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CHAPTER 1: Meeting Her and Getting Help
It was the last quidditch game before Christmas Break and Slytherin was just killed in their greatest defeat in history by Gryffindor 1500 to 0. The game had actually been notoriously short; it had only lasted two hours. Gryffindor was now guaranteed the quidditch cup for the seventh year in a row. As usual, Harry was the last to leave the pitch and was quite surprised to see Malfoy still around.
"Pretty proud of yourself aren't you, Potter?" sneered Malfoy.
The boy-who-lived turned to look his worst enemy in the eye.
"I hope you don't expect the Dark Lord to be impressed enough to let you beat him. He'll kill you the first chance he gets," he said.
"Is that a bet, Malfoy?" questioned the Gryffindor Prince angrily.
"Yeah, it is and when I win," said the Slytherin as the two clasped hands and Harry began the Unbreakable Vow, "the Dark Lord will kill you."
"Okay fine, but when I kill Voldemort," said Harry, "you will serve my children until the first one becomes of age."
"Deal!" Draco replied, very sure he would win
The spell completed itself and the boys parted for their dormitories. Two weeks later, nearly the entire castle was empty as everyone was going home for the holidays. It was now only a few days before Christmas and Harry had just returned with Professor Dumbledore from destroying Nagini, Voldemort's last horcrux. He had just thrown himself on the couch in the Gryffindor common room when a blinding pain shot through his scar and a vision of Voldemort sneering at him flashed through his mind.
"Enjoy the time you have left, Harry Potter," Voldemort threatened. "When New Year arrives, you and everyone you love will be dead."
He gave an evil laugh as the pain faded leaving Harry breathless. When he could finally move again, Harry raced out of the common room and straight to Dumbledore's office. He barged right in without even acknowledging Professor McGonagall.
"We have until New Year's. Voldemort will attack on New Year's Eve."
Then very quickly, Harry explained his sudden vision and waited for Dumbledore to say something.
"Minerva, please send letters to every member of the Order requesting they arrive the day after Christmas," said Dumbledore. "Harry, begin contacting anyone you feel you need to and do whatever research you can. I will contact the Ministry and see if we can get help from them. We will not begin serious preparation until after Christmas. Everyone should enjoy what may very well be their last holiday."
Harry left and went directly to the library after owling Ron to come and help him. He went straight to the section on defense spells and grabbing five books off the shelf at once, went to sit in front of the fire. He expected to be alone but found a girl with long curly brown hair reading in one of the over-stuffed chairs.
Hermione Granger was in her seventh and final year at Hogwarts. She was in the school's library doing research on her Defense Against the Dark Arts essay for Professor Lupin. Hermione was surprised to see that a messy, black-haired boy had sat down opposite her.
"Hello," she whispered, "I thought that I was the only one who enjoyed the library during breaks."
"Hi," Harry replied, "Normally, you would be right, but I have some research to do."
"Maybe I can help you, I'm Hermione Granger, by the way," she introduced herself.
He looked at her as if he had never seen anything so beautiful in his life. He couldn't take his eyes away from the lovely image in front of him.
"So you're the 'Ravenclaw Princess' I've heard so much about," Harry said in amusement, "I'm…
."Harry Potter, 'The Chosen One'," she interrupted. "Everyone knows who you are Mr. Potter. So, what are you researching?"
"Defense spells right now," Harry stated. "The final battle with Voldemort will be on New Year's Eve."
He expected to see her flinch when he said Voldemort, but instead she just stood up and walked away from him. Harry just shrugged and started reading again. Hermione returned a few minutes later with several rolls of parchment, two quills, some inkbottles all in a sack and an armful of several books from the 'restricted section'.
Harry just stared at the amount of books from the 'restricted section' and looked up to see her smirking at him.
"What," she asked innocently.
He simply pointed to the large stack of books in front of them.
"Oh, just one of the perks of being Head Girl. Here, start taking notes and making a list of spells we can use." For no particular reason, Harry found her bossy attitude rather intriguing.
"This is a list I started in first year, so start with them," she finished.
"First year?" he asked while looking at the list that took up four feet of parchment. "Voldemort didn't return until the end of fourth year."
"I know, but his Death eaters were still around, plus I'm muggle-born. I've always been in danger of being attacked," Hermione said off-handedly.
They worked late into the night and eventually fell asleep with the books in their laps. The same thing happened two more times before Christmas and Harry and Hermione spent every waking minute in the library together. Things seemed to get easier once Ron returned, but they were still worried. Finally, Christmas Eve arrived and the three of them decided to go down to Hogsmeade.
Harry and Hermione left Ron at Honeydukes, who winked at him and mouthed good luck, for Harry had told him the night before he was going to ask her to the dance. For a long time they just walked together in silence. Finally, Harry spoke up.
"Hey listen Hermione, I was just kinda wondering if you would… like to go to the… Christmas Ball with me?" he stuttered.
"Yeah, I would love to", she replied.
He knew that he had the dumbest look on his face when she said 'yes', but at that moment Harry could care less, he was so happy.
This is the first time we've (harrylover101 and Crystal-Moonlight-Guardian) written a story together. Please review. PLEASE! The more reviews we get, the longer we'll make each chapter.