I'm sorry I rushed the first part here.
Not entirely sure where I want to take his arc, but will hopefully develop it better in the future

As usual, it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyways, I don't actually own Harry Potter.

"What do you mean he's not competing?"

"Sue. It's the third time you asked me that. He just told me that he's not going to compete." Hermione replied getting exasperated with her friend.

"But-but he's the best dueler in school. That fight with Dumbledore was insane! Not to mention the fact he put Cedric flat on his ass in five seconds!"

"It was ten seconds actually.. but that's exactly the point he made. There's no reason for him to compete if everyone knows he's going to win, as Harry told me," she smiled lightly, "it would be unfair for him to compete."

Sue just huffed. "Makes no sense to me."

It's been a month since that first duelling club. Not that the buzz around Harry died down since. There were some good things that came with being friends with Harry though. For one, Malfoy hasn't bothered her since. Though she knew it was only a matter of time before he reverted back to his old ways.

Harry also agreed to Hermione's request to teach her to duel. Though he did trick her into signing up for the competition.

She sighed, Harry was out flying. That was the only time that the two of them didn't spend together. Having all the same lessons and living in the same tower obviously helped with that. Though both of them enjoyed each other's company immensely.

Not that Harry didn't try to get her to fly with him, but she's only ever done the compulsory lesson in first year, and even then the highest she ever went was a few feet off the ground. It's been an on-going thing between them, Harry trying to find more devious ways to get her to agree to go flying with him. Either by promising to go slow, or by making bets on the most ridiculous things. Their last bet involved them racing to the Great Hall. Luckily she still hasn't shown Harry all the secret passages and she beat him to it. So far she's won every bet. Not that it deterred Harry in any way.

"Hi Hermione," Harry said as he dropped on the sofa next to her, making her jump and drop her book in her lap, "sorry. That doesn't look like a school book?"

"Hey, yeah it's a muggle novel. Mum sent it for my birthday" Hermione marked her page as she closed her book and turned to look to Harry. He must've been flying again because he looked completely windswept. His hair pulled back exposing his scar that he usually tried to hide so hard.

"Your birthday? Why didn't you say anything? When was it?"

"Oh don't worry about it Harry, we barely knew each other then. It's 19th of September. I don't usually make a big deal of it. It's at the start of the school so people usually are too busy catching up with friends and what not." She shrugged, "honestly turn that frown upside down Harry. How was your fly?"

He looked at her for a few seconds before acquiescing to her, "Fine, fine," he said holding his hands up and shaking his head before giving her a smile, "it was great! Which, you would have known if you came with me." He added with a wink.

"Not in this lifetime."

He laughed as they settled into a comfortable silence.

"Before I forget, I hope you don't mind but Neville will join us in duelling practice."

"Neville?" She asked, confused. "Really? Never would have thought he was interested in duelling."

"I don't think he's interested in duelling, I think he just wants to build up some confidence."

"Hmm, yeah, he definitely needs that. Of course I don't mind him joining us." She finished with a smile.

"Alright Neville, I'm really confused." Harry told him as they sat down by the wall to take a break from their training. Watching the rest of the club do their drills. "Your incantation is fine, your wand movement a little shaky but nothing that should stop you from performing the spell."

Neville's head dropped, as Hermione listened in. She found Harry to be a really good teacher. He knew exactly how to explain things and she has reached a completely new level in duelling and consequently in every other practical aspect of magic. Harry was adamant that any spell could be used in a fight, be it a simple charm, or a complex curse.

"I don't know Harry, I'm just not good enough at magic."

"That's bullshit," ignoring Hermione scolding him about his language he carried on, "you have no problems with Wingardium Leviosa, you shouldn't have problems with expelliarmus. It's the confidence that you're lacking.

"It's like, you told yourself you can't do it so much, that you now believe it wholeheartedly. I think it's impacting your ability to focus your intent when you already think you can't do it.

"Right, let's get back to it. It's been two weeks and you're going to disarm Hermione today. Firstly, you're going to tell yourself, out loud, that you can do it."

As they stood up, Neville nodded a bit reluctantly as Hermione took position few paces opposite him.

"O-ok. I-I can do this. I can do this. I can do this," he repeated quietly to himself.

"What can you do?" Harry asked loudly.

"I can dis-disarm Hermione."

"Louder!

"I can disarm Hermione. I can disarm Hermione. I can disarm Hermione!"

"Do it!"

"Expelliarmus!", and to his astonishment a red beam of energy shot out from his wand and connected with Hermione.

Her wand twitched in her hand, but didn't drop out of her hand. She beamed at Neville and Harry walked up to him and put his arm on his shoulder.

"See! That was such an improvement. All you need is confidence Neville. Keep this up, keep on practicing."

The rest of the session went very much the same, Neville would practice disarming both Harry and Hermione. It wasn't until the end of the day that Harry's wand flew out of his hand and into Neville's who caught it, more surprised than anyone else.

That's how the rest of October went, with Neville joining them in their duelling practice and in the library. Still the same shy boy he was, but growing in confidence with each day.

It was a few days before Halloween that Hermione came up to Harry.

"Harry, erm, this weekend for Halloween, there's a Hogsmead visit. I was wondering if you'd like to, you know, go with me. I could show you around, there's some fun places to visit, and," she stopped as she noticed his face fall. "Damn it Hermione, you knew he would probably not want to go with you"

"If-if you don't want to that's ok" She said, her eyes dropping as she got ready for rejection.

"Oh Hermione, no, I mean, I'd love to go with you. Just, Halloween is not the best time for me. I have this, I guess tradition, and I won't be in the castle that weekend."

Hermione's eyes went wide, "Oh god, I'm sorry Harry, I didn't even think- damn it, that was really insensitive of me."

"It's okay really, I'd love for you to show me Hogsmead next time though?" She nodded with a small smile.

"So, what's this tradition? Do you wanna talk about it?"

As he nodded to her, he began talking, "It's nothing special really, but ever since I remember, ever since I could understand it I guess, I have been going to my dad's grave on Halloween. Sometimes to tell him what's been going on, sometimes to just- pay my respects.

"Everyone I grew up around does something similar, my mum, my uncles, they all have their days where they feel the loss the most. For me it's Halloween, the day it all happened."

She wiped the tears, that threatened to fall, away, as she listened to him open up. He never really talked about his dad much. His uncles and mum come up in conversation often. Understandably since they were really the only constant in his childhood as they moved around.

Noticing that Harry went quiet, she wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Holding onto him for a few seconds until she heard him murmur a quiet "Thank you".

"So, is it Godric's Hollow you go to then?" Remembering when he told her where he lived as a baby.

"Mhm, yeah."

"And, you go alone?"

"Most of the time, my mum and uncles are usually in the village nearby, keeping an eye, until this year, people didn't really know whether I was even alive and they wanted to keep it that way.

"But, erm, and you can decline, but would you like to come with me?" He asked in a quiet voice.

Hermione did not see this coming. She didn't even know how to respond so she stalled for time, "Are you sure? I don't want to intrude…" she trailed off as Harry interrupted her.

"It's just, everyone else I've ever gone with, has their own grief. They're there mourning just as much as I am. I don't know, I feel it would be good to have you with me. You're my first friend, well first friend my age that is," he added with a small smile, "I know it's not nearly as fun as Hogsmead, but that way we can still spend the day, even if slightly more depressed."

Hermione looked at him before responding. This was clearly something big for him to share, and she really wanted to be a part of it. She briefly wondered whether Dumbledore would even give her permission to leave the castle, though that was quickly brushed aside since he's already given it to Harry.

"Harry, if you're sure I'm not intruding, I would love to be there." She said as she lowered her hand onto his to give it a gentle squeeze.

"I'm sure," he nodded quickly, with a smile he added, "you'll also get a chance to talk with my mum about her spells. I was gonna use that as ammunition if I needed to convince you."

She laughed lightly at his idea of lightening the mood. "If I needed convincing, that would have worked immediately."

"I'll send a message to my mum and let Professor Dumbledore know" He stood up and started to walk away, before turning back to her, "and Hermione? Thank you."

They stood side by side for a few minutes. Neither saying a word. Harry staring down at the engraved name of his father, and Hermione in turn staring at him. As much as she wanted to let him do it his way, she couldn't help but ask "Do you always do this alone?", in a small whisper.

There was no real need for a whisper, there was no one else around to overhear them. But it didn't feel right to raise her voice in a graveyard.

"I have since I was nine, but we're not really alone. Mum's not far off even if we can't see her. She'll take us back to school when I give her a shout." He replied just as quietly.

He then knelt down at the foot of the grave and Hermione took a step back to give him some space. He didn't talk. She could see tears dripping on the ground in front of him and it tore at her to see him so vulnerable. She couldn't reconcile it with the confident boy from school. Though she was thankful that he trusted her enough to ask her to go with him, even if they've only known each other a couple months.

It took a few more minutes before she heard Harry speak. His voice just a little hoarse, a little broken. He talked about his time before Hogwarts last year, and Hermione was fascinated with the things he'd done. Training in the French alps with a man called Henri for three months last winter. How he'd always lose the duel and have to do ridiculous things after, like gutting fish for six hours straight for no apparent reason. Though the lessons paid off he said, taught him discipline, it was the final break in his control over his anger.

He mentioned his nightmares, though Hermione noticed he glanced back at her and didn't elaborate much on them. He talked about his fight with his mum about going to Hogwart's. How much against it he was.

But then he told his dad how Hogwart's was everything he hoped for from when he was eleven. From how magical the castle was, to how he found all the classes too easy but couldn't bring himself to slack off, to making friends his own age. Something Hermione was sure was denied to him due to circumstances of his upbringing. He didn't talk about it often, but he moved around so much that he could never make any lasting friendships outside of his family.

Then he talked about Hermione. Who couldn't help but blush at his praise. She was his first friend and "frighteningly intelligent" he would tell his dad. He told him how he's teaching her to duel and how he's seriously thinking that he'll regret it if they ever go against each other.

Then, having exhausted all the highlights, Harry stood up and Hermione joined him by his side again. She knew he wanted to stay there a bit longer, even if he had nothing else to say and she wouldn't deny him that.

Lily sat on the steps outside the church in Godric's Hollow. It was getting dark, the weather today was perfect, not a blemish in the bright blue sky. Though now, streaked with red clouds, it was a perfect end to the day.

It pained her to be here. It always did. After so many years she still couldn't bring herself to visit her old home.

She glanced at the clock on the church. "He won't be much longer now." She thought as she stood and stretched. Deciding to take a stroll towards the graveyard.

As she walked around the church she felt a tiny shift in the air. A ward was going up nearby. A small panic entered her mind. She jogged to the end of the alley by the side of the church from where she could see the graveyard and her blood run cold. Four figures rounded on Harry and Hermione.

"No… Harry!" She pulled out her wand and her mirror.

"Sirius, Godric's Hollow, church. NOW!" Putting it away she raced towards the graveyard just as two men grabbed Harry and one of the others, Hermione. She was almost at the little fence when she impacted a wall of energy and was thrown backwards.

"Shit!" She scrambled back up and tried apparating next to Harry. Feeling the tug in her stomach, but not actually moving she realised they put up anti apparition wards. "Fuck, fuck.." she started muttering as she worked on dismantling the energy wall to help her son. She heard a crack behind her and soon found Sirius next to her. Both working on the wall.

"This was a bad idea. Bad idea. Now that they know he's alive." Sirius muttered angrily as he worked, "Why hasn't he fought back? He can handle himself."

"He's not alone. Hermione came with him. I'm assuming he doesn't want to hurt her accidentally. Small mercies they put up the anti-apparition, we can't help him, but they can't escape. What do they want then."

Hermione screamed as she was being roughly pulled away from Harry, her arms held behind her by a strange man. Tears streaming down her face. They appeared out of nowhere and neither Harry nor her had enough time to react before losing the fight.

The feeling of helplessness that Hermione felt was so new to her she didn't know what to do. She didn't know what was going to happen to her. She glanced around. Someone must have seen them. Someone will help. She looked at Harry, held in place by two men as a third one walked between them twirling a wand in his hands.

As he approached her, he pointed the wand at her throat

"And who, is this pretty thing?" His voice raspy and cruel.

"Leave her alone!" Harry shouted. Fighting the grip of the two men trying to get free. "Leave her be, or I swear you will regret ever being born"

The men laughed, "I don't think you're in place to give us orders kid. If you ain't noticed, there's four of us, and two of you. Two teenagers against four trained wizards. Not the best odds are they? Oi, Selv, how long?"

"45 seconds boss."

45 seconds till what? Both Hermione and Harry were trying to figure out what they were waiting for. Harry knew his mum was close by, and she would have already called for help.

"Ight, well they only wanted the boy. You think we'd get to keep the girl then?" He turned back to her and ran his hand down her cheek. Her tears stopped flowing from shock. She glanced at Harry and found some courage in his presence, in that he was still fighting to get away.

"Get away from me!" She shouted as she spat at the man.

His response was an angry snarl and he roughly backhanded her across the face. Hermione felt the metallic taste inside her mouth, but didn't have enough time to properly react to being struck.

As the man was raising his hand, Harry's eyes went wide and lit up with a furious fire. When the hit landed he let out a shout and with it a magic burst of energy throwing the two men backwards. His fighting instincts kicked in and he summoned his wand into his hand as he started taking aim. Firing off a spell before his wand firmly connected with his hand and stupefying the man holding Hermione who unceremoniously fell backwards. Hermione fell to her knees and scrambled away from the men. The boss, smartly threw up a shield as soon as he saw the men holding Harry fly back. Harry's spells impacted the shield but it gave him enough time to go on the offensive.

It didn't take very long, with the three men down, the wards were quickly overpowered by Lily and Sirius, and Harry didn't waste any time letting his anger out. He blasted the man across the graveyard into a gravestone, where he slid down it unconscious.

Harry immediately run towards Hermione and cast a simple healing charm. He wasn't great at them but they would take the pain away and make the bruising disappear.

"Mum!" He shouted as Lily appeared next to him looking around at the men. She didn't recognise their faces. "Who are they?" "Mum, take Hermione, please."

"Sirius! I'm gonna take Hermione back to our place, take Harry with you. I'll see you in a flash. Hermione, dear, My name's Lily. Take my hand and we'll disappear from here". Hermione looked at the woman and was startled to see the same emerald green eyes gazing at her. Fully of worry and concern. She didn't trust her voice but shakily nodded and raised her hand to take Lily's. With an audible crack the two disappeared.

"Prongslet, fuck, good job here, let's go. We sent a Patronus for the aurors, they'll be here any minute now. Their response time is fucking ridiculous."

Harry took a second to look around, the two men holding him were slowly coming round. He'd leave them for the aurors to deal with. He put his hand on Sirius' shoulder and gave him a nod.

His last thought before he disappeared was, "Fuck. Why did I ask her to come with me."

Not long after Sirius and Harry disappeared. A couple of people appeared in the clearing holding an empty tin can - a portkey. The people dressed in black robes, with white washed skull masks on their faces.

They took in the scene around them.

"Kill them. We can't have this traced back to any of our contacts." A woman's voice, she disapparated as soon as she said her piece. Her companion nodded and quickly went to work. The place temporarily illuminated by a green glow. Before long, he too was gone.