Disclaimer: Not mine. I wish it were so we would have had HHr, but alas it's JK Rowling's.
A/N: My reply to the challenge issued by PJ, you can find it here: http://talk.portkey.org/index.php?showtopic=26635 . This story will start right after fifth year, and it will involve sex, some blood, and such, so this is why it is rated NC17. I hope you'll enjoy it, I think this is the most complex challenge I've ever dared to reply to, so I sincerely hope I'll be able to pull it off well.
Thanks to my beta Gingercat!
Harry Potter and His True Sixth Year
Chapter Twenty-three: Testing the Shield
Snape was intrigued by Hermione's idea, and immediately set to work on developing a potion to "glue" the proprieties of the Lycan blood to the skin of someone who wasn't a Lycan.
Hermione and Harry spent the last hours before the train would bring the students back helping him, locked in the dungeons. The brunette tried asking some veiled questions about who the new recruits were, but Snape didn't know.
The ceremony had taken place in a secret location, and the other Death Eaters had been let in only when it was done, and masks covered the new recruits' faces.
"I fear the Dark Lord has started to suspect he has a spy in his ranks" he sighed, knowing that if that was the case, his Occlumency shields wouldn't keep him safe forever.
However, there was no time to dwell on that revelation because all three of them needed to go to the Great Hall for the usual feast. Sitting at Gryffindor table just as the students started to file in and take their places at the respective house tables, Harry was tense. He could feel Hermione was nervous too.
They had purposefully kept their suspicions to themselves, even if it would have been wise to tell at least Dumbledore about them, if not Molly, because they didn't want to discredit the two Weasleys if their ideas were false. There were enough hard feelings between them already, and if the pair hoped to ever re-establish a friendship with Ron and Ginny, accusing them of being Death Eaters without solid proof was not the path to follow. Harry had learned that acting on instinct didn't always mean you did the right thing, so he resolved to keep quiet for the moment, and his beautiful girlfriend agreed with him, which only cemented his belief that it was the right thing to do.
This, however, didn't mean the two of them wouldn't watch the redheaded duo closely, ready to pick up any hint that might give away their betrayal.
So, it was with baited breath that they locked eyes on the two figures approaching the table, Ginny exchanging a last quick kiss with Malfoy before parting ways with her boyfriend and sitting near her brother at the opposite end of the table of Harry and Hermione.
The two pairs exchanged mild glares, and Harry noticed both the Weasley kids wore long sleeve shirts under their robes.
"Isn't it starting to be a bit hot for long sleeves?" the raven haired boy whispered to Hermione, who nodded.
"This proves nothing though, Harry" she reminded him, and the boy nodded moodily, picking at his food. Suddenly, he wasn't so hungry anymore.
Couldn't the two redheads come in with short sleeves under their robes? That wouldn't have showed Harry Ron's left arm, because of the school robes covering it, but at least he would have known his friend had nothing to hide there.
--
That night, Harry was paired up with Luna to do prefect rounds. He played with the idea of telling her about his and Hermione's suspicions, at least she and Neville could help them watch the Weasleys and find out the truth. But he held back, because of his fear of spreading false rumours about them.
Luna, however, wasn't stupid, although many still called her Loony for her beliefs in strange creatures only she and her father seemed to know about. After all, the Sorting Hat had placed her in Ravenclaw, that must have meant something.
She was also very perceptive of the moods of people around her, and it seemed, especially Harry. So, it didn't seem too strange to him when she gently took his hand, and turned to face him with her blue eyes.
"Is there something troubling you, Harry?" she serenely said, and he felt compelled to tell her. He and Hermione had trusted the blonde girl and Neville with many things they didn't share even with the adults that year, for example their research to save Sirius. Dumbledore had been delighted to know about it, but the headmaster only became aware of it after the man was saved, or at least, if he knew beforehand, it was not because Harry or Hermione had told him.
This strengthened the connection Harry felt with Luna since last year. Sighing, he cast a Mufflatio spell to avoid anyone who might be around them to overhear, and explained what had happened during the break, the Weasleys leaving together with Malfoy, Molly's letter, Snape's info that new recruits had been made amongst the students, and finally his and Hermione's belief that Ron and Ginny might be those new recruits, with Malfoy of course.
As shocking as the news might have been to anyone else, Luna didn't seem unfazed.
"I see" she only whispered, then squeezed his hand for support. "This must be hard for you, Harry" she added then. "I'll make sure Neville and I keep our eyes open to anything suspicious about those two" she offered, and Harry thanked her.
Resuming their rounds, they walked quietly through the corridors of the castle, with no need of speaking. Harry was glad that if he had lost a best friend that year, he might have just found himself another two.
It was an overall quiet night, and they only had to take points from a couple Hufflepuffs who were snogging in a broom closet, when the time to go back to their dorms came.
"I'll see you and Hermione tomorrow, Harry. Good night" the blonde said, starting to walk toward Ravenclaw Tower.
"Good night, Luna" Harry said, with a small smile, as he climbed the stairs to the Gryffindor common room. She had really become a good friend of his, and to think he didn't even know she existed two years ago.
--
In the following days, the research about the potion to create a Lycan shield, so to speak, ran a little slower. Harry and Hermione had lessons to attend, assignments to do, and they also had to research a cure for the standard Lycanthropy, without wiping out the good effects of the illness. Not to mention the need to keep an eye on the redheads.
Professor Snape also had to plan lessons, revise essays, and all the usual work a teacher had to do to teach his course, adding to the extra-curricular activities he did at night with the two Gryffindors, or alone, but working on those projects.
Luckily, Neville and Luna helped too, just as they had done before, albeit not all evenings. They needed some alone time for themselves, and Harry understood perfectly.
Luna had also suggested she might research some old Ravenclaw books, as the founder was rumoured to have been involved in studying cures for many maladies, and Harry accepted her offer, although he didn't think Rowena would have followed their genetic approach to the subject. Still, if they could get some ideas, it was worth a shot.
Hermione's most pressing priority, though, was to develop the shield, so that was what the quartet focused on the most in their nightly encounters. The Restricted Section had been useful once already, so they often wandered in there, with the safety of Harry's cloak protecting them from prying eyes.
The brunette found a couple interesting tomes she wanted to read, so she reduced them and snuck them into her pocket as they were too big to read all in one night. Madam Pince wouldn't be happy with her behaviour, but the future of the whole Wizarding World could lie on their success in developing such a weapon against Voldemort, so she thought she was allowed to break the rules for that.
When they were barely able to keep their eyes open, Harry decided to call it a night, and the four friends separated. Neville escorted Luna to her common room, with the news of Death Eaters in the student body and their obvious association with Harry, he didn't want to take the chance of anything happening to his girlfriend. Harry and Hermione made their way up to Gryffindor Tower, then inside the common room after having given the Fat Lady the password ("Cornish Pixies!").
He then pulled Hermione to him, and kissed her soundly on the lips, his arms sneaking around her waist, while her hands buried themselves in his unruly locks of black hair, their tongues dancing slowly, entwined, in their mouths. Harry's left hand slid downwards, caressing her bum, one of the many features of her that he couldn't get enough of and she sighed softly as they parted just a moment for lack of air, before resuming their kissing.
They were completely unaware of their surroundings, wrapped up in each other as they were, pouring all the pent up passion of a long day of lessons, study and research into their kisses, and Harry could already feel his blood heading southwards, Hermione grinding against his hips as their tongues picked up the pace and the kiss became more heated, needy, with the slow dance changing into a fight for dominance, when a voice startled them and had them sprang apart.
"Do you really need to put on such disgusting shows?" an icy drawl came from the corner of the room, and there she was, Ginny, a book in her hands, evidently taking notes.
Hermione flushed, embarrassed, but this didn't stop her from noticing the long sleeves the girl was wearing, her robes discarded on the nearby couch, as the redhead was sitting in front of the fire.
She bit her lip, and a shared glance with Harry told her he had noticed too.
"Well, good night then, Harry" she called, and moved toward the staircase to the girls dorm, only to be pulled back by an arm circling her waist. He planted a last long, wet kiss on her, before he let her go.
"Now it will be" he said with a grin, and she rolled her eyes playfully at him for his cheesiness, but couldn't deny that when he did things like that, a giddy feeling would spread inside her, making her feel like she was about to float a few inches off the floor.
--
It took them two more weeks, but finally around the end of April the first attempt at making the Lycan blood shield could be made.
Remus and Samantha had been kind enough to provide them with enough blood for Harry to bathe in on the last few days of their staying at the castle, and Madam Pomfrey had kept it fresh with special spells she had learned when she had studied to become an Healer.
Now that the potion was ready, according to Professor Snape who had found another interesting use for a bezoar, or so it would be if the potion was successful, Hermione was bubbling with excitement to see if her idea might work.
A special bathtub had been arranged for Harry in the Potions class that night, the door sealed so no one could enter while the experiment was taking place.
Harry eyed the bathtub, then the vial of potion Snape was holding, and then the potion master.
"Er…sir, not to be disrespectful, but I'll have to undress, and I was thinking if maybe…" he stammered, and Hermione giggled softly at his predicament.
Snape only raised his eyebrows, a small smirk appearing on his lips.
"Are you embarrassed to get naked in front of your professor, Potter?" he asked, teasing the boy who was now completely red in the face.
"Make sure he gulps that down all at once, and while he's still inside the blood bath, Miss Granger" he advised her before closing the door after him.
Following the agreed procedures, Harry stripped, and Hermione couldn't help noticing once more how well built he had become, and well hung in "that" compartment too, a jolt of hotness travelling through her body and settling in her core as he lowered himself into the tub, immerging himself completely, head to toe, into the Lycan blood. Shaking herself from her stupor, she neared the tub and as soon as his mouth emerged, she shoved the potion inside it in one swift motion, urging him to swallow all of it at once.
He did, and then stepped out of the blood bath, his skin shining lightly, almost glowing, for a moment, before it returned to normal and he started dressing.
When he was done, they asked the professor to come back in, and the real test began.
Snape fired a series of spells at Harry, starting with light ones, which would cause little physical damage, and ending with a very dangerous cutting curse aimed at his shoulder, causing a large gash to be opened there, the incantation being "Lacero Seorsum".
Hermione gasped but before she could even grab her wand to close the cut, it started healing itself. The process took twenty seconds, and only a small quantity of blood was spilled onto Harry's shirt. He felt weak for another fifteen seconds, while his blood was being regenerated, and then was as good as new.
"It works!" Hermione cried, hugging him tightly. Snape seemed satisfied too. That was the most dangerous curse he could try shy of the Killing Curse, but the response told him it would work for the Avada Kedavra too.
They needed a last test how long the effects lasted, so they repeated the series of curses after two hours, and they found the mild ones caused Harry damage that wasn't being automatically repaired.
Snape scratched his chin, deep in thought. "It seems I need to do some more revisions on the potions to assure a longer lasting effect, but we're close" he announced with a rare smile.
Seeing that it was well past midnight, he finally dismissed the two teens so that all of them could get some much needed and well deserved sleep.
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