H P Boy who livesYear 7- Summer
Chapter 28
Teen rebellion
--
What would you do? How would you react if you suddenly got your fondest wish and had your whole family back with you? Harry is about to find out that its going to take time to adjust to being around his very much alive parents that are determined to make up for lost time.
--
Ten Hours later...
Hermione stared over at the bed next to her own where Harry had not yet awakened. It had been ten hours since he had fallen unconscious and he was still sleeping. It reminded her of waiting for him to wake up in St. Mungo's. "Draco you don't think that something is wrong do you?"
Draco was lying in the other bed beside hers with Ginny sleeping in his arms. "I don't think that his Mum would be calmly snoozing over there in that bed or that his dad would be calmly watching over him like that if something were wrong with him. I know what you're thinking and that isn't gonna happen again." Draco reassured her. "Let's go over what Wonder Boy did to himself this time. He got gashed in the leg by Mosag, bitten a few times by her kids, spit at by Aragog. I'm sure that I heard something like sizzling noise when that loogie hit his specs. Next he goes off to check on you and you have a broken leg. Wonder Boy then takes your pain away. His system is already being taxed by his ordeal with the spiders, so that's taking even more of his energy. The result of his efforts is to pass out on the big guy's hand, causing him what looks to me like a head injury. In short he overdid it as usual and will wake up grouchy as hell because he isn't holding you."
"I think he did even more than that." Hermione hugged a pillow to her chest.
"More?" Draco's looked over at her and then where Harry was sleeping. "What could he possibly do while he's out cold?"
James was propped up on his elbow watching over his son. "You really do have the tendency to blow things out of proportion don't you, Kitten?" He arched one brow at her just as Harry was fond of doing when he was perplexed with her.
Hermione narrowed her eyes at her godfather. "You didn't sit nearly two weeks by his bedside and pray for him to wake up. You didn't have everyone tell you that he was never going to awaken again. Don't you daresay something like that to me when you couldn't even listen to him when he was a little boy." She growled.
"Ouch you awoke the Lioness. You better hide your wand or Harry's."
"So it's not Kitten anymore is it, you're a full-grown lioness." James eyed her warily.
"I'm not a Ducky or a Kitten anymore. Now start talking. What else did he do?" She was in no mood to play nice with anyone.
"Harry may be sleeping like the dead, but I can assure you that he's fine. He's just sleeping off the effects of his ordeal." James tried to put her at ease. "For the first hour he was mentally wide-awake and very talkative with his mother and me, in the not talking out loud method of communication."
"What was this telepathic powwow about? Does it have anything to do with the condition of yours and Uncle Sirius' faces?" Hermione wasn't convinced yet.
"I say you really are quite the firebrand aren't you." James chuckled. "He started out suggesting that his mother and I go spend quality time together while he slept off his ordeal. He kept on with that plan of attack until he came to a realization after Lily suggested that we give him a sibling."
"Oh, oh, my stars now I remember..." Hermione's eyes widened in recognition of something that she had long forgotten. "We were so little when Aunt Jenna and Aunt Lily told us their surprise for you and Uncle Sirius. I don't think that we really understood what they meant, but I do now."
Draco had the look of sheer concentration on his face. "Yeah, Harry was getting twin siblings, and we were both getting a baby cousin. It was a secret though just like when..."
Hermione carried on the conversation. "We got to be in that party at my house. Aunt Jenna and Uncle Sirius must have gotten married that day." She looked over at James and saw the flash of hurt run across his face. "Oh, that's right I remember you couldn't come you were busy with things."
"The afternoon tea at Alex and Katherine's that I blew off was my best friend and sister's wedding..." James felt sick.
"It's all so clear now. Harry knew about the twins before his mother told him. He would constantly babble at us that he was getting a brother and a sister. Then he would get all broody and talk about bad men and nightmares. Our last playtime, I think it was right before it happened, he hugged me and told me sorry he couldn't see me again, the bad man was coming. He knew what was coming and that he was going to be alone." Tears shined in Hermione's eyes. "He tried to tell you many times, but you were focused on keeping them safe, and didn't pay attention to what he was trying to say. He knew that Peter was a bad man all along."
"I think the reason I became such a bastard is there was no longer any good influences in my life. I guess when we met again at eleven part of me knew him and resented him for leaving. I resented both of you for leaving." Draco also has tears in his eyes. "There was no more Uncle Sirius to take me away to play with my friends just dark influences."
James sat up and scrubbed at his face with his hands. "Yeah, I blew it big time. I knew what was up with the prophecy and was determined to beat it. That didn't work out that hot, but now I have a second chance and I'm not gonna blow it."
He looked over at Lily sleeping across the ward, at Sirius snoozing with Jenna in his arms in another bed, and then at Harry smiling in his sleep. "Lily is expecting twins a boy and a girl and my baby sis is expecting one little girl. Lil's is nine weeks along and Jenn is six weeks. I know that I owe Padfoot a major apology. I made him eat the wall when Harry came up with his revelation."
"That's why Uncle Sirius looks all worked up? You thought that he...Oh, broke the cardinal rule. The no cookies till married rule..." He looked down at Ginny and then over at his Uncle. "I can live with that rule, because Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, and Harry would do a hell of a lot worse than slamming me face first into a wall."
James narrowed his eyes at Draco.
"Hey, don't look at me like that. I love and respect my Peaches. It's just she might not have the same morals that I do. Just like a sister of sorts of mine, who's currently pouting, because you're next to Wonder Boy, and she isn't. She's not being entirely truthful with this innocent lamb act of hers. Just ask Wills about it, something about research at thirteen in the library." Draco had to make it known there were two sides to this coin.
Wills walked into the ward with Andrew at that very moment. "Yeah, that's our Ducky. If she doesn't understand it, by crikey does she go and research the hell out of it." Wills gave her a knowing look.
Andrew looked at Hermione and then at Wills. "She's the reason you ranted that Libraries were lacking in enforcing restricting certain books to unknowing teens? I don't believe it. What was she at the time thirteen?"
"That's right and let me tell you that what she was researching was not reading material for an almost fourth year honor student." Wills wasn't happy with her even now after four years.
Harry was frowning in his sleep and had the look of wanting to kill someone.
"Hey, weren't you dating Krum fourth year? For a first conquest I guess your research paid off." Draco found a pillow thrown in his face.
"Will you please shut up!" Hermione was blushing furiously and staring warily over at the other bed. "I don't want him to hunt down anyone and commit cold blooded murder."
Harry shot straight up in bed. "GIVE ME ONE REASON WHY I SHOULDN'T GO AK HIS SORRY FOREIGN ASS! I HAVE DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY THEY CAN'T TOUCH ME ANYWAY!" He ignored the fact that his head felt like it was splitting open or the room was spinning.
"The lion awakes." Draco regretted his teasing remarks. "Easy there mate. I was only joshing with her. Nothing happened between them, because she was gaga over you, and always has been. She did do one thing and that was finally get you to notice that she was a girl, so in that aspect her dating Duck boy worked."
"Sorry about that I forgot that Wonder Boy there was still out." Wills could feel the fury coming from Harry.
"And I thought that your brother had a temper." Andrew walked over and sat on Hermione's bed.
"Who the hell pissed him off this time?" Sirius opened one eye to see what was going on.
"Draco was teasing Hermione about researching the birds and the bees at the library at thirteen." Jenn cuddled closer to him. "Then he had to blunder it by teasing her and saying that Krum was her first conquest."
"See my face kiddo?" Sirius sat up in bed and pointed to his bruised face. "That is nothing compared to what his son will do to you remember that."
"He did this when he was a baby. He's not even awake yet." James was carefully watching his son, who although his eyes were barely open, wasn't really snarling anymore. "He was on the verge of waking up and Draco's comments caused him to do that."
Lily sat up and looked over at her son and husband. "Is he in pain?" She yawned.
Wills walked up to him and looked down at him. "He's right he is still sleeping."
"Who upset him?" Lily got up and walked over to her son.
"It's a fascinating little tale that I will tell you when we're out of earshot of our son. Evidently our lioness there has read every book in the public library and I mean every book if you get my meaning. The interesting ones were at the age of, oh, thirteen." James pulled her down onto his lap.
"He does this all the time. Especially in sixth year, now I know that most of the time he was sleeping through almost all of his classes." Hermione sighed, "I just have to say this to clear my name. Nothing happened between Krum and me, not anything other than a kiss on the cheek. I only read those books in the library, because those were really the last books there to read, and they explained mums romance novels quite nicely."
"She's gonna to be the death of me yet, but what a way to die." He grinned and lay back down in bed.
"Oh yeah, that boy is in fantasy land right now." Draco chuckled.
Hermione buried her face in a pillow and said nothing.
The adults found it amusing as well.
Harry then sat up, threw back the covers, proceeded to get up, and head out of the ward.
Wills was there to block him. "Going somewhere little brother?"
"Nature calls and I'm not using a chamber pot."
"Let's go. I'll guide you to the bathroom." Wills went to take his arm.
"I'm seventeen I don't need help."
"Watch this you won't believe just how aware he is." James looked at the others and then at Wills and Harry.
"You don't even know where you are, so how can you find the bathroom?" Wills reminded him.
"I'm in the Hospital ward where Hermione is in the bed next to mine. Draco is next to that, Uncle Sirius and Aunt Jenna are across from them. Why is not known to me at the moment. Mum and Dad are sitting on my bed, your dad is sitting on Hermione's bed, and the bathroom is down there and to the right." Harry sounded off like a soldier reciting something that a drill sergeant ordered him to say.
Wills took a step back from him. "Carry on then just come back here after you're finished."
"That was the plan." Harry left the ward.
"Just think of how aware he was at one." She arched a brow at James.
"I've already gone through that with those two. I know that I botched things up the first time. It won't happen again." James promised and sealed that promise with a kiss.
"Just when I think I have him all figured out... He goes and does something like that." Draco shook his head. "I think that being free of that curse is awakening his photographic memory or something."
Harry walked back into the ward passed his own bed and crawled into bed next to Hermione. He carefully reached for her until she was safely snuggled in his arms. "Mine." He sighed and drifted back to sleep.
"Just think we thought that was so cute when they were in diapers now it's just complicated." James got the two of them settled in Harry's bed.
"Those two are trouble just waiting to happen." Andrew found himself kicked off the bed by Harry.
"Trust me when I say that you have no idea." Wills grinned.
--
Four days later
Harry was at his wits end because his family was smothering him. "I need some air." Harry paced the carpet of his and Draco's study area.
"They mean well and you really can't blame them for making up for sixteen years of lost time." Hermione was knitting Dobby, Winky, and Kreacher clothes.
"I caught them plotting with Uncle Albus again." Harry raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. "They want us to be with them and not in the dorm towers."
"That makes sense because Aunt Lily is going to be the acting Healer in Hospital wing, your father is the DADA professor, and Uncle Sirius is one of your Auror trainers." Hermione reminded him of their view. "It's quite logical that they would wish us all to be in a sort of Family wing together."
"Yeah, like that would go over well with the other students. We already had the towers, and new bathrooms. This would be a beacon shouting favoritism. Not to mention that Ginny and Draco are Prefects and we're Head boy and Girl. How can we do our duty if we're in the Family wing together?" Harry pointed out those facts.
"I guess they don't see it that way." Hermione sighed, "They were talking of making the wing where Uncle Albus and Aunt Minerva have there quarters and offices. That way we would be close to the Common room."
"So what's your opinion on this? Do you want to be up here in the towers or in the Family wing?" Harry stopped pacing to sit down on the edge of the couch and looked down at her.
"Honestly?" Hermione, who was lying on the couch, looked up at him. "You promise that you won't go all broody on me if I tell you what I think."
"I promise." Harry nodded. "You know that I care about what you think."
"I think that we would get more done seventh year if we weren't in the dorms and that we could still do our duties as Head Girl, Boy, and Prefects." Hermione watched him for a reaction. "I feel that it would be salutary for all of us particularly you."
Harry got up from the edge of the couch and proceeded to stalk into his room.
"You promised me that you weren't going to go off and brood!" Hermione shouted after him. "If you didn't wish to know my thoughts on the matter then you shouldn't have asked me!!"
Harry came back out with his Firebolt and a determined look on his face. "I said that I needed air and I did want to know what you thought about it." Harry opened a set of windows and climbed outside onto the tower's terrace. "That doesn't mean that I have to agree with your reasoning."
"Harry James, don't be an idiot!" Hermione reached for her crutches so she could get up to stop him. "You haven't been cleared to fly on that yet!"
"My head feels fine." Harry mounted his broom and took off into the sky.
"Harry!! It's not like you can't get grounded now!" Hermione reached the window just as he was taking off. "Your parents are very much alive!!"
"They're off shopping in London. So how are they gonna find out?" Harry hovered next to the tower.
"I know that you're upset, because you couldn't see everyone off yesterday, but you were still having headaches and maintaining your balance issues!" Hermione's shouts echoed around the outside the castle. "You should not be on that broom!"
"I appreciate your loving concern, but I need air." Harry shot off towards the pitch.
"Draco and Ginny are off at the pitch. They can watch him make sure that he doesn't hurt himself." Hermione sighed in defeat. "I thought that he'd grown up. Guess I was wrong." She went about her knitting.
--
Ron and Luna appeared next to her thirty minutes later.
"Don't sweat it, Hermione. I'll go watch him." He floated off out the window.
"Boys can be so clueless sometimes." Luna sympathized with her. "You would think that he would take advantage of his cuddle time while he still has it."
"Harry gets cabin fever very easily and no amount of cuddle time will take that feeling away." Hermione went back to knitting the elf clothing.
"Yes, his childhood caged him didn't it?" Luna perched on the edge of the sofa.
:He is like Arthur. You could never keep him in bed for more than two days, no matter how injured he was. Godric was like that too. Merlin's miracle isn't all that he thought it was going to be. Now he has to learn to live with having parents again. You must be patient with him or try not to hurt him too badly.: Gwen tried to give her more insight as to why Harry was acting the way he was.
:I know that he's frustrated about his parents acting like parents. They gave him rules and guidelines to follow for the first time in sixteen years. That doesn't mean that he has to revert to being a prat around me.: Hermione growled.
:Sweetie, you have much to learn, all men are prats, and they never truly grow out of being boys. We as women just have to grit our teeth and live with the men that we love. After all, we really have no choice. Its either that or kill them and we love them too much for that.: Gwen gave her that to think about.
"Ron told me why Harry's so moody since his parents came back to life." Luna smiled serenely.
Hermione looked over at her. "He's broody because he has rules to follow now, an actual curfew, and parents that can and will ground him."
"That's part of it, but that's not the main reason." Luna stated breezily.
"You know for someone who just missed the chance at being alive again, you really are in a favourable mood." Hermione growled.
"I have my Ronald with me, so I'm content." Luna was lazily lounging across the top of the couch. "Aren't you curious about why he doesn't even want to cuddle with you right now?"
"I'll bite, Luna." Hermione threw her knitting down and glared at her. "Why has Harry been so waspish with me for the past four days?"
"You decided to change the career path and didn't talk to him about it." Luna floated off to look out the window. "So he's being all ratty about it."
"I don't see how my becoming a Healer is going to mess with the grand scheme of our lives. The way I see it is that my being a Healer will be an asset, since he tends to break, bruise, or cut himself during any of his missions. I would prefer not to be put in that kind of situation." Hermione picked up her knitting and continued the sweater dress for Winky. "I just believe I would be more benevolent if I were someone besides an Auror."
"You of all people should know that you will never make a relationship work, if you don't talk over the important issues with the guy that you plan on marrying." Luna actual looked rather put out which was usual for her. "When is it again ten months or was it eloping at Christmas?"
"He's incensed with me; because I decided not to traipse all over the world in gods knows what kind of conditions chasing after Dark Wizards! I'm not good at doing that! Research yes in a heart beat, but the actual chasing, I just don't see myself being happy with that kind of career. I never thought about what it was to be a Healer and Aunt Gene and Aunt Lily really love what they do. I want to be able to love what I do, not tolerate it!" She threw her knitting at Luna in frustration and it went flying out the window. "I kept him alive for six years! I deserve to do what I want now!"
"So what do you think about how Hermione feels, Harry?" Luna spoke to someone standing just outside the window.
"Oh right, very funny, like he's really standing outside! When I know very well that he took off regardless if he was ready to be on that broom or not! His actions dictate how grown up he truly is! In truth at this moment, no I wouldn't marry him. I love him more than life, but if he's going to act like that then he is so not ready for a serious relationship." She decided to return to her own tower for a while, because she really didn't wish to see him when he got back. "I'm going back to my own tower and read for a while. If I'm going to be serious about this new change in career I may as well get started on it now." She disappeared through Merlin's portrait.
"Hermione running away isn't going to help matters any!" Luna chased after her.
--
"Bloody hell mate you really put your foot in it this time." Ron shook his head at him. "I told you to talk to her and not just go all dark and silent."
"Me?! She should've had the intelligence to tell me about her decision and I shouldn't have had to hear it from my Aunts or my mother!" Harry dropped his packages from Hogsmeade and her knitting onto the window seat. "I was gonna surprise her with something that I got in Hogsmeade, but now it looks like I have to go even bigger than a complete set of Healers books and new quills."
"Mate its not like you were the only one in the wrong here. She should've told you how she was feeling." Ron rather liked the fact that he was dead, because he could now speak his mind, and not get killed by either of them. "You seem to forget that you aren't the only one that has cabin fever. I mean she's laid up too."
"She has crutches and has been out of this castle." Harry tossed his Firebolt inside. "I've been cooped up inside for four days."
"That's sacrilege!" Ron cried out in outrage. "What did that broom do to you?!"
"Would you shut up and help me think of a way to woo Hermione back!" Harry entered the study through the open window and found the action made him dizzy again. "Son of a bitch this really bites! I can't even fly to Hogsmeade without falling off a few times and I never fall off unless there are extreme circumstances!" Harry threw himself onto the couch.
"This smells like Hermione now." He pouted.
"I feel for ya mate, because right now she won't let you get within ten feet of her." Ron paced the front of the couch. "The first thing that comes to mind is buy her a book, but then by the looks of it you did that in spades." Ron took in the packages by the window. "There's always jewelry, but then she has the crown jewels to pick from now..." Ron continued to pace. "You could sneak down to the kitchen, that's if you can manage going down the stairs without falling on your face, and fix her dinner or something."
"I don't think that's a good idea, besides the elves like the kitchen the way it is." Harry buried his face in a pillow. "It took me less than a month to get her and lose her." He muttered miserably into the pillow.
"Lose who?" James walked into the study with his medicine.
"Oh, he blew it big time with Hermione and now he's wallowing in self-pity." Ron supplied the answer to James question.
James looked over at the open window and the window seat loaded with his purchases. "I told you that I was going to pick those up after I got back from London." He set Harry's vial of medicine on the table beside the couch, so he could pick up the Firebolt lying across the entryway. "You are so busted and to think you were so close to regaining your freedom tomorrow."
"Like I care anymore..." Harry grumbled into the pillow. "My life is over..."
"I was gonna go ahead and let you be up in your tower for seventh year, but it seems to me like you need more supervision than I originally thought." James walked over and closed the window. "You thought that Hermione was gonna go for your making a break for it when you shouldn't be on this broom? I hope that your trip into Hogsmeade was a good one, because you're grounded until further notice. What were you thinking anyway? Just because the Weasley twins went and bought the Shrieking Shack is no reason for you to go off and risk breaking your neck."
"They bought the Shrieking Shack?!" Ron gaped at him in horror. "Why the bloody hell would they want that dump!"
"I went to town to get stuff that I had ordered for Hermione and some sweets to cheer her up. I didn't know nor do I care what the twins are up to, now please leave me to wallow in misery in peace!" Harry rolled onto his back to snarl that at his father and then once again buried his face in the throw pillow.
James remembered being that miserable over Lily at his age and sympathized with him. "What was the fight over this time?"
"They didn't actually... No that's not true..." Ron floated Indian style in front of them. "Ya see, this row is over him going off on the broom and the whole Family wing idea."
"I don't wanna talk about it..." Harry grumbled into the pillow. "I wanna die."
"Let's see if I get this straight. You aren't all keen on the whole Family wing idea and she's all for it." James sat down on the carpet and leaned back against the couch.
"He thinks the four of them will look like major teachers and headmasters pets to the students from all the houses." Ron translated the grumbling that was coming from the pillow.
"There's also the factor of Draco not being accepted in the dorm regardless whether you're in the tower or not. He did many nasty things to many of the students and they are gonna want payback. I'm thinking of his safety here as well." James reached behind him and took away the throw pillow from Harry. "I'm speaking to you not the pillow."
"The tower has security measures what's the big deal."
"Yes, it's true the tower has security measures, but the rest of the Common Room, and the other dorms do not." James turned to look at his son. "The point that I'm trying to make is that he has to get to the tower first."
"You just don't get it do you! I don't care if Draco, Ginny, and Hermione all wish to be in the Family wing! I've lived in a dorm atmosphere for six years and you can't just expect me to adapt to the whole parent kid thing overnight! I'm not a kid and you can't get back what you missed no matter how much you wish to turn back the hands of time! Save all of that for the twins and just give me some goddamn space!" Harry sprang off the couch a little too quickly for his heads liking, stumbled into his room, and then slammed his door shut.
"THAT'S TOUGH, BECAUSE YOU'RE MOVING INTO THE FAMILY WING THIS WEEKEND! YOU MIGHT NOT BE USED TO PEOPLE LOVING, WORRYING, OR CARING FOR YOU, BUT YOU ARE DAMN WELL GOING TO LEARN TO LIVE WITH IT!" James sprang to his feet and stalked over to roar at the closed door.
"WHATEVER!! MY LIFE IS RUINED ANYWAY!!"
"YOU CAN KISS YOUR FIREBOLT GOOD-BYE FOR A WHILE AND AS FOR QUIDDITCH YOU CAN KISS THAT GOOD-BYE FOR A FEW WEEKS AS WELL! DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT MONEY ANYMORE BECAUSE YOUR ALLOWANCE IS HISTORY!!" James knew that those words would get him to open the door and took a few steps back.
"YOU CAN'T DO THAT! I'M CAPTAIN OF THE QUIDDITCH TEAM! AS FOR THE ALLOWANCE I HAVE A KEY AND A VAULT FULL OF COINS!" Harry threw open the door to his room and glared murderously at his father.
"Term hasn't started yet and practice doesn't start until weeks into term. I was a Quidditch captain too you know." James shot down the first protest. "You have a sealed vault that contains your trust fund. You see kid now that your mother and I are alive again all of that endless wealth changed back over to the two of us. Including that key you used to have in your possession and what you inherited from Sirius." James corrected him on his last statement.
"I don't believe you!" Harry stalked into his room. "Accio vault key!" Nothing happened. "Son of a bitch!! What I took out of the vault the last time is all the coins that I have! I just spent most of it on Hermione!"
"I know everything that you've been spending your galleons on. Dad gave me the list of your latest spending spree. You'll have to live with what you have left; there are no Hogsmeade privileges either." James took away the cloak and the Marauders map. "Oh and I'll take these as well don't need you sneaking off the castle grounds. Besides that they belong to me."
"I really don't like you right now!"
"That's good because you aren't my favorite person either and by the way you have to move all of your shit by yourself using no magic to assist you." He left him to brood over those words. "I can be your best friend or I can be a pain in your backside that choice is up to you."
Harry stalked after him shouting down the stairs. "I don't care if you take everything away from me!! It doesn't matter because I lost Hermione!" His shouting was not doing his head any good and when a wave of dizziness overtook him again, he grabbed at his head in pain.
Hermione emerged from the portrait, when she was sure that James had headed back down the stairs, just in time to see Harry in pain. She spotted the potion over on the table, and then made her way to it with her crutches. "Take this it should make your head feel better." She held out the potion in her hand.
Harry looked over at her with the most pathetic I'm-so-sorry look on his face. "I thought that you weren't speaking to me anymore."
Hermione went to sit down on the couch.
"That's funny I don't remember ever saying that to you." She patted the cushion next to her. "Now come over here and sit down before you fall flat on your face."
Harry went to sit down next to her.
"Ok let me have it. Go ahead and hit me with your best shot. I know that I deserve it; after all I have nothing to offer you. Dad kind of took all of that away in one-shot. There's no vault, no map, no cloak, no broom, no Quidditch, and no freedom." He buried his face in his hands. "The thing is I had just lost you so the rest is just gravy."
Hermione looked at the engagement ring on her finger and over at her miserable prince. "The last time I looked lion, I still had an engagement ring on my finger. You will never lose me, not in this lifetime, or the next. I may get extremely frustrated or furious with you at times, but that doesn't mean that I don't love or want you anymore." Hermione leaned over to see if he was listening to her. "I love the person who is inside you, all the rest means nothing to me."
Harry looked over at her with the most pathetic eyes. "You told Luna that you didn't want to marry me and that I was too immature for a serious relationship."
"I said that I wouldn't marry you today, as in right now, or tonight. I never once said that I didn't want to marry you. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about wanting to become a Healer, but your mother told me no undo stress, and I know how phobic you are of doctors." Hermione could tell from the new scrapes and bruises that he had fallen off his broom and that was the ultimate form of humiliation in his world. "Now take your medicine, and then I will take a look at what other damage you did to yourself when you fell off your broom."
Harry reluctantly downed the surprisingly nonhorrid tasting medicine. "That's a potion I have no problem taking, it tastes like peppermint. That's odd because it usually tastes like something undesirably bad." He set the vial down on the end table.
"You know the reason I went on my little flight for air was to get you..." Harry had seen that look in her eyes before in the Prefect bathroom. "I'll just go start packing." He got up and tried not to wince, as he made a break for the safety of his room.
"I saw you wince..." Hermione got up and made her way towards him. "What did you do, land on your back?"
"It's fine..." He almost made it to his door, but she managed to place her hand at the exact place in the middle of his back where he knew a welt was forming, and yelped in pain.
"You are not fine, now don't be a baby, let me see what you did to yourself." She grabbed hold of the back of his t-shirt and pulled it up to see how bad he had hurt himself. He had a three-inch angry looking welt in the center of his spine. "Take your shirt off and go lay on the couch. I'll be right back." Hermione hobbled over to her crutches and headed back to her tower for a herbal healing kit.
"This is trouble waiting to happen...I'll just go face the wrath of mum..." Harry figured he had a good three minutes before Nurse Hermione returned. He was very wrong.
"That welt isn't going to heal on its own, now take the shirt off, lay on the couch, and let me put some of this healing salve on it." Hermione could see that he had been about to make a break for it. "Or don't you trust me enough to treat the wound on your back." She pouted.
"No I trust you, it's just that you shouldn't be on your leg for very long, and I don't want you to be in any pain." Harry came up with what he thought was a solid reason to get out of this without hurting her feelings.
"That's sweet of you to worry, but I got a new cast put on it this morning. It's a walking cast, so I can easily stand on it." Hermione set her healing herbal kit down on the table beside the couch and waited for him to do as he was told.
Harry prayed for Draco to come bounding up the stairs or for his mother to come see if he was still brooding after being punished by his father, but no one was coming. "I got you a whole set of books on healing and some new quills. Why don't we take a look at those instead?"
"Harry James, don't be a big scare baby. I'm not going to hurt you, now quit stalling, and do as I say." She was not going to take no or any kind of bribe.
Hermione had that determined look on her face. He knew that he was doomed to walk down what he knew would probably end up getting him in so deep that he would never see daylight or feel grass on his feet again. He stripped off his t-shirt and lay down on his stomach on the couch.
"This really isn't...god almighty that hurt...necessary." He buried his face in the pillow when she reached out and touched one of the scratches on his back.
"What did you do go rolling down one of the hills when you fell off?" She applied the soothing salve on the scrapes and bruises.
Harry was enjoying his healing treatment and all but purred out his response. "I fell off twice, once on the way to Hogsmeade, and once on the way back, because I was loaded with the..." He went from being content as a cat to jumping up from the couch in pain. "That bloody well felt like you stabbed me in the middle of my back!" He wasn't about to get back on that couch.
"Get back here you big baby. You must have misaligned one of the vertebrae in your back and I have to work it back into place." Hermione was determined to treat her man. "That or you pulled a muscle in your back and I have to work it out so you can move tomorrow morning."
"Oh, no! I know what you have to do to do that and there is no way! What if Draco or Dad were to come up those stairs it would look..." He couldn't force out the words that he wanted to say. "It would look far less than innocent! You're wearing a sundress it's just not a good idea!"
Hermione moved the coffee table and then threw the cushions from the sofa down on the carpet. "Come here."
"No way in hell." Harry folded his arms across his chest and glared back at her.
"Come here or what you think they'll be thinking won't happen until four months after we're officially married." Hermione mirrored his stance.
"You are so bluffing."
"Am I really? You were so convinced that I was dumping you just by listening in on the conversation that I was having with Luna. How do you know that this time I don't mean what I say?" She arched a brow at him and gave him her famous smirk.
"I guess two days in Azkaban might be worth the risk that you aren't bluffing." Harry lay down on the pillows. "Think of me those two days while I'm in prison."
"Nonsense you are not going to prison. Now just close your eyes and relax while my fingers work their magic." She carefully straddled his lower body and began to massage his back.
"Sweetheart you have magic hands." He sighed as she worked on his sore back muscles.
She traced the black and blue welts across the middle of his back with her fingers. "Is that better?" She asked softly.
"Lower love."
"Here?"
"Yes that's perfect."
James came to make amends with Harry, did a double-take when he saw Hermione moving on the other side of the couch, and then heard Harry's contented purr. I'm not seeing this! He would be risking two days in Azkaban! I mean he wasn't that pissed at me was he?
He panicked and started to head back down the stairs. "I was seeing things. Yes that's what it was. He's never broken a promise in his life and he wouldn't do it to spite me. I was seeing things; dealing with teenage rebellion is getting to me." He muttered to himself as he reentered the tower study.
"More?" She purred softly.
"Yes love…don't stop…you have a heavenly touch."
"I had better not be interrupting anything." James tried to keep his cool.
Hermione looked up from what she was doing. "Harry…Your dad is here." She hissed.
"Hmm…" Harry turned and looked up at her. "Nice try angel."
"HARRY JAMES POTTER-PENDRAGON!!" James roared. "DO THE WORDS AZKABAN RING ANY BELLS!!"
Harry felt like crying. "I told you that I was gonna get reamed for this!"
James reined in his temper, then stalked around the couch, and let out a sigh of relief. "What the hell did you do now? Fall off your broom?"
"I will attempt anything, even falling off my broom, to keep my angel happy while she's healing." Harry couldn't move if he wanted to Hermione was still sitting on him. "I hurt my back and she was treating it, end of story."
"Lily did that to me once, we were at our almost one year and three month dating anniversary, and in seventh year. I'd taken a bludger to my back in a game and was being stubborn about going to Hospital wing. I had no problem showing off my war wound and she saw it. It looks even worse when you're lying out on the castle lawn, on a blanket, under the beech tree, and Jenna walks by thinking that Sirius was nearby. She ran and told Sirius, who was standing a few feet from our father. I even think The Daily Prophet got a snap of it." James knelt down next to him and got a look at his back. "That's an easy fix, but Hermione doesn't have the finger strength to push that back into place."
Harry didn't like the sound of that. "She's doing fine. Go away."
James picked Hermione up and set her on the couch. "It has to be done junior or you won't be able to move in the morning." He placed a palm on the middle of his back. "Hermione hand me that throw pillow, so he can scream bloody hell into it."
Hermione set the pillow in front of him. "He's your father what can I do?" She bit down on her lip when he gave her the most pathetic look.
Harry buried his face in the pillow and squeezed his eyes shut.
"Is he usually always this much of a wuss?" James asked just as he fixed his back.
Harry screamed into his pillow in pain, when it was over he rolled over to glare murderously at his father. "You bloody well enjoyed that and I'm not a wuss! You try living with this scar burning a hole in your head most of your life and then see who gets called a wuss! You are as clueless about me now, as you were when I was one! I guess some things never do change!"
James got back to his feet. "Nope changed my mind, for that everything I said before still stands." He left the room.
"You really should learn to control your temper that zinger was way bellow the belt." Hermione went back to massaging his back with the healing salve.
"I'm only stating the truth! Who the hell is he to call me a wuss!?" Harry sneered.
"He wasn't serious. He was only teasing you. If you're going to be an Auror then you're going to have to work on reading your mark. It's a skill that you sorely lack in." Hermione hated the tension between Harry and his father. He was treating his dad like an intruder; it wasn't fair to either of them. "Why can't you let him in? He's your father not the enemy."
"Trust is hard for me, it always has been. It's just that some part of me thinks that Dad failed in protecting me." Harry turned so he could look up at her. "I can't get passed that and I don't know if I ever will."
"He was powerless to defy the fates or your destiny. You can't blame him for what was out of his control. You both deserve this second chance with each other, but the problem is the two of you are exactly alike." Hermione pushed herself up to her feet. "I'm finished with your back. Now if you will excuse me I have to go back to reading my books."
"That's it!! You leave me with nothing?" Harry got to his feet his back felt a thousand percent better.
"No, I'm not going to kiss your scrapes and make them all better. You have to earn that by making amends with your dad." She disappeared through the portrait.
"One of these days I'm gonna have the last say!" Harry went to go in search of his father.
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Chapter 29
The solution
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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.
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Cindra 2004-2008