Previously:

"Well, I'm going to become a Superhero."

"You really should make sure a room is empty before you lock yourself in it for a private conversation."

-/-

And we're back. Welcome back to those who have waited and hello again to those who haven't.

If you can't remember the disclaimer it was probably because it was clouded with nostalgia. So I say again. I don't own Harry Potter.

Thinking about it, how weird would it be if J K Rowling actually used this site to write how she really wanted the stories to pan out. Maybe she wanted to put Harry with Grindelwald but her Publishers forced her not to…

Story time, people!

-/-

Shortly after arriving at the Ministry, Harry had decided that the general wizarding populace was insane and full of themselves. He had met centaurs, house elves and goblins. He knew for a fact that two of the three species wouldn't even be seen dead looking at a wizard or witch like that. The third did it in a much scarier way.

He was put on a supposed show trial. Minister Fudge either wanted to make and example of what happened to those who crossed him or he wanted the Boy-Who-Lived to owe him something by bailing him out of his punishment.

Harry had been given little chance to defend himself. When he did manage to say something it was twisted to make him look even guiltier. Then Dumbledore had swept in with his usual witty good nature and had provided enough evidence to coerce over half of the Wizengamot. Harry was thankful for that but it grew into annoyance when the Headmaster wouldn't even acknowledge his existence. It wasn't that he wanted to speak to him, he just thought that if the Headmaster had gone to all the trouble of saving his arse, he could at least say hi.

But instead, Harry left with Mr. Weasley getting him to explain, as best he could, how planes stayed in the sky. He wasn't an expert on the subject but what he could remember from his Primary school science classes seemed to please Mr. Weasley. He took Mr. Weasleys hand and felt the same squashing sensation as he had before. They landed in the dark park opposite 12 Grimauld Place and quickly made their way inside. Harry was disappointed to see that the house stayed visible this time and didn't appear from nowhere like before.

A large party was held in celebration of his proven innocence. Mrs. Weasley made sure they kept in either the Kitchen or the main Living room. Hermione looked like she wanted desperately to tell Harry something but they couldn't get a moment of privacy. Everyone seemed to want to congratulate Harry many times. Ron himself had patted Harry on the back and confessed his absolute belief that Harry had always been innocent over five times. He had also challenged him to half a dozen games of wizard's chess. Harry had only accepted two.

Harry went to bed as early as he could. He had to slip past Mrs. Weasley who kept insisting he enjoy himself. She had been distracted by Sirius starting a strip tease for Remus while completely drunk. She couldn't resist laying into Sirius and she had to protect the innocent minds of her children. Harry was not the only one who used the distraction. Only a few seconds after his head hit the pillow, Hermione came through the door.

"Harry, we need to talk."

"I know. You've looked like you needed to relieve your bladder all night. And it's like a conspiracy to keep us in view. I came this close to punching Ron back there. Why couldn't he take the hint that I don't want to play chess with him just then?"

"Yes, well…" Hermione said grumpily. "It's important because, when I pulled you into that room, someone else was in there without me realising."

"Ah." Harry saw why she was so eager to talk.

"Yes, ah." Hermione went back to her fretful walking back and forth.

"Who was it?" They might be able to salvage this as long as the person wasn't the type to run straight to Dumbledore. That was a small number but Hermione might have convinced them to keep quiet.

"It's that pink haired Auror, Tonks."

"Oh, the one who tripped over the troll leg so much?" This was good; she wasn't one of the old grouches the Order had so many of. She might have heard Hermione out.

"She thinks we're dating in secret." Hermione said quickly.

"Huh?"

"She doesn't think we're planning to turn you into a superhero. She thinks we are trying to keep our intimate relationship a secret for as long as possible."

"Huh?"

Hermione sighed irritably. "Honestly Harry, I've said it as clear as possible."

"So you told her…?" Harry started; a smirk growing on his face.

"I told her nothing!" Hermione said louder than necessary. "She assumed and I decided it would be better if she only thought she knew the truth. It's probably because we kept looking for ways to be alone yesterday."

"So you let her believe that we're going out." The smirk was still there and Hermione resisted the urge to punch him. He could be so insufferable at times!

"Only to keep our secret. No other reason whatsoever. None!" She finished with a shout. Harry's smirk lessened, but only slightly.

"So what does she want to stop her from blabbing to the whole house?" Harry asked, resting his head against the back of the bed. Hermione sat with her feet crossed at the other end of the bed. "I assume you don't want everyone else to think that we're dating too."

"No. And I don't know what she wants. She said she'll think of something and tell us then."

"Not good. You practically agreed to anything there. You shouldn't agree to something unless you at least have some idea of the boundaries in which you'll have to provide."

"It was the best I could do to keep this a secret. I tried my best to stop her from talking and at least I got that much!" Hermione's voice had risen in annoyance throughout the sentence.

"Alright. I'm sorry, 'Mione." Harry pulled her into a hug as she calmed down again. "You've done so much for me so far and you've promised to do so much more. I shouldn't have snapped at you." Hermione noticed that she didn't pull away from the hug but instead swivelled around to sit on Harry's lap with his arms still around her.

Harry spoke again after a minute or so. "I thought about what you said before we left and I agree. We don't have the privacy for a full fledged idea exchange so I think we should focus on one thing. I know that I said the Image was most important but we don't have the facilities to explore that properly. I am a terrible artist so unless you have mad art skills that you never before even hinted at… We should work on my powers."

"But, time…" Hermione tried to pick a flaw somewhere in the plan.

"We don't need to write it all down yet. We can just take what time we have like now and talk about it, 'K?" Hermione nodded in reply. He made sense.

"So with powers, you need something that will set you apart. Flinging spells in a dark cloak will just get you labelled as a powerful dark wizard. That isn't what we want. We need something to make people stop and say 'Wow.' Unfortunately, all you have is your parseltongue which is more likely to make people stop and scream."

"Perhaps not. It was shortly after my epiphany that I realized something. I am amazingly proficient with Runes."

"How? You can't just suddenly become proficient without learning. It doesn't work like that. What was this epiphany you talked about before? What caused it? Was it a dream or a trance? Could this be some sort of hereditary memory transplant that runs in your family?" Hermione kept asking questions until Harry put his hand over her mouth. She looked back and up at him, glaring. He just smiled and explained, not removing his hand.

"Well, you might not believe this but I'm pretty sure it happened when my Aunt hit me round the head with a frying pan. Ow!" Hermione had bitten his hand at this point and he had been forced to let go. She used the time to breathe fresh, Harry free, air.

"What?" She shouted after her first gulp of air. "It doesn't work like that! You don't gain knowledge after being hit with a… Your aunt hit you with a frying pan?" She sounded shocked and outraged with a hint of disbelief.

"Well, yeah…" Harry said quietly, ashamed of his Dursley life. "I'd dropped a few baked beans on the floor after I'd just finished mopping it so…" he trailed off and Hermione pulled him into a tight hug again, muttering 'cruel bastards' and other insults.

This was how they were found by Ron and Ginny who came up when they realised Harry and Hermione were missing. This being shortly after Sirius had been stunned and bound for his own good. Mrs. Weasley had also been stunned because she looked ready to rip Sirius' head off.

They pulled apart quickly when the door opened and evaded any potentially embarrassing or unwanted questions by proclaiming their fatigue and declaring their intentions to catch some shuteye.

Ginny and Ron looked like they wanted to ask hundreds of questions but let it rest until the morning.

Come morning, though, there was another distraction that served to prolong the time until the approaching questions. Their school letter arrived. Hermione had been made Prefect. Harry hadn't. This was both a shame and an annoyance as Harry, all modesty and arrogance aside, was obviously the best choice for prefect. Ron had got it instead which meant that Harry and Hermione would have less time to work on their 'Project'.

Ron had been surprised by his new prefect-hood as well. He managed to get out "Bloody Hell" in-between mouthfuls of breakfast. He had received no less than three 'Language, Ronald's from this action.

Harry and Hermione held a hushed conversation with as vague words as possible. Though because of this privacy measure, they didn't get very far. Harry thought they were talking about his heroic call sign, Hermione thought they were discussing his powers still and Tonks, who had been listening in, decided they were talking about sex and how far they each wanted to go.

-/-

The trip to Diagon Alley was a little sombre as a large deal of people were glaring at Harry while holding the latest issue of Potterwatch; also known as the Dailey prophet. Today, it seemed they decided he was completely delusional for what he said at the end of the third task. They also hinted that he could have performed murder at least twice before. And finally they wrapped up the inquisition by claiming that he enjoyed steeling candy from children; when he wasn't planning how to eat them, that is.

It was enough to make Harry wonder why he even wanted to save this place. He realized it wasn't for them. Sure, he planned to win them over but in reality, he never truly cared what they thought. He was doing this for two main reasons. For revenge and to protect his new family he had found in the Wizarding world.

The general wizarding populace did not fall under the family category.

Ron had gotten a new broom as a present for becoming a prefect. Harry had bought himself some new stationary and, along with Hermione, had been gradually hinting to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, their technical chaperones, that they should go into the Muggle world for a while.

They did this in such a profoundly subtle and cunning way that it made it seem like the two grown-ups ideas in the first place. So they spent an hour in the centre of London. Despite their initial intents, Harry and Hermione spent the majority of the time in clothes stores after Hermione had seen the state of the rags the Dursleys had gifted Harry with. They still managed to look in a few book stores for anything that might help. Hermione had picked up 'Superheroism for Dummies' and 'The Big Book of Superheroes' when the Weasleys weren't looking. She had remained insistent that, while they might be useless, it couldn't hurt to at least look at them.

Their shopping done, the group returned to 12 Grimauld Place where they were set, once again, to cleaning the house. Harry didn't understand why Mrs. Weasley was so insistent that the house should be clean. It didn't seem to bother Sirius any and the Weasleys would be moving back to the Burrow in a week's time.

Hermione had woken Harry up a few minutes after midnight and they moved to an unused room to talk more.

"How does this Rune thing you have, work?"

"Rune 'thing'?" Harry asked with humour in his voice. Normally Hermione would never lower herself to vague words like 'thing' or 'stuff'.

"Quiet you. I haven't figured out what to call it yet." Hermione explained grumpily. "This aptitude you claim to have with Runes; how does it work?"

"Not sure. I just understand them."

"Where did you manage to see them during the summer?"

"I started writing them subconsciously. I woke up in the morning and the walls of my room were covered in Runes. I'm fairly sure that room could survive a nuclear blast." Harry explained. "And one time I just zoned out a little and woke up to find that my potions essay was written in Runes"

"Well, that's a start. But there are still lots of people who are proficient in Runes and they aren't exactly the most practical thing to use in a fight." Hermione thought it over in silence for a minute before speaking up. "So we'll have to use other items and apply the Runes beforehand. You can inscribe them consciously, right?"

"Yes. At least, I think so."

"Of course, we'll have to work on your physical fitness, close quarters combat skills and maybe you can try and become an animagus. I just know your form will be perfect for this. Dark and intimidating or a beacon of hope."

"I think I'll be a wolf."

"Really? Well that could be useful. A wolf is agile and can be quite strong. You could be stealthy depending on the colour and no doubt scary to meet on a dark night. Are you sure that's what you'll be? How do you know?"

"Just a feeling, I suppose. Being a jaguar or something would be cool though. Anyway, what do you think you'll be?"

"I don't know. I haven't really put much thought into it."

"Yes you have." Harry argued. "If you're the Hermione I know then you'll have put as much thought into everything you could. So go on…"

"I don't think I'll have a form. I can't really think of anything good for me so…"

"I believe…" Harry cut in, while pulling her onto his lap again, "That this is the point where I must inform you that you, Hermione Granger, are brilliant."

Hermione flushed at his words. "I'm not, I'm just…"

"You are and you know it. Probably. But in case you don't. I'll tell you again. You're brilliant. Smart, brave, protective… and most likely more. I can easily think of some animals that would suit your description…"

"It doesn't matter now. We're doing this for you, remember?" Harry frowned, knowing she still wasn't completely convinced.

"Fine. But once again. Brilliant. I can see that anymore will just annoy you so I'll let you carry on with where we started." He paused when Hermione let out a huff. "So I think I should have a sword or a big awesome axe."

"Why?"

"Intimidation of course. Someone emerging from the shadows with a huge axe will make you shit yourself."

"Harry!" Hermione admonished his language but couldn't fault his logic. "How about you use the sword of Gryffindor?"

"Too well known and iconic. People have suspected the Potters of being descendants of Gryffindor for generations. They'll guess too easily when they see it." Harry argued. "Not to mention that it's wildly impractical in a real fight. The handles too heavy and the blade is unsuitable for slicing. It's only good for stabbing thrusts. If we could find Gryffindor's fighting sword then perhaps we could mod it a little and use that."

"Gryffindor had two swords?"

"And three axes, two longbows, a crossbow, several pikes, lances and flails."

"Wow." Hermione tried to think why someone would need all those weapons.

"He was a man of war, Hermione. He most likely wanted to be prepared for any occasion." Harry answered her unasked question. They fell silent for a while.

"What about a lightsaber?" Hermione asked out of the blue.

"Huh?"

"You've been saying that a lot lately." Hermione laughed. "Think about it. Tool of the Jedi, you must have seen at least one star wars film. The Muggleborns and some half bloods would know of it. Your supposed Rune skills should be able to make at least a passing resemblance. Spell reflection wards, glowing wards, cutting and piercing rune schemes. It would be very iconic to Muggleborns, who are on the rise, but it's not easily linkable to you.

"I've seen parts of the movies but I heard more than I saw. It could work but I still want an axe. Could we have a lightaxe?"

"Why are you so fixed on having an axe?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"I don't know, I just can't get the image of me wielding an axe out of my head."

"I can't see it." Hermione said flatly.

"I'll describe it to you." Harry pulled his friend a little closer and pushed his arms in front of her. "Picture the seen. You're a scoundrel, a murdering, rapist, evil thing." Hermione laughed slightly at the description. "You're walking down a dark alley, looking for your next victim. A slight breeze ruffles you neck and you turn. You see me step from the shadows, head dipped slightly, a cruel smirk on my face. Piercing green eyes cut into you from behind my overhanging fringe.

"I pull my arm to my side and raise a double bladed axe into the air with both hands. You're transfixed with fear as I take a few short steps and bring it slicing down just to the side of your neck…" Hermione shivered as his hand pushed lightly down against her shoulder.

"Alright I see your point. It's very intimidating. It's just, not many people practice axe combat nowadays and doing so would draw attention to yourself. And you would have to practice a lot to stop the weight from being a burden in fast paced combat." Hermione interjected. "And finding a teacher would be hard."

"True. I'm not saying it's a definite but I'd like to try it."

"Fine. I'll look for books in the library and see if I can't order one from a bookstore."

"Great."

"So, if we do make a lightsaber, what Runes do you think we'll need to use. And what material would be best to channel them. It would have to be durable yet have magical potential which most metals aren't. Wood would be too weak, I think, and could splinter if used too much which would make it hard to handle and could interfere with the Runes. Of course, the few metals that have magic potential turn to liquid when subjected to any form of magic so we'd have to find a solidifying ward scheme to counter that. The problem being it would also have to counter some of its own magical effects and still do what we need. Oh, what do you think Harry? Harry?"

She turned around to find he was sleeping. He had fallen asleep while she was talking. How rude! But she couldn't really blame him. She had woken him up after midnight and they had a big day tomorrow. She'd wake him up in just a second and get them both off to their proper beds. Yeah…

But she'd just rest her eyes for a second. Just a second…

-/-

She was dancing along the train station, avoiding people left and right while they tried their best to pretend she didn't exist. Harry was just ahead of her, pulling her along with him in the dance. All of a sudden, her parents stopped them and gave them their bags. They got on the plane and found their seats. Hermione sat on the bean bag opposite Harry but didn't like how it felt so she sat on his lap instead. Professor McGonagall sat opposite them and started to teach them how to turn a ball into a shawl. But Hermione had forgotten her ball. She had to go back home and get it or no one could play!

She checked both ways before crossing the road to get back to her house. But the cars kept coming past so she decided to take the elevator over the road instead. The ticket man at the top of the escalator stopped her and started to talk quietly. She strained to hear what he had to say.

"… 'Mione, wake up…" She felt her hair being pushed out of her face and opened her eyes. She got used to the light and noticed where she was. She was still in the room they had talked in last night. But she thought she was going to move them both back just after resting her eyes. She hit her head with her palm. Saying stuff like that practically jinxed her to fall asleep.

"C'mon, 'Mione." It was Harry. She was still lying on top of Harry. "We better get going. We've been called to breakfast and they'll start looking for us soon."

Hermione scrambled off of the bed and rushed out the door, yelling "I call the shower first!" Harry watched amused as the door closed and got up at a more leisurely pace. There was more than one shower in the house and they all had their own private heating charms. He'd just take the one a few doors down the hall.

The manic rush taking place when they got downstairs made them both thankful that they'd packed the night before. The twins (who had been hidden away most of the time so well that it made Harry and Hermione jealous) were actually slowing down the packing progress by sneaking pranking items into their younger sibling's trunks.

Ron had noticed several items of clothing disappearing or turning green and pink. Ginny's school supplies had been alternating frequently between actual school supplies and canaries that kept flying out of her trunk until she tied them all down with spell-o-tape, which then turned into a canary as well.

Harry was pulled away by Sirius and didn't return for another half an hour. When he finally got back, Hermione asked him where he'd been.

"Either Tonks told or people keep making assumptions. I found that Sirius actually performed the strip tease to give us an escape. I think he can be trusted, by the way. But he also gave me the talk." Harry replied.

"Oh. The Talk?" Harry nodded with a damaged look in his eye, "But that can't have taken half an hour."

"Then Professor Lupin found me and gave me the talk."

"Another one?" Harry nodded. "Well I suppose that could…"

"Then Professor Moody gave me the talk." Harry winced at the memory and added "He used his wooden leg as a prop."

"Oh you poor boy. You want me to wipe your memory?" Hermione struggled to keep a straight face.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Yes." Hermione burst into laughter. "Very much so."

-/-

Remarkably, despite all the problems associated with packing in a hurry the morning before, they made it to the train station with a few minutes to spare.

Ron and Hermione went off to the prefects meeting (much to Ron's protests that he'd rather sleep or eat) and left Harry and Ginny to be met shortly by Neville. The compartments were all full apart from one which had just one person in it. The girl inside was introduced by Ginny as 'just Loony Lovegood.'

Harry doubted somewhat the accuracy of that claim and walked in despite Ginny's protests that they should find another compartment.

"Hello, I'm Harry Potter. What's your name?"

"Oh, hello there Harry Potter. I'm Luna Lovegood, reporter for the Quibbler." The girl, Luna, looked over from the head of her paper. Harry noticed it was upside down but didn't pay it any mind.

"Nice to meet you Luna. Do you mind if my friends and I sit in here?" Harry asked politely, ignoring Ginny attempting to pull him away. For a malnourished fifteen year old, Harry was surprisingly steady.

"Feel free; just make sure to get the Humdingers off of you before you sit down. Laps are their natural prey." Harry turned to look at Neville who shrugged and Ginny who glared at him until she noticed he was looking. Then she smiled. He looked back to Luna, trying to convey his cluelessness. She obviously understood as she spoke again.

"Just stamp your feet a little. They hate the sound it makes." She supplied happy that he didn't refute it straight away. Harry did that and sat down across from her. Neville sat beside him which left Ginny to sit next to Luna. She still sat as far away from her as possible; on the other side of the compartment.

Harry started to talk with Luna and soon became introduced to the Quibbler. It took Luna the better part of twenty minutes to explain the correct angle at which to read it to avoid Paper Eating Tweys. By the time Harry managed to get it right first try, the prefect meeting had finished and Hermione and Ron had found them again.

"Stamp your feet." Harry said while still reading the Quibbler; he had found an interesting article on the ministry's involvement in the Rotfang conspiracy. Ron ignored the odd request and winced when he sat down. Hermione looked to the other for help. Neville shrugged. Ginny glared at her, even when she knew Hermione was looking, and Luna smiled encouragingly. Hermione didn't fully understand why she should stamp her feet but decided to do so anyway.

She didn't wince when she sat down. She was introduced to Luna by Harry who had finished the article and by Neville who also told her about the latest plant species he was interested in acquiring. Hermione didn't refute Luna's ideas as madness straight away because she acknowledged that Harry seemed to believe them somewhat. She did draw the line when she asked for proof and received the reply…

"There's no proof that they don't exist."

She did her best to just ignore the odd creatures and conspiracies mentioned while still trying to understand the conversation. She did surprisingly well. A short way through the train ride, Harry dropped out of the conversation suddenly and pulled a scrap of paper from his pocket. He wrote on it with a pen he'd picked up from Muggle London and folded it up before passing it to Hermione.

She took it and opened it so only she could read it. She burnt it shortly afterwards but still remembered what was written on it.

-/-

I need a name.

And that is chapter two, I believe. The plot is moving and Harry is coming closer to his goal. This won't be an all powerful Harry. He'll have faults and enemies more powerful and so forth.

Next Chapter: Hogwarts is reached, a warning is given, plans are forwarded and a new DADA teacher is named among other things.