Chapter 3: Summertime Magic

I do not own Harry Potter and I am not making any money from writing this whatsoever. The Harry Potter franchise is the property of Warner Brother's and J.K Rowling.

"I remember the first time I laid eyes on Mona... well I could barely look away."

- Crash to Johnny and James, showing them the gift he got Mona the night before their twentieth wedding anniversary.

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The 'Burrow' as Hermione referred to it, was an interesting place.

This was where the Weasley's lived, and it certainly suited them. The house itself looked like a halfway played-through Jenga game.

It was only their second day of staying there, and he still found interesting things to marvel at.

There was a beautiful pond nearby, that really should have been more of a lake. There were no houses nearby for miles, and Arthur loved grilling him on his multiple muggle and magical amalgamations in his spider-filled shed.

A chicken coop wasn't far off, as well as a barn, but Molly told him that those hadn't been used in ages.

Johnny and Hermione spent most of the time together, either hanging out in the twins' old room - which was where Johnny slept - or in the living room. He was itching to get out already. Snape hadn't said anything about him leaving the property, but Johnny had a feeling it'd be frowned upon, to say the least.

It was boring, to put it bluntly, and Johnny was not one to sit still. Sirius' bike was there in the shed, just begging to be ridden, and it wasn't like the Weasley's had any close neighbours for him to annoy with the noise...

He sighed heavily, resigning himself to his fate. Johnny still wasn't used to having to ask permission to do things.

"What?" Hermione asked, looking up from her book. They were in the twins' old room, he was in the bed farthest from the door, and she was in a chair that looked almost ready to fall apart.

Johnny shook his head. "I wanna go out for a ride."

Hermione frowned, and it immediately annoyed him. "I don't think Mrs. Weasley would appreciate that, nor would Professor Dumbledore."

He nodded. "I'm gonna go ask."

"Wai-!" Hermione tried, closing her book, but Johnny was already gone. He could hear her footsteps following after him.

He stopped at the landing, watching as Molly spoke heatedly with Arthur. He could not hear them, but the conversation seemed intense as they whispered to each other.

"She's not going to say yes," Hermione said quietly into his ear from behind him. Johnny nearly shivered at the feeling of her breath on his neck.

"Then why are you following me, if you already know the answer is no?" He challenged, and she did not answer.

It was then that Molly noticed them standing there, and her conversation with Arthur swiftly ended.

"Ah," Molly said, a transparently fake smile on her face to hide the fact that she and her husband were maybe arguing, "dinner's not ready just yet but you're both welcome to join me-"

"Actually," Johnny said, hating himself for feeling nervous. "I was thinking I'd go out on a ride."

Molly's false smile dropped. "Oh, well, Johnny - I'm not so sure that's a great idea..."

Hermione hummed from behind him, but Molly didn't seem to hear it.

"I'll be out for an hour at the most," he assured her, "forty-five minutes, honestly, I just need some air and a chance to clear my head."

There was still some sunlight out as well, Johnny was sure there could be no issue.

But Molly shook her head. "I'm sorry, Johnny, really, but it's too risky. If anything were to happen, well..."

Johnny nodded, recognizing defeat. He felt a strong twinge of annoyance rise up within him, and Johnny found that he didn't want to face Hermione right now.

"If you want to get outside," Molly continued, an apologetic look on her face, "the garden needs to be de-gnomed, you can ask Ron to show you how."

Johnny sighed. Chores were the last thing he wanted to do, but he didn't want to be rude to Molly. "Yeah, sure, I'll go find him."

"He should be in his room," Molly said, "thank you, dear."

So Johnny trudged back upstairs, ignoring Hermione entirely. When he got to Ron's room, he knocked roughly. He could hear Ron mutter "bloody hell" on the other side of the door.

He was a little surprised, to say the least when it was Johnny.

"Thought you were mum," he said, "should have known something up when I couldn't hear any yelling."

Johnny snorts a little at that. "We've been sentenced to de-gnoming the garden, and I'm afraid to ask why there are gnomes there in the first place."

Ron groaned as they went back downstairs. "Little buggers like to hide in our crops and eat the food before we can pick them. "They're a pain to catch."

"Sounds great," Johnny said sarcastically. This was what his night was going to be like it seemed. How amazing.

Hermione wasn't in the living room anymore, she must have snuck back upstairs after him. Ginny was here now though, reading a magazine on the couch. Molly had started her cooking, and Arthur was scribbling away on a notebook.

They went outside, and Johnny was relieved to note that the sun hadn't gone down completely yet. It was on its way, but there was plenty of light to see the gnomes in. And yeah, Johnny could see them now. They weren't like regular garden gnomes at all that you could buy. No jolly smile and white beards with a pointed hat. They were humanoid and tiny and had shifty expressions on their faces. They were scattered throughout the planted carrots. Tufts of hair on their heads, they looked more like tinier than normal elves.

"You just gotta catch one and chuck them as far as you can. It dazes them and keeps them out for a few days." Ron instructed, already catching a gnome and tossing it far away from the property. It hit the ground and immediately tried to get up but fell down again, stunned. The second one he threw was knocked out cold immediately.

It was harder than it looked. The little shits were fast and crafty. The longer it went on as Ron got more and Johnny was still struggling on one, the more he was starting to get really annoyed. His ire from earlier was back at full force.

But after a few more minutes, the gnome that Johnny had been focusing on the entire time got cocky. It stayed a little too close as Johnny feigned being tired when in reality, he was far from it, and Johnny caught it around the neck. Its face turned purple immediately, strangely enough, but Johnny was gripping it pretty tightly. With a yell of triumph, Johnny took a moment to show his catch off to Ron, who by that point had already caught five or six more, before turning on the spot and chucking it as far as he could.

Both boy's jaws dropped as the gnome sailed so far away into the sky that in a few seconds they couldn't even see it anymore. They never heard it hit the ground, either.

"Bloody hell, Johnny," Ron exclaimed, "how'd you manage that?"

"I... I-" He was looking at his hands. The gnome barely weighed anything in his hands, when Johnny knew he should have felt the weight. "I don't know."

Ron looked at him seriously. "Do it again."

And so Johnny attempted to grab another gnome, but it was still as hard as before, so Ron stepped in. Once he had a second gnome held firmly in his hand, he threw it again, barely rearing his arm back. The gnome flew almost as far as the first time.

"Jesus..." Johnny muttered. "What the fuck?"

He turned to see if there were any more gnomes, but they were all fleeing from the two boys.

Ron seemed to be thinking hard. "I'll be right back." He ran off to the nearby shed, returning moments later with a basketball-sized red ball. "Try throwing this." He said.

Johnny took the ball. It was bigger and rounder than the gnomes, so it was a bit annoying to adjust to gripping it with one hand, but when he threw the ball, it too disappeared into the sky.

"That was our only quaffle," Ron murmured.

"Sorry," Johnny said.

"Sorry?" Ron suddenly said loudly, turning to him with an excited smile. "That was brilliant! Since when did you get so strong?"

"I have no idea," he admitted. Johnny hadn't noticed anything like this while staying with Hermione and her parents, but then again, he wasn't really doing anything like this over there. He didn't have the rider anymore, so how was this possible?

He didn't have an answer, but Ron was already grabbing a bunch of random objects for him to throw, and Johnny decided that the questions could wait.

Until Hermione found out, anyway.

It didn't take long.

In fact, it happened as soon as he went back to his room. He and Ron hadn't said anything to Molly when they reentered the house, but Johnny was felt like he was buzzing with excitement. He had powers that didn't involve bursting into flames! Powers he could actually control without strain or fear.

Hermione picked up on his new mood immediately.

But she was Hermione, so as he sat down on his bed, she continued to flip through her book exactly as she was before he had gone downstairs in the first place. Occasionally shooting looks his way. Wanting so badly to know what's happening but also not wanting to be intrusive or annoying.

His annoyance with Hermione from earlier forgotten, Johnny decided to cut her a break.

"I discovered something," he said, taking off his jacket and hanging it off the headboard.

She closed her book, "you did?"

Johnny nodded. "I was de-gnoming the garden, and it's not as easy as it looks. I got frustrated quickly, and when I finally caught one, I chucked it, and - I mean, Hermione, you had to be there. It went so far that I couldn't even see it anymore in the sky."

"Oh," Hermione said, "well, that sounds like it was fun."

He didn't register her words at first, instead, a thought occurred to him.

"I probably killed those two gnomes," he said.

Hermione rolled her eyes a bit. "I highly doubt that, they're known to be pretty durable."

Johnny then realized that Hermione didn't believe him.

So he stood up and grabbed her hand, dragging her out of the chair and towards the door.

"Johnny-!" She said, startled.

But he wasn't having any of it.

For what felt like the thousandth time tonight, he went downstairs, Hermione in tow.

"Johnny," Hermione said again as they reached the landing, "really, this is-"

They both froze. Everyone was seated for dinner. And all eyes were on them.

"I was just about to come call you," Molly said.

Arthur had a curious look in his eyes, Ginny seemed to be happy about something, and Ron's expression was unreadable as he slowly chewed on his chicken.

They were still holding hands.

Johnny let go as if Hermione's hand was on fire, and quickly started to take a seat at the table next to Fleur.

Showing off his newfound strength could wait, he thought as Hermione took the seat in front of him, her face as red as his surely was.

If he could even live through the embarrassment of it all, maybe he'd show her.

He awoke the next morning to a shriek, and Crookshanks trying to turn his leg into a scratching post.

Johnny got up in an instant, albeit very wobbly on his feet. He darted down the stairs, Crookshanks close behind him.

"What's the problem?" He said once in the living room, now more alert.

"Ah, Johnny, good morning," Molly said warmly. "Exam results have just arrived, and, well..."

He looked over to Hermione, who appeared to have just rolled out of bed, much like he had, and was reading a long piece of paper with a frightening intensity. Ron was looking a little morosely at his own paper but didn't seem as interested as Hermione.

"We would take our tests after six years, instead of five," Fleur said from her seat at the table, her plate picked clean. "Eet, was better zhat way, I think."

The woman was nice and incredibly beautiful. Hermione had helpfully informed him that she possessed a kind of magic that entranced men. She seemed disgruntled while explaining that on the first night here after Johnny had spent a good five minutes unabashedly staring at Fleur.

He was a muggle, and therefore even more susceptible to her magic than the average wizard. Over the last two days though, he managed to shorten that time down to a minute of weird staring.

Molly did not respond to her words, nor did anyone else really. He knew that she and Ginny were particularly unhappy about their guest. Because Fleur could be pretty blunt at times, as well as show little regard for certain customs. Like insulting some of the music Molly played. Mercifully it was out of the Weasley matriarch's earshot.

Johnny walked up to Hermione and peered over her shoulder. There was a long list of subjects, and he briefly marvelled at just how damn smart she was. A lot of the subjects had black O's next to them. All but one. "I assume an O is good?" He asked.

"The highest grade," Hermione answered, still looking at the paper. Next to Defence Against the Dark Arts was an E.

"Is an E bad?" Johnny asked. He knew how much she cared about her grades.

"Well - no, it's not, I suppose." She said. "It's the second-highest grade."

He chuckled a little bit, and she finally looked at him.

"So out of ten classes, you got a perfect grade in 9 of them, and a near-perfect grade in the other," Johnny said. "You're actually sad about that, aren't you?"

"Oh, shut up," Hermione said, smacking him lightly, but there was a trace of a smirk on her face.

"You're annoyingly smart, don't be down on yourself about this."

She hmphed, and he laughed again.

"Oh, look!" Molly said happily. "There's Harry and Sirius!"

Everyone looked out the window to the front yard. Even Ginny, who had looked like she was about to fall back asleep with her face in her bowl of cereal was watching intently.

Sure enough, Sirius was walking with Harry up to the front door, wide smiles plastered on their faces. Following right behind them were Remus and Tonks.

Johnny went to the door and opened it. Sirius immediately pulled him into a tight hug.

"Would it kill you to visit once?" He said. Johnny laughed.

An immense weight lifted off of his shoulders. The weight of the prophecy that he still had no idea how to fulfil. He and Sirius had talked at length on the way back from New York about it. And they both agreed that waiting for an opportunity to present itself was the only option for now.

Sirius made him feel safe. Like everything was going to be alright.

"I will soon," Johnny promised.

He gave Harry a fistbump next and shook Remus' hand.

Finally, there was Tonks, whom he also hadn't seen since the Department of Mysteries.

"Wotcher," she said, but it was without its usual exuberance. He wanted to hug her, she had been his first real friend in this new world, but after greeting him, she walked on further inside.

Johnny closed the door behind them, confused for a moment.

"Your scar doesn't look too bad, Hermione." He heard Remus say.

Hermione smiled. "Yes, Madam Pomfrey says that this is as much as it will heal though, sadly."

"Don't worry, Hermione," Sirius chimed in, "you look like a hard nut."

Johnny snorted. "What does that mean?"

Sirius frowned at him. "You know... she looks tough as nails."

"Then just say that, or call her a badass." He said.

Sirius' frown deepened. "That just sounds like you're saying she farts a lot."

Thankfully, the only people still within earshot were Remus and Hermione, because Johnny snorted again embarrassingly loudly.

"I hate the way you guys say things."

Sirius pulled him into a headlock. "Your colloquialisms sound plenty stupid to me too, kiddo."

It was then that Johnny remembered his newfound powers.

He grabbed at the arm around his neck and pried it off with ease.

Sirius chuckled. "You been working out, Johnny?"

"No," he said excitedly, "I have something to show you. Something amazing. But it can wait, you just got here."

Sirius nodded and went with Remus to greet the Weasley's properly.

Johnny caught Hermione's eye, her expression was unreadable. He looked away first, before going to join the others.

Hermione fidgeted in nervousness as she sat awkwardly across from Tonks.

Johnny had gone upstairs with Ron, Harry and Sirius. Only the two of them, plus Professor Lupin, Mrs. Weasley, and Ginny remained downstairs. Fleur too, she supposed.

There was something she needed to ask. Something that was important to her. Hermione stared her own mortality in the face every day, literally, when she looked in the mirror.

If Mrs. Weasley had not come along to attend to the wounded, Hermione wasn't sure how she would have ended up.

For a brief time in the hospital wing at Hogwarts, Hermione was furious with herself for being weak. For only proving to be a liability rather than a help in battle. She never wanted to feel like that again.

So she stood up and walked over to the young Auror.

"Tonks?" Hermione asked hesitantly, cursing herself internally for being so nervous.

"Wotcher, Hermione," Tonks responded, there was a faint smile on her face, but it seemed a little forced.

"Do you think - I mean, would it be okay if we spoke outside for a moment?" She said quietly. It's not that she thought what she was doing would get her in trouble, but... well, it was personal. And Hermione knew how much Mrs. Weasley didn't want any of them involved in any part of the war effort. But, like it or not, with Harry as her best friend, it was almost a certainty that she would be anyway. Hermione would rather be prepared now and not have to suffer for it later.

There was an annoying voice in her head that sounded too much like Johnny, teasing her for the slight bit of rebellion.

"Sure," Tonks said immediately, and Hermione was immensely grateful. Professor Lupin watched them go to the front door but did not say anything. Ginny was reading, and Mrs. Weasley was washing the dishes, and Fleur was talking to her about something that Hermione had tuned out long ago.

Once outside, Tonks spoke. "Is everything okay, Hermione?"

"Yes," Hermione answered immediately, "I just, well, I wanted to ask you a favour." Tonks nodded, so Hermione continued. "At the Department of Mysteries, I was taken out rather quickly. And, it made me realize how woefully unprepared I am for what's coming. I know a lot, yes, I can list several spells that could be useful in a duel, but I don't have the experience."

Tonks nodded again. That's what she liked about her. Tonks wasn't like the others, perhaps it was her young age. She didn't try to immediately talk her out of it, or tell Hermione she was still too young. Tonks was practical. Immature, at times, but still a very good Auror.

"You want me to train you," Tonks concluded for her.

"Yes," Hermione said.

Tonks broke eye contact for a moment, before looking at her again.

"You're in luck then," she said, "Dumbledore's gotten me on the squad of Auror's that have been assigned to Hogwarts as extra protection for this year, so we'll be able to meet easily enough. Finding a good spot will be hard though..."

Hermione beamed. "I know a place," she said, "one where no one will be able to interrupt us."

"Brilliant," Tonks said, adjusting the small dark purple leather jacket she was wearing.

"Thank you," Hermione said, "this means a lot to me."

"I understand," Tonks replied, "I wish I had done better against Bellatrix too, otherwise maybe Johnny wouldn't have had to... to..." she trailed off, and Hermione was astonished by the amount of self-loathing etched into Tonks' expression at that moment. "Well... he's alive, so, there's that."

Hermione nodded but was unsure of what to say.

"Anyway," Tonks said, clapping her hands together, making an embarrassingly obvious attempt to change the subject. "We can talk more once term has started and you know your schedule, yeah?"

"Yes, that sounds good." Hermione agreed. "Thank you, again."

"So what, you think some of the Rider's power stayed with you?"

Johnny nodded seriously. "I don't know how your magic works, so believe me, I could be wrong. But it's the only thing that makes sense to me."

He had given this a lot of thought since discovering his newfound strength. He was in his bedroom with Sirius and Remus. They were the ones he trusted the most to talk with this about. There was Tonks as well, but she was off somewhere with Hermione as everyone prepared to go out for a swim at a nearby pond.

Remus was rubbing his chin and sitting forward in his seat next to Johnny's bed.

"You've been exposed to a lot of magic recently." He said. "The curse initially put on you by the devil two years ago, which is magic that we as wizards have most likely don't have access to. Plus, going to Norse Hel when you fell through the veil, and on that same day, being his with the most deadly curse we can use... it must be doing a number on your body. Keep in mind, what the Norse use, what that demon that cursed you used, and what we use are all three very different kinds of magic. There's no telling what it's doing to you. It's perhaps not as surprising as we initially believed that Bellatrix using the killing curse on you took away the spirit that was bonded to you but left you alive. An imprint of said spirit or perhaps some residual bits of it remaining? I'm just not sure." Remus said.

It was a lot to take it, for sure. And the shitty part was, it didn't really answer much.

"So," Remus continued, leaning back, "there's no real way for us to know. We can guess, certainly - and I for one, am inclined to agree with you - that the latter is likely what has happened, but unfortunately, I'm not sure you'll ever know for certain."

Johnny nodded. He didn't expect anything different, to be honest.

"If I were you, I'd be celebrating," Sirius said with a shrug. "I mean, super strength? You're a regular superhero now, mate!"

Remus rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't go that far, Sirius."

"You wouldn't, would you, Moony? You're a right old stick in the mud." Sirius countered.

"I know how to have fun," Remus said defensively.

Both Sirius and Johnny snorted at that, which he immediately felt guilty for.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I don't think it's a bad thing, really, but you are a bit boring."

Remus chuckled. "That's alright. It's really better this way."

"Yeah," Sirius agreed, "Remus here had to quit the party life, especially after our graduation party in '78. I swear, I've never seen Minerva so mad at us."

Remus buried his face in his hands. "Oh, no. I'd nearly forgotten about that."

"I haven't," Sirius said with a laugh. "You were running throughout the entire school completely starkers!"

"When she handed me my diploma, I completely avoided her eyes," Remus said in a muffled voice.

Johnny laughed as Sirius cackled.

"James got it the worst, though," Remus said, lifting his face up. "She was about to let Filch have his way with him until Dumbledore stepped in."

He didn't know who James was, and Sirius saw his confused expression so he explained.

"James was Harry's dad, the life of the party he was, and a bloody idiot."

Harry was vastly different than his dad then, but that wasn't very surprising...

"Ah, there you all are." A voice said from the doorway. It was Molly. "We're leaving soon, are you all ready?"

"I don't have a bathing suit, Molly," Johnny said.

"Well that's alright," she responded easily. "Just have one of them transfigure your pants for you."

She left and he shook his head. "Sometimes I forget that magic is more than just for fighting."

"Yes, well," Sirius said, "don't be too grateful just yet. What do you say about giving our friend here a pink speedo, Moony?"

Remus smiled, standing up. "Padfoot, I was thinking exactly the same thing."

Johnny looked between both adults in fear. "You're kidding, right?"

They were both grinning evilly at him, and Johnny had a terrible feeling.

"Of course, kiddo," Sirius said.

"Just a joke between friends," Remus added.

Johnny walked outside in a grey muscle tee and pink swimming trunks. He didn't care about the color, his masculinity wasn't fragile, but there was no way he was going to basically show everyone what he had going on down there.

Sirius still giggled like a schoolgirl, though. And Johnny desperately wanted to punch him in the arm.

The pond was close by, and he had seen it when he first arrived here days ago.

Most of the Weasley's were there already. Ron was doing laps, Ginny lazed about on a beach chair set up nearby. The pond itself was huge, and clearly deep enough to swim in. Molly and Arthur also sat on chairs, though they were dressed down, but not in any swimwear.

Remus plopped down onto his own chair next to Arthur while Sirius took off his shirt and began to rush into the pond with Harry.

Tonks and Hermione had also arrived shortly before them. Tonks was wearing a not exactly modest bikini that Molly kept shooting disapproving looks at. Johnny knew she had a nice body already though, due to their Christmas shopping the year prior. However, he was not prepared at all for what he saw next.

Hermione removed the oversized shirt she was wearing (that he was pretty sure was his), and he found it incredibly hard to look away.

He was not a pervert. He was not a pervert. He was not a pervert.

Johnny looked again and swore internally.

His face was red, he just knew it. Where had she been hiding all that?

Stop. He thought forcefully.

Johnny caught Tonks' eye and saw her smirk a little. He shook his head and removed his shirt. Best to cool off.

He walked into the water and chuckled as Sirius wolf-whistled. He was determinedly not looking at Hermione as she went waist-deep into the water.

"Oi!" Ginny - who was now in the water - cried as Ron rose out of the water under her and lifted Ginny into the air on his shoulders.

"Ronald put your sister down!" Molly said.

"Aw, c'mon!" Ron responded. "Let's have some fun!"

A moment later, and Harry yelped in surprise as Sirius lifted him up as well.

"Grab Hermione!" Sirius said loudly as Ron trudged toward him menacingly.

Johnny turned and saw that Hermione was looking at him with a you better not expression. Still... Ron, Sirius, Harry and even Ginny now - who had gotten over the initial shock, were calling for them to join.

Hermione was backing away slowly, almost near the shore, when Johnny shrugged and jumped towards her.

The joke was entirely on him.

Was it funny to chase her around for a bit? Yes. When she finally gave in - a scary glint in her eye - and he hoisted her onto his shoulders, he realized how stupid he had been.

Because now her legs were wrapped around his head as she tried desperately to shove Ginny off of Ron.

She weighed nothing to him, but that hardly mattered.

And, for someone who didn't want to participate at first, she was certainly the one doing the most. Hermione had accidentally knocked Harry's glasses clean off while they engaged in combat for a bit, leading to Sirius letting him down so he could find them. And with one last shove, Hermione sent Ginny falling into the water below.

The youngest Weasley came back up laughing.

Johnny looked up at Hermione and was briefly mesmerized by her brilliant smile. It was enough of a distraction for Harry and Sirius to get the jump on them. If it wasn't for Johnny's strength, they would have lost then and there.

But he held on, and Hermione fought back with a ferocious intensity. Not giving Harry an inch, even though the boy was stronger physically. Sirius tried to cheat by using on hand to splash at Johnny's face, but he did not let Hermione fall. In the end, Sirius had to concede.

"I'm getting too old for this," he said, letting Harry down off his shoulders. "Sorry pup, maybe next time." He gestured to Johnny with a thumb. "This prat's a bloody cheater anyway."

Johnny laughed, and Hermione raised her hands in victory as the other adults cheered from their chairs.

He let her down, and they were both grinning stupidly. His eyes sought hers first, but they quickly moved down. He felt ashamed, and immediately corrected his gaze, but Hermione was looking at him too.

They both locked eyes again, before quickly looking away, blushing intensely.

Mercifully, Molly was calling them all back to eat lunch. Maybe then Hermione would put back on the shirt she had and he wouldn't have to feel like a creep.

God, this was bad.