Disclaimer - as always, I'm just exercising them for J.K. Rowling. I will profit in no way from this fiction.
This fiction is set about five years after graduation. Voldemort is in control, and the Resistance is underground. But Voldemort's hold on power is tenuous, and peace may be coming with a mysterious plan. Hermione Granger is an assasin with Sirius Black, but occasionally works on new potions with Severus Snape. Ron Weasley is an animagus, he is undercover in Voldemort's stronghold as a falcon. Remus Lupin still tries to recruit werewolves to the resistance, and has a small band together. Harry Potter has been grounded by Dumbledore after a series of near fatal accidents. Draco Malfoy was a Death Eater, but was captured and psychologically torn apart by Hermione. There is a whole back story I haven't finished yet.
This story will weave all over the place. I expect there will be chapters sprouting up everywhere so don't get sucked into thinking that there's a story line here. If there is something you want explained, just let me know and I'll write about it.
Big Warning - there will be slash ahead. Yep, that's right, two guys or girls sharing an romantic relationship. Being in love. They snog (shudder), they fondle (dismayed gasp), and they probably (though I possibly will not describe it in detail) HAVE SEX with each other (run away screaming in horror). If this isn't your cup of tea, please leave now.
On the other hand, this fic also includes het relationships. Just like the real world, gay people and straight people coexist and are friends. Well, maybe not the real world, but my world, at least. If you really can't stomach a boy and a girl in love, you may not want to read this fic either.
Frankly, love is genderless, and sexual attraction is about a person, not their genitals. But, then, I often get called an equal opportunity lech, so you are completely at liberty to disagree.
Sorry about the length of this intro. Please give me feedback, I'll love it and promise to review your stories.
A Letter from Hermione.
Dear Harry,
I have a present for you, it will follow this letter. I know what ennui you have suffered since Dumbledore grounded you. I know you miss the adrenaline of action. So, here is something for you to do. I have broken this present, taken it apart thoroughly, destroyed it's very foundations, yet it is in your power to mend it.
Harry, I'm not blind. I know what has driven your reckless intrepidity. I have seen you court death with the face of one without hope. For five years I have seen that look, and known why. At last, I have the chance to alleviate it. It has taken me five years. Five years of pain, hate and torture, as I delve the secrets of the Death Eaters, but I give you him. Draco Malfoy.
In our last year at school I saw you look at him, Harry. Your face never speaks, but your eyes do, if one can read them. I read your eyes, and they said... Love. Despair. Desparation. Compassion. I followed your gaze - and he was looking back. That didn't make sense, if you were looking at each other, why the desperation and despair? Why the bitterness? So I watched him, and saw the true object of his gaze. Us. Ron and me. Not you. I saw him watch us, and then take comfort with you. Yes, I knew about that too. What could I do? We couldn't break our exclusive bond, and, even if we had wanted Draco, we would never have betrayed you. For five years we have watched you seek to ease your pain. For five years we have watched and worried over you. We knew then, and we know now, but now I also know that Draco Malfoy is worth saving. He is a person capable of love and honesty and integrity. I destroyed him. I betrayed his love in exchange for a few secrets. You can save him.
Destroying Draco Malfoy was the hardest session I have ever done, and I am not a timid woman. I have blood on my hands, blood that I have spilled from the veins of Death Eaters, without pity, without compassion, without mercy. I have beaten, tortured, cut and killed. I have done everything a person can do to wring the truth, and find a way to survive. But I could not do that to Draco Malfoy, could not wring the truth from him with physical pain, because I knew he was worthy of love. Your love. So, why did I destroy him at all? Because he held the keys to peace for us all. I don't pretend to have a big philosophical answer to good and evil. My reasons are savagely personal.
We have a boggart here, Sirius and I. Sometimes we use it in our sessions. It can be... fruitful. But only occasionally. We, too, fear what the boggart shows us, and cannot fight it. When the boggart sees me, it becomes a grave, heaped with fresh earth. A simple plaque records the name and dates, that's all. Just one name. I cannot fight it. It's what I most fear - that the one who makes me complete, the one who fills all my empty spaces, the garden in which I find pleasure and comfort; will be taken from me forever. No chance to ever again say 'I'm sorry' or 'I love you' or 'I need you'. No chance ever again to simply lie in his arms and listen to him breathe. To watch him smile.To watch him sleep in my arms, his body still flushed with passion. For him, I would do anything. I have done anything. I have and will dredge the foullest depths of fouller minds in order to safeguard him. All this time, you have dredged those depths. It's time you had the love to make it worthwhile.
Sirius joins me in sending Draco. He worries about you too, as does Remus. They, and Ron and I, have been watching you with love and anxiety all this time. We have found a love that sustains us, that makes us whole. If Draco Malfoy is what you need to be whole, then Draco Malfoy you shall have.
I should add that Sirius and I have the same boggart, with different names on the headstone, obviously. It is one of those weird quirks that makes us such good colleagues. Sometimes, if it surprises us, we just cling to each other. In some ways, having the boggart keeps us sane. It reminds us of what we are fighting for. It reminds us that there is nothing we would not do to thwart that image of death. It reminds us that we love and are loved. It gives us patience, cunning, faith. Our greatest fear spurs us on to ensure that it will never come to pass.I want you, Harry, to remember this image in the days to come. Draco is broken, and you will have to cling tightly to the image of your greatest fear and greatest hope in order to get through. You must see both the mirror and the boggart to ensure you follow the right path.
I know it may seem strange to you, the bond between Sirius and me, but it is deep and resiliant. We trust each other implicitly, we understand each other, we are in accord, mind and spirit. We can read each other's minds. It is a different bond to the one I share with Ron, the bond of lover; different to the one I share with you, the bond of friend; but a bond no less profound nonetheless. This gift comes from us both, with all our love for you attached, to get you through the pain that will follow.
So, finally, here is your chance to capture the love that has eluded you for so long. Be patient. I was thorough with him, and he will be delicate. Never give up. Remember, he will grow how you set him, so do not let bitterness twist your training. He will not talk for a long time, but one day you will see your chance. Seize it with both hands and do not let go. Build something strong and worthwhile. Build something tall and proud and beautiful. This is my gift to you; that you may make his death your greatest fear, his life your greatest hope, and his heart your greatest desire, and that he may do the same.
I love you Harry. Use well the days.
Hermione.
This fiction is set about five years after graduation. Voldemort is in control, and the Resistance is underground. But Voldemort's hold on power is tenuous, and peace may be coming with a mysterious plan. Hermione Granger is an assasin with Sirius Black, but occasionally works on new potions with Severus Snape. Ron Weasley is an animagus, he is undercover in Voldemort's stronghold as a falcon. Remus Lupin still tries to recruit werewolves to the resistance, and has a small band together. Harry Potter has been grounded by Dumbledore after a series of near fatal accidents. Draco Malfoy was a Death Eater, but was captured and psychologically torn apart by Hermione. There is a whole back story I haven't finished yet.
This story will weave all over the place. I expect there will be chapters sprouting up everywhere so don't get sucked into thinking that there's a story line here. If there is something you want explained, just let me know and I'll write about it.
Big Warning - there will be slash ahead. Yep, that's right, two guys or girls sharing an romantic relationship. Being in love. They snog (shudder), they fondle (dismayed gasp), and they probably (though I possibly will not describe it in detail) HAVE SEX with each other (run away screaming in horror). If this isn't your cup of tea, please leave now.
On the other hand, this fic also includes het relationships. Just like the real world, gay people and straight people coexist and are friends. Well, maybe not the real world, but my world, at least. If you really can't stomach a boy and a girl in love, you may not want to read this fic either.
Frankly, love is genderless, and sexual attraction is about a person, not their genitals. But, then, I often get called an equal opportunity lech, so you are completely at liberty to disagree.
Sorry about the length of this intro. Please give me feedback, I'll love it and promise to review your stories.
A Letter from Hermione.
Dear Harry,
I have a present for you, it will follow this letter. I know what ennui you have suffered since Dumbledore grounded you. I know you miss the adrenaline of action. So, here is something for you to do. I have broken this present, taken it apart thoroughly, destroyed it's very foundations, yet it is in your power to mend it.
Harry, I'm not blind. I know what has driven your reckless intrepidity. I have seen you court death with the face of one without hope. For five years I have seen that look, and known why. At last, I have the chance to alleviate it. It has taken me five years. Five years of pain, hate and torture, as I delve the secrets of the Death Eaters, but I give you him. Draco Malfoy.
In our last year at school I saw you look at him, Harry. Your face never speaks, but your eyes do, if one can read them. I read your eyes, and they said... Love. Despair. Desparation. Compassion. I followed your gaze - and he was looking back. That didn't make sense, if you were looking at each other, why the desperation and despair? Why the bitterness? So I watched him, and saw the true object of his gaze. Us. Ron and me. Not you. I saw him watch us, and then take comfort with you. Yes, I knew about that too. What could I do? We couldn't break our exclusive bond, and, even if we had wanted Draco, we would never have betrayed you. For five years we have watched you seek to ease your pain. For five years we have watched and worried over you. We knew then, and we know now, but now I also know that Draco Malfoy is worth saving. He is a person capable of love and honesty and integrity. I destroyed him. I betrayed his love in exchange for a few secrets. You can save him.
Destroying Draco Malfoy was the hardest session I have ever done, and I am not a timid woman. I have blood on my hands, blood that I have spilled from the veins of Death Eaters, without pity, without compassion, without mercy. I have beaten, tortured, cut and killed. I have done everything a person can do to wring the truth, and find a way to survive. But I could not do that to Draco Malfoy, could not wring the truth from him with physical pain, because I knew he was worthy of love. Your love. So, why did I destroy him at all? Because he held the keys to peace for us all. I don't pretend to have a big philosophical answer to good and evil. My reasons are savagely personal.
We have a boggart here, Sirius and I. Sometimes we use it in our sessions. It can be... fruitful. But only occasionally. We, too, fear what the boggart shows us, and cannot fight it. When the boggart sees me, it becomes a grave, heaped with fresh earth. A simple plaque records the name and dates, that's all. Just one name. I cannot fight it. It's what I most fear - that the one who makes me complete, the one who fills all my empty spaces, the garden in which I find pleasure and comfort; will be taken from me forever. No chance to ever again say 'I'm sorry' or 'I love you' or 'I need you'. No chance ever again to simply lie in his arms and listen to him breathe. To watch him smile.To watch him sleep in my arms, his body still flushed with passion. For him, I would do anything. I have done anything. I have and will dredge the foullest depths of fouller minds in order to safeguard him. All this time, you have dredged those depths. It's time you had the love to make it worthwhile.
Sirius joins me in sending Draco. He worries about you too, as does Remus. They, and Ron and I, have been watching you with love and anxiety all this time. We have found a love that sustains us, that makes us whole. If Draco Malfoy is what you need to be whole, then Draco Malfoy you shall have.
I should add that Sirius and I have the same boggart, with different names on the headstone, obviously. It is one of those weird quirks that makes us such good colleagues. Sometimes, if it surprises us, we just cling to each other. In some ways, having the boggart keeps us sane. It reminds us of what we are fighting for. It reminds us that there is nothing we would not do to thwart that image of death. It reminds us that we love and are loved. It gives us patience, cunning, faith. Our greatest fear spurs us on to ensure that it will never come to pass.I want you, Harry, to remember this image in the days to come. Draco is broken, and you will have to cling tightly to the image of your greatest fear and greatest hope in order to get through. You must see both the mirror and the boggart to ensure you follow the right path.
I know it may seem strange to you, the bond between Sirius and me, but it is deep and resiliant. We trust each other implicitly, we understand each other, we are in accord, mind and spirit. We can read each other's minds. It is a different bond to the one I share with Ron, the bond of lover; different to the one I share with you, the bond of friend; but a bond no less profound nonetheless. This gift comes from us both, with all our love for you attached, to get you through the pain that will follow.
So, finally, here is your chance to capture the love that has eluded you for so long. Be patient. I was thorough with him, and he will be delicate. Never give up. Remember, he will grow how you set him, so do not let bitterness twist your training. He will not talk for a long time, but one day you will see your chance. Seize it with both hands and do not let go. Build something strong and worthwhile. Build something tall and proud and beautiful. This is my gift to you; that you may make his death your greatest fear, his life your greatest hope, and his heart your greatest desire, and that he may do the same.
I love you Harry. Use well the days.
Hermione.