Harry Potter and the Three Travelers

shlamboozle

Rating: R
Genres: Romance, Action & Adventure
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 6
Published: 08/11/2005
Last Updated: 30/06/2006
Status: completed

Starting minutes after HBP ended, follow along as Harry begins his journey to collect the Horcruxes and fulfull his destiny.

Chapters

1. Meetings and Memories

2. Mirrors and Ice Cream

3. of Friends and Family

4. Just another Monday

5. Passing Time

6. Tears and Beers

7. Weasleys Woebegone Wedding

8. Going Home

9. Plotting a Course

10. In the Shadow of the Mountain

11. United in Grief

12. Balance

13. New Year, New Life & Epilogue

14. Thank You All

1. Meetings and Memories

Harry Potter and the Three Travelers

1. Meetings and Memories

Harry Potter climbed the stairs to his dormitory with every intention of finishing packing his school trunk before boarding the Hogwarts Express, but with every step he took, he became more certain that the train ride home was something he definitely did not want to expose himself to. For starters, in the few days that had actually passed since the murder of the school's Headmaster, it had become common knowledge that Harry was with him, partaking on some adventure outside of the school grounds. Whether or not they believed him to be the “chosen one,” no one doubted the fact that this was a story they would love to hear.

Hearing a noise behind him, Harry turned to see his two best friends, correctly guessing that they had silently followed him all the way up from the school grounds. They had pledged to follow him on his quest to destroy the remaining horcruxes left behind by Voldemort, but Harry was not entirely sure if he wanted them to accompany him on this journey. He kept thinking the people that helped him had a bad habit of ending up dead. He had dissolved his short, but blissful relation with Ginny over these same fears.

Harry looked at his best friends. He could see the fear seeping out from behind Ron's eyes. He knew it would take death to hold Ron back from coming with him, but the nervous twitches in his eyes gave away his inner thoughts. Sliding his gaze to Hermione, Harry couldn't help but notice the difference in her look from Ron's. Just staring into her eyes made Harry believe he could actually win this war, as long as he had her helping along the way, by his side.

“Harry?” Hermione asked. Apparently he had let his staring get a little out of hand.

“Yes?”

“Are you okay? You looked like you forgot to blink for a minute there.”

“Sorry, I was just thinking.”

“About what mate?” Ron always had a tendency to ask the most obvious questions possible.

“I was just thinking. I'm not so sure I want to take the express back. In fact, I'm not going to. I'll just Apparate to the station in a few hours. Vernon won't even notice, being that the can't cross the barrier.”

“But Harry,” Hermione had a look of concern in her eyes “Why not take the train? And what are you going to do with your trunk? You can't really Apparate with it.”

“I probably could if I tried hard enough, but I have an easier solution, just don't ask. You won't like it.”

Ron's eyes lit up at this statement “Well then you have to tell us!”

“I don't think I should.”

“Harry.”

“Fine. I'm going to have Kreacher pop it over to the station just after I leave.”

A very conflicted look passed over Hermione's face “You know he's not you own-“

“Actually, Herms, he is-“

“Ronald, don't you dare ever call me that name again, and you don't even know what I was going to say-“

“Sure I do, you were going to say he's not Harry's servant, but he is. It's not his fault he owns a house elf, but since he does, why not take advantage of it, right Harry?”

“It's not like that Ron. Look Hermione, you know how I feel about Kreacher, but there is no way I can actually set him fee. He knows too much, and as it stands, I've really only given him two commands the entire time I've been his master, so it's not like I'm pushing him around now, is it?”

“Two?”

“Well, first I told him to come and work here, and second was when I had him tail Malfoy for us.”

“Fine, but even if he brings your trunk, what are you going to do until then? You'll be stuck here for at least another four hours.”

“Yeah mate, are you sure Flitch won't kick you out of the castle?”

“I figure I might try to go and…” Harry's voice got the better of him, and a few tears found their way down his cheek.

“Harry,” Hermione came over and placed her hands on his shoulders, “You want to try to talk to his portrait, don't you?” He nodded.

“Do you think McGonagall would make us a portkey? If she could I'll stay with you.”

“No. I can't see her being much of a rule breaker. Those things are supposed to be pretty restricted, I think.” He was forcibly reminded of the time Dumbledore had made a portkey for him in front of the Minister of Magic. “Fudge nearly wet himself when Dumbledore made me one the night Sirius died.”

Ron started laughing, “That must have been a great sight.”

“I don't know Ron, I was still getting over what had happened.”

There was an audible gulp as Ron realized Harry was being forced to remember being possessed by You-Know-Who.

Hermione looked like she was about to burst into tears. “Oh Harry, I would stay, but I don't know if I can Apparate that far of a distance. It might not be safe for us all to try such a big jump, and neither of you two had you license . . .”

“I could always side-along Ron, seeing as he hasn't quite gotten the hang of it, and I'm sure there's no way we'd get in trouble, so long as none of us get splinched.”

“No offense mate, but I think I'm just going to take the Express. In fact, I suggest we all just go down to the carriages now, so we don't miss them entirely.”

“Either way, we should get our trunks downstairs, right Harry?”

“I suppose so. Are you already packed Hermione?”

“Yes, and I can see you are.” They both looked at Ron's bed, covered with what appeared to be everything he had brought with him from the Burrow. He looked down for a moment, looking like his mother had just scolded him.

“Well, I suppose I'll just finish up here, and meet you two in the common room.”

Harry looked up as Hermione's trunk landed softly beside his. She was still looking at him with eyes full of concern, like he was about to boil over with emotion any second.

“Are you still thinking about not taking the train?”

“I already decided. I just thought I'd let you two know why I wasn't on board.”

“Harry, you really should reconsider. It could be very unsafe to try and go that long of a distance, let alone trying to side-along somebody. Hardly anybody can do that, even with a child, and here you are thinking you can just pull Ron along with you like it's nothing-“

“There really is nothing to worry about.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“When I left with Dumbledore, we Apparated away. All the way down the southern coast.”

“But he was right there with you-“

“But on the way back, after he had drunk all of that foul potion. He was barley alive Hermione. I had to carry him out of the cave, then Apparate us both back to the Hog's Head.”

Her hand immediately covered her mouth. “But Harry, that takes so much power; and control. How could you manage?”

“I had to. He needed help, and that was the only way to get it to him. If you are still worried about the distance, I could help you along the way.”

He could see the conflicting emotions on her face. She probably had expected to spend a nice comfortable train ride with Ron, and now he was asking her to give that up so he could try and talk to a picture that might not even talk back.

“Okay. Let's go see McGonagall.”

As they approached the stone gargoyle guarding the entrance, Harry had a sudden realization. “I don't know the password.”

“But I thought she brought you here that night?”

“She did, but she didn't even give a password. Probably because it was he first time in her new office…”

They both simply stared at the guard for a moment, when Hermione appeared to have a sudden brainstorm. She stood up very straight, and in a very official tone said “Could you please stand aside so we could have a word with the Headmistress?”

After the gargoyle's response (silence), Harry collapsed to the floor trying to hold back as much of the laughter as he could, shoving his fist in his mouth causing a strange gagging sound to come out.

Hermione, still dismayed from her plan backfiring, mistook his collapse for something far more sinister. She let out a shriek and tried to rock him out of an attack he wasn't suffering, only succeeding in driving him further over the edge. It was at this moment that Headmistress McGonagall emerged from the staircase to see one of her favorite students smothering the other in the middle of the hallway.

“What is the meaning of this?”

Hermione let out another shriek, and they both scrambled to their feet. When Harry finally caught his breath, he looked into the older woman's eyes, and his smile quickly faded.

“Sorry. There was just something funny, and I kind of fell over laughing, and Hermione fell on me for some reason-“

“I thought something was wrong! You collapsed! What did you want me to do?!”

Realizing that he had the two women who knew him best both glaring at him like he had something stamped on his forehead. “What'd I do?”

Hermione softly tutted, and turned to their Headmistress, “Harry and I decided not to take the Express this year. We'll just Apparate back to the station in a few hours. I believe Harry wanted to come by here to see if he could have a word with Professor… With his portrait, but neither of us knew the password to get past the gargoyle.”

“And this was all funny to you Mister Potter?”

“Only when Hermione decided to politely ask the gargoyle to stand aside.” He could have sworn he saw both of their gazes warm slightly. It had been a while since anyone in the castle had anything to laugh about.

“Very well, please come up, I have something for you Harry.”

As Harry entered the office, he heard Hermione let out a squeak as she noticed the portrait of their former headmaster on the wall.

“How long has that been there?”

The other two people in the room both looked to her.

“Since that night it… Happened…” McGonagall croaked out.

Harry realized something. “Have you ever actually been in here Hermione?”

“Well I guess I never broke quite as many rules as you…”

Harry was sure the temperature was quickly rising in the room as he looked over to the Headmistress.

“Well Miss Granger, a portrait of each Headmaster of the school appears as soon as their tenure at the school ends. For whatever reason…”

“Quite correct Minerva.”

The three people in the room all looked up to see the portrait of Albus Dumbledore smiling down on them.

“Good afternoon professor.”

“Ah, good afternoon Harry, Hermione. I am not quite sure you need to address me as `professor' anymore, given my current situation, though I realize that old habits are quite hard to break. Judging by the mood in the room, am I to assume that my body has been laid to rest?” The three all nodded. “Well then, I would you advise you all to get on with the rest of your lives. I'm sure the last few days have been quite miserable, and I don't like the idea of being responsible for everyone being in such a foul mood.”

Hermione let out a series of small sniffs, while McGonagall merely looked on with quivering lips. Harry looked up and let out a small chuckle. Leave it to Dumbledore to make jokes about his own funeral. “That's the spirit Harry…”

“Well, Harry,” said the Headmistress, “since you are here, there is a parcel for you. I was planning on delivering it to you at your relatives' house, but I suppose you've saved me the trip.” She pulled out a large box wrapped in very plain paper. Taking the package, Harry looked up.

“Do I have to wait to check what's in here?”

“Oh no, feel free to open it whenever you wish,” the portrait answered.

Harry pulled off the wrapping, and opened the box. Inside were two smaller boxes resting inside a large stone basin. Harry carefully pulled out the contents and placed them on the desk. He opened the first of the boxes two find close to three-dozen glass phials, each containing a silvery substance. Individual memories from the greatest wizard of the age. The second box contained two items, first a large gold ring with a cracked stone, and second, a tattered old diary with a large hole in the cover.

“Sir… I can't accept any of this.”

“Harry, Professor Dumbledore left me very clear instructions to make sure you accepted this parcel, and I do not intend to go back on a friends final wishes.” Professor McGonagall slightly winced as she finished.

“Quite right Minerva. Harry, this package is one I made sure to prepare for you each and every time I had to leave on one of my special `errands' over the course of the last school year. Rest assured, I packed that box several times, and every time, I was certain you needed everything in it. Harry, do an old friend a great service, and use what you have been given well. Finish our quest, and do what you have to, to live.”

Through slightly misty eyes, Harry looked into the portrait of his mentor. “I will. I will finish it.” Next to him, Hermione was now openly sobbing. Harry pulled her into a hug, letting her tears wash into the shoulder of his robes, not noticing the warm glances coming from the current and former masters of the school. Hermione continued to cry for several minutes, and Harry almost wondered if the only reason she let up at all was because she simply ran out of tears. Still holding her gently, he asked Dumbledore, “Sir, how did you get the diary back?”

“Well, Harry, I believe you have your friend Dobby to thank for that. It seems his former master saw fit to toss the book aside at the gates of the school, and Dobby, who really left just a few minutes later to pursue his freedom” - Hermione seemed to involuntarily tighten her grip on Harry with the reminder that he had set the quirky elf free -“found the book, and kept it for something of a keepsake. When he came to the school a year later, looking for employment, he offered me the book. I believe, since he knew what happened the last time the diary was inside the castle, he did not trust himself with it.”

“I'm actually surprised Dobby didn't give it to me.”

With a sudden pop, the small elf was standing next to them, smiling brightly up at Harry, “Harry Potter sir called Dobby's name. Does Harry Potter need anything from Dobby?”

Hermione lifted her head long enough to see the eager look in the elf's eyes, only to bury her head back in Harry's shoulder giggling furiously.

“No Dobby. Professor Dumbledore's portrait was just explaining how he ended up possessing that old diary.”

“I see, Harry Potter sir, but sir, why is you still here? Should you and your Hermy not have been on the train with the rest of the school?”

Hermione, after being addressed in a way normally reserved for giants, decided to speak up, “No Dobby, Harry and I decided to stay a little while longer. We're just going to Apparate to the train station in a few hours.”

“What about your Wheezy?”

“Well, Ginny can't really Apparate yet, so she had-”

“No Hermione, he meant Ron. He doesn't like to pop over to places Dobby, so he took the train too.” A sudden realization it Harry, “Professor McGonagall, my house elf has been working here all year, but I can't really take him to the Dursley's-”

“Kreacher is a bad elf who doesn't serve his master well!”

“Dobby really, it's okay-”

“Kreacher received an order from his master and didn't do his job. He is a bad house elf!”

Harry was quite sure he didn't want the little elf telling McGonagall that he'd been having students tailed by his elf, no matter what the reason, luckily, Hermione came to his rescue.

“Actually Dobby, could you do us both a favor?”

“Anything for Harry Potter's Hermy!”

She slightly winced at the repeated us of the name, but charged ahead, “Do you think you could wait for us to leave, and bring our luggage to platform nine and three-quarters for us?”

“Of course Dobby will help! Just call for me when you is leaving and Dobby will help however you want!”

Everyone in the room smiled down on the excited creature, and Hermione put her hand on his shoulder, “We'll let you know when we're leaving then. By the way, nice hat.”

He smiled sheepishly up at her before popping back out of the room.

“Well Mister Potter, I believe you were asking me something before your little friend decided to visit?”

“Yes Professor. Do you think my elf could remain here, working with the rest of the staff? I would just set him free, but Professor Dumbledore advised against it, since he knows so much about the Order…”

She seemed to consider a moment, and after getting a small nod from the portrait, “Of course he can stay. I couldn't imagine a greater folly than going against Albus' wishes. Is there anything else that I can do for the two of you? I'm afraid I am quite busy currently, but I want you to realize my door is always open for any assistance you may require, along with the rest of the staffs' I'm sure.”

Harry considered for a moment, then remembered something he meant to ask Dumbledore about, “There was one thing,” he turned his attention to the portrait. “When we were on our little trip, and you found the opening to the cave… How did you do that? I just have this feeling that I'll need to know that sometime soon.”

McGonagall looked somewhat questioningly at Harry, not quite knowing what he had just said, but Harry had been purposely vague just because of that.

The Dumbledore in the portrait smiled sadly down on, “Harry, I must take this chance to apologize-”

“Don't… Don't say you're sorry. You have no reason to be… Everyone here knows you did more to help us win this war than anyone else… You're being sorry does us all about as much good as us sitting around grieving. Like I told you over the summer. When these things happen, it doesn't do any good to shut everyone out, or crack-up. I know what I have to do, and if I'm still around after I get it done, well, then we'll all have time to mope about whatever we want.”

Hermione rounded on him, “What do you mean if you're still around? There is no way I'm letting you come out of this thing in any worse shape than you're in right now!”

While Professor McGonagall was discreetly wiping the tears away, Dumbledore's likeness grew a wide smile. “Well said, both of you. About what you asked, Harry. There was a `rather thrilling tale' that I never got around to fully regaling you with, but I have included it in the package of memories. Simply enter the one labeled `the ring' and I believe your questions will be answered, if not, I believe you know where to find me.”

“Of course, sir.”

“Harry please, call me Albus.”

While the two women resumed their sniffing, Harry smiled up and replied, “Maybe next time.” He carefully repacked the box, and had to take Hermione's hand to make her realize it was indeed time to leave the office. “We'll see you later then Sir; Headmistress.”

“Don't forget, either of you. My door is always open.”

Hermione smiled back at her, “We won't. Thank you both for all your help.”

With one more slightly sad smile to the portrait, they made their way back to their common room.

Upon entering Gryffindor house, they were greeted by a rather unusual sight. Hedwig, Harry's snowy owl was sitting on the arm of the sofa, glaring at its two occupants, Dobby, and Hermione's cat Crookshanks, both of whom it appeared were trying to guard the two trunks sitting next to them. When Hedwig saw them enter, she flew over to Harry's shoulder, and hooted in annoyance.

“Hey girl, I guess it's a good thing there's nobody around to try to get into our things. The guards seemed to have fallen asleep.” The owl seemed to nod a bit as Harry and Hermione sat on the sofa opposite the cat and elf.

Hermione looked over to Harry as Hedwig perched on the top of the sofa, “Harry, how's Crookshanks getting back? Is it safe to carry him while Apparating?”

He thought for a moment, “I'm sure it is. I mean, Dumbledore brought me along when I had no clue how to do it, I'm sure between the two of us we can manage him.”

“As long as you're sure it's safe…”

“No worries. I'm sure the worst that could happen would be his legs would come out a little straighter on the other side.” He received an almost-to-hard-too-be-playful slap for that.

After sighing quite deeply, Harry once again emptied the parcel he had been given, carefully setting the diary and ring aside, still not entirely sure why he needed to have them. He set the pensieve on its base in front of them and started sifting through the memories. Many of these were simply names of towns or people he had never heard of, presumably leads Dumbledore had followed of his search. Hermione, looking at the phials Harry was setting aside noticed these seemingly random names, “Why do you suppose he left you all of these? I don't even recognize half of these names, do you?”

“No I don't… I think they may be people who he already questioned about the Horcruxes, or maybe even other people's memories about Voldemort.”

“Why would you assume they are other peoples'?”

“Well, this one is labeled `Slughorn' with the date last April. It has to be the one I got from him.”

“Oh, well that makes sense.” She was looking rather intently at the pensieve now, “I thought you said it was supposed to be full of the same kind of silvery stuff as what's in those tubes.”

“I think I only saw it when it was full of his memories. It seemed the more you added to it, the more things it could show you connected. Kind of like this,” Harry put his wand to his temple and pulled a thin silvery-white strand away from his head, then carefully let it slide down into the pensieve. He repeated this process a few times before setting his wand aside. Much like Dumbledore had done more than two years previous, Harry picked up and swirled the basin before setting it down on its polished wood stand. Hermione let out a small giggle as her twelve-year-old self appeared in front of her saying, “Books! And cleverness! There are more important things -- friendship and bravery.” The image immediately shifted to the two of them standing over an already collapsed Sirius, desperately trying to fend of over a hundred Dementors. She watched horror stricken as she saw herself fall to the ground, and Harry's last-ditch attempt to save them all failed. Seeing one of the Dementors lifting up Harry to administer the kiss, she convulsively grabbed Harry's hand, and chocked back a sob just as everything in the basin turned a brilliant white, and a massive stag galloped over the water saving them all. The scene shifted again to the two of them flying on Buckbeak's back, counting the windows until they came across one with a sullen-looking Sirius on the other side. Deciding that was enough of a demonstration, Harry tapped the surface of his thoughts, returning it to its swirling silver state.

Hermione just started at the pensieve for a moment, “That's amazing Harry. Does it erase the memory from your mind when you pull it out?”

“Oh no, I still remember everything fine, it's more just for organizing your thoughts, not storing them.”

“So either one of us could put something in here, and just watch it like a round television?”

He had to chuckle at the comparison. “It's more that that. Much more, watch this.” He withdrew another thread from his head and placed it with the others, then prodded the surface with his wand. A Hermione looking identical to the one on the sofa was staring resolutely ahead saying “Could you please stand aside so we could have a word with the Headmistress?” With another prod Harry let her fall back in with the remaining thoughts swirling below her, and looked over to see the real Hermione glaring severely at him.

“And just how long am I going to have to suffer before you let that go?”

“Not too much longer, I promise. But there is one other way to view memories in a pensieve.”

“Really? How? All you ever talked about was looking in on Dumbledore's, I mean it's not you can enter in and see it through the person living it's eyes, can you?” She seemed genuinely perplexed by the idea.

Harry had a wicked glean in his eyes, “Even better. You can enter in and be standing next to the person whose memory it is, being able to look all around seeing everything they saw, even if they didn't realize they saw it. The first time I fell into this, I ended up watching the original Death Eater trials while sitting next to Dumbledore, that is until the real Dumbledore came in after me, and I was sitting in between the two of them.”

“So what you're saying is that you could put your memory from say, the Chamber of Secrets in there, and I would be walking along next to you, watching you do all the things you swear you only got done by being extremely lucky? How come when you came back after the third task you just didn't put your memory in here and show it to Fudge? That pompous moron would have had to believe you if he saw it then!”

Realizing she was starting to get a little too worked up, Harry decided to cut her off, “Not really Hermione. Any memory can be adjusted, or possibly even faked. You just need to see it that way in your head. The original one Slughorn gave Dumbledore had all these spots where everything got cloudy; you could tell he was repressing what really happened, but the only way to get the truth out of him was for him to remember it, and want to give it to us. Anything we would have shown Fudge would have been brushed off as some school-boy's fantasy.”

“But Harry-”

“I know, but that's just the way he was, and you know it. Now, I suppose it's just a matter of time before you ask me to show you the trip I took with… him… to the cave.” She gave a small nod, knowing how bad it really would be for him to have to relive the experience so soon.

“Harry, really, it can wait.”

“No. It's all right. If I can't totally share this with you, then no one else has a chance of ever finding out….”

“You could always tell Ginny….”

“No I can't. Not anymore… I broke it off with her.”

Hermione sat in a stunned silence for almost a minute, “Why? You seemed so happy to be with her.”

“I was, while it lasted, but lets face it. Any relationship based on a childhood crush can't last forever. As much as Ginny wants to be treated as an adult, she has a really hard time acting as one. Sometimes it's almost like she stopped growing up after the chamber, even though something like that really should have forced her to grow up a lot faster.”

“Speaking from experience?”

“Too much of it.”

She put a comforting arm around his shoulder, and any momentary doubts Harry had about what he had done were washed away in a surge of warmth. He gently squeezed her hand in thanks before they were interrupted by Crookshanks jumping up into Harry's lap, seeming to want to be pet in repayment for being woken up by their conversation. Hermione smiled at her cat, and told Harry, “See, he even feels a little sorry to hear about all of this.”

“No, he's just mad we woke him up, right Dobby?”

They both looked up to see the small elf wringing his ears, dreadfully afraid he was in trouble. “I's sorry, Harry Potter sir! Dobby no mean to overhear about Harry Potter and Miss Wheezy, Dobby just wake up to hear about Professor Dumbledore's shiny bowl and not able to stop listening!”

Harry, knowing his little friend's mood well, had to intervene before he began punishing himself, “It really is okay Dobby, I trust you not to tell anybody about anything you overhear Hermione and myself talking about.”

She chimed in, “Of course we do Dobby, and with as much as you've helped Harry in the past, we can't really keep secrets from you. We both trust you.”

Harry's green eyes were met by Dobby's, and he gave his little friend a small nod, which seemed to cause a complete mood reversal, where the elf was previously close hurting himself in retribution, his eyes now exploded in a shower of silent tears. “You… Both… Trust Dobby?” With another nod from both of them, Dobby launched himself over the table separating their sofas, nearly knocking the pensieve off its stand, “You make Dobby so happy! Anything Dobby can do, just ask!”

“Don't worry Dobby, we will,” Hermione said as she helped peel him off Harry, “but right now, I believe Harry and I have some more things to talk about before we need to leave.”

“Of course, I leave so you can talk in private”

Harry, finally managing to free himself thought of something, “Actually Dobby, there is one thing. When you bring our trunks along to the train station for us, is it possible for you take Crookshanks with you?” The cat looked up at Harry with a look close to fear in its eyes.

“Of course Harry Potter! Dobby can also bring along his Hedwig if he wishes.” Hearing this, his faithful owl let out a hoot of annoyance before gliding over to a chair across the room.

“No Dobby, I think she'd rather fly herself to my Aunt and Uncles… Now, Hermione, are you okay with Dobby taking care of Crookshanks for you?”

She looked between her cat and the elf, “Of course I am, now why don't you two get to know each other a bit before we all have to leave.” She scooped up a very grumpy cat and handed him over to Dobby, who went back to the other sofa. “Now, Harry…”

“Now you want to see it… Are you sure you're ready?” Harry felt her gaze as she looked deep into his eyes, as if she were reaching down into his heart to gauge how much pain he was really in.

Hermione intertwined her fingers with Harry's once more, “Only if you are.”

After taking several deep breaths, Harry pulled a thread almost as long as his own arm and placed in the basin. They both looked over top to see Dumbledore seemingly walking alone along the path away from the castle.

“Harry, where are you? What do we do now?”

“I'm under the cloak, right next to him. Now… This might sound a bit strange, but trust me. Just stick your head in the bowl.”

Hermione gave him a slightly uncomfortable look, “Just dunk my head in?”

Harry nodded, “Trust me. It will be a bit cold as you get sucked in, but everything will be fine.”

“How do I get back out?”

“I'm coming in with you, and I'll bring us back out when it's over. Just go ahead, I'll be right behind you.”

Now Hermione let out a massive sigh, and in one sudden movement dropped her face to the pensieve, and in a flash, she was gone from the sofa. Harry looked over to Dobby, “This might take a couple of hours so please, just make sure nobody disturbs this bowl, okay Dobby? It's okay if you watch through the top, just make sure no one touches.”

The elf stood and for once looked very serious, “Of course Harry Potter sir, Dobby will guard Harry Potter's bowl with his life.”

Not wanting to leave Hermione along any longer, he gave a quick “Thanks” before touching the surface himself. As soon as he felt his feet touch the ground, Hermione came right over and reclaimed his hand.

“What took you so long?”

“Sorry, just asking Dobby to keep the pensieve safe while we're in here. It was a pretty long thought I put us in…”

They followed along behind Dumbledore and the invisible Harry as they made their way towards the Hog's Head, and Harry heard Hermione click her tongue before saying, “I still don't see why he would ever go to this pub, it's disgusting!”

Harry looked over at his friend, “You mean you haven't figured it out yet?”

“Figured out what?”

“The bar man in the Hog's Head. It's Aberforth. This is his brother's pub.” A look came over her face that Harry knew to be her realizing she had come to a greater understanding just as Dumbledore in front of them disappeared, and everything around them lurched and shifted, leaving them standing on a cliff overlooking the sea.

Hermione almost fell over from the shock of this, but still found it in her to mutter, “What the hell was that? Is that normal?”

Harry smiled to himself, “Well, we had to follow along as we Apparated somehow. Come to think of it, we end up doing a bit of swimming here; I hope we don't have to get wet. That water is freezing.”

“Well, maybe we can just walk along on top of the water, I mean since none of this is real anyway, maybe we just have to believe we can do it, and it will be. What is Dumbledore pointing to over there?”

“He's pointing out the cave that we are heading for, and you know, we can get a bit closer, it's not like they are going to hear us.”

Harry pulled her up along side the occupants of the memory just as they began their decent down to the water. Hermione let out a small squeak as the Harry from the memory pulled off his cloak to reveal himself only inches away from herself, and watched in amazement as Dumbledore launched himself into the water and began swimming toward the rock face in front of them. “Well, Hermione, time to test your theory.” Harry stepped off the ledge focusing with everything he had on landing on a solid surface, instead of in the icy water, and immediately let out a sigh of relief as he took a few steps away from the ledge, walking on the water. Hermione, with her eyes tightly closed followed closely, reaching out for Harry to guide her. He took her hand and pulled her along quickly, trying to catch up to the swimmers ahead.

“Please Harry, not so fast.”

“Since when are you so afraid of a little water, besides you already know you're standing on top of it, so just open your eyes already, we need to catch up before the door closes.”

Slowly she opened her eyes, but when she noticed they were standing a good thirty feet from any land, she launched herself back into Harry's arms. He let out an exasperated sigh before saying, “Look, this would be great if we had the time for me to make jokes, but there really is a door coming up here that we need to make it through. I don't want to take the chance of being stuck until we make our way back out.” She relaxed a bit and let Harry lead her along at a brisk pace, and it was then that Harry realized that even though he knew exactly where the chain of events they were following led, he didn't feel at all anxious about it, which he could only attribute to the fact that his best friend was next to him, even if he seemed to be giving her more comfort than the other way around.

They caught up with the pair in front of them just as they emerged from the water, and Hermione, clearly not thinking as much as usual, tried to perform a warming charm on the shivering Harry in front of her, causing the other one to hold his sides chuckling. “Honestly Hermione, did you think that would work?” She looked down at her own shoes with a look of shame, clearly not up to her own standards, before Harry lifted her chin back up to look her in the eyes, “But I do appreciate the thought.” She turned quickly, and in a higher-than-normal voice asked what Dumbledore was looking for on the walls.

“He knows some way of finding concealed magic, which is something I need to learn as soon as I can.”

“We, Harry. We need to learn it, and we will.”

Harry could hardly contain the feeling of immense gratitude he felt as he looked deep into her bright brown eyes, and for a fleeting instant it felt to Harry as though something was swelling inside his chest, until Hermione let out a shriek looking over Harry's shoulder. When he turned he saw Dumbledore swinging down his knife into his arm, spurting the rock face with drops of his own blood. Hermione started wide-eyed as the opening in the rock appeared, “I guess this is the door you mentioned?” And without waiting for Harry to answer, she followed into the chamber, only to have him wheel her back around.

“You need to be warned. You see that lake there?” She nodded, seeing water with the green mist floating in the center. “It's loaded full of Inferi, and we are going to have to walk across it. Twice.” She looked back over, shivering. “And the second time, you're going to get a really good look at them, so, are you sure you want to follow? We could just wait here for me to bring Dumbledore back.”

With a trembling hand, Hermione reached out for Harry's, and quickly followed along behind their query, only giving pause when Harry tried his summoning charm, causing one of the ghastly bodies to jump out of the water. They followed along in relative silence, Hermione obviously listening to everything Dumbledore had been telling Harry, and after another nervous walk over the water, she watched in shock as Dumbledore began downing goblet after goblet of the horrid green potion before them all. By the time Harry was forcing the potion down Dumbledore's throat, they were both openly crying; Harry from the memory itself, Hermione having fully realized what her friend had been through. When Dumbledore screamed “KILL ME!” Hermione finally lost all control and buried her head in Harry's shoulder. He decided it would be best to begin heading back to the shore just as the water all around them began churning, and the Inferi came to the surface. Hermione was petrified with fear, Harry presumed she had once again forgotten that they were safe from harm, but he really couldn't blame her given what was happening all around them. “Don't worry,” he said while trying to rub some of the tension out of her shoulders, “Just watch Dumbledore. He's about to save us both, again…” Just then the ring of fire surrounded them all, and Harry brought Hermione along inside it all the way back to the shore, where he found himself carrying Hermione along the path in a similar manner as the version of himself from the memory was supporting Dumbledore.

They walked along side as Harry swam both himself and Dumbledore back across the icy seawater, Hermione crying even harder every time Harry tried to reassure the visibly weak Headmaster that everything was going to be all right. When Dumbledore replied “I am not worried Harry, I am with you,” She once again lost all control she had, and Harry had to scoop her up in his arms and carry her the rest of the way back. She seemed pull herself back together just in time to see Harry Apparate himself and Dumbledore back to Hogsmeade, only to resume shivering when she looked up and saw the Dark Mark hovering over the castle.

Harry, having spent the last few minutes fussing over Hermione, failed to notice himself and Dumbledore take off on their flight to the castle, so he was as surprised as Hermione when everything dissolved around them, only to reveal the top of the astronomy tower as the two riders set down. Harry sat near Dumbledore as he was giving his final instructions to the Harry under the cloak, Hermione, not fully knowing what was going to happen, but noticing the miserable look in Harry's eyes, simply curled up into his lap and watched with a heavy heart as first Malfoy then an entire squad of Death Eaters appeared on top of the tower. They silently watched as Dumbledore casually conversed with a group of people that wanted him dead more than anything. They watched as Snape emerged, as Dumbledore pleaded with him, and as Snape shot the curse that ended the life of the greatest wizard of his age.

Hermione watched as the attackers fled down the stairs, followed moments later by Harry, tearing off his cloak with a look of pure hatred in his eyes, felling one of the Death Eaters before he even made it to the staircase. She buried her head into Harry's shoulder, crying harder than he had ever seen anyone cry before. Harry was about to suggest they return to their common room, when with one last lurch, they found themselves sitting on the front lawn as Snape and Malfoy fled, Harry hot on their heels. Hermione watched as Hagrid's hut was set on fire, and as Harry tried to send curse after curse at Snape, only to be parried away. She let out a scream as one of the other Death Eaters on the lawn hit Harry from behind with the Cruciatus curse, and watched with a growing look of disgust as their former potions professor started to fight back against Harry, only to be assaulted by Buckbeak.

Once Snape had made his final flight from the school, Harry decided it really was time to go. Without a word he took hold of Hermione's arm and brought them both back to the common room. As soon as Hermione realized they had returned, she collapsed back onto the sofa, bringing Harry down with her. Neither one realized that their Headmistress standing next to the table, wiping the constant string of tears away.

Harry was too concerned with his best friends welfare to care about anything else. “Hermione I am so sorry, I never should have let you see that. I knew it would be too much, I'm so sorry…”

“Harry…” She sobbed into the handful of his robes she was clutching, “Don't you dare trying to apologize… You warned me, and I asked for it… It's not you fault… My fault… My fault…”

“Harry Potter sir!”

“Dobby please not now. Please just give us a minute.”

“But you have a guest,” there was a definite tension to the little voice, which is what cause Harry to finally notice Professor McGonagall looking down on them with tear-filled eyes.

“I am sorry to interrupt you Harry, Hermione. I was simply coming by to do a year-end inspection of the dormitories. I had assumed the both of you would rather spend your time waiting perhaps in the Three Broomsticks, rather than up here.”

Hermione was still in no state to talk, and Harry was suddenly very nervous. Dumbledore had made a point not to tell anyone about what he had been doing all year, now McGonagall had possibly seen his entire trip to the cave. “How much of that did you see?” The tone of his voice was more angry than curious, and it was Dobby who spoke up.

“The Headmistress only came in after you's showed back up in town, Harry Potter sir, and Dobby tried to make the Headmistress not watch. He was about to make the Professor leave, even if it cost him his job at Hogwarts, when you's came back into the room.”

“So, Professor, you really didn't see where we were before we returned to Hogsmeade?”

“No Harry, I did not, but there is no doubt in my mind of how bad it must truly have been if Miss Granger is still in the state that she is.” She had drawn her lips together in a manner she usually reserved for telling off students, but continued, “And I must say that I would like nothing more to know what you and Albus were doing away from the school, he must have never told me for a reason, and I realize you are just obeying his wishes… He did give you permission to inform Hermione?”

Harry meekly nodded. He could only imagine how put out McGonagall must feel. She had obviously been close to Dumbledore, yet he had not trusted her enough to be a part of the search, and Harry was free to tell his two school-age friends. “He wanted me to be able to have someone to talk over everything with, and gave me permission to tell Ron and Hermione, but they are the only ones who know the whole story. Please understand Professor, I've always trusted you, but Professor Dumbledore had to have had a reason for you to not know, and if I had to guess, it was for your own safety.” Harry couldn't help but smile a little, “We both had a little bit of a `saving people thing' I guess.” He could almost swear he felt Hermione give a small chuckle into his chest.

The Headmistress sniffed back a new surge of tears, “Very well Harry. Dobby, thank you for allowing me to view what I did. You still have a couple of hours before the train will arrive in London. Feel free to stop by my office, the password is `tabby cat,' and do be sure to make sure they get something to eat, Dobby.”

“Yes Ma'am, Dobby will take care of them.”

“Well then, if I do not see you again, enjoy you holiday Harry, Hermione.” Hermione managed a weak nod before McGonagall exited through the portrait hole.

“Are you alright Hermione?” Harry asked, not really sure what to do. Hermione had stopped crying, but he almost wondered, again, if she had simply run out of tears.

“No, I'm not Harry. This is all my fault. Everything, he could still be alive. If I'd only listened to you, we could have stopped Malfoy from ever fixing that cabinet, Dumbledore would still be here.” Harry could see the emotions brewing behind her eyes; he could see the same self-loathing he had felt upon returning from the Department of Mysteries a year earlier.

“Hermione, this is in no way your fault. I know exactly how you feel-”

“How could you possible know? You've never been responsible for somebody else's life! You don't know the feeling that something you didn't do ended up with somebody dead! It's MY FAULT! I DON'T DESERVE OUR FRIENDS! I DON'T DESERVE TO BE HERE! AND I CERTAINLY DON'T DESERVE YOU!” Dobby, who had been watching intently from the other sofa, shot Harry a very nervous look before disappearing.

Hermione was screaming into her own fists, balled up in front of her face, and Harry was sure that if he let her go on like this they would both be showing up in King's Cross sporting multiple bruises. “Hermione, please listen to me for a minute, just listen, then if you still feel this way, fell free to take as much of it as you can on me…”

She had another onslaught of tears pouring out onto her face, but there was a fierceness to her that gave Harry a very nervous feeling, that no matter what he wanted to say, it wasn't going to appease her. She slowly sat back in her seat, and nodded for him to proceed.

“I told you about fighting Riddle at the Ministry last year, and how he possesed me after Dumbledore had fought him to a standstill. I suppose I could show you all of that later, if you wanted, but when I was possessed, it hurt so bad. Worse than the Cruciatus curse ever had, and I wanted to die. I remember thinking; almost hoping that if I could just manage to snuff it, then I could go off and join Sirius, and the emotion behind wanting to be with my recently deceased Godfather was enough to drive him out of me. When we got back to his office, I was in a rage. I wanted to hurt somebody, mostly myself, since I was sure I had just gotten my Godfather killed. I tried to storm out of his office, but he sealed the door, so, I started destroying all of those little silver things he kept all over the place,” Hermione let out a gasp at the thought of Harry wrecking the Headmaster's office, “He told me that the rage I felt was a good thing, the fact that I was feeling it proved I was human. I just yelled back that I didn't want to be human, and flipped over a table. I didn't care about what he had to say then, just like you probably don't care a lot about what I have to say now.

“He told me the prophecy that night, and there was another part that I never got around to telling you or Ron. It says that I am supposed to have a `power the Dark Lord knows not.' Dumbledore was sure that power is the love I have for others. He told me there is a room in the Department of Mysteries that is kept locked at all times where they study love, probably the room that broke my knife when we were there, and I have such quantities of love in me, that it caused Riddle serious pain that night. My point is that I think Dumbledore had it a bit wrong that night. There really is no way I can have an excess of love in me, seeing as how I spent a good decade of my life without it. The power has to be love; there really is no other option, but I don't have anymore in me than you. I realized over the summer that I had to move on. I tried shutting myself away and it made me miserable. Sirius wouldn't have wanted that to happen. It was the love I felt for him that pulled me up then, that and knowing that we all deserve a chance to live, just for myself, I have to get rid of a Dark Lord first.

“Look, I'll never tell you to ignore, or push away the pain you feel, because Dumbledore was right about it being what makes us human, but you need to work through it, and use the love I know you have in your heart for people like your parents to get your head back where it belongs. Sorry if what I just said doesn't make much sense, but it's the best I could do on short notice, and I need to get you straightened out. I'm no good without you.”

Hermione sat for a full minute after he finished, almost as if she were waiting for him to finish, when she finally half-whispered, “But you tried to find Sirius. It wasn't your fault; there was nothing else we could have done. I couldn't be bothered to listen about Malfoy. I did just what Dumbledore warned us about two years ago. I picked the easy way, not the right one. I did nothing, and he died because of it.”

Harry sighed heavily before going over to his trunk and extracting a square mirror and a note. He wordlessly passed them over to Hermione who just stared at the mirror before finally reading the note and gasping, “Harry, when did you get this?”

“He gave it to me when we stayed with him over Christmas. I didn't open the package until the night of the leaving feast last year. When he gave me the package, I was sure whatever was inside would get him in trouble, so I never opened it. When I finally saw the mirror, I tried to call out to him through it, almost convinced he had his on him when he fell through the veil. When it didn't work, I got pissed and smashed it in my trunk. Didn't get around to repairing it until September. I didn't try everything. I had the mirror, and if I would have just used it, he would still be here. It's as much my fault as anyone's.” She jumped up and pulled him into a tender hug.

“Oh Harry, you've had so much of this in your life. How do you survive? I didn't know Dumbledore half as well as you, and I'm about ready to jump off the Astronomy tower.”

Without even thinking about his answer, Harry blurted out, “It's what they all would have wanted. None of them died so we could sit around being depressed, they died so we could live. It's the least we can do for them.”

Without any warning, Hermione kissed Harry full on the lips, and pulled him into an even tighter embrace, “When did you get so smart?”

Harry, blushing furiously for some reason could barely manage to get out, “You're the smart one here,” before the warm stretching feeling returned to his chest, effectively taking his breath away.

-->

2. Mirrors and Ice Cream

Disclaimer: If I owned any of this, I would be much happier…

Mirrors and Ice Cream

Harry was taking his time walking down the corridor towards the entrance hall of the castle. He had emptied out his Pensieve, and refilled it with his memories of his various encounters with Voldemort. Hermione had to talk him into letting her view them so soon after her breakdown in the common room, but Harry had eventually caved in to her stubbornness. He set up everything she had wanted to see, and brought Dobby back in to guard her while inside, but Harry opted to go fetch them both some food from the kitchens, with a stop off to release Hedwig, who would meet him back in Surrey sometime overnight.

He carried his faithful friend out to a secluded spot by the lake, almost directly across from the White Tomb. Together they sat in silence, as Harry tried to make sense of the path that had been laid before him. “You know girl, everything is going to be a bit scary for a while here, and I just want you to know, it's okay if you want to stay here… You'll be safe, and I can always come back for you when it's safe.” An annoyed hoot, and a stiff poke in the arm later, and Harry had his answer; at least one of his friends would be along side him until the end. Feeling somewhat happier, Harry sent Hedwig on her way, and made his way back to the castle.

While the elves were making him up a basket, he noticed Kreacher lurking in the corner, and a sudden idea popped into his head. Going over to the elf, whose mumblings grew more frantic as Harry drew closer, he pulled the mirror Sirius had given him from his pocket. “Kreacher?”

“Master needs me?” Croaked Kreacher as he bowed low to the ground before adding, “The spoiled brat banishes me from my Mistresses house and forces me to work with the disgraceful one.”

“Dobby is a friend of mine, and I would appreciate it if you would not cause anymore trouble with him, now, do you know what this is?” Harry asked, holding up the mirror.

“Kreacher remembers his old master with a mirror like that. He carried it everywhere, hoping Master would call him on it.”

Harry sighed at the thought of Sirius alone in his house, staring at his mirror waiting for something that would never happen. “Do you know where Sirius left his mirror?”

“Kreacher knows his old Master would leave it on his nightstand, waiting for his Godson to call him. It was his greatest wish that he would get that call, but it will never come now.” There was a look of pure glee on his face, and Harry had to fight the urge to knock out his few remaining teeth.

“I want you to pop over to the house, right now, and bring me his mirror.” He knew he could make a stop on the way to the train station, but Harry still did not want to step foot inside of his house.

Kreacher looked at Harry for a second, as if trying to figure out why he wanted the other of the pair before he disappeared with a loud crack, only to reappear a moment later holding out the mirror to Harry. “Why does Master need both mirrors? Perhaps he is going to give one to his blood-traitor friend, or even the mudblood that is so fond of him…”

Harry decided it was best to ignore everything the elf was muttering, “Kreacher, I am going to be moving around a bit this summer, so I want you to stay here at Hogwarts. Do you understand?”

“Kreacher knows his Master is trying to fight the Dark Lord, and is afraid Kreacher will give away his secrets. When the Dark Lord is finally victorious, Kreacher will be rejoined with his Mistress…”

“Not if I have anything to say about it. You are to stay here, and continue working in the kitchen. The only reason for you to leave the school is if I call you, which I don't plan on doing.” With that Harry grabbed the basket of food, and trekked back up to the Gryffindor common room.

-----

Placing the basket on the table, Harry looked into the Pensieve Dumbledore left him and noticed Hermione watching the battle in the Department of Mysteries, and entered into the stream of thoughts just as Dumbledore showed up to save the struggling members of the Order of the Phoenix.

Harry and Hermione watched in silence as Sirius fell through the veil, as Harry chased his killer up to the lobby, using his first Unforgivable Curse. They stayed through his possession, all the way up until Dumbledore Portkeyed Harry back to his office, at which point Harry pulled her back out with him. Hermione was shaking uncontrollably, which was quite understandable given what she had just watched, so Harry gently set her back down on the sofa, conjuring a thick wool blanket to cover her with. Dobby, who had once again been watching from outside the basin, was looking equally shaken, so Harry went over and picked the elf up, intent on lying him down on the opposite sofa, but he had a different idea.

“Dobby is so sorry Harry Potter sir! If he had known what trouble his old Master's book would have caused, he would have destroyed it long ago! Please forgive Dobby sir!”

Harry sat down next to him, and placed his arm around his small friends shoulders, trying to calm him, at least a little, “Don't worry about it Dobby. It worked out for the best, besides, if you would have done anything different, then I never could have helped you get free.” Dobby was about to refute Harry another time before he said, “Two things Dobby, first, it's all in the past, so it really doesn't matter anymore; second, if you would have destroyed the book, you wouldn't be free. Never regret anything you did, it couldn't have worked better as far as I'm concerned.”

“Harry Potter sir, Dobby could never repay your generosity, but he promises to do anything, anything he would ever require!”

“Dobby, I swear if I ever need anything, I'll ask, but for right now, I think I need to see to my friend over there,” Harry pointed out Hermione, who was quivering underneath her blanket while staring blankly ahead, “so if you don't mind…”

The elf nodded, either by habit, or simply for something to do, he began laying out the food Harry had brought up with him. Meanwhile Harry sat down in front of Hermione and placed what he thought was a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I know you just saw some pretty nasty stuff, so of course you aren't okay, but is there anything I can do to make you feel better? How about some dinner…”

Hermione blinked a few times before cracking a weak smile, “Leave it to a boy to think of food…”

“Hermione, why did you insist on seeing all of that today? It could have waited, but now you are just going to be sitting around your parents' house obsessing about every little thing you've seen. And I'm sure Ron's not going to take it well when he finds out I've let you in on all of this.”

“I'm sure you had let him know a lot more of the details over the years, I mean you've shared a room with him for the last six years.”

“Not at all, really… Anything I would have told Ron, anybody else in the room might have heard, plus it's not like I go around bragging about all the times I almost got myself killed. I leave the gloating for the other guys.”

“Like Ron… You don't really know how bad it was after they won the cup this year. He kept going on and on about the match to me, and anyone who would listen,” She seemed unsure if she really wanted to continue, but charged ahead anyway, “Do you ever get the impression that I really enjoy Quidditch? Not just going to the matches, but talking about all the tactics, and going in depth on all the plays?”

Harry was genuinely surprised by her question, which caused him to give it some serious thought, “Well, I suppose not… You do come to all the matches and cheer us on and all, but you just want us to win, and every time I've seen you at a practice, you look more like you just wanted a quiet place to do your homework.”

“Exactly,” Hermione beamed up at him, “so why does Ron continually try to talk over all of it with me? Is he trying to get me to help him strategize, or is he really just that dense?”

“Wow Hermione, that's pretty brutal. What's bringing this on? Is everything alright between the two of you?” Harry had a general feeling that his two best friends were starting to move down the same path he had taken with Ginny, but Hermione's comments were making him doubt that, which strangely enough, made him feel better. The thought of the two of them in a relationship just didn't settle well in his stomach.

Still lying on the couch, Hermione pulled the blanket Harry conjured for her over her head and let out a noise somewhere between a grunt and a sigh, “Why is everyone going on about Ron and I, like he's my bloody boyfriend? It was a funeral, and I needed a shoulder to cry on! I doubt Ginny would have taken well to me clinging onto you.”

“Not that that matters anymore… You know, it could be more than that. You two have been acting a bit strange around each other all year, I mean, you've been a bit mad at me before, but I didn't end up with a flock of canaries chasing me down a corridor… Who's been talking about this?”

There was a muffled noise from under the blanket that sounded a lot like “Lavender,” and Harry had to bite his lip to stop the smile. It wasn't often Hermione showed this level of embarrassment around him.

“Well, given that she is his ex-girlfriend, and for quite a while there she thought Ron was sneaking off to be with you, I would guess she's just a bit jealous you got to his shoulder before she did. But that still doesn't explain the birds…”

She let out another deep sigh, “I am sorry about that. I was expecting things to be a bit different between us this year, and then Ron was just being a general git, goes off and starts snogging a girl whom I know has been trying to get a peak under his robes for a year. I just wanted to go and be alone, and then you came and found me, which by the way was the sweetest thing, only to be interrupted by them again…” She poked her head back out to look Harry in the eyes, “I'm so sorry I've been such a basket case, it just been the pressure of studying for our N.E.W.T.'s, and still trying to keep up with everything going on with this war… A few times I really wished I still had that Time Turner…”

She seemed to be holding something back. “Don't worry. I totally understand.” Harry decided to not bring up the fact that she was studying for tests a year and a half before she would actually have to take them, or the feeling he had that she could have passed them a year ago, if somebody had made her try.

Hermione grabbed Harry, pulling him down into a deep hug, “Oh thank you. I knew you would understand, you always do…” She looked over his shoulder and noticed Dobby sitting opposite them, quietly snacking on a sandwich while petting Crookshanks, who seemed to be in a much better mood than he was in earlier, “Oh, Dobby. You didn't have to fetch us supper, but thank you.”

“But Dobby didn't bring the food, Harry Potter sir did,” he squeaked.

Hermione smiled over to Harry and thanked him before they both tucked in. During their meal, Harry remembered what else he had brought back from the kitchens, and pulled one of the mirrors from his pocket. “Hermione, if I asked you to take something from me and keep it with you all the time, would you?”

She seemed a little perplexed, but answered, “I suppose so Harry, as long as it's not something silly from Fred and George's shop…”

“No, nothing like that, I promise,” he put the mirror on the table in front of her, “It's just this. I trust you remember what I told you it did before?”

“Of course I do Harry, but I can't take this. Sirius left it for you, besides, who am I going to talk to with it?” Ready for this question, Harry pulled out the other.

“That would be me. When I was in the kitchens, I had Kreacher pop back to London and grab this for me.” She looked like she wanted to berate Harry for ordering his elf around, but didn't.

“But Harry, why do I need this? I thought Ron and I were going to be with you at your Aunt and Uncle's house. You aren't going to try to sneak off on us are you?” She was really starting to get worked up now, “Don't you dare try to take all of this on by yourself! I told you I'd stick by you no matter what, and I meant it Harry! Don't you dare try to leave me now, I won't allow it!” Somewhere during her rant, Hermione had gotten to her feet with her fists clenched tight in front of her, sending both Dobby and Crookshanks looking for cover. Harry, realizing she had only stop to catch her breath, grabbed her by the wrists and tried to head her off.

“I know what you told me, Hermione, and I swear I'm not trying to run off on you. The reason I'm giving you the mirror is so that we can talk to each other when we leave here, and no, you two are not coming to the Dursley's' with me. As much as I would love to have another friend there, the three of them would make all of our lives a living hell. I'm giving it to you instead of Ron because I know you'll actually use it, and talk about real things, not just how the Cannons are doing, plus I'd be more than a little afraid Ginny would steal it from him, which would not be a good thing, as I think she'd just keep trying to talk me into getting back with her. Besides all of that, you need to go with your parents. You've spent too much time away from them on my account already.”

Hermione looked like she wanted to interrupt him until he mentioned her parents. Harry looked deep in her eyes, as she seemed to fight through several emotions at once before a single tear dropped down her cheek. He reached up to wipe it away for her, but instead was smothered in another embrace. Between sniffs, she got out, “Oh thank you Harry. I've missed them so much, and nobody else seems to care, I swear Mrs. Weasley always expects me to come straight to the Burrow from the train.”

Harry made a note in his head to be sure the Weasley's invited the Grangers to the wedding. It was the least they could do after taking their daughter away from them so often. “Then I want you to promise me something else Hermione. When this is all over, and we can finally get back to our lives; even if Hogwarts is open, you will take off from everything to be with them. I mean at least a few weeks, even a month, no matter what, okay?” He felt her nod into his shoulder and involuntarily lightly kissed the top of her head.

Hermione looked up at him with a massive grin spreading across her face, “But you get to be the one to break it to my Dad that I'm just going to be loafing around the house for a month.”

“I never said you get to loaf around. You can at least take to making dinner now and again, right?” She blushed deep enough to match the sofa behind her.

“I'm not really allowed to do any of the cooking anymore. I used to love helping my Mum, but everything I touched caught fire. She said the insurance was going to go up if they ever found out… Stop laughing!”

“I'm sorry Hermione, really. I guess I just figured out why you were so good with those blue flames our first year. Plenty of experience.” Harry received a hard smack to the arm, along with a very severe scowl from her.

-----

When the time came, Dobby took up Crookshanks in his arms, waved over Harry and Hermione's trunks, and popped himself over to King's Cross. The two teens casually exited the castle, and took some time to visit the White Tomb. While standing next to his mentor's resting place, Harry looked back upon his school, and wondered if he had left it for the last time.

“What are you thinking about Harry?” Hermione had been eyeing him suspiciously.

“Nothing I should tell you, I'm sure.” He looked back over to his best friend, whose glare sent a shiver down his spine. “I'm just saying good-bye.” Harry had hoped she would assume he meant Dumbledore, and not their school, but her carefully guarded expression refused to give him an answer.

“I suppose we should be on our way then…”

As soon as they made their way outside the gates to the school, Hermione turned to Harry, but he did not want to give her the chance to lecture him. He simply grabbed her arm as tight as he dared, and concentrated on the end of the train platform before the feeling of compression engulfed him, only to disappear a second later.

“HARRY JAMES POTTER!” His heart froze, as the only thought going through his mind was that he managed to splinch Hermione. He quickly started looking her over, making sure they didn't leave anything behind when he noticed her face was glowing with a fury that he normally only saw from his Uncle Vernon.

“Are you okay? I'm sorry, I just thought I might get a bit scared if I had to listen to how it was supposed to work-”

“Did you think that maybe I could have been a little bit worried about arriving with all my body parts in their proper order?! Maybe-”

Harry felt a slight sting from her words, like she didn't really believe he could safely bring them both to the station. As she continued to rant, Harry tried to figure out just why she was mad at him. She had agreed to his bringing her back, so she must have believed in his ability, which meant that she was simply mad because he cut off her lecture. Which she was now giving him, at a much louder volume. Afraid of attracting a scene, Harry looked up only to notice that they were alone on the platform. Either they had missed the trains arrival, or something was very wrong. He let go of Hermione's arm and covered her mouth, which seemed to aggravate her beyond anything he had ever seen before. “Hermione, did you by chance notice that we are all alone here?” She immediately tensed up, obviously thinking the same things as Harry. “I don't even see our luggage…”

With out a further thought, Harry pulled out his invisibility cloak and threw it over the two of them. They drew their wands, and slowly crept up the platform growing more concerned the closer they got to the magical archway to the muggle world. Surely if they were going to be attacked, it would have happened when Hermione was screaming at Harry… As they reached the opposite end of the platform, they were both distracted by the mewing sound coming from behind them.

“Crookshanks!” Hermione tore the cloak off them and they looked back to see Dobby pushing two trolleys with their luggage, and Hermione's cat lazing about on top of her trunk.

“Dobby, where the bloody hell were you, and where is everyone else?!” Harry was still in something close to panic-mode.

“Dobby was getting carts for Harry Potter and his Hermy! Do not worry, the others will come. The Hogwarts train is late every year, and Dobby can wait with both of you until it arrives!” Harry could tell the elf was a little on edge, no doubt from having two wands still pointed at him, so he lowered his, hoping Hermione would follow suit, which she did.

“How much longer will it be Dobby? Do our families know, and that is why the platform is empty?” Hermione said while glancing towards the portal.

“People will all be here very soon, but your families are both here now, only unable to pass through the wall. Dobby could make the wall let them pass, if you want them to wait with you for your Wheezy, Harry Potter sir!”

Hermione looked over to Harry, and he saw the desire written on her face to simply go home and try to leave this day behind. “No thanks Dobby, I think we are just going to go now, but if you would be willing, could you stick around and let Ron know everything went alright when he gets back? I have a feeling he was a bit put out that we didn't see him off from Hogsmeade…”

“Of course! Dobby will gladly help Harry Potter any way he can!” They watched him bouncing with excitement at his new task, and Hermione firmly nudged Harry in the ribs to remind him of something she made him agree to on their way out of the castle.

“Dobby, hold out your hand,” Harry dug into his pocket and pulled out a small stack of Galleons, “This is for helping us out today, and I will not take any of it back.”

Looking at the coins in his hand, Dobby seemed to debate himself if it was worth trying to give back the money before giving up, “Harry Potter is too generous. He pays Dobby a month's salary for an afternoon, any time Harry Potter or his Hermy need Dobby, just ask, and he will come!” He pocketed the coins, and gave Crookshanks one last scratch behind the ears before disappearing with a pop.

“I thought he was going to wait for Ron.” Hermione seemed as puzzled as ever by the little elf's antics.

“I doubt he'll forget, he just doesn't seem the type to sit around waiting for something. Unless it's me waking up…” Hermione gave him a curious look, “Don't worry, it was only once, and I set him right about it.”

“But why was he-“

“Really, don't worry about it.” Fishing for a new topic he pointed out, “So Crookshanks seems to taken a bit of a shine to Dobby.”

“Well of course. He'll like anybody willing to spend more than five minutes petting him. Except for Ron. I suspect he'll never be forgiven for trying to step on his tail every chance he got in our third year.” They both sighed as the remembered the simpler times in their lives, when they were only afraid of one crazed killer on the loose. “So this is it then? Back home until we have to go to the Burrow?”

Harry looked down into her eyes and saw the sadness that he felt growing inside himself. “It's only a couple weeks, just spend the time with your parents, and if you ever feel the need to talk to me, just use the mirror I gave you.”

“Oh, Harry,” she gave him another fierce hug, “You do know this means I'll be calling you with it everyday.”

He smiled broadly and gently patted her back, “I know. Anything less and I might think somebody had put a curse on you.” It felt good hugging Hermione. It reminded him how much their friendship really meant to both of them, and how much he had missed it lately, spending so much time with Ginny. Actually, this felt a lot like the time he had spent with Ginny. “Um, Hermione? Not that I'm complaining or anything, but I just kind of noticed that you've been a bit… Close today…” Her face instantly turned crimson.

“I'm sorry Harry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I've just been a bit… Emotional…” She said, while examining her feet.

“Oh, I'm not uncomfortable. It almost seems like you're hugging me enough to make up for the past year of missing them. You actually kissed me…”

Still looking anywhere but Harry, she mumbled out a reply that sounded a lot like, “Can't a girl show a little gratitude,” before Harry lifted her eyes back up to meet his own.

“It's fine, really. This is the closest to normal I've felt in months, almost like I'd lost track of myself, and I'm defiantly glad to have you back.”

“Good, because I'm not going anywhere any time soon…” She wore a look that almost dared him to prove her wrong.

“But you're going somewhere now, or at least as soon as we walk through this wall.” He had expected her to slap him, but instead she grinned in a way that made Harry very nervous.

“Well, not right now. Have I ever properly introduced you to my parents?”

As they crossed the barrier, they noticed several sets of parents milling about. It seemed the muggles waiting for the express truly had no clue when it would arrive. Harry had spotted Vernon almost immediately, being the he was easily the largest person in the station, and luckily, his cousin had been causing some commotion nearby, and Vernon was trying to calm the security agent down. Harry had only seen the Grangers twice in his life, but quickly identified them casually sitting on a bench, closely chatting with each other. When Hermione rushed up and hugged her father, he seemed quite surprised.

“Hermione! I must say this is the fastest that train of yours has every gotten you home,” He seemed to notice only the two of them had come through the barrier, “Is everything alright? We received a note saying your Headmaster had died, but it was unusually vague. Why did they cut your term short? Did you even take your exams?” Harry smiled to himself, seeing where his best friend had gotten her habit of erratic questioning.

“We're alright Dad, but it has been a really bad week, and frankly I'm a little shocked that Professor McGonagall didn't inform you of the situation. I promise I will tell you, just please not right now, it's been a hard day…”

Harry noticed Mrs. Granger looking between the teens waiting for some introduction, “Hi, I'm Harry. I don't think we've properly met before.” She smiled sweetly to him as she shook his hand.

“Pleased to finally meet you Harry, I'm Emma. Of course Hermione has told us all about you, and all the trouble you seemed to cause when you first started school. I'm glad to see that you've grown up nicely.”

Something about what Emma had said made Harry a bit nervous. Had Hermione not told her parents about the way things had been at Hogwarts? Had she been lying to her parents about what really had been happening? Come to think of it, when most students were seriously injured at school, their parents had come to visit them. Hermione had a few lengthy stays in the hospital wing, and he was sure he would have heard if they came to Hogwarts. He looked over to Hermione, still in her father's embrace, and she was giving him a very nervous smile, so he decided to play along for her sake, “Well, I'm sure I couldn't have grown up anywhere near as well, if it hadn't been for Hermione's help. In six years now, she's beaten me in all but one class. There's no way I could have passed all of my classes without her.”

“Oh Harry, you really don't have to talk me up to my parents,” she said, but she was giving him the brightest smile he had ever seen from her.

“Pleased to really meet you Harry, I'm Dan Granger.” Harry took the older man's had and returned his rather firm shake. “Now could one of you tell me just what the two of you are doing here if the train hasn't arrived yet?” Hermione rushed to explain to her father, which Harry was very thankful for, even though he didn't know why.

“Well Dad, Magical people can learn to Apparate, which is really just disappearing in one place, and reappearing in another almost instantly. All the sixth year students are given lessons, although not everyone can do it. I passed the licensing test, but didn't quite feel up to traveling this far, so Harry Apparated us both here, seeing as he's been doing it since last summer.” Harry was amazed by the fact that she seemed to get all of this out in one breath, and didn't immediately notice Dan and Emma looking at him like he was going to turn into smoke and vanish at any second.

“You can really do that?” Emma Granger said after coming out of her stupor.

“Well yes, but it was really only the second time I'd ever Side-Along Apparated someone. The first time I tried I was bringing the Headmaster back from near Brighton, so I was pretty sure it was safe for the two of us today.” The three Grangers looked at him with a little bit of awe. Dan and Emma were still trying to get used to the concept of Apparition, while Hermione had just fully realized how far Harry had to bring the Headmaster. Their looks were really starting to make him feel uncomfortable, so he thought a demonstration was slightly in order. He looked between Hermione and her Father, “Would either of you mind if I borrow Emma for a moment?” All three of them shook their heads, only Hermione was smiling again, as Harry pulled Emma into an empty corner.

“Okay, now, hold onto my arm as absolutely hard as you can.” He waited as she squeezed his arm tight enough to stop his blood flow. “No matter what, do not let go. This is going to feel a little weird at first…” Harry focused on a small patch of trees behind an ice cream stand not far from his Aunt and Uncle's house on Privet Drive, and a very long second later, they were there. He looked over to Emma to see her wide-eyed and gasping for breath. “Are you okay? I know it can be really unpleasant the first time, but it's okay, we both made it in one piece.” She blinked a few times before shaking her head clear. They could hear the children playing in the park nearby, enjoying the beautiful sun-filled day. Harry pointed to the stand a little ways in front of them, “Ice cream?”

They casually walked up to the stand as Emma took in her surroundings. “Where are we Harry?”

“We're in Little Whinging. I would have loved to bring you to Florean Fortescue's, but I doubt they've reopened since the owner disappeared.” Emma stopped and looked curiously at Harry.

“Disappeared? Is there something going on that we don't know about? I remember Hermione getting a brochure last summer, and she started asking some of the most bizarre questions, almost as if she were trying to get to know us better.” Harry looked over to his friend's Mother, and he saw the worry etched in her face. Hermione had never been able to completely keep things hidden from anyone, and her Mum obviously knew there was something going on.

“Things are not very good in our world right now, but I'm not really sure how much you should know. I'm sorry, and please don't take this the wrong way, but Hermione has to have had a reason for not telling you, and I think I should respect that.” As Harry finished, he knew he had only made matters worse. If Emma acted anywhere near the way Hermione did, he was in for a very long talk. “I'll try to tell you some of the basics, but you'll have to get the rest from Hermione, and I will make sure she tells you.”

They each got some ice cream, and Harry led her to a table away from the prying eyes of the neighborhood. Swallowing his pride, he asked Emma if she knew why Harry was famous, only to find out she had no clue he was anything more than a normal sixteen year old wizard, which comforted Harry in a way he never thought possible. He decided to go with an ultra-short version of the truth, and hoped Hermione could fill-in the rest.

“Very, Very basically, there is a really bad wizard out there calling himself Lord Voldemort. He was around in a big way about twenty years ago, trying to take over the magical world, and he's the one who killed my parents,” Emma gasped slightly, and reached out for Harry's hand, leaving him wondering why women tended to act like this around him, “But he was defeated back then, only to come back two years ago. He's been slowly gaining his strength back, and for the last year, has been waging an open war on most of Britain; you've just been hearing it as strange news stories about hurricanes, and floods, and disease. The pamphlet Hermione got was about home security from the Ministry of Magic, but it was essentially useless. Just don't tell her I said that. To answer your main question, yes, we're all in danger as long as Voldemort is around, but if I were you, I would try not to worry too much about it. He's a terrorist, and worrying helps him win, besides that, I can guarantee you that I'll do everything I can to make sure Hermione sees the end of this thing.” Emma Granger had listened intently, something her daughter seldom did, and Harry was very glad she had let him finish his summary of the world.

After several deep breaths, Emma looked deep in Harry's eyes, “Thank you Harry, you have no idea how long Dan and I have been waiting for someone to level with us about what has been going on. We will defiantly be taking this up with Hermione over dinner tonight.”

“Could it wait?” Harry still felt the need to protect her, even from her own parents, “Maybe only until tomorrow. We really have had a bad day, starting it off with the Headmasters funeral and all.” Harry found himself looking at the ground as he thought back to this morning. It seemed so long ago.

“Well, I suppose. We've waited all this time with no answers, and you came along and helped us out. What happened to your Headmaster, anyway? The letter we received never even said.”

Harry felt a bubble of anger rise within him, and he resolved to tell of McGonagall as soon as he could for leaving so many parents in the dark. “One of the other Professors murdered him. They didn't so much let us go early, more like chucked us all out. They're not even sure if the school is going to open in the fall.”

Emma again took several deep breaths, and Harry knew she was angry, just not with him. At least he had offered her some answers. “Thank you for telling me all of this Harry,” Emma said, “I'm sure Dan and I will be having a very long talk when we return home.”

“Then we should see about getting you there, but first, what should we bring Dan and Hermione?” The anger on Emma's face subsided a little as Harry led her back to the stand.

“Well, when she was little they used to love sharing a chocolate malt.” Harry ordered a large, and once again was thankful that Bill had put a few ten-pound notes in his money purse the summer before.

When Harry and Emma arrived back to King' Cross, they found a very irate group of people standing around his and Hermione's trolleys. All three Dursley's seemed to have made their way over when they noticed Hedwig's cage, only to find Harry not with it, and now Vernon was laying into Dan and Hermione, under the belief that no harm could come to him from either of them.

“If you freaks think you can intimidate me again into taking that good for nothing brat into my home, then you've got a lot to learn-”

Harry hoped this had not been going on for too long, but also realized the need to stop him in his tracks, so he did the first things that came to mind and cast a silencing charm on him. Having never considered how comical his uncle would look under these circumstances, Harry was soon holding his sides from the constant laughter, while Petunia and Dudley look at him as if he were a madman. When he finally caught his breath, Harry told the Dursleys to go home, and that he would meet them there. Petunia and Dudley seemed to accept this, but Harry was a little worried about the calculating look his Uncle was giving him. He almost seemed happy, and if there was one emotion Vernon Dursley never had around Harry, it was happiness. As the three of them walked out of the station, Hermione discreetly canceled his spell, before rounding on him.

“What the bloody hell do you think you're doing? Apparating around, casting charms on Muggles? The last time the ministry caught you doing this, they tried to snap your wand! Are you trying to end up in Azkaban?” Harry knew there was no way for them to track the spell he had cast, and was fairly certain the Apparation would also go unnoticed, so he decided on a friendly approach.

“Chocolate malt?” She blinked a few times before seeing what he was holding.

“You took my Mother out for ice cream?” Harry nodded in reply, and Hermione took the cup without question, handing one of the two straws to her Father, who was simply smiling at the two of them, as if he hadn't seen anyone put a stop to one of Hermione's rants that fast in years, if not ever.

Harry realized he was once again stuck with his trunk, so without thinking, called out, “Dobby!” Immediately, the little Elf was bouncing in front of Harry, but only for a second. He popped directly to a platform loaded with Muggles, and quickly vanished from their sight. “Are you still there, Dobby?”

“Of course Harry Potter sir, Dobby just can not be seen by all the people on the platform. What does Harry Potter want from Dobby now?”

Harry looked over his shoulder expecting to see Hermione throwing him a dirty glance, only to see her smiling at her parents blank looks as Harry was apparently talking to the air. “First off, these are Hermione's parents Dan and Emma Granger, say `Hello', Dobby.” The elf became visible just long enough for a small wave to the two of them. “Now, My relatives have left the station without me, so I was just wondering if you could send my things back to my room on Privet Drive?”

“Of course! Dobby will do anything for Harry Potter!” Emma jumped slightly as Harry's trunk, along with Hedwig's cage disappeared right in front of her. “Is there anything else Dobby can do for anyone today?”

Harry smiled and tried not pat his little friend on the back only to miss completely, and ended up leaning on the wall. “No thanks Dobby, you can go back to whatever you were doing, and we'll call if we need anything.” He felt the elf hug one of his legs before once again leaving them. Hermione's parents were still staring at the blank space where Dobby had appeared until Dan spoke up.

“So that's what a House-Elf is, huh?” Hermione must have thought it a too obvious question to answer as she continued drinking their malt.

“Dobby's a little more excitable than most, but yes. I helped free him in our second year, and since then, he's been a good friend.” Hermione was once again beaming at Harry when the first students started appearing through the portal. He assumed the Weasley's had apparated to the platform itself, but they would surely have to come back this way, and the last thing Harry wanted right now was to have to see Ginny again, and quite possibly be forced to explain why he had broken up with her in front of her whole family. Hermione must have sensed some of this dilemma in Harry.

“Well, looks like we should get going if we want to avoid the rush, right? I guess I'll see you in time for the wedding, maybe even Mrs. Weasley will invite us out a couple days early to help set up.”

“I bet she will.” Harry looked directly in Hermione's eyes, “Be safe, and call me later, okay?” She nodded back to him before he said his good-byes to her parents, and with the tiniest of pops, Harry disappeared from the train station.

-->

3. of Friends and Family

Disclaimer: Who could actually believe I own any of this?

of Friends and Family

When Harry arrived in his bedroom on Privet Drive, he was surprised to see his trunk, and Hedwig's cage had already been put in the respective places, but Dobby was nowhere to be found. Thankful to be alone again, he opened his window so his owl could get back in, and collapsed on his bed.

It had been a horribly long day, and the last thing Harry had ever expected when he woke up was trying to put on a happy face, but between Hermione's breakdowns, and being surprised with meeting her parents, there wasn't much of a choice. Having spent the most of the last few days being inwardly angry about everything, he had finally come to grips with the fact that nothing he could do would ever bring back Dumbledore. During the funeral Harry realized that someone had to be an example, and get back to life as much as possible. He decided that the best way to honor the memory of his friend was to be that person, but now that he was alone at last, he could feel the grief that had been welling up inside him begin to take over, and the tears streaming from his eyes slowly soaked his pillow.

Harry had lost track of time as he lay there, but immediately jerked up off of his bed when he heard someone running through the lower level of the house. He looked at his clock; there was no way the Dursley's had made it back from King's Cross yet. Just as Harry drew his wand, and prepared to blast anything that came through his door, he heard the person running up the stairs trip, and land heavily on the landing outside his room. Recognizing the grumbling, and knowing no one could fake being that clumsy, Harry threw open his door.

“Tonks! What do you think you're doing running around like that? I was ready to blast your head off!” Harry almost immediately regretted these words when he saw how well the angry look on her face went with her blood-red hair.

“ME? What the hell do you think you are doing sneaking away like that? Did you never even think to tell us that you weren't going to take the train? NO! You just leave me and Remus standing on the platform waiting for you! At least he finally had the good sense to check with Ron, otherwise who knows how long we would have been looking for you!” As Tonks' face slowly darkened to match her hair, Harry couldn't help feeling a little guilty. Of course somebody from the Order would have to be at the station to make sure he safely made it home. Dumbledore's death had probably shaken them to their roots, but Harry was fairly certain that some of them (Remus in particular) would never let that get in the way of insuring his safety.

Harry lowered his head and returned to his room, expecting to be thoroughly chewed-out. Looking back at Tonks, still in the doorway, red-faced as ever, he muttered, “Well, come in and get on with it. I doubt an apology will work at this point, so why not just hex me a bit so you can feel better?” She stared blankly at him for a moment before looking over her shoulder to greet Remus, who gently nudged her into the room. Harry looked to his father's last friend, preparing to see disappointment, only to find a very closely guarded face.

“Remus, I'm sorry, I really am. The last few days at Hogwarts were horrible, everywhere I went people were questioning me about what really happened that night, and all I could do was run away from them. The last place I wanted to be was trapped on a train with them all again. I should have let you know, but really, Hermione and I had a talk with Professor McGonagall, and she was fine with us Apparating back to the station.” Harry was slightly shocked when the werewolf's shell finally cracked and he burst out laughing. Tonks, who had been expecting him to be as mad at Harry, if not more, quickly rounded on him.

“What the hell is so funny about all of this? Just because you finally wised up and asked me out doesn't mean I won't turn you into a slug! If it'd taken you any bloody longer I might have on principal alone!” Remus quickly fell silent, and Harry noticed for the first time how much younger he looked, or rather that he was looking more his own age. The grey hair was still there, but the lines or worry and wariness that seemed etched into his face had all but vanished.

“I'm sorry, to both of you,” Remus finally managed to get out, “Harry, you know why we're upset, but I suppose it is our fault if you cleared this with Minerva-”

“And the laughing?” Tonks demanded.

“Well… It just came to me, but when James, Sirius, and I were all seventeen, we were planning on Apparating to platform with every intention of turning the ground to quicksand, but Minerva found us out. She had threatened to lock us all in the dungeons, which we all readily agreed to. In the end she simply had Hagrid `escort' us all onto the train. She must be growing soft to have let you go without a hassle.”

“More like she knew that Hermione would keep me from causing any trouble.” Said Harry.

While Remus and Harry were both smiling to themselves, for different reasons, Tonks was still quite annoyed. “What are you doing Apparating around Harry, you can't even test for a license until next week? Are you trying to get your wand snapped?”

“We both know that's not going to happen-”

“No you don't, just because Fudge is on the outs, doesn't mean you're in the clear as far as the ministry goes. There are plenty of people who would love to get you back in that courtroom.”

“The entire Order has been Apparating around this house for the last two years, and I've never gotten in trouble for that-”

“Of course not, we're all of age! We're licensed!”

“Stop trying to fool me, Tonks! I know they can't tell who did what, Dumbledore told me so!” She suddenly bit back her retort and looked over to Remus, who had been watching their exchange with a very amused expression.

“Harry, you're not supposed to know that. No one is, in fact, I'm amazed Albus even considered telling you that.”

“Well,” Remus interjected, “He always maintained Harry was much more mature for his age that he needed to be. You won't be spreading that little fact around too much now, will you?”

“Oh, I guess not.” He hadn't really thought about it, but it was a pretty poorly written law, basically requiring the wizarding public be lied to. “Though, I'm not sure I'll be able to keep it from Hermione. Between Apparating the both of us to London, and casting a silencing charm on Uncle Vernon at King's Cross, She'll probably be asking more than a couple of questions.”

The older couple stared in disbelief at Harry before both trying to talk at once.

“You Side-Along'd Hermione?” said Tonks.

“You silenced your uncle?” said Remus.

Not really sure who to answer, Harry just nodded.

“Well, tell us the story. I'm sure it's interesting.” There was a note of defeat in Tonks' voice, as she finally gave up her commanding attitude from earlier.

For some reason Harry didn't want to tell them about his time with Hermione in the common room, he liked the fact that most of what happened was between them, and Dobby, whom Harry knew would never say a word without permission. “After I decided to skip the train ride, Hermione offered to stay behind with me, so we waited around Hogwarts for a few hours, then I brought us both the King's Cross. I didn't know what to do with our luggage, so I got my friend Dobby to bring it along for us. After we got there, I met Mr. and Mrs. Granger, and they didn't really understand how we were there before the train, so I Apparated Emma and myself to an ice cream stand in a park near here. The Dursleys must have recognized my things, and when Emma and I returned, Vernon was shouting at Hermione and her father about not wanting me here, so I silenced him, and told the three of them to go home. Vernon did look oddly happy as they left, but none of them put up a fight.”

“You took her Mum out for ice cream?” Tonks was staring incredulously at him. Harry shrugged; he didn't really understand why Hermione, and now Tonks seemed that surprised by this. She was now smiling mischievously at him, “When did you get to be such a charmer?” Harry felt his face grow staggeringly hot, and he could only imagine how red his face must be. Lupin seemed to be finding all of this highly amusing.

“You really are turning out more like you father every day, Harry.” He managed to get out between breaths, but Harry couldn't help but notice the pride in his voice.

“So, did you two see the Grangers off? Were the Weasleys upset that we weren't there?” Asked Harry.

Tonks and Lupin looked to each other for a second before she said, “Well, Molly was in a right state when she found out the two of you took off alone, but Arthur whispered something to her and she calmed down quite a bit,” Harry could only imagine what he had told his `Mollywobbles' to calm her down, “and Ron and Ginny were both in pretty bad moods, which I'm sure you had nothing to do with, right?” Her biting sarcasm was not missed on either of the men in the room.

“By the time Tonks and I figured out what had happened, the Grangers were already gone, though I must say we were hoping to see them out, just to be safe.” A slight wave of panic passed through Harry. Did they really think a couple of dentists were in danger?

“Do you think they're alright? Should we check in on them just to be safe?” Harry had already pulled his mirror out of his pocket and called into it, “Hermione Granger!” Nothing happened, and Harry tensed, not knowing what that meant.

“Where did you get that?” Remus demanded, his mouth hanging open.

“Sirius gave it to me, and I had Kreacher get the other one from Grimmauld Place earlier so Hermione and I could use them, but she's not answering. We have to find her, something might be wrong!” Harry was already halfway to the door when Remus grabbed him.

“Wait a minute Harry. These mirrors. Did you give Hermione the one you had, or the one Kreacher brought you?” The question caught Harry off guard, what difference did it make?

“She has the one from the house, why?”

“Harry, we all had these mirrors in school, even I still have one packed away somewhere at home. You have to key in the person you want to talk to, here let me see it.” Harry quickly passed it over, and watched as Remus quietly muttered a few long incantations, tapping the mirror with his wand at odd intervals. Tonks watched him work with a hungry look in her eyes.

“Here, try it now, and you don't need to shout.” Harry took the mirror back, and let out a shaky breath.

“Hermione Granger.” After a second the face of the mirror turned black, and they could hear some muffled talking. “Hermione!” The blackness quickly vanished as she pulled her mirror from her pocket, looking quite surprised to be hearing from him so soon.

“Harry, is everything okay? I wasn't planning to try and call you until later.”

“Everything here is fine. Remus and Tonks just stopped by to yell at me for not taking the train, and we all just wanted to make sure you and you r parents got along alright.”

“Actually Harry, we were hoping to have a word with Hermione's parents.” Interrupted Tonks.

“Oh. Umm, Hermione? Do you think you could hand over your mirror to your Mum for a bit? Apparently Tonks would like a word her.” She looked surprised, but agreed, and Tonks left the room quietly chatting to Emma.

“I can only imagine what Emma must be thinking. They've probably seen next to no practical magic before, and now she has somebody talking to her through a mirror.” Said Harry.

“Well Harry. You sound like you hit it off pretty well with Hermione's parents. I don't think I've even heard you call Arthur or Molly by name.”

“Er…” Harry had never even considered using the Weasley's given names, they had always treated him like they were his surrogate parents, and it had just never seemed proper. “I don't think I ever have. Do you think Hermione's parents will be upset that I called them by name?” The twinge of panic was unmistakable. Harry felt somewhat responsible for keeping Hermione away from her parents, and the first thing he does when he meets them is show-off. The thought of acting so arrogant made Harry feel sick to his stomach.

“Don't worry lad, I've met them before, and I'm sure they don't mind at all. If you want to be uncomfortable, try being invited to meet your girlfriend's parents, with her mother being one of your best friends first cousin.” Remus shuddered briefly as he finished his thought.

“Umm, do you think Tonks' Mum'll give you a bit of a hard time?”

“That, Harry, would be beyond an understatement, but I believe it would be best to not talk about it with her in the next room.” Remus smiled shyly as she rejoined them in the room, handing Harry back his once-again blank mirror.

“So boys, do either of you have plans around tea time tomorrow?” Tonks said, sporting a wide grin, which Remus instantly identified.

“All three of us?” He asked to Tonks, and Harry, who was still wallowing in the idea he had insulted the Grangers, didn't even bother looking for her answer.

“Yep, just us. I guess they've even forgiven me for knocking over their clock last summer.”

“They?” Harry blankly asked.

Tonks smacked him on the arm, “Come on Harry, keep up! Hermione's parents invited the three of us over tomorrow night, and I would venture a guess that you don't have plans around here.”

“Tomorrow?” What was Emma playing at? She had told Harry that she would wait until tomorrow to try and get some answers out of her daughter, but now it was sounding like a bit more than a quiet family discussion. Was she trying to get his help in coaxing answers from Hermione? And just why the hell does Tonks keep winking at him? “Something in your eye Tonks?”

Remus sniggered a bit, “She's just under the impression that you are realizing your `inner-playboy.'”

“My what?”

“Oh come on, Harry,” she put an arm around his shoulder and shook him a little, “Molly's been gushing about you for weeks, and now you have Hermione's parents inviting you around on a Sunday evening. Keep this up, and Moony here might be afraid to leave me alone over the next full moon.”

Remus tried to laugh at this, but thought better when he saw Harry still not comprehending. “Don't worry, I do trust that you will keep our love lives separate, right Harry?”

And then it hit him. Apparently they had heard about him and Ginny dating, but not breaking up, and for some reason they were trying to bring Hermione into this whole mess just because they spent an afternoon alone. “It's not like that at all, you two. Ginny and I broke up after the funeral this morning, and Hermione,” he paused, “She's just my friend. My best friend, that's all.” For some reason that didn't sound right to him. After all they had been through together, they were better than friends, but what was that? With a “Humph!” he found Tonks hugging him.

“Oh Harry, I'm so sorry to hear about Ginny, and I'm so sorry for giving you such a hard time. If I had known, I never would have- I mean all the teasing, really, I'm sorry. This whole day has probably been so horrible, oh Remus, let's go. We need to stop bugging Harry here.” She said all of this very fast, and was almost in tears by the end.

“Tonks, it's alright. You didn't know. I'm sure one of the Weasley's have already sent Errol with a letter telling me off, but that doesn't mean you have to go. Besides, the Dursley's should be back soon, so you might want to stick around and play damage control.” Harry sat down on his bed, and let out another long sigh. It had been a long day, and the sun was still shining brightly. “So, what's this about tomorrow? If the three of us are invited over, how are we going to get there?”

“Well, apparently you have no trouble Apparating yourself between here and London.” Said Remus with a shrewd look.

“True, but I've never been to their house, so how am I supposed to concentrate on my destination?” Tonks and Remus both chuckled a bit before she answered him.

“Oh, I'm sure you could find a way, if you tried hard enough. We'll come by to collect you. Or at least I will. Don't think I could handle guiding you while pulling this loaf along with us.” Harry looked at his former professor with a look of utter amazement.

“You don't know how to Apparate?”

He shook his head and said, “Did you never wonder why I was on the train in your third year? No Harry, I never could get the hang of Apparition. I used to have to rely on James and Sirius to get anywhere when we were young, but after… Well, let's just say I've learned how to dress for a long broom ride.”

They enjoyed some more pleasant conversation, mostly Tonks teasing Remus about his lack of proper mental control, but it almost seemed to Harry that she was talking about something else. They were soon interrupted by a car door slamming just outside the house. Harry darted to the window to see his Uncle Vernon down in the drive, glaring at him through his open window, and made a snap decision. “I expect there'll be a bit of yelling going on here, could the two of you ignore it, please? This is my last summer here, and I just think it would go a bit smoother if they didn't know the two of you were here.” The two of them looked quite unhappy, but were saved from answering when they all heard Vernon bellowing from the floor below.

“BOY! Get down here NOW!”

Harry tucked his wand under his pillow, just to avoid the temptation of using it, and darted down the steps, only to find Vernon waiting in probably the worst mood Harry had ever seen. As soon as he was within reach, Harry felt himself be thrown into the wall next to the door to his cupboard. He could just make out his cousin's gleeful face around the massive form pinning him down.

“What do you think you are doing in MY home? How did you get in here? We've never given you a key; did you use your unnaturalness to sneak in?? Answer me boy!”

“Honestly-”

“Don't try to feed me your lies boy! We only let you a room here to keep that freak of a headmaster of your off our backs, but then we get a letter telling us he's died, so for all I care you can take your freakish self and leave NOW!”

“Please Uncle Vernon, I just-”

“Vernon!” Petunia shrieked. “He needs to stay, remember? It's safer!” The three Dursley's and Harry were all equally shocked to hear someone standup for Harry.

“I DON'T CARE!” Vernon resumed bellowing, his hot, sticky breath turning Harry's stomach. “We got along fine without him, so I say chuck him back out there with the other freaks!”

Petunia started sputtering, “Please! Just until-”

“Fine! You want him to stay, then he will, but he's going back in here!” Vernon wretched the door to the cupboard under the stairs open, and tried to fling Harry through, only to slam the taller-than-he-remembered boy's head into the door jam, promptly knocking him out.

When Harry came to, he realized he was back in his bed, and it was nighttime. Hedwig had returned and was looking down at something on his desk… It was his mirror, and he could hear someone on the other end, “Oh, Hedwig, would you please just try to wake him? I'm sure one good poke could do it.” The owl hooted in annoyance, which made Harry wonder how many times she had been asked to wake him. Reaching over to retrieve his mirror, he was greeted by Hermione smiling brightly, “Harry! It's so good you're awake! Professor Lupin called and told me what had happened, but he and Tonks had to go, so I told them to call Dobby to watch over you, but they never got back to me and I wasn't sure-”

“Hermione?” Harry interrupted, “Could you slow down a bit and maybe just tell me what's going on? Last I remember, the Dursley's had just arrived home, and I went to head my Uncle off, but why does it feel like I just fell head-first off my broom?”

“Oh, Harry, from what Professor Lupin told me, you and your uncle got in some sort of fight, and you were knocked out when he tried to push you into a cupboard for some reason, do you know why? I know you've never particularly liked living there, but I had no idea that they could be so abusive towards you. Oh Harry, why didn't you say anything? I'm sure if the Weasley's or Professor Dumbledore knew how badly your relatives treat you, they wouldn't have made you go back there every year.”

Hermione's rapid-fire dialogue was not helping subdue his headache, but he was starting to remember what had happened. His uncle had tried to force him back into his old “room” and he must have hit his head. Hard. Remus and Tonks must have still been in his room, and probably came to aide him, before having to leave, and hadn't Hermione said something about Dobby? As soon as Harry thought his name, the little elf was bouncing on his heels at the end of his bed, and Harry noticed the elf, his owl, and Hermione in the mirror watching him nervously.

“What?” Dobby was obviously fighting the urge to wring his ears, so Harry rounded on him, “What did you do Dobby? I'm not mad, just tell me.” The elf began quivering, before he broke down.

“I's sorry Harry Potter! First your Hermy calls me, then you's other friends tell Dobby about you getting hurt, so Dobby put them all in an enchanted sleep. They won't wake until Harry Potter wants them to, and he will be safe!”

“What!” Harry looked down to Hermione, “This was your idea wasn't it? Put them to sleep just like you were in during the tournament. And Dobby, you did magic here? Don't you know how much I got in trouble the last time you did that?”

“Don't worry Harry, Dobby says he had a way of doing it so no one would be able to detect it, didn't you Dobby?” Hermione's words seemed to take away most of the tension the little elf was holding onto, but now both Harry and Hedwig were glaring down on her.

“And didn't you try to yell at me earlier for making a house-elf do something for me? Or what, did you plan on trying to pay him off the next time you see him?” He could tell that she was appropriately stung by his words, as in fact she had gone off and done one of the few things she had been fighting against for years. He immediately felt bad for hurting her feelings. “I'm sorry. You were only trying to help, and I'm sure it wasn't hard to convince Dobby to help-”

“Not hard at all Harry Potter, sir!” Dobby chimed in.

“So anyway, what happened?” He was looking down at Hermione, but the elf answered for her.

“Harry Potter's wolf friend left a letter!” Dobby shoved the letter under his nose as Hermione chuckled, before excusing herself to get some sleep, being that it was nearly one in the morning.

“Dobby? Could you please take the enchantment off my relatives? It's great that you could help and all that, but I just don't think it's right to keep them asleep like that. As much as I'd like to.”

“But Harry Potter! They's hurting you! What if the big man tries to lock you away again?” Dobby looked close to tears, and all Harry could think to do was put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“Then I'll just have to call you before he knocks me out, won't I? Now it is late, and I have a letter to read, but you will take off the enchantments right? I promise I'll call you if I ever need saving from them again.” Shortly after that Dobby bounced his way out for the night and Harry tore open the note Remus left him.

Harry,

Tonks and I are terribly sorry we couldn't stay until you woke, she has been called back to the Ministry, and I'm afraid I'd be rather stranded without her.

About these mirrors you have, I am quite certain I know where mine is, and shall retrieve it when I return home, and if you ever need to talk to me, just say “Moony.” There is one slight problem I can see. When I told you we all had them in school, I meant all four of us, so if he were ever clever enough to try, Peter could possibly locate you through the mirror you are carrying, but fear not. I am fairly certain I can fix this, just be sure to bring yours along tomorrow night to the Grangers, but for now, it might be wise to lock it away in your trunk, perhaps wrapped up in something to deaden any sounds.

I'm sure you have a few questions about what happened tonight, so for right now, just believe me when I say I've persuaded your relatives to do their best to go on about their business as if you were not in the house, and your little elf friend seems to have taken it upon himself to be your bodyguard for the time being.

I'll explain more tomorrow night, but incase they try to intimidate you in any way, casually ask your uncle when the next full moon is.

Remus

Harry had a shrewd idea of what kind of threat Remus had put out to Vernon, and smiling to himself, rolled over and drifted off to sleep.

The next day, it seemed everything was back to normal around Privet Drive. All three of the Dursleys seemed to find an excuse to leave any room he entered, no matter what. The fact that Harry's owl had perched herself on his shoulder when he went downstairs seemed to go unnoticed by any of them, and all Harry could do was quietly applaud Remus' skills of intimidation. The only odd thing Harry found all day was that it seemed impossible to dislodge Hedwig from himself except for the occasional trip to the loo.

“What's the matter girl, afraid if you leave me alone here I'll end up getting hurt?” He was only half serious when he asked her, but she hooted solemnly in response, her amber eyes filled with more emotion than Harry had ever seen. He snuggled her a little closer to his chest with one arm, and resumed reading.

For Christmas during his fifth year, Harry had gotten a seven-volume set of book called Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against the Dark Arts from Sirius and Remus, but unfortunately, between his nightmares, and Occulmency training with Snape, he hadn't had the time to get past the second volume. The past year hadn't been much better, having spent some of his time wallowing in misery, and the rest of the time trying to forget about everything that had made him miserable. He had decided, since he was going to be hiding out in his room for the next two weeks, he was planning on making through as much of the set as possible.

The first four books had been mostly devoted to ways of blocking unfriendly spells, which Harry thought he had a pretty good handle on, so he had jumped straight for the seventh. As he set his bookmark aside (the note from R.A.B.), he began reading up on a spell that he had seen Dumbledore perform during his duel with Voldemort the previous year. When done correctly, the spell produced a long, thin flame-like whip that could completely bind and opponent, as long as they didn't Apparate away. The wand movement required was the most complicated thing Harry has ever seen, but he remembered how well the spell could work, even against Voldemort, so he moved it to the top of the list of things to learn in his mind.

He completely lost track of time, and soon enough, Tonks bounded into his room, having actually made it all the way up his stairs without tripping. Something Harry felt he owed it to Remus to point out as much as he could for the rest of the night. She reminded Harry to bring along his mirror, and the pair of them, along with Hedwig perched on Harry's shoulder, went out to the back garden, where Harry spotted Dudley watching them from his bedroom window. With a quick smirk and subtle wave up to the window, Tonks guided Harry to the garden at the Granger's home in Stratford, leaving Dudley staring in disbelief at the spot they had just vanished from.

Upon arriving, Harry suddenly became very nervous. Dan and Remus were outside standing over the barbecue, which it appeared they were having trouble lighting.

“Honestly Dan, it's just a simple spell, no matches required.” Remus was imploring, but Dan seemed to be enjoying himself despite his success, and barley noticed the crack when Harry and Tonks appeared in his yard.

Harry immediately checked to make sure Hedwig had made the trip safely, but was quite sure she had, given how deep her talons were dug into his shoulder. The next thing he knew, Hermione had slammed him into a hug so hard, that they actually fell to the ground, making Hedwig find refuge on the back of a nearby chair.

“Oh Harry, I'm so glad you're alright! I was so frightened when Professor Lupin called last night, what are we going to do, you can't go back there!” She hadn't even bothered try to untangle herself from him, and suddenly Harry was reminded that her Father was just a few feet away, and promptly got back onto his feet. Dan and Remus were looking over at him with highly amused expressions as Hedwig perched herself back on his shoulder.

“So, you're the one that magnificent bird belongs to?” Hedwig straightened up proudly and ruffled her feathers in response to Dan's comment.

“Yes sir, Hedwig was my first real birthday present when I turned eleven. One of our professors got him for me when I went to Diagon Ally for the first time.” She hooted warmly as Harry stroked her feathers. “She's been a bit close all day, but I suppose she's just trying to keep me out of trouble.” They all laughed as the owl voiced her agreement.

“Well she certainly is welcome here. A right pleasure compared to that cat Hermione brought home with her, and call me Dan, Harry.” The two men smiled at each other, and Remus took the opportunity to ignite the barbecue behind Dan's back.

Hermione seized Harry's had and dragged him inside just in time to see Emma ejecting Tonks from the kitchen. They greeted each other warmly, and Harry couldn't help but notice the hopeful look on her face. As she leaned in to give Harry a hug, she whispered in his ear, “Dan and I just thought she could use a friend for support, I hope you don't mind.” Harry, who had grown to hate people trying to use him for their own ends, almost reeled back in anger before he remembered that the Grangers had been horribly uninformed, and were just trying to make everything easier for their daughter, while getting answers for themselves. They were acting just the way Harry thought parents should.

Hermione continued showing Harry and Hedwig (who had already seen it) her home, and when they got to her room, he was quite unsurprised to see two complete walls lined with books, which Harry casually perused until something caught his eye.

Categorizing Your Thoughts and Protecting Your Mind

It was a thin, but new edition, which he quickly pulled off the shelf. “When did you get this, and why did you not let me see it?” There was a slight edge to his voice, but he didn't care. She knew how much trouble he had had during his Occulmency lessons, how much better could he have done if she had been studying it along with him?

“I'm sorry Harry, I just got it last Christmas, thinking it might help with my nonverbal incantations, but I just couldn't make much sense of it, so I never even bothered to bring it to school with me… Feel free to borrow it if you want…” She finished quite lamely, and Harry was almost reminded of Dobby when he though he was in trouble. He wasn't really mad before, but seeing her like this made him feel even worse. He pocketed the book and tried to comfort her a little.

“Don't be sorry. I'm just being a prat, thinking you're hiding something from me. I should know you better than that by now, and speaking of which…” He filled her in on what he assumed her parents were plotting, and at first she was quite angry at them for trying to trick her, until Harry reminded her that they deserved to know more about what was really happening then anyone had been telling them.

She resigned her anger, and Harry could see her mentally preparing herself for a confrontation over their meal. She looked a little pale when they were called down to eat. Everything was very pleasant at first, until Dan asked Remus why he liked his steak so rare (it was still quite red on the outside). The Muggles first reaction to hearing that the man sitting at their table was a werewolf was to laugh hysterically, but once they realized he was serious, they apologized profusely, with Remus graciously accepted. Emma decided to use the topic as a springboard into the discussion her and her husband had been planning all day.

“So Hermione, I had a nice chat with Harry yesterday about what has been going on in your magical world, and it seems there has been a few things that no one's thought we needed to know about.” Remus and Tonks both noticeably stiffened, realizing what at least some of this night had been about.

“Well Mum, what exactly did Harry tell you?” Everyone at the table knew she was stalling for time, so she reluctantly gave in, and started retelling the story of her magical life.

She went on for the better part of two hours, and Harry didn't have to fill in any bits for her, seeing as how she had viewed his memories of the events only yesterday, but he did make a point to highlight all the times Hermione had stepped in to help him, especially when everyone else thought he was a raving lunatic. It was hard to explain the events that had taken place in the Ministry without going on about the prophesy, and no matter how much she tried to skirt the issue, her parents brought her back to it, until Tonks stepped in and informed them that the very existence of said prophesy was considered close to a state secret, and technically, she should have already arrested Hermione for saying as much as she did. The Grangers quickly let it go.

When Hermione finally got up to Dumbledore's murder (casually excluding what Harry and the Headmaster had been doing), the six people, along with the owl and cat occupying the room sat in silence for quite a while. Harry met Hermione's eyes as she sat next to him and saw the tears streaming down her cheeks, so he quietly reached out to hold her hand between his own.

Dan finally broke the silence to thank them all for finally leveling with them, and everyone broke free of their own thoughts, realizing it was nearing midnight. Harry, Tonks and Remus were making to leave when Harry brought up the mirrors three of them currently had tucked in their pockets. They all put them on the table together, and Remus went through a long series of muttered incantations, while both Hermione and Dan watched in utter fascination. When he finished he told them that he had restricted the charms to only work with their mirrors, thus making Wormtail's essentially useless, given the fact that he obviously never look in it for grooming purposes.

They said their pleasant good-byes, and the Grangers let Harry know he and Hedwig were both welcome in their home anytime he wanted to get away from his relatives. After a final hug from Hermione, and a reminder from Emma to brush his teeth before bed, Harry carefully tucked Hedwig up against his stomach and Apparated them both back to his room on Privet Drive. It had been another long day, but it was much more pleasant than the previous one, and he was quite sure that Hermione's confession to her parents would end up being quite cathartic for her in the end.

After following Emma's advice, Harry tucked himself into bed, feeling more relaxed than anytime in his recent memory, and he barley noticed Hedwig settling herself next to him on the bed before sleep over took him.

-->

4. Just another Monday

Disclaimer: People who are not me own all things Harry Potter. Damn it.

4. Just another Monday

There was a man with thick matted black hair standing in front of Harry. In one hand he had his wand, and in the other, he held Slytherin's gold locket just out of Harry's reach.

“Give me that!” The man simply shook his head, and prodded Harry in the shoulder with his wand. “I need that, give it to me!” He shook his head again and started laughing as he resumed poking Harry. “Seriously, stop poking me and give me that locket!”

The man was laughing in a very high-pitched voice, and kept prodding at Harry. “Get off me; I need that!” The laughing intensified, and Harry could only think that it was a very girlish laugh for a man.

“Harry Potter, sir!”

“Stop laughing.” Harry said as he opened his eyes, only to see Dobby's large, green eyes staring back at him. “Dobby! What the hell are you doing here?”

“Dobby was sent to wake Harry Potter by his Hermy. She is waiting to talk to him through his talking glass.” The elf was bouncing with pride from successfully completely his mission, and Harry identified the laughter he heard in his dream as actually being Hermione waiting to talk to him through their mirrors.

“What the bloody hell could you possibly need to talk about this early?” He still hadn't even reached for his mirror, but was sure she heard him, “And why did you feel the need to call in Dobby to wake me up?”

“Because Harry, I'd been shouting at you for nearly twenty minutes before I gave up and asked him to help, and by the way, I believe Hedwig might own him an apology.” Harry peeked over his blanket to see Dobby holding up the back of his hand, which had obviously been poked several times by his faithful owl.

“Well, Hermione, I think you might owe Dobby an apology for sending him here in the first place.” Harry could see Dobby's face cross with fear; he thought he had failed his favorite wizard. “Dobby, it's okay, really. There's no reason for her to be dragging either of us out of bed this early.” Harry crawled out of bed, and went over to thank his owl for guarding him while he slept. “Don't be mad at Dobby, girl, he's just following orders, even if they were bad orders.” Still blurry-eyed from sleep, it took him a moment to realize Dobby was leaving a small puddle of tears on his bedroom floor. “Dobby, are you alright? Hedwig didn't peck you too hard, did she?” Then Harry realized the elf was staring towards the floor, and followed his gaze to his own feet.

He had fallen asleep wearing his socks, and Dobby immediately recognized them as the ones he had made for Harry two and half years ago. Harry had worn these socks into the maze that year, and since then, they seemed to bring him luck whenever he brought them back out; for some reason, when Harry got dressed yesterday, he grabbed them. “Harry Potter is wearing…” Dobby squeaked out in almost a whisper.

Harry kneeled down in front of his friend and said, “Of course I am. They're my favorite…” Dobby mouthed his last word while looking like Christmas had come early.

“Hello?” Apparently Hermione was growing a bit restless waiting for Harry to talk to her, so he set Dobby (who was still looked to be in shock) on his bed, and picked up his mirror.

“Yes, can I help you? What could really be so important that you had to wake both Dobby and myself?” She smiled slyly, but refused to look Harry in the eye.

“It's Monday.”

He waited for her to continue, but when she didn't, “Okay, it's Monday. Why should I care?”

“Because, if you hurry up and get ready, Tonks can come over and bring you to the Ministry where you can take your Apparition test.” She looked slightly smug, but still wasn't looking directly at Harry, who realized it might be because he was only wearing his boxer shorts and socks.

“You woke me up to take a test? What about Ron? I thought we were going to take it together.”

“Really Harry, you know his nerves. He was scared enough the first time, and that was with just me, if you were there with him, he'd probably splinch himself.” Harry didn't really like the thought of pushing Ron aside, but she did have a very good point.

“Do I really need to point out that I could go in at anytime, not just first thing in the morning? Tonks will probably hex you for waking her at this hour.”

“Really Harry, I've already called Professor Lupin, and he said he'd wake her shortly, so I'd assume he's Apparating over to her flat right now.” A small part of Harry's brain kicked in, Remus couldn't Apparate, but he told Hermione he would wake up Tonks, so were they staying together? Maybe at Headquarters, but that didn't make much sense since they both had their own homes…

“Harry, you're blanking out again.”

“Oh, sorry. Just thinking about something you'd said.” He could tell she was about to ask what, so he quickly lied, “Just wondering what Ron would leave behind if we had to test together.” She seemed to believe him, but still had a bit of a shrewd look on her face.

“Anyway, I suggest you hurry up and get ready, before Tonks finds you without…” She trailed off and Harry again realized just how little he was wearing. He could only imagine the teasing he would receive from Tonks if she saw him like this, talking to Hermione. “And if you're up for it, I thought we could meet for lunch after your test, and maybe chance a trip to Flourish and Blotts to see if they have any extra information to help us find the you-know-what's.”

Harry looked over to his nightstand, and sitting there next to his wand was the necklace he had retrieved with Dumbledore. He wondered briefly if Hermione was really just trying to get him out of his relatives' house to avoid any more confrontations. “Alright Hermione. But any work we do looking into it needs to be done here. Just to help keep up the protections on the house, I'll just have to sneak you up here when my Aunt isn't looking.”

“But you always said she was extremely nosey. What if she overhears us talking about it all?”

Damn. She always found the weakness in his plans. He looked absently around his room trying to think of a way to quiet his room, and he spotted Dobby. “I'll just have to hire Dobby to do a little work on my room while I'm out” he said with a smirk.

><><><><

Harry had quickly showered had forced a few sickles at Dobby (when Harry tried pulling out a Galleon, they all seemed to be burning hot), and the little elf promised that when Harry returned nobody would ever hear what was going on in his room again.

As he was trying to talk the elf down to a simple silencing charm, Harry heard a knock coming from the direction of the back garden; he bolted downstairs trying to beat his Aunt to the door, unfortunately she had been in the kitchen cleaning up after Dudley's early morning snack. When Harry arrived he found Petunia looking aghast at the young woman in front of her, who happened to be sporting neon green hair at the moment.

“Wotcher, Harry, ready to go?” His Aunt spun around to see him entering the kitchen, and Harry could see her inner desire to scream at the top of her lungs.

“Sure thing Tonks. Sorry Aunt Petunia, I guess I forgot to tell you that I have to go into London today to take a test,” really he had never even planned on taking the test, but neither of the women in the room needed to know that “Tonks here just stopped by to escort me, and apparently forgot all about the time I asked her not to show up with funny-colored hair.” Tonks raised an eyebrow at this; as if to ask why he felt the need to lie, but thankfully she went right along with Harry.

“Sorry about that Mrs. Dursley. Sometimes I just completely forget what color I'm wearing at the time.” She quickly morphed her hair to a modest length, and changed it to jet-black.

Harry had to fight back the smile as his Aunt dropped the spoon she was clutching, the last hint of color in her face disappearing. “I'll be back sometime after supper, Aunt Petunia” he said, while rushing Tonks outside, where he was about to Apparate the two of them to the Ministry, before she stopped him.

“Hold it there Harry, you might be able to get away with popping around to most places, but if you get too close to the Ministry, they can pick up who's leading who. Not that I mind having a guy leading for a change.” Harry simply shook his head at her smirk, and placed his hand on her arm, allowing her to guide him into the atrium of the Ministry of Magic.

><><><><

After Tonks had shown Harry to the testing center on level six, she left to attend to some Auror business (he knew better than to ask what). Harry signed in for a testing slot, and being the only one there this early, didn't have to wait long until his instructor from Hogwarts, Wilkie Twycross, came out of the office.

“Well, good morning Mr. Potter. Didn't think I'd be seeing any of you students this early in the morning.” Harry really had to fight the urge to tell him it was not his idea at all to be up this early while on holiday. “So, as I remember you caught on pretty easily to the basic form of Apparition, so if you would like we could brush upon the better points of Side-Along Apparition instead of a review, if you wish.”

Harry held back a chuckle as he remembered traveling with Hermione recently, “Actually sir, I'm already proficient in that area.”

“Really? Well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised as much as Albus went on about you. I suppose he was the one to show you?” Harry nodded. “Well then, if you feel up to it, we can test you for both licenses at once.”

“Err… There's a separate license for that?” Harry had been unaware that he had possibly been breaking two laws.

“Oh my yes. We need to monitor the people attempting that purely for the safety of the others involved. Now the third form of Apparition; have you ever attempted to Apparate to a person instead of a place?” Harry shook his head. “Well, Destination, Determination, and Deliberation are still the main focus of what you are doing, simply instead mentally placing yourself say, in your back garden, let your mind see yourself standing next to someone. It usually works better with people you have a strong emotional connection to, but under the right circumstances, pretty much anyone you've met will work.”

A nasty though popped into Harry's mind “Wait, does that mean that any-old time, I could be walking down the street, and Voldemort could pop up next to me?”

The older man surveyed Harry in a way that very closely resembled Dumbledore, “Technically, it is entirely possible, but the emotional connection required doesn't agree well with the kind of anger I assume ol' Tom holds for you, unless of course he's a complete masochist.” The shock of hearing somebody else using Voldemort's given name must have shown on Harry's face, “Of course I know what his name was. Never forget a student as brilliant as that. Sheer Determination in everything he did, and unfortunately, he almost always succeeded. `Cept when it came to you, `eh boy? Though I do suppose the trade-off for proving him wrong could've gone better on your side of it all.”

The only other person to be that frank with Harry had been Mad-Eye Moody, and it left him feeling quite uncomfortable, “So there's no license required for that type of Apparition, but I assume it's a bit risky to try?”

“I doubt you have anything to worry about there lad, if half of what Albus said is true. Now for starters, this room will allow you to Apparate out, so why not pop on over to the front steps of Gringotts. I'll meet you there just as soon as I'm sure you've not left anything behind.”

Harry did as he was told, and a second later, he was rejoined by Mr. Twycross.

“Excellent. And hardly a sound as you left. Almost seems like you've gotten a bit more practice than I was aware of. No matter about that, care to try and take me along somewhere? It doesn't have to be far, but if you're up for it, it has been a while since I've had a bar of Honeyduke's finest.” He winked at Harry, as a show of confidence, and without another thought, Harry latched onto the older man, and brought them both to the road in front of the candy store. “I say! Albus certainly taught you very well. I've never seen a student pick that up so quickly.” The old man seemed about to burst with happiness. “I don't suppose you be up for trying to Personally Apparate?”

Harry was a little out of breath, but the enthusiasm pouring out of Wilkie was very contagious. “I suppose, who do you want me to try to meet? I am supposed to be meeting a friend for lunch later, maybe try and join her a bit early?” Harry inwardly wondered why his mind again seemed to immediately jump to her, but decided not to dwell on it for now.

“That would be fine, but it would work best if I knew where she was, and you didn't. Any chance we can make that happen?” Harry quickly pulled out his mirror and explained to Hermione what he was about to attempt. In the end it took Twycross to convince her to assist, and when she told him her secret destination, the old man jumped in surprise. Harry had been too far away to hear what she had said, but when the older man came back shaking his head, he got a little worried. “That friend of yours has a lot of nerve, though I suspect she might have been trying to call my bluff. Ah well, if you think you're ready, she should be in place by now.”

Harry mentally checked himself, and then concentrated with everything he had on being next to Hermione. When he stepped forward into the Apparition, the feeling of compression was there, but it was somehow much warmer, and almost comforting. Fearing he had done something horribly wrong, Harry refused to open his eyes until after he had felt himself over to make sure his entire body made the trip; finally looking up, he realized why his instructor had been a bit surprised by Hermione's choice. Harry had shown up in front of her, while she sat on the front steps of the Shrieking Shack. When he realized where they were, Harry broke out laughing, and was soon joined.

“Harry, I can't believe you actually did that! My tester didn't even go into it at all, just handed me a brochure and told me to stop by with any questions, really, well done!” She was positively beaming at him, and Harry noticed the warm feeling from a moment ago hadn't gone away. “Mr. Twycross asked that once you met me here, you should bring us both back to him, and he'll give you your licenses.”

When Harry guided her back, Wilkie was amazed at how quiet they were upon arriving, and quickly finished off two licenses for Harry. “Well, Mr. Potter, I suppose you'll not have any reason to stop by and see me again, but if you're ever in need of some pointers, feel free.” With that, the old wizard disappeared without a sound.

“Well then, what do you say to the Three Broomsticks for lunch? My treat since you seem to have done so well” said Hermione brightly.

“Great, just let me pop back down to London. I told Tonks I'd let her know how I did.” She agreed to get them a table, and Harry traveled back to the Atrium, walked up to the security desk, and asked for an interdepartmental memo. Taking the pale violet paper, he quickly scrawled,

Tonks,

Passed all three tests, got both licenses. Thanks for picking me up this morning.

Harry

After the guard showed Harry how to send the note on its way, he started for the exit to rejoin Hermione when he walked straight into Mr. Weasley.

“Oh, Harry, I was hoping to see you today, just never thought you'd be here this early! I say did you come here alone? When Remus mentioned bringing you by I assumed he would be with you.” The red-haired man was looking around expectantly for one of his regular guards.

“Don't worry Mr. Weasley, Tonks came with me earlier. I just received my licenses, and was on my way out to meet Hermione for lunch,” Harry felt a bit guilty mentioning her to Ron's father, since he hadn't even gotten around to writing his other best friend yet.

“Ah, of course. Congratulations, I suppose, though I believe there was never a doubt you would pass. I was asked by both Ron and Ginny to deliver these to you if I saw you today,” he took two envelopes out of his briefcase and handed them over. “They seemed quite insistent that I be sure you got them, so please find some time to reply soon, if you can.” Again Harry felt horrible for ignoring the Weasley's after coming back from Hogwarts.

“Of course Mr. Weasley, I'll write back tonight, promise.” Arthur patted Harry happily on the shoulder before continuing his way down towards his office; as Harry emerged outside the visitors' entrance, he was surprised to find Hedwig waiting for him on top of the phone booth. She glided down to his shoulder and nipped his ear before he Apparated the pair of them to Hogsmeade to claim his free lunch.

><><><><

When Harry first entered the Three Broomsticks, Madam Rosemerta tried to shoo him back out the door for bringing in an owl, until she realized who she was talking to. As much as he still hated his fame, it was handy from time to time.

After Harry had told Hermione everything Twycross had told him, she passed on word from her mother that Harry was welcome over for supper anytime he wished. “Is she hoping for another chance to question you, or are you just trying to keep me away from my Aunt and Uncle?” asked Harry.

Hermione's cheeks turned slightly pink, “Well after what happened two days ago, I might have mentioned to Mum that it couldn't hurt to keep an eye on you. Oh that sounds horrible, I know, but I know how much your Uncle aggravates you, and I was serious when I said you shouldn't have to go back there, it's just not safe.”

Harry chuckled to himself at her accusation. No matter how awful his relatives were, Harry knew that their house was probably the safest place for him to be, at least until his birthday. Ron and Hermione knew that Dumbledore insisted he return there every year, but Harry had never gone into depth on just what was protecting the house. He decided it was time tell her, but not in a pub. It was still early, and if they went straight back to Privet Drive, they might even be able to look into a few of the memories Dumbledore left behind for Harry.

After Hermione had paid for their lunch, Harry popped the three of them back to his room on Privet Drive. Hermione laughed a little at the mess Harry had been able to make in such a short amount of time, before settling herself in for his explanation.

It was hard for Harry to try and casually explain things that all revolved around the death of his Mother, but Hermione proved a very patient listener. He finished with telling her that two weeks seemed to be all he really needed to stay, so he planned on packing everything right before the Weasley wedding, and only come back to pick up his trunk.

Hermione registered how much thought he had put into his plan in an instant, “Well then, where are we going after then? I know you want to spend some time in Godric's Hollow, have you looked into any rooms there?”

“Not yet, I was planning on having Remus help with that. He's just about the only person I know that knows the area, and I imagine it might be a bit hard for someone my age to rent out a three bedroom flat.”

“Three? Who all are we taking?”

Harry thought the answer was obvious, “Just you, Ron, and myself. I'm not about to ask the two of you to kip out on the floor, and I suppose after all of these years, I'd rather not listen to Ron's snores.”

“Well, I'm sure my parents would be willing to help pay-”

“No. Trust me, they don't need to-”

“But Harry-”

“No. I had planned on doing this alone, then you and Ron got into the mix, but that's it. The less people know about what we're doing, the safer everyone is.”

“Please Harry, at least promise me that you will ask for help if we need it. There really are plenty of people willing.” Not wanting to push the issue, he decided to change the subject.

“I ran into Mr. Weasley at the Ministry, and he gave me a couple of letters.”

“Oh. Do you want me to leave you alone to look them over?”

Harry definitely heard the disappointment in her voice, “No, I wasn't trying to get you to leave or anything, I just promised Mr. Weasley that I'd reply tonight, besides, I'm sure I'll end up telling you what's in them anyway. You haven't heard from Ron yet have you?”

Hermione rolled her eyes “I received a letter from him yesterday in which he tried to tell me off for leaving him alone on the train, before he went on about how I was welcome at the Burrow as soon as I could get away from `the Muggles.' I mean honestly, it's not like they're my PARENTS or anything.” Harry tried to hold back a laugh from her outburst, “HARRY! It's not funny! Doesn't he realize that other people have families too, and they might actually want to spend some time with them?” Her words made a brief shadow pass over Harry's face, “Shit! I'm so sorry Harry, you know I wasn't trying to say anything about you.”

There was a single tear dropping down her cheek, and Harry knew the last thing she would ever deliberately do was throw the fact that he didn't have a family of his own in his face. “Hermione…” Her nervous look amplified, “You swore.” It took her a moment to realize he wasn't mad. “Why didn't you tell me he'd written? I assumed I would have heard from him sooner than this as it is.”

“Well, maybe you should read his note, it might say.” He set the note from Ginny aside, not really sure if he ever wanted to open it, and opened the other.

Harry,

Just what did you think you were playing at? I understood that you wanted to try Apparating back to London, but you didn't have to take Hermione, and leave me all alone, without saying good-bye! Then you send that crazy House-Elf to the train, who petrifies Ginny and me when we try to find out what you and Herms are up to! Really, I know you like him because he's helped you out a couple of times, but he's a menace.

Anyway, Mum says you need to stay with the Muggles for at least a little while, but it shouldn't be a problem if you come out a couple days before the wedding. Just write back and let us know when you're coming, but no guarantees you get your own room; apparently it'll be a full house.

Let us know soon, and be sure to write Ginny, she keeps crying every time somebody mentions your name.

Ron

Harry wordlessly handed the note to Hermione, and then eyed Ginny's. Deciding to get it over with, he ripped it open.

Harry,

I've decided not accept what you told me at the funeral. I was watching Bill and Fleur earlier today, and I realized that even though times are hard for couples such as ourselves, it's our ability to hold onto the things that matter that will bring us to the other side of all of this. Remember what McGonagall said in the hospital wing? Dumbledore would be happy to think there was a little more love in the world.

I don't know what Hermione told you to not take the train home, but you need to stop listening to her all the time. Sure, she's smart, and does have a few good points to make some times, but she's just going to get you in trouble. I'm sure it was also her idea to send that deranged House-Elf after Ron and I, knowing how she feels about them, so I won't hold it against you.

Mum said something about you having to stay with the Muggles for a while, but I'm sure if I ask her you can come stay with us a lot sooner. Just be sure to apologize for not being on the platform, you have no idea how unpleasant she was, and I'm not sure I want to know what Dad had to say to her to get her to calm down.

We're your family, remember that Harry, so come home soon.

Love,

Ginny

Harry dropped the letter in disbelief, and walked over to the window, not noticing Hermione picking it up. Ginny had “decided” for him what needed to be, and on top of that, had insulted two of his closest friends. He didn't know if he wanted to laugh at her attempt to win him back, or be angry for what she said; in fact, he thought her letter sounded an awful lot like the one Percy had sent Ron back in their fourth year.

“Well, I must say, Ginny is sounding much more adult-like than you made her seem, Harry.” He spun around to see Hermione holding both letters in her hands.

“Well, I suppose I might have exaggerated a little when I said that was why we broke up, but really, with what she says about you and Dobby in there, I don't see why you should want to defend her.”

Dobby, who had appeared as soon as Harry spoke his name, looked between the two sullen teenagers before shouting, “Who has hurt Harry Potter and his Hermy? Dobby will make them pay!” Hermione immediately jumped off the bed and grabbed the elf by his shoulders.

“Dobby, you will do no such thing. Harry's just received some letters that were a little less than nice, there's no need for retribution, right Harry?”

“She's right Dobby, but I have to ask, what did you do to Ron and Ginny on the train?” The little elf pulled down on his ears so fast, all three of the hats he was wearing slid down to the floor.

“Dobby is sorry Harry Potter, but your Wheezy's didn't believe him when he told them he had already made it to the platform, and was about to leave. They were removing their brooms from their trunks to go find Harry Potter and his Hermy, so Dobby thought it best to petrify them. He knew Harry Potter would not want his friends hurt looking for him!” Harry and Hermione both went for the elf to calm him down, while Hedwig looked on in annoyance. She still hadn't forgiven him for that morning.

“Since you're here Dobby, would you mind standing guard as Hermione and I go back in the Pensieve?” She sharply looked back at him.

“What about the letters? Aren't you going to reply?”

“I will, later. I did promise Mr. Weasley after all.” Harry quickly shuffled through the tubes Dumbledore had left him, having decided to show Hermione the memories he had viewed in his lessons. He had forgotten that two of them needed to be translated from Parseltongue until she asked him what the people they were watching were hissing at each other. When they finally came out of the memory Harry had gotten from Slughorn, Hermione's expression couldn't have been more thoughtful.

“I suppose you want to rush home and look something up?” Looking slightly embarrassed, she simply nodded. “Right, follow me out to the back garden. It's where Tonks Apparates to, so it should be good for you too.”

They both said good-bye to Dobby, who disappeared before anyone could try to pay him, and were just making their way down the stairs when Dudley came around the corner heading up. When he saw the pair of them, his expression turned quite evil.

“Well, look at this. The freak snuck a girl up to his room. I wonder what Dad will think about this when he finds out?”

“Dudley, I might be underage yet, but Hermione here isn't, and let me tell you, she wouldn't think twice about turning you into something a whole lot worse than a pig.” To help show his point, Hermione was casually pointing her wand down at the chubby boy, but he didn't seem fully convinced, so Harry decided to try another approach. “Get out of the way,” he hissed at his cousin in Parseltongue, still clearly in his mind from his recent translations. It had the desired effect, as his cousin turned around and bolted out the front door, not even bothering to shut it behind him.

“Harry, you really shouldn't tease him like that. He just doesn't know-” her voice stopped when they reached the sitting room, and she gazed around not knowing what to make of the unnatural cleanness of the room. “Harry,” she was looking at the wall of family photos, “where are you?”

“Taking the pictures.”

She tutted away his sarcasm, “Your cousin resembled a pig in a wig when he was young, though I assume you've noticed.”

Harry laughed a little, and pulled Hermione outside through the spotless kitchen. “It should be safe for you to Apparate to here if you ever feel the need to come collect me, just let me know you're coming so I can warn them,” he gestured back to the house, “and before you ask it, I'd love to come over for supper some time, just let me know when, and I'll pop over.” Hermione smiled brightly and hugged Harry before Disapparating.

When Harry got back to his room, he went to his desk and tried to decide the best way to reply to Ron and Ginny's letters.

Ron and Ginny,

First off, I'm sorry Dobby had to petrify you both, but from what he tells me, you were both about to jump off of a moving train, so I can hardly blame him for keeping you both safe. Also, I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to say good-bye to either of you, I just got caught up in the idea of talking to certain portrait, and at the station, Hermione and I both just really wanted to get home.

I got my Apparition licenses today, so I can come to the Burrow when the time comes, but I really should stay here until just before the wedding, maybe just a day or two early if you need help setting things up.

Tell your Mum I'm sorry I missed her on the platform, and I'll see you both soon.

Your friend,

Harry

He didn't think he had it in him to write Ginny her own letter, so he settled for the joint one, hoping she would take the hint. He looked over to Hedwig, who had been watching him write. “I'm sorry girl, but I think you're gonna have to sit this delivery out. Dobby?”

“Yes, Harry Potter sir?” Harry's little fiend looked as happy as ever as he appeared once again in his room.

“Dobby, how would you feel if I paid you eleven Sickles to take this letter over to Ron and Ginny at the Burrow?”

“Dobby would be most happy to take Harry Potter's mail where ever it needs to go, but he must not try to pay Dobby so much, he will do it for the honor of serving the greatest wizard he knows!” Harry sighed, knowing he was going to lose, and eventually haggled Dobby up to five Knuts.

Left with just his owl for company, he went back to his reading from the previous day. He had spent too much time in the last year trying to pretend things were better than they really were, and it had cost him more than he ever could have imagined. He needed to start seriously planning his next steps if he ever hoped to accomplish his task. Hermione would help him, she always did, but this was so much larger; he was beginning to think they might need more help, but who? The Weasley's? It was going to be hard enough for Mrs. Weasley to let go of Ron when the time came, much less help them. The twins might be able to help, but he doubted they could leave their shop unattended for long periods of time. Lupin…

Remus didn't have any of the standard entanglements, as far as Harry knew, but involving him surely meant Tonks as well, unless Harry was prepared to ask him to keep everything secret from her. He would have to ask Hermione's opinion the next time he talked to her, which would probably be tonight, knowing her. Grinning broadly, he picked up the book he had borrowed from her and began reading…

-->

5. Passing Time

Disclaimer: I am not rich, so I can't be the one who owns Harry Potter.

5. Passing Time

Has the Chosen One Come Forward?

Harry Potter, sometimes referred to as the Chosen One, was seen yesterday morning entering the Ministry of Magic for as yet undisclosed purposes.

Widely believed to be the protégé of Albus Dumbledore, and suspected to have been present during the confrontation that recently decimated the wizarding world; Potter has been notoriously shy when it comes to making his opinions public. Now there is much speculation that his arrival in the Ministry, just minutes after the building was opened, might be a sign that he is willing to step forward into the roll many are waiting for him to claim.

Harry threw down his copy of the Daily Prophet, not wanting to know what else was expected of him. He had been about to call Hermione, with every intention of shouting his face blue, but she beat him to the punch by actually showing up and practically begging him to forgive her. She was so worked up about causing Harry more problems that he quickly forgot his anger, and spent the better part of an hour calming her down.

One major result of the article was that it effectively kept Harry stowed away in the house for most of the next two weeks, as ordered by both Mad-Eye Moody, and Remus. They informed him that so many people were looking for him for whatever reasons, there was no way they could guard him while still trying to rebuild the Order of the Phoenix. Harry really didn't care much if he ever had a guard, and was extremely grateful for the few times Hermione was able to sneak him out for a couple of hours, even the one that ended up being a trip to her parents' surgery (Dan and Emma were shocked that Harry couldn't remember ever having a check-up).

It was on a Wednesday night that Harry and Hermione had arranged to meet at the Shrieking Shack. Harry had spent most of his time reading up in his defense books, and desperately needed to practice some of the spells he'd found. After several hours of practice they had both perfected the Anti-Disapparation Jinx, and another spell Hermione found to deflect most curses; neither of them could even come close to performing Dumbledore's flame-whip.

“I just don't get how he could do it so casually,” Harry said after another failed attempt.

“Really, Harry. For all we know, he had a hundred years of practice at it. I'm sure when you're his age, you'll be able to do anything at all with little to no effort.”

“Yeah. If I'm still alive.” Hermione didn't reply, but was giving him the harshest look she could muster. “I didn't mean because of him. I don't even know how old he really was, so how could I agree?”

“Well I suppose Harry,” said Hermione “but I think it might be a good idea to stop for the night. I'm not even sure I want to know the time.”

Harry looked to his watch and saw that it was almost three in the morning, “No, you don't, but since we're both here, I thought you might want to do a little more research.” He had already pulled the Pensieve out of his bag and set it on its base. Hermione seemed at odds with herself for a second, before nodding. He called Dobby to be lookout (the elf appeared in an immaculate set of silk pajamas), and pulled out a bottle labeled The Ring. Harry placed his money pouch on the ground next to the Pensieve, and told Dobby to pay himself whatever he thought to be fair (he was too tired to haggle) before he followed Hermione inside.

><><>

Albus Dumbledore was striding down a path as Harry joined Hermione inside his Pensieve. They followed along the road Harry recognized as leading to the Gaunt cottage, only now everything in sight was overgrown, as if whoever normally took care of the area had forgotten of its existence. In the distance, Harry could see the once handsome manor house, now it looked as if it could collapse of its own weight at any moment. Looking to the other side, he saw the graveyard. He hadn't even noticed stopping until Hermione came up to him.

“That's where it happened, isn't it?” she asked delicately.

“Yeah. That's where Cedric died.”

“And you fought him. Harry,” she hesitated, as if she wasn't sure if she should ask, “what happened when you fought him? When your spells connected and made that gold cage. I've looked everywhere, but there's no other documented occurrences of anything like that happening as far as I've seen.”

“Not here. I'm not sure if anyone could hear us out there,” Harry said pointing above their heads. “We'd better catch up.”

As they jogged along the path, Harry was about to go through he gap in the hedge he knew led to the cottage, but Hermione pulled him back. Looking ahead, he saw Dumbledore continuing down the road to the town.

“Why's he going down there? He said he got the ring at the house, not in town.”

“I don't know Harry, but there is only one way to find out.”

They followed along all the way to town, and eventually inside the local pub, The Hanged Man. Dumbledore peeled off his traveling cloak, revealing a suit almost exactly like the one he wore to the orphanage, only now it was a deep blue in color. Harry guessed it probably was the same one, with a color-change charm applied.

Striding through the pub, receiving many strange looks on the way, Dumbledore stopped next to a table with a single, old woman. “Ms. Williams, I presume?”

“Dot's fine. Mr. Bumbledore is it?” Dumbledore chuckled as he sat opposite her.

“Albus works for me.”

“Right then, you said you wanted to talk about the Riddle house? As I told you before, I was just the cook, so I didn't get around the estate very often. You might have better luck trying to find whatever sucker bought it. Barmy fool actually kept the gardener.”

“Finding the owner would be as easy as looking in a mirror; no, I am trying to find out a little more about what happened when Mr. Bryce was falsely imprisoned.”

“You're the lunatic,” screamed Dot, “why on earth would agree to keep a murderer on salary for all those years?”

“Well, I must say my reasons for keeping Mr. Bryce on are my own, and I can assure you, Frank Bryce never harmed a soul. It has been many years since I'd spoken to him, and I was quite surprised to hear about his disappearance a little over a year ago.”

“You think whoever killed the Riddles came back for Frank?”

“Yes,” Dumbledore simply stated, “and I must say, Dot, that I've spent a considerable amount of time searching for more information on this young man Frank insisted on seeing all those years ago.”

“You honestly think a teenager could murder three people and not be caught?”

“With the proper motivation, I believe anything is possible,” Dumbledore smiled down to her, a familiar twinkle igniting in his eyes.

“Well, I don't know much more about anything than Frank himself could have told you. He used to insist he saw the kid earlier in the day up the hill a ways; there used to be an old shack hidden back in the trees. A few of us went up there to have a look when they had Frank locked up, but apparently the old place burned down without anyone noticing.”

“Really,” said Dumbledore, with a sudden interest, “No other person in town could remember the shack burning, and yet it was noticed shortly after the murders?”

“Yes, some of the local boys used to try to sneak up there on dares, until a snakebite killed one of them. Most people around here tend to keep away from a place infested with snakes.”

“Yes, I imagine it would seem the wiser course of action now, wouldn't it?” Dumbledore sharply arose from his seat, “Well, thank you for your time, Dot. I can say this meeting has been quite informative.”

Harry and Hermione quickly followed as Dumbledore made his way back outside, heading back up the hill.

“Harry, did Dumbledore ever tell you he bought Voldemort's Dad's house?”

“No Hermione, I guess he didn't think it was all that important, thought he did tell me about the old gardener being killed. I think there was another memory in the box that had his name on it, maybe it was from when he bought the estate.”

They followed along, taking the path Harry had almost run down earlier, until they came upon an empty patch of land, they only evidence that it had ever been otherwise were a few mossy logs, and some rubble in a rough square. Dumbledore stood still, listening intently, before he started muttering to apparently no one.

“What have you done here, Tom? Destroying the remaining family you possessed was not enough, so you took it upon yourself to raze their home as well?”

As soon as Dumbledore had started speaking, Harry began to hear the whispers.

“Who has come? Who has awakened us? What human has disturbed our slumber? That which we protect shall not be found…”

Dumbledore was glancing around wildly, as was Harry, looking for the source of the sound.

“What is it Harry, what's going on,” Hermione said in alarm.

“Those voices… There must be snakes guarding this place, and they sound pissed.”

As soon as Harry had spoken, the ground around them began to slither, hundreds of individual hisses coming up from all around them. Harry couldn't make out what they were all saying, but he could tell it wasn't good. Dumbledore, in an act that Harry could only call brilliant, aimed his wand at the pile of moldy logs, and an instant later, a pack of mongooses were springing forth, fiercely attacking everything in sight. Dumbledore, in an effort to help his furry friends, was levitating the serpents in large clumps, before sending them hurtling off in the direction of the graveyard. It was over in a manner of minutes, and with a lazy flick of his wand, Dumbledore was once again accompanied by just a pile of logs.

“Well Tom, I daresay that little trick was good enough to keep any Muggles away, but I'm sure you've laid out another surprise for whomever banished them from this place,” mumbled Dumbledore, “and just what did you have them guarding?”

He began slowly making his way around the ruin of the house, occasionally stopping in a corner and muttering, this time Harry could hear the words “Ostendo mihi specialis vos occulto,” which Hermione told him was just a bit of Latin. Continuing in this vein around the remaining area, Dumbledore eventually found a spot near what Harry remembered to be the front door, where a faint silver outline appeared as if there was a trapdoor. “Vestri vinco votum video vidi visum vestri opus,” Dumbledore once again intoned, and Harry could see a somewhat translucent handle appear. With a tap of his wand, the handle became solid, and Dumbledore proceeded down into the unknown depths.

When they reached the bottom landing, they found Dumbledore intently staring at a torch mounted to the wall. “Of course this is here to light the way, but who might the light be a warning to?” Ignoring the torch, he continued down the way, only to find himself plunged into complete darkness. He tried lighting his wand, which failed completely, and much to Hermione's surprise bellowed out “Myrddin anfon 'm 'r chyneua chan 'r nefoedd at achlesa 'r byd,” but still no light. Harry thought for an instant he heard another soft voice laughing, and assumed some other form of serpent was hiding down the tunnel. Dumbledore must have agreed, because with a quick flick of his wand, the herd of mongooses from before came hurtling down the steps, along with one dried up old stick.

“Well Tom,” Dumbledore said with a mischievous grin, “let us see if you have guarded your tunnel against Muggle methods as well.” He conjured a towel and wrapped it around the stick, then pulled out a bottle of what Harry guessed was lighter fluid, thoroughly soaking the towel. The old wizard picked up a rock from the barely lit ground, and struck it against the stone wall, producing just enough sparks to ignite the improvised torch in his other hand.

“Brilliant.” Hermione quietly whispered next to Harry, “Of course he would only think to block against magic, everything-”

“Else is inferior, in his mind,” Harry finished for her.

In front of them, Dumbledore continued down the tunnel, which as far as Harry could tell, was taking them back towards the town. Occasionally they heard some noises coming from the darkness ahead; the mongooses were doing their jobs. After almost ten minutes of near silence, the tunnel opened up to a massive chamber, and all three of them found the first signs of trouble when Dumbledore tripped over a pile of mongoose carcasses. “Oh my, this can not be a good sign,” Dumbledore said, and suddenly a ring of light appeared from around the floor, revealing the large circular room they were in. Directly across from them was a staircase leading up, but sitting calmly in front of it was a Manticore, looking quite amused.

“I must admit, when my master first placed me here, I was assuming I'd be guarding a much-desired treasure, but as the years have passed, it has gotten quite boring in my chambers. The small mammals you sent ahead of yourself made for amusing sport, which I have not had for some time. I must thank you for that,” the great beast said with a slight bow.

“As much as I enjoy curing the boredom of all sentient beings, I fear this pleasantness will eventually come to an end.”

“You are quite correct, Wise one, but first, we must observe the niceties, and you must answer my riddles.”

“And if I can answer you, do I gain this treasure you guard?”

“Oh no,” the beast replied, “you are playing for your life, not some silly Wizard's trinket.”

Dumbledore casually flicked his wand once more, and conjured a chair similar to the ones from Harry's hearing the summer before. “Very well, let us begin.”

The Manticore smiled slyly before speaking,

“He starts and ends two common English words.

One painful in love, one painful in everyday matter.

Do you know what two words I must be?”

“Heartache and Headache,” Dumbledore answered without hesitation.

“Very good.

I soar without wings, I see without eyes.

I've traveled the universe to and fro.

I've conquered the world, yet I've never been anywhere but home.

Who am I?”

“Your imagination, of course.”

“What force and strength cannot get through, with a gentle touch I can do.

Many in the street would stand, were I not a friend in hand.

What am I?”

“A key, naturally.” Harry was sure the beast would be annoyed by Dumbledore's answers, and calm demeanor, but it looked to be enjoying itself immensely.

“I can sizzle like bacon, I am made with an egg.

I have plenty of backbone, but lack a good leg.

I peel layers like onions, but still remain whole.

I can be long like a flagpole, yet fit in a hole.

What am I?”

“A snake, just like your Master.”

“Oh… Very good.

I cannot be felt, seen, or touched, yet I can be found in everyone.

My existence is always in debate, yet I have my own style of music.

What am I?”

Dumbledore's face turned grim, and he rose from his seat, which promptly vanished. “You are a soul. Or at least a guardian of a piece of one, if my suspicions are correct.”

“My, you are quite astute, but does this mean you've grown tired of our game? I'm afraid you forfeit you life, if that is the case.”

Dumbledore had an extremely calm look about him, but was careful to keep a good distance between himself and the guardian. “You may find that I will not make for easy prey, in fact, if I did not know you'd refuse, I'd ask you to step aside and let me continue along my path.”

“You are once again quite correct, Wise one. It has been enjoyable conversing with you.” And with that, the Manticore lunged at Dumbledore.

The Headmaster swished his cloak, as if trying to Apparate out of the way, but it didn't work, and he had to dive to the side to avoid the razor-sharp claws streaking towards him. He brandished his wand, and brought forth a whip of flame, which promptly secured itself around the great beast's legs, leaving it hog-tied. Even as he tried to put some room between himself and his attacker, the Manticore brought its stinger down and dissipated its bindings.

“I'm afraid you'll find it much harder to rid yourself of me, my friend,” the creature calmly told the man.

Dumbledore seemed to consider his options for a moment, then suddenly swung his wand in a wide arc, sending an enormous, slightly bronze-colored spell streaking across the room. The Manticore dodged it mostly, but one of its hind legs was glanced, causing a horrible crunching noise. Harry was sure it had at least a few broken bones, judging by its slight limp.

The beast tried again to lunge, but its aim was slightly off due to the injured leg. The Headmaster spun around to see a stinger hurtling through the air directly at his head, and had to quickly dodge again, but this time he was caught by the creatures claws, which tore off his cloak, and left a huge gash down his back.

Hermione and Dumbledore had both screamed as his back was sliced open, and Harry could hear the voice in the back of his head practically screaming that he already knew Dumbledore would make it out alive, but he was having trouble believing it.

There were several more strikes aimed at the old man, who deftly dived, ducked, and rolled out of the way, at one point leaving a large bloodstain on the floor of the chamber. Dumbledore was being surprisingly passive, hardly counter-attacking, but from what Harry remembered of Hagrid's classes, the Manticore's hide could repel almost any spell sent at it. The only option Harry could think of was that he was trying to wear the beast out, so he could have an easier time fleeing. He was about to mention this to Hermione, but she leapt away from him to make room for a spinning Dumbledore.

Just as the Headmaster was turning to strike back, it brought its stinger down sharply, hitting the old man directly in the elbow of his wand arm. His knees buckled as he let out an ear-splitting howl, and Hermione watched in shock from the other side of the creature, as it slowly drew back for another strike.

Suddenly, with what must have been all his remaining energy, Dumbledore reached his good arm straight into the air, and bellowed “FAWKES!” There was an explosion of flame above the Manticore that distracted its attention; the creature hardly noticed the ruby-encrusted sword drop out of the air and into the man's hand.

Albus Dumbledore, in an incredible show of strength, swung the sword high in the air, cleaving off his attacker's stinger on the way up, only to bring the weapon down with a mighty thrust, straight through the back of its neck. Falling to his knees next to the now twitching creature, the Headmaster traded the sword in his left hand for his wand, and tapped his right arm just below the shoulder, effectively making a tunicate. He held up his right arm and inspected his already shriveling fingers before muttering, “Oh dear, Poppy is going to throttle me.”

He used his wand to slice off the arm of his suit, exposing the wound at his elbow. The spot of impact was already black, and slightly sizzling, Fawkes, who had been slowly circling overhead, glided down and began crying into the wound, but he only seemed to be able to slow the effects of whatever venom the Manticore had pumped into the Headmaster.

“Oh, my friend, I'm afraid we're going to need more help if we want to fix this.” Standing quickly, he slid the sword into he belt, and hurried towards the staircase on the other side of the room, only staggering once on the way.

The space at the top of the stairs was simple, brick room, and Dumbledore looked like he was about to rush straight out the doors on the other side, which Harry assumed were back to the outside world, but he stopped suddenly, and began passing his hand over one section of the far wall. Without muttering a word, Dumbledore reached directly into one of the bricks, and when he pulled out his hand, he was wearing the ring.

He studied it intensely, but briefly, before simply prodding it with is wand, “Prior Incantato.”

A bluish mist started rising from the stone, as if it were smoking before they heard the voice of a young Tom Riddle.

“Meus animus est meus own etiamnunc ego tribuo is vobis,

Meus substantia vos vadum usus,

Intemporaliter universitas est secui”

Dumbledore closed his eyes and sighed heavily, “Tom, what have you done?” He looked from the ring on his hand, to his injured arm, which was growing steadily darker; no matter how often Fawkes dropped tears on it. “If only I had brought Harry…”

Hermione was looking at him as if he has sprouted another head, while Harry's mind was stuck on wondering just why the Headmaster would have wanted him alongside him.

“Fawkes, could you please awake Severus, along with Hagrid, and bring them to my office? I shall be along shortly.” The bird leaped off his shoulder, and disappeared in a burst of flame. “Well, Harry. Let us see if your previous method will work again…” Dumbledore quickly strode back down to the circular chamber, and made his way over to the Manticore carcass. He picked up the severed stinger, and drove its point straight into the rings stone.

There was a long, piercing scream in what Harry now recognized as Tom Riddle's voice, and then it was over. Dumbledore had destroyed his fragment of Riddle's soul. Looking nearly as worn as the night he died, Dumbledore rushed back through the room he found the ring in, and burst out the other doors, which appeared to be cellar doors off of the Riddle house itself, though Harry doubted they would ever open from this side.

Dumbledore grabbed a stone from the ground, turning it into a Portkey, and with a lurch, Harry and Hermione found themselves back in the Headmaster's office. Snape and Hagrid were both waiting for his arrival, and rushed to the old wizard's side as he nearly collapsed to the floor.

“Headmaster, who has done this to you?” Snape asked in what Harry guessed was his most concerned voice. As he looked at his former professor, Harry felt a cold fury building up inside him, and had to turn away. Hermione must have guessed what was upsetting him.

“I know Harry,” she said, reaching out and holding his arm, “we'll find him. He can't run forever.”

He sent her a warm smile before looking back to the action in the office. Hagrid looked more furious than Harry ever remembered seeing him.

“Oh, it's nothing to worry about Hagrid; Severus. I just had a little bit of a run-in with a Manticore, though I'm afraid my arm has seen better days.” Hagrid's look quickly changed to one of awe.

“Professor Dumbledore! A Manticore? Is it alive?”

“I'm sorry to say I was forced to put the beast down, Hagrid, but I was rather hoping you might have something to deal with the effects of its venom?”

“I'm sorry, Professor. I don't usually keep nothin' to do wit anything like tha'.”

“Allow me Headmaster,” said Snape, before barking out “Elf!” Much to both the teenagers' surprise, Winky popped into the room.

“Yes professor?”

“Bring me the potion kit from my study, and be quick about it!” As she was about to bow out of the room, Winky spotted Dumbledore lying on the floor.

“Professor Dumbledore, is you alright?” she screamed.

“He will be once you bring me my equipment, now move!” Snape foot was already in motion in kick Winky from the room, but she disappeared with a crack, causing Snape to miss, and promptly fall to the ground. Before anybody in the room had a chance to laugh, Harry and Hermione found themselves back outside the Pensieve, looking at a furious Dobby.

“That mean professor tried to hurt Winky! If Dobby ever finds him, he will defend her!”

“I get the greasy git first Dobby, but I promise I'll let you have a go at him too.”

“Harry!” Hermione shrieked, “Don't encourage him! You know how much trouble Dobby could get in if he was caught attacking a wizard?”

Dobby seemed putout by her comment, but Harry calmly replied, “He's not a wizard, Hermione. He's a murdering git who deserves anything Dobby, me, you, Ron, or anybody else can throw at him.” She didn't appear to have a retort, and promptly sat back down on the steps. Harry checked his watch, it was just past five in the morning; the sun would be coming up soon. “Is it safe to talk here Dobby? Can you tell if anyone is nearby?”

“It is very safe Harry Potter sir, Dobby charmed the area while you were in the bowl, sir!”

“Thanks Dobby.” Harry bent down and picked up his money pouch, which definitely seemed heavier than when he put it down; Dobby was refusing to meet his eyes, and Harry decided to just let it go. “So Hermione, you wanted to know what happened in the graveyard?”

She was in something of a daze before he began talking, but snapped out quickly, “Yes I did. Do you know why that happened? I've never heard of any effect like that, and I know it wasn't because of the spells. I've check all of that through Arithmancy, and came up with nothing.”

“It's called Priori Incantatem.”

“Isn't that something about a reverse spell effect?” she replied, almost flabbergasted.

“When I went into Ollivander's to get my wand, it took forever. He kept shoving wand after wand in my hand; some of them he yanked back after I had hardly touched them. When he finally handed me this one, everything just clicked, but he just kept muttering `curious' under his breath. When he got around to it, he told me that the Phoenix who gave a tail feather for my wand's core, gave another feather. Just one. And that wand, gave me my scar.” Hermione gasped, her mouth hanging open fully. “The weird part about it is the feathers in both our wands, came from Fawkes.”

“You and Voldemort have the same wand?”

“Not quite. Mine's made of holly; his is yew, and a bit longer if I remember right. They're brother wands, and from what Dumbledore said after I came back from the graveyard, they'll never work properly if forced to fight each other. When our spells met, I never could have expected what happened, and I'm sure Voldemort was as shocked as I was. As soon as that beam was between our wands, I couldn't move my hand, like it had seized up on me, but my whole arm was vibrating from the power going between us. We were lifted across the graveyard somehow, and that gold web spread out around us, then it was almost like all the gold bits started singing. It was Fawkes' song, the same one I heard in the Chamber of Secrets, and, it gave me hope; it almost seemed to tell me what I had to do.

“Did you see inside the web?” She shook her head. “While our wands were connected, there were little balls of light, or whatever, and it took every ounce of energy I had in me, but I was able to concentrate enough to force them across the connection back into Voldemort's wand,” Hermione was still gaping at him, “and all of the spells he had done with it started spewing out. Then the bodies. Dumbledore called them `echoes,' but they were almost real Hermione. Like a person, just made of smoke. First it was Cedric, then the old gardener from the Riddle house, and Bertha Jorkins, and then…” Harry trailed off; he still couldn't bring himself to say it.

“Your parents?” Harry could tell she was trying to be delicate, but there was no hiding the awe in her voice. “When I was watching your memory, I could see something moving around inside, but I couldn't get in. When the webbing vanished, and you took off across the graveyard, I forgot to even look back. Did they talk to you?”

Between the stinging in his eyes, and the large lump in his throat Harry couldn't reply right away, but she seemed to understand, and put an arm across his back. It took a few minutes before he regained control of his body, and Hermione refused to let go even as he felt the shivers down his spine subside. “My mum… She told me it was going to be alright… She told me… Told me to hold on… Hold on for my dad… When he came… He told me how to get back… And Cedric… Asked… He asked me to bring his body back for his parents… When I broke the connection, they stayed for a couple of seconds, and blocked his view so I could escape. They saved me.” Harry buried his head into her shoulder and lost control. As many times as he had talked with his friends about that night, even in his interview for the Quibbler, he had purposely neglected mentioning what happened inside the sphere. It took a little over two years, but Harry finally let it out.

><><>

At first being held by Hermione had made Harry feel a little ashamed of himself, but she only cinched him tighter when he tried to wiggle free. He was unsure how long they stayed in that position, but when he finally lifted his head he noticed the sun had properly risen. Dobby was still there, curled up in the grass next to Harry's bag, softly snoring.

“Do you feel any better?” Hermione delicately asked.

When he took a moment to think about it, Harry realized he felt a lot better. He wasn't exactly happy, but there was a certain calmness; almost peaceful feeling he hadn't known for what seemed like ages. “Loads. Has anyone every told you that you work miracles?”

“Not recently,” she said, her cheeks turning slightly pink. “I can't believe we stayed out here all night, my mum's going to have kittens when she realizes I'm not in my bed.”

“Well, I could come by and take the blame-”

“Harry, the last thing I need after staying out all night, is to come home with a boy.”

“Oh. Right. Really, I was just-”

“Of course you were, but I need to get going. I'll meet you at the Burrow for lunch?”

Harry had finally been told earlier that day that it was safe for him to join the Weasley's, and he was looking forward to it, but ever since Ginny's letter, a slight feeling of dread had been growing.

“Harry, I'm sure it will be fine, just don't let her corner you. See you soon!” and with that, she Disapparated with a soft pop.

Harry picked up his bag, which was already packed, along with everything else he owned, slipped a couple of Galleons into the still sleeping Dobby's pockets, and Apparated back to Privet Drive, figuring he might as well take a shower before continuing on his journey.

-->

6. Tears and Beers

Disclaimer: Because I'm not the owner of these characters, some people might not like the things I do to them.

6. Tears and Beers

When Harry Apparated himself (and Hedwig) to the Burrow, he had expected to find a multitude of people milling about, but the only sign of life he could see was the steady stream of smoke coming from the chimney. As he approached the back door, he only had a moment to take in the smells wafting out of the kitchen before being assaulted with a fierce hug from Mrs. Weasley.

“Oh Harry dear, I'm so glad you made it alright. You have no idea how worried I was when you didn't show up with the Express, and then we found Ron and Ginny petrified on the train, but oh, it doesn't matter now, you're safe. It's so good to see you, and it looks like those Muggle relatives of yours actually managed to feed you this year.”

“It's good to see you too, Mrs. Weasley. I'm really sorry about the whole train thing. I assumed Professor McGonagall would have told you all that Hermione and I were seeing ourselves back.”

Within a single move, Harry found himself swept over to the kitchen table, where a plate of breakfast was already waiting for him. “It's no worry, dear, now eat up; there's so much that needs to be done around here. Bill and Charlie managed to put up the alter by the pond without killing each other, but we still have to arrange all of the seating there. Once all that is done, the tables and chairs need to be set up on the other side of the garden for dinner. We still haven't finalized what we will be having for the meal, and of course they all decide that they all need to go out today and get their robes fit, leaving me all alone to deal with everything else-”

Harry was slightly amazed that Mrs. Weasley was letting loose what he hoped were all of her frustrations towards him. After a minute of just nodding along with her rants, all he could think to say was, “It's okay; I'm here to help. Where should I start?” She made him finish his meal before sending him outside to start arranging chairs.

It took him almost an hour before Harry gave in and started using magic to arrange the chairs (there had to over a hundred of them). He was about to call in Dobby to help him, when Hermione appeared, cradling Crookshanks in her arms.

“Oh Harry, you're here already! Are you out here all by yourself?” He quickly filled her in on what he was doing before sending her in to see if Mrs. Weasley needed anymore help in the house. After a moment Crookshanks came back alone out to play with the gnomes, so he assumed she had been tasked with another job.

After finishing the chairs and getting a good start on the dinner tables, which had been stacked next to Mr. Weasley's shack, Harry decided it was time for a break. The sun was high overhead, and it was beginning to play tricks on his eyes (he kept thinking he saw shadows where there weren't any). Inside he found Hermione sitting at the table transfiguring a box full of pins into forks, knives, and spoons. “That looks great, Hermione. Definitely better than anything the Dursley's he ever had.” She beamed up to him as Mrs. Weasley rushed back into the kitchen.

“Oh Harry, you're finished already? Well, I suppose you're up for a spot of lunch then.” A plateful of sandwiches glided over to the table for the three of them. As they tucked in, Harry couldn't help but notice the bags under Hermione's eyes, and wondered just how much trouble she had gotten in when she returned home that morning. He really hoped it wasn't too bad, but something in the back of his mind was worrying that her parents would be mad at him for keeping their daughter out all night.

“Mrs. Weasley? Do you think Hermione's parents could come over for the wedding?” Both women looked surprised by his request, but Hermione was slightly smiling, which soothed the voice in his head. “It's just, I'm sure all they know about magic is what Hermione's told them, and whatever they've seen in Diagon Alley. It might be nice for them to actually see a bit more of our world, and I'm sure Mr. Weasley would love another chance to talk to them.”

“I'm sure he would, and don't worry. I always plan for extra, so they are more than welcome.” After they finished their lunch, and as Molly was filling them in on their afternoon assignments, the fireplace roared to life in a mass of green flames, letting in a line of people, four of which had red hair.

“HARRY!” The smallest of the redheads grabbed him so hard, he was knocked from his seat; before he could even greet the other people in the room, he found himself being pulled along out to the area he had just setup.

“Ginny, wait! I need to get back to work.” Harry tried to plead with her, but found himself shoved down in a chair looking up at a furious girl.

“Not before we've had a discussion. My dad told me you got the letter I wrote you, why did you never write me back?”

“I did. Didn't Ron show you?”

“That's the best you could do? If this is going to work out for us, you had better come up with some better answers!” He could see the anger welling in her eyes, and the first thought that shot through Harry's mind was I miss her being too shy to talk around me. This was what he had been dreading ever since he had skipped out on the Express, and he had completely missed his chance to act on Hermione's warning. Now he was cornered.

“Ginny, I told you before. We are done. I tried to make that clear in the letter I sent. I love your entire family, and I'll always be here for you if you need a friend, but as a couple, it's over.” The scowl on her face quickly changed to a mix of fear and despair as she fell to her knees.

“But I thought you were happy with me. What did I do?”

“Nothing. It's not your fault, Gin. This whole past year has been really though on me, and for some stupid reason, I just tried to ignore it all and be like everyone else. When I told you it was like something out of someone else's life, I meant it. It's almost like after the Department of Mysteries, I tried to make myself into a different person, hoping maybe then I could leave some of the trouble behind; be normal, and not get hurt. Of course none of it worked, and I ended up getting Dumbledore murdered,” she immediately tried to object, “I know, everybody says it's not my fault, but he got hurt when we were away. I hurt him, even though he ordered me to do it, so it's at least partially my fault.”

“How Harry? You say he ordered you to do it, what did he make you do? I can't be your fault, you don't have it in you to hurt anyone on purpose,” there was a pleading quality to her voice, and Harry was tempted to correct her, but couldn't bring himself to.

“It doesn't matter anymore, Ginny. I was just keeping a promise to a friend.”

“Harry, if you'd just open up to me, I'm sure I could help you through this. We'll work it out together, and then you won't have to carry so many burdens yourself. I'm here,” she said while reaching up to cradle his head in her hands, “you'll never be alone again.”

He gently removed her hands, “I'm not alone at all Gin. I'll always have your brother, and Hermione-”

“And Me! You just have to stop being so pig-headed about everything and talk to me!”

“Ginny, there are things I could never tell you,” he was looking anywhere but her face, “Things I've seen. Things I've done…”

“I'll never be ashamed of you Harry-”

“I'm not even ashamed, it's just… Some of the choices I've made.”

“But that doesn't change who you are. Harry.”

“It's our choices, far more than our abilities, that show who we truly are,” Harry thought he heard the voice of Dumbledore echoing in his mind as he spoke.

“And I choose to be with you-”

“Ginny,” he finally looked her directly in the eye. She needed to understand this. “You were never with me. I chose, wrongly, to try to be `normal.' I wanted to be like everyone else, not worrying about anything other than winning at Quidditch and finding a girlfriend. I spent almost all my time trying to find a way to snag you away from Dean, thinking that would finally let me be happy; I wanted to forget about everything else. It worked, too well, and reality caught up violently. I used you to pretend I was someone else, and I'm sorry for that. Feel free to rage at me all you want, I've earned it.”

Ginny stared unbelieving into his eyes for another moment before the tears came. Harry prepared himself to be assaulted, but she merely turned around and fled back up to the house.

><><><

As Harry approached the door to the Burrow, he heard the familiar sound of his two best friends yelling at each other. Peaking through the window, he noticed the four Delacours sitting around the table with Molly Weasley and her two eldest sons. They all had their heads turned to the source of the disturbance, which could clearly be heard from outside the house.

“Well why wouldn't you want to come here? We could have spent the last two weeks relaxing, and playing Quidditch, instead you've probably just been sitting around re-reading Hogwarts, A History!” Ron shouted.

“No, Ronald, I do not spend all of my time reading, in fact, I've read more staying in the hospital wing than I have in the last two weeks. I simply wanted to spend as much time as possible with my PARENTS before we head off searching for…” she clapped a hand over her own mouth, and Harry realized how flustered she really must be to almost let something that large slip.

“Well then whatever happened to us staying with Harry? I know how stubborn he can be, but you should have made him wait at the train station, and we could have all gone back there. You have no idea how bad it is for him there; they lock him up and hardly feed him! I still can't believe that Muggles are allowed to treat their kids like that!”

“They're not allowed, and believe me, if Harry had let me, I would have turned his uncle into a slug and threw him out in the dirt where he belongs!”

“Hermione, you've never even met-”

“Actually Ronald, I've been sneaking Harry meals ever since that whale attacked him,” the shock showing on Ron's face told Harry that he had not been told what had happened upon his arrival on Privet Drive, “but Harry made me promise not to use any magic on them.”

“Well, you should have ignored him and hexed them all anyway, they're just Muggles.” All seven people around the table winced, but Ron was to worked up to notice.

“My PARENTS are Muggles too, Ron! Maybe if you stopped and thought about it long enough, you'd realize that you are being as insular as Voldemort,” everyone except Harry winced, “towards people like my FAMILY! Honestly, how can you keep this up? If it wasn't for Harry, I'm sure we never would have talked to one another!” Hermione stormed straight out to the garden, and Harry wanted nothing more that to go and try to calm her down, but was interrupted.

“HARRY!” The tiny form of Gabrielle Delacour slammed into him, hugging him tightly around his waist, and almost unseating Hedwig, who was faithfully perched on his shoulder. Fleur came up behind her sister, and seeing Harry's gaze following Hermione across the grass, told him that she would take care of her.

Harry was pulled into the kitchen and introduced to Fleur's parents, Raphael and Amandine, who thanked him profusely, albeit needlessly in Harry's mind, for rescuing Gabrielle during the Tri-Wizard Tournament. At one point Raphael, who was in extremely high spirits, said he only wished Gabrielle was a little older, so they could have a double ceremony. The small girl immediately blushed a color that even Ron couldn't achieve, and had to run from the room.

Once he had joined everyone else at the table, Harry noticed Ron had gone missing, and sincerely hoped that he wasn't tracking down Hermione, but since Fleur hadn't returned, he doubted it. Mrs. Weasley expertly steered the conversation towards the dinner menu for the reception, which he guessed she had been trying to do for some time now.

Being that Harry was the youngest person left in the room by close to a decade, it didn't take him long to decide to go back to arranging the tables for the reception. After everything was arranged, and he had begun conjuring tablecloths, Harry started to worry. Fleur had still not returned from looking after Hermione. He was about to dig out his mirror, when Ron's voice completely startled him.

“Harry? What did you do to my sister?”

“We just had a bit of a talk, why?”

“I could hear her as I was coming downstairs. She's hysterically crying, that one. Been shut in her room since she came back in from talking to you.” Harry looked at his friend, and wasn't surprised to see anger brewing in his features. He knew it was his fault; he had been a pretty horrible friend the last couple of weeks, and now he had turned his friend's little sister into a human hosepipe.

“I broke up with her after Dumbledore's funeral, and she was just trying to get things started again. I told her no, and she apparently doesn't like that very much.”

“You broke up with Ginny?” Harry nodded. “But why? You both looked happy when you were together. You even spent time talking to her, not just attached at the mouth like I was with Lavender.” Harry sighed; at least Ron hadn't punched him yet.

“After everything that happened at the Ministry last year really sunk in, I made a really, really bad choice. I decided that I wanted to be normal for once in my life; that I was just going to worry about Quidditch, and not failing all of my courses. I decided that one thing I really needed was to find a girlfriend. I spent the last year living in a fantasy. Sometimes it was like the only times when I was truly myself were in my lessons with Dumbledore, and maybe when I was trying to tail Malfoy.”

“What are you talking about?” Ron asked, looking fairly annoyed. “You were you all year. I think I'd notice if my best mate's acting all fruity around me.”

“And I bet you were really noticing a lot while you were attached to Lavender.” Ron hung his head, looking a little ashamed.

“Okay, so I might not have been paying that much attention, but I still say you weren't acting any different.”

“It's just like it was back in fourth year. When they announced the tournament, I wanted to be the Hogwarts champion more than anything, and I got what I wanted. I won the cup, but Cedric had to die for it. I tried to pretend I was something I wasn't, and people died. I tried again this year, and we lose the Headmaster. I can't keep pretending Ron; I need to keep my mind on where I am, and what's happening around me. Ginny's just a distraction from what I have to do.”

“You could just tell her what's going on, and she could help-”

“No Ron. She belongs at Hogwarts,” Harry stated, trying to put the matter to rest. “We might need some help without Dumbledore around, but I wouldn't ask anyone to leave school to do it. It's bad enough you and Hermione are doing it.” Ron was again looking at his shoes, and Harry wondered if he was having second thought about going along on his quest.

“Harry, why did you keep sending that demented House-Elf after me and Ginny?”

“Well, when you were on the train Hedwig was already on her way to the Dursley's,” Harry motioned to the owl, watching their conversation from the back of a nearby chair, “and honestly, I've been a little afraid about sending her out for post. Ever since she was attacked in fifth year, I've tried to keep her close, and lately she's been keeping herself especially close, like she's afraid to let me out of her sight.” The owl hooted loudly from her perch.

“Maybe she's just trying to keep you from doing anything stupid,” Ron said, trying to be a little helpful.

“Yeah, maybe. And besides all that, I really trust Dobby.” The Elf suddenly appeared next to him, causing Ron to jump back in shock. Unfortunately, he landed on a chair, and promptly tumbled to the ground.

“Why do you have to keep doing that?” Ron angrily asked Dobby.

“I's sorry Mister Wheezy, Dobby hears Harry Potter calling his name, and had to see if he needed Dobby's assistance.”

“Nice dive there, little bro,” came Bill Weasley's voice from the back door of the Burrow. Harry knew without looking that Ron's face would make the perfect camouflage for a tomato.

As Bill came up to the group, Harry noticed Dobby, who usually was very shy around new people, was looking at Bill with his eyes as wide as he'd ever seen them. “You're the one the bad wolf-man bit,” he managed to squeak out.

“That I am,” Bill said, fingering one of the lingering scars on his face, “but my brother Charlie still thinks his dragon burns look more macho than my chewed-up face. Bill Weasley, nice to meet you,” he reached out and shook Dobby's hand.

“Such great friends…” was about all Dobby could manage as a response; Harry could already see the tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

“This is Dobby,” Harry said, patting him on the shoulder, “and he's just stopped by to see if we needed any help.”

“Well, I don't think there's much left for him to do, it looks great out here already Harry. I'm sorry to breakup your little talk, but I have to get Ron back to Madam Malkin's.” Ron's head rolled back as he groaned.

“Do we really have to go back there?” he whined.

“Well, we could always wait for Fleur to get back with Hermione, but I thought we might get a bit more accomplished without the women for a bit.” There was a mischievous look on Bill's face that Harry thought wouldn't look out-of-place on Fred or George, and he wondered if he had other plans than looking at robes.

Once it was just Harry and Dobby left in the garden, he turned to the elf, “I think I have everything set up now, so unless you know any good decorating charms-”

“Of course Harry Potter sir! Dobby will make the garden glow, if he wishes!” The excitement coming from him was contagious, and suddenly Harry was imagining the wall of gnarled trees covered with the same decorations he had watched Professor Flitwick put up in the great hall over Christmas.

For the better part of the next two hours, Harry and Dobby transformed the garden. Harry found he was quite good at some of the landscaping spells he had looked up during his fourth year; the lawn, which had been quite weedy, became lush, evenly mowed grass. Harry conjured golden baubles and candles to cover the trees, and Dobby ran about wiggling his fingers in the air, leaving behind a canopy of fairy lights.

After finishing with the reception area, Harry found Dobby standing up on the alter, staring out into the pond. Slowly the little elf brought his arms up in the air, and Harry amusedly watched as the water churned, two forms rising up from it, eventually forming two swans, whose beaks touched outlining a heart between them. Dobby snapped his fingers with one hand, and a fountain erupted behind the figures; then snapped with his other hand, turning the swans to ice so perfect, it could have been crystal.

“Dobby,” Harry beamed coming up behind him, “that was brilliant. Have you done this before?”

Looking anywhere but Harry, and toeing the ground, Dobby said, “My old masters used to require many of the most impressive decorations for many events…”

“Well then, at least one good thing came out of working for the Malfoys'. How about just one more touch?” Harry swept his wand over the pond, leaving behind a trail of pink and white water lilies. “There, that should do it, now let's go see how things are going inside the house.” They never quite made it inside, as Fleur and Hermione Apparated right in front of them. The looks on the two women's' faces made Harry's heart fill with and intense pride; they were gazing wide-eyed, taking in everything with extreme smiles. The sun was finally setting, and the reflections of Dobby's lights in Hermione's eyes were slightly mesmerizing.

“'Arry! Zis is so beautiful! An' all for Bill and I, oh thank you!” Fleur kissed Harry several times on his cheeks, and embraced him tightly; when Harry looked over her shoulder towards Hermione he wasn't surprised to find a slightly annoyed look.

“It wasn't all just me Fleur, my friend Dobby here helped a lot-”

“Oh, you `ave anozer `ouse-elf? I am so glad he izz so good with ze decorations.”

“Dobby is a free elf who is honored to help Harry Potter whenever he can,” Dobby proudly stated.

Hermione swooped down to embrace the elf, “Oh Dobby, this is so beautiful, I'm sure everyone will love it.”

Fleur beamed down to Dobby, who Harry thought looked embarrassed enough to vanish any second, “Of course everyone weel love eet, you must show me what you deed.” With that she pulled Dobby away towards the pond, leaving Harry with a slightly embarrassed Hermione.

“I'm really sorry about earlier, Harry. When Ron started badgering me about not coming over sooner, I sort of lost my temper, and well, you heard.”

“Don't worry about it. I heard what he said about your parents and all. You might want to keep clear of him until tomorrow though, he found out about Ginny and I; thought he was going to punch me for a minute there. Lucky Bill came and rescued me, really. Where did you and Fleur go?”

“Oh, she just took me out for a glass of wine,” Hermione said dismissively.

“A glass? That was hours ago.”

“Well we did talk a bit. She's really not as bad as I thought, once you get her alone. Apparently her and Bill have suspected that we're up to something for a little while now, and after what I almost let slip earlier, well, now they're sure, and they wanted us to know they'll help any way they can. Even if they have to leave the Order.”

“I don't know how good of an idea that is-”

“Harry, you did promise to ask for help if we needed it-”

“I know Hermione, it's just, we can't be letting everyone we know or like in on this. I've seriously been considering letting Remus in on it, but then I'd be asking him to keep it from Tonks, and I don't want to be responsible for them having to keep secrets from each other.”

“Harry,” he and Hermione both jumped at the sound of a voice coming from nearby. They both looked just in time to see Tonks pulling off an invisibility cloak.

“Tonks!” Harry shouted, “What the hell are you doing hiding out like that?”

“Sorry Harry, but there are a few of us still taking shifts watching out for you,” he was about to protest, “and there's no use getting all twisted up about it, between Remus and the Weasleys, you'll never be less than a top priority in the Order's eyes.”

“So the Order really is still functioning? Fleur said there haven't been any real meetings since the Headmaster died,” Hermione said.

“Well,” Tonks explained, “things are a lot less formal now, but most of us had been given some long-term goals to accomplish, and we had to pull in Filius to recast the Fidelius Charm on headquarters, which reminds me,” she pulled out a slip of parchment and handed it to Harry, who recognized Lupin's neat writing telling him the location of the headquarters was in a house Harry suddenly remembered he owned. “It's slow, but we're still moving,” Tonks finished as Harry passed the slip to Hermione.

“So, were you hanging out around my aunt and uncle's house without telling me too,” Harry asked.

“Didn't really need to, between the two of you, we were pretty well informed on what you were doing most of the time, though if I had to guess, I'd bet there were a few times you snuck off without telling us,” Tonks said, leaving both the teenagers stammering for an excuse. “But I'm not here to yell at you. Harry, what you said about wanting Remus to help; he'd be more than willing, and I don't mind being left out of the loop. Unfortunately it's already a part of our relationship with me being an Auror and all.”

“You mean you don't tell him what you're up to?” asked Harry.

“Can't. It's part of the job, and besides, with You-Know-Who threatening everything that breathes, it's not that hard to figure out what all the Aurors have been up to lately.”

“Well then, if you see him later,” which he was pretty sure she would, “could you tell him that we need to have a pretty long talk. Probably after the wedding. That's okay with you, right Hermione?”

“Of course it is, but why wait? I'm sure Molly wouldn't mind if we left to have a chat with him now, or even tomorrow.”

“No, Harry's right about waiting,” Tonks answered, “with the full moon tomorrow night, he's not in the mood for company right now.”

“Isn't he taking the Wolfsbane Potion anymore?” Hermione asked.

“The git was the one that always made it for him,” answered Harry.

“And no one else in the Order has quite gotten it right. Fleur tried, and was pretty close, but when he transformed, he didn't howl; he roared. I couldn't even wake him up for three days,” added Tonks.

“Well, I suppose if you have the ingredients, I could give it a go. I found the instructions in the restricted section of the library last term, and I think I might be able to pull it off,” Hermione said, and Harry wondered if she was eager to do something Fleur had failed at.

“Well, I know it needs to be started at half-moon, so I'll try and get the stuff together by then. Now, if you two think you can behave yourselves for the rest of the night, I think I should get back to Remus.” Tonks made a quick detour into the house for a slab of raw meat before Disapparating. Dobby was busy making centerpieces with Fleur for all of the tables, so Harry and Hermione went in to see how things were going inside.

As soon as they entered, Mrs. Weasley swept Harry back outside, closing the door between them and everyone else.

“Harry, I've just been up with Ginny, and-” She suddenly stopped and looked in wonder at what had become of her garden. “Harry, this is wonderful! Did you do all of this? Well, you couldn't have, you're not yet of age.”

“I did do a lot of it, Mrs. Weasley, but don't worry, I won't get in trouble, and Dobby over there helped a lot,” he motioned over to the pair going between tables, leaving behind little ice sculptures of swans, hippogriffs, and dragons.

“Oh, well thank you so much, dear. My, it even smells wonderful, whatever did you do?”

“Well the smell is just the landscaping charm I put on the grass, and most of the decorations I picked up from watching Professor Flitwick at Christmas time. Dobby did the lights, and the fountain.”

“You must remind me to properly thank him later, but I'm getting side-tracked here. I've had a chat with Ginny, and she's finally told me why she's been so depressed lately. I know I'm in no position to intrude into your life, but you've just broken my only daughter's heart. She seems to think you'll come back to her after this infernal war is over, as if you were in some sort of fairy tale, but I don't see you as the type to do that, am I right?”

“No Mrs. Weasley. It really is over, and I'm sorry I've hurt Ginny,” Harry mumbled out, staring at the ground.

“Everything will work out in the end, so don't you worry Harry. You were Ginny's first crush, so I can only imagine what a whirlwind of emotions she's been though. I'll try to help her back to normal as best I can, though I suppose she'll be shut-up in her room as much as she can be with you around-”

“We'll be gone right after the wedding.”

“We? Are you taking Hermione with you back to your relatives?”

Harry looked at her slightly dumbstruck for a moment, “Hasn't Ron told you? The three of us are going off to Godric's Hollow, to see where my parents are buried, and then we have sort of have other things we need to do…”

“Before school begins again, you mean?”

Did Ron ever talk to his parents? “We weren't planning on going back. What we have to do might take longer than that, in fact, I'd be shocked if we even had half of it figured out by September.”

Mrs. Weasley looked as if she was about to cry, but Harry was pretty sure he'd only told her what she needed to know. “Well, it appears Arthur and I need to have a chat with Ronald, but anyway… It's suppertime, help me bring out the dishes, will you Harry. You've done such a wonderful job out here, it'd be a shame to eat in the kitchen.”

Mr. Weasley finally returned home as they began to eat, and after taking everything in, offered Dobby a seat at the table. The little elf had disappeared before Arthur had finished his sentence, which made Harry a little sad that his friend still didn't think he should be treated totally equally. With Ron, Bill, and Charlie still missing, and Ginny shut in her room, the Delacours made up half of the table; they kept accidentally slipping into French, leaving Harry and the Weasleys clueless, while Hermione seemed to pick up some of it.

“Well dears,” Mrs. Weasley began, looking over to Harry and Hermione, “it will be a bit cramped, but I think we've finally sorted out the rooms. Harry, you'll be sharing with Ron and Charlie. The Delacours and Gabrielle have Fred and George's old room, Bill's in Percy's, and Ginny's in with Arthur and me. That just leaves Hermione and Fleur in Ginny's room. I'm sorry Fleur, I truly wished neither you nor Bill had to share before your wedding, but there's just too many of us-”

“Mrs. Weasley,” Hermione interrupted, “I could always just go home for overnight. It really is no trouble now that I can Apparate.”

“Hermione dear, I would never ask you to displace yourself. You're welcome here whenever you want, and especially now,” Mrs. Weasley said.

“Really, it couldn't work out better,” Harry added, receiving stares from everyone at the table, “I can go with her and stay in their guest room, if I'd be allowed, and then on Saturday, Hermione and I can Side-Along her parents over for the wedding.”

“Harry, you don't have to feel uncomfortable staying here just because of Ginny,” Mrs. Weasley said.

“Ginny?” asked Mr. Weasley, quite perplexed.

“I'll explain later, Arthur. Both of you, there's room here, and when the time comes, we can have a couple of Order members bring your parents by, Hermione,” Mrs. Weasley said.

“I'll just check with Mum and Dad, and see what they say about Harry,” Hermione said before Disapparating, not even bothering to standup. Barely a minute later she popped back, and announced that the Grangers would be happy to have them both staying over. Fleur looked quite relieved.

After gathering their bags, a cat, and an owl, Harry and Hermione arrived back at the Granger's. It was quite late at night, and everyone needed to be up early, so after taking turns brushing their teeth, everyone said goodnight, and went to their respective rooms. It wasn't until he was almost asleep that Harry realized he still didn't know where in the world Ron had disappeared to.

><><>

The sun had barely risen when Harry was woken up the next morning, something that annoyed both him and Hedwig greatly. Apparently Dan and Emma had to rearrange their schedules to make it to the wedding, meaning they were already on their way to work. After some not-so-gentle prodding from Hermione, Harry showered and was soon set to return to the Burrow for breakfast. The last thing they expected to find was an extremely angry Molly Weasley scrambling a batch of eggs so violently that they were splattering all over the stovetop.

“Is everything alright Mrs. Weasley?” Hermione asked as gently as she could.

“Oh, good morning Hermione, dear, and Harry. Everything is as well as can be expected after being awoken at three in the morning by your sons coming home from a night in the village pub. Woke the entire house, just be glad you decided not to stay, I couldn't imagine if Harry had been up in that room. It seems Fred and George met them, and they all decided to spend the night in Ron's room; I thought the noise was just the ghoul in the attic, but it's their snoring.”

“Would you like me to go wake them?” Harry asked, having already pulled one of the twins' fireworks out from his bag.

“No… I'm afraid they'll just wake everyone else again. I've barely gotten breakfast started, and with Ginny in the state she's in it looks like I'll be doing nothing but cooking from now until the ceremony starts.” Before Harry begin harassing himself for giving Mrs. Weasley more trouble, Hermione sprang up from her chair, and ran out the door. Harry could vaguely hear her talking, but wasn't awake enough to care who to.

“Mrs. Weasley,” Hermione cautiously asked as she came back in the kitchen, “would you mind if Harry and I hired you a bit of help, just to take care of things in the kitchen.”

“Hermione dear, whatever are you talking about? I've more than enough experience cooking for this many people.” Hermione slid from the door, revealing Dobby and Winky, both looking somewhat nervous.

“Well, I just thought, given how many people you've apparently invited…”

“I wouldn't want either of you wasting your money hiring out a pair of House-elfs,” Mrs. Weasley said.

“Winky is a good elf who takes no pay!”

“And Dobby would gladly help for any of Harry Potter's friends for no pay!”

Harry slowly got up and went over to the pair, “Dobby, you snuck off before I could pay you for your help yesterday, so if you do anything else around here, I'm paying you double. Winky, if you want to stay and help, since you have nothing to do at Hogwarts right now, we'd be happy to have you around, and if you decide you want anything for your time, just ask. I'm sure I could get it.”

“Harry, really, this is completely unnecessary,” Mrs. Weasley tried to reason with him.

“If you're having trouble justifying it, just think of it as my way of saying `thanks' for taking me in over the holidays. It's meant more to me than you'll ever know.” Harry turned to go back to the table, completely missing Mrs. Weasley's teary eyes. He sat down and put his head in his arms, falling asleep immediately.

He was awoken a short time later by Hedwig poking him in the back of the head, “Oww! What was that for?” Dobby and Winky seemed to be happily making massive amounts of food, and there was an overloaded plate sitting in front of him.

“I think she's been waiting for you to share your bacon,” Hermione said from across the table, “Mrs. Weasley's gone back for a bit more sleep, and she suggested we do the same, but I don't know if we should leave them here alone. I've already had to stop them from making more than a dozen stacks of pancakes.”

“Good one on bringing them in and all, but what are we going to do now? Dobby and I set everything outside up yesterday, and with the food taken care of, that's it, right?”

“Well, some more plates are going to need to be made up, but I suppose anybody could do that. You might want to consider what you're wearing tomorrow. There's no way your dress robes from fourth year still fit, and I thought we could help Ron with his Apparating, maybe taking him in for his test. We should also think about finding Fleur and Bill a wedding present, I'm just not sure what is usually given at a wizarding wedding.”

“Great, wake me when it's time to go.” He got his head almost all the way back down before he was kicked under the table, “Alright I'm up! You know… If we're going to take Ron in for his test, you could apply for a Side-Along license at the same time…”

“I don't think I'm really ready for that, Harry.”

“Nonsense. We've got nothing to do until everyone wakes up, let's go outside and try,” and before she had a chance to argue, Harry had pulled her from the room, leaving an entire table of food for a cat and an owl, both of whom tucked in.

As Harry had always guessed, most of Hermione's problems stemmed from a fear of failure, and even after he demonstrated by popping them both around the pond several times, she still couldn't work up the nerve. She was already comfortable carrying Crookshanks, but the difference in size between Harry and a cat was scaring her. He eventually convinced her to try with Dobby, and she was able to do it on her first try. He decided to try another way of getting through to her.

“Hermione, close your eyes,” she complied, and he walked up to her, put his arms around her neck, hugging her closely.

“Harry, what are you doing?”

“Just keep you eyes closed, and put your arms around my back,” she slowly followed his directions while inhaling deeply. “Now don't worry about anything. Dobby is still right here if anything happens. I want you to imagine you're only holding on to him, and not me.”

“Harry, I can't-”

“Yes you can Hermione,” he leaned in and dropped his voice to a whisper, “I trust you, and I know you have it in you. The first time you Apparated Crookshanks, you were scared about doing it, right?” She slightly nodded, “But everything turned out fine, and now it doesn't take any extra effort, does it?”

“None,” she breathed back.

“Then just forget that I'm even here, or imagine that I'm a part of you; just put yourself on the other side of the pond, and-”

She didn't even wait for him to finish his sentence before she tried, and succeeded, at Apparating the both of them. She was slightly giddy for a moment, and when that passed, Harry had her take him across the garden, then to her parents' house and back. They arrived back in the Weasley's kitchen just as the Delacours came down for breakfast, and soon, thanks to the smells now wafting through the house, everyone there (even Ginny) was enjoying a hearty meal.

“What are you so happy about?” Ron asked from across the table.

Harry hadn't realized that that he'd been sitting back smiling in his chair for most of breakfast. The chaotic warmth of the Burrow in the morning had always been slightly intoxicating to him, and he decided to have a little fun at Ron's expense. “It's Friday.” Hermione almost spit out a mouthful of orange juice, realizing he was mocking her.

“Okay, It's Friday. Why should I care?” Ron said, not understanding what his two best friends found so funny.

“Honestly Ron,” Hermione piped in, “if you hurry up and get ready, Harry can take you to the Ministry for your Apparation exam.”

“You want me to take a test? This early in the morning?”

“Really Ron,” Harry said in his most helpful voice, “the morning is the best time to go. The examiner hasn't had to deal with a bunch of kids landing in shopping carts all day.” There was an indignant noise, and a glob of flying something coming from Charlie's direction, which Harry easily banished with his wand.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron excused themselves before they could be blamed for starting a food fight; out in the garden, Ron had finally warmed to the idea of being a licensed Apparator, and after a few practice runs he let Harry guide him along to the Ministry, closely followed by Hermione.

Harry had wanted to avoid going past the entrance, trying to keep his name out of the paper, but Hermione guilted him into following them in (“Well I was nice enough to help you during your test.”).

In the test center, they found a slightly pale Neville Longbottom waiting all by himself.

“Neville! What are you doing here, did you fail your test the first time around, too?” Ron asked.

“No Ron, his birthday's the day before mine,” Harry pointed out, “so he couldn't take it the first time around.”

“When did I tell you when my birthday is?” Neville asked in a shaky voice, but his answer was delayed by Wilkie Twycross emerging from his office.

“Mr. Potter! Looks like you've convinced your friends on the benefits of coming in early.”

“Benefits?” Ron asked.

“Of course, Mr. Weasley. Unless you'd rather wait through the three hours it takes Evelyn Schmidt to fail everyday. Now, are you all here for a standard license?”

“Ron and Neville both are, and I'm here to try for a Side-Along permit,” Hermione answered.

“And I suppose Mr. Potter here is just moral support?” Ron and Hermione nodded, “Well then, we'll be leaving him behind, unless he cares to hide himself for one of you?”

Ron and Neville looked highly confused, but it sounded like a good idea to Harry. When he offered up the Shrieking Shack as a hiding spot, Twycross initially declined saying Hermione could probably figure out where he was and cheat, but when Harry told him he'd be inside the shack, the old man just sighed and gave in, telling him to be careful. Harry didn't think Twycross would believe him if he told the truth.

As Harry sat waiting on the bed, he realized this had been the longest he'd been away from his owl since his own test, and he missed her more than he would have ever guessed. He waited for close to an hour, remembering the last time he was in this room, before the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and Neville Longbottom landed in a heap on the bed next to him.

“Harry! I can't believe that actually worked,” Neville said, looking completely amazed.

“Really well done, Neville! How's everything else going?”

“Ron and I both passed, and I'm pretty sure Hermione did as well, but we didn't follow along where ever they went. When Mr. Twycross explained this, I thought he was just talking to Hermione, but he said Ron and I could try as well. They haven't shown up… Where are we?” Neville said, finally noticing his surroundings.

“Well, don't worry, everything's fine. We're inside the Shrieking Shack.”

“WHAT?” Neville had lost all the color in his face.

“Really Neville, this place was never haunted, the people just heard Professor Lupin transforming while he was at school and assumed the worst.”

“How do you know that? It could just be a line somebody made up to trick us into coming in here,” Neville said with a shaky voice.

“He told me himself, here in this room. It was the same night I found out Sirius wasn't an escaped mass murderer,” Harry explained, “well, he did escape from Azkaban, but he never murdered anyone.”

“You're positive?” Harry nodded, “Alright then. I know you wouldn't lie about your Godfather.”

“Harry?” a voice called from his pocket. He pulled out his mirror to greet Hermione, but as soon as she saw the room behind him, “I knew you'd go to the shack! Is Neville there? He made a weird little popping noise when he disappeared, and we're all a little worried.”

“He's right here, we were just having a chat. Do we need to come back now?” She said yes, and he put his mirror back in his pocket while explaining to Neville where he'd gotten them.

“Harry, what if they've moved since I left, we don't know where to meet them,” Neville pointed out.

“Umm… Well, I can Apparate to Hermione, so do you just want me to bring you along?” Harry asked.

Neville took his arm, and they were engulfed in warmth as before, but now, it seemed almost hot, though far from uncomfortable. “What was that?” Neville asked, shaking his head clear.

“It didn't feel like that when you did it?” Harry asked.

“Not even close. It was weird, not like the normal squeezing feeling. It was almost like somebody gave me a bit of a shove, then I crash landed on that bed,” Neville said, looking as perplexed as Harry felt.

“It's all tied to emotion boys, so it will feel different for everyone,” Twycross said while handing Neville his license. “Now, if you'll all excuse me, I'm sure Evelyn is waiting.”

“Barmy old coot, that one,” Ron said after he had Disapparated.

“You're just mad he laughed at you for constantly checking your eyebrows,” Hermione snapped back.

“So you both passed?” asked Harry.

“Of course,” they answered together.

“What now? Do you think your mum needs you back home, Ron?” Harry asked.

“I suspect so, she said something about rehearsing everything so nothing goes wrong tomorrow, honestly, like Charlie and I need to practice walking down an aisle,” he complained.

“Well, Harry still needs robes, and we need to find Fleur and Bill a present, so I guess we'll see you around lunchtime,” Hermione said, the tone of her voice leaving no room for argument.

“Right then,” Ron mumbled before disappearing with a crack.

“Well, since the two of you have plans,” said Neville in a put-off voice.

“You don't have to go Neville,” Harry interrupted, “if you don't mind Hermione dragging you around,” he was quickly silenced with a slap to the back of his head.

“Actually Neville, you wouldn't happen to have any idea the kind of presents Wizards give for weddings, do you?” Hermione asked.

“The last time I went to a wedding I think I was five, but I remember Gran picking up a tea set as a present. The pot kept trying to pour hot water over my head,” Neville said, looking slightly disturbed with the memory.

Harry looked around; they were standing on the corner next to Dervish and Banges in Hogsmeade. “Let's look in there, maybe something will jump out at us.” He started to make his way there, but Hermione stopped him.

“Robes first, Harry. Come on, just get it over with.”

Harry sent a pleading look to Neville, who just shook his head and laughed, following along as Hermione marched him off to Gladrags Wizardwear. As soon as they entered the shop, Harry found himself being assaulted with hugs from both Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell.

“Harry, What are you doing in here?” Alicia asked.

“We've just stopped in so Harry can get some new robes for the Weasley wedding tomorrow,” Hermione answered for him.

“Well then, you should get up on the box so Alicia can measure you up,” Katie said.

“When did you start working here?” Harry asked.

“Just after I left Hogwarts, which you would have known had you come in at all last year. Really Harry, you need to get a new wardrobe, the grunge look went out years ago,” Alicia replied while tugging off the old flannel of Dudley's he was wearing. Over the years he had magically helped along some of the old clothes the Dursleys had given him, and thrown out even more. Most of what he was left with was either only slightly too big, or the things Mrs. Weasley and Dobby had knitted for him.

“So what do you want to wear, Harry?” Alicia asked, making Harry look helplessly over to Neville who just shrugged. Hermione, who had been looking through the racks, called Alicia over to offer a suggestion, and soon the three women were huddled together quietly talking, and occasionally laughing.

“You do realize how much trouble you're in right now, right?” Neville asked Harry.

“Do you suppose I should go make sure they aren't going to dress me in anything frilly?” Harry said while absently trying to wave away the magical tape measure.

“Might be best to leave them to it, besides, I doubt Hermione would let them get too out of control.”

“I don't know, sometimes Katie, Alicia, and Angelina all used to act like I was their little doll. They've probably been waiting to play dress-up since first year,” Harry grumbled.

An hour later, the women had settled on black dress robes that were heavily accented with deep red velvet. They had also talked Harry into exchanging the clothes he was wearing for some newer things (he thought they were too tight, but even Neville agreed he looked better in them).

“So are all of you going to this wedding tomorrow?” Neville asked as Harry and Alicia were settling his bill.

“Angelina and Alicia are going with Fred and George, and I assume Harry and Hermione were invited as soon as it was scheduled. I wasn't technically invited, but I think I'll just crash it,” Katie told him with a smirk. “I thought about trying to get Oliver to come along, but he's starting against the Magpies tomorrow.”

“You really don't have to worry about being unwelcome, when Harry asked if my parents could come along, Mrs. Weasley said she always prepares for more,” Hermione said.

“Harry got your parents invited? I thought he was dating Ginny,” Katie said with a slightly confused look.

“They broke up at the funeral, but what does that have to do with my parents?” asked an equally confused Hermione.

“Oh nothing. I just thought that maybe the two of you were…” Katie trailed off, and it took Hermione a moment to realize where she was going.

“Harry and I are just friends. He happens to be staying at my house for the time being, but that's just because the Burrow is so overloaded with people.”

“Why did he break up with Ginny?” Neville asked.

“He mentioned something about how he only went out with her to feel more `normal,' and when they first saw each other at the Burrow they had a talk. Ginny ended up running up to her room crying, but I never talked to her about it.”

“What are you all talking about over here?” Harry asked coming back from the counter.

“The girls are just gossiping,” replied Neville.

“I do not gossip, Neville,” Hermione stated.

“Harry, I'm sorry to hear about your break-up,” Katie said, putting a hand on his shoulder. Harry looked over at Hermione, who covered her mouth.

“Oh my God. I was gossiping,” she whispered.

“Well, the world didn't end, so let's go find that present,” Harry said over the laughs of the others.

“Do you mind if I tag along?” Katie asked. “I was just in here visiting since all of my other friends have gone on holiday or left the country for, other reasons. Makes for kind of a lonely birthday.”

“Happy Birthday!” Harry, Hermione, and Neville all exclaimed. “We should all take you to lunch,” Harry added, “Why don't you and Neville go get us a table at the Three Broomsticks while Hermione and I finish our shopping.” They said good-bye to Alicia and parted ways. Inside Dervish and Banges Harry found a decent size Foe Glass and actually managed to talk Hermione into letting it be the present from the both of them. Harry's moneybag was a little on the light side after buying his clothes, but the clerk let him pay with a Gringotts draft (Hermione had insisted on paying for lunch to cover her half).

Harry Apparated to the Burrow to let the Weasleys' know not expect them (and pick up Hedwig), while Hermione dropped off their purchases at her house. When they both got back to town and entered the Three Broomsticks, they were both a bit surprised to find Madam Rosmerta sitting at the table, tearfully trying to apologize to Katie for giving her the cursed necklace last fall. Their lunches were all on the house, which caused Hermione to sit back, slightly annoyed.

“I swear, this happens every time I try to pay you back for anything,” she said in a huff.

“Well, I guess it just makes you responsible for Katie's birthday present,” Harry answered her, but the sudden look of glee that came over his former teammate's face scared him, a lot. When she put a privacy bubble up around herself and Hermione, Neville moaned and put his head down on the table.

“You're a great prat,” Neville said, “now they're going to want to shop around all day. I should have gone home when I had the chance.”

“Don't suppose there's anything your Gran needs help with around the house is there? I'm handy-”

“No, the house-elf takes care of it all-”

“Don't tell Hermione that-”

“Oh I know. My S.P.E.W. badge is still in my trunk somewhere,” Neville said, making both of them laugh just as the bubble dissipated.

“What's so funny here?” Hermione asked.

“Nothing,” Harry and Neville chorused.

“So are you both ready to go?” Katie asked.

“Go where?” Harry asked. “I mean people are already staring at us-”

“Even those goblins in the corner-” Neville added.

“And if you two think you're you can just drag us down Diagon Ally or someplace like that, it won't work. People will start coming out of nowhere looking for the bloody `Chosen One,' then the next thing we know, we'll have a group of Death Eaters on our tail. We can't have that happening, it's too soon,” Harry finished looking directly at Hermione with a stern glare. She should know better than that, he thought to himself.

“I know all of that Harry,” Hermione replied looking him straight back, oblivious to the looks they were getting, “but you won't have to worry about that where we're going.”

“And where's that?” Neville asked warily.

“Where isn't as important as what we're doing there,” Katie pointed out.

“Which is?”

“We're going dancing,” Katie simply stated causing two young men to slam their heads into the table, and Tonks (who was sitting a table over disguised as an old woman) to bite her lip until it bled, trying not to laugh.

><><><>

Back outside, Katie Apparated away with Hermione since Harry and Neville should both be able to find her. Harry found it hard not to laugh at the look on Neville's face just before he popped away. As he was tucking Hedwig up against his chest he noticed an old woman watching him from the doorway, and after a second, he thought he recognized her. “That you, Nymphadora?”

The old woman scowled at him before returning to her normal state, “How'd you know?”

“I think I've seen you like that before, I just forget when. Then there's the fact that you've been following us all morning,” Harry replied.

“'Right then, hot-stuff,” Tonks said, earning her own scowl from Harry, “You gonna tell me where you're off to, or do I have to go home and tell Moony you snuck off on me?”

“I don't even know; I'm just Apparating to Hermione. If you've still got your cloak I can bring you along. I don't know what all they're planning, and it might be good to have some backup, just in case.” Tonks agreed, and threw her invisibility cloak over herself. When Harry felt her take hold of his arm, he brought them both through what he was beginning to think of as a tube of fire, opposed to the normal rubber tube. When he arrived he could have sworn he heard Tonks whisper “That was interesting,” but couldn't ask what she meant without giving her away.

“What took you so long, Harry?” asked Neville, looking a bit relieved.

“I was just getting Hedwig all set,” Harry said as his owl flew to a nearby tree. Hermione looked like she wanted to question him, but Harry didn't give her that chance. “So, where are we?”

“We're in the lovely town of Eastbourne,” Katie said happily.

Harry slowly looked around. There was a heavy salt smell to the air, which reminded him a little too much of his trip with Dumbledore, but the area around was not as rocky as where they'd been, instead there was a wide beach and a massive pier.

“Isn't this where the Muggles go when they retire?” Neville asked.

“Well, it does have a certain reputation,” Hermione answered, “but Katie and I thought that would just help keep a low profile. There's probably not another Witch or Wizard for miles, much less any Death Eaters.”

“And we are here to go to the Tea Dance,” Katie said as she grabbed Harry's arm to drag him up the street, and he could have sworn he heard Tonks sniggering nearby.

When they arrived at the hall, Harry and Neville were relieved to find out they were a couple of hours too early, and thought they'd use the time to try and talk their way out of participating. Katie put on a small pout, and reminded them it was her birthday, dooming them both. When the time came, Harry put a Disillusionment Charm on Hedwig so she could come inside.

Thankfully, Katie and Hermione both had a good supply of Muggle money to pay for their tickets; once inside Harry (who was slightly ashamed to have someone else pay his way) dumped the remaining contents of his moneybag into Katie's purse. He wanted to offer some form of an apology, but no words came to mind, and since she seemed to be enjoying herself, he left it there.

Once they were seated and a round of tea and biscuits were served, an organist started playing causing several couples (most of whom Harry noted had either grey or white hair) to begin dancing. Accepting his fate, he looked across the table to the girls, who were discreetly tapping their shoes with their wands, and to Neville, who had the same look of resignedness. “Why exactly do we have to do this?”

“Because it's my birthday,” Katie immediately answered.

“And it will be good practice for tomorrow,” Hermione added.

Harry tried to retort, but Neville beat him to it, “I'm not even going to that wedding, no one invited me!”

“Technically I'm not invited, but I'm not going to let that stop me. If you do well enough tonight, I just might be forced to bring you along,” Katie said before dragging Harry out on the dance floor.

After an hour of some traditional slower dances and a few waltzes, the music changed to something that Harry guessed to be a tango; he quickly excused himself and fled for the table, joined almost instantly by Neville.

“Well, I'm surprised you two lasted as long as you did,” Hermione said as she sat back down between them.

“And I don't think I even needed the Imperturbable Charm on my shoes,” Katie said as she sat four large glasses down on the table.

“What's that?” Neville asked

“These, are pints Neville.”

“Is that the stuff Dean's always going on about?” he asked Harry while taking a glass.

“Well, the beer inside is,” Harry told him as he took one for himself. “You really shouldn't have bought these, it's your birthday,” he added looking over to Katie.

“I think you've more than paid me back,” she replied as she opened her purse and shook it a bit, letting them all hear the coins happily jangling around inside. “Wait a sec, why did you have a S.P.E.W. badge with your money Harry?” Katie asked pulling out a small green disc.

Harry quickly snatched the badge from her hand, “Oh, you never know when you might be asked to show your support,” he said, earning him another smack to the head from Hermione, even though she had an amazed smile on her face.

The four of them sat out the rest of the dance. At one point one of the younger girls in attendance asked Harry to dance, which he politely refused (she reminded him too much of Pansy Parkinson), and they enjoyed a good laugh when she started shrieking about bird droppings in her drink shortly thereafter.

They walked around the city for a while afterwards. Neville surprised them all when he led them into a pub, and after Hermione bought both the boys and Katie several rounds of drinks (“Well someone needs to be able to Apparate you all home”), Harry realized he was in quite a good mood. His only real experience with alcohol had been cleaning up after Uncle Vernon and Aunt Marge when she visited; he used to think that drinking brought out the worst in people, but now with some first hand knowledge he decided it was just them.

Venturing back towards the pier sometime later, Harry was reminiscing about his time in Hagrid's hut with Slughorn. “Neville, have you ever heard of some old bloke named Odo?”

“No, but I'll find him, Harry,” he nearly shouted back as he pulled out his wand. “Accio Odo!”

“Neville!” all three of the others screeched.

“I think I saw him move Harry, I'll go get him!” he shouted back as he took off towards a bandstand down the way. They all immediately tore after him, but once they reached the bandstand Harry and Katie both collapsed against a railing laughing furiously.

“It's a good thing there's no Aurors around, Neville could be in some serious trouble,” Katie said once she got her breath back.

Harry suddenly remembered Tonks had been following him around, “Well, I'm sure if there were an Auror here, she would realize where her help would be needed,” he said a little louder than he need to. The sound of someone cursing softly followed by retreating footsteps made him sure his point was taken.

“Who's `she?' You have some new Auror girlfriend hiding in the bushes?” Katie asked with a smirk.

“She's not my girlfriend, she's Remus's. He still thinks I need a minder so she tails me when she's not on duty. I think Moody takes over for her when she's busy,” Harry told her, being entirely too truthful.

“Moody? Remus? Is that how you got so good at Defense, hanging out with all of our old professors?”

“Well, I don't hang around Mad-Eye if I can help it, and Remus was one of my dad's best mates when he was in school, along with Sirius Black.”

“Is that why you have people watching out for you, because Black's still out there?”

Harry looked at her like she was stupid, “Sirius, my godfather, never did anything wrong. Well, anything illegal. Well, he didn't belong in Azkaban. The rat he was tracking down killed all those people and snuck away in the sewers. I went to the Department of Mysteries last June to save him, but it didn't work. He's dead now.” Harry's good mood had evaporated without him realizing it and he found himself seated on the ground leaning back against the railing.

“I'm so sorry Harry. I didn't realize…” she sat down next to him and tightly embraced him.

“I can only imagine what he'd say if he found us all here today.”

“You think he'd be upset?”

“No, he'd be proud. Probably end up buying us all another pint, or more.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Katie said as she roughly pulled him to his feet.

In an instant, Harry's world felt like it had been turned on end. Everything blurred and he could have sworn every drop of blood in his body had suddenly rushed to his head. “No, I don't think another pint is a good idea after all,” he said, quickly sitting back down with his head between his knees.

Katie laughed softly, “Oh Harry, I never would have guessed you'd be such a lightweight.”

“Am not,” Harry said indignantly.

“So you would have no problem dancing with me right now?”

“But there's no mus-” he cut himself off as he realized there in fact was music coming from the stage where a small band dressed in military uniforms were playing.

Katie once again pulled him to his feet, though much slower this time. Harry was still a bit disorientated, so it took everything he had to simply put his arms around her waist and slump his head onto her shoulder (luckily she was nearly as tall as he was). She put her arms around his back and gently swayed them both around for a bit, which somehow slowly helped to clear his head. “Feel better yet?” Katie asked as she ran a hand through his hair. Harry just nodded and held her a little tighter. He felt fairly - comfortable.

“You know Harry, back in your third year, the week after we'd beaten Ravenclaw in Quidditch; I almost asked you to go to Hogsmeade with me.” His head shot up and he took in her very nervous expression. “I even asked George about it. He told me you didn't have permission to go, but he would help you sneak out if I was serious. I didn't want you to get in trouble, so I decided to stay behind and keep you company, but then I couldn't find you anywhere in the castle.”

He stared blankly at her for a long moment then, “I was in Hogsmeade under my Invisibility Cloak.”

“You have an Invisibility Cloak?”

Harry pulled his cloak out from his magically enlarged back pocket and discreetly slid it over them. “It was my dad's, but Dumbledore ended up having it when he died. He gave it to me for Christmas my first year.”

“I should have asked you after the game, like I wanted to,” Katie said as she placed a hand softly on his cheek.

When she touched his face, Harry suddenly realized just how close they were; he realized just where this situation could end up, and before the rational part of his brain could do anymore realizing, his mouth started working on its own. “You know, you were the first girl to kiss me, that day after the match.”

“I know,” she said while blushing.

“But not just that day. You were the first ever, well I suppose my mum kissed me plenty; I just don't remember it. I barley noticed Alicia and Angelina, I was so surprised when you-” before he could finish she had rammed her lips up into his. Acting purely on instinct he tightened his grip on her; sliding one hand up her back to the base of her neck, while the other traveled in a different direction. An indeterminate time later Katie made a noise that half-way resembled a gasp which further confused Harry, until he noticed one of his hands had wandered up underneath her shirt. Blushing madly, and slightly afraid of being hit, Harry pulled back. The dreamy expression on Katie's face vanished as she opened her eyes, replaced with one of utter terror.

“Oh Harry, I'm so - I mean I never - damn it all-” and without finishing a sentence, she took half a step back under the cloak, and Disapparated.

Harry didn't know how long he stood there, but as far as he was concerned, no matter how long he thought about it, he would never understand women. He was brought out of his stupor by Neville calling his name, and after slipping his cloak back into his pocket, he found his schoolmate walking towards him carrying a bucket full of bottles of beer.

“Harry! I couldn't find that Odo bloke, but I think I remember my great uncle Algie singing a song about him dying. Is he a ghost?”

“Neville; where did you get that bucket, and where is Hermione?”

“Is Hermione still here? I haven't seen her since we left the pub, figured Katie pulled her along somewhere.”

“No, Katie just went home, I hope, and Hermione went after you when you were trying to find Odo. Now what about the bucket?”

Neville looked down at his hands and examined what he was carrying, “Oh yeah, there was some bloke selling these outside a pub a ways back, but he was chatting up some blonde, so I just took it and left him some money,” Neville said while gesturing in three different directions, one of which only led to the sea, before handing Harry one of the bottles.

“And how did you pay for it?” Harry asked before taking a long drink.

“I left him a couple Galleons. Should be more than enough when he gets it exchanged.” Harry, who had completely forgotten that Muggles wouldn't even realize what the gold coins were, saw no flaws in his logic, so the two of them took the bucket and went down to the beach, figuring Hermione would find them eventually.

><><><>

As Harry and Neville were finishing off the last of their beverages, Hermione and Tonks (who given up using her cloak due to too much running) finally found them sitting in the sand laughing hysterically about nothing at all.

“Oh, now this is perfect, they're completely pissed,” complained Tonks, drawing Neville's attention.

“Harry, that girl has green hair. What if she's a Slytherin sent here to spy on you?” Neville said quite loudly.

“Honestly Neville, that's professor Lupin's girlfriend you're talking about now.”

“Oh,” Neville said going wide eyed. “I'm sorry about that Ma'am.”

Tonks flinched at being addressed that way, “Where's the other girl, Katie is it?”

“Harry scared her away,” Neville pointed out.

“And we didn't know where you were, so we just found a place to sit down and wait for you,” Harry added. “What took you so long to find us Hermio-” he cut himself off when he saw how furious she looked. He knew he had done something wrong, he just wasn't sure what; all he could do was lower his head and say, “I'm sorry.”

“You'd better be. Tonks and I have spent the last hour confounding Muggles so we could swap the Galleons they seem to be finding for sterling.”

“That was him,” Harry quickly pointed towards Neville, or at least a spot three feet to the left of Neville.

“Hey! You weren't complaining when we were splitting the bucket!”

“But Hermione wasn't mad then.”

“Alright you two,” Tonks interrupted, “it's time to get you both home.” She pulled Neville up, who swayed for a moment before falling back to the sand.

“Where's Hedwig?” Harry asked in their general direction.

“Over on that light post, that's how we found you,” Hermione told him. “Now come on.” She carefully stood him up, and once the owl joined them, she Apparated them all to her parents' house, leaving Tonks to deal with Neville.

It wasn't very late when Hermione led a staggering Harry through the house, and her father soon discovered them. “Is everything okay Hermione?”

“It's fine dad. Harry and one of our friends just decided to split a pail-full of beers, and I don't think he's had much experience drinking alcohol.”

“Do you want me to take him upstairs for you?”

“That's alright. If I have trouble, I can always levitate him.”

“No…” Harry piped in. “Spinning… No leviosa.”

“Well, it just teaches you not to go off drinking with you friends,” Hermione snapped, leaving her laughing father behind them.

“But Her… Hrr… `Mione, you made us… With the dancing…”

“Well, it was Katie's idea, and being her birthday and all-”

“Katie kissed me… Then she left. Maybe Ron was right and I am a bad kisser.”

Hermione had almost dropped Harry at the entrance to his room from the shock, but quickly recovered and set him on the bed. He seemed to be unable to move anything below his neck, so she began taking his shoes off for him. “From what I've heard from Ginny, that's not the problem Harry.”

“She said she almost asked me out in third year, but she ran away tonight, so I must have done something wrong.”

“Harry,” she said with a sudden burst of sympathy, “most girls are scared of being associated with you, especially now. At first you were just the Boy Who Lived, and they liked the mystery, but were afraid you would get them in trouble because of it. Now that they think you're the Chosen One, they know it's not safe to get too close to you, figuring that will just make Voldemort target them specifically. I'm sure everyone will assume you broke up with Ginny for the same reasons.”

“You're not scared,” he pointed out.

“Well, I'm sure by now he knows how close we are, so short of marrying you, I don't think there's much I could do to be a bigger target.”

“I can just imagine the look on that wanker's face. Another Muggle-born Mrs. Potter, that would be great, except I'd spend most of my time worrying about you.” If he'd been able to open his yes, Harry would have seen her blush brilliantly.

“You deserve better than me, Harry. I'm not some tall, beautiful thing like Cho, or Katie, or even Ginny.”

“You're certainly not tall…” he managed to get out before completely passing out, leaving a slightly confused Hermione kneeling at his bedside.

-->

7. Weasleys Woebegone Wedding

Disclaimer: One of these days some delusional person is going to claim they really do own all things Potter, but not me, for today at least.

7. Weasleys Woebegone Wedding

Harry awoke the next morning to a throbbing pain shooting through his head that for once had nothing to do with his scar. When he first tried to open his eyes, he thought the light was going to blind him and the pressure surrounding his brain increased tenfold. He pulled his pillow out to cover his face, hoping he might be able to smother the pain away; eventually he realized the blissfully cool spot he was pressing against his forehead was his own drool.

“If you're finished trying to suffocate yourself, I have something you might be interested in,” Hermione's annoyingly chipper voice hammered through his head.

Lucky for Harry, his less than kind reply was muddled through the pillow.

“You know, I had originally planned to let you suffer through this after what you and Neville pulled last night, but then, being the good friend I am, realized you've not had many chances to truly relax and just be yourself. That and it was at least partially my fault for buying you both so many rounds.” Harry slid his glasses on and peaked out from under the pillow, trying to minimize the light flooding in from the room. Hermione and Crookshanks were sitting on the end of his bed; she was holding a goblet and the cat was trying to paw at the purple bubbles slowing escaping it. “Lucky for you, I popped over to the Burrow this morning to see if Mrs. Weasley knew how to make a hangover remedy. Apparently Charlie took all of his brothers out again last night, and she was just starting to brew this up for them. This isn't something I'll be brewing a lot of in the future, is it?”

“Absolutely not,” Harry firmly said before downing the fluid in one large gulp. A glorious wave of relief passed through him and he hiccupped out a couple of purple bubbles, then he realized he needed to make it to the lavatory as fast as possible. “You're an angel,” Harry muttered before planting a quick kiss on her cheek and running from the room, never noticing the abrupt change in her skin color.

><><><><><>

Hermione had gone by the time Harry returned, so he made his way down to the kitchen where he found Mr. Granger frying up omelets for everyone's breakfast. “'Morning Dan,” Harry greeted him after expelling a few more bubbles from his mouth.

“How're you feeling this morning Harry?” Dan asked as he watched the bubbles float up to the ceiling.

“Better now. Hermione swung by the Weasley's to get a potion to fix me up - I didn't do anything wrong last night, did I?”

“I don't know,” Dan laughed, “Hermione put you to bed as soon as you came back, but if she went to the trouble of finding you some medicine I doubt you need to be worried.”

They stood by the counter eating (Dan was nice enough to save some ham rinds for Hedwig) until Emma came downstairs wrapped in her dressing gown with her hair up in a towel. “You two do realize that we own a table, don't you?”

Dan Mumbled out a “Yes dear,” while handing her a plate, and the three of them adjourned to the table.

“Hermione tells me you had a fun night Harry,” Emma said smiling over to him.

“Well, yeah… I suppose… If she says…” Harry stammered on for a bit.

“I don't think Harry remembers very much about his night dear,” Dan said, stopping Harry's verbal floundering. “Not having much drinking experience can do that to you, which we all end up learning the hard way.”

“I just hope he learns it at all,” Hermione's voice came from the doorway. She was clad in a dressing gown like her mother, but instead of a towel on her head, she had a shower cap that was emitting a faint stream of smoke.

“Hermione, your hair's on fire,” Harry blankly said.

“Not to worry, it's just a potion to help me style it for the wedding.”

“And when do we have to be there?” Dan asked.

“Well, the ceremony is at one, so sometime around noon would be good, but given the state of things when I stopped over earlier, they might need some help getting everyone in order,” Hermione informed them all.

“I should go soon and help out, to make up for skiving off yesterday,” Harry said.

“That would be nice, but then how are Mum and Dad going to get there? I can't Apparate them both.”

“I could bring your Dad along with me, if he wants, or you can just call me on my mirror when everyone's ready.”

“It might be better for us both to not be here as they're getting ready,” Dan told Harry conspiratorially, but not quietly, leading Emma to smack the back of his head.

After clearing his plate, Harry quickly showered and sorted out his robes. He had to enlarge a few of the pockets to hold the myriad of things he tended to carry with him lately. When he was done, he had plenty of room for his Invisibility Cloak, the fake locket he still refused to leave behind, his moneybag (which had the few remaining Galleons Dobby had hidden away in his backpack), the mirror Sirius gave him, and some owl treats for Hedwig.

He met Dan back down in the sitting room who took a second to take in what he was wearing. “You realize you're going to be inconceivably hot sitting outside in that, don't you?” Dan asked.

“Ah, built in cooling charms,” Harry smirked. “I love magic.”

“Well, you could try to magic-up some pomade to help your hair stay down, while you're at it.” There was a sharp laugh from the kitchen.

“Honestly Dad, nothing helps Harry's hair,” Hermione called from inside.

“Why is everyone ganging up on me?” Harry helplessly asked.

“It's what you get for magicing your way out of a hangover,” Dan simply stated.

The teasing mercifully ended soon thereafter, and Harry found himself in the back garden preparing to Apparate Dan and Hedwig to the Burrow. “Are you ready? Did Emma tell you what to expect?”

“Not much,” the older man said with a scowl, “I think she wants me to be surprised.”

Harry saw an opportunity he could not let pass. “Alright then, it was a bit rough on her before, but what I forgot to tell her was that if you plug your ears and nose, the pressure really isn't that bad.” Dan looked highly skeptical, so Harry made a show of how to properly plug up his face, and to his amazement his example was followed. Trying not to laugh, Harry looked up to see Emma and Hermione both watching from an upstairs window in outright hysterics. Making sure he had a good grip on Hedwig, he told Dan, ”Alright now, big breath and hold it,” before grabbing his arm and sending them all along their way.

“Harry, what are you making that bloke do to himself?” came George Weasley's perfectly timed voice as soon as they arrived. Dan forcibly expelled his breath and scowled at Harry, who was already pleasantly making his introductions. The twins seemed to be huddled over the vegetable patch, waiting for something, so Harry asked what they were up to.

“Well you see-” Fred answered, “we degnomed the garden yesterday-”

“But the little buggers always come back during the night-” George added.

“So we decided: if they're going to be at the wedding-”

“They might as well be dressed the part. Oh, here comes one now!”

Harry heard the grumbling of a gnome coming to investigate the disturbance above ground, and just as the top of his head became visible, there was a popping noise; the gnome was shot out of his hole in an outfit that looked painfully close to Ron's dress robes from their fourth year. The more Harry, Dan, Fred and George laughed, the more gnomes came above ground to check on the noise; Mrs. Weasley found Dan sitting at a table catching his breath while the other three had taken to rolling on the ground, thankfully Harry's charms on the grass kept them all clean.

“Molly, so good to see you again,” Dan finally managed to get out. “I must say, what Hermione says about your home just doesn't do it justice.”

“Thank you Dan, but it's all really just for the wedding. Harry here did most of the decorations with his little elf friend,” Molly replied looking more carefree than Harry had ever seen her.

“Harry Potter sir!” Dobby's excited voice came from inside. “You must to come in and see the cake Dobby and Winky have prepared for your friends' celebration!”

Dan followed Harry towards the house, until he stopped just inside the doorway. The massive table in the kitchen had stacks of food that were taller than Harry, and in the center of the room, stretching from the floor all the way to the ceiling was a castle-shaped cake, complete with turrets and a flowing chocolate moat.

“Dobby,” said an awestruck Harry, “this is amazing, but how are you going to get it outside?”

“Not to worry Harry Potter, Dobby will make the door wide enough to let it pass.” Harry looked from the cake to the door; it almost looked easier to remove a wall than fit something that large through the door.

Winky popped into one of the last remaining open spots in the kitchen, “They's agreed to come help,” she told Dobby who began jumping excitedly.

“Harry Potter sir! You must tell your Wheezys that the Hogwarts elves have agreed to help serve today!”

“What? Dobby, I don't have enough money to hire out all the elves!” Harry shouted.

“They are good elves who require no pay,” Winky informed him. “They offer their help to one of the school's protectors, and Harry Potter must not try to pay Dobby or Winky either,” she waved her finger threateningly at Harry; suddenly his moneybag flew from his robes and vanished.

“I thought Hermione said elves were mistreated and wanted wages,” Dan's voice came from behind Harry.

“They deserve wages,” Harry answered while scowling at the other two in the kitchen, “but Dobby's the only one I know of who accepts any.”

“Dobby still says he owes Harry Potter more than he can ever repay!” the elf stated as if he were trying to sway Dan to his side of their old argument.

“But surely you wouldn't refuse any gift Harry would give you as a show of gratitude and friendship, right?” Dan asked the resolute elves.

Dobby and Winky both looked at Dan quite shrewdly, as if he were trying to trick them; finally Dobby spoke, “Gift? You mean presents from Harry Potter?” Dan nodded; “Dobby could never refuse a present from the great Harry Potter, but he will not accept his Galleons.”

“Well, it looks like we solved that little problem,” Dan said looking quite proud of himself.

“Yeah,” Harry quipped, “I'll just give Hermione the money and she can pay them.”

“Dobby will not accept payment from Harry Potter's Hermy either!” the elf hotly stated.

“From what?” Dan asked Harry.

“Hermione. He calls her `Hermy.'”

“Your Hermy?”

Harry's brain seemed to freeze for a second. Was Dan angry? “It's just what he calls her,” he lamely explained. When he finally got the nerve to look the older man in the face, he was quite relieved to find no anger; actually, he almost looked happy, which sent Harry spiraling into confusion.

A resounding series of cracks brought Harry back into the present; looking past Dan out into the garden he saw at least half of the Hogwarts elves pop into the area set aside for the reception. Mrs. Weasley and the twins, who had been watching the gnomes try to rip off their garments, stared open-mouthed as the workforce busied themselves changing the table settings to match the golden dishes of the school feasts.

“What the bloody hell is going on out here?” Bill asked as he dodged a pile of food being levitated out of the kitchen to a buffet table outside.

“Well, I guess Winky decided to go ask the elves at Hogwarts if they wanted to help serve everyone. They seem to think you're some kind of hero for helping to keep the school safe,” Harry told him as the elves rushing past them bowed to them both.

“You did this for Fleur and I?” Bill asked Winky, and when she sheepishly nodded, he picked her up in a firm embrace.

Harry led Dan back out to the vegetable patch, mostly to stay out of the way, and after explaining to the Weasleys what was going on, he couldn't help but notice how upset the twins looked.

“You've taken all the fun out of this Harry,” Fred answered before he could even ask.

“We were supposed to be able to sneak on as many jinxes and charms as we could handle while setting things up,” George added.

“But all your little elf-friends keep doing the job before we can get close enough to try anything.”

“And I'm sure we're all better off with their being here,” Charlie said as he, Mr. Weasley, and Ron all came out to join them. When Ron first noticed what the gnomes were running around in he let out a string of curses towards his brothers until his father eventually had to charm away his voice.

“None of that now, Ron; company and all. Besides, I think I see your Uncle Ignatius approaching,” Arthur told them all. Harry followed his gaze to see a pair of broomsticks skirting the trees; even from a distance the riders' vivid red hair was visible. A small group of elves had erected a rack near the lane, and when the riders arrived, they were surprised to find valet broom service.

The next few hours passed in a blur for Harry. Many of the people arriving seemed to take almost as much interest in him as Bill, and more than a few of them looked at Mr. Granger as if there were something wrong with him. Being the only man wearing a suit in a crowd of robes seemed to be a give away that he wasn't a wizard. When Harry tried to seek refuge in the house, Winky dragged him up to Fleur's room so she could properly thank him for bringing in so much help. He quickly set her right that it was Winky who she should be thanking and bolted from the room. Suddenly finding himself in a room with Fleur, Gabrielle, and their mother had clouded his mind a bit, reminding him too much of the effects of the Imperious curse.

Looking back outside, Harry saw Dan in an excited conversation with Perkins, the old warlock that used to work with Mr. Weasley. Dan's gaze kept shifting across towards a group of Goblins that were massing around Bill and a few other younger people he guessed all worked for the bank. Their group was promptly broken up by the arrival of Rufus Scrimgeour, who as always had Percy in tow. Harry quickly made his way out to the blissfully empty front yard.

Tucked away beneath a tree, Harry watched as Hermione and Emma popped in carrying the Foe Glass he had purchased, and luckily none of the elves were in view; Harry knew this was something Hermione would need to be warned about before seeing it. As he approached the women he noted Emma looked a little sad, but he would have to get Hermione alone to find out why. As if on cue, Dobby and Winky appeared on either side of Harry, and before he could get a word in Hermione asked what he had done.

The directness in the way she addressed him made him pause; she was wearing a lacy yellow gown with her hair elegantly pulled up except for a few loose curls framing her face. The sunlight pouring down upon the area made her glow, “You seem taller - look nice - in yellow, I mean...” Harry stumbled.

She chanced a look at her mother for some reason before chiding him, “I'm wearing heels, and it's lemon, but you didn't answer me, what have you done.”

“It was them,” Harry replied indicating the elves at his sides, “I had nothing to do with it.”

Before any further explaining could be done, more guests arrived on broomstick; Hermione froze when she saw one of the Hogwarts elves rush forward and take the brooms as another showed the newcomers away. “Are you sure you had nothing to do with these elves being here?”

“Harry Potter new nothing of Winky's idea until he arrived,” Dobby told her, saving Harry.

“And we've already warned him not be tryin' to pay any of us elves,” Winky added.

“She took away my moneybag before I could even think to grab it,” Harry said, at which point Hermione's mood seemed to lighten back to where it had been in the morning.

“Winky, why did you bring more help?”

“The elves at the school had all wanted to show their gratitude to their protectors, and with no work to be done in the summer, Winky though it was the perfect chance, Miss Grangey,” she replied causing Emma to snicker at the mutilation of their name.

“All of the elves?” Hermione asked.

“Harry Potter's Kreacher has taken to hiding in the dungeons, and the rest of the Hogwarts elves refuse to speak to him,” Dobby informed them.

“Why don't they speak to him?” Harry asked.

“Dobby told them how he failed to do the great Harry Potter's orders, and a House-Elf who refuses their Master's orders is a no good elf!” Winky passionately explained.

“You own a House-Elf?” Emma asked.

“He was more of an inheritance that neither of us are too happy about, but it's complicated,” Harry explained.

“Why are you hiding out here Harry?” was Hermione's next question.

“The Minister's prowling around back there,” Harry shrugged.

“I'm surprised Dan's not out here with you,” Emma told them. “He's had an irrational fear of clergy ever since we found out our pastor was a wizard.”

“No Mum,” Hermione said as Harry stared dumbly at her mother, “Harry's referring to the Minister of Magic. They have a somewhat uncomfortable relationship.”

“If that's what you call him wanting to turn me into his poster-boy,” laughed Harry. A way off, he saw a pair of people Apparate in; recognizing them as Katie Bell and Neville Longbottom caused Harry's mind to swirl. He watched in his mind's eye as the previous night flew by, at least up until he was sitting on the beach, after that he still drew a blank.

“It looks as if Neville's seen better days,” Hermione pointed out. Katie had on a deep red dress that Harry guessed would almost exactly match his robes, while Neville was wearing something very similar to Harry, but with yellow trim instead of red. He was also wearing sunglasses and wincing at any sound, “Maybe I'll just nip inside and see if there's any left over-” before she could finish, Winky had popped away and returned with the same potion that Harry had taken in the morning.

Neville was extremely grateful, but there was an obvious tension between Harry and Katie. She seemed to keep shoving Neville between them, which suited Harry just fine since he was considering doing the same with Hermione.

Winky had led off Hermione's mother to rescue her father, and once the four teens were left alone things were quite tense, until Neville broke the tension by releasing a mass of purple suds from his mouth

“I suppose that's why that potion should only be kept for an hour,” Hermione said over the others laughter.

“At least my head doesn't feel like it's being stomped on by a giant any more,” Neville said.

“Well, I seem to have found a bunch of true Gryffindors now, haven't I?” came Professor McGonagall's voice from behind Harry.

It seemed to dawn on all four of them that they were indeed wearing their house colors before they chorused “Yes Ma'am.”

“So then why are four students from a house known for bravery hiding from the festivities?”

“We're not hiding-” Harry started.

“The Minister is back there, and we're simply putting off the point of the day when he tries to assimilate Harry to his cause.” Hermione said.

“So, you're hiding?” McGonagall clarified.

Harry eventually agreed, and the four of them made their way through the Burrow. Katie disappeared as soon as she saw Angelina and Alicia, and Hermione went to check on her parents leaving Harry and Neville standing in the kitchen watching Dobby setting pieces of fruit afloat in the massive cakes' moat. Harry reached in to snag a strawberry only to receive a jolt and a growl from a very harassed looking elf.

“Shut up Neville,” Harry said while massaging his stung hand. Dobby pointed wordlessly to a tray that had not met his approval and they both helped themselves. “So I guess Katie helped pick out your robes too,” Harry asked Neville with a smirk.

“No, Saldie, my elf did. Katie sent an owl before I woke up, and Gran got it. She was so excited that I got invited to go somewhere she forgot to be mad at me over the state I was in. She had Saldie pull out these from my Dad's closet,” Neville explained; neither of them noticed Dobby promptly stopping what he was doing.

“It's good that you have some of his things,” Harry said with a touch of remorse.

“Harry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean-”

“I know Neville, don't worry. You should be proud to wear those, even Moody seems to think pretty highly of your parents.”

“Professor Moody knew them? He never said anything to me about them in our fourth year,” Neville said with quite a sad expression.

“But Neville, that wasn't really him, he was-” Harry stopped himself from saying he was one of their attackers, not entirely sure how he would take it.

“That's true. It's still a little hard to believe since he was such a good teacher. I wonder if the real Moody would have told me about them.”

Harry was reminded of the brief conversations he had shared with Remus about his own parents during his third year, “I suspect he would have. I know it's always nice to hear a new opinion on what your parents were like,” Harry said for the both of them.

“I'm nothing like my parents. Everyone thought I was a Squib for the longest time. Mum and Dad were great and noble to sacrifice themselves for me, they all said, so I had better live up to that. Sure they all thought a little bit more of me after we went to the Ministry, but I'm still not even half of what they were expecting,” Neville said quite miserably.

“You really need to stop being so thick,” Harry told him. “Sure your parents were good enough to get away from Voldemort and stand up to his supporters, but they were fully trained Aurors! When we were fifteen you followed me on a fool's mission. Who was the last one standing with me? Not Hermione, not Ron, you. When Hermione got hurt I lost my head, you didn't. Last term everyone else had taken my lucky potion, but not you. You came and fought against probably the foulest group of Death Eaters I've ever seen while the rest of the school was in their pajamas! Of course your parents were noble, but what you've done: standing up for what you believe is right, and fighting against everything that's not… To have lost as much as you have and still keep fighting, Neville, all you've done is show how brave you really are.”

“Quite well said, Mr. Potter,” came a sharp voice from behind him. Harry turned and saw a very nervous Bill and a very regally dressed Goblin had been listening in. “My apologies for intruding, but I would simply ask that you, Mr. Potter, find some time before your birthday to come in and visit me at Gringotts. There are a few matters regarding your trust we must deal with.”

“Err, sure. I'll try and come by next week. Who should I ask for when I come in?” Harry asked.

“Oh, no need to worry about that Mr. Potter, the Goblins guarding the entrance will point you in the right direction,” he was answered dismissively. “Good day Mr. Potter; Mr. Longbottom.”

“You have a pep talk for me?” Bill asked. Harry just shook his head, not quite sure why he needed one. “This is all your fault, you know. If you'd just managed to keep yourself out of that bloody tournament I never would have met Fleur. I wouldn't've had a problem keeping up the tomb raiding I was doing, but no, I have to come home to cheer you on, meet Fleur and end up here before I've had a chance to figure out how.”

Harry finally realized just how nervous Bill was about getting married. “What are you worrying about? You're marrying a girl that's part Veela. Every bloke that's every been within twenty feet of her would love to trade places with you right now.”

Bill smirked a little, which turned into a wide smile. “Thanks Harry. Make sure you get to the bank like you promised. Going back on your word now would have some pretty big repercussions.”

After Bill had exited, Harry turned and saw a bewildered Neville and Dobby eyeing him. “What?” He simply asked.

“Harry, that was Ragnok. He's the head of Gringotts,” Neville told him.

“Well, he seemed to know you,” Harry said.

“Only because Gran took me in to see him last week. There was some family estate stuff she wanted to have put in my name when I turn seventeen, and apparently we have enough money to warrant special attention.”

“Probably wants to see me for the same. I know I probably should have gone in after Sirius left me everything, but I never really got the chance. I figured that since his elf was obeying me everything else was in order.”

“It is a little weird now, Saldie refuses to call me anything but `Master,'” Neville said.

“Have you tried ordering her not to?” Harry asked as Dobby came around and tugged Neville's sleeve.

“You're Saldie's Master?” the elf asked.

“I - I guess so,” Neville replied.

“Do you know her?” Harry asked.

“Dobby has heard of a sad tale. Saldie is said to have been disowned by her Masters after her mother committed a most grievous crime. It was believed that Saldie lived out her days in disgrace…”

Harry and Dobby both looked to Neville before he spoke up, “My Granddad worked for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. After Saldie's Mum was executed he felt a little sorry for her and let her come work for our family.”

“What did her Mum do?” Harry asked.

“She confessed to killing her Master, but my Granddad never really believed she did it. He said there were plenty of people in her family that would have been greedy enough to do it and make the elf take responsibility,” Neville warily told them.

Something clicked inside Harry's mind, “Neville, what was her Mum's name?”

“Something like Hooky,” he replied.

“Hokey,” Harry and Dobby simultaneously replied leaving Neville looking between them bewildered.

“I have to talk to your elf. Do you think you could bring her by Hermione's house tomorrow?” Harry asked.

“She's pretty shy-”

“Neville, it's really, really important-”

“She doesn't ever leave the house, she's afraid to go out in public-”

“Please, just ask her. If she won't come, I'll go to her, but I have to talk to her.”

“Alright, I'll try.”

Harry mind was swirling with the possibilities of Neville's elf knowing anything about the younger Voldemort, or anything else he might have stolen from her former Masters. He had hardly noticed things out back settling down until Hermione found him and pulled him off to their seats just in time for the ceremony to start.

As Bill and the minister made their way up to the alter, Dan, who was sitting on the other side of Emma from Harry made a slight choking sound while his wife and daughter held down their snickering. Hermione explained in a whisper to Harry that it was their former pastor who had invoked Dan's phobia standing next to Bill. Charlie, Gabrielle, Ron and Ginny made their slow procession down the aisle, and for a second it appeared Fred and George were going to join the other pairs before they were magically lifted up and set down in the last row, completely immobile (Harry turned just in time to see Arthur Weasley tuck his wand back into his robes). As Fleur and her father made their way Harry could swear he felt something wash over him, he looked around at the rest of the guests and noticed the besotted looks on most of the males in attendance before he began wondering if it had something to do with her being part Veela.

The sun came out from behind the clouds as everyone retook their seats. The pastor had begun speaking, but Harry's attention was drawn by a quick sniff from Hermione before she reached out and took his hand, her eyes never straying from the alter. He stared down at their interlocked hands before raising his gaze to her face. Her skin was glowing under the midday sun, and there were sparkles of light dancing around in the curls of her hair. He knew he probably shouldn't stare at his best friend, but he couldn't help but notice just how amazing she looked. In the back of his mind he heard someone cheering. Hermione's hand freed itself from his own and Harry realized everyone was clapping for Bill and Fleur, who were making their way back down the aisle. In what had seemed like a few seconds, Harry had missed the entire wedding, but he didn't think he should admit that to anyone just yet, if ever.

><><><><><<><><

Hermione led him off to a table with her parents. Harry was a bit relieved when he noticed Katie sitting a ways off with the rest of his former Quidditch team (minus Oliver, but plus Neville). Hermione had a bit of a hard time wiping the scowl off her face as the elves started serving dinner, but soon enough, the pastor came over to greet the Grangers. Dan fidgeted like a nervous child the entire time he was there, which his wife and daughter reminded him regularly for the duration of the meal.

A few of the elves had setup a dance floor and brought out some instruments, and soon enough the bride and groom began dancing, only to be joined by several other couples.

“Will you dance with me `Arry?” came a soft voice from behind him, Harry turned to find Gabrielle Delacour blushing. He chanced a look to Hermione for some reason before allowing himself to be led off.

The young girl was in an incredibly nervous state, so Harry tried to compliment her to calm her down. He told her she looked very pretty in her golden dress, but that had the opposite reaction he had hoped. She disappeared so quick he thought she Apparated for a second. He started to make his way back to the table, hoping to avoid Katie, Ginny, and the Minister for as long as possible; Fleur found him before he had made it half-way there.

“'Arry, you will dance with me now?”

He stammered for a minute before finding himself in the center of the dance floor. He could feel the eyes of almost all of the guests on him.

“You are so tense, you must relax!” She said with a brilliant smile. At this distance Harry felt the magic rolling off of her, but it seemed to wash straight past him. “This ees all thanks to you, `Arry. Bill coming to `Ogwarts to see you was the best thing that `as ever happened for me. This ees all thanks to you!” She gave him a few kisses to the cheek, which as always left his face tingling.

When Fleur finally released him, Harry made another unsuccessful attempt for the table. Fred Weasley pulled him back out to the dance floor.

“So, Harry. We're all just dying to know why every time someone mentions your name over at our table, Katie blushes to the point that she forgets how to talk.” He was smiling as he talked and holding open his arms expectantly.

“I am not going to dance with you, Fred,” Harry firmly told him.

“Why not? I'll even let you lead!”

“No, and if Katie's not talking, neither am I.”

“Ah, so there is something going on!” came George's voice as he suddenly appeared behind Harry.

For a second Harry thought he was stuck between the two of them, but then inspiration hit him. He discreetly hit Fred with the strongest sticking charm he knew of before stepping to the side and pulling George face first into his brother. The twins were instantly bonded face-to-face, but seemed to find the situation as funny as Harry.

“That certainly was a good use for that particular charm,” a slightly gruff voice said. Harry turned and found himself facing the Minister of Magic. “Harry, I'd like to introduce you to Malfalda Hopkirk. I believe you've heard from her before.”

The witch Scrimgeour motioned to reminded Harry a lot of Professor McGonagall, only without the touch of warmth the Headmistress held. “Yeah, I might have gotten a few letters from her before,” Harry said with a sigh.

“And of course you remember which office I work for at the Ministry?” she asked him.

“Yes I do, but I can guarantee you there was nothing improper about that,” Harry said pointing to the twins, who were still trying to unstick themselves. “Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to sit down.”

Without another look, he turned his back on them and finally made his way back to the table, where Hermione was sitting all alone.

“Mum finally convinced Dad to dance with her,” she explained after his look.

“What about you?”

“Well, most the males here seem to be more interested in trying to steal away Fleur for a minute or two. You should have seen the looks you got when she kissed you,” Hermione said with a slightly bitter voice. Harry looked back noticed that there did seem to be an informal queue pointing in Fleur's direction.

“Would you like to dance with me?” His question surprised Harry as much as it did Hermione.

“Really Harry, I'm fine. I don't need your pity.”

“Maybe it's not pity. I could just be a sucker for yellow,” he told her, motioning to her gown.

“It's lemon,” she replied while blushing before taking his hand.

They danced for a few songs as Harry told her about his confrontation with the Minister. She had tried to scold him about walking away, but gave up when she couldn't stop laughing.

“Why did your Mum look so upset when you got here?” Harry asked out of the blue. They both froze as Hermione seemed to debate whether or not to answer him.

“We were just talking a bit before we came by. Maybe it was the Apparition,” she told him dismissively, but he could tell she was holding back.

“You can tell me.”

“Really Harry, it's nothing for you to worry about.”

“You sure there's nothing I can do?”

Hermione bit her lip for a moment, “I'm sorry Harry, I just don't think you can help with this.” He let it go, and a while later finally managed to get back to table after profusely apologizing to Hermione for cutting their dance short, not realizing they had been on the floor longer than any other couple. The bride and groom had left without either of them noticing.

A wireless could vaguely be heard as a small cluster of mostly younger people sat huddled around listening to commentators of Wood's match in progress. Harry was about to join the group when Hermione pulled him back down into his seat. “You don't really want to go over there, do you?” she asked him. Looking again he noticed all of his former teammates listening.

“Hermione, do you know what I did last night?” Her face flushed, so he was pretty sure she knew at least some of it.

“Well, you and Neville got pissed, Tonks and I confounded a bunch of Muggles, and I had to help you home,” she quickly told him.

“What about Katie?”

“Katie… She left before Tonks and I found you.”

“Do you know why?” She didn't need to say anything for Harry to know the answer. “You know. Now how do I fix this?”

“If you're asking for relationship advice, you've come to the wrong place.”

“No. I just want to not feel the need to hide whenever I see her. That works fine for Cho, but I actually like Katie, as a friend at least. It'd be a shame to never talk to her again,” he told her. Hermione looked relieved for some reason.

“Would you look at that! Oliver Wood, the young Keeper has leaped backwards off of his broom for the quaffle, and he makes the save! That will most certainly net him a nomination for the Dangerous Dai Commemorative Medal. Wood is left dangling from the hoop with one hand as the other holds the quaffle, would one of this man's teammates bring him his broom?” The announcer kept going on, but Harry forced himself to stop listening.

“You can go over there if you want, Harry. I'm sure it would be fine.” Harry meekly shook his head, causing Hermione to groan in frustration. “You are such a bloody coward. Fine, I'll go talk to her and see if you can join their little party.” She made to get up, but he held her back. A noise he hoped he was wrong about had made the hairs on the back of neck stand tall. Hermione made to ask him what he was doing, but he quickly shushed her,

“They are here… All of them…” Harry felt the blood in his veins go cold as he placed the soft hissing. He roughly pulled Hermione up from the table towards the sound. “The time is right… The time is now…”

“Do you hear that?” Harry asked her.

“Hear what? Harry you're scaring me.”

“Hermione, I think I hear her. I think it's Nagini,” he told her before watching all of the color drain from her face.

“He is here… The young one… The time is now…”

The sound seemed to be retreating towards the front yard, so Harry cut through the house, still pulling Hermione along. They burst out the front door of the Burrow just as the massive snake was slithering by. It immediately turned and lunged towards Hermione.

Time slowed down as Harry watched the snake strike; without realizing how he ended up in between them. He knew he needed to kill the snake eventually, but he also knew he didn't have it in him to even attempt the killing curse. He remembered his duel with Malfoy at Hogwarts before he bellowed out “Sectumsempra!”

The curse slashed the snake open in several places, gushing blood everywhere. For a moment Harry thought he had done it, and began pulling a slightly shell-shocked Hermione back through the Burrow to warn someone. Gabrielle Delacour was standing near the door, and had obviously seen what had just taken place. Harry was about to tell her to run and find her parents when she let out a high-pitched scream. Harry turned and saw the snake making its way inside after him. Time again slowed as the snake reared back to strike. Harry recalled his time in the Chamber of Secrets and found himself wishing he had a way of calling in the help of Gryffindor's sword. His mind didn't register the burst of flames above him, but when the sword came tumbling through the air, Harry deftly caught it and swung at the creature in front of him, neatly slicing off its head. A piercing high-pitched scream issued throughout the room as a fountain of blood sprayed all three of them.

Harry had barley taken a breath before he registered the sounds coming from the reception out back. A fight had begun, and a big one. “Hermione, find your parents and get them to the Dursley's. It's still safe there,” he commanded while tucking the sword into his belt.

“But Harry, I'm not going to-”

“I'm right behind you, now MOVE!” Gabrielle had picked up the snake's head, and seemed oblivious to the sounds of chaos. Harry scooped her up in his arms and rushed off after Hermione, briefly noticing the gleaming red eyes on the Foe Glass sitting with the rest of the presents. Emerging outside Harry saw at least thirty Death Eaters wildly flinging curses into the crowd. Luckily the Grangers weren't far from the back door. Hermione looked back as she reached the near-catatonic dentists to make sure Harry really was still there before she grabbed Emma and disappeared. Harry felt a sharp pain shoot through his skull that could only mean one thing. Voldemort was here. Still holding Gabrielle, Harry rushed towards Dan, pulled him close with one arm, and Apparated all three of them to number four, Privet Drive.

Hermione had already blasted open the back door, and was trying to calm her Mum while repairing the door. Harry quickly ushered Dan and Gabrielle inside before rushing off into the sitting room to find the furious-as-expected Dursley's. “These people need to stay here for tonight,” Harry told them, not realizing he was dripping snake blood over the pristine rug.

“I will not-” Vernon started, but Harry didn't have the time to argue, and simply stupefied him.

“He'll be fine, now go to your rooms, and don't come out until I tell you to,” Harry barked at his Aunt and cousin. They jumped to follow his orders.

Bursting back into the kitchen, Harry found Hermione trying to calm Gabrielle down (the little girl had finally realized she was covered in blood). She told her mother to take over for her before moving towards Harry. He could see that she was reading herself for a fight, but all he could see in his mind was Nagini lunging towards her. He couldn't allow her to be put in more danger. Without speaking, he applied the same sticking charm he had used on the twins to her, and magically lifted her up onto the wall in the kitchen.

“Harry, What are you doing?” she asked in a panic.

“I'm sorry Hermione, but you have to stay here.”

“No! Let me down!”

He moved forward and placed his hand over her mouth, “Listen Hermione. If I don't come back… If I die tonight, it's up to you and Ron to find them all. You can do it, I know you can… When they're all destroyed, find Neville. He's the only other one who has a chance to beat him…” He looked into her eyes and saw shear terror. Her face was streaked heavily with tears and he could feel her lips trembling under his hand. “I'm so sorry, but I can't lose you too. He's there, I felt him. I'm sorry,” he placed a soft kiss on her forehead before heading back outside. He had almost made it to the door before she regained her voice and began screaming out his name. It seemed to be the only thing she was capable of saying, and every time he heard it, the next step was harder to take. When he finally made it outside he could still hear her; a single tear rolled down his cheek before he Apparated back into the carnage.

><><><><><><>

The battle in the Weasley's back garden was fierce. As soon as Harry had arrived he had to duck a curse that was indiscriminately flying through the air. Close to thirty Death Eaters had crashed the reception, and while there were several people fighting back, there were even more bodies littering the ground.

While still taking in the situation, Harry suddenly found himself magically forced to the ground just as a rush of green light passed over his head. Looking back he saw Dobby jab his hand towards his assailant, who was sent flying at least fifty feet through the air. Before Harry could thank his little friend a chair flew through the air knocking the elf out. Winky, who had been right beside him, let out a wail before grabbing Dobby and disappearing. The Hogwarts elves, upon seeing one of their kind attacked, joined in the fray. As Harry followed the progress of another Death Eater through the air he saw Hedwig trying to make her way down to him; he quickly yelled for her to get somewhere safe, which she did after rolling clear of another airborne combatant.

The elves seemed to have quickly turned the tide, and several people were already trying to help the wounded scattered about. The pain in Harry's head told him told him the true danger had yet to pass, and he set out to find Ron as fast as he could. He made it halfway to the alter before he noticed everyone remaining had stopped fighting to watch the duel going on on the other side of the pond.

Rufus Scrimgeour was facing Voldemort alone, his normal guard of Aurors obviously dead or otherwise occupied. The photographer from the ceremony was standing with his mouth hanging open, though still managing to capture the moment. Harry's legs began working on their own, and he found himself slowly making his way around he pond. As he approached he could hear the taunts flying between the curses.

“Rufus, will you ever learn? The last time you tried to conquer me you nearly lost your leg,” said Voldemort.

“You may have maimed me, but we both know I would have killed you had you not run away,” the Minister answered before sending a silvery ball of magic towards the Dark Lord.

“You seem to have learned some new tricks while I was away, but you should know by now: I am invincible. You took me for dead once, and I have returned stronger that before. Give up Rufus, this is a fight you are destined to lose,” Voldemort said while casually blocking everything that was being thrown at him.

Scrimgeour froze, his eyes locked on Harry as he came up behind their common enemy. With a crack the former Auror vanished. Voldemort glanced over his shoulder before turning with a truly evil grin spreading across his face.

“Harry, I was wondering when you would join us. I saw you earlier through the eyes of my pet, but when I arrived it appeared you had run away. It is good that I don't appear to scare you as much as I thought.”

“You're not worth being afraid of, not any more than your bloody snake,” Harry said with a confidence he didn't know he had.

“Maybe we should have dear Nagini join us to see if you are telling the truth. Come to me my pet,” Voldemort hissed out.

“She won't come. I've killed her,” Harry hissed back to Voldemort's great surprise. He closed his eyes as if stretching out to find his snake, but once he had discovered Harry was telling the truth, his eyes reopened filled with rage.

“You've cost me more than you know, Potter. Your death will be a slow, excruciating affair,” said Voldemort.

“There's been enough death here tonight,” Harry replied.

“Oh, Potter. Are you really trying to copy the old fools morals? You should have learned after Severus killed the Muggle-loving lunatic.”

“Don't worry about your little potion whore. I'll deal with him when I'm through with you,” Harry said as he held down his rage.

“Are you tired of our conversation already? Then I'm afraid it's time for you to die. You've been lucky before, but now there's no one to come to your rescue. Good riddance, Potter,” Voldemort said in his coldest voice.

“HARRY!” came a cry from across the pond. Harry and Voldemort both looked to the sound. Hermione was scrambling through the crowd trying to find him. Harry's heart froze as the one thing he had tried to avoid happened.

“Now Harry, are you going to introduce me to your friend? Could she be the little Mudblood Lucius' son seems to have such trouble with? I do hope you've had a chance to say good-bye,” Voldemort cruelly spat out before shooting a jet of green light straight for her.

Harry's world was on the verge of collapse as the curse traveled. Hermione had spun around just as it had been sent towards her and had frozen in fear. There was no chance for her unless he could think of a way to move her; without realizing what he was doing, Harry held out his arm, and she began hurtling through the air straight at him. He wordlessly summoned her from the path of Voldemort's killing curse, but realized he could have thought it through better as she crashed into him knocking them both to the ground. Harry quickly got back to his feet, not noticing his robes had come open reveling Gryffindor's sword tucked in his belt.

Voldemort's eyes glowed with color as he noticed, “Give me that sword, Potter!”

“Thanks, but I'd rather keep it myself,” he replied cockily while trying to shove a visibly shaking Hermione behind him.

“You've no idea how long I've been trying to acquire that object. I daresay it would make a handsome form of payment for killing Nagini. Give me the sword Potter, and I'll make the Mudblood's death quick. Not painless, but quick,” Voldemort bartered.

“Nice offer, but how about you leave, and I'll send you a proper reply by owl,” Harry replied. He sensed the impatience growing in his adversary and threw up a shield just before Voldemort tried to summon the sword away from him.

“Little girl,” Voldemort said as he shifted his attention to Hermione, “you must give up this silly notion that love will save you.” Harry felt Hermione grip his sides from behind has Voldemort held her gaze. “Childish ideas taken from Muggle fairy tales will get you nowhere in the real world. All the love in the world can't save you now; there is no escape from Lord Voldemort.”

Harry watched as Voldemort drew his wand back to strike once again. He pointed his own wand back towards him, hoping it might save both his and Hermione's life if they forged another connection. Harry's mind went blank as he wondered if he'd see his parents again; maybe even have them meet his best friend. It was a simple pleasure he'd been denied his entire life, but now the idea brought a smile to his face.

“Ava - AHHHH!” Before Voldemort could get out the words, Hedwig flew from where she'd been hiding and dug her talons deep into his bald scalp. The owl continued screeching and striking as the Dark Lord flung curses randomly in the air. Seeing an opportunity, Harry pulled the bloodstained sword from his belt and swung it broadly. Voldemort had moved just in time to avoid the sword slicing his chest, but Harry managed to carve down the length of his arm.

Voldemort fell to his knees howling in pain before Disapparating. Harry was vaguely aware of Hermione still hanging onto him, quivering, as Hedwig flew over and landed on his outstretched arm. Her talons were covered in blood, and Harry thought he saw a few small pieces of flesh stuck to them.

“Harry! Hermione!” Tonks yelled at them from across the water. “Get to Headquarters NOW!”

Without saying a word, Harry tucked Hedwig up to his body and held one of Hermione's hands to Apparate the three of them to Grimmauld Place.

><><>>><><

Harry pulled Hermione inside the house without paying much attention to the way the doorknob burned under his hand. The entrance hall was empty but the sounds of someone clearing up dinner could be heard from the kitchen. People were bound to be arriving soon, and Harry wanted nothing to do with any of that. He silently led the way to the drawing room.

The door shut behind them on its own as Harry set Hermione down on the sofa before magically cleaning the bits of Voldemort from Hedwig's talons. By the time he had finished Hermione had stopped shaking, though she was still looking blankly ahead. She finally spoke as Harry dropped the sword of Gryffindor to the ground and sat beside her.

“Harry. I've been your friend since I was twelve years old. I've been petrified, chased, and cursed for you, and I've not left. I choose to stay at your side, but I swear, if you ever even think about taking away that choice again…”

Harry watched a single fat tear slink its way down her cheek. Her words seemed almost too painful for her to finish uttering; they were crushing his own spirit. He wished her anger would turn violent so he would have a better idea of how she felt. He wanted to tell her why he had tried to keep her behind, but he wasn't even sure anymore. He needed her to be safe, but why? Without her he had no chance of defeating Voldemort, a small voice in his head told him.

“I'm sorry Hermione… I swear, I'll never leave you behind again…” Harry wanted to say more, but couldn't find the words; he just pulled her close and held her tightly. There were no tears, but she clung to him with such desperateness that Harry knew words carried no more meaning between them.

Harry pulled back to look in her eyes. They were filled with pain, but deep inside burned an unquenchable fire. He looked in her eyes and saw a beauty he had never taken the time to notice. Vaguely aware that they had both stopped breathing, Harry did the only thing that seemed natural: he slowly lowered his mouth onto hers.

He meant to kiss her gently, but as soon as their lips touched a shock passed through his entire body sending a whirl of images through his mind. The temperature of the room had definitely risen, Harry thought as the shock of what he was doing began to wear off. Covered in blood, sitting in his dead Godfather's house, Harry Potter was slowly exploring the mouth of his best friend with his own tongue, and he was certain she was smiling.

A soft hoot from the other end of the sofa broke the pair apart after a series of moments, and almost as soon as they had separated Remus Lupin opened the door.

“There you are, are you both alright?” he asked looking as weary as Harry'd ever seen. He had a thick brown paste covering bits of his face healing the wounds he had recently given himself. “People are just starting to make their way in. We all need to have a bit of a talk in the kitchen, if you don't mind.”

As soon as he was out of hearing range, Harry looked over to his owl. “Tomorrow, you're getting a perch that would even make Fawkes jealous,” he told Hedwig leading her to straighten herself regally.

“Harry…” Hermione said in a barely audible whisper, “What was that?”

She was holding her hand to her mouth in disbelief. “You look exhausted. Why don't you lay down here and keep Hedwig company while I see what they want. We'll talk when I get back, I promise,” he told her as he squeezed her free hand. Amazingly she nodded a little and after he helped her lay down, Harry chanced giving her another quick kiss, to see if it felt the same as before. It was even better.

><><><><<><><>

Some minutes later, Harry finally arrived in the kitchen where it seemed most of the Weasley's had gathered along with a few Order members. He entered into complete silence.

“Are you alright, Harry?” Kingsley Shacklebolt asked him.

“I'll be fine, the blood's not mine,” Harry responded motioning to the stains covering himself.

“Where's Hermione?” Remus asked him.

“She's upstairs with Hedwig.”

“That bird of yours saved us all, you know,” Shacklebolt said. Harry nodded his agreement while taking in the faces in the room.

“Is anyone we know? Did anyone?” Harry asked.

“Most of the Aurors that were there are dead. If the elves hadn't helped we'd probably all be with them. Arthur had to take Charlie and Molly to St. Mungo's. I found Fleur's parents' bodies in the rubble, but her sister's nowhere to be found,” Tonks told him.

“Gabrielle's okay. Hermione and I got her out with the Grangers.”

“Are they here?” Kingsley asked.

“No, they're at my Aunt and Uncle's. That house should still be safe, or at least safe enough.” Remus was solemnly nodding his agreement when the door swung open admitting a red-eyed Arthur Weasley. Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny all sprung out of their seats and began shouting questions to him.

The older man immediately began crying, which quieted his children faster than anything ever could have. “I'm sorry, but… Your Mum… She didn't,” Arthur collapsed into a chair before he could finish; the rest of his family soon joined in his grief. Harry and the others tried to leave the room quietly.

“Harry?' Ginny's strangled voice called after them. “Harry, why didn't you save Mum?” The question shocked everyone in the room.

“I'm sorry Ginny, I didn't know she was…”

“But you've saved everyone else. You saved Fleur's sister, Hermione's parents, but you couldn't help Mum?”

“It's not his fault Ginny,” Arthur tried to silence his daughter, “Harry had no way of knowing your Mum was in trouble.”

“But it's what he does. Harry always saves the day, but he didn't want to save Mum,” Ginny continued. Most of the room's occupants were looking towards her with an appropriate amount of pity, except for Ron, who looked to be in agreeance with her.

Harry was completely lost. Molly Weasley had always been important to him, and he wished he could find a way of accepting her death, but here her only daughter, his former girlfriend, was blaming him for her murder.

Not knowing what to do, Harry simply Apparated back to the drawing room. Hermione was still lying on the sofa stroking Hedwig, but she quickly sat up when she saw the look on his face. Kneeling in front of her, he told her what had been transpiring downstairs. She embraced Harry along with her grief, and quickly the pair found themselves stretched out together, eyes tightly closed and noses touching. The slow tickle of Hermione's breath against his lips helped greatly to center Harry's emotions and he hoped he was doing the same for her.

Harry's mind was pulled back from its wanderings by a loud thump. Harry and Hermione bolted upright just in time to see Ron pulling his away from a fresh dent in the solid wood door.

“Perfect, just perfect,” muttered Ron.

“Ron-” Harry began.

“Don't even bother, Harry. This… Is just typical.”

“Ron, you really mustn't-” Hermione tried.

“Don't you even talk to me,” Ron snapped at her.

“That's no way to act-” Harry started.

Ron snorted. “So now you're gonna tell me how to act, Harry? What, killing my Mum and stealing my girlfriend wasn't enough?”

“Funny, I don't remember her ever being your girlfriend,” Harry said with a sudden coldness. Hermione stood mutely by the sofa, stuck between shock and anger.

“You're not going to pretend you didn't know now, are you?” Ron asked, his lips shaking with rage. “How long's this been going on?”

“About ten minutes, not that it's any of your business,” Harry answered.

Ron let out a sharp laugh, “Perfect! So now you're gonna spend your days killing people's Mums and your nights shagging Hermione?” he screamed.

Hermione made a move to slap Ron, but Harry held her back, “I did not kill your Mum, Ron, and if you ever talk about Hermione like that again I'll-”

“You'll what? What more could you take from me, or wait, do you need Ginny for the nights that Hermione won't shut up?”

“Ron, I'm warning you,” Harry said with a clenched jaw.

“Why don't you just shut up and leave?” Ron spat out.

“It's my house,” Harry reminded him.

Ron bit back his retort before reeling back to strike Harry, but Hedwig exploded over his shoulder and began beating Ron over the head with her wings. Hermione summoned Ron's wand away as he reached for it just before Fred and George burst into the room separating their brother from Harry's owl.

Ron stormed from the room with Fred on his tail. “Sorry about that, he stormed off before Dad could talk him down,” George said in a lifeless voice before drifting out after his brothers.

Harry dropped down on the sofa wondering what more could go wrong. Hedwig settled on his legs and he fed her every last owl treat he had. She more than deserved them.

“Harry, come look at this,” Hermione said. He walked over to her as she stared at the Black family tree on the wall, not noticing his arm slinking around her waist. She pointed towards the bottom, and Harry saw it. Just below the burn mark where Sirius had been was a name unconnected to the rest of the tree, but clearly stitched with the same golden thread as the rest of the family.

Harry James Potter

1980 -

“That's… Good?” Harry said.

“I - I don't know. Just thought you should know.” Hermione said. She bit her lip before continuing, “Would it be alright if I went back to check on Mum and Dad?”

Harry pulled her closer and looked her in the eyes, “We'll go together.”

After a quick word with Remus, and a nip into the potion cupboard where Harry grabbed a few phials of purple fluid, they Apparated back to Privet Drive. Walking into the kitchen, Harry saw the wall he had stuck Hermione to had turned to a pile of rubble. “Well, that explains how you got free,” he said to no one specific. Emma called out when she heard his voice and taking Hermione's hand, he led her to the next room where Dan, Emma, and Gabrielle were all sitting on the sofa watching Winky tend to Dobby on the floor next to them.

“Winky popped in with Dobby. She's the one who set me free,” Hermione told him.

“If that's what you call blowing up a wall,” Dan said with a small chuckle. Harry noticed both the females on the sofa staring at their linked hands.

“Gabrielle,” Hermione started in a soft voice, but the couldn't finish. The girl looked between Harry and Hermione before bursting into tears.

“What's happened?” Dan asked.

“Her parents were found in the wreckage, along with Molly Weasley and almost all the Aurors that were there,” Hermione told her father. “If it weren't for the elves and Hedwig here,” she pulled her hand from Harry's to stroke the owl, “none of us would have been able to walk away.”

“What happened?” Emma asked.

Hermione looked to Harry before answering, “By the time I arrived, the elves seemed to have scared off most of Voldemort's forces-”

“Those `Deadheads?'” Dan asked. Hermione spared him a glare before continuing.

“Harry was facing off against Voldemort. He tried to k-kill me, but Harry pulled me out of the way of the curse. That monster taunted us both for a bit before he tried to send off another curse, but Hedwig flew at him and began gouging his scalp with her talons.” The owl proudly straightened herself as all eyes in the room fell on her. “Voldemort fled and we were sent back to G- G- Headquarters where we were told about everyone that…”

Harry pulled Hermione to his side as Gabrielle collapsed into Emma.

“How's Dobby,” Harry asked Winky.

“Dobby is sleeping. He be fine in the morning,” she told them all.

Harry excused himself and pulled Winky upstairs with him where he had her help enlarge his bed for the Grangers to share. He nipped into the bathroom to nick a few of his Aunt's sleeping pills before rejoining the others. Winky led away the Grangers after they had taken the pills he offered. He asked Hermione to help him pull the camp bed out of the cupboard under the stairs.

“Harry,” Hermione said with a steely tone. “Why is this here?” She was pointing at a board that had `Lilly' carved in clumsy letters.

“I uhh… I carved that when I first found out my Mum's name,” he told her.

“You didn't know your Mum's name until after you could write?” she asked incredulously.

“Well, the Dursley's didn't like it when I asked too many questions. When my uncle found out I did that they locked me up for a week. I always meant to add my Dad's name, but I guess I didn't want to be stuck in there again.”

“What do you mean `in there?'”

“In the cupboard,” Harry said nervously. He could tell her anger was only rising. “It uhh… Well, it was my room, until Hogwarts started sending me letters at least.”

The small bed crumpled into a ball as Hermione's face hardened. She took a step to storm off upstairs before Harry grabbed her arm and spun her around. He popped the cork from one of the phials he had taken from Grimmauld Place and tipped into her open mouth. She instantly fell asleep in his arms.

Harry carried Hermione back into the sitting room and transfigured the three sofa cushions into beds for himself, Hermione, and Gabrielle. He tucked Hermione into the middle bed and gave her a soft kiss to the forehead before turning to the girl. She accepted the potion without a word before he helped her under the covers.

Harry walked outside with Hedwig whom took off on a hunting expedition. After watching her disappear into the darkness he Apparated back to Burrow intent on surveying the damage himself. He found Arthur Weasley sitting on the ground staring blankly ahead.

“Mr. Weasley, I didn't know you'd be here,” Harry said.

The older man came out of his reprieve, “Harry, is everything alright?”

Harry nodded even though Arthur was still not looking anywhere specific. He casually sipped at a cup of a glowing blue liquid.

“Thank you, Harry, for allowing my f- family to stay at your house,” Arthur said.

“Oh, of course,” Harry replied. He didn't even know the remaining Weasley's were staying over at Grimmauld Place, but was a little relieved they didn't have to stay at the Burrow.

Mr. Weasley conjured another glass and poured Harry some of whatever he was drinking. “I'm sorry Ron and Ginny reacted the way they did to you. It's not your fault Molly d- died tonight. Remember that. They'll come around, in time.” Arthur took another long drink, “I should thank you for your help lately. Molly spent her last days in a better mood than she's been in for years because of your help.”

“It wasn't enough,” Harry said before he could stop himself. He took a sip of his drink and nearly choked as the liquid burned its way down his throat.

“Harry, when I was in the hospital, Molly was beside herself. When she finally got around to talking she told me her greatest worry was that she would end up burying one of our children. She told me she could die happy as long as they were all happy and healthy. When Bill was engaged, she was ecstatic. No matter what you hear, she died a happy woman, and you helped to make her final days some of the best of her life.”

Both man sat in silence as they gazed out at the formerly beautiful garden, now smoldering with blood stained ruins.

-->

8. Going Home

8. Going Home

As the night sky slowly began to turn red, Harry climbed to his feet and let Arthur Weasley know he needed to get back to his relatives house. They had talked a little over the course of the night, but spent more time simply mulling over their individual thoughts as they shared the bottle Arthur provided. Harry took one last look back at the Burrow, which was missing several windows and some of the wall of what used to be the twins room before Apparating away.

Silently slipping back into the kitchen on Privet Drive, Harry let out a long sigh as he saw the wall he had stuck Hermione to the night before was still rubble. With a wave of his wand the pieces sprung neatly back into place. One of the few bodies he had recognized when he joined the battle had been that of Malfalda Hopkirk, so he didn't think he needed to worry about any letters arriving today. Hiding underneath the table he found the discarded head of Nagini. Something was telling Harry to save it, like Dumbledore had the diary and ring, so he found a good size jar to hold the remains.

Remembering Hermione's little burst of anger, Harry went to see what needed repairs in the cupboard under the stairs. He hadn't noticed last night, but apparently she had also blown the door clear off its hinges, which Harry quickly fixed before opening. Inside he was surprised to find everything as it had been when he was a child, with the small exception that Dobby was the one sleeping on the bed instead of himself. Not liking the idea of anyone sleeping in there, much less someone that had recently saved his life, Harry carried the elf out to the other room and slipped him into the bed he had created for himself.

A glint of gold caught Harry's eye as he was turning to take in the two girls in the room. Hanging neatly from a coat rack by the door were Hermione and Gabrielle's dresses from the wedding, both completely clean. Harry looked down at the crusty mess his robes had been reduced to and surmised that Winky had cleaned up the clothing before going wherever she ended up for the evening. A jolt suddenly went through Harry's head. If Hermione's dress was hanging up over there, then what was under the blanket? Harry could feel the same tingling sensation in his palms as he had when they were kissing the night before and his hands had found themselves sliding underneath the back of her gown. Fighting off the urge to investigate, Harry returned to the kitchen to begin making breakfast for everyone.

Winky had taken up residence in a kitchen cupboard, Harry found out when he pulled out a frying pan, and after sliding her in the opposite end of the bed from Dobby, he began his all-to-familiar morning routine. Within a minute of the bacon hitting the pan, Harry heard a noise from upstairs, but he knew his cousin would be too terrified to come out of his room with Vernon still knocked-out, wherever he ended up. The soft squeak of the door hinges announced Hermione's arrival.

“Harry, what are you doing?”

“What it looks like, I'm making breakfast,” he answered without turning to her. He was preparing himself for her to scream at him for dosing her with potion last night, or for what happened between them at Grimmauld Place, or even both.

“What happened to my clothes?” she asked unsteadily. Harry slammed his eyes closed trying to find a way that her words could mean something other than what he thought they meant.

“I think Winky cleaned them after I left last night,” he told her while blindly poking at the bacon.

“And how did I get like this?”

Harry's insides felt like they'd turned to stone as he turned his head to chance a peak at her. She was standing in the doorway wearing one of his Quidditch jerseys. The queasy feeling left so fast it made Harry a bit light-headed, and he found it impossible to take his eyes off of her exquisitely bare legs sticking out from underneath the shirt.

“I put you and Gabrielle to bed fully clothed,” he finally managed to tell her. Hermione slowly made her way over to him as Harry turned off the stovetop figuring it was about time they had the talk he promised her last night.

“You said you left… again?” she asked while staring at her clasped hands.

“I'm sorry, I just had to see the Burrow. When I got there, Mr. Weasley was sitting all alone drinking something,” Harry told her while massaging his throat, which still burned a little. “I sat with him until the sun started to come up, then came back here.”

“That was nice of you,” Hermione said almost to herself. She was close enough to touch, but Harry fought the urge to, not really sure where they stood.

“The Weasley's are all staying at Grimmauld Place. I told him we'd bring Gabrielle by after we were sorted out here,” Hermione merely nodded, still not looking at Harry. He took a large breath to prepare himself, “Hermione, what happened last night?”

Placing his hands on her shoulders, Harry could feel her quiver slightly. She slowly raised her eyes to his, “Harry,” the sadness in her voice made his heart sink, “we just can't.” She was pleading for him to understand her; Harry slowly began to pull away.

“So, you don't really like me…” he whispered sadly.

“That's not it at all, it's just… I don't know if it's a good idea for me to stay with you…” she trailed off.

“Is this about the prophecy?” Harry asked while trying to tell himself he would accept it to keep her safe.

“No Harry, I know you'll win.”

“Hermione, I just spent an entire night sitting with someone who just lost his wife. He didn't talk much, but when he did, it was about how happy Molly had been recently. Even with… how it ended, he was grateful for the time they had together, that they had a chance to be happy. Leaving you behind like I did earlier, I just don't think I could do that again, and I want to take a chance. I need you Hermione, until the end, in any way you'll have me.”

A spark lit behind her eyes, but they filled with tears. “No, Harry. I'm just not good enough for you.”

“What!?”

“I don't deserve you,” Hermione said, her voice breaking. “When I saw that curse heading for me I completely froze! I should be dead right now, but you saved me. If I stay with you, you'll just keep doing it again and again until one time, your luck will run out and you'll end up dead. When that monster looked at me with those eyes of his, all I saw was you tumbling through the air like you had in third year. I couldn't look away and everything just seemed so hopeless. I'm sorry Harry, I just can-” she tried to flee without finishing her sentence, but he held her back.

“What if I don't let you go?” She stood shaking her head, not meeting his eyes. “There's no shame in losing track of things when you see that curse flying towards you, believe me I've been there, and seeing that bastard in person is so much worse than following along in some pensieve memory. Hermione, even the Minister, who used to be in charge of the Aurors mind you, ran away from him. You'll do better next time,” she let out a small squeak that let him know she was looking forward to it about as much as he was. “Until then, I'm refusing to let you go. I'm useless without you, and without me, we're all screwed.” She hiccupped a little at his joke, “Better?” he asked her as he wiped the tears from her face. He gently held her face as she smiled up to him then slowly (slow enough to give her plenty of time to stop him), he brought his lips to hers. Hermione's hands curled up into Harry's hair as she stood on her toes, until he put one arm under her bum and lifted her up to his height, pressing her tightly against his chest.

They continued on for a while, until Hermione screamed out Harry's name, causing him to drop her back on her feet and spin around. The pan he had left on the stove, along with some of the counter, was covered in bright blue flames.

“Where's my wand?” Hermione yelled. Harry had no clue, so he just shoved his own into her hands. She swept it through the air violently causing the flames to flare up before blowing themselves out.

“What's all the yelling down here?” Emma Granger asked bursting into the kitchen wearing an old pair of Harry's pajamas.

“Mum!” Hermione shrieked while shoving Harry's wand back into his hands almost as if she was afraid to get in trouble for using it. Harry was stuck looking between the women, Emma obviously looking a bit rumpled from her night sleep, while the shirt Hermione was wearing bore a different class of wrinkles, having ridden even higher up her thighs he could almost make out… no, he shouldn't be looking there, especially right now.

Emma arched her eyebrows looking between the teens, “I'll just go wake your father then,” she said before exiting with a slight smirk.

“Sorry about that,” Hermione mumbled out once they were alone again. “That hasn't happened since I was eleven.”

“So, that's why you weren't allowed in the kitchen?” Harry asked her.

“Our pastor delivered my Hogwarts letter. He had gotten himself invited over for dinner to explain it all to us. I was so happy that when Mum and I went to get desert ready, well, the ice cream melted. The Pastor just sat back laughing as my Dad tried to put out the flames, until Dad's arm caught fire as well. For the rest of the summer, I'd get excited about something new I'd read about, run into the kitchen to tell Mum, and the whole place would ignite,” Hermione smiled to herself. “It's a good thing I got my wand when I did. The night I figured out that I'd be in the same year as you I nearly burnt the house down.”

“Your pastor showed you how to put them out?” Harry asked her. “I'd say you did more than a few `simple spells' before coming to Hogwarts.”

“You remember that?” asked a startled Hermione.

“It's hard to forget. That train ride was the most terrifying and exciting thing in my life, up to then at least.”

“I was absolutely terrified that I'd be ages behind everyone else,” agreed Hermione.

“Are you admitting to being wrong?” Harry asked her with a smile, earning him a smack on the arm.

Harry made Hermione find her own wand before he would allow her to help him cook, which turned out to be a good idea. Every time they accidentally brushed against each other, the flames on the stove needed to be contained. Between that, and the fact that whenever Hermione was more than a couple feet away Harry's eyes were glued to her legs, it was quite a while before the food was ready.

><><><<><>

While Hermione was upstairs fetching her parents Harry went for Gabrielle and the elves. Dobby and Winky both dashed off for the kitchen as soon as their eyes opened, while Gabrielle (wearing the emerald green jumper he had gotten from Mrs. Weasley his first year) had to be silently led to the table.

Dobby and Winky had reset the table for eight people (Harry realized they had counted the Dursleys and ignored themselves). It took Harry until the three Grangers came down to convince the elves to sit at the table, at least until the Dursleys showed up, which he knew wasn't likely to happen anytime soon.

Harry had to fight the urge to stare at Hermione; slightly afraid of the way her father (who was wearing his only other pair of pajamas) might react. They ate in almost complete silence, and no one could dissuade the elves from serving them all. When Neville Longbottom landed in a heap between Harry and Hermione, he was a bit unnerved at the sight of two wands poking him in the chest.

“Harry! Are you alright? We were chasing a group of Death Eaters around the front of the house, but they left and that Auror friend of yours made me take Katie back to my house. She wouldn't tell us what happened, but other people were saying V-V-V-V-Voldemort was there and you fought him. What happened?”

Quickly lowering their wands, Harry and Hermione seized Neville into a slightly awkward hug. “Neville, what are you doing here?” Hermione shrieked almost directly into his ear.

“Harry wanted to talk with… someone,” he told her while glancing at Harry.

“It's fine Neville,” Harry reassured him. “Is she coming?”

“Who are you talking about, Katie?” Hermione asked them.

After getting a nod from Harry, Neville called for Saldie, his elf. The creature that popped into the room was a bit shorter than Winky, and wearing a yellow dress that seemed to have something running around all over it.

“What's going on here?” Hermione asked them.

“Hermione, remember the memory where Tom was shown the two things?” she quickly nodded, “The elf from there was Saldie's mother,” Harry told her. He could almost see the information click into place in her mind and cut her off as she opened her mouth to question the creature who was now cowering behind Neville's legs. “Later. There's other things we need to deal with first,” he motioned across the table.

Harry told Neville and Saldie to sit down as he got up to fix plates for the new arrivals before any of the elves could, but quickly found out they were a seat short. In the end it took all three Gryffindors to convince her to take Harry's vacated chair as he went upstairs to change out of his robes.

Apparently Winky, on her hunt for clothes, had decided to arrange everything in Harry's trunk, including putting the now sparkling clean Gryffindor sword in with his possessions. He looked around what had been his room for the last six years. The only traces that he even existed were his trunk and Hedwig's cage; Harry decided it was time to find another place to put them. Remus had agreed to help find a place for them to stay in Godric's Hollow, but it was a little hard for him, given Harry had no idea how much time he'd even be able to spend there. For now, Grimmauld Place would do, after all, what's the point of owning a house if you can't store a few things there?

“Harry?” Hermione quietly called from behind him. He turned to find her holding the clothes her family had borrowed for the night neatly folded, and she was wearing some of her regular clothes. He was slightly disappointed at losing his distraction from earlier.

“You went home for some clothes?” Harry asked her.

“It was odd. Winky just snapped her fingers and a little pile of clothes landed in front of us all. You've been up here a while, so I thought I'd check on you.”

“I was just gathering my things,” he told her as he tossed the clothes on top of the sword in his trunk before shutting the lid and placing Hedwig's cage on top. “I think I'm leaving here. For good.”

A soft smile came to her mouth, “I thought as much. Where will we stay, Grimmauld Place?”

“I'm not exactly sure. I want to go to Godric's Hollow as soon as possible, after that I was just thinking we'd figure it out as we went along.”

“Oh Harry. We really have to speak with Remus today and make up some sort of plan. Do you suppose Ron is still coming?”

They shared a very sad look before he shook his head slowly, “Mr. Weasley says he'll come around eventually, but after the way he was acting last night…”

“He will Harry. We've all been friends too long for this to be the end,” she told him in her most hopeful voice. “You don't suppose we shouldn't, you know, not see each other, for his sake?”

“No,” Harry firmly told her. “I'm through letting anyone else dictate how my life goes. Mr. Weasley's right, he'll get over it, it just might take a while.” Hermione flashed him a very relieved smile before stretching up to give him a quick kiss.

“We should go. Gabrielle still hasn't said a word, no matter how hard Mum tries to get her to talk.”

Harry nodded slightly before he realized, “How are they going to get in the house? Remus has to tell them the secret.”

“We'll gather them around your mirror and call him,” she said after a moments thought.

As they made their way to the stairs Hermione suddenly pulled Harry to a stop, “Do you want to say good-bye to your relatives?”

Harry sighed as he looked back down the hall, “Not really, but I suppose they do need to know I'm leaving. That and I still need to Ennervate Vernon.”

Hermione tried to chide him about his use of magic until he told her his reasoning for being safe. He motioned for her to stay behind as he entered his aunt and uncle's room; Petunia shrieked and tried to hide under the bed as soon as the door began to move.

“I'm sorry about last night, but it really was completely necessary. I'm leaving in a few minutes, for good, just so you know, but there are still a few other people downstairs, so you might want to wait for us all to go,” Harry quickly told a groggy Vernon and shaking Petunia before turning around and walking away without a second thought.

Once back in the kitchen Harry called Remus and got him to tell the Grangers, Gabrielle, Neville, and the three elves the location of Grimmauld Place. Soon enough Hermione Apparated away with her Mother, Harry brought along Dan and Gabrielle, and Neville followed Harry carrying a freshly arrived Hedwig. The elves popped in behind them with Harry's trunk just as the house sprang into view, and the Grangers walked away muttering something about leaving the stove on and needing to feed the cat.

“Harry! What's going on?” Hermione yelled to him.

The realization hit Harry quickly, “Sirius' Dad put Muggle repelling charms on the house and they can't get in!”

“What do we do?”

Harry softly swore to himself, “We'll have to take them home. Neville, take them and ring the bell, someone will let you in,” Harry yelled back as he ran after Dan.

The dentists were quickly deposited back in their house, and Hermione couldn't resist gathering up Crookshanks before they Apparated back to Harry's house to plan their next course of action.

><><><<><><><

There was a flurry of activity inside the old house. Fleur and Gabrielle were clinging together wailing while Remus and Mad-Eye were trying to hold the curtains closed over the portrait of Mrs. Black. Hagrid, Professor McGonagall, Tonks, and all the Weasleys in attendance had come to check on the noise; Neville was clearly confused, and the three elves stared fearfully at the mounted heads lining the steps.

Wishing to avoid another confrontation, Harry silently led the way up to the drawing room, pulling Neville and Remus along. The soft click of the door closing from behind reassured him that Hermione had also followed.

“Harry… What is this place?” Neville asked.

“It's my house,” was his simple reply, which clearly wasn't any help to his friend. Harry motioned to the tapestry on the wall, “This is the `Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.' Formerly home to some less than kind people, currently the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, and left to me by Sirius.”

“Order?”

“Remus,” Harry sighed, “you should probably fill him in on this part, being the only member in the room.”

“Harry, there's a reason we don't go around telling everyone about the Order. We shouldn't even be mentioning it in front of him, if Mad-Eye were to overhear us right now,” Harry had to hold back a smirk as he saw Hermione cast a few charms on the door, “he'd probably burst in hexing us all.”

“There are some things I need to tell you all, but he needs to know about this first, so one of us is going to tell him, and I think you know a bit more about it,” Harry evenly told him. Remus was still obviously hesitant. “Neville, what do you know about what your parents did and why they were attacked?”

The color was slowly draining from Neville's face as he answered, “They were Aurors, and the Death Eaters attacked us after you stopped V-V-Voldemort because they thought my parents knew a way to bring him back.”

“Neville,” Remus began, “Your parents were part of a group dedicated to fighting against Voldemort and his followers. They, along with Mad-Eye and a few other ministry employees helped keep us informed of his movements as much as could be expected. We did everything in our power to undermine his plans, but we were outnumbered from the start. Professor Dumbledore-”

“Dumbledore?” Neville questioned.

“Yes, he founded the Order, and reformed it within hours of Voldemort's resurrection. He received some information from a source he claimed to have trusted which eventually resulted in Harry's parents having to go into hiding. I believe he also doled out a similar warning to your parents, but with their being employed by the ministry, they couldn't disappear with as much ease. We knew there was a spy in our midst, and I'm sorry to say most of the Order believed it was me, until the attack on the Potters when Sirius took the blame. We all assumed the worst was over and the remaining Death Eaters would be quickly dealt with, and then, without warning they struck out against your family, Neville. No one really understood why they were the ones targeted, but from what Sirius overheard in Azkaban, they believed that your parents were capable of defeating their Lord, and by conquering them, might find a way to bring him back. Dumbledore had been slightly on edge after that Halloween, but after the Longbottoms were attacked he told us all the game was through and disbanded the Order.”

“So, no one really knows why they attacked us?” Neville quietly asked. Harry was about to answer, but Hermione spoke first.

“Neville, why do you keep saying `us' about the attack?”

“I remember it, sometimes. Especially when I dream. It's gotten better, over time…”

“You were there?” Remus asked.

Neville meekly nodded, “Mum had Saldie take me away when we were cornered.” Three House-elves arrived in rapid succession as one of them was named.

“Does Master need anything?” Saldie asked.

Neville simply shook his head. Dobby, seeing a break in the conversation, tugged on Harry's sleeve.

“Is what they're saying true? Does this house belong to Harry Potter?” the elf asked.

“Yes, and I'm sorry about the heads downstairs, no one could get them down,” Harry quickly replied. Dobby jumped with enough enthusiasm to throw both hats he was wearing to the ground before popping back out of the room, closely followed by Winky.

Saldie was sent on her way after being asked to send up Harry's trunk and keep everyone away until they called for her. Hermione, Remus, and Neville rearranged themselves around the table as Harry dug through his trunk, unable to figure out how Winky had organized it. Finally finding the Pensieve and its base, (in opposite corners) Harry found the others staring at the mess he had just made.

“Harry, why do you have a sword?” Neville asked.

“I'm not sure,” Harry told him after spotting the gleaming hilt of Gryffindor's sword poking out from underneath his clothes. “It kind of fell out of the air last night as I was fighting Voldemort's snake. I suppose I should ask McGonagall about taking it back to Hogwarts, since she's here.” Neville looked confused again, “It belongs in the Headmaster's office,” Harry told him, the recognition was almost instant.

“That's the sword you killed the Basilisk with, isn't it?” Neville asked, to which Harry simply nodded and placed the sword on the table next to the Pensieve. The others in the room all looked at it with interest and Harry realized none of them had ever seen it so close, so he turned it over so they could all read the name on the hilt before taking a seat next to Hermione on what was now his favorite piece of furniture.

“He's going to come for this since you killed his pet, isn't he?” Hermione asked.

“Yes, but you're a bit ahead of everyone else,” Harry told her before letting out a deep sigh. He hadn't planned on telling Neville anything about the Horcruxes, but it did run almost parallel to the prophecy, which he really had a right to know, as far as Harry was concerned. “Okay, both of you,” he said looking between Remus and Neville, “have got to swear not to tell anyone about anything we talk about, agreed?” The other men slowly nodded their acceptance. “Where do I start?” he muttered to himself.

Hermione took some initiative, “Actually Harry, I have a question. Last night you told me to find Neville if you died, why?”

Her voice had a slight quiver to it, and Harry knew she was putting on a strong face to support him. “Some of this you don't know, so bear with me,” he told her after taking her hand. “We all know about the prophecy from the ministry, well, we assumed it was a prophecy, but actually, it was just the record of one. Yes, my name was on it, but when it was made, there was a chance it wouldn't have been me at all.”

“How do you know that?” Remus quickly asked.

“Because even though the record smashed without anyone hearing it, the prophecy was made to a person, and that person told me.”

“Dumbledore knew, didn't he?” Neville asked.

“Professor Trelawney fell into a trance during her interview with Dumbledore. She told him the prophecy, but neither of them knew there was a Death Eater standing outside the door until it was too late.” Hermione was about to interrupt him again, so he squeezed her hand to silence her, “They were in the Hog's Head, and luckily, the bartender tossed out Snape before he heard the whole thing.” Remus had a look as if he were expecting everything he'd heard so far, while Neville still looked a little lost. Focusing on the image of his former Divination teacher hovering above the bowl Harry placed the memory into the Pensieve and prodded the surface with his wand.

Harry closed his eyes as the words that had cursed his life echoed through his head and heart at the same time. The eventual silence in the room was only broken by Hermione's sniffles. Harry opened his eyes to look at Remus. The older man was completely unfocused with a few stray tears wandering down his face; Neville had turned nearly as pale as the ghosts roaming the halls of Hogwarts.

“So everything the Daily Prophet's been printing is-” Remus started.

“Mostly true,” Harry told him, “but they don't know that.”

“Does that mean it could be… me?” Neville whispered.

“It could have been, but Dumbledore thought, and apparently whoever labels the shelves in the ministry agrees, that when Voldemort attacked my parents and gave me my scar I became `the one,'” Harry told him.

“You disagree?” Hermione asked somewhat disbelievingly.

“Honestly, I don't know anymore, but what I believe doesn't matter. Voldemort believes in the prophecy; he thinks that by killing me, he'll be one step closer to immortal, and I wouldn't put it past him to go after Neville when he's through with me, just to be safe. Snape only overheard the bits about our parents and when we were going to be born, so Voldemort spent the better part of a year trying to get the complete record from the ministry to find out what he missed. If he were to wake up tomorrow and decide it all meant nothing, then I'd be just another wizard fighting the git, not some sodding `Chosen One.'”

“But it said you have a power he doesn't,” Neville said.

“Neville, you've known me for six years now, do you honestly think I have some mystery power that you've never seen?”

“Maybe it's something you don't even know about,” Neville replied almost urgently. “You've been conjuring a patronus since third year, and you took on Lestrange and V-Voldemort all by yourself at the ministry!”

“Dumbledore saved my sorry arse that night, and it took him,” Harry said pointing at Remus, “five months to teach me how to do the patronus charm; the first time it really mattered, I stuffed it. If Hermione hadn't been given that Time-Turner the Dementors would've kissed me that night!”

“There's no need to exaggerate,” Remus cut in, “they never would have kissed a student.”

“No Moony, they would have. One of them had lowered its hood and was pulling me up to its mouth when my patronus came across the-”

“You never told me that!” Hermione yelled before anyone else could cut in.

“I guess… it never came up. Really, what's more important, one scabby grey face or the fact that there were a hundred of them swarming around us?”

“What are you guys talking about?” Neville asked them, and it became obvious to Harry just how much Neville didn't know.

“I'll show you later,” Harry told him, “it really doesn't have anything to do with this,” he gestured to the spectral form still hovering over the Pensieve.

“Right,” Remus said. “Just how long have you known this Harry?”

“Dumbledore told me after I left the ministry that night, and right now the only people that know the whole thing are in this room. Ron knows that the Prophet's got it right, but besides that, it's just us.”

“Dumbledore told you all of this just after Sirius died and that maniac possessed you?” Remus growled out as he stalked over to the nearest cabinet.

“Well… he had to tell me something, I was destroying his office. If he'd let me go on any longer I probably would've resorted to hexing him.”

CRUNCH - the wooden shelf Remus had his hands on splintered as his hands convulsed. From behind Harry could see his former professor's shoulders shaking with rage; he wondered if it was an after-effect of his recent transformation, or perhaps years of repressed anger. Hermione sprung up from the sofa and put her arm around Remus' shoulder, whispering urgently to him. After catching her glance, Harry led Neville out into the hall where they found Saldie had taken her order to guard the room quite seriously. She was standing out on the landing shrewdly observing the rest of the house with her arms folded, but when Neville appeared, her scowl turned to a bright smile.

“Master, is everything alright, do you need anything from Saldie?”

Neville politely declined just as Dobby popped up next to her.

“Harry Potter sir! Dobby must ask you a question!” He asked the elf what he needed. “Dobby would be most honored if he would be allowed to leave Hogwarts and come work for the House of Potter!”

Harry wasn't really surprised, “Does that mean you want me to ask Professor McGonagall if you can leave?”

“Dobby has already talked with the Headmistress, and she says that if Harry Potter agrees, he is free to leave Hogwarts whenever he wishes,” Dobby told him bouncing with excitement, causing Neville to snicker slightly.

“Dobby, I'm not even sure how much time I'm going to be spending in this house,” he told him after elbowing Neville.

“Dobby will travel to where ever his Master wishes him to go!”

“Hold on,” Harry told him. “If we do this, you will not call me `Master', understood?” He received a quivering nod. “And second, you will have to accept wages and holidays and whatever else Hermione says you deserve, okay?” Now the elf really didn't want to agree. “What about Winky?” As soon as Harry mentioned her she joined the gathering.

“Dobby will still visit Winky on his day off, unless Harry Potter has need for another elf?” Dobby added hopefully.

“Winky, do you want to leave Hogwarts? You might not be with Dobby all of the time, but I could still hire you, if you want. You would have to agree to the same things Dobby did, not calling me `Master,' and accepting pay and time off.” Both elves cringed at the mention of money. “How about I let you work out your pay with Hermione. Whatever you talk her down to will be fine with me.”

“Are you that afraid of getting in trouble with her?” Neville asked him.

“Shut it,” Harry warned him.

“I saw you holding her hand in there. When we were at your aunt's earlier her dad asked me what they should get you for your birthday, but her mum just said you'd already gotten the best thing they could ever give anyone. You're dating her, aren't you?” Neville demanded. It really showed how close of a friend Neville considered her that he would stand up so bluntly to Harry in her defense. Ron hadn't cared this much when Harry suddenly kissed Ginny in front of him.

“You don't… fancy her, do you?” Harry asked, slightly worried over the answer.

“No. I like her and she's a great friend, but I think it would be a little too much like dating a teacher, for me at least. What about you?” Neville pointedly replied.

Harry took a moment to watch Crookshanks and Hedwig dart down the hallway in pursuit of a mouse. “We're… working on it, I guess. It's still pretty new, Neville. She's been my best friend since forever; all of a sudden last night, we end up kissing. It might be a bit strange for a while, but I'm not giving her up for anything.”

“Are you sure that's smart, given, you know, that prophecy?”

“No. But after talking to Mr. Weasley last night, I think it's an even worse idea to not take a chance while you can,” Harry told Neville who seemed to seriously take the words to heart. Harry looked back to Dobby and Winky, “Well, are you staying with Hogwarts, or coming to work for me?”

“Of course Dobby will come work for Harry Potter Sir,” he screamed. Winky still looked apprehensive.

“Winky, are you worried that there won't be enough work for the both of you, since I don't have a family?” She sharply nodded. “How about this: Dobby will stay with me, wherever I happen to be, and you can be in charge of keeping this house, and maybe redecorating it a bit,” Harry added looking at one of the many snakehead door knobs. “Plenty of people come through here, and right now the Weasley's are staying over. You might end up doing a fair bit of cooking for them since Mrs. Weasley… you know. Dobby can still visit you here whenever he wants, and I'm sure I'll be in from time to time.”

Winky shared a look with a very happy Dobby before breaking into a broad grin and nodding happily before they both left to notify McGonagall. Neville was laughing again, so Harry hit him with a mild stinging hex.

“What?” Neville asked somewhat incredulously, “We should be laughing while we still have a chance, right?”

Damn it he had a point. “I suppose, just try to hold it together in front of Hermione. It's going to be a bit unpleasant when she finds out.”

“She'll understand, besides, she gets to work out their wages,” Neville happily reminded him. Harry made a mental note to figure out just how much money he had in Gringotts.

Reentering the room, Harry found Hermione and Remus back in their respective seats. The older man apologized for his outburst, but didn't offer any further explanation; Harry would have to get the story later from Hermione.

“So Harry, why are you telling us all this today? Is there some way that I can help you?” Remus asked.

“Yes Remus, I'm asking you for help, but there is a lot more we have to go over before you can agree to. Neville, I just think you have a right to know the real reason your parents are in the hospital,” Harry told them. He shared a look with Hermione, “Neville, I'm not really sure you want to know the rest.”

“I want to help Harry. I know I'm not the best at most things, but anyway I can help you, I will,” Neville said.

“Neville, the best way you could help us now would be to go back to Hogwarts and make sure everybody stays on their guard, just incase the Death Eaters find another way in,” Hermione told him. “You might want to consider reforming the DA, I'm sure Luna would be willing to give you a hand.”

“But that's Harry's job,” he replied.

“Not anymore. Hermione and I aren't going to be returning to Hogwarts, unless by some miracle we find a way to defeat Voldemort before the end of the year,” Harry said. Remus and Neville immediately voiced their disbelief.

“It's true,” Hermione told them. “There are more important things to consider. There are things that need to be done before anyone can even considering going after Voldemort, and Harry and I are setting out to do them.”

“Surely it doesn't have to be the two of you, just bring the matter to the Order, and we'll deal with it for you,” Remus pleaded.

“No,” Harry calmly replied. “Dumbledore and I were working on this, actually it's partially the reason he died. What we were doing needs to be an absolute secret, he wouldn't even tell McGonagall. If Voldemort had any clue about what we're working on, things would get very bad, very quick.”

“How can you even be sure the two of you can do, whatever it is that you're doing,” Remus asked them.

“We can't be sure,” Harry softly replied.

“And that's partly why we're coming to you with this now. If something happens, we needed someone we trust to carry on with it,” Hermione continued on before turning to Harry. “If you were serious about everything falling to Neville if you… Well, if that's the case then it might be a good idea to tell him.”

Harry looked from Hermione to his friend who had once again lost most of the color in his face. “Neville, you need to understand this before you agree: if something happens to Hermione and I it'll be up to you and Remus to pick it up. I suppose Ron could help too, if he's come around by then. No one else can know about this, not your Gran, not your elf, no one. You can walk out of this room right now without anyone thinking any less of you.”

Neville sat in thought for minute before answering, “I understand.”

Remus spoke up, “Harry, as grateful as I am that you're willing to put your trust in me, I will not let the two of you go running off on some crusade on your own. I'm coming with you.”

“I thought you might say that,” Harry told him. “That's part of why I asked you to help us find Godric's Hollow.”

“Not to belittle what you're trying to do, but just what could be so important to make Dumbledore refuse to tell anyone about it?” Remus asked.

“Right now,” Harry slowly began, “Voldemort is immortal.”

“No,” Remus quickly interjected, “there has to be someway to finish him; some curse or other weapon that just hasn't been found yet.”

“Harry's right,” Hermione told the others. “We could utterly destroy his body, but his spirit will remain just as it did before.”

“But how?” Neville asked. “That's just not natural.”

“You're right,” Harry told him. “Voldemort found a way to commit a crime against nature. He's split his soul and encased it outside his body in something called a Horcrux. As long as a Horcrux exists, he can't be killed.”

“Did Albus have any clue where this Horcrux was stored?” Remus asked.

“Horcruxes,” Harry corrected him. “Voldemort believed that he'd be stronger with a seven-part soul. He made six of them, with the seventh part remaining in his body.”

After burying his face in his hands for a minute, Remus came back around, “And do we know where any of these objects are?” Harry went back over to his trunk and pulled out the diary, ring, and jar containing Nagini's head.

“These were three of them,” Harry told them as he placed them on the table. “I destroyed the diary in the Chamber of Secrets, Dumbledore found the ring last summer, but nearly lost his hand in the process, and I killed Nagini last night.”

“This is great,” Neville shouted. “That's half of them already gone!”

“But it's taken four years to get to that point,” Remus clarified, quickly eroding Neville's burst of happiness.

Harry shook the Pensieve, dropping Trelawney's image back inside before adding two more quick strands from his mind. After another prod, images of Slytherin's locket and Hufflepuff's cup floated up. “These are numbers four and five. Voldemort wanted objects of significance for his Horcruxes. The diary, while being just a book, was also proof that he is the heir of Slytherin. The ring and the locket are both heirlooms of Slytherin's, and the cup belonged to Helga Hufflepuff.”

“He was trying to collect pieces from all four founders, so as best as we can figure out, the last Horcrux was something that either belonged to Ravenclaw or Gryffindor,” Hermione added.

“But we have no idea what that could be. There's also the danger now that he knows I have this sword he might come after me to make it into a replacement for one of the two he knows I've destroyed. He almost told me as much last night,” Harry finished.

“If he wanted things from the founders, why the snake?” Neville asked.

“Dumbledore's best guess was to underline his connection to Slytherin, but there is another part of it. Voldemort preferred to only make Horcruxes from significant murders. The sixth and final one was supposedly going to be made from my death, being destined to kill him made it important enough. That didn't work out, so as part of his return he made Nagini one. Trelawney made a prediction to me in third year; she said Voldemort would arise again greater and more terrible than he ever was. I think making his final Horcrux fulfills that,” Harry told them all.

“What does murder have to do with making a Horcrux?” Neville asked.

“It's creation requires the supreme act of evil… cold blooded murder,” Hermione answered.

“So, we need to find this cup and locket, then figure out this mystery object and locate that before we have a chance at defeating him,” Remus clarified.

“Almost. Dumbledore found out where the locket was being stored, in a cave Voldemort visited before he attended Hogwarts. I went with him to retrieve it, but somebody had already been there and replaced the real one with a fake,” Harry said as he pulled the locket from his pocket. Neville picked it up and opened it.

“Do you know who wrote this note?” he asked after reading it.

“No idea, just their initials,” Hermione answered.

“And I'm guessing since they referred to him as the `Dark Lord' that it was a Death Eater,” Harry added.

“So we need to find this R.A.B. to figure out what happened to the real locket?” As soon as Neville said the initials Remus' head perked up.

“Let me see that,” he said, snatching the note from Neville. After scanning the writing his jaw dropped, “It can't be!”

“What?” Harry and Hermione simultaneously demanded.

“It has to be! Regulus,” Remus shouted.

Harry and Hermione both bolted to the tapestry on the wall. Stitched next to the burn mark that used to be Sirius was another name.

Regulus Arcturus Black

“How did we not notice this before?” Hermione asked herself as much as anyone else before grabbing Harry's arm almost painfully. “It was here!”

“The locket, are you sure?” Remus asked her.

And Harry remembered. When they had been cleaning out this room Sirius had found it behind a picture of his Grandfather and Grindelwald. “When we were cleaning out in here, nobody could get it open, so we threw it out with the rest,” Harry told him.

“What happened to the things we got rid of,” Hermione urgently asked Remus.

“Sirius and I incinerated the bags out back then vanished the ashes,” he told them.

“I doubt fire would have destroyed it, is there a chance you missed something surviving and vanished it with the rest?” Harry quickly asked.

“There was nothing left, just ashes,” Remus said.

“Then it couldn't have been in with the rest of the rubbish, if the fire had destroyed it you would have heard the screaming,” Hermione said.

“Screaming?” Neville asked.

“When you kill the soul fragment you can hear Voldemort scream,” Harry replied.

“Does he know when one is destroyed?” Remus asked.

“We don't think so. There's so little of him that's not been corrupted by evil that Dumbledore believed he doesn't feel the way we do. We know that he didn't know the diary had been destroyed until Malfoy broke down and told him,” said Harry.

“How could the locket have been lost between here and the back door?” Hermione asked the others in the room. Harry immediately remembered what Sirius had told him.

“Kreacher,” he shouted out, and the decrepit elf popped into the room at Harry's feet. “Have you ever seen this locket before,” he sharply asked.

The elf's eyes grew large as he struggled the urge to answer. “Kreacher has,” he eventually croaked out.

“Did Sirius' brother bring it into this house?” The elf simply nodded. “Did you take the locket away after we'd thrown it out?”

“Kreacher must not answer Master,” the elf began muttering and backing towards the door.

“Kreacher, is the locket in this house?” Harry demanded. The elf's muttering increased and he appeared to begin sweating.

“Dobby!” Harry barked out.

The eccentric elf's usual greeting failed to show as he saw Kreacher struggling against himself in the corner. “What has Kreacher done against Mas- Harry Potter sir?” he asked with more anger than Harry thought he was capable of holding.

“He's refusing to tell us where he hid this locket,” Hermione told him while pointing to the Pensieve. “Dobby could you and Winky search the house? He's hidden it somewhere in this house, and it's very important that you don't touch it, alright? Just find it and show us where he's hidden it.”

“Of course Miss Hermy!” the elf said before vanishing out of the room. Kreacher was in the corner twisting his ears and banging his head against the wall while Hermione was shrewdly looking at Harry. He was pretty sure she had caught Dobby slip, but was focusing on the matter at hand. The four people in the room waited in silence for only a minute before Dobby came back, proudly holding one of the stuffed heads from the stairway.

“Dobby, I told you not to touch it,” Hermione shouted.

“The locket is in the mouth, Miss Hermy, Dobby did not reach in.”

Ignoring the shouts from the others, Harry snatched the head from Dobby and pulled the locket from the slightly open mouth, Kreacher let out a wail and resumed banging his head.

“Is that it?” Neville quietly asked.

“Yes it is,” Harry told him as he ran his finger along the ornate `S' on the locket.

“Now how do we destroy it?” Remus said.

Kreacher yelled and made to grab the locket from Harry, but Dobby stopped him. “You will NOT harm Harry Potter!” he yelled after landing a solid punch between Kreacher's eyes. The elves began rolling on the ground. Kreacher tried to bite Dobby, but with no remaining teeth, it was quite ineffective.

“Dobby, stop!” Harry yelled; the elf froze in place. “Kreacher, you are to tell no one about anything you saw today.” The ancient elf looked as if he might start crying any moment, then Harry noticed he was staring at the stuffed head now on the floor. It had been the last one along the wall, quite possibly his mother. He couldn't help feeling a little sorry for the creature. “Go put this back where it belongs,” he said after handing it over to him.

“Harry, what did you do to Dobby?” Hermione asked him. The elf was still lying frozen on the ground.

“Dobby, get up, are you alright?” Harry asked somewhat concerned.

The elf jumped to his feet, “Of course M- Mister Harry Potter, did Dobby find the correct necklace?”

“Yes Dobby, thank you.”

“Miss Hermy,” Dobby began, but Harry quickly silenced him.

“Not now Dobby please let us finish first.” The elf nodded and popped away.

“Harry, what's going on with him?” Hermione asked.

“When we're done with this, please?” She nodded after seeing his pleading expression.

“So now, can we destroy the locket?” Remus asked, getting everyone back on track.

“It appears that we simply need to destroy the physical object that's holding the soul fragment, but if I remember correctly, we all tried to force the locket open when we found it, and it didn't budge,” said Hermione.

“So you think there's some sort of curse keeping it from being damaged?”

“Not necessarily. Harry destroyed the diary with a Basilisk fang, and Dumbledore did the same with a stinger from a Manticore. The snake simply had its head chopped off. Between the Manticore guarding the ring, and the lake full of Inferi protecting the locket when it was in the cave, I would guess the major difficulty is getting the Horcrux, not destroying it,” Hermione told them, causing Remus and Neville to stare at her with gaping mouths.

“Obviously there are a couple of stories that you haven't been told yet, but I agree with Hermione,” said Harry. He set the locket on the table and drew his wand. “Prior Incantato.” The locket shook on the table for a few seconds before the same bluish smoke began to rise from it that Dumbledore had produced from the ring. After the voice of Voldemort faded away Harry turned to see the other three people staring quite oddly at him. “What?”

“What did that say?” Neville asked.

“I don't know what it means, but I assume its part of the Horcrux spell,” Harry told them.

“How do you not know what it means?” Hermione asked him.

“It's the same stuff we heard from Dumbledore's memory, didn't you look it up yet?”

“Harry,” Remus cut in, “what you just made that locket say came out in Parseltounge.”

“Oh. Well, really I don't care what it means as long as we can destroy the bloody thing,” said Harry.

“And how do we do that?” Neville asked.

“No idea,” Hermione replied.

“In his memory, Dumbledore said he wished he'd brought me along when he found the ring, any idea why?” Harry asked her.

“Nothing concrete, my best guess would be that your wand might be able to affect the Horcruxes since its brother created them,” said Hermione.

“That is a possibility, but we don't really know a proper counter-curse for this situation, and I'm not entirely sure we should be experimenting,” said Remus.

Harry noted Neville's confusion over the issue, but was a little surprised at Remus simply continuing on. “Did you know about my wand?” Harry asked.

Remus nodded, “Sirius told me your story from the graveyard.”

“If we don't want to try using a spell against that locket, maybe a fang from that snake will work?” suggested Neville. “I mean, Ron said they had a hard time healing his Dad after it attacked him because it wasn't a normal snake. This is the same one, right?”

“Yes, but it's been dead since last night, so I doubt it has any venom left,” said Hermione.

Harry remembered Slughorn's attempt to collect venom from Aragog's corpse. That had been close to a full day after the massive spider had died, Nagini had been dead half of that now. “Actually, there should be plenty left, right Remus?” The older man nodded. “What I don't know would be how to get one of her fangs out to even try,” Harry told them.

“Hagrid's downstairs, maybe he could,” Neville suggested. They all quickly agreed, and after hiding everything but Nagini's remains, Dobby led Hagrid into the room.

Harry felt a little ashamed from refusing to answer almost all of Hagrid's questions, but Hagrid took it in stride. It took the gamekeeper less than a minute to break-off a fang; on his way out, Hagrid let Crookshanks and Hedwig into the room. The owl had a bald tail hanging from her beak, so Harry assumed she won the race to the mouse.

Harry put the jar back into his trunk with the other two disabled items. The four people huddled around the table where Slytherin's locket laid next to the fang. In one swift motion Harry swept up the fang and drove it down onto the locket. For a second, nothing appeared to happen, until a hole dissolved around the fang and it slipped into the heart of the locket.

A horrible piercing scream filled the room. Neville made to cover his ears, but the locket burst open sending a wave of power that knocked them all to the floor unconscious.

><><><><><>

Harry woke what he hoped was only a minute or two later. He could feel a hand slowly stroking his hair and something was scratching his nose. He opened his eyes to find Crookshanks licking him, “All right, I'm up,” he mumbled to the cat.

“Thank goodness you're okay,” Hermione whispered before giving him a quick kiss followed by a very firm hug, and Harry suddenly remembered they weren't alone in the room.

Remus was helping Neville to his feet as Harry picked up the now-hanging-open locket. “Do all the Horcruxes do that?” Neville asked.

“No, none of them have,” Harry answered, the concern evident in his voice.

“These objects of the founders' are supposed to have all sorts of fabulous powers, the explosion must have been you un-doing them,” said Hermione.

“That does sound very likely,” agreed Remus.

“So, that's four out of the six, can we be happy yet,” Neville asked.

Harry flipped the sofa back on its feet and sat down heavily. The way Neville asked, he almost sounded desperate, but really, over half of Voldemort's soul was now gone. What had seemed nearly hopeless an hour ago now appeared possible. It would be really, really hard, but possible. “Yeah Nev, I think we can all be a little happy.” He clutched the locket tightly, remembering his excursion with Dumbledore, and there was a small amount of peace to be found from completing the mission they set out to do that night.

“So,” Remus started, “what do we do now?”

“I could do with a spot of lunch,” Harry said almost jokingly, but as soon as he said it, Winky popped in the room with a tray loaded with sandwiches.

“How did she know that?” Hermione asked after Winky vanished again.

“She'll always hear Harry now,” Neville told her with a smile.

“Why is that?”

“Well,” Harry sighed, “since they learned I own a house, they kind of insisted on coming to work for me.”

“You enslaved them again?” Hermione screamed. “They were perfectly happy being free, why would you do that?”

“They're not enslaved, I've hired them on with the stipulation that you arrange their wages,” Harry told her.

“Me? But you're the one that hired them, how am I supposed to know how much you even have available to pay them?”

“I can guarantee that they won't accept your first offer, and I'm pretty sure I can afford whatever they'll agree to,” said Harry.

Hermione nearly ran from the room, and Harry felt a little sorry for the elves knowing that they were in for a long talk. Neville and Remus both burst out laughing as soon as the door shut.

“It's really not that funny,” Harry bitterly told them.

“So what really is next?” Neville asked after he caught his breath.

“Godric's Hollow,” Harry simply stated. “I need to see where my parents are buried.”

“If you want, we can leave tomorrow,” Remus told him. “There is going to be a funeral of some sort tonight for the Delacours and Molly. We could leave in the morning.”

Harry wondered if he would even be invited given the current attitudes of Ron and Ginny, but he decided he'd go, even if he had to wear his invisibility cloak.

“I'll come too, if you want Harry,” said Neville.

“Thanks Neville, but you stay home and relax while you can. You learned a lot today, and I wouldn't be surprised if you have trouble sleeping for a while. Could you call Saldie in so I can ask her a few questions?”

Harry reset the Pensieve and pulled out the box of memories from Dumbledore. “There's a lot of information about Voldemort's history in here, and I'll try to add what I know to it and put it someplace safe, incase you need it,” he told the other men before tipping in the memory of Hepzibah Smith.

Harry played the memory from the bowl for the others and asked Saldie, who broke down crying when she saw her mother, if there was anything else the man in the memory might have stolen. The eccentric witch had owned many expensive items, including an entire library of first editions, but Riddle had only stolen the two pieces that had belonged by the founders.

“Do you think Ron would want me to come over tonight?” Neville asked Harry as he was repacking his trunk.

“You could always ask him, I think he's still here.”

“From what I heard earlier they are planning on a very small ceremony,” Remus informed them both.

“I think Katie liked Mrs. Weasley, I thought she might want to go pay her respects,” Neville quietly said.

“Did the two of you have fun last night?” Harry slowly asked.

Neville nodded, “Until… She's still at my house, I think. Gran was fixing her up when I left.”

“She was hurt?” said Harry.

“A blasting curse broke her arm, but Gran will take care of that no problem. She got plenty of practice with me growing up. I had to make her swear not to tell Katie any of those stories…”

“Do you like her?” Harry asked as Remus wandered off to a corner, trying not to interfere.

“I - I might. I haven't had a lot of experience. Last night when we were just hanging around with Fred and George and the other girls was a lot of fun. It didn't even seem to matter that she's older than me.”

Harry laughed a little, “Older is better, in my opinion. Neville, just so you know, the night they made us go dancing, Katie and I kind of kissed.”

“Kind of?”

“Well really, it was just for a second, and when she opened her eyes she Disapparated without a word. I don't fancy her or anything, I just thought you should know.”

Neville thought for a minute before shrugging his shoulders. “That's alright. I kissed Ginny at the Yule Ball, so I guess we're even,” he said with a smile.

A month ago that news surely would have sent a surge of jealousy through Harry, but now, he didn't care. “Well then, at least your night ended better than mine. Why don't you go home and make sure your Gran isn't showing Katie your baby pictures? If there's anything else we need to talk about I might see you tonight”

Neville had a very worried expression on his face. “You don't think Gran would really show her…”

“Does she know that Katie's the one you went to the wedding with?”

Neville nodded before his eyes widened in fear. He ran from the room, Saldie on his heals, and Apparated away as soon as he got outside the house.

“If what Frank said holds true, this friend of his has probably been under interrogation since he left this morning,” Remus said with a smile. “And speaking of young witches…” he baited.

Harry reapplied the silencing and locking charms to the door before turning to Remus, “I need to know if I'm making a big mistake…”

><><><><>

An hour later Harry and Hermione were walking down a very deserted Diagon Alley. The most Hermione had been able to talk Dobby and Winky to accept for wages was a sickle a week, combined, and Harry thought she could use a break. The main reason for their trip was to get Hedwig a new perch, but since he was a bit light on money, they found themselves walking up the front steps of Gringotts.

As soon as they entered the lobby a Goblin appeared and said, “Mr. Potter, if you would please follow me.”

They were led down a hall with progressively fewer, more ornate doors until they came to the office at the end. Sitting behind a glittering golden desk was the Goblin Harry had met the day before.

“It's a pleasure to see you so soon Mr. Potter, and…”

“Oh, Hermione Granger,” said a slightly flustered Hermione.

“Of course, now Mr. Potter as I mentioned yesterday there are a few matters that must be dealt with in regards to your estate,” Ragnok said as he pulled out a thick folder. “How aware are you of your account holdings since you received your inheritance from Sirius Black?”

“Well, I received a house along with an elf, and a bit of gold according to Professor Dumbledore. According to a tapestry in the drawing room that makes me somehow related to the Blacks.”

“Yes, but mostly in a legal sense. I believe your late Godfather arranged that to keep control of the family assets away from his cousins, and I also believe Professor Dumbledore was understating things by a `bit,'” Ragnok said with a smile.

“That's possible,” Harry admitted, “he probably knew what my uncle's reaction would have been.” Hermione visibly tensed at the mention of the man.

“The gold, along with the personal property required us to enlarge your vault somewhat, and the property deeds were added to your portfolio-”

“I'm sorry, personal property?” Harry interrupted.

“Yes, my records here show there was a trunk being stored in the vault belonging to Sirius Black which was transferred upon the execution of his will,” Ragnok said.

“Excuse me, but you mentioned something about deeds. Was there more than one?” Hermione asked. Ragnok looked to Harry who verified her participation in the conversation.

“Yes, aside from the house there is also a property deed for a plot of land in Bristol. Our records show that the home on the property was destroyed in November nineteen eighty-one. Those deeds were added to the two in Godric's Hollow that shall be transferred into your name on your birthday, along with the remaining assets from the Potter Estate. The Estate has been in the hands of our investment bureau, apart from the yearly deposits to your vault, your caregivers, and tuition payments for your schooling. We need a decision from you, Mr. Potter, on how to proceed with the Estate handling,” Ragnok paused seeing the blank look on Harry's face. The mention of Bristol had confused him; he had a feeling he had forgotten something about the place.

“Did you say I own two places in Godric's Hollow?”

Ragnok shuffled down the stack of papers and pulled out two sheets and a large brass key, “Yes, one is a small building in the main part of the village, the other is the land your parents' home was on until its destruction. The building has been sealed since your parents' death, but should still be in relatively good shape; the Muggles in the area are unable to see it at all. This key will allow you access inside,” he said after sliding it across the desk.

“And about the estate?” Harry asked as he pocketed it.

“Your parents' will turned most of their money into investments. As of your birthday they fall under your control and you need to decide how much you would like to liquidate.”

“You mentioned something about deposits?” Hermione asked. Harry was starting to wish he hadn't left Remus behind as they approached the bank.

Ragnok again shuffled through the file, “This is a list of the yearly interest deposits to your vault.”

Harry quickly scanned down the list of steadily growing numbers. The last deposit had been for just over two thousand Galleons. He hadn't seen the inside of his vault since the few weeks he'd stayed in Diagon Alley before his third year, but even then it hadn't looked like the pile of Galleons had shrunk from the time he'd received his key. “Do I have to liquidate anything? You seem to be doing a pretty good job managing things from the look of things.”

“You would trust us to continue on with the current arrangement?”

“That'd be fine with me,” Harry replied drawing a sly smile from the Goblin.

“Very well then, if you would just sign here,” he said producing yet another parchment. “Would you like a copy of your current holdings, for reference?”

“Err, sure. That'd be great, thanks.” Harry wasn't sure if he'd even understand whatever they gave him.

Ragnok made a quick note and slid it onto a tray, where it vanished. “Very good, it will take a few minutes to prepare, in the mean time is there any other business I can help you with today?”

“Possibly a few things. I was wondering if I could setup an account to draw a certain amount from my own vault on a regular basis,” Harry told him. Hermione looked at him curiously, but he was sure she'd like what he was doing.

Ragnok flipped through a large ledger on his desk, “There appears to be an empty vault on the same level as yours, and we could setup a monthly deposit in whatever amount you would like.”

Harry thought for a minute, “Could we set it at twenty Galleons a month for now?”

The other two in the room looked confused for a second, but Ragnok filled out another form and sent it on its way.

“Also I was wondering about a high-security vault. I know Professor Dumbledore had the Philosopher's Stone in one, but that vault did end up being broken into. Is there a more secure place here?”

“Harry-” Hermione began, but Ragnok stepped in.

“Of course, Mr. Potter. We did learn from the incident you mentioned that the thieves in question had placed the Imperious Curse on one of our security goblins. If you would like, I could prepare a similar vault, but restrict access inside to whomever you deem worthy. There would be a modest fee for keeping such a vault.”

“Any fees for that, or the other account can be taken from my main vault,” Harry told him. “Would everyone, even the Goblins checking the vaults be trapped inside the door? How would you conduct the random checks for intruders?”

Hermione clearly had no idea what he was talking about, but Ragnok seemed slightly impressed by Harry's question. “We would exclude that door from our search, which is still another six years away. To properly key the door we will have to bring whomever you want granted access down to the vault.”

Harry nodded. “Can elves be summoned from there, or would I need to call them from up here?”

“They are allowed entrance on all levels except that one.” Ragnok paused as a ledger and small golden key appeared on his desk. “Here is the key to your new vault, and the information you requested. If there is nothing else, I can take you below now and key the vault door.”

“I was hoping to make a withdrawal while I was here,” Harry admitted sheepishly.

The Goblin let out a noise halfway between a laugh and a cackle, “Of course, we can stop on the way down. Right this way.” He led them over to a door Harry didn't notice on his way in which led directly out to the cart tracks.

“Hold on tight,” Harry murmured to Hermione as he climbed in. Hermione grabbed Harry's arm with both of her trembling hands as soon as the cart launched away from its starting point; she didn't open her eyes or let go until they had come to a full and complete stop.

“Sorry, I guess I should have warned you about that,” Harry told Hermione after helping her stand. She glared at him for a second before following Ragnok to the vault door. “Is there a way to allow an Elf access to this vault without needing my key?” Harry asked.

“If you would like to call your House-elf I could key it in now,” Ragnok said.

Harry called for Dobby and Winky, both of whom nearly cried out of happiness when Harry told them what they were there for. Ragnok had them place their hands on the door and muttered something in Gobbledygook. Harry produced his key, and the door swung open.

The inside of his vault was easily triple the size he remembered and filled with stacks of gold that rose up to his chest. Harry stared dumbstruck for a minute before refilling his moneybag. When he turned and saw Hermione, her mouth was hanging open.

“Harry, this is incredible. Ron always said you had money, but…” She trailed off leaving Harry to wonder if she had doubted Ron's cause of jealously.

When Harry spotted the dusty trunk in the corner he quietly asked Winky to take it back to Grimmauld Place and bring him back the box of memories from his trunk. After she returned Harry asked to be led to the vault he had setup on their current level to have the elves keyed in there also.

Once they returned to the cart, Dobby and Winky tried to return to the house, but Harry made them get in the cart. Harry again had Hermione clinging to him, who in turn had Winky gripping her in fear. Dobby seemed to enjoy himself a bit too much. The spunky Elf started bouncing with joy until Harry restrained him, slightly afraid he might fall out into the underground lake.

After a long dizzying ride, the cart finally came to a stop in front of what looked to be a solid stone wall. Harry eventually noticed a slightly lighter portion the same size as the other vault doors.

“I take it the only people you would grant entry to are yourself, Miss Granger, and your House-elves?” Ragnok asked.

Harry originally thought of having just himself, Hermione and Remus, but decided that if Dobby and Winky could enter, they could get the box out if something happened to either Hermione or himself. Harry had realized during the course of the meeting upstairs that he should probably draw up a will sometime soon, and the thought crossed his mind that it was possible for himself, Hermione, Dobby and Winky to all be caught, maybe even killed, in the same location, in which case the Goblins wouldn't be able to reopen this vault. “It would probably be prudent to have yourself keyed-in with us,” Harry told Ragnok.

The Goblin blinked in surprise before sharply nodding and placing his hand with the other four on the stone. They were shown the proper way to open the door, and once inside, Harry found the darkest corner possible to hide the box of memories he was carrying.

Harry swore he heard a dragon roaring as they piled back in the cart; after another high-speed ride and several words of gratitude, Harry and Hermione stepped outside to rejoin Remus and Tonks, who had insisted on accompanying them.

Hermione wanted to visit Flourish and Blotts to see if they had any more information on Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, so Tonks suggested they split up to get back as soon as possible.

“Harry, can I ask you a favor,” Tonks asked as soon as Remus and Hermione had left them.

“Sure, what do you need?”

“The ministry is sending me away tomorrow, and I won't be back for a couple weeks,” she told him.

“Is something wrong? Why are they sending you away?”

“I can't really say, but it's just a precautionary thing. Normally I wouldn't mind it, but with the way things have been going, and the look Remus had when you two came out of that room this morning… Can you please just watch out for him? I should be back by the next full moon, and all the ingredients for the Wolfsbane potion are in my room at headquarters if Hermione's really up for trying to make it.”

“I'm sure she'll make it, especially if he's still with us,” Harry reassured her.

Tonks smiled a little, “I spent most of the last year worrying myself sick over him, and all those missions Dumbledore kept sending him on. You know this is the first time I've actually regretted becoming an Auror? I just don't want to be that far away.”

“Where are you going?” Harry asked her.

“Sorry, can't say. Besides, would you tell me where you're taking him off to?”

“I thought you knew,” Harry said after checking to make sure nobody was within earshot. “We're going to see-”

“Not out here, Harry,” Tonks cut him off. “You can never be sure it's safe to talk in public, remember that.”

“Okay Moody,” Harry teased. She shoved him through the door of Magical Menagerie in reply.

The witch behind the counter hardly glanced up from her copy of Witch Weekly as they approached the counter, “Morning, how can I help you two?”

“I want the fanciest perch you have,” Harry simply replied.

The witch pointed her wand at the back of the shop and through the clutter of cages came a golden perch with several rubies encrusted along its length. “That would be this, but it really is meant for-”

“I'll take it,” Harry firmly told her. Hedwig deserved it, he told himself.

The witch blinked in surprise and for the first time actually looked at Harry. “Oh, of course Mr. Potter. That'll be seventy-four Galleons.”

Harry quickly paid, and she wrapped up his purchase before Tonks pulled him back out of the shop.

“What's the rush?” Harry asked her as soon as they were outside.

“Just saving you some embarrassment,” Tonks said. When he didn't respond she continued, “I take it you didn't notice what she was reading?”

“It was just a magazine,” Harry replied.

“With an article about England's most eligible wizards,” she told him with a smirk. Harry stopped mid-stride, she couldn't mean… “Yes Harry, you're in it. You'd probably be number one, if you were of age.”

“But Hermione,” Harry sputtered.

“You two haven't really spent enough time out in public to be noticed, and I'm sure she's smart enough to know that it's just rubbish. It did mention you were dating Ginny, along with some advice on how to win you away from her.” Harry's stomach turned at the thought.

“Wait, you've read it?”

Tonks blushed a little, “One of the other Aurors brought in a copy. Kingsley's on it as well, right below you.”

Harry sighed and looked at the display of the shop they were standing in front of. It was a small jewelry store with a selection of rings, necklaces, and bracelets in the window; his eyes were drawn to a necklace that had a miniature golden snitch on it, complete with beating wings. Hermione had seemed a bit upset after their trip to Gringotts and he wondered if a small present would cheer her up.

“Just because you're on that list doesn't mean you need to go out and buy Hermione a ring,” Tonks told him slyly.

“I'm not looking at the rings,” Harry quickly told her. “It's just, Hermione seemed a bit upset earlier, and after last night, I just thought maybe I could get her something to cheer her up…”

“Did you forget her birthday?”

“No, it's on September nineteenth.”

“Well, at least you know. My boyfriend when I was your age didn't even think to find out.”

“I doubt I'll ever be able to forget. My Firebolts registration number is nine-nineteen,” Harry said.

“That's just cheating,” Tonks muttered as Harry walked into the shop.

Inside Harry found an entire case of the same necklace he had been admiring in the display, though none of their wings seemed to move. An old wizard came in from the back and greeted him.

“Looking for a something to give your lady-friend?” he asked while motioning towards Tonks.

“Err, yes, but not her. Is there a difference between these necklaces and the one in the window?” Harry asked.

“Not at all, I tied the display piece to myself so its wings beat in time with my heart. Under normal circumstances the necklace will bond itself to whomever is wearing it.”

“How do you bond it to another person?” Harry asked.

“Quite honestly, I don't know. My House-elf enchanted it for me.”

Harry called in Dobby, and ten minutes later, left the shop with two small packages and a laughing Tonks.

“That little Elf will do just about anything for you, won't he?” She asked.

“Be nice to him, he's been a good friend over the last couple years,” Harry defensively told her.

“He wasn't a good friend before?”

Harry sighed a little, “His intentions were always good, but with bad results.”

“Could your hiring him on be what has Hermione upset?”

“I think she's fine with me hiring them, and I told her she could negotiate their wages-”

“That's what she was talking to them about. I've never seen her that frustrated, even when she was begging to tell you more in her letters before your fifth year.”

“She was begging?” Harry asked.

“Well, I guess demanding would be a better word. I caught her and Ron trying to sneak you an owl once. If we hadn't gotten you out when we did, I think they would have arranged their own rescue mission. How're things with him going?”

“Not good. Mr. Weasley says he'll come around, and I kind of feel bad about leaving him out of everything right now, but I can't afford to wait for him,” Harry said. “Hermione even suggested putting things off between us for his sake, but given the state of things I don't want to miss out on any chance I have to actually live and be happy, as selfish as that sounds.”

“Harry, if anybody deserves to be a little selfish about things it's you. I spent the better part of a year trying to make Remus realize that there's no bad time for love. Maybe I just should've had you talk to him,” Tonks told him with a wink.

“I spent most of that same time period with my head up my arse, so I don't think I would've been much help. I really wasn't sure it was worth taking a chance until I talked to Mr. Weasley last night,” Harry said.

“That poor guy. He has to deal with losing his wife and two of his children turning into complete prats in one night. Hermione told me you stayed up with him last night, that was pretty great of you.”

“Honestly I think I got more out of the conversation than he did-”

“Don't sell yourself short Harry, and besides, you were there for him when he needed somebody to listen. Remus went through the same thing last summer; I know he and Bill Weasley spent a lot of time together after that, and it meant the world to Remus to have someone there to just listen.”

“I still haven't learned my lesson. I had to corner Remus earlier and ask him if really is a good idea to even think about having a girlfriend.”

“And what did he tell you?” Tonks asked with a raised eyebrow.

“That I'd better stop worrying about it before I waste a year without realizing it. He also reminded me that my parents got married and had me in the middle of a war, and they were two of the smartest people he's ever met, so it can't be a bad idea,” Harry said.

Tonks chuckled a little, “He could've saved me a whole lot of heartache if he would've just remembered that sooner. And just for the record, I'm happy for you both.”

As they approached the bookstore, Hermione and Lupin emerged carrying a very thick book each. “What'd you find?” Harry asked.

“Histories of both the founders,” Hermione replied. “Harry, did you know about this funeral tonight?”

“Remus mentioned it earlier.”

“Do you think they'd want us there?” she asked, her voice full of concern.

“I was thinking of going, but under my cloak. I'd rather not cause a scene, but it's Mrs. Weasley, so how could we not go?”

“I'll speak with Arthur, if you want. I'm sure he'd rather not force the two of you to hide yourselves away,” Remus told them.

“Just tell him we'll be there, even if he can't see us,” Hermione told him with a sad smile.

They all Apparated out of the alley just as the delivery owls for the Daily Prophet swooped in. Less than a minute later the witch behind the counter of Magical Menagerie fainted.

><><><><><><><

Hedwig, who was looking extremely proud of herself, joined Harry as soon as he set foot inside Grimmauld Place. Professor McGonagall came out of the kitchen to see who arrived and quickly ushered them in. Bill, Fleur, and Mad-Eye were all seated at the table reading the paper with Hagrid looking over their shoulders.

“'Arry! Wha' the bloody hell were ya thinkin'” Hagrid yelled.

“What'd I do?” Harry replied defensively. Bill looked up and slid the paper towards him.

The Chosen Bird?

Last night He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and his Death Eaters attacked the wedding reception of William and Fleur Weasley, both employees of Gringotts wizarding bank. Within minutes several injuries and deaths were sustained, including the parents of the bride, and the mother of the groom, but help arrived in the miraculous form of several House-elves, reportedly on loan from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

After several Aurors were incapacitated, the Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, became locked in a deadly duel with You-Know-Who, only to be saved by Harry Potter, the Chosen One. According to several eyewitnesses, Potter traded taunts with the Dark Lord, both occasionally speaking in Parseltounge, until a Killing Curse was sent towards a nearby witch. Potter summoned the witch, who has been identified as Hermione Granger, a close school friend, out of harms way. When You-Know-Who attempted to strike again, he was thwarted not by Potter, but by a snowy owl, which streaked in through the night sky and repeatedly gouged You-Know-Who's head. Potter, seeing a chance to fulfill his destiny, drew a sword and attempted to strike down the Dark Lord, who unfortunately Disapparated away.

This reporter has also learned that through some twist of fate, it was none other than Harry Potter who had arranged for the elves of Hogwarts to be at the wedding, and the owl in question is his own.

What can we all expect next from Harry Potter and his Chosen Bird?

Underneath the article was a picture of Harry summoning Hermione away from the curse, and another of Hedwig attacking Voldemort while Harry swung Gryffindor's sword.

“You're not gonna let this go to your head now, are you?” Harry asked Hedwig, who was perched on his shoulder. The owl affectionately nipped his ear while several people in the room laughed.

“Great, now it's all just a big joke,” came Ron's voice from the doorway. He quickly stormed away with Bill yelling after him.

Harry sat down heavily at the table and put his head in his hands. He really wanted to believe Mr. Weasley, but things were just not getting better soon enough.

“Wha's the matter with Ron?” Hagrid asked.

“He and Ginny are both trying to blame me for their Mum's death,” Harry told him. “That, and he found Hermione and I last night.”

“Found yeh where?” Hagrid asked. Harry looked up to him, willing him to understand so he didn't have to say it in front of McGonagall. The Headmistress caught his look and let out a surprised little gasp.

“He found us kissing upstairs,” Hermione shyly said causing Hagrid and Harry both to blush uncontrollably.

“Ee will get over eet,” Fleur announced. “Zay both need to mature sometime, and when zay do, you weel `ave your friends back. Thank you `Arry, for saving my seester.” Fleur gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before she left to find Bill. Only McGonagall noticed the glare Hermione sent after her.

“Be careful Potter, I've seen too many good men that let their woman come between them and what they need to do,” Mad-Eye said.

“Alastor! Is that really necessary, especially with Miss Granger in the room? How many of your Aurors could have done what he did last night?” McGonagall screeched.

“Somebody's gotta tell the truth,” he grunted before limping away.

“Don' you worry `bout nunna them, Harry. Same to you, `Ermione. `Sup to you ta decide what you wanna do with your own lives,” Hagrid said before leaning down to Hedwig and stroking her head. “I knew you were a special one when I found ya.”

McGonagall smiled sadly at them before escorting Hagrid out of the kitchen. Harry slid out a chair for Hermione who joined him at the table.

“Mad-Eye's really off his rocker if he thinks I'm going to let you go,” Harry said. “Are you alright? You've seemed a bit upset since Gringotts.”

“I'm sorry Harry, it's just been a confusing day. So many things seem to be going well, but it's all offset by the way Ron's acting.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about. I was hoping he'd come around in time to leave with us, but now, I don't think that's going to happen,” Harry said. “I'm sorry for going around you and setting up that vault for the elves. I'm probably going to have to order them to take it as is. You can still work out their time off.”

She smiled sweetly at him, “You're being more generous than even I tried to be with them.”

Harry called Dobby and Winky then handed them the key to their vault without first telling them what it was for. When they finally heard how much they were getting paid Winky nearly fainted in shame, but they grudgingly accepted the order before popping away again.

“That went well,” Hermione joked. “I think we'll deal with the time off after they've had some time to adjust.”

“I got this for you today,” Harry said handing her a small box. Hermione opened it to find the tiny snitch quickly beating its wings. “I had Dobby enchant it. The wings are tied to my heartbeat, and if I think I'm in trouble it's supposed to warm up. It also should help you to find me, if you ever need to. Just hold onto it and Apparate.”

“That's wonderful, but you really didn't have to get me anything,” Hermione said before leaning over and kissing him.

Harry produced another box, “I got one for myself too, just incase.” When Harry opened the box the snitch inside was beating its wings fast enough to rise up a bit. Hermione pulled hers out of the box and handed it to Harry who put in on her.

“Oh, it tickles,” she said after tucking it under her shirt. Harry put on his own and immediately had to fight the urge to itch it. “Will this always work, no matter where we are?” she asked.

“According to the jeweler, yes. He said wizarding wards or distance don't restrict the enchantments House-elves use. That's partly how they can always find their Masters,” Harry said.

“I'll never take it off,” Hermione honestly told him.

“Neither will I,” Harry replied, earning him another kiss.

They decided to return to the Granger's house to avoid another confrontation with Ron, and after finding out the funeral time and gathering their pets Harry Apparated to the Grangers back garden so Hermione could try out her necklace. She arrived with a crack that would put either of the Weasley twins to shame.

“That was a bit louder than normal,” Hermione said as the echo died away.

“Elves usually pop in pretty loud. I guess that's the trade-off for being able to find someone,” Harry said as they walked through the back door. As soon as he was inside Emma attacked him with the fiercest hug he'd ever experienced.

“Where have you two been,” she managed to get out between sobs. “You were supposed to be back ages ago!” Harry looked over to the table and saw a very white-faced Dan looking down at a copy of the Prophet.

“Really Mum, we said we'd be back as soon as we could; it's hardly been ages,” Hermione said as Emma transferred the hug to her daughter.

“Harry,” Dan asked once they were all seated around the table, “what's this `Parseltounge' they mention?”

“It's snake language Dad. Harry can talk to them,” Hermione told him.

“How did you manage to learn that?” Emma asked.

“When Voldemort gave me my scar he kind of transferred to ability to me. I didn't even realize I could do it until I had a chat with a boa constrictor at the zoo when I was ten.”

“What did it say?” Dan asked.

“Oh, it was kind of sad that it had never been to Brazil, and after my cousin knocked me out of the way, I sort of made the glass vanish and it slithered away. He was nice about it, said thanks on his way out.” The dentists were having a hard time believing Harry. “Really I didn't know it was anything special for a long time, but in second year I kept hearing voices all over the school. Really thought I was going mad until Hermione figured out that I was hearing the basilisk in between the walls.”

“That's the thing that petrified her?” Dan asked.

“Yes. That thing had to have been at least fifty-feet long, and Harry killed it with a sword from the headmasters office,” Hermione told them. “Actually, the same sword from that picture.”

A loud crack shot through the room as Dobby arrived with two trunks and Hedwig's still-wrapped perch. “Harry Potter sir, you must return to your house!”

“Why? What's happened?” Harry asked as he jumped to his feet.

“There is trouble between Winky and the Bad-Elf! Harry Potter must come!”

“I'll be right there,” Harry said, and Dobby popped away. “This is for you girl,” Harry told Hedwig as he waved his wand over the perch causing the paper to disappear. The owl happily bobbed on his shoulder for a few seconds before flying over to it. Harry told the three Grangers he'd be right back and Apparated back to Grimmauld Place.

The entryway was only occupied by three elves. Winky had apparently managed to remove the portrait of Mrs. Black, only to literally end up playing tug-of-war with Kreacher over it. Dobby was screaming at both of them, while the portrait was howling at everyone.

“Everybody stop!” Harry shouted, the elves all froze in place, dropping the portrait facedown, thankfully. “Explain,” Harry said while pointing to Kreacher.

“The nasty elves are trying to destroy Kreacher's Mistress. He must not let her die, no, Kreacher loves his Mistress.”

“Winky, what were you going to do to the portrait?”

“Winky is doing as Harry Potter asks. She is cleaning his home, and getting rid of the noisy picture,” the little elf answered.

“Kreacher, is there a basement here?” Harry asked the elf as he saw the tears leaking from his eyes.

“Yes, Master.”

“Does it have a room where you could put this portrait so it can't disturb anyone else in the house?” Kreacher nodded. “Take it, and all of the heads from the stairwell down there. As long as you keep your nose out of everyone else's business, you can stay down there.”

“Master doesn't want Kreacher to return to the school?” Kreacher asked.

“As long as you keep to yourself, you don't have to. No snooping, no spying, no disturbing anyone else in the house, including Dobby and Winky, understood?”

“Master is too kind,” Kreacher said as he bowed, then muttered, “The vile Half-Blood usurps Mistress' home, but refuses to kill her. Kreacher wonders why.”

Dobby made to lunge at Kreacher, but Harry held him back. They watched as the old elf levitated the portrait around a corner, closely followed by a train of floating heads. “You two are in charge of making sure he doesn't do anything sneaky, okay? I wish I could just send him away, but he knows too much about what goes on in this house. Make sure he doesn't learn anymore.” The elves eagerly took their assignment before Harry returned to the Grangers.

Hermione had taken the sword of Gryffindor from his trunk to show her parents, and Dan was already sporting a cut on his thumb. Harry looked at the other trunk Dobby had brought. It had belonged to Sirius, but he wasn't sure if he could bring himself to open it. He decided to wait until he had Remus with him. The last Marauder would probably know more about, and appreciate seeing its contents. “Would it be alright if I kipped out for a while,” Harry asked the others in the room.

“Is everything okay?” Hermione asked.

“Yeah, I just didn't sleep last night. It's starting to catch up.” Emma quickly led him away, lightly scolding him about not getting a proper amount of rest.

A few hours later Harry felt someone gently shaking him awake. “Not now, Dobby, just ask Hermione,” he mumbled and tried to roll over.

“Well, she says it's almost time to go,” Dan said causing Harry's eyes to pop open.

“Right. Sorry about that.”

“Is what Hermione told us about you and this madman true? You're the only one?” Harry stared down at the bed sheets and slowly nodded. Dan sighed, “I appreciate what you were trying to do last night at your aunt's, and as much as I would like to keep my daughter out of this whole mess, she's determined to dive in head-first no matter what either of us tell her. Keep her safe, Harry.”

“I plan to,” Harry told him. “Without her I wouldn't have lived to see my twelfth birthday, the least I can do is see her through the end of this.”

“Just make sure you see yourself through it too. I may not know her as well as her mother, but I can tell you she'd be devastated to lose you,” Dan told him before leaving the room.

Harry quickly dressed and fond Hermione waiting for him with his invisibility cloak draped over her arms. “I almost had to stun my father to get this away from him,” she told him with a small smile. “Dobby stopped by to make dinner while you were sleeping. Are you really okay with Kreacher staying at the house?”

“The elves are going to keep an eye on him, and really, I think all he wanted was to be alone with that crazy portrait. He doesn't have much of a reason to do anything bad if he has what he wanted.” They walked into the kitchen where a plate of food was still waiting for Harry, and Dobby was tucking a blanket into a kitchen cupboard. “Dobby, what are you doing?”

“Dobby is staying with Harry Potter sir, so he is preparing his sleeping place,” he answered.

Harry quickly called for Winky and sat the two elves down at the table. “I will not have either of you sleeping in a cupboard,” he told them in a very low, serious voice.

“But Harry Potter sir, it is the proper place for a House-elf to sleep,” Winky answered.

“No, I will not have it. You two will have proper beds in actual rooms.”

“But Harry Pott-” Dobby tried.

“NO!” Harry barked out, making the both the elves, and the Grangers, who were watching from the doorway, jump. “I spent a bloody decade of my life living in a cupboard, and I will not allow any of my friends to suffer the same thing. Winky, I'm sure there is an empty room at Grimmauld Place you can take over, and Dobby, even if it means you have to share one with me, you will sleep in a room. This is an order, and if you don't like it I will send you straight back to Hogwarts.” Harry never noticed his voice rising to a scream, or the tears falling down his face. Dobby and Winky were both quivering by the time Harry looked down at his own shaking hands. “I'm sorry I yelled, but that doesn't change my order. Winky, will you take a room for your own?” She vigorously nodded, trying to please Harry anyway she could. “And Dobby?”

“Dobby will sleep wherever Harry Potter tells him to,” the still shivering elf replied.

“Thank you,” Harry told them before walking outside. He was still wiping his face and trying to shake the images of so many lonely nights in his cupboard when Hermione joined him. “Am I in trouble for yelling at them?” he asked in a small voice.

“Of course not Harry. Your heart is in the right place, and you did have a good reason for saying what you did. They were both dreadfully afraid you were going to send them away after you walked out.”

“I just can't handle the thought of someone else having to spend the night in some spider-filled hole.”

“I know, Harry. They know now. They're going to need some time to adjust to being treated fairly.”

“I know,” Harry said after lightly kissing her forehead. After checking his watch, Harry pulled his cloak over them and Apparated to the trees in the Weasley's back garden.

Harry hugged Hermione to his chest underneath his cloak as began to appear across the pond from where they were standing. Floating at the waters edge were three rafts, each covered in wood and what Harry assumed was a body wrapped in some white fabric. When Mad-Eye Moody appeared Harry noticed his magical eye staring at them and proceeded to tighten his arms around Hermione's chest. What the former Auror had said earlier made him want to offer up a rude hand gesture, but he restrained himself for Hermione's sake. Moody simply leaned over and whispered something into Arthur Weasley's ear, who nodded and sent a small smile in their general direction.

All seven Weasley children, Fleur, and Gabrielle portkeyed in together, including Charlie, whose skin had a nasty bluish-tinge, was being supported by Fred and George. Harry hadn't noticed Percy talking to any of his relatives at the wedding and wondered if he had been sent. He was about to quietly ask Hermione's opinion when Mr. Weasley's friend Perkins turned and began addressing the group. Due to the distance, and the fact that he was facing away from them, Harry and Hermione couldn't hear what was being said, but the way that first the Weasleys, then several other people broke down crying was enough to convey the emotional scene evolving. After Perkins had finished, Arthur, Bill, and Fleur each stepped up to one of the bodies, and with a wave of their wands sent them drifting out to the center of the water, once situated they each shot out a single ball of fire, which slowly consumed the pyres. Once the last remnants of fire had slipped below the water, the gathering slowly broke up. Hermione turned to face Harry and he wiped away her tears before Apparating them back to her parents' house.

><><><><><><>

Harry awoke very early the next morning to the familiar feeling of Dobby poking him in the arm. “Harry Potter must wake up, his breakfast is ready and the wolf-man is waiting.” Dobby obviously didn't understand Harry when he told the elf he didn't hire him to be an alarm clock.

After showering and putting on the clothes that had been laid out for him, Harry went downstairs to join the Grangers, Remus, Tonks, and Dobby at the table. He was scolded by two people and an elf for skipping his supper the night before, then forced to eat a second helping of everything on the table.

“How are we getting there?” Harry asked Remus who handed him an old backpack in reply. The older man had his head propped up with his hand and looked quite tired himself.

“Is that a portkey?” Hermione asked.

Remus slowly shook his head, “It's for your brooms.”

“But I don't own a broom,” Hermione informed him.

“Umm, have to share,” Remus said before falling asleep on his hand.

“Are we going to be able to do magic while we're there?” Hermione asked.

“Well right now there's nobody watching, but just to be safe I registered a couple of phony names in the area, so as long as there aren't any Muggles looking you should be okay. Oh wake up already,” Tonks said, poking Remus hard in the ribs. He simply grunted and sank back in his chair. “Since neither of you have been where you're going, and this sack of dung can't Apparate, we got you train tickets to a town up in Scotland. You'll fly the rest of the way.” She checked her watch, “Your train leaves in about twenty minutes from King's Cross, so we'll Apparate there as soon as you're ready.”

“Present,” Remus mumbled before beginning to snore.

“Oh yeah, Hagrid heard that you're taking a little trip and decided to send you your birthday present a bit early,” Tonks said pushing a box across the table.

Harry opened the box to find a black leather coat that buttoned itself as soon as he put it on. The inside had to have at least twenty pockets, some deep enough for his entire arm, and one with a perch and water dish for Hedwig.

“He says it's Manticore hide, but I don't know of any place that he could have found enough to make a coat that nice,” said Tonks.

“I think I know,” Hermione said while rolling her eyes just a little. Hagrid must have convinced Dumbledore to take him back to see the one he killed. “Manticore hide is really strong, Harry. Most jinxes and hexes should simply bounce off you if you're wearing that.”

“Is there a way to get any more?” Dan asked from across the table.

“Exactly what I was thinking,” Harry admitted. He walked over to his trunk and set aside his Firebolt before writing a quick note to Hagrid thanking him for the present and asking if he had enough leftover hide to have a coat made for Hermione. “Dobby, take this to Hagrid. I'll call you later today after we find a place to stay, and you can bring all these with you then,” Harry said while motioning to his, Hermione's, Remus', and Sirius' trunks.

“Is it all right if I leave the mirror you lent me with Mum and Dad?” Hermione asked once Harry sat back down. “It is yours, so I thought I'd ask,” she added after catching his confused look.

“That's a great idea, and I gave it to you, not lent,” Harry said. “Just make sure they realize that saying your name into it won't do anything.”

“Are the three of you going to be together all the time?” Tonks asked. Harry nodded, and Tonks slipped a hand into Remus' jacket, pulling out his mirror. “No sense carrying them all with you, and this way we can help limit the owl traffic to you all,” she said while slipping it into her own bag.

Hermione went over how to use the mirror before hugging both of her parents tightly. Harry stowed both Hedwig and Crookshanks into separate pockets in his new jacket before helping Tonks pull Remus to his feet, they Apparated to Kings Cross, where Tonks made a bit of a scene kissing Remus good-bye. She thanked Harry and Hermione for caring for her `pet wolf' before setting off for wherever the ministry was sending her. Remus had reserved a private compartment for them, and as soon as they reached it, he conjured a pillow and stretched out across one side.

“Why do you suppose he's so tired?” Harry asked Hermione after releasing Crookshanks and Hedwig.

“Well, he did mumble something about it being Tonks' fault before you joined us, and she said she felt the need to give him a private going away party,” a blushing Hermione said.

“I didn't need to know that.”

“You didn't have to see the looks my parents gave each other after she said that.”

Hermione sat down next to Harry and pulled out one of the books she had purchased the day before. As she read, Harry drifted off to sleep; the fact that Remus was in the compartment with them, and the similar terrain to the journey to Hogwarts brought about remarkably vivid dreams of the train ride before his third year. Roughly an hour into the journey Harry jolted awake and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead; Hermione had drifted off and was currently lying across his lap. Harry pulled the book out from in between them and dropped it on the floor before pulling her a little closer; Hermione in turn threaded her arms around his waist. Once Harry managed to get back to sleep, his dreams were much more pleasant.

Remus attempted to shake them both awake some time later. The older man looked quite a bit better after getting some rest, but was smirking uncontrollably at the position he found the teens in. “Do I need to remind you, Hermione, that your parents seemed quite relieved an `adult' was coming along to chaperone this little excursion?”

“Bugger off,” Hermione mumbled into Harry's shirt. Both men erupted with laughter, knowing full well she would be mortified when she realized she had told off a former professor. Rolling slightly towards the sound of their laughter, Hermione gave Harry a sleepy smile, “Morning.”

“Did you not get enough sleep last night?” Harry asked her.

“I was fine, but then I got… comfy.”

“Well, I don't have a problem with that, but I think our `chaperone' might,” Harry told her as she rubbed the sleep form her eyes.

“He won't if he still wants me to make his potion.” Remus didn't really look upset, but her words certainly took some of the fun away from the situation.

“I don't remember you being this grumpy when you were staying at headquarters,” Remus smirked.

“You happen to have interrupted a perfectly nice dream,” Hermione said with a little blush. “Where are we?”

“Stranraer. It's a short walk out of town, and we'll fly from there. The closest inn is in Drummore, down the peninsula; Harry, do you want to go there first, or straight to Godric's?”

Harry swallowed the lump in his throat before answering, “I want to see my parents.”

“There isn't much cloud cover, so we'll have to fly low, just above the trees,” Remus announced, much to Hermione's relief. They quickly made their way out of town, and as soon as they were airborne, Harry released Hedwig to fly alongside them. On the flight down Crookshanks decided to poke his head out from underneath Harry's coat. The cat seemed to enjoy the flight almost as much as Harry, who had Hermione tightly hugging him from behind. After they touched down and stowed their brooms, Remus led them through a small iron gate; as soon as Harry saw the rows of gravestones his legs stopped working.

Hermione came alongside Harry, intertwining their fingers, “We're here Harry. You're not alone.” He found himself silently led over to Remus; the older man had stopped when something caught his attention under a nearby tree.

“Well, this is new,” Remus said. Harry looked up and saw an unusually well kempt piece of grass in front of a large headstone, currently occupied by a large black dog. When Remus spoke, the dog lifted its head and eyed them sadly for a moment before moving off to the side and lying back down.

When he noticed his own last name on the stone, Harry was drawn forward until he found himself kneeling in the grass, slowly running his fingers along the letters spelling out his parents' names. He wasn't sure how long he sat there, but after drawing in one long, rattling breath Harry noticed he was alone. He quickly spotted Remus and Hermione, who had Hedwig perched on her shoulder, waiting near the gate.

“Remus wanted to give you some time alone with them,” Hermione told him with a small smile.

“It's getting late, we should probably see about getting a place to stay,” Remus told them as he pulled out their brooms. “I'll show you the village tomorrow.”

Harry's voice failed him the rest of the night. After another quick flight, Remus checked them into the Queen's Inn. Unfortunately there was only one room available, so after Dobby dropped of their luggage and a light dinner, Harry climbed into the double bed with Remus, leaving the single for Hermione.

Sometime after midnight Hedwig, who was looking to be let out for the night woke Harry up. He watched her drift off before picking up a t-shirt and changing it into a sleeping bag. Filled with an overwhelming urge to be near his parents, he Apparated back to their grave, unrolled the bag, and curled up inside feeling more alone than any of the dark, dank nights he'd experienced in his cupboard on Privet Drive. He was already sleeping fitfully when Hermione appeared. She watched him silently for a few minutes before slipping into the bag and wrapping her arms around him.

-->

9. Plotting a Course

9. Plotting a Course

Harry was soaring through the air on his Firebolt following behind Hedwig. The owl led him over a dense forest and down into a wide valley. Looming over them was a series of snowcapped peaks. Rising higher then he ever remembered flying before, Harry looked around and saw the mountains stretching off into the distance in either direction. He tried to focus his attention back on Hedwig, only to find she was no longer there, instead he was chasing after a golden snitch. The tiny ball darted back down towards the trees, Harry steadily closing in. After a series of dips, dives, and rolls he reached out and snatched it out of the air, but for some reason it didn't feel right. Harry slowed to a stop and opened his hand to examine what was causing the gentle tickling sensation in his palm. It was a snitch, but it was far smaller than it should have been, in fact, it seemed to be the same size as the one he knew was hanging around his neck.

With a blink of his eyes, Harry found himself face to face with a sleeping Hermione; he looked down at his hand and the tiny charm from her necklace fluttering up into the air. After releasing he snitch Harry removed the hair that had fallen over her face and tucked it behind her ear; he felt her arms tighten around him as his hand brushed her cheek. Unable to fight the urge, Harry lightly kissed Hermione, as soon as their lips touched her eyes fluttered open. “Good morning,” he told her with a smile.

“Hi,” she breathed back before covering her mouth with her hand. “I'm sorry, I haven't brushed my teeth; my breath must be horrible.”

“There's nothing horrible about you,” he replied before moving her hand and kissing her again. As she opened her lips to deepen the kiss, Harry finally remembered exactly where he was, and more importantly who was laying exactly six feet under them. “I'm sorry Hermione, I can't…” said Harry, urgently pulling back.

“What?” The confusion in her voice was mixed with a small amount of hurt.

“I'm sorry, just… not here,” said Harry casting a meaningful glance towards his parents' headstone.

Her eyes widened with realization, “Right, of course.”

“Not that I'm complaining, but why are you here?”

“I couldn't really get to sleep last night. When I saw you transfigure your shirt I figured this is where you would go. I was just going to make sure you were all right, but when I saw you… I just couldn't leave you all alone. I didn't have anything to make into a sleeping bag for myself, so I crawled in with you. Hope you don't mind.”

“Not at all. There are plenty of worse things than waking up with a beautiful girl.”

“You already have me Harry, there's no need to chat me up,” said Hermione as her cheeks turned pink.

“I wouldn't say it if I didn't believe it.”

Hermione opened her mouth to retort, but no sound came out. Harry gently petted her hair, completely content for a moment until a deep growl drew their attention. Sitting off to the side from where they were laying was the same dog they had seen the day before, but now he seemed to be guarding them from an approaching Remus.

“What the blazes were the two of you thinking? You could have at least left a note!” the older man yelled; the dog merely growled louder in response.

Harry and Hermione both tried to jump to their feet, quite unsuccessfully do to the fact that the bag was zipped tight around them. After a few moments spent fumbling and untangling themselves they stood, both looking slightly ashamed.

“Sorry Remus, I wasn't think-”

“Of course you weren't thinking! Do you have any idea how worried I was? I was about to phone Hermione's parents to see if you had gone back to see them before I decided to check here!”

“You could've just called Dobby to find us,” Harry tried to reason with him.

“I did! He told me you were safe, but refused to say where!” Remus took a step closer as he yelled which drew the dog to its feet, poised to attack. Harry slowly walked up behind it and tried petting its head to calm it, one hand on his wand just in case.

“Look Moony, I'm sorry, I really am. I couldn't fight the urge to be closer to my parents, and Hermione followed me here to make sure I was alright,” said Harry, trying to pacify the werewolf in front of him while scratching the dog next to him. They both visibly relaxed.

“You still should've left a note,” said Remus, his anger reduced to annoyance. “Let's go back and get cleaned up, then I'll show you the village.” As Harry moved over to Remus to Apparate them both, Hedwig drifted down to Hermione from a tree where she had been watching the proceedings unnoticed.

Dobby was waiting with breakfast when they returned, and they took their turns showering. “As convenient as it is to have you bringing us our meals Dobby,” Remus told the elf, “we should probably eat out occasionally while we're here. The locals might get a touch suspicious of the fact that we never seem to eat.” Dobby looked slightly offended, but Harry had to admit Remus had a point. The last thing they needed was a curious employee peaking into their room and finding an owl on a golden perch, or an elf bouncing on the bed.

“We should probably make sure we actually walk out of town before we Apparate anywhere, just so they don't think we're hiding up here plotting to take over the world,” Hermione added after coming back in the room.

“Right then, where do we go first?” Harry asked.

“We can Apparate back to the graveyard and walk down into the village, or if you'd like a better feel for the area we could fly in. I wish we had a way of checking on the store,” said Remus.

“What store?”

Remus' brow knitted in confusion, “Your parents' store, surely someone's told you about it by now?”

“Harry, that must be the key Ragnok gave you,” Hermione whispered.

Harry walked over to his trunk and fished around for the large brass key he'd received. “My parents owned a store,” he asked in a far-away voice.

Remus sat down on the bed and let out a heavy sigh, “I'm sorry Harry, I've failed you in so many ways. Our instructions were quite clear: the one condition to your staying with your relatives was that they would have zero contact from the magical word at least until your Hogwarts letter arrived. The Order was in an uproar; the child of two of our members, who had just saved us all, was being sent off to live with quite possibly the worst Muggles anyone had ever laid eyes on. I've never seen Minerva as angry as she was that night. Apparently she had taken an entire day to observe the Dursleys, and was severely disappointed in what she saw. She raged at Albus for close to an hour before finally running out of steam.

“The Headmaster calmly sat back and waited for our outbursts to stop,” Harry was a bit surprised to hear the bitterness in Remus' voice when he mentioned Dumbledore. “He eventually informed us about the blood bond you `needed' to keep you safe and said he was placing an `operative' nearby, if you could call Arabella that at all. I know that several Order members took it upon themselves to occasionally check in on you over the years, until Dedalus Diggle got caught snooping through your rubbish bins.

“Those first few years were the worst of my life. It took just two days for all the people I had truly cared for to vanish completely. When I finally stepped back from the edge, I decided it was about time look you up, Harry. I owed James that much. When I saw what had become of you, the way those people talked to you, forcing you to wear rags… it took every ounce of control I possessed to not tear their bloody heads off. I followed along, at a distance, as they took you to a zoo. When it looked as if you were talking to one of the snakes and your cousin and that other boy pushed you out of the way I vanished the glass to allow them a closer look, it's a pity it turned out to be harmless,” a vague smile appeared on Remus' face as he remembered the pudgy boy nearly soiling himself.

“You did that? I got locked in my cupboard for a month over that!”

“Again, I'm sorry Harry. I waited until nightfall before I returned to your house with every intention of setting you free. As I was walking up to the door, Dumbledore appeared before me. He knew what I had done, and more importantly what I was planning on doing. It took him a couple of hours and a few well placed hexes to send me away.”

“Why wouldn't Dumbledore let you do anything if he knew what was going on?” Harry asked with a shaky voice. Both men were too engrossed in their conversation to notice Hermione furiously scribbling on a piece of parchment.

“His answers were never enough to completely satisfy me, but mostly he claimed in the end, it would be better for you to grow up there instead of in a place where you'd be treated with some form of mystical reverence.”

“But they were horrible!”

“I know Harry, believe me I know. I confessed that I'd heard you speaking in Parseltounge and my fears as to what it could mean, but Albus kept reassuring me that you were being well looked-out-for and you'd be getting your Hogwarts letter soon. When Hagrid told me of the trouble he'd had in collecting you I stormed my way into the castle and confronted Dumbledore again. Our argument ended when my temper finally got the better of me and I snapped his wrist. I saw him reaching for his wand and lashed out before he could reach it, after that he… he paid me off to keep my distance.” Remus closed his eyes while trying to cope with the shame. “He knew I'd been living for the last ten years off of the little money your parents left me in their will and offered me enough to get by on along with a promise that he'd keep me updated on your life.”

Harry was unsure what to think about everything he was hearing. The idea that there had been someone hiding in the background fighting for him was shocking. “Remus, I never knew…”

“Of course you didn't! That was the point! Keep Harry in the dark, he doesn't need to know the truth! All those years he refused to tell anyone what his real reasons were for keeping you in that hellhole, and in the end Sirius had to die for him to finally come clean! After you'd opened the Chamber of Secrets he finally agreed to let me help you, but only as a professor, nothing more. Every time the topic of your parents or Sirius came up I could feel the bile rising in my throat as I fought the urge to not keep my promise to him.

“I backed off after you managed to rescue Sirius, knowing how important being your Godfather meant to him, only to end up fighting harder than ever when we took over Grimmauld Place. Tonks recently admitted to me her suspicions that I was sent away so often to make sure Sirius and I couldn't manage to corner Dumbledore together, but now I just can't stop myself from wondering what would have happened if we had managed to force the situation. Maybe if I wouldn't have walked away, Sirius and I could have gotten you out of that blasted tournament. We could have stopped so much suffering if we'd just managed to… Sirius could still be…” Remus finally lost the use of his voice and began weeping.

Harry looked down at the man in shock for a moment before pulling him up in an embrace. He was so familiar with most of the emotions washing over his former professor that he had to fight the urge to re-explore them. Those wounds were far from healed, but at least closed. Not exactly sure what to, Harry looked to Hermione for help, but the most she could offer up was a sorrowful smile. Remus' revelations were just as much a surprise to her.

Hermione pulled Dobby aside to give him some instructions while Harry helped Remus compose himself, then they set off for a secluded spot to begin the short flight to Godric's Hollow. From the air Remus pointed out the tiny village nestled between the many farms in the area. Off the southern edge of the town appeared to be a large clump of trees which they were told was actually where the Potters' house had stood; without hearing another word Harry darted off for it. Once there he discovered a large open area covered in grass. Harry touched down next to a small stream running across one side and completely oblivious to Hermione began wandering towards a small cluster of rocks in the center of the property.

A slight tingle passed through his entire body as he examined the stones, many of which seemed to be black on one side. “I'm afraid the house was destroyed when Voldemort attacked. I cleaned up most of the ruins over the years, but couldn't bring myself to get rid of everything. Those stones are what was left of the chimney,” said Remus from behind Harry.

“You've been here, since that night?”

“I took it upon myself to keep the land here, and your parents' gravesite properly maintained. Every Halloween I've made a trip to both places,” Remus softly told him. Harry muttered a weak “Thanks” before continuing his wandering of the property. He kept seeing flashes in his mind of simple things: being an infant and lying in the grass with his mother; riding a broom with his father and looking down at his Mum who was screaming at them to come back down, only to fly higher. Harry couldn't tell if he was remembering things, or simply imagining them and ended up deciding since they were all happy thoughts it didn't really matter either way.

“How are you doing?” Hermione asked, tentatively putting an arm around his waist.

“Better,” he replied before pulling her into an embrace. “Thank you for being here, it means… more than I can say.”

“There's no place I'd rather be.”

“Are you ready to move on, or would you like some more time,” said Remus as he joined them.

“We can go now, but I'll be back.”

Remus silently led the way as they walked down the road towards the rest of the village; as they rounded a corner they came upon an old farmhouse that had a white-haired old woman puttering around the flowerbeds. The woman looked up and blinked a few times before breaking out in a wide grin and walking up to greet them. Remus turned with a somewhat frantic expression, “Please, just don't ask questions and go along with anything I say.” Harry couldn't help but notice he ended his sentence talking more to Hermione than himself.

“Well I say if that isn't Remus Lupin!”

“Mrs. Davis, what a pleasant surprise,” said Remus with a hefty bit of false cheer.

“I'm the one that should be surprised, I've not seen you since that nasty business with the Po-” she stopped as her eyes fell on Harry.

“Ah, Isabel this, is Harry Potter-”

“Of course you are! You look so much like your father! It was such a tragedy what happened to them, thank the Lord you weren't home. It's a pleasure to have you back, and I assume this your young lady?” Isabel asked while eying their linked hands. Remus cut off Harry before he could respond.

“Mrs. Davis, I'd like to introduce you to Hermione… my daughter.” Hermione's eyes widened slightly as her hand tightened almost painfully around Harry's.

“Why I had no idea you'd married,” said Mrs. Davis looking quite crestfallen.

“Ah yes, Nymphadora and I have had sixteen glorious years together. I'm sorry if I seem terribly rude, but we must be getting on if we're to meet her for supper.”

“Of course, it was a pleasure seeing you again Remus, Mr. Potter… Miss Lupin.”

Once Remus had led them out of hearing distance Hermione broke the silence, “Care to explain that daddy?”

“I'm never going to hear the end of this,” Lupin muttered. “Mrs. Davis has a daughter that developed a bit of a crush on me. James and Sirius amused themselves to no end by arranging it so we would end up together with them, Lily, and whomever Sirius was courting at the moment. Isabel saw my `mysteriousness' as something her daughter needed in her life and attempted to play matchmaker. I've had quite a few close calls on my subsequent trips here, but always managed to avoid them. Sirius accompanied me here during your fourth and fifth years, and as Padfoot managed to overhear the women reminiscing about what could have been between Annabel and I. I sincerely apologize for using you like that Hermione, but I'm sure after you tell Tonks about this I'll earn my comeuppance.”

“I'm just amazed at how fast you thought up your little story,” Hermione told him with a mischievous smile.

“Well, once a Marauder…”

They made their way to the center of the village where Remus pointed out the tavern and general store before walking up to a small brick building. “It's been magically sealed since your parents went into hiding, but I believe now that you have the key we should be able to open it up again.”

As Harry unlocked the door and entered the same tingle passed through his body as had earlier, unbeknownst to him for the second time that day a folder at Gringotts updated itself as to who the property holder was. The inside of the shop was empty except for a thick coat of dust, “Remus, what sort of shop was this?”

“I suppose you could call it a wizards' version of a general store. There was always a healthy supply of potion ingredients, magazines, and books… James even managed to get Lilly to allow him to stock a few brooms. As I'm sure the goblins informed you they were quite wealthy, so they didn't need to worry much about how well they did, which in turned helped them to do quite well. Between your mother's knowledge and James'… inquisitiveness, they could find just about anything you needed. This store was the premier location for someone in search of rare objects, and through their clients and contacts your parents supplied much of the Order's intelligence.”

Hermione sneezed violently before waving her wand to clear away the dust, “Did they deal… dark things,” she asked gently, not sure what Harry's reaction would be.

“Absolutely not,” Remus told them both. “Just as Sirius and I told you before Harry, your father hated the Dark Arts. A few people in the Order asked him at one point if he would consider selling some questionable artifacts, thinking it might lure in some Death Eaters, but he vehemently refused.”

“Why is there nothing in here?” Harry asked as he ran a hand along the empty counter.

“No one was sure how long they would have to be underground, so your parents sold everything off before sealing the building.”

They all wandered around the shop for a bit. Harry found a framed picture of himself with his parents under the counter, which he pocketed, while Remus found a boggart lurking in the back room. When they entered the local tavern for lunch a few of the villagers came over to their table to welcome Harry back and congratulate Remus on his “marriage.”

“Apparently Mrs. Davis is as much of a gossip as ever,” Remus muttered under his breath.

“You know Tonks will insist on coming back in here once she hears this story,” Harry remarked.

Remus let out a little groan and shook his head, “I'm done for. On another matter, have you given any thought on how long you wish to stay in the area, Harry?”

In fact he had been thinking about it from the moment he had touched down that morning, “There is something about it here that just feels… right. I don't really want to leave, and with the Weasley's still at Grimmauld, there's not many other options, but I don't know if we want to keep spending fifty pounds a night for that inn.”

“We could go back to Mum and Dad's,” said Hermione, rolling her eyes when Harry cast a quick glance at Remus. “You know what I mean, and we could always Apparate back here if you wanted to visit.”

“Yeah, but as much as I like your parents, I'd rather not impose myself on them.”

“There is another option,” Remus informed them. “I phoned a man last week about a cottage he has in the village, and it is available to rent. It has four rooms, since you mentioned something about not wanting to share with Ron, and the fact that I wasn't going to let you three wander off without me, I thought it sounded good. It would probably be wise to put some magical protections up wherever we stay, so I was thinking we could rent it out for the remainder of the summer and properly ward it, unless you'd like to go back to London before then.”

“That sound fantastic, and without Ron it gives Dobby a room to himself,” said Harry with a smile before turning to Hermione. “Your parents wouldn't mind if you stayed up here with us, would they?”

“They already know I plan on staying with you, all they ask is that we check in from time to time, and maybe stop in for supper occasionally. If you'd like, I can nip in the loo to call and let them know.”

Harry passed Hermione his mirror under the table and she excused herself. She had been gone for a minute when a pleasant looking woman walked up to the table and Remus choked on his beverage when she said his name.

“Annabel, how lovely to see you again,” he said with a false smile.

“I was wondering if we might meet by chance when I heard you were back in town,” she said, but Harry got the distinct feeling she had been looking for them. “And this must be Harry, but I heard you had a young lady with you as well.”

“Ah yes,” said Remus as his ears slowly turned red, “my daughter Hermione just stepped away for a moment.”

“Hermione? Wherever did you come up with that name?” Annabel asked with a sickly sweet smile.

“It's from Shakespeare,” Harry spoke up when he saw the lost look on Remus' face. “Her Mum always liked `A Winter's Tale.'”

“Well, she certainly sounds like the intelligent sort,” said Annabel with a slightly smaller smile.

“Yeah, she's the smartest girl in my class,” said Harry.

“I think she was referring to Nymphadora, Harry,” Remus broke in, the redness migrating from his ears to his face.

“Nymphadora? My you do find people with the most interesting names, so when do I get to meet this wife of yours?”

Harry saw Hermione coming back towards them with a mischievous smile as Remus was floundering with his reply. “Sorry Dad, but Mum said she won't be able to meet us for supper,” she said after taking the seat next to Remus.

“Oh, pity,” he replied while looking clearly relieved. “Hermione, this is Mrs. Davis' daughter Annabel.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Hermione said brightly.

“Yes, well, I must be going. It was so nice seeing you again Remus,” said Annabel before walking away dejectedly.

“She seems nice enough, why are you so afraid of her?” Hermione asked Remus after switching back to the seat next to Harry.

“Besides the fact that you're a pretty grumpy bugger once a month,” Harry added when Remus opened his mouth.

Remus' face went white and he shook his head a few times. When he saw the concerned looks he was getting he told them, “I'm sorry it's just, James and Lilly asked me those exact same questions in this tavern when we were younger. Annabel was told stories, mostly by Sirius, about how I was some secret government operative. It only got worse after Lilly took James, Sirius, and I to see a spy movie before Harry was born. James loved the fact that the spy had the same name as him, and Sirius used the story as inspiration for what he was telling Annabel. During one of my transformations James was forced to pointedly restrain me from some teenagers out for the night. Sirius told her that I'd been shot on one of my `missions' and after that she fawned over me whenever she had the chance,” said Remus while fingering a small round scar on his neck.

“That does get pretty annoying,” said Harry remembering the way some of the girls at Hogwarts had been treating him the past year. “Did you talk to your parents Hermione?”

“Mum was with a patient, but Dad said everything was fine as long as Remus was still going to be with us. He also asked if you'd bring your invisibility cloak over whenever we visit. Honestly, he nearly gave Mum a heart attack sneaking up on her when you were asleep the other day.”

><><><><><><

After lunch they went to see about the cottage. The landlord was a plump old man named Mr. Crookshanks, which amused Hermione more than anyone. As Remus was negotiating the rent, Harry and Hermione wandered around the cottage. There was a large living area and kitchen combined with the bedrooms and bathroom all off from it. Out back was a large crab apple tree sitting by a stream that Harry guessed to be the same one running through his family property. They would have everything they needed here, Harry thought, to make it a base of sorts while they searched for the remaining two Horcruxes; the problem was he had no idea how long that would take. After a quick word with Hermione, Harry walked back inside and asked if they could move in the next day and how much he would want for rent for the rest of the year, total. Mr. Crookshanks stuttered for a minute before giving Harry the amount which Harry promised to have by morning, after all it was just a quick trip to Gringotts.

They casually made their way down the road to a secluded spot so they could Apparate to Diagon Alley. “I can't believe my dad and Sirius just accepted the fact that you can't Apparate,” said Harry after Side-Alonging Remus.

“Well it's not as if they didn't try to teach me. I remember one instance where Sirius `dropped me off' on a rock at the bottom of a cliff and told me how long I had until the tide came in.”

“What did you do?” Hermione asked.

“The only thing I could do, I climbed the cliff, then nearly threw Sirius over it.”

Hermione went to go check on Fred and George while Remus and Harry went to Gringotts; Harry was once again ushered away as soon as he entered.

“Mr. Potter, what a pleasant surprise,” said Ragnok as they were shown into the office. The goblin narrowed his eyes slightly, closely surveying Harry and Remus, “And I see you've brought someone new with you today.”

“Yes, this is my friend Remus Lupin,” Harry replied, feeling a little uneasy with the way he was being looked at.

“Ah yes Mr. Lupin, young Mr. Weasley speaks quite highly of you. Now it seems Mr. Potter that earlier today you claimed the last two of your properties.”

“I did?” Harry blurted out.

“Did you not visit at some point this morning both of the properties in Godric's Hollow we discussed in our last meeting?”

“Yes, Remus showed me where they are. Is there a problem with that?”

“Not at all, it is simply our duty to inform you whenever a part of your portfolio changes hands. In this case the deeds were transferred from the Potter Estate to your own name.”

“What about the land in Bristol?” Remus' head turned sharply to Harry at his question.

“That was transferred directly to you, not the estate. Is there any other business you wish to conduct today?”

“Well, I came here today for some Muggle money, but I was also wondering what the procedure was for drawing up a will.”

Ragnok flipped through the folder in front of him, “At the moment should anything happen to you all of your holdings would go to one Petunia Dursley. I take it you wish to change this?”

Harry took a moment to imagine what his aunt's reaction would be if a goblin showed up on her doorstep, “That definitely needs to be changed.”

“Have you had a chance to study the materials I gave you previously?”

“Err, no I haven't. Sorry…”

“I would recommend you take a chance to examine your holdings before deciding how you want it divided. Once you have done that we can prepare all of the necessary papers. About the Muggle money,” said Ragnok while scribbling on a piece of parchment, “the goblin outside the door can escort you to the exchange desk, and this note should save you a trip to your vaults, just fill in the amount you require.”

“Thank you very much,” said Harry as he took the note and led Remus back to the lobby. Harry took out double of what he needed figuring he'd have to be acting like a Muggle while they stayed in the village.

“James always said the goblins were more helpful to their wealthier customers, but I must admit I never really believed it,” said Remus as they walked down the steps of the bank.

“Ragnok seems pretty nice. He gave me a whole ledger of stuff to look over a couple days ago so I can know exactly what I have, and he told me about all of the properties I own. I had never even heard about my parents' store until he told me I owned the building. I also got some property in Bristol from Sirius; do you know what that was? He said the house on it was destroyed.”

Remus stopped in his tracks and closed his eyes, “That's my fault, Harry.”

“What's your fault?”

“The house. Sirius' house, I destroyed it. After your parents, then believing Sirius had killed Peter and the meltdown in the Order, I snapped. I had lost everything and it seemed Sirius was to blame. There was nothing I could do about him, being in Azkaban, so I released my rage on his house. I've apologized far to many times, so I'll just tell you that when I confessed to Sirius what I'd done he actually laughed.”

“He thought it was funny that you wrecked his house?”

“Quite. He spent years telling me I needed to stop being so passive. A proper werewolf, according to Sirius, should feel the need to bite people more than once a month. He also thanked me for saving him the trouble of having to pack, then took me out for a drink,” said Remus with a vague smile.

“But, it was his house!”

“Material things. All he cared was that he was free, and he had a chance to get to know you.” Remus saw the sorrowful look on Harry's face, “And he was thankful for everyday of that freedom because you gave it to him.”

Harry was about to say, “Until I took it away,” but stopped himself knowing Remus was only trying to help. When the two men made their way into the twins shop they found their assistant Verity trying to attend to a hoard of children. “Are they in back?” Harry called over the voices but immediately regretted it as every head turned to him. Some of the children's' eyes popped open, a few had their mouths open, and one little girl started edging her way towards the love potions. Verity sighed and nodded so Harry quickly strode through the shop.

In the back room Fred and George were hunched over laughing as Hermione sat reading a copy of Witch Weekly. “Well, if it isn't the bachelor himself,” said George with pride.

“Oh yes, and just look how those `darling green eyes just sparkle,'” Fred added.

“Oh Harry, why don't you turn around and give us a view of that `Quidditch-tuned bum,'” said Hermione with a glare.

Harry's face was burning so hot he was sure it had to be steaming, “What are you two doing with a copy of that?”

“You see oh eligible one-”

“We placed an ad for some of our products that are targeted for female use-”

“So they were kind enough to send us a copy-”

“But apparently not kind enough to place us on their little list. They only take those that are young-”

“Heroic-”

“And have,” George snatched the magazine from Hermione to examine it, “`alarming handsome smiles.'”

“Or have the name `Harry Potter,'” said Remus.

“That is not helping,” Harry told the older man through clenched teeth.

“Don't worry about them Harry, they're just jealous,” said Hermione before walking over to him, jerking his head down almost violently, and ramming her tongue into his mouth. She let out a pleasant little noise when Harry's arms instinctively went around her and pulled her close, meanwhile the twins were making retching sounds in the background. They were broken apart by a jet of water from Remus' wand.

“Moony! What the hell was that for?” Harry shouted.

“Tisk tisk, Harry,” George chided him.

“What would your adoring fans think if they heard that language,” added Fred while waving his wand to dry them off.

“Don't worry about them Harry, they're just jealous I've stolen you away from them,” said Hermione with an air of confidence. “And you,” she added while looking to Remus, “have nothing to complain about after that little show you put on with Tonks at the train station.”

“Well, after the position I found you two in this morning.”

“Oh, what's this? Do tell Remus,” one of the twins prompted.

“Or maybe we could talk about Remus' friend we met at lunch?” Harry retaliated.

“Maybe we should be getting back,” Remus muttered. The twins couldn't decide whom they wanted to question more.

“Bye guys,” said Hermione with a cheery wave before grabbing Remus' arm and disappearing.

“So Harry, can we have your autograph?” Fred asked while holding open the magazine. Taking up one entire page was a picture of Harry from one of his Quidditch matches last year with a large number three in the corner.

“Who were the top two?” he asked out of curiosity.

“Oh look Fred, Harry's jealous.” Harry snatched the magazine and flipped back. Myron Wagtail, the lead singer from the Weird Sisters was number two, and number one was…

“Lockhart?”

Both the twins rolled their eyes, “Ah, those old witches just can't get enough of the bloke.”

“They don't even bother mentioning that he's completely nutters,” said Fred.

Harry tried to smile about the memory of Ron's wand backfiring, but his recent attitude towards Harry held it back. “So, you two alright?”

The twins' look turned somber, “We're better,” George told him.

“We were a bit bothered by Ron turning into the worlds greatest prat and keeping you and Hermione away from the funeral-”

“But Dad told us about you being there anyway-”

“Then Percy said something about how it was Mum's and Dad's fault for not expecting trouble-”

“So he got the title back from Ron-”

“Along with two black eyes-”

“A bloody nose-”

“A bloody lip-”

“A few cracked ribs-”

“A concussion-”

“And a curse Bill said in gobbledygook.”

“It wasn't pleasant,” they finished in unison.

“I'm sorry guys… that I couldn't-”

“Harry, it's no more your fault than ours,” Fred told him.

“So don't go beating yourself up over this-”

“Or you'll never get the chance to stop that wanker.”

“Thanks,” Harry mumbled. “How's Ron?”

“We think he's over blaming you for Mum-”

“Helping to pummel Percy seems to have done wonders for his disposition-”

“But he still turns all red whenever someone mentions Hermione, so he's better-”

“But still a prat.”

“Guys,” said Verity, poking her head into the room.

“Ah, Verity, do you need us for something?”

“Actually,” she said over the noise from the other room, “they want Harry.”

Harry and the twins peaked out around the door, and as soon as Harry's face was visible the chatter turned to excited yelling. They quickly slammed the door. “Bugger,” Harry muttered under his breath.

“Wow, you could be good for business-”

“If we could convince the little buggers to buy something while they're gawking.”

“I need to go,” Harry slowly told them.

“Alright, just don't be shy-”

“And bring your fan club by whenever you get the chance.”

“We'll try to pull Ron's head out of his arse for you.”

“Thanks guys,” said Harry before Disapparating.

><><><><><><

To say Dobby was ecstatic when he heard they'd be moving to a house the next morning would be an understatement. The fact that he would now have a proper kitchen to make their meals, and not have to return to Grimmauld Place overnight to sleep brightened his life. By the time they had finished dinner the elf had laid out all of their clothes for the next day and packed everything else.

“Remus, do you know how to apply a Fidelius Charm?” Hermione asked as they were relaxing before bed.

“The only person I know of that can perform it anymore is Filius.”

“Do you think it would be a good idea to put one on the cottage?” Harry asked them both.

“If we can manage to do that, and maybe make it temporarily unplottable, it would have the highest level of protection we could give it,” Remus answered.

“But won't Mr. Crookshanks be a bit upset at us for making his property disappear?” Hermione asked.

“Well, if we don't tell him about it, he won't even remember he owns it,” said Remus.

“But when it comes time to pay rent he would have no idea what we were trying to pay him for,” said Hermione.

“I did get enough money to pay him for the rest of the year. We pay it all up front, and if we decide to stay longer we can either drop the protection or tell him the secret,” Harry told her.

“And you'd have to decide who you want to keep the secret,” Remus softly said.

Their conversation sank into silence for a while before Hermione spoke up, “Well, we can just worry about that after we find out if Professor Flitwick can help us cast it. Dobby, can you find the professor?”

“Of course Miss Hermy, would you like Dobby to go to him now?”

“Let me just write him a quick note, and you can ask him to owl us back as soon as he can,” she replied.

Harry let Hedwig out for the night after Dobby had gone and as they all were going to bed Hermione couldn't stop herself from saying “'Night Dad.” Remus' grumbling kept Harry awake for quite a while.

A quiet muttering woke Harry up the next morning. He rolled over to look at Remus facing the wall on the other side of the bed and was about to assume the werewolf was having a nightmare when he began talking in his sleep.

“Not now Nym… The others will be here any moment…” Harry jumped out of bed, jerking the covers with him, which caused Remus to flop unceremoniously on the floor.

“What's wrong?” Hermione shouted as she sprung up from her bed.

“Why am I on the floor?” Remus called from the other side of the room.

“You were talking in your sleep,” Harry told them both.

Remus' head poked up over the bed, “And what was I saying?”

“You seemed to be having a rather… pleasant dream about Tonks.” Remus' face erupted red before vanishing back out of view while Hermione snickered at Harry's side.

“She is going to so disappointed she missed all of this,” Hermione commented.

“Well, I'm sure you'll manage to fill her in completely,” came a snide voice from floor level.

Hermione, Remus, and Dobby waited behind to check out as Harry went to see Mr. Crookshanks. The landlord looked concerned when Harry handed him a wad of hundred pound notes. “Sorry, I don't have a checking account,” Harry lamely explained.

“Of course. Well, if you need anything Remus knows where to find me. Enjoy your time here,” he told Harry before shaking his hand and walking away with an amused smile.

Hedwig flew down to join Harry as he walked inside. “Well, welcome home girl. For now at least.” Dobby popped in with their luggage a minute before Hermione and Remus showed up.

“Where would Harry Potter sir like his trunks to go?” Dobby asked.

“All the rooms are pretty much the same, so why don't you pick a room for yourself then put the rest of the trunks wherever,” said Harry.

Dobby snapped his fingers, flinging open the doors to all the rooms, before levitating Remus' trunk into a room on one side of the cottage, and Harry and Hermione's to the rooms on the other. With another snap a bag with a pair of knitting needles sticking out the top appeared which Dobby took into the last room. They all parted ways to unpack; Harry placed Hedwig's perch by the window in his room, which he charmed to open at will for her before unloading his clothes into his dresser. When he got to the bottom of his trunk he found the disabled Horcruxes along side Gryffindor's sword. “Damn, what am I gonna do with this thing,” Harry mumbled to himself as he picked up the sword, and then leaned it up against the wall by his bed. He carefully stepped around the room until he found a floorboard loose enough to pull up; just as he was wrapping up the Horcruxes in one of Dudley's old shirts to hide them away Remus came into the room.

“Are you already destroying the place?”

“I have this feeling we should keep these with us for some reason, instead of in a vault somewhere, but I'm not going to leave them sitting around for anyone to find either,” Harry told him before replacing the board and stomping it down.

“And the sword?”

“I completely forgot to give it to McGonagall when we were at Grimmauld Place. I think I'll have one of the elves take it to her later.” After placing a few books of top of his dresser Harry slid his now-empty trunk underneath his bed.

“What's in the other trunk?”

Harry faltered for a moment before answering, “It was transferred to my vault from Sirius, I haven't opened it yet. I thought you might like to see it too…”

“Do you know was that trunk in Sirius' vault, or the Black family one?” Remus asked slightly wide-eyed.

“Sirius' why?”

Remus sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed, “I don't know much about what happened that night, but I do know that after Hagrid collected you from the ruins Sirius went back and salvaged what he could, for you. He took the trunk to Gringotts before setting off to find Peter, but after his arrest they took away his vault key. He wanted you to have this so badly, he even got Tonks to try and find the key so I could at least go in and retrieve it, but it seems the key managed to vanish over the course of the years.”

“Are you saying everything in this trunk once belonged to my parents, not Sirius?” Harry weakly asked.

Remus nodded before starting to move out of the room, “I'll leave you to it.”

“No! Could you stay, please?”

They both sat on the floor in front of the trunk as Harry flipped open the lid. Inside there was a mess of assorted things. Scattered over the top were several broken dishes all bearing the same crest, which Remus told him was the Potter family's; they carefully repaired the china and set it aside. Dozens of framed pictures, most of which had an infant Harry in them were pilled on top of several rows of neatly stacked books, and in the bottom corner was a long, thin box containing two wands and a golden bracelet that Harry slipped in his pocket so it wouldn't get lost in the clutter. Harry remembered Mr. Ollivander's descriptions from when he was younger and quickly identified whose wands they were.

“Sirius mentioned that after he moved the… bodies, there wasn't much left to save. Apparently the study had taken the least amount of damage,” said Remus in a hollow voice while examining a book on household charms that was slightly charred around the edges.

“Harry?” Hermione tentatively called from the doorway.

“Hermione, come look! These were my parents things!” Harry's voice sounded like a small child come Christmas morning.

“Wherever did they come from?” she asked as she sat down on Harry's other side.

“Sirius saved them before the house burnt down and put it all in his Gringotts vault, but the Aurors stole his key and he could get back in. This was the trunk they transferred from his vault to mine.”

“This is wonderful,” she said while inspecting a picture of a baby Harry cuddled up sleeping with Padfoot. Every so often the dog's eyes would open as he checked on the child before going back to sleep.

“Remus, what's this?” Harry asked holding up a photo of what appeared to be a reindeer with a bright red nose prancing through the air.

Remus cradled the frame as if it were something precious while chuckling softly, “This was the Christmas before you were born. Sirius and I had the brilliant idea of having James transform so we could add the nose and levitate him over the village. The local children couldn't talk about anything other than the fact that they'd seen `Rudolph' for months afterwards, but unfortunately we were a bit… inebriated and cancelled the charm a little too soon, your father dropped the last thirty feet to the ground when we'd returned. Lilly said it was only fitting when she transfigured our presents to coal.”

“Harry, these are all of your mother's notebooks from when she was at Hogwarts!” said Hermione, having moved on to the stack of books. “Cor! There's even more from after school. These are brilliant!”

Harry felt an enormous swell of pride in the fact that Hermione, the smartest person he knew, was impressed by his mother's intelligence. He picked up another of the notebooks and was surprised to find handwriting very similar to his own. Flipping quickly through he had to ask, “Remus, is this all about how my dad learned to be an Animagus?”

“Yes; James always did good in his classes, but when it came to his `side-projects' he made sure to always thoroughly check his research.”

A brief pang of regret shot through Harry, if he'd gotten all of this sooner he might have been able to learn how to transform just like his father, but now he needed to concentrate on other things.

“Did you know your mother was working on a charm that would universally translate any spoken language? Apparently she got quite close with it, except for a few Muggle languages that kept sounding like mermish,” said Hermione as she excitedly flipped through another journal.

Harry and Remus sorted through the pictures while Hermione read on. Some went on each of their nightstands, while the majority of them were placed on the bookshelves and mantle of the main room. Dobby took the china to the kitchen while the others shelved the books (Harry put the wands in a dresser drawer), and soon enough lunch was ready, so Harry called in Winky to join them and see where they were going to be living.

After their meal (and Dobby scolding Harry for trying to clean up after himself), Winky snapped her fingers and a block of letters landed on the table, “Winky has been collecting all of the owls for Harry Potter sir and Miss Hermy, along with Wolfie,” Harry and Hermione both looked to Remus who was barely holding in a growl.

“Winky, I don't think Remus likes being called `Wolfie,'” Hermione gently told the elf, who looked quite stricken.

“It's all right, Hermione. Tonks told her to call me that,” said Remus.

“Winky, why are some of these letters burnt?” Harry asked while sorting through the pile.

“A bad witch sent a red letter. She called Miss Hermy a nasty name and said Harry Potter should not waste time saving her.”

Harry sent Hermione an apologetic look, but she simply shrugged, “It's okay Harry. There's always going to be people that think that.”

“I'm sorry you had to deal with that, Winky,” said Harry.

“Does Harry Potter want Winky to make the red letters go away?”

“You can do that?”

“Winky can return them to the senders before they are delivered, if Harry Potter wishes.”

“That'd be great, thanks. You can do it for any Hermione gets as well,” he told her causing Winky to smile for the first time since Harry had yelled at the elves in the Grangers' kitchen. “And you don't have to wait for me to call you. If we get any post, or even if you just want to stop by, feel free.” Winky tensed up a bit at the word free, but nodded her understanding before popping away.

Harry passed a letter to Remus or Hermione occasionally, but most of what Winky brought appeared to be fan mail which was set aside for another time, the bottom of the stack, however, had two Hogwarts letters. Harry handed Hermione hers before ripping his open and turning it over. Two badges clattered along the table, one was a new captain badge, and the other was a large silver badge with “HB” on it. “What is McGonagall trying to pull here? I wasn't even a prefect!” said Harry while eyeing the badge.

“Neither was James, but he was still Head Boy,” Remus pointed out.

Harry looked over to Hermione who was sadly looking down at her new Head Girl badge and took a moment to realize just how long she'd been hoping to receive it; how she was giving up a part of her dreams for him, “Hermione-”

“I'm staying with you, Harry,” she firmly told him.

“What if we both went back? McGonagall would probably let us leave whenever we need to, if we asked. And you would still have access to the library-”

“It wouldn't be right. Accepting these badges is a huge responsibility, and with what we're trying to do we wouldn't have time to do any of the required duties. We'd be cheating the school of something it needs. If we ever want to finish this quest we need to be completely committed to it. Going back to Hogwarts would make it just another nighttime project.”

“But this is everything to you. You've had your eye on that badge since first year, and I know that you've been studying for N.E.W.T.S. since the middle of fifth year.”

“It's not everything, Harry,” said Hermione looking deep into his eyes. “And I've already checked about taking N.E.W.T.S. at the ministry. There'll be plenty of time to study once Voldemort's dead. I know you're just thinking of me, and I appreciate it, but we're not going back.” She took one last look at the badge before sliding it back into the envelope and setting it gently on the table.

“You might want to keep your booklist, just for reference,” said Remus from across the table. Harry and Hermione both pulled out their lists and set the rest to the side.

“Oh, Professor Flitwick's written back,” said Hermione as she went back to the rest of her letters. “He's says he'd be happy to help in whatever we need, just contact him at the castle.”

“Dobby, could you take these two envelopes back to Professor McGonagall and tell her that Hermione and I are very sorry, but we can't attend Hogwarts this year, then find Professor Flitwick and ask him if he'd like to come by for dinner? He can pick the time, and I'll meet him at the Three Broomsticks to show him the way.” Dobby just gave a solemn nod in reply before popping away.

Hermione excused herself and went over to the sofa where Crookshanks was lounging. Remus asked to borrow Harry's mirror to call Tonks and retreated to his room after nudging Harry towards the sofa. He sat down close to Hermione and put an arm around her shoulders.

“I'm not giving up my dreams for you, Harry,” Hermione voiced his thoughts.

“You're not?”

“Well, not just for you, but also for myself, and Mum and Dad, and every other person out there that's in danger. You remember the Weasley's clock last summer, no one's safe right now; the sooner we end this the better. For everyone,” she told him as she snuggled up to him.

“I'll do everything I can to get you back in time to take your N.E.W.T.S.,” Harry promised her.

“`We' Harry. You're the one that told me you're not letting go. We're going to finish what we've started together, then take the tests together,” she smiled sweetly at his grimace.

Harry felt Hermione starting to drift off and not wanting to move and wake her, he flipped on the television. Most of the news was about something in Hong Kong, so he searched around until he found a weather forecast wondering if tomorrow would be a good day to go flying. Half paying attention to the weatherman he took out the bracelet he'd found in his parents trunk and absent-mindedly twirled it around a finger. The sun glinting off of the gold brought Hermione out of her reverie.

“Harry!” she shouted, grabbing his wrist, “Where did you get that?”

“It was in with my parents things, why?”

Hermione dumped Crookshanks in Harry's lap and dashed off to her room, only to come streaking back with one of the books she'd picked up with Remus. She quickly flipped through the book until she found the page she was looking for, “That bracelet, it was a gift from Godric Gryffindor to his wife on their fiftieth wedding anniversary. It's been thought lost since the last goblin revolution, here look!”

She shoved the book at Harry and he saw the drawing inside, it had the same Celtic patterns all around it and the runes etched around each end seemed to match exactly, “Do you think this is a…?”

“There's only way to find out.”

Harry set the bracelet down on the coffee table in front of them and preformed the prior Incantato spell on it, with no result. “What does that mean?” asked Harry.

Hermione picked up the bracelet and chewed her lip in thought for a minute, “Have you ever seen any evidence that this belonged to your mother?”

“She didn't seem to wear any jewelry in any of the pictures I've seen, but it was in the trunk of things Sirius got from their house.”

“I think that maybe… Voldemort might have brought this with him the night he attacked you.”

“And that that was going to be the last Horcrux?”

“Only he couldn't take with him after he'd lost his body, so when it came time to make another he substituted the snake for this.”

Harry impulsively kissed her, “You're brilliant.”

“Oh, well… thanks,” she muttered as her face flushed. “But that still doesn't put us any closer to finding the other two.”

“Tomorrow, we should get Neville up here and go over the books you bought with him and Remus. We need to look for anything that was thought lost. He found this; he could have found something else. After that we dissect his life from when he was still Tom Riddle. He's already hidden two in places he went before becoming Voldemort, maybe we'll get lucky and find another.”

“And what do we do about the bracelet? We have to keep it somewhere safe.”

Harry took it back from her and tried to think of the safest place he could imagine. As secure as Gringotts appeared he wasn't sure if it was good enough. He could place it under the floorboard in his room, but he would feel the need to take it with him when he left, just in case. Harry gently lifted Hermione's arm and slid the bracelet over her hand where it magically sized itself to her wrist.

“Harry, what are you doing?”

“It just gives me one more reason to keep you safe, not that I need it.”

“What if someone sees it?”

“Only Voldemort knows what it is, so if he's gonna be around, wear long sleeves. We probably shouldn't tell anyone other than Remus and Neville what that actually is.”

“Agreed.”

“Harry Potter sir!” Dobby's voice made them both jump.

“Yes Dobby?”

“The tiny Professor says he will meet you in one hour.”

“Thanks Dobby,” said Harry, but the elf's eyes were no longer on him. Dobby stood hypnotized by the television screen in front of him, the start of an addiction that would plague him for the rest of his life.

><><><><><>

Just under an hour later, Harry stood waiting outside the Three Broomsticks underneath his invisibility cloak, having left Hermione and Remus teaching Dobby how to use the remote control. He spotted the professor making his way up the road and went to greet him.

“Professor Flitwick,” said Harry as he pulled of his cloak.

“Oh! Mr. Potter, I'm an old man, you shouldn't be scaring me like that,” Flitwick replied.

“Sorry Professor, I had an unfortunate run-in with a flock of children earlier so I decided to hide myself. Err, so do you just want me to guide you to where we're going?”

“Yes, I suppose that would be the best course of action,” the tiny man said as he reached up to take Harry's hand. A second later they appeared just behind their rented cottage. “What a charming little place, is it yours?”

“Well, we've rented it for the remainder of the year.”

“I was under the impression that the house in London I visited was owned by you.”

“It is, but it's being used for… other activities, and I wanted to be closer to where my parents are buried.”

“We're in Godric's Hollow then? Your elf didn't offer any specifics.”

“Yes Dobby is good at keeping secrets,” said Harry with a smile before leading the smaller man inside.

Hermione and Remus both greeted Flitwick warmly while Dobby sat next to Crookshanks on the sofa jabbing at the remote. Hermione quickly led the conversation to charms and pulled down one of Lilly's notebooks, which Flitwick found at least equally as fascinating as she did.

“Dobby,” said Harry after walking up behind the elf, “are you going to make supper, or take the night off to watch the telly?”

“I's terribly sorry Harry Potter, Dobby is being a bad House-Elf and will start the meal right away!”

“Are you sure, I can cook if you'd rather not.” The elf look mortified and ran to the kitchen leaving Harry to shut off the television. “What I am gonna do about him?” Harry asked Crookshanks who jumped up to the back of the sofa to be pet in lieu of response.

Walking back over to Hermione and Flitwick Harry found the professor holding a picture of a young James and Lilly with a somber expression.

“They were so young…” he squeaked out.

Harry shuffled uncomfortably for a second before asking, “Would you like to… see their grave?” Flitwick chocked back a sob and nodded, so Harry and Hermione led him hand in hand to the graveyard.

The dog was again lying under the tree as they approached and as the teens gave their professor some time alone to grieve it walked over and sat next to Harry. “I think he likes you,” Hermione quietly told him.

“Maybe we should take him home,” he chuckled.

“I don't know if that would be the responsible choice. What if we're drawn away for an extended period?”

“Ignoring the fact that he seems to be getting along fine on his own here, we do happen to have the highest paid House-Elf in history-”

“For all we know he could belong to one of the villagers.”

Harry knelt down and felt around the dog's neck, “He doesn't have any tags. Can we keep him?” he asked in a childlike voice.

Hermione looked between Harry and the dog who were both looking up at her with pleading eyes, “Oh I suppose. As long as Crookshanks approves,” she added as Harry's grin widened.

“I see you've made a friend,” said Professor Flitwick as he rejoined them with slightly reddened eyes. The dog carefully sniffed the professor before running his slobbery tongue across his face. Flitwick giggled a bit and asked if they'd given it a name.

“He looks an awful lot like someone we knew, so I think we should wait until Remus has a say,” Harry carefully replied. “Besides, Hermione's cat still needs to approve.”

“I have something here for the both of you,” Flitwick said as they made their way back to the cottage, the dog happily trotting alongside Harry. “We were in the middle of a meeting to decide the new head of Gryffindor house when your elf arrived in Hogwarts and tried to return these,” he held open his hands with one of their badges in each palm. Harry thought they looked surprisingly big in the tiny man's hands.

“I'm sorry Professor, but as I'm sure you're at lest vaguely aware, Harry and I have more pressing matters to attend to than attending school,” said Hermione.

“Yes, I understand. Minerva wondered aloud what Mr. Potter had to say to convince you to not return until your friend Dobby informed us all that you were the one to convince Mr. Potter to stay away,” Flitwick eyed Hermione curiously as he spoke.

“She didn't have to convince me to stay away, I just offered to go back for her,” answered Harry.

“Oh, I will have to have a word with Horace. He was most disappointed in you, Hermione, though I suspect his reasons had little to do with school,” said Flitwick.

“Yes, I'm afraid he's lost the opportunity to place Harry among his other trophies,” Hermione smirked.

The professor let out an indignant noise, “Slug Club indeed. But anyway, the Headmistress insists you keep these badges. Regardless of your decision to return, the fact that you were selected is something to be proud of. Your replacements have been selected and shall be informed tomorrow.”

“Who has she selected, Professor?” asked Hermione as they pocketed their badges.

“Well, the new Head Girl is Padma Patil, and Minerva is taking a chance, seeing as how his letter didn't arrive with your own, at letting Ron Weasley be Head Boy.”

Harry was surprised and a little saddened at the news. Ron shouldn't have even had the opportunity to be Head Boy if things had gone according to plan, but he did clearly remember what Ron had seen in the Mirror of Erised first year. Without Harry he did have the most experience on the Quidditch team, almost insuring the captaincy. “What's so funny about Ron getting the badge?” Harry asked when Hermione started to snicker at his side.

“Oh, it's just… Parvati told me last year, when Ron was vacuuming out Lavender's mouth, that Padma's still a bit upset about his refusal to even look at her during the Yule Ball. Now they're going to have to share the Head's suite.”

“That was years ago, how could she still be upset? Does that mean Parvati hates me too?”

“Does Parvati's approval mean something to you?” Hermione asked with narrowed eyes.

“No! Just… I mean… She seemed fine last year-”

“Oh! So you were watching Parvati?”

“Not like that! It's just, you were always off researching something, and every time she and Lavender came around Ron and I it was either watch the two of them snog or talk to her…” Harry could feel himself starting to sweat as the professor laughed next to him.

Hermione's lips twisted into a shrewd smile, which Harry was pretty sure meant she had only been teasing him, “Very well. No, Parvati's not upset with you. She understands now, thanks to me, that you were merely bored by the dance and not her. Ron, on the other hand, completely ignored his date in favor of glaring at the both of us, Neville, and Viktor.”

“Me?”

“Well, he might still have been a touch jealous of the attention you were getting, but he was doing his best to get past it.”

“And Padma?

Hermione sighed, “No girl wants to feel unwanted, which is exactly how Ron made her feel without ever trying to apologize for it.”

“So you think Ron needs to apologize?”

“I doubt it would help, besides the fact that Ron's dreadfully inexperienced in giving out apologies. She'll probably just make the first month or so of his year as uncomfortable as she can before moving on,” Hermione smiled satisfactorily.

“Is this something I will need to keep an eye on?” Flitwick asked as he conjured a stick for the dog to fetch. The dog seemed more interested in the stick he was holding than the one he threw.

“Oh no, Padma is far too intelligent to let something like this affect her position,” Hermione told the professor who smiled happily.

“Of course she is, she is in Ravenclaw after all,” Flitwick's voice was full of pride. “I've always wondered what out chances for the house cup would have been if you had been sorted into my house, Hermione.”

“Well you almost had your wish, but the hat changed its mind at the last second,” she replied.

“What, am I not smart enough to have been in your house?” Harry asked in a mock-hurt voice.

“You most certainly are, when you apply yourself, but anyone who knew your parents would have been shocked if you'd been anything other than a Gryffindor.” Harry refrained from telling Flitwick about his conversations with the sorting hat.

“Have you picked a new head for Gryffindor yet?” Hermione asked.

“Professor Hagrid has been selected for that. I believe he was going out tonight to celebrate, so I'm sure the entire village of Hogsmeade knows by now.”

“We'll have to stop by and congratulate him sometime,” said Harry.

“I'm sure he would greatly appreciate that,” said Flitwick as they reached the cottage.

“Harry, can you hold the dog back for a second,” Hermione asked before running inside and returning with Crookshanks. She set the cat down and he carefully walked around the dog before rubbing his head affectionately against one of its legs and looking back up to Hermione.

“Okay, Harry. You can keep him.”

“Excellent!” squeaked the professor before waving his wand at the door creating a flap big enough for the animal to enter, which it did, closely followed by Crookshanks.

The conversation through dinner was mostly about how Hagrid would fair as a head of house until Dobby brought over the cherry sundaes he had made for dessert, which brought out another happy squeal from Flitwick, “I must say, you certainly know how to entertain, Mr. Potter!”

The idea that this was his home, even temporarily, was slow to sink into Harry's head, “Actually, you're the first person we've had over.”

Remus used the topic as a springboard into the charms they were planning on adding to the property. “Making the property unplottable will require a special powder which I know the apothecary in Diagon Alley keeps a supply of, do you have a person selected to be your Secret-Keeper?”

Harry looked around the room apprehensively, “Does the Secret-Keeper have to be human?” Hermione gave him a very satisfied smile.

“Well the only requirement is that they have a soul, so I suppose not,” said Flitwick.

“Dobby, do you understand what the Fidelius Charm is?” The elf shook his head, so they carefully explained what would be required of him; when they were finished he was crying tears of joy.

“The powder flares quite brightly when it is activated, and the Fidelius requires several fiery runes, so it would be best to wait until night when the Muggles are asleep,” Flitwick informed them. As Dobby was out getting the supplies and Hermione was once again going through Lilly's notebooks with Flitwick, Harry had a word with Remus about their new pet.

“Have you picked a name for him yet?” Remus asked.

“No, I wanted to have a word with you first, since he looks so much like…”

“Padfoot, yes. When I first saw him in the graveyard I forced myself to shake off the thought, but when he was there again the next morning I couldn't help but try the Animagus reversal spell on him.”

“Why do you suppose he was there again?”

“I can't be sure, but the charms I've been applying to the area would keep it clean, dry, and warm. Any stray dog coming across a spot like that during the winter would quickly learn to like it.”

“Why didn't he try to attack Hermione and I that morning like he did you?”

“Animals, even non-magical ones, have a certain sense about them. He might have sensed your connection to your parents and the fact that you were wrapped up with Hermione would have excused her, meanwhile I stormed up the path and fired a spell at him. One could say his reaction was understandable.”

“And about the name?”

“I think I knew Sirius well enough to say he would find it highly amusing we named a dog after him, but I don't know how well I would deal with calling him Padfoot given the resemblance,” Remus said with a slightly queasy look.

“What if we call him Sirius?”

Remus eyed the dog sadly for minute before slightly nodding, “Sirius it is.”

“Are you quite happy with your jacket?” Professor Flitwick asked as Harry slipped it on to go outside and spread the powder Dobby had bought.

“It's fantastic, and it was nice to get a present from Hagrid that didn't try to bite me.”

“When he first asked me to charm the pockets I thought it would be a simple job. Imagine my surprise when he actually showed me how many he had added,” Flitwick said with a laugh.

“You did a great job, thanks. They've been pretty handy for smuggling my owl and Hermione's cat around the Muggles.”

“I'd wondered if he had that in mind when he put a perch inside one. He told me he'd have another one for Miss Granger for me to work on in a day or two,” he added in a whisper so she couldn't hear.

“I'm sure she'll love it.”

Under cover of night Harry and Remus spread the powder in a line around the edges of the property as Hermione followed Flitwick, watching him draw bright orange runes with his wand every few feet near the line and taking notes. When both pairs had finished their circuit Flitwick chanted something that made the end of his wand glow bright purple before he touched it to the powder line causing a flare of purple fire to shoot out in either direction impossibly fast.

“The runes will wait for up to an hour for the completion of the charm,” Flitwick told Hermione as they walked inside. Harry, Hermione, Remus, Flitwick and Winky gathered themselves in a circle around Dobby. “Do you remember what you must say Dobby?” he asked the elf. Dobby nodded vigorously, having been coached on this part for nearly an hour. “Just remember, as soon as everything turns dark, speak your secret, and you will seal the charm.”

Flitwick wiggled his wand about in an incredibly long, confusing manner before pointing it directly at Dobby at shouting “FIDELIO!” As if a sheet had been tightly wrapped around Harry's head, the world turned black; the only things he was sure of was the fact that he was standing up and holding Hermione's hand, everything else seemed to be suffocating in darkness.

Dobby's voice cut through the dead silence, “Harry Potter sir and his friends live at number nine, Mill Street, in Godric's Hollow!” A bright, golden light formed around Dobby, then spread outward to the edges of the runes leaving everything in its wake just as it had been before the charm had been cast.

“Well,” Flitwick said with a happy little sigh, “everything seems to be in order here. Of course should you need any further help, you know where to find me.” Everyone thanked him profusely before he left.

After the others had gone off to their rooms, Harry walked over to the fireplace and stared at a picture of his parents sitting on the grounds of Hogwarts. He allowed himself a brief moment of regret thinking his chances of having a carefree moment like the one he was viewing were slim, at least anytime soon. He took the Head Boy badge from his pocket and placed it next to his father before heading for his new room.

><><><><><><

Harry was the last one to wake the next morning which unfortunately meant he was forced to take a cold shower, something he was used to with the Dursleys, but since he could now use magic he pulled down his parents book on household charms intent on finding something to keep the water warm.

“What are you looking for?” Hermione asked him as he sat on the opposite side of the sofa from her (Dobby was between them jabbing at the remote again).

“You and Remus ran out all the hot water like the Dursleys always used to, and I don't want either of you to have to suffer through a cold shower, so I'm looking for a magical solution.”

“I'm sorry,” she stiffly apologized before setting down the book she was reading and going over to the table. After jotting a quick note she looked at Dobby before reconsidering and calling for Winky. The elf took away Hermione's note, and popped back in with a reply before she could even sit back down on the sofa.

“What's all that about?” Harry mischievously asked.

“Nothing,” Hermione quickly replied while trying to stuff the note in her pocket, but Harry reached in front of Dobby (who made an annoyed little noise) to snatch it from her.

Forget phase one, move to phase two

-H

Phase one already complete, phase two tonight

-F&G

“Are you plotting something with Fred and George?”

“Harry, please don't be mad,” Hermione nervously told him. “Something had to be done, but you're just too kind. We weren't going to tell you, at least not anytime soon…”

“Hermione, what have you done?” Harry asked with genuine concern.

“It was such a good idea. They would get what they deserved, and it would help the twins get past their grief-”

“Hermione, the point? What is this phase one rubbish?”

“Phase one was - Oh, the twins are pranking the Dursleys.”

“What? Why bother?”

“Because they shouldn't be able to just get away with the way they treated you! I know you'll never admit it but given what I already knew and after what Remus said the other day it's fairly obvious that growing up there must have been hell for you. You may be able to forget about it but I refuse to. Do you realize they've been getting paid all of these years to take care of you?” Hermione asked nearly in tears.

“It - What? What would make you think that?”

“Ragnok mentioned something about it. While you were sleeping at Mum and Dad's I took the ledger he gave you out of your trunk and had Mum help me look through it, since she deals with all of their offices' financial matters. She said it wasn't a lot of money, but definitely enough for them to have been able to buy decent clothes and feed you properly. It's painfully obvious to anyone who takes the time to really know you that they never bothered.”

“It's really nothing to worry about anymore, besides, I'm sure the twins have more important things on their minds.”

“George and Fred needed something to lift their spirits, but I did make them promise not to do anything permanent,” Hermione quickly said.

“What are these `phases?'”

“Apparently last night they went in and did a bit of moving. Right now, if they're lucky, your aunt and uncle should be standing in the hall trying to figure out how they ended up in your old room with all of the locks fastened and your cousin is probably still trying to find a way to move after being stuffed in that cupboard,” Hermione had a slightly evil grin as she explained. “Starting tomorrow those people will begin finding it a bit hard to enjoy their meals as every time they try and use a dish or cup the food will disappear on contact. They can still eat, but they'll be forced to either use their hands or replace everything.”

“And how long will that last?” Harry slowly asked as a picture of himself desperately trying to fill a goblet for Dumbledore flashed in his mind.

“Until they take off the jinx, which they said they'd do on your birthday at the latest.”

“How is it that the girl that used to chastise me over every little rule I broke has suddenly teamed up with two people that believe every rule is meant to be broke?”

“Well, I wouldn't be a very good girlfriend if I casually ignored anyone hurting you,” Hermione told him in a very prim voice before returning to her book.

It was the first time either of them had given any sort of title to their relationship and it took Harry completely by surprise. Emboldened by her declaration, Harry first moved Dobby from his seat on the sofa to a nearby chair, then the book from Hermione's hands, and kissed her thoroughly.

Remus had taken a morning walk to the store to pickup some proper dog food even though he was pretty sure Dobby would continue preparing an extra plate of whatever they were eating since he didn't know any better. Walking back into the cottage he nearly dropped the bag he was carrying when he saw his two “roommates” kissing with enough enthusiasm to make him blush. Harry was stretched out on the sofa with Hermione lying on top of him, their legs were tightly wound together and the only hand that could be identified was one of Harry's, stuck underneath the back of her shirt. Sirius trotted out of the bathroom with a dripping-wet muzzle, saw Remus standing by the door and barked happily.

The teens detached their faces and looked up to their former teacher, making no effort to disentangle themselves. “Well, I suppose that's better than a jet of water, but you really need to work on your timing Moony,” Harry calmly told him.

“Yes, I appear to be too late,” the werewolf cheekily replied.

Harry sighed, “Just because your girlfriend is out of town doesn't mean I'm not allowed to give mine some well-deserved attention.”

“Might I remind you both that the Grangers were happy to know I would be accompanying-”

“My parents were happy to know we wouldn't be alone for our safety, it had nothing to do with needing a chaperone. Their rules for… this type of situation were made quite clear to me, and I have no intention of breaking them,” Hermione cut him off sweetly before turning back to lay a series of kisses along Harry's neck.

“We could go find Annabel if you're feeling a bit lonely,” Harry added while trying to retain his composure. Between Hermione's mouth on his neck and her hands stroking his chest beneath his shirt he was having a hard time paying any attention to Remus.

“I'd tell you two to at least go to one of your rooms, but I seriously doubt I'd see you for days and you're the ones who said there are things we need to do today,” Remus coolly replied before going to the kitchen to take care of the dog food.

“Hermione!” Harry yelled a minute later. “That's gonna leave a mark,” he muttered as she jumped up from the sofa covering her mouth to hold in the laughter, and went over to the table where Remus having a cup of tea and trying not to smile.

Once Harry joined them at the table rubbing a spot on his neck and muttering something about how Hermione had turned into a Vampire overnight they informed Remus everything they were planning on researching that day. It took Hermione going over and unplugging the television to get Dobby to realize they were talking to him, he quickly apologized and popped away to tell Neville his secret so he could join them. A minute later Harry recognized the tingling feeling on the back of his neck and stood up to catch Neville before he crashed to the ground.

“Thanks Harr- What happened to your neck?” Neville asked.

“Nothing,” Harry mumbled while shooting Hermione a glare.

“Well, now that we're all here why don't Hermione and I begin researching Rowena while you and Neville spend your time with Gryffindor,” said Remus.

“Trying to keep us apart Remus?” Hermione asked.

“Well, I doubt Neville wants to spend his afternoon seeing what other ways you plan on marking Harry as your own.”

Hermione huffed indignantly before gathering her books and flopping down in a chair next to Remus. They spent several hours pouring over all of the information they had and making a list of possible artifacts, then sent Dobby to Gringotts to retrieve the box of memories.

While Harry was showing Remus through the series of memories containing a young Voldemort, Dobby figured out how to plug in the television and when Harry and Remus returned to the room they found Neville and the elf sitting wide-eyed on the sofa.

In the end Harry had to order Dobby to make dinner and physically pull Neville back to the table to continue. “So where do we think these last two Horcruxes could be?” Harry asked.

“From what we know of his past, he seems to have selected places that he was closely tied to, but not in a pleasant way,” said Hermione. “He was angered by who his true family turned out to be and leaving a piece of himself there was not so much acknowledging his kinship, but marking the place he took his revenge. Whatever he did to those two children in that cave was probably one of his greatest memories for him to honor the location as he did. Both places seem to have been somewhere that he'd taken a greater, more pleasurable step into the dark. Where else has he committed an evil great enough to enjoy it?”

“The only other places we know he murdered someone at are Saldie's Mum's place and Hogwarts, right?” Neville asked.

“There were also a few Order members we believe he killed personally, but they were all close to the time that he fell, so I would assume he would have had the first five already in place,” said Remus.

“Could he have hidden one in Hogwarts? Maybe stored somewhere in the Chamber?” Neville asked.

Harry shook his head, “That might have been part of the reason he tried to get the teaching post. He couldn't risk going back into it after he'd killed Myrtle. If he was a professor he would have had unfettered access to the school and maybe then he would have put the diary in the Chamber, believing no one else would be able to enter. Eventually he gave it to Malfoy for safe keeping only telling him that it would open the Chamber, not what it really was.”

“Why do you suppose he chose Lucius?” Remus asked.

“He might have realized he was the least likely of his Death Eaters to be imprisoned,” Hermione guessed. “If there was one person who'd be able to worm his way out of punishment it would be Malfoy.”

“To bad that excuse only works once,” Harry said with a slight grin. “And for some reason I doubt he wanted Lucius to keep the diary, it might have been his eventual plan to use him or even Draco to get it back into Hogwarts.”

“Do you think he would have hidden one in the orphanage that he grew up in?” Neville asked.

“That is possible,” Hermione agreed. “It was the place he first discovered his powers and used them to terrify the other children.”

“There's not one there,” Harry answered.

“Why would you think that?” Remus asked.

“First, I'm sure Dumbledore checked, it's too likely a place for him to have not.”

“And second?” Hermione prompted.

“He hated the place. Whatever little bits of joy he found in harassing the other people there it wouldn't have been enough to cover that fact. There has to be a place nearby that he went to be alone, a park or something. That might even be where he found out he could control animals. If he wanted something near the orphanage, it'd be there.”

“How can you be sure? I mean we're talking about finding a park in the middle of Muggle London, right?” Neville asked.

Harry shrugged a little, “When someone doesn't have any family they need a place to call their own. Somewhere they can feel special. He couldn't have found that in a place where everyone thought he was a freak.” Both Hermione's and Remus' expressions turned stony.

“I think that's about enough for today,” said Remus. “Tonks should be back in about a week, I would suggest that we wait for her before we begin scouring our way through London, just in case we run into trouble. She knows not to ask questions as to what we're looking for.”

“That sounds good,” Harry told him before looking to Hermione. “That's not going to mess up anything with the Wolfsbane, is it?”

“No, I have to start it on Tuesday, but it's little steps throughout the week, all at night, so as long as we come home everyday it will be fine.”

“It would probably be best for one of you to bring me back to Grimmauld Place for my transformation,” Remus sadly told them. “There's a room there that's been reinforced for my use, and if anything… adverse should happen, we would be closer to the hospital. Not that I don't trust you, Hermione,” he added quickly after catching Harry's glare.

><><><><>>

The rest of the week past quickly for Harry. He spent a good deal of time sifting through his thoughts in his Pensieve, which was now permanently setup in the middle of their kitchen table. Whenever he would get frustrated with his lack of progress in uncovering some forgotten piece of knowledge he would either take Sirius for a walk with Hermione, or they would Apparate over to his parents' property where Harry would try to out-fly Hedwig while Hermione sat in the sun reading. Remus, for his part, tended to avoid the village at all costs; he told them he might chance a trip whenever his “wife” returned.

Hermione had found out that Dobby's birthday was the coming Saturday, so they decided to throw the elf a small party. On Friday Harry, Hermione, and Remus traveled to Hogsmeade with Harry having quickly picked up his father's habit of complaining about being Remus' “ride.” Harry bought an assortment of garments in Gladrags Wizardwear that were sure to clash no matter how you arranged them; Alicia Spinnet was once again working the counter and let out a high-pitched squeal when she saw Harry and Hermione's linked hands before attacking them both with hugs.

While in Honeydukes Harry asked if they should get Hermione's father some wizard candy seeing as how he seemed to enjoy himself playing around with Harry's cloak. She told him that, being dentists, they tended to stay away from sweets, but Harry couldn't be stopped from filling one of his massive pockets with a variety of things. Remus told the teens to go see Hagrid while he ran a few more errands.

Their half-giant friend was decidedly not in any state to entertain when they arrived, having spent the days and nights since his appointment as head of Gryffindor house celebrating. Even after he downed a massive cupful of the extra-strong tea Harry made for him all he could muster was a few jumbled sentences and a not-so-gentle pat on the back for each of them, though he was barely coherent enough to present Hermione with her own Manticore-hide jacket, complete with built in litter box. They forced the man into his bed, fed Fang and left to find Remus.

The next morning Harry and Hermione had Dobby accompany them to the Granger's. They had told the elf it was simply to tell them his secret, but really as soon as they had left Remus and Winky began setting up for the small birthday party they were arranging. Stalling for time was easy, since Dan and Emma's television was a good deal larger than the one in their cottage, and when it was time to go Dobby grudgingly followed them all home. When they arrived the only thing that seemed to matter to the elf was that Harry Potter was giving him a party, complete with a sock-shaped cake.

Dobby took most the fun out of the presents by simply snapping his fingers to vanish all of the wrapping paper, thus the party was over quite quickly. Having been ordered to take the rest of the day off, he planted himself on the floor just a few feet from the television.

“Dobby, you really shouldn't sit so close,” Emma Granger tried to reason with him. “You could really hurt your eyes.”

“Dobby can always get glasses like Harry Potter sir, Mrs. Grangey,” the elf replied without looking.

“Mum, what can we do about him?” Hermione asked, clearly frustrated.

“I don't know… Whenever we asked you to turn off the telly, you just went to your room and read.”

“What's this thing?” Dan asked pointing at the Pensieve on the table.

Harry quickly explained and then entertained the Grangers by showing them a ghostly image of an eleven-year-old Hermione telling him off for trying to sneak out after curfew.

“How do you remember all of these trivial things, but when it comes exam time you can hardly tell the difference between a Niffler and a nullifier?” Hermione asked over her parents' laughter.

“Ah, Hermione, a man's mind is built for nonsense, not facts,” her father told her.

They spent some time viewing some simpler memories from outside the Pensieve, not really sure what would happen if a Muggle would try to enter it. The Grangers got to watch Harry and Hermione be sorted, the Quidditch match from their second year when Dobby got Harry's arm broken, the journey to get the philosophers stone, the first tri-wizard task from Hermione's point of view in the stands, and just for fun their meeting with Mrs. Davis. Dan and Emma were amused; Remus was not.

It was later when Harry was showing Emma the various pictures they had placed around that he noticed something different on the mantle. The picture that he had set his Head Boy badge next to now had a Head Girl badge sitting on the other side, next to his mother. Harry wasn't really sure what to think as he noted the two people in the picture were wearing identical badges.

“If you guys are really going to be staying here a while, you should get some pictures of yourselves up here with the rest,” Emma told Harry, breaking his train of thought.

“Precisely what I thought,” Remus said from behind them before handing Harry a small wrapped package. Under the plain brown paper Harry found a framed picture of himself, Hermione, and Crookshanks cuddled up sleeping, with Hedwig alternately looking between the scenery passing by the window and Remus, who had taken the picture on their train ride a few days ago. There was another of Harry and Hermione on his Firebolt flying through the air alongside the owl with Crookshanks' ginger-head occasionally popping up from neck of Harry's jacket. The teens had very content smiles in both photos. “I had a friend help me develop them while you were visiting Hagrid yesterday, and I also had some copies made for you and Dan,” Lupin added, pulling out another package from inside his robes and passing it to Emma.

“Thanks Remus,” Harry softly told the man as he placed them on the mantle.

“And since we're in the mood for decorating,” Remus said before waving his wand towards his room. A large frame soared into his hand and he tapped its back before placing it on the wall above the fireplace. Harry looked up sadly at the glowering picture of Sirius Black in the Prophet issue that announced his escape from Azkaban. “Oh, stop giving us that look, you're not scaring anyone here,” Remus told the picture; amazingly, the Sirius looking down on them winked at Remus before smirking.

Harry turned away to watch Dan trying to get Dobby to spend more than half a second on each station when an image from the television sent a jolt through his mind. “Dobby stop, go back.” The elf obediently flipped the channel back down and they saw a broad panning shot of a range of mountains before the scene changed to a reporter standing in a run-down city. “Where's that?” Harry asked Dan.

“It looks like another report on the riots in Albania. Their economy's almost completely collapsed as of late and it's drawn the country close to civil war. I had a patient a few days ago with some family there and he thinks their government is about to slip into the hands of the socialists,” Dan grimly replied.

“That scene they showed, those mountains, they're in Albania too?”

“I would assume so. There's not much of a point to showing the scenery of another country than the one you're reporting on,” Dan said with a shrug.

Harry slowly made his way back to the table deep in thought. Earlier, when he was showing the Grangers his memory of saving the stone they had been a bit preoccupied with the idea that one of his professors had a second face sticking out the back of his head, but Harry had been listening to what Quirrell had told him. I met him when I traveled around the world. Would it have been possible for Voldemort to return to the same place that Quirrell had found him? He faintly remembered Percy and Mr. Weasley saying something about Bertha Jorkins being lost on vacation in Albania. Bagman had suggested she got it confused with Australia.

Quirrell had some vague connections to Vampires, according to several people at Hogwarts his first year, and really Translyvania was close enough to Albania for a person to conceivably visit both on one trip, but why would Voldemort go to Albania? There had to be something there, either something he wanted protected or something that he thought could give him his body back. What if it was a Horcrux? He would have picked the furthest one away from England, knowing that Dumbledore and the Aurors were still looking for him, then sat waiting for someone to come along and help him use it.

But then why didn't Quirrell use it to bring him back then? Hermione's voice asked from the back of his mind.

The stone. Quirrell had known about the stone. They had tried to steal it a full month before the school year had started; the same day Harry met him. Hagrid seemed surprised to see the man, so he must have just returned from his trip. Voldemort would have only used a Horcrux if there were no other option to resurrect himself, and Quirrell gave him a perfectly good alternative. With the stone destroyed, Voldemort would have gone back to his next-best plan, waiting. He needed a wizard's help to activate a Horcrux, so he waited until Wormtail found him.

And why didn't he just activate the bloody thing? The voice asked again.

“Because he wasn't alone,” Harry said aloud, staring so intently at the swirling mist inside his Pensieve that he didn't notice the others coming over to him. Bertha Jorkins was with Wormtail. Voldemort wrecked her mind and body squeezing information from her to make his next plan. Harry put his wand to his temple and extracted his memory from the graveyard beginning with the skeletal figure of Voldemort rising from the cauldron.

Harry forced himself to listen intently to what Voldemort was saying, looking for some sort of verification. He went on about his family, about taking his revenge against his father. The Death Eaters arrived and he taunted and tortured them. Moving on with his tale, Voldemort finally arrived on his time with Quirrell, speaking of bending his will only to fail in the end. I returned to my hiding place far away… When he heard those words a triumphant surge went through Harry, but the memory continued. His filthy little friends told him there was a place, deep in the Albanian forest, that they avoided, where small animals like themselves had met their deaths by a dark shadow that possessed them…

Not even bothering to notice that he almost knocked over Remus, Harry quickly walked over to Dobby on the sofa, “Dobby, go to the Hogwarts library and bring me back an atlas, and any books they have on Albania.” The elf was only gone a few seconds before he popping back with two tomes: one massive atlas, and a skinny book on wizarding history in Albania.

Flipping madly through the history book for anything to do with a large forest near mountains Harry quickly found a picture that made his heart skip a beat.

Mount Korab, the highest peak in Albania, has been used since ancient times as a location for many sacred rituals. Some time in recent years a great dark force has been rumored to have inhabited the area causing many unexplained disappearances.

Harry went back and checked the publication date. Nineteen eighty-four. This was it, there had to be a Horcrux hidden there and it was either the object itself, or perhaps whatever was guarding it that had caused the disappearances.

“Hermione, I think I've found one,” Harry excitedly said, but no one was listening. Hermione, Remus, Dan and Emma were all still watching his memory of the graveyard. Remus' face had turned a chalky-white while Hermione's parents looked like they were going to be sick. He heard himself Accio the cup and knew it was over, slowly their faces turned to him, the high of his discovery fading fast.

“Oh, you poor boy,” Emma sobbed out before slamming him into an embrace that knocked the wind from him. “How did you ever manage to go on after that?”

After a few failed attempts at replying Harry finally croaked out, “I didn't really have a choice. Hermione had to put up with me being quite an arse for a while after that, but in the end she put me in my place and helped me through it.”

Emma sniffed violently and turned to her daughter, “Hermione Jane Granger, don't you dare ever give this young man a hard time about what he's been put through!”

“Really, it's okay, I deserved it. Every time she tried to have an honest conversation with me I ended up shouting at her,” Harry pleaded.

“I can't believe I'm actually glad my daughter dropped out of school,” said Dan as he draped an arm across Hermione's shoulders. “Anyplace that would allow a fourteen-year-old to be so obviously used as bait should have its doors barred shut.”

“There are some good people there too,” said Harry.

“Of all people Harry, you are the last one that should feel the need to defend Hogwarts. From the time you were eleven you've been dumped from one life-threatening situation to another,” said Remus.

“No Remus,” Harry said while shaking his head, “I wasn't dumped into anything. I walked into it all by myself, and what's worse is that I led others with me. I should have had more help from some of the staff; I still can't believe Dumbledore didn't notice Voldemort growing out of one of his teacher's head. That aside, Hogwarts isn't to blame for anything. The school has its own spirit, like a magical presence. It's a tangible thing that you can feel the first time you walk inside, at least once the shock wears off, or even the first time you sneak into the kitchens and see the elves happily going about their lives. That spirit is just as alive now as it ever has been, even when Tom Riddle was there with his pet snake. Any place that has enough magic in it to allow an orphan to feel at home no matter how many times he's nearly croaked there, well, that's a place worth protecting, which is exactly what I'm going to do. By going to Albania…” Harry placed the book on the table opened up to the picture he had found. The resulting silence was only broken by Crookshanks and Sirius coming inside from their exploration of the area.

<><>><><<><>

“Harry, are you sure about all of this?” Hermione asked as she sat on the end of his bed. She and Remus had made him go over exactly what his reasoning was several times before warming up to the possibility that he was right. The fact that it all spurned from a dream of his made them (understandably) both quite weary.

“Did I ever tell you what I dreamed about my first night in Hogwarts?” She shook her head. “I was wearing Quirrell's turban and I kept hearing Voldemort's voice, even though I didn't know it at the time, telling me I should be a Slytherin. He said it was my destiny. Malfoy was there, then Snape. They both laughed at me as I tried to pull the thing off my head.”

“Harry, you know I don't believe in Divination,” said Hermione.

“I know. Don't think much of it myself, but I'm sure there's been times where you've thought or remembered of something that you had no logical way of knowing. Do you ever wonder if maybe… Maybe there was somebody out there trying to help you? I mean; I had this dream the night we slept over my parents' grave. Do you think maybe they could be trying to help me?”

“I - I don't know. Almost everything I thought when I was younger turned out to be either wrong or completely insignificant as I learned more and more of the wizarding world. Of course I accept the possibly, but really I think it comes down to what you personally believe. I also avoid getting up on a soapbox and lecturing people on the spirit of Hogwarts, when I can help it,” she said with a slight chuckle.

Harry felt the heat coming off his own cheeks, “Sorry about that. Are you're parents going to think I'm completely mad now?”

“They've always thought you a bit mad. Really, how many eleven-year-olds go running off to fight trolls? However I know just how mad you are, and if it makes you feel any better, I wouldn't have you any other way.” Hermione stretched out on the bed next to him, laying a small kiss on his cheek.

“Isn't this breaking any of your parents' rules?” Harry asked her with raised eyebrows.

“There really is only one rule, and I have no intention of breaking it. After all I really am almost eighteen and for all intents and purposes have moved out of their house.”

“What's their rule?”

Hermione seemed to be determined to not look him in the eye as she answered, “That they have a son-in-law at least nine months before a grandchild.”

“Right, well… We won't let them down,” Harry got out once his coughing fit ended.

“I'm sorry for doubting you earlier,” Hermione yawned out.

“That's okay,” Harry replied in kind. “We all need to be sure about everything we do.”

“I'm sure,” Hermione mumbled as she snuggled up to him.

><><><><><><>

“Harry, come with me a moment,” Remus said the next morning.

Harry opened his eyes to discover Hermione still sleeping on top of the bed cuddled up next to him, both of them (luckily) still fully clothed. He carefully disentangled himself before following Remus to the kitchen.

“I just thought we might need to have a bit of a chat,” Remus started quite uncomfortably, “seeing as how you've had a severe lack of any type of fatherly figure in your life. Of course I'm not trying to put myself there, but there are without a doubt some questions every young man needs to ask…”

Harry's memory flashed back to a nearly unbearable conversation he'd had with Sirius in the days before Christmas in his fifth year. “Really Remus, it's okay. We don't need to do this.”

“Oh really?”

With a sigh, Harry took his wand and dropped the memory into the Pensieve on the table. After his gesture, Remus submerged himself into it. Watching over top Harry saw the scene in the kitchen; Ron happily gorging himself while Harry and Hermione were having a quiet conversation about what to do with the DA after the break. Sirius was seated at the other end of the table watching the two close enough to make Harry wonder now if he'd seen something between the two of them that he still couldn't pick up. When he saw himself get pulled away from the table and led up to Sirius' room Harry decided to go back to his bed, knowing full well that Remus would be back in about forty-five minutes, and probably laughing his head off.

Harry was proven quite correct when he heard the man slumping to the ground and howling loud enough to wake Hermione through the closed door.

“Is something wrong with Remus,” she groggily asked.

“No, just do yourself a favor. For the next couple of days, if you see him reaching for a frying pan, leave the room.” Thankfully she didn't ask.

><><><><><>

Tonks returned to England the following Thursday, and after Harry and Dobby had collected her from Grimmauld Place they all sat down breakfast. Hermione eventually correctly guessed that she had been sent to Hong Kong as part of a security detail for the Prince. To no one's surprise Voldemort had been threatening the royal family, thus Tonks had been spending the last week and a half disguised as an Asian ambassador during the hand over.

The look on Tonks' face made Harry suspect she wanted some time alone with Remus, so he sent Dobby to Grimmauld for the day, reminded them to feed Sirius and Crookshanks, and told them they'd be back after dark so Hermione could continue on the Wolfsbane potion. Once he and Hermione had Apparated to his families land the thought struck him that they really had nothing to do for an entire day. They had put off planning for any trips waiting for Tonks, but he wasn't about to interrupt what he was pretty sure as going on by now in the cottage.

“Well, we can always have dinner with Mum and Dad, but they probably won't be home from work for another six or seven hours,” Hermione responded when he voiced their dilemma.

“Right, want to go flying for a bit?” he habitually asked her, even though she never took him up on the offer.

“No thanks. They way you fly when you just do it simply for fun is a bit too much for me.”

She conjured a blanket to lie on while he took to the sky. Hedwig soon joined him and they took to their normal competition. Harry never felt bad about losing since he wasn't the one born with wings. As he neared the bottom of a dangerously fast dive Harry felt a familiar tingle on his neck and tried to level himself out as soon as possible. About ten feet from the ground Neville appeared in midair next to him and sent them both crashing to the ground.

“What in the world were you thinking!”

Harry was vaguely aware of Hermione screaming as she pulled him to his feet. Luckily he was able to kick his Firebolt away as he fell to the ground, but that didn't help cushion his landing at all.

“I'm sorry!” Neville stammered back. “I just wanted to talk to Harry! I didn't think he'd be up in the air!”

“See what happens when you don't think!” Hermione screamed back and smacked him on the shoulder. “You could have sent an owl, or even Saldie to see if we were busy!”

“Hermione, please stop shouting,” Harry winced out.

“Oh Harry, are you all right?” she asked while yanking him into an embrace.

“I'm fine really, just a headache.”

“You are not fine! You landed on your head!” she whimpered out before rounding on Neville again. “You could have broken his neck, what's wrong with you!”

“I'm sorry,” Neville muttered out in a timid voice Harry hadn't heard since first year. “I'll go-”

“No Neville you don't have to go anywhere,” Harry quickly put in. “I'm okay, Hermione's just overreacting.”

“OVERREACTING? You landed on your HEAD! We have to take you to the hospital!”

“I'm fine, really! It's just a bump, it wasn't that high of a fall,” Harry told them both while massaging the back of his head where he could feel a lump forming. “The last thing we need right now is to show up at St. Mungo's because of a little broom accident.”

“You need to have somebody take a look at you, if not the hospital then maybe Tonks-”

“We both know that's not an option.”

“Fine! Then I'm taking you to Mum and Dad's office. They both know enough medicine to tell if you have a concussion.”

“I'm sure they're busy, we'll see them tonight,” Harry tried to reason.

“No! We're going now, and since this is your fault you're coming too,” she added glaring at Neville. She quickly stashed Harry's broom and grabbed Neville by the arm hard enough to make him wince. “Use your necklace Harry, just to be safe,” she said in a much softer voice before disappearing.

“Hedwig,” Harry called over to his owl, “why don't you go back to the cottage and make sure Remus and Tonks don't… do anything in either of our rooms.” She bobbed her head in reply before taking back to the air.

The crack of Harry's arrival was loud enough to quickly draw Dan into his office, “Is everything all right? Hermione, why do you look so upset?”

“Because this lump,” she replied with another swat at Neville, “decided to come along and knock Harry off his broom. He claims he's fine, but he landed on his head!”

“Well, shouldn't you have taken him to the hospital?” Dan asked in confusion.

Hermione huffed a little, “He refuses to go, but I think he at least needs to be checked over for a concussion.”

“Really, I'm okay. We only fell ten feet, and I broke Neville's fall.”

Dan refused to let Harry slide either because he really wanted to make sure his was okay, or to calm Hermione down. After a quick exam he retrieved an ice pack for him and told his daughter he'd be fine.

“What is this place,” Neville asked while looking at a cross-sectioned model of a tooth.

“We're in my Mum and Dad's practice. You remember I told you they were dentists?”

“Right, you said they drill holes in people's faces,” Neville replied looking a little queasy.

“Well, we do a bit more than that,” Dan said while looking oddly at Hermione. “Have any of your friends ever been to see a dentist?”

“Most magical families just use charms to take care of their teeth,” Hermione told the carpet.

“Oh, like when Madam Pomfrey had to charm your teeth smaller in fourth year?” Neville put in, finally understanding what the Grangers dealt with.

“What was that?” Dan sharply asked.

Hermione stammered out an explanation that contained an apology roughly every five words, much to her relief it drew a chuckle instead of an outburst from her father. Dan then pulled Neville into an exam room and gave Harry and Hermione some money to go to a nearby café to get lunch for them all. When they returned Neville was proudly showing off his new toothbrush to Emma.

“Have you gotten anymore planning done on this trip you intend to take?” Emma asked as Hermione passed around the sandwiches they'd bought.

“Nothing concrete,” Hermione replied. “Remus suggested it might be safest to travel as Muggles, which we all agreed to, but that lengthens our travel time considerably. I'll be finishing with his potion Saturday night, but it still needs to simmer through next week. If we left as soon as it's ready that would mean he'd most likely have to undergo one of his transformations on the road, an idea he's quite uncomfortable with.”

“Where are you going?” Neville asked.

Harry quickly brought him up to date. “As much as he doesn't like the idea, Remus agrees he probably shouldn't come along at all. We're not really keen on going by ourselves and thought we might ask Tonks or even Bill Weasley to come along-”

“But they both have careers to tend to. The Aurors are quite busy apparently, and I'd almost be afraid to ask what the goblins have Bill doing,” Hermione finished.

“I'll come,” Neville told them. “Gran might not like it, but you both know that I'm in this no matter what.”

“I really appreciate that Nev, but I realized this morning who might just be the perfect person, if he's feeling better that is,” said Harry.

“Who Ron?” Hermione scoffed.

“No, he still needs to make the first move there,” Harry sadly told her. “I think we should talk to Hagrid.”

Hermione brightened up, “He'd be perfect! He's already traveled most of the same terrain while looking for the giants, and I'd bet he'll be a great help if we come across anything dangerous in the forests.”

“How dangerous are you talking about,” Dan nervously asked.

“You never know what magical creatures you could come across in the wilderness,” Hermione told him, “and Hagrid is the gamekeeper at Hogwarts. He almost lives in the forbidden forest and is used to dealing with everything there.”

“Not to mention the fact that he's nearly twelve feet tall and could pound any of us flat if he wanted,” Neville added looking a little relieved.

“We just have to check and see if McGonagall will let him go on another trip. Hopefully we'll have him back in time,” said Harry.

Hermione suddenly looked concerned, “Harry, how much do you think we'll have to tell him to make him agree to come along? We both know he's not the best at keeping secrets.”

“It's just like the plan to bring Tonks into London. We tell him we're looking for something but we can't say what. Hagrid's a lot smarter than most people give him credit for, even if he does talk too much. We already have a pretty specific area to check out first, if that doesn't turn up anything and we have to widen our search we might have to tell him a bit more, but really we need somebody to help us get there more than anything else. Hagrid knows how serious things are, and now with Dumbledore dead I'll bet he's willing to do anything to stop Voldemort. I wouldn't be surprised if he'd asked to be obliviated afterwards.”

“Be what?” Emma asked in alarm.

“Obliviated. It's a magical removal of one's memory,” Hermione told her.

“What's this about London,” Dan asked.

“Voldemort grew up in an orphanage in London. They think there's a chance he might have left… something in the area,” Harry replied.

“You disagree?” Emma asked.

“I accept the possibility,” Harry slowly told her, “but I don't really think he'd leave it there. We've just been waiting for Tonks to get back before we tried to find the place.”

“Do you know where in London this place is?” Dan asked.

“No,” Hermione replied. “We have a memory of Dumbledore walking there, so our best option is splitting up and trying to find some landmarks from it.”

“Your father did grow up in London, could you show him in that bowl?” Emma asked.

Hermione squeaked, “Why didn't I think of that! Harry and I were planning on coming over for dinner, we could try to bring it along.”

“Couldn't you just pop over to your cottage and get it now?” Neville asked.

“We've sort of evicted ourselves for the day to give Remus and Tonks some time to… catch up,” said Harry.

“Well, if you need a place to relax, you can always go to our house,” Dan told them while Emma snickered at his side.

Hermione rolled her eyes at her mother, “That would be lovely, but first Harry and I need to do a bit of shopping. Neither of us is very equipped to spend an extended period of time in the wilderness. I suppose Neville will be coming with us, unless either of you need to practice anything that involves a drill…”

“I said I was sorry!” Neville stammered out. “I just wanted to talk to Harry a bit and maybe watch that tell-me-vision again!”

><><><><>

“So what did you want to talk to me about?” Harry asked Neville as Hermione searched the racks of a sporting goods store near her parents' house.

“I got an owl today from Fred and George. They invited me to dinner in the town near the Burrow. They also made it a point to mentioned Katie'd be there.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“I don't know. When I got back home the day after the wedding she seemed happy to see me, but it might have been just because she wanted to get away from Gran. I haven't heard from her since,” Neville said with a furrowed brow.

“Are you afraid that she doesn't want to see you again? She might have been waiting for you to get in touch with her you know. Really I think that's what most girls expect. As much as I would have liked to sit back and let luck take over I actually had to step up and do something the morning after the wedding. Knowing the results, I'd do it over again in a heartbeat.”

“Do you think it could just be the twins trying to trick me? I don't really fancy the idea of spending the evening as a canary.”

“Don't worry Neville,” Hermione told him after coming up and dropping a load of clothes in Harry's arms, “they got most of their pent-up mischief out of their system last week. And if my opinion matters I think you should go. Katie's a lovely girl who's been seriously devoid of friends this summer,” she added before shooing Harry over to a dressing room.

“What do you think about getting a tent? I'm not really sure Hagrid will fit inside a normal one,” Harry asked once inside.

“There's no chance on that. Maybe we could borrow one of the ones Mr. Weasley had for the world cup?” Hermione called back.

“He borrowed them from that old guy he used to work with, maybe he could get one again. Hopefully the one you stayed in, ours smelled like cats.”

“Do you think we should get some hiking boots while we're here?” Hermione's voice came through the door.

“Muggle boots?” Neville answered, perhaps a little too loud. “They had dragon skin ones in Gladrags, why not get those?”

“Yes, but those are quite expensive,” Hermione replied.

“You know I can afford it, Hermione,” Harry called back. “Why do these have pockets at the knees?”

“They're cargo pockets Harry, so you can carry more things, and I don't like you spending all your money on me, so normal boots are fine.”

Harry poked his head out to reply, but only saw Neville who gestured to the next door down from him. “Then who's paying for what you're trying on now?”

“I have enough money to buy a few things for myself,” she quickly replied.

“Like I'm going to let you spend it,” Harry murmured back. “And we're going to Hogsmeade from here.”

Harry paid for their clothes, two new sleeping bags, and some cooking equipment before they all Apparated to Gladrags. Alicia Spinnet was once again working inside, and being visited by Katie Bell. Seeing the opportunity for what it was Harry called out, “Hermione and I need some new boots, can you show us some?” With a not-to-subtle nudge Harry left Neville at the counter.

Hermione was unable to talk him out of the deep scarlet Chinese Fireball boots he found. She kept going on about how black was a much more practical color for boots until he found a pearly, iridescent pair for her. The conflict brewing within her was evident as she ran a hand over the shimmering material.

“That's Opaleye hide,” Alicia told them. “Don't see much of it around here, mostly because the stuff's so expensive.”

“Excellent. We'll take these,” Harry told her while handing over both the pearl and scarlet boots. “Do you think they've had enough time alone up there yet?”

Apparently they had. As soon as they got back to the counter Neville and Katie both announced they needed to go get ready for dinner. “That's a strange thing to tell someone at two o'clock on a Thursday,” Hermione observed as they walked out of the store not quite touching each other.

“Really it's about time. Now Katie can stop bugging me about what to do about him,” said Alicia.

“Harry, you really shouldn't keep buying me things,” Hermione tried one last time as he went to pay.

Harry leaned in close to her ear to whisper, “You've seen my vault, do you really think it matters?” She shook her head slightly. “Then why does it really bother you?”

“Harry, I haven't even been your girlfriend for two weeks. What have I ever done to deserve this?”

“I'll never be able to pay you back for all the help you've given me through the years-”

“I would never ask for any kind of repayment, you know that-”

“Oh enough already,” Alicia broke in. “Harry pay up, Hermione quit whining and learn to enjoy being pampered, and both of you get out of here before I'm forced to tell George how obnoxiously cute you're being.”

A very short time later they arrived at the Granger's house. Hermione made Harry change out of the cast-off clothes he'd been wearing and burn them in the barbeque out back before they went to relax in the sitting room. As she went to the sofa saying something about how they should surprise her parents and cook them dinner, Harry once again found himself staring. She was wearing a khaki pair of shorts that seemed have shrunk as she sat down and now the smooth expanse of her crossed legs nearly made him sweat. How did I not notice her growing those? He asked himself.

“Growing what?” Hermione asked, looking up to meet his eyes. The visible snitch around her neck began flapping furiously.

Harry inwardly cursed his mouth for acting on its own before shoving aside as much of his nervousness as possible and kneeling in front of her. “These,” he replied as evenly as possible while running his fingertips slowly along her thigh and down her calf to her bare toes. It wasn't the first time he'd touched her there, but something told him this time would be a lot more memorable.

“Well, I suppose the point is that you noticed, not when,” she replied, but if the constant tickle under his shirt was any indicator, she was forcing her voice as much as he was. Hermione kneeled on the floor facing him and slid her hands up underneath his shirt. The feeling of her fingers slowly running down his chest and across his stomach made his muscles involuntarily contract. “The time I saw you without your shirt through my mirror I had to force myself not to look. I kept finding myself wondering what this would feel like.” One of her fingers traced its way through the small trail of hair leading down from his belly button causing him to squirm. “I'm sorry, if that's not okay,” she quickly said as her cheeks turned pink.

“It's okay,” he quietly told her. “It just tickled.”

“I really thought I was going mad at first. We'd been just friends for so long then suddenly I get this urge to just…” she silently put her hands around his back and pulled them through the dips between his ribs. “And it didn't go away. Every time we saw each other after that I kept wondering. I must have been driving Mum up the wall, constantly badgering her about what to do. I even asked Fleur for advice. She seemed to think that if I'd just come out and kiss you everything would work out fine, but then Tonks showed up and I completely lost my nerve. The next day I couldn't find a way to say what I wanted, then Katie up and kissed you and I swear if you'd have only stayed awake another minute you would've called me beautiful-”

“Really? What would have happened if I did?”

“Well if you think you would have woken up with me in your bed instead of sitting on it you're sorely mistaken,” Hermione quipped while lightly tickling his sides. “If you hadn't taken Dad to the Burrow as early as you did I probably wouldn't have had the chance to talk to Mum as much as I did. I was so confused and unloaded it all onto her. That's why she was so down at the wedding. She was convinced I was going to give up and that you'd never notice. She was also quite upset with you.”

“I don't even remember the wedding. I was kind of… staring… at you the whole time.”

“A lot of things went wrong that night, but there is one thing I can be happy about,” Hermione told him before giving him a soft kiss. Harry's hands drifted under her shirt to rest on her sides.

“Yeah, the cake was pretty good.”

Hermione made to shove Harry down, but he brought her with him landing just as entangled as the morning Remus found them on the sofa. Things were different this time, slower, more sincere.

“Are you happy about taking your chance?” Hermione asked as she rubbed her cheek across his.

Harry couldn't stop himself from tucking her hair back and nibbling her earlobe. “I think I can honestly say this is one of the best thing that's ever happened to me.”

“Just one of?” she asked with a playful little pout.

“Well, I'd say your main competition would be the memory of Hagrid telling me about Hogwarts.”

Harry could feel her eyes boring into his as she took in what he said. “You're serious, aren't you? After everything you've done, you really think this is…”

“Don't you?” he asked with a touch of sadness.

“Of course I do, but Harry, you've had such an amazing life-”

“No more than yours really, and you've been through most of it with me.”

“Just so you're aware, these things you keep telling me tend to make me forget the concept of rational thought,” she told him before kissing him softly again.

A few bumps with her nose led Hermione to remove Harry's glasses. Her hands continued to roam between gripping his hair and massaging the back of his neck. For his part Harry's tended to drift between her shoulder blades all the way down to the bottom of her shorts. The first few times they passed over the back of her bra or her bum she released a pleasant little gasp into his mouth. He carefully rolled them over hoping she wouldn't hesitate to tell him if his weight was too much. As their tongues slowly circled each other Harry repeatedly felt his way from the waistband of her shorts back up to her shoulder; each time they journeyed down they migrated closer together until his thumbs were running along the stiff piece of wire in her undergarment. He gently lifted her shirt, unintentionally cupping her breasts, to bare her stomach before breaking their kiss.

“Harry what… ohhh…” Hermione's head fell back as he began kissing the exposed skin of her midriff. He wasn't really sure what made him want to do this, but he was definitely pleased with the reaction it brought out of her. When he had slid his body down their legs had untangled themselves and now he slowly found himself making his way back up directly between hers. Harry pushed up a bit more of her shirt as he kissed his way along the edge of her rib cage staring wondrously at the pale-blue fabric of her bra; he noticed her arms stretched out over her head, almost as if she was waiting for him to fully remove the garment that was now mostly pooled around her neck.

Her hips squirmed in a way that pleased them both as Harry's mouth continued its trail along the upper edges of the blue fabric and the spots where her obviously hard nipples were pressing against it. Harry shifted himself back to the position he rolled them over in and her legs compulsively wrapped around him, holding him tightly down. There was no doubt in his mind that she could feel his reaction to her movements. Continuing his trail up her breastbone towards her face Harry gathered up as much of her shirt as he could fill his hands with, Hermione lifted her shoulders off the ground to aid in his removal of the article just as a car door closed outside the house.

Hermione jerked her shirt down as she scrambled to her feet while Harry frantically searched for his glasses. Once his vision was cleared he saw her desperately trying to smooth the wrinkles from her clothes. With a quick flick of his wand Harry set both of their outfits right, luckily he'd taken notice of the charm while searching for a solution to the cold shower water. Harry's eyes widened as he simultaneously heard the door unlocking and noticed the two points protruding from Hermione's t-shirt. She followed his gaze and noticed just in time to cross her arms over her chest as her parents entered the house. Harry quickly sat down, joined instantly by Hermione clutching a pillow in front of herself.

“Ah, you are here, and my aren't those boots red,” Dan said as he entered the sitting room.

Hermione weakly chuckled, “I tried to talk him into a black pair, but he just wouldn't listen.”

“And you stopped trying once I found you a pair,” Harry retorted.

Seeing the look on her father's face Hermione picked her wand up from the table and gave it a little flick. The boots almost collided with Emma as they both entered the room. “What in the world are those?”

“Harry decided we both had to have dragon hide boots,” Hermione rolled her eyes as she caught them. “I didn't really want him to pay for them, but they are rather beautiful, aren't they.”

“Yes quite, good show Harry,” said Emma.

“Have you two been waiting long?” Dan asked.

“Just a short while really,” Hermione struggled out. “I made Harry burns those rags of his cousin's out back after we returned. You seem to be home rather early, is everything alright?”

“Well, we knew you didn't have anywhere else to go and since there's not an awful lot around the house to keep yourselves occupied with we thought we'd come home a bit early,” Emma casually replied causing a massive lump to form in Harry's throat. He hoped more than anything he wasn't blushing too badly.

“So, who's up for eating out?” Dan asked after a slightly uncomfortable silence.

><><><><><><

Following supper they returned to the Granger's house where Harry asked Dobby to retrieve his Pensieve “As quickly and quietly as you can.” The elf looked somewhat disturbed when he reappeared. Hermione and her father went over the memory of Dumbledore walking to Tom Riddle's orphanage while Harry pulled Emma aside.

“Hermione said something about how you handle the bookkeeping for you office and I was wondering if you could help me make some sense of this?” he asked producing the ledger he'd received from Gringotts.

“She asked me to take a peak at this before, what exactly are you trying to learn?”

“Ragnok, the goblin who gave me this, said he'd help me make a will, but he strongly suggested I read this over first.”

“Does Hermione know you're drawing up a will?” He shook his head. “Be careful how you tell her. The last things she needs on her mind is the thought that you might…”

“I understand.”

Emma tried to ease him through the ledger but since he hadn't taken a math class since he was ten and the closest thing Hogwarts offered was measuring potion ingredients, Harry was quickly lost. It took her five attempts at giving him a very rough total before it started to sink in and she could move on to how most wills were setup and some other well-meaning financial advice while they waited for Hermione and Dan to finish in the kitchen.

><><><><><

Hagrid,

Hermione and I are wondering if you'd be available to help us out in a rather important matter. It would involve you leaving Hogwarts, perhaps as early as next week, but if everything goes well you shouldn't have to worry about getting back in time for your classes.

We can meet you at your cabin tomorrow if you want to talk, but unfortunately like at the house much of what we are doing needs to remain secret. Dobby will await your reply.

Harry

Once Dobby was on his way to Hagrid's Harry turned to watch Hermione carefully going through this evenings steps for Remus' potion. Remus and Tonks had not emerged from his room, but the occasional giggle made their presence known to all. Hedwig, Crookshanks, and Sirius were all sitting between Harry and Hermione's rooms glaring at him. They'd obviously heard more than they would have liked to that day.

“I really don't understand why this potion is supposed to be so difficult,” Hermione said as she cleaned up her work area. “Sure there are a lot of steps, but as long as you follow the directions there's nothing to worry about.”

Harry walked up and embraced her from behind; “Are you that sure you've done it correctly?” he asked and laid a small kiss on the base of her neck.

“Are you doubting me?” She turned in his arms with her eyebrows raised.

“Not at all,” came his easy reply, “but bragging is usually best left until after you've finished.”

“The only people I would really brag to would be you, Mum, and Dad.”

“Speaking of your parents. Do you think they know?”

“No,” she quickly told him. “They'd be delusional not to suspect, but if they knew Mum in particular would have teased us all through supper.”

“I'm sorry if I…” Harry blurted out. “I mean, I think I got a bit carried away.”

“I think we both did,” Hermione replied with a little smile. “Not that it wasn't nice, it's just…”

“I don't want to push you into anything, just so you know.”

“I wouldn't let you do anything I didn't want Harry, but I just don't think I'm ready for… that.”

“I know.”

Hermione continued on without hearing him, “We've shared so much with each other but now everything's changed, and don't get me wrong I think it's a very good change just-”

“I understand, really,” he firmly told her.

Hermione gave him a warm smile and a deep kiss. “Good night, Harry.”

Harry admired the view as she sauntered off to her room not recalling any other time he'd seen her walk in that matter. Smiling to himself, Harry walked to his room and crawled into bed. He heard Sirius make his way over to the blankets he'd set down below his window at the same time he felt Crookshanks claim the other pillow on his bed. Hedwig clicked her beak in annoyance when the sounds of Tonks giggling carried through the open door. We should have gotten a bigger cottage.

-->

10. In the Shadow of the Mountain

10. In the Shadow of the Mountain

“Do you think we'll ever see them again?” Harry asked as they made their way across the grounds to Hagrid's hut. All through the night whenever either of them had tried to get to sleep they were woken by more noises from Remus' room. At one point Harry had been sure he'd heard someone fall out of bed and hoped that would be the end of it. He was quite wrong.

“Well, he'll eventually have to come out if he wants his potion. What I can hardly believe is how hypocritical he's being.”

“How's that?”

Hermione huffed, “Really Harry, don't you remember what he said the morning he found us on the sofa?”

“Right, something about not seeing us for days if we went to one of our rooms?”

“Precisely. If he ever decides to show his face again we're going to have to have a talk with him about-”

“You can have a talk with him about anything you want, the only thing I would remind him would be how to properly apply a silencing charm to his room.”

“Oh I see, you've no problem being my boyfriend as long as it doesn't involve standing up to a certain werewolf and his little minx.”

“That's not very fair,” Harry told her coming to a stop just outside the hut. “Maybe I just don't want to start a fight with a flatmate.”

“So you'll just leave it to me? Have you already grown tired of kissing me?” she asked with a devilish grin.

“I don't know, lets see,” he replied before pulling her close and giving her a quick kiss. “Alright. We'll have a talk with him when we get home.”

Hermione stroked his cheek, “Good man, now let's see how Hagrid's doing.”

As soon as they were on the steps Hagrid threw open the door, “'Bout time yeh finished wit all that. Thought yeh were gonna make me wait `round all day for yeh.” After both teens failed to do anything more than blush he impatiently motioned them over to the table.

“Thanks for seeing us Hagrid, how would you feel about taking a little trip with us?” Harry asked as Fang eagerly sniffed Hermione and himself.

“'Course I'm comin. Just finished packin' and sent a note off to Professor McGonagall about watching Fang. When we leavin?”

“Well it would be Monday at the earliest,” Hermione told him. “We need to stop by the ministry today and see about getting Harry a passport as we're planning on traveling as Muggles. Would you need one as well?”

“Nah. Dumbledore got me one the summer he sent me lookin fer the giants.”

“That's good. How exactly did you and Madam Maxime get out of the country? No offense but I don't think there's many planes big enough for the two of you,” said Harry.

“Nah, I suppose not. We took a boat over to France then hopped a train the rest of the way to her school. After tha' `twas mostly portkeys.”

Hermione looked over to Harry, “We could take the train through the channel tunnel then transfer onto another that would get us the rest of the way there.”

“An' where's there?” Hagrid asked.

“Oh sorry,” Harry mumbled. “We're going to Albania. We need to search a forest near a specific mountain there.”

“Obviously there'll be a few days worth of travel time, but if everything goes well we should be back in time for Harry's birthday,” Hermione added.

A sharp knock drew their attention to the door and Professor McGonagall letting herself in. “I see you've arrived.”

“Yes ma'am, Harry and I were just checking on Hagrid before arranging our travel plans,” Hermione politely told her.

“And am I to take it that these plans are what prompted the both of you to return your badges?”

“Yes, in a way,” Harry coolly replied not sure where the conversation was being led. “But we do promise to do everything in our power to return your Professor in time to collect first years from the train.”

“An' yeh already know I intend on followin `em as long as it takes,” Hagrid firmly added.

“I gathered as much. Professor Dumbledore's portrait was as disappointed as I when you opted to discontinue your education, but he seems to have changed his mind after hearing about you're traveling. I do suspect he would rather love hearing from you.”

Harry's insides gave a cold little shiver, “No thank you. I don't think I'm quite prepared for that.”

“Yes I suppose I can understand that. Am I to take it that you'll be leaving immediately?” McGonagall asked eyeing the large rucksack next to Hagrid's bed.

“Not quite yet. We need to make a few arrangements, so you won't need to take over watching Fang until next week,” Hermione told her with a smile. The dog barked and made his way over to the headmistress, drooling slightly on her robes.

McGonagall looked sternly down to the dog, “I hope you realize that while you'll be staying in the castle I would have no reservations about locking you in a classroom if you misbehave.” Hagrid looked slightly uncomfortable at the idea.

“Ah, just make sure Filch keeps tha' bloody cat of his away from Fang and he'll be a good boy, won' ya Fang?”

“Right,” Hermione briskly cut in, “we need to be getting on. Hagrid, we'll be in touch by Sunday at the latest.”

“And remember Hagrid, no one can know about any of this,” Harry reminded him with a slightly apologetic look to the Headmistress.

“No worries `Arry. I'll take it to me grave.”

“Thanks Hagrid,” Harry clapped him on his shoulder. “And congratulations on the promotion. I really wish we could be here for you this year, but I'm sure Neville and probably Ron will help you out as much as they can.”

><><><><><><>

Hermione insisted on Apparating Harry into the ministry since he was technically still underage and neither of them wanted to risk being hassled. They checked their wands and got directions at the security desk before making their way to Mr. Weasley's office. The assistant outside his office gaped at Harry for a full minute before informing Arthur that he had visitors.

“Harry! Hermione! Have you heard,” he yelled out as soon as they entered the office. “The Muggles have put a machine on Mars of all places! Look, they put pictures in the Muggle paper!” He was waving around a newspaper showing off the pictures from the red planet.

“Why would they do that?” Harry asked.

“No idea,” Arthur happily replied, “but they've done it!”

“Mr. Weasley, where did you get a Muggle paper?” Hermione asked.

“Oh it was such a lovely morning that I decided to walk in.”

“You're still staying at the house then,” Harry asked.

“Bill, Fleur, Ron, Ginny, and Gabrielle should be moving our things back to the Burrow today, actually. Thank you again Harry for letting us all stay at your house. Winky has been a great help.”

“Gabrielle is staying with you?”

“Yes, she chose to stay with Bill and Fleur as opposed to going back to France to live with her aunt and they've decided to live at the Burrow at least until September. She was happy to receive a Hogwarts letter along with Ron and Ginny - but my have you heard? Ron's been made Head Boy!” he positively beamed.

Harry and Hermione shared an uncomfortable look before she replied, “Yes, Professor Flitwick told us after we'd returned our own badges.”

“Ah, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Still going ahead with your plan of not returning to Hogwarts to achieve whatever this mystery goal of yours is?”

“Is it safe to talk in here?” Harry asked.

Arthur walked back behind his desk and tapped an inlaid rune with his wand, a quick pulse of light shot around the room. “A benefit of working for law enforcement,” he explained.

“Our plans currently require some traveling abroad,” Hermione quickly told him, “and we were wondering if you had the ability of quietly getting Harry a passport.”

“You're going off alone?” Arthur asked in alarm.

“No, mine is still valid for another year, and Hagrid is accompanying us,” said Hermione.

“Good to hear. Are you sure you wouldn't prefer a magical passport Hermione? They don't expire, we only recommend that you stop in about every decade to make sure it still matches the Muggle ones.”

“Oh, I suppose if it's not too much trouble,” said Hermione. “We were also wondering if we could borrow one of the tents we took to the Quidditch World Cup.”

“No trouble at all. I still have them, as a matter of fact. Poor Perkins' lumbago has gotten so bad he says he never wants to see the bloody things again. I think the mallet might have run-off however…”

“I'm sure Hagrid could just pound the stakes down,” Harry reassured him while imagining the small hammer with a pair of transfigured legs running off into the orchard.

“Do you happen to have your invisibility cloak with you Harry?” Harry withdrew it from one of the pockets in his jacket, “Good, would you mind slipping under it for a moment?” Slightly confused, Harry pulled Hermione close and covered them in the cloak. Arthur smiled at the spot they vanished from before walking over to the fireplace. He tapped a spot on the mantle that brought it to life before throwing in some powder and sticking his head through. A few seconds after he pulled his head from the fire another wizard erupted into the room and Arthur closed off the fireplace behind him.

“Thank you for coming David, you have all your supplies?” Arthur asked.

“I do, but we seem to be missing the people you wanted me to help.”

Seeing this as his cue, Harry pulled off the cloak, “We're right here.”

“Oh! M - Mister Potter, what a surprise.”

Mr. Weasley stepped up to the other wizard, “Now David, Harry and Hermione here need this transaction to be as quiet as possible. Are you willing to help them with that?”

“Of course, I'll take care of everything myself. No one else from Transportation needs to know about this,” David replied. He pulled out a camera and a small silver tray, “If you would both just stand up against the wall.” As he took their pictures the camera produced a blue slip of parchment, which he placed in the tray and tapped it a few times with his wand. Two passports shimmered into existence above the tray and David proudly handed them over. Harry opened his long enough to see the picture inside winking up at him. “These are perfectly legal, all I have to do is file away the papers. Thank you for allowing me to help you today.”

Mr. Weasley picked up the slips to examine them as David collected his things, “I trust that is all Arthur?”

“There is one more thing, David. Obliviate!”

“Mr. Weasley!” Hermione shrieked.

“Quick now, put the cloak back on,” Arthur hurriedly replied as he incinerated the papers. Harry and Hermione quickly complied as David shook his head clear. “Sorry about that David, I guess they changed their minds after all.”

“No problem Arthur, just let me know if your friends come back,” he happily replied before leaving through the fireplace.

“What was that all about?” Harry asked as he put away his cloak.

“You said you wanted this done quietly. Those files are public, and I'm fairly sure David would never go along with destroying them so the next best option was to wipe his memory,” said Arthur.

“But, won't you get in trouble?” Hermione asked.

“I should hope that neither of you would turn me in-”

“We wouldn't want you to risk your job for us,” said Harry.

“I want those bastards that murdered my wife brought to justice,” Arthur replied in a low voice. “Am I wrong in assuming that whatever the two of you are up to will help with that?”

“No, you're right,” Harry said after a beat. “Thank you, for helping us.”

“Well then, good luck. You know where to find me if you require any other assistance.” Arthur switched off the privacy charms on the room and someone pounding on the door immediately drew their attention. “Oh dear. I was slightly afraid of that.”

“Can we floo out from here?” Hermione asked.

“Unfortunately not, it's only authorized for interoffice communication.”

“Who do you suppose that is?” Harry asked.

“I'd put a Galleon on it being Rufus. Percy informed him that we were staying at your house after the wedding and he's been hounding me ever since to have a word with you.”

Harry sighed and opened the door to find a furious looking Scrimgeour flanked by Percy who happened to be sporting a very goblin-like nose, obviously Bill's doing.

“You should know father that no matter what personal problems you may be dealing with it is a very poor decision to ignore your superior in favor of having a chat with Potter and his… damsel,” Percy said in a fluster. Harry reached for his wand, but Hermione quickly intercepted his hand.

“Percival, the only decisions I would call poor were the ones I made that allowed you to grow up without learning how to care for others. I've failed you in that respect, and I am sorry for it,” Arthur very sadly told him.

“Yes, family squabbling aside can you tell me why the Minister of Magic has been standing outside this office for the past five minutes waiting for a response?” Scrimgeour broke in.

“Terribly sorry about that Minister, but I was having a private conversation with Mr. Potter thanking him for allowing my family to occupy his home,” Arthur easily lied.

“Ministry department heads are all required to keep their present addresses up-to-date Arthur, so why is it that while you say you've been at Mr. Potter's your home location has never changed?”

“Unfortunately the house in question is protected in a manner that none here can reveal its location, even Harry himself,” Hermione spoke up.

“No one was speaking to you, young lady,” Scrimgeour snapped.

“Never the less,” Arthur jumped in before Harry could open his mouth, “what Miss Granger says is quite true. Is there anything else Minister?”

“I'm afraid Arthur, that you will have to inform me of your current residence if you wish to retain your position here.”

Arthur calmly looked over to the clock on the wall, “My children were due to have everything moved back to the Burrow half an hour ago so I can assure you Minister that my listed address is indeed correct. You do remember the Burrow, don't you? I'm afraid you might have left a little early the last time you visited.”

Scrimgeour's eyes flicked to Harry before his expression turned to ice, “Very well Weasley. I trust you will keep me informed if your situation abruptly changes in the future.” He turned and strode from the room with a fury that would have put Snape to shame, Percy as always on his heel.

“I suggest the two of you get away while you have a chance. A man like Rufus can only be deflected for so long.”

“What was that all about?” Harry blankly asked.

“He's taken your upstaging him at Bill's wedding as something close to a personal insult Harry. I would wager that once he learns of your refusal to return to school he will try even harder to bring you in to `join the cause' as he would put it to the reporters. In fact,” he came around the desk to whisper to them both, “I would recommend avoiding the atrium. He'll be watching for you to leave, most likely to follow you. Go to the Apparition test center. It's the only other place in the building that you can leave from.”

“We will. Thanks Mr. Weasley, for everything.”

><><><><><><>

After a short, but nerve-racking trip through the ministry, Hermione took them both to an alley near her parent's office to visit with their travel agent. Hermione fed her a story she concocted about wanting to help some of the people that had been displaced by the riots in the country. In short order they had arranged a trip for three to Maqellare, the closest stop to the mountain they could find, plus a return trip that would have them back the day before Harry's birthday and paid for it with most of the remaining Muggle money Harry had. He only hoped it would be enough time. They picked up a Muggle paper just to see what Mr. Weasley was so excited about before going back to the cottage.

“Well, look who's finally decided to get out of bed,” Hermione said when they found Remus and Tonks sitting at the table.

Tonks' smile turned slightly evil, “Jealous?”

Hermione's back straightened slightly, “Well, some of us have had more important things to do than locking ourselves away for an entire day.”

“That wasn't quite an answer, was it Remus?” said Tonks.

“No, not quite.”

“Harry, please deal with them,” Hermione got out before stomping off to her room.

“Boy Harry, from here it kinda looks like you're not doing your job,” Tonks smirked.

“It could help if you weren't helping to turn Remus into a complete hypocrite. Really he's the one that tried to make fun of Hermione and I about locking ourselves in one of our rooms for days, and what happens as soon as you come back? You're locked away and we're forced to listen to your giggling all night. The look on the animals faces makes me pretty sure I don't want to know what sounds were coming through the door when we were gone.” Crookshanks came up and nuzzled Harry's leg; when he looked down to the cat Harry could have sworn he nodded his agreement.

“I'm sorry Harry. We should have been more considerate,” Remus said looking appropriately stung.

“Sounds like you're both frustrated to me,” said Tonks.

“Come on! We've been best friends for years now; do you really think we'd chance ruining all of that by jumping straight into bed with each other? You've both been around us long enough to realize we don't have many friends to spare. Everything's changing between us, is it that wrong to take our time and make sure we don't damage what we already have?”

Harry made his way to Hermione's door, ignoring any response. He was about to knock when the door popped open and he was pulled inside. “You certainly have become quite preachy lately, haven't you,” Hermione told him before kissing him deeply.

“Erm… Thanks?”

“I'm sorry I nearly lost my temper back there, and I don't think I would have been as nice to them as you were. I was a little afraid I'd say something I couldn't take back.”

“It's okay.”

“Not really Harry. I made you promise to help talk to them, then left you to do it alone.”

“Nah, it really is okay. Besides, I'm the boss here, so it should be my job right?”

“And how do you figure yourself to be in charge?” Hermione asked with a shrewd look.

“I paid the rent.”

“So are you reserving the right to chuck us all out if the mood strikes?”

“I could probably find a couple of reasons to keep you around,” Harry said as he put his hands around her back and pulled her close.

Hermione began backing up, pulling Harry along, “Oh? And what about that nice little speech you just gave?”

“Who's leading who here?” he asked as they made it to the bed, Hermione fell backwards onto it pulling Harry down on top of her. “I'm not too heavy, am I?” he awkwardly asked.

“Of course not, you're just a big cuddly blanket with knobbly little knees,” she whispered as she nibbled on his earlobe.

“W- What are you doing?”

“I feel a little bad. We were interrupted yesterday before I could return you any… affection.”

“You don't have to-”

“But I want to.” Hermione quickly rolled them over and rose to her knees between his legs. When she reached back to slide his boots off Harry noticed her own neatly set next to the door. Crookshanks lazily made his way through the flap she had added to the door, gave them a look that clearly said not you too and made his way over to a patch of sun streaming through the window. His attention was drawn back to Hermione as she slid her hands up underneath his shirt and lay back on top of him.

“I think your cat might be a bit annoyed at us.”

Hermione looked over to the cat glaring at them then back to Harry with an odd glint in her eyes. Faster than he though physically possible she grabbed the hem of his shirt, yanked it over his head then promptly tossed it over the feline, “He'll get over it.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Harry shakily asked.

“Well I'm not going to shag you, if that's what you think.”

“No I-” Harry's brain abruptly stopped working as Hermione bent down and began leaving a trail of kisses similar to what he'd done the day before. His hopes of her not noticing his body's reaction to her actions were dashed when she ran her hands up his thighs. She didn't seem to realize what her right hand had come upon until she had traced the bulge almost all the way to the source.

“I'm sorry,” she quickly stammered while jerking her hand away as if burned. Harry could feel her quivering slightly and realized she was as nervous now as he had been at her parents.

“That's fine, really,” Harry muttered as he tried to clear his foggy mind. His efforts proved moot as she resumed her actions. Her hand never made it all the way back, but remained close enough to cause a few twitches in his leg. As her mouth made its way up his chest she seemed to reluctantly remove the offending hand only to surprise Harry by reaching around him to squeeze his bum.

“Oh dear,” Hermione mumbled between the light kisses she was laying on his lips, “I'm just teasing you horribly now, aren't I?”

“Maybe a bit,” he weakly replied as he forced himself calm. “It might be best to stop here.”

“Should I apologize?”

“Never,” he confidently told her as he guided her head down to his bare chest.

“mmm… I could get used to this,” she said while bringing her arms around his back and hugging him tightly. A jolt of excitement shot through Harry as he imagined regularly sharing a bed with Hermione. The couple of times that they'd actually ended up sleeping with one another were almost accidental, now he was assaulted with mental images of the two of them happily slipping into bed and cuddling up together, Crookshanks pawing around the covers looking for a comfy place to join them.

“I think I could too.”

“Listening to your heart makes me feel safe,” Hermione quietly told him. “Do we have to do anything else today, or can we stay like this?”

“I need to go see the goblins, but I can wait until you fall asleep. Sounds like it won't be long. I'm sure you got as little sleep as I did last night thanks to them.”

“Why the goblins? Need more money?”

“That, and Ragnok said he'd help me make a will.”

“Why would you want to do that?” Hermione asked, suddenly a little more alert.

“I'm not expecting anything to happen,” he carefully told her, “but I just want to make sure that if anything does happen that some people are taken care of. Remus, the Weasleys… you.”

“Harry, I don't want-”

“Neither did I.” Harry gently stroked his fingers through her hair until he was sure she had fallen asleep before slipping out from under her. He almost forgot to retrieve his shirt and boots before exiting the room.

“Feeling better?” Tonks asked as Dobby herded him to the table for lunch.

“A bit. I'm sorry if I went off on you earlier, but really, silencing charms are not that hard.”

“Of course you're right,” said Remus. “We should have been more thoughtful.”

“So who made the youngest person here the master of the house?” Tonks joked.

“He is the one who paid for it,” Remus reminded her.

“Anyway,” Harry broke in, “I need to go to Gringotts and send off a couple of letters yet today. Hermione and I were thinking of checking London tomorrow. She looked over Dumbledore's memory with her father and they think they've gotten the general area pegged down. We're leaving with Hagrid on Monday morning.”

“I have to report in soon, and I promised my mum that I'd be by tonight so you can take Moony here to the Alley with you. I'll meet you tomorrow morning at the Leaky Cauldron,” said Tonks.

“Just so you know Tonks, the Minister has been hassling Mr. Weasley pretty bad about trying to find me. We ran into him this morning but managed to sneak away through the Apparition center. And you don't need to come Remus, it's just a quick trip.”

“If Scrimgeour's gone back to trying to locate you then you can't go anywhere alone,” said Remus.

Harry went to Hermione's room to write Neville a quick note telling him when to meet them in the morning and another to Hagrid letting him know when to meet them at Kings Cross. Hedwig seemed anxious to get out of the cottage so he sent her to Hogwarts while Dobby went to Neville's. He gave Hermione a tiny peck to avoid waking her and gathered Remus to get on with it.

><><><><><><><

Harry debated with himself about how to leave Remus behind inside Gringotts as they walked up the front steps, but the goblins inside proved to be a great help when he asked to see Ragnok alone. A menacing sneer and an axe were enough motivation to send the werewolf to a nearby bench.

Dividing Harry's estate turned out to be fairly simple, mostly due to the low number of beneficiaries according to Ragnok. Less than half an hour later Harry reemerged in the lobby with another slip for the exchange counter.

“So what exactly are you trying to hide from everyone by seeing Ragnok alone?” Remus asked as they made their way for the exit.

“I'm not hiding anything, I just didn't want anyone trying to talk me out of making arrangements for if I… you know.”

“Is Hermione aware?”

“She's about as uncomfortable with it as you appear to be but I didn't get a choice about what I was left, so neither do you.”

“And I doubt anything I say now could change your mind.”

“Not a chance Moony,” said Harry. Suddenly a faint blue shield sprang to life around him. Harry turned to find Remus violently twisting a cloaked man's arm and forcing him to the ground. “What was that?”

“Mr. Potter please come with us,” a security goblin said. Harry looked around to realize they had barely made it through the doors of the bank.

“Go with him Harry, I'm right behind you,” Remus said as he hauled the man to his feet and with the assistance of another goblin forced him inside with them so he couldn't Apparate away.

“What is the meaning of this?” Ragnok burst into the room they had been led into.

“This filth,” Remus snarled while further twisting the man's arm behind his back, dropping him to his knees, “was trying to hit Harry with some sort of spell, unfortunately for him I was able to shield Harry in time.”

“Is he a Death Eater?” Ragnok asked. Remus shoved up the sleeve on the arm he was holding and shook his head. Ragnok grabbed a handful of wiry grey hair and jerked up the man's head, “Who are you and why are attacking wizards on goblin land?”

“Dawlish?” Harry blurted out when he saw his face.

“You know this man Harry?” said Remus.

“He was one of the Aurors that tried to arrest Dumbledore and Hagrid in my fifth year,” Harry replied.

“Why are you here?” Ragnok dangerously asked Dawlish.

“I- I wasn't attacking! The minister wants to know where Potter is going. It was a tracking charm, I was sent to watch the bank incase he came by.”

“Why does he want Harry tracked,” Remus growled. Harry heard something pop in Dawlish's arm.

“He's worried!” Dawlish shouted through the pain. “Potter's done more against You-Know-Who than anyone. There's been rumors of him meeting with the goblins for weeks. He's up to something and the Minister wants to know what. How would it look to have some kid-” there was a sharp crack as his arm finally broke.

Ragnok leaned over the Auror as he collapsed on the floor, “You will go back to the Minister and inform him that the next time he tries to interfere with either Mr. Potter or the workings of this institution the results will not be as pleasant.” The guards jerked him to his feet and shoved the man from the room. “Thank you for your assistance with this rather unfortunate incidence, Mr. Lupin.”

“Always a pleasure to do business at Gringotts. And to think Harry, you wanted to come alone,” Remus chuckled.

“Shouldn't we be a bit worried that you just attacked an Auror?” Harry asked.

“Not when the Auror tried to assault you in goblin territory,” said Remus.

“Quite true. We run our lands according to our own laws. The ministry has no say as to what happens here,” Ragnok added. “But I do believe it would be beneficial for you Mr. Potter to listen to your friend's advice about not traveling alone, at least for the time being.”

“I'm taking a trip in a couple of days. Hopefully we'll be able to avoid any more problems until then,” said Harry.

Ragnok wished him a safe journey before escorting them outside. Harry noticed a few more goblins at the doors than normal.

><><><><><><>

“So, do you think we should call off tomorrow?” Harry asked Remus as they sat by the stream behind their cottage.

“I think as long as we avoid any magical places we shouldn't have much trouble. We'll have to find a new meeting place, but other than that…” said Remus.

“Neville can Apparate to me, so he won't be a problem. What about Tonks?”

“There is a good chance she will check in at Headquarters tonight, we could leave a note with Winky.” Harry quickly called for her.

“Yes Harry Potter sir?”

“Winky, if you see Tonks at anytime tonight could you tell her it's very important that she contacts us?” said Harry.

“Of course, is there anything else I can do for Harry Potter?”

“Not right now, how are things at the house? The Weasleys are all gone now, right?”

“Harry Potter's Wheezys have all left for home. There are many visitors, but none stay for long. Winky spends most of her time cleaning Harry Potter's home.”

“Are you okay? I imagine it gets lonely there, you don't have to spend all your time cleaning.”

Winky's ears drooped a little, “What would Harry Potter like Winky to do?”

“Whatever you like really. I want you to be happy, not feel like you're locked away in some rickety old house,” said Harry.

“What about Kreacher?” Remus nearly spat out.

“The bad-elf stays hidden away from all, but Winky can hear him talking to his Mistress. She is most unhappy about what has become of her home.”

“Too bloody bad,” Remus muttered.

“Just remember Winky, you don't have to stay in the house. You can always come here to visit, maybe watch the telly. I'm sure the Weasleys wouldn't mind if you visited. Hermione and I are leaving on Monday for the rest of the month and I think I'm going to send Dobby to stay with her parents, you'll always be welcome there I'm sure.”

“You're leaving me to fend for myself?” Remus asked.

“Not just yourself but Sirius too, and if you even think about complaining I'll have to make Winky come over every night and make sure you take your potion,” said Harry.

“Winky will check on Wolfie every night,” she proudly announced.

“What about during my transformation? Are we going to leave this place empty?” Remus asked trying to ignore the elf's sudden motherly turn.

“I'll talk to Neville tomorrow, he might like to get away from his Gran for a few days,” said Harry.

“What potion must Winky be sure Wolfie takes?” she asked, trying to get back to what she considered more important things.

“He doesn't need to take it yet Winky, but Hermione can tell you the specifics,” said Harry. She straightened up and popped away, “Crap, she's gonna wake her up.”

“Why is Hermione so tired?” Remus asked.

Harry glared at him; “Neither of us got much sleep last night due to certain noises coming from across the way.”

“Well, you have nothing to worry about tonight, but do I?”

“It's a good thing Sirius went to Azkaban when he did. I'm afraid to think what you'd be like with another twelve years of his influence.”

><><><><><><>

“Harry?” Hermione groggily called as she came outside. She found Harry and Remus howling with laughter, “What's going on?”

“Hermione guess what, Remus attacked an Auror today,” Harry managed through the laughter.

She surveyed them closely, “Have you been drinking again Harry?”

“No Hermione, he's telling the truth. The Minister tasked the Aurors to find Harry; we caught one trying to place a tracking charm on him as we walked out of Gringotts.”

“'We' didn't catch him, you did. And you broke his arm while we questioned him,” Harry smiled. “Ragnok was pretty upset that the ministry tried to make a move on their property and sent Dawlish off with a pretty firm warning.”

“And a broken arm,” Hermione added looking not quite sure if it was a good or bad thing.

“I didn't mean to fully break it,” Remus supplied, “but sometimes I forget my own strength, especially when upset.”

“At least you were there, why did you let me sleep so long Harry? And why did Winky wake me up talking like she's suddenly become Madam Pomfrey?”

“I let you sleep because you needed it Hermione-” said Harry.

“Which is my fault and I'm sorry for it-” said Remus.

“And Winky is taking a little joke about her checking that Remus takes his potion while we're gone a little too serious-” said Harry.

“Which is also my fault, I suppose-” said Remus.

“It's not you're fault you're a bloody werewolf!” said Harry.

“All right, that's Greyback's fault,” said Remus.

Hermione stared at the two of them, “You haven't been visiting the twins have you?”

“Of course not,” they answered together.

“Right, I'm just going to go… away,” Hermione said before fleeing back inside.

Harry made his way in a few minutes later and found her sitting at the table sipping a cup of tea while watching Dobby go about making supper, “All right there Hermione?”

“Of course, though it appears I missed something out there.”

“Just a bit of silliness I suppose.”

“And did everything go okay with Ragnok?” Hermione quietly asked.

“That's all set.”

“I don't like the idea that you're planning for-”

“I'm not expecting to die for quite a while Hermione. I feel better knowing that if something happens the people I care about will be taken care of. Really if I didn't do this, everything would go to my aunt.”

“Oh, well that's just unacceptable.”

“Dobby,” Harry asked as the elf slid plates in front of Hermione and himself, “you know Hermione and I are leaving Monday, right?”

“Dobby will go where ever Harry Potter goes.”

“No Dobby, I have something more important for you to do.”

“What?” Hermione and Dobby asked at the same time.

“Dobby, while we're gone, it's going to be your job to keep the Grangers safe. Stay with them and help them if they need it, okay?”

“Is this something I need to warn my parents of?” Hermione asked.

“I talked to your mum last night,” said Harry. “She was helping me understand that ledger and some other money-stuff and I asked her if it would be okay. She said she'd put him up in their guest room. You're fine with that, right Dobby?”

“Of course Harry Potter sir, is there anything else Dobby can do for you?” His eyes noticeably flicked to the television. Harry scribbled out another quick note to Neville and sent the elf on his way.

Hermione sighed, “So, now what?”

“Now… I don't know. It's a few more hours until you can work on the potion, but we don't really need to get anything ready for tomorrow. I suppose we could try packing for Monday.”

“Why don't you go get some sleep,” said Hermione.

“It's too early for that-”

“You're tired Harry, I can see it in your eyes and I know you didn't sleep well last night.”

“Really, I'm okay-” Harry was cut off with a kiss.

“Go to bed Harry. If you have trouble sleeping you can try packing.”

Harry tried debating a few more times before finally giving in and stalking off to his room. After he shut the door, drew the curtains, stripped down to his boxers and slipped into bed he discovered he was remarkably tired and quickly drifted off.

Some time later Harry became aware of some movement. Thinking it was Crookshanks he half-heartedly tried to brush him away only to hear a soft giggle.

“Hermione? What are you doing, is it time to go?”

“No Harry, I just finished with the potion and thought I'd check on you.” The room was almost pitch black but he could tell her face was quite close to his own. He also noticed something else.

“Why are you under the blanket?”

“Is there something wrong with that?” The tension in her voice was obvious.

“I guess not. I'd ask if you're okay with it, but since you came in here…”

“We did agree earlier that this was quite nice…”

“Definitely nice, also unexpected.” Harry reached out to get his bearings before kissing her softly, “And most welcome.” Hermione snuggled up closer to him, drawing him into another, much deeper, kiss. As his hand glided down her back and across her bum Harry realized she had changed into her pajamas, on the way back up her back he also discovered something missing, “Hermione, you're not wearing a…”

“I usually don't,” she nervously told him. “They're not the most comfortable of things to sleep in.”

Hermione rolled herself onto her back and pulled Harry almost all the way on top of her. One of his arms was trapped under the pillow her head was resting on but the other was free to roam, a concept that slightly frightened him. As they continued exploring each other's mouths Harry had to concentrate on keeping his hand on either the side of her face or the back of her neck. This became much harder when she began trying to gently brush it lower. The fact that he couldn't make out her face gave him the most hesitation. He needed to know if she was as nervous as he was; if he could only remember where he'd put his wand he could cast a light spell and get his answers but the last thing he wanted to be doing now was groping around his nightstand. He inadvertently focused his mind on the spell instead of the location for a second but it was enough to ignite their wands on the nightstand and his parents' on his dresser illuminating the entire room.

Surprised by the light Hermione gave Harry a very shaky smile and gently took his hand and placed in over her breastbone. They simply stared into each other's eyes for what could have been hours until the sound of Sirius and Crookshanks both pawing at the door briefly drew their attention, but only for a second. When Harry's gaze moved back from the door it landed upon his hand resting over the top button of her pajama top.

He focused his attention on his own movements as he slowly undid each of the four buttons that held her top closed then staggeringly slowly traced one finger down the thin strip of bare flesh from her neck down to her navel; Hermione's body quivered the entire time and she let out a tremulous moan. Harry brought his hand back up to cup her face; he found himself torn between asking her what she wanted him to do and simply kissing her until they both turned blue.

Both sides were beaten by Remus' voice coming from the other side of the door, “All right, I'll let you in. Honestly, I don't know how he could sleep through all the racket you two are making.” Harry grabbed the sheet and jerked it over their heads, but Remus did catch enough of a glance to notice he wasn't alone. “Ah. That's how.”

“Do you get the feeling someone's trying to stop things from going too far?” Harry asked after the door had shut again and they could feel Crookshanks moving around over them trying to get comfortable.

“Not exactly. Maybe this is just the bad that goes along with all the good luck we've had recently, after all there is supposed to be a balance-” Hermione was distracted by Harry clumsily trying to button her top back together with one hand. “Is something wrong? Am I not…” she asked in a slightly hurt voice.

Harry had to fight the urge to laugh, “Absolutely not, I'm just completely terrified that the things I want to do will make you hate me in the morning.”

“Like what?” Harry vigorously shook his head in response. Hermione appeared to be at a loss for words and eventually pulled Harry's hand away from the buttons and slipped it underneath her top. As she gently guided his hand over her silky skin Harry felt like something had pulled all the air from his lungs and was trying to make every muscle in his body contract at once. “I… trust you Harry.”

When he finally caught his breath he could only mutter one word, “Nox.”

><><><><><><><

“You know, I'm supposed to bring Remus in for questioning about just how an Auror was injured yesterday,” Tonks said as Harry joined her and Remus at the table for breakfast. He was pretty sure they had tried to talk to him as he emerged from his room, but the only things on his mind at that point were a very cold shower and trying to be inconspicuous about holding a bundle of clothes in front of himself.

“But Ragnok said we couldn't get in trouble because it happened at the bank,” said Harry.

“There's no way they could charge either of you with a crime but that's never stopped them from detaining people suspected to have information,” said Tonks.

“Do we need to be on guard while we're out today?” Remus asked.

“Nope,” Tonks proudly announced. “Kingsley and I both reported that the two of you have been seen quite often in and around Eastbourne, so the team investigating is focusing around there. As long as we stay away from magical London no one will notice us.”

“That's good,” Harry absentmindedly said as he buttered a piece of toast.

“We really should be getting on with this before all the tourists wake up,” Tonks muttered looking at her watch. “Oy, Hermione! Get out here and eat so we can get a move on!”

A few seconds later Harry heard the hinges on his door squeak open, when he turned and saw Hermione standing in the doorway he silently made a vow to himself to never try buttoning anything up in the dark again. Apparently he had failed quite brilliantly last night without noticing. Hermione's eyes slowly grew wider as she took in who was at the table, then the level of Harry's blush, then remembered exactly what room she was walking out of. Harry wasn't sure if it was a show of courage or possibly her deciding that she didn't care, but once the initial shock passed she flashed a little smile and joined them at the table without muttering a word.

“Well,” Remus broke the silence, “Harry told Neville to meet us half an hour from now so I say as soon as Hermione is ready we should go.”

><><><><><><>

Hermione guided Tonks and Harry followed dragging Remus with him as they arrived at the closest spot to their target Hermione was familiar with. Neville joined them a few minutes later and they set off looking for the orphanage. After about twenty minutes Harry thought he recognized some of the surrounding buildings and soon enough Hermione announced it should be just around the next corner.

“Well this certainly isn't an orphanage,” Remus said looking up at the forty-story office building in front of them.

“I don't understand, it should be right here,” said Hermione.

“That memory was from the thirties Hermione, the entire city's probably changed since then,” said Harry.

“What about Harry's park idea?” Neville asked.

“Anybody want to clue me in to what exactly we're looking for?” Tonks asked

“Hidden magic. Probably a concealed passage to a bigger chamber, if there's anything here at all,” Harry told her.

“Dad said there was a World War One memorial near here, somewhere to the north,” said Hermione.

“Are you sure we don't want to check around this building first?” Tonks asked.

“The footprint of this building is easily three times the size of the orphanage. Anything inside the building would have been demolished, anything outside it would have been buried,” said Remus.

“Couldn't hurt to look a bit. The worst they could do would be chucking us out, and it's Saturday so most the Muggles probably aren't working,” said Neville.

“You're right Nev, it's worth a shot,” said Harry.

They slowly made a complete circuit around the building, helping each other over the few barriers that blocked the way. Tonks pulled a small crystal from her robes and continually waved it across their path, “Auror issue. It's made to help you spot booby-traps,” she told them.

“Does it detect all kinds of magic?” Hermione asked.

“It should, and no you can't borrow it; it's ministry property,” said Tonks. “But I'll bet Moody has a spare he can loan Harry,” she added after catching Hermione's disappointed look.

After another twenty minutes of searching they came across a small memorial set between two massive buildings. It wasn't much, just a fountain surrounded by a few benches and several shrubs. Several trips around the area each proved no result until Harry came across a common green snake slithering through the grass singing to itself about looking for a frog.

The snake went on about how it had only heard of one other human who could speak their language, a young boy who had not been around for many, many years but used to make the animals do bad things to each other. The fact that Harry had correctly guessed about Voldemort's youth made him a little queasy.

“So, we couldn't find any sign of what you guys were looking for right?” Tonks asked after they'd all returned to the cottage. “You're not just planning to go back without me are you?”

“No Tonks, there wasn't anything in either place,” said Harry.

“So what does that leave us with?” Neville asked. Tonks understood Harry's apologetic look and Disapparated. “If she doesn't know, why was she with us today?”

“Just incase we ran into trouble,” said Remus.

“And she's smart enough to not ask the questions we aren't prepared to answer,” Hermione added.

“But we're still not any closer to finding the other two,” Neville mumbled to himself.

“Would you be able to house-sit while we're gone Neville?” Harry asked a bit later.

“I thought Remus was staying here?”

“I am except over the full moon. Harry's sending Dobby to play bodyguard for the Grangers which leaves no one here to watch the animals,” said Remus.

“We'll be gone from Monday until your birthday so really you could stay here as much of that time as you want. You can use my room,” said Harry. “That is, unless Remus was looking forward to some time alone with Tonks.”

“I should probably ask Gran. She might want me to bring Saldie, she'll never believe I know how to clean up after myself.”

“Why don't you take Dobby with you and ask her. If she says okay he can tell Saldie where we are,” said Harry.

“Would I be able to bring over any… company?”

Harry and Hermione shared a look, “Just Katie,” Harry told him causing Neville to blush faintly. “And that bed better be spotless when we get back.” Neville's face fully erupted; he quickly collected Dobby and Disapparated.

“Are you okay with company Moony?” Harry asked.

“I've already spent far too much time alone, and I like Neville. Between Tonks and myself we should be able to keep him out of trouble. The only slight worry I have is for the safety of the potion, not that I don't trust him but I seem to recall him being rather accident prone.”

“Winky charmed the cauldron so that she and I are the only ones who can get near it,” Hermione told him.

“But then how am I supposed to take it?”

“Don't worry, she'll be by everyday to make sure you take your medicine,” said Hermione.

><><><><><><>

By the time supper was ready Tonks, Neville, Katie, Dobby and Winky had all arrived so Remus had to enlarge the table and draw up several chairs. Unfortunately for Neville there seemed to be an informal competition to see who could draw the deepest blush from him while they all ate. While the elves were cleaning up Hermione and Katie sat on the sofa laughing about something from one of Lilly's journals. When Harry tried to find out what they snapped it shut and disappeared to Hermione's room; Harry thought it best to not investigate any further.

“I seriously doubt anything will happen,” Harry told Neville as he pulled up the loose floorboard in his room, “but if it does and you have to run away from here, make sure you take these.”

“Is it really safe to keep Horcruxes in the floor?”

“Well, they're all disabled so they're not dangerous,” said Harry. “When this is all over I'm sure there'll be a few people that'd like to check them out.”

“What about the sword?” Neville asked pointing at the Gryffindor sword still leaning against the wall next to his bed.

“Dobby will be protecting that and the Pensieve while we're gone. You can call him if you want to use the Pensieve but Katie and Tonks can't see what's inside, have Dobby guard it if you go in.”

“Okay, is there anything else I need to know not to touch?” Neville laughed a little.

“The cauldron in the fireplace should be charmed so only Hermione and Winky can get near it, but you might want to avoid it anyway. My window is charmed so Hedwig can come and go when she wants. We have dog and cat food, but they've never been opened since Dobby keeps feeding them whatever we're eating, and remember if you go into the village you won't be able to tell them where you're staying so say you're just visiting. For some reason Sirius, Crookshanks and Hedwig all like to sleep in here. I added a flap to the door this morning so you don't have to worry about them pawing at the door. Any questions?”

“I don't think so. At least it should be easier to get my homework finished without Gran hovering around,” said Neville.

“There's a bunch of journals on the bookshelves out there from my mum when she was in school, feel free to read through them. Between that and the fact that there's a former professor here you shouldn't have any trouble.”

“Is there anything you want me to research while you're gone?”

“You and Remus can keep trying to narrow down the list we made, just don't go running off looking for anything. Relax, watch the telly. Next summer we'll have to grow up.”

><><><><><><><

“So what did you and Katie find that was so interesting earlier?” Harry asked as Hermione was putting in the final ingredients of the Wolfsbane potion.

“Nothing for you to concern yourself over,” Hermione airily replied.

Harry walked over to the bookshelf, “Would you tell me if I found it?”

“I would consider it, but the journal in question appears to have turned up missing.”

There was indeed a gap where it should have been, “So now you've taken to hiding my mum's things from me?”

“Katie apologized to me, for the way she acted towards you the night we all went dancing,” Hermione abruptly changed topics. “She also wanted me to let you know she's sorry for kissing you.”

“That's… kind of mean really.”

“She didn't mean it to be an insult to your kissing abilities; even if she did I would have to sorely disagree with her.”

“Is Tonks still here?” Harry asked while Hermione happily cleared up her things. The look on her face made it clear to Harry that she'd mixed the potion perfectly.

“She had to meet Moody for something and said she'd be back in the morning, why?”

“Just an idea, do you still have that pamphlet on Apparition the instructor gave you?”

“It should be on the bookshelf between Advanced Rune Translation and An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe.”

Harry walked over to the bookshelves and realized for the first time that she'd arranged them alphabetically. He smirked as he found what he was looking for and quietly stalked off to Remus' room. A silencing charm allowed Harry to enter the room stealthy and a quick muffliato made sure the sleeping werewolf wouldn't be disturbed. Harry magically sealed the window, swapped Remus' wand for the pamphlet, and sealed the door on his way out.

“You are aware that Remus won't let that go unchecked,” Hermione's voice came from behind him.

“Yeah, but it'll be wor-” Harry turned to see her standing in the doorway to his room, her pajamas exchanged for the same jersey Winky had put her in the night of the wedding.

“Is this okay?” she nervously asked after a pause. Harry's voice failed him so he weakly nodded. “Then come to bed.”

By the time he made it into the room she was already under the covers. Kicking off his boots and slowly walking around to the other side of the bed Harry couldn't help wondering how things had changed so quickly. “I thought we were going to-”

“It's just sleeping Harry. We're going to be spending the next month together in a much more cramped environment so we might as well get comfortable with things like this.”

“But it's a three-bedroom tent,” Harry helplessly tried.

“We don't know that we'll be spending the entire time in there, and there's all the time we'll be spending in train compartments-”

“With Hagrid, and I doubt you'll be hanging around dressed like that!”

“Honestly,” Hermione huffed. She reached up from the bed and plucked off his glasses, then his shirt, “I trust you can do the rest yourself?” Harry slowly pulled off his socks and jeans as she laid down on her side facing away from him. She had traveled across the bed to start undressing him so he walked back around and slipped in the other side.

Hermione was obviously annoyed about something, “I'm sorry, for whatever I did,” Harry tried.

“It's more of what you didn't do,” she laughed softly, “and you don't need to apologize for being a gentleman.” Hermione took pity on him and after a few minutes adjusting he found himself on his side with his arms hugging Hermione's back into his chest, the position she had apparently been trying to coax him into before.

“I think this might work better if your hair was pulled back,” Harry told her as he picked a few more strands from his mouth.

“Sorry, it didn't say anything about that,” Hermione apologized as she tucked her hair back.

“What didn't?”

“The ugh… book I read.”

“Is it something I should read too?”

“Oh no, I don't think you'd be interested. Besides, Katie borrowed it.”

“Right. That probably means I really don't want to know what's in it,” said Harry. Hermione didn't respond so he assumed he was correct.

><><><><><><

Harry again woke up in the morning from a dream that made him want to rush off to the shower. It took just a moment to notice something had gone horribly wrong during the night. He realized, far to late, why the boxers next to the ones he'd bought had a button on the front. A certain piece of him had freed itself and was currently sandwiched between Hermione's legs.

As he tried to slowly pull his hips back away from hers his problem only grew, then Hermione, still sleeping quite deeply, did the worst thing possible: she wiggled her hips back to meet his own drawing a great whimper from Harry.

Her legs squirmed around as she started to wake causing Harry's eyes to roll up in their sockets. He became fully aware of how warm that area of her body was, an almost moist heat.

“Harry?” Hermione sleepily called.

“I don't know how it happened,” Harry got out between his short breaths.

“How what happ - oh my…” Hermione's legs pinched together as she figured out what his problem was, which really didn't help him at all. She had to be able to notice the throbbing. After a very long silence in which neither of them dared, or perhaps wanted to move Hermione finally found her quivering voice, “I think I'll just… go to the loo.” She bolted from the room without looking back but Harry's frustration only intensified when he caught a glimpse of her purple knickers. Harry paced the room for a few minutes breathing as deeply as he could. He noticed the pile of clothes they had left on the floor was gone; Dobby had insisted that they leave their dirty laundry out for him and the only time it hadn't been cleared up the next morning was the night he discovered music videos.

Once Harry felt he had control of himself he went to check on Hermione, surprisingly she was sitting at the table silently watching Dobby pour a cup of tea for her. Acutely aware that he had just walked out in only his boxer shorts, Harry almost dove back into his room to change but since Hermione obviously hadn't and Remus was still sealed away in his room he just sighed and sat down opposite her.

“I really didn't mean for anything to happen Harry,” Hermione told her tea.

“I'm sorry, I honestly don't know how that happened - I mean I must have… I don't know…”

“I don't think you did anything wrong. If you would have gotten out of bed before I woke I would have assumed it was just a dream but now I'm not so sure.”

“What? Are you saying you…”

“I might have at least started it,” she whispered, still refusing to lift her eyes. “I'm sorry.”

“You don't have to be sorry,” Harry told her. He was extremely relieved that she wasn't blaming him, “Can we just call it a little accident?”

“I wouldn't say little.” Hermione finally looked up shyly, her bottom lip between her teeth. Harry felt the calm he had built up beginning to ebb away again.

“Right,” Harry winced as his voice broke. “If you say so.”

“Will it still be an accident when it happens again?”

When, not if? Harry was sure his entire body had turned red as he processed the thought. “I… We could just…”

“Decide when it comes up?”

Does she mean…? “If you're okay with that.”

Hermione stroked Harry's shin under the table with her foot, “I'm just happy you're not mad at me. I would never consciously do anything to make you uncomfortable, but apparently I can't be trusted as well when I sleep.”

“I'll always trust you Hermione,” Harry told her before heading off to the toilet. He was worried that if he sat there any longer her foot would start causing him more trouble. As he walked by Remus' room he noticed the Apparition pamphlet he had put on the nightstand was now sitting on the floor with the words `NOT FUNNY' written across it. “Oops. I think I forgot to take the silencing charm off.”

Harry grabbed his wand and as soon as he canceled the charm they could hear Lupin pounding on the door and shouting, “Let me OUT OF HERE!”

Harry and Hermione shared a mischievous smile as she came over to examine the pamphlet. “I think I'll take a shower now,” Harry quite loudly told her.

“Okay, take your time,” she answered in an equally loud voice. The pounding intensified briefly then stopped; they could hear Remus softly cursing on the other side of the door.

“I do hope he hasn't hurt himself,” Hermione said in her normal voice. She used Harry's wand to summon a quill and some ink then wrote Destination, Determination, Deliberation on the back of the pamphlet before sliding back under the door.

><><><><><><>

“Is that lump still in bed?” Tonks asked as she strode into the cottage. Harry and Hermione had both showered and changed; she was currently talking to her parents through Harry's mirror while he wrestled around the floor with Sirius. Remus must have heard Tonks and the pounding resumed.

“What the bloody hell did you do that for?” Remus shouted as soon as Tonks freed him.

“Would you have preferred going back down the cliff?” Harry asked.

“What are you on about?” Tonks asked.

“Oh, we just thought Remus needed some proper motivation to learn how to Apparate,” Hermione said as she set the mirror down. Tonks fell to the floor laughing.

“You're not helping,” Remus snapped before slamming the door to the toilet.

“Mum and Dad asked if we'd come over for supper tonight,” Hermione told Harry as Tonks continued to roll on the ground.

“Okay, I'm going to pop over to the Burrow after lunch and see about the tent, we can go visit them as soon as I get back,” said Harry.

“You don't want me to come with you, do you?” Hermione sadly asked.

“I wouldn't try to stop you from coming, I just think it would be easier if Ron's there. I know it hurts you as much as it does me and I'd rather you not have to see another of his episodes.”

Hermione came over and knelt next to Harry, “When you go I'll just take Sirius out for a walk.” The dog excitedly jumped up and licked her face, “No, not yet.”

“It's too late,” Harry shook his head, “you said the word.”

><><><><><><>

Harry had hardly taken a step towards the Burrow when the tiny form of Gabrielle Delacour darted outside and clung to him. She didn't make a sound, merely desperately cinched her arms around his waist. Fleur followed sedately behind with a small smile.

“'Ello `Arry. Eet is good of you to come,” said Fleur.

“Err, hi Fleur. Is everything alright?” he asked, not really sure what was happening with her sister.

“Things are better. I theenk Gabrielle is showing `er gratitude for you saving `er.”

“Oh, it's okay, really,” Harry said as he gave the girl a little pat on the back. “It's good you're both all right. I'm sorry about your parents, they were good people.”

“Thank you,” Fleur smiled sweetly. “Are things good with `Ermione?”

Harry held in a chuckle as he remembered what Hermione had told him, “Very good. She told me about the advice you gave her.”

“I steel say she should `ave kissed you then, but things worked out, no?”

“We're both quite happy. Is Mr. Weasley around?”

“E is in the shed. You must bring her for dinner weeth Bill and I sometime before school begins. We hear the goblins `ave taken to liking you.”

“Ragnok has been helping me out quite a lot. We'll see about the supper, maybe sometime next month,” Harry said hoping she wouldn't ask why the delay. “But I do need to go,” he gestured towards the shed.

“Of course. Arthur `as spent days tinkering weeth something new in there,” Fleur gently pried Gabrielle away and returned to the house.

“Hello?” Harry called as he knocked on the door to the shed.

“Harry! Do come in,” Arthur greeted him. Inside Harry saw a workbench littered with newspaper articles about the Martian probe and what must have been Arthur's attempt at building one of his own. “I've just got it working,” he proudly told Harry. With a tap of his wand the contraption made up of six soup tins, an aluminum foil top, car aerial and other assorted odds and ends began rolling across the floor.

“That's great,” Harry managed. “What does it do?”

“Oh, the one on Mars is digging around for rocks, but I'm thinking about trying to make mine chase the gnomes out of the garden.”

“Err, you think it will work?”

“Well, never hurts to try.” Arthur took a large meat fork and stuck it to front, “Let's give it a whirl, shall we?”

Arthur gave it a few more taps with his wand and it rolled out of the shed, surprisingly fast. They followed along as it made its way to the vegetable patch, rolled right up to a gnome trying to pluck a tomato and poked it right in the gut. “I don't think the Americans ever considered this when they designed the thing,” Harry said while softly laughing. “You should show Fred and George, they'd probably make one of their own to punish any thieves in their shop.”

Arthur's eyes lit with glee, “I never would've though of that.”

After a few moments of watching the gnome hunter Harry finally asked, “So you said you still have-”

“Harry,” Arthur quietly cut him off, “just so you know, the Burrow has been under Auror guard since Bill's wedding. You might not see them, but I'm positive word will spread of your visit, if you understand me.”

“Yes, completely.” Harry hoped the word would spread slow enough for him to get home before the minister arrived. “They tried to stick a tracking charm on me a few days ago,” he whispered.

“I can sweep any off you before you leave,” Arthur whispered back. “What you asked for is sitting under your family tree.”

It took Harry a few minutes of contemplation before he figured out that he was being led to the Black family tree in Grimmauld Place, “Under the tree, got it.”

“Good,” Arthur said in a more normal voice. “Let's go back to the shed and make up some plans for the twins.” Harry assumed he was being led out-of-sight so Arthur could sweep him but a voice from behind stopped him.

“Yes Ron?” Harry tentatively answered.

“I'll just be inside,” Arthur motioned to the shed leaving the two of them alone.

“I need to say I'm sorry,” Ron said while examining the grass by his feet.

“For what?” Harry didn't want to be a prat but in his mind there were a few things Ron should be apologizing for.

Ron let out a sharp breath, “What am I not sorry for. For everything Harry, for blaming you for Mum, for being a jealous prat, for almost punching you… Are you and Hermione really…?”

“Yes Ron, we are,” Harry apprehensively answered.

“And you're happy?”

“We both are. And we miss talking to our friend.”

“But - I mean - What about Ginny?”

Harry sighed, “We went over this before, I wasn't myself when I was with her.”

“She doesn't think so, you know. She still thinks you'll come back to her after the fighting's over,” Ron said, finally looking Harry in the eye.

“That won't happen. She still thinks I'm the bloody hero she had a crush on when she was ten, she told me as much at Dumbledore's funeral.”

“She did?” Harry nodded. “Well, it is a pretty tough image of you to shake. I should know,” Ron chuckled a little. “I don't think Hermione's ever thought of you that way.”

“I know, and I think that's a part of why I like her as much as I do.”

“Do you think she meant it when she said we never would have talked to each other if it wasn't for you?”

“Well, what do you think?” Harry uncomfortably replied.

“She's always right…” They lapsed into silence for a few minutes. “I was made Head Boy, and Quidditch captain. You turned them both down, didn't you?”

“Yeah, McGonagall wasn't too happy about that. Apparently Slughorn wants to have it out with Hermione because she talked me out of going back. I offered to, for her. She's wanted that badge all her life and when I said I'd go back with her so she could have it she said no.”

“I can send mine back too, if you want,” Ron weakly told him.

“You don't have to do that Ron.”

“But I promised you I'd be there with you Harry-”

“The look on your dad's face when he told me about you getting the badge was the proudest I've ever seen anyone. You were happy when you got them, right?”

“Yeah. It should have felt wrong given everything else but at first it seemed like I finally proved myself,” said Ron. “I didn't realize until the next day that they had to have been yours.”

“Remember what you saw in that mirror first year? You asked me then if it showed the future but it only showed what you desired the most. You got it Ron, so you should take it and be happy,” said Harry.

“But what about the-”

“Not out here,” Harry broke in. “You never know who's listening.”

“It's just Aurors-”

“I know,” Harry shot Ron a significant look and he seemed to pick up that they weren't to be completely trusted.

“So, you've found someplace to stay?” Ron changed the subject.

“With Hermione and Remus, yeah. You should come by sometime next month.”

“Next month?”

“Sorry, Hermione and I are a little busy till then. Remus and Neville can tell you more later, they're both helping a lot with, you know.” Harry looked at his watch; he really didn't want to leave now that Ron had finally come around but he kind of had to, “I'm really sorry, but I have to go.”

Ron nodded, “Are we okay then?”

Harry swallowed, “We're good, but you're still going to have to apologize to Hermione.” Ron winced a little. “But I'll butter her up for you, how about that?”

Ron further cringed, “Please, don't ever make me think about that again or I might just have to take those fancy red boots from you.”

They shared a little laugh as Harry headed back to the shed. Mr. Weasley checked him over and had to remove three tracking charms, muttering under his breath the entire time. “Mad-Eye might be at Headquarters, you can have him double-check you if you want,” he quietly told Harry. “Or even Winky if you'd prefer not being prodded. I'm glad you've made up with Ron, he was quite insufferable for a while there.”

“He was just upset,” Harry defended him.

“Always sticking up for those you care for,” Arthur happily slapped his shoulder. “You're a good man Harry, never forget that. Be careful out there, England isn't the only place with foul people lurking about and it's surely not the only place that knows who you are.”

“I will. Thanks Mr. Weasley, for everything.” Harry was about to Apparate when he changed his mind, “Sod it, RON! Get in here!”

“Is something wrong?” Ron asked as he poked his head in the shed.

“No, come here,” Harry grabbed his arm. “He'll be back for supper,” he told Arthur before Apparating them both to Grimmauld Place.

“What are we doing here?” Ron asked.

“The door is different,” Harry said, not quite paying attention to Ron.

“Winky's done a lot of fixing up around here, you haven't been by?”

“I didn't want to barge in on your family,” said Harry.

“Well come look, you won't believe it.”

Harry walked inside and blinked a few times to make sure he was seeing things correctly. The dim interior of the house had been completely redone, the walls were all bare white plaster, all of the moldy carpeting had been removed and the underlying wood polished, and there were several gas lamps illuminating everything.

“Harry Potter sir!” Winky happily cried. “Did Winky do a good job cleaning your home?” She stood nervously in front of him waiting his reply.

“Winky, this is brilliant! You did all this by yourself?”

“While making sure we were all fed even though Dad kept telling her that you'd never want her working herself so hard,” Ron added.

“Have you taken any time off since I hired you?”

“Winky is a good elf who works hard and needs no time off!”

The elf had been so happy that Harry had liked her work that he just couldn't push her to take time off; she still saw it as a punishment. “Winky, what are you planning on doing while I'm away?”

“Winky will do just as Harry Potter asks. Making sure Wolfie takes his potion, checking on his Wheezys, and making sure Dobby is doing his job.”

“You asked her to check on us even though you thought I hated you?”

“Of course I did,” Harry easily answered. “Winky I want you to promise me one thing.”

“Of course Harry Potter!”

“While I'm gone I want you to make sure you spend a little time each day having fun. I don't care what you do as long as it's something you like.” After a moment she meekly nodded. “Did Ron's dad leave something for me in the drawing room?” Winky snapped her fingers and the rolled up tent appeared before Harry; it just fit in the deepest pocket of his jacket. “Right. We've got to go but really good job on the house Winky. I'll make sure Hermione and I come back and really check it out when we get back.”

Harry Apparated them to just outside the wards of their cottage and enjoyed the look on Ron's face, “Where are we?” Ron muttered.

“Just don't move, I've got to go pull our keeper away from the telly,” Harry smirked when Ron's confused look only deepened. It didn't dawn on him what was happening until Dobby pulled his head down to whisper in his ear.

“Bloody hell Harry! You're living under a Fidelius charm?” Ron slapped his shoulder as the property materialized in front of him.

Remus was sitting alone at the table when they entered and flashed Harry a very relieved smile when he saw Ron standing happily next to him, “It's good to see you Ron.”

“Thanks professor, you too. You've even got Sirius up on your wall!” Ron added as he walked over to the fire.

“Don't touch the cauldron; it's Remus' Wolfsbane,” Harry warned. Ron visibly flinched back from the simmering potion.

Harry tensed up a little when he realized Ron was inspecting the pictures of Hermione and himself on the mantle, after a beat he moved on, “Are these your parents' badges?”

“No, they're mine and Hermione's. McGonagall told us to keep them.”

“Where is Hermione,” Ron asked.

“She took Sirius and Crookshanks for a walk,” said Remus.

“Sirius?”

“He's our dog,” said Harry. “We found him in the graveyard sleeping on my parents' grave. Really freaked us all out a bit, he looks a lot like Padfoot.”

“Is that where we are then, Godric's Hollow?”

Harry nodded, “My parents actually had a store here. It's all empty now, but it was theirs.”

“You never told me that,” said Ron.

“I didn't know until Ragnok gave me the key.”

Their attention was drawn by Crookshanks coming in through the flap on the door, the cat's eyes narrowed slightly when he saw Ron and he jumped up on the back of the sofa surveying him closely. Sirius bowled through the door after a moment, already barking from the new scent.

“Sirius, what's wrong-” Hermione froze in the door when she saw Ron. Hedwig, who was sitting on her shoulder, flapped her wings in warning.

Ron broke the silence, “You must have been a right sight walking around with this bunch.” Harry smacked the back of his head. “Oww! I mean, good to see you Hermione. A- And I'm sorry I've been such a prat recently about my mum and your parents and you and Harry…”

Hermione attacked Ron with a quick hug, “It's about time Ron, we were so worried we'd never see you again.” Harry caught her discretely wiping away a tear as she moved over to him, taking one of his hands between her own, “Did everything else go all right?”

Harry nodded, “The Aurors are guarding the Burrow and Mr. Weasley had to take a few tracking charms off me. We picked up the tent from Grimmauld Place, Winky really cleaned it up, and I told her we'd come by after we get back. Have you seen it Remus?”

“No but Tonks tells me the transformation is remarkable,” said Remus.

“Where are you two going? Harry said you won't be back for a month,” Ron asked.

“Harry thinks there's a Horcrux hidden in Albania, we're going with Hagrid to look for it,” said Hermione.

“For a month?”

“Well, we don't know how long it will take so I'd rather have extra time than not enough. We're going the Muggle way so it will take a bit longer,” said Harry.

“I could, I mean, do you want me to come along?”

“I'm afraid it might be a bit too late for that,” Hermione sadly told him. “All our arrangements are for three and we're leaving in the morning.”

“Neville is going to be staying here, probably the whole time we're gone if his Gran lets him. Now that you know where we are you can come by and get caught up with him and Remus,” said Harry.

“And you can bring by your homework; being Head Boy you'll need to be extra prepared for the coming year,” Hermione added.

Ron smiled weakly, “Are you sure? I did promise to be there with you guys to do all this. It feels a little wrong to think about going back to school when there's so much other stuff to do.”

“Well if Harry's right and we manage to find another Horcrux, there'll only be one left-”

“What?” Ron blurted out.

“I killed the snake at your brother's wedding and the locket was in Grimmauld Place,” Harry told him.

“We've been pretty lucky,” Hermione added.

“I'll say. Maybe we could even find them all before school starts and you can come back!”

“You can definitely try and help figure out the last one while we're gone, but I can't go back until he's gone,” said Harry.

Hermione looked at her watch and sighed, “Ron I feel really awful about this but we did promise my parents that we'd be by sometime soon.”

“I understand. Harry told my dad I'd be home for supper anyway. I guess I'll see you guys when you get back?”

“We're due back the day before my birthday. Katie Bell might be over here a bit visiting Neville-”

“You're joking!”

“Not at all, but neither her or Tonks knows anything about what we're doing. Remus can show you the way to town and my parents' property; it's a nice place to go flying,” said Harry.

Hermione hugged Ron again, “It's so good to have you back.”

“Yeah, it's nice to be back,” Ron gave her an awkward pat on the back.

“Your dad can tell you what's going on with the ministry, make sure you have either him or Winky sweep you for spells before you Apparate here,” said Harry.

“I will. Thanks guys,” Ron said before Disapparating.

Hermione immediately wrapped her arms around Harry and whispered, “Thank you for bringing him back Harry.”

“Oh my, this place is going to be overrun with teenagers by the time they need to go to school,” Remus muttered from the table.

“Be quiet old man, you're ruining the mood.”

><><><><><><

The Grangers were happy to hear that they had made up with Ron but the good news couldn't completely ease the tension that hung in the air. They knew this was no vacation their daughter was embarking on, and they were fully aware that they couldn't talk her out of going.

“When are you due back?” Emma asked even though they had been told at least twice.

“The day before Harry's birthday, the thirtieth,” said Hermione.

“But you promise you'll check in?”

“Yes Dad, at least every other day, as long as the mirrors work that far away.”

Harry, at one point, did manage to lighten things up by slipping a Pepper Imp into Dan's pudding. The look on his face when he first started breathing fire was priceless.

“So Emma tells me one of your elves is going to be staying with us,” Dan mentioned after Hermione and her mother had kicked them out of the kitchen to clear up.

“Yeah, and Winky might stop by sometimes. She really doesn't have that much to do now that the Weasleys have moved out of Grimmauld Place and if I asked her to take some time off it would crush her.”

“They're kind of an odd little pair,” Dan commented.

Harry smiled, “I wouldn't have them any other way. I know Hermione feels better that someone will be here watching out for you.”

“Do you really think we need someone?”

“It's hard to say. Voldemort and his cronies think Muggles are vermin so they won't give you a second thought unless you do something that annoys them. One of my biggest worries about being in a relationship with Hermione is that it might suddenly make it worth while for them to attack you but you and Emma have friends and neighbors and lives that I just can't ask you to give up so I can hide you away someplace safe,” Harry rambled on not really sure why.

“You have enough to deal with, why worry about us?” Dan asked.

“Being an orphan is one thing I don't want us to have in common. Hermione is the way she is because of you; she, her kids, her grandkids even all deserve to have you in their lives for as long as possible.” All the cogs in Harry's brain suddenly seized. What did I just say?

Dan walked over to a cabinet, pulled out two glasses and poured some dark amber liquid in both, “I think this conversation is going places neither of us thought it would…”

><><><><><><>

“Are you okay? You've been a bit jumpy since you finished talking with Dad,” Hermione asked as she sat on his bed plaiting her hair. “It couldn't have been that bad, I could smell the liquor on your breath.”

“I'm fine, really,” Harry lied. He had come back from the loo to find her already wearing his jersey, something it appeared she had claimed as her own. He pulled off his shirt and threw it on top of the little pile of clothes, covering her yellow bra before his thoughts could wander off in that direction. A part of him wished she wasn't in his room now so he could charm his boxers to avoid another morning like the last, oh well, he thought before pulling off his trousers. “You know, if we're going to make a habit of this I'm going to have to buy a bigger bed.”

“Why ever would you think that Harry? We both fit perfectly fine on a double,” Hermione patted the empty space next to her. When Harry made to climb in the bed bucked violently sending them both to the floor.

“What just happened?” Harry asked as he slowly got up, slid his hands over the sheets then climbed up so he was kneeling on the bed.

“I didn't do anyth-” as soon as Hermione tried to join Harry on the bed it bucked again, this time throwing Harry to the wall.

“Damnit Moony! What did you do?” Harry yelled.

Hermione cautiously got back on the bed, “I would guess he's made it react when more than one person tries to climb in.”

“Can you fix it?” Harry immediately asked then an idea struck him. “Wait, let's go to your room. This will be a nice little surprise for Neville I bet.”

“But what if he's charmed mine as well?”

“He'd expect us to fix mine or even have Dobby do it, not change rooms.” As they quietly paraded themselves and the animals to Hermione's room Harry could hear the snickers from behind Remus' door.

“Are you sure you're okay?” Hermione asked as he snuggled up behind her.

I think this conversation is going places neither of us thought it would, Dan's voice echoed through Harry's mind. “I'll be fine.” They laid in silence while Harry casually stroked Hermione's stomach through his jersey. “There is one thing we're going to have to do as soon as we get back.”

“What's that?”

Harry smiled at her sleepy voice and kissed the back of her neck, “We need to find Ron a girlfriend.”

“Why's that?”

“Between us, Remus and Tonks, and Neville and Katie he'll get to feeling left out pretty fast.”

“As long as she doesn't call him Won Won…”

><><><><><><>

“Do you really expect Neville to find out about the problem with your bed?” Hermione asked as they waited on the train platform for Hagrid.

“If I know Katie as well as I think I do, then yes.” Harry didn't exactly like the idea of another couple sharing his bed. It was a whole new reason to buy a new one.

“Just what does that mean?” Hermione threateningly asked.

“When you play Quidditch with someone for six years you get to know them pretty well. Katie, Angelina, and Alicia used to talk pretty loud, mostly to annoy Fred and George. There's nothing to be jealous of.”

“I'm not jealous!”

“Right.”

“Well what would you expect when I know you've kissed at least once!”

“Only once, I swear. Do we really want to go down this road? I'll be forced to bring up McLaggen.”

Hermione winced, “All right, you win.”

“We'll just have to burn the sheets when we get back.”

“Agreed,” Hermione said before pulling him down for a kiss, which of course was how Hagrid found them.

“I'm not gonna have to deal wit this the whole trip, am I?”

“Sorry Hagrid,” they both mumbled.

“Bad enough I gotta handle kids sneakin inta the forest all year ta snog,” Hagrid's voice was gruff but he was smiling.

“We'll try to control ourselves,” said Harry.

“Hagrid,” Hermione suddenly looked worried, “not to be rude but are you going to fit on the train?”

“Course I am! Harry's seen me do it!”

Harry remembered his trip on the underground with the excessively large man, “Yes I have, and I've never seen a car full of people that frightened before or since.” Hagrid's laugh boomed across the platform as they boarded, he barely fit in the corridor and actually had to kneel to enter the compartment.

The journey to Albania seemed never ending but in a way Harry liked it that way as Hagrid seemed to be in the mood to tell them stories about the Marauders and the many detentions they had to serve with him. They had to change trains several times, and in the end it just felt like the compartments they were switching between were nothing more than cages. At one point Harry panicked when he got out his passport to have it checked only to find his picture empty; apparently his likeness decided to wander over to Hermione's for a bit.

“How is that even possible?” Harry asked once they were alone again.

“Maybe it was because our pictures were taken together,” an equally confused Hermione replied. They had tried to make their pictures interact with Hagrid's but they didn't seem to have an interest.

When the interminable days and nights ended they found themselves in a small village standing on a large slab of concrete, the closest thing to a platform for miles. “Well, where to?” Hagrid asked.

“The area we're looking for is about ten miles to the north, you have the map and compass, right Harry?” said Hermione.

“Just look at the sun, that'll tell ya north,” said Hagrid.

“What about at night?”

Hagrid started laughing, “You two ain't never been in any woods other than the forest, have ya?” They both shook their heads. “Get yer ruddy compass it if makes ya feel better but you'll always know what way yer goin' wit me.”

Harry pulled out the map they'd marked and showed Hagrid the best path through the county side they could find; they had agreed to do everything without magic unless forced but Harry still wished he could hop on his broom. Dobby had taken it upon himself to pack for them; Harry's severely enlarged pack was stuffed full of food, while Hermione's had everything else. They didn't notice until they were in France that he'd only included one sleeping bag in consideration of their recent arrangements.

It was still early in the day when they started making their way up the slight valley towards Mount Korab and by the time the sun sunk below the peaks to their left they were all fairly certain they could see their target in the distance. Harry guessed the forest in front of them would run all the way up to the mountain and they decided to set up their camp for the night. Each of the three bedrooms inside the tent had a set of bunk beds and Harry had the idea to separate two sets and push three singles together in one of the bedrooms; it was just big enough for Hagrid, like everything else in the tent.

“Does anybody remember what day it is?” Harry asked after he and Hagrid had finished and Hermione had a fire going.

“I lost track,” Hermione admitted, “but I think it's Wednesday. I wish I'd gotten a watch that showed the date.”

Hagrid grunted, “Dumbledore left me his pocket watch. Woulda brought it if I could understand the bloody thing. What yeh need to know fer anyway?”

“Well it would be a good thing to not miss the train back,” Hermione sassed him.

“That'd be a pretty long walk,” Harry agreed. He was tired enough to think her serious.

“Harry finish up your supper and go to bed,” Hermione ordered him.

Harry was about to tell her he was fine before he realized he could only open his eyes halfway. After quickly finishing he stumbled into the tent not giving a second thought to the trail of clothes he was leaving.

><><><><><><>

“Harry! Hermione's missin'!” Hagrid's booming voice jolted Harry awake.

“What's he on about,” Harry mumbled to himself, Hermione was right next to him. The door burst open and Harry could just make out Hagrid's massive form without his glasses.

The gamekeeper made a series of indistinct noises before struggling out a “Ne'er mind,” and leaving.

Hermione slowly rolled over and looked up to Harry, “Is something wrong?”

“I think Hagrid went to wake you up and found the other room empty.”

“Oops,” Hermione noncommittally said.

“When did you come to bed?”

“Not too long after you; it was easy, I just followed the trail of clothes.”

“Oh yeah. We've been pretty spoiled lately haven't we?”

“I never thought I'd miss having a house-elf around.”

Hagrid had to come back to wake them up after drifting off again before they could repack their tent and start off into the forest. They figured their general heading before the trees could cut off their view and checked frequently but after several hours of crashing through the underbrush it seemed to Harry that they were going over the same paths that Hagrid had stomped down earlier. He began discreetly marking trees with the knife he'd picked up with the camping gear.

“We're walking in circles,” Harry eventually announced.

“We can't be, we've been heading in the same direction the entire time,” Hermione told him after rechecking the compass.

“I've been marking trees for the last two hours,” he admitted, “and I've already done this one twice.” Harry pointed out the two small `x' marks.

“We gotta be gettin' close, the path keeps gettin' wider,” said Hagrid.

“It's because we're making it wider each time we pass.”

“How can this be happening?” Hermione nearly whined.

“I don't know. Maybe there's some magic around here that effects compasses.”

“Hagrid, I thought you said you knew how to keep your bearings,” said Hermione.

“Usually do,” he grunted. “It's almost like there's somethin' keepin' us from goin' the direction we want.”

“Harry, the direction spell you learned for the maze, try it.”

Harry hesitated but reached for his wand, “Point me.” The wand spun in his palm and pointed to his right. According to the compass north was straight ahead. “Bugger.”

Hagrid heaved a heavy sigh, “Well, only one thing ta do.”

“What are you doing?” Hermione yelled after he went crashing off to the right.

“Gotta head this way, maybe we'll find a clearin' an' check from the air,” he boomed back.

They hurried to catch up; Harry took to marking triangles on the trees to be safe. After almost an hour the trees thinned out and they came upon a modest round clearing bathed in golden sunlight.

“Well this is certainly… pretty,” said Hermione.

“It's gettin' late,” Hagrid observed stretching up to look past the trees, “but at least we're still goin' the righ' way. Harry, why don' yeh get up on yer broom an' see where we are.”

He pulled his Firebolt from Hermione's pack a slowly rose up in the air. The sun was setting between the hills behind him and the last rays of light seemed to be bending unnaturally to reach the clearing. In front of him Mount Korab loomed; he was thinking they could reach it in another hour or two if they continued on their path but then he noticed something. There was a section of the forest cloaked in a shadow that shouldn't be there; at the base of the mountain the trees had a grayish-tinge and looked to be surrounded by a thin layer of fog. If ever there was an evil place, a place animals would fear, a place Voldemort could call home… that was it.

“I think I know where we need to go,” Harry announced as he landed next to Hagrid, but Hagrid was looking across the clearing watching Hermione talking to a… unicorn? “Hagrid, what's going on?”

“Hermione's asking fer directions,” said Hagrid.

“Why is she doing it instead of you? You deal with all the ones at school.”

“The herd at Hogwarts knows me, don't they. Not a unicorn around that would snub her,” Hagrid happily slapped Harry's shoulder almost knocking him to the ground.

It was impossible to resist smiling while watching her gracefully stroke the creature's brilliant mane, the failing light forming a bright aura around them. He could tell she was talking to it, and it seemed to respond by making gestures with its horn and an occasional stomp of its golden hooves. Harry reached into his jacket, Remus had loaned him his camera and asked Harry to work on further decorating the cottage. He never imagined he'd find such a perfect opportunity and snapped a shot from across the clearing before creeping up as close as he dared to take another.

Hermione gave the unicorn one last affectionate pat on its muzzle before walking over to Harry still glowing, “Harry that was incred-” he cut her off with a kiss.

“You are so beautiful,” he seriously told her before smirking slightly, “and I have the proof,” he held up the camera. Hermione let out a happy little whimper and hugged Harry tightly.

“When yer finished,” Hagrid came over, “somebody wanna tell me where we're goin' now?”

“I think the unicorn was trying to tell me that we need to head in that direction and the place we're looking for is less than a day away.”

“I saw it from the air,” Harry agreed. “But we might want to wait for morning. There's a patch of the forest that's so dark it's almost colorless, I don't think it's a place we'd want to walk into at night.”

“Well I `aven't seen er heard anything dangerous. It should be safe enough ta camp here fer tonight,” said Hagrid.

They set everything up at the edge of the clearing and cooked their supper over the fire. Harry found a large bag of marshmallows in his pack; Hagrid roasted his eight at a time. Harry felt oddly peaceful sitting outside with the moon high overhead even though he knew there was danger ahead. He wandered into the tent a few minutes after Hermione and found himself deliriously lightheaded as he opened the door to his room. Lit only by a single lamp on the nightstand she was standing next to the bed with her back towards him, wearing only her knickers. Harry stood there in awe as she dug through her pack for the jersey she seemed to be so fond of, he wanted to pull her into bed the way she was, he wanted to take a picture, he wanted to do something more than just gawk at her like a bloody idiot. As soon as she slid it on Harry let out a noise, there wasn't enough blood in his brain to know what kind of noise but he was sure he made it.

Hermione turned around, clearly surprised, “Harry! I didn't know you were there!”

“Sorry,” Harry stammered. He was having a bit of trouble breathing.

“It's okay,” she hesitantly answered, her face as red as her knickers.

“Erm, right. That's good…” Harry slowly stripped down and slid into the bottom bunk; Hermione joined him, her head over his still-pounding heart.

“Do you still think you need a bigger bed?”

“This is nice, but I rather like not having to worry about falling to the floor.” Hermione laughed a little but quickly drifted off to sleep. Harry had to admit, even when going to bed with other things on his mind he was sleeping remarkably well lately.

“Harry,” Hagrid's voice was just loud enough to bring him out of his stupor. “Grab yer wand, there's somethin' out there.”

Harry quickly shook Hermione awake and they darted out of the room just as Hagrid was crawling outside, crossbow in hand. They ran out after him only to find themselves facing a centaur with an arrow pointing directly at Hagrid's chest. The snitch around Harry's neck grew warm and he realized he had just run outside in nothing but his boxers.

The centaur, who faintly reminded Harry of Magorian, said something in a language none of them could understand and seemed to grow angry at their lack of response. Hermione let out a soft `Oh' and smacked herself in the forehead with her wand, then turned to smack Harry and Hagrid in turn. Not liking the movement the centaur turned his bow towards Hermione, but Harry shoved her behind himself.

“Who are you human, and what are you doing in our forest?” the centaur's words suddenly became clear.

“I'm Hermione Granger, and this is Harry Potter and Rubeus Hagrid,” Hermione introduced them in turn. “We are traveling through your forest to reach the dark place beyond.” Harry noted the centaur appeared to understand her and it hit him; she must have used his mum's translation spell.

“The darkness you seek lies beyond but what can two humans and the son of a giantess hope to gain by going there?” His posture relaxed as he spoke and he lowered his bow.

“We believe the one who inhabited that area until three years ago left his mark there,” Harry tried to be as respectful as he could as he spoke. “I am destined to fight that evil and have come to remove that mark.”

“Your story is known to all those that watch the heavens, Harry Potter. The protector watches you in this forest but once you pass through the mist and into the shadow you will be alone. Be wary, there is an evil there that none return from.”

“Thank you. Are we safe here?” Harry asked.

“Rest well Harry Potter, you are well guarded in this place. When dawn breaks you must continue your journey. Fare well.”

The centaur abruptly turned and galloped away leaving Harry with a feeling that he would never see him again. “Well, least he's not as arrogant as the bloody ones around Hogwarts,” Hagrid muttered. “Still, he coulda come by before we were all goin' ta sleep.”

“Do you feel scared at all Hermione?” Harry asked after Hagrid crawled back inside.

“Oddly enough, no. For some reason this place is just…”

“Peaceful. I know I should at least be a little worried right now but I just… can't.”

“Wait right here,” Hermione darted back into the tent and reemerged a moment later holding the sleeping bag and a pillow.

“Do I not get a pillow?” Harry chuckled.

“This is yours silly. And you're mine.” She took the bag out to the middle of the clearing, unrolled it and motioned for Harry to get in. Hermione once again fell asleep soon after joining him but Harry stayed awake a bit longer enjoying the feeling of her gentle weight resting on his body and gazing at the stars overhead. Mars was indeed quite bright, but tonight, it didn't matter.

><><><><>

“All right there Harry?” Hagrid asked while they waited for Hermione to finish getting dressed.

“I think so. I had kind of a weird feeling when I woke up, like there was something else out there with us. Do you think maybe the centaurs were watching us?”

“They coulda been, but I don't think they needed to,” Hagrid shrugged.

“I kept dreaming that Hermione and I were riding on Buckbeak again for some reason-”

“You too?” Hermione asked from the doorway. They looked at each other in confusion until Hagrid started chuckling.

“What's so funny?” Harry asked.

Hagrid pulled Remus' camera from his pocket and passed it back to Harry, “Nothin' ta worry `bout, but yeh might be surprised when ya get these developed.”

“Hagrid, what happened?” Hermione demanded.

“You know you can't keep secrets from us,” Harry added when he refused to answer.

“I'm not keepin' a secret; you can find out whenever you want,” he smugly replied.

Hagrid playfully deflected their badgering while they packed and then set off towards the place Harry had spotted the day before, it took just over an hour to cross into an area where the daylight seemed unable to penetrate. Harry wondered if there was something wrong with his eyes when he looked over and saw Hermione's hair had all gone grey until he remembered that from the air the trees all looked just as colorless. Not even their footfalls made a sound as they wandered through the knee-deep mist.

Having caught a glimpse of something Harry led them up to a small wooden sign that had something posted in three languages. When Hagrid made to step beyond the sign without reading it Harry's heart stopped; he jumped up and grabbed the back of his collar to hold him back.

“Harry? What are ya doin'?”

“Hagrid, the sign! There's landmines!” Harry shouted.

Hermione gasped, “How are we going to get around?”

“There's wha? What's a landmite?”

“Landmines Hagrid, they're little bombs Muggles put in the ground. When you step on them they explode,” said Hermione.

“Well if they're little-”

“They probably have enough force to blow even your leg clean off,” Harry interrupted.

Hagrid paled a little, “What are they doin' here?”

“There's fighting all over this region. Hermione's dad said there's a huge problem with refuges, maybe the government's trying to keep people from crossing the Macedonian border,” Harry theorized.

“Which would mean they're placed along the entire mountain range, how are we going to get around?” Hermione asked.

“Don't yeh know a spell Hermione?” Hagrid asked.

“For all I know we're the first wizards to have come across this particular problem.”

“Could we fly over em?” Hagrid suggested.

“We could yes; Harry and I can both fit on his broom, do you have one of your own Hagrid?”

Hagrid dropped his pack to the ground, “I might have somethin' a touch better.”

“You have got to be kidding me!” Harry laughed when Hagrid pulled out the rug that normally lay beneath the table in his hut.

“An' you lot think I can' keep a secret.”

“Hagrid! You've had a flying carpet all these years and never told us?” Hermione asked gaping at him.

“Never needed ta know,” he shrugged.

“Ron's going to have a fit when he hears about this,” Harry said as he sat down in front of Hagrid and pulled Hermione down into his lap.

“How high ya reckon?” Hagrid asked as he tapped the rug with his umbrella.

“Just a few feet off the ground should be good,” Harry told him. “We might miss something if we go over the trees.”

“And we wouldn't want any Muggles seeing us,” Hermione added.

“Carpet's disillusioned on the bottom, Muggles won't notice as long as we stay over `em.”

“If you've had this thing the whole time, why'd we have to walk all this way?” Harry asked.

“Oh don't be so lazy Harry,” Hermione chided him.

They drifted over the mist all they way up to the mountain. Tonks had given Harry a similar crystal to the one she had used in London before leaving and he held it up before them, in the darkened forest it emitted a faint purple glow that grew steadily brighter as they approached the rocks.

It ended up leading them directly to an open cave, “Think it's safe ta touch down?” Hagrid asked.

“They can't place mines in stone, but we might want some torches to light the way,” Hermione answered. “Are you sure you want to go down there Harry?”

There was a slight tinge of nervousness in her voice, “We need to check it out. I don't like it either but we didn't come all this way to wander the woods.”

Hagrid rolled up the rug and produced a large lantern. The air inside was cold and stale; they wandered down the passage for hours before they came to a fork, “We'll need to mark which way we went; do you think we can risk a little magic?” Hermione asked. They all agreed and she took to marking every turn they took they same way she had the doors in the Department of Mysteries.

The darkness was infinite and they lost all sense of time. They would take one turn and continue along the passage for an entire day only to end up at the spot they started from. Roughly three days into their wandering they found an underground lake, Hagrid made to refill his water bottle with the water but Harry stopped him fearing what might happen if they disturbed the surface; they were forced to refill them with their wands.

Sometime in their fourth day underground they came back to the original split in the tunnel, Hagrid suggested they camp there for a while to rest since they were all growing quite irritable.

“Harry, maybe we should go back. There might be someone in a nearby village that has been down here before and can help us find our way around,” said Hermione.

Harry sadly looked back to her silhouetted by the dim light of Hagrid's lantern in the distance, “We can't go back Hermione, not until we check down this way.”

“But Harry, we've been wandering around for days now. You can't seriously expect to find anything different-”

“There's something about this place Hermione-” Harry firmly started, feeling irrationally angry.

Hermione clenched her fists standing resolutely before him, “Of course there is. This place has known magic for centuries, and Voldemort's presence turned it all to the dark but that doesn't mean we're going to find-”

“We have to keep looking!” he shouted.

“Why? We came here on a hunch, what do you think we can accomplish by staying down here in the dark?”

“I'm not going to just give up! If you think that just because you're my girlfriend you can make me-”

“I would never try and use our relationship against you to get something I want!” Hermione was shaking, trying to repress her own anger.

“Why not? It could be a bloody useful thing to have the damn Chosen One wrapped around your finger!” Harry wildly flung his arms about as he yelled, so lost in frustration he wasn't even sure what he was talking about anymore.

Tears streamed down Hermione's face as her resolve crumbled, “If I had ever thought there even a chance that I'd use some power over you I never would have let you kiss me in the first place!”

“Like there was ever a doubt! I would have done almost anything for you before, of course it would only get easier for you if I started kissing you for some reason!”

“For some reason,” she quietly repeated then rushed past Hagrid into the tent. As she fled a horrible sinking feeling overtook Harry. He'd just said something incredibly stupid, of that he was sure.

Hagrid, seeming determined to stay out of whatever was happening between Harry and Hermione, gathered up his pack and wandered down the explored passage. Harry was still a few feet away from the tent when the sleeping bag and a pillow flew outside; his mind went back to the night before they left.

><><><><><><>

“I think this conversation is going places neither of us thought it would,” Dan started.

“Err, sir?” Harry was suddenly very nervous.

Dan sat back down across from Harry muttering in between sips. Harry could only make out little bits, “too soon… hoped she'd be thirty… I'm not ready… just a baby…”

“Umm Dan? I'm a little lost.”

“I'd always heard every father hates this; I can't believe I was stupid enough to think I'd be different,” Dan mumbled, already getting up for a refill.

“D-Did I say or do something?” Harry's spine had gone rigid.

“I doubt you meant anything by it, but yes you did.”

“I'm sorry,” Harry automatically replied while thinking, This is bad, very bad. Does he know she's been sleeping in my bed? How could he?

“I have no idea where to start this,” Dan admitted, giving Harry a calculating look.

“If it helps, I haven't been this nervous since I knew I had to fight a dragon in the morning.”

Dan softly laughed, “Well then I guess I'm doing something right.”

What the hell is going on here? “So, you were starting something?”

“How long do you expect this war to go on Harry?”

A quick flood of relief shot through Harry, “I did promise Hermione we'd be back at Hogwarts in time for our exams.”

“You think you'll be ready to fight that man so soon?”

“I don't have much of a choice,” Harry wryly told him. “He's got it out for me. There's a couple of things we have to find before I can get rid of him, and there's a few other people that need to go down with him before I can really move on. I'd love for Hermione to go back to Hogwarts, but I'm positive she won't let me go on without her.”

“Who are the others?”

Harry's blood turned cold, “The rat that betrayed my parents, the bitch that murdered my Godfather, and the traitor that killed the Headmaster.”

“You want to kill them all?” Dan uneasily asked.

“I don't even want to kill Voldemort, but I have to. If that's what stops them, then so be it, but I can't just let them go.”

“And what happens after that?”

“Then, well I'm sure I'll be living by Hermione's study schedule, then exams… After that, I don't know. I spent a couple years thinking I wanted to be an Auror like Tonks, but that's three more years of training and honestly I'm not too keen on the idea of working for the ministry at the moment.”

“Things could change,” Dan diplomatically responded. “You're bound to become a war hero, your ministry will have to listen to you and you could always take a year off before going on with the training.”

“I think I'll need more than a year to unwind from all this. I'm sure Emma told you about helping me look over my bank ledger; I have enough money to never really need a job. Tomorrow is actually going to be the first time I'm leaving England; it could be nice go around the world just for the fun of it. Maybe eventually reopen my parents' store.”

Dan sighed heavily, “And where does Hermione fit into all of that?”

“Well, wherever she wants to. I'd love for her to come along but I wouldn't be surprised if she wanted to stay behind and seek out a career. She really could do just about anything she wants. I've never really thought about what it would be like to go on without her,” Harry explained suddenly feeling quite sad. “If it came down to her asking me not to go I would probably stay, but I don't think she'd ask.”

“Hermione might like to take a little time and unwind just like you…”

“I don't know about that,” Harry chuckled. “She'd probably go mental with nothing to do for that long.”

“You might be surprised there Harry. When we went to France on holiday a few years back I assumed we'd be spending our time on the beach but Hermione insisted on learning everything she could about the area.”

Harry smiled fondly, “I remember, she wrote me while you were there. Hedwig must have known she needed an owl and showed up. She completely re-wrote her History of Magic essay with the stuff she learned there.” Harry cottoned on to the idea Dan was trying to feed him but it still didn't feel quite right, “I've never… It's hard to really start planning for a future that you're not entirely sure you'll be around for.”

Dan collected his thoughts for a moment, “There was a man over in the States by the name of Malcolm X who said `The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.' It's not my place to tell you how to go about your life, but if you were to ask my opinion I would tell you that the more vivid you imagine your life past this conflict, the greater your drive to get there will be.”

Harry nodded, “I appreciate what you're saying, and thanks…” Harry finally took a sip from the glass Dan had given him and suppressed a cough as the liquid burned its way down his throat. He also took a moment to imagine what his life could really be like after Voldemort. Certainly trying to lie back and enjoy a normal life would be near impossible, he had already been nearly mobbed in Diagon Alley. Defeating Voldemort would only make that problem worse. It would be easy to spend some time abroad, years even. He had the money, but could he really enjoy himself with just Hedwig and probably the elves? With Hermione along he imagined there'd be a lot of time spent in museums, learning everything they could. She would love that, Harry thought, hearing of some interesting area half a world away and going to investigate just for fun.

“How's the future look now?” Dan asked. Harry hadn't realized he was smiling.

“Good. It could be a lot of fun.”

“And Hermione?”

Harry gulped, was he really supposed to tell her father he was imagining taking her away from him? “She's there.”

“Harry, I can understand why you haven't given any of this much thought and why you might not be ready to fully recognize what is happening in your life… Hermione is definitely closer to Emma than myself but that doesn't mean I don't know my daughter. She's different when she's with you, like a light's been turned on somewhere inside her. I doubt she's even come to terms with it but I recognize the way she looks at you. You said Emma and I deserve to be in our grandchildren's lives, I just hope you don't take them so far away that we never see them.”

Dan's implication rang clearly through Harry's head and he downed the remaining contents of his glass in the hopes of avoiding a response. The subsequent coughing fit was loud enough to draw Emma and Hermione into the room, mercifully ending the conversation.

><><><><><><><>

Hermione stood in the room throwing clothes from her pack wildly about, “Of course he wouldn't pack any actual pajamas…”

“Hermione?”

She spun around and glared at him, “What are you doing in here?”

Harry closed the door behind him, “I'm sorry Hermione. I didn't know what I was saying-”

“And that's just supposed to excuse what you said?”

“What did I say that has you so upset, that kissing you was an accident?”

“Oh, so now it was an accident?” she snapped.

“In the sense that when I woke up that morning I never could have guessed-”

Hermione laughed bitterly, “Of course not, you'd been off kissing Katie Bell the night before!”

“That was a mistake-”

“Which is probably how you see things between us now too,” Hermione's voice turned hollow.

“No. Hermione you are the best thing that's ever happened to me. Through everything that's happened to me you're the only one that's always been there, even when you were annoyed that I was using Snape's book you still helped me when I needed it,” said Harry.

“I'll never abandon you Harry, and I'll understand if you don't want…” she choked back a sob.

Harry walked over and raised her eyes to meet his own, “I can't explain what possessed me to kiss you that night. The best I can say is that it felt like the right thing to do at the time, and I will be happy I did it until the day I die. The whole wedding and reception I couldn't help but notice just how gorgeous you looked; when that snake lunged for you, and later with Voldemort I just couldn't help remember the feeling…”

“What are you talking about?” Hermione asked after a moments silence.

“Think about what you've seen in the Pensieve Hermione. What happened when I had to watch Dumbledore and Sirius be murdered? I was filled with such a blind rage that I chased after their killers with nothing but revenge on my mind, but when you fell at the ministry and I thought you were dead it was different.”

“Harry, what does that have to do with anything?”

“Everything Hermione! Whenever anyone else is in trouble or gets hurt I try my best to help them out, but that night, I thought I had got you killed! It destroyed me; until Neville told me you were alive I couldn't function at all…”

Hermione's eyes were shining with unshed tears, “Harry, what are you trying to say?”

Harry took a deep breath to steady himself, “I love you Hermione. I'm a bloody idiot for not seeing it sooner. The idea of losing you is too much to handle; if it were to ever happen I don't know if I'd be able to go on. You're everything to me, if you only knew how much I want to just take you and your parents and run away from all of this.”

“H - Harry, could you please say that again? Just the first part.”

“Hermione Jane Granger,” Harry softly spoke while cradling her head in his hands, “I love you. More than anything, and nothing you say or do will ever be able to change that.”

Hermione sniffed once before yanking his head down for a kiss that lasted several minutes. Harry eventually found himself thrown down on the bed with Hermione straddling his lap, “This still doesn't mean I'm going to shag you,” she primly told him.

“Of course not, we still have to follow your parents rule,” Harry smiled broadly for the first time in days.

“Well, that wouldn't really be a problem,” Hermione blushed.

“Why not? Is there something wrong?”

“No, nothing's wrong. I just came across some information that helped me make sure that doesn't happen.”

“Is… whatever you did safe? Can you really trust the person that gave you the information?”

Hermione was again not looking him in the eye, “I'd trust them as much as I do you.”

“Who? I mean anything Remus might have told you-”

“It wasn't Remus, but really I don't think you want to know,” Hermione bit her lip.

“Hermione, please. I just want to know what you did was safe.”

“Oh all right, I used a charm… from one of your mum's journals.”

A massive quiver went through Harry's body at the thought of his mother working on a contraception charm, “And you hid the journal for that?”

Hermione stretched out on top of him, “Believe me Harry, there's nothing in that particular journal you want to read, and I didn't hide it. Katie borrowed it.”

“Great, so now she and Neville are working through Mum's journal in our bed.”

“We're burning the sheets,” Hermione reminded him.

><><><><><><>

“Do you realize what you did last night?” Hermione asked as they followed Hagrid down the next path.

“I rubbed your feet until you fell asleep with that goofy little grin you still can't seem to get rid of,” said Harry.

“That, but you also referred to `our bed' back at the cottage. You've never said that before.”

“Really? Does that mean we have a guest room now?”

Hermione kissed his cheek without breaking her smile, “I wouldn't be surprised if Dobby's already moved the rest of my clothes.”

“Maybe we should move my things into your room, since they're pretty much the same anyway. Neville's the most likely person to be staying over, probably not alone-”

“We're not going to let our home become a place for him to… Are we?”

Harry shook his head; “Hopefully they'll get all of that out of their systems before we get back. What about when your parents come by, won't they notice?”

The way she ducked her head made Harry sure she was blushing; “Mum already knows. I told her the night before we left. I'm sorry it's just, she kept pushing me for answers and promising me she wouldn't get mad. She really wasn't upset,” she said still smiling.

“That's good. Doesn't beat what your dad and I were talking about,” said Harry.

“Which was?” Hermione prompted.

“The short of it was him asking me to not move his grandchildren too far away.” Hermione jumped as if she'd received an electric shock and fell silent.

“Anyone notice somethin' funny about this?” Hagrid asked after a few hours of silently walking down the same straight passage.

“All the walls down this branch are smooth,” said Hermione. “The other main branch was roughly hewn with stalactites and stalagmites scattered about all over.”

“Just don't ask Hagrid to tell them apart,” Harry weakly joked. Hermione shot Harry a confused look when Hagrid simply grunted in reply. “Is it me, or does it feel like we're going downhill?”

“Think you're right Harry. It ain't much, but we're goin' down,” said Hagrid.

They set up the tent after what had to have been a dozen hours of walking down the same straight, smooth, never splitting tunnel. The further they went the less they talked; everyone was growing uneasy with the stark contrast to their earlier explorations. What didn't help things was the fact that the bright purple crystal Harry was still carrying was slowly turning grey.

Harry couldn't sleep. He was pretty sure his massaging of Hermione's legs and feet was the only thing that let her finally drift off. Once everything was repacked they silently continued. An hour later the crystal turned solid grey. Another hour and a deep green glow appeared in the distance; Harry forced the images of the locket's hiding place from his mind.

“Where in the world are we?” Harry blankly asked as the tunnel finally opened up. They stood looking over an entire village enclosed in an emerald green bubble.

“We - We're underwater,” Hermione stammered.

“Well, least we won't be needin' the tent,” Hagrid stated as he headed off towards one of the crumbled buildings. “Am I leavin' the lookin' up to you two, or you gonna tell me what we're here for?”

“We're not exactly positive what we're looking for, but we should be very careful what we touch down here. If we disturb the wrong thing we could collapse that bubble or worse, wake something up,” said Harry.

“Like what?” Hagrid asked.

“Last time Professor Dumbledore and I found one of Voldemort's little nooks it had a lake loaded with Inferi,” Harry grimly informed him.

“Where do we start?” Hermione asked as they walked up the road between a crushed building and a still-standing inn.

“I don't know, find the center of the town and work out from there,” Harry suggested. He took out the still-grey crystal and noted it now seemed to have a faint blue core.

On the way to the heart of the town Hermione tried to rush into a crushed school and Harry was forced to point out that it had been abandoned for at least fifteen years. As best they could figure the town was centered on a traffic circle. “Don't suppose ya brought a shovel?” Hagrid asked.

Harry wanted to laugh at Hagrid's attempt at humor but couldn't. His eyes were drawn to the window of the bank on the corner, its one gleaming red window; “Hagrid, what is this?”

Hagrid walked over and followed Harry's gaze; “Oh dear. Harry, Hermione, find someplace ta hide. Now!”

Harry didn't wait for Hagrid to finish barking his order before grabbing Hermione's arm and turning to run back out of town. They hadn't even taken their second step when a deafening roar echoed throughout the enclosure and the upper level of the bank exploded outward.

“A DRAGON?” Hermione screeched. Harry looked back over his shoulder to see a massive metallic grey beast crawling out of the bank, its deep red eyes fixed on them.

The dragon drew in a large gulp of air as Hagrid rushed over and scooped Harry and Hermione up in his massive arms to dash between the buildings, narrowly avoiding a jet of fire. “What do we do Hagrid?” Harry yelled over the sound of the dragon's wings raising it up into the air.

“Whatever ya do don't run inta any buildings, it'll just crush it overtop ya. If we get across the street we might be able to lose `em in the rubble on the other side.” A dull roar sounded above them, “Go now!”

Halfway across the road the dragon landed with a mighty thud sending Harry flying back into Hagrid and Hermione further out in the open. Hermione shrieked Harry's name, which drew the dragon's full attention. It raised a leg as wide as the whomping willow to crush her but Hermione managed to get off a spell aimed directly at its eye. The beast cried out in pain as its head reeled back.

Hermione's attacked worked, but not for long. Lowering its head to street level the dragon drew in another deep breath as Harry's arm began moving on its own. A thin wisp of greenish flame shot from Harry's wand and wound tightly around the dragon's snout, the fire it was preparing to incinerate Hermione with instead shot out its nostrils into the open air.

A guttural yell from behind Harry accompanied Hagrid taking a large hunk of the bank rubble and hurling it directly at the dragon's ear. The beast's head jerked violently and it crashed down onto its side hardly moving.

“Hagrid, is it down?” Hermione yelled, her wand still trained on its eyes incase one opened.

“Hang on!” Hagrid bellowed. Harry was still holding the snout closed but looked back over to see Hagrid letting out his own roar as he lifted a fallen pillar over his head and cracked it like a twig over the dragon's head. It gave one massive twitch before falling limp. “That should… keep it… out fer a bit… till we can… get the… outta here…” Hagrid got out between pants as he kneeled between its front legs.

Harry looked over to Hermione's slightly vacant expression as she pulled Remus' camera from her jacket and snapped a picture. When his shoulders began bobbing with his chuckles she rushed over, cracking Harry's back with the ferocity of her hug. He reluctantly canceled his spell and returned her hug, “Are you all right? I'm so sorry Hermione. I shouldn't have brought us here.”

“I'm fine. Don't be sorry Harry; it's just… a dragon. A bloody dragon! Who puts a bloody dragon in a bloody underwater city?” Hermione finished shouting over Harry's shoulder.

“Harry,” Hagrid's winded voice called out. “Come look at this.” They walked over to see Hagrid pointing at a spot on the dragon's chest where one of its scales was sitting askew. “Bloody Ironbelly that's fer sure, but he's got somethin' wedged in over his heart.”

Harry cautiously placed his face up to the scale and peered inside. There was a glint of something shoved deep underneath, something with a thin golden handle. “Hermione,” Harry's voice shook, “I think I see the cup.” She came up alongside him and stopped his outstretched hand.

“Are you sure you want to do that? Who knows what could happen.”

Harry pulled out the Auror crystal and held it up to the dragon. The outer rim was a matching shade of grey to its belly, but the rest had turned to a misty blue. “The ring and the locket both made this same color mist when they were checked. There's probably no way to add enchantments to live dragon hide-”

“Shouldn't be able to keep one a these beasts as a pet ta begin wit,” Hagrid muttered, Harry and Hermione both looked at him like he'd been possessed.

“Are you ready if we have to run Hagrid?” Hermione asked. As soon as he nodded Harry made sure his pack was secure he reached out, firmly gripped the handle and yanked back as hard as he could.

Helga Hufflepuff's cup gleamed in Harry's hand, “I don't believe it. In a dragon… bloody maniac.”

A low moan sounded through the street and the dragon seemed to deflate before them, “We should go,” Hermione urgently announced.

“Oh no…” Hagrid was looking up at the bubble enclosing the town; the green glow was quickly fading.

“Hagrid!” Harry stuffed the cup deep in his jacket and pulled Hagrid down to put a bubble-head charm over his head, and then on himself, Hermione had taken care of herself.

The three of them huddled together and watched the bubble of air around them quickly collapse. Just before the wall of water collided with them Harry threw up a shield to lessen the blow, the shockwave caused by the impact made their ears ring inside the protective bubbles they wore. Once he had his bearings Harry grabbed each of their shoulders and began kicking with everything he had.

Harry could feel the others struggling alongside him, his legs burned from kicking while his hands ached from the death grips he had on their shoulders. The blackness of the deep water was nothing new after spending nearly a week underground, so when the first hints of daylight reached through the water Harry's eyes stung. He kept telling himself Just a few more feet. We're almost to the surface. When he finally broke through his breathing had been reduced to short gasps. He wanted to remove his bubble-head charm but seriously doubted he'd be able to keep his head above water while they swam the last hundred yards to the shore. Hermione was bobbing next to him, her face completely white except for her bright red cheeks.

Slowly, as if he'd swapped limbs with a troll, Harry led the way to the edge of the lake and they helped each other out of the water. Harry canceled their bubbles while Hermione cast a quick spell on each of them to thoroughly dry them out. “Are you… All right… Hagrid?” Harry heaved out. He was tired enough as is; he couldn't imagine how Hagrid could still be going on after chucking around hunks of a building.

“I'm alive,” Hagrid sighed heavily.

Harry rolled over to embrace Hermione, “And you?” She nodded, not having enough air in her lungs to speak, and Harry began laying small kisses everywhere he could reach with his rather limp body.

“Well,” Hermione eventually got out, “at least it turned out to be a nice day for a swim.”

><><><><><><>

“Harry, wake up,” Hermione's voice came to him.

Harry slowly opened his eyes to find Hermione looking down at him. It was a clear night and the stars were twinkling brightly behind her. “Beautiful,” was the first word out of his mouth.

Hermione smiled down to him for a moment that could have lasted much longer if not for Hagrid's snoring. “I think I've figured out where we are, and we have about nine days until we need board the train back.”

“How long have I been sleeping?” he asked sitting up and trying to work through the stiffness in his limbs.

“I don't know, I've only been up a short while.”

“But you know where we are?”

Hermione pointed to a dam at the opposite end of the lake, “There was only one dam even remotely close to where we started out. We're near Kukës, and I can hardly believed how far we've walked. Do you realize what you did down there, when the dragon went for me?”

“Dumbledore's flame spell, I know. Like I said before, if you want me to learn something, threaten me with a dragon.”

“I never thought I could find that less amusing than the first time you said it. I guess I was wrong.”

Harry reached into his pocket to make sure he still had the cup only to find the pocket empty. “It gone!”

Hermione lifted her hand revealing the Horcrux dangling from the tip of her finger, “It's right here.”

“You've been going through my jacket,” Harry said with a wry smile.

“I had to make sure it wasn't a dream, sorry.”

“That's all right,” Harry said as he carefully took it back and pocketed it. “Now we have to figure out what to do with the damn thing.”

“We might want to figure out what we're going to do until it's time to leave first.”

“Right. I suppose we should wake Hagrid,” Harry looked over to his supine form. “I don't think he's moved since we crawled up here.”

“I still can't believe what he did down there, I mean the shear weight of that pillar, and he just swung it through the air like it was made of wood.”

“I think we just witnessed what he's really capable of when he gets really worked up.”

“Harry? I just want to say I'm sorry for not believing you in the beginning about coming here, and down in the tunnels, and thank you for thinking to bring Hagrid. If you hadn't…”

“You don't have to be sorry about anything. I think that part of loving you means that you'll never need to apologize.” Hermione made a few attempts at responding without success before giving up and kissing Harry.

It took a lot of shaking and a bit of yelling to finally wake Hagrid, when they were finally able to he berated them for letting him sleep so long.

“So, we got what we came here for,” Hermione announced, “any ideas about what to do until it's time to go?”

Hagrid perked up a bit and took the map, “We could go visit Charlie Weasley and his dragons.”

Harry almost asked if Hagrid was really serious about wanting to see another dragon until he remembered it was Hagrid. “How would we get there?”

“Could take my carpet. If we go top speed could probably be there by sundown,” said Hagrid.

“You know where it is?” Hermione asked.

“Course I do! Went down wit Charlie when he first got the job.”

“It is safe there, right? We won't end up fighting anymore dragons?” Harry asked. “And how many other wizards are there? We are trying to lie low, it probably wouldn't be good for me to suddenly be seen in Romania.”

“Don't worry, no more fightin. I know Charlie's got his own cabin, sure he'd put us up there and not tell anyone,” said Hagrid.

“Hagrid?” Hermione asked with a little smile. “Are you just trying to get us to go so you can see Norbert?”

“Well, I gotta say he'd like to see his mummy…”

><><><><><>

They arrived at the dragon reservation the next night and Hagrid snuck them up to Charlie's cabin where Harry knocked on the door.

“Who the bloody hell is that?” a woman's voice came from behind the door; before Harry had a chance to hide he was standing before a young woman wrapped only in a bed sheet. “Oh! Harry Potter!”

“Harry?” Charlie called from inside, a second later he was standing at the door in just a backwards pair of boxers. “Hermione, Hagrid! What are you doing here, is everything alright?” Charlie urgently asked.

“Everythin's fine Charlie. We were in the neighborhood an' thought we might be able to bunk down wit you for a while?” said Hagrid.

Harry couldn't help but notice the woman's expression alternating between excitement when looking at Harry and slightly annoyed when gathering some clothes and slipping into the loo to put them on. Charlie's cabin was about the same size as Hagrid's, but since his furniture was nowhere near as large there was plenty of extra space for his Weasley genes to cause a mess.

“So,” Charlie began after pulling on a t-shirt, “not many people show up in this neighborhood, did you take a portkey here?”

“Nah, flew in,” Hagrid told him. “Been taking a little trip through the mountains and thought we'd stop by here.”

“Be honest Hagrid,” Hermione chided him. “You wanted to see Norbert.”

“Well I wouldn't say no to the chance,” Hagrid hotly replied.

“No problem Hagrid. We can go see him tomorrow,” Charlie smiled. “Are you guys going to need a portkey back to England from here?”

“We took a train to Albania, and we need to be back there to go back on the twenty-eighth,” said Hermione.

“We're avoiding any registered wizard travel, just to be safe,” Harry added.

Charlie's face showed a flicker of disappointment, he obviously hadn't been expecting company but he recovered nicely, “Well, you guys are welcome to bunk down here until you need to leave. There's a guy on the other side of the camp that can make some regional portkeys without getting caught if you don't want to Apparate or fly back.” Charlie's friend came back into the room with the same half-disappointed look.

“Between Harry and myself we should be able to Apparate Hagrid back to the platform,” said Hermione. Hagrid let out an amused grunt at the idea.

“We are trying to keep our being here as quiet as possible; your dad lent us one of the tents from the world cup and we've been sleeping in there. Would it be okay if we set it up in a corner in here?” Harry asked.

“Harry, no matter what my brother says, you kept Bill's wedding from turning into a complete massacre. Anything I can do to help you, I will,” said Charlie.

“Actually we just patched things up with Ron before we left,” said Hermione.

“Fantastic!”

“And your dad's been building things in his shed again,” said Harry. Charlie introduced his `friend' Liz to them all and they shared some butterbeers while they told Charlie about Arthur's invention, Ron being Head Boy, and the twins' pranking of the Dursleys before setting up the tent in a corner of the cabin. Harry smirked when he caught Charlie applying a silencing charm to it. “Is my Horntail still here?”

“Of course she is,” Liz excitedly told them. “She became the camp celebrity after that tournament.”

“Would you like to see her again?” Charlie asked.

“Harry! That dragon could have killed you!” Hermione cried out.

“Hermione, she was just being a good mum, she thought I was after her eggs.”

“She's safe to be around,” Liz informed them. “We keep her pretty well chained down.”

“She's not free here?” Harry sadly asked.

“She may have been a good mum Harry, but she's a bloody terror when she gets loose,” said Charlie.

><><><><><><>

No one could stop Hagrid from venturing down into Norbert's enclosure the next day. He went down in the morning and didn't return until Harry and Charlie were making supper in the cabin. His beard was only slightly singed.

“Is there anyplace around here that we could pick up a birthday present for one of our friends?” Hermione asked as they ate.

“Well, if you want anything dragon hide you've come to the right place,” Liz joked, “though we don't have anything as fancy as those boots you're wearing.” Hermione blushed a little and looked down at the pearly boots Harry had bought her.

“Well, I don't think he'd be the type to go for fancy,” said Harry.

“I'll bring by some cloaks and boots tomorrow, maybe you'll find something,” Liz offered.

“You have that much just laying around?” Harry asked.

“All the best stuff gets sold off, but all our equipment needs to be replaced pretty regularly,” said Charlie.

“You don't slaughter them for their hides, do you?” Hermione asked.

“Oh no,” Charlie quickly told her. “A lot of them die from illness, it's kind of unavoidable with this many species living so close to each other. Some die fighting over territory, we try to take away the bodies before the other dragons get them.”

“Most of them eat the sheep we import,” Liz answered their next question. “Sometimes one will escape and go for the cattle on the other side of the mountains, then there's the Muggle hikers that find there way in. Poor blokes never have a chance.”

Harry and Hermione both lost their appetites but thankfully they had barely made a dent in the food Dobby had sent with them so a little waste didn't matter.

At dusk Charlie led Harry and Hagrid out to she the Horntail. She would have been perfectly camouflaged in her blackened pit if it weren't for her bronze horns and yellow eyes. When she spotted Harry she let out a great screech. “She remembers you Harry,” Charlie told him.

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” The dragon began pacing around the pit; Harry noticed that she was manacled to the rocks. “It doesn't seem right that something be born with wings then not be able to use them.”

“Have you ever thought about coming to work out here Harry?” Charlie asked.

“No, as soon as this bloody war is over and I'm done with N.E.W.T.S. I think I'm going to need to go somewhere where no one knows me.”

“A lot of wizards come out here to get away from everything,” Charlie philosophically told him.

“No thanks. I might respect them a bit more now, but I think by the time we leave I'll have had my fill of dragons.”

They passed Norbert's enclosure on the way back and Hagrid went down to tuck him in. Harry almost joined him, but decided better when he thought of what Hermione's reaction would be.

><><><><><><>

Late that night Harry convinced Hermione to go for a walk around the reservation. Charlie had helped them brew up a potion to develop the pictures they had taken and had a small fit when he saw the one with the dragon lying defeated before Harry and Hagrid. What was more interesting to the teens was a picture of the two of them sleeping in a clearing, next to a griffin. They learned how duplicate the pictures, and gave Charlie copies of all but the one with the Ironbelly (and a plea to not say anything about it to anyone). When they reached Norbert's paddock a pair of glowing orange eyes caught Harry's attention.

“Harry, what is it?”

“Norbert. He's watching us, almost as if he's trying to talk.”

Norbert gave a little yawp in agreement as his eyes bored further into Harry's.

“What do you suppose he wants?” Hermione asked.

Harry took a step closer to the enclosure but she held him back. “I don't know. For some reason I think he wants to help us.”

“Help us do what?”

Harry reached into his jacket and pulled out the cup, Norbert let out a low moan of approval, his eyes fixed on Harry's.

“He wants the cup?” Harry asked in confusion.

“To do what with it?”

“Maybe he thinks he can help destroy it.”

Another moan, Harry took another step down.

“Harry no, you can't go down there.”

“But what if he-”

“Harry, we were all almost killed by a dragon days ago. Please, don't go down there.” Harry looked Hermione in the eye for a minute and nodded. “Can I see it?” Hermione asked.

Harry handed it to her and with a flick of her wand it floated down and came to rest on the rock a few feet away from Norbert who let out another yawp before staring up at Hermione.

“What do you think he's going to do?” Harry asked.

“I don't know, lets give him a chance,” said Hermione.

Norbert turned his attention from them to the cup, straightened his stance, took a deep breath and began raining down fire upon the Horcrux. He continually expelled all the air from his lungs, took another deep breath and re-assaulted the cup.

Harry held Hermione's hand tightly as they watched the rocks surrounding the Horcrux steadily begin to glow red and fuse into one smooth surface. The cup began to glow, the gold sparkling in the fire. Harry was vaguely aware of Hermione pulling Remus' out of her pocket. Norbert seemed aware of the cups growing brilliance and redoubled his efforts, billowing out a white-hot fire that made the air warp around it. The gold finally gave way, the mouth of the cup turned oblong and it wilted on its stem. A piercing scream made its way over the sound of rushing fire and with a sudden pop a magical concussion wave sent the withered cup sailing up in the air and blew out Norbert's fire.

A soft clang accompanied Helga's cup landing aside from the now-orange rocks, Norbert looked back up to them, released a pair of short moans and meandered away in his paddock. Hermione summoned the remains to her, gingerly testing it for heat before taking it fully in her hand. Harry preformed the Prior Incantato without result and looked at Hermione in amazement.

“Thanks Norbert,” Hermione weakly called after the dragon.

<><><><><><><>

“Hermione?” Harry asked as she got into bed. “Do you wonder if this is maybe going too well?”

“Since when does being attacked by a dragon and nearly drowned mean things are going well?” she chuckled.

“You know what I mean, everything's just been almost… easy.”

“We've been very lucky,” she agreed. “I'm just hoping it holds out as long as possible.”

“I'm worried.”

“What ever about?”

“You said something before about there being a balance to things, and that makes a lot of sense. I think that clearing in the forest is a good example; it was a good and peaceful place balanced out by what Voldemort did to the mountain, one had a griffin protecting us, the other a dragon looking for lunch. Everything for us has been going better than I ever dreamed it could, what would balance that out… it scares me.”

“Don't think about that,” Hermione whispered into his chest.

“I can't help it. I'd rather live in a world with Voldemort than lose the person I love-”

“Don't say that Harry, you know it's not true-”

“Mind you we'd be moving to India.”

“That's not funny,” she weakly replied. “Ignoring the fact that he'd track us down, we both know that you'd never be able to truly move on in life knowing he's still out there. Running away would make you into a different person; I don't want to lose the man I love.”

“Come again?”

“I love you Harry, and I'm not going to let anything happen to you.”

Harry smirked; “My own guardian angel. Does that mean you'll shag me now?” Hermione's body went rigid on top of his own. “I'm sorry, it was just a joke.”

“Don't be sorry Harry, it's just…”

“You don't want to?” Harry gently asked after a moment of silence.

“Not exactly. It's not that I wouldn't like to, I guess it's just… I always imagined I'd earn my white dress when I get married…”

Harry rubbed her back to try and relax her tense body; “I love you no matter what Hermione, and I promise I won't try and push you to do anything you don't want to do.”

Hermione relaxed; “Thank you Harry. I think we've both been a bit nervous about… that sort of thing.”

“Does that mean we're going back to wearing proper pajamas?” Harry joked.

“Oh, I think I rather like you in just your boxers,” Hermione told him as she stroked his bare chest. “I just hope you'll forgive me if I don't get a chance to shave my legs.”

“I could always do it for you, if you don't have time.”

Hermione shivered a bit and lightly bit his neck, “I seriously doubt that could save me any time.”

Harry stroked one of her legs with his foot, “How can you be sure without properly researching?” Hermione responded with a soft moan and Harry noticed she was breathing a little faster than normal. “Sorry, I'll stop teasing you.”

“Thank you,” Hermione quietly told him.

As they laid there in silence the idea that Hermione really loved him finally sunk into Harry's head. He knew others had loved him, his parents, Sirius, Dumbledore, but this was different. He felt whole, like he'd been missing something his entire life and found it. Something he never wanted to be without. “Hermione, what do you want to do after we're finished with Hogwarts?”

She rolled onto her side to better look at him; “Honestly I'm not very sure anymore. I've always wanted to do something to make a difference in peoples lives, but really, defeating Voldemort will be kind of a tough act to follow. I've thought about trying to make my way into the ministry in an effort to help other magical beings, but it seems more and more like it'd be a waste of time trying to work through them. I suppose I can find something to do in London during your Auror training-”

“You shouldn't have to rearrange your life to suit mine-”

“Honestly Harry, I know I can Apparate to a job anywhere else, I just like the idea of staying close to you,” said Hermione.

“What if I didn't enter the Auror academy?”

“But it's what you've always talked of doing, what could change your mind?”

“By the time this is done I think I'll have had my share of fighting, then there's the ministry. I don't really fancy working for a place that'll use me for their own image,” Harry repressed a growl at the thought.

“Unfortunately I think that would be the case anywhere you work.”

Harry shifted nervously; “Hermione, I'm sure you have a pretty good idea, but you might not know the full extent.”

“Extent of what?” she curiously asked.

“My… wealth. What you saw in my vault isn't even a hundredth of the total.”

Hermione let out a soft `oh.' “And what does that mean?”

Harry brushed his fingers over her cheek, “How would you feel about going away when this is all done - not running off to hide just, exploring.”

“Exploring what?”

“Anything we want. I know how much you love learning, can you imagine being able to hear about somewhere interesting and just go there, even if it's on the other side of the globe?”

Hermione brightened up; “Harry I'd drive you mad. It could take years to satisfy even some of my simpler curiosities-”

“I'm counting on it, and you could never drive me mad. As long as you could avoid setting study schedules I'd be having as much fun as you, I think.”

“What about my parents, and our friends?”

“We could come back and see them whenever we want. Maybe we could even learn how to make our own portkeys to simplify that; I know they're supposed to be authorized but Dumbledore never got in trouble for making any so I doubt we would. Your dad's the one that put me on the idea, then asked that I make sure he gets to know his grandkids…”

“And what was your reply?” Hermione asked, unable to hold down her smile.

“Didn't get around to one, I started coughing so loud you and your mum came in the room.”

“Pity.”

><><><><><><

Their remaining time in Romania went by quickly. Hagrid wasn't around much, quite understandably, and Harry and Hermione spent most of their time sequestered away in either the tent, or Charlie's cabin. The reservation was large enough to help them avoid anyone else the few times they went outside for a walk, usually at night.

“I miss Hedwig,” Harry said as they prepared supper the night before they needed to catch the train back.

“I know how you feel, I'm so used to feeling Crookshanks prowling around on the bed it just doesn't feel right without him,” said Hermione.

“You think everything's been going good while we've been gone?”

“We have smart animals,” Hermione said with pride. “I'm sure they've gotten along fine without us.”

“Still, I can't wait to see my girl again.”

Hermione bumped him with her hips, “Care to rephrase that?”

“Not really. Hedwig's been my friend longer than anyone save Hagrid, and she's the only one I had to talk to when I was locked up at the Dursleys. What I feel for her, however, is nothing compared to how much I love you.”

“You've certainly been quick to pick up being a sweet-talker,” Hermione said before pulling him down for a kiss.

“Oy! Some of us are waiting for our food here,” Charlie called form the table in a typical Weasley fashion.

“Wouldn't hurt you to take a few notes before he leaves,” Liz retaliated.

“You two seem rather close,” Hermione observed as they brought over the food. “How come I don't remember seeing you at Bill's wedding?”

Charlie's face paled and Liz hung her head, “I was a bit scared of meeting Charlie's family, given the size of it. We'd only been together for a month. I'd heard all about the jokes his brothers have played on people and how they all had been told off by… their mum. Thought it was a bit early to be going through all that and now… I can't…” Hermione laid a sympathetic hand on her arm.

“Molly was an exceedingly kind witch, I'm sure she would have loved you,” said Hermione. “Fred and George however, should be kept in the dark as long as possible.”

“And once they find out you'll want to thoroughly check any post they send,” Harry added.

“Those gits will think twice before sending anything this way,” Charlie said with a grim smile. “The last time they tried they could get more than twenty feet from the toilet without having to run back.”

“You boys and your pranks,” Hermione huffed.

“Are they really that bad?” Liz asked with a furrowed brow.

Harry barked out a laugh, “We ran into Percy before we left and his nose still looked like a goblin's snout.”

“That's just the damage you could see. Bloody prat,” Charlie added under his breath.

“Your dad's quite disappointed in him,” Harry admitted.

“Rightfully so,” Charlie scoffed.

“Do you think we need to be worried about what he may do, given the war?” Hermione gently asked.

“No,” Charlie shook his head. “He's a power-hungry wanker, that's true, but he still has enough of a heart to not want anybody else hurt. As long as somebody's around to give him a kick in the pants occasionally he'll keep doing what he thinks is right.”

“We'll make sure your brothers send you word if he ever needs a bit more than a kick,” Harry said, drawing a hearty laugh from Charlie.

><><><><><><><>

After a tearful good-bye (for Hagrid anyway) they packed everything up for the last time and Apparated back to Albania. Hagrid surprised everyone by Apparating himself, when asked about when he learned he admitted that it had taken Dumbledore six years of on-again, off-again instruction for him to master it since he wasn't allowed to go through the ministry.

Harry and Hermione spent another very long train ride mostly badgering Hagrid about what other secrets he was hiding. At this point Harry wouldn't have been surprised if he was running a petting zoo in the Amazon on his days off.

They had decided to part ways as soon as they were back on English soil and just before he vanished Hermione presented Hagrid with a blown up photo Harry had snuck off and taken of him singing Norbert a lullaby one night. Harry was sure he'd be carrying a bruise from the resulting hug they'd received.

Dan and Emma had taken the day off work to anxiously await their return; Dobby wrapped himself around Harry's leg as soon as he walked into the Granger's house. Dan made a joke out of telling Harry that he'd be receiving their electric bill for the month.

Harry and Hermione had brought back a pair of dragon hide gloves for Emma to use while gardening and some boots for Dan that, while clearly not as well made as the one's they'd gotten themselves, were quite nice. The Grangers were also shown of all of the pictures they had taken and given copies of everything that didn't involve the cup.

“So you two look rather cozy here,” Emma held up the picture of them in the sleeping bag as Dan and Hermione were upstairs looking for frames.

Harry felt his face flush even though he knew Hermione had told her mother of their sleeping arrangements. “It was a really nice night. A centaur came by earlier to see who we are and the griffin showed up sometime after we fell asleep.”

“Dan told me about the talk the two of you had before you left. I think he was as surprised as you about what came up, he didn't scare you too badly, did he?”

“I was pretty nervous at first,” Harry admitted, “but once he started talking to me rather than himself I calmed down.”

“Have you given any more thought to what you want to do?”

“Hermione and I had a bit of a chat about traveling around once everything's done, she took to the idea a lot better than I thought she would. I wouldn't be surprised if she's already making a list of places to go.”

“It's good for you both to have something to look forward to. You do promise not to stay away for excessively long periods, right? Especially if it's not just the two of you?” Harry felt himself turn a few shades redder and nodded.

><><><><><

Arriving back at the cottage shortly after lunch Harry was immediately bowled to the ground by Sirius. Hermione allowed the dog to slobber over his face for a bit before helping him up and inside.

“Welcome home,” Remus called as they walked in. He was sitting at the table with Tonks and Katie while Ron and Neville were rooted to the sofa watching the telly.

“Thanks Moony, it's good to be back. Happy birthday Neville!” Harry slapped his shoulder to draw his attention.

“I hope you two haven't been watching that thing the entire time we've been gone,” said Hermione.

Ron dramatically sighed, “Don't worry, we've done our homework.”

Harry fondly stroked Hedwig as she landed on his shoulder. “How did things go for you Remus?”

“You mean besides feeling like a chaperone at a school dance?” he asked as he walked over to them.

“You know what he means,” said Hermione.

Hermione made a surprised little noise as Remus lifted her from the ground in a hug, “Everything went as well as possible, thank you Hermione. Now, what have the two of you been up to for the last month?”

“Oh you know,” Harry airily replied, “we wandered around for a bit, went swimming, stopped in Romania to visit Charlie…”

“You've seen Charlie?” Ron finally came away from the sofa.

“And his girlfriend,” said Hermione.

“Charlie's got a girl, who is she?” Tonks asked.

“Her name's Liz, apparently she was a couple years behind him at Hogwarts and works with him now,” said Harry.

“We have a picture,” Hermione pulled the remaining photos from her pack and found the one she'd convinced the couple into letting her take.

“She's hot,” Ron commented after taking it. “Course Charlie'll never have a problem there with those wicked burns he has.”

Tonks snatched the picture away from Ron, “How would you feel if your brothers went around calling whatever girl is fool enough to date you hot?”

Ron shrugged, “Like I'm doing something right.”

“You are such a pig,” Hermione told him, Ron merely shrugged again being used to such insults.

“So, was it a good trip?” Neville carefully asked.

Harry gave him a slow nod, “Very good, and we brought you a birthday present.” Harry pulled a wrapped box from Hermione's pack and Neville was happy to find a dark green dragon hide jacket inside.

“This is great, where did you find it?” Neville said as he slipped it on.

“A Longhorn died just before we arrived at the reservation,” Hermione answered.

“So it was a successful venture?” Remus asked. Harry sent Tonks a meaningful glance.

“I think Katie and I will take Sirius for a walk,” she announced. The fact that Katie went along so easily made Harry think she was somewhat familiar with the situation.

As soon as they had gone Harry had Dobby bring in the Pensieve and set the warped cup upon the table. “It was there, and it's destroyed.”

“What did you do to it?” Remus asked.

Harry flipped through the stack of pictures and placed the ones of the defeated Ironbelly and Norbert with the cup on the table. “How did you get a dragon to do that for you?” Neville asked.

“That dragon,” Hermione's lips twisted into a smile, “is Norbert.”

“Wicked!” Ron laughed.

“And the other photo?” Remus asked.

“The Horcrux was lodged underneath that dragon's scales, in an abandoned town, enclosed in a magical bubble, at the bottom of a lake,” said Harry, the others jaws proceeded to drop a little lower with every point he mentioned.

“Bloody hell,” Ron weakly muttered.

Harry dropped his memories of the darkened forest, finding the city, the dragon, and Norbert's fire into the Pensieve and they all watched from over top.

“Who knew Hagrid had it in him,” Neville muttered once they were through.

“It's a very good thing you brought him along,” Remus added.

“The lake… it just fell on you…” said Ron.

“As soon as I pulled the cup free. The bubble must have been tied to it being with the dragon,” said Harry.

“Have you had any luck with the last one?” Hermione asked.

“Our list of subjects is down to a half-dozen of Ravenclaw's things, mostly jewelry,” said Remus. “A few of them are on display in museums, we were thinking of trying to covertly test them.”

“Good. We can begin on that next week. I think Harry and I could both use a few days rest sleeping on something a bit more comfortable than those bunk beds,” said Hermione.

Everyone stayed for supper and most of the talk was about the photos Dobby had managed to frame without anyone noticing. Harry did hold in a nervous breath when Ron was passed the one of him and Hermione sleeping outside, but she laid a hand on his thigh under the table and gave him a squeeze of reassurance before Ron quickly passed it along.

Harry was secretly very happy to learn Katie's parents hadn't allowed her to stay overnight at the cottage but still covertly asked Dobby to put all his things in Hermione's room while everyone was occupied. Winky proudly told Harry that she had checked on Remus every night they were gone, not just the ones when he needed to take his potion, had prepared at least one meal everyday at the Burrow, and taken up painting in her spare time. When Harry mentioned that they could hang some of her paintings in Grimmauld Place she promptly fainted.

Ron, Katie, and most of all Neville seemed reluctant to leave, but eventually Remus pointed out that they all had families waiting to hear from them and suggested they move on. Harry gave him a very relieved smile before staggering off to bed. The difference between the bunk bed and Hermione's - no, our bed - made Harry feel like he was drifting on air. He was so relaxed that he didn't notice Hermione coming in the room until she was in bed next to him.

“There seems to be one more dresser than I remember in here,” Hermione prompted. “And a perch.”

“Had Dobby move it after supper,” Harry sleepily replied.

“Do you still think we need a bigger bed?”

“No… This is good,” Harry mumbled before feebly trying to kiss her.

“Harry?” He grunted. “Happy birthday.”

Harry mumbled, “Love you too,” before drifting off wondering why she was giggling.

-->

11. United in Grief

11. United in Grief

“Harry Potter sir must wake up!” Dobby continually poked Harry.

“What do you want Dobby?” Harry whined.

“Miss Hermy sent Dobby to tell Harry Potter to… to `get his cute bum out of bed.'”

“Please tell me you didn't just say what I think you said,” Harry moaned.

“Dobby only repeated what he was told,” the elf stated.

Harry found his glasses and looked over to his smiling friend wearing a Mickey Mouse t-shirt and a pair of corduroy shorts. “Dobby, where did you get that shirt?”

“Mr. Grangey gave it to Dobby when he found it in Miss Hermy's things,” said Dobby.

“Why were you going through Hermione's things?”

Dobby's ears drooped as if he wasn't sure he was supposed to say, “Miss Hermy asked Dobby to bring her remaining things here. The Grangeys helped Dobby gather them; the pictures on the bookshelves had to be moved to make room for some of Miss Hermy's books and Dobby had to make room for many other things.”

Harry looked around the room and noticed most of the pictures that had been moved were now on the walls in their room, Dobby had also taken the initiative to put one of Hermione and the unicorn on the nightstand on Harry's side of the bed; Hermione's had one of Harry with Hedwig. “Did Hermione say anything about these?”

The elf nodded his head; “Miss Hermy called Dobby in and gave him a squeeze when she saw.”

“A what? Err, you mean a hug?”

“Yes Harry Potter, but you's waiting too long. Miss Hermy says you are both due at the Grangeys for lunch,” Dobby said while literally dragging him from the room and shoving him in the shower.

“I'm not complaining,” Harry said a bit later as walked out into the kitchen to find Hermione waiting with his boots and jacket, “but why do we have to meet your parents so soon? We just saw them yesterday.”

Hermione rolled her eyes, “They're taking a bit of a long lunch to see you today.”

“Me?”

“You really are a bit dense sometimes, aren't you?”

“Hey!”

Hermione stretched up and kissed him, “Happy birthday Harry.”

“Right, that's today.”

“You act as if it's just another day,” Hermione laughed.

“Well, it always has been,” Harry shrugged.

Hermione closed her eyes and let out a silent sigh. “Not anymore, now come on, they should be home by now.”

“So, do you feel any different now that you're `of age?'” Dan asked a short while later.

“Honestly it didn't even cross my mind until we were about to Apparate here, but it does feel good knowing that I don't have to worry about getting caught again,” Harry admitted.

“Again?” Emma asked.

Harry smiled faintly, “I managed to get a couple official warnings.”

“But they weren't really his fault,” Hermione clarified. “The first time he got in trouble because Dobby did some magic at his relatives, and the other he was actually saving his cousin's life when he was attacked before our fifth year.”

“That's right, didn't you say in one of your letters that he got put on trial for that?” Dan asked.

“The Ministry of Magic, hard at work,” Harry smartly replied. “Sometimes I wonder why I would have ever wanted to work for them.”

“Certainly they're not all bad?” Emma asked.

“Of course there are a few good people working there, but they seem to have a hard time of it. Until Mr. Weasley got promoted last summer he shared an office with another bloke that was hardly bigger than a broom cupboard,” said Harry.

“He seems to be doing a lot better now,” Dan mentioned. “Hermione said he helped the two of you get passports before you left.”

“He was a lot more helpful about that than he needed to be,” Harry chuckled as he pulled his from his jacket. “But it is kind of fun having an id with a moving picture.” Harry opened it up and blinked, Hermione's smiling face was looking back up at him, “What are you doing in there?”

“What's wrong?” Hermione asked. When he passed it over she softly giggled a bit and fished her own out, “I suppose you two thought this would be rather funny, did you?” she asked the photos. Seeing her parents confused looks she laid the passports open on the table to show the reversed portraits.

“We think because we had our pictures taken together that they're linked; they didn't even seem aware of Hagrid's on the train,” Harry explained.

“What happens when you have to present it and the picture moves?” Emma asked.

“Really, if you didn't know magic was real would you believe your own eyes?” Hermione retaliated.

After a peaceful meal they moved out to the sitting room where a large wrapped package sat in the middle of the room. “Happy birthday Harry,” Emma told him with a hug. “This is just something Dan and I thought you might find a use for someday.”

Harry ripped off the paper to find a black trunk with a large brass plaque simply reading `POTTER.' Slightly confused at first he opened the lid only to find a short staircase leading into a wooden room below. “Thank you,” Harry told them with a wide grin. “Where did you find a magical trunk?”

“Dobby actually found it, how does it look? He tried explaining it to us but all either Emma or I see is a half-full trunk when we look inside,” Dan explained.

“Really. You can't see the steps?” Harry asked.

Emma shook her head; “Apparently it's charmed to get you past any surprise inspections by a customs official or just some nosy Muggle like Dan or I.”

Harry wasn't sure how to feel about what was probably the nicest and most practical gift he had ever received. He made his was down inside when Hermione motioned him; the room below was actually larger than his room on Privet Drive had been and completely lined with shelves, drawers, built-in wardrobes, and one large mirror. There were several books on the shelves, and one of the wardrobes was already full, Dobby had obviously decided this to be a good place for Hermione's extra items. Harry sat down on the single red couch that adorned the room and looked around in awe.

“Do you like it?” Hermione asked coming down to see for herself.

“This is incredible but… it must have cost your parents a fortune,” Harry said in a slightly hollow voice. “How can I ever repay them?”

Hermione sat down next to him, “Mum and Dad really don't want you to worry about it. They did mention to me once while we were away what they were planning on doing, and I tried to tell them that you wouldn't want them making a big deal over your birthday, but I couldn't stop them.”

“When are their birthdays?”

“They've already past-”

“All right then, they're getting new cars for Christmas-”

“Harry that's completely excessive-”

“Well then you'll be helping me find some other way of properly thanking them,” said Harry.

“Well, you can start by going back up there and giving Mum a hug…”

Harry stood up and looked around again. “Why would they do this? They hardly even know me!”

“Harry,” Hermione started, taking his hands, “I'm sure they had a good idea of who you are thanks to all the letters I've sent them over the years, and really once you let a person in, which you seem to have done for my parents, you're quite an easy person to love.”

“No I'm not, I'm a moody little pri-”

Hermione placed a finger over his lips, “Your self-pity doesn't work on me Harry. I know you too well and I love you just the same.”

“You'd have to be completely mental to love me that much,” he told her with a small smile.

“Then I guess Ron has been right all these years. Do you think you can still love me knowing that?”

“I think it just makes me love you even more.” After a quick kiss they left the trunk to spend a few more minutes with the Grangers before they had to go back to work. Harry made sure to give Emma a very firm hug before leaving.

`,',',',',',',',',',',',',',','

Ron, Neville, Katie, Remus, Tonks, and the elves were all waiting in the cottage when they returned. Hermione walked over towards them with a smug smile. “You've been plotting this, haven't you?” Harry asked her.

“Only a little,” said Hermione.

“Hermione had an idea while you were away that we all go in on a present for you, granted Neville and the twins put in the most,” Ron's ears went red as he spoke. They parted to reveal a wrapped package sitting on the table, which Harry discovered was an ornate chest.

As soon as Harry lifted the lid something gold tried to dart past him, but instinct took over and he snatched it from the air to the laughs of the others. He looked at the snitch in his hand, and then around to the others who were all smiling broadly at him before opening the chest fully to see a complete set of Quidditch gear. After placing the snitch back in its home and securely fastening the strap holding it down Harry ran a hand over one of the bludgers which gave a little twitch against its own restraint and picked up the quaffle, “You guys really didn't have to do this…”

“Of course we did, you only turn seventeen once after all,” Ron easily told him.

“Besides, you seem to have this big open field that'd be perfect for a match. We'll leave the hoops up to you,” said Katie.

“This stuff isn't cheap,” Harry said still looking between them all.

“That's why we all went in on it with the twins and Bill and Fleur,” said Neville.

“But I'm not-”

“Harry Potter if you even think about saying you're not worth the trouble I will never kiss you again,” Hermione snapped, Harry wisely pinched his lips closed.

“Right then,” Ron looked desperate to change the subject, “what say we head out and give some of these a try.”

“But what about your brothers? Shouldn't I go thank them or something?” Harry asked.

“We're meeting them all for supper later at Grimmauld Place,” Hermione told him.

“Besides not having enough room here we are trying to limit the number of people that know our location,” Remus added after watching Harry's expression darken a little.

“And going to the Burrow's out with the damn Aurors watching the place. Winky had to sweep thirteen charms off me before I came over today, prats set a new record everyday,” Rom grumbled.

“How has that been going?” Harry asked Tonks.

Tonks rolled her eyes, “Bloody Minister calls us all in at least once a week to scream about how nobody can seem to find `that little brat,' I believe he's taken to calling you. I was thinking about trying to talk Fred and George into brewing up some polyjuice potion so we could send a whole group of people disguised as you straight into the ministry and really make the fool lose his top.”

“They'd do it in a heartbeat,” Ron smiled evilly. “Can I be one?”

“Really Ron, you could get your dad in serious trouble for helping out in a stunt like that,” said Hermione.

“Arthur's a right popular bloke `round there recently. Word spread pretty quick about his standing up to Scrimgeour, and not a person in the building believes him when he says you only stopped by his office to say hi.”

“Well, he did help us get our passports,” Harry quietly admitted.

“Why's he being so secretive about that?” Remus pondered out loud.

Hermione shifted uncomfortably next to Harry, “Well, he called in a man to make them for us then after he'd finished…”

Harry looked Ron in the eye; “Your dad wiped his memory so no one would know we were planning on going anywhere.”

Ron's eyes threatened to pop out of his head as his smile grew, “All right Dad! Seriously, I didn't know he had it in him. Wait until Fred and George hear!”

“I don't think we should really be spreading that bit of information around,” Tonks said while grinning herself. “Arthur'd find himself in a world of trouble if that little secret got out.”

`,',',',',',',',',',',',',','

They spent the rest of the afternoon on Harry's family property, Hermione and Neville opted to stay on the ground playing with Sirius as Ron, Katie, and Tonks passed around the quaffle with Remus and Harry knocking around a bludger at them. The look on Hermione's face made Harry fairly certain she was plotting something again; it was also a look that made Katie's face turn into a jealous scowl, at least until Harry nearly knocked her off her broom.

“I saw that look,” Harry told Katie as she helped him secure the bludger. “I'm sure there's nothing to be jealous of.”

“You have to admit they were talking rather close, doesn't that worry you at all?” Katie asked, the scowl returning.

“No, they're just planning something. If I had to guess, I'd say it has something to do with Ron,” Harry motioned up to his friend doing loops through the air on his Firebolt.

“What makes you say that?”

“It's something Hermione and I agreed on before leaving. Ron's going to be feeling awfully left out if he's stuck hanging out with three couples.”

“And you think they're trying to figure out the right girl for him, doesn't Ron get a say in that?”

“Well it's not like we're going to lock him in a room with a girl and not let him out until he snogs her senseless…” Harry trailed off, really would that be a bad idea?

“What about Padma? She's supposed to be the other Head this year-”

“No, they went to the Yule Ball together and according to Hermione he hasn't exactly been her favorite person since then. There is one girl, but I have no idea if Ron would ever agree to be alone in the same room with her…”

“Who's that?”

“Everything packed up then?” Ron landed next to them.

“Yeah, I'll bring these back to the cottage and we can all go to Grimmauld. Are you and Neville coming?” Harry asked Katie.

“Of course, who could say no to cake.”

Harry quizzically looked to Ron who let out a little moan, “You weren't supposed to tell him!”

“Who's making a cake?”

“Winky. She wanted it to be a surprise,” Ron glared at Katie, “so you're just going to have to act surprised.”

Katie blushed a little, “Sorry. I just figured it's his birthday, why wouldn't there be a cake?”

“Because last year was his first real birthday party and that got ruined by Karkaroff turning up dead,” Ron heatedly told her. Harry was really touched by how determined Ron seemed to make this birthday better than the last, which despite the news was the best birthday Harry could remember.

“You never had a birthday party?” Katie slowly asked.

“The damn Muggles Dumbledore sent him to live with treated him like some caged animal,” Ron scowled for a moment then his lips twisted up into a shrewd smile. “The twins said they'd be taking off the charms today didn't they?”

Harry had almost forgotten that the month-long prank to the Dursleys was set to end today, “Yeah I suppose. Maybe I should stop by sometime and make sure they actually go through with it.”

“You will do no such thing,” Hermione's voice came from behind. “If Fred and George happen to forget to reverse the charms then too bad. Those animals deserve far worse after what they put you through.” Ron firmly nodded his agreement.

“I suppose I'm out voted,” Harry chuckled before popping the chest and their brooms back to the cottage and grabbing his and Hermione's jackets. When he returned Hermione was looking quite oddly at Tonks who had morphed her appearance to have Hermione's nose and bushy brown hair. “What's going on?”

“Oh, Remus and I are just going to walk Sirius home before meeting you,” Tonks airily replied.

“And the hair?” Hermione prompted.

Remus rolled his eyes, “Well, she needs to be able to pass as your mother to other villagers now, doesn't she?”

“And whose fault is that?” Harry snickered. Remus shot him a nasty look before strolling away.

“I think she really gets off on embarrassing him,” Ron commented. “She makes him take her to the pub all the time. We went along once and there was this girl a few tables over that looked mad enough to burst every time Tonks touched him.”

“It seems like we should really feel sorry for her, but really how long can you carry a torch for a bloke before you give up?” said Katie.

“Remus broke down and showed us how you guys met her and her mum in your Pensieve,” said Ron.

Harry suddenly looked at Katie in alarm. “Don't worry,” she held up her hands, “Dobby stood watch over us to make sure I didn't see anything I shouldn't.”

“Sorry about all that,” Harry smiled sheepishly at her. “Its not that we don't trust you-”

“I understand Harry. I'm happy enough just being admitted to your little group,” Katie smiled at Neville who blushed a bit. “I just hope you know I'll help you all in any way I can.”

“As long as we don't take your little Nevy away,” Ron smirked. Neville's face flamed as he shot Ron a dirty look.

`,',',',',',',',',',',',',',','

When they arrived at Grimmauld Place Winky took Harry and Hermione on a tour of the house while they waited for everyone else. Harry was forced to admit to himself that the house was incredibly bland, but compared to its condition before he had no complaints. Hermione referred to it as a `blank slate.'

“Is there a reason you've left this up?” Harry asked Winky motioning to the Black Family Tree.

“Winky does not think it right to remove something with Harry Potter's name.”

“Do you think you can fix this?” Harry asked while fingering the burn mark above his own name. Winky came up and began rubbing the spot with her thumb as if it were an ink stain. The burn mark slowly cleared and with a snap of Winky's fingers golden thread began stitching itself in the tapestry, putting Sirius' name in its rightful place. “You don't think he'd mind do you?” Harry asked Hermione. “I know he didn't like his family, but I don't like the idea of my name being on there without his.”

Hermione placed a soft kiss on his cheek, “I think he'd be proud to have his name anywhere near your own.”

When Winky finally allowed them in the kitchen they found the rest of the Weasley family (minus Charlie but plus Gabrielle) had joined their previous party. They had a slightly raucous supper and Harry couldn't help but be annoyed by the fact that Ginny kept trying to draw his attention away from everyone else. Apparently Ron hadn't been able to keep quiet about their visit with Charlie and everyone, Fred and George in particular, wanted to know more about Liz. Thankfully no one asked just why they had left the country in the first place, Harry just assumed Mr. Weasley had told them not to.

After the meal Winky produced a large lightning bolt shaped cake covered in green frosting. Harry was only kept from rolling his eyes by Hermione elbowing his side. Eventually Harry agreed to bring his new equipment by the Burrow on Sunday afternoon, the twins said they'd bring Angelina and Alicia, and with Katie and Neville they figured they would have enough people for two full teams. The idea of a full-fledged match was enough to drive any worries of the Aurors out of Harry's mind.

Ginny tried to corner Harry on his way back from the loo, but Fleur had seen her sneak out after him and saved him from what was sure to be a very annoying conversation. Shortly after that Hermione said she needed to get home to tend to Remus' potion and Harry decided to escort her there.

“You're quite proud of yourself, aren't you?” Harry asked her as he played with the camera Mr. Weasley had given him for his birthday.

“Whatever are you talking about?” she asked without looking back from her potion

“We both saw the look on Fleur's face when Remus mentioned you made his potion right the first time. You like the fact that you beat her at something, don't you?”

“Oh, don't be silly Harry.”

“You think I never noticed the look on your face whenever she kissed either Ron or myself? I know it annoyed you to no end that she could turn him into a gibbering idiot, luckily I hold myself together a bit better. You don't like being second at anything and you feel good proving yourself better than her at something.” Hermione refused to reply and Harry realized she might not be seeing things as lightly as he did. He walked up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed the side of her neck, “As far as I'm concerned you are the best and I think I'd do just about anything to prove that to you.”

“It's just hard sometimes,” Hermione softly started. “There'll always be women out there that can make men swoon by simply walking into a room, and I know that I'm just not pretty enough to even come close-”

“Hermione, for starters we both know Fleur only really gets the reaction she does through whatever Veela magic she has in her-”

“Which doesn't seem to affect you the same way it does most men.”

“I don't really know why. Before the wedding Winky led me into the room with Fleur, Gabrielle, and their mother and I started to get the same feeling as if someone cast the imperious curse on me. Maybe I can shrug off their magic like I can the curse, and that's kind of the point. The entire wedding, when everyone else had their eyes glued to Fleur I was staring like a brainless twit at you. I was so lost in you that I have absolutely no recollection of the ceremony. You have that same power without any magical help, as far as I'm concerned.”

Hermione turned in his arms, “One of these days you're going to have to let me know where you get the inspiration for these little speeches you've been giving because I know I've never helped you in that respect.”

“I've been really lucky lately, at least when it comes to you. Seems the first words that come to mind are the right ones,” Harry replied before kissing her. “Need any help before going to bed?”

“No thanks, I'll just be along in a minute,” Hermione gave him another kiss before turning back to the potion.

Harry got another surprise when he walked in their room: the dressers were gone and his new trunk was sitting up against the wall in their place. He took a quick trip down to verify that all of their clothing had in fact been put away before stripping down and making his way into the bed. Hermione came in a few minutes later and shot him a questioning glance until he explained what Dobby had done, Harry could hear her laughing from inside the trunk. “So do you think I could borrow my jersey back for the match on Sunday?” he asked as she slipped into bed.

“Whatever are you talking about Harry, this is my jersey,” Hermione teased.

“Right, that's why it says `Potter' on the back.”

Hermione playfully slapped his hand away as he traced a finger along the lettering, “I suppose that will have to get fixed at some point-”

Harry furiously tickled her to put an end to the verbal teasing mostly because he wasn't ready to vocalize the first method that came to mind to fix that particular problem; the way that didn't involve altering the garment one bit. He whole-heartedly agreed with the voice in the back of his head when it said you've only been seventeen a day, there's no need to rush into that talk.

`,',',',',',',',',',',',',',',','

A very ashen-faced Remus woke them the next morning and pulled them out to the table where Tonks was openly crying, Harry's heart immediately sunk. “Who's died,” he quietly asked.

“It's all my fault!” Tonks wailed. Hermione went rigid next to Harry.

“You are not to blame-” Remus started.

“Yes I am! It was my idea! They're all dead because of me! It's just like S - Sirius!”

“Someone please tell us what's happened,” Hermione pleaded.

“There's been an attack. The entire city of Eastbourne has been destroyed,” Remus slid over a copy of the Prophet.

Muggle City Destroyed, Chosen One Feared Dead!

Late last night, Death Eaters and as many as two giants carried out an organized attack on the Muggle-city of Eastbourne. Approximately seventy-five percent of the buildings in the city had been razed before the Aurors and Hit-Wizards could mount an organized counter-strike. One giant was able to be put down, but the remainder of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's forces were able to escape.

Over a thousand Muggles are confirmed dead but worst of all Harry Potter, the Chosen One, was rumored to have been in hiding somewhere in the seaside town. The fact that the attack coincides with Mr. Potter's seventeenth birthday is anything but a coincident.

Muggles are being told a tidal wave crashed ashore shortly after dusk and teams are currently in place trying to rearrange the rubble in an appropriate fashion while the search continues for any sign of Harry Potter's remains. When asked, one member of the search tem said his chances of survival…

Harry dropped the paper and dashed off to the toilet, luckily he hadn't eaten since the night before so he couldn't make a mess on the way. Eventually he became aware of someone gently stroking his back and looked up to see Hermione's extremely white face.

“He destroyed an entire town… because of me…” Harry weakly muttered in between heaves.

“It's not your fault Harry,” Hermione whispered. “It wasn't even your idea to go there in the first place… If I hadn't suggested-” Hermione broke down sobbing. Harry desperately clung to her and they spent the remainder of the morning shivering on the floor.

`,',',',',',',',',',',',',',',','

Dobby managed to pull them to the table for a very light lunch, which was eaten in complete silence.

“No one here is to blame for this,” Remus started. When they all seemed determined to ignore him he tried a different approach. “Hermione, what upsets you about all of this?”

She hiccupped out a few times before whispering, “It was my idea to go there the night before the wedding… If I hadn't mentioned it to Katie we never would have gone there and Harry's name wouldn't have been tied to it…”

“And Tonks?” Remus continued when it was apparent Hermione had finished.

“I told the ministry that's where Harry was. It seemed perfect, send the people looking for him to the opposite end of the country from where he's staying… I should have known You-Know-Who would have heard and planned a hit,” Tonks looked ready to make a dash to the toilet like Harry had.

“Harry?” Remus asked.

“He was going for me.”

“And how is that you fault?”

“Over a thousand people!” Harry suddenly screamed. “All dead because I was supposed to be there!”

Remus let them all stew in their own misery for a few minutes, “Do any of you feel that anyone else at this table is to blame?” They all shook their heads. “Then stop feeling so bloody sorry for yourselves!” he shouted and banged the table. “Of course it's a tragedy what happened, but no one here could have prevented Voldemort from carrying out another large-scale attack! Use your heads, if the point of the attack was to kill Harry he would have verified he was actually there. We are in the middle of a war with some of the vilest creatures in existence, of course there are going to be casualties, but it is not our place to take them all on. As far as anyone that steps foot in this cottage is concerned we have one target, one single goal: the death of Tom Riddle. Death Eaters, giants, Dementors, werewolves; it's up to the ministry to deal with them. Above all no matter what happens, however many cities are destroyed, what friends we may lose, there is only one person to blame, and we shall kill him or die trying, is that clear!” The room was silent. Dobby stood shaking by the sink and Sirius was cowering in a corner. “Is that clear?” Remus screamed, the other three hung their heads and mutely nodded.

“Harry,” Hermione whispered, “can my parents stay here, at least for the weekend? I'd just feel better knowing they're not alone.”

“Of course, you don't have to ask that,” Harry replied in an equally quiet voice.

“Where will we put them?” Tonks somewhat blankly asked.

“In the guest room,” Harry smirked despite his mood.

“Oh good. I was afraid you were getting ready to convert it to a nursery,” Remus quipped. Slowly the tension lifted as they all began snickering, then outright laughing.

`,',',',',',',',',',',',',',','

The Grangers were slightly flummoxed by Harry and Hermione's sudden appearance in their office, but they were smart enough to realize the news reports were not the entire truth and agreed to cancel the remainder of their appointments for the week and come stay with them. They were brought home to pack some clothes and secured away in the cottage within an hour. Harry held in quite a nervous breath when Hermione showed them to their room, as they were fully aware that it used to be his own, luckily neither of the dentists felt the need to bring up this piece of information.

“Do you think we should cancel the Quidditch match we planned for Sunday?” Harry asked Tonks as Dobby and Winky were serving their supper.

“Actually, it might be a good idea to go through with it. The public's going to be throwing a fit thinking you're dead-”

“What?” both the Grangers blurted out.

Hermione tried to explain just why the wizarding public thought Harry had been in Eastbourne, but was still feeling quite guilty and had to run off to their room to avoid breaking down completely. Harry quickly followed leaving Remus to explain. Emma came in about ten minutes later re-enunciating Remus' words from earlier and brought them all back to the table.

“Anyway,” Tonks continued answering Harry's original question, “the Aurors on guard will report back that you're there and word will get around pretty quickly after that.”

“But then the Minister will probably show,” said Harry.

“Most likely,” Remus began, “but the public will need to be informed that you've not died yet-”

“Oh thanks Moony, not yet but soon,” Harry cut him off, but by the look on the older man's face he knew he'd been joking.

“Well, I'm hoping you'll at least make it `till Christmas. With the way the goblins treat you I have a feeling that we could all have a jolly good time.”

“And if this is the way the two of you will be acting I think I'll be home with Mum and Dad,” Hermione broke in.

“Can I come?” Tonks asked drawing a deep laugh from Dan.

“But aren't you worried they'll try and bring either Remus or myself in for questioning?” Harry asked Tonks. “And seriously, if I suddenly show up at the Burrow word could spread about me visiting there and it could be attacked again.”

“As long as you don't visit regularly you won't raise the risks of it being a target, and technically now that you're an adult they'll have much less pull over what they can do to you,” Remus told him. “All either of us have to say is that an incident occurred in goblin territory and the matter was settled with them. If they demand more answers we tell them to speak with Ragnok and Apparate away.”

Tonks nodded her agreement, “The fact that you are apparently on good terms with the head goblin will put a pretty quick stop to any legal nonsense they try and pull.”

“But if they are asked in for questioning and flee, won't they be endangering themselves even more?” Dan asked.

“Not as long as they tell them to talk to the goblins, but just to be safe I'll go to Gringotts tonight and try and pass on a warning to Ragnok about the possibility,” said Tonks.

“Maybe I should just write him a letter and have Dobby bring it to him. They've met, so he will know it's really from me and I'm still around,” said Harry.

“He'll know you're alive,” Remus informed them all. “If you'd been killed your will would have gone into effect this morning.”

“Oh, would he get a notice since he's one of the witnesses?” Harry asked.

“You asked Ragnok to be one of your witnesses?” Tonks asked incredulously.

“Not really,” Harry wasn't sure what the big deal was. “He asked if I wanted him to be a witness so nobody else would see what they'd be getting and try and talk me out of it.”

“And Remus is the other witness?” Hermione asked a little putout.

“No,” Harry simply replied, “Dobby is, and Ragnok promised we'd be the only three to see the thing until I kick it.” Dobby smiled sheepishly from his seat across the table while Winky beamed at him.

“Do you have any idea what you're doing to our world Harry?” Tonks asked with a broad grin. When he shook his head she continued, “Every time you've stepped foot in that building this summer you've upped the ante in showing that you don't care for some of the oldest prejudices that we're plagued with. I don't know of any other Muggle-born who's gotten in to see the head goblin, yet you pull Hermione along with you without a second thought. You go back with a werewolf and get another private meeting, honestly every high-profile place like Gringotts or the ministry has a policy that any werewolf is supposed to be escorted by at least one security agent but they let Remus pass because he's with you. When you go to have your will made up you're the only human who signed the bloody thing and you probably have no idea about what's happening because all this, do you?”

“Nothing's happening as far as I can see, and I really have no intention on doing anything different just to make a bunch of old geezers feel better,” Dan snorted at Harry's words, “I mean if I was really trying to make a statement I'd take Grawp shopping through Hogsmeade,” Hermione snorted at the mention of the giant.

“I'd hold off on that idea. If anyone saw you hanging out with a giant about now the press would probably turn on you again like your fifth year,” Tonks said, briefly killing the mood.

“For what it's worth,” Remus put in, “the goblins have picked up that you don't give a damn that they're not human. Their kind, along with far too many others,” a pained looked crossed Remus' face, Harry knew he was indicating himself in the group, “have been treated at best as servants for centuries. Far too few wizards look upon them as equals, Albus being the most prominent. I would guess that they're seeing you as his replacement believing you'll help them gain some long-deserved respect.”

“What could I possibly do to help them?” Harry asked somewhat alarmed. “I really don't like the fact that they're treated like dirt, but at least Dumbledore could help them politically. I'm just a kid as far as all that goes!”

“No you're not Harry,” said Tonks. “I know you don't like to think about it but you do have a pretty spectacular public image.”

“And just appearing to be on friendly terms with goblins and house-elves helps to open up peoples eyes,” Remus added. “Change is slow to happen, but when a public figure goes against tradition in favor of living in a more peaceful world slowly, the people will follow.”

“But I'm not out to change people's minds,” Harry nearly whined. “I just treat everyone the way they deserve to be treated.”

Emma reached over to lay a hand on his arm, “And you're a better person for it.”

“Your parents would be quite proud of the man you're becoming,” Remus finished quietly.

Harry felt frustrated almost to the point of tears and as soon as he could find a polite time to do it, he excused himself, took his broom, and Apparated to his field. Everything always seemed clearer when he was up in the air and he had grown so familiar with the area that he could now close his eyes and drift peacefully through the air hearing only the flow of air past his ears and an occasional hoot from Hedwig who always seemed to know when he'd be here.

“Will I ever be able to just be myself?” he asked himself. You're always yourself, Hermione's voice answered in the back of his head. There are people that love you for being the person you are and you should never try to change just to make a bunch of strangers happy. The only person you should really be concerned about disappointing is yourself. “Not exactly,” he told the voice. “I'd never want to disappoint Remus, or Hermione, or either of our parents.” Well they all love you, and people that truly love you will never be disappointed in you, the voice retorted. Harry opened his eyes to see Hermione and her parents looking up at him in shock, which was understandable seeing as how he was flying upside-down and talking to himself. He quickly landed and greeted them.

“Have you gone completely mad?” Hermione asked. “Since when do you enjoying flying that way?”

“I was just trying something different, after all you can only do so any loops and rolls,” Harry replied trying not to sound like a maniac. He didn't think now would be a good time to tell her about when he'd flown upside-down and taken his hands off the broom to run them through the stream just before they left on their trip. “Wanna try it?” he asked with an evil grin.

“Harry, I can hardly handle flying in a straight line at low speeds, what makes you think I'd enjoy doing that?”

He had to bite back his first few responses, not wanting her parents to misinterpret things if he said `I just want to hear you scream.' “One of these days I'll get you up in the air,” Harry finally got out.

“It really will be magic if you can get Hermione over her fear of heights,” Dan quipped.

“I am not afraid of heights!” Hermione snapped.

Harry smirked and slid back on his Firebolt to make room in front of him, “Prove it.”

Hermione looked between the two men, both of their expressions daring her. She would never break with just Harry challenging her, but between the two of them she crumbled and threw a leg over the broom. As soon as Harry reached around her, pinching her against him, he shot off into the air flying straight up until the screaming stopped. The Grangers were pinpricks on the ground when he finally leveled off to hover in the twilight, Hermione had dug her nails into the back of Harry's hand and he was fairly sure she'd drawn blood. “Just what exactly do you think you're doing?” she growled out through clenched teeth.

“Showing your dad you're not afraid of heights, you just don't like the trip up,” he simply told her while nuzzling his head in her hair. The sky was extraordinarily clear and they sat watching the sunset over the water, the coast of Ireland just visible on the horizon. “So, do you like it up here?”

“It's beautiful,” Hermione said in a dreamy little voice. “I wish Mum and Dad could see this.”

“Maybe we'll come up tomorrow and take a picture,” Harry suggested.

“That sounds lovely, but do you think we could go a little slower on the way up?”

“Anything for you,” he smoothly replied while noting she said nothing about the way down. Once the sun faded completely Harry retightened his grip and pointed the broom straight down. The Grangers could hear their daughter's scream well before she was back on the ground.

`,',',',',',',',',',',',',','

By suppertime on Saturday Harry was ready to kill Remus Lupin. It didn't matter that he was the last of his father's friends; he needed to die.

The day had started well enough. Hermione woke him up with a kiss and a subtle reminder to be wearing more than his boxers when he came out for breakfast, but halfway through his stack of pancakes Remus had to go and make a crack about the Grangers sleeping in the `nursery.' The only sounds that followed for what felt like ages were that of Dan's glass shattering on the floor and Dobby trying to quietly go about clearing it up.

Remus managed to hold in his laughter for an amazingly long time, which Harry attributed to the fact that Tonks hadn't been around since supper and he needed something to amuse himself. Once the Grangers realized it was a complete joke three people around the table laughed uproariously while the other two sat trying to become invisible.

Hermione devoted herself to some new project to try and deflect the questions on what color they were going to paint the nursery. When Emma mentioned that they still had Hermione's crib in the attic Harry made a dash for his broom. He only made it a half a step before Hermione stopped him with a look that clearly told him he wasn't allowed to leave her alone.

Lupin made a remark about not having to deal with dirty nappies since the night James and Sirius never came back from the pub, Lilly had decided to find them so she could maximize the amount of time she had to scream at the pair leaving Remus alone with baby Harry for the night. That drove Harry to summon Remus' wand, throw him in his room and seal the door, but Harry forgot the window this time and soon enough the bastard was strolling in through the front door.

As Dobby was preparing lunch Emma asked that they all come to the table and discuss names which was finally Hermione's breaking point. She caught Harry's eye, subtly pointed to her necklace, and Apparated away. Harry grabbed his own necklace and Disapparated with a crack, reappearing inside his trunk. Winky was called in to seal the trunk lid until nightfall and mercifully they found themselves alone for the first time that day. Hermione kept going with her project to try and keep her mind off the morning so Harry dived into his parents' journals that had made the trip down when Dobby had set things up. There was no way he was going to let Lupin get away with starting the torture they had endured.

Tonks had returned by suppertime and in the short period of time it took Harry to gather up two plates of food the couples at the table were dividing up times to watch the baby if Harry and Hermione made it back to Hogwarts. Dobby had refused to bring food down into the trunk; Dan must have found a way to hold the telly hostage. Winky was even less help, the first time she heard the word `baby' she popped directly to Hermione and began fawning over her completely unwilling to listen to reason.

An hour before sunset Harry slipped under his invisibility cloak, snuck his camera and broom out of the cottage and popped over to the field to meet Hermione. Hovering up in the thin air she let loose a string of words directed towards her parents and Remus that Harry couldn't even imagine uttering at the Dursleys. Hermione did take a picture of another remarkable sunset for her parents, while muttering under her breath that they didn't deserve it.

Under threat of a miss-brewed potion Remus put an end to the teasing, for the night at least. While Hermione worked over the hearth, Harry brewed up the potion to develop magical photos on the stovetop. If he'd been in a better mood there might have been a bit more presentation than simply dropping the prints on the table and stalking off to the bedroom. For the first time in quite a while, Harry put on his pajamas before going to bed.

“Honestly Harry, I'm in no mood for you to have a sudden bout of modesty,” Hermione huffed when she pulled back the covers to join him wearing her now standard bedclothes. He knew better than to argue and quickly shed the excessive clothing before hugging her back up to his chest and quietly filling her in on the first step of what was sure to be many in his planned revenge on a certain flatmate.

Harry stayed awake for a while after Hermione had drifted off. The banter they'd been exposed to had been extremely annoying but now he found himself wondering… Harry remembered when Mrs. number nine on Privet Drive had gotten pregnant. The normally thin woman swelled to an enormous size and then one day had shown up to proudly display her new baby girl. Harry had hidden himself on the stairwell and watched the woman cradling the infant, looking down on her radiating love. It was the moment Harry realized what he missed the most in his life, unconditional love. The Dursleys obviously loved Dudley, and it was that love that kept them from kicking him to the curb during the constant tantrums of his youth, and turn a blind eye to his promiscuous behavior later in life, but neither Vernon or Petunia ever looked at Dudley the way that woman looked at her newborn.

One of his hands unconsciously drifted up under her jersey and gently rubbed her flat stomach. Harry looked down on her sleeping face, but his mind's eye was seeing an all-together different Hermione. One that was running her hands over an enormously swollen midsection, the same look on her face that the neighbor so long ago had. The image shifted to Hermione sitting in a chair, her belly replaced with an infant tightly wrapped in a blue blanket. Harry was kneeling next to them, softly running a hand along the dark fuzz covering the baby's head. Tightly closing his eyes to alleviate the stinging he buried his head in Hermione's ponytail, holding onto the image well into his sleep.

`,',',',',',',',',',',',',','

“Good Morning,” Emma Granger's cheerful voice woke Harry up the next morning. As he came to he realized that the only movement on the bed during the night, aside from a wad of hair making its way into his mouth, was one of Hermione's hands moving overtop of Harry's, still resting on her comfortingly warm, bare stomach.

“Err, hi.” Harry mumbled somewhat nervously. He was, after all, in a fairly intimate position just feet away from Hermione's mother.

Emma sat on the bed next to her daughter to pet Crookshanks, who was curled up by their feet. She tucked back some of Hermione's loose hair to verify she was still sleeping soundly, “You can relax Harry; you're not in trouble.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“I think we both know how hard it is to talk Hermione out of something she wants,” Emma told him while flashing the same smile Hermione did when he asked a question with such an obvious answer.

Harry pulled his arm out from under Hermione's neck to prop himself up on his elbow which raised a moan of protest from the sleeping girl. “Sometimes this is all just seems surreal. We've only really been together just over a month. I worry about things going too fast.”

“Believe me Harry, it's painfully obvious how much the two of you love each other. Not even the torture we put you both through yesterday seems to have made an effect, now come get something to eat. Remus seems to think you'll need the energy for this game you're playing today.”

Harry carefully pulled away from Hermione, who made another protest and rolled over to bury her face into his chest, much to her mother's amusement. Eventually he was able to replace his body with his pillow in her arms and slipped out of the bed silently thanking every deity he could name that he'd gotten comfortable enough sleeping with Hermione to not have the morning problem that required him to rush off to the shower. Emma led him off to the table before he could grab any clothes reawaking the nerves he'd just put to bed when he saw her father sitting there leafing through the Sunday Prophet.

“Ah, here's the corpse now,” Remus announced. At Harry's confused look he continued, “The public is screaming that the ministry double its efforts at finding your body so there can be a public memorial.”

“Too bad, I think I'm busy that day,” Harry quipped drawing out a laugh from everyone. “Has anyone bothered to tell the Weasley's that I'm still breathing?”

“That's where I got the paper from that morning,” Tonks admitted. “I stopped by to have a word with Arthur about a bloke I saw selling some bogus amulets and found Gabrielle wailing in the orchard. Took a while to get her calmed down enough to listen to me and when I told her you were quite alive she was so relieved she fainted. When I got her inside and saw the article I nearly went down with her. I went back yesterday to make sure they were still up for a match, and Arthur agreed that it's probably a good way for you to `announce' the fact that you're alive.”

“Do you think we'll be able to come along?” Dan asked. “When Hermione wrote us about this sport in her first year it didn't sound that exciting, but it could be fun seeing that many people flying around on brooms.”

“Hermione didn't think Quidditch was exciting?” Harry asked her parents. “She came to almost every practice session we had at Hogwarts and all the games, except for the one when Hagrid took us to meet Grawp.”

“Oh, it was always `Harry's such a smart boy, why does he have to play that dreadful game,' or `When will he learn? He fell over a hundred feet off his broom and still won't give it up!'” said Emma. “Since her first year all we've heard about this sport is how dangerous it is for you, I swear we probably know about every time one of those blooders hit you in a practice session-”

“Mum!” Hermione shouted from the doorway.

“Well, maybe if you avoided having a lie-in I wouldn't be able to tell your boyfriend about all the things you've written over the years that pertain to him,” Emma smirked.

“And she's written a lot of letters,” Dan winked at Harry. Hermione's face cycled through several shades of red as she joined them.

When Harry came back into their bedroom from his shower he found Hermione, who had gone ahead of him, holding out a certain jersey for him. “Please try not to bleed on it,” she told him as he slid it on. It had the same flowery smell that had invaded the bathroom shortly after their coming to the cottage.

“I'll try my best, but it might get a bit sweaty,” said Harry.

“Good,” Hermione wrapped her arms around him and planted a kiss on his lips, “then it will smell of you again.”

As soon as everyone was ready, and with a warning from Harry about not continuing on with yesterday's antics for Ron's mental health, they all traveled to the Burrow. Harry received several pats on the back to say congratulations on being alive; the twins in particular thought it was a great prank especially given that someone had setup a small memorial outside their shop. Saturday had been one of the busiest days they'd ever had with so many people coming in and asking what was Harry's favorite prank, or if Harry could have tricked one more person before he'd died, who would it have been. Harry had a feeling the Minster of Magic was about to have a very bad week at work.

Bill had charmed a few trees at each end of the orchard to act as hoops and soon enough they were engaged in probably the best Quidditch match any of them had ever participated in. The three Grangers were on the ground cheering for Harry's side while the elves and Gabrielle had made up little banners that said `Go Wheezys!' Fred and George spent most of the match sending bludgers at Remus and Tonks, who were the beaters for Harry's side in retaliation for all the essays he'd assigned to them while he was their professor. Katie, Angelina, and Alicia teamed up with Harry and gave Bill quite a workout guarding the hoops for team Weasley. Ron, Arthur, and Fleur didn't have any experience working as a chaser team, but Neville was an abysmal keeper so that didn't seem to matter as much. Ginny, of course, was seeking against Harry but tended to spend most of her time trying to get close enough to him to have a conversation Harry was sure he didn't want, but thanks to his Firebolt she couldn't keep up when he would rocket off across the improvised pitch. It was all he could do to avoid the temptation of feinting to plough her into the ground.

Every so often Harry would swoop down to Hermione and ask what the score was, but she lost track around ninety to one hundred twenty in favor of the Weasleys. She knew he'd spotted the snitch several times but appreciated the fact that everybody was having a great time. When she eventually told him that they'd missed lunch and now it was near suppertime Harry whipped up in the air and came back within a few seconds holding the snitch. In record time the elves prepared a rather hearty meal that they enjoyed out in the garden. Harry had to stop himself from asking why they hadn't been interrupted during the course of the day. He was afraid that as soon as he would utter the words Scrimgeour would walk around the corner with his feral smile.

When Bill stood up to make an announcement all eyes turned to Fleur expecting to hear about an impending generation of Weasleys. The stream of French that came out of the woman when she realized why everyone was staring at her sounded like gibberish to Harry, but judging by Gabrielle's blush it was anything but. Once everyone had stopped laughing they were informed that Bill and Fleur would be moving to Hogwarts where he would be the new Defense professor. No one wanted to bring up the fact that this would leave Arthur completely alone at the Burrow, but it was surely on a few of their minds.

The party broke up just before nightfall with the elves dusting off all of the extraneous spells everyone had picked up during the day before Apparating home.

“Should I have Dobby drop your parent's clothes back home?” Harry asked after they'd returned from the Grangers.

“Mum seemed to think that it'd be nice to leave them here, incase they ever stay over impulsively,” Hermione informed him as she tended to her cauldron.

“What were the two of you whispering about in the kitchen?”

Hermione sighed, “She was wondering why Ginny was glaring at me the entire time we were eating. She knows we were relatively good friends but I must have neglected informing her that the two of you had gotten together.”

“Ginny was glaring at you?”

“Heavens yes, it was even worse when you stopped by during the match and kissed me. I'm sure if she'd have had a bat I'd be wearing a few bruises.”

“You really think she'd be that malicious?”

“Ginny is quite temperamental,” Hermione shrugged. “Frankly I wouldn't put anything past her.”

“Then we're not going back to the Burrow till she's back at Hogwarts,” Harry firmly stated.

“Don't be silly Harry. You seem to have no trouble avoiding her, and for whatever reason Fleur intercepted her every time I thought she was coming to talk, or perhaps scream, at me.”

“She did the same for me at Grimmauld Place. Whatever the two of you talked about before her wedding seems to have made her into probably our biggest supporter in that house.”

“She's had a bit of a soft spot for you ever since you saved Gabrielle in that tournament,” Hermione informed him. “You must have noticed that she's always been a tad more affectionate towards you than Ron.”

“I just figured it was because he was dense enough to ask her to the ball,” Harry shrugged and helped her clear off the counter.

As they adjourned to their bedroom Harry tugged of his socks and was about to remove his jeans when he noticed Hermione was standing next to the bed blushing furiously. Slowly, he realized that besides the one time in the tent he'd somehow never managed to be in the room with her when she got ready for bed. Harry really had nothing to hide since he slept in his boxers, but so far he'd never actually seen Hermione without a top. Felt, yes; seen, no. Lately it had been even easier for them to avoid seeing each other change, being that they'd been doing it in his trunk but now he was wearing what she usually changed into.

“Do you want me to leave?” Harry softly asked.

Hermione jumped at his voice, “Umm, well, I don't know…” she stammered.

“I'll just go to the loo,” Harry started towards the door, but her hand on his arm stopped him. He thought she was reminding him to leave the shirt for her, but her slightly shaking hands intercepted his as he reached down to remove it. She slowly directed them to the button on her shorts, giving Harry a slight nod when he glanced at her. Unable stop his own hands from shaking, Harry clumsily unfastened the button and slid down her zipper. He dropped to one knee as he slid her shorts to the ground and found himself eye-level to her blue knickers. Hermione took a tiny step forward to kick her shorts away and before Harry knew what was happening he found himself lightly kissing one of her thighs drawing a slight whimper from her.

“Just what do you think you're doing Potter?” Hermione asked him while jerking Harry to his feet. He started to stammer an apology but was cut off by her lips meeting his own and her hands gingerly unfastening his jeans and shoving them down his hips and onto the floor. Their lips separated just long enough for her shirt join the pile and with an extraordinarily ungraceful move they landed on the bed. Hermione sat up, straddling his hips and jerked the jersey off Harry, taking his glasses with it and with a very nervous expression reached behind her back for a second before discarding her bra.

Harry silently laid on the bed willing his vision clear to burn the image before him into his memory for apparently a bit too long as Hermione shrunk away from him and reached for the discarded jersey. Seeing her movement and realizing he'd probably just fed her insecurities Harry grabbed her around the waist rolled them over and went about kissing every last bit of flesh he could see. At first the noises that escaped Hermione's lips were slight giggles but by the time Harry had traveled all the way down to her toes and back they had grown suggestive enough for Harry to cast a silencing charm on the room. He tried to dispel any notion she had in her mind that she wasn't an extremely beautiful witch by kissing her long and deep enough to leave them both gasping for air. Harry's fingers glided all over her sweat-covered torso, making several circles around her nipples, to both of their enjoyment. When his hand made its way to the waistband of her knickers Harry searched Hermione's eyes for any sign that he should stop, not finding one his fingers slowly crawled through the mass of damp hair underneath to what lay beyond.

Crookshanks poked his head through the flap to see if the accursed noises had stopped. They had in fact only grown louder, so he made his way to the sofa, hoping the elf would scratch his ears for a bit.

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Something woke Harry up a short time after he managed to drift off. Hermione had made a joke about `returning the favor' and although his body was screaming to take her up on the offer, he told her she didn't have to. She passed out quite quickly after that leaving Harry trapped in her sweaty embrace. It took a while for him to calm down enough to even think about sleeping.

Figuring out what woke him was easy because as soon as he made any movement whatsoever Hermione tightened her grip. On the piece of him that she had once again sought out in her sleep. When Harry tried to gently lift her arm away, hoping the hand would follow, she squeezed much harder, and with her nails. She wasn't asleep much longer after that. To Harry's amazement she didn't remove her hand from where she found it, instead she examined what she found much the same way that Harry had done to her earlier. After a few minutes of repressing twitches Harry was astounded when she lowered her head and began by kissing the nail marks she had left. The last rational thought Harry had that night was making a note to return the favor.

Across the way Remus and Tonks were sleeping soundly, not noticing the charm Harry had put on their bed that was causing it to slowly shrink throughout the night.

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The level of intimacy that Harry and Hermione achieved was the only thing that carried him through the month of August. There were no attacks, and Tonks said even the minister was laying off a bit since the arrival of the news that he'd survived the attack on Eastbourne. One of the Aurors at the Burrow had a camera and the day after their Quidditch match the Prophet had two full pages of him flying around and the group enjoying their Sunday meal. Hermione had been quite pleased by the close-up shot of Dobby and Winky at the table with Harry clearing up the plates around them.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville, and Remus spent the entire month trying to figure out Voldemort's last Horcrux. They had checked all of Ravenclaw's things that were in museums and turned up nothing. The other three possibilities they had all turned up in the hands of one very eccentric collector. The lunatic transfigured Ron into a raven when he overheard him asking Neville who could be barmy enough to keep an attic full of stuffed birds. Apparently they had all been pets at one point or another.

Remus stealthy knocked the collector out and the five of them spend four hours checking every last object in the man's house. All for nothing.

When Harry's impatience grew to the point that flying couldn't completely calm him down he started dueling Remus in his field. After the second time, when they ended up sending Dobby out for a bottle of Skele-gro, Hermione and Tonks stopped watching and merely waited for the winner to call for their help. The day before the full moon Tonks had taken Remus' spot and Harry had to suffer through a few hours of two dislocated shoulders waiting for the Auror to wake back up and fix him.

The day before Ron, Neville, Bill, Fleur, Gabrielle, and Ginny went back to Hogwarts they had a large but somewhat somber dinner in Grimmauld Place where the Weasley's were staying for the night to shorten the trip to Kings Cross. Harry pulled Ron aside and gave him the Marauders Map but firmly reminded him he wanted it back so it better not wind up back in Filtch's office.

When Harry went to bed that night he felt incredibly uneasy, but he assumed it was just because he really wished he'd be getting on a certain train the next morning.

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Remus violently shook Harry and Hermione awake in the middle of the night telling them to come see what was on the television. Breathing a sigh of relief that this was one of the few nights a week where Hermione wore more than just her knickers to sleep Harry led the way out to the sofa. Remus and Dobby were both sadly staring at the telly and what appeared to be a news story about a car crash.

“What's going on Remus?” Harry asked.

“There's been an attack. Voldemort killed a Muggle this time. It was-”

Just as Remus was about to say, a woman's picture appeared on the screen and Hermione let out a wail of protest. It was Diana. Voldemort had made good on his threat against the royal family by killing the Princess.

The news report went on about a car chase on the streets of Paris and a deadly crash, but it was obviously a cover. Tonks had been called in just before Remus woke them up so they didn't have any of the true details. The four of them sat watching the constant news updates straight through morning, Hermione openly crying most of the time. Like most young girls of their generation the Princess' story had been fuel for many childhood fantasies.

When Tonks finally showed back up around lunchtime they learned that the driver of the car had been placed under the imperious curse, possibly by Voldemort himself, and been made to drive the car full speed into a cement barrier.

There was no news about the attack in any wizarding publication that day, and only a small article on page three of the Prophet the next even though the Muggle news was covering nothing else until Mother Theresa passed a few days later, thankfully of natural causes. Hermione sat rooted on the sofa next to Dobby for most of the week while Harry and Remus were both silently fuming around the cottage by day and in the local pub by night with the rest of the men from the village. Harry's resolve finally cracked on Friday night and he wrote a very hostile letter about the insolence of the wizarding world in general, how they had no right as British citizens to casually ignore the death of one of the most influential people of their time and a few other things that he and Remus would go on about after three or four pints. He made a copy and sent one to the Daily Prophet and the other to Mr. Lovegood just before he went with Hermione to meet the Grangers and attend the funeral in London on Saturday. Remus and Tonks insisted on joining them incase anything should happen and together they joined the literally millions of others that had turned out to mourn.

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The Sunday Prophet printed Harry's letter, of course on the front page. It then proceeded to blast him about having no proper wizarding pride and thoroughly dissected the reasons why he was believed to be the Chosen One finding their own conclusion that he really was just a spoiled seventeen-year-old who had gotten a big enough head to think he didn't need to attend his seventh year at Hogwarts, the only thing Harry could agree with in the article was the fact that there really was not much evidence of all the things he'd done over the years. They had also reprinted the picture of him clearing up for the elves with a caption claiming it was a posed photo to try and show him as being humble.

“Well, I think Winky'll be burning all my mail this week,” Harry quipped as he set the paper down. He was growing slightly nervous as to Hermione's reaction since he hadn't bothered to show her the letter before sending it.

“Do you realize what this accomplishes?” Hermione asked, flashing him a smile. Harry greatly relaxed and shook his head. “You've just made yourself an outcast. Yes you'll probably receive sacks full of hate mail, but no one will have the gall to say or do anything to you in public, you scare them too much. I think you've just made us invisible.”

“And you'll have taken at least some of thrill out of capturing you as far as Voldemort's concerned,” Remus added.

“It won't take you off his hit-list, but it sure will lower you a few pegs,” said Tonks.

“Or on the other side of things, the public might just like what you've said and tell the Prophet and the ministry to shove off,” said Remus. “If that's the case it'll take a few weeks at least for enough people to rally around the idea that you're being mistreated, so either way we'll be quite anonymous for a bit.”

Harry thought about what they were saying for a few seconds. Of course he would never be out of danger, but if the risks for him were lowered that also meant Hermione would be much safer, and the danger to her parents would almost become non-existent. “That's good, I suppose. So now what do we do?”

Winky, it seemed, had the answer. “Harry Potter must come to Grimmy Place!” she announced as soon as she popped into the cottage.

“What's wrong Winky?” Hermione asked.

“The Shack-man has come and says he must take Harry Potter to an important meeting!”

“Who? Kingsley?” Tonks asked.

“Yes Tonksie, Harry Potter must come now!”

They all traveled to Grimmauld where they found a somewhat shaken Kingsley sitting at the table. “What's up, Shack?” Tonks asked.

“I'm sorry Harry. You're going to have to come with me. I've got a car out front, we need to hurry.”

“What's the Minister done now?” Remus snarled.

“It's not that Minister Remus. I'm to bring Harry here to Downing Street,” said Kingsley.

“Downing Street, the Prime Minister?” Harry blurted out.

“And then some,” Kingsley muttered. “We need to go, now.” Not having a bloody clue what was going on, Harry and Hermione both followed.

Kingsley made a move to say something when Harry held the door open for her, “I'm not leaving her here,” Harry firmly told the man who reluctantly nodded.

“I've been working undercover as the Prime Minister's assistant since your little fight at the ministry,” Kingsley started as he got in the front seat and took off. “This morning I went in to try and finish up some things that got put off with all the trouble last week but got distracted when my copy of the Prophet showed up, and by the way nice letter there Harry. The fools writing that rag have no idea what they've started by cutting into you like that.”

There was a definite nervous edge to his voice, like he was afraid to tell Harry what was going on, “But this isn't about what's in the paper, is it?”

“Only a little,” Kingsley sighed. “I was so caught up reading I never noticed her coming in. She stormed straight past me into the office and began shouting at the Minister about the investigation of the Princess' death. I ran in the office after her and somewhere in his mumbling the Minister asked me what our people are doing about it, which at this point is nothing. She must have already been told about our world and between the Minster's rambling and the picture on the front of the paper I was still holding she figured out I was a wizard. She snatched the paper from me and read it over for a bit before asking me if I knew what they meant about you being the `Chosen One.' She's just… I mean I couldn't not tell her so I went on about the war and the prophesy and how everyone thought you were the one that would end it and the Prophet being full of rubbish just because you put them in their place… And she demanded I get you and bring you here, now.”

Kingsley was talking very fast and Harry was having a hard time keeping up until he stopped and Harry realized they were already sitting in front of Ten Downing Street. “Who's `she?'” Harry asked when Kingsley looked back with a worried expression.

The Auror gulped, “We need to go in, the Queen's waiting for you.”

Harry felt like he was in a horribly bad dream as he was led inside. He really really wished he'd dressed in better than jeans and a t-shirt that morning. Hermione looked like she wanted to cry. He briefly considered Apparating away, but since Kingsley had driven them here there was probably ward up preventing it. By the time they made it to the door Harry's entire body was shaking.

“I need your wand Harry,” Kingsley's voice came from far away. Harry pulled it from his pocket and handed it over. After one of his duels with Remus where the werewolf had summoned Harry's wand he took some time playing with his parent's and found his mum's worked almost as well and taken to hiding it up his sleeve. He thought of handing that over too but decided what the Auror didn't know wouldn't hurt him. “You'll have to wait outside,” Shacklebolt added to Hermione as he opened the door. Harry was led into the room where he found the Prime Minister and the Queen looking over that morning's Prophet. Two people he never thought he'd meet. “Your Majesty, this is Harry Potter,” Kingsley announced before backing out of the room.

Harry had been on the receiving end of plenty of McGonagall's glares, but they were nothing compared to this. He hadn't felt this small since the first time Vernon had dressed him down. “So,” the Queen began. “Mr. Shacklebolt informed us that this man who your paper refuses to name is the one behind the murder of my grandchildren's mother.”

Harry's back went rigid, “Yes ma'am. He goes by the name Lord Voldemort.”

“Lord?” the Minister asked. “I don't remember him being referred to as a Lord.”

“His real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle sir. He rearranged the letters to make a new identity for himself.”

“And apparently the rumor is that you are the only one to bring him to justice,” the Queen continued.

Just like Kingsley had said in the car, he couldn't not tell the Queen, “It's not a rumor Your Majesty. There is a prophecy stating that one of us has to kill the other.”

“A prophecy?” the Queen started. “But it must not be true, you're just a boy!”

“I'm sorry Ma'am, but it is true. One of us has to die, and every time we've met so far I've been lucky to come out of it alive.”

“If you've met then why haven't you killed him already?” the Minister angrily asked.

“I can't,” Harry's voice was beginning to shake. “Not yet. He's done something to make himself immortal, and I haven't been able to un-do it yet.” Something caught Harry's eye in the corner.

“Well, when will you be able to un-do it and stop this murderer?” the Queen asked in a hard tone.

“I'm working as fast as I can Ma'am,” Harry directed his face to her, but was looking elsewhere from the corner of his eye. “I've had to battle almost anything you could imagine working on this, including a fifty-foot snake and a dragon.”

The Queen and Minister both gasped at that and for the first time Harry at least stopped worrying that he'd be disemboweled today. There was another motion in the corner and Harry felt as if someone was watching him from there, listening intently.

“You've had to battle a dragon?” the Minister incredulously asked.

“Yes sir, twice actually. Once when I was fourteen and again this July.” Harry casually slipped his hand up his sleeve. He could almost see the eyes of the person watching him. A pair of yellow eyes.

“Fourteen? What could have possibly possessed you to battle a dragon at fourteen?” the Queen asked, most of the edge now gone from her voice.

“It was part of a tournament one of Voldemort's followers entered me in. I didn't have much of a choice. Stupefy!” Harry suddenly pulled his mother's wand and aimed at the corner. The Queen and Minister both let out screams of surprise, which caused two armed Muggle security guards to burst into the room guns drawn and pointing to Harry followed closely by Hermione and Kingsley but Harry was sure he'd heard a body hitting the ground.

“Harry, what are you doing?” Kingsley shouted.

“Accio cloak,” Harry whimpered looking down a gun barrel and like that he was holding a wad of silvery material and Rufus Scrimgeour was lying stunned on the floor. Both of the security agents' guns went from Harry to Scrimgeour, though they obviously had no clue what was happening.

“What's the meaning of this?” the Queen demanded. “Who is that and what have you done to him?”

“That man,” the Prime Minister started when Kingsley rolled Scrimgeour over, “he told me he was the Minister for Magic!”

“He is,” Kingsley grimly announced. “But he's just broken several laws by eavesdropping in here. He'll be fine, Harry just stunned him.” The Auror pulled him over to a chair and tightly bound him, cast a few spells to keep him in place and revived him. The Queen sent the guards away; Harry thought he saw Kingsley slyly wiping their memories on the way out.

“Shacklebolt, what is the meaning of this?” Scrimgeour demanded.

“Sir, you've got some questions to answer about what you're doing in this room if you want to avoid ending up in a cell.”

“Are you joking man? I'll have you badge for this! You should be arresting that brat over there for attacking the Minister for Magic!”

“This man is in charge of your government?” the Queen scoffed.

“Yes Ma'am, I'm afraid he is,” Harry replied as he unconsciously took Hermione's hand next to him.

“And who is this?” the Prime Minister impatiently pointed to Hermione.

“Oh, I'm sorry. This is Hermione Granger, my umm, girlfriend. Hermione this is… well, you know,” Harry trailed off. This entire situation becoming too surreal for him, the Prime Minister actually snorted at his lame introduction.

“It's a pleasure to meet you Your Majesty, Prime Minister,” Hermione weakly greeted them.

“Oh enough of this, Shacklebolt, arrest him!” Scrimgeour shouted.

“Sir,” Kingsley harshly started. “As far as see it, Harry here saw a potential threat to the lives of the Queen of England and its Prime Minister and acted in their best interest. He should be awarded, not arrested.”

“If I had the ability I'd see you locked away in the Tower of London for this, Minister,” the Queen nearly spat out.

“Actually Your Majesty, you do have the authority to remove his title and give it to another of your choosing, and I'd be happy to escort my boss here to Azkaban,” Kingsley turned to Scrimgeour with a slightly evil smile. “You never were a good boss, but I couldn't have guessed you'd do something this stupid.”

“What's this Azkaban?” the Queen asked.

“It's their prison,” the Prime Minister told her. “But it can't be secure, the other bloke told me of several break-outs.”

“You-Know-Who broke out his followers we had trapped there from the last war, but I bet if he went back he wouldn't let Rufus walk out alive,” said Kingsley.

“What's this last war?” the Queen asked.

“The wizarding war Voldemort waged in the seventies,” Hermione's voice had a familiar lecturing tone. “It ended almost sixteen years ago on the night he went to Godric's Hollow to kill Harry, but after his mother sacrificed herself for him Voldemort's spell backfired and his soul was ripped from his body.”

“But you must have been just a baby,” the Queen looked to Harry.

“Just over a year old,” Harry quietly started. “He'd heard a part of the prophecy and came to do me in before I could become a danger. He killed my parents then turned his wand on me, giving me this scar,” he pulled back his fringe. “He finally got his body back a little over two years ago and has been building up his power since then.”

“The ministry wasted an entire year trying to deny he'd returned. They made the Daily Prophet print all sorts of lies to paint Harry as some sort of delusional attention-seeker so no one would believe his story from the night Voldemort rose,” Hermione continued.

The two most powerful people in the country stared gob smacked at Harry and Hermione as they talked. Eventually the Queen spoke, “Well if this ministry of yours is so ineffectual who could possibly lead it on and actually do some good?”

Harry looked over to Kingsley who looked as surprised as he felt. He also noted the Auror must have put a silencing charm on Scrimgeour, who was trying to shout but only turning his face a nasty shade of purple. A glance at Hermione confirmed the only name to come to Harry's mind was also on hers. “There is one man, he's actually one of our best friend's father and is head of an office in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement,” Harry looked back to Kingsley who smiled slightly.

The Prime Minister looked to Kingsley, “Bring him here. We need to meet this man and see if he's up to the task.”

“Oh hold on. Winky,” Hermione called out. The little elf popped into the room wearing a pink sundress that had a few paint smudges on the front. She looked around the room curiously obviously not knowing where she was or whom she was in the presence of.

“Yes Miss Hermy?”

“Can you tell us where Mr. Weasley is right now?”

Winky closed her eyes, concentrating for a moment, “Mr. Wheezy is preparing his breakfast in his Burrow.”

“Okay, can you tell him I'll be along in a moment to bring him to an important meeting?” Hermione asked. Winky nodded and popped away as Kingsley escorted Hermione away to the closest Apparition place.

“Erm… What was that thing?” the Prime Minister asked.

“A House-elf. I hired her and another named Dobby this summer to take care of the house my Godfather left me and the cottage I'm living in. Most of the older wizarding families have at least one elf to do all the house work, but they're property of their masters,” said Harry.

“You mean they're slaves?” the Queen incredulously asked.

“Yes Ma'am. Dobby and Winky are the only two free elves I know of, the rest of their kind think they're a disgrace for not being enslaved but I only agreed to take them on if they would accept wages and time off. It's one of Hermione's dreams to get the rest of their kind the same treatment.”

“Hold on,” the Prime Minister began, “I thought you said they were your domestic help,” he held up the paper with the photo of Harry clearing up for the elves.

“That was one Sunday, actually at Mr. Weasley's house. They had just served up supper for all twenty of us there so a few of us took care of the cleanup. The picture was taken by one of his,” Harry indicated Scrimgeour, “little spies he has around trying to track me for some reason.”

The door opened admitting Hermione, Kingsley, and a slightly flustered Arthur Weasley. “Harry, what's the matter? Hermione says it's urgent - oh my…” Mr. Weasley may not have known where he was being led, but he surely recognized the two Muggles in the room.

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Monday morning's edition of the Daily Prophet announced Arthur Weasley's succession of Rufus Scrimgeour, who was currently residing in Azkaban awaiting trail on charges of trying to disrupt the Muggle government and breaking the International Statute of Secrecy. Harry knew the charges were slightly exaggerated, but after the memory charm Mr. Weasley put on the former minister he didn't stand a chance defending himself. It was Hermione that asked Arthur to wipe everything he'd heard that day from Scrimgeour's mind, but not wanting to under-do things on his first act as Minister for Magic, Arthur cleared the very existence of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. All Scrimgeour knew was that he'd snuck into the Muggle's office under a cloak with intent on spying and been arrested by Kingsley.

Delores Umbridge was sacked before lunch. When Percy Weasley tried to resign his post, thinking his father would never speak with him, Arthur surprised many people by keeping the Junior Assistant. Harry always knew Mr. Weasley was an extremely forgiving man, but after everything Percy had said he'd expected him to end up in the broom cupboard that used to be Arthur's office.

Remus and Tonks had gone to her parents for the evening and Harry had made Dobby take the night off just needing some quiet time to unwind from the whirlwind of a weekend they'd just had, but just as he sat down with Hermione to eat the modest supper he'd made, Ron burst through the door.

“What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at school!” Hermione shrieked.

“I'm in detention with Bill,” Ron smirked, “and so are you Harry, grab your coat!”

“What are you on about?” Harry asked.

“We're taking Dad out to celebrate! Even Charlie's come home, and not alone,” Ron waggled his eyebrows drawing a disgusted sound from Hermione. “Now grab your coats! Hermione can keep Fleur and Liz company.”

So it was, fifteen minutes later Harry found himself in the pub near Ottery St. Catchpole with Ron, Arthur, Bill, Charlie and the twins. “So, this is probably one of the worst detentions I've ever heard of,” Harry smirked. “What did Ron do to deserve this?” he asked Bill.

“Cheeky little bugger had the nerve to show up for class,” Bill answered and clinked glasses with his youngest brother.

“Now now, Harry,” Fred began. “You know you won't be able to avoid the reason we're all here tonight so tell us. Just how did you pull this off?” he pulled out a picture of Arthur standing in between the Prime Minister and Queen, literally bouncing with excitement.

“What, he wanted a picture so I had Dobby fetch a camera.” Everyone but Arthur stared at him; there was no way he would be able to wiggle out of this explanation. “Like the Prophet says, Scrimgeour got caught snooping. It happened to be in a meeting between the Prime Minister, the Queen and I. Kingsley's the one who made up the charges and told the Queen she has the authority to replace the Minister for Magic at will, when she asked if we knew of someone better, the only person Hermione or I could think of was your Dad.”

The five youngest Weasleys around the table all stared at him for a minute. “Seriously? The Queen of England asked who you wanted for Minister and went with your first suggestion?” Charlie eventually asked.

“What would she want to talk to you about in the first place?” George asked. “I mean, we all know you're a decent enough bloke, but…”

Harry looked to Arthur, who now knew all about the prophecy thanks to the discussion they'd had after Kingsley had taken Scrimgeour away. The eldest Weasley sadly shook his head.

“I can't say much about it, but she'd heard about me being the supposed `Chosen One' and seeing as how Voldemort has taken up killing her family she wanted a word,” Harry explained. “And your dad had to go through a bit of an interview on what exactly he'll be expected to do as Minister.”

“I've never been so nervous in all my life,” Arthur admitted drawing a round of laughter from his sons. “Having her stare me down, demanding to know what I'd do to end all this… I never thought a woman could have a more imposing stare than your mother…”

The table fell silent for what felt like hours until Bill slung an arm over Arthur's shoulder, “She'd be proud of you Dad, just like we all are.” Everyone voiced their agreement as Arthur wiped his eyes.

“So you must have done some pretty fast talking, to impress the Queen,” said Charlie.

“Well, Harry had laid the ground work before I'd arrived, but as soon as I informed her that the most the ministry had done was to arrest innocent people and lock them away I think she'd decided what she wanted done,” said Arthur. “For the first time in all our history the Minister for Magic has a weekly appointment to update the Muggle Prime Minister and the Queen, if she's available, on the status of Magical England.”

“You have to meet them, every week?” Fred asked in shock.

Arthur nodded, “It was actually Hermione's idea, such a clever girl. The Muggle Minister asked how they were supposed to learn if there were any major developments and she suggested it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.” Harry felt himself blushing a little as Charlie waggled his eyebrows in his direction. Even Ron smirked at him…

“Will the meetings stop after the war's over?” George asked.

“Well, we really didn't discuss it, but I rather hope not. The frequency could be cut down, but I for one believe we need to have some sort of connection to the rest of the world, at least at the top levels of government,” said Arthur.

“Oh look everyone,” Fred announced, “Daddy's grown into a politician in just a day.”

“Oh toss off and buy us another round,” Arthur fired back after draining his pint.

“Such language!” George mocked. “Wait until the people discover who they've truly gotten as a Minister, they'll be shocked!”

“What'll really shock'em would be seeing that contraption he's got rolling around the vegetable patch,” Charlie suggested.

The seven of them continued on, the decency of their conversation slowly deteriorating as the table filled with empty glasses. Around midnight Bill declared Ron's detention to be over and the pair left, Harry was glad for the first time that he didn't return to Hogwarts. The idea of having to go to class in the morning wasn't a good one. As soon as Ron had left the twins and Charlie turned their attention to Harry's relationship. In the midst of their lewd comments and demands for details Harry looked to Arthur for support, to bad he'd given up on reining them in around a decade ago. The only detail that Harry grudgingly gave up was that they were indeed sharing a room at their cottage.

The fifteen-minute walk to the pub turned into an hour and a half on the way back for the five men. They would have missed the Burrow completely but one of the Aurors standing guard (who were now there strictly to guard and not spy or track) saw them stumbling by the path. Hermione and Liz were waiting up for them and Winky had been called in for extra support. The looks on the women's faces was enough for Harry and Charlie to each try an hide behind one of the twins, unfortunately they picked the same twin to hide behind, knocked heads and fell to the ground cursing.

Charlie was quickly pulled off to Percy's old room after Fred asked if he could change Liz's hair color to match the rest of the family. Winky had her little hands full trying to keep Arthur from burning the house down as he went about fixing himself a snack. George made a joke about Harry being whipped when he shrunk back from Hermione's glare and given the state he was in Harry took it as a challenge. With a move he could still barely do sober he produced a lasso of flame that firmly wrapped around Hermione and allowed him to pull her across the room into his arms, landing them both on the floor.

“Nice move, I'd give it a five,” Fed commented as waved his wand, creating a sparkly number three in the air.

“I'd give it a seven,” George slurred, sending up a two in the air.

“You're just jealous I landed the prettiest witch in the room,” Harry hiccupped out.

“Too bad she's the only witch in the room,” Fred mentioned.

“Well, your girlfriends did stop by looking for the pair of you,” Hermione informed them as she dodged Harry's somewhat slobbery attempts at kissing her, “but after seeing the state Ron and Bill showed up in they decided they might be better off without you for the night.”

The twins decided they needed to find Angelina and Alicia, and after successfully knocking over every table in the sitting room managed to floo away. After checking that Winky had safely gotten Arthur to bed, Hermione Apparated Harry back to their cottage and deposited him on the sofa, not wanting to spend the night inhaling his alcohol addled scent.

`,',',',',',',',',',',',',',',','

“Get off the bed,” Harry grumpily muttered the next morning. Through the piercing pain of opening his eyes he could just make out Sirius' shaggy black fur.

“He's not in our bed, Harry,” Hermione's voice rang through his head. He was vaguely aware of something foul smelling being shoved under his nose. “Drink,” she commanded.

Harry downed the potion and breathed a sigh of relief as the pressure in his brain washed away. “Why am I laying in front of the telly?”

“Most likely Dobby moved you off of the sofa so he could watch the morning news,” Hermione chuckled.

“And why was I on the sofa?”

“Because I wasn't about to sleep in a bed that smelled like a pub,” she firmly told him.

“I didn't… do anything wrong, did I?”

“Besides keeping me up till four waiting for you to come back from the pub? No, but judging from the state you returned in I'd rather not know what was said in the pub.”

“Is anyone tending to Mr. Weasley? It probably wouldn't be a very good thing for the new Minister to show up for work like I just felt.”

“I made up that potion at the Burrow and asked Winky to make sure he makes it in alright.” Hermione assured him. “I also talked to Liz about meeting her and Charlie for lunch sometime this week before they have to return to Romania.”

“But what about the Horcrux? We need to find it Hermione, we told the Queen we would-”

“I know Harry, but we can't continue on as we were. We need to step back and find another way to go about this before we drive ourselves mad.”

“You're right,” Harry sighed and moved to kiss her only to be held at arms length.

“Harry I love you, but you will take a shower and brush your teeth before you even think about getting that close to me.”

`,',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',','

With the Ministry under control of Arthur Weasley the focused shifted from making people feel safe to actually making them safe. In the just under two weeks from the time Arthur took office until Hermione's birthday the Aurors had raided or destroyed every home of the known Death Eaters, something the previous two Ministers shied away from due to the families in questions status. Draco Malfoy was found hiding in the storage space beneath the drawing room of Malfoy manner and thrown in the cell next to his father. Narcissa attempted to sneak into Gringotts the next day and make off with as much money as she could carry. A team of Aurors was waiting next to the track when she returned and she soon joined her family.

Mulciber, Avery and Nott were found in the village pub near the Burrow. Remus and Tonks had gone to meet Charlie and Liz for lunch before the couple left and immediately recognized them; the Department of Magical Catastrophes had to work well into the night cleaning up the ensuing fight, one patron lost an arm but luckily no one was killed.

Hermione was thoroughly engrossed in whatever project that she'd been working on since Harry's birthday so the Monday before her birthday he decided to accompany Arthur to visit Ragnok thinking he'd have some time to find her a present after the visit. Arthur thanked the goblin leader profusely for assisting in the scheme they'd developed to notify the Aurors anytime a vault of a suspected Death Eater was visited and the three of them spend a good while talking about the surreal Sunday that had changed everything. Ragnok had just agreed to come along for Arthur's Friday meeting in the Prime Minister's office when a goblin rushed into the office and told them the Carrow vault was currently being accessed.

The team of Aurors that was kept on standby for just such an occurrence took up their positions at the main exit from the tracks as Harry, Arthur, and Ragnok left through the back door of his office and crept out into the labyrinth. Mr. Weasley had started to tell Harry to wait in the office, but upon seeing the looks on both his and the goblin's faces as they drew a wand and an axe respectively, never finished the sentence.

The trio quickly made their way around a few bends and through some passages that Harry never would have been able to find on his own until they arrived next to the tracks about twenty yards away from a stopped cart in front of an open vault. The goblin in the cart saw their approach and gave a subtle nod to Ragnok and they took to the shadows. Harry slipped on his invisibility cloak as soon as he could hear the voices of the people inside and when their group was around four vaults away from their target the brother and sister from the attack on Hogwarts emerged. The lumpy wizard named Amycus seemed to realize he was being watched and turned his head in their direction. Harry froze, he was walking down the middle of the path and knew he couldn't be seen, but one misstep would give his position away, Arthur and Ragnok however could only retreat further into the shadows. They had agreed on the way down that they would follow whoever was in the vault all the way back up to the main entrance and pin them in with the Auror support. What they didn't account for was a glint of light flickering off of the frames of Arthur's glasses, catching the Death Eater's eye.

Amycus held out an arm to stop his sister's progress to the cart as he squinted in their direction, suddenly his eyes sprang all the way open, “It's Weasley!”

“Aurors!” his sister Alecto shouted looking about franticly and before either Arthur or Ragnok could take a step towards them Amycus turned his wand to the goblin in the cart and fired off a killing curse.

Ragnok made a scream of protest as the pair jumped on the cart threw the goblin's corpse over the side and took off. Arthur fired off a stunner at Amycus, who appeared to be driving but missed. He knew it was probably the most reckless thing he could do, and Hermione would kill him for even thinking about it, but when Harry saw the cart heading in his direction he took two running steps and jumped praying his timing was good enough to land inside it.

It was, barely. Harry landed in the back of the cart with an almighty thud just as another stunner went sailing over his head. Alecto came back to investigate the noise from his landing, Harry knew he wouldn't be able to keep his cloak on at the speeds they were traveling so as soon as he saw her approaching from his crouched position he threw it to the floor and hurled himself at her, shoulder first, with all his weight. It was just enough; Harry sent her flying over the side of the cart, crashing into one of the many pillars along the walkway but not before she'd had a chance to scream his name alerting Amycus to his presence.

Harry turned just in time to duck under a jet of green light, went he got back up the Death Eater had moved from the driver's seat and was lunging at him. Harry braced himself on the seats to either side and threw up his legs, solidly landing one foot square to the man's jaw. The cart glided to a stop and he jumped off, hurling another curse over his shoulder. Harry gave chase barely missing with a stunner as Amycus rounded a corner, he ran blindly around in pursuit and found himself facing a streak of blue light. From his duels with Remus and Tonks Harry had learned some of the curses that his Manticore-hide jacket could easily deflect and threw up an arm to send the curse harmlessly aside. Amycus was momentarily startled by this and Harry used the advantage to summon the man's wand from his slack grip, unfortunately like Harry, he carried a spare and the resulting killing curse exploded a chunk of the wall as Harry dodged away showering his cheek with fragments of rock.

“Scared Potter?” Carrow mocked with a lopsided leer.

“Who'd be scared of a great lump like you?” Harry called as he rained a few more stunners down on him, which were all deflected.

“Orders or not, the Dark Lord will be pleased when I return to him with your corpse,” Amycus sneered as he sent a killing curse towards Harry's feet. He was barely able to jump clear of it and the resulting explosion tore through his trousers and sent him crashing to the ground.

“The only corpse around is his,” Harry yelled as he struggled to his feet.

“If only Snape wouldn't have stopped me from torturing you that night,” Amycus mused. “Dear Severus hardly leaves the Dark Lord's side now, he'll be quite surprised when he finds himself replaced by me!” Harry was forced to dive under another curse. He felt his blood boiling at the very mention of Snape but then his mind drifted to his old potions book and he found himself thinking levicorpus.

The Death Eater gave a surprised yelp as he was lifted up into the air and with another very fluid wand motion Harry bound him in a whip of green flame just as Arthur, Ragnok, and a dozen others came rushing up the path.

“Harry! Are you all right!” Arthur shouted as he neared. The Aurors present formed a tight circle around Amycus who was struggling fruitlessly against his bonds until one of them had the good sense to stun the man.

“Did you pick up-”

“Alecto? Yes, her skull cracked against the rock so we've sent her to St. Mungo's. She didn't put up much of a fight,” Arthur quipped as he helped Harry sit. One of the Aurors helped him take his jacket off and began checking him over.

“Could someone grab my invisibility cloak? It should be in the cart.” Ragnok snapped his fingers and two goblins hustled off.

“Mr. Potter, what you just did was exceedingly foolish, I hope you realize,” Ragnok grinned evilly. “I do hope you're not trying to jeopardize your availability to do business with us.”

“But I thought you had to take risks in business?” Harry retorted as the Auror sliced open the legs of his trousers to clean out the rock fragments, Ragnok threw back his head and cackled.

“M - Mr. Potter?” one of the other Aurors called. “What is this?” he gestured to the still bound and dangling Death Eater.

“Sorry,” Harry mumbled. He picked up his wand, cast a liberacorpus and dispelled the flames. The Aurors quickly bound and manacled him. “Just a couple spells I picked up over the last year.” Harry winced as a particularly large chunk of rock was removed from his leg and the Auror went about closing the wounds.

Once he had finished with Harry's legs and face he dug around his pockets and produced a small tin, “Rub this over scabs before you go to sleep tonight and you won't have any scars.”

Harry thanked the man and looked up to Arthur, “So, now what?”

“Now, you go home and try to explain to Hermione just what you were thinking when you jumped on that cart,” Arthur smiled at Harry's grimace.

“I was planning on picking up something for her birthday on Friday,” Harry admitted.

“Girlfriend, huh?” the one female Auror jested. “What cha gonna get her?”

“I- I don't know yet.”

“Maybe some jewelry?” the Auror that healed him smirked.

“Oh, a nice necklace?” the woman put in.

“I already got her one, she never takes it off,” Harry admitted.

“Maybe a bracelet?” the healer tried.

Harry shook his head, “One of those too.”

“Perhaps it is time to move up to a ring?” Ragnok slyly put in. He ignored Harry's glare and continued, “I believe I could find some nice goblin made pieces that will fit just within your price range, if I remember the balance on your account correctly.”

They're all enjoying this way too much Harry thought as he recovered from his coughing fit. Price range my arse.

`,',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',','

An hour later Harry was welcome back to the cottage by a happy bark from Sirius. Hermione came out from their room to greet him, “Harry I've figured out - WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!”

Harry held back a wince, he'd been expecting that, “I ran into the Carrows at Gringotts. Got in a bit of a fight, but we caught `em.”

Hermione's expression froze, she went over to the table and pointed to his Pensieve, “You'll downplay it if I let you tell me,” she explained at his look. He quickly relented and dropped the memory, ending just before the taunting about her present, into the basin and used the time she was inside to hide the package he had in his jacket. When she returned she looked more relieved than angry, thankfully. “You do know that it will be at least a month before I let you wander off without me,” she jested before kissing him soundly.

“I think I can live with that. So what were you about to tell me when I came in?” Harry asked as she gently stroked the marks on his face.

“Oh, for a while now I've been trying to work up a way around Muggle-repelling charms, incase we ever need to bring my parents to Grimmauld Place and I think I've finally got the enchantment right. It's something your mother had started on while she was at Hogwarts; she wanted to find a way for her parents to visit but never completed it. I've enchanted a pair of medallions and I thought we could try them out tonight with Mum and Dad,” said Hermione.

“That's fantastic! Do you think you could make a couple more? The Prime Minister and Queen both seemed a bit upset that they couldn't visit the ministry or Hogwarts.”

“Harry, we're not even sure they work yet-”

“Honestly Hermione, if you've gotten them to the point that you think they work, then they do,” Harry confidently told her. Hermione insisted they make sure everything worked properly before making anymore, but as Harry expected the Grangers had no trouble entering Grimmauld Place that evening and they enjoyed a peaceful supper in the kitchen with Winky. They learned the elf had proudly taken on the responsibility of waking the Minister for Magic every morning and making sure he had a proper meal before heading to work. Mr. Weasley, in turn, showed up at the house around lunchtime several times a week to give Winky some company. Harry realized that they were both currently the sole inhabitants of their respective homes and made a vow with himself to visit Grimmauld more often, no matter what memories it brought up.

“Hermione?” Harry asked as they got into bed that night. She made a noise to indicate she was listening, “I was thinking, after fighting Carrow. I think I should get Snape's book back…”

“I've been waiting for that,” she admitted. “We got a letter from Ron today, sorry I forgot to show it to you. He said there's a Hogsmeade trip this weekend. The students don't know yet, but McGonagall told him and Padma-”

“Did he say how things are going with her?”

“Oh yes. It's actually the longest letter I've ever seen from him, mostly because he goes on and on about how she's been dumping all her duties on him.”

“Why doesn't he say anything to the Headmistress?”

Hermione shrugged, “Maybe he thinks it would make him look like a bad Head Boy. I seriously hope he isn't letting his marks slip. Between his duties and I'm sure his fanatical approach to being Quidditch captain he can't have much time for studying. Anyway he asked if we wanted to meet up with him on Saturday. We could stop by the castle and pick up the book before meeting him if you want.”

“That sounds good. I'll write him back tomorrow and send a note to McGonagall letting her know. I don't think she'd appreciate us showing up without warning.”

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That Friday was Hermione's birthday but before seeing to anything for her they agreed to stop by the ministry and give Mr. Weasley the medallions Hermione enchanted for the Queen and Prime Minister. Harry was momentarily confused by Ragnok's presence when they arrived in the office until he remembered the invitation Arthur had given him on Monday and much to the young couple's dismay Arthur insisted they present the gifts themselves. And of course there wasn't time before the meeting to go home and change.

The four of them traveled by floo to the Prime Minister's office and had a bit of a hard time introducing Ragnok. The Prime Minister kept thinking he was speaking to a different kind of House-elf and couldn't figure out how Ragnok could be a leader of an enslaved race. It had taken Dobby and Winky a full twenty minutes the day they'd first met to make the to Muggle leaders understand that most elves were perfectly happy being slaves, though both the Muggles and Hermione voiced their extreme dislike of the situation. By the time they had sorted out the Prime Minister's confusion Harry wondered if it would just be easier to give him one of his old history of magic textbooks.

Arthur's war update went over extremely well and Hermione's gifts were most welcome. Harry could see how excited Arthur was about the possibility of giving the Muggles a tour of the ministry or even Hogwarts, now they just had to find the time to do it. The one major concern the Prime Minster had, and Harry had to admit it was a very good one, was how hey planned on keeping the prisoners locked away this time as several of them had already been set free once. Arthur promised to have a few options drawn up by their next meeting.

Seeing as how most of their friends were at Hogwarts, Harry arranged with the Grangers to have a nice meal out, just the four of them, at a small Indian restaurant near their home that Hermione had always liked. Dan and Emma presented Hermione with a white gold tennis bracelet with diamonds, sapphires, and emerald alternating along its length, stunning her almost to the point of insensibility. When she unwrapped Harry's gift of a vine wood jewelry box with her name inlaid with the same gold she knew they had worked together on her presents. Naturally the box was much larger inside than it should have been, but Hermione was struck speechless when she found three matching sets of pendants and earrings to go along with the stones in the bracelet. Eventually coming out of her stupor, Hermione put the diamond earrings on and promptly slammed the top closed on the box when the mirror in the lid let out a shrill wolf-whistle. Hermione's reaction made Harry decide once and for all that it was indeed a good thing to have a goblin-friend.

Hermione was still waltzing on air when they returned to the cottage and when she showed Tonks what she'd received the Auror made several cracks about having to steal Harry away from her before Christmas.

They all sat around the table and Remus and Tonks presented Hermione with a photo album they'd started with several pictures they'd been covertly taking of her and Harry going all the way back to before they moved in the cottage.

Dobby and Winky walked into the room, he was carrying a somewhat lumpy package while she was levitating a cake she'd made for the occasion.

“Happy Birthday Miss Hermione,” they chorused. Harry breathed a sigh of relief; he'd been up half the night working with the two of them.

“Thank you, both of you. You didn't - wait, what did you say?”

“Happy Birthday Miss Hermione,” they repeated. Tonks and Remus both began snickering across the table as Hermione looked at Harry with her mouth slightly open. Dobby looked slightly frightened by the ferocity of the hugs he received both before and after she saw the knobbly sweater he'd knitted for her.

Harry was more than happy to comply when Hermione asked to go see the sunset. This had become close to a habit for them, but Harry knew it would have to be put on hold soon due to the ever-colder weather. When they came down they found Sirius and Crookshanks patiently waiting for them in the field.

“Hey boys, did you bring a present for Hermione too?” Harry jokingly asked the pair. Sirius dropped something on the ground in between them in response, but Harry couldn't tell what it was until Hermione lit her wand. It was a rat. A dead rat with a silver paw. Sirius barked happily at their shocked expressions.

-->

12. Balance

12. Balance

“MOONY!” Harry bellowed as he Apparated back into the cottage.

Remus came bursting out of his room, one hand holding his wand, the other keeping his trousers from falling to the floor, “Harry, what is it!” He skidded to a halt when he saw what Harry was cradling in his hands.

Tonks, who flew into the room right behind Remus in just her bra and knickers looked between the pale-faced men and the dead rodent Harry was holding. The crack of Hermione's arrival knocked the Auror's brain into gear, “Is that… Wormtail?” she quietly asked. None of the others said a word as Harry dropped the rat unceremoniously to the floor and stepped back. Remus took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and sent a bluish-white streak to the floor. Within seconds the corpse of Peter Pettigrew lay on the floor. His robes looked shabbier than Remus' or even Sirius' when he was on the run; his head was bent at almost a ninety-degree angle to his body.

Harry slowly began to shake as he stood mute over the body until his resolve finally broke and he swung his foot as hard as he could into Pettigrew's ribs. On the third kick a dull crunch echoed through the room, which was enough to draw Remus into action repeating Harry's movements on the other side of his body. Hermione and Tonks watched in horror as the men they loved pummeled the corpse, their faces contorted with rage. The only sounds in the air were that of their grunts and an occasional foot finding a rare-unbroken bone.

When Harry's foot appeared to be connecting with nothing more than a pile of mush Hermione finally pulled him away, Tonks mirroring her movements with Remus. Both men bent over gasping for air then almost as one realized what they had done. Remus had distance on his side in the race for the toilet so Harry ended up emptying the contents of his stomach into the kitchen sink.

“What do we do now?” Hermione softly asked Tonks, not bothering to wipe away the tears she felt streaming down her cheeks.

“I… I don't know. We need to find out why he was here. Where did you find him?”

“S - Sirius had him in his mouth when we landed in the field. Harry asked if he and Crookshanks had a birthday present for me when they walked up to us and he just dropped him to the ground…”

Tonks tightly closed her eyes as they heard Remus give another heave, closely followed by Harry. She kneeled down next to the traitor and began emptying his pockets, carefully avoiding his silver hand knowing just who made it for him. All Wormtail had on him was a few sickles, his wand and an envelope with Harry's name on it which Tonks quickly scanned with her wand before handing it over to Hermione. “He'd tell you anyway and he's in no state to deal with it right now,” she quietly told her.

Hermione's hands shook as she broke the seal and pulled out a small piece of parchment and a folded section of a map.

Potter-

The Dark Lord has done terrible things, things that have made him unable to be defeated. You must go to the placed I've marked if you want to have any hope at coming out the victor. I do not know what's there, but the Dark Lord called it the secret to his immortality when I found him there.

I know you'll never be able to forgive me for what I've done to you and your family, but this has to end before we all fall victim to his insanity. I only hope you find this before it's too late.

Hermione opened the map to see… Albania, with a glittering red mark where they'd found the entrance to the dragon's lair. “STUPID! MISERABLE! LYING! GIT!” she furiously kicked the mound of mush before her with every word, “WE'VE! ALREADY! BEEN! THERE!”

Harry was shocked back to reality at her outburst and rushed over, tightly embracing her, “Hermione! What's wrong?”

“The bastard was leaving you a note telling you you had to go to Albania if you want to kill Voldemort! The stupid prat couldn't decide to turn on his Master before we walked blindly into a dragon's lair, no, he had to wait until two bloody months after we'd done it!” Hermione flung the papers wildly as she wailed over Harry's shoulder. He eventually snatched them from her and after a quick scan, crumpled them up and tossed them into the hearth.

Harry held Hermione until her sobbing subsided, not really sure what brought on her outburst. Looking inward he discovered that more than anything, he was upset that Hermione's birthday had to be marred with such a violent outburst on his and Remus' part. Most likely their meltdowns led to her own, something he wasn't going to forgive himself for anytime soon. Hedwig flew over and rubbed her head against Harry's as Remus came back, wiping his mouth. “What are we going to do with the body?” Harry asked Tonks more than anyone.

“Do we know if he was sent on Voldemort's orders? If he was and never returns then he'll know we're back in this village. The Fidelius Charm makes our location a secret, but it won't prevent a wayward giant from accidentally stomping our house down,” Remus answered.

Harry picked up the note, “It looks like he was trying to turn traitor, again. He must have been planning on leaving that for me either in the field or maybe on Mum and Dad's grave. How he ended up in Sirius' mouth is anybody's guess.”

Hermione actually started to giggle, then outright laugh, “Crookshanks. He spent our entire third year chasing after that rat, he must have finally caught him with a little help.”

“Anyway, his death can't be made public,” said Tonks.

“Well, the public still believes he's dead, don't they?” Remus snarled. “We could burn him out back and no one would be the wiser.”

“But what would that accomplish?” Tonks asked.

“It would make me feel better,” Remus snapped.

“Enough of that,” Harry interjected. “We'll bring Mr. Weasley here. He's impartial enough, he can decide.” Without waiting for a response Harry grabbed Dobby, who had been staring wide-eyed at the proceedings and Disapparated.

Arthur Weasley showed just how much the wizarding war had hardened him when he discovered their dilemma. He stared evenly down on Wormtail's corpse for a minute, then transfigured him into a spark plug, saying the last place anyone would ever look for a man who's supposed to have been dead for over fifteen years would be his shed. He then proceeded to brighten the mood by getting a tour of their cottage from Harry and Hermione. The third time he tried to stick his wand into a power outlet Harry decided he was only doing it for their amusement but Hermione kept on humoring him with safety lectures he could easily imagine Emma giving her daughter as a small child.

`,',',',',',',',',',',',','

Harry and Hermione met Arthur and Percy Weasley at the gates of Hogwarts the next morning. Arthur wanted to have a word with McGonagall about setting up a tour for the Muggle leaders and thought he'd take his family, Harry, and Hermione to lunch in Hogsmeade afterwards. Percy was along to take notes and Harry was fairly sure that he'd be leaving as soon as the meeting was over.

“Why didn't you just floo into the Headmistress' office?” Harry asked as they made their way up the path.

“I just don't get near enough exercise at my current post. I'm constantly tied to my desk or stuck in a conference room, if Percy here wasn't so used to his duties the paperwork alone would have driven me mad by now,” Arthur clapped his wayward son on the shoulder who gave a half-hearted smile in return.

Harry knew he was trying his hardest to keep his family together, and admittedly Percy was the only problem. He's still a git Harry told himself, remembering the time he'd seen him in Arthur's old office. He'd called Hermione Harry's damsel… Stupid git… Hermione as a damsel, Harry's mind went back to the second task down in the lake when she really was one, though unfortunately not his… stupid Krum.

“Mr. Weasley?” Harry stopped in his tracks, a truly crazy idea forming in his mind. “Are there merpeople in the North Sea?”

“I think so,” he slowly responded then glanced at Percy who fell deep in though for a moment before agreeing. “Why do you ask?”

Harry looked around to make sure they were alone, “What if the Death Eaters that get captured only went to Azkaban to be put in an enchanted sleep like the one Hermione, Ron and Gabrielle were under for the second task then handed off to the merpeople? You could even try and get some cells built in secret deep under Azkaban itself. Voldemort could come for them and not even know he was standing over top of them. You'd just have to make sure they were deep enough so the Dementors couldn't sense them.”

All three of the others looked at him with gaping mouths. “How in the world did you come up with that?” Hermione eventually asked.

“I remembered Percy calling you my damsel,” Hermione and Percy both blushed at that, “and when I saw the lake over there I remembered when you actually were one. The spell Dumbledore put you under made it totally safe for you to stay underwater. I just don't know how long it would last, or if the merpeople would agree to play prison guards.”

Arthur looked at his son alight with excitement, “Write all that down and get an Unspeakable in the office as soon as we get back today to discuss the possibility. And any liaison we have to the merpeople as well.”

“That was some truly impressive thinking,” Hermione beamed up to Harry as Arthur and Percy hurried up to the castle. Lunch was most likely cancelled.

Harry hugged her to his chest kissing her deeply, “We're just starting to rub off on each other.”

“Oh really, and what nasty little habits of yours have I picked up?”

“Well, you don't seem to hate flying anymore, and I've heard you let out a few impressive strings of curse words since we've been living together.” Hermione blushed, obviously a bit embarrassed about her behavior the night before and continued pulling Harry along to the castle.

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Thanks to many years of unauthorized exploring Harry and Hermione made their way up to the Room of Requirement unnoticed. It helped that the elves hadn't even begun serving breakfast yet, negating the need for any of the students to be awake.

“We told Ron we'd meet him a half hour from now Harry, do you really think it will take you that long to find this book?” Hermione asked.

“No, I marked where I left it, but I kind of wanted to make sure that cabinet got destroyed after last year. I could have just asked Remus, but really I don't think anyone likes talking about that day.” Harry concentrated on the junk storage room he'd been in before and paced the wall; when he pulled the door open he could almost hear Hermione's jaw hitting the floor.

“Harry! Look at all of this!” she had gone straight for a stack of extremely old books. “These should really be in the library, maybe we should tell Madam Pince-” Hermione froze as she opened one of the books to discover all of its pages covered in dry blood.

Harry picked up the large battle axe and made his way to the stuffed troll, around the corner from it he found the vanishing cabinet, looking quite intact but with the door hanging open. With a mighty swing he severed the door from its hinges and proceeded to smash it to bits with the axes blunt edge. At one point Hermione called out to see if he was all right, he quipped that he just wanted to play lumberjack for a few more minutes and went about demolishing the rest of the cabinet and randomly throwing hunks of it in all directions.

Sweating slightly but feeling a mild sense of accomplishment Harry rounded the next corner and found the acid stained cupboard, his copy of Advanced Potion Making still hidden away behind the cage. With a sigh he slipped the book into his jacket and made a move to rejoin Hermione but just as he turned a glint of light caught his eye.

On top of the cupboard he'd put a warlock's bust and a tarnished tiara to help him relocate it; now something about the tiara was pulling at him. Harry pulled it down to take a closer look; the tarnish was easily wiped away revealing sparkling diamonds underneath. A swipe of his thumb revealed that the tiara was centered on a dazzling sapphire the size of a chicken egg.

Harry forgot how to breathe as he slowly reached in his pocket for his wand. The swirls of blue mist accompanied by Voldemort's sinister voice made him light headed. This was it… The final Horcrux…

“HERMIONE!” Harry bellowed dashing off towards the exit. She was waiting curiously at the end of the aisle nearest the door, and her look only intensified when she saw his near-crazed demeanor. “I've found it! It was in here!” he shouted waving the tiara over his head as he ran. As he was nearing the last main juncture before he would reach her Harry realized that things were not going to be that easy, he saw what looked like a rusted out cauldron begin to shudder and let off steam, and another, and another… “Get DOWN!” Harry commanded and they both fell to the floor as the room rocked with explosions.

As Harry looked up the horror of the situation slowly sank in. He was boxed in on all four sides, trapped in the intersection of the aisles by walls of black fire stretching from the floor all the way up to the cathedral ceiling. Through the wisps of flame he could just make out Hermione's wide-eyed stare, her face gone ghostly pale. She tried sending a series of spells at the flames, but they only seemed to make the blaze intensify. “Hang on Harry, I'll get help,” she shouted towards him but he saw what was behind her. The entire wall, the wall with the door out, was completely bare. Harry's heart sunk even further when he realized the walls of fire were closing in on him.

Hermione was pacing around muttering something Harry couldn't make out; she tried another spell that ricocheted back and hit her in the midsection, knocking her to the ground. She saw him experimentally reaching out, intent on inserting the tiara into the fire (after all it had worked with Norbert) and screamed in protest but she was too late. The second the Horcrux made contact with the flames Harry felt it and his arm both tugged up into the fire. The pain was beyond anything he'd ever experienced before, as if someone had found a way to take the body-encompassing pain from the Cruciatus Curse and concentrate it all down on his hand. Harry tried to scream but wasn't sure if anything came out; he was unable to feel any other part of his body. He was thrown up in the air and landed in a heap in the center of the square, his arm had probably only been in the fire a second but it felt like days.

The walls were closing in, much faster now. Harry curled himself up in a ball knowing they'd reach him any second. He searched through the fire for Hermione's eyes, a thousand things flying through his mind that he wanted, no had to tell her, if he could only breathe.

He saw her. She was kneeling just feet away, a mix of horror and disbelief splayed across her normally beautiful face. She had her hands clasped around her snitch necklace as if waiting for the tiny flutters signifying his heartbeat to cease. Harry reached for his own, gripping it tightly in his unburned hand wishing more than anything it could take him to her, away from the agony that was now burning its way through his boots.

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There were voices in the distance, beyond the darkness. Many voices, angry voices, and they were coming closer all the time, like someone walking across the pitch towards him.

“Why won't you tell me what's wrong with him!”

“Is he alive?”

“Why won't he move?”

“It's all HER FAULT!”

“Let me zee him!”

“I think he twitched!”

“I have as much of a right to see him as she does!”

“Oh my, he has seen better days.”

“Out! All of you!”

There was an indignant hoot that sounded like Hedwig.

The angry voices left but there was still the sound of someone sobbing, letting out an occasional whimper. Harry knew that whimper, but it usually didn't sound so sad…

“But he will be able to walk again, right?”

Her voice was so sad; he wanted to make it better. “h… her…” Just as he was able to force his lead-laden eyelids open he saw a familiar mass of brown flying towards him.

“Miss Granger!” another voice shrieked just before his head was knocked backwards into the headboard, welcoming back the darkness.

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Harry slipped in and out of consciousness for the next two days. While his life was not really in danger, his right hand had been burned down to the bone in a few spots, and his feet would have been just as bad if he'd been in the fire even another second. As it were the soles of his dragon hide boots had fused themselves to his body. Madam Pomfrey had wanted to send him off to St. Mungo's, but several staff members, the few students that knew it was him hiding behind the screen, Hermione and Remus all threatened her in their own way to keep him in Hogwarts.

Hermione stayed in the hospital wing the entire time except for the hour each night when she'd tend to Remus' Wolfsbane, leaving Dobby and Hedwig to watch over him. At night she would slip into the bed with Harry after the nurse went to sleep and be promptly kicked out in the morning. She'd been so distraught that she couldn't even bring herself to tell anyone about the Horcrux safely tucked away in her jacket; it just didn't matter. Fleur had kept her part-time job at Gringotts after moving to the castle with Bill and spent most of her free time consoling Hermione.

Harry spent most of his time writhing in pain as his hand and parts of his feet were magically re-grown, but the nurse reassured everyone that by the time he fully woke the pain would be nothing more than a bad dream he'd easily forget. On Tuesday afternoon he finally came out of his potion induced stupor and found Hermione seconds away from crying.

“Hey there,” Harry's voice was a touch gravely. Hermione used getting him some water as an excuse to discreetly wipe away her tears. “So, can you tell me exactly how I got here?”

“I'm not exactly sure myself,” Hermione sniffled. “I was stuck watching you be burned alive then just before the fire would have swallowed you whole you fell out of the air and landed in my lap. As soon as that happened the tower of fire exploded and sent us both flying into the wall, but somehow the door was there again and just as I dragged you out into the hall Ginny showed up around the corner and began screeching that she always knew I'd get you killed. I ended up stunning her and yelling for Dobby to get help in bringing you here. Apparently they felt the explosion all the way down in the dungeons.”

Harry put the palm of his new, extremely stiff hand up to his forehead, “Dungeons, of course! Do you still have it, I mean, did it come out of the fire with me?”

“Yes I have it, but what is this about the dungeons?”

Harry heaved a great sigh; “I don't know why I wouldn't have guessed it sooner. Voldemort wanted one here,” he started in a low voice to avoid being overheard. “After Dumbledore turned him down for the defense job he didn't have a chance. He need wider access than a planted student could give him, but then he got another chance when Snape came to work here. He probably told the git that it was something that needed to be protected no matter what, but not what it actually was, so Snape set up a booby-trap that would cause enough ruckus for him to know if someone had gone after it all the way down in the dungeons. I'd bet that besides keeping an eye on Dumbledore Voldemort made Snape stay here all these years to guard it, but the night he ran he didn't have time to take it with him.”

“Harry, I think you're right! Just think of it, where have we seen that color fire before? In the room before the philosopher's stone, and Snape had made a potion to safely get through it. To think, this could have happened to either of us as first years-”

“Ah! You're finally awake,” Madam Pomfrey bustled over from her office. “I've not had to treat a set of burns that bad since your father showed up nearly missing three of his fingers in his sixth year.” Harry and Hermione shared a look; apparently these fires were a long-standing favorite of Snape's. “And just what did you think you were doing trying to deal with things you very well know those Death Eaters had been using?” Harry shot Hermione another look; she'd obviously had to make up some sort of cover story.

“I told you Madam Pomfrey, Harry just wanted to make sure the cabinet they used to break in with was destroyed, how was he supposed to know it would erupt like that?” Hermione covertly filled him in.

The nurse didn't appear to be listening, “Not even attending and I'm stuck mopping you up, when will you learn that it's not always up to you to do everything, just ask! There's plenty of fully qualified witches and wizards in the castle who want to keep the place safe just as much as you do…” A third-year Hufflepuff girl who came in with a head full of porcupine quills saved Harry from the matron's mutterings a short time later.

Ron, Neville, Luna and Gabrielle (now a proud Ravenclaw) all came by after supper. Apparently Ginny had made quite a scene the day Harry had been hurt and since then Bill had been finding any excuse he could to give his sister a detention in the evenings, Harry wondered if his wife was influencing Bill into doing it. She had also tried to sneak in one night during the time Hermione had to stop back at the cottage but had been physically deflected by Dobby who was following Hermione's strict `no visitors when I'm not here' rule.

Apparently Neville had asked Luna to join them that night under the pretense of getting advice from Harry on how she, Neville and Ron could start a new defense club but Harry couldn't help but notice when Hermione and Neville had carefully maneuvered the group to have Ron and Luna pinched tightly between them. Ron's density made him oblivious to this, but Luna had a small smile playing on her lips the entire visit.

They decided to wait until after curfew to leave to avoid tipping off anyone that Harry was there and had been mysteriously hurt so Hermione spent her time helping Ron and Neville with their N.E.W.T. studies while Harry helped Gabrielle with her charms homework in the breaks between staff members coming to the hospital wing. Luna just sat nearby watching her favorite keeper, smiling brightly every time he looked to her and rolled his eyes as Hermione chided him about not keeping up with his schoolwork. The Hogsmeade visit, which was going to be surprised on the students over breakfast, was called off after the explosion. The only students who had been told in advance were Ron and Padma, and apparently she had taken the loss of a chance to get out of the castle out on Ron, which apparently meant that Harry now owed him two Christmas presents since it was all his fault.

Hagrid whispered a joke to Harry about surviving a dragon attack without getting burnt only to come home and suffer the same pain from a `ruddy box' while Slughorn spent a good amount of time telling everyone how he'd made up a special batch of pain relieving potion for Harry to help him with any lingering problems; Harry planned on dumping it down the drain as soon as they got back to the cottage. Fleur had taken Harry's melted boots to Hogsmeade to cash in their lifetime guarantee and presented Harry with an identical pair to the ones he'd picked out for himself. Surprisingly enough Harry's jacket had made it through the ordeal perfectly intact, though it did have a slight smoky smell.

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Madam Pomfrey had insisted Harry spend no more time on his feet than absolutely necessary for the rest of the week which Hermione took to mean she had free license to petrify him every time he got bored and wanted to go flying, or spend some time trying to work on the Horcrux, or moving anywhere other than from one side of the bed to the other. When Saturday finally came around he pulled on his boots while Hermione was in the shower and took off running towards the village, but between the new boots and basically new feet he didn't get very far before getting extremely sore and Apparating home. Hermione was waiting with a look saying she clearly predicted the entire chain of events. The good part was her taking pity on him and massaging his feet until he passed out wearing the same goofy little smile she'd had when he did the same for her during their trip to Albania.

Sunday afternoon found him sitting up in bed closely examining the tiara with Hermione sitting next to him flipping through Snape's old book. The sun streaming through the open window made the jewels sparkle in his hands. Harry's eyes fell on the large, perfectly smooth sapphire for the hundredth time. He could almost see the shadow of Voldemort residing within it, but had no clue on how to release it; he'd even tried to put on the tiara hoping that some transference like Ginny'd had with the diary would occur. The only result was Hermione sneaking a picture of him looking exceedingly silly sitting in bed wearing only boxers and a tiara with a pained look of concentration on his face.

As Harry sat there willing his eyes to bore deeper into the jewel a dark cloud began to form in its center. Slowly the cloud became more prominent, filling up the gem. A pair of horrid red eyes locked with his own. Harry felt as if his entire body had been sucked inside as his scar exploded in pain, the same pain that he'd experienced when being possessed in the atrium the night Sirius died.

His vision faded to the point that all he could see was the eyes forcing themselves into him, feeding on his very soul. Slowly a sinister laugh began echoing all around him, one he'd recognize anywhere, and he felt a sudden coldness through the excruciating pain that was still coating his entire body. There was screaming. A woman, his mother, screaming pleas for mercy. Both the laughing and the pain intensified. Another voice was franticly calling out to him. He could barely hear her but he knew it was Hermione; he imagined right now she was hovering over him in their bed not understanding what had happened. As the image of Hermione came to mind the pain had seemed to fade slightly, only to force its way back to the front of his mind, ruthlessly shoving her away.

Harry focused himself past the mind-bending pain and agonizing screams of his mother moments before her death. Honing his mind back to Hermione, how she had looked when he woke up in the hospital just days ago, and the look on her face through the flames when she thought she was about to lose him forever. He remembered how enamored he'd been with her at Bill's wedding even if he had been too thick to realize why and how it had felt to kiss her for the first time. The pain was fading; the sinister laugh had turned to a scream of its own shortly after his mother's voice had faded away. An image slowly appeared, filling Harry's entire mind. After the day of teasing from Remus and the Grangers Harry had sat up imaging what it would be like if Hermione was pregnant, now the image he'd burned into his memory that night of her standing before him, hands stroking her very large belly and literally glowing with love overtook everything. There was another burst of excruciating pain, then nothing. Only Hermione looking from the start of their family to him, but even that image slowly faded to blackness.

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Harry slowly became aware of someone stroking his hair with such a loving touch that he could only imagine it being one person. Slowly he rolled over in bed, embraced the person next to him and weakly muttered, “I love you.”

“Won't Hermione be shocked to learn that,” the person chuckled.

Harry jumped back in shock, flopping to the floor. When he peeked back over the bed he found Emma Granger covering her mouth to keep the laughter in, “I umm, oh no… I thought… Where's Hermione?”

“In the shower. Dan and I decided to stay for the weekend when we heard you were in something of a coma,” Emma's look saddened as she spoke.

“Coma? What day is it?”

“Friday. Apparently you've been out since Sunday afternoon, though we just found out yesterday. Your French friend that just got married has apparently been by a lot to help Hermione keep her head.”

It came back to Harry in a flash, the Horcrux, the pain, the screaming… He saw the tiara sitting on the nightstand next to Emma and grabbed his wand. When he tried the Prior Incantato spell there was no more blue mist, just a golden sparkle.

“Harry!” Hermione darted into the room and slammed him into an embrace, her wet hair splattering all around his head. She pulled back and began pounding his chest, “Don't you ever scare me like that again! Do you have any idea what I've been through the last two weeks?”

Harry gave up on apologizing as she ranted and kissed her to make it stop, completely oblivious to Dan, Remus and Tonks coming into the room. “Why didn't you take me to the hospital if I was in a coma?” he asked after they separated.

“The elves checked you out and said you were fine, and I did bring a healer friend of mine here,” Tonks explained, “and she told us there really wasn't anything they could do for you, that you'd wake up when you wanted to. Felt a little bad for having to Obliviate her after, but she really didn't tell us anything.”

“What happened Harry?” Remus asked. Harry looked around the room, and without asking Dan, Emma and Tonks all filed out.

“I was just looking at the Horcrux and I saw a shadow in the gem. When I tried to look closer at it I think it tried to possess me, or at least it felt just like when Voldemort had at the ministry. There was pain and screaming, but I could just make out Hermione shouting at me and the more I focused on her the less everything hurt. After a bit of that there was another scream and the pain just stopped.”

“Harry, there's something you should see,” Hermione delicately said and pulled him down in his trunk in front of the mirror where she lifted the hair from his forehead.

His scar had always had a scabby appearance, nothing that would pick away, but the skin was always hard and dark. When Harry looked into the mirror now all he saw was a thin pink lightning bolt-shaped line, “How could that be?” he blankly asked.

“We're not sure, but Remus believes that when you destroyed the part of Voldemort in the Horcrux you might have eradicated part of, or even all of whatever imprint he put on you with that curse,” said Hermione. “You've also gone and grown some grey hairs,” she added with a chuckle and sure enough, when Harry looked closely around his temples there was a peppering of grey amidst the black.

“I do know a good charm for that, it just needs to applied too frequently for my tastes,” Remus quipped.

“Oh I think it looks perfectly fine,” Hermione had a saucy little smile as she ran her hands through his hair.

“We should tell Mr. Weasley right away that Voldemort's mortal again,” Harry forced his eyes from Hermione's smile before his mind could reduce itself to mush. “The Aurors might not be able to kill him, but they can at least hurt, maybe even capture him.”

Minutes later Harry and Hermione were running down the hall leading to the Minister for Magic's office, her wet hair flailing behind them. “Wait, you can't go in there,” Percy shouted as they reached the door. “He's with the-”

“Oh bugger it all,” Harry muttered as he found the Queen and Prime Minister sitting with Arthur at the table in his office. What was worse than the fact that he always seemed to meet them in his plainest clothes was the fact that he hadn't even showered in who knows how long.

“Well, nice to see you too, Mr. Potter,” the Minister chuckled. “We've just been going over the plans to implement this brilliant idea you had on how to deal with prisoners.”

“Thank you sir,” Harry stammered as Hermione beamed up at him. “It's nice to see you both here.”

“Another thing we have the two of you to thank for,” the Queen supplied. “Please, come join us.”

“What brings the two of you here in such a rush?” Arthur asked once they were seated.

“We've done it,” Harry enthusiastically told him. “Voldemort's mortal, he can finally be killed.”

Arthur jumped back in shock, “That's wonderful!”

“But it still falls on you to do him in, doesn't it?” the Prime Minister asked.

“It does, but that doesn't mean the Aurors can't play a part. He still has several followers that need to be dealt with, and really the fact that the Aurors can't finish the job wouldn't stop them from hurting or even capturing Voldemort,” said Hermione.

“Well then I would say it is even more imperative that your forces take out as many of his people as possible as quickly as they can to make sure Mr. Potter here has as few obstacles in his path as possible when the time comes,” said the Queen.

“I quite agree Your Majesty. We'll also begin transferring the captured Death Eaters below water as soon as the work on the bobbers-”

“Buoys,” the Prime Minister corrected.

“Yes those things, are completed.”

“The Merpeople are going to help?” Harry asked.

“Thankfully the Unspeakable I spoke to about the enchanted sleep also spoke Mermish. They've agreed to help as long as we can keep the Muggle ships that pass over their dwellings from dropping trash, so with the help of the Muggle government we're creating a section of protected water overtop of them and placing several Muggle-repelling charms on water buoys to make sure no one sails where they ought not. As soon as they are all placed the prisoners being shuttled to Azkaban will start mysteriously disappearing on the boat ride over,” Arthur happily informed them.

“Brilliant!” Harry began. “How many people know about the plan?”

“Apart from the people in this room, just Percy, the Unspeakable and the Merpeople. There's an Auror whose sole job is to man the boat to and from Azkaban, and I'll inform him once we begin the transfer. The Unspeakable will have to come along to teach him the spell to put on the prisoners, and they'll have to be brought back up every other year to have it recast if we want to keep them alive-”

“Though with the acts some of these people have done one wonders why we should even bother,” the Prime Minister put in.

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Another weekend of constant teasing about the Grangers sleeping in the `nursery' caused Remus to have a very bad week. On Monday he agreed to a practice duel with Harry only to end up spending the entire afternoon bound and gagged dangling from a tree branch with tentacles sprouting from his ears that repeatedly slapped him across the face. Tuesday, everything he tried to eat tasted of chalk. Tonks had been on duty that night, and when she came back Wednesday night she found him stuck to the ceiling in his room, very hungry and very cranky. At his request she took him to Grimmauld Place for the night. When they awoke the next morning they were both covered in thick grey fur that neither of them could get rid of. Harry and Hermione graciously accepted his apology the next day and with a single wave of Hermione's wand they were back to normal.

Hidden at a table in the back of the Three Broomsticks on Saturday morning, Harry was happy to see Ron walk in escorting Luna Lovegood. He'd gotten a letter early in the week asking for advice on how to ask the girl out, Harry wrote back telling him that he'd be surprised how she would react if he would just try and kiss her in the Room of Requirement after a defense club meeting. When Hermione playfully asked why they were holding hands Ron began stammering. When Harry asked what happened that night his face quickly turned completely red. When Luna began telling the story Ron dashed for the loo. Apparently after a few minutes of kissing the Room of Requirement decided to provide the couple a rather inviting looking bed, Ron had fled when Luna pointed the development out.

“So it all worked out then?” Harry cheekily asked Ron when he returned.

“Oh yes,” Luna serenely replied. “Ronald told me about the advice you gave him Harry, thank you for that.”

“Anything for my friends,” Harry replied.

Luna beamed at him, “It's too bad he decided he had to leave so shortly after. Did you know you have grey hair Harry?”

Hermione reached over and stroked his head by his temple, “It's quite fetching isn't it?”

“You need to have yourself checked Harry,” Luna had a very concerned look. “You might have been bitten by a long-horned nittle-beetle. Daddy was bitten once and we had to rush out to find the cure before he grew fangs. The Muggles keep stocks of it in their markets in bottles that say Guinness.”

“Oh good,” Harry held back a smile. “Remus and I drink a few of them every week at the pub in our village just to be safe.”

“That's probably best for the both of you. Professor Lupin seems to have survived for quite a long time, most likely thanks to the Muggle remedy. Daddy also told me about the letter you sent him after the Muggle Princess died. He really wishes he could have printed it but there was a rather pressing matter regarding a troupe of gypsies working with thestrals to scare the Muggles into thinking the apocalypse will come at the end of the millennium,” Luna informed them in her normal dreamy voice.

“So Bill says Fleur's been spending a lot of time visiting you guys,” Ron abruptly changed topics.

“Yes she's spent a good amount of time keeping me sane dealing with Harry's… injuries,” said Hermione. “And yes Ronald, I fully admit to being wrong about Fleur. She's really quite a nice woman when she doesn't have to deal with men fawning all around her.”

“Does she know about the you-knows?” Ron asked once his smug grin from Hermione's admission faded.

“Oh no,” Harry quickly told him. “Besides, that's all over with now.”

“You managed to take care of it?” Ron knew they'd gotten the tiara but hadn't been told the full story of its destruction.

“Harry took care of it and ended up in a partial coma for nearly a week,” Hermione rolled her eyes. “Really if Fleur and Tonks hadn't been around to cheer me up I'd have strangled him when he finally woke up.”

“Does your brother really like having a wife that all the other men go silly for?” Luna asked Ron.

“Of course he does, he's the one that gets to take her home,” Ron's voice was full of pride, Harry almost brought up the fact that Ron had asked out his future sister-in-law in fourth year but stopped himself.

“So, do the two of you like this village you're staying in?” Luna asked.

“It's in a really nice location, though we actually can't tell you where it is, sorry. Everything around our cottage has been going much better now that Harry's finally stayed out of bed for more than a day,” said Hermione. “My parents stayed over last weekend and Remus started everyone out teasing us horribly so we spent a good deal of time reminding him that no action goes unchecked.”

“What were they teasing you about?” Luna asked.

It was Harry's turn to blush, “Remus has been calling the spare room `the nursery' ever since I moved my things into Hermione's room.”

“Oh, congratulations,” said Luna.

“I'm not pregnant,” Hermione firmly told the blond.

“Probably not for a lack of trying,” Ron muttered.

“I'll have you know Ronald Weasley, that my virtue is perfectly intact,” Hermione primly stated.

Ron looked confused for a second then turned his head to Harry, “Why?”

In a move Harry never could have predicted Luna's hand flew through the air, smacking Ron on the back of the head, “That wasn't a very nice thing to say Ronald.” Ron quickly muttered out an apology while rubbing his head.

Shortly after their drinks arrived an odd rumble shook the building, a few seconds after that a blood-curdling scream came from outside and a young woman burst through the doors, one hand holding up her other arm which had been ripped from her body just below her shoulder. In the ensuing panic where most of the patrons rushed outside to Apparate away Harry took note of the time. No teachers came to Hogsmeade this early; only students wanting to be first in line at the joke shop or trying to buy some restricted material with as few witnesses as possible. Harry pulled a piece of parchment from his jacket, wrote the words Hogsmeade being attacked on it and handed it over to Hedwig sitting on the back of Hermione's chair. “You need to show this to Hagrid then take it McGonagall as fast as you can, understand?” The owl nipped his finger before taking the parchment in her beak and flying out over the patrons' heads.

“Harry what's going on?” Ron asked as the building shook again.

“It's Voldemort, it has to be.”

“Can you feel him?” Hermione asked.

Harry shook his head, “No, but I might not be able to anymore.”

Luna's eyes widened more than should have been physically possible, “The shadow is gone; you've erased his presence in you, haven't you?”

“What? What are you two on about?” Ron's head went between Harry and his new girlfriend.

Harry lifted his fringe to reveal his now pale scar, “When I destroyed the last Horcrux it changed.”

Ron sat in silence, completely ignoring the screams of those who had made it outside. “So, this is it then?” he asked with a pale face and drew his wand.

Harry looked one of his oldest friends in the eye and followed suit, “Don't worry about me Ron, just get every student you can find back to the castle.” After a firm hug from Hermione Ron took Luna's hand and the new couple took off through the now empty tavern.

Hermione tried to follow but Harry held her back, the severity of the situation finally sinking in. He drew her close and kissed her softly, “Hermione I need you to promise me… Promise me you won't do anything foolish-”

“I'm going out there by your side Harry, if I do anything foolish it will be because you did it a half-second before me.”

“Promise me, if it looks bad that you'll run. Please, I'll do anything. Say you'll do this and I'll marry you tomorrow-”

“I'm not leaving here without you!”

“I'm not saying you have to, but if it comes down to it being the only way out for you, just Apparate away, please-”

“Harry, no.”

Hanging his head in defeat Harry took hold of her right hand and pressed his wand into her palm. “If you see him firing, just aim straight back at him. The spell won't matter.”

Hermione nodded and pulled him down for a fierce kiss before running for the door barely a step ahead of Harry. Outside the door the woman who had run into the pub lay dead in a pool of her own blood. A few more bodies fed their suspicion that the village had been warded against Apparition. Harry rushed out into the middle of the road and looked left, down the road leading to Hogwarts. There seemed to be a mass of people that were trying to make it to the relative safety of the castle but the path was blocked by a group of Death Eaters who had taken over the train platform. Across the road he caught a brief glimpse of Ron hurrying a group of people all dressed in Hogwarts robes up the path towards the Shrieking Shack, hopefully their way would be unblocked.

An explosion drew Harry's attention the other way, further into the village. A giant had just stomped on Zonko's joke shop sending debris everywhere. A shadow streaked through the air and at first Harry feared it was a dragon, but it was Hagrid flying towards the hills on the back of Buckbeak. He was going for Grawp. A group of people popped in from nowhere, a frying pan falling to the ground between them, he recognized some of their faces, the Aurors were coming. As they scattered the woman from Harry's fight in Gringotts noticed them standing over the corpse, her face paled at the sight of blood but she turned away and charged ahead up the road.

Following the flow of most of the Aurors with Hermione by his side Harry didn't even make it to the post office before having to duck under a jet of green light, pulling Hermione down with him. There were at least twenty Death Eaters ahead entrenched firmly behind rubble, overturned carts and fences and they were raining down curses on the villagers running about in a state of panic. The Aurors seemed to be working in small teams, trying to take out the Death Eaters one at a time, but there weren't enough of them for that strategy to work in the end. Harry saw a purple streak of flame fly towards a villager and literally rip the man in half. Hermione gasped as they both remembered the only person they knew of to cast that spell. Dolohov was hiding behind a stonewall tucked underneath an awning on the house across the street from where Zonko's used to be, pulling his mum's wand from his sleeve and aiming carefully, Harry fired a Reductor curse at the second level of the home which promptly crumbled on the Death Eater.

A distant roar echoed through the air and the giant that had been about to level Gladrags turned and ran towards the sound that Harry just knew was Grawp. Harry found himself being suddenly tackled to the ground from behind but by the time he landed the body over his had gone slack, he rolled it over and jumped to his feet to find Hermione looking back the way they came. Three Death Eaters burst out of the Three Broomsticks, having gone in to look after any lingering patrons, upon seeing the teens they all fired off killing curses directed at Harry. He rolled away to his right while Hermione dodged the other way sending a massive ball of blue fire at their attackers. As they were busy deflecting Hermione's attack Harry made a slashing movement followed by a jab with his wand, it was a spell Lupin had taught in their third year to be used against Vampires but the unblockable streak of orange light worked well enough to temporarily blind just about anyone. With his opponents caught unaware Harry followed with a lasso of flame that wrapped neatly around the three and with a jerk of his arm they were sent flying over the roof of a nearby home, still bound.

Turning at the sound of her shriek, Harry found Hermione caught in a chokehold by someone that had just come from the Post Office. Before he could even bother thinking of a way to safely free her, Hermione aimed Harry's wand directly between her assailant's legs and a flash of red light later an unnaturally high-pitched scream filled the air drawing the attention of nearly everyone within twenty feet. They made their way up the road clearing buildings as they went and shoving the dazed looking villagers who hadn't joined the fray to hide. Hermione levitated a large cart that was sheltering several Death Eaters and sent it crashing into another group taking cover in the rubble across the road. Most of Death Eaters had fallen back to the road leading to the Hog's Head but refused to go any further down it as Grawp and the giant they'd brought were currently trading blows in front of the shabby pub. Harry pulled an eight inch long tube from his jacket that contained one portable swamp, tapped it with his wand and hurled it into the middle of the group, he knew it wouldn't be any sort of final solution, but it would surely slow them down a bit.

“Harry! Are you hurt?” Bill Weasley suddenly appeared next to Harry. He breathed a sigh of relief, that meant the road to Hogwarts was clear.

“I'm fine, how are things back that way, have you seen Ron?”

“Ron? No, and back there is holding, for now.” Bill glanced across the street to Hermione just in time to see her shoot off a spell transfiguring a plank of wood into a crocodile that quickly went after some of the Death Eaters currently wallowing in waist deep water. “McGonagall says we need to get you and Hermione out of here.”

“No Bill.”

“Harry this isn't the time to play hero, we need to move!”

“Bill!” Harry grabbed the front of his robes and shook him, “I'm not leaving.” Bill looked Harry straight in the eye for a moment before nodding his consent then abruptly pushing him to the ground while falling backwards. A familiar jet of purple sailed through the air where they had just been. Harry looked back to see Dolohov staggering out of the rubble Harry had buried him under. Bill and Harry each sent off a Reductor curse and the stonewall exploded slamming Dolohov's limp form into a wall.

“So if we're staying who do we curse first?” Bill cheekily asked.

“How's your mass transfiguration?” Harry asked eyeing a pile of rubble next to them.

“I get by, why?”

“Change that pile to snakes, a lot of very poisonous snakes.” Bill looked at him oddly for a second before jabbing his wand at the rocks. “That's more than getting by,” Harry mumbled looking down at what had to be fifty vipers hissing furiously at him. A cold sweat broke out over Harry's body, he was hearing hissing, not voices. Dreading the idea that he'd lost his Parselmouth ability when he destroyed the Horcrux Harry tried willing the noises clear as the snakes slithered towards them, slowly he began to hear them as just whispers. He let out an experimental breath and when it felt more like a hiss than a breath he spoke, “Go now, attack the ones in masks and dark robes,” and pointed towards the Death Eaters.

“That is a very neat trick,” Bill muttered as the snakes quickly slithered off towards the enemy.

“Go up the road leading to the Shrieking Shack, there's a path leading to the Whomping Willow. Ron's was trying to lead the students to it but the way might have been blocked.” Bill gave Harry a brief nod before dashing off as directed.

Harry looked back across the road to see Hermione flinging spells around the corner towards Madam Puddifoot's and quickly made his way towards her. When he rounded the corner just moments after her his eyes fell directly on Voldemort kneeling over a Death Eater that was still smoking from recent burns, he pulled the mask off to reveal the face of Severus Snape. For and instant Harry felt both elated at the thought of him being dead and horrified that Hermione had been the one to do it, until Snape let out a series of raspy coughs. Voldemort's eyes focused intently on Hermione who had just walked into one of her worst nightmares.

The Dark Lord didn't seem aware of Harry's, or anyone else's presence as he slowly rose up. There was no taunting, just two simple words, “Avada Kedavra!”

Hermione's arm had begun moving at the same time as Voldemort's and when his green jet met an intense blue flame the concussion wave nearly knocked Harry off of his feet. Harry's hand convulsed around the edge of the building he was leaning against, there was nothing he could do for her now. The golden beam connecting their wands obviously shocked Voldemort, when Harry finally took a step towards them they were encased in a golden cage. Harry rushed up to the side of the cage, finally drawing Voldemort's attention but more importantly Hermione's. When their eyes first met he could see the panic but Harry shouted for her to hold on, just listen to the song. The phoenix song fell faintly on his ears; he knew it to be much louder inside the cage but what he didn't expect was that on the outside the entire area began to violently tremble as the waves of magic beat against everything they came across.

Glancing behind him Harry saw most of the fighting had stopped and the remaining combatants were staring stupidly in his direction. The swamp was gone, but the crocodile and snakes both remained. Voldemort's giant had also fallen. At the forefront of it all Harry saw Remus staring in utter disbelief. He knew what was happening, but not how Hermione ended up inside.

Hermione's voice drew his attention back; the pulses of light were coming dangerously close to the wand in her hands. Harry tried to reach through the cage only to receive a massive shock and had to settle to shouting words of support, words of comfort, words of love and it helped. At first the change in direction was subtle but once the main pulse reached the halfway point it shot the rest of the way towards Voldemort in the blink of an eye. The echoes came forth, slowly filling up the entire cage. There were many more bodies this time, and more screams of pain barely audible from the outside. Harry's breathing shallowed as he knew what would happen if only Hermione could hold the connection long enough. When the smoky form of Cedric Diggory approached the edge of the cage and gave him a nod Harry's body turned to stone, he looked to Hermione. There were tears streaming down her face, she knew who was coming.

Voldemort was shouting every obscenity ever conceived as Frank Bryce and Bertha Jorkins emerged but he couldn't break the connection. Harry's vision was blurred with tears when he saw his mother approach him. He held a hand flat against the golden barrier, completely ignoring the discomfort of it because she was mirroring his actions on the other side. It could have been his imagination but Harry swore he could feel her hand pressing back against his own. Lilly backed away, moving towards Hermione as James came forward. There were traces of utter exhilaration and deep sorrow all over his face, two things Harry didn't think it possible for a person to experience at the same time.

The echo of James Potter looked over his shoulder to his wife standing next to Hermione, one of her smoky hands cupping the younger girl's cheek while she spoke to her. “Never forget son, your mother and I love you more than anyone,” James actually smirked and looked back over his shoulder. “Well, almost anyone. You will do this Harry, just not today. Take Hermione and go, there'll be another day to finish this, and when it's over, move on and be happy. Give your children the life we always wanted for you.”

Just as Lilly reappeared at her husband's side the connection broke. As soon as the cage vanished she surged forward and wrapped her arms around Harry. He could feel her as if was actually there and he returned her embrace, his body convulsing with sobs as an overpowering warmth covered him. Her voice came like a whisper in the wind, reminding him of her love. Harry opened his eyes just in time to see their shadowy forms dissipate with the rest. Hermione and Voldemort both stood where they were, swaying slightly until almost as one their knees buckled and they collapsed.

Harry rushed to Hermione's side and cradled her in his arms, calling her name to no avail. Snape was stirring on the ground and Voldemort had already risen to his knees, shaking his head clear. Harry knew they needed to leave as soon as possible. As he scooped Hermione's limp form from the ground Harry heard a screech. Voldemort was standing freely beside Snape, wand already in motion with a look of triumph on his twisted face. Harry made to block Hermione's body with his own as the green mass rushed towards him but at the last second Hedwig swooped down into its path. The force of the curse redirected her already cold body into Harry's chest. As she came to rest between Harry and Hermione he Apparated them all straight back to the cottage.

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“DOBBY! WINKY!”

The elves popped into the room as they were called and wailed at the sight of Hermione's limp body in Harry's arms. He sprinted around them to their room and gently laid her on the bed. He took a step back, cradling Hedwig to his chest as the elves began bustling over Hermione, the tips of their fingers glowing wherever they touched her.

Knowing he'd only be in the way Harry went to the window and held the body of his oldest, most faithful friend up in the sunlight. Her amber eyes, that had always seemed alight with knowledge were glazed over, her beak slightly open. With a soft touch Harry closed her eyes and beak, and folded her wings over her torso. She looked to be in a peaceful sleep as he tucked her up to his body as one would an infant.

In a state of emotional shock Harry turned back to the bed. Winky quietly informed Harry that Hermione was in a deep sleep but physically fine; both the elves eyes overflowed with tears as they realized what happened to Hedwig. After asking Dobby and Winky to watch over Hermione Harry went to the stream out back and slowly stroked his friends snowy feathers until the sunlight began to fade. Sirius and Crookshanks had both come out to him and taken turns nuzzling her, as if to say good-bye.

When Dobby came out to ask if he wanted anything to eat Harry finally cracked. As his body racked with sobs he tried to think of where she would like her body to be put to rest. Harry knew, the spot by the lake at Hogwarts. Through all six years of his schooling there they had a spot on the far side of the lake where Harry would go when things got to bother him too much. She had never failed to meet him there. Focusing ever fiber of his being on the location Harry opened his eyes and found himself there, directly across the lake from the white tomb.

He carefully set her aside and began clawing at the earth a foot away from the shore. Slowly he tore away the grass and scooped handful after agonizing handful of dirt until he was elbow-deep in the ground, a small amount of water pooled in the hole. Harry threw off his jacket and ripped his shirt from his body. He tightly wrapped Hedwig's body and tenderly lowered her down. For the longest time he couldn't bring himself to replace the earth knowing it would mean he would never see her again. As he hung his head looking directly down on her wrapped form the steady stream of tears pooled up in the lenses of his glasses until he threw them ruthlessly aside. Finally Harry's arms began trembling so violently that he couldn't hold himself up anymore and he began the process of swiping at the mound of earth until the ground was once again flat.

He decided he needed a marker and waded into the lake looking for just the right stone. There were several sets of yellow eyes watching him and Harry defiantly stared back at them, challenging them to make him stop. The Merpeople just stared back, the soft strains of the mournful song they'd made at Dumbledore's funeral again bubbling to the surface. Harry stood waist deep in the water letting the song wash through him, calming him with its haunting simplicity. When the singing eventually stopped he opened his eyes to see the Merchieftainess towering before him. Without a sound she handed over a textbook sized tablet of white stone, inlaid in the stone was a copper outline of an owl with its wings spread wide. Giving a slight bow he backed out of the water and laid the stone overtop the soft dirt, pressing it down flush to the earth and gingerly cleaning the area around. After a feeble wave of thanks the Merchieftainess sank back below the water and Harry heard hooves behind him.

“We meet once again Harry Potter,” Firenze's voice came through the nighttime mist. “I see it is under the most unfortunate of circumstances however.”

“How did you know I was here?”

“I heard the Merpeople's song from my home in the castle. There is only one cause for such a lament to be sung and as such decided to investigate. At times like these all beings are bound to question their beliefs, their commitments, but I tell you this Harry Potter: No matter how hopeless your quest appears there is always an equal chance it will be a successful one. You are not alone in this world, sentient beings that have been divided for millennia are banding together behind you even though you do not see it. If you need any proof of this look at all you have accomplished since you last called this place home.

“Without trying you have brought your two human governments closer than they have ever been, through simple kindness and good humor you have aided in healing the damage the wizard-goblin relationship has suffered. Around your neck you carry not just a charm, but also a source of elven magic, a gift not given lightly or often. Muggles are rearranging their ocean travels to accommodate Merpeople, learning to share their precious part of the earth. Word has even come to the heard that a young wizard visited the mountains near a centaur holy forest and removed a shadow that threatened to pervert the land. No matter how small your actions are they seem to carry epic repercussions to the world around us, and those whom do not agree with or like your ways will be left behind when destiny calls to us all. I know you do not ask for this responsibility but it is always a wise choice to know your place on this plane.”

Harry silently digested everything the Centaur told him for a few minutes. “But in the end none of it matters, does it? The ones I love will always be taken from me until I die myself trying to finish this bloody quest.”

“Why do you think you are destined to die?” Firenze gently asked.

“Because you told me so,” Harry replied looking the Centaur in his ethereal blue eyes. “The very first time we met you told me you hoped the planets were being read wrong. I'm just assuming you weren't hoping for me to die. Everything in my life seems predetermined, if the stars really are against me I might as well just jump in the lake right now.”

“And if I told you the heavens were indeed wrong? You have been living for more than two years beyond the time your life seemed destined to end, and it is not borrowed time. The future is an ever changing thing Harry Potter, and it has happened many times before where one man has stood against fate and come out the victor,” Firenze serenely replied. A Sudden crack rung out through the night air and Hermione stood before Harry, at least until she threw her arms around him sobbing uncontrollably and knocked them both to the ground, completely oblivious to the Centaur. “I shall leave you now, but remember: no being is a prisoner of fate, only a prisoner of their own mind.”

Hermione, who had been quite surprised by a voice not Harry's silently watched Firenze trot away with him before breaking down again trying to apologize for not running when she had the chance and getting Hedwig killed. Harry held her for over an hour waiting for her to cry herself out before going about debunking her guilt. Once she had calmed down a bit she took in their surroundings “Harry, did I just Apparate into Hogwarts?”

“We both did, though I wasn't seriously trying to at the time. Firenze said something about our necklaces being a source of elven magic. Part of that must allow us to Apparate like Dobby when we have to,” he smiled softly as he explained his theory. It was the only one he could come up with that didn't go completely against everything she'd always told him about Apparition and Hogwarts.

“Dobby did that for us?”

“He said it was a gift not lightly given, but then since when does Dobby do what a normal elf should?”

“You know,” Hermione suddenly fell deep in thought, “that could very well explain how you got out of the fire in the Room of Requirement. I saw you holding your necklace, you must have willed yourself to Disapparate just before passing out.”

As they laid on the shore of the lake Harry knew she was suppressing questions about nearly everything that happened that day, and to be honest he needed to know what her experience inside the golden cage had been like, but neither dared ask. Harry was just about to drift off as a hauntingly beautiful song filled the air. Hermione stirred awake and together they stood hand in hand on the side of the lake trying to find the source of what they both knew was a phoenix song.

With a sudden burst of flame a swan sized red and gold bird appeared in the air. Harry quickly guessed it to be Fawkes, but as the bird flew lower he realized he was wrong. This phoenix had a longer neck, more gold feathers, and even some white mixed in on its underside. Cottoning on after the bird did a few circuits around their heads, Harry held out an arm for it to land on. Every little fact that he'd ever learned about phoenixes flew through his brain, the prominent thing being death and resurrection. For just a moment, standing over the grave of his owl Harry's heart soared as he was sure she'd come back to him as a phoenix but this bird seemed able to glean his thoughts and moved its head in a negative fashion.

“Harry, what's going on?” Hermione slowly asked.

“I think we've just gotten a phoenix,” Harry softly replied as a furious voice in his mind yelled that Hedwig was irreplaceable. The phoenix, gleaning his thoughts again trilled in agreement. How Harry knew it was agreeing he didn't know, but he did. As he looked in the bird's glittering black eyes he couldn't help but find them familiar. He thought of Hagrid, seeing the same spark of life that the gamekeeper's eyes had. The phoenix trilled in excitement, as if he was very close but not quite there. The bird bobbed its head towards the castle and Harry's eyes fell on the white tomb.

During Dumbledore's funeral, when the smoke erupted around his covered body for the briefest of instants he thought he'd seen a…

“Harry what is it?” Hermione asked as he gasped.

“Albus?” The phoenix trilled merrily and preened himself up.

`,',',',',',',',',',',',',',',

A burst of fire brought Harry, Hermione and Albus into their room in the cottage, scaring Sirius and Crookshanks from the bed and room. The phoenix glided over to the golden perch set near the window and Harry stood watching him for quite a while. At first he was indescribably angry at the bird for claiming Hedwig's perch. When the anger faded he admitted to himself that the perch was meant for a phoenix and would go to waste if he didn't allow Albus to use it.

Even though he grudgingly accepted it, Harry didn't think he could stand seeing the bird there for some time. Not bothering to apologize, guessing his thoughts were being read anyway Harry picked up the perch and carried it to the unused room. When he got back to their room he found Hermione in the bed, patiently waiting for him.

“So. You talked to my mum?” he whispered after pulling off his soggy jeans and summoning a dry pair of boxers to join her.

Hermione sniffled as she curled up to his chest, “She… helped me. She told me focus with everything I had on my feelings for you and though it might exhaust me to the point of collapse, you would protect me. She - touched me. I swear I could feel her…”

Tears were once again welling in Harry's eyes, “I could too. When the cage collapsed, she hugged me. I've never felt anything like that… no offense.”

“None taken,” she chuckled softly and kissed his cheek.

“What would you say if I asked you to always carry my wand?”

“I suppose that would depend on how you meant it,” Hermione half-smiled before turning serious. “I would, if that's what you really want, but I don't have as much control as with my own. It was like trying to knock on a door but pounding it down instead.”

“Don't worry about it. Just promise to keep yourself safe,” Harry shrugged off the thought and gave her a kiss.

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Harry woke mid-afternoon Sunday and realized Remus and Tonks were nowhere to be found. After checking Grimmauld Place, the Burrow and finally the ministry Mr. Weasley informed him they had both portkeyed in with the Aurors and been taken to St. Mungo's, but were expected to be released that night. Remus had nearly lost one of his legs and Tonks had been hit with a curse that collapsed both of her lungs. The Daily Prophet that day gave a full account of the battle with one exception: they never mentioned Harry, Hermione or Voldemort had been in the village. As Minister, Mr. Weasley had forced the Aurors to not disclose any information about the event they had all witnessed between Hermione and the Dark Lord since no one could quite figure out what had happened. On top of that was the fact that Harry and Hermione successfully Disapparated through the wards the Death Eaters had put in place.

In total they estimated fifty Death Eaters and one giant had attacked and once the dust had settled twenty-seven were in manacles and another sixteen dead, including the giant. Thirty villagers lost their lives along with two fifth year Hufflepuff boys who had been trying to sneak into the Hog's Head for some Firewhisky. The Aurors guessed Voldemort attacked with almost everything he had and were regarding the fight as a great victory seeing as how he could possibly only be left with a dozen followers. The list of those captured or dead included almost every escapee, except the Lestranges Harry sadly noted, and Snape must have gotten out with Voldemort. There was also a special mention that Ron had apparently overtaken Goyle's father and Marcus Flint to guide a group of students back to Hogwarts. The paper made no mention of where they traveled through to get back to the castle.

Hermione was finally sleeping well when he left. She had been plagued by nightmares, even at one point punching Harry when he tried to hold her. He felt oddly full of pride as he rushed to the sink to fix his broken nose; even in her sleep Hermione seriously packed a punch.

Being alone as he went from place to place gave Harry plenty of time to think. Before they had run out of the Three Broomsticks he told Hermione he'd marry her, today actually, if she wanted it. But he had also made it conditional on her making a promise resulting in a firm no. From the moment Harry first kissed her he'd been seeing flashes in his mind of the two of them together, mostly pertaining to a time when they could be a safe and happy family. They may have only been together a little less than four months but they'd known each other and been best friends for almost six years, and he was positive he wanted her to be with him for as long as she would have him. The problem now was that he kept hearing her `no' in his head. Deciding there was only one way to get that word out of his head he went to Gringotts. Ragnok had helped him buy all of the jewelry Hermione had gotten for her birthday, he'd probably be happy to help with this.

Half an hour later Harry returned to the cottage not quite sure why the goblin had asked for one of his hairs and a small amount of blood, if he didn't completely trust the goblin he probably would have attacked him for even asking. Now all he had to do was wait a few days for the package to come and ask her properly.

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All week long Harry had a feeling Hermione wanted to bring up what he'd said in the pub; things became increasingly tense around the cottage. The happiness of Remus and Tonks' arrival and their discovery that there was a phoenix roosting in the spare room was overshadowed by the fact that Harry and Hermione were both nervous enough to jump anytime either of them walked into a room the other was in. They hardly touched each other during the day aside from an occasional light kiss and when they went to bed at night all Harry could do was lightly hold her, continually hearing `no' in his mind. Of course they always woke up severely entangled. When Harry pulled back the shower curtain on Thursday to find Dobby standing before him he jumped in shock, but then he noticed the box he held, which he was ordered to deliver to Harry when no one else could see it. He sat on the toilet for nearly an hour staring at the open box until Tonks began pounding on the locked door.

After supper he asked Hermione to come with him, she seemed mildly confused when they arrived in his field and he motioned for her to get on the broom behind him, but he had a plan. They sat high in the air, Hermione's head resting on Harry's shoulder and watched the sun and full moon trade places. He stealthily palmed the ring and carefully brought one leg over the broom to sit sideways in front of her.

“Harry, what are you doing?” Hermione asked in alarm.

“I just wanted to talk to you.”

“We can talk perfectly fine without you risking your life!”

“Hermione, I've been fine hanging from a broom by one hand. I think I can handle this,” Harry reminded her with a smile.

“What could be so important-”

“I wanted to talk about what I think has been on both of our minds all week, about what I said in the Three Broomsticks.”

Harry felt a shiver run through her body. “Really Harry, it's okay. We were both under a tremendous amount of strain, I know you were just trying to keep me safe and calm.”

“Yes I was,” Harry admitted, “but I wouldn't have offered to do something if I wasn't prepared to actually go through with it.”

“Harry…” Hermione whispered, her eyes shining.

He unclasped her hands from around his waist and held her left hand with his own, “Hermione, you've been one of my few true friends for as long as I've had any. You're my best friend, and if there is one thing I know for sure it's that I can't imagine my life without you. I love you, and I need you with me if I want to have any chance of having a happy life, and right now I'm asking you if you'll stay with me, love me, and be my wife.” Harry lifted her left hand and smoothly slid the ring he'd hidden in his right hand down her ring finger.

Hermione stared open mouthed at the single rune-covered platinum band and dazzling diamond on her hand long enough to make Harry extremely nervous. A few stray tears slipped down her rosy cheeks as she raised her eyes to his; unable to form the words she began nodding slowly. The runes, which had been empty engravings suddenly flashed, the cavities filling with gold. Hermione threw her arms around Harry's neck in a motion that made him grab his broom for stability; she was half laughing-half sobbing as he quickly lowered them back down to the ground.

He'd been so irrationally nervous about her answer that he could help but ask, “Hermione, are you sure about this? It will-”

“Of course I am!” Hermione shouted before jumping up and wrapping her legs around Harry's waist kissing him eagerly enough to draw an immediate reaction from his body. Thankfully he still had a hand on his broom as Hermione Apparated them back to their room in the cottage. The euphoria of what had just occurred changed to something more primal as Hermione yanked his shirt open sending buttons flying all over the room. Going with the moment Harry tugged her pink jumper over her head and went about kissing the side of her neck. As Hermione worked on undoing his trousers he reached behind her back and popped the clasp of her bra.

With a great shove Harry found himself laying on the bed, Hermione leaned over him to pull his trousers and boxers off before taking a step back and wiggling out of her jeans and knickers. Harry's mind and body warred with each other as he locked eyes with Hermione, both of them breathing heavily. “I thought you wanted to wait,” Harry eventually got out.

Hermione bit her lip, obviously fighting her own war, “You gave me a ring. Close enough.”

Harry rose to his knees and moved to the center of their bed as Hermione crawled on in a similar pose. As Harry cradled her face and moved to kiss her a crack sounded in the room. “Harry Potter sir!”

“Not now Dobby,” Harry growled with his lips a fraction of an inch away from Hermione's.

“Miss Hermione!”

“Dobby,” Hermione threateningly growled, her nails scratching their way down Harry's back.

“MR. GRANGY IS IN DANGER!”

All passion forgotten they sprang from the bed. Harry yanked on just his trousers, Hermione her jumper and jeans; as one they found their wands and Apparated into the Granger's sitting room.

They could hear Emma Granger wailing upstairs and within in a matter of seconds were rushing through her broken-down bedroom door. Emma was kneeling on the bed in her nightgown looking down to the floor. Hermione's father was lying face-to-face with Fenrir Greyback. Dan, who had somehow gotten his hands on Gryffindor's sword had impaled Voldemort's head werewolf. At first the dentist appeared to be covered in Greyback's nearly black blood, but then Harry saw it. The semi-circular tear through the man's pajamas; he'd been bitten.

Harry fell to his knees, ripped Dan's pajamas open and took in the mangled flesh around his hip as Hermione leapt on the bed to her mother, both women now wailing.

“ALBUS!” Harry bellowed. An explosion lit up the room as the phoenix came in and with out hesitation began pouring pearly tears onto the wound. Harry knew it was too late; there was no cure for this.

Once Albus had sealed the wound he sprang up in the air, circling Harry's head. He took the cue and lifted Dan into his arms, reached up to grab the phoenix's tail and vanished in a burst of flame.

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Arthur Weasley didn't get word until it was too late and the front-page article of the Daily Prophet was a report of how Harry Potter had appeared in the lobby of St. Mungo's, barefoot and shirtless with a phoenix and a man in blood-soaked clothing. While the hospital never released the name of the man they did confirm that a werewolf had bitten him, one of three such attacks that night. The rumor was that Harry had fought and killed the wolf himself only receiving a set of bright red scratches down his back. No one took notice of the young girl and her mother Apparating in moments later in a part of the hospital warded against it.

Harry, Hermione and Emma all sat outside an emergency room that night without saying a word. At one point Harry turned to Emma with the intent of accept the blame for what happened and do whatever he could for her and Dan to make up for it. It only took one glance in her eyes to be sure where the blame lay. The healers explained that while Albus had healed the wound, the curse associated was now introducing magic to Dan Granger's body. Quite violently, if the man's screams were any indication. When a healer rushed into the room carrying what looked to be a sleeping potion the true volume of Dan's voice came through the open door. Emma grabbed Hermione's hand for support only to notice for the first time what had recently been added, bringing another round of wailing.

Dan was stabilized shortly after sunrise and fearing the wrath of a very angry looking Harry Potter the staff of the hospital consented to release him. Of course the lobby was teeming with people looking for Harry, so once he'd singed a Gringotts draft to cover the bill Albus transported them away. Harry made sure Dan was tucked away in the cottage, the two women in his life waiting quite impatiently for the potions to wear off, before finding some clothes. As he was about to Apparate to the Granger's house and survey the damage he heard a whimper coming from Dobby's room. It was the first time he'd entered it but wasn't surprised to find the walls painted at least eight different colors, several paintings Harry assumed Winky had painted and a framed copy of the Quibbler that had Harry on the cover were hanging about. There was a pile of everyone's dirty laundry to one side of the room including the shirt that Hermione had recently decided to remove buttons from. What was the worst of it was Dobby standing in the corner, ironing his hands.

“Dobby, what are you doing?”

The elf spun around, hiding his hands on the way, “Dobby is fixing Harry Potter's shirt,” he lied as the shirt floated towards him.

“No you're not, you're trying to punish yourself!”

“I's sorry Harry Potter! Dobby failed!” Dobby trembled, tears cascading down his face. “Harry Potter sir told Dobby to keep his Grangeys safe. Dobby failed!”

Harry kneeled in front of him, “No Dobby. You told me Dan was in trouble. If you hadn't, he wouldn't be alive right now. Dobby, what did you do with Gryffindor's sword?”

“Dobby did what he was told. He hid it from everyone, including Harry Potter sir, and moved it once a week,” Dobby sniffled.

“And this week, where did you put it?”

“Dobby placed Harry Potter's sword under the Grangey's mattress-” the elf's eyes threatened to pop from his head.

“That's right Dobby, Dan found the sword and killed the werewolf with it. Neither of us could have kept him from getting hurt, but you saved his and Emma's lives with that. You didn't fail, and I forbid you from punishing yourself. For this or anything else that could ever happen. Now don't worry about the shirt and get some sleep. I have a feeling the Grangers will be staying with us for a while this time.”

He tucked the elf under an outrageous handmade patchwork quilt and left the cottage. Inspecting the Granger's house he found the back door had been destroyed, there were vicious claw marks over its scattered remains and leading away up the stairs. Repairing the damage as he went Harry made it back to the bedroom. He pulled the sword from Greyback's naked corpse and transfigured him into a small stuffed wolf before vanishing the blood and straightening up the rest of the room. Harry concentrated on Remus, assuming that'd he be too exhausted from his transformation to be up to anything he didn't want to see, and Apparated. He found himself in a bedroom in Grimmauld Place, Remus' pale face poking out from beneath a thick blanket and Tonks stroking his hair. After sadly informing her of what had happened he handed over the stuffed wolf. Remus had lived a cursed life because of Greyback, so Harry was going to let him decide what to do with the corpse. Harry had to make some more stops before returning home. Hermione was going to need a bigger cauldron.

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Harry awoke late Friday afternoon to find Hermione standing by the window watching the last light of the day sparkle through the gem on her hand. “How's your dad?”

Hermione gasped at his unexpected voice, “He's awake but exhausted. Introducing magic to a body is quite a strain apparently.”

“So, he's a wizard now?” Harry embraced her from behind.

“It will take him some time to fully grow into it, but yes. I've already taken Mum back to arrange everything so they can spend at least the next week here. Mum's receptionist nearly fainted when she saw my ring,” she added with a slight smile.

“Have your parents said anything?”

“Not said. Mum spent most of the time Dad was sleeping looking at my hand and crying. I haven't shown Dad yet.”

“I cleaned up their house and talked to Mr. Weasley about putting a couple of Aurors on guard there and at the office. He couldn't give me an answer for sure, but he doubts it will be a problem.”

“Thank you,” Hermione breathed a sigh of relief then smiled up to Harry. “So, do you want to go tell my father you're taking his little girl away from him?”

“Funny, I thought I'd already done that.”

“Is it going to be normal for me now to wanna eat the cat?” Dan asked in a weak voice as they walked in the room. Crookshanks jumped from Emma's lap and fled the room.

“Well, the cat part might just be that you never got along, but your appetite for somewhat… bloody meat will be fairly prominent,” Hermione answered.

“Tonks should be bringing Remus back soon. I'm sure he'll be able to answer any questions you have,” said Harry.

“And I'll start making a double batch of the potion that Remus takes. It will help you keep your mind when you t - transform,” Hermione's face dropped as she spoke.

Dan reached out to her clasped hands, “Honey, we've talked about this. Neither you or Harry are to blame for what happened.” Hermione choked back a few sobs and nodded. “And since you still don't believe me, you're just going to have to begin spending all your free time showing me how to wave one of your little sticks about.”

“Daddy, there's something we need to tell you,” Hermione pulled her left hand free and held it up for her father to see.

Slowly a wide grin broke out on the man's face, “Finally, some good news.”

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Harry felt a little out of place as he sat across the table from Hermione. Remus was in visiting with Dan, explaining basically what the rest of his life was going to be like leaving Harry at the table with three women talking at such speeds to make his head spin. He didn't fail to note that Hermione was keeping her hands under the table as Tonks was telling Emma what to expect as far as Dan's appetite was concerned. When Hermione finally reached up to take a drink of her tea Tonks nearly knocked Harry from his chair in her move to grab Hermione's hand.

“Wolf - oh gosh, I'm sorry. Remus! Get out here!”

Lupin ran into the room, Dan slowly following him with a grin, “What the matter?”

“Look at this thing!” Tonks nearly jerked Hermione diagonally across the table then furrowed her brow as she noticed the runes. “Harry, did you buy this ring or have it made?”

“One of Ragnok's brothers made it for me, the same as the things for her birthday,” Harry answered then winced, he had insisted on covering her present from the Grangers but hoped to keep her from learning about it. He should know better than that by now, one way or another she always finds things out.

“Did you… give him some of your blood?” Tonks asked.

“Yeah, and a piece of hair.”

“Harry! What were you thinking?” Remus admonished.

“I trust Ragnok, he could have robbed me blind years ago, but instead he's helped me claim everything nobody thought I had a right to know about and helped us deal with Voldemort's groupies.”

“Did you get another band?” Tonks asked, clearly not as worried about things as Remus.

“Dobby's keeping it safe, what's the big deal?”

Tonks ginned slyly, “Well let's just say if Harry here ever has certain thoughts about another woman once the bands are put together he'll be in for a rather nasty experience.”

“My ring's cursed?” Hermione exclaimed.

“No! But the ring uses the blood put in its core to connect to the rest in his body when the runes all turn gold on both bands and the hair inside will help to keep Harry's mind in the right place the same way,” Tonks quickly corrected.

While this was news to Harry he didn't think the news was as disturbing as Hermione, “What sort of experience?” she asked in a queasy voice.

“Well, he won't be seriously physically injured, as long as it doesn't go beyond thoughts, but from what I've heard saying he'd get violently ill would be an understatement.” Every eye fell on Harry who just shrugged knowing it wouldn't be a problem.

“So, when's the wedding and are we invited?” Remus quipped.

“Well, it was supposed to be last Sunday,” Hermione blushed and looked down at the table when everyone but Harry wildly looked at her, “but apparently Harry wanted to postpone until he could buy a ring and properly ask me at sunset five-hundred feet in the air.”

Remus burst out laughing, “And I thought James had style when he made the ceiling in the great hall show the words `Marry me Lilly.'”

“What did Mum do?” Harry eagerly asked.

“She very calmly said yes… to Sirius. Once I managed to stop James from killing Sirius, Lilly snogged James senseless. I'd never seen someone look both disgusted and delighted until I saw Minerva's face that morning,” Remus smiled fondly.

“So, the date?” Tonks asked in a prim voice Harry didn't know she possessed.

Harry watched Hermione looking down at the table chewing her lip, “What are you thinking?”

“Oh nothing, I'm sorry,” Hermione jumped.

“Oh no, I know that look. What's on your mind?” Harry persisted.

“Well it's just… I know Halloween has quite a few negative connotations for you. It could be nice to have something to actually celebrate that day.”

“They're not all bad memories. We became friends on Halloween first year,” Harry softly mentioned.

Dan snorted, “After fighting a troll.”

Harry slowly searched Hermione's eyes for any sign of hesitation, “Are you sure about this? It is all rather sudden.”

“Well you're the one who said he'd marry me `tomorrow' in the Three Broomsticks. Two weeks is a bit less sudden than that.”

“But what about our friends? Ron would kill me if we didn't invite him-”

“I'm positive the Headmistress would allow anyone you'd like to invite to skive off for a day,” Remus broke in. “Though, she might expect an invitation herself for allowing it.”

Hermione looked to her mother who once again had tears welling in her eyes, “It's up to you and Harry dear. If your Uncle Jeffery hadn't decided to run off with his secretary we might have had to make sure he had the date free-”

“I still can't believe my brother turned out to be such a piece of filth,” Dan growled out surprising even himself with the tone of his voice.

“Yes, that's something else to expect though I'd bet you'll have an easy time dealing with any unruly patients from now on,” said Remus. Everyone smiled at Dan trying to reassure him that he'd still be able to have a mostly normal life.

“Is this something we're going to have to keep secret?” Hermione asked Tonks.

“If you're worried about You-Know-Who I'm inclined to say no. His forces just suffered a deadly blow and you personally bested him. He can't find us here and sending Greyback was about the only card he had left to play against your Mum and Dad,” said Tonks. “When the public in general learns about this, well neither of you are going to have an easy time of it. Harry's already having to sneak in the side entrance of Gringotts to avoid being mobbed, even announcing the two of you are engaged will bring out the loonies, and I'm sure a few heart-broken witches will be looking to blame you, Hermione.”

Harry remembered the treatment she'd received in their fourth year. Yes Winky was screening their mail but that wouldn't stop someone from trying to hurt her in public, and as much as he'd like to always be by her side there was no way he could. “We can't keep it a secret, but if we just don't tell anyone that's not invited and inform anyone that can't make it later it could hopefully take quite a while for the news to break,” said Harry. “In any event it'd be nice to not have to worry about the public until after Voldemort's gone.”

“Your father had some of the same concerns, well at least on the safety side of things,” said Remus. “He was worried about Lilly's father since he didn't have a way of protecting himself from the Death Eaters. They had learned about their marriage through ministry records and set up a raid to take him, but James, Sirius and I were able to put a stop to it before he could be in any real danger. After that he said something about wishing they'd only filed papers in the Muggle world since it would be beneath Voldemort to spy there.”

“What happened to my… Granddad?” Harry quietly asked.

Remus sighed, “He agreed to come up to this village and stay with your parents after Lilly found out she was pregnant. There was a car accident on the way up here, a bunch of teenagers had had too much to drink and ran his car off the road.”

Harry's heart fell as he imagined his mother, pregnant with him crying over her father's grave and he wondered. Maybe that was why his Aunt had always hated him so much. It would have been very easy for a woman like Petunia to blame Lilly and by extension both James and Harry for her father's death. It might even be the source for the stories of his parents dying in a car crash and his father being a drunk…

“So, two weeks?” Dan asked them all then grimaced. “Does this mean we're going to have to see that bloody pastor again?

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Two weeks had never past as quickly as the ones before that Halloween from Harry's point of view. Most of the details, thankfully, were out of his hands but that also meant he almost never saw Hermione except in bed at night where they were both quite exhausted. He did manage to make a trip to Gringotts to update his will and inform Ragnok of Hermione's status as far as all of his accounts went, but aside from that he spent most of his time with Dan.

While not a perfect match, they found Dan could at least get by with James' wand. The Grangers had taken the week after the attack off from work so Harry would spend hours pouring over his old charms and transfiguration textbooks with the older man. At first they both had a lot of fun, but once they moved into more complicated spells Dan began to get frustrated. Borrowing Remus' broom, Harry spent an entire day up in the air showing Dan the ins and outs of flying which relaxed them both. They next day Harry sent out Dobby to find a Nimbus for Dan to keep at the cottage. The Sunday before the dentists left Dan asked to learn how to Apparate, after six hours of being closely monitored by Harry and Tonks he managed to bring all but his arms across the field. He promised to not practice unsupervised once the purple smoke had cleared.

The week of Halloween Harry spent his days hiding in Dan's office, which turned out to be a good thing when a burst of accidental magic turned a little boy's feet into hooves. Harry fixed the boy, who was rather disappointed about losing his new feet, and called Tonks over his mirror to come wipe his memory of the incident. Do to several rather annoying laws, Dan had to be taken to the ministry and register himself as a werewolf. Luckily Arthur was able to get him out of the `Introduction to Magic' and `Where to go when you want to eat your mother' courses that were required for cases such as his.

All week long Hermione had come to bed crying, making the double batch of Wolfsbane was forcing her mind to rest on just what her father had to deal with the rest of his natural life and it was all Harry could do to get her calm enough to sleep. Thursday night Harry stayed at Hogwarts. It wasn't to be away from Hermione, he actually didn't want to go, but when Ron heard the news he insisted Harry spend his last night as a `free man' with him, and so that night Harry stayed in secret out in Hagrid's hut with Ron, Neville, Bill and Hagrid. Hagrid had made a trip to the Hog's Head that day and bought several bottles of mead, after a few hours of being teased Harry hiccupped out the fact that Hagrid was hiding a flying carpet in his hut. Professor McGonagall found them around five in the morning on top of the astronomy tower, Filtch had gone screaming for the Headmistress after they'd chased him from the greenhouses to the castle doors. Even McGonagall's ranting wasn't enough to keep Harry awake and the next things he knew he was being poked awake by Dobby who had a tray-full of goblets and the suit Harry had been told to wear. As he was showering and getting dressed in the uncomfortably empty cottage Ron, Neville, Hagrid, Luna Bill, Gabrielle and Professor McGonagall took a portkey Flitwick made for them. Harry had also invited the charms professor, but since he was the Deputy Headmaster he needed to remain at the castle. Harry had to make one more stop before going to the church.

“I thought I might find you here,” Remus said as he walked up the path to James and Lilly Potter's grave.

Harry smiled at the man, “How could I not come. Do you think they'd approve?”

“Of Hermione?” Remus scoffed. “They'd be mad not to.”

“Well I meant about the timing of everything, I mean really, I should be in class right now.”

“I've told you before that your parents were two of the smartest people I've ever known and one thing they both believed in was love, in following one's heart. I would never tell you their approval doesn't matter, instead I am telling you that as long as you know in your heart that this is what you want and believe this is the time to do it, then it is right,” Remus laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Are you ready?”

“I'm scared out of my mind, but I do want this,” Harry admitted.

“I think that's about normal,” Remus laughed. “You know you've made my life particularly hard at the moment. Tonks and I have only been together a few weeks longer than you and Hermione and everything was fine, but then you had to go and give her a truly massive ring-”

“Well, if she's jealous you could always-”

“And not just any ring but one that promises infinite fidelity-”

“Well I didn't know at the time, but I'd rather jump head first off my broom than do anything that'd hurt Hermione,” Harry pulled the wedding band to go with Hermione's ring from his pocket. “I know she'd never ask for any sort of magical promise like this, but I'm happy to do it anyway.”

Remus examined the as yet unfilled runes and two slightly smaller diamonds, “I shutter at the thought of what this cost you, but I'm also sure you didn't even bother asking Ragnok.” Harry nodded; he had actually stopped Ragnok from telling him.

“You know,” Harry started after a moment of silence, “I talked to Dad through the cage in Hogsmeade. I think he tried to make a joke… wasn't a good one.”

“That's one thing I feel you are completely to blame for, becoming a father destroyed his sense of humor-”

“Hey!”

“I'm kidding Harry. I could have sworn just before he faded away that day that he waved at me…”

“He told me that I'd finish this war and told me to move on afterwards, to give my kids the life they wanted for me,” said Harry.

“I never used to know what happened that made your parents so distant, but it was that blasted prophecy. Albus shattered any dreams they had for your life the day he told them,” the bitterness in Remus' voice rang through the air.

“It's nobody's fault Moony. Everyone did what they thought was right and there's nothing we can do about it all now. And Albus is trying to make up for his mistakes now, right?” Harry directed his question towards the phoenix he saw in the tree.

“You really think he's Professor Dumbledore?” Remus asked after the bird had let out an affirmative trill.

“I'm pretty sure. I can see it in his eyes.”

“I know what you mean, it's just so hard to believe. No one's ever been able to learn where phoenixes come from, but I suppose it's as reasonable a theory as any that a particularly powerful wizard could become one. Actually… it makes even more sense considering his Patronus was a phoenix.” Albus flew down and began circling their heads.

“I think he's telling us it's time to go,” Harry mentioned and put an arm around Remus' shoulder while reaching up.

In a flash of fire they arrived in the church near the Grangers' home. As Albus settled on an extremely confused looking Professor McGonagall's shoulder Harry looked around to everyone gathered, they had all been asked to dress the Muggle way as the plan was to go for a rather nice meal nearby afterwards. Neville and Katie Bell were talking off to the side with Hagrid; Tonks seemed to be having a rather heated discussion with Luna, Ron looked over to Harry mouthing `Rotfang' before walking out of the chapel; Remus was sitting in the pews stroking Albus and explaining to a rather misty-eyed McGonagall how he came to Harry. Dobby and Winky popped into the chapel as Hermione's childhood pastor came in through a side door. Winky was wearing a shimmering dark blue dress and Dobby was wearing a black suit that perfectly matched Harry's except a tie the color of Winky's dress versus Harry's white one, Dobby popped up to Harry to collect Hermione's wedding band back. The people in the room moved to their seats as they noticed the elves; Gabrielle was giddy, buzzing around the room with Harry's camera. When Harry had asked Arthur and the twins if they had any plans on Halloween they said they did, not knowing why he was asking. He knew at least the twins would enjoy the surprise.

Soft music began piping in from somewhere as Dobby rejoined Winky to begin a slow march up to the altar; he tripped a few times over his shiny black shoes. The pace of Harry's breathing increased, `This is really happening' an astonished voice breathed in his head. The double doors opened of their own accord admitting Emma Granger accompanied by Bill Weasley, the music faded out and all Harry could hear was his own heartbeat, the snitch around his neck had been beating its wings like mad all morning so he knew he wasn't alone in his nervousness. Ron and Fleur appeared in the doorway both beaming wearing matching outfits to the elves, as they approached Harry felt the same waves of magic rolling off of Fleur as he had at her wedding just a few months ago.

Once Ron had taken his position beside Harry his eyes moved back to the door to see Hermione emerge on her father's arm. She was literally glowing in her white dress, an image he'd be happy to never forget. As she neared Harry noticed she was wearing the sapphire jewelry he'd gotten her for her birthday along with Ravenclaw's tiara in her pulled back hair, Harry had to blink back a few tears as the sparkles hit his eyes. Hermione gave Dan a kiss on the cheek before taking the final step up to the alter to join a speechless Harry. He lost almost all control of his senses as he gazed into her glistening eyes.

Ron elbowed him from behind, “Breathe Harry, don't forget to breathe.”

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Arthur Weasley walked up the front steps of Grimmauld Place figuring he'd stop in and see Winky for lunch before his meeting in the Prime Minister's office. He liked his visits with the elf, often times joining her in the sitting room to critique the finger paintings she so enjoyed making. It reminded him of when Ginny was a much younger girl and the times he'd watch her when Molly was away at the market.

He announced his arrival in the house but was met only by silence, which was not entirely unusual. After making himself a sandwich in the kitchen he casually took a stroll through the house thinking she'd be dusting in one of the upstairs rooms. Fifteen minutes of wandering later Arthur ended up in the drawing room and finally declared himself alone, aside from Kreacher. He'd heard Mrs. Black's portrait hollering at the decrepit elf and forced it out of his mind, as much as he didn't like to think of someone being treated that way it was Kreacher's fault that Sirius had died in his opinion. Something caught his eye as Arthur turned to leave the drawing room; the tapestry was changing, a set of double golden lines extending away from Harry's name. Arthur nearly dropped his plate when the stitching finally stopped.

Hermione Jane Potter

1979 -

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Lord Voldemort stood on the balcony of the manor house on the Isle of Mull he'd recently occupied. He'd hated Halloween ever since the night sixteen years ago when he'd suffered his greatest defeat, this one seemed nearly as bad.

His plans had been going so well until midsummer. When Severus managed to kill Dumbledore he assumed nothing could stand in his way, an arrogant mistake. Wormtail had suggested the raid on the Weasley wedding figuring it would be a prime target to wipe out the remaining members of the Order of the Phoenix, they never expected a pack of House-elves to retaliate. He'd further punish the rat for his incompetence but he disappeared over a month ago.

They had focused on recruiting after that, building an army to carry out larger scale attacks, and had successfully carried out the destruction of Eastbourne as a test for the Hogsmeade attack. The stealth mission against the Muggle Princess had gone exactly as he'd wanted and what should have been even better was the fact that Scrimgeour had been removed from office and replaced by a man who by all accounts was an imbecile. But the imbecile turned out to be a more aggressive Minister than any of his predecessors. The attack on Hogsmeade had been rushed; it needed to happen before the Aurors could whittle away any more Death Eaters. Potter and the mudblood shouldn't have been there that day and he was sure it was their fault the Aurors had shown up as soon as they did. Then the mudblood bitch performed the same spell Potter had the night in the graveyard, no doubt something Dumbledore had taught them. Snape had known where she lived and he'd sent Greyback to deal with her, but he never returned. Apparently Potter was to blame for that and had the help of a phoenix of all things, no doubt Dumbledore's bird.

Things were not going well. Hogsmeade had decimated his forces. The only trusted Death Eaters he had left were the Lestranges and Snape, after them were a dozen morons only staying out of fear. Time was needed, time to regroup. He needed to find Potter. The brat had been instrumental in two large defeats if the reports of him bringing the elves to the wedding were true; he needed to be put down before he could do any more damage.

A scream rang through the air; Bella was out on the lawn below torturing the Muggle who owned the manor until about an hour ago. Lord Voldemort watched as his favorite, most sadistic witch drove the vermin to insanity before slitting his throat. She turned and looked up to him licking the knife and giving him an evil smile, a smile she knew he enjoyed. Something stirred in Voldemort's loins for a moment before he doubled over in pain and vomited blood all over the balcony.

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13. New Year, New Life & Epilogue

13. New Year, New Life & Epilogue

The Potters, the Grangers, Remus and Tonks arrived together at the Burrow on Bonfire Night. Arthur had passed on the invitation through Winky when she had shown up to breakfast the morning after the wedding. When Arthur informed Winky what he saw on the tapestry in Grimmauld Place the little elf panicked, it took him several minutes and many, many promises to not tell anyone what he knew to calm her down.

The twins had made a special line of Whiz-Bangs for the holiday and were promising a grand display. Angelina, Alicia, Katie had all been invited and Fleur had come down from Hogwarts, unfortunately Bill had to remain at the school. Ever since the attack on Hogsmeade security around the castle had gotten almost ridiculous, Fleur said she had to pass through two separate Auror checkpoints on her way out of the gates and there were always at least two professors and a half dozen Aurors patrolling the halls.

“So where have the two of you been hiding?” Fred asked Harry and Hermione as everyone sat down in the garden for the meal Dobby and Winky had prepared, a small bonfire was setup nearby for warmth and the twins had put several dancing Guy Fawkes figures in the flames. The newlyweds had both kept their left hands hidden, waiting for the perfect moment to surprise the unknowing.

“We tried to track you down on Halloween to see if you wanted to go for a drink and ended up with this bum,” George jerked his thumb towards Remus.

“We had plans that day,” Harry ignored the comment about Lupin. “I tried to see if you were available but you told me to bugger off.”

“We were busy in the afternoon, but what could you have been planning that lasted for the last five days?” Fred asked.

“Oh, we just had a small gathering before Harry and I went away for a few days,” Hermione airily replied.

“You took a vacation?” Angelina asked.

“Something like that, just a few days in Paris,” said Harry.

“Because it's so hard not going to school or having a job,” Katie quipped from across the table, barely holding down her laughter.

“Ah, young love-” George began.

“The city of lights-” Fred continued.

“The city of love-”

“Snogging on the Eiffel Tower-”

“Snogging in the Louvre-”

“The city to-”

“Oh, enough of that!” Alicia promptly broke in.

“Paris, did you take a portkey there?” Mr. Weasley asked.

Harry smiled to himself, “No, we flew down and Apparated back.”

“Oh my, you must have froze!” said Arthur.

“It was quite comfy actually,” Hermione smiled with Harry, “the stewardess gave us a nice thick blanket to snuggle under.”

Arthur's eyes lit up, “You flew on a Muggle airplane! How was it, did you get to see the pilot's seat? I hear that there's more switches and knobs there than I could even dream of.”

“Only a little peak,” said Hermione. “The pilot was standing in the doorway.”

“Pity. I don't suppose they explained how they managed to keep up in the air,” Arthur hopefully queried.

“It's all aerodynamics and a property called lift,” Dan started to explain. Arthur was completely ensconced as Dan pulled James' wand and went about drawing a sideways teardrop in the air and began explaining as much as he could remember from his physics courses about how the airflow around the wing helped keep the plane in the sky.

“What's with the rumor of you having a phoenix Harry?” Alicia asked.

“It's true,” Harry admitted. “The day Voldemort attacked Hogsmeade he… killed Hedwig…”

Hermione carried on after a moments silence; “I was slightly incapacitated at the same time, when I woke I joined Harry where he buried her. After a few minutes silence we started to hear a phoenix song and then he burst into the air above us. When Dad was bitten he closed the wound before Harry took him to St. Mungo's. He hasn't been around since we left for France, but I suspect he'll turn up sometime tonight.”

“So what the Prophet said is true?” Fred jumped, “Harry killed a werewolf and only got a few scratches down his back?”

“No, Dan killed Greyback with a sword hidden in their bedroom, and the scratches…” Harry's throat went dry.

“Were from me,” Hermione quietly admitted much to the twin's glee.

“Please say we can tell them soon,” Harry whispered in Hermione's ear. “I'm driving myself mad holding it in.”

Hermione smiled smugly and brought her left hand up to Harry's cheek, turning his head to kiss him.

“You're engaged?” Angelina blurted out as the firelight flashed through the diamonds on Hermione's hand. “When did that happen?”

Harry brought his own left hand above the table and scratched his chin, “Oh, about three weeks ago.” When he looked across the table Angelina and Alicia's chairs were both empty, his eyes landed on the pair as they rounded the table and yanked him form his chair, bouncing with excitement and squealing. “Shouldn't you be doing this to her?” Harry helplessly asked as he felt the thumps of Fred and George joining the hug.

The girls eventually disengaged from him and dragged Hermione to her feet; Harry noticed Arthur didn't look surprised at all. “I saw the tapestry in your house update itself,” Arthur explained when he caught his look. “Winky made me promise to not tell anyone.” Winky looked clearly disappointed in herself so Harry sent her a look letting him know he wasn't upset as the twins continued pounding him on the back.

“If everyone would calm down a little,” Hermione disentangled herself to reach inside her jacket; “we have pictures for you all.”

The twins and their dates scurried to their chairs like obedient schoolchildren and sat passively as Hermione passed an envelope to each of the five people who were not at the wedding, Katie and Fleur. They were all quite amused by the shots of Ron elbowing Harry, the couple exchanging rings, and the fact that Gabrielle had apparently managed to capture every moment they had kissed throughout the afternoon.

“What's up with your rings flashing?” Alicia asked.

“They're goblin made,” Harry answered looking down on the ring Hermione had surprised him by acquiring. “Ragnok had his brother make Hermione's for me, then she snuck off and asked him to have a matching band made for me. Of course she paid for it with money from my vault,” Harry smirked at her. She hadn't been expecting to be able to afford a ring matching the one Harry had gotten for her, but Ragnok informed her she had been given full access to their now joint account the day before.

“The two of you exchanged goblin-made rings, with blood promises?” Arthur was suddenly quite interested.

“Bloody hell Harry, are you completely daft?” George asked.

“Well I didn't know what I was doing at the time, but I wouldn't change it.”

“Harry,” Arthur broke out of the deep thought he'd been in, “in the ritual that V - Voldemort used to regain his body, he used your blood correct?”

“Yeah, it was the last ingredient,” Harry absent-mindedly rubbed the scar on his arm Wormtail made that night. “Why do you ask?”

“He has your blood in his veins. There was an Auror report on the first of November. Someone attempted to kidnap a healer from her home; the symptoms the Death Eater described to her before his interrogation was cut short are only known to be caused by a particularly bad reaction to rings such as yours. He confessed under Veritaserum that he was sent out for help to cure Voldemort.”

A look of disgust grew on Hermione's face, “So you're saying Harry's promise of fidelity to me also applies to Voldemort, that any impulses he feels will be punished?”

“That could very well be the case,” Arthur grimly smiled. “And if the report I received is any indication, he felt quite an urge and was severely harmed by it. The rumors pertaining to those rings are a bit exaggerated. Cursory thoughts generally won't matter so much but Voldemort must have had a serious desire to… act out.”

“All right Harry!” Fred erupted.

“Found a new way to give that wanker what he deserves!” George agreed.

Harry's stomach turned at the thought that the only woman Voldemort could ever have a pain-free reaction to was Hermione; a glance in her direction confirmed she had the same thought.

“Zo, how waz Pariz?” Harry could see the mirth dancing in Fleur's eyes.

“Well, ugh, it rained on Tuesday,” Harry stammered as Hermione sent Fleur a slightly playful glare. “And there was a nice café around the corner from our hotel that we had lunch at yesterday…”

“So that's two days-” Fred began.

“Out of five-” George continued.

“Stop it,” Harry threatened not daring to look in Dan's direction.

“So where did you stay?” Alicia asked.

“The Hotel Majestic,” Hermione smirked at Harry, “in the penthouse. My darling husband decided to flaunt a bit of his wealth.”

“Fancy that, how was it?” George asked.

“It was a bit… pink,” said Harry.

“Honezly Harry, it iz Pariz, what would you expect?” Fleur asked.

“Well it is hard to get a proper impression of a city if you never leave the room,” said Fred.

“There was a nice view from the terrace,” Hermione helplessly mentioned. The thought of what went on out on the terrace made Harry's blush deepen several shades.

“Anyone care to explain just why the two of you are married?” Angelina asked. “As far as I knew you were just friends at Bill and Fleur's wedding and barely dating on Harry's birthday - are you-”

“I'm not pregnant,” Hermione growled, “and I'm very tired of telling people that.”

“Sorry, it's just, well, it'd be a pretty reasonable excuse,” Angelina quickly apologized.

“Yes well,” Hermione rolled her eyes and intertwined her hands with Harry's, “Harry and I have been best friends for years. There's hardly a thing we don't know of each other, and we've been living together since July. We went away for most of the month on a mission of sorts and by the time we returned we both knew the true depth of our feelings for each other.”

Hermione's face was glowing in the firelight drawing a great smile to Harry's face as he continued for her, “I made a clumsy attempt at proposing the day Hogsmeade was attacked but with everything that went on that day we both got sidetracked. I got her ring a few days later and made a real attempt at asking her the same night that Dan was attacked,” Harry's smile fell.

“Once Dad was feeling a bit better we all had a little talk and I suggested we get married on Halloween to have something to celebrate instead of something to mourn,” said Hermione.

“So, we did. I know it's a bit sudden and we're both sorry you all couldn't make it to the wedding. We are trying to keep this as quiet as possible, at least until Voldemort is gone,” said Harry.

“Having a Dark Lord breathing down their necks they can handle,” said George.

“But a herd of rabidly disappointed females scares them senseless,” Fred smirked.

“Just because you are both too scared to be married doez not mean zey are,” Fleur announced.

“Really, what's the point of getting married?” Fred asked drawing scowls from Angelina and Alicia.

“Remus seems to be getting along fine without any matrimonial complications,” George drew the scowls from his brother.

“Don't remind me,” Tonks growled.

“And speaking of complications, what happens if the two of you make it back to Hogwarts?” Fred asked.

“Well,” Hermione nervously began, “while it's not completely decided, we've spent a bit of time discussing the possibility that we've outgrown our need of a full-time education.”

“A woman after our own hearts,” Fred beamed.

“Now I see why you'd marry her Harry,” George added in kind.

“Right, it couldn't be that we're madly in love and I want to spend the rest of my life with her, it's all about cutting class,” Harry deadpanned.

“You're both not planning to sit the N.E.W.T. exams?” Remus asked.

“Again, we haven't decided but we had a chat with Dan and Emma before coming over tonight and they agree that being the only married couple in the school, whether or not the rest of the students know, will probably be a bit uncomfortable,” Harry responded.

“And I did check into the possibility quite some time ago of taking the exams at the ministry,” Hermione sent a look towards Arthur.

“I'd be more than happy to help make any arrangements,” Arthur was slightly stunned. “I might be able to swing a few bonus points if you could manage to bring a couple of other drop-outs along with you.”

“Oy! I'll have you know that our present employer could care less about some silly exam marks!” George shouted.

“By that rationale are we to expect that your employees marks don't matter?” Hermione shrewdly asked, Harry guessed that it had something to do with George's `silly' remark.

“While we probably wouldn't hire someone that scored T's across the board, what's more important is their personality, after all it is a joke shop,” Fred proudly told them all.

“What he's trying to say is that what matters more than test scores is the ability to put up with the pair of them,” said Angelina.

Once everyone had finished eating the twins went down to the pond and began setting off the fireworks they'd prepared for the evening. Harry sat with the Grangers and Arthur alternately watching the sparkling image of Guy Fawkes dancing a jig in the air and the other women surrounding Hermione, taking turns inspecting her ring and asking questions he was pretty sure he didn't want to hear judging by her blush. Another explosion sent a dozen balls of light sailing out all over the property until they stabilized over seemingly random spots and morphed into the word `AUROR' with an arrow pointing down. A spell shot up from one of the hidden protectors that only caused the sign to grow and begin flashing, Arthur quickly chastised his sons into vanishing them.

A wolf burst into the air and began chasing Guy Fawkes about, eventually catching him and eating him whole. Another wolf joined him and they waltzed through the air, the twin's tribute to Dan and Remus. There was a herd of hippogriffs, a few dragons, and a dozen goblins illuminating the sky when Fred smirked at Harry, a few seconds later a glittering image of Harry and Hermione snogging each other senseless appeared in the middle of the rest.

“Harry, are you available a week from Tuesday, the eighteenth?” Arthur asked as Harry-in-the-sky began waltzing with one of the wolves leaving Hermione riding a hippogriff around the house.

“I don't think so. We're all staying at Grimmauld Place for the full moon, but the only thing we have to do during the week is study, if we decide to go ahead with the exams.”

“Well if you're available, we've finally arranged a time to give the Queen and Prime Minister a tour of Hogwarts and they were both curious if you and Hermione had the time to spare to accompany us all.”

Dan and Emma looked as if they could burst with happiness at any moment. “We'd be glad to come along, how are they getting there?” Harry asked.

“We're not quite sure yet. They could floo in from the Prime Minister's office with a bit of help, but I'd rather not risk them missing the grate. I'll probably end up having a portkey made for us all to land right in front of the gates,” said Arthur.

“If you'd rather not risk either of them getting hurt on the landing I could ask Albus to take us in pairs straight into the Head's office,” Harry suggested, not mentioning the fact that he could probably Apparate them in instead. As if on cue there was a burst of fire in the sky and Albus began sailing through the Whiz-Bangs. Harry and Hermione were once again locking lips.

The rest of the evening passed pleasantly enough, aside from Fred and George trying to wrangle more details about the honeymoon from Harry, less than a yard away from Dan. The result was a two-on-one hexing battle that Hermione was only just able to stop before it turned serious. Once Harry managed to stop his ears twitching he helped Hermione drop her parents at home, pick up their bags and return to the cottage for the first time as a married couple.

“I see Dobby had been keeping himself busy,” Hermione mentioned once she managed to free herself from Sirius and Crookshanks. The walls of the main part of the cottage had been littered with pictures from their wedding day.

“I think Gabrielle managed to take every one of the hundred pictures my camera holds,” Harry chuckled while looking at a shot of himself and Dobby sitting in a pew, Harry occasionally pulled his trouser legs up a bit to show off the fact that he was wearing the socks Dobby had knitted for him in his fourth year. “So, shall I take my wife to bed?” Harry asked while scooping her up in his arms and carrying her off to their room.

Hermione softly giggled as her jumper was pulled over her head. “Harry, remember I told you that we might have to restrain ourselves for a few days?”

Dropping his face into her chest Harry let out a little moan, “Of all the bloody times. I swear this place is jinxed.”

“It's just a few days, I promise I'll make it up to you.”

“No worries, as long as I can still have most of my with you,” Harry smiled and continued divesting Hermione of all but her knickers and kissing every bit of flesh he could find.

,',',',',',',',',',',',',','

The cottage was completely vacated on the morning of the fourteenth. The full moon was that night and everyone was staying over at Grimmauld Place. Sirius was quite confused when Harry hugged him tightly and Apparated them both but quickly shook it off when he discovered he had an entire new house to explore. The Grangers were picked up around lunch but most of the afternoon was spent in silence, anytime Hermione or Emma took in Dan's extremely pale face they had to leave the room and compose themselves.

“I've anchored a set of manacles to each end of the room,” Remus quietly informed them all as Emma went about clearing up from supper. “I honestly don't think there'll be a problem with Dan and I sharing the room, but it is better for us to be safe from each other. Since Tonks is on duty tonight, would you be willing to lock up behind us Harry?” Realizing that he had no idea of what protocol had been developed for Remus' transformations and hadn't been anywhere near him for one since third year Harry mutely nodded.

“Have the two of you made any sort of final decision regarding school?” Dan changed the topic.

“Given what still has to be done our only two options appear to be literally combing the countryside for Voldemort or staying at home, studying and learning everything we can so when the time comes we'll be prepared,” Hermione spoke quietly. “We're planning on talking to Mr. Weasley next week about coming up with some sort of signal for if Voldemort's located. If everything goes according to plan, with help form Lilly's seventh year notes, we should be ready to take the exams the first week of December.”

“Honestly Hermione, you could've passed them last year. The hardest part of this for you will be keeping me on task until the tests are all over,” Harry's voice had an exasperated tone he was more used to hearing than saying.

Hermione smiled for the first time that day, “I still can't believe you think you'll be ready in just a few weeks. We studied for our O.W.L.s for months!”

“Well I've dropped a few classes since then and really aside from the tour day we have nothing to do but revise, as long as Voldemort stays hidden,” Harry retorted.

“In Harry's defense,” Remus joined in, “the Wizarding Examinations Authority rarely updates their exams and I know Lilly documented everything that the exams covered.”

“Sounds a lot like cheating to me,” Dan weakly smiled.

“Well the point is that you learn it not how, right?” Harry asked earning a glare from Hermione.

The grandfather clock in the entryway chimed and from the sound of it shot a few stray bolts at Crookshanks. Hermione sniffed as she stood and Apparated away only to return a few seconds later with two smoking goblets for Remus and her father. “Are you sure you don't get used to the taste?” Dan asked after choking down his.

“The only other time I've had this potion available was when I was Hermione's Professor and I could barely stomach it then,” Remus held down a gag.

Dan smacked his lips, “It's like licking an ashtray.”

“And how would you know what that's like?” Remus feebly chuckled.

“Oh, Emma used to smoke until she got pregnant with Hermione,” Dan idly mentioned.

“Dan!” Emma shrieked in sync with Hermione's “Mum!”

When the time came Harry left Hermione and Emma in the drawing room and went down to the entrance hall to meet Dan and Remus, both of whom were draped in only thick grey blankets. Remus led the way down a dark flight of stairs that led to a heavy metal door and another made of wood. A pair of eyes followed their progress, narrowing slightly when Harry turned to meet them, “Mind your business Kreacher, get back in your room.” The wooden door creaked shut and a few seconds later the shrieks of Mrs. Black could be heard, “Another Half-breed! Kreacher get those mutants out of my hou-” Harry cast a silencing charm on the door before she could rant any further.

Through the metal door Remus and Dan retreated to opposite corners of the stone room where Harry attached a manacle around one of their ankles, tapping it with his wand to fuse the clasp shut. Looking down at his father-in-law Harry was at a complete loss for words, a glance to Remus' grey face confirmed there wasn't much he could say so after reassuring Dan that he'd be fine and telling him he'd be back at first light Harry walked back into the hall and sealed the door.

Hermione was sitting on the bed in the room Winky had prepared for her and Harry when he returned. “You did everything you can for him,” Harry softly told her as he slung an arm around her shoulders. “He'll be fine in the morning.”

“What about now?” her voice was a ghost of its normal self.

Harry internally cringed for leaving out something so obvious; “He's fine, and even better he's not alone. Remus has been dealing with this most of his life and it hasn't stopped him from being his normal prat of a self. I think you and your mum are taking this worse than he is.”

“You seem to be taking it well,” Hermione sniffed as they watched the sun sink below the horizon.

“Well every time I try and take the blame for anything everyone jumps at the chance to tell me I'm wrong and you heard your dad. If you keep feeling bad he'll stop taking his potion.”

“We can't let him do that, its all there is keeping him from turning into a monster.”

“He'll never be a monster Hermione, but if you want him to keep drinking that sludge you're going to have to listen to him.”

A trace of a smile appeared on Hermione's face, but only for an instant, “I thought you were always supposed to take your wife's side of things.”

“Only when she's right which for you is almost all of the time,” Harry kissed her temple, went about exchanging her jumper and bra for the Quidditch jersey one of the elves had laid out on the foot of the bed and tied her hair back in a ponytail. After sliding off Hermione's jeans and tucking her under the blankets Harry threw his own trousers on the pile and joined her; Hermione immediately rolled towards him and buried her face in his chest.

Shortly after sundown a muted howl echoed through the house followed closely by a second. A third, Sirius', came from much closer and Harry tightened his arms around Hermione's trembling body, her icy legs intertwined with his own. Looking up at the squeak of the door hinges Harry saw Emma standing in the doorway hugging herself, Harry was reminded of the only time he'd tired to run to his aunt and uncle during a storm because he was frightened. Vernon had put the locks on his cupboard the next day for waking them. Pushing his discomfort out of the way and reaching past Hermione he pulled back the covers for Emma to join them. Following a moments hesitation she slipped in behind Hermione holding her as tightly as Harry was from the front.

,',',',',',',',',',',',',','

Minerva McGonagall sat behind her desk enjoying her first leisurely breakfast since the term had begun. She had been able to just keep up with her Headmistress duties along with keeping the transfiguration lessons she'd become used to over the years, Head of Gryffindor house had to be handed off to make time but thanks to the extremely low enrollment this term she'd been able to pull it off. Today however she'd handed over the lessons to Fleur Weasley to see about giving a tour of the school to England's Muggle leaders, who were due at the front gates in thirty minutes.

It was the timing more than the occurrence of a massive fireball erupting in her office that startled her and she blinked in surprise when her eyes landed on Harry and Hermione Potter; The Queen, Prime Minister, and Minister for Magic of the United Kingdom; Ragnok, head goblin of Gringotts and Kingsley Shacklebolt.

“Minerva pleasure to see you so soon!” Arthur warmly greeted her. “Might I have the pleasure to introduce Her Majesty the Queen and the Prime Minister, also I'm not sure if you've had the pleasure of meeting Ragnok”

“No I've not but Albus always had nothing but kind words. It's a pleasure Your Majesty, Mr. Prime Minister, Ragnok,” McGonagall nodded in turn.

Both of the Muggle leaders had seen the Ministry of Magic that apart from the airplane memos flying all about was relatively similar to any other office building around. The Headmistress' office was nothing near normal and now they were both taking in the many spindly instruments scattered about with wide eyes.

“I say, all the portraits here are sleeping. Isn't it normal in your world for them to move, and talk?” the Prime Minister asked.

“They're faking,” Harry half-smiled. “They've gotten good at it over the years.”

“Dare I say `the jig is up' then?” the portrait of Albus Dumbledore twinkled down at Harry. The others in the room made a show of stirring awake, some showing a look of outrage at the presence of a goblin and a pair of Muggles.

“Yes it is,” McGonagall announced, “and I expect all of you to be on your best behavior, is that clear?” Several grunts of agreement were heard. “Now that that's all out of the way, welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I was expecting to meet you all at the front gates of the grounds, but I see Mr. Potter had arranged an alternate means of travel,” she smiled fondly to Albus, now preening himself on Fawkes' abandoned perch.

“And quite an interesting means of travel it is,” the Queen remarked.

“Quite remarkable indeed,” Dumbledore's portrait agreed.

“You would think so,” Hermione muttered under her breath drawing a slight snicker from Harry.

“So, I haven't even told the faculty of this visit, though I dare say word will get around by the first break. The students are currently in their first lessons, shall we have a look around and stop in on one of them?” McGonagall asked.

“Before we set out Professor McGonagall,” Hermione interrupted, “Harry and I wanted to give you these.” She pulled a stack of envelopes from her jacket and handed over the one labeled for her.

McGonagall opened it and found a set of wedding photos, “Oh my, thank you both. Given your decision am I to take it you'd rather none get placed where they might be happened upon?”

“Unfortunately yes,” Hermione sighed. “But I swear the day this is over I'm taking out an advertisement in every wizarding publication in England.”

“What's this all about?” Kingsley asked craning his neck to see what the Headmistress was holding.

Hermione broke the slightly uncomfortable silence, “Those are photos from mine and Harry's wedding.”

“So I guess that moves you up a spot,” Harry told the Auror drawing a deep laugh from him.

“A spot?” the Prime Minister asked.

Hermione rolled her eyes, “Witch Weekly had a list of England's most eligible wizards. Kingsley was number four while my husband was three.” Minerva, Arthur and Ragnok all joined in Kingsley's laughter.

“Well congratulations, but why do you wish the photos hidden?” the Queen asked.

“Mostly for safety,” Harry admitted. “Voldemort already sent a werewolf to Hermione's parents' house after she bested him in Hogsmeade, we don't want to give him another reason to go after them.”

“Sounds a bit silly to me,” the Prime Minister remarked. “If what we've been told about this man is true he doesn't need another reason.”

“There's also the public to consider,” Harry quietly responded. “There was a rumor of Hermione and I dating in our fourth year and several witches decided to send her hate mail.”

“Well now that you have Winky scanning all of your mail that shouldn't be a problem,” Arthur quickly turned on them. “And the Grangers are on a twenty-four hour watch both at home and at their surgery.”

“But that wouldn't help either of us in public,” Hermione jumped in. “I can still remain relatively anonymous in Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley while Harry has to sneak around to avoid being mobbed. When word gets out we'll not be able to go anywhere without a hassle.”

“It's bound to happen eventually,” Kingsley told them.

“Do you really want to be in the top three that bad?” Hermione asked with narrowed eyes. “You know you'll never make it to number one since the editors of that magazine seem oblivious to the fact that Lockhart's completely lost his mind.”

“Now Hermione, there's no need to be shrewd,” Arthur playfully commented.

“Of course, it's not like the git tried to erase my future husband and his best friends' memories when they were twelve years old and on a mission to rescue your daughter,” she quickly chastised him back. Harry couldn't help but smile from Hermione's protectiveness.

“Getting back to the point,” Ragnok spoke, “neither of you has made a very good case to keep your nuptials a secret.”

“But-”

“Now no one here is suggesting you begin placing your advertisements, just let the news leak out on its own,” McGonagall promptly cut in.

“Part of the problem is that it will be more of an explosion than a leak,” Harry grimly stated.

“Which is apparently bound to happen one way or another,” said the Queen. “There really is no point in delaying the inevitable.”

Hermione furrowed her brow as she looked down on the glove currently covering her ring and slowly removed it. “Goodness, why on earth would you want to keep a thing like that hidden away?” the Prime Minister exclaimed.

“Did I not tell you Mr. Potter that my brother's work is truly impressive?” Ragnok asked.

“Like I'd ever doubt you,” Harry muttered as he removed his own gloves. “Alright then, you win. Shall we start the tour?”

The group set off from the office, which was located on the sixth floor this year and wandered about somewhat aimlessly until they reached the portrait of the fat lady who gave a curtsy before opening. Thankfully the common room was empty and Harry barely managed to stop the Prime Minister from wandering up the staircase to the girl's dorm. Both of the Muggles found the archaic security measure quite amusing. McGonagall led the way up to the boy's seventh year room which now only housed Neville, Dean and Seamus; the group left rather quickly after discovering Neville's Mimbulus Mimbletonia had showered the room in stinksap sometime after the room was vacated that morning.

The medallions Hermione had made to allow the Muggles past the repelling wards of the school also allowed them to see the ghosts occupying the castle and they had a rather nice chat Nearly-Headless Nick on their way out of Gryffindor House. Going back to their wanderings the Queen asked just where the Chamber of Secrets could be hidden to avoid being found for so long. They had made it rather close to Myrtle's home so Harry skeptically led the way. The ghost was nowhere to be found but the stream of water coming from one of the cubicles made Harry believe she was merely hiding in one of the toilets, possibly hiding from him still believing he purposefully tried to kill Malfoy the last time he was here.

Harry looked at the tap with the snake and considered telling them he'd lost his ability to speak Parseltounge to avoid what was sure to be a rather eerie trip down. Hermione gave him a look that took that option away and after concentrating much harder than he used to need to commanded the entrance to open.

“That's the way down. It's an extremely slimy tube followed by a dark, partially collapsed tunnel that I could barely fit through when I was twelve ending with the rotting corpse of a massive snake.”

“Sounds like a lovely place to spend an afternoon,” Hermione sarcastically replied.

“Hermione, I'm sure you and Kingsley and probably Professor McGonagall would love to take a trip down, but I really don't think we should. There's no point to it, at least for today, other than turning our stomachs and I don't think Mr. Weasley needs to see the place where Ginny almost died.”

Hermione sighed a little before stroking the slightly grey hair on Harry's temple and reaching up to give him a kiss. The six others in the room, and as close as he could come the phoenix on McGonagall's shoulder all rolled their eyes for the tenth time that day though no one seemed to care enough to say a word.

The Headmistress cleared her throat just as Harry was about to forget that anyone else was in the room, “We've been hidden away in here long enough to miss the first break. Would everyone like to stop in on a lesson, then perhaps take a trip down to the kitchens to see the elves for lunch?”

They headed back up to the charms corridor where upon their arrival Professor Flitwick was so surprised at the visitors he toppled off of his usual stack of books he was lecturing on top of. A Muggle-born Hufflepuff in the fifth year class was startled enough accidentally send a silencing charm at the Prime Minister that Kingsley easily deflected. After forty minutes of watching the students send their spells any direction other than the one they were supposed to due to gawking they took their leave, Harry was tickling the pear just as the bell rang.

“Why is it that none of these elves appear to need one of your wands to work their magic?” the Queen asked as she watched them happily go about their lunchtime scramble.

“Due to a rather old law that I unfortunately don't have the support in the Wizengamot to reverse only humans are allowed to carry or use wands,” said Arthur. “Some races, like the elves and goblins have quite powerful magic of their own and don't necessarily need a wand.”

“I've always wondered,” Harry spoke up, “could the restrictions just be an old form of prejudice? Maybe wizards in the past thought that anyone who could wield such powerful magic without a wand could easily overpower human wizards with he help of one.”

“That is quite a reasonable theory Mr. Potter,” Ragnok flashed his pointy grin. “Though the actual reasons have been buried through the ages there are many goblins who would agree with you.”

“And how come there are only humans here if there are others that can use magic?” the Minister asked.

“The idea that only humans were to be allowed entrance to this school has actually never been challenged,” McGonagall admitted.

“Does your race have their own schooling system?” the Queen asked Ragnok.

“Nothing formal Your Majesty. Goblins, like the elves, centaurs, and merpeople are all self taught; knowledge is passed on from parent to child.”

“Wouldn't it be better to allow all magic users access to a proper education thereby clearly showing that one race is not superior to another?” The Minister asked.

“The theory behind that statement is very sound, but it would take years of work to get our society to reach the point of accepting it,” said Arthur.

“Excuse me, but mermaids are also real?” the Queen asked.

“There's a village of them at the bottom of the lake on the grounds,” Harry replied before dropping his voice. “My owl was killed the day Hogsmeade was attacked and I buried her on the shore. The Merchieftainess came up out of the water to give me a grave marker.”

“You laid Hedwig to rest on the grounds?” McGonagall gently asked.

“He put her directly across from Professor Dumbledore's tomb,” Hermione answered for him. “The marker itself is quite beautiful though I expect it's covered with snow by now.”

“The merpeople in the lake bear no resemblance to what you'd think, though some of the colonies in tropical waters would,” Arthur put in.

A bell rang in the distance, “Well, what say we visit our resident centaur?” McGonagall asked.

They made a stop in the Great Hall for the Muggles to take in the enchanted ceiling before slipping into Firenze's sixth year class, Luna gave Harry and Hermione a dreamy little wave from behind the clouds of smoke she was fanning. After ten minutes in the starlit pseudo-forest Hermione noticed the rest of the groups glazed over eyes and quietly went about shuffling them all back into the hall; the centaur had been polite enough to come over and greet everyone before returning to his meandering lecture about smoke swirls in relation to planetary movements.

Harry looked out a window towards Hagrid's hut and saw a group of students huddled around a fire and casting nervous glances towards a crate that was rocking violently in the snow, “Maybe we should go see if Hagrid's class would like to visit a phoenix for a bit.”

Albus, who was currently roosting on Hermione's shoulder trilled happily at the suggestion so they made their way to the doors which creaked opened to escort them out. Harry and Hermione both pulled their gloves back on and Hermione pulled their Gryffindor scarves from inside her jacket, just as Harry was about to don his he realized the visitors weren't as prepared for the weather and promptly offered it to the Queen who happily accepted. Professor McGonagall talked both Potters into conjuring gloves, earmuffs and scarves for everyone else; Harry was quite proud of the knobbly mittens he made for everyone even though Hermione was able produce several sets of scarves and earmuffs in half the time. As they made their way down the steps Hermione swung her wand in a wide circle over her head and a thin ring of blue fire melted the snow in a ten-foot wide circle around them.

Hagrid, being himself, took no notice of anyone other than Harry and Hermione until they pointed out to him just who they all were. While the Queen and Prime Minister were both gaping at Hagrid's size Neville, who was one of the few students to keep up with the N.E.W.T. level course mouthed a very relieved thank you to Harry for saving him from whatever was growling in the crate set away from the students. Hagrid happily switched his lesson plan to fawn over Albus in front of everyone; he also had Harry demonstrate the bird's ability to transport him even through the wards around the castle. Once the class was dismissed Hermione slipped Hagrid an envelope of photos and Harry was more than happy to answer all of the Prime Minister's questions about the nearby pitch and what it was used for. He led the way there and called for Dobby to bring his and Dan's brooms so he and Kingsley could race each other for a bit. Hermione's efforts to warm Harry's very pink cheeks on the way back inside distracted them both enough to not notice the bemused looks they were receiving.

Thoroughly disheartened as McGonagall led the way down to the dungeons Harry faded to the back of the group praying they'd be on their way shortly. All work on the second years swelling solution ground to a halt as Slughorn began proclaiming how great an honor it was to be in the presence of such greatness almost reaching the point of falling to his knees to bow before Kingsley sent him a glare that would halt a raging hippogriff. Hiding with Hermione in the back of the group it took Harry a minute to figure out that the Slytherin portion of the class were all directing their glares at him because no one had bothered to remove their Gryffindor colored accessories. Things as trivial as house boundaries weren't making their way through Slughorn's thick skull, he spent the remainder of their time in the potions lab wildly singing the Queen's praises from a respectful distance. The group arrived back in the entrance hall less than ten minutes after they had left.

Ragnok left them shortly before they made their way into the antechamber off the Great Hall for a secluded supper. On the way in Harry secretly cast a series of charms on the door.

“Mr. Weasley, how would you feel about Hermione putting a Protean Charm on your watch?” Harry asked as a pair of elves served their food.

“Assuming it wouldn't be showing whatever love notes the two of you pass between each other I'd be fine with it,” Arthur pulled out a pocket watch and slid it towards Hermione.

As Harry bit his tongue Hermione explained; “Harry and I just want a way to be informed if Voldemort is attacking or cornered somewhere. We assume you'll find out almost immediately so all you'll have to do is charm your watch to show the location and we'll come as soon as possible. It also goes the other way if we happen to stumble across his path.”

“That is quite a good idea, I wonder if you would like to have a link to this castle as well,” McGonagall hopefully pulled out her own watch which Hermione took and applied the charm.

“Is it safe to talk about such matters in here?” the Minister asked eyeing the elf refilling his wine.

“All of the elves in the school are bound to keep any privileged conversations they hear, such as this one, to themselves. House-elves by their very nature are excellent at keeping their masters' secrets,” McGonagall informed them.

“And I charmed the door on the way in, just incase,” Harry admitted.

“Harry Potter,” McGonagall began in a semi-flustered voice, “if you'd been this forward thinking over the last six years the competition for the House Cup would have been pointless as Gryffindor would have easily had a hundred points more than the others after a week!” Harry felt his face warm up and remained silent through the rest of the meal.

The Great Hall fell completely silent when their group reemerged; Harry unconsciously took Hermione's left hand to hide her ring while shoving his own in his pocket, the same positions they'd been in all day. Fleur was sitting at the Head Table next to her husband and Harry could barely hold in his laughter when Arthur had to pull the gob smacked Prime Minister past the part-Veela. Hermione hung her head in embarrassment on the march down the center aisle, not used to being the center of so much attention. Once back in the entrance hall Harry turned at the sound of his name and found Ron hurrying out after him.

“Are you guys leaving?” Ron quietly asked trying to avoid being seen by the other people in the party.

“I don't actually know, just following along why?”

“Well there's a defense club meeting in about ten minutes, thought you'd like to know and maybe stop by.”

“Ronald!” Arthur happily exclaimed.

“Err, Hi Dad. Your Majesty, Mr. Prime Mu - Minister…” Ron's voice faded away.

“So this is the lad you're always speaking so highly of Arthur,” the Queen gave Ron an appraising look.

“No Ma'am, that'd be Bill. He's the red head up at the Head Table,” Ron mumbled.

“You have a younger brother sitting with the instructors?” the Queen and Ron exchanged perplexed looks.

“Your Majesty, this is my youngest son Ron. He must have assumed you were speaking of his eldest brother who's the current Defense Against the Dark Arts professor,” Arthur hurriedly explained.

“There's a self-defense course taught here?” the Minister asked.

“Oh heavens yes,” McGonagall nearly laughed. “But if there's one class where you might accidentally stray into the middle of a duel it'd be that one. Kingsley and I both agreed it best to stay away.”

“Oh pity, it would have been nice to see a little action,” the Minister remarked.

“Well there is a meeting of our defense club starting fairly soon,” Luna seemed to appear out of nowhere at Ron's side.

“Miss Lovegood,” Arthur noticed her with a start. “I seem to recall seeing you in a certain set of photographs.” he shrewdly prompted.

“Oh yes, Professor McGonagall was nice enough to allow me to attend as I'm Ronald's girlfriend,” Luna beamed while Ron's face quickly turned red.

“Oh really, and when did this happen?” Arthur was obviously enjoying himself.

“Following Harry's advice Ron stayed behind after one of our meetings to-”

“Ask her to Hogsmeade!” Ron blurted out, Luna appeared unfazed by his interruption and Harry was just as glad as Ron that she decided to not correct him.

“Right. I think I could spare a bit more time to take in some of this meeting. Your Majesty?” the Minister asked.

“It could be interesting, but is it safe?”

“The meetings are held in the Room of Requirement,” Harry pointed out. “It will make it safe.”

“So how have these things been going?” Harry asked as the new group climbed their way back up to the seventh floor.

“It's a lot of work actually,” Ron frowned. “We had to spilt everyone up into three groups based on what they know. Luna takes the youngest one, I take the middle and Neville does the top.”

“All the time, you never trade off?” Hermione asked.

“Well I like working with the younger students, especially since Ronald seems to think I deserve a few extra kisses each night one of them has an accident,” Luna happily told them. “Though the bed hasn't made another appearance, sometimes I wonder if the room's mad at us for not using it the first time.” Harry swallowed a few coughs.

“Between Quidditch and Head Boy duties I don't have time to work up all the spells or the top group,” Ron pushed past the awkwardness; thankfully the four teenagers had hung back quite a ways to talk. “Neville's been doing great; I swear he splits all his free time between the greenhouses and the room looking up new things. I really owe you two an apology for not helping out more in fifth year.”

“No problem mate, it honestly sounds like you've been putting more work into it than we ever did,” Harry clapped Ron's shoulder.

“Before I forget Ron, these are for you and Luna,” Hermione handed over another envelope. “We were going to ask that you not let anyone see them, but the people that run the country seem to think that'd be pointless since they'll all figure it out eventually.”

“So the two of you are going to be wearing your rings in there?” Ron slowly asked.

“Looks that way, is that a problem?” Harry asked.

“Well… Ginny's still been acting a bit funny about you Harry. They're your bloody wedding rings so I wouldn't tell you to not wear them, but it might be easier for her to accept that she'll never have another chance at you if she finds out in a place that doesn't have fifty witnesses.”

“Ron, that is without a doubt the kindest, most sensitive thing I have ever heard you say,” Hermione pulled him into a tight embrace. “Well done.”

“Maybe it's well done to you,” Harry whispered to Luna as he put an arm around her shoulders giving her a light squeeze, her dreamy smile brightened and Harry could just make out her humming her favorite tune.

“Oy! That's my girl you got there,” Ron teased.

“I'll trade you if it means I can have my wife back,” Harry retorted.

Hermione lightly slapped Ron's shoulder, “Honestly, it's not like either of us could ever think about anything inappropriate.”

“Or at least we'd know if you did thanks to those wonky rings the two of you got,” said Ron.

“We didn't tell you yet,” Harry suddenly grinned. “Your Dad thinks that because Voldemort took my blood for that ritual he's under the same… restrictions as I am, and he's already had at least one reaction.”

“Bloody hell Harry, that means the only witch he could ever want to… well it'd have to be Hermione,” Ron's face went pale.

“Yes well, that's the downside,” Hermione looked like she'd just eaten something extremely sour.

“That's very bad news for Voldemort,” Harry was taken aback at Luna's use of the name. “Goblins make rings like that to persecute cheaters, and they hate cheaters much worse than Slinkykoots.”

Finally reaching the right corridor they came upon a group of students who had taken one of the many shortcuts to the seventh floor waiting for the room to be opened. Harry and Hermione both discretely pulled off their wedding bands and placed them on the snitch necklaces tucked under their shirts then quietly informed Arthur and McGonagall just why they'd done it so they wouldn't inadvertently say the wrong thing. Walking into the room Ron had required Harry was a little surprised to see it a replicate of the one he'd made in fifth year, only twice the size. “Club's grown a bit,” Ron meekly told him.

After a moments concentration Harry looked to the corner and found a glass walled cubicle large enough for the guests to comfortably observe from. The room quickly filled, all of the original D.A. members still in school came over to greet Harry and Hermione before going off to their designated groups. Of course Colin Creevey had brought his camera and took several pictures, mostly of Harry, before Ron got his group moving. Each of the three groups had around twenty people, Harry and Hermione unintentionally ignored everyone else sectioned off behind the glass walls commentating on how well things had been arranged. Luna's group, which Harry was happy to note had three Slytherin girls who appeared to be first years, had paired off to work solely on disarming and shields. Ron's group seemed almost chaotic until Harry realized most of the noise was the Creevey brothers firing off stunners at anything they could see. The group led by Neville appeared to be conjuring metal balls the size of bludgers, which dissolved into thin air after impact, and hurling them at each other. The Hufflepuff boy paired with Ginny was having a very bad night, every time the redhead would glance over and see Hermione talking closely with Harry she would fire off one of the balls with enough fury to shatter the boy's shield and nearly his arm.

“Isn't that a touch… barbaric?” the Queen's voice eventually broke through Harry and Hermione's conversation.

“I'm sure it appears that way,” Hermione calmly replied, “but when you consider the Death Eaters will be firing curses to kill, torture, or rip your limbs off your body a cannonball hurling through the air seems tame.”

“Do you still practice these things when there's not a war underway?” the Minister asked.

“In a way, but with nowhere near the enthusiasm,” McGonagall explained. “There are always organized duels, and the standard Defense curriculum deals with how to defend yourself against some of the more dangerous magical creatures in existence.”

“Duels, as in two people facing each other at first light and all that?” the Minister asked.

Professor McGonagall's lips twisted into a shrew smile and she weaved her way through the clusters of students to have a whispered conversation with Neville, Ron, and Luna. “I believe a demonstration is in order,” she announced when she'd returned. “Mr. Potter since this room seems to respond so well to you could you please enlarge this enclosure to fit everyone?” Harry looked down at his feet and concentrated on walling off about a third of the total room. Once they were all safely enclosed she addressed the group, “Well then, Mr. Potter, Mr. Longbottom… get out there.”

Harry looked at Neville and was surprised to see a mischievous smile crossing his face that seemed severely out of place. “So… Any rules?”

Neville made a show of scratching his chin, “I'd rather not die, if you can manage.”

“No promises mate,” Harry barely got out before Neville launched a series of cannonballs at him, they were both grinning like madmen. Harry rolled out of the way and sent a trip jinx, disarming spell and a pair of stunners back at him. Neville managed to block or dodge everything but the jinx and landed with a thud.

Harry sent a set of cords to restrain Neville that he banished with a slash of his wand and retaliated with his own series of stunners mixed in with a jet of hot water. When Harry saw the water rushing towards him he stabbed out his wand without much of a thought and a mass of green flame shot off towards Neville. At first Harry was afraid he'd burnt him to a crisp but at the last second Neville rolled clear and looked back up at Harry with wide eyes. Trying to take advantage of the moment Harry swiped his wand, knocking all of the books on the self behind Neville on top of him. Harry was halfway through summoning his wand away when he felt something wrong and ducked under a stunner that Ron, having just come around the barrier, fired at him.

He wanted to yell at Ron to see what he was playing at but his eyes landed on Hermione and the others on the other side of the glass. All of their mouths were moving but he couldn't hear a thing, for some reason the cubicle had been silenced. Ron had levitated the books off of Neville during Harry's momentary lapse of judgment, he luckily noticed in time to banish a new barrage of cannonballs towards Ron. The three former roommates scampered around the room, occasionally laughing manically as stunning spells and cannonballs were batted around like tennis balls. Ron had attempted to conjure a yellow canary to distract Harry but the fact that the bird looked more like a yellow version of Pig and flew lopsided due to its mismatched wing sizes didn't help his cause. Summoning a memory of Hermione unzipping his trousers with her teeth on one of the nights he'd been unable to return her any pleasure Harry sent his Patronus hurtling into Ron, who looked slightly sick from the image it carried to him.

Neville took advantage of Harry's distraction to conjure a live vine that quickly wrapped itself around his ankles, having enough of being double teamed Harry transfigured it into a boa constrictor and sent it back to Neville leaving him free concentrate on Ron, who was now raining down stunners on Harry in retaliation to the images he'd implanted in his head. Somewhere in between blocking and deflecting Ron's spells Harry sneaked a levicorpus on his friend and summoned his wand. Neville was still struggling against the snake, which was hissing at Harry about wanting to eat the boy so he quickly replaced it with a whip of flame. Panting slightly and looking between the two incapacitated wizards Harry failed to notice Kingsley sneaking around the barrier and sending a blasting curse at the floor just behind him.

“Playtime's over Potter, let your friends go and get ready,” Shacklebolt told him in his low, calm voice but didn't even give him time to follow his orders. Harry freed Neville but had to leave Ron dangling in the air to dodge a sickly-yellow spell he'd never seen before and probably didn't want to know what it did.

“Oy! What's going on in here?” Harry yelled.

“Just making sure all that time you've spent with Remus and Tonks hasn't softened you,” Kingsley sent a tangle of heavy chains sailing through the air; Harry barely had the strength to stop their progress. Ron was shouting to be let down.

Harry conjured a large metal shield and turned to the pile of books Neville had been under, transfiguring them one at a time into bats, birds, bugs… anything that would fly and sent them all across the room before discarding the already severely dented shield. Kingsley managed to deflect all the stunners Harry followed with while dispelling the airborne assault, though he did receive several gouges on his face and arms; he missed the blasting curse Harry aimed just inches in front of him and the Auror was sent flying back into the glass. Harry used the pause to free Ron.

At first Harry though Kingsley had done the same metal conjuring spell Neville had once he was back on his feet, but he quickly found out the difference. Kingsley's attack moved much, much faster and followed Harry as he tried to dodge; he felt an excruciating burst of pain as the ball landed between his shoulder blades. Through the pain and spots dancing in his eyes Harry slashed his wand through the air causing Kingsley to yelp, once Harry's vision cleared he found he'd slashed open one of the man's cheeks.

“Do you want to stop?” Harry uncertainly asked taking in the Auror's bloody face.

“Still standing aren't I?”

Harry didn't see Kingsley's wand move but he felt the mass of magic he'd sent at him. Harry wasn't sure what made him do it, but he extended his arms palms out in front of him and pushed back with all his might. Shacklebolt looked quite shocked when the spell smashed into his chest sending him to the ground, what shocked him even more was Harry sending a large silver arrow through his thigh keeping him from getting back up.

“Now can we stop?” Harry sank to his knees panting.

Kingsley grimaced through the pain, “Yep, good enough for me.” Just as the Auror dispelled the arrow Madam Pomfrey was led into the room by a House-elf. She looked between the two of them, tutted in Harry's direction and bustled over to Shacklebolt.

The barrier disappeared and Hermione rushed over to Harry; she quickly let him go after he yelped in pain from her embrace, “Sorry, bludger to the back, or whatever that bloody thing was… Why did they just do that to me?”

“I think Harry,” Arthur made his presence known, “that you'll be getting an owl tomorrow letting you know you've just passed your Defense Against the Dark Arts N.E.W.T.”

“All of that, for a bloody test?” Harry feebly shouted.

“Cheer up mate,” Ron made it through the crowd of people loudly chattering about what they'd just seen, “at least it's one less you'll have to take.” Ron crouched down next to Harry, “Why did you show me…”

“It distracted you, didn't it?”

“Yeah, but still,” Ron's face twisted in disgust again.

Madam Pomfrey worked her way over and without warning jerked up the back of Harry's shirt, “Well Potter I suppose you won't agree to stay the night for observation either will you?” Harry's only answer was another yelp of pain as the nurse manhandled his back. “You'll be sore in the morning. Take this potion now to dull the pain and have someone apply this salve tomorrow,” she handed over a phial and a small tin before making her way out of the room muttering to herself.

Saying good-bye to as few people as possible and making sure Hermione was always somewhere in between Ginny and himself Harry rounded up the tour group from that morning and had Albus take them all back to London to make their own ways home. Kingsley seemed quite happy despite his temporary limp.

“Did anyone tell you why I didn't get any warning about this test tonight?” Harry asked once he and Hermione were back in their room.

“I don't think the idea came to Mr. Weasley until you were in the middle of dueling Neville. He sent Ron in when you weren't looking to finish your `warm-up' as he called it before sending in Kingsley,” Hermione sighed and pulled off his shirt to massage his shoulders. “I tried to warn you about Ron coming in but McGonagall'd already silenced the glass.”

“It looked like it was pretty noisy in there,” Harry agreed then noticed his wedding ring dangling around his neck. “I thought something felt off,” he mumbled as he went about putting it where it belonged. Hermione made a surprised noise when she realized what he was doing and reached into her own shirt. “Wait, let me help you with that,” Harry playfully pulled the garment over her head drawing a slight giggle from her. Recognizing the signs Albus flashed out of the room.

Harry carefully detached her ring and put it where it belonged trailing kisses from her finger up her arm all the way to the side of her neck. “Harry, are you okay? You were hurt tonight… oh my.”

“I'm perfect. All I need to heel is you,” he muttered as he finally made it to her lips. With a very familiar move Hermione's bra joined her top on the floor.

“What are you going to do now that you don't need to study for one of your…” she trailed off as Harry unzipped her skirt and laid her down on the bed.

“I'll just have to pick up a new topic. I'm thinking anatomy,” Harry remarked between the kisses he was trailing down her bare stomach. “Wanna be my study partner?”

Hermione let out a dreamy sigh as he pulled off her skirt and knickers at the same time leaving her in just her knee socks. Harry assumed her answer was a resounding yes judging by the noises his kissing his way up her thighs drew from her. He spent enough time between her legs for them to clench tightly around his head, threatening to pop it like a berry. Feeling a sense of accomplishment Harry fortunately misplaced the rest of his clothing as he kissed, licked, and occasionally bit his way back up to her mouth. Hermione gently rolled them over with a move that joined their bodies on the way and went about demonstrating to her husband just how much she loved him.

After checking randomly over a period of three hours Crookshanks finally gave up on being able to get any rest in his owners' room; he joined the displaced dog and phoenix in the room next door, a place they'd spent many more nights than they'd like to have since a few days after the honeymoon weekend.

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“So Harry, ready for these exams your lovely wife insists you take?” George asked when he and Hermione joined them at the gates of Hogwarts on the twenty-ninth for Bill's birthday dinner.

“We're both quite prepared for next week and if you're trying to get my help with something just ask, there's no need to pepper me with compliments first,” Hermione chuckled.

“Come now, what makes you think George and I would resort to such things?” Fred asked.

“Because I know you, and I doubt you even your girlfriends would believe you'd call a girl `lovely' without trying to get something from her.”

“Very well then,” George rolled his eyes in defeat and pulled off his knit cap revealing two humungous ears.

“We've been developing a series of Study Snackboxes, hoping McGonagall will lift the blanket ban on our products if we make something that will help the kiddies in their classes,” Fred informed them.

“Of course once that happens we'd be free to put whatever we want in the boxes-”

“But the Hearing Helpers have gone and turned George's ears all wonky-”

“You wouldn't believe some of the things I've heard,” George rolled his eyes. “And neither of us can get rid of the damn things.”

“Our exams are done on Thursday, we could come by the day after,” Harry told the pair.

“That is assuming you can live with the noise until then,” Hermione smiled.

“I'll manage,” George exhaled. “I've taken to wearing an enlarged pair of earmuffs and keeping to the back room of the shop.”

“I've even stopped myself from tampering with them, after all what kind of brother would I be.”

“So do either of you have a clue what this little announcement is Bill and Fleur are planning to make?” George asked.

Hermione smiled smugly, “She does, but all she'll tell me is that they're not having a kid,” Harry told the twins.

Fred and George tried to wiggle the information out of Hermione but all would say is “You'll hear soon enough.” The four of them continued on to a hallway on the third floor on the opposite side of the castle from the room Fluffy was kept. It was a faculty corridor that not even the twins dared enter during their years in school. The apartment that had been given to Bill and Fleur was arranged a lot like the cottage, only with two less bedrooms. When Harry, Hermione and the twins walked in they found the rest of the Weasley's minus Charlie, Gabrielle and Luna all awaiting them.

“George, what happened to your head?” Percy asked from the seat next to their father.

“Nothing Perce, just an accident in the shop,” George waved off the rest of the families questions.

Harry and Hermione greeted the resident couple and gave Bill the set of very fancy robes they'd gone to Paris the weekend before to get; Harry thought they looked a bit silly but apparently Fleur had a word with Hermione about wishing her husband had at least some formal wear other than the robes he'd worn to their wedding, which apparently when translated out of girl-talk meant it was Harry's job to buy them. When Bill opened the box and looked up to Harry all he could do was shrug and nod his head in Hermione and Fleur's direction.

Harry sat down next to Ron and Luna while Hermione went to the kitchen to help Fleur and Gabrielle finish making the food. Ron's whispered complaining about how Padma had been blackmailing him into covering her rounds after catching Luna emerging from his room one morning kept Harry amused enough to not notice the food being levitated to the table or someone sitting next to him until he heard Hermione's voice.

“If it wouldn't be too much trouble Ginny, I'd like to sit next to my husband.”

Harry's head whipped around, Ginny's scoff turned to a gasp when Hermione raised her hand into the air. Harry placed his left hand on the table when the girl's glare turned in his direction, “What's the meaning of this!” Ginny shouted at him. “You only broke it off with me because of You-Know-Who!”

“No I didn't Ginny, we've already been over that. I've loved Hermione for years, but only realized just how much over the summer,” Harry calmly told her.

“But I love you! All she's ever done for you is get you hurt!”

“Ginny really,” Arthur tried to calm his daughter. “Just because Harry has married doesn't mean you won't find a wizard-”

“But I want Harry!” Ginny whined causing the rest of the room save Hermione to shuffle uncomfortably.

“Well that's just not going to happen. He's my husband and that's the end of it,” Hermione put her hands on her hips.

“You've done something to him haven't you, you bint! Taking advantage by running off with him for the summer to poison his mind against me-”

“Ginevra stop that this instant!” Arthur slammed his fists on the table. Ginny fumed silently for a moment, scanning her family members faces.

“You all knew of this, didn't you? Why didn't you do something?” she screamed at Ron.

“I did do something, I stood up next to him at the wedding.”

Ginny attempted to storm from the room but Ron hit her from behind with a stunning spell and levitated her to the spare room, “Sorry about her Hermione, I'll see if I can talk to her.”

“We can leave, if you want,” Harry told the Weasleys. “After all we're not family or anything.”

“Nonsense,” Arthur waved off the suggestion. “You're both unofficial Weasleys no matter what anyone says.”

After a few moments silence George turned his head in the direction his siblings had gone, “Wow, I've never known Ron had feelings, much less how to express them.”

“Ronald can be quite an affectionate one when properly motivated,” Luna beamed across the table from the twins.

“Don't say any more about that, please.” Percy begged of her drawing a round of laughs from everyone. Harry happily realized it was the first time he'd ever shown a sense of humor; maybe there was hope for him after all.

Ron re-emerged just in time to inhale a plate of food before the cake was brought out, once everyone had decoded the words spewing from his food-filled mouth they learned Ginny was petrified on the bed, still fuming.

“If you don't mind me asking Harry,” Arthur began, “where did you come across that silver arrow spell and why did you use it against Kingsley?”

George's fork clattered against his plate as both twins looked at Harry with matching grins, “You used that against a person?”

Harry smiled a little sheepishly, “Well, Kingsley said the duel wasn't over as long as he was standing so I shot him through the leg to hold him down.”

“But where did you learn something so brutal?” Hermione finally asked the question that had been on her mind since witnessing the event.

“Oliver taught us all how to do it before the Quidditch final third year,” Harry shared a smile with the twins.

“He never actually came out and said it, but we think he was planning to assassinate the other team if we lost,” Fred was barely hold down his chuckles.

“It's the same spell the supporters of the Appleby Arrows used until it was banned,” George added.

“Only about a hundred years ago,” Ron exclaimed. “Where'd Wood find out how to do it?”

“When the season was called off the year before due to all that Chamber of Secrets nonsense he started spending all his time in the Quidditch section of the library looking for something to give us an edge in his last year,” said Fred.

“You guys are going to start giving Ron all the wrong ideas about being a captain if you keep going on about this,” Bill said with the same smug smile he'd been wearing since they sat down to eat.

“So are you two ever going to tell us what you wanted us all here for?” Fred asked as he helped clear the table. Luna was in trying to talk some sense to Ginny but Harry had a feeling she was only further infuriating the girl.

“What, you're all here for my birthday, aren't you?” Bill laughed.

“Oh stuff it Bill,” George punched him in the shoulder, “you know you're not important enough to get that kind of treatment.”

“Well it's more Fleur's announcement than mine,” Bill admitted, Arthur's eyes lit up. “No Dad, not yet.”

“Not for a lack of trying I bet,” Ron snickered.

Hermione smacked his shoulder and hissed in his ear, “Just because Luna's out of the room doesn't mean you can say things like that.”

“Profezzer McGonagall haz offered me a temporary job teaching her Tranzfiguration courz!” Fleur announced and was promptly tackled by her sister.

“Temporary?” Arthur asked.

“At least until the end of the year,” Bill replied as Fleur was accepting a round of hugs from everyone. Percy, having not as much experience dealing with her was left a bit empty-minded. “McGonagall's been having a tough time keeping up with her teaching on top of running the school, after the day you guys came to visit she decided to offer Fleur the job.”

“Have you told Gringotts yet?” Harry asked.

“Oui, eet waz a bit sad leaving, but zee job I waz doing waz quite boring. Covering for McGonagall waz a brilliant change,” Fleur beamed as she embraced Harry in her sweep of the room.

“What happens when the year's through?” Harry asked.

“They'll work out an actual contract if everything goes well, as of Monday she's just a permanent substitute,” said Bill.

“Ginny's quite upset with all of us,” Luna silently crept back into the room. “She even said something about remaining here over Christmas.”

“This is all my fault,” Hermione muttered.

“Excuse me?” Harry blurted out in a harsher tone than he would have liked. “Are you regretting getting married?”

Hermione's face went white as she realized what she'd said, “Harry no, of course not. Our wedding day was the happiest of my life and I plan on spending the rest of that life loving you more than should be possible. Please, don't ever think I regret anything about our relationship.”

“I wouldn't. I'm sorry; I didn't mean to be so harsh. You're the best part of my life and I can't imagine how bad it'd be without you. Please don't ever doubt that I love you just as much as you do me,” Harry cupped Hermione's face in his hands and gently kissed her.

“Ron, how do I get in touch with Hermione's parents? I think I've just gotten a cavity,” Fred announced in a voice that guaranteed everyone would hear.

The door to the spare room slammed closed and everyone turned to see Ginny standing with a look of cold fury. She'd obviously been crying quite a bit. Harry silently summoned their jacket and helped Hermione into hers, “I think it's about time we get home.”

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The news of Harry and Hermione's wedding erupted on the first of December. Though the three-page article in the Daily Prophet didn't say how the news was released Harry had a feeling that Ginny had run her mouth in front of some one, the good part was that there were no pictures. That alone could have qualified for a special issue. Pages one and two had been strictly factual in detailing their history through Hogwarts and up to the present; unfortunately Mr. Weasley couldn't stop it when page three reprinted Rita Skeeter's article on the two of them from the Triwizard Tournament and expanded on the idea by suggested that they both had failed to return to school in favor of staying with each other. According to the article Harry would have to be under some external influence to stay away from the only place he ever truly called home.

Harry and Hermione went in to the ministry that morning for their Charms and Transfiguration exams, which Harry found oddly easy, when they made their way back to the atrium to go home it was teeming with reporters. The next day's paper had photos of the couple rushing back into the lifts; Harry and Hermione had called Albus to get away as soon as they were out of view. They had snuck into Hogwarts the week before to meet Neville in the greenhouses in preparation for the Herbology exam on Tuesday which helped with everything except when the examiner laid out several blocks of wood in front of Harry and asked which ones would make good wands. Hermione had to stay behind for her Arithmancy exam so Harry used the free time to decompress flying through the snowy air. While Hermione sat her Runes exam on Wednesday Harry did some last minute studying for Potions that afternoon. The written section threatened to give Harry a headache and the practical was practically a joke for Hermione. The examiner had heard of her constant Wolfsbane brewing from Arthur and asked for a sample phial, Harry was asked to make the same euphoria inducing elixir he'd made for Slughorn the year before. When Hermione returned home Thursday from her Defense exam Harry had to fight back a violent urge to storm the ministry taking in the slash on her cheek and bruised arm but she told him her practical had been a duel with Tonks and had beaten the Auror by unlacing her boots. Harry's mood melted away with Hermione's marks as Albus nuzzled her face and arm leaving a trail of tears along the way.

,',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',','

“Ah, the newlyweds,” George exclaimed as they appeared in burst of flame in the back of the joke shop. “We were beginning to wonder if you'd show at all.”

“Sorry about that,” Harry sheepishly smiled. “We were up late last night umm… celebrating and didn't get up until after lunch.” George gave him a knowing smile as he went to the door to call his brother back. “So your ears seem back to normal.”

“We finally managed to put them right last night but we're still not sure where we went wrong,” George admitted. Fred joined them and surprisingly they got straight down to business showing Harry and Hermione the prototypes of things like a pair of glasses (which looked just like Harry's) that would record anything a professor would write on the board and a type of chewing gum that would temporarily increase the users attentiveness and comprehension. The Hearing Helpers still hadn't made it past liquid phase since neither of the twins wanted to try it again until they figured out the problem, so as Hermione was pouring over the twins notes on the product Harry (very carefully) poked around the clutter.

“What is this?” Harry aggressively asked holding up a small figurine of himself he'd found hidden behind a hat he knew better than to try on.

“Well it was going to be a surprise,” Fred nervously told him. “Of course we would ask you before marketing anything like this, but we had an idea after Dad told us about you whomping Kingsley in a duel that we could sell a little version of you fighting Voldemort. After he's finally dead at least,” he added almost as an afterthought and pulled out a surprisingly good likeness of the Dark Lord from another shelf. “By themselves they won't do much more than wander around your dresser, but once you put them on the dueling stage-”

“Sold separately of course-” George cut in as Fred pulled down an ornate wooden stage about two feet long.

“You can watch them go at it. We're trying to come up with some more impressive visual effects,” Fred set both figures on the platform where they bowed and began firing sparks at each other from their tiny wands. Harry was actually quite amused watching the pair until his likeness got tired of spells and turned around to moon the miniature Voldemort who threw his own little fit and walked off the stage.

“We're also working on your little attitude problem,” George mentioned over Hermione's giggles.

“Are there any other figures?” Harry asked fearing the answer.

“We're planning on a few others, Dumbledore, Kingsley, possibly Tonks, it could be fun to make one of Dad, but we've only made one other.” Fred had the decency to blush as he pulled a miniature Hermione from a box on the shelf, “There's other problems here,” he set her on the stage opposite Harry, who had just finished redoing his trousers, they both put away their wands and met center stage to snog.

“She'll duel Voldemort for as long as we let her, but as soon as she gets anywhere near you we have to force the two of you apart,” George snickered taking in Hermione's shocked expression.

“My wife will not be mooning anyone,” Harry growled out.

“Don't worry about that Harry,” Fred quickly told him, “she can't remove any of her clothes.”

“If she could the two of them would probably be shagging like bunnies,” George muttered then ducked after catching Hermione's scowl.

“If my figure can't undress then why can Harry's?” Hermione asked in a slightly cold voice.

“The next version won't be able to,” George rushed to explain. “We didn't make yours until after we knew about the problem with Harry's.”

“Good, because the only person who should be seeing my husband's bum is me.”

“Well it's not like it's really-” Fred wisely dropped it under the Potter's combined glares.

Hermione shoved a piece of parchment at George, “Your ingredient proportions were off, and I've marked a mix that should work better.”

“How were things after we left last week?” Harry asked as Fred finally got the figures back into their separate boxes, once he turned his back the mini-Harry crawled out and hopped into Hermione's.

“Ginny's pretty narked at us all for not telling her about the two of you,” Fred rolled his eyes.

“And we're pretty sure it's her fault that we've been getting bombarded by angry mothers-”

“Why would anyone be angry with the two of you over us?” Hermione asked.

“Well it's no secret that we know Harry and the fact that we sell certain persuasive potions has led people to believe we might have helped Hermione here land the prize they'd picked out for their daughters,” George's voice sounded quite tired as he explained.

“Well, it serves you right for selling that rubbish,” Hermione said with her head held high.

“But you can't believe how well it sells!” Fred defended.

“Oh and Harry, don't eat or drink anything offered by anyone you don't know for…”

“The rest of your life. Sales are up.”

“How do you sleep at night,” Harry muttered under his breath, for the first time he almost regretted giving the twins his Triwizard gold.

“Details like that are quite intimate,” said George.

“But we'll tell if you do,” Fred waggled his eyebrows.

“Is this crudeness something that has always been handed down in your family?” Hermione asked in a semi-disgusted tone.

“Well you could say the trait has always been there,” Fred's grin widened as he looked over the parchment Hermione had handed over.

“But with twins you always get double the pleasure,” George's look matched his brother.

“Say Hermione, now that you've completed your educational obligations would you be interested in joining the working class?” Fred asked.

Hermione's cheeks turned pink, “I'm flattered that you'd ask, really, but Harry and I are both holding off on making any solid plans for the future until after Voldemort's defeated, all we've talked about after that is doing a bit of traveling.”

“And just how much longer are we going to have to wait until we get to come up with a real offer?” George slyly asked.

“Really Harry, if you're going to be the `Chosen One' you could get a move on. We've already got a whole line of Whiz-Bangs up on the roof waiting to be let off.”

“Well it's not like I can invite him over for tea and have Dobby slip him a cupful of poison!” Harry moaned not really considering the fact that he was basically confirming the rumors. It was a very good thing for Harry that neither of the twins really gave a damn, in fact their minds seemed to stick on the image of a House-elf killing the Dark Lord and fell to the floor laughing.

,',',',',',',',',',',',',',',','

Emma Granger looked down on the back garden from the room she and Dan had been setup in at Grimmauld Place. They had come that Sunday for Dan's second transformation, which so far had been a much better experience than the first. It had taken Emma the better part of a week to get her husband to confess his first full moon had been painful at first but ended up being an interesting night learning how to communicate as a wolf. He and Remus had gotten along well enough for them to convince Harry to forgo the manacles this time around.

It was the sound of laughter that woke her in the morning, when she looked outside she found her daughter and son-in-law tossing snowballs at each other while Sirius went about his morning business. Harry called Dobby out to help him after catching one straight in the face and with a snap of the elf's fingers snowballs began rising up from all directions pelting Hermione, at least until she called for Winky. Seeing the situation for what it was the female elf gave a little nod towards each of the houses around them burying both Harry and Dobby under feet of snow. Chuckling to herself Emma headed for the kitchen to make some hot chocolate.

“Why did you have to bury us?” Harry whined as he slinked into the kitchen with Winky on his heels.

“Harry Potter sir and his Dobby were playing unfair against the Missus!” Winky hotly stated.

Hermione walked through the door carrying a shivering Dobby, “Did you honestly expect me to just stand alone out there as you and Dobby teamed up against me?”

It was impossible for Emma to hold down her smile as she watched Hermione and Winky help the other two huddle under conjured blankets and sip the hot chocolate she'd made. She knew Harry and Dobby's blue lips and shivering would go away but what she wasn't so sure about was why Hermione seemed so worn out. She had been passing it off as over-exerting herself studying for her exams, but they ended over a week ago and so far Hermione had yet to bounce back. Harry seemed fine so she didn't think they'd been staying up late… entertaining each other and ever since she and Dan had been picked up the day before Hermione had seemed a bit edgy. Of course it could be the growing tension from apparently having half the wizarding world thinking she'd dosed Harry with some sort of love potion or the ever present threat of having a maniac determined to kill her husband, but for some reason Emma didn't think so.

Once Harry had defrosted he went off to release Dan and Remus; Emma used the chance to question her daughter. When Harry returned from admonishing the werewolves for having what they called a friendly wrestling match resulting in several fresh cuts he was informed by Winky that Emma had taken Hermione away from Grimmauld Place but not to worry about them.

,',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',','

Harry spent most of his morning with Albus healing the wounds Dan and Remus had enjoyed giving each other and was relieved when Tonks took over after coming back from whatever business she'd been up to. About an hour after Hermione had gone the snitch around his neck began beating its wings like mad signifying she was nervous about something, but it never heated up so there was no danger as far as he knew. By mid-afternoon Winky was annoyed with him for continually asking her to go check on Hermione, but the elf refused saying she and Emma were in the Muggle world and included a threat against Harry if he went wandering off after them. Supper had passed with no sign from them and Harry had taken to pacing their room in the old house, Tonks had tried calming him down by saying as long as the elves said she was fine, she was and pointed out the fact that Christmas was coming so they might be off shopping. That idea was the only thing that kept Harry from Apparating to Hermione's side.

“Hi Harry,” Hermione's quiet voice broke him away from his grousing.

`Where have you been?” Harry demanded as gently as he could. “I've been stuck worrying here all day, I kept bugging Winky to check in on you but she refused - is everything alright?”

Hermione nervously strode over to the bed where she sat and stared down at her clasped hands, “I'm sorry, Mum just wanted to spend some time with me today…”

Harry's hand went to his necklace when he felt it warm up; Hermione thought she was in trouble. For a second he entertained the notion that he might be in the room with an impostor until he realized the house was still under a Fidelius Charm and anyone trying to harm him wouldn't be putting on an act like this. “Please tell me what's wrong,” Harry gently prodded as he knelt in front of her.

“Mum and I were talking this morning. She took over your nagging about how I've been looking a bit run down then dragged me into London to go see our doctor-”

“Doctor, you're not sick are you?”

“Oddly enough I've not been sick at all…”

“Then why were you gone all day?”

“We spent the day talking about how to go about things being that I'm pregnant,” Hermione struggled out with her eyes closed, a few tears dangled from her lashes.

“Pregnant… but how could…”

“I don't know,” Hermione miserably wailed. “I reapplied the charm from your Mum's journal just before our wedding but I must have done something wrong. It was supposed to last until January.” Harry moved onto the bed next to her, pulling her into his shoulder where she promptly broke down sobbing. “I'm so sorry Harry,” her voice was barely a whisper, “I've ruined everything.”

“Ruined? What's ruined?” Harry blankly asked not really sure what to make of the entire idea that he was hearing the news hardly any seventeen-year-old wants to hear.

“Our lives… We haven't even defeated Voldemort and all you wanted after that was to go off and see the world and now I've gone and taken that away by tossing in a baby…”

Hermione's words were barely making it through the fog surround Harry's mind, “That doesn't mean we can't go away, does it?”

“Well there are ways, at least in the Muggle world to make me… not pregnant,” her body convulsed from holding back her sobs. She still refused to meet his eyes.

“Is that… what you want?” Harry's eyes stung as he finally felt something. It was almost as if a Dementor glided into the room and pulled out his heart.

“The doctor guesses that I'm less than a month along, there's some time to decide.”

“But what do you want?”

Hermione hugged her own abdomen, “How could we possibly even think about being parents with all that's going on around us? We`re in the center of a war, what would happen if something happened to us? Could our child ever forgive us if we were forced to leave it?”

Harry's eyes finally found Hermione's and he knew she was asking him directly about his feelings towards his own parents. “They'd never be alone. My parents are watching over us just like we'd be over them, if it came down to it.”

“You sound so sure of it.”

“I am. They knew who you were in Hogsmeade, what you meant to me. My Dad even knew your name… What does your Mum think?”

“She was trying to contain herself until I could tell you and spent the day telling me about what I could be in for should we decide… Harry what are we going to do?”

Harry looked deep into her overflowing eyes wondering if she was seriously asking him to decide. “Hermione, ever since we first kissed I've been seeing things in my mind, pictures of the two of us starting a family. When I was fighting the last Horcrux it was those images that beat what was in it. I know you don't believe in visions and that sort of thing, I'm skeptical at best but this is something that could be beyond a dream…”

“But what about responsibility?”

“I suppose I would be responsible for keeping you safely locked away for a few months, after that it'd be up to both of us to keep the little bugger in line.”

Hermione showed a trace of a smile as she tightened her grip around herself, “The what?”

“Well what should I call it?” Harry slightly chuckled.

“Something better than `little bugger,' honestly Harry this is our child you're talking…” Hermione seemed to run out of breath realizing what she said. “I'm sorry, I just can't stop crying,” she added swatting away more tears.

“Why are you so sad?” Harry whispered.

“I'm not,” Hermione cried out. “I can't help it, everything is so confusing and I don't know what to do about anything!”

“Try to move past the worry and tell me what you want.”

“I just want us to have each other and be happy.”

“Just the two of us?”

The sadness of Harry's tone made Hermione dissolve further, “No… Not just us.”

Harry lay a shaky hand on top of Hermione's, “So what are we going to do about this?”

Together they stretched out on the bed, Harry curled protectively around his wife. “I'm pregnant,” Hermione whispered staring at the ceiling.

“I know, you've told me that much,” Harry smiled despite himself while wiping his cheeks dry.

Hermione matched her husband's smile, “Harry, we should be in the Common Room studying right now, not talking about being parents. How did this happen?” Harry had the good grace to wait for Hermione to retract the question, but she didn't.

“I would hope that by now you would know how it happened.”

“I suppose I deserve that,” Hermione sighed.

Harry's hand came to rest over the button on Hermione's jeans, “So. We are going to be parents?”

She turned her face to meet his eyes, bottom lip predictably trapped between her teeth, and began nodding, “We are.”

“I hope you're ready for this. The elves are going to be over the moon.”

“Winky was bad enough when everyone was teasing us, promise me you won't let her lock me in our room.”

“I don't know… I think she and I would agree on wanting to keep you safe-”

“Harry!”

“Alright, I promise. Are we going to have to sneak a healer out of St. Mungo's to see you?”

“I honestly don't know and I'm not sure who I could ask about the differences in carrying a magical child.”

“Hermione. Are you honestly saying you've gone the whole day without figuring out that for yourself?”

“Figuring what out?” Hermione's confusion was evident.

“Well going about things the Muggle way has to be safe, after all your Mum had you. I would only worry about whether or not it's safe to Apparate but really Dobby and Winky might be able to answer that for us.”

Hermione's body went rigid, “Do you think I could have hurt our baby Apparating here?”

“Did your Mum's doctor say anything to worry you?”

“No, but it's still quite early, maybe-”

“I'm sure everything's fine, after all you have no problem bringing someone along for the ride when they're outside your body, inside is probably that much safer,” Harry reassured her praying he was right. “So, when are we telling everyone?”

“Mum will probably start badgering us about what we're going to do in the morning.”

“We'll tell your parents tomorrow. Do you think we could hold it back and surprise everyone else until Christmas?”

“That sounds lovely,” Hermione sniffed.

“You know, Tonks suggested you were off today getting me a Christmas present.”

“Sorry to disappoint,” Hermione whispered.

“You didn't. I think I've just gotten the best present imaginable.”

After several minutes of silence Harry was relieved to notice that she'd finally stopped crying. The concept of being a father was exciting and terrifying enough to draw tears of his own but her emotions seemed to be his times a thousand. “Do you think it'll be a boy or girl?”

“Anytime I've dreamed of you holding a baby it's always been in a blue blanket,” Harry quietly admitted. “And he's always had black hair.”

Hermione placed both of her hands overtop of Harry's on her abdomen and whispered, “James.”

“There's no need to name our baby after my Dad, we don't even know-”

“If it's a girl then we have a perfectly good name for her, but I'm willing to take a chance at believing in your dreams and I would like to think your parents would be honored that we'd even consider naming our children after them.”

“What about your parents?”

“They'd fight us every chance they could to not use their names besides, who says we have to stop at one child?”

“I think we should concentrate on keeping the one safe for now,” Harry was a little startled at how far ahead she was thinking. “We'll need to pick someone to watch over him if anything happens.”

“Unfortunately I don't think Ron would be up to the task, at least not yet,” Hermione quietly agreed.

“Remus and Tonks, or maybe Bill and Fleur?”

“I think that would make Remus' Christmas the best one he's had in years,” Hermione decided. “How does William sound for a middle name?”

“William, where did you get that?”

“My Mum's Dad… It's just a suggestion.”

Harry shifted down on the bed to quietly speak to Hermione's stomach, “James William Potter, it's an absolute pleasure to meet you.” Hermione carefully slipped off Harry's glasses once he'd fallen asleep, the blissful look on his face made her happy enough to ignore the fact that his head was putting quite a lot of pressure on her bladder.

A floor below in the drawing room Winky's eyes overflowed with tears as she watched the tapestry once again updating itself.

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The next morning Harry woke to find two rather large pair of eyes staring back at him, one brown the other green, and jumped back in shock, quickly waking Hermione. Dobby and Winky both began bouncing with excitement as soon as the Potters were awake.

“Is something wrong?” Harry asked even though he had a pretty good idea what they were excited about.

“Of course not Harry Potter sir, everything is most well!” Dobby squeaked out.

“Do either of you need anything?” Hermione prompted.

“We's just making sure the Missus does not need any help!” Winky replied barely containing herself.

“Why would I need your help?”

“Dobby and Winky both wish to be as helpful as possible with Harry and Hermione Potters' James!” Dobby declared.

“How did you hear that name?” Harry carefully asked not trying to scare the two of them off with overly aggressive questions.

“It is on Harry Potter's family picture, come see!” Dobby grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him down to the drawing room. Hermione and Winky joined them a minute later mumbling out an apology about needing to visit the loo on the way.

“How could his name already be here?” Hermione asked as she ran a finger over the golden threads with an astonished look on her face. “Does this mean it really is a boy?”

“Family pictures never lie,” Winky proclaimed. “It used it's magic to add mister James' name as soon as it was selected.”

Unable to restrain himself Harry pulled Hermione close and kissed her tenderly, they were broken apart several minutes later by the elves happily jumping up and down gripping their legs. “Dobby, could you please bring Dan and Emma in here and make sure nobody can hear what we talk about?” Without bothering to acknowledge Harry he darted from the room. “You are ready to tell them, right?”

Hermione nervously nodded her head. “We're having a baby,” she muttered still slightly in disbelief, Winky's excitement only grew.

The Grangers both looked quite groggy, which made sense given that the sun had yet to rise, when they made it into the room but after watching Dobby wave an arm to completely vanish the door and its inhabitants' moods they quickly came around. Emma looked ready to burst any second, Harry couldn't help but to smile at the hopeful look on her face.

“Is there something wrong?” Dan yawned out.

“Not so much wrong as just something you need to know,” Hermione slowly replied then looked to Harry who could hardly believe it was falling on his shoulders to tell her parents.

“While you were recovering yesterday Emma and Hermione went out and made a stop at a doctor's office where they found out that… Hermione's pregnant,” Harry softly told Dan while struggling against himself to keep eye contact with the man.

Dan took a series of deep breaths and sank back into a chair that magically appeared under him thanks to one of the elves, “That's a bit unexpected…”

Emma landed in her husband's lap not worrying about the tears streaming down her cheeks, “We're going to be grandparents.”

“You're sure about this?” he looked between his wife and daughter who both nodded. Dan's blank face was quickly demolishing Harry's nerves, “What about all of this trouble the two of you are wrapped up in?”

“I'll give my own life to keep them both safe,” Harry quietly nodded his head in Hermione's direction, she was obviously awaiting her father's reaction as anxiously as Harry having not bothered shouting at him about the reference to getting himself killed.

“And Dobby will help make sure missus Hermione and mister James come to no harm,” Dobby proudly stood next to Harry.

“James?” Emma asked.

“Harry and I were discussing names last night and the tapestry seems to have confirmed we're having a boy, at least Winky and Dobby say it can't lie,” Hermione gestured to the family tree.

Dan wandered over to examine it for the first time tracing over the three names on the bottom, “Christ you two work fast.”

Hermione slowly came up next to him, “Daddy, are you okay with this?”

“Sweetheart, of course I am,” Dan quickly turned to embrace her, “you just have no idea how surprised I am by this.”

“I think I might have a good idea,” Harry remarked.

“Me as well,” Hermione let out a shaky breath.

“All right, what's next?” Emma asked.

“We ask Albus to take you home so you can get ready to work,” Hermione replied, still in her father's arms.

“You expect me to be able to keep my mind on work after learning my baby's going to have a baby?” Dan exclaimed drawing a tiny whimper from Hermione.

“Honestly Hermione, there's so much to do!” Emma shared her husband's mood.

“And plenty of time to do it in. And just so all of you know we're not telling anyone of this at least until Christmas,” Hermione looked between her parents and the elves.

Harry turned to Winky, “Can you hide this tapestry?” The elf smiled and snapped her fingers twice leaving the wall blank. “How is it that you can do in a second what no one in the Order could?”

“Because Sirius never told Kreacher to let them down,” Hermione quietly informed Harry then pulled his face down for a kiss when she saw his mood darken slightly. “So, are the two of you going to be getting along, or do we have to force you out?” she asked her parents.

“But Hermione-” Emma stuttered out.

“Really Mum, it's okay. You've already taken too much time away from your lives for Harry and I as is.”

“You're smarter than that dear,” Dan chuckled. “You are our lives.”

Harry decided to step into the stalemate brewing around him, “Hermione and I do have things we need to figure out, mostly about what to do about a place to live come new years. How about the two of you go about your day and we'll stop by for supper?”

The Grangers conceded and were soon enough being transported away by Albus, though Dan did mumble something like “She's still my baby girl” on the way out.

“I know what you're thinking,” Hermione announced as she came back in the drawing room from seeing her parents away.

“And what's that?”

“You're thinking of leaving, of running off to make me safe but you don't know how to keep me from following you.”

Harry heard her coming closer but didn't turn away from watching the snowfall outside, “He's still out there Hermione. He's hiding, but it won't last. I need to find him before he comes for me.”

“Fine. Let's go.”

“That's not really what I was thinking.”

“I know Harry,” Hermione embraced him from behind. “You want to go off and kill Voldemort to keep him away from me but you know as well as I that I would never allow you to do that.”

“Just like I can't allow you to run off on some mission that could get you and our son killed.”

“Then what are we going to do about this?”

Harry turned in her arms to look down on her determined face, “I have to go.”

“No.”

“Please Hermione, if anything were to happen to you I wouldn't be able to go on.”

“And how well do you think the idea of you running off by yourself and turning me into a single mother makes me feel?” she asked in a raised voice.

“You think he'll beat me?”

“No, but it's not a chance I'm willing to take!”

“Well then what am I supposed to do?” Harry shouted, his eyes were stinging with frustration. “I'm the one that has to end this, not you! Can you give me a single bloody reason why I shouldn't lock you away somewhere safe until he's dead?”

“Because you love me too much to seriously plot something that foolish. Because you promised me you'd never take away my choice in the matter.”

“I promised I'd get you back to Hogwarts in time for exams too, but you don't seem to mind me breaking that one!”

“Mainly because it was my idea to take them early. Tell me Harry, why are you still here? If you're so determined to run off and save us all why haven't you left yet?”

“If I came back you'd murder me for sneaking off,” Harry quietly admitted. “So where does that leave us?”

“Well, neither of us is willing to risk the other's safety so we'll just have to hold out for word from Mr. Weasley on Voldemort's location. In the mean time we're both going to have to concentrate on finding a way to keep the other alive long enough meet our son.”

“All I want you to concentrate on is keeping yourself safe.”

“I already told you I don't fancy the idea of being a single Mum-”

“Well without you I'm nothing. You're not just you anymore Hermione.”

“I know,” she let out an exasperated sigh as more tears sprang from her eyes. “We'll get through this Harry, all three of us.”

Winky was gracious enough to allow Harry a moment to sweetly embrace Hermione before demanding she get downstairs for breakfast after which he made a trip to Gringotts to begin planning what Harry hoped to be a very merry Christmas.

,',',',',',',',',',',',',',',','

The lead up to December twenty-fifth threatened to drive Harry mad. It wasn't the frigid afternoons spent dueling Remus or Tonks in the snow-filled field he'd inherited. He could handle Hermione's mood swings once he'd learned to just go along with whatever she said. Dobby's manic decorating was actually fun to watch. What Harry couldn't stand were the festive collars the elf had put on both Sirius and Crookshanks. The animals had rebelled when they were first given them, but then Dobby had gone and magically affixed them around their necks and the nonstop jingling followed Harry everywhere he went. He had a feeling Crookshanks was shaking his neck so often just to annoy Harry into removing the collar, but the elf had made them irremovable.

Albus brought the Grangers by early Christmas morning so they could join the Potters and Remus and Tonks. Lupin had offered to spend the holiday at Grimmauld but Harry had insisted he and Tonks spend at least part of the day in the cottage before going off to her parents.

“So what exactly are these things?” Dan asked watching Harry and Remus laying in front of the tree setting miniature versions of themselves against each other, part of the set the twins had sent Harry and Hermione.

“It's something Fred and George are nearly foaming at the mouth in anticipation of selling,” Hermione explained. “They've promised to wait until after the war's over but sent us a complete set for approval.”

“There are more figures?” Emma asked.

“I've even got one!” Tonks happily chirped producing it form the box and giggling when its hair began rapidly changing color.

“Hermione's in here as well,” Harry searched after being elbowed away from the stage by Tonks. Thankfully the new versions had their attitudes adjusted so min-Harry and mini-Hermione held themselves to silent flirting as opposed to all-out snogging.

“And did the two of you get our presents?” Dan slyly asked.

“Of course we did, thank you both very much,” Harry grinned sarcastically.

“Oh, and what did you receive?” Remus asked.

“Mum and Dad just sent us some clothing,” Hermione flippantly replied. Of course all of the clothing they'd gotten from the Grangers, Dobby and Winky were meant for the baby.

“And just so you don't think you're forgotten,” Harry handed an envelope to Remus, “Happy Christmas.”

Tonks slid up next to Remus as he withdrew a thick piece of parchment, “Harry…” Remus looked up in shock. “This is the deed to Grimmauld Place.”

“I know that,” Harry chuckled.

“I can't accept this,” Remus resealed the envelope and tried passing it back. “Sirius wanted you to own his house.”

“It's already in your name Moony, and Ragnok won't let it be transferred back. Winky's done an amazing job cleaning up the place and I doubt Sirius would have any problem with you taking over the place. We've got to move out of here by the end of the month so you'll be needing a place to stay.”

“Besides, the two of you will be needing your own home if you ever want your Godson to spend the night,” Hermione smiled and folded her arms around herself as Remus and Tonks' jaws dropped.

“You're not… You can't be… You're joking,” Remus mumbled incoherently.

“No joke. We've only known a little over a week,” Harry confirmed.

“But you already know it's a boy?” Tonks asked sharing Remus' vacant expression.

“The Black Family Tree and the one we got from Mr. Weasley this morning both say so and according to Dobby and Winky they're never wrong,” Harry summoned the gift from their room. They had followed the enclosed instructions and placed a drop of blood each on the canvas and sat in bed watching it stitch itself from their Grandparents all the way down to their unborn son as soon as they had opened it.

“You're naming him James?” Remus quietly asked.

Harry nodded towards his wife, “She insisted.”

“And you want us to be his godparents?” Tonks looked over to Hermione.

“Assuming you're willing.”

“Well I guess this explains why Winky has been by so frequently and forcing you to eat,” Remus' face finally split into a wide grin as he jumped to his feet to congratulate them. Harry had to fight the urge to roll his eyes as all the women in the room began crying.

,',',',',',',',',',',',',',','

“Ahh!” Ron screamed as Harry and Hermione burst into the sitting room of the Burrow just before lunch on Boxing Day. “A little warning might be nice!”

“Nice to see you too Ron,” Harry chuckled. “Happy Christmas Luna.”

“Thank you,” the blonde serenely replied from the sofa Ron had just fallen from.

“And did everyone have a nice holiday?” Hermione asked.

“Daddy and I had a lovely day together, but I think Ronald and his brothers had some difficulties preparing a proper meal.”

“Not difficulties really, it just took us a while to sort out who'd do what. It's a bit harder without Mum…”

Hermione pulled Ron into a hug, her ever-present tears threatening to burst forth, “I'm so sorry Ron, how is everyone getting along?”

“We'll be alright. Dad's a bit sad that Ginny's stayed at school, Fred made a crack about there being a hex on the family seeing that Percy's finally come around only to have Ginny storm away.”

“I'm sorry Ron, I've been trouble for your family since we met,” Harry miserably replied.

“Come off it Harry,” Ron punched him in the shoulder. “You've saved at least half our lives, Ginny included, and Dad and the twins all have you to thank for their careers. We're a thickheaded lot, just look how long it took Percy to come around, or me to grow up. Let Ginny stew, it'll do her good to not get her way for once.”

Harry chuckled and looked over to Luna, “Well done.”

“Harry!” Bill came around from the kitchen closely followed by Fleur and Gabrielle. “It's about time you made it!”

“Hold on,” Ron broke in, “Did you just leave Fred and George alone in the kitchen?”

“Charlie and Liz are in zere and zere girlfriends will be by soon,” Fleur told him while hugging Hermione.

“Charlie's too busy keeping the mistletoe hovering over his head to keep them in line,” Ron muttered and dashed out of the room. Luna let out a dreamy sigh and followed.

“Should I call in Dobby or Winky to help out with lunch?” Harry asked Bill.

“No!” Hermione insisted. “Winky's not had a day off since you hired her and they both do too much as is.” Harry vaguely wondered if it had something to do with their endless attempts at pampering her.

Harry produced an envelope from his jacket similar to the one he'd given Remus the day before, “This is for the three of you.” Bill looked a bit confused as he read the document inside.

“It's a plot of land in Bristol,” Hermione explained. “Sirius left it to Harry, it used to have a house on it but Remus destroyed it in a fit of rage back when he believed Sirius was the one who betrayed Harry's parents.”

“Well then it should be yours-”

“We don't need it Bill, but we thought you might like to have a place for when school's out that is somewhat close to here. If you need any help in getting a house built there just ask,” said Harry.

“Thank you both zo much!” Fleur kissed Harry before turning to embrace Hermione. “We ave been trying to find a home nearby for Arthur'z sake.”

“But what about the two of you?” Bill asked. “Don't you have to leave where you're living at the end of the month?”

“Professor Flitwick is coming by next week to help us remove the wards and then we're moving into Grimmauld Place,” Hermione answered.

“Until our own house is finished. I've spent almost as much time with Ragnok this week as I have Hermione going over the details to put a house up on the land my parents left me.”

“That's one hell of a Christmas present,” Bill chuckled. “What'd Hermione get you?”

Harry looked over to Hermione, they hadn't decided on how to tell everyone. “I'm giving him a son,” she smiled looking Harry in the eye. There were two indistinct bursts of noises as Fleur and Gabrielle collided with Hermione.

“Are you trying to make me look bad?” Bill chuckled as he slapped Harry on the back.

“We weren't really trying for anything,” Hermione responded once Fleur and Gabrielle had taken to attacking Harry who was holding his hands over the younger girl's ears knowing some sort of explanation was coming. “Once the shock had worn off Remus helped us learn that the contraceptive charm I'd been using from Harry's Mum's journals is negated by getting married.”

“Which is the last time Hermione will even think of using a charm on herself without being fully aware of every aspect of it,” Harry stated.

“So it was just an accident?” Bill asked.

“Our son will never be an accident!” Hermione hotly stated then quickly relaxed. “I'm sorry, I've been a bit snappish of late. Accidents are something that can be regretted, James is simply coming around a bit earlier than expected.”

“Dad gave you a family tree for Christmas, is that how you know it's a boy?”

Harry nodded in response to Bill's question, “The one in Grimmauld Place added his name as soon as we picked it out too.”

“Well then, there's only one thing left to do,” Bill proceeded to herd everyone into the kitchen and shush them. After catching Bill's look Harry took a deep breath and proudly told the gathered Weasleys and their dates the news. Ron promptly fainted.

,',',',',',',',',',',',',',',','

“Well it's about time you two showed up,” Fred quipped when Harry and Hermione appeared in the back of their shop on New Years Eve. “If this kind of punctuality is normal for the two of you we might be forced to rethink that job offer.”

“Sorry Fred, everything was just so hectic with moving all our things over to Grimmauld Place and getting Gabrielle back to the Burrow,” Hermione apologized.

“Well it serves you right for offering to take her for a few days, really I just don't know where that girl gets her energy.”

“So what did the two of you want?” Harry asked.

“Lee Jordan is planning a get together, we're going with the girls and though we'd pass along an invitation to the two of you,” said Fred.

“Don't either of you ever talk to your brothers?” Hermione rolled her eyes.

“You wouldn't believe how busy we've been since the Hogwarts kiddies have been on break, here take these,” Fred shoved an armful of products at each of them. “We're trying to hurry up and restock out there so we can close up a bit early.”

“Ah you've arrived!” George called out as they made their way to the sales floor. Harry was quite relieved that there was only a pair of young boys browsing through the merchandise, until they saw Harry, Hermione and Albus striding into the room and nearly knocked over the tub of Edible Dark Marks. “So are they coming?”

“If the two of you ever talked to your family you'd know we have plans,” Hermione replied while sorting through the Snackboxes she'd been given.

“And what could be more important than coming to celebrate with a group of former Gryffindors?”

“We've rented a hotel suite for the evening with a view of the festivities here in London. Ron and Neville are both coming by with their dates,” said Harry.

“So that's why Katie told us to bugger off,” Fred threw back his head in realization. “We thought she was just trying to keep us away from dear Neville. Seems to think we can't be trusted.”

“Most likely because you can't,” Hermione told Fred with a strict face.

“If you guys would like to stop by with Angelina and Alicia I could send Albus by to pick you up,” Harry offered drawing a squawk from the phoenix. “Sorry, I just know you've been feeling a bit ignored so I thought you might like something to do,” Harry stroked the bird roosting on the counter who gave him a look that clearly said oh, all right.

“I suppose we could put in an appearance a bit after midnight,” George looked to his brother for confirmation.

“Of course we can! Are the two of you heading over there now?”

Harry finished straightening the display of Headless Hats he'd been stocking, “It's a bit early so we're going to take our time walking over to the hotel, stop for something to eat on the way-”

“Ah, romantic rendezvous for two?” Fred feigned swooning over Hermione.

“Let's just say we need to be getting on our way,” Harry checked his watch.

“Very well,” George primly started. “We'd tell the two of you to behave yourselves-”

“But it's a bit too late for that.”

“Honestly!” Hermione's hands flew to her hips.

“Just get a move on you scamps,” George began shuffling them to the door, “before those two lose all brain function,” he gestured to the boys who had yet to move from the shock of seeing Harry.

Fred returned to the back room while George went about talking the children out of their allowance. None of them noticed a man wearing a black cloak slipping out of the curtained off section to follow Harry and Hermione as they quietly made their way through Diagon Alley and into Muggle London.

The teenagers received slightly disdainful looks from the restaurant staff and hotel clerk when they arrived at each location thanks to their casual clothing and Manticore hide jackets, but the wad of bills Harry produced at each location quickly brought about more helpful attitudes.

“So, it's only eight o'clock,” Hermione pointed out as she led Harry out to the balcony of their seventh floor suite, “and no one is due to meet us until ten. What should we do until then?”

“Well you seem to already have certain ideas,” Harry mentioned as she trailed kisses along his jaw line.

“What, your wife can't show you a little physical affection without there being an ulterior motive?” Hermione asked then reached behind Harry to grab his arse, lightly grinding their hips together.

Harry, as always, took the bait and in short order their jackets and jumpers were piled in a corner, “Don't you think it's a little cold out here?”

Hermione broke away from her teasing of Harry's nipples, “Well are you a wizard or not?”

“You're not trying to make fun of me over something I said when I was eleven, are you?”

“And if I was?” Hermione quirked an eyebrow and unbuttoned his trousers.

After quickly retrieving his wand Harry cast warming and cushioning charms on the balcony and lowered them to the ground, “Does this remind you of anything?” he asked after removing her bra and tenderly kissing her chest.

“Mmm, last night?”

“I was thinking the hotel in Paris myself, but if you liked last night so much,” Harry quickly rolled her over and ran his tongue along her spine from her bum up to the base of her neck while slipping a hand down the front of her jeans. The Muggles on the patio below them quickly gave up on enjoying the night air.

Just minutes after getting out of the longer than actually needed shower and getting redressed Harry felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight, warned Hermione to brace herself and caught Neville before he crashed to the ground. Thankfully Katie's landing was much more graceful, hardly needing Hermione's help to right herself at all.

“Wow, nice digs,” Katie exclaimed as she plopped down on the bed, “good to see this is still made.”

“And what if it wasn't?” Harry laughed with his former teammate. “We are married, you know.”

“And Winky did tell us about having to remove the jinx Remus put on Harry's bed when we were away,” Hermione remarked.

“Well as far as I could tell it looked like he moved all his stuff into your room pretty quick after the two of you got back,” Neville defended himself and Katie through a furious blush.

“And were married three months later,” Harry fired back.

“Well not everyone moves as fast as the two of you!” Katie jumped back into the playful banter. “At the rate the two of you are going you'll be parents by the time anyone else even gets engaged!”

“Well,” Harry let out a shaky breath, “unless Neville's got a ring in his pocket you'll be right.”

“What?” Neville and Katie both exclaimed as their eyes bugged out in Hermione's direction.

“We just found out a couple weeks ago,” Hermione confirmed. “We're going to have a son.”

“Is something wrong with the charm we found?” Katie quietly asked much to Neville's discomfort.

“No, apparently Lilly never marked down the fact that getting married negates the last application of it.”

“That's good to know,” Katie looked quite relieved. “So, how far along are you?”

“I would guess around six weeks, I have an appointment to go back to the doctor the week after next so hopefully we'll learn more then,” Hermione smiled as Harry wrapped his arms around her middle.

“Doctor, not healer?” Neville asked.

“Let's just say if we have it our way the wizarding public won't learn about James until he takes his first walk through Diagon Alley,” said Harry. “You are the last of our friends to hear, sorry about that. We just haven't seen you.”

“How do you know it's a boy?” Katie asked.

Harry shrugged, “That part's magic.”

A burst of fire brought Ron and Luna into the room, “Sorry we're late Harry. The gnomes tried rebelling against that contraption Dad made to keep them away from the vegetable patch. One of the little buggers took a bite out of Charlie's shin.”

“Did you get everything sorted out?” Harry asked.

“Oh yeah, when we left Dad and Gabrielle had taken over the kitchen table to build more of those poker things,” Ron rolled his eyes.

“She was also quite talkative about her time spent helping the two of you pack away your cottage,” Luna added.

“I think she was just happy to be around and help Winky fawn over Hermione while Remus and I did all the actual work,” Harry smirked.

“So, they know?” Ron nodded his head towards Katie and Neville.

“About the little rug rat? They just told us,” Neville barely managed to dodge Hermione's hand as it traveled towards the back of his head.

“You should be careful what you call their child Neville,” Luna warned. “Hermione hexed George's mouth off for name calling on Boxing Day.”

“Right,” Neville looked slightly terrified. “So how were your N.E.W.T.s?”

“We just got our results yesterday,” Hermione took to the topic with a wide grin. “Harry actually managed to get an `O' in more than one topic and `E's in everything else.”

“And naturally Hermione received top marks on everything,” Harry added leading Hermione to hide her blush in Harry's chest.

“What were the exams like?” Ron eagerly asked.

“Charms and Transfiguration were both pretty easy actually. Without Neville's help I don't think I would've passed Herbology and the written part of Potions was a nightmare. Hermione's Defense practical was a duel against Tonks-”

“So both of you ended up having to duel Aurors for your practicals?” Katie asked.

“And we both won,” Harry beamed at his wife.

“I think we should call room service to bring some champagne to properly celebrate!” Katie declared.

“Call who for what?” Ron quirked an eyebrow.

“Have someone who works here bring us up something alcoholic to drink,” Harry clarified. “But it wouldn't really be fair since we couldn't all have some.”

“Well they don't have to know Luna's underage, do they?” Ron asked.

“He means Hermione. It wouldn't be good for the baby,” Luna told her boyfriend.

“Really it's all right. I'm used to being the sober one,” Hermione wryly smiled. “Just order me some juice.”

When the employee delivering their drinks first saw it was a group of teenagers he was delivering two bottles of champagne and a carton of orange juice to he tried to take the cart away but an exceedingly generous tip from Harry changed his mind, the six of them then adjourned to the still magically warmed balcony to watch the crowd of Muggles below. Harry was forced to Accio back the corks once Ron and Neville discovered how to pop the bottles and after one glass of the bubbly drink Luna was forced to share Hermione's juice. Her giddiness even frightened Ron a bit. It turned out two bottles could barely sustain the four people drinking them until just past eleven, Katie was ordering more before they'd even run out.

Harry grumbled to himself when he heard the knock on the door knowing he'd be expected to leave another extra-large tip, he was quite surprised however when Luna stopped his progress by tightly gripping his arm, “Luna, what are you-” Harry's voice cut out when he took in the terrified look in her eyes.

“The Dark Lord is here,” she whispered in a tremulous voice.

“Luna what are you on about?”

“He's here Harry, waiting at the door. I can feel it.”

“Voldemort's not really the type to wait at the door,” Neville shared a concerned look with the others.

“Unless he's trying to ambush Harry,” Hermione whispered.

Harry's breathing shallowed as another knock drew a whimper from Luna, “Everyone get out of here, now,” he quietly ordered.

There was a quiet slapping noise, “I can't Apparate!” Katie urgently whispered.

Harry withdrew his wand from his jacket pocket and handed it to Hermione who took it without complaint. He drew his mother's from his sleeve and made it half way to the door before changing his mind, “If none of you can Apparate you'll have to run.”

“Room service!” an entirely different voice from the original employee called from outside.

“He's not alone,” Ron assumed.

“Harry if we run, it'll be all of us,” Neville demanded.

“No Nev. We need to split up. We need to get help.”

“Harry, the floor,” Ron suggested. “Blow a whole through it, we might be able to get ahead of them.”

Harry felt the snitch around his neck and the watch around his wrist heat up at the same time, a glance at Hermione confirmed she'd just warned Mr. Weasley of trouble at their location. He pointed his wand a few feet in front of their group, “REDUCTO!”

The blast opening a hole in the floor was immediately followed by one blowing down the door. Harry grabbed Ron, who was closest to him, by the elbow and chucked him down. The Muggles below were quite surprised. Neville grabbed both Katie and Luna and jumped down after Ron as eight Death Eaters preceded Voldemort into the suite.

“Severus, Bellatrix take the others,” Voldemort ordered. Harry's veins turned to ice as he realized the two people he hated most after Voldemort were behind some of the masks before him, but all of the Death Eaters present jumped down after their friends before he could figure out who was who. “We meet again Potter. And Potter… I sent you something to celebrate your marriage, but seeing as you're still alive it seems to have been lost in transit.”

Harry was very relieved he'd told Winky to not bother checking any of their mail after the news broke, just to destroy everything as safely as possible. “Yes well, sorry you didn't get invited to the ceremony.” Harry edged closer to the hole knowing the room below was probably clear by now. Hermione could get over him throwing her down a floor if they both walked out alive.

“Are you not scared?” the Dark Lord taunted. “Left all alone, only a mudblood for comfort in a room with the greatest wizard alive.”

“You're not human enough to be a wizard anymore… By the way, Happy Birthday Tom.”

“Petulant child!” a killing curse shot directly at Harry, Hermione levitated a nightstand into its path showering them all with splinters. Harry made another slight move to remove Hermione from the room but with a sharp jab of Voldemort's wand a mass of flame filled the hole.

“ALBUS!” Harry roared out for the phoenix while sending a Reductor curse towards Voldemort and trying to shove Hermione off into the loo.

“What is that Potter, do you miss the old fool? I would have thought he'd have trained his precious `Chosen One' better than that.”

Hermione held firm against Harry's pressure to leave, “How is it Tom, that someone as brilliant as you were at Hogwarts could get so caught up in something as stupid as a prophecy? The bloody thing didn't even name Harry!”

Voldemort locked eyes with Hermione realizing she knew more than he did about the prophecy, “Tell me what you know mudblood and I might spare you the torment of watching your husband die.”

A flood of warmth passed through Harry as he heard his wife continue taunting the most feared wizard of their age, “I'd rather not say anything and watch him finish you once and for all, if you don't mind.”

Harry threw himself at Hermione as a yellow streak sailed through the air, he successfully knocked her to the ground but felt his left arm go limp as the spell collided with his shoulder. On the way to the ground Harry lashed out a whip of flame around the Dark Lord's ankles and pulled jerking Voldemort's feet from under him. Seeing an opportunity from underneath Harry Hermione fired a blasting curse at the ceiling, the entire room rocked as the bed set from the room above crashed down upon Voldemort.

“Where is that bloody phoenix,” Harry muttered as he jumped to his feet.

The rubble exploded outward as Voldemort reemerged, several of the gouges Hedwig had left on his scalp had been reopened, “Enough of this, I cannot be killed!”

“You're wrong Riddle, we know about your soul-splitting!” Harry shouted.

“I've taken greater leaps towards immortality than you can imagine, you cannot harm me!”

“Really, then you haven't been falling ill since Halloween?” Harry prompted filled with grim satisfaction. “Every time one of your little slags tried to please you? Goblin rings can be quite handy when you've got a maniac running around with your stolen blood. I guess Wormtail did something useful after all.”

Voldemort's face contorted with rage as he actually looked at the rings on their hands, Harry saw his arm in motion and knew he was firing a killing curse at Hermione. Fueled by his protectiveness of her Harry felt a huge burst of raw energy rush through his outstretched arm that sent the Dark Lord flying across the room, slamming him into the wall. Hermione tried to send both beds in the room to pummel him further but he managed to destroy them before impact.

Harry tried to keep himself between Hermione and Voldemort as he slowly closed in, “It's over Tom. I've destroyed them all, you're as human as you can be.”

“You don't know what you're talking about boy!”

“Don't I? Your diary, your Uncle's ring? The locket in the cave, your bloody pet snake? The cup with the dragon, the tiara you had Snivellus guarding? They're all gone,” Harry bored his eyes into Voldemort's, willing him to see each of the objects and their destruction. Harry's lips twisted up into a slight smile as he realized the Dark Lord was scared, for the first time afraid he might truly die.

Lord Voldemort let out an agonizing scream as Harry Potter vanished from the room.

,',',',',',',',',',',',',',','

Ron Weasley was incredibly pissed at Harry for chucking through the hole in the floor, mostly because he landed on his arse. The Muggles in the room screamed themselves blue in the instant before he stunned them for their sake as much as his own.

Neville and Katie landed in a heap next to him while Luna appeared as if she had only hopped off a stool. “…take the others,” Voldemort's voice was clearly heard from above.

“Shit,” Neville mumbled as he blew away the door to the room. “We've got to run!”

Outside the door Neville jerked Katie off in one direction while Luna took his hand and went the other, “This way Ronald, follow my trail.”

“Trail?” Ron gasped out as they ran around the corner, the shouts of the Death Eaters splitting ranks could clearly be heard. “We've got to get out of the building so we can get some help!”

“But I can't Apparate like you,” Luna reminded him, her usual patient voice beginning to wane.

“Damn it, where's that bloody bird when you need it,” Ron jerked Luna to a stop when he noticed a door labeled stairs and blew it open.

“I don't think that one was locked,” Luna mentioned before the wall next to them exploded. She swiped her wand at the door across the hall and pulled Ron into the thankfully empty room. “Quick, make another hole.” Ron quickly obliged but stopped her from jumping down, instead dragging her into the closet and motioning for her to be quiet. With a look that didn't belong in the situation they were in Luna stood on her toes and kissed him just below his ear before whispering, “Excellent thinking dear.”

“I think stunners are going to be pointless against this lot,” Ron whispered back as they heard the shouts of their pursuers entering the room. Four of the Death Eaters had followed, one made the leap down before Ron threw open the closet door sending off another Reductor curse. He'd aimed a bit low and fought the urge to heave as he blew off a man's legs from the knee down. To his right Luna landed a spell on another Death Eater shooting him up in the air so that his head firmly lodged itself in the ceiling. The third remaining in the room got off a killing curse, which Ron had to shove Luna out of the way of before sending one of Neville's cannonballs straight into his mask. Before either of them could be happy of what they'd done the fourth sprang back up from below.

“Just what do you think you're doing, Weasley?” Severus Snape growled out as he ripped off his mask. One side of his face was still scared from the day in Hogsmeade.

“Reducto!” Ron shouted aiming for the man's chest but his curse was deflected straight at Luna who barely dodged it.

“Pitiful! Even Potter could do better than that,” a noise like a gunshot echoed through the room as Snape sent Ron crashing into the wall. His mind vaguely registered Luna's voice and his vision cleared to find she'd conjured a small flock of what could have been birds but for the tentacles dangling down from their bodies and sent them at their former professor.

“Silly little girl!” Snape taunted her with an outraged look on his face. “Can't get your head out of the stars long enough come up with a proper spell.”

“That attitude is exactly why you were never very popular at Hogwarts,” Luna replied a little out of breath.

Seizing the opportunity Ron took up the leg of the desk he'd been thrown into and swung it like a beater's bat knocking out several of Snape's yellow teeth, he also succeeded in getting himself thrown down into the hole landing flat on his back. Above him Luna let out a scream of protest and a burst of what looked like pink lightning connected with Snape's chest.

The Potion's Master had obviously been hurt, but not enough to stop him from shouting, “Avada Kedavra!” Ron watched helplessly from below as the green jet streaked out of view. There was a flash of light and a shriek from the corner Luna had been standing in and the world seemed to dull as an all consuming rage filled his senses, his minds eye filled with an image of Luna falling lifelessly to the ground. Snape was too preoccupied with Luna's fate no notice Ron whipping his wand up towards him producing a heavy metal chain that wrapped around his neck. With all the strength he possessed Ron pulled down.

A strange gurgling noise emitted from Snape's throat as he fell through the air landing on the back of his head with a dull crunch. Ron snatched the git's wand from his limp hand and snapped it in two before wiggling his fingers under the chain to see if he had a pulse. The belief that he hadn't been able to help Luna anymore than his Mum when it mattered the most made Ron's eyes sting and bottom lip tremble. Snape had a pulse. A weak one, but it was there. His hand quivered as it encircled Snape's neck, his grip slowly tightened; Ron's breathing grew erratic when he dispelled the chains to better choke the murdering git…

“Ronnie, if you keep doing that your father will never be able to put him on trial.”

“L - Luna?” Ron jumped back in shock and looked up to see her smiling down on him. He could feel the tears streak down his cheeks, hoping with all he had that it was really her because at that moment she looked like an angel to him.

“Who would you expect?”

“But, the curse… I thought you'd…”

“It was quite scary for a moment there, you should come back up here and see. Unless you'd rather stay down there with Professor Snape?”

Ron had the presence of mind to bind Snape neck to foot in chains before dashing to the stairs and back up a floor. When he entered the room the fight had originated in he found the three other Death Eaters all bound with heavy orange cords. Luna sat in the corner she'd nearly been killed in tickling what looked like a chick sitting in a pile of ashes. Ron had a bit of a hard time forcing his breath steady as he rushed to her side, tightly gripping her to his chest as if to reaffirm she was really there.

“I'm all right Ronald… Harry's phoenix came just in time to intercept the curse,” Luna kissed away a tear slinking down his cheek.

“Thank Merlin. Please, don't ever scare me like that again,” Ron refused to loosen his grip.

“As lovely as this is dear, we should go see if Harry needs our help.”

“Harry!” Ron jumped to his feet nearly stepping on the baby Albus.

Luna scooped up Albus, ashes and all and slipped him into the pocket over her breast. “We should put Professor Snape up here with the others. I burnt that man's legs so he wouldn't bleed to death though I'm afraid that will make it impossible to reattach the rest.”

“Right, of course,” Ron absentmindedly replied as he hastily levitated Snape up and dropped him on the pile of unconscious Death Eaters. “Let's go,” he grabbed her hand and made a dash back to the stairs to get back up to the suite where he'd left his oldest friends.

,',',',',',',',',',',',',',','

Neville and Katie raced through the hotel taking every turn they came across as the walls and floor exploded from the barrage of curses being flung at them.

“Wait!” Katie shouted seeing an opportunity. She neatly levitated a soda machine sitting in a small nook, spun around and flung it back down the hall. There was a loud crash and a muffled scream as it came to rest on top of one of their pursuers. A door creaked open as an old man peaked out into the hall to investigate the noises.

“Avada Kedavra!”

Neville froze around the corner as he recognized the voice that had haunted so many of his dreams, “Bellatrix,” he got out as the pace of his breathing increased. Katie knew exactly whom he was referring to and what she'd done to her boyfriend's family, her face quickly paled.

“Quick, in here,” Katie blasted a door to another suite. There was a muggle couple hardly any older than themselves halfway through undressing each other on the bed, before they could cause any trouble Neville stunned them hoping the Death Eaters wouldn't bother with them as long as they didn't move.

Hoping to double back Neville blasted open the wall to the adjoining room, shoved Katie through and tossed a packet of the twins' Instant Darkness Powder behind him. Two rooms and eight stunned Muggles later they came back to the room where the old man had been killed, the racket of their moving between rooms hadn't been quiet enough apparently.

“Come out Longbottom,” Bellatrix cackled from out in the hall. “Come and play and we might leave your little mudblood in one piece.”

“Piss off you old hag!” Katie shouted back.

“Wrong answer!” Bellatrix gleefully shouted and her two remaining partners burst into the room wildly flinging killing curses. Neville tackled Katie to the ground and sent every piece of furniture in the room flying towards their attackers hoping to distract them.

Katie saw Neville's plan and managed to hit one of the Death Eaters with a trip jinx then binding spell, but Bellatrix chose that moment to enter the room and freed him. Giving up on playing fair the fifth time they had to roll clear of a jet of green Neville began flinging blasting curses at every limb he could see and eventually managed to remove one of the men's wand hand. When Katie applied Neville's attack against Bellatrix she whipped the injured man through the air to intercept causing Katie's curse to evaporate part of his abdomen.

Neville was growing more and more worried by the fact that Bellatrix was all but ignoring him and surely only toying with Katie. Taking a chance as soon as he saw it Neville fired off a half-dozen cannonballs, some destroying the sixth floor window and one lucky shot hitting the other man in the gut sending him flying out into the night. He discovered too late that this distraction was what Bellatrix was waiting for.

“Crucio!”

“NO!” Neville screamed as he spun around to find Katie writhing on the floor. Bellatrix only held the cruse for a few seconds, but it was enough to leave Katie curled up in a ball, her face streaked with tears.

“Give up Longbottom. Your little mudblood here doesn't have to suffer anymore, just turn yourself over to the Dark Lord.”

“The hell I will!” Neville shouted and tried to curse her but the evil witch sent him flying across the room and turned back to torturing Katie to keep her down. “Would you stop that!” Neville yelled as he struggled to his feet.

“Is the little boy finally ready to give?” Bellatrix asked in a girlish voice. “Is he really too weak to fight back? Even Potter had enough gall to try an Unforgivable on me when I killed my mutt of a cousin.” She grabbed a handful of Katie's hair yanking her up from the ground, “Maybe we should find out what would happen if I were to slit her throat, really Longbottom, even your miserable excuse for a father wasn't stupid enough to sully his family name with a mudblood-”

“ENOUGH!” Neville roared, all magic forgotten as he lunged at Lestrange who was surprised enough to release the dazed Katie as their bodies collided, both of their wands went clattering away. Neville landed a solid punch to her face removing her mask and hood while Bellatrix attempted to reach her wand. Seeing her movement Neville pressed the forefinger of one of his hands as far into her eye socket as he could.

Lestrange leapt back screaming, blood pouring down one side of her face and drew a dagger from inside her robes as Neville made to assault her bodily again. He was almost to late to react to the blade and ended up receiving a severe gash to one of his thighs, as he landed he managed to ram an elbow down onto her chest effectively knocking the wind from her. He made a scramble for his wand only to find the witch pulling back on his ankles. When Neville rolled over and kicked the bloody side of her face she spat up blood and tried to overtake him. The last second before he would have lost the race Katie became mobile enough to toss Neville her own wand. From less than a foot away Neville launched a high velocity cannonball directly at Bellatrix Lestrange promptly smashing every bone in her face. He then bound, gagged and stunned her twice for good measure before rushing over to Katie's side.

“Hey there,” Katie feebly smiled as Neville tried to help her sit up.

“What have you got to smile about?” he asked with a touch of panic knowing too well the pain she'd just been exposed to.

Katie brushed a hand along his cheek and lightly kissed his lips, Neville had a feeling that if she'd used any more pressure she would have hurt herself, “I'm proud of you. You didn't sink to her level… you didn't kill her.”

Neville brushed away her tears and tried to remember the last time someone had told him outright they were proud of him. There was only one time that stood out and that was when he'd been dropped head-first from a window; even after all of the business in the Department of Mysteries most of his family had commented that it was about time he started living up to his Dad's name. They'd all been more than happy to go on about how brave Harry'd been, not that Neville would ever hold that against him… Harry… “Can you walk?”

Katie nodded a little, “Just help me up. Are you all right?”

“We need to find Harry.”

,',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',','

Harry's mind awoke to a dull echo of the searing pain he had always associated with his scar, when his vision swam into focus he saw Hermione looking back at him in shock and fear. It didn't make any sense until he looked down and saw a skeletally thin hand with abnormally long fingers. He was looking through the eyes of Voldemort, no more than that… he was Voldemort.

“Hermione,” he said in astonishment both at what was happening and the cold voice that he had just spoken with.

Get out of my head Potter! Voldemort's voice hissed through his mind. This parlor trick of yours will never rid you of me!

“I'm in control here!” Harry bellowed out as he felt the coils of the Dark Lord try to wrestle control back from him, his knees nearly buckled from a burst of pain.

You can't kill me! The voice echoed around in every corner of his head.

Harry looked down at Voldemort's wand, the brother to his own. “Not you, us,” he muttered and flipped the wand around in his hand so it pointed back at his own chest.

“Harry!” Hermione shrieked and rush towards him only to stop a foot away not sure what to do. She looked up into his eyes, he knew she was trying to find him somewhere within the horrid red eyes of Voldemort's body. “Don't you even think about it,” she muttered, tears streaming down her face.

Harry wanted to brush them away but knew it would be Voldemort's hand, not his own. “I'm sorry Hermione, this has to end.”

“NO!” she yelled finally reaching to him to pry the wand from his grip.

“Don't make me fight you,” Harry could feel a wave of emotion pass through him drowning out Voldemort's constant snarling.

“You can't do this,” she wailed.

Just kill the bitch, she only stands in your way Voldemort taunted.

“You can't leave me now Harry. You can't leave us…” Hermione's comparatively small fingers wiggled their way between Harry's and the wand he was holding finally freeing it from his grasp. “What about me Harry, what will I do without you? What about James?”

Hermione tentatively reached up to lay a hand on his cheek, Voldemort's… “Don't touch me, not like this,” Harry recoiled.

“Then come back to me!”

Yes Potter, go back to her so I can properly kill you both… along with your son.

“No!” Harry shouted as he felt Voldemort trying to delve deeper into his own mind.

“Harry,” Hermione whispered as she crossed her arms over her abdomen, “come back to us.”

Harry felt a strong urge to cry then realized Voldemort wasn't human enough to do so. He remembered just a few hours ago making love out on the balcony, and again in the shower. A massive feeling of disgust tried to swell up around him but he was able to push it down. He looked down to Hermione and was met by the same eyes he'd seen earlier when he was peppering her pelvis with kisses, as close as he could get to his son for now.

The images flooded to the forefront of his mind, every time he'd imagined Hermione pregnant, the feeling of absolute completion he'd had since learning she was. The dreams he'd had nearly every night of the two of them passing their child back and forth. He could feel the same tingle in his fingertips as when he ran them over Hermione's bare skin even though he wasn't touching her at all. Harry closed his eyes and allowed the images to overtake him. He didn't know if he was going to live past this moment but he was happy to be feeling these things, even if it was for the last time, in the presence of the person he loved more than anything.

There was screaming, a horrid fearful cry. Harry hadn't noticed it arriving; for all he knew it could have always been there, but he slowly became aware that the clearer the his feelings became the more the screaming faded until there was an unimaginable burst of pain, almost as if every bone in his body shattered into a million fragments at once and then nothing… only peace.

,',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',','

Hermione watched in utter amazement as Voldemort's face gained a bit of color and a pleasant smile. She knew it was Harry controlling the body but the image of the Dark Lord standing before her, eyes closed and smiling not in a manic way but one that radiated love, was an image that would be with her well beyond her time on earth. She knew her husband was somehow at that very moment fighting for his life along with the lives of countless others and yet she stood rooted to a spot on the floor barely two feet away with Harry's wand in her right hand, Voldemort's in her left and her own in her pocket with absolutely no clue what to do with any of them.

When the smile broke out across his face she couldn't help but join in despite the knowledge that the lipless mouth before her had only ever shown malice and spite. Lord Voldemort's body began slowly pulsing light until a golden nimbus formed around it. The aura flashed, a microsecond of the most brilliant light imaginable followed by an explosion that knocked Hermione to the ground. She'd thought Voldemort's body had landed on her until she finally cleared her vision to find Harry's face just inches away, the beatific smile she'd been admiring a moment before looked perfect when plastered across the face of the person who owned her heart. The heart that had stopped beating the moment she realized he'd come back. Not bothering to keep her prayers silent Hermione nestled her cheek up against Harry's nose, the seconds seemed infinite until the slow tickle of his breathing sent a tingle through every cell in her body. He was alive… Somehow she just knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that everything was going to be fine.

“Harry! Hermione!” Ron's frantic shouting brought Hermione's mind back to the present. She looked upside down at him and Luna rushing back into the room then mentally kicked herself to look over to where Voldemort's body had stood. What she found was a crumpled heap of a Dark Lord, blood was seeping from his eyes, ears, nose and mouth.

“Is he…” Ron trailed off looking down at Harry's limp form on top of her.

Hermione gently rolled them over and brushed her hand across his rosy cheek, “He's alive Ron. I think he's done it.” She looked up into her friend's eyes and found her own tears being mirrored until he cautiously moved over to Voldemort and placed two fingers against his neck.

“I don't feel anything, do you think he's really…” it was almost as if he didn't dare ask.

“Harry!” Neville's voice rang through the hallway a second before he came into view with Katie leaning heavily on his shoulder. Hermione sprang to her feet and rush over to them while Luna began jetting water on the still smoldering fire in the room.

“Katie are you all right, what happened?”

“I'll be fine, just a little sore. Is everyone-” her voice died out when her eyes landed on Harry's still form.

“He's alive, and we think he's done it,” said Ron.

“How do we stop thinking and know?” Katie asked. “I mean he looks pretty dead from here, but...”

“I agree, this situation calls for certainty not assumptions,” Luna supplied.

Hermione glanced from person to person before taking a breath and calling for Dobby who took on the expression of a lost child upon seeing the room. “Dobby listen to me,” Hermione held the elf's head still as she knelt before him. “Harry's alive and help should be on the way but right now I need the sword.”

With a snap of his shaky fingers Gryffindor's sword appeared in his tiny hands. Hermione closed her eyes for a moment before reaching out to take it.

“Wait,” Neville stopped her. “I should do it, since Harry can't.” The others in the room were amazed as Hermione simply nodded and took his place as Katie's support. Neville relieved the elf of his burden, quietly limped over to the fallen Dark Lord and placed the tip of the sword directly over his heart. He took one deep breath to prepare himself and leaned forward slowly impaling the corpse of Tom Marvolo Riddle.

,',',',',',',',',',',',',',',','

When Harry finally began to stir he realized he was lying in a bed with someone who had their hands wrapped protectively around him, “I'll never get tired of this,” he mumbled as he tightened his grip.

“Harry!” Hermione jumped from her position on top of him. He slowly opened his eyes to find Hermione beaming down on him.

“Are you okay? And James?” Harry quietly asked ignoring everything but her moist eyes.

“Now that we have you again, we're perfect,” Hermione sniffed.

“You didn't have me?”

“Well, you were only out three days this time,” Hermione lightly told him.

“Is… Is it over?”

“It is love. You did it,” her dam finally burst and Hermione buried her head in his shoulder. Harry's head dropped back into his pillow and he felt a bit lightheaded as he was able to breathe deeply for the first time in years.

“We're all fine, if you were wondering,” Ron's rather loud voice carried across the room.

Harry finally looked around and found himself in a private room in St. Mungo's. There were three pairs of beds set up though only one from each pair was actually being used. “Why are we all here?”

“Dad's been keeping us all tucked away waiting for you to wake up, apparently there're some people a bit upset that we decided to destroy two floors of a perfectly fine hotel in return for saving the world,” Ron sarcastically replied.

“And besides Hermione and Luna we all needed a bit of work,” Neville added.

“Is everyone all right? What happened?” Harry asked as he rolled onto his side to hug Hermione's back to his chest, one hand automatically drifting down to her stomach.

“All of the Death Eaters were caught and the only people who died were Voldemort and a Muggle man Bellatrix decided was in her way,” said Hermione.

“So the Aurors showed up to help?”

“Nope, the four of us got `em all,” Ron proudly stated.

“Even Snape?”

“Ronald hurt Professor Snape terribly when he thought he'd killed me,” Luna happily replied. “Of the eight that were there six are still here in the hospital.”

“Why would he think you'd died?”

“Well I saw him shoot a killing curse at her after we got separated but couldn't see your phoenix swoop in and swallow the curse whole,” Ron explained. “I kind of paralyzed him.”

“Maybe now the Head Girl will take it easy on you so we can spend some more time together,” Luna hopefully mentioned to Ron.

“Any extra time Ron has will have to be spent on studying with N.E.W.T.s approaching,” Hermione pointed out. “And don't worry about Albus, Dobby's taking care of him.”

“You have to get us out of here Harry, she's bringing up exams five times a day,” Neville whined.

“I'll try,” Harry chuckled. “What else happened?”

“Katie and I got chased by Lestrange and a few of their thugs, I ended up bludgeoning her half to death. Gran's over the moon about that,” Neville half smiled.

“And Voldemort, did I…”

“You don't remember much do you?” Hermione asked.

“It's all a bit fuzzy.”

“Well, you possessed him and somehow that did him in. While you were unconscious and just before the Aurors arrived we wanted to be sure so Dobby brought Gryffindor's sword by and Neville… ran him through.”

Harry's head jerked over to Neville who gave half a shrug, “We had to make sure. The pictures were all over the prophet the next morning with him slumped against the wall and the sword poking out of his chest.”

“So I assume your Dad's going to make me take a medal,” Harry prompted Ron.

“All of us actually. Luna's going to be the youngest Order of Merlin recipient ever,” Ron's grin threatened to break his face as Luna happily cuddled up to him.

“Mr. Weasley is trying to make it as private of an affair as possible, hopefully just a few pictures in the Prophet,” said Katie.

“There's also the matter of the Queen and Prime Minister stopping by while you were out.”

“Them too?” Harry whined.

“They'd like to give you something but are waiting for your input,” said Hermione.

“At least that's something,” Harry rolled eyes spent a minute kissing Hermione behind her ear feeling a need to be closer to her. “Where are your Mum and Dad and everyone else?”

“Visiting hours ended a while ago so if they're part of the wizarding world they're out celebrating, otherwise it's just Saturday,” said Ron. “Fred and George have been launching off Whiz Bangs like mad over Diagon Alley.”

“And they said they want to make little toy versions of us all!” Neville beamed.

“And the rest of our names are being batted around almost as much as yours in the Prophet!” Ron excitedly mentioned. Harry took some measure of comfort in the fact that he wasn't being hailed as the sole savior of the wizarding world.

“We had a rather rude Unspeakable visiting yesterday with Ron's father,” Luna mentioned. “He didn't want to accept the possibility that something other than the sword could have killed Voldemort so Hermione had your friend Dobby bring your Pensieve by and showed us all what happened after we'd split up.”

“We also told them almost everything about the Horcruxes and how we destroyed them,” Hermione admitted.

“Almost everything?”

“Well, it's like you said. They were going to want to collect them for study so we might have forgotten to mention the existence of a certain tiara when Dobby brought the rest of them by.” Hermione's lip slipped between her teeth as she smiled mischievously at him.

“Of course none of us are mentioning it in the hopes of possibly having a desire to borrow it some day,” Katie glanced at Neville who quickly turned red.

“So you both know the whole story behind all of this?” Harry asked Luna and Katie.

“We were a bit surprised when Neville insisted on stabbing Voldemort, but it makes sense now,” said Luna.

“Even if was pointless,” Neville muttered.

“What I can't believe is how Professor Dumbledore could keep all that from you until the worst possible time,” Katie looked sadly over to Harry.

“It doesn't matter anymore,” Hermione stroked his cheek, “it's all over now.” A relaxed silence filled the room for a minute.

“They're seriously making our families stick to visiting hours?” Harry asked.

“There's a dozen Aurors making sure we aren't being bothered right now,” said Hermione. “Which unfortunately would make sneaking away that much harder.”

Hermione's meaning of `sneaking away' was quite clear to Harry in the way she wiggled her bum under the blankets. “Well, have any of you actually tried to Apparate out of this place yet?”

“I'm pretty sure it's warded against that Harry,” Ron rolled his eyes.

“Are you sure?” Hermione joined Harry's side of things. “Maybe you're just insufficiently Determined. Isn't that what Mr. Twycross said when you failed your first test?”

As Ron spent his time stuttering his way towards a response Harry climbed out of bed. When he went to stretch his left arm jerked erratically for a few seconds, “So, is that permanent?”

“Oh, I forgot to mention that,” Hermione stretched out on the bed in a way that reminded Harry of Crookshanks before getting to her feet. “Being your heroic self you dived in front of something Voldemort meant for me but your jacket absorbed most of it so the healers had an easy job getting things healing. The twitches should be gone within a week.”

“So now what are we going to do?” Harry asked Hermione.

“Well, that depends where you want to go,” she grabbed the front of his hospital gown and pulled him close.

“Oy! I'm right here, I'll go somewhere!” Ron called over.

“I'm gonna need clothes,” Harry continued on ignoring Ron.

“So Grimmauld Place or are we going shopping?”

“I'll go shopping,” Katie offered.

“The elves will kill us if we go far and don't let them come along,” Harry kept the loud-but-private conversation going.

“They wouldn't do anything until after James is born,” Hermione pointed out.

“You know if we wanted to not be a part of a conversation we'd invite Fred and George around more often,” Neville joined the complaining.

“We still need money, I have plenty in the trunk.”

“Oh all right,” Hermione feigned defeat. “We'll just try and sneak in the house without anyone catching us.”

Harry and Hermione both looked to Luna who had yet to try and break into the conversation. “If you see Albus can you thank him for saving my life,” she asked them with her dreamy smile.

“Of course we can,” Harry easily replied then wrapped his arms around Hermione Apparating them back into their room at Grimmauld Place for a few minutes of privacy.

“There is one more thing I haven't told anyone,” Hermione quietly told Harry as she walked over to the nightstand on her side of the bed and returned with three wands: Harry's, his mother's, and Voldemort's.

“You kept it?” Harry blankly asked picking Voldemort's from the group.

“I couldn't bear the thought of you not having the option to maybe use it to see your parents again.”

A short breath escaped Harry's mouth as he rolled the yew between his fingers. “No,” a tear streaked down Harry's cheek and he slowly shook his head. “The place they've moved on to is where they're meant to be. They're with us now in their own way, it's probably better for them to stay at peace.”

“I understand,” Hermione sniffed and wiped away her own tears. “I just thought you'd like the choice.”

They shared a small smile before Harry quietly told her, “Thank you.” In one sharp movement Harry snapped the wand in two, together they watched a piece of one of Fawkes' feathers slip out of the wood and vanish in a puff of flame. “So, do you think we've let them stew long enough or should we wait a few minutes before getting them out of the hospital?”

“I think they'll be fine for a little while longer,” Hermione smugly replied before pulling Harry to her for the first of many kisses in their new life.

,',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',','

By suppertime Ron, Luna, Neville and Katie had all been smuggled out of the hospital to meet Mr. Weasley, Mr. Lovegood, Mrs. Longbottom, the Bells, the Grangers and Remus in Grimmauld Place. Harry thought the least he could do for getting everyone into a life-threatening situation was have them over for a nice meal and Remus was more than happy to provide the location.

“So Harry, now that you're done with school, unemployed and Dark Lord free what are you and Hermione going to do?” Mr. Lovegood asked as he finished his dessert.

Completely forgetting that he was speaking to a newspaper editor Harry gave a completely honest answer, “We are going to do as much as we possibly can.”

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Epilogue

A small girl with long auburn hair and brilliant green eyes squealed with delight as the silver stag she was riding on chased and otter along the stream in her yard. “Daddy, be careful! You almost stomped on Mum!” She let out another squeal as she rose up into the air, ending up sitting on the shoulders of a thirty-five year old Harry Potter.

“I did no such thing!” he retorted and reached up to tickle his youngest child.

The otter ran a circuit around their legs before morphing into Hermione Potter, “Harry stop that! We've just eaten breakfast, you'll make Lilly sick!” she chided him as she grabbed Lilly and set her on the ground.

“Really Mum, I'm fine,” Lilly rolled her eyes.

“Just like your father was fine after wrestling a Yeti? Or being chased by a dragon half way across Sweden?”

“Your day's just not complete without mentioning that dragon is it?” Harry lightly asked as he ran a hand along Hermione's shoulders.

“Well I hardly think it's worth risking your life for some silly trophy, you nearly killed James and I with worry!”

“He was four love, he hardly remembers it.”

“Yeah Mum, lighten up,” Lilly chirped from in between them.

Hermione dramatically sighed and turned back to the house muttering, “He's turned my own children against me.”

Harry took Lilly's hand and made to follow but was cut off by a train of people on broomsticks whizzing around the property, “Oy! If any of you get hurt I'll make sure Madam Pomfrey doesn't get around to fixing you up until after the feast tonight!”

An orange blur broke away from the rest and came to a quick stop in front of Harry and Lilly. “Come on Harry it's just a bit of fun! Besides, Katie and I need to warm up for practice,” Ron Weasley tried to reason with his friend and made a motion to the violent orange jumper with a black `CC' embroidered in it.

“Like your coach isn't going to be making you lot do laps as soon as you walk out on the pitch,” Harry rolled his eyes.

“Right! So we're just having a bit of fun before heading off for something not so fun,” Ron again tried to reason with him.

“It's already after ten anyway Ron, we need to gather everyone up so I can make a portkey to the station.”

“You know it's a Weasley family tradition to avoid getting there until the last minute!” Ron proudly stated drawing a giggle from Lilly.

“I don't think Hermione will take that for an excuse, especially with James having to report early for Head Boy duty.”

Ron slumped his shoulders in defeat and flew back to the group shouting things like, “No we don't have time for that! - Put the bludger back! - Do you want your Mum to hear what you just said? Then let go of your brother's broom!”

“Daddy, what kind of animal will I be when I grow up?” Lilly asked as they watched the train of people wander inside their house.

“I don't know sweets. The easiest way to find out would be to teach you the Patronus Charm, but you'd probably need your own wand for that.”

“I couldn't use Grandma Potter's?”

“It might work, but it would be a lot easier with your own. I tell you what, for your birthday next month we'll go visit Mr. Ollivander. It's about time you had a wand matched to you and I can try and teach you at night after that.”

“But isn't that supposed to be a really hard charm?”

“Yeah, I couldn't do it until I was nearly fourteen-”

“But I'll only be seven!”

Harry chuckled and picked her up to join the others inside, “Very true, but you'll be the smartest seven-year-old I know.”

“I get that from Mum,” Lilly proudly stated.

“That you do,” Harry chuckled and moved to kiss her cheek.

“Dad, no! Your beard's all scratchy!” Lilly giggled holding out her little hands to block his progress.

Harry put on a playful pout the rest of the way inside but couldn't succeed in changing her mind. Ron, Luna, Neville, Katie and both couples' children had come by for breakfast had the trip to platform nine and three-quarters. At the moment Katie and Neville's oldest son was digging through his school trunk trying to find his new prefect badge while Ron and Luna's twin fourteen-year-old daughters, who looked exactly like their mother but with flaming orange hair, were passing said badge back and forth trying to decide who could wear it on their ear. Ron and Katie, who was wearing a matching team jumper to Ron's, were sitting at the table deep in discussion about an upcoming match completely oblivious to that fact that Ron's twelve-year-old son was spiking their drinks with something his uncles had given him that would make them think they were flying backwards the next time they got on their brooms.

“It's all your fault you know,” Harry muttered to Hermione after putting Lilly down.

“Oh, what now?” Hermione asked in a flustered voice watching the chaos grow in her kitchen.

“Lilly's still refusing to let me kiss her thanks to this beard you've made me grow.”

“But you wear it so well,” Hermione slightly pouted tickling her fingers along his jaw line. “Doesn't he look better with it Lilly?” The little girl scrunched up her nose and shook her head. “Oh, you'll understand when you're older.”

“But it'll still be scratchy then too,” Lilly huffed as if her mother was mad for wanting Harry to grow the beard in the first place.

Harry left his wife to try and explain her reasons to their very strong-willed daughter and wandered into the sitting room. Dobby, Luna, Neville and his eleven year-old son were all sitting in front of the telly completely focused on the Playstation game they were competing in while Winky sat on the sofa coloring a picture with her and Dobby's two-year-old son. Harry shook his head as he remembered how amazed he was at the baby elf when he was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand but powerful enough to make all of Hermione's hair stick straight out from her head when amused.

A bang turned Harry's attention to his twins coming down the stairs. When they first learned they were having a boy and a girl Harry and Hermione had tried to get Dan and Emma to let them name the children after them and been repeatedly shot down, the Grangers were only slightly amused when they were introduced to David and Emily at the hospital. Now the twins were getting ready for their first trip on the Hogwarts Express by levitating their trunks into each other. Some days Harry was happy he and Hermione had made the decision to let their children do magic at home but sometimes, like now, he wondered if it was the right thing to do.

“Hold on a second,” Harry stopped their progress at the bottom of the stairs. “Are you two really planning to go the whole train ride and sorting ceremony with blue hair?”

The fact that both twins were Metamorphmagi had come as a shock. One day when they were four years old Harry called them and James, who was nine at the time, in for lunch. Harry'd actually asked James where he'd found his two blond-haired friends before realizing they were his own children, Tonks came for dinner that night. For some reason neither of them could get the green eyes they shared with their father and siblings to change.

“What's wrong with blue Dad?” Emily asked.

“Nothing, I'm just imagining the look on your Mum's face when the two of you march into the Great Hall looking like that.” The twins cringed in unison and Harry leaned down to whisper to them, “How about this: go natural until after you've been sorted then change to your house colors.”

“Won't Mum still get mad?” David asked.

“I'll deal with your mother tonight,” Harry winked. “She won't have time to catch up to the two of you until after class tomorrow.”

David and Emily screwed up their faces in concentration changing their hair back to its natural brown and smiled mischievously as they made their way into the kitchen with the others.

“I'm not going to have to discipline them over whatever you were just plotting with them am I?” Harry's son James asked as he came down the stairs.

“That depends on how forgiving your Mum's feeling tonight,” Harry gave him a pat on the shoulder.

“Just do me a favor and remind her I had no part in whatever it is,” James laughed and followed his siblings' path.

Harry smiled with pride as he watched from outside the room as Hermione went about straightening the Head Boy badge on their son's chest. He remembered the day back in Hogsmeade when Hermione had dueled Voldemort and his father's parting words to give his children the life they wanted for him. Now, nearly seventeen years later, Harry watched his son who looked nearly identical to himself, who had even been born a couple of weeks early and shared his birthday, and wondered if this is the life his parents had wanted to give him.

The first five years of James' life had been some of the most interesting of Harry's. Interspersed with the ups and downs of being first-time parents he and Hermione had taken James with them everywhere they went. They tried to not stay away more than a month at a time for their family and friends' sake but as he grew their trips became adventures, after all how many five-year-olds get to cheer on their father wrestling a Yeti in Tibet? For her part Hermione had offset Harry's exploration days with ones set aside just to learn about wherever they were and as a way quench the publics thirst for Harry came up with the idea to send travel reports in to Mr. Lovegood at the Quibbler. By the end of the first year of reports it was the third most read wizarding publication in England. The fifth year, which included a second section for children partially compiled by James, made the Quibbler number one all across Europe and in a few other parts of the globe.

After five and a half years of teaching Transfiguration Fleur decided she wanted to quit and work on starting a family; McGonagall owled Hermione as soon as Fleur had left the office. Hermione only agreed after creating a warning system to notify her when someone came to her office allowing her to remain living in their house in Godric's Hollow throughout the year. Harry had to feel a little sorry for the students of the school as Hermione's first four months teaching were also the last four of her pregnancy with the twins. Settling down from years of globetrotting had been odd for Harry at first, but with three children to tend to he had plenty to do. They still spent their summers traveling and every September Mr. Lovegood was happy to receive a new travel log but the summer Hermione was pregnant with Lilly changed everything. In their hut in Bali an owl swooped in with the news that Professor Flitwick had retired his post and McGonagall wanted Harry to fill it.

At first he'd turned her down not wanting to relinquish his job as stay-at-home Dad, but in the end James, Emily and David talked him into it. Harry's one regret of his adult life was that he didn't get to spend the first years of Lilly's life with her as he had his other children and instead had to settle for their nights together playing out in the yard or taking strolls through the village to visit Remus in his parents reopened shop. The job of running The Wolf's Den, were all the employees were werewolves, had been a wedding present to him two years after Voldemort fell. Thankfully Harry and Hermione had very reliable babysitters in Lilly's godparents, Dobby and Winky, because Harry's first year of teaching was the longest of his life. The sheer amount of paperwork was enough to drive him mad and students quickly learned to behave around him when he started assigning detentions making them accompany Hagrid into the forest to feed Fluffy.

“Everyone's ready,” Hermione's voice broke Harry from his reprieve.

“Well it's about time,” Harry joked looking around the room at his children and his friends with their families, really they were all an extended family as Ron was the only adult who'd grown up with any siblings.

Harry walked over to the eight trunks and tapped the top one of each stack with his wand causing them to glow blue and shudder. James walked over and gave him a brief hug, “Good luck tonight Dad.”

“Thanks, you too,” he chuckled softly then stepped over to Hermione and Lilly to watch as everyone else put a hand on one of the trunks and Ron counted them down and away.

“Well Lilly, we have a few hours until Dad and I need to leave, is there anything you want to do?” Hermione asked.

“I don't know,” the girl shrugged her shoulders. “Daddy says I can get a wand for my birthday and find out what animal I can be.”

“Harry!” Hermione nearly shouted at him. “Honestly, I couldn't even do that charm until I was sixteen!”

“Daddy could do it at thirteen, and he says I'll be smart enough to try at seven.”

“She got that part from you,” Harry said in a serious voice.

“You two are incorrigible,” Hermione rolled her eyes. “Now that it's just the three of us how about taking lunch up on the carpet?” she nodded at the corner where the rolled up rug they'd gotten in Morocco sat.

Lilly jumped in excitement and scurried off to her room for something warm to wear as Harry and Hermione fixed some sandwiches, shortly after that Harry was unrolling the slightly-illegal king sized rug outside and raising them up in the air over their home.

“Why do you like coming up here so much Mum?”

A dreamy smile took over Hermione's face as she rubbed her daughters back, “Back when your father and I really came to understand how much we love each other he used to bring me up here to watch the sunset. He even gave me my ring during one.”

“Is that back when the bad-man was still around?” Lilly asked in a little voice.

“It was the summer before Mummy and me made him go away for good,” Harry confirmed.

“Was it scary back then?” Lilly asked as she wrapped her arms around Harry's waist.

“Sometimes,” Harry stroked two of his fingers along her cheek as Lilly's almond shaped eyes opened a little wider at his admission. “But no matter how scary things got I always had your Mum with me and that made things alright. As long as you have someone you love to bring a little light in your world it won't matter how dark it is outside.”

Lilly hugged him a little tighter, “I love you Daddy.”

Hermione caught Harry's eye as she smiled at the pair of them. “I love you too Lilly. You, and your Mum, and your brothers and sister more than anything.”

“Is that why the bad-man wanted to hurt you and Mum, because he didn't have a light?” Harry sighed a little as Lilly asked the same question her siblings had around her age.

“It wasn't even that he didn't have one, more that he didn't want one,” Hermione tried to explain.

“It's what you choose to do that makes the person you are. The things you hear now and what you'll learn in school later all say there was a really evil wizard named Voldemort who tried to hurt a whole bunch of people just because he didn't like them but really he was just a boy named Tom who didn't think anyone would ever love him and chose to bad boy because of it,” Harry gently told her.

“Why didn't he think anyone would love him?”

“He didn't have a Mummy and Daddy like you and he was raised with people that thought he was weird because he could do magic,” said Hermione.

Lilly furrowed her brow as she put the information together with what she'd learned on a trip to her grandparents graves in the village, “But, that's just like Daddy.”

“Exactly,” Hermione poked Lilly's nose. “But Dad chose to be a good boy and we're all here thanks to that.”

“I want to marry a good boy like Daddy,” Lilly proclaimed sending Harry into a slight coughing fit.

“For his sake I hope that doesn't happen for a very long time,” Hermione giggled out as she slapped his back.

Lilly seemed a bit upset, “Well Daddy got married when he was James' age, and James says I'll be his age before I know it.”

Harry's insides were moving about in quite an unpleasant way, “Not everyone gets married at that age honey. Look at Uncle Remus and Auntie Tonks.”

“Well Auntie Tonks says that was just because Uncle Remus was lazy.”

No more unsupervised visits to the Lupins Harry thought to himself. “You know she likes to joke around a lot, especially when it's about Uncle Remus.” Harry was at war with himself as he took in his daughter's disappointed look, his supportive side eventually beat the protective one. “But don't worry honey, I'm sure you'll find a good boy someday soon enough who'll take you up in the air for all the sunsets you can handle.” Hermione was silently laughing on Lilly's other side knowing he hated the words coming out of his own mouth.

“And will you bring me up here to see them until then?” Lilly asked in a brighter mood.

“I think I'd be a very happy man if I could do that for the rest of my life,” Harry replied with all the sincerity in the world.

“And give me a ring like Mummy's?”

“Well, Mum's ring is a pretty special one,” he slowly spoke dreading the thought he might be disappointing her. “How about the next time I go see my friend Ragnok you can come with me? He's helped me get almost all of the jewelry I've given Mum and I'm sure he can help me find something pretty for you.”

“Mmm, okay,” Lilly happily chirped.

Hermione smirked a bit at Harry and made a motion to indicate Lilly had him wrapped around her little finger, Harry happily nodded.

“You know Dad and I have to go into work soon, right Lilly?” Hermione asked as they cleared up their lunch a short time later.

“Mmm-hmm. Dobby say we can race our brooms around the house after you go, and later he might help me change the walls in my room into a different color.”

Harry smiled at the memory of the first time she'd ridden the toy Firebolt Emily had handed down to her and how Dobby constantly challenged their children to races on his own. The elf was quite sad the Christmas James had graduated to a full-size broom but quickly rebounded when he found out both the twins had been given toy ones that year. “Just make sure you're the one that picks the colors,” he advised Lilly knowing Dobby's penchant for decorating.

Once up in his and Hermione's bedroom Harry delayed getting changed by taking his Pensieve out from the cabinet in his nightstand and sat on the bed sifting through some thoughts. When he dropped the talk they'd just had with Lilly about Voldemort in the basin it swirled around showing images of Harry and James sitting under the tree next to his parents grave and the whole family sitting around the Grangers' Christmas tree the night David had finally brought it up. Upon adding the strand talking with Lilly about sunsets and marriage the image overlaid itself with Harry proposing and unfortunately some of the many times he'd seen Neville's youngest son being rather close with Emily.

“Brooding over that again?” Hermione peeked into the bowl.

“They're only eleven!”

“Are you trying to deny ever hugging me at that age?”

“That's the point! They're too young for that! If they get sorted into the same house tonight I'm moving into Hogwarts to keep an eye on them,” Harry grumbled.

“You and I both know you'd never even consider that, Lilly would be crushed,” Hermione commented.

“You're going to make me wear the medals, aren't you?” Harry pulled out the box that contained both of their Order of Merlin, First Class medallions Mr. Weasley had given them as well as the ones for the Order of the Thistle they'd gotten from the Queen.

“Well it's not like I enjoy waltzing around wearing something that's supposed to signify I'm better than the person next to me but feasts are somewhat formal occasions and in this case it's just easier to go with what's expected,” she removed their matching emerald green robes from the wardrobe and passed Harry his.

“One of these days I'm going to make it acceptable to go to these things in shorts and a t-shirt,” Harry mumbled.

Hermione came around the bed and wrapped her arms around Harry, “You think just because you got the Hogwarts board to drop the humans only rule you can go around making you own?”

“Of course not,” Harry's hands slid down to her hips as they swayed in time to some imaginary music. “I just loath formality. Six years of teaching and I still haven't gotten used to be called `Sir.'”

“I felt so old the first time a student called me Ma'am,” Hermione agreed. “We're not old yet, are we?”

“Of course not love. The day we can go a Halloween feast without me wanting to pull you into a broom cupboard is when we're old.” Harry un-needingly proved his point by divesting her of her jumper and kissing his way down her chest while cupping his hands around her lacy green bra.

“Harry,” Hermione moaned out, “we don't have time for this.”

“Of course we do, it's just the bloody gossip meeting,” Harry unzipped her skirt and squeezed her bum. That was all the convincing Hermione required and in a flash she had Harry down to his boxers. Baby Albus chirped from the pile of ashes he'd reduced himself to the night before, clearly unhappy about being unable to transport out of the room. Hermione snatched her wand from the clothing pile and rotated his perch around so he didn't have to watch.

Just as Harry pushed her bra up a bit to lick one of her nipples they heard footsteps running down the hall and Lilly yelling for her Mum. It would have been no surprise for the girl to see either of them in their undergarments but the state Harry was in required some sort of cover up, he was just able to sit on the bed and pull a pillow into his lap before the door burst open.

“Mum, Grandma Granger and Aunt Tonks are here!” Lilly panted out of breath no doubt from running clear up to the third floor of the house.

“Didn't I tell you? They're visiting with you tonight, actually they've come over quite early,” Hermione glanced at the clock.

“But they can't stay over! We haven't made Grandpa Granger and Uncle Remus' medicine yet!” Lilly screamed in a panic.

“Lilly,” Hermione had a patient but lecturing tone, “think of what phase the moon is in.”

Lilly's eyes flitted about for a second, “We begin brewing it next week,” she stated firmly.

“Correct. Grandpa Granger was going to try and take Grandpa Weasley and Remus golfing today so Grandma Granger and Tonks thought they'd spend some time with you.”

“Okay,” Lilly conceded and sat down on the bed next to Harry. The surge of discomfort that passed through him helped alleviate the problem that had made him sit in the first place. “Are you getting dressed up for work?”

“Umm, yes we are,” Hermione stuttered out and picked up her robes from the bed. Harry wanted to send her back down to Tonks and Emma now that she knew nothing was wrong but didn't have the heart to tell her to get out.

Lilly looked over her mother's outfit and wandered over to Hermione jewelry box giving Harry a chance to quickly pull on his robes behind her back. The mirror inside the box was ignored as it yelled out `Put those back, they aren't yours!' and Lilly returned with the emerald items Harry had given Hermione for her eighteenth birthday.

“Did your friend Ragnok find these for you?” The way she surveyed the jewels made Harry sure he was in for trouble the next time he visited the bank.

“You father gave me those just a few weeks before my ring,” Hermione confirmed while putting on the necklace overtop of the ever-present snitch.

“And the tiara?”

“That came from somewhere else,” Harry slowly told her.

“It's much, much older and very valuable. I hope that someday both you and your sister will be able to wear it at your own weddings like I did,” Hermione sat with Lilly waiting for Harry to finish affixing his medals.

“I think I'd like that,” the girl decided much to Harry's dismay. Lilly's talk of weddings lasted straight until Harry and Hermione Apparated to Hogwarts. He only hoped she would drop it as quickly as she had the idea of being a princess after first meeting the Queen.

As far as any official records would show the pre-term staff meeting at Hogwarts was simply a time to introduce any new staff members and bring up any pressing matters, in reality it was a chance for all of the professors to gather and socialize about their summers, relay any good stories from the year before and most importantly go over the list of students being sorted to gossip and place bets on the familiar names. As hard as Harry had tried all he could ever learn about the meeting before his first night at Hogwarts was that nobody saw the point of betting as he was surely going to be a Gryffindor. When James' name came up his first night the same thing had happened and the rest of the faculty had obviously been uncomfortable with the idea of gossiping around his Mum and Dad, especially since it was Harry's first meeting as a professor.

The fact that Neville's first son landed in Hufflepuff spurred on the bets over Ron's twins the next year, though they still ended up in Gryffindor. Professor Vector, Head of Ravenclaw since Flitwick's retirement, cleaned up when Ron's son joined his Mum's house and was now deciding to try again for David and Emily; everyone but Harry and Hermione went against the possibility. The bets on Neville's youngest were split between red and yellow, Harry wanted to place one that he would end up anywhere other than with Emily but didn't think there'd be any takers. Per tradition one House-elf was given the night off from the kitchens to keep the official tally and sack of gold to divide the winnings with before the faculty filed into the Great Hall, except Professor Sprout who had taken the task of collecting the first years on what most likely to be her final year at the school. Harry had great hopes that they'd be able to get Neville away from the Apothecary he'd been managing to replace her.

Harry spent his time waiting for the students meandering in alternately laughing with Hermione about how they'd been interrupted at home and talking to Bill Weasley. As happy as he was about the jinx on the job apparently ending with Voldemort he had to admit it had been a bit odd that someone else was teaching the subject he'd always been best at, in a way it reminded him of Snape except the fact that Harry had been perfectly happy teaching Charms once he'd gotten used to the responsibility of being a professor. The annual duel he'd been having with Bill the day before the Christmas holidays in the Great Hall fulfilled his urge for a fight.

The hall fell silent as the new students were led in and Harry took a moment to look through the crowd at all of the children of his friends and peers. The year before had been interesting with two goblins enrolling and being placed into Slytherin House, apparently McGonagall had gotten a howler from nearly every parent who had a child in the house for a month but refused to back away from the decision Harry had helped her and the board come up with that any magical being had a right to be taught magic. It had taken Harry, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Ollivander nearly ten years of lobbying to get the wand restrictions lifted on non-humans and the Hogwarts board had been the last step Harry had wanted to personally accomplish for his friends.

Bill kept score for the record during the sorting, only stopping once to chuckle as Terry Boot's son ignored the fact that he'd been sorted into Hufflepuff to make his way towards his and Fleur's twelve-year-old daughter, who looked exactly like Gabrielle had at her age, at the Gryffindor table. When Neville's boy became a Gryffindor Professor Sprout took a second to glare at Hagrid who'd given a great whoop. The High Table fell completely silent as David Potter was called for his turn with the hat, Harry sat with his hands steepled as they seemed to have a longer-than-usual conversation that ended with the hat nearly laughing `RAVENCLAW!' Only the students cheered while the faculty patiently waited for an equally long talk with Emily. Professor Vector's whoop of joy could have been heard in the forest when Emily joined her twin and Harry and Hermione shared a loving glance with them both, until their hair returned to the same blue it had been in the afternoon leading Hermione to painfully grip Harry's thigh under the table. Her annoyance had melted away by the time the last student was sorted and she gave his hand a supportive squeeze as he found the eyes of the only three people sitting opposite him that could tell he was a bit nervous.

“You're ready for this,” Hermione's quiet voice was the only sound in the hall. “And we're all very proud of you.”

Harry Potter beamed to all those gathered as he rose from his large golden chair with his arms spread wide, “Welcome, to a new year at Hogwarts!”

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Just a quick word of thanks to everyone who read and reviewed… I really had no clue when I started this that I'd end up writing nearly 196,000 words of Potterness, and it could have been even longer if I would have known what I was doing from the beginning.

But anyway, this is it. They way I wish the big 7 would go (roughly). I hoped you all enjoyed the reading as much as I did the writing. Thank You and Good Night!

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14. Thank You All

Okay, so I don't think this sort of thing is “legal” to get your story bumped back up so I'll keep it short:

Thank You to Every Single Person who liked my story.

I wasn't really sure what I was doing when I started but the reviews that came through eventually spurned me on to MUCH greater heights than I expected. The things is now I have to go off and have my own life adventures so probably won't be getting around to adding much if anything to the universe I've learned to love, but what would honor me more than anything is if there were a few daring people willing to give it a shot. I really think there's a wealth of material waiting to be written just in Harry's trip of the world without even bringing into the fact that I've created twin-red head girls with sensibilities like Fred and George…

So really, thank you all.

It really makes my life a better place knowing that I've helped at least one person laugh a little

I love you all

Scott

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