A/N.- Hi everyone! I'm happy this chapter came out...it really was a miracle. Between moving, studying and doing pretty bad on my monthly exams I'm surprised I found time to write (but after all, as I said, that's how I forget my troubles for a while at least). If you feel like most of this chappie is rather fillerish, you now know why.
Disclaimer: All of this universe belongs to the wealthiest woman in all Great Britain: JK Rowling, and since I'm not her, then this means I own nothing, save for the plot.
Chapter 36.- Life Magic
Harry Potter woke up in a very familiar room. Even if his eyesight was blurred he could easily notice he was in Hogwarts's hospital wing, in what everyone jokingly called 'his bed'. He then turned to his left to find something pleasant for him.
"Well, well, if it isn't two pretty ladies that came to say good morning" He said smiling. He also saw Lily giggle and blush and Hermione grin widely.
Without any warning she jumped on top of him and hugged him fiercely. "Harry! I'm so glad you're up! But how come you woke up after just one night? I mean, your magic was practically completely drained; you should've been unconscious for several weeks!"
"Whoa! Calm down there love" Harry said very much caught off-guard by the hug "I'm OK and weirdly enough I feel perfect" He said frowning.
Hermione got off the bed, and her sister took her place. Lily climbed onto the bed but not on top of Harry. She instead gave him a kiss on the cheek and said "Minnie told me Harry, I'm happy you're awake"
"Thanks Lily" Harry said, pulling the small girl into a hug. "Now, could anyone please call Poppy, I really wanna get outta here"
No movement was needed, since Mme. Pomfrey was walking towards them. "Harry…I mean…Mr. Potter, how come you're awake? I didn't expect you to wake up for at least a couple of weeks!"
"Yeah well, I don't have the faintest idea, but that's good isn't it?" Harry said smiling.
"I'm not so sure, I'll just make some diagnosis spells on you" the healer said frowning then she started waving her wand in front of him muttering various spells. "It seems like all of your signs are stable, except for your magic, you're irradiating it in a much lower frequency than you usually do"
"What does that mean?" Lily asked puzzled
"That means he must try to avoid using magic as much as possible, and if he needs it, like in class…oh yes Mr. Potter, you'll be attending your classes normally…he must use a wand"
"Well, that I can leave with" Harry said as he made to stand up, and since the healer made nothing to stop him, he left the bed and headed for the showers of the Hospital Wing. "Could you please come here Dobby?" He asked politely
"Harry Potter is awake! What is Harry Potter needing?" Dobby asked happily appearing out of thin air.
"Would you mind bringing me some clean clothes please?"
"No need Harry Potter sir, Dobby is bringing fresh clothes for Harry Potter last night in case Harry Potter wokes up today" The hose-elf said happily
"Well, thank you, where are they?"
"There they are Harry" Hermione said, pointing at a chair beside his bed.
"Oh, thanks. That would be all Dobby, thank you" Harry dismissed Dobby politely
The house-elf started sobbing and disappeared. Harry sighed.
"Guess he's not so used to kindness yet huh?"
"So it seems" Hermione replied
"Well, I'll be right back" Harry announced resuming his walk to the showers.
He returned twenty minutes later, clean and fully dressed, with his hair messier than usual, since he had not combed it. When Lily and Hermione saw him they both giggled and Hermione waved her wand in front of him, turning his hair back to normal.
"Well Mme. Pomfrey, I'm outta here" Harry announced, lifting Lily and securing her in his arms.
"Very well Mr. Potter, but next time, try to make it at least 48 hours before needing medical assistance yet again, for the powers' sake" The healer pleaded.
"Hey, you're right; I passed out two days in a row…should take it a little slower, I just want this bloody war to be over ASAP though"
"We understand, but you're not alone in life although you might think that you are" Hermione said, cupping his face with her hands.
"I know, this is my burden though, and I alone must finish this"
"Wrong Harry, you're the one that will face him in the end, that's what's been said, but there's not a phrase in the prophecy that says you must do it alone, you have many people that will follow you to the very end" Hermione reassured him.
"We'll figure that out when the time comes. Anything in the agenda for today?" Harry replied, eager to change the topic.
"I wanna see mommy and daddy" Lily said softly.
"I actually wanted to do so to, but not before you woke up…" Hermione added "And there's nothing for today in the school's agenda, just a boring ordinary weekend"
"Alright, let's just tell Minerva"
"Tell me what?" McGonagall said, standing in front of them "And how in the name of Merlin are you already up Harry? We were expecting you to be unconscious for a whole two weeks at the least…not that I complain though"
"Well, I don't really have the foggiest idea how I recovered quite so fast…save for my magic, which will take some time to replenish." Harry said
"Also, we wanted to ask you for permission to visit my parents today professor" Hermione said.
"You may go, just don't take the whole day" McGonagall said seriously.
"We won't professor, thank you very much" Harry said, holding Lily securely, holding Hermione's hand and disapparating on the spot, leaving behind a very much surprised and shocked Minerva McGonagall.
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Harry, Hermione and Lily appeared out of thin air at the lobby of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
"H-Harry, did you notice what you just did?" Hermione asked shocked
"Yeah, I just apparated here…" Harry said simply, but then he had a surprised expression "…from within…Hogwarts…no way in hell"
"What's wrong?" Lily asked
"No one is supposed to be able to disappear inside the school like we did now Lily" Hermione explained quickly "You know love, you freak me out every time you do something like that" she said looking at Harry.
"You know what? I freak even myself, so don't worry, we're on the same train here" Harry said, still trying to register what he had just done.
"Well, we better sort that out later" Hermione said, heading for the help desk. "Good morning. We're here to visit Jane and Gerard Granger"
"You must be Hermione Granger, Lily Rose Granger and Harry Potter right?" A blond witch asked eager.
"Yeah, that's us, where are they?" Harry asked quickly
"Fourth floor, spell damage…Raphael, could you take them with you to the Dilys Derwent ward?" The witch called at a passing-by healer.
"Sure, I was going there anyway" Healer Raphael Assayya replied, then saw who they were. "Hello Harry, I can't say it's good to see you here again"
"Hello Mr.…Assayya? Sorry your surname's rather tricky. Yeah, I'd prefer if it were under jollier circumstances, but fate's fate" Harry greeted back, shaking the healer's hand.
They continued to the Dilys Derwent ward talking about several things and they entered to find a not so pretty sight: Jane and Gerard Granger in two separate beds, unmoving, with their eyes closed, with several magical screens showing their different vital signs' status.
Hermione immediately started crying, shortly followed by Lily. They approached the beds in silence, and Hermione held each of her parents' hands in her own. Harry put Lily down and she ran to her father's bed, climbed onto it and hugged him. Harry stood back, giving the two girls their space and took advantage of this to ask the healer "What's their status?"
"Their blood has been replenished, and their signs are stable, but they seem to be in a comatose state, they don't show any signs of reacting soon" Healer Assayya said in a very serious voice. "We still can't find what caused that state though; there are no signs of trauma, nerve or neural damage"
"What?" Harry asked perplexed "And no spell I've heard or read about has that effect…"
He closed his eyes and attempted to see the magical auras that irradiated from objects, he seemed to be finally dominating those powers lately. As soon as he gathered enough focus, he could see various objects and persons irradiating different levels of magic, but he also saw what he thought he would see: Some kind of shroud surrounding the bodies of the adult Grangers, and that shroud was made of pure Dark Magic. Harry gasped, but tried to mask his surprise by simply opening his eyes and turning to the healer.
"Mr. Assayya, could you please leave us alone for a few minutes?"
The healer nodded. "Sure, I'll just check on their status and leave" He then proceeded to check the magical screens, jotted down a few notes in a clipboard that reminded Harry of Umbridge's and left.
"Hermione?" Harry called his lover softly as he approached the four members of the Granger family.
Hermione turned to look at Harry with tearful eyes "They will get better, won't they?"
How Harry wished to tell her 'Yes, they'll recover and wake up soon', but he couldn't, and he felt like his heart had been stabbed just from seeing the pain Hermione felt. "Listen to me…this won't be easy for you to hear Hermione, but you didn't remove the dark spell cast on them completely, they still have a shroud around them of pure dark magic." Hermione started crying harder "Hermione, please keep listening love, the stress won't do you or the babies any good…I need us to recast the spell together to see if there's any result."
Hermione took a while to control herself and then nodded, letting go of Harry and stretching one hand towards each of her parents. Harry gave her a small encouraging smile and imitated her. As soon as they were ready, Harry counted up to three in their minds and they quietly whispered together "Tharmel morgula dal". The pale red light shot from each hand towards the two bodies, fusing into one in the process, but as soon as they were a couple of centimeters away from the bodies, they were absorbed by some kind of shield. Harry and Hermione stopped the spell quickly and Harry hugged Hermione tightly against him.
He was trying to think of a reason for the spell not to work, and then remembered a note he had read on that spell's chapter of Gryffindor's notebook: "This spell can remove any evil sorcery, save for those magics above the Elven one. The most powerful type of sorcery able to be cast by any creature consciously is life magic. This type of sorcery is pretty much difficult, almost impossible, to perform, but if any life magic ritual is finished, the magic is bound to the caster's magical core and will only cease to exist as the same time as the caster"
"Damn it!" Harry cursed in a whisper. "So that can only mean…"
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After they left the hospital, they went to the Granger house to pick up clothes and things for Lily, while Hermione searched the house for anything else that could be useful. When she returned, she saw that Harry and Lily had finished packing, and since she was to make sure Harry used as little magic as possible, she was the one to side-along the other two, so she concentrated on her destination and disappeared.
A soft 'pop' announced their arrival on a place where that sound shouldn't be able to be heard: the Head Tower of Hogwarts. When Hermione took in her surroundings she gasped and Harry told her smiling "Guess I'm not the only one to be able to do that huh"
"B-but…n-no, this is i-impossible, h-how could I possibly…" Hermione stammered, but Harry silenced with a kiss.
When they broke apart Harry just said "Well, I think you just saw it's not impossible" then kissed her again, but deeper this time, just to be interrupted by Lily.
"Can you stop that? Seems like you're trying to eat each other" The small girl said in an exasperated tone.
Harry pulled away from Hermione chuckling "Alright, sorry Lils"
"Harry, could you go to our room for a second?"
"What is it?"
"I need to show you something"
Harry nodded then turned to the little girl. "Lily, we're going to our room for a moment, we'll then unpack your things, is that OK with you?" Lily nodded "Ok, be right back"
They entered the room and Hermione soundproofed and locked it, the turned to look at Harry "Harry, I found this in my parents' room; I don't think dad thought of using it"
She said tentatively reaching to an inner jacket pocket and withdrawing an object Harry recognized. He took it in his hands; he knew this one very well. He started talking to himself while examining it.
"Beretta 92FS Elite…Italian…9mm caliber…109mm long barrel…slightly heavier slide than the standard 92FS…15 round magazines…fully loaded…wow, where did your dad get this? This is not something any civilian can carry around" Harry asked impressed
"No idea actually, but what I wanted to ask is umm…can you teach me how to use it?" She asked nervously
Harry shook his head "No Hermione, I can't let you stain your hands with blood…the only…murderer here will be…me" He said sadly but firmly.
"But I want to help you Harry, I want to fight by your side" Hermione said
"Hermione…" Harry cupped her face in his hands this time "You've already done too much for me, you still do, but that is something I won't allow you to do. I don't want them to have two murderer parents, one is bad enough" He said the last part placing one hand on Hermione's stomach.
"But you're not a murderer by choice; Voldemort forced you to be one"
"No, I must kill him by fate, I've killed others out of cold blood" Harry said sadly.
"Wrong Harry, you're anything but cold-blooded. We're at war and you got dragged into it. Do you honestly think soldiers enjoy killing?" Hermione said fiercely "We are both soldiers in this war, you because of a prophecy, I because of loyalty and love to you and whether you like it or not, I swore to follow you till Voldemort's dead"
Harry gave her a small, rather forced smile "Thanks baby" He then kissed her gently. "C'mon, or Lily will wonder what are we doing" He said leaving the room with Hermione close behind.
When they reached their common room they found her with her arms crossed and tapping her foot on the floor impatiently.
"What took you so long?" She asked exasperated
"Sorry Lily, Mione and I were talking" Harry offered apologetically, but the little Granger just huffed and turned their back on them. Harry smirked and lifted her from behind, making her squeal and giggle. He then kissed her cheek and put her down telling her "Don't you dare turn your back on me little missy"
Hermione just watched the scene before her with a wide smile and told Harry using their mind link "Guess everyone's right…you're gonna be a pretty good father for the twins"
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After they finished settling Lily in her new room, they decided they'd give her a tour of the castle and the grounds, which of course fascinated her, especially the moving staircases and portraits. When she got tired, Harry or Hermione would lift her in their arms for some time until she said she wanted to walk again. When they headed for the Great Hall for lunch some time later, they decided that since everyone was bound to see her sooner or later, they might as well introduce her to some of their classmates. When they entered, the Great Hall was fairly empty, since it was still a little early; nevertheless they found several former DA members and Malfoy there.
Ginny was the first to approach them "So she is the mysterious sister?"
"Yup. Gin, this is Lily; Lily, this is Ginny Weasley"
"Umm…nice to meet you" Lily said shyly and Ginny smiled at the little girl
"It's nice to meet you too" the redhead replied "How old are you?"
"Six"
"You've kept her a secret from us for six years? Since I first came here?" Ginny asked surprised
"Well, so it seems…not voluntarily though. With all that happens here, I hardly ever remember that side of my life" Hermione said while helping herself to some food and serving another plate for Lily who started eating immediately.
Harry as well served his plate, mindful to sit at Lily's other side, so Hermione wouldn't snatch his food again.
Soon after, many of their fellow Gryffindors and many others from different houses (mostly members of the DA) had approached them when they noticed the presence little girl, since she stood out like a sore thumb for being the only person under eleven years old in the whole castle. Most of them (especially girls) thought Lily was very cute and she got her hair ruffled, her cheek kissed and many more things several times. At the end, her hair was such a mess that Harry laughed and told her in a joking tone "Look now who's the one whose hair is a mess" To what Lily answered sticking her tongue out at him and turning to pick more food.
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A couple of days later, everyone in the castle had seen Lily at least once, and most of the members of the Order and ex-members of the DA seemed to have grown a soft spot for the girl. Now that she wasn't a secret anymore, she went with them everywhere when they weren't in class but when they were, Dobby would take care of her. On Tuesday afternoon, the Trio and Lily were in the Library (on another rather quick visit they had paid to Gryffindor, Harry had spotted a book with Elvish folk-tales for children –in English- that Rowena and Godric himself had read to Helena when she was a child, so he took it for Lily), when Ginny and Luna found them.
"There you are" Ginny said, mindful to keep her voice down.
"Hi Harry, Hermione, Ron, Lily" Luna greeted
"Hi there, what's wrong Ginny?" Ron asked, seeing the urgency in his sister's eyes.
"McGonagall wants to see us all" Luna said in her usual dream-like voice.
"Well, let's not keep her waiting; I guess I know what this is about" Harry said, standing up, keeping a straight, but groaned internally, McGonagall was most likely to question them about the horcrux now that he was awake. The six of them walked towards the office, to find Neville, Malfoy and Bill waiting outside the stone gargoyle.
"Hey guys" Harry greeted when they joined them "You didn't have to wait for us"
"Actually we had to Harry" Bill explained "They gargoyle wouldn't let us in unless everyone was here"
"And so you are now" The gargoyle growled "Say the password and you can come in"
"Dopplebeater Defense" Bill announced and the gargoyle opened to reveal the revolving staircase. They all ascended and Harry knocked on the door, which immediately opened. Inside was McGonagall, sitting calmly on the chair behind her desk.
"Good afternoon professor" Harry greeted.
"Good afternoon everyone and thank you all for coming." McGonagall replied in greeting. "I assume you know why I called you all?"
"I suppose it's because of the horcrux isn't it professor?" Hermione suggested.
"Indeed it is Hermione" McGonagall confirmed "I need you to tell me what exactly you did to destroy it."
In turns everyone explained what they understood they had done, with Harry and Hermione filling up the missing blanks.
"But why did the sword do that to you?" McGonagall asked puzzled when they were done explaining.
"No idea" Harry replied honestly "Guess we'll have to ask him when we visit again" He added only for Hermione to know.
"You shouldn't've done that in the first place Harry, you didn't know what it would do…haven't you ever heard that it is unwise to jump headfirst without checking if there's water in the pool before?" Hermione scolded him
"Anyway, at least my magic is steadily recovering…it'll take a while for it to top up, but it'll do so eventually" Harry said shrugging.
"Well, I'd prefer you let anyone else from the Order know before you do something that rash again" McGonagall replied severely
"Mae, will do so" Harry reassured her. "Anyway, look at the bright side, if Dumbledore's theory is correct, then there's only one left before we tackle Nagini and finally Voldemort."
The headmistress was about to reply something when a knock was heard on the door. "Come in" She announced, and everyone was surprised, yet not at all puzzled by the persons that came in through the door.
"Good afternoon headmistress" Scrimegour greeted as he entered, followed closely by Head Auror Gawain Robards and a couple of aurors that had been at the Granger residence.
A/N.- Well, that's all for now. Sorry for the cliffie, but I felt it was a nice place to end the chapter. Their argument will come in the next one so don't kill me OK? Now, you already did the most tedious part, so please be good and leave a nice review for me will ya? Just NO FLAMES, thanks. Namárië.