Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
More Important Than Any Broomstick - Chapter 7 - Easter Break
The next month passed smoothly, with Harry and Hermione working as much ahead as possible so that they'd have time to explore Potter Manor. Hermione had arranged for them to spend Easter break with her parents, claiming that they wanted to get to know Harry better anyway. They also were taking the week off of work. They had met briefly in Diagon Alley while shopping for supplies for their second year at Hogwarts. They agreed to visit his mansion the morning after they arrived so that they'd know what shape the mansion is in, and if he needed to buy anything to make it livable before school got out for the summer. It was now dinner time on the day before the Hogwarts Express took the students home for the break. Hermione and Harry were eating in the Great Hall when a first year Gryffindor girl who was staring at Harry walked up to them and shyly said, "Er, Professor Dumbledore told me to give you this note."
She handed the paper to Harry, and their hands touched as Harry said, "Thank you very much," causing the girl to go completely red in the face and run to the other side of the table.
Hermione chuckled, "It looks like I've got some competition."
Harry, who was taking a drink of pumpkin juice, started coughing. "Competition? What do you mean?"
"Isn't it obvious?" said Hermione with a smile on her face. "She's got an even bigger crush on you than Ginny Weasley."
He chuckled remembering Ginny putting her elbow in the butter dish at her house. "At least she didn't send me a singing Valentine."
She giggled at that. "What's the note say?"
Harry unrolled the parchment and read it out loud.
"Dear Harry,
I request both yours and Miss Granger's presence in my office after dinner.
Yours sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore"
"I wonder what this is all about," said Hermione.
"I guess there's only one way to find out."
Fifteen minutes later, the two of them were facing the gargoyle outside of Dumbledore's office. At the mention of `Mars Bars,' the statue moved, revealing the staircase. They quickly made their way up the stairs and knocked on the door.
"Come in, come in," said the voice of Professor Dumbledore.
They opened the door and the aged wizard indicated two chairs in front of his desk. They quickly sat down and faced him. Harry spoke first. "Sir, are we in some sort of trouble?"
Albus chuckled. "No, no. Of course not. This is about your Easter plans."
"My Easter plans?" asked Harry.
"I understand that you're planning on spending the break with Miss Granger at her house."
"Yes, sir," said Hermione. "Why?"
Dumbledore put on his most grandfatherly face, placing his palms on the table and facing them both. "I'm afraid I must recommend that Mr. Potter stays here for the break."
"What?" said both Harry and Hermione together.
"I'm afraid that with Sirius Black on the loose, the castle is the safest place to be."
"Like the Dursley's house?" asked Harry, failing in his attempt to disguise his anger.
Dumbledore looked in Harry's eyes. "Yes, I'm afraid so."
"But you can't sir!" said Hermione. "Isn't Harry ever allowed to enjoy himself?"
Dumbledore took a deep breath. "I'm sure that he can find a way to entertain himself here at Hogwarts. Perhaps he could find someone to play chess with."
Harry had heard enough. "Sir,"
"Yes."
"As headmaster, you have legal authority here. Do you actually have any legal authority to stop me from leaving for Easter like many other students do every year?"
Dumbledore's face went slightly pink, while Hermione stifled a giggle. Apparently this wasn't going the way he'd planned. "Not exactly, but I'd hope you would trust my judgment."
Harry couldn't stop the smile that formed on his face. He didn't want to upset Dumbledore too much, so he said, "Then I thank you for your concern, and appreciate your advice, but in this case I choose to spend the week with Hermione. It can't be more dangerous than the Chamber of Secrets."
Dumbledore sighed, "If you insist, I cannot stop you, but I believe you are making a mistake."
"Then sir, it's my mistake to make," said Harry in the most polite voice he could. "If there's nothing more, we have some packing to do. Are we dismissed?"
"Yes, I suppose so."
-
"The nerve of him," shouted Hermione, once they were far enough away from Dumbledore's office. "Trying to keep you prisoner in this castle!"
"Did you see how shocked he was when I didn't simply hang my head down and say, `Yes sir."
"I loved it when you asked if he had the legal authority to hold you here?" said Hermione, smiling. "I thought I was going to burst out laughing when his face turned pink."
They both laughed while walking together toward Gryffindor Tower until Harry pointed out, "Here's even more proof that he doesn't care about my happiness."
The brunette girl frowned for a second, but then smiled again. "He may not care about your happiness, but I do!" and then surprised him with a quick kiss on the lips. After they both smiled at each other for a few seconds, they continued walking.
When they walked into the common room, they were immediately intercepted by Ron. "Hey guys, I'm glad you're here!"
"What do you want, Ron," asked Hermione as she rolled her eyes.
His ears turned slightly pink. "Hermione, er, I've been having a lot of trouble with my classes without your help, and er, I was hoping you two would, y'know, help me study over break. I'm staying here, too."
"Actually Ron," said Harry, "we're not staying here for the break."
"What? Don't tell me the Dursleys are making you…"
"For your information, Ronald," said Hermione, "Harry's spending the break at my house."
Ron went red. He started screaming. "YOUR HOUSE? Your house! Harry, I know what you're…Hermione, I can't believe you'd let him…"
"LET HIM WHAT?" shouted a thoroughly ticked off Hermione, who was walking up to him with a murderous look in her eyes.
If Ron had any brains at all, he'd have run away. Instead, he continued yelling at her. "You know what! I didn't think you'd…OOOWWWWW!" Ron collapsed onto the floor, with his hands on his crotch. Hermione had kicked him hard in the place where it hurts the most. He seriously doubted he'd ever be able to father any children after that kick.
Harry, who'd known better than to interfere with Hermione's argument with Ron, merely shook his head at Ron saying, "You should have known better," and then walked up the stairs to his dorm so he could pack.
-
The next day was uneventful. Ron stayed as far away from them as he could at breakfast, and then Harry and Hermione got on board the train and headed to London. The ride was uneventful, meaning that the Dementors for some reason did not search the train. Hermione suggested that they're probably more interested in who's coming to Hogwarts than who's leaving. When they got to King's Cross station, they exited the train, hand in hand. Hermione looked around for a minute, and started dragging Harry toward her parents. Harry recognized the man with brown hair just starting to go grey. He was wearing navy blue pants with a matching sweater. Then Harry saw Hermione's mother standing next to her husband. She had brown, bushy hair, just like Hermione's. She was wearing a light blue dress with a navy blue jacket. "Harry!" they both said together.
Harry thought they sounded a little overly friendly, but was determined to make the best possible impression on his girlfriend's parents. "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Granger. It's good to see you again." He then shook both their hands. When he noticed Mrs. Granger staring at his baggy clothes, he said, "I would really appreciate it if you could take me to Diagon Alley some time this week, so I can get some money out of the bank, and then take me shopping for clothes that fit. I'm tired of wearing my cousin's hand-me-downs."
Hermione glared at her mother for staring at Harry's clothes. "I told you the way his so-called-family treats him! That's one of the reasons he has to get away from them. The funny thing is that if they'd treated him like they should have, he'd probably be sharing his fortune with them."
"I'm sorry, Harry. I didn't mean to stare. I just didn't notice the last time we met you, probably because you were wearing robes over them. I think it's still early enough to get your money and clothes today, if you don't mind staying out." When nobody objected, they walked into the Grangers' silver Mercedes and drove to a muggle restaurant within walking distance of the Leaky Cauldron. After they'd eaten a late lunch there, they all walked through the pub into Diagon Alley, and on into Gringotts. After Harry had taken out a significant amount both in wizard and muggle money, they went to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor for ice cream cones, Harry's treat.
When they'd gotten their ice cream and were sitting at an outside table, Harry said, "Last summer, after I'd left the Dursleys and stayed here, I did a lot of homework at this spot, and Mr. Fortescue would give me sundaes every half hour, and he'd tell me about medieval witch burnings."
"Really?" asked Hermione. "That must have helped you a lot on that essay."
"It sure did."
"Hermione told us that the funniest thing about those witch burnings was that real witches and wizards not only didn't die, but actually enjoyed them," said Mrs. Granger.
"Yes," added Mr. Granger, "Hermione said that one particular witch would purposely get caught so that she'd be burned. Someone the Weird."
"Wendelin," said Harry, impressing Hermione by remembering something he'd studied on his own before they were dating.
After they'd eaten their ice cream, the group left Diagon Alley and headed to a muggle clothing store, where Hermione and her mother helped Harry pick out an entirely new wardrobe so he could burn every piece of clothing the Dursleys had ever given him. They asked him what colors he wanted and had him try on outfit after outfit. He bought several pairs of jeans, along with a bunch of shirts, socks, underwear (which embarrassed Harry), t-shirts, and pajamas. He bought two pairs of casual shoes. Hermione even got him to purchase a few suits. One was navy blue, which her mother had picked out, while the other one was dark green, which she picked out because it matched his eyes. He then got some dress shirts, ties, socks, and shoes to go with them. He even got a few belts. When he left, he was wearing one of the outfits while he and all the Grangers carried the rest of his purchases to the car.
They then went to the Grangers' home, which Harry thought was very nice. It appeared to be two stories tall, and had light blue paneling on it. Hermione gave him a tour, starting with the outside garden.
"Well, what do you think of it?" asked Hermione.
"The flower garden? It's beautiful. Much better than Aunt Petunia's boring garden."
"Thank you," said Hermione. "When I was five, I asked mum if we could plant a garden out here. She agreed, and we worked on it for about a month, with me picking out the different types of flowers and where they go." She smiled. "I guess it's not as orderly as someone like Mrs. Dursley would approve of, but I like it."
"So do I," said Harry. "And I like you, too," he said, quickly kissing her.
After she showed him their swimming pool, which they kept covered up until she came home for the summer, she took him in the house, showing him the living room, dining room, and kitchen. She let him look into her parent's study, but not go in.
"Why?" asked Harry. "Do they have a dead body hidden in there?"
She chuckled. "Yes, the last person to trespass in there. My long lost brother, Bill. He was two at the time," she said in mock sorrow, "and had just learned to walk. He took one step into the room and that was it. My dad strangled him right there on the spot."
Harry chuckled. "I guess I should stay out of there, then."
"Yeah," said Hermione. "Seriously though, they like to keep that area for themselves, so please stay out of there."
"Sure, no problem," said Harry.
"We're now done with this floor," said Hermione importantly. "Let's go up to second floor. I'll show you my room and the two guest rooms.
Hermione's room was painted in a light tan hue, and the carpet was brown. One wall was nothing but several full bookshelves. She had a queen-size bed that had burgundy pillow cases and blanket, while the sheets were white. She had a semi-fancy wooden dresser, along with a huge desk that is made for corners. It had a computer on it, but still had plenty of room for writing on parchment, with a burgundy swivel office chair that allowed her to easily move around the desk. Both guest rooms had white walls, brown carpet, a small wooden desk with a chair, a small dresser, and a queen-size bed with white sheets and pillowcases, and a dark green blanket.
He was given the guest room nearest to Hermione's bedroom. After he'd put his belongings in there, he came back to the living room where they all ordered pizza and watched a Disney movie together. During the movie, Hermione's father asked, "Well, what do you think of the house?"
"It's really nice," said Harry. "A lot nicer than the Dursleys."
"Did she tell you about our study?" asked Mrs. Granger.
"Yes," said Harry, and then added, "She told me about how her long lost brother is buried there."
Both of her parents chuckled. Mr. Granger said, "She's still telling that old story? She first told that to a friend of hers from first grade."
Hermione's face turned pink, but she defiantly said, "It still works. Why should I make up a different story?"
Mrs. Granger said, "Seriously, we hope you understand. We consider that room to be part of our workplace, and don't like anyone wondering around there, moving books, and what have you. It's not that we don't trust you; we just prefer to keep everyone out. It helps to keep the peace."
When the movie was over, they went to bed after being told to be ready for breakfast by eight o'clock.
-
"Good morning Hermione," said Harry from the table as Hermione came into the dining room at 7:59 a.m. Harry had gotten up at 7, showered quickly, and gotten downstairs before she was even up.
"Morning Harry," said Hermione, covering her mouth as she yawned. "You're up early. You're never this alert for breakfast at Hogwarts."
"But all I have to look forward to at Hogwarts are classes. Today I get to see the house where I lived as a baby."
"Of course," said Hermione, feeling stupid. "I should have realized that this meant a lot more to you than just looking at a house. This is a piece of your history, a connection to your parents."
"I'm glad both of you are up," came Mrs. Granger's voice from behind them. They turned and saw her carrying two plates loaded with pancakes, sausage, and eggs for them.
"Mrs. Granger, you didn't have to do that. I'd have been happy to…"
"Nonsense Harry, you're our guest here. And it's Marissa. You can call my husband `Adam,' also. You're not at the Dursleys' anymore."
"Thank you Mrs., I mean, Marissa," said Harry.
"You're welcome, Harry."
"Good morning, everybody," said Adam Granger, as he walked into the room.
"Good morning," said everybody.
"So Harry," said Adam, "Hermione tells us you're very good at defense against the dark arts."
Harry turned slightly pink. "I, well I guess I'm ok at that."
"Ok?" said Hermione, with an exasperated look on her face. "You're ahead of me in that class! No one else is! You're brilliant at it."
"Well, I'm sure you'll do better than me on the final exam," said Harry.
"We'll see," said Hermione.
"What other classes are you taking?" asked Marissa. "Hermione told us that in divination, the teacher predicts your death every day."
Harry chuckled slightly. "Yeah, I wish I could just drop it like Hermione. I only took it cause Ron signed up for it. I'm just not taking enough classes that I could drop one."
"You could always sign up for a different class next year," chimed in Hermione.
He smiled at this, "Maybe muggle studies will be good for a laugh."
"I didn't mean muggle studies. I'm thinking of dropping that class after this year. I'm afraid that it's a joke too. I honestly don't think the teacher of the class has ever met a muggle! It's irritating, though maybe you would find it funny, when he talks about ekel-tricity and meed-e-kane." At this point everyone at the table chuckled. "I thought it would be fascinating to hear about muggles from the wizarding perspective, but I found out that they don't know anything about muggles. You or I could teach the class much better than that professor does. They should require any teacher of that class to be muggle-raised! Anyway Harry, I was thinking you should try arithmancy or ancient ruins."
"I'd probably flunk out of either class the first week," said Harry sadly. "I don't even really know what arithmancy is anyway."
"Arithmancy is a type of arithmetic course. How well did you do at math in muggle schools?"
"I used to get B's, but that was because if I did too much better than Dudley, I'd be locked up in my cupboard for a week." He ignored the pitying looks he got from the Grangers. "I could have done even better. So I was actually pretty good at math."
"Er, well I could tutor you in arithmancy during the summer. I'm sure Professor McGonagall would allow you to take a placement test or something. You should talk to her when we get back to school."
"Ok, I'll try. Anything's better than hearing that old fraud say how painful my soon-to-occur death's gonna be." Everyone laughed at that statement.
They continued discussing Harry's classes while they finished breakfast. Hermione's parents beamed at their daughter while she blushed when Harry declared that his grades have greatly improved since he started listening to Hermione. When they were finished, they all got into the car and started following the directions Harry had gotten from Gringotts.
Harry mentioned, "They said it's under the same kind of charm that their house in Godric's Hollow was under, except that the Potter heir, er, me, is automatically the Secret-Keeper. That means no one will see the house until I tell them the address."
"Under the Fidelius Charm," quoted Hermione, undoubtedly from some book, "No one but the Secret-Keeper is capable of divulging any information related to the location of the house, beyond the town where it is located. If someone tries to say the address, their mouth will involuntarily shut until they give up. If they try to write it down, their hands will open, causing them to drop their quill. Once the Secret-Keeper has revealed the address, the person who it was revealed to, that's us, will have to concentrate on the address while staring at the spot for a few seconds before they'll see it."
"I guess your family has needed a lot of security," said a concerned-looking Adam Granger.
"Just think," said Hermione. "If they'd have just stayed at this house, You-Know-Who wouldn't have found them."
"You mean Sirius Black wouldn't have been able to betray them!" said Harry.
"Harry," said Hermione with a worried look, "He probably knows the location of this house."
"No he doesn't," smiled Harry. "According to my letter from the goblins, when someone new becomes the heir, like when my parents died, everyone who knew the location of the manor forgets. Even Gringotts doesn't know the address. They sent me a piece of parchment from my family vault that's charmed so that I'm the only one that can read it. I copied the address and directions off of that and owled it back to them. They sent me confirmation with Hedwig that they put it back in the vault.
They were driving through an open field until Harry's eyes went wide. "Wow! Stop here."
"What?" asked Adam, as he pulled over, "Do you need to use that old outhouse?" All everyone but Harry could see was an old outhouse in the middle of a field.
"Concentrate on the address, "1 Potter Avenue, and look to the right of the outhouse," said Harry. Within seconds all the Grangers gasped as Potter Manor came into view. There was a huge white gate with the words, `Potter Manor' engraved in gold at the top. The gate opened for them, revealing what was inside, including a driveway that Adam had to back up to get into. After they'd gotten out of the car, they all stared at the off-white brick mansion that was in front of them. It had at least seven floors. It looked simple, yet elegant, with a solid oak door with a brass handle. Before they went in, they explored the grounds a bit, which included a huge swimming pool, quidditch pitch, and picnic area with a pavilion with benches and tables. There was even a small forest on the grounds. What really surprised everyone is that the grounds appeared perfect. The grass was properly cut and the pavilion area was clean, and everything appeared to be in perfect order.
"I thought this place has been abandoned since you were a baby," said Mr. Granger, appearing worried.
"I thought it was," said Harry, pulling out his wand and noticing Hermione do the same. "Adam, Marissa, stay by the car while Hermione and I check this out."
"We're the adults here, we'll take the risk," he answered.
"Sir," said Harry, "If there's a dark wizard in there, you two don't even have a fighting chance. You should be ready to leave if something happens." Then he turned to Hermione. "I'll go first, and you follow me after ten seconds. If I tell you to leave, then get out of here."
"I won't leave you," said Hermione.
"You'd better do what he says, darling," said Mrs. Granger.
Harry cautiously walked onto the porch, pointing his wand at the door. As soon as his feet touched the porch, the door opened. He slowly walked inside, and the door shut behind him, making him jump and turn around. He saw a note on the door. It said,
"Harry Potter, the greatest wizard in the world who is freeing Dobby.
After you is freeing Dobby, Dobby wanted to be thanking Harry Potter sir for doing it, so, Dobby is coming to Potter Manor and finding Potter house elf dead, and Potter Manor in chaos. So Dobby is burying Harry Potter's family elf and cleaning Potter Manor for five days. Now Dobby is coming back to clean every week so that Harry Potter's home is in good order if and when Harry Potter comes.
Sincerely,
Dobby, the house elf
P.S. If you is wanting to see Dobby, just call out Dobby's name, and Dobby will come."
Harry smiled to himself at the thought of Dobby doing all that just for him. He was broken from his thoughts by loud banging on the door and Hermione's voice desperately calling out, "Harry! Harry!"
He opened the door to see Hermione nearly on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry I didn't open the door immediately. I was reading a note from Dobby."
"Dobby, the house elf you freed from the Malfoys?"
"Yes. It turns out he's been cleaning the place up for me."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I guess we should invite your parents in. I wonder why the door didn't open for you."
"Isn't that obvious, Harry," said Hermione. "You're the master of the house. Its gate and front door will open for you, and only for you. You have to let anybody else inside."
After the Grangers were all inside and had been assured nothing was wrong, Hermione read the note. She then looked at Harry. "Aren't you going to call Dobby?"
"Of course," said Harry. "I just wanted to get everyone inside first." He then cleared his throat. "Dobby," he called.
Immediately there was a pop and Dobby appeared, wearing the old pillowcase from the Malfoys and the sock that Harry had tricked Mr. Malfoy into giving him. As soon as he appeared, Dobby started hugging Harry's legs. He heard a muffled, "Harry Potter is calling Dobby! Never before has Dobby been called by so great a wizard as Harry Potter!" He ended the embrace and looked at Harry with admiration in his eyes. "What can Dobby do for the great Harry Potter?"
"Er, Dobby, I just wanted to thank you for taking care of this mansion for me."
"Dobby is happy and proud to clean Potter Manor."
"Hello Dobby. Harry's told me all about you. I'm Hermione Granger." She then held out her hand to shake Dobby's.
Dobby immediately cried. "I knew you must be great, to be Harry Potter's friend, but never has a witch offered to shake Dobby's hand, like an equal." Dobby immediately took her hand and shook it, tears falling from his eyes. "And to think that the great Harry Potter speaks of Dobby."
"Hermione is actually my girlfriend, and those are her parents over there."
Dobby at this point bowed to Hermione. "It is a great honor to meet Harry Potter's Granger."
How have you been doing since you were freed, Dobby? Have you found a new family to work for?" asked Hermione.
He hung his head down. "Dobby hasn't been able to find a wizard who is paying Dobby for his work. Dobby isn't wanting to be a slave, anymore. Dobby is wanting to work for pay, and it is very difficult for a house-elf who has been dismissed to get a new position, sir, very difficult indeed."
Harry noticed how Dobby had a hopeful look in his eyes and figured that he could certainly use the help. "Er, how much were you looking to be paid?"
Dobby looked excited at this prospect. "One Galleon a month, sir, and one day off every six months."
Hermione said, "That's way too low of wages! Harry, if you want to hire him, you should give him at least ten galleons a week, and weekends off."
Dobby looked scandalized. "Oh no sir! Dobby is not a greedy house elf! Dobby would die of shame to have more than one day off per month, and to get more than one galleon a week!"
"Fine," said Harry. "You're hired to work here for one galleon a week, with one day off per month," said Harry, before Hermione could object. Dobby shook Harry's hands ecstatically, and they both glowed for a second, sealing the magical contract.
"Harry Potter sir will not regret hiring Dobby! Dobby will work night and day for Harry Potter, not eating or sleeping…"
"That won't be necessary Dobby, you can eat and sleep." Harry then looked thoughtful for a moment. "Dobby," asked Harry, "How many days have you worked here since you were freed from the Malfoy family?"
"One-hundred and sixteen glorious days, sir," declared Dobby proudly.
"That would make just over four months worth of work," Harry said, digging his hand in his pocket. "Here's seventeen galleons, and an extra three for doing such excellent work.
"Oh no, sir. Dobby cannot accept this, sir. Sir is too kind! Dobby wasn't hired yet."
"I insist, Dobby. You must take this money."
"I is sorry to insult Harry Potter. I is a bad house-elf. I is punishing myself."
"Wait, Dobby! You are never ever to punish yourself while working for me, is that clear!"
"Yes sir, but what about when Dobby is a bad elf?"
Harry took a deep breath and said, "If you feel you've done something wrong, tell me about it. I'll decide if you need to be punished."
"Yes, Harry Potter sir."
"Dobby," asked Harry, "Why didn't you tell me you were cleaning this house? I didn't even know it existed until recently."
Dobby looked bewildered. "You didn't sir? If Dobby knew that Harry Potter didn't know of his houses, Dobby would have told him. Dobby is a bad elf and should be punished, sir."
"I don't think you should be punished, Dobby. You didn't know," said Harry firmly.
"You is too kind, sir."
"Dobby," said Hermione, "how were you able to find this house? It's under the Fidelius Charm."
"Miss, the Fidelius Charm isn't stopping house elves from finding houses. Otherwise masters who is forgetting to tell their elves about it would be losing them. We is not able to reveal the location, or cause harm to the people in the house. You is safe, here."
Harry politely sent Dobby off to make lunch while he and Hermione found her parents exploring the house on their own.
"I apologize for, er, ignoring you when I was hiring Dobby."
"We understand Harry," said Adam, "You had business to conduct."
Together, they began exploring the house, starting with the floor they were on. To Hermione's delight, they found a library full of rare books. They also found what appeared to be an exercise room. The room they'd originally come in from was the living room, which had green carpet, and tan furniture. It had two couches and two recliners, which surrounded a clear glass oval table. There was also a fireplace that stood seven feet tall, obviously so people could floo from there in comfort. After Dobby was finished making lunch, he came and led them to the dining room, which had an antique wooden table and chairs. After lunch, they explored the other six floors. The top floor had the master bedroom, which was as big as the living room, with an incredibly comfortable king size bed, along with two antique dressers and an antique full length mirror on the wall. There was a walk in closet bigger than most people's bedroom, and it was full of fancy clothes, both wizarding and muggle, that had obviously belonged to James and Lily Potter. Seeing those clothes inspired Harry to open the dressers, which they found also full of clothes. There was also an attached bathroom that included a huge bathtub. There were four other huge bedrooms, including one with a crib and baby clothes, on that floor that each had their own private bathrooms.
The sixth floor had seven fully furnished bedrooms in it, with three bathrooms on that floor. The fifth floor seemed to be devoted to muggles. The layout was the same as the sixth floor, but only two of the rooms were furnished as bedrooms. Each room had plugs, with things like TV's, lamps, and clocks plugged into them. Hermione tested them and they worked. There was also a functioning phone in each of those rooms. One room had a pool table in the middle, and had a rack on the wall holding pool sticks. There were chairs along one of the walls. The table was set with the balls in the triangle formation, ready to play. Another room had a ping pong table in it. There was another room that seemed devoted to old video games, with a TV and ancient game systems hooked to it, and another with a desk holding an old computer. Another room had a bigger TV with a vcr on it, with furniture facing it. Apparently it was devoted to watching movies. Harry made a mental note to replace the old muggle electronic equipment.
The fourth, third, and second floors also had the same layout as the sixth floor, although most of the rooms were completely unfurnished with a few exceptions, including a potions lab on the fourth floor that had a huge desk to work on, along with a cabinet full of all the ingredients you could ever need.
When they got back to the first floor, Hermione said, "Harry, let's visit the library again. I barely got to look at the books."
Harry smiled. "Why doesn't that surprise me?" He turned to her parents. "Adam, Marissa, you can come with us, or you can…"
"…if you don't mind, Harry," said Marissa, "I think we'd rather watch TV upstairs."
"Ok, we'll let you know when we're done," said Harry. "It shouldn't take Hermione more than three or four days to read every book there." Hermione slapped him lightly on the shoulder while her parents laughed.
"Don't hurry on our account," said Adam. "If you take too long, then we'll just have to spend the night here."
Harry and Hermione went into the library. While she was looking at the various books, he was looking at the portraits on the walls. He saw magical paintings of lions, dragons, and hippogriffs. There were also paintings of ships, carriages, and flying carpets, but what got his attention was a portrait of a man with unruly grey hair in the far corner. Some of his features were similar to Harry's, and he wondered if this was a long lost relative. He started to walk toward it when it spoke to him jovially, "You must be Harry Potter!"
Harry was stunned. "Er, yes I am. Who, who are you?"
"I knew it! You look just like your father, except for your eyes. You have your mother's eyes. My name is Julius Potter, and I'm your great, great…I don't even know how many greats. The point is that I'm your multi-great grandfather, and I built this mansion."
"Hold on, just one second, sir. I'd like you to meet someone." Then he turned and yelled, "Hermione, could you come here? I want to show you something!"
"You don't need to yell Harry, I'm right here," she said, emerging from behind the nearest bookshelf. "What do you want to show me?"
Harry motioned toward the portrait. "This is my multi-great grandfather who built this house, Julius Potter, and this is my girlfriend, Hermione Granger."
"It, it's good to meet you, sir," said a timid Hermione.
"And it's good to meet you too, Miss Granger. Now, I can answer any question you might have about Potter Manor, but the first piece of information that I think will interest the two of you is that no magic, underage or otherwise, done in this house or anywhere on the grounds can be detected by the Ministry of Magic or anyone else.
The two underage people he was speaking to smiled at this news. Hermione said, "That means we can do any spell we want to in here?"
"Absolutely!" said Julius. "We Potters have always thought that the age restriction on magic was rubbish." Harry laughed at that while Hermione looked scandalized.
"I suppose I should tell you about the security system. Since you're here, I'm sure you know that as the Potter heir, you are the Secret-Keeper for the house. You may not know that you are also the only person who can apparate or floo into this house also. You're also the only one who the gates and doors will open for. It's easy enough to change that if you'd like to. I'm the Security-Keeper. Just tell me who you'd like to be able to come in here which ways."
"Oh, um, for now, just the Granger's. Hermione and her parents. The doors should open for them. Mr. and Mrs. Granger are muggles. Can they travel by floo?
"Certainly," said Julius. "Mr. and Mrs. Evans flooed in here a lot before they died. I should also mention that the floo here is untraceable, so the ministry doesn't know that anybody's using the Potter floo. They probably don't even know this house has a fireplace at all."
"Wow!" said Hermione. "I read that it's impossible to floo without the ministry knowing."
Julius chuckled, "That's what they'd like you to think, young lady. Let's see, Harry. You want the doors to open and the floo to work for Miss Granger and her parents. Am I correct?"
"Yes."
"By the way, before anyone, even you Harry, floos here, you'll need to set the password. It may not always be prudent to call out, `Potter Manor,' from wherever you're coming from, so that name doesn't work with our system. Your father's password was, `Prongs' place,' but if you don't mind my saying so, it also sounds suspicious. I'd suggest something that sounds ordinary, perhaps a mispronunciation of a common place to floo."
Harry smiled and said, "Diagon Lily,"
Hermione said, "That's brilliant, Harry! Everyone will think you've just mispronounced `Diagon Alley.'"
The portrait smiled in approval. "Brilliant! `Diagon Lily' it is. Now, if you don't mind my suggesting it, you may wish to allow Miss Granger to apparate here as well. I know she's underage, but this way you won't have to worry about it when she does learn. Besides, you may both want to learn it here a little early, since you can practice undetected."
"Sure," said Harry.
"I don't think that's wise, Harry! We could end up splinched!"
"I'm just agreeing to put your name on the list. We don't have to try apparating if you don't want to," Harry said, trying to avoid an argument. "Besides, I plan to be too busy studying arithmancy this summer to bother with apparition."
This earned a smile from Hermione. She then turned back to the portrait. "Mr. Potter, is it possible to fool the security system with magical disguises such as polyjuice potion?"
"That's a very good question Miss Granger, I'm impressed. I'll bet you do very well in school."
"Yes she does. She's at the top of our class," bragged Harry, while putting his arm around her shoulder as her complexion turned pinker by the second. "You look so cute when you blush," he said, and pecked her on the cheek, causing her to turn even more red as Julius started laughing.
"To answer your question, Miss Granger," he said when he stopped laughing, "No. Polyjuice potion will not fool the system. Neither will any other known method. In fact, if someone came disguised as Harry or anyone else allowed in the house, the system would let them enter the house and be immediately stupefied and locked in a magical cage until Harry personally releases them."
"Er," said Hermione. "Not to be morbid, but what would happen if Harry dies, since right now he's the only living Potter?"
Harry remained silent. He was actually curious too, but he'd never ask that question.
Julius' head hung down. "If there is no Potter heir, and the heir has not named a successor, then if anyone is being held by the security system at the moment of his death, they are killed, because they were most likely involved. Then the security system of the house shuts down, and it becomes visible and accessible to all magical people."
"A successor?" asked Harry.
"Yes. Since right now you are the last Potter, you may name someone to inherit the house, along with its security system, upon your death."
"You mean like Hermione?"
"I don't want…"
"Anybody you wish. If the house can't stay with the Potter family, it would at least stay with friends of the Potter family."
"Then I name Hermione Granger as my successor."
"What? No," protested Hermione.
"It's done," said Julius.
"Hermione, it's not like I'm planning on dying. It's just that if that happens, I'd feel better knowing that you get this house rather than put it on a public auction for the Malfoys to buy cheap."
"All right, Harry," she said, defeated by his logic. "Just remember, I love you, not this house. I don't want to inherit it."
"I'll do my best to make sure that doesn't happen."
"Make sure you do," said Hermione, who turned back to the portrait and said, "Sir, I noticed that the fifth floor has working muggle plugs and phone lines. How is that possible? There are no power or phone lines going into this house."
"You really are observant," said the smiling portrait. "Those plugs have been charmed to work for muggle devices. Lily Potter, who was quite brilliant, invented the charms so that her family would feel more comfortable here. I don't understand how they work, but I believe she left her notes in this very library if you want to find them."
"That's great, Hermione! We should find that book!"
"Of course," she said, "It should be very interesting reading."
"Yes it should, Hermione," said Harry, "I was hoping you could figure out if you could modify the charm for the phone plugs."
"Why?" asked Hermione.
"I was planning on buying a computer, along with a lot of other electronic equipment, and I was hoping you could make a faster Internet connection for me."
She smiled. "I'll try, but I'm also gonna make sure it can't go to adult sites!" Harry laughed.
"Let's just find the book, Hermione. Julius, it's been great talking to you! I'm sure I'll be talking to you soon."
"Ok. Just don't make me wait another thirteen years, Harry," he said. "It gets rather boring."
Harry and Hermione then began searching the library. They each started on separate ends. While he was looking through the books, he noticed one called, `Mind Reading,' which he took off the shelf to look at later. More than once he'd felt that Snape could read his mind, and he thought that book might be able to explain how, and maybe even tell him how to prevent it. He continued looking at the other books for a few minutes until he heard Hermione's voice, "Harry, I found it!"
"Great!" Harry called out. "Let's go to the living room where it'll be more comfortable."
"Ok."
When they got there, they sat on a sofa together and Hermione noticed the book in Harry's hand. "What's that?" she asked.
"A book on mind reading I found on a shelf. I think Snape does that to me, and I thought this book might explain how, maybe even how to stop him."
"Let me see it?" asked Hermione. He handed her the book, and she immediately flipped to the introduction. She said, "This book says legilimency is a type of mind reading that requires eye contact."
"That's exactly it! Every time he's seemed to read my mind, he's been looking me in the eye! Is there a way to stop it?"
"Yes," said Hermione smiling. "This book also teaches occlumency, which defends the mind against legilimency. If you want, we can study it together."
"I think I'd really like that, Hermione," he said, taking her hand in his.
At that moment, Dobby appeared in front of them. "Please excuse Dobby, Harry Potter, sir, but Dobby wonders if Harry Potter would like dinner for himself and his Grangers."
"Actually, now that you mention it, I'm starved," said Harry.
"Good. Dobby has dinner all prepared in the dining room. Now Dobby will tell Mr. and Mrs. Granger."
"Er, Dobby," said Hermione. "Instead of popping in front of them without warning, go outside the door to the room they're in and knock."
"Yes Miss Granger," said Dobby, and then he disappeared with a small pop.
After they'd eaten the dinner Dobby prepared, they left the manor, and Hermione brought the mind reading book, as well as Lily Potter's book on charming plugs to work, with them. Her parents agreed to take them to an electronics store the next day, so that Harry could properly furnish his house with modern equipment.
When they got to the Granger residence, Harry and Hermione went into his bedroom and talked about the two books, which she had skimmed through on the way home.
"I'd suggest that you start studying occlumency while I study legilimency," suggested Hermione, "so that I can test your progress. Then we'll switch, so you can test my occlumency."
"Makes sense," said Harry.
"Although the first part of occlumency is something we can both start practicing immediately."
"What's that?" asked Harry.
"Clearing our minds before bed."
"That sounds easy enough," said Harry, skeptically.
"It probably is," said Hermione, "but it's only the first step. There's a lot more to it than that. You have to learn to build mental shields around your thoughts. The book says that if a strong legilimens performs a powerful mental assault on someone who hasn't developed those shields, it'll be extremely painful, and completely open their mind to attack. It can even do serious brain damage."
"I hope that's not what you're planning," said Harry with a smirk.
"Of course not, Harry. The book suggests starting with light assaults, and slowly increasing the strength of the attack. It's sort of like lifting weights. You start off with less weight and work your way up."
"That sounds better," said Harry.
"The book also says that muggles can learn occlumency," said Hermione. "They can't learn to read other people's thoughts, but they can shield their own."
"Really," said Harry nonchalantly.
"Don't you realize what this means?" asked Hermione excitedly.
"Not really," said Harry.
"My parents can learn to shield their thoughts! That way no one can read their minds to find out anything about you! I'm going to talk them into letting me teach it to them this summer," said Hermione confidently.
"While you're teaching me arithmancy?" asked Harry.
"Exactly. We'll start our mind reading lessons though, tomorrow night when we get back from your house."
Harry sighed. "Ok. What did you learn from my mother's journal?"
Hermione beamed. "That she was an absolute genius!" Harry smiled at this. "She did years of research and experimentation, probably starting in her second year at Hogwarts, eventually creating a simple charm to produce power, and a slightly more complex one for muggle communication systems, such as phones. It's easily adaptable to any communication system. I just have to provide some technical specifications. The point is that I'll be able to get you a great Internet connection! I just wish I could do it here."
"Couldn't you make the plug at my house and bring it here?" said Harry. "I know it's not connected to anything in the wall."
"You're right!" said Hermione. "Why didn't I think of it? The wall has absolutely nothing to do with it! I just transfigure it to the shape I need for the plug. I'll just make a few portable Internet plugs while I'm there. I could even put us on a magical private network!"
"That sounds awesome!" said Harry. "If you can make portable Internet plugs, could you make portable electric plugs or batteries?"
"Yes! I know I could make electric plugs, and I'm sure I could make magical batteries of any type that will never run out of power with your mum's research!"
"Wow!" said Harry. "If I got a laptop computer, could you make it so that the battery is always charged and it's always on the Internet?"
"Of course, but you'd have to be careful who knows about it," said Hermione. "That might technically be a `misuse of a muggle artifact.' Mr. Weasley might have to arrest us."
"Are you sure?" asked Harry. "It won't be doing anything that the muggle laptops can't do; it'll just do them better."
"I'm not sure, Harry. I think we should read the statute, and maybe ask Mr. Weasley before you get a laptop."
"Ok. I'll wait on that idea," said Harry. "Speaking of Mr. Weasley, I'll bet he would love to
get a copy of this book!"
"I'm sure he would. If you wanted, we could magically copy it when we go back to the mansion, but I'd suggest disguising his copy so that it doesn't look like your mum wrote it. You can claim you found it at a second-hand book shop. Otherwise it would lead to questions we don't want to answer."
"I, I think I will do that," said Harry, smiling. "We may have a problem with Ron, but not with Mr. Weasley. He's never been anything but nice to us."
"Ok, we just have to remember to bring the book with us," said Hermione. She then turned to Harry with a concerned look in her eyes. "Now, how did you feel about being in your parents' house?"
"I don't know. It was, well, weird. I mean, I didn't feel like crying or anything like that, but it's I don't know." Harry sighed. "I hope I can find out more about my parents there."
Hermione hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. "Goodnight Harry." Hermione left his room.
-
True to their word, the next morning at breakfast the Grangers announce they were going to an electronics store. After Harry mentioned some of the things he planned on purchasing, Mr. Granger suggested they rent a truck for the day. Before long, Harry found himself alone in a rental truck with his girlfriend's father.
"That's some place you've got," said Adam Granger.
"I suppose so," said Harry. "I was a bit surprised when I found out just how much my parents left me."
"They certainly did leave you a lot."
"Of course I'm happy they left me that much," said Harry, "but I'd have been happy if Potter Manor were only a shack, as long as it's away from the Dursleys."
"They must have been awful to live with. Why did they even let you go to Hogwarts?"
Harry smiled. "Well, for my first year, they were afraid Hagrid would come and get me if they didn't let me go there, and they thought I wouldn't be able to find Platform nine and three quarters. They told me it didn't exist, but I'll bet anything that Aunt Petunia had seen my mum go through the barrier when she was a student! She's probably been on the platform herself. The next year, on my twelfth birthday, the Dursleys locked me up in my room for the summer, only letting me out once in the morning and once at night to go to the bathroom."
"What?" exclaimed Mr. Granger, horrified at this idea. "How'd you eat?"
"They put a cat flap on the door, and Aunt Petunia would put a little something through it every day. Anyway, I only got out of there when Ron Weasley and two of his brothers rescued me in the middle of the night. I spent the rest of the summer with the Weasleys."
"That was nice of them."
"Yeah," said Harry nodding. "It was."
"I understand you're not getting along with Ron anymore," said Adam.
"Yeah," said Harry, looking down with regret.
"What happened between you?"
"I guess it started when I took Hermione's side at Christmas over my broomstick. Did she tell you anything about that?"
"Yes," Adam said, "She said she went behind your back and turned it in to a professor to have it checked for hexes."
"Yes, that's about it. At first I was upset, but I knew she must have had a reason. She wouldn't just do that out of spite or something. When I asked her to explain why she did it, Ron yelled at me and stormed off."
"What did he do then?"
"Well," said Harry. "He pretty much ignored us, so Hermione and I spent a lot more time together, and grew closer. The next time Ron spoke to us, he'd caught kissing and yelled some very, er, unkind things at us, getting Hermione so mad that she hexed him. After a few weeks of not getting along, he apologized, and he started hanging out with us again."
"Hermione told me about that. He kept glaring at you all the time, so you asked him to stop hanging out with you any more."
"Yeah, and a few days ago, when he found out I was spending the break with Hermione, he accused us of something that caused Hermione to kick him in the groin."
Adam chuckled, "I guess he won't be insulting you guys any time soon."
Harry smiled, "I guess not."
"So basically, he got mad when you two got together."
"Yeah, I guess so."
"I wonder if he's jealous of you."
"Hmm," said Harry. "Could be. In any case, I'm not gonna apologize for loving Hermione."
Mr. Granger, who was waiting at a stop light, turned to face Harry. "You really do love her, don't you?"
Harry looked Hermione's father in the eyes, "Yes I do, sir."
"It's hard to imagine that you're in love at your age, but I believe you."
"I am," said Harry.
"Just make sure you don't move things too fast. I know I can't exactly threaten a wizard like you, but I'll be very disappointed in you if you hurt my daughter."
"I promise you, I would never hurt Hermione," said Harry. "Not because I'm afraid of anyone, but because I care about her."
"I know."
Not long after, they arrived at the electronics store, with Hermione and her mother in the car right behind them.
As soon as they got inside, they were immediately intercepted by a saleswoman, who asked if she could help.
"You certainly can," said Harry. "We've got a lot on our list."
The first thing Harry got was the best gaming computer they had, along with a twenty inch flat screen monitor and a color laser printer. He then picked out various software and games to go with it. He then picked out two fifty-inch screen TV's and a thousand watt surround sound system for each. He bought the latest video game systems, along and several games to go with them. He also bought a DVD Player and several movies. At Hermione's insistence, he bought a cd player for every room on the first, seventh, and fifth floor of the house. The ones for bedrooms were cd alarm clocks. The one for the living room was a cd changer stereo system, while the rest were boom boxes. He also bought a bunch of cd's, along with racks that could hold all of his cds, software, and games.
When they got the bill, the Grangers gasped, but Harry simply pulled out the money. The cashier was surprised that he paid in cash, and probably thought he was a drug dealer, but wisely decided to mind his own business. They had help loading the equipment into the truck securely about an hour after they'd arrived, and then headed to the mansion.
This time Harry rode with Mrs. Granger in the car while Hermione rode with her father in the truck.
"Hermione has told me about some of your adventures together," said Marissa.
"Er, has she?" said Harry, suddenly feeling hot under the collar.
"Yes. She says that on Halloween during your first year, before you were actually friends, you and Ron Weasley rescued her from some kind of a monster."
"Er, a mountain troll."
"She said that she would have died if you hadn't gone after her. Nobody else did. Why did you go after her?"
"Er, well, I guess that at first she didn't have any friends, but for some reason, she seemed to attach herself to us. I certainly understood what it was like not to have any friends, cause my cousin Dudley and his gang would beat up anybody in school that wanted to be my friend." She gasped. "Anyway, I probably would've been her friend earlier, but Ron, my very first friend, couldn't stand her. He was partnered with her in a class that day, and she did a lot better than him, so he was jealous and insulted her when he thought she couldn't hear, but she did, and ran off crying. When we were at dinner, we found out she was still crying in a girls' bathroom, and I felt really bad about it. I mean, I should have stood up for her but I didn't. Anyway, when we found out that there was a troll loose in the castle, all the students were supposed to go to the towers. I realized that she didn't know about the troll, so I told Ron that we had to go find her. He reluctantly followed me. Anyway, we found her and the troll and, er, managed to knock it out. When the teachers found us, she took the blame, and well, we've been friends ever since. At least Hermione and I have."
"That was really brave of you. It seems that Ron and Hermione's friendship was more based on you. You made Ron follow you to help her, and being friends with you made Hermione put up with Ron, while Ron put up with Hermione. I wonder if Ron was ever Hermione's friend."
Harry shook his head. "I just don't know if he was ever even my friend anymore. I thought so, but with the way he's acting now, I don't know."
"The funny thing is, that in her letters, as well as in person, she's always talking about you. Even before you were dating, it was Harry this and Harry that. Occasionally it was Harry and Ron, but the only time Ron was mentioned alone was when she was mad at him for something. I'll the letter over Christmas where she said you'd taken her side over Ron's over that broomstick, the, er, firebolt, I believe." Harry nodded. "She was so happy that you understood. She'd been genuinely afraid that she was going to lose her only friends, but your safety was more important to her, especially after that fall you took during that quidditch match. Her next letter didn't surprise me when it said you were dating."
When they arrived at the manor, the gate opened for them and they drove in. Harry and Hermione levitated the TV's through the door, which now opened for Hermione. While the teenagers were levitating the TV's to the fifth floor, Hermione's parents started carrying the more manageable items into the house. When the TV's were both in place, Harry and Hermione went back down to help carry more stuff in. Harry had suggested levitating everything, but Hermione insisted that they shouldn't get lazy, nor would it be wise to get into the habit of doing everything magically. After everything was inside, Hermione went around the house creating magical plugs and batteries, setting up the cd players. Meanwhile the others hooked up the TV's and computer. When she was finished, she found that both TV's were properly hooked up with their sound systems and equipment, so she magically set them both up to receive satellite. When she reached the computer room however, Harry and the adult Grangers were having a hard time setting that up. Sighing, she quickly took over, and before long, Harry's computer was up and running with a T-1 connection to the Internet, and set up as the host for their private network. Hermione and Harry then banished the garbage left from the boxes. Harry then put one of the old TV's into his bedroom (along with both the vcr and old video game system), and the other in another seventh floor bedroom. Hermione set them to receive satellite, too.
Harry then asked no one in particular, "What should I do with this old computer?"
The adult Grangers shrugged their shoulders, while Hermione brightened up. "I know, you should put it in the library."
"The library?" asked Harry. "Why?"
She looked surprised that he didn't understand. "Well, for one thing, we could set up some sort of book inventory system with it."
Harry sighed, "Another summer project," causing Mr. and Mrs. Granger to chuckle.
"For another thing, we could take notes from any book that you happen to be reading. You should probably get another printer for the library. I wonder if we could magically modify one to print on parchment…"
"Ok, ok, Hermione. You've convinced me. We'll take it down to the library."
Mr. Granger carried the monitor, Harry carried the cpu, and Hermione carried the keyboard and mouse. When they arrived, Hermione went to work on the computer, while Harry chatted with Julius Potter's portrait, introducing him to Hermione's parents. Hermione gave the computer a magical T-1 connection to the Internet and set it on their network. She then made her own portable T-1 connection for her computer. She then copied Lily Potter's book as requested. After that, Harry had Dobby empty the dressers in the master bedroom so he could put his clothes, most of which he'd brought along, in one of them. Then Dobby made lunch for them. When they were through eating, they left the mansion.
They spent the rest of the week visiting museums, a zoo, and many other points of interest in the London area. Harry insisted on paying for half of the expenses. He found that he got along very well with Hermione's parents, which made her very happy. Hermione hooked up her computer to the magical T-1 line, and was extremely pleased with the results. They continued to study occlumency. While Harry was making good progress with his mental shields, Hermione had mastered legilimency, and was beginning to study occlumency. As was planned, Hermione used her legilimency to help Harry to practice occlumency. She started out gentle in her assault of his mind until he had mastered that level of defense, and then started assaulting with a little more force each time, forcing him to strengthen his shields. She guessed that he'd master occlumency within two weeks, and legilimency in two more weeks at this rate. She also reasoned that school work would probably slow them down some, so it may take slightly longer than that. In any case, she was positive he'd be a master at both by the time school got out for the summer.
Harry had gotten a thank you note from Mr. Weasley for the book, along with an invitation for the two of them to go to the Quidditch World Cup that summer if he could get the tickets.
Before they knew it, they were on the Hogwarts express, returning for the last leg of the school year. They once again had their own compartment, and the ride was going smoothly. They were talking about Lily Potter's journal.
"…and so because the batteries are magical, I wondered whether or not my cd player would work at Hogwarts. That's why I decided to bring it, along with a few cds, to school," Hermione said.
"You know, that's actually a great idea! If that works maybe I can get one of those portable video game systems to work there." Harry had made it a point to study his mother's journal also, and could now make electric plugs and batteries. "It would certainly be a lot more fun than losing chess to Ron!"
Hermione laughed at that. "I suppose…"
Whatever she supposed would remain a mystery to Harry, because at that moment, the train stopped. They heard the doors open as the lights went out. "Dementors," Harry said, as both he and Hermione pulled out their wands. While sitting there in the cold darkness, they heard compartment after compartment being opened, followed by the sounds of students whimpering and crying. Harry used his occlumency shields to protect his mind from the dementor assault to the very best of his ability as he prepared for the worst. As their door opened, he remained focused on the moment, while he could barely hear his memory of Voldemort's attack. He forced that out of his mind, and focused on his favorite memory, the memory of his first kiss. "Expecto Patronum," he yelled at the dementor, barely registering the fact that Hermione had done the same thing at the same time. He watched a silvery stag come out of his wand and join a silvery otter that had come out of Hermione's wand. Together, they chased the dementors out of their compartment, and off the train. As the lights came back on, Hermione could see that Harry looked perfectly normal, and was very proud of the fact that Harry seemed to be unaffected by the dementors.
"How do you feel?" she asked.
Harry took a deep breath. "Happy Hermione, and free."
-
Please review.
Yes, I know that I use technology that's ten years more advanced than it should be, but it's my story so I can. I hope you enjoy it anyway.
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