A/N: Here is technically part 1 of my Destiny trilogy, and is the prequel to Rewrite of Destiny, this is actually at least Half done but sadly I lost my way with it and became bored with it as well.
Harry Potter
At Destiny's End
Chapter One
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, she is also the reason I haven't been able to touch the HP books since I read DH.
Harry Potter laid spread out across his bed unknowingly staring at the ceiling; it had been a little over two weeks since he had arrived back at number four Privet Drive,
Memories of recently deceased Albus Dumbledore often plagued his thoughts, at times he missed the man at other times he hated him for leaving him the task he had to accomplish, the only similarity of both feelings be expressed were the accompany of tears they brought,
If there was one thought that often cheered him up was the knowledge that he would soon be leaving the Dursleys for good, this summer hadn't been too bad so far with them as they simply left him alone to which he was more than happy to reciprocate, still he did get lonely at times,
Another trail of thoughts that had been bothering him was the upcoming hunt for the Horcruxes, he had already decided that the Black family library might hold some clues he may need so he would be off to Grimmuald Place as soon as possible, Harry didn't like going down this line of thoughts however since it led back to Dumbledore and Harry's frustration over been left with the almost impossible task,
"How in the world did Dumbledore expect me to do this?" he would often wonder,
Harry groaned in frustration as he came out of those thoughts, he started thinking about the wedding, truthfully he was looking forward to seeing if witch's and wizards weddings were any different from the muggle world, however the upcoming wedding also meant he'd have to see Ginny for the first time since breaking up with her,
Ginny was also a subject that had been plaguing his thoughts for a while, he couldn't help but remember the last words she had said to him,
"I knew you wouldn't be happy unless you were off fighting him"
That sentence had not left Harry's head since entering, he huffed in annoyance,
"Does that girl not know me at all?" he thought to himself, many other memories and questions bothered him on the subject of him and Ginny and their relationship, the major thing that bothered him was the fact that it sounded like she still saw Harry as the boy who lived,
"Is that all she ever sees when she looks at me?" he wondered.
The next day Harry awoke to the sound of his companion Hedwig hooting at him to wake up, he squinted as the sun hit his eyes, he grumbled in annoyance,
"Thanks for the bloody wake up call Hed" he said sarcastically, the owl gave him a look of supremacy of having one over her 'master', he took the letter that Hedwig had and began to open it while the snowy owl made her way to her cage for water,
Harry tore the envelope and began to read…
Harry
How's things at the Dursley's?
The Burrow is pretty hectic right now, it's become wedding central, Mum's starting to go off her but with the extra work load, things are still kind of dull however that is unless you enjoy hearing wedding plans,
Anyway just to let you know Lupin and Tonks are picking you up this Friday at about three o clock to bring you to the Burrow,
Also have you heard from Hermione by any chance, she hasn't sent me any letters for a while?
Ron
Harry furrowed his brow in annoyance; he had made plans to go to the Black's mansion, whilst he was grateful that the Weasley's wanted him there the letter seemed to indicate that he had little choice in the matter,
Harry began writing the reply…
Dear Ron
Things are fine here; the Dursley's are pretty much avoiding me which in my books is a good thing,
I'm actually looking forward to the wedding so I guess I'll see you Friday then,
By the way I have gotten a few letters from Hermione but I haven't received one in a week or so,
See you soon mate
Harry
Harry thought hard for a moment, he hadn't received a letter from Hermione for a while and since she usually sent him at least two every week he began to worry, deciding to try and contact her before making any more rash decisions he began to write her a letter…
Dear Hermione
Are you alright?
I haven't heard from you in well over a week and Ron's last letter said you weren't answering his letters either,
Ron said that Moony and Tonks are coming this Friday to take me to the Burrow, so I hope I see you there, apparently it's become headquarters for 'Order of the wedding' or something,
Please write back soon, you know how I get if I think you guys in trouble, I'll have no choice but to let my 'saving people thing' take over,
If you not staying at the Burrow then I'll see you at the wedding,
Love
Harry
Hedwig flew over to him the instant he finished,
"Felling up to some flying girl? He asked, the owl gave him a stern look as to say "of course you nitwit",
Harry held up his hands in defence, "I'm only asking"
He gave her the letters, "Make sure you wait for Hermione's reply before leaving girl" the owl winked at him in understanding before setting off, Harry went downstairs to begin his day of doing nothing.
Harry ended up spending most of the day doing small chores, since he had already completed most of the bigger ones, one beaming bit of luck however was that all three of the Dursleys would be off in London Friday so at least he didn't have to watch a confrontation between his relatives, Moony and Tonks,
Later that night he sat in his room reading a book on healing charms and potions since it most probably come in handy, suddenly he heard a flapping just outside his window, he peaked out to see Hedwig, she glided in landing on Harry's bed,
"Hey girl is that from Hermione?" he asked, the owl hooted in response, Harry knew she meant yes, he took it from her as she went to her cage for sleep, and Harry quickly ripped the letter open,
Dear Harry
I'm sorry I haven't been writing much lately but I've been busy and in all honesty I hadn't realized that it had been over a week since my last letter, I'm really sorry about that, I didn't mean to worry you,
I will be staying at the Burrow but I won't be getting there till next Wednesday so I'll see you then,
Please let Ron know I'm fine as well, I just have things to do at home right now,
Love
Hermione
Harry breathed a sigh of relief, she was alright, Harry smiled and felt a warm glow rise throughout him as he did whenever he read her letters since she always ended them 'Love Hermione', secretly Harry had developed a bit of a crush on his bushy haired best friend since the Yule Ball, however the Tri-Wizard had laid to heavily on his mind and he was still confused over his feelings for Cho Chang at the time, in fifth year it seemed that Ron had feelings for he and it seemed that she had for Ron so Harry pushed those feeling aside, if he had any doubt that his two friends like each other then they were abolished in the previous year and he realized that the only role he would ever have in Hermione's life was her best friend and that thought saddened him.
Friday arrived and as planned the Dursley's took there leave to head to London, Harry knowing he was leaving decided to help himself to some proper breakfast for a change, he spent most of the day checking to make sue he had everything with him,
Three o clock arrived as did Moony and Tonks after asking a question he knew only the real Moony would answer he lead them to the living room where they sat and idly chatted for a few moments,
"So Harry you looking forward to the wedding?" asked Tonks whose hairs was sporting a nice shade of bright yellow today,
"Yeah should be fun" he replied
"Well perhaps attending this wedding will give Wolfie here some hints" she smirked evilly as Remus began to choke and excused himself to get some air, Harry shook his head in amusement,
"Your going to kill him if you carry on like that, he's getting old his can't take it" he replied jokingly,
"Maybe but with his wolf stamina it shouldn't be a problem" she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, Harry suddenly felt very sick,
"Oh too much information Tonks" he replied to which she started laughing,
"Glad to help you Harry, now come on lets get your trunk, and get you to the Burrow"
Soon all his stuff was miniaturized and they apparated to the outskirts of the Burrow, he smiled seeing the old building in the not too far distance, he turned back to Remus and Tonks,
"Well I'll see you at the wedding Harry, you better save me a dance" she demanded though Harry knew she wasn't really demanding, he simply smiled,
"We'll see, the only way I'm dancing is if I'm drunk" he declared,
"Now Harry as I'm sure your aware underage drinking isn't clever, you better not let me catch you" Remus inputted good heartedly,
"Don't worry Moony I won't let you catch me" he joked back, soon the two left leaving Harry on as he headed for the house, suddenly two voices were heard from behind him, two voices he was hoping to avoid, for a while at least,
"Gred look"
"It's ickle Harrykins!"
It took Harry several minutes to shake the twins off, not that he wasn't happy to see them however he just wanted to get everything upstairs first, he entered the house and was soon bombarded on by Mrs Weasley,
He was grabbed and given the once over by Mrs Weasley who pronounced him a too thin still, she set on her way to making him several sandwiches,
"Really I'm fine Mrs Weasley, I'm not hungry" he pleaded, he wasn't hungry at all, since the Dursley's had left early he had helped himself to some breakfast at Privet Drive,
"Don't be silly dear a couple of sandwiches won't hurt" she ended up making four too which Harry consumed through some difficulty, he felt very sickly straight away,
"Thanks Mrs Weasley, could I take my things to Ron's room?" he asked politely, in truth he needed to go or he would vomit in the kitchen,
"Of course dear run along" she cheerfully replied and went back to cleaning, Harry quickly dashed upstairs and just managed to reach the bathroom on time, his stomach felt on fire from the vomiting, he also felt guilty, he liked Mrs Weasley's cooking but his stomach had already had a standard amount of food.
After unpacking and still feeling slightly light headed, he went back downstairs to find the Twins and Charlie in the living room,
"Ah Harry come to join us in the anarchy that is a wedding" Fred asked grinning like a mad man,
"Yeah sure, why not" he said smiling, Charlie let out a huge yawn,
"I tell you I'm never getting married, not after seeing this debacle, forget I'll simply elope" he said,
"Ooh don't let mother hear you say that Charlie boy" one of the twins replied,
"Yeah she'll never forgive you for not letting her see another one of her babies off into the world of marriage" the other twin said,
"How's Bill been, what with the wedding and everything?" Harry asked,
"Nervous but that's to be expected, plus mum really has been making his life hell for the past few weeks" Charlie replied,
"It can't be that bad can it?" Harry asked, he knew wedding were complicated but not that over the top,
"It's worse than you could imagine mate, mum seems to think that this is her wedding, she keeps making all the decisions without talking with the bride and groom" One of the twins said,
"Yeah Fleur's been right cheesed off at mum, can't really blame her either" the other finished,
"Fleur's here as well then?" Harry asked, the three shook their heads,
"Nah, she's meeting with her friends and family, I think she's staying back at her parents right now" George stated,
"Yeah, between mum and Ronny I can see why she left" Fred joked,
"What's Ron got to do with her leaving?" He asked,
"Well Ronnikins still does the impressive act of an drooling statue whenever she's around, plus all that staring at her was prompting Bill to send him death glares" Fred replied,
Harry chuckled he remembered how bad Ron always was around Fleur, he continued his chat with the three of them until Mrs Weasley asked or rather demanded they help out, Harry was sent out into the garden where he came face to face with Ginny for the first time since breaking up with her,
"Hi Harry" she teasingly greeted, Harry was surprised by how little seeing her elated him, still he felt a need to be polite,
"Hey Ginny" he replied evenly, his lack of reaction around her seemed to make her a little mad, he also didn't say anything else which pissed her off,
"Is that it?" she asked, Harry turned back to face her confusion on his face,
"Is that what?" he asked, she looked slightly shocked, she was expecting much more of a reaction from him seeing her,
"Is that all you have to say to me?" she again asked,
"Well what else do you want me to say?"
"Well maybe Ginny I'm sorry I broke up with you, I didn't mean it would be nice!" she yelled, Harry felt his own temper rising but kept his cool,
"Ginny… I broke up with you for a good reason, now maybe we'll get back together when it's all over but things could change by then" he said, hoping this might shut her up, unfortunately it had the complete opposite effect,
"CHANGE, THINGS WILL NEVER CHANGE, I'VE BEEN IN LOVE WITH YOU SINCE I WAS FOUR, I'M NOT LETTING ANYTHING CHANGE NOW!" she screamed, Harry wondered how she had gone from pleasant to catatonic so fast",
"Ginny I'm sorry we broke up but for Merlin's sake just move on!" He partly yelled, he quickly walked away wanting the conversation to end, he could hear her shrieking as he left,
"Man she can be weird" he thought to himself.
The next couple of days at the Burrow were a nightmare for Harry, between helping prepare the wedding and Ginny constantly hounding him and Ron who seemed to be very pissed at Harry for some reason, Harry wounded how in the hell he was managing to stay sane,
With Ron in a bad mood constantly, Harry was left with the twins for company to which he didn't mind, he actually enjoyed watching them prank everyone and soon came adapt at avoiding them too which caused a small declaration of war from the twins who were on a mission: Operation prank Harry Potter'.
Thankfully his saving grace in Hermione came along that following Wednesday just before the wedding, Ron had tried to get her alone all day on the day she arrived which he eventually did asking to speak to her in private, they were gone quite a while and whilst Harry didn't want to invade them he wanted to make sure everything was alright, he found them chatting near the shed which quickly turned to rowing,
"What do you meen you not my girlfriend, what was all that at Dumbledore's funeral about!" he exclaimed, Hermione managed to keep her voice at annoyed not full blown anger,
"I needed someone's shoulder to cry on Ron, It was an upsetting day, I thought you understood that" she explained, Ron fumed stamping his foot in anger like a misbehaving child,
"Well how about how you were acting last year, you were jealous of Lavender and then sent those birds at me; don't try to tell me you don't fancy me!" Ron yelled again, Hermione's face went bright red both from embarrassment and rage,
"With an attitude like yours Ronald I could never fancy you!" she yelled back, Harry decided to let his presence be known walking out from behind the corner,
"Hey guys everything okay?" he asked walking over like he hadn't heard them, Ron gave him the briefest of looks,
"Fine" he said as he stormed off back to the house, slamming the door hard enough for both Harry and Hermione to hear, Harry walked over to her,
"What's wrong?" he asked, she looked at him and gave a brief smile,
"Don't pretend like you didn't hear us Harry", Harry hugged her,
"I'm sorry I didn't meen to hear, I just came out to see if you guys were alright and well…" he didn't carry on, Harry let the hug linger until she broke it apart, he lead her over to the fence where they leaned against it and chatted about everything and nothing, Harry enjoyed it, Hermione was probably the only person he felt perfectly secure with, true he hadn't mentioned the crush he had on her but of all his friends she was the one who he felt at ease with, eventually the subject of Ginny came around,
"How are you and Ginny doing Harry?" she asked, Harry looked at her in surprise he had thought she knew already,
"There is no me and Ginny, well not any more anyway" he replied, now it was her turn to looked surprised,
"But Ginny hasn't mentioned the two of you breaking up or anything", Harry sighed, it seemed Ginny didn't really believe he had broken up with her,
"We broke up at Dumbledore's funeral; initially I did it to protect her...but then…she said something that's been bugging me all summer" he explained, Hermione watched him wanting him to press on but not wanting to sound impolite,
"What did she say?" she asked, curiosity won out,
"She said, she knew I wouldn't be happy unless I was fighting Voldermort" Harry explained deadpanned, Hermione snorted, it her that was a ridicules concept,
"Is she joking, anyone who knows you knows you hate being the one who has to do this, you hate the fact that you're the boy-who-lived, surely she must realize you only want to be a normal teenager?" Hermione stated, Harry chuckled but it was at Hermione, she did know him too well,
"Yeah well it did get me to thinking, Ginny wants the boy-who-lived, not me, not just Harry, but I don't know I still care about her, true she's been a pain the last few days always hanging around me, honestly the only time she's really left me alone is when I need the bathroom" Hermione giggled at him, the two sat in silence for several minutes,
"Do you think it's safe to go in yet?" Hermione asked, Harry shrugged,
"Don't know, but you know what they say, Gryffindors charge ahead", she rolled her eyes but smiled as he took her hand leading her back to the house.
Ron stormed in the house and headed towards Ginny's room, he didn't bother knocking and stormed in, she shrieked not expecting him,
"What the hell are you doing, Ron!" she yelled looking away from the window to her brother as he stormed in,
"Why isn't it working Ginny!" He yelled, she furrowed her brow in confusion,
"What are you on about?" she asked, Ron flared his arms about like a fish out of water,
"Uh hello Hermione, I know you said that the potion would ware off somewhat during the summer but it isn't effecting her anymore!" he yelled, Ginny glared at her brother, she was annoyed but more out of the fact that he was right, Harry had also seemed to be resisting the effects of the potion, hell her mother had laced his lunch several days ago with Amortentia but it had little to no effect, she simply glared at her brother before looking out of the window again, she now saw Harry and Hermione hugging,
"Get off him bitch!" she screamed, Ron looked bewildered at her before walking over to the window and saw the two himself, he was pissed alright, he had often seen the two embracing but the Aromentia had help stop that for the most part last year, he slammed his fist on to the desk,
"Ginny you told me, that potion would work!" he yelled letting all his rage seem through his gritted teeth, he continued to breath heavy like a enraged dragon,
"It did, your forgetting she's been away for several weeks without regular intakes, of course the potion will have sub-sided, all we need to do is dose her again" Ginny tried to make herself believe this, but Harry had been given the potion and it wasn't working or at least it didn't appear to be, was Hermione immune too,
"I'll go see if we have anymore" he left in a hurry leaving Ginny to watch the two from her bedroom, they were their chatting away like they always had, she vowed to get Harry back, he was her's and Hermione was Ron's, end of story,
"Stay away from my man Mudblood, or you'll regret it!" she spoke in vengefully, she stormed out of her room slamming the door deciding to catch up with Ron to find some more Amortentia, she didn't notice the two red heads who were disillusioned outside her room,
One of them turned to the other,
"Well dear brother it seems not all is right here at wedding central"
"Too true my twin, the question is what we do now?"
The wedding arrived and Harry had gotten his Emerald dress robed altered for the occasion, the wedding itself was a huge event, Harry was sure how many people were there but it reached a hundred at least, Harry was able to recognise a lot of the people there but many were complete strangers to him,
Ginny again tried to seduce Harry with the golden bridesmaid dress that she was wearing, Harry did have to admit that she looked very sexy in it but he knew her game by now, his mouth hit the ground however when he saw Hermione in her formal wear, she seemed to be wearing a periwinkle dress much like the Yule ball, her hair was straight as well and Harry idly wondered if she had used the same potion she had in fourth year,
Ron who was seated up front with his other brothers was oozing with hate and jealousy as Hermione seated herself next to Harry, Harry felt himself go very hot very quickly as she smiled at him, the ceremony took place but in all honesty Harry had no idea what was being said by the bride and groom since he couldn't stop stealing glances at the beauty next to him,
Pretty soon Bill and Fleur were declared man and wife, and within moments the twins cracked out the party cheer, the reception was fun, although Harry knew that they had agreed to head to Grimmuald place that night Harry decided to have some fun, he mainly chatted with people he knew, and eventually tried firewiskey which he quickly regretted, Ron however had started downing the firewiskey like water, unfortunately Tonks held Harry to her word and he ended up being physically dragged by Tonks to dance much to the amusement of Remus, unfortunately this lead to more of the females asking him to dance to which he couldn't turn down, Ginny also managed to coax him into a dance, Harry was very thankful when it was over since she spent most of there dance trying to practically reach penetration,
Harry sat back down next to Hermione who looked a little lonely; Harry felt his heat strings constrict,
"Hermione what's wrong?" he asked,
"Nothing Harry don't worry" she replied, Harry sighed knowing she was lying but decided to question her about it later, he got back up holding out his hand,
"Dance Hermione?" he asked, she looked at him in surprise,
"I thought you hated dancing?" she asked, Harry gave her a lop sided grin,
"True but you're my best friend so I'm willing to make an exception this once" he said, she took his hand and the two began dancing,
"Actually this isn't so bad" he thought,
Around eleven most people had already gone home and the bride and groom and set off on their honeymoon, still some people were enjoying themselves, Ron had passed out at the table he was sitting, Hermione came over to Harry again, she was about to say something when the twins appeared and cut her off,
"We need to speak with you two urgently" one of them said in a serious tone that Harry had never heard from either one,
"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, they both held up their hands,
"Not here, meet us by the pond in ten minutes, just you two not Ron" they both disappeared and left Harry and Hermione with puzzled expressions.
Harry and Hermione soon caught up with the twins at the pond who had sombre looks on there faces,
"Okay guys what gives?" Harry asked, both twins looked at each other for a moment before nodding, George pulled out and almost empty potions vile and handed it to Hermione,
"We found that in Ginny's room, do you know what it is?" George asked, Hermione examined the potion and gave it a sniff; she quickly took on a rather shocked look which past very quickly,
"I think it's Amortentia" she stated,
"Ding ding we have a winner" Fred joked sadly, Harry racked about in his memory he knew it sounded familiar,
"Wait isn't Amortentia a love potion?" he asked, all three of his company nodded,
"Well what's Ginny doing with it?" he asked rather alarmed, what was the girl doing with this at home,
"Guys this isn't going to be easy for wither of you but…"
"We overheard Ron and Ginny yesterday and it seems…"
"That our youngest siblings have you both bewitched…"
Harry jaw literally did hit the ground this time; he couldn't believe it, his best mate and his girlfriend, well his ex-girlfriend,
"No she can't have and Ron would never do that to Hermione!" he argued,
"He did Harry" Hermione said causing all three of them to turn to her, she looked miserable but amazingly not shocked like Harry, she carried on,
"During the summer I decided to study spells that could detect things like traces of magic and other bewitchments, I tried the spell out on myself believe me I was shocked when it showed I was positive for a love potion" she explained, Harry eyes changed several emotions, worry, anger, hate, rage, why would they do that to her, to him,
"That's why you…" he started but she cut him off,
"Yes that's why I never wrote, I was busy trying to fight the effects of the potion, and honestly I didn't know what to write to Ron, what was I supposed to say… Dear Ron how's your summer, mine's be pretty hectic especially after finding out about the love potion you have me under" she finished, Harry closed his mouth and took everything in, he moved over to her and hugged her briefly, Harry heard her sniffle and knew she was on the verge of tears,
"I need to know guys, how long did you know" Harry asked the twins, who were still rather upset over Ron and Ginny,
"I swear mate we didn't know until yesterday, we just needed to get you two alone before we could say anything" George said, Harry was glad they hadn't known long,
Harry was hurting badly over the betrayal but a part of him wasn't shocked, still their was bigger things at stake right now,
"Guy's would you mind leaving me and Hermione alone for a few minutes?" he asked,
"Cause not pal, we'll go make sure Ronnie's still knocked out"
"Yeah and if he's not there's always the beaters bats in the shed to do the job", they soon left and Harry hugged Hermione who let a few tears go,
"Harry what we do about Ron now?" she asked,
"I assume you mean regarding the hunt?" he asked, she nodded into his chest, Harry sighed, what could he do, truthfully, he wanted to hurt Ron right now more than anyone, he also wanted to hurt Ginny, he would never hit a women but he knew a few curses he'd like to try on her, but what about Ron, he knew too much, he knew about the Horcrux, he knew what Harry's mission was and where they might have to go, would Ron really let the information leak over this, in truth Harry was so pissed that he believed Ron would, and even if he wouldn't let the info leak Ron still had a big mouth on him and could accidentally say something,
"He has to come with us Hermione" Harry said sombrely, Hermione nodded again not really needing him to explain since she had been thinking the same thing; Hermione finally broke the hug,
"What now Harry?" she asked,
"I guess we go wake up the bastard and get going"
Ron had taken some waking up and the trio gathered up their stuff, the Burrow was silent now not a sound could be heard…apart from the snoring.
It had been the early hours of the morning when they finally managed to get to Grimmuald place, Ron quickly went to bed as did Harry and Hermione all taking separate rooms,
Harry didn't sleep at all, his mind kept playing the previous couple of years in his head, "How long have they been up to this?" "Is Ron really my friend?" "Just how far would they have taken it?" all these questions kept popping up but he didn't have any answers, he got up and crept to the stairs to which he heard sobbing coming from the living room,
Hermione was sat on the couch with her face in her hands crying lightly,
"Hermione?" Harry asked, she looked up her eyes bloodshot, Harry rushed to her and hugged her lovingly, she returned it for several minutes, Harry didn't need to ask what was wrong, he knew full well what was wrong,
"Want to talk about it?" he asked, he said as he sat down next to her,
"Harry how could they?" she asked as fresh tears started to form, Harry didn't really know what to think,
"I don't know Hermione, when did you realize what was happening?" he asked, she dried her eyes and answered,
"Like I said earlier, I was trying to find some useful spells for us to use, I tried the 'Spellas Raveala' on myself and discovered that I was under a love potion tied to Ron, at first I didn't know if he knew so I simply avoided contact with him until the potion had completely wore off"
"When did you realize that he did know?" Harry asked,
"I didn't or I wasn't sure, you saw how he reacted to the news that I wasn't his girlfriend, I thought maybe it was Ron just…you know been Ron…but when the twins told us where they found the vial…well everything clicked" she explained,
"I'm sorry Harry" she blurted out, Harry looked up giving her a bemused look,
"Why are you sorry, if anyone should be sorry it's that bastard upstairs" he snarled at the staircase as if Ron was standing there,
"No I'm sorry I didn't realize Ginny was doing the same thing, I should have realized sooner" she said, Harry again embraced her,
"It's okay Hermione, your not to blame, it's seems they've been playing us, my main question is how long?"
Neither spoke again that night but Harry ended up embracing Hermione with one shoulder and she rested her head on his shoulder, she soon fell asleep and he followed not long after.
It had been a week since they left the Burrow but they had yet to find anything to help in regards to the Horcrux, Hermione had taken to checking their food and drink over the last couple of days, for the first two their hadn't been any drugging but by the third day practically everything Ron handed to her was laced with Amortentia, This fact had pissed Harry off to ends and had ended up with Harry knocking Ron's teeth right down his throat, Hermione had quickly cast an Obliviate and made up a story of Ron walking face first into a door, one that Ron couldn't question which left both Harry and Hermione in a state of hysterical laughter when he left for bed.
Harry also noted that with the new information with Ron and to a lesser extent Ginny, he and Hermione seemed to latch on to one another even more than they originally did, he had no complaints over this but it pushed his crush into over drive at times.
While they had sneaked out of the Burrow, they had let some people know where they were, Mrs Weasley who after many tantrums had finally had no really excuse to bring them back, plus both Harry and Hermione expected that Mr Weasley had calmed her down, both Lupin and Tonks were aware of there location as well.
One thing that wasn't making any progress however was the Horcrux hunt, their were a few books in the library on soul magic and a couple of vague references to Horcrux but none of this was any really help, unfortunately their was little to no material on the founders so looking for things that belonged to Ravenclaw and Gryffindor was a waste of time.
Eventually after two weeks of no progress Hermione decided to talk to Harry about it,
"Harry I was wondering…" she bit her lip not really wanting to ask,
"Yeah Hermione?" he replied looking up from his book,
"Well, perhaps we should let someone else on everything" she stated, Harry sighed
"Hermione, I wish we could, But Dumbledore said I could only tell you and Ron" he explained, Hermione wasn't going to back down easily though,
"Even Dumbledore wasn't always right Harry, I mean he told you to tell Ron and yet after everything we found out, I think that's proof that even he was only human" she retorted, Harry furrowed his brow in concentration,
"She's right I meen Dumbledore wasn't right about telling Ron…Then maybe we should ask for help…No I'm already putting Mione at risk, anyone with that knowledge would be a danger to themselves…Everyone's in danger until you finish the bastard off…Who asked you…I am you, you stupid prat…Great I'm going bloody loopy"
"I don't know Hermione, anyone that knows is going to be in real danger" He said,
"News flash Harry everyone IS in real danger" she again retorted, Harry sighed in defeat,
"Okay but whom, I mean it's going to have to be someone we both trust and can take care of themselves" he said, she smiled
"Well what about Remus, Harry?" Harry slowly nodded,
"Okay I'll talk to Remus maybe he can help us"
Two days later Moony arrived and the Hermione had cast the sleeping spell on Ron and sat the werewolf down and explained everything including the betrayal of the youngest Weasleys, needless to say the remaining marauder was horrified for both of them and shocked over Voldermort's actions for creating Horcrux, Harry explained about which had been destroyed and where and what the other's were, he also handed the note from the fake locket to Remus who looked deep in thought,
"Remus what's wrong?" Harry asked,
"These initials I've seen them somewhere" he thought for a couple of minutes until he suddenly let out a small gasp,
"No it can't be!" He said getting up quickly making his way to the stairway, Harry and Hermione quickly followed,
"Remus what's wrong?" Harry again asked, Remus stopped in front of the old Black family tree and quickly began scanning it for someone, he suddenly found it,
"THERE!" he shouted pointing to one of the names; they both checked the name,
Regulas Arcturus Black
"NO WAY!" Harry shouted, Hermione soon put everything together,
"Harry didn't you say Regulas was a death eater before he died?" She asked also not quite believing they had overlooked Sirius's brother, Harry nodded his eyes not leaving the tapestry,
"Yeah apparently he wanted out so he was killed by other death eaters or at least that's what Sirius told me", Hermione nodded at the new information and began raking around her brain,
"Do you remember summer just before fifth year?" She asked, Remus was now paying attention to the two again,
"Yeah…well mostly" Harry shrugged,
"Do you remember that locket that we couldn't open?" she asked now almost bouncing in excitement, Harry fished around his memories and soon found it,
"Yeah I do!"
"It's gotta be here!" she half yelled,
"Is it really that simple?" Harry asked not believing his luck; suddenly Hermione's face went from excitement to misery,
"Oh no"
"What?" he asked worried by her change of mood so quickly,
"Harry we chucked most of that stuff away from when we were cleaning" Harry's heart soon dropped,
"What about Kreacher Harry?" Remus asked, again Harry felt his mood lighten,
"KREACHER!" he yelled, the elf popped up,
"The blood traitor summons Kreacher and poor Kreacher must answer" he gave a mock bow,
"Yeah yeah, I'm a blood traitor, heard it all before" he took the fake locket from Remus,
"Kreacher have you seen a locket like this before" he showed the elf the locket,
"Kreacher has"
"When was the last time you saw it?" Harry asked, Kreacher looked at his feet for a moment trying not to answer but since Harry was his master he had no choice,
"Yesterday" he squeaked out,
"Do you have the Locket Kreacher?" Kreacher fought even harder this time but again he answered,
"Kreacher does" he said though only just understandably,
"Give me the locket Kreacher" Harry stated, the elf just shook his head,
"Blood traitors, mudbloods, wolf beasts you all shame the good ancestral house of Black" Harry was quickly getting annoyed,
"Listen Kreacher you better give me that…" Hermione cut him off,
"We'll trade you Kreacher" she said, Kreacher looked at her,
"Hermione he doesn't deserve it" Harry complained, Hermione gave him a look that showed plain and simple, Back off this will work,
"Kreacher We'll trade lockets is that good enough?" Kreacher however wasn't giving in,
"The filthy Mudblood cannot offer Kreacher enough to give up master Regulus locket" he said,
"Fine, tell you what Kreacher, give us the locket and you can take whatever Black heirlooms with you to your cupboard" Harry said annoyed, Kreacher looked at him, eyes widening for a second, he disappeared and came back with the locket,
"Kreacher agrees" he handed the locket to Harry and took the fake and soon disappeared again to find more Black treasures,
The trio went back downstairs with the locket,
"Well how do we know?" Harry asked Hermione, Remus butted in,
"Let me try" he pulled out his wand, "Raveala", suddenly the locket admitted a black aura, that looked like smoke, it stopped after several seconds,
"Well it's definitely filled with dark magic" Remus said, both Harry and Hermione were a little shocked by their good fortune,
"Well how do we destroy it?" Remus asked, Harry found his voice again,
"Well I stabbed the Diary with a Basilisk fang but I've no idea how Dumbledore destroyed the ring" Harry answered, all three just sat their for a couple of seconds,
"Guess it's back to research mode then" Hermione said, Harry solemnly nodded,
"Just how the hell are we going to destroy it?"
With three Horcrux down and here to go Harry felt a little less stressed, true they hadn't found a way to destroy the Horcrux yet but at least it was in their possession, Hermione had approached the subject of returning to Hogwarts, Harry wasn't certain this was the best idea but he knew their was the possibility of another Horcrux being there, he also told Hermione that the Basilisk in the Chamber of secrets might have the required means off destroying the locket, August the twenty first arrived and so did a couple of Hogwarts letters,
Dear Mr Potter
I am pleased to inform you that Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry will be re-opening on the 1st of September.
If you wish to return please send a reply by owl by no later than the 25th of August.
Hopeful to have you return.
Deputy Headmaster
Filius Flitwick
"Guess McGonagall has taken over as Headmistress" Harry idly thought he found another letter to him with the Hogwarts crest on the back; he opened it when a badge dropped to the floor,
Dear Mr Potter
I would like to congratulate you on making head boy, if you choose not to return to Hogwarts this coming term, please notify the school at the first appropriate time.
Kind Regards
Deputy Headmaster
Fillius Flitwick
Harry's jaw hit the ground as he picked up the head boy badge, part of him was excited over the prospect but the other half remained sane as he remembered that he wasn't going back, at that moment Ron and Hermione made there appearance in the kitchen both holding Hogwarts letters, Hermione began asking him a question,
"Harry did you get your Hog…" She stopped when she saw the Head badge in his hands; she squealed in delight and hugged him, Harry felt himself go a little red from embarrassment, Harry smile soon disappeared when he realized that Ron was still their, Harry could see the jealousy practically oozing off him,
"Well Congratulation's Harry, knew it would be you" he said a fake and rather painful looking smile on his face, Harry sighed inwardly, he could have done without Ron being there,
"Yeah you get head boy and Hermione gets head girl…perfect" Ron again said, the sarcasm very clear within his voice, Harry hugged her back,
"You got head girl, why didn't you say?" he asked, she sighed,
"Because where not going back and I know you'll just try and convince me too since I got head girl" she explained, Harry lowered his head, that had been one of the first things that had come to his mind.
Harry finally let her go to see Ron staring at them his face going redder than his hair, soon after trying to calm the Weasley down to avoid another tantrum they started making a list of things to do, eventually Harry got around to thinking about Hogwarts,
"There might be another Horcrux there…true but that doesn't mean I have to go back…Sure but this way you can take your NEWT'S…I don't have time to attend classes plus I never know when I might need to leave…Your head boy, surely the heads get to leave school whenever needed" Harry looked over at Hermione who had her head stuck in a book,
"Hey Hermione" she looked up,
"Yeah Harry?" she asked,
"Can heads leave the School whenever they need to or do they not have that much power" he asked, she screwed up her face remembering the code of conduct,
"I think Heads do have the power to leave the grounds when it's cleared with the Head teacher" she explained,
"There you are, what reason do you have for not going back now…It would mean having to tell McGonagall everything…No it wouldn't she might ask but you can explain to her that it's required for you to leave…It's not guaranteed that she would accept that though…Then you sneak out, I mean hello your cloak and map…I guess plus I know it would make Hermione happy...Yeah plus it will be just you two in the heads dorm…Oh piss off!" Harry's face went red with the last statements; Hermione had been watching him go quiet,
"Harry are you alright?" she asked, Harry nodded,
"Do you want to go back Mione?" he asked, she avoided his gaze but Harry knew her words weren't lies,
"I said I'm coming with you wherever you go and I plan to stick by my word, but yes I do wish we were going back" she truthfully spoke,
"Then I suggest you write back and tell them they've got the smartest witch of our generation as head girl" he smirked, she locked eyes with him again,
"What do you mean, I thought you said you weren't going back even if it did reopen?" she said, Harry sighed,
"I wasn't but Hogwarts may be housing a Horcrux, plus we might find something in the library that could help destroy the locket…and I know you want to go back" his face shifted as he spoke the last words, Hermione however jumped on him and hugged him tightly,
"Harry that's really sweat of you but are you sure this is the right thing?" she asked, Harry had a hard time concentrating with her so close, he shrugged
"Yeah…plus if I'm honest I'd like to take my Newt's" he declared, she eventually broke the hug,
"So we're heading back to Hogwarts?" she asked one more time,
"Yeah we're heading back".
To say Ron was less than pleased about going back was an understatement, the only thing about it he was happy about was when Harry pointed out he no longer had to tell his mother he wasn't going back, still with only a little over a week till they left for Hogwarts Harry wished he hadn't decided to go back, for one reason, Hermione,
The girl had gone psychotic when she realized she hadn't studied for any of the seventh year curriculum, she had also practically pushed Harry into the floo to pick up their seventh year books and equipment,
After sending there reply's letters back to Hogwarts they received another letter this time from McGonagall who asked to speak with them both after the opening feast, Hermione soon let Harry know that it was simple procedure and that it wasn't her trying to get information from them.
Eventually the first of September came around and the trio left Grimmuald place, they reached platform 9 ¾ and soon ran into both Neville and Luna, after the five got a compartment Ginny soon arrived and invited herself, Harry quickly noted how unaffected he was by her without being drugged, her constant flirting with him also hacked him off since he had broken up with her at the funeral and then the last time they spoke they had argued, thankfully Harry was saved when Hermione announced that they needed to go speak with the prefects,
"Thanks Hermione, another minute in their and I would be arrested for murder", she gave him a small understanding smile,
"Thank god we no longer have to share a Common room with them" she said,
"What about Ron, we need to make an excuse for why he can't join us in our common room?" Harry asked, Hermione bit her bottom lip before she began,
"Well I was going to ask you about that, do you think we should tell McGonagall, I don't mean the whole hunt thing I just mean about you know Ron and Ginny" she explained, Harry thought about it, if they could let McGonagall in on that then they could avoid the two a lot of the time,
"Yeah I guess we can we tell her that" he conceded, she smiled as the two entered the heads compartment, Hermione gave a small speech about the rules and drew up a charter for prefects duty, after the meeting they returned to their compartment, where Ginny almost immediately started with the flirting again, Harry had to use all his will power to not hex the girl,
"God give me strength" he thought, suddenly Hermione's hand found Harry's whilst Ginny was distracted, he turned to her, she gave him an encouraging smile, which he returned,
"Okay guess I owe you one" he thought.
"Why did I ever get involved in this" Draco Malfoy thought to himself, when first asked to join the Death eaters he was overjoyed, the idea of following in his fathers footsteps had appealed to him, he soon discovered however that it wasn't all he thought it would be,
His first task had been to kill Albus Dumbledore, the greatest wizard of his generation, it had taken nearly an entire year for his trap to come into play but he had finally accomplished in trapping Dumbledore, whilst Draco wasn't a saint in any way he wasn't a killer either, although he had carried on spurting that he would kill the headmaster, when the time came he simply couldn't do it, he couldn't take a life, he had listened to the old man's ramble in the astronomy tower and he be lying if he said it hadn't hit him,
Snape had then of course stepped in and ended the man's life as if it meant nothing, a part of him admired it while he couldn't help be sickened by it,
Since the task was complete the Dark Lord had let Draco live, although he had been punished for not completing the task himself, he was then pushed into the background and sent on much simpler missions, the next target the O Neil's, Lucas O Neil a pure blood who had married a mudblood was to be taught a lesson, it was left to Draco and some other younger and lower class death eaters to teach that lesson.
The midnight hour had already passed and the Yorkshire neighbourhood was silent, the small band of death eaters had placed anti-appiration wards all around the O Neil home,
Donervile Draco's leader crept to the front door and within seconds blasted it down with a powerful Reducto curse, Draco and the other's swept swiftly inside, one of his team member's placed a silencing charm all around and it was a good thing since the screaming started with body's running all over the place, soon they apprehended Lucas O Neil and began 'teaching him a lesson' since he wouldn't talk they soon moved onto his wife, this is what made Mr O Neil plead and beg, watching his wife being placed under the Cruciatus was more torture than he could handle,
Draco however was feeling that familiar sense of guilt and left his team who were all enjoying themselves with the show, he headed up the stairs hoping to just leave the scene behind him, he walked into one of the rooms and discovered it to be a child's room,
"Wait they have kids?" he thought, that made him feel even worse, he could still hear the screams coming from downstairs, the guilt and regret was getting too much and he eventually succumb to it…and threw up,
It took him several moment to regain his footing, when he suddenly realized that he wasn't alone in the room, a little girl sat cowering in the corner partly hidden in the shadows, he could only guess this was the O Neil's kid, some strange force in him went over to check on her, however she mistook it as an advance to hurt her,
"Please don't hurt me" she whimpered, Draco stopped in his tracks,
"She thinks I want to hurt her…can you blame her…I'd never hurt a child…true but you let them hurt her parents…I had no choice…we always have a choice…stop channelling Dumbledore…" he was cut off from his thought's when Donervile stepped in,
"Guy's Draco found us a young un" he yelled downstairs, he swiftly made his way over to Draco,
"Good work Malfoy" he took another step forward on the child, but Draco held him back,
"No" he said, Donervile raised an eyebrow at him,
"What do you mean, No" he asked, Draco looked him square in the eye,
"Look we've done what we came to do, let's just leave" he tried to pull his leader away,
"You must be joking Malfoy, this is too much of a good opportunity to miss" Draco snapped,
"FOR MERLIN'S SAKE SHE'S JUST A KID DONERVILE!" he yelled, Donervile shrugged at him,
"If it bother's you that much Malfoy, maybe your in the wrong line of work" he smirked, Draco lowered his head,
"Maybe I am" he whispered he saw Donervile advancing on the girl again, he snapped once again and he knew their was no turning back,
"Stuperfy!" he cried, Donervile was sent soaring into the wall making a large crack in the plaster, the rest of the other's showed up just in time to witness their leader thrown across the room, it took less than a second for spells to start firing,
"Stupefy!"
"Reducto!"
"Stupefy!"
"Crucio!"
"Stuperfy"
The room was only small and Draco knew he wasn't going to be able to dodge them forever; he glanced at the little girl,
"RUN FOR IT!" he yelled at her, he then quickly conjured a shield and sent another stunning hex,
"Diffindo!"
"Stupefy!"
"Diffindo!"
The Diffindo finally got him hitting him square in the chest, he fell to his knees but not before being hit with a stunning hex, he didn't feel the force of being lifted off his feet but he did feel his head hitting the floor and within seconds everything went black.
Two months had passed since the new school year had started and although Harry had always heard that Newt year was catatonic he thought they were exaggerating, then again they didn't have the brightest witch of the age as their best friend and dorm mate,
After the feast at the beginning of the year he and Hermione had gone to talk to Headmistress McGonagall, whilst they hadn't told her about the Horcrux she had agreed to let them leave the school grounds when needed since she had expected that Harry had a task to finish, she had been adamant about helping Harry and in the end they agreed if they needed help they would go to her, they also told her about Ron and Ginny and whilst she had been surprised she hadn't really reacted much,
"Professor why don't you seem so shocked about this?" Harry asked completely bewildered by her lack of reaction, McGonagall pursed her lips in her serious way,
"Mr Potter I have watched you and Mrs Granger here since the day you arrived at Hogwarts, whilst I would normally never get involved in students affairs such as friendship, I did always wonder to myself why the two of you put up with Mr Weasley" she rubbed her temple before carrying on,
"On the other hand Mrs Weasley has surprised me, I thought she was smarter than this, you do know legally they can be prosecuted" she stated,
"We know Professor but Ronald knows too much, even if he didn't hand other the information willingly, he could be forced to hand it over" Hermione said,
"That and he's got a big mouth when he's hacked off" Harry inputted, McGonagall sighed,
"Simply off the record, why not just obliviate the memory's?" McGonagall asked,
"Because memory's can be recovered if looked hard enough, remember Bertha Jenkins, Professor?" Harry asked, McGonagall nodded,
"We do however want as little contact with him as possible, so we were hoping you might aide us by giving Ron and Ginny some reason they can't join us in the heads dorm" Hermione said, McGonagall mused over this,
"It'll have to be something clever" McGonagall said, Harry snorted,
"It's Ron, we could just tell him it won't let red heads in and he'd believe it" he joked,
"I think she means with Ginny, she will try to find out if the rule is real or not" Hermione explained,
"You could try the old blood wards around it" McGonagall stated,
"Blood words ma'am?" Hermione asked, Harry looked on confused,
"Well back when I was a student here and before that, the heads would douse the portrait outside the heads dorm with a drop of their blood and a incantation, it used to be popular to do, but times change and heads simply didn't bother with it anymore" McGonagall explained,
Harry nodded his head it sounded like a good idea to him but Hermione did bring up one small detail,
"But wouldn't that meen, anyone could tie themselves to the heads dorm?" she asked, McGonagall shook her head,
"No Mrs Granger, you see the incantation is known only too the sorting hat and since it hasn't been used in several decades I doubt anyone alive could tell the youngest Weasley's" she explained to them, Harry and Hermione shared one of their looks before they both nodded,
Hermione ended up doing the incantation all Harry had to do was supply a bit of blood, in the end they told Ron and Ginny that it wasn't allowed by school rules for anyone other than the heads to be in the heads dorm, Ginny frowned but hid her anger well, Ron on the other hand had turned red with rage, Harry enjoyed the show, since finding out about Ron and Ginny's betrayal he had found an almost enjoyable experience every time he got to give Ron bad news, he didn't trust Ginny and he didn't like her at all anymore but Harry wondered why he found getting his own back on Ron felt so good.
Whilst they were given there freedom from the 'Potion twins' as Harry had begun to call them, the hunt really hadn't gotten any further, with studying and researching not to mention avoiding the potion twins at all cost, they simply hadn't found anything that would help them in the hunt, also the workload was starting to get to not only him but Hermione also and if it was getting to her then it was time to do something about it.
"Hermione" Harry said, sitting across from her raising his head from a Charms textbook,
"Yeah Harry?" she said not looking up, Harry rubbed his chin,
"What do you think about getting some help with all this?" he asked, she now looked up from her own textbook,
"How do you mean?" she asked,
"Well let's face it, we're both exhausted, we haven't found anything to do with the Horcrux and on top of that we have all our Homework and studying for exams next year, we need help" he explained, she bit her bottom lip in concentration and Harry soon found he was losing his,
"Does she always have to do that?" he groaned to himself,
"Well what did you have in mind?" she asked, Harry sighed,
"Well what if we hire Dobby?" he said, she was about to start on about elf rights and Harry knew it so he cut in,
"I'm not talking about letting him work for free, if he agrees I want you and him to set his wages but what do you think?" he asked again,
She again went into concentration, and eventually agreed as long as Dobby got paid, they summoned the elf who was overcome with emotion when asked if he would work for Harry, Harry was giving a small show of entertainment watching Dobby and Hermione haggle his wages, Dobby wanted less and Hermione wanted to pay him more, he chuckled to himself, in the end they agreed to pay him a Galleon a week and two days off per month.
Eventually they decided that their simply wasn't enough information about Horcrux's or soul magic at Hogwarts so they sent Dobby to Diagon alley to pick up as many books as he could find, when he left Hermione gave him one of her looks that always made him feel nervous,
"Hermione I'm sorry but we are paying him" he said, Hermione looked down at the floor,
"I know but I still wish they could be freed" she said sadly, Harry sat down next to her and gave her a comforting hug,
"Perhaps you should work on the treatment of the elves more than trying to get them freed; I mean most don't want to be freed"
"So you don't think S.P.E.W is a waste of time?" she asked into his shoulder,
"No I don't but you need to rethink of your aims, the elves don't want to be freed, but they do need to be better protected" he explained, she caught him off guard by kissing him on the cheek, causing him to blush although very slightly,
"Thanks Harry" she said,
"Your welcome" he mumbled back still trying to hide his blush,
"Merlin, help me"
Neville was mad and embarrassed, he had been snuck a 'diarrhea donut' by someone and was desperately seeking a restroom, he made it up to the second staircase and couldn't go any further, there was only one option,
"Myrtle's Bathroom" he thought to himself, normally he wouldn't break one of the school rules as well as entering a girl's bathroom but it was an emergencies, he stormed in not bothering to check for anyone and went for the closest cubicle, he was sat their for a good long while, eventually someone else came in,
"Look no one will be in here" a familiar voice said,
"SHIT, someone's here" Neville thought,
"Fine well then tell me what it said!" a male voice came and a familiar one at that,
"Ron calm down for the love of Merlin!" the girl shrieked quietly,
"Ron!, wait is that Ginny as well?" Neville thought,
"She said that she'll send us some more but it doesn't seem to be working anymore" Ginny said, Neville heard Ron stamp his foot,
"Ginny it's Amortentia for fuck sake, no one can resist its effect's you told me so!" Ron bellowed,
"Amortentia, what the hell's going on?" Neville wondered,
"Yeah well I don't know why it isn't affecting them, maybe because we're not in their company, I mean we can't get in the heads dorm" Ginny explained,
"The heads…so their talking about Harry and Hermione"
"Yeah I know, I tried to enter it and the bastard wall threw me across the corridor" Ron complained, Ginny sighed,
"What about loyalty potion we could try that" Ginny said,
"Do you know how to make it?" Ron asked,
"No but I'm sure she'll make us some" Ginny replied,
"Well go write her back then!" Ron demanded, Ginny glared at him,
"Listen Ronald it isn't my bloody fault that Hermione isn't paying you any attention" she stormed out Ron after her starting some kind of insult that Neville couldn't decipher, Neville held his head in his hands,
"Sweet Merlin what do I do…You've got to tell Harry and Hermione…They might not believe me…Maybe not but you have to tell them…There probably going to hate me for this…True but it's the right thing to do"
He knew they might not believe him and it would probably ruin his friendship with them but they needed to know, he reached over for the toilet roll and discovered there wasn't any,
"OH COME ON!"
Neville hurried off to find either Harry or Hermione, he had to tell them what he had just heard, and thankfully he found them on the seventh floor,
"Harry, Hermione I need to talk speak with you two" he said in between breaths, both looked at him strangely,
"Neville you okay?" Hermione asked, Neville nodded,
"Yeah sorry, just a bit out of breath, look I need to speak with you both in private now" he said,
"Okay why don't we head to the room of requirement" Harry said still bewildered at Neville's behaviour, Neville nodded and followed the duo, when inside, he tried to keep himself calm, he knew that this would hurt them, that is if they believed him, he gave a long sigh,
"Look guys this isn't easy…but…well I overheard Ron and Ginny earlier…I'm not sure how to tell you this…you see they were talking about Amortentia…and…well they seemed hacked off that…well you weren't affected or something…I'm pretty sure that they've been using a love potion…or there planning too…look I know you won't believe me but…" Neville stopped when Hermione raised her hand, she then in turn turned to Harry the two locked eyes for a couple of seconds with a single meaning,
'Should we tell him?'
Harry nodded and then she did, she turned back to Neville,
"We know Neville, they started spiking us last year" she said, Neville was amazed they knew and even more so by the lack of a reaction,
"You know already?" he asked, Harry nodded and Hermione answered him,
"I found out over the summer when I was researching some spells and tried one on myself, Fred and George found the vials at their home, they later told me and Harry a conversation they overheard between Ron and Ginny"
Neville was starting to put two and two together, "Is that why we haven't seen you guys in Gryffindor tower at all?" he asked, Harry answered this time,
"Yeah we wanted to distance ourselves from them, plus we kinda have another job too do but please don't ask us what" Harry said, Neville nodded in response, he was shocked, or was he really, he thought back to his time at Hogwarts thinking about the so called 'Golden Trio',
Neville had always hung in the background so to speak, he had watched the trio throughout his school life and even participated in several of their adventures, he was however confused how the trio always maintained that relationship especially when one of them stuck out like a sore thumb, Ron,
Whilst Neville had never had anything against him personally, he had always wondered why both Harry and Hermione put up with him, whilst Neville didn't exactly succeed in many of his lessons it wasn't without lack of trying, Ron on the other hand was simply lazy, the boy wouldn't do his homework and often got Hermione to do it, he was also very jealous especially of Harry,
Neville remembered when Harry's name came out of the Goblet of fire, one look at Harry's face when he was announced the fourth champion was enough for Neville to believe he hadn't entered, he then remembered getting back to the Gryffindor tower and listen to Ron bad mouthing Harry, thankfully the red head soon disappeared to their dorm to get away from the celebrations the twins were starting up,
That same year Neville had asked Hermione to the Yule ball, whilst Neville did like Hermione at least a little back then, he asked more out of respect and friendship, when she told him she had a date Neville let sleeping dogs lie and assumed that Harry had pulled his head out of his ass and asked her, He had been surprised that Harry hadn't even asked her, whilst he hadn't had much experience with dating Neville knew when something was meant to be and the final piece of the puzzle came at the end of fifth year,
He went to the ministry not really sure what to expect but he hadn't quite expected the big blow out fight that ended up taking place, he had watched several of his friends fall that night and he remembered when Hermione had been hit, he also remembered Harry's completely lost look, Neville remembered all too well the first time he had seen the 'boy-who-lived' broken, even if it had been for less than a minute, Neville however knew they needed to get out and ended up lying to Harry about finding her pulse, truth be told he couldn't tell, his body was shaking from both pain and adrenaline that he didn't know if she was alive or not but he knew that Harry would only be able to get back into the game if he thought she was alright,
He had never told them not even to this day and he wasn't planning to,
So after all that it had surprised him when Harry started dating Ginny and Hermione seemed to be pining after Ron, now that he thought about it he should have seen that something was up, they were both acting way out of character last year, Neville felt a small surge of guilt, he should have known that something had been going on but he honestly wasn't paying attention,
Neville felt another sure go threw him, but this time of anger, whilst he had never liked Ron all that much he had liked Ginny, in truth he had had a crush on the youngest Weasley and had taken her to the Yule ball, Neville however saw the look in her eyes when she was staring at Harry that night and any thought's of perusing a relationship with the girl were dead and null, he had also heard through Luna whom he had gained a close friendship with that Ginny was trying to fight fate, Neville hadn't really worked out what she meant till he overheard the two youngest Weasley's,
Neville was shook from his thoughts by Hermione,
"Neville are you alright?" she asked, Neville looked at her, and nodded,
"Yeah I'm fine" he lowered his head and saw her's and Harry's hands locked together, a small smile appeared on his face,
"Guess you really can't fight fate".
November had arrived and so had the first wave of snow fall, Dobby had ended up buying well over fifty books on soul magic and was giving a small bonus by Hermione which she ended fighting with him to accept,
Unfortunately it hadn't helped, at least not much, and Harry knew that he had yet to check Hogwarts for any of the Horcrux; the only one he knew about right now was Hufflepuff's cup, he figured that it could be practically anywhere, however his gut instincts or whatever it was were telling him that their was one within the castle grounds, he had tried searching several times but honestly he had no idea where he was going half the time and since he could only go out at night when everyone else was in their dorms so he wouldn't arouse suspicion the amount of time he had to search was limited,
He mulled over this until he finally had an idea that cased him to kick himself that he hadn't already thought about it,
"Dobby!" he called, the elf appeared and was eager for his master's instructions,
"Yes Harry Potter sirs what can Dobby help you with" the elf proclaimed, Harry smiled at the excited elf,
"Dobby I have a very important assignment for you but it must remain a secret, only you Hermione and myself are allowed to know, understood?" he asked, Dobby stood up straight in respect,
"Of course Harry Potter sir, Dobby will keep master and master's Mione secrets" Harry blushed, Dobby was forever calling Hermione 'Harry's Mione', which he had to admit he enjoyed even if he pretended he didn't,
"Okay Dobby here's what I need you to do; I want you to search Hogwarts for this specific cup…"
For the first time in many years Narcissa Malfoy felt like her old self again, at the tender age of sixteen she had become the object of affection by one Lucius Malfoy, whilst she had no real feelings for the boy, her parents were over the moon that a prestige pureblood had taken a interest in her and very quickly a betrothal was in place,
At first things hadn't been to bad but then Lucius had gotten involved with the Death eaters and Narcissa knew she wanted nothing more to do with it all, she and Lucius ended up in a full blown row and he ended up knocking her out, from then on she was forced to watch from behind the scenes of her own mind as she lived her life under a loyalty potion, she hadn't even be able to truly experience giving birth to her own son which saddened her deeply and in time simply gave up,
However when he 'husband' had ended up in Azkaban she was giving a reprieve, she had used the time she was given and had Snape help Draco, however when Lucius broke out during the summer she had been placed right under the potion again.
Her heart had broken when she saw her own son be carried in by some of the others, she was shocked when she heard what her son had done to earn such a beating and couldn't help but notice the hint of pride she held for him at that moment, however he had been taken to the dungeons to pay for his actions as had Lucius since he was Draco's father, the one good thing that came out of this was that the loyalty potion's effects were almost gone and their was no one to give dose her with one, for the first time in a long time Narcissa Malfoy was herself again…
She had never wandered the dungeons before, she was mostly suppose to go wherever Lucius was and if she wasn't with him then she was lost, she passed several cells in a long corridor what she saw disgusted her, many bodies were laid out in the cells, all were dead some of which were disfigured and scar's all over them, She was no angel that was a cert but her heart went out to the long gone souls that inhabited those bodies, she eventually passed Lucius who thankfully was asleep on his bed, it seemed h hadn't been roughed up to badly which she was disappointed about,
She eventually reached the last cell and gasp at the sight, her son say against the wall his entire body bloodied and bruised, he was shaken slightly from what she could only conclude were the aftershocks of the cruciatus curse,
"Draco Darling wake up" she said making sure to keep her voice down, it took several tries to wake him up before he started to stir,
"Mother, what are you doing here?" he asked his voice disgruntled from the pain in his throat,
"We need to get out of sweetie" she used her wand and unlocked the cell door,
"What about our Mast…him" Draco asked, Narcissa head slumped down as she entered the cell, her son hero worshipped his father and it would hurt but he needed to know the truth, she picked her son up and help place him on the bed so he could find his feet himself,
"Draco honey, theirs some things I need to tell you…and it's not stuff your going to like" she explained, Draco was now in full attention, anything to take his mind off the pain shooting through his body right now was welcome,
"What?" he asked, she sighed this wasn't going to be easy,
"Well it started when I was at Hogwarts…"
Draco couldn't believe his ear's his mother was telling him about what his father had done to her, about how she had wanted better than this life for her son, what shocked him even more was when she commented on the fact that she didn't care about blood supremacy,
"But why did you always act if you did then?" he asked, she had a deep sadness in her eyes,
"The potion, since I was tied to your father through the loyalty potion, I was loyal to his beliefs, even if inside I wasn't" she explained, Draco felt the same disperse he felt as the other day trying to protect the girl,
"Mum what happened to the little girl did they bring her here?" he asked almost wishing he hadn't asked the question, his mother nodded, she hadn't seen what had happened since she had still been under the effects, but it couldn't have been anything good, the two sat in silence for a few moments, Draco had tears running down his eyes, it was all a lot to take in plus another innocent life had been taken, finally his mother spoke again,
"Are you well enough too walk?" she asked him concerned, Draco nodded but winced as he stood up, still a final question plagued his thoughts,
"Mother where will we go, surely wherever we go the Dark lord will find us" he asked,
"We can try Grimmuald place, to belong to my cousin Sirius Black" Draco's eyes shot up at this but decided his questions were best left for now, he took one last look at the cell and couldn't believe he had let his life become this,
"Come on we are getting out of here" he said finding some courage,
"I wouldn't count on that my son".
Draco felt his legs go numb from shock, his father was awake,
"I wouldn't count on that my son", suddenly his father spoke again,
"MASTER, MY LORD HURRY PRISONERS ARE ESCAPING!" Lucius Malfoy yelled at the top of his voice, Draco felt his mother grab his hand and she instantly yanked him into the corridor, Draco and his mother fled for the staircase with his father bellowing for someone to stop them, as soon as they reached the staircase a pair of shadows imaged, both Draco and his mother hid in the shadows,
"Oy Malfoy what are you shouting at?" one of the death eaters called, Draco took the opportunity and took his mother's wand casting two Totalus charms on the death eaters, he quickly headed p the stairs his mother just up the rear, his father's constant yelling was soon becoming harder to hear but it appeared one of the men he petrified had quickly broken free, and had cast a 'Sonorus',
"PRISON HAS ESCAPED, DRACO MALFOY HAS ESCPAED, and HE'S ON THE FIRST FLOOR!" the death eater's voice rang out,
"Oh shit, things just got a whole lot harder" he thought to himself, he wasn't sure of the layout of the house,
"Which way out?" he asked his mother panicking, his mother had lost her calm and was looking around for the exit, she hadn't really explored the house either, but the scared look on her son's face helped her keep some of her composure,
"Let's try this way" she led him down the hall passing several angry looking portraits that were ashamed of such behaviour from a pair of purebloods,
Suddenly voices of other death eaters were heard and it seemed they could hear Draco and Narcissa, various spells were cast from the corridor round the corner from were they were going to head, the two headed back in the direction they had come, they leapt into a room which turned out to be the kitchen and his behind one of the counters,
The death eaters entered and Draco still with his mother's wand in hand, stuck it above the counter and aimlessly started casting spells,
"Stupefy!" he cried, he heard a man go urf and then a loud crash he assumed he had gotten one from sheer surprise, unfortunately the other three now knew his location, and started blasting hexes,
"Reducto!"
"Stupefy!"
"Stupefy" the three called, Draco rolled out the way, he raised a shield and the next thing he knew a huge goblet was flung at the three death eaters causing them to topple over like dominoes, he turned to see his mother with a satisfied smile on her face, Draco was rather shocked he had never really seen his mother look so sinister and yet he suddenly felt a little sad, just what would his life had been like if his mother had been herself,
"I believe I know the way out now" she said, and quickly led him out of the kitchen and down the corridor, they turned a corridor and saw the front door at the end, they reached it and believed to be home free till they opened the door,
"Stupefy!" someone on the other side called sending Draco spiralling back down the hall, he looked up to find at least a dozen death eaters and Voldermort himself there, also Voldermort was smiling which caused Draco's blood to run cold,
"Well it seems that the young Malfoy here thought he could escape my clutches" Voldermort chuckled; two of the death eaters grabbed his mother,
"Let her go you son of…!"
"Crucio" Voldermort said in a bored manner, Draco felt the familiar pain shoot through his body; he gasped as Voldermort finally dropped the curse, Draco was ready for it, he knew he was about to die but it seemed that Voldermort wasn't quite ready for that yet,
"Well I must say this does surprise me Draco…well done, it's been far to long since anyone surprised me, it seems you are something of a Lion trapped within a snakes skin, you even managed to take down a couple of my true followers, none the less I think it's time to teach you a lesson young man" Voldermort actually smiled, it was creeping Draco out and even his death eaters seemed a little afraid,
"Nott, bring Lucius up here, let's just see how loyal he is" Voldermort said to his follower, Nott nodded,
"Of course my lord" he quickly swept off to the dungeons to retrieve the senior Malfoy; Draco was scared to death, what was going to happen next.
Hogwarts: Same Time
Harry sat in the dorm room, Hermione was off helping Neville with his Transfiguration at the library, he glanced over at his only hope for destroying the Horcrux…Godric Gryffindor's sword, Hermione had had the clever notion that since it had taken something as powerful as a basilisk to destroy the diary then the thing that destroyed the same basilisk in question should be powerful enough to destroy the Horcrux, it seemed tonight would be the night to test said theory, Harry almost fell out of his chair when Dobby appeared before him,
"Master Harry, Master Harry, Dobby has founded your cup sir!" the elf squealed happily, Harry felt a fresh feeling of excitement course through him, Dobby handed over the cup to Harry and Harry felt his eyes bulge out for a moment, here it was another step to defeating Voldermort in his very hands, Harry studied the cup and quickly cast the 'Raveala' charm Remus had back at Grimmuald place, sure enough the cup was emitting dark magic,
Harry felt a little sad, it was a shame that he needed to destroy the cup of one of the founders, he really hated doing this to what most of wizarding Britain would claim as a national treasure but he didn't have a choice, he turned to Dobby,
"Dobby can you do me one last favour?" he asked, the elf puffed out his chest,
"Dobby will do whatever Harry Potter asks of him" Harry was in too much of a good mood and couldn't help the chuckle that escaped,
"Could you o find Hermione for me, I believe she's in the library, if Neville is with her just say I need to speak with her urgently and privately" he said, Dobby nodded,
"Dobby will not rest till he finds Masters Mione" he disappeared and again Harry chuckled, he suddenly turned serious, he placed the cup on the floor and took Gryffindor's sword in his hands, he stood over the cup and lifted the sword over his head before swing down with a mighty force.
Draco had tears in his eyes he thought that his father might plead for him and his mother but instead allowed the cruel torture to go on, unfortunately for Draco they had taken out the betrayal on his mother and forced him to watch, the last hour had seemed like a eternity of hell for him watching things been done to her that never should be done, he didn't care about escaping anymore he just wanted to die,
"Well Narcissa it appears that it's the end of the road for you" Voldermort spoke almost too calmly, "Lucius prove to me you loyalty by killing your scum of a spouse" he said,
Draco eyes widened, there was no way his own father would kill his mother was there unfortunately there was Draco watched his father stand over his mother wand raised,
"Avada Kedavra!" he said, Draco watched as his mother beaten body fell to the floor lifeless,
"NOOOOOOOOO!" he screamed, Voldermort who seemed to be enjoying the show chuckled once again,
"Do no fret Draco you shall be reunited with you mother momentarily" Voldermort raised his wand, and Draco closed his eyes knowing just what was coming, all of a sudden the dark lord started to stagger backwards right into a antique vase knocking it over ad him falling to the ground,
"My lord are you alight!"
"Master are your hurt"
"My Lord?" all the followers went over to help their fallen master, Draco realizing eh wouldn't get another opportunity ran for the door,
"AFTER HIM YOU FOOLS!" Voldermort yelled, all the death eaters turned their attention to Draco who was now outside, he ran for the border lines, he could make out several screams of people casting spells and shouting,
"STUPEFY!"
"DON'T LET HIM ESCAPE!"
"AVADA KERDAVRA!"
"STOP HIM!"
"STUPEFY!"
Draco ran as he watched several spells pass just over his shoulder his head and several places close to his person, he hopped over the fence and rand the next several feet before, reaching the point he could apparate, with one last thought in his head he quickly disappeared,
"I'll make you pay for what you've done to my mother!"
Harry was over the moon, four Horcrux down he knew where the last two were leaving only one left to find, sure he had no idea of what it was and where it might be but he felt closer to achieving his goal then he ever had before,
Unfortunately Hermione wasn't in the best of moods with him right now, whilst she was pleased another Horcrux was destroyed, he hadn't waited for her to come back from the library and had acuminated in a bollocking,
"Why didn't you wait for me? What if there had been an enchantment on the cup! Scare me again and it isn't Voldermort you'll need to be afraid of!" after the bollocking he received she gave him a celebratory hug and decided to make him suffer the next day,
Two week had passed since the cup was destroyed and now he was back to square one, the cup had been at Hogwarts and the fifth Horcrux could be anywhere, Harry also only had the knowledge that it might be something of Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, He and Hermione had taken to the library to find more on the founders, unfortunately Ron and Ginny found them their and hoaxed them into having dinner with them, nothing seemed too out of the ordinary, until Harry started talking to Ginny,
"Ginny look I'm so sorry about breaking up with you at the end of last year, it was a mistake a stupid mistake can you forgive me?" he asked pleadingly, Hermione watched on in horror she didn't need to be a genius to work out that he had been slipped the Amortentia,
"I can't believe there still trying that crap!" She thought to herself, Ginny smiled to him and Ron had an even face,
"Of course I can, after all that's what soul mates do" she said Harry smiled widely, Hermione felt herself fuming, she needed to get Harry away from Ginny, she excused herself as Harry and Ginny reunited much to the bewilderment of the rest of the school.
Hermione paced the Dorm for the last thirty minutes until a plan suddenly came to mind,
"Dobby!" she called, Dobby appeared very suddenly,
"How can Dobby help Master's Mione?" he asked, she knelt down to Dobby's height her anger and hurt pushed down,
"Dobby you have to help me, Harry's in trouble" she said, Dobby eyes widened even more,
"Who has hurted my Master!" he practically screamed, Hermione calmed the elf down,
"Technically no one, but Harry has been put under a love potion Dobby" Hermione stammered out, she felt upset enough as it was,
"Someone's is trying to mess with Master Harry's heart?" the elf asked, she nodded,
"Here's what I need you to do Dobby wait until Harry is out of Ron and Ginny's company and bring him here, but he mustn't be able to leave here until I can get the effects to wear off, understood"
Dobby was torn on the one hand he was going to end up locking his master away, on the other it was to help his master escape the love potion, Dobby was torn but he could see the heartbroken look in his master Mione's eyes and Dobby knew what the right thing to do was,
"Of course miss, I is bringing Master back" he disappeared.
Harry was in such a good mood, he was back together with Ginny and had agreed to play some chess with Ron and the hunt was going great, unfortunately he had to tare himself away from his love to use to bathroom, he had washed his hand when suddenly Dobby appeared before him,
"Dobby what…" he didn't have to time to finish as the little elf grabbed his arm and apparated them both.
Harry fell to the floor slightly dazed, he looked around to find himself back in the heads dorm, the little elf was stood across the room for him, Hermione soon came into view, Harry noticed that she was red faced but not from anger but most likely evaporated tears,
"Hermione what's going on why did Dobby bring me here" Harry asked, Dobby lowered his head in shame, Hermione came over to Harry and helped him up,
"Harry sit down for a second" she said, Harry felt a twinge of annoyance, he wanted to head back to the Gryffindor tower and make out with Ginny but he oblige to Hermione, he sat down on the edge of the sofa,
"What Hermione?" he asked, Hermione sighed and started breathing heavily, she knew this wouldn't be easy,
"Harry, we've been friends for a long time and you know I would never lie to you right?" she said, Harry nodded,
"Harry look…you remember why you broke up with Ginny right?" she asked,
"Yeah because it was too dangerous for her" he replied, Hermione shook her head,
"Don't you remember what the twins told us at the wedding?" she asked, Harry nodded,
"Yeah but she just did that to get my arse out of my head and ask her out" he replied, Hermione sighed again,
"Harry come on for the love of god can't you see?" she asked,
"See what?" he asked bewildered,
"Your under the Amortentia again" she said as soothingly as possible, Harry was now angered, he stood up,
"Ginny wouldn't do that to me!" he half yelled and headed for the door only to find it was locked,
"Where's the key?" he asked trying to calm down, Hermione looked at him depressed,
"The key's not the problem, your not getting out till I let you" she said, Harry fumed,
"Hermione don't me do something I'll regret" Harry threatened her, Hermione stood and walked over to him,
"Would you really hurt me?" she asked quietly, Harry was beyond pissed and yet a piece of him felt strange, no he wouldn't hurt her, how could he hurt her,
"Listen, just let me out, Ginny hasn't got me under Amor…whatever and I don't know why your trying to keep me locked up, just let me out RIGHT NOW!" he yelled Hermione flinched but didn't back down,
"Harry please listen to reason" she pleaded, Harry started storming around the room,
"NO WHY SHOULD I LISTEN TO YOU!" he yelled,
"Because I'm best friend" she replied,
"HA, some best friend you were, you wouldn't even believe me about Malfoy last year!" he snapped at her, he watched her winch and a small piece of him felt guilty as hell,
"I know but I need you to believe me" she said in a small voice, Harry got up in her face,
"Give me one reason I should begin to believe you" he snarled quietly, Hermione looked for the first time lost and decided it was time to resort to her final plan,
"This" She grabbed him but not hard and pushed her lips to his, Harry was shocked by her actions and even more so that he wasn't attempting to break the kiss, he felt a mix of emotions spiral through him: Love, Shock, Anger, Love, Guilt, Love, Harry suddenly felt like his mind was battling with itself, here he was kissing his best friend, when he was with Ginny,
"No I shouldn't do this I love Ginny…She had you under a love potion…Yeah the first time but she wouldn't again…for Merlin's sake open your eyes…Hermione has to be wrong…You know she isn't you can feel the potion in you…No she…Hermione has been with you through thick and thin she wouldn't lie to you…But Ginny…Is a Bitch! For God's sake you kissing the girl you've been in love with since fourth year and you talking about Ginny if that doesn't prove you under a love potion what else do you need, now shut up and enjoy it!"
It seemed that that part of Harry won since he couldn't come up with retaliation; he broke the kiss, his mind suddenly filled with images of Ginny,
"Not a chance, Hermione's right I need to fight the potion!" Harry battled with his own will, trying to use his magic to eradiate the potion, he wasn't sure how he was doing it but he felt his magic burning within his body trying to rid him of the 'poison' he was suddenly feeling exhausted not to mention he felt like his entire body was burning up, he could hear Hermione screaming in the background as he closed his eyes and clutched his body in pain whilst falling to the floor, he felt like his body was about to combust into flames until he finally blacked out.
It had been several days since Harry passed out and Christmas was fast approaching, not knowing what else to do, Hermione had taken Harry to the Hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey had soon detected that Harry had overloaded his magic and needed time to recover, Hermione had gotten Madam Pomfrey to keep quiet about Harry but McGonagall had been to visit and see Hermione since she was the Headmistress,
Hermione felt so lost without him there, it had only been a little two days but she didn't know what to do with herself, she had classes but she wouldn't leave Harry whilst he was their, she couldn't really do anything until he woke up,
She thought back to that kiss, she had never felt as complete when her lips touched his, she had hoped that Harry might harbour some feelings for her and that it might be enough to help him fight the Amortentia, she was pleased to see how when he broke the kiss he immediately began to fight the potion but that quickly turned to worry and fear as Harry began to scream out in pain, it seemed that fighting the potion required more than just force of mind, with Amortentia been such a strong potion it needed a good deal of magic to counter act it,
That was something else that Hermione had thought about none stop, her plan had worked, did that mean that Harry really did have feelings for her, a small part of her believed he did but her lack of confidence in being a girl wouldn't let herself believe him, there was also the problem of what would happen when he woke up, would the kiss break their friendship, would Harry not be able to be around her, all the doubts and fears needed to be answered and Hermione promised herself she would talk to Harry when he awoke.
Less than five hours later Harry woke, he felt very groggy but over wise he was fine, the moment he woke up he was pleased to see Hermione sat fast asleep by his bed, he smiled knowing she wouldn't have left his side the whole time, suddenly the 'Queen of evil' herself showed up,
"Ah Mr Potter feeling better are we?" Madam Pomfrey asked him,
"Yeah I'm okay…little drained I guess but I'm okay" he replied,
"Yes that's to be expected after that stunt you pulled" she said, Harry wasn't sure what she meant,
"How do you mean?" he asked, Madam Pomfrey started searching for a potion,
"Well Mrs Granger relayed to me what has been happening with your 'stalkers', whatever triggered you to fight off the potion caused you to use your magic to burn it away" she explained, Harry was still coming around so he simply nodded not really understanding much of what she said,
"Drink this Mr Potter, it should help you recover your energy" she said handing him goblet of clear liquid, which smelled surprisingly sweet, Harry gulped it down again surprised that it didn't taste too bad, Madam Pomfrey then left to her office, Harry sighed as he watched Hermione sleep, he remembered the kiss,
"God it was amazing" he thought, suddenly Hermione started to stir, she opened her eyes,
"Harry your awake!" she cried happily, she hug him hard,
"I swear you had better stop falling unconscious Potter or they'll be trouble" she joked, Harry smiled,
"Wouldn't want trouble from you Hermione" he joked back, they broke the hug and a awkward silence filled the hospital wing, Harry shifted awkwardly,
"Um I believe I have you to thank for helping…for helping me escape the potion" he said,
"Yeah" she replied,
"So what…what did you actually do…I mean I know with the…you know…the kiss?" he asked uncomfortably, Hermione's face turned bright red,
"Well I…I wasn't sure it would work…there's only two ways to be rid of Amortentia…one is to wait till the effects subside but that would take weeks" she replied, she didn't carry on,
"What's the second?" he asked in a quiet voice,
"Well it can be fought off but…the it requires a…a strong emotion to counter it" she finished, Harry gulped he was entering dangerous territory but he asked anyway,
"So that's why you kissed me?" he asked, she turned away,
"Harry please I…" she said in a low voice but Harry cut her off,
"Hermione please tell me" he pleaded, she sunk her head low,
"It was the only plan I had but I hoped you might have feelings for me so when I kissed you I was trying to get you to start fighting the potion…I didn't know you hurt yourself however, if I had known I wouldn't have done it" she said neither said anything again for several moments before Hermione spoke up,
"Harry do you really have any of those feelings for me?" she asked, Harry gulped it was now or never,
"Yes, I…I…I like you Hermione…I have for a long time" he confessed, Hermione felt her heart beat faster the boy she loved felt the same but she wanted more information,
"Since when?" she asked, again, Harry felt like he was already digging his own grave decided to answer truthfully,
"The Yule ball…I started to crush on you after that night…then it never left me…I…I know you don't feel the same but…" she cut him off,
"What makes you think I don't?" she asked; Harry locked eyes with her,
"What?" he asked not daring to believe his ears,
"I like you too Harry, I have since third year…I was always just so scared that you didn't like me that way and I thought if I said anything it would ruin our friendship" she replied, to her utter shock Harry started sniggering,
"What's so funny?" she asked not seeing the funny side of the conversation, Harry broke out laughing,
"Hermione it's just…I'm sorry…but we are both a pair of morons" He eventually calmed down and sat up right,
"Hermione even if I didn't have those feeling for you, nothing and I mean nothing will ever come in-between our friendship, your best friend in the whole world and nothing will change that, Secondly I was laughing because that's the exact same reason I never told you or asked you out, I was worried that you would get uncomfortable around me" he said,
The two sat in silence again for another minute or so,
"So what happens now?" Hermione asked, Harry took her hand and caressed it,
"Well now I know I haven't anything to be afraid of…Well I guess this is a terrible way to ask but…Hermione Granger would you do me the utmost honour of being my girlfriend?" he asked, Hermione jumped into his arms,
"Of course you great prat" she said into his shoulder, she broke the hug,
"Should we make it official?" she asked, Harry grinned,
"But of course, we have no other choice, they both leaned in and let there lips meet, the sensation was ecstatic for both of them, suddenly Hermione started giggling, and the two broke apart,
"You know it doesn't do to well for a guy's ego if his girlfriend starts laughing just after you kissed her" he joked, she gave him an apologetic smile,
"Sorry it's just…you have to love the irony in this" she said,
"How do you mean?" Harry asked confused,
"Well if it hadn't have been for Ginny none of this would be happening" she explained, Harry started chuckling,
"Well when we finally tell them we know be sure to make I thank her" he replied before leaning into to her lips again.
Ooo~ooO
Two down and still a few more to go…
