A/N:

hp4eva - Don't rightly know as of yet, first things first.

Feather0311, and LiZz, and Maxx77, and shadows-zepher, and keebler-elmo, and steve, and Light*hope, and Orion the Hunter, and Mella deRanged, and - Thank you!

Sami Potter - I should have known that you would like the sex chapter most of all. ;)

Burgundy,a nd Shaylee - Thanks for the thoughts.

John - Holy cow. Stop that. I will not be responsible for people losing sleep! :)

Mrsosborneclass - LoL!

Starbeam - Ah, but what a way to be tortured ... I could think of worst ways.

ginnygal189 - I was going to go that route and still might make a mention of it.

Dawnfrina - now that would ruin some of the plot if I told ya, wouldn't it?

Duckymander, and Maggie O- I still can get the picture out of my mind so I have to torture you all with it as well. Makes having sex impossible so it has a indefinite use. And who knows ... they may still get together .... (Shudder)

Madpostman - yes ... shhh. j/k

Aerin Dragon Killer - Oh ... sorry, yes last week in October. I'll try to throw in a date or two from now on.

Jenna kathleen - Quit being silly , you goof.

CliodnaHPFan - Sorry to hear about the mood, but glad I could help in some small measure. the trick to updating so often is not having a life. well, that and typing really fast, and not having writers block at the time (knocking on Oliver Wood)

Read On!

Chapter 36

"Buffy lives." Harry said and the stone gargoyle hopped aside revealing the slow spinning stairway to the headmaster's office. He went first letting Hermione trail behind so there wasn't a chance that they would touch each other and reawaken the sleeping ring's powers.

The office was empty, with the sole exception of Fawkes sitting on his perch sleeping silently. They made their way into the office and Harry stood before the portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black. The once headmaster feigned sleep as he always did.

"Phineas Black, wake up!"

The figure still sat slumped over, ignoring them.

The other portraits woke in turn to the disturbance and watched the two as they tried in vain to get the attention of the portrait's sole inhabitant.

Harry slipped his hand into his cloak and withdrew his wand. "Fine let's see if a little fire can wake his stubborn butt up."

Hermione could have sworn that she heard a snicker from one of the other portraits but when she looked they were all stone-faced.

"I suppose this is how they eventually dealt with Sirius' mother in the hallway at Grimmauld Place."

At those words Phineas' head rose and his face scowled. "This is what has become of the youth of today. Resorting to vandalism ... how typical."

"Recognize this?" Hermione almost shouted when she raised the ring.

Phineas smiled, "Some of my best work if I do say."

If Harry could have set fire to the portrait with just his scathing glare it would have been gone by now. "How do you think Professor Dumbledore will react when I tell him that you and your wife are possessing us? Do you think you will be hanging here much longer? Or at Grimmauld Place?"

"What is it you are prattling on about, child?" he answered.

Harry closed on the portrait until the figure of the one time headmaster backed away. "I can't even hold her hand anymore. If she so much as touches me your wife, Carpathia, possesses her, and you possess me."

Then it dawned on him. "That's it!"

Hermione jumped back, "What's it."

"The other day, Ron said we'd been acting like a old married couple with our 'yes dear's' and our 'I love you's'. They've been with us since I put the ring on you. We've never been rid of them."

The look of horror that crossed her face. "Was the whole thing a lie, Harry. Everything we said to each other? Everything we've felt?" Her eyes watered up.

"No!" he almost yelled. "I've had these feelings for you since third year, Hermione ... well maybe not all of them, not this strong, but I've fancied you for a long time."

"Oh, please," Phineas groaned. "Don't bore us with a tale of young budding love. It is ever so nauseating."

Harry flipped his wand in his hand and drove it into the portrait a scant inch away from the occupants face.

"Tell us how to get rid of the ring."

The old headmaster looked sideways at the hole and the wand protruding from it, and seemed to go a light shade of green. "I've told Dumbledore already. Only you can take it off her finger and you know the consequences."

Harry looked back at Hermione sitting at one of the desk chairs staring blankly at the floor then back to the portrait. "That's not going to be good enough. Some or all of your black soul lives in that ring and that of your wife's ..."

Phineas nodded, "Well it makes sense doesn't it. It is the conduit of which the life essence my wife and I shared. Seems like there would be a residue of some sort left behind when we died; perhaps that which had not fully transferred to the other, or some such. Quite common in higher magics."

"How very enlightening, Phineas."

Harry spun around and saw Dumbledore standing by the doorway with a look of mild annoyance on his face. "You did not inform me of this possibility." He stepped further into the room. "Harry please have a seat. Assist your fiancé."

Rage was building within. "I can't touch her!"

Their eyes met, Harry's blazing with fury and Dumbledore's in quiet understanding.

"A lemon drop, perhaps?"

Harry growled with frustration and shoved his hand in his pocket for the ever present calming solution. Dumbledore lifted Hermione's head up and looked into her tear filled eyes. "Everything will work itself out, Hermione. I assure you."

This seemed to be of some help for she looked up at Harry standing there, over to the portrait and finally a small nod resulted.

Dumbledore stepped around and sat behind the desk looking thoughtfully for a long moment as Harry found his seat.

"Let us examine our options, shall we. I find difficult issues are easier dealt with by vocalization."

Harry nodded. "Fine."

"Phineas, you have said that the ring cannot be taken off with out the adverse side effects you mentioned before, correct."

"Yes."

Dumbledore nodded, "And there is no known way to dispense of the curse, correct?"

"Yes."

He nodded again. "I find in lesser charms and curses that said spells once encountered with a equal and similar spell, they tend to cancel one another out."

Phineas threw his hands up, "Of course, Dumbledore. What you are saying is third year dueling basics. What has that got to do ..."

Harry saw the shocked look on Phineas' face and turned to see what Dumbledore had in mind. "What ... what am I missing?"

Phineas shook his head, "It's too dangerous. The results could be worse than the curse itself."

The headmaster shrugged thoughtfully, "Or perhaps this is your one chance at immortality and you are afraid to give it up?"

The other portraits went into a rage.

"Unacceptable!"

"Unheard of!"

"Sounds like Voldemort to me!"

"They're children for heavens sake, Black!"

"Unforgivable! Possessing another without their consent is a life term in Azkaban at the least!"

"Cast him out!"

"Enough," Dumbledore raised his voice. "Harry, Hermione, what I propose is not unheard of, in fact as I said before in the lesser magics it is quite common, however with such ancient magic as this ..."

"I am not ancient!" said Phineas.

"No, but you are becoming increasingly annoying." Dumbledore shot back.

Phineas leaned back and pouted in his impotency.

"As I was saying, with such magic as this I cannot guarantee the results."

Hermione leaned forward, "Are you saying you want to cast a, sort of, counter curse."

The headmaster shook his head, "Not at all. The spell has already been cast and there is not much we can do about it at the present time. What I am proposing is that Harry ... it will have to be Harry, won't it Phineas."

A grumbling noise came from his direction.

"As I assumed, Harry will need to fashion a ring similar to Leipirum. He will then place it upon your finger and hope for the best."

Hermione looked down and back up. "But won't that still mean ..."

"Yes, " Dumbledore confirmed. "You will still be joined and you both will still be under the curse, but the residual souls of Leipirum will be cast out and yours and Harry's true feelings for one another will be all that remain."

This suited Harry just fine. "When do we start?"

"Just a moment, Harry," Hermione cut him off. "Phineas said the results could be worse than the curse itself."

Dumbledore nodded, "It is of my belief that this result is highly unlikely. For you see, when Leipirum was made it was for jealous love and insecurity while yours and Harry's is more ... how shall I put this ... pure."

Hermione looked down. What she had a taste of in their bedroom only a half-hour earlier, wasn't what she would call pure. They had gone far beyond that point already.

"I have seen the two of you nurture a strong friendship for the last five years and in my opinion it has grown into more. If not for the interference of Leipirum, I daresay that you would still marry."

They both looked up at the professor.

"Oh, not right away, mind you, perhaps after school. Perhaps after Voldemort has been dealt with. Who is to say? It is also my opinion that the potential love that you share will overcome that of Leipirum's previous owners."

He looked down at their hands, a mere inch from each other. "Knowing what you now know, I believe it might be possible for you to have contact with each other. Consider it a test of my theory."

Harry lifted his hand above Hermione's. He could see her grip the chair in abject fear. Even worse than what they did in their rooms would be to do the same in front of Dumbledore and not be able to stop this time.

"Hermione, you must trust in Harry's love for you and yours for him or I'm afraid this experiment will fail. You must be strong enough to overcome the possessive will of Leipirum, and the souls that lay within."

She took a deep breath and let it out as she released her hold on the chair arm to turn her hand over and meet Harry's eyes.

She almost fell into the pure green radiance that pooled within and remembered why she fell in love with him to begin with. It wasn't the stupid ring, it wasn't because the celebrity of who he was, it was his compassion, his bravery, and his caring of other people that won her heart. His intelligence and that damnable unruly hair of his. The way he smiled when he saw her coming down the stairs from her old dormitory every morning. The total devotion to his friends and his unwavering loyalty to those he chose to give it to.

That's why she loved him.

Her eyes sparkled as she lifted her hand up to meet his, knowing that nothing would interfere with the way they truly felt about each other.

He smiled his dazzling smile back at her. "I want to get to work on this right away, Professor."

Dumbledore looked up at the portrait, "Phineas?"

He grumbled again back at them.

"I'm sorry, Phineas. You must excuse these old ears of mine, I didn't quite hear you."

"I said fine!" he yelled in response." And don't give me any of that old age malarkey. You hear just as well as you did when you were a teen."

Dumbledore chuckled, "Very well. We shall start at the beginning."

"They'll need access to the family vault for the precious stone. I had, well in my time I had a number of stones that would fit the bill nicely if my relatives haven't gone and disposed of them. And while you're there pick up my old journal. It has some of the earlier experimentation into the castings."

Harry grew increasingly excited, "I'll go first thing in the morning."

Phineas waved him off. "No need to hurry, young Potter. You will need to learn the charms and curses first."

Dumbledore didn't seem too happy about Harry learning some of the stronger dark magics. "You will restrict yourself to what is necessary, Phineas."

Phineas rolled his eyes. "Oh yes I keep forgetting the infamous Albus Dumbledore doesn't take with any dark magics even the useful ones."

Dumbledore looked on threateningly until Phineas grumbled again. "Very well. Potter, quill and parchment!"

Harry looked over at the headmaster's supply. "May I, sir?"

Dumbledore nodded, "Of course, I'll leave you to your studies and escort your fiancé back to your rooms."

Hermione stood and took a proffered arm from the headmaster.

"You're not staying?" Harry asked.

"You will be engrossed with old boring spells, Harry. I'm taking young Miss Granger on a stroll and a short talk before she turns in."