Summary: Voldemort's gone and Harry's never been happier. He even gets a special request from Dumbledore that'll make his last year at Hogwarts unforgettable, but when people start dropping like flies he must put everything aside and pick only three of his friends to take part in the ultimate battle. Sequel to Wanted: Love
Disclaimer: I own no characters in this story except Tali, Adish, Nyo, Quincy, and Belle. The rest belong to the lovely and talented JK Rowlings.
Wanted: A Happy Ending
Ch1: The Best Birthday Gift
Harry turned around nervously and stared into the deep brown eyes looking back at him curiously. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath.
"Hermione. . .I need to ask you something," he said, looking down at his feet.
"What?"
"I know that we're young, but. . .'Mione. . .will you. . .that is. . .er. . .willyoumarryme?" Harry asked quickly.
"Oh, of course I will, Harry, darling!"
"Ah!"
Harry yelped as he collided with the ground in a most forceful manner. As he and his attacker rolled around on the ground, a strange smacking sound filled his ears. Arching his neck backward he let out another yelp as he realized a pair of puckered lips were quickly heading his way.
"Gerroff me!" came his muffled ordered after finding his face shoved into the grass. But when the weight the weight didn't remove itself, a flash of light sent it several feet in the opposite direction.
Brushing the dirt off his face as he stood up, what little remained of his nervousness left him. Crossing his arms, he spun around to meet the laughter that, until that moment, he hadn't noticed.
"Oh shut it," Harry said to his friends before glancing toward the barn where Ron remained in hysterics on the ground, "Sorry to say, Ron, but you don't look a thing like Hermione…even if you are in her clothes."
Ron stopped laughing, "I'm not wearing Hermione's clothes."
Harry raised an eyebrow causing, in the same instant, those present to burst out laughing again. Ron suddenly found himself in one of Hermione's many dresses, a red one that looked wonderful on Hermione, but clashed horribly with Ron's hair. Ron opened his mouth in indignation and cursed. Harry laughed and high-fived Sirius as the laughter refocused itself.
As he took in a deep breath of satisfaction, Harry couldn't help but feel lucky to be where he was. Not but seventh months ago did he learn of a prophecy that called for his demise at the hands of Voldemort. But for not the first time in his life, luck took a liking to him. Voldemort had been dead for five months now, and Harry was still alive and kicking.
After his return to the living the world—a tale that Harry had grown beyond tired of repeating—he was finally experiencing a normal life…or at least as close to a normal life as he was going to get. For the first time he could remember he no longer carried the burden of being the Boy-Who-Lived. The wizarding world was still just as hyped up on "Potter-mania" as when he first came back from the dead, but it ten times better than what it had been prior to Voldemort's downfall.
He no longer had to go about his life knowing that everyone expected him to kill the darkest wizard to ever walk the planet. He no longer had to worry about his friends being prime targets for Voldemort's followers—all of whom were either dead or serving life sentences in Azkaban. But perhaps best of all, on a more personal note, Harry never had to go back to Number 4 Privet Drive again.
Indeed, ever since the ex-Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, had forced the removal of Harry's memories and stumbled across the Shrieking Shack incidence from his third year, Sirius had been reinstated as Harry's legal guardian. And, as Harry was quite pleased to tell anyone who had somehow remained in the dark about the whole ordeal, he was actually spending the summer the way he wanted to.
Living his godfather, Tali (Sirius' new wife), and their good friend Remus Lupin, he spent his days with his friends—both old and young—playing Quidditch, exploiting the never-ending offers of freebees that came from every imaginable business and dignitary, and planning pranks to pull back at Hogwarts. It had been his misfortune to only create the New Marauders the previous year, and if he had any hope of living up to he original Marauders—who had been in business for all seven years at Hogwarts—he needed to make this year explosive.
While Ron seemed rather depressed at the idea of returning to school, and Hermione had already begun to panic about the upcoming NEWTS, Harry was personally looking forward to his last and, most likely, easiest year at Hogwarts yet. He doubted that he would learn much, but all the more time for him to spend having fun—a luxury he had only just recently learned the pleasure of. What with Voldemort and all his followers out of the picture, and with his recently attained, unmatched power, Harry couldn't think of anyone fool enough to attack the school in some form or another.
"Harry!"
As everyone turned to see Hermione racing toward them with her father in tow, Harry grinned at them while muttering to the others present, "Not a word."
Hermione threw herself at Harry who caught her and spun her around off her feet before setting her down on the ground and kissing her. When they broke apart, Mr. Granger was standing not but a few feet away from them, smiling. Harry coughed nervously, looking anywhere but the elder man's face.
Hermione laughed and playfully hit Harry's shoulder, "Relax, Harry. It's just my dad."
Despite this reassurance, Harry couldn't help but still feel embarrassed. Nevertheless, he extended his hand to Mr. Granger who promptly shook it, "Nice to see you again, Harry."
"You, too, Mr. Granger," Harry said.
"Happy birthday, Remus!" Hermione exclaimed, spotting him.
"Thank you, Hermione," Remus smiled.
Hermione nodded and looked around at the rest of her friends but stopped when her eyes fell upon Ron, "Er. . .Ron. . .is that my dress?"
Ron blushed and jerked his head toward Harry who smiled innocently. Hermione looked at him with her hands on her hips, "Giving out my clothes now, are you?"
Harry sighed and hunched his shoulder, "Guilty."
Hermione laughed and turned back to Ron, "I do hope that you're planning to change before the party?"
"I will if Harry gives me my clothes back," Ron said hopefully.
Harry raised an eyebrow to his other friends as if to ask their opinions. They all laughed and shook their heads, no.
"And the crowd speaks," Harry said, bowing slightly in 'regret.'
"Ah, come on, Harry! I'm sorry already!" Ron pleaded.
"Sorry we're late," McGonagall said as she and Dumbledore walked into the yard.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, "Experimenting with your sister's clothes, Mr. Weasley?"
Ron groaned and smacked his hand to his forehead, leaving everyone else to laugh again. Harry shook his head as he laughed and Ron was back in his own clothes, much to the disappointment of the others.
"Thanks, man," Ron said with a sigh of relief.
"Just watch what you say next time," Harry said jokingly, eyes twinkling.
"You know, that's weird," Ron said, motioning to Harry's eyes.
"What? Was I doing it again?" Harry asked, bringing his fingers up under his glasses.
It wasn't too long ago that Harry had been awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class for his 'heroic defeat of the Dark Lord.' Part of the award had been, however odd it may have seemed, the legendary eye twinkle that, up till that point, only Dumbledore currently had.
"And again, and again, and again," Ron laughed, "This is the tenth time in the past hour."
"You'd think you'd get used to it after a while, then," Lavender commented.
Ron shook his head, "It's not bad, just. . .it's like I'm talking to Dumbledore every time Harry laughs."
"I am honored that you think of me so often, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said, smiling, before turning to Harry, "Harry, Severus has asked me to inform you that he will be unable to attend."
"Snape? That git wasn't invited in the first place!" Sirius exclaimed.
Harry smiled mischievously, "Yeah he was. . .too bad he couldn't come. . ."
"Harry Potter, what are you scheming now?" Tali asked with a hint of amusement.
"Scheming? Me? Nothing, nothing at all," he said, though no one except Dumbledore looked to believe him, so he continued, ". . .I finished all the scheming months ago."
"Do we even want to know?" Remus asked.
"Most likely," Harry said, managing to fight down the urge to laugh at his knowledge.
"You're going to tell us, then?" asked Fred.
"You'll find out soon enough," Harry said with amusement.
"You men are all the same, you know that?" asked Ginny.
Ron shrugged, "You make it sound like a bad thing."
Ginny shoved him out of his chair and he landed roughly on the ground, "Hey, what was that for?"
She simply stuck her tongue out at him before turning back to everyone else, "So what are we doing now that everyone's here?"
The men all looked at each other and smiled, "CAKE!"
No sooner had the suggestion been made then did Tali and Mrs. Weasley appear in the garden carrying a huge cake that had to be at least twice the size of Dobby. "Merlin's beard!" Mr. Weasley exclaimed, "I've never seen a cake this big! Good job, Molly!"
"Don't look at me! It certainly wasn't this big when I baked it!" she said, setting it down and staring at it.
"That was before the cake met Harry," Sirius whispered to the kids who all laughed.
Harry simply shrugged, "It was your idea, Padfoot."
"Mr. Granger. . .can I talk to you for a minute?" Harry asked as he glanced around to make sure that Hermione wasn't anywhere close to them. Indeed, she was eating cake with Lavender and Ginny on the other side of the garden.
"Certainly," Mr. Granger turned around and excused himself from his conversation with McGonagall, "What can I do for you?"
Harry looked around nervously again, "Er. . .can we go somewhere. . .quieter?"
Mr. Granger glanced around as well and nodded, "I could do with some quiet from those Weasley boys."
Harry turned to see Fred and George sneak up behind Ginny with a magically brought to life rubber snake, and he shook his head. They would be getting an earful from their mother soon.
Harry led Mr. Granger up the hill housed a grand weeping willow. On the other side of the hill a beautiful, crystal clear lake reflected the sun in such a way that both men had to shield their eyes against the glare. Breathing deeply at the majestic sight, Harry felt his nerves calm ever so slightly. Heading into the shade that the willow's branches provided, he motioned for Mr. Granger to follow him.
Once they were both seated on the bench that had been elegantly carved into the trunk of the tree, Harry looked around nervously again and turned back to Mr. Granger, "Er...sir...I need to ask you something..."
"Go ahead," Mr. Granger nodded.
"Okay...I know this is going to sound a bit odd coming from me, seeing as how I'm only seventeen, but...er...that is..." Harry broke off and shuffled his feet uneasily.
"My boy, what is it?"
Harry took a deep breath and looked up into the elder man's eyes, "Sir, if it's alright with you...I...I'd like to ask Hermione to marry me."
Harry quickly broke the gaze and flushed bright red at finally getting the request out. Mr. Granger looked taken back and blinked a couple times.
Harry took this as hesitation and decided to continue, "I know we're both really young, but I'll take care of her, I swear I'd never let anything ever happen to her! I love her and—"
"No, no, calm down, my boy. You just caught me off guard for a moment," Mr. Granger interrupted him, "That certainly wasn't what I was expecting...and I know that you wouldn't let any harm befall my daughter...but, as you stated, you two are awfully young."
"I know, sir. You see, it's just that, every time I see her...it's like...well, I'm not exactly sure how to describe it..." Harry led off again, feeling rather uncomfortable.
"I see," Mr. Grange said, taking a seat on a bench near the tree.
The silence that followed that, Harry thought, was almost worse than his execution at Voldemort's hands had been. He unconsciously nibbled on the corner of his mouth and kept glancing from his feet to Mr. Granger and back again. Nearly wishing that he hadn't asked in the first place, Harry was about to just say forget it when the elder man looked up.
"Harry...Hermione is the only thing I have left..."
Harry nodded quickly, "I understand, sir—"
"But I trust you enough to share her with you," Mr. Granger said smiling at the astonished look on Harry's face, "And I'd be honored to have you as a son-in-law."
Harry smiled brightly, "Thank you, sir! Thanks a lot!"
"It's quite alright, my boy. Just make sure to take care of her," Mr. Granger said, clapping his shoulder.
"Harry! Dad! Where are you two?" Hermione's voice reached the two, "Remus is going to open his gifts!"
"Right here, Hermione," Harry said, stepping out of the shield that was the tree branches.
Hermione reached the top of the hill and looked at the pair of them, "What are you two doing all the way up here?"
Harry looked at Mr. Granger and smiled mischievously, "Sorry, that information's classified."
Hermione pursed her lips, "Fine, be that way then. I'll find out eventually."
The two men couldn't help but laugh at the irony which only caused Hermione's face to fall into curiosity, "What?"
"Nothing, Hermione, nothing," Harry said, tossing his arm around her shoulder.
Hermione looked back at her dad and then at Harry, "Are you sure you're feeling okay, Harry?"
"Of course! We better hurry up and get back to the party," Harry said, pulling on her arm.
By the time the three made it back to the party, Sirius was bouncing off the walls in anticipation of giving his gift. They were quickly ushered to their seats.
"Me first, me first!" Sirius shouted, shoving his gift into Remus' hands.
"Er...okay, Padfoot. Just calm down," Remus said as he slowly started to unwrap the box, making certain to not rip the paper.
Sirius, growing more impatient with each passing minute, clamped his hands to the sides of his face, heavy breathing emanating from his mouth. Slowly, he leaned over Remus' shoulder, eyes widening in torture of waiting.
Remus, sensing something to his side, turned and shouted in surprise when he saw Sirius' face, nearly toppling out of his chair, "Merlin, Sirius! Calm down! I'm getting there!"
"But Moon—ny you're taking FOREVER!" Sirius whined.
Harry, along with quite a few others, snorted at this and had to hide his smile behind his hand as Sirius mock-glared at him.
"Wow, thanks, Padfoot!" Remus said, finally finished unwrapping the gift.
Sirius snapped back to his friend who was flipping through a photo album, "The Marauder's Greatest Moments! Ah, those were the good old days, weren't they?"
Remus turned the page and burst out laughing, "Oh, I remember this!"
The book was passed around and everyone saw a picture of seventeen year olds James and Sirius being chased by a mob of girls from all different Houses.
Lavender laughed as she passed the book on, "Geez, I heard you were popular, Sirius, but not that popular!"
"Yes, well, no one could resist Jamsie and me back in our Hogwarts days," Sirius said cockily, gaining a hit from Tali.
Remus snorted, "Yes, and the fact that you two had ingested love potion didn't hurt any either."
"Love potion? That's illegal!" Hermione said, disapprovingly.
"Hey, it wasn't our idea. It was an accident," Sirius said defensively.
"Why do I have a hard time believing that?" Ron joked, and Sirius glared at him.
"I'll go next," Harry said, standing up and walking over to Remus, "This is actually from Snape and me. It was my idea, but he helped me."
Harry conjured a tall, lean box and handed it to him, "Be careful, it's breakable."
Everyone looked on in interest as Remus, once again, slowly unwrapped the gift. This time, however, Sirius wasn't the only one on pins and needles about its contents. Everyone watched anxiously as Remus finished taking off the wrapping paper and opened the white box.
"What's this?" Remus asked, holding up a tall purple bottle with a liquid in it.
Harry smiled broadly, "That's a new potion Snape and I created. It's called Opium Dresigs."
Everyone stared at him, but it was McGonagall who spoke, "What does it do?"
Harry glanced at Dumbledore who smiled and him and nodded. Harry put a hand on Remus' shoulder, "Congratulations, Remus. One sip of that every day for a week and you can kiss the werewolf inside of you goodbye for good."
There wasn't a single mouth left unopened, with the exception of Harry and Dumbledore. Every single eye remained glued on Harry for an immeasurably long amount of time, until Harry finally laughed.
"Are you all going to just keep staring like that or are you going to say something," he asked, eyes twinkling.
"Harry...are you sure?" Tali asked breathlessly.
"Positive. Why do you think I spent so much time at Hogwarts this summer? It took us a while, but we did it," Harry smiled.
"You know what this means, don't you?" Hermione asked.
Sirius nodded, "Remus...you're free."
Remus, who had still been staring into space in shock, snapped back to reality and tears crept into the corners of his eyes.
He pulled Harry into a hug, "Thank you, Harry. Thank you so much!"
"Don't mention it, Remus. It's your birthday, you deserve it," Harry said before looking pointedly at him, "Just don't expect me to take any bull from Snape this year. I've had enough this past summer."
Fred leaned over to George, "This makes our gift look like crap now, doesn't it?"
George looked down at the box in his arms before shoving it into his twin's arms, "...You can give it to him."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Great! For all of you who have been waiting for this to come out, I'm sorry. I had started the story a while ago as you know, but my muse simply wasn't working. I finally gave into the obvious conclusion that it was because the story sucked. I had to rewrite everything. But here it is, so you can expect constant updates now!
AUTHOR'S NOTE 2: Oh yeah, if you haven't read the story this sprung from, Wanted: Love, it's shouldn't be necessary, but you might want to anyway to pass the time. But first, reviews are welcome!