Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I don't make money off my writing. Some scenes taken from Order of the Phoenix.
Chapter 23
Holidays
9 Nov
That Friday, after dinner, the trio had decided to go see Hagrid. Luna went with them, since she was rarely apart from Ron these days. The chilly fall air made it clear the seasons had changed.
"Wonder where he went?" Ron said.
"Don't ask him!" Hermione scolded.
"I probably won't have to." Ron shrugged, "He's not very good at keeping secrets."
Harry and Luna exchanged a look. It was more fun to watch Ron and Hermione argue now that he had a fellow spectator, Harry thought. His eyes wandered over the grounds, from the chill water of the lake to the autumn foliage of the forbidden forest. Hogwarts was home to him, more than Privett drive ever had been and more than Grimmauld, although Sirius' home was coming to feel like home to him, even though he hadn't spent much time there. He glanced at Hermione, with her jumper against the cold, her curly hair tied back in a loose tail, some tendrils always escaping to be blown around her face. Home was wherever Hermione was. She caught his thought and gave him a smile, provoking a return smile from him.
They reached Hagrid's door and knocked. The half-giant opened the door, looking like he'd been in a fight.
"Harry, Hermione, Ron!" Hagrid said, "Good ter see ya! Luna, you've never come visiting with these three before."
"I never really had friends before." Luna said, "Now I do and I've decided I rather like it."
"Well that's good, then." Hagrid said, "Want some tea?"
"Yes, please." Hermione answered, ignoring Hagrid's injuries.
Hagrid brought out some tea with his infamous rock cakes. Ron tried to catch Luna's eye to warn her about them.
"So how are ya?" Hagrid said, "It seems like forever since I've seen ya."
"It has been awhile." Harry said, "We missed you at the start of term. I'm surprised the firsties made it to the castle without you. I had to save one from falling in the water."
"Didja?" Hagrid laughed, "That reminds me of little Dennis Creevey. There's often one of the little ones that falls in. You'd think they were told to on the train or somethin'. As for why I wasn't there… well, I was on a mission for Dumbledore. You know how that is."
"Of course." Hermione said, "You don't have to say any more."
"Well, I wadn't gonna." Hagrid said, "I'm not supposed to tell anyone about my trip to talk to the Giants. Errr…I did it again, didn't I?"
"You did." Hermione agreed, "That's ok, though, we won't tell anyone. Now you can just keep the rest to yourself. We won't even ask how you got beat up."
"Good, because I'm not plannin' to tell yers about my brother Grawp." Hagrid said.
"Grawp?" Ron asked.
"No, I'm not gonna tell you!" Hagrid said.
"That's ok," Harry said, "we don't need to know, we're just glad you got back safe."
"Yeah, me and Grawp got back safe as can be." Hagrid said, "What about yerselfs?"
"I've been busy learning to duel." Harry said, "Working on that every spare minute I can. I think I've gotten pretty good."
"Yer dad was real good." Hagrid said, "Really good. He took a lot of joy in it. I think yer mom would have been good, too, but she never seemed to care much for it."
They continued making conversation and trying to surreptitiously hide the rock cakes they weren't eating. It was a normal evening at Hagrid's hut and the trio felt better for making the effort. Nobody could tell what Luna thought, but she seemed to enjoy Hagrid's company.
They wandered back to the castle.
"Psst, Ron." Harry whispered on the way back, catching Ron while Hermione and Luna were discussing runes, "Hermione and I are going to spend the night in the Room of Requirement. I don't think it'll come up, but if someone notices I'm not there, cover for me, ok?"
"Wait," Ron said, "you've been doing that a lot lately. Why don't I get to use it?"
"You and Luna?" Harry asked.
"Of course," Ron said, "who else?"
"Oh." Harry said, "Well, why don't we both use it? If we make up beds with curtains and use silencing charms, there's still plenty of privacy. We'll just tell Neville to cover if anyone notices."
"Good idea." Ron said, "Neville better not be using it."
They walked up to the Gryffindor common room and sat down next to Neville and Gin.
"Hey, Nev." Ron said, "Wanna play chess?"
"What?" Neville said, "Oh, sure, Ron."
They were playing while Harry studied Runes with Hermione and Luna. Once Ron saw the other three were deeply absorbed he whispered to Neville.
"Nev, we're going to spend the night in the DA practice room. If anyone comes looking for us, cover. Ok?"
"Sure, Ron." Neville said, calmly moving a piece.
Before curfew, they got together and glanced at the Marauder's Map. The way to the room of requirement was clear. They opened up the portrait and walked the short distance to the tapestry of Barnabas. Hermione thought of a room with two large four poster beds with curtains, a small sitting room, and a loo, all completely inaccessible to others, while she paced. A door appeared and they all slipped inside.
Hermione whispered to Luna, "You know about the power boost if you abstain until the marriage ceremony?"
"Oh, yes." Luna said, "That's why I let him take my bum."
Hermione giggled and eventually Luna dropped her completely serious expression and joined in.
"What are they laughing about?" Ron asked.
"No idea." Harry shrugged.
Ron pulled out a bottle of firewhiskey.
"I've been saving this. I wanted to bring it out after the game last weekend, celebrate my first win, you know? Then the Malfoy thing happened and we didn't get a chance. I thought we might open it tonight. Celebrate the game, the new DA dueling, life… what do you think?"
"I don't have anywhere to be." Harry said, "Hermione?"
She would have never thought about breaking the rules to that extent two years ago and might have hesitated even last year, but now she just shrugged.
"You're only young once." She said, "Besides, I remember the hangover cure charm. I just have to be sober enough to cast it."
"If not, D-O-B-B-Y will bring us some." Harry said, carefully not thinking of needing him now.
They uncorked the bottle of Ogden's Finest and passed it around. Everyone laughed as the others took drinks out of the bottle and coughed.
"Smoooth." Hermione laughed.
"Where did you get it?" Harry asked, several minutes later.
"The twins gave it to me." Ron replied, "When they found out I'd made the team."
"The twins gave it to you?" Hermione asked, sitting up straighter, "Shit, Ron, why didn't you tell us that?"
"Well, we're all still in our usual forms." Luna observed, "I feel pretty good."
Without hesitation, they passed the bottle around again.
The two couples started making out on the couches. Harry thought it was kind of hot to be snogging right next to Ron and Luna. Obviously, Hermione did too, because she was kissing him passionately. He thought he was never going to be able to extinguish his school uniform fetish after seven straight years of reinforcement, especially the last year of rewards. He kissed Hermione's neck while inching his hand up the side of her thigh, slipping it under her skirt. She let him and he could tell through the bond it made her even hotter. He wondered how much he could get away with. He slid it further up and felt the edge of her cotton knickers. She had decided to wear some tonight. She hadn't during the DA practice, which could have been a problem if she'd lost. He knew he'd seen enough knickers when girls had been stunned or knocked down during duels. It was a nice side effect of the coed practice. He thought if they kept wearing their skirts to practice after the first dueling session, it would be pretty clear they didn't mind, because they'd have to be clueless not to have noticed.
"It was motivation not to lose." She whispered, following his thoughts, "Made it so much better. Why do you think I was so hot afterwards?"
"Dueling by itself doesn't do that to you?"
"Good point." She said, smiling against his mouth.
Harry traced the seam of her knickers up and over her thigh. She moaned into his mouth as he reached the front and the knickers got decidedly damp. He gently rubbed circles over the cotton, pushing them against her bare flesh. He continued kissing her deeply. Luna's moaning voice behind Hermione made him wonder what Ron was doing, but he didn't wonder long, too absorbed in what he was doing. He slipped his fingers under the seam and felt Hermione's moisture against his fingers. She pushed her tongue harder against his while she ground against his hand. He loved the feeling of her skin and decided he was tired of working around her panties, so he started to pull them down.
"They'll see." She said into his ear.
"So?"
"So." Hermione insisted, "Are you a wizard or not?"
Harry thought a minute and then smiled to himself. With a thought, he wandlessly vanished her knickers, which were even simpler than a snail.
"I knew you'd figure it out." Hermione purred, "I love it when you do the advanced magic."
"Ah, that's the real reason." Harry said, "You didn't mind if they saw, did you?"
"No." Hermione admitted.
"I'd vanish your bra, too." Harry whispered, "If you were wearing one."
She chuckled at that, still grinding against his hand.
"You love that, don't you?" she whispered.
"I do."
They both heard Luna's voice.
"Oh, Ronnie, if you unbutton my shirt, Harry might see."
Ron growled at that, curiously muffled.
Hermione quirked an eyebrow upward at that.
'Well, if you want to look, look.' She said in his head, 'She wouldn't have said that if he didn't get off on the idea, at least a little bit.'
Harry glanced over at Luna. She smiled at him and winked. Ron's face was buried in her chest as he slowly unbuttoned her shirt. Luna wasn't heavily endowed, but Ron didn't seem to care.
"Ron, you'd better stop, he's looking!" Luna sang out, her eyes locked with Harry's. He could feel Hermione unbuttoning his trousers below her.
Ron ignored Luna's warning and pulled her white shirt over her shoulders, baring her breasts, where he continued sucking and licking. Her silver and blue tie was still around her neck, draped over Ron's shoulder.
'Who knew Ron would be an exhibitionist?' Hermione said in Harry's mind.
'Are you kidding?' Harry responded, 'It's part of the jealousy thing. He's jealous, so he wants to show off what he has. I think he gets off on the jealousy thing, too.'
'Probably.' Hermione agreed, 'He probably doesn't realize we've seen it before.'
'Not that I mind.' Harry said, 'They are nice.'
Hermione growled and tried to yank his pants down. He winked at her and with a gesture, was completely naked except for Hermione's skirt that still covered his pelvis. She growled, even more aroused at his demonstration of more wandless magic.
"Look what you've started." Luna said, matter-of-factly, "Harry's completely naked."
"He's what?" Ron said, pulling his face away from Luna's breast, "Bloody hell, he is. I guess I'm behind."
Harry woke up feeling like he'd run hundred miles the night before. He was chafed and had a distant ache in his groin. He was a bit warm, like he'd fallen asleep with the fireplace stoked too high. He soon realized why when he felt Hermione blanketing him from above and Luna tucked into his side. He could see Ron spooned against Luna over her blonde head.
"Guys?" he said quietly, trying to think of what had happened.
"Go back to sleep." Hermione said.
"I think you might want to wake up." Harry said, shaking her a bit.
"Why?" Hermione asked.
"Because we're not alone."
Hermione looked up, "Bloody hell. It wasn't a dream, was it?"
They were all in a single huge four poster bed where the sofas had been the night before. They each remembered the night before perfectly, but it was hard to understand how they'd become such exhibitionists.
"Was it the whiskey?" Harry whispered.
"I don't think so." Hermione answered, "We didn't have that much. I still remember everything perfectly and my head doesn't hurt. I've never had whiskey before, but I imagined it would take more. Hold on, hand me my wand and the whiskey."
She leaned up on an elbow, holding the sheets to her chest and waved it over the whiskey bottle while murmuring incantations.
"It had an inhibition lowering potion mixed in with the firewhiskey." She stated flatly, "They work best when mixed with alcohol."
"I'm going to kill them." Ron moaned.
"Eh." Harry said, "I'm not that worried about it. We'll think of something good to get them. For now, I think we should just tell 'em we drank it and not let on that anything funny happened at all. That'll burn them the most."
"Good idea." Ron said, "Meanwhile, I'll come up with something good to get them back. Between my strategy and Hermione's brains, they'll be sorry they messed with us."
Hermione nodded. "Great idea, Ron. Now turn over. I want to put my clothes back on."
Luna stood up and walked over to where their clothes were, not wearing a stitch. "I'll get them. I was headed to the loo anyway."
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10 Nov
They spent the day catching up on school work and relaxing. The Black Isle Crew spent some more time in the Room of Requirement dueling, which was becoming as much of an addiction for Harry as chess always had been for Ron and about as much fun for his opponents.
That night, after working on occlumency as a group, with Harry and Hermione using legilimency to help the others build up their barriers, the couples all split up to go to sleep. Harry and Hermione were constantly using their bond now, it was like second nature, so they no longer had to formally practice with it. It was almost fully formed and in constant use, with only one barrier left between them, only one thing they hadn't yet shared.
Harry had a dream. He could immediately tell it was an attempt to impose a dream from the outside, because it set off alarms as Voldemort pushed through their connection and broke the false barrier. Harry strengthened the subtle barrier while trying to keep his true barriers invisible.
An image of a long hall, seen from a very low level, was sent through. Harry could easily see it through the filter of the subtle barrier, while not feeling the full force of the dream. He sent back feelings of unease similar to those he'd felt at previous dreams. Given that his memories were perfectly organized, he just copied the feeling he'd felt before and fed it back over the link. He continued to watch the image as it got closer and closer to a door, which somehow felt significant. Then he felt the link cut off, knowing Voldemort was done sending for the night.
'Do you think he could tell there was still a barrier in the way?' Hermione sent over their link.
'I didn't feel it if he did.' Harry replied.
'Me, either.' Hermione said, 'I guess we won't know until whatever happens. What did it mean?'
'I don't know.' Harry said.
'Me, either.' Hermione replied, 'Maybe it will get clearer with time.'
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12 Nov
Harry walked up to the gargoyle guarding Dumbledore's office stair and it moved out of the way automatically, as it had since he'd been made an apprentice. Harry rode the stairs upward.
"Good evening, Harry!"
"Good evening, Albus." Harry said, still self-conscious calling the Headmaster by his first name, even in private.
"What I'd like to work on today," Dumbledore said, "is the ability to control how much of your magic you release into any given spell or magical effect. You have already made some progress in this area, doing it unthinkingly when you needed to, for example pushing more of your magic into your physical abilities under the tutelage of Mr. Ashdowne. I will work with you so it is first a conscious ability and then with constant practice, you will grow proficient enough to do it without thinking.
"First, I want you to enter a deep meditative state, such as you have learned to do with occulomency."
Harry took a deep breath, like he did before duels, and quickly dropped to his center, already well-practiced at this skill.
"Now I want you to cast a simple lumos spell and hold it. Allow me into your mind and I will help you find your magical core. You will be able to see and feel, although both words are somewhat too limited for what you are actually doing, your magic leaving your core, through your nervous system, through your wand, and into the light. Then you can practice narrowing that channel or widening it. Limiting the amount of magic you allow through or expanding it."
"Lumos." Harry said and his wand lit up with its usual light.
Dumbledore silently entered Harry's mind, Harry allowing him through the shields. Albus pointed out Harry's core and let him follow the path of the magic from his core to his wand and out into the world. Harry tried to close the channel slightly, but overshot and the light disappeared.
"That is quite all right, my boy." Albus said, "Cast and try again."
"Lumos." Harry said, trying over and over until he could dim the light to almost invisible. Then he tried the opposite, opening the conduit until the light blazed out like a searchlight.
"Very good, Harry." Dumbledore said, "I want you to do that as often as you can. I want that sensation to become second nature. Now, I want you to practice the same thing with the piercing charm. I have set up a target lane here with strong wards protecting my office, so do not worry you will damage anything. We will start with a piece of parchment. I want you to cast the weakest piercing charm you can. We will repeat until you can dent, but not pierce the parchment."
Harry already had the general sense from his work with the lumos spell, but the piercing charm was more active and required its own quick learning curve. After several attempts, he managed to hold back all but the minimal amount of magic needed to dent the paper.
"Very good. Now enough to pierce this thin plank of wood." Albus said.
Harry slowly stepped up his spell until he put a neat hole in the board.
"Good, good." Albus praised, "Now this thick post."
Harry was able to quickly increase to be able to put a hole in the post. With his abundant strength, it was harder for him to hold back than it was to increase his output.
"Now, I want you to increase significantly and hit this iron plate." Dumbledore said with a grin.
Harry duplicated his level of power he'd used with the searchlight and with a ringing sound he put a hole in the plate.
"Good!" Dumbledore said, "Keep working on that skill with all of your spells when you are training. In the dorms, please limit your use to lumos and similar benign spells. Please do not blind anyone! Experiment. Widen the beam of the lumos and narrow it. Change the colors."
"Thank you, Albus."
"You are very welcome, Harry. It is a pleasure to work with an eager student."
Harry hurried to Gryffindor tower to show Hermione what he had learned and see what she had worked on. They usually managed to teach each other something after each separate session.
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13 Nov
Tuesday evening, Harry, Hermione, and Ron walked to the dueling room together. Professor Flitwick met them with Tonks and Remus with him.
"Hello, Harry!" Flitwick said, "Hello, Hermione, hello Ronald."
"Hi, cub." Remus said grinning.
"Wotcher, Harry, Hermione!" Tonks said, also smiling. "Who is this?"
"Hey, this is quite the crowd!" Harry said, really happy to see his uncle and his favorite auror. He grabbed Remus in a hug, something Hermione was teaching him to enjoy more and more.
"What, none for me?" Tonks asked, looking put-upon.
"Ok, one for you, too." Harry said, grabbing the little auror in his arms and swinging her around while she laughed. He set her down carefully. "This is Ron. Ron, Tonks. She's an auror."
"Hi, Tonks." Ron waved.
"Hermione, how have you been?" Remus asked.
"Good, Remus, what about you?" Hermione said, giving him a hug.
"I've got my moments." He said, smiling despite the tired look on his face.
Hermione shared a head nod with Tonks.
"Now that you've all made your greetings," Flitwick said, "I want to get started. We have a lot to work on. Albus told me what he'd worked on with you last night. I assume you taught Miss Granger the trick?"
"Of course." Harry said.
"I've only had the chance to work on it with the lumos spell." Hermione quickly added.
"That's fine. We're going to spend all our drilling time working on it with various attack spells." Filius explained, "The dummies will pop up either green, yellow, or red. Green get minimal powered attacks, yellow normally powered attacks, red should be hit with maximally powered attacks. Any questions?"
They spent the next hour hitting target dummies with variously powered spells. It was a bit of a shock when Hermione had hit the first red dummy. She unleashed a maximally powered reductor with the full force of her massive core behind it. It was vaporized with only a wisp of smoke rising where it had been.
"Good one, Hermione!" Harry called, before vaporizing his own red dummy.
Maximally powered spells were fun and impressive, making it an enjoyable hour of work, although it was tiring.
"Ok, now I want you to learn to duel multiple opponents." Flitwick told Harry, "You'll be facing Remus and Tonks together. I don't necessarily expect you to win, but I encourage you to do your best."
Harry nodded and began psyching himself up. He was working very hard to push himself to his utmost. His goal was to win every fight, because only that level of effort would be enough to prepare him for the fight against Voldemort, whenever that was destined to happen.
They lined up and Harry focused as deeply as he ever had, dropping deep into his center. He bowed to his two opponents. They saluted and he began as quickly as he could, knowing only his fastest speed would give him a chance at all. He unleashed two maximal reductors, throwing himself to the side the instant the second left his wand. Several stunners struck where he had been milliseconds before.
Remus shielded, but his shield shattered at the powerful curse and he was instantly knocked out. Tonks chose to dodge instead and was successful, but the shockwave from the two reductors hitting so closely together threw her farther than she'd intended and she skidded along the ground, not having a chance to recover before Harry fired off a chain of stunners, hitting her and ending the fight almost before it began.
Flitwick had a strange look on his face as he woke the two older duelists.
"Should we take a break?" Filius asked.
"If they need it." Harry said flatly, "I'm ready."
Harry dueled with Remus and Tonks for two hours, barely eking out victories each time. His demeanor never changed, he didn't grow more confident because there was no emotion. He was flat so long as the Machine was in charge.
Hermione and Ron watched closely as Harry dueled. Ron took notes in a special shorthand that resembled Quidditch diagrams, noting where each duelist started, where they moved, what spells they cast, how they countered. They planned to coach Harry with anything they picked up, Hermione in the area of spell use and Ron in the area of strategy and tactics, although Harry had a pretty impressive intuitive grasp of tactics, which he had shown over and over throughout their years at Hogwarts.
After the fighting, the three friends left, walking back to Gryffindor tower together. Meanwhile, the adults remained behind to discuss.
"Well, a bit hard on the ego to lose to a fifth year." Tonks said, "Boy is bloody good!"
"We knew that." Remus said, "I'm a little worried about him. He wasn't himself."
"I understand why you're worried." Filius said, "However, I don't think you should be concerned. He was normal before the duel, wasn't he? It was only during that he changed?"
Remus thought for a moment and then nodded.
"That's the same thing I've been noticing. He's been making the transition more and more quickly and completely as we've been working together. I think that's what the muggles would call his 'game face'. It's what I call his 'fight mind'. When his mind is in the right place, his emotions seem really muted. Again, I don't think it's anything to worry about."
"Have you ever seen a boy this good?" Tonks asked, "I know I haven't seen any aurors at this level, at least none I've seen."
"Boys usually aren't trained to this degree." Filius said, "We've taken a boy who's exceptionally gifted with magical talent and physical talent. He's bonded to the smartest witch we've seen here at Hogwarts in decades, a girl who has only been matched by Dumbledore or Tom Riddle. He grew up abused from everything I can piece together, which tends to make children hypervigiliant, a bad thing for them socially, but a very good trait in a duelist. To that we've added all the training money can buy. He's received professional sports level magical physical training with additional magical enhancement by McGonagall and Dumbledore, two of the premier transfigurers in the world. He's received entry level auror training by the best auror trainer of this generation. He's receiving dueling training by a former dueling champion with the best opponents I can trust. He's apprenticed to the most powerful wizard alive who's decided the boy is like a grandson, so he'll stop at nothing to teach him what he needs to know. So, no, I've never even imagined a boy able to do what this boy does regularly, but I don't think there's ever been a boy like Harry. The question is, what else can we do? I'm glad he's refusing to lose, it means he's taking it seriously, but I want to push him to the point where he can't win anymore."
"Is money really no object?" Remus asked.
"You tell me." Flitwick said, returning the werewolf's stare, "Would Sirius give every penny of his fortune to train his Godson?"
"Yeah, stupid question." Remus said, shaking his head, "Sirius thinks the sun rises and sets on that boy and he's busy trying to make up for not being there for so many years. He'll pay what needs to be paid if it will help. I was going to suggest that you go to the current top tier duelists in the circuit and offer them money to practice with Harry. Maybe make up a story and disguise him so it's not clear who they're training. He'll get top quality opponents that way."
"That's definitely an idea. If we couch it correctly, we may not even have to pay that much, since top quality duelists are always looking for top quality sparring partners." Filius said, thinking through it, "Let me discuss it with Albus and we'll have a plan."
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The rest of the term passed, with Harry and Hermione continuing to excel in their regular Hogwarts courses, but putting the vast majority of their time into their mastery work and their extracurricular activities. Ron and Hermione once again made a dream team coaching Harry, this time for dueling instead of the Tri-Wizard tournament. Ron was able to analyze Harry's strengths and see how he tended to win tournaments, quickly crafting strategies to play to his strengths. Hermione expanded Harry's spell repertoire and recommended additional uses of his visualization magic. Meanwhile Harry focused with a single-minded intensity that he usually reserved for the end of the year crisis that seemed to happen every year at Hogwarts.
Dumbledore continued working with Harry, teaching him more ancient magics and helping him develop proficiency with the visualization magic. Harry turned out to have quite a knack for it, given his instinctive abilities it just fit his style. While he was developing more of an academic, practiced side which he learned from Hermione, at heart he was still an off-the-cuff master of practical magic when the chips were down, traits that meshed well with creating spell effects from pure power and imagination.
Dumbledore's Army continued to train, Harry growing more and more proficient at teaching with experience. The dueling portion was very popular, giving everybody motivation to improve and keeping them from learning defense in anything but the most practical way, because any impractical learning was quickly weeded out on the dueling strip at the end of meetings. Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad were growing more and more aggressive about searching for "rogue student groups", which really meant they were hunting for Dumbledore's Army. The Inquisitorial Squad stayed just under Dumbledore's notice, not doing anything blatant enough to incur his wrath, but getting closer and closer to that line constantly. Harry spent a lot of time with the Marauder's Map, making sure all the DA members made it back to their dorms after meetings without being caught. The experience was good for the DA, bringing them even closer together and serving as a practical team-building exercise as they learned how to work together against a common foe under stressful conditions. They even began to socialize together, planning an end-of-term party to celebrate the holidays before leaving for home.
Harry continued dueling. Every minute of every day that he wasn't otherwise occupied with schoolwork, Quidditch, or Hermione, he was seeking out the professors and opponents Flitwick had arranged for him to fight. He fought Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Bill, Severus, Filius alone or in pairs, although he'd never had to face Filius or Snape in a multiple opponent setting. He continued winning, using his extreme speed, reflexes, and powerful magic to beat his opponents. He had reached the point where he could win against any two of his regular opponents. He could battle Filius or Severus to a draw, winning as often as he lost.
He continued to have the strange nightmares, glimpsed at a distance through this insulation of his hidden mental barriers. Each was similar, an image of a long hallway glimpsed from a low perspective, as if he were crawling along the floor. In each dream, he crept closer to the door before the sending ended. Each time he woke, glad he had the mental barriers to insulate him from the dream, because even seen at a remove, they were somehow disturbing.
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Dec 18
The DA Christmas party arrived. They'd summoned the Room of Requirement with a party in mind and the door had opened to a very schizophrenic room, surprisingly perfect for a teenage party. There were several quiet dark corners with comfortable sofas for those who wanted to make out. In the middle was a dance floor with a rotating wizarding disco ball that made interesting lighting effects. One whole side of the room was taken up by couches arranged to facilitate conversation, well-lit unlike the smaller, darker make-out nooks. Nearby was a self-service bar with endless butterbeer, pumpkin juice, and a few bottles of firewhiskey.
"Wow, Harry…" Fred said.
"…you sure know how to throw a party!" George finished, "But we would have thought you might be…"
"…reluctant to try firewhiskey again." Fred laughed.
Harry kept a straight face and looked the twins in the eye. "Why is that, fellas?"
They looked back at him, confused. He looked at them with the same straight face.
"I sure hope you didn't try to play a prank that might have affected Hermione." Harry said, "I sure wouldn't want to make her mad. She knows more hexes than a whole squad of aurors. Besides, if you somehow managed to embarrass her with a prank…well, trust me, you don't want that."
"No, we don't want that…." George agreed.
"…we're just going to go over here and see what Hermione's up to, maybe apologize in case anything might have happened." Fred finished, edging away from Harry.
Cho walked in with Cedric, looking beautiful in a red silk dress in a vaguely Chinese style. Cedric wore a pair of wool slacks and a simple sweater, but was as handsome as always.
"You guys look great!" Hermione said.
"You, too, Hermione." Cho said, looking at the younger girl in green velvet dress, chestnut hair cascading over her back in barely controlled curls, "Where's Harry?"
"He was talking to the twins earlier." Hermione said, "They seem to be headed over here, oh, there he is!"
Luna was sitting on Ron's lap, listening contentedly while he described to Seamus in vivid detail exactly how he'd held off the Slytherin chasers to win the first match of the year. She'd heard the same story verbatim at least 20 times, but she enjoyed seeing Ron so confident. She was thinking she might try to pull him out on the dance floor, where Ginny was dancing with Neville, reminding her of the Yule Ball a year ago, when the shy Gryffindor had shown how much he enjoyed dancing.
Zacharias Smith was hitting on Marietta, who seemed to be lapping up the attention.
"Can I get a picture, Hermione?" Colin said, looking at her and the Weasley twins.
"Of course, Colin." Hermione said, smiling, "Just remember to get one of me and Harry later. Maybe we can put copies of all your pictures up?"
Hermione posed with one of the twins on each side of her. Colin took a picture and then wandered on.
"Where were we, boys?" Hermione asked, "Oh, yeah, you were asking if anything embarrassing had happened to me recently. No, why?"
"We just wanted to be sure…" George said.
"…that no prank intended for our little brother accidentally backfired on anyone else." Fred finished, "I have the feeling…"
"…pranking you might be hazardous to our health." George continued, "You and Harry are scary with a wand."
"Thank you!" Hermione said, dimpling cutely, "No, nothing embarrassing that I can recall. Would you like a cookie?" she offered, holding out a plate she'd been eating from.
"Um, no, I don't think so." Both twins said, drifting away.
Hermione subtly smudged out a rune array charcoaled on the floor as they walked off, happily whistling the mission impossible theme song to herself, knowing the twins wouldn't recognize it even if they heard it.
Terry Boot was chatting with Michael Corner about how he was going to dominate the dueling contests next term. Michael nodded along, waiting for the opportunity to talk about how he too was going to dominate.
Meanwhile, Justin Finch-Fletchley was dancing with Susan Bones, almost as lost in each other as Nev and Gin were.
Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet were talking Quidditch while Lee Jordan listened attentively. Fred and George walked up and the entire group started laughing.
"Forget something, Fred?"
He looked down at himself, "No, why? Was I supposed to bring something?"
The girls all laughed again, while Lee looked away.
The twins looked at each other, confused.
George pulled out his wand and cast some detection charms on his brother, "Revelio!"
"I don't see anything, brother." George said.
"I…I… I don't either!" Angelina said, bracing herself on Katie, who could hardly breathe.
Colin walked up to the group, "Can I take a pict…whoa!"
"Take the picture, Colin!" Alicia said.
"Ok, if you say so." Colin said, his eyes wide. He snapped a picture of the three girls gathered around a confused looking Fred and George Weasley.
"That's one for the scrapbook!" Katie finally said, during a pause in her laughing.
The twins drifted away, disgruntled.
"Maybe it wasn't a good idea to play a prank that might have gotten Harry or Hermione." They grumbled together.
"Hey, Colin!" Harry called. Colin, always one of his biggest fans, hurried over.
"Hi, Harry!" Colin said with a huge smile, "Want me to take a picture of you and Hermione?"
"Yep!" Harry said, grinning. He pulled Hermione even closer to him as she clung to his side, purposefully pulling her velvet dress up enough so a tiny hint of the lace bands of her thigh highs could be seen.
"Harry!" she said, also grinning.
"That'll be a great one, guys!" Colin said, giving them both a thumbs up.
"Are we late to the party?" a loud grandfatherly voice rang out.
"I heard there might be an illegal dueling club we needed to disband!" said a short man.
"But all I see." Professor McGonagall added, "Is a student holiday party. Ah, how rumors get started, I'll never know."
"Headmaster!" Harry said, hurrying over, "Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick! I'm so pleased you could drop by!"
"We are thrilled to have been invited, my boy." Dumbledore said, "Looking around, I have to guess that Professor Umbridge's invitation was misplaced?"
There was general laughter.
"We should have a picture taken!" Hermione said, "All of the DA with Dumbledore!"
They all gathered together and posed for a picture with the Headmaster. Colin set up a tripod and ran to get in the picture. With a blast of smoke, the flash went off.
At the end of the night, after trying desperately to figure out why everyone kept laughing at them, the twins finally approached Hermione.
"Ok, we admit it…" George started.
"…you got us somehow, but we can't figure out how." Fred continued.
"Our revealing spells show nothing." George finished.
"That's the only thing that shows nothing." Hermione said, giggling, "We masked the spell heavily to keep you from finding it and removing it. It's just a little glamour spell that turns your clothing invisible to everyone but you two."
"Everyone?" they shouted together, eyes wide.
"I danced with Professor McGonagall." Fred said, looking pale.
"Ok, it excluded you two, everyone over age 20, and anyone under age 12." Hermione said, grinning, "We used a variant of the magic Headmaster Dumbledore used for the 'age line' around the Goblet to do that portion. It was tricky bit of charm work, but given that we knew the Professor's would be by, I thought it was essential."
"How do we cancel it?" the twins asked, while holding their hands in front of them.
"If you apologize to me, Harry, Luna, and Ron, it will be cancelled automatically." Hermione said.
"We're very sorry, Hermione!" the twins said in unison, before rushing towards Harry, their backs to each other and their hands over their groins. Everyone who noticed they had finally realized laughed at their predicament.
Harry walked over to Hermione and chuckled with her about their prank on the twins.
Luna walked by, looking upward. "Mistletoe." She said, in her absentminded way, pointing upward and bringing both of their attention to a sprig above the couple as she passed them.
Hermione shrugged, "Wouldn't want to ignore it. Bad luck, y'know?"
They kissed, a sweet and gentle but passionate kiss. Neither noticed when Colin took another picture as many of the girls in DA sighed at how cute they were together.
The party broke up. Harry organized the DA members into groups by House and dispatched them at intervals while watching the Marauder's Map. Once everyone was safely back to their common rooms, The Black Isle Crew hurried to the Gryffindor common room, avoiding the random inquisitor patrols.
"They're getting closer." Ron noted once they were safe, "Umbitch really wants to catch us, huh?"
"I think she does." Harry said, "Would you mind continuing to work out some contingencies, Ron?" Harry said, "I keep hoping we can stay a step ahead of her, but she has a lot of resources behind her. I can tell she even makes Dumbledore nervous and that's saying something."
"Will do, Harry." Ron said, "What are you and Hermione doing this Holiday?"
"We're going to spend part of it with her family, part with Sirius, and we wondered if we might all spend part of it at the Burrow?" Harry said, "I don't want to impose, but I feel like your mum might miss us if we didn't show."
"She would be angry at me if I didn't insist you come sometime, Mate." Ron said, "Christmas dinner at the Burrow is always a big deal, you know that."
Harry gave him a thankful smile. The Weasleys really were becoming a family to him, as were the Grangers, as was Sirius. It was like his family was coming together.
Hermione could feel the warmth that the thought of Christmas with his strangely extended family sparked in Harry and she smiled, too.
"Thanks, Ron." Hermione said, "Be sure to owl us your mum's plans after you talk to her. We should all get together somewhere, whether it's the Burrow or Grimmauld. We'll talk to my parents and to Sirius and make some plans, ok?"
"Ok, Hermione." Ron said, smiling at the girl. "Goodnight, then."
Ron walked up to the boy's dormitory.
Harry sat with Hermione for a while, initially practicing occlumency vs legilimency against each other, then snogging after they'd determined their multiple layers of shields were in good order.
"Goodnight, 'Mione." Harry said, "The party went well, didn't it?"
"It did, Harry." Hermione said, "The DA has turned out better than I could have hoped."
"I couldn't have done it without you." Harry said.
"No, you couldn't." Hermione said, the corner of her mouth quirking upward, "But we're a package deal now. You haven't had to face your challenges alone for the last 4 years and I'm not going to let you start now."
Harry smiled at that, knowing in his deepest heart it was true. He would never be alone again, because if she died, he would die. He couldn't help it, but kissed her again, falling back into several minutes of gentle snogging before the parted to go to their beds. It was still a few nights from end of term and parting and they planned to spend some of those nights in each other's' bed, but they tried not to make it every night, for fear of being caught.
He watched as Hermione walked up her staircase, then he turned to walk up his. Harry laid his head on his pillow after putting his wand under it and swiftly fell asleep, his occlumency practice having purged any backlog of thoughts that would have kept him awake.
Partway through the night, he felt the same odd sent dream come to him, again at a remove as he viewed it through the protection of his subtle wall. Voldemort pierced the false wall and sent the vision into Harry's mind. Harry reinforced his main barrier, while allowing just a wisp of his mind out from behind its protection to see the sent vision. Again, his viewpoint changed to an odd, low set position. His body felt different, smooth and powerful, but without the arms and legs he was accustomed to. He moved by pushing his body against the smooth floor, undulating along the hallway. It was dark, but he could see in vibrant colors. The familiar corridor at first appeared to be empty, but he could see a sleeping man, sitting in a chair, seeming to guard the door at the end of the hallway. With his strange senses, he could smell the man's scent, strangely familiar somehow.
Harry could feel a faint impulse to bite the man, but at such a strong remove he only felt it as an academic knowledge that his host wanted to bite the man. His host mastered the impulse, focusing on some overriding task and began to slither past the chair, but the man stirred. A silvery cloak fell from his legs as he jumped to his feet. He reached for his wand. The man was instantly recognizable to Harry by the shock of thinning red hair. His host rose high from the floor while Harry hurriedly tried to assert some kind of control, but it was much too late. The snake plunged its fangs into the man, biting him once, twice, three times. Arthur yelled in pain, then fell silent, slumping to the floor.
Forcing himself out of the vision, Harry sat upright, fear coursing through him. He yelled in fear.
"Harry!" Ron said, scrabbling at the curtains to his bed.
"Harry!" Hermione said, popping into his bed through House Elf apparition.
Harry breathed deeply, forcing down his fear and raising occlumentic barriers between his fear and his need to act.
"We need to tell the Headmaster!" Harry said, "Your father's been attacked, Ron. Come on. Neville! Neville! Get Professor McGonagall. Tell her to meet us at the Headmaster's office."
Harry grabbed Ron with one hand and Hermione with another, apparating to the landing just outside Dumbledore's office, before rapping with the Griffin shaped knocker.
"Sir, it's Harry! I need to speak with you."
Voices could be heard through the door as if the Headmaster were holding a conference. The door opened by itself. The room was half in darkness, strange silver instruments silent. The portraits appeared to be sleeping, but Harry knew from the lack of others in the room that it must be they who'd been talking. Fawkes was asleep on his perch. Dumbledore sat behind his desk in an gold-embroidered purple dressing gown over a snowy white nightshirt.
"Harry, tell me what happened." Dumbledore said, swiftly concentrating on the surprise guests.
"I had a vision, sent by Voldemort." Harry said concisely, "A giant snake was traveling through a dark hallway towards a door. Ron's dad… Arthur Weasley… was guarding the door. He tried to stop the snake, but the snake bit him several times. He's injured and needs immediate help."
Dumbledore took a few seconds to assimilate the information. Ron's face was white and shocky, just starting to understand what Harry was saying.
"Severus told me about your visions." Dumbledore murmured, "So his plans to allow you to continue to see them worked."
"Yes, I was able to see them, but I don't think Voldemort ever sensed the other barriers. I always felt insulated from the sending, able to see it, but protected."
Dumbledore nodded. "Everard? Dilys!"
A sallow-faced wizard with black hair and an elderly witch with long silver ringlets opened their eyes from the appearance of deep sleep.
"You were listening?" Dumbledore asked.
"Naturally." The witch replied. The wizard nodded.
"The man has red hair and glasses." Dumbledore said, "Everard, raise the alarm. Ensure he is found by the right people. Dilys, watch for him on the other end. Now go!"
Both nodded and disappeared from their frames.
"Everard and Dilys were two of Hogwarts' most celebrated Heads." Dumbledore said, standing and walking to Fawkes, "Both have portraits in other wizarding institutions, making them excellent messengers during emergencies such as this. Have a seat, they may be several minutes."
Dumbledore waved his wand, conjuring squashy, comfortable chairs. A knock at the door and Professor McGonagall strode in.
"Ah, Minerva." Dumbledore said, "You heard there was a disturbance?"
"Potter sent Longbottom to me with the message." Professor McGonagall said, "I sent him back to the Gryffindor dorm. What exactly is happening?"
"Mr. Weasley has been attacked." Dumbledore said, "I have sent two of the Heads to sound the alert and to bring back intelligence. Once we know, I will need you to bring the other Weasley children."
"We will need a warning." Dumbledore said quietly to Fawkes. With a flash of fire, the Phoenix was gone.
"Dumbledore!" Everard said, slightly breathless.
"What news?" Dumbledore asked.
"I yelled until someone came running." The wizard said, "I said I'd heard something downstairs. They went to check and carried him up a few minutes later. He doesn't look good. He's covered in blood."
"Dilys should have seen him arrive." Dumbledore said.
Hermione put her hand on Ron's arm at his convulsive movement.
"Dobby. Winky." She said quietly. With a pop the two House Elves appeared by her side, "Winky, get Ginny Weasley. Bring her here. Dobby, get Fred and George Weasley, bring them here." The two elves nodded and disappeared.
"Well thought of, Miss Granger." Professor McGonagall said quietly, "Albus, what about Molly?"
"That will be a job for Fawkes when he was finished keeping a lookout for anybody approaching." Albus said, "But she may already know through that excellent clock of hers."
They all waited for the next update. The two elves reappeared with Ginny, Fred, and George, all still in their night clothes.
"Harry, what's going on?" Ginny said, looking frightened, "Winky said Hermione needed me here right away, but didn't say why….Fred and George are here, too. What's going on?"
"I had a vision of your father being attacked." Harry said briefly, "He's been found at the ministry, they're taking him to St. Mungo's. We're waiting for an update from one of the heads who has a portrait there."
Dilys reappeared. "Yes, they've taken him to St. Mungo's. They carried him past my portrait. He looks bad."
All the children looked terrified, the Weasleys most of all.
"Phineas. Phineas!" Dumbledore said, having to wake the portrait. After several calls, the Slytherin robed Headmaster finally 'woke'. Harry recognized the man from another portrait at Grimmauld place, his occlumency-enhanced memory instantly placing the face.
"I need you to visit your other portrait." Dumbledore said, "I've got another message."
"Visit my other portrait?" Phineas said in a weak voice, looking at Harry and giving a fake yawn, "Oh, no, Dumbledore, I am much too tired."
Roars of "insubordination" and threats of harm from the other portraits quickly motivated the recalcitrant portrait and he was sent with a message for Sirius to prepare for the arrival of the Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione, since Grimmauld was much more convenient to the wizarding hospital than Hogwarts or the Burrow.
"How are we going?" Fred asked, looking shaken.
"Floo powder?" George continued.
"No, the floo network is being monitored. It will have to be by portkey." Dumbledore said, taking an old teakettle from a cabinet, "Portus!" he said, tapping the kettle with his wand, a wave of blue energy soaking into the teapot before it faded into a mundane looking kettle again.
With a flash of fire, a golden feather floated to the floor in the exact center of the office.
"That is Fawkes' warning." Dumbledore said, "Umbridge will know you are out of your beds. Minerva, head her off. Tell her any story."
McGonagall departed on her mission.
"Come here, then." Dumbledore said, gesturing to the children, "Quickly, before anyone joins us."
They all touched the kettle and with the hook behind the navel sensation, disappeared.
Harry's feet hit the ground hard, but he stayed upright. They had arrived in the kitchen of number twelve Grimmauld Place. Gaslights dimly illuminated the remains of a solitary supper. Sirius hurried towards them in silken dressing robe, red and gold, the vee in the front exposing runic tattoos.
"What's going on?" he said, stretching out his hand to help Ginny, who hadn't kept her feet, up. "Phineas Nigellus said Arthur's been badly injured…"
"Ask Harry." Fred said.
"Yeah, I want to hear this for myself." George added.
Harry told the entire story, how he'd noticed sendings from Voldemort, how he and Professor Snape had adjusted his defenses to allow him to see the visions without compromising the safety of his mind, and how tonight he'd seen a giant snake attack Mr. Weasley. He hadn't known where until Phineas had revealed it had been in the Ministry.
"What was he doing at the Ministry, Sirius?" Harry asked.
"He was on a mission for the Order of the Phoenix." Sirius said, "We've been taking turns guarding the prophecy. Voldemort wants it and Fudge won't even admit he's come back, let alone set a proper guard. We've been having to guard it behind the Ministry's back."
"Is Mum here?" Fred asked.
"She probably doesn't even know what's happened yet." Sirius said, "The important thing was to get you away before Umbridge could interfere. I expect Dumbledore is alerting Molly now."
"We've got to go to St. Mungo's!" Ginny said, desperately.
"Hang on." Sirius said commandingly, "There's no way you should even know about this, yet. We can't risk exposure of the Order's work by showing early knowledge of this incident. Once your mum has been notified, she'll let us know and then you can go."
Sirius had trained as an auror when he was younger and had bounced back from his captivity, regaining the presence he'd developed as one of the elite dark wizard hunters. His rebuke quickly cowed the younger Weasleys.
They all made their way to kitchen chairs, sinking into them.
Kreacher quickly produced Butterbeer and simple snacks. The pathetic looking House Elf had seemed to make some of the same transformation that the house and his master had. With the locket removed and it's foul influence reduced by distance, Kreacher seemed to be more normal.
A burst of fire illuminated the dim kitchen. A scroll of parchment fell with a thud onto the table along with a single Phoenix feather.
"Fawkes!" Sirius said, "That's not Dumbledore's handwriting, it must be from your mother."
He thrust the letter into George's hand, who ripped it open and read aloud, "Dad is still alive. I am setting out for St. Mungo's now. Stay where you are. I will send news as soon as I can. Mum."
Sirius recommended they all go to bed and wait on news, but nobody was having that. They moved into the sitting room and flopped onto the more comfortable chairs and couches there. A fireplace provided light and warmth. They kept vigil until almost five in the morning, when Molly arrived. She was extremely pale, but gave a wan smile.
"He's going to be all right." Molly said, "He's sleeping. We can all go see him later. Bill's sitting with him now, he's going to take the morning off work."
Fred fell back into his chair, his hands over his face. George and Ginny went to Molly, quickly wrapped in one of her hugs.
"Breakfast!" Sirius said loudly and joyfully, relieved by the news, "Kreacher!"
The House Elf appeared and began to produce breakfast for the eight witches and wizards.
"I don't know what would have happened if it hadn't been for you, Harry." Molly said with a muffled voice, "They might not have found him until it was too late, but thanks to you he's alive and Dumbledore was able to think up a cover story to protect his job. Sirius, thank you for letting us gather here and for taking care of my children overnight."
"It was nothing, Molly." Sirius said, "I'm pleased to have been able to help in this small way. I hope you'll feel free to stay until Arthur is out of the hospital."
"Oh, Sirius, I'm so grateful! They think he'll be there a little while and it would be wonderful to be nearer. Of course, that might mean we're here for Christmas…"
"The more the merrier!" Sirius said, "This old place has too much room for just me and occasionally Remus. If you're here, it'll seem more like a proper holiday. I'm happy to have you stay as long as you need."
They all napped through the morning and woke to their school chests having arrived with Dobby and Winky. They all dressed in Muggle clothes for the trip to St. Mungo's. Tonks and Mad-Eye arrived to escort them across London. They took the underground, getting off and walking through the London streets until they arrived at a large red-brick department store called Purge and Dowse, Ltd. The displays in the windows were a decade out of date and a sign said, 'Closed for Refurbishment'. A passing shopper murmured, "It's never open, that place."
Tonks walked up to one of the out-of-date displays and seemed to talk to a mannequin. "Wotcher…We're here to see Arthur Weasley."
The dummy gestured with a crook of its finger and they all stepped through the plate glass window, arriving in a crowded hospital reception area. They walked along, Harry's head on a swivel as he absorbed all the new sights. He saw the portrait of Dilys Derwent, who winked at him before disappearing, probably to tell Dumbledore they'd arrived.
They asked at the information desk, then followed the signs to 'Creature-Induced Injuries' looking for the 'Dai Llewellyn Ward for Serious Bites'. As they reached the ward, Tonks stopped.
"We'll wait outside, Molly." Tonks said, "Arthur won't want too many visitors at once. It should be family at first."
Mad-Eye nodded in head in agreement. Harry stopped, planning to stay out with them, but Molly took his arm.
"Don't be silly, Harry. Arthur wants to thank you."
There were only three patients. Arthur was at the far end of the ward and Harry was relieved to see he was propped up in bed reading the Daily Prophet.
"Hello!" he called, throwing the paper aside, "Bill just left, Molly, had to get back to work, but he says he'll drop in on you later."
"How are you, Arthur?" Molly asked, bending down to kiss his cheek and look anxiously at his face, "You're still looking a bit peaky."
"I feel absolutely fine." Mr. Weasley said, giving Ginny a hug with his good arm, "If they could only take the bandages off, I could go home."
"Why can't you take the bandages off, Dad?" George asked.
"Because when they do, I start bleeding like mad." Arthur said calmly, "Some effect of the snake venom. They say they'll have an antidote before long, but until then I just have to take a blood replenishing potion every hour."
"What happened?" Fred asked.
"Well, you already know!" Mr. Weasley said, smiling at Harry, "I'd had a long day at work, dozed off, and a great big snake snuck up on me and bit me."
"So where were you when it happened?" George asked.
"That's my business." Arthur said, softening the reply with a smile at his son.
"That's enough, boys." Molly said, "Go wait out in the hall and send Tonks and Moody in. You can come back to say goodbye later."
They all trooped out, sending the aurors end. Waiting until they were alone, the twins pulled out extendable ears for everyone. They sent the tiny worm-like ends crawling towards the conversation while they huddled together outside. They all heard the few details they didn't know about Voldemort's snake trying to sneak in to where the prophecy was kept. Harry had already told them the rest.
H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr
Despite Arthur's injury, they spent a surprisingly happy Christmas Holiday. Sirius was thrilled to have so much company, having always been naturally an extrovert and having this reinforced by his time in prison. Arthur continued doing well, although his stay was extended while the Healer's hunted for an anti-venom. Harry and Hermione split their time between Grimmauld place and the Granger house. Hermione spent a lot of her time closeted with her mum in the early stages of planning the Spring wedding. Jane at first thought the notice was so short as to be hopeless, but Hermione assured her that with magic and House Elf help it was all very possible.
Harry took Ron and Hermione to the forbidden forest, picking an appropriately sized evergreen. With a simple diffindo, they cut it and portkeyed back to Grimmauld Place, setting it in the drawing room with Kreacher's help. The Christmas scent of pine spread through the house, further elevating the holiday mood. Live fairies decorated the boughs, shining their magical light.
Christmas morning dawned. Harry and the Weasleys came downstairs to the smell of coffee or hot chocolate. Dobby had come to Grimmauld with Winky to help Kreacher with Christmas, providing plenty of household help. Harry received a rare first edition book on defense against the dark arts from Hermione, which complemented the set Sirius and Lupin had gotten him. He bought her a necklace with a small Snitch charm, wings beating in time with her heartbeat.
They went to visit Arthur after Christmas lunch. Growing restless, they took a trip looking for the tearoom and bumped into Gilderoy Lockhart on the long-term spell damage ward. It was an odd experience, but led to an even more uncomfortable one as Harry noticed the Longbottom name on two of the beds. As soon as he saw it, he tried to lead the others away, trying to keep Neville's secret, but just then Ron saw Neville himself.
"Neville!" Ron called out, "Did you see Lockhart is here? Who are you visiting?"
Neville turned purple, seeming to want to be anywhere in the world other than there.
"Friends of yours, Neville, dear?" Augusta Longbottom asked, "Oh, Lord Potter, Miss Granger, we've met. And of course I recognize you, Ginny dear. This must be one of your brothers?"
"Ron Weasley, ma'am." Ron said, looking somewhat confused, "Nev, is that your dad at the end?"
"What's this?" Mrs. Longbottom asked sharply, "Haven't you told your friends about your parents, Neville?"
Harry stepped in, "Several of us know, ma'am. We just haven't spread the information, trying to respect his privacy."
Hermione and Ginny nodded. Ron, luckily, stayed quiet.
"Good, because it's nothing to be ashamed of." Augusta said forcefully, "You should be proud, Neville, proud! They didn't give their health and their sanity so their only son would be ashamed of them, you know!"
"I'm not ashamed." Neville said flatly.
Ron was standing on his tiptoes and craning his head to catch a glimpse of them.
"My son and his wife," she said turning haughtily to Ron, "were tortured into insanity by You-Know-Who's followers."
Ron stopped trying to catch a glimpse and looked mortified.
"They were Aurors, you know, and very well respected within the Wizarding community." Mrs. Longbottom continued, "Highly gifted, the pair of them."
Alice Longbottom, Neville's mother, walked towards him and gave him a bubble gum wrapper. His friends almost wept as they saw him put it carefully in his pocket as if it were a precious gift.
H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr
A/N: I watched Half Blood Prince while I was writing some of this and just realized how completely disappointed I was in the story. The movie was really trying to emphasize the romance between Ron and Hermione and between Harry and Ginny. Luckily they downplayed the terrible relationship between Harry and Hermione in the book and so there were some sweet moments when Harry was comforting Hermione. The movie ends with a H/Hr scene, but it's still just really sad to me.
I also realized how wrong to the books some of the rights are. They're all about the flying around in smoke trails that passes for apparition in the movies. It's not teleportation, it's flying, which is clearly a Voldemort thing. Oh, well.
This chapter feels a bit like a transitional chapter. I wanted to get more written, but didn't have enough time and hit 10,000 words, which is my new goal per chapter. I'm at a stopping point, so decided I'd publish it. I plan for it all to start picking up speed now. Horcruxes are being found and their destruction is not far behind…