Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; they are property of JK Rowling.
A/N: Thanks to all those who have read and reviewed. Hope you'll like this chapter too.
Chapter Thirteen
"Last Year Begins"
The Order of the Shadows passed the last days of holidays in the castle, ready to start another school year at Hogwarts. For many of them, that would be the last one. Hermione was chosen as Head Girl, even if she had maintained contacts with Harry. Ron should have been the Head Boy, but after his death, Seamus was chosen to replace him. The fact he had not been chosen was the last concern in Harry's mind.
After the battle, and Ron's attacks to her, Hermione wasn't well. She felt continuously sick, and nauseous. Harry, fearing for the baby, as if he was his own, owled Madame Pomfrey, who came the next day. She remained four days trying to cure Hermione.
Finally, on the fifth morning, she went to wake up Harry, who had remained all those nights near Hermione's bed, without sleeping, but had finally gave up to his body's needs. When he opened his eyes, he could have sworn from the extremely sad look in her eyes, that something bad had happened.
"I'm so sorry, Harry. The baby is gone. Hermione had a miscarriage, after all those kicks on her belly it was inevitable"
Harry started to cry, in silence. He felt the baby as his own, as stupid it may seem. When Hermione woke up, she called for him, who was leaning on a near bed.
He turned slowly, and walked to her, kneeling near the bed. Then he took her hand in his own.
"Hermione, I don't know how to say it, but I have to give you a bad news. The baby is gone…I'm so sorry…" he said, and tears started flowing again on his cheeks.
He was surprised at her reaction, though.
"Shh. Don't worry…" she whispered to him, closing his lips with a finger. Confusion was clear in his eyes.
How could she take this so well, being the mother, if he, who wasn't the father, was so much affected?
"I am not so sorry, Harry. I wasn't sure I wanted to take care of his child anymore. After all what he did to you…to me…to us…I couldn't do that…I'm not happy for having lost the baby, this is obvious. It was my baby too after all. But I'm sure we can make it up for that, cannot we?" she said, smiling seductively although tiredly at him.
"Of course we can, if you want…" Harry said, holding her close, smiling at her.
Some days later, the entire group left to reach London, precisely King's Cross. It was the 1st of September, and they had to take the Express, for reaching Hogwarts.
Before leaving, Harry gave some instructions to the Ringwraiths.
"Be sure all the creatures will be at their best when the moment will come. If you can, try to find out where Voldemort's whereabouts are. We cannot always entrust ourselves to the Thestrals. Finally, take care, as usual, of the castle. I hope I'll return here soon," he then turned, ready to go to the pub in the village.
"Thank you very much for having helped us against the Order of the Phoenix," he suddenly added, as an afterthought, he then left with the others.
They reached the pub, and then flew by Floo to the "Leaky Cauldron," and from there, they took the underground to reach the station. Then, they crossed the barrier without problems, and Harry and the others found an awful surprise, on the bench near the train. Ten Aurors were there, to catch him, and bring him to Azkaban. But the Aurors, who were half of all the survived ones after the Death Eater attack on the Ministry, were as surprised as he was moments before, when the members extracted their wands, and started duelling on the bench, in front of so many people.
The fight lasted a little, then all the members boarded on the train. All, except Harry, still engaged in a duel with one of the toughest Aurors the Ministry had. The train started moving. Finally, Harry stunned his opponent, and jumped on the train already in movement, releasing the breath he was holding.
He thought he was going to miss it.
On the Express, the Order occupied a compartment, and started chatting about the trap they had escaped a little earlier amongst other things.
"How had Fudge dared sending Aurors on the bench? He should have known that we would have got rid of them quickly," Draco said flippantly.
All the others laughed at his joke. "However, this isn't the last word on the problem. They'll try to catch us at Hogsmeade, I guess, so be ready to fight again," Harry said seriously, then.
After some hours, and with the stomach full of sweets, they climbed off the train, and as Harry had anticipated, they were waited. Six of the Aurors that tried to catch them on the bench were there, ready to fight again, joined by at least ten others.
Once again, the battle was a spectacle for the other students, and once again Harry and his companions were victorious.
They entered the Great Hall for the feast, and Harry noticed McGonagall and Hagrid were there, looking sternly at him. He ignored that and moved toward Gryffindor table, while the members from other houses went to their places.
However, all the other students, except for the Order, were against him even stronger than before. They had heard about the battle against the Order of the Phoenix, and had witnessed what they could do directly, against the Aurors, so they were frightened by the power the Order of the Shadows had showed to have, so they insulted Harry, who was the leader of the group.
He simply shrugged. There was more important business he had to attend that year.
Finally, they finished the feast, and they went to their dorms. Hermione went to the Head Boy/Girl quarters, with Seamus.
Harry, instead, remained in the common room, reading a lot, until he started to fall asleep. He stood up, and went to bed, in the seventh's year dorm.
"It feels odd to lie here, without that huge, bloody, filthy Weasel, who insults me like last year" he thought. He had hated him last year, but it grew now even more. "How can a person be so bastard to kill his own still unborn child?" he thought angrily, falling asleep.
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