~A/N> I'm working hard on this story while the inspiration's still there, so here's the next
chapter. This one end's with a bit of a cliffy, but I will post the next chapter as soon as it's finished.
Thanks for reviewing, and thanks to poppywillow for all her help :)
"You're what?"
Hermione had known that Jakob wouldn't take the news well, but the way he angrily shot off of the sofa once more and started pacing surprised her. She had always known him to be kind and patient. This new angry, impatient man before her was a perfect stranger.
"What the hell were you two thinking?"
As Jakob angrily looked back and forth between them, Harry quirked an eyebrow and replied, "I reckon you know what we were thinking, Jakob. I'm sure you've been there before, and thinking really has no part in it."
"Always the smart ass," Jakob fired back, glaring angrily at Harry now. "I can't believe the two of you, seemingly bright magical teens, didn't use protection!"
"We did," Hermione replied quietly, "Usually. We sort of got caught up in things the last time and forgot."
"Well, it only takes once now, doesn't it?"
Jakob stayed quiet for a bit after that but continued to pace in front of them. Dizzy from watching his back and forth movements, Hermione looked at Harry to find him looking back at her. The small quirk of his lips had her confused, his behavior seeming a bit out of character for him.
As she continued to watch Harry, she startled when Jakob yelled, "Damn it! You two have no idea what you've done!"
Without thinking, her hand shot out to take his and she asked, "Jakob, will you please sit down so we can discuss this calmly?"
Looking down at their joined hands, he took a deep breath and sat heavily back down. Feeling her squeeze his hand gently, he looked up and met her dark, understanding eyes. Feeling a sudden calm come over him, he said quietly, "I'm sorry, Hermione. This can't be easy on you either."
Harry sat next to Hermione, simply watching their interaction with his mouth open and eyes ablaze with jealousy. "Either? What the hell do you mean? This has nothing to do with you, Jakob. This has to do with Hermione and I, and our child."
Never taking his eyes off of Hermione's, Jakob replied, "This is something we're going to have to talk over with the Higher Beings."
When Hermione nodded her head in understanding, Harry was completely lost as he asked, "What the bloody hell is the Higher Beings? Would you please stop excluding me and tell me what the hell you're talking about?"
Finally releasing Hermione's hand, Jakob turned to look at Harry as he replied, "You may be the father of this unborn child, Harry, but his or her importance to all things is bigger than the three of us. Since Hermione is fated to defeat Damien, we have to know how to go about her training so that no harm comes to the child."
Before Harry could react Hermione asked, "So what do we do next?"
"I'll have to contact someone, and we'll go from there."
Harry stared at them for a few silent moments, and when realization struck him, it hit hard. "You're going to shut me out of everything, aren't you? Being the father doesn't mean shit."
"What?" Hermione asked, surprised by his question. When she saw the raw hurt and pain reflected in his eyes she took both of his hands in hers and said, "Of course not, Harry. You're part of this as well, just not the part that deals with the Guardian side of things."
For some reason, he couldn't meet her eyes, and a knot of fear was starting to form in the pit of his stomach. Feeling the anger within him starting to rise again, he quickly stood up and said, "I'll leave you two to talk, I have something to do."
She watched him walk out of the room, and the sight of his retreating back brought tears to her eyes. Looking back to Jakob she said, "There's something going on in this house. Earlier Ginny was acting strange, and then you and Harry are practically trading punches over nonsense."
"There's nothing strange going on," Jakob replied. "I was simply reacting to the way Harry's been acting. Ever since I stepped foot into this house, he's challenged me and my role in your life. I don't appreciate it."
"Still..." Hermione said, watching him closely. Turning to look at the door through which Harry had just left, she said, "I need to find out if something's going on, Jakob, before some unforeseen event happens in this house."
"You'll just have to add it to your list of things to worry about." Standing up, he looked down at her and said, "I need to try to go back to Empyrian and see if I can retrieve our things." When she went to object he interrupted by saying, "I have to go back to make the necessary contact as well."
With worry spreading through her, she gave him a weak smile and said, "Please be careful, okay?"
"I'm always careful," he replied, and turning to leave he added, "I'll let you know the moment I'm back."
Saying goodbye, Hermione watched him leave as well, and wishing that the uneasiness she felt would go away, decided to try to find Harry.
~*~
She found him rather quickly. Finding his room empty, she continued down the hallway, checking each room. Coming to the stairs, she heard a noise in the room to her left and cracked the door open a bit. Peeking inside, she saw Harry standing in front of the window, his fists resting on either side of the frame.
"Harry?" she called quietly, unsure of his mood.
When he turned toward her, she frowned at the expression he wore. Hurt and anger warred with sadness, and it ended up making him look simply miserable. "What d'you want?"
Walking slowly into the room and closing the door behind her, she turned to him and replied, "I wanted to see how you were doing."
"Like you care?" Seeing the stung expression on her face, he ran his hand angrily through his already disheveled hair and mumbled, "Ah hell, Hermione, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."
"I think maybe you did."
His eyes locked onto hers, and the intensity of his stare caused a slight shudder to pass through her. When he started to walk toward her, she found that she was rooted to the spot, entranced by his piercing green eyes. When he stood directly in front of her, he reached out and wrapped his arms around her waist. Bending down, his lips caressed gently over hers, and she was lost. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she returned his kiss, causing him to moan.
Feeling her pressed against the length of his body was heaven, and for the first time in weeks, maybe months, his head felt clear and he felt light. The anger and jealousy that seemed to torment him lately vanished, and in it's place was a light-headedness. When that turned into a sudden headache, he broke the kiss and leaned his forehead on hers.
When she saw him close his eyes tightly while a pained expression crossed his face, she asked, "Harry, are you okay?"
"I just have a headache all of a sudden," he replied quietly. When the pain slipped away and a feeling of calm came over him, he opened his eyes to see Hermione deep in concentration. She had placed her hands on either side of his head, and used her healing ability to make him feel better.
When she opened her eyes again, Harry was staring down at her once more, but now there was no evidence of pain. When he smiled at her, she smiled back and asked, "Now, where were we?"
"Right about here, I believe," he replied, bending down to capture her lips once again.
~*~
One week later, on New Year's Eve night, the only one's occupying Grimmauld Place were Harry, Hermione, and Jakob. Tonks and Remus had left to spend the evening with her mother while Ron and Luna had returned to the Burrow to be with the Weasleys.
Jakob had returned from Empyrean four days before, stating that he had sent a message along to the Higher Beings and now they just had to await an answer. Since then, he'd spent most of his time in his room, but what he was doing no one knew.
Now, taking advantage of the almost empty house, Harry and Hermione sat in front of the fire in the Library. Enjoying the rare moment of relaxation, Hermione sat next to Harry on the sofa, her head resting on his shoulder. As they both watched the flames dance in the fireplace, Hermione sighed and asked, "Do you remember last year at this time?"
He was quiet for a moment, and replied, "Every second of it."
Nothing was said for a while as they sat in contemplative silence, and then Hermione said, "I can't believe it's been a year already."
Harry started absently running his hand over her hair, memories of that night coming to the forefront of his mind. "You had left me, Luna woke up, you came back, Damien attacked you in St. Mungo's, and we made love for the first time."
Sitting up so that she could look at him, she said, "I think back to that night sometimes, and I wonder what would have happened if I had been able to stand up to Damien..."
"Hermione..."
"I know," she said. "Why think on it when I can't change what happened, right? It just comes back to me at times, and I wonder if the events of the next day would've stayed the same...if we would have still died that day..."
Suddenly, from down the hallway they heard Jakob exclaim, "What the hell...?"
Getting up quickly and making their way to the door, they saw Jakob coming toward them with a brown, feathery ball of nerves struggling in his grip. "Who's owl is this?" he asked, holding his hand out so that Harry could get a better look.
"That's Pig, Ron's owl," Harry replied, taking him from Jakob. Gently holding him, he turned to Hermione and asked, "Can you remove the note attached to his leg?"
Struggling to keep the twitchy owl's leg still long enough to remove it, she finally got it off. Unrolling it, she read what the note said while Harry instructed Pig to go to Hedwig's cage to rest up. Turning to Hermione, he immediately saw how pale she'd gotten and asked, "Hermione, what is it? What's the note say?"
Looking up at him, her eyes wide and filled with fear, she replied, "The Burrow's been attacked."
"What?!" both Jakob and Harry asked at the same time.
"The note's from Luna," she answered. "It's vague, but basically she says that they're being attacked by something that no one can see but her."
"Shadocks," Jakob muttered, his eyes locking on Hermione's. "We have to get over there."
As he went to leave the room and Hermione moved to follow him, Harry reached out and took hold of her arm, stopping her. "You're just going to run out of here and go to the Burrow to save the Weasley's?"
"Yes, Harry, I am. I'm a Guardian, they're being attacked by Shadocks, it's my responsibility."
"And what about your responsibility to protect our baby?" he asked.
She stood rooted to the spot, her heart pounding in her chest as she realized she hadn't even given one thought to the baby. "I-I hadn't thought about that," she admitted quietly, staring down at the floor. As shame washed over her she admitted, "I completely forgot..."
Before Harry could comment, Jakob walked up to him and said, "Look, Harry, I know how concerned you are for Hermione and the baby, but I can't do this alone. I need Hermione's help." When he noticed the stubborn set of Harry's jaw he added, "She'll be fine, Harry. You and I will be there to protect her. It's not like pregnant women didn't fight in the war, your mum still fought while she carried you."
At the mention of Lily, Harry's eyes met Jakob's and he could see the worry he felt mirrored in their blue depths. He knew, even if it caused a bit of jealousy in him, that Jakob would do everything in his power to protect Hermione. Trying to push aside the uneasy feeling he had about going, he gave one curt nod of his head and said, "Alright, let's go then. But if anything happens to Hermione, I will hurt you."
As Harry and Hermione walked out of the room, Jakob watched as Hermione reached out to take Harry's hand in hers. As they made their way down the hallway, Jakob mumbled, "I don't doubt that for a second, Potter."
~*~
They made sure to apparate to a place that was just down the road from the Burrow so as not to appear right in the middle of the attack. Quietly making their way toward the Weasley home, the three of them stopped as the tall, leaning house came into view.
"Oh, hell," Jakob muttered.
"We have to go help them," Hermione replied, her voice filled with worry.
Before him, Harry saw only the Burrow as it had looked every other time he had been there. Looking from Jakob to Hermione he asked, "Help them with what? Everything looks fine."
Hermione watched as no less than fifty Shadocks swarmed around the house and replied, "Trust me, Harry. Everything is not fine. There are Shadocks everywhere."
"How many?" he asked, looking around to see if he could glimpse one of the shadowy figures.
"A lot of them," Jakob replied, wondering if he and Hermione would be able to handle it on their own. Before he could say anything else, Hermione was walking ahead of them. She knew what being around these things was like, and she couldn't imagine how she would feel being attacked by something she couldn't see.
As the first Shadock came into her path, she formed an orb of her Guardian magic in her hand and tossed it toward the unsuspecting shadow. When her magic took out not only that Shadock, but two more that were surrounding it, she stopped short. Shaking off her surprise, she continued to cut a path through the swarm to the front door, and pulling out her wand she concentrated on shielding the house. As the golden glow of her magic surrounded the Burrow, she noticed the blue shield that joined it and turning her head slightly, she could see Harry five steps away from her casting his shield on the house as well. Praying that would be enough to keep the remaining Shadocks out of the Weasley abode, she walked up the steps to the front door, uncertain of what she would see on the other side of it.
Walking into the sitting room, Hermione immediately heard noises coming from upstairs, but when she started toward the staircase she suddenly heard a noise in the kitchen as well. As Harry and Jakob joined her in the house, she looked to Jakob and said, "Why don't you check upstairs, and Harry and I will take the kitchen?"
"Right," Jakob agreed, hastily making his way up the rickety staircase.
Taking Harry's hand in hers, her grip tight, she held her wand out in front of her as Harry did the same. Slowly making their way around the slight corner that led into the kitchen, they took two steps into the usually homey-feeling room and stopped. There, magically bound to two chairs, were Ron and Luna. When Luna spotted Hermione, she shook her head vehemently and fought against the invisible restraints that held her.
Before Hermione could react, Luna's body started to contort as her eyes rolled up into her head. When a muffled scream fought it's way through whatever spell had kept her silent, Hermione dropped Harry's hand and made a run for her friend. Just as she was two steps away, Damien appeared directly in front of her, blocking her from helping Luna at all while she continued to suffer.
"Why hello, Guardian. So nice to see you again..."