A/N.- Hello there. Here's a new chappie, after a whole friggin month of non-stop school work and exams that almost lead to a nervous breakdown (guess what? yeah, I failed Physics for the second consecutive month, and that means I could fail the whole semester) only prevented by music and those small intervals of time I found to eventually start and finish this thing, so please, don't hate me if it's not as good as you would expect it to be. Le hannon in advance.

Oh, before I forget...no gold stars were awarded last chappie, since no one found the hidden quote of the chapter, just so you know, here it is:
Somewhat in the beginning, while in the hospital wing there's this line: "you're not alone in life although you might think that you are" Hermione said, cupping his face with her hands. That line is from the song "Our Farewell" by Within Temptation...better luck next time, and by the way...no, there's no hidden quote this chappie...at least that I'm aware of.

Disclaimer.- OK, let's get this settled: I own only the plot and the character of Lily Rose Granger, everything else belongs to JK Rowling

Chapter 37.- Some Are Gone, Some Remain

"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. He then did a double take of the place and smiled "Good, they're here, we don't have to waste any time now looking for them"

Harry jumped from his seat and demanded rather rudely "What are you doing here, and how did you get in?"

"Harry, let me deal with them" McGonagall whispered and when he nodded and sat back down, she asked "Sorry for the rudeness Minister, but indeed I must ask how did you get in past the wards and gate without previous authorization?"

"Simple enough, now that Dumbledore's dead, the wards of the castle are weaker" Robards said with a smirk.

"You should be ashamed Gawain; that can be classified as trespassing. If I reported that to the rest of the departments, you could get sacked, and even locked in Azkaban" The headmistress replied angrily. "Now, what do we owe this visit to?"

"This young one here Minerva" Scrimegour said, while pointing at Harry and Hermione in turns. "He is being charged with aggression against an Auror…a whole squad in fact."

"Yeah, well, I was pretty pissed off and Robards wasn't being nice with distressed people" Harry replied very rudely

Hermione stood and hugged him from behind "Harry please stop…control yourself or you'll get into trouble" At the moment he felt Hermione's body against his, he relaxed immediately.

"It wasn't on purpose Minister" She said firmly, turning to look at the newcomers "He was enraged by the attack on my home, and when pissed off, he starts irradiating magic in an uncontrolled way"

"It was aggression nonetheless, not only physically, but verbally as well"

"By Merlin, you can be as much of a git as your predecessor!" Ron said "I know the wizarding law, and if a wizard or witch refuses the help of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, the must oblige and leave the place"

"Yes, but it is also by law that a team of Aurors, or at least one man, must perform an investigation and fill a report" Robards replied, losing his temper

"I though we sorted that out the day after the attack Gawain, several professors, along with myself, and two of your own Aurors filled you in on everything the day after the attack" McGonagall replied.

Robards now looked like a fish out of the water…he was running out of excuses.

"Now, if there's nothing else to discuss…"

"Actually Minerva, we haven't yet sorted out the attack on my Aurors by Potter" the minister insisted.

"Oh I think you did Rufus" Dumbledore's portrait spoke and the minister turned to glare at him. "They already told you it was a case of accidental magic, and you can not press charges against Harry or anyone else here for that"

"I'm afraid I have no time to argue with portraits" Scrimegour said and flicked his wand, non-verbally silencing the portrait. A fraction of second after his spell was cast his wand flew out of his hand. "What the…" He turned around to try and find the culprit, but he saw not a single wand pointing at him, not even a hand raised; the only remarkable thing was the fury raging in Harry's eyes.

"Don't…you…dare…do that…again" Harry threatened, rage in every word, at the same time as gusts of magic wind started blowing around, surrounding him

"Harry please, it's just a portrait" Hermione pleaded

"It's not just a portrait, it's Dumbledore's portrait, he should at least respect that" Harry's voice replied inside Hermione's head, as enraged as his real voice

"Potter, stop this!" Malfoy called, his words echoed by the others

"Minnie, I'm getting scared" Lily said with fear. Those words reached Harry's ears, and he immediately focused on stopping his raw magic from leaking. When the wind ceased he turned to look at his little sister-in-law.

"Sorry Lily, that better?" He asked with a weak smile and Lily nodded. "Good, come here" He said, kneeling and stretching his arms open. The girl walked towards him slowly and hesitantly, but she finally reached out for him and hugged him.

"I'm sorry hun" Harry whispered completely honestly and the little girl smiled.

"Was that a threat Potter?" Scrimegour asked, tactlessly

"Oh yes it was, now get your sorry arse out of here before I hex you so badly into the next millennium you won't be able to find your way back" Harry said with venom in his voice while looking firmly at the Minister.

Under different circumstances, the minister would've gotten him arrested, but the sheer look of hatred in his eyes and the magic outburst from moments before made him think otherwise. He simply turned around and left with his aurors ahead of him, but he stopped at the door, turned around and said "This is not a final statement Potter; now you will know why people do anything to be of my sympathy" with that he left, closing the door behind him.

"As if that scared me" Harry muttered to the door. He then felt a hand on his shoulder, when he turned around, he saw McGonagall looking at him with concern.

"Harry, are you aware of what can having the Ministry as another enemy possibly mean?"

"A replay of fifth year at the very least" Harry replied, letting go of Lily "At worst, being chased 24/7 by his attack dogs"

"And having a lot of possible sources of help cut off from us" Hermione replied "You really shouldn't've done that"

Harry slowly seemed to realize the extent of the consequences of what he had just done "And on top of everything…Dumbledore isn't around this time to help and support us"

McGonagall noticed the portrait of said headmaster make a gesture and lifted the silencing charm on it.

"I might not be with you physically Harry, but that's why we're here, to give guidance" The portrait said, pointing at the other portraits.

"It's just not the same" Harry said, his voice starting to fail "e-excuse me" He said, leaving the office to go only he knew where.

"Harry!" Hermione called, but Ron held her by her wrist and when she turned to glare at him he just said in a low voice

"No Hermione…we better leave him alone for the time being"

"He's right you know" Luna said, with her usual dreamy voice, but without her usual dreamy expression "Since Harry was there when professor Dumbledore died he took it worse than any of us, they were also rather close. Let's just leave him alone for the time being…he'll come around eventually"

Everyone turned around to look at her slightly surprised; she was indeed a Ravenclaw so she could be outruled as stupid, but to say something that deep, just took them all off-guarded

"What? It's the truth" Luna said.

Hermione was the first to react "Y-yeah, I guess you're right Luna…we better leave him alone for a while. Come on Lily, let's go"

Lily nodded and grabbed her sister's hand and they left the office as well. Taking this as a cue, everyone decided to leave the headmistress's office one by one.

"I'll be back down at the Chamber in case you need me Minerva" Bill, the last one to leave, said and McGonagall nodded in acknowledgement.

After the door closed behind him, a single tear and a sob left Minerva McGonagall; she then sat behind her desk and covered her face with her hands

"Why Albus? Why did you have to leave us? Things are pretty difficult without you here" She asked to nobody crying, something she hadn't done in quite some time.

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"Minnie, where's Harry?" Lily asked her sister as they walked around the castle.

"I don't know Lily, but I think we should listen to Luna and leave him alone for a while" Hermione said with a hint of concern and sadness showing in her voice "But how come? I didn't know she could say things like that…she's right though"

"Hermione!" Remus's voice called from behind the two Granger girls, making them turn around.

"Hello Remus" Hermione greeted in the same sad voice

"Is something wrong?" The marauder's voice asked concerned

"No, I'm fine, honestly" Hermione lied, avoiding his eyes

Remus smiled a little "So Harry was right" Hermione looked at him confused "It really is easy to tell when you're lying. Come, we'll talk in my office" He said, giving Hermione's shoulder an affectionate squeeze then started walking.

"C'mon Lily" Hermione said and the two sisters followed him. When they entered the second floor office Remus already had a kettle of tea ready, but it was already cool when he poured it.

"It's OK Remus, I can reheat it" Hermione said, drawing out her wand, waving it and muttering an enchantment, but the desired effect never came. She tried the spell several times more, but to no avail. "What's happening, what's wrong with me?"

Remus frowned for a moment before smiling a little. "Don't worry Hermione, that's perfectly normal"

"Perfectly normal?! Are you blind Remus, I can't cast the simplest charms!" Hermione said angrily and yet looked up when she felt Remus's hand on her shoulder.

"You know Hermione? This is quite surprising for me, to see you don't know something you're directly involved in"

"What do you mean?"

"As I already said, this is perfectly normal. For the next months you'll find that for hours at a time you won't be able to cast magic, since your magical core is redirecting all of that magic to forging the twins' own magical cores, and protecting them as they grow"

Hermione seemed to be relieved by the news. "Th-thanks Remus. And you're right; I should be researching pregnancy on witches a little bit more"

"I believe Molly's got several books on the topic, I'll ask her to lend them to you"

"That would be very nice of you, Remus Thanks a lot" Hermione said smiling.

"Now, what's wrong, what's got you so concerned?"

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Harry was standing in front of the white marble tomb inside which rested the body of Albus Dumbledore. He had been like that for a long time now, just standing there. He had been crying, but not anymore; he barely moved, only the occasional shudder because of the still cold weather, despite the fact that it was almost March.

"Not easy losing a beloved one, is it?" A dreamy voice came from behind him.

Harry at first made no gesture of acknowledgement, but then started shaking his head slowly

"No, it's not Luna…and it gets worse when it's the fourth person that dies just to protect you" He said with a slightly raspy voice

"I know it is…I haven't lived it, but I know it just by looking at you" She replied, placing a hand on his shoulder "But you should know that the ones that love us never really leave us"

Harry felt his heart ache a bit, he knew those words "Sirius…told me the same thing the night I met him"

"Then you should believe them even more. Your parents, Sirius and Dumbledore are looking after you, and they're right beside you when you need them the most. You also have more people, like professor Lupin, the Weasleys, the Order and especially Hermione"

"I know" He said sighing "I just don't want to lose anyone else"

"I can't really promise you that Harry, but I can tell you to be strong and also to learn to share your burden" Luna replied seriously, then enveloped him in a hug and walked away.

"Luna" Harry called the retreating girl and when she turned around he smiled a genuine smile and said "Thanks"

Luna smiled as well and replied "Anytime" Then resumed her walk.

For some more time Harry kept staring at Dumbledore's tomb, visibly more relaxed until he felt a pair of arms wrapping around his leg. Turning down his gaze he found Lily hugging him tenderly.

"Hi Lily" He said smiling as he ran a hand through her golden curls.

"I thought you needed a hug" The little girl said, with a look of concern that could easily melt anyone's heart.

"Well, that was not a bad idea" Harry replied smiling, then knelt down and pulled her into a hug "Thank you hun"

Lily pulled away a little, smiling. "Anytime. Hugs are very good at comforting people"

Harry chuckled "Yeah, you're right" He then lifted her up.

"Who died here?" Lily asked when she noticed the tomb.

"Well, he didn't die exactly here, but his body is inside this tomb. This is the tomb of my secret grampa"

"Secret grampa?" Lily looked at him with a confused look

Harry smiled and explained "Yeah, he really wasn't my grandfather; he was actually the headmaster of Hogwarts until he died last year, but I thought of him as something like a grandfather, since I don't have any as far as I know, but you shh, it's a secret after all" Harry said, placing a finger in front of his lips, making her giggle

"A secret everyone knows anyway" Hermione's voice came from his right.

Harry turned to look at her shrugging "Not everyone actually, just those closest to me" He then leaned in a little to brush her lips with his very lightly.

"Feeling better now?" Hermione asked concerned

"Yeah, a lot better now, thanks to Luna and Lily"

"Luna?"

"Yeah, she came by some time before you and Lily arrived"

"How did you know Lily and I came together?" Hermione asked surprised, she thought he didn't know she was there.

"One can never be too careful, so I'm alert all the time, and your magical trace is very distinctive"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot you even sleep with one eye open, not literally"

"Like old Moody says…constant vigilance"

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"Master" A hooded figure said, bowing before the throne-like chair.

"For your own safety it better be important" The cold voice replied obviously angered at being interrupted.

"It is milord…we found a new weakness in Potter…the youngest Granger girl…he's got a soft spot for her" The hooded man said, bowing lower

"Is it now? Interesting…What are you still doing here? Get out of my sight" The cold voice of Lord Voldemort said and as soon as the Death Eater was gone, his cold laughter rang through the room. "Every single secret you let me know Harry is a step closer to your doom"

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"Ow!" Harry pressed one hand against his scar.

"What's wrong Harry? Is it him again?" Hermione asked with concern as they walked towards the castle.

"Yeah…something made him very happy…dunno what, but he's really pleased by that"

"Who's happy?" Lily asked

"The man that sent those henchmen to your house twice Lily, he's the most evil wizard of our time" Harry explained and the little girl made a scared expression "Don't worry…" He added immediately "you're safe in this castle" After that and a kiss on the cheek she felt reassured.

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For the next weeks, Harry, Hermione, Malfoy, Neville, Luna, Ginny and Ron (this last one not so much) kept up with their school work and found time to research what the next possible horcrux could be, yielding no results yet.

Harry also kept going weekly to regular checkups with Mme. Pomfrey and found out that after almost three weeks, his magic had topped up again and he was given the all clear.

"Potter, please go to the headmistress's office and hand her this note, after that she wants to talk to you" The Hogwarts matron said, handing him a note. He left confused, and hungry, since he hadn't had breakfast yet.

He entered the office after saying the password and McGonagall greeted him.

"It's good to know you're back to 100 percent Harry"

"Thanks professor" Harry said, smiling.

"Well, now that you are in your full potential once again, I'd like to make a proposition to you"

"I'm all ears" Harry said, taking a seat

"I'd like to know what you think about training to become an animagus."

"Wha…and who would train me?" Harry said surprised…if he could master animagus transformation he could become any animal he wished, giving him an edge against the Death Eaters.

"Well, Rita Skeeter of course, she'd be delighted to teach you…who else Harry? Of course I would, after all I'm the only animagus around"

"McGonagall joking and using sarcasm? You don't see that every day" Harry thought but suddenly he realized something "Talking about the sneaky beetle, I haven't seen any articles about me in the Prophet"

McGonagall frowned at this "You're right, it seems Scrimegour doesn't take this as public or direct as Fudge, but he'll eventually start making things harder for you…and for us…"

"Of that I'm sure…but for now let's not think about it. Returning to the original topic, yeah, it would be great if I could master becoming an animagus…when do we start?"

"How about today at 7.00pm? I'd invite Hermione as well, but I doubt it'll do much good to her, with her pregnancy and all"

"Yeah, I guess she could harm the babies if she tried it…anyway, I could teach her how to do it after the twins are born, that is, if Voldemort (McGonagall shuddered a bit) hasn't made any big move yet or if I have already beaten him…"

"Alright Harry, I'll see you here at 7" McGonagall said, trying to deviate Harry's thoughts from Voldemort

"OK, now excuse me, I hope I can get some dessert" Harry replied as his stomach scolded him for the lack of food.

"Don't worry, it's still early, but you better get going now" McGonagall said smiling.

Harry left the office and walked along the seventh floor corridor, took a couple of shortcuts and arrived at the Great Hall in time to catch some food and the morning mail as well.

"What took you so long? I thought it was only a checkup" Hermione asked exasperated.

"Oh crap…she already started with the mood swings" Harry thought moodily. "Poppy asked me to give a note to McGonagall and then she offered to teach me to become an animagus"

"A what?! I want to learn too!" Hermione said, with a look that dared anyone to contradict her.

"Umm…You know…" Harry said, fearing that his words might unleash Hermione's wrath "We actually decided you shouldn't try it right now"

"YOU WHAT?! You didn't even ask me!"

"No I didn't, sorry, but I know you would most likely hurt the babies if you tried it" Harry replied, in a low voice but firmly.

"That was so unfair Potter" Hermione said and left the Great Hall.

"Harry, what was that just now?" Lupin asked him, arriving just in time to hear Hermione's outburst.

"Mood swing" Harry said darkly, resting his face in his hands, making the sound come muffled "And guess what? It's one of a lot I'll have to endure for the next six or so months"

"Welcome to Hermione Granger's mood roulette, step up and spin the roulette, you never know what mood you'll get" Lupin said in a low voice so only those close would hear him, in a good imitation of a TV show host. Ron, Ginny and Neville started laughing, but Harry and Lily looked at him puzzled. "We used to joke like that every time James gave exactly the same answer you did…Geez, you really are a lot like him" Lupin said, lost in memories.

Harry groaned "Sod off Moony"

"Yep, he usually answered that as well…anyway, good luck tonight with McGonagall"

"Thank you sir" Harry replied jokingly and Lupin left.

A/N.- OK, you reached the end of this one, yayyy!!! Sorry if it was kinda fillerish (again), but some of the things here are rather important for future chapters so don't AK me alright? Instead review...I know you want to -grins-.

By the way, JKR seems to enjoy torturing me...first she made me do about 5 different tantrums with Deathly Hallows (Hedwig & Mad-Eye's deaths; Fred's death; Lupin & Tonks's deaths; H/G and R/Hr) now she makes me do another one by announcing Dumbledore is gay!!! What's wrong with that woman? Does she hate me or just enjoys seeing me suffer? OK, enough rambling and tantrums, please review...and NO FLAMES!