The Heirs of Darkness

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; they are property of JK Rowling.

A/N: This story is a reply to an old challenge. I don't remember how it was called. Hope you'll enjoy it, and please review. That would really make my day, you know. Thanks to my beta GeoTube who has helped me with this fic.

The Heirs of Darkness

Chapter One

“A Mournful Summer”

Harry Potter arrived at Privet Drive, number four, in his uncle's car, after his fifth year; during the trip from King's Cross, he didn't say a word, while his relatives were talking between them; he was still shocked for the happenings in the Ministry of Magic, especially in the Department of Mysteries; there, he lost his loved godfather, Sirius Black, and he almost lost Hermione Granger, one of his two best friends, the two only people that supported him during the last, stressing school year, with all its problems…

He entered his room, placed his trunk under his bed, as usual, and then laid on his bed, closing his eyes…he needed some rest, since he never slept more than two hours after that night…he felt responsible for what happened…even Dumbledore, this time, didn't succeed in calming him. For the first time, he had yelled at the Headmaster. But even if he tried a lot to fall asleep and obtain some rest, he couldn't: his brain would continue working, and reanalysing all the events.

Finally, he fell asleep, but it wasn't a restful sleep…he dreamed his godfather…his expression of surprise, while falling backward, and through the veil…and then Hermione, lying on the ground…and, finally, he dreamed Professor Trewlaney, making her prophecy…the prophecy that Voldemort wanted to hear…the prophecy about him…he will be a murderer or a murdered…no chance to avoid his destiny…

Next days, he remained locked in his room, barely eating what Aunt Petunia brought to him, through the loophole in the door; his uncle was afraid that going out he would attire dangers on his family, as with the dementors, the year before, but it wasn't a problem for Harry, since all he wanted was to be left alone. He stood up, one morning, and wrote a letter to Hermione, the only person who was always on his side.

“Dear Hermione,

I have taken a decision, for the better

of all of you; I won't return to

Hogwarts, this year; I'm a danger

all of you, and I don't want to put

you in danger; and, excuse me if I

led you to risk your life…it is all

my fault!

Harry”

Some days later, he was crying, thinking another time about Sirius, when Hedwig arrived with a letter for him. It was from Hermione:

“Dear Harry,

I hope you were joking, even

if I know that you may have been serious;

how can you think to not come back

to Hogwarts? Let me say one thing,

I won't allow you to do this! If you

will oblige me, I'll bring you there

with the strong manners. It wasn't your

fault and, let me say one thing: I'm

happy to risk my life helping you, Harry!

Love, Hermione”

Harry read the letter, but it didn't cheer up him. However, he at least had learned one thing, last year: he should do what Hermione said, because she was often right. If he had had listened to her, all of that wouldn't be happened. So, if now she said him to go to school, probably that was the right thing to do.

The days passed in a constant mourning for Harry, and he had not other letters, neither from Hermione, neither from Ron. And neither Dumbledore wrote him. He was once again abandoned to his destiny, nobody seemed to care for him, but he didn't notice this. He only kept crying and crying and crying. He dreamed every night the same thing, all the events of that night, and every night he woke up in the middle of the night, not able to regain his sleep…

He was in the worst depression state that he ever had, and nobody was with him that time, to help him. Hermione was probably at the Burrow, enjoying her summer with Ron, who, from his point, would have been very happy to stay with her, the girl he loved, without Harry taking all the attention…

But, every thing he thought, led him back to the reason of his mournful summer: the Department of Mysteries…for the first time in his life, Harry wished he had listened to Snape, the Professor he hated more. If he had done the Occlumency exercises, maybe he would have been able to keep his mind locked for Voldemort, and all that would have not happened…

Two weeks before his moving to Grimmauld Place, he understood what he needed: a family, to speak about his problems. So, he sent Hedwig to the “Flourish and Blotts”, to buy a book with all the family trees of the Wizarding world. He needed to know if he had some other relatives in one part of the world, relatives maybe not known by Dumbledore…He knew it was a desperate hope, but he needed every bit of hope he could find.

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Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; they are property of JK Rowling.

A/N: Thanks once again to those who read my story, and please review. It takes you just a little time and it makes me happy. And thanks to my beta GeoTube.

Chapter Two

“A Shocking Discovery”

When Hedwig returned, the next day, with the book, Harry gave her some food and thanked her. Then, he took the book, entitled “All The Wizarding Families Of Our Times”, and he started to search his one. He passed through many known names, as Bones, Crabbe, Malfoy, and many others, as Parkinson, before reaching the page he was searching: Potter…

He started to go back on the family tree, from him, to his father, to his father's parents. All of them were dead, and their wives too. His mother, his mother parents, that he already knew were dead, so he went over, now just with curiosity about his heritage, because it was almost clear his great-grandparents couldn't be alive, and he almost fainted for what he saw…

He read the page many times, for being sure of not being in a nightmare. He also pinched himself many times, but that horrid truth was still there: one of his great-grandfathers from his father's side was Grindelwald, the dark wizard killed by Dumbledore in 1945!

Harry was totally shocked. His grandmother from his father's side was the secret daughter of Grindelwald, so the dark wizard's blood was passed to his father, and then to him. He remained on his bed, wondering if Dumbledore knew about that, all the day. Finally, he decided that Dumbledore probably knew that, but he chose to never say that to him for not troubling him. However, that was odd…the heir of one of the most powerful dark wizards, destined to kill the new most powerful Dark Lord, Voldemort. If he weren't so shocked and worried, he may have laughed about that…

It was night, by now, when he took his decision…if there was a person who he trusted, it was Hermione. So, he started to write her a letter, explaining the situation.

“Dear Hermione,

I have something extremely important

to say you, but you must keep it a secret,

with Ron too. I had just discovered that

I'm the heir of Grindelwald. It is shocking,

I know, but I want to let you know the truth

about me.

Harry”

Then, he started again to think he had to know more about Grindelwald and all of his family. But the motions of the discovery had tired him and he fell asleep.

Next day, he found Hedwig near his shoulder, with a letter for him. It was Hermione's reply:

“Dear Harry,

I really think it is frightening!

You are the heir of a dark wizard! And

one of the most powerful! I'm really

shocked, however I'll keep your secret,

you know you can trust me…

Love, Hermione”

Then, Harry sent Hedwig another time to “Flourish and Blotts”, this time to buy a book on the most recent history of Magic, hoping to have some interesting information about his family. He was thinking, now, if he maybe would turn out as the new Grindelwald, or the new Voldemort. Harry could already imagine the title on the “Daily Prophet”: “The famous Harry Potter turns evil!!! He is the new Dark Lord!!”…what a mass of rubbish that newspaper was! He would never cease to be amazed by their dumbness.

He smiled sadly at this thought, and started to read one book, a romance book Hermione gave him, to pass time, while waiting Hedwig with the book.

Late on evening, Hedwig arrived, with a huge tome, and Harry fed her, patting her on the head, as thanking her. Then, he unpacked the book, entitled “History of Magic of the last century”, and started to search news about Grindelwald. He read all the night, a bit amazed but also frightened by all the things his great-grandfather had done. He felt a mixture of hate and pride for such a relative. Then, he arrived to a very interesting line. “Grindelwald left to his heirs a castle, “Fortress of Shadows”, near Godric's Hollow, in Wales…”

A fortress, near Godric's Hollow…so, that was the reason his parents lived in Godric's Hollow. It was there his family had always lived, in the centuries, and if he was the last heir of Grindelwald, he owned that fortress now. A mad idea started to grow in his mind, but he was too tired, and went to sleep a little.

Next morning, he owled Hermione about his decision. He decided to go to visit the fortress, before reaching Grimmauld Place. So he asked her to send him a letter in which she invites him to stay at her home, to convince the Dursleys to let him go.

Hermione replied, saying that in her opinion it wasn't a good thing to do, but that she trusted him, so she wrote the letter he asked her. Harry replied, reassuring her that he would be careful, thanking her, and then he went downstairs, to speak with his uncle.

He had a simple task in convincing them to let him go. So, Harry packed his trunk, wrapped his invisibility cloak around him, flew to the Granger's house and left his trunk there. Then, he took his Firebolt again, and started to fly towards London. Here, he went to the Gringott's to take some money, changed it in Muggle money, and took a train to Cardiff.

Next morning, he started to go to Godric's Hollow, with the hitching, and he reached the place that evening. Now, he was really close to his family's hidden castle, the “Fortress of Shadows”…

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Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; they are property of JK Rowling.

A/N: Thanks to those who have read and reviewed my story. And thanks to my beta GeoTube for the help provided to me.

Chapter Three

“The Fortress of The Shadow”

As soon as he entered the village, Harry searched the ruins of his parent's house, the house where they were killed, and once he found them, he decided to sleep there.

Next morning, he woke up early, because of the bright sunrise, and started to walk in the direction the book indicated for reaching the castle. He would have to search it on his own, though, since nobody out of Grindelwald's family had been there.

After about an hour of walking, he started to see a forest, similar to the Hogwarts' one, and grasped his wand, ready to defend himself, even if he wasn't already allowed to do magic out of school. He would not break the rule willingly, but if he were obliged to, for his self-defense, he would not hesitate.

The forest was every step nearer, and he felt his heart increasing the speed of its beating…

Suddenly, he heard a voice, a deep voice.

“Welcome, last heir of Grindelwald! We were waiting you…” it said.

“Who are you?” Harry asked, a little scared “And how do you know that I'm the heir of Grindelwald?”

“I'm one of the 12 Ringwraiths, who took care of the castle, while we were waiting for you, and I know you are the heir, because I can feel your aura. It is clearly linked to Grindelwald's one. So, if you want to have a look of your new possessions…”

Suddenly, a huge gate opened in the middle of the forest, and Harry entered. After some minutes, walking in a path, he reached a small village.

“Hey, Ringwraith…can I ask you something?” Harry said to the thin air near him.

“Of course you can. You're my Master,” the voice sounded again.

“Well, this forest and the small village remind me of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. Do you know the reason because they are so similar?”

“Because Grindelwald was so powerful, that he owned not only a castle, but also a small village and the forest is a security shield, with all the dark creatures in it. Do you know who your relative was, don't you?”

“Of course I know that. So, this is to protect himself from the Ministry?”

“Not from the Ministry, but from Dumbledore, who was the only wizard your relative feared. And he was right; in fact it was Dumbledore who killed him. Now, you know Hogwarts needs a lot of security too, and so it has a forest like this one. Plus, there's the village of Hogsmeade, but that is only a coincidence that makes all of that resemble your possessions”

Harry started again to walk, through the village, and reached another piece of forest; from that point, he could see the massive castle.

“Why cannot the other wizards see the castle?”

“Because Grindelwald's family, when it was built, decided to put a spell on it that made it visible only to the Heir. It's a similar spell to the one used to hide Hogwarts from the Muggles, only it is a much finer spell. The Heir can also let the people he thinks worthy to see it, if he so wishes.”

Suddenly, some Dementors appeared.

“Expecto…” Harry immediately started crying but the Ringwraith stopped him.

“No, it's not necessary. They won't attack you, because you are the Heir. This is for the other dark creatures of the forest. They are at your orders, as I and the other Ringwraiths are, now that you came back, our Master”

“Other creatures? Are there other Dark creatures? “

“Yes, there are orcs, giants, werewolves and others. Even some vampires. Your family always defended them from the Ministry attacks, so they chose to be servants of your family. And they developed here, in the forest, so they are now a great number, very much bigger than at the beginning.”

Harry asked to meet them, so after an acute sound from the Ringwraith, a crowd of dementors, werewolves and some giants reunited near him.

“I'm glad to present you our new Master, the last heir of Grindelwald” the Ringwraith bellowed.

“Hem...can you call me simply Harry Potter?”

“Harry Potter? You are the Boy who Lived? I knew that the Heir would have been an extraordinary wizard, but I never thought he would have been the boy destined to destroy Voldemort…”

“You know Voldemort? And all of my story?”

“Of course, and I humbly subordinate myself to you, great Harry Potter. Well…if now you want to see the castle…”

“Yes, I'm coming…” Harry replied, every moment more in awe.

He entered the castle, and immediately linked the image of the Entrance Hall to the Hogwarts one…it could be because he saw only two castles, but this one seemed so similar to his school…he wandered in the castle all the day, stopping only for meals. Then, before going to bed, he wrote a letter to Hermione, for reassuring her on his health, and telling her all what he had discovered that day.

After that, however, he returned to the room where he was before, and found there the 12 Ringwraith, most here had never met before, because during the day he was only guided by the voice of one of them.

“Our Master Harry Potter, we are your servants. Whatever you'll need, please let us know” then the 12 shadow forms waited for orders.

“Well, I would like to know one thing: who prepared my meals? Are there here House Elves?”

“Of course, Sir. We have here one hundred House Elves”

“And are they free or are they as servants as in the other wizard families?”

“They are linked to the house of course, like in all the important wizard families, but you can do what you want with them. They are at your orders, as we are”

“Then, I, as new Master of this castle, declare all the Elves free. If they want to stay, they'll remain, if they want to go away they are free to do that”

Immediately three House Elves appeared. “Thank you, new Master. We are the only House Elves who would like to leave, because we would like to see the rest of the world. Can we do that?”

“Of course. As I just said, you are totally free”

Then, Harry went to bed, at almost midnight.

Next day, he left, giving to the Ringwraith the work to care of the castle as they have always done, waiting for his return. He had two more school years to attend. Then he started his way back to the Grangers house.

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Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; they are property of JK Rowling.

A/N: Once again, thanks to GeoTube for his help. Hope you'll like this.

Chapter Four

“Grimmauld Place”

After two days of travel, Harry arrived to the Grangers' house, took back his trunk, which he had hid in the garden, then he flew away to Grimmauld Place, three days before he was expected.

He knocked on the door, and after some moments, Remus opened the door. He was shocked to see Harry, and let him enter quickly, and then sent him to his usual room, where he found Ron, lying on the bed.

“Hi Ron…how are you?”

“Hem…I'm fine, thanks, but why are you here so early?”

“I couldn't suffer the Dursleys anymore.” Harry lied, knowing that his tour to the castle wouldn't be well taken by the Order, and surely Ron would let something slip sooner or later.

“Ok. Well, excuse me, I have to speak with my mother” and Ron exited from the room.

“I wonder what's wrong with Ron. He never welcomed me so coldly,” Harry thought.

Next days, life at Grimmauld Place seemed returned to normality, and also Ron regained his usual behaviour toward Harry. Finally, Hermione arrived, and she was surprised to see Harry there. She hugged him firmly, but then, seeing the look on Ron's face, who was behind Harry, she left him. She settled her in Ginny's room, as always, then returned down to help preparing the lunch.

Harry was alone in the living room, lost in thoughts about the strange behaviour that sometimes emerged from the Order members. They were strangely distant from him, as he wasn't a welcomed guest. He felt uncomfortable there, and hoped to reach the 1^st of September as quickly as possible.

Harry decided that if the members had something against him, it was useless to bother them with his presence, so he locked himself in his room, studying for the next year, and he wasn't so shocked in seeing that nobody tried to make him exit from that room. After all, the previous year at Christmas they behaved exactly the same way, and only Hermione faced him. Yeah, Hermione…

This time, too, she was the only one who cared about him. She brought him his meals, and sometimes she secretly stayed in that room, talking with him. She asked about the castle, and Harry answered briefly, because he didn't want to be overheard by members, plus he wasn't in the right mood to talk…

“However, I appreciate your tries, Mione. It seems you are the only person who recognizes me…”

“Don't be silly, Harry. The fact is that the Order is very busy, lately. At least, that's what I think” Hermione replied.

“Yeah, maybe…” but Harry remained unconvinced. He had noticed that Hermione didn't look at him, while speaking, as if she was hiding something.

“I have to be more careful. I was close to revealing that me and Ron are now members of the Order,” Hermione thought, and then she gave a kiss on Harry's cheek, and exited the room, a tear threatening to cross her face. She did not understand why they were keeping Harry out of that, and why they were so hostile towards him.

Their letters from Hogwarts arrived, and this time, too, the prefects were Hermione and Ron. Not Harry, and that was the last straw for him. He then knew Dumbledore did not trust him anymore.

Probably, this was the reason for the strange behaviour of the Order, it was Dumbledore's fault.

“He trusts even Snape,” Harry thought. “He gave a second chance even to a Death Eater, but not to me…” and the thought made him incredibly sad.

***

Three days later, Hermione and Ron went to Diagon Alley to buy their things for the school, and bought Harry's ones too, because neither Hermione was able to convince him to exit that room.

While they were walking, Hermione spoke.

“Be sincere, Ron. Do you agree with Dumbledore and the Order about Harry?”

“Of course, Hermione. Why shouldn't I? It is clear that Sirius's death is Harry's fault. Who led Sirius to the Department of Mysteries, that night? He thought that Harry was in danger. But if Harry had remained at Hogwarts, instead that following his bloody saving people mania, only to gain people admiration…”

Hermione slapped him hard on the cheek.

“Ronald Weasley…his `saving people mania' wasn't a problem for you when he saved your sister, was it? And you know that he doesn't want people's admiration and the fame…”

“Come on, Hermione! You are the only who still doesn't see the truth. Harry is guilty for what has happened that night, and I'm surprised that you, the smartest witch in Hogwarts, doesn't admit it, even if he put YOUR life, too, in danger…”

Hermione didn't reply, and Ron was happy for having convinced her. The fact was that she wasn't convinced at all, only avoided to discuss the matter. She knew the truth. Harry had done the same thing that everyone would have done in his situation.

They returned at home, and gave Harry his new books; then they started an Order meeting, with Dumbledore's presence. They were reunited in the kitchen when the Headmaster started to speak.

“We are here, tonight, to discuss an important argument. All of us know that Harry Potter is now a danger for us…” but Hermione interrupted him.

“Let's say that almost all of you are blind to see the truth about him…” she had never interrupted a teacher, or an adult for that matter, but she was really angry at all of them.

“Miss Granger, probably you are still linked to him by your previous friendship, but I have already explained you that we cannot trust him anymore. We have to isolate him” Dumbledore replied, a serious look on his face. He did not want to do what he was doing, but he felt it had become necessary.

At this point, Hermione stood up.

“All of you, listen to me! I'll never isolate him again!” she shouted and then stormed out of the kitchen.

Ron reached her in the living room. “Hermione, you cannot be so silly! Leave him to his destiny! He is slowly leading all of us to death!”

Hermione walked away without even looking at Ron.

Some days passed, and it was now the day of the departure. Harry went with the others to King's Cross, without saying a word. Then, he crossed the barrier, went on the Express, took a place in a compartment, and locked it, to remain alone all the travel. He didn't even let in Hermione. Harry cried a lot that trip, about Sirius, his parents, and now the cold treatment the Order was giving him.

Finally, they arrived to Hogwarts, and Harry forced himself to go to the banquet. After that, he went directly to sleep, without stopping with his fellows in the common room. He did not feel in the mood. Hermione saw this, and was very sorry for him. She would find a way to convince the Order of his innocence, she swore in that moment.

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Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; they are property of JK Rowling.

A/N: Thanks to those who have read and reviewed, please, if you read leave me a short comment, just to let me know what you think of it. Now, I know some of you could be thinking that Dumbledore was OOC in last chapter. Well, he will be through the whole story, as well as other characters. Thanks to GeoTube for betaing my story.

Chapter Five

“It's all his Fault”

Next day, the school term started with the worst lesson to cheer up Harry: Potions. And since Snape was an Order member, he gave Harry the worst treatment that is possible to imagine, criticizing him every few moments, and finally giving a “D” to his potion.

“I am still surprised how you managed to get your “Outstanding” in the O.W.L.s, Potter. In this class you are always one of the worse elements”

“Probably because you are one of the worse teachers, and I can concentrate only without you near me” Harry snapped, and gained a detention.

Ron smirked. “How can one person think that he is innocent? He is always searching troubles, and it has come the time he pays for that. He is not different from us, even if he has that scar on his face” he thought.

Hermione, instead, was really sorry for him, but she was ordered by Dumbledore to leave him alone all the time this was possible. She did not want to do so, but decided for the moment it was better to follow the Headmaster's advice. Dumbledore thought Harry should lose his self confidence, convincing himself to let the others, and more experienced, take care of the situation, and the best thing to obtain this was to take away his friends. He knew he was being hard on the boy, but Harry could not continue risking to put people who cared for him in danger.

Days passed, and Harry was always more depressed.

“Nobody wants to speak to me, now, not even Hermione, the only person who has always trusted me. Probably they are right, though. I'm only a stupid prat, who deserves to remain alone, isolated from the others. This way I cannot put them in danger” he thought, so he closed himself in the library, and started studying, so hard that even Hermione would have been proud of him.

The Quidditch practices started, and he went to the pitch, but the new Gryffindor Captain, Ron Weasley, who one time was his friend, seeing him, did not let him.

“Hey, Potter, you are not allowed to stay here. You are banned from Quidditch, you remember that, don't you?”

Harry was shocked, but he didn't know if it hurt more being still banned from Quidditch, or being called Potter by Ron, one of his former best friends. So he turned, and went back to the castle, seriously thinking about leaving. Only one thing stopped him from mounting his broom and flying away. It was one hand, who grabbed his shoulder just before he was to kick the land and fly away. Hermione's hand.

“Where do you think you're going, Harry?” she said sternly to him. Harry looked at her.

“I'm leaving. Nobody wants me here, so I'm going away” he said.

She softened and hugged him. “Oh, Harry, that's not true. I want you here. And even if nobody wanted you here, you cannot let them win. You've to prepare for your life, whether they like it or not.”

They talked a little more, then she had to go, for not risking to be discovered by Ron. However, their conversation cheered Harry up a little, at least he did not want to leave anymore, as he knew someone cared for him.

The first Hogsmeade weekend arrived, and Harry went to the village alone, trying to distract himself a little, even if he knew that the others wouldn't have liked his company. So, he walked alone, visited the shops alone, had lunch alone in the “Three Broomsticks”, and then he returned alone to the castle. That trip was totally useless to cheer him up, on the other hand it had him depressed, but the worst was still to arrive.

When he was near the lake, he looked toward Ron and Hermione, and he saw something he did not expect at all. His two best friends were kissing.

In that moment, he felt totally alone.

If Hermione was to be Ron's girlfriend, she would have no time for him, and she was the only one who still cared about him.

That was too much for him, so he ran to the castle and hid himself in a room he found few days before, on the fourth floor. A room nobody knew about except for Dobby. He remained there all the night, thinking and letting some tears fall. He thought about his cursed life. Then, next morning, he decided to face his destiny, and went down in the Great Hall. Seeing Hermione and Ron entering hand in hand made him upset all again, but he succeeded in control himself.

In the meanwhile, the owl mail arrived, and he received a free copy of the “Daily Prophet”. The first page shocked him.

“Ministry is doing inquiries on the so-called Order of the Phoenix, founded by Albus Dumbledore, for the events of the famous night in the Ministry, when Minister Fudge had to admit the return of Voldemort. They are accused of having forced the Ministry security, and so now they will have a trial, and they risk to be sent in Azkaban. Dumbledore, who had once the right to enter the Ministry every time he wanted but lost it last year, has not yet been charged, even if the Minister wanted to do so, thanks to the loyalty of many Ministry workers he still has.”

He looked up from the paper, and saw Ron looking threateningly at him, while Hermione was trying to avoid his eyes. He did not look to the staff table, knowing very well he would not get better looks than Ron's.

Harry was so shocked, that he stood up, and exited the room, almost running away. He started to wonder if remaining in the “Fortress of Shadows” would have been a better choice for him…but now he was there, at Hogwarts…

In the meanwhile, Ron and Hermione reached him.

“Good, Potter. As you had seen, your bloody saving people mania led all the Order in troubles, very good. We're all really proud of the famous `Boy-Who-Lived'” Ron said, then they passed over, still hand in hand. Hermione gave him a sympathetic smile, not seen by Ron.

“Ron, please…tell me that you didn't mean what you said to Harry. I know you didn't…” she said when they were far from Harry.

“Of course I meant it, Hermione. Is it possible that you still are blind to the truth? You have to accept this: he is guilty, and all what is happening and what is happened, is all his fault…” he said, while pulling her closer for a kiss, hoping it would help to make her see the truth.

Hermione was confused; she knew that Dumbledore was almost always right, but she also knew that this time he was quite surely wrong, so she didn't knew what to do. She wanted to do what she was ordered, but she also knew that she had to support Harry. Then there was Ron…well, she loved him…but his stubborn behaviour toward Harry always made her doubt him.

Some days later, Harry received another free copy of the “Daily Prophet” and this time he almost fainted.

“Voldemort attacked the building thought to be the whereabouts of the Order of the Phoenix. Fortunately, nobody was in the building, but surely someone had betrayed them, revealing where the Headquarters were. Now, the members have also to escape from Voldemort, who is searching them, and not only from the Ministry, trying to interrogate them”

With the paper, this time, there was an anonymous letter.

“It is all your fault, Potter. Remind that!”

He suddenly felt weak, unable to stay on his feet, so he remained sat also when all the others exited. He overheard Ron talking with Hermione.

“Do you see it now? It's all his fault! Inquiring and persecution, this is what he brought to the Order! He is the disgrace of our war against You-Know-Who!”

“Shh! Don't shout! He could hear you!”

“Oh, but this is exactly what I hope! He has to hear me, to hear that he is guilty!”

Then they exited from the Great Hall. Some minutes later, he entered, in delay, the Transfiguration Class, without looking to his former best friends, and Professor McGonagall, another member of the Order, snapped at him.

“Were you organising something again, Potter?”

Harry chose not to reply and took his seat.

Weeks passed, and the most painful thing for Harry was seeing Hermione with Ron. Since she could not be with him so much time as before, he realized he could not be without her. He realized he loved her, and so he was angry at her, thinking she should know he needed her, but she had preferred going with the Order, betraying his trust.

He was really far from the truth, though.

One night near Christmas there was a secret meeting of the Order, in which Dumbledore underlined the gravity of the situation, and another time reminded the dangerousness of Harry. He knew the members had all loved the boy, everyone in his way, and so he thought necessary to keep them alert about the boy, till the process of making him lose faith in himself would be completed.

He had noticed great progression till that moment, but there was still work to do.

“Now, I see our plan is slowly working. But we are still far from the goal. We have to be always attentive about Potter. We have to make him unoffensive for us. Then we can concentrate on finding Voldemort and bringing him out in the open.”

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Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; they are property of JK Rowling.

A/N: as usual, please leave me a comment, it takes you few moments and makes me happy. Thanks to my beta GeoTube.

Chapter Six

“The revelation”

At those words, Hermione stood up, and stormed out of the room, yelling.

“You are all gone mad!” then she reached her dorm, and lay on her bed, crying. She was near to a nervous breakdown. She wanted so much to help the Order, but at the same time, she wanted to help Harry too, so she had to resolve a painful conflict with herself.

The night passed in this way, and she wasn't able to rest a minute. All what she was able to do was cry. Next morning, Ron saw her distressed look, and hugged her.

“Do you see it? He is able only to make all of us, and you, suffer. Why don't you want to get rid of him finally? Why do you still want to try to help a guilty person?” he said softly to her, whispering in her hair. Then he tried to kiss her, but she managed to go away.

“It isn't his fault, Ron, and you know that…” she managed to mutter through her tears, she then went down for breakfast, managing somehow to avoid Harry's eyes. She could not let him see that way, or he would eagerly take blame of that on himself too.

All the day she avoided both of them, trying to understand what was the right thing to do. All the time she wasn't able to concentrate on the lesson. The only thing she was able to focus on was the Headmaster's sentences of the previous night.

“Now, I see our plan is slowly working. But we are still far from the goal. We have to be always attentive about Potter. We have to make him unoffensive for us. Then we can concentrate on finding Voldemort and bringing him out in the open.”

How was possible that the Headmaster, once so linked to Harry, had changed so quickly, becoming one of his worst opponents? Why cannot they see the truth, the bloody simple truth? Why they had to blame Harry for what happened?

Those questions filled her brain all the time, and for many days, too. Then, another Hogsmeade weekend arrived.

They were now near Christmas, so the village was covered with snow. Harry saw his former best friends going away, one in the other arms, and shook his head, while going upstairs, to the library. The last experience in Hogsmeade had not been a joyful one, to say the least, so he thought better to pass the day collecting Dark Arts books, even in the Restricted Section, using his Invisibility Cloak, then he hid them in his trunk, with a Disillusionment Spell on them. In this way, nobody could find them, neither accidentally, and report him for having taken them. It was the last thing he needed.

After having done this, he went to have dinner in the Great Hall, and took a glimpse of a couple kissing in the park, from the window in the common room. The boy's red hair couldn't give him the chance to make a mistake. They were Ron and Hermione.

The school life was becoming always worse for him. Snape, Mcgonagall, and even Hagrid, treated him extraordinarily coldly, as members of the Order; Hermione and Ron were now a couple, and even his best female friend, his unique confidence seemed oblivious of him.

But once again it wasn't true. She wasn't oblivious of him at all, only she had to be careful about her moves. However, she decided to act after another meeting, just before the start of the Christmas holidays.

All the Order members were reunited in the usual secret room in the dungeons. Hermione listened angrily to all the idiocies on Harry, and Snape's satisfied behaviour. He often criticized Harry for being like his father, swaggering in the castle, but if there was one swaggering in those meetings it was him. She however reached the limit of tolerance. It happened after the last sentence of the Headmaster.

“ Remember who our primary target is: Harry Potter”

“Your primary target has to be your brain, all of you!” she shouted, and exiting the room, she took the decision she wanted to take for so long time. She didn't care she had been rude to the Headmaster and some of her professors.

Hermione searched for Harry, and finally found him in the common room, led him in a secret room she found casually one week before, and then she hugged him, with tears running on her face.

After some minutes of holding each other close, she spoke.

“Oh, Harry, please, forgive me…I should have said this to you a long time ago…”

“What's happening, Mione? What is frightening you so much?”

“Harry, the Order blames you for all what happened. Sirius' death, the Ministry inquiring, the attack at Grimmauld Place…even Dumbledore is saying you are the Order's primary target…”

“I'm what? And how can you know this, Mione?” he asked, suspicious.

“Harry, I'm sorry. I know you'll be upset at me, and you're right to be. Me and Ron were chosen as members of the Order this summer. Our task was to `protect' you…well, really it was to control you, and report all your suspicious behaviours.”

“What? You and Ron were spying on me? Hermione, I thought I could trust you…have you said something about the `Fortress of Shadows'?” Harry said angrily, standing up and walking away from her.

“Harry…no…I told nothing about that…I swear you!”

A sad look filled her eyes, showing that her regret for what she hid him was true. After some moments, he hugged her.

“Don't worry, Mione. I'm not angry with you. I could never be…” he said softly, kissing the top of her head, while his shirt was becoming soaked with her tears.

After some moments, though, he left her, went to a chair, and threw it on the wall, destroying it. He did the same with many things in the room, shouting against the bloody Order and all its members, Dumbledore included.

Hermione was frightened by his reaction, but after some time he calmed himself, then he thanked her, and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Please don't mind my outburst. It came from months of suppressed tension and anger. You are the only person in the world who cares about me, and I treated you so bad, tonight…I'm sorry, Mione…”

“No, Harry. I'm sorry for all the time I kept you without knowing the truth…”

“Well, the thing that more shocked me of your story is Ron…I really thought he was my friend. One of my best friends. But it is obvious that I was making a mistake. I swear he'll pay for that as well as the whole bloody Order…”

Then, he exited the room, and went to his dorm. When Ron entered, Harry pretended to be asleep.

“Sleep well, Potter. Sooner or later we will make you pay for what you did,” Ron muttered, but Harry heard it.

“No, Ron. You'll pay…you and all the Order, for having tried to convince Hermione to follow your silly rotten brains,” Harry thought.

***

He passed the holidays studying very much, but not for the works their Professor gave them. He had lost faith in Hogwarts staff, so he studied those Dark Arts books that he took from the library. He was alone, since most of the students had gone home for the holidays so nobody could control him, apart from Dumbledore and the teachers, but he had enchanted the books to look like normal school books for the other people. Only he could see them in their true nature.

He also studied Occlumency and Legilimency, to be able to read other people's minds, and find their most secret thoughts. He remembered the lessons with Snape, and for a while he wished he never stopped them, but he couldn't change the past, so he concentrate on his work, trying to improve his future. If that would come as a favour to the Wizarding World or not, he didn't care. They did not deserve him to help them to defeat Voldemort.

He was readying himself to fight just for avenging his parents and for keeping Hermione safe.

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Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; they are property of JK Rowling.

A/N: Thanks to those who have reviewed. Please, leave me a comment. I mean, guys, last chapter got 200 hits and only 3 reviews…you can do better, I know you can. Thanks to GeoTube who has betaed my story.

Chapter Seven

“Ministry's Attack”

Several days later, Harry was hiding the Dark Arts books he was studying during the nights, to not be noticed, when Hermione and Ron entered the common room. Harry was busy in hiding his books that he didn't notice that they were both coming down from the boy's dormitory.

He then went to have breakfast after them, and seeing Ron with an arm around her waist, made him smirking. “Yes, Weasley. Enjoy her until my revenge will come, because from that day you won't have anything to enjoy anymore,” he thought.

While Harry was eating, he saw a horrible look on Hermione's face. She became extremely pale, and since she was reading the “Daily Prophet,” this couldn't mean anything good.

Suddenly, few moments later, Ronald Weasley stood up, the newspaper in his hand, and started to shout to all the Great Hall.

“Hey, all of you! Hear this!! The famous Harry Potter is accused to be a Death Eater!!”

One moment later, the Great Hall looked with disgust toward Harry, but he didn't notice this, and the comments which followed, because he snatched the “Prophet” from Ron's hand, and started to read, disbelieving and shivering.

“The famous Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, was declared yesterday evening from the Minister Cornelius Fudge, one of the people inquired to be a Death Eater. There are already some clues against the young wizard, for example the fact that he was the one of the very few people knowing the Order of the Phoenix whereabouts not being a member, you all surely remember the attack the organisation, illegal but operating against the Dark wizards, had suffered not long ago. He was the only person who could have revealed the secret; because he was the unique, he wasn't questioned with Veritaserum about having revealed that. Then, there are the facts of that famous night in the Ministry, and he, in that occasion, managed to have one member, Sirius Black, killed.”

The article continued for long, and every line shocked more the poor Harry. There were almost three pages of totally invented clues against him, twisting the facts in the typical “Daily Prophet” style!

He, also, received a letter from the Ministry, which informed him that he had to attend to a trial at the end of the school year. For the moment, he would remain at Hogwarts, while the Ministry would search more proofs against him, and it would confirm the already existent ones.

Harry was so shocked that he stared to the newspaper and the letter for minutes, then shifted his gaze to the floor. He then searched Hermione's eyes. She couldn't say nothing, since Ron was near her, but from her eyes, he found the answer he was searching. She was still on his side, no matter what. She had been the previous year, when the Ministry and the “Prophet” had tried to make him look bad, and she would be this time too.

Finally, Harry started to notice the comments about him, and most of them were arriving from the Slytherin table; curiously, however, he didn't hear Malfoy's voice.

He stood up, going to the Transfiguration Class, and remained quiet all the lesson, while the others looked at him disgusted and horrified. He didn't care. He had learnt since his years in the same school as Dudley to not care about the other's judgement of him, since it was often influenced by lies on him.

Exiting from the class, he heard a Ravenclaw whispering to another.

“I always said that. Only a Dark Wizard could defeat You-know-who as he did at the age of one, he was destined to this fate since the day he's born…”

Others looked at him secretly, behind columns and doors, and he overheard Seamus speaking to Dean.

“Do you see it now? My mother was right on him! He's mad and very dangerous…”

Another student, another piece of nonsense. “Well, what do you expect from a guy who can speak to snakes? I'm sure Dumbledore hid it, but he was actually the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets, four years ago…”

Harry was almost amused to hear such amenities.

A group of Hufflepuffs started to run away, as he turned in their direction, while a Slytherin fourth year was whispering to another.

“I heard he helped Sirius Black to escape, when he was captured here…” Now, that was not a lie, but they did not know the real story of Sirius, though, so they could not understand.

For many days it seemed that all the school was against him, so he was very shocked when, walking near the Charms Class, wandering alone in the corridors after dinner, he was grabbed by no other than Draco Malfoy and led in the classroom.

In it, there was a little group of students, but Harry hadn't the time to look well who was there, because Malfoy started speaking, so he revolved his attention to the Slytherin boy.

“Potter. You and I have been always fierce enemies, but I want to tell you that this time, I'm on your side. I know you are not a Death Eater, one would wonder how could the Ministry come up with that, but then you look at Fudge's face and you simply understand…” The comment earned a chuckle from Harry and the other people in the room. “So, I want to offer you all the support I can give you, and the other people in this room wants to do the same,” Draco continued.

Finally, Harry looked around him, seeing that in the room there was Neville, Luna, Justin Finch-Fletchey, Ernie Macmillan. Hanna Abbott and Terry Boot were there too; he was contemporarily glad that them trusted him, and sad for not seeing Hermione.

Seeing the sad look in his eyes, Malfoy smirked.

“Don't worry, Granger wants to help you too, but you know, she has to pretend to be faithful to the Order, and with that huge prat of Weasel near her, she couldn't come here…”

Hearing this, Harry cheered up.

“First of all, I want to thank all of you for trusting me. Second, I want to inform you that I'm studying many books against the Dark Arts and also Occlumency and Legilimency,” he started then he explained what those two subjects were, before continuing.

“So, I think that if you really want to help me, you have to study those subjects, too. You know that helping me means eventually facing the Dark Lord, don't you? That means you'll risk your life and probably be injured, at least. So if you don't want to do this, you can leave, without problems…”

Nobody stood up, and then Ernie spoke.

“We are with you in this, Harry, and we will always be, till the end. We need a better world.”

“Yes, that Fudge is a total moron. He needs really a good beating and that is what we will give him…” Terry added, and all of them burst in laughter.

“But don't forget that our primary target is Voldemort,” Harry added, frowning a little. He did not know if they were ready to take on such a hard battle.

Draco was the last to go away, at the end of the meeting.

“Malf-I mean, Draco, why are you going against Voldemort?” Harry asked him.

“Just because I'm the son of one of the most important Death Eaters, this doesn't mean I am one or I want to be, Potter,” the Slytherin sneered, before walking out of the room.

On his way towards the dorm, Harry met Hermione, who hugged him, tears flowing on her cheeks.

“I'm with you, Harry. I'll always be…” she said. He knew what she meant.

Harry kissed her on the cheek, brushing away her tears with his hand.

“I know, Mione. I know”

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Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; they are property of JK Rowling.

A/N: Hope you'll enjoy this chapter. And please, leave me a comment, good, bad, or how you want it to be, just leave me something, ok? Thanks. And thanks to GeoTube, my beta.

Chapter Eight

“The Order of the Shadows”

Life at Hogwarts went as by now usual for Harry. Almost everyone was against him, even the Professors who had always defended him in the years, as McGonagall, Hagrid, and Dumbledore, who after the article didn't say a word to him. Not that before they did so…

However, Harry, as the previous year with the DA, had a secret group, which gave him the hope to go on. “It's strange as the first four years I always enjoyed everything here at Hogwarts, and now since two years only secret groups led by myself keep me here at the castle. Not that I can go anywhere else, with the accusations of the Ministry following me. It would only make my situation worst,” he thought, while going to breakfast.

He found the books he took from the library very interesting, and nobody was able to notice what they really were about. So, not being able to play Quidditch was almost a good thing. He could prepare himself to face the Dark Lord, that as Hermione would say, “is far more important that a silly game”. He chuckled thinking about what the girl he had started to love thought of his beloved sport. After all, she hated flying, how could she understand Quidditch?

Harry had to be ready as quick as possible, to get finally rid of all the whispers on him, and give an age of peace to the Wizarding World. Not that it mattered so much to him, though. All the rumours on him, during the years, were slowly making him grow detached from the world he lived in, and more selfish.

However, he could not miss the most important match of the year, so he went to see the match between Gryffindor and Slytherin, the last of the season, and he saw Gryffindor playing very badly. It gave him a double feeling. He was sad because his old team was losing so hardly, but he was happy for Ron, who deserved that. The Gryffindor captain was the worst, letting the Quaffle in at almost every shot, so Harry couldn't help to smirk, hearing the Slytherins singing “Weasley is our King”. So even if Ginny managed to catch the Snitch, Gryffindor lost for 310 to 170, and Slytherin won the Cup.

Malfoy that evening was really happy, and when he met Harry out of the Great Hall, he whispered to him.

“Hey, Potter. I want to dedicate our won to you. Have you seen how bad Weasel played? He was simply ridiculous…”

“Yeah, I guess so…” Harry replied, smiling.

When Ron saw Harry entering the Great Hall with Malfoy, and smiling to him, was very angry. He was already upset for his disastrous play on the Quidditch final, and that was the last straw. Harry had just seated near him, because every other place was taken.

“So now you are going to be in company of filthy Malfoy, good job, Potter…”

“Actually, if he is filthy as you say, I think that you won't find a word just horrid to describe yourself, Weasel…” Harry retorted, not at all disturbed by Ron's comment.

Next morning, however, Harry was strongly disturbed by something else. He read the “Daily Prophet”, and he found a shocking new, again.

“Diagon Alley Attacked!” was the title on the first page, then the article continued.

“Last afternoon, a group of Death Eaters attacked Diagon Alley, destroying “Flourish and Blotts”, “Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions”, “Quality Quidditch Supplies”, and “Ollivanders”. They also tried to attack the Gringott's, but they were not able to penetrate in it. The Dark Lord has newly started his track of destruction and fear, like many years ago. There were also fifty-four people killed in the attack, with twenty-three injured. Diagon Alley is now to be patrolled by Aurors, and is closed to the public till new dispositions.”

Harry was terrified, as almost all of the school. For one day, he wasn't the centre of the discussion of all the students, but he would have strongly preferred to be unfairly accused than seeing Diagon Alley attacked and all that innocent people murdered.

The day passed in a state of anguish for all the people in the school. Even the Professors were frightened, and Dumbledore seemed deeply concerned.

“If the Order and the Ministry hadn't lost their brains, trying to accuse me for something I'm not responsible for, maybe this disaster could have been avoided, or at least delayed” Harry thought, while returning to the common room for leaving there his bag, after the last lesson.

There, he found Hermione, crying on a couch, like a scared little girl, and since Ron wasn't there, he went to her, and tried to comfort her. For the first time, that year, she abandoned herself to a gesture, which she always did when she was scared. She grabbed him, tightly, but he didn't complain. He held her tightly too.

“It's all ok, Mione. I'll resolve this, eventually…” he whispered to her, through her hair.

“But how can you do this, if you are watched continuously by the Order and the Ministry?” she said, between her sobs.

“Come this evening to the Room of Requirements, and you'll see it. Obviously, Ms. Granger, it would be better if you come alone, without Ron…” he smiled at the crack joke he had said to cheer her up.

“Of course, Mr. Potter” she replied, giving him a feebly but genuine smile; that was enough for him to find the bravery to start another crazy adventure. Seeing her smile, and wanting to give her more reasons to smile in the future, gave him the determination and the strength to plan a way to fulfil his destiny, something all what had happened around him that year had made him lose.

At evening, Harry behaved normally, but he had already alerted all the few people who trusted him to come to the Room of Requirements that night, after dinner, being sure of not being followed by other people.

When he finished his meal, he stood up, and while exiting the Great Hall, he exchanged a knowing look with Malfoy. Then, about one hour later, all of them were in the room.

This time, it was furnished only with eight Invisibility Cloaks. He had his one, and the others were for the other students, in case to being discovered; they would pass the evening under the cloaks, so nobody could see them, if entered the room.

Finally, their meeting started. Hermione was there with the others, having given to Ron a Sleeping Potion. Harry started to speak.

“As all of you knows, Voldemort is starting to recreate the regime of terror he created on his first “reign,” so we have to stop him soon. To do this, as the Order of the Phoenix is wasting it's time like the Ministry is doing, watching me, I think we have to establish a new Order.”

“But we are only nine students…” Justin interrupted him

“Well, it isn't totally true, Justin. We are lots more than nine, because this summer I inherited a castle, the “Fortress of Shadows,” who belonged to my great-grandfather, Grindelwald”

Almost all of them covered their mouths in disbelief. Harry had expected that.

“Are you sure you are not a Death Eater, Potter?” Draco teased him.

“Of course, Malfoy” Harry replied playfully. “It was a shock for me, too. However, I visited it this summer, and we have there werewolves, dementors, giants, and many other dark creatures, ready to help us; so, ready to help our Order. And we have also 12 Ringwraith, to help us lead the creatures. Plus, we have lots of House Elves” he continued, more seriously. The last bit earned him a glare from Hermione.

“I know, Mione. I know. But I gave them the chance to leave if they wanted, and only three did. I would never ask them to join the fight, but if the necessity would come, it is always a resource we can count on” he explained to her. She did not seem totally convinced but said nothing.

“Dementors? Giants? Werewolves? But this is a Dark Army, Harry. You won't get rid of the voices on you, leading it…” almost all the members said then but Harry interrupted them.

“I know this, but I want first to get rid of Voldemort. Then, if I can, I'll get rid of voices on me. If I cannot, I don't care”

All of them stayed silent, to this statement, so Harry continued.

“Now I think it is better if we choose a name for our Order…” he said, almost awkwardly.

“What do you think of Order of the Faith?” Hanna suggested “For the faith we have in you”

“Mm…a little too spiritual. It seems something religious”

“Do you like Order of the Trust?” Draco said. “We all trust you, Potter, so…”

“This seems good. But I prefer Order of the Hope…” Hermione said. “You know, the hope of saving the Wizarding World…”

“All of those names are good. Very good, indeed. However, I was thinking that since our army is a Dark Army, and the castle is named `Fortress of Shadows', maybe we can call us `Order of the Shadows'. It is for that we have to be as hidden as shadows, too” Harry proposed.

All the members agreed with him after a short discussion, so the `Order of the Shadows' was at last born.

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Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; they are property of JK Rowling.

A/N: Thanks to those who have reviewed. It means a lot to me. Please, if you read leave a comment. Hope you will like this chapter. Thanks to my beta GeoTube.

Chapter Nine

“Voldemort Strikes”

Next days, the `Order of the Shadows' began to work, studying the Dark Arts books that Harry had already studied, obviously in secret, and they started to train themselves in Occlumency. A great but unexpected test for it was on an evening, when Snape found almost all of them in the library.

The Potion Master was almost sure they were doing something not allowed, so he tried to force the minds of Draco, Hanna and Hermione, but he wasn't able to find what they were doing, so had to leave, disgruntled.

Even if Draco was in the group and he was his favourite student, Snape would have loved to take points away from the others, and he hated when he couldn't come up with a reason to do so.

Harry was satisfied for how the members applied themselves to the work, taking on their shoulders the great responsibility of saving the Wizarding World, but he kept his sad and depressed look. In this way, neither Ron nor the teachers could suspect anything about him and he could keep leading his group in their training.

He pretended also to be strongly affected by the harsh comments on him, even if he was almost laughing about them inwardly. It took a great control on himself to go through all that, but letting them think their plan was working had given him a bit more space, since the control on him was lessened and he used every moment of it.

In the years he had become good in this hiding of feelings thing, both at Dursleys home and at school. It was handy at times.

One morning, however, Harry could not hide his feelings, as all the school couldn't. On the `Daily Prophet', there was an article which shocked all the students and the staff too.

“Death Eaters attacked St. Mungo's!” was the title on the first page. There was an image of the reception of the magical hospital totally devastated, with the healers crying and sobbing. Seeing it in a moving image was even more terrifying, as it seemed they were really there.

This picture led many students to cry, because if Voldemort attacked the St. Mungo's, the situation was already surely very hard to keep under control and no one could predict his next strike.

The article continued. “Tonight, a group of six Death Eaters entered the St. Mungo's pretending to be wounded wizards. Once in the building, they started to destroy first the reception, killing ten healers who were there, and at least other twelve people, waiting for their acceptance turn. They then, started to destroy every floor of the hospital, entering in the sections with the patients, and killing every person they could see…finally, after at least one hour of devastation, the Aurors arrived, but the Death Eaters apparated away, leaving to them only an huge mass of bodies to recognize. In the whole hospital, only six healers and twelve patients survived to this attack. Maybe this is really the start of the unstoppable chaotic power of the Dark Lord…”

Harry wasn't able to read more. His hand was trembling, while keeping the newspaper, and nobody wanted to harass him in that moment. All the Great Hall was silent, in great sorrow. Neville was one of the most affected, since his parents were there.

“Please, listen to me.” Dumbledore spoke, “What happened is terrible, and I am not the first who is shocked by this event. However, we have to go on in our lives, and you all have to study the best you can, trying to develop your skills. Everyone could be useful, in this war…” He looked Harry in the eyes, almost to add “You are not”, finding an angry look in that green eyes. The challenge between them had officially started.

“We will see who the unreliable is, Headmaster” Harry thought, holding the older wizard's gaze.

Harry had strengthened the work for his Order, and he dared to organize training session as for the DA. Hermione obviously couldn't be always present, however she did try her best, because she knew how much Harry needed her support. Draco was another of the best members, plus he was handy as being in touch with his father who was a Death Eater he had learned some tricks the dark wizards liked to use in duelling, so they learned to expect them and not be surprised, and he managed to shut up the Slytherins, who were speaking against Harry. This particular problem, however, led Ron to make a harsh comment to Harry, one day when they were walking in down the same corridor.

“Well, Potter, if you have the support of the Slytherins, maybe you can switch houses, going to join them. Me and the Gryffindors barely suffer you sitting at our table…”

“It is not true, Weasley” Neville, who had been following them, said. “Maybe many of us are with you, but personally, the one who I don't suffer, is you, and your mouldy brain” he added. They were by now in the Great Hall, so the other Gryffindors could see and hear the scene.

Few other first years joined Neville against him, who shrugged, and turned to Hermione, who was sitting on his side.

“I'm glad I convinced at least you, of all the ones who surrounded that Potter last years. I'm so proud of your cleverness, Hermione. You saw the truth, and followed the Light”

Harry was almost bursting in laughter hearing what Ron had said, but Hermione made him really need to control himself.

“Actually, I didn't say anything, because if I started to speak, your ears would have been filled of insults all the rest of your life, Ron Weasley. And you have not convinced me more than a stone could change itself in a swan.” Hermione said as she stood up, and exited the Great Hall, where they were having dinner. The look Ron had on his face was really priceless.

It was like they had just told a little kid he wouldn't be able to play with his favourite toy for a month.

For the next days life in the castle went on as it was now usual. Harry was more and more used to have everyone against him, but surely knowing he had a group backing him up was doing wonders on his mood. He would have been thoroughly depressed if he knew he wasn't doing a thing while Voldemort was rising to the highest of his power.

Almost a week later, another event took place; this time, the `Daily Prophet' was reporting a Death Eater attack against the Ministry.

“Ministry under attack!” was the title. The article explained the particulars. “This night, the British Ministry of Magic was attacked by Voldemort's army. Death Eaters entered the Ministry from the visitors' entrance, there, they killed the guards in the reception, and started to destroy all the offices, with particular regards for the Aurors floor, where there were also the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, with the Improper Use of Magic office, and the Wizengamot's Administration Services. They were also interested in destroying the floor of the auditions, the floor of the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee, and the fifth floor, in which there was the Department of International Magical Cooperation…”

Harry looked around himself, finding only students frightened by what had happened. Looking up, Harry saw that even Dumbledore was concerned.

“Maybe, if all of you morons weren't so busy to accuse me, this could be avoided…but no, all of you have to blame me for something I am not responsible for, and you don't worry about what Voldemort is doing…” he thought.

Next day, the `Daily Prophet' reported another bad news.

“Some German Death Eaters have attacked a Russian fleet, in the Barents Sea. A group of Russian followers of Voldemort did the same with the German navy in Hamburg. The two groups led the terrorist action leaving signs as it was a Muggle Government of their respective country acting. Because of this the German and Russian muggle governments are now near declaring war against each other”

Harry chose not to read the rest of the article. He ran to the Owlery, took Hedwig and wrote two letters. One for the Russian Minister of Magic, and the other for the German one, trying to explain the situation as clearly as possible, asking them to hold their respective Muggle Governments from starting a war. He knew they already knew it had to be done, but irrationally he thought his letters could help them understand the situation.

Next day, he read that the war had begun, there was a huge air battle between the two nations. Harry shook his head, sad for the upcoming events. Now in the Muggle World there was a war too…

Around three days later, he received the answers of the two Ministers, who wrote him that they had successfully stopped the war, for the moment. The Prophet read good news today, but he couldn't remain happy for more than two minutes. A brown owl flew to Hermione, and she suddenly burst out crying. Ron tried to comfort her, but she ran away.

As quickly as he could, he ran out of the Great Hall too, searching for her.

He felt he knew what had happened.

Voldemort had killed another time. The Grangers were dead.

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Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; they are property of JK Rowling.

A/N: Thanks to all of you who have reviewed, hope you'll enjoy this too. Thanks to my beta GeoTube too.

Chapter Ten

“The Heiress”

Harry ran after Hermione, and finally reached her while she was entering the Common Room. Nobody was there, as everyone was in the Great Hall, having breakfast.

Harry touched her shoulder, and she snapped at him.

“Go away, Ron! Leave me alone!”

“Mione, I'm not Ron. I'm Harry” he said softly to her. She suddenly turned, and hugged him, leaning on him. She couldn't stop crying.

“Oh, Harry” she whimpered.

They seated on a couch, and Harry tried his best to comfort her, while she was cuddled with her body in his embrace, her head on his chest. After a while, she started to feel better, in his arms. She felt safe. Harry cared a lot for her, he had always done, and so he will always do. She knew this.

After some time, Harry made her tell him what had happened, even if he had guessed it. She started sobbing again, but told him.

“Yesterday afternoon there has been a Death Eater attack on my house. I don't know who are the ones who did it, but my parents were killed in few moments and the house destroyed. My uncle sent me the letter”

That confirmed what Harry had thought.

He wondered if she could ever get over this tragedy. He had always lived without his parents, but she seemed so shocked by the sudden loss, so frightened…he couldn't think anything to do to help her heal, so he held her close.

Suddenly, Ron entered the room.

“Very well, Potter. First, you ruin the Order, being as an obstacle as a real Death Eater, now you are trying to steal my girlfriend, too…”

Harry interrupted him, doing his best to maintain his control. A fight between them was the last thing Hermione needed to witness.

“Your girlfriend didn't seem so happy to be comforted by you, downstairs in the Great Hall, was she? However, you took more than an hour to find your way here, Weasel, my compliments. You are a very caring boyfriend. Maybe it is better if you exit from this room…”

“You're fool, Potter. I won't let you stay alone with her. And she doesn't want me to leave. Do you want that, Hermione?”

Tears still flowing from her eyes, she said nothing. Ron was disbelieving, he expected her to say he could stay, but he for once said nothing, trying not to start an argument and show Harry he was right, and exited the room, anger quite evident on his face.

All the day Harry made his best to help her, remembering how she cared for him every time he had a problem. And having her in his arms felt so good…but she was still Ron's girlfriend, so she managed to leave, and went searching for Ron. She wanted to apologize with him for her rudeness, and Harry knew that was the right thing to do.

Around two weeks later, Hermione somehow succeed in regaining her usual behaviour, more or less. It was because her huge sorrow was balanced by a huge happiness. Madame Pomfrey confirmed that she was pregnant, like she had thought when she started having morning sickness.

She would be Mum!

The news excited her so much, obviously she was a bit worried about how to finish school and how to maintain her child now that her parents were dead, but still she felt really excited, so she ran immediately to alert Ron, who was as happy as her, he even started to cry. He would be a Dad! Then, he kissed her, and they remained this way a long time, crying for joy, and kissing. The news spread in the school, and after all, Harry was happy for her.

She deserved joy in her life, and Ron managed to give her that, whilst he gave her just sorrow and worries. He would have liked to be the father, but he had already given up so many things, one more would not be a problem. He was used to be unhappy by now.

But during a war, happiness never lasts long, so two more weeks passed, it was by now the half of May, and Hermione received a letter, which remembered her the death of her parents. It was their will, and with it, was a letter, from her mother. She read it, and tears started flowing again on her beautiful face. She was in the library with Harry at the moment, so she gave it to him to read.

“Dear Hermione,

if you are reading this, it means we are dead;

probably, you will blame us for not having

said it to you before, but you seemed so proud

of being our little daughter, we didn't have

the heart to tell you the truth.

But now, the dreadful moment has arrived.

Hermione, we were not your natural parents.

We adopted you, and in those years,

from when you started to go at Hogwarts, I had done

searches on your family, and I found the worst new I

could expect. My dear girl, you are the only Voldemort's

daughter. His only Heiress. He doesn't know of your existence,

since that night he was drunk and got laid with a Muggle

brought to him from one of his faithful Death Eaters to have fun.

She told to me she had you from a man called Tom Riddle, so I

searched and finally I come up with the reply the day Harry told us

about the Chamber of Secrets and Riddle's diary.

Please, forgive me if you can.

Always yours,

Mum”

Harry understood why she was so shocked. She, Hermione Granger, the cleverest witch at Hogwarts, always ready to help who was in need, was the daughter of Voldemort, the Dark Lord! And he had to kill him, or being killed by her natural father!

Harry embraced her, who was still shocked. Few moments later, Ron entered the Library, but didn't notice they were snuggling. Harry silently left her, but Ron saw her dreadful look, so he snapped at him. “What have you done to her, Potter?”

“Nothing, Weasel” Harry replied, standing up, and going away with the letter in his pocket. He didn't want another problem for Hermione, and surely if Ron knew she was Voldemort's Heiress, he would start tormenting her too. “She will tell him the truth as soon as she will feel ready” he thought, and directed himself to the Defense Against the Dark Arts Class.

Next days, Hermione searched for Harry's company every time Ron wasn't in sight, and she discussed with him her real being. He reassured her, and finally convinced her to tell Ron the truth.

“You can't live all your life with this horrid and heavy secret. What if he finds out this, without you telling him? It would ruin your relationship. I'm sure he will understand,” he said, concluding a long reasoning on the motives for telling him the truth. He knew in the deep of her heart she already knew it was the right thing to do.

Some days later, Hermione decided to face the problem, so after dinner she took Ron in the Common Room, sending all the others away, and she told him the truth.

“Ron, I've to say something to you. Please, don't be angry at me” she said.

“It's about Potter? If he's done something to you…” the redhead started, but she interrupted him.

“No, Ron. Harry's nothing to do with this”

“So, what's the problem?” Ron said.

Hermione took a deep breath. “I'm the daughter of Voldemort, Ron”

Ron remained some moments astonished, then he started to laugh.

“You're kidding, right?” he said, still laughing. “This is good, you're the daughter of Voldemort!”

But she said nothing, so he realised it was the truth, and started to shout, and then slapped her many times in her face, knocking her down, on the floor.

“You slut! You are just like Potter, like a Death Eater. Go away of my sight, immediately. So now, it is clear the reason for your silly defending him, against every piece of evidence. You are like him, like bloody Potter…” then he pushed her on the nearest wall.

“Ron, please, don't hurt me. I find out this only few days ago…” she managed to say.

“And surely you told it first to him…”

“He read the letter, when it arrived…make it for our baby…”

“You little bitch! I don't want to hear nothing of a baby contaminated with Voldemort's blood and genes…go away and don't speak to me anymore!” and he slapped her so strongly that she fell down on the floor again, hitting her head on the floor.

“This is what you deserve, stupid bitch…” Ron said and was ready to hit her again, kicking her belly, trying to kill the baby, when Harry, who had entered the room, overheard the last sentence.

“Don't dare to touch her, Weasley, or you'll have to pay this to me. And don't insult her, either” he said.

Harry was shaking with rage, his wand raised in his arm, looking ready to kill.

“Oh, Potter. I guess I have to fear you, the Great Harry Potter. Damn you!” Ron said, and then he suddenly cried.

“Petrificus Totalis” but Harry avoided the spell.

“Expelliarmus!” he cried on his own then and Ron flew against the wall, his wand in Harry's hand. He quickly stood up, but Harry was quicker.

“Stupefy!” and Ron's body fell on the ground, stunned.

Then Harry went to Hermione, helping her to her dorm, but before going to bed, he took off the spell from Ron, throwing him back his wand.

The redhead remained there, still dazed for the spell effects and the hit on the wall he had suffered.

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Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; they are property of JK Rowling.

A/N: Thanks to those who have read and reviewed. This means a lot to me. Hope you'll enjoy the rest of the story.

Chapter Eleven

“Developments”

Next day, it was official. Ron had broken up with Hermione, and the news spread as usual in the school, however she wasn't sad.

The happening had instead helped her to make the choice she could not for months. It was clear Ron did not love her enough to be with her no matter what and deserve her love, thus he resolved her struggle between her love for Harry and her love for Ron. She felt no pain in knowing they were no longer together, so she understood she wasn't really in love with him. Not anymore, at least.

So she appeared in the Great Hall holding Harry's hand, and they sat one near the other, for the first time in that year. They weren't together yet, but at least she had regained her truly best friend, while Ron…well, Ron looked the scene from the Gryffindor table, barely hiding his rage. Hermione was his girlfriend, and Potter had managed to steal her from him…

“Potter, you'll pay for this too” Ron thought angrily. He didn't know why, but he wanted both of them to suffer. Definitely, he was the one who had taken more to the letter Dumbledore's words, maybe even too much to the letter.

Another week passed, and one day Harry noticed Hermione wasn't feeling well. She had a sick look on her face, so he brought her to the Hospital Wing, after the lessons. Madame Pomfrey checked her up, then, after some minutes, she smiled.

“It's all right. Ms. Granger. Your baby is ok, you've only some pregnancy nauseas”

Harry was glad in hearing that, and Hermione was too obviously. She had read about it, and knowing it was just that made her release the breath she was keeping.

“I think Ron will be happy to know his baby is fine,” Harry said, holding her hand while escorting her to Gryffindor Tower.

“Well, the baby is not Ron's anymore, I guess, since he doesn't want to take care of him, fearing a contamination with Voldemort's blood” she explained rolling her eyes. “The night he hurt me we were discussing that…” Hermione said then, looking at her feet.

“Bloody bastard, he is. First he had sex with you, he got you pregnant, then he refuses to take care of his own child…but don't worry, Mione, I'll help you” he said, pulling her close.

“Thanks, Harry. You can't imagine how much I need you now” she said, a tear crossing her face. She buried herself in his chest.

“I need you, also, Mione…” he whispered to her, then he kissed her softly on the lips, for the first time. She eagerly kissed him back, so they kissed many other times, every one more passionately, just there in the corridor, risking to be caught.

But they didn't care at the moment.

Finally, Harry broke the kiss.

“I need you, because I love you, Mione…” he whispered softly to her, resting his forehead on hers.

“I love you, too, Harry. I've realised it now”

But things were far from being easy for them, even if they now had each other to rely on.

Some days later, while Hermione was studying in the Common Room, Ron arrived from behind her, pretending to be Harry, then he attacked her, blinding her with a charm and kicking her over and over, slapping her, finally he smashed her on the wall, leaving her on the floor, her shirt stained with blood.

Harry entered the common room running, having heard Hermione's screams from the stairs, and as soon as he saw the scene, he felt an hatred for Ron which he never had for anyone else, not even Voldemort or Bellatrix.

“Crucio!” he cried and Ron fell down, on his knees, shouting in pain. Harry left the spell on him three or four minutes, enjoying every moment of it.

Seeing him in so much pain gave him pleasure.

“Weasley, if you dare another time touch her, I'll kill you, this is a promise”, Harry hissed menacingly then he lifted Hermione's body, covered of blood, and took her in the Hospital Wing, running.

This time, Madame Pomfrey was very concerned. Next morning, she announced to Harry the news.

“I'm sorry, Harry. The baby is in great danger. She risks a miscarriage.” Immediately Harry went to her bed, to comfort her. She did not know the news yet, so he managed to break it to her in the gentlest way he could.

“Hermione…” he started softly.

She turned wearily toward him. “Yes, Harry?”

“Well, the hits you suffered…they kind of affected you deeply, so…” he continued stammering. He was totally at loss for words to say that without hurting her too much.

“Tell me, Harry. The baby is gone?” she asked.

“What? No, no. Not yet. But there are high risks it could. I'm sorry” he said, unable to look at her.

She said nothing for some moments, then lifted his head gently.

“Harry, what will happen we'll deal with. This is not your fault, either way it ends” she said, looking him in the eye.

He nodded, unconvinced.

She remained in the Hospital Wing three more days, however when she returned to her normal life, the baby was still alive. She was glad for that, and Harry too.

***

Finally, the school term was over, and they packed their trunks to return home; the feast was, as usual, excellent, then next day they boarded on the Express. Harry, Hermione, Hanna, Neville, Draco, Luna occupied a compartment, and they joked for almost all the travel.

When they were reaching London, however, Harry became serious.

“Ok, we all agree. I'll send you an owl to tell you the exact meeting point and the day and the hour of the meeting. We will pass August in the castle, to know better its inhabitants, and create a relationship with them.”

All of them agreed, and so, when they reached the station, they parted their ways, but not their hearts, all together to reach their aim: the definitive fall of the Dark Lord.

Harry took Hermione's hand, and he led her to the Dursleys, who didn't want to accept her, but Harry threatened them, saying that she was of age so she could do magic out of school, so they had to be attentive. Suddenly, even if what Harry ahd said wasn't true, Hermione became the most enjoyable guest, for the Dursleys…it was like magic, but don't say that to Vernon!

Days passed calmly, and finally Harry and Hermione were officially together. Both of them had dreamed this relationship, in the last months, so they were both extremely happy.

However, having Hermione with him, obliged Harry to study, also because she knew that in August he would have been interested in all different things, so she planned their work to finish all the assigned works before the end of July. It was a hard task, but they managed.

“Are you sure we have finished school? I think I'm still at Hogwarts, preparing an exam,” Harry said teasingly, but she replied with a huge smile, and kissed him on the cheek.

“You are a great wizard, Harry Potter. You are only a little too lazy…” she added then.

“Maybe with an award at the end of the work…” he not so subtly suggested.

“Maybe, if you behave well…” she replied then she kissed him tenderly on the lips.

It was by now the 29^th of July, and Harry sent a letter to Dumbledore.

“Headmaster,

I want to inform you that since

I'm a burden for the Order, if not

even a strong menace, I won't come

to the new Headquarters, wherever they may be.

Harry”

He then owled all the members of the “Order of the Shadows”, to tell them the time and the place of the meeting and sent an owl to the Ringwraith too to explain the situation.

Finally, 31^st of July arrived, and Harry went with Hermione to King's Cross. They were beforehand, so they had the time of a little snogging session, before the arrival of the others. All of them boarded on the train for Cardiff, and then enjoyed the travel in company.

They arrived to Godric's Hollow, using the Floo Powder in a Wizarding pub Draco knew for having been there with his father. They landed directly in the fireplace of the pub in the village near the castle. When they exited the pub, all of them, except Harry, were astonished.

The “Fortress of the Shadow” was there, in front of them, with all its aura of powerful darkness.

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Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; they are property of JK Rowling.

A/N: Hope you'll like this. Thanks to those who have reviewed, it makes me happy. Thanks to my beta GeoTube too.

Chapter Twelve

“Attack”

Harry led the others to the castle, and while they were walking, some Dementors appeared on the border of the Forest. All of them were frightened, but at Harry's signal, the Dementors returned in the Forest; the voice of the Ringwraith started to be heard.

“Welcome back, Sir. I see you are in company,” sounded the deep voice, which scared Harry's companions a little.

“Yes, Ringwraith. They are the only people who trust me, after all the events I told you in my letter. Have you and the other Ringwraith gently prepared their rooms?”

“Of course, my Sir. The rooms are ready; all of you have only to choose which one you prefer. And there is also a good dinner for you, in the Great Dining Room”

“Perfect! So, as soon as we will enter the castle, we will leave the trunks in the Entrance Hall, we will go to have dinner, and then we will choose our rooms. Is it ok for you guys?” he asked to the others, who nodded, still a bit scared.

After dinner, they settled themselves in their rooms, and Hermione asked to stay in Harry's one. He was a little surprised at her forwardness, but agreed all the same. He was glad of that, to say the truth. That earned them some teasing from their companions, especially Draco. Then, tired for the travel, all of them went to bed.

Once in their room, Harry and Hermione found their things in there. They took just what they needed for the night, leaving the rest to be unpacked the next day.

Harry then started changing.

“Harry! What are you doing?”

“I'm changing, why do you ask?” he said, turning toward her with only his trousers on, his chest free to her to see.

“I'm in the room too! You can't simply undress like that!” she said, blushing.

“Hermione, I'm sure you've already seen a man naked, plus you are the one who wanted to be in my room. I thought it was because you could peek at me while I undressed…” he said, teasing her.

She smiled at him.

“Well, that's an extra feature, Mr. Potter. A very pleasurable one, too. But the main reason is that I want to wake tomorrow morning held by the man I love”

“And who would that be?” he said, feigning to be deep in thought. “Maybe a messy black haired, green-eyed wizard, pursued by evil wizards and good ones too?” he said, pulling her close.

“Yeah, that would be him” she said just inches away from his lips, then kissed him.

Few minutes later, they entered the bed and snuggled together. Sleep soon overcome them.

In the morning, after unpacking, Harry showed the whole castle to the others, he then asked the Ringwraith for a map of it.

When he found it on the table, some minutes later, he multiplied it, so everyone had one copy of it. Harry asked the Ringwraith to show himself to his companions, so he could present him, and the others Ringwraith too, to the rest of the Order.

Twelve shadows appeared. They seemed ghosts, but they were more likely the souls of dead people, not properly ghosts. Harry asked them to explain their story, so the usual voice started to say.

“We are the souls of twelve great wizards, companions of your great-grandfather, Grindelwald, and we were killed in battle. He enchanted our bodies to leave our souls here, protecting the castle, until one of his heirs, the most powerful, would give us the freedom, but before, we have to help him in his great task.”

“Well, I don't know if I'm the powerful Heir you are waiting for, but I know that I need your help to defeat Voldemort. Will you help me?”

“Of course, Sir Harry Potter. If you ask, we have to. We are bound to obey your orders, or be damned for the eternity.”

Two days later, while the Order of the Shadows was training, Harry received a letter in which Minister Fudge told him that his trial was delayed to the next summer, after his seventh year, because the Ministry wasn't in the condition to proceed with a trial, after the attacks from the Death Eaters. Harry chuckled thinking that probably next summer there would not be reason to give him a trial.

For three weeks, all the Order members worked hard, running in the morning, building up their bodies in a gym created in one room of the castle, and every evening they trained on spells, learning all what they could from the DADA books they found in the huge library. For example, Harry found a spell, the “Gladiator Curse”, that wasn't an Unforgivable, but was really painful, it conjured a fake Gladiator, who pretended to hit the person with his sword, and even if it wasn't real, the pain was really strong. It was created by a dark wizard coming back from Italy, where he had learned the story of Roman Gladiators.

During the day, they also met all the creatures of the Forest, the werewolves, the giants, and they found some Thestrals. This was a new also for Harry, and the discovery was accidental. Luna fell stumbling on a root, and she bruised her knee, a little blood trickling from it. After some minutes, a group of at least ten Thestrals arrived in the clearing.

In this way, they had resolved one problem that was worrying Harry, the transportation system.

It was by now the 20^th of August, when they received their Hogwarts letters, and so they decided on a break for the day. They went to Diagon Alley to buy what they needed, and there they met Ron. The bloody moron, as he saw them, cast a spell on Hermione, which started to suffocate her. Then he did the same on Hanna and Neville, the nearest to him, but he wasn't able to go on, because Harry and Draco attacked him together.

“Expelliarmus!” and Ron's wand flew to them, while he fell on the ground.

“Finite Incantatem!” Harry shouted then and all the Order members who were attacked regained their composure, breathing again.

“Weasley, I alert you. This time, you have really passed the limit. I'll be comprehensive one more time. Next one, you'll pay with your life,” Harry said, then all the members went to the shops they needed to visit, leaving Ron on the ground.

Three days later, the Order of the Shadows woke up very early in the morning. They had breakfast, and then Harry called the Ringwraiths.

“Today is the day of the first battle we have to fight. Please, follow us, while we will fly on the Thestrals. I want all the Order of the Phoenix to be destroyed, use all the methods that you want or know, but only Dumbledore, Lupin, Hagrid and McGonagall have to be kept alive, for now.”

The members heard his speech and wondered about his plan. They did not believe he was that angry at the Order of the Phoenix to want all of them dead. However, they followed him and the Ringwraith in the Forest.

They called the Thestrals, mounted them, and then Harry said.

“To the Order of the Phoenix whereabouts!” not really knowing where they were, but hoping that the Thestrals would find them.

The flight started, with some occasional screams by Hermione, who as usual didn't like flying, and then, after four hours of it, they reached a building in the countryside, near London. It seemed the Order had not moved too much, after all. The Thestrals landed near it, followed by the Ringwraiths, who were able to fly, being only souls, and then Harry led all of them to the door.

He looked all of them in the eyes, took a deep breath, and opened the door. It did not oppose too much resistance.

They entered the building, and suddenly the doors and the windows locked themselves. Then, Harry heard Snape's voice.

“End of the run, Potter. You are trapped now” the Head of Slytherin sneered.

Suddenly the other members of the Order of the Phoenix entered the room. That was something Harry had not expected, but after all, they were there to fight, so they didl.

“Ok, let's start!” Harry shouted, and the battle started. Neville was immediately stunned by Remus, who was however attacked by Draco. Hanna started duelling with Tonks, while Justin was engaged by Mr. Weasley. Terry Boot was fighting with Mundungus, while Hermione was in battle versus Ron. That was an hell of a duel, between them, trying to avenge all the wrongs both of them felt the other had done to them the previous school year.

Bill Weasley engaged Ernie Macmillan, while Luna attacked Mrs. Weasley. Harry was left duelling with Moody.

After some minutes, almost all the members of the Order of the Shadows were in great troubles. Their skills were really good, what they lacked of was duelling experience.

Hanna, Neville, Terry and Justin were stunned, Luna, Draco and Ernie were fighting with two opponents, and Hermione and Harry were the only who, even if against two attackers, were doing well.

Finally, Harry found the right moment to stun Mundungus, so he could concentrate on Moody. The fight was harsh.

“Stupefy!” Moody barked, but Harry dodged it. “Impedimenta!” Harry cried, but the ex Auror shielded himself from the hex.

“Inverto!” Alastor barked again, and the spell hit Harry. He knew the effects, though, so he continued fighting even if he felt to be upward down. In the end, Harry was able to stun him.

The others were still in troubles, though, so Harry thought better to call help. After all, the Order of the Phoenix had a lot more members than their own.

“Ringwraiths, hurry up! Help them!” he shouted and the twelve shadows appeared, with swords in their hands. They flew trough the room, killing the members of the Order of the Phoenix, sparing only Remus who had been stunned by Hermione. The Order members were terrified seeing the shadows, so their shock made them easy targets for the Ringwraiths.

Harry in the meantime enervated the ones who had been stunned.

“Impedimenta!” Hermione cried and Snape fell on the floor, tripping, but Ron was still there. Harry was duelling now with Mr. Weasley, and he cried “Expecto Gladiatorem!” and Arthur fell on the floor in pain, shouting. Then, Harry cried “Protego!” defending himself from the Stunning Spell Sturgis cast on him.

He counter-attacked. “Expelliarmus!” and Sturgis flew through the room, hitting a wall, for the power of the spell. His neck cracked, and he died on the moment.

Now, the only fighters were Hermione, Harry, Ron, and Mr. Weasley. This last one stood up, since Harry had lifted the curse from him to fight Sturgis, and tried to attack Harry from behind, but Draco, still dazed, cried “Stupefy!” so, Arthur fell on the floor.

In the meanwhile, Ron was still fighting with Hermione. Suddenly, he took advantage of the closeness between them to kick her on her stomach. She fell on the ground, and he kicked her other times, right on the belly, with the clear aim to kill the baby. However, that did not go unnoticed.

Harry, filled with rage, cried “Crucio!” and Ron started to writhe in pain, shouting.

“I had alerted you, Weasley. This time, you'll pay with your life. But before that, I want to enjoy your pain. Expecto Gladiatorem!” Harry said with the evillest voice he had ever mustered.

Ron started to shout even louder. For minutes Harry looked at him writhe on the ground, smirking, his green eyes dark with hatred and rage. It was a sight that frightened all the ones who were there.

“I think this is enough. Avada Kedavra!” Harry said. A green light appeared on his wand tip, and then, the curse hit Ron in the chest, killing him. The Order of the Phoenix was almost extinguished. Exiting the room, the members of the Order of the Shadows killed Mr. Weasley too, the last member alive.

Now, only Dumbledore, Lupin, Hagrid and McGonagall remained, but Harry didn't want to kill them. He wanted to show the Headmaster that he was wrong in his judgement about him, and for Lupin, well, the werewolf hadn't really done anything bad to him that year, while all the others did, so he was keen to spare him. He was the last of his father best friends, after all. Hagrid, well, he owed so much to the half giant, and McGonagall had been like a mother for him in the past years.

For now, his revenge was accomplished.

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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 1^st 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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Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; they are property of JK Rowling.

A/N: Hi to all of you. Here we are once again, with another chapter. So please, leave me a review if you read, that makes me happy. Hope you'll like this!

Chapter Fourteen

“Nearing the Battle”

Next morning, for Harry and the others another school term begun. First lesson was Potions, with the new Professor, after Snape's death. A very young and well-looking woman arrived, named Jane Hopkins, and she showed immediately an instant and radical change of behaviour, compared with the Snape's one, especially toward Harry.

For the first time, Harry enjoyed Potions and his mood was excellent when he entered the Transfiguration Class, where, however, McGonagall treated him with the bigger hate one could imagine. The same for Neville and the other Order of the Shadows members. Yes, even Hermione, who was continuously rebuked by the Professor, even if she was the best witch at Hogwarts.

That was a first, but while once the young witch would have been bothered by that, now she knew there were more important things to care of, especially in that moment.

Then, there was lunch, and the Great Hall was full of harsh comments, when the Order of the Shadows entered, forming a compact group. Harry had decided that nobody of the Order should go alone in the castle, fearing assaults to them. Dumbledore looked them with gravity, but remained silent.

After lunch, there was Care of Magical Creatures, and Hagrid showed them the chimeras, but even Hagrid, who was one of Harry's best friends, couldn't help to be a bit hard with him. At the end of the lesson, however, he invited Harry for a tea, and the boy accepted. While they were drinking, Hagrid spoke, ruffling his hair.

“Harry, sincerely, I don't want to believe to all the things Dumbledore and the Ministry say about you, but this summer you have passed the limit. I didn't think you were responsible for Sirius's death, and remained detached from you last year just because Dumbledore told us to do so, and you know, Dumbledore has always done a lot for me…but now, you have almost destroyed the Order of the Phoenix, Harry, the only organisation which acted to destroy Voldemort and his followers. You destroyed what your parents fought for, Harry. I really don't know what I have to think about you. I thought you were against the Dark side, but now…” the half giant said, shaking his head.

“Hagrid, the Order of the Phoenix blamed me for Sirius's death, and that was unfair. They wasted their time last year controlling me and trying to isolate me from all the people I cared for and that cared for me, instead than controlling Voldemort, and you have seen what has happened. The Ministry…Diagon Alley…St.Mungo's…Hagrid, the prophecy is clear. I have to destroy Voldemort, or to die trying. But for doing this, I need freedom and to feel I'm supported by the people around myself. I can't do that if I feel like I'm walking around guarded like some kind of murderer, and that's what the Order wanted. That's why I had to destroy it. I've a life-or-death battle to win, and they were in my path”

“Harry, I want to explain you, that without a group of people near you, you cannot destroy him, and the Order was this group”

“Hagrid, I do have a group of people with me. People who would never doubt me, and that would support me no matter what. I know they did not understood why we killed all the Order of the Phoenix members this summer, but they fought all the same, because they believe in me. It is the Order of the Shadows that I founded last year”

“The Order of the Shadows? But this name is so dark…” the half giant said, shivering a bit.

“Because our weapons are the dark creatures…” and then Harry explained all the facts to Hagrid, who asked to join the Order, convinced that Harry was on the right side and bored by Dumbledore's inactivity against Voldemort for a whole year.

Then Harry, for safety, put a spell on his friend, that would stop him to reveal all what the boy had said to him. It was not that Harry didn't trust Hagrid, but he had often revealed secrets even not wanting. The half giant simply was not born to keep secrets.

Some days later, Harry tried to regain his place in the Quidditch team, but even if the last captain, Ron, was dead, the new one wasn't friendlier with him. He was Seamus Finnegan, the Head Boy, and one of the strongest opposers of Harry and his Order.

“What you want here, Potter? We don't want you in the squad, so, go away!”

Harry turned, nothing disappointed. He had tried, but actually, he already knew that he would have been rejected. He went to speak a little with his new friend, the Potions Professor; he entered her office, and she was very kind with him. He felt that she could have been useful for the Order, so he asked her to join, but she refused, to not be exposed in first line. Jane said she had lived on her skin Voldemort's first reign of terror, and had not the bravery to challenge the Dark Lord since she had family and little kids. However, she assured to them all the support she could give them from the outside.

Every evening, the Order trained in the Room of Requirements, with Dobby out of it, to control the situation. However, Dumbledore didn't know what they did, or chose to not care of it, so they were never interrupted or in troubles. They practiced a long list of Dark charms, and very powerful Shield Charms, because Harry was sure in the final battle they would need them. In addition, they studied also the recorded habits of the Death Eaters, trying to learn all what was possible on them.

One day, Harry went to the Owlery, to send a letter to the Ringwraiths.

“Dear Ringwraiths,

here, we are training a lot. However

I want to ask you if you have news

about Voldemort's whereabouts. I

remind you that this is a thing of the

utmost importance.

Harry Potter”

Then, almost a week later, he received the answer.

“Our Lord,

we have found his whereabouts, or, at least this is

what we think. I have sent one of us to control

our information, to be sure we are not wrong. I'll

owl you the final reply.

Master Ringwraith”

That evening, however, even if all of the members were used to the others' attacks, something shocking happened. Harry was walking just out of the Head Boy/Girl quarters, when he heard Hermione screaming in pain.

“Please, leave me! Please…I beg you!”

“Shut up, bitch! I cannot kill Potter, but I can at least kill the most important thing for him. He will pay for having joined Voldemort.”

Harry entered the room, cutting the portrait that closed it. “Explodere!” he cried, and the picture was destroyed, revealing the entrance. He found Seamus on Hermione, half naked, on the floor. She had wounds on her body, blood dripping from them, but the worst thing was that Seamus was trying to rape her!

“Crucio!” Harry cried, blind for rage.

Seamus fell on the floor in pain, shouting.

“Finnegan, what did you think you were doing? Next time you'll touch her, I'll kill you. Remember that! See what a good end Weasley did,” Harry said icily and then he helped Hermione to dress again, and brought her in the Hospital Wing.

It was by now the last Monday on November, and apart for this event, all was calm. However, that morning, the “Daily Prophet” had another shocking new.

“Hogsmeade Destroyed!” was the first page title, and then the article continued. “The village of Hogsmeade, very close to Hogwarts, was attacked yesterday by a great number of Death Eaters. All the shops were destroyed, “Zonko's”, “Honeydukes”, “Three Broomsticks”, “Hog's Head”, and even the quite unknown tea room “Mrs. Puddifoot's”, often frequented only by couples. The Dark Mark was on most of the houses in the village, and without the Ministry's Aurors and the Order of the Phoenix to protect us, Hogwarts will soon be the next victim of the Dark Lord. So, even if this is hopeless, I want to try one last thing, one plea, to the Boy-Who-Lived. He could be the only hope we may have, if he remembers who he really is. Harry Potter, come back to the Light and save us!”

Harry immediately stood up, and ran to the Owlery.

“Ringwraith,

we are in emergency! We have to

attack, now!! Leave with all the other

Ringwraith, and all the creatures. We

will reach you in the forest near Voldemort's

whereabouts you signalled me as soon as we can.

Not before two weeks and a half, however.

Harry Potter”

Then he sent the letter by Hedwig, asking her to go as fast as she could. He then, ran back to the Great Hall and encountered all the other members out of it. He said only six words.

“The Final battle is at hand”

Two weeks later, the first day of the Christmas holidays, they boarded on the Express to give the impression they were really going home, at Malfoy's castle, as they had declared.

They reached King's Cross some hours later, and then Harry led all of them out of the station as quickly as they could. Then, without caring of being seen by Muggles, they Apparated to the forest near Dover, where the Ringwraith and the Order's Dark Army were waiting them.

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Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; they are property of JK Rowling.

A/N: For the external aspect of Voldemort's whereabouts I imagined something half way between Orthanc and Barad-dùr, so those of you who know the Lord of the Rings(A lot of you, I guess…) can imagine it. For the others, hope my description gives you an idea of it. Harry's “pep talk” before the battle has been inspired by Aragorn's one in front of the Black Gates of Mordor (in the movie).

Chapter Fifteen

“Final Battle”

Harry and the others landed in the forest, and immediately the Ringwraith's voice was heard.

“Welcome, our Master. We are ready to start the battle. Voldemort's Headquarters are just out the forest, near the sea.”

The Order members looked toward the sea, where they saw an high black tower, raising violently toward the sky, with pointed pinnacles all over the external surface, all made of steel. Dark clouds were all above it, and on the top a small clearing surrounded by other high and pointed pinnacles could be seen. Voldemort's whereabouts.

“Ok, guys. Let's go!” Harry said, after having taken a deep breath and all the members followed him, the Ringwraiths and the Dark Army did the same. They crossed the Forest, and when they reached the border of it, Harry stopped, to explain his battle plan, which he had thought about during the travel to Hogwarts and now, during the crossing of the Forest.

“Well. I think that the maximum surprise we can achieve will be the better for us, so first of all you, Ringwraiths, should go to control if outside there are guards, and if they are, kill them. We will wait here for a sign from you.”

The Ringwraiths disappeared, and some minutes later they returned, their swords covered with blood. “We found three guards, all are dead now. We have free entrance to the tower, now.”

“Good job,” Draco and Neville exclaimed, but Harry interrupted their joyfulness.

“Yes, good job indeed, but this is only the start. People, I'll ask you another last time. Are you ready to risk your life trying to save the Wizarding World? I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come, when the courage of good wizards fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship. But it is not this day. An hour of wolves, and dark wizards may come when the right values will crumble. But it is not this day. This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you to stand, Order of the Shadows!” he said, raising his wand to the sky.

Immediately, all the members, who actually were very frightened, raised their wands, with a new determination in their eyes. They were definitely ready. So, Harry moved toward the castle, followed by them, the Dark Army and the Ringwraiths.

They reached the massive main entrance of the tower. “Alohomora Maxima!” Hermione cried. It was the most powerful unlocking charm, one they had learned back at the Fortress. Suddenly, the heavy doors unlocked, and pushing on them, two werewolves opened the gates, their extraordinary strength handy in that situation.

The Order entered the castle, with the werewolves and the Dementors. The giants had remained in the Forest, waiting for a signal to join the battle. Hagrid was leading them, with Grawp.

They inspected all the rooms on the ground floor, but they found nothing. So, they used the stairs to reach the first floor. Harry opened many rooms, but nothing was there. In the last one, however, they found ten Death Eaters.

“Avada Kedavra!” three of them cried, but Harry and the others were quick to throw themselves on the floor, while Draco, Neville and Hanna, who had hid behind the door, counter-attacked.

“Expecto Gladiatorem!” they cried, and three Gladiators appeared, attacking now and then all the Death Eaters, who were now in strong pain. They were now easy targets for the Order; so after ten death curses, they were dead. The Order left their wands where they lay.

They proceeded to the second floor, and here they found some Dementors, but they defeated them easily, crying “Expecto Patronus!” In the meanwhile, however, twelve Death Eaters had entered the corridor, and they were ready to attack the Order from behind, when they were stopped. The werewolves took care of them, breaking their necks, seizing them with their hands, throwing them against the walls. Their strength was too much for a human to resist, and so the Death Eaters lay, dead, on the floor.

The Order's Dementors, then, were useful when, entering the third floor, they found a room full of Death Eaters. In few minutes, all of them received the Dementor's Kiss, while Harry and the others were going on, unaware of that. They had missed that room, but fortunately the Dementors were ready to feel and attack the opponents, who were exiting it to attack the Order from behind.

The group examined the entire third floor, but they found nothing else, so they went to the fourth one. Here, they encountered some orcs, patrolling the corridors, but that was an easy work for them. Harry and Hermione, who were in the first line, cast quickly many death curses, while the others started to do the same, destroying rapidly the orcs squads.

In a room, Harry found some maps and parchments, in which was planned an attack to Hogwarts, for the next week. Harry was shaking with rage, if there was something he could not allow Voldemort to touch it was Hermione and Hogwarts.

“Incendio!” he cried, and the sheets went burning. In few minutes, only ash remained on the floor. They continued their “tour”, reaching the fifth floor, when they heard some Chinese speaking.

Harry looked attentively from behind his corner, and saw a group of Chinese Death Eaters. He turned and whispered to the Ringwraiths to kill them, because he knew they were very able with some Dark Arts unknown in Great Britain, so he didn't wanted to risk some members' life, not really knowing what could be waiting for them.

The Ringwraiths disappeared, and then suddenly the Death Eaters voices turned in a suffocate lament. The Ringwraith had cut their heads, with their poisoned swords.

The Order could continue the exploration of the tower.

They controlled every room in the floor, and then reached the sixth one, were they had to face twenty Death Eaters, with their wands already raised. Somehow, they were waited. It was not a surprise anymore that they were there.

A huge battle started, and Harry and the Order were in troubles, defending themselves with the strong Shield Charms they had learned but not able to counter-attack. Their fate seemed signed, when the Dementors and the werewolves, which were hidden behind a wall, appeared, saving them.

The Dark Army's creatures distracted and attacked the Death Eaters, so Harry and the others could kill them. Nine death curses were cast, but Harry wanted to try a different curse he had kept from the others as it was most dangerous for the caster if done wrong.

“Internum Exploder!” he cried, and his opponent's body exploded as he had a bomb into himself.

The other enemies were killed by the creatures. Then, they examined the rest of the floor and finally, they reached the stairs for the last one.

The floor in which surely Voldemort would be. The place of the final battle. The floor, which would sign the destiny of all of them.

They entered a huge room, in which at least fifty Death Eaters were, and in the centre, the Dark Lord was. Finally, they had found him.

“Welcome, Potter. I knew you would have arrived, eventually. I see you have company with you. Well, we can enjoy that a little more, cannot we, my faithful Death Eaters?”

All of them laughed, then they raised their wands, and started the battle. Every member was quickly surrounded by many opponents, so they could only defend themselves, without counter-attacking.

After some minutes, the Ringwraiths entered the scene, with the werewolves, and helped them, killing quickly the Death Eaters who were taken by surprise, not expecting the Order to have those creatures on its side. Voldemort seemed quite surprised too.

However, Bellatrix Lestrange, who got particularly upset by that and the fact that after all, the Order members were just young people, but the Death Eaters were having serious troubles in killing them, fired an “Avada Kedavra,” and Justin fell on the floor, dead.

He was the first death for the Order of the Shadows.

Then, Ernie, who was duelling with Dolohov, was near to suffer the same destiny. However, a werewolf pushed the Death Eater, the curse hitting one of his fellow dark wizards.

Draco found himself facing his father.

“I'm disgusted to see what you've become, Draco” Lucius said coldly, wand in hand.

“I'm disgusted to have been under your influence so long, Father” Draco replied, his grey eyes full of hatred.

“Well, let's finish this, then. Avada Kedavra!” Malfoy cried.

Draco quickly rolled out of the curse path, then cried “Expecto Gladiatorem!”

His father quickly was in pain, but managed to control it before Draco could finish him. Years of punishments from Voldemort with the Cruciatus curse made him a bit used to it. Plus, Draco's power and hatred was not like the Dark Lord's one, so it was less effective.

The man stood up again.

“Nice trick, son. But it won't help you. Crucio!”

Draco let the curse hit him, but just one moment before it did, he used a special technique he had learned at the Fortress. His body remained where it was, but his soul exited from it, so the curse did not affect him.

While Lucius wondered why his son wasn't in pain, and lowered his wand, Draco quickly re-entered his body and cast the Killing Curse.

Lucius was so shocked he couldn't move, and so he died killed by his own son.

After almost an hour, the Death Eaters were mostly dead, thanks to the Dark Army too. However, twelve of them were able to imprison the Order members. At this point, Harry and Voldemort ordered to their respective followers to stop, leaving them the space to duel.

The moment of closing all the bills had arrived.

“Are you still sure you want to do it, Potter? You can still join me, and save your friends lives.”

“Sod off, Voldemort. Speak less, and start the duel. Crucio!” Harry cried, but Voldemort defended himself with a quick movement of the wand, which created a grey wall around him. The same he had used with Dumbledore in the Ministry, and the one Harry had not yet managed to learn well.

The wall adsorbed the curse, then Voldemort counter-attacked.

“Crucio!” he said.

“Circulum Erigeo!” Harry cried and defended himself with a circular shield of blue light, then he cried “Expecto Gladiatorem!” and the Gladiator appeared.

For some moments, Voldemort was in pain on the ground, but then he managed to break the curse, and continued the duel.

The battle continued in this way for a long time, without a winner. Suddenly, however, Krum, who was one of the remained Death Eaters, cried, from Harry's behind: “Expelliarmus!” Harry's wand flew away from his hand. He should have expected that.

The Death Eaters did not like to play by the rules.

Voldemort smirked, and then the Dark Lord spoke.

“Ok, Potter, you are dead, now. But before I really kill you, let's enjoy a little with your companions' sufferings,” he then spoke to Krum.

“Viktor, if I don't remember bad, you have a bill to close with the Mudblood, there. Let's start from her.” Krum smirked, and gladly accomplished.

“Crucio!” he cried and Hermione fell on the floor, crying in pain. She had failed in creating the wall Harry had used just before. Actually, she did that, but it resulted to be too weak.

Viktor laughed evilly. “Finally you, little bitch, are paying for having broken up with me. You should have known that it wasn't a good choice,” the Bulgarian said.

Harry was enraged like never before. Seeing Hermione in pain pushed him over the edge.

Suddenly, from his handbreadths, a blinding white light started to glow. All in the room were astonished, then the light became a ray reaching the ceiling, and Harry spoke, but not in his normal voice. It sounded more deep than usual, almost ethereal.

“Voldemort, this is the moment of your end. You've trespassed every border. Be ready to die”

Harry then united his handbreadths, and directed them toward Voldemort.

The ray of white light reached the Dark Lord, who created another grey wall in desperation. But this time it was perforated by the ray, which then touched his body, and Voldemort screamed inhumanly.

Then, some moments later, his body was perforated, and suddenly disappeared. Only his soul remained, but the ray engulfed that too, and destroyed it. The Dark Lord was dead.

The Death Eaters started to run away, while Hermione was standing up, not in pain, now. Krum was escaping, so he had lifted the curse but Harry led the ray on him, so he burned alive like his Master. Then, an acute whistle sounded, and when the Death Eaters who managed to escape the Order Killing Curses reached the main entrance to escape, they found the giants waiting them.

So the last Death Eaters were killed. Hagrid enjoyed the pleasure to kill two of them himself with his bare hands, while Grawp took care of three of them. The Order exited the tower, Harry ordered to the giants to destroy it. After it was done, all of them started their travels, to the “Fortress of the Shadows” for the Dark Army, and to Hogwarts for the Order members.

Before leaving, however, Harry tried to maintain the old swearing done to the Ringwraiths. He didn't know if he was the one they were waiting for, but he tried.

“My faithful Ringwraith, you are free now. You had helped me to accomplish my task and now I free you.” Immediately, the shadows dissolved, leaving some ash in their place.

“Bad idea. Really handy those guys when you're in a tight spot” Draco said wistfully.

The Order Apparated to London, then they passed some time in the town, before reaching King's Cross to return at Hogwarts. “Harry, I still don't know which spell you had used to defeat Voldemort,” Draco asked once on the train, amazed.

“Draco, I don't know too. I'm pretty sure that was the Ancient power that I have, but Voldemort knows not, though. That was the strength of my love for Hermione. He didn't understand love, so he couldn't stop it with his shield,” he then kissed Hermione deeply in front of all of them.

“Hey you two, get a room!” Draco remarked, faking to be puking.

All of them erupted in laughter while the happy couple stuck their tongues at him.

When they arrived at Hogwarts, they found all the Professors waiting for them, and Dumbledore ahead the others. All of them had huge grins on their faces, and Dumbledore hugged Harry, tears flowing on his cheeks.

The Headmaster knew that they had not gone home when they left. He had never showed that, but the fact Harry had taken the lead had made a little hope to be reborn in his heart. He knew Harry was the Heir of one of the darkest wizards of all times, so that was the reason he had tried to isolate him the previous year, seeing signs of darkness in him the moment he had tried the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix, and then after he was possessed by Voldemort in the Ministry. He didn't really think the boy was responsible for Sirius' death, but that was the only reason he could ask the Order to detach themselves from him.

He had feared the events of that night and the following anger may trigger the darkness in him. What he had done last summer could have been another sign of that, but instead Dumbledore had understood Harry was now simply fighting the war on his own terms. Dark terms, it was true, but what was important was to kill Voldemort for good, now. The fact Hagrid was with him gave the Headmaster the final sign Harry may have chosen to use dark arms, but he was definitely fighting for the Light. The half giant would never disobey the Headmaster's orders if not for doing something good in his own way.

“Sorry, Harry, if I doubted of you. I should have known you could never join the Dark side, even if you're the Heir of one of the darkest wizards ever.”

“So you knew it!” Harry said, looking the Headmaster in awe, forgetting for a moment his anger at the old wizard.

“Yeah, Harry. I've always known, and last year I feared something could have triggered the darkness lying within you, that's why I tried to isolate you. It has indeed happened, with results I admit I didn't expect like the destruction of the Order of the Phoenix, but you used it for the Light side, so it is no bad thing after all”

“And now the Dark Lord has been destroyed” Harry finished, happy to not have totally lost the esteem of who he thought his mentor, even if still upset for all what the man had put him trough. He ahd led him to kill many people who didn't deserve that, like Tonks, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Moody…even Ron could have not become so hostile and deserve his death if the Headmaster hadn't spread those things about him, and those wounds would probably never heal.

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Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; they are property of JK Rowling.

A/N: Thanks to all of you who have reviewed. It means a lot to me. Hope you'll like this one too.

Chapter Sixteen

“Regained Freedom”

After their return at Hogwarts, the Order members went to rest in their rooms. The battle had been so long and wearying that they were exhausted, even after the hours on the Express, in which they had regained some energies.

However, Harry wasn't so happy as the others. He was blaming himself for Justin's death.

Hermione and the others tried to comfort him, but nobody was able to do this. During the night, however, Justin himself appeared in dream to Harry, and reassured him.

“Don't worry about my death, Harry. I willingly chose to follow you, knowing the risks it would have implied. So, now that you and the Wizarding World can live happy, do it. Do it for me, too and don't let the chance slip”

Next morning, when Harry entered the Great Hall to have breakfast with all the Order members, and the Professors, he took place between Hermione and Draco, who was a guest at the Gryffindor table. He found a copy of the “Daily Prophet” in front of him, it was an extraordinary edition.

“You-Know-Who Is Dead!” then the article continued. “Yesterday the Wizarding World had found his definitive freedom from You-Know-Who, when it seemed by now only a dream, with the last attacks, the destruction of the Ministry and of the Order of the Phoenix, and the suspect joining of Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, to the Dark Lord himself. But, it was the same Boy-Who-Lived, who actually never joined the Dark side, with an Order that he himself had founded, the Order of the Shadows, who destroyed You-Know-Who and all his Death Eaters, attacking directly his whereabouts.

His methods were unconventional, in fact Harry Potter led a Dark Army, composed by werewolves, giants, Dementors to obtain this won, but finally he used a secret weapon, the Light of the Lights, as Albus Dumbledore has explained, which is constituted by the power of pure Love, to kill the Dark Lord. This power came from the love he felt, and still feels, for his classmate Hermione Granger. So, after having attacked him so many times, we have finally to say: Thank you, Harry Potter!”

Harry smiled, reading that, as all the others on the table, then he commented.

“But what do I have to do to convince them to call him with his name? Even after his death, they still call him You-Know-Who…” and all of them laughed. Then, after breakfast, him, McGonagall once again apologized for having doubted of him.

Later that day, Harry and Hermione were having a nice walk around the lake.

At some point, Harry decided it was time to address something that had bothered him from the moment they left Voldemort's whereabouts.

“Hermione, there's something I need to ask you”

“Tell me, Harry. You know you can speak about anything with me”

“It's just, I wonder how do you feel knowing I've killed your father” he said, looking down.

She looked at him puzzled for one moment, then it dawned on her.

“Harry, I never thought of Voldemort as my father. He was just an evil madman to me, and one who kept trying to kill the love of my life, so I feel no pain for his death, if this is what you're wondering”

“Yeah, I know, but still, he made you come in this world, even if unconsciously, so…”

She took his face softly. “Harry, look at me. I love you, even if you've killed him. For all I feel, he's never been my father, so don't blame yourself for something never existing in the first place” then she kissed him softly, trying to show trough that kiss just how much she loved him.

At times she wondered how could she have been in love with Ron, but that was all in the past now, what mattered was that she and Harry were together and happy.

Next day, all the students returned, but not because the holidays were finished. Dumbledore had proclaimed an annual Yule Ball, from that moment, to cheer the defeat of Voldemort, and Harry and Hermione had to open the dances, as the King and the Queen of the Ball.

When Harry saw Hermione, ready for that evening, he remained speechless. Draco joked on that.

“Earth to Potter, Earth to Potter, remember to breathe!” the boy teased him.

All the ones in the common room laughed, while Harry playfully swatted Draco on his head.

“Mione, you are really stunning!” he finally managed to comment.

She was wearing a red satin dress, which fitted perfectly on her body, exalting her curves. It had spaghetti straps on her shoulders and a deep V-neck to underline her cleavage. It left her upper back bare, while a little lower there was a little bit made of entwined straps leaving some of the creamy flesh in sight before it started covering her totally again.

He, instead, was wearing an emerald green velvet robe, which matched perfectly his eyes, and she kissed him briefly.

“You're quite handsome yourself, Mr. Potter…” she said winking at him then.

The Ball was perfect, and Hanna and Neville were one of the best couples of it. The unique trouble was Seamus, who tried all the evening to approach Hermione alone. Harry noticed it, so he controlled him, and fortunately, nothing bad happened. It was incredible how that git still wanted revenge on Harry, thinking he was a crazy rampaging Dark wizard and all the Wizarding World was wrong about him…

Next morning Harry went to Dumbledore to explain what was happened before the holidays, just to prevent more acts like that one and Dumbledore assured that strong action would be taken against him.

Finally, the term restarted, and the evening of the return of the students from the holidays was signed by an joyous feast. Dumbledore, before the start of the banquet, stood up.

“We have to thank Harry Potter, all of us together, and to give him our apologies for having treated him and his fellows of the Order of the Shadows so badly,” all of them stood up, cheering at the Order. But while many did not, Dumbledore noticed that Seamus remained seated, so he added.

“And I want to say you, that sadly a fellow student is dead in the Order of the Shadow's action, so we should remember Justin Flinch-Fletchey. Let's raise our goblets in his memory”

Seamus tensed and glared at Harry and Hermione, who were looking at the staff table. It didn't go unnoticed by the Headmaster.

“And an expulsion is required. Our Head Boy, Seamus Finnegan, before the holidays has dishonoured his role, trying to rape the Head Girl Hermione Granger, so from this moment he is expelled, and the new Head Boy will be Harry Potter”

At this the Great Hall was filled by shouts of happiness for Harry and of despise for Seamus. This one, however, took the chance for the last bad action, raised his wand and tried to curse Harry. “Avada…” he cried, but Neville was quicker, and cried “Expelliarmus!” so Seamus' wand flew in his hand, and the curse never departed from it.

The boy was stunned and in half an hour he found himself on Hogwarts Express, bringing him back home and away from the castle.

Life at Hogwarts became very happy now for the Order. They were cheered up by everyone, Harry was elected Gryffindor Captain, so he regained his place in the team, for the last match. Professors were so kind with them, and never scolded them, even if they were distracted. Their marks reached the top quickly, and nothing could be more perfect.

One day, at breakfast, Harry noticed Minister Fudge near Dumbledore, and suddenly three reporters of the “Daily Prophet” entered. Then, the Minister started to speak, and called the Order near him. At this point, he awarded all the members with the Merlin's Order First Class. There was also one posthumous for Justin.

After having awarded all the members, Fudge arrived to Harry.

“And this is for you, Harry Potter. The Ministry is glad to appoint you three Orders of Merlin First Class for having defeated the Dark Lord and ridden ourselves from his menace” and suddenly many flashes started to work, as the reporters took many photos of Harry and the Minister together.

Next morning, on the newspaper, Harry found himself in the first page, and there was an interview given by Fudge.

“All of us have to learn from what has happened that the appearance many times is deviating. Nobody of us knew that Harry Potter was creating one Order on his own, for example. We thought he was creating a dark association to help Voldemort to conquer the world and he had tricked the Order of the Phoenix, that night, to consign them to Voldemort. We also thought he revealed their whereabouts to the Dark Lord, but we were wrong on all those things, as it has been showed by facts, so I declare Harry Potter cleared from all the charges we had put on him. He is again a free wizard, and we should all hope he finds in his heart to forgive us for our mistakes”

Hermione, reading this couldn't help to hug him and kiss him under all the Great Hall's eyes. After that, a huge clapping of hands filled the room, and Dumbledore looked them once again with the love he one time had showed for Harry, before all the happenings of the last two years.

That night, after dinner, Harry and Hermione retreated soon to their quarters. Both felt it was time to take their relationship one step further.

So when they entered his room, and he kissed her hungrily as he had wanted to do during all dinner. She eagerly replied, and a battle of tongues ensued.

Soon, she started unbuttoning his shirt, and then, still kissing him, she pushed it down his shoulders, starting to explore his chest with her hands, and grazing his nipples now and then. It only made him more wanting, so he started undoing her blouse too. In few minutes, her white lacy bra was uncovered, and Harry started fumbling with it trying to take it off of her.

She giggled against his lips at his frustration, and with an expert movement unhooked it, then made it slide down her arms.

Feeling his gaze on her, she blushed a bit.

“I know they aren't perfect…” she started, looking down.

“What are you saying? They, you are the best sight I lay my eyes on in my whole life” he said, cupping one breast and starting fondling an already erect and hard nipple.

She moaned.

Taking the hint, Harry engulfed the other one with his mouth, starting to lick and gently bite it. That elicited more moans from her, and that made his already hard erection even more painful.

Soon the rest of their clothes was discarded and Harry lay her on his bed, kissing his way down from her cleavage and breasts to her belly, and further down, to her crotch.

After his ministrations, she became even wetter than she already was, so he understood it was time.

“Mione, are you sure you want to do this? If you don't we can stop” he said, gentlemanly, even if having to stop right at that moment would have been torture for him.

“Yeah, Harry. I'm sure. Please, make love to me” she said, then kissed him. It was what he needed. Slowly he entered her and they made love.

After they climaxed together, Harry pulled her close, and whispered, “I love you so much, Mione”

“I love you too, Harry, with all my heart…” she replied and then they kissed passionately once again.

Soon sleep engulfed them, cuddling together.

Almost a week later, Harry gained the permit to visit London, so he Apparated there, after having left the castle grounds, and he entered the most famous jewellery of the capital. When he exited, he had a small package with him, and he Apparated back.

The same night, Harry took Hermione before dinner, he brought her to the lake, where he had prepared a surprise for her. There was a romantic dinner for them, with candles light, and for her a bouquet of red roses. She had happiness tears on her eyes, seeing all of this, but nothing could prepare her for what happened after dinner. Harry extracted the package, swiftly opened it and went on his knees.

A sparkling white gold ring, with emeralds all over it engulfing one single bigger diamond was in front of her.

“Hermione Eleanor Granger, will you marry me?”

She remained speechless for some minutes, not knowing if she had dreamt what he had asked and able only to nod, while crying for joy. Then she hugged him, kissed him, and whispered “Finally my dream comes true. I love you, Harry, and surely I'll marry you…”

After some minutes, Harry summoned his Firebolt, and took her for a fly in the night. Even if she feared flying, he grabbed her waist, not letting her to fall, and she felt so sure, embraced by her unique true love, she didn't care if they were flying. Plus, the night was so beautiful, it was a breathtaking sight, and pushed aside all her fears.

Finally, the last day of the term arrived, and after having received the results of their N.E.W.T.s, the seventh years attended to the Graduation Ball. Harry and the other Order members were extremely happy, because all of them gained the maximum grades. They all obtained 11 N.E.W.T.s, while the maximum was normally 10, because Dumbledore awarded them one special in “Extremely Advanced Defense Against Dark Arts”

Then, the Ball started. Neville and Hanna were by now officially together, while Draco was with Luna. It had been a shock for his friends when they started dating, but they seemed so happy together. However, they never could reach the happiness glowing from Harry and Hermione's eyes.

All the school had noticed the ring on her finger, thus they all knew they were engaged. Congratulations ensued for days, but the ones Harry and Hermione cherished the most were the ones from the fellow members of the Order, who had shared their adventure with them, risking their life side by side with the couple.

The feast lasted all the night, then next morning they boarded on the Express for the last adieu to Hogwarts, as students, at least. All of the seventh years were very sad, and Harry had even tears on his eyes, but Hermione comforted him all the travel. When finally they reached King's Cross, Harry and Hermione said hello to the others, then started to move toward the exit.

Suddenly Hermione stopped, leaning on a wall.

“Mione, what's happened? Are you ok?” Harry asked, concerned.

“Yes, Harry. I'm only a little nauseous. Nothing to worry about. I've already been this way…” she said smiling knowingly at him.

Harry understood what she meant, and hugged her, a huge grin on his face.

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Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; they are property of JK Rowling.

A/N: So this is the last chapter. Hope you've enjoyed the ride, because I definitely did. All of you who have reviewed have my special thanks, as every comment you left meant a lot to me.

Chapter Seventeen

“Until death will part us”

Harry helped her to exit from the station, then they Apparated to the “Fortress of the Shadows.” He lifted her, and brought her in their room, to not make her tire herself, even if she was just at the start of her pregnancy then he owled Madame Pomfrey to come there as soon as possible.

Next morning, the Hogwarts healer arrived, and she examined Hermione. She stood up, and looked to Harry, beaming.

“Harry, I'm glad to tell you she is pregnant,” she said, and Harry's face suddenly was all filled again by a huge grin.

He was really going to be a father!

He went to Hermione, still in bed, and took her hand. She smiled to him.

“I said you we could have made it up,” she whispered, the twinkle in her eyes never so bright. He nodded, then he kissed her softly, as he was at a loss for words.

Suddenly, a loud “pop” was heard in the room, and Dobby appeared with Winky.

“Hello, Harry Potter, sir. Dumbledore has sent we us to you. He has said we can be more useful for you, now that you have freed the Ringwraiths, than at Hogwarts. If you want us to serve you, obviously…”

“Dobby, you and Winky can remain if you wish so. But you are not here to serve us, you are here to help us and that's different” Harry said, then he called the other House Elves, to give them the chance to meet the new arrived. Hermione beamed at her husband-to-be.

Next morning, Harry and Hermione started to write the invites for their marriage, which they have planned to be for the first of August, just after his birthday. This activity filled their morning, and in the afternoon, they took a walk in their new possession.

Harry had already visited a lot of it, but not completely. They discovered a quiet small pinewood behind the castle, and they rested there a little, enjoying the soft breeze blowing through the trees.

The guests received a white envelope, with the invitation and some of them with the request of being the groomsmen and the bridesmaids.

“Harry James Potter

and

Hermione Eleanor Granger

Request your presence to their wedding

The ceremony will take place

on Saturday 1^st August

At the “Fortress of the Shadows”,

Godric's Hollow, at 4 p.m.”

The requested groomsmen and bridesmaids received, attached to the invitation, a letter.

“We ask you to be one of the groomsmen/ bridesmaids; the planned couples are:

Best Man/ Maid of Honour: Draco Malfoy / Luna Lovegood

First Couple: Neville Longbottom / Hanna Abbott

Second Couple: Ernie Macmillan / Parvati Patil

Third Couple: Dean Thomas / Lavender Brown

Fourth Couple: Terry Boot / Susan Bones

Please reply as soon as you can

Harry and Hermione”

In the meanwhile, Dumbledore was, still unconsciously, preparing a surprise for both of them. McGonagall had decided to retire that year and he was thinking about the right people to take her place and the DADA Professor position. He was examining many curriculums, but nobody seemed very adept for the jobs.

The marriage was planned to be in the chapel of the “Fortress of the Shadows,” and the reception in the Great Hall of it. So, Harry and Hermione were thinking about how they should prepare the castle for the occasion, when the replies of the groomsmen and bridesmaids arrived. All of them were enthusiastic to join the wedding staff.

One week before the ceremony, the staff was reunited in the castle to prepare themselves and it for the event. Harry had lifted the charms, which were making the castle invisible, for the occasion so the wedding staff could find it.

First thing, they went to choose the robes for the ceremony, and Harry was sworn by Draco and Neville that Hermione was breathtaking with her bride dress. Then, for some days, they trained the groomsmen and the bridesmaids for what they had to do, choruses, bringing the rings, and such stuff. Hermione was the usual bossy witch they had all grown to love in the years, directing them. She wanted her marriage to be perfect.

Then, the last two days, they prepared the chapel and the castle, filling it with flowers, especially white, pink, and red roses. It could seem a bit in contrast with the darkness of the castle, but in the end, the visual effect was amazing.

Finally, the day arrived.

The morning was occupied doing photographs with the wedding staff, so it passed quickly, and finally Harry entered the chapel, waiting for his bride to be.

Slowly, the guests started to arrive, so he saw Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout, and even Trewlaney, for once mixed with the other humans, hoping her Inner Eye wouldn't be too affected.

Then he saw Hagrid, with tears on his eyes, and Lupin, who gave him a thumb up, mouthing, “Your parents would be proud of you”

After some excruciating minutes, the bridesmaids started to enter, pairing themselves with their own groomsman, and then…

The Wedding March started, and Hermione entered the chapel, in her stunning beauty.

She was wearing a simple white dress, not too revealing but still leaving her shoulders almost bare, with spaghetti straps and a V-neck showing some of her cleavage. It was justified by the terrible warmth of the period, and the need for her to be comfortable, being pregnant. She had small white roses pinned in her hair, and a classic veil.

She walked down the aisle, a white roses bouquet in her hand, and was accompanied by Albus Dumbledore, since her father was dead.

The priest started the ceremony.

“We are here to celebrate the joining of Harry James Potter and Hermione Eleanor Granger in marriage” he said.

“Who gives this woman in marriage?” he asked then.

“I do” Dumbledore replied, looking at her proudly. She smiled at Hogwarts' Headmaster.

Then, the ceremony went on, until they had to say their vows. Hermione started.

“From the moment I saw you, I knew you were one special person, but not for what you were famous for. You were special for what you really were. I got this feeling from all the little things you did in our first days at Hogwarts, even if we did not be so close back then. And after every adventure we shared together, my feeling of that grew up even more. I really don't know if I could have found another man like you, in my life. Every time we were together, I felt myself melting on every look from you. You always cared for me, in every situation, even putting your own life in danger to save me. That's why I love you with all my heart, Harry”

Then, he spoke.

“You have always been the rock on which I could count in the hardest moments of my life. You were always near me, supporting me, even when every other people avoided me or misjudged me, and were the only one capable to read my feelings as an open book. I knew you were always thinking for my good, even when we fought on something, and usually you were right. From the moment I met you, you started to be my conscience, telling me what was right to do and what was not. I always cared for you, putting my same life in danger for you, because I could have lost my life, but I couldn't suffer to have lost you. I love you more than my own life, Hermione”

“Harry James Potter, do you take Hermione Eleanor Granger, to be your wife, to live together in marriage? Do you promise to love her, comfort her, and keep her, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful only to her, so long as you both shall live?” the priest said.

“Yes, I do” he replied, looking at her.

“Hermione Eleanor Granger, do you take Harry James Potter, to be your husband to live together in marriage? Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honour and keep him for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, and forsaking all others, be faithful only to him, so long as you both shall live?”

“Yes, I do” she answered.

“Have we the rings?” the priest asked.

Draco went to him, giving the rings, and the priest passed them to Harry and Hermione.

“These rings are a symbol of your love and promise to each other. Hermione, please take Harry's ring and place it on his finger”

Hermione took the ring, and she placed it on Harry's finger, her hand shaking a little.

Then it was Harry's turn. He placed the ring on Hermione's finger.

“For Harry and Hermione have consented together in matrimony, and have witnessed the same before this company and have pledged their love and loyalty to each other, and have declared the same by the joining and the giving of rings, I, therefore, pronounce that they are husband and wife. Harry Potter, you may kiss your wife.”

Harry lifted her veil and kissed her without doubts, deeply, and then they walked hand in hand out of the chapel, a deafening sound of clapping of hands accompanying them.

At the reception, after having eaten some of the more complex and expensive dishes in the world, the guests enjoyed the dances. Harry and Hermione had to open them, dancing in the middle of the room, then the others joined them. Then, there was the ceremony of the throwing of the bouquet.

Hermione turned, and then she threw it in the crowd.

Hanna caught it, and Harry winked to Neville, who blushed deeply.

Then the garter was thrown by Harry, and this time Draco was the fastest, his past as a Seeker being handy at the moment.

“Well, I reckon we may have two incoming marriages, then” Harry joked, while Hanna and Luna were snuggling close to their boyfriends. Many of them laughed.

When all the guests went away, they went to share their first night as a married couple.

Some days later, they received a letter from Hogwarts. Dumbledore had taken his decision and was asking them to become the Transfiguration teacher, to Hermione, and to Harry he asked to take the DADA position.

Both of them accepted without doubts, even if in the beginning they did not believe their eyes, reading the letters. So, the last week of August they were again at Hogwarts to start the staff meetings, preparing for the new school year.

They shared a room in the Staff wing of the castle, and here, one night, some months later, Hermione felt very sick.

Her belly was aching terribly, so Harry took her to the Hospital Wing, suspecting what was happening. He passed some time out of the door, waiting for news. Then, Madame Pomfrey went to call him.

“She's ready” the witch said, smiling.

So Harry held her hand trough the long hours of labour, risking to have his own broken by her vicious grip, till their child came to the world.

He grinned at his wife, who smiled tiredly at him. She was a very beautiful girl, and from what they could see, she had her mother's brown hairs, and her father's emerald green eyes.

Harry took her in his arms. “Kate Lily Potter, welcome to the world” he said proudly, looking at the tiny baby in his hands.

“I can only hope she won't become as bossy as her mother” he couldn't help to comment teasingly then.

“Or lazy as her father” Hermione replied, while Harry was seating on her bed, just before passing their daughter to her and kissing her passionately.

Once again, there was a Potter family in the Wizarding World, and this time nobody would trouble their happiness.

THE END

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