Chapter 25

Hermione walked down to the common room at five thirty the next morning.

Upon arriving, she was pleasantly surprised when Harry came down from the boys' dormitory almost immediately afterwards. Once he stepped off the final step and saw her, he gave her a smile before walking up to her.

At that point, Hermione said, "You're up a bit early. Did you sleep well?"

Harry glanced over at the armchair closest to the fireplace for an instant before looking at her again and nudging his head towards the chair. She just silently nodded, and the two of them were quickly huddled together in the chair once again.

They turned their heads to gaze at one another, before Harry finally replied, "I did still have a nightmare in the middle of the night, another where voices of people that died were all talking about why hadn't I joined them once the war was over. But remembering the dream I had on Christmas Eve where everyone told me how glad they were for me to be alive, as well as thinking of you in general and how happy I am with you, helped me to end it after just a minute. No, I just woke up a bit earlier this morning, Hermione, and didn't feel like lying in bed and trying to sleep for another thirty minutes when I knew that you would probably already be up."

She smiled at him and then said, "Well, I'm glad to hear that you got your sleep."

Her smile dropped as she added, "After yesterday…"

She trailed off, unsure if recalling the horrid events of the previous day was a good thing when it was still so early in the morning. But after her pause, sympathy filled Harry's face with him knowing what was on her mind.

He quietly interjected, "I should be asking you about whether you slept alright. You're the one that's being lied about and made out to be a horrible person, when nothing could be further from the truth."

Hermione's smile was twinged with a bit of sadness this time. "It's alright. I'm alright. While it hurts that we may face problems in the coming days from all the fallout of yesterday, I'm still with you. Nothing else matters."

That caused Harry to look at her with tenderness, as he said, "That's good to hear."

Then, with the ghost of a smirk, he added, "There was always a chance that, after sleeping on it, you could have come to your senses about dealing with all those problems that could arise."

Though his tone was mostly light, she could also hear a hint of hesitance within it. His fears, about how she could be driven away by the obstacles that the world would throw at her for being with him, still had at least a small grip on him.

Well, she would drive those away right now.

Thus, Hermione slowly leaned up and gave Harry a light, one-second kiss. When she pulled back and stared at him, she whispered, "I've always had my senses. And they all say that there's nowhere else I should be but by your side."

His eyes seemed to light up a bit more at her response, before he slowly dropped his head and touched his forehead to hers.

Then, he quietly said, "I'm so thankful for your determination and loyalty. You really are worth more than anyone could ever live up to."

Her lips curled upward for a moment before she lightly nuzzled his nose with her own for a second. As a small grin rose on his face, she replied, "You live up to it, Harry. It's thanks to having you in my life that I became who I am today. There's nothing else anyone could give me that could be worth more than that."

Though he didn't say a word, her response caused love and affection to entirely fill his expression. The two of them then sat still in their position for a little while, just gazing into each other's eyes.

At some point, Harry's eyes shifted downward, and his grin seemed to just barely widen.

Hermione couldn't resist asking, with the hint of a tease, "See something you like?"

His gaze lifted back to her eyes, before he lightly said, "Maybe. Let's just say that, with us being together, I've got another reason to be glad for the arrival of the weekend and having no classes those days. Our school robes definitely don't do you justice compared to normal clothes."

A faint blush rose in her cheeks, and her response was slightly timid. "You really think so?"

Harry's brow furrowed in some confusion, which was really the only response that she needed in order to know his answer was yes, but he also did reply with words. "Of course, Hermione. Like I've said before, you're beautiful on the inside and the outside."

He then gave a small shrug before smiling again. "Sure, maybe you don't have the same kind of figure as a more stereotypical model. But you're thin, a healthy sort-of thin rather than being closer to a stick like some women try to be, and you have a small but nice set of curves."

His smile then transformed into a devilish smirk. "Curves which you should know from prior experience that I love running my hands along. And breasts that are just the perfect size for me to cup and hold."

The slow breath she took in response to his words was full of desire. And it seemed that he knew exactly what she was thinking about, going by the widening of his smirk.

The left side of her mouth lifted slightly, and she said as sensually as she could, "You know, if you're not careful, I may just end up taking you right here and now. It has been more than a week since we've been together like that, rather than just occasionally sleeping next to one another after you had one of your more terrible nightmares."

He let out a low laugh before replying, "Unfortunately, that would almost certainly mean we give everyone else a show, wouldn't it? No, I suppose you'll just have to settle for some cuddling right now."

Her smile grew as she responded, "You know what? I think that sounds just fine."

He just smiled back at her for a couple of seconds. Then, he lifted his head away, turning it to face the fireplace, before wrapping his right arm around her and pulling her closely into his side. She shifted a bit to put her left arm around him and snuggle as much into him as possible before, once she was satisfied with her position, laying her head on his shoulder. For the next few minutes, the two were silent and simply gazed into the burning fire.

Eventually, though, Hermione heard Harry let out a quiet sigh. Pulling her head up, she found him to be wearing a much more pensive expression.

She couldn't help asking, "Is something wrong, Harry?"

He turned his gaze to her and answered after a couple of seconds, "Just wondering when Luna's father will get that letter of mine published in The Quibbler. And a bit worried now about whether all of it will be believed."

She replied, "To your first sentence, all we can do now is wait, Harry. But you heard Luna. If her father apparently still feels guilty about what he did to us in the Horcrux hunt last year, I bet that he'll work on it as fast as he can, even without any prodding from Luna."

She then tilted her head slightly. "And to your second sentence... are you worried about any parts in particular? You know that I was alright with all of it, since you would periodically show me what you wrote and want my approval before you would continue."

A wry smirk came to his lips. "Well, remember the paragraph that speaks to Rita Skeeter herself?"

She nodded, but then her brow furrowed for a moment when she recalled a specific part from that paragraph. "Do you mean the bit where you mentioned Rita's special little ability?"

He gave her one deliberate nod in return.

She hardened her expression at just the mere thought of the sleazy writer. "Frankly, I think she deserves no less than for her secret to be made public and to face whatever consequences come from it. In fact, part of me wishes that we had told Luna about that right away, or that Luna would have looked at the letter before she sent it to her father and has already begun spreading the secret around here. Though since she never mentioned anything to us about it at dinner last night, I can only guess that she didn't read it, which I guess is good in its own way, since it shows that she respects our privacy even if we never said that she couldn't read the letter after we were finished."

Then, with a couple of blinks, Hermione remembered something. "And this also reminds me of something you said. After we read that article yesterday, you talked about not being able to do what you really wished you could. What did you mean by that, since I never asked about it at any point?"

Harry huffed for a moment before responding, "That I wanted to find Rita and force her to transform into her beetle form, so that I could then step on her."

That made her eyes widen in surprise for a couple of seconds before she let out an incredulous laugh. Afterwards, she replied, "Well, while I can definitely understand why you would want to do that, let's just leave it at the reveal of her Animagus ability for the moment. She'll face enough consequences from that. I just hope that it could lead to her being interrogated about what she used it for, and it comes out that she did so many corrupt actions with the ability that it causes her to be placed in prison at least until she's an old woman."

Harry's responding smirk was larger this time. "Like you wouldn't want to do the same thing if you could get your hands on Rita."

She gave him an overly innocent smile. "And that's exactly why I also said that I understand why you would want to take such actions."

He silently chuckled as he shook his head for a couple of seconds. When he stopped, however, he grew serious and said, "Really though, what I worry about is that, even though we're telling the truth about Rita having hidden the fact that she's a beetle Animagus, people may just think that I'm being spiteful and trying to cause trouble without reason, and thus they would never look further into things to actually confirm the statement."

She looked at him with sympathy before quietly saying, "Like everything else, Harry, the only thing we can do now is wait and see what happens."

His expression became a bit resigned as he turned his head towards the fire again. Then, he merely replied, "Yeah, it is."

Hermione, rather than responding with words, simply cuddled into him again before laying her head back on his shoulder. And with that, the two of them just sat silently in the armchair and let the morning pass. A few others eventually started making their way into the common room, but none bothered the two of them by trying to talk. Harry and Hermione did greet Neville when he came over and sat in another chair close to them, but he seemed to catch on quickly that they weren't up to talking right now, and thus didn't say much more afterwards and waited with them for breakfast.

At six forty-five, however, fifteen minutes before breakfast would begin, the world made its presence known again.

At that point, Professor Vector walked into the common room and over to Harry and Hermione.

The Head of Gryffindor said, "Miss Granger, Mr. Potter. I was hoping that you would both be awake."

Hermione, who had lifted her head from Harry's shoulder when Professor Vector came over to them, replied, "Do you want us for something, Professor?"

The Arithmancy professor nodded. "Yes, if the two of you wouldn't mind coming with me for a moment."

Harry and Hermione nodded in return before standing from the chair. They followed the tall, black-haired woman out of the portrait hole.

But then, after the portrait of the Fat Lady had closed, they were confused when the professor turned around and looked at them with a somewhat resigned, fallen expression.

She then quietly said, "I didn't wish to say more around anyone else, but the two of you are needed in the Headmistress' Office. And though I don't know much more, the headmistress specifically said to warn you that this is apparently a matter involving Aurors, that the two of you would probably be right in guessing why they came, and that I should come with you as your Head of House."

Harry and Hermione instantly whipped their heads to look at one another. Though both of them had wide eyes, Hermione knew hers were wide with dread and resignation, while Harry's contained anger and disbelief.

After a second, and before Harry could say anything, she just turned back to the professor and whispered, just loud enough to be heard, "They're here for me and the implication that Rita Skeeter made about me supposedly using love potions on Harry, aren't they?"

Professor Vector reluctantly said, "Again, I don't know anything more about whatever this involves. After the events of yesterday, however, that may not be a wrong assumption to make, Miss Granger."

Both of them looked at Harry when he coldly replied, "They better be here just to confirm with us that they think this is all bloody rubbish."

He then grabbed Hermione's hands and pleaded to her, "Let me go on my own. I've got all the proof they need. You don't need to go and risk them wanting to take you away for actual questioning."

Though she knew his heart was in the right place, she sadly shook her head. "No, Harry. I won't run from whatever may happen, especially when, as you said, we know that Rita was telling falsehoods."

She took a deep breath and then said, "Let's just go and get this over with."

Harry frowned and looked like he wanted to argue. But after a couple of seconds, he let out a sigh before nodding at her. He dropped her right hand but continued holding her left one in his own right hand.

Hermione couldn't help placing her free hand on his cheek. Then, she whispered, "When we stick together, we can make it through anything. Right?"

Though his expression was hesitant, his lips did barely lift upward before he replied, "Yeah, you're right."

She caressed his cheek for a moment in response, before dropping her hand.

Then, to Professor Vector, she simply said, "Alright. Let's go, Professor."

What appeared to be a sad smile actually came over the professor's face, before she nodded and began leading the way.

No one said a word on the journey to the Headmistress' Office. Harry and Hermione just kept a grip on each other's hand, both needing the comforting presence of the other person.

Soon enough, they were all past the gargoyle guardian and at the door to the actual office. Professor Vector just opened the door, and the three of them walked in. After a few steps, however, Harry and Hermione both stopped in dread. Professor Vector kept going for a moment before she realized that they had stopped, and then stepped over beside them afterwards while Harry and Hermione continued to just stare forward.

Two men and one woman were standing in front of Professor McGonagall's desk. One man was Harry's height and had a buzz cut. The second man and the woman were both slightly taller than Hermione herself, with the man having short brown hair and the woman having shoulder-length black hair. Each of the strangers turned to look when Professor Vector, Harry, and Hermione had entered. And all of them had a badge that read "Ministry of Magic Auror Office" pinned onto their robes, like it was needed for official business.

Aurors had indeed come to Hogwarts.

That, however, wasn't the only shock that the two students received.

"Mr. Potter. Miss Granger."

The deep and booming voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt sounded before he stepped into full view from behind Professor McGonagall's desk.

When he began walking towards them, Hermione said in confusion, "Minister Shacklebolt? You're here as well?"

He chuckled as he stopped a couple of steps in front of them. "Please, after everything that happened in the previous year, it's just Kingsley to the two of you, if you wish."

He then grew more serious. "And yes, I came because of a matter that I rather wish the Auror Office had simply let drop. But since David Savage, the current Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, has allowed the investigation even if a bit reluctantly, I decided to come along in order to make sure everything goes as smoothly and painlessly as possible for you both."

The Auror with the buzz cut then spoke up. "Minister, the office was swamped with requests, letters, and even Howlers all day yesterday asking for an investigation into these claims. We must have received at least a thousand letters, if not more. With so many people wanting this looked into, that's not something that could just be brushed aside. People would be calling for not only my job as the Head Auror or Mr. Savage's as the Department Head, but they may want to see heads roll for the entire department itself. Thus, we were left with little choice but to follow up on this."

Professor McGonagall then finally spoke up from behind the team of Aurors, where she must have been sitting at her desk.

"Well, I certainly think that you could have ignored this, Mr. Robards. I rather think that, even without having any Death Eaters around to still cause trouble, the Auror Office has better things to worry about and investigate than the love life of two teenagers."

At that point, Harry squeezed Hermione's hand a bit more tightly before loudly interrupting, getting the attention of everyone in the room. "Let's just get this out of the way. You're all here because of the claim that Hermione is using love potions on me, correct?"

Before anyone could respond, he let go of Hermione and pulled out his mokeskin pouch from underneath his clothes. After digging into it for a second, he removed and unfolded the signed parchment that was received from Madam Pomfrey, before hiding his pouch again.

Holding the parchment up with his left hand while taking hold of Hermione's hand again with his right one, he continued, "Well, here's all the proof you need. I have a clean bill of health, signed by Madam Pomfrey herself when she ran the diagnostics last night, which states that I have not one single bloody potion within me, love potion or otherwise."

Kingsley said, "Would you mind if I look at it, Mr. Potter?"

Even with the man being the Minister for Magic, Harry gave him a glare, causing Hermione to sigh with a bit of exasperation in her mind that Harry was already reaching a point of rage, before he said, "You can step forward and look, but I'm holding onto it. I won't dare risk losing the best proof that Hermione and I have for all of this rubbish, not even for you, Kingsley."

Hermione was a bit surprised when Kingsley chuckled before he replied, "I can appreciate having a stroke of caution. And frankly, with all that you went through, I would almost be disappointed if you weren't cautious. If old Mad-Eye was still around, he would definitely have your head if you weren't, that's for certain."

He then sobered up, took a small step closer, and simply began scanning the parchment. Harry and Hermione had made sure to have Madam Pomfrey list out every single potion for which she had checked, which was no easy feat considering the number they went through.

In fact, it took Kingsley a few minutes, time in which everyone in the room remained silent, before he finished. When he did, he let out a low whistle.

"You were certainly thorough," he said. "There must be a hundred potions listed on this thing, as well as a statement that a general and overall diagnostic also had negative results. And indeed, you have a dated signature here on the bottom from the matron."

He glanced over at the team of Aurors for a moment before turning back to Harry and Hermione. "For the sake of completeness, would the two of you be willing to let us have Madam Pomfrey come here and verify what you've told us?"

Hermione finally spoke again. "If it will end this issue more quickly, then yes, get her here as fast as she'll come."

She heard Harry let out an amused snort before he said, "If she's OK with it, then so am I."

Kingsley nodded and then turned away from them to walk back to the desk.

He then said, "Minerva, is that something you would be willing to do?"

The headmistress stood up and said, while walking over to her fireplace, "As Miss Granger said, if it will resolve all of this quickly, I most certainly will."

It didn't take long to get Madam Pomfrey into the office, as Professor McGonagall opened the Floo connection to let her come instantly. And indeed, the matron quickly confirmed that she had signed and dated the bill of health. She even gave the time at which she found Harry and Hermione waiting for her in the hospital wing and the time at which all of her diagnostics were finished before she signed the parchment stating that Harry was completely free of potions. The three Aurors all quickly took notes while she gave her account of the previous night.

Once she was finished and had left the office, silence held for a few seconds before Kingsley was the one to break it.

Turning to Robards, he said, "Well, I like to think that is all enough proof to satisfy the Auror Office to close this investigation. Would you agree, Gawain?"

Robards somewhat sheepishly replied, "Yes, I do, Minister. I will make certain that we get the report for this filed and completed as quickly as possible."

At that point, however, the second man spoke for the first time. "Isn't there theoretically still the possibility of an Imperius Curse usage, sir?"

"Piss off!"

The enraged outburst from Harry gave him everyone's attention once again. To Hermione, he appeared as though he was ready to murder all of the Aurors at the drop of a hat. And as angry as she was in her mind about the question, she needed to deal with Harry first.

She firmly said, "Harry – "

He instantly looked at her, anger still filling his expression, and replied, "No, Hermione. I know that you're going to tell me to calm down, but I refuse to let this pass!"

She gave an exasperated sigh but realized that this was just like how she had felt when she thought that her parents were going to speak ill of her relationship with Harry. Thus, she kept quiet to allow Harry to just say whatever it was he needed.

In the meantime, he quickly turned back to the Ministry officials and added, "First of all, Hermione Granger has not only been my best friend for over seven years, even when I was too stupid to have realized it, but she's also someone that wants better treatment for house-elves and believes that they shouldn't have to take any orders from humans that they don't want to. You can even go ask the elves about how, in our fifth year at Hogwarts from September 1995 to June 1996, she would leave clothes around Gryffindor Tower in the hopes that the elves would pick them up and be freed. Does that sound like someone who would use the Imperius Curse to control the mind of another being?"

Professor McGonagall interjected at that point. "Mr. Potter, would you allow me to call some of the house-elves here to corroborate that, to help give your statements more weight?"

He let out a frustrated sigh but replied, "If it can help Hermione, then yes, please do."

Hermione couldn't resist giving his hand a quick squeeze in thanks. When he looked to her, his expression softened for a moment as he smiled and lightly nodded.

Afterwards, Professor McGonagall called in five different elves. Every one of them confirmed to the Ministry officials that Hermione had indeed left clothes out for the elves in that year. She lightly blushed in embarrassment when the elves also talked about being glad when the clothes stopped appearing, but her heart warmed a bit when they added how they had eventually been convinced by Dobby that her intentions had been good, and that she had wanted to show kindness to the elves, when she did so.

Once the elves had disappeared, the Auror team took time to record all the information from them and Harry. When the team finished a few minutes later, they all turned to look at Harry again.

Robards then said, a bit tentatively, "So, Mr. Potter, you said 'first of all' when you spoke earlier. Do you have more you wish to say?"

Harry's expression immediately hardened again, somehow even more so than when the Imperius Curse was first brought up.

He responded, "Why yes, I do have one more thing to say. I've not only been under the Imperius Curse a few times before and thus know what it feels like – of which none of those times were Hermione, for the record, before any of you get even the hint of a thought that she might have cast it, and all but one of the times were by the Death Eater Barty Crouch Jr. when he was impersonating Alastor Moody – but I can also throw the curse off completely. In fact, the one time that someone else used the curse was when I had it cast on me by a man you would know by the name of Voldemort, and I was still able to shake it off!"

The three Aurors immediately flinched a bit when Harry said the name, but Robards was the first to regain his bearings and asked in amazement, "Wait, you not only can resist the Imperius Curse, but you also threw off one cast by You-Know-Who himself?!"

Hermione smiled in pride as she looked at the Head Auror for a moment and then back to Harry.

Then, she said, "Harry's always been better and more powerful than that for which he typically gives himself credit."

That caused him to look at her with a small and sheepish smirk. After just a second, though, he faced the four Ministry officials again and firmly continued.

"Yes, I can. I can also tell you that, when I was under the curse, all I would feel was a floating sensation of bliss, with every single worry and thought in my head being wiped away in an instant. Right afterwards, the voice of the caster would say to do something. And, well…"

He trailed off for a second, as his expression became somewhat pensive and dismal. "I like to think that instant feeling of bliss is one of the reasons why I could so readily throw it off."

Hermione was filled with sadness at what he could be implying. But as much as she hated to ask, she needed to know. "You mean, because of everything you had experienced in your life, that bliss felt so out of place that some part of you, even if just unconsciously so, knew that it was unnatural or manufactured, and thus gave you reason to resist any orders you might have heard. Don't you?"

Harry looked at her with sympathy before merely saying, "Yeah."

Not caring about the strangers in the room, Hermione let go of Harry's hand before throwing her arms around his neck, holding herself close to him in what she hoped was a comforting hug. He instantly hugged her back in response.

As they held one another, and she buried her head in his neck, she heard him continue to speak to the others. "I can say with total certainty that I've never experienced that same unnatural feeling this year. Hermione can even tell you that, as happy as we've been these past few weeks to be together, I've also still held concerns about my part in our relationship, even if she'll say that they're needless worries. And in case you ask about the time before we got together, I can say that I've been utterly worried, since the end of the war, about no longer having a purpose. And during the summer, if Hermione hadn't made a promise to come back to Britain, when I returned to the country while she remained in Australia at the time to be with her parents… it's very likely that I wouldn't be here now, because remembering that promise was the only reason that I didn't take drastic actions to be with my dead parents and family."

Even knowing that Harry would never do it now, Hermione instinctively tightened her arms and shook her head in the crook of his neck. His arms did the same, and he also gave a gentle kiss to her head, showing her that he knew what was on her mind. And for a few seconds afterwards, there was only silence in the room.

Hermione loosened her hold just enough to pull her head back and look at the others when she heard Kingsley speak to the Auror team.

"Well then. If you all would make notes for your report of this extra information, would all this be enough to discard the Imperius Curse possibility as well?"

He then added with a bit of snark, "Or do you feel it necessary beforehand to also test Mr. Potter's skills at shaking off the Imperius Curse, or that Madam Pomfrey may have only given her testimony and verification because of an Imperius Curse?"

Robards turned sheepish again and replied, "No, that won't be necessary, sir. And we will record all that was just told to us."

With that, the Aurors all quickly grabbed more parchment and began writing. No words were spoken while the team wrote or murmured among themselves to make certain that their writing was correct with what Harry said. In the meantime, Hermione extracted herself from Harry and returned to simply holding his right hand with her left.

Once the team had finished their writing, however, Head Auror Robards slowly walked over to Harry and Hermione. Kingsley stepped aside for a moment, as the two subordinate Aurors also stepped up beside their leader.

Then, Robards spoke to them with clear remorse. "Mr. Potter, Miss Granger. Speaking for Mr. Proudfoot and Mrs. Crickerly here, and on behalf of the entire Auror Office really, I sincerely apologize for whatever trouble that we may have put you through this morning. I hope you can understand when we say that there was nothing personal behind us wanting to investigate. And I thank you for the parts you played in allowing us to be free of You-Know-Who and his followers, with you obviously having killed the monster himself, Mr. Potter, while you rid us all of the crazed Bellatrix Lestrange, Miss Granger."

Harry and Hermione glanced at one another, before Harry quickly turned back and replied, with a bit of vitriol still, "If you want to thank us, then maybe you can do some investigating into the fact that Rita Skeeter is an illegal beetle Animagus."

"What?!"

Everyone else but Hermione cried out in shock, going into somewhat of a stupor at the statement.

While they were staring agape, though, Hermione looked at Harry with a smirk and said, "So, we're just letting it out now without waiting on that letter, then?"

Harry gave her a wicked grin and replied, "Considering we just had to prove your innocence in the simple fact that I chose to be with you, I say we get as much out of this as we can."

They turned forward when Robards said, "Even if that's true, how could you possibly know that?!"

Harry said to Hermione, "You want to take it from here? It's your story to tell, since you're the one that caught her."

Hermione nodded to Harry before beginning her tale to the rest of the room. "So, do you all recall the time period from about July of 1995 to July of 1996? A time where Rita Skeeter put out no articles for the Daily Prophet and only one for The Quibbler?"

Kingsley was the one to answer. "I certainly do, and I recall finding it odd when I realized I hadn't read an article from her in the paper for a long time. But I pushed it out of mind since there was no real reason to look deeper into it."

Hermione smirked and continued, "Well, when the Triwizard Tournament was held here, Rita put out articles with information that she had zero business knowing."

She was interrupted when Professor McGonagall gasped and exclaimed afterwards, "That's how she was getting the information for some of her articles that year, isn't it! Albus had banned her from Hogwarts after the first task. But if she was something as unassuming as a small beetle, no one would ever find out that she was still here on the grounds!"

Hermione smiled and nodded. "Correct, Professor! And ultimately, a throwaway mention from Harry about magical methods of bugging – having a means of listening in on someone else speaking while you are in another place entirely, in case any of you aren't familiar with that term – gave me the idea that Rita was doing it just a bit more literally. I caught her in the hospital wing one day, when she was perched on a window in her beetle form. And I knew right away it was her because she had markings around her antennas that resembled the glasses she always wears."

To the Aurors and Kingsley, she added, "And to the original question I posed, I forced Rita to stop writing for a year under threat that I would go to the Ministry and reveal her secret. That's why there was no writing from her after that last wretched article she wrote trying to call Harry disturbed and dangerous."

The Auror called Crickerly spoke up at that point. "So why reveal it now, if she did what you asked of her?"

Hermione glared daggers at the woman, making her actually lean back with a bit of fear, before furiously saying, "It's almost as though, after someone tries to make you out to the entirety of Great Britain to be a heartless love-potion-using bitch," to which the eyes of everyone but Harry widened at not only the language itself but also the wrath she put into the word, "you no longer have any care what happens to that person and are vindictive enough to want to see them face consequences for their actions. Especially when that person has already tried to make similar false claims in the past."

Silence held for a couple of seconds before Harry quietly chuckled. When she turned to him, he gave her a smirk but also had nothing but affection in his eyes.

He said, "I love it whenever you show everyone exactly what you're made of."

She couldn't help lovingly smiling at him, feeling warmth inside at the fact that he would so openly give her a compliment in front of complete strangers.

They turned forward when Kingsley spoke to them. "You're both absolutely certain of this and willing to put your names to everything you've stated here?"

In response, Harry and Hermione both just instantly and firmly said, "Yes."

Harry then added, "And frankly, you should probably work quickly if you want a chance to talk to Rita before things blow up even more. I gave a letter to The Quibbler to have published in response to that ruddy article, and one of the paragraphs is me calling out Rita and revealing her Animagus ability. I'll bet there's a lot of people with articles written about them in the past that would love to see her taken down after that news gets out, regardless of whether it's by the Ministry or simply by an outside individual."

Kingsley just gave them a tense nod and then looked over to Professor McGonagall. "And Minerva, you would do the same to your statement about Rita having been banned from Hogwarts grounds during the Triwizard Tournament?"

"I certainly would," she replied.

With that, Kingsley immediately turned to the Aurors and ordered, "Note everything that they've just said about Rita, and then get on this. You've got enough to get her into the office for questioning with her possibly having trespassed on school grounds during that year. Make certain to use Veritaserum so that she won't be able to lie her way out of things. There's no telling what she may have done over the years if she truly does have an Animagus form."

The Aurors all stood a little straighter, before Robards resolutely said, "Right away, Minister!"

Kingsley nodded and then spoke again to Professor McGonagall. "Minerva, if you wouldn't mind using your Floo connection to let them go straight to my office, so that they can more quickly travel back to the Auror Office for the sake of convenience?"

She nodded. "Of course, Kingsley."

About a minute later, the three Aurors had disappeared after once again sincerely apologizing to Harry and Hermione for the trouble, to which the two of them accepted, if a bit reluctantly, since the Aurors were just doing their job of investigating. Kingsley had surprisingly remained behind.

And at that point, he looked at Harry and Hermione remorsefully. "And now, I would like to apologize as well for this entire issue. You two certainly didn't deserve this kind of trouble, especially not when the source is a Rita Skeeter article."

Harry shrugged and replied, "It wasn't your fault. We know that this was all because Rita can't keep a quill to herself when it comes to causing trouble, especially when I'm involved."

Hermione then added, "But we appreciate the apology regardless, along with the fact that you wanted to get involved to make sure things would get resolved quickly."

Kingsley waved them off. "It was my pleasure to help, after how heavily involved the both of you obviously were in the war. I'm just thankful that you were cautious enough to have gotten actual proof as soon as possible that the claims were indeed false."

Hermione squeezed Harry's hand a bit tighter, since they were still holding one another, before saying, "Thank Harry for that. I received a Howler at dinner last night, and Harry immediately had the idea to get tested for potions so that we would have absolute proof for the worst-case scenario."

Kingsley gave a laugh and then spoke directly to Harry. "Cautious indeed. Mad-Eye might have even been a little proud of that."

He then glanced back and forth between them for an instant and said more seriously, "But while I'm here, I also wanted to congratulate you. Minerva's told me about the two of you planning to try for teaching positions here at the school. And while it would have been nice for the two of you to come to the Ministry, I'm sure you'll both do good things for Hogwarts."

Harry snorted before replying, "Don't congratulate us on anything yet. We still have to earn our N.E.W.T.s, graduate, and then take another test before anything becomes official."

Kingsley laughed again at that. "True, true. But from what I've heard so far of your work at school this year, the two of you probably won't have to worry too much. For whatever it's worth, though, I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors."

His expression sobered up again. "Though I will say, I may wish to hear from you two in the future, similarly to how Minerva and I talk regularly. There's no doubt, Mr. Potter, that any changes or policies that you would wish to see in the Ministry would certainly get approved quickly, especially considering how the supremacist faction has been so heavily wiped out. Just something to keep in mind for the future, since your N.E.W.T. studies obviously should take precedence over all else for the moment."

At that point, Kingsley dug into his dark-blue robes and pulled out a pocket watch, checking it for a moment.

When he placed it back in his pocket, he said, "Well, it's seven thirty. I should probably leave you all be now. I apologize again for troubling you all with this issue, especially this early in the morning. But I wanted things to get resolved as quickly as possible for the sake of both of you, Mr. Potter and Miss Granger. And I will make certain that a public statement will be made to your innocence, Miss Granger."

He then let out a frustrated sigh. "Unfortunately, it's most likely not going to be quick enough to prevent you from receiving terrible letters if people so choose it, if you've already received a Howler before now."

Professor McGonagall interrupted at that moment. "I have set up what is at least a temporary stopgap for that. A few of the house-elves, when I spoke to them last night, were quite willing to volunteer towards helping check all the mail so that Mr. Potter and Miss Granger do not receive anything harmful by means of a letter, with every elf stating that they were 'honored to help out Harry Potter, defender of house-elves, and his friend,' to quote the elves themselves."

Harry immediately groaned and covered his face, while Professor McGonagall added, "And I've given them instructions to take Howlers, should any more be sent, as well as letters with any substances in them or spells cast on them, to a specific empty room for destruction."

When he dropped his hand, Harry murmured, "Great, another title to add to the two I already don't want."

Hermione couldn't help giggling and saying to him, "I don't know. I think I like that one."

He gave her a huge smirk. "You would, wouldn't you?"

They faced forward when Kingsley spoke. "I'm glad to hear you already have something in place, Minerva. If there ends up being too much, though, and you need assistance from the Ministry with the mail, feel free to contact me."

The headmistress replied, "I will keep that in mind, Kingsley, thank you."

He nodded before taking a deep breath. "With that, I'll take my leave. Good day to you Minerva, Mr. Potter, Miss Granger."

The three all said their farewells to Kingsley, who moved to the roaring fire and threw some Floo powder into it. After stepping into the flames, he called for his office at the Ministry and disappeared.

Everyone remained silent, and about thirty seconds passed before Professor McGonagall pulled out her wand and muttered the incantation that would close the full-body Floo connection to her fireplace.

When she finished, Professor Vector spoke up. "Is there anything more for which you may need me to stay, Headmistress?"

Professor McGonagall shook her head. "Not unless Mr. Potter and Miss Granger have any questions of you."

Harry and Hermione immediately replied that they didn't.

Afterwards, Professor McGonagall added, "Then you may take your leave, Septima. And thank you for remaining here with our two Head students, even if things went in a direction that you weren't required for additional support."

"It was no trouble," the red-robed Arithmancy professor replied.

Then, she turned to face the two students. "And I certainly hope that things will go more smoothly for the two of you, now that this matter should hopefully be resolved."

Harry and Hermione both gave their gratitude to their Head of House. And with that, Professor Vector exited the office.

After a couple of seconds of silence between the remaining three people, however, Hermione couldn't refrain from asking something in a skeptical manner.

"So, the elves truly did volunteer to help inspect my and Harry's mail, Professor? Frankly, I'm almost tempted to just deal with any letters myself rather than make the elves do so."

Upon hearing Harry chuckle, she immediately reached over with her right hand and gave him a light slap on his arm before saying, "Hush, you."

She knew, however, that he could also see that she was clearly trying to hide a grin and not to laugh. The smirk on his own face was the only response she needed to know that.

They turned back to the headmistress when she chuckled for a second and replied, "Yes, Miss Granger. I assure you that, when I asked the elves if they would be willing to check the post for you and Mr. Potter, they all volunteered and I gave no orders for any of them to take part."

Hermione felt a tug on her hand. When she looked at Harry, she was a bit surprised to see him gazing tenderly at her.

He quietly said, "If you're not comfortable with it, we can always just continue getting mail like normal and just use all those precautions that we did with the Howler last night, until another alternative can be set up."

She couldn't help giving him a soft smile in response. He truly wanted to follow whatever she wanted when it came to the elves.

She remained quiet for a few seconds, giving it some thought. And when she spoke, her response actually caused Harry's eyes to widen a bit in surprise.

"No, it's alright. If the elves actually volunteered when asked if any of them were willing, then they're doing it because it's something they truly want to do. And after that quote that Professor McGonagall gave, as well as how they now believe that me leaving clothes out for them in fifth year was me trying to show them kindness in my own way, perhaps they would feel even more insulted than back then if they were removed from this new task because of me. So, let them go ahead and help us."

He stared at her for a second before asking, "Are you sure?"

Her smile lifted just a bit as she wordlessly nodded to him.

Immediately afterwards, though, she faced Professor McGonagall again and said, "Please do make sure, however, to tell the elves that Harry and I are quite thankful that they are willing to help us. And also tell them that, if things get to be too much for them, they can stop inspecting the mail whenever they wish. I realize that they may never actually do that, but I still want them to know that they have the option."

The headmistress smiled a bit more as she replied, "I will see to it that they receive your thanks and message."

The smile dropped, though, when she added, "Unfortunately, this method will also only stop just Howlers or letters that would contain harmful spells or substances. Thus, I can't guarantee that you won't otherwise receive letters with harsh words. Because I don't know enough about who you wish to keep in contact with you, I could only have said for the house-elves to destroy any letter."

Hermione quickly shook her head. "No, that's alright, Professor. You and the elves are doing more than enough already by making sure something like last night, or the bubotuber pus incident from fourth year, doesn't happen again. Harry and I can handle any other letters received."

From beside her, Harry merely responded, "If Hermione's OK with everything, then so am I."

Professor McGonagall just nodded for a second. Afterwards, though, sadness was clear in her tone when she spoke. "I deeply apologize for all of this trouble that you both are being put through. The two of you certainly do not deserve it."

Hermione gave a small smile and said, "You don't need to apologize, Professor, especially since you're helping us. Besides, even though we would obviously prefer peace and quiet, Harry and I also aren't exactly surprised given everything that's already happened in our lives."

Professor McGonagall shook her head. "Yes, you have indeed been through more than most people could ever even imagine. Still, hopefully things will eventually die down so that you can both enjoy the peacetime we have now."

She looked towards the floor as she gave a sigh. Harry and Hermione just kept quiet.

After a few seconds, the headmistress looked back up. Then, she gently said, "Well, while you both are here, is there anything that you may need to ask, or concerns which you want to give?"

The two students looked at each other. Harry just silently shook his head. Hermione's mouth curled upward for a moment before she faced forward again.

She replied, "No, nothing at the moment, Professor."

The headmistress nodded and said, "Alright then." But then, her expression hardened a bit. "But if you should have any trouble at all from other students over what happened yesterday, don't hesitate to come see either myself or Septima. I meant every word when I said that I will not tolerate any kind of harassment over that article."

Harry responded, "Thank you, Professor. We appreciate that a lot."

With that, the two students gave their farewells and left the office. When they were halfway down the stairs to the gargoyle guardian, however, Harry stopped them, which caused Hermione to grow a bit confused.

At that point, he quietly said, "Why don't we go back to Gryffindor Tower first, so that we can get dressed in our winter clothes for a walk outside after breakfast?"

Though she remained puzzled, she certainly wouldn't say no to time alone with him. "Alright, let's go."

Along the way back to the tower, as well as in the common room, people would stare at them and then murmur to someone else after they passed by. The two of them just ignored all as they grabbed their coats and gloves, as well as a knit hat in Hermione's case, and then made their way to the Great Hall.

Once they were in the entrance hall, however, Hermione became more confused when Harry stopped them and said to her, "Hey, why don't you go ahead outside, maybe head towards the lake and wait for me?"

She couldn't refrain from asking, "Why?"

He nervously rubbed a hand through his hair before responding a bit timidly, "Look, what I have in mind is probably kind of silly. But I thought of a way to maybe surprise you. So, will you trust me?"

A surprise for her? What could he mean?

Regardless, his thoughtfulness warmed her heart, and his ending question caused her need to reassure him to flare up.

Thus, she put her right hand on his cheek and softly whispered, "Of course I trust you. So, do whatever you need to, however long it takes."

His warm smile was all the thanks she needed, though he still said, "Thank you. And I'll try not to keep you waiting."

She just nodded before dropping her hand. With that, she turned and walked out of the castle, beginning her journey to the lake.

She walked fairly slowly, simply wondering about what Harry could be planning. It must have somehow been related to breakfast itself, but she couldn't figure out what. Though she had to admit, it was nice to be out here and enjoying the quiet morning, rather than having the entire student population staring at her as she sat at the Gryffindor table in the hall.

She had just reached the lake shore and was about to begin walking along the perimeter of the lake when she heard, "Hermione!"

She turned around and saw Harry in the distance, jogging towards her. Her confusion returned upon also seeing two objects of some kind floating next to him, with her unable to tell exactly what they were.

As he came closer and closer, though, her confusion deepened upon realizing that the objects were two small stacks of toast, with each sitting on a napkin and being five pieces tall. And Harry was holding his wand, so he obviously must have used the Levitation Charm on the toast.

Once he had reached her and stopped, she had to ask, "Why the two stacks of toast?"

He immediately became a bit nervous before saying, "Um, well… do you remember fourth year? The morning after Halloween?"

Certainly, she remembered. That day –

She couldn't help softly gasping, upon beginning her recollection. And she then whispered, "The morning that I brought toast for us to eat, so that you wouldn't have to go into the Great Hall after the fiasco with the Goblet of Fire. And we walked along the lake shore as we ate, and I told you that I undoubtedly believed you about not entering the Triwizard Tournament."

He gave her a small but affectionate smile. "Yeah. And as thankful as I was that you believed me back then, I was still so caught up in both my own misery and how Ron was angry at me for something I never did, that I was never really as appreciative of your actions as I should have been. But now, with something similar happening to you with that article and Howler…"

He paused for a moment, becoming timid again, before continuing, "I just wanted to do for you what you did for me. To give you just a nice, quiet, and enjoyable morning with your best friend after the storm of the previous day."

A few tears rose in her eyes as Hermione gave a happy smile. She hoped that she would never grow used to Harry's amazing thoughtfulness.

Thus, in response, she joyfully said, "So, one of those stacks is for me?"

He nodded. "Pick whichever one you want."

Before she did, she couldn't resist giving him a smirk and jokingly saying, "You do remember that you don't actually need your wand to make that toast levitate, don't you?"

Harry responded with a smirk of his own. "Well, Miss Granger, those little skills also seem like something that would be useful to keep secret for as long as we're able, don't you think?"

Hermione just laughed for a second before gently grabbing the stack of toast closest to her. Harry then placed his left hand underneath the second one before cancelling the Levitation Charm and stowing his wand away. And with that, the two of them began walking along the lake, just silently munching on their pieces of toast.

They were about halfway around the lake when they finished eating. By that point, they were near a clump of trees that was close to the lake. Harry gently took Hermione's hand and led her over to the nearest of the trees. Once there, he let go of her and sat down with his back to the tree.

Once he seemed to be comfortable and had stretched his legs in front of him, he looked up to Hermione before patting the ground to his right beside him. Hermione smiled but decided to do something a little different than he may have been expecting.

She did sit down next to him at first. But before he could put his arm around her like she assumed he would do, she quickly lifted herself and shifted over to sit in his lap. She felt Harry tense up slightly in surprise, but he remained silent and simply spread his legs apart slightly as she continued moving.

Hermione moved to be in a position where she was essentially lying on Harry's chest. She turned slightly to be lying on her left side, and she had her legs stretched out and her head underneath his chin. Once she had stopped moving, Harry pulled his legs closer together so that they would be touching her own. She immediately circled her arms around his middle, while he wrapped his own arms around her shoulders.

After a few seconds, Hermione closed her eyes and let out a content sigh.

At that point, Harry gently whispered, "Are you comfortable?"

She nodded and replied, "Very. Thank you for letting me do this. And thank you for wanting to give me a quiet moment."

He squeezed her just a bit tighter. "Anything for you, Hermione."

For some time afterwards, the two of them neither spoke nor even moved. They simply held each other and pulled comfort from one another, as they had so many times before. And just like the day where they had flown together on Harry's Firebolt, Hermione thought that, if she had the means to do so, she would stop time completely in order for this moment to last as long as she wanted.

At some point, though, she heard Harry hesitantly ask, "Hermione?"

Opening her eyes, she said with slight puzzlement, "Yes, Harry?"

He replied, "There's a horde of owls which looks like it's headed this way."

She let go of him, sitting up a bit straighter as she turned to lie with her back against his chest. Sure enough, she immediately saw a huge mass of owls, of which there could have been nearly a hundred owls in total, flying towards her and Harry. All of them appeared to be carrying something in their feet. And she couldn't help letting out a sigh, knowing what those objects would be.

Quickly enough, the owls began lowering a bit in the air and then letting go of their cargo. Each one had a letter, which they dropped such that the letter would land in Hermione's lap as they flew overhead. She and Harry remained silent until every owl had finished and then was flying away.

Hermione just looked down at the huge pile of letters in her lap, not saying a word.

From behind her, she heard Harry cautiously say, "Well, at least there's no Howlers that I can see."

She let out a quiet snort and replied, "No, there aren't. I suppose that means the elves have already looked at the mail this morning then. There's zero possibility that the Howler from Mrs. Weasley last night is the only Howler that anyone in the country has sent to me."

It was a few more seconds before Harry responded, "You don't have to read any of those, you know. We both know that they're worth less than even literal rubbish."

Hermione smiled before reaching up and putting a hand on his arms. "No, I'll see exactly what the world thinks of me. But regardless, thank you for the sentiment and support."

With that, after making sure that Harry could read from over her shoulder, she picked up one of the letters and began reading.

At the very least, there were no harmful substances or spells in or on any of the letters, confirming that the elves had already checked the mail, so Hermione was grateful for that. But regarding the actual written content, there were a few general sentiments that constantly appeared.

Terrible person. Scarlet woman. Heartless shrew. Evil bitch. Burn in hell for her deceit.

And the one that was in essentially every single letter… Harry Potter deserved better.

Even just with quickly skimming the letters, pain slowly built up within Hermione at each letter she finished, no matter how much she tried to shove it down. And by the time she had finally and forcefully thrown the last one to the side, she was filled with nothing but frustration and misery.

How could so many people be so ready to think the absolute worst of her character? All because Rita Skeeter and some anonymous person wanted to start up drama over the fact that Hermione was with Harry? She just shook her head, almost a bit frantically, only thankful for the fact that her parents would never have to read what was being written about her since they didn't receive the Daily Prophet or any other magical publication.

At that moment, she felt Harry's arms squeeze her tighter for a second before he gave a light kiss to her left cheek. Then, his arms dropped as he whispered, "Come on, I'm going to gather all of this up."

Hermione twisted around to look at him in confusion, wondering what could be on his mind, but she decided to drop it for now and just nodded at him. She stood up and moved a couple of steps away from him, watching as he got into a position sitting on his knees. Then, he pulled out his wand and began casting Shrinking Charms on every letter, tucking the letters into his coat pockets when finished.

Her puzzlement had only deepened by the time he stood up. She quickly asked, "Harry, what's going on? What's on your mind?"

He gave her a small, sympathetic smile before replying, "Will you trust me?"

"Always," she instantly responded.

He gave a nod as he brought out his mokeskin pouch. He quickly pulled out the Invisibility Cloak before tucking the pouch away. Afterwards, he stepped as close as he could to her and threw the Cloak over them, crouching down a bit so that it would fully cover them both.

Then, Harry finally said, "Let's go to the Room of Requirement and set up the replica of the common room. And before you ask, I pulled the Cloak out this time because we've got a longer walk compared to starting from the hospital wing. While we know from our initial practice that we could stay invisible for an hour when casting Disillusionment Charms normally, that was also with us doing very little other activity with it. There's a chance that, with this longer walk, a Disillusionment Charm could go out early."

Hermione just gave a small shrug and responded, "That reasoning is sensible enough. Let's go then."

They were both quiet for the entire journey back to the castle and up to the seventh floor. Only once they were in their replica of the common room, with the door gone so that no one else could get in and with Harry having put his Cloak back in his pouch, did Hermione finally break the silence.

"Alright, Harry. So why did we come here?"

That same sympathetic smile graced his face, but he remained silent and just pulled out the shrunken letters. He placed them on the sofa by the burning fireplace and took a deep breath before pulling his wand out and casting the Engorgement Charm over the letters to return them to their original sizes.

Once his wand was stowed again, he looked to her and finally responded, "I figured we could come to a safe place before we, or just you if you would prefer, burn all these ruddy letters. As much as I wanted to do it as soon as you had finished that last one, there obviously could have been issues with casting any fire outside."

He then stepped up until he was maybe an inch away from her, before touching his forehead to hers.

He whispered, "And before you say otherwise, Hermione, I could see, as you went through each letter, that you were being more and more hurt by the words written in those letters."

Her expression fell. There was no use denying it.

Hermione dropped her eyes downward as she despondently said, "It's stupid. I know that everything which was written about me in those letters is wrong. I should be stronger than this."

Harry wrapped his arms around her waist, gently pulling her into his body, and replied, "But when so much comes at you all at once, it can still weigh you down even in the best of times."

Her lips curled upward just slightly, and she reached up to place her left hand on his right cheek.

She murmured, "You would know better than any of us about that, wouldn't you?"

He smirked at her, and there was a bit of lightness in his tone when he spoke. "I may have just a bit of experience in that kind of matter, yes."

She couldn't help quietly laughing for a few moments, even with the seriousness of the topic at hand. It seemed that Harry was just glad to see her happy, as his smirk changed into a tender smile.

When she stopped, however, he became quite serious when he whispered, "Don't think that being hurt by all of those reactions makes you weak at all, Hermione. You're still the strongest person I'll ever know, even if you may need a little help every now and then. And all those people were wrong to say that I could do better. Because there's no one that could ever be better than you."

Her smile was watery thanks to the tears that began to build in her eyes. After a few seconds, she simply said, "If I am strong, it's thanks to having you in my life, Harry. And for me, there's no one that could ever be better than you."

Though he didn't say a word, the utter affection in his eyes was the only response she needed. She circled her arms around him afterwards. And for a little while, the two of them stood there, gazing at one another and gently swaying from side to side in a stationary dance.

Eventually, Hermione slowly brought them to a halt. While still keeping her forehead touching Harry's, she shifted just enough that she could look at the letters that were all still laying on the sofa.

After a couple of seconds, Harry asked, "So, my earlier idea of what to do with the letters. How do you feel about it?"

She had continued staring at the pile of letters as he spoke. When he finished, she waited a few seconds before shifting her gaze back to him.

Her only response was to smirk before gently pulling out of the hug. She then picked up a letter at random and walked to stand right at the fireplace, just looking at the fire for about two seconds.

Then, with a flick of the wrist, she tossed the letter into the fire, feeling satisfaction as it began to curl up into ashes.

She heard Harry quietly chuckle behind her. As she turned to face him, she found him smirking slightly and already holding another letter out to her. She couldn't help snorting in amusement at his readiness, but she said nothing and simply took the letter.

For some time, the two of them were like a small assembly line. Harry would hand a letter to Hermione, and she would fling the letter into the fire and watch it burn. They slowly and silently went about the task until every letter had been destroyed.

After the final letter had burned away, Hermione continued to just gaze at the fire. After a few seconds, she heard Harry step forward and stop beside her. She turned to him when he grabbed her left hand with his right and laced their fingers together.

"So," he gently said, "did it help?"

She gave a little hum at first, with the left side of her mouth lifting. Then, she replied, "Well, I'd say you were a bit wrong earlier."

Puzzlement immediately came over his face, but she lightly continued, "Those letters made good fuel for the fire. So, in that sense, they were still worth more than rubbish, even if only just slightly."

Harry shook his head in amusement and replied, "I suppose you're not wrong."

She opened her mouth to respond, but he instantly brought up his left hand and placed it over her mouth. The grin on his face showed that he was clearly holding back laughter, but he merely added, "And yes, before you say anything, we both know that you're hardly ever wrong."

Hermione couldn't help grinning widely against his hand. She knew that her joy had reached her eyes, because Harry gave in to his laughter as he dropped the hand from her face.

In response, she let go of his right hand before immediately wrapping him up in a tight hug, placing her forehead on his shoulder. His arms quickly went around her, and he buried his head in her hair. She could feel him still shaking a bit from laughter, and she couldn't help giggling at his action.

It took a minute before they both calmed their laughter. They remained in their position, though, for about ten more seconds before Hermione felt Harry pull his head away. Still keeping a smile on her face, she lifted her head from his shoulder in response. Warmth filled her when she saw him also wearing a similar smile.

Then, with complete tenderness, Hermione said, "Thank you for not letting me get lost in all those horrible words."

Harry replied, "No need for thanks. Like I said before, things like that can be hard to ignore or handle when you get such a huge onslaught at once."

She hummed for a moment while nodding at him. Then, she quietly said, "After today, we can just destroy straight away any more letters like those that don't come from anyone we actually know. I think I just needed to do this once, even if it hurt to do so, to assure myself that nothing anyone could say would deter me from being with you."

She grew somewhat timid before her next words. "It's not that I didn't mean it all the times that I've said it before. It's just – "

He interrupted, "It's just now that you were in an actual situation where your words were being tested, you could get your true reaction. No, it's alright, Hermione. I completely understand, and it doesn't change anything about my trust in you or how I see you."

Another tearful smile grew on her lips. But instead of responding with words, she just leaned up and gently kissed him. The kiss lasted for about five seconds before she slowly pulled her head back.

Then, she whispered, "I love you so much, Harry."

He smiled and replied, "I love you just as much, Hermione."

Afterwards, another minute of silent gazing passed between the couple. The only sound in the room was the crackling of the fire.

Harry was eventually the one to break the stillness, becoming somewhat grave as he said, "So, there's still the matter of the person that talked to Rita."

Hermione sighed for a moment before responding, "Someone here at school must have sent her a letter. Someone that was obviously also at Hogwarts when the two of us were in sixth year."

He slowly nodded for a second. Then, his expression turned a bit harder. "How much of a prime suspect is Ginny in light of last night? The fact that the Howler you received yesterday came from Mrs. Weasley is awfully convenient. And there's always a chance that Ginny could have sent a letter to her mother talking about us even if she wasn't the one to talk to Rita, and that article in the Daily Prophet was just the final straw regarding Mrs. Weasley deciding to send that Howler."

Her brow furrowed in response as she let out another, more forceful sigh. "You're not wrong there. And yes, the Howler does certainly give us cause to place Ginny high on the list of suspects again. Unfortunately, we also can't call her the only suspect, given the reactions of so many girls when the anniversary ball was announced as well as how many were already going to try and ask you to take them to the ball even just a day after the announcement."

He waited a couple of seconds before replying, "The offer she made to have Slughorn use Veritaserum on her and to let us interrogate her. Do you think we should go for it?"

Her eyes shifted downward and to the right, and she remained silent for about five seconds.

When she lifted her eyes back to his, she quietly but resolutely said, "While there is the concern that Professor Slughorn may refuse considering we would technically be breaking the law by not getting Ministry approval for the usage first, I think it's far too worth it at this point not to try. If Professor Slughorn agrees, then as long as we ask the right questions, and what I mean by that is asking things that can essentially only have 'yes' or 'no' as the answer, we'll find out whether or not Ginny's lying as well as if there's some unknown student here that we need to worry about instead. If he tries to refuse at first, well… maybe the fact that Ginny was willing to do this herself will convince him. So yes, let's go for it."

Harry's expression became resigned but accepting. "Alright. So, when do we do this?"

"After lunch," Hermione instantly replied. "We can just get it out of the way as soon as possible so that we know what we're up against. Since we're typically some of the earliest students in the Great Hall for mealtimes, we can finish our own meals before Ginny eats hers. Once we're done, we can be waiting in the entrance hall, under Disillusionment Charms as well if we don't want other students bothering us when they leave lunch, until Ginny exits the Great Hall. And that's where we tell her that we want to use her offer, and then go to Professor Slughorn's office to wait for him."

He nodded at her. "OK, it's a plan then."

She wordlessly nodded in return. The two of them were quiet, just continuing to hold one another, for another ten seconds.

Then, Hermione said, "So, until lunchtime, what do you say we just spend the rest of the morning in here together?"

His mouth twitched upward for a moment before Harry said, "Yeah, that sounds great. And actually, since we don't have our books here with us right now, instead of going to grab those, how would you feel about trying to work on at least one more spell with wandless magic today?"

Mirth then filled his eyes as he added, "As long as you're willing to give up some perfectly good time for N.E.W.T. studies to do so, of course."

She smirked before just silently sticking her tongue out at him, which caused him to start laughing again. She gave in to her own giggles right afterwards, and the two of them just laughed together for about five seconds.

When they grew quiet and gazed at each other with smiles again, Hermione asked, "Did you have a specific spell in mind?"

Harry turned serious before answering, "Yeah actually. I was thinking the Stunning Spell. We know, from trying out as many spells as we could on that last day we were with your parents, that we can at least do the spell when removing just the wand. And think about how useful it could be, in certain situations where we may need to be totally quiet, to be able to use the complete version of wandless casting, with no wand, gestures, or verbal incantation. To be able to just place our hand on someone and then knock them out with the spell."

She replied, "Alright then, so we'll work on that next. Now, if you don't mind for the spell we try after that one, however long it may be before we can master the Stunning Spell first, how would you feel about the Banishing Charm being second on the list afterwards? It would go well with us having already learned the Summoning Charm, and it could also be handy if we would need to get someone or something away from us as quickly as possible."

He gave a quick smile. "No, that sounds fine to me, Hermione."

He finally let go of her and pulled out of the hug before adding, "Alright, if you don't mind, I'm going to get the door set up again so that I can leave the room for a bit. I'll go to the kitchens and get a supply of water for us to have, since I know we'll definitely need some at least once we get to the complete wandless casting, if not even before then. Do you want to stay here, just to be cautious so that we know the room won't get used by someone else if we would both leave?"

She gave him a nod. "Yes, I will. And once you leave, I'll make certain to keep in mind that you're the only person that I want to be able to find the room while I'm still in here."

"Sounds good," he said.

Then, he gave her a soft kiss, to which she instantly responded. Once he pulled away after a few seconds, he gently whispered, "I'll see you in a bit, then."

She smiled and replied, "I'll be right here."

With that, he went over to the wall where the door had originally been. After a couple of seconds, the door reappeared, and he quickly left. When he was gone, Hermione began the thought to make the door disappear but that Harry would be able to make it appear when he returned. Once that was done, she simply sat on the sofa to wait for Harry.

Even as she went over all that had happened since dinner last night, she couldn't help giving a smile. The world was certainly trying its best to throw obstacles in the way of her and Harry. And of course, either one of them could have a moment where they slip up and let their mind get weighed down by those obstacles, like she had this morning with the words from all the letters.

But no matter how bad things may get, and no matter how much support one of them may need from the other, Hermione knew that she and Harry would be able to weather it together and come out on the other side stronger for it. They made each other happy, and they weren't going to give up their relationship. The world would simply have to come to terms with that fact.


A/N: So yeah, our couple faced some more immediate trouble because of the article from Rita. But Harry's caution paid off and allows him and Hermione to be safe legally, if not necessarily exonerated in the court of public opinion just yet. And the incident means that Rita may now get to face a bit of payback, thanks to the reveal to the Aurors about her ability.

But of course, there's still a bit of mystery to be solved regarding the article. As for its outcome? Well, you'll just have to wait and see. ;)

As always, thank you to all who have made it this far with the story, and I hope you stay tuned for more!