Lies and Illusions
Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction. Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling.
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Chapter 5
False Assumptions
When the uncomfortable squeezing sensation faded, Harry found himself in an unfamiliar backyard surrounded by tall
hedges. Quickly looking around to see where they were, his eyes fell on a modest, two-story country house.
"Perfect!" Hermione beamed as she undid the straps on Crookshanks' basket. Grinning from ear to ear she continued, "You can let Hedwig and Pig out. No one will bother them here."
The ginger cat barely stopped to sniff the air before scampering toward the house. He quickly disappeared through a flap in the back door.
Confused, Ron asked, "Hermione, where are we?"
Instead of answering him, she turned toward Harry after he let out a loud sigh. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"Never better. It's just hard to believe I'm finally rid of them," Harry answered.
Leaving their trunks on the lawn for the moment, Hermione led them into the house. Harry felt a sense of quiet warmth flow over him as they walked past the beds of bright early-summer flowers and the comfortable-looking outdoor furniture scattered around the yard. While everything here was neat and well-tended, it gave him a welcomed feeling unlike anything he'd experienced on Privet Drive.
Entering the kitchen, they came upon a familiar woman wearing a simple skirt and blouse with her brown hair tied in a functional bun at the nape of her neck. With a startled movement, she looked down to see a purring animal winding itself around her feet.
"What the.... Crookshanks, what are you doing here? I thought you were with...HERMIONE!"
Well, that explains where we are, Harry thought. He'd seen Hermione's parents many times at King's Cross, but had only been introduced to them once. That was almost five years ago when they visited Diagon Alley the summer before his second year at Hogwarts. Watching the two of them embrace each other, he could clearly see who his female best friend got most of her features from.
Hermione's father came in before long, having heard the commotion coming from the kitchen. He was still wearing an unbuttoned dentist's smock over his shirt. After getting his own hug from his daughter he welcomed the teenage boys in.
"Nice to see you again Harry, Hermione has told us a lot about you over the years." Mr. Granger shook his hand and looked at Harry with the same brown eyes his daughter had.
"Bet she's hardly mentioned me," Ron groused, giving her a sidelong glance.
With a familiar small smirk her father answered, "Actually, she has mentioned you quite often -- but I won't repeat some of what she's said."
Harry chuckled as Hermione protested this insinuation. Receiving a light whack from his wife; Mr. Granger extended his hand to Ron, who accepted it with a wry grin.
"It's good to meet you again, sir. I hope we're not imposing -" Harry started to say.
"Oh nonsense," Mrs. Granger interrupted with a dismissing wave. "We have an extra bedroom and have been wanting to see more of our daughter for some time." Harry saw an uneasy look cross Hermione's face. "Why don't you take your things upstairs and unpack before dinner?"
The youngest Granger instantly perked up at the opportunity to finally show her parents some of what she could do. Walking back out to her trunk, she picked it up and disapparated. Returning downstairs , Hermione undid the enchantments on their other luggage while explaining the types of magic she had performed. Finally, she demonstrated the Locomotor charm on Harry's trunk as she led her friends up to their room. Once done, she hurriedly excused herself.
Sensing that something was bothering his friend, Harry followed her a few minutes later.
Softly knocking on her door, he entered to find her unpacking her trunk. A quick glance told him a lot of the girl who had grown up here. The furniture wasn't particularly fancy but did have a few feminine touches. Most prominent was the huge bookshelf that stretched from floor to ceiling flanked by a well-used desk under the window. Spread around the room were a few personal items of hers, like the framed poster of the Milky Way over her bed, and the stuffed lion on the dresser.
"Is something funny?"
Harry didn't realize he'd been smiling, "No, not exactly. It's just that this room is so...you."
Without raising her head she flatly said, "It should be, I've lived here since I was five." Stopping her work for the moment, she then went on talking in a faster but more placating tone. "Look, Harry, I know why you're here. This isn't what you expected and are a little disappointed. I'll understand if you'd rather stay somewhere else."
"But I don't. I wanted to thank you for bringing me here, among other things," he gently reassured her. While it was true that he had been surprised to find himself at the Grangers', he had no qualms about staying in her home. Even though he'd barely met them, he liked Hermione's parents and didn't understand why she thought he wouldn't want to be there.
For the first time since he entered her room, she looked looked at him. "You mean it? Really?" she asked breathlessly. A brief nod was all the confirmation she needed before practically leaping across the space between them to wrap Harry in a fierce hug.
Acting totally on instinct, Harry closed his eyes and returned her embrace. Being surrounded by the scent of her hair and feeling her soft form pressed against his body made him wonder why he'd never done this before. A warm sensation unlike anything he'd ever felt washed over him as he held her close. Deciding he could figure it out later, he pushed the feeling aside for the time being.
"Hermione, why were you worried about bringing me here?" he softly asked her.
"Isn't it obvious?" she said in his ear. "You love it at the Burrow with all the magic, noise, and Quidditch to keep you busy. All I have is a pair of dentists living in a plain, ordinary Muggle house. I love my parents dearly, but how can they compare to the Weasleys?"
Harry felt a lump in his throat when he heard these words. He liked Ron's family a lot, but they were a bit overwhelming sometimes. Normally, it didn't bother him very much after living with the Dursleys for so long. But if he'd grown up in a loving Muggle family like she did, he might have shared Hermione's view of the Weasley home.
Pulling away just enough to see her face he said, "Hermione, look at me."
When she reluctantly raised her head as he had asked, he continued, "You have a wonderful home and I don't care about your parents not being able to do magic." Reaching up, he gently wiped a happy tear off her cheek with his thumb. "There's no reason for you to worry about me liking it here, because I do. I'm just sorry you never invited me over before."
Feeling her arms tighten around his chest again, Harry drew her back into his embrace.
The two friends held each other a while longer without speaking. When they finally broke apart, Hermione paused to brush off her remaining tears. Taking a deep breath, she then darted forward to give him an all-too-quick peck on the lips.
Blushing furiously for the second time that day, she returned to her unpacking. Minutes passed before she finally broke the silence of the room by telling him, "You should go unpack, and remember to separate your dirty things so we can wash them." After another quiet moment, Hermione nervously added, "Look, Harry...if I went too far, just tell me and I won't do it again."
Snapping out of his daze he replied, "No...no, it's okay. I didn't mind." Gathering his jumbled thoughts, he turned to leave before adding with a sly grin, "I don't have much to unpack, by the way. You insisted on leaving most of my clothes at the Dursleys, remember?"
"Oh, right." she responded sheepishly.
Just before he disappeared out the door she called out, "Oh Harry!"
He poked his head back in.
"You might want to start shaving. Your cheek is getting a bit scratchy," she told him with a not-quite innocent smile.
**********
For as long as he remembered, Harry had dreamed of the day he would leave the Dursleys for good. The closest he'd come was back at the end of his third year when Sirius offered him a home - only to have it snatched away when Wormtail escaped. Now in this Muggle home in a small town outside of Bristol, he felt free for the first time in his life.
Harry wasn't lying when he said he'd liked staying here. It would also be true to say that it was completely unlike anywhere he'd ever been before.
Together, Neil and Kathleen Granger probably made as much as his uncle, but they didn't waste their time and money trying to impress everyone they met. Instead, they created a home with a warm, lived-in feel similar to the Weasleys' house. At the same time, the Granger house was far quieter then the Burrow. There were no banging pipes or ghouls in the attic, and the only explosions came from the television or the games on their computer. As Hermione had put it: it was a plain Muggle house...but to Harry, it held its own unique kind of magic.
The trio tried at first to work on finding the Horcruxes some more, only to hit the same dead ends. Even the extra books Hermione had here didn't help. For example: Hogwarts: A History spoke a lot about the Founders, but had nothing about any personal effects they left behind. Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts devoted an entire chapter to Voldemort's fall sixteen years ago, but contained almost nothing about Dark Lord himself -- other than a list of the better known people he and his followers had killed. Apparently the fear he inspired extended all the way to the books written in the magical world.
They weren't the only ones to notice this. Ron in particular was surprised to discover that the Grangers knew a great deal about wizard affairs. Most of their background knowledge came from the various books their daughter couldn't fit in her trunk. Their more recent information came from the Daily Prophet and notices from the Ministry and Hogwarts. Being Muggles, however, they had a very different take on what was happening in the magical world. This different point of view led to some very interesting discussions. Especially with Neil Granger, who had been a soldier in the British Army once. Although he had quickly become disillusioned with military life and left after his first enlistment, he'd never forgotten some of the things he'd learned.
One conversation in particular stood out in Harry's mind. Him and his friends were talking about the Death Eaters a few days after their arrival when they heard Mr. Granger come into the room. The teens tried to tell him they were working on a school project, but that only made him more interested.
"I've never understood something about this 'Voldemort' person," he said after hearing them out. "Now, people being afraid of him makes sense. Who wouldn't be scared of a homicidal maniac leading a gang of fanatics? What bothers me is this 'You-Know-Who' rubbish. Where did it come from, and what makes this man different from the other evil wizards in your world?"
The trio looked at each other for a moment, before Harry said, "Slytherin. There's some other stuff, but it pretty much comes down to him being a descendant of Salazar Slytherin."
The Muggle asked, "Wasn't he the Hogwarts Founder who was tossed out on his bum?"
"Yep, that's him," Ron said in a fit of laughter.
Hermione gave Ron an annoyed look as she added, "Unfortunately, some witches and wizards are obsessed with their magical heritage. The most obnoxious of them are always going on about how being a pure-blood makes them better than everyone else." She rolled her eyes.
Harry patted the girl sitting next to him on the shoulder. "And get shirty when someone like Hermione shows up and proves them wrong." Her glare changed into a warm smile when she looked at him.
"I see how it is...." Neil Granger gave his daughter and Harry a particular look. "This Voldemort has built a mystique around himself to attract followers and scare his enemies. Makes sense: why fight everyone when you can use propaganda to frighten most of them into submission?"
The teens continued their conversation even after Mr. Granger left. His reasoning made too much sense for them to ignore.
Harry probably knew more about Voldemort then anyone thanks to Dumbledore's 'special lessons', and he had shared a lot of it with his friends. Back when he was still known as Tom Riddle, Voldemort had been very good at deceiving people and had repeatedly framed others to cover his tracks. He also knew the value of manipulating people, thanks to Slughorn. While there was no denying that Voldemort was a very powerful wizard, was it possible for him and his Death Eaters to use such skills to make themselves look even more deadly?
Maybe, especially with so many of his most valued followers maintaining prominent positions in wizard society. Lucius Malfoy had been influencing the Ministry for years before being imprisoned, and with Snape inside the Order of the Phoenix....
A chill ran down Harry's spine when he thought about the Order. Many of the original members had been killed, or worse, by the Death Eaters. Could Severus Snape have been connected their deaths somehow? He had sent his master after James and Lily Potter when he'd overheard part of the Prophecy. Was it just an act of petty spite against his old school rival, or was it part of a plan to infiltrate and destroy the Order of the Phoenix? It was a horrible thought, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione would need more than some guesses based a Muggle's opinion before suggesting it to anyone else.
Unfortunately, their talk had led to yet another dead end. Unable to continue their quest at the moment, the trio ended up taking a holiday of sorts.
For Harry it was a very welcomed opportunity to relax and be himself. The Grangers had no problem accepting him as a guest in their home without worrying about the whole "Boy Who Lived" thing that followed him everywhere in the magical world. It was also a chance to rid himself of the last traces of his relatives, starting with getting a new wardrobe. Taking Ron to a department store turned into an adventure, as he soon became lost amid the various sights and sounds. By the time they were done, Harry had spent most of the Muggle money he had. However, any doubts he might have had about the cost were soon dispelled by the bright smile a certain young witch gave him as he threw the last of his cousin's old clothes in the garbage.
Over these few weeks, Harry couldn't help feeling a change in his feelings towards Hermione. For reasons he couldn't explain, the two of them seemed much closer and well...intimate then before. The two of them spent a lot of time together helping her parents out, visiting places Hermione loved growing up (the local bookstore was high on her list), or just relaxing. They also found themselves opening up to one another in a way they hadn't done before.
Despite all of his friends' attempts to include him, the third member of their party wasn't enjoying himself quite as much. As a pure-blood wizard, Ron hadn't been around Muggles very much, nor did he share his father's fascination with them. Now he found himself in a position not unlike what his friends must have gone through when they first went to Hogwarts. He was in an unfamiliar place, relying on Harry and Hermione to explain all these odd things to him, and having a very hard time adjusting to it. Don't get him wrong -- the house was very nice, and Hermione's mum and dad were an infinite improvement over Harry's relatives...but it just wasn't Ron Weasley's home.
All of them knew they wouldn't be staying with the Grangers for very long, and they soon learned when they'd be leaving. A few days after they arrived, the trio found their invitations to Bill and Fleur's wedding in the morning post. Inside they found a note from Molly Weasley asking them to come to the Burrow no later than the first of July.
**********
On the last Friday they'd be spending at the Grangers, Ron decided to have a talk with Harry about some recent developments.
"You know, Harry, when we go home you're going to have to deal with Ginny. Especially when she sees you and Hermione," he said.
Harry answered back with a confused look as he finished getting dressed, "What are you on about?"
Ron gave him a knowing smirk, "Come on, I may be a bit thick but don't think I haven't noticed how the two of you have been acting lately."
"I'm not following you, Ron, so can you just spit it out?"
"Okay. Did you break up with my sister because you want to be with Hermione?" he said bluntly.
"Are you mental?" Harry tried his best to keep his voice level, "I told you why we broke up!"
"True, but I was just wondering if that was the only reason." Ron took up a conciliatory tone as he went on. "Look, like it or not, you'll have to deal with this when we go home next week. I know for a fact that Ginny'll go through the roof if she sees you sitting with Hermione in your lap!"
"We're not like that and you know it," Harry said defensively. "Even if we were, why would your sister get upset? She didn't have any problems when I broke it off with her."
"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you, mate. Ginny's had a crush on you for like...forever, and thinks you left her just to go off and be a hero. Maybe I should have told you before, but if you didn't know it already, Ginny and me pretty much grew up on the story of you beating You-Kno...I mean Vold...emort." Ron still had trouble saying the name, especially since he had been taught to fear it all his life, unlike his friends. "Anyhow; she's fancied you, or rather the Boy Who Lived, for I don't how long now. I'd bet everything I have that she thinks you'll get back together again once the war is over."
Harry was shocked that Ron Weasley, of all people, was talking like this. But he was probably right about his sister's feelings, she'd said as much when Harry ended their relationship.
As much as Harry had enjoyed their time together, looking back on it now, there seemed to be something off, and well...missing in their relationship. They'd spent a lot of time snogging and joking around, but that was about it. While he didn't enjoy breaking up with her, it wasn't particularly painful for them either -- which seemed kind of strange in hindsight.
Until this last year, Harry had never been attracted to Ginny in a romantic way. What's more; he had never really asked himself just why he fancied her all of a sudden, being far more worried about Ron's reaction to his best friend dating his little sister. Thinking about his feelings wasn't something Harry Potter did very often: the Dursleys never approved of it. Now that he did, it seemed like his comment about dating Ginny being like something from another person's life was more accurate than he'd thought. Of course, there was also the matter of a statement he'd heard on the Hogwarts Express later that same day.
"You don't suppose Luna was right, do you? That I was copying Ginny's crush on me somehow?" Harry asked Ron in a somber voice.
He thought about it for a moment. "Maybe, she's a Ravenclaw and must be pretty smart under all the weirdness." For some reason, Ron flashed a smile when he mentioned Luna Lovegood. "Perhaps your fling with Ginny had something to do with this power you're supposed to have."
"But Dumbledore said all I had was the ability to love. How could that have anything to do with me suddenly imitating your sister's feelings for me?" he said doubtfully as he started tying his shoes.
Ron shrugged as he opened the door. "Maybe he was wrong? It wouldn't be the first time."
True, there could be something the old headmaster didn't know about. Now if there was, how would Harry figure it out?
Stupid question, Harry berated himself. The answer was a young woman with bushy brown hair and big brown eyes named Hermione Granger. Of course, thinking of her in light of his talk with Ron made him consider what was happening between the two of them. It was nothing like how he fell for Ginny at any rate: there was no scaly monster stirring in his chest this time. Although he wasn't sure what his new feelings for Hermione meant, at least he understood where they came from.
They'd liked each other, as friends, for years; but they had never been as close as some people believed -- including themselves. Ever since they became friends; both of them had simply, almost blindly, accepted the other's friendship without really confiding in one another. The gulf that had existed between them had become painfully obvious this year, and was one of the main reasons for their fighting. But since going to the Dursleys; Hermione had gotten a look at his old life, and had given him a glance at hers in return. Doing so had broken some of the illusions they used to have and helped repair their friendship. At the same time, however, something else had started taking root between them.
It was the something else that Harry Potter couldn't explain. He'd fancied girls before, but this wasn't the same.
His feelings for Ginny, whatever their source, weren't very different than his old crush on Cho Chang. But Harry was beginning to realize that there was more to being a boyfriend than wanting to snog a pretty girl. Not that Hermione wasn't just as beautiful as the girls he'd dated. She simply had better things to do every day than worry about her hair and makeup. When she did put an effort into her looks, it was for a special occasion and the results....
Unfortunately, Harry couldn't remember the first time he'd seen her dressed up without recalling another person's reaction.
"Um, Ron. You don't have some other reason to ask about Hermione and me? Everyone knows you haven't liked the blokes she's gone out with -"
The redhead covered his face as he said, "Don't remind me! I feel like a horse's arse every time I think about it!"
The two best friends stopped halfway up the stairs. After taking a quick look around to make sure he wasn't being overheard, Ron started talking again.
"Look, Harry, I admit that I was jealous of Hermione but it wasn't because I fancied her." he reluctantly told his friend, looking him square in the eye as he continued. "Now this is going to sound really stupid, mostly because it is stupid. I was mad at first because she was dating and I wasn't, and couldn't understand what guys like Krum could see in her. And when Ginny decided to spout off a bunch of stuff she knows nothing about, I kinda lost it. Part of the reason I started dating Lavender was to shut my sister up, but I landed up throwing it in Hermione's face too. Naturally, the whole thing backfired on me; but I didn't care. Now you don't have to tell me how thick I was -- I figured it out on my own after I got the 'Bludger to the Head' I so desperately needed last March."
Harry winced at the Quidditch metaphor, for he had gotten hit in the head by a very real Bludger only a few days later. Not wanting to dwell on these events either, Ron quickly went on with his story in a more lighthearted tone.
"Anyway, a lot of the stuff I used to get all worked up about didn't seem so important after that. I apologized to Hermione for my behavior the first chance I got. Then we talked a lot, kinda settling our differences, and have been on good terms ever since."
Turning around, Ron walked the rest of the way down the stairs - only to stop at the bottom.
"You want to hear something funny?" He looked up at Harry with a wide grin. "Lavender thought Hermione and I were secretly dating each other! Some old posh about repressed feelings and sexual tension if you can believe it!" Ron groaned under his breath. "I should have listened to Hermione when she told me she had a nutter for a roommate. It would have saved me from those damn canaries of hers, at least."
Ron walked away, shaking his head. Behind him, Harry stood still for a moment as he processed what his best friend had said. Quietly resolving not to tell Ron that Lavender Brown wasn't the only one who though him and Hermione might get together, Harry hurried to catch up.
Outside the kitchen, they heard Hermione and her mother talking.
"Do you think they'll like it? It's not like -"
Sounding like she was trying to calm her daughter, Mrs. Granger replied, "It'll be fine dear. But you might want to watch what you spend, in case you decide to see the other ones while you're there."
By the sound of her voice, Hermione wasn't convinced.
"I don't know...Harry's never seen any of them thanks to those blasted relatives of his, and Ron's feeling put out just being in a Muggle house. How will -"
The older woman chuckled a bit. "Some day, young lady, you're going to tell me just how you do that."
Harry and Ron stood by the door as quietly as they could as Hermione, who hadn't seen them, looked up from the newspaper she was reading.
"Just what am I supposedly doing, Mum?" she asked defensively.
Kathleen Granger shook her finger at Hermione, "Your father and I may not completely understand you, Hermione, but don't try to tell me that we don't know you. Just like you know what I'm talking about: the trick you've been doing ever since you started primary school. The way you -"
"Harry! Good morning!" Hermione had spotted them while trying to avoid her mother's gaze and took the opportunity to escape the conversation.
Harry briefly wondered what it was all about, but let the subject drop as Hermione greeted him with a smile and quick
hug.
**********
After breakfast they all left the house together. Hermione's parents went to work and the trio made their way across town. Along the way the two wizards kept asking what she was up to, only to receive a cryptic "You'll see" in return.
When they reached their destination, Harry and Ron found that she was taking them to the cinema. However she remained secretive about what they were seeing, even as she pulled the tickets out of her purse. Between listening to Hermione's lecture about how to behave during the show and watching Ron already stuffing his face with popcorn, Harry didn't notice which theater they entered. Finding a place to sit, the boys settled themselves on either side of her just in time to see a group of words appear on the screen:
**********
end chapter 5
author's note: The Star Wars Special Edition was released in spring of 1997 and belongs to George Lucas, of
course.