1. A strange beginning

Hello everyone, thanks for taking the time to read my little story, I hope you enjoy it. This was written for my younger sister, who got me into the crazy world of fan fiction and who means the world to me. That’s about all I have to say, happy reading and your reviews are appreciated J

**Islanzadi**

Harry’s birthday dawned mild and pleasant. The birds were singing merrily outside, the bees buzzing contentedly amongst Aunt Petunia’s agapanthus’ and a cat was sprawled lazily on a garden wall idly swishing his tail. Hardly the impending doom Harry had suspected on the day his protection from Voldemort wore off.

Harry retreated from the window and reluctantly looked at his bedroom. He supposed that he ought to clean as well as pack. Broken quills, torn parchment and empty sweet wrappers littered the room, as much as he disliked the Dursley’s he couldn’t leave the room looking like this without his conscience bothering him. He concentrated hard on his wand lying and the bed and thought ‘Accio wand’, pleased that this time it came straight to him rather than hitting an unsuspecting Hedwig. He still had the mark on his finger for that little mistake.

He piled his clothes, books, trainers and other items into his trunk, and was dismayed to find it wouldn’t close. After several minutes of sitting on it desperately trying to close the latch, he had a wonderful thought!! Today he was seventeen, and legally allowed to do magic without fear of being carted off to the ministry of magic. Harry opened the trunk and used a simple reduction charm on his belongings, and watched in amusement as each of his items shrunk to the approximate size of a two pence piece. He decided that he wouldn’t be telling Hermione about sitting on his trunk to close it… or how long it took him to use magic. After surveying the room for a moment longer he began to wonder what else he could use magic on with his new found freedom. He grinned to himself and thought ‘locomotor trunk’ which sent his trunk flying down the stairs. Minutes later Aunt Petunia’s screeches filled the house. Harry sent Hedwig in her cage to meet Aunt Petunia’s screeches, then followed humming happily to himself.

Harry was greeted by Uncle Vernon’s rather fat face as he walked down the hallway into the living room.

“What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing flying your… your things through my house boy?” He bellowed at the top of his lungs “I’m warning you…”

“What exactly are you trying to warn me? You know Uncle Vernon, I think you need to get out a bit more and have a laugh…” Harry grinned mischievously. He concentrated on his fat, shaking uncle and thought ‘rictusempra’. To his delight Vernon fell to the floor and began laughing uncontrollably. Harry found this so amusing that he was laughing himself… until Aunt Petunia entered the room.

“What did you do? You nasty little boy!” She screeched at Harry.

“Me?” He said innocently “What do you mean Aunt Petunia?”

Apparently Dudley had heard all the commotion from the kitchen and had somehow managed to drag himself away from the unguarded fridge.

“You know what I mean! You stop this right now or so help me…” said Aunt Petunia, her voice trembling with anger.

“I just said to Uncle Vernon that the diet you two put Dudley on really seems to be working, and the next thing I know he’s on the floor laughing like a loon!” Harry stated, trying hard to hide his grin. Aunt Petunia’s face went puce at this comment; she stood up from her husband and glared at Harry

“After all we’ve done for you, disgusting boy, this is how we are repaid? Using unnatural powers in our house?” she said angrily, glaring at Harry “You stop this at once!”

Harry felt his anger bubbling in the pit of his stomach and shot back with - “After all you’ve done for me? Are you kidding?”

“You can’t see all the good we’ve done for you because you’re a selfish ungrateful little boy - just like your mother!” Petunia retorted

Harry felt like he was about to explode.

“You leave my mother out of this!” He roared “you’re just jealous because you were never as good as her! She was everything you wanted to be and you hated that! You’ve always been so wrapped up in your hatred for her that it’s affected everything you’ve ever done! Look who you married! Look how you treat anyone that’s even remotely different. You hate me because I’m a part of her!! I can’t help that you didn’t feel good enough Petunia” He was shaking badly from his outburst and waiting for her to reply. To his surprise she simply stood there staring at him.

Harry suddenly noticed that Vernon was still laughing hysterically and rolling all over the floor. Reluctantly Harry let go of the spell and surveyed the damage Vernon had done to the room. Harry grabbed his wand and muttered ‘reparo’ to several broken items. Somehow he didn’t think he had enough energy left in him to concentrate on a non-verbal spell.

He looked from the gasping Vernon to the petrified Dudley and decided that now was quite the time to leave. With a few muttered words he sent the only items belonging to him in the world out the front door. He turned around one last time and opened his mouth to say goodbye. It was then that he noticed the tears streaming down Aunt Petunia’s face. He held her gaze for a few long moments, and an emotion he couldn’t define crossed her eyes momentarily. Then it was gone. Harry turned around from the only family he had and walked out the door.

He quickly realized that maybe he shouldn’t be walking down the street with a flying trunk and an owl in a cage. He let both of them down with a bit of a thump, and sat on the curb trying to think of what to do. He knew that the Knight bus was out of the question. Now that he had no protection he had no intention of flaunting his whereabouts to everyone in the wizarding world. He let Hedwig out of her cage

“Meet me at Ron’s house ok? I’ll be along as soon as I can” She nipped his hand a tad too hard, still not over being hit with his wand and then being unceremoniously dropped on the floor. He held out his arm and watched her fly away into the distance. He dragged his trunk to an alleyway about 200 meters from the house and hid himself at the very end. After checking that there wasn’t anybody in sight he concentrated, after a moment he felt the familiar sensation of being pressed through a rubber tube, then found himself outside of the burrow, his trunk still thankfully separate from his body. He really would have to get his test done soon so that he wouldn’t be technically doing this illegally. He thought of his friends waiting inside for him, and his mind lingered on Ginny momentarily. How would she react to his turning up at the Burrow? He drew a deep breath and headed for the house…

“HARRY!!!” shouted Mrs. Weasley “What on Earth are you doing here? Come in, come in! Look at you! It hasn’t been that long since we saw you last and already you’ve grown so much!!” Harry grinned at Mrs. Weasley and stepped into the house. Immediately he heard the sound of a thousand elephants coming down the stairs… also known as Ron, Hermione and Ginny.

“Alright mate?” said Ron enthusiastically “Didn’t expect to see you ‘til the wedding”

“Harry!” Said Hermione moving forward to hug him tightly “It’s so good to see you!”

Harry smiled down at Hermione and noticed that Ginny was giving him a rather odd look. Mrs. Weasley was beaming at him, so he couldn’t very well ask what was wrong.

“Uh, hello Ginny…” said Harry rather uncomfortably

“Hello Harry” she said, and smiled up at him. She moved forward and gave him a hug that was a little too long for Harry’s comfort level. He was trying very hard to put Ginny out of his mind and hugging him that tightly didn’t help.

“Well, shall we have a little bite to eat then?” said Mrs. Weasley

“Mum…you read my mind!” said Ron. Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron and wondered to herself where on earth he could put all that food, a thought that she pondered quite frequently.

“Well Harry dear, why don’t you put your things upstairs and I’ll get lunch started. I’ll call you when it’s ready” said Mrs. Weasley. She bustled off determinedly towards the kitchen.

Hermione had already taken charge of getting Harry’s trunk upstairs.

“Show off” mumbled Ron

“I heard that Ron” Hermione retorted “You know, if your practiced your magic a little more you wouldn’t have broken so many things…”

Harry grinned to himself and listened to them bicker amongst themselves all the way to Ron’s room. Some things never changed.

They all sat themselves on Ron’s bed and Harry told them the morning’s events. Ron was laughing so hard Harry wondered for a moment whether or not he had a tickling charm cast on him. “Dudley’s diet working!” He managed to get out between deep gasps.

“Honestly Harry!” scolded Hermione “Look at you! You look like a man, not a boy. Why act that way? What was it going to prove?”

Harry felt a flash of annoyance. How dare she criticize him like he was a child? It quickly ebbed away, however, as he realized that she was right. He didn’t regret leaving, but using magic for the sake of it was particularly childish of him. He felt slightly humiliated all of a sudden and wondered why Hermione’s opinion should matter. Ginny’s eyes narrowed dangerously towards Hermione

“Some people don’t mind letting loose a little and having some fun” she sniped “maybe you should try it sometime”

Harry looked at Ron, both of them puzzled by Ginny’s outburst. The room was filled with tension and Harry found himself looking longingly out the window. Ginny waited for a moment longer then asked

“So Harry, Hermione told me you weren’t going back to Hogwarts this year. What are you going to do?”

Harry wasn’t prepared for this question. He told Dumbledore that he would only tell Ron and Hermione of his plans to find the Horcruxes. He thought frantically for a moment or two then said -

“I have no idea”. He reasoned that this was not a total lie, because he really had no idea what he was planning on doing. Thankfully whatever Ginny had been going to say in reply was cut off by Mrs. Weasley’s call of -

“Lunch is ready!!” Naturally Ron leapt off the bed and was down the stairs so fast that Harry was surprised he didn’t apparate.

After lunch Ron, Hermione and Harry were sitting in the garden. It was a lovely afternoon, and they spent most of it talking about the summer, quidditch, and the wedding plans. Harry was so content. He hadn’t heard a single word about Voldemort, Horcruxes, or Dumbledore. He knew that his friends didn’t want to mention it until they were sure he wanted to speak about it, and for this he was so grateful that he was almost choked up. He felt so lucky to have good friends. It was a this point that Mrs. Weasley shouted

“Ron dear! We need to go to and have the final fitting for your wedding robes! Hurry along, you’ll be back before you know it!”

“If I have to have one more fitting I swear…” groaned Ron.

“Oh Ron” laughed Hermione “It can’t be that bad!”

“Can’t be that bad?” exclaimed Ron “The woman can hardly see Hermione. I’m like a bloody human pincushion! I can’t wait for this wedding to be over with…”

“Ron!” shouted Mrs. Weasley again, sounding a little more flustered “You can meet us in Diagon Alley in 2 minutes, do you hear me?”

“Yes Mum!” He shouted back. “Well, I’ll see you later I suppose” he said and with a crack he was gone.

Harry and Hermione sat for a while not saying anything. The silence was comfortable for him, and he watched the garden gnomes fighting with each other at the end of the garden. He glanced at Hermione and noticed she was slowly ringing her hands together and chewing at her bottom lip absently. He watched her for a moment smiling inwardly about the way she chewed on her lip.

“Is anything bothering you Hermione?” he asked.

“What? Me? Oh…no. I was, uh, just thinking about how to do this new charm I was reading about…” she said nervously.

Harry looked at her for a moment longer, then turned back to the gnomes. He wondered what Ron had done now to make Hermione this agitated.

“Harry?” she asked quietly “I don’t know if you want to talk about this now, but I was wondering if you had any ideas on where we’re going to stay after the wedding?”

“We?” said Harry “So you and Ron are sure you want to help me?”

“Harry! Of course we’re sure!” said Hermione affectionately. She moved closer to where Harry was sitting on the blanket and held his hand. “Surely you don’t think we would leave you to do it alone? We need each other. We’ll be with you every step of the way”

Harry looked down to his hand covered with Hermione’s, and his heart lightened at what she had said. He looked up at her and smiled. For a moment it seemed like she wanted to say more, but thought the better of it and lifted her head to look at the clouds. Harry went back to looking at the gnomes for a while and then began to wonder if Hermione planned on moving her hand. It wasn’t that it didn’t feel nice as such, but he was very uncomfortable with how long his best friend wanted to hold his hand, not to mention that Ron wouldn’t see it as innocent no matter how much he and Hermione would try to explain. He thought of ways in which he could move his hand discreetly… He began to scratch his leg with his free hand, then moved the hand under Hermione’s and used that to scratch too. Hermione jumped a little, then moved a little bit away from Harry. They sat in silence for a moment longer. Harry wasn’t sure what was going on, but assumed that she must really be upset by Ron if she needed his comfort that badly. He felt awful all of a sudden and went to say something to her, but was interrupted by the business like voice of Hermione.

“Ok Harry. So we’ve decided that Ron and I are going with you. But we need to decide where we’re going to stay. What do you think about going back to Grimmauld place?”

Harry was surprised at her sudden change in attitude, but welcomed the conversation.

“I’ve been thinking about it Hermione” he started “But I’m not sure if I can handle being there again. I can still picture Sirius walking around there all alone…Not to mention that the place is pretty disgusting.”

“Oh Harry,” she said “I know this must be hard for you, but I can‘t think of anywhere else we could go. If Dumbledore thought it was a safe enough place for the Order, then I think it’s safe enough for us. If you really don’t feel comfortable then of course we’ll find somewhere else. ”

Harry thought for a moment before replying.

“What if Snape tells Voldemort where the Order used to meet… I don’t think it will be that safe if those two and a bunch of Death Eaters can turn up at any moment,”

Hermione hesitated for a moment, seeming unsure of how to broach the subject. Eventually she took a deep breath and said very quickly -

“Harry, you may not like what I’m going to say but I really think we have to consider the possibility that maybe Dumbledore knew the predicament that Snape was in.” She looked at him nervously and continued even quicker “Maybe Dumbledore knew it had to be this way if Snape were to keep himself undercover safely. Snape’s position is one of the most valuable to the Order…”
Harry standing up quickly and looking at her with utmost horror in his eyes interrupted her.

“WHAT?” he shouted so loudly that the gnomes ran back into their gnome holes in fright “YOU AREN’T SERIOUS?! HE KILLED DUMBLEDORE!! THERE ARE NO EXCUSES FOR MURDER. YOU WEREN’T THERE! YOU WOULDN’T KNOW…HE DID IT BECAUSE HE WANTED TO NOT BECAUSE HE HAD TO!”

With that he turned around and stormed off into the house. Hermione was lying on the blanket, watching the clouds, chewing nervously on her bottom lip, her mind in turmoil.

Harry lay on his bed fuming at what Hermione had said. How could she think that? After a few moments of seething he forced himself to think of what Hermione’s point had been. It wasn’t often she was wrong, but contemplating what she suggested was just too much for him to handle right now. He wiped a stray tear from his eye and stood up. He walked to the window and saw her lying on the blanket; he noticed how the sun hit her hair so that it shone golden amongst the brown. He really should go and talk to her. The way he shouted at her was out of order, no matter what it was that she had said. He went to make a move and noticed that his hand was tingling where Hermione had touched him. He stopped abruptly and decided that it would be much safer to stay in his room.

2. The wonders of friendship

Hermione stood outside Harry’s room with bated breath. She had to go in and talk to him but the butterflies in her stomach were making it very difficult to focus. For goodness sake, she scolded herself; you’re acting like a silly schoolgirl. She moved forward and went to open the door, surprised to find it locked. ‘Alohomora’ she thought to herself, and smiled as the door unlocked. She pushed it open to find Harry lying on his bed. She suppressed a little shiver as she noticed he had removed his shirt. He looked up at her and she found herself gazing into his green eyes. ‘Get a grip’ she thought to herself and moved forward purposefully.

“Harry…” she began, sitting next to him “I’m sorry if I upset you outside”

“No, Hermione. Don’t apologise,” he replied, “I shouldn’t have shouted at you like that. It was well out of order. It’s just… I still feel so angry with Snape. I hate him. I’ve been trying not to think about Dumbledore’s death, and when you said those things I just snapped. I’m sorry”

They looked at each other for a moment, and then Hermione leaned forward and hugged him. It was a soft and comforting hug and Harry felt all of his emotions rising to the surface. He swallowed hard and tried to be strong, but thoughts of Dumbledore, Sirius and what he must face filled his mind. Tears began to stream from his eyes, he tried to turn away from Hermione and pull himself together, but she held on tighter to him. He felt his resolve melt and soon he was crying uncontrollably. Naturally Hermione followed suit. Harry didn’t know how much time had passed but eventually he looked up at Hermione and wiped her eyes. She smiled at him and wiped his eyes, which struck him as funny for some reason and he started laughing. She looked at him bemused for a moment before laughing with him.

“What must we look like, eh?” he said after his bout of laughter “If you mention one word of this to Ron…”

The door swinging open to admit Ginny interrupted him. Hermione moved away from Harry suddenly, which confused him greatly. Why was she acting like a cat on a hot tin roof? They were best friends and she had been comforting him. He looked over at Hermione and noticed that she looked guilty and wondered why.

“What’s going on here then?” said Ginny tightly

“Wh…what do you mean?” said Hermione, trying to recover her composure.

“You seemed very cosy just now, didn’t take you long to get over me, eh Harry? But I can definitely see that it’s for my best interests…”

Harry looked from Ginny to Hermione and wasn’t sure what to say. He wanted to say “Ginny grow up, we’re just friends and I was upset” but for some reason his mouth wouldn’t open. What happened to the Ginny he had been going out with? All he could see was an angry jealous child. Surely she had never been jealous of Hermione before? It was at that moment that Ron walked in, and looked from Harry, to Hermione and then to Ginny.

“Um…alright everyone?” he said a touch nervously

“Hello Ron” said Hermione “Harry and I were just talking about Dumbledore and Sirius when Ginny decided to join us”

Ginny looked slightly abashed at this information. She came into the room and sat directly between Hermione and Harry.

“Harry,” she said “You know you can come to me if you need to talk about these things”

Harry had no idea what to say to this. Surely if they had broken up then he wouldn’t be having a heart to heart with her.

“Err, thanks Ginny,” mumbled Harry, unsure of what else to say.

Hermione sighed deeply then said -

“Harry, we need to discuss what we were talking about earlier”. Harry, thankful for a way out of any more conversation with Ginny, agreed readily. Ron looked at Hermione and got the message… time to usher Ginny out of the room.

“Harry!” she said angrily, her green eyes flashing “Tell him you want me to stay!”

Harry looked at her, a mixture of emotions racing through him. He thought she looked beautiful when she was angry and was remembering the long kisses they had shared. He also remembered the reason he had broke up with her was to protect her and letting her hear their plans wasn’t going to achieve that. He also realised that even though he had only been apart from her for five weeks, he had changed drastically. She seemed so young, and really quite childish with the way she was acting towards Hermione. His feelings surprised him. He assumed that he had gotten over Cho so quickly because she was, well, an annoying cry baby. Not to mention extremely jealous of Hermione. Now his feelings were changing towards Ginny… Why were girls jealous of Hermione anyway? She was only Hermione…The same bushy haired bookworm that she was since she was eleven!

“Ginny…you know that you can’t be here for some of the things we need to talk about. The reason for this is the same reason I gave you at the end of last term” said Harry finally.

There was silence for a few seconds before Ginny sniffed angrily and stormed out of the room.

“Why’s she been so huffy lately?” asked Ron. Hermione looked at Harry and quickly looked away out of the window. Harry didn’t notice this and just shrugged at Ron.

“Anyway” said Ron, “So what is it we’ve got to talk about anyway? I’m guessing it’s got something to do with snake face with the way you obviously wanted Ginny out of the room.”

Hermione sighed -

“His name is Voldemort, Ron, not snake face, and I didn’t want Ginny out of the room as such, I just thought that us three needed privacy considering we need to discuss the imminent future”

Ron shrugged and put a chocolate frog in his mouth. Harry looked around to see where his stash was and saw a large pile by Ron’s cloak on the floor. He reached for one and sat himself up more comfortably on the bed, readying himself for a serious conversation. He silently wondered to himself why Hermione seemed to use Voldemort’s name with ease all of a sudden, then thrust that thought out of his mind as Ron looked like he was about to speak.

“Mmk” said Ron trying to clear his mouth from chocolate “What’s the plan? Are we going to Grimmauld Place or what then?”

Hermione looked at Ron, then looked at Harry with a questioning look on her face.

“Well” said Harry “I think that we should stay somewhere else, at least at first until we can make sure that Snape didn’t leak anything to Voldemort”

“Ok” said Hermione “So where do you think we should stay?”

Harry thought about this for a while. He had no idea of a place that would be safe enough for them, but maybe someone else would.

“Well, I was thinking of Owling Lupin and seeing if he had any ideas on where we could stay”

“That sounds like a good idea Harry” said Hermione “I’ll go to Knockturn Alley this week sometime. I heard they have a bookshop there that deals with the less pleasant areas of magic. Maybe I’ll find something to do with Horcruxes, and maybe even some more advanced spells we can learn. I doubt the spells we know are really going to defeat Voldemort…”

Harry was a little unsure about Hermione going to Knockturn Alley; he knew the kind of shifty people that walked around that area.

“Well we’ll come with you” Ron said “That place is really dodgy Hermione, you get right weirdo’s down there”

“Ron, I’ll be fine. It would be quicker if I went alone anyway, besides I’m sure that there are other more resourceful things you can do with your time” Ron eyed his chess set hopefully but stopped when he saw the look in Hermione’s eyes.

“Well, take the invisibility cloak anyway,” said Harry, still not happy with the idea “I’d rather that Voldemort and his mates didn’t spot you when you’re walking around shopping…”

They talked for a while longer, discussing where they would go first and any ideas they had about R.A.B. After talking about everything they could think of, they decided to go to bed. Harry gratefully sank his head onto the pillow, but lied awake staring at the ceiling for a long time after Ron’s snores filled the room. He rubbed his hand absently and thought of how strangely Hermione had been acting. She seemed to almost be nervous around him. He tried to think of something that could have happened between her and Ron to make her act that way, but couldn’t come up with anything. He wondered if anything had happened between them yet and found that usual uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. He thought of all the times they had shared together. She never really seemed too interested in Ron until last year. Ron was always the jealous one… His mind was too muddled to try and think about Ron and Hermione right now. Not to mention that the idea didn’t make him that happy…what would happen to their friendship if those two started going out? He rolled over restlessly and hit the pillow, half out of frustration and also to try and make it more comfortable. He closed his eyes and tried to think about something else. He found himself examining his feelings for Ginny too, and was surprised that he was strangely numb. He wondered if these past five weeks had stopped his attraction for Ginny, or if it was something else ‘What’s wrong with me?’ he thought to himself ‘Can’t even like a girl for more than a couple of months…’ He tried to think of what he had liked about her. She was beautiful, she was funny and she could play quidditch. That feeling of nervousness and excitement rolled into one when he thought of her wasn’t there anymore. He had been worried that he would have difficulties trying to restrain his feelings around her by coming back here. What was wrong with him? He spent the rest of the night tossing and turning…

In the next room Hermione was also having a restless night, but unlike Harry she knew the reason. Last year she had noticed how grown up Harry was becoming, and had started to notice things about him that maybe best friends shouldn’t notice about each other. Like the way his hair was mussed up so cutely in the mornings, how his eyes blazed the deepest green when he was angry. She had thought that these were simply her observations, and indeed they had been at first. When she told Harry that he had never been more fanciable she certainly didn’t mean that she fancied him! She had been waiting for Ron to realise that fancying her usually meant that you had to do something about it. Then she went on holiday with her parents to Italy, and the world that she knew collapsed around her.

It had been a beautiful summers evening and she had been thinking about Ron, and questioning if he would ever grow up. She had recently begun wondering if this was all worth it. One minute he seemed interested in her, the next he’s snogging Lavender. She didn’t know if she could put up with it anymore. Her mind had strayed to Harry and she found herself thinking about every detail of him. She thought of what he had been through and what he had yet to go through. After what seemed like an eternity of thoughts and feelings she realised that she found Harry quite attractive. Of course she had brushed it off at the time, reasoning with herself that she was only feeling this way because she was so very worried about him, and being a teenager it was likely for her to feel momentary attraction for people she was close to. She had resolved not to think about it anymore. However it seemed like once her mind had thought of Harry in those terms, it wouldn’t let it go. She found herself walking through the streets of Rome with her mother and thinking about Harry. ‘Oh, Harry would look lovely in that jumper,’ she might think, or ‘I wonder what Harry’s doing right this minute’. She started having dreams about him at night and they were so graphic she woke up gasping and really quite embarrassed. What was wrong with her? She had thought it would go away, but now seeing him just made it so much worse. She had tried ignoring these feelings. She had tried thinking about everything she disliked about Harry. She even tried to think of her old fantasy…Her running to Ron after a particularly gruelling quidditch match and there in the middle of the field with the whole school watching he would kiss her. She knew she was in trouble when she felt sick at the thought of Ron kissing her and replaced him with Harry. The thought of Harry kissing her made her far more excited than she had ever felt when she thought of Ron.

After seeing him today she knew it, she felt it deep inside her and she had to try hard to control herself around him and act normally. She wanted to be with him, to hold him and kiss him, and so much more. She blushed in the dark thinking about it, and scolded herself inwardly. Honestly, this was no way to be behaving over a boy who thought he was your best friend! Not to mention he still had strong feelings for Ginny! ‘Please don’t let him love her’ she thought to herself. As if that wasn’t bad enough Ron had started to notice that she seemed less interested in getting him to act upon his feelings lately. She turned over and buried her head into the pillow, trying to get him out of her head so that she could get a good night sleep. Her mind strayed to Harry hugging her with no shirt on. She remembered the contours of his chest, the rippling of his tight abdominal muscles…

“Can’t sleep, eh?” Ginny interrupted “I know what’s going on with you Hermione,” Hermione concentrated on steadying her voice before she answered.

“What are you talking about Ginny?” she asked, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

“I’m not stupid. He’s not interested in you. He never has been, and never will be. Once this is all over it’s me he’s coming back to. It was me he was kissing last year, not you. I suggest you remember that. I don’t want to fight with you, we’ve been friends for a while now and I don’t think a bloke should come between friends. But I’ve liked Harry for a very long time, and I won’t let you get in the way of that” said Ginny angrily.

Hermione felt a tear slip down her cheek and felt wretched about her situation, she decided not to answer Ginny for fear that her voice might betray her. She eventually fell asleep, but it was a restless night.

5. A new home

Harry, Hermione and Ron had disapparated to the park and walked in the pouring rain to the bus stop. Eventually the number 93 picked them and a number of other disgruntled passengers up. Harry and Ron walked to the end of the bus while Hermione paid their fare.

“Harry!” Ron chortled, elbowing him in the ribs slightly “My dad told me about those things muggles use…aren’t they for changing the channels on a vellytision?” Harry looked over at a young man lounging on one of the bus seats with an object in his hand.

“Actually Ron,” said Harry, hiding his grin “That would be a telly box for the TELEVISION. The bloke over there is holding a mobile phone”

“Wow,” said Ron, not noticing Harry’s grin but staring at the young man in awe. Naturally the man was rather frightened and edged closer to the window in a vain attempt to get away from the staring Ron. “What’s a mobile phone when it’s at home them?”

“It’s like a telephone, but one you can carry around with you so you never miss a call” explained Harry.

“Brilliant!” said Ron excitedly. The rest of the bus ride was much the same; only Hermione did most of the explaining for which Harry was grateful.

The train ride to Cambridge from London was only an hour and fifteen minutes long. Harry and Hermione had tried to teach Ron several muggle games on the way, but Ron couldn’t get the hang of it. Even ‘Eye Spy’ was disastrous because Ron kept guessing wizarding words, one of which he shouted very loudly in his excitement to win. Naturally the rest of the passengers simply thought he was mental. After a severe scolding from Hermione, Ron decided it might be best to just shut up for the rest of the trip. Harry had a lot on his mind, and was disturbed to find that Hermione occupied a lot of it. She had been acting funny throughout this trip, and kept casting him long and penetrating looks. He reasoned that it was probably because she was worried about him, in which case he wished she’d stop. He wasn’t a child, as she had pointed out to him so very recently. He also wasn’t accustomed to seeing Hermione in muggle clothes. Whilst Ron thought they were odd and kept pulling at them and taking the Mickey out of her, Harry thought that she looked amazing. He didn’t realise what a figure she had underneath those school robes before. He quickly squashed that thought in his head, and realised it was unbelievably indecent to be thinking this way of Hermione. It must be because of all the stress, he thought to himself.

After another bus ride from Cambridge train station, they finally reached the small village of Hadstock. They walked up a long and winding road. After looking carefully through the trees they finally spotted a tiny cottage. It was light yellow with a thatched roof. Yellow, pink and white roses climbed up the walls, and a white picket fence surrounded it. Hermione smiled girlishly at it and walked forward with renewed vigour. Harry and Ron looked at each other, seeming to think the same thing ‘Blokes don’t live in girly cottages’. They looked around and found that there were only a few cottages in this part of the village. The trees that surrounded it provided plenty of cover, all in all a good place to practice magic discreetly.

“That place looks really titchy,” said Ron to Harry “Where are we all supposed to sleep, let alone work?” Harry nodded in agreement, and the thought of Ron and Hermione sharing a room came into his head. He felt sickened and tried to get the images out of his mind. Since when had Ron and Hermione bothered him before? Sure he was worried about how their friendship would change, but he had certainly never thought of anything like this before. He felt like screaming at the top of his lungs in frustration! What was wrong with him? Was he going completely insane?

Harry walked into the cottage and was amazed. The inside was huge and luxurious. The living room had a large fireplace, three gigantic comfy leather couches, and a couple of armchairs thrown in for good measure. The dining room had a very large table with twelve plush chairs surrounding it. The kitchen had everything you could possibly imagine, and was already stocked with food. Harry assumed Lupin must have taken care of this detail. They explored the downstairs a little longer. There was a massive study, lined from floor to ceiling with books. Harry noticed that all of their school items and books had been placed in various areas of the room, as well as the new books Hermione had bought from Knockturn Alley. They then made their way up the winding staircase, and found three big bedrooms. Harry’s had a four-poster bed, a study desk and fat cushions on the floor. He grinned as he saw all the things had been put away, and Hedwig sat in the corner on a perch hooting happily at him. After taking a look at all three bathrooms he made his way downstairs. Ron had pulled out his wizard’s chess and Hermione had put together a healthy snack for her, and a not so healthy one for them. They spent the night laughing and playing chess. They talked about their fondest memories at Hogwarts, they talked about Hagrid’s obsession with crazed beasts, but mostly they talked about all the funny things that had happened with each other, as best friends do.

“You’re face when you saw those spiders Ron!” said Harry laughing heartily. Ron looked a little pale as he thought about the huge spiders that had once tried to attack them.

“Oh yeah? Well what about YOUR face when you first had to use floo powder, eh?” said Ron, finding this most amusing.

“What’s this about then Harry?” Hermione asked in a teasing voice “Something you forgot to mention to me?” Harry looked slightly abashed at this, and then jumped to defend himself.

“In all fairness,” he said “I had no idea I was even a wizard until I was eleven, so the idea of a using a wand was mental, let alone anything else. Then this bloody family tells me to step into a fireplace and throw down some powder. As if that thought isn’t insane enough, I then have to have green fire…FIRE, on me. But it’s ok because it will get me to wherever I ask! You call muggles nutters Ron…” Hermione found this particularly amusing, and Harry had to throw a cushion at her so that the laughter would finally stop.

Eventually Ron decided that he was tired after all the food he had eaten. He stood up, yawned rather dramatically and lumbered up to bed. Harry was lying on one of the couches, and felt completely relaxed. Hermione was on the other one and was talking about some kind of spell that she had been reading about in… Well, some book that she had mentioned, but he just happened to notice the way the firelight made her skin look glowing, and now that name seemed to have vanished from his mind. He noticed that the room was suddenly quiet and he realised that she had just asked him a question

“Uh, sorry I didn’t quite catch that one Hermione,” said Harry looking a little sheepish. Hermione rolled her eyes and repeated her question

“So what do you want to start with tomorrow? I have a ton of books we can look through…”

“Well…” said Harry; suddenly worried that she might think his idea stupid “I was thinking maybe we could research the four founders of Hogwarts first. Maybe we can find an item of Ravenclaw or Gryffindor’s. I think we should start with Ravenclaw first because we don’t know of any objects from there. Well, uh, it’s a start…what do you think?” Harry asked, feeling nervous.

“I think that’s a great idea,” said Hermione beaming at him. “Why would you think it wasn’t?” Harry looked at her and opened his mouth to speak. He then realised that he had no idea why he thought she might think it was a stupid idea, so he closed it again. The result was a goldfish looking expression, which made Hermione laugh.

“Oh Harry, maybe we ought to go to bed. It’s been a long day, we can both probably think more clearly once we’ve had some sleep,” She got up from the couch and stretched dramatically much like Ron. Harry realised that she was making fun of Ron, but at that moment all he could think about was how she looked. Her skin was golden, and her lips pink and pouty. When she stretched, her vest top came up slightly to reveal her stomach and her breasts thrust out a little. Harry’s breath caught in his throat. He wondered what it would be like to kiss her, and the thought made him catch his breath quickly. She turned around as if sensing his eyes on her and their eyes locked. The tension hung in the air and their eye contact continued for a long moment. Hermione finally looked away.

“You’re tired Harry,” she said, her voice husky “I’ll see you in the morning” She gave him a slight smile and walked up the stairs. Harry was left feeling confused and extremely embarrassed. What was he doing looking at Hermione like that? What must she think of him? ‘What if she tells Ron I looked at her like that? What kind of a friend am I?’ He thought worriedly to himself until he could bare it no more. He walked to the study and searched for a book. He finally found what he was looking for. ‘The duellers guide to jinxes and hexes’ by Aurora Belling. He went up to his bedroom and resolved to act as if he had not looked at Hermione that way. He also thought it might be best if they weren’t left alone. He cast a silencing charm around the room and began reading and practicing various spells from the book. Once he mastered the spell with his wand, he tried doing it non-verbally. He thought about what Snape had said to him on the night of Dumbledore’s death.

“Blocked again and again until you learn to keep you mouth shut and your mind closed, Potter!”

Well he was certainly progressing in his non-verbal spells. Now he just had to practice closing his mind, and maybe, just maybe, he would have a chance of defeating Voldemort. He worked long into the night, determined to prove Snape wrong and to force the image of Hermione from his mind. Maybe he could try and forget what a terrible friend he was.

Hermione was lying in her bed with a small smile on her face. She had caught Harry looking at her, actually looking at her! She felt butterflies in her stomach and had to try and stifle a giggle. She turned over and buried her head under the pillow. ‘This is a very immature way to be acting Hermione’ she thought to herself ‘don’t get ahead of yourself. You can’t expect him not to look when you dress like that.’ She closed her eyes to go to sleep but allowed the bud of hope in her chest to open a little more. She still had a slight smile on her face as she fell asleep.

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6. An unexpected discovery

The next morning Harry was in a foul mood. He had hardly slept at all, and his conscience was grating at him. After breakfast, he decided that it would be best if he sat alone in the study. He didn’t want to be around Hermione and Ron at the moment. He walked into the study and closed the door. He thought ‘colloportus’ and heard the door seal itself. He looked through some of the books on the bookshelf, and as he passed a certain area he felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. He moved back to that spot and felt that the room was cooler. He peered at the books and noticed they were all faded and looked ancient. They were all black, and had a general feeling of evil about them. He picked one up and decided to take a look. He sat down on one of the comfy armchairs and looked at the front cover. He took out his wand and muttered ‘specialis revelio’.

A deafening scream filled the room and the windows shook. Harry leapt up from the chair in shock, putting in hands on his ears in a desperate attempt to block out the blood-curdling scream. For the lack of anything better to do, Harry cast a silencing charm. He was surprised when it worked. He grabbed another book and held it open. The book appeared to shiver in his hands and he could sense the presence in the room had gone. He grabbed some string from the drawer and bound the book up tightly. He thought ‘incendio’ and the book caught fire. The red blaze filled the room and abruptly went out, leaving a pile of ashes in its place. Breathing hard, Harry sat back down on the chair. Couldn’t he even read a book anymore without something trying to attack him? He removed the silencing charm from the room and could suddenly hear Ron and Hermione pounding on the door, shouting in concern for him.

“I’m fine, I’ll be out later on…” he called out a little gruffly, and then proceeded to pick up the book again. ‘Well,’ he thought to himself ‘At least whatever was in this book is gone, so no harm in reading it…’ He opened the book to find a lot of worn pages and blood spatters everywhere. He shivered and flipped through some more pages. He gave a gasp as he saw the word ‘Horcrux’ and stopped to read the section. He scanned the section about the evils of the Horcrux, and found a section on destruction. He held his breath as he read the section with eager anticipation

‘To create a Horcrux requires an evil nature; to destroy one requires courage and the ability to resist against the temptation the evil will produce once released. In order to destroy a Horcrux you must first release the evil within it. To do this the witch or wizard must use the incantation:

‘Liberatio pravus fascino’

For this to work you must activate the Horcrux, and then give a part of yourself to it. Only by giving the Horcrux magic will the incantation work. Once you have released the evil from the object, you will then have to destroy it. The beauty of the Horcrux is that one must weaken oneself to separate the evil from the object, and then the weakened person must try to battle the evil accordingly. The results are usually the Witch or Wizard dying and the evil returning to the object’

Harry read the page over and over. He had to talk to Hermione. He had hoped that it would be simple, removing a spell from an object. All he’d had to do with the Diary was stab it for goodness sakes! Now here was this book telling him he had to face evil. Though he supposed that murdering someone was evil, and the soul of the murderer was evil. ‘I guess it makes sense’ He thought to himself as he walked out of the study to find Hermione.

After searching for ten minutes, Harry finally found Ron and Hermione in the garden. Hermione was sitting on a lounge chair, watching Crookshanks randomly thrust his paw into the pond, trying to get a fish. Ron was at the very end of the garden, polishing his broom.

‘Hermione,” said Harry excitedly “I found this in one of the books in the study” He passed her the book and was surprised when she didn’t take it, but looked up at him with her eyebrow raised. She looked angry. After a couple of seconds where she seemed to be calming herself down she said -

“We heard a scream from the study and came to find you. We were worried. You didn’t even have the nerve to act thankful that we came to see if you were ok. You basically told us to bugger off.”

“I’m sorry. I’ve been in a bad mood and I wanted to be alone” he said, looking at the floor not knowing how to explain himself.

“Apology accepted. But I would like to know why you’ve been so funny with me today. Every time I look at you, you look away as if I have the lurgy or something,” said Hermione. She searched his face for an answer, but he simply looked at her stonily.

“I just…miss Ginny. I’ve been feeling a bit depressed about it, I didn’t mean to take it out on you,” Harry figured that this was the most believable excuse he could come up with. He felt quite pleased with himself, surely there was no way she could think he had been staring at her last night when he missed Ginny so terribly. He felt ashamed at being so dishonest with his best friend, but really, which would be better? ‘Sorry I’ve been acting funny, but I’ve recently begun noticing how gorgeous you are, and I can’t believe I didn’t see it before. It’s been taking all my self-control to not grab and kiss you senseless’ after which she would look at him disgustedly and run to Ron. Of course then their friendship would be in ruins. Or he could run with the Ginny story. He preferred the latter. Ron came walking up the pathway to where he and Hermione were talking. He eyed Harry resentfully.

“Decided to come and speak to us then?” asked Ron with a touch of bitterness in his voice.

“Listen mate, I’m sorry about earlier. I’ve just had a lot on my mind. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you though. It won’t happen again,” said Harry. Ron was a little surprised by the readiness in which Harry apologised. Usually it took Harry a while to see if he’d been acting badly, so this was a record. Ron grinned happily at Harry

“’S alright mate, no problem. You want to come and polish your broom with me? Mum picked up this great new wax last week, it works a treat!” Hermione looked at Ron and Harry as they began to move away. Hermione interrupted the beginning of their broom talk with-

“What did you want to show me Harry?” Harry looked confused for a moment before Hermione reminded him.

“The reason you were in the study? The book?” she said, exasperated.

“Oh my God! I can’t believe I forgot! Ron the brooms have to wait. Wait ‘til you read what I found out about Horcruxes.”

After reading the passage on Horcruxes, they sat at the dining room table and ate dinner. Ron was eating with his usual gusto; Harry was eating hungrily in between reading sections of a book that Hermione had given him. Hermione was reading a book on the four founders of Hogwarts and was, predictably, eating nothing. Eventually Harry looked towards Hermione and said -

“So…how do you think we’re supposed to activate a Horcrux?” Ron looked interestedly over at Hermione, waiting to hear what she’d say…but obviously not abandoning his food for speech.

“Well, I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit now you mention it.” said Hermione, “The diary had to be written in and read. So that’s how it was activated. Marvolo’s ring had to be worn by Dumbledore, so it was activated that way. Which means that we have to drink from Hufflepuff’s cup…” Harry interrupted with-

“I hope we get to choose the liquid in this one, I really don’t want to be drinking anything Voldemort made” Hermione looked at Harry, wondering where to start with what she had to say next. She knew he was noble, and wouldn’t want anything to happen to his friends, but Hermione couldn’t see any other way.

“Well actually I think it would be wise if you weren’t the one to activate the cup Harry,” she said. Harry looked like he was about to continue, but she held up her hand to stop him

“Just listen to what I have to say first, ok?” she asked. Upon receiving his nod she continued.

“If you have to weaken yourself before you destroy the Horcrux, maybe you shouldn’t be the one weakening yourself all the time. You’re going to have to be the one to actually destroy it. You’re far better at this kind of magic that either Ron or I. I think that I should wear Slytherin’s locket to activate it. I think that Ron should drink from Hufflepuff’s cup…” Ron looked slightly green at this prospect, but seemed to gather his nerve quickly, before he spoke.

“What about Nagini then? How are we supposed to ‘activate’ a great ruddy snake?”

“Well…Harry’s a parcelmouth. I think he has to activate Nagini that way. I haven’t thought of what he has to say to her yet though…” Harry looked from Hermione to Ron. He felt moved by the things they would do for him. ‘I don’t deserve this,’ he thought to himself.

“Well, what about the other Horcrux? We don’t even know what it is yet, let alone how to activate it” said Ron. Hermione looked like she was about to say something, but Harry cut her off with

“I’ll activate it. Don’t look at me like that Hermione. You’re lucky that I’m willing let either you or Ron go near those things, let alone activate one. I’ll do two of them, it’s only right,” Hermione knew there was no point in arguing further. They sat there in silence for a moment, the magnitude of the situation clear to them. Eventually Ron broke the silence.

“Well, there’s no point in getting worried about it now, eh? We have no idea where the locket is. We don’t know where the cup is, and we don’t even know what one of them might be yet. As for Nagini, I don’t think you should try and have your nice little chat with her yet mate, you might end up attracting Snake-face himself,” Ron had a large grin on his face as if this meant that they had plenty of time to do nothing, reached for more potatoes and began eating once again. Hermione sighed as she put down the book she was reading on the four founders. She looked agitated.

“I’ve looked through this book so many times and I can’t find an item of Ravenclaw’s anywhere!” she said in frustration “There are picture’s of Rowena in the book, but I can’t see anything of importance in them, other than her wand. I doubt Voldemort would want to use her wand anyway. Who knows what kind of disaster there could have been trying to use magic against magic?” Ron had finally finished eating and sat back with a content and dopey look on his face. Hermione waved her wand and the dishes disappeared, the sound of them washing themselves emanated from the kitchen.

Harry moved his chair next to Hermione so that he could take a look though the book. He noticed that she had a light feminine scent to her; it reminded him of flowers and that wonderful smell just after it rained. He mentally shook himself and tried to concentrate on the book. Below him was a black and white coloured photograph. There were the four founders, Godric, Helga and Rowena were all smiling and waving at him. Salazar had a look of pure boredom on his face. It looked like they were dressed for a ball. He read the caption below the picture and found he was correct. He sighed and went to turn the page when something familiar caught his eye. Hermione heard him gasp and looked at him, excitement beginning to bubble within her.

“What is it Harry?” she asked hurriedly. Ron also seemed to be waiting on the edge of his seat for Harry’s reply. Harry looked up at them and said slowly -

“I’ve seen this somewhere before, but I can’t think where…” Hermione went to say something but Ron made a shaking motion with his head. He knew when Harry just needed some silence to figure things out. Hermione watched, transfixed. ‘Does he have any idea how sexy he is?’ She wondered to herself. She immediately blushed at this comment and earned herself a curious look from Ron. She concentrated on the table and eventually Ron looked away from her, smirking slightly. ‘Oh great’ she thought to herself ‘Now he thinks I’m daydreaming about him, just what I need…’ She was brought out of her reverie by Harry suddenly standing up, his face flushed with excitement

“Of course!!” he exclaimed “The room of requirement! Of course it’s at Hogwarts! The cave, Hogwarts…where else?” Hermione looked perplexed, whilst Ron was just utterly dumbfounded.

“Harry,” asked Hermione, “What are you talking about?”

“Look! Look at Rowena! She’s dressed up for the ball and she’s wearing a tiara. I remember seeing that tiara in the room of requirement when I was hiding my potions book last term! It makes complete sense that Voldemort would want to hide something at Hogwarts. It was a home to him, a place where he went from an ordinary muggle to the wizard he is today!” Hermione stared at Harry, impressed.

“Bugger,” said Ron, “I was hoping we’d have a few weeks before this stage. At least it’s not the cup I suppose. Uh, just need a little time to prepare for that,” he added, realising that Hermione was looking at him with a disapproving air. “Hey Harry, you’re gonna look well fit in that tiara mate!” Harry began to laugh at that thought, and was truly glad that Ron was there. No matter what happened, he would never let anything hurt Ron. Not even him.

“Just one thing though,” Ron continued after their laughter had subsided “If we go to Hogwarts…then we’re not going to be very well hidden. So what’s the point in still hiding?” Harry was going to respond but Hermione got there before him.

“We just need to be careful when we’re alone, not to mention we can’t have anyone questionable knowing where our hideout is. We’ll be fine at school, but outside we need to be very careful…”

*************************************************************************************

8. A trip to Hogwarts

It was four am and Harry was standing in the shower wishing he could sleep. ‘That’s what guilt does.’ he thought to himself bitterly. He felt the hot water run over him and felt mildly relaxed. Last night when he had been unable to sleep he had tried closing off his mind several times. It worked relatively well in blocking out thoughts of Hermione. He stood in the shower and imagined putting brick walls around his brain, layer upon layer so nothing could get through. He felt pleased with himself as the walls started to go up easier than they had during the night. ‘Not brilliant,’ he thought ‘but with practice it’ll get better.’ He thought about Snape’s snide comments toward him during his occulumency lessons. He was going to make him sorry the next time they crossed paths. He began to wonder how he could practice legilimens. He needed to work with someone. Hermione would be the smart option because she had also been practicing occulumency. The thought of having to spend more time alone with Hermione scared him to death. He didn’t know if he could control himself. ‘Maybe I’m possessed?’ he thought to himself. He needed to gain control of this situation before things got out of hand.

After showering Harry made his way downstairs and found the note from Professor McGonagall. He felt nauseous at the thought of returning to Hogwarts. So much had changed. He sat there for a while thinking about school, and realised that an hour had gone by. He got up and packed everything he would need for his return to the school, and then retreated to the study to practice some new spells.

After a few hours he heard a bang on the door. He headed towards it, praying it wasn’t Hermione. He knew he couldn’t face her yet after the way he had acted last night. He opened the door and saw Ron standing in his Pyjamas. He felt a stab of guilt and dreaded what Ron had come to say ‘Oh God,’ he thought to himself ‘he knows!’

“Alright,” said Ron cheerfully “Uh, is it ok if I come in?” Harry wondered why he had such an odd look on his face, but then realised that he was standing and staring at him as if preparing for a fight. He sighed in relief and moved aside to let him in. He closed the door and quickly put a seal on it. They sat down the cushions on the floor, in contented silence. Eventually Ron decided to break it.

“So,” he said, “What have you been working on in here?”

“I’ve been studying some spells that might help us to get rid of the evil in the Horcruxes,” he replied “Plus some other ones I found.”

“Like what?” said Ron excitedly.

“Well,” said Harry, “there’s this spell that can make you disappear. Not permanently mind you, just for a bit so that you can change positions or something. I remembered Dumbledore using it at the Ministry one time and looked it up”

“Wicked!” said Ron, “Show me!”

Harry stood in front of Ron and concentrated. He thought of the word ‘defluo’ and disappeared before Ron’s eyes. Ron stood up with an amazed look on his face.

“Wow Harry!” he exclaimed, “You have to teach me that one! Do you have any idea what I could do to Fred and George? This will be fan-bloody-tastic…Harry?” Harry had snuck up right behind Ron and let the spell go.

“Sure Ron, anything you want” he said quietly in Ron’s ear, grinning.

“ARGHH!!!” shouted Ron “Don’t sneak up on me like that!” Harry burst out laughing at the look on Ron’s face, and it was a good five minutes before they could continue a normal conversation.

“So,” said Ron after finally containing himself “Care to share any other new spells?”

“Well, most of them I’ve been studying are to help destroy the Horcrux. So I’ve got this one that destroys the evil called ‘deletum’ and one that purifies the object or area afterwards called ‘defaeco’. I really hope they work though; there isn’t really anything you can practice on. I tried some evil books in here, but they’re pretty wussy.” Harry explained

“Yeah,” agreed Ron, “I really hope they work too…or we’re buggered! What we need to do is learn some really good jinxes to get old Snake-face.”

“Yeah I know. I have this one called ‘Suffoco’. It’s supposed to choke people. You can control it though, not like the unforgivable curses,” said Harry.

“What, you mean you could choke a little bit to piss someone off, and if they piss you off you can kill ‘em?” asked Ron.

“Basically,” said Harry with a grin. “When we get to Hogwarts we should practice some more. I bet the restricted section has a bunch of cool spells in it.” Ron readily agreed to this proposition, as long as they could find some more prank jinxes.

“Hey Ron, would you help me practice legilimens? “ asked Harry. Ron looked slightly nervous at this prospect.

“It’s ok, I’m really crap at it. You can just think of something, NOT FOOD, and I’ll try to see what it is you’re thinking about.” said Harry.

“Well…ok.” agreed Ron “But because I’m being your guinea pig for the morning, you get to make lunch. I hate cooking…”

They spent the rest of the morning in silence except for Harry occasionally calling out “Turning Fred’s hair pink” or “Percy covered in painful boils” By the time Harry had to leave the study to make lunch; he was pleased with his progress. Ron was simply amazed by it.

“I can’t believe you got everyone of them Harry!” he said excitedly “That’ll show Snape!” He sat down at the dining room table as Harry made his way into the kitchen. He heard a voice in the dining room that made his stomach flip over.

“Got every one of what Ron?” asked Hermione. Harry was suddenly seething inside. How could she act so nicely to him after last night? Did she still have feelings for Ron after kissing him like that? He thought of her kissing Ron the way she had kissed him last night. His anger was bubbling up quickly and he knew he had to escape. He could hear Ron explaining the morning’s events to Hermione, which he tried to block out. He tried to calm himself down and listen to reason. ‘You’re acting nice to Ron too,” he thought ‘you stabbed him in the back just as much as she did.’ He made lunch quickly and set it on the table. He mumbled something about needing to read some more and took his sandwich to the garden.

He was thankful for the fresh air outside. He sat at the bottom on the garden and ate his sandwich whilst looking at the butterflies fly around the garden. He started to feel at peace and closed his eyes. He wasn’t lying out there too long before he felt someone sit next to him. He tensed up as he realised who it was.

“Hermione,” he said, without opening his eyes.

“Hello Harry,” she said “Listen, I wanted to talk to you about last night. I don’t want you thinking I’m some sort of…tart. Ron and I aren’t going out. He wants to, but I don’t. I’ve tried to tell him but…there never seems to be a good enough time when I know he won‘t start shouting.” her voice trailed off, and she shrugged not knowing what to say next.

“I won’t do anything to hurt Ron. I took advantage of you last night and…” Harry began to explain but Hermione’s interrupted, her voice cold and angry.

“Don’t you try and pull that on me Potter,” she said “Do you think if I hadn’t wanted you to kiss me last night that I would have let you? What do you take me for? Do you think I’m an absolute idiot?!”

“You…wanted to kiss me?” asked Harry, momentarily forgetting himself. “You know something Hermione. I don’t know what’s going on between you and me. But what I do know is that Ron is my best mate. Nothing is going to wreck that, not even you. We need to go back to normal and pretend this didn’t happen. For his sake”

“Harry… I love Ron too. He’s my best friend as well as yours. I’m sorry that this has upset you so much. If it’s what you want then we’ll forget it ever happened,” she said stonily. She stood up and walked back into the house without a backwards glance. Harry felt something within him shatter at the sight of her so despondent. He sat there for a while longer thinking about her. The Hermione he and Ron had rescued from the troll in their first year. The Hermione who had been petrified by the basilisk in their second year. He replayed the hug they had shared back then and wondered at its innocence. The Hermione who had been so worried about him in their third year and had rescued Buckbeak and Sirius with him. The Hermione in their fourth year who had stopped Rita Skeeter from spreading lies about Harry. The Hermione in their fifth year, who came to the ministry to fight with him even though she believed he was mistaken. Hermione last year, how she had fought the death eaters and knew that he wouldn’t be returning to Hogwart’s almost as if she had read his mind. He replayed her words in his head ‘do you think if I hadn’t wanted you to kiss me last night that I would have let you?’ and allowed a small smile to cross his face… She had wanted to kiss him, she liked him the way he liked her. He was a little nervous at this prospect, but it was comforting to know that she felt the same way. His smile grew wider and wider as he stared up at the clouds and marvelled at their beauty.

*************************************************************************************

The air was still and silent outside the gates of Hogwarts. Ron, Hermione and Harry were all crouched uncomfortably underneath the invisibility cloak waiting for the approach of Professor McGonagall.

“Can we get out of this bloody thing now?” moaned Ron “It’s not that fun when there’s three of us cramped in here.” Harry knew that Hermione would say that it was too dangerous to be out here in the open, but Harry couldn’t stand being this close to her anymore. He could smell the light scent of her hair; it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

“I’m with you mate,” Harry agreed “Way too hot in here.” Without waiting for Hermione’s response he whipped the cloak off of them. Ron looked up at the sky at stretched comically. Hermione looked at Harry with narrowed eyes.

“Honestly Harry,” she scolded, “You shouldn’t have done that, who knows who could have been watching the gates!” Harry sighed and stretched a little.

“I wonder what’s taking so long,” complained Ron “It’s getting a bit chilly out here.” Hermione rolled her eyes.

“Ron, Professor McGonagall is getting older, not to mention everything she’s been though the past few years. I’m sure you can wait a few more minutes.” A growl filled the air and Harry began to laugh.

“Should have thought you’d be thinking with your stomach Ron,” Harry laughed. Ron started laughing too, but then stopped looking confused.

“Uh, that actually wasn’t me Harry,” said Ron, then looked at Hermione and started laughing. “Honestly Hermione! That kind of stuff isn’t lady like!” Harry and Ron both began laughing hysterically until a fierce growl cut through their laughter… They all stopped quickly, Ron with a look of comic terror splashed across his face. Harry looked around quickly and noticed that it was unnaturally silent all of a sudden. The usual buzz from the surrounding forest had stopped, even the wind seemed to have stilled in fear. He spotted a pair of red eyes from a bush 200m away from the gate. He was about to say something when a deafening roar filled the air and the red eyes began speeding towards him…

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10. An important conversation

A/N- Thanks to all of you that have been reading and reviewing J I got a few reviews that wondered about Harry being turned into a werewolf. That was just a threat that Greyback made, if you read the chapter closer you’ll see that Harry was never bitten. Also, the heir of Ravenclaw is *not* Hermione. This is because she is in Gryffindor and her parents are muggles, so no real tie to Rowena Ravenclaw. Any other questions just ask, I hope this answered a few of them! Anyway…On with the story!!

**Islanzadi** J

-x-

Harry’s wounds were quickly mended and before they knew it Professor McGonagall was leading them to the Great Hall for the evening meal. Harry stomach was in knots, it was obvious that they weren’t at school this year and undoubtedly everyone would be asking him why they were back. He thought of having to see Ginny for a week and he was filled with dread. But what was worrying him the most, which surprised him greatly, was that Ron and Hermione would pick up where they left off now that they were back at school. He tried to tell himself that this was simply ridiculous, but the worrying wouldn’t stop. ‘How can this kind of stuff be bothering me when I’m going to face Voldemort soon?’ His thoughts stopped abruptly as he entered the great hall and made his way to the Gryffindor table. He felt everyone’s eyes on him, and looked up to see Ginny staring intently at him. They all sat down and Ron began to smile at everyone before helping himself to the shepherd’s pie.

“Harry,” whispered Hermione “Look who isn’t at the Slytherin table.” Harry looked over and noticed that as well as Malfoy being missing, Crabbe and Goyle were too.

“Gone to join their mate I’ll bet,” he said bitterly. Harry tried to eat some dinner but found that he had no appetite. He waited for Ron to finally finish dinner before they made their way to their rooms. Outside the Great Hall Neville and Luna approached them.

“Hello Harry,” said Neville “Come back to school then?”

“Not exactly,” replied Harry, “Why don’t you come to our rooms and we can talk there”

“That’s a good idea,” said Luna “People are being rather nosy right now, especially that girl right there!” Luna pointed towards a girl desperately trying to listen in to their conversation. It looked suspiciously like Ginny but she was gone so quickly that they couldn’t quite tell. Ron burst out laughing at Luna’s frankness.

“You sure made that girl run of pretty quick!” he said still chortling to himself as they walked to their rooms. Luna smiled vaguely in Ron’s direction whilst absentmindedly touching her bottle cap necklace. After a lot of walking they finally reached a huge portrait of a witch tied to a stake.

“Hello there!” she called merrily “You must be our guests! Hurry up dears I have a lot to be getting on with. What’s the password?”

“Gobbledegook!” said Ron enthusiastically.

“Ah yes!” replied the witch “One of my favourites. Well come on in, come on in…” The portrait swung open to admit them into quite a cosy set up. There was a small living room with couches, chairs and a fireplace. They followed a hallway to a study area, their bedrooms and a bathroom. They made their way back into the living room and before long it was looking thoroughly lived in.

“So what’s been going on here then? Who’s the new DADA teacher?” asked Ron interestedly. Neville rolled his eyes, but it was Luna who answered.

“This rather curious woman, she seems perfectly lovely but she says some very strange things sometimes…She seems to live it her own world. It looks rather fun though. Her name’s Miss. Periwinkle.” Ron started laughing at the obvious similarities between Luna and Miss. Periwinkle, but quickly stopped at Neville’s frantic hand movements behind Luna’s back.

“Miss Periwinkle?” Harry asked, “Hardly sounds professional”

“Yeah what does she teach you to do? Hear an unforgivable and quickly retaliate…with cute fluffy bunnies coming out the end of your wand!” said Ron laughing.

“Actually Ronald,” said Luna in a surprisingly stern voice “If you didn’t judge people before you know them then your opinion might actually be valuable.” The room was silent and Harry was staring open mouthed at Luna. Everyone looked at each other for a few moments before Ron finally mumbled an apology to Luna. Luna appeared satisfied after this and their conversation turned to a more agreeable subject.

“You’ll never guess who’s going out with Lavender Brown?” Neville asked them. When no one could guess correctly and they were all getting mildly irritated he finally answered “Colin Creevey!” This announcement was met with disbelief, then yells of disgust.

“That is well wrong!” said Ron, “What does she see in him?”

“Maybe she likes having her picture taken” Hermione retorted, which earned a laugh from Harry.

“What does it matter anyway Ronald?” asked Luna “Do you still like her?” Ron looked from Luna to Hermione, then to the wall very quickly. Hermione suddenly found her hands very interesting. Harry watched Hermione, looking for a clue as to how she felt about Ron now she was back in school. Neville was simply confused. Luna kept looking at Ron until he finally answered.

“No Luna, I don’t like Lavender. It’s just, you know, Colin Creevey!! I thought she was sinking low with me… but Colin!” He made a look of disgust.

“Oh Ron,” Luna smiled. Ron smiled too, he much preferred Ron to Ronald. “She didn’t sink low with you. Actually I personally think you sunk low with her.” Ron puffed up his chest and looked very pleased by this comment. Harry looked from Hermione to Neville, not quite sure what to make of it.

“I’m quite hungry,” said Ron quickly, feeling uncomfortable, “I think I’m gonna go to the kitchen. Anyone want anything?” Everyone smiled at this expected announcement.

“No thanks Ron,” said Hermione “But come back soon, we should really go and see Hagrid tonight” Ron nodded in agreement as Neville and Luna stood up to leave.

“I’m rather hungry too” said Luna, “Besides, I’ve heard that the kitchens used to be a resting place for travelling gnomes. I’m quite curious to see if there’s any evidence of that…” Ron looked quickly back at Harry and Hermione, who were both trying to cover their laughter with various cushions. Ron, Luna and Neville left their rooms, leaving Harry and Hermione alone…

They looked nervously at each other, both thinking the same thing ‘Just act normally’.

“I can’t believe that Greyback escaped,” said Hermione “That must mean that someone was out there to help him.”

“I was thinking the same thing, probably another werewolf. Why would they wait outside the school though? The chance of a pupil ever going out of the gates is small…” Harry replied.

“We’ll figure it out. At least the teachers know now though, they can keep an eye out. Not to mention warn Lupin to stay away from the school…” Harry nodded in agreement then they lapsed into silence again.

“So…” Harry finally said “Do you want to come to the room of requirement with me? I was just going to see if the Horcrux is still in the same place…I don’t want to do anything yet.” Harry half wished that Hermione would say no, just he wouldn’t have to feel like he was on edge all afternoon.

“Sure,” agreed Hermione, hoping that by having something to do they might actually have a decent conversation. They walked towards the door, both trying to keep a reasonable distance from each other.

After locating the Horcrux Harry and Hermione decided to go their own separate ways for a while. Hermione headed for the library, and Harry decided to take a walk on the grounds. He was walking down the hallway when he saw Luna walking towards him.

“Hello Harry,” she said in her dreamy voice “Where are you going?”

“Just for a walk, do you want to come?” he said, surprising himself at the question. Luna beamed at him and linked her arm through his. They walked to the grounds in silence. Harry was looking around and remembering happier times. He spotted the tree that he, Hermione and Ron often sat under and smiled to himself. It seemed so long ago; everything was such a mess now. Harry was brought out of his reverie by Luna’s voice.

“You have to kill Voldemort this year Harry,” she said in an oddly conversational tone. Harry looked at her surprised at the use of Voldemort’s name and grinned.

“What’s so funny?” she asked, “I hope you’re not making fun of me…”

“No!” said Harry quickly “No I would never, it’s just that everyone always avoids these kind of subjects and when they do want to talk about it, it’s quite annoying. I don’t mind talking to you about it though. Hermione and Ron too of course.” Luna smiled vaguely and seemed to be lost in thought for a while.

“We need to go to the ministry,” said Luna suddenly. It almost sounded like she was talking to herself so Harry was unsure how to respond.

“Uh…what?” asked Harry.

“The ministry. Before you fight Voldemort you and I need to go to the room with the voices and the veil, remember?” she asked, seemingly urgent.

“Why?” asked Harry, sounding slightly alarmed.

“It will answer the questions you‘ve had for a long time. It will give you the strength and power to defeat him.” she said in a matter of fact tone, much like the way one would say that snow is cold. “I have to go with you Harry, we’re the only ones connected to it. You see?” Harry stared at her dumbfounded. ‘Has she finally gone stark raving mad?’ he thought to himself.

“Don’t worry, you don’t have to believe me now. But once we’ve been there you’ll see.” said Luna.

They walked for a while longer and Harry found himself telling her of the place they were staying in and their general mission, though not, of course, anything about the Horcruxes. He found himself asking her to come and stay with them, and to his surprise he actually wanted her there. He found her reassuring, some of the things she said were extremely odd but she also had a refreshing perspective. Luna seemed excited about the idea, though not entirely sure what her father would think. They fell into a companionable silence once again and Harry felt a little weight lift off of him. ‘It’s the way it’s supposed to be’ he thought to himself, and knew it to be true within his heart. Harry was surprised when Luna stopped suddenly, she looked nervous and kept twisting her necklace. Finally she spoke-

“Does Ron know that you and Hermione love each other?”

Harry’s mouth practically hit the floor at this frank statement and Luna began to laugh so hard that she was eventually on the floor. Harry stood there for a while looking around to see if any other students could see Luna rolling around on the floor. Eventually Luna stood up and stopped laughing.

“Your face! I’m sorry Harry that must have been quite unexpected. People think I don’t notice anything, but I notice more than most people,” she said. Harry had managed to close his mouth but he was still reeling from her revelation. ‘How could she know?’ ‘What if she tells Ron?’ and ‘What the bloody hell do you mean love?’ were thoughts that kept spinning around and around in his mind.

“Don’t worry Harry,” Luna continued, “I won’t tell Ron, but I think you should soon. It’s not very fair on him.”

“We haven’t even done anything. Well, we kissed once but we decided that it was best for Ron if we just stopped. I can’t upset Ron, I won’t.” Harry replied and felt relieved that he could finally talk about this with someone.

“Ron will be angry, but he’ll get over it. It might take a few weeks, or maybe even a few years. But you two are friends, and in the end neither or you will give that up for anything.” said Luna distractedly. Harry was shocked by everything that Luna was saying, but at the same time he felt a little hope. Could it be possible for him to have Hermione and Ron? A thought suddenly struck Harry and he knew at once he was right. He began to grin and Luna looked at him as if he were the one going mad.

“You like Ron,” said Harry, his grin getting wider and wider. Luna flushed furiously and began twisting her bottle cap necklace faster and faster.

“Please don’t say anything Harry,” she said pleadingly. Harry felt a little pity for her; he supposed that people would make fun of Luna mercilessly.

“Luna, we’re friends. I won’t say anything, you can trust Me.” said Harry, and earned a bright smile and a hug from Luna.

“I’m glad we’re friends Harry,” said Luna dreamily. Harry laughed a little and replied-

“Me too Loony,” which earned him a flick on the forehead. He laughed even harder at the odd gesture as they walked back into the school, oblivious to the other students gossiping about them and a possible love affair.

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After visiting Hagrid and seeing more creatures that made them question Hagrid’s sanity, they were finally sitting in their quarters. Ron had asked Dobby to bring up dinner for them, and Dobby was only too willing to oblige. They ate in silence and finally, full and content, lounged on the couches.

“So…” said Harry unsure of how exactly to begin “Luna’s coming to stay with us in the cottage…” Ron stared at Harry, his ears going slightly pink while Hermione looked furious.

“You do realise,” she said to him icily “That the whole school thinks you two are going out?”

“Well obviously if I’m talking to a girl I’m going out with her,” said Harry sarcastically. Hermione lowered her eyes a little and began to fidget.

“So why’s Loony coming with us then?” asked Ron. Harry thought about how he had felt when he had invited Luna and realised that maybe Ron and Hermione wouldn’t understand him. Either that or they’d think he’d gone completely mad.

“Well… remember that archway in the ministry we found? The one with the voices?” said Harry “Well she seems to think that me and her need to go there. So it’s easier if she stays with us while we try to figure out how to get in there safely.” Harry decided that this was true; he had just discreetly left out the parts that made him look like an idiot.

“So,” said Ron “What’s next on the agenda? After this Horcrux you two go to the ministry. Then we go to Godric’s hollow…then what? Any chance of us taking a trip to that new sweet shop in Diagon alley? I heard they have the greatest stuff! Even a gobstopper that can last for ten years! Cool eh?”

“Well…I don’t really want to go to Godric’s hollow right now. I thought I did at the end of last term, but the time just doesn’t feel right. I don’t know how to explain it…” Ron was looking completely confused, but Hermione met his eyes and smiled at him. Harry felt warmth fill his chest as he smiled back.

“Whenever you’re ready to go we’ll be there Harry,” she said. Harry decided that this was enough for him for one night. He stood up, said his good nights and found his bed, which he had been looking forward to all day. He was just getting himself comfortable when he realised that he had left Ron and Hermione alone, he contemplated going back out there but couldn’t find a good enough excuse. He had yet another restless night…

Hermione sat on the couch idly flipping through a book, her mind reading a sentence before flitting back to Harry. She tried to concentrate but couldn’t. She finally put the book down and closed her eyes. ‘I wonder if Harry’s talked to Ginny since he’s been back?’ she thought to herself, and found herself getting angry at the thought. She hoped that the only reason he didn’t want to be with her was because of Ron, and he wasn’t just trying to get rid of her by using a pathetic excuse. She was just thinking back to their last conversation…analysing it as usual, when she felt herself being pressed into the couch. Her eyes flew open just as she felt a pair of warm and wet lips pressing themselves on her. She tried to move but was pinned beneath him. She lay their shocked for a moment thinking ‘Ron? What is he trying to do? This is disgusting!’ Her paralysis finally broke when she felt his tongue try to get into her mouth, without great precision. She pushed him off quickly and clambered off the couch. She tried to resist the urge to wipe her mouth off because she knew it would hurt his feelings. They stood their staring at each other, Ron with a slightly hurt expression on his face.

“Wasn’t it any good?” he asked, and Hermione felt guilty.

“Oh Ron it’s not that, it’s just…” Hermione started but was interrupted by Ron’s angry voice.

“I mean, that’s what you wanted wasn’t it? You’ve been bugging me about this for ages Hermione. You attack me with birds and try to get me jealous…” he said, his voice getting steadily louder and louder “Now what?! I actually decide to do what you want me to do and kiss you…BUT YOU DON’T WANT THAT EITHER! WHAT DO YOU WANT?”

Hermione stood their completely shocked. Ron was red in the face and looking deathly embarrassed. She felt awful. He was right, she had been asking him to do this for a long time, but her feelings had changed. How did she really expect him to act when she didn’t tell him anything?

“I’m sorry Ron,” said Hermione, tears beginning to form in her eyes “You weren’t bad, it’s just that, well…”

“Well what Hermione? You fancy someone else now? Who is it this time? Krum come back into your life now, eh?” he said, all his usual good humour lost and replaced with fury. He could see in her face that he was right, and he felt humiliated.

“N-no.” Hermione stammered “You know Viktor and I are just friends Ron,”

“Who is it then?” he asked. Hermione looked down at the floor and felt her hot tears streaming down her face.

“Ron…” she said “I’m sorry, I should have told you that I didn’t feel that way anymore. I just didn’t want to hurt you. I thought that it would just go away but…”

“Who is it?” he asked again, hating himself because he felt bad about Hermione crying. Hermione still said nothing and Ron finally gave up.

“You know what Hermione. I’ll find out who he is eventually, we’re ‘friends’ remember? You should have told me before I made a complete idiot of myself! I can’t believe that you would keep me in the dark about something like this. I can’t believe that you’d let me go on thinking something might happen with us, when you know it’s not going to. I’m going to bed…” said Ron angrily, and then stormed off to his room, leaving both Hermione and his chocolate frogs.

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11. The tiara

Harry awoke the next morning and got ready ‘today’s the day’ he thought to himself. He left his bedroom to find Ron sitting on the couch staring at the wall. He looked upset and Harry immediately knew something had happened between him and Hermione. His thoughts seemed to crash in on him and he could hardly breathe. ‘Oh God, does he know?’ was his primary thought, and he sat down gingerly next to him. He didn’t know how long they sat in silence for before Ron finally spoke.

“She wants someone else Harry,” he said miserably. “I tried to kiss her last night. I though that’s what she wanted but she just leapt away from me like I was diseased…” Harry felt a mixture of anger, triumph, relief and guilt. He didn’t know what to say. If he tried to comfort him then he would feel like he was backstabbing him. If he tried to say everything would be ok, he would be lying. He certainly didn’t want to tell him to give it another go. He also felt like punching him for kissing Hermione, which made him feel awful. In the end he settled with the best thing he could dome up with.

“I’m sorry mate,” he said, and wished that Ron knew how truly sorry he was. Ron nodded numbly.

“I don’t want to lose her over this,” Ron continued “We’re mates you know? I want us to always be mates, but I just feel so angry right now.” Harry nodded dumbly and joined Ron in staring at the wall.

“I’ve liked her for so long Harry,” he said “I want to still be friends with her, but I don’t know if I can just turn my feelings off. I just…she made me look like a total prat last night. Why couldn’t she have just told me?”

“Maybe she didn’t think you two could be friends if she told you that. Your friendship means a lot to her Ron. Maybe she didn’t want to risk that…” said Harry, hoping that there was some way their friendship could be salvaged.

“We’ll always be friends. I just don’t know how I can forgive her. If I ever find out who that other bloke is…he’ll be sorry. God Harry…” groaned Ron “I don’t know if I can handle seeing her with someone else right now.”

“Don’t worry about that Ron.” said Harry. Ron looked up and smiled at Harry, and he felt a stab of guilt pierce his chest. “Just see how it goes. See if you two can try to be friends. It’ll be worth it, after all we were all friends before this all happened. We can still be friends.” Ron nodded his head in agreement and stood up.

“I’m gonna go to breakfast, doubt I can eat though. I said I’d meet Luna down there…apparently she made me something. Totally mad that one,” he said, and he made his way to the door. ‘It’s really bad if he’s not willing to eat because of Hermione’ Harry thought, and felt like the worst friend on earth. At the same time his feelings wouldn’t go away. Maybe in a couple of months they would, the way they had with Ginny and Cho he thought hopefully. A little voice in the back of his mind said to him ‘but will it this time?’ he pushed it quickly to the back of his mind of made his way to the Great Hall, wondering if there was any point in trying to eat when he was this nervous.

The trio walked down the hallway on the seventh floor towards the room of requirement. The tension was audible. Ron and Hermione had hardly said a word to each other. ‘At least they’re not tearing each other’s throats out,’ Harry thought. They finally came upon the area they were looking for, marked by the tapestry of the dancing troll. They all began to pace up and down, thinking the same thing.

‘I need somewhere to hide something…’

After a few paces back and forth, a door appeared. They all looked at each other and steeled themselves to go inside. They walked inside and Ron gasped.

“This place is huge! Look at all the junk everywhere! Look at this! Who do you reckon got whacked with this then, eh?” said Ron excitedly, indicating towards the blood stained axe Harry had seen last year. Hermione smiled at Ron’s eagerness and Ron abruptly stopped.

“Well, uh, back to work then.” he said stiffly ‘Where is this thing?” They walked towards one of the many alleyways and began making their way towards the Horcrux. Harry could feel a ball of nerves in the pit of his stomach. They walked for some time before finding the old blistered cupboard, with the ugly bust on top. Ron looked from Harry to Hermione, seemingly speechless.

“Well,” said Harry “It’s now or never I suppose.” He reached up and took the bust down from the cupboard. He looked at Hermione and Ron and then tried to steady his breathing. He reached his hand towards the tiara…and noticed that the lights seemed to flicker a little. After they steadied Harry began moving his hand forward again. He felt something akin to pin and needles begin to travel from the base of his spine to his shoulder blades. His hand was four inches away, and Ron thought he heard something peculiar moving around the room. A look a fright passed across his face, but Hermione and Harry seemed not to notice. Harry’s hand was three inches away…two inches away. The lights began to flicker wildly once more and cast hideous shapes upon the wall. One inch…his fingers brushed against it…

THUD

They stopped and looked around wildly, the room seemed to be much dimmer and the floor was groaning beneath them.

“I, uh, think we should get out of here,” said Ron nervously. Harry shook his head in vigorous agreement. He looked around quickly and then grabbed the tiara with one quick swoop. He hadn’t even stood up before a sickly cracking sound began to come towards them. Ron and Hermione were frozen to the spot, not wanting to see what was making the noise but unable to look away.

“RUN!” shouted Harry. That seemed to be enough for Ron and Hermione and they spun around quickly and began to follow Harry’s lead. Harry shoved the tiara hurriedly into his robes and ran faster. He determined that the cracking sound was coming from the floor…something was breaking through the floorboards. It sounded like the wood was being tortured, screaming until the point of release. A deafening bang filled the room and Harry knew at once that whatever had been trying to get up from under them had done so successfully.

They took a left by a shelf of old sherry bottles and began running wildly down the alley.

“WHAT DO WE DO NOW HARRY?” shouted Ron in panic.

“WE NEED TO FIND THE EXIT! THE DOOR FACES NORTH, SO WE CAN USE OUR WANDS TO HELP!” Harry shouted back.

“SHUT UP!” Hermione shouted. They both shut up quickly, which would have made Mrs Weasley proud.

“I don’t think shouting out where we are is really going to help us at the moment.” she said crossly. They jogged further up the alley when they heard a strange whooshing sound…and turned in time to see the lights at the far end of the room powering down… They watched with fear and the lights went out alley after alley.

“This is definitely not a good sign,” squeaked Ron, clutching onto Hermione.

“We have to run as far as we can while the lights at this end hold out, I have a feeling we’re in some serious trouble after that…” said Harry quickly. So they continued to run through the alleys. Before taking turns one of them would murmur ‘point me’ so that they were going in the right direction. Finally Harry could see the door in the distance and felt relief spread through him…then the lights went out.

‘Lumos,’ muttered Hermione. Harry turned around to thank her and stopped suddenly as he saw their pale and scared faces. Harry could feel something cold tickling his neck. Without thinking he spun around and thought ‘stupefy!’ A large crash echoed around the room and whatever had been about to attack them fell into the piles of junk surrounding them. All three of them ran quickly to the end of the alley. Harry could hear nothing but the beating of his heart in his ears. Ron stopped a quickly grabbed the bloody axe with a grim smile, then continued following. As they rounded the corner they stopped as they looked on in horror…

The floor was cracking right in front of them, and deathly white hands began to grab the splintered wood. The crack was getting wider and wider with every second that passed, and arms began to reach out. Harry and Ron leapt over the crack quickly. Hermione held her breath and jumped over the crack too… but no sooner had she become airborne when she felt something grip at her foot. She screamed in fear as she looked down and saw the things in the crack moving excitedly in her direction. Harry spun around quickly and slid along the floor. His legs were hanging over the crack and he could feel a painful pull at them. He grabbed Hermione roughly by the legs and threw her over his shoulder. She landed with a thud on the other side and looked up, horrified to see Harry half submerged in the crack. She rushed over and grabbed his hand quickly, trying to heave with all of her might.

“Ron!” she shouted desperately “Help me!” Ron turned around and his eyes widened at the sight before him. He rushed over to Hermione’s side and grabbed Harry’s arms. Together they pulled and pulled, trying hard to ignore the yells of pain that were coming from Harry from being pulled to both directions very violently. With a huge yell Ron yanked as hard as he could, and Harry was free.

Harry quickly thrust his wand into the crack. He could feel something grab at his arm and try to pull him in. Breathing quickly he thought ‘incendio’ and the white hands and arms began to turn a sickly orange colour…the fire spread quickly and as Harry looked back he could see a trail of fire around the room. He stood up frantically and gestured for them to continue running. He could see the door… it was only a couple of metres away! Ron was shouting something but Harry could only think of getting to the door. A metre away and a dull thus pierced Harry’s consciousness. He looked around and saw that Ron had swung his axe into a grotesque creature towering over him. Harry looked up with a look amazement and terror. The creatures’ face looked like it had been smashed to pieces and stuck back together in an odd way. Its mouth looked like a bloody gash and as it opened its mouth he thought he could hear people screaming within it. Harry ran towards Ron and shoved him out of the way. He grabbed Hermione by the hand and yanked open the door. He thrust Hermione through and Ron followed shortly after. Harry was about to jump out when he felt an icy cold vice grip his leg. He looked down and saw the creatures’ hand on his ankle. The hand seemed like it was pulsating, almost like worms crawling under the skin. Harry let out a soundless scream as he rose his wand ‘Impedimenta!’ he thought wildly. The beasts’ hand released from Harry’s leg and Harry kicked the disgusting face as hard as he could. It went flying towards the crack in the floor and with an unearthly scream, was consumed by the fire.

They ran back to their rooms, hoping that no one would see them looking such a state. They flung themselves through the door and Hermione quickly sealed it. Harry sat heavily on the couch and closed his eyes, trying to get the image of the burning creature out of his mind.

“What the bloody hell was that thing?” asked Ron. Hermione and Harry both shrugged their shoulders. Ron muttered to himself for a while, Harry could only here the odd words like ‘axe’, ‘take that’ and ‘bloody hell’. He pretty much got the picture though. Harry looked over at Hermione and tried to see of she was hurt anywhere. Her hair was a bit dishevelled, but other than that she looked ok. Harry felt completely relieved. He closed his eyes and pondered the thoughts that had been flying wildly through his mind whilst they were running for their lives. He felt guilty. He had been worried about Ron of course, but he had kept close to Hermione at all costs. Everything he had done back there, he had done with her in his mind. He thought back to Luna’s words the night before but quickly pushed them out of this mind. He wasn’t ready to think about that yet. Hermione’s voice interrupted his thoughts and he looked up at her and felt a wild urge to just grab her hand and run off with her. He tried to get a grip on himself and was suddenly aware of Hermione looking at him with a slight smiled on her face.

“What?” Harry asked her.

“I asked if you felt up to destroying the Horcrux now. I don’t feel comfortable having that thing with us…” Harry nodded his head in agreement and sat up on the couch. He retrieved the tiara from his robes, and they all just stared at it for a while. Harry thought he could feel the magic within the tiara, and then wondered if he was going mad.

“Can anyone else feel that?” Ron asked timidly. They both nodded their heads and Harry felt mildly relieved.

“It’s almost like there’s magic in here,” said Harry “But I thought only people were really magical…” He looked towards Hermione hoping she would know something about it.

“Well you know that there are magical things out there Harry! How can you think it’s only people?” she asked him incredulously.

“That’s not the kind of magic that this is though,” said Harry, “I can feel the magic in here. I’ve never felt that before…” To Harry’s surprise Ron was the one who explained it.

“I was always told that there is magic in everything around us,” he said, “Great witches and wizards used to be able to put their magic into objects. So if ever they were weakened in some way they could use the power in the object. But magic Harry, magic is all around us. The most powerful witches and wizards in history have been able to use the magic from the smallest ant to the largest tree. But not just anyone can use this kind of power. You have to get the permission from whatever it is that has the magic you want, and that isn’t easy. It’s not well practiced for those reasons. I remember Fred and George tried it when we were little and they set their hair on fire…”

Hermione stared at Ron open mouthed, Harry was just amazed by the whole concept and was staring at the floor trying to imagine the great and powerful witches and wizards that he had never heard of. Ron got sick of Hermione’s open-mouthed stare and finally retorted with -

“Don’t worry, I didn’t read a book or anything. My granddad used to tell us all kinds of stuff when we were little…” He blushed a little when Hermione eyed him slightly suspiciously. Harry moved the tiara to the top of his head and could feel his scalp prickling slightly. He tried to make his mind blank and think of nothing but the tiara. He didn’t know how long he sat there for, but eventually when the tiara was the only thing that filled his mind he uttered the words

‘Liberatio pravus fascino’

Harry felt his energy being drained from his body bit by bit. First his leg felt like he had a jelly legs jinx cast on him. Then his arms started to feel quite numb and his head was getting dizzy. He slumped back into the couch, his energy depleted. He could feel a slight burning sensation from the tiara…but not uncomfortable enough to be painful. Harry’s vision swan before his eyes, and just when he thought he was about to pass out the tiara fell from his head and slammed onto the floor. Harry’s vision cleared, and he saw a green patch of mould growing on the wall opposite him. He wondered if maybe he was going mad, then Hermione stood up and raised her wand. ‘No!’ Harry wanted to shout ‘Please don’t try and destroy it, I don’t want you to get hurt!’ but when he opened his mouth a groan was all that came out. Hermione closed her eyes and concentrated on the murky green patch. A cold chill filled the air, and then a bright white light flashed from the end of Hermione’s wand and collided with the green. They watched, transfixed, as the green turned to a light green, then a dull white. Then finally, it disappeared. Ron sighed deeply and began to shake his head. She turned to the tiara and used the spell Harry had shown her, and purged it of all evil.

“I don’t get it,” he said looking confused “I was expecting some huge fight to the death! Look what happened to Dumbledore! It was harder getting the bloody thing than it was destroying it. Do you think we did it right?”

“Yes Ron,” said Hermione patiently “Of course we did it right. I had a feeling this might happen. I think it was easier for Harry to destroy the soul because Harry was the one that was meant to do it. When Voldemort tried to kill Harry as a baby he ‘marked him as his equal.’ Not only did he give Harry some of his powers but also he gave him access to the very thing that will destroy him. Harry is the chosen one. I’m not usually into this prophecy nonsense but in this case I’ll make an exception. Harry can destroy the Horcruxes because he was meant to do it.” She looked at Harry meaningfully and he could see tears beginning to form “You will kill Voldemort Harry, because you are meant to do it. He gave you the power when he gave you that scar, and his mistake will be his downfall.” With that she rushed over to Harry and buried her face in his chest and cried. Ron looked at Harry and rolled his eyes. He gave him a look as if to say ‘Why do girls always get so emotional?’ Harry stroked Hermione’s hair, trying to comfort her but look nonchalant at the same time. After a while her cries subsided to hiccups, and eventually she was silent. Ron was feeling slightly uncomfortable at Hermione’s emotions and decided that it was about time to get some lunch.

“I’m going to the kitchens,” he announced loudly “What do you two want?” They both shrugged their shoulders and Ron mumbled something about having to get a bit of everything, and then left the room.

The second the door shut Hermione looked up at Harry with watery eyes.

“I was so scared Harry. I’m so glad you’re ok…” Harry wrapped an arm around Hermione and tried to be comforting…but he was just so tired. He tried to tighten his arm around her but his arms wouldn’t move. He felt his eyes closing out of exhaustion but didn’t want Hermione to be worried.

“I know,” he mumbled “I was scared of losing you. It’s ok now though…s’ok…” and with that he fell into a deep sleep which he most definitely needed. Hermione looked at his sleeping face a smiled, feeling lighter than she had done if the last couple of days. She decided to take a walk while Harry was sleeping, so she quietly crept around to get her cloak, and then slipped through the door.

She walked to the lake and was thinking of the times that they had all spent sitting by it when they had been at school. She smiled to herself as she remembered Harry rescuing both Ron and Gabrielle Delacour during the second task of the Triwizard tournament. Just like Harry, always the hero... She heard someone approaching her from behind, and turned around clutching her wand. She wasn't sure whether to put it away or hold it tighter as Ginny stalked towards her.

"Hermione! I was hoping to catch you," she said smiling. Hermione lowered her wand and returned Ginny's smile. "Why haven't any of you come to see me? We're supposed to be friends you know, but you've all been hiding away since you got here!"

"Sorry Ginny. We meant to, we've just had so much to do since we got here that we haven't found the time,” said Hermione apologetically.

"But not too busy to see Neville and Luna?" said Ginny, and crossed her arms defensively. Hermione rolled her eyes. She really didn't come for a walk to have an argument with Ginny.

"Neville and Luna stopped by on the night we arrived, but we haven't been going out of our way to meet up with them. Like I said, we've been quite busy." said Hermione, sounding final on the matter.

"He's not been too busy to see Luna though, has he?" said Ginny, her eyes narrowing "Everyone says they're going out now. I don't believe it mind you. You would be walking around here with red puffy eyes if he'd decided to go out with her."

"Ginny, I really don't want to discuss this with you," said Hermione, trying to keep the anger out of her voice "If you want to know why Harry hasn't come to see you then I suggest you go and ask him, not come and make snide remarks to me. We're friends at the moment, nothing more so you needn't worry about it."

"At the moment?" said Ginny and started to laugh, "So you actually think Harry might be attracted to you? Come on Hermione, you're his best friend, nothing more. You'd better start getting over him."

"Ginny," said Hermione warningly "You and I have always been friends, and if you want to keep it that way then you'll stop this nonsense. I'm sorry if you're hurt about you and Harry breaking up, but there's no need to take it out on me." Ginny raised her wand threateningly and pointed it towards Hermione. Naturally, Hermione did the same. They stood there for a few moments staring at each other...

"Ginny," said Hermione angrily "I doubt Harry will find you hexing his best friend very attractive. There's no need for this, put your wand down. We're supposed to be friends, remember?" Ginny stared at Hermione for a while longer, and then lowered her wand quickly.

“He’ll come back to me once this is all over. I know he will. I think that you’d better start thinking that way too. It’ll hurt you less in the long run.” she said furiously and stormed off. Hermione was left standing there rather shocked at Ginny’s actions. She had a horrible feeling that things between them were only going to get worse. The happy feeling she had earlier was replaced, once again, with melancholy. She sat on the grass and stared at the lake for a long time, trying to forget everything that was happening around her.

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12. Plus one makes five...

The next day they decided that they ought to head back to the cottage. They said their goodbyes to Hagrid and then went to see professor McGonagall. Harry felt sick to his stomach when entering the headmistress’s office. It still didn’t seem right that someone else should be in here. This was Dumbledore’s office, not McGonagall’s. He tried to reason with himself but found himself angry upon seeing the office changed. He kept his mouth shut and tried to look out of the window.

“I trust everything went as you had hoped?” McGonagall inquired. They nodded their heads in response. She raised an eyebrow and continued “I suppose you’re adamant on your decision to not tell me what it is you’re doing? I also gather that you came here to say goodbye, so you shall not be continuing your studies?” Again all three could think of nothing to do but nod their heads.

“Very well then. I wish to speak to you alone Harry…” Harry looked at Ron and Hermione, and with another nod of his head they left the room.

“Please sit down,” she invited. Harry decided that it would probably be the polite thing to do, though he still felt uncomfortable at the idea of being in Dumbledore‘s office. It was a reminder of Dumbledore’s death all over again, and he couldn’t wait to get out of there. She poured them both a cup of tea and offered him some ginger biscuits.

“There will be a meeting at on Monday at 7pm. Your three are of age now, and I assumed you would wish to be involved. Am I correct?” Harry nodded his head and McGonagall smiled. “If you think that anyone else is worthy enough to join the Order, then I shall leave that in your hands…but be wise in your choices Harry.”

“You know about Luna coming to stay with us, don’t you?” asked Harry.

“Yes Harry, I can’t say that I’m pleased about her abandoning her studies on something I know absolutely nothing about. But I trust your judgment.” Harry was smiling at her kind words when a voice spoke.

“As you should Minerva, I trusted Harry with my life and the world is unknowingly trusting their lives with him also. He knows who he needs to fight with him, even if he cannot find a rational explanation for it.”

Harry’s hands gripped the chair he was sitting on and he stared in horror at the voice coming from the portrait of Dumbledore. He felt tears begin to prick at the back of his eyes and he tried to blink furiously to get them away.

“Harry, there is no need to be upset.” said Dumbledore softly. Harry was amazed that his eyes could twinkle that way in a painting “I am not upset. This portrait really is quite comfortable, and the conversation is rather interesting.” Harry stood up quickly and nodded to professor McGonagall. She seemed to understand his sadness and let him leave with a simple -

“Until Monday then Harry,”

Harry walked very quickly out of the office and tried to get control of himself. He emerged from the gargoyle and walked straight into Susan Bones.

“Goodness Harry!” she exclaimed and began to smile at him “We thought that you three might not come back this year but here you all are! I haven’t seen any of you in lessons though…” Harry was caught off guard by this question and responded in an off-handed manner.

“No, we’re just here to get rid of something then we’re off again…” said Harry, before realising what he had said.

“Well that sounds intriguing!” she said grinning “What are you all doing if you’re not at school? Having some great fun I bet!” Harry tried to smile but Dumbledore’s voice kept resonating through his mind. He looked at Susan and she could see his eyes shining from the unshed tears.

“Harry?” asked Susan putting a hand on his shoulders “What on earth is wrong? Did I say something to upset you?”

“No no,” said Harry hurriedly “It’s just, I saw Dumbledore’s portrait and… It’s just weird to hear his voice when he’s gone.” Susan made a sympathetic noise and urged him to walk down the hallways with her. Harry’s thoughts were flying frantically around in his mind. ‘What am I doing talking to Susan Bones about this? I don’t know her very well and I’m talking to her like she’s Ron or Hermione!’ But try as he might to stop himself from talking to her, the words kept spilling from his mouth and they walked around the castle for hours before Harry realised how much time had passed.

Harry rushed back to their rooms and found a very worried Hermione, a hungry Ron and a predictable Luna.

“Where have you been?” asked Hermione, her anxiety written all over her face. Harry was relieved that she was facing away from Ron.

“Well, I was actually taking a walk…” he began, but was interrupted by a very angry Hermione.

“A walk!” she said, her voice raising dangerously “A walk! We’ve all been sitting here worried to death and you’ve been on a walk?”

“Correction,” said Ron “Hermione’s been worried to death. I kept trying to go grab some dinner but she said we all had to stay together.”

“It’s perfectly true,” said Luna serenely. Hermione turned around and glared at both of them. They sat back down on the couches swiftly.

“Ron, why don’t we get Dobby to bring us up some food before we all leave? Hermione, I’m sorry but I was upset after my meeting with McGonagall and I didn’t realise how much time had passed. Now we really ought to eat and leave as soon as possible. I’ll be back in a few minutes, I have to speak to Neville.” and with that, Harry left the room.

“Well,” said Luna, “He certainly seems to be able to sum everything up quite nicely doesn’t he?” Hermione smiled weakly.

Ron, Hermione, Harry and Luna sat on the floor eating. Dobby had brought them up so much food that even Ron was having difficulty eating it all. There was a knock on the door and everyone but Harry looked surprised.

“Come in!” he called. The door opened to admit Susan Bones complete with luggage. Hermione’s mouth dropped and she looked at Harry disbelievingly.

“Oh yeah…” said Harry, smiling sheepishly. “Susan is coming to stay with us too.” Hermione looked from Harry to Susan a few times before finally speaking.

“When were you planning on telling us this?” said Hermione shrilly “Do you really think this is a good idea Harry?”

“Where’s everyone going to stay Harry? There’s only three bedrooms in that place mate,” asked Ron in a confused tone.

“This sounds like it’s going to be an awful lot of fun!” said Luna dreamily.

Harry smiled at Luna and stood up.

“Susan, there’s a pile of bags in the bedroom at the end of hallway in the far bedroom. Go and put you bag in there, it’ll find its way to where we’re staying. Luna, would you mind helping her?” asked Harry. Luna smiled and accompanied Susan, happily showing off her radish earrings.

“Listen I can’t explain everything to you right now,” Harry said quickly to Hermione and Ron “But just trust me. Something Dumbledore said in the office made sense to me, I don’t know why these people have to be involved…I just know that they do.” Hermione’s eyes softened and Harry smiled at her.

“Dumbledore! Bloody hell…” said Ron, shaking his head with wide eyes. Hermione laughed a little and Ron looked away, his animosity towards her returned. Harry wondered how they were all going to live together if Ron kept acting this way towards Hermione. Then the thought of him and Hermione kissing strayed into his mind, and he realised that the fighting could be a lot worse. Susan and Luna emerged from the bedroom and Harry noticed that Susan was now sporting a radish necklace. They got their things together and finally began their long trip back to Cambridge, all the more amusing to Harry now that Luna and Susan had to travel as muggles.

They walked into the cottage and began trying to figure out who was going to sleep where. Harry briefly entertained the thought of sharing a room with Hermione, but that quickly flew out of the window.

“Whoa!” shouted Ron from upstairs, his voice probably reaching the end of the village. He came thumping down the stairs and had a happy look on his face. “I won’t have to give up my bed after all! There’s five bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs now! Wicked, eh?”

“Always the gentleman I see,” said Susan with a smirk on her face. “Well I’m quite tired, I think I’ll go and put my stuff away.” Susan headed up the stairs followed by Luna and Ron. Harry stood in the hallway waiting for Hermione to follow them. He began to feel nervous as she just stood there in the hallway with him, and waited in silence as one by one the doors closed shut upstairs. Harry’s heart felt like it was in his mouth as the lights in the hallway went out.

He couldn’t see anything, but he felt something soft pressing against him. He took in a shaky breath and lowered his head towards her. His cheek brushed against her hair and he felt her move so that her cheek rested upon his. She moved her arms around his waist and pushed herself against him. He felt his arms automatically slide around her before he could control himself. He felt her warm lips press against his neck and he groaned and held onto her tighter.

“Do you want me Harry?” she asked him huskily. He sighed deeply and felt himself giving in. He couldn’t fight her when she was acting this way, he couldn’t tell himself he didn’t care when he could feel what she did to him. He lifted her head slowly and ran his thumb over her cheeks, leisurely tracing circles. He moved to her mouth and slowly explored her lips with the pads of his thumbs.

“Of course I want you,” he replied and lowered his mouth slowly onto hers. It was a slow and gentle kiss, innocent and yet full of promise. They stroked each other’s faces and hair, gently exploring this new territory. ‘I can’t believe I’m doing this with Hermione’ Harry thought ‘My best friend, how did we get here?’ Hermione let out a little giggle as Harry nibbled on her ear, but it stopped quickly as he did it a little harder. He heard her gasp and felt familiar warmth begin to spread through him. She put her mouth on his a little harder and their kiss this time was deep. She was breathing deeply as his hands travelled over her hips and down the sides of her thighs. She gripped onto him harder and pushed her hands thorough his hair. He spun her around so that her back was against the wall and lifted her up a little. She (very daringly for Hermione) put her hands around his bum and pulled him closer to her. They kissed for a while longer, until Harry thought he would go insane if they went any further, and insane if they didn’t.

A light suddenly flipped on and Harry’s first thought was ‘Ron!’ They leapt apart quickly and Harry flung himself backwards so that he was resting on the wall opposite Hermione. They looked at each other in horror as the footsteps on the stairs became louder….

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13. A serious conversation

A hum filled the air and Harry strained to listen to who it could be. After a few seconds of terror, Harry recognised the tune to be ‘Weasley is our King’. He hung his head in relief as Luna entered the hallway.

“You know,” she said “you two are awfully lucky that I happen to have very good hearing. You are also lucky that I came down here to get Ron his pumpkin juice rather than let him get it himself.” She smiled serenely at them as if this they were discussing the weather. Hermione mumbled an apology and rushed away from them. Harry sighed and wished that the floor would open up and swallow him. Then he remembered the room of requirement and quickly changed his mind.

“Love can be quite confusing sometimes, can’t it?” said Luna conversationally.

“I’m not in love Luna,” said Harry beginning to feel irritated. “We’re just, well… I don’t know what we are right now! But nothing to do with love. Why is this happening now? Why couldn’t I have just carried on liking Ginny? She’s my best friend! Why is my life always such a mess?”

“You know my mother once told me that love is a branch of magic in itself.” said Luna sympathetically “You can’t control who you fall in love with and when it happens. What I do know is that it doesn’t happen very often. You can’t punish yourself for the way you’re feeling Harry. You just feel funny about it all because you’ve been best friends for such a long time. Daddy always said that being friends with someone before you love them is the closest kind of love you can get. He and mother were best friends for a long time before they got married.” Harry was grateful that her speech had finally ended; it made him feel very uncomfortable that Luna was talking about him and Hermione this way. He angrily found himself wondering why he had offered someone that is clearly insane to come and stay with him. He nodded his head curtly towards Luna, and made his way to the back garden. Luna just smiled to herself as she made her way to the kitchen and the pumpkin juice.

Harry sat down outside and ignored the slight chill of the night. ‘Why can’t I control myself?’ he thought ‘I’ve heard Mr. Weasley joking about ‘young boys’ but this is ridiculous.’ His mind wandered to Hermione again and he found that he was angry with her too. He told her they couldn’t do anything, and yet she threw herself at him anyway! He knew he was being unreasonable, but being angry helped him not think about Hermione and what they had just done…again.

“Harry,” said Hermione quietly from behind him. She saw him stiffen and slowly moved to sit down next to him. “I want to talk to you…about us.”

“We shouldn’t have done that Hermione. That could have just as easily been Ron! Can you imagine what he’d do if he found out about…this” said Harry.

“What exactly is ‘this’ Harry?” asked Hermione quietly. Harry looked at her for a moment and found that he was nervous. What was he supposed to say?

“Well, uh, I don’t know…” said Harry, and was very glad that it was dark out so that Hermione couldn’t see the redness creeping into his face.

“I had a chat with Ginny while we were at Hogwarts. She seems pretty sure that you’re going to go back to her. I don’t want to be someone you’re with because you’re trying to get over someone else. I also don’t want to be kissed one minute and ignored the next.” said Hermione, and waited anxiously for his reply.

“I don’t want to be with Ginny. I’m not kissing you because I’m heartbroken,” said Harry. He stood up and began pacing back and forth, trying to think of how to tell her how he was feeling without sounding like a total prat. “I wasn’t with Cho for very long, and me and Ginny only lasted a couple of months. Look at what’s happened between them and me. Our friendship is ruined. What happens when we break up? You’re my best friend, I don’t want to wreck that.” He looked at her intently, hoping that she would understand.

“Why are you planning on us breaking up before we’ve even started anything Harry?” she said, “You can’t just assume that we won’t last because your relationships didn’t last with those two.”

“But can we risk trying it? Think of everything we’re risking. Our friendship. The friendship we have with Ron. Everything could be ruined!” said Harry, his voice rising.

“Do you want to ignore what’s between us Harry?” asked Hermione, and tried to blink back the tears that were threatening to fall. “Can you ignore it? I don’t know if I can. I know I should be more worried about Ron, but when I’m with you I can’t think of him or anyone else.” Harry had the urge to go over and kiss her senseless, but he knew that would be the wrong thing to do. Instead he breathed deeply and looked at the stars and tried to think about what it was he really wanted, and what price he would have to pay to get it.

“Will you give me some time Hermione? I can’t do something like this to Ron without thinking it through properly. I just need some more time…” Hermione nodded and felt her hot tears splash on her cheeks. Harry sat down next to her and put his arms around her shoulders. They sat like that for a long time, watching the stars and saying nothing…neither wanting the moment to end.

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Harry, Hermione, Ron, Luna and Susan entered Grimmauld place at a quarter to seven. No one else seemed to be there yet so they managed to get the best seats around the kitchen table. Harry looked around and thought of Sirius making breakfast in here…He got up from the table to go for a walk around. Ron and Hermione stood up with him as if sensing his frame of mind. He smiled gratefully at them as they made there way towards the hallway.

“Guess Luna and I have to stay here then?” asked Susan worriedly.

“Don’t worry Sue,” said Ron, “we’ll be back in a jiffy. Just got to take a look around…” He smiled comically at them both before they exited the kitchen.

As Harry walked through the rooms at Grimmauld place he could almost picture Sirius walking around there all by himself. He felt the loss of his Godfather deeply. Hermione seemed to sense his mood and she touched his arm briefly. He smiled at her and they carried on walking from room to room. As if sensing his mood Ron decided to speak-

“Hey, remember Sirius putting Santa hats and beards on these elves heads?” he chuckled. Harry smiled at Ron and allowed himself to remember Sirius during the happier times.

“I remember the Christmas carols he sang a couple of years ago, and how many decorations he put up to make us all feel better when Arthur was in the hospital.” said Hermione, and smiled wistfully as she looked around the place.

“Yeah,” said Harry smiling “He really got into the Christmas spirit…” They walked around for a while longer, going from room to room when until they were almost at the kitchen again. Hermione looked at the cupboard that had been Kreacher’s den and hurried towards it. Ron let out a loud groan and Harry inwardly agreed.

“Why are you looking in there Hermione?” he asked with a look of disgust on his face “You don’t know what filthy things he could have left in there!” Hermione bent down and opened the cupboard door.

“Look!” she said excitedly pointing into the cupboard. “He took the blanket I made him!”

“Yeah, probably burnt it…” said Ron, which earned him a smack on the arm from Hermione.

“Look at all the stuff in here, I thought Sirius managed to throw most of this stuff out.” said Harry as he gingerly lifted the rags to see the items Kreacher had saved from the bin. “Look, there’s that ring that belonged to Sirius’ dad! He must have gone digging through the dustbins outside to get it back!”

“That’s disgusting.” said Ron and made a move to leave. Hermione followed Ron down the hallway. It took them both a couple of minutes to realise that Harry wasn’t moving.

“Harry?” said Ron “Are you, uh, coming or what?” Harry didn’t say anything, and seemed almost frozen to the spot. They made there way back to him, wondering what was wrong with their friend. As they peered over Harry and into the cupboard they saw that he was holding a very heavy locket. The one that they had been unable to open during their cleaning session, what seemed to be a very long time ago. Hermione gasped and knelt next to Harry.

“Regulus” she whispered and Harry nodded slightly. Ron looked from the locket, to Harry and then to Hermione.

“Uh…what are you two doing? It looks like you’re possessed by Kreacher or something,” said Ron worriedly. Harry stood up with the locket and turned around to show it to Ron. Ron’s eyes grew wide as he saw where Harry had wiped at the metal. An ornate S was inscribed into the locket.

“Slytherin’s locket!” said Ron in awe “What the bloody hell is it doing here? And why was Kreacher sleeping with a bit of Snake faces soul!”

“Ssh!” whispered Hermione “Don’t’ you see? RAB is Regulus Black! He must have found out about this when he became a death eater!”

“I bet that’s why he wanted to back out!” Harry whispered to them “Somehow he found out that Voldemort was going to make Horcruxes! He tried to quit being a death eater. He must have found this Horcrux before he was killed and hidden it here!”

There was suddenly a huge commotion in the kitchen, and Harry shoved the locket deep into his pocket. Hermione quickly shut the cupboard door, and they all tried to gather their thoughts. It looked like the members of the Order were here, and by the sounds of it there were a lot more people than last time…

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14. An enemy or an ally?

Harry, Hermione and Ron walked into the kitchen to see an array of people. Harry smiled happily at all the old faces, and hugged a good deal of them. He introduced himself to some of the newer ones (though he really needn’t have bothered). Ron looked surprised to see Neville as a member of the Order, but Harry just smiled happily at him. Chairs were conjured and eventually everyone was sitting in the room, though with all the people in there Harry could hardly move his arms without elbowing someone.

“Right then!” said Lupin loudly trying to get everyone’s attention. “First things first! There was an attack on a muggle village a few hours ago, as most of you know. Four people were killed, many severely injured and most of the houses burned down. The muggle police are dealing with the situation now, but I need a few volunteers to come with me after the meeting. We have a tip as to the whereabouts of a couple of the death eaters responsible.”

“I’ll come,” said Harry at once, which was quickly followed by calls from Neville, Mr Weasley, and Mad eye. Ron tried to volunteer after that but Lupin said that five people were more than enough. Ron looked slightly relived, but not more than Mrs Weasley who seemed to have a vice like grip on the arm of her chair.

“That’s settles then…Next on the agenda. We’re having a problem with this dementor situation. It seems like they’re breeding rapidly, at the moment they’re in various woods around the country but it won’t be long before they start moving into the villages and attacking both muggles and wizards. We need to come up with a plan of attack. I think we need to track them to the various woods they’re hiding in, and destroy them before they even attack a village. Minerva, Tonks, Mad eye and myself are still devising a strategy for this. Once we have found the central breeding area, we will contact you all with the time and place for the attack. Brush up on your patronus’ and bring plenty chocolate.” said Lupin decisively. He shuffled his papers and was about to begin the next topic for discussion when there was a thud in the hallway and the door was opened. Standing in the doorway was none other than Severus Snape.

For Harry the room seemed to go quiet and black as he leapt out of his chair and lunged towards Snape. He let the bricks form quickly around his mind and cast a shield charm on him without saying a word. Snape’s eyes widened in momentary surprise, but before he could do anything Harry was on him, his arm digging in to his throat and pinning him against the wall. He looked into the cold eyes of the teacher he had hated for so long and felt a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. This man had killed Dumbledore; this man had sold his parents out to Voldemort. This man had made his life a living hell since his first day at Hogwart’s. He could hear the voices of everyone from the Order suddenly floating towards him. He glanced to the side and could see them all standing and pointing their wands at Snape. He looked back and Snape and wondered why he had come here, when he certainly knew he was going to be killed.

“Potter,” he said in a choked voice “Dumbledore trusted me. I’ll tell you why if it will mean this ridiculous charade of you killing me will end” Harry pushed his arm further into Snape’s throat and got the grim satisfaction of seeing him cough in pain.

“Charade Snape?” said Harry darkly “You’re mistaken. I’m going to make you pay for what you did to Dumbledore, and my parents…”

“You really think you can kill me Potter?” said Snape with a derisive laugh. “Let us talk alone, and then we can duel if you think it’s necessary.” Harry stood with his arm pinned to Snape’s neck for a minute or so, before he finally made his decision.

“Fine,” he said tersely, wanting to hear Snape’s pathetic story before making him pay for his crimes. There were shouts of outrage and warnings from the members of the Order, but Harry could only stare at Snape.

“EVERYONE LEAVE!” he shouted “If I need your help, you’ll know pretty quickly.” With enormous effort the members of the Order filed out of the room, leaving an eerie silence in their wake. Harry sealed the door, put an Imperturbable charm on the room and cast a binding charm on Snape. He had the satisfaction of seeing Snape looking momentarily shocked at his progress in non-verbal spells and allowed himself a harsh smile. He stepped away from Snape and summoned a chair. He sat opposite him, pointing his wand threateningly at his chest. A moment passed in silence as the pair just watched each other, each trying to read his enemy’s mind and neither succeeding. Finally Harry spoke-

“Decided not to bring Voldemort with you tonight then? Pity, he could have had his pick of who to torture, though I think I’d have been his favourite.” said Harry unpleasantly. Snape curled his lip at Harry and looked like he wanted nothing more than to have his wand and make him very sorry for the angry marks on his neck.

“I cannot tell the Dark Lord where the headquarters for the Order are, even if I had the desire to. Surely you know that? If he would have known where the meetings were held you would all have been tortured and killed by now.” said Snape malevolently. Harry eyebrow’s raised slightly at this comment and he remembered Hermione’s comment about Grimmauld place being the safest place for them to hide. Why was she always right about everything?

“But Dumbledore is dead, he was the secret keeper so now you’re free to tell anyone you want about Grimmauld place” said Harry.

“The secret keeper was changed before Dumbledore died. He appointed another knowing what was to become of him.” said Snape patronisingly.

“I don’t have all day Snape. I’d much rather kill you now so I can go home and have a nice cup of tea. Tell me why Dumbledore was stupid enough to trust you so we can get this over with” said Harry, his green eyes boring into Snape.

“Do not call the headmaster stupid boy!” said Snape scathingly “When you cannot even manage to concoct a simple potion correctly.”

“Why are you defending him when you murdered him?” replied Harry, feeling his sick anger start to bubble within him. “You told Voldemort where my parents were going to be the night they were murdered. Dumbledore was a very trusting man; in this case he made an error of judgement. You’re a filthy snake and you always have been.”

“I DID NOT tell him where your parents would be! I simply told him of the prophecy. How was I to know that he would start hunting for a little boy to murder? How was I to know he would murder your parents? You see everything in black and white Potter, which is your problem. There is never one soul person to blame in any situation.” replied Snape angrily

“If you hadn’t interfered they would still be alive. If you hadn’t been one of his evil followers I would still have my parents. Can you deny that?” said Harry angrily, standing up from his chair and pacing around the room. It was taking all of his self control not to pull out his wand and make Snape pay for what he was feeling right now.

“I have never denied that charge,” said Snape, his voice sounding suddenly hollow. “It does not mean that I am proud of it. I have paid for that mistake everyday since.”

“Oh! I see!” said Harry sarcastically “You’ve paid! You decided to join Dumbledore instead, and be a coward until Voldemort returned. Then you fed him information, oh…then you killed the Headmaster! Wait…where’s the bit where you lose your parents? Where’s the bit where you have people trying to kill you all the time? Yeah Snape, I can see you’ve paid dearly…”

“DO NOT CALL ME A COWARD!!!” shouted Snape savagely “Do you have any idea what it takes to face the Dark Lord, to hide things from him that would surely have you tortured to death? To have to murder against your will in case you’re found out? To live each day wondering when he is going to find out, and when you are going to pay?” There was silence in the room as they both took in what Snape was saying. Harry felt the tiniest shred of pity towards him…it didn’t last long.

“Get on with it Snape. What did you tell Dumbledore that made him trust you?” asked Harry and looked intently at him. Snape seemed to be fighting with himself, and when he spoke it was in a very low and quiet voice that Harry hadn’t heard him use before.

“If I tell you this, I ask that you keep it a secret. It’s not the kind of information that I would normally divulge to…some like you,” said Snape.

“I won’t make any promises Snape, your life is on the line here so hurry it up will you?” said Harry. Snape took a deep breath and uttered the words so quietly that at first Harry had thought he’d misheard them. As understanding finally filled him his green eyes widened with a mixture of disgust and surprise. He sat back down on the chair heavily and stared at Snape, unsure of what to think of the man now in front of him.

*************************************************************************************

They sat there in silence for a long time before either of them spoke. Snape humiliated at having to tell the boy he hated most his most inner feelings. Harry felt so much pity for Snape, but his anger still flowed deep. There was no excuse for killing Dumbledore.

“How did you meet her?” Harry finally asked, wanting to hear the story so he could understand fully.

“During our first potions class.” said Snape; a slight smile on his face that he didn’t even know was there. “It’s true what professor Slughorn was saying last year. She was truly gifted at potions. We were the best in our year, and I daresay the school.”

“But you hated her.” said Harry still quite confused “You called her a Mudblood. You can’t love someone and call them names like that”

“I was an arrogant teenager Potter,” said Snape coldly “I’m sure you know all about that.” Harry ignored this comment and began pacing the room again, trying to get his head around what Snape was trying to explain to him.

“Did anyone else know?” Harry finally asked.

“Do you really think I would admit to being in love with someone like Lily Evans? Someone that is so unlike me. We were from two different worlds Potter. Can you imagine what I would have had to deal with if anyone had ever found out? Can you imagine the look of pity your mother would have given me every time I walked passed her in the corridors?” said Snape, sounding strangely miserable.

“So is that why you hated my dad then?” asked Harry, “because he got my mum and you didn’t? Is that why you hate me? Because I remind you of my dad?”

“I disliked your father because he was an arrogant show off. Just like you.” said Snape, the anger at the mention of Harry’s father clear in his voice. Harry finally understood why Snape acted the way he did. He didn’t feel relieved, he didn’t suddenly like him, but he felt better that he finally understood why this man had hated him so much when he was only eleven years old. Harry was a reminder to Snape of everything he had lost, of the woman he had loved and the great person he had sacrificed by serving Voldemort.

“At least I’m not a murderer.” said Harry, and was relieved to find more anger towards Snape. He had been feeling quite uncomfortable with these new feelings of pity.

“Dumbledore knew what might happen. He knew I had made an unbreakable vow to save Draco. He knew that either he or I would have to die. He chose himself to die, another thing I have to live with everyday. He felt that my cause was greater than his life. He begged me to kill him, do you know why Potter?” said Snape, throwing an angry look at Harry. Harry was too shocked by what Snape was saying to do anything but shake his head.

“For you. All of this hard work is all for you. So that you can defeat the Dark Lord and rid the world of evil at last. I hope you do it, otherwise a lot of lives will have been wasted for nothing.”

Harry sat back on the chair and stared at the floor for a long time. Was it possible that what Snape was saying was true? That Dumbledore knew he would have to die either way? Is that why he made sure that Harry knew of the Horcruxes? Is that why he made him see his true fate with the prophecy? He remembered Dumbledore’s last words ‘Severus please…’ Was it possible that he was begging Snape to end his life?

“You looked so evil when you killed him. You looked like you hated him,” said Harry numbly.

“I hated myself. I had to murder the only person that had put his faith and trust into me. The only person that would stand by me no matter what. Wouldn’t you hate yourself?” Harry nodded dumbly and they sat there for a long time, saying nothing, each lost in his own thoughts. Eventually Harry removed the binding charm from Snape and unsealed the doors. Snape stood up stiffly and regained his usual air of hostility. Members of the Order came flooding in, wands still raised and pointing at Snape. Harry stood up and observed him, before finally reaching his decision.

“He’s fine everyone. Don’t attack him, he’s…on our side.” Everyone stood shocked at Harry’s comment, but eventually there were cries of outrage and accusations flying across the room. Harry and Snape stared at each other before Harry finally stood on the chair so that he could see everyone.

“STOP!” He shouted “DUMBLEDORE TRUSTED SNAPE…AND I DO TOO. STOP THIS FIGHTING AND LETS GET ON WITH THE MEETING.” Everyone fell silent, but professor McGonagall stepped forward, eyeing Harry with doubt.

“Harry,” she asked, “Why have you made this decision? Tell us so that we can at least understand. No one trusts Severus now, you must see that.” Harry looked at Snape before replying, and Snape was obviously nervous.

“You trusted Dumbledore’s opinion. Now trust mine. I’m sure Snape will tell you everything that happened on the night of Dumbledore’s death. As for the rest, take my word for it. He’s on our side,” said Harry with finality in his voice. Lupin nodded his head curtly and led Snape out of the room, followed closely by McGonagall, Mr. Weasley and Mad Eye.

“Where are they taking him?” asked Neville anxiously “You said he was alright to stay, they’re not going to do anything to him, are they Harry?”

“No,” said Harry “They’re going to make sure that there’s no way he can tell Voldemort the location of the Order meetings. I don’t think he could anyway, but best to be on the safe side in case he found a way of leaking information,”

“I heard Mad Eye whispering to Kingsley that they were going to make him make the unbreakable vow.” said Ron quietly.

“He’ll do it,” said Harry firmly “He wants to help us, he wants revenge too…”

The rest of the meeting was very quiet, with Snape explaining his version of Dumbledore’s death. Most of the Order still didn’t trust Snape, but they also knew that he was extremely valuable to them. When the meeting had finished, Ron, Hermione, Luna and Susan went back to the cottage. Harry caught Hermione’s eye before leaving and gave a small thumbs up. She smiled at him , trembling so slightly that Harry was sure he was the only one who noticed it.

“Be careful Harry,” she said quietly, trying not to betray her emotions in front of so many people. Lupin, Mad Eye, Mr Weasley, Neville and Harry readied themselves to find the death eaters, and Harry wondered what could possibly make this evening more remarkable.

*************************************************************************************

The five men walked down a cobble-stoned street in silence. They were all alert, looking at the people walking down the street, trying to see if there could be any possible danger other than the one they were walking into. Lupin nodded to a dark alley with a single street lamp at the end of it. They slowly walked down it, their wands at the ready.

“Where are we going?” asked Harry.

“A little bed and breakfast owned by a witch around the corner. Apparently she overheard two men talking about a plan to destroy another muggle village. They’ve been staying there for the last week and there have been some strange goings on.” Lupin explained quietly. They fell silent again and all that could be heard were their footsteps echoing on the cobblestones. Harry found himself thinking of Hermione’s anxious words to him when he left Grimmauld place. A smile came to his face, and even though he knew he was going to fight a couple of death eaters, he had a hard time removing it. ‘I am losing it,’ he thought to himself, but the smile remained.

They reached the end of the alley and rounded the corner. There in front of them was a small cream coloured brick building, with an old black sign swinging lazily in the wind that read ‘The Rat and Parrot’

“Looks like a place that would be owned by pirates, not a witch.” said Neville, to which Harry laughed.

“Ssh!” said Mad Eye, “You’re attracting too much attention to us! Lupin we should circle the B&B before we go in. Make sure the areas safe…”

“The area is never going to be safe if there are death eaters around,” said Arthur quietly. Lupin nodded his head in agreement with Mr. Weasley, and they walked towards ‘The Rat and Parrot’. They entered the building to find the reception area deserted, save for one old man sitting on a bench asleep. Harry stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out where he had seen him before. He recognised the cane that was resting in his lap, it had an absurd duck head at the top. Harry finally looked away, not exactly comfortable but trying to tell himself that there were loads of old people who had canes. He was just nervous and reading into things too much. They looked around and Mad Eye motioned for them to follow him towards a very narrow flight of stairs. They had to ascend it in single file. Mad Eye at the front, Arthur second. Harry was third, then Neville and finally Lupin bringing up the rear. They walked up flight after flight in silence, Mad Eye making sure the coast was clear before signalling them to move on to the next flight of stairs. The moved in quick silence, until Mad Eye signalled that they had the correct floor. The walked silently up the corridor, passing old and dusty looking black doors on either side of them. Harry noticed that the carpets were stained with a strange black looking substance. The numbers on the doors were crooked and the corridor smelt heavily of cigar smoke. They all pulled their wands out and they reached the door at the very end of the corridor on the right hand side. The lights flickered slightly as Mad Eye pointed his wand at the door and uttered ‘Alohomora’ the door swung open slightly and Mad Eye signalled for everyone to get ready. He raised his hand and held three fingers up…then two…then one…with one quick movement he pushed himself in the door, the rest of them quickly following.

“There’s no one here!” said Arthur “How could they have known we were coming?” Mad Eye made a few comments about circling the B&B as well as his famous ‘constant vigilance’ but no one was paying too much attention. They stood in a line staring around at the cramped room with the tiny bathroom attached to it and wondered who had tipped off the death eaters. Just as Harry was wondering what they would do next the door was blown off of it’s hinges and sent flying into the room. A cloud of smoke obscured his view, but he knew that the death eaters were now in the room. They also had them cornered.

“AHHHHHHH!!!!!!” screamed Lupin and fell to the floor in agony. The smoke cleared slightly and they all looked up to see that a death eater had his wand pointed directly at Lupin, and was obviously casting the cruciatus curse. Harry saw the old man that had been sleeping in the reception area downstairs behind the death eaters. He let out a cackle of laughter as he pointed his wand towards them. Lupin stopped screaming for a moment, and Harry lunged to the side and jumped across the bed. He cast a shield charm around himself and knew that several hexes had just bounced off of him. Arthur and Mad Eye scattered in different directions and both death eaters started firing off curses. Neville had stayed rooted to the spot and was looking at Lupin in horror. He was utterly silent as he raised his wand and pointed it at one of the death eaters now firing at Harry.

“STUPEFY!” he yelled and the death eater was hit with a bolt of red light. The old man that had been watching backed out of the room and Neville ran after him, firing hexes and jinxes as he went. His eyes were as cold as stone, and there was anger in his face that Harry had never seen before. He ran after Neville and the old man, thundering down staircases until he reached the entrance of the B&B. He ran outside and was greeted with total silence. There wasn’t a single person walking the streets. He heard a noise to the left of him, he quickly turned and raised his wand but not before he found himself being flung to the side and hitting a pile of metal dustbins. He tried to get up but was thrown face first into the metal once again. He could feel a cold pain spread throughout his face, and the taste of blood filled his mouth. He heard footsteps coming towards him and waited…When he thought the old man was a couple of feet away he thought of a tripping jink, and heard him fall face first into the cobble-stones. He stood up quickly and tried to stupefy him, but his wand flew out of his hand. He turned around to see another death eater holding his wand. Before he could think of anything he was knocked to the floor. He felt a stinging sensation move from his chest, and become more intense as it moved up to his neck and then spread through his shoulders. The stinging turned to a light burning, which quickly intensified. Harry felt like he was on fire, but he could see that he wasn’t. What kind of a spell was that?

“Do you like that Potter?” said the cold voice, moving closer to him. “They didn’t teach you this at Hogwarts did they? It burns you from the inside, leaving your skin perfectly in tact. All the torture, none of the mess. If the Dark Lord wasn’t so keen to keep you to himself I would demonstrate this further. As it is…”

“As it is you’re out numbered two to one,” said a cold voice from behind. Harry looked around quickly to see Neville standing there with cold fury and determination written across his face. Harry smiled grimly and pointed his wand at the death eater too. To his surprise the man simply started laughing, which made Harry smile in a very grim way.

“Do you think I’m frightened of two seventeen year olds?” he said coldly

“Not right now,” said Neville coldly “But you should be…” He raised his wand and aimed it at the death eater. He screamed in pain and fell to the floor writhing in agony. Harry quickly cast a shield charm on the death eater and stupefied him.

“Neville!” he said, his disgust obvious “You didn’t need to use the cruciatus curse on him. Remember, we’re better than them. We don’t need to inflict the kind of pain and evil that they do.”

“Don’t worry Harry,” he said calmly “That wasn’t the curse I used. Looks like it though eh? It’s a modified version I’ve been practicing for a while. You don’t need hate to fuel it, and it doesn’t cause physical pain the way the cruciatus curse does. It fills them with good feelings, feelings of love and joy. They hate that, it hurts them more than any of the evil curses they could come up with.”

“You might have to teach me that Neville,” said Harry impressed. Neville grinned at Harry happily and together they bound the two men and made their way back to the room in the B&B.

Inside the room the third death eater was taken care of pretty quickly. He tried to run when he realised that he was now alone and was facing two healthy wizards and one that was hurt but severely pissed off. Everyone fired at once when he tried to escape the room, and he looked like one mass of flesh with different bumps, colours and boils on him once they were done. Mad eye silenced both the death eaters while Arthur made sure they couldn’t move. Lupin contacted Azkaban to inform them that they had two more prisoners on the way. Neville and Harry entered a moment later, an old man and a death eater floating behind them looking ten times worse than what they did.

“Who’s the old man?” Arthur asked Lupin.

“I have no idea,” replied Lupin “But I think that the ministry as well as the Order will be very interested in a snitch.”

The death eaters, whose names were Dolohov and Jugson and Travers were taken to Azkaban. Arthur and Mad Eye left to inform the other members of the Order of the evening’s events. Lupin and Harry escorted Neville back to school. Once they had said their goodbyes to Neville, Lupin and Harry walked around for a while. At first they were catching up, then they talked about Harry’s dad. The subject of Tonks came up once or twice but Lupin laughed off most of Harry’s rather cheeky questions. As Harry had suspected Lupin eventually brought up Voldemort, and how Harry was preparing for the final battle. Harry told him of the time he had spent studying different spells, and his progress of occulumency and his attempts at legilimens.

“The Order and I have been thinking about ways to prepare you. We think it would be wise if you spent a couple of hours a few days a week with each of us. That way you can learn different methods of fighting and a variety of spells. What do you think?” asked Lupin. Harry felt unbelievably relieved to have help from fully trained witches and wizards, and his face showed it. Lupin laughed and put an arm on his shoulder.

“You’ll do fine Harry. Now we’d better get you back, I have some death eaters to interrogate. When we’ve decided who will teach you first we’ll owl you with the place and time. Try to keep this discreet Harry. You never know who could accidentally let something slip…” said Lupin. They said their fond goodbyes to each other and went their separate ways.

*************************************************************************************

15. The country road

Harry arrived back at the cottage at 11pm. His face had several large bruises on it, and his clothes were torn and muddy. He tried to let himself in quietly, hoping not to disturb anyone that was sleeping. Every step he took seemed to make his body scream in pain. He walked through the dark hallway and made his way quietly to the living room. He sighed deeply and flopped onto the couch gratefully.

“OW!” shouted Ron, leaping up from underneath Harry and sending him flying across the coffee table. The lights immediately went on and Luna’s laughter filled the air. Ron looked quite startled.

“You could have turned the light on mate, what is it with you and waking me up in weird ways, I’m starting to think you have a problem…” he continued. Harry grinned and threw a cushion at him. He stood up and looked around to see everyone’s blankets piled on couches and chairs.

“Having a sleepover?” asked Harry grinning.

“Actually, Hermione wanted to wait up for you, then Ron did too. So we all decided to sleep down here so that we’d all be able to make sure you got home ok,” said Susan.

“Although it doesn’t look as if you’re alright at all Harry.” said Luna, “In fact, you look quite awful.” Harry laughed at Luna and sat heavily down on the chair with her, shoving her playfully aside. Hermione stood up from the couch she was sitting on and walked away. Harry was wondering what he had done wrong when she came back carrying a large and very old brown book. It landed with a thud on the table and she began to read it anxiously. They all looked at her strangely. For someone who had been so intent upon seeing Harry return home safely, she certainly wasn’t acting that way. She raised her wand, pointed it at Harry and muttered a few things under her breath. To Harry’s surprise and relief the aches and pains that he had come home with vanished instantly. He glass on the coffee table showed his reflection clearly, and he was happy to see that his bruises and scrapes had also gone. Actually, he felt much better now than he had before he left the meeting!

“Thanks Hermione.” said Harry smiling at her. She smiled back quietly and resumed her position on the couch.

“Right!” said Ron, “This calls for some butterbeer!” They all sat and talked late into the night, Harry telling them the tale with the two death eaters and how Neville had been quite extraordinary. Eventually Luna and Susan went to bed, which was what Ron and Hermione had been hoping for. They wanted to know what Snape had told Harry. Harry contemplated not telling them at first, but decided that he couldn’t keep something like this from his best friends. He made them pledge their secrecy, and spent the next ten minutes telling them everything that had happened in the kitchen at Grimmauld place.

“That’s disgusting!” said Ron, outraged “Your poor Mum Harry having a grease ball like that wanting her.”

“Ron!” said Hermione crossly “Don’t be so unsympathetic! So that’s the reason Dumbledore trusted him then Harry? He loved your mum so much that there was no way he would have ever thought of betraying her to Voldemort?”

“It seems so,” said Harry. They were all silent other than the odd word from Ron, usually consisting of ‘weird!’ or ‘wrong!’

“I sort of have pity for Snape now though. Not that I like him or anything, I hate him for the way he’s treated me…all because he’s a jealous tosser.” said Harry. The word tosser earned a small smack on the arm from Hermione, but Ron raised his butterbeer and drank to it.

“Tell me you still have the Horcrux Harry,” said Ron suddenly. Harry looked surprised. He had completely forgotten about the locket he had put deep in his robes. It was obvious how tired he was when he forgot something like that. He dug into his robes, hoping that he hadn’t lost it during the fight. His hand found the solid lump of cold metal, and he pulled it out and held it up to the light.

“So it‘s Hermione’s turn to activate it right?” asked Ron. Harry looked at Hermione in horror until he remembered he had agreed to let her and Ron activate one Horcrux each.

“I’m the one that’s supposed to do that, remember? I’m the chosen one for this wonderful task…” said Harry.

“You’re too tired after everything that’s happened tonight. Besides, with you and Ron here nothing too terrible can happen to me.” said Hermione, and reached for the locket.

“NO!” shouted Harry. Ron spat out a little butterbeer and looked at Harry with a very odd look on his face, something a lot like suspicion.

“Lets deal with it tomorrow Hermione. It can wait, we all need to get some rest.” Harry continued. They sat in silence for a while longer, Hermione not looking nearly as upset as she should be at Harry’s outburst. They talked for a while longer until Ron fell asleep on the couch.

Harry stood up and motioned Hermione to follow him. They walked quietly down the hallway, put on warm jackets, and left the cottage as quietly as they could. They walked up the dark country road in silence. He was trying to resist the urge to grab and kiss her. He tried thinking of other things, but his mind kept flitting back to her. He thought of her in danger when Greyback attacked them. He thought of how she had been in danger in the room of requirement. The idea of her even trying to put on that locket made him want to be sick. He couldn’t stand the thought of her well being in jeopardy. He watched her walking out of the corner of his eye; he loved the way she held her head up high. He watched her eyes shining in the moonlight; he loved how the moon struck her skin and made her look like a beautiful mythical creature. He loved the way she spoke; he loved how her mind worked. He loved how she always did what was right, he loved that she was loyal no matter what it cost her. He loved that she always said what was on her mind even if it made everyone around her angry. He loved…

“Harry,” said Hermione, interrupting the dangerous path his mind had been taking. “Do you have any idea how worried I was about you tonight?” He stopped and looked into her face and saw that tears were falling once again. This didn’t seem to bother him as much as it had with Cho. In fact, all he felt when he saw Hermione cry was the urge to make it better, to stop her pain. These thoughts confused and scared him quite a lot.

“What was even worse, was trying to act like I was worried about you the way the rest of them were. I can’t do this Harry! I can’t pretend I don’t feel this way about you anymore, I feel like I’m going crazy! Do you feel even the tiniest bit of what I feel like? I feel like you’re attracted to me, but I’m the one who has the feelings. I just don’t know if I can handle this anymore…I feel like you‘re playing seesaw with my head. One minute you want me and the next you don’t. I can’t give you the time you want Harry. I’m going crazy waiting to see if you want me or not. I’m not going to wait around, hoping that you want to be with me when you could very well decide you don’t want me. I won’t wait around for you any longer and I won’t put myself through this kind of torture. I deserve more than that so make your decision now. Do you want me to be your girlfriend or do you want me to be your friend? ” said Hermione, her tears falling quickly. She waited with her heart in her throat, hoping this was the push Harry needed. In truth she would wait for Harry as long as he wanted, but she didn’t want to put herself through that kind of torment. Harry stared hard at her and she felt like he was looking into her soul. She hoped he wanted her, she hoped that he would love her…she hoped.

*************************

I'm not a perfect person
There's many things I wish I didn't do
But I continue learning
I never meant to do those things to you
And so I have to say before I go
That I just want you to know

I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
and the reason is you

I'm sorry that I hurt you
It's something I must live with everyday
And all the pain I put you through
I wish that I could take it all away
And be the one who catches all your tears
That’s why I need you to hear

I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
and the reason is You [x4]

I'm not a perfect person
I never meant to do those things to you
And so I have to say before I go
That I just want you to know

I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
and the reason is you

I've found a reason to show
A side of me you didn't know
A reason for all that I do
And the reason is you

Hoobastank - The Reason

*************************

Harry’s mind was reeling, he had to make up his mind now, for better or worse. He looked into her eyes desperately trying to find the answer he needed. He saw longing, lust and maybe even a little love for him flash across her eyes like her were reading a book. He knew he could get lost in those eyes forever, and he knew that there really wasn’t a decision to be made. When had there been? He seemed to have been captivated by her, and it was only getting worse. He loved Ron dearly, but he knew he couldn’t give this up. It broke his heart and made him feel deliriously happy all at once.

“Hermione…” said Harry, “If you need a decision now then so be it. I want you to be with me. I don’t know how it happened but I know that it feels right. I’m sorry if I’ve hurt you, but you have me now. I don’t want anyone else, just you Hermione, just you…Don’t think I haven’t been feeling what you have. You’re in all of this because of me. You could have been killed easily the last couple of day, and why? Because you want to help me. Whenever I think of what could happen to you because of me I feel so guilty. What would I do without you? You are the only thing I have now that’s worth fighting for. I know I have Ron and his family, some friends at school…But you…you’re what’s driving me right now. I need and want you more than you could know.”

Hermione stared at Harry shocked. These were the kind of words that she had wanted to hear from him since her summer in Italy, was she dreaming? Did he really feel that deeply about her? Harry was equally as surprised by what he had said. He didn’t know where that had come from, and he was feeling a little anxious at what that might mean for the two of them. But he also couldn’t lie to himself. He didn’t know where these feelings had come from, or if they had always been there and he just didn’t know it. What he did know is that what he had just told her felt true and right. His whole life was a complete mess right now, but he was glad that he had kissed Hermione. He was glad she wanted him, because he wanted her just as much. He didn’t really care if next month she decided she didn’t want to be with him, because at this moment in time it felt right to want to be with her. He suddenly laughed at how light his heart felt, lighter than it had in weeks.

“What are you laughing at Harry?” said Hermione in a small tearful voice.

“Us,” said Harry, “How did we get here? You’ve seen me agonise over Cho and Ginny. I’ve seen you with Krum and being lovesick over Ron. We were the last two people that should have romantic feelings for each other. Hermione Granger, my best friend…what have you done to me?”

Hermione laughed with him and they sat down on the grass next the road. He looked down at her seriously and stroked her hair with tenderness. She smiled shyly up at him and their eyes locked.

“I’m done fighting this Hermione, let’s just see where it takes us. I can’t push you out of my mind anymore, I’m starting to think it’s impossible…” Harry said quietly/

He felt butterflies in the pit of his stomach. For better or worse, he was going to kiss her. A part of himself wanted to stop himself and do the right thing. He wanted to tell Ron first so it wouldn’t be behind his friends back. But even as all these thoughts whirled around his mind he was still leaning in closer. The truth of the matter was that he wanted Hermione so much that he was willing to put his friendship on the line for it. He had lost control of his emotions when Sirius had died…but nothing like this. They sat on the grass in the moonlight kissing until Hermione wasn’t sure if she was even one person anymore. She had never been so happy and so alive. Her whole body felt like it had little electric pulses going off in every area. She was amazed that he could do this to her just by kissing her. She got up on her knees and pushed him down onto the grass, straddling him.

“Bloody hell Hermione, warn me when you’re going to be violent with me will you?” he said playfully.

“Shut up and kiss me,” she said, pushing herself onto him. He let out a groan and kissed her hard. She moved her hands under his shirt, feeling his chest like she had longed to do for so long. Harry was trying to keep control of himself and was having great difficulty. Hermione noticed this and decided to show him a more daring side of her. She thought back to all the dreams she had had about Harry and found a little bit of courage. She rolled off Harry and moved to his side. He carried on kissing her intently, and was stunned when she moved his hand under her shirt to her breast. At first he just left it there, he even stopped kissing her as he looked into her eyes with a questioning look.

“You’re not the only one that can lose control you know…” whispered Hermione and put her hand on top of his and showed him how to touch her. Hermione was feeling dizzy by the time Harry had stopped his explorations and started kissing her deeply again. They moaned into each other’s mouths trying to control themselves. But can passion that strong between two people ever be controlled? Harry moved his hands to the back of her waist and started stroking softly, then his hands slowly moved to her thighs. Hermione’s breathing was ragged now. She was praying that he would touch her, and raised her hips whenever his hands brushed her thighs. He stopped kissing her and looked deep into her eyes as he slowly stroked her inner thigh, inching upwards slowly…

“If you want me to stop, tell me,” he whispered. She said nothing and stared into his eyes as if mesmerised. The sensible Hermione had vanished, and left only the Hermione that wanted Harry with every fibre of her being. He slowly unzipped her trousers, and slid them down to her thighs. Hermione felt heat like she had never known before, and when she finally felt his fingers brush against her she felt like she was going to explode. He slipped his fingers inside her underwear and slid them to where she was wet. She gripped him harder and buried her head into his shoulder.

“No,” he whispered, “I want to see you.” She looked deep into his eyes as he slowly began to touch her again. She let out moan after moan and Harry felt like he was going to lose control just watching her. She began to shiver uncontrollably against him and she bit on her lip hard. Her breathing was getting faster and faster, the heat building in her to an indescribable climax. Eventually she let out a cry that echoed along the road, and she fell weakly against him. Harry kissed her tenderly and was secretly amazed that he had managed to do that to her. After she gained a little strength she returned the favour, and Harry had never felt anything like it. They lay there for a long time stroking each other tenderly in the moonlight. Hermione was wondering how they had gone from trying to ignore each other the day before, to where they were now.

“Your wild teenage hormones Harry,” said Hermione smiling at him. Harry smiled at her but knew it was more than hormones and more than just attraction. He felt panicked all of a sudden. Where had all this come from? Was it right, or was he just a stupid mistaken teenager?

“You know that we need to tell Ron as soon as possible don’t you Harry?” asked Hermione. Harry nodded his head, but changed the subject quickly. He didn’t want his guilt ruining a moment like this.

Later on they walked down the road hand in hand, stopping sometimes to kiss, sometimes to play fight and tickle, and sometimes just to look into each others eyes. They stopped outside the cottage and Harry kissed her deeply. The sun was beginning to rise on the horizon, and the birds had suddenly become quite active.

“I can’t believe we just did that.” Hermione whispered, “Anyone could have driven by and seen us.”

“There aren’t many people in this area.” Harry whispered back “Besides, it was your fault…you drove me to it.”

“I most certainly did not,” Hermione whispered in a mock offensive tone “I am a well behaved woman I shall have you know. You led me astray…” Harry laughed quietly and kissed her again.

“You didn’t seem to mind though,” he whispered kissing her slowly.

“You have you charms Mr. Potter. I couldn’t resist them, if I didn’t know any better I would have thought you’d have slipped me a lust potion…” she whispered running her hands over his back.

“We should go inside. Come on. Hopefully no one is awake. ” said Harry quietly.

“No one in there has ever been awake at dawn Harry.” said Hermione “At least not of their own free will” She followed Harry into the cottage and they waited in the hallway to make sure the coast was clear.

“We should try and get some sleep,” she said and kissed Harry on the cheek. He smiled at her and kissed her quickly before they made there way upstairs and into their bedrooms. On the couch Ron stirred suddenly and looked around. ‘Where’d everyone go?’ he thought, and an uneasy feeling crept into the pit of his stomach. He grabbed his blanket and went upstairs quietly. He stopped outside Harry’s door and listened. He didn’t know why he felt suspicious all of a sudden, or what he felt suspicious about. After a moment he opened it slowly and saw Harry lying alone on his bed. ‘I am a stupid git’ he thought, and made his way to his bedroom. Harry let out a sigh of relief as he heard Ron leave the room. He would have to tell him soon, he couldn’t keep secrets from his best friend. He only hoped their friendship would survive.

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16. Aunt Petunia

The next morning they all sat around the kitchen table when the doorbell rang. They stopped buttering their toast and pouring their orange juice and looked anxiously at each other. Harry grabbed his wand and headed to the front door with a quick signal for the rest of them to stay behind. He took a deep breath and opened the door.

He almost started laughing as a postman stood before him. His bike was by the road and he had on his pouch for carrying letters.

“I’ve a letter for a Harry Potter,” he said cheerfully “Is that you then lad?” Harry nodded his head mutely and accepted the letter. The postman chatted a little about the weather before retreating with a happy wave. Harry carried the note back into the kitchen and opened it quickly. It read -

Dear Harry,

I could not owl you because the owls are being watched and intercepted during the day. I hope you didn’t get too much of a scare having a muggle postman suddenly at your door.

I need you, Ron and Hermione to meet me in Cambridge today at 2pm. A bus (number 113) can pick you up outside the village. It’s a bit of a walk but you must travel as muggles. There is a coffee shop at the end of the square called ‘Starbucks’. I’ll meet you outside. Be discreet.

Yours sincerely,

Remus Lupin

Ps- the fare on the bus is five pounds and twenty-five pence for each of you.

Harry passed the note to Ron and Hermione, and both seemed suddenly worried. Luna and Susan were upset that they couldn’t go, but said they’d find a way to entertain themselves. Harry decided that they should probably destroy the Horcrux before going, and so all three of them made their way to the study and sealed the doors.

Harry pulled the locket out from the place he had hidden it and they all looked at it curiously. He tried to feel the magic in it but couldn’t feel a thing. Shrugging he put the locket on, at which point Ron started to laugh. Harry grinned at his friend, and ignored the guilty feeling he had. The locket felt heavy on his chest and the metal was oddly cold. He got himself comfortable and took a deep breath. Hermione was trying to stay calm and not let her feelings of worry show, but wasn’t doing that good of a job. Ron gave her an odd and calculating look before looking once again at Harry. He slowly uttered the words -

‘Liberatio pravus fascino’

And readied himself for the sickly draining of his powers…he waited…and waited…Finally he opened one eye to look around him and found Ron looking confused and Hermione looking relieved.

“Regulus must have actually destroyed the Horcrux!” she said happily and hugged Harry fiercely. Harry smiled at her and Ron and took the locket off.

“Do you reckon that’s how he died?” asked Ron?

“No, he was killed by death eaters remember?” said Harry “He got cold feet about Voldemort’s gang when they started murdering innocent people.”

“Funny that,” said Ron.

Harry put the locket upstairs in his bedside table next to the tiara and was mentally going through what he had left. ‘The ring is gone, the book is gone, the tiara is gone, the locket is gone…that leaves the cup, Nagini and Voldemort himself’ He repeated these things like a mantra as he got ready for his journey to Cambridge.

At 12.30pm they decided to leave the cottage and walk to the bus stop outside the village. Ron was complaining about the long walk, and by the end of it Harry didn’t blame him one bit.

“Do you think we could move to Grimmauld place?” said Ron breathing hard “It’s a quicker walk from that house to a coffee shop, and we know it’s safe now since Snape can’t tell Snake face where it is.”

“No,” said Harry who’s breathing wasn’t at all laboured “I don’t feel comfortable staying in the same place that Sirius hated. Too many bad memories.” Ron nodded his head in agreement and said no more until they reached the bus stop.

“When’s the next one?” he asked Harry. Harry was rather irritated at this question because he was sitting on the wall away from the bus times. Hermione was the one reading them.

“I don’t know,” said Harry a bit tersely “Why don’t you ask Hermione?” Ron went a little red at this then mumbled the same question to Hermione.

“The next one is at 1.30,” she said, ignoring Ron’s unease. Ron sat there is silence for a while looking around him in amazement and nudging Harry from time to time. Eventually he asked -

“What time is it anyway?”

“No idea!” said Hermione and laughed a little. Ron gave a half grin back and they sat in silence again until the bus came.

After a boring trip on the bus for Harry, but an exciting one for Ron, they managed to locate the Starbuck’s that Lupin had written of. They waited outside for a while and didn’t recognise Lupin when he arrived at 2pm exactly according to a clock on the side of a shop. He was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans, a long green sleeved t-shirt and had a blue rucksack thrown over his shoulder. He looked almost young and seemed it with every step he took. They said their hellos and battled through the sea of people inside to find a place to sit. Lupin went to get them coffee’s, and returned about fifteen minutes later looking thoroughly harassed. After they all had their coffees in front of them and had gone over the basic pleasantries one must to be polite, Ron finally asked the question they all wanted to know.

“So what did you want anyway?” he said, and they laughed at Ron’s sudden bluntness. Rather than answer them straight away Lupin dug around inside his rucksack and pulled out a rolled newspaper. He unrolled it and placed it on front of them and watched Harry carefully with obvious worry.

Harry stared at the headline of the paper, reeling with shock. He kept reading it over and over, not believing his eyes. The newspaper article was as follows:

TWO MUGGLES KILLED AND HOUSE BURNS TO GROUND

Two muggles were killed in the early hours of the morning. It is rumoured that a group of death eaters stormed the house in Little Whinging, Surrey, was burned to the ground shortly after. One of the residents escaped unharmed and is now under the protection of Aurors. After much investigation the daily prophet can bring you the exclusive news that this was the home of Harry Potter.

His Aunt Petunia is the sister of the late Lily Potter, who was murdered by You-know-who when Harry was a baby. The ministry has tried to locate Harry Potter but has been unable to do so. The two muggles killed were his Uncle and Cousin, Vernon and Dudley Dursley. Our experts say that they were first tortured with the cruciatus curse before finally being killed by the Avada Kedavra curse. It is assumed that the death eaters tortured them for information as to the whereabouts of Harry Potter, but our sources cannot say whether or not they were successful. For more details on this story see page 5.

A picture of 4 privet drive accompanied the article, and was blackened and charred. He felt Hermione’s hand on his shoulder and was grateful that she was with him. He didn’t speak for a long time, but sat there thinking about who else had to die for him. He had never liked Vernon, Dudley and Aunt Petunia, but he certainly never wished anything like this to happen. He thought of the tickling charm he had cast of Vernon just before he left on his birthday and was overcome with guilt and disgust. The last time he had seen his only real family he had used magic on them, the one thing they feared the most. He felt hot tears begin to burn at his eyes, and he closed them quickly so no one could see how weak he really was.

“Harry,” said Lupin quietly “your Aunt Petunia is staying with Tonks and I. She…well she wants to see you…” Harry nodded his head. He had expected her to want to see him. He knew this was going to be a very bitter reunion, but he felt he deserved it.

“Lets go,” he said simply, trying not to let his voice crack. Everyone was quiet as they left Starbucks and made their way to Lupin’s house.

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As they entered the hallway Lupin quietly told Harry which bedroom she was staying in. He went to go up the stairs and stopped. What was he going to say to her? How could he possibly comfort a woman who had always hated him? How was he supposed to make things better when her husband and child had just died?

“Do you want us to come with you Harry?” asked Hermione. Ron looked at Harry and smiled to let him know that he was there for him, even though the idea of going into that room probably made him uncomfortable. Harry shook his head and gave them both a slight smile that was gone very quickly. He headed up the stairs with his heart hammering in his chest.

He knocked on the door and waited for a reply. When he’d waited for a minute he decided to go in anyway. He opened the door and could see Aunt Petunia lying on the bed with her back to him in an awful black dress. She was crying silently and Harry had the urge to leave. Instead he walked into the room and quietly closed the door. She turned around and looked at him, her eyes full of hatred.

“YOU!” she screeched. She jumped of the bed and began to lunge towards him. He knew he could stop her, he knew that he could have made her stay still in one area, but he let her advance towards him and let her slap him hard across the face. He felt it was the least he deserved. “IT’S YOUR FAULT THEY MURDERED VERNON! IT’S YOUR FAULT THEY MURDERED MY DUDDERS…” With that she crumpled to the floor and began to cry and shake uncontrollably. Harry got down on his knees and went to put his arms around her, but she leapt away from him, disgust written all over her face.

“GET AWAY FROM ME MURDERER!” she shouted and scrambled to the corner of the room, rocking backwards and forwards. Harry was silent for a while until it looked like most of her crying, for now, was over with.

“Petunia,” he said softly “You’re right. If I hadn’t been living at your house for all those years then they would never have killed Vernon and Dudley. But I can’t change that. My mum and dad died and left me with you. I can’t change that either. Voldemort killed my parents, and then he tried to kill me. He still wants me dead and won’t stop until I am.”

“WELL LET HIM KILL YOU THEN!” She screeched and grabbed a vase off of the bedside table and threw it at him “IT WILL SAVE ANYONE ELSE DYING FOR YOU!” Harry felt like he had been punched in the heart with that comment. He moved to the bed and sat on it heavily. The tears that he had been fighting for so long now began streaming down his face.

“Don’t you see?” said Harry desperately “I’m the only one who can stop him. If he kills me this will never end. Everyone will live the rest of their lives in fear because of him. There’s no telling how many innocent people will die. I’m sorry that they died…”

“SORRY?” shouted Aunt Petunia “YOU’RE NOT SORRY THEY DIED! DON’T LIE TO ME YOU NASTY LITTLE BOY!”

“I didn’t say that I liked them,” said Harry, now with anger in his voice “But I am sorry that they are dead. The only person I want to see dead is Voldemort. Now I’m sorry that they died, and if I could have prevented it then I would have. I can’t control what some mad wizard does, I can’t control who he decides to kill and when. But I can control what I do, and I’m going to kill him. For my parents, for my Godfather, for Dumbledore, for Vernon and Dudley, for every single person that has suffered in this world because of him. I’ll make him pay.” He stood up to leave but Aunt Petunia moved quickly and stood in front of the door. Her eyes were blood shot from crying and her face was pale and tired.

“You’ll kill him Harry?” she asked quietly “You’ll kill him for Vernon…Dudley…and my Lily?” Harry nodded his head and found fresh tears at the mention of her speaking of his mother like that. Petunia began to cry freshly and they finally hugged, for the first time in seventeen years.

Harry was sitting in Lupin’s kitchen sometime after with a hot cup of tea in his hands and blood shot eyes.

“How did they find them?” Harry asked Lupin. Lupin looked solemnly into his own cup of tea before answering.

“It’s hardly been a secret where you’ve been staying over the summer’s Harry. But last year we tried to make it that way, we knew things were getting very dangerous for you. Do you remember that house on the end of Magnolia Crescent? There was an old man who lived there…”

“The old man who was with the death eaters,” Harry said numbly. Lupin nodded gravely and sipped at his tea. “So he found out which house I stayed at during the summers and called the death eaters to raid it? Why did he wait so long?”

“We think he only just started working for Voldemort’s side,” Lupin said. Harry nodded again and fell into a thoughtful and depressing silence. Hermione watched Harry and felt her heart breaking. Was he ever going to get a break from all this death and destruction? Harry decided that he wanted to leave shortly after that, and they readied themselves to take a portkey back to Cambridge. As they were gathering their coats together Hermione nudged Harry quickly. Harry looked up as she indicated towards the door. There was Aunt Petunia, standing with her arms folded protectively around herself. They looked at each other for a long time before she finally crossed the room and stood in front of Harry.

“I…I wanted to leave here and stay with some of Vernon’s relatives, but I doubt that would be safe. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to stay here for, but…I wouldn’t mind if you came to see me now and again.” she said quietly, almost as if she were deathly embarrassed to be saying this.

“You’re welcome as long as you want to be here Petunia,” Lupin said and smiled at her. She gave him a small smile in return then looked back at Harry. To Hermione and Ron’s surprise he moved forward and put his arms around his aunt again. She quickly kissed the top of his head then walked out of the room. She paused once to say -

“Stay safe Harry, and kill him for all of us won’t you?” then she was gone.

*************************************************************************************

Harry was lying in his bed unable to sleep when he heard the door open quietly. He smiled as he saw Hermione’s silhouette coming towards him in the dark. She pushed the covers aside and crawled into bed with him. She moved over and put her arms around him, holding him tight.

“You were very brave today Harry,” she whispered “I’m so proud of you for going to see Petunia. I’m even more proud that you hugged her like that and made her feel better. After the way she’s treated you the last seventeen years she didn’t deserve it. But you made her feel better anyway. That’s what makes you such a great and noble person Harry Potter. You have this wonderful ability to see the good in people no matter how they’ve treated you. That’s why you were my best friend, and that’s why I want to be with you now…” Harry pulled her tighter and moved his head so that he could kiss her gently.

“Thank you,” he said softly “for making me feel like I’m something to be proud of and something worthwhile.”

They spent the night holding and comforting each other. Harry told her how he had felt when he learnt that the Dursley’s had died. How he had felt that it was his fault. Hermione explained how he could not possibly be at fault, and even though he had been saying these things to himself all night his heart felt lighter at hearing her say it. They fell into a contented sleep, and when Harry awoke the next morning he felt refreshed and had a new sense of determination. He had to find those Horcruxes, he had to destroy Voldemort and he had to train harder than he had ever done in his life.

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17. An interesting development...

A/N- Just wanted to write a little note to say thanks for everyone that has been reading along and reviewing, I really appreciate it J Sorry if the font size is weird on any of your computers, for some reason when I try to change the format from MS word to HTML it messes up along the way. The last chapter really messed up…and I don’t know too much about computers! So the only thing I can advise is to just change the font size while I try and figure out what the bloody hell I am doing! Anyway, here’s an interesting chapter for you…enjoy!

**Islanzadi** J

The next couple of weeks passed in a blur for Hermione. All five of them spent most of their time studying and practicing as many different spells as they could find. Harry left for a couple of hours everyday to study with different members of the Order, and came back looking tired and dejected. By an unspoken agreement Harry and Hermione had decided to act like they were friends in front of the others. In the early hours of the morning they would meet in the garden with Harry’s invisibility cloak and spend hours talking and kissing. They had not lost control since the evening spent on the side of the country road. Not because they didn’t want to, but because they understood that it was not wise to jump into things like that so quickly. Well…Hermione knew it wasn’t wise and reminded Harry breathlessly on a regular basis. She didn’t regret losing control with Harry that night, but she did want their relationship to be in the open before anything else like that happened. She wanted things like that to be special, and it couldn’t be as special as they wanted if they were keeping their relationship a secret. She didn’t feel like they had anything to be ashamed of, but she would feel ashamed of anything she did with Harry if Ron had no idea about them. They found out things about each other that no one else in the world knew, and Hermione knew that she was falling for Harry harder than she had ever thought possible. They knew that what they were doing was unfair to Ron. They knew that they would have to tell him sooner or later, but every time Harry would mention Hermione’s name Ron would interrupt with -

“I’m not interested in anything to do with Hermione,” and walk away quickly. Harry knew that he was trying hard to be nice to Hermione and act like they were best friends again. Everyone could feel the tension, and Luna was quite fond of pointing it out. Every time Ron tried to make a joke about Hermione it came out bitter and nasty. Harry was having a hard time controlling his anger.

So the weeks passed, with Harry and Hermione’s secret meetings at night and meaningful looks during the day. Harry knew that he had never felt this way about another girl before, but he was scared of admitting just how much she meant to him. What kind of danger would that put her in? He woke up every morning and wondered if today was the day she was going to see what he really was and run off with Ron after all. Every time he thought about her he felt at peace and unusually contented. Every time he saw her walking towards him he felt an odd twisting sensation in his stomach. Every time she kissed him in the early hours of the morning he lost himself in her entirely, and wasn’t too sure if he ever wanted to come back to reality and go back to his bed alone.

It was a Friday evening, and after a gruelling week of hard work everyone was sitting in the living room playing games of chess and exploding snap. Ron left the game to go into the kitchen and came out with a large bottle of firewhisky. He put it on the table along with five glasses and poured them all a liberal amount.

“Oh how lovely,” said Luna vaguely. She reached for the glass and swallowed the whisky in one. Then she pondered how to attack Ron’s Knight, oblivious to everyone staring at her. Harry grinned at Ron and raised his glass…they swallowed it together and tried to look as cool about it as Luna had…they didn’t succeed. Ron stood up and coughed loudly. Harry made a very unattractive face, which made Hermione and Susan laugh.

“If you two think it’s that funny you try and do it without making a face,” Ron said with his eyebrows raised. Susan grabbed the glass and swallowed it quickly, making a slight gagging noise. Hermione looked at all of them and shook her head. She stood up, reached for the glass and swallowed it as deftly as Luna. Harry grinned at her, but Ron simply poured everyone another glass. The evening was spent with the five of them getting louder and louder. Soon the games were abandoned as each of them began telling stories, which were a lot funnier than usual. Eventually it moved onto drunken guessing games and Harry wondered why Hermione was still getting everything right when she was totally drunk.

“All right! If you don’t guess this one you all have to take a shot!” Ron said drunkenly and wobbled as he tried to stay standing. “Who was the wonderful but obviously gay author of the book ‘magical me’” Harry started laughing as Ron did a very good impression of Lockhart’s swaggering walk.

“Gilderoy Lockhart!” Susan said “But I really don’t think he was gay…”

“Right!” said Ron pouring four shots “Sue got it right so everyone else take a shot!” They all knew that this was a ridiculous rule that meant four people had to take a shot every time a question was asked. No one really seemed to mind too much however, courtesy of the firewhisky. Susan tried to stand up, but ended up leaning on the couch trying not to fall off.

“Ok ok…” she said with a definite slur to her words “who shagged in the astronomy tower last year and was caught by Filch?” Hermione, Harry and Ron all looked at each other confused but Luna put her hand up quickly.

“Cho Chang and Michael Corner!” said Luna, and then toppled onto the floor. “Ooof…Tumbled over…” Everyone roared with laughter as Luna tried to get up but couldn’t seem to find her balance. Eventually she gave up and just sat on the floor, her eyes seemed to be wider with the drink. She grabbed her wand and tied her hair up with it.

“That looks cute,” said Susan surprised. “Lemme try it…” All the girls eventually put their hair up with their wands, though it took quite a while and the effect wasn’t quite as cute as they all thought. Ron rolled his eyes and wondered why girls were always worried about their looks. He thought he had said that in his head, but they all began to answer him. It turned out he had said it very loudly indeed.

“Girls like to look nice Ron,” said Susan, attempting to point her finger at him but in actual fact it was pointing around most of the room. “We like to take care of ourselves you know.”

“Not to mention that men won’t look at you in the slightest if you look like you haven’t washed in a week and never met a pair of tweezers before,” said Hermione briskly, and looked at Harry. Harry smiled fondly at her.

“You don’t have to worry about that Hermione,” said Harry, before noticing Ron looking at him oddly “None of you have to worry about that. You’re all very pretty and men would like you if you’d never even met a hairbrush.” He added quickly, and thought it was a pretty good cover up. The three girls thought this unbelievably sweet in their drunken state and attempted to hug him. Ron mentioned very loudly that they were in the middle of a game, which Harry was grateful for. Drunken hugs from three girls were quite painful.

“Right, ‘s my turn…” said Luna loudly “Who is the heir of Slytherin?” Everyone except Susan put his or her hands up and she merrily reached for more firewhisky.

“Voldemort,” said Harry loudly, echoed by Hermione whilst Ron said “Ssssnake Face”. Susan shuddered at the name but no one seemed to notice.

“You know…” slurred Luna dreamily “My father told me that my mother and I are direct descendants of Rowena Ravenclaw.” Everyone giggled at this idea but Hermione looked quite thoughtful. She summoned a book from her bag called ‘Useful charms for every occasion’ by Francis Bubbowter. She read through it not quite as quickly as normal and kept blinking her eyes in an attempt to focus.

“Only Hermione reads when she’s drunk,” said Ron, in a joking way. Everyone sensed that Ron wasn’t really joking and the room when a little quiet. Hermione uttered a few words under her breath and stood up from the couch. She removed the wands from her hair and began to gather her things.

“What did you just do?” asked Harry.

“Sobering charm,” said Hermione quickly “I’ve got to look up a few things before I go to bed, and I doubt I’d be able to do it with that much firewhisky in me. Night everyone.” With that she made her way to the study and sealed the door.

“Nice to see she can just let go and party, eh Harry?” said Ron, filling his glass once again.

“Leave her alone Ron,” said Harry with a warning tone in his voice.

“Leave her alone Ron,” mimicked Ron in a squeaky slurred voice “She’s not your girlfriend mate, no need to get pissed off.” Susan stood up from where she was sitting and wobbled dangerously.

“I’m going to bed.” she said and attempted to walk out of the room. She held onto the doorframe and leant against the walls before Harry decided to help her. Together they laughed hysterically all the way upstairs, each trying to balance the other without much success.

Luna was still sitting on the floor and Ron was still drinking. She got up onto her knees and grabbed the bottle from Ron taking a large swig. Ron looked at her and started laughing.

“Never thought you’d be the type to handle firewhisky well Loony,” he said, and took a swig himself. He half moved and half fell off the couch and sat on the floor with her.

“You’re being quite nasty to Hermione you know,” said Luna.

“You told me before,” said Ron “I’m not being nasty to her, she just can’t take a joke. Neither can you lot”

“It’s not a very funny joke when it’s mean about someone.” said Luna and stared at the floor. “People think it’s funny when they say nasty things about me, but I don’t find it funny at all.” Ron stared at the floor for a while before he finally spoke.

“I’m sorry for anything nasty I said about you.” he said quietly “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I don’t mean to be nasty towards Hermione either but I don’t know how to act. I can’t believe she doesn’t want to be with me after all this time. It’s hard trying to be her friend again when I’m angry at her.”

“You’ll get over it eventually Ron.” said Luna “She was your friend before all this and she will be after” Ron remembered Harry’s words that closely resembled what Luna had just said. He saw a new kind of wise ness in Luna that he hadn’t seen before and was quite surprised. He looked at Luna and gave her a very big (and very drunk) smile. He put his arm around her and dragged her closer to him.

“Loony, Loony, Loony,” he said and loudly kissed her cheek “No wonder you’re in Ravenclaw. Me, I’m just dumb, but you’re very smart. No wonder Harry wanted to have you with us. I’m glad, we need more brains around here to make up for me!”

“Ronald,” said Luna “You are much smarter than you think. Now stop this self-pity nonsense and play me at chess. I’ll beat you this time for sure…” she turned to get the chess set but had problems trying to remember where they had put it.

“You’re really nice to me Loony,” said Ron drunkenly. He reached turned her head towards him and put his mouth on hers. Luna was in shock at first. What on earth was Ronald playing at? ‘He would never look twice at someone like me!’ she thought. Then she decided that this was what she had wanted for a while, and at least she could avoid some embarrassment by pretending that she was drunk too. So she opened her mouth and let him kiss her until they were both breathing heavily. He finally broke away and looked curiously into her eyes.

“Was that ok?” he asked. Luna smiled and nodded her head vigorously. Ron smiled back and kissed her again. Eventually he pulled away and began shaking his head. Luna’s heart dropped to her stomach when she remembered that her daydream had not involved kissing Ron so drunk that he had no idea what he was really doing.

“We’re both very drunk,” she said very calmly “Don’t feel bad. But I do think we ought to go to bed.” Ron nodded his head in agreement and eventually they managed to get up the stairs, eventually they managed to find their rooms (after going into Harry and Susan’s rooms several times). Luna lay in bed and thought about Ron’s kiss. She knew it only happened because he was drunk, and she knew it would never happen again. But she decided that it was the closest someone like her would ever get to living out her daydreams, and that was enough. Ron lay on his bed and thought about undressing, but after a couple of feeble attempts that landed him on the floor he decided not to. He passed out on the floor and didn’t dream at all. Hermione worked long into the night without a break, amazed and a little frightened at what she was learning.

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It was 8 in the morning and Hermione had finally finished reading and making notes. She showered and then made breakfast for everyone. After that she went into everyone’s room and cast sobering and anti hangover charm’s. She then woke everyone up and told them to meet her downstairs. After a lot of grumbling and moaning they all made their way down to the kitchen table, where they abruptly stopped moaning when they saw breakfast in front of them. They all ate hungrily then went to shower. Hermione waited impatiently for them in the living room and by 10am they were all finally sitting down and waiting to hear her out.

“Well,” she said briskly “I’m glad you’re all finally ready to hear me out.”

“Relax Hermione,” said Ron “It’s not like we have to go anywhere right? What’s so important that we couldn’t have a lie in on a Saturday morning?” Hermione stared at Ron with an eyebrow raised until he mumbled an apology of sorts, though the words ‘just want to sleep in’ could be heard by everyone and Luna giggled rather girlishly.

“Last night Luna mentioned something that caught my interest. She said that she had been told she was a direct descendent of Rowena Ravenclaw. I know we all thought it was pretty funny because we were drunk…” said Hermione but Luna interrupted her.

“I didn’t think it was funny,” she said. Hermione tried to back track but it was already a ‘foot in mouth’ moment.

“Uh, anyway,” she continued quickly “I decided to check up on it. Not that I didn’t believe you Luna but I was kind of wondering why Harry felt that he had to have you with us. Susan too for that matter. No offence Susan but we have never been, erm, close friends so it was kind of strange when Harry suddenly asked you to come and stay with us.”

“No offence taken,” said Susan brightly “People do hang out in different circles after all. I’ve been wondering why I agreed to come and stay with you all too. Not that it hasn’t been fun getting to know you all of course, but it was weird when I found myself saying that I’d leave Hogwarts to come and stay here!”

“I think it’s lovely that we’re all friends,” said Luna quietly “It’s nice to have friends and not be made fun of all the time.” Everyone was quiet for a moment, unsure of what to say.

“Yes well,” said Hermione “I looked into your family background too Susan. What I learnt explains quite a lot” Harry noticed Hermione’s face beginning to flush with excitement at what she had managed to find out, and wondered why he had never thought it cute before.

“I started with the history of the four founders of Hogwart’s and traced their family blood lines to the present age, it took me all night because of all the different books I had to look through and…” said Hermione excitedly and Ron decided to hurry her up before she started talking about books.

“Can we get to the point?” he said, “I’m just not interested in the different kind of books you had to look through…”

“Fine,” said Hermione tersely “Luna is the heir of Ravenclaw. Susan is the heir of Hufflepuff and Voldemort is the heir of Slytherin.”

“Bloody hell,” Ron said staring at Luna and Susan “We knew that Snake face was the heir of Slytherin, but you two are heir’s too? Bloody hell…all we need now is the heir of Gryffindor and it’ll be like history repeating itself!” Hermione turned around and stared at Harry, and pretty soon they all were. Harry burst out laughing.

“You’ve got it wrong Hermione,” he said after his laughter had subsided “There’s no way I can be the heir of Gryffindor.”

“It’s true Harry,” she said “I looked at Godric’s whole family line and I found your great great great Grandfather there. I looked in another book and found the histories of the whole Potter family leading directly to Godric Gryffindor’s bloodline. Did you ever stop to think why your parents lived in a place called ‘Godric’s hollow’? Not to mention what happened during our second year at school.”

“What do you mean?” asked Harry rather tensely

“You used Godric Gryffindor’s sword to kill the Basilisk.” Hermione said simply.

“Yeah I did, but Dumbledore said that any true Gryffindor could use the sword.” Harry reminded her.

“According to this book I read last night only the true heir’s of houses can use the items that belonged to the founder’s. You Harry, you could use that sword because you are the heir of Gryffindor. I bet Luna can use the tiara because she is the heir of Ravenclaw and I bet Susan will be able to use the magic in Hufflepuff’s cup somehow because she is the heir of Hufflepuff.”

“Bloody hell,” said Ron again and stared at all three of them in awe.

“So,” asked Susan “Do you think that’s why we’re all here? Like history repeating itself or something?”

“Yes,” said Hermione “The three founder’s of Hogwart’s had a feud with Salazar Slytherin because of his, uh, principals. It was their combined power that stopped him from acting like a total mad man and taking over the school. Now you three have to stop the heir of Slytherin from being a mad man and trying to take over the whole world. You three have to stop the murders and torture, you three are going to right the wrong that he has done.”

“Bloody hell,” said Ron again, but a lot quieter this time. They all sat there in silence for a while thinking about what Hermione had said.

“I always thought it was strange that my mother, my grandmother, my great grandmother and so on were all in Hufflepuff. I knew that I was a true Hufflepuff but I never thought it would be anything as exciting as this!” said Susan, with a flush of excitement on her face.

“So you believe me now that you have proof in a book Hermione?” asked Luna. Hermione went rather red in the face and went and sat next to Luna.

“I’m sorry Luna,” she said quietly. “We just believe in very different things so sometimes it’s hard for me to believe in things like that so, erm, easily. But I’ll try a lot harder. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.”

“It’s ok,” said Luna, her wide eyes brimming with tears.

“Friends?” asked Hermione. For an answer Luna threw her arms around Hermione and hugged her a little longer than what Hermione was used to. From that moment onwards they were very good friends, though sometimes Hermione had to bite her tongue when Luna would read her articles in the ‘Quibbler’.

Harry’s mind was in turmoil. He was trying to think of every possible argument against him being the heir of Gryffindor, but the only one he could really come up with was that he didn’t feel he was important enough. ‘When has Hermione ever been wrong about something like this?’ he thought to himself, and didn’t like the answer. He felt like he had too many good things attached to his name. All he thought of himself was a blundering seventeen year old that would be dead if it hadn’t been for the help from the people he cared about every step of the way. How could he have not known this before? How could he have not had a sign? How was he supposed to believe all this? He found himself wondering why he couldn’t just be a regular teenage boy. But no, he was Harry Potter, the boy who lived. He was Harry Potter, the chosen one. Now he was Harry Potter, the heir of Gryffindor…It felt like so much pressure. If he failed to kill Voldemort he wouldn’t have people saying ‘Oh well he was just a lad.’ No, people would be outraged that the chosen one could not do it; they would be ashamed that the heir of the brave Godric Gryffindor couldn’t save the world. What if he couldn’t do it?

“I’m not sure about this,” said Harry quietly. He stood up to leave so that he could think alone when he felt a heavy weight at his side under his jumper. He pulled it up and stared in shock. There on his side was Godric Gryffindor’s sword.

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18. Hufflepuff's cup

The next day Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the study talking about the remaining Horcruxes. It had taken a while for them to find some time to themselves so that they could discuss this because Luna and Susan were always around. Due to Hermione’s revelation the previous day Harry had arranged for them to train with member’s of the order as well as him. He reasoned that if all three of them had to be there to defeat Voldemort together then they had to be trained as much as he did, if not more. So Luna and Susan were taking lessons with Professor McGonagall this afternoon, leaving Harry, Hermione and Ron blessedly alone. They spent a while playing wizards chess, eating junk food and laughing as friends do. Harry thought that it almost felt normal, if he hadn’t been feeling terribly guilty and if Ron hadn’t kept looking awkward whenever Hermione tried to joke around with him. Eventually they decided to get back to work and went over the Horcruxes they had to destroy and their possible locations.

“So do you think he could have hidden another one at Hogwarts then?” asked Ron whilst absentmindedly looking for a bishop he had dropped on the floor somewhere.

“I doubt it,” said Hermione “Doesn’t seem to interesting to have three Horcruxes in one place.”

“Yeah,” agreed Harry “Doesn’t sound like Voldemort at all. He likes to be a bit dramatic…”

“So where else then?” asked Ron finally retrieving the bishop “He hid two at Hogwarts, one in that cave, one in the place where his grandfather lived…”

“Where else is important enough to Voldemort to want to hide something so special?” asked Hermione. They all sat in silence for a while thinking before Harry finally spoke.

“What about the Orphanage he grew up in?” asked Harry

“Well it doesn’t hold great memories for him though does it? He was abandoned there by his mother and had the lonely life of an orphan until Dumbledore came and offered him a place at Hogwarts.” said Hermione.

“But it’s also the place that he discovered he had magic. It gave him great pleasure to bully and torment all of the children there. That’s the place it all started for him,” said Harry, wondering if he sounded like an idiot or not.

“Bet he wouldn’t expect anyone to look there either,” said Ron “Who would really know enough about Voldemort to go back to the orphanage he stayed in as a kid for a part of his soul?” Hermione was still looking thoughtful and Harry was beginning to wonder if she was asking herself what she was doing with a bloke that wasn’t nearly as smart as her. Finally she spoke-

“I think you may be right Harry. We should find out where this Orphanage is and take a look at it the next time Luna and Susan have another lesson.” Harry grinned and felt a little lighter. He didn’t know why he was so worried about what Hermione thought of him. Probably because he was used to everything he loved being taken away from him and was expecting her to join them. He suddenly realised what he had thought and felt himself panicking again. He excused himself to get a glass of water and sat in the kitchen for quite a long time.

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A few days later the trio were walking along a street in London on their way to the Orphanage. Harry was leading the way, but the landmarks he had remembered whilst in Dumbledore’s Pensieve last year had all gone. After quite a while Hermione and Ron were getting rather impatient.

“Maybe it’s round here,” said Harry hopefully. Ron rolled his eyes and followed Harry. He had heard him say this quite a few times this afternoon so he didn’t have his hopes up. They passed a Marks and Spencer’s and rounded the corner. They walked through a car park and stopped at the end, Harry looking around anxiously while Ron looked at all the cars.

“Harry,” said Hermione “Do you think we could ask directions? I’m sure that there can’t be many orphanages in this area of town.” Harry nodded and turned around…then stopped abruptly with a smile on his face. Opposite them he could see large metal gates, but unlike when Voldemort lived there they were almost entirely hidden by surrounding trees and bushes.

“Guess we won’t need directions after all,” said Harry happily and led the way to the steel gates.

They went through the gates and entered the courtyard. This had a little more greenery also, but it still looked rather barren. The square building, Harry noticed, hadn’t changed at all. The high railings still surrounded it and made it look more like a prison. Harry walked up the few steps leading to the front door, Hermione and Ron following closely behind. Harry knocked on the door, and a series of loud bangs and crashes could be heard from inside. A harassed looking woman opened the door. She had strikingly black hair and unbelievably dark eyes. Her skin was pale to the point of sickliness, she would have been quite pretty of not for her nose that was a little too large for her face, and her chin that was a bit too pointy. Harry smiled at her and asked if they could come in for a moment.

“Why? You got friends in ‘ere or somefing?” she said suspiciously.

“No,” said Harry “We’re here to see a Mrs. Cole actually. We were hoping that she wouldn’t mind having a quick chat with us.” The woman’s eyes lowered and she looked at the floor. She took a while to speak, and when she did she sounded very quiet and a little frightened.

“She’s dead,” she said “They found her hanging from the rafters. Police tried to say she killed herself, but I don’t believe ‘em.”

“Do you think she was murdered?” asked Hermione. The woman suddenly looked up and acted as if she had just noticed they were all standing there.

“It don’t matter. Either way she ain’t here so you lot ‘ad better clear off.” she said sounding a little angry. She went to shut the door but Hermione pushed her hand against it and then shoved her foot between the door and the frame.

“Please,” said Hermione “You don’t have to talk to us, but we just wanted to see our friends old room. We think he might have hidden something in there that we need.”

“No one’s hidden anything anywhere. We may not ‘ave the best looking place but it’s clean. I’d never miss something hidden in any room…” she said rather defensively.

“I don’t imagine that you would,” said Hermione quickly “But we just want to take a look for ourselves. It won’t take a moment.” The woman stared at them for a moment longer before reluctantly opening the door. They quickly stepped inside before she could change her mind. Inside Harry noticed that there hadn’t been too much improvement. The floor was still tiled in black and white, though the walls now had a new kind of paint on them that made it look a little nicer.

“What room are you looking for then?” the woman asked.

“I don’t know the number exactly,” said Harry “but I know the way to go, he gave me directions you see.” She nodded her head in agreement and followed Harry up the stairs, which now had a cheap green carpet on them rather than the stone that Harry remembered. Behind them Harry could hear Hermione talking to her.

“I’m Hermione,” she said “It’s nice to meet you. And your name is?”

“Emma,” she replied and smiled shyly at Hermione.

“I’m awfully sorry to hear about the death of Mrs. Cole, it must have been quite a shock for you,” said Hermione, hoping to hear more about the suspicious death. Harry had just reached the door to the room that Dumbledore had entered all those years ago. The conversation behind him suddenly stopped and Harry looked around. Emma was staring at him as if he’d just grown a second head.

“Y-you’re friends wiv ‘im?” she asked sounding very frightened now. Harry shook his head but she didn’t seem to be paying much attention.

“No one goes in that room anymore,” she said, her eyes looking wild “not since ‘e left. Kids don’t like it in there, even the ones that don’t know nothin’ about ‘im. They used to wake up screamin’ so we just don’t use it anymore. ‘orrid room, gives you the chills just walking by it.” Harry noticed that this part of the hallway did seem a lot colder than everywhere else they had walked, but decided to keep quiet.

“When you say ‘he’ do you mean Tom Riddle?” asked Ron in a whisper, looking like Voldemort might leap out at them any moment. Emma nodded her head and looked anxiously around her, as if she were feeling that way also.

“I think ‘e’s the one that killed Mrs. Cole. He came back ’ere you see, when ‘e was a lot older. She told ’im to get out coz ‘e didn’t belong ‘ere no more. She started talkin’ about these kids an’ this rabbit. Then she was quiet and went upstairs wiv ‘im. Shortly after ‘e left. The next mornin’ we found ‘er hangin’ from the rafters…” she broke off and began sobbing. Hermione felt sick to her stomach and Ron was still looking around expecting an attack.

“We’re not friends of Tom’s,” said Harry “I can’t tell you why we’re here, but just trust me when I say you’re safe with us. But now we have to go into Tom’s old room, and I doubt you want to follow us.” Emma smiled at Harry and went to walk down the stairs. Just before Harry opened to door she called out -

“Be careful!”

Harry opened the door with a loud creak, a cold draft swept in his face and he stepped inside the room quickly. After Ron and Hermione were inside he closed the door quickly. The room was unbelievably cold in comparison with the rest of the orphanage and they all drew their coats around them to ward of the chill. There was an unpleasant and musty odour to the room, that seemed to become more pungent the longer they were in there. Harry looked around the room and saw that it was in the early stages of decay. The wallpaper was peeling and there were black spots all over from the damp. The wardrobe looked like it was about to fall apart and was covered in a thick layer of dust. The metal frame on the bed looked like it was rusting, and there was a simple bare mattress on top. Harry looked at the floor and saw that there were only patches of carpet left, showing old rickety floorboards beneath. Harry was surprised that they hadn’t fallen through the floor the moment they stepped in the room.

He headed over to the wardrobe and opened the door. There was nothing inside but more dust and quite a few spiders. Ron gave a rather feminine screech at this and moved away quite quickly. Hermione went to the bed and gingerly lifted up the old mattress. There was nothing concealed under there, and they could see straight through the gaps in the metal frame to the wooden floorboards. Nothing under there either. They all looked at each other wondering what to do next. There was nowhere else to look… Harry felt a sinking feeling in his stomach, he was sure he had been right about this.

They walked through the room listening to the creaks under their feet. He examined the walls to see if there might be a hiding place there, but could see nothing. He turned around to tell them that maybe they should go when he saw Ron doing something peculiar. He was walking around in a circle and making the floorboards creak in agony, then he stepped into the centre of the circle and there was silence. He did this a few times, seemingly oblivious to Harry and Hermione’s worried glances. Finally he looked up and spoke -

“I think there’s something in the floor…”

Harry moved quickly to where Ron had been standing and stepped on the floor. It felt much firmer here than in the rest of the room. He suddenly stamped hard on the wood it cracked. He did this over and over, until finally he could see it had split. He knelt down and grasped the splintered wood, tugging with all his might until it broke away in his hands. A ragged hold was left and he thrust his hands inside it withdrew an old black box. Hermione and Ron knelt beside him as he slowly opened the box. Inside were simple items, a whistle, an old children’s book, a little silver hair comb, a fine looking fountain pen and an old wooden recorder.

“No cup from Hufflepuff then,” said Ron sadly “What would he want with this junk anyway?” Harry quickly told Ron of the box of simple items that Voldemort had taken from other children when he was younger.

“Obviously Dumbledore didn’t break that habit then, eh?” said Ron. “Wonder if the recorder still works, I can play twinkle twinkle little star you know.” He reached towards the recorder, Hermione and Harry quickly shoved their hands in the box to stop him in case it was cursed…and they all had their hands either on the recorder or each other. Harry felt the familiar tugging behind his navel and his mind filled with dread. The recorder was a portkey, and it was undoubtedly taking them to a trap that Voldemort had set…

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19. Hepzibah Smith

A/N- thanks again to everyone for reading along and reviewing. I really do appreciate all the reviews, it helps to know whether you like it or not…Then I know whether to continue the story the way it is…Or change it! I had a couple of reviews asking if Voldemort was going to be in this chapter, remember that we’re still looking for the Horcruxes and Voldemort likes to set little traps so that they are well protected. This is one of those traps. There’s still quite a few chapters until Voldemort J Until then, happy reading!

**Islanzadi**

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Can you remember what it’s like to be young and in love? You’re first love, the one who you fall for so deeply you feel that they are ingrained into your very soul. You wake up at night and have been dreaming about them, you wake up in the morning and they are the first person you think about, and when you go to bed they are in your mind when you fall asleep. You can’t concentrate during the day because some tiny thing that happens inevitably reminds you of them, and then getting them out of your mind after that is virtually impossible.

Can you remember the passion? Not the passion that mature people feel but the young and raw kind you only experiences a couple of precious times. It’s almost foolish because all caution is thrown to the wind. A tiny peck on the cheek can ignite a whole host of feelings, and controlling them is hopeless. Can you remember kissing the first person you wanted, really wanted with every fibre of your being? If not let me remind you, it starts with a simple kiss, and you feel such heat, passion and obsession for this one person that the whole world around you fades away. Inevitably you enter the world again, only to find that hours and hours have passed, and all you did was kiss. Can you remember making love with them for the first time? The feeling of never wanting it to end, and how that one thing filled most of your time as if the other person were a drug. If you didn’t have more of them you would surely die, and the thought of not being able to have them is enough to drive you to the point of insanity. Some people say it’s all in the hormones that young people have and they have difficulty in controlling them. I think it’s because love is so new and so exciting that it cannot possibly wait to be explored. It’s because you haven’t yet been hurt by love and so you can give up to it, sacrifice everything that you are for those few precious moments with this person who has become your whole world.

Can you imagine feeling all of this, wanting someone so much you can hardly take a breath when you think of them, and not be able to have them? Can you imagine feeling so happy when you share those precious kisses, then having an enormous guilt crashing down upon you? The fevered inner torments of the young in love, trying to do what’s right but unable to stop themselves from the most perfect temptation of all.

What if you were too scared to give yourself to these feelings? What if you tried to hold back on those burning thoughts that plagued you day and night? Why would you do that? Fear. Being afraid to lose who you are by giving yourself to them entirely, the fear that now you’ll be emotionally vulnerable. You have to wear your heart on your sleeve. What if the other person decides to break it in two? What if you feel that love is too much of a risk after everything you have already been through? What if you couldn’t handle heartbreak but knew it would happen either way?

This is Harry and Hermione. Hermione deeply in love with Harry and so far gone that she would give up her friendship with Ron just to be with Harry for a few happy hours. Harry scared to admit his feelings because of what it might mean for all three of them, for what it might mean to him and the risk it will put Hermione in. Living day in day out with the threat of death over their shoulders, and these smouldering feelings getting stronger and stronger. How long will it take for Harry to understand and admit his feelings? How long will he wait until he realises that the biggest risk of all is losing the one you love?

Can you remember?

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They were standing in pitch black. Harry tried to put his hand in front of his face but couldn’t see a thing. He could feel Hermione and Ron standing close by, but couldn’t even see an outline of their figures in the darkness. It seemed unnaturally quiet, almost as if everything around them were dead. He heard Hermione trying to quietly light her wand but nothing was happening.

A sudden scream filled the air and they moved closer together. The darkness seemed to be receding, turning to a very dark grey to lighter shades of the same colour very slowly. There was a thick fog surrounding them and the air was heavy and humid, making breathing difficult and unpleasant. They clutched onto each other and moved forward very slowly, not wanting to crash into an unseen enemy. Harry’s hair was standing up on the back of his neck, he could feel something moving out there in the fog, but what it was he didn’t know. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to find out. He felt a strange breeze above his head and he looked up anxiously.

The fog was so thick that they couldn’t see what was above them, but Harry had the ominous feeling that whatever it was not there to help them. They began walking forward again and they could hear squelching under their feet. They looked down, but again couldn’t see anything below their shins due to a thick mist covering the floor. As they walked on they could hear a groaning sound from beneath them, which quickly turned from groans to shrieks and then to agonised screams. They were breathing quickly now and stumbled forward, not knowing where they were going or what they were going to find when they got there.

The screeches and screams grew louder and louder the quicker and harder they walked, the squelching noises becoming more prominent. He could hear Hermione start to sob and put his arm quickly to her waist and decided to leave it there. He doubted Ron would notice too much and he couldn’t stand to hear her like that and do nothing to help her.

They trudged on for a while longer, until Ron suddenly began shouting in fright, but no decipherable words seemed to be coming out of his mouth. Harry whirled around to see what he was shouting at and saw Ron staring at the ground with a terrified look on his face, and then screaming as if it would be his last. Harry looked down and immediately vomited. The mist had cleared momentarily and he could finally see what had been squelching so loudly beneath his feet. There beneath him were faces of the dead, screaming in an endless agony. It didn’t help that they were standing on them. Harry looked at the face Ron was screaming at and saw that it was Mrs. Weasley. Her face was pale and her gums had rotted away. She had deep bags under her eyes and her face looked like it had blood splashed all over it.

“It’s not real Ron!” shouted Harry, desperately trying to stop Ron’s endless screaming. “It’s a trick! Voldemort likes to play with people’s heads! RON!!” Ron stopped screaming but Harry could see that tears were streaming down his face. Harry moved quickly to him and grabbed him by the shoulder, urging him to keep walking.

“Voldemort is scared of death. He’s going to use it on us a lot. Just try to remember that it’s not real…“ said Harry quietly. Hermione’s face looked pale and almost haunted. He knew he shouldn’t have let her come along. He put his arm back around her waist and pulled her along while grabbing onto the fabric of Ron’s shirt.

It seemed like hours later, Harry’s legs were stiff from walking so far. He had almost gotten used to the continuous screams and wails, but his nerves felt ragged. Hermione and Ron had been silent for a long time, and Harry was seriously considering using the recorder to go back to the orphanage. He could come back here some other time, they shouldn’t be here. He looked anxiously to the side and could see Hermione visibly trembling as her feet tortured the things beneath her. ‘Right,’ he thought ‘that’s it, we’re getting out of here, I can’t believe I even let them come with me in the first place…’ His thoughts were interrupted -

“Look,” said Hermione, her voice sounding hollow and distant “There’s a house up there,” Harry was about to tell her she was hallucinating but then he saw the glimmer of lights ahead and, as the fog whirled around them and cleared momentarily, he saw an old looking house in the distance. With renewed vigour the three of them traipsed faster, and eventually found themselves at the house, very breathless and very nervous.

Harry ascended the steps first, his wand drawn. There was an awful smell of death and decay, and he had to breath through his mouth to stop the constant waves of nausea that gripped him. He grasped the door handle and turned it clockwise. The door swung open to admit them, though the darkness inside made Harry think twice about going in. He walked through the door and heard Ron vomit behind him, obviously not breathing through his mouth. They all walked into the hallway very cautiously and suddenly the door swung shut…

A pretty woman came into the hallway with red hair and startling green eyes. Harry tried to tell himself that it wasn’t real, she wasn’t real…she was dead. But he still found himself moving towards her. She was wearing a small white apron and she smiled beautifully at Harry. She opened her arms to him and Harry’s heart was beating faster and faster. His mother, how long had he wanted to be with his mother?

“Harry, no!” said Hermione “It’s not real! Please, get away from her! It’s a trap!” A staircase seemed to materialise in front of them and a man that looked just like Harry began to walk towards them with a broad grin on his face.

“Son!” he said happily, though the voice sounded hollow and sickly sweet. “Glad you stopped by, I was just thinking of getting the broom out for a fly around. Fancy joining me?”

“Oh that sounds wonderful,” said the red headed woman “Why don’t you two fly around for a bit while I make some biscuits? Chocolate chip…your favourite Harry…” Harry smiled dopily at his parents and began to move forward again. The red headed woman opened her arms and he moved slowly towards her as if in a dream…

“Chocolate chip biscuits are most certainly not his favourite!” said Hermione loudly “Harry please! Don’t go near them!”

Her voice cut through Harry like a knife and he suddenly realised where he was. In a strange house, looking for a Horcrux. His parents were dead, and this was a sick joke. He stepped back and looked disgusted. The thing that looked like his mother looked upset at Harry’s retreat, and then slowly began to blur and fade away. The room in front of them wavered and changed. It looked like they were in a small cosy kitchen, and in front of them was a ‘Harry’ kneeling behind a little girl with his arms around her shoulders. The little girl had black hair and brown eyes, and she was smiling happily at something and waving with one hand while clutching a teddy bear in the other. She looked just like him, except her eyes. Her eyes looked just like Hermione’s… He turned around quickly and saw tears in Hermione’s eyes. The second Harry hadn’t said anything yet; he was just looking at Hermione with utter adoration.

“Mummy!” said the little girl in the background and held her arms out to Hermione. “I’m glad your home! Daddy and I made you a special dinner and I picked you some pretty flowers from the garden…” Her voice sounded eerily high pitched and seemed to echo around the room.

“IT’S NOT REAL!” screamed Hermione, holding her hands over her ears “GO AWAY!” The scene before him seemed to melt before his eyes leaving only darkness. Hermione was breathing heavily, and Harry was having a hard time trying to get that image out of his mind. Is that what his little girl would look like? He’d never thought about getting married and having children before. Is that what Hermione wanted to do with him? He felt warm at the thought but couldn’t stop a thread of fear making its way through him. What if he didn’t make it through this? Then where would she be? They stood in the dark for a few moments, only their breathing breaking the silence.

“Wow,” said Ron “This place is really trying to mess with our heads, showing what Harry wants and my worst fears…I’m beginning to think Snake face might be insane…” Harry felt a lump in his throat and tried to quickly swallow it. The darkness around them was beginning to fade, so he forced what Ron had just said from his mind and readied himself for whatever was next.

The room suddenly changed from pitch black to one full of colours. There were trinkets all over the place and Harry recognised the room he was standing in front of immediately. They were in Hepzibah’s house, and she was sitting in her chair happily eating some cake. They all looked at each other curiously and Harry walked over to her.

“Uh, hello,” said Harry nervously “We’ve, um, come to see that cup you have. If you don’t mind showing it to us that is…” Hepzibah simpered at Harry and retrieved a box from under her chair. There was the cup, gleaming brightly.

“Wait,” said Hepzibah quickly “You didn’t bring me any flowers. You don’t get to see my special treasure unless I get my flowers.” Harry looked at Hermione and Ron and shrugged slightly. He looked at his wand and thought ‘orchideous’. A bouquet of bright flowers shot from the end of Harry’s wand and Hepzibah clapped her hands delightfully. She offered Harry the box and he quickly took the cup.

The moment the cup was in his hands the room started to lose its colour once again. The smell of death and decay hit him and he had to fight the urge to vomit. He looked up at Hepzibah and was horrified at what he saw. Her ginger wig had gone and a bald wrinkled head had replaced it. Her eyes had become suddenly hollow and sunken in. Her flesh seemed to pale before him and became more translucent. She lunged at Harry with an evil moan and had her hands wrapped tightly around his neck, squeezing harder and harder until Harry could see white spots dancing in his vision. Hermione rushed over to him and pulled the Inferi’s hands off of his neck and she was thrown to the side and crashed violently into a cabinet. Harry rushed over to her while Ron pointed his wand at the Inferi and shouted ‘Incendio’. Bright flames engulfed the Inferi, and they ran towards the door. When they got to the door however, it wouldn’t open. Harry tugged and tugged, Hermione tried various spells and Ron tried kicking it. Nothing seemed to work. They could hear a lot of movement behind them and saw Inferi coming down the stairs, from the back of the house, out of the room Hepzibah was burning in and out of the various closets in the hallway. Harry saw his parents and the little girl walking towards him and he raised his wand, knowing they weren’t real but feeling sick at the thought of having to do something like this. His wand trembled in his hand as the little girl smiled brightly up at him. He took a deep breath and readied himself to destroy the child and his parents, but Hermione stepped in front of him. Her eyes were blazing pools of anger and she thrust her wand angrily towards them. The little girl’s hair seemed to fall away from her, and her face began to sink into itself. The red headed Inferi that looked like Harry’s mother began to change also, her skin wrinkling as if someone had pressed the ‘fast forward’ button on a remote control. Her skin started to sag and her teeth began to darken. The trio found new strength in the changed appearance of the Inferi, it didn’t seem like the murdering of the innocent when they looked like they had just risen from the dead.

They all shouted ‘Incendio’ over and over, and burning bodies suddenly filled the house. Harry tugged on the door again, but still nothing. Now the house was burning and thick black smoke filled the air. ‘We’re going to die in here if we don’t get out soon,’ Harry thought and frantically tried to find the wooden recorder. He suddenly felt Hermione slump against him and Ron was coughing violently. He was still desperately trying to find it when he felt the odd shaped lump within his robes. He put an arm around Hermione’s waist and one around Ron, and then seized the wooden instrument.

A moment later they were back in the room that had once belonged to Voldemort. Ron was coughing hard, but Harry was looking at Hermione. She was lying very still on the floor, her face slightly blackened from the smoke. “Oh please don’t let her be gone, please don’t let her be gone,’ he thought desperately to himself, repeating it over and over in his head. He could feel hot tears down his face and slowly blew a breath into her mouth, listening anxiously for her breathing. He did this over and over until he was shaking badly and thought he’d lost her. He began to cry and cry and held her head in his arms. She had gone into this because of him, and it felt like a knife had just pierced his heart. He looked at her smoke blackened face and slowly began to stroke it, wiping the black marks tenderly from her face. ‘Hermione wouldn’t want to have a dirty face’ he thought, then buried his head into her shoulder and held her as tightly as he could.

She suddenly coughed lightly and he stopped and stared at her, not sure if he was dreaming or not. When she smiled up at him he let out a shaky sigh of relief and put his head back into her shoulder, so very thankful that she wasn’t gone. What would he have done if he’d lost her? How could he have carried on without her? He couldn’t, there was just no way…He was nothing without Hermione.

“You’re not coming with us again,” said Harry shakily, wiping the tears the seemed to keep streaming from his eyes. Hermione gave a small laugh and closed her eyes, enjoying having Harry so close to her.

“It’ll take more than that to stop me going with you,” she said quietly, and a small smile played across her face.

They didn’t notice Ron looking at them with narrowed eyes, or the deep suspicion written across his face.

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20. The Dark Mark

A/N - Well here’s the bit you’ve all been hoping for/dreading! Thanks to everyone for reading along, and special thanks to you reviewers! Hope you enjoy this chapter, sorry about the end (Don’t hate me!) Happy reading!

**Islanzadi** J

Ps- Rock my socks and review, wont you?

They sat in a compartment by themselves on the train from London to Cambridge. Harry was sitting on the chair next to the window, Hermione on the one next to him resting her head on Harry’s shoulder. Harry had cleaned Hermione up for the train ride home, but her tiredness was still etched on her face. Ron sat opposite Harry, and was having an inner battle. Why was Hermione leaning on Harry like that? Why had Harry been so upset over almost losing Hermione? Why was he always sticking up for Hermione when Ron was being, well, a little unpleasant? He was sure than in the house his worst fear wouldn’t be Hermione getting together with Harry…The logical part of him was telling him that he was being completely idiotic. Of course Harry would be worried about almost losing Hermione, they were best friends! Ron had almost cried too when it looked like she wasn’t going to breathe. ‘Harry always sticks up for Hermione because I’ve been a wanker to her lately,’ he thought. Hermione was resting on Harry’s shoulder for the same reason. ‘Why would she want comfort from me when I’ve been punishing her for not wanting to be with me?’ he thought again. But his unease continued, and as much as he tried to tell himself that he was simply suspicious and jealous, his mind wouldn’t let it go. He thought he was going to go crazy and just wanted to get back to that stupid cottage and sit on his stupid bed and forget all of this for the rest of the stupid night.

“Why did we have to take this stupid train home? It takes forever to get anywhere the way these muggles travel,” said Ron, betraying some of his inner anger.

“Ron,” said Hermione quietly “You know why. Someone in the ministry could detect us apparating, we can’t take the risk of anyone knowing where we are.”

“There must be hundreds of witches and wizards around here though, they cant track us that quickly just once,” said Ron, sounding impatient now.

“If owls that travel during the day are being attacked, then you can be sure that everything else is being watched too. We just have to be very careful Ron, we can’t take any risks.” said Hermione again; sounding like her patience was wearing out as well as her energy.

“If we’d have stayed at Grimmauld place this wouldn’t have been a problem. They can’t detect apparition there,” said Ron again, crossing his arms in frustration. Harry looked at him for a while wondering what was wrong with him. ‘Maybe seeing his mum like that really messed him up,’ thought Harry.

“You’re right Ron, Grimmauld place would have been safer. If you want to move there then just say the word and we will. It was kind of selfish of me to stay away because I don’t want reminders of Sirius,” said Harry stiffly, he hated having to admit that he’d only thought of himself in front of Hermione. What if she thought less of him? He glanced to the side and saw that she was beaming at him and he gave a small smile back. Ron watched this exchange and felt like punching Harry in the face. Why did Hermione think he was a great hero? Then he felt a bit guilty, Harry was being nice and saying they could move to Grimmauld place and here was Ron wanting to punch him. Why was he acting so crazy? Was he going to act like this with every bloke Hermione smiled at? What about when she went out with someone else? He smiled stiffly back at Harry and decided he would try to control his jealousy, it really was quite pathetic.

The rest of the way home was spent in silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts and all looking forward to getting some much needed rest. They let themselves into the cottage quietly hoping to sneak upstairs and get some sleep. A split second later Luna and Susan were in the hallway.

“Where have you been?” asked Susan looking very worried.

“Just taking care of some business,” said Harry quietly.

“What kind of business?” asked Luna

“We’ll tell you soon,” said Harry firmly “But now is not the time.” He made a move to the stairs but Luna stopped him.

“We made dinner, don’t you want any?” she asked. Harry had every intention of saying ‘No’, but he felt guilty. Instead he nodded his head and the three of them sat down at the table to eat. To Harry’s surprise the meal was wonderful. Roast chicken, Yorkshire puddings and three kinds of vegetables were served. For desert there was jam roly-poly and custard. Ron looked like he was in heaven, and all three of them ate ravenously. After that Ron sat and played wizards chess with Luna, while Susan read a muggle book from the study. Harry and Hermione played exploding snap. By 11 o clock they were all content and had been having a lot of fun.

“You know what,” said Ron happily “When we came home today we were all just about ready to go to bed. After a good meal and a game of chess though, I feel up for just about anything!”

“I’m glad that Luna and I could make you three so happy. Now, what would make me happy is knowing what you three were up to today.” said Susan, her arms folded as she stared at all three of them. Ron and Hermione simply turned to stare at Harry with a look of ‘your decision not ours,’ upon their faces. Harry stared back at them, trying to figure out what to do.

“We’re in this together Harry,” said Luna dreamily “We three are going to have to destroy Voldemort, that’s the reason it felt so right for us to all be here. It’s our destiny, and I think that Susan and I have a right to know the whole story. We shouldn’t have secrets Harry, we need to trust each other implicitly because every single one if us has the others’ lives in their hands.”

“Well, when she puts it like that Harry how can you refuse? I have to say Loony you’re a smart cookie, and I am very impressed,” said Ron with a big smile. Luna blushed slightly and continued to stare at Harry, her eyes wide with anticipation. Harry knew that the only reason Dumbledore told him to tell on Ron and Hermione was because he trusted them with his life and knew they would never betray him. Did he trust Luna and Susan the same way? He knew the answer before he even asked himself that question, after all if it hadn’t felt right why would they be here?

“We were finding a Horcrux,” said Harry quietly and pulled Hufflepuff’s cup out of his pocket. Susan looked confused at the word ‘Horcrux’, Luna looked confused too but it was for an entirely different reason.

“How did you fit that in your pocket?” she said. Harry and Susan both laughed and they moved next to Luna and hugged her affectionately. Harry sat on the couch with them on either side of him and quietly told them the story of the Horcruxes and everything he knew about Voldemort. Hermione watched him telling the story and felt her heart swell at the sight of him. She was also amazed at the closeness Luna, Susan and Harry had developed. She knew the founder’s had been close too, but it was strange how quickly their relationship had grown so close so quickly. ‘It was meant to be,’ she thought to herself and smiled. Maybe they had a chance against Voldemort after all. No, no maybes about it, they were going to win…

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It was two am and Harry made his way quietly out of his room and closed the door. He saw Hermione at the end of the hallway making her way slowly towards him. He grabbed her hand and led her down the stairs, through the hallway and out of the back door. He unrolled the invisibility cloak and draped it over them. Hermione moved forward, heading to the spot at the back of the garden they always went to. They were not even halfway there when Harry grabbed her wrist and spun her around to face him. He scanned her face quickly before lowering his head to her and kissing her very deeply. It was a few minutes before he stopped and Hermione felt like her whole world was spinning. He stared into her eyes again and she smiled.

“Goodness Harry,” she started, but was interrupted by Harry grabbing her and kissing her once again. She could feel him trembling slightly and he wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly to him. He kissed her feverishly along her neck and collarbone, then back up to her lips. Hermione began to feel those familiar electric pulses firing throughout her, and pulled away to catch her breath and regain her composure. He buried his face into her neck and continued to hold her tightly. Hermione held him equally as forcefully. She loved being in his arms like this, she felt so protected and wanted. She breathed heavily and inhaled his scent. She started to feel warm simply smelling him and attempted to think of things she found boring, like Quidditch.

“I thought you’d gone Hermione,” Harry finally whispered, his breath gently caressing her skin. “I couldn’t bare to lose you, what would I do if I didn’t have you?” Hermione smiled at his words and felt those familiar butterflies in her stomach. She wondered if he knew how much she loved him. ‘I should tell him,’ she thought to herself ‘right now, I should just blurt out I LOVE YOU!’ But she stopped those insane urges quickly. What if he didn’t feel the same way? What if he wasn’t ready for that yet, after all they had moved very quickly with their ‘relationship’. Truthfully, she just knew that the time wasn’t right. But when would the time be right? Would there ever be a perfect time to say those words when everything in their lives was such a mess?

“I’m not going anywhere Harry,” whispered Hermione “I’d never leave you. Besides, who would make sure you studied if I wasn’t around?” Harry grinned and nibbled playfully on her neck, which was a surprise for Hermione and she shrieked playfully. Harry put his fingers on her lips and stared deep into her eyes.

“I need you for more than studying, more than making sure I eat right and more than making sure I’m healthy and in one piece. I need you because of how you make me feel. You make me feel like I’m worth something more than just ‘the boy who’s supposed to save the world’. You make me feel like you want me because I’m me. Just Harry.” said Harry and kissed her gently on the lips.

“Well ‘Just Harry’ let me show you how much I want you,’ said Hermione with a devilish grin and led him quickly to the back of the garden.

Ron awoke suddenly and looked around his dark room. What was that noise that had woken him up? He stood up and moved stealthily to the bedroom door. He was about to open it when he remembered that if death eaters were in the house, he might need his wand. He backtracked quickly and found it on his bedside table. He went back to the door again and opened it quietly, listening intently for any strange noises…nothing. He stepped into the hallway and walked quietly to the stairs and paused again. Again he heard nothing. ‘Maybe I’m finally losing it,’ he thought. He decided that he may as well check out the rest of the house just to be on the safe side, or he would just lie awake for hours on end imagining that the general creaks and groans of the house were death eaters…or werewolves…or vampires. He shuddered at the thought and made his way downstairs, leaping around corners with his wand aiming at thin air. After a thorough check of the house, he decided to go upstairs and get some more sleep. He quickly checked the front door was locked and headed up the stairs. He was almost to the top when he remembered that he hadn’t checked the backdoor. He stood on the stairs for a moment wondering if it would be safe or not, then sighed and walked back down the stairs.

He pulled on the back door, expecting it to be locked and was surprised when it opened. He shut it quickly and jumped back into the kitchen, then whirled around to see if anyone was behind him. No one. He sighed deeply and turned back to the door again. Why was it opened? What stupid bloody idiot had forgotten to lock the door? He was about to lock it himself when he saw a flash of white at the end of the garden. He gripped his wand tighter and nervously licked his lips. Should he wake Harry? Should he wake everyone in the house? Should he call the Order? He decided to wait for a bit and make sure it wasn’t his imagination. He didn’t want to look like a total prat in front of everyone if it was just a cat. He was watching intently and thought that he had finally gone insane when there it was, clear as day. A foot…a shin…then gone! He knew right then that it was Harry under the invisibility cloak. But what was Harry doing in the garden in the middle of the night hiding under his invisibility cloak. He laughed to himself in the darkness of the kitchen. Turns out Harry was the insane one. He still felt a deep unease in the pit of his stomach and waited in the kitchen, in the dark.

“Hermione,” Harry groaned, “I think we should go in. We’ve been kissing for so long I can’t feel my lips anymore. Besides, you’re driving me mad…”

“In a good way though?” said Hermione playfully, kissing his neck and running her hands down his back.

“Almost too good actually,” said Harry grinning. He kissed her deeply again and felt her moaning against him. Time to go now before he lost control. He didn’t need to have that discussion again. Besides, he wanted it to be special between them too, and Hermione had as little self-control as he did. So it was best, while one of them was thinking clearly, to go back into the house. He kissed her a few more times and pulled her up. She pouted adorably and he kissed her all the way into the kitchen. He quietly opened the back door, and pulled Hermione inside. He whipped off the invisibility cloak and Hermione grabbed him and kissed him passionately. Harry’s mind was spinning when she finally pulled away.

“You are evil Hermione,” he said with a dramatic groan. She giggled and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

“Lets go to bed then. I will see you in the morning Mr. Potter,” said Hermione playfully.

“Would you like me to escort you to your chambers madam?” said Harry acting equally as goofy.

“If you can be trusted, then of course,” she said smiling. She linked her arm through his and they turned to leave the kitchen. They were almost through the door when a hard voice called out from the dark.

“Not planning on saying goodnight to your best mate then, eh?” said Ron, a fierce anger emanating from him. Harry and Hermione stopped dead in their tracks. ‘Not this way’ thought Harry ‘I didn’t want him to find out this way! Why didn’t I sit him down and make him listen? Oh no…’ The light suddenly turned on above them and Harry turned around to face Ron. He looked angrier than Harry had ever seen him. His face was red, his eyes looked like they were made of steel and he was visibly shaking from rage. Harry opened his mouth to speak but Ron advanced on him quickly. Harry knew that he could stop it; he knew that he could easily overpower him, but he just stood there. Ron slammed his fist into Harry’s jaw, then again into Harry’s eye, and then into Harry’s stomach.

“HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME! YOU FUCKING BASTARD!” He shouted at the top of his voice, still punching Harry as hard as he could. Hermione screamed as Harry fell to the floor, with blood gushing from his nose.

“Harry!” she cried “Get up! Ron! Stop this now! You’re hurting him…”

“GOOD!” Yelled Ron “I WANT HIM TO HURT! I WANT HIM TO HURT AS MUCH AS I AM RIGHT NOW! HOW COULD YOU HARRY? HOW COULD YOU?” Instead of continuing to punch him as Harry had expected, Ron fell to the floor in silence. He curled up and rocked backwards and forwards. He was like that for a couple of minutes, with Harry and Hermione watching in horror. When he finally stood up he looked broken and defeated. He had tears streaming down his face and he was shaking from sadness now, rather than fury.

“Why Harry? Why would you do that to me? I would never do anything to hurt you. You were with her all along, you pretended to comfort me and be my friend. I trusted you and you stabbed me in the back. I thought you were my best friend. Guess I was really wrong about that. You’re just a fucking wanker that always has to have everything. The famous Harry Potter! He even gets the girl while his best friend gets ditched…”

“Ron, please…” Harry started but Ron just stared at him, the fury beginning to find its way back into his eyes.

“Don’t talk to me Harry…ever again.” said Ron angrily. With a crack he was gone. Hermione burst out crying and ran to Harry. She buried her head into his shoulders and sobbed. Harry was staring at the spot where Ron had disappeared. What had they done? How could he have done that to his best friend? He noticed Susan and Luna in the doorway; both of them had tears in their eyes.

“You have to go to him,” said Luna sounding anxious.

“Now,” said Susan firmly. Harry nodded his head and kissed Hermione quickly on the lips.

“I’ll be back soon,” he said stonily. He knew where Ron would go, but he doubted he would speak to him.

He appeared at the Burrow a moment later and looked around desperately. He saw Ron a few feet from the front garden, staring up at the sky. There are no words to describe how wretched Harry felt as he rushed towards Ron, desperately hoping that he hadn’t lost his best friend for good. As he reached Ron he looked to see what he was looking at as if he were hypnotised, and almost passed out in horror. There, flying over the Burrow, was the Dark Mark…

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21. The Escape

Harry’s eyes widened in fear as he rushed to where Ron was standing. There were loud smashing sounds coming from inside the Burrow and the shadow of a large person passed by one of the windows upstairs. The death eaters were still inside, maybe there was still a chance to save Ron’s parents. He pulled out his wand and looked around quickly before nudging Ron to follow him.

“Get the fuck away from me Harry,” Ron whispered angrily “I don’t want your help.”

“We can talk about this later Ron,” said Harry quietly “Right now we have to help your parents.” Ron walked ahead without saying anything and Harry followed quickly. Mr Weasley’s shouts could be heard from inside the house, and Harry saw Ron’s fists start to shake in anger and he gripped his wand tightly. Harry stepped in front of Ron and opened the door quietly. It was dark inside but the house echoed with smashing and screams. He could see flashing colours from different spells coming from the hallway upstairs. He eased his way in through the door quietly and had to restrain Ron from rushing upstairs to his parents.

“We have to do this quietly,” whispered Harry angrily “Surprise is the best weapon we have right now.” Ron stared furiously at Harry and their eyes locked for a long moment. He finally looked away, though it looked like he would like nothing more than to punch Harry in the face…again. Harry walked very quietly up the stairs, his heart pounding in his chest. He stopped every now and then on the long journey up, listening to the sounds in the hallway above them. He wanted to make sure that they had the advantage rather than walk into a crowd of armed death eaters. Ron had to be restrained several times.

“Why don’t you just get out of here and let me take care of my family,” he hissed to Harry at one point “You don’t always have to be the hero you know” Harry rolled his eyes in anger and frustration and carried on creeping slowly up the stairs. He could hear Mrs Weasley weeping and she shouted out ‘petrificus totalus’ in a very shaky voice. They finally reached the landing and it was deserted. He could hear horrible sounds of pain coming from Mr and Mrs Weasley’s bedroom and he slowly began inching his way towards it. Suddenly a death eater came rushing out of the room. Harry knew he had to silence him quickly before it was all over. He thought ‘silencio’ and aimed his wand at the death eater…not fast enough.

“POTTER!” shouted the death eater in a familiar screeching voice. The bangs and crashes from Mr and Mrs Weasley’s bedroom stopped momentarily and suddenly the doorway was filled with half a dozen black robed and masked people, all with their wands pointing at Harry. Ron suddenly came rushing past Harry and threw himself into the hallway, desperately pointing his wand towards the group of murderers though Harry knew he wouldn’t stand a chance.

“MUM! DAD!” he shouted urgently.

“RON!” shouted Mr. Weasley, his voice filled with fear “Get out of here! They came here hoping to-” His voice was suddenly cut off and Mrs Weasley let out a petrified scream. The laughter of the black robed people echoed through the hallway, and Harry felt sick to his stomach with a sudden rage. He dived towards Ron and shoved him into one of the bedrooms opposite him. He opened his mind and could sense the death eater closest to him readying a curse in his mind, his wand pointing threateningly at him. He thought ‘protego’ and made it to the bedroom unharmed, not seeing the great white light that had momentarily surrounded him.

Ron and Harry turned around to face the door, now having an advantage because their attackers were all in front of them. Harry gripped his wand and pointed it at the door, a grim smile on his face. He was ready for payback. He felt a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach and hoped that Mr. Weasley was ok. He looked at Ron quickly and saw pure fury written on his friends face. He suddenly noticed a weight at his side and saw Godric’s sword hanging there. As he held his wand he felt a peculiar tingling sensation rise though his waist, through his arm and into his hand. It wasn’t uncomfortable; it felt like there was a strange energy in his arm and hand. He frowned and wondered what was going on, but was interrupted when a death eater rushed through the door. Ron fired and hex which bounced off of him. Harry quickly thought ‘finite incantatem’, and the shield charm was removed. Harry raised his wand and pointed it at the death eater.

“STUPEFY!” he shouted, and a red light leapt out of his wand and hit the death eater. To Harry’s surprise the spell hit the death eater with such force that he smashed through the wall of the bedroom and landed in the hallway. Clouds of dust and debris filled the area where the death eater had exited. All that was left was a huge gaping hole. ‘Oh no,’ he thought ‘I’ve ruined the Weasley’s house’ then pushed that ridiculous thought out of this mind. Another death eater filled the space where the last had exited, and Harry raised his wand again. He thought ‘Expelliarmus’ and the wand flew out of his opponent’s hand with an extraordinary force and lodged itself into the wall behind Harry. The death eater turned and tried to run, but Harry cast another ‘stupefy’ and gave a grim smile at the large crash that followed. More of the Weasley’s house was undoubtedly ruined. He wondered what else this sword could do…

Mrs. Weasley’s screams of pain suddenly filled Harry’s ears and seemed to echo throughout the house. He felt a grating sensation down his spine as her screams seemed to reach every part of him. His anger bubbled in the pit of his stomach and he knew they were using the cruciatus curse on her. Ron shouted in a pure rage and bolted out of the door, screaming like a mad man.

“NO!” shouted Harry “RON! THAT’S WHAT THEY WANT!” He heard a loud thud, then a small and pitiful yelp. Harry rushed into the hallway after Ron and saw him lying on the floor, a death eater laughing manically and pointing his wand at Harry.

There was a huge racket from downstairs and the windows in the Weasley’s bedroom smashed in. The Order had arrived and Harry let a malicious smile creep onto his face. He raised his wand while the death eater was distracted and shouted ‘Suffoco!’ The death eater stopped suddenly and Harry concentrated on squeezing his neck muscles tighter and tighter. He could hear a wheezing sound coming from the robed figure but he kept on going…until the figure started shaking and gasping desperately for breath. Then Harry let him fall to the floor and bound him quickly. He didn’t hear someone coming up from behind him until it was too late. That awful and torturous feeling filled his body, like his whole body was burning and on fire. He heard himself screaming at the top of his voice and hoped that someone would come to help him. He tried to put the walls up in his mind and found it was a very difficult task. He held on, trying to not think about the pain, whilst his body lay writhing on the floor, his yells echoing throughout the house. Suddenly he felt a strange shift in his mind, the walls started to go up ever so slowly and the pain receded somewhat. He wasn’t screaming anymore, though his body still writhed in agony on the floor. He had to do something, he had to think…think…think…For the lack of anything better to do he thought ‘Protego,’ and a bright and dazzling force field covered his body. There was no more pain and his body felt like his own again, though he was undoubtedly very weak and shaky. He moved his head to the side and saw the death eater trying to break through his shield. Harry held on to the thought of his shield with all his might, and gave a satisfied smile when the death eater lowered his wand and hastily rushed away. Harry stood up very shakily, leaning against the wall and breathing deeply.

Suddenly the death eaters were running, out numbered and unprepared. Harry was about to attempt to join the Order and try to capture as many as possible…but suddenly remembered Ron on the floor and felt his already laboured breath catch in his throat. He knelt down and fumbled to try and find a pulse on his best friend. He felt tears prick the back of his eyes when he did and hugged him quickly, knowing that this may be the last time he was ever close with Ron again after what he had done. He ran to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and was relieved to see them both alive. They looked dishevelled, scared and had quite a bit of blood on them. He fell to his knees and allowed himself to be embraced by them. They were the closest things he had to parents, how could he bare it if anything happened to them? He felt the familiar guilt pierce his chest and felt like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. There was a noise at the doorway and they all looked up to see Lupin standing there.

“Harry!” he said breathlessly “How did you get here?”

“Ron disapparated here and I followed.” said Harry numbly. Mrs. Weasley seemed to shake at the mention of her son and she stood up quickly to find him. Lupin looked horrified and Harry began to feel fear in his chest.

“We have to get back to the cottage…NOW!” said Lupin, sounding scared.

“Why?” said Harry standing up quickly.

“They’ll know where you are now Harry. The cottage has wards that can’t detect when spells are cast, but they can detect apparition from the ministry. They’ll know where you are now, and so will Voldemort,” said Lupin hurriedly.

“Oh no,” said Harry “Luna…Susan…” said Harry, but his mind was filled with Hermione’s face and a terror gripped his chest like he had never known before. He disapparated without another word, with Lupin following quickly.

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He entered the cottage and found the three girls sitting on the couch painting their nails; the living room was strewn with magazines, ice cream and make up.

“Hurry,” he said quickly “Get all of your things down here now. We have to leave…” Hermione’s face dropped and but she summoned her luggage quickly and quietly. Harry got all of his things ready, including the Horcruxes, his books and the animals. It took less than a minute before Lupin disapparated with all of their belongings. Harry held onto Hermione and Luna. Luna grabbed Susan’s hand and Harry readied them to disapparate. There was a large crash at the door and Susan looked up in fear…a flash of green light spread through the cottage and they could hear the harsh sounds of glass breaking violently. A split second later they were standing outside number twelve Grimmauld place and Harry felt relief wash though him. He looked at the three girls standing in front of him (all with freshly painted nails, newly plucked eyebrows and perfect make up) and sighed in relief. None of them appeared hurt. He led them quickly into the house where they congregated in the kitchen.

“What happened Harry,” asked Luna worriedly “Where’s Ron?” Before Harry could answer Lupin appeared at the door, looking very weary.

“I just stopped by and talked to Mad Eye quickly. Ron’s just been transferred to St. Mungo’s. He’s got a dozen Aurors with him, so the second he can be moved he’ll be brought back here. Molly and Arthur are coming to stay here too Harry, it’s not safe at the Burrow…” Harry nodded mutely, glad that his friend was ok and wondering what it was going to be like now that Ron HAD to stay with them. He sighed and leaned against the counter. Hermione moved closer to him and put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and gave her a small smile, then put his arm around her shoulders. Despite everything that had happened he felt happy that he was finally able to do this in front of people. He wondered what kind of a person this made him.

“This is where the Order meets. I never got the name of the place though…you were too busy yelling at Snape. Where are we? Are we staying here now?” asked Susan, looking around the place with a look of worry on her face.

“Yeah. This is Grimmauld place. My Godfather left his house to me when…Well anyway, it’s really safe so it’s a good idea if we just stay put. We’ll have to clean the place though, it looks disgusting in here…” said Harry, looking around and wondering if there was anyway to brighten the place up. But even that wouldn’t erase his memories of Sirius locked up here. He looked at the floor and tried to block those images from his mind, now was not the time for weakness.

“Well I must say,” said Luna vaguely “It has the perfect name. It certainly is a grim old place…” Harry smiled at Luna; somehow she always knew how to break the tension, even if it was saying something very odd.

“What happened Harry?” said Hermione quietly. Harry tightened his arm around her and began telling her everything that had happened, he was going to keep it brief but ended up telling them every detail. He felt a lot better afterwards but Hermione seemed to be nervous, almost to the point of frantic.

“I’m sorry Harry,” she said quickly and tears began to fall rapidly down her face. “I want to listen to you but…if they went after the Dursley’s, then Ron parents…mine are next. They could be there right now! I have to go, I have to go now…”

“What about my dad? Do they know I’m with you? They could be at his house right now!” said Luna worriedly. Susan’s face went pale and she wordlessly opened and closed her mouth.

“Don’t worry. I’ll send members of the Order to both of your houses and place your parents somewhere safe. I’ll take Hermione to her parents house now and we’ll move them too,” said Lupin, ignoring Harry’s angry protests “You need to stay where you are and keep safe. We’ll hide her parents somewhere safe and I’ll bring her back later. Don’t let your heart get in the way of common sense.” Harry stood there staring at Lupin. Did everyone think he was in love with Hermione? It was really starting to irritate him. He couldn’t be angry at what Lupin had said though, for he had not said it out of anger but only because he cared for Harry. He nodded mutely and Hermione gave him a quick hug. He kissed her on the lips quickly and watched them both disappear. He hoped her parents were ok, and began to pray that nothing would happen to Hermione.

Harry sat himself at the kitchen table; Susan and Luna wordlessly followed and pulled up chairs next to him.

“Ron’s going to be ok isn’t he?” asked Luna, nervously fiddling with the fabric of her robes.

“He’ll be fine, you heard what Lupin said…” said Harry quietly. Luna nodded mutely and stared at the details of the table as if fixated. Susan moved closer to her and put an arm around her shoulder.

“He will be fine Luna,” she said “Don’t worry about your dad either, they’ll put them all somewhere safe and then we can go and visit them.” Luna nodded her head again and rested her head on her friends shoulder. They sat there in silence for a while, each lost in their own thoughts. Eventually Luna broke the silence.

“He’ll get over it Harry. He was bound to be angry when he found out, though I do think you should have just been honest with him from the start.”

“You saw how he reacted Luna. Can you imagine if I’d just sat him down and told him calmly that I wanted to be with Hermione?” Said Harry irritably.

“You mean that you love Hermione,” said Susan matter of factly.

“Susan…” began Harry but was interrupted by Luna.

“Ok ok,” she said “Let’s not get into that now. Harry’s not quite ready for that yet. What I think we should do is talk about our situation. It will help us take our minds off things. I hate sitting around with nothing to do but worry. What happened this evening with the sword was quite interesting Harry. I bet that it would work the same for Susan and I if we used the tiara and the cup. If our magic intensifies when we use them then we need to start learning how to wield that kind of power. I think we should get the items and begin practicing with them.” Harry stared at Luna for a moment. He really wanted to just stay here and wait for Hermione to get back, but he knew it could be a while and he would get sick of waiting around and doing nothing. There was so much that still needed to be done…

“Let me go and remove the evil in that cup first, then we can figure this all out,” said Harry quietly and he stood up to leave the kitchen.

“I think we should go to Hogwarts to do this,” said Susan quickly before Harry could leave “I think we need to find out more about the four founders before we start experimenting in this kind of stuff. I don’t know about you two but I need to make sure Hermione is right before I start meddling in powerful magic.” Harry nodded in head and left the kitchen to move all their baggage upstairs into their rooms and retrieve the cup. He only hoped he’d have enough strength to go to Hogwarts afterwards.

Luna and Susan sat in the kitchen, quietly discussing the evening’s events.

“So…” said Susan, trying to be casual but not being successful “How do you really think Ron’s going to act when he gets back? He looked so angry. Poor Harry and Hermione.”

“Ron will be just fine,” said Luna tersely “He’s taken this too far anyway. He knows that Hermione doesn’t want to be with him but he still tried to punish her anyway. He needs to grow up. Besides, he doesn’t want Hermione; he just wanted something that Harry didn’t have. He loves Harry, but he’s always been in his shadow. I guess that manifested itself into a crush on Hermione.”

“How do you feel Luna?” asked Susan worriedly “It can’t be easy watching the man you love fighting because of some other woman.”

“Especially since it’s so obvious she loves Harry! I mean, honestly how could he have missed it all? They’re always staring at each other and blushing when they catch the other one looking at them. You know I really thought he was warming up to me Susan, always asking me to play chess with him and asking if I would make him a necklace. I’m so fed up, do you think he’ll ever want me?”

“Of course he will. He’s just too stupid to know it right now. You’re the best thing that could ever happen to him. I admire the way you’ve stuck by him, I would have stopped bothering with him a long time ago. Of course, I’ve never been in love before so I guess I shouldn’t say that…” said Susan, smiling at her friend.

“When do you think Harry will admit he loves Hermione?” asked Luna quietly. Susan smiled and shook her head in exasperation.

“I don’t know, but it’s so obvious he does. I’m getting rather annoyed actually…I know he’s a bit scared because then she’ll be his one weakness and… ” replied Susan, but looked up to see a very weary Harry leaning on the doorframe. They both stood up quickly and went over to him, he had a slight sweat on his forehead and he looked as weak as a kitten. He was gasping a little and looked like he was fighting the urge to fall onto the floor. Susan pulled out her wand and made a swirling motion, and Harry’s gasping stopped. He stood up and smiled, stretching his legs and rolling his shoulders.

“Wow,” he said, “What was that? I feel like I’ve just had a good nights sleep and a really large cup of coffee.”

“A little spell I learnt while we were taking our exams. It just refreshes you if you’ve been up all night studying, and it has a healing property in there too. Not if you’ve been seriously injured of course, but anything minor can be taken care of,” she said briskly.

“I think we should all get together and go over some spells. Neville has a great one that we should all learn, I think if we used the heirs objects to intensify it we could cause Voldemort some real pain…” said Harry happily.

“Sounds like a good idea.” said Luna “But the clock is ticking and if we hurry up we can make it to the great hall in time for breakfast!” Harry’s stomach rumbled at the thought and he nodded his head in vigorous agreement.

“Lets go then,” he said “But one more thing before we go…Stop talking about me loving Hermione will you? I swear if I hear it one more time I’ll go insane…”

“Sure Harry,” said Susan grinning

“Anything you say Harry,” said Luna dreamily, a slight smile playing upon her face. Harry shook his head and forced images of Hermione out of his mind. He hoped she was ok, he hoped her parents were ok, he hoped she’d come back today…

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22. The sorting hat

A/N- thanks to everyone once again for reading along and reviewing! This is the entrance of two characters I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for… Happy reading!

**Islanzadi** J

After a strained breakfast in the Great Hall, in which they were the topic of many of the students’ conversations, they made their way to McGonagall’s office.

“What are we doing here?” asked Luna as they stood by the gargoyles. Harry gave a slight smile and then said -

“You’ll see,”

They walked into the office to find professor McGonagall sitting at her desk shuffling through a mountain of paperwork. She looked up, surprised to see them standing there.

“How on earth did you get in?” she asked, “You don’t even know the new password! What are you doing here? Lupin told me he had expressed a wish for the three of you to stay at the house!”

“Well we had some things to do,” said Harry quietly “We need to have a talk with him…”

“Him?” she asked looking towards the portrait of Dumbledore “I don’t think he’s going to be able to tell you anything particularly useful Potter,”

“Not Dumbledore,” said Luna serenely, suddenly understanding why Harry had wanted to come to the office. “The sorting hat…”

McGonagall looked at them as if they had gone mad, then with a sigh stood up and retrieved the sorting hat from its resting place throughout the year. She gingerly handed it to Harry. Harry held it for a moment whilst looking at Susan and Luna.

“Are you debating whether or not you want me to leave my own office?” asked professor McGonagall rather curtly. Susan blushed a little and looked at the floor.

“Yeah,” said Harry “But if Hermione’s right then you and the rest of the Order need to know anyway, so I suppose it’s ok if you stay.”

“Well,” she said sarcastically “I’m glad that you have seen fit to let me stay…” and then she moved and sat behind her desk. Harry put the hat on his head and waited to hear the voice. A slit appeared in the hat and it spoke in a dignified voice.

“Harry Potter,” it said, “So much has changed since the last time we met. I have a feeling I know what this is about. But do give me the pleasure of being correct in my assumptions…”

“I want to know,” said Harry in a rushed voice “If I’m Godric Gryffindor’s heir.” He ignored the intake of breath from the area McGonagall was sitting in and concentrated in the hats answer.

“Hmmm,” replied the sorting hat “You were always very hard to read Harry. Not surprising of course. But oh how your mind has grown! There’s not as much confusion as there was when I first sorted you. Yes, yes. You are a true Gryffindor.”

“But am I…” started Harry, but the hat interrupted him.

“The heir?” it replied, “Well what do you think?”

“Well I don’t know,” said Harry, starting to feel irritated “That’s the reason I’m asking you…”

“You already know the answer,” it replied “There’s no point in asking a question when you already know the answer…”

“If that’s the case,” said Harry, his voice a bit clipped “Then there was no point in you wanting to know the reason I was here of you already knew the answer…”

The hat’s slit for a mouth grew wider as it let out a laugh.

“Good, good…” it said, still laughing to itself “Very well, put me on the desk and let me tell a story that happened a long time ago…” Harry pulled the hat off of his head and placed it on the desk. All three of them sat down and waited anxiously for the sorting hat to begin.

For Many years the founders lived

In a wondrous harmony

When the horrors of Salazar’s evil deeds

Was clear for all to see

“Not in song please,” said Harry rather curtly “No offence but it’s harder to follow along when you’re rhyming everything…”

“Very well,” said the hat, sounding rather put out “But it’s a very creative song and you really are missing out,” Luna and Susan smirked slightly at Harry, then fixed their eyes once again upon the old hat in front of them, waiting for some kind of answer. The hat let out a slight sigh of disappointment before it’s slit opened wide to start the tale.

“Throughout the ages there has always been a battle of sorts. The good have always battled the evil in the world in an attempt to eradicate it. When I was very young, after Salazar Slytherin had left the school, the other three founders seemed to be quite content. They did their job, I did mine, and all seemed to be harmonious. News was then received that Salazar had been dabbling more into the dark arts than anyone thought possible. Stories of the murders he had committed and the blood he had shed spread throughout the land. The three founders knew that it was they that had to stop him. They had to be the ones to reason with him, to try and stop his madness. So the three tried to persuade him, but it was futile. Salazar seemed consumed with his evil magic and refused to listen to his old friends. The three then knew that they had to kill Salazar, or risk letting him become even more out of control…and become more terrible than what he already had become. A fierce battle ensued, which resulted in the deaths of all four of them. Quite a sad tale.” said the sorting hat, its voice sounding melancholy “Godric was the one that finally slew Salazar. Do you know what Godric means?”

The three of them shook their heads quietly.

“It means ‘He who rules with God’ He had the power within him to defeat the evil within Salazar, though we can only speculate as to how he achieved it. Salazar was barely human towards the end; it’s no wonder all three founders died trying to defeat him. Now…you can obviously see a familiar pattern here. This is a story that has been spun throughout the ages, but the outcome in not set in stone. The dark wizard you have to face before you now has defeated the heirs of the founders once before, but it does not mean that it will be that way again…”

“My dad…” said Harry “He was the heir of Gryffindor, and Voldemort killed him. So now I’m taking his place. The other two must have been killed too, that’s why all three of us are here now, the same age and everything. Weird.”

“Precisely,” replied the hat “Eventually the three will defeat the dark wizard. If it’s not you three, then it shall be the next. When he has been vanquished then he shall be reborn, and the tale shall start over. The tale that is spun throughout the ages. You see, true evil can never really be defeated. But on the other hand, truly brave and good people can never ever be completely removed from this earth either. There will always be a place for you, in this life or the next. Has this answered your questions?”

“Ummm,” said Harry “Pretty much.”

“It’s quite depressing,” said Susan suddenly “That if we don’t do it, the next lot will. Even if we do manage to kill him, it’ll just happen all over again. It seems kind of pointless to do anything…”

“It’s not pointless to stop the killing of the innocent for as long as you can.” said Luna quietly “After we’ve killed him we can have a happy life. Evil will always exist, but so will good. You never really get rid of evil anyway, the second you get rid of someone that’s evil; another comes along to take its place. It’s a never ending circle, we just have to make the most of what we have and try to protect those that might get hurt in the process.”

“Spoken like a true Ravenclaw Miss. Lovegood,” said the hat happily. “By the way, happy birthday for January 22^nd. I doubt I’ll be seeing you for a while…” Luna looked surprised at the hat and stared at it incredulously.

“How do you know my birthday?’ she asked

“It’s the same birthday as Rowena Ravenclaw,” said the hat simply. “Now if you don’t mind I’m rather exhausted from all this talking. I would appreciate it if you’d put me back to my resting spot. I’m working on a very taxing song for next year and I need all the rest I can get.” Harry lifted the hat up and placed it back where it belonged. The office was quiet for a moment longer, each of them wondering what they had to do now. Finally professor McGonagall broke the silence.

“Well,” she said, “This certainly is an interesting development. I suggest we have a meeting to see what this might mean. Send your patronus to Lupin’s house Harry, we have to call a meeting.”

“What?’ asked Harry “Send my patronus? How am I supposed to do that?’

“Just picture Lupin’s house firmly in your mind. Got it? Concentrate hard on your happy thought and conjure your patronus. Now, I want you to hold the patronus in front of you for a moment while you think of both Lupin’s house and your happy thought. Now…send the patronus. We’ll know in a minute if it’s worked. Tonks will reply with her patronus.” Instructed McGonagall.

“That’s how the order calls their meetings?” asked Harry

“Yes,” replied McGonagall “You can’t copy someone else’s patronus exactly. You three need to know this now that you’re in the Order, we didn’t have time to discuss it last time due to Severus’ unexpected visit.”

They waited for a moment longer before a silver patronus flew threw McGonagall’s window.

“Right,” she said briskly “Time to go…” and then made her way towards the fireplace. She handed them all some floo powder, and one by one they made their way back to Grimmauld place.

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They entered Grimmauld place to find the members of the Order crowded in the kitchen. Harry walked into the mass of people behind Luna, Susan and McGonagall. He spotted Lupin standing in the far corner and quickly made his way towards him, completely oblivious to those unfortunate people who happened to be in his path.

“Where’s Hermione?” he asked anxiously

“She’s fine Harry. We moved her parents to a safe location and she decided to stay for the evening, though her parents want her there for a couple of days,” said Lupin quietly. Harry nodded and looked to the floor. Hermione wasn’t going to be here tonight? What if she didn’t come back tomorrow? He didn’t like the thought of her not being with him, and how safe exactly is the place where her parents are hidden? As if reading Harry’s thoughts Lupin quietly said-

“It’s a very safe place for her Harry. She’ll be just fine there. Her parents were worried about her and she thought it was only fair if she spent some time with them. Who knows when she will again? If it’s any consolation, she looked just as depressed as you do right now.” Harry looked up quickly at those words and tried hard to suppress a sudden grin on his face. Lupin, however, could do no such thing and eventually they were both grinning ear to ear. Naturally this earned them several odd looks from the members of the Order that were waiting for the meeting to get started. There was a sudden bustle in the hallway, and Harry could see quite a few people entering the room…all with very red hair. Luna made her way over to Mrs. Weasley with an apprehensive look on her face.

“How’s Ron? Why isn’t he here? Is he going to be ok?” she asked. Mrs. Weasley put a hand on her shoulder and smiled affectionately at her.

“He’s going to be just fine. The healers wanted to keep him overnight just to be on the safe side but he’ll be joining us tomorrow,” said Mrs. Weasley, her relief apparent in her voice. She looked towards Harry and came walking towards him, slowly at first but then ended in a rush as she pulled him into her arms.

“Oh Harry,” she said, “I’m so sorry you had to see that. I know you’ve seen worse, but I didn’t want you to have to see Arthur and I like that. I hope you don’t mind if the family stays with you for a while?”

“You can live here forever for all I care,” said Harry, returning her hug with equal force “My home is your home. You’re the closest thing I have to a mum, I’d do anything to help you.” Mrs. Weasley sobbed into Harry’s shoulder for a while before they finally released. He looked up to see Mr. Weasley standing next to them, who also gave him a hug, though it was a lot quicker than Mrs. Weasley’s.

“Second time you’ve saved my life Harry,” he said solemnly “Anything I can ever do to repay you, just say the word. I doubt anything I could ever do would be enough but I’ll try” Harry smiled at them both, his heart warming at how two parents with so many children could find it in their hearts to give love to someone that was of no relation to them. Lupin stepped forward and gestured for them to take a seat. Harry had just sat down when Mrs. Weasley’s voice rang out sharply, disturbing the calm and quiet atmosphere of the room.

“Ginny! I told you when we arrived that you’re not allowed into the meetings! I told you that you were to stay in your bedroom until we were finished! How dare you disobey me? Get up to your room right now before I come out there and make you!” Harry’s stomach seemed to fall at the mention of Ginny’s name and he inwardly groaned. He should have expected her to come and be with her family if Ron was in the hospital. He should have prepared for it. But he didn’t, and now he had to face Ginny again. He hoped that Hermione would stay away until she was gone, unless Ginny decided that she wasn’t going to act as bitchy as she had been during their stay at the Burrow.

“But mum!” said Ginny, her eyes blazing and her hands on her hips “Everyone else is down here! Even Fred and George! It’s not fair that I’m the only one being left out, I have a right to know what’s going on too!”

“We’ll tell you what you need to know,” said Mrs. Weasley, her eyes flashing with warning “But now, do what I tell you and go to your bedroom!” Ginny stared for a moment longer, then stomped out of the room, startling the portrait of Sirius’ mother and making her scream loudly. Harry stood up quickly and walked towards the portrait. He felt a familiar weight at the side of his hip and seized the Gryffindor sword. He pulled it out of the sheath and held it up high, then swung it down with a huge force. He had sliced the painting clean off of the wall. The portrait started screaming with renewed vigour, but Mad Eye was already heaving the painting onto his shoulders and left the house to destroy it. Harry sighed with relief; he had always hated the bloody picture. So had Sirius, he felt quite pleased that he had managed to do something that would have made his Godfather very happy. He went back into the kitchen where McGonagall proceeded to tell the rest of the Order what had happened with the sorting hat. Just as she was telling them about Harry’s father there was a knock on the kitchen door. Lupin walked quickly over to it and removed the necessary charms and wards. He opened the door to admit Snape, his black cloak billowing around him and his face paler than usual. McGonagall stepped over to Harry and whispered urgently into his ear -

“Do you want Snape to know these details Harry? We can easily inform the members at another time. I’m not sure if he can be trusted with this kind of information…” Harry stared at Snape for a long time. He had raised the walls in his mind and was trying to search for Snape’s. At first he found walls so thick that they almost matched his own. He pushed a little harder and saw Snape’s eyes widen with surprise and shock. He pushed harder still and felt a wall wobble slightly but still stay standing. He imagined running his hands along the wall, desperately trying to find a crack in which he could begin to break the wall down. An endless amount of time seemed to have passed when he finally found what he was looking for. He pushed with his mind, again and again. He saw Snape flinch and suddenly fall against the wall. He pushed again and finally felt it give way. He saw image upon image of Snape with Voldemort. He saw him saying that he had no idea as to the whereabouts of Harry’s location. He saw him receiving the valued information that he had passed on to the Order. He saw him being tortured by Voldemort over and over. He let go of Snape quickly, allowing him to raise his walls once again. He walked over to him and talked so quietly into his ear that no one else in the room could hear him.

“When was the last time he did that?”

“Half an hour ago,” replied Snape, his voice dripping with loathing “Why didn’t you look at my other memories Potter? Surely you couldn’t have willingly let such an opportunity go?”

“I just wanted to see Voldemort. I wanted to see what you had to go through with him for myself. I believe you about the rest, I don’t need to see those memories” said Harry quietly. Snape looked at Harry with complete hatred upon his face. Harry stepped away and addressed McGonagall.

“He’s fine, tell him what you would tell everyone else.” McGonagall looked a little uneasy as she sat on her chair. Lupin walked over to him and quietly whispered into Harry’s ear -

“You really do have your mother’s eyes”

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He stood at the end of a street in London wondering where Snape had gone. He needed to speak to him urgently. The breakout from Azkaban was scheduled for tomorrow, and he was extremely scared to meet his father again. His father would blame him, and he dreaded not only the words but also the beatings that would come. Not that he would ever tell that to Snape. He had already provided Snape with enough ammunition after his failure to kill Dumbledore, he didn’t need to willingly hand him more. He felt the dark mark on his arm burn and he knew that he had to return. He felt a cold pit of dread form in his stomach. He hoped he wasn’t going to be tortured again. He needed a way to make himself more powerful, to do something that would stop the torture. But what? What could he do? He couldn’t hand him Potter. That stupid git Potter, he would get what was coming to him soon enough. Famous Harry Potter, enough to make you want to throw up just looking at him. What about the stinking Mudblood? Maybe he could hand her to the Dark Lord, which would draw Potter in quite well. Stupid fucker always loves to play the hero, how could he resist coming to her rescue? His eyes gleamed in the moonlight as these images played through his mind. Yes, that might work quite well. But how to get to them? No one knew where they were staying. Maybe he could figure out where they would go next and grab that filthy excuse for a human then? The mark burned fiercer than before and he reluctantly turned to go. Crabbe and Goyle were staring at him with an expression of pure stupidity on their faces.

“What the fuck are you two staring at?” he asked malevolently.

“Nothing,” said Crabbe “Just trying to figure out where Snape went to. One minute he was there, the next…”

“I didn’t think that the Dark Lord had any plans for him this evening,” said Goyle absently.

“Yes, it is rather odd. We’ll just have to keep a closer eye on Snape; maybe he won’t be in the Dark Lord’s favours for too much longer. At least not if I have anything to do with it.” said Malfoy, sounding like he had spat the word Snape from his mouth as if it were something dirty.

“We have to go now,” said Crabbe quickly, rubbing his arm with fear “We’re already going to be tortured as it is, lets not make it worse for ourselves by being later still,” Malfoy turned away quickly, trying to not let the fear show in his eyes. The Dark Lord had been most displeased when he learned of his failures with Dumbledore. His mother had been tortured mercilessly in front of him and then viciously killed. He tried to suppress the shudder that began to run through his body and felt hot tears prick at the back of his eyes. There was nothing he could have done; he was in a full body bind. But he had been made to watch, he raised his haunted eyes to the sky and prepared himself to go back to his master. He hoped he would make it through this, but what kind of a world would he be living in then? Would he always have to live in fear of being tortured? No…when he was in charge he would make sure that everyone else feared him. He would make everyone pay. If his father didn’t kill him first…

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23. The Dementors

A/N- Hi everyone, thanks again for reading along and to all of you reviewers! This is the last chapter without Hermione in it, so no yelling at me! There’s a bit of a mushy one next for you…and in a couple of chapters time it’s going to start getting mushier still! Also, my computer hates me and decided to get rid of a lot of my story **Sobs a little and stamps foot in frustration** My younger sister warned me about this and every time I thought about saving it onto a floppy disk something else caught my attention…I had to re-write a lot of it, so the updates might fall back to once a week L sorry! If it’s any consolation I’m sending Bill Gates evil thoughts about Microsoft with my mind…Thanks again to everyone, Happy reading!

**Islanzadi** J

-x-

The kitchen in Grimmauld place was eerily silent as Lupin told them of the evenings events while they had been fighting the death eaters at the Burrow.

“Several towns in the north east of England were attacked by dementors today. It’s all over the muggle news. Over fifty people had their souls sucked out of them, and were left in their homes, or in the middle of streets before the muggle police and ambulances arrived.”

“What towns were attacked Remus?” asked McGonagall, sounding horrified.

“Odstone, Moira and Norris Hill were the first ones attacked. They finished with the larger town of Swadlincote. There are several ministry workers out there already, as well as dozens of Aurors. I think we had better join them, we need to track these things down before more innocent people meet that kind of fate.”

“But,” said Mrs. Weasley “The entire area is surrounded by the National Forest. It’s huge, they could be anywhere!”

“Judging from the map they appear to be moving northwest,” said Lupin quietly “the only thing we can do is move north west with them. They’ll find us Molly, don’t worry about that. We just have to make sure we’re prepared.”

Everyone nodded quietly as the meeting was wrapped up. The agreed to meet in the town of Swadlincote and all move on from there. The designated meeting point was to be a small pub on the edge of the town; they would have to bring their brooms to get to the forest. The sounds of many wizards and witches disapparating filled the house with noisy cracks, until Harry, Susan and Luna were all left alone.

“We should bring plenty chocolate,” said Luna vaguely.

“Dementors,” said Harry “If there’s one thing I really hate it’s bloody dementors.”

“Oh well, we best get it over with. We’re really going to need sleep after this, it feels like I’ve been up forever!” said Susan

“We could use this as an opportunity to test out those items though,” said Luna, then summoned the tiara and placed it on top of her head.

“I don’t want to fight a bunch of dementors with this huge sword at my side,” said Harry, who had become more than irritated with it catching on his legs. Luna pointed her wand at it and shrunk it to the size of a small dagger.

“I’m the one supposed to save the world and I didn’t think of that. You’re right Susan, I could really use some sleep about now…” said Harry with a slight grin

“Well, I’m not carrying this cup around with me,” said Susan and she shrunk the cup also. But she didn’t put it in her pocket like Harry had done previously, but instead threaded the two handles through the gold chain that was around her neck.

“There!” she said “That shouldn’t get in the way too much. Now lets quickly get some chocolate, pick me up potion and our brooms, then we best go.” The three of them headed upstairs, with Harry leading the way to their belongings. The entered a small room where Luna began pulling several items out of her bag and throwing them in her haste to find the chocolate. Harry started to laugh as she pulled out the strange lion hat she had worn to one of his quidditch matches and threw it quickly across the room. It landed with a thud on the floor and began roaring loudly, making Susan suddenly jump. Luna finally found the potion and chocolate, which she then distributed among the three of them. Harry shoved his share deep into his robes, and turned around to go…only to bump directly in Ginny Weasley.

“Harry,” she said, her voice sounding friendly but her eyes looking suspicious “Where are you three off to? Am I missing something important? Where’s Hermione?”

“Hermione is staying with her parents tonight,” said Harry quickly “And you really shouldn’t know what we’re doing. It’s safer that way…

“I’ve dealt with hardships before Harry,” said Ginny, sounding a little angry “I want to know where you’re going. I’m worried about you.”

“Well don’t worry about me Ginny. I’ll be fine, but thanks very much. I’ll see you in the morning.” said Harry, and then began to walk out of the door. Ginny quickly moved to stand in front of Harry, her eyes blazing as she looked at him. He felt more than awkward and stared at the floor.

“Be careful Harry,” she said quietly, and before he could stop her she had pushed her mouth onto his and was trying to kiss him passionately. All Harry felt was a strange wet mess moving around on his lips before he pushed her quickly away.

“No Ginny,” he said, sounding angry but not feeling as guilty as he normally would have. Ginny looked from Harry’s eyes to the raised eyebrows of Luna and Susan. She shrugged indifferently and stalked out of the room. ‘Look what they’ve done to him,’ she thought angrily ‘look what she’s done to him. Trying to take him away from me. Poor Harry, he must feel so awful wanting me but feeling guilty because of his best friend. I’ll just have to put that right. How dare that bitch try and take away Harry when he loves me! The nerve! Oh she’ll get what’s coming to her, I’m done with being nice…” Harry, Luna and Susan heard the angry stomps Ginny was making towards her bedroom, which ended with a loud slam of the door. Harry sighed and looked at Luna and Susan, surprised that they were trying not to laugh hysterically. He raised his eyebrows and gave them a questioning look.

“Your face!” said Susan, letting her laughter escape “You looked like you were going to throw up in her mouth! It was hilarious!”

“It looked a little slobbery,” said Luna dreamily “I would have thought Hermione would have perfected your skills for you Harry…” Harry gave her a playful nudge in the ribs and allowed a grin to appear on his face. He wiped his mouth and resisted the urge to clean it thoroughly. Eventually they stopped laughing and readied themselves to disapparate…a little later than they had previously anticipated.

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They approached the old looking pub in the town of Swadlincote, and were met by a very disgruntled Mad Eye.

“Where were you?” he growled, “We were about to come back for you. When we say meet in ten minutes, we mean meet in ten minutes.”

“Sorry,” said Susan a little too brightly “We had a slight situation we had to deal with. Harry cleaned it up very well though.” Luna began to laugh, her eyes bulging a little. Mad Eye looked from one girl to the other, then stormed off to the crowd waiting witches and wizards. Harry nudged them both quickly and gave them a look that said ‘oh, you will pay…’ before following Mad Eye.

“Right!” said Lupin loudly “everyone one your brooms. Mad Eye and I will be in front. Harry, Susan and Luna, you’re right behind us. Everyone else…you know you’re positions. Right then? Ok, up we go!” Lupin and Mad Eye shot up into the air, followed closely by Harry, Luna and Susan. Harry felt fantastic being on his broom again. He felt the air rushing past his face and swirling through his hair. The coldness of the evening seemed refreshing to him and he had the wild urge to go higher and do a loop in the air. He repressed that wild thought, but decided that he would definitely be doing it later. He hadn’t been on a broom in ages and he felt at home. Luna looked sideways at him and grinned. She loved that look of joy in his eyes when he way in the air, he seemed to free. He didn’t have a care in the world. She just hoped he wouldn’t do some wild trick when they were supposed to be fighting dementors soon. She glanced over and Susan to find her looking at Harry that way too. They shared a knowing grin before concentrating on Lupin and Mad Eye once again.

They had been flying for at least half an hour and the novelty was beginning to wear off. His fingers seemed to be frozen to his broom and his face felt uncomfortably tingly due to the cold wind. He looked to the side and saw that Luna looked more uncomfortable than him. He looked to the other side and saw Susan visibly shaking on her broom. A sudden dark shape moved in his peripheral vision, and he jerked his head quickly to the side to see what it was. A black shape of a dementor was gliding through the air only 100m away from then. Harry raised his wand, but the silvery shape of an owl had already reached the sickening creature, driving it away with a shriek. Mad Eye made a motion with his arms that Harry understood to be ‘Attack below you’ He felt a strange cold sensation all over his body and distantly heard that awful screaming in his head. He looked down, knowing what he would find but not wanting to believe it. Beneath the flying witches and wizards were hundreds and hundreds of dementors. Harry heard a very uncharacteristic ‘Holy shit’ come out of Luna’s mouth…very loudly. He pointed his wand beneath him and sent his patronus into the cloud of black billowing creatures.

The black sky was lit up with at least thirty different silver shaped animals, all rushing towards the dementors below. The screams of the creatures filled the air as they rushed away…only to be replaced with new ones. All around him were shouts of ‘Expecto patronum’, over and over again. But the mass of dementors seemed to stay put, new ones taking the old ones place. ‘There’s too many,’ thought Harry with a horrified thought ‘We can’t do this with so many of them!’ He felt the cold sensation rising in him once again, the distant screams slowly becoming nearer. He hastily put up the walls in his mind, and the screaming stopped. He was about to let off another patronus when he saw the shape of someone falling into the mass of dementors. Then another…then another. ‘Why are they falling?’ he thought ‘they’re too far away to make people pass out…’ He slowly lifted his head to look above him, and was horrified to see just as many dementors circling above them as below them. ‘Fuuuuuck!!’ was the only thought that Harry seemed to have before leaning his broom into a steep dive to try and save the poor people before they were subjected to the dementors. Luna and Susan noticed Harry’s sudden descent and followed quickly.

The air was rushing past Harry so fast that there were tears running quickly from his eyes. His vision was blurred, but he refused to wipe his eyes and possibly lose sight of the person falling directly beneath him. A dementor flew straight into his face, and Harry raised his wand quickly and thought ‘Expecto patronum’. The stag seemed to explode the dementor in front of Harry, but he didn’t notice. He dove faster and faster before he was finally right behind the falling person. He reached his hand out to try and grab the persons leg ‘You can do this,’ he thought ‘it’s just like the snitch. A little heavier, but just like the snitch…a little further…reach…’ His hand clamped itself around the person’s leg and he pulled hard. His arm was aching terribly by having such a large weight on it, but he gritted his teeth. A dementor flew right by him, but the silvery shape of a very strange animal crashed into it, sending it screaming into the night. He heaved on more time and finally shoved the person onto the end of his broom.

“Thank you Potter,” said McGonagall tightly “I probably shouldn’t have on this particular adventure. Not as young as I used to be…” Harry patted her arm quickly before scanning his eyes for any other Order members that were falling. He could suddenly see the ground beneath him and slowed the broom up slightly. He skimmed the floor lightly and then grabbed McGonagall before rolling off of it.

Harry, Susan, Luna and McGonagall stood in a kind of shock as they saw all the black creatures flying above their heads. They heard a thud behind them and saw Lupin stand up quickly with a look of pain on his face. Harry scanned the clearing while Luna and Susan fired their patronus’ into the crowd of dementors. There was a group of Order members at the edge of the clearing hurrying towards them, and several still falling from the sky and rushing to the ground on brooms. There was a heavy thud right next to him and someone hit the ground hard. Harry knelt down next to him to help him up…and froze. The body seemed to be limp, and as he turned it around he saw the eyes of a soulless person staring back at him.

“Emmeline,” whispered Lupin, staring at her empty shell. “Quick, we need to get everyone together. We need to use all of our patronus’ to try and fight these things off,’ They rushed to the other Order members, and Harry’s mind was filled with Emmeline’s face as he readied himself. The stood in a circle, and the dementors started to crash down upon them in a frenzy. The clearing was filled with silvery animals and screeches, but they seemed to be getting closer and closer. One of them leapt right in front of Susan and began to lower its head towards her menacingly. Harry let his stag fly, and it backed off. Susan was shaking visibly and stared at the black shapes in horror.

“Quick,” said Luna pulling at Harry’s robes “Us three need to get together. We need to combine our strength…” She pulled him towards Susan and ducked as a dementor flew at them, which was then hit by Lupin’s Patronus. The three of them backed out of the circle quietly and made their way to a tree twenty yards away.

“Remember who we are,” said Luna with a trembling voice “remember why we are here. Remember who we love and why we are fighting. We are fighting for peace; we are fighting for the innocent. We are fighting for love.” She raised her wand towards the mass of dementors flocking the Order members. Susan nodded to Luna and them both she and Harry raised their wands too. They linked their free hands together and closed their eyes. Harry could feel the coldness creeping towards him again, they were coming closer. It was now or never.

“One…Two…Three…” said Luna quietly. Then all three of them shouted at the top of their lungs-

“EXPECTO PATRONUM!!!”

Harry opened his eyes to see Susan’s horse, Luna’s strange creature and Harry’s stag bound out of their wands. They rushed together about ten yards away and seemed to mingle together. A wild and warm wind suddenly rushed past Harry’s face, sending their robes flying about them. The animals grew into one white entity and then grew bigger and bigger. The mass of light suddenly left the ground and rushed towards the army of dementors. The wind and light was so intense that Harry instinctively closed his eyes. The sounds of hundreds of screams filled the night, they seemed to reverberate off Harry’s spine and he put his hands over his ears to block them out. Then, after what seemed like endless hours of screeching, all was silent.

The light began to fade away and the wind started to die down. Harry opened his eyes to see what had happened and was amazed. The bodies of the dementors were lying everywhere, just as lifeless as if they had given the kiss on themselves. The members of the Order were staring at Harry, Susan and Luna all standing very still as if they had just seen a ghost. Harry moved towards them, followed closely by his companions. They reached the broken circle, and stood in silence. McGonagall eventually broke it.

“Well,” she said very quietly “If anyone was in doubt of what we told them this evening then this will surely be proof enough.”

“We thought if we combined our patronus’ it would be strong enough to get rid of them all,” said Susan with equal quietness.

“I’ve never seen patronus’ change from their animal form before,” said Lupin with a look of awe on his face.

“What do you mean?” asked Harry “They joined together to make one big light. That doesn’t seem that strange to me.”

“After that,” whispered Shacklebolt “They changed. They changed into the three founders themselves. They looked just like that painting in the dungeons. I would never have dreamed it could be possible.”

“Yes, well Potter does like to surprise everyone,” said Mad Eye gruffly, kicking the body of a dementor roughly.

“We should clear up this mess,” said Mr. Weasley “Then get everyone back home. I suspect we could all use a stiff drink after this” Rather than give him the expected reproachful look, Mrs. Weasley just nodded her head in agreement.

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24. The date and the confrontation

A/N- Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing! This is quite a long chapter, just because it’s a date and I couldn’t just stop the chapter in the middle of a date! So sorry for anyone that doesn’t like long chapters! This is the start of the mushiness, Happy reading!

**Islanzadi** J

Harry awoke the next morning with several thoughts going through his mind. The first was that hopefully Hermione would come back today. The second was that unfortunately Ron would come back today. The third was that Ginny was still in the house, and the fourth was that he was unbelievably hungry. He shoved the blankets off of him and sat up groggily. The smell of bacon and eggs hung in the air, and he remembered Mrs. Weasley’s fantastic cooking. He shoved on some clothes and quickly made his way down stairs, deciding to take care of his hygiene after he had eaten.

He walked into the kitchen to find the whole Weasley family sitting at the table. The whole family because they had apparently brought Ron home from St. Mungo’s when Harry had been sleeping. Harry stopped dead in his tracks as Ron lifted his head to stare at Harry.

“Come in Harry!” said Mrs Weasley brightly, noticing that Harry was lurking by the door “Have some breakfast! I daresay you need it after last night!”

“Yeah,” said Ron darkly “I’ll bet he does.” He shoved a piece on sausage into his mouth rather violently and stared at the table. Harry inched his way into the kitchen and sat at the far end of the table. Ginny was smirking at him over the top of a magazine called ‘Which Witch is fashionable?’ which seemed to have a witch on the front cover with rather see through robes on. Harry averted his eyes quickly and Ginny grinned. Mrs. Weasley served Harry some eggs, bacon, sausage and toast. Harry ate hungrily and had three servings. He hardly noticed the evil looks Ron was throwing him as he simply sat and stared at Harry. After Harry’s third serving, Luna and Susan walked in.

“Good morning,” said Luna brightly “Goodness, I’m quite hungry! Last night seemed to take away all my energy, if I would have used my brain I would have eaten before I fell asleep.”

“Oh,” said Ron rather snippily “Harry kept you up late did he? He’s got quite a habit of that. You want to watch yourself Luna.” He then stood up from the table and walked angrily out of the kitchen. Part of Harry wanted to follow him, to try and explain. The other part said ‘Fuck him, I don’t have to deal with his childishness right now. Just let me have some time to myself first.’ As if reading his mind Luna said gently -

“I’ll talk to him first Harry. He’s still too angry with you right now, your bruise is only just going away,” Harry smiled gratefully at Luna and began to relax as Mrs. Weasley poured him a cup of tea.

“What’s going on?’ asked Ginny suddenly “Why did Ron hit you Harry?” Harry looked from Ginny to Luna and Susan. They were suddenly very interested in the Daily prophet that had been delivered moments ago by Hedwig. Harry rolled his eyes and made a mental note to get them back later.

“We had a fight,” said Harry simply

“About what?’ said Ginny, her face getting a little pink with frustration. Harry sighed, he knew she would fine out eventually so he might as well get it out of the way. Besides, it would be killing several birds with one stone, Ron’s parents were in the room too.

“Hermione,” he said quickly. Ron’s parents looked at Harry with a slight grins on their faces.

“What about Hermione?” asked Ginny, gritting her teeth.

“Erm, he wants Hermione. She doesn’t want him, but uh, well…” said Harry, feeling awkward in front of Ron’s parents.

“Hermione wants to be with Harry,” said Susan in a loud and clear voice “Harry wants to be with Hermione, and Ron doesn’t seem to like the idea at all. So they got into a fight…Anything I’m leaving out Harry?”

“Erm, no. That’s about it really.” finished Harry rather lamely. Ginny stood up so quickly that she knocked over the cup of tea her mum had just poured for her. She glared angrily at them all before leaving the kitchen and walking very loudly up the stairs to her bedroom. Harry had been expecting Mrs. Weasley to jump to the defence of her son and daughter. He had expected the silent treatment at best, and outright shouting at worst. To his great surprise she sat down at the table with her cup of tea and looked at her husband fondly.

“I remember when they were young. Ron couldn’t have been older than six at the time. He had this teddy bear that was given to him my his grandmother, though he didn’t like it very much. Ginny on the other hand, loved that raggedy old bear. She would sneak into Ron’s room at night and take it from whatever corner Ron had thrown it into. Then she would sneak it into bed with her, until Ron would notice it missing and demand that she return it. Ron didn’t want that bear Harry, but he certainly didn’t want his little sister to have it. Eventually though, he felt guilty. He knew he was keeping that bear away from Ginny out of spite, so eventually he just gave it to her. Of course Ginny was simply thrilled at first, but after that first week the novelty wore off and she discarded that bear just as easily as Ron had done before her.” said Mrs. Weasley, staring at the table with a slight smile on her face.

“Ron didn’t want that bear Harry, but he didn’t want anyone else to have it either. Ginny wanted that bear desperately because everyone else was so fond of it. It was her grandmothers and she knew that everyone loved it. But look, when she got it she became bored. She loved the idea of having the bear that was Ron’s, the bear that everyone wanted because they loved their grandmother so much,” she looked up at Harry once again and gave him a smile “I know my children very well Harry, and I also know you very well. You don’t make up feelings to hurt someone. If you and Hermione want to be together then just do it. Life is too short to miss out on the things that mean the most to you. Now, if you will excuse me I had better go and have a word with Ginny.”

Harry watched as Mrs. Weasley exited the kitchen, leaving Luna, Susan, Mr. Weasley and himself. He looked at Luna who seemed to have a dopily affectionate expression on her face…he picked up at napkin and threw it at her. She seemed startled at first, then a grin broke out on her face. Mr Weasley began laughing at her bug eyed expression, then collected the Daily Prophet from the table.

“Well,” he said “Off to work I suppose. See you later!”

They were discussing the previous nights events when there was a crack in the hallway. All three of them looked around to see who had arrived, and Harry’s heart leapt at the sight of Hermione walking into the kitchen. She smiled rather shyly at Harry and sat down on the chair next to him.

“How were your parents when you found them?” asked Susan in a muffled voice, her mouth half full of toast.

“A bit surprised to see me, and a little worried that Lupin and I were virtually screaming in their faces to hurry up and get out of the house. They thought we were over reacting of course. The, uh, the house was burned to the ground later that night.” said Hermione, her voice ending in a whisper “it’s all gone…” Harry leant over and put his arms around her shoulders. She leaned into him gratefully and rested her head on him. He kissed the top of her head gently and sighed. Poor Hermione, she shouldn’t have to suffer like this all because of him. Luna rolled her eyes towards the door and Susan stood up quietly, both of them leaving the kitchen rather quickly.

“What happened Harry? Lupin met me but said he had a lot of things to do and that you’d fill me in. How’s Ron? Where is he?” said Hermione anxiously

“Ron’s fine, well…he’s healthy anyway. He’s upstairs actually, and so is Ginny…: said Harry quietly. Hermione moved off of him to look him in the eyes, her face showing anger and slight suspicion. Harry moved his hand to her face and began to slowly stroke her cheek.

“I missed you,” he said quietly “It was weird not having you in the same place as me. I’m sorry about your house, you don’t deserve something like that to happen to you.”

“Harry,” she answered with equal quietness “Don’t worry about the house. It’s just pictures and memories. At least no one was hurt. I, uh, I missed you too Harry. A lot…” He stared into her eyes and leaned closer to her, he’d been waiting to kiss her since Ron had found out. He Didn’t realise how desperately until now. He put his hands around the back of her head and pulled her towards him, kissing her thoroughly and showing her just how much she was missed. She broke away suddenly, her face very pink and her breathing laboured.

“You know what,” said Harry “How about we go out. I can fill you in on everything that’s happened and we can spend some time alone. We can do whatever you want, but we have to go to muggle London.”

“You mean like a date?” asked Hermione, sounding a little timid.

“Yeah,” said Harry “Why not? We’ve, erm, been seeing each other for a quite a few weeks now. It would be fun, and just the two of us. No one to interrupt our conversations. I can tell you everything that’s happened without worrying in Ron’s going to come in and start throwing punches again…”

“We can actually kiss in the open!” said Hermione excitedly “We can walk through the park like two normal people in l…well, erm, two normal people without having everyone staring.”

“Exactly,” said Harry quietly, leaning forward to press his lips tenderly against hers. “Why don’t you go and get dressed in your muggle clothes. I’ll make myself clean and presentable and we’ll meet back here in half an hour?”

“Sounds fantastic…” said Hermione girlishly. She practically skipped up the stairs and into her room, thankful to find it deserted. She dreaded meeting Ginny again, but if she so much as tried to raise her wand at her she would be very sorry.

Hermione opened her trunk and began searching manically through her clothes for something to wear. She pulled out her favourite pair of jeans and smiled to herself. They were her favourite jeans because they fit her tightly around her bum and flared by her feet. Now to find a nice top. She rummaged through her trunk once more and pulled out a black v necked sleeveless shirt that had a pretty little feminine black trim at the bottom. She pulled it on quickly and adjusted her breasts quickly. She grinned slyly to herself and she looked at her cleavage…that would give Harry a little something to think about. She finally pulled out her long black coat, her black scarf and her boots. With a wave of her wand her boots became shinier and any wrinkles she had looked like they fell away from her clothes. Ok…hair and make up. Oh God, hair and make up. Almost as if they had read her thoughts Luna and Susan entered the room.

“Thank goodness,” said Hermione a little breathlessly “You have to help me. What can I do to my face and hair in ten minutes that will make me look beautiful?”

“Hermione,” said Luna reproachfully “You’re always beautiful. BUT if you would like help enhancing what you already have then we can help.” Hermione smiled affectionately at Luna as the two girls bustled around the room. Susan took charge of the hair while Luna began applying various things to Hermione’s face. After only fifteen minutes they had finished, and Hermione stepped back to see their work and she smiled despite herself. Her hair seemed smoother than usual and was pulled back lightly with some black and silver ornamental clips. Loose tendrils hung about her face which seemed to frame it perfectly. Luna had made here eyes rather smoky looking and her blush made her look truly scandalous. Unfortunately she had put bright orange lipstick on her, but Hermione said thank you anyway and wiped it off the moment she had made her way downstairs laughing to herself all the way.

She saw Harry standing in the hallway pacing backwards and forwards. She stopped for a moment to look at him and to get her feelings under control. ‘I am going on a DATE with Harry!’ was a thought that seemed to spiral around and around in her mind. She knew she was acting like a silly school girl but she didn’t care. She had never felt this way before, so what if she wanted to get a little girly and excited? She took a deep breath and tried to calm the random giggles that seemed to want to burst from within her. She walked down the steps a little louder than before, so as to announce her presence.

“You’re late!” he said sounding unbelievably surprised “You’re never late! What too you so-” Hermione was pleased to see that he seemed to be a little lost for words when he looked at her. She grinned as walked over to where he stood.

“Sorry,” she said sounding rather flirtatious “But surely you can wait five minutes for me…”

“I would wait a lifetime for you,” he said, then flushed at the comment. He cleared his throat before saying -

“You, erm, you look really nice,”

“So do you,” she said quietly and allowed herself a longer look at him than was proper. He was wearing the jeans she had bought him from muggle London, a thick black roll neck jumper, a long black coat that looked almost the same as hers (though, thankfully, more masculine) and a thick black scarf.

“Well, we almost match,” said Harry grinning “and these jeans you bought me are far too tight around my bum. I didn’t know they made them like this!”

“They look fine Harry,” said Hermione briskly

“You bought them too small…” said Harry with a grin, enjoying having her in the wrong for once.

“No I didn’t,” said Hermione slyly “I bought the tighter pair because I wanted to see your bum properly. Shall we go?” Harry looked a little shocked at Hermione’s bluntness, but after a quick recovery he escorted her through the door.

Once they exited the house they began slowly walking down the pavement. Harry grabbed Hermione’s hand quickly and looked at her. He was walking down the street holding Hermione’s hand, he grinned boyishly and held her soft hand tighter in his. This was going to be a great day, just him and Hermione in muggle London.

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Ron watched as Harry and Hermione walked hand in hand down the street. He watched them swinging their hands in motion to their steps. He watched them laughing together, and he watched them bump each other playfully on the shoulder…over and over. He turned around quickly and threw himself heavily onto his bed so he could spend some more time staring at the ceiling. His mum had visited him earlier and told him a mad story about a bear. He should have used a charm on the door so she couldn’t get in. ‘I mean what was she on about anyway? I gave Ginny the stupid bear because she kept whining about it. Why is she ok with Harry and Hermione anyway? Doesn’t she care about her son’s feelings?’ He grabbed a small ball and threw it at the ceiling very hard. Naturally the ball wasn’t impressed with this rough treatment and threw itself back at him.

He had just managed to restrain the insane ball when Luna glided into the room. She pointed her wand quickly at the ball and sent it hiding under the bed. Ron glowered at Luna and sat down on the bed. Luna glanced around the room for a bit, then shrugged and sat on the floor.

“Why don’t you sit on that chair over there?” asked Ron grumpily

“I’m just fine on the floor,” said Luna serenely

“Well it’s not very comfortable on the floor. I feel bad being comfortable when you’re, erm, on the floor…” said Ron edgily

“I’m just fine on the floor,” repeated Luna, giving Ron a rather curious look.

“Fine,” said Ron, and he got up from the bed and joined her on the floor with a thud. They sat in silence for quite a while. Ron wondering why she had bothered coming into the room if she didn’t plan on saying anything, and Luna wondering how long she could get Ron to sit on the floor.

“How long did you know?” asked Ron irritably

“Since your first stay at Hogwarts,” said Luna quietly

“Why didn’t you tell me if they were too wimpy to do it themselves?” he said, his voice getting louder once again.

“They were trying to fight it for you Ronald,” she said calmly “Besides, you’re not stupid. You knew what was happening.” Ron stood up in indignation.

“I did not! I didn’t think they were shagging behind my back!” he said, his voice almost to the point of shouting.

“Do not shout at me Ronald!” said Luna, her voice echoing around the room. “I am trying to talk to you. I am trying to be your friend, don’t speak to me like that!” Ron looked at the floor as a red colour tinged his face. He mumbled an apology and sat back down.

“They were not shagging Ron,” continued Luna “They had feelings for each other. That’s what you knew about. That’s what you’ve known for quite some time. You just didn’t want to admit it to yourself.”

“I hate them,” said Ron angrily

“No you don’t,” said Luna serenely

“How could he do that to me?” he asked bitterly

“He didn’t do anything to hurt you. They couldn’t control what happened between them. He should have told you when he realised that he wanted to be with her, when he decided to act upon his feelings rather than hide them for you. That’s what he did wrong, everything else is just human nature.” said Luna quietly

“I loved her. He knew that and he still went after her. He betrayed me. You betrayed me by keeping it a secret…” he said, his face getting redder as his anger began to reach boiling point once again. This time, it was Luna who stood up out of anger. He face became slightly flushed and she stared down at him, her eyes cold with anger.

“I did not betray you! How dare you say such a thing! I have been by your side from the moment we met, don’t you dare try and make me out to be the bad person in all of this! You loved her did you Ronald? You have no idea what love is!”

“YES I DO!” shouted Ron, standing up to meet her angrily

“NO YOU DON’T! YOU NEVER LOVED HERMIONE! YOU JUST DIDN’T WANT HARRY TO HAVE HER BECAUSE THEN WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE? I’LL TELL YOU WHAT YOU’D HAVE RON, TWO FRIENDS WHO LOVE YOU DEARLY WHICH IS A DAMN SIGHT MORE THAN YOU DESERVE!” shouted Luna

“HOW DO YOU KNOW I DIDN’T LOVE HER? YOU’RE NOT IN MY HEAD, YOU DON’T KNOW HOW I THINK AND FEEL!” shouted Ron in reply

“I KNOW HOW IT FEELS TO BE IN LOVE RONALD! I WOULD NEVER TREAT YOU THIS WAY. I WOULD NEVER MAKE YOU SUFFER THE WAY YOU PUNISHED HERMIONE FOR NOT WANTING TO BE WITH YOU! TRUE LOVE IS WANTING THE PERSON YOU LOVE TO BE HAPPY NO MATTER WHAT. IF YOU HAD LOVED HERMIONE THE WAY YOU SAY YOU DID YOU WOULD HAVE LET HER GO AND BE HAPPY. IF YOU HAD LOVED HER YOU WOULDN’T HAVE INSULTED HER ALL THE TIME BUT RESPECTED HER THE WAY YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO. AND FINALLY RONALD, IF YOU LOVED HERMIONE THE WAY I LOVE YOU THEN YOU WOULDN’T BE TALKING ABOUT LOVING HER IN THE PAST TENSE! LOVE DOESN’T JUST FADE AWAY BECAUSE YOU’RE ANGRY AT SOMEONE!” shouted Luna so loudly that the glass appeared to shake. Ron looked like he had been struck dumb and he stared open mouthed at Luna. Luna gave him one last glare before she stormed towards the door. When she reached the door she pulled out her wand and pointed it towards the bed. She then slammed the door shut loudly and stomped off to find Susan, trying to keep back the tears that were threatening to flow.

Ron stared at the door after Luna had gone, his mind filling with questions. He was suddenly struck hard on the head by the ball that had retreated under the bed, and his thoughts blurred together while he tried to fight with it once more.

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The Christmas lights in London had been put up and the different colours sparkled and bounced off the glass of the shop windows. There was a slight snowfall that made the air look almost glittery. The soft flakes landed in Hermione’s hair and collected on her eyelashes. Harry found it hard not to keep staring at her perfect face in this perfect moment. He pulled her roughly aside on the pavement and, oblivious to the hundreds of muggles walking past them eagerly doing their Christmas shopping, kissed her thoroughly.

“That was lovely,” said Hermione breathlessly afterwards, staring into his green eyes as if mesmerised “If not a little random.”

“I couldn’t help myself,” said Harry grinning. Hermione grinned dopily at him, but was quickly shoved aside by an angry elderly Christmas shopper. They stared at each other for a moment in shock that a little old woman had so much force in her, before dissolving into laughter.

“Come on Harry,” said Hermione briskly “We’ve got a lot to see…”

Harry’s first trip to London had been with Hagrid just before he started his first year at Hogwarts. Though he had seen Big Ben and the houses of parliament on the television he had never actually seen it in person. He was practically a tourist and Hermione was more than happy to show him the sights. They went to Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London and Harrods. Harry was amazed at the prices of the things sold in Harrods, and shortly became rather obsessed with a miniature car on sale for eighty thousand pounds. Hermione had to literally drag him away to the café on the floor above so that she could rest her feet and have a cup of tea. Whilst ordering the tea Harry decided to take a trip to the lavatory, where he was shocked to learn that he had to pay a pound to get it. He came back rather frustrated because he didn’t actually have any money on him. Hermione laughed as he stood rather awkwardly waiting for a pound coin. She would have teased him a little longer, but she wasn’t entirely sure how much of his desperation was a playful act and how much was serious. After he had returned, looking a little happier, he began jokingly complaining with Hermione about the toilet situation.

“What if I was here alone and didn’t have a pound on me?” he asked rather loudly “would they just tell me to bugger off and that I had to go on the floor? I don’t think it‘s very proper in this kind of establishment to let your customers go to the toilet on the floor!” Hermione was laughing loudly at Harry pretending to be really worried about the bathroom situation, which of course he wasn’t. He just loved the way Hermione’s eyes lit up when she laughed hard and he was enjoying it immensely. There was a slight cough next to them, which reminded Harry an awful lot of that foul Umbridge woman, and a stiff looking woman with harsh black glasses on looked down at them.

“Yes?” asked Hermione

“Well,” said the woman rather obnoxiously “I would appreciate it if you would keep the noise down a little. I understand that you two are quite young and not used to being in an establishment like this, but we do like things to be calm he at Harrods.”

“So you’re saying that my laughter is awfully loud and rather detestable and you would like me to be quiet?” asked Hermione, her voice dripping in false politeness.

“Well dear,” said the woman sniffing slightly “I wouldn’t say that I find you’re laughter detestable but the other customers like a tranquil atmosphere. Which you are not contributing to.”

“Oh!” said Hermione with a large smile on her face “Well, when you put it like that how could I possibly be offended? Let’s go Harry!”

She pulled Harry out of the café and towards an escalator, the café attendant still watching them with narrowed eyes. She headed for the escalator that was coming up towards them and Harry thought for a minute that she was so angry she didn’t know what she was doing. He was about to say something when he noticed a smirk on her face. She grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the escalator that was travelling towards them…and started walking down it. She looked around quickly to see the woman looking furious and started to laugh.

“Oh my goodness Harry!” she called loudly enough for the woman to hear “I’m so uncivilised that I don’t know how to use this bloody thing! We should never have come here!” Harry started to laugh at Hermione’s damsel in distress act and followed her quickly down the escalator, passing irritable customers and some amused children. They reached the bottom of the escalator and started laughing hysterically. Harry couldn’t remember when the last time he and Hermione just let their hair down. Well actually, he couldn’t remember any time where Hermione had just let her hair down. He grinned at her, and was glad she was having fun. He felt a firm grip around the arm and turned around the see one of the Harrods guards. They were promptly escorted out of the building, Hermione laughing all the way.

They walked past a toyshop in Regent’s street and Hermione stopped to look at a teddy bear in the window, with a cape, pointed hat and a wand. She smiled a secret smile to Harry and they continued walking. They found themselves in Hyde Park half an hour later, with steaming hot chocolates. Harry noticed that there were couples everywhere, some walking, come jogging and some sitting on benches. Hermione led him to one of the benches and they sat in companionable silence for a while, until she started laughing.

“What are you laughing at?” asked Harry with a smile

“That woman’s face!” said Hermione, and started giggling again. “I don’t know what on earth got into me! It must be your influence, I’m normally such a well behaved young lady!”

“I had nothing to do with it. I was just complaining about paying to use the loo and you get us chucked out!” said Harry laughing.

“What have you done to me Harry?” asked Hermione, her voice becoming quiet again “It feels nice though. Today we weren’t two people with the possibility of death hanging over our shoulders; we were just two normal young people in London having fun. I think that’s what we needed Harry,”

“Yeah,” said Harry quietly “I think that’s just what we needed. Can I ask you something Hermione?”

“Yes,” she said quietly

“When did you realise that you wanted to be with me?” he asked, and searched her face anxiously. She moved closer to him and kissed him softly, then cuddled into him as he put him arm around her. She softly told him on her trip to Italy and how she had spent her time being tortured by his face and her dreams. Harry laughed a little and kissed the top of her head.

“Aren’t you nervous?” asked Harry finally “I might not make it through this Hermione. I might not come back to you; do you really want to put so much faith in me? What if I break your heart?”

“Harry,” she said quietly “I’m not worried about that. I’m just enjoying this, what we have and what we are right now. Who knows what will happen tomorrow or the next day, but today I’m glad that you and I can be together like this. Today I’m glad that you and I are out alone…. Just being…”

“Just being?” asked Harry softly

“Yes Harry,” she said looking into his eyes “Let’s just be. I know it’s hard not to worry about the future; it’s hard not to think about what may happen. But why waste the precious days we have on worry and fear? Just be Harry…just be,” Harry smiled at her and brought his mouth to meet hers softly. A couple walked past them holding hands and gave each other that look. The one you get when you see someone as much in love as you are and you can’t help but fell deliriously happy.

“It’s in the air tonight,” whispered the woman the man she was clinging on to.

“What is?” he asked affectionately “Love?”

“Yes love,” she said whimsically “Love and magic…”

“Magic?” he asked grinning

“Yes,” she whispered “there’s magic in the air tonight, isn’t it wonderful?”

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25. The Ministry of Magic

A/N- hello everyone! Thanks for reading along and reviewing! Here’s the next chapter for you all, hope you like the scene between Ginny and Hermione! Happy reading!

**Islanzadi** J

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“Oh no,” groaned Luna into Susan’s shoulder “I can’t believe I just told him…How stupid of me!”

“It’s not your fault,” said Susan, her arm around Luna trying to comfort her “He made you angry and you snapped that’s all…”

“He’s going to think I’m the craziest witch he ever met…” said Luna quietly

“Well, to be fair he probably already thought that,” said Susan jokingly

“Even more so now!” said Luna loudly, burying her face deep into Susan’s shoulder. Her face had been beet red when she had come to Susan and it hadn’t died down at all. Susan was beginning to wonder whether or not she should use a charm on it when Ron came walking into their room. They both looked up quickly…Luna looked at the door longingly as if trying to figure out a way to escape.

“Erm, can I talk to you Luna?” said Ron quietly

“Of course you can,” said Susan quickly “I’ll just be, erm…gone…” With that she made a beeline for the door and closed it quite loudly.

Ron walked slowly over to Luna and sat down next to her. He opened his mouth to start talking but stopped when he saw Luna was just staring at the floor, her face so red it was almost a match for Ron’s hair. He opened his mouth again and willed the words to come out of his mouth.

“So, erm…hmmm,” said Ron “Did you mean what you said back there?”

“Which bit?” asked Luna, her voice sounding muffled as she buried her face in her arms.

“The, erm, you know…loving me bit,” said Ron, looking at the wall fixedly.

“Yes,” said Luna so quietly that Ron wasn’t sure whether she had actually said a word or just sighed.

“Um, I don’t love you Luna,” said Ron slowly. He saw Luna nod her head in her hands and watched her back tremble slightly. “But, uh, I do like you. I like you a lot more than most other girls. You were right about Hermione, I don’t love her. I’m just a prat I guess. Not saying that I forgive them or that I’m ok with them or anything else because I’m still REALLY angry and I just…”

“Yes Ronald,” said Luna in her muffled voice “I think everyone knows how angry you are, we don’t need to go through this again.”

“Well, erm, yeah,” said Ron his face starting to get pink and moving into deeper shades of red the more he talked “So I thought that you would have been really grossed out when you kissed me when you were drunk. I was wrong, and it, erm, you know. Felt nice.” Luna looked up at him quickly, her eyes wide and her face still very pink.

“You remember? But Ron you were really very drunk!” said Luna happily. Ron nodded and went redder still, then moved his gaze back to the wall.

“So, erm, I’m not saying I love you or anything like that because I don’t lie. But I do like you Luna, you’re really great. So…maybe we could spend some time together? See if anything happens, not that I’m saying it will or anything. But, you know…erm…we could give it a go. See what happens,”

“That sounds lovely Ronald,” said Luna dreamily “I would be honoured to be the person you want to spend some time with.” Ron smiled at her and Luna beamed back at him.

“So,” he said with a grin “How about a game of chess? It’s nice to play with someone that’s a challenge!” Luna bobbed her head up and down in agreement and Ron rushed off to his bedroom to grab his chess set.

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Hermione lay in bed that night thinking about Harry. He had been so wonderful today; she hadn’t felt that free and full of life in quite a long time. Correction, she wasn’t sure if she had ever felt that free before. He was the perfect gentleman…of course she knew that he was trying to keep his hands off of her because he lost his control quite quickly. She blushed in the dark and thought about the way he made her feel every time his hands grazed her skin, and felt a familiar tingling sensation within her. She tried to banish those thoughts from her mind. She wanted Harry very badly, but she also wanted him to love her before they took that step. She knew she was crazily in love with Harry Potter; the feelings seemed to deepen every time she saw him and she had to stop herself from shouting it out to every person that would listen to her. She wondered if Harry felt that same, and if he didn’t when would he? She rolled onto her side and thought about the way he had held her hands, the way he had softly kissed her in almost every shop they went into and every street corner they stopped at. She sighed into the darkness and let a smile creep on her face. She suddenly found herself being grateful that Ginny was staying in another room, she couldn’t stand the thought of this today’s happiness being ruined by her. Now that Fred, George and Sirius weren’t in the house there was a lot more room. Of course, poor Luna and Susan had to share with Ginny because Ron and Harry had to sleep in separate rooms, but Ginny wouldn’t hex them if they were smiling the way she was right now. She fell asleep with Harry’s face in her mind and she had a wonderful and peaceful sleep.

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Harry woke up the next morning with the peculiar feeling that someone was watching him. His eyes were still closed as he heard a creak in the floorboards by his bed. He shot up out of bed quickly and had his wand in his hand so fast that the girl standing in front of him hardly had time to blink.

“What are you doing?” asked Harry in a higher voice than usual

“I came to get you,” said Luna dreamily

“For what? Breakfast? Couldn’t you have just knocked on the door?” asked Harry a little irritated.

“No not for breakfast Harry,” she said quietly “Today is the day…”

“Huh?” asked Harry, rubbing his eyes to try an wake himself up. He had had a rather restless night. Unlike Hermione he was still wrestling with his feelings, and every time he had closed his eyes he could see her face smiling as the snowflakes landed gently on her. He shook his head ‘There I am at it again, I’m going insane…she’s driving me insane’ he thought. Luna smirked up at him as if she could read his mind and he flushed a light pink colour.

“Today we go to the veil…” said Luna quietly “I’d like to have breakfast before Ron and Ginny get up if you don’t mind. We don’t need extra distractions today.”

“Ok,” said Harry slowly. Did he really want to do this? What if Luna was being totally mad and it was a place you went to die, not after your die? How were they supposed to get in there when they weren’t dead? What if they couldn’t get in there? Then what?! “I, erm, I need to exchange some of my wizard money for muggle money. Then I need to go out, it won’t take me more than half an hour or so…”

“Well,” said Luna vaguely “I’ll get Pig to take some of your money to Gringotts to be exchanged while you get washed and dressed. Then we’ll have breakfast, you can then nip off and do whatever it is you need to do and then we’ll get moving!” Harry looked at Luna for a moment, wondering when she had started to become as organised as Hermione, then grinned.

“Ok,” he said, and rushed off to shower. He hoped Luna wasn’t getting them in to anything dangerous. He was also wondering how she managed to get the three of them into the Ministry of Magic without alerting death eater spies.

After a very busy morning, Harry tiptoed quietly into Hermione’s room. She was sleeping soundly with a small smile on her face and was a tangled mess in the blankets. He smiled down at her and moved the cause of his busy morning onto the side of her pillow. He hoped she liked it, it had taken him a little longer than usual to get in London today and he had been feeling rather irritated when he came back. He felt those feelings leave him as he watched her sleep. She looked so peaceful and beautiful. She shifted suddenly and turned over, flinging one of her bare legs out over the blankets. He swallowed hard as he looked at her, a wave of desire hitting him like a punch in the face. ‘Time to go’ he thought quickly, and left the room as quietly as he had come in.

He went down stairs quickly to see Luna and Mr. Weasley waiting by the front door for him. He pulled on his coat quickly and got ready to leave with the rest of them.

“Where’s Susan?” asked Harry quietly

“Not today Harry,” said Luna just as quietly “This is just for you and I. We’ll tell her everything she needs to know, but we’re the only ones who have lost someone Harry. It can’t be any other way.” Harry nodded his head in a faked understanding while wrapping his scarf tightly around his neck.

“Ready then?” said Mr Weasley cheerfully. They both nodded their heads and left the house, anxious to see what awaited them.

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Hermione woke up feeling happy and refreshed. She jumped out of bed and rushed towards the door, hoping to be clean and looking presentable by the time Harry woke up. Just as she was at the door she remembered her clothes and laughed silently to herself. ‘He’s diminishing my brain into nothing’ she thought as she turned around…and stopped dead. There on the pillow next to hers was the teddy bear she had seen in Regent’s street yesterday. She felt tears filling her eyes as she walked over a picked it up, examining its perfect little wand and pointed hat. She rushed grabbed her pink bathrobe and wrapped it tightly around her. She pulled up her hair and tried to make her face look presentable. Then she grabbed the bear and rushed out of the room to find Harry.

She went into his bedroom to find him and didn’t see him in there. She rushed down the hallway and bumped directly into Ginny.

“Hey!” said Ginny angrily, throwing Hermione to the side “Watch where you’re going!” Hermione was shocked by the force of Ginny’s push and stared angrily at her.

“It was an accident,” she said icily “Now if you’d kindly get out of my way…” She tried to get past Ginny but she moved to the side to stop her from going anywhere.

“Looking for your boyfriend?” asked Ginny in a taunting voice

“Shut up Ginny,” said Hermione angrily, pushing herself past Ginny forcefully and starting to make her way to the stairs. She felt a horrible sensation spread through her and her legs froze and seemed to bind themselves together. She hit the floor very hard and was unable to move. ‘That little bitch!’ thought Hermione incredulously ‘she’s put me in a bloody body bind! I left my wand in the bedroom…oh shit…’ Ginny smirked at Hermione’s still form on the ground and laughed to herself and she watched her eyes widen at Ginny when she realised what she had done. Hermione stared up at the hateful girl trying to think of a way out of this, she would show that cow who was better at magic. There was a reason she was the best student in the school after all. She concentrated on her wand in her room and thought ‘Accio wand’. She waited…and waited…finally when she had almost given up her wand came flying towards her. One problem, how was she going to use it in the full body bind? ‘Hmm,’ she thought ‘didn’t think that far ahead…’ Ginny started laughing as she grabbed Hermione’s wand from the air.

“Fat lot of good this is going to do you,” she said, her brown eyes glittering in anger.

“What the fucking hell are you doing Ginny?” came a voice from behind her. Hermione looked up to find Ron standing directly behind Ginny, looking furious. Her grabbed his wand from his pocket and waved it at Hermione. Her legs felt free again and she slowly got to her feet and said -

“Expelliarmus,”

Ginny narrowed her eyes towards Hermione’s wand.

“Ginny,” said Ron angrily “Don’t be a stupid cow. Get into your room or go downstairs…leave Hermione alone,”

“I’m fine Ron,” said Hermione angrily “This has been coming for a long time.”

“Yes it has,” said Ginny with gritted teeth “Ever since you stole Harry from me.”

“Stole him from you?” asked Hermione with a derisive laugh “He was never yours to steal. He broke up with you Ginny.”

“Only because he was worried about me being a target for Voldemort,” said Ginny

“That’s right,” said Hermione “But now he’s decided that he doesn’t want to be with you. It does happen you know, people do change their minds on who they want to be with,”

“You’ve been after him since you first met him. You just want to be famous…” said Ginny

“Yes Ginny,” said Hermione sarcastically “I want to be famous. Why don’t you ask yourself why you want to be with Harry…”

“I love Harry!” she said, her face getting red with anger.

“No you don’t!” said Hermione angrily “You fell in love with the legend of Harry Potter before you even knew him! You love that he saves people, you love that he’s famous! You don’t love Harry for him! You only started to really get to know Harry last year when you were going out for a few months! What did you say to him last year? Oh yeah ‘I knew you wouldn’t be happy unless you were hunting Voldemort. Maybe that’s why I like you so much’ you love the hero, not the man himself…”

“Were you listening into mine and Harry’s conversation? How long have you been planning on trying to get him?” said Ginny, her wand jabbing towards Hermione.

“No,” she said, “Harry told me. I wasn’t planning on doing anything with Harry other than being friends. But you can’t help it when you fall in love Ginny, you don’t have control over it and I WILL NOT apologise for that!” She was breathing heavily and saw Ginny’s brown eyes darting back and forth, trying to figure out what to do next. Hermione was ready. No sooner had she shouted -

“Furnunculus!” Hermione had shouted-

“Protego!”

Hermione then pointed her wand at Ginny, and without saying anything, made Ginny’s legs shake like jelly. Her eyes narrowed towards Hermione and she grabbed her wand and threw a few stinging hexes her way before she could retaliate. Hermione sent a tripping jinx her way, then, upon seeing Ginny start to stand up in a rage shouted -

“Stupefy!”

“Hermione!” said Ron angrily “You can’t stupefy my sister! I‘ll stand by while you hex each other but not the really serious spells…” He went over to her quickly from his hiding place in an alcove by the stairs, and pointed his wand at her.

“Ennervate!” he said quickly, and watched as Ginny got to her feet with angry tears in her eyes.

“Think you’re hard Hermione?” said Ginny tauntingly “Think you can scare me into backing off? Not likely. You’re still that obnoxious buck toothed cow you were when I first met you!” she pointed her wand at Hermione and shouted -

“Densaugeo!”

Hermione was utterly humiliated as her front teeth began to grow and grow! How dare she?! She threw her wand to the side and leapt at Ginny, throwing her into an open room next to them where Susan was sitting reading a book. Ginny rolled on top of Hermione and pinned her hands to the floor, then slapped her hard and fast across the face. Hermione seemed to growl with anger as she used her legs the fling Ginny off of her before getting to her feet. She grabbed Ginny by the hair and brought her head forward so that her nose collided quite nicely with Hermione’s knee. The nose began bleeding immediately and Ginny threw a punch in Hermione’s direction, which landed on her arm. Hermione pushed her up against the wall and punched her very hard in the face. Ginny raised her feet and kicked Hermione out of the way then threw a punch at her face, instantly blackening Hermione’s eye. ‘Accio wand!’ thought Hermione, and the wand soared easily into her hand. She pointed it at Ginny, and with a grim smile, cast a Bat Bogey hex that even Ginny couldn’t beat. Ginny grabbed her wand and stopped the bogeys from attacking her and then shouted -

“Tarantallegra!”

Hermione’s legs began to dance uncontrollably, and she aimed her wand angrily at Ginny, sending of a few stinging hexes and the all time favourite slug curse. Ron pointed his wand towards Hermione and stopped her legs from doing their dance. He looked down on his sister with a look of disgust. She was covered in boils, red welts and was vomiting slugs. She looked up angrily and kicked Hermione’s ankle very hard. Hermione raised he wand and shouted -

“Stupefy!” and then lowered her wand, breathing hard “You don’t mind now do you Ron? Only, it really is much more peaceful with your sister out of it…” Ron looked at her and slowly nodded his head. He’d never seen Hermione kick someone’s arse before, especially Ginny who could give all of the boys a run for their money.

“Good,” said Hermione briskly “I’m going to get washed and get rid of these ridiculous teeth. See you later.”

Ron and Susan stood gaping at where Hermione had left, and then staring at the mess in the room, and then the mess that was Ginny Weasley.

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Mr. Weasley stepped inside the old red telephone box and dialled 62442. The cool female voice asked their name and business, to which Mr Weasley replied -

“Mr Weasley, misuse of muggle artifacts office, with two visitors.” They waited with bated breath, hoping that their names would not be asked. Two small badges that said ‘visitor’ popped out of the return coin slot. Harry sighed in relief and attached the badge to the front of his robes.

“The only problem with a visitors badge Harry,” said Mr Weasley quietly “ is that everyone follows you around to make sure you don‘t go into the more restricted areas. I’ll show you a more secret way to get around, but if you see anyone then hide. And for goodness sakes don’t mention my name, I’ll be sacked before you can say leaky cauldron. ”

They walked into the splendid hall and Mr Weasley quickly took them to the side of the hall to what appeared to be an old bookcase. He tapped his wand on four books at the bottom, two in the middle and one at the top with a picture of a goblin on the spine of the book. He then said a strange word that sounded guttural and harsh. The books shuffled themselves to the side to make an opening just big enough for Harry to get through…if he turned his body to the side and sucked his breath in.

“ If you want to get out then you have to say the word ‘exit’ in Goblin language. These used to be their tunnels -” said Mr Weasley but was interrupted by Luna.

“I know the word Mr Weasley, and you‘d better hurry before someone spots you showing us this,”

“Yes, absolutely. See you later then,” said Mr Weasley quickly, and Harry could see his smiling face as the books began to put themselves back on the shelves correctly. Harry turned around to see that they were in a very small hallway, so small that they would have to walk in single file and crouch down a bit. They walked down the sloping hallway for at least ten minutes before they came across a small lift.

“What if we get caught Luna?” said Harry

“Don’t worry Harry,” she said dreamily “I brought along your cloak!” Harry sighed with relief as she pulled his cloak out of her bag and threw it gently to Harry. He threw it over his shoulders and opened it, motioning for Luna to get under too, while wondering why she didn’t mention the cloak in the first place. They clambered into the lift and looked at all the buttons. He pushed one of the down buttons and the lift gave a lurch and brought them to the floor quickly and bumpily. Luna looked like she might vomit. He stepped into the hallway and walked through a very familiar door that led them to the circular room.

“Which room is it in again?” asked Harry quietly

“No idea,” whispered Luna “Lets just try them like we did last time…” Harry sighed; this might be a long day…

After looking through only four doors they finally managed to find the one with the veil inside. Harry’s heart gave a lurch as he saw the veil moving faintly even though there was no wind to blow it. They walked slowly down the stone steps and moved to stand just in front of the veil. The whispers that seemed to fill the room grew more insistent as they stood outside, staring at the fluttering black veil. Luna ran her hand lightly across it and smiled happily. She looked at Harry and he could see tears shimmering in her eyes.

“Are you ready?” she whispered

“Not really,” he said suddenly remembering Hermione’s warnings on how dangerous this room was.

“We’ll be fine Harry, we’ve been invited here,” she said to him, holding out her hand “Do you trust me?” Harry looked at her for a moment before replying -

“Yes,” and taking hold of her hand. She grinned and held his hand tightly…then walked through the black veil, pulling Harry behind her.

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26. Behind the Veil

A/N- hey everyone thanks for reading along and for reviewing! This was a hard chapter for me to write so don’t be too hard on me. If anything confuses you in this chapter, be assured that your questions will be answered towards the end of the story, if you can’t wait until then you can leave me a review and I will try to answer them as best as I can without giving the story away! If you have ever read any of William Blake’s poems then you will recognise the symbolisms, if not then you should read ‘The lamb’ and ‘ The Tyger’. The symbolisms from ‘The Tyger’ will be used towards the end of the story, they’re great poems from a fantastic poet and I really recommend that you read them. ANYWAY, on with the story! Happy reading!

**Islanzadi** J

Harry felt the veil trail lightly across his face, and it was replaced by a warm sensation that spread from his face right down to his toes. He felt like he was falling and there was nothing he could do to stop it, there was a blinding white light all around him and he closed his eyes tightly, hoping that he’d stop falling soon.

He landed with a heavy thud, which he had been expecting to hurt. But as he slowly flexed his legs and arms he realised that they actually felt better than what they had done before. He rolled his back a little as he sat up and smiled when he wasn’t greeted with the uncomfortable ache that seemed to have been plaguing him ever since he had gone to stay at the Burrow. He felt completely at peace and smiled at how light his heart felt. He looked around and saw that he was standing in the middle of a large green field. The sky was a wonderful light blue colour and seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see. There were small white objects moving in the distance and he moved towards them, curious to see what they were. ‘Lambs’ thought Harry ‘lambs in a field in the middle of nowhere. This certainly wasn’t was I was expecting’

“Actually,” said a calm voice from behind him “you’re making this Harry. You cannot see the true beyond until you have faced death itself. Until then you will see what you want to see. So, even though you‘re conscious mind did not know it this is in fact what you were expecting,” Harry whirled around and stood face to face with Professor Dumbledore, his long white beard seemed luminous and his eyes twinkled brighter than Harry had ever seen.

“Dumbledore!” said Harry, trying to keep the tears from his eyes but unable to do so. His old headmaster opened his arms and Harry moved into them, feeling safe and…at home. They stood like that for quite a while, with Dumbledore stroking the top of Harry’s head and muttering reassurances.

“Wait,” said Harry quickly “Where’s Luna?”

“Miss Lovegood has her own journey to make in the beyond Harry. You shall see her once everything is taken care of here,” Harry nodded his head and looked around at the scenery again. It seemed so peaceful here; he could sit on a blanket and look at the sky all day. He looked at the floor where a patchwork blanket appeared and stared at Dumbledore in amazement.

“Ok,” he said a little unsteadily “I thought of the blanket, but I wasn’t thinking of lambs and meadows.”

“Maybe not that exactly,” said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling “But you imagined a place where everything is innocent. Meadows, open skies and children are all symbols of innocence Harry. You also thought of something holy, some kind of higher power. What else could represent that but the Lamb? The Lamb of God, some say…” Harry nodded and watched as a group of young children began walking towards them on the horizon.

“Are they here?” he said quietly, his voice cracking with an emotion he knew he couldn’t control. He watched Dumbledore’s serene face smiling down upon him as he nodded his head. Fresh tears began to make their way down Harry’s face. He was finally going to see them; he was finally going to see his parents.

“Sirius too Harry,” said Dumbledore quietly “he’s been anxiously awaiting your arrival.” Harry couldn’t seem to form any words, there was a large lump in his throat and he didn’t trust himself not to cry. He simply nodded his head and began looking around again. The children in the distance were getting closer and Harry watched them laugh and dance around each other. Dumbledore coughed lightly and Harry looked up quickly.

“We have much to talk about today Harry, and your time here is very limited indeed. You are going to learn a truth today that you will not like…but it is imperative that you heed what we say. Do you understand?” Harry nodded his head quickly, feeling a ball of unease begin to unwind in his stomach. Dumbledore pointed towards the children and Harry turned around…only to crumple to his knees. They were not children walking towards him anymore, his mother and father walked towards him hand in hand. Sirius was right behind them, with a bounce in his step that Harry had never seen before. With a strength Harry was surprised at, he pushed himself to his feet and began sprinting towards his parents. He hoped this wasn’t a dream, he hoped they wouldn’t disappear. He hoped this wasn’t some kind of sick joke; it seemed to good to be true. His mother let go of his fathers’ hand and began running towards him; he could see tears streaming down her face. His vision began to blur and he let out a wretched sob that he would never have thought himself capable of. She finally reached him and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly to her. She fell to her knees and dragged Harry down with her. Her hands stroked his face, his hair and lightly touched the scar on his forehead.

“My beautiful boy,” she whispered, kissing his forehead lightly “how I have missed you so…” Harry wrapped his arms around his mother and cried. He cried for all the time they hadn’t spent together, he cried for the way she was cruelly taken from the earth. He cried for all the times they could have shared, and he cried because he thought that this would be the last time he would see her. The person he had wanted so much as a young boy, the person he had dreamt about so often was finally in front of him. He stifled his crying and moved his face in front of his mothers, wiping away her tears softly.

“I’ve missed you mum,” he whispered.

He felt someone sit down next to them and saw a person watching him that looked so much like himself.

“Harry,” he said, his voice sounding choked “Look at the man you have become,”

He grabbed him and pulled him into a much rougher hug than his mother had, but Harry didn’t mind. His father cried too, and soon enough all three of them were holding each other and crying. Tears of sadness as well as tears of joy. Eventually Harry’s mother helped him to his feet and he linked his arm through hers. She softly smoothed his hair and began to laugh at its stubbornness. Harry looked at his father and laughed as his father stepped over and ruffled it up even more. He gave his mum an affectionate kiss on the cheek and smiled, just the simple gesture of smoothing his hair tenderly and it felt like she had filled a hole within him. He turned around to see Sirius standing there. Goodness, he’d almost forgot about Sirius…

“Harry!” he said, and started to laugh wildly. Harry grinned and launched himself at his Godfather, rolling around on the grass laughing as if they had just seen each other the day before and had always had such a carefree relationship. After some time had passed he stopped laughing and sat up, looking up at the four people surrounding him who he loved most dearly in the world. All he needed to complete it would be to have Hermione and Ron here. Then it would be perfect…then it would be heaven.

The five of them sat on the blanket that Harry had imagined to the meadow and talked. Harry’s parents knew everything that Harry had done; it gave him such a warm and comforting feeling knowing that they watched over him. That they cared about him so much that they would use their time in the beyond to watch over him rather than move on. He had never felt so loved and special. Eventually Dumbledore sighed as he looked up to the sky.

“The time has come to discuss the true meaning of your journey here Harry,” he said softly “Your time is running out…”

“Luna wanted me to come here,” said Harry quietly “she said I would know what I needed to do once I had been here.”

“She’s a wise girl,” said Sirius, and he looked fixedly at the floor. Harry looked at all four of them, and the ball in his stomach began to unwind once more.

“Yeah,” said Harry quietly “people judge her because she seems odd, but there’s more to Luna that just her oddities and quirks…you just have to look for it.”

“You have your mothers eyes Harry,” said Dumbledore softly. Harry looked at his mother and smiled. She truly had the most beautiful eyes. His father looked at her affectionately as she flushed a light pink shade.

“Yeah,” said Harry quietly “I can see that now,”

“But do you see Harry? Do you really see?” asked Dumbledore, sounding anxious now.

“Erm…” began Harry, but was interrupted with Dumbledore’s soft voice.

“You have the ability to see the good in people no matter what Harry. Sometimes you have let your pride or anger get in the way, but that is the folly of age. You always do what is right, you see people for what they are…nothing more or nothing less Harry. You showed the same kind of wisdom with Severus Snape as your mother did when she was in school. You have her eyes Harry, and don’t ever forget that.” Harry nodded in understanding, he had an awful feeling of what they were about to tell him and he really didn’t want to have to face it. He took a deep breath and finally said in a quiet voice -

“Tell me,”

And so in Harry’s meadow in the beyond, four people told Harry the reason that he was there. What he had to do to defeat Voldemort and the reasoning behind it. They had to watch as he came to terms with his love for Hermione which he had been trying to ignore for so long, then cry, as he had never cried before. They held him as he cried and tried to soothe his pain, knowing that this would be the hardest thing Harry would ever have to do in his life…

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Harry tumbled out of the veil and landed with a painful thud on the floor. He got up shakily to see Luna sitting there, her face streaked from tears. He moved to her quickly and she threw her arms around him.

“I’m so sorry Harry,” she said sobbing “My mother told me, there’s a way out…I know there is!”

“Lets not think about that now,” said Harry his voice muffled from being pressed into her shoulder “I have to tell Hermione something. We need to go back now…”

“Are you going to tell her…” began Luna was interrupted by Harry

“No…not that,” he said quietly “But I do know now that I love her. I was stupid to think what I was feeling wasn’t love. Stupid and scared Luna. But now I know, I love her so much and I have to tell her.”

“I know Harry,” said Luna quietly “You were being rather stupid…” Harry laughed a little and began to wipe his face, trying to make himself look like he hadn’t cried more in the last few hours than he had in his entire life.

“What are you going to do Harry?” she asked him worriedly.

“What can I do?” he asked, “Hermione was right. Last night she said that we should ‘just be’ and not worry about what was in store for us. I can see what she meant now. Life throws too much shit at you; it’s pointless hiding from it. You may as well let it hit you in the face and have fun at the same time” Luna began to laugh as they made there way out of the Ministry of Magic and out into the London street.

“It’s dark outside!” said Luna “Time must be different behind the veil! I hope we’re still on the same bloody day!”

“We are,” said Harry quickly pointing to a paper shop with the headlines and the date advertised in large letters. He was walking so fast that Luna was rushing next to him in an attempt to keep up. He had never felt so sure of anything in his life and he felt wonderfully alive. He loved Hermione Granger with every ounce of breath in his body, and he was going to let her know whether she felt the same way or not. Of course, he knew deep down that she felt that way and had just been waiting for him. How could he have been so stupid? How could he have let his fear blind him to his feelings? Well…there was going to be no more fear, there was going to be no more worry and no more guilt. Life was too short. He and Luna reached a small darkened alley and stepped inside quickly. Harry grabbed her by the arm and grinned at her.

“Harry Potter’s words of wisdom!” she said smiling. “Don’t worry about shit on your face!” Harry grinned at her and began rehearsing what he was going to say to Hermione in his head. She laughed at his excitement and started singing a muggle song about love in the air, and with a crack they disapparated to Grimmauld place.

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27. Young love

A/N- Hello again everyone! Sorry it’s taken me a while to update… bloody Christmas and people needing presents lol. I’ll probably only be able to update once more before Christmas because it’s so busy, sorry L Anyway thanks again to everyone for reading along and reviewing, I really appreciate it! Also I know you’re all probably thinking that this story is heading for a tragic ending, but bare with me and read the whole thing and I promise you won’t be angry with me once it’s finished! And on that note, on with the story! Happy reading!

**Islanzadi** J

Harry stepped into the hallway at Grimmauld Place and felt his heart thumping in his chest. The house was very quiet because everyone had gone to bed. He moved as quickly and quietly up the stairs as he could and waited outside Hermione’s door with bated breath. Should he go in? He didn’t want to wake her… He sighed and moved away heading towards his room. Luna stepped up behind him and gave him a hug before moving into her own room, with a slightly dreamy expression on her face. Harry opened the door to his room quietly and was greeted with complete darkness. He closed the door and pulled out his wand then moved to the bedside table and located the candle. He lit a small fire with his wand and gently lit the candle, watching the flickering shadow move across the wall. He turned to the side and saw Hermione sitting in his bed in her pyjamas watching him.

His breath caught in his throat as he looked at her. There were so many things he wanted to say to her and he didn’t know where to start. He couldn’t open his mouth; he just stood staring at her…taking in her beauty. How could he have been so blind?

“Where have you been?” she whispered. Her voice seemed to echo through his mind and he still said nothing. He watched the way she chewed on her bottom lip nervously and watched her exquisite brown eyes staring at him expectantly. He felt a wave of desire crash through him as she nervously licked her lips. He crouched on the bed and moved a trembling hand to her face, slowly stroking her soft skin. He moved his hand to her hair, brushing it softly with his hands. His fingers trailed along her lips and then moved to caress her neck. A sigh of longing escaped her lips and she closed her eyes as he began to stroke her collarbone, slowly moving his hands lower.

“I went to the veil with Luna,” he whispered, his breath heating the side of her face and making it tingle with anticipation. Her eyes opened and she turned around to stare at him.

“What happened?” she whispered back, a note of anxiety in her voice.

“That doesn’t matter right now,” he whispered “What matters is what a fool I’ve been,”

“Harry-” she began, but he put his fingers to her lips once more, silencing her with soft stroking motions.

“I have been Hermione,” he said slowly, staring into her eyes. He could get lost in those eyes forever. “I can’t even begin to tell you what your friendship has meant to me over the years. I can’t find the right words to tell you how I feel about you. Everything about you is so perfect, your smile, your intelligence, your wit and your courage. You make me laugh, and you make me want to be a better person. You make me crazy because I want you so much, I can’t seem to get you out of my mind and I didn’t know why. Well I do now Hermione. I’m not afraid anymore…I love you.” He cupped her face in his hands and began to softly kiss her cheeks and her mouth. He could see tears slowly falling and he gently kissed those too.

“I love you so much Hermione,” he whispered again, slowly pressing his lips to hers. She kissed him back slowly, her hands trembling slightly as she ran them through his hair, deepening the kiss. He felt a hot pressure grip him and he lowered her back onto the bed slowly. He raised his head to look into her eyes, and smiled. She slowly stroked his hair and his face, looking into his green eyes. She could have sworn that he was staring into her very soul.

“Show me how much you love me Harry,” she whispered softly

“Are you sure?” he asked quietly.

“I love you Harry,” she said simply “I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

They started kissing each other slowly, exploring each other’s mouths. Harry trailed soft kisses down her collarbone and pushed aside her pyjama shirt to kiss the top of her chest, then nibble lightly at the exposed skin. Hermione groaned as she felt his light stubble brush against her skin, causing a fire to be lit deep inside of her. He moved his fingers to the buttons on her shirt and slowly began to unbutton them, moving the fabric aside to take in the sight of her. He saw her face get a bit red at Harry’s open gaze and began to move her hands to cover herself.

“Don’t,” he whispered gently “You’re beautiful…” He moved his hand to her breast slowly and began to stroke it softly, his hands trembling more and his breath leaving him in quick and nervous gasps. She gasped and raised her back up to meet him as he increased the pressure of his touch. He slowly lowered his mouth to one of her perfect pink nipples and began to roll it with his tongue and then tenderly sucked on it. He grazed his stubble along her nipple to catch the other one with his mouth and Hermione let out a soft moan. He sucked a little harder this time, enjoying the feel of her pressing herself urgently against him and digging her nails insistently into his back. He sat up and brought her with him, sitting her on top of him. She kissed him hard and began tugging urgently at his shirt, her whole body shaking in a nervous anticipation. He pulled it over his head and groaned as she started to move her hands all over his chest, slowly lowering them to his trousers. He moved his position so that he was kneeling before her, and she looked directly into his eyes and she slowly unzipped his trousers and moved her hand to cup him. He hissed at the sudden touch and had to concentrate on his breathing as she slowly explored this new territory with her hands, and then watched his reaction timidly as she slipped him into her mouth.

After a minute Harry could stand it no more and gently pulled her head away to kiss her passionately. He slipped his hands to her pyjama bottoms and slowly slipped them off. She moved off of the bed to stand on the floor and slowly pushed her underwear down, watching him watching her. He stood up to meet her and they stood in silence looking at each other’s bodies in the candlelight. She was so beautiful that he could hardly catch his breath, and he thanked whoever created man that he could share this moment with her. Harry moved towards her and began to kiss her once again, he slowly moved his hand to where she was wet and began stroking her softly watching her reactions in wonder. He then slowly began slipping his finger in and out of her, breathing deeply at the new experience and hoping he was doing it correctly. She gripped onto him and bit into his shoulder as he started rubbing her harder, and he smiled at her reaction. She fell back onto the bed and he glided his hands all over her, wanting to feel every inch of her skin against his hands. He trailed kisses from her breasts of her stomach, slowly inching his way lower. He looked up at her to make sure it was ok, but saw that her eyes were closed tightly and her chest was rising and falling rapidly. He slowly moved his head to between her legs, grazing his stubble against her tender flesh. She gasped in pleasure and shock. She let her hands rest on top of his head grabbed hands full of his hair as he continued to tentatively lick her, then started to suck on the little nub of flesh. She pressed his head into her and felt the fire within her starting to build at the increased pleasure. Harry followed the movements her hands made on the top of his head to set the pace and she began to moan louder and louder. She moved her hand to the side and grabbed his wand to quickly cast a charm around the room…then let the wand fall to the floor as Harry brought her to a climax that made her entire body explode and shake in the aftermath. She was breathing heavily and her body was slick with sweat. Harry looked at her with desire clearly shown in the depth of his eyes. She brought his head up to meet her mouth and kisses him hard, tasting herself on his tongue. She ran her hands down his chest that was also slicked with sweat. She kissed him tenderly everywhere that she had been fantasising about for so long, unable to believe that this was truly happening. She lay down on the bed shakily and opened her arms towards him, beckoning him to her. He lowered himself down, quivering at the realisation that the time had finally come. He couldn’t believe how nervous he was, but relaxed slightly when he saw the same feelings mirrored in Hermione’s eyes.

He positioned himself on top of her and stared into her eyes, unsure of what to do next. She smiled gently up at him and ran her hands down his back, then snaked them between their two bodies to guide him to her entrance.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he whispered, trying to hold himself at her entrance and having a hard time doing so when he could feel her moistness slowly dripping onto him.

“Don’t worry Harry,” she whispered back “I want to be as close to you as I can be. I love you…” With that she pushed against the base of him and urged him to continue. He slowly kissed her lips and pushed himself into her bit by bit, trying to be as gentle as he could. She gasped in pain and closed her eyes tightly. A few tears of pain slowly leaked out of her eyes and she buried her head into his shoulder. Harry looked down at her concerned, should he stop? Hermione moved her hands to his bum and grabbed it, swiftly pushing him up the rest of the way into her. He heard her cry of pain and he felt her buck against him slightly, his head was telling him to stop because it was hurting her, but his body urged him on. He moved inside of her, his pace quickening. He heard her gasp as he thrust deeply into her and looked down to see Hermione’s face screwed up in a pained tension. He put his hands to her eyes and covered them for her. He felt a tightness building within him and began to breath heavily, pushing himself inside of her faster and faster, he let out a shaking sigh as the pressure began to climb to an indescribable point. Finally he let out a long moan and collapsed wearily against her, spilling himself deep inside of her. After a few moments of laboured breathing he raised himself onto his elbows to look at her, worrying if he had really hurt her. She seemed to read his thoughts.

“Yes it hurt,” she whispered “But it’s supposed to the first time. Thank you,”

“For what?” asked Harry

“For covering my eyes like that,” she whispered, stroking his back softly “It was the most gentle thing you could have done Harry.”

“I wasn’t expecting it to hurt you that much,” he said quietly “I thought you’d start enjoying it after a bit…”

“Harry it was wonderful because it was done with love,” said Hermione softly, kissing his lips softly.

“Yeah it was. I love you so much Hermione.” said Harry quietly, rolling off of her and moving to her side. She snuggled into him and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her as close as he dared to without breaking any bones.

“Besides,” she said mischievously “It’s not like we’re only going to do it one time Harry. It’ll be better now that the first time is over with.” He nodded his head and pulled her tightly to him. They fell asleep in each other’s arms and dreamt of nothing, both more content than they had ever been.

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Regardless of the pain and nervousness the first time brings to young lovers, the feeling of being that close to someone you truly love is addicting and lights a fire of longing that warms your very soul. Their bodies found each other in the middle of the night and early in the morning. Hermione cried with the intense love she felt and Harry thought he would die from feeling so loved and loving so unselfishly in return. They lay wrapped in each others arms early in the morning, watching the sun slowly rise and cast her bright rays into Harry’s bedroom. He softly stroked her hair and face, while she simply looked into his eyes, wondering why she thought that living had been so wonderful before she had found Harry’s love.

“You know I suddenly understand all those cheesy lines they write for weddings,” murmured Harry, softly kissing the tip of her nose

“They’re not cheesy Harry,” said Hermione with a joking look in her eyes

“No they’re not,” said Harry seriously “I have found the one whom my soul loves…” He moved his head and kissed her softly. She smiled up at him and softly stroked his hair, then ran her finger across his jaw line.

“Me too,” she whispered, then smiled mischievously before adding “I could hold that cheesy romantic line against you. Imagine what the boys would say if they knew you would ever say something like that!”

“You wouldn’t dare…” said Harry jokingly, running his hands to her waist where he began to squeeze playfully, earning him a girlish screech.

“No I wouldn’t,” she said more seriously “That’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard of…”

“You’re just saying that so I won’t tickle you,” said Harry playfully, moving his hands to her waist again.

“No I’m not. It was a lovely thing to say…please move your hands,” she said pleadingly

“Well…no!” he said, and tickled her mercilessly until she found something to do to him that would keep him quiet for a while. It was quite a while before either of them got up…

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After showering Hermione walked down to the kitchen. She felt so happy she could yell at the top of her lungs. Harry loved her! He actually loved her! She couldn’t believe what had happened, she felt as if she was walking on air and had to try hard to stop a stupid grin coming to her face. She entered the kitchen and saw all everyone sitting at the table about the begin breakfast. She raised her eyes and looked at Harry across the table. His hair was still damp and she could smell his soap from here. She began to feel warm again and tried to force those images out of her mind. Mrs Weasley offered her a cup of tea and she accepted it gratefully. She could see Harry staring at her and she felt her face start to heat up. Why was he looking at her like that? Was he trying to make her insane? She had only just had sex with Harry and she was surprised at how much she wanted to do it again. It was a good thing she loved Harry, because if it had been any other guy then she would have hexed him into the next century for causing her that amount of pain last night. But this morning had been a pleasant surprise and she was looking forward to, erm, experimenting more…

“Morning Hermione,” said Luna with a large smile on her face “How are you?” Hermione smiled back at Luna, a very big smile that showed all of her teeth and made her eyes light up.

“Wonderful!” she said happily “How are you?”

“Never better,” said Luna with a gleam in her eyes. Hermione giggled a little then began to help herself to the sausages and eggs in front of her. Who would have thought she could have such an appetite?

Ron stared angrily at the exchange between Luna and Hermione and ate his breakfast quickly. He didn’t look at any of them as he walked out of the room and stomped loudly up the stairs before shutting his door with a bang…this was starting to become a regular thing at Grimmauld Place so they didn’t react with too much shock. Mrs Weasley rolled her eyes and removed her apron swiftly.

“Well,” she said quickly “Remus and I have some business to attend to this morning so I hope you’ll be ok if I go out for a while,”

“We’ll be fine mum,” said Ginny darkly, eyeing Hermione’s happiness with obvious distaste.

“Ok, I’ll be back soon. Be good, and for goodness sakes don’t go into the drawing room! Something else has decided to live in there and we don’t know what it is yet.” They all nodded their heads in agreement, and fifteen minutes later they were practically pushing her into Lupin’s arms so that she would leave.

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Harry walked slowly up the stairs towards Ron’s room. He knew he had to talk to him, but he didn’t feel the kind of desperation he had before. Ron was his best friend, and he didn’t want to lose him. But he loved Hermione, and if it came down to it then he would choose her over him. Whether or not that made him a bad friend he didn’t know, but he didn’t want to be punished for something that made him feel so wonderful. He knocked on the door and waited for Ron’s surly call of -

“Come in,”

He opened the door quietly and let himself in, closing the door afterwards. Ron looked at him angrily then moved his eyes to stare at the ceiling. Harry summoned a chair from the end of the room and sat next to Ron’s bed.

“What do you want?” asked Ron angrily

“I want to explain Ron,” said Harry quietly, not taking his eyes off of Ron.

“I think I already know everything Harry,” he said waspishly

“No you don’t” said Harry sadly

“Get on with it,” said Ron snapping, “I don’t have all day to listen to your pathetic excuses,”

“I should have told you when I knew I wanted to be with Hermione. I should have told you that we had started seeing each other, and for that I apologise.” said Harry quietly.

“But you’re not saying sorry for stealing Hermione from me?” said Ron angrily

“She was never yours to steal,” said Harry simply “You weren’t together. She wanted me and I wanted her. I’m sorry that you’re feelings got hurt.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet you’re really sorry,” said Ron sarcastically.

“Don’t be a wanker Ron,” said Harry sighing “You know I wouldn’t say I was sorry if I didn’t mean it. You also know that if you didn’t mean anything to me then I wouldn’t be here trying to work this out. You’re my best mate Ron; I don’t want us to not be friends. Life isn’t the same without you by my side…”

“Like you need someone like me Harry,” said Ron sadly “You’re the famous Harry Potter, here to save us all. What do you need with a great gangling git like me?”

“Ron you’ve helped me with everything I’ve ever had to do. I don’t even want to think of how my life would have been if I hadn’t met you. If I tell you something, will you promise to keep it to yourself,” said Harry urgently. Ron eyed him with a mixture of anger and suspicion, and then reluctantly nodded his head.

“Luna and I went to the ministry yesterday,” he said quietly “we went back to the room with the veil…” Ron’s raised his eyebrows in surprise and leaned closer to Harry, momentarily forgetting his anger.

“What was there?” asked Ron in a voice of awe

“I saw my parents, and Sirius…and Dumbledore.” said Harry quietly

“Wow,” said Ron “What did they say?” Harry told them briefly of their reunion and then, with his heart breaking, what Dumbledore had said afterwards. Ron got up off of his bed and started pacing up and down the room, with tears visible in his eyes.

“You have to tell Hermione,” said Ron eventually

“No,” said Harry firmly

“Harry, she’s got a right to know…” said Ron, the tears now coming fast down his face.

“I love her Ron. She doesn’t need to know this. Lets just make the next few months pleasant for her, ok?” said Harry again, but a little gentler this time, trying not to let his voice become choked. His poor Hermione, his poor beautiful Hermione. Ron nodded his head and sat back down on his bed heavily.

“Ron,” said Harry quickly “I know we’re blokes and we don’t normally say stuff like this. But you’re like a brother to me. I honestly don’t know how I would have made it without you and I don’t think I could if I had to be without you now. I fell in love with Hermione, it wasn’t anything I could control and I would never do anything to hurt you if I could have helped it. You can’t control love Ron, I know that now.”

“You are my brother Harry,” said Ron quietly, wiping tears from his face “I’m not saying that I can suddenly forget everything that happened and that we’ll be back to normal because we probably won’t for a while. But you’re my best mate. Nothing is ever going to change that Harry,”

“Love you too Ron,” said Harry grinning, which earned him a pillow in the face. Ron laughed slightly and then sat down on the bed, looking at the floor.

“I wish you’d never gone behind that bloody veil…nothing like some bad news to make friends stronger eh? ”

“It’s the way it has to be…and my heart is broken over it. But one thing I learnt today is that love goes on Ron, it never ever dies.” said Harry simply. Ron looked up at Harry and moved towards him. He threw his arms around him and held him tightly…

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28. Getting to know Luna

A/N- Well here’s the last update before Christmas! Some of you may consider this chapter to be a filler, but I really needed it because it sets the scene for the next four or five chapters and you really do need to find out more about Luna otherwise the penultimate paragraph will look really strange! Thanks again to everyone for reading along and reviewing! Thanks to my younger sister Loobs (Happy Christmas!) and to Mulder who has kindly read all of my random emails about this story and helped me get all of my jumbled thoughts in order! Happy Christmas to all of you!! Happy reading J

**Islanzadi** J

Harry and Ron walked slowly down the stairs, making their way to the living room. The conversation was rather shy and stilted, both of them happier to be on speaking terms than they would like to admit. Ron was holding his chess set and his deck of exploding snap, looking forward to playing with Harry again. They reached the living room to find Hermione, Susan and Luna all in the corner talking in very hushed tones. Hermione stopped still at the sight of Ron and Harry together. He stopped and stared at her, then turned to see that Harry’s face had gone very red. Obviously the girls had been talking about Harry, and Ron wasn’t stupid enough to not understand what was going on. He felt a stab of jealousy and anger grip him, then forced it to the back of his mind. He kept repeating the same thing over and over in his head ‘You’re only jealous because you want to be in love. It has nothing to do with Harry or Hermione. Just don’t think about it, just don’t think about it…’ He felt the anger slowly start to ebb away and he gave them all a strained grin and sat down. Harry moved out of the living room to get them all some butterbeer while Hermione and Susan sat down on one of the couches. He sat on the floor and tapped the pack of cards with his wand to start them shuffling. Luna walked over to his and crouched down to where he was sitting.

“That was wonderful Ronald,” she said affectionately “It will get easier with time. I’m so proud of you for talking to Harry,”

“How couldn’t I after what he told me happened yesterday?” said Ron, staring at the floor. Luna lowered herself the rest of the way onto the floor and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Things like that make you realise what’s important and what isn’t,” she said serenely “you three have always had a friendship I have rather envied you know. Nothing that can happen will destroy that so long as you love each other and want to remain friends. Love is the key Ronald, to this whole sticky and unpleasant mess. Love is the key.” He looked up and smiled at her shakily, then put his arm around her to hold her close to him, grateful that she still wanted to be with him after he had behaved like such a …well, tosser to put it mildly. He heard a sniff that wasn’t Luna and looked up to see Hermione watching him with watery eyes. He gave her a half smile, which resulted in her launching herself at him and wrapping her arms so tightly around him that he could barely breath.

“Oh Ron!” she said, burying her face into his shoulder “I do love you so very much. I’m sorry I couldn’t be in love with you…”

“Erm,” he said quietly “you can’t help who you want to be with I, suppose. I love you too Hermione. Not in the shagging way either. I love you and Harry, I just want to get on with what we need to do and then…live our lives,” Ron looked at the floor at these words and swallowed a large lump in his throat.

“What’s wrong Ron?” asked Hermione, noticing the sudden nervousness in his voice. She knew Ron and Harry like the back of her hand…he was hiding something from her. She debated trying to get it out of him, but decided that now wouldn’t be the time. She was just glad to have her best friend back. Besides, he would tell her eventually, whether he really wanted to or not. He couldn’t keep secrets from her…she hoped.

“Nothing,” said Ron quietly “just do me a favour will you… no mushy stuff in front of me? I’m not quite ready for that yet. Give me some time…” Hermione smiled and held Ron tightly to her once again; scolding herself inwardly at the emotional wreck she had been the last few weeks.

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All five of them spent the rest of the afternoon eating snacks, drinking butterbeer and playing various games. Ron was winning, which he rubbed in everyone’s faces …about every ten minutes. Eventually Mrs Weasley came home, who was then followed by Mr Weasley about half an hour later. Fred and George showed up just before Mrs Weasley had finished dinner and proceeded to tell them of the various pranks they had been playing on innocent people. Just as Mrs. Weasley’s call of -

“Tea time!” echoed throughout the house, Harry noticed a silvery spider dash across the room and into the kitchen. He looked at the others and noticed that they were looking just as curious as he was, except from Ron who looked rather revolted. Harry stood up and held Hermione’s hand to help her to her feet. He knew that she didn’t need it, but he felt the need to do it anyway. She went a bit pink in the face at his touch and mumbled something Harry couldn’t quite make out. He grinned at her and steered her in the direction of the kitchen.

No sooner had they stepped foot into the kitchen when the sound of many witches and wizards arriving filled the house.

“Who called a meeting?” asked Harry worriedly

“Severus,” said Mrs Weasley

“Would have known his patronus would be something disgusting like a spider,” mumbled Ron, which earned him a reproving look from his mother. They waited for the Order members to cram themselves into the kitchen, and for Snape to make his way to the front of the crowd. He coughed in a rough and expectant sort of way and finally a hush fell across the group.

“I called this meeting for quite a few reasons,” he started in a silky tone that was direct and clipped “The first is that the criminals that broke out of Azkaban have joined the Dark Lord. As we speak the ones that were not death eaters are being made so. The second is that Rubeus and Maxime only managed to turn a third of the known giant population to our side, the rest of them are also joining his side. Another thing you ought to know is that the he has managed gain control over several different beasts for the final battle. Unfortunately for you he has gained control over some dragons, which I’m sure Charles will be able to tell you about in more detail than I am able to,” This news was met with utter outrage and fear.

“Dragons!” exclaimed McGonagall, sitting herself on a chair that someone else managed to conjure for her just in time “How on earth would he be able to control those kind of beasts! They don’t obey anyone! Really Severus, you cannot be serious!”

“I am more than serious Minerva,” said Snape, his eyes glittering. “It seems he wants quite a showdown, to prove once and for all that he is the most powerful wizard that has ever existed,”

“This is ridiculous!” said Mrs Weasley in a faint voice “So we’re going to have to go through all of those creatures to get to him. That doesn’t sound like he’s the most powerful wizard to me,”

“Certainly not,” said Kingsley “Sounds like the cowards way out. Hope for everyone to die so that he can face a seventeen-year-old boy by himself?! Complete coward, that’s what he is!”

“He is not a coward,” said Snape with a hint of fear in his voice that Harry was sure no one else seemed to detect “He wants to make sure you are all obliterated is the cruellest ways imaginable.”

“What about the Goblins?” asked Lupin quietly “have they made their decision yet?”

“They are still fighting amongst themselves,” said Snape scathingly “I imagine they too will be divided. The Dark Lord has plans to make them see his way… When I can divulge that information to you I shall.”

There was a crack in the hallway and the door opened to admit Neville, his face flushed from hurrying to the meeting.

“Now that everyone is here,” said Snape staring at Neville with his cold dark eyes. Harry looked at Neville, and was surprised to see him meeting Snape’s gaze without a hint of fear in his eyes. “I can tell you the main reason for the meeting,”

“Yeah,” said Fred “I was kind of hoping you’d get to that…”

“You talking about dragons and giants was really starting to bore us,” continued George. Mrs Weasley gave them her famous look, but was unable to repress a grin at her two comical sons.

“Quite,” said Snape angrily “What I am going to tell you is a secret that has only been entrusted to the Dark Lord’s death eaters. I put my life in your hands as I tell you this so I ask you to be discreet with this information,” He looked around the room with superiority written across his face because he thought he had knowledge that they did not.

“If you kill the Dark Lord now, he will not die…” whispered Snape rather dramatically “He will come back and we shall start this battle over and over again. He has done something that you would not imagine…”

“Yeah we know,” said Ron loudly. Snape looked up at him quickly and curled his lip.

“Oh you know do you?” he asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm

“Yeah actually,” said Ron, then looked at Harry with desperation. He really wanted to put Snape in his place. Harry gave him a nod and Ron grinned from ear to ear. “You’re talking about the Horcruxes right?” Snape’s eyes narrowed and there was a collective gasp around the room.

“How many have you managed to destroy?” asked Snape, his cold gaze resting on Harry.

“Only one left,” said Harry quietly.

“I see, ” said Snape.

“Come to my house tomorrow at four, it seems we have more to discuss that I thought. The Dark Lord hasn’t been able to feel the destruction of the Horcruxes. That is an advantage to us…” continued Snape, but was interrupted by Harry’s quiet voice that seemed to have a commanding quality to it.

“Don’t call him the Dark Lord, or Voldemort or even He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. These are all names that have been made by him. They make us fear him or worship him, and he deserves no such thing. His name is Tom Riddle, regardless of what he says or tries to make others believe. He is just a wizard whose mother died, he’s just a wizard who went further into the Dark Arts than any of us could imagine. He is just a wizard called Tom. Just Tom…” Snape seemed to gain a little colour in his cheeks before he said sharply -

“Until tomorrow Potter. Spinners End, I’m sure you’ll be able to find the way…” then with a crack he was gone. The room was silent for a moment until Lupin said very calmly -

“Just Tom…that’s very true Harry. I think it’s about time everyone started thinking that way, maybe a call to the Daily Prophet is in order?”

“Do you think that’s wise?” asked McGonagall “can you imagine the recourse if such a statement is published?”

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” said Mrs Weasley firmly “it’s time that everyone faces their fears. We need all the help we can get and the more witches and wizards on our side the better chance we’ll stand when we have to fight him,”

“That’s right dear,” said Mr Weasley affectionately “there’s a time to flee and there’s a time to stand up and fight. It’s time that everyone stands up and fights against this evil…they have lived in fear for too long.” Harry smiled at the strength of the group and felt a new hope fill him. Together they could do it, united they wouldn’t fall and Tom Riddle would meet his demise. He looked over to Hermione and saw that she had her mouth slightly open and had an anxious look on her face. He smiled tenderly at her and remembered all the times he had seen her look like that in class. He supposed she was quite out of her element because she wasn’t able to put up her hand and he almost laughed at the thought of it.

“Did you have something to say Hermione?” asked Harry rather loudly to get the attention of the rest of the room, which had become rather noisy with the angry discussion of dragons and giants.

“Yes,” said Hermione, her eyes twinkling slightly at Harry and a pink flush slowly creeping to her face “I think that we need to get help from everywhere. There are wizards and witches all over the world, and we have quite a good relationship with Durmstrang and Beauxbatons after the Triwizard tournament. Surely we can get some of them to join us…I doubt that all of the Order is going to be able to fight all of the death eaters, dragons, giants and goodness knows what else Voldemort has up his sleeve…”

“I’m not sure that pupils should be fighting Miss Granger, but I shall contact both of the schools and see if there are trustworthy candidates to join our cause,” said McGonagall

“We’re young,” said Neville, a touch of nervousness creeping into his voice “and we can fight. There are probably loads of others that want to fight and can do it. We shouldn’t make them do anything, but the option should be open to anyone that wants to help that are of age.”

“I agree,” said Harry. Everyone trained his or her eyes on him, and Hermione smiled to herself. She wondered if Harry noticed that he had fallen into a leadership role. No one would disagree with him, and though they wouldn’t come right out and say it they trusted his judgement and would willingly place their lives in his hands. She remembered what Harry had told her when he had been looking for a Horcrux with Dumbledore. He had told her that Dumbledore had said that he wasn’t worried because he was with Harry…it seemed that everyone had begun to feel that way. Remarkable for a seventeen-year-old boy. ‘He’s not a boy anymore,’ she thought quietly ‘he’s a man. I don’t know when it happened…he’s grown up so much…’ She was lost in thought for a while and was oblivious to the grin that Harry was giving her. The meeting wrapped up quickly after that. Lupin and Mad Eye were going to visit Charlie so that they could figure out a way out of the dragon problem. McGonagall was going to contact international witches and wizards for help, and Mrs Weasley was contacting the Daily Prophet. Neville went back to his grandmothers to pack, deciding to stay with everyone at Grimmauld place for Christmas so that he could help the Order. Harry, Ron, Luna, Susan and Hermione made their way back to the living room after eating and made themselves comfortable in front of the fire to discuss the visit to Spinners end.

“We’re coming with you,” said Ron firmly “I still don’t trust that greasy git…”

“I think it’s a good idea if you all come anyway,” said Harry “I think he wants to talk about Nagini, maybe he can find a way for us to get to her when Tom isn’t around. We need to get rid of her quickly, I have a feeling I’m going to have to face him soon…”

They went silent after that, each lost in their own thoughts. Hermione felt like her world was crashing down upon her. Of course she knew that Harry had to face Voldemort, she knew that he would have to kill him or be killed. But suddenly the possibility of him dying hit her harder than it had before and she had to close her eyes tightly to stop sudden tears. Before she had fallen in love with Harry she had been worried to death because she might lose her best friend. Now she knew that she would lose the only thing that made her feel truly complete, the man she loved. She swallowed a lump in her throat knowing that Ron and Harry didn’t need to see her weakness. Weakness wasn’t going to help the situation, and she didn’t want them worrying about her unnecessarily. Luna’s voice broke the silence-

“Well Christmas will be here shortly and we should really do some shopping. I know we can’t go to Diagon Alley but we can go to muggle London. It might be rather fun…”

“You want to go shopping? Now?” asked Ron incredulously

“Why not?” asked Susan “what else do we have to do today other than sit here and worry?” So they waited for Neville to arrive and the owls to return from Gringotts with their newly exchanged money and set off for London. Hermione had to force Luna into some of her muggle clothes, but she insisted on wearing this bright yellow floaty shirt with a sunflower on it. Hermione’s aunt had bought it for her, and it had been shoved into the bottom of her trunk ever since. Harry quietly tried to point out that it was winter but Luna wouldn’t hear a word about it. So the six of them walked to the nearest underground and caught the tube to Regent’s street so that they could show Ron the toyshop. They walked along the pavement, Neville and Ron pointing at almost everything around them and laughing at the madness of the muggles. It was then that Ron heard a strange tinkling noise and looked around to see what it was. Upon finding nothing he carried on chatting to Neville, this time the subject of some mad old lady’s hat. Ron was just about to say something rather funny when he heard the strange tinkling noise again. He decided that he was obviously going crazy and tried to ignore it. After about six more times and plenty of strange looks for other Christmas shoppers as he repeatedly scanned the crowd and the floor he decided to stop and search properly. It was too much of a coincidence that the tinkling noise was following them. As he abruptly came to a halt in the middle of the packed London street he felt a thump in his back where Harry had walked into him, and another thump where Susan had walked into Harry.

“What are you stopping for?” asked Harry, dusting his clothes off.

“You know that’s the worst thing you can do in London during the shopping season, it’s almost like dominoes...Once one goes down everyone else does,” said Hermione lightly

“I just want to know what that bloody noise is,” said Ron irritably “I thought I heard it when we first got here but then thought I was imagining it. But now I know I’m not…”

“What noise?” asked Susan, finally getting to her feet and participating in the conversation

“That weird tinkling noise, it’s following us!” said Ron, looking around again as if expecting an attack.

“Oh Ronald,” piped up Luna. Ron didn’t have to look far to spot her in that bright yellow top. “That was just me! It’s not anything bad don’t worry. Let’s get moving everyone it’s much colder when you stand still…” Everyone said mumbled words of agreement and continued to walk. Ron was still rather curious and fell in step with Luna, looking at her suspiciously.

“What was making that noise?” Ron asked after a while. Luna smiled dreamily and reached into her pocket. She pulled out a twenty pence piece and flipped it into the air. Ron watched as it spun brightly then landed on the pavement with a high-pitched tinkle.

“What’re you throwing money on the floor for?” asked Ron, his eyes now so large they could give Luna’s a run for their money.

“Why shouldn’t I?” asked Luna, as if this was the strangest question in the world.

“Well…because it’s money Luna!” said Ron, looking at her as if she had just sprouted another head. She laughed merrily and moved very close to him so that she could whisper in his ear.

“Do you remember how happy you were as a child when you found money on the floor? That one coin could enable you to buy something you really wanted, or maybe just a little treat. I would get so excited when I would find them and I saved them all in a large jar and bought a gift for my father,”

“So you chuck coins around so that kids can find them?” asked Ron

“Precisely! I hope that whoever finds a coin is as happy to get them as I was,” said Luna, grabbing another coin and flipping it high into the air. This time when the coin hit the floor and made the tinkling sound Ron smiled and wished that one day he could think as unselfishly as the girl walking next to him.

They soon came to the window with the teddy bears displayed in a Christmas scene. Hermione quickly caught Harry’s hand and kissed it lightly.

“What was that for?” he said quietly

“For getting me that bear. It was a lovely thing to do…I would never buy something like that for myself,” replied Hermione. Harry squeezed her hand and held it tighter when she tried to move it back to her side.

“What are you doing?” he asked

“We shouldn’t hold hands in front of Ron!” she hissed, “he’s not ready for that yet,”

“I don’t care! I’m holding your hand. He already knows I love you so why bother trying to tiptoe around it?” said Harry in a very matter of fact tone

“You told him you love me?” asked Hermione, her eyes shining with happiness.

“Of course I did,” replied Harry stopping outside the long window “I love you, and my best friend ought to know that. I’m not ashamed Hermione of the way I feel about you and I’m not scared either,”

“Oh Harry,” she said sweetly and bounced onto the tips of her toes so that she could kiss him quickly. He grinned and kissed her softly on the lips, before urging her forward to their group of friends waiting for them by the door to the shop…Ron was deliberately feigning interest in the crowd of shoppers but didn’t look too angry. Hermione’s brows knitted together in thought. Surely Ron wouldn’t be able to understand her and Harry’s relationship that quickly? Surely he would still be furious with them? What did Harry say to him that made Ron change his opinion so quickly? The seed of suspicion that had been planted when Ron acted so strangely with Hermione earlier grew a little more. She had to find out what was going on with her friends…

They walked around the shop amicably, buying trinkets here and there for people in the Order and family members. It was at this point that Ron was slammed into a display of toy cars by a rather flustered woman, who acted as though she didn’t noticed the tall red head and speedily on her way. The cars were knocked everywhere and Hermione had to use her wand discreetly so that people wouldn’t fall over.

“Bloody hell!” said Ron angrily “that’s the second time today I’ve been whacked into…”

“Well to be fair Ron,” said Hermione smiling “the first one was your fault…” Ron glared playfully at Hermione then began to gather up the toy cars with the help of everyone else. After they had finished they made their way to a teashop so that they could relax and discuss where they wanted to go to next. It was over this hot cup of tea that Luna interrupted the conversation they were having about Trafalgar Square with a sigh. Ron looked up and was alarmed to see that she had tears in her eyes. He nudged Harry quickly who then looked equally as alarmed. Hermione rolled her eyes at the pair and put a comforting hand on Luna’s shoulder.

“Are you ok?” she asked, mentally kicking herself because she absolutely hated it when people asked her that when it was pretty bloody obvious that she wasn’t. Luna laughed as if reading Hermione’s thoughts then wiped her nose with the tissue that Ron practically threw at her.

“I just keep thinking about that poor woman who knocked Ron over,” she said unhappily. Ron stared at her dumbfounded.

“That poor woman who sent me flying and didn’t say sorry? That’s the one right? Yeah I can see why you’d feel sorry for her…” said Ron sarcastically

“She was just so sad,” said Luna, tears starting to fall “I could feel it. Couldn’t any of you? She was hurting so much. And there was so much bitterness…how could someone stand living being that unhappy?” Everyone was silent after she had finished speaking, Harry was studying the table looking deep in thought. Everyone looked perplexed except Hermione, who seemed to be torn between complete disbelief and trying to be a friend. Eventually she broke the silence-

“So…you’re saying that you could tell what that lady in Hamleys was thinking?” asked Hermione, desperately trying to keep the scepticism out of her voice.

“Not thinking exactly,” said Luna quietly “But I could read her, I could tell what made her happy and what made her sad…I could see things that have happened to her to make her the way she is,”

“Yeah but that’s magic,” said Ron “That’s sort of what we do…you know, the whole witch and wizard thing.”

“No this is different, I’m different…” said Luna, staring into her teacup. At those words Harry stood up and went to her, pulling her into a rough hug.

“How long have you been able to do this?” he asked quietly

“Ever since mother died it’s been more obvious. But I’ve always been different Harry, I‘ve always been able to see what others cannot.” she whispered. Harry nodded in understanding.

“Let’s talk about this later when we can make sure there aren’t extra ears around that shouldn’t be hearing this. Cheer up for now though. You can’t solve everyone’s problems,”

“I still feel awful,” said Luna quietly. It was at this point that Ron said something that surprised all of them.

“Well…once we’re done with our shopping how about you and me try to find her? That way you won’t feel bad and you can, erm…stop crying?” Harry and Hermione laughed a little as Luna flung herself at a very red faced Ron, startling a lot of the other customers. After paying for their tea they left to explore Piccadilly Circus, one of Hermione’s favourite areas of London where they had a very hard time convincing her that she shouldn’t spend half of her money on an exquisite beaded purse and a very rare book. After a while Harry dragged her away with the promise that he would feed the pigeons in Trafalgar Square with her if only she stepped away from the book… After they had finished shopping and feeding the pigeons they decided to head back to Grimmauld Place. Luna and Ron handed their bags to the rest of the group and set off on a mission to find the grumpy woman from Hamleys. It was very late before they got home and Ron still couldn’t sleep after the evening’s events. He quietly knocked on Harry’s door and let himself in.

Harry and Neville were sharing a room, much to Harry’s disappointment. He hoped that Neville would fall asleep so that he could sneak into Hermione’s room…but he apparently had a lot to talk about. They had discussed different spells that they had both been practicing and everything that had been happening in each other’s personal lives since the last time they had spoken. When Ron let himself into his room part of him was glad, it had been so long since he had been able to be with them and sharing a room was almost like old times. Another part wanted to groan loudly and beat them both with pillows so that they would go into Ron’s room.

“How was it?” asked Neville “Did you find her?”

“Yeah,” said Ron, not looking nearly as tired as Harry had been expecting “It took ages though and she wouldn’t listen to a word that Luna had to say. Right rude cow that one,”

“Poor Luna,” said Harry “she just wanted to help. Funny how she always seemed so weird and now…”

“It’s like she’s always been a few steps ahead of us,” finished Ron sounding awed and a little frightened. “When that woman wouldn’t hear her out we followed her home. She pulled out this coloured card from her bag and wrote a message to the woman on it and left in on her doorstep. She didn’t sign it or anything, and when I asked her why she said who it was from wasn’t important. It was what had to be learnt from it that was…”

“She’s always been really strange,” said Neville looking rather confused “it’s like she’s from a different planet or something. I don’t get her…”

“You will,” said Harry quietly.

They talked long into the night and eventually all three of them fell asleep. Hermione crept quietly into the room in the early hours of the morning and made sure they were all covered with blankets. She kissed Harry softly on the forehead before making her way back to her bedroom with a smile on her face. No matter how much of a man he acted during the day, he looked like an angel when he slept. She lay on her bed and snuggled deeper into her blankets, contemplating when she would be able to confront Harry and what exactly he told Ron. She knew it had something to do with that bloody veil, and she still couldn’t believe that Harry had actually gone through it! If she would have known that Luna was serious when she wanted to go back there she would have tied Harry up in her room and refused to let him out until he promised he would have nothing to do with such ridiculous ideas. But she couldn’t deny that it was curious…they managed to get through and get back unharmed. But something happened to make Harry suddenly realise his feelings, something happened to make Ron accept her and Harry’s relationship. Something happened behind that veil, and she was determined to find out what it was…

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29. Gringotts

A/N- Thanks again to everyone for reading along and reviewing! I realise that the scene with the Goblins is entirely in English, but I didn’t really fancy typing out the entire thing in Gobbledegook and then translating it! That’s about all I have so say, for those of you who celebrate Christmas I hope you had a lovely one! Anyway enough of the babbling and on with the story. Happy reading!

**Islanzadi** J

The sound of hundreds of hurried footsteps echoed noisily on a stone pathway leading into a vast chamber. Small shadows could be seen desperately hurrying across the cold stone walls lit only with fiery torches. There was mayhem as the goblins gathered into the room as quickly as they could, waiting for a meeting that would change their lives forever and put them in the history books for rebelling against the wizards once again. The goblin Elder and his Second sat on ornate chairs at the front of the gathering on a stone platform the was raised a few metres into the air. This was partly so they could see the crowd better and partly to show their status in the goblin society. Ten goblins moved to the huge doors at the entrance of the chamber and divided their force to heave them closed. Once that was completed they joined the back of the crowd, eagerly anticipating the decision of the Elder and the heads of the clans. A silence fell across the room and the Elder and his Second stood up to address the assembly.

“The time has come,” said the Elder commandingly “to make a choice. The Lord of the Dark wishes us to join him in his fight. We must make this decision swiftly. Tell me, oh Twelve, what are your thoughts?” Twelve Goblins were seated on the side of the room and all of them wore a large golden ring. Each ring had a different symbol on it to signify the clan they were in charge of. The first stood up, Ragnok, and walked to the front of the room to address the Elder and the mass of goblins waiting with bated breath.

“We have been oppressed for centuries!” he said loudly and angrily to the room “we have been forced to work for wizards so that they control us! Our clan says no more! We shall not lie down and do their bidding! The Lord of the Dark offers us freedom to do as we will! He shall break the cycle of suppression and we shall be free! We are joining the Lord of the Dark!” He turned to face the Elder and bowed his head then returned quickly to the bench. A smaller Goblin stood up and scurried to the front, trying to not listen to the angry cheering coming from Ragnok’s clan.

“Elfriar,” said the Elder gravely “what has your clan to say?”

“We believe that we ought not to be oppressed, we believe that we ought to have the right to freedom. But we also do not wish to disgrace our ancestors, and by joining HIM we shall be doing just that. There is no excuse for senseless bloodshed and pain. There is violence enough in our bloodline without trying to add to it. I say make peace; I say fight the Lord of the Dark if we have to. I say that we save ourselves and the innocent, then we can earn our freedom.” There were cheers of agreement from one corner of the room, loud and angry cries from the middle and a strange quietness from the front. A goblin statue by the heavy doors glowed a brilliant blue, which prompted an anxious movement in the crowd. Gringotts had invaders and the goblins time had run out. The Elder moved slowly down the stone steps and stood in front of the crowd. He spoke quietly and urgently -

“Tradition says that we must listen to all of your responses. But I fear our time has run out. The Lord of the Dark is upon us and we are to be divided. Do as you will! But I shall not cower to anyone, evil or good! I shall not shame my ancestors by becoming a tool in a war of pitiful humans! Whatever path you must take, remember the face of your ancestors and never forget where you came from. Those who wish to fight with me come to me and stand true! Those who have no opinion leave now for you are in grave peril. Those who are against me…I suggest you join your Lord and fight me.” The hall was suddenly filled with scuffling sounds and angry cries. The Elder watched his Second look at him with probing eyes before joining Ragnok and the other clans who wished to support the Dark Lord. Elfriar joined the Elder and watched as a quarter of the hall rushed out of the doors, wanting to avoid any confrontation.

“They shall die out there,” said the sudden voice of Griphook. Elfriar turned around to stare at the Goblin he had not expected to join their side.

“Why do you say that?” asked Elfriar

“They’re everywhere out there. He has powers they do not dream of, they shall not escape.” said Griphook grimly. The sound of screaming filled the chamber and Elfriar winced inwardly. Time to fight or go down trying. For the face of his ancestors he drew his weapon and stood facing the enemy with honour.

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Harry, Hermione, Ron, Susan, Luna and Neville walked through the old and claustrophobic streets lined with brick houses trying to find Spinner’s End.

“They all look the same,” moaned Ron

“Nonsense,” said Hermione “we just took a wrong turn at the last street. Look it’s all laid out in perfectly logical rows. Just follow me, there are only two streets we haven’t been down yet so we’ll be there soon.” Ron nodded and looked around, having a strange feeling that someone was watching him. He looked to the side and saw that Luna was looking at him, but that wasn’t what was giving him the sudden chills.

“We should walk a little faster,” said Luna dreamily “I have a feeling that we wont be alone with professor Snape for long. We need all the time we can get…” Hermione rolled her eyes and walked a little faster, smirking at Harry as she passed him. He grinned at her playful racing and walked a little faster himself, making Hermione’s eyes narrow as she tried to keep up.

“What do you mean?” asked Neville worriedly

“Not to worry now,” said Luna brightly “just keep walking” They followed Hermione through a narrow alleyway that led into another row of dejected looking buildings. She stopped and chewed absently on her bottom lip, seeming to count with her eyes. She nodded her head right and grabbed Harry’s hand, quickly pulling him in the direction she decided they should go in. After only a couple more minutes of walking they finally found a little street with an old looking sign that read ‘Spinner’s End’. Hermione smiled triumphantly. Harry gave her a little smile and squeezed her hand before taking a quick look around. Something didn’t feel quite right about the place…He waited for a moment longer before heading up the street and finally stopped outside the house on the very end.

“I hate him,” said Ron when he reached Harry “he could have let us Floo. He could have taken down the wards he put up around this place so we could apparate…but no! We had to apparate a few miles away and walk all this way to hear what this greasy git has to say!” The front door was opened suddenly and Ron stared up at Snape not quite knowing what to say.

“Surely even someone as unintelligent as you should know I have wards around my home to let me know when someone approaches. Either that or you were insulting me so that I would hear? I suggest you stop complaining about having to exercise and step inside. Unless you would rather stay on the doorstep and not hear what I have to say. In which case, you will meet your end very quickly…not that it would be too much of a tragedy to the wizarding world.” Ron glared at him and waited for Harry and Hermione to step over the threshold before joining them. They walked into the tiny sitting room and Harry grinned as Hermione tried to discreetly look at the books lining the wall. He caught Snape looking at the two of them with pure loathing but Harry simply smiled. It was sad that losing someone he loved had made him so bitter, but Harry wasn’t going to pretend his feelings didn’t exist anymore. He felt wonderfully exhilarated by these incredibly new feelings and he wasn’t going to let Snape or anyone else get in his way. A small voice in the back of his head began warning him. He wasn’t being totally honest with Hermione, he was putting her in danger. Regardless of his change of heart towards Ginny he had broken up with her for a very valid reason, only to put Hermione in the same kind of danger. He thrust these thoughts away and continued to look around the room, pointedly ignoring Snape’s angry glare and making sure the walls around his mind were firmly in place.

Once they were all congregated they stood there rather awkwardly.

“I would offer you a drink but because of your company I had to send away my servant for the evening. So why don’t we just forget the pleasantries and get on with the task at hand…” said Snape icily

“Sounds wonderful,” snapped Ron “wouldn’t want to drink anything from your house elves anyway, probably die standing here…”

“House elves? Oh no,” said Snape in a mocking voice “no my servant is Wormtail…” Harry started at this then moved to sit on the sofa. He hadn’t forgotten about Wormtail as such, but it brought home the kind of people Snape associated with and he was suddenly anxious sitting there, though he couldn’t place his finger on why.

“What did you want to talk to us about Snape?” asked Harry

“Nagini is the last Horcrux that you have to destroy, am I correct?” asked Snape, his dark eyes glittering and boring into Harry’s head. Harry nodded his head and continued to hold Snape’s gaze. It was nice to see that no matter what secrets he had told Harry to gain his trust, he still hated him.

“There is not usually a time that Nagini is away from the Dark Lord for long. If she is attacked, she reaches out with her mind to summon him. The Dark Lord is rather fond of Nagini…Before this evening I would have advised against trying to kill her for fear that you would have to face him also. But tonight you have an opportunity. The Dark Lord is going to Gringotts…” Said Snape silkily, but was interrupted by Susan.

“Gringotts?” she asked, “so the goblins have joined him?”

“If you would not have interrupted me then you would know the answer by now. The Elder and the clans have been trying to make a decision for quite some time. The Dark Lord is impatient and has decided to…persuade them to his way of thinking. Nagini shall be there, but she seeks the treasure that is rumoured to lie in the deepest of the underground tunnels. I imagine he shall be too busy with the goblins to rescue her if you were to strike quick enough.” continued Snape

“You imagine?” asked Harry quietly

“Well there are no guarantees of anything Potter,” replied Snape, his voice edging towards anger “but I would say you have more of a chance killing her this evening than any other time.”

“What kind of treasure is she after? What does he want with it?” questioned Harry

“Nothing of great consequence,” answered Snape impatiently “the Dark Lord likes to collect things that belong to others. The treasure is the goblins secret pride and he must have it.”

“Why should we trust you?” asked Ron suspiciously “this could just be some trap…”

“I don’t care if you believe me or not,” said Snape, his voice now trembling with anger he was trying to control “do it now or do it later, either way your chances of surviving are slim.” Ron looked outraged and went to stand up but Harry spoke loudly and calmly over him.

“We’ll go tonight, but I thought you were going to tell the Order of any developments with the goblins? Surely they ought to know,”

“Indeed,” replied Snape “and I will inform them after you have already made it into Gringotts. They can provide quite a handy diversion while you kill Nagini.” Harry didn’t like the idea of not telling the Order right away, but he knew that if he arrived with all of them it would be virtually impossible to avoid Riddle and get to the snake.

“When is he planning on going there?” asked Neville, his voice strong and proud.

“He’s already there,” answered Snape. “If you go to the river bank you can apparate from there rather than walk for a few miles. It might speed things up a bit…”

“Nice of you to tell us now,” said Ron sulkily. They all moved towards the door but Luna stepped in front of them and held out a hand to stop them.

“Just one more thing before we go,” she said vaguely. Snape raised his eyebrows and looked at her as if she were vermin. “You might want to stop the boy outside from running away. He’s been watching for a while and I imagine he has plenty to tell Riddle already.” Snape curled his lip and laughed low and sarcastically in his throat.

“I have wards that tell me when someone is approaching, whilst your imagination is undoubtedly fascinating we do not have time for it.”

“He’s not approaching,” said Luna serenely with a smile on her face “he’s just watching and waiting. He’s about to leave though…I think we’re being a little too obvious standing like this.” Everyone looked at her for a moment then Ron and Harry lunged towards the front door. A figure was running down the pathway, his platinum hair glowing in the moonlight. Ron pulled out his wand at the same time as Harry and pointed it at Malfoy.

“STUPEFY!” he shouted, and the red light hit Malfoy squarely between the shoulders and pitched him to the floor. Harry grinned at Ron, impressed with his quick actions. Snape came rushing past them and ran to where Malfoy had landed. He picked him up roughly and carried him back to the house. Harry and Ron checked to see if anyone was watching, but there was no one. The strange feeling that had plagued them earlier had now gone.

They gathered once again in Snape’s sitting room, Hermione and Neville staring at Luna with shocked expressions.

“How did you…” began Neville but was cut off by Hermione’s frantic voice

“What are we going to do with him? We can’t let him go because he’ll tell Riddle everything he saw and you’re life will be in danger! But they’re bound to notice he’s gone missing. What is he told someone he was coming to see you? Then what? Could we pass him off as a traitor do you think? Oh my goodness, there are charms to protect against being seen you know, if only we would have used one we wouldn’t be in this situation!” Harry moved closer to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder comfortingly.

“Calm down,” he whispered into her ear “we can figure all of this out later. Don’t panic yourself over it now, we have more important things to do…” Hermione nodded quickly and rested her head by his neck, breathing in his scent and breathing out in a slow and relaxed pace. He put a finger under her chin and lifted her head to meet his. He kissed her softly and quickly, enough to let her know that he loved her. She smiled happily up at him, almost forgetting where she was and the fact that there was a stupefied Malfoy on the couch.

“Well as irritating and revolting as this is, there are more productive things to be doing. I shall take Draco to Grimmauld place. We’ll have to keep him there until we can figure out what to do. I would suggest modifying his memory but the Dark Lord can break such things. You should go to Gringotts. I’ll have the Order follow you in half an hour. Now get out of my house…” said Snape angrily. Ron glared at Snape once more before turning around and exiting. Hermione grabbed Harry’s hand once again and pulled him out of the door smiling. She wondered at the ease of Harry managing to calm her. If only she had been like this with him during her O.W.L.S, she wouldn’t have been nearly so stressed out. The group rushed forward, following the sound of the nearby river. They stood on the bank and disapparated to Gringotts, wondering what they would find when they got there.

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They approached the door of Gringotts and were surprised to find it wide open, as was the one inside. They walked through the deserted main room and could smell smoke and something putrid that made Harry want to gag. They heard a banging noise coming from the left and saw four goblins and a death eater emerge from a door that he could have sworn wasn’t there before. He raised his wand, but was surprised when the goblins turned around quickly and leapt viciously onto the death eater. A blood-curdling scream filled the room and the death eater twitched a little but then was still. Harry watched transfixed as the goblins jumped up and dragged the body of the death eater back through the door.

“Might be handy to have them on our side,” said Ron quietly. Harry nodded and watched as another goblin entered the main room and stopped in front of them.

“You fight against the Lord of the Dark,” he said bowing to them, then looked at Harry “and you are Harry Potter. What is it you desire within these walls?”

“Erm, we’re here to find and kill a big Snake. What’s your name?” said Harry, taken aback by the goblins quick and polite voice.

“I am called Elfriar, and the snake you seek is trying to steal the finest treasures from our deepest tunnels. If you shall follow me I will take you there. But beware, death is everywhere tonight.” said Elfriar gravely. Harry grabbed Hermione’s hand and led her towards the back of the room and down the passage. The smell of smoke was strong and Hermione began coughing violently. A cart came speeding up to them and stopped abruptly so that they could all climb in. It was a tight fit with all if them in one cart and as soon as Elfriar stepped in it began its quick and bumpy journey to the bowels of Gringotts. Harry put his arm around Hermione and kissed her passionately as the cold air rushed past his face. He pulled away and whispered quickly into her ear -

“Be careful and stay behind me,”

“I can take care of myself,” she said defiantly, though her eyes were smiling. “Besides, I’m not in any danger Harry. I am with you…”

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30. Nagini

A/N- Hello again and Happy New Year to all of you! Thanks for reading along and for all of your wonderful reviews. I wanted to say Thank you to *Mulder* who made sure this chapter wasn’t total rubbish before I posted it, and who has made sense of my muddled thoughts when I thought I was going crazy. Enough babbling, on with the story! Please let me know what you think of this chapter, it was a strange one for me to write. Happy reading!

**Islanzadi** J

The cart careened on the small railway tracks faster and faster. Harry could barely see through his tears from the speed and the smoke that billowed around them. As they descended it got colder and colder, until their breath could be seen escaping in a heavy white haze. In the time that he could see he was terrified. On the floors they sped by were goblins fighting death eaters and each other. The air seemed to smell slightly metallic from the blood shed and there were cries of pain so terrible that Harry winced and shuddered every time he heard them. Hermione clutched onto Harry’s robes and when she turned to face him as the cart started to slow he could read the fear in her warm eyes. The cart slowed further and Harry could finally look at his surroundings properly. They were in a very dark room and the floor was made up of sand and small rocks. There was a glowing light in the distance and a strange whispering sound. The cart came to a stop and Elfriar leapt out unfazed. Everyone else climbed out slowly and stood for a few seconds to stop their weak knees from giving way and to calm their stomachs. Harry held onto Hermione, feeling her tremble at his touch. She finally stepped back and gripped her wand with a determined look on her face.

“Glad we ate quite a while ago,” said Ron weakly. Harry nodded and Luna smiled vaguely, though her brow was furrowed with worry. The small group walked towards the light, whilst scanning their surrounding area. The continued in silence until the light got closer and closer, then Hermione gasped as she saw what was guarding the light.

“A Sphinx,” she whispered. Harry’s shoulders slumped slightly as he remembered the last time he had encountered a sphinx in the maze.

“What’s wrong with that?” asked Susan worriedly.

“Ancient Egyptian custom,” replied Hermione “supposedly the Sphinx asked you a riddle to gain entrance to the tombs of the Pharaohs. If you couldn’t answer the riddle then you were killed immediately.”

“Well…” said Ron anxiously “we’ve had to face worse things than this right? It’s the only way to get to Nagini. Besides Hermione and Luna are really clever…”

“It’s up to everyone,” said Harry quickly “I have to go on either way, but if anyone wants to back out now is the time. I won’t hold it against you at all…”

“No,” said Neville firmly. Everyone else nodded their heads in agreement. Harry started walking towards the Sphinx and Hermione hurried after him, squeezing his hand once again as they approached it. The whispering sound seemed to get louder and louder the closer they got to the Sphinx, and a strange breeze disturbed the sand beneath their feet. They waited in silence as Elfriar stroked the Sphinx’s head with one long pointed finger. The whispering increased and the breeze turned to a wind…then suddenly all was silent. A soft musical voice filled the room and spoke gently -

You have awoken me from my deep sleep,

Now the answer to the riddle you must speak,

But beware the price that must be paid

Is your life, your souls…are you afraid?

“No,” said Hermione loudly and stood with defiance. The whispers grew louder again and the sand began to spiral like a whirlwind…reaching higher and higher into the air where it stopped and began to form into words that read -

What animal begins on four feet, and then walks on two feet, then finally walks on three feet?

Hermione grinned and whispered to Harry-

“Of course it would be this one! This was the riddle posed to Oedipus by the Sphinx in the tales.” Harry just nodded, putting all of his faith in Hermione’s intelligence and memorised texts. Hermione stepped forward to the Sphinx and said loudly -

“The answer is Man.”

The whispers died down and the sand fell to the floor. They waited in silence and for one horrible moment Harry thought it was the wrong answer. Then the Sphinx moved to the side and Hermione scurried through, the rest of them following very quickly behind her. They entered a narrow tunnel made of dirt and sand. They stopped for a moment to congratulate Hermione and to gather their wits.

“There are more riddles ahead,” said Elfriar softly “we must be on our guard.” They all nodded in silence and Harry moved forward to lead the group through the tunnel. They walked through the twisting tunnel that seemed to get narrower the more they progressed, in a wary silence. Harry was getting used to the soft sand under his feet when he suddenly felt a hard object. He stopped suddenly and looked down. There was a small stone tablet buried beneath the sand. He got to his knees and began to brush it away, revealing engraved words of the next riddle.

I have many feathers to help me fly

I have a body and a head

But I am not alive

It is your strength which determines

How far I go

You can hold me in your hand

But I am never thrown

“What?” began Harry, but was interrupted with Luna’s frantic cry of-

“Arrows!” At least a hundred whooshing sounds filled the tunnel and Harry was thrown forward onto the ground by Hermione’s body. He rolled her off of him quickly and saw her pointing her wand in the air as arrows came hurtling towards them.

“CONSTO!” she shouted and the arrows stopped in midair. Harry was breathing deeply and looked around to see if everyone was ok. Ron was sitting on the floor with an arrow hovering two inches away from his face. His face was very pale and he was sweating profusely. Luna stood up from Ron’s side and pointed her wand at the arrows and murmured-

“Lapsus,” The arrows then fell to the floor, the clattering noise bringing everyone back to reality.

“Erm,” said Neville quietly “how many more of these do you think we still have to do?”

“Only one way to find out,” said Harry quietly whilst helping Hermione to her feet. He inspected her face for bruises or cuts and was happy to find none.

“I’m fine,” she whispered, smiling slightly at him.

“Just checking,” he said, giving her a small smile in return. He turned around and walked forward once more, this time holding her hand and keeping her as close to him as possible.

They continued to walk through the winding tunnel until Ron let out a yell and Susan screeched loudly while clinging onto Neville for dear life. Harry looked around quickly to see them all staring at the ceiling looking horrified. He looked up to see hundreds of insects crawling above him. Hermione shuddered in revulsion. They were like no insects he had ever seen. The spiders looked mutated and had more than eight legs, with silvery sinewy bodies. There were ones that looked like centipedes but they were ten times bigger and had large antenna that hung down, trying to reach to the tempting people beneath. The crawling and wriggling above him seemed to continue down Harry’s spine, and he raised his wand to dispose of them.

“Don’t,” whispered Ron, his face paler than before and his voice sounding hoarse. He swallowed hard and looked up at the ceiling again. “They’re spelling out the next riddle.” Harry watched with a feeling of revulsion as the bugs crawled and wormed their way into words.

The loftiest cedars I can eat

Yet neither paunch nor mouth have I

I storm whenever you give me meat

Whenever you give me drink I die

“Fire,” whispered Harry. They all looked at each other in horror as they came to terms with the tunnel being engulfed in flames, and them being stuck inside. A roaring sound filled their ears and Harry could feel heat on the back of his neck. The roaring got louder and louder and as he looked up ahead he could see a wall of fire heading straight for them. He didn’t need to turn around to know the same thing was behind him.

“ICE!!” cried Neville loudly. Harry turned around quickly and thought ‘glacialis’. He heard everyone else shouting the same thing, including Elfriar. The roar stopped suddenly and the entire tunnel was transformed into ice. The all stood still for a moment and breathed deeply, not quite believing the mad things that Goblins would do to protect their treasure.

“At least it got rid of those bugs,” mumbled Ron. Harry gave a half laugh half cough and turned to walk on…only to fall flat on his face. Despite everyone’s high stress levels, they all managed to laugh heartily at Harry’s expense. Harry crawled to his knees and slid himself along…right into Ron. Ron fell back with a crash, which made Harry laugh heartily in return.

“Now now boys,” said Susan in a voice that sounded suspiciously like McGonagall. “There’s a time and a place for that kind of behaviour.” Harry pulled Ron to his feet, still grinning, and they attempted to walk along the ice. The tunnel wasn’t cooperating, as it began slope downwards…causing them to fall over continuously. Finally when the tunnel was so steep they were practically falling down it they decided to simplify things. Well, Luna decided to simplify things and the rest followed. She sat down on the ice and pushed herself forward, sliding very fast down the tunnel. They could hear her laughing hysterically and decided to follow suit. Harry sat on the floor set to Hermione and wrapped his arms around her.

“This is completely insane,” she said worriedly “if you give me a minute I can think of a spell to undo this.”

“It wouldn’t be nearly as fun though,” said Harry with a grin, then pushed them both forwards and sent them sliding quickly after Luna. Hermione screeched while Harry let out a loud-

“WOOHOO!”

“I think we might be alerting our presence with all this noise!” said Hermione loudly. Harry grinned and held her tighter to him, which only made them go faster. The last noise that could be heard before the rest of the group joined them was Hermione’s laughter echoing through the tunnel.

The tunnel came to an abrupt end and threw them into a very dark and musty smelling room. They could see the end of Luna’s wand lit and began to head towards it, only to be knocked to the floor roughly with the arrival of Ron. They were still trying to sort out the muddle when Susan, Neville and Elfriar landed on top of them, and they were once again laughing at their predicament. A loud hissing noise filled the room and put an abrupt end to their laughter. They all leapt up and lit their wands, and Harry could see a large tail slithering amongst piles of shields and valuable stones. He opened his mind and was filled with images of death. Animals having the life squeezed mercilessly out of them, unsuspecting children being bitten and devoured. He ignored those images with great difficulty and focused on the sly voice that filled his mind.

“Foolish boy,” it hissed, “you have come to kill me. I who have served the most powerful wizard of all time. Do you think I would be frightened of something like you? Come and find me…I’ll even open my mouth so you can just walk in. It might make things easier…don’t you think?”

Harry formed his thoughts in his mind and sent them towards Nagini, hoping that it would work.

“I’ll kill you,” he hissed in return “you should be afraid of me if your master is going through all this effort just to kill a seventeen-year-old-boy. Come and get me…I’m not afraid of you.”

A sudden image of Hermione floated through his mind, and he tried to put up his walls quickly. But it was too late and he felt the snake’s pleasure hit his mind.

“You are not afraid of me,” it hissed “but you are afraid of losing her…”

Since no one else in the group could hear this conversation they had no idea what had just transpired. So it came as a great shock when the large snake leapt forward and coiled itself around Hermione’s body before they could even raise their wands. Harry went rushing forward but the snake lashed out at him, narrowly missing his shoulder. Harry ducked quickly and rolled to the side, then stood up again to face the snake. It hissed menacingly at him and tightened the coil around Hermione. Harry could hear her strangled cough and felt panic start to take hold. What she said to him in the cart kept playing over and over in his mind ‘I’m not in any danger Harry. I am with you.’ He let out a scream of rage and moved purposefully towards the snake, only to stop when he heard Hermione’s anguished cry. He didn’t know what to do. If he attacked the snake it would kill Hermione, but if he didn’t it probably would anyway. How could he have been so stupid to try and communicate with it like that? He couldn’t block his mind properly yet; something like this was bound to happen. He was so angry with himself, not only for trying something like that when he wasn’t sure if he was ready, but also for putting Hermione in danger because of his rash decision. He felt Luna, Susan, Ron, Neville and Elfriar all moved slowly next to him. They pointed their wands at Nagini, but the snake only strangled Hermione a little more. Harry felt like his heart was breaking in two every time he heard her yell in pain and was fighting to stop angry tears from coming forward. As his rage and sorrow built in him, he felt the now familiar weight at his side and grabbed the sword quickly. He lunged forward and heard Hermione let out a deafening scream and shoved his sword through the snake’s throat. He heard the screeching sound of pain in his head as the snake thrashed around wildly. Harry leapt forward again and stabbed it once more…then with a shout of anger he thrust it forward a third time, though more clumsily, and the snake fell to the floor. A puff of green smoke left the snake and dissolved into the air. Harry rushed over to where Hermione was and picked her up…only to fall down screaming and clutching his scar.

“H-he’s coming!” he managed to get out

“Oh shit,” said Ron sounding petrified.

“He knows she’s dead,” continued Harry “knows it was me. Quick…we have to get out. Get Hermione out…”

“Harry, we can’t leave you! We won’t leave you!” cried Susan

“Elfriar!” said Harry desperately “get Hermione out now! Neville and Ron go with her, make sure she stays safe!” Ron gathered Hermione up in his arms and followed Elfriar towards the back of the darkened room, with Neville following swiftly behind him. Luna and Susan helped Harry to his feet.

“The Order must be here by now,” said Harry urgently “we’ll send out patronus’ to them!” They each concentrated hard and soon their silvery animals were bounding out of the room. Harry felt a prickle on the back of his neck and shouted-

“SHIELD! QUICKLY!”

All three of them quickly conjured a shield charm that glowed so brightly it was as if they were in a bright white ball. A green light bounced off of the ball…and the black swishing robes and red eyes came walking swiftly towards them. Harry felt his head hurt beyond anything he could have imagined, and he closed his eyes tightly against the pain. He concentrated hard on the walls around his mind and felt the pain slowly ebb away. He opened his eyes and looked around…to find them completely surrounded. Voldemort stood with some death eaters and a large number of Goblins. The death eaters were sending curses towards them but they were bouncing off of them.

“Keep concentrating on the shield charm!” cried Susan “with all three of us we can keep it up until the Order gets here!” Different coloured lights kept bouncing off of them, and Harry could see the menacing crowd start to get restless and begin to throw themselves at the shield. Harry felt something hard trying to probe his mind and concentrated on his walls again. But when he concentrated on his walls the shield charm started to get weaker. He wasn’t strong enough with his mind to be able to do two things at once. He saw Susan suddenly crumble to her feet and knew that the shield had worn off. Voldemort held up his hand and started to walk towards Harry with his wand pointing straight at his chest.

A large crashing noise filled the room as members of the Order began flying into the room through the icy tunnel. Mad Eye landed on two Goblins and stunned them both before turning his wand on the rest of them. Voldemort ignored all of this and continued to walk towards Harry…a ghost of a smile splashed on his snake like face. Harry felt himself getting weaker from trying to hold his mind together and felt Luna holding him up whilst firing hexes at the Goblins trying to grab at her feet. He suddenly saw a face that he recognised coming directly towards him…Lupin. He felt his heart crash to the pit of his stomach as he realised what he was about to do.

“No!” he shouted, “Stay away!” Voldemort whipped around suddenly and raised his wand at Lupin. Harry could hear Tonks yelling in the background -

“Remus! Please don’t be foolish! I love you Remus…please!!!”

“Nothing else to be done! Harry’s life is worth more than my own. Besides, I promised James I would take care pf him. I love you…” replied Lupin very quickly, ducking behind a few fighting Goblins before he was finally standing right in front Voldemort. There was nothing Harry could do. A jet of green light hit him in the chest and he fell to the floor, his sightless eyes staring at the ceiling. Tonks’ screaming hit the back of Harry’s spine and he shuddered violently. He quickly pointed his wand at Susan and said-

“Enervate,” Then he pulled her up quickly. Voldemort turned around quickly and shouted

“Crucio!” but not before Harry had said-

“Defluo!” and disappeared. Voldemort looked around quickly…but Harry was gone. He screamed in rage and pointed his wand towards whatever was in his path and used the cruciatus curse on them instead. The goblins surrounding him howled in pain. Harry reappeared and shouted-

“Petrificus totalus!” but it was deflected easily. Voldemort turned towards him again and laughed forebodingly. He saw a flash of pink in his peripheral vision and saw Tonks leap towards Voldemort with tears streaming down her face.

“CRUCIO!” she shouted, and Voldemort fell to his knees momentarily. He got up less than ten seconds later, laughing manically.

“Did you think that you would have the power to hurt me? You pitiful creature…” he raised his wand and pointed it at Tonks. To Harry’s surprise Tonks simply stood there with her eyes closed, tears falling freely down her face. A horrible thought crashed down upon Harry so hard that he could barely breath. ‘She wants to die so she can be with Lupin. She wants to die so she doesn’t have to live without him. Is this what love does to people?’

“Tonks! Please don’t do this! He wouldn’t have wanted you to give up your life!” pleaded Harry desperately. To his surprise Tonks looked up and smiled.

“Wotcher Harry…” she started but was cut off by Voldemort lifting her up into the air and slamming her down onto Lupin.

“Now…you die like him…AVADA KEDAVRA!” the green light hit Tonks quickly, and she fell into Lupin almost gratefully. Harry felt hot tears cascade down his face. Was this what he was condemning Hermione to? Would she die if anything happened to him? Would this whole battle be for nothing? He felt Luna’s hand find his and he looked up to find her watching him.

“No,” she whispered, “love is so beautiful and magical that you want to die if you lose it. But not everyone does Harry. Some people live on, grateful that something that wonderful touched them, even for the briefest period. Love is power Harry. Love is power he doesn’t understand. Lets show him Harry…show him…” He felt his other hand being held and saw Susan’s tear stained face. He thought of his love for his parents, his love for Dumbledore and Sirius, his love for Lupin, Tonks and his friends. But mostly he thought of Hermione, and how she had awakened something in him he didn’t know existed. He sent all of this towards Voldemort; he opened his mind and sought out his. He used every bit of strength that he had and forced it into him. A howling shriek filled the air and Harry passed out…the blackness welcoming him and soothing his mind.

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Harry woke up in his bed in Grimmauld place. He sat up quickly and saw his friends sitting on the floor silently and Hermione on the end of his bed. Hermione launched herself at him and hugged him tightly, then began raining hot kisses on his face as if she couldn’t believe he was hers.

“Calm down Hermione,” said Ron jokingly “plenty of time for that stuff when we leave…” Hermione blushed a very deep red and hugged Harry harder while burrowing her face into his shoulder.

“What happened?” asked Harry

“No one really knows,” said Susan quietly “one minute everyone was fighting and the next he was gone.”

“Everything’s a complete mess now Harry,” said Luna worriedly “Gringotts is completely closed down. The ministry can’t handle the uproar from the magical population. The Order is in touch with the Goblins that joined us…but it’s no way near the amount that joined his side.”

“Why did Voldemort run? Was it what we did at the end? I remember thinking about everyone I loved. I remember trying to make him see that…” said Harry quietly

“Yeah,” said Neville quietly “that’s what made him leave. But he’s really angry now, and everyone’s paying for it. Especially the muggles…”

“What do you mean?” asked Harry worriedly

“There have been fires and murders all over London. The ministry is having a really hard time modifying people’s memories. Especially when they see their family members being attacked by goblins and werewolves. It’s awful…” said Susan, her voice sounding strained and teary. Harry nodded quietly and lay his head back down on the pillow. He had killed Nagini, now he just had to kill Voldemort and it would all be over. A selfish part of him didn’t want to do that yet, it cried out in resentment and anger. But he knew what had to be done, even if his heart didn’t want to go along with it.

“Wait a minute,” said Harry quickly, feeling a guilty kind of hope start to grow within him “how come Nagini just died like that? I didn’t have to use a spell or anything to get rid of the Horcrux. Was she a Horcrux at all?”

“Yes she was,” replied Hermione quietly “I had a feeling this would happen. Ever since we started this I’ve been wondering how you destroyed the diary without a spell when you had to use a spell for the rest. At first I was worried in case we had to go back and release the Horcrux from the diary…but then that would have contradicted what Dumbledore told you so obviously that wasn’t right. Then I remembered that you used the sword to kill the basilisk. You had Godric Gryffindor’s sword with you when you destroyed the diary. You didn’t need a spell Harry, you had enough power and you didn’t even have to think about it. The same thing happened with Nagini…you just had to use the sword or at least have it with you.” Harry felt hope die within him and then cursed himself for his weakness. He stared at the ceiling for a while thinking about his predicament. He didn’t notice the silent looks from his friends as everyone except Hermione left the room.

“Harry,” she whispered “what’s wrong with you? I know something is burdening you and I’m so worried.”

“I’m fine,” lied Harry

“You’re lying,” said Hermione briskly “what happened behind that veil? What do you have to do?”

“I can’t tell you that Hermione,” said Harry sadly “but I can tell you that Dumbledore was right. Love is the power that Voldemort fears most because he doesn’t understand it. When I drove him away earlier it was you that I was thinking about. You were my strength because I love you so much.” Hermione reached forward and pressed her lips onto his, softly at first then with a frantic kind of urgency. He matched her need and pulled her roughly to him. He pulled off her clothes quickly, feeling a desire for her so fierce he felt as if he were on fire. He rolled her over and positioned himself on top of her, desperate to be as close to her as he could. He smelt her hair and tasted her warm skin as she kissed him feverishly. This wasn’t like the last few times they had been together, this was pure lust and need that was threatening to drive them both over the edge. Harry gripped her hips and pushed himself inside of her, and they rocked together quickly and pushed each other over the brink, showing the fierce passion they had kept buried since their first kiss that now seemed like a lifetime ago. As he heard her cries of pleasure he felt himself losing control, and shuddered fiercely at the strength of his orgasm. Afterwards they lay entwined in each other arms and kissed tenderly.

“I love you so much,” said Harry quietly

“I love you too Harry,” she replied, and then rested her weary head on his shoulder. He watched as her eyes slowly closed and he could feel her steady breath brush against his skin. He fell into a deep sleep due to his weariness and his mind was open and vulnerable. A voice invaded his dreams, a voice that was all too familiar to him.

‘You know where I am…come and find me where it all started Potter. Then we’ll see who’s the strongest. Then we’ll see who lives and who dies…’

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31. St Mungo's and a Secret

A/N- Hello again everyone! These things are more of a habit to write rather than to say anything of importance. The only thing I really wanted to say was a *Thank you* to my beta Mulder who still has not blocked my emails! Enough of my babbling and on with the chapter. Let me know what you think of this one, I’m quite nervous about posting it. Happy reading!

**Islanzadi** J

The next couple of weeks flew by with a flurry of activity for the inhabitants of Grimmauld place, and before they knew it Christmas Eve had arrived. Unfortunately this wasn’t the joyous occasion it usually was. Shortly after the battle in Gringotts they had received an owl from Bill and Fleur who were in Egypt. All of the goblins were divided, and the banks had closed down all around the world. The Daily Prophet had printed an article entitled ‘Tom Riddle…Just a bully that never grew up?’ and it had both positive and negative effects. The positive was that quite a large portion of the wizarding population had decided to stand up and fight, which the Order welcomed gratefully after certain protective measures were taken. The negative was of course the reaction from Voldemort, and the innocent lives all over the country that were taken due to his fury. Hermione was in her element, working with professor McGonagall to organise witches and wizards that had arrived from schools all over Europe to help them. The foreign students were staying at Hogwarts, where the school had been temporarily closed. The students that had gone home for Christmas were dismayed when they received Hogwarts letters telling them not to return until further notice.

Life for Harry had been rather hard the last few weeks. After Lupin and Tonks’ quiet funeral he had decided to start training with Snape at Grimmauld place almost everyday. The battle at Gringotts had showed him that while his powers had certainly increased, they were still not strong enough to compete with Voldemort and actually last more than fifteen minutes in battle. The lessons with Snape left him aggravated and emotionally drained. The death of Lupin and Tonks had hit him harder than he was willing to show, and he was worrying more about the future with every passing day. But despite all of that he knew what had to be done and pushed himself into his training, and desperately tried to ignore news of innocent people suffering all over the country. Members of the Order were out almost every evening trying to stop or clean up the mess of death eater attacks. Harry and the rest of his small group accompanied them almost every evening, but no matter how hard they worked they couldn’t seem to stop every evil thing that happened around them, nor get peoples dying screams out of their minds. So when Christmas Eve arrived, Harry wasn’t particularly in the mood to celebrate it and neither was anyone else. Of course Harry did think it was nice to have everyone staying at Grimmauld Place…well everyone except Charlie who was still in Romania working with Mad Eye and Hagrid. Hermione was delighted when Mrs Weasley brought her parents to stay with them for Christmas, and even Neville was rather excited at the prospect of his grandmother visiting. The house was more than full, and Harry was dismayed to learn he had to share a room with Ron, Neville and the twins. Hermione was sharing a room with Susan, Luna and Ginny and the parents got the other rooms. Their other ‘guest’ was staying in a room that had once been the home of Buckbeak…and they had yet to figure out what to do with him. Snape said the Voldemort was very suspicious as to the disappearance of his young death eater, and Snape had only just been strong enough to not divulge his whereabouts.

Hermione was sitting on the floor late that evening reading a book. Well…trying to read a book. She had so much on her mind that it was completely pointless trying to concentrate on anything. She had spent a while trying to figure out if there was any way she could visit Harry, and had come up with nothing. There wasn’t even anywhere they could go. All of the rooms were taken up and people were even sleeping on the couches in the living room. She was very happy that her parents were here, and that everyone else had decided to come for Christmas…but how on earth were they going to fit everyone into that kitchen for a meal? She sighed again and put the book down to look and Luna and Susan. She had no idea where Ginny was, nor did she particularly care. They had barely spoken two civil words to each other, though Hermione had admitted to Harry that she missed her friend despite the recent events. Love could do strange things to you, and obsession was ten times worse.

“Why don’t you stop huffing and sighing over there and just join us?” asked Susan with a small smile on her face.

“What are you doing?” asked Hermione suspiciously

“Making Christmas cards,” replied Susan

“For who?” asked Hermione, putting her book down and crawling quickly over to where they were seated on the floor.

“Anyone,” said Luna

“What?” asked Hermione, looking at them disbelievingly. Susan laughed at her face and tapped her wand onto a card so that it sang ‘We Wish You A Merry Christmas’ in a loud voice.

“My mother and I used to do this every year,” said Luna quietly “we would make Christmas cards and send them to anyone we wanted. Even people we didn’t know. You don’t have to know someone to wish them a Merry Christmas.” Hermione frowned a little and then moved forward to sit between the two girls.

“I thought it was weird at first too,” said Susan quietly “but ‘tis the season to spread goodwill and all that. Goodness knows everyone could use a little bit of extra cheer these days.” Hermione smiled and picked up a card, then pointed her wand at it so that it played ‘Little Donkey’. The three girls worked for quite a while, singing random Christmas songs that Susan had decided to change to make them funnier. Hermione found herself laughing despite herself, and was surprised to find that she was having fun. Not that she didn’t like doing things for people she didn’t know, on the contrary. She just sometimes found it very hard to do what Luna thought was a good idea.

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Ginny Weasley walked slowly up an old staircase, wondering what the bloody hell she was doing. She had almost turned around a couple of times but had chastised herself until she had continued. Honestly, she wasn’t a wimp…but she couldn’t help but be a little nervous. She hesitated outside the worn looking door and took a deep breath as she pushed it open. There in the room, sitting on a small single bed was Draco Malfoy. He looked up at her with his steel eyes and tried to come towards the door…only to be flung back onto the bed. Ginny gave a half smile, if she wanted she could stand here and tease him all day and there was nothing he could do about it. But that wasn’t why she was here…but why was she here? What on earth was she doing coming up to this room so she could talk to scum like Draco Malfoy? She wasn’t entirely sure yet, but she had this nagging thought in the back of her mind ever since she had heard he was being held here and it was time to satiate it. She stepped over the threshold into the room, suddenly feeling a little more scared now that she was face to face with him. He was a death eater…he had probably murdered people and she had come looking for him? What was she thinking?! She almost turned and walked out, almost…

“What the fuck do you want Weasel?” said Malfoy, his steel eyes gazing at her malevolently. She stopped the path she had been going to take and turned to face him, her head held high in defiance.

“Just wanted to see if you were quite comfortable up here,” she replied sarcastically and moved to sit on a chair in the corner of the room.

“Get out before I make you sorry you were here…” he said, his face starting to flush with anger.

“Oh I’m really scared now. You can’t do magic in here…or had you not noticed that yet?” she replied, smiling smugly. She really was enjoying having the upper hand over Malfoy, it had rarely happened during school.

“There are other ways to hurt you Weasel,” he said threateningly “why don’t you just run off and join Potty? I’m sure he’s waiting for you with open arms down there…sickening.” Ginny’s face went very red before she shot back with-

“Harry and I aren’t together Malfoy. Not that it’s any of your business. Besides…I’m rather enjoying myself up here.”

“What a shame, another one bites the dust. You should know by now that Potter’s head is so huge -” replied Draco, but stopped suddenly to grasp his arm and let out a long breath that was a way of controlling the pain. Ginny was silent for a moment before she said quietly-

“A little pain is a small price to pay for what you’ve done to other people,”

“Fuck off!” replied Malfoy, suddenly lunging towards her as if to strike. He was thrown back onto the bed where he punched the pillow repeatedly. Ginny watched him for a while longer, then slowly turned around and walked out of the room and made her way down to the kitchen, avoiding the room she had to sleep in for as long as possible.

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Harry was jostled awake the next morning, and as his vision began to focus he saw three patches of vivid red hair. He groaned and swung himself out of bed, and then a small smile lit his face at a package on his pillow that had Hermione’s neat handwriting on it. He opened it and saw a small silver picture frame with the words ‘My friend, my lover, my life’ engraved upon it. The picture was of Harry and Hermione, tightly hugging one another with large smiles on their faces. They had taken this photo in a photo booth when they had their date in London. It was a spur of the moment decision and Harry hadn’t seen the photos until now. Suddenly the beaded purse and the rare book he had got her didn’t seem enough, though her screeches from the next room said different. They finished unwrapping their presents and put on their jumpers from Mrs Weasley. They made their way down the stairs and into the kitchen, looking forward to a good old English breakfast. They sat themselves at the table and joined in with Fred and George’s loud singing. Soon enough fat sausages and eggs were placed in front of him and he sighed in contentment. He hoped that today would be more relaxing than the previous couple of weeks…though he doubted Voldemort would stop his killing sprees because it was Christmas day. In fact, he would probably increase them. He saw Hermione looking at her breakfast and laughing at something Susan murmured to her, but then a strange look passed across her face and she left the kitchen quickly. Harry was about to get up and follow her, but a look from Susan stopped him. He supposed Hermione didn’t need him trailing her all the time, especially if she just really needed to go to the loo. She didn’t appear again throughout breakfast, and by the time he found her she was sitting on the couch reading a book.

“Are you ok?” he asked in a concerned voice

“Fine,” she said distractedly “just have a lot on my mind. I suggest you take a leaf out of my book and grab the bathroom while you can. We’re all going to Hogwarts for Christmas dinner and if you wait for everyone else you’ll have to shower in freezing cold water…”

“Erm…Ok,” said Harry and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before taking her advice and rushing to the bathroom. He narrowly beat Ron…

After everyone was ready they finally gathered around the fireplace and one by one travelled to Hogwarts. Harry hated using Floo powder, but since you couldn’t apparate inside Hogwarts they had decided to use Floo instead. Neville had suggested disapparating to the entrance of Hogwarts…but Harry, Ron and Hermione didn’t feel too comfortable with the idea of being unprotected. Especially if there were werewolves around. They tumbled out of the fireplace in McGonagall’s office one by one and filed out into the corridor, brushing themselves off along the way. Hermione decided that she wanted to show her parents around, and Neville and his grandmother decided to join her. Harry, Ron, the twins and Ginny all headed for the Quidditch pitch whilst Susan and Luna decided to go to the library. The school was full of witches and wizards from all over Europe, and Hermione noticed more students from Beauxbatons than from Durmstrang. For a moment she thought she saw someone that looked suspiciously like Viktor Krum, but she quickly averted her gaze. She didn’t have the time to deal with anything like that when she had so much on her mind as it was.

After Hermione had given her parents the guided tour she showed them to the Great Hall (where Mr Weasley was anxiously awaiting them) and decided to find the library. She had missed it a lot, and it would be nice to take a stroll down memory lane and get lost in a book. It seemed like she had been gone from Hogwarts for so long. She walked into the library and saw Luna and Susan sitting at a table with a large book open before them. As she got closer she saw that on the left side of the page was a picture that she recognised all too well.

“Why do you need to read a book about the veil?” asked Hermione quietly.

“It’s always good to read about the unknown, wouldn’t you say so?” questioned Luna dreamily

“What’s so important about the veil?” asked Hermione, trying to sound casual.

“This book says that the veil is the centre of everything. It was discovered by our kind centuries ago, and they actually built the ministry around it so that they could study it. They still don’t know that much about it though…” said Susan quietly

“But it’s the beyond right?” asked Hermione, sitting herself down “Sirius fell through it and he died. So if you go through it you die…you cross into the beyond. But then how did you and Harry get back?”

“There’s more to the veil than meets the eye,” replied Luna, pushing her wand behind her ear and turning one of the large pages. “I knew that we could get back because we were invited. So that means that you don’t necessarily die once you go through the veil. But I’m not sure how one would come back if they weren’t invited…or even if they could.”

“What does it matter anyway?” asked Hermione irritably “Surely we should be worried about defeating Voldemort rather than what’s behind the veil. Unless something that happened to you and Harry behind the veil is important to Voldemort’s defeat. Am I right?”

“I can’t answer those questions,” said Luna vaguely

“You can’t or you won’t?” demanded Hermione

“We all have secrets to keep Hermione,” said Susan “you know about that just as much as we do.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked Hermione, her voice shaking a little.

“She means that you are keeping a secret from Harry and he is keeping one from you. I can’t answer any questions you have about the veil Hermione. That’s because Harry trusts me and he thinks it’s in your best interests if you don’t know. You think it will be best for Harry if you keep your secret from him too, and we won’t tell him either,” said Luna, her voice sounding a little weary.

“How do you know these things?” said Hermione as she put her head on her arms and tried to stop her sudden tears. How could she have ever been so stupid?

“Hermione you’re a wonderful person and I’ve come to think of you as a friend,” said Susan slowly “You really do want to help people and you have a brave heart. But sometimes you don’t have faith in what you can’t see. Sometimes you rely too much on logic and not enough on your heart. You don’t want to believe in anything that you consider to be impossible, and rather than have an open mind you close up and refuse to acknowledge what is staring you in the face.” Hermione felt like she had been slapped in the face…but it was also so close to home that she also felt ashamed.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly

“Don’t be sorry,” continued Susan “just have more faith in your heart and don’t always listen to your head.” They sat in silence for a while longer and eventually began to read through the book again, and Hermione felt like she finally had some female friends who she could trust almost as much as Harry and Ron.

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After a large Christmas dinner the group decided to abandon the twins, Ginny and their parents and take a walk around the grounds. Neville had to go to St. Mungo’s to visit his parents, and he had asked if they would join him. Harry was rather startled at this at first, but readily agreed. Christmas was a hard time for Neville; if ever he needed his friends around him it was now. He joined hands with Hermione and they walked to the lake in a leisurely fashion. He kept sneaking sideways glances at her, wondering why she was acting so detached. He was just about to ask her when he heard the sound of hooves approaching. They turned around to see Firenze approaching, with a number of Centaurs behind him. Harry reached into his robes to grab his wand, sure that if Firenze was with other Centaurs then they were in trouble.

“Harry Potter,” said Firenze in his deep and calming voice “We meet at last. We do not have much time to converse with you for we are needed in the forest.” Harry eyed the other Centaurs that had stopped about ten metres away from where they were standing.

“I thought you were exiled,” he said quietly

“They have seen that we must join you or perish. The forest has been invaded and we are being forced out. HE tried to make us join his side and we refused. Many of our group paid for that with their lives. I am here to pledge our allegiance with you Harry Potter. I hope for your sake that the stars are wrong. Now I must go, we shall meet again at the end. Until then, good luck.” replied Firenze in an equally quiet voice. Then he galloped away as quickly as he arrived. They stood there for quite a while after they had gone, each lost in their own thoughts. Ron looked towards the forest with worry. He had been in that forest too many times already and he was hoping that Harry wasn’t going to suggest that they help the Centaurs. Not that he didn’t want to…more because he thought it was almost certainly suicidal with all the unknown creatures in there. For Harry it seemed like his fate was closing in upon him and he had to fight a sudden feeling of claustrophobia. He grabbed Hermione’s hand and led her back towards the castle…he really didn’t feel like walking anymore.

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They walked quietly through the halls of St Mungo’s and eventually came to a stop outside the room that Neville’s parents stayed in. Neville’s grandmother ushered them in and closed the door firmly behind her. Luna approached Mrs Longbottom and held out a paper card that was decorated with snowmen and Christmas trees. To their surprise she opened it and when a loud voice shouted out ‘We all want some Figgie pudding’ a small smile came to her face. Harry looked to the side and saw that Hermione had a large smile on her face and she gave Mrs Longbottom a friendly hug. The woman pulled away gently and pushed a sweet wrapper into her hand. Hermione went to thank her but her words died in her throat as she saw a pleading look in Mrs Longbottom’s eyes. She frowned and thanked her quietly. Mrs Longbottom then backed away and began to hand them out to everyone…but leaving the neatest one for Neville. Hermione smiled at this scene and looked at the wrapper fondly before sitting down on a plastic chair by the window. Susan went to join her and gave her hand a comforting squeeze.

“Are you ok?” she asked quietly

“Yes…I think so…just have a lot on my mind.” replied Hermione

“You need to do something to occupy it then,” said Susan smiling as she smoothed out the Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum wrapper. Hermione nodded and started to smooth out her own wrapper carefully. She looked up to see Mrs Longbottom looking at her with a shaky smile on her face. She tried to smile back but suddenly felt uneasy. The smile she was receiving didn’t seem even remotely genuine. In fact it seemed almost beseeching. She looked at Neville’s mother for a moment longer…then raised the wrapper she had been given into the air so that she could see it. Alice Longbottom nodded frantically and her eyes seemed to widen though her smile never wavered. It seemed like she wanted to say something but because she was a prisoner in her own mind, she was unable to do so. Hermione’s own smile seemed to vanish suddenly and was replaced by something that would have been clear to Harry and Ron but wasn’t that clear to Susan yet. She bent her head and studied the wrapper for a few more minutes, biting on her bottom lip in concentration.

“Get me a quill and some parchment,” she said distractedly, still tracing the wrapper with her finger. Susan went to Mrs Longbottom’s bedside table and picked up the requested items, then returned them to Hermione. She put the parchment on her knee and wrote out the words:

Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum

Then, underneath that she wrote several different words that she scratched out and re wrote several times. Almost ten minutes later she finally had a complete sentence written on the parchment, which read:

Gold Bribe Below St. Mungo’s

Susan inhaled sharply and looked at Hermione in amazement. Hermione stood up quickly and walked over to Mrs Longbottom.

“Alice,” she whispered, and then held up the wrapper. Neville’s mother nodded enthusiastically, but to the outsider it simply looked like the dear woman was excited to give her visitors some sweets. She felt momentary doubt…after all it was rather far fetched and Mrs Longbottom really was out of her mind. But is she? She wondered and remembered what Susan had told her earlier that day ‘...have more faith in your heart and don’t always listen to your head’ She nodded to Mrs Longbottom and turned to leave the ward, with Susan and the rest of the confused crowd following closely behind her.

“Where do you think we should go?” asked Susan

“Well…under St Mungo’s I suppose. Lets take the lift down to the lowest level and see where that takes us.” said Hermione quickly. Harry and the rest of them caught up to her quickly, wondering what on earth was going on. When Hermione quickly told them in a breathless voice, Neville stopped in his tracks.

“You’re kidding right?” he asked, his face flushed with embarrassment “she’s nuts. It’s not her fault she’s that way but it doesn’t make the truth any less. I think you might be going nuts yourself Hermione.”

“How long has she been giving you those?” asked Hermione

“Ever since I can remember,” replied Neville rather stiffly

“And you don’t think that there’s a possibility that there’s more to it? How many other kinds of sweets does she eat Neville? How many of those wrappers has she given you?” asked Hermione, her own face flushed with excitement.

“Well…she’s only ever given me Drooble’s wrappers. But you can’t be serious Hermione! She doesn’t know her right from her left, like she’s going to be able to figure out something like that!” said Neville, sounding very embarrassed.

“There’s only one way to find out.” said Hermione, and then started to walk towards the lift. Everyone except Neville got into it. He stood in the hallway looking at them uncertainly. The doors started to close and with a final sigh he moved quickly towards them and pushed his way into the small space just before the doors closed.

“Can’t believe the things you get me into,” he mumbled.

The lift carried them down to the basement of St Mungo’s and when the doors opened they quickly stepped out into a long grey corridor. It looked like the floor, ceilings and walls were made of old unfinished cement. There was hardly any light and their shadows were barely visible on the walls. They moved together to form a tight circle and got their wands out. They then started walking quickly and quietly up the narrow grey corridor, hoping to stay unnoticed. They walked for a couple of minutes and then came across another dimly lit grey corridor that crossed the one they were on.

“Should we go left, right, or straight ahead?” asked Ron quietly. He looked around, but the corridors all looked the same. There was no way that they couldn’t get lost in this place.

“No idea,” said Hermione “maybe we should split up and whoever finds something sends their patronus to the others.”

“I don’t like the idea of splitting up,” said Susan quietly “whenever you read books where the characters split up they always get lost…or hurt…or killed.”

“We’ll be fine,” said Neville firmly “it’s a load of rubbish anyway. We’re only doing this to satisfy Hermione’s curiosity.” Hermione narrowed her eyes at him and grabbed Harry’s hand to pull him forward. Harry went all too willingly.

“We’ll go forward, you lot can divide up and go the other ways.” she said, then turned around and strode forward.

“Well…” said Ron “probably not a good idea to piss Hermione off mate. She’s not usually wrong about this stuff either. I’m going left I think, come on Luna. You can be my good luck and save me if a mean Healer comes my way…” Luna giggled and followed Ron, her face flushing a deep red colour.

“Come on,” said Susan rolling her eyes as she started to walk down the corridor that led to the right.

Harry and Hermione walked forward through the long grey tunnel. It started to get smaller the further they walked and the ceiling was only a couple of inches above Harry’s head. It was a good thing Ron didn’t come this way, thought Harry, he’d be hunched over like an old man and complaining for everyone to hear. He chuckled to himself and continued walking…only to stop at sudden voices that sounded far too close for Harry’s comfort. He looked at Hermione’s panicked face and pulled her back the way they had come. The voices were getting closer.

“Honestly, I don’t see what the big deal is. Just give them to him and he’ll leave us alone.” a cold female voice said.

“I want out,” said a nervous male voice “I can’t do this anymore…it’s just not right.”

“Not right?” the cold voice exclaimed, “it’s taken you all these years to discover it’s not right? Sometimes it’s not about what’s right and wrong. This is about your life. If you don’t give him what he wants you will die,”

“We’ve done enough throughout the years. We’ve ruined enough lives…why do we need to give them to him now? It’s not like they can do anything. They’re worse than dead,” said the timid mans voice. Harry looked at Hermione with worry…they were almost upon them. Suddenly he felt his arm being pulled to the right and saw that Hermione was pulling him towards a very small door in the side of the corridor. He could have sworn it wasn’t there before. She opened it and pulled him inside, then closed the door quietly. The voices went past them less than a minute later, and then they were plunged into blessed silence. Hermione turned around and lit her wand. They were in a very small and narrow hallway that was made of marble. They followed it in silence for about five minutes, when they heard footsteps coming from their left hand side. They stopped and pushed themselves against the wall, waiting with bated breath.

“Don’t like this,” said a voice Harry recognised all too well “should send our patronus to Harry now…” Harry stepped out to see the faces of Ron, Susan, Luna and Neville all looking at him in shock.

“Harry!” cried Susan “you scared the shit out of me!”

“Not literally I hope?” asked Luna dreamily.

“Did you find a door too?” asked Harry

“Yeah,” said Ron, looking around with unease “we saw one in the side of a wall and Loony here thought it would be a good idea to investigate… we bumped into Susan and Neville here a few minutes ago.”

“I think it’s a little too convenient that we all found a door that led us all to the same hallway. Feels like a trap to me…” said Susan worriedly. Harry agreed but Hermione didn’t seem too sure.

“Well it could be like the magic that the room of requirement in Hogwarts uses I suppose. If you really want to find the gold a door appears…“ said Ron slowly.

“Do you really think that the people taking the bribes, the people behind this whole thing, would be that stupid?” asked Susan.

“Well it’s not like too many people would be looking for a pile of gold underneath a hospital,” said Hermione “I don’t think something like this would cross many sane people’s minds. But I also agree with Susan, they must have some kind of protection around this place which means that not only is our time here going to have to be short…but we’ll also have to be on our guard.”

They continued to walk forward down the small tunnel, expecting the trap to be sprung at any moment. After a while they saw a small wooden door ahead and walked cautiously towards it. Hermione pointed her wand at it and it opened with a loud creak that caused them all to leap backwards unexpectedly and Susan to roll her eyes and mutter-

“Just like in the bloody books,”

The sight before them made them breathe in deeply. The small wooden door led to a dusty room that was filled to the ceiling with gold galleons. Ron gasped in amazement and walked forwards as if mesmerised. Hermione walked quickly through the piles of gold to a small desk in the corner of the room. Filing cabinets and old cobwebs surrounded it. She looked around and opened the drawer to one of the cabinets, which seemed to have endless files in it. She dug through it frantically for what seemed like quite a while but was actually only about twenty seconds. She pulled out a cream coloured file that looked like it had been through the mill a few times. Written on the front were the words:

Frank and Alice Longbottom

She put it on the desk and opened it, swiftly scanning the contents. After a few minutes she shoved the file into her robes and rushed towards the door.

“We have to get out now,” she said quickly.

“What is it?” asked Harry worriedly

“The death eaters have been paying St Mungo’s to keep patients sick. Some of them can be cured, like Neville’s parents,” she said quickly

“But why?” asked Harry “why would they waste their time trying to keep patients sick?”

“I don’t know!” said Hermione anxiously “All I know is that Neville’s parents can get better, they just haven’t been able to!”

“But why would the death eaters go to those lengths? Why wouldn’t they just kill the patients they wanted out of their way?” asked Ron

“Obviously only a few people in St Mungo’s are involved in this. Why attract all that attention when slipping them a little gold is all it will take? Besides, they didn’t have the guts to act openly before now. Now that Riddle is here to support them they’re not giving gold anymore. You heard those people talking earlier on Harry. They want the Longbottom’s or people will die. I imagine that the Longbottom‘s are only the first to go. Goodness knows what they want with the other people.”

“We have to get my mum and dad out of here,” said Neville worriedly. There was a loud crash behind them and a pale witch with greasy brown hair and a very long face came in the door on the other end of the room and stopped at the sight of them. She had her wand out and was pointing it at them menacingly, but Neville had already ducked behind a large pile of gold to get out of her vision. She looked around frantically for him, but didn’t get too far. A jet of red light hit her in the chest as Neville shouted-

“Stupefy!” The woman fell to the floor with a loud thud. Hermione quickly put her in a full body bind, and then the group ran out of the room and into the small marble corridor as fast as they could. As Harry and the rest of the group neared the intersection where they had met not too long ago they heard the hurried footsteps of people approaching. Two wizards were running towards them, one from the left and one from the right. They ran forward as Harry cast a shield charm on them, and Harry could feel the spells rebounding off of it. Luna and Ron then whirled around and sent a few hexes at the wizards. One of them fell down; the other continued to run after them. One against six wasn’t really too much of a problem, and Hermione shouted-

“Petrificus totalus,” and the remaining wizard was no longer a problem. They ran quickly out of the marble tunnel and through the winding grey corridors. Once they reached the lift Hermione breathlessly pushed the button to take them to the floor where Neville’s parents were and Luna quickly pulled off her shoe and mumbled-

“Portus,”

“That’s illegal,” said Hermione with a grin. The lift dinged and came to a stop. They darted out through the doors and ran into the ward where Neville’s grandmother was peacefully sipping a cup of tea and chatting to Neville’s parents. Naturally seeing her grandson and his friends’ tear across the ward ruined the peaceful mood, but she had little time to dwell on it. Neville grasped her arm and held on to his mothers’ hand. Harry rushed over and grabbed onto Neville’s dad. Luna put her shoe onto the bed and they all leant in and put their hands on it, Neville’s parents needing the guidance from Neville and Harry. There was a familiar tugging in Harry’s navel and he found himself standing outside of Grimmauld place. He breathed deeply and looked around him. Neville’s grandmother looked absolutely livid, so she was the first to be ushered into the house.

After they got into the house Hermione decided to contact the Weasley’s and her parents to let them know where they were. Susan was making everyone a cup of tea and Luna was making sure that everyone was comfortable, especially Neville who was extremely shaken up. Ron had sent his patronus to other Order members so that they were informed about what had happened and could act accordingly. The witches and wizards involved in the bribe would have to be taken care of, and there was undoubtedly a good use for all that money now that the banks had closed down and no one had access to their own funds. Harry sat down at the kitchen table to think and noticed a letter addressed to him. He opened it with a smile on his face, knowing who it was from already. It was a letter from Hagrid asking them to come to Romania the next day. Ron came into the kitchen and looked over Harry’s shoulder.

“But tomorrow’s Boxing Day! Christmas day was already busy enough; you’d think we would be able to relax on Boxing Day. But oh no! We have to go to Romania…” Harry laughed and gratefully accepted a cup of tea from Susan. After today he really needed a cup of tea…

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32. Norbert's return

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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33. A Secret Revealed

A/N- Hello again everyone! I wanted to thank everyone for their wonderful reviews; I really enjoy reading what you all have to say. Thanks to all of you readers that have just started reviewing, I really do appreciate your comments. Also **huge** thanks to Mulder, who managed to get this chapter back to me in one day when I was running really behind schedule! I also wanted to write a little note to ‘hmm…’ who has graced me with a couple of reviews. You need to go away and get a life. Whilst you may have bullied another author into leaving this Website you won’t bully me. I think you’re unbelievably pathetic and if you write me any more reviews I’ll simply delete them. If you want to think those things about me then go ahead. Go and bother someone that cares would you? Anyway, on with the story! Here’s to you Pottergirl, for the lovely email telling me to get my arse in gear and hurry up with a chapter! Oh and for those of you with a problem with the font…let me know if it’s any better this time around! Happy reading!

**Islanzadi** J

Hermione stared anxiously at Harry’s face waiting for an answer, but with the way things were looking she was going to have to wait a while. Harry’s face was extremely pale and he was staring at the snow-covered floor in utter silence. She nervously chewed on her bottom lip and held her breath for his response. After what seemed like a lifetime, he spoke in a very hoarse voice-

“Shit,”

“Not exactly the response I was looking for,” she said slowly, the faint glimmerings of anger slowly starting to form in her mind. She heard Harry sigh deeply then watched as he put his head between his hands. The faint glimmerings intensified suddenly and before she knew it she was standing up and glaring down at him.

“Well this is wonderful Harry,” she said icily “after ten whole minutes all I’ve managed to get out of you is the word shit, which is not the highest ranking word in my vocabulary. When you’ve had time to think this through, feel free to come and talk to me like an adult.” With that she turned around furiously and began to stomp angrily through the snow. The rational part of her was saying ‘This is a shock to him, how many seventeen year olds react well when they find out they’re going to be a father? Not to mention that you yelled the word ‘Fuuuuuck!’ when you found out so you’re hardly in the position to judge him. You’ve had a few weeks to get used to the idea, he’s had ten minutes!’ But regardless of all her rational thinking she still felt furious. Whilst she hated to admit it, she had sort of gotten used to the idea and she had hoped he would have reacted positively. She was infuriated simply because she was so hurt, and the feeling of being that vulnerable to anyone made her suddenly scared. ‘Congratulations Hermione, you’re a hormonal nutcase’ she thought angrily. Before she could think anything more she felt a firm grasp on her arm and found herself being swung about abruptly. She came face to face with Harry, and was disturbed to find tears running down his face. Disturbed was a mild word, and her heart caught in her chest. All the anger she had been feeling melted away. Now she was just afraid.

“Hermione,” he said throatily “please come and sit down with me,” she nodded her head quietly then quickly said-

“Maybe we should go inside and talk. It’s awfully cold out here.”

“Not inside,” he said slowly “I want this to be private.” he looked around for a moment, then held her hand and led her towards the large metal fence. They found the gate and quietly made their way inside, and then followed a small stone pathway to a large cave. They entered the cave and walked in the darkness until a pair of yellow eyes stood out amongst the darkness. There was a flash of orange and suddenly a fire was before them. Hermione looked in amusement at the fire, it seemed that Norbert had somehow acquired a wooden fence and had decided to keep it in his cave. She felt a little bad for the poor owner that had probably watched in horror as a large black dragon took off with his fence. Norbert shifted his huge weight around and slowly walked up through the cave. Harry took off his coat and lay it on the floor in front of the fire and motioned for Hermione to sit down. She felt slightly nauseous at the thought of the conversation that she knew they had to have. She just wanted to hold him close and make him kiss her until it all went away. But it would be foolish, and she knew that the longer they put off talking the harder it would become for Harry. She looked over at him and could see him trembling slightly as he looked at the floor, the walls, the fire…everything but her.

“So…” she said quietly whilst tracing her hand on the cold stone floor. “I want you to know that I didn’t mean for this to happen. I can’t believe that I would be so stupid! I can’t believe that I would forget something so simple as a contraceptive charm. It seems like ever since you and I happened I sort of got lost up in all these feelings. I haven’t really been thinking about the real world at all. I, erm, just wanted you to know that.”

“I know Hermione,” he said softly whilst staring into the fire “I know…” Hermione waited anxiously for him to say more, but it seemed that was all he planned on saying. She knew that she should keep silent and wait for him to talk, she knew that she should wait patiently. But she was so nervous that she thought if she didn’t say something she might cry. She hated it when she was weak.

“I’m scared too Harry,” she finally said, breaking the agonising silence “I’m not ready for this! What seventeen year old is ready to be a parent? None I say, not one of them. What will my parents think? Teenage pregnancies are much more accepted in the wizarding world than in the muggle one. What are my relatives going to say? They’re going to think I’m some sort of tart! Not to mention my career. It’s going to be so hard raising a child and continuing with my education. But at least we have each other Harry. At least we love each other, and surely as long as we have that we can cope with this. Surely we can make this work? I’m not saying it’s not going to be hard, or that we’ll be perfectly happy all the time. But we’ll make it work. This baby might not have two older successful parents, but it will still have parents who love it and-”

“Stop,” whispered Harry, interrupting her. She stopped quickly and stared at him, knowing that something was wrong but still wanting to talk over it. She knew she was only talking so much because she didn’t want to hear what he had to say. She knew what he was going to say. She sort of thought that she had known all along, but she was so blinded by her feelings that she chose not to see. She didn’t want to know what he had to tell her because it would change everything. She had ignored all the obvious signs and chose to pretend everything was ok. Her life would never be the same again. She absently put her hand on her stomach and rubbed it slowly, staring into the fire as she concentrated on keeping her mouth shut. She knew he had to talk; he had to end their dream world now. It had been like living a fantasy with Harry these last few months. But there was a time to get back to reality and she knew that this was the time. She squeezed her eyes shut and felt hot tears trying to force their ways out through her eyelids.

“The spell is demorior,” he said sadly. “Dumbledore told me when we went through the veil.” Hermione felt like she wanted to scream until her voice stopped working. She could be wrong. She had to be wrong… ‘For once in my life, let me be wrong!’ she pleaded, but to whom she didn’t know.

“D-demorior,” she stuttered, trying to stop herself from crying but found herself shaking uncontrollably instead “that’s old Latin. It means…”

“To die for love of,” interrupted Harry softly, his tears flowing freely now.

“I don’t understand!” said Hermione, her voice louder and angrier than she meant it to be. “Why can’t you just kill him with a curse? Why does it have to be that? It makes no sense to me Harry!” But she hated to admit that it made perfect sense, and it was something she had been worried about ever since he had told her about the prophecy, and ever since she had found out that he was the heir of Gryffindor.

“It’s what Godric used when he killed Salazar. He loved Salazar like a brother before their friendship ended. But to kill Salazar and start the cycle over, he had to forgive Salazar and then show him love. Just like Voldemort Hermione. The key to this whole thing is love. That’s what Voldemort doesn’t understand. It’s the power he knows not. A simple curse won’t kill him. He’s too deep into the dark magic and he’ll be expecting it. He’s got years of experience on me; he can deflect something like an Avada Kedavra. But there’s one thing he can’t defend himself against because it repulsed him too much to learn about it. Love Hermione. Just love…” replied Harry, his voice sounding weary.

“But to sacrifice yourself Harry?! Why? Surely you can just show him love? Surely you can just show him what love is all about and…and…” she stuttered hopelessly. He turned to face her then and smiled sorrowfully at her.

“I love you Hermione. I love Ron and all my friends. I love my life despite what I’ve been through, maybe because of what I’ve been through. I would lay down my life for all of you, so that you can carry on living. I was supposed to die when I was a baby. I’ve been living on borrowed time, now it’s time to end this once and for all. When I say those words Hermione, he’ll finally see how much I love everyone. How much I love you. That I would be willing to die for you is something he cannot even begin to comprehend, and he won’t have time to. ‘Neither can live while the other survives,’ well neither of us will survive this Hermione. It’s not that I was upset about you being pregnant Hermione. It was a shock to know that you’re pregnant with my child…and I’ll never know it. I guess Trelawny didn’t see this part coming,” he said quietly, and then he felt Hermione’s arms flinging themselves around him and pulling him close.

“Oh Harry,” she sobbed desperately “please Harry don’t leave me. There has to be another way. There just has to be! Dumbledore must have another solution, he can’t make you do this!”

“Hermione,” said Harry gently, lifting her face to meet his “he’s not making me do anything. There’s a cycle of evil that has to be broken…It’s like a wheel that keeps on turning and it’s my turn to end the cycle so it can start again. This is the way it’s been done throughout the centuries. Good verses evil, hate verses love. I will willingly give my life so that everyone can live peacefully. I will willingly give my life so that everyone can be happy. But you’re what made me certain I had to do this. You deserve a life Hermione…and so does our baby. I’m doing this because I can love Hermione…and because it’s my destiny.” he finished simply, and then kissed her softly on her lips. She broke down crying then, and cried so loudly that Harry thought he would die if he had to listen to it for a moment longer. But he held her, and he rocked her until she was eventually lying silent against him. She hiccupped and shuddered every now and then from the force of her tears. They sat there together until the fire died. Eventually she slept and he watched her until the sun rose on the horizon. Then he slept too.

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Lunch that day was very miserable. Everyone noticed Hermione’s depressed mood, and after attempting to eat half a sandwich she eventually gave up and went upstairs to sleep. Harry wanted to follow her, but he knew she needed some time alone. She needed to think and get hear head on straight. He knew she would be bounce back in a few days, even if it was just to try and research another way for him to destroy Voldemort. He also knew that it wouldn’t work. Dumbledore loved Harry, so did his parents and Sirius. They would try to spare his life, and it had broken their hearts as much as his to tell him this. They too had hoped that there would be another way. But if it kept Hermione busy until the end, if it kept her from breaking down then he would let her research it. She needed a little hope…everyone needed a little hope. He still couldn’t get his mind around the idea of being a father, nor the fact that he would never get to meet it. One thing he had always looked forward to was having a family, and now it was all being ripped away from him before he had even had the chance to experience it. He sighed heavily and pushed his plate away. He needed some fresh air. He got up and walked out of the room without a word, leaving a very silent room behind him.

“I take it he finally told her then,” said Ron sadly

“You guess right,” said Susan quietly

“She told him she’s pregnant too,” sighed Luna “no wonder he’s so depressed.”

“WHAT?” shouted Ron, his jaw practically hitting the floor, while Neville seemed to be choking on his tea.

“Oh yeah,” said Susan distractedly “Hermione’s pregnant.”

“Well thanks for keeping me up to date,” said Ron sarcastically.

“I still don’t understand what’s going on,” said Neville in a confused voice. “They were fine yesterday. I mean I know that them being a mum and dad so young is going to be hard, but if anyone can do it they can.”

“Oh Neville,” said Susan sadly “there’s always more to our lives than meets the eye I’m afraid. Do you want to tell him Luna? Or shall I?”

“I’d rather you did Suze,” replied Luna vaguely “I’ve got a few things I need to think about. I think a walk would do me the world of good right now,” then she stood up and walked quickly through the kitchen door. Ron sat there for a moment, seemingly having a battle in his head, which gave his face some very odd characteristics. Then he too stood up and walked out of the kitchen door. Susan took a large gulp of her tea and started from the very beginning…

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Harry walked without really knowing where he was going. He stared at the snow under his shoes and tried to think of anything except Hermione, their baby and his impending death. But his mind was whirling with stupid thoughts. What would it be, a boy or a girl? What would they name it? If this didn’t have to happen, if he didn’t have to die…would they have been happy? Could they have made this work being so young? The thing that was upsetting him the most was that he knew the answer to both these questions was yes. They could have because they loved each other, and a love like theirs never dies. He had felt so angry that he would have to leave Hermione and just when he thought he was coping he had to deal with another blow to his heart. All he wanted was to be happy; all he had wanted was a normal life. But he couldn’t have that because of Voldemort, and that enraged him. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. He knew there was no point in getting angry; nothing was going to change what had to happen.

He looked up and found himself outside of Norbert’s cave. He wasn’t surprised that his feet had carried him here. He wanted to spend time with Hermione and put off what he had to do. But he knew that was wrong and the sooner Voldemort was dead the sooner the world could get on with their lives and live in peace. He waited outside the cave for a moment before finally stepping inside and walking the large tunnel. It was lighter in here now because there were several little fires all around. No doubt Norbert had been out to find more wood. He had almost reached the ashes from the wooden fence when he heard a movement to his left. He turned and saw Norbert’s bright piercing eyes staring at him. They stared at each other for a moment before Norbert finally bent his head and sank slowly to the floor. A small curl of smoke escaped from his nose and Harry gave a half smile. He walked over to Norbert and slowly started to stroke his scales again. He found himself talking to the dragon, though he wasn’t sure why. But he did know that it felt relaxing to be talking about nothing in particular, just concentrating on keeping his voice gently. Harry wasn’t sure how long he had stood there talking, but it felt like only a few minutes had gone when Norbert suddenly stood up and stretched out his wings. Then he stretched his neck forward and opened his mouth into a wide yawn. Harry couldn’t help but feel a little nervous at the rows of white sharp pointy teeth. Norbert then turned to stare at Harry once more, only this time he didn’t blink. Harry wasn’t sure what this was supposed to mean. Either it was friendly, or he had better start running. He was just about to play it safe and back off when he saw Norbert dip his side towards him. He couldn’t possibly mean… Harry turned to look at Norbert as he slowly edged towards his side. Norbert dipped down a little lower and blew out a puff of smoke from his nose. Harry got the message…Norbert was getting a little impatient. He carefully clambered onto the dragon’s back, deftly avoiding the few sharp spikes that adorned his body. Norbert started to walk forwards and Harry gripped onto the back of his neck. He felt like he was going to fall off at any moment, and the scales were abrasive even through his jeans. But he didn’t get off, he knew that this was part of the trust he had to build and if he got off of Norbert now he might never get back on. As they exited the cave Harry was amazed to see that the sun was setting in the sky. He must have spent hours talking to Norbert…no wonder the dragon got bored and decided to let him fly on him. Norbert started to pick up the pace until they were trotting quickly out of the cave. Then he started to run, and Harry felt his whole body shake from the reverberations. Suddenly Norbert’s wings flipped up and he was running faster and faster. Harry gripped tightly into the dragon’s neck and closed his eyes. Though he didn’t really see how having his eyes closed would help if he fell. He could hear the wings beating past his ears, and then suddenly the familiar rush of air in his face. He opened his eyes to see them thirty metres up in the air, and they were rising. Harry’s legs felt a bit sore from Norbert’s scales, but all thoughts of that nature went out of his head when he saw his surroundings. He had a full view of the mountains, and the river running through it. The sunset was a brilliant yellow mixed with deep pinks and purples. It was once of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. He whooped loudly and Norbert dived quickly, making Harry quickly clasp onto him. Then he swivelled in the air and rose quickly up again, this time almost vertically. When they had settled in the air again, Harry took a chance and let out a loud-

“WOOHOO!!”

Norbert dived again, and this time spun in the air so that Harry was clinging on for dear life until the dragon righted itself. Harry grinned to himself as Norbert came out of the spin. It looked like Norbert knew to have fun…Harry started to laugh as he saw a small house a few hundred metres ahead of them. It looked like it had a wooden fence surrounding it. Well, part of a wooden fence anyway.

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Hermione was lying upstairs when she heard a familiar voice growling from somewhere downstairs. After a few moments she recognised it to be Mad Eye Moody’s. She almost got up to see what was going on. She almost wanted to know if he had found out anything about the vampires. But then she sunk back onto her bed again and blinked her swollen eyes. She couldn’t be bothered right now. She sighed and rolled over, bringing a thick blanket with her. She couldn’t believe this was happening to her. She couldn’t believe this was happening to Harry. If anyone deserved a break in this life it was him, so why was he always punished? It seemed like she had asked herself these questions over and over, but she had still not found an answer. Then she laughed cynically to herself. Hermione’s Granger can’t find an answer to a question. No library is going to help here. Doesn’t matter what grades you get when it comes to real life. She tried to stifle a sob as she buried herself in the blanket. She never wanted to come out again; she just wanted to stay in this room until she stopped hurting. She knew it was irrational, but she couldn’t help it. Her heart was breaking. There was a timid knock at the door, which she ignored. The knock got louder and louder, but still she ignored it. She didn’t want to see anyone right now, even Harry. Maybe even especially Harry. The door opened and Hermione groaned as a familiar voice filled the room.

“Hermione,” called Luna dreamily “I’m coming in…”

“Yes well I gathered that,” said Hermione grumpily

“I wanted to talk to you,” she said, sitting herself down on Hermione’s bed.

“About what?” asked Hermione angrily “How I’m feeling? The answer is awful. How upset I am? The answer is a lot. What I’m going to do? The answer is I don’t know. Have I summed it up for you?”

“Yes well sulking in your bed isn’t going to help matters. Nor is being angry at me,” replied Luna vaguely “I know you’re upset and I know you feel like your whole world is coming to an end. That’s not what I wanted to talk about Hermione. I wanted to let you know that there is hope yet. There’s always hope.”

“Forgive me if I’m not in the hopeful mood right now,” replied Hermione sadly “can I ask you a question Luna?”

“Anything,” said Luna

“If you knew about this, why didn’t you tell me? If you knew what Dumbledore said, why didn’t you tell me?” asked Hermione. She had thought she had cried herself out, and was surprised at the new tears streaming down her face.

“It was Harry’s secret to tell,” said Luna simply “just like it was your secret to tell Harry. But there are no more secrets now. I imagine that there won’t be any secrets between you ever again. This can only make you stronger,”

“How can it make me stronger? I feel so scared and lonely right now. I feel like I’ve lost him already,” said Hermione starting to sob.

“You need to make the best of the time you have left. Do the things you want to do with each other now. Act like tomorrow could be your last day Hermione, because you’ll only regret it if you look back and remember that you were crying when you could have been savouring every moment with him,” said Luna quietly.

“You’re right,” sniffed Hermione, and pulled Luna in for a hug. After a while they broke apart and Hermione asked-

“What did you see behind the veil Luna? You weren’t with Harry…but you knew.”

“I met my mother,” said Luna, her eyes shining and her face bright with joy.

“What did she tell you?” asked Hermione softly.

“That there’s always a way, that there is always hope even when it seems like all hope is lost. To trust in my heart and not to let anyone dissuade me even if there isn’t a shred of proof. She told me to believe in myself Hermione, and listen to my heart because it will never steer you wrong even when your head is telling you to do something else,” chuckled Luna fondly.

“I’m scared Luna. I can pretend that I’m not, but I’m absolutely terrified,” whispered Hermione.

“This was meant to be Hermione. Your baby was meant to be; sometimes things happen that shouldn’t but it turns out for the greater good. You bare that in mind. Now wash your face, brush your hair and get downstairs before Harry gets back from his ride with Norbert,” replied Luna briskly.

“Norbert?!” cried Hermione “he’s riding a dragon? Why do I have to be ready before he gets back anyway?”

“Always questions with you. Yes he’s riding Norbert, and from the looks of it he won’t be eating for a while. As for being ready…we’re all going out when he gets back,” said Luna casually.

“Where?” asked Hermione suspiciously.

“We’re going with Mad Eye to Bucharest so we can meet with a vampire. He should be able to give us some information on the whereabouts of the Transylvanian vampires. We need to know exactly what we’re up against in the final battle, and how many. Besides there’s so many beautiful places to see. Peles Castle in wonderful, and a lovely place to get married I hear. Not to mention the infamous Bran castle. But the place we’re going to is called Vlad the Impaler’s house.” replied Luna absentmindedly.

“Wait a minute. Vlad the Impaler? That’s Dracula’s house! You have got to be kidding! You are all completely insane! This was Mad Eyes idea wasn‘t it?!” exclaimed Hermione.

“Sort of. But that‘s not the point,” said Luna “We’re meeting a vampire, not Dracula. It’s hard to see him these days after all the media attention his castle and house has received. But where else do you think vampires live in Romania? In a pub in the city centre? We have to get into their area if we want to talk to one of them,”

“Well, at least I’ll have plenty of stories for the baby when it’s older,” said Hermione grudgingly.

“That’s the spirit. Now get a move on with that face and hair. Ooh, and don’t forget an over night bag,” added Luna hastily.

“But we’re just meeting one vampire,” said Hermione warily.

“Yes I do know the plan,” replied Luna “but we may as well stay the night. Like I said, it’s supposed to be a wonderful city.” With that she walked out of the door and left Hermione to get ready. Hermione watched the door closed a breathed a heavy sigh. As strange as it sounded in her mind, Luna was right. There was no point moping around; her sitting in her room and crying would accomplish nothing. But she did feel better and was glad to have spent the afternoon getting a lot of miserable feelings out of her system. Her face look determined as she walked briskly to the bathroom. She would find a way out of this no matter what Harry had been told. There had to be another way, she knew there just had to be.

Waiting outside the door were Ron, Susan and Neville.

“You can be quite pushy Luna, had anyone ever told you that?” teased Susan.

“Yes well, might as well have some fun. Lord knows we need some with the pressure we’re under.” replied Luna with a beaming smile.

“Too right!” said Ron “What’s muggle beer like anyway? Any good?”

“Maybe we should be concentrating on the vampire meeting rather than the beer,” said Neville, which earned him a shocked look from Ron. Shouts from Charlie, Mad Eye, John and a few other men came from downstairs. The watched in amusement as Harry walked gingerly up the stairs to pack his bags for the meeting with a vampire. He was really starting to worry if he would ever have a normal day again.

34. Vlad The Impaler

A/N- Hello again everyone! Well this was a tricky chapter and I deleted it several times because I just hated it so much, but here’s hoping it’s ok now! The scene with Luna dancing was inspired by a little one shot I read from an author called ‘Elf and Troll’…so give it a read if you want because I think it’s rather lovely. Thanks again to Mulder for her never ending patience with my ramblings, and to all of you reading along and reviewing. I try to answer all of your reviews, but if for some reason I haven’t answered then I apologise profusely, please don’t take it personally. It’s nice reading all of them and getting to know all of you…it makes me feel like I’m writing for people that I know now rather in the beginning when it seemed like I was surrounded by strangers. Anyway, bloody hell I do go on don’t I?! On with the story and happy reading!

**Islanzadi** J

Two large black cars pulled up outside the Irina Villa and the drivers moved expertly through the dark to move the groups’ entire luggage from the cars into their lodgings. The reason Mad Eye, Charlie and John had picked this particular villa was because it was incredibly spacious and one of the few places they could stay where they wouldn’t have other tourists or hosts around. The villa cost a mere 165 euros a day, which was relatively cheap in comparison to what they were getting in return. The villa was in a very quiet part of town, and a single country road ran past it. It was a short 1.5km from Bran castle, and was a luxurious three floors in height. There were eight double bedrooms spaced out on every floor, all with their own personal bathrooms. There was a large kitchen and dining area on the ground floor, and the first floor had a large living area and a spacious day bar. The idea of a day bar thrilled Ron, though Charlie quickly put a damper on Ron’s ideas of experimenting with different muggle alcohols. The group made their way into the villa after the drivers had been adequately tipped and set to work unpacking their bags in their respective rooms. Hagrid had stayed behind to continue working with the dragons along with the rest of Charlie’s men. This meant that only two people had to share a room, and Harry and Hermione were only too glad to volunteer. Harry grabbed Hermione’s hand and lead her up to the third floor to a large bedroom at the very back of the villa. He threw his bag on the bed and watched in amusement as Hermione set hers gently upon the floor and started to begin the work of putting her clothes away. He watched her for a few silent moments, and then with a mischievous grin, pulled her from the floor and quickly onto the bed.

“Harry!” she admonished, her face reddening slightly “at least shut the door before you start molesting me!”

“I hate to break it to you Hermione,” grinned Harry “but I’m quite sure that they all know what we’ve been up to. Unless you can make a baby by yourself of course…” He watched as her face got even redder, then moved his lips to hers gently. This was what he had been waiting for. He felt her resolve slip away and deepened the kiss. He heard her moan slightly as he pushed his hands through her hair. He had really missed spending quality time with just her, he almost felt like he had been starved. Hermione grabbed her wand and pointed it at the door so that it closed with a quiet thud. Harry smiled beneath her kisses that were starting to become fevered. Just when they were both starting to relax and enjoy it a voice filled the room that sounded so loud they looked up in alarm to see if the door was open. It wasn’t, which meant that Mad Eyes voice had either suddenly become unnaturally thunderous or he was using sonorous to get their attention. Harry groaned and flopped his head onto the pillow dramatically.

“I think he wants us all downstairs,” said Hermione quietly.

“Do you think if we ignored it they would leave us alone?” asked Harry.

“I doubt it. Come on, we can carry this on later.” she said with a grin.

“Is that a promise?” he asked mischievously.

“That’s a promise,” she said, and then put a light kiss on his lips. He groaned loudly as she then pulled him up from the bed, and together they made their way downstairs. Though at a much slower pace than was necessary. By the time they reached the dining room everyone else was already sitting down and the table was covered in food.

“Took you long enough,” grinned Charlie.

“We had a hard time hearing what Mad Eye was trying to say,” replied Harry lightly.

“He only said ‘dinner’ about ten times. I can see why it would have been difficult…” said Susan, earning a laugh from the rest of the table. Harry and Hermione sat down at the table, and then waited for Mad Eye to point his wand at the serving dishes in front of them to remove the lids. A strange smell filled the air and Harry wasn’t quite sure what kind of food he was looking at.

“Oh, traditional Romanian food!” said Hermione sounding excited. “I’ve always wanted to try it,”

“What’s that stuff?” asked Ron, pointing to some triangular shaped food items.

“It’s called Coltzunash lu smintina,” said Charlie casually.

“What is that?” asked Ron.

“Just triangular dumplings filled with cottage cheese. There’s some cream and sugar on the side to go with it.” replied Charlie. Harry looked into another dish, and after finding out that Sarmale was basically meatballs wrapped in cabbage leaves, piled some onto his plate. Even though the food was different than he was accustomed to, he still ate so much that by the end of the meal he felt like he was about to fall asleep very quickly. After everyone else had finished their meal coffee was then passed around, much to Harry’s relief and it was so strong he felt like the very fumes were enough to bring him out of his stupor.

“So,” said Charlie looking intently at Mad Eye “Are you planning on telling us exactly what you found out or are we going to have to wait until a nasty surprise?”

“I suppose it would be best if I just told you. Best to know what you’re up against,” conceded Mad Eye slowly. “But first lets talk about the facts as the muggles and other clueless people know them, and then move on to the actual history.”

“I am quite curious as to why we’re going to Dracula‘s house to meet a regular vampire. Not to mention that Dracula has proven to be completely mythical. He was inspired by a man named Vlad the Impaler and his house is now known as Dracula’s house but Vlad was anything but a vampire. I don’t understand why we have to meet at Vlad’s house, surely there are more inconspicuous places to meet than a tourist hot spot.” said Hermione with a frown.

“Ah how little people know!” exclaimed Mad Eye rather brusquely “Count Dracula is also known as Vlad Tepes, or Vlad the Impaler, according to modern history anyway. So a little bit of background is needed I think. There was a man called Vlad Dracul who had two sons. One was Vlad Tepes and the other was Radu. Vlad Dracul was a member of the Order of The Dragon. The Dragon’s main goal was to protect the Christian faith by fighting off advancing Turks from the Ottoman Empire. The Turks, being Islamic, really angered the Order of the Dragon. When Vlad the Impaler was quite young, he and his brother Radu were kidnapped during a battle against the Turks. The Sultan Murad imprisoned the two brothers and their stay was said to be indescribably grisly. No one knows what they saw and what they had to endure, but it is said that Vlad the Impaler became quite sadistic. The Sultan wanted to use the brothers to his advantage so they could take the throne of Wallachia and place it under the rule of the Turks. The boys father, Vlad Dracul, tried to bargain for the release of his sons. A man named John Hunadi, also known as the White Knight, saw this as treachery. The Knight ordered assassins to murder Vlad Dracul,”

“Well that was a little uncalled for,” said Ron quietly.

“Shut up,” said Mad Eye, his magical eye making Ron suddenly squirm uncomfortably in his seat. “Anyway, time passed and the Sultan used unspeakable methods to break the boys. Eventually Radu cracked and decided to serve the Sultan. Vlad the Impaler was much harder to break, but eventually he too was broken. Or so the Sultan thought. When he was placed on the throne of Wallachia he decided he did not want to be a puppet and fled. He stayed with some friends, and there he met the White Knight who had murdered his father. Rather than take revenge he joined the Knight to oust the Turks. When Vlad had fled Wallachia Radu had assumed the throne. A fierce battle ensued and the Turks as well as Radu fled from the throne. Vlad the Impaler sat on the throne, now completely free from interference from the Turks.”

“Why was he called Vlad the Impaler?” asked Ron, not quite sure if he wanted to know the answer…or whether he should even be interrupting again.

“Vlad liked to impale his victims. It is said that he would send troops into his own territories and murder hundreds of people. He even gathered people and pushed them over high ledges onto spikes and impaled them that way. Once he had a meeting with two Turks, but when they entered the room they had not removed their turbans. Vlad required the removal of all hats before conversing with anyone. The Turks tried to explain that it was their religion but Vlad refused to listen. He said that if they liked their hats so much they could keep them on permanently. He had his soldiers nail them to their heads.” responded Luna, and then she shivered at the very thought.

“That explains it,” said Ron, looking rather green.

“Vlad married and had a son, then there was a second battle against the Turks. He decided to flee again, but his wife didn’t think it would be possible. She committed suicide. As they were fleeing Wallachia a servant dropped his son and he was left behind. When Vlad reached another village he was arrested, but not for too long. He caught the eye of Ilona, King Mathias’ sister, and she used her influence to have him released. They married and she bore him another son. When King Mathias was convinced that Vlad was an ally, he was released and then returned to Wallachia once again. There his lost son was returned to him. He died in battle sometime later just over the age of fifty.” concluded Mad Eye, then raised his flask to his lips and drank deeply.

“Ok,” started Susan with a look of confusion on her face “So what has that got to do with the vampires we’re looking for? Or this house we’re going to? Or, em, this mythical Dracula?”

“Vlad the Impaler was a brutal and cruel man. He truly was an abomination to society. Yet he did live a life of purpose,” said Mad Eye slowly.

“But history tells us that was his life. The name Dracula was inspired by the family name and that’s it. End of story.” said Hermione, sounding impatient now. Harry grinned at her irritation, he knew that she hated to be wrong and she hated it even more when someone tried to tell her that what she had learned from a book might be wrong.

“That is the story as far as the muggles see it, other than the perceptive ones. (Bram Stoker was one of these perceptive individuals) Vlad the Impaler was a murderer of vampires, hence the name. He favoured impaling his victims because the only way you can truly kill a vampire is with a stake through the heart. It is said that he was helped by the Order of the Dragon to locate and eliminate the vampires. The Order of the Dragons front was to uphold Christianity, but there were other important things that they did and the White Knight was the head of the group. Now Vlad didn’t kill vampires for the good of his territory, he did it simply because he liked to kill and the group provided a daily supply of victims. In history it is told that the White Knight killed Vlad’s father. But that is not the case. When Vlad Dracul petitioned for the release of his sons he did so only because he did not want them tainted by the Sultan, he wanted them to join him the way they were supposed to. The White Knight learned Dracul’s secret, that he was a vampire, and tried to kill him. Dracul escaped and has wandered the Earth under the name Dracula ever since,” Finished Mad Eye with a sigh.

“So the Sultan was actually trying to help Dracula’s sons?” asked Susan

“Not at all. That man just wanted to take over Dracul’s territory. But he did teach them about sadism and was extremely brutal. This may have played a part in Vlad’s own brutality, that as well as the ultimate betrayal by his father.” Said Mad Eye, now sounding frustrated that so many questions were being asked.

“So I was sort of right then,” said Hermione with a smile “Vlad the Impaler wasn’t Dracula. Books aren’t completely wrong, and we aren’t going to Dracula’s house at all…we’re going to Vlad’s,” Said Hermione with a bright smile, her faith in education restored slightly.

“Luna said earlier that we were meeting a vampire so we can try to see what they’re up to. So who are we meeting?” asked Susan curiously.

“Just a vampire that lives in the bowels of Vlad the Impaler’s house. He finds it quite amusing to live in a place that was owned by a person that killed so many of his kind. Quite a strange one, you’ll need to watch your backs around him,” replied Mad Eye.

“And your necks,” mumbled Ron.

“But there’s another reason we’re here isn’t there?” asked Charlie, a light of understanding in his eyes. “What else have got planned for us?”

“This vampire will lead us to the Order of the Dragon,” said Mad Eye simply.

“Why are they called that anyway?” asked Neville.

“Well it’s rather obvious isn’t it? Look at the symbolism. The fang of the dragon is like a stake. The stake is the only thing that kills a vampire,” said Hermione knowingly.

“What about sunlight?” asked Neville and laughed as he saw Hermione‘s eyes narrow at him. “Looks like love has addled your brains,”

“Actually that is a common misconception,” she replied with a smug grin that Harry had grown to adore. “Vampires have evolved throughout the centuries.”

“Well you’re right on both counts,” said Mad Eye “but that’s not the only reason they are called the Order of the Dragon. The other reason is because they revere the creatures and used to use them in their remote attacks against colonies of vampires in the mountains.”

“Use them?” asked Ron startled “you mean fly them? Do you think they still can?”

“Well,” said Mad Eye standing up “Only one way to find out. Now when we get the Impaler’s house I want you to all stay behind me. Let me do the talking and don’t trust that vampire for one minute. Be on your guard, constant vigilance!”

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Vlad Tepes house was located in the village of Sighisoara. Many parts of the city were incredibly beautiful and quaint. Harry found himself wanting to be back there rather than where he was now. They had walked through a large courtyard that was alive with music and people dancing and drinking. Flaming torches lit the square and the whole group was captivated by the energy that the people dancing had, as well as the shadows the seemed to dance over every stone building in their sight. From the courtyard they had walked down a cobbled street that seemed to wind through the city. The cobble stones seemed to decay the further down the street they walked, and soon they were dodging holes and upturned stones. The street was now just over a yard wide and the houses seemed to get shabbier. Ron seemed to thinking along the same lines.

“Look at these houses! They’re titchy and look like they’ve sort of been smashed together. This Vlad that ruled on a throne was supposed to live in this place? Treat their royalty well don’t they?”

“He didn’t live here,” said Mad Eye gruffly “he was born here. Don’t forget that back in the 1400’s it wouldn’t have looked quite the way it does now. Now be quiet, we’re getting close to the house now.” They walked on for a few more metres then came to a stop outside an old wooden door. The windows were as small as dinner plates and so dirty that Harry couldn’t see anything through them. Mad Eye pulled his wand out and waved it at the door so that it opened. He went in quickly and immediately moved to look behind the door. There was no one waiting there. The room was very clean in comparison to the street outside. There were plaques in several different languages describing certain aspects of the house and one of the walls had a portrait of Vlad and his history written upon it. Mad Eye motioned them to a small archway that led them to another room. Mad Eye walked over to the corner of the room and waved his wand. After a few seconds a small hatch appeared in the floor, and he pulled it open with a big heave. The creaking noise it made echoed around the room and made them all jump a little. Mad eye jumped down the trap door first, and then the rest them followed.

Harry wasn’t sure if he had ever been in a creepier place. The trapdoor led to a tunnel underneath which seemed to be lit by red bulbs. But where the bulbs were Harry had no idea. He couldn’t see any sign of lighting anywhere, only cold stone surrounded him. They followed Mad Eye through the tunnel, all with their wands at the ready. After a few minutes of travel they came to a large cavernous room and the view inside made Harry’s skin crawl. There was a man sitting at a table, though at a second glance you could tell that he wasn’t sitting. He had been propped there and his head lolled to one side. Upon getting closer to the man Harry could see a bite mark in his neck and a dark streak marks underneath it. Harry knew that the marks were only dark because of the red lighting; in normal light he knew the marks would be the dark red colour of blood. There was a clattering noise behind them and Harry saw a pale corpse like figure emerging from a coffin.

“I thought they had evolved,” whispered Neville accusingly to Hermione.

“This one is obviously very old. Good in some ways…but very bad in many others,” replied Hermione in a whisper of her own.

“What do you mean, bad in many others?” asked Ron as the vampire glided slowly towards them.

“A lot of modern vampires don’t feel the need to attack humans that much. They have other sources for their food, but obviously this one is quite traditional, not to mention that traditional vampires have powers of their own and the strong ones we definitely have to worry about…” whispered Hermione, stopping her conversation abruptly as the vampire began to speak.

“Ah, you have met my dear friend I see. I invited him over for a bite to eat but he doesn’t seem quite as stimulating as I had hoped. I am told that you came here for information,” The voice sounded raspy and cold, it sent a chill up Harry’s spine.

“That’s right,” said Mad Eye.

“What do I get in return?” inquired the vampire, his black soulless eyes staring greedily at the group.

“Our gratitude,” said Charlie sarcastically. The vampire laughed softly, though it sounded more mocking that humoured.

“I’m afraid that gratitude is not exactly what I had in mind,” he said chillingly, and then looked eagerly at the younger members of the party. His eyes stopped at Hermione’s face and he half smiled at her. “If you want information you’ll have to give me something in return. She’ll do quite nicely, I need something lively.” Harry raised his wand and pointed it directly at the vampires’ chest. Without uttering a word the vampire was thrown back to the floor and his arms and legs were bound together by invisible cords.

“I don’t think that bargain’s going to work for us. Here’s the alternative,” said Harry coldly “you tell us what we want to know and you live. You don’t tell us and you die…”

“Wizards!” hissed the vampire, looking utterly shocked. Hermione repressed a grim smile; obviously his informant had not informed him that his visitors would be able to defend themselves. She guessed this vampire must be quite weak to be afraid of a small group of them.

“Tell us where the Order of the Dragon is. Where do they meet and how often?” asked Mad Eye briskly.

“They meet in the Poienari fortress, but I do not know when. Only the members know when there is to be a meeting,” the vampire said in a scathing voice.

“Right,” said Charlie “and another thing we want to know is… where are all the vampires? Have they decided to fight against us or are they just hiding?” The vampire looked like he might resist their questioning, but a sudden unseen pressure to his neck convinced him otherwise.

“The weak traitors do not want to be ruled by the elder vampires and seek a power of their own,” he said with a sneer “they are fools. We have never been under command before and the promise of power is a falsehood. They will learn the hard way.”

“How many?” asked Mad Eye.

“I don’t know. Vampires are not accustomed to revealing their whereabouts even to each other. I don’t know who has joined and who has gone into hiding.” the vampire replied.

“Are all of these vampires of a younger generation? Can they be harmed by sunlight?” asked Hermione anxiously.

“They are young fools, and sunlight will not harm them. Now I have told you everything I know. Leave me be.”

“Fine,” said Charlie “Put him in his coffin with a locking charm on it. We need to get out of here safely.” The vampires’ eyes widened as he was lifted into the air and shut inside his coffin. Harry pointed his wand at the poor man at the table and levitated him in front of him.

“What are you doing?” asked Mad Eye incredulously “we can’t walk around the streets with a dead man!”

“He doesn’t intend to keep him with us,” said Luna serenely “but it would be awfully callous to leave the poor man here. Imagine what his family is probably thinking right now. They have a right to know he has moved on,” Mad Eye looked like he wanted to argue but gave in at all the adamant stares he was receiving. He turned around and led the way out of Vlad’s house and away from the vampire’s lair.

“Why were you worried about vampires powers? Surely they just sort of bite you and stuff…” asked Ron looking curiously at Hermione.

“Vampires have the power to paralyse their pray by the sound of their voice. It’s nothing that you can protect yourself against because each voice is different and they all use it in a various ways. Dracula was always written to be extremely powerful, and he can bewitch your mind and his victims practically beg him to bite them,” explained Hermione quickly.

“Exactly why we have to be vigilant at all times,” stated Mad Eye roughly.

*************************************************************************************

The Poienari fortress lay in ruins in the Arges valley. This was the place that Vlad had ruled from, now only a shell of what it had once been. It looked decayed and brown looking, and the stairs on one wall of the castle looked like the wind would blow them off at any moment. They walked through the ruined entrance and into a very cold open space surrounded by a few remaining walls. They all stared in silence for a moment, not quite sure what to do. There was nothing but bare floor, old stones and a few mice. They looked at each other and shrugged silently as Mad Eye broke away from them and began mumbling about finding something. The group slowly drifted apart and began to explore the ruins of the castle. Hermione walked from the first open space into what she assumed used to be an archway leading to another room. She hopped over the rocks on the floor and was rather disappointed to see another ruined room like the one before. She explored the surrounding area for a while and then sighed in frustration. Just a bunch of bloody rocks. She really knew she should turn around and go back to the others, but she suddenly felt extremely tired. She knew that pregnant women in the first trimester often got extremely tired, but actually feeling it was a lot different than reading about it. She could say in all honesty that she could easily curl up in a ball and go to sleep on the floor. She yawned and sat on the floor with her back resting against one of the walls. She wouldn’t go to sleep, but she needed to sit down. Her energy was extremely low all of a sudden. She rubbed her eyes and stared at the wall opposite her, trying to imagine what it would have looked like back in the 1400’s. She felt herself dozing off and had to keep her eyes focused on the wall in front. She blinked rapidly trying to concentrate. It was then that she saw something rather odd. At first she thought it was a figment of her sleep-deprived imagination, then when she looked again it was gone. She felt her eyes drooping closed again and her vision losing its focus. It was when she blinked rapidly again and looked at the wall that she knew she wasn’t imagining things. It was almost like a magic eye trick where your eyes had to be unfocused for you to see the picture properly. She unfocused her eyes again and there in front of her was the face of a dragon. She bolted upright and moved quickly to go back to the other room. At first she wanted to tell them what she had seen, but she stopped quickly and scanned the other wall. As she unfocused her eyes she saw the word ‘sunrise’ within the stones. She knew it had to be a message of some sort, and she suddenly felt very wide-awake. She rushed from room to room, looking at any walls that still survived. Some had no hidden message, but a lot of them did. After she was sure, she found the rest of the group who had congregated in the remains of the upper floor (which looked extremely unstable in Hermione’s opinion) and seemed to be wondering whether or not they had missed something. Hermione reached them triumphant, her eyes shining.

“There’s a message on the walls,” she said quickly, her faced flushed with excitement “There was a picture of a dragons head on one wall and on the others there were words which were, sunrise, month, day and last. At sunrise on the last day of the month is when the Order of the Dragon meets within these walls. Well, sort of walls…”

“So it’s the 29^th of January right now…which means we have to be here not tomorrow but the next day at dawn! Good, that would be awful to have to wait a whole month,” said Susan with a grin. “So I say, lets come back here then. I don’t know about you lot but I don’t get to travel that much and I’d really like to explore some sights while I still can.” Everyone except Mad Eye, John and Hermione seemed to approve of this idea. Mad Eye because he had a lot of work to do and had spent, in his opinion, far too much time in Romania already. John because he needed to go to the market to pick up some things for the dragons, and Hermione because she was about to fall asleep on her feet. Harry said that he wanted to stay with Hermione, but she insisted that he go out without her.

“Honestly Harry,” she said, “you haven’t travelled before and I think it would be good for you to get out and see the sights. Better than just watching me sleep anyway,”

“Hey, I love watching you sleep,” said Harry quietly into her ear.

“Well I love when you see new things and tonight that’s precisely what you’re going to do. Sorry for putting off that promise I made to you earlier, I didn’t think I could ever feel this tired.” replied Hermione just as quietly.

“Hermione I don’t need to be having sex with you to be happy. I love just being with you. You need your rest and besides…” said Harry with a mischievous grin “we can make up for it in the morning.” Hermione laughed lightly and then kissed him softly. She then disapparated back to the villa with a crack. They had decided that since there wasn’t too much magical activity in Romania that apparition was probably safe. Harry, Ron, Neville, Susan, Luna and Charlie then disapparated back to the square and were happy to find that the festivities had only increased. There were fires lit around the square and large steaming mugs of an unidentifiable beverage were being passed around. Luna walked forward into a large crowd of extremely merry people dancing and followed suit quickly. Harry watched in amusement as a large burly looking man led Luna around the dancing circle. Her laugh seemed to echo around the square as her dancing became more frenzied. Harry willing took a steaming mug and brought it to his lips. As he took a sip he immediately felt a fire coarse though him. It was no wonder that everyone managed to fend off the cold of winter when they drank such strong alcoholic drinks. The merriment continued for quite a few hours and even though Harry wasn’t much of a dancer he and Ron weren’t all that upset at being pulled into the laughing crowd, though admittedly the alcohol might have played a part in that.

Harry sat at a small wooden table feeling quire tired, he watched as Ron managed to wrestle Luna from the crowd and they started to organise themselves to depart for the villa. Ron started laughing and pointed towards the edge of the square where Charlie was half dragging, half carrying Susan towards them.

“Blurry good time! Blurry good dancing!” guffawed Susan as she approached the group.

“Pissed as a fart this one,” murmured Charlie, though his eyes were shining with laughter. Harry stood up and started to lead the group out of the square, only to feel a pull on his arm tugging him back in the opposite direction. He looked around quickly to see Luna beaming at him, and then she quickly linked her arm through his, her owl like eyes studying him carefully.

“So Harry,” she said lightly “what are your plans?”

“Eh?” asked Harry more than a little perplexed. “do you mean this evening or in general? I think my general plan is pretty obvious. How much of that stuff did you drink Luna?” At this Luna broke into hysterical laughter and the group had to stop while she composed herself. After a minute of deep breathing she finally spoke again, though her voice seemed to tremble with laughter just begging to be released.

“I mean in Romania. What are your plans while we’re here? I only ask because I know something that would be perfect for you to do, though I suspect it’s something you’ve been thinking about for a few days now.”

“Well I plan on finding this order of the dragon, then going back and spending some more time with Norbert so that he’ll work with me when we face Voldemort. I thought you knew these plans though Luna. Unless you’ve been ignoring everything that’s been going on the last few weeks,” said Harry jokingly.

“You know Romania is a beautiful country, there are so many wonderful sights to see. I was telling Hermione that Peles castle is so beautiful, not to mention a lovely place to get married,” said Luna, her large round eyes studying Harry intently.

“Are you kidding?” asked Harry a little louder than anticipated. “Are you trying to say I should Marry Hermione?” The rest of the group following behind him came to an abrupt stop, listening intently to their conversation. Harry and Luna turned around to face them all, and Harry looked deep in thought and more than a little confused.

“Luna are you kidding?” slurred Susan “No offence Harry, but he’s got a terrible fate awaiting him and I don’t think that getting married help the situation,”

“Why not?” asked Neville with a casual shrug of his shoulders.

“Harry,” said Luna, turning to look Harry in the eyes. “What have you always wanted in life? Not to be the hero, but to have a normal life. You’ve always wanted a family; you’ve always wanted someone to love and that someone to love you in return. If this thing with Voldemort had never happened what things would you look forward to in your life?”

“Um…I’d look forward to travelling the world, getting a career that I love. Then I’d want to find myself someone I want to be with forever and settle down to have a family. But this is pointless Luna, I can’t do those things. I have a limited time here and I’ve been living on borrowed time.”

“Not true Harry! You just have to make the most of the time you have left. You need to try and get everything accomplished that you would have wanted if this weren’t happening. You can easily travel to a few more countries in Europe, and you’ve started your family already. What are you waiting for? Of all people Harry, I though that you would recognise the importance of living in the moment,” said Luna softly “You need to embrace each day you’re given Harry and live it to the fullest,” Harry looked deep in thought and Luna turned around and began to walk forwards. The Luna did something that they had not been expecting. She opened her mouth and began to sing in a voice that seemed full of secrets and dreams. The group watched her mesmerised, not necessarily because she had a fantastic voice (though it was quite lovely) but because she seemed to be some mythical creature that was connected to things they could only begin to imagine. It was at that point that Harry knew that Luna was right about more things than just this evening.

“I hope you never lose your sense of wonder. You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger. May you never take one single breath for granted. God forbid love ever leave you empty-handed. I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean. Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens. Promise me you’ll give faith a fighting chance, and when you get the choice to sit it out or dance. I hope you dance, I hope you dance,” sang Luna, spinning around as if hearing the voice from somewhere other than her own mind. Harry understood Luna completely, and rather than wait a moment longer he disapparated to the Villa. He really needed to talk to Hermione. The crowd of Romanians and other tourists had stopped their dancing to watch Luna singing and twirling, and Ron was taken aback when she stepped in front of his face and gently put hands upon it. Her eyes seemed to search his very soul and he wasn’t sure what she was looking for.

“I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance. Never settle for the path of least resistance, Living life means taking chances, but they’re worth taking. Loving might be a mistake, but it’s worth making. Don’t let some hell bent heart leave you bitter. When you come close to selling out, reconsider. Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance. And when you get the choice to sit out or dance. I hope you dance, I hope you dance,” Luna sang gently, then spun away from him and danced up the alleyway leading out of the square, leaving behind a large group of people that felt that they had been touched by something they could not quite define. The rest of the group followed Luna through the alleyway, none of them quite sure what to say. Susan was the first one to address her-

“Never heard that song before,” she said “lovely though…”

“Of course you haven’t heard of it before. It’s just an idea in someone’s mind right now,” said Luna dreamily, still twirling and humming absently to herself.

“An idea in someone’s head? What are you talking about?” asked Ron.

“Meaning that someone out there somewhere in the world is thinking about a song like this. The words are there, the tune is there. But they haven’t quite grasped it in their minds yet. It’s so close to them, but it’s still so far away,” replied Luna vaguely.

“You’re something else Luna,” said Neville quietly.

“Thank you Neville! I’ve never been a something else before! You know you’re in someone’s mind right now. We all are, but mostly its just Harry,” said Luna softly.

“Well if course Harry’s on someone’s mind,” laughed Susan brashly “Hermione loves him, he’s always on her mind.”

“No not like that at all,” said Luna, though her voice had lowered to almost a whisper and her eyes seemed to see something far away. Her hands reached out and started to trace an unseen shape before them “She’s sitting on a train and she’s thinking about Harry. His green eyes…his scar. Mostly she sees his scar, it’s with her when she starts to fall asleep and when she’s almost awake in the mornings. She doesn’t know what it means yet though…”

“Well this is all a bit too weird for me. Time to go I think…” said Ron laughing awkwardly, then he started to walk ahead of the group at a faster than necessary pace. The rest of the group disapparated to the Villa. Luna hurried after Ron and when she finally got a hold of him, spun him around to face her.

“You’re quite hurtful sometimes Ronald,”

“Sorry, it was just a bit strange. You’re a bit peculiar sometimes and I-uh- well…” stammered Ron.

“You’re a bit intimidated? I’m sorry if you feel that way, but you need to just tell people how you feel. Sometimes the way you say things is quite hurtful, and sometimes it’s just a bit childish,” replied Luna gently.

“I am not childish! I’m just having a laugh, it’s what I do! It’s easier than…” started Ron, then turned around with a deep red flush on his face.

“Easier than what Ronald? Easier than dealing with what’s in front of you?” asked Luna.

“It’s just the way I deal with stuff,” shrugged Ron “I laugh and I make a joke. It’s not good to be so serious all the time. If you don’t laugh you either get sad or angry. I try not to be like that all the time…”

“I see,” said Luna softly “but I think that sometimes you need to be serious. Sometimes you need to say what you’re thinking in a nice way rather than being unkind Ronald,” Ron looked like he might protest her for a moment but then he hung his head and nodded it…well, a half nod anyway. She took his head in her hands and softly stroked it, her wide blue eyes shimmering with tears.

“You are a wonderful person. You’re so funny, and you are kind. You have been so brave Ronald, and let me tell you something. You are a person that people want to know, and their lives would be better knowing you. Your family is very lucky; Harry and Hermione are very lucky. Harry treasures your friendship, without you and Hermione he would be a shell of the person he is now. But you were his first friend, you were the first person he met that actually wanted to be his friend, and you are a wonderful friend. We’re all glad to have you with us; it wouldn’t be the same without you. Don’t let insecurities cloud your vision Ronald, see how important you are. I am such a lucky witch to know you, we are all lucky to know you…” said Luna, breathing heavily and looking into his eyes earnestly. He finally met eyes and smiled softly.

“Thanks,” he said gently “I needed to hear that,” he opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something else, then closed it and moved closer to her instead. He could feel his heart racing in his chest as he pulled her closer to him to bridge the distance between them. It was as if the world around them had gone silent when his lips touched hers. At that moment there was nothing in the world but him and Luna, and it was at that moment that he finally felt complete. That he finally understood what Luna had been talking about, and he smiled into their kiss. Luna pulled away with a small smile of her own and rested her forehead against his.

“What are you smiling at?” she whispered playfully.

“Can I still call you Loony?” he whispered in return. She pulled back quickly then flicked him on the forehead with a laugh filled with joy. Then she turned around and started spin, and as Ron watched her spinning and the soft snow start to fall he knew that she was special, and loony was far from the truth.

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Harry walked into the darkened bedroom and lit his wand. He propped it on the bedside table and softly lowered himself to the edge of the bed. He watched her chest move up and down in the peaceful rhythm of sleep and he felt his heart swell at the sight of her. Who would have known he could be so fortunate? He knew that some people would laugh if they ever heard this thought, but he knew better. Regardless of what had to happen to him he knew that he had the love of Hermione. She was carrying his child and for that he was thankful. Defeating Voldemort meant the end of his life and he had come to terms with that, it was what he was meant to do. But his life since he had received his letter from Hogwarts had been something from a dream. He had loved and been loved in return by more people than Voldemort. That filled his heart with hope and joy.

“Hermione,” he whispered, slowly stroking her bare arm. She moaned a little and her eyes started to flutter slightly. He whispered her name again and this time her eyes opened. The look in her eyes when she saw him brought a lump to his throat. This was what life was about…love.

“Harry,” she said sleepily “I missed you,”

“I missed you too,” he replied softly “I need to ask you something.”

“What?” she asked, sitting up and trying to hide a look of alarm.

“Nothing bad. At least I don’t think it is…” said Harry “I was talking with Luna tonight and she asked me what I have always wanted. To cut a long story short, I said basically a wife and a family. Well we have a baby on the way, and I love you with all my heart. I want you to be my wife Hermione, even though we might not have too much time together. I want us to be together in the best way we can possibly be. So what do you think? Will you marry me?”

“Oh Harry!” she exclaimed, then threw herself into his arms and covered his face with kisses.

“Shall I take that as a yes?” asked Harry laughing.

“Of course! I would love to marry you Harry. But it might not have to be for a short period of time. Don’t give up hope yet Harry. Never give up hope,” said Hermione softly, and then pulled him down to kiss her. They made love gently until the sun started to raise her head. Both were eager to please the other and they laid their souls bare to the others exploration. Harry could still hardly believe the turn of events from the previous year, but he was happier than he could ever have imagined being. He had Hermione and there was his child growing inside of her, which was all the power he needed against Voldemort.

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35. A winter wedding

A/N- Hello again to you all! You know when I first decided to write this for my younger sister, I didn’t think it would be popular at all. I’m simply amazed at the number of reviews people have left for me, especially since it’s my first fan fiction. I really appreciate every single review I receive, and I love sitting down with my cup of tea in the evenings and reading the things you all have to say. So thanks very much, you guys are absolutely wonderful! Another shout out to Mulder, who may as well chuck on a pair of fairy wings and grab a wand of her own…she has been that helpful to me. Authors boring note over, on with the story. Happy reading and let me know what you think!

**Islanzadi** J

She had woken up abruptly at three in the morning and wasn’t quite sure why. A strange feeling plagued her but she couldn’t quite define what it was, she sighed into the darkness of her bedroom trying to get her sleep-ridden mind in order. Her first idea was to check that her daughter, Jessica, was sleeping soundly in the next room. After creeping into the bedroom and placing the blankets properly on the small sleeping figure, she crept downstairs to retrieve a pen and a piece of paper, and then she sat down on the couch. She tried to concentrate on what she wanted to write about, who she wanted to write about. But for some unfathomable reason the ideas that had gripped her so tightly when she was on the train had left her. She wasn’t sure how long she sat there for, but whatever feeling had woken her up had now left her. She sighed, knowing that trying to go back to bed would be futile and instead padded into the kitchen to put the kettle on. As she stared out of the window listening to the steady whine of the heating water, rain started to fall. She rolled her eyes and the words ‘pathetic fallacy’ flitted through her mind. The rain started to land on the window with a sudden speed that shocked her slightly, and then out of nowhere a large crash seemed to shake the kitchen and the sky was lit up with a bright white lightning bolt. She was mesmerised for a moment, then a smile of excitement spread across her face. She rushed out of the kitchen and back into the living room where her pen and paper were waiting anxiously for her to share her secrets with them. She picked up the pen and started her frenzied writing. The words ‘Lily Potter’, ‘James Potter’, ‘Hermione Granger’, ‘Ron Weasley’ and ‘Dumbledore’ were written around the page, and in the middle she finally wrote the name that had been on her mind on the train, she finally knew what it was. Harry Potter, then next to the name she scrawled a large lightning bolt. She sat on the couch for a while after that, feeling as if she was somehow connected to something she couldn’t see and wondering where on earth this was all going to take her. She was oblivious to the sound of the teakettle screeching in the distance, and to the fact that the rain had stopped. There had only been one lightning bolt.

*************************************************************************************

Harry woke abruptly and felt a sensation of being watched. He grabbed his wand and looked around warily, but there was nothing dangerous he could see. He glanced at the clock and groaned, it was five am and absolutely pointless to try going back to sleep. He lay there for a while just thinking, mostly about Ron and Hermione, though his parents and Dumbledore flitted through his mind too. He wondered what everyone in Grimmauld place had been up to and if any other disasters had plagued Britain while they had been away. He briefly entertained the thought of contacting Mrs Weasley to ask her, but then remembered that it was three in the morning over there. Probably not a good idea. The feeling of being watched was still there and he wondered for one horrible moment if it was Voldemort. But he knew at once that wasn’t right, though how he knew that he couldn’t have put into words. He lay there for a little while thinking about nothing and everything, only to be pulled out of his reverie by the sound of a knock on the door. He looked at the clock in confusion and was surprised to see it was now six o clock. The sun rose at 7.06 am in the winter so they had little over an hour to get ready, have breakfast and leave for the fortress. The feeling of being watched had left him now, but what was bothering Harry was that now he felt strangely comforted. He shook his head in confusion and headed for the shower trying to put the incident out of his mind. He had more important things to worry about right now.

*************************************************************************************

The sun was rising over the Poienari fortress and as Hermione lifted her head to welcome the warm rays, she heard a heavy beating sound, and once the blinding light had shifted from her eyes she could see what the loud noise was. Directly in front of them was a man dressed in white, perched atop a ruby red dragon. The dragon was beating its wings leisurely and hovering right next to where they were standing. A noise behind her caught her attention from the dragon, and when she turned around she saw eight other people walking slowly towards them. They were dressed in blue clothes that looked very fine even from a distance. Hermione fought back a derisive snort and wondered why they would dress like that in the middle of winter. But as the group of strangers moved towards them Hermione could see that they were in fact a lot warmer looking that they were. As if sensing Hermione’s train of thought Susan quickly whispered-

“We should probably invest in something like that. I feel like an Eskimo in all these clothes…if they don’t try to kill us we should definitely think about asking them…”

The beating sound behind them slowly subsided and the group turned around to see the dragon perched almost casually next to the fortress. Harry had no idea how on earth that kind of control could be maintained. If he had brought Norbert up here he would probably put Harry down then fly off to try and find more unsuspecting people that had wooden fences. There was a brief flurry of conversation in a foreign language as the man in white approached them, and then all of the new faces were upon them.

“Why have you come to our sacred fortress? What is it that you want?” asked the man in white. He was quite tall and he had very broad shoulders. Harry would have guessed him to be about thirty years old, though the dark moustache on his face made him look older than he probably was. His eyes were a very dark brown and commanded your attention and respect. Harry noticed that two of his fingers were missing from his right hand and the mangled tortured stubs added to his intimidating presence.

“We are here to request information, and if you would give it, your aid,” replied Charlie in a strong voice.

“You are magicians. Surely you do not need our aid?” inquired the man in a harsh voice, though Harry thought he saw his brown eyes dancing slightly with humour.

“We are not magicians,” said Mad Eye, his voice tinged with irritation “we are wizards and as you probably know the wizarding world is on the verge of a huge battle against Voldemort-”

“We know all of this,” interrupted the man in white. “Tell us what your story and we shall discuss if we think you are worthy recipients of our knowledge and help.” The group looked at each other, wondering who should be the one to do the talking. Mad Eye was about to open his mouth again, but Hermione elbowed Harry sharply in ribs. Harry rubbed his side slightly and began to tell the group of strangers their tale. The man in white listened as Harry spoke of the events unfurling in Britain and of their plans for the final battle. After Harry had finished telling them of their meeting with the vampire, the man in white was silent for a few long minutes. Then he motioned silently for the rest of his group to follow him so that they could discuss how they should proceed.

“So…” said Neville, nervously eyeing the dragon behind them. “think that’s a tame one?”

“It’s fine,” said Susan, waving an impatient hand “I hope they can help us. That woman with the long silver hair kept looking at us as if she was expecting us to try and bite them at any moment,”

“Well,” said Ron “considering they hunt vampires that usually do try and bite them all the time, that’s not too much of a surprise is it?” Susan rolled her eyes.

“They have remarkable control over that dragon,” said Hermione softly “that’s one of the main reasons we’re here isn’t it? To learn their methods of control so that when we need to use Norbert we can do so without any unfortunate repercussions.”

“If by unfortunate repercussions, you mean being killed or thrown off the dragon in midair…then you’d be right,” grinned Charlie. Hermione was about to reply to his smart arse comment, but the group suddenly fell quiet. The Order of the Dragon was approaching them now, and the woman with the silver hair looked like she would like nothing more than to throw them into the air herself.

“You have our help,” said the man in white, holding out his hand for Harry to shake “I am Alexandru, defender of Mankind.” Harry shook his hand and wondered if he had given himself the last part of his name “I am also known as the White Knight, head of the Order of the Dragon,” He then shook hands with the rest of the group and then introduced the other members. Harry realised that the part of Alexandru’s name that he had wondered about earlier was simply what his name meant. There was a tall man with long blonde hair called Horatiu, which meant ‘time keeper’ in the Romanian language. Then there was Bodgan who looked like he was twenty years old in the face, though his dark brown curly hair was streaked with grey, his name meant ‘gift from god’. The other two men were Anghel, which meant ‘messenger’ and Sorin…who looked like a cross between Ron and Bill Weasley. Sorin’s name in the Romanian language meant ‘red hair’ which earned a chuckle from some people, though Luna found it quite hysterical and the poor girl had to be pulled to her feet by a very red faced Ron. The grouchy silver haired woman was named Romena the ‘wise guardian’, and she looked older than anyone Harry had ever met, though her eyes burned with inner youth. Helena was a slim lady who looked about twenty years old too. She had long brown hair that reached to her waist and very delicate features, her name meant light. The last two women were Viviana, full of life and Celestina the heavenly. Viviana looked like she was about to burst because she wanted to talk so much and Harry knew immediately that her name was well fitted. Alexandru explained that there were more members of the Order of the Dragon, but Harry had a hard enough time remembering the names of the people in front of him let alone ones he hadn’t met yet. He changed the subject quickly by asking about the control Alexandru had over the dragon, and in reply he pulled out a long necklace with a dragon fang hanging on it. After closer inspection Harry noticed that the fang had been carved slightly and watched as Alexandru put it to his lips and blew. No sound came out, but Harry could tell from the reaction of the dragon that it was paying attention. He blew on the whistle again and the dragon crawled closer to them.

“We use these to summon the dragons when we need them, but it is a two way process. You have to give something to the dragon so that you can use the whistle. For this we partake in a ceremony that brings your chosen dragon and you together,” explained Alexandru

“Well…what do you have to do?” asked Ron, not entirely sure he wanted to know.

“We do not speak of it. You, your dragon and an elder of the Order of the Dragon participate in this ceremony. To speak of the details leaves you weak and vulnerable to your enemies. After we create the bond with the dragon our minds are wiped clean. Only the Elders know of the rituals,” replied Alexandru.

“So if the Order of the Dragon perishes, the secrets of the dragons die too,” said Hermione softly.

“That’s correct,” said Alexandru smiling at Hermione.

“But I can’t take part in a ceremony like that because I’m not a member of the Order. So how will I control Norbert when I need him?” asked Harry anxiously, visions of Norbert getting pissed of with him and throwing him into the air were flashing through his mind.

“Time will tell,” said Helena softly. The rest of the group nodded wisely, but Harry had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. He looked around and was relieved to see that Susan, Ron, Charlie and Neville also seemed to be clueless. He would ask Hermione later…

“The vampires that wish to fight against you and join Voldemort are the younger vampires of this society. They are ignorant and feel that they can gain power; it is our job to stop them before they leave for England. Last night we received information that they will be meeting in Bran castle before they depart, but we do not yet know the date of departure. We have members of the Dragon out trying to find information. We can only hope that we find them in time, though it will be dangerous to face that many vampires. Your help and sorcery shall be helpful indeed,” said Alexandru strongly.

“It’s not sorcery mate,” said Ron conversationally “it’s m--”

“So you’ll contact us when you have that information?” asked Harry whilst giving Ron a warning look.

“Yes, where are residing?” asked Alexandru.

“We’re staying at the Irina villa,” said Hermione anxiously “but how will you contact us? We don’t have any telephones and I doubt you have owls.”

“We have our own means of communication,” chuckled Viviana. Then the group left so quickly that Harry briefly wondered if it had been a dream.

“Do you think this is a good idea?” asked Hermione “I mean, do you think we should trust them? We’ve only just met them and we really don’t know too much about them…”

“Don’t think I haven’t done my homework,” said Mad Eye gruffly “Do you think I’d get us into trouble like that?”

“N-no,” stammered Hermione “It’s just that we were trying to find out information about the vampires and now we’re going to fight them all. I just hope that we can trust them when it comes down to it,”

“We can,” said Charlie “besides, it’s better that we fight them here before they leave for England to join Voldemort than have another bunch of violent creatures in the final showdown. The less of those we have the better, don’t you think?” Hermione nodded, though she still chewed her bottom lip in deep thought.

Mad Eye disapparated, leaving the rest of the group behind with excited smiles on their faces. All except for the clueless Hermione.

“You hungry?” murmured Harry into Hermione’s ear. She jumped at the sudden intrusion but then smiled widely at Harry.

“Now that I’m not vomiting every two minutes I could eat constantly. Where shall we go?” she asked breathlessly.

“A pregnant woman’s love for food is an amazing thing,” said Charlie with a smile.

“I have no idea where we’ll go yet,” said Harry quietly “But you trust me right?”

“Of course I do,” said Hermione simply “But why? Are you planning on having me eat something disgusting like horse? Because I won’t do it, I’m telling you right now…” Harry laughed loudly, then whispered into her ear-

“Close your eyes and don’t open them until I tell you to,”

“Erm…ok,” she whispered nervously. Harry then disapparated, followed by the other men. Luna quickly pointed her wand at Hermione, and the dress that she had tried on the previous day appeared on her petite frame. Susan pulled out a small bag, which had the words ‘glitteringly gorgeous’ embroidered upon it. She pulled out a handful of glittering silver power and blew it off of her hand and onto Hermione’s unsuspecting face.

“What are you doing to me? Harry? Can I open my eyes now?” asked Hermione, her voice dripping with suspicion. Susan laughed silently to herself then quickly aimed a spell at Hermione’s hair. Luna laughed hysterically as her hair literally stood on end and began to smooth itself out, but the finished job was wonderful. The girls stood back to admire their work. Hermione stood in a breathtaking princess cut dress. It was beautifully detailed, with glittering beadwork along the bodice and around the trim of the dress. Over the top of the dress was a white hooded cloak, with matching beadwork. Hermione’s hands began to move to touch her stomach, so naturally Susan and Luna began to fumble with their wands to stop her. Luna froze her hands an inch before she touched her dress, but Hermione already had a knowing smile on her face.

“Erm,” said Susan quickly “pretend you have no idea what’s going on,” Hermione didn’t say anything, instead she squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as she could and tried to breath deeply.

“You’re not scared or angry are you?” asked Susan uncertainly.

“No,” whispered Hermione “I’ve never been happier,”

“Why are you keeping your eyes closed?” asked Susan again.

“Harry told me to,” said Hermione simply. Then she smiled so radiantly that both Luna and Susan had tears in their eyes.

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Harry stood outside of Peles castle with a ball of excitement in the pit of his stomach. He was surrounded by the epitome of renaissance architecture, there were tall towers built in marble, stone and wood surrounding him. Large statues adorned the entranceways, and as Harry looked around he could see small balconies joining one tower to another. It was like something from a fairytale, though lately it seemed as if his life was like something from a fairytale…or a horror film, depending on whether you wanted to focus on Hermione or Voldemort. Ron clapped his hand on his shoulder and startled Harry out of his thoughts.

“This way,” he said “you want to get all set up before she arrives,”

“Yeah,” said Harry quietly “I sort of wish this could be perfect for her though. You know, have her dad here to give her away. Have everyone here to see us get married, know what I mean?”

“She loves you Harry,” said Ron seriously “Hermione doesn’t need all of that stuff. She has you here, that’s all that matters. It’s about you two anyway, not everyone else.”

“You’re right,” sighed Harry “cheers,”

“No worries,” said Ron with a grin “Now hurry up and follow the rest of them before she gets here.” Harry nodded then dashed off after Neville and Charlie. Ron stood pacing for a while and couldn’t help a rueful smile. Who would have ever thought things would end up this way? He heard a crack in the distance and about five minutes later Susan, Luna and Hermione came into his vision. Susan and Luna wore light periwinkle silk gowns, and Hermione was the vision of an angel in white. He found his eyes watering slightly and brushed them very quickly. He couldn’t believe his best friends were getting married, but if anyone deserved to be happy it was them. He had never been able to say out loud how much he loved the both of them, nor was he ever likely to, it was one of those things that didn’t need to be said out loud. The bond between the three of them was never questioned, it was just something that was and they put their entire faith into their friendship without questioning it. It was amazing how much had happened since that first day on the train, and how much still had to happen. He watched as Hermione walked towards him and vowed that he would keep her safe and do anything in his power to stop her pain when Harry died. He brushed off those thoughts quickly and let his eyes linger on Luna…then he shifted them away again though he had a sheepish grin on his face.

“Hi Ron,” said Hermione when she was finally standing in front of him.

“Alright?” asked Ron.

“Never better,” grinned Hermione. Ron grinned in return and offered his arm to Hermione. She smiled a smile that lit up her face and eyes. She had never looked so beautiful as she did right now. Ron waited as Luna and Susan walked in front of them and he followed behind them with Hermione.

“Nervous?” asked Ron jokingly.

“Not at all,” said Hermione serenely “I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life. Ron…do you think you could stop staring at Luna’s arse and listen to me?”

“Sorry…” said a very shamefaced Ron. Then they looked at each other and laughed, one thing was always certain…wherever Hermione and Ron were there would definitely be bickering.

Harry waited in a magnificent room, surrounded by statues, paintings and amazing historical artifacts. He knew Hermione would love it and he fixed his eyes on the door and tried to contain his anticipation. When the door finally opened he felt his heart leap into his throat. Luna and Susan emerged carrying bouquets of white lilies. Harry smiled fondly at the flower, knowing it was something Hermione had thought of. He could scarcely believe that they had ever been friends. How could he have not seen her? How could he have been so blind to have missed what was right in front of him? He smiled as she entered the room, feeling his heart swell at the sight of her. He couldn’t believe how breathtaking she looked. He wished he had known how he felt about her sooner, how much time could they have spent together? How many months, years? But at least he had her now; at least he knew what it was like to be truly in love. For that he would be eternally grateful no matter what happened.

The minister stood in front of Harry and Hermione and began his opening speech. Harry had absolutely no idea what he was talking about; his eyes were trained solely upon Hermione. He didn’t know how long they just stood and stared at each other for, but the minister gave a discreet little cough to start them on their vows. Hermione flushed a light pink colour and Harry thought it was the most adorable thing he had ever seen. He cleared his throat to speak the words that truly came from his heart.

“Hermione, with free and unconstrained soul

I give you all I am and all I am to become

Take this ring, and with it my promise of faith, patience and love,

For the rest of my life,”

“Today, Harry” spoke Hermione in an emotionally charged voice “I join my life to yours,

Not merely as your wife

But as your friend, your lover and your confidant,

Let me be the shoulder you lean on,

The rock on which you rest,

The companion of your life,

With you I will walk my path from this day forward.”

“What have I to give you Hermione?

The promise to take you as my only love from this day forward,

To stand by your side, and listen when you speak,

To comfort you when you cry,

And to join your laughter with my own,

Take this ring, and be my wife,”

“As freely, Harry, as God has given me life,

I join my life with yours,

Wherever you go, I will go,

Whatever you face, I will face,

For good or ill, in happiness or sadness,

Come riches or poverty,

I take you as my husband, and will give myself to no other,”

Luna, Ron, Susan, Neville and Charlie watched as they placed rings on each other’s fingers, and then pronounced them man and wife. Hermione glowed with happiness and Harry kissed her so soundly that the minister gave another little cough to get them to break it up. Everyone laughed loudly at this, though Ron and Luna laughed the loudest. Harry held Hermione’s hand whilst leading her out of the castle and stopping to put his hand firmly around her waist.

“Ready for the wedding night Mrs. Potter?” he asked mischievously.

“Of course Mr Potter, though if you want to be technical it’s wedding afternoon. The question is, can you handle it?” she laughed wickedly.

“We’ll see…” he grinned, and then with a crack they were gone.

“Well we should definitely all go out to celebrate their wedding,” said Ron slowly, avoiding Luna’s eye contact in case she thought drinking in the middle of the afternoon unwise. To his surprise she didn’t react too much to his suggestion, which he took as a good sign.

“I agree,” laughed Charlie.

“There’s a pub up the road,” offered Neville with a smile.

“Men,” grumbled Susan. Suffice to say the merriments continued well into the night for both parties.

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Susan awoke the next morning and could feel her skull trying to split itself open. She grabbed a pillow and put it over her head, willing the pain to go away. How much did she drink last night? An image of her dancing with Luna on a table in the pub flashed through her mind and she squeezed her eyes in an effort to will the image away. She knew she ought to get up and find Luna. She probably already had a potion brewing and her head was practically screaming for it. She went to move her leg but found that it was trapped under something. Intriguing. She began to wiggle it a bit and realised that it was a person she was trapped under. Hmm, no point in going out to find Luna. Apparently she had decided to crash in Susan’s bed last night. Maybe she could persuade her to help make a potion with her at the very least…Luna would definitely need it too, no doubt about it. She reluctantly opened her eyes to the brightness of the day and realised that she didn’t recognise the room she was in. This was not a good sign... She turned over to try and prod Luna awake and then stopped as her eyes caught the sight of bright red hair.

“Eh?” she mumbled to herself as her hung over brain tried to piece together what she was seeing, the second it managed to, she yelped and leapt up from the bed. After grabbing her wand off of the bedside table and quickly summoning her clothes, she made a run for the door. The second she was out of the room she pulled on her clothes and then ran down the stairs. She had barely got down the first staircase when she whacked head first into Luna. This certainly wasn’t going to help her hangover. Not surprisingly, Luna seemed to find this quite funny.

“Ah! There you are!” said Luna, still giggling a few minutes later “I thought you might like some potion. We were rather drunk last night I’m afraid.”

“Um, yeah I think we were,” mumbled Susan, taking the potion gratefully. After she had swallowed the disgusting concoction and her brain had stopped trying to break free from her skull she could finally think clearly. Maybe it was a good idea if she didn’t mention what had happened…she didn’t want to seem irresponsible after all. Not to mention that he probably didn’t like her like that, I mean for some blokes shag was just that…a shag. She mentally shook herself for being such a stupid cow.

“So, how was your drunken shag with Charlie? Everything you had imagined?” asked Luna vaguely. Susan tripped suddenly on the stairs due to Luna’s frankness, which sent Luna into another bout of crazed hysterics.

“Very funny,” mumbled Susan, as she scrambled to her feet again. “Who else knows?”

“The question you should be asking, is who else doesn’t know? Other than the happy couple of course…” laughed Luna dreamily.

“How embarrassing,” said Susan.

“What’s embarrassing?” came the voice of Charlie from the top of the stairs. Susan’s face went past the red stage and ascended to the valley of purple.

“I, erm, just fell down the stairs.” said Susan quickly, and then wanted to hit herself for saying that out loud. Charlie laughed and walked past them, then stopped to quickly whisper-

“I hope you’re not still drunk,” Susan looked up and the look in his eyes made her knees tremble. She had never been so grateful for having a wall behind her before. Charlie laughed softly and carried on walking down the stairs. Susan allowed herself to be led to her room by Luna, where she promptly screeched when she saw what she looked like in the mirror. This was going to be a bad day…

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Harry rolled over and smiled as he saw Hermione sleeping soundly next to him, her face covered by her hair. Harry moved her hair away from her face and kissed her softly on the lips, then the cheeks and then slowly started to trail them down her neck. Hermione sighed softly and her eyelids fluttered open.

“Mmmm,” she said sleepily “how is my husband this morning?”

“I’ve lost count of how many times you’ve called me your husband already,” chuckled Harry “but I’m very well. Did you sleep ok?”

“Wonderfully,” she mumbled, then snuggled into Harry and raised her neck to invite more of his kisses. Harry was only too happy to oblige…but at that moment something quite unexpected happened. A strange crackling sensation filled the room, almost as if it were filling with electricity. Harry sat up and grabbed his wand quickly, but before he even had time to react there were bright red sparks dashing from all areas of their room. Harry watched in amazement as the red sparks glittered brightly and began to move to the centre of the room. Once in the centre of the room they began to merge together, first changing from an indistinguishable blob to a face. A minute later the blob had developed a great gaping mouth filled with fangs and little horns. It was a bright red dragon, made out of something similar to fireworks.

“Not too discreet,” said Hermione quietly. The dragon’s mouth opened wide and spirals of blue and yellow sparks came out, drifting whimsically into the air to spell out a message. Harry read the message intently:

Bran Castle at half twelve

“Every girls dream honeymoon. Battling with bloodthirsty vicious vampires…” joked Hermione, as the dragon’s mouth began to close and the sparks lost their glow, eventually disappearing altogether.

“Well,” said Harry quietly, with a mischievous glint in his eye “it could be worse, we could be on some boring holiday learning about facts from some tour guide…”

“I’ll have you know that I rather like tours! They give you all the important information you need, as well as some entertaining tidbits that…what are you laughing at? Harry? Oh shut up!” she scolded lightly, throwing her pillow firmly onto his face, and then making a mad dash for the bathroom before he could retaliate. However, sports weren’t quite Hermione’s forte and so she lost quite badly. Not that she minded.

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The group met up in the courtyard of Bran Castle. It was filled with tourists, so much so that they were having a hard time staying together. A very tanned middle-aged man barged into Susan in his haste to join his partner, who was waving to him excitedly. His American accent flitted across the mumbles of the crowd.

“I’m super excited you could meet me here! Isn’t it great?”

“Super excited?” muttered Susan, looking at the rest of the group “Do you think he is, perhaps, a super tosser?”

“Susan!” reprimanded Hermione lightly “Let’s forget about him. I don’t understand why they asked us to meet here. I mean…look at this place! It’s too crowded, why on Earth would vampires want to meet here? There must be something we’re missing…”

“That American bloke is looking at us really oddly. Do you think he’s a bit touched in the head?” asked Ron, looking anxiously at the tanned man.

“He’s waving at us to follow him. Who the bloody hell is he?” asked Harry curiously. Luna’s looked of confusion suddenly gave away to a bright smile.

“Look carefully at his eyes! It’s Alexandru! I wonder how he managed to do that without magic. They really are quite fascinating…”

“That’s incredible. What’s even more incredible is the discreet way of getting our attention,” muttered Susan.

“Now now Sue! What’s got your knickers in a twist this morning?” asked Charlie with a grin.

“Nothing,” said Susan, immediately going red again. “Lets just go figure out what this super bloke has to say…”

As they approached the man, Harry noticed that there were several other people simply hanging around the courtyard. He figured that they too must be disguised like Alexandru. The castle surrounded the small courtyard they were standing in, and directly in front of Harry was an archway leading into the castle. He looked up at the dark wooden balcony above the archway and saw two more people staring intently at him. He looked at the others, and was surprised that no one else had pegged these strangers as being part of the Order of the Dragon. Even though he was about to face an unknown number of vampires, he couldn’t help but feel surrounded by history. He had never really though about anything like that before, but the castle just seemed to scream it’s age at you and the design begged you to listen to its secrets. As they neared the archway, the two men followed another group of tourists. Hermione mimicked pointing to some of the cream stonework on the castle wall, and after a few seconds of pretending to look at it, they moved on after the two men.

They passed through a large chamber with an ornate chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and a large decorative table in the middle of the room. Then they walked through another room, filled with carvings and wonderful artwork on the walls. They gave the pieces enough of a look so they didn’t look suspicious before moving on. Harry finally saw the back of the ‘American’ man’s head. He was heading out of the room with the other man; only now two women followed them. They appeared to be chatting animatedly. Harry signalled everyone else to follow him, and he moved to the back of the room to another archway. There were so many tourists around that Harry held onto Hermione’s hand to keep her with him, and then Hermione and the rest of the group made a chain. Mad Eye excluded of course. Harry manoeuvred them through the crowds and led them into a small stone hallway, lit only by flaming torches.

“Why are these dodgy areas always lit with fire?” asked Harry.

“It would hardly look alluring if they had light bulbs hanging from the ceiling would it?” joked Hermione quietly. Harry’s chuckle caught in his throat as he saw a large group of tourists in the middle of the stone archway, and directly behind them were seven strangers, the American man and his partner. Harry and the rest of the group walked casually past the first group of tourists until they were level with Alexandru and his group. Alexandru’s shape shifted slightly, then settled again as he turned around and casually leant against the stone wall behind him. He was making a joke in an overly brash voice that Harry was sure American’s didn’t use. At least not from what Harry had seen on the telly anyway. Alexandru suddenly started talking about the flaming torch, and before Harry knew what had happened he was falling into a pit of darkness.

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Hermione lit her wand as she was falling, and managed prepare herself for the drop to the floor. She heard the tell tale thuds of everyone else landing on the floor and wondered how far away the vampires were and if they were already in trouble. She would at least like to have the upper hand for once. She saw the rest of her group light their wands, and with their accumulated light she could see the room. It was a simple room in the shape of on oval; there were no torches, no decorations and nothing else filling it. At the end of the room was a small hallway, with stone steps leading into a corridor above it. Mad Eye, Alexandru, Charlie, John and Harry took the lead. Hermione stayed directly behind Harry with Ron, Luna and Susan. The walked up the stone stairway quietly, and the corridor they reached was so narrow it could only fit three people walking side by side. There were no torches up here either, and the darkness was so absolute that the wands light seemed to only go a foot in front of them.

“There are enchantments upon this castle,” whispered Mad Eye gruffly “The light from the wands isn’t strong enough.”

“Dracula has powers to rival your basic spells. But if you can resist his basic enchantments, your more potent spells will hurt him. But only sunlight or a stake will kill Dracula, not even your powerful curses,” said Alexandru quietly.

“Will he be here?” asked Susan worriedly.

“Dracula? Of course not. It has been my life’s work to destroy him and I know that he is a prize too big to simply be handed to me. No he is not here, it is simply the lesser vampires that are here today,”

“The weak always try to stick with the strong,” said Harry, referring to the Vampires and Voldemort but thinking about Peter Pettigrew and his father. Alexandru looked like he might say something back, but whatever it was on the tip of his tongue was cut off by a fierce hissing sound. Harry raised his wand in the direction of the hiss and heard Mad Eye shout-

“Luminarium!”

The hallway was lit momentarily, and in those few seconds Harry could see vampires hanging on the walls, dangling from the ceiling and rushing at them from the front of the corridor. Then the light faded and he hard Hermione desperately shout-

“Remember they are immune to sunlight!” He heard a few mumbled curses, and then the next thing he knew the corridor was filled with different coloured sparks, all in the shape of dragons. The dragons lunged at the vampires, and Alexandru, Helena and Bodgan leapt forward with wooden stakes and began driving them through the hearts of the vampires. The hissing noises filled the corridor, but now were punctuated with the angered and pained screams of their enemies. Anghel, Sorin and Viviana handed out stakes, and Harry buried his wand into the pocket of his robes. He heard a hissing noise directly behind him, and he turned around quickly to bury the stake into the vampires’ chest. Unfortunately he hadn’t done this sort of thing before, and it missed and hit the vampire in the arm. Harry felt himself being flung backwards into the wall, where a pair of arms gripped his waist. He could hear the hissing noise in his ears, far too close for comfort. He thought-

“Protego!” and the vampires were flung forcefully away from him. He smiled grimly…magic to get them away, a wooden stake to kill them. He heard a screech from Hermione and turned around, his heart suddenly in his throat. Was she in trouble? Where was she? He looked worriedly around, and then his eyes spotted her surrounded by six vampires. He moved forward to help her and had barely gotten to step number two when he realised that she wasn’t screeching in fear. She was making a rather funny noise as she rammed a stake into the vampires’ heart, with much better precision than Harry had. He watched as she shielded herself, froze the vampires and then took care of them quickly.

The hallway was filled with the sounds of spells being shouted, the colours of the dragons and the screaming of the vampires. Harry immersed himself in the job at hand, over and over again. But it seemed like no matter how many they seemed to get rid of, there were just as many waiting to attack them. He was starting to feel extremely tired, and he could tell the rest of them were too. The rest of the group and the Order of the Dragon were in a circle, and Harry was in the middle with Ron, fighting off the vampires that seemed to be dropping from the ceiling. How long had they been doing this for? It seemed like and endless amount of time, and it looked as If they had hardly made a dent in the population of vampires meeting here today. Hermione ducked out of the circle and joined Harry and Ron in the centre, she cast a quick spell on them and Harry immediately felt better. His limbs no longer felt like lead and he felt energised again, though not as much as he would like. He opened his mouth to thank her, but at that moment a vampire fell from the ceiling and lunged at her quickly. Harry couldn’t think, he couldn’t breathe; he simply leapt towards Hermione with Ron following shortly after him.

What happened next, no one expected. Harry and Ron had reached for their wands to get the vampire off of Hermione, when a sudden white light filled the room. It wasn’t the bright white light that surrounded them when Harry, Luna and Susan had combined their patronuses, but rather a soft creamy light that felt pleasantly warm to the skin. It spread through the stone corridor and the vampires fell like dominoes. The Order of the Dragon and everyone else went into action immediately, driving stakes through the vampires’ hearts at an alarmingly efficient pace. Harry had the pleasure of destroying the vampire that had been on top of Hermione, and this time he did not miss. He was momentarily shaken at the things he had done these last few months, the horrors he had seen and the things he had been forced to kill. Then he looked at Hermione’s grateful and rather embarrassed face and felt all of that melt away. He would kill a hundred times over to keep her and his child safe, and if that made him an awful person then so be it. Ron, Harry and Hermione shared a hug, and then broke quickly apart when they noticed they were surrounded by complete silence. Harry stood up and helped Hermione to her feet, and the wound his arm around her waist in a protective manner.

“You are more than worthy for our help Harry. Your name means ‘army power’, meaning you are a powerful leader. But you are more powerful than even your name suggests, and more so because you have the love of your friends behind you. Never doubt the power of love and friendship for you have seen its power today,” Said Alexandru in a calm and serious voice.

What? Love had done that? How on Earth could he, Ron and Hermione have caused all that? Without using a spell or anything?

“Sometimes the heart acts when the mind can’t possibly understand a way out of the situation. You always know the solution to a problem, whether you realise it or not. Every single person has a power inside of them, it just takes belief to utilize it correctly,” said Romena, her old harsh face unusually calm and pleasant. It was almost more of a shock seeing her look like that than it had been to see the vampires materializing out of stone walls. He made a mental note to always be very careful in enchanted castles from now on.

“Almost everyone has that kind of power,” said Ron tiredly “except muggles and squibs. They have no power at all…”

“We do not possess magic like you, and yet we use the power, do we not?” asked Alexandru.

“It’s true Ron,” said Luna excitedly “everyone has some kind of power. Even muggles! Every time they have a dream that then happens in real life…magic! Every time they think about the phone ringing and then it does…magic! When they think about someone and then they just so happen to see that person the same day, it’s magic! Every small thing they attribute to a coincidence is always much more than that, but they never want to see it. It’s too strange to think of something that small being something that magnificent, but it is! You have to believe in things before you can use them. Magic is all around us all the time, it just depends on how you use it,”

“The girl is wise beyond her years,” said Romena quietly.

“Well at least we got rid of some of them. Maybe enough to make a difference in the end, what do you reckon Harry?” asked Ron hopefully.

“We’ll see Ron,” said Harry tiredly.

“You must get some rest now. Tomorrow we shall take Harry and teach him how to use his dragon, then you must prepare to lead your followers into battle,” said Alexandru decisively.

“Um, I don’t really think-” began Harry uncertainly, but was cut off when Alexandru simply bowed and walked away.

“We shall contact you tomorrow,” chuckled Viviana lightly, then she hurried up the rest of the departing group.

“Looks like you made some friends Harry,” said Mad Eye gruffly, the he too turned around and started to walk in the direction the Order of the Dragon was walking in, followed by Charlie, John and Neville. Hermione leant into Harry and whispered-

“Think we could get back to that honeymoon now?”

“I think that could be arranged…” replied Harry with a cheeky grin.

“Oi you lot,” said Ron, looking suddenly nervous “How the bloody hell do we get out of here?”

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A/N- Just in case any of you were wondering, I expect there to be another four or five chapters and then the story will be at an end L If everything goes to plan…which it hardly ever does…

Harry Potter and the heir of Ravenclaw

1. A strange beginning

2. The wonders of friendship

3. A day of joy

4. Goodbye to the Burrow

5. A new home

6. An unexpected discovery

7. The first kiss

8. A trip to Hogwarts

9. The first attack of many

10. An important conversation

11. The tiara

12. Plus one makes five...

13. A serious conversation

14. An enemy or an ally?

15. The country road

16. Aunt Petunia

17. An interesting development...

18. Hufflepuff's cup

19. Hepzibah Smith

20. The Dark Mark

21. The Escape

22. The sorting hat

23. The Dementors

24. The date and the confrontation

25. The Ministry of Magic

26. Behind the Veil

27. Young love

28. Getting to know Luna

29. Gringotts

30. Nagini

31. St Mungo's and a Secret

32. Norbert's return

33. A Secret Revealed

34. Vlad The Impaler

35. A winter wedding