Son and Weasley Troubles

Hermione trudged along silently with Frusha as she listened to Gohan chat happily with his father from behind. Gohan had precious little time left with him before he left for Other World for a whole year. The entire group was heading for Ottery St Catchpole. It seemed very few had slept last nigh after the attack.

"Do you really have to go, Daddy?" Gohan asked in his typically innocent-sounding voice.

"I'm afraid so, son. But we'll see each other at the tournament next summer. And maybe I can persuade King Yamma to allow me to visit during Christmas."

"I hope so," Gohan said honestly.

I just hope it doesn't start until the summer, Goku thought ruefully. I thought there wouldn't be any more problems if I decided to stay dead. But trouble even seems to follow my son and this Potter boy. And it looks like someone besides the girl's father wants her for some reason. I wish the Grand Kai would tell me everything! I have a really bad feeling about all of this!

Piccolo and Hermione exchanged glances before Piccolo looked away quickly. Once again, Hermione sensed that the Namek was privy to certain undisclosed information. She sighed in frustration. She was beginning to develop Gohan's distaste for secrets.

"Hey, I know! Why don't we have a sparring session after breakfast? That way I can assess how you've been training!"

Gohan giggled. "Okay, but we may want to select another area. Ron's Mum might not appreciate it if one of us crash lands on her house."

Hermione stepped forward in anticipation. "Can I watch?"

Goku laughed. "Heck, you can participate if you want!"

"Oh, wow!" Getting to fight Goku Son is a chance of a lifetime. Awesome!

Their conversation was interrupted by a shriek. Goku and Gohan selected defensive postures, Piccolo covered his ears and rolled his eyes, and Vegeta ducked with a frying-pan wary eye as a red-headed woman crashed through the front door of an oddly twisted building and tackled the twins, sobbing.

"Oh…Oh! My boys! I've…b-b-been so worried! I've been thinking about it since I got the paper—"

"Can't…breath…" Fred choked.

"Mum, really, you're strangling us," George coughed. Gohan and Goku relaxed and chuckled, Piccolo removed his hands from his ears and smirked, and Vegeta stood straight with a scowl.

"I've been thinking the whole time…What if You-Know-Who got you and the last thing I ever said was how you didn't get enough OWLs?" She kissed the boys, causing them to have red ears. She hugged everyone, even Vegeta.

"OW! Lay off, Red-Headed Harpy! I'd almost prefer the frying pan!" Vegeta shrugged her off, blushing furiously. Fred and George snickered.

She even hugged the haloed stranger in the group. She looked up at him and blushed, realizing what she did. "Hello. Who are you?"

"I'm Goku. Goku Son. I'm Gohan's father."

She blinked twice before squealing and hugging him again. "Fantastic! You must stay for breakfast! I've heard a lot about you from Ron and Gohan! For some reason, Ron told me that you were dead."

Goku chortled, pointing to his halo. "That would be because I am dead."

Blink. Blink. Thud.

Hermione sighed in exasperation. "Gohan, you really need to tell your father to stop doing that."

Gohan shrugged. "Not that it would do any good. It's like that gender test thing. It took forever for it to sink in that people hated it when he did that. It took even longer for him to tell the difference between boys and girls without it."

Hermione blushed. "Er, Gohan? I'm not going to have a problem with that, am I?"

Gohan grinned, blushing himself. "Don't worry. I'll vouch for you."

Fred sidled over. "Are you sure Granger's a girl, Son? Maybe I should check." He wiggled his eyebrows at her, grinning evilly.

"FREDRIC THEODORE WEASLEY!"

He winced and looked over at the now conscience woman that was his mother. Apparently she had heard every word. His identical snickered.

Goku blinked stupidly at the exchange. "Hey, Gohan. Hermione is a girl, right?" He whispered. Gohan groaned.

Hermione pulled herself from the steep descent toward the earth's hard surface. The father of Gohan had caught her behind her left shoulder blade with a powerful kick. Sparring with Goku was definitely showing her how open her defenses were. It was easy to see how Frieza had found an opening to hit her with that vile needle contraption. It really baffled her. She never had Voldemort pegged as a villain who would integrate Muggle technology with magic. And she couldn't get over the fact that Frieza had a large scripted M inscribed on his forehead. Was it possible that they were dealing with two separate groups?

She snapped out of her thinking as she saw Gohan fall away. It was her turn again. Her punches hit air. She never saw what caused the blow to her torso or the hit to her lower back as she began slowly falling away. The assault on her had stopped due to the fact that Goku had his hands full warding off his son, who now attacking angrily for some reason. One of Gohan's blows actually landed, causing Goku to be knocked some ten yards away.

"Whoa, son! What's got you bent out of shape? You act like you're taking this as seriously as Vegeta."

"You didn't have to keep hitting her like that!" Gohan said angrily.

Goku grinned. "So you do like her, huh? When do I get grandkids?"

Gohan's lowered eyebrows raised on his forehead with a growing blush. He blinked at the change of subject. "What? Dad!"

Goku chuckled.

Gohan glared. "Shut up!"

"Wow! I bet you're glad Chi-Chi didn't hear that. She'd have the frying pan out," Goku said good naturedly. "Does your little girlfriend have a frying pan? Hmm?"

"Who says I need one?" a voice said from behind as Hermione took a swing at the unguarded Saiyan. Goku avoided barely in time, catching her fist and throwing her at Gohan. With Gohan's attention diverted toward Hermione, Goku took the opportunity to grab him from behind and pull him away from the girl's slowing body.

"Hey, Gohan. I think she likes you," Goku teased in a childish sing-song voice.

"Aren't you ever going to shut up about that?" Gohan said in annoyance, struggling in his attempt to free his pinned arms.

"Not really," Goku laughed. "Relax, Gohan. It's fun being this age. Besides, you couldn't find a more powerful female in this quadrant than that one over there. Teach her better defenses and she'll be pretty formidable someday. Then, she'll be a really desirable mate."

Gohan's face turned completely red. "Dad!"

Suddenly, Hermione flash sped in front of them both and aimed a punch at Goku's face. Goku pushed his son into her, sped back, and charged them both. Hermione managed to block a few punches and kicks before she received a hard blow to the chest. She pulled herself out of the fall and sped toward the fighting pair at full speed. Goku had knocked his son into a nearby cliff when he saw her coming. He turned his head with a smirk.

"Huh?" She wasn't there. Goku instinctively moved his head to the right as a fist appeared where his head had been from behind. He caught the arm and laughed. "That was pretty good. You actually grazed my cheek that time."

"I did? Really?" The female voice said in surprise before Goku pulled her over his head and pinned her arms, chuckling.

She struggled uselessly to get free. "Now what?" She said in exasperation.

Goku grinned. "We wait for your boyfriend to come and rescue you," he said in an unconcerned voice.

"Gohan is not going to fall for…hey! He is not my boyfriend!" Hermione blushed.

Goku laughed. "You might want to tell him that," he said as a growing dot formed beneath them.

Hermione glared back at him as the demi-Siayan charged his father. Goku disappeared from behind her, freeing her arms. She tried using her ki sense.

"He's suppressing himself," Gohan said, his eyes darting around. The two swung around at the sound of soft chortling. Goku was levitated less than two meters away, absently stroking a small cut on his left cheek. "What happened to your face, Dad?"

Goku grinned. "Your girlfriend."

Gohan growled. "She's not my girlfriend!"

"Heh. You might want to tell her that."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I know what you're doing now. You're baiting us, so we'll fight from anger."

"Nah. It's just you two look so cute when you're angry together. Especially when both of you are blushing," Goku smirked as the hormonally furious teens charged. He chuckled at his own handiwork. That was all too easy.

"Bye, Daddy!" Gohan said, waving enthusiastically.

"Bye, son! Take care of Chi-Chi!" Goku placed two fingers on his forehead and vanished.

Gohan slumped with a heavy sigh. "I guess I should be grateful that he came at all, but now I feel empty now that he's gone again."

Hermione hugged him from the side. "He'll be back. By then we'll be strong enough to hold our own in a sparring match."

Gohan looked back at her. "So, you're entering the tournament?"

Hermione smiled. "Are you kidding? I'm signing up as soon as the registry starts."

"Heh."

A tall, lanky form, his features hidden underneath a dark cloak approached the armchair and sank onto one knee. "I will not fail you, my Lord."

"Good. Good. And I have your complete confidence? You will not utter one syllable of our plans, including to other Death Eaters?"

"I will tell no one my Lord doesn't wish to be told," the man said intensely.

"Good. In addition to the plans we've already discussed, I want you to do a little research for me."

"Whatever you desire, my Lord. You know I aim to please."

"Yes. He has a close, female, Mudblood friend. I want you to watch her, to study her, to research everything you can. I also want a complete study of her lineage."

"Her lineage, my Lord?" the man said with a smirk. "My Lord is interested in the geneology of a Mudblood? The Mudblood must have a secret."

It chuckled darkly. "Indeed, but patience, my Faithful. You will come to see in the end. I will trust no other with this secret. Send me everything you discover. Be sure to cast wards upon your correspondence so that…certain vermin," it nodded toward the closed door that Wormtail had vanished behind, "cannot access it. It is for my eyes alone. Once you've discovered the secret, you will tell no one of your newfound insight. Understand?"

"Yes, my Lord."

"Your second research topic is another friend of Potter's, Gohan Son. Leave nothing out! I need to know everything about him! The boy is formidable, as you soon may discover. We cannot afford mistakes in this venture, particularly ones from ignorance.

"Finally, I want you to find out about the other group that attacked the night of the World Cup. I want to know who they are, and what they're after. Perform all of these things, and I will reward you beyond your wildest dreams."

"Absolutely, my Lord."

Harry Potter's eyes snapped open, his scar prickling unpleasantly. He rubbed it absently as he tried to recall the dream he had just had. He pulled on his glasses and peered around the room. Everyone's bed, except for Gohan's, was still occupied. He quietly tiptoed around the mess of futons and covers and crept quietly downstairs. He found Gohan in the living area with Hermione.

"Isn't it a bit early for you two to be sitting in the living room, alone?" Harry whispered with a grin.

"Oh, shut up," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "It just so happens that we don't require as much sleep as you do. Which reminds me, what are you doing up so early?"

"Oh, nothing. I…er, had a weird dream." Harry said, dismissing it with a wave.

"Like the one you had the night we all had bad dreams?" Gohan asked.

"Gohan!" Harry yelled in agitation. Sometimes Gohan could be as annoying as a baby brother.

"Shh! You'll wake everyone," Hermione said reproachfully.

"My apologies. By all means, continue your snogging," Harry sniggered.

"We weren't snogging!" Hermione said hotly, her cheeks reddening.

"What's snogging?"

"Never mind, Gohan. Harry's just pulling a Goku."

"Oh," Gohan glared at him.

Harry's grin became a frown. "What did you mean…the night we all had bad dreams?"

Gohan told him.

"Huh. That's weird. We all had nightmares on the same night…within eight hours of each other. Really weird."

"Yeah. Piccolo said we may have been responding to the negative energy that has been in the air lately. I suppose he's right. Things have been feeling a little off since the night Pettigrew escaped."

"I think Piccolo knows something," Hermione said suddenly. "He and Goku kept exchanging looks the whole time Goku was here. Come to think of it, Piccolo had flown off almost half an hour before your father showed up, saying that he was going to scan the area. Then, he was with Goku when he surprised you. Thirty minutes was plenty of time to have a conversation."

Gohan nodded. "Maybe I'll ask him about it."

Good luck with that, Hermione thought.

Hermione and Gohan were sitting at the table, peeling potatoes next to Frusha, who was magically slicing carrots, onions,and green peppers. Percy and Mr. Weasley were discussing what had happened at work.

"Crouch was very lucky Rita Skeeter didn't find out about Winky," Mr Weasley said irritably. "The Prophet would have a field week if they discovered his own house elf was caught holding a wand used to conjure the Dark Mark."

Frusha reddened, trembling slightly. Hermione's grip on the peeler tightened.

"I thought we had agreed that the elf, while irresponsible, did not conjure the Mark?" Percy said hotly.

"Frusha, would you mind going upstairs and remaking my bed for me?" Hermione said between clenched teeth.

"Not at all, Miss Hermione," the elf said, happy for an excuse to leave. As soon as she heard the pop, Hermione rounded on Percy.

"If you ask me, Mr. Crouch is very fortunate for the Prophet not to know how cruel he is to elves!"

"Now look here, Hermione! A high-ranking Ministry official like Mr. Crouch deserves unwavering obedience from his servants—"

"His slave, you mean, because he didn't pay Frusha, did he?"

Percy smirked. "You're one to talk! You got yourself a free servant…didn't even have to buy her—"

Hermione rose from her chair, her eyes flashing blue. "As soon as she's emotionally capable of handling the thought of being paid to work, I'll pay her everything she's due! I've already got her account set up at Gringotts! I'm surprised she even agreed to the clothes-style silk pillowcase! It's horrible how the wizards have them brainwashed…making them believe that they don't even deserve to wear clothes! It's so demeaning! They get treated like animals! And don't you ever discuss her 'mistake,' if that is what you like to call it, again in front of her! And stop calling her elf…her name is Frusha! Fru-sha!"

"Hermione," Gohan whispered.

Hermione turned to look at Gohan when she caught a glimpse of her own reflection. She had transformed again. Fearfully, she bounded upstairs.

Mr Weasley cleared his throat. "I want a word with Gohan, Harry, and Ron. Everyone else, except Molly, of course, need to go elsewhere for the next half hour."

When the room had emptied of the others, Mr Weasley turned toward Gohan. "Hermione isn't Muggle-Born, is she?"

Gohan sighed. "No, she's not."

"She's the daughter of Lady Subaru?"

"I'm sorry. I cannot say." Gohan said fruitlessly. It was too late to undo the damage.

"So, she prefers to keep it secret. Why?"

"I'm sorry. I cannot say," Gohan said in a flat voice.

"This is unbelievable! It's like having royalty under our roof!" Molly said excitedly. Then, her face fell. "Oh, dear! Our house is no place for—"

"Hermione likes it here," Gohan said firmly. "Please don't tell anyone! It's important that no one knows who she is yet! Please!"

Mrs Weasley shook her head. "But why? The wizarding world sees the entire Subaru bloodline as—"

"Who cares!" A female voice said as a bushy silhouette came into view. "Who cares about bloodlines? Who cares about different races and breeds and clans?"

"Oh, my dear, we were just trying to persuade Gohan here to be a little lenient—"

"There's no such thing as leniency, not for me. Knowing who my mother is would never be enough for them. And once they learned of my father, they'd never forgive. Never. Would you?"

Mrs Weasley looked bewildered, but Mr Weasley's eyes widened in shock. "It…can't be. No…Hermione…no…no. NO!" He staggered shakily to the table and used it to support his weight.

Hermione sank to her knees and covered her mouth with her hand.

"What is it, Arthur?" Mr Weasley leaned over and whispered something in her ear. She dropped the dish towel she was holding in shock. "No, Arthur…she can't be…she's Harry's friend…Ronnie's friend..." she stammered.

"She's Voldemort's daughter," Harry said in a strange, challenging voice. It was as if what he was saying was a normal thing to say, and he was daring them to say otherwise.

"This…is insane…how can you be friends with her? Knowing who she is?" Mr Weasley asked, not in an insulting way, but in a way that oozed undisguised curiosity.

"Because it isn't who she is," Harry said in agitation. "Things like talent and blood don't make us who we are. Our choices show who we really are. You already know this. It's why you aren't afraid of her like you are of him. She isn't him."

Arthur sighed, pulling out his wand. "Fidelius. It won't work on anyone who finds out outside the charm, but it will be effective on anyone who currently knows. Who's the secret keeper?"

"Harry is," Hermione said without hesitation. "I have no reason not to trust him." She walked over to Harry and wrapped her hands around his.

"You, my dear, are a walking irony," Mr Weasley said in amusement as he raised his wand.

...

A few minutes later, Percy stalked into the room angrily. "What did you do, Father? I was writing a letter—"

"—and couldn't mention Hermione's condition? I cast a Fidelius charm."

"What? Why? Surely the Ministry needs to know there's a surviving member of the Subaru bloodline—"

"Says who?" Harry said, cutting him off. "It's her life. Personally, I think it's none of their business."

"None of their business? Harry, the Ministry will want to hear about this! Lady Subaru needs protection—"

"I am fully capable of taking care of myself, thanks. Besides, based on past experience, I'd say I'm probably better off." Harry and Gohan grinned.

Percy sighed. "I'm sorry I angered you earlier, Lady Subaru, but—"

"My name is Hermione, Percy. And you are not sorry. You just want to be credited as the first person to realize who I am. Well, you won't be. You'll just be the first who blabbed."

Percy glared. "Well, obviously, I can't 'blab,' because Father has effectively prevented it! I don't understand. Why do you want your identity to stay a secret?"

"I wouldn't expect you to understand even if I told you. So I'm not going to," She nodded at Harry. Harry winked. If Hermione didn't want Percy to know that part of the secret, Harry wasn't going to say it. Which meant, unless Percy found out some other way, he wasn't going to know it anytime soon.

Percy stalked off angrily, brushing against two identical male red-heads and a red-head girl. Fred and George made their way in front of Hermione and bowed mockingly toward her.

"Your royal Hogwartiness!" Fred said, grabbing her hand and planting a disgustingly wet kiss on it. Hermione wrenched it away in half disgust, half amusement, wiping it on her robes.

"Lady Snakiness!" George said, grabbing her opposite hand. Hermione was so shocked about the snake reference that she allowed the second slobbery kiss.

"How? How did you know?"

"Ginny told us. I reckon the Fidelius Charm kicked in soon after, because we couldn't mention it in a letter we were writing to Lee Jordan. He wouldn't have believed us, anyways. Not sure we believed it either, until the charm," Fred said.

"But how did Ginny know?" Hermione asked.

Ginny snorted. "Ron. He never bothers to keep his voice down, and I'm right below him. I've heard him say a few things indirectly, and I simply added them all up," Ron reddened. Ginny continued. "Totally sucks for you, Hermione."

"I know," Hermione said.

"And for us," Fred said miserably. "Imagine, the best shot at endless hilarity is laid open before us for the claiming…and we can't even mention her to anybody. What's the point of making a punchline if you can't even deliver it! Such a tragic waste."

Hermione laughed. Leave it to the twins to put a funny twist on things.