The morning broke softly over the exhausted lovers. Harry coming too first, laid there quietly staring down at her. Idly tracing a finger along the edge of the sheet that lay rumpled against her cute round bum, he waited for her to wake up. They had made love three times last night. The last time was the most desperate occasion. Hermione had feared losing him too greatly to let him love her slowly. They had exhausted each other.
The frenzy was still there, bubbling beneath the surface, itching to be released once more, but Harry knew better. Nothing could happen this morning or day, the very first of their marriage. There were many things to do, to prepare for their future, a future without Voldemort. Chief among them was introducing her to his snakes and telling her about his form. Perhaps even showing it to her in a full or partial change. It was imperative to do this if he wasn't to lose her, now that he had claimed her as his mate.
He knew fear made her rash and bossy, but he also knew that what drove it was love for him. That made Harry smile as he leaned over to kiss her shoulder, cupping her bum more firmly as he moved in to say good morning. She moaned in her sleep, rousing grudgingly to the day.
"Rise and shine 'Mione," he whispered in her ear, smoothing his hand over her thigh. "We have much to do and none of it involves a lie-in."
"Harry?" she mumbled, his name breaking on the second syllable into a yawn.
"Mmm-mm," he moaned, kissing her neck, feeling himself stir.
"It wasn't a dream was it?" she asked turning to face him.
He stared into her chocolate brown eyes and grinned devilishly. "Depends on what part you're referring to."
She blushed remembering how he disturbed her dreams last night. Her blush made him laugh. Vexed, she pouted, which only made him laugh louder. To stop his mirth she kissed him, pressed on by the fervent need to have him, claim him once more. There was no accounting what would happen if she let him get out of bed.
He pulled back, resting his forehead against hers and said huskily, "Now no more of that or we'll never get out of bed."
"I like the sound of that," Hermione whispered.
Harry however shook his head and got out of bed. Lightly swatting her rump as he passed by on the way to the loo, he told her to brush her teeth as she had morning breath. A disgruntled yelp of fury reached his ears and Harry chuckled.
"You're not very nice sometimes, Mr. Flitwick," Hermione complained clunking around the bathroom while Harry took care of business in the separate water closet.
"You'll just have to fix all my bad habits then Mrs. Flitwick," Harry returned, flushing the toilet and coming out to wash his hands.
She harrumphed and scrubbed harder at her teeth. Harry pressed a chaste kiss to her jaw and motioned to his toothbrush to wake up and hop to it. It buzzed around his mouth as she watched in amazement before realizing she was dribbling and spat out the foamy paste. Harry copied her and rinsed off the brush carefully setting it aside.
Hermione watched him finish up with morning rituals with awe, nearly forgetting about her own in the process. He showered and she couldn't help herself, she followed him inside and watched as the space expanded to admit her and keep it roomy. Forgetting his resolution to start off the day on schedule, Harry grabbed Hermione and yanked her close for deep frustrated kisses that quickly led to more. They stayed there until the showerhead turned off as the heating charm wore out.
Hermione gave a sulky sigh and obediently toweled off beside Harry who rumpled his hair and with a last hard kiss left the loo for the bedroom. He stooped to pull on a pair of pants and black boots before tugging on a green jumper and throwing his cloak over his shoulders.
He turned to find her putting on her bra and was arrested at the sight. He could imagine just how he would peal it off her and just where he would kiss her… Harry cleared his throat. Hermione glanced up and blushed slightly before straightening the straps and soothing down the front and slipping a blue jumper over her arms.
When she finished dressing Harry escorted her out of the door and down to the AMAS in Diagon Alley where he side-apparated her to Hogsmeade. They popped into existence and stepped off the platform in unison.
"Where to now?" Hermione asked, looking over her shoulder at the highest tower of Hogwarts, barely visible from where they stood.
"My lair," Harry replied with a sly grin.
She wrinkled her nose at him. "Why?"
Harry turned serious. "Because there are things you need to know. Things I probably should have told you last night but didn't."
Hermione frowned up at him. "You're speaking in riddles."
Harry nodded. "We're not ensured privacy at the moment, wait until we get there."
"Where's there?"
"A modified Shrieking Shack, for now. We'll be moving shortly. I don't trust the wards I put up to last much longer, especially with all the people and beings allowed through them either on tutoring business or here on political."
"Wards? Political?" Hermione said with a questioning lilt.
Harry nodded and steered her around Honeydukes. As they slipped away from the village to its outer skirts, Hermione noticed uneasily at the amount of snakes slithering in and out of the path. She glanced at Harry whose look of total unconcern reassured her. Stepping closer to him, she linked her arm through his and snuggled closer.
They got there and Harry spoke in Parsletongue to three snakes guarding the entrance before slipping by. Hermione glanced at Harry nervously but he smiled and squeezed her hand.
"It's all right," Harry assured her, guiding her to the restored drawing room. "I've been using this place as Headquarters."
"Why would you need Headquarters?"
Harry motioned her to sit and conjured up a tray of tea and biscuits. "Because I am a leader in this war. I need to be reachable by the right people."
"But this is the shrieking shack! Voldemort's bound to know--"
"Yes," Harry agreed, "but that's why we're moving bases before the day's out. I informed the three at the entrance to run and tell the others so the switch can go smoothly."
"I'm not use to it," she admitted. "You've always tried to hush up speaking Parseltongue so it's strange listening to you speak. I mean you told me about your toy snake and I saw you in action during the duel against Daniel but it's mind boggling."
"Dumbledore can speak Mermish."
Hermione grinned. "Yes, and that's mind boggling too!"
"Hermione," Harry stated earnestly, "I am more than just a Parselmouth."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm the King of Snakes. Crazy, I know, believe me, I know, but true."
"But doesn't Volde-"
"Yes, he does. That is why more than anything else I must fight him, claim visually my title. The snakes know whose the true Lord of Snakes but Voldemort won't believe otherwise until I show him unequivocally."
"How do you know you're the king?"
"My animagus form is that of a basilisk. Basilisks are the royalty of the snake line. I am the only known basilisk. The red stripe in my hair is the outward symbol of my crown."
Hermione stared blankly at him before visibly collecting herself. "You're a what?"
Harry laughed. "I do believe Mrs. Flitwick that I have left you speechless. Yes, I'm a basilisk."
He then did a partial transformation with scales and the crown. A completely dazzled expression took over her as she reached out vaguely to touch him. Harry moved closer encouraging the contact and relished the warmth of her hand against his cool scales. She seemed memorized by the feel of them and Harry watched her face with enjoyment at her rapt absorption in him.
"You feel like cool velvet," she whispered, looking up at him directly.
"You should be careful of that," Harry remarked, kissing her eyes closed one at a time. "I have a lot of control for an animagus. I believe it's the king in me, but my form is dangerous, especially the eyes. I would die if I accidentally were to petrify or kill you."
"I trust you," Hermione said opening her eyes when his lips left her face. "You won't risk a change in your eyes. You're too strong to let the change overwhelm you."
"I am now," he agreed, slipping back to his natural state. "Not at the beginning though. It took me by complete surprise."
"I would imagine," Hermione remarked idly before kissing him lightly. "I won't even bring up how impossible it should be to acquire a magical creature transformation. In Boscal's Theory the way to accomplish it is through raw power and affinity as well as by a method of--"
"Metaphysical bonding, of which was lost eons back in magical history," Harry finished.
Hermione pecked him on the mouth for that and backed up. "Think you're so clever."
Harry grinned. "Yes, but now that you've seen my form and know what I am, we must talk. A lot has changed in a very little time. I have duties and demands now I did not have before."
---
Hermione watched Harry talk freely to snakes for the second time that day, a strange but engrossed expression on her face. When Harry inquired she told him it was fascinating and a little creepy. In battle he'd only spoken a few phrases to make something happen with magic but listening to the hissing tones of the language in conversation caused shivers to run up and down her spine.
"You'll get use to it," Harry replied nonchalantly, reminding her about what they'd discussed earlier before switching safe houses to a flat in a square just off Diagon Alley. "I don't know what it sounds like. I don't even know I'm speaking a different language most of the time."
"What were the three of you speaking about?"
"They're my delegation to Persephone. I'm sending a third this time, a new recruit, so that Silver can stay locally and be my go between for those in Voldemort's camp."
"You have snakes on the inside with Voldemort?"
"Yes," Harry replied.
"How do you know they are loyal to you?" Hermione asked.
Harry looked insulted for a moment before clearing his expression. "Hermione, I'm their King."
"But being their king doesn't ensure loyalty!"
"There are more differences between humans and snakes than the ability to walk upright," Harry confided. "Their loyalty is unfathomable. Kind of like the Hufflepuffs and their work hard. It's a shame they have such a bad reputation in the wizarding world; muggle world too for that matter. But lucky for me spring weather is in full force or I'd have to find a way to feed all of them so they could keep their energy."
"Harry," Hermione asked, watching the three snakes leave. "Do you fear for the ones in Voldemort's circle? What if he finds out their trickery?"
Harry looked apprehensive for a moment but steeled his features. "Losing them would set us back, but there are more than enough snakes to take their place."
"How cruel, Harry."
Harry shook his head. "Practical. I am not close to them like I was to Serion or Oorjit. They are servants, not friends. They do my bidding. I am bound to protect them but should they fall I won't regret their passing."
---
Luna handed Harry a muggle newspaper and the latest edition of the Quibbler. Glancing down at the headlines, Harry suppressed a chuckle.
"You wouldn't happen to know anything about this would you?" she asked meaningfully.
"You mean do I know anything about," he glanced down. "Massive Outbreak From London Zoo's Snake Exhibition? Or Snake Sightings Increased Three-Fold? Why no, Luna," he replied innocently. "Of course not."
"How silly of me," Luna replied smirking. "I don't know what came over me, implicating you in such nastiness."
"Not nasty, surely," Harry said handing back the periodicals. "Merely noble."
"Perhaps even kingly?"
"Perhaps," Harry agreed.
---
Ashton flicked his tongue out patiently, content to wait on his liege to make a decision. When an answer didn't come he hissed quietly, "Milord?"
Harry gazed meditatively ahead of him, watching from the roof the carnage happening below. §Let the strike force know the time to act is now,§ he commanded and pulled out his wand.
Disillusioning himself, Harry jumped over the side of the roof to land on the charmed springy ground below. A silencing charm on the way down ensure the quietness of his landing.
A team of giants aligned with Voldemort were wrecking havoc on the muggle village. His intelligence team had sent word to London of this large strike force rampaging through the country-side two days ago. This is the first time Harry had caught up with them. The muggle media hadn't heard of the strange attacks. The Ministry hadn't either, not that they would need to send an Obliviation Squad out to correct the memories of the survivors. There were none.
That would change, Harry thought. Aiming at the Gurg's eyes, Harry fired off one spell and then another, watching with satisfaction as the giant stumbled around in agony before being struck down by the bites of numerous venomous snakes.
The twelve other giants raiding the town hadn't noticed this with all the muggles running around yelling. Harry kept an eye out for the Death Eaters rounding them up and dispatched the lonely sentinel powering the muggle repulsion barrier with a bludgeoning hex to the head. Tapping into the wards was a matter of minutes and the havoc of the villagers increased ten-fold as the muggles screamed at the sight of their freedom. They now understood how to get out.
Harry flicked his hand, sending tremors to the ground. Another sign to his snakes. Two more giants fell, bringing them down to ten as Harry watched his alpha team move out disperse like phantom shadows in the night. Joining them, Harry took grim satisfaction at beating back the presence of his enemy.
When half the giants had fallen, the rest finally noticed something amiss. Harry chortled wickedly and the fight began in earnest. The giants' attention left the fleeing muggles in pursuit of foot stomping and random crunching of clubs to the ground. Harry danced in and out of the way, sometimes banishing his snakes out of the way, sometimes bringing down another giant.
The sound of fleeing apparition pops, told Harry that the Death Eaters he had yet to find were retreating. If they were smart they would play dead and not run to inform their master. Voldemort would not be pleased to see his giant force laid low. The bearer of such bad tidings would surely suffer some unpleasantries. But no matter, it would reach muggle and wizarding headlines by the early edition.
"Boy-Who-Lived, Lone Soldier, Beats Back A Rampaging Tribe of Giants in Suffolk."
And his scar burned.
---
But that wasn't what read in the headlines the next morning. At the urging of a flustered angry Prophet owl Harry climbed out of bed and opened the window at five in the morning. Paying the beleaguered creature in knuts and owl treats, Harry sat down by the breakfast nook and opened the Prophet.
"You-Know-Who Kidnaps Boy-Who-Lived's Brother"
Before Harry could read the article the window was being abused once again by an owl. Harry dropped the paper and went to greet it before Hermione woke up. The great horn owl delivered the Nothumberland Soothsayer and took off. Harry glanced at the front page.
"Charlatan Boy-Who-Lived Captured!"
The foreboding that had been increasing in Harry's gut two days ago erupted into full-blown worry. His scar similarly flared up, searing his thoughts with stray fragments of emotions that weren't his. A pair of arms encircled him from behind and Harry leaned back gratefully, accepting Hermione's silent comfort.
She let him go when Hogsmeade Observer and Centaur Vision arrived. A glance at the front showed that they held similar headlines. He handed one to her and sat down again. The more they read the more certain that it was not a trick. Daniel Potter had been captured by Death Eaters on the way back from an unsanctioned trip to Hogsmeade.
Dumbledore's picture flashed grimly before them as reporters questioned him on the validity of his wards. Questions like how could a seventeen year old manage to skip out on the curfew and castle lock down? Did he really know all the ins and outs of Hogwarts? And why did Harry leave Hogwarts? Just wait, Harry thought with satisfaction, when they find out the old goat expelled him. They would have a field day with that.
James and Lily Potter were quoted begging for their son Harry to go and save him as owls were not reaching their youngest son. Harry snorted at that, for he was no longer their son, and how convenient was it on James' behalf to ignore the fact that he had been disinherited and disowned during the duel. Ad of course they didn't know or didn't acknowledge Harry's recent adoption. They just wanted Daniel back safe and Harry was the means to do it. Plus it made him look bad by ignoring their concerned pleas for help.
By the end of all the articles he grimly acknowledged his time was up. The Horcruxes were gone, it was time to face the Dark Lord once and for all… fulfill the prophecy one way or the other… with his death or Voldemort's.
Glancing up at Hermione, she folded the last newspaper and gazed at him in fear, her face pale. Harry leaned over and held her hand, squeezing her fingers.
"We knew this would come," he told her. "I would have to fight him eventually. More than one prophecy said so--"
"But they're so self-fulfilling! Why don't we hide, Harry? Disappear somewhere and never return? He wouldn't find you then."
Harry shook his head, rubbing at his prickly scar. "We'd delay the inevitable. Magic has ways of running the world, convoluted turns of fate decided by a whim. We can't hide forever. Magic wouldn't allow it."
"Why not? Divination is such a wooly disipline."
"I don't disagree, but only because it can't be taught. Divination is a talent much like speaking with snakes. Only a few like Luna have it. We can't run. If I ran I might balance the scales in Voldemort's favor."
Neither one mentioned Daniel. He was irrelevant to them now. A name from Harry's past, a figure of grief between them. There was nothing to tie either one to the wizard. As a nameless face, they could be guiltless by such an action; by turning their backs on Britain and on the Potters.
The option appealed to both at different levels. But Hermione's practical side came out as she nodded slowly, worrying her lower lip. "He could make more Horcruxes."
"Yes," Harry agreed. "Decide he liked the number thirteen after all. If he did, we would have no idea where to start looking. The Founder objects are all used up. He's had one from every house, and two from his past. There are no more objects like that."
"He might want to make them out of the same items Portkeys are made out of."
"Or start stealing British muggle artifacts, claiming another history for himself."
"So many ifs Harry," she stated, leaning into him.
"Only if we turn from this."
She clung to him, burying her face in his neck, sobbing. "I don't want to lose you."
Awkwardly he rubbed her back, murmuring, "You make it out like I will lose, Mione. Have you no confidence in me?"
Hermione pulled back and peppered his face and neck with kisses. "I have all the confidence in you. I just don't have any in Vvoldemort."
"He is a right cheating bastard," Harry agreed in a sad attempt to lighten the mood.
She hit him in the shoulder. "Prat. That's not funny. I know I you have to go. I don't like it."
"I know," he replied, kissing her softly.
"Promise me something," she said, breaking off the kiss. "Promise me."
"Anything."
"Before you go--promise me that you won't protect Daniel over yourself. If it's between you and him living--put yourself first."
"That's all?" Harry asked, genuinely surprised.
"I need you," she reminded him. "Don't do anything stupid."
"Too late."
"Harry."
"I promise, Hermione," he vowed. "Nothing of the sort."
"Good," she declared, reaching up to brush his hair back from his forehead. "Now we can make those rescue plans."
"I'll need to get in contact with Persephone's kiss."
"Don't forget the centaurs. Bane's on your side. They've known about Mars rising or whatever that gibberish is for years. He doesn't like it, but he has little choice in the matter."
"The stars preordained the joining of his tribe to my snakes."
"Total rot in my opinion," Hermione sniffed.
Harry laughed. "I know, love. Star gazing is nothing but a shame."
"Yes, well," she murmured, dropping his hand. "I'll go make a list."
Harry laughed at that, his spirits lifting. "Don't ever change, Mione. Don't ever change."
"And you need to contact Filius and Luna," she replied primly.
---
Later in the afternoon Harry succumbed to the ever growing pain in his scar. A short Occlumency meditation followed by a nap to deal with the throbbing was in order. He laid down to rest across Hermione's lap, tuning out the loud 'conversation' between her and Luna over how to infiltrate Voldemort's lair. A little nap ought to clear his mind right up and leave him fresh. He fell asleep to the gentle stroking of Hermione's hand over his brow and through his hair.
---
He cast the Cruciatus again. The boy screamed in agony, contorting violently on the earthy floor. He watched without compassion, smirking as the blood curdling screams became high girly shrieks.
Breaking the boy was going to be too easy. He let up the curse, so that he might enjoy inflicting it again. The boy wasn't a complete gibbering lunatic. Yet.
"Not so heroic now, are you Daniel Potter," he taunted, leaning down to carefully wipe the blood from the boy's chin. "Not without your little brother here to save you."
The boy's teeth chattered violently, as he tried to regain control of himself. "He'll come," he swore. "He always does."
"Ah," he said mockingly. "But will he after all you've done? You showed him no mercy--no love. Why would he come to rescue you, the arrogant-girlfriend-stealing-glory-hound? Why now, when he's got everything and you nothing?"
"Because it's the right thing to do," Daniel stammered. "Harry always does the right thing."
"I'm counting on it," he sneered, throwing the boy back onto the ground. Shadows lined up around them and he smiled thinly, red eyes narrowing in hatred. Sparing one last glance at the pathetic shivering wizard he repeated, "I'm counting on it."
º«««º»»»ºEnd Chapter 47º«««º»»»º