A/N- Hello everyone! Sorry I've taken so long to update but I have had the worst week imaginable and didn't have the time. But I do now! Thanks to everyone for reading along and reviewing. I especially want to thank anyone that has been reading for a while and is just starting to review. Writing this story is a thankless job and it takes so much time and effort…I really do appreciate the comments you leave because it shows that it's not all for nothing and that people do actually want to read more. I also want to thank Mulder again! Without her I would probably be in the loony bin by now. Oh and one last point to make (then I'll shut up I promise!) a lot of these words are spelt differently because I was raised in the UK and I can't get the hang of American spellings. So sorry! I would change my ways but it's too much hassle! Thanks again, hope you enjoy the chapter!
**Islanzadi** J
It was six in the morning on Boxing Day, and Ginny Weasley once again found herself walking up the old staircase. She moved quietly, wincing every time the stair creaked. She wasn't entirely sure what was making her come up here, all she really knew was that she didn't want to be with the rest of them when they were getting ready to go on another great adventure. She huffed quietly to herself and continued up the stairs until she finally reached the door once more. She hesitated for a split second…then pushed herself in, holding her chin high. Malfoy was lying on the bed, and sat up very quickly when she entered.
"Not you again," he said scathingly, and then flopped back down on the bed. He was getting a bit sick of her visits. She had come to see him twice again yesterday, and not only did she not give him any valuable information but she was disgustingly nice to him.
"I brought you some breakfast," she murmured, putting it gently on the bedside table.
"I don't want anything your Mother made," he said with a look of distaste splashed across his face.
"Fair enough," she said nonchalantly and picked up the plate and headed to the door. He contemplated just letting her go and standing his ground…but he had refused to eat yesterday and now he was paying the price. He hated himself when he quickly said-
"Wait a minute Weasel. Give me that food…"
He wanted to vomit when she smiled happily and put the plate in front of him again. He couldn't wait until he was out of here and had the upper hand. He felt completely humiliated at his situation and everyone was going to pay. Especially her, coming in here and acting like a saint just to make herself feel better. He ate the breakfast quickly, turning his back to her so that she wouldn't see how hungry he was. He may be in an awful situation but he still had his pride.
"Are you finished?" asked Ginny when he finally turned around
"No actually," replied Malfoy "I planned on eating the imaginary food next. I imagine it tastes a lot better than the last meal."
"You're such a tosser," she said, and then grabbed the plate with a roll of her eyes. She was about to walk towards the door and leave when he decided to have a little fun with her. After all it had been dreadfully dull holed up in such a nasty room.
"Why aren't you downstairs with the wonderful Potter and his pitiful followers? I can hear the racket from up here, taking a little trip somewhere?" said Malfoy, his eyes glittering. She turned around and smirked.
"I'm not down there because I'm up here you idiot. As for what they're doing it's really none of your business," she said casually.
"So Potter decided to shag someone else, and you thought you'd come up here and try to make friends with me? As if I would actually want to associate with something like you!" said Malfoy nastily.
"Why? Does it bother you if someone is nice to you Malfoy? I thought it would. I expect you haven't had many people be nice to you. Look at your parents, they are as dark as can be. How can parents that support Voldemort possibly love their child? I think that even they were horrid to you so that's all you've learnt." replied Ginny so casually it was as if she were commenting on the weather.
"What complete shit you talk Weasel. I just don't want you thinking that you're important enough to speak to me. I may not be in an advantageous situation, but I won't stoop so low as to converse with you," snapped Malfoy, his face beginning to flush in anger.
"I heard that children are what their parents made them. If you parents criticise you, you learn to be critical. If they insult and degrade you then you treat others the same way. You think you're better than everyone Malfoy, but you're just pathetic. You're a stupid bully because your parents bullied you. You'll never know what love is; you'll never know what it's like to have a true friend. You'll miss out on everything life has to offer because you're a stuck up nasty little snob. Look where it's gotten you, following a wizard that murders for pleasure. He would kill you just as easily as a muggle. You know that right?" said Ginny, but was interrupted with Malfoy shouting-
"SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU NASTY BITCH!" Ginny continued as if she hadn't heard him.
"You're a weak fool Malfoy. You try and act like such a hard nut, but you're just a bloody wimp deep down. You couldn't kill Dumbledore, you were too scared. But rather than admit that and face up to it like a man, you ran back to your fellow death eaters. I expect you've had plenty of practice killing now though, eh? Heard enough innocent people screaming yet, or do you miss it when you're locked away in this room?'
"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" shouted Malfoy, furiously getting off the bed to attack her, only to be thrown back down again by the unseen protective shield in the room. It was at that moment that Susan walked into the room with a plate of food for Malfoy. Needless to say she was surprised at the scene before her.
"What are you doing in here Ginny?" she asked in a shocked voice
"I brought him breakfast. I was just having a little chat with him before I left," she said defiantly, though her face flushed slightly.
"Your Mum sent me up here with his food. You're not allowed anywhere near here. You know that," said Susan angrily.
"Shut up Susan," snapped Ginny
"I heard what you were saying to him too. You have no right to judge anyone on his or her behaviour until you sort your own out. You have been nothing but a childish little brat since I've been here. I know it's hard to let go of your young crushes; it's even harder to let go of obsessions. But there's a time to grow up Ginny. I suggest you do it before you lose the respect and love of the people that care about you. Apologise to Hermione, it's not her fault that she fell in love with Harry nor that he returned her feelings. She misses you and still wants to be your friend, which is a damn sight more than you deserve after attacking her like that. I'm going to go downstairs and pretend to your parents that I didn't see you in here, and for God's sake grow up and don't let me catch you up here again," Susan said in a tone that was verging on furiousness. She then turned around and stormed out of the room as quickly as she had entered. Ginny stared at the door, her face extremely red.
"You attacked the Mudblood?!" said Malfoy, rubbing his hands together with glee.
"I'm not proud of it, and don't call her that," snapped Ginny
"As much as I hate Boner she did raise a good point. If you've been a total bitch you have no right to tell me what I need to fix. Look in the mirror and work on yourself." said Malfoy, a large smile appearing on his face. She was looking very red in the face and angry, this was getting quite fun now that he was back in control.
"At least I can admit when I'm wrong. I'm not proud of my actions and I can see my faults quite clearly," retorted Ginny, her eyes blazing with anger.
"If that's the case then why haven't you run to the little Mudblood and begged her forgiveness? You're too proud to beg that's why. You're not a great pure blood, but you're still better than a Mudblood by any means and you shouldn't ever grovel to something like that," said Malfoy smirking.
"You're a piece of work you know that? You're nothing but what your parents and other dark wizards have made you. You can be sure that I will do the right thing Malfoy, because I value things other than my own skin. But you? I pity you more than anyone I think I've ever met. If you live you're going to be unbelievably lonely. You can't be truly powerful because you can't bully everyone into following you. You can't bully someone to love you either. The worst thing is…you won't listen to a word I'm saying. You'll never change; the best I can hope for is that on your dying day you'll feel some kind of regret for the life you've lived. On that day Malfoy, you'll think of my face and how I tried to be nice to you for once in your life. You'll think of my face and wonder what would have happened if you had listened to me. You'll think of my face and wish that you had someone that loved you to think about. Instead you're going to be stuck thinking of me…and that gives me great pleasure." finished Ginny, her face red and her breathing laboured. She turned around to storm out of the room and caught Malfoy's quick response of-
"I wouldn't be thinking of something like you on my dying day," but it sounded sad and lame, even to him.
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Hermione and the rest of the group were having a cup of tea and waiting for Harry's arrival before they set off to Romania. She looked at the clock and nibbled on her lip anxiously. Their portkey was set to take them to Charlie's house in ten minutes and there was still no sign of Harry. After the death of Lupin and Tonks, his Aunt Petunia was perfectly fine staying in the house temporarily, but early this morning she had apparently changed her mind. Harry had left to try and talk some sense into her; after all it was still very unsafe for her to be returning to the muggle world when Voldemort was still at large. She had hoped that things would be taken care of rather quickly, but evidently Petunia was proving to be quite a problem.
The minutes ticked by and the rest of the group was shuffling around and looking at the clock repeatedly. Finally the front door swung open and a very harassed looking Harry entered, dragging an irate Aunt Petunia behind him. Hermione rolled her eyes in frustration as the woman screeched -
"This place is absolutely disgusting! I refuse to stay here, let go of my arm this minute!" Harry just closed the front door and ignored his aunt as he walked quickly into the living room to join the rest of the group. Petunia looked like she might explode at Harry's nonchalance but was whisked away by Mrs Weasley before anything could be said. He looked at the clock and quickly dropped a kiss on Hermione's cheek, then grabbed his rucksack and swung it swiftly onto his shoulders.
"So it went quite well then," chortled Ron, before putting on his own rucksack. They all stepped together quickly and grabbed a hold of the Portkey, an old newspaper, and in less than a minute they were being pulled away from Grimmauld place. Hermione thought that travelling by Portkey was quite a risky business for the stomach for any witch or wizard, but she had a much harder time holding onto her breakfast than usual. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to think of nothing but the blessed feeling of her feet on solid ground.
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Harry opened his eyes when he felt himself finally standing still, and looked at his surroundings in amazement. In front of them was a stone house, made of large grey slabs that seemed unbelievably drab looking in comparison to the crisp clean white snow beneath their feet. As he looked up he could see huge mountains not too far away, they seemed to loom ominously over the house that now seemed incredibly small. He turned around slowly to see that they were almost surrounded by mountains, though the ones behind them were quite a bit away. He carried on staring at the mountains in the distance, almost forgetting that he was with other people. Suddenly a loud roar brought him out of his reverie and he turned around very quickly, trying not to fall over his feet in his haste and shock. The last time he had heard a roar like that it had been in the Triwizard tournament, and he had sort of hoped it would be the last time he would ever get that close to a dragon ever again.
"Shit!" shouted Susan, not succeeding in not falling over. Luna started to laugh hysterically at Susan's sudden visit to the snow and pretty soon they were all trying to calm her down, the roar of the dragon almost forgotten. Almost.
"Alrigh' there 'Arry!" came a loud booming voice. Harry turned around to see the large figure of Hagrid walking effortlessly towards him through all the snow. Harry let out a laugh and began to make his way quickly through the snow (well…as quickly as one could who isn't use to snow that's as deep as your knees). The moment he reached Hagrid he was pulled into a bone-crushing hug, and was only momentarily allowed to breathe when Hagrid opened his arms quickly for Ron and Hermione too. Then he hugged them all to the point of unconsciousness.
"I think you might be suffocating them," said Susan in a joking voice, though sounding slightly breathless from the trek through the snow.
"Just make sure you don't squeeze Hermione too hard," said Luna vaguely "we don't want her-"
"UM! We don't want her fragile bones broken. Girls can be much more delicate than blokes you know," interrupted Susan briskly whilst giving Luna a reproving look. Luna smiled dreamily and turned to walk towards two men making their way towards them. One of them had very vivid red hair. Hermione pulled away from Hagrid with a rather red face, then she turned around quickly and began to walk after Luna, her stride a little swifter than usual. Harry and Ron looked at each other, and then shrugged their shoulders in confusion.
"I don't think it matters how old you get," said Ron in a mock wise voice "women are always confusing. My poor dad still doesn't get my mum half the time. If he hasn't had any luck in at least twenty odd years then I doubt we ever will."
"Well we don' need ter talk about them! Come an' look behin' 'ere! It's amazin'!" said Hagrid excitedly, then turned around and walked around the side of the stone house. Harry looked at Ron worriedly; he had an idea what this was leading to.
"Why don't you go ahead," said Ron casually "I have to go and have a chat with my brother. Long time no see and all that."
"How convenient," said Harry with a grin, and then turned around to follow Hagrid, though at a much slower pace. The stone house looked quite big from the front, but it was much longer than it was wide. After at least five minutes of walking Harry finally saw a large metal fence that was at least a hundred feet high. When the house was finally behind him he gasped when he realised that the metal fence surrounded a huge paddock. It started by the back of Charlie's house, but seemed to go right into the mountains. Harry strained his neck to try and see as far back as he could. He was pretty sure that there were enclosures for dragons back there, but how many he couldn't guess. He wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to. There seemed to be large stone caves dotted around the huge area, where Harry was confident that the dragons lived. There was another deafening roar and Harry watched in amazement as Hagrid came walking out of one of the caves towards the edge if the giant paddock. He had a thick and heavy silver chain in his hand, and he was leading a huge dragon into the middle of the enclosure. The dragon looked enormous and Harry didn't realise he was holding his breath until his chest felt uncomfortably warm and tight.
"Oh. My. Goodness." said the voice of an amazed Hermione somewhere behind him. He turned around and nodded, not too sure of what to say.
"How can he be in the same area as that thing and not be dead? It hasn't got a muzzle on or anything. Do you think they've drugged it?" she continued, inching closer to the metal fence and gripping her wand tightly.
"I doubt your wand is going to be able to do much against a fully grown Norwegian Ridgeback," said another voice in a matter of fact tone. Harry turned to look and saw that Charlie, and finally Ron, had decided to join them. Luna, Susan and Neville were following close behind. Neville was looking a little paler than usual.
"You don't mean…" said Harry, his voice filled with awe.
"Yeah I do. That's your old pal Norbert," replied Charlie with a grin.
"So do you think that's why Hagrid can handle him like that?" asked Harry "because he was there when he hatched?"
"Exactly," said Charlie, his voice sounding business like now "dragon's aren't loyal creatures. It's very hard to control them. The only real way to control a dragon is by brute force, but you really don't want to do that because they're very intelligent creatures. One slip up and you're dead. They even seek revenge. That's the only thing we have against the few dragon's Voldemort has nicked. They want to kill him and all the death eaters as much as us and the second they get the chance they will,"
"Well I should certainly hope we don't try and control dragon's like that!" said Susan angrily "they're still animals and shouldn't be treated so brutally!"
"Except they will kill you with a single breath, whereas a fluffy little rabbit won't do that," said Ron in a joking voice, but stopped quickly at Susan's glowering.
"So that's why we're here?" asked Hermione with narrowed eyes. "We were all there for Norbert's hatching. Do you think that he might let us, erm, live if we go near him?"
"Well I wasn't there for that!" said Neville quickly "nor were Susan and Luna. So that means we can just watch right?"
"Yes," responded Charlie lightly "and you can even help clean out his cave while these three try to work with Norbert. Dragons can be quite messy you know." Ron, Harry, and Hermione started laughing at Neville's face and then started to follow Charlie down to the paddock.
"Wait!" cried Susan, and then rushed towards Hermione. "I need to talk to Hermione quickly."
"I'll be fine," replied Hermione shortly
"But-" began Susan again, only to be cut off by Hermione.
"Absolutely fine. Drop it." she said, then turned around and walked quickly to the metal gates where Charlie was waiting. The boys exchanged another confused look and then continued to follow after Hermione.
The metal gates swung open with a creak and Charlie let them in, and then closed the doors firmly behind them. Ron noticed he was keeping himself well out of the enclosure and couldn't help but feel a little anxious. They looked at each other warily as they slowly began to walk towards Hagrid and Norbert. Hagrid had a huge beaming smile on his face, which was actually quite unnerving considering the kind of Care of Magical Creatures classes they had had to endure. Harry noticed that the chain seemed to be pulled quite taut, and Hagrid's knuckles seemed quite white underneath all his hair. He swallowed quickly and carried on walking gradually towards it.
"If I'd have known this is what we would have been doing, I might have decided not to see little Norbert hatching all those years ago," chortled Ron nervously as he reached for his wand in his robe. Norbert let out a screech of rage and twisted his black head in an attempt to get away. Hermione jumped a little and gripped onto her wand tighter. Harry quickly pulled out his own wand, though he wasn't too confident in their ability to take down a dragon. Not to mention it might make Charlie and Hagrid a little upset. Norbert bucked against Hagrid once again, and his tail thrashed angrily. There was a loud thud as it smacked onto the ground. Harry only just noticed that it wasn't at all snowy in the paddock. Then he remembered the fire. Goodness knows how many dragons breathed fire onto the ground everyday; it wasn't a very reassuring thought. As if Hermione had been thinking the same thing she suddenly said-
"What if it tries to breath fire on us? What should spell should we use? I was thinking of glacialis, I don't want to hurt the poor thing."
"Hurt it? I'm pretty sure that we'll be the ones getting hurt Hermione," replied Ron. Harry would have laughed if he hadn't thought he was going to be burned beyond recognition at any moment.
"All three of us can do it at once. That should be enough. I hope." said Harry quickly, noticing that Hagrid was now losing his grip on the ground and Norbert was starting to move towards them. Hagrid shouted something to them, but at that moment Norbert let out another roar. Harry could definitely see smoke escaping his nostrils in small wisps. Maybe it would be a good idea if they went back and tried again later. He was about to voice his opinion to Ron and Hermione when Hagrid was knocked to his feet and the chain smashed to the ground. The large black dragon was rushing towards them. The ground seemed to vibrate with its footfalls, his wings arched high up into the air and they buffeted with the speed of the wind. Its tail was thrashing wildly and it suddenly opened its jaws. Harry raised his wand just as he saw a bright orange glow start to escape Norbert's mouth. He shouted-
"GLACIALIS!" and was relieved to hear Ron and Hermione doing the same thing. The orange flame changed into ice for less than five seconds, then the ice suddenly exploded into the air. The sound of ice chips hitting the metal fence echoed around the enclosure. Norbert stood directly in front of them, and if it was possible for a dragon to look shocked then he almost had that expression. Harry, Ron and Hermione held eye contact with Norbert, and all of them were expecting another attack. To their surprise Norbert simply stared at them. Something in the back of Harry's head was telling him not to blink, not to look away. He knew that if you broke eye contact with a dog it thought it was the master rather than it's owner. But he also remembered his few trips to the zoo with the Dursleys and you were definitely not supposed to do that with certain apes. Dudley had made quite a few of them angry on one particular trip, Harry still thought back on that day rather fondly. If you held eye contact with an ape then it seemed like you were trying to challenge them. He only hoped that Norbert didn't think they were trying to challenge him…he doubted very much that they would survive an attack being this close to him. Harry continued to stare into Norbert's bright yellow eyes, hoping that the others were doing the same. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Norbert looked away. Harry breathed a sigh of relief and watched as Norbert lowered himself to the ground. His wings, which had previously been held out in an angry stance, folded in on themselves. He sniffed deeply and let out a plume of smoke, then fixed his yellow eyes upon them again. This time the gaze didn't seem to be challenging, it almost seemed inviting. Harry looked at Ron and Hermione, and was relieved to see that they too seemed to be breathing heavily. There was a limit to how courageous a Gryffindor could be, and frankly if you weren't a little scared of a dragon you were downright foolish. He turned away and slowly started to walk towards Norbert with his hand out stretched. He shuffled forward little by little until he was finally by Norbert's neck. He was all too aware of what a vulnerable position he was in. He slowly lowered his hand to Norbert's neck and instinctively held his breath as it made contact. The black scales were beautiful from a distance but up close they were magnificent. They were shiny and seemed to have a slight dark purple sheen to them. The scales felt as hard as diamonds and were incredibly rough. Harry could imagine that if you weren't gentle you could easily cut yourself on them. He slowly stroked in a downward motion, still holding his breath. Norbert let out another plume of smoke, but his eyes half closed and he lowered his head. Harry let out his breath and slowly continued to run his hands down the neck of the dragon. Ron and Hermione slowly walked over to Norbert's other side and they too began stroking him. Harry raised his head and met their eyes.
"Guess it was a good thing we were there when he hatched," he said quietly whilst smiling. They smiled in return and then the smiles turned into outright laughter as the dragon opened his mouth to yawn loudly, letting out several plumes of smoke as if in agreement. They trio and Hagrid spent the rest of the morning stroking Norbert and talking to him. Neville, Susan and Luna sat and watched them, amazed that humans were bonding with a dragon. After a while they were led away by Charlie's co worker, a heavily built man with a moustache named John, to clean out the dragon's cave. Charlie went inside to have a cup of tea and to think. He had known for a while that dragons showed loyalty only to those that were present at their hatching. Now the Order had three dragons that did not need to be controlled by brute force. He only hoped it would be enough.
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The group sat around a large round wooden table that evening, and were very glad to be finally eating their dinner. Harry ate with great gusto and was a match even for Ron. The only person that wasn't hungry was Hermione. She only managed a few bread rolls and some soup. Harry, Ron and Hermione had spent the afternoon and early evening with Norbert. They had managed to walk beside him, put a chain around his neck (though he didn't like it) and actually sit on him for short periods of time. Tomorrow their plan was to continue with the constant contact and hopefully if everything progressed well then they would he would allow them to fly on him. Neville, Susan and Luna looked extremely dishevelled. They had not only cleaned out Norbert's cave, but several of the others while the dragons had been out hunting in the mountains. Out of spite Susan had refused to have a wash before dinner. She argued that if Charlie and John were mean enough to make them clean up 'dragon's crap', then they could deal with the consequences. Neville attempted to point out that this might be the reason she had never had a boyfriend, but was elbowed sharply in the ribs before he even managed to finish his sentence. Susan could be funny; Susan could be caring and even quite logical. But if you crossed her then she would make sure you lived to regret it. She found it extremely amusing that the main hallway into Charlie's house stank like the caves, and the only reason she didn't go into Charlie's and John's room to waft the smell about a bit was because Luna stopped her and made her feel rather guilty. Although the men were acting put out by Susan's behaviour they actually did find it rather amusing. It was nice to have a bit of feistiness in the house, even if it was a bit disruptive.
The meal was eaten in silence due to everyone's hunger. After about ten minutes the food was cleared off of almost every plate, and John got up to make them all tea. Luna offered to help but the rest of them made sure she didn't leave the table. The tea she made was absolutely awful. Harry blanched at the thought of what she had to have put in it to make it so awful…after all it was only a tea bad, sugar and milk. How badly could you mess that up?
"Interestin' day, eh?" commented Hagrid whilst leaning back on his chair and rubbing his very full looking stomach.
"Yeah that's one way of putting it," said Ron, leaning back in his chair too, looking extremely happy and content.
"So…now that we've got the pleasantries out of the way how about a nice chat?" asked Susan with a grin.
"With you?" asked Charlie, with a look of fake consideration written upon his face "nah, I think we've had enough of your voice for one day." Everyone except Susan laughed; she simply folded her arms and raised her eyebrows in fake annoyance.
"Well I think a conversation would be lovely," said Hermione, receiving a grin from Susan "I would like to know where we are, how many dragons you keep here, and where my bed is. I'm exhausted." Charlie grinned and waited to answer until John had brought the tea in. When they were all comfortable (and after John had made Charlie run to the larder to grab some biscuits to go with the tea) they finally started.
"Right then Mione," said Charlie but was quickly interrupted-
"Don't call me that. My name is Hermione, that sounds ridiculous!" she said scornfully
"Wha' 'bout 'ermy? Thas wha' Grawp calls yeh!" said Hagrid with a big smile.
"No," she said shortly
"I think Mione is cute," said Harry in a teasing voice
"I prefer Hermy myself," commented Ron with a grin.
"You have no idea how close I am to hexing all of you. Now where are we Charlie? Or should I call you Cha-Cha?" retorted Hermione
"Ooh, Touché! But Cha-Cha is a little feminine for such a figure of manhood like myself," replied Charlie but was met with hysterical laughter "All right all right! I get the point; don't split your ribs or anything. To answer your first question we're near the town of Baia Mare. The mountains you see surrounding us are called the Carpathian Mountains and we're actually in the middle of the-"
"Transylvanian plateau," interrupted Hermione "so how many vampires do you get around here then? Dracula's castle isn't too far away from here is it? Isn't it a bit nerve wracking living here? I heard that the Romanian vampires were awfully traditional and blood thirsty, not like the civilised ones in Britain. Well…as civilised as a vampire can be I suppose."
"Well there used to be a lot of vampires walking the streets of Baia Mare at night, more in Oradea. But that was when I first started working out here. The numbers started dwindling a while ago and I haven't seen any in the last three years," replied Charlie, though it was a bit muffled because he was trying to eat a biscuit at the same time.
"It's a bit convenient that they've suddenly stopped putting in an appearance now that Riddle is back is power," said Neville quietly "do you think they might be joining him?"
"That's what we've been thinking too. But so far we haven't found any evidence to support that theory, so the best we can do is be prepared. Mad Eye took a few of my men into Transylvania to look around and see if they can find out any information. I haven't heard back from them for a while, but I know that Moody was planning on gathering defensive weapons just in case. There are only a few local towns where you can get weapons that actually work." said Charlie, suddenly sounding very tired.
"I want to know what happened to Norbert's fire," said Luna dreamily "It froze very quickly, but then it exploded. What do you think caused it?"
"Maybe sheer will power?" asked Neville "maybe because it's those three and they work really well together."
"No," said Susan "it's more than that. It was almost as if the wands made it happen." They all sat and ate their biscuits quietly for a moment, thinking about what it could be. Hermione suddenly put her teacup down a little harder than anticipated. She mended it quickly while she started talking in a rush-
"Harry…your wand core is a Phoenix feather. Ron, what's yours?"
"Erm, unicorn tail hair. Why?" asked Ron looking perplexed
"Mine is dragon heartstring. They are the three most popular cores that Ollivander specialised in. Obviously when they are used together at the same time and they are concentrating on the same thing the magical power is increased." said Hermione, her face looking pleased.
"That's why Ollivander went missing. Riddle wanted to know what happened to our wands back in the graveyard, but he also wanted to know its weaknesses. I wonder what he's told them…" said Harry seriously.
"I'm tired," said Hermione suddenly, and she looked like she might suddenly fall asleep right there.
"All right," said Charlie "I'll show you to your rooms. Boys in one, girls in another. The other blokes that work with the dragons take up all the other rooms. They're out dealing with a rogue horntail but I expect they'll be back tomorrow." He led them all up a long stone staircase and into a wide hallway. They walked for about a minute until they came across one door that was engraved with a large tree. He opened the door and led Harry, Ron and Neville into a large room with three comfy and inviting looking beds. Their bags had already been brought up, so Charlie bid them goodnight and turned to show the girls their rooms. The door opposite to the boys led to the girls' bedroom. The set up was the same, but the colour scheme different. Hermione flopped happily onto her bed and felt herself drifting off almost at once. Charlie quickly pointed out the bathroom to Susan, and then rushed to the door before she could retaliate.
"Aren't you going to get ready for bed Hermione?" asked Luna sleepily
"No. Fine. Sleeping." replied Hermione shortly.
"Ok," said Luna "so do you think that's why you, Harry and Ron have always been so powerful together? Because your wands have different cores that work well when their magic is combined?"
"What?" asked Hermione, sitting up sleepily "no that's not it at all. You make it sound so disgustingly textbook! We have always been great together because we care about each other."
"Well-" began Luna, but was interrupted by Hermione's angry voice.
"No! I don't believe this! Harry, Ron and I are friends. The best of friends. It's that bond that has made us so strong. It's the love we have for one another that makes us a formidable team. Love, friendship, trust…they are all things that we have built up over the years. I know that you and Harry and Susan have this wonderful 'heirs of the founders' thing going on, but it doesn't compare to what Harry, Ron and I share! You three have a power because you were born into it, us three have a power because we made it ourselves by the feelings we have for each other!" It looked like she wanted to say more, but suddenly her eyes welled up with tears and she stormed out of the room. Susan emerged from the bathroom and sighed deeply.
"Did you have to say something like that to her when she's so hormonal?" she asked while rolling her eyes.
"She needed to remember that, it's going to be important. If I had told her that nicely she would have just put it down to me being crazy old Luna. She had to figure it out for herself," said Luna vaguely. Luna smiled gently and sat down next to Luna on her bed.
"She'll understand you eventually Luna. She'll open up to you soon enough. You two are very different people, and the things that you both refuse to see block the things you have in common. You too Luna. You sometimes throw all logic to the wind in favour of the unproven and possibly dangerous alternative. You could both learn a lot from each other, and be very good friends. We all could. But a real a deep friendship takes time. That's something we all have to wait for," said Susan softly. Luna nodded and leaned into Susan for a comforting hug. They heard another door shutting loudly and knew from the hurried footsteps that it was Harry rushing after whoever had left in a hurry.
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Harry could see deep footprints in the snow and he followed them for about fifteen minutes until he came across a small wooden bench surrounded by snow-covered trees. The trees were sparse in this area, but growing steadily thicker the closer they got to the mountains. It was on this bench where he saw Hermione sitting, but not crying like he had expected. She was staring at the floor in deep concentration and barely looked up when he sat down. He put his arms around her and pulled her close to him. He'd been longing to do that all day. They sat in silence holding each other for some time before either of them spoke. It was Harry who broke the silence.
"I thought you were tired," he said softly
"I am. I'm so very tired," she sighed and buried her head into his chest. He smiled and kissed the top of her head.
"So why are you sitting out here, in the freezing cold late at night? Doesn't seem like a good place to sleep to me," he said jokingly.
"I just lost my temper with Luna. I had to get out, my head's hurting so much with all this thinking," replied Hermione weakly.
"You're sore from thinking too much? Surely not?" joked Harry
"There's too much to think about Harry," she said sadly "and I'm just too tired to do it."
"What's wrong Hermione?" he asked anxiously "you've been acting really strange lately."
"I could say the same for you. You know we've never had secrets from each other Harry. Not serious ones anyway. Our friendship has always been based on trust and love. But it hasn't been that way lately and I don't like it. I don't like it at all. We love each other Harry. We have more with each other than we ever have before but I feel so distant from you now and it hurts me." she said, her voice trembling from unshed tears.
"This is new for us and it's not the best of times for us to start a relationship," began Harry but was interrupted by Hermione's shrill voice-
"I don't care how new it is Harry! I don't care that we started this relationship in the middle of all this! If we can't trust each other whom can we trust? If we can't be totally honest with each other then our love is damaged. Don't you see that Harry? It's practically over before it's begun! I don't want to spoil our relationship by us keeping secrets. I won't let us ruin what we have by doing something so stupid." Harry was silent for a moment before he finally spoke.
"You know I'm only keeping secrets from you because I don't want to see you hurt. I want to protect you Hermione. I love you, surely you can't blame me for that?" he asked softly.
"No," she said sighing, "no I can't. But you always think that you know best Harry. You try to protect and save people without thinking what they might want. If I wanted to be safe all the time I wouldn't have become your friend in the first place. If I couldn't handle everything you had to do then I wouldn't have allowed myself to get involved with you. I certainly wouldn't have let myself fall in love with you. But I can handle those things Harry, and I want to. I have never wanted you to go through anything alone and that's truer now than it ever was. So you need to trust that I can take care of myself. You need to trust that I can be emotionally strong enough for all of this, because if I wasn't I would have left a long time ago," He stared at the snow covered ground for quite a while, lost in thought. Finally he spoke, and his voice sounded slightly husky from emotion.
"I've never really thanked you and Ron for being there for me through everything,"
"You never had to. We knew, Harry. We don't always need words to show how we feel, sometimes expressions are enough for friends like us," she replied softly
"You're right Hermione," he said sadly "we shouldn't have secrets. I love you and I want you to be a part of everything. I'm sorry I haven't spoken to you about this sooner,"
"It's ok," she whispered, and then kissed him softly on the lips before pulling away "lets just never do it again. Deal?"
"Deal," he whispered. "You tell me yours and I'll tell you mine…"
"Typical that I have to go first," she said with a slight grin "where's that Gryffindor courage?"
"I'm hoping I'll be able to master it from your shining example," he replied with a soft grin of his own.
"Ok," she whispered, her voice trembling a lot now. "The thing is Harry is I have had an awful lot on my mind lately. This relationship of ours seemed to develop very quickly and we haven't had that much time to get used to it. One minute we're friends, the next minute we want each other. The next minute I fall in love with you, and then you tell me you feel the same way. It sounds wonderful but it is awfully scary at times. Our whole relationship has changed so quickly! What if it changes back just as quickly? I-"
"Do you really think we could go back to normal?" whispered Harry interrupting her "do you really think that I would ever willingly let you go now that I know what it is to be in love? Could you?"
"No, of course not. I love you so very much Harry and I honestly think I would die if I lost you," she replied in a very soft tone, not noticing Harry wincing at her words. "I'm just so worried Harry. I'm supposed to be the smartest witch of my age! I'm supposed to have a sparkling future and career in front of me! But ever since I started this relationship with you I feel like I have lost control. I've lost control of my mind, by body…my feelings, everything! It scares me Harry. What I'm afraid of most of all is that because we are so young this wont work! We've been through so much and I feel so old. You're much wiser than your years…but we're still only seventeen and-"
"You're babbling Hermione," said Harry quietly, and then he lifted his hands to gently cup her face "You are the smartest witch of our age. I would be dead ten times over if it wasn't for you. As for losing control, how do you think I feel? I lost control over these feelings too. I, actually we, went behind our best friends backs rather than be mature and talk to him about it. Love does funny things to you Hermione; it even makes you fiercely possessive over it. But I've never felt more free or more alive. Part of me knows I shouldn't have started this relationship with you. I broke up with Ginny because I didn't want her used against me. The same goes for you too…but I just couldn't help myself. I've never been as happy as I am right now, and you're who I have to thank for that. Some might call me selfish for putting you in danger, but after everything I've been through I think I deserve a little happiness. You may feel like you've lost control Hermione, but I can see in your eyes that you feel the same way. We have never been freer and more alive than we are now. You just need to let go, just don't think about every little thing that we might be doing wrong and think of how right it feels." said Harry passionately, grabbing her face more firmly and staring into her eyes, willing her to understand and believe what he was saying.
"You're right," she whispered
"Of course," he said with a grin "now tell me what this is all about Hermione. What this is really all about. You wouldn't have been worrying like this without something to start it all…"
"You promise you won't pass out on me? I think you're a bit too heavy for me to pick up…" she said softly, and then she started the nibble nervously on her bottom lip.
"I'm generally not the fainting type," he said quietly "unless you have a dementor around here somewhere…"
"You wont shout, or run off?" she asked nervously
"For goodness sakes Hermione!" said Harry irritably "do you really think I'd do anything like that? I love you. Now stop asking these stupid questions and tell me what's wrong. You can tell me anything, you've always been able to tell me anything and now is no different."
"You're right," she said, stammering a little "I'm just so scared, so stupid and scared and…and…stupid…"
"You're not stupid Hermione," he said and kissed her lightly, stroking his hands gently over her upturned face. "Now tell me."
"Ok…I'm…em…" she started and took a deep breath, looked him in the eyes and said two words that made Harry's world suddenly crash down on him "I'm pregnant,"
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