The Harmony bond, chapter twenty-five.
Disclaimer:-
To anyone who has been on another planet since 1997, this is to let you know that Harry Potter belongs to She Who Must Not Be Named, her various publishers and a certain film company, all of whom have lawyers prepared to infringe long standing civil liberties in their pursuit for profit (as they did in England in a case which has already been followed to suppress lawful protests). The Goblins and the Malfoys would be proud.
This story and any new characters belong to me, unless she and her lawyers decide otherwise, rather like the work on the Lexicon, which SWMNBN used while it was useful to her, then successfully sued once she had no further use for them. Obviously being the world's first billionaire author isn't enough for her greed.
The effective new extension of copyright laws will come as no surprise to anyone who noted how the Disney Corporation bought enough influence in Washington to get copyright laws changed to keep Mickey Mouse in their bank balance when previously he would have become public domain.
To She Who Must Not Be Named and your money-grubbing cohorts, I have only two words to say, Avada... (It's a pity your story has ended, because it takes away my opportunity to NOT buy any more of your books. A lot of fanfics are better written anyway.)
In the previous chapter...
Hermione tells the Ginny about Harry's past and their bond and Ginny almost tells her
that they are married. Ginny lets slip about Harry's past to everyone. Dueling with the Weasleys.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Harry and Hermione woke with a scream. Harry reached for his wand and pushed Hermione behind him.
He didn't even notice Hermione tugging on his pyjama sleeve and trying to tell him everything was okay.
The light went on and for the first time, he noticed that both he and Hermione were soaked through. In the sudden bright light he saw first the two twins laughing their heads off, then Hermione's parents raced into the room with Ron and Ginny right behind them.
Hermione's parents both let out a joint sigh of relief when they realised that it was nothing more than one of the twins' pranks which Molly had warned them about.
Their relief was short-lived as they heard the distinctive popping of apparation outside and within seconds, Remus was running up the stairs, quickly followed by Professors McGonagall and Flitwick, then Professor Dumbledore.
Professor Dumbledore saw the soaked pair, glanced at the twins and quickly took in the situation. "Arthur and Molly will be here any second. I think we had better meet them downstairs."
The others all went downstairs while Harry and Hermione scrambled into some dry clothes. By the time they got downstairs a surprisingly nimble Molly was running through the front door, Arthur seconds behind her.
"Molly, it's okay. You can put your wand down. Everybody is safe."
"What happened?"
She saw the Professor glance at the twins. "Fred, George, if this is one of your pranks..."
"Don't be too hard on them, Molly," Professor Dumbledore said. "They meant no harm and they weren't to know."
"Yeah, Mum," said one of the twins. "They sent Hedwig to wake us up early yesterday..."
"That's no excuse for raising the alarm like this, especially at one in the morning and waking everyone up!"
"I'm sure they had no idea this would happen, right boys?" said Arthur.
The twins shook their heads.
"What's this about you two waking up the Weasleys yesterday?" demanded David Granger, and nobody was sure if he sounded angry or impressed.
Hermione looked sheepish.
"It wasn't her fault," said Harry. "It was my idea to send Hedwig."
"Then I trust that honours are now even," said Professor Dumbledore sternly, but nobody could miss the amused twinkle in his eye.
"They had better be," said Molly.
"Perhaps all wands should be kept safe with Hermione's parents at night," suggested Professor McGonagall. The sternness in her voice was obviously not put on.
"That is an excellent suggestion, Minerva," Professor Dumbledore replied.
"Excuse me, Professor, but how did you all get here so quickly?" asked Hermione, now fully recovered from her earlier shock.
"Very simple. Built into the wards we erected here is an alarm. It wakes a number of us the moment magic is used here when it is not expected, like at night."
"But how did you get here so fast?" she asked again.
"We apparated of course," he replied.
"But you can't apparate from Hogwarts. It says so in Hogwarts, a history."
Professor McGonagall smiled. "We used the floo to go to a house in Hogsmeade, then apparated from there."
"Oh. That makes sense," Hermione replied, satisfied.
"We had better arrange what hours the alarms are set for," said Professor Flitwick.
"Perhaps we can discuss that later," replied Professor Dumbledore, "when we've all had some much needed sleep. Now we will leave you good people to go back to bed."
As they walked back to the garden gate which was he nearest point from which they could apparate, Remus said to Professor Dumbledore, "May I have a word before you go?"
"Of course. Minerva, I'll see you later."
"Much later, I hope, Albus," she replied as she and Professor Flitwick disappeared.
"Yes, Remus?"
"I don't think it's a good idea for them to give their wands to Hermione's parents at night."
"Why's that?"
"I saw what happened to James and Lily. If they are attacked here, I know Harry and Hermione can't do much, but they should at least have the chance to defend themselves until we can get here."
Professor Dumbledore's face looked pained with the memory of that night. After a few moments he nodded. "I agree. Are you coming later, Remus?"
"I'm not really up to it today," he replied.
"Okay, I will see you in a few days."
The two men disappeared.
Back in the house Molly was giving the twins a quiet, for her, talking to. Harry and Hermione began to go back upstairs.
"Don't you two sneak away," called Jean Granger. "I think you owe the Weasleys an apology."
After the four parents had forced the twins, Harry and Hermione to apologise to each other, even if the apologies were rather mumbled, they ordered all six children to return to bed.
In the confusion earlier, nobody had given it much thought, but when Ginny saw Hermione going to bed in Harry's room, she couldn't resist following her. Pushing the door slightly open so she could peek through, she saw Hermione climb into bed with Harry and put her arms around him. Letting out a squeak, she ran back downstairs to her mother and, not even noticing the others in the room, gasped out, "Mummy, Hermione sleeps with Harry! I know they're bonded, Mum, but..."
Her mother was almost as startled as Ginny had been and couldn't keep the surprise from her face.
Jean Granger looked embarrassed so David explained. "Yes, Ginny. They do sleep together. You've heard about how Harry was treated."
Ginny nodded.
"Madam Pomfrey told us that Harry found it difficult to trust anyone after that, even his bond-mate, so difficult that the bond wasn't forming properly."
This time it was Molly who looked startled, "but that means..."
"They nearly died," David confirmed in a flat tone of voice. "So Madam Pomfrey and Professor Flitwick ordered some things to help the bond form correctly. One was them receiving some early training together, which is where you and your brothers come in, the other was sleeping together, for the time being at least."
Ginny still looked somewhat shell-shocked at the thought.
Molly was also shocked, but was still able to ask, "What about when they are older?"
"We hope the bond will be formed enough by them that it won't be necessary."
Molly nodded.
David turned back to Ginny. "So do you think you can help them by training with them?"
Ginny nodded. "Yes, Mr. Granger," she replied seriously.
After Ginny had gone to bed, Molly spoke to Jean alone. "You must have been so worried."
Remembering the day they had learned of the bond and Hermione running out and being missing all day until Harry found her brought tears to Jean's eyes. For some time after Arthur had apparated home and David had gone to bed, Molly sat with her arms around Jean as she told her everything that had happened.
Hermione had also taken longer than usual to get to sleep, thinking of how Harry had tried to take all the blame for pranking the Weasleys, and how he'd forgiven her so easily for telling Ginny about his treatment at the Dursleys, how he'd spoken to Miss Collier because he knew she was hurt and how he'd defended her at school. The thought of a bond with Harry all her life, something which had scared her at first, didn't seem so bad any more.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Hermione woke up to find that Harry had already got up and dressed without waking her. She hoped desperately that Harry hadn't shared her dreams as they'd been mostly about him, dreams she felt were childish about them being together when they were grown up.
As she was in the shower she could hear the growing level of noise that told her the rest of the house was waking up. She dressed and went downstairs to breakfast. Her mother and Harry were already there.
As they sat down to eat, Hermione looked at Harry for any sign that he knew of the dreams she had been having. Thankfully there was no such sign. She wasn't sure what she'd have said if he'd known. She would have been mortified.
They were soon joined by Ginny, who had managed somehow NOT to look like she'd had a disturbed night. The look on Ginny's face told her that they would be talking when they had the chance.
The twins arrived, bickering over something she managed to tune out. She noticed a grin on Ginny's face. "What?" she asked.
"Don't worry," Ginny replied. "You stop hearing them after a while."
David Granger came downstairs and immediately complimented his wife on the rather more lavish than usual breakfast.
"Don't thank me," she had replied. "Harry did everything. I tried to help but he didn't need any help. I swear he's better in the kitchen than I am."
Harry looked embarrassed and didn't notice the look of sadness in Jean's face as she said that.
Last to arrive was Ron, still in his pyjamas and rubbing sleep out of his eyes.
"Ron's just like the Cannons," said Fred.
"Yes, Fred," George replied. "Always last."
The other children laughed at the comment, until Hermione saw her father looking at Ron with a thoughtful look on his face.
"Why is that being like a canon?" asked Harry.
"Not a canon," George replied.
"The Cannons," said Fred, as if that explained everything. Seeing the puzzled look on Harry's face, he added, "They play quidditch."
"Or try to," finished George.
"They're just going through a bad spell," said Ron, defending his team.
"What's quidditch?" Harry asked.
The four Weasleys all looked at him with equally stunned expressions.
"You don't know about quidditch?" asked Ron, making it clear that he thought Harry just had to be joking.
"No," said Harry, slightly irritated. "Is it a game?"
"A game, did you say, my dear boy?" replied Fred, in a haughty tone of voice.
"He said a game, Fred," George confirmed.
"He did, didn't he?"
"That he did. A game."
Even Ron looked amused at the twins' banter.
"Let us explain," the twins said together, then a silent look passed between them.
"Quidditch, my dear boy,"
"Is the main reason for being a wizard."
"It's the finest example of skill and nerve..."
"...pitching wizard against wizard..."
"...in a battle in the heights..."
"...to which most may be only watchers..."
"...while others become stars who shine brightly."
The twins finished, leaving Harry and Hermione looking more puzzled than ever.
"Did you understand a word of that?" Jean asked.
"You're not meant to," explained Ginny. "You're meant to see how clever they are. It gets boring after a while."
"Boring, she said, George."
"And I think she means us, Fred."
The two twins huffed loudly and turn their backs to Ginny as the others laughed.
"Yes, it's a game," said Ginny.
"Not just a game," insisted Ron. "It's the best sport ever. We play it on brooms."
Ron made an attempt to explain quidditch, but seeing that neither Harry nor the Grangers really looked like they were following his explanation, he finished, "we'll have to show you next week. I'm gonna be a keeper."
"And the twins want to be beaters," added Ginny. "They like knocking everyone off their brooms. I don't know what I want to be yet. A chaser is fun, but I'd like to be a seeker too."
"You can't be both," Ron pointed out.
Annoyed, Ginny snapped, "I know that."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
As they had almost finished breakfast, Jean Granger had an announcement. "Miss Collier will be here shortly. As she won't have a lot of time during the week, she coming to give you a few school lessons today and a test at the end of the day."
"School?" Ron protested.
"On a Sunday?" added Fred and George together.
Only Hermione seemed happy about the thought of more lessons, though Harry tried to be happy for her. All Harry really wanted to do was either go out and play, or spend the day watching television. He knew he watched too much television, but it was something, one of many things, he'd never been allowed to do at the Dursleys.
To Harry's surprise, and that of the Weasleys, Miss Collier's lessons were actually fun. Hermione's parents looked in from time to time and saw the young teacher obviously enjoying herself.
Over lunch, even Ron had been enthusiastic about their first history lesson, which had been about the civil war. He'd been especially interested in the battle plans she'd demonstrated on the blackboard Remus had conjured for her the day before.
At the end of the afternoon lessons came the tests which most of them had been dreading. Gathering up the papers, she said she'd take them home to mark and return later that evening after the children had gone to bed.
When she returned, as previously arranged, she found David and Jean Granger had been joined by Arthur and Molly Weasley.
"Molly? May I call you that?" Molly nodded, uncertain about how she felt about this young woman almost half her age who was about to give judgement on all she had taught her children.
"Thank you. Firstly, can I say that you've done brilliantly in the subjects you have taught your children. The twins and Ginny are quite a way ahead of where they should be in Maths and English. Ron is a little behind, but I think I know the reason for that."
"Why is that?" Arthur asked.
"You have, I think, seven children? Six boys and one girl?" Arthur nodded in reply. "Can you tell me a little about the older three? How they are at school, I mean?"
"Well," Molly began, "Bill is head boy at Hogwarts. He is brilliant at charms, in fact he helped Professor Dumbledore with the wards on this house," she added proudly. "He could go for any career in the Ministry if he wanted to, but he's more interested in working for Gringotts as a curse breaker." She sounded disappointed about that.
Miss Collier didn't understand what Gringotts was or why they'd need a curse-breaker, but she understood enough to say, "So he is quite brilliant academically, then?"
"Yes," Molly agreed, "Although we think Percy, he's our third, will be better. He's much more studious. He gets top marks in almost every test in almost every subject..."
"...Although he isn't as good on the practical side," Arthur put in.
"And the other one?"
"Charlie. He's not so good academically, although he's still above average," replied Molly.
"But he is brilliant a quidditch, that's our main sport," Arthur explained. "He's captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team. They are all in Gryffindor house at Hogwarts."
Miss Collier was nodding. "So all three excel in some way. Then there's the twins, who compete by not competing, pretending they aren't interested in lessons while they absorb information like a sponge rather like Hermione. In fact they are probably as bright as Hermione and that is saying something. Fred and George are able to easily and totally dominate every situation in which they find themselves, while Ginny is such a strong character that even the twins know not to push her too far. Am I right so far?"
"Yes," replied Arthur simply, impressed at the young teacher's perceptiveness even if he did feel a little uncomfortable at her dissection of his family.
"So there's Ron. The youngest son, desperate to shine like his older brothers, so desperate that he tries to be funny like the twins and from what I have seen so far, just manages to appear gauche and even rude. If the twins say something rude, everyone laughs, it's just the twins, but if he says something out of place it just isn't the same somehow."
"But we don't treat him any different to the others," Molly argued.
"No? I'd be surprised. I was determined not to and even I found myself laughing at some of the things the twins said, but when Ron tried to be funny, it just fell flat. He's actually quite intelligent, but he tries to copy the twins and it doesn't work. If I were teaching him, I'd want to find the things he can shine at. Maybe I'm saying too much..." she faltered.
"No," said Molly slowly. "Ron is a problem," she admitted.
"To come back to the other subjects for a moment, in Geography none of them had any idea whatsoever, I assume that it's not very important in the wizarding world."
"Not really, given that we tend to apparate or floo to most places instantly;" said Arthur.
"That explains that then," Miss Collier replied. "I didn't really have time to get into the sciences, but they didn't seem to know much about any of them, except a little biology. Obviously our history isn't a big topic either, though Ron was really interested in the battles of the civil war and grasped what happened even quicker than Hermione. He obviously has a great interest and feel for how battles are fought and I'd really like to encourage that."
Molly and Arthur found themselves nodding in agreement.
Miss Collier went on, "I'm guessing that Hermione and Harry would show up poorly if they were tested on their knowledge of the wizarding world."
"Probably," admitted David Granger, "although Hermione's read everything she can since she found out she is a witch."
"I'm still guessing here, but I suspect that places them at a disadvantage in the wizarding world, just as wizard children would find it difficult to function in our world. The difference is that probably your children will never need to survive in our world, whereas Hermione and Harry will almost certainly need to live in yours. In some ways it's a pity, the twins would be natural scientists, they even took apart the ball-point pens to see how they worked. Luckily, Ginny knew your cleaning charm, Molly."
Molly smiled at that.
The discussion between the parents about what to do went on late into the night.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Author's note...
If not much happened this chapter, don't worry. Massive changes ahead in the next chapter and a huge decision for Hermione.
The Civil War referred to in this chapter was, of course, the English Civil War. Any teacher in England would refer to it as simply THE Civil War, and would refer to the American Civil War as the American Civil War, the opposite way round to a teacher from the U.S.A.
Thanks, as usual to my beta, Nachoman1, a.k.a. Ignacio RamÃrez.
Apologies for the long delay, due to a phone line that had only worked for a few minutes a day over the last two weeks, if I'm lucky, plus a bad chest infection that kept me off work for a week. The good side to the chest infection is that is gave me time to write the next chapter which is now complete and in editing.
Thanks to the hp-lexicon, which is shut down at its old location, but is currently back online at hplex and then the usual DOT org. Like She Who Must Not Be Named, I use them extensively for research.
An interesting insight into U.S. copyright law. If I was taking the mickey out of Harry Potter, I could sell this story as it would be classed as a parody. Because we fanfic writers (mostly) respect her work, we can't. Ironic isn't it?
Another early correction. Thanks to Charpie for pointing out that I had Hermione's middle name wrong in chapter two. To be fair, I had an excuse. As the HPlexicon says "In 2004, She Who Must Not Be Named told us her middle name was 'Jane' (WBD); however she changed it to 'Jean" in Book 7, possibly so that Hermione and Umbridge wouldn't share the same middle name." In any case, I have now corrected it and reuploaded chapter two.
Please review, but when anyone makes serious points in a review, as HPGWnever did, please either sign the review OR give me an email address, so I can answer you.
Brian