Unofficial Portkey Archive

The Last Turner of Time

Standard Disclaimers Apply…

Chapter 4

Hermione swept into her office the following Monday morning to find two things sitting on her desk.

The first was a rather elaborate bouquet of flowers with a small note card in a dove grey envelope attached. When she removed said card and read its contents she couldn't help but unsuccessfully try and stifle a huge grin.

To my dearest Hermione,

Thank you for the privilege of allowing me to get to know you. I must admit I had been quite reluctant to attend my father's birthday celebration knowing what my illustrious mother had been planning. One must always remain on one's toes where she is concerned, however, I also must confess now that I am so very glad I did. It was an absolute pleasure to meet you and do fervently hope we have the opportunity to see one-another again in the near future. Give my regards to Agent Potter - (that lucky so-and-so) - and I do hope you find all the happiness and joy both worlds have to offer.

Commander William Aimsforth C-BMIS - MI6

p.s. - Not to worry, this message will not self destruct so you and yours are quite safe!

The last bit made her laugh out loud. Commander Aimsforth was indeed a very charming man. She could do nothing to quell the sensation of warmth and affection that washed over her for his polite but rather blatant solicitude.

The second was a simple standard Ministry issue envelope with her name across the front written in a hand she knew as well as her own. A sudden tingle flashed all over her as she held it in her hand looking at the rather crabby but otherwise neat script.

Her hands practically vibrated as she pulled the folded piece of parchment from the envelope and opened it.

As she read the note she wasn't even aware she had sat down in her chair. The words slammed into her as if someone was standing in front of her punching her in the chest repeatedly with hard and violent blows…

Hermione,

It was really nice spending time with you again and I appreciate the invitation to have dinner with your parents. I've always had the highest regard and respect for them and it's easy to see how very proud of you they are.

The reason for writing this is to try and explain - in the best way my rather limited intelligence will allow - that what happened just before I left that night, while being one of the most wonderful and beautiful experiences I've ever had - simply cannot be.

I've changed, you see. I'm no longer the person you grew up with Hermione. I've become something different - Dark and dangerous - Sometimes, even to myself.

I would be foolish and selfish to place you in that kind of danger to try and remain close to you. I'm not safe.

Besides, you deserve someone who can give you all the things that life has to offer with out the fear of having to watch over your shoulder for your own safety and preservation. It just isn't fare to you. You deserve more than a broken, damaged person.

I love you - I always have and always will but things can no longer be the way I so desperately want them to. I'm sorry but I cannot keep the promise you wanted. Please try and understand Hermione. It's for the best.

Harry

By the time Hermione had reached the end of his letter tears were flowing, blurring her vision and splashing on the dry parchment in her shaking hands staining it with dark circles.

But as she sat there lost in sudden and terrible misery so profound it was almost physically painful, it slowly began to change from utter grief to something else entirely…

Pure blind rage!

She stood slowly behind her desk as horrible black anger washed over her so completely it made her slightly light-headed. Her whole body began shaking from the effects.

"NO!" Hermione screamed at the closed door of her office, "Oh no you don't you blithering idiot!"

With that she was off. Hermione Granger looked, for all the world, like a raging demon stomping her way through the ministry as she made her way toward the Department of Magical Law Enforcement -Auror's Division.

Even her assistant Abigail had the common sense not to approach her or try to get in her way. Her boss looked half-crazed and half-mad! She was muttering the most unsavory and uncharacteristic things under her growling breath. She'd never seen Ms. Granger so angry or put out. She thought jokingly to herself it would not have been odd to see smoke puffing out of the woman's nostrils like a Hungarian Horntail!

When Hermione finally reached the Auror's offices she stormed through the doors like a rampaging Centaur. She literally had sparks shooting from her eyes as she made her way through the main lobby.

An older Auror with his desk situated nearest the doors spied her making her way across the room. He quickly jumped up and set himself in her path to halt her advance toward the Director's Office.

"See here young lady," the Auror stated with authority, "You can't just barge in here like…"

But that was as far he got.

In a blindingly fast move Hermione whipped out her wand and stupefied the Auror before he had a chance to flinch.

It only took a second or two for the rest of the Aurors in the office to react and in only a few seconds more they found themselves at a rather uncomfortable stand-off with a very pissed off Director of the Department of Muggle Affairs Office.

Not a single word was spoken as more than a dozen seasoned Aurors held their ground and they simply stood there glaring at one-another with wands at the ready.

Most knew the young woman standing before them looking unusually dark and very deadly. No-one wanted to tangle with the business end of her wand. They all had heard the stories.

In the next moment Kingsley Shacklebolt appeared at the end of the group clustered in the hallway. He made his way forward slowly, with hands raised quite puzzled by the tableau before him.

"Ms. Granger," he enquired in his deep resonating voice, "Is there something you require?"

"WHERE IS HE?" She bellowed loudly.

Her chest was heaving with the effort not to hex the lot of them. Her self-control was right on the edge and she wasn't even sure why. There was just something about Harry's note that had stoked a blistering heated rage inside her and she was almost powerless to rein it in. At this point she wasn't even sure she wanted to.

It was well past time to correct Harry's erroneous thinking and no-one was going to get in her way.

Kingsley was clever enough to discern who she was enquiring about without much thought but he also knew he had to figure out a way to calm her down or else things could get quite out of hand. He had never seen Hermione Granger so upset and he was more than well aware of the young lady's power and skill with magic. There were very few who could stand against her in a duel and he knew it.

"Where is who Ms. Granger," Kingsley asked calmly still holding his hands out away from his sides.

"You know damned well who I'm looking for," she hissed not the least bit embarrassed by her impertinent attitude. She thought she should have been. She had the utmost respect for Kingsley but there were darker forces at work at the moment and she just couldn't seem to manage feeling ashamed of herself.

"Be that as it may Ms. Granger, I cannot have you running about cursing my Aurors…"

"Then perhaps you should train them better," Hermione growled interrupting his declaration. Her face was set with utter determination to get what she came for regardless of the consequences.

Kingsley quickly came to the conclusion that the only way to defuse this odd and very tense situation was to give her what she came for. There would be no talking Hermione Granger into lowering her wand this day. Whatever her motivation for acting this way was serious enough to warrant divulging certain departmental secrets in order to keep things from exploding into chaos.

With a heavy sigh Kingsley let go of the tension in his shoulders but the Aurors behind him held their places just the same.

"Harry and Neville are escorting the Bulgarian Minister and his entourage back to Bulgaria. It was a request from the Foreign Minister himself. They should be returning some time in the early hours around one or two o'clock in the morning. I'm almost certain he will go straight to Godric's Hollow when he returns. He usually does at any rate. That's the best I can do for you Ms. Granger."

Kingsley knew the moon phase was nearing full so it was nearly time for Harry to do what he usually did during those times. He was also very aware he could be sending Hermione into a potentially dangerous situation but at the moment, the clear and present danger was staring him in the face. Besides, he convinced himself Hermione could well take care of herself and he thought - in her present state of mind - a full-blown werewolf like Remus wasn't nearly as dangerous as the woman standing in front of him.

Hermione slowly lowered her wand.

"Thank you," she whispered as she turned and left the Auror's office as quickly as she had arrived.

Kingsley had not missed the slight quaver in her voice as she turned to leave, nor did he miss the tear that streaked down her left cheek.

Very curious!

"Merlin's ghost," one of the Aurors exclaimed, "I really do think she would have taken us all on!"

"Wouldn't have been much of a fight," another Auror said smirking as he stashed his wand back into his tunic.

Kingsley turned and regarded the lad for a long moment then grinned deviously.

"For whom…you…or Ms. Granger?"

They all gaped at him as Kingsley turned and made his way back to his office chuckling.

If you blokes only knew how fortunate you were…None of you would stand a bloody chance! I thank Merlin she's on our side!

>^..^<

Harry looked down at his pocket watch. It was nearly three in the morning and he was getting very tired. Not only had he been going for more than eighteen hours straight, the lunar effects on him - even two days before the next full moon - dragged at his strength and stamina like someone was slowly turning up the gravity of the planet.

He was very much looking forward to going home, stripping his clothes off and climbing into bed to sleep for at least eight hours before he had to begin taking his wolf's bane potion. He hated the stuff but was well aware how necessary it was - even if it did taste like troll piss. (Not that he knew what troll piss tasted like, mind you - it was just a euphemistic comparison.)

As he landed just outside the wards of his cottage he looked around at the moonlit valley below. The whole valley floor was covered in a thick blanket of fog obscuring everything but the steeple and bell tower of the little church where his parents were buried.

Harry thought it quite beautiful. The sky overhead was clear and the night sky littered with bright stars. He closed his eyes and reveled in the peaceful silence that always seemed to settle on the quaint little village at night.

The night air held the wonderful fragrances of late spring even though the slight breeze still held onto the sharp touch of the waning winter.

It was a comfort being so close to his family now even though it was just their resting places and he found himself walking to their gravesite on a regular basis. He had even let the Vicar talk him into attending Sunday service every once in a while and even though he didn't understand much about what was going on he enjoyed some of the Vicar's messages in his sermons.

The priest certainly seemed to be taken with this God fellow - whoever he was. Harry thought God might be a ghost or something the way the Vicar seemed to always refer to him as the Holy Spirit. He didn't sound all that different than Nearly Headless Nick. He seem like he was a good ghost just the same. Harry wondered if any of the Hogwarts ghosts had ever met the bloke.

As he got closer to the cottage he stopped dead in his tracks. His extensive Auror training as well as newly acquired instinct had his wand out crouching low and silently moving to cover.

He let his lycanthropic-heightened sense of smell take over and he sniffed the air carefully. As he stood motionless hidden in the bushes at the corner of the front of the house a very familiar scent tapped at the inside of his nostrils and it surprised him.

He had no idea why she would be in Godric's Hollow this night but he was not foolish enough to just go barging in. A skillful and clever witch or wizard could mask one's scent to appear as another's to leave a false trail if they were so inclined.

However…

There were very few people who had the knowledge to get through his wards and even fewer who knew where his hidden and unplottable home was. With that realization the tenseness left his shoulders but he still moved slowly and silently to the front door.

When he touched his wand to the doorknob the thick, round-topped front door swung silently inward. The interior was completely dark. He knew Kreacher was at Hogwarts and he was afraid to leave any candles burning so the only illumination was the weak moonlight spilling across the sitting room floor that came in through the two front windows.

The only sound was the familiar ticking of the goofy cuckoo clock George Weasley had given him for his birthday one year. When the clock struck the hour a miniature rendition of someone from his past would pop out of the hole and admonish him for some past transgression.

At high noon it was Minerva McGonagall unceremoniously deducting house points for being out of the Gryffindor dormitory after bedtime. If he remembered correctly, he thought it was Delores Umbridge at three a.m. - or maybe Rita Skeeter, he wasn't sure.

He carefully crossed the threshold and was about to call out when her voice shattered the silence like the crack of apparition.

"It's about bloody time you got home!" Hermione said in a rather impatient-sounding voice.

She sounded horribly irritated and perhaps even a bit angry. Harry moved inside and slowly closed the door. He knew she was sitting in the shadows at the far end of the couch.

"Hermione," Harry replied, "What are you doing here at this late hour?"

"Well what in Merlin's name does it look like you dolt! I've been waiting for you!"

Oh bother - she's very, very angry! Must have something to do with my letter. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all. Something tells me I should have listened to Gabrielle and met with Hermione face to face. Oh well - too late now isn't it? Perhaps you are a dolt Potter.

Hermione sat in the darkness with arms folded tightly across her chest and if Harry could have seen her face at that moment he would have seen a scowl that could have put old Mad Eye Moody's teeth on edge.

She had arrived at the cottage not long after she had left the Ministry in a towering fury. She had stopped by her flat to pick up a few things not knowing if she was going to return to London or not. She had thought about going to spend the day with Andromeda and little Teddy Lupin when she was finished clobbering the snot out of Harry.

She had sat in the darkness and silence of the quaint little house and stewed in the juices of her raging temper. She was so put out she didn't even feel like visiting the special magical little library and that only served to irritate her even further.

Now that he had finally arrived Hermione had to physically restrain herself from hexing him into component parts or tearing off his arms and beating him to death with the bloody stumps. It was a toss up!

"Well," Harry whispered, "you could have lit a few candles or started a fire. Why didn't you at least make yourself comfortable?

In the next heartbeat Hermione was on her feet stomping toward him like an out of control Hippogryff and Harry didn't even see it coming.

She grabbed the front of his Auror's tunic and pushed him backward slamming him bodily against the front door.

"You stupid, empty-headed brainless oaf," Hermione howled. She threw his crumpled letter at him as he tried to flinch away, "Did you really think I would just read this nonsense and let it go! Did you really think you could just shove me aside and not expect me to demand an explanation you CONFUNDED (swat), BLITHERING (swat), IDIOT (swat…swat…smack…smack)

Harry dove under his arms as Hermione attacked him with random swats, smacks and slaps as she yelled at him. She wasn't hitting him hard enough to cause physical pain, it was more just her way to make sure he was paying attention. Being pinned against the front door there was no where for him to run so he just sighed and took it.

"Calm down Hermione! I was just trying…"

"DON'T YOU DARE TELL ME TO CALM DOWN HARRY JAMES POTTER! I should just curse you right out of your bloody socks! HOW COULD YOU!"

"Merlin's bullocks," Harry growled, "Would you please give me a chance to explain?"

Hermione stopped swatting at his head and stepped back folding her arms tightly across her chest again glaring at him with such irritation he though the look in her eyes could cause him to burst into flames any moment.

Good grief - and here I thought I was the dangerous one!

"Fine," She growled, "this ought to be good!"

"Can I at least light a candle or two?" Harry asked rather weakly.

With that Hermione flicked her wand at the fireplace and it roared to life - great orange and yellow flames billowing out in a heated wave into the sitting room for a moment until the fire settled in the grate to crackle quite normally.

"Oops," she was a bit shocked with her self, "Erm…sorry about that. I guess I'm a bit more out-of-sorts than I thought!"

"Ya think?" Harry asked flatly.

She whirled on him once again with a glaring look that he just knew could have scared the shite out of Voldemort himself.

"Well it's your fault you idiot! I thought you were going to explain or should I just go ahead and hex your bullocks off and be done with it!"

"Look Hermione," Harry began giving her a pleading look still leaning against the inside of the front door, "There are things about me that have changed - things I'm not sure I want you to know…"

"And why would you not want me to know Harry," Hermione interrupted, "There's almost nothing I don't know about you. What could you possibly reveal that would warrant you putting all that nonsense in a stupid letter like that?"

Harry balked and Hermione waited for his response, arms folded tight, toe of her right shoe tapping agitatedly on the polished hardwood floor.

"Well?" She asked gruffly.

Harry regarded her for a long moment. A memory flashed across his mind. He recalled how they used to be able to almost communicate with one-another with just their eyes. It was like they could carry on short conversations with each other without the need for a single word. There were just as many times Hermione could finish his sentences as well because they had been so closely linked and she had known, without a single doubt, what he had been thinking.

If he was going to be honest with himself - she was right - no-one knew him better than she did…so why was he so reluctant to tell her the truth?

"Because I wouldn't ever want to hurt you Hermione," Harry replied in not much more than a whisper looking at her right in the eyes hoping to convey the urgency of his statement, "not ever…do you understand?"

He carefully let go of the iron-clad control he constantly kept on the raging monster hidden deep within him just enough to try and show her the truth without actually having to say it out loud. It made him sick and ashamed to do it but he wasn't sure he had the strength or courage to do it any other way. She had to see the truth and know how dangerous he really was.

He was certain she was clever enough to see and understand - then she would be running for the front door screaming in terror…

…and maybe that's for the best…

As Hermione stood there glaring at Harry she suddenly noticed a subtle shift in his eyes. The pupils seemed to glow and flash in the reflection of the firelight looking ferial and wild.

She watched him grimace in what looked like pain as she saw his K-9 teeth lengthen and the others sharpen just a bit. He seemed to swell in size right before her straining his clothing at the seams and even saw the tips of his ears as they grew a little pointy.

Her first reaction was to scream with terror at what she was seeing - her best friend, the man she now knew she loved more than any other - changing into a horrid-looking beast right before her very eyes - but she forced herself to stamp down her fear, remembering the promise she had made not to fail him again - and she had meant it.

Taking a deep breath and swallowing hard she forced her self to glare right back into his ferial gaze and then did the last thing Harry would have ever expected…

Hermione stepped up close to him and got right in his partially transformed face.

"Is this what you've been hiding from me all this time," she asked calmly, "Sorry love? If you're trying to intimidate me…it's not going to work. You're going to have to do much better than that."

When her words and close proximity penetrated his highly confused mind he pulled on his control with all his concentration and after regaining his usual physical form gaped at her for a long time, their eyes locked together - hers angrily defiant - his completely shocked.

"H…Hermione," Harry stammered, "You don't understand! I'm…"

"Harry," she growled, "Just my Harry…do you understand?"

He watched tears well in her eyes as she stood there looking into the depths of his desperate-looking gaze.

She doesn't get it. She doesn't see!

Those thoughts aggravated him more than he wanted to admit.

"I'm not safe!" He whispered through clenched teeth.

"SHUT UP!" Hermione screamed. She pressed her hands against her ears as tears of frustration exploded from her eyes, "JUST SHUT UP!"

She could not, for the life of her, ever understand or rationalize why she did what she did next…

She dropped her wand and threw herself at Harry wrapping him up in her shaking arms and kissed him with all the love and emotion and passion she could pull from the depths of her very soul.

Harry had no choice but to gather her up in his arms and let her have her way. When her mouth claimed his he instantly relented to her dominating presence. He felt her tongue force its way into his mouth desperately searching for his and when they intertwined it was as if the whole world simply stopped turning.

Harry could feel something inside him retreating. It was leaving him - almost like a colorless, tasteless mist oozing from every pore in his body.

He knew what it was - it was the darkness that had been left over from his last confrontation with the Dark Lord. It simply could not survive being basked in the pure light and love that was flooding inside him from the woman in his arms.

And then it all became completely clear!

It was the ancient magic! The same ancient magic his mother had given him when she stood defiantly in the path of Lord Voldemort the night he tried to kill him. It was the remnant of this magic Hermione was now calling forth from the depths of his soul to purge him of the taint of any of Voldemort's darkness that remained.

As Harry pulled Hermione even closer and kissed her in return he prayed that whatever power she was giving him would be strong enough to rid him of his affliction as well.

…But it didn't.

They melted into one-another again and the strange and wonderful connection that made them one entity merged their hearts, minds, bodies and souls.

For Hermione, this strange connection that was happening between them was having a far different effect on her. The raw heat, masculinity and pure animal magnetism of the man she had wrapped herself so tightly around was making her - as much as she hated to admit it - horribly randy.

Part of her thought she should be completely embarrassed by that but as she found herself sucking almost violently on his bottom lip…she just didn't really care about much of anything else but him!

Harry gently pushed her back gasping for air, trying to put a little space between them. When he looked into Hermione's eyes the look he saw there was much different than before.

She was gasping for breath as well but her half-lidded eyes were so full of raw lust and desire it was almost frightening.

"I don't care what you've become Harry," she growled, her chest heaving again, "I love you and I want you and I want to be with you for the rest of my life. Nothing else matters to me! If you don't want that then look me in the eyes and tell me you're not in love with me!"

Harry stared at her for a moment. There was no way he could look her in the eye and lie to her. She would know - She would see though it but the possible consequences were enough to make him terribly uncomfortable.

"I - I can't," he whispered, "You mean too much to me and I'm not strong enough to resist you."

"Then show me, Harry," Hermione demanded, "Show me the truth! That way I can decide for myself if what you're saying has any merit. It still doesn't change anything but I can't be afraid of something I can't see. I love you too much for that."

As usual, she was right.

Harry straightened up and moved past her to light some candles to illuminate the sitting room. When he turned back to face Hermione he dropped his gaze to the floor.

"Are you sure you want to see Hermione?"

"Don't make me ask again Potter," she smirked folding her arms again, "I hate repeating myself."

With a wave of his wand he pulled back the glamour that constantly surrounded his face and for the first time since it had been given to him he showed her what he had become.

Hermione was rather surprised at her (lack of) reaction to seeing his dead right eye and the jagged scar that looked like a small shallow valley in the skin across his forehead. She thought it should have had a more profound effect on her but after seeing what Fenrir Greyback had done to Bill Weasley and watching their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor transform into a full-blown Were right before her eyes - it really wasn't all that alarming.

Harry was stunned at how calm she was seeing him damaged for the first time. The same things that had occurred to her didn't even register in his mind. To him, his own disfigurement had always been far worse and he had never considered it wasn't nearly as bad as others.

Hermione moved toward him slowly and he flinched slightly as she reached up and traced her finger gently across the jagged scar. Part of Harry was horrified but another part of him was relieved. In fact - having Hermione know the truth about him was almost liberating.

He began to wonder if he should divulge the other secret he had been keeping from her.

Hermione looked up into his face with compassion as she let herself take in the reality of this strange situation. She wasn't frightened in the least - nor was she put off by it at all. She captured his eyes with hers.

"Tell me," she asked. She wasn't going to demand this time. She would give him a choice, "If you want, that is. You don't have to. I guess I'm just curious. This changes nothing Harry, just so you know."

Harry couldn't help but sigh and grin stupidly as he captured her hand and kissed her palm, pulling her close.

He told her everything…

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