"He's never going to come back." She bawled. She couldn't help but cry hysterically. The Weasleys were gathered around her, wondering why Harry had left so soon. When Hermione was brought in, they weren't expecting her to be this unstable.
"Sure he is, sweetheart. He just needs some time alone." Cooed Mrs. Weasley.
"He-he-he told me, to-to fuck off." She let out a particularly loud sob. Even Fred and George looked unusually grave.
"He's going through a hard time dear. Don't worry about it." There was silence, minus the slow sobbing of Hermione for a few seconds.
"But, I love him." Ginny gasped loudly, Mrs. Weasley's eyes became large in surprise. Fred and George grinned at each other. Ron turned very red and began to shake, as Mr. Weasley belched softly. The silence was deafening.
Mrs. Weasley didn't know what to do. Just at the beginning of the summer, her own daughter came home, openly pining for Harry. She talked about it with her, about Ginny's crush. Ginny claimed it was so much more, she claimed it was love. At first, Molly Weasley chuckle it off, but the emotions her daughter felt were very clear. Now, she had talked about falling in love, with Ginny, so what was she to do with Hermione. She always felt Hermione was a match for Harry, but couldn't hide the fact that she dearly wanted Ginny to end up wit Harry, and possibly Ron with Hermione.
"Now, now, you're too young to be falling in love…"
"But I do!" Hermione wailed. It was the volume that closed all discussion of the topic.
"Well, does he feel the same way about you?"
"He doesn't feel anything for anybody anymore." She hid her face in the pillow on the sofa and sobbed. Mrs. Weasley hadn't noticed the entire family enter the living room behind her, and glared at them to leave Hermione in peace. They left slowly, not wanting to miss the juicy details. Ron felt the most dejected of them all. He wanted Hermione so badly, he'd give up every knut he had, to be with her, and she falls for Perfect Potter. Life was cruel. He watched as his mother slowly helped Hermione up to Ginny's room. This was going to take a bunch of healing.
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"What am I supposed to do now?" Harry said to Alastor Moody, who was restrained, sitting in a chair next to Harry. Across the room, three Aurors were chained to the wall and glaring at each other with hatred.
"It's yer call Harry, I warned yeh against it, but no, yeh had to know every littl' detail. Yeh had to question 'em when they were all in the room. Secrets were revealed. Marriages destroyed. Lives ruined. Yer at fault. And yeh ask me what yer supposed to do?" He growled. He missed dinner, and it was getting late. See if he would help this fifteen year old snot on a power trip.
"It's not my fault the young one was fucking the other's wife. Hmmm. Memory charm?" Harry stated.
"Yeh saw de emotion turned up. Yeh can't block these strong feelin's with a memory charm, without causin' permanent damage."
"Right. But I have an Antimemorious Cocktail, freshly brewed. I was going to sell it in China for fifty galleons, but… hey, it could work."
"Yer under aged t' be able t' buy a potion like that."
"I didn't buy it."
"Where did – never mind. Do whatcha like. Yeh sure the potion is safe? Yeh gunna face the shit if it ain't."
"Shit is one thing I can deal with. I'd say three hours worth of the potion should work properly. I just have to find a way to get them all to drink it. Good thing I got myself a Quick Quill notes, otherwise I would have lost have of everything said. Then…"
"Then?"
"I get to put you on the Veritaserum, that way we can all have a good look into your thoughts."
"C'mon Potter, yeh know enough already. Don't do this."
"I'm not so sure. You're the real catch I have here. 'twould be a waste to not search your mind at least a little while. Anyway, we can discuss it later. I have lives to fix."
"They wouldn't a needed fixing if yeh hadn't have broken 'em."
"Yeah, yeah. Tell me about it." Harry removed the silencing charm on his side of the room and approached the three figures. They all scowled at him with contorted faces. "Well, here's what's going on. My Polyjuice potion should be wearing off soon. This virtual test was not up to par with your other work. You were not prepared to be discovered, but Alastor made it so you were, and you reacted poorly, even with the delayed release of the spell. When you two arrived at the scene, and saw both of your mates vulnerable on the ground, you did nothing to search for the one responsible for their defeat, making yourself too vulnerable, and easily overcome. You all allowed powerful potions into your system, which could have compromised the future of the Ministry, and you allowed personal matters get in the way of your primary mission, getting away safely. The real Harry Potter would not have done this to you, at least I don't think he would have. I just met him the one time to get some hair for the potion. His room isn't this big either. But you guys were not prepared, and I am disappointed with you. That will have to go into my report, but anyway. This virtual simulator has come to an end, and it is time to wake up in the real world and go home, or kill each other over his wife. Do what you want, but you have to drink this to wake up." He unclasped their chains and handed them each a bathroom cup with a gulp of brownish tar smelling potion. "It is a variety of the awakening potions, as you should know from it's color and smell. I'll see you on the other side. Next time I expect better results." Two of them drank it immediately, but the first one that Harry put on the serum, watched in silence. When he saw the other two did not keel over and die, he too drank his. Harry immediately put the clasps back on their wrists, and went over to Moody.
"How was that." Moody was shaking his head, smiling dejectedly.
"Yer either brilliant or incredible stupid, or they're daft. I think it may be a combination of the three. A simple, obvious plan, perfectly executed. They really do need more training."
"Yeah well, I've decided not to use Veritaserum on you, but, I am going to be monitoring your brainwaves, to see if your lying or not."
"How're yeh gunna do that?"
"I have a little machine I got from Magical Muggle Machinery Magazine. It measures them for me." Moody let a low moan rise through his chest. More toys of Potters were going to be used, this time on him. Potter went into his closet, and came out carrying what looked like an American Football helmet with small circuits all around it. Harry strapped in on, and tightened the strap on the chin.
"This is usually used to check for brain activity to see if someone is alive, but I have modified it to actually show me how much activity is going on. Generally honest answers use less activity than lies, so it shouldn't be hard, but I haven't had anyone to test it on. Here, chew this." Harry held out what looked like a stick of gum in front of Moody's face.
"What is it?" Moody grumbled, careful not to let his mouth open too far.
"Gum, a muggle kind of candy that you chew, but don't swallow."
"I know what the hell it is, but what have yeh done to it?"
"Nothing, I need you to do a consistent action for a few minutes to calibrate the machine. Open up, I need you to take this. It's this or Veritaserum." Moody looked at Harry doubtfully, measuring his chances of survival. Unknown gum, or Veritaserum. Tough choice.
"Fuck it. Gimme the gum." Harry put it in Moody's mouth, and Moody began chewing, expecting some sort of potion to take effect, but none did. The gum was one of the mint flavors, kind of strong to, but otherwise it was untainted. Harry began pressing the buttons on the helmet, while occasionally telling Moody to chew, or to stop chewing. Harry began asking very off topic questions; nothing at all about the Ministry, or Voldemort. The questions were out of the ordinary, and very lighthearted. Along the lines of "How many children's books have you read in the last three years." Moody answered all of the questions honestly, because there was no reason not to. Finally, Harry looked him in the eye. Moody could visualize the gears running quickly behind Harry's eyes. He was contemplating something.
"Alastor, I am going to ask you your age again. You told me you were eighty six. I want you to tell me that you are fifty six. How old are you?" Moody's mind sent the words 'fifty six' to his mouth, but he heard himself say eighty six. His eyes went to Harry, who jumped up, with a grin bigger than London on his face.
"Excellent! It works perfectly. I'm going to explain it to you now. The monitor really listens for lies, so I know you were lying, but the potion allows you to maintain your conscious mind while under questioning but you can't lie, and you don't know that your being controlled by the potion I put in the gum, so it never comes to mind that you may be under the potion until there is a lie you really want to keep and it come out the wrong way!" He panted, catching his breath. Slowly, the shimmer from his eyes left, and the dark circles returned, as distinctive as before. "Well, it'll wear off soon. I'm going to le you all go now. Thanks for sticking around. I have some bread and meat in the refrigerator if you want a snack before you go." Harry said with a dangerous glint in his eye.
"No! No Potter. We're fine." Moody said as the manacles fell of his wrist as well as the manacles on the other three Aurors. Harry handed them back their wands.
"Oh, guys, I know you've been watching over me for the last two weeks, sitting on the sofa you have on the front lawn. Why don't you guys stop in next time." He got four questioning looks. "I haven't mastered the Optical Corrective Potion to allow me to see through your cloaks and shrouds for more than two minutes. I'm confident I'll get it soon, though. Have a nice trip home." He handed Moody and his partner back their invisibility cloaks, and ushered them to the door to his room. At the door, Moody stopped and turned to Harry.
"When school starts, I'll be the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. You have one hundred and fifty points for being vigilant, and I'll talk to Snape about giving you points for some of the potions you created." Moody went down the stairs, as Harry called after him.
"Don't bother with Snape, he'll just get me in more trouble." He sighed after Moody exited the front door. "I don't think I'll be there anyway." He mumbled under his own breath.
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Hermione was feeling weak, sick, and tired. She was home, looking at her books. She had waited a day before trying to get to Harry's house. She had to apologize, see him again. She tried to apperate in, but was surprised to find that after avoiding the barrier and exiting the fireplace, she was thrown back into the network, and spit out of the fireplace at home. After six tries, crying and aching, she gave up. It was now a few days later. She sent countless owls to Harry, knowing that they would never get through the barriers to him. Hedwig hadn't visited her, and life was going by slowly. Painfully.
Of course, to add to her mood it was raining heavily. She could see the waves of rain as they blew by her house in the streets. She checked her watch. 11:28. Time for bed. She quietly undressed, and slipped on her night gown. She really loved her nightgown. It was sky blue, with two red buttons at the top. She loved it's soft feel, its warmth, the sense of protection and comfort it gave her. She lay down and stared at the ceiling. Time crawled away. By the time the clock downstairs chimed once, signaling one o'clock in the morning, she was still laying still, looking up into the ceiling, the events of Harry's escape from her playing again in her head. Fantasizing what would have happened if she had stayed calm, and talked to him instead of mocking him. Maybe he would have stayed. Maybe he would have kissed her. Maybe she wouldn't be lying in bed at one in the morning staring at the ceiling wondering in vain what would have happened if she could control her emotions.
A small flash on her ceiling brought her out of her trance. She was too tired to think it was real, but to full of unfinished thoughts to sleep. It happened again. She could hear the loud patter of the water, and concluded it was lightening, but lightening was much more bright, and carried thunder with it. There was no thunder, and the light was more orange than the white of lightening. She slowly got out of bed to see what was the disturbance. She didn't have anything better to do, and it was distracting her from her fitful thinking.
A sudden orange flash from the trees in the backyard startled her, and she fell backwards onto her rump. She groaned as she rolled over into a crawling position, before kneeling and standing. She went back to the window and watched as something in the shadows moved. She watched closely, and another orange flash appeared, for two long seconds. She knew this wasn't a light. The was something else, and it scared her. She grabbed her wand while trying to rub the sleep from her eyes. It was futile, and she needed to see what was happening before someone could do any serious damage.
She grabbed her bathrobe and threw it on haphazardly. She tied the cloth belt tightly, and held her wand tightly. She knew she was being foolish, going outside at one in the morning by herself to face a potential Death-Eater, but she had to redeem her bravery, she had to be the model Gryffindor, because she would probably end up prefect. If she lived.
She opened her door and peered out into the hallway. Her parents were asleep, but she liked to check anyway. She tiptoed down the hall, keeping her feet near the wall, where the floor didn't creak as much. She slid down the stairs wishing desperately for this to be over soon. She hated to think what a Death-Eater could do to her. There was the obvious kill, but the torture was what scared her. She knew what some had done. She read the books. All sorts of painful tools and even rape to torture their prey. It made her shiver deep down inside.
She finally made it out to the back door, and unlocked it quietly, before opening it, slipping out and closing it with one graceful movement. She realized she probably should have put on slippers, because the ground was swamped in mud and brown water. She placed her foot into the water and felt the icy liquid suck the little warmth from her body. As she stepped out from the overhang, the first raindrops hit her, soaking her in seconds. As her body became accustomed to the weather and surroundings, she walk forward to the small forest. Clutching her wand desperately, and being mindful not to slosh around making noise, she made her way to the first tree. Her robe was soon saturated, as was her nightgown, making them very heavy and restricting. Knowing that restricting clothing could mean her life if she had to shoot a quick spell, she reluctantly removed the robe, standing only in her nightgown and panties underneath. The water made the garments cling to her figure, and the cold made her nipple prominent. She sighed at what she would be revealing to this person, who, one hundred feet away was chanting something in the cover of the score of trees Ivy had planted when she married Rick. She left her robe on the ground, in the mud, and made her way behind the trees to the small circular clearing she often spent time in reading. Indeed there was a man there, chanting spells over bubbling cauldrons and a glowing wand. She pointed her wand at him but hesitated, curiosity wanting to reveal what exactly he was doing. The man was short when he stood to full height. She guessed him to be around five feet tall, but his deep melodious voice commanded respect, and gave him a sense of power and presence.
He stopped chanting and added the contents of a small dish to the four cauldrons. He picked up the wand, and pointed it at the cauldrons. An orange jet shot out of his wand, and the potions glowed blue for a few seconds. He muttered 'finished' and she froze. Now he was ready to do the dreadful act he came for. She took careful aim in the dark, as he began walking in her general direction. 'Expelliarmus' she cried, but the red light went passed him and bounced off one of the tree behind him. He ran at her and she tried to scream, but could only gurgle as she turned and tried to run from him. He was too quick, and dove, tackling her roughly, but the mud cushioned her fall and she tried to fight him off. He was too strong, and grabbed her wand from her. He took one hand to hold both of her wrists above her head, while his knee pinned down her stomach. He murmured 'Lumos' and he shielded the light from hitting his own face, so he could see hers.
"Hermione?" said the voice in shock. He held the wand in front of his face so she could see him. All of a sudden she wished it was a Death-Eater.
"HARRY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!?!?" She yelled as he got off of her and helped her up. He was more soaked than she was, and covered in mud. He handed her her wand and she lit it brighter. She saw the relief on his face.
"Dammit. I thought you were a Death-Eater. Do you mind not firing spells at me when I am working."
"I thought YOU were a Death-Eater. Do you mind not doing magic at my house?" She snapped. He was silent for a second examining her body. He noticed her chest, and looked away in guilt.
"Go back to sleep, Hermione. I need to finish this. You're cold, and your going to get sick. Go back to bed." She walked up to him and pushed him up against the nearest tree. Sometimes being taller was an advantage.
"Why are you here?" Her tone was harsh, and normally he would cringe at her, but now he was just as composed as ever.
"I was laying some protective charms, spells, and potions in case your home was ever attacked."
"Why would my home ever be attacked?"
"Because the entire bloody world associates you as being my friend. The truth doesn't matter anymore, it is all appearances. You appear to be my friend, and you become a target. That means I have some bullshit moral responsibility to offer whatever protection I can."
"You-you don't think I'm your friend." He was silent.
"Just forget about it."
"No, I won't. Harry, I am your friend. I want to be your friend. I like you. Why are you pushing me away?"
"Because the closer you get, the more of a target you are. You're a good person, Hermione, and damn smart. You will be needed in the future. I'd hate to see you hurt by them, but if you stay by me, you will be, one way or the other. You are better off hating me."
"JUST STOP!!! Can we g-go inside and talk about this?"
"There's not much to talk about."
"After years of friendship you won't at least talk about it, you just want to have me hate you without so much as a reasonable explanation? You owe me at least a few minutes." She noticed he wouldn't look at her. She looked at herself. Besides being covered by mud, she was very revealed, and sensed his discomfort.
"Give me two minutes, and I'll come in and talk to you."
"Fine." She watched him go back into the clearing, and she picked up her robe looking at it with disgust. It was soaked brown from the muddy water, and was dripping sloppily. Harry returned with all four cauldrons hovering in front of him. He wordlessly approached her house, but did not go to the door. He just went around, pouring the cauldron's contents along the base of her house. She forgot to ask exactly what he was doing, but when he got back to the rear of the house. He pulled out his wand, and pointed it at her robe muttering 'Limpius'. I a flash her robe was clean and dry. She immediately put it on, buit in seconds it was as soaked as before, just clean this time. He pushed her away from the house and pulled out a knife. He opened the blade and slit his middle finger, letting the blood mix with the potion hugging the foot of the house. The potion turned a glimmering silvery color, which spread around the house, lighting it with an eerie glow. He held his wand inches from the silvery substance, and said 'Incendio.' She gasped as the potion ignited and burned bright white for four seconds all the way around the building, and burned itself out, leaving the house glowing faintly for nearly half a minute.
Harry healed hi finger and walked up beside her.
"Okay, we can talk now." His voice was deep but wavering.
"C-Can we go inside first, maybe have some tea." He was obviously reluctant. "Please?"
"Fine." She led him to the back door, and they entered the kitchen. She was filthy, and knew her muddy footprints would get her weeks of punishment. Harry flicked his wand at her, muttering more incoherent words, and everything she wore was clean and dry, including her hair and body. The sudden dryness had her feeling warmer than normal. She took off her robe, and noticed her nipples went down again. Harry was already dry and clean. She turned on the light, and let her eyes grow used to it. She took a good look at him. He looked lost. Sad and depressed, he looked so frail yet so powerful, you wanted to run in both fear and disgust. His skin was leathery and sagging on his face, which was narrow and bony. He looked like a muscular skeleton who's seen too many deaths. She reacted on instinct, and walked up in front of him, he eyed her with anticipation.
"Well?" She spread her arms and slowly wrapped them around his back, pulling herself against him. She waited patiently, but he never moved, he just stood there not reacting, not embracing her back. She venture to talk to him in this position, where he couldn't run away.
"I don't care what happens to me if I'm your friend. If you weren't my friend, if you didn't care enough to go and face a troll in first year to save my life, I'd be dead, or I'd be nothing. I want to be your friend. I care about more than you know. I need you to be my friend. I will take any of the consequences to be your friend, because you are worth it to me. Harry, you're worth it." She felt his muscles flex and relax. His arms went around her. She smiled, as he pulled her against him. He shifted his head, and buried his face in her neck. His warmth brought comfort to her, it brought completion. She held on a long time, until her body was beginning to fail her. She pulled away, to see something she hadn't seen on his face in a long time. Regret.
"Harry, please don't run away from me. Never run away from me. Promise me you won't." He was unresponsive, looking directly into her eyes. He had the hidden darkness. It was right there, in front of her. He was becoming dark, secluded, cut off from emotion. "Harry, I won't let you go until you promise me you won't abandon me. I need you. I need to know that you're alright. Promise me……say it Harry, say that you won't just up and go. Promise me."
"I promise I won't cut off all contact with you, and I will maintain a way to communicate with you. As for being alright, I haven't been alright for months, nor will I be. I can't sleep, I can't close my eyes without the images flashing across my eyelids. I can't go to the loo without fearing a Death-Eater may just pop out of the toilet. I won't be alright for a long, long time." She smiled faintly. He promised. She hugged him tightly, for a few seconds, and he returned the favor, but only barely. She let go and stepped back a few feet, giving her the ability to see all of him.
"Let's have some tea, or do you want some hot chocolate? Something hot to warm you up. Come on. Have something."
"I'm fine really, Hermione, but I really should be going. It's getting late."
"Sit down, Potter, you and I both know that you aren't going to sleep, and you ARE going to sit with me, what do you want? Tea, or Hot Cocoa?" He sighed, it never was much use arguing with her.
"Tea is fine." He grumbled as he sat in a chair at the kitchen table. Hermione went to the cupboard over the sink and opened it, searching through what looked like various containers.
"Where is it? I swear it was here this morning." She said under her breath, but Harry heard it anyway.
"Where is what?"
"The tea. It was here earlier." Hermione now had her knee on the sink and was balancing precariously on the small counter top bridging between the sink and the room.
"Try the pantry." Said a deep, obviously amused voice from the darkness of the dining room. Hermione slipped and fell onto the kitchen floor after emitting a frightened squeak. Harry didn't even flinch.
"DAD! What are you doing?" She near yelled at him as he emerged into the light. He was wearing his baize slippers and brown bathrobe. She stumbled up, her hands still shaking from the fright.
"Harry told me he'd be coming by sometime this week to protect the house, and when I saw flashes in the trees, I got curious and decided to watch. I saw you go out after him, I honestly thought you were crazy to go out in the weather, but you wouldn't have stopped even if I told you to. Very funny to hear your conversation when you got back. I'm not going to give you the 'It's past your bedtime speech.'" Hermione sighed happily, "I'll leave it for your mother in the morning." Hermione's face went very white, and Rick began to chuckle.
"Harry, you remember my father, right?"
"Yes. I was wondering when you were going to show yourself." Harry said looking directly at Rick.
"You knew he was there?" Hermione screeched. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"I supposed if he wanted to come forward, he would on his own time. I was in no mood to drag him out of the shadows. I suppose he got quite a show." Harry mused.
"Ah yes, the joys of being a teenager. I remember well. When you set the house on magic fire, I thought I was going to wet meself. Oh, while you're making tea, love, do you mind making me a cup too?" Rick asked.
"No, I don't mind." She said irritably. So much for having tea alone with Harry. She opened the pantry, and immediately spotted the tea. She grabbed some, and put it in three mugs, before filling a kettle with water. She place the kettle on the table and looked expectantly at Harry.
"What?" Harry said tonelessly.
"Can you boil the water so we don't have wait for it." She asked sharply. She stopped herself from saying more. She was getting frustrated, and she couldn't do that. It would only make him run away again. "Please?" She asked sincerely. Rick gave her a weird look. The sharp voice followed by soft voice confused him. Harry pulled out his wand, and began chanting slowly under his breath while flicking his wand at the kettle. Twenty second later steam began to issue from the spout of the kettle, and finally it whistled. Hermione poured the water into the mugs and Harry stopped whatever he did to boil the water.
"Why'd it take so long? Why didn't you just use the boiling charm?" She asked innocently.
"I don't know the boiling charm, so I did what I do best. I improvised. I used the heating charm over and over again." He said cautiously. Hermione passed around the mugs, and placed a bunch of sugar in hers, but when she offered to Harry and Rick, they both declined. There were a few minutes of thoughtful silence.
"So Harry…" Rick began "…what's all this talk of running away. What're you running from?" Harry was slow in answering, as if measuring which answer would be best.
"Your daughter." Harry said simply. Hermione almost spit out her tea, and Rick eyed him carefully.
"Why are you running from my daughter?" Rick was genuinely curious.
"I don't know how to tell you this, but since Voldemort has risen again, I am his primary target, so your daughter, who in our world is publicly associated with me, is in danger. The closer I am to her, the more danger she's in." Harry responded.
"Right, so you don't want her in danger. She has been in danger before, I don't see the point in taking such drastic measures." Harry sighed.
"This is different. You don't understand." Harry said, controlling his frustration.
"That's fair, make me understand." Harry put his mug on the table and leaned back in his chair looking Rick directly in the eye.
"Back when Voldemort first rose to power there was a foolish seventh year Gryffindor who said in front of a number of people with connections to Voldemort something along the lines of Voldemort is a homosexual. It seems word got back to Voldemort. Three days later the boy received a notice saying his parents were killed. The next day he was told his seven, SEVEN year old sister was raped and beaten within an inch of her life. The next day his Grandparents were killed. The next his aunts and uncles. Then his great aunts and great uncles. Then his cousins. His girlfriend was murdered. Then his best friend. By then every person was isolating him, pushing him away. Finally, on a beautiful spring morning he was found castrated, and alive, crucified in the middle of the great hall of the school. The spells wouldn't allow anyone near him. He died forty hours later and the spells wore off. He was buried without a funeral. He was buried hated, despised by the world he was part of. I am, and will always be Voldemort's primary target. Thanks to him I already have no family, so he only has a few people to choose from. Your daughter is currently very high on the list of potential targets. My job is to try to get her off the list. Now do you understand?" The silence was deafening. Hermione was white as a ghost and felt like one flew through her, chilling her to the bone. She saw her father shift uneasily under Harry's piercing stare. It took a lot of scary shit to scare her father.
"This, this is some kind of a joke, right?" Rick said, his voice unsure.
"No. The sister still live, but she is currently insane, and twenty five years old, living in a magical psychiatric institution. Do you want to know the disgusting part?"
"Not really." Rick said while looking at Hermione.
"Shortly after the boy was killed, the Death-Eater who raped the girl came forward, showing evidence and everything, but the prosecutors were so scared they just let him go. He came back with evidence that he killed twelve people, and they, again, let him go. That is the fear the wizarding world has of this monster, and your daughter is one of his top targets because of me. How does that make you feel about me being friends with Hermione? I bet every knut, or pence I have that you would rather have it that we never met."
"Well, not really."
"You would be less concerned if we weren't friends." Harry pointed out.
"True, but you are, so what would it help if you separated now? Isn't the damage already done?" Rick said slowly.
"As much as I appreciate you trying to salvage my friendship, Dad, I think I should be the one doing this." Hermione said. They both looked at her like she was a zombie. She let out a groan and they went back to their discussion.
"Yes, we are known to be friends, but if it was made public that we hated each other beyond hope, then she would be reduced on the list, by a significant margin. I have an idea that should work." Harry continued.
"And what would that be?" Rick was anxious.
"We meet up in Diagon alley, the very middle of it, and we say our quiet goodbyes. She would probably be crying, because it really would be goodbye. The she starts yelling about how I betrayed her, and how she can never forgive. We take out our wands and throw spells at each other until she throws the killing curse at me. Of course she misses, and I run in fear of my life. Bingo, we hate each other, and Voldemort needs to find a new target." Harry said with finality.
"Details would need to be worked out, but it is a good start. You are very noble to forfeit a friendship to save lives. Not many would do it." Rick said, with a hint of admiration in his voice.
"AHEM! Don't I have any say in this. Harry can't do it anyway, because he already promised to not run away and cut contact with me. Too bad." Hermione said forcefully.
"Honey, in this case I think it is alright to revoke that promise, it is for the best." Rick said just as forcefully.
"Stop it now, both of you. Hermione is right, I promised to remain in contact with her, and this plan isn't worth anything anyway. I just did that to show you how you really feel about the situation, Mr. Granger. You worry about her safety, as I do, and you are scared. I understand and am doing the best I can to ensure her safety, but there is only so much I can do. She is a target regardless of what happens now. Any changes in my social life would not go unsuspected of foul play. Voldemort is hard to fool, and he will come after her. I only hope she can get away. That is all anyone can hope for when he knocks on your door."
"Wait, so that was all…" Rick said.
"A bluff. Yes it was. But it proved my point. You don't want her to be with me, and I don't want her to be with me either, but I was put into this pan, and no matter how hard I fight, she is going to be pulled into the pan with me." Harry finished, and resumed sipping his tea.
"Wow. Have you ever thought of a career in acting. You're damn good." Rick said with enthusiasm.
"No acting for me. I'd love to stay and chat, but there are places I need to be. I'll send you an owl soon, and don't worry about me. If I'm not fine, then I'm probably happy with my parents. No use crying over me if I die. It would be a waste of tears. See you soon." Harry stood sharply and walked out of the back door, amidst shocked looks from Hermione and Rick.
"That boy is…"Rick began.
"What?" Hermione asked, too stunned to really care for an answer.
"Thorough. Damn thorough, and a good person too."
"Yeah, Dad, I know."
Guys, sorry this is late, but I had a term paper that had priority. But I still pumped out these 6,200 words. My longest yet. Woohoo. If you reviewed it would be nice, if you didn't it would be fine as well.
Now, for a few thoughts. Stoneheart, that was an awesome review, really magnificent of you to look so deeply into my humble work.
Harry is not ~really~ dark, he is just doing some dark things. Some people mentioned that his motorcycle did magic in front of muggles. Harry, in my fic, never put any magic on his bike, so he was the one responsible for everything going on there. Paladin Steelbreaker sent me greetings from Norway. I was wonderin what was up with the whole tension between the Nors and Swedes. I am like 40% Swedish so I was wondering why everyone is all huffy about being one or the other. By the way, everyone has to try Swedish Fontina. I swear it is the greatest cheese I have ever had. THANK YOU ALL AND HAPPY READING!!! Review if you feel the urge, I appreciate it.
