Chapter Seven * Plenty of Surprises *

"Thanks again, Hermione, for doing this for Clara. It means so much to her," Marie said, smiling at her new friend.

"Please don't thank me. I'm just glad she's enjoying herself. She deserves to have fun," Hermione answered, a smile coming over her when she spotted Clara playing Freeze Tag with the all the Weasley children. "She does seem happy, doesn't she?"

Marie nodded, guilt overwhelming her again. If only she could have thrown this party for her daughter and not Hermione, a new friend. If only she were actually here to spend time with Clara, who she hadn't seen for so long. If only she wasn't working for Voldemort. Life wasn't fair.

"She's happiest when she's with you and when she's not with you, you're all she talks about it. She looks up to you. She loves you," Marie said, fighting back tears. "Serves you right having your own daughter love a stranger more than her own mum. It's your own fault," the voice in her head sneered, for the hundredth time.

Hermione glanced at her. "I'm sure she just thinks I'm fun. She loves you with everything she is."

Marie gave a sad smile but didn't respond, knowing Hermione just felt the need to comfort her. "It's all right, Hermione. It's my own fault."

"Marie -"

"Oh, look, Lavender's motioning me over. Better go see what she wants," Marie cut in, hurrying off though Lavender didn't seem to be motioning for anybody.

"Okay, well, I should go relieve Harry of Door Duty anyway ..." Hermione called after her, frowning.

There was always something about the slightly older woman that made Hermione skeptical but she always brushed her suspicions aside. She was Clara's mother after all, and every little girl deserved to have her mother around.



"Welcome! We're so glad you could make it! The party's in the yard ..." Harry greeted another guest, saying the little speech Hermione had made him memorize for the hundredth time. Literally.

They hadn't expected so many people to show up at Clara's party but they were ready for the surprise, thanks to Hermione. Now if only he could get out of playing host for a few hours he'd be happy.

"Harry Potter! My my, I haven't seen you in ages!"

The loud voice startled Harry and his head whipped around to face yet another guest. Harry didn't recognize the young man standing before him, though he seemed familiar.

"You don't remember me, do you? Anton Zatti, Ravenclaw, graduated same year as you," Anton said, shaking Harry's hand enthusiastically.

Harry ran the name over and over in his head but didn't remember him. He wasn't about to say so, though, so he just smiled. "Hi Anton. How have you been?"

"Oh good, good. I own a shop on Hogsmead, sell Quidditch supplies. I was expecting to see you there. Don't you play Quidditch anymore? You were so good back in our Hogwarts days."

"I do, but not professionally. I'm in a different line of work," Harry answered, looking around uncomfortably. Not only did he not remember who this person was but he was getting a feeling of foreboding just standing next to him. He also wasn't going to reveal his line of work to this stranger.

"So what exactly do you do?" Anton asked, his hazel eyes boring in Harry's green ones.

Before he could reply with a lie, Hermione appeared behind him, her arms going around his waist. "Oh hello. Are you here for Clara?" she asked, but the name suddenly died on her lips.

Harry turned to look at her, the blood seemed to have left her face and he could feel her begin to tremble. He took her arms from around him and pulled her closer to him, tightening his grip on her hand, which felt clammy.

The mysterious guest held out his hand with what seemed like a smirk. "Ah, it if it isn't the beautiful Miss Hermione Granger! It's so good to see you again!"

"I-I'm sorry, do I know you?" she managed to get out. She didn't know why but this man had the same effect on her like Anthony did, and she didn't like it.

"Anton Zatti. Ravenclaw, graduated same year as you two," he repeated, grabbing Hermione's hand and shaking it just as enthusiastically as he had Harry's.

Harry felt Hermione recoil at Anton's touch but knew that the man hadn't seen her. Before he could excuse himself and Hermione, Marie came up beside them, her greeting dying on her lips as she saw Anton. Unlike Hermione, she gave Anton a hard look, which surprised Harry.

"Anton, I didn't know you were going to come," she said, coldly. "It's usually not polite to show up without being invited."

He shrugged, nonchalantly. "Ah, well I wanted to see my Goddaughter, and since you weren't going to invite me I invited myself."

"That's very like you," Marie replied, glaring at the young man.

Harry and Hermione look at the two with puzzlement. "If you'll excuse us ..." Harry said, before slipping away with Hermione in tow.

He led her to the library and shut the door so they wouldn't be overheard. Hermione fell into the large chair she always liked to read in and drew a shaky breath. She hadn't even realized she had been holding her breath until now.

"Are you okay?" he asked, crouching in front of her and taking her hands in his.

She shut her eyes tightly and drew in another breath, trying to keep her voice from shaking.

"I-I'm fine. It's just ..." she trailed off then started over. "Have you ever seen him before?"

Harry shook his head. "No but he reminds me of someone. I can't place who though."

"I can," Hermione said, suddenly angry. "Anthony. I know he looks nothing like Anthony but I got the same feeling from him like I did from Anthony."

Harry peered into her eyes, concerned. Maybe it was time to tell her about her dreams. "Do you actually think this Anton guy is Anthony?" he asked, instead.

Hermione just shrugged dejectedly. "Who knows. He's always going to be there, anyway. Looming over me, keeping me in line."

Tears came to Harry's eyes but he held them back. Poor Hermione! "Well, I'll keep an eye on him and if he appears even a little suspicious I'll take him to our quarters. Remus' team is still trying to locate Parzatti and Voldemort."

"No luck?" she asked, staring down at their conjoined hands.

Harry shook his head but then thought better of it. "Actually, 'Mione, Remus has found something."

Hermione looked up quickly. "What?" she asked, sitting up.

He cleared his throat. "Well ... You know those dreams you've been having? Haven't you ever found it weird that they only convey your worst fears? Things you're afraid might happen?" Hermione nodded. "Remus has detected a spell of the Dark Arts, located somewhere in the Forbidden Forest. It's a -"

"Dream Charm," Hermione interrupted. Harry looked up at her, surprised. Well, what did he expect? This was Hermione after all. "It lets the person who cast the spell go into my mind and turn my worst fears into nightmares, eventually causing me to go crazy. The only way to remove the spell is if the person who cast it removes it," she finished.

"That explains a lot," Hermione mumbled, turning her head to look at the large shelves of numerous books.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Harry, please, look at me!" she cried, exasperated, tears filling her eyes.

"I am, Hermione, and I see nothing wrong. You're still the same," as he said this, he knew it wasn't true, but she was still beautiful and brilliant.

Hermione shook her head, fingering the charm bracelet Harry had given her on their last Christmas at Hogwarts, which now had a graduation hat, a small teddy bear, and a small Cupid. "Don't try to pretend that everything's the same, because it's not. I know how I've been acting, especially towards you,' she turned her head away again, ashamed.

Harry cupped her face in his hands and placed a kiss on her lips. "Everything isn't the same, but changes can be good. Look at Lavender and Ron, look at us! You've been acting different, yes, but it's not your fault. How could it be? You hardly get any sleep because of those bloody nightmares, you've been busy at the hospital and helping Lavender with her wedding, plus planning this party. You need a break and I intend to give it to you. As soon as we can both take time off of work, we'll go to a remote island alone and relax, for as long as you want."

"But Harry! We can't! What about Ron and Lavender's wedding?"

"We still have plenty of time until then."

"Ours?"

"Did you tell your mum the date?"

"Yes."

"Then it's all set."

"What about Clara?"

"She needs to spend time with her mum."

"And Lavender and the baby?"

"That's what Ron is for."

"Remus -"

"-Will understand."

Hermione let a small smile escape and she leaned forward to wrap her arms around his neck. "You're wonderful, you know that?"

Harry held her tightly. "You're amazing, you know that?" he replied.

Hermione laughed, finally standing up. "We better go before people start becoming suspicious," with that the couple walked out of the large library and rejoined their guests.

Hermione had told Harry in not so many words that she thought she was going crazy all ready but he had dismissed the thought. Maybe he was right, maybe she wasn't going crazy but only needed to get some more sleep (easier said than done).

Or maybe she was going crazy; slowly but surely.



"What the hell are you doing here!" Marie hissed at the young Anton, who's polyjuice potion had faded.

"The Master wanted me to come and find out where and how Potter lived, so here I am. Unlike some people, I am actually loyal to him," Anthony hissed back, stressing the last sentence.

Marie glared at him. She had never liked Anthony but knew better than to anger him. Voldemort trusted him the most anyway. "This was my assignment!" she finally cried, making sure to whisper.

They were in a small closet but Marie couldn't be sure that somebody wouldn't hear them. "Why do you always have to butt in?"

Anthony cocked an eyebrow at her. "Butting in, am I? Well, it looks to me like his evilness doesn't trust you."

She scowled but had no response.

"That's what I thought. Now if you'll excuse me ..."

"You can't go out like that!" Marie cried, a little too loudly.

"No shit, Sherlock," Anthony quoted, sardonically. "I was going to disapparate."

"You do know that no one is able to apparate or disapparate from inside the house or on the property, right?" Marie told him, her voice dripping sarcasm.

"Yes I know! Damn Potter! Ugh ..." he muttered. "I'll just sneak out of here and hope no one notices my good looks."

Marie rolled her eyes at his very large ego, wondering when his head would explode from all of it. "Fine, just be careful. We don't want anyone to find out it's you."

It was Anthony's turn to roll his eyes. "Oh yes, mother. It seems to me since you don't know how to be a mother to your own kid you have to practice on others," he sneered, smirking.

The blood drained from her face but before she could scream at him, Anthony had slipped out of the closet and had disappeared into the large crowd, leaving Marie to drown in the truth his lingering words had held.



Author's Note: Hey! Here's another chapter in this ongoing story. Hope you liked it. I want to say thanks to all the people who reviewed, though I didn't get as many as I had hoped. So please review and enjoy!

* Jen * Hey! Thanks so much for all the great ideas you've given me through out the story. Hurry and update yours. Thanks for all the reviews, too! Are you happy now?? : )

::Twisted*Angel::

P.S. Note about Hermione's charms: The graduation hat symbolizes her graduation from Hogwarts, the small teddy bear symbolizes her career, and the small Cupid represents Harry and Hermione's love.