A Nighttime Revelation

I own nothing really. So there. This is a plot bunny that I got the other day while plowing through the snow to get to work. It's not in either the Circle or Lions universe but an alternate of its own. This is set around a week or two after the end of HBP. Thanks once again to Lady Starlight for her work on this.

A Nighttime Revelation

*****************#4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey**********************

July 3, 1997
1:25 am

Harry Potter lay still in the light from the full moon spilling into his room from a cloudless sky. He sighed softly as he looked unseeingly up at the cracked and stained plaster of his ceiling in the smallest bedroom. Without a conscious effect, his thoughts slid down a floor, to the couch far below and wondered how Hermione was doing on the couch, where Vernon had deigned to let her sleep.

Harry had been alone in his nightmare existence with the Dursleys for a week following the tearful return from Hogwarts, and it had almost, finally broken him. Only the tenuous link of at least one telephone conversation, and an Owl in morning and one more in the evening with Hermione each day, and occasionally one with Ron had kept him sane. Hedwig had been ebullient when Hermione had shown up three days ago, pulling Ron along with her. Of course, that separation had been entirely his fault in the end, Hermione had demanded to return to Privet Drive with him, and had refused to take no for an answer. It was only after Harry had both begged her to spend some time with her parents and given her his oath that he would not do anything without her, curiously she had not included Ron in that vow, that he had gotten her to agree to spend a week with her parents.

All of that led up to Harry's current predicament. Ron had lasted only a single day in the house before Harry and Hermione had sent him back to the Burrow to keep peace for those few weeks until Harry was free of the Dursleys forever, and his magic unbound from the underage magic restrictions. The first morning after the first night that all three of them had spent here, Ron and Harry in Harry's room, and Hermione down on the couch. Vernon refused to let her stay in the guest room as Aunt Marge might show up "any moment," and there would be no "unnaturalness", in his house as would surely happen if she stayed with the boys, the situation had exploded.

Dudley, still harboring a grudge over what the twins had done to him three years prior, and over Dumbledore's visit, had turned and punched Ron one morning out of the blue, just as he had done to Harry for so many years without consequence. Dudley had however failed to realize that the only reason he had gotten away with that in the years since Harry had started to claim his birthright was that Harry, unlike Ron, had a stake in keeping the peace. Ron had no such compunctions, as he had spun and decked Dudley, and cast the Slug Vomiting Curse for good measure.

Fortunately, Vernon had been at work, and Harry had been able to keep the status quo with Petunia, by sending Ron home to the Burrow, and getting Hermione to lift the curse, she had found a counter in her reading somewhere. Now though, that meant that Harry was spending his nights alone again, just like he had been before Hermione and Ron had arrived, usually staring at the ceiling, as his dreams were far worse than the exhaustion. Harry rolled onto his side, looking out the window as he watched the ghostly shape of his familiar diving among the neat gardens of Privet Drive, looking for mice, or perhaps, if she were lucky, a tasty rabbit. His eyes flicked up to the dresser, where twin, glowing yellow eyes looked down on him from a squashed face. Crookshanks had spent every night in his room, instead of with his Mistress, partially to placate Vernon and Petunia, but more likely, Harry thought, because Hermione had told her familiar to keep an eye on him. Crookshanks got along with Hedwig, anyway, unlike Ron's tiny Scoops owl that both of the others barely tolerated.

I wish Hermione had listened to me and stayed at her parents, I'd been alright, really, he thought morosely. Would you have...would you really, Harry?. a separate voice, the voice that reminded him when he was stupid, or when he was veering off the proper path, the same voice that had issued from the lips of the girl in his thoughts, asked. Sure I would...Really...probably not, he sighed, but at least she wouldn't have to be here, with these...things, she's already given me too much, more than I deserve really. A image of a small, faint smile flitted across his thoughts, And why would she do that? She'd do the same for Ron... Really, the voice drawled, smirking, when exactly did she do anything like this for Ron?

She got him on the team-I know she Confunded McClaggen, last year, Harry replied smugly, trying to keep from losing to the voice in his head, even as he knew it was hopeless.

Why did she do that, Harry, really? That helped you as much as it did him...saved you again, this time from having to choose to possibly cut your best friend.

She was mad at me all last year.

So, do you care...really, you know why...and she was right.

She always is, Harry sighed, but...she could get killed with me, or hurt, and I couldn't take that...not now.

Are you going to tell Ron he can't go along too?

I should, but I won't.

Why?

Because I need him along, Harry snapped back to the voice.

Don't you need her as well?

I need her alive more, damnit, more than anything; as long as she survives it's all worth it.
Why is that, Harry?

He shook his head against his pillow, refusing to, or afraid to answer the voice in his head, it was a question that had plagued him in the weeks since Dumbledore's funeral. When he let himself think about, which was not often, he wondered why Ginny, whom he had just broken up with, was not in his thoughts, save as in relation to Ron, while Hermione, his best friend Hermione filled them the entire week he was separated from her.

Harry briefly thought about turning on a light to look over a few books, he wasn't going to get any sleep anyway, when he heard a scream pierce the still night.

He never remembered moving, and definitely never remembered blowing his, locked from the outside, bedroom door off of the hinges as he stood and his wand shot across the room like a bullet to his hand. If Harry had taken the time to think, he would have realized that something was wrong just from the door being locked, as Vernon had not bothered to lock it as Hermione was outside of the room anyway. He never stopped, as that scream was the very one that haunted his dreams. Even more than the sight of Cedric falling to the Avada Kedavra, or Sirius tumbling through the veil or of Dumbledore falling lifeless from the Astronomy Tower. That scream, that single two-syllable name, his name, had issued from the one person in this house that he would give anything for, his money, his life, his very soul.

Harry's vision turned red as he flew down the stairs, vaulted around a table that Petunia had holding a vase of flowers, providing one of the few spots of color in an otherwise white interior, and caught sight of the scene on the couch.

Hermione was barely visible under Dudley's bulk as he lay on top of her, pawing at her with a cackling laugh. She was squirming, trying to fight him off, or to reach her wand that Harry saw that Dudley had picked up and tossed across the room from where Hermione had left it sitting on the coffee table close to hand. Harry took two giant strides, and roared an inarticulate yell as he grasped Dudley's pajamas and ripped the huge form from Hermione's petite one. Dudley flew across the room, shattering the coffee table as Harry's emerald eyes glittered darkly as he spun to Dudley. Dudley threw up his hands as Harry's eyes started to glow softly in the gloom, "She was asking for it...look at her, how she's dressed."

Harry's eyes snapped to Hermione for a moment, his eyes widened as he saw Hermione staring back at him in slight shock. The front of the old school shirt of Harry's that she had borrowed to sleep in was ripped open, the buttons torn away, revealing approximately everything from the waist up. Harry clenched his jaw as he tore his gaze from her, and his wand slowly tracked up, aligning precisely with Dudley's forehead. "HARRY, NO," Hermione screamed, snapping from her shock as she leapt up from the couch and dove at his wand hand. Hermione held onto his arm with both of hers, pulling it down before she pressed into him, and wrapped both of her arms around him, trapping his arms. "He's not worth it, Harry," she said softly as she let go, reaching up to pull his eyes to hers.

"He tried..."

"He failed, because of you, Harry," Hermione replied in a whisper, she took a breath and pulled her torn shirt together, and held it with one hand as her other shot out, calling her wand to her. "Run," she said lethally as she leaned back into Harry, and glared across the room at Dudley as the whale-like young man slowly stood.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON," a hated voice roared from the stairs. Vernon stomped into the room, his bristle brush mustache quivering as he took in the scene. Petunia followed him and gasped, loudly.

"They were doing, unnatural things, Dad, I was trying to stop them," Dudley announced instantly, shying away from twin emerald and chocolate glares. Vernon spun to Harry, his mouth already opening when Hermione's wand flicked and no sound came from his lips. He took a threatening step towards her, and bounced back as he slammed into an invisible wall.

Hermione advanced slowly towards Vernon, her eyes blazing as she held the remnants of her shirt together with one hand, and her wand down by her leg with the other. She stopped, looking up at Vernon's bulk, and he involuntarily took a step backwards. "Let me be clear, Vernon, Petunia-" Hermione slid her wand back into the waistband of her sleep pants behind her back, knowing without looking that Harry had his still in hand, "Harry and I are staying here until at least his birthday, after which we will be gone." She held both of their eyes, with hers, "If your bloody wanker of a son, comes near me again, or if he tries to get some sort of revenge against Harry, you won't need to worry about Harry changing you into something...you'll need to worry about me. I won't stop at changing him or you into some creature, or giving you boils or some other joke, I will outright destroy you."

Hermione reached back and took Harry's free hand in hers, the one that was not still holding together the front of her shirt, and intertwined their fingers as she pulled him towards the stairway. Vernon and Petunia moved out of their way as they started up the stairs. Hermione stopped after going halfway up and looked back, a small sardonic smile on her lips, "And for the record, irregardless of whatever Harry and I get up to, the only unnaturalness in this house, is your son." She started off again, pulling on Harry's hand lightly as she led him into his room.

She dropped his hand as the entered the room, and drew her wand. It flashed behind her several times; the door floated up, and rehung itself. It closed with a loud squelch, and the walls and door flashed white as a Silencing Charm took hold. She looked to Harry; her wand tumbled to the floor from suddenly nerveless fingers as she wrapped both arms around him, letting her shirt flutter open. Harry held her awkwardly, trying not to think about it, as Hermione buried her head on his shoulder and began to cry softly. His free hand came up to run through her hair, as she continued to weep quietly.

Finally, after several endless moments in which Harry desperately tried to remember that she was his 'best friend', she snorted softly, and wiped her tears. She took a step backwards, looking up at him, and her face fell slightly as she saw him looking away from her, "Harry, what's wrong?" she whispered, a slightly hurt tone in her voice.

Harry held his wand out towards her, "Um...Hermione, can you fix your shirt, I..."

A brief flush rushed up her face, vanishing almost as quickly as it had come, as a small smile blossomed on her face, "See something you like, Harry?" she asked as her voice dropped slightly.

"Please, Hermione, I...ah...can't...shouldn't..."

Hermione made no move to close her shirt fully, leaving a stripe of skin visible from her throat to her waistband as she reached out and took Harry's wand and tossed it on the nightstand next to his bed. She knelt down and picked up hers and set it next to his, before she sat down on the end of his bed, facing him. "Why shouldn't you, Harry?" Harry shook his head, still not looking at her. "Look at me Harry James," she whispered. Harry felt an odd shiver as she heard his name pass her lips, and involuntarily, he looked at her. She waved towards the bed next to her, and slowly he sat down on the edge. He started to scoot away, but stopped as she reached out and placed her hand on his knee.

"I just shouldn't, Hermione," Harry muttered, "I'm not...you're with..."

"No, I'm not, Harry, I never was," she answered him, leaping ahead to the conclusion. "Lay down, Harry, let's get some sleep," she bit her lip slightly as she considered him. Harry nodded and reached up to grab a pillow from the bed. He tossed it on the floor, "What are you doing?"

"Sleeping on the floor."

"No, you're not, Harry, you are sleeping on this bed, and I am sleeping right next to you," Hermione shot back, she moved to the head of the bed, and crawled under the covers, patting the spot next to her. Realizing defeat, Harry slowly crawled under the covers, and settled at the very far edge of the bed. Hermione rolled her eyes as she moved over and curled up against him. Harry stiffened slightly as she tucked her head on his shoulder. "Relax, Harry, I'm not going to bite...at least not tonight, anyway. Thank you, Harry, for tonight."

"Anytime, Hermione."

Hermione caught his eyes in the moonlight, and reached down, taking his hand in hers, "Why did you think that I was with?"

Harry shrugged, "You two have been sniping at each other since you were eleven...I thought that's what you did, when you were... Everyone always kept claiming that you two had 'tension'".

Hermione's eyes dropped from his, "We tried actually, for about a day--even went out on a date..."

"When?" Harry asked sharply. Hermione's eyebrow crooked slightly, as a tiny grin lit her lips.

"Last week, that first day when you couldn't get a hold of me...and panicked on the phone to my Mum," Hermione said with a snort, "We went out, he had asked me, but there was nothing there, not really," she took a breath, "I think, that if we ever had a thing, its gone."

"I'm sorry, Hermione."

"I'm not." She reached up to touch his cheek, "It wouldn't have lasted, Harry. It wouldn't have, because about halfway through that dinner with Ron, I realized, all we had talked about, and all I had thought about...was you. And I am so, so very sorry that I didn't see it a long time ago."

"Why?" Harry replied quietly, "all I've ever brought into your life is terror and pain...people die when they get close to me, when they become my friend. If you were smart as I know you are, you'd run..."

"I already did," Hermione, whispered darkly, in a tight voice, "I ran all last year, Harry. I was scared, between the Ministry and the Prophesy, and I ran, held my distance from you...and it almost broke me... I won't do it again, Harry, please don't ask me to do that, I'll do anything for you, but not that. And no, whatever hardship you may have brought to me, was outweighed by everything else you've brought into my life. I would have never come out of my hole in the Library if it hadn't been for you. There are more important things than books and cleverness, Harry, things like friendship and-love," she whispered the last, her breath caught in her throat as felt, somehow, that the rest of her life depended on the next few words out of her mouth and his.

Harry closed his eyes for an instant, "That scares me more than anything else, Hermione." He took a deep breath as his eyes opened again, "Because the one thing, maybe the only thing, that I can't stand is see you hurt, and there's no guarantee that I won't hurt you..." He muttered something under his breath that Hermione did not quite catch, though somehow, she thought it was a prayer or some other entreaty to the gods. He swallowed heavily, "You getting hurt, or...dying, is what has kept me awake for the last week."

"Join the club," Hermione whispered softly enough that Harry only knew what she said by reading her lips, in the moonlight. His eyes widened as he realized what she had said and she nodded, "Me too, Harry...what's yours...me dying under torture, the AK?"

"Sometimes worse," Harry admitted, "Cedric, then Sirius, then Dumbledore...then you. It always ends with you." He sighed softly as she settled close and his arm tightened around her of its own accord.

Hermione nodded and rolled over, spooning back against him. She smiled slightly as Harry carefully kept his hand on her waist, before the smile vanished slowly, "With me, its just you, well occasionally if I've had a bad day, Ron and my parents get thrown in the cauldron, too, but its usually just you. The details vary, some nights it's seeing you on the ground at the base of the tower, sometimes Voldemort drags me in front of him as he tortures you, some nights, the worst ones...they do things...to me, or you, before they kill us."

"That's what I'm afraid of, Mione," Harry whispered, Hermione smiled at the diminutive, and placed her hand over his on where it rested on her belly. "Not for me, I already know that I'm-"

"Going to be right there with me, one way or the other," she interrupted. "I hitched my star to yours when I was twelve, Harry...I knew then, somehow, what that might mean."

"This is a lot scarier than Tom ever was," Harry said softly as he breathed in the smell of her shampoo. "I should feel even more nervous than I am. This just seems so-"

"Normal," Hermione supplied, "yeah, that's the scary, and sad part, Harry. We could have. We should have, there should have been, no Viktor, no Cho."

"No Ginny, no Ron," Harry nodded, "we weren't ready when we were thirteen, Hermione. At least I wasn't, especially because of these wankers." He waved in the air, indicating the house around them, before he dropped his hand back to her, landing higher on her bare waist that he had previously dared.

"I hate them," Hermione announced suddenly.

"I would hope so," Harry replied and Hermione let out a soft purr of contentment as she felt his lips, finally, brush her hair. "Dudley just tried to have his way with you. He's done it before, attacked girls around here, or so I've heard, but they've never caught him at it."

"Not for that," Hermione whispered, "at least not in the main, Dudley's a foul, loathsome toad." Harry smiled slightly as she recognized the epithet from third year. "But for the hell they put you through, for making you sleep in a cupboard, for making you doubt what you should have always known." She rolled back over, to face him. Their gazes locked from a distance of only several inches, and both teens swallowed heavily. Hermione bit her lip, raising her hand to tangle in his hair. Her shirt fell open all the way with the movement, but neither one noticed. "Scared?"

"I'm terrified beyond belief," Harry admitted as he finally did glance down, his eyes driven by his hormones for just an instant, his face flushed slightly, but Hermione just smiled softly. "There's no going back is there?"

"There never was, Harry, there never was." She smirked slightly, "I will admit that it's not how I envisioned you first seeing my tits..."

"That's not what I meant," Harry laughed. "And I begged you to repair your shirt, remember?"

"I know," Hermione replied seriously, "but the damage was already done as they say...and I can't say that I mind terribly if you see them...or perhaps more than that." She watched his eyes slowly pan down her face to rest on her lips as they were talking, "You are going to kiss me, right?"

"Was thinking about it," Harry admitted. Behind them, the window slid open, courtesy of a handy charm that Hermione had put on it when she arrived to automatically let Hedwig in. The snowy owl ghosted in, unnoticed by the humans in the room and glided to a stop on the dresser next to Crookshanks. The two familiars shared a look, before Hedwig took flight once more, flitted across to her cage and settled in, and Crookshanks yawned, closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Harry took a breath and leaned forward, his eyes slipping closed as he felt his lips brush hers. A beat later, his heart stopped as a jolt shook him to the core. His eyes snapped open to find chocolate ones holding the same amazed look, before they came together again. A brief flitter of a tongue against his lips, they opened, and Hermione's mouth greeted his. Harry's heart restarted as a jolt that had nothing, and everything to do with the sensations of her breasts pressing into him, separated by only his thin shirt, shot through his gut, and the feeling of being, home, at her lips on his.

Hermione pulled away slightly, sitting up enough to remove her shirt fully before settling down next to him again. Harry held her gaze as she slowly wormed her hands under the hem of Harry's t-shirt and began to tug on it. "We don't have to do this," he said, his voice wavering just slightly.

"I know," she returned, as she ran her thumbs along his stomach, running along the lines of the muscles she found there. Slowly, with his willing assistance, she peeled his t-shirt off and tossed it in the general direction of the dresser. Crookshanks let out a soft "merow," and shook off the shirt from where it had landed on him and jumped down, padding over to find a new bed in a half full basket of laundry in the corner of the room. "But I really want to."

"Alright," Harry whispered, as he leaned back in...

8: 25 am

A shaft of sunlight pierced the morning haze that had rolled in, bathing a bed, in the tiniest room bedroom, in an otherwise totally normal room, in a soft glow. Harry blinked his eyes open, and turned his head slightly to his left, and smiled softly at the curtain of chestnut hair spilled over his shoulder. Hermione had snuggled in, her cheek on his shoulder as she lay on her stomach, half on and half off of him, with her legs tangled with his. The light sheet that they had thrown over themselves had fallen to their hips, stopping just on the slope of her bum. Harry glanced down towards their feet, feeling a heavy weight there. He slightly rolled his eyes as he found Crookshanks sprawled over their covered feet, with his head turned towards the head of the bed, watching.

Hermione stirred slightly on his shoulder and chocolate eyes blinked open. She let slip a small yawn and smiled at him, "Morning, Harry."

Years later, he would still be amazed that two simple words that she had spoken to him, literally thousands of times over the almost seven years that they had known each other, could cause such a spike of emotion in his gut, but they did. "Morning, Hermione," he managed. She nodded slightly, before turning her head enough to kiss his collarbone. "Did you sleep, alright?" he asked nervously, for lack of anything better to say.

Hermione nodded, knowing as usual, what he was trying to say, "For the first time in ages, yeah." She closed her eyes for a moment, "Can we stay here all day?" She stretched, looking just like her feline familiar, as she moved up, to drop her lips to his. Harry's hands came up to pull her more fully on top of him as her fingers tangled in his hair. Her head turned slightly to clear his nose as she kissed him, sighing against his mouth as she felt his tongue dance over her lips, and opened to him.

After several moments, she pulled away, a bare inch or two, panting slightly; before she stretched further to kiss his forehead, her lips catching the edge of his scar. Hermione settled her head under his chin and smiled, contently. "Sure we can, Love," Harry absently ran his hand up and down her back, fingers running along the bumps in her spine causing Hermione to purr contently. He cocked his head slightly, considering, "Do you want to know a secret?"

"Ooh, something about you I don't know?"

"There's not much, but yeah. Though in your defense, I didn't learn until this last week," Harry explained. Hermione didn't move from her comfortable perch, but he felt her interest anyway. "Last week, while I was waiting for you guys to get here-I got a large package from Gringotts, really pissed off Hedwig," Hedwig hooted softly in agreement, and the teens laughed, before Harry's voice took on an odd tone, "Seems that even though I don't turn seventeen for a month, Gringotts sent along a listing of my accounts to review, before my majority."

"Harry," Hermione said softly, lifting up enough to look him in the eyes, concern darkening hers. Harry smiled slightly, reassuring her, before lifting his head up enough to kiss her before dropping back to the pillows.

"It's alright, Hermione, I'm fine..." Harry whispered. She watched him a moment, before nodding and settling back into her former location. Harry kissed the top of her head, before sighing contently. "Anyway," he went on, "I was bored, and I couldn't stand to look at another spell book, sorry, Hermione."

"It's alright, Harry, I understand."

"Thanks, in the package, there were a whole bunch of papers I had to sign, most of them from the Black and Potter trusts, taking over the accounts and such. Since I don't currently have a guardian in the Wizarding world, much of the monies and such are in trusts managed by Gringotts until I'm seventeen. But the most interesting thing was the Potter family property listing..." Harry paused, Hermione waited, "You've been here for a few days, you've seen how they spoil Dudley?" Hermione nodded against his chest. "Vernon doesn't make enough money to support them, especially not Dudley in the manner they've grown accustomed to."

"So?" Hermione murmured, "So he's a spoiled little child, what's that have to do with what your parents left you?"

"Us, Hermione," Harry replied so softly she almost didn't hear him. "That's if you'll have me?" Her eyes widened in momentary shock, before she nodded mutely against his chest. He let himself grin for a moment, before he went on, "So I'm looking through the bloody huge ledger, I think I own a house in Hogsmeade by the way, and see an entry for Surrey...I look a bit closer and see that one of the Potter trusts holds the mortgage to this place, note said it was a second mortgage, suppose they needed it to feed Dudley. The line item mentioned that the loan was in default..."

"What are you going to do about it?"

Harry shrugged, "I don't know, I did have the Goblins hold off on foreclosing, for now, anyway...suppose it depends."

"On what, Harry?"

"On how they treat you for the rest of my exile here," Harry could feel her glare, "and me, I guess, though it really doesn't matter about me," he added in a bare whisper.

"Harry James, of course you matter" Hermione snapped as she pushed up to hang over his face, glaring down at him, her hair falling to form a curtain around their faces. "You are the only thing that's worth a damn in this house." Her eyebrow crooked, "Do you understand, Harry?" He nodded, slowly, before she smiled softly and kissed his nose. She relaxed back against him, her eyes falling closed as he fingers resumed their slow trail up and down her back, "What are we going to do when we get to the Burrow, Harry?"

"I hold your hand a lot, and don't get more than ten feet away from you at any time," Harry replied with such an air of certitude; that Hermione giggled softly.

"What about...Ginny?" she asked in a small voice, suddenly unsure, "She might cause a scene...she already told me she was over you once...what if she-what if Molly goes spare, because I hurt her daughter?"

"We leave, I don't want to cause a fight at Bill's wedding, I care for them too much for that," he shrugged, "but I care for you more. I won't make you stay there if they're like that. There's no choice, not between you and them."

Hermione nodded after a minute, "We are going to have to tell Ron, Harry. Even though he and I agreed that we were best friends only, he deserves to know. I don't want him to think we are keeping things from him."

"As soon as we see him," Harry agreed, "I don't want to do it in a letter, Hermione. Maybe we can owl him today, have him meet us at the Leaky Cauldron tomorrow for lunch."

She nodded, "I'll Apparate us there, tomorrow, at least we can get something to eat there, since they don't seem to have any compunctions about feeding you," she stretched, sitting up and Harry groaned. Hermione laughed, bent down and kissed him, before swinging her legs from the very mussed bed and standing up. She felt Harry's eyes on her the entire way as she crossed the room to his dresser, giving him a small shake on the way for good measure. She opened his top drawer, pulled a large Gryffindor Lions T-shirt and pulled it over her head; it was huge on her, hanging down to her knees.

"So, because we're together, you think you can steal my clothes, do you?" Harry grinned, as he reached over the side of the bed, found his discarded sleep pants and pulled them on before standing and walking over to her, grabbing his wand on the way. She folded herself into his arms, leaning her head back to receive a kiss.

"Yes," Hermione replied succinctly, before she reached around him, to pluck his wand from his waistband. She turned and flicked it at the space next to the bed. A small table appeared with a soft pop, a swish, and eggs, bacon, toast, muffins and a pitcher of pumpkin juice along with a pair of goblets appeared. "And I even cook, too."

"I knew there was a reason that I kept you around," Harry muttered as she slipped his wand back where she had gotten it from, took his hand and let him back to the edge of the bed. She cocked her head slightly as she sat down, and filled the glasses from the pitcher.

"Is that the only reason?" she teased, feeding him a bit of muffin.

Harry swallowed, "Well that, and your brains, your incredibly sexy body-and the fact that I'd be utterly lost without you," he admitted to the soft look he saw in her eyes as she gazed on him from a few inches away.

"I...suppose those are good enough," she replied after a moment. She dropped her head to his shoulder for a second before straightening up and glancing to the window as it slid open, allowing for a small, tiny ball of feathers. Hedwig turned her head, following the tiny owl with glaring amber eyes as it described a rather erratic flight path towards Harry and Hermione. Hermione's hand shot up, and with the benefit of years of experience with the third member of the Trio's owl, snapped the tiny owl from the air. Hermione looked down at the owl, at a tiny roll of parchment that was attached to Pigwidgeon's leg and detached it.

The scroll grew to normal size and Harry scowled slightly, "Ron's just showing off because he can use magic outside of school," he griped and Hermione laughed. Harry gave her a hurt look. Hermione leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"Alright?" Harry nodded, and Hermione opened the scroll. Pig fluttered down, stole a piece of bacon larger than he was and flew over to land next to Hedwig on her perch. She did not look happy, but seemed content to ignore the other owl. "Let's see what he had to say," she looked down to see:

Harry and Hermione,

Luna was over here, helping Ginny with the wedding preparations, she told me to write this to both of you. I don't know why, she's barmy after all, but I figured it couldn't hurt. I've spelled this letter with something Bill showed me, he said he learned it from Dumbledore, so unless Herms is right and I am absolutely pants at magic, only you two should be able to read this.

Hermione laughed and shrugged, "I was mad at him." Harry just nodded, and bent back to the missive:

It's bloody insane here, you probably should be glad you're not here. Fleur and Mum are like two bloody Hungarian Horntails, they're always in each other's faces about what color flowers, or if we should have roast beef or turkey on the buffet. (I voted for both, but they pulled their wands on me.) I wish I was there with you two, though it was worth it punching that bloody git in the face. I've been thinking, I know Hermione is laughing right now, but I've started to put aside a few supplies, food and such for our "trip". When do we want to leave, right after the wedding or what?

I think Ginny is starting to figure out that we are up to something, she's always watching me, or asking when you are going to get here, Harry. I understand why you broke up with her mate. She's my sister, and I love her, but she's changed over the last year, like she's a different person, bloody hormones.

Hermione looked rather affronted as Harry wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She smiled up at him briefly, before looking back to Ron's letter.

I know that you two are cut off from the news, there in Muggle hell, but that dark guy hasn't done much. If this were a chess match, I'd think he was shocked that a go-for-broke move actually worked, and he didn't have a plan to follow, it happened all the time with me playing you Harry. Mum is still trying her damnest to keep me or Ginny from learning anything that the group is up to, but they are stunned, shocked. I think it's just us three guys. The Trio out to save the world. Yea. The Death Eaters better run now.

Harry closed his eyes, sighing, trying to keep the tears from escaping his closed lids. He leaned into Hermione's fingers as they came up as they ran through his hair. Hermione lowered the letter to the tray and put her other arm around Harry, leaning her head forward to touch his. She waited a moment, "Alright, Harry?" He nodded, not speaking, opening his eyes. Hermione's thumb came up to wipe the tears that had escaped the corners of his eyes. She read the thanks in his eyes before she picked the letter up again, and canted it so they both could finish it.

If you can escape your captors tomorrow for a bit, can we meet up at Diagon Alley? I want to visit the Twins' store, and it gives us a place to talk away from prying ears. I also think that they might have a few things for us, they aren't as stupid as Mum makes them out to be.

Anyway, write me, I want to make sure that you two are alright.

Ron

P.S. Hermione, be careful, I've seen how Dudley looks at you when he doesn't think Harry or I are watching, be careful. I would hate to have to Kedavra his arse.

Hermione looked to Harry and shrugged slightly, "It would have been nice if he told me earlier." She reached behind Harry, and grabbed her wand from the bedside table and flicked it in the direction of Harry's trunk. A blank parchment, followed by an inkbottle and Harry's eagle feather quill that she had given him years ago floated over to drop next to her. "I'll tell him we'll meet him for lunch tomorrow?" Harry nodded, and Hermione scrawled a quick note, and waved to Pig. The note shrunk and attached itself to the Scoops Owl with a vague wand gesture, "Take that to Ron, Pig," Hermione commanded softly. The owl vibrated in its excitement, before taking flight, orbiting around their heads several times and heading out the window. Hedwig looked rather, relieved, and closed her eyes. "What now, Harry?"

He shrugged and lay back on the bed. Hermione shrugged and dropped next to him, the remains of breakfast abandoned, at least until their Familiars realized they were not paying attention any longer, and curled up at his side. "We try to figure out how to break, Us, to Ron, and start training, really training, and studying."

"We can start that later today, right?" Hermione whispered as she closed her eyes and nuzzled his shoulder.

"Sure, Hermione."



A/N: There you go, as one can tell there could easily be a NC-17 component to this fic (or maybe there already is :) ) Let me know what you think.

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A/N: I still own nothing really. Ok, boys, girls and Manticores, I really meant to leave last chapter as a one shot, but here's a second...just because everyone seemed to want one. I really mean for this to be the end, as anything beyond would start to look a lot like Circle. Thanks as usual to Lady Starlight for her work on this fic. WARNING....This chapter is not for Ginny lovers, sorry.

Chapter 2: The last chapter.....

************************The Burrow, Ottery St, Catchpole*******************

August 1, 1997
10:10 am

A soft POP that was lost in the rustle of the leaves in the soft summer breeze announced the arrival of the three newest guests to the Burrow. Immediately they stepped out of the way of a harried, exhausted looking Arthur Weasley as he walked past, levitating a large, hippogriff-sized bouquet of flowers, a mixture of red roses and white lilies. He managed a small wave, and a smile then pushed into the flurry of work going on for tomorrow's wedding.

Hermione looked up at Harry, smiling nervously as she took in the wedding preparations in and around the ramshackle house. Hermione let Crookshanks down from where she cradled him against her with one arm, while the other held Harry's tightly. Crookshanks took off, running for the garden and hopefully a few gnomes, as she dropped Harry's hand and took a half step back, from where they had Apparated in together get past the newly placed Security Wards on the Burrow. She looked down at her hands, fiddled with something, and leaned up to give Harry a quick peck on the lips. "I'm going to go around the back and see Fleur and Tonks, Harry..." A loud boom echoed off the trees and a cloud of dust came from somewhere up the hill towards the makeshift Quidditch Pitch. "I suppose you'll?"

"Yeah, Hermione," Harry replied amusedly. He took a breath, looking around, "Do you want to me to go with you?" She smiled, and shook her head.

"I'll be fine," she patted the small of her back where her wand rode in a black dragonhide sheath, one that Tonks had picked up for her from the Auror equipment shop. "I have my wand." She canted her head slightly, "I'll be fine, Harry, I have to face them sometime, besides Ron was fine with it."

"I'm not worried about Ron, Hermione Jane," Harry muttered, reaching out and sweeping a lock of hair out of her eyes and behind her ear. She leaned into his hand, looking up at him through dark lashes. "I'll be up with the Twins, you will call if you need me."

"Alright, Harry," she sighed, holding up a small folding mirror, "see I have it."

"Thank you, Hermione, I just don't..."

"I understand, Baby, it's a good idea, but I will be fine, now go play with the boys," Hermione leaned in to kiss him again, before stepping back. She took several steps backwards, waving, before she vanished around the corner of the house. Harry smiled to himself, whistling a random tune under his breath as he started up the hill.

He wandered through a copse of trees, stepped around a large pine, and ducked as a second explosion ripped through the air. Harry stood up, brushed dirt from the knees of his jeans and finished climbing the hill. He looked down from the top of ridge, and saw George, Fred, Ron and Charlie all standing around looking down into a rather large crater in the ground. "OI, HARRY!"

Harry smiled as the boys turned from the large hole in the ground. "The Muggles treating you alright there?" Fred asked with a grin.

"They afraid of Hermione, I reckon?" George put in wryly.

Charlie grinned, and extended his hand to Harry, "Good to see you here, mate, Mum was going a bit spare, asking us when you and Hermione were going to get here. She's laid on a huge lunch."

"What are you doing?" Harry inquired, as he stepped forward, after sharing a quick nod with Ron. He looked down into a large, smoking hole in the ground, at least two meters deep. Several large crates were stacked nearby at the treeline opposite them, all marked with the logo of the store, and a couple were jumping around slightly.

"Something we are working on for the reception," Fred said.

"Hate for it to be too boring," George added with a toothy grin. "Mum finally gave up and let us come up here to work on it, said at least we can't blow up the house...not sure what she meant by that..."

"Sure you're not," Harry replied laughingly, "And what's your role in this, Charlie?"

Charlie looked on warily as the Twins conjured something and lowered it into the hole. He motioned Ron and Harry back as they started to fiddle with it, "I'm the adult supervision."

"Oh, what about me?" Ron griped, pouting slightly.

"You, adult, little Ronniekins," Fred snorted, overhearing. Ron gave him a rude gesture and led Harry away into the treeline, which was devoid of any other wildlife, all of it having long since been scared off.

Ron led Harry out of earshot of any of the rest of them, and with a wink and a quick pass of a wand, established a Cone of Silence around them. He flicked his wand at a tree stump, and a pair of butterbeers appeared, iced and ready to drink. "Brilliant, Ron, you've been practicing."

"Yeah, Herms would be proud, seems easier now, though, don't it? Now that we can actually use our magic?" Ron replied, as he walked over to the stump, picked up the beers and tossed one to Harry. He took a long pull on the frosted bottle, "How does it feel to be a free man?"

"I'm not free yet, Ron," Harry replied darkly, frowning as he took a sip from his drink. Harry walked over to a tree set across from the stump and leaned against it, sighing and looking down and away from Ron, back towards the decrepit house that had been one of the few places he could call home, and now, the place that in many ways he least wanted to be.

Ron looked over and shook his head. He sat down on the stump, looking up at Harry for once, "I'm sorry, mate, that's not what I meant." He took out his wand from behind his back and rolled it between his hands.

"I know, Ron, forget it." Harry did not look back at his friend, his best friend, as he watched Bill and Arthur walking across the yard of the Burrow, pulling along a large cart full of folding chairs with their wands. They stopped next to the front door, and Bill grabbed one of the ubiquitous Wellingtons from the front porch, and transfigured it into a post and used it to prop up the cart. He waved to Arthur and vanished with a CRACK that carried all the way up the hill to them. Arthur headed inside to no doubt work on something else for the wedding and Harry turned back to Ron. He reached up and scrubbed his hands through his hair. Ron smiled slightly at the sight of Harry's hair being even more unkempt than usual; Harry shared the grin, before it fell away, "I don't know, mate. This is all just an illusion, Ron...it's all just so..."

"Fake, yeah...I know," Ron whispered, he stood and replaced his wand into a thigh holster and came to stand next to Harry. "It's like another world, Harry, here since we got back, Mum's been focused on this wedding. I think she's sunk her reality into it, she can ignore the rest of the world by focusing on it."

"There's a lot of that dreaming going around," Harry mused. He glanced over his shoulder at Ron before looking back down into the valley. Another BOOM sounded from behind them, throwing dirt and ash into the air. Harry paused to shake dirt from his hair before he squared his shoulders and looked around, "I'm going to go find Hermione."

"Alright, Harry," Ron muttered something under his breath, he looked down at his beat and decrepit trainers, kicking aside a large clot of dirt that the Twins had relocated, before he slowly looked up, or rather down several inches into Harry's eyes, "Is she wearing it?"

"Yeah," Harry replied, ambivalently, "she is. She's not taken it off." He smiled slightly, remembering a conversation in the moonlight, "Not that I wanted her to, not that I ever want her to." He shrugged, "I suggested a spell to hide it though, to keep the peace, she seemed to think I was mental or something."

"She would," Ron agreed, smirking slightly, "she's the only person that I know that is as stubborn as you. I don't know what I was thinking." He laughed, Harry glared over at him and then after a moment, his visage cracked. He chuckled and nodded, watching Ron's expression.

His laughter faded away gradually, Harry frowned slightly, took a breath, "We're alright, aren't we, mate?" He turned fully, his entire being intent on Ron's expression, as Ron shrugged and closed his eyes.

"I won't lie to you, Harry," he said slowly. Ron looked around the woods, as if looking for the answer to Harry's question somewhere in the leaves. Finding none, he looked back to Harry, "It was a shock, it probably was a good idea that you told me in a public place...I mean...blimey, I know that Herms and me had just agreed that we were best as friends...I agreed with her, bloody hell, Harry, I still agree with her." He glanced around the clearing quickly as if expecting her to appear from nowhere. "Don't you dare ever tell her I said she was right."

"I won't," Harry smirked, "at least right away, I think I'll save it."

"Thanks, brother."

"Don't mention it."

Ron smiled, "I missed you two so much, Harry, you and Hermione. Just do me a favor, Harry."

"Yeah?"

"Keep the snogging to a minimum around me, alright, I'd like oh...ten or twenty years to get used to it." Ron replied, grinning, and Harry snorted. He looked out over the trees as Hedwig soared in from over the trees having just now arrived from Surrey.

"No promises, Mate, no promises," Harry waved towards the house, "Let's go reunite the Trio, shall we?" Ron nodded, and followed Harry down the hill towards the house. A platoon of gnomes ran from them, chattering. A ginger streak followed them, as Crookshanks took the opportunity for some exercise.

On the other side of the house, near where the stage was being set for the first of what Molly hoped would be six more weddings, Hermione was standing unnoticed under a tree watching Molly as she bossed around the rest of the clan. She bit her lip slightly as Molly ordered Ginny to carry something out from the house.

Hermione's eyes never left the smaller girl as Ginny slipped past, not looking up, muttering gripes about her inability to perform magic out of school. Hermione took a silent, deep breath as she watched Ginny toss flaming red hair violently side to side as she argued with herself, or something. Hermione squeezed her hands together, closed her eyes and walked forward, out of the shadow of the tree.

Standing several yards away, under a large white archway, which was currently bespeckled with glowing fairy lights, Molly flicked her wand tying a golden ribbon at the top, turned, "HERMIONE, DEAR!" She ran from her work and enveloped the young witch in a crushing hug. Tonks looked up from where she was working on stringing golden ribbon down a line of chairs. She headed over as Molly continued to hug Hermione, "I'm so glad you are here, where's Harry, dear? The poor dear, he's had such a bad time of it."

You have no idea, Hermione thought bitterly, but smiled anyway as Molly continued to patter on. "He's up with Ron and the Twins, Molly," Hermione said with a shrug. Tonks' eyes widened suddenly, as she caught sight of something, she stepped forward and took Hermione's hands in hers, pulling the younger woman into a hug, coincidentally turning Hermione so that her hand was away from Molly.

"I'd like to take Hermione for a bit, Molly," Tonks said, grinning, "I..uh...need her to look over something I got for Lupin's birthday." She kept hold of Hermione's hands and started to pull her away.

"Sure, Tonks," Molly grinned, "I was about to start on lunch anyway, is there anything you want dearie? You don't look like you've eaten at all, soo skinny. I can't imagine what poor Harry's like." She huffed slightly and headed off, towards the kitchen.

Hermione and Tonks watched her leave, before Hermione looked down at herself, "Too, skinny..." she pulled up the hem of her t-shirt slightly, revealing a tight stomach and a green-jeweled ring set in her navel. She glanced up at Tonks, who shrugged, having been the one mostly responsible for providing the regimen, "That's a bloody month of combat training."

"Wotcher," Tonks shrugged, "that five a.m. run does it every time." She wagged her eyebrows, "I like the ring...both of them," she added meaningfully. Tonks dropped her hands, and did something with her thumb across the bottom of her left ring finger. She shook her head forcefully, shaking it, and her hair seemed to grow with the motion, becoming waist-length, and darkening rapidly from bubble-gum pink, to a deep blue-black. She blinked, and her eyes darkened from the bright, vivid blue they had been to black. "Both of mine are diamond, how about yours."

Hermione squealed softly, and leapt up to hug the young Auror, "When?"

"Couple of weeks ago," Tonks grinned, her eyes flicking up and to the left, remembering. She motioned Hermione to one of the chairs, and sat. Hermione spun one around and sat down next to her, drawing her feet up to the edge of the chair and leaning her chin on her knees, before wrapping her arms around them. She wiggled her toes in the sandals that barely poked out from under the hems of her battered jeans, and waited for Tonks. Tonks looked back to her, "It was the cutest thing," she looked around as if worked about Remus showing up any minute, "or at least I thought so." She giggled, "I had just got back from a mission, a surveillance one, and I was stinking and dirty, and exhausted..."

"That sounds wonderful," Hermione rolled her eyes.

"It was, wait," Tonks giggled again, "I was tired, but Remus was still locked up, after the full moon, and I went to let him out. I unlocked the door, and opened it to watch the world's sexiest werewolf stumble out of the room, completely naked, drop at my knees and hold up a ring." Hermione giggled, Tonks brayed a laugh, "And then he goes, 'I really need someone to open that door for the rest of my life, want the job?'"

Hermione looked at her wide-eyed, her jaw dropped slightly, "Bullocks," she said after a moment, "he didn't."

Tonks just grinned and shrugged, "What about yours? He get down on one knee, tie it to Crooks' collar...or was it after a night of wild impassioned sex?" She waggled her eyebrows, and Hermione flushed.

"TONKS!" Hermione squeaked, throwing her hands over her mouth and looking around. Tonks laughed loudly, so loudly that Hermione looked around again, a touch concerned, but fortunately no one was near. "It was almost more of an understood thing," she said after a moment, she held up her hand in front of her and turned her ring around so that it showed on top. She held out her hand to Tonks, who took it and looked down at the platinum band holding a flawless, slightly glowing square emerald surrounded by a pair of triangular diamonds.

Tonks' eyes widened, she turned Hermione's hand back and forth a bit before letting it go. Hermione pulled her hand back, resting it on her knee and covered it with her right. "I guess it pays to have the richest wizard in England as your boyfriend," Tonks teased, Hermione's eyes narrowed suddenly. "I'm kidding, Hermione," Tonks said quickly, holding her hands up in a defensive posture as she felt a sudden presence start to manifest.

Hermione took a quick breath, and shook her head, smiling faintly. The tension in the air lessened but did not recede totally, "It's alright, Tonks, just don't say that around Harry, he's sensitive enough as it is, he didn't want any of it."

"I know, Hermione, I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. I know that I'd give it all back to get Sirius back. Mum made me keep what he left me." Tonks looked towards the house, "You haven't told them, have you?"

"Only Ron," Hermione looked towards the house, and unconsciously her eyes tracked upward towards the window of the room she had spent many a summer night in. "We are keeping it low key, to keep from taking away from Bill and Fleur..."

"And you don't want to start a fight?" Tonks supplied, "Yeah, she's been asking around, asking when Harry is going to get here."

"As long as she doesn't start anything, we're fine, Tonks, we're leaving soon after the wedding anyway...things to do." Tonks looked at her a moment, but just nodded.

"And if she does start something?" Tonks asked plainly. She looked towards the house quickly, then up towards the hill as another explosion erupted; then back to Hermione.

"I finish it. No one, hurts Harry. Not Snape, not Tom Riddle, and most definitely not her." Hermione's eyes were implacable as she looked across the distance to Tonks.

Tonks just nodded and stood, "I'm going to tell Remus, alright? He won't tell, but he'll be tickled pink." Hermione nodded and smiled slightly, though her eyes never softened in the seconds it took for Tonks to step back, turn and vanish with a CRACK.

Hermione continued to watch the space where Tonks had been, waiting as the birds chirped nervously in the sudden stillness after the Twin's last 'experiment'. She frowned slightly as she brought her hands up from her knees, and slowly inverted the ring, hiding the stones under her hand. She closed her eyes, scrubbing at them with fingers of her right hand as her left curled up in her lap.

8:15 pm

A ramshackle bedroom, filled with a decidedly orange color scheme was occupied by three bewildered souls. Three people, who had had a responsibility thrust upon them years before they should have had to burden themselves with it, sat on a pair of beds. A tall man, reddish stubble on his cheeks was lying on an uneven bed with his red hair desperately clashing with the orange pillow under his head. He squinted at the article describing the Cannons expected impending middle of the league finish in the league in the dim light from an oil lamp sitting on a battered table set between his bed and another, almost straight one that had been magic'ed to fit in the space available.

Ron set down the Quidditch magazine in disgust and looked over at the occupants of the other bed. Harry was leaning up against the rough headboard, his eyes fixed and staring towards the far wall, where the Cannon's keeper caught an inbound Quaffle, again and again in an endless loop. Ron watched as Harry's fingers combed absently through the third member of the trio's curly locks, where she was nestled into Harry's side, her head down in a book. Hermione moved a bit, snuggling back closer into the crook of Harry's shoulder, and sighed softly. She turned a page in her current book on Magical artifact creations, and glanced over at Ron to share a quick, tired smile.

Ron shook his head slightly, still slightly amazed that he really felt nothing at the sight of the two of them together, other than an odd sense of normalcy. He supposed, little that he admitted to thinking about it, that it really wasn't all that different from the other six years that the three of them had been together. Hermione was cuddled up closer to Harry than normal, yes, but nothing that would have seemed out of place in the common room when they were older than twelve. Even the quick kiss, which Harry planted on the crown of her hair as she continued to read some obscure tome in hopes of finding something to help them on their quest, seemed oddly expected in the part of his mind that actually thought about such things.

Unconsciously, Ron glanced towards the door to his room, towards the hallway that led to the youngest Weasley's room and frowned. She still had not been informed of the realities of the situation, and he knew she would explode when she found out, but Ron couldn't bring himself to care really. She had let Harry walk away, because it was easy, the fact that it was also the right thing to do, had, Ron knew, had little to do with the redhead's decision. Ron smiled slightly as he thought, that somehow, Ginny may have saved them all in the end.

Harry blinked and glanced over at Ron, and the two boys shared a small grin. "There is a locking charm on the door, right, Mate?" Harry said quietly.

"Aye," Ron replied, rolling his tongue in his cheek to keep from laughing, "but I'll be damned if you two get to shagging with me in the room...at least let me get to sleep and conjure some earmuffs."

Hermione laughed softly, a sound that was rare these days, "I'll conjure them for you, Ron," she offered, with the barest hint of a giggle behind her words, "I'd hate for you to turn your ears to turnips."

"Thanks, Hermione, I appreciate it."

"No problem," Hermione grinned slightly. She looked over at Ron, setting her book down slowly, as her smile slowly faded. She nibbled on her bottom lip for a breath, "Ron?" she asked hesitantly.

"I'm fine, Hermione, I've already told Harry today, I'm alright. Though I do admit that it's a bother that I have to give up my fantasies of you and me and a giant cauldron of whipped cream..."

"RONALD!" Hermione cried exasperatedly. She looked back and lightly punched Harry on the arm as he chuckled, deeply, glaring at him for an instant before she buried her head in his chest, giggling uncontrollably. She looked up suddenly from Harry and dove for her wand on the bedside table. Ron gulped and rolled out of bed, holding up a pillow as a totally inadequate shield. Hermione flicked her wand, vanishing the pillow, and causing the bed to scoot away from him with a loud creak. "What do you think, Harry?" she grinned as Ron dropped to his knees and pretended to beg, "Polka dots in his hair, maybe a touch of Gnome attractant?"

"I don't know, Love, maybe that Peruvian Fire Ant spell, you read about the other day," Harry replied airily, waving his hand in a noncommittal gesture.

Ron glared at him, obviously feeling betrayed, "I can't believe that you'd betray me, Mate," he moaned. He scurried back slightly, taking his chance to slip to the side as Hermione glanced back at Harry.

"She has certain...benefits that you lack, Ron, sorry," Harry said with a shrug. Hermione gave him a breathtaking smile, before she spun back to Ron with her wand bouncing lightly in her fingers. She grinned hugely, a dangerous glint in her eye as she raised her wand....

"OI," a loud voice sounded from the door as someone beat on it, "what are you three up to...Nothing, unnatural now are you?" Hermione rolled her eyes at the sound of Fred's voice, and walked to the door, opening it. She frowned imperceptibly, a look in her eyes more than anything, as she found Fred, George and Ginny waiting on the other side of the door.

"What do you lot want?" Ron shouted from his post, more or less hiding behind a closet door that was only hanging by the top hinge.

"What are you doing, hiding behind that closet door?" Ginny asked, pushing past Fred and Hermione to step into the room.

"Is there something that you wish to tell us, Ronnikins?" George put in, laughing, he walked into the room and leaned against the wall near the door in the tiny space. He looked at Hermione who still had her wand in hand, then at Harry who was sitting up on the bed, his hands folded in his lap, before he looked back at Ron, "We weren't...interrupting something were we?"

Ginny turned to Hermione as she shrugged slightly, glancing back at Harry for just an instant, "Ron had...annoyed, me. I was considering what to do about it."

Ginny smirked, as Fred laughed, "Well don't let us stand in your way," he waved towards his youngest brother like some Muggle game show host bestowing a prize. "Lead on, M'Lady, do with that miscreant as you will."

Hermione cocked her head, considering, and sighed exaggeratedly, "I think that I will think on it...The appropriate punishment will come to me, in time." Her wand vanished into a sheath behind her back, disappearing from view.

"No," Ron cried, trying not to laugh, as a subtle edge of tension that had been building crested and fell. "Punish me now, don't take time to think..."

"Anyway," Harry said over the tumult in the corner of the room, "what are you lot up to?" He swung his feet from the bed to rest them on the floor before looking up at the Twins in the corner. He slowly, and surreptitiously, marked the page in Hermione's book and slid it onto the bedside table.

Fred and George shared matching grins, "Cloaks and boots, lads, cloaks and boots, we are on a quest."

Harry glanced to Hermione, a question in a look, she shrugged slightly, "Just where are we going?" He stood slowly, and pulled his wand from under the pillow he had been lying on, and sheathed it. He slowly moved towards his trunk, which was stuck in a corner next to Ron's. He toed into a pair of beat up trainers as Ron reached over the side of the bed, to pull over his head a bright, almost iridescent orange Cannons jumper.

"You can't be serious, Ron," Ginny rolled her eyes, "that thing is ghastly." Hermione smirked slightly, privately agreeing with the smallest Weasley, she had literally begged Ron not to buy it in Diagon Alley the day they had all met up to reveal their revelations. She turned from Ginny and unthinkingly, grabbed a clean jumper of Harry's from the top of a pile on a chair. A look of annoyance flashed across Ginny's eyes, for a heartbeat, before vanishing before Hermione turned back, with her trainers in hand. She took a pair of steps across the crowded room, and sat on the bed next to Harry to lace them.

"It's just the boys actually, Hermione," George put in quickly, "a night of debauchery to celebrate Bill's last night as a free man, as we," he stepped forward quickly, grabbing Ron around the shoulders, and pulling him to Harry, where he draped his free arm around him, "are all of age, now. Not that we don't think of you as one of the boys, Hermione," he added with a huge grin.

"Merlin forbid," Hermione said dryly. "And what will I be doing while you all are gone?"

Ginny looked between Harry and Hermione as he frowned slightly, Ginny beamed, "Oh, Dad's taking Mum out, so Fleur and Angelina, and Katie, and Alicia are all here, to have a bit of a girls' night in...I think Luna is coming over in a bit," she added absently, watching Hermione's reaction.

Hermione smiled, and nodded, "That sounds like fun." She sat down on the bed, and started to unlace her trainers. She waved at Ron and Harry, "Go on, I'll be fine, I haven't had a conversation not involving Quidditch in ages." Ron laughed and grabbed Harry by the elbow, leading him from the room, following the Twins, who had already exited, singing a loud, bawdy song about a Wizard and his three wives. Merlin, those two are already halfway there...I should probably make some anti-Hangover Potion, before I go to bed, she thought idly.

"Are you coming, Hermione?" Ginny asked suspiciously, after the older girl leaned over the bed to grab the book she had been reading. She paused at the door, her hand on the jamb.

"Yeah, Gin," Hermione shrugged, "I just need to write down a note on something on this homework, before I forget it, I'll be right along." Ginny nodded, not able to naysay Hermione's reasoning, and slipped away. Ginny headed down to the living room to find Harry, Ron, Fred and George, along with Bill and Charlie standing, pulling on cloaks and boots or trainers. She stopped to kiss Bill on the cheek, before slipping into the kitchen.

Harry's eyes tracked her, hidden under glasses and dark locks. He pulled his cloak on from a peg next to the door, patted his pocket, "Bullocks," he snarled softly, and glanced to Bill, "I'll be right back, I need to get my Galleons from my trunk."

"Don't worry about it, Harry," Bill replied, laughing as he tied his cloak around his throat. His scars from the attack almost two months ago now were healed, and if a slight feral look occasionally filled his gaze, it was not anything that anyone who had had dealt with Remus for years did not expect.

"It'll just be a moment," Harry demurred, already halfway up the stairs, "after all, I need to buy you a round. It's tradition." He smiled and took up the stairs two at a time. Behind him, Ron rolled his eyes, and carefully did not show his face to any of his brothers to hide the laughter there.

Harry swept into Ron's room, finding, as he knew he would, Hermione still sitting on the bed. He looked back towards the open door, and slipped across the room, pulling a sack of Galleons and a small hand mirror from his trunk on the way. He stopped next to the bed and knelt down to her level, "You going to be alright, Mione?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine, Harry," she smiled at him slightly, and reached out to squeeze his hand for an instant. "You be careful."

"It's you I'm worried about," he gave her a tired grin, that fell away almost instantly, "Someone has a 'lean and hungry look' about them, and I don't mean Bill." Hermione snorted, recognizing the reference.

"See, locking you up with me for a month has done wonders for your reading," Hermione said softly, holding his eyes with her own. She glanced around him to the open door, found it empty, and leaned forward, pressing her lips to his for just an instant. She pulled away, a small, half-smile on her face, "I know Harry, what will be, will be. I love you," she whispered, and nodded, her lip in her teeth as he mouthed the same in return, before flowing back to his feet and walking from the room backwards, his eyes never leaving hers until he was in the hall. A moment later, Hermione heard a series of CRACKs and POPs like a string of firecrackers from the floor below and sighed; before she picked up the book she had been reading and left the room.


August 2, 1997
1:20 am

Hermione sat alone on a rickety porch swing, at the edge of a pool of spilled light from the house. She looked out, unseeing, into the deep darkness surrounding the house, a darkness broken only by the light from the house, and over to one side, the light from the illuminated arch already in place for tomorrow's or rather, today's wedding. She had managed to wait out most of the party, laughing where appropriate, sharing in the insipid, at least to her, party games that got sillier and sillier as one after another bottle of a rather nice Burgundy, that Fleur's parents had donated several cases of to the cause, were opened.

To her credit, Hermione had lasted until an hour ago, when during a tipsy game of Truth or Dare that Ginny seemed to be itching for something, Angelina had asked who she had snogged and when. Hermione had grinned and taken the dare, ending up kissing Katie for one minute, both girls had been rather drunk by then, before she had excused herself, blaming a headache.

She idly swirled the same glass she had had when she stepped out an hour ago, just as Molly and Arthur returned from their dinner. Molly had given her a hug and admonished her to go to bed soon, before she had retreated with Arthur to their bedroom, and raised, no doubt, a strong silencing charm. Molly had told the girls downstairs the same, which had only resulted in hushed giggles echoing out into the night via the open windows of the house. Hermione took a sip of her drink, before setting the glass down on the planks at her feet, which were smoothed by age and wear.

The screen door to the outside squeaked open on springs that needed a touch of oil, or a Lubrication Charm, and a soft tread moved out onto the porch. Hermione glanced up as a small shape moved in front of her, and perched on the rail around the porch, facing her. She smiled a silent greeting and resumed her silent meditation, her thoughts reaching forward on what they would soon have to do.

"So, Hermione," Ginny said softly after a moment, her voice thin and hard, "how long did you wait, after you dumped my brother before you were in Harry's bed?" Hermione took a deep breath, pulling in air through her nose and out her mouth, closing her eyes. "Or were you sleeping with him, when he was still with me and leading my brother on the whole time?"

"I would thank you to keep your tongue about affairs that you have no idea about, Ginevra," Hermione replied very quietly, her voice taking on a subtly lethal tone. "But for your information, your brother and I agreed, together, that we weren't to be. I love Harry, that is all that matters," Hermione slowly stood, regretfully yielding the spot where she had hoped, unconsciously, to wait for Harry to return from his reluctant sojourn with the 'Boys'. "Now if you will excuse me," Hermione took a step, Ginny's hand flashed to her elbow...

Hermione's arm came up in a reflexive counter; she spun with the motion, sending the tiny Weasley tumbling to the rough wood floor of the porch. Ginny scrambled for her wand, fumbling with effects of too much wine, she glanced up, her fingers finally, lightly touching the hilt of her wand to find the tip of a carved, ivy-wood wand pointing directly in line with her eyes, from only feet away. "Go ahead, then," Ginny snapped, "hex me, Harry will still eventually come to his senses. You are just a stop on the trail, nothing else, Granger." Hermione flinched at her words, breathing heavily and Ginny grinned, darkly, "Harry's a boy, I don't blame him for taking the opportunity for a quick, handy shag now and then. He'll come around to someone who understands him...who is worthy of him. He's a hero, Hermione," Ginny laughed, "he'll go out and save the world, with his...sidekick...and he'll come home to get the girl...Which isn't you, luv," she added lightly.

Hermione's eyes widened, and she took a pair of quick, deep breaths, she then took one more, and her breathing slowed, becoming even once more. An almost pitying look replaced the one of almost panic that had dwelled in her eyes before, Ginny's jabs having gone unerringly close to her bitter insecurities. Ginny didn't appear to notice, as she went on, "What would you even do together, what are you good for, one shag a week? And I bet he has to beg for that one. Harry'll get tired of you, and come back...I knew that he wanted to get revenge, why do you think I let him go on his quest without me?" Ginny grinned as she watched Hermione slowly resheath her wand. The small Gryffindor stood and pulled her long red hair over her shoulder where it sparkled lightly in the light from the fairy lights. "I can wait..."

Hermione half turned, Ginny's lips curled triumphantly, and a small fist flashed out of the darkness, crashing into Ginny's left cheek and sending her sprawling on the ground. Ginny dove for her wand again only to see it spin into the darkness beyond as a precise bolt of blue ripped it from her loose grip. Hermione did not make an obvious move as a shimmering half-globe snapped around her and the prostrate girl. "You will be waiting an eternity, you stupid bint," Hermione snarled lowly. "You don't have a bloody clue what's going on, and you damn sure don't know Harry...leave him alone, Ginny, he's had enough pain without you."

"Just what do you think he will see in you a month or two down the line when he gets tired of your nagging?" Ginny surged to her feet, "He needs someone who can look good on his arm, when he accepts his rewards, Hermione...Think you can use him to buy out Sleekeazy's to tame your hair for that? He is rich, enough, I suppose," Ginny added softly.

Hermione blinked, hard, "You honestly think that he gives a bloody fuck about that," she snapped, "that he wanted any of it...that he wanted the beatings and the tortures he endured from his Goddamn, so-called family, for ten years? That he wanted to be treated worse than a House-Elf working for the Malfoys?" Hermione bent forward slightly, her chocolate eyes dark and glittering, "Or maybe you want to share in his nightmares, the ones where he sees Cedric die, Sirius Die, Dumbledore DIE, you stupid fucking cow, or the ultimate, where he sees them die, then you and your whole family die, your body tossed to Voldemort's," Hermione almost smiled as Ginny flinched, "minions, his parents dug from their graves and used in potions, and then sees his children, the ones that he so longed to have ripped from their mother, as they are tortured and killed in front of him, all before Voldemort," another flinch, "deems to let him die." Hermione took a breath, "That is what he wakes up to, crying, but he can't even do that properly because it was beat out of him. You don't know him at all Ginny, only his Press, and not even that very well."

Hermione spun on her heel to return to the house, when Ginny charged her, knocking her to the floor as she pushed her down, tumbling her off the porch onto the grass. Hermione rolled over, receiving a punch to the chest, and bit off a groan as she rocked back, to retaliate to Ginny's stomach with a quick jab.

The sound of incoming Apparations and the rumble of running feet announced the arrival of an audience. Harry looked up, mostly sober, unlike Ron who was hanging off his shoulder, "Oh. Bloody. Hell," he moaned and unceremoniously set Ron down on the soft grass of the lawn and started to sprint towards the pair. Fleur tumbled out of the porch from the other direction, trailed by Angelina, and Katie.

Hermione rolled to her feet, her training with Tonks already taking over as she dodged Ginny's wild kick, and swept her legs, dropping Ginny to the dirt once more. Harry reached Hermione an instant later, folding her in his arms. She relaxed instantly, turning into his shoulder. He turned slightly and took a punch from Ginny, who was aiming for Hermione, just before the slower house crowd could stop the small girl. Harry's head rocked back slightly, as her small fist knocked his glasses askew, but he did not otherwise move. A fleeting faint glow vanished as Ginny hobbled back, cradling her fist. "Keep that bitch away from me," Ginny screamed, "I'm sorry, Harry, I didn't mean it, it was her fault, she started it."

Hermione stiffened in his arms again and tried to break free. Harry took two steps back, drawing on his magic, as much as his physical strength, while Hermione fought him for a second. Sheeting, blue witchfire surrounded them for a heartbeat, before Hermione relaxed again. He cupped the back of her head as she buried her face in his shoulder and he could feel tears begin to dampen his shirt. He pressed his lips to her hair as she began to calm, and kept his eyes on Ginny where she still fumed in the combined arms of Katie, Angelina, and Alicia. Harry glanced back towards the Twins, and then towards their girlfriends, holding their sister. The twins nodded and took the girls' burden. "What happened, Mione?" he whispered near her ear.

In a low voice, she told him, quickly and concisely. Her voice cracked on a pair of points, and he closed his eyes. "Harry, she isn't right for you," Ginny said with a touch of desperation.

Harry leaned down and whispered something in Hermione's ear. She shook her head forcefully, and he repeated himself a touch louder, but not quite loud enough for the rest to hear. She nodded and turned in his arms, he reached down and picked up her left hand and lifted it to chest level, before flicking his thumb under her fingers to cause the jewels on her band to rotate to the outside. "I think you are wrong, Ginny," Harry said softly, "and we are going to keep proving you wrong for however long we have left in this adventure, be it an hour or a thousand years. And I will still love her after we are gone from this adventure to the next." As one, every female there, and the Twins, gasped as they recognized the ring for what it was.

Harry turned to Bill and Fleur, and glanced over to Ron as he came to stand next to them. Ron nodded, totally sober as the Twins had cast Sobrious on everyone as soon as they realized what was happening. "Bill, Fleur, you don't deserve this on your day. We're sorry," he said quietly, Hermione nodded, not trusting her voice as Ginny glared at her, "we're going to leave...I don't it would be wise for us to stay here tonight. I uhhh..."

Bill glanced down at Fleur, she nodded to Harry, and Hermione, "Harry, if you think that is best, fine...but you will be at the wedding in the afternoon, I promise that nothing will happen," he glanced up towards the still tranquil, master bedroom, "from any quarter."

Fleur nodded, ""zf course, Zit, will be my 'onor, ze 'ave ou, 'here."

"Thank you," Harry replied calmly, his eyes sharing his truth depth of gratitude. "Ron, I'd appreciate it, if you could grab our gear, and take it to where it needs to go?" Harry asked, and Ron nodded, automatically. "We'll see you later then," Harry pulled Hermione back into him tightly and vanished without a sound.



There it is...the last chapter. Have fun.

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