Sorry this has taken so long everyone. I've had this chapter written for the last... well, since before my last post. It's been very hard times these last months and I've had some serious trouble finding not just the words to write but the will to write them. To those few of you, and they have been few, who have been following the story you're in for a real treat! This is my second longest chapter to date at 6627 words and there's a lot of action in this one. We're up to normalcy on the timeline and from now on, unless I see need to (as is my wont), there shouldn't be many more memory breaks. So please, read, respond and enjoy!
Chapter Nine
Enlightenment
"You are cordially invited to attend an engagement at Godric's Hollow on the Eighth of August, 2008, at 8:00 PM to celebrate the engagement of Harry James Potter and Hermione Jane Granger. Please come dressed for the occasion with one guest of your choice. Please RSVP by Owl no later than the First of August."
Red ink. Gilded parchment. Signed in gold. Addressed by Hermione's own hand. "Do you really expect me to go? After what they did! You all really expect me to go?!"
"Yes, little brother, I do." It was three weeks after Harry and Hermione had met Fred and George at the bar for lunch to talk about their siblings. Once Harry and Hermione had declared their engagement to their closest friends, save the two that wouldn't speak to them, Fred and George had decided to deliver the engagement party invitations by hand and use it as an opportune time to discuss things with them. George had drawn the short straw and went to talk to Ginny. Fred, in the mean time, had gone to the Quidditch summer home of the Cannons to talk to Ron. "I think you'll go because no matter how pissed off you are, or how big a prat you're being, they're still your friends and they still like you. Though why I'll never know..."
"You just don't bloody get it, do you!" Ron had stood up to face his brother, his face growing deep red in anger. "You don't get a damned thing about it!"
"What don't I know, Ron? What it feels like to lose someone? You forget that I know all to well what that's like. If anything, I know more about it than you, so does Hermione." Ron hit him. "And that won't do you any good." He had on one of their Protego hats. "But you don't seem to have one on" and he swung at Ron's stomach, only to be stopped by a hasty Protego Physius.
"We could go at this for hours, Ron. But I don't want to. The only reason I'm here instead of either of them is Hermione doesn't want to see you for what you did to Harry and neither does he. I don't blame them. I don't know what's gotten in to you lately but you need to put it all behind you. Hermione still loves you, as does Harry, but just as friends. You've got to learn to accept that. I had to." He and Alicia had broken up unexpectedly. She went off to play Quidditch professionally, a dream that ended for him when he left Hogwarts and became successful, and eventually married Oliver Wood. "But it didn't take me nearly as long as you're letting this shite bugger up your life."
"How's that make you more like Hermione? I invited her to come with me but she wouldn't leave... Oh kiss my ass." Fred was giving him a knowing look, almost glowing as his brother finally cottoned on to what he was trying to tell him. "But they didn't even wait a decent amount of time! Not even a week later they were out on the town hanging off each other! They may as well have snogged in the middle of Diagon for hell's sake!"
"Wait, what do you mean?" He looked genuinely confused.
"Oh, didn't tell you, did they? I saw them in Diagon that Saturday. They were hanging off each other, coming up the street. Got a table right next to me but didn't even notice I was there they were so buried in each other's eyes. Made me sick it did." Ron was looking completely sullen now, slumping low in to the couch.
"So what, you were right out in the open and they didn't say hi?"
"May as well have been."
"So you weren't. What were you doing, hiding behind a paper and spying on them like those old muggle movies?" Ron looked guiltily at him. "So you were doing just that. Merlin, you are a prat! You blame them for not saying hi to you when you were trying not to be noticed by them. You get all huffy at them because they got together when it had been at least two weeks, and an accident at that!"
"So you believe them, do you? What'd they tell you, he tripped and caught himself on her lips?"
"No. Don't play them for stupid like that bro. Harry was comforting her, she was crying on his shoulder, one thing led to another... Come on, he's your best friend! You lived with him for seven years! Are you really telling me that you had no idea they were ever attracted to each other?" Ron shook his head. "You really are thick. You know, the only reason he didn't try to get her back then was because you finally realized she was a girl. That's it. Now, here you are pouting like a moron about your feelings and not giving theirs any account."
Ron looked thoroughly depressed. He knew he was wrong. He'd known since the night he left the Hollow. He just wouldn't let himself accept it, putting the blame on his best friends rather than admit he was wrong. But now he had to.
"So you really think I should go."
"No, I think you will go, even if I have to bind and apparate you myself. So just RSVP now."
Ron grudgingly scribbled out 'Ronald Weasley and Guest' and tied it to Pig's leg. "So who the hell am I supposed to take to this... party?"
"Not a matchmaker brother. I'm just the delivery boy" Fred replied as he walked out the door and disapparated away.
Ron was left holding the invitation, able to do nothing more than stare at it. I need a drink.
~
"No."
"You have to go! You're her best friend. Ginny, what is your problem with all of this anyway? Did you really expect him to never fall in love again?" George had been hearing no from his sister for fifteen minutes straight. She'd said nothing but when he handed her the invitation.
"Yes. No. Just... gaaahhh!"
George smiled at her. "Well, which is it? Yes or no?"
"No, I didn't expect him to never fall in love again. Just not with... her."
"Why not her? What's wrong with Hermione?"
"She was never supposed to fall in love with him! It was supposed to be me and Harry, Hermione and Ron. That's jut how it was supposed to be!"
"Gin, you spent far too much time listening to our mother. You can't pick who you love just because you want to. You and Harry had your chance and you buggered it up, always wanting to show him off at parties like some trophy. Ron, well, Ron's a git. You need to get over it, both of you. If you don't, you're going to lose your best -" he finished his sentence with a Protego as she had fired a hex at him.
"Don't you dare call either of them my friend! If either of them were my friends then I would still be with Harry!"
Two things happened very quickly. Ginny tried to slap George, but her hand was caught by a very hurt looking Neville. And Fred came bursting through the door, rushing in at the familiar sound of a family fight breaking out.
"Funny, Gin, that's what your other brother just said" Fred told her. "He's going, though at the threat of binding and side-along with me."
"Guys, could you leave the two of us alone for a bit?" Neville's small voice sounded like a hammer on a wall at that point. The mixture of anger and hurt on his face burned Ginny like an iron.
"Sure, but watch out for her hexes. You've got to be pretty quick" George said as they left the room and closed the door behind them.
"Are you that mad at them? Do you still love him that much? Am I just not good enough for you?" All three of these questions felt like daggers through the heart to Ginny and she began to tear.
"Neville, I love you. You know I do. But it's -"
"What Ginny? What is it? Because I can't see it from here."
"It's... I spent so much time trying to get them together! It took months for him to notice her, and even then he was too chicken to do anything about it! It took getting him drunk and her half naked for it to happen. And then she just throws him away, like... like..."
"Like Harry did to you?" He said this softly, finally realizing just how much everything had hurt her. "But Gin, do you really blame him? You were acting like he was nothing more than a -"
"Don't you say it!"
"trophy. Ginny, I know you still love him, but am I not enough for you?"
She hugged him closely, her tears staining his vest. "Yes, Neville. You're more than enough for me. But it's... hard. Imagining him happy with anyone else. It's just hard."
"Is it hard or is it Hermione? If I didn't know better I'd say you were jealous." Now he was being playful and teasing.
"Maybe. Just a little. Do you hate me?" she asked, pouting.
"Yep. Hate your guts." She swatted his arm. "I don't hate you Gin. I just want you to let this go. I love you with my whole heart. I want to you that you love me with yours."
She considered his face for a minute before kissing his cheek and stepping away from him. She grabbed a quill and parchment, scribbling down 'Neville and Ginerva Longbottom'. I do like the way that sounds... She tied the parchment on to Perigee and sent him out the window.
"Fred, George" she shouted through the door. "Go home." George opened the door to a sight he could have done without: his sister snogging her husband.
"Ah, Merlin! Do you have to do that while we're here! Now are you going or not?!" Fred yelled.
She broke their kiss just long enough to mutter "Yes" before returning her lips to his.
Fred started to walk off, almost at a run, but George grabbed his arm. He held out a capsule of their new and improved Peruvian Instant Darkness powder and threw it in the room to Fred's giggles. The inside burst into complete darkness.
"Thanks guys!" they heard Neville yell while Ginny giggled loudly. The twins looked at each other in alarm and both ran as fast as they could toward the front door as their sister began undressing her husband.
~
"Hey love!" Hermione said as she sat down hard on Harry's lap, interrupting his reading of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
"Uhgh. You know, this Saruman bloke was a real git. He's supposed to be as evil as Voldemort?"
"No, that's Sauron. Saruman is just a puppet, kind of like Lucius Malfoy. You're really getting in to this, aren't you?" she smiled at him.
"If I say yes do I get to snog my fiance?"
She leaned in to him and kissed him deeply, just barely not spilling the cup of tea in her hand. "Maybe" she said, her breath just a little bit short.
"Is that for me?" he said gesturing to the tea. "Thanks." He placed a bookmark in the pages and set the book on the small end table next to him before wrapping his free arm around her. "So, what potion has kept my lover away from me for so long?"
"I've been working on developing my own. It's a variant on the Wolfsbane potion that should keep any werewolf from transforming forcibly at full moon, instead transferring the control to the canis him- or herself. The problem is that every time the subject takes it he breaks out in boils. It's too strong, but if I weaken it any more it won't be any more effective."
"Well, have you thought about not having them drink it?"
"How do you mean?"
"Well, aside from potions, there's amulets, salves, maybe even tattoos. Have you thought about any of that?"
"Certainly not tattoos but an amulet wouldn't allow the direct contact necessary and any exposure, even just skin contact, could still have the same effects. I just can't see any way to make it work!"
"Where's your notes?" She got up and grabbed a rolled up parchment from her robes. "What are the ingredients?"
"Nothing much different in the ingredients. Wolfsbane, Hemlock, Opium. But their extraction and brewing are where the differences are. All of them are pulled fresh, a feat in and of itself. The Hemlock is oiled in a still, as is the Opium. The Wolfsbane is chopped in to two millimeter slices crosswise, discarding the stalk and tip, and added after one week of brewing the Hemlock and Opium in still purified water. Then the whole thing is left for two weeks, stirring six times clockwise and three counterclockwise. After the two weeks it's left to age covered in a dark, cool room until the next full moon when it's exposed one more time to the full moon at a simmer, from moon rise to moon set. But I think the problem is -"
"It's the Hemlock. You're extracting the oils but you should add pieces, not oils. It's too strong."
"But then it'd be too weak!"
"Well, what about Snape's notes? Crush with the flat side of a silver dagger after chopping. It releases more oils but it'll still be diluted enough to be effective, don't you think?"
"But it will still be too strong."
"Well, what about a tattoo? I know it's unorthodox but it'll keep from having to re-dose every month, which I imagine was part of the goal" Hermione nodded her head "and the dose will be low enough to keep from having any adverse reactions."
"Hmm, maybe..." She summoned a quill and started charting equations. Harry simply watched her work, drinking his tea and offering the occasional quip. "I think you're right. The only problem is it would need to be on the chest. So what shape should it be in? Do we give them their choice?"
"What about a ward?" Hermione gave him a loving look and motioned for him to continue. "If we made it in to a transfiguration ward, like this" and he drew a ward on the parchment next to her notes "that could be activated at the wearer's discretion for, say twelve hours, wouldn't that amplify the potions effects?"
"I think it might" she simpered at him. She tossed the notes away and grabbed his face roughly. "I love you" she said after she kissed him hard. "What would I ever do without you?"
"Be bored?"
"Maybe. Just maybe." She laid down on his chest, forcing him to scoot down a little in the chair to become more comfortable. He began running his fingertips up and down her spine, causing her to shiver every few passes. She began kissing his neck when there was a knock at the window. She let her head flop down to his shoulder disappointedly as he looked over to see a large, golden eagle owl standing on the sash, a large note tied to it's leg.
"It's an owl with a large bit of parchment." He waved the owl over and let it land on his arm while Hermione untied the note. Once it was free the owl took off out the window and alighted on a tree near Hedwig. Hermione unrolled the parchment and squealed just a bit.
"It's from Ollivander! He's in Germany! Says he's found out some more information but will still be looking for a bit longer. Oh, I was so hoping to hear from him by now!"
"It's okay, he did say he'd be back before next term, right? He's got to be there to get new students their wands. It'll be okay. We'll find out soon enough." He kissed the top of her head. "So, when is the next full moon?"
"Well, today's the 19th. Just tested the potion today. So... August 16th. If I get started tomorrow I can give it some extra aging time."
"Who've you been testing on, Mione?"
"Er... Remus. He volunteered when I asked him about the potions effects. He's gone through it twice now. I've also been having it's effects tested on Fenrir and some of his pack that are locked up in Azkaban. I don't feel so bad about them. But Remus is hoping that it will work for his son. He'll start Hogwarts soon and he wants to make sure that he'll never have to go through the same things that he did."
"I know you'll figure it out hon. You're too smart to let anything beat you... except me!" he said as he started tickling her. She was laughing very hard after just a few seconds and she started to fight back, tickling him in kind.
"I can... do that... too..." she heaved, trying to control her body's reactions. But he didn't let up. So she pulled her trump card and grabbed his crotch. He immediately stopped tickling her and began disrobing her instead, working very quickly at the buttons of her blouse. She continued to grip him through his trousers, moving her hand back and forth, while he finished undoing her shirt.
His hands gripped her breasts and she moved around a little to straddle him, never stopping the movements of her hand. She had just unbuttoned his fly and was gripping the zipper when they both felt the wards trip. Harry had tuned them to her as well shortly after she had moved in.
"Two people" she muttered, her breath short. There was a knock at the door. "Who is it?" she hollered, trying to sound composed.
"Ron and Ginny" came a deep voice from the other side of the door.
Harry and Hermione looked at each other, both worried. "Oh shit" he muttered, a sentiment she returned in kind. "What should we do? Tell them to go away?"
Hermione sighed. "No, best get this over with now. Just a minute!" she shouted. They tried to assemble themselves but realized that without more time it would be fruitless. Harry being the more composed one at that time, his bulging trousers not withstanding, answered the door while Hermione went upstairs to change. He opened the door to find Ron and Ginny looking sullen; repentant if he didn't know his friends better.
"Can we... come in?" Ron's voice was meek. "Talk for a bit?"
Harry stepped aside and waved them in. Ginny and Ron made their way in to the living room. Harry stopped by the bar to grab a couple bottles and some glasses. "Whatever you like." Harry poured a glass of scotch for himself and took a seat back in his favorite chair. He eyed his friends warily as they threw each other questioning looks and poured drinks for themselves. Hermione came back downstairs and poured herself a glass of brandy and resumed her perch on Harry's lap. Neither of them said a word.
"Hermione, I'm sorry." Ginny broke the silence first. She was rolling the glass of brandy between her hands. "I had no right to act like I did."
"You're absolutely right: you didn't. You had no business being pissed off at me, for what I don't know. So what the hell was all that shit about anyway?" Ginny didn't speak, she simply sat there sheepishly. "Was it jealousy? Fuck Gin, you had no right."
"I know! I know. That's why I'm apologizing to you. But how was I supposed to react? Be happy for you? For taking what I wasn't able to keep?"
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't objectify me while I'm in the room, Ginny." Harry looked slightly pissed. "I don't want to bring up dirty laundry, ok? Ron, I'm sorry you're so pissed off, but you and Mione hadn't been together for two weeks. It wasn't an accident, I could have kept it from happening, but I think I deserve a little happiness as well. So for making you so goddamn mad I'm sorry. But I love her and she loves me. We'd just like to have our two best friends bloody accept it and congratulate us."
Both Ron and Ginny looked aghast, completely floored. Ginny looked as though she would cry. Ron looked... well, he didn't. He looked completely impassive at the whole situation. "How's your nose?" He watched Harry's reaction carefully for a moment. When he saw a small grin break out on his face he began to laugh. "I am sorry mate."
"Remind me never to get in a fight with a beater again, alright?"
"God, if you two are done being girly?" Harry and Ron looked fit to tie Ginny up. She tossed the remaining brandy down and reached for the bottle of firewhisky. "I do believe that none of us are drunk enough and there's some congratulations to be given." Harry and Hermione weren't paying attention though.
"You guys bring company?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, Neville said he'd be not long behind us. Why?" Ginny responded.
"Nobody else?" Hermione asked, looking perturbed. "I think we may have a slight problem..."
Two in the back, right?
Yeah. Plus Nevile out front, I'm sure it's him. What do you think?
You take the rear with Ron. I'll take Ginny out front to get Neville and we'll split around the house. They'd spent some time developing their ability to communicate telepathically, mainly because it seemed to cost them so much each time. Enhanced Occlumency was required to keep things limited to speech and it was still difficult. But the tenseness of the situation seemed to help them focus.
"Ron, you're with me out back. Gin, with Hermione out front. Mione, wait 'til I signal."
"Right babe, see you in a few" and she kissed him quickly, then dragged Ginny towards the front door.
They saw Neville coming across the lawn. When he saw the look on Ginny's face he became very alert. "What is it?"
"Two, 'round the back. Harry and Ron are taking the back, we're going around the sides. But not until I signal."
Harry and Ron had made their way to the back. Harry probed the wards again but the intruders were still not being recognized. "Damn. See anything?"
Ron was peeking over the window just enough to see the back yard. "Nothing. Cloaks?"
"Maybe, but who? Order's the only ones who've got 'em."
"That we knew of, but that was a long time ago." Ron tapped the top of his head and dissolusioned himself. Harry did the same. In the near-twilight, with their backs to the sun, they were all but completely invisible.
They moved on to the porch as one then split, Ron on the left and Harry on the right. They moved synchronously across the yard to the back fence, the perimeter of the wards just an arm's reach away. They stopped by the corners of the rear fence, completely still and watching for movement. But there was nothing. Nothing.
Mione, anything?
Nothing up here. Why?
Cause I'm not seeing anything back here. Neville up there?
~
Yeah. There was a short pause. None of us see anything. What should we do? Harry? "Shit, something's wrong. Harry's not responding."
"What do you mean, not responding? Is that like some fucking code word?" Ginny asked, visibly and audibly upset.
"Neville, take Ginny and go left." Hermione didn't wait for a response, she simply moved to the side of the house at a run, disillusioning herself along the way. She came to a halt at the back corner of the house, trying to control her breathing, but that was difficult. She could just feel her link with Harry, just barely. Shit!
Just out of the corner of her eye she caught movement. The branches on the shrubs had been brushed and she saw the faintest glimpse of a hand before it disappeared. She queried the wards again but they were still just showing two unidentified intruders, not even the where.
"Who the hell -!" It was Ginny, then she was silent.
Hermione tripped the wards to full alert. All inside their perimeter there was a screaming klaxon and every light in the house came on, lighting up the entirety of the shadows in the back yard. Then she heard it: someone bouncing off the wards.
"Dumb bastards! Tried to disapparate, didn't you!" She set off around the back of the house, moving low and fast. She saw the owner of the hand, various appendages sprawled out from under an invisibility cloak. She spotted dents in the grass as she moved to the other side of the house. Ginny and Neville... Where the fuck are Harry and Ron?!
She heard a crash in the house, just passed the kitchen. Upstairs! She ran back towards the back door, stopping to grab the invisibility cloak. Silencio she thought, pointing at her feet. Not knowing where Harry was was... unnerving at best. At worst it was throwing her off her game. She heard the stairs squeak. "Dobby!" she whispered as quietly as she could.
"Yes Miss Hermione?" Dobby had popped in as quietly as possible, making him just louder than the snap of a dry cake.
"Who's upstairs?"
"Doesn't know, didn't sees them. What's they wanting?" Dobby was talking fast and fidgeting a great deal.
"Don't know. See if you can find Harry" and the elf disappeared. Hermione continued to the living room and made her way upstairs. The bedroom door was still standing open and she saw bits of clothing flying from the dresser. She took a breath, dove in front of the door and Reducto! She hit the floor hard and slid a couple inches. She picked her feet up under her, got in a low crouch and peeked her head around the door. There was a figure trapped under some debris trying to free itself. "Expelliarmous! Incarcerous!" The figure's wand flew to Hermione's hand and was immediately bound in steel re-enforced ropes. "Finite Incantatem!" The figure in front of her shimmered back in to visibility. "No. It can't be! You can't be real!"
~
"Master Harry must wake now!" Harry felt himself coming to in the grass. He felt horribly sore in the chest, as though a giant had punched him.
"Huh? Wha... Hermione!" he screamed both aloud and in his mind. "Don't you fucking let him go! Dobby, get the others up and get them upstairs NOW!" Dobby looked terrified but obeyed none the less.
Harry ran as fast as he could inside the house and upstairs, casting an Incarcerous on the unconscious figure at the foot of the steps. He canceled the alarms but left the house on full alert, the anti-apparation wards effective.
Harry reached the top of the stairs at a run, sliding on the hardwood floor and catching himself on the jamb. "What the bloody fuck are you doing in my house you worthless piece of shit!"
"Oh spare me Saint Potter. If you have any idea what is good for you you'll release me now! My colleagues will be here shortly and few of them are nice enough to stun instead of kill, as I have."
"You don't make demands in this house, snake!"
~
"Hrngh... Dobby? Dobby, what's going on?!"
"Master Harry says to wake them and for them to get upstairs!"
"Where's Ginny and Neville?"
"Over here. This way, this way!"
Ron shot to his feet and ran to where Dobby had apparated. He had removed the disillusionment charms from the two prone figures. Ron Finite'd Neville. "Come on, Harry says we're to go upstairs... and I think we'd better move!"
He had heard someone screaming in agony. He knew the sound well: someone was under the effects of the Cruciatus.
~
"WHY?!"
"Potter, you will never understand. Even if I did tell you, which I will not, you would not understand."
Harry sighed heavily. He locked eyes with his captive. "Legilimens" he said calmly. For the briefest of moments he saw a flash of a girl on a swing, then nothing. He broke eye contact. "Legilimens" he said more forcefully as he tightened the bonds around the twitching figure on the floor. He saw the swing again, himself at Hogwarts, on Diagon after leaving Ollivander's... he tightened the bonds more... Rictum Sempra...
"You will go to Harry Potter. Take his wand and his halfblood mate's, then bring them both to me."
"Yes sir."
He was facing a short, stalky man. The split tail of Ollivander's cloak were just disappearing through the doorway. He had been discussing the condition of the Potter's wands with Gregorovitch, who seemed indeed interested.
Harry visibly relaxed. "Stupefy" and his captive went limp immediately. "Gregorovitch sent him. He was supposed to get our wands. Something about them really interested him."
Ron, Ginny and Neville came charging through the door. "What -" Ron started.
"the" Neville continued.
"fuck!" Ginny finished.
"How the hell... is it really... Is that Snape?!" Ron managed to stammer.
"Yeah, he was supposed to get our wands. Gregorovitch wants them" Hermione replied. "Where's the other one? The one I stunned?"
"Below the steps in the back. We should see who he is. Have any Dreamless Sleep?" Harry asked her.
"I'll get some. Best put them in the spare bedroom."
"Yeah. Ron, Ginny..." He sighed again. "Wait downstairs. We'll explain... everything. Neville, would you bring the other piece of crap up here please?"
"Sure Harry." They all looked confused, Ginny more so than anyone.
After a few minutes Neville had dropped the other captive unceremoniously on the floor. Hermione had returned downstairs. Harry conjured two thick chairs, each with manacles. He had the chair from his inquiry during his fifth year in mind. Incarcerous he thought and chains fastened themselves around their captives torsos, the manacles clanked shut about their ankles and wrists. He and Hermione cast Imperterbus and Silencio spells on the room, sealing the two figures inside and keeping them from overhearing anything.
He sighed. "Again. Merlin, do I just do that a lot and not notice?"
"Yes." She smiled at him and kissed the tip of his nose. "Ready to face our friends? Deal with withholding information from them again?"
"No. But let's do it anyway. And" he added, kissing her softly, "let's make sure it's the last time."
"Ok."
The other three were sitting in the living room talking animatedly. Ron was gesticulating so wildly his whiskey was sloshing about the floor.
"Ron, I would appreciate it if you didn't spill good booze all over my nice clean floor." Harry poured himself a double, shot it, and refilled his glass with the ancient scotch. "Before you pummel us with questions we don't know how he's back, but we do know why. The thing is he's the least of our worries for the time being. We'll keep him locked up here, along with his accomplice. As far as his accomplice goes we do not know who he is yet, but this is all about my and Hermione's wands."
They received questioning looks from all three of their friends. It had been a while since they were all gathered together, since just before the start of last term during their Christmas party.
"You've been keeping things from us again." It wasn't an accusation. It wasn't a question. It was simply a truth, and they all looked hurt by it, though Ron the most. "I thought we were passed all this?"
"Well, you weren't exactly talking to us Ronald" Hermione chided. "Now, if that's all of the questions, we can get about explaining what's happened."
Hermione spent the better part of an hour filling them all in. She left out very little, giving enough detail to cause Neville to blush a little, a trait Ginny apparently found attractive.
"So, you think that Gregorovitch is interested because... why?" Neville asked.
"Well, we don't know yet. Aside from the fact that this has just happened wands are very particular about who they'll work for. If he'd asked we probably would have let him inspect them. I think the most important thing right now is to get answers from Ollivander. I don't care if he's done with researching or not: we've given him months and I would like to have all this sorted out before our engagement party. I'd like to actually enjoy it." Harry seemed indifferent to the whole situation, as though he expected this to happen. But given my track record for attracting the most demented people in the world...
"So, who wants to help... interrogate?" Hermione asked a little to zealously.
"What do you think boys, let the girls play a little?" Ginny responded. "A little girlfriend bonding over the sounds of some light torture..."
They both looked extremely sinister. None of the men around were going to interfere: Ron looked a little scared, Neville downright terrified, and Harry... still looked indifferent.
"Go for it. Just be careful." And keep the link open. I want to know everything that goes on, ok?
Harry, are you alright?
No. But I will be. I just want to sit down for a while. Hermione leaned in to him and kissed him deeply.
You're tired. We'll make it quick, then we can go to bed and not get up 'til next Tuesday, ok?
Sounds splendid. Harry smiled on to her lips and the briefest of images of them joined flashed across her mind.
Hermione and Ginny set out purposefully up the stairs. "Let's outside guys. I need some air." Harry did indeed feel very tired at the moment.
"You ok mate?" Ron asked as they sat down around the table on the back porch.
Harry had just taken his third glass of scotch down in a gulp. "I'm tired, guys. Tired of always having to deal with this shit. I mean, why does all the weird, batshit insane stuff always happen to me?" It should have been angry raving, but he felt calm. He knew very well that he should be pissed off right now. The image of Snape being given Veritaserum made him feel a little better. "I just want all of this to be over for good. I'd like to just teach and come home to Hermione and read a book and... just do any damned thing besides deal with stupid fucking dark wizards again!" He sounded exasperated more than anything.
"I can't pretend to know how you feel, Harry. But you know that you can come to us when you need anything. Even if it's just to disappear for a while." Neville had a genuine, concerned tone to his voice. "You should take a nice, long vacation after your party. Just take off for a couple weeks. Don't tell anyone but me where you're going, not even this stupid git!" he said as he hit Ron on the knee.
"Hey, I'm not a git!" Ron retorted.
"So what, you're just stupid?" Harry had a mischievous smile on his face.
"Oh ha ha ha. Bastards. Oh Merlin Harry, I almost forgot! What the hell are we going to do for your birthday?!"
Harry thought for a minute. He suddenly felt old. "My god, I'll be 28 tomorrow. I haven't really thought much about my birthday in... well, ever. I don't really care. If you guys want to plan something go for it, just make it small. I'd really just like to have a drink and get laid, to be honest."
"Sounds like a good birthday to me!" the other two exclaimed. "So" Ron began, holding up the bottle of whiskey for the other two, who drained their glasses and held them forward to be filled. "I think a toast is in order. To Harry and Hermione. May they live happy, full lives together without their friends interference..." they chinked their glasses together "except at the most in-opportune times" he added, not quite under his breath. The three drank and laughed for a good few minutes afterwards, sharing jokes and generally giving each other constant shit.
~
Hermione had just placed three drops of Veritaserum on Snape's tongue. Ginny Ennervated him after her sister, in all that mattered, backed off. He woke slowly and was quite groggy, the Veritaserum having the desired effect.
"Who sent you?" They had decided that Hermione would do most of the questioning.
"Gregorovitch."
"Why?"
"To capture the Potter's wands."
"What does he want with the wands?"
"He is curious about their bond. Ollivander didn't give him enough information. He thought he was holding back, keeping certain facts from him."
"What did Ollivander tell him?"
"That the wands had bonded. He said their cores had somehow combined. He said the Priori Incantatem revealed a golden glow about both and their cores had joined."
"What else did he tell him about it?"
"That was all he said."
"Did Gregorovitch give him any information about what may have happened?"
"No. He was stunned. He said that it was something from myth, that if it ever did happen before it hadn't happened for a thousand years. Not since the time of Godric Gryffindor. But that it was nothing more than unsubstantiated myth."
Hermione felt Harry focus a little more on their link, probing her to 'replay' the last bit. We'll have to ask Ollivander about that specifically. "And who is your little friend here?"
"Milisevic. Just a thug sent with me. Gregorovitch thought I would need help so he sent one of his lackeys."
Stupefy Ginny thought at a glance from Hermione. "So this was just a stupid little task? What the hell was Snape doing alive, and why was he with Gregorovitch?"
Hermione nodded to Milisevic. She tipped three drops on to his tongue and Ginny Ennervated him. "Why were you with Snape?"
"Gregorovitch didn't trust him. He thought he would betray him, keep the wands for himself. He'd been given much information, enough to pique his interest." He had a thick Russian accent that made it difficult to understand him.
"What was Snape doing with Gregorovitch? How long had he been there?"
"Since just after his defeat at the Potter boy's hands. He wasn't dead. We don't know how he made it there and his memory has been erased. So Gregorovitch let him stay. He thought that, with his ties to Hogwarts that he might be useful."
"And was he?"
"No. He proved to be quite useless until now. Gregorovitch kept him shut up, making whatever potions he could. Snape was content to remain there, to stay hidden until he could take revenge on the Potter boy."
"Why did Gregorovitch want the wands?"
"He believes that they are powerful now, more powerful than any wand in history."
"What did he want to do with them?"
"Only he can answer that. There is no one that he completely trusts with that information."
"Where is Ollivander?"
"I know only that he was considering going to Japan."
"Why would he go to Japan?" She had asked the question more to herself and Ginny, though Milisevic replied.
"There is a wandmaker there, older than any other. He believed that this wandmaker would have more answers, though Gregorovitch doubted so. He believes there is no more powerful wandmaker than those few in Europe."
"And Ollivander?"
"He believes that the oldest magic is where he must search. He believes that the oldest magic lies in the east. Gregorovitch said that he is believing too much in myth and chasing his tail. So he left."
Hermione signaled Ginny again. Stupefy.
~~*~~
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