See end for more notes
Instead of going to bed in the early hours of the morning, after they had closed the kitchens for the day, Harry left the alley. He used the last of his muggle money, to get a muggle bus ticket and headed off to Kensington. Hermione had given him her address when she said her parents had been working all day again.
On the bus he read his mum's book on Hekate and the darke. He hadn't had as much time to read her books, not just for his curiosity anyway. It had been all study, study, study lately. He really wished he had a time turner. The book was brilliant and fascinating, and the more he read it, the more sense the Darke made and the more he wanted it.
"Oh your hair," Hermione had said when she answered his knock on the door. Harry had put his eyes and hair back to their typical colours, but he'd kept his scar hidden, and his hair long. He was quite fond of it long. It behaved and looked mostly neat when he brushed it. It was a nice a change and he liked the weight of having it loose down his back.
"It finally grew," he said jokingly awkwardly taking a good look at her. Her eyes were red and puffy and she looked like she hadn't had much sleep. He pulled her into a tight hug once she let him in. She held him tightly for a moment before pulling away and leading him into the house.
"Sorry for showing up unannounced, I was worried," he said as she led him into the living room.
She waved a hand dismissively, "they're not home, they won't care. I'm happy to have some company." She said tightly.
Harry looked around. The house was immaculate and seemed more like a display house than a home. The photos were all professionally done. There were framed diplomas on the walls as well as Hermione's Primary school graduation certificate. But it felt cold. Wooden. It reminded him of Privet Drive a little.
"You okay?" He asked when they'd sat down on to the couch.
She opened her mouth but shut it again. Her face crumpling and started to cry.
He wasn't sure what to do with a crying best-friend. After a moment, he cautiously put an arm around her. She turned her face into his shoulder and hugged him back as she sobbed.
Slowly she started telling him about the ball again. How it was lovely and brilliant, and how it had been everything she had never dared to dream of.
"We had such a nice chat about our schools, even if his headmaster was weirdly possessive. We danced together and had a lot of fun. He introduced me to some of his friends, and he taught me some Bulgarian. I can now say, Hello my name is Hermione. How are you? I'm well thank you." She told him sniffling.
He smiled at her, pleased she'd enjoyed it, but somewhat conflicted still about Krum. By the sounds of it, he was nice, but Harry couldn't get the mournful wails of the Fireball out of his mind. Krum had cursed her painfully, and her eggs had been killed because of it.
"I had to explain to him how to say my name properly," she went on laughing wetly.
"But then when we went for a walk outside, in the rose garden. It was so pretty, and full of real fairies! But stumbled across Ron. I was going to introduce them as I know he liked Victor. I figured if I could get Ron to soften up a bit, he'd not give us such a hard time. But he just called me a traitor." she went on, "he said I was fraternising with the enemy. It only got worse from there."
She sighed, and he transfigured a pebble from his bag into a handkerchief. Heroine smiled at that and blew her nose.
"He spoils everything," she said quietly, "Victor took offence and punched him. Then Ron hexed him. They were both dragged off by Professor Snape. Ron's in detention this week, and Victor is confined to the ship for the remainder of the break."
"S'not your fault." Harry said softly rubbing her back as she sniffled into his shoulder again.
"It is," she mumbled.
"No. It's not," he said firmly, but gently, "Ron's a dick and Krum was reacting to it. That's their choice. That's not your fault. Sure it's a bit chauvinistic of him to defend you. I know your more than capable of defending yourself, though maybe it's nice to have someone look after you?" He wondered, thinking briefly of Charlie after the dragon task and Bill after the ritual. Maybe Hermione would like having someone to look after her on occasion...
She nodded, "I can look after my self, but it was nice of him."
"Exactly, but it's not your fault." He continued, getting back to the point, "And if you can't see Krum right now, maybe write him a letter if your worried. You know you can use Hedwig any time, or maybe Dobby or Winky will take it over. It will be alright. I promise. And if it's not okay, then it's not the end."
She smiled wetly at that, and he said, "so what's really got you so upset? I find it difficult that to believe its just the ball, or a boy, that has you this upset a few days later?"
Hermione sniffled again and pressed her face into his shoulder. He jumped but wrapped his arm around her more tightly.
"It's mum and dad." She said quietly as if admitting a secret.
"I didn't really want to come home for Christmas. I get lonely, and it's awkward. We don't know what to do with each other. But they insisted we spend time together. So I organised it so I could go back to the ball and still spend the holidays with mum and dad.
I got home on Christmas morning after the ball. I took the knight bus pretty early. But they were working, an emergency came up. Yesterday I learnt from their secretary they only took Christmas and boxing day off. But they were called into work anyway!" She said sounding both angry and sad.
"What happened?" Harry asked, passing her another transfigured handkerchief.
"There was a crash, so Mum and Dad got called in to sew some poor sods face back together," she said crudely, "I get it. It was a horrible crash; did a real number on the poor fool's face. So they needed the best. That's mum and dad. But it was Christmas! And they'd insisted I'd be home for it and spend it with them. Then their not even here!
They got home really late on christmas day, I was already asleep and they were leaving as I got up! They didn't even notice my braces were gone! I knew this would happen! This always happens!" She said sounding slightly hysterical.
Harry squeezed her hand, then said, suddenly, "wait. I thought you said they were dentists?"
"They are," she said rolling her eyes. "They're oral and maxillofacial surgeons. They work with teeth but also with the face, mouth and jaw. It's highly specialised. And its just easier to say their dentists instead of having to explain what an oral and maxillofacial surgeon is."
"Wait they're those Grangers?" Harry asked, "they were in the paper a few times. My uncle was talking about them. Apparently their the best in the whole of the UK."
"Yep, that's them," Hermione huffed. "They are always being called in for things. I think I was an accident and they just kept me because that's what you did when you were married and successful, have a family, 2.5 kids. I don't think they actually wanted me though. I came along when they were just starting up their own practice, so they were gone all the time. It was all nannies and after school care and holiday programs. They're never really here. I think that's why they were pleased about Hogwarts. Gets me out of the way for 9 months of you year." She said bitterly.
"I know that feeling." Harry said with companionably, "at least yours were pleased you were a witch."
"Not really."
"what?" Harry asked
"They wanted me to be a dental surgeon like they were," she said, "take over the family business."
"Family sucks," Harry said with a great sigh resting his head on hers.
"Yes. It does," she said, "I love them, they're my parents. But they're not enough, and I'm never enough to make them love me, make them stay around. It doesn't matter how smart I am or how good my grades are. Their just too busy for me," she sniffled.
"Family is complicated," Harry said again.
"It is," she agreed.
"You are enough," Harry said after a long moment, "You. Are. Enough. And they don't have to be family. Their blood and related to you, you share DNA. But they don't have to be family." He said firmly.
"Family, true family," he went on, "is more than blood and shared DNA. It has to be. Because I don't want to be alone anymore. I want people at my back, I want family.
Family is those you trust, that has your back. Family love's you and cares for you unconditionally no matter what. Family is about heart. Not blood. Family is chosen, relatives are given. Mum is family. My Dad, the Dursley's? They're relatives. Like your mum and dad are by the sounds of it. You and me, we're family. Bill and Charlie are family, and Fred, George and Neville. You all walked out on your house, risking ridicule from your peers and relatives for me. That? That's family."
"Family," she said, nodding into his shoulder, mulling it over, "relatives and family."
"Tell me about your dad," she said quietly.
So he did. He told her about each painful thing. He was, however careful to leave out Snape's name, that was not his story to tell.
"You know who it is," she said. It was not a question, "who they picked on. You know. And it bothers you."
"Yes." He said, "please don't ask. It's not my story. It's bad enough that I know."
She looked torn between her curiosity and understanding for a moment, before she nodded, "I can respect that."
"I found mum's trunk though," he said, moving on to a more cheerful topic a short while later as they moved to the kitchen to have something to eat.
"Really?" She said after swallowing a mouthful of All Bran with a grimace.
"Yeah, it's brilliant. It has different compartments and even an apartment inside it! She was a genius."
"Really? show me!" she said eagerly, making him laugh.
"Dobby?" He called, "have you got a minute?"
Dobby popped in and looked around the blindingly clean muggle kitchen with a slightly horrified look on his face. As if a kitchen with nothing for him to do in, was a thing of horror.
"Dobby always has time for Master Harry Potter and Master Harry Potter's Grangy sir!"
Harry smiled, "could you bring my trunk here please Dobby? I wanted to show Hermione. It's at Morbid's in my room."
Dobby popped away with a bow and reappeared a moment later with Harry's trunk floating in front of him and set it down on the shiny tiled floor before popping away hurriedly, incase the overly clean kitchen was contagious.
Harry opened it up to the room compartment where he'd been sleeping. Hermione followed him down into the trunk and looked around with wide-eyed astonishment.
"Your mum made this?" She asked incredulously.
"Yeah," Harry said, grinning proudly, "she was taking the same subjects we are. She started off with one or two extra compartments before making it into a place to stay. She was working on making it into a tent before she died according to her notes. I want to finish it off, so it does change into a tent, but my arithmancy isn't good enough yet."
While she had a closer look at the books, Harry desided to have a closer look in the draws.
The first compartment of the trunk he had initially dismissed as mere nicknacks. But it turned out to be rather interesting, Avon his second look. There were thick bundles of letters, yellowed with age, tied together with a ribbon. Some of the letters were to his mum from his grandparents dating all the way back to her first-year. Sadly they stopping at some point early in her seventh year and he wondered what had happened.
There were a couple from his aunt, many from Sev but also from her friend Alice, who turned out to be dating a boy called Frank Longbottom! He wondered if they were Neville's parents. And wondered what had happened to them? He'd have to show the letters to Neville.
He fingered the letters carefully and put them aside and pulled out a stack of chocolate frog cards. Harry flipped through them, marvelling at how they hadn't hanged at all. She nearly had a whole set he thought, she was just missing Circe, Flamel and the Oracle of Delphi.
There were some well-thumbed paperbacks, some of which were by Chris D'lacy and Tolkien. They were so well-loved they were falling apart. There were also a few he'd never heard of that sounded interesting. One about dragon riders, and one about an impossible heist, that had something to do with crows and outcasts.
Next, he pulled out a bundle of papers, a blue potion, and a large jar of Gillyweed. How much of the stuff did his mother have? He peered closely at the potion vial, reading the label. 'Mermish' then in small text under that read, 'sold by a Laughing Skull's Language Apothecary #5 Hookturn Alley, Greater Nocturne'
He looked a the potion vail again, Mermish. His mother was going to learn Mermish through a potion, to be able to talk to the people in the lake. Now that would come in handy.
"Hey Hermione," he said excitedly, calling her over from where she'd been examining his mother's typewriter, "look at this! You can learn languages with potions! Mum was interested in the lake too! She'd been mapping it!"
Hermione darted over, a familiar curious gleam in her eye, "oh wow, I bet that will come in handy during the task! If they do kidnap people, they may get the Mer to hold them hostage. This way you'll be able to negotiate with them!" She said reading the label on the vial.
"Oh and look," she said, pointing to a tiny etching in the glass, "it's a stay-fresh vial. It will still be good." She tapped her wand to the label. It flew off and enlarged, allowing her to read the instructions written on the back.
"Take the first part (pail blue) every night for two weeks." She paused so Harry could riffle through the draw and pulled out a potions box. Opening it revealed phials and phials of potions. There were more blue Mermish ones inside.
"Then you take a second part of the potion which is dark blue and read a dictionary, the bigger, the better, in Mermish. It helps it settle in faster, as the potion completes the new neural-pathways in the brain. Though it says the dictionary is not compulsory (some languages don't have a dictionary or written form.) But it is advisable as it takes a few months to properly settle in otherwise." She read, "doing two languages at once is not advisable. Although, you can start another course after the dictionary stage while the first is sinking in..." She trailed off.
"I wonder if that store is still around?" She asked, "think of all the possibilities! I wouldn't mind learning Mermish too for going into the lake when it's warmer" She said, handing the phials back to Harry.
"I've been to Hookturn Alley, we can have a look," Harry said, looking over the papers. Hermione peered over his shoulder.
One was the instructions and history notes on the language potions and how they worked. Half of it went a little over their heads in complex potion theory, but part of it they understood. Enough to get the general idea of it anyway. The other set of papers were notes for his mother's plans to map the grounds and lake of Hogwarts, and notes on merpeople and references to books.
"Harry, this will be so useful in the task! We can be much better prepared now!" Hermione exclaimed carefully unfurling another parchment. Harry nodded, grinning and helped her hold it flat so they could look at it.
It was much bigger, bigger than the Marauders Map. But it had a detailed picture of the Hogwarts grounds, the lake, and the forbidden forest. It then had little plants and things annotated, like the Whomping Willow and how to get past it, the acromantula's nest and territory, where the centaurs main territory was, and which the trees that housed bowtruckles.
Harry looked at the potions boxes again. There were several courses of different languages in there; Latin, Ancient Greek and a thick almost gold potion only labelled, 'Runes.' But there was also French, Bulgarian, Japanese and Gaelic. Then there were some creature languages as well; the Mermish, Goblin, Giant and interestingly enough, Troll, Acromantula and Fairy.
Harry wondered why she had so many and hadn't used them. He looked closer at the lid of the box wondering if she'd hidden a letter or note in it. He cast a quick detection spell and a small drawer in the bass of the box slid out.
A letter.
"To my unborn child,
My love, you do not have a name yet, or even a gender, but I know you will one day be here and I fear for your future. I had gotten these language potions to use myself during my mastery. The proprietor of the shop is an old friend of Master Flitwick's. He gave me a good deal for 3 human languages and 3 non-human languages. I'd intended to travel the world and create wonderful things after my mastery, but I feel life has other plans for me now, and you, my love.
You were somewhat unexpected, love. But never unwanted; never that. So I was unable to take them myself. I fear I won't live long enough to see you grow up my love, and I can only pray to Hekate, that I survive long enough to meet you. And that you survive long enough to live a long and happy life. So I have left these. My trunk will stay here at Hogwarts in my quarters. Maybe one day it will find its way to you and help you.
I had wished to have some of these languages when I was in school. It's always good to have another language dear. You never know when you'll need it. The Latin potion, ancient Greek and French will be most useful at school, especially in your first few years if they make their way to you in time. So will the Gaelic, Hogwarts being in Scotland. Most spell work is done in Latin, with some Ancient Greek or French.
Understanding what you're casting helps enormously, especially when you are unfamiliar with a spell being thrown at you. Be careful and sensible with them, love. There should be dictionaries for those in with my other school books. Hopefully, one day I'll get a chance to use the Mermish, but if not, I hope you have better luck finding a dictionary for Mermish than I did. There should be dictionaries for the other languages in my bookshelves.
I also got Bulgarian and Japanese as there are magic schools in those countries and you never know when they might be needed. I admit I was a little indulgent when buying all of these...
Don't forget if you learn creature languages to drink some warm tea and honey afterwards. New creature languages can be harsh on the throat while you get accustomed to the muscularity of the sounds, the potions don't just change the neural-pathways but adjust some of the vocal muscles as well to accommodate.
Runes will probably not be needed until your 5th year, before then you don't really need to be fluent in any of the runic languages. I lucked out on this one. I was tossing up between a charms mastery or a joint runes and arithmancy one. I got a potion for that specifically. That's why it's so thick. It's not designed to teach the spoken ancient runic languages but to understand the reading and writing of them. So it actually contains quite a few different scripts and dialects. It will not take long to learn, but it will leave you with quite the headache after each dose. Thats the only downside. It does sound brilliantly useful, though. I am hoping it will help me finish this trunk project of mine.
Anyway, I hope you will never need this note. One day I hope we will sit and go through this and laugh before you go off to school little one. But I fear not.
I love you, my darling,
now and forever,
Mum"
Harry sat there looking stunned. His mother really had had a life. She'd had plans and a future, and that had been cut off. It seemed like a terrible tragedy all of a sudden for such a bright young life to be extinguished. He leaned into Hermione as he put the letter and the notes back into the box and placed it on the desk.
"Come with me to visit the shop?" He asked Hermione quietly, wanting to see the shop his mother had obviously been so excited about. She nodded, hand over her mouth, trying not to cry.
Pressing his eyes closed for a second, Harry took a deep breath and kept picking through the drawer. He found some divination things next, a tarot deck, ogham, runes, the Stones O'Leary.
His mother hadn't taken divination in school but seemed to have picked it up herself, later. She sounded very intuitive. Maybe she was some kind of seer, or if not a seer, perhaps she just knew things sometimes. Maybe she dabbled when she started having bad feelings before he was born. Hopefully, she'd have a book or notes on how to use them in her library. He'd never heard of the Stones O'Leary, and Professor Trelawney didn't teach rune stones or ogham.
"She was a potions genius," Hermione said and handed him a stack of tatty potion stained notebooks.
They seemed to be half of a linked pair... he recognised some of the writing as Professor Snape's. His stomach did a funny squeezing sensation at the thought of the man. They seemed to be an amalgamation of cooking recipes, potion recipes and experiment notes and spell crafting. Plus, he found several useful sounding spells written in it; Levicorpus and Liberacorpus, Muffliato, Langlock, Sectumsempra. Sectumsempta had been underlined by his mother with the side note of 'dangerous! Learn counter-spell, Vulnera Sanentur, first!'
There were also a couple of translation spells, and a spell used to neaten up handwriting and make it legible as well as oddly enough a toenail growing hex, Grandio Unguis.
Another notebook was a half-finished technomancy notebook.
"These are her notes for the typewriter!" Harry said, showing it to Hermione excitedly.
"She started with a muggle typewriter," Harry explained, skimming the notes, "and went on to add a backspace function, a spell check and a grammar check and even a dictation function! I didn't know it did that," he said peering at her little diagram, "ah, that's what those buttons are for," he mumbled.
"Oh look she was working on getting electronics to work around magic, phones and computers!" Hermione exclaimed.
"And a magical internet, but it wasn't finished yet," Harry said, "wouldn't it be great if we could finish that!"
Harry flipped through her notes of ideas on how to make it work and skimmed over experiments that had been tried and failed or had blown up.
Next, Hermione pulled out a Gringotts pouch but yelped when it zapped her, dropping it and shaking her red fingertips. When Harry cautiously picked it up from where she dropped it, it pricked his finger. It didn't zap him though and allowed him to then open it. It must have been a blood ward, like the one on his own Gringotts pouch. When he opened it curiously, they saw it had a couple of galleons, a handful of sickles in it along with a single knut, and a vault key.
"So that means you can get into her vault to access her will before your emancipated!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly.
"I think so," Harry said, turning the keys over in his hands, "I'll have to check with Rodgrip. We discussed it over letters during the term. She said that until my emancipation, I'd need blood and the key to get in. Mum's vault would not automatically become mine without the will before I reach my majority."
Hermione nodded and pulled out the last book in the drawer and opened it curiously.
"What is it?" He asked, peering over her shoulder.
"Animagi," Hermione said, "you didn't say your mum was an Animagus."
"I didn't think she was," Harry said, taking it from her gently, "anyway that's not her handwriting."
It was a ratty book, far less well cared for than all Lily's other books.
He flicked through a few pages and gaped, "this is the Marauders handwriting."
What was his mother doing with it?
The first entry explained the maunders plans to become animagi to help Mooney, and why they couldn't put their notes in the usual grimoire as Mooney would see it. So they had a separate one, to keep their project a surprise for him. Harry wondered why it wasn't password-protected like their grimoire. How did his mother get it? Had she meant to become one too?
He certainly wanted to learn the skill, "what do you say Hermione? Want to give it ago?" He asked, looking at her sneakily.
She grinned, "yes. Yes, I do, we could do it the five of us."
"And Luna," Harry said.
"And maybe your Slytherins too?" She suggested.
When he nodded, she said, "we should combine our little study groups, us and the Slytherins. We could team-up. I bet we'd learn more. And they've been really nice."
Harry nodded, "we can do more duelling with more of us. We should practice teaming up and doing mock battles and things. It could be fun."
"We'll have to do it in the Room of Requirement then, I think we'll run out of space for mock battles in the dungeon classroom they've been using."
Harry looked to see what else was left in the draw. A jewellery box, some muggle coins and notes, some postcards and another letter. He opened it up:
"My darling son,
I saw Madam Pomfrey today! She's the only one I trust at times such as these! She was kind enough to see me despite me no longer being a student. I didn't want to know your gender initially, I wanted a surprise. But now I'm so close to meeting you, I find myself impatient! So! I learnt today, you are to be a boy.
My baby boy, my son! I don't know what you'll be named yet! There are so many possibilities! But I can't wait to meet you. I'm thinking Hadrian, as its a nice-sounding name from my father's family. Evans too, as I will never really be a Potter.
I don't want you to forget your other roots. James will probably insist on something from his side too, though, probably after him. Maybe I can persuade him that Ilarion, would be better. I'm pretty sure there's one of them in his side somewhere, and it does sound nice. An excellent Latin name... Much better than naming you after him. The prat.
Anyway! I have a bad feeling about this. I 'left' this trunk behind with my old charms master just in case. I figured if everyone will forget and assume it is only a trunk of my old things, it will be safe. I have not prepared it especially for you, though. I prepared it for me, but have left it behind at Hogwarts until we can go back for it. But just in case, there is this letter. There will be things in your trust vault for you. They should be there for you for your first trip to school. But just in case...
Too many people are out for a piece of you.
We got told of a prophecy today. The old man will not tell us what it says, just that the dark lord knows it and he will come after us because of it. I argued and pleaded and threatened for hours for him to tell me, so I could keep you safe, so I could prepare you. But he would not budge. He said it wasn't safe for anyone else to know its contents.
How I hate that man! Playing with the lives of people as if they were pawns!
My friend told me the first half and begged me to run. He's overheard it and could not prevent it from being passed on. I wish I could. He told me the start of it, all he managed to overhear. And really if the dark lord already knows it, why didn't the old man tell me! It's potentially about my child! I have a right to know!
And with you unborn, and the world in the state it is, I was not able to go into the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry to check it.
He's sending us into hiding... I want to run. Run and leave the country and never look back if it means you might survive to grow old. He's coming after you. But James will have none of it.
But when you're older, go there yourself. Ask for the prophecy concerning you. It may still end up being the other child. My friend is also pregnant with a boy and also due at the end of July. They wouldn't tell me who it was, but I worked it out. I hope it's not you, I hope it's wrong. I feel horrible for hoping that burden is another's, especially poor Alice. But I'd do anything for you, my love. I'd die for you. I'd murder for you. I would condemn another innocent baby for you if I had to. But there is much out of my control at the moment, my love. There is little I can do.
The Department of Mysteries is bound to neutrality. They are bound to show it to you if asked. Destroy it my darling boy. Leave a fake in its place if you have to. He knows the start, but not all of it. Keep it from him if you can, the less he knows, the better. If he is not after the rest of it already he will soon be.
Learn Occlumency. Become an animagus. It could be the difference between slipping away and escaping and ended up dead. Stay safe my son, and know that I never stopped loving you. Not for a minute. You're my stars and moon, my whole world in this sorry lot that we have. I love you, darling. Always and forever. I will be watching over you, my love.
Never forget that.
I hope I get to meet you!
Mum."
END NOTES:
Her parent live in Kensington (because I said they did)
I also have invented some backstory and stuff for Hermione and her parents as JK didn't give us much so I invented some to suit me.
Underage magic is during the summer. It is not specifically state that its during the xmas holidays too. Lily came home and showed her parents magic petunia mentioned it in HPPS so harry doing magic in a muggle house at Christmas is not being looked at. (Because its more convenient for me that way)
