next to him, Hermione felt a phantom of the pain in his scar though their link and winced. Both of them scanned around the room, desperately looking for the source. But there seemed to be no one out of place. Even the pair of vampires in the corner was chatting easily with a couple of townsfolk. But even so, they both knew something was wrong. Harry and Hermione had long since gained the ability to keep Voldemort from their minds, and even to defeat him on that plane. No this was the old facet of the link, the part that had not been blocked with Occlumency; that old blinding pain that Harry felt when Voldemort or his minions were near. "Harry" Hermione finally whispered a bit anxiously, "let's go, we can apparate from here, we're of age, no one will say much, and it gets people out of the line of fire.
"Yeah, but let's let Hagrid know too" Harry agreed quickly, and after a second Hermione nodded. They should have both gone immediately, that was their agreement with Dumbledore after all, it was Harry and by unspoken extension, Hermione's job to fight Voldemort in the end, but only on their terms or when there was absolutely no other choice. As they started to work their way through the packed bar, filled with patrons would had no idea what was going on, a high pitched, hissing voice came from behind them.
There was flurry of movement in the bar, as a score of patrons pushed as far away as possible from a seemingly normal middle-aged wizard. He was standing, his face downcast, at the center of the room. The man was at least forty, wore old frayed robes, and was balding on top. However when his head came up, both of them knew why the others had run from him. "Harry Potter" a high hissing tone came from the lips of this seemingly normal wizard, except his eyes were glowing a dark, sullen red. The bar patrons glanced nervously at the man, then at Harry, then back, each trying to puzzle out the problem. Several of the school age Order members, along with several older wizards and witches had their wands pointed at the man, but Hagrid was the only non-school age Order member here today, he fingered a large umbrella nervously.
"Tom" Harry replied flatly, his green eyes shining, but not quite erupted with power yet.
"I do not answer to that name" the hiss returned viciously, "Lord Voldemort does not answer to a muggle name." Instantly as several of the patrons who had been near the door tried to bolt, and at least two of the older wizards who had had their wands trained turned to run as well, the possessed man smiled evilly, "AVADA KEDAVRA, AVADA KEDAVRA" twin bolts of green snapped out and the two adults who had turned and ran, dropped dead, instantly. With a roar, Hagrid charged the manifestation of Voldemort, and with a sweep of the possessed wizard's wand was flung backwards, taking at least ten other witches and wizards with him as he crashed into and partially through a wall.
Harry was proud of the students, all of the overt members of the Order still had their wands trained, even though more than one set of knuckles were white on the grips. Over to one side the Slytherins that had come in had slight smiles on their faces, but Harry could see that Draco was ready to come into the fight, on his side he hoped, but he wasn't sure at all about that fact. And he could only tell by dint of long experience dueling Draco, as he hadn't actually drawn his wand yet, that he had any intention of fighting if necessary at all. He turned and stared into the red eyes, "What do you want Tom...you know bloody well that man will last about a second against me, even with you in control."
Voldemort acted as if he had not heard, or was choosing to ignore the calculated insult, "Actually Harry I came to offer you a deal."
"Does it involve feeding you to a pack of werewolves?" Hermione snarled next to Harry, her powers also held under tight leash. She separated just enough from Harry to make it more or less impossible to get them with one spell. Her own wand pointed at the man's heart, if it came to it, she'd remove that organ.
A high, dark laugh erupted then. The glowing red eyes considered Hermione for a minute then fell back on Harry, "I had forgotten your charming pet mudblood, Harry, is she really that good in bed?"
"Why is it that every damn Death Eater keeps asking that question, or variants thereof? Tom do you have a manual where you lay out these taunts, or do bad guys just not get laid enough?" Harry spat back, amazingly enough, brief titters of laughter came from several of the students, and at least one of the adult wizards.
"Enough of this banter. Harry join me, together even that fool Dumbledore cannot hope to defeat us. I know that he has stifled your skills, that he has lied to you, that through his errors he has caused your loved ones to die. Join me and I will show you power as you only imagine. Anything you want will be yours." Several of the students and bystanders looked at Harry as if expecting him to accept. "Want the mudblood, she's yours, any other, yours as well. Wealth...enough to fill a hundred vaults."
"No" Harry interrupted calmly, as Hermione felt a strange compulsion to hug him. "No TOM...there is only one accommodation between us. When you are dead for good, then..." The tip of the carved holly wand settled at a point exactly between the eyes of the possession victim.
In a flash, the Voldemort surrogate pointed his wand at the floor at his feet, and with a shouted incantation, a ring of energy snapped outward, injuring or at least knocking down everyone in its path, save Harry and Hermione, though their eyes were glowing after they rode out the effects. Before the effect had even fully dissipated, Dumbledore appeared behind the man. "Leave him" Dumbledore said quietly, his wand centered in the man's back.
"Force me, old fool." Voldemort hissed, then in a calm considering voice, "Oh I forgot, you respect the lives of these...people...for old times sake I will obey you and leave this mudblood." A low, hoarse scream erupted from the man's throat, and in an instant the scream stopped abruptly as he fell to the ground, his sightless eyes staring accusingly at Harry.
Instantly the bar, which had been silent of voices except for the three, erupted in murmurs, and more than a few CRACKs of disapparation were heard, echoing off the ancient wood walls. Grimly Harry bent over the body on the floor, and with a touch of his fingers to the victim's neck, his fears were confirmed. "He's dead" Harry growled up at Hermione, Dumbledore, and Rosmerta, who had hurried over from the bar when Voldemort had departed.
Dumbledore sighed, "As I had feared. Rosmerta, I fear that you will have to do without the calming influence that my Head Students provide for the rest of the year. I am afraid that for the time being it would be best if you two do not go on any additional Hogsmeade visits." Harry and Hermione shared an annoyed glance, but nodded in the end. "Now there are some friends I think that you would like to visit." The couple glanced at each other and with sudden realization, their eyes grew wide, "I think that the direct route would be appropriate." Dumbledore emphasized, then without another word, he vanished silently, back to whence he came. Saying their goodbyes, and muttering in Hagrid's ear on the way, the pair sped out the door, took a sharp right around the corner into a blind alley and vanished. .
****************Harry and Hermione's Room, Gryffindor Tower**************
March 19, 2006
2:33 am
Hermione looked over at Harry, he was finally still and quiescent. Even though Voldemort would not spend the necessary capital in Death Eaters, or risk his own psyche to attack them any longer in their dreams, he didn't have to. Harry's conscience did that quite well enough. Hermione had felt his heart shatter, as Dumbledore told them not in so many words, where Luna and Ron had been. Luna truthfully had been a victim of timing, not of a conscious action by Voldemort but the result was the same. Her full powers had awoken at almost the time he was possessing that poor wizard in Hogsmeade, for no other reason to taunt Harry, and she admitted to herself with an odd sort of pride, herself, and Luna's spirit had gotten caught in the crossfire. Hermione gently disentangled herself from Harry's arms and slipped out of bed. I guess I've tied you Lily, or am I ahead? Hermione mused ambivalently as she lit a candle on her desk with a flicker of her fingers. Or not, do you count the minions as "escaped from Voldemort", or not? Why am I counting the number of times I've escaped that bastard?
Hermione broke off her internal dialogue with a shrug and pulled a box to her. The box was made of dark, gleaming steel with a large inscribed lion's head looking out at her. Hermione looked down at the lion, its ruby eyes met hers and they blinked. The lion nodded respectfully and the lock on the case clicked opened. Reaching in, Hermione took out the parchment that Dr. Jones had found in the old Hogwarts records vault he had uncovered and carefully spread it out on the desk. Hermione had asked Dumbledore for permission to study the document further, to see if she could figure out the last little bit, and he had agreed. Though the box he had delivered it in was a little unnerving, not that it was magically defended but that only the Gryffindor line, meaning Harry or Dumbledore were supposedly the only ones it would open for. Not yet you daft box Hermione almost laughed at the magical item, but stopped, as they occasionally got offended.
Once more, Hermione started scribbling down notes, scratching out words as she didn't believe the translations, only to go back a moment later and put the same word right back. She even got up twice, once to look at the runes on the swords, and a second time when she just grabbed them both and took them back with her to the table. It just doesn't make sense, that rune means life, and that one valor, but I know the translation of the first bit doesn't make sense...But the truly odd thing, is that this last bit seems to be in another hand, as if it were added later...Actually if I didn't know better, I'd think Harry was playing a joke, the handwriting seems closer to his then that of the text above. Hermione stood and paced the room, pausing next to the bed on each pass to smile down at Harry as he slept. With a soft scratching noise, one of the windows opened for an instant, and Hedwig swooped in.
Hedwig flew to her and landed softly, carefully on her shoulder, almost like the owl realized there was only a thin t-shirt between her talons and Hermione's skin. "Morning Hedwig" Hermione whispered as she petted the snowy owl, and looked down at the parchment once again. With a sudden, almost audible CLICK, the piece fell into place. The security box, an old Gryffindor house relic, that only recognized the true line...or their... "Oh bloody hell" Hermione whispered harshly, suddenly thinking dark thoughts of those who most likely died hundreds of years ago. With a quick wand flick, everything on her desk, except the parchment and the lit candle rose and floated over to gently land on the floor.
Her efforts were not unnoticed, with a start, Hermione felt Harry standing behind her, "What's up Mione?" Harry asked with a yawn. Looking over at the pile of papers, quills and books on the floor next to the desk, he quirked an eyebrow but didn't say anything.
Hermione looked at him and put her earlier thoughts out of her mind, "Hand me the swords." Confused, especially as it was getting to be three in the morning, but curious nonetheless, Harry handed her first his then her sword. Hermione smiled in thanks and positioned each sword as a leg of a triangle, carefully arranging it so the inscriptions were up. "Now hand me your wand Harry, your own, not James'" Harry shrugged as he flicked his wrist towards the bed, and his wand shot out from under a pillow and to his waiting hand. Handing it to Hermione, she placed first his and her own wand tips together and placed the joined wands to form the third leg of the triangle. She stepped back a step, "Lets see if this works...aparecium" Nothing happened for a long moment, then just as Hermione started to turn an annoyed face to Harry, the inscriptions and the runes on each sword began to glow, a bright, electric blue for the founder's names while the Runes on each guard glowed a golden yellow.
The pair watched, amazed, as their wands levitated above the desk and started flicking in the air. Fiery words started to appear, each wand writing a word and leapfrogging the other to write the one after:
Greetings, Heirs
If you are reading this, Rowena and I were not able to destroy the Chamber. Salazar was once my greatest friend, but now, must be counted as my greatest foe. He was once one of the mightiest champions for light, but he has fallen. His beliefs have clouded his thoughts, and he has listened to those for whom, no creature of this Earth should call ally or friend. For they mean to offer only death, even to those who serve them well. It was with their help that the chamber was built. The chamber as you can tell from this document has properties beyond that of a cage for the basilisk, a means to destroy us all, or rather the muggles, and those born from muggles.
The dark ones, for they seem to not have another name, are waiting to strike. Are waiting for the heir of Slytherin to foolishly trigger the falling of the night. He will do so in pursuit of a foolish quest, that of immortality. The failure is his, he has already discovered the secrets to that gift, but his dark heart has turned it to a curse. Only the valiant and true may progress through the ages unhindered, only the light may truly restore the balance, only those bound by blood may end the curse.
Take care,
Godric.
The fiery letters faded as emerald and amber eyes met. Hermione watched worriedly as Harry paced over to the small loveseat in front of the bedroom's brazier and dropped into it bonelessly. Hesitantly she worked her way over and sat down next to him, intertwining her fingers with his automatically and dropping her head to his shoulder. They sat, staring at the flames for at least ten minutes before, without any warning, Harry barked a bitter laugh. Hermione looked up at him, and he smiled sadly at her. "Ever wonder if we have any choice at all? The last line...that's the prophecy."
"What do you mean Harry." Hermione asked softly snuggling closer to him, with a little shiver. With a whispered spell, the throw from the bed floated over to cover them, "thanks Harry."
"Anytime..."Harry looked into the flames, hoping as always to see Sirius once more, as always, not succeeding. "Hermione, you know the night Vol...Tom Riddle came back, about how he came back?"
"Yeah." Hermione replied, without a great deal of conviction. "He tied you to a grave and Wormtail used a potion to give him a body..."
Harry nodded, "Hermione...what where the ingredients to that potion?"
Hermione turned and stared into his eyes, "umm...flesh of a servant, freely given...bone of a parent...blood of an enemy forcibly taken...ohhh"
"Exactly"
****************************Hogwarts Infirmary****************************
March 19, 2006
8:00 am
"Now I know what you went though, all those times Harry was in here." Ron murmured sadly to Hermione. He was sitting on his usual bed, next to where Luna lay, still unconscious after her message of yesterday. Hermione sat across from him, nestled in Harry's arms as the two of them sat with Ron. Ron had not left, except for when Harry had forced him, nearly at wandpoint, to go eat while Hermione had stayed. Harry and Hermione were both in their Quiddich robes, they were supposed to be practicing today, but Ron had not yet moved. His eyes had only flicked up at them when they came in and had returned sadly to Luna
"He's not the only one, I seem to remember you in here a few times. A dog bite comes to mind," Hermione muttered back with a grim smile. "You were crying about how bad it was and such."
"Well it was," Ron said defensively; then sighed, "I'd let myself be bitten a hundred times, if she'd wake up." Hermione didn't know what to say for once, so she leaned back against Harry, as Ron continued as if they weren't in the room. "Last night when McGonagall came back, she was talking to Pomfrey, I guess that they forgot I was here, the lights were out and I was just sitting there. She told her that Dumbledore presumes that her mind reached out, just as V-Voldemort was possessing that bloke in the Three Broomsticks, he figured that the shock of it..." Ron sighed tiredly, "For the longest time, Harry I was jealous of you, I admit it, mate. You just never realized, not really, how it was for the rest of us. It wasn't the money, I mean I was steamed about that a bit, but I could accept it. No it was everything else, you were so damn powerful, it was...hell both of you were, and neither of you knew. You made the rest of us look dumb."
"Ron, ...I..." Harry interjected, as Hermione leaned back and shared a slightly terrified glance.
"No Harry, Hermione, its ok, its just that you both were Muggle-borns or the next best thing to it, you never realized just how special you were. You guys just weren't normal, no one could fly that well, or knew that many spells, or could do magic that powerful at your age, it was almost ludicrous." Ron chuckled sadly, "I bet you didn't think I knew that word, did you Herm?"
"Ron I sucked at courses" Harry objected, and Hermione's mouth fell open to confess her shortcomings.
"Only as you didn't care, Harry, except when she made you study." Ron grinned a bit at this point and Harry reluctantly shared it. "No Harry, it was that when you needed to, you came through, every time, and I was just the sidekick, still am I guess" He shook off Harry's objection, and nodded towards Luna, "She was the first one, even my family, really that cared for me as a individual, besides you two of course. Even for my family, I was just another of the Weasley herd, I'm not brilliant like Bill, or weird like Charlie, or Fred and George, or the girl like Ginny, or the prat, like...Percy. I mean mum and dad, love me, I've never had a doubt, and the rest do too, but I was never really able to just be me. Even when I got here, I was compared to all the rest that had come through. When she sat down next to me that day last summer, I was wallowing in my misery, and my heart just woke up. I knew then that I wasn't really in love with you Herm, no offense."
"None taken." She smiled at him.
"I didn't have that feeling in my stomach when I looked at you, that I got, hell still get with her, know what I mean?" He mused.
"Yeah" Harry whispered.
"I love you sis, but not what I feel when she smiles at me, or laughs, or holds my hand." Ron picked at a loose thread on the sleeve of his shirt; leaning forward he gently brushed back hair from Luna's eyes and smiled sadly.
A soft knock was heard at the doorway and the three of them turned to see their head of house looking at them quietly from the door. "Potter, Granger, Weasley...the rest of your team is waiting for you on the pitch." Her burr was soft, but her expression was stern.
"Bloody Hell McGonagall" Ron snapped, "It's just a damn game."
"MR WEASLEY" McGonagall snarled, then with a soft sound, her scowl fell, and her tone grew quiet, "Ronald, go, you haven't left the infirmary, except when Harry dragged you away to eat." McGonagall walked over to Luna's bedside, and gently felt her head. "I will sit with her." With nods at their Housemistress, Harry and Hermione each grabbed an arm and led Ron out of the room, but not before he stopped, kissed Luna on the cheek and whispered something in her ear.
*************************The Lake, Hogwarts******************************
March 22, 2006
6:20 am
"Hermione, sure you don't want to come?" Ron asked with a sly grin, as he wiped sweat off his brow with a conjured towel. Steam was coming off his sweats, as he panted slightly. Harry glanced up from the ground where he was stretching out a slightly sore leg. The trio had gone for a run, as much as to get Ron out from the infirmary and the now awake Luna, than as part of their normal training.
"No Ron, I already have Hagrid's assignment done. I don't need to look at the Wyvern again. Hermione replied distractedly as she bent in half, easily touching her forehead to her legs. She straightened with a slight groan as Ron chuckled at something.
"Harry can you come with me, you know Hagrid's rules about having at least two people." Ron pleaded, as he needed to get the Wyvern assignment done today before class.
Harry groaned and looked over at his girlfriend, who gave him a small shrug. "Ron, I could be sharing a..." Harry broke off as Ron, mouthed "Please Harry" silently, "Bloody Hell...Ron you have no clue how much you owe me right now."
"Sorry mate, I'll make it up to you" Ron grinned.
"No offense Ron, but I'd rather you didn't" Harry replied and kicked himself to his feet in one fluid motion. Hermione laughed softly as she recognized his meaning. Harry leaned over and kissed her, turned and growled at his other best friend. "Lets go, I would still like to at least share breakfast with my girlfriend." With that Harry turned and led Ron towards Hagrid's Hut, Hermione laughed again as she waved at Harry, and turned and headed towards the castle.
Hermione climbed the outside steps to the castle, her steps quick despite the half hour run she had just completed. At the top of the stairs she turned in the approximate direction of Hagrid's just in case Harry had decided to blow off Ron after all, he hadn't. With a heavy sigh, some days, I really could not care if Ron flunked. She thought annoyedly, but she probably didn't really mean it, probably. As she turned to the castle once again, a voice rang out, high pitched and slightly hoarse, "Can we talk?"
Hermione rolled her eyes, before she blanked her expression and turned to the interloper. "Yes Petunia can I help you?"
"Can you tell me why Harry won't talk to me?" Petunia muttered with an odd look on her slightly horse-like face. The robes she wore were slightly worn, as if they were some she had pulled out a trunk somewhere, which on reflection might very well be the case.
"Oh I don't know Petunia," Hermione replied snarkishly, "Maybe its because he doesn't want to be reminded of his entire damn childhood under your fucking roof." Petunia's eyes grew wide as if she had never heard such language.
"You know why I..." Petunia shot back only to stop abruptly at a glare that could probably kill small animals outright.
"Why, because you couldn't stand up to your bloody husband...Oh he was bigger than me...ohh..." Hermione growled, and in two steps crossed the space between her at the top of the stairs and where Petunia was standing in the middle of one of the arches of the entrance garden. Faster than most eyes could see, her hand snapped out and jerked Petunia's wand out from the pocket of her robes, where the handle had been sticking out, and held it up. "Merlin woman, you were a bloody witch, if you cared, you could have stopped him. Dumbledore would have returned this with a single owl, you know that, or I'm sure Olivander would have had one laying around. And you sat there, and let that bastard beat Harry, oh he couldn't fight back when he was growing up and that stupid underage restriction kept Vernon safe. Do you know that Harry cried after Vernon died...he cared, even for that bastard, at least enough for that. He's spent sixteen years of his life, in mortal danger and most of that was from his own family, Voldemort has only been after us for the last seven years or so."
Petunia quaked at the name; she certainly was a witch again, Hermione rolled her eyes as she flipped Petunia's wand back at her, it fell to the ground at her feet.
"Honestly...Harry received more love from his enemies than his family, he has a new family now Petunia, and you won't fuck it up for him again...I won't let you." Hermione's voice cracked slightly, as she felt a presence as familiar as her own come up from behind her.
Harry wrapped his arms around her and glared a bit at his aunt. "She's right Petunia. I won't let you mess up my life again." Hermione glared at her as she leaned back into Harry, his arms never leaving her. She shivered a bit as the post-exercise warmth started to leave her body. She heard Harry mutter a heating charm under his breath and she smiled at him in her thoughts, but the hatred never left her eyes.
"Petunia, there are many things I am guilty of, mistakes that I have made, that have cost me dearly. I am not going to make another; I have managed to salvage my life from the wreck that Vernon cast it into, though, unless I miss my guess, very soon I'm going to risk all of that to kill that madman who started all of this. After all if he hadn't killed mum and dad, you would have never had to deal with me, would you...let's go Mione." With Hermione still encircled in his arms, the pair started to walk back into the castle, only stop once again. "Petunia...we'll see, just give me some time." Harry said just loudly enough to carry to his aunt, and finished their walk into the castle.
A/N: A chat with Petunia to start off the morning, ohh the happiness I put them thorugh...next chapter, lets play
Quiddich.