Note: Thank you to everyone who has read this fic and an extras thank you to all the reviewers, Looney Warner Mouse. , Mike , Anonymous , Grumpy-Numero-Uno , Hogwarts Alum 53 , hbraveheartp , Pittielynn. Hope every one enjoys this part the final chapter of the reposted parts.
Harry was walking arm in arm through the streets of Hogsmeade with Hermione, and he wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else. He wasn't even trying to fight the grin that was plastered on his face. Even the bone deep chill from the wind was bearable because of the warmth from Hermione. She had her head snuggled into his shoulder, enjoying the chance to be close to him.
"I wish we could do this more often," said Harry.
"It's nice to be alone."
"What about those two?" asked Harry nodding his head towards Ron and Lavender, who were walking a dozen paces in front of them.
"I don't think they'd noticed if we stripped naked and tangoed up the street," said Hermione with a smirk.
"Good idea, maybe we should try it out." Before Hermione could reply, Harry slipped his arm around her waist and then grabbed her hand and flung it straight out in front of them. Harry began badly hum some music as he swept Hermione along the road.
"Harry, stop it." Hermione's voice was obscured by her giggles, and by Harry's jacket.
"Okay." Harry stopped and put both his arms around Hermione's waist and spun her around in the air. He set her on the ground and quickly leaned in for a kiss. As soon as their lips met he was hit by a familiar wave of desire, he knew he would never get tired of kissing Hermione. Only the voice at the back of his mind telling him they were in public kept his hands to acceptable parts of her body as Hermione entangled her hands in his hair. Harry could still taste the strawberry jam that Hermione had put on her toast. The sweetness of her lips was forgotten for a moment when Hermione began to tickle the back of his neck.
"We need to stop," said Hermione, when she finally mustered the self-control to pull her self away from Harry. "People are starting to stare," she said by way of an explanation.
"I'd tell you two to get a room, but you probably would," said Ron, still stifling his laughter from watching his friends dancing along the street.
"And you are a really bad dancer, Harry," said Lavender with a giggle.
"Me? A bad dancer?" Harry's voice was fill with hurt, but his grin softened the words. He quickly grabbed Hermione and began and to waltz in circles around both Ron and Lavender.
Hermione couldn't stop smiling. She was completely embarrassed and starting to get a little dizzy, but none of it mattered because Harry was so happy that she didn't have the heart to ask him to stop.
The pair continued to waltz along the street until they finally stopped outside the Three Broomsticks.
"Thank you for the dance my lady," said Harry, as he bowed down and kissed the back of Hermione's hand.
"The pleasure was all mine."
"Alright you two get in," said Ron, with a huge grin, pushing them both through the door. Despite the pub being busy, they quickly found a table for the four of them. "Butterbeer?" Ron's question was answered by a wave of bobbing heads.
"I'll help you," said Lavender walking to the bar with Ron. Hermione's laughter cut through the air, causing them and sizeable number of others to look at their table. Harry was attempting to tickle Hermione while she half-heartedly tried to stop him. "I don't think I've ever seen those two so happy."
"Yeah, they're good for each other."
"You really are okay with them going out? I though that you…"
"Fancied Hermione," said Ron, finishing her sentence.
"After fourth year can you blame me?"
"Not really, but me and Hermione would never have worked. We would have spent too much time trying to change each other. Harry simply accepts her and I don't think many woman would be happy with their boyfriend keeping secrets from them."
"You three have secrets from each other?" Lavender's shock made her half shout, causing a few people to turn her way before continuing with their own conversations.
"A few," said Ron, but he refused to elaborate. Both he and Hermione knew there was more to what had happened with Voldemort than what he had told them, and he was definitely hiding things about his life with the Dursleys.
"He must have a nice family. To take him in after what happened," said Lavender quickly, aware that the subject of secrets was best left alone for now.
Ron only stopped himself from laughing out loud by biting his tongue. He knew that Lavender, like most of the Wizarding world, was unaware of how the Dursleys treated Harry. He was saved from having to answer by the arrival of Madame Rosmerta; he ordered four Butterbeers and with Lavender's help took the four tankards to the table.
"Here you go," said Ron, slamming the tankards on the table with a thud.
"Thanks, but next time do you think you could keep the Butterbeer in the glass?" said Harry, wiping off the Butterbeer that had sloshed over the side.
"If that's your attitude I'll take it back." Ron made a grab for the glass, but Harry quickly moved it out of his friend's reach.
"Now let's not be hasty."
"Behave children or I'll have to separate you," said Hermione in a perfect imitation of Professor McGonagall.
"I think we were just insulted." Ron's voice was full of surprise
"I think we were," agreed Harry, "and if we don't behave?"
"Then you don't get any snogs tonight," said Ron before Hermione could open her mouth.
"Ron!" shouted Hermione as her face started to turn red.
"We'll if I can't kiss you tonight, I'm just going to have to do it now."
"HAR…" the rest of Hermione's sentence was cut off as Harry kissed her. The whole world melted away and only thing that mattered was that he got another taste of Hermione's lips.
Ron leaned close to Lavender and stage whispered, "How much do you want to bet they break the three minute mark?"
Harry and Hermione broke apart soon after Ron's voice had broken the atmosphere.
"Sorry about that," said Hermione trying to hide her red face behind her hair.
"Don't worry about it. It's nice to see people happy for a change," replied Lavender.
"What do you mean?"
"Look around." Lavender indicated the pub with a nod of her head.
Hermione looked around: the decorations, the softly playing Christmas carols, the people talking and drinking, on the surface it all looked normal. Then she noticed the small things: conversations held a little quieter than normal, the people outside walking faster, not taking the time to window shop.
"You see it now, don't you?" asked Lavender seeing the comprehension dawn in Hermione's eyes. Hermione simply nodded her head. The confused looks on Harry and Ron's faces prompted her to explain. "Everyone's scared. Half of them think You-know-who is back and the other half thinks Dumbledore is going to start a war with Fudge."
"I didn't expect that from you," said Hermione.
"What? You didn't expect someone as stupid as me to notice what's right in front of me?" Bitterness laced her words, but there was no mistaking the challenge in her tone.
Hermione had the good grace to blush at Lavender's words. "I never thought you were stupid, you've just always seemed more interested in fashion than the real world."
"It's hard to enjoy Teen Witch Weekly when your parents ask you if Harry really is nuts."
"So what do you believe, am I nuts or is Voldemort back?" Harry couldn't help but smirk when his use of Voldemort's name caused the expected reaction in Lavender and the rest of the pub.
"You three know things. You know what happened to Professor Quirrell, and who let out that Basilisk. We all know there was more to what happened than we were told, but I'm sure that you three do. So if you say he's back I believe it."
"Vol-de-mort. He has a name, you should use it."
"We're all not as brave as you, Harry." Lavender dropped her head showing just how much making the admission had cost the Gryffindor. Ron gently cupped her face and raised it so he could look into Lavender's eyes.
"You are brave enough, it's just that all your life you have been told you're not. He does seem less scary when you use his name and realize he's just a man."
"Really?" Lavender's voice nearly cracked as her pride battled with her fear, the need to be comforted in the presence of the trio had pushed her to the edge of tears.
"Really, that's why Harry says Voldemort. Saying He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named makes Harry feel worse," explained Ron gently, pretending not to notice the tears gathering in her eyes.
"It's true." Harry spoke just loud enough to be heard in the pub, Hermione simply nodded, as Lavender looked up at Harry.
It took a few hours for the levity to return to the group and they were on their way back to the castle before Lavender produced a genuine smile, even though Ron had been trying almost non-stop for the last two hours to make her laugh. The pain he had experienced in The Three Broomsticks had surprised him; the glistening of tears in Lavender's eyes had cut at his heart in a way few other things had. Maybe that's what moved him to speak when they got back to the common room and Lavender started to drift away from the trio, uncertainty written on her face as she discovered Parvati was still not back from Hogsmeade.
"Lavender! Um… would you like to play chess or something?" Ron was sure his face was turning red as she just looked at him. He had begun to curse his own stupidity, when she smiled.
"I'd love to, but I'm not as good as you."
"That's okay, no one can be worse than those two," said Ron pointing at Harry and Hermione.
"That's not nice," said Harry before looking at Hermione. "We must retaliate."
"How?"
"By embarrassing him."
"How do you plan to manage that? He has no shame."
"That's okay, neither do I," said Harry as he pulled Hermione into a scorching kiss. His entire world shrank down to the square inch that was Hermione's lips. He felt a familiar passion curl around his stomach and spine as he sought to get closer to the woman he cared so much about. The growing heat between them abruptly broke apart as a cushion slammed into the side of Harry's head.
"Do you two mind, I've just eaten." Ginny's voice floated through the room with a matching smirk on her face. Harry stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry at her.
Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled at Harry. "Come on you, stop annoying Ginny and do some homework." Harry sketched out a mock salute and trudged off to his dormitory.
Ron smiled as he listened to the altercation between his friends and sister. He carefully set up the chessmen before looking up to see a huge smile on Lavender's face.
"What?" asked Ron confused by the smile being sent his way and the feelings it was generating.
"Everyone seems so happy, it's a big change. That's all."
"Yeah," Ron kept his reply short because he knew just how thin that happiness was in Harry's case. The first game passed quickly, Ron was a little surprised by the challenge Lavender put up. It seemed he was as guilty as Hermione of making assumptions about their housemate. Many hours later and Ron was by the fireside, the chess set forgotten, talking with Lavender when a massive yawn split her face.
"I'm sorry, what time is it?" asked Lavender.
"About half eleven."
"That late! I've got to go to bed. I promised Parvati that I would talk to her hours ago." Lavender stood up and was walking away when she turned and walked back towards Ron. "I really enjoyed myself today. Thank you." She hesitated for a second before bobbing down and giving him a kiss on the cheek, then running up the stars to the girl's dormitories.
"If that smile gets any bigger it will need its own postcode," said Harry from across the room. Hermione giggled at the muggle reference, but Ron just looked confused. "Doesn't matter."
Ron looked around the room noticing that it was empty except for the three of them. He walked over the table and saw the large pile of homework that had been done while he had spent time with Lavender. He hoped Hermione wouldn't give him a lecture, but he had been studying a lot lately so the odds were good she wouldn't.
"Are you two done studying?"
"I think so, everything's starting to go blurry," said Harry. Hermione just nodded her head, in answer to Ron's question.
"Want to play a game of poker, got plenty of beans?" asked Ron while shaking his bag of every flavor beans.
"Sounds good. It feels like we don't spend any time together recently," said Hermione as Ron began to deal the cards.
"Yeah and it's only a week till the Christmas holidays start. It will be the first time since second year that we've spent apart. Do your parents have any thing special planned?" Ron asked Hermione.
"No, I think they're just happy to see me."
"I'm sure they are. I know I'm looking forward to spending time with Sirius," said Harry as he checked his cards.
"Well try and tell me where you are because mum's got the entire family here this year and I might need to escape," said Ron with a grin.
They played cards for the next hour until the yawns were more common than the bets. Harry couldn't remember climbing the stars to the dorm, but he woke up in his bed so he assumed that he had managed it. The other possibility was that he owed Ron a big favor for dragging him up the stairs.
~ ~ ~
The sound of the battle assaulted Harry's ears as he rushed through Hogwart's corridors. Death eaters had been swarming allover the castle for the past hour. He had gotten a flash of the assault when it started. Voldmort standing in the forest surrounded by a sea of followers and monsters. He turned to the black robed figure that had been appearing in his dreams, the face still hidden by shadows.
"Take the castle kill them all."
A great howl had went up form the host and the battle began. The black figure seemed to be every where Harry looked, smashing barricades in the great hall, killing students in the corridors and executing prisoners in the dungeons.
However fast he ran he couldn't get away form his perusers. Finally they caught him and dragged him to the black figure, the figure lifted their wand and then the pain began.
Harry woke in a cold sweat, his jaw sore from clenching his teeth together. He had refused to scream during the torture until the end. He hears a low loan come from the floor. He rolled over and looked down to see Ron.
"Was there any need to hit me mate?" asked Ron, who'd tried to stop Harry's screams and gotten punched by his half awake friend."
"Sorry Ron, I'll try to fix it."
"No I'll heal it, your rubbish at it Harry." said Seamus as he waked over to them both. "And then maybe we can sleep."
~ ~ ~
The great hall resounded with the noise of students eating and laughing. The last day of term before the Christmas holidays began. Harry flopped into his seat and slowly started to fill his plate with food, knowing Hermione would scold him if he didn't eat.
"You look like crap, Harry," said Lavender as she sat next to him.
"I think good morning or hello is traditional, but since you asked so nicely I didn't sleep well last night."
Lavender just nodded, she had been a Gryffindor long enough to know that 'didn't sleep well' was code for 'woke up screaming in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep.' She also knew that Harry would probably die before admitting it publicly.
"I was just asking for a bit of help, not for you to write the whole thing." Ron's voice entered the great hall long before he did. "I'm not asking you to sell your first born."
Harry assumed that Hermione was speaking to Ron and was keeping her voice down, a trait his other friend had never mastered.
"Are those two still at it?"
"Yeah, I've begun to think that they need to bicker at least once a week or they'll explode." Harry had just finished speaking when Ron and Hermione entered the hall. They had either called a truce or worked out a solution because they had stopped arguing.
"Hi, Ron, Hermione. I'll see you both later," said Lavender as Ron and Hermione approached the table. She quickly stood up and went farther along the table to where Parvati was sitting. Ron's face didn't lose its smile until he took a good look at Harry's face.
"You look like shit. I take it you didn't get back to sleep last night?" Asked Ron as he heaped his plate with food.
"I dozed a bit, how's your…?" asked Harry waving his hand at Ron's face.
"It's fine, just itches a bit."
"What's wrong with your face, what happened?" asked Hermione quickly, panic filling her voice.
"Harry had a nightmare and I tried to wake him up, he responded with a right hook. Don't worry, Seamus healed it up good."
"What happened?" asked Hermione, gently holding Harry's hand. Her voice was filled with a care and warmth that still made Ron a little jealous.
"Nothing unusual. Just me helpless as Death Eaters killed everyone I know before torturing and killing me. Nothing more imaginative, Voldemort must be busy with other things. There were a couple of odd things; it wasn't Voldemort directing the Death Eaters, but a figure in black, the one that usually stands behind Voldemort. And my scar hurt."
"How badly?"
"Not as bad at the graveyard, but bad enough." Hermione squeezed his hand a little tighter, while she absorbed the information. Harry wasn't in the mood for speaking and he could see the look in Hermione's eyes that told him gears were turning.
The day past slowly, both he and Ron managed to avoid getting into any trouble in double Potions and he enjoyed his Care of Magical Creatures class with the still-beardless Hagrid. He ate lunch alone because Hermione was in the library and Ron spent the time talking to Lavender. Double Charms was difficult, but it let him focus on a different problem from the new twist in his nightmares. They walked to DADA in silence; Hermione still absorbed by the thoughts that had struck her at breakfast and Ron wondering if he should write to Lavender over Christmas.
The room was empty, but the class quickly settled into their seats and began talking as they waited for Professor MacLeod to arrive. Harry just laid his head down to rest for a few seconds, he could still hear the gears turning in Hermione's head and knew only the arrival of their teacher would stir her from her thoughts. Professor MacLeod walked into the room and quickly strode to the front of the class.
"KNOW YOUR ENEMY!" Professor MacLeod's voice hung in the air of the classroom. "This is your enemy," she said holding up a bundle of parchments, "The O.W.L's. Each of you will be given a copy to complete during the Christmas holidays." She flicked her wand and the papers whizzed through the air, one landing in front of every student. "I know this is your last lesson of the term and I would prefer not to give you any work, but I'm afraid we can't spare the time. Now, we were working on producing a shield, except you three," pointing at Harry, Hermione and Ron," who were trying to break through each other's shields."
The students spread out, as soft, fluffy balls appeared on the desks, the goal was to produce a strong enough shield to bounce the ball off. The hours of practice the trio had done when preparing Harry for the third task had allowed them to quickly master the skill. They spent the next hour trying to get past the shields in mini duels; Ron was surprised at just how different their styles were to each other. Harry was like a broadsword, using power to try and overwhelm his opponent, while Hermione was more like a rapier. Precision and control, the right spells in the right place at the right time. Ron noticed that while both Harry and Hermione hit the problem head on, he was always trying to go around it and attack from a different angle. Ron had just managed to hit Harry with a jelly legs curse, by heating up the ground Harry was standing on he had made enough of a distraction to slip his spell past.
"Okay enough," said Professor MacLeod as the bell rang. "Harry could you stay for a minute?"
"Sure," said Harry turning to his friends," See you back at the common room?"
"No, I'll be at the library for a few hours, there's something I want to check on," said Hermione as she kissed Harry and then turned red as she remembered Professor MacLeod was watching them.
"I'll be in the common room mate," said Ron still chuckling at Hermione's exit.
"Okay. What did you need to talk about, Professor?"
"Follow me. There's something in my office I need to show you."
Harry followed the professor to her office and was surprised at how it was decorated. There was a large empty tank, which Harry assumed usually contained some sort of creature like Professor Lupin had done. The center of the room held a large desk covered in parchment and strangely there were pens scattered over its surface, but the object that took up most of his attention was a large sword on the wall.
"It's a claymore, been in my family for hundreds of years," said Professor MacLeod when she spotted what Harry was staring at. "My mother was the first one in our family to be magical and when my grandfather found out I was going to be an Auror he gave it to me saying that it should belong to a warrior."
"Its odd, the only other real sword I've seen is Godric Gryffindor's sword," said Harry, half-talking to himself, "And it's covered in jewels. You can almost convince yourself that it is art and not something that kills. But that's so plain it seems to shout out that it kills, that's what it does, that's what it is and doesn't pretend to be anything else." Harry shook his head trying to shake his thoughts from their path, "I am sorry, Professor."
"Its okay, Harry, I never thought of it that way. I wanted to give you this." she handed over a folder. "That's all the information the Ministry and the Order… I mean Dumbledore has on Voldemort. The headmaster wanted you to read it in case you see something in it that everyone else has missed."
"I doubt it, but I'll look it over."
"Thanks, Harry."
~ ~ ~
The train lurched and it was only Harry's quick reflexes that stopped him crashing into Ginny. He sat down and checked his watch again.
"She's only been gone twenty minutes, Harry," said Ginny with a smirk.
"Don't you have any thing better to do?" Ginny's only answer was to turn her smirk into a full-fledged smile. "Look I know I'm being pathetic, but I'm not going to see her for two weeks and I want to spend as much time as possible with her."
"Ooh, isn't that sweet," said Ron
Harry was getting ready to start calling Ron names when the door to their compartment rattled open. "Great I found you at last," said Lavender as she walked in with Parvati. Both Harry and Ginny noticed that she seemed to be talking to Ron and that he'd started to smile when she walked in.
"Could I have a word with you, Harry?" asked Parvati. Harry was surprised that she would want to talk to him, but followed her out of the compartment with out a word. He heard Ginny's voice float down the train as she hastily left the compartment, leaving Ron alone with Lavender, as his puzzlement about where Parvati was taking him increased.
"Parvati, where are we going?"
"In here," she replied a few seconds later, stopping outside a compartment. Harry followed her in, but instead of sitting down she stayed by the door. "I'll be outside." The comment was directed at the only other occupant. Harry hadn't noticed him when he entered, he was four or five inches taller than Harry with a big build and sandy hair. Harry's eyes flicked to the front of the robe to see he belonged to Hufflepuff.
"Hi I'm Richard, please don't be too upset with Parvati. I figured it would be easier to talk to you on the train because you couldn't run away like you do when you see Cho."
"What do you want?" asked Harry not even attempting to hide the suspicion.
"I was Cedric's best friend. I wanted to say thank you for bringing back his body. It meant a lot to his parents and Cho to be able to say goodbye properly. It meant a lot to me as well." Richard could sense the discomfort radiating from Harry, so plunged into the rest of his speech before the Gryffindor left. "I also need to ask a favor, that you stop avoiding Cho and talk to her."
"I don't avoid her and talk to her about what?"
"Harry I've seen you do it. As soon as you see her you go the other way or duck into a side passage. She needs to hear what happened from you. Only knowing the vague rumors is killing her."
"I'll try." Harry's voice emerged as a tiny sound that was almost swallowed up by the noise of the train.
"Thank you."
Harry barley heard the words as he slid the door closed and came face to face with Parvati.
"I'm sorry, Harry."
"Its okay, it had to be done. I'll see you after the holidays."
~ ~ ~
The Express was pulling into Kings Cross and Harry's thoughts were still consumed by the conversation he had with Richard. It had never occurred to him that talking with Cho could help her. He was still half convinced that she hated him for what happened. He knew that his silence during the journey had concerned Hermione, but he had given both Hermione and Ron a brief description of what had happened and they were content to let him think by himself. It felt strange to be getting off the Express in winter and not the usual summer weather.
The crowd on platform 9 and 3/4 was large and noisy. Their large group finally got through the barrier and easily found the right group of parents. The Grangers were talking with Mrs. Weasley and Bill. It was only when he got closer that Harry noticed Professor Lupin and Tonks were also part of the group. Tonks had changed her hair to a dirty blonde that didn't attract as much attention as the purple would have. Mrs. Weasley wasted no time in hugging each child, before whisking her own brood away to give Harry and Hermione a little privacy.
They stood looking at each other holding hands, both reluctant to speak and start the good-byes.
"I won't say good bye," said Harry. He leaned in and gave her a quick and simple kiss on the lips, acutely aware that her parents were standing only feet away. "I'll see you soon."
"If you won't then I won't." Hermione smiled and pulled Harry into a fierce hug before walking off with her parents.
"Are you ready?" asked Lupin with laughter in his voice.
"Yeah, can I assume you didn't bring Snuffles because of the crowd?"
"Exactly, you know what he's like, can't help showing off," replied Lupin with a huge grin.