This is one of four stories (Changes of Character, The Party, Multiple Personalities and this one) that i'm putting up so see which one you guys like best. and i'll only know if you review! so pls review and tell me which one you prefer, and that'll be the one that gets finished first. Enjoy. Istalindar
The music pulsed, and Harry could feel it deep in his chest, the pounding music echoing inside him. The club was dark and smoky, and he wasn't drunk yet. But the night was young, though he was not as young as he had been, last time he was here.
He was being watched, he knew. But here, it was mostly scantily dressed women who were enjoying the club's nightlife. It hadnt changed much, in the nine years since he had been back. The staff had changed, certainly. So had the club goers. The woman with russet-dark hair wearing the black leather trousers and silver metallic top that tied across her otherwise bare back that hadnt ceased watching him since he walked in was new. He had been coming here every night for nearly a week, and he was once again becoming familiar with the clubs staff and patrons.
Harry Potter hadnt changed much in the nine years since he had left the wizarding community. His hair was still black and messy, his eyes still emerald green, though he didn't wear glasses now, finding contacts a lot easier to keep track of and a lot harder to break. He was still tall, lanky, and athletic. But his mind had changed.
He left the wizarding community when he was twenty, after he was forced to kill hundreds of innocent people just to kill Voldemort. He succeeded, but then the guilt wracked him to the point that he threw his wand at Ron, punched Hermione because she got inbetween him and the door, and stormed out. He hadnt seen them in nine years.
He had spent years travelling around Europe, staying mainly in Asia and Africa to avoid the authorities who wanted him for mass murder. Rumour had it that should he be caught, the Dementors Kiss would be his fate. Having nearly experienced it in his third year at Hogwarts, he was reluctant to undergo the experience again.
The redhead was watching him again, her brown eyes watching his every movement, focused beyond distraction. And it was beginning to get unnerving. Finally, Harry couldn't stand any more of it, and he made his way towards the back door of the club. He stumbled out onto the street behind the club, which was dark and cluttered.
&
The air in the alleyway was stale, cold and wet. Hermione shivered, and her hand retrieved her wand from the leg of her tight leather trousers. She was sure she had seen Harry come out this way. She had been shocked when she had seen him at the club – it was the first time in seven years that anyone in their little group had known where he was. When he left the wizarding community nine years ago, Ron had kept tabs on him, so they always knew roughly where he was. They had understood he didn't want company, so the best they could manage was to know where he was, at least. Then after two years, Ron's people had lost sight of him completely, which had hit their group hard.
But now...
"What is your problem? Why the hell are you following me?" Hermione whirled as Harry stepped out of the shadows into the dimly lit alleyway.
"We've been looking for you, Potter." Hermione snapped. Maybe it was too much time spent around the youngest of the Malfoy family (though he wasn't all that young, now) or maybe it was her trying to keep herself away from the Boy-who-lived-only-to-run-away, so she didn't get hurt, again.
"How do you know who I am?" Harry asked, surprised. Her tone reminded him of too many people he'd rather not remember. Like a mix between Hermione, Malfoy and McGonagall, all at the same time.
"Oh please. For god's sakes Potter – turn around, very slowly." Her tone changed from annoyed to cautious half way through. There was a crash from behind, and Harry spun. A hand clamped onto his arm and dragged him backwards, until he stood behind the red head, her was watching the dark forms approaching with her wand out.
"Are you insane? You'll get seen!" Harry hissed.
"Better seen then dead, Harry. That's what obliviate charms are for." Hermione flashed him a smile, and Harry was thrown back into a whirlwind of memories of his time at Hogwarts with Hermione and Ron.
"Hermione?" he whispered.
"Ten points." She said shortly. "Nice to see you again. But be quiet. I'll blind them and then we'll have about ten seconds to run like Voldy's after us."
"He's dead." Harry pointed out.
"Duh. One, two...three!" Hermione shouted something, and a blinding white light was expelled from her wand, and then they were running.
"What are those things?" Harry panted as they fled out of the alley. Images of the huge green creatures flashed in his head.
"You don't want to know. Come on!"
Hermione ran with seeming unending energy and agility through the city, and Harry, who had not kept up his sporting activities despite his appearance, was soon out of breath and exhausted. He stopped, leaning against the wall, clutching his side and gasping for breath. Hermione doubled back and dragged Harry on.
"We're not far now. Come on!"
She lied when she said they werent far. But she was used to lying to make things seem better. She did it on a regular basis. But for now, they were five minutes away from the port key at a dead sprint, and they had three four-eyed monsters on their tails.
She dragged Harry through some of the rougher areas of town, their feet splashing on the wet pavement. They came to the apartment building, and when Hermione started up the fire-escape stairs, Harry stopped.
"Not a chance." He said flatly.
"If you want to stay alive, Potter, you'll fucking well get your ass up those stairs." Hermione said harshly without turning around. Again, Harry heard Malfoy in her voice. But he also heard the sound of something very big crashing through the streets behind him, so wearily, he began to climb.
At the top, she was waiting for him, sitting on the edge of the wall, the moon behind her head like some sort of twisted halo. Beside her was a silver bracelet, glinting in the moonlight.
"Hermione? What's going on?" Harry said uneasily.
"Come here, Harry." Hermione said heavily. "On three, touch the bracelet."
"Portkey?"
"Of course."
"I'm not going back to the wizarding world." Harry said, backing off. There was a growl and a crash, as soemthing large came up the stairs. Harry looked over the side and saw a huge greenish creature glinting wetly in the moonlight, with about seven arms and four tentacles coming off its head.
"Where are you going to go then? From here, you have three options." Hermione said. He glanced at her, and her face was flat and set like stone. "The portkey with me. Jump off the roof. Get tortured, destroyed then eaten by the four eyes. It's your choice."
"What happened to you? You've changed." Harry said desperately, to buy himself time. He knew she was right, as always, but he hated the thought of going back to magic.
"Life happened, Harry. Now decide. It you want to jump or get eaten, hurry up and tell me. I want to go home." Harry stared. This was not the Hermione he knew at all.
"I'm coming."
"One, two...three." They touched the bracelet together, and disappeared. The monster appeared on top of the building and screamed its rage to the moon. The inhabitants of the apartment building huddled together in fear.
&
Hermione and Harry appeared in a large room, and Hermione was immediately swept into a huge hug.
"Where have you been? I've been so fucking worried! You were due in an hour ago!" Harry stared at the blonde man who had enveloped Hermione in his arms and now had his face buried in her shoulder.
"He's right, Hermione. Neville and I had to forcibly restrain him." Hermione laughed, pulling back. Draco immediately captured her lips in a kiss, his hands travelling across her back to rest on her shoulderblades and the small of her back.
The man who was sitting in the chair watching Harry coughed. When there was no response, he coughed louder, and Hermione and Draco broke apart.
"Who's your guest Hermione?" he asked. Hermione turned in Draco's arms, which wrapped around her waist possessively.
"The reason I'm late. I found him, you guys. After seven years. I found him."
"Potter?" Malfoy asked finally.
"Malfoy." Harry said coldly, eyeing up the blonde man with distaste.
"Oh god. Not again." Ron groaned. He stepped between them hastily. "Hey man. Where've you been?" he demanded with a grin. But the look in his eyes was wary, almost unbelieving.
"Hey Ron." Harry said awkwardly. Then Ron grinned and hugged him.
"You're back!" Ron yelled exuberantly. Harry grinned in spite of himself.
"Yeah. I am."
"Where've you been?" the man sitting down demanded, rising to his feet. Harry stared at him in confusion.
"Harry, meet Neville." Ron said with a grin.
"Neville?" Harry exclaimed. Neville grinned.
Harry was shocked. More so then when he'd seen Hermione. Neville was tall, lean, and handsome, nothing like the boy he'd been at Hogwarts.
"You look surprised, Harry. If you're going to go away from nearly a decade, you cant expect everyone to stay the same." A petite redhead walked into the room, carrying two steaming mugs. She handed one to Hermione and kept the other to herself, sitting on the couch and looking up at Harry.
"Thanks Gin." Hermione moved away from Draco to sit on the couch next to Ginny.
"Sit down, mate!" Ron said enthusiastically. The rest of the group watched silently as Ron fussed around Harry. Harry couldn't help feeling that he was a complete outcast around these people. They all looked so close, even Malfoy seemed more at home here then he did.
The fire roared to life with emerald flames, and Harry was shocked at the way that every one but himself pulled out a wand, only to lower it when a woman stepped through, dusting soot off herself with pampered hands.
"You would not believe the activity out there tonight!" she exclaimed. Hermione set her drink aside and jumped up, hugging the girl.
"You're back!"
"You thought I was going to stay away from this family reunion? Not that I ever particularly liked Potter, but I wasn't going to miss his face when he found out whats going on."
"That's horrible, Pansy." Ginny said, making a face.
"That's why you begged off Nursery, isnt it?"
"No. I begged off nursery because I liked Harry. Not because the look of his face when he finds out we finally united the Hogwarts houses would be a kodac moment."
"A what?" Pansy Parkinson asked, looking confused.
"A memorable moment, Pansy." Draco said drily.
"I knew that." Pansy said huffily. "You, sit." She pushed Hermione back down on the chair and sat next to her. She, too, had changed. She was still somewhat pug faced, but she had recognised the values of wearing enough clothing and of not overdoing the makeup. She also acted a lot more mature, without a single insult so far, and she had been civil to Gryffindors.
"So who's telling him what?"
"I thought we were waiting for Cho to drop in." Neville said.
"Sorry, hun. Your significant other is locked up in Cardiff trying to bang sense into Ernie Macmillan. He's being more stupid then usual. And I'm observing, not commenting." She added. Harry was staring again, and he knew it. Cho and Neville...married? Was the world falling down around his ears? Though the way his life was, it wouldn't be the first time. And not only that, but did Pansy just call Neville hun???
"We'll get started then. Because I have other things I want to do tonight." Malfoy said, rubbing his hands together and grinning.
"Ugh. Leave the bedroom activities in the bedroom Draco." Ron said with a grimace.
"You just assumed that was what I was talking about." Malfoy said with a smirk.
"But I was right." Ron shot back. Malfoy shrugged.
"Children, please." Ginny said. The two men stared at her.
"You spend too much time in the nursery, red." Malfoy said.
"With my hand, I don't have a lot of choice. And you were acting like children." Ginny said with a grin.
"What happened to your hand?" Harry asked, if only to break through the unreality of Malfoys and Weasleys teasing each other.
"Someone tried to kill me. Malfoy managed to stop it, but not before it did this." Ginny raised her right hand, and Harry flinched. Her hand was shrivelled and warped, the skin patchy pink, white and mottled purple. Her fingers were curled in like claws. "Because of this I have to work left handed, which I'm not particularly good at. Which is why I spend my time looking after kids instead of going out. Though I don't mind, really."
"Ginny's discovered some of her mother inside her." Pansy put in. "Which is fine, because I don't have to look after kids that way. I hate kids." She shuddered.
"Can we get to the point?" Neville asked. The others fell silent. "Thank you. Harry, this is one of the safehouses for the Order of Tears, which we make up. There's a lot of Hogwarts students involved, of all houses, and other people from various countries around the world. We replaced the Order of the Pheonix."
"What happened to them?" Harry asked, surprised.
"They were slaughtered." Ginny said flatly. "That's where my hand got ruined, when we were trying to fight off deatheaters."
"Everyone?" Harry asked faintly.
"There's us. But from the original Order? There's Fred Weasley, I suppose. But he isnt really a whole person any more." Malfoy said quietly.
"Where's he?" Harry asked, fearing the answer.
"St Mungo's mentally insane unit." Ron answered. "He killed George by accident, and he completely snapped."
"He was trying to kill my father." Malfoy said softly, coming over to sit on the arm of the couch next to Hermione, who leaned her head on his leg. He looked down at her, stroking her dyed-red hair. "Lucius pushed George in front of him, and the curse hit him. But Fred was trying to be cruel, and the curse was one that takes hours to finish. It eats at your skin and starts eating you from the inside." Harry stared at Ron and Ginny but they seemed unaffected. "I could hear George screaming, and I couldn't get to him..." Malfoy trailed off.
"You saved others, my love." Hermione murmured. "You saved me, and Ginny, and Pansy, and Cho..."
Harry was shocked. Not so much at Malfoy's story, but at the way he told it. He actually sounded upset about it.
Malfoy laughed. "Bet this has you wondering if you're off your rocker, eh Potter? Draco Malfoy, saving lives instead of taking them." He said bitterly.
"We don't blame you, Malfoy. We all saw what you did." Ron said quietly. "Anyway. Dumbledore kept telling us to get the others and get out. So we grabbed as many as we could and ran. We ran, like fucking cowards." He broke off.
"We all slept rough. We found each other on the streets, we were all wrecked, crying, yelling, rocking. I swear people thought we were insane." Pansy said. "We...or rather, the Grangers," she smiled at Hermione, "bought the first safehouse, which we enlarged magically. And we all limped back there to recuperate. People kept leaving, and returning with more casualties. Some of us learned to be mediwitches very quickly." She said with a depracating smile.
"I just don't get why the hell people like you were there anyway." Harry said. Hermione lifted her head off Draco's leg and looked at him.
"They're not people like them, Harry. They're people like us. They saw what happened, and they realised they werent going to murder like that."
"Actually, pet, it was more of a case of deatheaters were just as prepared to kill us as they were them." Malfoy contradicted.
"Which pissed us off. Especially since Voldemort was already dead. We werent going to follow some random guy who thought he was better than the rest of those mindless losers." Pansy said, holding out her hand and inspecting her manicured fingernails.
"People started coming here because this lot didn't discriminate about who came, as long as they followed the rules." Malfoy said, jerking his thumb at the present Gryffindors. "Namely, hurt us and we'll kill you. It got the message across pretty fast when they showed how willing they were to kill us."
"We did warn you." Hermione said sweetly.
"After you'd broken my nose and stamped on me." Malfoy complained.
"That was for calling me mudblood." Hermione shot back.
"Anyway." Neville said pointedly. Hermione and Malfoy turned and looked innocently at him. Harry was just a little disgusted. This was the girl he had loved, for god's sakes. And it was fairly clear that she was either involved with Malfoy or very good friends with him. He was going for involved, much as it pained him to do so.
"Anyway." Ginny repeated. "More and more people came here, and Hermione, being Hermione, organised us all -"
"What's that meant to mean?" Hermione muttered rebelliously.
"- into a group that could actually look after ourselves. Various pairing sprung up...like Neville and Cho. Which is how the nurseries came into being, with people looking after the kids who were either unable," Ginny held up her destroyed hand, "or unwilling to fight."
"There weren't many of those." Ron put in. "But there were some who just froze up around dark magic. The way Neville used to be."
"We eventually needed more safehouses, so we organised those. They're dotted all over the place, now. Literally. There's three in America, about nine in the UK, twelve in Europe, and various others dotted around Asia and Africa."
"What about Hogwarts?" Harry asked.
"It's gone. Along with ze rest of ze magical schools." A blonde woman appeared in the middle of the room, and Ron jumped up.
"Fleur!"
"Bonjour. Je suis rentree. Mais je dois parti maintenant." (Hello, I'm back. But I have to leave now.)
"Pourquoi?" (Why?) Harry was really staring now. Ron and Fleur were actually conversing in fairly fluent french.
"J'aime tu, Ron, mais je dois parti. Au revoir" Fleur disappeared. (I love you, Ron, but I have to go. Goodbye)
"Malfoy taught Ron french when Hermione found out how much Ron liked Fleur." Pansy explained with a giggle. "It was very funny at first, and then Ron got better at it than me, and it wasn't half as funny when he was correcting me."
"What can I say? I'm a good teacher." Malfoy said with a shrug, grinning wildly.
"You mean a complete cheat and a fraud! You eventually gave up and charmed him so he could speak french." Pansy shot back. Malfoy shrugged again.
"What's the big deal? He can speak french, cant he?"
"Children!" Ginny broke in again. Pansy and Malfoy subsided, and Harry swore they looked a little sheepish.
"So all the schools are gone, and all the kids are being home-taught at the moment." Neville continued.
"Apart from those who are here. Hermione teaches them most things, since she's the best out of us all. The things that she didn't take or doesn't do brilliantly, which are few and far between, Malfoy takes care of."
"In other words, I charm the little monsters so they know the stuff and I hand 'em back to our resident genius." Malfoy said archly.
"Which gets the job done, so we don't complain." Neville added. "Anyway. The magical world is still in complete chaos...the ministry's a mess, there's no decent schools, and no one knows who's safe or not."
"We're about the only secure people in the bunch. Because we trust everyone else here with our lives."
"And none of us have disappointed when it comes to the crunch." Neville said. Harry had a sneaky feeling they were finally getting to the point.
"What we're getting at, Potter," Malfoy stood up, and then it was just Harry and Malfoy in the conversation as the rest backed out. "Is can we trust you not to back out? We've lost people looking for you. We've gotten hurt. A lot of us have only just recovered from losing you the first time round and the consequences thereof. So this is the question. Are you in or out? This is a now decision. You cant decide later." Harry raised an eyebrow, but frowned as Hermione joined Malfoy, her hand twining in his at their sides.
"We mean it Harry. If you can't do this, fine. But you also cant stay. If you want to stay a Muggle, you can. But this is a magical group, and we try and keep Muggles from knowing about magic."
"You'd kick me out." Harry said flatly.
"Actually, we would." Pansy said. "We know you, Harry. We know what you're like, what you can take, what you can do. You're not the Boy-Who- Lived here, you're Harry James Potter. The person, not the name. So you can choose. You can stay here with your friends who were fighting to save the world while you backed yourself into a corner of your own selfish thoughts, and maybe you can get your act together again, or you can leave again, proving that you really were almost as useless as you seemed to the rest of the world who werent infatuated with you."
"Easy Pansy." Hermione commented.
"What? You gave up everything for him, Hermione! Are you prepared to give it up all over again only for him to leave?"
"I wont do that." Hermione said to Pansy though her eyes were locked on Harry. "I have too much to risk now."
"You wont risk it for your best friend?" Harry asked mockingly.
"What best friend?" Hermione asked coldly. "I risked everything for him seven years ago, but he disappeared. I'd heard he was dead. I've yet to hear anything different." She rose up and kissed Malfoy on the cheek. "I'm going to bed. I've got work to do tomorrow." She walked off, but no one followed her.
"Well? That wasn't quite the welcome speech I had planned," Ron said, "But I guess it's going to have to do, as much as possible. But the question was posed. Are you staying or going?"
"I'm staying, just to prove to Hermione she's wrong." Malfoy chuckled.
"Good luck." Then he turned and went in the direction Hermione had.
&
So? Do you like it? If you do, please review, because I have quite a few ideas for stories at the mo, but I don't know which ones to follow up. So check out my other ones, and tell me which one you like best. Istalindar.