A/N: This is not my stuff.
Chapter 8
The next day Harry saw Dumbledore sitting down at the kitchen table next to a grim looking Remus Lupin. He could tell there was an important matter they both wanted to discuss with him.
"Harry, we need to speak with you for a moment," Dumbledore said.
Harry felt Hermione's hand tighten her grip on his hand. He gave her a reassuring squeeze and she left the room. He then took a seat at the table, dreading the news he was about to hear.
"Harry, Sirius left a will when he died. In his will, he left twenty five million galleons to you because you are his closest living male relative. Unless you decide to decline the offer, the money will be yours," Dumbledore said.
"What happens if I refuse to take the money?" Harry asked.
"Then the money will go to the next closest relative, who is none other than Mr. Draco Malfoy," Dumbledore said.
Harry thought about it for a minute. Memories of Sirius filled his head and he felt tears in his eyes. Sirius had wanted the money to go to him. It would be an insult if Harry did not accept the money. Besides, he definitely did not want Malfoy to get the money just because Sirius had died. "I'll take the money then," Harry said.
Dumbledore smiled and Remus looked up brightly. Both of them seemed to be extremely pleased. They looked at each other happily then turned to Harry.
"We were expecting you to say that Harry," Dumbledore said.
"I don't want that money to go to Draco Malfoy," Harry said.
"Very well then, before I ask you to sign several documents, I must also inform you that Sirius left you several estates in other countries. He left you the Black Manor in England, Scotland, Australia and Canada," Dumbledore said.
Harry merely nodded. He knew Sirius was rich otherwise he would not have given him a FireBolt. He did not expect Sirius to be this rich though and could hardly believe it when Dumbledore said Sirius had left him twenty five million galleons. He thought about buying Hermione a fancy gift with his new found wealth. He saw Dumbledore take out a piece of parchment and a quill.
"Harry, please sign here so that you become the official beneficiary of Sirius' will," Dumbledore said.
Dumbledore pushed the parchment closer to Harry and gave him a quill. Harry signed the paper and was about to leave when he saw Dumbledore hint that he should stay. Remus took out a copy of the Daily Prophet and passed it to Harry. With a feeling of dread, he looked at the first page and immediately felt nauseous. The first page featured an article that showed the remains of five houses. According to this article, Voldemort had bombed these homes and killed almost twenty people, many of them children.
"Harry, as you can see, Voldemort has gotten hold of a muggle weapon. I did not expect him to use it but he is, so we have to be prepared," Dumbledore said.
"What is Voldemort trying to do at this point?" Harry asked.
"I believe that Voldemort will try to recruit members to join him while he continues to attack both muggle and wizarding families. With the bomb, Voldemort may be more dangerous than most of us realize," Dumbledore replied.
"The thing is, Minister Fudge is still in disbelief that Voldemort has returned and he still doesn't believe it. His popularity is slipping and a leader is needed so that we can fight the growing danger of Voldemort," Remus Lupin said.
"We insist that you do not go looking for Voldemort on your own Harry. There will be a time and place where you will fight him and this is not the time nor the place. Besides, you are not ready to face him yet," Dumbledore said.
Harry nodded and walked back to the bedroom he shared with Hermione. He saw her sitting on the bed wearing nothing but a bikini top and cut-off shorts. She was reading a textbook but Harry couldn't observe how beautiful she looked sitting there. She looked up when he entered and smiled brightly at him. He returned her smile with a weak smile then went to sit next to her on the bed. Once he sat down, he put his arm around her shoulder and she put her head on his shoulder.
"What happened downstairs with Dumbledore and Remus?" Hermione asked.
"Um, they spoke with me about Lord Voldemort's new attack strategy and Sirius' will," he said.
"Wow that must have been tough for you Harry, do you want to talk about it?" she whispered.
Harry merely nodded and stared down at the floor. Hermione saw he wasn't really in the mood to speak so she hugged him. Once she put her arms around him, she could smell the mixture of odors that was Harry. She smelled his deodorant, soap and shampoo all mixed together. She was still holding onto him when he spoke.
"Hermione, Sirius left me twenty five million galleons. I didn't want to take the money but I took it because if I didn't, Draco Malfoy would receive the money. I also heard that Voldemort is using bombs to attack families. Last night, he attacked five different houses near Liverpool, killing almost twenty people."
"Are you serious Harry?"
"Yeah, that's what makes me so scared. I'm supposed to be able to stop this maniac but I don't know if I can."
Hermione sighed. She placed her hands on Harry's shoulders. She looked into his eyes and saw the fear. It was times like these that Hermione just wished she could comfort Harry or even wish that someone else had to deal with his burdens. Harry was obviously deeply troubled with the burdens that he had but Hermione had to try and help him.
"Harry, remember that your heart is the key to beating Voldemort. Your love for me, Ron, Ginny and others is what will help you beat him. Just listen to your heart," she said, putting a hand on his chest.
Harry looked thoughtful after he heard Hermione speak. What she had said made sense but it was also true. Voldemort did not understand the concept of love. Dumbledore had told him that before; it had been something passed to him by his mother. He took Hermione's hand and stared at her for a minute before he spoke.
"Hermione, you don't know how much those words mean to me. Now it seems like I actually have confidence and feel that I can beat Voldemort."
Hermione did not reply after hearing him speak. Instead, she pushed him down to the bed and kissed him passionately. She placed her hands under his shirt and began to move them all over his chest. He responded by placing his hands on her back and started to finger with her top. Soon, they had both paused for air and slowly separated. Once they paused for air, Harry took off his shirt and Hermione took off her top. They continued to kiss and slept in the same bed again.
On the morning of September 1st, a teenage boy named Harry Potter was sitting on a bed. He had just seen Voldemort go on another deadly rampage in England. As a result, over fifty people had died from his attacks. Ever since Harry's birthday, Lord Voldemort would go on a terror spree every night and over three hundred muggles had been killed as a result. There were no attacks on wizarding families yet but most people knew it was only a matter of time before a wizarding family was attacked. Today was also the day he would be going back to Hogwarts.
"Harry, why are you up so early?" Hermione asked from the other bed.
"I had a vision where I saw Voldemort kill more muggles," he replied.
"Oh Harry, I thought you were taking Occulumency courses to stop that," she said.
"Yeah, but this was only the first time it happened to me ever since I started to have lessons with Dumbledore" he replied.
"Well, in that case, I guess we better get ready since we will be leaving for King's Cross in about two hours or so," she said.
"You're right Hermione," he replied. For the next hour or so, both of them made sure that they had packed everything they needed for the upcoming year at Hogwarts. They packed clothes, books, robes and other items they needed including deodorant for Harry. When they were done, they dragged their trunks down the stairs where Mrs. Weasley was cooking breakfast.
"Harry, Hermione, so glad to see you two. Leave your trunks over there," Mrs. Weasley said, pointing to a corner by the wall.
Harry and Hermione dragged their trunks to where Mrs. Weasley had told them to, they then sat down at the kitchen table and Mrs. Weasley gave both of them a plate of bacon, toast and waffles. Both Harry and Hermione ate their food in silence and then saw Ron and Ginny come down when they were done eating.
"Hey you two," Ron said, letting out a loud yawn after he spoke.
"Morning Ron," Hermione said brightly.
"We go back to Hogwarts today right?" Ginny asked.
"Yeah," Harry replied.
Half an hour later, Tonks and Moody arrived to take them to King's Cross. They would be traveling in cars provided by the Ministry. So Ron, Ginny, Harry and Hermione all said goodbye to Mrs. Weasley then went into the cars waiting outside. The ride to King's Cross was mainly uneventful and they got there ten minutes before eleven. After getting trolleys for their luggage, they entered the barrier in between Platforms Nine and Ten.
"Goodbye all of you and have a good and safe term!" Tonks said cheerfully, hugging them.
Moody looked around before he spoke in a low voice. "Remember, ladies, you don't know who's around you so you have to pay attention to your surroundings. Keep an eye out for each other and CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"
"YES SIR!" Ron, Ginny, Harry and Hermione shouted back at Moody.
They went on the train and found a compartment near the end. Ron and Hermione left their trunks behind then went to the Prefect's meeting. That left Harry and Ginny alone in the compartment. Harry tried to get some more sleep but found that he couldn't because Ginny was watching him.
"Harry, there's something I want to speak with you about," she said.
"Okay, continue," he said.
"Well, I don't know if I ever told you this before but I'll tell you now. Ever since I was a little girl growing up, I had heard all about you because you were the famous Harry Potter. I also found out that you and Ron were best friends and how you stuck up for him. That made me want to be the damsel in distress and you would be the knight in shining armor. I also wanted to go on adventures with you and I even had a crush on you. I didn't know it at the time but you would save me during my first year at the Chamber of Secrets and I realized that I loved you," she said.
"Wait a minute Ginny, are you trying to say that you love me now?" Harry asked.
"You silly boy, listen to what I have to say first. I now realize that I love someone else. But the point I'm trying to make is that I went to the Ministry with you last year and that was the first adventure I had with you. I just want you to know how grateful I am because I was able to go to the Ministry in June," she said.
"Ginny, I don't know if you know this but I almost saw all of you die at the Ministry. Luckily, nobody died or else that would have weighed down on my conscience," he said in reply.
"Harry, can you save the heroics for someone who hasn't heard it before?" she asked him angrily.
Harry was about to reply when some of his fellow sixth year Gryffindors including Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnegan, Neville Longbottom, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil walk into his compartment.
"Harry, we just want to know if you plan to continue with the D.A. this year," Parvati asked.
"Yeah, um, I'll make sure that people know when the first meeting will be," Harry said.
"Great!" Lavender said happily as she left with Parvati, Dean and Seamus.
"Neville, why are you still here?" Harry asked.
Neville blushed before he spoke. "Harry, I don't know how to tell you this but I am in love with Ginny."
"Wow, congratulations Neville and Ginny," Harry said, giving Neville a pat on the back.
"Harry, I just want you to know that I practically consider you a brother so that's why I realized I loved you as a brother," Ginny said.
"I'm okay with that," Harry replied as he stared out the window, waiting for Hermione to return. Later, Ron came back holding hands with Luna.
"Ron, where's Hermione?" Harry asked once Ron sat down.
"Hermione? I don't know Harry. I think I saw her speaking with Padma Patil after the meeting was over," Ron said, starting to kiss Luna.
Harry watched Ron kiss Luna for a few seconds before he continued to stare out the window. He then turned only to see Neville and Ginny kiss. 'Where the fucking hell was Hermione?' he thought, starting to feel a little uneasy and wondering if he should go look for her. He then saw Padma pass by and he went out to speak with her.
"Hey Padma, did you see Hermione?" he asked.
"Oh hey Harry, yeah I spoke with her before," she said.
"Do you know what happened to her?" he asked.
"She started going in your direction but I don't know what happened to her. Maybe she stopped to talk with my sister or something," Padma said.
"Oh, okay thanks Padma," he replied, turning to walk away.
"Harry?" she asked.
"Yeah?" he said, turning around.
"I was just wondering if you were going to have the D.A. again this year," she asked.
"Um, yeah I will but I'm not sure when. I'll let everyone know when it will start," he replied.
"Cool," she said, smiling then walking away.
Harry sighed then started walking toward the front of the train wondering where Hermione was. He decided to go look for her and had a feeling that he would not be happy when he found out what happened.
A/N: The upcoming chapter may contain a scene that may be offensive for some readers. I apologize if it offends somebody but something else will happen later on. Please read and review. Thank you very much.