A/N: I promised you an early chapter and somehow, I managed it. Your reviews have been awesome! I was not expecting to have this much of a following but you guys really blew me away. Thank you so much for taking the time to read and review my story, it means so much to me. For those of you who are curious, I will update next Sunday and be back on schedule thereafter. Another shout out to those following me on Tumblr and asking me questions on Formspring! You guys rock =]
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Enjoy!
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Secrets
"I need another story
Something to get off my chest
My life gets kinda boring
Need something that I can confess"
- OneRepublic (Secrets)
I had always been one to take the direct approach. I wasn't ashamed of it, nor had it ever posed any problems for me in the past. Some birds even found it sexy, and who was I to deny anything that could get me a shag? Today was different.
I was pacing outside the Grangers' door for a good ten minutes, contemplating what I was going to say. I knew that Edward and Jane were expecting me, but Hermione was not. If she answered the door I would have a lot of explaining to do. She only knew me as the guy who had done nothing but stare at her all day. How could I ever get her to trust me when her first impression of me was as some creepy new kid?
I sighed and rapped my knuckles against the door. There was a one in three chance that she would be answering. Certainly her parents would want to greet me first, so that added another few points against her. It would be fine. Besides, I was great under pressure. I've had the weight of the Wizarding world on my shoulders since I could blink and still haven't gone insane, so confronting my fiancée and her parents should be a piece of cake.
There was no answer after what I deemed to be a while so I knocked again. I put my hands in my pockets directly after, not wanting to seem too eager to get inside.
"Hold on!" I heard a feminine voice call from the other side.
The door opened and there she was in all of her post-school glory. Hermione Granger. As soon as she realized it was me standing on her porch, her face contorted to one of confusion.
The words poured out of my mouth like word vomit. "Hi, Hermione. My name is Harry Potter and I'm your fiancée."
It was only a moment before she fainted.
"Holy shit." I said out loud, reaching out to catch her as she fell forward into my arms. Thank you Seeker reflexes, you just saved this girl from a major concussion.
Thankfully she was as light as a feather, so adjusting her in my arms was simple. The only problem was I had never really had to deal with an unconscious person before, so having Hermione in my arms was pretty useless.
"Err, hello?" I called into the house. "A little help here, please!"
There was the sound of feet running toward me within seconds, and a woman with hair as disheveled as her daughter's came into my view. Her attention went from Hermione's limp form to me within seconds and her face lit up like an incandescent bulb.
"Harry Potter! Oh, we've been expecting you. Please come in, come in."
"Slight problem with that, Mrs. Granger." I said softly. "Your daughter is kind of passed out in my arms at the moment."
She waved it off like I had just said it was raining. "It happens."
"But-"
"Come on in, dear. Put her on the sofa over there." She pointed to her right and I gave her a look but said nothing else.
I bent down to hook an arm under Hermione's knees and cradled her against my chest as I entered their home. It was a beautifully decorated place with perfectly polished wooden floors and dustless shelves holding family pictures from years past. I followed Mrs. Granger under an archway that lead into a crème-carpeted living room. There was a plush silky rose sofa and armchairs surrounding a marble fireplace in the center of the room, a few oak tables and lamps scattered around the perimeter. She circled around the main gathering of furniture and took a seat in one of the armchairs. I placed Hermione on the nearby sofa and arranged her head to be propped up by a few pillows.
When I turned around, Mrs. Granger was signaling for me to take a seat. I looked over at Hermione for a moment before sitting near her feet on the couch. I hope she's not a kicker.
"Edward, get in here!" Mrs. Granger yelled. I looked over at her again and she smiled. "It's great that you're here, Harry. Dumbledore sent us the letter last night and we finished setting up the garage flat for you to stay in."
I smiled graciously at her. "Thank you, Mrs. Granger, I-"
"Please call me Jane."
"Okay. Jane, I'm glad you were nice enough to have me. This whole marriage bond thing is really overwhelming and I'm glad to be in good company."
"Of course." Jane said, nodding her head. "I realize how difficult this is on you. I speak on behalf of my husband and I when I say that we never intended the bond to go this far. Now we've put Hermione and you in danger and-"
"There's no need to apologize. I know that my parents were only trying to do the right thing and I'm sure that you and your husband-"
"Holy crap!"
Jane and I's heads snapped around to see Mr. Granger looking at me with a gaping mouth.
"Edward, this is-"
"I know who this is, Jane. It's Harry Potter. By God, you look just like James. Spitting image! Except for your eyes, of course…"
"My mother's eyes, yeah." I finished for him. Believe it or not, his reaction to seeing me wasn't the first time my father's name got brought up. Nearly every person who knew my parents made the same comment. It used to bother me, but it happened so often nowadays that it was just like talking about the weather.
"I suppose you hear that quite often." He said with a slight color to his cheeks.
"Quite." I agreed.
He took a seat in the armchair next to Jane's and caught sight of Hermione lying comatose near me for the first time. "What happened here?"
"She passed out." Jane said.
"What?" He asked, concerned. Jane shrugged and he looked at me.
I summed it up as best I could. "Well I told her that I was her fiancée."
"What did you do that for?" Edward asked.
"I took the direct approach." I said like it made perfect sense. According to the faces that Edward and Jane gave me, though, it didn't do much to defend my case. "I'm guessing that wasn't the best idea, then?"
"Not with Hermione." Jane said. "She's so used to having normalcy in her life that anything new or odd makes her react like, well, this. Usually she just shuts down and stares at a wall for a minute or two. This is the first time she's fainted, come to think of it."
"Well that makes me feel special." I said bitterly.
"Oh don't feel bad." She said. "It's quite a shock, finding out that you're engaged to someone you've never met."
I nodded. "I suppose so…"
I heard a low groan behind me and turned to see Hermione stirring. Jane was the first out of her seat and by her daughter's side. She grabbed her hand and caressed it gently. "Hermione… honey… can you hear me?"
"Mmmmm," she moaned, turning her head to the side and opening her eyes a crack. "Mum?"
"Yeah. Are you okay?"
"I think so." She said, beginning to prop herself on her elbows. "Last thing I remember is this guy I saw at school saying-AHH!"
I shouldn't have sat by her feet. She quickly drew them up to her chest and in the process, knocked me over onto the floor. I landed flat on my chest and let a very unattractive noise come out at the impact. I breathed in deep through my nose and sat up quickly.
"Oh Harry! Are you alright?" Jane asked as I adjusted my position on the floor.
"Y-yeah. Fine. Just a little winded." I turned to Hermione. "I suppose I deserved that."
"You think?" She said hotly.
"Hermione!" Jane said in shock.
"Mum do you even know who this guy is?" She asked, looking over at me for a fleeting moment before continuing. "He just… he just showed up on our doorstep after being in all of my classes and staring at me as if I'm a rubic's cube and is claiming to be my fiancée! How insane is that? We should inform the authorities. Or, better yet, call the local sanitarium and tell them they're missing a patient."
"Hey!" I spoke up. "I'm not crazy! I am your fiancée."
She raised an eyebrow. "Prove it, then."
She had me there.
When I remained silent, she smirked in triumph. It was soon wiped off her face, however, when her mother spoke up in a quiet voice. "Actually, I can."
"Mum…" she said worriedly.
"We've been meaning to tell you for years now, but you just wouldn't listen." She explained.
"You've never mentioned a fiancée!" She said defensively. "I would have remembered something like that. Instead you talk about magic and some weird Wizarding school named Pigfarts-"
"Hogwarts." All three of us corrected her.
"Whatever." She muttered passively. "Regardless, I have never heard you say that I was betrothed. Why should I believe you when you have no evidence?"
"I told you, sweetheart, I can prove it." Jane said. "Give me a few minutes."
Hermione's jaw clenched as Jane got up and exited the room. My eyes followed her out until I felt someone staring at me. It came as no surprise when I turned to see Hermione looking at me through narrowed eyes. Her expression wasn't of anger, though, it was more like she was thinking about something, and thinking hard.
"How much did they pay you?" She asked me.
At first I had no idea what she meant, but when I saw her face soften as though she had figured it all out, I knew. "They didn't. I'm just as surprised as you."
"You don't look very surprised."
"Well, I found out yesterday, so I've had more time to process it." I explained.
Her eyes narrowed again. "Are arranged marriages common where you're from?"
I snorted. "No, not for a few hundred years, at least. And even so, it's not an arranged marriage."
"Then what would you call it?"
"Well, Dumbledore called it a marriage bond."
"And how is that different from an arranged marriage?"
"It's a spell."
Her demeanor instantly changed. "Ohh a spell. Well, that explains everything now doesn't it?"
Something in the way she said it made me angry. Usually when someone was being sarcastic and I knew right away, it wouldn't affect me as much. But when it comes to magic, I'm a little more defensive. This girl was insinuating that everything I've ever known is a lie-that my entire life was nothing more than a myth. "You really don't believe in magic, do you?"
"Why should I? It's all a fable so parents have some fluff to add to fairytales."
"Fairytales, are you serious? That's what you think magic is?"
She shrugged. "Of course. It doesn't exist anywhere else."
"And how do you know that?"
"Scientific research. Obviously."
"Oh really. And what does your scientific research say about-"
"Don't ask me to explain, Harry." She interrupted. "I've had this argument with my parents enough times to refute anything you have to say. It will save loads of time if you just stop acting and get your head back into reality."
"Your reality and my reality are vastly different." I said darkly, having enough of her stubborn insolence. "I can show you things that your parents were too afraid to mention. I can tell you stories that will make you wish that magic wasn't real."
"I'm shaking." She said dryly.
"Do you really want to test me?" I asked, reaching behind me for my wand.
"Harry…" Edward said warningly from his seat.
I ignored him and continued to stare at Hermione. Her face remained hard and expressionless as she inched slowly forward, like she was talking to an infant child. "You don't scare me."
I smirked. "Not yet."
She gave me a look that showed me she really couldn't care less. To her, I was just some crazed lunatic who believed in magic. She had no idea the things I could do to her. Ignorance is bliss until I have her writhing on the floor.
Edward cleared his throat and I looked over to him. He was shaking his head as if he knew exactly what I was thinking of doing to his daughter. Then I remembered that he knew my father and according to Remus and Sirius, I was nearly an exact replica of him. So with that in mind I clenched my teeth and looked towards the floor, trying to control my anger.
"Here we are." Jane's chipper voice sang out as she entered the room. I looked up at her and saw that she was carrying a rather large and worn book. It didn't look terribly old, but the dust was the real kicker in that department.
"Where have you been keeping that?" Hermione asked in wonder.
Jane set the book down on the floor and sat Indian-style in front of it. As she began flipping through the pages, she answered Hermione. "In the attic, somewhere only your father and I can find it."
Hermione rolled her eyes and leaned further back into the cushions. I looked at the book intently as Jane continued to search for her page. "What is it?"
"A scrapbook of sorts." Jane answered. "It's from our days in the Order. Old records, research projects, and so on. After Lily and James's passing, we hid it so that it couldn't fall into enemy hands. Of course, we get the occasional call from Dumbledore asking for old documents for the meetings, so it's not as full as it used to be. But I'm positive that I kept the... aha!" She creased the pages so that they would stay steady and turned the book around so Hermione could see it. "After Remus performed the bond and we escaped Godric's Hallow, we recorded it down verbatim just in case something happened."
Hermione moved so that she could see the document and began scanning it. I tried to get a good look at it as well, but I had no doubt that what Remus, Sirius, and Dumbledore told me was false. The only knowledge I gained by looking at it was that Hermione would be hard-pressed to deny what was printed in black and white. The parchment had everyone's names on it, the date, the time, the incantation, and even the purpose of the bond, which is what caught Hermione's attention.
"I was used to bring the Order of the Phoenix together?" She asked softly.
"Well, yes." Edward said. "The original spell keeping us together was broken that night and we had no other solution."
"Of course you had other solutions!" Hermione yelled. "There is always another solution."
"Not in magic. You have to look extremely hard to find the answers." Jane said solemnly. "It's a miracle we thought of this solution with the limited time we had. Believe us when we say it wasn't an easy decision." Hermione gave her mother a look of distaste. Jane pressed on. "It was the only reason we got out of there alive. Death Eaters were in the house, searching for any survivors to wipe out."
"What are Death Eaters?" Hermione asked.
Jane looked at Edward for a fleeting moment before turning back to her daughter. "If you keep an open mind about magic, then we'll tell you."
"I can't." Hermione said. "Magic isn't real."
"My god, woman!" I exclaimed. "If magic wasn't real, none of us would be here right now."
"Prove. It."
Before Edward or Jane could refute, I pulled my wand out of my pocket and aimed at a pillow on a nearby chair. "Expulso!"
The pillow exploded into a cloud of feathers and fabric that floated in midair for a few moments, drifting every which way. One of the feathers glided over to Hermione and she reached out to grab it. Twisting it around her fingers, she looked at me with a puzzled and slightly alarmed expression.
"How did you do that?"
"Magic." I said simply.
She looked over at her parents who had a much more calm appearance than she was expecting. Jane spoke up first. "We can't perform magic, Hermione, but we know that it exists. It's in your blood."
"You're saying that I can do that?" She asked carefully.
"With the right amount of practice, yes."
She looked back at me, licking her lips nervously before speaking. "You didn't put any explosives in the pillow or anything?"
I shook my head. "Couldn't if I tried. I'm too accident prone to handle anything of that caliber without injury."
That was the first time I saw Hermione Granger smile. It made her look almost human. Almost. I still hadn't forgiven her for treating magic as if it was something to laugh about. She directed her attention back to the feather in her hand and placed it down on the floor gingerly.
"I'm still skeptical." She confessed.
"It's better than ignorant." I countered.
She wrinkled her nose. "Why are you here, anyway? Why has it taken this long to bring up this bond?"
"That's our fault, sweetie." Jane said. Almost word for word, she explained what Remus told me yesterday evening. From the night that it all happened to present, she recounted the betrayal of Peter Pettigrew, the murder of my parents, and their choice to keep Hermione in the Muggle world. Only when they began to explain their reasoning for keeping her here did I gain interest since it was the only part of the tale I hadn't heard.
"We moved here to hide from Voldemort as soon as we heard what happened to the Potters. We told Dumbledore that we would no longer be coming to the Order meetings but were more than happy to help whenever we were needed as long as it meant we could stay with you. Then, on your fifth birthday, you showed the first signs of magic by blowing up your cake when your father pulled out the matches. It was that and many other little things that alerted us that you were a witch. We told Dumbledore that for your own protection, we wanted to keep you here. As the years went by, you still showed little outbursts of powerful magic that we couldn't control. By then, you had developed a mind of your own and rode them all off as odd occurrences and nothing else."
"So Aunt Bertha's hair catching on fire…"
"That was magic, yes."
"You set your aunt's hair on fire?" I asked in astonishment. "That's pretty impressive."
"Err, thanks, I guess."
"It's our fault that you're so closed off to the idea that magic exists. We should have told you early on, but we were too ignorant to do anything about it. We thought you were going to be just like us and had no reason to know about our past dealings with the Order. But apparently, fate had other plans for you." Jane bowed her head. "I'm sorry."
"Mum, it's not your fault. Maybe you're wrong and I can't do any magic."
"Oh you can do magic all right." Edward said.
"How is that possible if you two can't, then?"
"Sometimes magic skips the parents." Jane said. "It's more commonplace than you think. Two Muggle parents can have a magical child."
"But it makes no sense!"
"It doesn't have to." I said gently. All eyes turned to me. "Magic is one of those things that defy logic. It makes absolutely no sense to the average mind, but once you experience it for yourself, it's as though your whole world is backwards. You can only understand it if you live it."
"Dumbledore has appointed Harry to teach you anything you want to know about magic, Hermione." Jane said and I nodded. "He will teach you the basics as well as other skills pertaining to the craft. Any questions you have, he will answer."
Hermione turned to me and smirked as if it were a challenge. "If magic is real, then are vampires and werewolves, too?"
"Of course."
"What about bigfoot?"
"A hoax."
"Is abracadabra an actual spell?"
"No."
"Open sesame?"
"Don't be silly."
"What if I tried to use them on a person?"
"A few sparks would come out of your wand, probably, but nothing major."
"What kinds of spells are there?"
"Too many to name. You think of something, there's a spell to do it or make it easier to complete."
"What other magical things are there?"
"Potions, mindreading, divination, transfiguration, flying on broomsticks, charms, dragons, unique candies and practical jokes, the list goes on."
"Wait." She said, putting a hand up. "Did you say flying on broomsticks?"
I nodded.
"I am not flying on a thin piece of wood."
"Unfortunately, it's a necessity. You don't know how to fly, you're doomed."
She cocked an eyebrow. "You're bluffing."
"I don't bluff."
She huffed and turned to her parents. They were grinning. I couldn't help but feel accomplished.
"Sorry, Hermione, but this is out of our control." Jane said.
She ground her teeth together and twisted back to me. I looked at her with a smug smile and saw her get increasingly aggravated. "Since it seems like everyone is out to get me, I'll make you a deal. If you can get me to use one of those wand things without making a complete idiot of myself, then I'll believe what you're saying about magic."
"Fine." I said calmly. "We'll go to Ollivander's this weekend."
"What's Ollivander's?"
"A wand shop in Diagon Ally. He'll help your wand find you."
"Don't you mean help me find my wand?"
"Nope. The wand finds the wizard, not the other way around." She gave me an odd look. "Like I said, everything seems backwards."
"You're telling me…" She said, rubbing her temples.
"Great, now that we have that settled, to the reason that Harry's here." Edward said, rubbing his hands together.
Hermione turned to her father. "What do you mean? I thought Harry was here to teach me magic and reverse this bond."
"Not exactly." I said slowly.
"What haven't you told me?" She asked irately.
"Plenty." I said. "Apparently Voldemort heard of our bond and is trying to use it to his advantage."
"Voldemort's the bad guy, right?" I nodded. "So what does he want with our bond? The Order doesn't need it anymore, so it wouldn't do any harm if we lifted it."
"It may seem that way, but it's not that simple." I said gravely. "If Voldemort chooses to act on this, then he's going to try and transfer the bond to work on his followers, the Death Eaters. Since Remus used an older version of the spell, it has the same limitations. If one of us is to fall in love with another, the bond will be broken and transferred to the new pair. The Order thinks that Voldemort may send one of his followers to manipulate you into their clutches. If you fall in love with one of them, the bond that was made for the Order will be transferred to the Death Eaters and give them a very high advantage."
She nodded in understanding. "And since I've remained ignorant, I'm an easy target."
"Precisely."
"Why can't we just remove the bond now so that they'll never get a hold of it?" she asked skeptically.
"We could, but the bond gives us advantages, too. Since the bond is on the two of us, we work better together than apart. At least, that's what Dumbledore said."
"This Dumbledore guy seems to know a lot."
"He's the greatest wizard alive." I said fondly. "He's been my mentor since I… never mind. He's a very powerful wizard and has taught me a lot."
"You sound very fond of him." She said.
"I am. I trust him with my life. So when he says that it would be wise to keep the bond together until this is over, I believe him."
"Albus Dumbledore is a very wise wizard." Jane agreed.
"Well if this whole thing pans out, then what?" she asked. "Do we just go back to the way things were?"
"We can." I said. "If it's what we want in the end. But I think we should dwell on that when the time comes. For now, we need to prepare for what's happening at this moment. Voldemort could have someone here right now for all we know."
She nodded in agreement. "Okay."
"Fantastic! Now that we've gotten all of that out of the way, let's get Harry settled in." Edward said enthusiastically.
Hermione gave her father a wide-eyed look. "What?"
"Well we can't have Harry stay at a hotel when we've got a perfectly adequate loft over the garage." Edward said with a smile.
"He's going to be staying here?" She asked in shock.
"Apparently so." I said with a smile.
"But-"
"Hermione, your fiancée is going to be staying under our roof and that is final." Edward said with a wide grin. I snorted and Hermione let out a distasteful noise from her gaping mouth. "Go on and show him where he'll be staying, poppet."
"I will not!" She refuted.
"Hermione Jane, you will show Harry where he will be staying and that is final."
She groaned and got up, making a beeline for the doorway Jane had gone through to get the book. I quickly got to my feet and followed her. She moved pretty fast for someone who had just fainted. She led me through a narrow hallway and into a large kitchen decorated in oak countertops and state of the art technology that I had never seen in my life. I didn't have time to admire it, though, as she cruised directly through it and opened a door on the other side that lead outside. I inched through the door before it shut and saw we were in their side yard. A large expanse of pavement covered our path to a double door garage with an old net of some sort hanging just below a patio.
She moved to the side of the garage and I was quick to follow. There was a set of spiral stairs that led to a door near the roof. We ascended them and she pushed open the door letting herself in. I was right behind her and closed the door behind us as we stood inside the flat. She flipped a switch to her right and flooded the room with light. It revealed a medium-sized flat pre-decorated with oak furnishings and warm colored tapestries.
It wasn't much, but it was enough to suffice for my stay. There was a queen sized bed against the far wall covered with a wool blanket and a few ornate pillows. Just off to its right was a door that presumably led to a bathroom, but I couldn't be sure at first sight. The room created a small alcove in which a miniature kitchen with a few counters and a small metallic cupboard-looking thing were placed. A wardrobe was near me on my left directly parallel to the miniature kitchen with few sets of drawers for my clothes. The thing that interested me the most, though, was the large fireplace that was on mine and Hermione's right side, so close I could touch it.
I walked over to the brick fireplace and looked back at Hermione who now had her arms crossed over her chest and looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here.
"It's not much." She said evenly. "But it has all of your basic necessities."
She walked over to the room near the bed and tapped the door a few times. "This is the bathroom."
She turned and walked a few paces to the kitchen. She opened the metallic cupboard-thing and inside was a few bottles and cans. "The kitchen with a mini fridge stacked with soda and some other stuff that my parents like to drink. Butter-something."
"Butterbeer?" I asked excitedly.
She pulled out one of the glass bottles and read the label. "Yeah. You know it?"
"It's only the best drink on the face of the planet!"
She shrugged and put the bottle back in the "mini fridge" devise. It must be some Muggle machine designed to keep beverages from spoiling. She turned around, searching for something else to show me, but came up empty handed. She began to make her way to the door as she muttered, "Enjoy your stay at Chateau Granger."
"Wait!" I said as she began to turn the knob. She looked over at me with a bored expression. "Do you know if this fireplace is hooked up to the Floo network yet?"
"Excuse me?"
I sighed, forgetting that she still had much to learn about the Wizarding world. "Never mind, I'll ask your parents later."
She turned back around and opened the door to leave when I came up quickly next to her and placed my hand on her forearm, stopping her in her tracks. She turned and looked at me with a perplexed expression and I removed my hand from her arm, not realizing what I had done. I cleared my throat before speaking. "I'm sorry to inconvenience you, Hermione. I don't want you to think that I'm intruding or anything. This is all new to me, too."
Her expression softened a little. "It's fine I-I'm sorry for acting like a priss but it's not every day that a wizard shows up at your school and then your doorstep, claiming to be your fiancée and blowing up innocent pillows to prove himself."
I smiled a bit. "We both have a lot to learn from each other."
"That we do." She agreed. "Do wizards even know how to balance chemical equations?"
"Not at all." I said with a laugh. "I thought the professor was speaking in another language."
She chuckled. "Well perhaps I can save you from failing if it turns out you're telling the truth."
"It would be much appreciated."
"Good." She said with a nod. "Well, goodnight Harry. I'll see you in the morning."
"Goodnight Hermione." I replied.
She exited swiftly and I heard her feet colliding with the stairs as she descended. I walked a few steps to a nearby window facing the pavement and saw her fleeing toward the kitchen. I smiled softly and closed the velvet curtains before making my way to the bed. I sat down and sank into the soft mattress, letting myself fall backwards and staring up at the ceiling for a few moments, the events of the day finally sinking in.
Hermione Granger is a spitfire, that's for sure. I thought. I don't know how I'm going to go about teaching her magic. I have N.E.W.Ts to prepare for, my professors back at Hogwarts sending me notes and coursework to complete, I have to manage to get by in this weird Muggle school, and I have to teach a seventeen-year-old girl everything I know about magic before Voldemort shows up.
I picked up one of the pillows behind me and buried my face in its fluffy depths.
I was in way over my head.
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