Chapter 2: A Gift of Priceless Beauty
Harry walked into Grimmauld Place and placed his suitcase on the floor. Almost at once he was assaulted by a flash of red hair. Molly had her arms around him, the twins were talking incessantly, and Ginny hung back, grinning like the Cheshire cat.
Harry was home. That's all anyone needed to know.
Ron came bounding down the stairs and clapped Harry on the back,
"Harry, mate! We've missed you already. Just in time though to come to with us to Diagon Alley!" Ron had an insanely large grin that almost matched Harry's. Ah. The feeling of being loved, but someone was missing,
"Ron, where's Hermione?"
Just as he said that, he could hear footsteps clattering down the stairs, and a bushy haired Hermione followed. Before she had a chance to run into his arms though, a whirlwind of wings blocked her view.
"BOLLOCKS, RON, GET THAT BLASTED OWL AWAY FROM ME!" she screamed as Pig zoomed around her hair, occasionally letting a loose tendril get caught in his claws. All the children stifled giggles while Molly looked sort of aghast at the language Hermione had just used.
With a quick high-pitched whistle, Pig landed on Ron's shoulders. Hermione smoothed out her hair, and blushing beet red, walked calmly as she could to Harry. Oh hell, she thought, as she ran into his arms, making him stumble back a step from the force.
Harry hugged Hermione tight, and as soon as she pulled back, he could see the little tear drops on her face. Harry wiped them away, and then started laughing as Ron and Hermione dragged him onto the couch, and told him how their vacation had been without him.
Supposedly it was tragic, boring, lonely, no fun. He smiled at them. He hadn't felt this content since...Sirius died.
His smile faded, and as Ron and Hermione noticed this, they each placed a hand on his leg and shoulder. They understood it was going to be a tough year, but they had hoped that maybe he'd be happier than they had expected.
Not knowing what to do, Hermione took both of his hands in hers and kissed them lightly, bringing Harry back to earth. He gave her a weak grin, and motioned to his bags. Ron pulled Harry off the couch and loaded him up with luggage; Ron grabbed some, as did Hermione and they all walked upstairs together to the 3rd room on the left. Harry and Ron's room. Dumping everything on the single bed in the corner, Ron reached underneath his bed and handed a wrapped package to Harry,
"This was one present I wasn't going to send to your aunts and uncles house. Here you go, Harry...From me and 'Mione."
Harry tore up the wrapping and found a shimmering black cloak laying there. He looked up at them in question and Hermione, taking this as a sign, said
"We charmed it Harry. In it are 5 very useful charms that we have been practicing since the beginning of summer. It has a protection spell, a disillusionment charm, a tracking charm, a small but useful built in Audio absque sonitus charm and a portkey to lead back to the common room at Hogwarts whenever needed."
Ron took the time to explain the spells,
"The protection spell is very handy, but it's something we have to explain to you. The Final Battle is coming; we all know it is. It's just a matter of time. This particular protection spell uses our, mine and Hermione's energy, combined with yours. So, whenever you are in trouble and feel yourself starting to get tired, the cloak will tap into our energy supply and keep giving you energy.
The disillusionment charm, well, it's like your invisibility cloak.
Tracking charm is for Hermione's benefit. We'd like to know where you are just in case anything happens to you.
And as for the Audio absque sonitus charm that is a charm that allows us to talk with you telepathically. It sounds unreasonable, but we've been studying dark texts and restricted materials for the last month, and we can assure you it works.
The portkey is for whenever you are in trouble. Just come back to safe ground, my friend."
Harry looked as if he was going to interrupt a few times, but now, didn't know what to say,
"Wow. I can't believe you did this all for me. I..wait..I can't tap into your energy supply. What if you need it?"
Hermione scooted past Harry and reached underneath the bed and pulled out two identical cloaks,
"We have the same cloaks, same spells. We all tap off each other in this process. But Harry, threes one thing me and Ron have discussed quite thoroughly. In the battles between Voldemort and yourself, I have decided to step out. Well not exactly, but..."
She hesitated... How to phrase this. Harry looked quite upset and confused.."step out?"
"You are going to tap into my energy source. I am going to be in a safe place at the time, and whenever you get weak and need energy...you are going to draw it from me--
"No! I'm not drawing anything from you! Don't even think that! I need you by my side. What if we need to go through a maze like the first year? What do I do then?"
Hermione quietly answered,
"Use the audio charm. Ask me anything, but take my body energy, my mind will stay clear. It is the only solution. And if it makes you feel any better, when I'm in trouble, I'm drawing energy off of you."
Harry was stunned. No other word could describe it. It was a genius plan, a bit foolish, but quite smart in the long run. The little kinks would be worked out in time.
Hermione smiled sadly, knowing that she'd have to lie submissively on a bed while a war was being raged around her, but everything came at a cost.
Harry gathered his two friends up in his arms and hugged them as a brother would hug his siblings. Hermione felt such content in that moment that a sob racked her body. Ron clung to the two, loving them as he loved his own family. In a way it was such a sad moment, each knowing that their world could possibly be ripped apart at any given time.
With one last squeeze, Hermione stepped back shakily. Rubbing her quickly swelling eyes with her hand, she weakly smiled and walked out of the room, across the hall, into her own room. Ron and Harry smiled sadly at each other and continued the unpacking of Harry's personal items.
Hopefully no-one has given up on me yet. I plan to work harder to update fan fictions that seem to have the better response. I seem to take too much on, about 5 fics and then leave them all hanging. I plan not to do that with this one!
Thanks for understanding.
I also understand that there is no Snape in this chapter! Don't worry. Appearance for him comes next chapter.
NB: Audio absque sonitus …My latin is very very bad. I am hoping this means(relatively) To Hear Without Sound.