Chapter 2
Harry and Hermione arrived at the Moonrise Hotel and went directly to find their rooms. It turned out that Hermione's room was directly opposite Harry's. That night they retired to their rooms early after the tiring journey. Meanwhile Mr and Mrs Granger were discussing the very interesting subject of Harry and Hermione.
"Dear, have noticed anything strange about Harry and Hermione?" asked Mrs Granger.
"No, should I have?" mumbled Mr Granger from behind a newspaper, who was sitting in a comfortable armchair with a mug of coffee balanced on his lap.
"Men, honestly! Isn't it somewhat obvious that Hermione has affections for Harry..."
"WHAT!" Mr Granger had jumped out of the chair and knock the mug onto the floor.
"There's no need to overreact, darling."
"I am most certainly not overreacting!" cried a dignified Mr Granger, "This is my daughter we are talking about, and I don't want little Hermione to... be doing things with Harry." Mr Granger blushed at that last remark.
"Oh, I don't think you need to worry about Harry and Hermione 'doing things'."
"He had better bloody well not..." remarked Mr Granger darkly.
Mrs Granger looked at him distastefully, "There's no need to use such vulgar language, you know, dear."
"I'll use whatever language I like when things concern my precious daughter."
"Well, if you can't figure it out for yourself, I may as well tell you. Harry and Hermione are both struggling to reveal their feelings for each other. And I think we should give them some space to let them get closer."
"Most certainly not."
"Hermione won't be 'little precious Hermione' forever you know, however much I want her to. Harry seems perfectly trustworthy to me." sniffed Mrs Granger.
"Women, always thinking about trust and love..." he muttered.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" she asked dangerously.
"Um, nothing dear... You know that I always agree with you." he said hastily.
Mrs Granger gave a satisfactory nod and he sighed with relief.
"Goodnight, dear."
"Goodnight."
The next morning, Harry woke up at around 9 o'clock, knowing that Hermione would be eager to start sightseeing. He brushed his teeth and got changed into a pair of khaki combats and black T - shirt. Harry walked across the landing and knocked on Hermione's door.
"Come in."
Harry opened the door, stepped inside, he could distinctly smell Hermione's lavender.
"Morning, 'Mione."
"Morning, Harry..."
Hermione sat the dressing table and was brushing her hair. She was wearing a white strapped top and khaki shorts. Harry found her dazzling and felt that if he didn't hug her he would die...
"You look really nice."
Hermione blushed at the comment and Harry smiled.
"You too."
"I know, I'm just so charming."
"Yeah, whatever."
"So, where to?"
"Oh well, I figured we could go and see the Vatican, that is, if you want to."
"Sounds great."
"Ok, I'll go see if Mum and Dad want to come."
"Ok, I'll wait in the lobby for you?"
"Yeah." said Hermione and Harry left the room. Why did I just blush? I must have looked so stupid in front of Harry...
Hermione got up and left for her parents room.
"Hey Mum, me and Harry are going to the Vatican, we were wondering if you and Dad wanted to join us."
"Oh no dear, it's much too early to go sightseeing for us. Why don't you and Harry go alone?"
"Ok, Dad?"
"Whatever your mother says." he replied rather moodily. This was strange because Hermione's dad was usually a very cheerful man, Hermione assumed that he hadn't slept well yesterday night.
"When do you want us back, Mum?"
"Around 4 o'clock."
"Ok, see you."
"Have fun, dear."
At that, Hermione left their room and Mrs Granger turned to face her husband and said,
"See, dear, now that wasn't too hard was it?"
"Humph."
Harry was sitting in the lobby reading a newspaper when Hermione came up behind him and said,
"Boo!"
Harry jumped out of the chair, looking startled. Hermione laughed and declared,
"You should have seen your face, then... Ha, ha!"
"Well, shall we get going?" as he mock glared at her. To Harry's surprise, Hermione took his hand in hers and dragged him out of the hotel.
They were on the corner of the street leading to the Vatican when Hermione suddenly ran and cried,
"Last one there's a rotten egg!"
Harry chased after her and finally caught up with her. He grabbed her around the waist and carried her up the stairs leading to the cathedral. When the reached the top of the stairs Harry began tickling her, Hermione wrestled out of his arms and ran into the cathedral laughing. Harry, also laughing, followed her in. When they walked in, Harry's jaw dropped: he had never seen a cathedral so beautiful as this one. Hermione, also startled by the sheer beauty of the cathedral, had stopped laughing abruptly. They walked to the centre, looking around with dazzled expressions.
"I see that the cathedral has also won your hearts." a quiet voice came from the shadows and Hermione gave a faint shriek. Harry also surprised jumped and immediately reached for his wand, that wasn't there.
Do not worry, I am merely an old man. Harry gasped at the voice inside of his head and the voice seemed to chuckle. An old man came shuffling forward out of the shadows. This time it was Hermione's turn to be surprised.
"Harry, do you know who that is?"
"Well, judging by the robes, I think he's a priest..."
"Not just any priest, he's the Pope."
"What? Oh..."
The old man watched the two have their conversation and seemed faintly amused.
"Well, you are a very clever girl, not many children your age know who I am anymore."
Harry felt an overwhelming pride swell in his heart for Hermione. That's my Hermione... Wait a minute, where did 'my Hermione' come from? The old man looked even more amused than before.
"I would like to give you a grand tour of the cathedral, if you don't mind, of course."
"We would be honoured to be in the presence of your company." gasped Hermione.
"Well, shall we?"
And so they did, they spent the morning and afternoon visiting the tombs of the previous Popes and listening to the stories behind every object, which the Pope seemed to hold, in the Vatican. Finally, they had seen everything in the Vatican and had ended up where they had met the Pope.
"I bid you good luck and farewell, Chosen One."
"What? How do..."Harry was obviously startled by this title.
"Harry, isn't it obvious? The Pope is a wizard..." said Hermione.
"Very good, however, you don't seem surprised? Why?"
"Every object seemed to come to hand when you wanted it to and when you finished with them they vanished. I've read about this form of wandless magic before..."
"My, my, you are very well informed, no?"
Hermione blushed and Harry felt the overwhelming pride again.
"Well, Lord Voldemort is not one who can be easily defeated but I sense that you have a pure heart and will strive on."
"Thank you." Harry replied simply.
"When the time comes, all of good hearts will stand together against Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters." The Pope's eyes clouded and seemed distant but then he suddenly came back to his senses and smiled kindly at them.
"It has been my pleasure meeting the two of you... Dio benedi voi entrambi."
He bent to kiss Hermione's cheek and then Harry's.
"Now, run along and have fun for this is Roma."
With that, Harry and Hermione bid him goodbye and walked away. They had walked down the street and then suddenly Harry turned to Hermione and asked,
"What did he say at the end, do you know?"
"You, mean Dio benedi voi entrambi?"
"Yeah, that."
"I think it means 'God bless you both'."
"How do you know Italian?"
"Oh, I just picked it up somewhere."
"Oh."
They walked a little further and stopped outside an Italian restaurant, then it suddenly struck them that they were ravenous. So they walked inside and sat at a table by the window. They ordered a pizza and some lemonade. They sat in silence and watched each other as they ate the pizza. Harry wolfed down three slices of pizza and Hermione ate two, there was one slice of pizza left but they sat and ignored it. They felt that someone was watching them and they turned towards the window to see an old Chinese man dressed in rags staring at the slice of pizza. As if reading each other's minds, they stood up and went outside to greet the man.
"Excuse me, would you like to come and join us?" Hermione asked gently.
"That is very kind of you." croaked the old man.
"Nonsense." replied Harry.
Without further ado, they led the old man into the restaurant where they sat down at their table. The old man wolfed down the last slice of pizza. Their hearts filled with compassion and they ordered another pizza and some coffee. When the old man had finished eating, he leaned back on his chair and looked at Harry and Hermione.
"Thank you, again."
"It's no problem..." answered Harry and Hermione in unison.
The old man smiled and said,
"My name is Sheng Xia and for your kindness I have a gift for you both. So close, you are and yet not. Like Yin and Yang - both opposites and yet together they form a balance in life: day and night; fire and water; the sun and the moon. You Harry Potter, are the day, the fire and the sun. You have strength to hold you and a will to guide you. Your will shines bright and cowers all those who stand against you. You Hermione Granger, are the night, the water and the moon. Like the water you have the stillness of mind, like the night you can hide yourself from predators and like the moon you are luminous and the light you give is warm and loving. Together day and night is the life of a human, fire and water the earth remains dry, the sun and the moon together diminishes all darkness. The Chosen One and his Friend."
Sheng opened his palm and showed two necklaces, one with Yin and the other with Yang. He joined the two pieces together to form a perfect circle. He placed Yin around Harry's neck and Yang around Hermione's neck and joined them together.
Sheng began to speak,
"The necklaces have a certain power within them that you must unlock."
"How do we unlock them and what powers do they have?" asked Harry.
The old man smiled,
"All in good time, Harry."
"Sheng, who are you really?" questioned Hermione.
"I am Sheng Xia, the last in the line of the prophets of Xia."
"You're really a prophet."
"Yes, the paths that lie ahead of the Chosen One and the Bride of the Light are dangerous but not doomed. In these times, the Chosen One and the Bride of the Light must hold each other safely in their hearts. Now I must leave you..."
There was a flash of light and Sheng was gone. Harry and Hermione looked around, nobody had noticed the flash of light. Harry and Hermione sat in thoughtful silence.
If I'm the Chosen One, then whose the Bride of the Light? And what powers do these necklaces hold? Sheng said to 'hold each other safely in their hearts'. Wait, does that mean whoever the Bride of the Light is, this means that I'll fall in love with them... But that's impossible! I'm in love with Hermione but she can't be the Bride of the Light... If only she knew...
I wonder who the Bride of the Light is? If Harry's the Chosen One then he loves the Bride of the Light. Oh, I would give anything for it to be me. I think I'm just going to have to come to terms with the fact that I'm in love with Ha...
"Uh, earth to 'Mione." Harry waved his hand in front of Hermione's face.
"Wha... oh, I was just thinking."
"About Sheng?"
"Yeah, what he said was kind of obscure."
"Tell me about it."
"So, it's 2 o'clock and we don't have to get back until 4 o'clock, what shall we do?"
"Why don't we go to the Colosseum? It'll be cool."
From the restaurant, Harry knew that it took about 10 minutes to get to the Colosseum.
"Yeah, sure, let's go."
Harry and Hermione stood up and he took her hand in his and they walked out of the restaurant.
As they walked down the streets, Hermione thought in amazement: Oh my god, Harry's actually holding my hand. Is it possible that he's...
"'Mione, we're here."
"Ok."
They walked to the entrance and paid to go in, Harry slid the tickets into his pocket and they entered the Colosseum. All the Colosseum really was, was a huge ruined arena but still, Harry and Hermione stood in the arena feeling very small. They walked around the Colosseum and they told and laughed at each other with graphic stories of how gladiators battled to their deaths in this very arena... Harry stopped walking.
"Harry, what's wrong?"
"'Mione, can you guess who the Bride of the Light is?"
"No."
Harry decided that it was now or never.
"Do you think it could be you?" he spoke softly, his green eyes were sparkling and intense.
"No, I don't think so, I'm 'his Friend', remember?"
Hermione's heart was racing, she was thinking of all the things she wanted to say to him...
"I don't want the Bride of the Light, that is, if it's not you."
Hermione looked up into Harry's eyes and she felt alive.
"Hermione, I think I'm in love with you. I hope you don't mind."
"Harry, you can't, remember what Sheng said..."
"What was that?"
Harry didn't seem to be paying attention anymore. His lips parted and his head was inching slowly towards Hermione's face. He wrapped his arms around her waist...
"Harry, I..."
She broke off and Harry kissed her tenderly on the lips. The kiss lasted only a few seconds but it had thrown them both into eternity. It was a love that was stronger than words could supply. Neither of the wanted to let go but did and broke off. The happy couple walked hand in hand back to the hotel, feeling very tired after the day's excitement.
Sorry! pls dont kill me! i meant 2 update ages ago but neva got round to it. Thanx to all my reviewers. Thanks, luv jen : )