Disclaimer-I don't own Harry Potter


New Loves and Old Flames


"It's a little disappointing, Petunia, to see Harry now," Dumbledore said quietly.

"Professor, I—" Petunia started.

"I understand your reasons, Petunia. It was a terrible thing to have happened to you. What Lucius and Narcissa did was unforgivable."

"It wasn't just Malfoy. It was…it was him, too."

"But he didn't—"

"He led me to them. He laughed. But I guess I'm a hypocrite. I stood by and watched Vernon abuse Harry and did nothing…and I joined in, too. So I guess I'm worse."

Dumbledore was very quiet. "I won't deny facts, Petunia. But, while we're on the subject of—"

"Please don't say his name. Ever again," Petunia added, with a touch of anger.

"All right. While we're on the subject of "him", you should know that he's in league with us now, so you may end up seeing him again."

Her eyes widened. "Professor, I can't do that. I can't see him again."

"You must, Petunia. Unless you want yours, and Harry's, lives to end, you must."

"I…I can't."

"You must."

"I know. I…know…"


"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed weakly.

"Hi, Hermes," Harry said, using the nickname she had forbidden him to ever use.

"I'd throw a pillow at you if I had the energy," Hermione said. "How's Ron?"

"He's not awake yet."

Hermione sighed a very deep, sorrowful sigh. "Harry, sit with me, please."

Harry obediently went forward and sat next to her. She dropped her head against his side, her arms hugging his stomach.

"We're a pair of orphans now, Harry," she said. "And God knows how many of our friends will join us…or how many we'll lose."

"Don't think about it, Hermes," he said.

"I try not to, and then I think of my parents and it comes around full circle. You were at least lucky in one way. You didn't know they were being killed while you waited upstairs."

"Hermione—"

"I heard them, Harry. I heard them screaming. It was like how you are when Dementors are nearby."

Harry remembered, with a sudden chill, the Dementors roaming around him, remembered the heart-shattering shrieks as Lily cried for James and pleaded for Harry at the same time. He wrapped one arm around Hermione and squeezed her.

"My mother…her name was Demi…saw who they were. The Death Eaters who killed them. I heard her shriek just before she died."

"Who were they?"

"Aaron and Belicia Granger. My mother and father."

"What?"

"Harry, my parents aren't my real parents. Aaron Granger is my biological father, my dad's brother. Aaron and Belicia went to Hogwarts, but Paul Granger, my uncle, was a Squib, and his wife was a Muggle. Aaron and Paul hated each other and never spoke. Aaron and Belicia took up with Voldemort when he first came to power, and they ran a campaign against Squibs and Muggles. My grandmother asked Dumbledore to hide my aunt and uncle, so they weren't killed. Your parents were their Secret-Keepers. They were all in the Order together. Paul and Demi could look for Dark Magic in Muggle places easier than the others could."

She paused. "A little more than a year before you brought down Voldemort, my biological parents had me, but I can't remember living with them. My earlist memory is the early November after my 1st birthday, when Hagrid brought me to live with Paul and Demi. They knew that I would probably be a witch, so they raised me to become one."

She paused again. "I found out about Aaron and Belicia when I was 10, when I found my birth certificate on accident. Ever wonder why I've worked so hard to be so perfect? To prove to Paul and Demi that I'm not like Aaron and Belicia. My aunt and uncle were my parents. I refuse to have parents that are Death Eaters. So I guess I'm an orphan now."

She looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. "How opposite are our circumstances? Your parents were Order members and mine were Death Eaters. We were both given to an aunt and uncle. Mine loved me, yours hated you. And yet, we are both orphans now."

Harry was trying to register all that Hermione had told him. "Why did you never say anything to Ron and me?"

"If Lily and James were Death Eaters, would you have said anything? I didn't want anyone to know. I wouldn't even tell Malfoy, to get him to shut up about me being a Mudblood. If Aaron and Belicia were my alternatives, I'd prefer to be that way. Harry, after they killed my aunt and uncle I went downstairs. I screamed at them; told them I knew about everything that they'd done and if they dreamed I'd join them, they were sadly deluded. Belicia tried to kill me, but her Avada Kedavra was pretty weak. She was just recently busted out of Azkaban, so she wouldn't have had much practice with a wand, now would she? She did knock me out, though."

"How could she…how can a mother try to kill her own child?"

"Death Eaters don't care about other lives anymore. You saw how Bellatrix killed Sirius, her own cousin, and the only thing she was upset about was failing Voldemort. Aaron and Belicia were the same way. Power turns people's heads, Harry. Death Eaters have hearts hard enough to cut diamonds. Why should a trivial thing like a daughter or a brother mean anything to them?" Silent tears poured down her face. "I'll kill them, Harry. I'll even use Avada Kedavra if I have to, I'll kill them for what they've done—"

"Hermione, don't get worked up, you'll hurt yourself!"

"I don't care! They killed my mum and dad!" she screeched. She started to thrash about violently. "AND I WILL KILL THEM!"

Harry's mind was flying. Hermione was going to hurt herself if she kept up like this. Frantically, he did the only thing he could think of.

He grabbed Hermione's face and planted his lips against hers.

She immediately stopped thrashing, and her entire body went rigid. Harry's heart was thumping wildly against his ribs. She was going to hurt him so bad when he pulled away.

She didn't moved for two agonizingly slow seconds, and then her arms flung themselves around him and held him closer.

They stayed like that for 30 seconds, and then Harry pulled back. He was gasping for breath and amazed at himself, and her.

"Harry," Hermione said quietly. "What was that?"

"You were hurting yourself…I had to stop you." he stammered.

"Did you enjoy it?"

His voice failed him. He looked at her with confused, pleading eyes.

"Of course not, how could you enjoy a kiss from someone born of filth? I should've just kept my mouth shut. No one except Draco could ever love the child of Death Eaters. Well, I'm sorry you had to endure it, Harry. Terribly sor—"

She was cut off as Harry kissed her again.

This time, Hermione pulled back. She stared at Harry, in shock.

"Of course I enjoyed it. A 30-second kiss for no reason isn't my bag."

"Harry, I—" Hermione started. "I enjoyed it, too."

She smiled, though tears were still in her eyes. "This is good. This is very good."

She leaned in against Harry's side, and he wrapped his arm around her. He didn't feel guilty at all. Hermione and Viktor had broken up not long ago, because, according to Hermione, he was practically dating his own broomstick. And Cho was slowly dwindling in his memory.

"Harry."

"Yeah, Hermes?"

"Promise me you won't die. Promise me you won't leave me like my parents did."

He planted a kiss on top of her head. "I won't."


"Where's Ronald? Where is he?"

Luna Lovegood burst into the lobby. The attack at 12 Grimmauld Place was all over the Muggle news. Even if the house was hidden, explosions were not easily swept under the rug.

Luna knew that Grimmauld was the site of the Order's HQ, as her father had joined recently, and she knew that the Weasleys were a part of it.

She had immediately thought of Ron, and she had panicked. She had begged and begged until her father agreed to Apparate her to St. Mungo's. She had nearly cried with gratitude when he did.

The Welcome Witch stared at her. "Miss, if you don't mind, this is a hospital."

"I need to see Ronald Weasley!" she yelped.

The witch scanned the list on her clipboard. "I'm afraid he's in a delicate condition and can see no one until his Healer says he can."

"What happened?"

"I'm afraid I can't disclose that information. Kindly take a seat, and I will call you when he wakes up."

Luna turned away, almost crying. She was imagining all sorts of terrible things that could possibly have happened to him. He was lying on the ground, his entrails leaking out…he was hanging from the ceiling, bleeding…and yelling "Luna, Luna!"

"Hey, you. You're Loony Lovegood, aren't you?"

Luna turned. "I'm Luna Diana Artemis Cynthia Selena Gwendolyn Lovegood," she said, indignantly, facing Fred and George Weasley. "And you are Frederick Isaac and George Edward Weasley. Ronald Rupert Weasley's brothers. How is he?

"He's not awake yet, but we think he's holding up," George.

"That's good." Relief at this news allowed her back her dreamy expression. Idly, she imagined being the first one there when he woke up. She blushed and giggled, making Fred and George look at each other with confused expressions.

Well used to this, Luna positively floated to the nearest chair and sat down, letting herself daydream.


"They're almost here," Dumbledore said, standing up.

"Who is?" Petunia asked.

"The Order."

"You contacted all of them?" Petunia asked, aghast. "Even—"

"Yes, even him."

"How could you?!"

But before Dumbledore could answer, the body of Remus Lupin tumbled out the hospital's fireplace. Petunia looked positively relieved that he had come out first.

The Last Marauder, however, did not look thrilled at all. He looked dead nervous.

"Who was hurt? Your letter was vague," he said directly at Dumbledore.

"Hermione Granger, Ron, Ginny, Molly, and Arthur Weasley," Dumbledore said.

"And Harry?"

"He escaped uninjured."

"That's good to hear," a new, younger, female voice said, as Nymphadora Tonks followed Remus. Dumbledore's quick eyes saw Tonks's hand lightly graze Remus's own, and he sent a sharp glance to Remus. He had been picking up frequencies that Remus and Tonks were romantically involved, even though she was considerably younger, but he had no proof. In any case, they both seemed happy, so he'd decided not to press. Remus wasn't the kind to use and abuse younger girls, anyway.

From the doorway walked Luna's father, Apollo Lovegood. He immediately went to his daughter, who hugged him and said, "He's all right, Daddy."

Following them was the ever-growling, ever-eye-twitching Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody. He glanced at Petunia without so much as a nod, and then turned back to Dumbledore. "Who's dead?"

"Bill and Percy Weasley, and Paul and Demi Granger."

"The Grangers?" Moody growled. "Who did it? Don't tell me it was those devils Aaron and Belicia Granger."

"It seems likely."

Petunia stopped listening to their conversation, as there was a PUFF from the fireplace. She turned quickly, and her eyes widened as she saw who it was.

"You," she said, quietly and darkly.

She reared back her palm and slapped him clear across the face.

"Aunt Petunia!"

Petunia turned quickly to see Harry, staring incredulously, his mouth hanging open. He had just left Hermione's room, seeing as she was tired and the nurse was yelling at him to let her sleep.

"Oh, yes, I should introduced you." She turned back to the red-faced man. "This is my nephew, Harry Potter. Harry, meet my ex-boyfriend." She said the name bitterly, as if she had just swallowed Skelo-Gro.

"Severus Snape."