Disclaimer: My house belongs to the bank, my work belongs to my boss and my money is always confiscated by my wife. And Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling... Damn...

Rocking the boat

By DerLaCroix

Chapter 8: As time goes by

***Grimmauld place, July 3rd, afternoon***

"You want to do what?" Hermione yelled, glaring at Harry furiously.

Harry winced; he should have known she wouldn't agree to that.

"Oh, calm down, Hermione," Tonks said. "He just doesn't want to get any training until you can participate. I think it's cute."

When Tonks had come to Black Mansion after lunch, she had taken Harry aside for a short conversation in the library, asking if she should train him to fight. He had politely denied that, citing a desire to avoid slighting Hermione. Just when Tonks had asked a last time if he really didn't want to train and Harry had confirmed, Hermione came in and immediately started ranting at Harry.

Tonk's explanation baffled the younger witch, but didn't get her off her crusade.

"Why wouldn't you want to learn something because of me? That's plain stupid!"

"You tell him, sister!" Tonks quipped.

"Gee, damned if I do, damned if I don't!" Harry sighed. "Come on, Hermione, we both know how much you love learning. I know that you are practically devouring those books in the library, since I went over a few of them with you, but I know that it would break your heart if I were to get practical training while you weren't, since you can't do wandless magic. I just didn't want to have this come between us."

Hermione was surprised by the insight her boyfriend possessed. She was stunned into silence, which was quickly broken by Tonks.

"I still think the gesture is cute, but it is unnecessary. Remember, this house is under a Fidelius charm."

"And?" Harry asked, not able to connect the dots, while Hermione started beaming.

"First, the underage warnings only work if in the minor's house and environs. The Ministry has a surveillance device set to the addresses of Hogwarts students. The rest is assumption. And second, how do you think that would work with a location whose whole existence is hidden?" the pink-haired Auror quipped.

"Oh, so the Fidelius charm means that we can't be noticed, at all?" Harry finally got it. "But why didn't you tell us when we were cleaning this house last year? It would have been so much easier if we could have used magic!"

Tonks's hearty laughter rang through the library. "With Molly around? Dream on, loverboy!"

After that - while important - revelation, Hermione had some even more important things to discuss. She took Harry's hand and shot Tonks a glance known to every woman. The Auror rapidly vacated the room, citing it had become TMI territory.

"Why did you think I would be upset?" asked Hermione, once they were alone and had taken seats on 'their' couch in the library.

"You mean, how did I know you would be upset?" Harry snorted. "I've been trained for years to sense moods and possible things to upset people. The Dursleys used to punish me for a lot of things: unfinished tasks, talking, being around, having good marks, everything. I had to anticipate what would be the best things to do all the time, lest I got in trouble."

"Good marks?" Hermione said, horrified. For her, that was the worst thing that could happen.

"Oh yes. When I got home once with an A mark on an exam Dudley had failed, I got the worst beating I ever received. I started having bad marks on purpose. It took me until fourth year to realize that they don't care about my Hogwarts results."

"Well, that explains something. I always wondered why you seemed like a mediocre student, yet turned out to be so good when our OWLs approached. You ran the DA incredibly; you had such knowledge of magic that I only had to give you a spell and you could teach it a few minutes later."

"Well, I just stopped hiding. Time was much too short and valuable to waste it."

"And now you would have wasted it because of me?" she asked, giving him a look that clearly showed her questioning his common sense.

"I didn't want you to feel bad because of it. I could still have read up on spells and stuff."

"Don't be stupid!" Hermione huffed, her voice firm and reprimanding. "You will start training with Tonks, and so will I. Even if I couldn't, you still should have taken her offer."

She then smiled at him and gave him a peck on his cheek. "But I appreciate the gesture."

When that was settled, they rose and went to find Tonks. But before they made it out of the library, Harry stopped her, turned her around, pinning her to the door.

"You know, I think there is some punishment due for yelling at me. I believe this calls for corporal punishment." He said, leering at her.

Hermione gulped and felt her face getting hot. Since that talk to her mother, she had actually feared that one day he would try to push her, like most boys would. Would she be able to say no if he tried?

Harry smiled at her, and caressed her cheek. With a sweet whisper, he gave his order.

"For you yelling at me for my own good, I demand that I may kiss you."

Now that was a punishment a very relieved Hermione readily agreed to.

The next day, Henry found Margret standing near the partly open door to the Library with a dreamy smile on her face. Noticing her husband closing in, she raised her finger to her lips in the well-known gesture demanding silence and then waved him over.

As he drew up alongside her, she silently pointed through the door, snuggling into his side.

Through the door, he saw a cute couple, his daughter and her boyfriend, sitting together on a couch reading. The way they cuddled together was nice enough, but in addition, every time Hermione turned a page, she leaned over and gave Harry a peck on the cheek.

While Margret obviously found that cute, Henry frowned slightly at the sight. Ever since he became aware that Harry wouldn't smite him on the spot if he said a wrong word about their relationship, Henry's protective father routine had dared to raise its ugly head again.

Sighing and shaking her head, Margret dragged her husband away with her, eager to get to breakfast and maybe a bit of couple-time afterwards - that is if Henry played his cards well and behaved.

The next few days brought some relief to the wizarding world. Because their Dark Lord was pressing his men to find Potter at all cost and made no new attack plans, the regular attacks ceased nearly overnight, and the whole wizarding world let out a collective breath at the short recess.

The first days went by normally, or as what had become the norm. Harry and Hermione would be found in the library, studying spells, each to their own favourite topic. This meant that Harry preferred things he deemed useful, like direct approach fighting magic, while Hermione was looking for everything, the more obscure the better. Whenever Tonks was around, she ran some drills for the kids, mostly basic stuff like fast casting, dodging, and quick drawing for now.

Although the Harry's wand was nothing more than a piece of wood, they chose to continue using it, for two reasons. Primarily, they wanted to keep his wandless skill under cover – being able to still cast after he got disarmed was the perfect surprise. He even could spring an attack on somebody that way.

The second reason was more mundane. Harry couldn't hit shit without pointing a stick at it.

On the romantic front, all things went rather well. They would exchange kisses every now and then, and while their kisses had sometimes led to full snogging, they were actually rather restrained, given that they were alone in the house for most of the day and the modus operandi in their relationship.

But Harry proved to be himself, incorruptible even by all his power given over a certain witch, and stayed a gentleman, although his reading material made him question if that was expected. He did what he could to keep Hermione on her toes with occasional orders - the burden of authority, you know.

One day at breakfast, Harry had an idea. "Hermione, would you like to go for a walk at Diagon Alley?" he asked over the table, ignoring Crookshanks, who was trying to hypnotize Harry to hand over the rest of the bacon and sausage. Hedwig was still nipping on her piece of sausage up on the curtain rail, but the little tiger that Hermione had mistaken for a cat had scoffed off his piece faster than Harry could blink.

Hermione finished her bite of scone before answering. "Do you think we should? You know that the Order is probably watching the Alley."

"Probably, but I am fed up with being holed up in here. I think if we have Remus or Tonks with us and use some sort of disguise, we will be fine."

"Come on, we haven't had a real date yet, I know you are as anxious to get out as I am." When Hermione still seemed reluctant, he joked, "Don't make me order you." This made Hermione laugh and relent, since he was right; she didn't fancy spending all her summer in this dark house either.

When Remus showed up around noon, having spent the last three days at home for his transformation, he agreed to take them for a short trip to Diagon Alley. This was possible since today Remus was on Order duty to watch the place,which was practically making sure that no other Order members would be there, as it was the least wanted watch post available. No one liked to watch over a busy street to find a teen. So, being the only unemployed Order member meant that this post was usually his during the day. This meant that although with a chaperone and some glamour charms applied, they finally had a chance to have a real date.

"So, where do you two want to go next?" Remus asked after the customary lunch at the Leaky Cauldron. He knew that Harry had gone to his stack of gold they had placed in the Master Study's safe, which was hidden behind a couch under a display of nautical knots along with some ledgers about the Potter and Black accounts.

After Remus had worked his way through those, it was revealed that the Potters and Blacks had a nice portfolio of investment in various companies: In case of the Potters, even some muggle companies, earning him a nice steady income, while he would be hard pressed to even spend the interest on what the Blacks had accumulated.

The Black money was mainly invested in property; he now owned about one third of Hogsmeade, a good quarter of Diagon Alley and nearly all of Knockturn Alley, with a bit of stock strewn in. All this was good and well, but as things stood, he would only be able to access these and the Potter holdings when he was of age. Until then, the Goblins would manage those, leaving him only access to his vault and the personal vault of Sirius.

They had managed, between Harry's vault and the Padfoot's ready cash, to get about fifty-three thousand Galleons stacked away in the safe, so they had unhindered access. There, Harry had made a hefty 'withdrawal' this morning, planning to spoil Hermione at every chance he would get.

Of course, they spent some time browsing Flourish & Blott's, but since Hermione had the whole Black Library to browse, she was reluctant to buy anything. So Harry treated her to a new robe at Madam Malkin's, which was highly appreciated. They were playing with the thought of stopping at Ollivander's, to replace Harry's wand.

That would have made Harry's spells more powerful, since wandless casting caused a lot of magic go to waste in focusing the spell, but they knew that the old Ollivander was a friend of Dumbledore and would probably rat them out, so they left it be. After some more browsing and walking, with Remus in line of sight, and subtly watching them, as to not arouse suspicion and giving them some privacy, they decided to have an ice cream, since no visit to the Alley was complete without Fortescue's legendary creations.

While they sat and shared an 'A bit of every flavour' cup, occasionally feeding each other and having a blast of a time, two owls approached them, landing across the table on an unused chair. Harry felt a bit suspicious about the timing and wanted to warn Hermione, but it was already too late.

Noticing the envelopes, Hermione had squealed, "It's our OWL results, Harry!", and collected the envelopes. Just as she ripped hers open, a crack was heard, followed by a well-known voice. "Finite!"

The next thing he felt was the icy shiver indicating their glamours failing, and then the voice spoke again.

"Nice to finally meet you again, Mister Potter, Miss Granger; you both prove to be very elusive."

Turning around and glaring at the man, none of them noticed the blonde boy in the back of the store slamming some coins onto the table and leaving in a hurry.

"How nice of you to make my presence here known to everyone, Headmaster - I would have thought that you, of all people would have noticed the benefits of me going out under cover in times like these," Harry snapped at Dumbledore, who just had cancelled their disillusionment charms. Obviously, the old man had placed tracking charms on the letters and had followed the owls. Meanwhile, Hermione had packed the letters away in her bag, and produced some coins to settle their bill. They had no wish to stay here any longer, now that they were uncovered.

"My dear boy," Dumbledore chuckled, "you know that you should not be out of your home at all, and that is exactly where we will be heading right now."

"Of course we will, Headmaster. After your stupid stunt it's much to dangerous for us to be out here," Harry snarled as he helped Hermione out of her seat.

"Very good decision, Harry. I am sure, the Dursley's will be glad to have you back under their roof," Dumbledore said, slightly irritated that the boy had folded so quickly.

"I doubt that they will. Why would I even contemplate going there? I, for one, would rather do the tango with a Dementor than go back there," Harry huffed, while Hermione chuckled at the mental picture.

Dumbledore was a bit peeved about the boy's behaviour, but even more confused about it. "This is nothing to joke about, Harry; and stop this nonsense - you just said you would return to the Dursleys."

"Did I? Strange, I do not remember that. Hermione? Did we plan to visit the Dursleys?"

"Well we could if you want to," Hermione ruminated, quickly getting his intention and glad to join in. "But I had planned to do this next year on your birthday so we both can hex those bastards into the next century together."

"Oh, really? You do give the best presents, you know? I'll be yearning for that birthday all year long. Thank you!" Harry cheered, and gave Hermione a kiss on her cheek, before he smirked deviously at the Headmaster.

Dumbledore did not share his anticipation.

"Please do not make this difficult. You know that there is no alternative. You've had your adventure, but now you have to go back to your family."

"And how do you want to force me to? Since you aren't an Auror, I don't think you have any right to detain me. Nor any legal cause. And you can be sure of one thing: I'll not go quietly!" Harry promised, and put his hand on the wand sticking out of his sleeve.

"Harry, please. You should know that Voldemort is currently concentrating all his efforts on finding you, and only the wards at home will keep you safe. It is paramount that we return there immediately, so these wards can be charged. You have already been away for too long."

"You keep ignoring the point, Headmaster," Hermione threw in, "that Harry doesn't want to get back there, because he knew nothing than abuse at that place. Certainly you wouldn't want to place Harry in an abusive home, again, don't you?" Her voice had started to rise, causing more people to watch the argument.

Dumbledore was less than pleased with the way that talk was going. It would not do to antagonize the boy any more. Maybe the grandfatherly approach would help.

"I agree that the accommodation was less than adequate, Miss Granger, but I assure you that I will take care that there will be no further complaints."

"Unacceptable." Harry stated. "I will not live under that roof again. I will swear an oath to that, if need be."

That was enough to have the old man scrambling for an alternative. It would not do to have Harry lose his magic. Too much depended on him.

"That would be most unwise," the old man relented, "But if you insist, I might be able to arrange a stay for you at the Burrow, with Order protection."

Harry wasn't able to inform Dumbledore where to shove that proposition, because they were interrupted by a staggered series of pops, followed by screams of panic. Five Death Eaters had apparated into the Alley.

"Great! Thank you for getting us killed, you old fool!" Harry yelled and started dragging Hermione away from the tables, and they started running toward the Alley's exit, while all around people started disapparating and running. Unfortunately, Remus, who had kept some distance to avoid being spotted by Dumbledore in case he had to intervene, was now blocked by the crowd as he tried to keep up with his charges.

With Dumbledore in hot pursuit, they made it to Flourish & Blott's before they ran into their other enemies. A group of three Death Eaters were walking down the Alley, blocking their path to the Floo to safety.

"Aaaaaw! Isn't that wittle Potty over there? And Dumbledore, you old fossil - still breathing?" a high-pitched, annoying voice sounded. Bellatrix Lestrange, mask-less and crazy as ever, was leading the group.

Meanwhile, the other Death Eaters were fanning out behind them. To Harry's relief, it seemed as if most of them were focussed on Dumbledore.

Harry reacted by drawing his wand and moving slightly in front of Hermione. Hermione had her own wand drawn, too, but didn't really look all that confident.

"No gloves," Harry hissed at her, while monitoring his enemies. Hermione jerked when she heard him say that, but knew he was right.

"Oh, you've brought your mudblood friend with you," the rightmost man snarled, taking one step forward. "Finally I can complete what I started at our last meeting," he laughed, identifying himself as Dolohov.

Harry immediately moved to completely shield Hermione from that man, levelling his wand at his new primary target.

"Oh, how chivalrous. All right, Potter, I give you the first spell, better make it a good one," Dolohov mocked him, while the other Death Eaters just joined him in laughter.

"Come on, Potter, I don't have all day!" Dolohov taunted, and as an afterthought, added, "Although I think will take my time with your mudblood after we captured you. She has grown up nicely, hasn't she, fellas?"

While the other Death Eaters laughed at that, Harry felt himself going cold with rage. No way was he going to let any of them get their hands on Hermione. Scowling, he slashed his wand towards Dolohov, shouting "Diffindo!"

Dolohov chuckled and raised a protego shield as soon as he saw Harry starting to move. He knew the whelp would attack immediately after his latest taunt, and like expected, it was something a simple protego could manage easily. His smile lasted until the "o" of the incantation, when instead of a thin red wedge of cutting energy, a 3 feet long, sizzling, scythe-like blade of angry crimson magic ploughed towards his neck.

Realizing that his shield would fail like paper against that, he tried to dodge to the right, but given the distance, he had no chance to dive fast enough. His thoughts about how that could be possible were cut short, along with his cranium and a good part of his brain, when the curse smashed through his shield and impacted half an inch above his left eye, slicing clean through. His body completed the movement, landing with a soft thud, while the lopped off part of his skull eerily clattered down the street.

All action ceased for a comical moment, while everybody watched the skipping piece of bone.

Bellatrix recovered first, screaming her rage and launching spell after spell at Dumbledore, trying to take the master Mage by surprise, and instantly driving him back a couple of yards towards the Alley. Four others quickly moved to join her.

Dumbledore held his own, countering, transfiguring and casting like a flash, but against five, he had to constantly give ground to stay on top of them.

While one of the two stooges left with them was still staring, the other recovered quicker than Harry, casting a Crucio at him. For a split second, Harry wanted to dodge to his left, but then remembered that he was still shielding Hermione with his body. Knowing that the still distracted Hermione stood right behind him, Harry gritted his teeth and remained still, awaiting the twisting red light to impact.

Instantly, he felt the fiery knives carving his flesh in a seemingly never-ending symphony of pure agony. It was not as bad as Voldemort's spell had been, but there is no such thing as a 'light' Crucio. For a second, he remained in control of his body, before his conscience was drowned in a sea of pain.

With Harry falling to the ground, screaming, Hermione snapped to attention. She immediately identified the caster and swished her wand at him, yelling an incantation furiously, knocking the caster into a book display with a fierce pelleo bludgeoner into the face, breaking at the very least, his nose.

While Harry was still panting, the last thug took a panicked look around, and seemed to remember that while his master wanted Potter taken alive, no such restriction applied to the girl. He whipped out his wand and yelled a feared incantation, letting a bolt of sickly green energy lance out at her, exposing a silver hand. Harry wanted to yell, jump, whatever; do something to get her out of the way, but his body didn't respond as he wanted to, and he was only able to crawl to his knees and look on helplessly.

Hermione yelped and dropped to the ground, dodging the poorly aimed spell, but while evading successfully, she landed badly and unluckily banged her head, nearly knocking herself out. The spell slammed into a wall, showering the Alley and the three combatants with brick debris and dust, while the world spun before her eyes.

Harry had already seen Hermione die before his inner eye, and couldn't believe her and his luck. For a brief moment, he was grinning in joy. But then he noticed that Hermione was currently completely defenceless against any follow-up, whipped his wand at Pettigrew, yelling "incendio".

Although some Defence Authors considered that spell useful in a battle, it is usually a bad idea to use it. Granted, it produces a jet of flame hot enough to light a few logs of wood immediately, and nearly everyone can cast it, but it lacks range and can be blocked with a simple protego.

But the biggest disadvantage is that, although it makes a reasonable flamethrower, most people can't hold that spell very long, and the shield uses much less magic than the flame.

Still, there is one thing at which it excels in a fight: to pin someone down.

Harry knew that he was not able to cast a properly aimed spell in his state. Back in the resurrection battle at the graveyard, he had learned that you can't aim properly after being exposed to the Cruciatus. He didn't hit Voldemort and his spells were so far off that nor did he score any hits on the Death Eaters surrounding them. But the constant stream of fire meant he could continually correct his aim, so as long as he held it, Pettigrew would be unable to cast at Hermione. And as soon as she could clear her head, his girlfriend could relieve him and drop Peter.

Pettigrew had barely managed to raise a shield in time and, just like Harry had planned, was now pinned down against a wall. He couldn't cast or apparate while the shield was up, but without, he would be burnt severely. He toyed with the thought of transformation for a second, but came to the conclusion that it was strictly out, lest he end up very crispy.

At first, Peter wasn't really afraid, since he knew that all he needed do was to hold the shield and wait for Harry to collapse, which should be soon, and then he could take the exhausted boy to his master. At least he thought so. Twenty seconds later, the first drops of sweat began to form on his forehead. Five more seconds later, his wand arm began to shake, and another ten seconds later his knees buckled. At this point, he still wasn't afraid. He was far beyond scared.

Harry, at the other hand, was still levelling his wand without problems. Ok, his aim was swaying left, right and everywhere, but that didn't really matter, since at that distance, his cone of flame was at least 3 feet wide, and thus still aimed at his target. While still casting, he had managed to get onto his knees, and was slowly dragging himself towards a still dizzy Hermione, forcing his muscles to work despite the pain.

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could see that Remus had entered the fray, relieving Dumbledore. They still were at least 50 feet away, so no help would come from them, especially since Bellatrix proved as vicious as ever, shooting nasty looking spells left, right and centre. And still, there were no Aurors in sight.

"I yield, please, I yield!" Wormtail sobbed. He was covered in blisters, his cloak had started smouldering in some places and he had collapsed against the wall.

He had started begging a few seconds ago, and was holding his wands with two hands, giving all he had to keep the shield up. The bricks behind Pettigrew already had cracked, and a wrought-iron lamp was glowing red-hot above the short man. The ambient temperature had risen so much that he was starting to get burnt despite of the shield. Harry just glared at him, one hand steadying Hermione, who leaned heavily on him as someone grabbed his shoulder.

"Harry, let him go!" Tonks pleaded, "We'll take over."

Harry shook his head at her, noticing Shacklebolt rushing past him to join the fight against Bellatrix's team. "He... tried to... kill Hermione." he panted, teeth clenched and spasming slightly, but not lowering the wand.

"Harry, you don't want to kill him; I guarantee we will take care of him," Tonks begged, but dared not interfere.

"He... tried... kill..."Harry repeated.

"Harry! Stop that! We need him! He could clear Sirius! Do you want Sirius to be forever remembered as a Death Eater and betrayer? Please!" she begged again.

For a second, it seemed as if he would not listen, but then Harry sighed and complied. Ending the spell and lowering his blackened and smoking wand, he pulled Hermione closer, burying his face in her hair. Tonks rushed to disarm and bind the severely burnt Pettigrew.

After a short kiss on Hermione's head, who was still slightly dazed and clinging to Harry's arm, he gave Tonks a sharp look. "I make you ...personally... responsible... for him... Do not mess... this up," he panted, forcing the words out despite the pain it caused him.

Tonks nodded, knowing that Harry meant every word of that. Not willing to find out what he would do in case of that hopefully remote event, she dropped to a crouch besides him and handed them a portkey, vanishing them from sight.

AN:

"No!" yelled embirsiphonelilathia, while pfeil took the chance to slip out unnoticed.

"But every Dark Lord marks his followers," DerLaCroix whined.

"What part of NO didn't you understand," was the angry reply, empowered by an angry stomp of a dainty foot.

"Alright! Be like that!" DerLaCroix huffed as he threw his hands in the air and stomped off, throwing the branding iron against a wall...

Singled out minions:

stealacandy: let me answer by the plume…

*** About half a year ago ***

Mister Ollivander left the weighting of the wands in a hurry, muttering under his breath. This Potter boy was criminally neglecting his fine work. Not only was the wand nicked and dirty, but when he took it, he nearly couldn't sense the core anymore. He was so surprised by the amount of damage that he even forgot to mention the wand materials, as he had done for the others. He had been more than nervous when he cast one of the easiest charms he could come up with to test it, and delighted that it seemed to still work. He hastily proclaimed it fine and hurried out. 'Imagine if that core were burnt out after this little use already! I'd never had heard the end of it from Gregorovich! They would have torn me apart in the European newspapers! That boy could have ruined me!' he thought angrily as he stomped out of the castle, vowing to never make a phoenix feather wand again in his life. Those weren't really covering cost, anyway…

Peruser: This would add more people to the group, a group that has to stay hidden. And why would Andromeda agree to do this and go into hiding with her husband? Dumbledore would start pestering her immediately to have Harry put back at PD#4 or at Hogwarts. So, why should Tonks put her mother and father into peril when she is suited, as well? Remus was clearly out of question, and Tonks was in the know and as an Auror, more than able to hold her own. Andromeda and her relation to Dumbledore is unknown, she might as well be one of the Dumble-shippers, you see, most people worship the old goat 50% of the time, some full time.

Mwinter1: A 'blood adoption' to change his blood to be different would mean exchanging the adopters DNA for one of his parents', thus half his DNA, thus also changing his looks, build, etc. You would create a new person. You need some pretty exotic substances to do such a thing, trust me. I don't even know how to conjure the ten foot pole I wouldn't touch this topic with (in this story ;-D ).

And to clarify, the person to bind has to be in contact with the ward anchor when the blood is applied. No remote binding.

Family line nitpickers ;) : Once removed, twice removed, shmemoved. This cousin grades and removed things are terrible confusing (Is that an American thing?). We address such relations simpler: Harry and Andromeda are on the same tree level. Thusly, called cousins (some degree). Tonks is one branch lower, so she is his niece. (Of some degree, third or fourth, but who cares). This is the 'Eskimo' kinship pattern, prominently used throughout Europe, so I assumed the British use the same system.

.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/European_kinship_system_ (in German, but should be understandable, the terms are not far off.)

A classical case of you say potato, I say potato. And just if you haven't noticed, they did something called teasing. ;)

Darriyon: you know that I'm already married, don't you?

MercedezPotter14: There are so many life debts both ways between them that everybody lost count already. All they do is make them care for each other even more, like a nagging voice of conscience. And her parents don't mind, to varying degrees. *chuckles*