H P Boy who livesYear 7- Summer
Chapter 6
The twins
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Harry felt like his head was going to come off his shoulders, as he slowly forced himself to open his eyes. The room was dark; the fireplace gave off a welcoming glow. He could see others snoozing in chairs throughout his bedroom. He found it impossible to move. Hermione held him protectively in her arms.
Aunt Minerva, Uncle Albus, Uncle Remus, Aunt Molly, Ginny? Moreover, was that Madame Pomfrey was sitting beside his bed?! What had happened to make all of them sit vigil at his bedside? Had he had a fit or something?
He could remember some of what had happened, of what his Aunt had been telling him. Still, it hurt to think about the rest. It hurt too much to think about all he had remembered. He knew the exact events that happened on the night his parents were murdered. What Voldemort had said to him that fateful night before he had given him his scar? The words that he as a little boy had vowed before that brilliant flash of green light had changed his life forever. He squeezed his eyes shut to ward off the tears that were once again flowing freely down his face.
"Do you need something Harry dear?" Madame Pomfrey looked over at him. "You have been through-the-wringer young man, so don't be brave and not ask for something to help your aching head."
"How long was I out?" He found that his voice was so parched he could hardly talk.
"Oh about ten hours give or take a minute or so." Pomfrey handed him a strange looking smoking potion. "Now be a good lad and drink that all up."
Harry careful not to wake the sleeping lioness in his arms obediently drank the potion. "Ugh that stuff tasted nasty!" Harry coughed and gasped.
Hermione's eyes shot open at the sound of his voice. "Harry?!" She cried out in panic then looked down into his eyes which were wide-awake and staring at her with loving concern.
"I'm okay angel just needed a long nap. Sorry about the..." He was unable to finish what he was going to say. Hermione had burst into tears. "Angel don't cry. I got to see loads of good memories before the bad." He would have changed positions, so he was holding her, but she had a death grip around him.
Albus was the first to stir the others were still soundly asleep in their comfortable conjured Chintz chairs. "Harry it's good to see that you have finally awakened. I would have placed myself closer. It was just that after Hermione gave Severus donkey ears and a tail, for disturbing you. I decided that sitting at a distance would be best." His voice was warm and soothing and he looked at him with loving concern.
"You gave Professor Snape donkey ears and a tail? You could be in trouble you aren't seventeen yet." Harry knew that this was the wrong thing to say, for she was howling in misery now.
"He was using Legilimens to look into your mind and you...you...groaned as if you were in pain...so I got protective and well..." Tears poured down onto Harry's face as she sobbed out her explanation.
Harry gently pried her hands from around him and switched them so he was the one holding her in his arms. "See that's much better, angel. I was beginning to drown." He smiled down into her eyes. "So what did Professor Snape do?"
"Severus sighed in defeat at Hermione...I believe he said something like he had that coming, and then left for St. Mungo's." Dumbledore had moved his chair so he was sitting next to Harry's bed. His eyes were dancing with humor behind his half-moon spectacles.
"Uncle Albus...I thought I saw my parents..." Harry could remember seeing his father and then telling him what for.
"Ah yes that...well Harry if you would glance up above you. I believe you can see a new portrait hanging above your head." He was smiling now. It was clear that no damage had been done, that Harry was going to be fine.
Harry turned to look up at the portrait. His parents were sleeping dressed to the nines in their wedding best. "Mum! Dad!" He didn't know what to say. He was going to be able to talk to his parents anytime he wished now. "Hermione look it's my Mum and Dad. Just like Uncle Sirius."
Hermione her tears now spent smiled up at him. "I know. They have been watching over you for hours."
"Lily" James nudged his wife gently in the arm.
"Harry, thank the heavens you finally woke up." Lily sighed in relief.
"Dad I'm, uh, sorry about what I said...I was sort of not thinking clearly." Harry remembered exactly how he had treated his father and was ashamed.
"It's all right son...all that matters is that you're going to be fine." James smiled in relief.
"Yes he will all he needs is some rest." Pomfrey declared.
"My dear boy... Miss Hermione has been holding you for ten hours. She refused to leave you." Pomfrey rolled her eyes at Hermione and shook her head in defeat. "I told her that she could go have dinner, use the privy, and what not. No, she kept on about how I wouldn't allow her to come near you until you woke up. This was balderdash because I know that she is good medicine for you."
"Yes, well, I will be right back." Hermione reluctantly pulled out of his arms and went to leave the bed. "Oh I think this is yours." She handed him back his wand before disappearing out the door.
"Uh did you notice that Uncle Remus is a werewolf?" He looked over at the rug by the carpet Remus covered by a blanket was sound asleep.
"Moony is harmless son, so as long as he takes his potion." James explained.
"Thank the moons he's finally awakened." Minerva stirred in her chair. She noticed that Hermione was no longer guarding her nephew. "So where has our lioness gone off to?"
"She'll return shortly that I have no doubt. If you hadn't been so quick to counteract her jinx, I believe that Severus may well have found himself looking and braying like a donkey." Albus chuckled.
"Yes, well, after all the times she has undergone his scrutiny and sneers who could blame the girl for thinking the worst of him." Minerva got up out of the chair and made her way to sit on Harry's bed.
"Oh Harry dear don't fret. I believe that Ginny got snaps of the whole thing." Lily read her sons expression for she knew his father would have thought the same thing.
"It's okay Mum...my day was pretty much scrapped since Hermione asked me if she looked good in her bikini...after that it kinda spiraled down from there." Harry put his hand over his mouth. He had not wanted to say all of that in front of his family.
"Well do go on Harry tell them that you went and knocked your knee into the bathroom doorframe and were only dressed in a towel." Hermione was standing in the doorway she did not look pleased and she had a letter in her hands.
"A bikini! A Towel!" Lily, Minerva, James, Pomfrey, and Albus stared at them in he didn't know how they were looking it was a mixed bag of reactions. His Uncle and father were smirking. While his Aunt, Mother, and nurse were all frowning.
"I'm on ministry probation!" Hermione held out the letter in humiliation. "They threatened to take away my Head girl position at Hogwarts!"
Albus took a deep calming breath. "I'm the acting head of the Wizarding council. They cannot place you on probation unless I have approved it. Nor can they take away your place as Head Girl."
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"Miss Hermione?" Kreacher appeared out of nowhere.
"Yes Kreacher what is it?" Hermione thought now what could possibly be wrong.
"There are people downstairs Miss." He seemed well distressed.
"People? Downstairs?" Minerva got to her feet, as did Albus.
"I thought that only witches and wizards could see number twelve?" Harry frowned.
"Hermione Anne Granger you could have told your parents that something was wrong with Harry James!" A raven haired, violet eyed, older witch with streaks of silver in her hair was standing behind Hermione. She had not aged harshly; no, she had that comfortable grandma look to her features. Well it would have been if her eyes were not blazing with fury.
"Nana!" Harry exclaimed for some reason that he did not know. He knew who this witch was.
"Mattie you should have sent an owl! Mum and Daddy probably took the jet here and brought the tweebs with them as well!" Hermione turned to glare at her former nanny. "Wait did you just call Mattie, nana?" She whirled back around to look at him in confusion.
"I'm touched that he still remembers me. He was such a wee tiddler when I was sent away." Mattie blinked back her tears.
"Mattie since when do you go about dressed like a witch?" Hermione frowned.
"On my days off, I need to keep in touch with my family and the Wizarding world." Mattie stated rather impatiently. "Would Lord and Lady Granger have let their firstborn daughter go to Hogwarts if they hadn't known that it was a highly respected and well renowned school? Do not be daft girl of course; they know I am a witch! They were close friends of Harry's parents and that is how I came on to be your nanny."
"Lord and Lady?!" Harry took a blanket and pulled it over his head. Jet!? Had she just said jet?
"Harry James behave! You know very well that you are now the Half-Blood Prince! So don't you go thumbing your nose down at her parents for their title?" Lily scolded her son.
"Ever hear of the phrase information overload!" Harry snarled from under the blanket. "I don't think my head can take any more..."
--
To late the twins had managed to zero in on the action.
"This place is wicked!" Bastion looked like a kid in a candy store. He had an unruly dark cap of curly brown hair, mischievous amber eyes, and a grin that stated I'm-going-to-get-into-everything. "What does this do?" He held up a headless hat that he had found in a huge chest on the counter in the foyer.
"Sebastian Alexander! Where did you get that?" Hermione growled.
"Relax angel it's harmless." Harry sat up to see what was going on. He saw Bastion holding the headless hat and grinned wickedly.
"Hmm I guess you're right and he is going to be starting first year. I guess a little magic can't hurt." Hermione took the hat out of Bastions' hands. "Now hold still and it will do magic."
"Oh yeah, Sebastian it will do very powerful magic." Harry acted as if he were eager to see the hat do its work.
"Really?!" He stood still as the hat was set on his head, which in turn seemed to vanish off the boys shoulders.
"Sebastian!! What happened to your head?" Sabrina who had been running up the hallway skidded to a halt. She was the spitting image of Hermione at that age. The only difference was that Bree had an air of mischief around her.
"What cha mean by that Bree? My head is still on me!" Bastion frowned not that anyone could see his head was not there.
"Sissy show him! Show him that his head is gone!" Bree demanded.
Hermione shrugged her shoulders, but did as she was ordered to do. "Ok little brother look at yourself in the mirror." She maneuvered him in front of the closet mirror.
"AHHHHH!! I DON'T HAVE A HEAD!!" Bastion screamed at the top of his lungs. "MUMMY!! DADDY!! NANNY!!"
Albus seeing where this was heading stood up, and calmly plucked the hat off his head. "There now young man no need to get all bothered. You still have a head. Look in the mirror." He was calm as ever and placed a reassuring hand on the boys shoulder.
"Sebastian Alexander and Sabrina Alexis I told you to stay in the car!" Katherine Granger came rushing up the stairs.
Alexander Granger was hot on her heels. "Those two can't stay out of trouble for two minutes! I was having a nice conversation with James and Sirius!"
"It's been a longtime since any portrait has greeted me, so I am sorry if I fainted. I was not ready to see James and Sirius who are both dead mind you…Grinning at me like idiots!" Katherine growled at her husband.
"My word Harry's entire family is here!" Alex exclaimed in surprise, as he stopped just outside doorway. "He must have given them one hell of a fright to have all of them still here watching over him."
"Hello darling care to tell me what is going on." Katherine placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder.
Hermione whirled around to face her parents. "Mum! Daddy! I'm sorry that I didn't send Aristotle with a message telling you that we were going to be detained..."
"It's all right, sweetie. James and Sirius explained everything to me downstairs." Alex pulled her to him for a hug, but then pulled her away to take in her new look. "Darling did you see what a beauty our Hermione has become."
"Why Hermione did they tie you to the chair or did you actually sit through an actual makeover?" Her mom gave her daughter a fierce hug. "I told you that salons were not torture chambers. Did Harry James actually convince you to go?"
"Mum! Hermione and Harry were mean to me!" Bastion came to tattle on his sister.
"He didn't have a head! She used magic! She's not allowed to use magic!" Bree backed up her twin.
Mattie rolled her eyes heavenward and went to go talk to Albus and Minerva. "It's not too late for you to reconsider their letters."
"I think that after Harry, Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, Ginny, the DA, and the Marauders, that I can handle your twins." Albus winked at her in amusement. "My word this hat looks like the Sorting hat!"
"Those twins have sold dozens of those to the kids. I can imagine what the first years are going to think when they see him at the beginning of term feast." Minerva shook her head in exasperation.
Madame Pomfrey was looking after Lupin, so Harry made his escape from the bed. "I have to know what's going on outside in the hallway." He started to get out of bed when Mattie pushed him back down onto the pillows.
"Where do you think that you are off to Harry James Potter?" She gave him a, you-are-not-to-old to-be-taken-over-my-knee-and-I-will-do-it look.
"Lesson number 54, son. Never try to sneak passed Mattie it just isn't possible." James lectured him from his portrait.
"Harry you mind yourself and stay in that bed." Lily ordered.
"Yes Mum." Harry sighed in defeat. "I really wanted a break before I had to go to Hogwarts and then to the Ministry of Magic Order of Merlin first-class ceremony."
"Order of what?!" James's jaw dropped.
--
"He and Hermione are both receiving the Order of Merlin first-class on August 23." Albus beamed at Harry. "He would have made his Many Great-Grandfather Godric Gryffindor very proud by the way that he handled himself against Voldemort and his clan of Deatheaters."
"He's just seventeen!" James protested.
"In his first year he defeated Professor Quirrell, who was possessed by Tom, and kept the Sorcerers Stone out of the enemy's hands with the help of Ron and Hermione." Albus paused for everyone including Hermione, her siblings, and her parents were listening as he spoke.
"Then in second year he saved Ginny from Tom's spirit and defeated the basilisk with his grandfather's sword. I will add again that it was Hermione who found that it was a basilisk that was hurting the students. She was petrified for her efforts." He watched as the twins gaped at their sister and then gulped.
"In third year, he rescued Sirius and Buckbeak with the help of Hermione and mastered the Patronus charm. The very likeness of your animal form. If Hermione had not studied up on werewolves the two would not be here to this day."
"Werewolves?!" The twins clung to each other.
"Remus Lupin is harmless!" Alex growled.
"Not if he doesn't take his potion in time and was chasing after my nephew, your daughter, and Molly's son Ron." Albus corrected him.
"I see..." Katherine hugged her daughter.
"Uh, Uncle Albus you forgot about the Dementors." Harry thought that was an important fact. "It was the reason that I learned to use my patronus."
"Ah yes how can I forget that, so sorry Harry. Can you two think of say what death would look like?" He looked at the twins.
They nodded.
"Well these are much worse than that. Dementors wear black decaying robes, their very skin looks like it is rotting off their flesh, and they have dead looking faces with a round hole for their mouths. This Creature feeds on the happy emotions of humans. The very kiss of a Dementor will suck out your soul, leaving you an emotionless empty shell." His explanation bought chills down everyone's spines.
"I was constantly attacked by those things throughout third year. It also feeds on other emotions like anger, grief, and fear. When a Dementor gets near you all you feel is cold and lifeless like you will never be warm or happy ever again. In my case, it caused me to relive the worst night of my life by hearing my parents die repeatedly. Hermione and I had a mission to save an innocent man and an innocent hippogriff from death. To conjure a patronus so powerful that you can take out over a hundred Dementors calls for extreme feelings of joy. In my case I had Uncle Sirius back and I wasn't alone anymore." Harry shrugged his shoulders. "You can go on with the rest of my life at Hogwarts Uncle Albus."
"Let's see now we are at their fourth year and the year of the Triwizard tournament. No one under 17 years old may enter this tournament. Again, Harry found himself with a challenge for someone had entered him into the tournament. His first task was to get a golden egg from a protective mother dragon's nest. He passed that with excellence by calling on his Firebolt and performing some of the best flying the Wizarding World has ever seen." Albus paused the twins were laughing. "Did I say something funny?"
"There is no such thing as dragons!" Bree giggled.
"You will find that, when you start your schooling at Hogwarts, the world isn't as it seems. Those creatures from Fairy tales actually do exist and creatures from nightmares may not be as fictional as they may seem." Albus lectured the twins.
"My second task well that one was almost a wash out." Harry raked his fingers through his hair as if in contemplation. "I had to rescue Ron from the bottom on the lake. I used gillyweed thanks to Dobby, so I would be able to breathe for a time underwater. Hermione was there too she was Krum's subject to rescue. Well when I got to the Mer village, I found Ron and Hermione strapped to something and they were both in an enchanted sleep. I was told by my clue that I had only and hour or the person that I cared about would be lost to me forever. Let's just say the other victims were not being rescued and it took Krum forever to get to Hermione. Fleur was not coming after her sister, so I rescued both her sister and Ron." Harry saw that the twins were so into the story of his life that they were trance like.
"The third and final task was a maze filled with all sorts of dark creatures and a sphinx with a riddle. So I could touch the golden, cup first and win. Cedric and I decided to both touch it together. It was the last mistake he ever made because Voldemort had arranged this whole situation and had turned the cup into a Portkey." He took a deep breath before continuing.
"The two of us were whisked away to an old cemetery filled with Deatheaters, where the rat traitor on the order of the Dark Lord killed Cedric and then used me to help him rise again. He had Peter cut my arm open so he could get some of my blood for his potion. I think I had been cursed by the Cruciatus curse twice. He used the Imperius curse on me, but I'm too strong willed for it to work on me for very long." He grinned up at his dad.
"I was hurt and in so much pain. I could barely stand. You see my leg was badly injured yet I stood up and faced him anyway. He cast Avada Kedavra at the same time that I cast Expelliarmus. Now since we had wands made from the same phoenix's Tail feather the wands did something amazing. To make a long story short everyone that Voldemort had killed came back through his wand as ghostly images. It was then that I got to see my parents and they told me to hold on and when they gave the signal to run for the Portkey. I managed to grab Cedric's body and touched the Portkey."
"The result of his surviving Voldemort resulted in the up-and-coming joke shop entrepreneurs Weasley Wizards Weases." Ginny was now awake and intently listening to the story. "He gave my twin older brothers 1000 galleons to start their company."
"On to fifth year...Tom used Harry to try to get him to retrieve the prophecy about the two of them. This was a tough year for Harry and a tough loss for the Order. Harry had started training a group of students about the defense of the dark arts and had dubbed them Dumbledore's Army." He winked at Harry.
"Toad lady deserved everything that she got! Sending those Dementors on my cousin and me! Making my hand bleed by that dark quill of hers by writing I will not tell lies a thousand times until it became this scar on my hand, because she didn't want me talking about Voldemort's return! She was evil!" He held out his hand where you could still see a visible scar that spelled out what he had just said.
"As I said it was a very angry year for Harry." Albus cleared his throat as if to get back on track with his story. "Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Luna Lovegood, and Neville Longbottom all set off to rescue what Voldemort had made Harry think was Sirius. They actually held there own against the Deatheaters and he was once again unable to get what he desired. He once again faced the Dark Lord this time at the Ministry of Magic. I arrived in time to save him. He was mentally gone grieving over the loss of his Uncle Sirius, and Tom actually possessed him for a few moments. However Harry had something special inside him and Tom once again slithered away."
"Where my Uncle then portkeyed my ass back to his office and proceeded to tell me that he had been not so truthful since the day that I had met him. He let me listen to the prophecy, which he himself had heard from Professor Trelawney before I was even born. Neither may live unless the other one dies. I can't tell you how great I felt knowing that I would have to stoop to his level to defeat him." Harry's voice filled with sarcasm. "Oh do go on Uncle Albus sixth year that was the icing on the cake wasn't it." He was so bitter about losing his friends and it showed.
"Let's just say that Harry overcame Lord Voldemort and leave it at that shall we." Hermione knowing what going through that memory might do to him raced over and threw herself back into his arms.
"Saved again by my angel," He cuddled her in his arms and forced his temper to fade away. "If any of you wish to see any of the creatures say like a Dementor. I have a boggart in a chest that I practice my patronus on."
"Wow you two are wicked cool! My sister is not just Miss Brains!" Sebastian was impressed and had newfound respect for his older sister.
"You're like the heroine's in the movies!" Bree agreed.
"Do not encourage your sister!" Alex and Katherine exclaimed in unison.
"Oh mother there was never a need to worry, because I had Harry." She was content as a kitten in his arms.
"That may be true but I made it to this day because I had you backing me up all the way." He rested his chin on top of her head and smiled.
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Chapter 7
The Cousin
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I do not claim any of JKR's characters only that I love being able to create my own kind of mischief with her beloved characters. I do not claim any other things that are owned by other companies that I may mention once and a while in the stories...Although the original characters and ideas are, mine and I loved creating them. So please review if you wish but try not to flame me too badly.
Cindra 2004-2008