Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling and her various corporate partners. Keldorn Firecam is owned by BioWare, Atari, or whoever it is that owns the rights to Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn these days, although I have taken several liberties with his character. I own nothing, and I am making no profit by my little ventures into the shadowy realms of fanfiction. I do so purely for enjoyment. I would, however, like to thank JKR for allowing us all to play in her sandbox.
OoOoO
Harry Potter and the Knight of the Radiant Heart
IX
The next few days weren't all that great for Harry Potter.
After the Aurors took the three captured wizards into custody, Harry along with the other members of his group had to go to the Ministry to make formal statements about the incident. They were there for several hours and the fact that Harry's eye was swollen and bruised didn't help his mood one bit. In his anger, Harry flat out refused medical treatment, a decision he would soon regret as he later found out that Madam Pomfrey was on vacation and thus no medical attention was available at Hogwarts. If Hermione's red, swollen hand had bothered her, she made no mention of it. She was, however, smart enough to accept a few healing spells for it.
The next morning's Daily Prophet didn't help to alleviate Harry's anger one bit. Harry saw a copy left on the table in the Great Hall and picked it up.
DEATH EATERS ATTACK DIAGON ALLY!
CHOSEN ONE & KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR FIGHT THEM OFF!
By Rita Skeeter
Witnesses report that a battle took place in Diagon Ally yesterday. Sources say that Harry Potter, known to most as the Boy Who Lived or more recently as the Chosen One, and a group of companions were attacked by several Death Eaters while shopping in London's landmark wizarding district.
Rather than turning tail and running like a coward, as some might have tried to label him in the past, Harry Potter was witnessed fighting back against the Death Eaters, just as he did in the reported battle at the Ministry's Department of Mysteries this past June. This time, however, Potter did not fight alone. With him was an honest-to-Merlin knight in shining armor. That's right ladies, sources say that a tall, handsome man was witnessed on the scene wearing a set of medieval armor and brandishing a sword and a shield. It is also claimed that this as of yet unidentified knight took down two of the Death Eaters himself while our very own Harry Potter handled the others.
When the Aurors finally arrived, three Death Eaters were on the ground and quickly taken into custody, while two escaped despite the efforts of Potter and his armored companion.
Just who is this new anonymous hero? Where did he come from? Is he a new ally of the Chosen One or just a passerby that was in the right place at the right time? And perhaps the question most important to our readers' hearts, is he already taken, or is he single and available like his comrade in arms and the Daily Prophet's Number One Heartthrob Harry Potter? Readers want to know.
For more on the battle, see page 4.
For interviews with witnesses of the battle, see pages 5-6.
For a look back at June's battle in the Department of Mysteries, see pages 9-11
For speculation on Harry Potter's love life, see pages 15-21.
Harry threw the paper down to the table in disgust. The article made him out to be some sort of hero when he barely did a thing. He didn't even land a single spell on any of the Death Eaters. Tonks, who had taken on three of the Death Eaters by herself wasn't even mentioned and neither were Hagrid or Hermione. The paper only served to ignite Harry's anger once again.
To make matters worse, ever since she had so eloquently called him an "utter ass" and punched him in the face, Hermione Granger hadn't said one word to Harry Potter. If he entered a room where she was she would either ignore him or get up and leave. She also started going to meals early so that she wouldn't have to sit with him at the table.
Harry's fallout with Hermione hurt much more than his black eye ever could. They had been getting along so well that summer; Harry really thought that their friendship was better than it ever had been before. He had felt extremely close to her, spending so much time together just being with each other. And now she apparently wanted nothing to do with him. Harry had no idea what to do. This was exactly the situation he was afraid of after the Department of Mysteries, but with her unwillingness to even speak with him, there didn't seem to be much he could do to fix it.
Harry still spent his mornings learning to sword fight with Keldorn, and he took to it energetically. He had to channel all of his anger into something after all. But it was strange not having Hermione's silent support there with him. The old knight seemed aware of the strained relationship between the two teenagers, as did the other summer residents of the castle, but they all declined to comment upon it. Harry wasn't sure if that was good or bad; he was glad he didn't have to talk about it, but he was also sure that he could use some advice. Unfortunately, all of Harry's father figures were either dead and gone like Sirius, or too busy taking care of other things to worry about two squabbling teenagers like Dumbledore.
All in all, Harry was miserable.
OoOoO
OoOoO
"Quinte!" barked the old knight.
Harry, however, moved his blade into the wrong position.
"I said 'Quinte,' boy, not 'Quarte!'" Keldorn shouted as he sharply rapped Harry on the side of the head with his wooden sword. Thankfully, Harry was wearing his protective wicker helmet.
It was five days after the skirmish in Diagon Ally and Sir Firecam thought it would be a good idea to try working on fighting without a shield. Harry was therefore learning a new set of parries to use when he was wielding his sword two-handed. It didn't help that these new parries had the same names as the others he had already learned, but were in slightly different positions. So far it wasn't going very well.
"Stop!" cried Keldorn before removing his helmet. "I do not enjoy wasting my time. Where is your head today?"
Harry removed his own helmet before thinking of a reply.
"I don't know. I just can't concentrate."
"Let your concentration slip like that with slaves of the Darkness around and you might not walk away."
That comment only served to make Harry angry.
"I'm well aware of what makes someone unable to walk away from Death Eaters!"
Keldorn simply stared at Harry for a moment before walking over to the bench and sitting down.
"Sit down, boy," said the knight, "you've been angry since we came back from the ally and the exercise isn't helping it. So tell me what's bothering you and get it off your chest."
"What do you care?" Harry replied in the way that only surly teenagers could manage.
"Are you angry because you've turned into a petulant child? Because that is certainly bothering me."
Harry sighed. He considered making another snarky comment, but then thought better of it. He had wished for a father figure to talk to, after all.
"It's Hermione. She won't speak to me. Won't even look at me."
"What exactly did you do in the ally to make her angry enough to hit you like that? You never told us and your eye is still black and blue."
"Tonks told us to take cover," Harry began telling the story, "and we did. But once we got around the corner I saw that while you were fighting two of them, Tonks was taking on three by herself. I knew she couldn't last long doing that, so I decided to go back out and fight. Hermione wanted to come with me and I told her no, but she wouldn't listen. So I, well…"
"Yes?"
"So I cast a binding spell on her legs so she couldn't follow me," Harry said with his head bowed.
"Well that was a damn fool thing to do, boy."
"Obviously," Harry said pointing to his eye.
"No, you fool; you could have gotten her killed!"
That made Harry take pause.
"You mean to tell me, that in the middle of a pitched battle, you cast a restraining spell on not only your ally but your friend while deadly magic was being thrown about? Are you a complete fool?"
Harry swallowed; he'd never seen the old knight get this angry before.
"You took away her mobility in the middle of a life-or-death fight! If you had done that to me, you would not have gotten off with only a black eye and the silent treatment!"
"But she was going to…"
"I don't care what she was going to do! You do not behave with such stupidity in the midst of combat!"
Keldorn stopped, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. When he reopened them he seemed to be calmer, but it was obvious that there was still some anger in him.
"I do not teach fools to wield dangerous weapons. If this is how you act in battle, you cannot be trusted to hold a sword. Our lessons are suspended until Miss Granger tells me that you've apologized and learned your lesson."
With that, he stood up, gathered the wooden swords, and left Harry to ponder his actions.
OoOoO
OoOoO
The next morning Harry woke up extra early and staked out a seat in the Gryffindor common room near the portrait hole. He decided to wait for Hermione and was determined to make her hear him out, even if he ended up with another black eye in the process.
At few minutes past seven, Harry heard footsteps coming down the girl's staircase, so he stood up and took his position in front of the exit. Hermione would be forced to deal with him in one way or another. When she emerged into the room, she took two steps forward until she noticed that the exit was barred. She stopped, glared at Harry, and took a deep breath.
"Move," she commanded.
"We need to talk first," replied Harry.
"I don't want to talk to you. Now move."
With that, Hermione started marching toward him. Harry put his hands up in defense.
"Hermione, wait, I'm sorry."
The witch halted her forward motion once again. She didn't say anything but appeared to be listening. So Harry continued.
"You're right to be angry with me and I'm sorry."
"Why are you sorry?" questioned the angry witch.
"Err… for casting that Incarcerous on you." Once again Hermione remained silent, so Harry went on, "I shouldn't have done that. It was really dangerous to bind you like that in the middle of a fight. You could've gotten seriously hurt. So I'm sorry."
Hermione huffed.
"That's why you're sorry?" she asked.
"Umm… yeah."
Once again, Hermione resumed her march toward the exit.
"Get out of my way, Harry."
"What? Wait, Hermione! I said I'm sorry; what else do you want me to do?"
"I'm not angry at you for putting me in danger, you big git!" Hermione yelled at him. "So your apology isn't worth anything. I'm still angry with you and I will be until you apologize for what you did to me!"
Now Harry was confused.
"Err… well… if it's not that, then, well… why are you angry with me?"
"I'm not just going to tell you!"
"Why not? Come on, Hermione, just tell me what I did wrong. I'm really sorry. Just tell me what to do to make this better."
"No."
With that Hermione stepped forward and pushed Harry to the side so that she could duck through the portrait hole.
Harry despondently watched her leave.
At least I got her to speak with me, thought Harry. And she didn't curse me or try to throw a punch. That's got to count for something.
OoOoO
OoOoO
Later that night, Harry was sitting in the common room staring into the fire. He spent the day trying to figure out why Hermione was really angry with him, but he just came up with nothing. Suddenly Hermione's voice broke the silence.
"Was it a lie?"
Harry turned to see her standing at the other end of the room, staring at him.
"Was what a lie?" Harry responded, standing up.
"When I first came here, earlier this summer, I told you I thought you were angry with me for failing you at the Department of Mysteries. I thought you were angry because you didn't trust me to be there when you needed me, couldn't rely on me to help you fight. You said that I was wrong. That I didn't fail you; that you still trusted me.
"Was it a lie?"
Her tone was deadly serious.
"Of course I didn't lie to you."
"Then why wouldn't you let me fight beside you?!" Hermione screamed across the room. "Why didn't you trust me to help you?!"
"It wasn't about that," started Harry only to be interrupted by Hermione.
"Yes it is! It's absolutely about that! You didn't trust me to help you fight the Death Eaters! What am I? Some airhead who doesn't know one end of her wand from the other?"
"I didn't want you to get hurt again!" Harry shouted back at her. "You almost died at the Department of Ministries, and I wasn't about to let that happen again!"
"I can take care of myself, thank you very much."
"I know you can, but that's not the point! I just couldn't let you rush out there into the fighting. I just couldn't let you get hurt again."
"I'm not some sort of damsel in distress that needs you to protect me all the time, you know. I'm a perfectly capable witch."
"I know you are, and I never meant to say that you weren't."
"I could have helped you. We could have fought them together. We could have watched out for each other."
"Yeah, but it all turned out alright."
"It doesn't matter if it turned out alright!" yelled Hermione, her anger working itself up into a blaze again. "What about next time? The Death Eaters aren't just going to stop. Are you just going to stun me again and shove me off into some corner like a piece of furniture?"
"That's not what I did!" responded Harry.
"Like bloody hell it isn't! How am I supposed to help you fight Voldemort if you won't let me?!"
"Well how am I supposed to keep you from getting killed if you won't let me?"
"It's not your job to protect me!"
"Yes it is! It was my fault that you almost got killed, so it's my job to make sure it doesn't happen again!"
"Arrgh! You are impossible!" Hermione yelled before turning and stomping up the stairs.
"Yeah, well, so are you!" replied Harry.
Hermione's only response was the loud slamming of her door.
OoOoO
OoOoO
It wasn't until two days later that Harry decided to try and talk to Hermione again. The two days that had passed weren't like those previous to their shouting match; this time Harry borrowed Hermione's approach and pointedly ignored her too. He was so angry with her for not even trying to understand his point of view. But after the first day, he calmed down enough to want to try and patch things together again. The summer was quickly coming to a close, September the First was only three days away, and Harry didn't want the term to start with the way things were. They had spent such a great time together at the castle that summer; he didn't want the memory of that time to be ruined by a fight at the end.
So, Harry was in the common room late at night, watching Hermione on the Marauder's Map. She had spent most of her time in the library since the skirmish in the ally, and Harry was now waiting for her to call it quits and come back to Gryffindor Tower.
Finally her little dot began moving, and when she was got close to the portrait hole, Harry closed up the map and waited. A tired looking Hermione entered the room a few moments later.
"Hermione," he said to grab her attention as she came out of the portrait hole, "hang on a second."
"What is it, Harry?" Hermione asked with a sigh. "I don't really feel like having another row right now."
"Neither do I, so can we try just talking? How about we promise not to yell at each other?"
"Fine," she replied as she made her way over to one of the armchairs near the fire. Harry took a seat across from her on the couch.
"I've been thinking," Harry began after a moment, "we've had a really great summer, don't you think? I'd thought we were better friends than ever. We can't let the summer end like this. I don't want to let the best summer of my entire life end like this."
Hermione looked down at her shoes but didn't speak.
"I'm sorry, Hermione. But try to see things my way for a bit. You told me before that I have a bit of a saving people thing, right? Well you were right, I do."
That brought Hermione's attention back up to Harry's face, but she let him continue.
"And, well, I guess you're just kinda high on the people Harry Potter needs to save list."
"Harry, I don't want to be on the people you need to save list. I'm not a princess locked in some tower. I want to help you; I want to be your friend, not your liability."
"I know, and I'll try to be better. But it's not going to be easy, Hermione. I can't just stand there and let you get hurt again."
"I'm not asking you to. But I won't be tied up and left at home while you go off to fight. I've got as much at stake in this as you do after all."
Harry momentarily thought about the prophecy, but then thought better of mentioning it to Hermione at that moment. He might have some prophecy hanging over his head saying that only he could defeat Voldemort, but Hermione was right, she was a Muggleborn and had everything to lose if the Death Eaters got their way.
"Okay," said Harry, "I'll try. It won't be easy, but I'll try to stop protecting you so much. And I promise not to cast an Incarcerous on you again before running off to fight."
"And I promise not to just throw myself into harm's way without a care. But really, Harry, why would I do that? I'm the smart one, remember?"
That brought a smile to Harry's lips.
"Friends?" he asked.
"Of course we're friends, you goof!" Hermione responded, standing up and motioning for him to do the same. As soon as he was on his feet, Hermione wrapped him up in a crushing hug.
"We'll always be friends, Harry. Just because we had a little fight, or even a big fight, doesn't mean we're not friends anymore. You couldn't get rid of me if you tried."
"That's good to know," replied Harry as he reveled in the hug. Making up with Hermione made him feel like a great weight was lifted off of his shoulders. Once they separated, Harry sank back down on the couch and Hermione sat down next to him.
"Do you think you could do me a favor?" Harry asked after a moment.
"What's that?"
"Could you tell Sir Firecam that I apologized and that I have your permission to start sword training with him again?"
"Why on earth would I need to do that?"
"Well… when he found out what I did to you during the battle, he got royally pissed at me and told me off. Said I couldn't train anymore until you told him it was okay."
"So that's why you apologized, huh?"
"Yep," Harry said with a smile. "It had nothing to do with being miserable from missing my best friend. I just wanted to be able to spend time with that cranky old man again."
"You really are a git, you know that?" Hermione said as she shoved his shoulder.
"Kidding! Just kidding! No need to get physical! I don't want another black eye."
Hermione blushed at that.
"Sorry about that, I shouldn't have hit you like that."
"Don't worry, I deserved it."
"Yes you did."
"Oi! You said you were sorry!"
"I'm sorry because punching your hard head really hurt my hand!"
"Oi!"
"And just think, you got beat up by a girl again! That's twice I've knocked you on your bum, Potter."
"Yeah, well, that makes it twice that I've heard you swear like a sailor."
The two broke into laughter for a little while before Hermione scooted over close to Harry and laid her head on his shoulder.
"Seriously, Harry, I'm sorry too. I don't like fighting with you. I've been miserable all week."
"Well that makes two of us."
"And don't worry, I'll tell Sir Firecam that you're in the clear tomorrow at breakfast."
"Thanks."
A little while later the two teenagers decided it was time to be off to bed. Hermione reached out for one more hug as they parted to go up their separate stairways.
"Goodnight, Harry," she whispered, leaving a small peck on his cheek.
Harry watched her ascend the stairs with a grin on his face.
"Goodnight, Hermione."
OoOoO
AN: Well, there it is. I hope that didn't seem too rushed. What do you think? Let me know!
If you're concerned about the changes that I've made to Keldorn's character from his canonical origins, keep reading. If not, you can skip the rest of this paragraph. So, to clear up a point about Keldorn Firecam that was brought up by a reviewer: I am well aware that Keldorn is a paladin of Torm in Baldur's Gate II. I'm very familiar with both the BG series of games as well as Forgotten Realms. I have, however, decided to change that aspect of Keldorn's canon history in order to make him a work better in this story. After all, would a paladin's special abilities even function in a world where his deity had absolutely no presence? Would Harry Potter be interested in associating with or following someone who was devoted to a polytheistic god from a world that he will never see? So, in order to cut down on worrying about questions like this that really have no impact on the story whatsoever and would only serve to make it more convoluted, and to also make the story flow better, I changed Keldorn's devotion to the more monotheistic 'Light' that could be interpreted to exist across the different universes. Thus, I note in my disclaimers that I've taken some liberties with his character and I decided not to label this as a crossover. So, for the purposes of this story, just pretend that Torm, Bane, Tyr, Cyric, Mystra and all the rest never really existed or that they are demons passing themselves off as gods. All the clerics in Toril either worship the Light or the demons.
To all of you who either put this on alert or added it as a favorite, thanks! It's nice to know that you're enjoying my woeful attempts at writing.
Extra special thanks to everyone who left a review. Ya'll are wonderful.
Please leave a review on your way out. I really want to know what you think. If you do, I'll bake you a cookie!
Thanks for reading and reviewing!