A/N. Writing as Harry always gives me trouble so the relative quickness of this update surprises me.
For those who wanted more Hag - I apologize, she's not in this one.
We know where the wand is and where the cloak is. Here's the stone.
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Chapter 36 - The Resurrection Stone
There was a lot of tossing and turning that night. It was late, so late he stopped looking at the clock after it hit one. What the fuck was taking them so long? How hard could it be training them to be convincing as a couple? They never needed this much time.
Harry had just fallen asleep when he felt her join him in bed. She slipped under the covers with him and he, half in a daze, instinctively reached out to draw her in closer.
He had to smile. She was completely naked.
She snuggled up against him, the feel of her bare skin in his hands instantly waking him up in more ways than one.
"Are you going to smirk all night or are you going to make love to me?" she asked impishly, her breath falling gently on his lips.
His eyes adjusted to the little light that was in the room and he gazed at the outline of her face as she inched closely. Her mouth brushed lightly against his, then again and again, while her hands roamed under his shirt
"Why...do I have to make...all the hard choices?"
She was undressing him and he was trying to keep up. They devoured each other with desperation, his to stake a claim, to reassure himself that he was still who he was to her, hers he wasn't sure what about. As she slipped his boxers off he rolled her onto her back and moved his mouth over her neck, kissing her impatiently. She moaned and writhed, the feel of her soft skin rubbing against his absolutely heavenly. Her fingers were in his hair, carressing encouragingly as he moved down to her breasts.
Her body, her flesh arched up to meet his, letting him partake of her as he pleased. He drowned in her scent, the hint of lavender driving him to want to taste her bareness all the more. His hands carressed what they desired to touch and what they knew she desired to be touched. Everything else was a haze of pleasant sensations, of her giving herself to him and of him taking and accepting her offer.
Their kisses became hungrier, more urgent, their lips locked, unceasing until they took each other's breath away. She spread her legs for him, moaning his name against his throat as her hot wet insides welcomed him.
He thrust into her deeply. Her legs wrapped around his waist and her fingers dug into his back. It wasn't long before they climaxed simultaneously. Right after, still breathless he gazed down and studied her.
"Are you going to smirk all night?" he threw her question back at her.
She chuckled and replied, keeping her eyes closed when she did, "Just until I fall asleep."
"How did the training go?" he asked, trying to make the question sound as casual as he had practiced all night.
"Okay, I guess," she answered. "The Hag says Warren and I are ready."
She just called him Warren. So it was 'Warren' now.
"When?"
"In the morning."
"How long?"
"A week tops. We figured if he doesn't make contact by then we'll bail."
They were going undercover in the morning, a few short hours away. All that practice to be mature about the thing since hastily leaving the conference room before he made a scene was now for naught. She must have noticed the change for she frowned and opened her eyes.
"You are okay with this, right?"
"I want to be but I'm not," he said to her honestly.
She kissed him, sweet, deep.
"You have nothing to be worried about."
"If it were someone else…who am I kidding? I can't stand the thought of anyone pretending to be your husband," he said what he didn't want to say and just kept on going like a freight train out of control, "Let someone else do this."
"Harry, you know I can't do that," she had a shocked expression that jarred him back to reality.
"Of course not," he backed off, knowing now it was an unwelcome suggestion. He understood that this was her case, that this was part of her job and that it would be unfair to ask her to back out just because he didn't like the idea of someone playing house with her, "I wish you could."
He was a selfish bastard, putting her on the spot like this. She bit back whatever retort it was that came to her mind, choosing to not respond to his non-question.
"You'd tell me if he tried something asinine, right?"
"Everybody would know if he did," she replied like it was a promise.
She would never let Warren get away with anything like that but the mere thought of Warren given the opportunity and reason to touch any part of her was enough to cloud his judgment again. He couldn't talk about this rationally and he didn't want a row. It was so tempting though because he was almost sure that if he explicitly asked her to decline the assignment for him, there was a fair chance that she would.
He shouldn't. He wanted to and could sink that low but he shouldn't.
Harry steered their conversation away. Earlier Dean told him about Saint Petersburg and Rasputin, about Gaunt being a Gaunt, and about the wand, the cloak and the stone. He wanted to talk to her as much as she did. They ended up having an argument about that.
"Anyone with half a brain can easily link you to the cloak and to the wand," she pointed out logically.
"There's nothing I can do about that," he reasoned.
"That's just it. There has to be something that you can do besides wait for someone like Gaunt to hound you and pester you about it!" was her impassioned reply.
"I am not taking the Professor's wand," he said it to her straight.
"The Professor is dead. He'd understand…"
"No, Hermione! This is not about him understanding! It's about doing the right thing! I will not remove the wand from his tomb!"
She seemed to have finally heard him and calmed down.
"You're right. That would be wrong," she said with dejected acceptance, "But without the wand, nobody would challenge you for the cloak, nobody would probably want the cloak badly enough in the first place."
"I know you're worried," he said to her, taking her in his arms, "But we can't change who my family is and we can't change what people know. And even if we move the wand, it's not a guarantee that questers who find out about me will leave me alone."
"Once one finds out the rest of the nutters will follow," she predicted, "Don't you see it, Harry? It's going to happen all over again. This is just like Voldemort and his obsession that he had to kill you to survive. The Questers won't stop until they get what they want and you have something that they want. This could be for the rest of your life. You won't ever have peace."
He tried to make light of it, "No peace for the rest of my life seems a bit melodramatic don't you think? How about we deal with each crazy one at a time?"
She nodded but after a second he could tell she was crying.
"Ssssh," he embraced her tighter, "Stop thinking the worse. It'll be fine."
She nodded again.
He didn't go back to sleep after that. Neither did she but most likely for a very different reason than his. He watched her leave Grimmauld that morning, still kicking himself for not trying harder to make her not go. This Morpheus Gaunt case was getting on his nerves and it would give him no greater pleasure than to put the cause of his suffering behind bars permanently.
The days dragged on forever. They had not made contact which meant there was nothing to report. That fuelled the burning envy he felt from the torturing images of them he had in his mind. Four days ago Gaunt murdered a couple of Hit Wizards to let them officially know he was back in town. Every now and then there were Gaunt sightings in London that he and Dean would investigate. The git was taunting them, letting them know he was around.
He tried looking for the stone thinking that having the stone back would make Hermione less upset about his refusal to take the Professor's wand. But he couldn't find it. He went back several times into the Forbidden Forest at the spot where he dropped it and searched. He and Dean also poured over Ministry records of items confiscated from the Death Eaters and found in the area after the Battle of Hogwarts. The stone wasn't described in any of them. An animal could have eaten it, a being could have taken it and it looked ordinary enough that someone could have tossed it without second thought. It was anybody's guess where it was now.
Then there was his other case. As the Harpies and Flamers game drew closer details about Ginny's and her team's itinerary kept changing. It was bad in that he and his squad had to constantly revise coverage but also good because the lack of permanence in her schedule would make it more difficult for would-be attackers to plan how to do it. That meant they could really concentrate on what to do during the game.
He met with Ginny and her teammates after their most recent game so they could get to know his team, go over the plan, and ask questions if they had any. He finally got to watch her play, well, the tail end of the game which they won handily. It felt like the rest of the Harpies knew about them more that he would have liked. One of her teammates teased him about how Ginny had to have death threats for him to come and finally see her play professionally. The team had a laugh at his expense for which Ginny apologized.
They talked for a bit about how things were and she did ask if he was finally over her and seeing someone steady. He couldn't lie although when pressed for a name he evaded it by telling her he'd introduce them when she was in London. She confirmed that she was seeing someone too, the Harpies owner's grandson. It was nice to know. It had been close to five months since their break-up. He wanted her to find the happiness and contentment he found with Hermione.
Then on the fifth day, Kingsley paged him. Finally. There was a breakthrough in the Morpheus Gaunt case. A high level meeting was going to take place and Kingsley wanted him to be there. Hermione and Warren were going to be in attendance too.
Harry Apparated into the Ministry Atrium and weaved his way through the sea of witches, wizards and beings that was now the norm there at this time of the day. It was noon, people were coming and going. The lines to the lifts were long and waiting was not an option. Summoning the emergency elevator, it arrived a split second later with its operator, the Free Elf Willy, welcoming him. Harry got in and told him where he wanted to go.
"Willy take Auror Potter there really fast, just like he did Auror Gates and Auror Granger seven point two five minutes ago," he said proudly.
"Thank you, Willy."
He sulked back. Seven minutes and she didn't even think of calling him. It had been five days since they'd seen each other, five days since she went under with Warren, and she couldn't call him the second she could? He guessed she didn't miss him as much as he was dying to see her. While he realized he was acting more like a petulant teenager than a grown man he was too upset to fully acknowledge the insight.
"The Minister of Magic's Office," Free Willy announced and documented the drop off in his logbook.
Harry thanked the elf. He was the last to arrive and took the one remaining empty seat at the meeting table near the doors next to Max. Beside the Unspeakable was his boss Leo Jericho, then Kingsley, Hermione, Warren, John and Humptail. Three Floo fireplaces were open; the Canadian Minister, his Head Auror and his Head Unspeakable were joining them shortly.
Hermione was on the phone with someone when he arrived. She smiled and waved at him the moment he came in. He smiled back and absentmindedly acknowledged the greetings from the rest of the attendees. God he missed her.
A figure broke their line of sight. It was Warren, his hand on her arm, drawing her attention to him. The casual way the Canadian leaned in closer and whispered something in her ear irked him for a variety of reasons, foremost being the way she naturally leaned into Warren in return. And she ended her phone conversation for Warren but not for him.
Whoever it was who said love was not jealous didn't know what he or she was talking about. Watching Hermione intently listen to what Warren was saying was unsettling. It was like being suddenly set on fire and wanting to do the same to the person who caused it. He knew he shouldn't feel that way, he had no good reason to but he did.
For days he had been telling himself this was part of her job, this pretense. It had to be believable to work, just like they had to be believable that night when they pretended they were a couple at the Bat Cave.
The thought made him groan inwardly. For that they weren't even pretending for more than a minute. In comparison, she and Warren had been living together for five days. What the fuck was he thinking not asking her to decline the assignment? So what if letting her do it was the mature thing to do.
The Hag had done what he thought was impossible; she got Hermione to tolerate Warren. Harry preferred it much more when she hated Warren's guts. And as Warren nudged her and showed her something on his phone it took every ounce of will power to stop himself from telling Warren not to touch Hermione because she was his.
She was his. As wrong and as chauvinistic as that sounded he wanted to declare to the world and claim her as his. And not only that, he wanted her to be his forever.
But the declaration would have to wait and would probably have to be phrased better. Hermione would kill him not only for blurting something like that out here in front of Ministers and Head Aurors but also for having the prehistoric notion that she belonged to him. She would object to being an entity that belonged to somebody.
"Let's make this briefing short and sweet," Kingsley announced to the room then called out, "John, you should start."
Everyone settled down. All eyes fell upon the Auror as he recapitulated the Gaunt case related events of the past few days.
"Gaunt announced his arrival four days ago. He killed two MLE posted at Borgin and Burkes and left a note advising us that he was back in town. He was long gone before we realized the men were dead.
"In the last thirty-six hours we've had more reports of homes being broken into, some robbed, some not. The thief or thieves are taking cloaks and jewelry containing black stones. The HW's caught one suspect, a fifteen year old Muggle who was last seen walking home from school a few days ago. There was evidence of will tampering on him. Gaunt appears to be using the innocent to do dirty work for him again."
"And the professor's wand?" Unspeakable Max enquired anxiously.
"No attempts to steal it have been made. Headmistress McGonagall is starting to question our continued presence in Hogwarts," Humptail responded and proceded to look at his pager that had gone off mid sentence, excusing himself and leaving the room.
"What about Burkes?" Hermione asked..
John answered, "No luck there either. His counsels have managed to get us off his back. With Dodgey being a close call he has been more cautious. He hasn't attempted to contact Dodgey at all and we're staying off him hoping Gaunt will. Gaunt is wise not to."
"Why isn't he making a move?" one of the Canadian's spoke through international Floo.
It was obvious.
Harry replied, "He knows we're watching."
"But he can command an army to get the wand for him."
"True," John agreed, "Maybe he hasn't figured out a way to get through the Hogwarts wards yet."
"Or maybe he has but he's waiting for the right moment. He has to do it himself," Max spoke up.
"What do you mean?" Kingsley asked.
"Wandlore. The Elder wand, more so than any other wand, has to deem its possessor worthy," Max answered in a reverent tone that reminded him so much of how the wandmaker Ollivander once spoke of the Death Stick, "For centuries possession of this particular wand has been associated with violence, oft times with the death or defeat of its previous owner in the hands of its latest master. Without wrestling for its loyalty, its powers cannot be harnessed by its wielder fully."
"But if we think the Professor was its master after Grindelwald, that can't happen," John said to the group, "The Professor has been dead for years."
"If wandlore is correct then the mastership of the wand transferred to the wizard who murdered the Professor."
"Severus Snape was killed during the battle of Hogwarts," Hermione was quick to answer.
Max had a ready answer to that, "Yes, by a beast that's incapable of wielding it. The snake would have never gained its allegiance. If the wand is indeed in the tomb it has been there for five years and has been without a living master for quite sometime. Will it bow fully to a common thief or will it demand an act of greatness from its would-be master? No one knows for sure. Yes, he will want to take it himself and unaided. He will not want to take the chance that the wand will not work properly for him. At least that is what I will think if I were him."
"Or we could be lucky," Warren began, looking over to where he sat, ignoring the glare Hermione was giving him, "Maybe, Gaunt thinks the wand's master still lives."
"How?" the Canadian Unspeakable asked.
"The snake killed Snape because it was ordered to do so by its owner..."
The Deputy Unspeakable interrupted as it dawned on him what Warren was getting at, "Voldemort could have been the wand's master!"
Warren cast him a reprimanding glare for interrupting and made a futile correction, "Gaunt could think that Voldemort was the wand's master until Harry killed him. In which case, he'll want to challenge Harry and Harry will kick his ass."
All eyes were suddenly upon him, some with curiosity, others with amazement, still others like he was some dessert that had to be had. Harry found it amusing how as much as that their logic wasn't entirely accurate there was enough truth in it that the mastership of the wand still ended up pointing to him. Imagine that.
Hermione wasn't finding it as amusing as he was. She was in near tears from anger and frustration.
"Let him come then and let's get this over with," Harry responded in a flippant manner, not caring what it meant but just that he could actually put an end to all this.
His remark caused a bit of a mayhem.
"Harry!" Hermione cautioned.
"Now we're talking," Warren cheered. "We should let Gaunt know, advertise...ow!"
Warren winced and glared at Hermione who must have hexed him.
"That's not possible!"
"That is possible, in fact more possible than a masterless wand!" Jericho said, absolutely blinded by the possibility.
"How can you do that?" this was Max talking to him in a voice that drowned the rest, "How can you just sit there calmly and not claim the most powerful wand ever created when you are perhaps its Master!"
Hermione bit his head off, "Because unlike the rest of you he's decent and knows that true or not it would be absolutely wrong to violate the Professor's tomb. It's just a wand! One doesn't have to possess it to be a great wizard!"
"But he could be greater!" Jericho argued.
"He will be and he won't need the wand to do that!"
"Maybe we should take it out of the tomb and have Auror Potter use it," the Canadian Unspeakable was mental.
This encouraged his Brit counterpart, "Harry can test it."
She lost it, "Yeah, he can use it to try to make you less stupid!"
"Hermione," he warned her as the Canadians found the exchange amusing.
Embarrassed, Jericho defended himself, "Did you just call me stupid?!"
"Don't take it personally. It's not just you," Hermione was on a roll, "I think all the grown men in here acting like boys wanting the most powerful wand in fairy tale land are stupid."
The room fell silent with the exception of Warren sniggering beside her. Harry was quite worried. If she didn't stop there would be hell to pay.
"No need for insults in this room, Hermione," Kingsley scolded her, trying to settle her down.
"If it's the only thing that can get through to some of you...!" she glowered at the Unspeakables who glowered back.
"The wand needs a master," the Canadian Head Auror weighed in, "Auror Potter is the most likely person it will find worthy. He has an obligation to protect it from falling into the wrong hands."
"It's not about the wand! This is about the evil wizard you Canadians keep losing who wants to play in our backyard!"
Hermione continued to fight off the suggestion that they had argued about before she went undercover. Her complete 180 on the topic of him using the Elder wand was surprising and he wondered what made her so steadfastly against it now. And while the Canadian Auror's suggestion of the wand needing a master and that it was his obligation to protect it from the Gaunts of the world hit a spot, Harry had to put an end to this before Hermione got herself into deeper and hotter waters.
"Get a grip, all of you. I agree with Hermione. It's a fairy tale. The wand belongs to the Professor. His tomb is where it should be. You can forget about removing it in the guise of having me test it or use it. I will not. So let's take our heads out of the clouds and focus on how to capture Gaunt."
"Harry is right," Kingsley said with a finality, "Whether the tale is true or not shouldn't prevent us from doing what's right. The wand stays with the Professor; end of discussion. Warren, tell us what's been happening on your end."
Kingsley's decision significantly cooled the room down. He caught the exchange between the Unspeakables in the room. Hermione was spot on not to trust the two.
Warren shared what he had, "A man who calls himself Gregory Pasturin has been in touch a couple of times at home by Muggle phone. His story is he's a Canadian, that he recently found out he was adopted and is trying to trace his biological father's family. He said he was looking for long lost relatives who could answer some questions."
Hermione continued where Warren left off, "The name is an obvious anagram. We are positive it's Gaunt. He says that he would be in the area within the next few days and was wondering if we could meet for a few minutes. We've agreed, in principle."
"When was last contact?" Harry asked.
"Two days ago," Hermione fielded his question.
Something was not right. Harry couldn't say what it was exactly but something felt off to him.
"Are you sure he hasn't made you?"
"We have no reason to think he has."
"Why doesn't he send someone to rob you like he has done with the rest?" the Canadian Auror asked a good question.
Warren replied, "He has; the day before he called when we were both 'at work'. His thief came up empty."
"He has been quiet, too quiet. It's as if he's waiting for something to happen, to be in place before he makes his big move."
Warren dismissed his worries, "And we'll be ready when he does. That brings us to when he does make contact. He will scan Hermione's thoughts for pieces of information first and..."
"Wait," Harry interrupted, "You're going to allow him to look into your mind? I really don't like the sound of that."
She answered, "There's no choice. He will suspect something is amiss if he isn't able to."
"Can you not just arrest whoever it is that shows up?" Jericho suggested.
John answered, "He could send a decoy or be in disguise. It's the only way to get him to stay long enough so we can confirm that it is him and make sure everyone is in place. We won't get many opportunities like this. We have to be successful this one go."
"It can't be the only way," Harry was pissed, angry that no one mentioned this before, "Once you let him into your mind he could find something in there he doesn't like and use you. Or he'll just use you for no reason except for his amusement. We need to rethink this plan over!"
"Harry, calm down," Warren tried to placate him, "She has enough info to feed him and enough skill to keep him pre-occupied while we get everyone in place."
He disagreed, "It's too risky!"
"The risk is part of my job," Hermione said to him, determined to do it, " I can do this. And I can fight him off, if need be."
Arguing with her at this stage and in front of this crowd was pointless. He still didn't like it and would talk to her offline if she would even discuss it, which he doubted.
The Canadians had Aurors on standby and could send them as soon as Warren or Hermione gave the signal. The meeting was over so they left, trusting that Warren would keep them in the loop about other developments.
Kingsley got up and said, "if nobody has anything else..."
"Actually, there is one other thing I almost forgot to mention," Hermione spoke up acting embarrassed, "We need something tangible for when Gaunt comes. We need a hook to get his mind started off in the right direction. We're hoping the DOM can help us."
She turned to the Unspeakables in the room. Help from the DOM? What was she up to?
"Anything to catch this criminal," the Head Unspeakable replied for the record.
"After the battle of Hogwarts, the Ministry did a sweep of the Forbidden Forest in and around the area Voldemort and his group were camped at. A crate full of Death Eater belongings was sent to the DOM following clearance by the MLE. You have in your possession a black stone cracked along its midline, the one that looks like what Gaunt is looking for."
There was momentary dead silence. He tried not to look too shocked but doubted very much if anyone would have noticed since there was a more obviously surprised person in the room.
"How did you know?!" Max couldn't contain his initial reaction.
"It wasn't easy," she answered, "A technical glitch seemed to have wiped the records of the crate contents from the Ministry database. Fortunately a meticulous Auror thought it important to send paper copies to classified archives."
No wonder they could not find the stone. The Unspeakables had it alll this time and Hermione was now trying to get it back. Judging from Warren's reaction he was in on this political maneuver. It may have been him who picked up the thought from one of the Unspeakables and told Hermione about it. The classified archives bit was hogwash. That was Hermione trying to prevent the Unspeakables from knowing about Warren's ability. And she had the presence of mind to wait until the other Canadians left before opening the can of worms. Come to think of it, Humptail wasn't in the room either.
Warren carried on for her, "We'll need that stone with us when he makes contact."
"Absolutely not!" Max protested.
"Why not?" Hermione seemed prepared for that, "According to DOM records it's a worthless common stone."
"It's not just a common stone!" the deputy Unspeakable said much more than he should have.
"What is it then?" Kingsley joined in, directing his question to the stoic Head Unspeakable.
Jericho had knew better than to lie, "We believe it's the Peverell stone."
"It is the Resurrection stone. It is just as how it has been described in books and journals!" Max rambled off despite warnings from his boss not to say anymore.
Jericho tried to throw them off, "We have not been able to prove that. We have not been able to raise anyone from the dead with it."
Interesting. Or maybe the Unspeakable was protecting it and his ass. It would be harder to explain why they didn't offer the evidence to the group if they believed it was the Peverell stone. But true or not, what Jericho said actually worked in their favour.
"If it looks like the stone and isn't the stone then it's perfect," Harry pointed out, "We'll borrow it. Hermione will wear it in a necklace or something visible and distract Gaunt with it."
"Absolutely not! It's too valuable to lose!" Max yelled at him.
That did it for him; he got on his feet and in a carefully measured but threatening tone responded, "You won't risk losing a stone but it's okay to let an Auror risk losing control of her mind?!"
Kingsley intervened "Harry! I got this! Leo, I want that stone for their use, no ifs or buts. Where is it?"
"In my office safe."
"I'm coming with you to get it right now. This meeting is adjourned," Kingsley declared, then turned to the undercover Aurors, "How soon before you two need to go back?"
Warren gave Hermione a look and replied for the two of them, "Tomorrow."
He ordered, "See me before you go back. I'll have the stone ready for you. Let's go, Leo. John, Harry, come with me."
Harry could not blame Kingsley for the level of distrust he had for the DOM. They were capable of dastardly things and hiding the Peverell stone from the rest of them was proof that they weren't playing on the same team.
On his way out he overheard her thank Warren.
"You owe me. That's twice today," Warren responded, "Go home"
"I can't. I have to make sure."
"Harry has that covered. Get some rest. Frankly, you look like shit."
He heard them laugh just as he got out of the door and that made him feel worse. It was juvenile but he had to talk to her, to touch her, to kiss her, to know that nothing had changed.
But he couldn't do that right now. Right now he had absolutely no time for jealousy or insecurity. The stone. He had to get the stone from the Unspeakables. Hermione had done her part. It was his turn.
Just before they went into the Head Unspeakable's office, Kingsley wordlessly instructed him to keep an eye on Max.
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Hermione woke up to incessant ringing. She reached for her phone that was on the sidetable and answered.
"Finally," a familiar woman's voice greeted.
"Ginny?"
"I've been trying to reach you all afternoon. What are you doing tonight?"
She sat up and oriented herself. Grimmauld was very still and it was dark out. There was loud music and lots of chatter on the other end of the phone.
"I have to talk with, Harry," she told the truth, "What time is it?"
"Almost six. I'm at the Burrow and Harry's here. Come on over."
Harry was there. Of course he would be. Ginny and the team were in town and Mrs. Weasley was hosting an impromptu dinner for family and close friends. She told Ginny she'd be there.
She got out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. Splashing cool water on her face, she examined herself on the mirror. Warren was right; she looked like shit. Five days on alert and sleep deprivation had taken its toll. When she got home from the Ministry around one she went straight into bed and crashed thinking and hoping Harry would come home and wake her up as soon as he got the stone.
The stone; did he get the stone? She quickly got her phone and scanned for calls and messages. There was none from him but as she listened to Warren asking her to call him back, something on her dresser caught her eye. It was an old moleskin pouch. Harry had scribbled a note on the parchment beside it.
I couldn't bear to wake you. See you tonight.
She remembered feeling him stroking her hair and kissing her but she thought that had been a dream. She missed him so much and really needed to talk to him. Staying in London tonight was necessary for her sanity. If not for that she and Warren would have gone back already.
Hermione emptied the pouch onto her hand and out tumbled the imperfect black stone with the Peverell coat of arms. Relief washed over her. She was certain the story about what happened after Kingsley took it from Jericho would be interesting but that have to wait. Her guess was that Kingsley felt it wise not to keep it in the Ministry where someone could steal it back.
It was curious that the Unspeakables claimed it didn't do what it was supposed to do. It made her wonder whether someone had already switched a fake for the real one or if Jericho was fibbing to not get in trouble.
There was only one way to find out. She clasped it tightly in the palm of her hand and closed her eyes as she turned her hand over and back thrice. Her heart started beating faster. She was no longer alone.
Hermione turned around and faced her father.
"Hi Dad," she said quietly.
"Hi kiddo."
He smiled back, the sorrow on his face when he passed away still evident underneath the mask he was trying to put on for her, or maybe that was her and her guilt imagining things.
"How are you?" she asked.
"I'm fine. And you?"
"Just fine."
"Still with him?"
She nodded, "I'm sorry..."
He dismissed it, "Don't be. It was unfair of me to ask. But I hope you do understand why I did."
She nodded again, tears streaming down her face as she remembered that day he died.
"I don't want you to get hurt like your Mum did.," he said it again, "You love him too much. You'd do anything for him. You need someone who will love you back and more. You deserve someone who does."
The reality of his observation brought about this gnawing ache within her chest.
She replied, choking back the pain. "I can't change what I feel and I can't chose who I feel it for."
"I know."
"Thank you for understanding."
It was what she needed to hear from him, the reason she brought him back. Hearing it she found the courage that she had been searching for for days. His understanding had always been important for her and having it now was closure.
"Just don't lose sight of who are. Don't compromise who you are for him or because of him.," he advised. "Your Mum did that for me and she was never the same after. Many times I wondered what would have happened if she didn't take me back after the affair, if she would have been as happy as she was before I broke her. But I was too selfish and too afraid to be alone."
"She loved you, Dad. She was happiest with you."
"Tell her I love her."
"I will, although I know she knows."
"Is there anything else, sweetie?"
She took a big breath in and exhaled. He would be the first she would tell.
"Actually yes. I have some good news," she found her most positive voice, "I'm pregnant with Harry's baby."
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A/N. The next chapter will be interesting to write. Big HHr scene coming up.
When I re-read DH it seemed that the stone was no longer on the ring. And here we see how low these Unspeakables can go. Hope that was believable.