When Harry woke up, he had the feeling he'd been asleep for a very long time. Not knowing what day it was, he felt quite disorientated. With his eyes still closed, he grabbed his glasses and put them on. Opening his eyes to a blur surprised him greatly.
"What the…" he said, taking off his glasses. This cleared his vision right up and everything was in focus. "That shouldn't be," he murmured.
Still feeling disorientated, though for a different reason, Harry decided to find his girlfriend. She would have some thoughts to offer on this, no doubt. He found her, doing schoolwork of course, in the common room.
"Hello Sleeping Beauty."
"Didn't realise I changed gender whilst sleeping," Harry responded. After kissing Hermione, he went straight to the cause of his confusion. "Two things Hermione. What day is it? And how come I don't need my glasses anymore?"
Hermione took a good look at Harry and seemed startled at the difference. "Wow, I hadn't noticed yet. Your eyes come out so much better now. But do you remember Dobby saying that there was a spell hindering your vision?" She waited for Harry to acknowledge this. "The goblins told us there was a spell connecting you to Riddle, didn't they?" Again Harry nodded.
Hermione fell silent at that, which gave Harry the opportunity to work things out for himself.
"Both spells are the same one?" Harry asked, doubtfully.
"Seeing the results, I would assume so, yes," Hermione said. "Although I do believe that it might be wise to keep wearing your glasses."
"Why? You know I hate them," Harry said annoyed.
"Yes, but not wearing them would tip off the headmaster, don't you think?"
Harry thought on this a bit and couldn't find any fault in Hermione's logic. "Ah shit, you're right. We need to replace the glass in them though. I can't see anything through them now."
"Language," Hermione said, whilst holding out he hand for his glasses.
Harry smiled unrepentantly and gave his, now useless, glasses to her. She looked thoughtful for a moment, took out her wand, waved it over the spectacles and returned them to Harry.
"Excellent, thanks love. This should do nicely," Harry said gratefully. "Now, what day is it? Did I miss anything, like the ball?"
"It's the day of the Yule ball, Harry. You've only slept through one day, so you didn't miss too much. Although Ronald did decide to be a prat. I'll tell you about it later," Hermione said at the angered look on Harry's face. "As it is almost four, I'm going to and get ready for the ball."
"Four hours?" Harry asked. Seeing the look Hermione gave him, he quickly back peddled. "Never mind, see you in a bit. I'm sure you'll look beautiful."
"As I know you don't have any experience with girls, you get a pass. Just the one, though."
"Yes, dear," Harry said, giving his best attempt at puppy dog eyes.
"Not gonna fly, Potter," Hermione said. "Those, admittedly sexy and lovely, eyes won't get you out of this one. The pass has already been given and noted in your file."
Harry was extremely thankful for the smile that graced Hermione's face when she said this. He had no intention of ruining the ball, let alone before it had even started.
Harry spent a few hours going over his Occlumency book, before getting ready himself.
-o0o0o—
When he entered the dormitory, he saw that Ron was there as well. Harry realised he had no idea whether or not Ron had actually managed a date this time. He remembered having to arrange one for the both of them last time. He also vividly remembered the disaster those dates turned out to be.
'At least I've got a proper date this time,' he thought and went to get his Dress Robes from his trunk. Wanting to avoid an argument with the youngest Weasley male, Harry decided to get dressed in the bathroom. Ron, though, apparently had other ideas.
"Oi Potter, you taking the buck-toothed know-it-all, I assume?" he said.
Harry really wanted to hex the annoying idiot for this, but knew that Hermione wouldn't be impressed with him getting into a fight. Especially with Weasley.
"Who my date is to the ball is no business of yours, Weasley," Harry said through gritted teeth. "I will warn you though. If you ruin this night for either my date, or myself, you will regret it."
"Are you threatening me?"
"Good, you're apparently not as stupid as you usually come across," Harry said. He noticed the stunned looks on his dorm mates. "Look guys, I just want a nice night with my date. That too much to ask?" Harry said to the dorm at large.
He didn't wait for a response though, and took off for the bathroom to quickly change into his Dress Robes. As it took Harry no time at all to change, he quickly returned to the common room to wait for Hermione.
-o0o0o—
Harry's opinion on the dressing habits of girls wasn't improved by the, in his opinion, inordinate amount of time it took them to get ready for something. Four hours? Really? Harry wondered why on earth they needed that long for some make-up, jewellery, clothes, shoes, accessories, colour coordinate, etc. When he thought on it, he realised that they would need more time than the male side of the species.
His eyes never wandered away from the stairs leading to the girl dormitories. He saw various girls come down, looking in various states of lovely. Some downright stunning, although not one of them could measure up to Hermione in his mind. No matter what she would wear. She could go naked, for all Harry cared.
That thought provoked a reaction, which necessitated him repositioning himself slightly. Quickly thinking of Umbridge in that state allowed the blood to flow to other directions again. It would not do to greet his date in an excited state. Well, not that kind of excited, anyway.
When Hermione, finally, came down the stairs, Harry was quite unable to breath for a while.
"Well?" Hermione asked her gaping boyfriend somewhat hesitantly. "What do you think?"
"No thoughts, your beauty has stopped every single one of them, my fair lady."
"Smooth Potter," Hermione said, blushing furiously.
"Shall we?" he asked, offering her his arm.
-o0o0o—
The couple arrived at the entrance hall with only minutes to spare before eight. Having taken a slight detour, to show their appreciation for how the other looked by snogging one another rather senseless.
McGonagall immediately took the pair and showed them where to wait. The other Champions were already there. Harry noticed that both Fleur and Cedric had the same dates as last time. Krum though had to find someone else, as Hermione was now on Harry's arm. The fact that he had Daphne Greengrass on his arm shocked Harry slightly. He hadn't expected this. Apparently Krum had been able to, at least partially, melt the Slytherin Ice Queen.
"Hi guys, you all look really nice," Harry said.
"Hi Harry," Cedric said. "You too mate. And of course, you as well miss Granger."
Before there was any chance of more conversation, McGonagall came over to them.
"Now, you're going to enter in a procession. First mister Diggory and miss Chang. Followed by miss Delacour and mister Davies, then mister Krum and miss Greengrass and lastly mister Potter and miss Granger. You are to walk directly to the head table. Dinner will start as soon as you sit down. Any questions?" They all shook their heads. "Excellent. After dinner, you will be asked to open the ball with a dance. Shall we go?"
The positioned themselves into the order McGonagall had indicated and proceeded to enter the Great Hall. Harry kept a close eye on how people reacted to him walking in with Hermione on his arm. Clearly remembering that last time even Malfoy couldn't think up an insult. This time proved to be the same, thankfully.
Dinner also went along the same lines as last time, more or less. Percy was annoying as ever, with the stick still firmly lodged up his ass. As Hermione was now his date, Krum didn't talk to her all that much. Harry did notice that Greengrass was talking with Krum a lot. In fact, Harry had never seen her talk this much in his presence.
Hermione and he were talking about inconsequential things throughout dinner. Knowing they could, and would, be overheard.
When dinner was over, the time came for the opening dance. Harry had dreaded this, but was confident in his abilities. Having practiced some in the Room of Requirement. He manged an acceptable Waltz and, more importantly, enjoyed doing it.
"You've improved, Harry," Hermione commented.
"Yeah," Harry said. "I required some practice." He saw that Hermione picked up on his hint.
They spent some time dancing, drinking and resting. All in all, just enjoying themselves. Harry kept checking the time, something which apparently annoyed his date.
"Got some other plans?" she asked pointedly.
Harry, realising his mistake, quickly explained. "Last time Ron and I left the ball to walk outside. We came across Hagrid telling madam Maxime about him being half-giant, remember?" Hermione nodded. "I think that I saw Skeeter's beetle being there. I didn't want to miss the opportunity this time around."
Hermione's wide, and quite frankly scary, smile light her face right up. "Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?" she asked.
"As I can't read minds, I'm not sure what you're thinking," teased Harry. "But I think so, yeah. Think you can conjure up an unbreakable jar?"
"No problem, Harry."
"Excellent, it's almost time. Coming?"
"Yes, please." And they set off to hunt a beetle.
"I do have a question, though," Hermione said while they were walking.
"What's that?"
"Why not capture her sooner? She already wrote some pretty damning articles."
"Didn't know where she would turn up. In fact, there are only a few times when I'm sure of her location. This is one of them and the earliest one at that," Harry explained.
When they exited the doors, Hermione silenced their feet before continuing.
"Don't want to warn her, do we?"
Harry kissed her for her thoughtfulness and continued to guide her to their hunting grounds.
He once again found Hagrid talking to madam Maxime. This time he didn't concentrate on what was being said, though. He searched the bush and quickly found the particular insect they were hunting. He gestured Hermione to grab the beast, which she managed to do silently.
"Dobby?" Harry called, and the elf appeared. "Could you please take this beetle and lock her up in my trunk. Also, make sure no one but Hermione and myself can open the trunk. I don't want her to escape."
"Yes, master Harry," Dobby said, taking Skeeter with him.
"Do you expect people to rummage around in your trunk, Harry?"
"Put it this way, I don't trust Ron and I have lost candy before. Could be a coincidence, but I'm not taking any chances on this one."
With that they returned to the ball for a few last dances, before retiring.
-o0o0o—
Harry and Hermione spent Boxing Day in the Room of Requirement. They were practicing Occlumency.
"This is getting very annoying," Harry exclaimed after a few hours.
"What is?" Hermione asked patiently.
"Well, I can build the walls, imagine the protections, and basically do everything the book says now."
"That sounds like good news to me, so what's wrong?"
"We have no way of testing my defences," Harry said, frustrated.
"We do, Harry."
"What do you… No way, Hermione. No fucking way."
"Language, Harry. And you know it's the best option."
"You really think I'm going to let that asshole anywhere near my head?"
"Language. And I know he's unpleasant," Hermione began.
"Unpleasant? Yeah, about as unpleasant as getting hit by the Cruciatus curse."
"Okay, maybe a bit of an understatement. But you know he's a skilled Legilimens. He's also a master Occlumens. He can help."
"But Snape?" Harry asked. "You know he hates my guts, Hermione. Besides, I'm none too sure he's actually working for the right side. He's just as likely to be a Death Eater."
"If what you told me about the future is correct, he's proven to be on the right side. Loathsome person he might be, but a Death Eater he is not. I'm sure of it."
"I can just imagine the conversation." Harry sighed. "'Could you help me, sir?' 'Potter, get out!' and that will be the end of it. I'm sure."
"If that's the case, we'll find an alternative. But could you please just try? For me?" Hermione pleaded.
"Not fair," Harry whined. "You know I can't refuse you anything. Okay, I'll ask the greasy git. Not until after our next Potions class, though. I'm going to try and get my defences as good as they can get."
Hermione looked very pleased at this.
"Harry?" she tentatively asked. "Whilst we're in the Room of Requirement, shouldn't we grab the Horcrux and send it off to Gringotts?"
"Good idea," Harry said. "I wonder if we can get it without leaving the Room."
Before he had finished his sentence, a table appeared in front of the couple. Upon which Ravenclaw's Diadem lay.
"Well, that was easy," Harry commented dryly. "Dobby?" he asked.
"Yes, master Harry?"
"Could you take this Diadem to Gringotts for me? It's a Horcrux, so be careful."
"One second Harry," Hermione interrupted. She conjured a lead box and placed the Horcrux in it. "Here you go, Dobby. It should be safe now. You should take it directly to Director Ragnok, he knows what to do with it."
"Yes, miss Grangy. Dobby will do it."
"Before you go," Harry quickly said. "Could you buy some Gillyweed, when you're in Diagon Alley anyway."
Hermione's eyes widened in shock.
"Yes, master Harry," and Dobby disappeared with a pop.
"Three down, two to go," Harry muttered.
"Why the Gillyweed?" Hermione asked.
"Second task," Harry answered simply. "Need a backup plan." With that, the two continued their Occlumency practice.
-o0o0o—
The days that followed Christmas were full of homework, Occlumency and Horcrux hunting planning with Sirius and Remus. They had decided to sneak out on New Year's Eve to retrieve the ring. Sirius indicated he had already handed over the locket to Ragnok.
"He sends his thanks, by the way," Sirius said.
"What? Ragnok?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, apparently they're quite honoured that a wizard trusts them to handle such important matters."
"But they're the ones who can do this better than us," Hermione said.
"Could be," Remus interjected, "but they've never been trusted so fully by any wizard in living memory."
Looking into the communication mirror at the two men, Harry pondered this.
"Wizard stupidity never fails to amaze me," he said. "Speaking of which, I think I've got the second task down. Want to hear?"
Harry proceeded to explain his plan. His audience of three looked at him, as if seeing water burn.
"That's…" Hermione began. "Yeah," Sirius and Remus both said.
Before Harry could react to this, his arms were full of girlfriend, as were his lips.
"Simply brilliant Harry," Hermione exclaimed. "Why didn't we think of this last time?"
"Because we're stupid?" Harry said, grinning. "Anyway, we're all ready for tomorrow's treasure hunt?" All three nodded their acknowledgement. "In that case, Sirius, Remus, I'm cutting this short. As you can see, Hermione and I have other plans."
Before either adult could respond, Harry shut the mirror down and focused all his attention at his girlfriend.
"You sure you want to come with us, love? It's going to be dangerous."
"Harry James Potter! If you think that I'm going to let my boyfriend walk into a dangerous, and unknown, situation without backing him up, you don't know me very well!" she said quite loudly.
"I know, I know," Harry said, throwing up his arm in surrender. "I was just checking. The unknown bit is what irks me, though. We know there's a powerful Compulsion charm on the ring, but any other defences are unknown. It will be dangerous, probably extremely so. That's why I wanted Sirius and Remus there. And to be honest, that's also why I don't want you there. But," he quickly said, seeing Hermione about to protest, "I know I can't stop you. Nor will I. Doesn't change the fact that I want to keep you safe, love."
This earned him another kiss. "Stupid, noble, prat," Hermione said.
"Guilty as charged," Harry said, grinning breathlessly.
-o0o0o—
Retrieving the ring proved to be extremely anticlimactic. Dobby popped Harry and Hermione to Little Hangleton, where the met up with the two Marauders. Together the four of them walked to the Gaunt house, where Remus disabled the wards. As they entered, Sirius scanned for, and found, the location of the ring. As Compulsion charms work poorly on werewolves, Remus got 'elected' to retrieve the ring. Once that was done, it was placed in a lead box and Dobby delivered the foul thing to Gringotts.
"Well, I didn't expect it to be this easy," Sirius commented.
"Be thankful," Harry said. "Last time around, the foul thing killed Dumbledore."
"What!?" both Remus and Sirius exclaimed.
"Yeah," Harry explained. "That Compulsion charm wasn't the only curse on it. It has some dark magic on it which basically kills flesh. Dumbledore said it was quite painful. Hopefully the goblins can remove the curse."
At that, the group split up, each pair going to their own destination.
-o0o0o—
The days after New Year's went all too fast, for Harry's liking. His first Potions class was quickly approaching. Hermione kept up a non-stop stream of encouragements, bolstering his courage to face the oily git.
Harry's Occlumency shields were checked by both Sirius and Remus, and found to be adequate to block them. But, unfortunately, both were quick to dispel any adequacy in Legilimency. They had strongly supported Hermione's plan of asking Snape to check, although Sirius did agree with Harry on his doubts about Snape's allegiance.
The fact the Potions lesson went rather badly, didn't incur much faith in Harry, but he had promised his girlfriend. So he stayed behind, when the class was excused.
"Sir?" he tentatively asked Snape, who was bent over some parchment.
"What, Potter?" Snape snarled, not bothering to look up.
Not deterred by this, Harry ploughed on. "I was wondering if I could ask you for a favour?"
This got the Potion Master's attention. He looked up at Harry with eyebrows raised. Taking this as a sign to continue, Harry gathered his courage.
"I've been practicing Occlumency and need my shields checked. Could you do that, please?"
"And, pray tell, why did you start this?" Snap asked.
"Because I'm sick and tired of seeing visions of Voldemort, sir," Harry said, taking some satisfaction at Snape's flinching at the name.
"Don't say the Dark Lord's name, Potter," he hissed. "How did you learn?"
"I bought some books on the subject, sir."
"Fine, I'll test your shields. Though I have absolutely no doubt that they'll be pitiful. Seeing as you can't even fathom the intricacies of brewing a simple potion, I do not expect you to show any aptitude in the mind arts. Prepare yourself, Potter."
As Harry had expected, if Snape agreed to testing his Occlumency, he didn't get any preparation time. Instead Snape's "Legilimens" came immediately after his statement.
Because he had expected as much, Harry went in with his shields raised. He felt the spell hit him, but not the intrusion into his mind that had followed all the previous times. His walls held. Deciding to try his expelling techniques, Harry raised his defences as well. The mental image of a dragon, Hungarian Horntail, attacking the mental image of Snape, was extremely satisfying to Harry. The fact that his Horntail blasted Snape out of his mind, gave cause for jubilation. Although Harry was extremely hesitant to show this, knowing Snape wouldn't take it too well.
"Hmm," the professor said. "You were, by some miracle, able to create adequate shields. I must confess myself curious as to how you managed such a feat, Potter. We will discuss this, but not today. Get out of my sight and return tonight after dinner. If anyone asks why, you will tell them you have detention. No one will doubt that. No, be gone."
Knowing discretion being the better part of valour, Harry took off to inform Hermione, Sirius and Remus of this development.
-o0o0o—
A/N: First of all, sorry for the extreme delay in this chapter. All I have to say for myself is; I got side-tracked and some writer's block. Hopefully you will enjoy this chapter.
I hadn't planned on getting Snape in the story too much, but apparently the story did… As I'm making stuff up as I type it, I'm just as curious where this is going.
Thanks for all who left reviews, I love reading them.
As per usual, the next chapter will come when it comes.