I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

Chapter 11: Original of the Species
A/N: Here's a short chapter. I'm really sorry it took me so long to come out with something so small. When I was almost finished with writing it the first time, my computer crashed, so I lost everything (luckily I'm posting as I go and not waiting or else I would have lost everything). As a result, I had to start over, thus making this shorter and not as good. Sorry about that.

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"Um... I'm sorry could you repeat that?" Hermione asked in a state of shock. She thought she heard her Grandfather mention their Headmaster by name, matter how impossible that was. He didn't know that she was a witch, much less the name of her Headmaster.

"Albus Dumbledore. He is still the headmaster of Hogwarts, right?" Hermione and Harry both stared blankly at the man and then Harry looked at Hermione who had an equally confused look on her face. The old man smiled at them and nodded. "You'll be at school when you come of age, so I decided now would be the best time for me to tell you the story of my life."

Hermione quickly shook her head as if to rattle all of the irrational thoughts out of her head, but it was no good. One idea was stuck in her head no matter what she did. "You're a wizard!" She exclaimed.

"In the broadest sense of the word, yes, I am a wizard, but a bloody awful one." Henry smiled at the two and got up towards his bookshelf where he reached behind some books and pulled out what looked like a wand. "This was my wand while I was in Hogwarts."

Hermione wasn't exactly sure what to think about all this. She always found her grandfather to be completely normal, like the grandfathers on TV. "What year? Did you have McGonegal? Was Dumbledore old then? What house were you sorted into?" Suddenly, Hermione asked the best important question of all. "Why didn't you ever tell me?" Hermione went from shocked to hurt.

"Let's not be hasty, my little Hermy." He winked at her and sat down in his big arm chair by the fireplace. "Now, my story begins in the year 1938, when I turned eleven on July 31st and I got my letter to attend Hogwarts...

This came at a huge shock to both my parents because I hadn't exhibited anything that one would consider paranormal. See, I was a half blood. My father was an average wizard and my Mother was a Muggle nurse and they both wanted me to follow my father's footsteps in to wizardry. Now I got my letter and I did everything you do now. I went to the Hogwarts Express on the first of September and went off to the place that would become my home for the next seven years.

I'm sure like the both of you I was both excited and nervous. See, I knew about the wizarding world, but I was more or less raised as a Muggle. When I started on my way, I didn't know anyone, so I decided to find the loneliest person on the train for me to make friends with. That led me to the compartment that only had one person sitting in it. That person was Tom Riddle."

Both Harry and Hermione gasped when they realized that Henry had entered school the exact same time as the boy who would become Voldemort. "Grandfather... you met him before..."

"Yes." Henry shook his head. "Yes, I knew You-Know-Who at that point in his life.

At that point in time, he wasn't a threat... or at least he didn't seem like one. On the train, we discussed our lives before we turned eleven and he explained the horrors of the orphanage that he came from and how he had started using magic. To tell you the truth, it did scare me a bit how much he could do, but I didn't worry about it. I had a friend."

"Yes, but your friend was doing magic that most adults haven't mastered." Hermione exclaimed.

"I know that now, my dear. And I must say that our friendship only lasted the train ride. Hogwarts wasn't enough to give him a sense of belonging. His house did. Andreas Lestrange. Signus and Ursa Black, Jack Prince, Antonin Dolohov, Antoinette Malfoy. All of them were his house mates in Slytherin and all of them went on to form the first group of Death Eaters. They practically controlled the school for that whole seven years. It was not a happy time at Hogwarts, Harry. Especially for Gryffindors like myself." Hermione did have to smile a bit when he revealed that he was in fact a member of her house. Or was she a member of his?

"See, Gryffindor didn't have people like James Potter, Lily Evans, Sirius Black, or Remus Lupin at that time." Henry looked distant as he recalled the state of Gryffindor when he attended the school. "I was quite successful my first year, like most students. I found a great affinity for potions, herbology and simple charms. I also rather loved History of Magic. Back when Professor Binns was still alive. I was good at pretty much anything that didn't involve magic."

This greatly surprised Hermione. she thought that she finally had the answer to how she was as good as she was, even though she was a Muggle-Born. From the sound of it, he was worse than Neville on his worst day. "You couldn't do magic?"

"Barely a lick. I could levitate things and with a lot of effort, I could disarm a person. Stabbing me in the back, Tom reported it to the Board of Governors in our third year and I was officially classified a squib. But, Dumbledore forced the Headmaster to allow me to still attend classes and in the end graduate. This was because I was excellent at potions. Far better than Tom ever could have hoped to be." Henry smiled at himself as did Harry and Hermione when they found out that he was better at something than the great Lord Voldemort.

"By that time I had also adopted a First Year. A young boy who had a strong affinity for very dangerous creatures. You probably know him as Rubeus Hagrid." Both the two wizards looked at each other with a shocked expression.

"You knew Hagrid, Henry?" Harry asked with a tone largely based around surprise. "He's the reason I'm where I am today. He persuaded me to go to Hogwarts."

Henry smiled at the thought of his old friend taking the place of mentor in a young boy's life like he had been to Hagrid. "Yes... He always did have a big heart, even though it was misplaced at time."

They spent the next hour talking about Henry and how he left the world behind after he graduated at how he met Roberta O'Riley while she was a nurse in World War II and he was on the front lines. He told them of how they got married right after the war was over. And how he tried to get back into the Wizarding World to fight the war with Voldemort, despite Dumbledore not wanting him to. "Oh dear, look at the time, it's best we all go to bed. It's been a long day. We'll talk more tomorrow."

Harry was completely shaken at how the night turned from a normal Muggle dinner to a dip into Hogwarts' past. On the other hand, he couldn't even come close to thinking how Hermione felt. "In fear of quoting you... are you okay?" He asked her as they stepped into their room.

"... I'm not a freak anymore, Harry. My magic came from somewhere." Hermione smiled to herself and lazily flopped on to her bed.

"You never were." Hermione propped herself up against the wall that was next to her bed and stared blankly at Harry.

"But Malfoy calls me a Mudblood as if my magic was a complete fluke. Now I can qualify myself." Harry rolled his eyes and decided to just leave it at that. "Okay now, that my grandfather is in on all this, we should continue practicing." She reached for a book and opened it to a marked page and passed it to Harry. "What do you think of trying to become an Animagus?"

Dumbfounded at the complex steps and something abstract called tokening, he quickly shook his head. "This looks like it could take all our focus for the entire summer and then it's not even a guarantee. It took my Dad a year and a half to become one. It may be useful, but not now."

Through the night the two scoured their books for new methods to fight Voldemort with, but everything seemed to be way too standard and just plain not useful. They were about ready to turn in until they found a book at the bottom of the trunk, entitled "Rumors of Merlin's Exploits by Olorin Greyhame."

"My God..." Hermione exclaimed as she read through the book and then looked up wide-eyed at Harry. We learned about this book in History of Magic, Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and just about everyone of our other classes."

"What is it?" Harry asked genuinely curious until Hermione sighed and shook her head.

"It's only the most important book that's ever been written, yet never seen by human eyes." Hermione explained as she rushed through he pages to the point where Harry thought she was going to rip up the pages. He quickly grabbed it from her, so fast that she continued flip through pages that weren't there.

Harry looked through it and it wasn't making any sense to the 15 year old. Then it hit him and he finally remembered Professor Lupin's lecture on the book. "This is the account of everything Merlin ever did, isn't it."

"Yes. It was found at the turn of the century by Dumbledore who promptly placed it in the Department of Mysteries never to be touched by other witches and wizards. He felt that the contents were too dangerous to be handled by anyone. There were rumors it didn't even exist." Hermione explained as if she were Professor McGonegal. Harry couldn't help but snicker a bit.

Despite having his career meeting earlier that year, he really hadn't thought about where the he and Hermione would end up. He knew that they would remain close friends, there was never any doubt about that, but now he finally saw where his best friend was going to be. She was going to be at Hogwarts. What about him though? His heart quickly sank as he was having trouble seeing himself with a future.

"What's wrong?" Hermione quickly noticed his change in facial expression.

"Nothing, it's just that I don't feel much like Merlin. I keep hearing about all these great wizards. These legendary wizards. How do I match up?" Harry asked his friend who instantly moved her hand to his knee in an act of comfort. "I'm scared I'm fighting a losing battle."

"I know how you feel, my boy." They both turned and saw Hermione's grandfather standing in the door way. "I went to school with some of the greats. Minerva McGonegal was a year a head of me. Filius Flitwick was two. And Tom Riddle was in my year." He walked in and took a seat on the bed right next to Harry and Hermione. "I know it can feel quite discouraging when you're standing in the presence of the stuff of legends, but you can't allow yourself to lose heart... but wait a minute, you're Harry Potter."

"Sir... the only great act of magic that I've ever done, I can't even remember. I was just a baby and it happened because of my mother. I had nothing to do with it." Harry bowed his head and with out thinking, he took Hermione's hand and gave it a limp squeeze.

Henry realized that all of this insecurity lies deeper than Voldemort and put his arm around Harry in a way that he used to do with Hermione's uncle when he was feeling down. "Look, my Boy, you might not have done it intentionally, but you have the potential to be one of the greatest wizards of all time."

"More then the potential, Grandfather." She turned to Harry and forced him to look her in the eye. "I've told you this before, but wizarding isn't all about fancy spell work. To be a great wizard, you have to be thought of as great by the people. There's nothing that makes you less powerful than Dumbledore except you. If you take a charge in this war, people will follow you. You're our modern Merlin."

Harry blushed a bit at the last statement. He knew people thought of him as such, but he never did. "No, Hermione. I'm Harry Potter." Harry looked up and smiled at the both of them. "Thanks, but I really think only some sleep will help this."

Both Hermione and her grandfather gave each other telling looks but decided to leave it alone. Without another word, Mr. Richardson patted Harry on the back and left the room and Hermione left his bed to turn off the light. "Harry, I'm here for you... you know that, right?" Harry didn't answer for he had already fallen into a deep sleep.

***

"Wake Up, Harry." Hermione's voice whispered as she quickly shook him a few hours later. He shook her off and rolled over, until she ripped his blankets off. "Harry, they've taken London."

The final statement registered with Harry and he got up with a start. "What?"

"Dumbledore just owled and told us that Voldemort waltzed into the ministry and took it over. Fudge is dead as are several Aurors." Hermione desperately told Harry. With out thinking, Harry grabbed his wand from the night stand and went towards the door. "Harry where are you going?"

"To help. He wants me, so I'll give him what he wants." Harry exclaimed as he walked out the door. "I know you won't let me go through with this so... PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" He pointed his wand directly at Hermione, but nothing happened. He tried again and got the same result.

"Incredible. This must be the result of the link we made." Hermione said excitedly completely forgetting that Harry had just tried to hex her.

"Mione, please... I have to do this." Harry pleaded with her. She looked down at her feet and nodded. She knew deep down that there was no stopping Harry.

"I know... but I'm going with you." She looked up and gave him a devilish look. "And before you protest, just know that as there's no stopping you... there's no stopping me either." Harry shook his head and lead the way out the door to the driveway.

"So... how to get to London..." Harry looked around, thinking about their means of travel. He didn't especially want to double up on his broom, but he felt that would be the only way to go about it.

"We hex the car, of course..." Hermione winked at him and pulled out her wand.

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A/N: The next chapter will in fact be longer. I just wanted to get something out to you guys so you didn't have to wait too long.

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