Ok, so, honestly people? I'm sick and tired of reviews saying that everyone in this story is acting out of character. Why are you people even visiting this site? Is it so that you can see everyone IN character, being in love with the people who they shouldn't be? JKR changed EVERYONE'S characters with books 6 and 7, and only the lesser authors devoted to fanservice would revert back to the philosophy of books 1-5 (even though that's how it should've been...should've, not IS). No, despite my ultimate dislike of how the series turned out, flat-out defiance of canon makes one...wait, what's the word? Oh, right, there are a couple.
Militant, or delusional.
So good job making Emerson Spartz correct.
Get your heads on people. This is an adultery fic, but unlike most cases, everyone still cares about each other, even if the romance is falling apart. I've said that, like, three or four times in the first three chapters. Start reading what I'm writing and not what you want to see. If you can't do that, just stop reading the story, I won't be missing you.
/rant
Now then, if you're NOT one of the people who feels the need to be an arrogant swath, I'm sorry for making you read that. I know that the number of people who like this story greatly outweighs the people who have been giving H/Hr shippers a bad name. You'll be pleased to find that, true to my maxim, I refuse to abandon a story. I am, for the most part, all settled in out here at college. So, with that in mind, read on!
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"Dad?"
"Yes, James?"
"Why do you and Mom fight so much?"
The question caught Harry by surprise. He had just finished a bedtime story and put the book down when this new inquiry from his four year-old son's curious mind came forth.
"Because we don't always agree about some things," said Harry, which was the truth.
"Like what?" his son asked, a grin on his face showing excitement about learning life's mysteries.
"Well, a lot of grown-up things," said Harry. James' smile faded immediately. "Don't take it personally, little guy. It's boring stuff for a smart kid like you."
"Doesn't mean I dun wanna hear about it," he pouted.
"Well alright," said Harry, leaning back. "This one time, a while ago, I was out having dinner with Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron."
"Kay."
"I came home a little late, and your mother was upset with me because she expected me home earlier."
"Why?" asked James, his face screwed up in confusion.
"Well, to her, I owed her a floo call at the least," said Harry. "And, looking back, perhaps I should have, but that's not the point."
"It isn't?"
"Nope," said Harry, taking his son's hand. "James, many, many years from now when you find someone you love, remember what I'm about to tell you."
"Girls are yucky," he muttered.
"That aside, hear me out," chuckled Harry. "Trust is the most important thing. If you can't trust the person you love, you can't trust anyone, got it?"
"So you don't trust anyone?"
"I do," said Harry, and the truth was he did trust Ginny...somewhat. She was a bit unpredictable, but that was really the only thing that kept him on guard when around her. "I trust your mother, and your aunt and uncle, and you, with my life."
"Good," yawned James.
"It's late, get some sleep son...I'll see you in a few days."
"Kay, night Dad."
"Good night, James."
Harry rose from the chair beside his son's bed and left the room, closing the door on the way out.
"Everything alright?" asked Ginny, as he walked into their room.
"Yeah, I need to pack, he kept me longer than I expected."
"He got that quality from me," she commented with a slight smile. "How long will you be gone?"
"As long as it takes," said Harry, throwing some clothes and dark detectors into his trunk. "We can't have this guy running around loose."
"And you still won't tell me who it is?"
He thought about his words to James about his trust in Ginny...and the truth was she deserved to know about this.
"It's Fenrir Greyback," he said after a slight pause.
Ginny said nothing. Her face paled slightly and she sat down softly on their bed, looking at the floor.
"You aren't supposed to know," said Harry. "Don't tell anyone...especially Ron."
"Why?" she asked, looking up at him.
"He would've wanted to come," he replied. "And with Rose...I couldn't bring myself to take him with."
"I understand," she said. "Be careful, alright?"
"You know what a cautious fellow I am," smiled Harry, tossing a silver revolver and a case of silver bullets into his trunk.
=====
Hermione sat at the darkened window next to her daughter's crib and watched as large drops of rain hit the window in a steady rhythm. Her mind kept wandering back to the night she and Harry had shared…the result of that night laying asleep a few feet beside her. A loud snore from the adjacent room startled her from her reverie, and she shook her head at the noise her husband was making. Sighing, she thought back to the night Rose was born.
"I want you to know who I'm going after," said Harry, looking at her softly.
"You're not supposed to tell me this," argued Hermione, though it wasn't a convincing argument by any stretch of the imagination.
"It's Greyback," said Harry. "He's escaped."
Hermione didn't say anything for a few moments. She looked down at her daughter who had her eyes closed and was sucking lazily on her thumb.
"You'll be careful, won't you?"
"I can't really promise anything," sighed Harry. "I'm a bit nervous about this whole thing, to be honest."
"Your first big assignment?" Harry nodded. "Three years and you get your first big one…seems a bit long, doesn't it?"
"Aurors don't usually start leading raids until at least their fifth year," said Harry. "This was a special request from Kingsley himself."
"Make sure you come back," said Hermione, the way a mother would tell her children to be back inside the house before dark.
"Yes ma'am," grinned Harry, giving her hand a quick squeeze.
'He should have left hours ago,' thought Hermione, still staring out the window. A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky and illuminated the pavement below. The outline of a familiar cloaked figure flashed before her eyes, but she blinked and a moment later the person was gone.
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Rain poured down on Harry and his aurors as they waited patiently behind a rusted chain link fence. A small, run-down warehouse was a few hundred meters ahead of them, the orange flickering of a controlled fire emanating from the windows.
"Do we have anything yet?" asked Harry, speaking into a small transmitter in the collar of his cloak.
"Nothing," came the response. Harry glanced up and to his left where he had a man on the roof of the building next to them. "I've spotted guards patrolling the outside, and two or three men on the inside, but I can't make out what they're saying."
"Bloody rain," muttered Harry.
"Wait…I see something," another voice said. "One of them is lowering their hood…it's Greyback, he's in there."
"Alright guys, light 'em up," said Harry, turning to the four aurors behind him. "Wedge formation, eight meters apart."
"Yes sir."
"HQ and recon, we are a go," said Harry, lifting up the bottom of the fence and crawling under it, followed by his men. "We are authorized to use lethal force if necessary, but only if necessary."
"Roger that," the others responded.
"Go."
Stunners flew as they charged the building, shouts and grunts came from the guards as they fell one by one.
"They heard you," one of the recon's said over the transmitter as the strike team reached the entrance and began breaking through the metal door. "They're lifting up the floorboards…there's an underground passage, they're escaping."
"Damnit," said Harry. "Why didn't anyone pick this up?"
"It wasn't -" There was static over the radio and suddenly it went dead.
"Murphy?" asked Harry, as they finally forced the door open and blasts of green light came flying at them. "Shite!"
Harry ducked and pressed himself up against the outside wall as one of his team was blasted back out the door and into the darkness.
"Dotson!" yelled one of the aurors.
"Keep your head on!" bellowed Harry, tapping a rock with his wand and muttering a complex spell. He tossed the rock into the building and it exploded in a shower of smoke, giving them enough cover to get inside.
"There's no one here!" yelled one of the aurors.
"Mirrors!" yelled Harry as the smoke began to clear.
Green and red spells flew everywhere, shattering the mirrors, and when the dust settled another of Harry's team was lying lifeless on the floor.
"Son of a bitch," said Harry, leaning over him.
"They must have known we were coming," said one of the aurors. "There must have been a leak."
"I handpicked everyone on this team, Jacobs," said Harry. "There's no leak."
"Then how do you explain this?" the other asked, coming over to him.
"Greyback is experienced," said Harry. "He knows how to defend himself."
"So what now?"
"We go after them," said Harry, standing up and walking cautiously over to the hole leading into the ground. "Damned if I let this bastard get away."
"We don't have info on the sewer system in the area," said a voice over the transmitter.
"Why did I even bother putting you in an armchair, then?" asked Harry, climbing down the hole. "Get the info."
"Yes, sir...you should also know that Murphy and Simmons are dead."
"How?" asked Harry. No response came. They reached the bottom and found themselves on a walkway that ran alongside a large underground waterway. "Craig?"
"Craig is dead," came a voice from behind them.
The three aurors spun but it was too late - strong anti-magic ropes bound them and they fell to the ground as Greyback and four of his henchmen emerged from the darkness.
"Everyone on your team is dead," smiled the werewolf. "It was too easy."
"Bastard," spat Harry. Greyback laughed.
"What about you two, eh?" he asked, looking at the other two men lying next to Harry. "How about it? Join me and I'll spare your lives…I'd make that offer to Potter but I know he's too proud."
"Go to hell," one of them spat.
"After you," sneered Greyback, pulling out a long knife and slitting the man's throat. Two of his henchmen picked up the body and threw it over the rail into the water. "How about you?"
"Greyback you little -" started Harry, but was cut off.
"I'll join you," the other auror said quickly. "I'm sorry, Harry…I have a family to support."
"How nice," said Greyback, snapping his fingers. The ropes binding the auror fell limply to the ground and he got up, backing away from Harry quickly. "Tell me…you turn against Potter at the slightest touch…what's going to keep you from turning against me if you needed to?"
"W-what?" the other auror asked, but it was to no avail. The knife came down fast and he, too, went over the rail into the water.
"Just you and me now, Potter," said Greyback, squatting down over Harry. "I bet you're wondering how everything went so wrong?"
"The thought crossed my mind," spat Harry.
"I was following you long before the Ministry got a bead on me," said Greyback. "There was no inside help…I just watched you until I had all the information I needed, then I let my location slip. I knew you were coming here long before you arrived."
"Well done," smiled Harry sarcastically.
"I know something else about you, too," grinned Greyback, leaning down so close to Harry's face that Harry could smell the stench of rotting corpses on the werewolf's breath. "I know about your new family."
"What?" breathed Harry, eyes wide.
"That's right…I know all about your tryst with your best friend's wife…that hospital room had windows, after all."
"So what now?" asked Harry, looking at him.
"Now I'm going to kill you," smiled Greyback. "And then let slip to the Daily Prophet your little secret…imagine what that will do to everyone you leave behind?"
A burst of magic suddenly came from Harry, tearing the ropes and throwing Greyback off him.
"Accio wand!" yelled Harry. His wand flew into his outstretched hand and he spun around, firing off spells at the disoriented men. Three of them instantly fell and Greyback and the other turned to flee. "Get back here!"
"Not today, Potter!" laughed Greyback. "This isn't over yet!" Harry vaguely saw him transform into a werewolf before flying down the walkway out of sight. Harry dispatched the last man and stood there by himself, panting heavily.
=====
Three hours later, back at the Ministry, Harry sat before Kingsley and Kingsley's successor as the Head of the Auror Divison, Marcus Jameson.
"And that's what happened," said Harry. "He had been watching me the entire time…he knew we were coming, and he can change into a werewolf whenever he wants now."
"This is a bad situation," said Jameson. "We may have to address the public soon, Minister."
"Yes, it may have come to that," nodded Kingsley. "Alright, Harry…go home, get some rest. We'll deal with this in the morning."
"Yes sir," nodded Harry. He quickly strode out of the office and down the corridor. He didn't blink as he passed the series of fireplaces that allowed quick and easy exit from the Ministry. Reaching the all-too-familiar telephone booth, he stepped in and ascended to the pavement above.
The rain poured down on him from all directions as he walked in a random direction, not caring where he was going. He walked for a good twenty minutes before stopping, and looking up at the street sign.
"Damnit," he muttered under his breath, as he stepped forward towards Hermione and Ron's apartment. He reached the steps but didn't climb them, instead opting to stand and look at the door he knew he couldn't enter. Looking up, he thought he could see Hermione's outline in the window looking down at him. Deciding it would be best if he didn't linger, he turned on the spot and apparated away.
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One last note. Guys, think about this rationally for a second. In books 1 through 5, we saw undisputed love between Harry and Hermione. Ginny and Ron weren't really in the picture and it was obvious how the characters felt.
But then JKR decided to let teenage hormones come into play, and everything went to hell.
The moral of this author's note is that people change. They have to, inevitably, because living dictates it. The change from teenager to adult is even greater than the change from child to adolescent because of the wisdom most people gain.
Most psychiatrists will tell you that the teenage phase is the most unpredictable, the most irrational, and the most hormonal of all the 'stages of life'. Since JKR decided to put our heroes (and heroines) through that phase, instead of moving them straight from child to adult like we all THOUGHT she was doing (although Harry started to show that 'moody teenager' in book 5), another change in their behavior has to take place. So despite the people who think I'm writing characters OOC, you'll find that the change they've gone through over the years is very much in character, and writing them as the pubescent teenagers they were in 6 and 7 would be denying canon ever happened. And although I'm delusional in the fact that H/Hr are meant for each other, I'm NOT delusional in the way that Emerson Spartz said I was.
/public service announcement.
Oh, and I paid my respects to a great movie in this chapter…points for anyone who can tell me what it was.
Until next time!