~A/N> Finally, after re-writing it three times, here is chapter 13. I have to say a big thank-you to Poppywillow
for all of the help she gave me in figuring out the direction this chapter needed to go. I plan to start working on the
next chapter tonight so that hopefully I can post another update next weekend. I'll be working on the podcast this
weekend though, so I'm not sure how much free time I'll have. Thank you for all the wonderful reviews so far,
and if you like to watch H/Hr fan videos, I have fifteen that I've made on my youtube page if you'd like to
watch them: http://www.youtube.com/user/Miscard and I also posted a
new one-shot about a week ago that you can find here: http://fanfiction.portkey.org/story/6316. Thanks again for the reviews,
and I hope you enjoy this chapter!! :)
Lily and Hermione both turned to look at Harry, who looked as if he would fall out of his chair at any moment. Standing up, he took a step forward and put his hand on the back of the chair next to him to steady himself. "Mum?" he asked again, his voice full of disbelief.
"You can see me?" she asked with a surprised look on her face. "But all those other times, the times when I wished so much that you could see and hear me but you couldn't, and now..."
"Now I can," he finished, walking slowly up to her. Stopping a few steps in front of her, Harry reached out toward her arm and was shocked when his fingers came in contact with Lily's arm. "I can feel you too?" Next thing he knew, his mum had her arms wrapped tightly around him, hugging him to her for dear life.
"I've waited so long to do this," she said with tears in her eyes.
"How is this possible?" Hermione asked, watching the scene play out with tears in her eyes as well.
"I don't know, and I don't care," Lily answered as Harry returned her hug. "All that matters is that I can actually feel him and he can feel me, and I'm hugging my little boy for the first time in sixteen years."
"I'm not so little anymore mum," Harry said, smiling as he lay his head on Lily's shoulder, enjoying the feel of being held by his mother. He had wished for this moment so many times over the years, when the Dursley's were being exceptionally abusive or when everything was going badly at Hogwarts, and he wanted to commit the moment to memory so that he could look back on it during the hard times he knew lay ahead.
"I know, and I wish so much that I could have been there for you during your childhood," Lily said with sadness in her voice. "Your dad and I have watched over you all these years, but we were unable to do anything when Petunia, Vernon and Dudley treated you so horribly. I'm so sorry."
"I understand mum," he said, patting her back awkwardly, hoping he sounded convincing. "Hagrid and Dumbledore, when he was still alive, told me about what happened that night. You don't have to explain anything, I know why you did it."
"But I don't think you do," she said, pulling back enough so that she could look him in the eyes. "That night, we didn't intend for your father to be there. Ancelin, my Soul Guardian, and I knew what Voldemort and Damien were planning. We had a plan to get you and your father out of the house; we knew he'd never leave if he knew what we were planning. We thought Voldemort was coming on October thirtieth, not the thirty-first, and we were taken by surprise that night when we were attacked. We had planned and trained so hard, but Ancelin and I were separated at the time Voldemort came into the house. I was upstairs putting you to bed while she was downstairs with James; just as I lay you in your crib, there was a huge blast that shook the entire house. Ancelin and your father did everything they could to keep Voldemort and Damien from coming upstairs, and I did everything I could to protect you, but it wasn't enough. The three of us were killed, and you were cursed with a dark scar that connected you to Voldemort all these years."
Harry's heart clenched at the sadness he saw in his mother's eyes and he said, "But there's no way you could've known, so please don't blame yourself. I know how terrible it feels to think you're responsible for such tragedies, and I don't want you to feel that way. It would have been nice to have you and dad around all these years, but I survived my time with the Dursley's."
"But you shouldn't have had to just survive," Lily said vehemently, looking angrily at her sister's still-unconscious form on the floor. "Petunia should have treated you as her own, but instead she took out all the jealousy she felt toward me and channeled it as anger toward you. I saw the way Vernon and Dudley hit you and pushed you around, I saw all the times they shut you in the cupboard under the stairs, and I hated that you had to suffer through that alone."
She got quiet as tears started running down her transparent cheeks, only noticeable because of the light in the kitchen glistening off of them. When Harry hugged her a little harder, she hugged him back and whispered, "I'm so, so sorry Harry. You don't deserve any of this."
"None of us deserve what we've had to go through," he replied, chancing a glance to where Hermione was standing. Tears were freely falling down her cheeks as well as she watched mother and son bond in a way they never really got too all those years ago.
Composing herself, Lily looked at Harry and said, "Why don't we wake my dear sister and give her a chance to redeem herself?"
Harry stepped away from his mum and drew his wand; pointing it at his aunt he said, "Ennervate."
Petunia's eyes opened slowly, and they all watched as the realization of what happened to her came back and she looked up at Lily. "It wasn't a bad dream," she whispered.
"No it wasn't," Lily replied. Glaring down at her, she said, "Now, would you please tell Harry where my Notebook is? This is your last chance Petunia, please don't let me down."
Petunia stared from Lily to Harry, and then turned her disgusted look on Hermione. "You're freaks, the whole lot of you," she spat as she not-so-gracefully got up from where she lay.
Suddenly, every light in the chandelier above the dining table started to explode, showering shards of glass over Hermione, Harry, and Petunia. Lily put a hand on Harry's shoulder and said, "Be calm Harry, you need to keep your magic under control."
Petunia screeched and ran from the room, escaping to the kitchen. As they watched her leave, Lily sighed and said, "Hermione, it's up to you and I to show Harry where my Notebook is."
Hermione nodded and pulled out her wand. Pointing it at Vernon first, she levitated his body into the dining room, against the wall where Petunia had just been standing. Next she levitated Dudley, and the moment she set him gently on the floor next to Vernon, Petunia ran in and started fussing over them. With the path now clear, Hermione led them from the room as Petunia started mumbling about magic being evil and once again calling them 'freaks'. Rolling her eyes, Hermione walked up to the door to the cupboard under the stairs, but when she went to open it Harry's hand shot out to grab her wrist.
"Don't," he said, his voice shaky.
Hermione and Lily stared at him, both of them noticing how pale he had suddenly become. Taking his hand in hers Hermione asked, "What is it Harry?"
"It's just that I...I haven't been in there since....well, since before I started Hogwarts," he replied quietly, squeezing her hand.
"But the Notebook is in there," Hermione explained quietly. "We need to go in and get it."
Hermione watched him, confused by his reluctance to enter the cupboard, when Lily floated up to them and put her hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "Why don't you tell her Harry?" she whispered quietly, watching him with such a sad expression on her face that Hermione was suddenly filled with dread.
Harry stood quietly, and she could see that he was internally arguing with himself about whether he wanted to tell her or not. Turning to fully face him, she put her wand away and lifted her left hand up so that she was caressing his cheek. Completely shutting out the fact that Lily was there with them, Hermione stared deep into his eyes and said, "You can tell me anything Harry, I hope you know that. Whatever it is, if it's affected you this much, I want to help you through it. After what you did for me during my parent's funeral, I would do anything to help you, anything at all."
Realizing that this was something they needed to discuss privately if they were to strengthen their bond, Lily floated off to the dining room where her sister was still mumbling and fussing over her husband and son. "That-that.... girl better not have harmed my Vernon and Dudley or I'll see to it that she..."
"That she what?" Lily asked, an angry note of warning in her voice. "You're not going to do anything to Hermione Petunia. She's going to help Harry save the world from the most terrible evil this world has ever known so that you can go on with your small minded existance."
"S-save the world?" Petunia asked in a hushed tone.
"Yes," Lily replied, sounding tired. "There are many terrible things happening in the world right now because of one evil man that wants to become immortal, and the only way he can do that is to kill Harry. You see, Harry is the only one that can stop this evil, and Hermione is the one that will teach him how. So you see Petunia, there really are more important things than your precious husband and son, and the most important one has been in your care for most of his life. Too bad you treated him as if he was the most disgusting thing to ever walk this earth...all he ever wanted was to be loved, and you kept that from him just to spite me. I hope that haunts you for the rest of your life."
While Lily was speaking with Petunia, Hermione was trying to convince Harry to tell her why he seemed almost afraid of the cupboard. Realizing that Lily had left to speak to her sister, Hermione leaned over and gently placed her lips on his, hoping to reassure him of her feelings for him. She could feel him stiffen for a second and then he relaxed into the kiss, bringing his hands up to comb through her hair. After deepening the kiss, the two reluctantly pulled apart and Harry leaned his forehead against hers. Without opening his eyes he whispered, "They used to make me sleep in there, and kept me locked in there for days sometimes."
"What?" Hermione asked in a whisper, hoping that she had misheard him.
"They locked me in there and pretended I didn't exist," he said, a little louder.
"Oh God, Harry, I'm ..."
"Don't say you're sorry," he said, cutting her off. "You have no reason to be sorry, and I know that my aunt and uncle will never apologize for what they did to me. It's something that will haunt me for the rest of my life, but I try not to think about it, especially when I need to worry about fighting Voldemort more." Leaning in, he kissed her once more and said, "And ever since I met you, it's becoming a lot easier to forget about the bad things in my life. If I need to go into the cupboard, then I will, as long as you're by my side."
Hermione beamed at him, while at the same time her cheeks warmed at his words. Taking a step back, she reached out to undo the latch that kept the door to the cupboard closed, only to have Harry reach out and still her hand. "Do you mind if I do it?"
"Not at all," Hermoine replied proudly, knowing how much it pained him to do it, but glad that he was fighting his demons from the past. Lowering her hands, she watched as he unlatched it and swung the door open slowly, never once looking at her. When she saw just how small it was inside she gasped, utterly horrified that a human being could force a small child to spend days in such a dark, musty, mouse infested space. Taking a step inside, she had to bend over so that her head didn't hit the ceiling above her and took in the sparse furnishings. Besides a bed that looked to be very uncomfortable, the only other things she saw were some boxes of discarded junk that had been tossed inside, a small shelf that held a few broken toys on it, and a bare lightbulb hanging from above.
Feeling as if she were going to be sick, Hermione scanned the wall for the spot Lily had told her about, and suddenly she was standing next to her inside the cramped cupboard. "Just try to think about the wonderful young man he's become, and not about how terrible his childhood was," Lily said, placing a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "He has you now, and that's all that matters." While Hermione nodded, Lily pointed to a spot on the wall and said, "It's in there."
Waving her wand in front of the spot she was pointing to, Hermione said in a voice that barely sounded like her own, "Aperio." A small pinpoint of light suddenly shone through the wall and the three of them watched as the light started to move, forming an outline the shape of a square. Once it had reached it's initial starting point, the light died out and with a squelching sound, the square panel fell to the floor. Looking into the hole in the wall that had been revealed, Hermione reached inside and took out a notebook sized bundle that was wrapped in a maroon colored cloth.
Running her fingers over the dust covered cloth, Hermione looked at Lily and asked, "If it had to be removed by magic, how would Petunia know where it was hidden?"
"After I had given it to her to keep safe for Harry, she told me she'd put it here. See, when we were children, we used to have secret hiding places in our wardrobes where we would hide our most prized possessions. Well, after Petunia started acting so jealous and spiteful toward me, I apparated into the house one day when I knew they would be gone. When I found the spot in the wall where she had hidden it, I sealed it with a spell so that she couldn't ever get to it, should she decide to keep it for herself. I knew that I would have to find a way to come back to show Harry where it was, and thankfully by being a Soul Guardian, it was easier than I thought it would be" Lily explained. "If I had known she would force Harry to live in here the first eleven years of his life, I would have found a way to magically seal the entire cupboard forever."
Harry reached over and gently took the bundle from Hermoine's hands, looking at it with a bit of awe and sadness in his expression. "Can I look at it?" he asked. When Lily nodded, he carefully took the maroon cloth off of it and uncovered Lily's Notebook, along with a small maroon bag that had gold ties as a closure. Handing the cloth to Hermione, he picked up the bag and looked at his mother questioningly. "What's this?"
"Actually, I think Hermione should open that," Lily replied.
Harry handed the small bag to Hermione and watched as she carefully opened it. She gasped as she saw what was inside, and reached in to extract two gold chains with a pendant on each one. When she saw the pendant she looked to Lily who said, "What you're thinking is correct."
"What are they?" Harry asked, fingering one of the pendants as Hermione still held the chains. As he studied the pendant more closely, he saw that it was a sun with a lightening bolt through it, shaped exactly as his scar.
"The pendant is the Evan's family Guardian symbol," Hermione replied. "Like the scar of the crescent moon and star on my wrist that symbolizes the Duvall family Guardian symbol."
"They're very special," Lily said. "I had these made especially for your father and I. When I got them, I cast a very special charm on them. James and I wore them at all times, and if he was ever in any danger, all he had to do was grasp it in his hand and think his location. That way I could apparate to him immediately and help him. They have the strongest protection and locator charms possible on them, and if they fall into the hands of evil, they will stop working immediately. I want the two of you to have them, so that they can bind you two as well, and Hermione will always be able to find you if you need help."
"Or the other way around," Harry mumbled, earning a very nasty glare from Hermione.
Lily smiled as she watched the two of them. Hermione was trying to put the necklace she had on and was having a hard time with the clasp. Ever the gentleman, Harry moved behind her and said, "Here, let me do that." He took hold of the chain and Hermione let her hands drop, her eyes closing as his hands brushed across the back of her neck, causing a shiver to run down her spine.
Blushing furiously as she realized Lily had seen her reaction, Hermione looked at the floor until he finally got the necklace fastened. "Thank you," she said quietly.
"My pleasure," he replied with a smile. Fastening his on as well, he fingered the thick gold chain and looked at the pendant again. "I can't believe this was dad's."
Both Lily and Hermione picked up the small note of pride in his voice as he said it, and Lily beamed at him adoringly. Glancing at the clock, Lily looked back at them and said, "As much as I have loved speaking to you again, I think it's best that you return to Hogwarts now. You've been here too long already, and it's not safe."
"Right," Harry said, sighing. Turning to Lily he asked, "D'you suppose I'll ever get to see or speak to you again?"
"I don't know," she replied sadly. "I never thought I'd ever get to speak to you again, let alone hold you." She looked at him smiling with tears shining brightly in her eyes and opened her arms wide. Closing the distance between them in two steps, he walked into her embrace and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. Reaching up to stroke his hair, hair that was exactly like James', she whispered, "My sweet, sweet boy. I'm going to miss you so much more now that I've gotten to speak to you and know how it feels to have you hug me back."
"Me too," he replied, his voice quiet.
"I hate to interrupt, but I think we should be going," Hermione said, as a sudden tingle ran through her right wrist. Turning her hand over to reveal her scar, she saw that it was glowing faintly.
"That means trouble is coming," Lily said, dropping her arms from around Harry. "You must leave, now."
The two of them ran toward the front door with Lily floating right behind them. As Harry reached out to open it Petunia called, "What about Vernon and my Dudders?"
Hermione pointed her wand and with a word and a flick of her wand, they opened their eyes and stood up quickly. Turning angry glares toward them, Vernon and Dudley took one step forward before Lily floated into the room, an angry expression on her face. As all the color drained from their faces she admonished, "You two should be locked up for the terrible way you treated Harry. You're lucky I don't curse you right now."
"Y-You're a ghost...how can you do anything to us?" Vernon stuttered.
"You'd be surprised what I can do when someone threatens and mistreats my son," she replied angrily. "Now, if you take one more step toward him or Hermione, you will regret it!"
Her voice had risen with each word and left the three Dursleys trembling where they stood. When she floated back to the front door, none of them dared to move, let alone breathe too deeply. When she was back with Harry and Hermione, she hugged them both and said in a trembling voice, "Take care of each other. Your bond is strong, and you're going to need it when the time comes to face Voldemort." Turning once more to Harry she said, "And don't ever forget how much your father and I love you. We're always watching over you, even in the darkest of times, and we'll help as much as we can." And with that, she simply disappeared.
Looking longingly at where she had just been, Harry sighed and opened the door. Following Hermione out to the driveway, he took her hand and apparated them both back to the gates of Hogwarts castle.