~A/N - Hello everyone! Sorry it's been so long between updates. Believe it or not, my abscence has had nothing to do with the last HP book coming out, it's just that my real life has been a bit chaotic lately. Now that it's settling down, I'm writing again and I plan to start podcasting again next month. Thanks for sticking with me and this story, and I hope you enjoy this chapter, and the two others that will come after. Just a bit of a warning, some of you may think that Harry is OOC in this chapter. It was done on purpose. Thanks, as always, to the fantastic poppywillow for helping me so much with everything! :)
Something strange had happened at Grimmauld Place that night. As Harry and Hermione were physically 'bonding', everyone else was just returning home from St. Mungos. As Ron and Remus grabbed something to eat, Tonks went upstairs to fall into her bed, exhausted. As the guys sat in the kitchen eating, the house suddenly started to shake violently, and in the next moment it stopped. Instantly drawing their wands, Ron and Remus searched the house and looked outside to see if Death Eaters had possibly found out their location. Unable to find the source, Remus made his way upstairs to Hermione's room to check on her, and then Harry.
Knocking on her door three or more times, Remus finally saw the door crack open just enough that he could see Harry's face and feet, every other part of him was in shadow. Looking surprised, Remus asked, "What are you doing in Hermione's room?"
Trying not to look guilty, Harry replied, "She was pretty upset when we got back. She asked if I'd stay with her until she fell asleep, and I guess I fell asleep too."
Still eyeing him suspiciously, Remus asked, "Did you feel the house shake? Ron and I felt it while in the kitchen and we've yet to find the source of it."
Looking surprised, Harry replied, "No, didn't feel anything."
"Well, if it happens again, we might have to all relocate to Hogwarts for a while."
Without saying another word, Harry went to close the door when Remus asked, "Aren't you going back to your room?"
"I'd rather not," Harry replied, his stubborness evident. "She was really upset because of what happened tonight and I don't want to leave her alone, so I'm sleeping in Luna's bed."
Remus stood staring at Harry intently for a few moments before saying, "I suppose it's alright then." Relieved that he didn't catch on to the lie, Harry bid Remus goodnight and made his way back to Hermione's bed. Laying down beside her once more, he snuggled against her and just as he was drifting off to sleep she asked, "What's wrong?"
Thinking about what Remus had told him, he decided to tell Hermione about it in the morning and said, "Nothing's wrong, go back to sleep."
"I have a better idea," she replied sleepily, and the way she said it had Harry wanting her all over again. Leaning in, he kissed her slowly, wanting to remember everything about her as they once again lost themselves to each other.
~*~
"You will be going back to Hogwarts with me today, Guardian."
Harry and Hermione had just made their way downstairs hand-in-hand the next morning, ready for breakfast after their night's activites, when Sorcha had met them at the bottom with this revelation.
"Why do we have to go back to Hogwarts?" Hermione asked, getting angry at the thought of being away from Harry again. "Didn't last night prove how much I need to train with Harry?"
"It did, but I was informed by Remus about what else happened last night."
"What else happened...?" Hermoine repeated, feeling her anxiety rise. Harry stood next to her, wondering what exactly Sorcha meant, afraid that he already knew the answer. He hadn't told her...
"Yes, the way the house suddenly just shook for no reason?" Sorcha answered testily. "Obviously something happened to cause the event, and it had to be uncontrolled magic from one of you...or maybe both of you?"
Both Harry and Hermione could feel their cheeks warm with embarrassment; Sorcha possibly knew what they had done, and neither could meet her eyes. "Just as I thought...go pack Hermione, we leave in one hour," she ordered, before quickly making her way into the kitchen.
Looking helplessly at Harry, Hermione said, "I don't want to go back to Hogwarts."
"I don't want you to go, either," Harry replied, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tightly. Reluctantly letting her go, he took her hand in his and led her into the kitchen, hoping that he could talk Remus into arguing on Hermione's behalf so that she could stay in Grimmauld with him.
Once they were all sitting around the table, enjoying a huge breakfast, Harry quietly asked Remus to talk to Sorcha, but unfortunately, Remus refused. "After what I felt last night, it seems to me that maybe the two of you need more training, apart from one another."
Feeling betrayed by Remus's refusal to help him, Harry angrily pushed his chair away from the table and loudly made his way up to his room, cursing meddling adults the entire way.
Hermione, feeling that all eyes were now trained on her, quickly finished her food and said, "I guess I'd better go pack then," and hastily escaped upstairs to her room as well.
~*~
"You can't go!"
Sighing at Harry's petulance, Hermione continued to put a few more things into her bag and then shrunk it. Putting the miniature back into her pocket as she'd done many times before, she turned to look at him and said, "Harry, I don't have a choice. I'm pretty sure that Sorcha knows that we slept together last night, and I might be in trouble because of that."
Harry had been set to argue his case some more, hoping to convince her to go against Sorcha's orders, when the thought that Hermione may get into trouble stopped him cold. He had never considered that there could be repercussions from what they had done the night before, and suddenly the fear that she might not be his Guardian anymore overwhelmed him. "They can't take you away from me!"
Her eyes grew wide at his outburst and the sudden rush of fear she felt from him made her stomach churn wildly. Walking up to him and wrapping her arms around his neck while staring straight into his eyes, she quietly replied, "That would never happen, Harry. I might be stripped of being your Guardian, but I won't ever leave you, I promise."
Feeling only a little better at her reassurance, he wrapped his arms around her waist, bent down and kissed her deeply, knowing he was going to miss her.
When they heard someone loudly clearing their throat, they quickly jumped apart and saw Sorcha standing in the doorway watching them. "It's time to go."
Trying to smile at Harry but failing miserably, Hermione said, "I'll hopefully see you soon."
As she went to walk by him, she placed her hand upon his shoulder, hoping to reassure him that she would be seeing him again soon, while quietly saying, "I love you.".
"I love you, too," he replied just as quietly, reaching up to cover her hand with his.
As her hand slid from his shoulder he reluctantly let her go and turned to watch her leave the room. Standing there completely alone, a cold descended upon Harry the likes that he had never felt before, and he knew that the coming days were going to be hell for him.
~*~
"I don't want to train anymore!" Harry yelled, causing Remus and Ron to roll their eyes. It had been five days since Hermione had left, and Harry had been impossible. He refused to eat, spent his nights locked up in his room, and complained everytime they tried to get him to train with them. Now it seemed as if he just didn't want to train at all, and it had them worried. This was not the Harry they knew.
"I don't care if you don't want to train," Remus replied, trying to keep his anger out of his voice. He knew it would only cause Harry to respond with more anger towards them and alienate himself even more. "You need to prepare to fight Voldemort, Harry. I don't understand your reluctance, or why you're acting so childish lately."
"Childish?" Harry spat, his temper flairing. "I am NOT being childish! I just want to know why you're keeping Hermione away from me!" At the moment of his outburst, a wave of uncontrolled magical energy escaped his body and everything that was breakable around them shattered noisily. This had been happening every day since she had left, and it seemed as if his magic became stronger each day that it happened, causing more things to break than the day before.
"Way to prove your point, mate," Ron replied tiredly. He didn't know how much more of Harry's moodiness he could take without kicking his arse. He had been spending his days with Harry training, and his night's with Luna at St. Mungo's. He was exhausted, but she was due to come home in two days, and he most certainly did not want her to have to deal with Harry in his current mental state.
Sighing loudly, Remus repaired everything that Harry had broken and made his way to where Harry stood at the top of the staircase, looking almost as tired as Ron had sounded just minutes before. "Harry, we all know that you miss Hermione, but acting like this and losing control of your magic is not going to get her back any faster."
"I haven't heard one word from her, Remus," Harry replied quietly, starting to feel badly about the way he had behaved toward him. "Is she still my Guardian? Are we going to be training together anymore? What the hell is going on?"
"I don't know, Harry. Sorcha hasn't told me anything," Remus replied. "I tried to contact her last night, but Headmistress McGonagall said that they were all in the Room of Requirement, and she had been asked not to interrupt them."
"Fantastic," Harry muttered sarcastically.
"Let's just train for a bit, and you can work out some of that anger on Ron and me, okay?"
Ron looked from Remus to Harry and muttered, "Bloody hell. Now I'm going to be Harry bloody Potter's punching bag. Could this day get any worse?"
Two hours later, Ron knew the day could get worse. Harry had been going non-stop, shooting spells and curses all the while dodging their meager little spells that they sent his way, venting his anger through his magic. It had not made him feel any better, and toward the end he was starting to feel dizzy from the lack of food and sleep.
"I've had enough, I'm going to my room," he stated, suddenly refusing to cast one more spell.
Turning to leave he heard Remus say, "You can't just walk away from your training, Harry. It's important that you're ready..."
Not wanting to hear another of Remus's lectures, he quickly left the room and ran upstairs to his own room, making sure to cast locking spells on his door right before he lay down on his bed, falling asleep almost instantly.
~*~
If Harry thought that what he was going through was hell, then Hermione was made to train with the devil herself. Sorcha was a woman possessed, hellbent on making sure that Hermione was ready to face Damien when the time came. If she showed an ounce of weakness, Sorcha would cast curses at her that caused bodily pain, and Hermione had bruises on her body for each one of them.
On the fifth afternoon of training, Hermione went to counter one of Sorcha's curses with her own when a wave of anger surged through her body and caused her to gasp at it's intensity. Mistaking her hesitation for weakness, Sorcha cast yet another painful curse at her, and Hermione saw nothing but red. The anger was overpowering her sense of reason, and the next thing she knew she had protected herself from the curse and sent it sailing back to Sorcha, hitting her square in the chest.
"Stop trying to hurt me!", she yelled, advancing on her teacher. "I'm exhausted, and I want to go home!"
Trying to catch her breath, Sorcha eyed Hermione angrily and yelled, "Home? You don't have a home, remember? The Death Eaters killed your parents! Maybe if you would've fought back, you could've saved them."
Hermione couldn't breathe...couldn't think. All she knew is at that moment she would have liked nothing more than killing Sorcha for saying what she had. Hatred joined together with her anger, and without casting any spell or curse, a ball of white energy left Hermione's body and slammed into Sorcha, causing her to collapse onto the floor instantly. Seeing her fall, some of Hermione's anger dissapated and in it's place a growing fear took its' place as she ran to her and kneeled down beside her.
Harry had just sat down at the kitchen table, trying to make himself eat something since he felt so drained when he woke from taking a kip, when suddenly an onslaught of anger, hatred, and then fear overwhelmed him, his senses instantly on alert. His lungs constricted, making it hard to breathe, and his heart started beating rapidly. Eyes wide, he looked at Remus and said, "Hermione's in trouble."
"What?" Remus asked, looking at Harry worriedly. "How do you know that?"
"I can feel her," Harry replied, clutching his chest while standing up quickly. "I have to go to her."
"No," Remus said quickly, standing as well. "Let me contact McGonagall and she can check on her."
"There's no time, she's in trouble," Harry replied angrily, and closing his eyes, he willed himself to go to her. As Remus, Tonks, and Ron all stared at him, Harry seemed to just evaporate into the air, leaving them to worry about where he would end up.
While Hermione frantically tried to revive Sorcha, she suddenly felt a presence around her and stood up quickly. Drawing her wand, she looked around, wondering what exactly she was feeling. Next thing she knew, Harry was standing in front of her.
"W-What are you doing here?", she asked. "How did you get here?"
"I...I don't know," he replied slowly, looking around the Room of Requirement. When his eyes fell upon Sorcha, he looked to Hermione quizzically and asked, "What happened? I could feel how angry and afraid you were, and I was drawn here, to you."
Eyes wide from his explanation, she replied, "I don't really know. She's been so awful, and she said such horrible things, and I just...it was my magic. I couldn't control it."
Walking to where Sorcha lay on the floor, Harry bent down and placed two fingers to the pulse point on her neck. Feeling a faint pulse, he looked to Hermione and said, "She's still alive, we need to get her to the Hospital Wing."
Hermione nodded numbly, and realizing how long it would take, she told Harry, "Move away from her."
"What? Why?" he asked, noting a strange look on her face. "What are you going to do?"
"Just...back away. Please, Harry."
Reluctantly doing as she asked, he watched as she put her wand away and closed her eyes, seeming deep in concentration. Wondering what exactly it was that she was trying to do, he turned to look at Sorcha once more and saw her body was glowing a brilliant blue. "What are you doing to her?"
"I'm healing her" Hermione replied quietly, sounding suddenly more exhausted and out of breath. "It's just one of the many things she's made me diligently work on the past few days."
Before Harry could comment on what she had done, he saw her sway slightly and he rushed to her side, catching her just as she started to fall to the floor. Realizing that she had probably passed out, he carefully laid her on the floor and held her against him, knowing he had to somehow get Madame Pomfrey to come examine them.
~*~
Once Hermione and Sorcha had been attended to, Harry sat next to Hermione , waiting for her to fully recover after Madame Pomfrey had examined her. During the examination, when the nurse had lifted her shirt to expose her stomach, Harry had noticed that her body was covered in bruises. When the nurse was unable to ascertain what had caused them, she healed them and he knew he'd have to wait for her to awake before he'd get any answers.
While he was deep in thought, Hermione started to stir, getting his attention immediately. When she blinked slowly a couple of times and looked around the room he said quietly, "You're still in the Room of Requirement."
"What happened?" she asked, sitting up slowly.
"You fainted after healing Sorcha," he replied, taking her hand in his. "Gave me a right fright, you did. I flooed Madame Pomfrey in the Hospital Ward and she came straightaway to make sure you were okay."
"I'm sorry."
Brushing aside her apology, he looked her straight in the eyes and asked, "Hermione, where'd all the bruises on your body come from?"
Her eyebrows shot up at his question, and she wondered how he had seen them. As if reading her mind he said, "I noticed them when Madame Pomfrey was examining you. She healed them, but I just wondered if it was from training, and why you hadn't already healed yourself?"
"Yeah," she answered timidly, not really wanting to tell him the truth. "It's nothing, really." It was useless though, because Harry somehow picked up on her lies.
"Sure about that?" he asked, trying to tamp down his rising anger. When she went to say something else he interrupted her by saying, "I know that you're lying...I can feel it."
"H-How?"
"I don't know," he answered. "And truthfully, right now, I don't care. I just want to know what happened to you."
Trying to swallow around the lump she felt rising in her throat, she took a deep breath and whispered, "It was Sorcha."
"What was that? I couldn't hear you."
Steeling herself for the anger she knew her answer would invoke in him, she swallowed nervously and repeated, "It was Sorcha who caused the bruises. It was a part of her training routine. She used some special spell, and it made it so that I couldn't heal myself."
Harry's brain seemed to just shut down on him. He didn't know what to say...what to do...he just knew that he wanted to get his hands around Sorcha's throat and strangle her for what she'd done to his Hermione. Standing up quickly from where he had been sitting next to her, he walked to where Sorcha lay on a mat the nurse had conjured for her, Hermione moving the best she could to get up to follow him. She had been afraid that he'd react this way when she told him the truth.
"Sorcha," he said, reaching down to shake her rather roughly, ignoring Madame Pomfrey's protests to leave her be. When she hardly stirred he shook her with more force and said, "Get up. Now!"
She never opened an eye or said one word, but the next thing Harry and Hermione knew they were both sailing through the air, clumsily falling to the floor. Regaining his senses, Harry moaned while gingerly rubbing the back of his head where it had hit the hardwood floor. Carefully, he stood up and made his way to Hermione, who had gotten up as well and was wincing at the pain she felt through her back and tailbone. Taking her hand in his, he asked, "Are you okay?"
"Other than a bruised tailbone, I'm fine," she replied. "You?"
"My head hurts from hitting the floor, but I'll live," he answered.
Walking across the room with Hermione's hand still held tightly in his, they went to where Sorcha lay and encountered a protective shield around her, and as Harry's questioning gaze met hers, Hermione asked, "Maybe she put it there?"
"Damn right I put it there," Sorcha replied as she sat up slowly, aggravation evident in her voice. "I don't need Potter here trying to attack me."
"I wasn't going to attack you," he answered, his voice quiet and firm, making Hermione think that he sounded more dangerous that way. "I'm not like you, I don't just attack those that I know and respect."
"And you're suggesting that I do?" she retorted, her anger rising. "Who says I respect your Guardian?"
Tamping down his rising anger, he shortly replied, "It was kind of hard to miss the bruises all over Hermione's body, and she told me that it had been part of your so-called 'training'". Feeling how upset he was getting, Hermione's grip on his hand became harder, almost to the point of painful, afraid that he'd soon act on it.
While Harry's eyes were locked on hers, Sorcha stared back at him, returning all the indignation she saw evident in his glare. "I don't care what you have to say, Potter. However I decide to train your Guardian is my business, not yours. You are not even supposed to be here, so just go back to Grimmauld Place with Remus and stay out of my business!"
"How you treat my Guardian, I mean Hermione, is my business! Especially if you're hurting her!"
"Do you think that Damien and Voldemort will go easy on her because she's your Guardian?!" Sorcha yelled back, her face now growing red with her anger. "It doesn't mean that the two of you are out of danger just because you decided to shag!"
That rendered the two teenagers immediately speechless. Hermione had suspected that Sorcha had known, but she had tried to find out from her trainer each day they had been at Hogwarts, and each day Sorcha would just ignore the question and push her to train more. "But I-I've been asking you, and you just ignored me. Why?" Hermione asked quietly, her grip on Harry's hand loosening to the point that she unknowingly let go while taking two steps closer to Sorcha, somehow walking through the shield she had created.
"I do not have to justify what I do to you," Sorcha replied, still angry. "You just need to listen to what I tell you to do and remember what I teach you. That will save your life."
"And what about Harry's life?" Hermione asked incredulously. "I'm here to protect him!"
"Not after shagging him." After her response, an eerie silence fell upon them, no one daring to say anything at all, or even breathe too loudly. While she and Hermione glared at one another, Sorcha continued in a now trembling voice that held a faint tone of defeat, "Why do you think I push you so hard? Why I act so tough and show no emotion at all?"
When Hermione remained quiet she said, "It's because I lost my charge when I was only a few years older than you, Guardian. I was assigned to keep him safe from Damien, no one higher up knew why, but his life was in dire jeopardy. I-I was the best Guardian they had, so they sent me to him. He was the loveliest wizard I had ever seen, and I stupidly fell in love with him." Drawing a shuddering breath, she explained, "I knew it was against the rules, but I didn't give a damn. I thought that if we loved each other, then it would be even harder for Damien and the other Shadocks to get to him." She remained silent for a minute before adding, "I let my guard down, just one time, and they got him. Damien killed him right in front of me, taunting me the entire time. I still don't know how I got out alive that night, but I lost the love of my life." With her eyes locked with Hermione's she said, "Never again will I let that happen. Never. Love is not enough to save someone, I learned that the hard way."
Hermione stared back, speechless. She had an idea that something bad had happened to Sorcha to cause her to be as cold as she was, but never in a million years would she have guessed the real reason why. She had been in love with her Charge, just like she and Harry, and Damien had killed him...
"I'm afraid you two must leave," Headmistress McGonagall said, walking up behind them. "Remus just contacted me, spare with worry, and I assured him that Harry was in fact here and not injured."
Hermione sensed that Sorcha's shield was now down completely, and without turning to look at Harry, she walked out of the room without another word.
Harry quietly watched her go, afraid that if he hadn't lost her yet, Sorcha's little explanation could very well give Hermione an excuse to push him far away from her. Afraid of losing her, Harry looked to McGonagall and asked, "Would it be okay if I stay here tonight?"
Headmistress McGonagall's eyes sought out Sorcha's, and when she saw that the trainer had a look of defeat in her eyes she sighed heavily and said, " I will contact Remus to let him know you will be returning to Grimmauld Place tomorrow."
Without waiting for her to finish her reply, Harry started walking to the door as well, hellbent on finding Hermione and making sure he wouldn't lose her love. Now that they had shared so much, gotten through many trying times, he would be damned if he'd let her walk out of his life now.
~A/N2 - Chapter 34 is already written, I just need to beta it and I will be posting it hopefully tomorrow. The last chapter will hopefully be posted on Friday, or over the weekend.