Harry Potter and the Triptych
By Vickles
Disclaimer: Do not own the rights to Harry Potter. Or Care Bears, for that matter.
Author's Note: Enjoy!
~*~
Chapter 12: Truly Unique
~*~
The rest of the day passed by with little event. Ron, possibly out of fear of receiving another show like the one from earlier, stayed secluded in his bedroom. After eating dinner, Hermione and Harry went to the up to Harry's bedroom, Hermione stopping to change her clothes on the way. Together they sat on the couch in front of the fire.
"So Ron and I had an interesting discussion earlier," Harry started.
Hermione shifted and rested her head on his shoulder, taking his hand in hers and they looked up at the ceiling. "Oh? What about?" she asked with curiosity.
"You," Harry replied honestly.
Stiffening slightly, Hermione looked up at him, "That can't be good."
"It was nothing bad, I suppose," Harry continued, feeling a bit like he was fibbing, "He was just telling me about something you two discussed during patrols fifth year."
"Oh," Hermione said and Harry instantly knew that they were on the same page, "That."
Harry could tell that she was uncomfortable and desperately wanted to back off, but at the same time needed to know, "Is it true?"
Sitting up and facing him, Hermione bit her lip with a blank expression in her face. She then leaned slightly closer to Harry, staring at her fingers as they ran robotically through his hair, "What would you do if it was?"
Unprepared for the question, Harry had to think for a moment, "Nothing, I guess."
Hermione opened her mouth and almost immediately closed it, hesitating a bit, "You wouldn't leave me?"
"What?" Harry asked, sitting straight up, "Do you really think I would leave you?" He placed his hand on her cheek.
Her face grew red as she settled her face into him palm, "I don't know what to think. About any of this."
"What do you mean?"
Hermione moved Harry's hand from her cheek and held it in her lap as she spoke, "It's just that, when I told Ron that, the man I would be with didn't exist in my head outside of a shadow. I had not even considered that it could be you."
Harry attempted to swallow as is mouth grew dry, "And now?"
Letting out a shaky breath, Hermione continued, "And now there's a whole lot of variables that I didn't even know existed at the time."
"Such as?" Harry asked, feeling clueless.
"Such as the fact that we could die and that it is constantly hanging over our heads, even if we don't speak about it most of the time. We will fight as long and hard as we have to if that is what it takes to finish it, but the risks are all there. You have seen Moody's picture of the old Order of the Phoenix. That could be us. With that in mind, I know that there is a chance of never being able to marry, which screws with my great plan a bit," she laughed sourly, wiping a tear from her cheek.
Hermione smiled at Harry, "And then there's you."
"Me?" Harry questioned, surprised.
Hermione nodded and blushed a little, "Whenever we're together now, it just seems like I can't get enough. There's no overdosing with you," Harry grinned inwardly, "Also, outside of that, the whole reason I made my plan was to keep myself from ever going through with it with a man who I wouldn't spend my life with. I'm not worried about that with you."
"Really?" Harry was smiling now.
"Yeah," Hermione said, "Like it or not, you're stuck with me."
Harry's smile spread from ear to ear as he knocked her over on the couch and pinned her down. "I could think of worse things," he said as he began kissing her.
They were setting new records for time spent without oxygen when a knock sounded at the door. They each hastily sat up, fixing their appearances. "Come in," Hermione called as she settled back against Harry's shoulder.
"Hey," Ron said as he entered and pulled up a chair across from the couch.
"Hey," Harry replied. "Did you need something?" he asked, trying not to sound irritated.
"Yes, actually," he responded, turning to Hermione, "Are you going to be moving in here, then?"
Caught off guard, Hermione stared at him blankly for a moment before shrugging, "I suppose I will eventually, if Harry doesn't mind."
"I don't," Harry pointed out for Ron's benefits and his own.
"How long is eventually?" Ron pressed.
Hermione narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "Why?"
"He wants your bedroom," Harry told her.
"Oh." Harry and Ron watched as she furrowed her brows in thought. "Well then…" she spoke after a minute, "If we're going to be moving we should do it tomorrow, since we don't know if we'll be busy on the weekends or not from now on."
"I hope not," Ron sighed tiredly. "I suppose we can do it tomorrow, but that probably means I should be heading to bed. Goodnight." Hermione stood gave him a hug before he left.
Harry put out the fire and then went and joined Hermione, who had already gotten into bed. She rested her head on his shoulder, laying a hand on his abdomen, "Harry? About what we were talking about earlier…"
"Yeah?" Harry asked as he set his glasses on the nightstand.
"I know that some things are different…but I'm still not ready. It's only been about a day, after all, and it's not that I don't at some point it is just…"
"It's fine Hermione," Harry said with a smile.
"Okay, good. I just wanted to make sure that we were on the same page."
"Same page, paragraph, sentence, and word," Harry replied.
Hermione laughed, "You forgot letter."
"That's why you're here, to remind me that I forgot it," Harry told her.
Hermione sighed with content and whispered quietly, "I like this."
"What? Making jokes and references to books?" Harry grinned.
"Well, yes, those too I suppose. I meant us. I like us." Hermione yawned and closed her eyes.
Harry nodded, running his fingers through her curls, "I like us too."
"This all happened so suddenly. Perhaps we're crazy."
"Maybe we were just blind and stupid," Harry pointed out; "Even Rita Skeeter and Viktor Krum saw it before us."
"Let's not forget Ron. And Cho Chang," Hermione added, "Wow, we must have been stupid."
Hermione yawned again and Harry smiled. "Goodnight, Hermione," he said, laying a kiss on her forehead.
She smiled sleepily, "Goodnight." In less than a minute she was fast asleep. Harry watched contently as she slumbered, a soft blanket of moonlight illuminating her innocent face. It did not take long before Harry was asleep as well.
~*~
Hermione sighed. She had left them alone for five minutes. Five minutes, just so she could use the loo! All they had to do was put Ron's bedding on Hermione's former bed, and what did they do? She did not really know, but she was quite certain she did not want to as she walked into the room to see them both wrapped from head to toe in some form of bedding or other. "What on Earth happened?" she practically shrieked.
Both boys turned to look at her. "Oh, you're done already?" Ron asked.
Hermione rolled her eyes, "I was using the loo Ron, not going on some great expedition. Now answer my question."
Harry looked at her sheepishly and Hermione felt herself going sappy almost instantly. "Well, we were, er, you see…"
"We were pretending we were trolls!" Ron finished, grinning. "Actually, Harry's the troll. I'm a giant."
Before she knew it Hermione was receiving a detailed explanation of the game Trolls and Giants, which mainly involved the Ron and Harry wrestling through the thick padding of sheets and comforters. Try as she might, the two did not want to get back on the task of moving, practically insisting on acting half their age, so she soon found herself the princess of all trolls. Harry, of course, had to get past the giant in order to rescue her.
The rest of the day went by rather similarly, and it was a wonder that they ever managed to move everything. Around dinnertime, Hermione asked the guys if they would like to come with her to Diagon Alley, since she wanted to by a few things for Harry's and her room. Obviously having nothing better to, they accompanied her.
Two hours later, Hermione was satisfied with the few things she purchased (well, Harry purchased them because he wanted to and Hermione found it pointless to argue) and Harry and Ron were trudging behind her. Hermione was just about to tell them that she was finished when Harry perked up.
"What is it?" Hermione asked as he stared blankly at something in the distance.
After a moment, Harry blinked and looked back at her. "What? Oh, I don't know. I just had a strange feeling."
Hermione wanted to press the issue, but that seemed to be the extent of Harry's knowledge. "Are you ready to go home?" she asked.
Harry nodded, turning to Ron for confirmation. Ron shrugged, "Actually I just remembered something that I was going to do. You two can go on home, I'll see you in the morning."
"Okay," Hermione replied, shrugging, "Goodnight." She gave him a quick hug, took Harry's hand and together they Apparated back to Grimmauld Place.
Both tired from the moving and shopping, they each changed into their pajamas. (Hermione went into the bathroom, despite Harry's partially fake protests.) Hermione came and joined Harry in the bed and after a few quick kisses and utterances of sweet dreams, both were fast asleep.
~*~
The next morning came all too soon, in Harry's opinion. As he blinked at the clock on his bed stand, his mind registered that he should start getting ready for Gretta's lesson. Practically dragging his feet across the room and opened his bathroom door. It was not until after he had kissed her good morning that Harry noticed how utterly…organized his bathroom had become over night. Trying to cope with it and going about his business (despite the fact that he couldn't find anything) he showered and pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He was going to brush his teeth when finally it pushed him too far.
"Hermione!" he yelled as he looked throughout the house. "Hermione?" He tried to stay calm, knowing she probably had good intentions.
"Is everything okay?" Hermione asked, concerned.
Harry shook his head it feverishly, "No! I woke up this morning, everything was fine, and then I found out that the bathroom is different!" Harry explained.
"What did you do?" Ron asked Hermione.
"I cleaned it," Hermione replied, looking at Harry, "What's making you so mad about this?"
Harry sighed, turning to Ron, "Could you give us a moment, Ron?" Ron nodded and left. He faced back to Hermione, "You moved everything."
"I was just trying to make it nicer."
"I can't find my toothbrush." Harry pressed.
"That's because I threw out the old one and bought you a new one." Hermione replied, shrugging.
"You threw out my toothbrush?"
Hermione smiled at him, as if he was kidding, "Yes, Harry. That thing was so old I'm willing to bet that it wasn't cleaning your teeth anymore. Honestly, what's up with you?"
Harry sighed, trying to relay to her that he was not joking, "You can't reorganize my bathroom and throw out my things without telling me."
"But," Hermione looked at him, confused, "It's our bathroom now. I thought you'd thank me for the changes I made."
"Why?" Harry said, a bit harsher than he intended to, "I don't know where anything is and you threw out my toothbrush."
Hermione simply stared at him as if he was quite possibly the densest git to ever walk this planet, and then glanced at her watch. "You should go finish getting ready. Gretta will be here in fifteen minutes." With that, she turned and headed towards the kitchen. Harry knew that this was not over, but decided to give her some space for the time being.
When he headed into the kitchen, setting his papers for Gretta on the table, Harry noticed that Hermione was not there with Ron. They had established a custom of sitting and discussing the day in the morning so this disturbed Harry a bit, but did not surprise him. He sighed as he grabbed a muffin.
"Still having hangover anger from your argument from Hermione?" Ron asked with slight amusement.
Harry shrugged, "It wasn't so much an argument, but I think I may have said something stupid."
Ron nodded sympathetically, "You probably did. Since we have Gretta this morning and Moody this afternoon, you should probably talk to her after dinner."
Harry followed Ron upstairs, shortly followed by the arrival of Gretta. She led them into the living room and they all sat, Hermione moving so Ron had to sit between the two of them.
Gretta read over all of their writing in silence, occasionally asking Harry or Ron to clarify a particularly untidy scroll of letters. After what seemed to be a long time, she sighed happily and set the stack down. "I must say, you three did much better than I expected. You all made very astute observations about yourselves as well as your powers. Each of you did a great deal of reflection on the events in your life which really impressed me."
"So did any of us get it?" Hermione asked.
Gretta smiled sympathetically and shook her head, "But that's okay. In all honesty, I did not expect you to. I was misleading when I told you to find something unique about you and you alone, as was intentional. I really wanted you three to look inside yourselves, and though it does not necessarily apply directly to my lessons with you, I think that you will realize that the way you are in touch with your own characteristics will help you in many things you do.
"That said," she went on, "All three of you touched on it. Right at the very beginning."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
Gretta smiled again, "The thing that is truly unique about each one of you is your relationship to each other."
"Each other?" Ron asked, "But how does that apply to us and us alone?"
"Excellent question, Ron," Gretta told him, "You see, it's actually quite simple. Ron, no one else in the entire world shares the same relationship you have with Harry and Hermione. The same applies to the two of you as well. The reason that I want to point this out is because that work I will be doing with you in the coming weeks will be in direct relation to the Triptych and the powers it holds together with the bond that the three of you share. It is going to become increasingly necessary for you to understand this bond and its presence all of the time as we go further on."
"Which leads me to your assignment this week," she grinned at their disappointed faces, "I know you want to learn more practical uses, but a great deal of the magic that lies within the Triptych is internal, so we need to acknowledge that before moving on to anything else. I want you to do something very similar to last week, which means you will simply be writing in an unabridged fashion. I want you to each write about the relationships that you share with the other two of you. You can make charts, drawings, etcetera. You can draw on memories, experiences, and write what you know about them from their favorite color to their worst fear. You can explain what you think makes you click with one another, and what you feel around them. Feel free to compare. The most important of this exercise is that you be completely honest. Any questions?"
The three of them shook their heads. Gretta bid them goodbye and Apparated out. The three of them ate a quiet lunch, finishing just as Moody showed up.
The lesson was much like the previous one. Harry sat in a corner, clearing his mind or trying to, anyway. Thoughts of Hermione and their argument distracted him. Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione worked on Ron's powers. Just as Harry was beginning to doze off, the lesson was over and Moody was leaving. According to him, Ron was making improvement, whatever that meant. Harry stretched his cramped legs as they headed to the kitchen. After eating, he stood and held out his hand to Hermione. Hermione looked at him questioningly. "We should talk," he said quietly.
Hermione placed her hand in his, immediately making him feel better. Together they walked up to his room. Harry sat on the bed, leaning against the headboard, and pulled Hermione up to him, her side to his chest so they could look at each other as he wrapped his arms around her.
"I'll be honest," Harry started, "I really don't understand this whole thing."
Hermione exhaled softly as she let her head sit in the crook of his neck, "It's just that, this is my room, too, now. I was not trying to make you mad, so it hurt a bit that you got so upset over a toothbrush.
Harry nodded, running his finger through her hair, "I used the one you bought. It is really a nice toothbrush and it was nice of you to get it for me. I'm sorry though, I don't the difference between me calling it my room and calling it our room."
"Let me see if I can explain," Hermione said slowly, "In my head, if it is your room, that means I am just a guest. If it is our room, that means that we are partners and equal."
Harry thought that he was beginning to comprehend, but sensed something else. "Is there a possibility that this is about more than just the bathroom?"
Hermione shrugged, "Maybe," she paused for a moment, "I guess that I'm just a bit worried that you still only think of me as your best friend."
"Why would you think that?" Harry asked, smiling just barely, "I hardly kiss Ron."
"Well that's just it. I think that in your head you still think of me as your best friend, we just kiss now. I'm not simply your best friend anymore, Harry."
Harry sighed, realizing that he had occasionally thought like that, "Okay, I've had a few slip ups. I apologize." He gave her a kiss on the temple.
Hermione nodded, closing her eyes. "I'm sorry I moved everything around and threw out your toothbrush without talking to you first. I really was not thinking about how it would make you feel. It should have occurred to me that you would not like it."
"It's fine. At least you didn't make the entire bathroom pink."
Hermione scrunched her face up in a way that Harry found rather adorable, "I don't think you have to worry about me turning everything pink, Harry."
Harry laughed, giving her a chaste kiss on the nose, "Well that's good, because I would be hardly comfortable in a room representing Care Bear throw up."
Hermione giggled before sighing after a moment, "I suppose that being a couple isn't all happily ever after."
"It's not so bad," Harry shrugged, "If all of our arguments are like this one I think we'll be able to handle it. We can figure things out as we go along."
"Speaking of figuring things out," Hermione said, "What are we going to do about Gretta's assignment? She said that it's important for us to be honest."
"I suppose we should be honest, then. It's not like she's going to tell the Daily Prophet or anything." Harry pointed out.
"Yeah, plus McGonagall trusts her. And, she may even already know. Didn't McGonagall say that she's a Seer?"
"Yes she did. I wonder what she'd see, though." They shared a look. Hermione grinned as Harry began placing kisses on her neck.
"Hopefully she can find some way to tune things out," was the last thing Hermione said before she was lost in Harry lips.
~*~
The rest of the week practically flew by. In their practical lessons with Lupin or Tonks (or both of them at the same time) all three of them were improving greatly in traditional magic skills. The Triptych powers were still a bit of a mystery, having some kind of unknown trigger. On Thursday, there was another rather irritating lesson where that stupid damned chair (repaired by Tonks) refused to levitate as Hermione wanted. When Remus showed up Tonks called a five-minute break and they and Ron went downstairs to get a few drinks. Hermione stood in the center of the attic, staring at the chair.
Harry smiled sadly at her, "I think that thing hates you."
Hermione gritted her teeth. "I refuse to let an object made of wood defeat me. Why is this so hard?"
Hermione watched as an idea seemed to dawn on Harry as he strode toward her. "Do you want to levitate that chair?" he asked when he stood in front of her.
She blinked, "Of course I do. What are you getting at?"
Harry said nothing, but simply leaned forward and gave her the most mind-blowing kiss ever, tongues tangling, hearts racing. When he finally drew back for oxygen, Harry grinned at her, "Then levitate it."
"I…uh…okay…" Hermione turned to the chair in a bit of a daze to realize that it was already in the air.
After staring in shock for a few moments, Hermione let out an excited yelp as she jumped into Harry's arms. Harry smiled, "Told you that you could do it."
Hermione merely smiled and kissed him again, "I can't believe it. How did you know that would work?"
"Probably that Potter ego. Gets it from James," a low voice said from the doorway. They looked over to see Tonks and Remus grinning with amazement as Ron stuffed his fist in his mouth to contain his laughter. "May I ask when this happened?"
Harry set Hermione on the floor. "Last Friday?" he answered, looking at the cracks on the floor.
Tonks smiled at Remus and held out her hand, "You owe me five Sickles."
Remus sighed and handed the currency to her, "Bloody hell. You're good."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.
Tonks laughed, "I said that it'd happen this summer. He said it would take longer, since Harry's dense and all."
"You had a bet going on us?" Harry exclaimed. Tonks and Remus merely shrugged, not even bothering to have the decency of being ashamed.
Ron walked in and stared at the chair that continued to hover in mid-air. Ron walked in and stared at the chair that continued to hover in mid-air. Ron stared at it for a few moments, the rest of the room watching him as he turned to Hermione. "Are you telling me that just because Harry kissed you, you were able to lift this bloody thing?" he asked her.
Hermione bit her lip and nodded, "Yes, that's pretty much it. What made you think that'd work?" she asked Harry.
Harry shrugged, "I don't know. I just remember when you lit the fire in my room Friday night, just before Ron came in. You just knew that you had to do it, but you weren't really focusing because I suppose you were thinking of me then."
"I see what you were saying about the ego," Tonks commented, causing Remus to chuckle. "Try and do it again, Hermione, without Potter smooching on ya!"
Hermione shrugged. She faced the chair and concentrated on it, lowering it back down to the floor. Hermione was about to try to lift it again when Tonks held up a hand to stop her.
"Slow down. I do not want to jinx this. Okay, I am going to spend tomorrow working with you and Harry to see if we can figure out exactly what the hell is going on here. Ron, you get the day off. Sleep in, pig out, wank, whatever makes you happy."
"Hey!" Ron exclaimed as Harry and Hermione laughed hysterically. After a moment he huffed and crossed his arms, staring at Harry and Hermione in annoyance.
Hermione only giggled, turning and whispering in Harry's ear, "I suppose we should practice then. Want to be excellent pupils."
This was a pleasing idea to Harry, indeed. "Okay, well, we'll be heading off then. See you all later!" Taking Hermione's hand, they practically ran out of the room.
Ron sat on the floor and sighed as Tonks and Remus Disapparated. "Well, my appetite has sufficiently been ruined."
Ron spent Friday in Diagon Alley, not coming back on until late that evening. Hermione and Harry worked with Tonks again (Remus came by a few times) as they tried to place their fingers on an exact trigger. While they definitely made a lot of progress (most certainly in Harry's opinion) they failed to figure out the exact cause by the end of the day. After an hour or so of sparring, Tonks let them go.
Harry and Hermione were both fast asleep before they knew it, and as Harry woke Saturday morning the first thing he saw was Hermione's glowing face.
"Well this is a pleasant thing to wake up to," Harry commented.
Hermione smiled and held up an envelope, "Happy Birthday, Harry."
~*~
A/N: I was busy, my beta was a bit busy, and I needed to do a couple of rewrites. That said, I, as always, got this out ASAP, so I hope you enjoyed. The next chapter may take a bit longer (according to my outline it will be a rather large chapter). As always, your patience (and reviews) are greatly appreciated. Much thanks to Lady Starlight for helping me make this chapter (and this story) much better for all of you than it would be otherwise. :)
-->