For disclaimer see first chapter's notes.
'' Equals thoughts and mind speak.
"" Equals Speech and quotations.
Thanks to my Proof reader: Tumshie
Chapter Three
Hermione slowly woke up and found herself in a warm and comfortable cocoon, as her body slowly communicated to her she realised that she was naked, and that she felt an uncomfortable sensation in her groin. She realised that she was not in her wonderful cocoon alone, she was lying on a man, and his rock hard member was rubbing on the side of her hip. Last night came back to her in a flood of images and feelings.
'Oh no how could I have been so cold? I panicked and implied to Harry that I don't want to be married to him.' Panicked Hermione. 'But Harry put me to bed and rocked me to sleep.'
Hermione made contact with Harry and discovered that his mind was still slumbering. She gasped when she realised that Harry's hand was slowly massaging her tender groin. 'Even in sleep he is looking after me. I love this new side of Harry.'
Her cocoon was on one of the large deep couches. Hermione smiled when she realised that Harry had used a simple charm to keep the both of them from falling out, of the couch. As she let her magic feel out her surroundings she also realised that with out Harry's magic he would needed to use his leg and arms to support his frame as only half his body was on the couch. He had used one other charm on the quilt to keep it to a comfortable temperature, so that it would be very comfortable for her. Hermione shifted position as Harry's gentle massage was stimulating her to arousal. His gentle rubbing and loving nature were sending waves and waves of pleasure throughout her body. She came hard. She thought it was a brilliant way to wake up.
Harry slowly woke up to find himself spooning Hermione. He was surprised at his boldness to be touching Hermione there, he had decided last night that Hermione needed to sleep on the situation, and he thought she said something about marriage. He did not want to rush things with Hermione by bringing up the topic himself. He had only just become her boyfriend, and though he knew her well he figured it was far to soon to propose. He guessed it must be late as light slipped in around the closed curtains. Hermione turned around in their cocoon hitting his erection. Harry hissed in pain at the assault on his sensitive member.
Hermione kissed him in greeting. Harry's lips opened to Hermione's probing tongue. She apologised for hurting him when they broke for air. Harry gasped when he saw a wedding band on his finger as he went to run his fingers through his hair. It matched Hermione's band perfectly, the only difference was the fact Harry's was larger to fit a man's hand. Harry gasped at the feeling of loss when he removed it to read the inscription. It was the exact same as the one inscribed on Hermione's ring.
Hermione apologised for her reaction last night, and declared that she considered herself to be a Potter now and not a Granger. Hermione's mind was always running many thoughts at once, which was why she was shocked that Harry had reduced her down to one thought process last night when they made love. She thought back to the past year and all that had happened to her. After reading the books written about Harry, she realised that after the incident at the ministry Harry had pulled away and looked for the easy option in the books. She would not have blamed him, as she did not know what was going through her counterpart's mind during the sixth and seventh books. As she looked back over the year she realised that she had fallen in love with her best friend.
Before Hogwarts she had acquaintances not friends. When she got her letter she thought it would be a chance at a fresh start. But in the beginning it was a disaster. Of course she read all she could about this new world she was about to explore. She read about Harry Potter and when she realised she would be attending school with him, she wondered what he was like. In her anticipation to meet Him she thought she had botched it at their first meeting, as she had come over as a know it all. But he had come to save her from a troll and after that she knew she had a friend for life. She could not pin it exactly when her feelings for him began to change but knew she wanted more on the train ride home before coming here. She was worried in the beginning when they shared their thoughts, that Harry might discover her feelings. No, actually, she was terrified that he would not return them. She began to suspect he felt the same. He was different here, calmer, maybe because here he did not have the weight of the world on his shoulders.
She had come to the conclusion that this was a holiday, a break to recharge before facing Tom Riddle, or by the name he preferred Lord Voldemort. These were some of her private thoughts the other thoughts were of him ravishing her. During last night she dropped all her mental shields and bared her soul to him. He of course did the same; she was pleased to discover that he had the same worries and anxiety of unrequited love. She knew he was delighted that she returned his feelings. She started to find it funny that the both of them were worrying about the same thing, and that everyone knew about their love for each other before they did. Maybe everyone back at Hogwarts in fourth year knew it too.
Harry groaned when Hermione started to laugh. She was straddling him and her laughing body was rubbing her wet nether lips along his shaft. He pulled her down in to a searing kiss. He slowly brought his hands up from his grip on her hips to gently caress her breasts. Hermione pouted when she realised that she was still sore from last night. She reluctantly got up off of Harry and stood on shaky legs. 'Damn I want him. But I can't right now.'
Harry was very disappointed when Hermione got up off of him, but he understood her reasoning even though his member protested.
"Tease" Sighed Harry as he drank in the sight of Hermione.
She looked the same as in the dream, the only difference between the beautiful visions was the fact she was more tanned in the dreamscape. Harry crawled out of the quilt and hugged Her.
"Morning, come on and I'll help you shower."
"You only want to keep me naked."
Harry nodded enthusiastically as he guided her to the bathroom. He sat her on the toilet seat, and turned to switch on the shower and set it to a comfortable temperature. Once the shower was just right he coaxed Hermione up off the toilet as she was admiring Harry's trim body. She stood under the spray as Harry worked up lather with the shower cream. He used his lathered hands to wash her arms from shoulder to hands. He then gently turned her to wash her back. Hermione moaned as he caressed her bum, he continued down her legs to her feet. She turned back around to him. He went down on one knee, and lifted one of her legs. Resting her foot on his knee, he washed from her foot up her long smooth legs. Hermione groaned in disappointment when he stopped just short of her crotch. He repeated this with her other leg. He then got some shampoo and gently washed her hair, being careful not to pull it or get soap in her eyes. He then found a facecloth and proceeded to wash her front gently, working from her face down.
Hermione was touched by his gentleness as he guided her to the bathroom. She thought she would be embarrassed by being in his presence naked. She did not think she was pretty even though she now knew that Harry firmly believed she was stunning. The thought running through her head was that last night was just a dream even though it felt real and she was sore this morning. She wanted to make love to Harry, but was worried about getting pregnant. She got the strong impression from Harry that he wanted a family. But did not want any of his children to grow up orphans. She knew it was dangerous to try and raise a child with Riddle still at large, besides she did not know when they would return home. She did not want to contemplate never going back. She was touched at the tender way he showed his love by washing her body this morning and they way he had rocked her to sleep last night. Hermione gasped when she came in the shower as Harry gently washed her groin. She slid down the shower wall; Harry wrapped her into a big hug as the tremors flowed through her body.
In thanks Hermione peppered kisses all over Harry's face. When she kissed his lips he opened his mouth to deepen the kiss. After an eternity they reluctantly ended the kiss. Hermione returned the favour and washed Harry as gently as he washed her. Hermione winced as she realised that poor Harry had had an erection since they woke up, and he ignored it to care for her. 'This won't do.' Hermione knelt in front of Harry and started to kiss around his shaft. Before moving on to licking up and down it. She pulled his penis into her mouth and started to bob up and down.
Hermione was enjoying the fact that she had their mental connection because she could feel what she was doing to Harry. She would slow down her ministrations when she realised he was close. After stopping him going over for the fifth time Harry begged.
"Please, Hermione, I need to . . . I can't stand any longer."
Hermione started to gently caress his sack, which pushed him over.
'Hermione, I'm coming.'
Hermione was surprised that it tasted just like in the dream. After getting out of the bathroom, Harry was reluctant to leave Hermione's side so he stayed with her, as she got dressed. When dressed he hugged Hermione, and vanished from the room in a sphere of magical energy.
After Harry had gotten dressed the couple went to get breakfast down in the hotels dining room. Breakfast was a selection from the buffet. Jim found his charges sitting beside each other eating breakfast. Jim was not looking forward to his conversation with the couple, he knew something major happened last night and was worried for their safety. They were so focused on each other that it took until he coughed loudly to get their attention.
After he was awoken last night by the huge magical emissions, he checked on Harry to discover him fast asleep floating about a foot above his bed with a pink glow emanating off of him. After discovering Harry's state he decided to check on Hermione before deciding what to do. He found her in the same condition floating over her bed glowing pink. He felt love in both rooms and felt the urge to go make love to his wife, Mary. He had a wonderful night, however he awoke to the feeling that last night something had happened to his two young friends Harry and Hermione. He had went to breakfast but they were nowhere to be seen so he went to check up on his two youngest, as Anne felt she was to old to go on family holidays and had decided to go with her friends.
They all were growing up to fast for his liking. His youngest two Hugo and Russell had not seen Harry or Hermione so he returned to the hotel where a hotel porter said that they had been lucky in that they had just made it to breakfast as the dining room was about to close. Jim thanked him and asked the porter to give him some privacy. They did not notice him sit down; it gave him a chance to observe young love. He gasped as he noticed the new rings; they appeared to be too expensive for the small jewellers at the ski resort. After he coughed to get their attention he bid them good morning.
"Hello" Said Hermione with a small blush when she realised they were no longer alone,
"Good morning, may I ask what happened last night? As I was awakened by the powerful magic in the air last night. I decided to investigate and was surprised to discover first you, Harry and then you, Hermione floating over your beds glowing pink. Please explain?" Enquired Jim.
Jim watched as the young couple silently communicated before Harry responded. "After dinner last night, I kissed Hermione goodnight and went to bed . . . alone. I started to dream . . . about Hermione. I was shocked at first that she was sharing the dream with me. It woke me up . . . I had a shower . . . Hermione was panicking, so I went to her. I comforted her and when we woke up we discovered we were . . . . . Married!"
Jim waited patently as Harry slowly told him barely enough information about last night.
"May I see the rings please?" Jim was shocked at the grief stricken expression on Harry's face as he reluctantly removed his ring and passed it across the table.
It was exquisitely made of precious metals. Jim could see that it was next to impossible to make by modern jewellers. He gasped as he got an impression of Hermione's love for Harry from the ring. He passed Harry's ring back and watched the relief on Harry's face as he put the ring back on. Jim was not surprised to discover that Hermione's ring was the same, just daintier to fit her feminine hand. He read the matching inscriptions. "Harry and Hermione for all eternity 14/2/2009 R.W." He did not understand the significance of the superscripted initials R and W.
"They are beautiful rings, obviously magical?"
"Yes." Replied Hermione in a small voice, as if she was still worried of Jim's reaction to their current predicament.
Jim thought about it and came to the conclusion that he had no right to be angry or disappointed in his young friends. He understood that they way the books had been written that the magic mainly worked by intent. For example Harry's attempted use of the Cruciatus curse on Bellatrix Lastrange and it's failure to do much, because of Harry's lack of intent. Jim came to the realisation that it was Harry's intent to help Hermione that had forged their deep connection, and this was the reason both teenagers survived Christmas sane. He figured that they both wanted to spend the rest of their lives with each other, and had used magic subconsciously to marry each other. He guessed they had not told him everything, probably because it was private and none of his business. But he felt he had to warn them about their powerful magic.
"Harry. Hermione. I am delighted for you both as it is obvious to me that it was inevitable, and achieved magically. I believe that you intend to share your life with each other and that your magic took it to the next level and created the rings. Please be careful, as I am worried that the birth controls available may not be suited to you. I believe that there is a strong chance of Hermione becoming pregnant. It is none of my business, but I know that Harry would do anything to protect mother and child. I believe that you will eventually return home and have to face Riddle. It is not in either of you to run away so I believe that both of you will be in the thick of it. So please discuss your future and about the risks of bring another life into the world. I know that Harry does not want any of his children to go through what he did. But what ever you decide I fully support you." Jim silently got up and left the couple to discuses what he had just said.
Hermione was delighted that Jim was not angry or disappointed, but his concerns about a possible pregnancy were that of a concerned friend and as her doctor while she was here, and he was looking out for her best interests. If he believed that available contraceptives were not effective then what was she going to do? Yes she wanted to bear Harry's children but after she finished her schooling and the problem of Riddle was solved. She was worried that if she had children now, then Riddle could use herself and her children against Harry. She knew that Harry was struggling with himself about the fact that she would be at his side in the coming war. He would much prefer that she was safely locked away from the conflict but knew that Hermione would not want to be locked up.
And if there was one thing Harry wanted to do it was to please her and keep her happy, which he proved with actions last night. He may not be articulate with his feelings, and be silent and moody at times, but she knew that he showed his love for her every day by his actions. Hermione need time to work out this new problem of how to make love to her man with out getting pregnant, it would be tough as Jim had drew her attention to the concept of intent, and how it was their subconscious that had married them. She was concerned because she badly wanted to provide Harry with kids, but knew she would have to wait, as she wanted to be at Harry's side. She would trust no one to protect him in a fight but herself.
After Hermione shared her worries with Harry, they left to go wandering about the resort, as both were too preoccupied to go skiing. That night they retired to Hermione's room to simply sleep together as Hermione's concerns were to the forefront of her mind and Harry simply wanted to hold his wife. The rest of the holiday was wonderful for the couple as they got used to sleeping together. The only blight was the fact that they did not repeat Valentine's night in a dream or otherwise as both of them decided to hold out until they had addressed Hermione's worries.
They returned to find a surprise party for them at the manor as Jim had told everyone at home the good news. Harry found after the first night home that he could not sleep without holding Hermione so shared her bed after that first lonely night back at the manor. Connor found that Harry took his sexual frustration out during magical combat training by conjuring various explosive devices and blowing up life like mannequins of Tom Riddle the bane of his life. The instructors found that both teenagers returned from their holiday with a fierce new determination in their studies in the hopes it would help when they went home. Lisa spent the day after they returned home grilling Hermione about her holiday and mysterious marriage to Harry, as Jim had just said that they were married but did not give the specifics. Lisa thought it was all very romantic and wished Hermione the best of luck.
Peter was feeling very nervous as he drove up to the manor house. It was a month after Harry and Hermione's trip to Switzerland. He was initially happy that the Bastard was stopped during his attack on Hermione. However the upper brass were not happy that he and his team did not solve the case, and the fact that a "little girl" had stopped the lunatic. Besides the fact that the "little girl" was a highly trained young woman, and could probably beat him in a sparring session. Peter thought that his superiors were dismissing Hermione by calling her a "little girl." Peter feared John's wrath once he discovered the reason for this meeting. He parked the car between a blue Ford Mondeo and a pink Honda S2000, after locking his car he approached the house to find Aaron McClain waiting in the door way.
"Hello, Peter, what can I do for you?"
"I would like to speak to Harry and Hermione."
"All right follow me."
Aaron led him around the house to a field hidden from the house by a small wood. Peter saw a range of some sort was set up at the far end of the field. He saw that Harry was fighting a man in a kilt and a loud Hawaiian shirt with a nasty looking bastard sword. Hermione appeared to be working through a martial arts form that used a samurai sword with John. The graceful movements Hermione made with the weapon amazed Peter. John rarely corrected her form only asked her to increase her power and speed. The sword fight between Harry and the man was the most amazing fight Peter had ever seen as Harry appeared to mix in gymnastics into his sword fighting it reminded Peter of the fight between Yoda and Count Dooku in one of the "Star Wars" films as Harry seemed to make a lot of movement compared to the man's small movements. Aaron explained that Connor was teaching Harry and Hermione to sword fight and could not match ether for range of movement so had moved on to these new drills so that they could learn more unusual fighting opportunities.
Connor called a halt and asked for the two teens to go full out against each other. The only limits were to keep it in the field and no mental communication. The resulting fight was awe inspiring and looked more like a dance than a fight for life. After half and hour both combatants bowed to each other, then Connor before they hugged each other. They retired to the manor to shower leavening four pensive men in a field in the rain.
"What do yeah want?" asked John gruffly.
"I have a problem, the brass want to know what happened over Christmas even though me an my team benched the investigation. They want to know how the fire started as the local authorities in northern Italy had a similar fire about the same time. The brass are worried that it maybe related"
"How can we help, we know noting about Italy, and the cause of the fire was that wizard. And because his remains were found it is unlikely he will cause it to happen a again." Stated John as he led Peter back to his unmarked police car.
"Who owns the pink car?" Asked Peter as he admired the seven-year-old Honda.
"Lisa does, it is her pride and joy she just had it resprayed and the roof redone as the old one was badly damaged by her ex."
"Bad break up?"
"Yeah, Think?"
Peter looked around wondering where Aaron and Connor had gone to, he felt that both men had left him with the gruff seventy year old. He drove away from the manor wondering at how skilfully the men had blocked his attempt to again talk to Harry and Hermione.
Tom was delighted with the progress his two students had made in his craft class. At first Hermione showed little interest in making stuff with wood and metal like most girls, however she began to enjoy it as it was different and more fulfilling to make an object than to conjure it. Their first project was simply to fabricate a full bedroom wardrobe suite from scratch, for example the bed, wardrobe, chest of drawers etc. He also made them make the hinges and handles instead of using factory made ones. He found that both of his pupils after the project, now understood and appreciated all the work that went into a hand crafted object.
Tom was fascinated by the magical objects described in the books and directed Harry and Hermione to try and replicate the objects described in them. The first successful magical object was a four compartment trunk, with charms for lightness and the compartments were charmed to be bigger on the inside than the outside. The second successful objects werea pair of finely made mirrors just like the ones that Sirius gave Harry. They were made with a polished oak frame, containing a simple rectangular mirror. They were used to communicate on the estate when they were using large amounts of magic, as the magic interfered with the walkie-talkies. When Tom explained his fascination with the magical objects, especially Harry's cloak and Firebolt, and wanted to see them made by Harry and Hermione. Both teens agreed to try and make one each with Hermione trying to make an invisibility cloak and Harry trying to make a flying broom.
Jim frowned as he went through the paperwork in his office, over the past ten weeks Hermione was like a woman possessed in her drive to learn everything about human reproduction so that she could come up with a safe contraceptive for herself and Harry. He thought she would make a good medical researcher. In the beginning of his course on medical practices, she was squeamish but had got used to all the blood and gore of the cadavers he had shown them. He even had shown her women with problems conceiving so that she would know the risks. One woman was reported to be six weeks along yesterday after talking to that nice girl "Hermione." Jim wondered what she had done so asked her. Hermione had replied this morning that the woman had a small defect in her fallopian tubes that were damaging the eggs on their journey to the womb. She had simply used the techniques Harry was shown when he had healed her own injuries. She did it because she could sense the woman's desire to have children and empathised with her. Jim replied that it was a very nice thing that she had done but she should be careful because if the press got wind of their story it would be like a circus.
Hermione had Lisa's help with her invisibilitycloak as the first step was finding material that was suitable to be charmed. After testing many samples they were surprised to find that Gore-Tek worked the best and was waterproof. Instead of making one cloak she made two cloaks as well as two suits with hoods. The cloak and hoods were lined in a silk charmed to stay silent and absorb smells so that sound and smell would not give away the user's position. Hermione found out that when Lisa was younger, she wanted to be a dress designer but gave it up after her mentor stole a design and sold it to a supermarket. Lisa still got upset when she saw her designs being worn over ten years later. When she brought her case to a barrister, she was told that as the design was registered in her mentor's name that she hadn't a leg to stand on and charged her a thousand pounds for the privilege of the information. Hermione coaxed Lisa to teach her how to design and make clothes. Her project for Tom took the full three months of her current block of lessons.
Meanwhile Harry started by turning pieces of wood on a lathe before comparing them to the two recovered wands. He settled on a piece of ash, and went searching in the woods for suitable twigs. Both Harry and Hermione discovered that they could almost sense very feint traces of magic like energy in the wood growing from the area destroyed by the inferno, they figured that the fire had implanted a faint trace of magic on the land destroyed by the fire. John and Connor planted various species of trees in the area. And Harry used twigs from these trees to create a broom like his Firebolt. Harry produced over fifty examples because the wood was not like wand wood back in his world, and he thought that it would be very difficult to charm these new brooms to fly.
With Hermione's help, he had mastered the charm required to makethe broom hover. John had brought in a friend an ex-air corps man with the Air Force to take him up in an old jet trainer so that he could learn how a plane worked, and how inertia worked on the plane during flight, so that he would have an idea of how planes worked and could use this knowledge in the making of the broom. Afterwards he had an idea on how to help Hermione to overcome her fear of heights. He drew up a list of the charms he would need to cast on the broom, and passed the list to Hermione to see if she could think of any charms he had missed.
After eight weeks he had a working prototype. The broom had a password-based charm that would keep a rider on the broom, an idea he took from seat belts in cars and planes. He also added acceleration and braking charms as well as a cushioning charm for the rider and a bubble charm to deflect the wind after he had studied the basics of how an aircraft worked in his physics course. He tested the broom under an invisibility spell cast on him by Hermione, so that he could test the brooms unobserved. Hermione was worried throughout the testing phase. When they did speed trials, Hermione charmed Harry and the broom to look like a plane, so that he could fly in public. Harry named his new broom the Titan due to how hard it was to make all the charms work together.
A shocked Sam had relayed the results of the broom trials. He had fitted three GPS units to Harry and the broom as well as various sensors. Harry and Hermione had gotten so good at casting around electronics that they could cast magic with no effect on the sensitive electronic sensors.
The statistics Sam found were as follows:
Acceleration in any direction 0 to 100 miles per hour was 2.1 seconds.
Acceleration going forward was much higher due to much less wind resistance was 0 to 300 miles per hour in 2.9 seconds.
The braking charm was equally impressive it could stop from any speed to zero instantly with only exerting 1 gee's on the rider all thanks to the Inertia charm Harry had mastered.
The bubble charm allowed the broom to reach a height of eighteen thousand feet. The bubble charm allowed the rider to breathe normally and it even worked under water. The charm also maintained a pre-set temperature regardless of the outside air temperature. Harry had layered a lot of features that he would like on his Firebolt, but was too afraid to damage his prized broom, as it was a gift from Sirius. He hoped the Firebolt was okay, as he knew it was going to be destroyed at the beginning of his seventh year, but now, once he returned he might lock it into his Gringotts vault for safe keeping as he had his new brooms. The top speed was unknown as the equipment went out of range at one thousand mph. He had successfully made four Titans.
After successfully completing the broom trials Harry taught Hermione how to ride the broom. After a couple of months she had developed a love of flying for the sense of freedom. Hermione realised that this was Harry's escape from his troubles, just like Hermione escaped into her books.
Aaron was pleased that Harry and Hermione were coping, as he was worried that they would be stuck in their depression. He was getting worried, as he did not know when they would return home. They appeared to be coping with their new situation as a married couple, even though it was not official, hell they did not officially exist so what did it matter. He knew there was an underlying problem but, they did not share it with him, even though he was their counsellor. He knew that Jim was aware of the problem but he was no help as he cited patient confidentiality. Aaron noticed that Harry took his frustrations out on his targets. When Aaron tried to broach the problem with Harry he nearly got his head bit off.
Jim was getting fed up with Peter's constant nagging. Peter said that Interpol had a problem similar to his case in Northern Italy. And he went on to say that Interpol wanted to talk to Harry and Hermione, as they had discovered the couple's involvement in the resolution of the case. Jim decided to call a meeting with Connor and John and decide what to do.
"Peter is up to phoning once a week now." Stated Jim.
"What the fuck does he want?" Snorted John
"The same thing since January, an interview between Interpol and our two love birds." Responded Jim.
"Bollox that, he can fuck off, they have their own problems and don't need Interpol adding more." Interjected Connor.
"I'll contact a guy in one of the alphabet agencies in the American Intelligence community he owes me a favour from an old case I helped him on a few years back. I never found out who he worked for, it could have been any one of them. He left me a contact number and said he hated outstanding debts."
"Do you think he can help out?" Asked Jim
"Maybe, but I'll pass on all the information we have and find out what Interpol are really after."
Hermione was having a bad day, she had been married for five months and was in desperate need to shag her husband. She was beginning to regret the decision to abstain from sex because she was likely to get pregnant. To make matters worse it was that time of the month and her hormones were raging wild and her lower back was killing her. Jim or Lisa had nothing that could help her and she had lashed out at Harry. She missed the potion available at Hogwarts that took care of this problem.
"What's wrong, love?" Asked Harry as he came into their room determined to help this time.
"Everything. Nothing. Fuck." Hermione hissed the last word in pain.
'Hermione rarely curses, so it must be bad this time,' thought Harry.
Harry had discovered all about the female body from having access to Hermione's mind and living under the same roof since their arrival here, it was different than living at Hogwarts. He found out about Hermione's monthly visitor. He realised how thick he was to not notice sooner, it explained some of Ron and Hermione's blazing rows as she had a shorter fuse to her temper. Once Harry discovered this he apologised to Hermione for not noticing and asked how he could help in any way. Harry guided Hermione to the bed and laid her upon it. He gently removed her jeans and loosened her sweater. He started to massage the cramps in her abdomen. She stared to purr like a cat in relief as Harry massaged her pain away.
'Thank you I am sorry about snapping at you."
"You're welcome and I have my bad days too, and you never left me so I won't leave just because you are having a bad day." Said Harry aloud.
Harry climbed onto the bed with Hermione and cuddled her from behind and held her as she fell asleep.
Hermione awoke the next morning feeling refreshed now that her monthly visitor was gone, she was surprised to be nude Harry must of put her into bed last night. Hermione and Harry discovered that they preferred to sleep nude as it let them maintain the most skin contact possible while asleep. Hermione discovered that Harry had a terrible childhood growing up and now that he had someone to love him, he did not want to ever let go. So having full body contact with his wife helped him have a good nights sleep. Hermione now thought that she would be lost without her new teddy bear, Harry. She loved the feeling of being safe and secure in Harry's arms. The only blight was the fact it took extreme self-control not to ravish her man. She gasped as she realised that she had slept for over twelve hours. Harry was spooned in behind her sleeping peacefully. 'The stress must be getting to me.' She thought. She found it difficult to lead a celibate life due to their situation and with Riddle hanging over them the outlook was dismal.
'I have a solution.' Said a voice in her mind.
"Who said that?" Asked Hermione as she sat up in shock.
'I am the founders creation. Harry met me in the Chamber of Secrets. I was the strange light that he saw. My purpose is to guide and teach in complement to the teachers of Hogwarts. I used to help out a lot before the Chamber was built under the old castle. The castle was there before the one you see was built. Hogwarts is much older than is written, it was an old establishment before the founders used it for a school. Harry was the second person I have met in one thousand years. The first was an evil boy, Harry was the second person and he is of a pure heart with qualities of each of the founders, I tried to communicate with him but something was blocking me. I probed for Harry regularly and discovered that you have removed a piece of the evil boys soul from Harry, which I now know, was the block. But this place is strange and I have lost my connection to Hogwarts. I fear that I am fading away for I have left it far too long to communicate with Harry. My connection to Hogwarts kept me alive. Harry and your magic is not enough to sustain me. I believe that I will cease to be soon. You, Hermione, are the third person I have met in one thousand years, and are just like Harry in that you have the best traits of each of the founders. Intelligence. Bravery. Courage. Compassion. Cunning. Loyalty. To name but a few. I have observed your training with the people of this place for the task fate has set before you both. I believe that they are doing a better job than I could have ever done. However I know of a solution to your problem with your life mate as both Helga and Rowena had similar problems, for they were very powerful witches, and the spell they used has been lost for a millennia. I will leave behind a spell book when I cease to be use it well.'
Hermione tried to ask the presence a question but an ornate brown leather bound book appeared on the floor. Hermione felt drained as her and Harry's magic was used to create the book, it was the size of a phone directory. Hermione gasped as the knowledge of the contraceptive spell flowed through her. It was brilliant in that it was safe and strong enough to use a witch's power to counteract the subconscious desire for children when consciously cast, it was also perfectly safe with no side effects.
Harry was stunned as he listened in to the conversation between the entity and Hermione. He had awakened at Hermione's shock of hearing a third voice in their heads. He felt sad that he had brought the voice here to die. He would make sure to keep the book safe. Hermione slowly got up to have a shower she mentally told him all about the spell and how it took about six hours to become effective, and left him with a promise of soon. He was looking forward to the fulfilment of that promise. He picked up the book and read the title on the spine as the covers were blank.
"The Potter book of Magic."
Harry guessed it was named thus due to the fact that his and Hermione's magic was used in its creation. Harry opened it to read the introduction aware that a portion of Hermione's mind was paying attention to his reading:
Harry and Hermione I have deemed you to be worthy of my gift. This book is all that is left of me, and my vast knowledge gained in communication with the books in the library of Hogwarts, I used your joint magic to make the book. This book is now your family book of spells. It contains the history of many spells, and spells thought to be lost to time. The book works in two ways. First turn to the last twenty pages with an idea of what you want to study and it will show an index of topics all in relation to your subject. Second it functions like an encyclopaedia, tap the coloured words in the text and the book will skip directly through the book to the reference. Thank you for allowing me to use your magical energy in my creation.
Harry gasped as he read the introduction; it seemed to speak directly to them. He offered the book to Hermione who had just returned from the shower wearing a large fluffy towel. Hermione opened the book to a random page and started to read.
The Cruciatus Curse and its history.
This curse first started life as a healing spell. "Ruci" to revive a stopped heart. But after many years it was discovered that the spell was losing its efficacy. A bright young healer learnt that if the spell were cast as "Rucio" it would increase its efficacy. However there was an unforeseen side effect, the caster would get pleasure from the small pain it caused the recipient after the heart had started. About 250 years later a mad Healer who loved to torture, not heal, had stumbled on this old and disused spell and discovered that when cast with a "C" sound at the beginning with all his hatred, it would cause the recipient to go almost mad at the pain. So then the dark spell "Curcio" was born.
Hermione tapped the Blue reference word "Shields" on the margin of the page with one of the recovered wands, it was not as good as her own, but it worked. Harry and Hermione discovered that their control and power of magic cast through these non-mated wands was incredibly powerful and wondered how their own wands would do once they returned home.
The new page started thus:
The Shield spell its variants and the unforgivables.
The one thing to understand about shield charms and spells is their bond to the caster's magic. The most basicshield is still connected to the caster's magic. And it this connection that spells like the Crucio and Avada Kedavra exploit rendering the cast shield useless. Shield spells are unique in their symbiotic relationship with the caster's magic. Nearly all other spells have no bond with the caster when cast either with or without a wand. However, because shield spells are symbiotic in nature, this results in the strength of the shield being directly related to the caster's magical power levels. The spell hitting the shield transmits a small portion of the spell through the link into the defender. Due to this link various spells like Crucio bypass the shield and travel through the bond.
Hermione tapped the Blue reference word "Wand"with her wand.
The new page started thus:
The history of wands and its resultant end of wand less magic:
In the beginning wizards were few and far between. But they discovered that you could use magical objects to cast powerful spells. These over time evolved into wands and staffs, which signalled the end of the wandless caster. Those first few witches and wizards discovered a meditation technique that unlocked their magical powers. All witches and wizards subconsciously use magic while young and this is mislabelled as accidental magic. This accidental magic is just manifestations of the young witch or wizard's desire. When wands became prevalent they slowly killed off the practices handed down through the generations, as the young children did not want to learn the discipline needed for successful casting of wandless magic, as they were more interested in play and not work. The practices and theory behind wandless casting was not recorded in books but handed down like family heirlooms via verbal instruction. As wands grew in popularity the difficult art of wandless casting was forgotten.
Harry and Hermione gasped as the implications sunk in, everyone could do wandless magic but were so used to using a wand that they took it for granted that wandless magic was impossible. Dumbledore was the only known practitioner due to his time, studying world magic and his understanding of the subject. Harry tapped the reference word "Animagus" as he wanted to learn about the skill his father and godfather possessed, it was a banned topic by the Ministry and if you managed to do it you had to register like a sex offender at a Muggle police station.
The new page started thus:
The Animagus:
There are three different classifications of Animagus. Dormant, Active and Natural.
Every witch and wizard is an Animagus, their talent is just dormant, hence the classification. The discovery of the skill was by accident by a pair of twins, in the family tree of the Weasley's. They wanted to practice turning people into animals and one of the twins managed to turn himself into a rabbit. The methods refined over the years led to the Active classification, as it is not the true way for an Animagus to change form, as it is forced and not natural.
The last classification is the Natural.
By far the most powerful, where as with an active Animagus risks his or her life with the initial transformation the natural dose not as it is just another state of mind. It is only possible to become a natural after becoming one with yourself and your magic. This normally results in a degree of control with wandless casting and is the first step. The second indicator on the journey to becoming a natural Animagus is vivid life like dreams of the environment of the main animal form.
Harry and Hermione stopped reading as they looked at each other remembering the vivid dreams over the last year, of African plains and lush jungles. Could this book explain them? And what was this about main form? Hermione continued reading.
A natural Animagus has more than one form. A natural Animagus can have more forms when bonded to another Animagus as the animal side wishes to mate with its Animagus partner. Another difference between an active and natural Animagus is that the animal form of an active comes from the Animaguses native country where as the Natural Animagus can come from any where in the world. The third step is the realisation of an animal side to the mind and allowing it to come to the fore.
Harry gasped as Hermione put down the book before flowing in to the form of a Lioness.
"Hermione are you in there?" asked Harry in shock as he took in her powerful form.
She was a deep golden brown as opposed to the sandy colouring of a natural lioness. It was as if the lioness had a tan. Hermione's liquid brown eyes stared in to his eyes. She bumped her head upon his chest, as she smelled his scent. Then she started to lick his face with her tongue in greeting. Harry brought his hands up to rub Hermione's head; she started to loudly purr in contentment.
Hermione looked inward for the animal part of her mind and was shocked to discover at least two animal forms, she realised that she was unsure which one was her true form so she let go of conscious thought. The part of her mind containing a lioness surged to the fore. She felt a soft tingling in her body as her form changed to that of the large predator. She felt powerful, strong, and could smell Harry's scent and it made her extremely aroused. She could see her powerful new form through Harry's eyes. She could feel Harry's shocked concern so moved to comfort him by licking and rubbing his face, she was surprised to find the nerves on her face where more sensitive to touch than her human face. Knowledge flowed through her mind of how to act and behave like a lioness she felt like a queen of the African grasslandsand Harry was her King. She could see he had a corresponding form of a lion and told him she was fine as he started to caress her head. She felt peace and contentment flow through her as she felt a purr rise from deep with in her, she understood now why Crookshanks liked to be petted so much.
Harry sighed with relief and started to strip, as he was worried about his clothes when he noticed Hermione's towel across her haunches, he did not want his clothes to be destroyed. Hermione drank in the sight of her man standing nude just before he flowed in to a similarly coloured lion with a jet black mane. Hermione realised that they both had slightly unusual colouring for lions. Harry in his lion form butted heads in greeting before licking her face. Hermione purred in bliss she was glad today was a lazy Saturday after their latest combat review, so that she could spend her time in their room exploring their new form. She sighed that she could not go out for a run to test her new form, as it would cause a panic.
Harry found that like Hermione, he was powerful in this new form and that Hermione's scent was communicating that she was in heat. He struggled with the lion part of his minds desire to mate as he realised that not enough time had past yet for the contraception spell. He did not want to hurt Hermione as he remembered from studying the lions after being fascinated with them that lions had barbs on their penises, and he thought that must hurt. But the her scent and the love and affection rolling off her in waves were not helping at all, he growled in the back of his throat in frustration. Hermione flowed back in to a beautiful goddess, others would disagree with him but she would always be his goddess. He noticed the difference in scent between woman and lioness and was shocked to discover she was wet and smelled heavily of arousal. She came forward and rubbed his forehead and his eyes crossed in bliss at her caresses of his head. He felt her cast a spell then says in a seductive whisper that his enhanced lion's ears barely registered.
"I cast a detection charm my contraceptive spell is fully working, take me please."
Harry pushed Hermione back to the bed with his head on her belly. Hermione laid spreadeagle on the bed as Harry in his animal form drank in her naked form. Hermione felt desire flow through her at his powerful gaze. His head came down to her chest and sniffed, the tongue came out and barely brushed her erect nipple. Hermione's back arched at the sensation of Harry's rough tongue grazing her nipple. As his head travelled south, Hermione's nerves were shooting information to her brain thathis whiskers tickling her belly. Hermione bucked as she felt a human mouth gently nip her over sensitive bundle. Harry started to feast on her vulva.
Hermione was wondering why she had agreed to give this up for those five long months, she never realised that Harry was so talented with his tongue but she was so close and he was prolonging her pleasure.
"Please." She begged, for what, she did not know.
She distantly felt a hand trace up her thigh before reaching it's goal. She started to play with her breasts looking for release. But now Harry was slowly stroking in and out with one then two fingers all the while he was nibbling on her sensitive flesh. He stopped and Hermione groaned in disappointment she was so close. Then she screamed in shock as he grabbed her calves and pulled her down the bed to where he was kneeling. He kissed her in apology for his roughness, and she deepened the kiss. When they broke for air she was surprised to find her legs on his shoulders and could feel his cock at her entrance.
His eyes begged her to let him enter. She nodded and he slid home in one swift thrust. Hermione arched her back in bliss. This was brilliant, far better than the dream realm as this was very real. He stretched her, filled her completely. She loved this new position as Harry lavished love on her breasts. She flexed her inner muscles and gasped when he came, filling her with liquid heat. She came after another couple of thrusts. She knew that she would never want to stop loving Harry, ever, and the sex was better than Lisa said it would be after all their talks about boys and sex.
Jim sighed as he sat at his office, he was trying to organise a summer holiday after the next review of Harry and Hermione's progress. But it was hard as it was already late July and the season was already half over, it proved very difficult to find somewhere private as there were rumours about a Daniel Radcliffe look a like on the internet. He was dismayed to discover that the photos wereof Harry and Hermione going intotown on dates. He had heard that Warner Bros. were interested in meeting the look a like, no doubt so that Harry could be a stunt double in the last film. He was surprised that no one was saying that Hermione resembled Emma Watson, but maybe that was because of the people taking the damn pictures were Daniel's fans.
Jim was pulled from his thoughts by a ringing phone. "Hello."
Jim heard Peter Morse's voice answer his greeting and groaned. 'This man is like a dog with a bone.'
"Hello, Jim. I have a problem. Interpol still want to talk to the kids. They have a similar situation in northern Italy and they think that your young friends can solve their case. Strange things are happening in the area and they don't know what's going on and my superiors have mentioned the Bastards case to say that we have dealt with some thing similar. Personally, I think that it is just a glorified pissing contest between us and them."
Jim groaned and rubbed the oncoming headache as Peter talked. 'I need to get Harry and Hermione out of the country while John goes to Italy to discover what's what.'
Jim begged off the phone saying that he had an emergency that needed his assistance and hung up on Peter.
Jim thought back over the last couple of weeks and the fact that Harry and Hermione now always seemed to be very happy. He discovered the reason after Lisa walked in on the couple making love in the hay in the stables like with some romanticnovel and relayed the gossip to everyone. The atmosphere was tense before, due to the young couples situation. It appeared that the situation was resolved if they were acting like randy rabbits, as a result of the happy couple the house was a lot happier and Jim intended for it to stay that way. He decided he would ring an old friend living in the Caribbean and ask to borrow his yacht for a few weeks so that his young friends could enjoy a late honeymoon.
John was confident that he could smuggle the large weapon to Italy onhis up and coming trip as he had taken one on a test run back to the U.S. after Hermione had placed charms on the weapon. He had discovered that the charms placed on the gun rendered it invisible to metal detectors and no telltale bulge was visible while the charmed gun was carried.
He had just returned from the States, his colleague that he had contacted had obtained the file about the case similar to the Bastard that Hermione had stopped. John was not surprised to discover that there were four suspects wearing the same clothes as the Bastard killed in England. The fire recorded in the file occurred in December up on the snow-covered mountains and was the first clue that it could be related to the case in England. Notes in the file mentioned the many attempts to contact the girl who had stopped the perpetrator in England. The main difference between this case and the one in England was that the death toll was much lower in Italy. The file contained fifteen incidents that were related, it appeared to him that the biggest difference was the fact the perpetrators were afraid compared to the Bastard that operated in Britain, as his death toll was much higher. The file recorded five different individuals using strange devices in their crimes. Four were clothed the same as the Bastard and the fifth appeared to be normal. He decided that when Harry and Hermione went on holiday after their review he would visit Italy himself to see if he could solve the case.
Jim called a meeting between Harry and Hermione and all the instructors to go through the review of the last six months, it was the fourth of August and the young couple were due to fly out on the twelfth. The report about Harry and Hermione's education was good, the assembled instructors felt that after fifty two weeks of intensive education, they only needed another twenty six weeks of continuous training to bring their education in line with the best schools in the country. Tom even thought that they could go on and do third level. Aaron relayed that his brother had another dream and believed that Harry and Hermione would be leaving here for home on or around the sixteenth of October twenty ten as he had seen a tearful departure with the date crossed out in red. Harry asked where was John to relay this himself. Aaron said his brother was having a medical check up and not to worry. Jim said that if John was right then they had a date to work towards that was just over a year away.
Harry smiled as he watched Hermione come out of their cabin dressed in a simple blue skirt and bikini top. He could not believe that Jim managed to get this yacht for a holiday cruise of the Caribbean. They had arrived yesterday and went straight to their cabin to sleep off jetlag after the long flight. He much preferred to fly via broom than in the belly of a metal bird. He was feeling a little seasick but Marco the ships captain promised him he would gain sealegs after a few days.
Hermione sat in a deckchairlooking at the sandy beach. The yacht was anchored about a mile off shore. She was pleased to get away from studies as it meant more time with Harry. She was pleased to know that she would be returning home as she missed her parents. Harry's presence had helped greatly as she felt that if she was stranded alone in this world she would of gone mad. They spent the first week getting used to life on the sea. Marco showed them both how to swim with the tropical fish using respirators to breath underwater. Hermione did not like the bulky equipment and after ten days tried out a spell from the Potter book that allowed a person to breath underwater. Harry loved this spell as it allowed him to have sex underwater in the beautiful clear waters with his beautiful wife. They spent the nights stargazing, and flying one of Harry's Titans under an invisibility charm in the clear moonlit skies.
Marco was great he knew all the best spots to take them for privacy and was very discreet. Hermione liked him and discovered that he had five daughters and loved them to bits. He was a fisherman off-season but worked during the holiday season when Jim's friend was in the area. Marco was told that the couple were on their honeymoon and to give them privacy. Marco missed his wife as she had died two years ago, in a car accident in the harbour, it was tough watching the loving couple as it reminded him of his wife when they were young. But he was happy to tell his story after talking with Hermione as he piloted the vessel between the islands. He felt that Hermione reminded him of his wife and wished the couple the best of luck and maybe, god willing, a bundle of joy come next spring. He was sorry to see them go after their month with him on the sea.
John started to pack his bag for his trip to Italy. His colleague in American Intelligence came through with information on this case Interpol were on that appeared similar to the Bastard that Hermione took down. He removed one of Hermione's charmed Desert Eagles from the gunroom along with twelve charmed magazines of bullets. The charmed magazines held thirty-five rounds alternating between armour piercing and silver bullets. Jim met John after seeing off the young couple at the airport. He was uneasy about keeping them in the dark about this operation. Jim drove him to the airport for his evening flight to Milan. As expected he had no problems getting the weapon through security. Once in Milan he hired a red Alfa Romeo 159 to use as transport while he conducted his investigation. He drove North on the road network to the scene of the December inferno.
Over the next two and a half weeks he visited all the recorded crime scenes. After training Harry and Hermione he had discovered he knew where magic had been cast by the small lingering effects left behind by it. At all of the crime scenes he had visited there were small traces thatfelt like familiar pins and needles.
His next stop was the latest crime scene and he was feeling anxious. He parked the car after driving past the hotel twice, feeling lucky about finding parking so close to it. After locking the vehicle he approached reception and enquired about staying the night. The receptionist gave him a room on the fourth floor. He took the lift up to the sixth floor, and approached the door of room 613, as this was the location of the latest strange murder. He tried the door handle and was surprised to find the electronic lock not working. He pulled his gun and cautiously entered the room. He was surprised to find alone man playing solitaire. As he silently entered the room he came to the realisation that he might get the drop on him. The man realised he was not alone and swung around and fired a green spell from his wand.
John dived to the floor and groaned as his old joints protested at the abuse. He fired his gun twice and cautiously looked up at the table. He found the man half lying upon the table, half hanging off of it. John slowly got to his feet and moved around the table to find the wand lying on the floor. The man's wand arm was limp as the shoulder was shot through with the first shot; the second shot punctured the upper part of the man's lung.
"Who are you?" Wheezed the injured man.
John pressed the gun to the man's injured shoulder and said. "I'm going to be the one asking questions and you are going to answer me."
"I want your name, age and occupation. Or else." Threatened John.
The man sullenly shook his head. Then slowly smiled. John dived from the table as a green light hit the injured man. As John dived he started to fire in the direction the spell had come from, blowing holes in the hotel rooms walls. A second spell set fire to the table. John gagged at the putrid smell of burning flesh. 'Fuck' Thought John as he changed magazine, reloading the large gun. The fire was spreading from the table and John scrambled to the bathroom door. The fire alarm started to roar piercing the silent battle, as the only noise before was the crackling of the fire and the sound of bullets travelling through the air.
John smiled in grim satisfaction as he saw one of his attackers slump as his brains redecorated the corridor wall. His eyes widened in realisation that the fire had cut him off; he frantically searched the bathroom for escape, and found none. Suddenly there was an explosion in the bedroom and it blew a chunk out of the shower wall. Without thinking John divedthrough the opening. He rolled to his feet in the new bedroom and saw that it was occupied with another wand wielder. He was too close. John made a grab for the wand as it discharged a yellow spell into the roaring inferno through the large hole in the wall.
The wizard wrestled with John on the floor, John's gun lay forgotten on the floor. John came to the realisation that the wizard was not used to physical fighting so that even though the wizard was younger, John felt that he could win. After wrestling the wizard into position John jerked the wizards head hard snapping the neck in the process. He checked the body and discovered the dark mark described in the "Harry Potter" books on his left forearm, just like the wizard playing cards with bare arms. John retrieved his gun as the door to the room exploded into shards.
A wizard in death eater garb stood brandishing a wand in the doorway. John raised the gun and fired the weapons full magazine of bullets at the wizard. The man staggered back as the bullets tore through his body.
John staggered into the smoke filled corridor and looked left and right. Right was back to room 613 and the lifts. The corridor was on fire, so John moved left while trying to reload the gun as he was not sure if their were any more wizards. The sprinkler system was having no effect at trying to douse the roaring inferno. He smiled as he came upon an escape stairs leading to safety. He put away his hand cannon and moved swiftly down the stairs. He along with the other hotel patrons spilled out into a courtyard at the side of the hotel. The noise of the emergency services sirens was deafening. John scanned his surroundings as he made his way to the parked Alfa.
As John made his escape he had a nagging detail preying on his mind. The report said five wizards but he worked out only four men died. He calmly unlocked the car and reversed out into the traffic. It was a poor decision as the traffic was mad and the car made only a couple of metres progress. Irate Italians were blaring their car horns in frustration at the traffic jam. Pedestrians cowered as the upper four floors of the ten-storey hotel exploded showering the surrounding street in debris. John startled when the rear window exploded, he looked around wildly and spotted a cyan coloured light hit a truck hauling bottles of natural gas. The spell hit the back of the truck dissolving the rear wall holding in the bottles. Another spell hit and dissolved half of two bottles spilling the colourless gas into the street. At the same time John slammed the cars gears into reverse and floored the accelerator. The red Alfa roared back wards in to a small Fiat 500 crushing the small car. John pulled out his gun and looked around frantically for the last wizard.
Italian police spotted the commotion caused by a red saloon car roaring backwards into the city car. A police inspector went to investigate when a purple flame appeared from the opposite foot path and slammed in to the side of a white Ford Transit van. The welders van exploded in a fireball as the Acetylene bottle was struck through the thin walls of the van. The resulting explosion caused a chain reaction as the truck and its flammable cargo exploded. One relatively safe police officer was amazed that the reversing red Alfa managed to escape the expanding fireball.
John panicked as the fireball reminded him of his time in the military; he spotted the wizard and tried to hit him as he urged the car backwards. The bullets peppered the footpath around the plain-clothes wizard. The airbag exploded knocking out John as the car crashed into a stairwell of a park at the end of the street.
The Wizard slowly circled around the large collection of burning vehicles to investigate the man responsible for killing his four friends. He had found himself in this strange new world almost a year and a half ago. He was pressured to join the Dark Lord by Gabriel his friend who was among his friends to arrive here as well. He had realised that with a bit of moderation in raping and killing he could rule this country. He had discovered that they were stranded in Italy and decided they preferred the women and weather here than those found at home. It was a pretty good set up rape, plunder and get locked on drink before moving on. Gabriel always had a vice for blondes and decided to stay in the hotel, as his belief was that the stupid police would not come back. He did not know who the old man was but he had killed his four friends and would pay dearly. The thick black smoke from the two infernos obscured the sun plunging the street in to a thick heavy darkness. The Wizard slowly approached the damaged car and spotted the old fart. He cast a spell to rip off the car door, causing the old man to fall out of the seat. He was pleased to see a steel pipe protruding from the old man's belly. He decided to cast a spell on the pipe to heat it up. This woke up the old man.
John awoke to the feeling of intense pain as he felt that his stomach was on fire. Through tear filled eyes from the pain he spotted a man holding a wand two metres away from him. His free hand went searching for the Desert Eagle, as the man cancelled the spell causing the protruding pipe to stop burning his battered body. He smiled grimly as he found purchase on the gun. The man appeared to be on the brink of casting a spell when John brought the hand cannon to bear. A green spell left the wand as the gun discharged one solitary bullet. John slumped in the chair dropping the gun as the life left his eyes. John's last shot slammed into the wizard's forehead and blew out the back causing the body to slump to the ground. The creeping inferno consumed the bodies and the red car.
A frantic Lisa wakened Jim in his office chair. He had fallen asleep doing reports after assisting in an eighteen-hour operation, he felt he was getting to old for the long hours at the Hospital. Lisa urged him to follow to the nurse's staff room. He observed that most of the floor's staff were huddled around the television in the corner. A news reporter was reporting on the second day of a raging inferno in Camparada north of Milan. The reporter was stating that over fifty fire units were on the scene and it is believed the fire was started by criminal's infighting. There were sketchy reports of there being two separate fires merging one at street level and the other in a ten-storey hotel. The whole area hadbeen evacuated, as the fire appeared to be unstoppable at present. It was believed that the military would arrive shortly to assist the Fire Brigade on site. Jim sat down in shock as it appeared to be similar to the inferno near the manor last Christmas. 'I hope that John is okay'
Aaron had phoned Jim this morning from the airport and said that John was not on his return flight from Italy. Jim was getting worried as there had been no contact with John over the last ten days. Peter Morse phoned around lunchtime saying that Interpol were investigating the devastation left behind by the inferno. Interpol had estimates of forty-six dead and fifteen injured from the incident. Eyewitness reports produced a photo fit that resembled John, the various surviving eyewitness reported that John was in a gun battle with another man. Interpol deduced that the gunfight resulted in the devastation caused. They wanted DNA from a family member to confirm John's identity. Peter also said that the police at the scene had not found any weapons as all the metal had created pools of molten metal from the intense heat generated. When the news was broken with Aaron, he went to the nearest pub and got thoroughly drunk.
The following day D.I. Morse arrived to take DNA samples from a hung-over Aaron. The atmosphere at the manor was grim as everyone was grieving the gruff old warhorse. Jim did not know how Harry and Hermione would take the news that they believed that John was dead. A week later on the morning that Harry and Hermione were due to fly intoHeathrow, news came through Peter that the DNA matched and confirmed the death of one John McClain. That afternoon Jim and Aaron went to meet the young couple at the Airport.
Harry groaned as he got out of his shared bunk with Hermione to relieve himself. He was not looking forward to the long flight back to England. He found that once he got used to it he quite enjoyed living on a boat with Hermione and Marco. He liked the middle-aged sea captain and felt sorry for him about the loss of his wife. He did not want to even contemplate losing His own wife, Hermione, now that he got used to his new situation. He was disappointed that he did not get the chance to explore in his lion form but it was not worth the risk of been seen as the Caribbean was the last place who would expect to see a lion outside of a zoo. He returned to their shared cabin and reluctantly awoke his slumbering wife.
Hermione greeted Harry with a passionate kiss. "Good Morning" Said Hermione once they broke for air. "We have to pack as we fly home today."
"I consider my home to be where ever you are" RepliedHarry with a quick peck on the lips before he left to prepare breakfast. Hermione smiled as she went to get a wash in the shower.
Marco dropped them off at the airport with a tearful goodbye. Harry marvelled at the fact he had left England with a total of three cases and they were now returning with eight bags full of their new belongings. Harry did not want to think about flying economy after relating his complaints to Marco about flying business class. Marco responded by telling him about the cramped conditions on commercial flights. Harry found himself now looking forward to seeing his friends after his nice long Honeymoon with Hermione. The return flight passed quicker than expected but maybe that was because his minx of a wife wanted to join the mile high club and shag him for a third of the flight. He was pleased that his control over his magic had come such a long way because before this, his lovemaking with his wife probably would have crashed the plane. He found that two of the flight attendants winked at him and glared at his wife as he left the plane after the direct flight into Heathrow.
Harry collected the couple's luggage off of the carousel as Hermione minded the trolley. Harry grimaced as he realised that they had brought so much stuff back with them after casting charms to make the cases bigger on the inside. Harry guessed that they had crammed about twenty cases worth of stuff into the eight pieces of luggage. They moved from the baggage hall into the arrivals hall hoping to be met by their friends from the manor. Harry was surprised to see a somber Jim waiting. Harry knew something was wrong by Jim's demeanour, Jim led the couple out to one of the multi-storey car parks. The couple found a grieving Aaron sitting in Jim's Mondeo.
"What's going on?" Asked a puzzled Harry.
"Not now please leave it till later." Begged Jim.
Harry sighed in annoyance and loaded the car with the luggage. Harry and Hermione got in to the back of the car for the long drive home. The ride home was in complete silence. After unpacking the couple went looking for answers to the grief stricken faces on everybody. Harry came to the realisation that he did not see John yet and went to confront Jim in the Games room.
"What has happened to John?" Asked Harry with out any preamble.
Jim looked up from his scotch and replied. "John's dead, he died in Italy."
"What was he doing in Italy?"
"The Bastard was not the only wizard to crossover, Interpol discovered that another five were in northern Italy and wanted to talk to Hermione. John decided to go and investigate instead."
"Why did you not tell us? This is just like what Dumbledore would do, I thought you were our friends and trusted us, did you send us to the Caribbean so that John could leave?"
Hermione entered the room as she had sensed Harry's anger at being deceived. She expanded on what her husband had asked. "Was it that important not to tell us, you are beginning to sound like a hypocrite after you pointed out Dumbledore's failings, now it appears that you fell in to the same habits."
Jim put down his drink and held his head in his hands as the couple asked their questions. After a period of time he slowly started to speak.
"Peter Morse started to phone us about you, Hermione, saying that Interpol where baffled about a case in northern Italy. The calls started before your trip to Switzerland. After everything the two of you had dealt with we decided that Interpol should be kept far away from you both. But the calls kept coming so John took the opportunity when he knew you were out of Europe to go over and try to find out what was really going on. He took one of Hermione's charmed Desert Eagles with him along with a lot of ammunition. We do not know what happened but it appears he died fighting wizards over there and the Italian police appear to be blaming him for the devastation done to Camparada."
Jim massaged his forehead as he continued talking glad that the couple were allowing him to speak.
"John had contacted an old colleague from the States and obtained the file, the file stated that there were five men involved. The Italian police are not giving out any information so now we know nothing and are unlikely to know the truth of what happened over there. It has hit Aaron badly."
"We felt that you should be kept secret from the world, and I am sorry we kept you in the dark."
"We trusted you, it feels like you broke that trust." Stated a determined Harry.
"What will you do?" Asked Jim.
"We don't know. But I am coming to the conclusion it is not safe for the world for us to be here and it would be better for everybody if we went home." Stated Hermione.
"Before John left he told us about a dream he had of you going home on the sixteenth of October next year, twenty ten."
"That is over a year away, besides how accurate were John's dreams?" Asked an angry Harry.
"His last dream about you training was right and anytime he made a point of sharing his visions they came true." Stated Jim.
"Okay, what happens now?" Asked a diplomatic Hermione, as she felt that they had to get through this situation.
"Well first, I am truly sorry for breaking your trust, it was myself, John, Connor and Aaron at the meetings that knew about the Italian case. Second, we thought we were protecting you both. Third I hope with time you will forgive us."
Hermione nodded and brought her husband up to their room to grieve John's passing and to discuss what happens next.
The following week was tense as Harry came to realise with Hermione's help that the men had made a mistake and that he might do the same to protect those he loved and cared for. He promised Hermione he would keep nothing from her and felt confident in keeping his promise as he shared his mind with his other half. Lisa brought the couple out to the front yard where cars were parked and showed them a bright blue Ford Focus 1.4 five door and explained that this car would be the one they used to learn how to drive. Hermione discovered talking with Lisa that she had been kept in the dark as well about the whole Interpol situation. Lisa explained that learning to drive was a good skill to have. Lisa grilled Hermione all about her Honeymoon in the Caribbean. The Couple slowly settled back into the routine of classes after the incident in Italy was kept from them. The combat was the hardest class to return to as both Harry and Hermione felt betrayed by Connor.
On the first day back in combat Connor apologised before going in to a lesson about military tactics. He explained that military intelligence would often confine knowledge to certain troops in important battles to protect the objectives. Connor said that he considered it not productive to inform the couple about Italy because the likelihood that the couple could help was slim as legally and technically they did not exist. He believed that he had to be harsh in his assessment to make Harry and Hermione realise that some times in war knowledge would be withheld from them. And because Jim and Aaron had little knowledge of warfare had reluctantly agreed with himself and the late John.
Jim relayed his concerns about the presses knowledge of a Daniel Radcliffe look-alike and Warner Bros. interest in hiring him. Jim passed on his belief that the couple should stop going in to town or improve their disguises in future. The couple reluctantly agreed to stay away from town with a counter offer of trips abroad for long weekends every once in a while. On their second Halloween here, Harry and Hermione held a wake to honour the memory of John McClain and Harry's parents. Hermione started to pour through news websites trying to see if there was any evidence of any more crossovers.
Tom challenged Harry and Hermione to invent hybrid objects with magical and mundane functions in their crafts class. He told them to read comics and watch films for inspiration. Morgan and Anne their languages instructors challenged them to start communicating in one language other than their native English. The routine of classes and study helped the household to grieve and move on from John's death. The house never discovered what happened in Italy with any accuracy however Peter relayed after quitting that the attacks had stopped altogether. Peter had asked to take over John's position as he felt that he was somewhat responsible for John's death. Jim and Connor in consultation with Harry and Hermione reluctantly agreed. Peter proceeded to teach advanced driver training alongside assisting in combat training.
December started cold and wet and Harry was not looking forward to the meeting to review the last three months of education and training, he almost missed the excitement provided by Riddle trying to kill him at Hogwarts. He felt that the scope of the training regime was expanding. He was amazed looking back that he had no drive to learn before, it was as if he drifted through the last five years at Hogwarts except for the subjects he loved or those that could keep him alive, for example learning the Patronus Charm in third year. It took a long time to regain his trust in Aaron, Jim and Connor, it was only last week that he had come to terms with their decision to keep himself and Hermione in the dark.
Harry had no cause for concern as they both were making good progress and Alex their Science lecturer lamented the fact that it was not possible to teach all pupils this way with a student teacher ratio as small as this. Hermione brought up the problem of how they could return home, as it was unlikely that a tornado would hit them again. After a week's break to recharge the batteries Harry and Hermione resumed training. The week before Christmas and their break Hermione decided to look up the Potter book of magic on magical means of transportation to see if it could help in returning home.
The various types of magical transportation:
Are as follows: Apparation, Broom, Floo, Flying Carpet, Magical Carriage, Portkey, Portal, Travelling cabinets, Travelling sphere.
Apparition:
Is a wand-based skill, highly dangerous before the user is competent to do it skill fully. It requires supreme concentration and knowledge of the destination and innate power levels of the caster govern distance between Apparation points. See Reference for more information.
Broom:
Is a charmed object that flies. See Reference for more information.
Floo:
Is a fire based transportation and communication system. Powder is used to activate and a destination is called before travel or communication is conducted. A limited system as a network is required to be in situ. See Reference for more information.
Flying Carpet:
Is an object similar to the flying broom and was banned due to political and economic reasons. Very popular circa one hundred and fifty years ago. It is believed that the death of a Ministryofficial in a riding accident lead to the beginning of the ban on the sale or use of this form of transportation. See Reference for more information.
Magical Carriage:
Is a charmed object that resembles a mundane object but functions magically for example the Night bus. See Reference for more information.
Portkey:
This is a charm applied to an object that allows instantaneous travel from the current location to the one recorded in the object. Heavily licensed by the Ministry. See Reference for more information.
Portal:
Magical doorway between magical and mundane realms. Example Platform nine and three quarters. See Reference for more information.
Travelling cabinets:
Travel is achieved through linked objects and function is similar to the Floo and Portal systems however as only two objects can only be linked it is an old and limited form of travel. See Reference for more information.
Travelling sphere:
Is a form of wandless Apparation. It is one of the safest forms of personal travel. Fell out of use around the same time as wand less casting. See Reference for more information.
Hermione skimmed the introduction and found that the book assumed some familiarity with the subject discussed, she tapped the reference word Travelling sphere as it appeared to be what Harry and Herself were doing around the manor.
Travelling sphere:
In this form of travel the caster decides where they want to go and appear instantly and silently. The procedure is similar to Apparation in requiring the mental discipline to focus internal magic on moving to a new location. The caster's magic creates a bubble of protective magic and this is the sphere of the name. The sphere of magical energy protects the traveller as he or she travels instantly to the new location in to a freshly formed sphere. This occurs as the caster's magic conducts the journey first and then follows appearing the instant a sphere forms. It is completely silent as no air is pushed aside creating the tell tale noise of Apparation. This form of transportation has no known limits on distance, however the last sphere travellers were around the time of the founders. Hogwarts is warded against this and all other forms of transport at the time of the founders however over the years wards failed due to the fact that some forms of transport fell out of use and so the counter ward was not renewed. Other forms of transport were accommodated for example certain floo addresses.
Hermione spent the following week going through all the knowledge the book contained on magical transportation and was fascinated at the changes over the last twelve hundred years or so. She felt that their innate magic made Travelling spheres a safe form of Apparation, she looked forward to testing the wards and protections around Hogwarts once home.
Hermione awoke on Christmas morning to find her husband's erection rubbing along her vulva and she discovered that she was wet. He must have been doing it for awhile, tenderly she made contact with his mind to discover that he was fast asleep dreaming about lions playing with bubbles she smiled at the strange dream. She reached behind her and guided Harry's penis into her welcoming opening and he started to move.
'Mm Morning, love.' Transmitted Harry sleepily as his mind awoke to the wonderful sensations of him sheathed into his wife.
'Merry Christmas, love. Oh I love wakening up to this' Responded Hermione.
After a while the slow and gentle movements became frantic as both strove for ecstasy. Hermione slowly came back down from her high smiling as she felt that Harry was still inside her. After another bout of lovemaking the couple went to share a shower, which resulted in them having more sex.
They arrived down to the Sitting room, which contained a large tree with brightly wrapped presents. Hermione received a set of matching necklace and earrings that perfectly matched her wedding ring, which Harry had crafted during crafts class. Hermione marvelled at how he managed to make it with out her having a hint that he was working on it. Harry explained that he had started to work on it right after they returned from Switzerland. And he only tried to keep it secret so that it would be a surprise. He showed her how he had managed to keep it a secret and she was amazed that he was successful due to her worrying about contraception charms and then other problems that she just missed the subtle hints.
Harry received a hand made watch. Hermione explained that it was a tradition in her father's family to pass a watch from father to son. However she would not receive the watch as her father lost his family heirloom in a bad fire before she was born. She wanted to restart the tradition and asked Tom to help in the fabrication of the watch. It was an automatic timepiece with chronograph, which meant it would not need to be winded as it charged itself by the kinetic motion of the wearers arm. The clock face was made of polished gun metal with a gold bezel. The strap was made from gold and platinum links. Harry said he would be trilled to restart a family tradition. Engraved on the watch back was: "To Harry, Love Hermione. 1st Christmas as Husband and Wife."
The couple enjoyed a much happier Christmas at the second go in their new world. Harry was pensive at what the New Year would bring and John's belief he would return home next October.
A/N Please review
