Challenge Prompt: Write about a character learning the truth about something.

Setting: 6th year, not long after Harry has told Hermione and Ron about the horcruxes and his task to retrieve a memory from Slughorn.

"Ron, come look at this!"

Hermione had just rushed back into the common room. Harry was off, meeting with the Headmaster, and Ron had been enjoying a game of chess against Dean until Hermione ran in.

"Can't it wait? Harry's not back yet, and I need to concentrate here." Ron grumbled.

"No you don't, mate" Dean retorted. He reached out and tipped over his king, ignoring the cries of "Traitor!" and "Coward!" from his pieces as he did so. "You've got me beat in 3 moves, and I need to study anyways."

As Dean stood up and moved toward his dorm, Ron sighed and started putting his set away. "Alright Hermione, what is it you wanted me to look at?"

"This." She put a book down on the table and pointed. There were a number of symbols and runes on the page.

"Ancient Runes? You know I don't take that class, Hermione." Ron said, confused.

"Just look, right here." Hermione pointed at one, and Ron leaned over. "Doesn't it look a lot like Harry's scar?"

Ron peered at the rune; there was a lightning shaped symbol on the page, with a bunch of text around it he couldn't read. "Yeah, but so what? I'm sure there are a bunch of runes shaped like little squiggles."

"Ron, this isn't just a book of runes, it's a book of faerie runes! And it's not just similar, it's exactly the same! The size, the shape, everything matches!" Hermione's voice was strained, as if it was all she could do not to shout.

"Err… faerie runes? I'm not sure what a bunch of Christmas faeries have to do with Harry's scar."

"Not Christmas faeries, Ron, faeries!" Hermione's face was getting red.

Ron decided that he could wait for Harry in his bed as easily as he could wait down here. "Er, right, Hermione… I'm just going to go up to bed, tell Harry to wake me when he comes up, alright?"

It was almost 2 hours before Harry arrived back in the common room. Hermione started as she heard someone walk in. She had meant to put her books away before Harry returned, but she had fallen asleep while reading and most of her books were still spread out on the table.

"You didn't have to wait for me, Hermione." Harry said, walking in and staring at the books on the table. Hermione yawned and began to gather them up, but stopped short as Harry grabbed one of them and started looking at it.

"What's this?" Harry asked. Looking closely, Hermione could see it was the book of faerie runes she'd been showing to Ron earlier.

"Oh…. that, that's a book of runes. There's one that looks exactly like your scar, Harry, and I was trying to show Ron to see what he thought, but he looked like he didn't care."

"Huh… well, I'm not really that tired, d'you wanna go walk around the grounds, maybe we can talk about it? I could tell you what Dumbledore talked about, and you can tell me about this rune you found?"

Hermione stood, shaking herself off. "Of course! Only, why outside?"

Harry shrugged. "It's already after curfew, I don't to disturb anyone or get you in trouble. I've got my cloak already, I'm sure your stuff will be fine on the table for a night."

Hermione nodded. "Ok, let's go."

Harry didn't say anything until they were by the edge of the lake. By then, they were no longer under the cloak, just walking side-by-side. As Hermione was about to ask Harry a question, Harry spoke up. "This rune you found…. Did you find anything else out about it?"

Hermione shrugged. "No, the text in the book is confusing. It's not written in normal runes, and it's like they keep shifting every time I figure one out."

"You were able to figure some out? Impressive." Harry replied.

There was an unusual lilt to Harry's voice… he sounded more amused than impressed, and not at all like Harry usually sounded. Hermione turned to him. "Harry? Or… oh God, you're not Harry, are you?"

"Well, that depends on your definition, I suppose." Harry said, smirking. Hermione reached for wand, but when she looked back at Harry, there was a set of runes floating in the air. She'd read about those, they were… something… "Now Hermione, I promise you I'm not going to hurt you while we're out here. I promise that you that I believe you will be very interested in what I have to say. I also don't think you need to worry about the runes floating in the air... In fact, why don't you just forget about them?"

The runes were…. Wait, which runes was she about to decipher? "Harry… is that your name, even? I suppose I can hear you out, but I need an explanation, now."

"My name's Harry, Harry Potter, even." Harry said. "I'm just not the original. You know, it's always the muggle-borns that find out about us. The purebloods, anyone raised in the wizarding world, they've completely forgotten all the old stories. They're so certain they know the truth about how magic works, anything they don't see regularly they just ignore. Ron's a perfect example, though sometimes I think he ignores everything except chess, food, and you and me."

"Hey, he's not that bad!" Hermione retorted. "And what do you mean you're not the original?"

"Well…" Harry said. "You're muggle-born, and you've read a great deal. Let's see how much you know. If I told you that I'm a changeling, what would that mean to you?"

Hermione gasped. "A faerie? But… I thought fetches died off after they were swapped out?"

Harry laughed. "Oh, you are good. But the muggles, as much as they have a longer memory for things like this than the wizards, don't have all the details right. Very rarely, a faerie is born with more than just faerie magic, but we're terrible at learning how to use wizard's magic ourselves. So, we'll find a wizarding child, one that's still just a babe, and replace him. Most of us only stick around a few years into Hogwarts, the introduction is all we really need… it's not so much the knowledge, it's the exposure. Feeling how wizards and witches channel their magic, being exposed to their energy, that's how we learn.

"Imagine my surprise when, while I was still a 'baby', some dark lord tried to kill me, with a killing curse!"

"But…. you're alive, are faeries immune to the killing curse?" Hermione was reeling, trying to reconcile the shy, compassionate, sometimes angry boy she'd known for years with the creature standing in front of her.

"Yes, we're alive, but…. Well, we don't really have souls. Or bodies, one or the other. We have all the parts that would make up a soul, but it's all physical. The killing curse tries to separate the soul from the body, but there's nothing to separate in me, so it just…. bounced off."

"You mean… you survived the killing curse because you're a faerie?" Hermione was stunned.

"Yup!" Harry grinned. "Wizards are so easily fooled. In hundreds of years no killing curse has ever left a scar, and all of a sudden they're willing assume it must have left a scar because it had less effect on me than normal?"

"But what about the Dursleys? Why do you go back there and live if you're a faerie? I thought you hated boredom." Hermione asked. There was something else she was supposed to be thinking about, something else she should remember…

"Oh, we do, but we don't feel pain in quite the same way. If it's magical pain, pain that can sear the soul, it hurts us more than it does humans, but anything physical? As long as it's not cold iron, it's just another sensation. I had plenty of sensation to last me until I came to Hogwarts, and there's so much excitement here! I debated going back to the fae realms at the end of first year, but then I made an important discovery." Harry was pacing, getting caught up in his words.

"Voldemort?" Hermione asked. Was it… the runes in front of Harry were obviously irrelevant, so what was she trying to remember?

"Yes! I wasn't just a celebrity, I was a hero of destiny! Such a grand tale deserves its own ending, don't you think? I even have my own princess just waiting for me! Of course, every good princess needs spirit, fire… I was worried I might have to do something extreme, but all I had to do was ignore her for a while, and she went straight to pursuing me! With jealousy even. Of course, I've ensured she won't give anyone else her virginity, but anything else she learns… well, it's all to my benefit isn't' it?"

"You're horrible." Hermione could see them clearly now, faerie runes of submission and acceptance, but already burning out. "Manipulating Ginny like that, I won't let you get away with it."

"Of course you will." Harry smiled, then frowned as he glared over Hermione's shoulder. "What is he doing here?"

Hermione spun to try and warn whoever had shown up, but as she finished turning around, she saw they were still alone. Her eyes wide, Hermione spun back around, to see a bright flash of light.

Harry was laughing. "I can't believe that actually worked! Still, no point wasting the gift."

Hermione was having a hard time looking away, but the runes were different this time. Acceptance. Curiosity. And…. one she didn't recognize. "What are you doing?" She cursed herself, she was already acting on her curiosity. She had to break away, somehow.

"Nothing bad, I assure you. Remember, I'm a faerie, if I make a promise, I have to keep it. Of course, I can still lie, but I promise that everything I have told you about myself is true. I also promise to answer any question you ask of me before we re-enter the castle truly and to the best of my ability. Now, did you want to try and stop me, or did you have questions you wanted to ask the first faerie you've ever met?" Harry was gesturing as he spoke.

"Are you doing something to me?" Hermione asked. She knew she was being influenced, that she had to get away or stop him, but she couldn't make herself walk away from so much information.

"Of course I am! But I did promise earlier that I wouldn't hurt you, and so I won't! I promise that once I'm done, you'll be quite happy with the results."

Well, that didn't sound too bad. Did it? He did say he couldn't lie… there was something wrong with that thought, but she couldn't figure out what it was. "What are you going to do? I mean, how long do you plan to stay like that, with a human body?"

"Until it wears out, of course!" Harry smirked. "Eventually I'll return to the fae realms, but no faerie with wizarding magic has ever tried to have a child with a mortal. And the Weasleys, well, they're nothing if not fertile, are they? Ginny is a perfect choice, don't you agree?"

The first child of faerie and mortal? That sounded interesting. Wait… he was just using Ginny. That was horrible! Wasn't it? Hermione was having a hard time figuring out why it was wrong, she was getting distracted thinking about the possible results of such a union. "Maybe you should have more than one child? If it works at all, I mean. There's so much uncertainty in pregnancy and magic to begin with, you'd need multiple children to see if anything really interesting will happen."

Harry laughed. "You're right!" He waved his hands and the runes faded away. "I don't think I need those anymore, I don't want to hurt you after all."

Hermione smiled. "Well, you couldn't anyways, but what exactly did those runes do to me?"

Harry grinned. "Made you more willing to accept what I said, made you want to ask more questions, and that last one… that's my own creation, a blend of faerie and wizarding runes. It…. relaxed your morals a bit. You aren't evil by mortal standards, not really, but you won't have quite so many hang-ups about whether something's right or wrong, particularly if there's justification for it. Paired with the curiosity rune, you'll be especially likely to ignore moral issues if you think you can learn something."

"Oh." Hermione felt like she should be angry, but she wasn't. Still… "Well, no more messing with my mind like that. I could still tell everyone about you, you know."

"So you could." Harry grinned. "A vow for a vow, then? For all that wizards have forgotten, the Unbreakable Vow was based on Faerie arts, only ours is a bit less bloody. It doesn't kill if you if you break it, you just can't break it." The grin grew wider still. "An unbreakable vow that's actually unbreakable, you might say. You promise never to willingly reveal my nature as a faerie, nor hint to anyone, for any reason save to preserve your own life in the face of imminent death, that I am anyone other than the original Harry James Potter, son of James Potter and Lily Potter née Evans. In return, I will promise to never again use magic, be it faerie or wizarding, to influence your mind or modify your will, save with your explicit permission freely given, or to save your life if I can see no other way to do so."

Hermione turned it over in her head. Vows were dangerous, and she needed to be sure. "If you also permit me to hint or reveal the truth in order to save someone else's life, I will agree."

Harry tipped his head, considering. "If you agree that you will never attempt to engineer a situation with the intent of being able to reveal my true nature, I will agree to your additional stipulation.

Hermione thought it through, but didn't see any obvious issues. "Agreed. How do we do this?" As she asked, she felt a strange sense of finality settle around them.

"We just did." Harry grinned. "Now, shall we go back inside?"

Hermione hesitated. "You're not going to kill me as soon as we're back inside, are you? You only promised not to hurt me while we were out here."

Harry laughed. "Oh, you are good. If you were just a little older and more experienced when you found out about me, you might have been able to beat me! No, I won't be hurting you." When Hermione just glared at him, he sighed. "Fine, I promise that I do not intend to deliberately harm or attack you, now or at any point in the future, nor do I anticipate that intention changing unless you or outside circumstances give me cause to reconsider." He returned her glare. "Better?"

"Much." She smirked. "That wasn't so hard, was it? Besides, I can't wait to see if you can actually have kids with Ginny, what if they get some of your faerie powers without your little quirks?"

Harry shook his head. "No experiments on them. Well, not without my permission anyways. The destined hero has to be a good father, after all."

Harry and Hermione spent the entire walk back to the castle arguing about what they thought would happen with Harry's future kids, and as they separated for the night, the same thought ran through both of their minds. 'Things just got a lot more interesting… I can't wait to see how they turn out!'