~Harry Potter and the Battle of Heirs~

~By Rachie.V.~

Author's Note: I know you all hate reading A/Ns and want to get on with the fic, so I'll just say that I'm sorry for being so evil by putting in all those cliffhangers! J

Previously: "It's – it's just that – that your Patronus – you said it was a stag – which is what your father transformed into. It's all very sad," Rachel said, sniffling.

"How did you know about him being an Animagus?" demanded Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"Oh dear. I guess I have to tell you now, don't I?" Rachel asked.

"Yes, you do," Harry said fiercely.

"Don't get angry! I'm going to tell you now," Rachel said. She fluffed up a pillow behind her on the couch where they were all sitting and started to tell her story.

Chapter VII

------------~*~------------

 

"Well, you see, when your parents, Harry, were at Hogwarts, my Mum was at Hogwarts, too. She was in the same year as Lily and James, in fact, she was Lily's best friend. My Mum's name is Josie. Anyway, Lily and Josie (I'll call my Mum Josie, while I tell you all of this) could talk to each other about anything. And they did. When Lily went on her adventures with the Marauders, she would tell Josie everything once she had come back. Josie eventually became one of the gang with Lily and the Marauders, and they did almost everything together. Well, the Marauders decided to tell Lily and Josie about how they were Animagi. So that's how I knew – because my Mum told me all of her adventures. But I still know more things about the past. Things that you have been longing to hear, Harry," Rachel said quietly.

"The dream! The dream!" Harry's mind screamed at him.

"Well, Ron and I will leave, then, seeing as this is about Harry," Hermione said, smiling and pulling Ron over to a game of wizard chess.

"All right, Harry. Well, when Wormtail blew up that street full of Muggles, my – my Dad was along with them. My dad's name was Ben Hay – and he had gone to Hogwarts, too. He had been pretty close to Remus Lupin. So Remus and I had a special type of bond while I grew up. But there are still some things that you need to know, badly. I know that you loved your Mum and Dad a lot. I was your best friend when we were babies. And the thing that you need to know? I know of a spell that can bring back your parents. But it will include killing someone you partly hate, and saving a hated life. Don't ask me -" Rachel said at the look on his face "- but that is the way my mother put it – and she is a Professor Trelawny type of person – but she's not that bad. And the secret about your past? Well, your mother fell pregnant just after she left Hogwarts – but she wasn't carrying you. She was carrying her daughter. But the thing is, your older sister was never born. A Death Eater put the Cruciatus curse on Lily when she was expecting, and it damaged the baby, and so your mum had a miscarriage. If it wasn't for that Death Eater, you would have a sister," Rachel finished. Harry scowled.

"Who is this Death Eater? Is he still alive?" he demanded.

"Yes, he's still alive, but…oh, no, Harry! You can't go after him! Please, I won't tell you! You'll just put yourself in danger!" Rachel cried. Ron and Hermione looked up.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked, she and Ron walking over.

"Do you want me to tell them?" Rachel asked. Harry nodded, still scowling. Rachel explained, and once she had finished, Hermione gasped and hugged Harry. Ron scowled at what Hermione was doing.

"Rachel, please. Tell me who this Death Eater is," Harry begged, still being hugged by Hermione.

"I – I can't. You – you'll just put yourself in danger by – by going after him!" Rachel gasped.

"Fine, be that way. I don't understand why Dumbledore didn't tell me," Harry snarled.

"Oh, Harry!" cried Hermione, still holding onto Harry. He pulled her away, and saw tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Shh, it's okay, Hermione! What's wrong?" Harry asked her, giving her a quick hug. When he did that, he felt something deep inside that he had never felt before, and his spine tingled. He realized that he suddenly didn't like Rachel as much as he had thought. His mind gasped.

"What on earth are you thinking? You can't be in love with your best friend's girlfriend!"  Harry's mind yelled. Harry's eyes widened. To forget about what his mind had said to him, Harry turned to Ron.

"Hey, Ron! Please, tell us what happened when you were kidnapped," he said. They hadn't gotten the chance to hear the story, because of the schoolwork and Quidditch practices that Rachel and Harry were to go to.

"All right. Well, you see, one night in the holidays, my Dad was off work, but Percy was still at his office. Bill and Charlie were where they usually were, and the rest of us were just sat around our kitchen table, drinking cups of hot chocolate. Then the door burst open, and You-Know-Who walked in." Ron gave a shudder.  "He thought that you, Harry, were there, because it was the holidays. But Dumbledore wouldn't let you stay over, in case this happened. You-Know-Who demanded to know where Harry was staying, but we wouldn't tell him. So he put the body-bind curse on all of us, and took us to this creepy house on a hill. He kept on torturing us with the Cruciatus curse, but we never told him anything. Then one night, a house-elf came in, and she saw us all unable to move. She took the curse off us, and she said that she would be killed for doing this, but she said she was on the good side, and she was glad to help us. Dad found a key on the chair where Voldemort usually sat when he came in to torture us, and Dad put it in the lock to the door of our room, and it unlocked! Then we escaped out of the house, and travelled through forests and swamps just to get home, but then Mum realized that You-Know-Who would just come back and find us there. So we agreed to come here at Hogwarts, and my family has been staying here ever since. Some of Dumbledore's friends have been putting safety curses around our house ever since to ensure that we stay safe. The people out of my family who aren't in Hogwarts anymore will go back tomorrow," Ron finished. Harry suddenly realized that he and Hermione were still hugging, and had been while they listened to Ron's story. They blushed and let go, and Ron glowered at them.

"Did I just see what I thought I saw? Has the famous Harry Potter stolen my girlfriend?" Ron hissed.

"We were never going out! Who said that we were?" Hermione shrieked. Ron turned bright red.

"Well, then. Hermione, will you go out with me?" Harry asked her.

'Certainly, Harry," Hermione answered, hugging him and looking up into his bright green eyes.

"Rachel, will you go out with me?" Ron asked.

"Sure," Rachel answered, dreamily staring up into Ron's eyes. 

"Well, now that that's sorted out, are we all still friends?" Harry asked.

"Yep," Ron, Rachel and Hermione answered.

"But I thought you had in for Rachel," Ron asked Harry quietly.

"That's what I thought, until Hermione hugged me," Harry answered. Ron grinned.

"I dunno what made me like Rachel," Ron said. Harry grinned, then his eyes widened.

"Rachel! I just remembered, you – you said that you could – you could bring my- my parents back," Harry stammered, thinking that this could not be happening to him, after hearing Dumbledore say that there is no spell to revive the dead.

"Yes, but you have to do it, not me. You have to kill somebody only partly hated, and save a fully hated life," Rachel said.

"Huh?" Harry asked.

"Exactly," Rachel replied.

"Um, I need to go to bed to…erm…think," Harry said. He walked over to Hermione, gave her a kiss goodnight on the cheek and walked up to the boys' dorms. Ron copied him, kissing Rachel on the cheek, and once inside the boys' dorms, they could hear Hermione and Rachel burst into a fit of giggles. Harry, however, just put his head in his hands, and took a few deep breaths.

"I…can…get…my…parents…back," Harry said slowly.

"Yeah…but isn't that a good thing?" Ron asked, confused.

"Of course it is…but…it's just so…impossible!" Harry quietly.

"No, it isn't! You heard what Rachel said, you can make them come back!" Ron said excitedly.

"You're right. Listen, I'm tired, and I need to get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning," Harry said, yawning.

"Okay. G'night," Ron said, closing the curtains to his four-poster.

"Goodnight," Harry replied, changing into his pyjamas, hopping into the bed and falling asleep almost immediately.


   The days slipped by, and every day, Harry's mind was on his parents. He couldn't concentrate on classes, and wondered about how he had to get his parents back. He had to kill somebody he only partly hated, and save a hated life. He didn't have a clue what that meant.

On Sunday, a week before the next Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin, Harry noticed that Gryffindor were in the lead to win the Quidditch Cup. This cheered him up slightly, and he was glad he had the Quidditch practices to keep his mind of having the chance to have his parents alive again.

"Okay, now. Gerri, you have to follow these tracks, Rachel, try your best at keeping that Quaffle away from your goals, Eddie, you help Gerri…" Harry continued to talk to his fellow teammates, while they nodded and yawned, as it was early.

"Harry, c'mon, it's early. How're we supposed to remember this?" asked Eddie, a third year Chaser.

"Well, if you don't, Slytherin will win, won't they? Do you want Slytherin to win the Quidditch Cup?" Harry said angrily.

"Okay, okay. We're listening! We're listening!" cried Kyle, a Beater.

"That's better. Now," Harry began, pointing to a chart with a quill. "These are your tracks, Gerri. Try to follow these, and Eddie, you try and follow these tracks, too…" Harry continued. A few minutes later, the whole team was fully awake and ready. They flew onto the pitch and practiced their moves until they had fully memorised the moves.

"Good work, team! You earned your breakfast," Harry called to them, as they ran up to the castle.

"Thanks, coach," Gerri called back to him. Harry nodded to her in reply. He walked slowly up to the castle, and once he had reached the Gryffindor tower, he decided to look through his photo album that Hagrid had given him in his first year. He brought it down, settled himself on the couch and looked through it. He  got to a picture of him and his parents together in their house in Godric's Hollow. They were smiling and waving. Harry let the album slide off his knees and to the floor, and he put his head in his hands. The portrait of the Fat Lady swung open, and he heard somebody gasp.

"Oh, Harry," he heard Hermione whisper. Harry looked up out of his hands and saw Hermione running towards him. She put her arms around him and didn't let go.

"Hermione," Harry said, pulling her away.

"What is it?' Hermione whispered.

"I have to tell you something," he answered.

"Well, go on, then," Hermione said softly.

"I need to tell you that you are very special to me. I didn't have anybody who loved me before you became my girlfriend. I mean, Ron's great, but he's a best friend. But you actually love me, and I appreciate that. You are the only person I have loved totally since Voldemort murdered my Mum and Dad," Harry said softly. (Hermione flinched at Voldemort's name.)

"Oh, Harry!" cried Hermione, throwing her arms around Harry's neck and sobbing into his shoulder. He put his arms around her waist, and she sobbed until Harry pulled her away. He wiped the tears away with his sleeve, and, his arms still around her waist, asked her what was wrong.

"That was so sad and beautiful, you are so special to me, but I never knew that you needed someone to love, and – that was just so beautiful and sad," she started crying again, but Harry kissed her on the lips softly.

"Hey, baby, it's okay. I should be the one crying, so why are you?" he asked her quietly.

"I know, but…why aren't you crying?" she asked, sniffling.

"I don't know. There are times like this when I want to, but I can't. I don't know why," Harry answered her. She smiled.

"Oh well," she said. They just kept hugging each other, Hermione crying into Harry's shoulder, until they heard some whispers around them. They looked up, and saw the whole of Gryffindor watching them. Harry pulled Hermione away, picked up his photo album, and looked at the page that it had opened up at. It was the same one that had made Harry upset. He suddenly stood up and fled through the corridors of the castle, and down to the lake. He sat there, throwing pebbles into the lake, until he saw Hermione walking over to him.

"Sorry I ran away," Harry said.

"It's okay. I understand," Hermione answered, siting down next to him.

"I love you," Harry whispered, putting his arms around her waist.

"I love you," Hermione said, snuggling up to him. They sat there for awhile, Harry glad to have somebody so special in his life at last.

----------~*~----------                                                                                                                                                                         

Author's Note: **Sniffle** That was sad, wasn't it? Well, I hope you liked it! PLEASE review, using constructive criticism and compliments only, NO FLAMES!! THANK YOU to all reviewers!! Please feel free to throw rotten vegetables and fruit, as long as you include fresh grapes, because I love them!! Yum. If you want to e-mail me, click here.

If you want some good fics to read, check out my Favourites!! Especially the first Starlight, who has an incredible HP fic!! And Caitlyn, Jilliana, Elani Wrapdon, ~**Twink**~, HGWeasley, Hermione_silver_Weasley…there are so many I want to thank, so if you have reviewed, or I know you, sorry if I left you out!! PLEASE read my original (and short) story, "The Leprechaun" and it's (kind of long) sequel "Return of the Leprechaun"!!

Disclaimer: I only own: Gerri, Eddie, Kyle, Rachel, the plot and all people and things you do not recognize. All of the stuff you do recognize, it's J.K. Rowling's!! (The goddess!)

                                      Chapter 8 coming soon!!!!