Here's a new chapter! It's a LITTLE bit of a filler, but it's a kind of funny one, too. I wanted to get this chapter out of the way until the next one, but I hope you enjoy it! Have a good weekend!
Chapter 10
"I want to congratulate you three on destroying all the Horcruxes." McGonagall sat stiff behind her desk that once belonged to Dumbledore and so may before. "I know Dumbledore would have been very proud of you."
Pride for not only himself, but for his friends swept through him. "Thank you," Harry said, who was sitting across from her, with Hermione and Ron on either side of him.
"We don't have much time left," she continued. "In a couple of hours there will be a meeting in the Great Hall and just to warn you, the Aurors will be in the form of your fellow students. Although you will recognize many of them, they will not be who you think they are. Understand?" When they only nodded, she linked her fingers and rested them on her desk. "Harry, after the meeting you are to meet Professor Lupin in the Dark Arts classroom for training. Now, I assume I'm wasting my breath by asking you two to leave for the safe house?"
Both Ron and Hermione straightened in their seats. "Yes, you would," Hermione said firmly.
"I figured as much," she sighed. "Very well, the two of you along with Miss Weasley, Miss Lovegood and Mr. Longbottom will join you Harry, since they are also stubborn."
"Tell me about it," Ron mumbled.
"I hope you realize what loyal friends you have, Mr. Potter."
Harry smiled softly as he reached for Hermione's hands, then shared a smile with Ron. "I do."
Harry saw McGonagall's eyes flicker to his hand linked with Hermione's and could have sworn he saw her eyes turn soft, if only for a second. "You three may go," she finally said as she sniffed and lifted her chin. 'I suggest you three get some rest before the meeting."
The three of them stood up. "Thank you, Professor," Harry said still keeping his hand in Hermione's.
She gave him a firm nod. "And remember, the Aurors are trying to make it seem that Hogwarts is still open, so you will see them doing day to day activities."
"Professor, is there Aurors pretending to be us?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, and they were given the most protection. We believe Voldemort thinks you have been here this whole time, he has no idea the Horcruxes have been destroyed."
"How do you know?" Harry asked.
"We found an expert on Horcruxes and he explained that if one is destroyed, the person has no affect. The only way of knowing is to check that your Horcurxes are still intact. We are hoping that Voldemort hasn't done so. If he is unaware that they have been destroyed, I believe you will have the upper hand, Mr. Potter."
"Where are our doubles?" Ron asked.
"Now that you are here, the Aurors that you were are hiding out in the Gryffindor common room. We had just informed them that you were on your way to Hogwarts."
"Do we know them?" Harry asked.
"Oh no," she said shaking her head. "They're Americans. The three of them are very close and were the first to volunteer to be the famous trio. They are one of the top Aurors in the States. They are loud, out of control and completely nuts." McGonagall gave them a ghost of a smile. "They suited you three perfectly."
XXX
"Weird isn't it?" Ron asked as they headed towards the common room, passing random "students" on the way. "To think of someone pretending to be us."
"Hope they didn't make us look stupid," Harry laughed as they walked into the common room, but then it died when he saw their doubles. He couldn't quite believe what he was seeing.
The fake Harry and Hermione were wrestling on the floor while the fake Ron was leaning over, resting his hands on his knees as he watched closely. "Excuse me…"
"Not now, I'm refereeing," the fake Ron said not taking his eyes off the tangled bodies of Harry and Hermione's doubles. "Come on, Peyton my money's on you!" Hermione's double let out a growl of frustration and rolled the fake Harry on his back. "You go girl!"
But it didn't last long, for the fake Harry pulled back a leg and trapped the fake Hermione between his legs and threw her down on the floor. The fake Ron winced. "Little harder dealing with Hermione's puny muscles, hey Peyton?"
"Hey!" the real Hermione exclaimed.
The fake Ron looked up and blinked. "Oh. Begging pardon."
"You might as well give up, Peyton," the fake Harry said who now had her pinned down. "Hermione's strength is no match for Harry's."
"Oh, just wait until this polyjuice potion wears off, Jake Sanders!" the fake Hermione growled as she struggled to get up.
"Hell, if I'm not crazy about you, Peyton," Jack said as he got up on his feet with great speed and pulled her on her feet. "Give us a kiss."
"No," she said as she pushed him away. "You know the rule, no kissing me while you are in Harry Potter's form. He's ten years younger than me and it's just creepy, and Hermione is a good twelve years younger than you, you perv."
"Ah, but even with Hermione's looks I know my feisty Peyton is in there."
"Knock it off you two," the fake Ron said giving them a little nudge. "The real us is here."
"Oh," Jack said grinning at them. "Sorry about that, guess it's a little weird to watch yourself wrestle."
"Actually," Harry said with a grin. "It looked rather fun."
Hermione gasped. "Harry!"
Jack just laughed. "I'm Jack Sanders," he said holding out a hand to Harry. "This wonderful woman is Peyton Williams, but once all this mess is over, she will be Peyton Sanders."
"Merlin help me," she muttered but smiled anyway. "It's nice to meet you. Hermione, we really need to work on your strength, girl. Although you were a lot stronger than I thought you'd be, but you could use a little toning up."
"Er…thanks?" she said sheepishly.
"The Ron double is my pal, Scott Andrews," Jack said as he slapped him on the arm. "He's the ladies man."
"That's only because he's settled down with Peyton," he said with a grin. "Now I'm the ladies man."
"Looks like the potion is rubbing off," Ron said to Scott as he pointed to his arm. "My freckles are disappearing on you."
"Good," Peyton said as her bushy hair turned to sunlight blonde and her brown eyes turned to sky blue. "Get ready for a rematch, Sanders."
"Can't wait," he said as Harry's trademark scar vanished and his messy black hair turned into light brown, but still stayed just as out of control as Harry's. He grew a few more inches and Harry's green eyes still stayed green, but shimmered into a different shade, more hazel then emerald. "Good to be me again."
"You're telling me," Scott said who now had his shaggy dirty blonde hair and bright green eyes.
"Okay, now you can kiss me," Peyton said jumping into his arms.
Jack easily caught her and with no modesty at all, kissed her thoroughly. Harry had to admit, they did look great together. Peyton was tall herself, reaching to about six feet, but she still had to lean up to kiss Jack, who towered over her. Harry was about to comment on it when Peyton shocked him and Jack by suddenly tripping him with her leg. Next thing they knew Jack was lying flat on his back and Peyton was sitting comfortably on his chest. "God, I love you," Jack said breathlessly.
Peyton grinned, giving him a quick kiss before letting him up. "Love you back."
"Er…sorry," Harry said before they could kiss again. "Do you know where our friends are?"
"Oh, they're up in the boy's seventh year dorm," Jack said. "They usually hang out back there, but I believe Luna is up there alone. When Ginny and Neville want to be alone they go to a different room."
"Ginny and Neville?" Harry asked. "Wait, are they together?"
Peyton laughed. "They are hardly ever apart."
Harry grinned and looked down at Hermione. "That's great."
"Um, Ron," Scott said hesitantly. "I should probably let you know that when Luna first saw me…she…well…thought I was you."
Ron's eyes narrowed. "You told her you weren't, right?"
"Of course I did," he blurted, then winced. "Eventually."
"Eventually?!"
"Well, before I could even tell her who I was, she jumped me!" he exclaimed. "It was hard to tell her with her tongue in my mouth."
"Bloody hell!"
"Scott, you are not helping," Peyton groaned then turned to a stricken Ron. "Don't worry, Ron, it only happened once. And when Jack pulled her off, we told her."
"She was rather embarrassed," Jack said as he shared an amused look with Harry and tried not to laugh. "So go easy on her."
"And mad props to you, man," Scott said patting him on the back. "She's a great kisser."
"Scott!" Peyton groaned.
"What? It was a compliment!"
Peyton shook her head hopelessly. "Just go on up," Peyton said to Ron. "I'm sure she wants to kiss the real Ron."
"Good idea," he said and then couldn't help but smile back at Scott. "And you're right. She's a fantastic kisser."
Scott hooted with laughter as Ron walked off. "Gotta love that guy, reminds me of myself when I was that age."
"If that's true," Hermione said turning to Peyton. "I'm very sorry."
Peyton grinned. "Oh, I knew I was going to like you, Hermione."
"Well, I don't think that was very nice at all," Scott said as he pouted.
"Neither was telling Ron that his girlfriend had her tongue down your throat, you idiot," Jack said with a laugh before turning to Harry and Hermione. "You two must be tired, why don't you go get some sleep before the meeting."
"Good idea," Hermione said grabbing Harry's hands. "Is there a place open?"
"Well, Peyton and I are staying in the Head Boy's room, but you can have the Head Girl's room."
"Hey, that's where I sleep!" Scott said.
"Yes, but you're hardly there," Peyton said. "Scott's been cozying up with some French girl."
Scott sighed placing a hand on his chest. "Ahh, Belle…my little French pastry. They're right, I'm hardly ever here, I'm usually shacking in the Ravenclaw common room. Knock yourself out."
"All right, thanks," Harry said with a slight chuckle. "It was nice to meet you all, thanks for being us I guess."
"Not a problem," Jack said. "It was a blast. See you around."
Harry and Hermione didn't waste anytime, as soon as they were inside the room, they kicked off their shoes and collapsed on the bed. Hermione curled up against him, resting her cheek against his chest as Harry lightly trailed his fingertips along her arm.
"You know, for someone to be ranked up so high as an Auror, those three are awfully silly," Hermione spoke for the first time.
With his eyes closed Harry smiled. "I like them."
"Me too," she said snuggling closer. "It's nice how they managed to have fun during times like these."
Harry kissed the top of her head. "Want to have some fun now? We can try some wrestling of our own."
Hermione giggled. "Maybe later…after Peyton shows me some moves." She tilted her head up so their lips could meet. "You need some sleep."
"I don't think I'll fall asleep, but resting my eyes and being here with you is nice." He closed his eyes again and let out a deep sigh. "I wish we got together sooner."
"It was never the right time," she mumbled sleepily. "Until now."
"Things are going to get kind of crazy from now on."
"And the last five months weren't?" she asked.
"Hermione, you have to promise me that you'll stay close. When the attack happens I need you to be beside me at all times. The Death Eaters won't hurt me until Voldemort gets back."
"I'll be by your side, Harry. Even when Voldemort comes."
He didn't say anything, because he didn't want to argue with her. When Voldemort came, he had to face him alone. He was all alone. "I just want you safe. Just because we're together now, doesn't mean I want you to back out of your word. I still want Harriet."
Hermione shifted then until she was lying half on top of him and her face loomed over his. "So do I," she said kissing him softly. "But I want you to be Harriet's father, so you better come back."
He reached up and cupped her face, pushing back her hair as he did. "I'll do everything I can." He brought her down for a long lazy kiss filled with hope and promise. "I love you, Hermione."
Hermione sighed as she tucked her head under his chin. "I love you, too, Harry. I always have."