Harry Potter and Merlin's Heir
By Missmissa85
It had been over a week since Volemort's defeat, and Harry had only spent one night out of Hogwart's castle in that time. He had gone to The Burrow to join Fred's brothers in laying him to rest. Harry, Bill, Charlie, Percy, George, and Ron solemnly and dutifully led the procession of Fred's many friends and family whilst carrying his body to his freshly dug grave.
Afterward, the solemn proceedings turned into a bit of a party, courtesy of George, who insisted no one cry after the service. People laughed as they remembered Fred and George's ridiculous antics at school and at home and on the Quidditch pitch. But Harry hadn't felt like laughing. He escaped to Ron's room and wept. He wept for anyone and everyone he had ever known and loved and a few he didn't know to well, like Snape and his parents. Nothing could silence the sobs as they shook his entire being.
He felt like he'd been sprawled on Ron's floor weeping like a baby for days, but in truth, it had only been a couple of hours at most. He didn't notice her at first, but Ginny was by his side and stroking his messy hair. Harry told her everything about the last year; the Horcruxes, the Hallows, Dumbledore's grand plan, Snape's true allegiances, and surviving the Killing Curse...again.
Ginny silently listened to everything he had to say and when he was finally finished she said, "I love you."
Bleary-eyed, Harry responded, "I spent nearly a year without you in my life. I never want to be parted from you again. I love you."
They kissed long and hard. Harry's fingers entwined themselves in Ginny's blazing hair as her arms wrapped around his neck. He was acutely aware of her body against his own. It was a sensation he hadn't experienced in so long, he'd almost forgotten what it felt like. Almost.
The door burst open and Harry had to pull Ginny out of the way from the mass of red and brown hair falling over the threshold. Ron and Hermione looked at Harry and Ginny quite aghast. They stayed that way until Ginny started to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. The other three quickly agreed with her assessment of their predicament.
Ginny and Hermione left together to assuage Mrs. Weasley's suspicions, which left Harry and Ron alone momentarily.
"Hey, mate, have you been crying?" Ron asked him
Harry looked at his shoes. "Wailing is probably a more accurate description," he admitted.
Harry suddenly found he was caught in Ron's embrace. He couldn't do anything else, so he returned Ron's gesture.
"It's not your fault, you know that, don't you?" Ron asked as he held him close.
Harry gently pushed away from Ron and looked his friend in the eye. "Don't worry, I'll figure that out eventually," he answered.
Ron smiled and put an arm around Harry's shoulders. "C'mon, I think Percy's had enough butterbeer to actually start dancing."
--
Harry decided to sleep at Hogwarts that night. He didn't think it would be a good idea to sleep under the same roof as Ginny, unless he wanted to end up like Bellatrix Lestrange in the morning. Besides that, The Burrow was overcrowded with family, friends, and people who had had too much to drink to Apparate home without splinching themselves.
Twelve, Grimauld Place had been swarming with reporters since Voldemort's downfall. Harry wasn't ready to face them yet. He had been heartened to hear, however, that Rita Skeeter had suddenly left the country. Anyone who had spoken against Harry or Dumbledore had basically been ostracized in decent wizard society. Skeeter had smeared both men's reputations on more than one occasion.
That left Hogwarts as Harry's only refuge. The place was still far too protected for any uninvited guests to slip in. Almost all of the teachers were living there through the summer to help rebuild the place, which was no small task considering all the Dark Magic that had been unleashed on the ancient bastion.
Harry used his invisibility cloak to go through Hogsmeade and even in the castle so as not to attract the attention of Filch or any of the professors who weren't at Fred's funeral. He only removed the cloak when he reached the Fat Lady.
"Password?" she asked wearily.
It was too simple. "Panthera leo," he answered and the portrait swung open.
He hurried up to the boys' dormitory and changed into his pajamas. He started to crawl into bed, but the place was too quiet. Instead, he grabbed a blanket and took it down to the common room where he lay down on the sofa. There, at least, he could listen to the portraits snoring.
A few hours later, Harry's eyes opened wide. The fire had reduced to a smolder and the common room would have been in utter darkness if not for the moonlight. Someone had entered the common room and was creeping along behind him. Harry wrapped his fingers around his wand and stealthily pulled it out from under his pillow.
"Lumos Maxima!" he yelled pointing his wand in the direction of the intruder.
A girl screamed, "Harry put that out! It's only me!"
Harry put on his glasses and upon clearly seeing Hermione, he said, "Nox. What are you doing here?"
Hermione didn't answer right away. Harry examined her in the light of the moon. Her hair seemed more frazzled than usual and she wasn't wearing the dress robes she had had on earlier. Instead, she had on a pair of jeans and what Harry could only surmise was one of Ron's Chudley Cannons t-shirts.
"Mrs. Weasley didn't catch you and Ron snogging, did she?" he asked quickly. "Did she throw you out of the house?" Harry didn't think Mrs. Weasley would do such a thing, but he'd only rarely seen her truly angry.
Hermione rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "No and no," she answered. "Got any more questions?"
Harry's eyes hit upon a dark spot on Hermione's neck and he couldn't contain his smile. "What's that?" he asked.
"What's what?"
"That?" Harry asked touching the end of his wand to the spot.
"Ow!" she cried out at the touch of Harry's wand to her skin. Then realization seemed to dawn on her face. "Oh, no!"
Harry doubled over in laughter as Hermione ran past him to the dormitories. When he regained control of himself, he followed her up the stairs. He knocked on the door of the girl's dormitory and said, "I'm sorry I laughed at you, Hermione. Please tell me what happened?"
Harry had become very good at apologizing to Hermione over the last seven years. When she didn't answer, he pointed his wand at the lock on the door and said, "Alohomora."
As he walked through the door, he realized he had never been in the girls' dormitory before.
"Why aren't you sliding down the steps back toward the common room?" she asked haughtily.
"Search me," he answered remembering how the castle had once ejected him and Ron from the girls' doorway. "Maybe it's because we're both of age now."
"Or maybe it's because we're not technically students anymore," Hermione said as she sullenly sat down on her bed. "I can't get it to go away."
Harry smiled sheepishly. "Well, some people think of it as a badge of honor," he said encouragingly.
Hermione glared at him. "For a boy maybe!" she answered angrily.
Harry's cheeks reddened. He cautiously took a step into the room. For all he knew, the floor could drop from underneath him and eject him from the room that way. When it became obvious he wasn't going to plummet to his death, he sat down next to Hermione on her bed.
"What happened, Hermione?" he asked finally. "Why are you here with a love-bite and one of Ron's t-shirts at four o'clock in the morning?"
"It's not what you think," she started.
Harry's eyes widened in mock surprise. "What am I thinking, Hermione?"
She glared at him. "Someone spilled butterbeer all over me after you left, so Ron lent me this shirt," she explained.
Harry raised an eyebrow. "If you couldn't get the stain out, why didn't you borrow some of Ginny's clothes?"
Hermione looked as though the idea had never occurred to her. Harry's grin felt permanently plastered to his face. "Question: did you change in front of Ron?" he asked.
"He turned his back," she answered defensively.
"Oh he looked, Hermione," Harry told her.
"How would you know?" Anger was creeping into Hermione's tone.
"There's not a man alive who wouldn't look while a woman is undressing in his presence," Harry insisted.
Hermione crossed her arms and looked away from him angrily. After an uncomfortable silence, Harry said, "Well, that explains the t-shirt. How do you explain this?"
He indicated the dark spot on Hermione's neck and she quickly batted his hand away. Harry continued to stare at her hoping it would convince her to continue. Finally she sighed and said, "Well, Ron and I were alone in his room, and everyone was still outside and it was dark and..."
"It's okay," Harry said sympathetically. "You don't have to tell me. I get the idea."
"It's just that I don't...well, I don't want you to think...nothing...well..."
"Hermione," Harry said as he grabbed her shoulders and made her look at him, "you do not have to tell me if you don't want to."
Hermione took a deep breath and Harry loosened his grasp on her. "Nothing happened," she admitted. "Not that it couldn't have happened, it just didn't. Ginny came in around midnight saying something about her room being full of distant relatives. George and Fr-I mean Percy stumbled in not long after that."
Harry flinched at the near mention of Fred's name. It did seem strange to think of George without his other half. "It wasn't exactly a romantic setting was it?" he asked jokingly.
"No," Hermione answered with the slightest hint of a smile. "But Ron and I did make the mistake of falling asleep on his bed while the others huddled together on the floor."
Harry's face twisted into a look of complete shock. "Oh, Hermione, you didn't," he said in utter disbelief. "What did Mrs. Weasley do when she found you?"
"Well," she began, "she screamed loud enough to wake the dead and certainly everyone in the house. She was ready to throw Ron out on his ear until Ginny assured her that nothing had happened between us. She was still threatening to make him sleep in the chicken coop, though. I shudder to think what would have happened if she had seen this." She rubbed the dark spot on her neck. "Well, anyway, I told her I would come back here for the night. She was still pretty angry, though."
Harry laughed. "Ron probably slept in the chicken coop, anyway. I'm glad I decided to come back when I did."
"Would you have slept with Ginny?" Hermione asked him.
Harry's eyebrows arched upward. "We're being a bit more than frank, aren't we?"
"You become quite frank with someone when you've spent nine months tramping across England with them," Hermione answered in her most matter-of-fact tone. "Speaking of which, I really should unpack our things."
At that, she reached under her pillow and pulled out the beaded bag Harry had become accustomed to seeing over the past months. With effort she pulled Harry's rucksack out and tossed it to him. She then pulled out the portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black who was quite put out at being awoken at such an hour.
Hermione smiled as Phineas hollered about the importance of a good night's sleep. "I believe this is yours as well," she said to Harry, holding the portrait out to him.
Harry took the frame and shouted Phineas down saying, "Go sleep in the Headmaster's office, then!"
Phineas blinked at him and then disappeared out of the frame. Harry sighed. "I am not looking forward to hanging him up when I go back to Grimauld Place."
"Oh, he won't be so bad," she told him. "Besides, he came in quite handy didn't he? Without him, Snape wouldn't have been able to lead us to the sword of Godric Gryffindor." After a moment she said, "When do you think you'll go back to Grimauld Place?"
"I don't know," Harry answered as he stuffed the dirty clothes Hermione had placed in front of him in his rucksack. "I suppose when all of the reporters abandon the place."
Hermione withdrew the entire length of her arm from the bag and smiled at him sympathetically. "Oh, Harry, they're not likely to do that. Pick the most honest one you can find and give them an exclusive interview. Or better yet, write down all of our adventures and publish them in a series of books."
"Like Gilderoy Lockhart?" Harry asked sarcastically.
Hermione just laughed. Harry watched her another minute or so before saying, "Why are you folding your clothes back up? Are you planning on going somewhere?"
Hermione gave a non-committal jerk of the head.
Hoping to get more out of her, Harry continued, "I hear McGonogall is organizing crammers this summer so the fifth and seventh years can take their O.W.Ls and N.E.W.Ts. I thought sure you'd stay around for that."
Hermione looked up at him. Her eyes were glistening with tears. Harry's own eyes widened in surprise at the sudden show of emotion.
"It's my parents, Harry," she told him. "I modified their memories and sent them off to Australia. Now that Voldemort's gone, it's safe to bring them home. I just have to find them first."
"Well, you're not going alone," Harry told her with a little more force than he had originally intended.
She whipped her hair around defiantly. "They are my parents and my responsibility, I have to do this alone."
Harry grabbed her wrists and stopped her stuffing clothes back into her bag. "You are never alone, Hermione. Do you understand me?" He shook her to make his point clear.
"Look," he began again more gently, "in the morning, or, rather in the afternoon, we'll all get together and we'll make a plan to find your parents. "You should know you're not alone, Hermione, you've said it to me enough times."
Hermione smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You're a good friend, Harry," she told him.
"I try," he answered. "Now get some sleep. I'll be downstairs if you need me."
The moment Harry's foot crossed the threshold, the steps disappeared and Harry was tumbling head first down a stone slide. A few seconds later he was sprawled on the red carpet of the Gryffindor common room. He groped around for his glasses until he heard a familiar voice saying, "Occulus Reparo." Hermione handed him his glasses and quickly ran back up the stairs. Harry could hear her giggling the whole time.