A/N 1) –Thank you all for your continued support, and thanks to my Beta CaskettFan5, who is making me a better writer, check-out his story Harry Potter and the Unexpected Friend it's a great read.
A/N 2) – To help with ease of reading most thoughts are in 'Italics', I hope that this helps differentiate talking and thinking.
A/N 3) – Recommended Reading, Dorothea Greengrass is a relatively new writer who has three Haphne stories on the go my favourite being "Marry You", but that said they are all definitely worth taking the time to read, so do yourself a favour and spend some time with her stories, I loved her latest update of "Trapped in a Broom-Closet," and I will be eagerly reading her latest offering from "Marry You" that she has just released.
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns it all; I am just playing in her sandbox and just maybe I am getting better at it, tragically I don't own anything of it except maybe Daphne, but then she probably owns me.
The sky was darkening as they continued their walk around the grounds; she gave a small shiver as a cool breeze danced around them, she leaned into his side before she realised what she was doing seeking his warmth. It had been three days since Daphne's break down, and everything felt like it was in a holding pattern whilst they all waited for the reply to Granger's letter from Minister elect Shacklebolt, the repairs to the school, which they helped with day to day, continued gaining momentum, with more and more people coming to help with the rebuild, potentially this number included Draco Malfoy, although she hadn't yet been able to confirm this yet, having only caught a glimpse of someone who could have been him this morning.
'Should we head back or would you like a warming charm?' he asked as he pulled her closer to his side, his hand snaking around her waist adding instant warmth to the area a smile dancing on his lips.
Giving her head a little shake to clear it, she glanced up at her companion, 'Maybe it's time we head back in; it must be getting towards dinner time so maybe we should call it a day,' she hummed, revelling in the fact that he was now used to her company that he would subconsciously make sure that her needs were looked after. 'Do you want to eat in the Hall or somewhere else maybe with my sister and her beau?'
'We could double date I guess,' his smile was cheeky, a part of his personality that was coming more and more to the fore as she spent time with him. 'Do you know where they are or are we going to have to go looking for them?'
'Oh no, I know where they are,' she smiled into his side.
'Of course you do, you seem to know where everyone is going to be,' his voice jovial.
She elbowed him gently in the ribs causing him to jerk away slightly, giving her a put upon look. 'You, my dear, are getting entirely too cheeky, I think I liked you more when you were a stammering mess around me,' she gave him a wink, 'they are just over there by the way,' she said pointing to the large rock near the lake.
He turned his head to look where she was pointing.
In the encroaching darkness she could still see the silhouette of two people sitting closely together, her sister's head resting on his shoulder and his head leaning on the top of hers as they watched the early summer sun set over the black lake.
Changing their direction of travel they wandered over, in no real hurry just enjoying each other's company and the last warmth of the day as the sun touched the horizon, taking their time to move the several hundred metres that separated them from the other couple.
A sudden pop alerted her to the fact that a witch or wizard had apparated into the area near them, in the dying light she could see a figure had appeared perhaps twenty metres behind the other couple. Dressed in black with their wand out the figure looked around as if taking their bearings before honing in on the couple seated by the lake's shore. A flash of silver was all that she needed to understand, 'Death Eater,' she gasped.
The figure turned its head to look at them obviously hearing her voice in the silence of the early evening before turning its attention back to the other couple who were still it seemed, unaware of the individual behind them.
She froze, hand gripping her companions arm tightly as the figure raised their wand, her mind would not process what to do next, in her panic she knew she had to warn them but could not seem to make a decision on how to go about it. Her companion's voice boomed out into the night sky, 'Harry move,' before he disengaged himself from her arm and took off running towards the other couple with a hasty, 'get your wand out, and stay behind me,' cried over his shoulder.
- AFW -
Neville felt himself move to a sprint watching in horror as the tell-tale green spell shot from the Death Eater's wand. He was still more than two hundred metres from the action knowing that he was unlikely to hit anything but feeling helpless he fired a couple of over powered blasting curses in the general direction of the assailant hoping that they would hit somewhere close and distract them.
He watched as Harry reacted to his called warning, pulling Daphne across his body and rolling them to his right, the spell fizzled through the space that the couple had occupied only moments before. His first spell crashed into the ground a good five metres in front of the assailant throwing up a geyser of dirt, causing the assailant to curse and turn his attention to Neville for a spilt second.
Neville saw Harry had used the time that their attacker was distracted to his advantage, transfiguring an earthen wall between their attacker and themselves before he pushed Daphne down behind it and went on the offensive.
Neville kept running, his breath coming into his lungs thick and fast, and still he fired blasting curses trying to give Harry all the help that he could from a distance. Harry was all action dancing and weaving his body around the attacker's spells all the while his wand was spitting spells, red, blue, orange and yellow light sped towards the assailant making them attempt to mimic Harry's movement with far less success, meaning that the assailant had to rely on heavy shields more often whilst trying to avoid the spells Harry sent their way pushing the Death Eater further away from Daphne.
'I have no quarrel with you boy, give me the girl and you can walk away,' came the snarling voice of the attacker, 'she means nothing to you.'
'Over my dead body,' came Harry's terse rejoinder, 'you want her… then come and get her,' his wand still spitting spells at an incredible rate, more than holding his own against the attacker.
Neville had closed to within eighty metre's when he heard a howl of pain; the attacker clutched quickly at his left arm, the black garb was smouldering, red flesh visible through the torn sleeve the result of a chain of spells from Harry, the second to last which had obliterated the shield allowing the last spell to crash through to the Death Eater.
'You'll pay for that you son of a mudblood,' screamed the attacker before shouting 'Bombarda Maxima, wand pointed at the transfigured earthen barrier that Daphne peeked over, eyes widening as she saw the spell directed at her.
Neville slowed to a halt now only thirty metres from the action trying to bring a shield to bear in front of Daphne but knowing he was unlikely to get the alignment right. He watched as the spell tracked towards Daphne bypassing his own shield which he then let fall. Time seemed to stretch out, before Harry skidded to a halt in front of the barrier a golden shield shooting from the end of his wand meeting the incoming spell with a gigantic clang, as though a large gong had been struck reflecting the spell back towards the attacker.
That seemed to snap the Death Eater out of his superior attitude as spells started flying out of their wand although not as fast as what was coming back from Harry's wand pushing the Death Eater back and more on the defensive. He saw a plume of dirt cover Harry as one of the Death Eaters blasting curses fell short, obscuring him from Neville's view, and he winced as he heard a grunt of pain after two blue cutting spells blew through the dust and debris towards where his friend had been standing. Neville heard Harry growl low in his throat, before spells erupted from the now settling dust moving rapidly in the opposite direction.
The assailant dodged poorly, stumbled sideways as another of Harry's spells tagged them on the thigh, but they kept moving trying to shift out of the way of the barrage that Harry was now sending their way, snarling in frustration as two more of Harry's spells clipped their damaged left arm. Obviously knowing a lost cause the Death Eater snapped off another two cutting curses, one at Harry which he batted away and one at Neville. Not knowing where Astoria was behind him he brought another shield up and allowed the spell to impact it, before watching as the Death Eater, pivoted hastily and disapparated away. He lowered his wand slightly still holding his shield, waiting to see if the attacker would appear somewhere else, hearing Astoria jog up behind him.
'Are you okay, he didn't get you anywhere did he?' her voice was pitchy and slightly frantic as she fussed over him, her eyes roving over his body as she assured herself he was okay.
He allowed himself a wry smile, dropping his shield before lowering his wand completely, 'it was nice having someone worry about you', before he gathered her in his arms holding her tight to his chest, 'I am fine, he only shot the one spell my way and I took it on my shield,' he kissed the top of her head, and she relaxed slightly.
'Are you guys okay,' Harry's voice cut through the gloom.
'Fine mate and you?' he called back over top of Tori's head.
'Yeah, no worries I'm fine Daphne's a bit shook up though…,' Harry's voice carried back to them.
'He is not fine and he's bleeding again, his left arm is cut in two places,' Daphne's voice cut him off, 'stupid idiot, give me your wand, before you bleed to death.'
Neville heard Harry's chuckle, 'Yes dear,' before a hiss of pain and an exclamation of 'God damn it woman, I know you can do it gentler than that.'
Neville heard himself and Tori chuckle, before they separated and started walking towards the other couple hand in hand, closing the remaining gap in a few seconds. Tori sprang from his grasp before colliding with her sister and hugging her tightly, 'are you okay, oh Daph, I was so scared for you with no wand or anything to defend yourself with.' Tori ran her hands over Daphne turning her this way and that, taking full stock of her sister's wellbeing before Daphne slapped her hands away lightly.
'I'm fine Tori, Harry protected me very well,' she gave a small smirk, 'well except for throwing me on my arse.'
Harry chuckled and ran his hand through his hair, 'yeah sorry about that, I might have been a tad overzealous pushing you behind that barrier… is it alright? Does it need a rub?' he bounced his eyebrows. Tori had been the first to notice that since their confidential talk three days ago that Harry and to some extent Daphne had started flirting, trying to make each other blush as Daphne did now whilst she slapped him on the arm with a falsetto cry of 'Harry!'
Tori giggled whilst he just shook his head trying not to laugh at the antics of the other couple, sighing, he brought them back to the issue at hand, 'I guess we need to go and report this latest incident, the Aurors need to be aware of what is happening here.'
Harry switched his attention away from the blushing blonde girl, and nodded towards him, as he absently fixed the sleeve of his shirt, 'Yeah mate we better, funny thing though, whoever this was is after Daphne, we need to get her wand situation sorted as soon as we can because right now she is vulnerable without one.'
Daphne hooked her arm around Harry and leaned into his side, 'I'll get mum to see how Slyvera is getting on with her investigations, hopefully she will have some news either way,' Neville watched as invariably Daphne's face fell as she finished the sentence, it seemed that she had all but resigned herself to losing her wand and having to go and be fitted for a new one.'
Harry pulled her closer to him, wrapping his arms around her so that her back was to his chest, before kissing the top of her head and whispering something in her ear that Neville couldn't hear, whatever it was it made her smile fractionally, although it never totally reached her eyes.
'So when did that start happening?' Tori asked in a sweet tone of voice, which instantly set Neville on edge. It was a voice he had become all too familiar with, it was the one Tori used when she wanted to make a usually cutting observation about something that no-one else had seen.
'When did what start happening,' asked Harry in false innocence, Daphne rolling her eyes as she gave herself a gentle face palm.
Tori's smile widened, 'Oh I don't know Harry, how about the fact that you just gave my sister a kiss on the head and she didn't even slap you… I know for a fact that the last person I saw attempt that ended up with a knee to the attached family jewels and left him talking like a soprano for the next week.'
He felt himself wince, but Tori just gave him a short smile before refocusing her attention on the other couple, Daphne had a rueful smile on her face whilst Harry was trying to formulate a response to Tori's accusation. 'Oh come on Harry, you can't just kiss my sister however innocently and expect me not to notice.'
'Enough Tori, leave the poor boy alone, he's not used to having to think on his feet when his tongue leads him into a dead end,' grumped Daphne, 'and no I'm not elaborating either, you're just going to have to wait until we are ready to talk about it.'
'Oh so there is a "we" now is there… very interesting, anything else you want to inadvertently disclose dear sister, or shall I find out on my own?'
Daphne cursed under her breath, obviously upset at her own slip of the tongue. 'Just leave it alone, please Tori… for me.'
Astoria watched Daphne with intense eyes, but giving a curt nod, 'for you Daphne.'
Thank y…' started Daphne reaching for Tori's hand with one of hers.
'But I expect to be the first in the loop when you are both ready to inform people what's going on.'
Daphne sighed but gave a resigned nod, stepping back into Harry's arms.
Neville watched as Harry gave Daphne another hug, giving her the same comfort that Tori sought from him. After a few moments of staring at the couple and a raised eyebrow from Daphne, Neville blushed slightly before finding his voice, 'so Harry, just out of curiosity…' Neville asked, 'was that a Vorso shield?'
- AFW -
They had just arrived in the entrance hall, when Weasley came puffing up to them, ending up with his hands on his knees as he wheezed, 'finally I've been looking… for you everywhere… leave the snakes and Neville… and come with me… Hermione has an answer back from Shack.'
She watched as Harry's face went from happy to concerned, 'Ron, you do realise that they were all there when we talked about this originally with Hermione, right?'
Weasley scowled slightly before grunting, 'fine whatever, just come on,' and then he fired off a silver spell from his wand that shot off towards the school.
Harry grabbed her hand and tugged her along following Weasley, they had moved a dozen steps before he turned towards Tori and Neville, 'well come on then.'
They moved through the school and she noticed the changes that had been occurring over the past few days, the piles of rubble were considerably smaller, windows had been repaired, walls were mostly re-erected and ceilings had been patched, thanks to the house elves who were doing a wonderful job of fixing all the hard to reach places and generally being here there and everywhere, the school she remembered was rising from the metaphorical ashes.
They followed Weasley through the hallways up the grand staircase to the third floor and moved once more toward the library. Like the rest of the school the repairs to the library were well under way, shelves had been repaired but had not yet been placed into position, books were stacked in large piles forming small replicas of muggle cities with their tall buildings. Many had been pulled from the rubble and cleaned although most still required repairs before they could be placed back on shelves.
The connecting stair case was still lying on the floor and sections of the roof and fourth floor still required significant repairs. Granger was sitting at the same table where they held the original discussion, chewing a finger nail. Her complexion was pallid and her hair looked brittle and tangled, she heard Harry sigh as he observed his friend.
'Hermione, what did I tell you about looking after yourself, when was the last time you had eight hours sleep?'
Granger turned her head slowly towards Harry as though waking from a dream, 'ummm I think…' she tailed off and look puzzled as though trying to recall a memory that would not come to her.
'For Merlins sake Hermione,' Harry's tone left no uncertainty as to how concerned he was for his friend, 'you have to look after yourself, if you don't come and see Madam Pomfrey tonight for a dreamless sleep potion, I am going to come and find you and make you drink it.'
She bowed her head, cheeks flushing and mumbled back, 'okay Harry.'
'Good,' he said taking a seat near her and reaching out to clasp her hand, 'now what did Shack say?'
Daphne felt her eyes narrow as Granger looked at Harry with a startled expression, her eyes darting from his hand holding hers and back to his eyes, and then to Daphne, before she cleared her throat and extracted her hand to hold the letter in front of her, 'well I don't know I haven't opened it yet, I thought we would wait until we were all together before reading it.'
Harry chuckled and leaned back on his chair, giving the same gentle tug to bring her closer to him and she leant her head down onto his shoulder, Tori caught her eye from across the table giving her a knowing smirk and Daphne rolled her eyes back her. For the past three days whenever he had the chance Harry pulled Daphne close, as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders and he felt that she was the reason for it, so he wanted to keep her close to him.
His emotions that trailed through the bond had also changed subtly, there was an identifiable warmth that Daphne wasn't sure how to interpret, leaving her unsure of what to make of the change and giving her conflicted feelings that she felt so at ease and comfortable when he pulled her near.
He never forced her to move closer to him, far from it in fact, it was always just a gentle tug, leaving her to decide on whether to transition closer to him or not. Invariably she found herself gravitating towards him, it was never a conscious effort, in fact it was usually only after the fact that she noticed that she was once again leaning into his side or sitting with her head on his shoulder.
Harry's voice disturbed her musings, 'well let's hear it then, would you like to do the honours Hermione?'
Granger squeaked, 'Sssure Harry, bear with me a moment,' and she took her wand expertly slitting the top of the envelope.
Two pieces of parchment were enclosed and Granger with shaking hands opened them, before rotating them to orientate the letter, quickly scanning the letter, her face paling slightly, before she started reading aloud.
Dear Hermione,
I thank you for getting in touch with me regarding the letters that yourself, Mr Weasley and Mr Longbottom have received, as I had previously discussed with him Mr Potter is also due a letter however the mail owl apparently just returns it to Silvia Harthstowe so she is planning to arrange for it to be hand delivered sometime in the future. Before I get into answering your questions, I want to take this time to formally thank you on behalf of the citizens of Magical Britain, without your dedication, bravery and persistence we the members of this law-abiding society would still be under the yoke of oppression, to paraphrase a famous Muggle Prime Minister, "never have so many owed so much to so few."
I hope that you are all recovering from your ordeals, you have all suffered much over the past year and I would ask you to ensure that you seek help to deal with any lingering effects from the war, the Ministry that I will soon take control of will be looking to develop programs to help the survivors deal with the mental and physical consequences of being involved in the defence of our world.
Addressing the questions that you asked, it is with much consternation that I write this response to you, I have been unable at this time to determine why you have been summoned in that manner, it would appear that somebody is again pulling the strings of the Wizengamot. Unfortunately until I am officially installed in office I am not in a position to ask via official channels or start any further investigations. My private enquiries are meeting with push back and I fear that until the state of emergency has been officially ended, this will remain the status quo.
As it stands the Ministry is still operating under executive power and until I am sworn in we are in a state of complete disarray as no one is currently capable under our laws of issuing commands given the removal of all current leadership. It is my understanding that my investiture will occur within the next seven to ten days and thus I should be able to provide more substantive answers on that date which in turn should provide ample time to determine why such a summons was sent.
With regards to why Harry is still not receiving his mail, again at this stage I am unable to provide insight, what I have been able to glean from old contacts is that the Wizengamot enacted mail redirection wards on the Potter Seat as part of the protections implemented after his parent's deaths. They initiated these protections sometime around the fifth of November after they had invested him into his Lordship in absentia and bestowed a limited form of Magical Guardianship to Professor Dumbledore in lieu of no better or more suitable options at the time. Where those letters are being housed at this stage I am unable to determine due to the secrecy provisions place on the wards at the time. My suspicions are that the mail will be housed somewhere within either DMLE or the DOM, of these two my inclination is that the latter houses them as I was never aware of anything like this type of repository during my time in the DMLE.
Finally your letter indicates that Harry also has a summons from the Goblin Nation regarding the drama that happened during the insurgency. I had forgotten about this from my original conversation with Harry in the infirmary. I understand the reasoning behind why you all took the actions that you did to help end the war, but it has placed you all as individuals at odds with the Goblin Nation. To that end and in your stead, I have entered into discussions on behalf of the Ministry with Gringotts to determine appropriate compensation for the damage incurred to both the physical assets and the reputation of Gringotts.
The Nation have intimated that they are willing to negotiate with us and I have the feeling that this will be a long and drawn out process, but as a sign of good faith the goblins would like to meet with him with regards to the events of that day as they recognise him as the leader of the resistance. It appears that at this stage the nation do not hold yourself or Mr Weasley at fault for the break in and theft, instead focusing their attention on Harry, what this means for the two of you I do not know but please do not antagonise them further.
I would urge Harry to take caution when dealing with the Nation but also implore him to be open and frank in his dealings with them and would suggest that he not take legal representation as that would indicate to the goblins that he has something to hide. The last piece of advice that I would give is for him to be prepared to bargain on some level with the goblins, they are a proud nation and I believe that they would be at least looking for some form of restitution from him as a symbol of his atonement for the wrongs committed by him on behalf of the wizarding world.
I will continue my investigation and negotiations on behalf of you all and hope that I will have further information available to you all once I am sworn in as Minister.
Should you require any further information then please don't hesitate to get in touch and we can arrange a meeting to discuss these issues further
Regards
Minister Elect Shacklebolt
It had taken Hermione several attempts to finish the letter as various people had expressed their discontent or joy regarding differing passages especially Ron's expression of relief around the fact that only Harry seemed to be implicated in the theft, whilst Hermione had bristled at Ron's attitude but Harry waved them both off cutting into what he knew would be an argument by imploring them to be grateful and not to do something incendiary. He reasoned that if the shoe was on the other foot he would feel relieved too. Once she had finally read the last line nobody spoke for a few minutes as they took in the full contents of the letter.
'Well that doesn't sound… great,' muttered Ron. 'What the hell are we supposed to do now sit and wait?' he huffed further, 'well bollocks to that,' and with that last statement he pushed back on his chair and turned to leave the library.
Harry leant over to Daphne and spoke softly, 'I'll be back in a minute, don't let anyone go anywhere, I want to hear their and your opinions on this,' then he hurried to follow Ron out the door. 'Ron… Ron, wait up mate.'
Ron turned around a defeated look on his face, 'Hi mate.'
'Are you okay mate? You seem… out of sorts,' Harry reached out and patted his shoulder with his hand.
Ron gave a deep sigh and started fidgeting with the hem of his robe, looking back towards the library, before moving across to a bench in an alcove, 'not really mate, like I said last time we spoke it's all gone wrong hasn't it? I stuffed up my and Hermione's friendship, you and Neville have moved on with new girlfriends.'
'Daphne isn't my girlfriend mate, she's an advisor,' cut in Harry quickly.
Ron shook his head, 'You don't see it do you mate, trust me on this, she will be,' he leaned forward putting his head in his hands. 'I don't really care you know, that she is a snake, it will take some getting used to but if you are happy that's all that counts I guess… though couldn't you have chosen a Hufflepuff or a different Gryffindor girl?'
'She's not my girlfriend mate, I keep telling you this but you're not listening to me,' Harry said earnestly.
Ron pushed himself straight before giving Harry a half smile and a small chuckle, 'fair enough mate, I hear you loud and clear, you're deluded but aren't we all?' He paused slightly before launching into, 'Sometimes I just wish I could go back in time and take some of my actions back, you know what I mean?'
'Yeah I know mate… I know all too well,' Harry replied his thoughts drifting back to his first bad decision of the war, agreeing to take the cup with Cedric.
'I should never have kissed her, but I was kinda euphoric that we were alive and stuff… you know, and don't get me wrong mate, I think she is beautiful and smart and all that…' Ron paused for a moment.
'So what's the problem?' Harry asked after several uncomfortable moments' silence.
'Oh right, the problem… well I guess in theory there is no problem… but we argue all the time, and I know my parents do as well, which is fine I guess…' another pregnant pause, but Harry just waited knowing that Ron would get there eventually, '…but I don't want to argue with my girlfriend all the time. I want to enjoy the time when we are together not be worried that I'm going to say something stupid that will set off an argument, you know what I mean, Harry?'
Harry considered his friend before answering, knowing that the right response could help Ron through his current crisis, but the wrong comment could set his already frayed state of mind off, 'Yeah mate I do, I completely understand and I am sure that if you explained it to Hermione that she would understand too.'
Ron made to talk but Harry kept going, 'what I am trying to understand though is how you decided that it would be a good idea to talk about a future with Hermione where she would be a house wife with no say in her future.'
Ron went pink, a shade of pink that Harry had never seen on him before, 'she told you about that did she?' he squeaked.
Harry just nodded maintaining eye contact with the glowing pink boy, who eventually lowered his head and asked in a sheepish voice, 'I don't suppose you will let this drop for old times' sake will you?'
'Nope.'
'Bugger,' Ron said with a loud exhalation, 'I panicked,' he finally muttered.
'You what?' asked Harry not understanding.
'I panicked okay, I could see us, trying to make a go of a relationship, that neither of us had talked about and so I panicked, I didn't want her to be tied to me not when all I would do is drag her down… don't look at me like that Harry, you and I both know that I am not clever enough to keep Hermione stimulated intellectually and in the end she would resent me and we would both be unhappy, I may not be smart but I am not dumb either...'
'So I panicked, and blurted out the only things I could think of that would make sure that she wouldn't want anything to do with me and ruined seven years of friendship in the process.' By the time that Ron had finished a tear had escaped from the corner of his eye and slid down his cheek. 'I would rather see her happy and mad with me, than chained to me and unhappy, even if it means I am no longer part of her life,' Ron's head ended up back in his hands.
Harry was about to answer when he was cut off, 'You're an idiot Ronald Billius Weasley, an absolutely ridiculous idiot!' Hermione moved around the corner, 'it was a kiss you moron, it wasn't like you were proposing marriage… aaaarrrghhh,' she screamed in frustration.
Harry again went to offer his opinion, but once again was cut off, 'shut it Harry… God Ron, why didn't you just talk to me, am I that scary that you couldn't just tell me what you just told Harry, I have a brain I can understand your issues as they were all the same ones that flashed through mine.'
This time Ron went to speak, before he too was cut off, 'No this is my time to talk, you get to be quiet and listen, Hermione almost snarled, 'I have been agonising over what happened between us since that day, trying to understand how I could miss the signs that you thought like that, how I could be so blind or that you could hide those opinions from both me and Harry. I thought that maybe someone had been messing with my mind in the same way as Daphne, I haven't been able to turn my mind off the thought that maybe my memories were false and it's been driving me crazy that I did the same thing to my parents.'
She sucked in a breath, and almost visibly collapsed in on herself, 'I understand the why Ron, but what you did really hurt me…' she almost whispered, 'I will need some time but maybe at some stage, I will be able to forgive you,' and with that she turned and walked back towards the library, shoulders hunched, head down.
'I probably deserve more than that… I think,' Ron said morosely.
'Are you going to be okay mate?' Harry asked genuine concern in his voice.
'Yeah mate, I will, just do me a favour and look after her, she's got no-one, and she'll need you.'
'Of course mate, I will make sure she is looked after, what about you?
'I'll be okay, I have my family and…' he trailed off looking sheepish once more.
'Spill it mate, what's going on?'
Ron screwed his nose up before, giving a defeated sigh, '… fine, I have been keeping Lavender company, she's got no-one either and she is in a pretty bad way, her folks and rest of her family are still trying to get an international portkey back from Canada, where they fled to a couple of months after the fall of the Ministry. Her younger sisters have yet to start Hogwarts and Lavender urged them to go and get out, Parvati was here for the first couple of days but she has been called home to her folks place and has yet to return.'
'How is she,' Harry enquired earnestly hoping for some good news for a change.
'Banged up, she'll have some small permanent scars on her face but some rather large ones on her neck, her back was broken but Madam Pomfrey said something about the cord not being severed,' he said with a puzzled voice, 'or something like that I didn't really understand.' Shaking his head he continued, 'but all things considered they think she should fully recover but will be like a bit like Bill, that is she will show some lupine traits… she isn't coping too well with that but we are getting there,' he had a small smile on his face as he ended.
Harry crossed back over to his friend and placed his hand on his shoulder, 'then it's a good thing she has you looking out for her,' he smiled at Ron, 'and if you need anything for you or her, then come and find me, I'll do what I can to help.'
Ron nodded his thanks, 'will do mate.' He gazed back along the corridor, 'we both know that I am of no value to you in there,' he pointed to the library, 'so whatever you all decide is fine by me, just make sure you watch out for Hermione, I really didn't mean to hurt her and I am glad she knows now, even if it wasn't the way I wanted her to find out…' He gave another small frown, 'while we are at it I'm sorry about before, you know in the entrance hall… I'm just having trouble dealing with everything you know, and I am still struggling with the fact that you and Neville are voluntarily hanging out with snakes…' he gave a small chuckle, 'emotional range of a teaspoon and all that you know,' he gave another sheepish smile.
Harry gave a small chuckle and nod, 'it's fine mate, it's all going to be fine we just need to work at it and be honest with each other… and at some point you are going to have to apologise to her though.'
Ron smiled thoughtfully as he rose up and moved down the corridor before turning, 'I'll be seeing you Harry and thanks,' he said as he sketched a quick wave before disappearing down the corridor.
- AFW -
Daphne watched as first Granger then Harry came back, neither looked totally happy and she wondered what had happened out in the corridor, when Harry again took her hand in his she felt his emotions boiling around. It took her quite a few minutes before she could narrow down what he was feeling, mostly it seemed that his feelings of concern peaked when he watched Granger out of the corner of his eyes.
Finally she just squeezed his hand and turned her focus to the conversation around her, just as Harry turned to her and asked, 'so what do you think Daphne.'
'I am so sorry what are we talking about?' she asked a hint of embarrassment tinging her cheeks, 'I wasn't paying attention, I was distracted.'
Harry gave a small laugh, 'Astoria has some notions with regards to Shack's letter and we were wondering what you thoughts were regarding her ideas.'
'Oh right, sorry can you reiterate them Tori?' she felt embarrassed but managed to control her features.
Tori smirked at her but started ticking things off that she had obviously already talked about, 'firstly it's obvious that someone is blocking Shacklebolt's enquiries, who that is most likely someone from the old guard, by that I mean the ministry before the hostile takeover, I suspect either Scrimgeour's or more likely Fudge's. Who that is I don't know, we could ask our father to put his own feelers out and see what he comes up with, but the first person I would be having a look at would be someone around the acting chief witch.'
Daphne nodded but didn't interrupt knowing that Tori had more to add.
'I don't think that it is her as my understanding of Bresis Burke is that she is a competent, fair and capable witch, but it could be someone who has managed to enter her staff, she was after all the deputy director responsible for the Department for Transport.'
Everyone remained quiet as Tori continued, Daphne felt quite proud that Tori was proving to be so knowledgeable and up to date, she continued to focus on her sisters voice not wanting to miss this information twice, but she was coming to understand 'that due to her convalescence she was woefully out of touch.'
'with regards to Harry's mail, I think that is the least of our concerns, Minister Shacklebolt is on it and once he is installed into office he will deal with it and we can look at the solution, alternatively Harry could talk to Professor Dumbledore's portrait again as I suspect he would know precisely what happened.'
Harry gave Tori a nod, and she looked around waiting for someone else to comment, yet again everyone waited for her to continue so she did, which was understandable given they had already heard this.
'What concerns me more is that although Minister Shacklebolt has opened negotiations on your behalf Harry, is that they,' she started listing off on her fingers.' A) That they consider you Harry the leader of the resistance, which makes me wonder if they are only paying lip service to Minister Shacklebolt. B) If they are only paying lip service then they will expect you to meet with them and negotiate directly and only with you, and will ignore any and all negotiations with the ministry. C) That they hold you solely responsible for the break in, is inconceivable from everything I know about the goblin nation, ordinarily any that transgress against the nation are held equally responsible. D) We need to talk about why you broke in so that we can start putting together some options to enter negotiations with.
Tori sat back against Neville indicating she had finished and Daphne spoke up, 'I agree with Tori on this Harry, I don't think we can help you, Granger and Weasley, unless you guys tell us why you broke into Gringotts.' She added emphatically, 'everything else she has just mentioned is stuff that we need to think about, but her last point means that the rest of us are making a potion without instructions.'
Harry and Granger exchanged a worried glance, 'that could be a problem, Shack basically asked us not disclose the reasons why we went AWOL for the last year, he said it should be considered a state and family secret.'
'AWOL?' asked Neville with a frown on his face.
'Absent without leave,' Granger informed them all, 'it's a muggle military term.'
Daphne frowned thinking hard, 'Okay… okay we can work with that, you and Neville are god brothers right?' Daphne asked knowing the answer already but wanting to present her idea in full, knowing that it would be considered stretching some of the laws of magic but again it was all about intent. Receiving the confirming nods from both, 'so basically Harry you are considered family, so you can tell Neville without breaking your word… you do consider each other brothers right?'
The boys looked at each other before nodding and saying together, 'of course.'
Daphne sighed an internal breath of relief, 'part one a tick,' she thought, 'okay now, I am considered part of your family at the moment but that probably won't cut it, but if you declared it a family secret you could bind the secret to your magic so I wouldn't be able to talk about it to anyone without your permission.'
'The issue will be around Astoria, unless Neville considers them formally courting, if he does then he can take his intended into his confidence and seal the same secret to his family in the same way Harry will or I can seal it to House Greengrass as heiress, but I will need our father's permission to do so, and he will most likely want to know what it is we are doing. Having said that, bringing him in as an allied house, which is exactly what House Greengrass is to both you now, may also be of great benefit to us with regards to this conversation, he is after all a member of the Mot and an experienced Politian even if it wasn't his first choice of career.'
All eyes turned to Neville, and the boy blanched at the sudden attention, when Harry asked 'what are the consequences of Neville binding the secret to Tori via family magic?
Tori looked at Daphne, and she gave her a subtle nod before Tori answered, 'it would mean that we would have to formalise our… relationship somewhat.'
Harry's eyes narrowed looking from Tori to Neville to her and back to Tori, 'formalise how?' he asked with a tight voice.
It was Neville who answered with a squeaky voice, 'wwwe would have to become betrothed, and a contract would need to be drawn up and signed,' he flushed red and looked away from Tori.
'That's not an option,' Harry snapped, before holding his hand up to ward off any dissention, 'you two have been… "dating" for want of a better word for less than a week, so it isn't an option and I will not allow you to do this on my behalf,' he glared at them all waiting for someone to say something in opposition. When no one looked to oppose him he turned to Granger, 'please write back to Shack and tell him I am going to bring my allied houses into this secret, and if he has any issue with that he needs to come and see me within the next two days,' his voice cold.
Granger nodded and gave a small, 'Okay Harry.'
Harry then turned his attention to the rest of the table, visibly trying to calm himself, 'Neville, Tori I will not put you in a position where you need to be forced into something when you are trying to aid me, so either we go down this other path or we come up with another idea.' He waited for them to nod their ascent, 'Okay Daphne once we have heard back from Shack either way how do we make this a family secret?
Tori pulled her small Athame from the holster in the top of her boot, 'you'll need one of these to start with' she chuckled before deferring further conversation with a mocking wave. After giving her a small glare Daphne continued.
'It's very old magic Harry, blood magic actually, from the earliest times of the Roman Empire, perhaps even before that even,' Daphne was surprised that for once Granger did not go off her head about how blood magic is barbaric blah, blah, blah. 'For one not of your blood you will have to cut the tips of the three middle fingers on your left hand and dip your wand tip in your blood before holding your wand to the temple of the inductee and placing the tips of the fingers over their heart. There is no wand movement only the following incantation.''Occultatum tua voluntatis, huic familiae non vovere, quam isti quidem magica et sanguis'
Harry muttered the incantation under his breath a couple of times; obviously making sure that he had the pronunciation down before looking back to me, 'what does it mean?'.
Daphne shrugged, 'roughly translated, it means, hidden by your will, to this family a vow, bound by magic and blood.'
'Okay once we hear back from Shack we will commence with these rituals, how would I bring your father into this, is it via the same ritual?' Harry asked.
Astoria beat Daphne to the explanation, 'similar Harry, the words are similar and instead of you placing your fingers over my father's heart you will both cut your fingers and clasp hands so that your blood mingles, your hand on top palm facing down and his on the bottom palm facing up with both your fingers bent in a sort of fist so that your bleeding tips are touching.'
'What is the incantation, what does it mean and what is the wand position or movement?'
Tori continued, 'Commendo autem aciem isto, et tenuit per sanguinem magicae, per quod occultatum pactum, it means approximately, To your line I entrust this secret, held by blood and magic, hidden by this covenant. There isn't really a wand movement, your wand starts at six o'clock pointing up to my father's hand and is rotated to three o'clock for the second line and twelve o'clock for the last line.'
Harry was nodding, 'okay no worries, so then once we have an answer from Shack we will approach your father, but even if Shack has reservations I am beginning to think that I should bring both house Greengrass and Bones into this given that I still need to honour my family's commitment to the House of Bones.'
'Surely you can't be thinking of ignoring Kingsley's request that this remain a secret Harry,' Granger was aghast.
'Hermione… I am tired… tired of people making decisions for me… Dumbledore made every decision for me; he guided me along his predetermined path right up to his death… even after his death, if you think about it…' Harry addressed them all with hollow tone.
'But Harry, he was doing what he thought best…' Hermione started a hint of disbelief in her voice.
Daphne waited with bated breath, with Harry's hand in hers, she could feel his resolve, he had made a decision and nothing that any of them could say would change his mind.
'So does that mean I cannot make my own decisions Hermione, I am of age, I will soon take up my family's mantle and be the Lord Potter, don't you think it's about time that I start making my own decisions? I believe it's about time that I started forging my own path.' - AFW -
Harry brooded silently as the conversation continued to wash around him, it had been nearly half an hour as far as he could tell since he had made his proclamation regarding his decision to bring his allied Houses into the secret of the war. 'Enough, I have made my decision, it is mine to make, you do not have to agree, but I will not be changing my mind…' he looked around the table once more as he waited for some more dissention to come his way. 'Good, okay the other thing that we need to determine is appoint a solicitor for our appearance in front of the Wizengamot.'
'Daphne, you said that you could come up with a list of good solicitors, given what we know from Shack's letter do you have any recommendations for who we should seek out?'
Daphne's face was a picture of concentration, 'I have talked to my father about this to see who was still around and practising, but the decision on who to choose… well that really depends on the type of statement that you are trying to make, but the first thing you should probably look at is finding out if there was a law firm that your family used, is there anyone that you can think of that you could approach that may know?'
It took Harry a few minutes to answer, during that time his fingers drummed on the table, 'to be honest anyone that I can think of from my parent's generation either didn't know my folks or has since passed away. The only person that I am aware of and unsure about regarding their knowledge of my parents is Andromeda Tonks, grandmother to my godson.' He frowned before continuing, I have only met her the one time briefly but she may know something.'
Daphne again considered his response, 'I think we should go and chat with her as soon as we can and see what she knows, now with regards to a statement, are you looking to be forceful, play a wait and see strategy or somewhere in between?'
Harry looked at Hermione, the unasked question lay between them before Hermione answered speaking directly to Harry, 'I think the somewhere in between we don't want to be on the front foot until we recognise what it is they are playing at but we don't want to be on the defence the entire time either, we have done nothing wrong.'
'In that case, I would be looking to one of your old Quidditch buddies father's firm, Gudgen, Hobday, Acton & Bell,' Daphne started after a few further moments of contemplation, 'Alexander Bell is possibly the best jurisdictional solicitor in Magical Brittan, the Law Firm that he is a partner in have been practicing for more than a century. Bell was made a partner in the firm, two years prior to your birth Harry at age thirty, giving you some idea of the ability of the man,' Daphne paused, 'having said that, his reputation within the… shall we say pureblood circles took a hit after he married a half blood migrant witch from Finland, but his reputation in a court room is still second to none.'
Harry gave Daphne a quizzical look, 'so who would be the best bet for a purely defensive strategy?'
Daphne gave a small smirk, 'I am sure that Tori and Neville would agree with me here, if you want to go defensive, then for pure doggedness and defensive tactics, you would want Jerome Cranick of Pentridge, Dormer and Carrington, most likely you would never see the inside of a court room at all and if you did then he would have the case so bogged down in legal proceedings that it would take many, many months or even many years for it to be heard.'
Both Tori and Neville nodded, before Neville spoke, 'my Gran used to complain about him all the time with regards to his successful delaying tactics that he used often when he was engaged to defend civil clients who had been called by the Mot. I remember she once said that he had an older client who was charged with something that I can't recall who died before he made it on to the witness stand.'
'But to be honest Harry, you don't want to go down that path, it would look like you are trying to hide something,' Neville continued. 'Alexander Bell is probably the man I would have recommended for you anyway, without the consideration as to why,' he said with a sheepish grin as Tori patted his cheek.
'Anyone else we should be considering?' Harry enquired looking around the table as he did so.
'The only other possibility I can think of and I am not even sure if he is still practising is Magnus Thwaite, an independent solicitor but a man who was old when my father graduated from Hogwarts,' Astoria reasoned quietly, but I concur with my sister and Neville, Bell is the man you need to engage.'
'Anyone else?' Harry asked again, this time silence greeted his question, 'Okay then, umm Hermione do you mind doing the honours again?' Harry had a sheepish expression on his face.
Hermione only smiled and nodded.
'Harry will have to start paying you if you keep acting like his personal secretary,' Astoria added with a rascally smile.
Hermione was about to answer when Harry cut across her, 'actually Tori, that is not a bad idea,' he turned toward Daphne. 'If I had a personal secretary, could I get all my correspondence redirected through that person?'
Daphne pondered the idea for a moment, 'it wasn't the usual practice for anyone in the Magical world, but then most witches and wizards were paranoid about what happened to their mail, having said that most people actually received their mail and given that Harry wasn't it might be a suitable alternative option if they could disable the previous enchantments.'
No-one else had spoken whilst she pondered his request for some reason, 'it's a good idea in principle Harry, but there are some other things that you should also consider, there are still Death Eaters out there so who knows what is going to come in with your mail, if you did this you would need to put some protections in place for Granger.'
'Harry,' started Hermione, but Harry shushed her receiving a glare from Hermione that he didn't see.
'What types of protections are we talking about?' he asked Daphne.
'I would suggest that she place a mail redirection ward on herself to a room somewhere in the castle for the moment, and have your house elf detect if there are any suspect packages and separate them for the Aurors to deal with, we would also have to figure out if it is actually possible for you to register your desire for this to happen and how we would go about redirecting any other mail that is currently being redirected.'
She paused musing for a moment, 'I think we need to have that discussion with Professor Dumbledore's portrait sooner rather than later.'
Harry nodded, before Hermione interrupted whatever he was going to say some anger in her voice, 'Harry you do not have to pay me for helping you!'
Harry turned and considered Hermione for a moment, 'you're right Hermione, I don't have to pay you for helping me, but what I have been asking you to do is stuff I could do, but haven't had the time or more importantly the inclination to do it myself and therefore you aren't just helping me out you are performing tasks for me, which is the definition of a job.'
'I don't see it that way,' she glowered at him.
'I know and that is why you are my friend, and so as one friend to another you are going to allow me to pay you for your time in helping me sort out my life, whilst you remain my friend and help me live it,' Harry replied simply as though he expect that to end her arguments.
'That's just ridiculous Harry, why would I expect you to pay me for something I am happy to do,' she grumped folding her arms across her chest.
'Hermione, I am not talking about paying you for every little thing you do for me, just the things I that ask you to for me that are going through official channels.' He looked her in the eye and reached out to put his hand on her shoulder. 'I am not debating this with you, you will either accept as my friend that I am going to pay you for that service or I will find someone else to handle that aspect of my life, giving you back your free time, I will not abuse our friendship anymore, it means far too much to me for me to be able to adequately be able to express that in words.'
Hermione's expression went from angry to startled at the last part of Harry's statement, she studied his face before she heaved a large sigh, 'you know, I am not sure I am going to enjoy this new smart, assertive Harry, I think I liked the old one who didn't think things through much more,' she gave him a small mischievous smile.
'Strange,' was Harry's answering grin, 'I think I am going to like this new and more interesting me far more.'
- AFW –
Daphne waited for Harry to come back into her ward room so that they could prepare for the evening, Madam Pomfrey had been in to examine her and declared that she would soon be able to leave the ward only having to return every two or three days to have ongoing examinations to ensure that her rehabilitation continued on track. Poppy had also informed her that her mother and Healer Twycross would be returning tomorrow to discuss where their investigation had led them.
She sat there propped up in bed, worrying at the hem of one of the hospital blankets, Harry had said that he wanted to discuss the succour agreement in further detail as there were still things that he didn't understand, but before that he needed to speak to Madam Pomfrey about a couple of things and had headed off to find her. She wasn't sure why this statement had her stomach doing flips; there was something with regards to the way that he had looked at her before he went in search of the school's healer.
She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't hear him come back into her room; in fact she didn't sense his presence until he sat on the side of her bed taking her hand in his startling her back to reality with a jerk.
'I am sorry, I didn't mean to startle you Daphne, are you okay?' he asked her.
'Fine… just…' she screwed her nose up before heaving a sigh, 'no, I'm not fine but I am okay, just anxious about things, you know.'
'Yeah, I know,' he stroked the back of her hand in small circles with his thumb; 'before we go to bed I need your help.'
'Before we go to bed,' a small statement with so many meanings, it seemed that it didn't matter what they did Harry would somehow end up in Daphne's bed come morning, and that they would wake in some sort of compromising position. Harry hands had yet to end up down the front of her shorts but she was sure that it was inevitable that at some point this would happen. Much to her own mortification her hand ended up in Harry's shorts every morning, it mattered not how they were laying.
But each time he simply helped her extract her hand when he became aware of it and held her until she relaxed; whispering to her that it was okay and that she had done nothing wrong. In contrast his hands either found her bum if she was sprawled across him or her left boob if they were spooning as he called it, always the left breast, so far never the right. Thankfully now no-one came in the mornings to wake them except her mother, even then it wasn't until the very reasonable hour of nine, but her mother said nothing just rousing Daphne if they were still sleeping with a knowing smile before leaving them to it.
She had resigned herself the idea that no matter what they did, she would for the foreseeable future be waking up alongside Magical Brittan's most eligible bachelor a problem she was fully cognizant that most witches would kill for. The previous evening Harry had all but offered to be stuck to his bed but Madam Pomfrey would not allow it, given the danger still posed by the Death Eaters who had so far evaded capture; he could not protect himself if he could not move. 'What do you need me to do?' she asked finally lifting her eyes away from watching their hands. She had resigned herself to her fate over the last day or so, not that it was so hard as the more contact she had with Harry, the more she felt like her old self, the fog was now very very slow that she could almost go an hour and a half before it started filtering down.
His face flushed slightly and he swallowed twice before attempting to speak, 'I… I need two favours, firstly I need you to come with me to bring Hermione down here so I can get Madam Pomfrey to check her out and secondly if as I expect she has to stay in the infirmary then she will need a bed and if I give her mine, I was hoping…' he trailed off.
Daphne's thoughts raced, 'you were hoping to cut out the whole pretence of going to your own bed, and just start the night in mine,' she asked in a slightly pitchy voice. 'I… well that is…' she rested back on her pillows looking to the ceiling, pulling her free hand down her face.
'It's fine if you are uncomfortable with Daphne, I just thought I would see how you felt, I am sure that Madam Pomfrey can find me something somewhere,' Harry's voice had a small dejected quality to it, 'it wasn't a fair thing for me to request of you,' his thumb stopped trailing its patterns over the back of her hand.
She looked sharply at him, she could feel his dejection through the bond, 'I didn't say no Harry, I was… oh this is so wrong… on so many levels…' she moaned. 'Doesn't this scare you? Doesn't it feel wrong to you that here we are, basically having known each other, I mean properly known each other for a grand total of less than a week and we are talking about going to sleep in the same bed together?'
'Yes,' he said simply, 'I am petrified some of the time Daphne, worried that I am losing my free will, terrified than I have taken away yours, concerned that I will wake up in the morning and have done something to you that I can't take back and that you will resent me for it,' he licked his lips as though they were dry. 'But I have all but given up trying to understand what is going on between us, it is confusing and yet exhilarating all at the same time…' he paused then looking at her closely as though trying to determine something. 'To be perfectly honest Daphne, I don't care anymore, I find myself going to sleep in one bed and waking in another, but I am sleeping, no more nightmares, no more interrupted sleep, waking up in your embrace every morning Daphne, is giving me more sleep than I have had since the end of fourth year, and I find comfort and some peace in that.'
She blinked at that statement, her brain miss firing, so instead of trying to answer him she changed the topic, 'let's go find Granger, then shall we,' she slid out of the bed and started dressing in his transfigured track suit again.
'You didn't answer the question.'
'This is me, answering your question moron,' she quirked a smile in his direction.
'Thank you,' he said quietly, the sincerity in his voice made Daphne pause in her preparations and she looked over at him.
'It's fine Harry, and yes you may sleep in my bed… but no funny business okay,' she gave a mischievous smile, before starting as he came over to her, pushing his sleeves up. She looked at his arms, she could see the long scar running the length of his left forearm and the puncture wound on his right. 'What are you doing,' she asked slightly confused as he stopped in front of her.
'Protecting you,' he answered simply again.
She watched as a standard holster appeared on his left wrist, he cocked his wrist back a wand grip was ejected so that it sat a several inches out of the holster allowing him to grip it. Using his right hand he pulled the wand from the holster before placing it in his pocket; he then unbuckled the holster which was no bigger than a large cuff, before taking her left arm and buckling it into position all the while his gaze never left hers.
She could feel on her arm the exact points where his fingertips touched her but she could not tear her eyes from his, she knew that she was standing in her ward room with track suit pants on and virtually nothing on her top but not once did his gaze drop. The intensity of his gaze made her skin feel hot and clammy.
He pressed something on the inside of his right wrist and a wand appeared in his right hand and he reversed his grip on it to hand over to her, placing it into her right hand, his hand closing her fist around the grip. She looked down recognising the wand instantly before starring back up at him; it was his Holly wand, she knew that from its description in the Daily Prophet, during the Tri-Wizard tournament, it was not the wand he had apparently used to defeat "He Who Must Not Be Named" according to Tracey, but she had seen him use it for his six years at Hogwarts. 'Harry I can't take your wand,' she said finally engaging her brain but before she could get any further he had cut her off.
'I have others at this time, all of them answer to me perfectly well, so yes you can, I have been thinking about this since the death eater attack, you need to be able to protect yourself and your magic seems to be compatible with my wand so it makes sense for you to use it.'
She shook her head formulating a new case to turn him down, but before she could he spoke again, 'I won't accept you saying no Daphne, it is my responsibility now to ensure your protection, you are part of my house, so you will take the wand Daphne and you will use it until we have sorted out yours,' and with that he positioned her hands so that the she could slide the wand into the holster.
She was still trying to formulate some sort of coherent thought but his emerald eyes were burning holes directly into her and she knew that no matter what argument she used he would not accept it. She felt him push her hands towards each other sheathing the wand which disappeared once she let it go and she then felt him push a rune stone on the top of the holster and let go of her hands as a pulse ran through her magic.
He smiled at her, 'do you know how this model works?'
She managed to drag her eyes from his before inspecting the holster, the leather was supple, black and well cared for, she traced her fingers over it the craftsmanship was high quality and she recognised the makers mark as that belonging to Olivander, at least twenty to thirty Galleons worth, 'yes I think so, my father has a similar one I believe.'
'Show me,' he requested quietly.
Daphne looked back up to him and gave him a small nod before fixing her eyes on the holster flexing her wrist on her left hand, nothing happened, she looked back up to him puzzled.
'Magic is about intent Daphne, you have to will the holster to release the wand, try again.'
Daphne scowled at the holster, she was so not letting an inanimate object make her look like a fool again, she flexed her wrist and this time the wand rocketed out of the holster only to be snatched out of the air by Harry, emphatically proving to her why he had been the youngest seeker in a century.
'Too much intent Daphne,' he chuckled handing back the wand, 'just relax and want three of four inches of the wand handle to appear,' he smirked at her, 'close your eyes if it helps.'
Daphne snatched the wand out of his hand and re-holstered it, glowering up at him, before she flexed her wrist again. This time the wand handle appeared and stayed in position, she smiled triumphantly at him, before re-sheathing the wand and practising a few more times. When she had finished getting the same results half a dozen times, she again let her fingers run over the smooth leather of the holster, her voice caught in her throat, 'thank you Harry, I feel more… safe already.'
His soft reply of 'you're very welcome Daphne,' came from very nearby, she had not realised that she was standing quite so close to him. 'You can also make it disappear from everyone else's sight, with your intent as well as it has a built in wizard notice me not, which is now attuned to your magic. Once you engage it if you want it to reappear you merely need to will it to do so, this will cut the magic powering the rune-stone, finiting the charm until you need it again,' he said quietly as he touched a finger to the second rune stone on the holster.
Daphne heard him but at the same time she didn't, 'his eyes have very small flecks of blue in them, I wonder why I never noticed them before' she thought as she gazed up at him chewing on her bottom lip. His eyelashes were long and thick, most girls would have killed for them, she could see the stubble on his cheeks and somehow knew that he hadn't shaved for at least a day, his lips looked pillow soft and inviting and she could see the pulse point throbbing on his neck and she wondered what it might be like to nibble on it.
All this she noticed in seconds and suddenly she found herself again contemplating his eyes, not a coherent thought in her mind, and then it happened as though gravity had exerted its force on them, their lips touched and she closed her eyes. He didn't claim her lips forcing his dominance on her, but neither was he timid instead it was a soft yet firm melding of their lips.
He sucked on her bottom lip kneading it gently between his own and she felt herself step into him, her arms coming up to encircle his neck as his own firmly pulled her body more tightly to his one hand snaking into her hair as the other gripped her lower back tightly.
She felt herself moan into his mouth as his hand in her hair gently tugged, pulling her head back and exposing her neck. She gave breathy little pants, as his lips danced across her throat, teeth nipping her skin gently and she felt herself squirm, heat pooling low in her belly not able to take it any longer she pulled on his hair forcing his lips to return to hers. She cupped his cheek marvelling at the roughness of his stubble under her hand, over and over their lips met, pulling, sucking and teasing each other.
Harry pulled her even harder against him, she could feel her breasts flatten against his chest, her nipples hard and sensitive pressing through her pyjamas top as they scraped across his shirt, she could feel his manhood rigid in his pants pressed hard against her pelvis and lower stomach, her hips stirred on their own trying to find friction against his as her pulse throbbed at the apex of her legs.
She had no idea how long they stayed in their embrace tasting and exploring each other's mouth, sometimes changing positions as they gasped for breathe between superheated kisses, hands roaming through each other's hair, necks faces and backs. She felt safe here in his arms, the world did not matter anymore, she felt safe, protected and wanted, it was only the sound of loud footsteps moving towards their ward room that made them pull apart, panting as they did so staring at each other, her right hand clasped in his left.
'Wow,' said Harry breaking the silence that had come over them, she heard the footsteps bypass the room and continue down the ward. 'I… don't, I am…'
Daphne cut across him, 'If you say that you are sorry for that kiss, I am going to kill you, transfigure your body into a fish and feed you to the giant squid,' she frowned at him.
Harry smirked at her, 'oh no, I am definitely not sorry for that kiss, that was… well I have no words,' his face morphed slowly into a frown, 'I just hope I didn't push you into something you didn't want to do, I know you have a lot to work through Daphne, I don't want to make it more complicated.'
She felt her own face frown a bit, before she straightened, her mind felt clearer than it had been since she woke up on that first day after the battle, 'Harry I was kissing you as well… if I didn't want to I would have stopped you, but thank you for bringing the mood down, I guess we should go and find Granger.'
Harry pulled her close again, hugging her and spoke into her hair, 'I did not mean to bring the mood down as you put it, but I wanted to make sure that I had not done something that would hinder your recovery,' and with that he captured her head in his hands and gave her another searing kiss before stepping back just as she started to return it. She pouted as he grabbed her tracksuit top, helping her into in it and sliding the zip up, all the while his eyes bored into her own, 'shall we?' he asked with a roguish grin that made her pulse throb once more.
- AFW –
Hermione fidgeted on her bed in Gryffindor tower, she had tried for the last hour to get comfortable but had thus far been unable to calm herself, and it looked like it was going to be another long night of very little sleep. She was resigned to the fact that she would not be able to rest properly until she had discovered what, if anything had happened to her parents. She didn't know that she had become so dependent on receiving the small updates from the goblins regarding where her parents were and that they were alive.
So many scenarios now ran though her mind nearly constantly, and she found herself grateful when Harry requested her help, as concentrating on his problems took her mind from her own… She beat her hand into her pillow fluffing it up once more. 'Now he wanted to pay her for her help she was not happy about that, she had always given her time freely to her first and best friend, so why was he trying to change the dynamic now?' she sighed again and rolled to her other side, 'it was closer to ten pm now and ordinarily she would be asleep, but to close her eyes was to invite the nightmares to start.'
She wasn't really surprised when they had first started, that first night after the escape from Malfoy manor, she had placed a silencing charm around her bed and had awoken no less than a half a dozen times screaming herself hoarse. They had been bad for that first few weeks slowly abating over time, but the small panic attacks had never really left her, the fact that every time she used her magic she had a reminder of Bellatrix in her hand did not help and sometimes biting her lip almost to the point of bleeding was all she could do to stop herself collapsing into a sobbing heap. She had wanted to so many times during those last dark days, but she knew that she needed to stay strong for all their sakes as neither Harry nor Ron would have been able to deal with a sobbing wreck that she would have been.
And so she had struggled along, coping the best that she knew how for her boys, so that they weren't burdened with her issues, slowly as the weeks had passed she had managed to suppress the nightmares and the worst effects of the many small panic attacks using the little Occlumency that she had managed to teach herself to suppress these feelings and emotions. She had attempted to learn Occlumency from the few texts that she could find on the subject available in from the free press, but it appeared that most of the secrets to this art were held by the pureblood families, something that had frustrated her to no end. Only a small book from the Black library that Sirius had lent her when she had sent him an owl regarding the subject in 5th year had been of any real value, and even then it had identified the method that Professor Snape was using as the most effective method for most pupils.
She moved her position again, still trying to find that elusive comfortable position, other thoughts also moved through her mind, Harry's change in personality had thrown her for a loop, she wasn't used to having him being able to rationally argue his position against her logic, and she wasn't sure how to take her seeming demotion from Harry's number one go to girl to number three or four on the list. Greengrass also worried her to some extent but more for the fact that Hermione was unsure of this new girl that she was suddenly having to deal with, not to mention her sister, Tracey Davis and Neville who all seemed to have the inside running to Harry's ear.
Her problem was that she didn't hate any of them; Daphne had clearly been affected by whatever had happened to her, but it was hard to reconcile the girl that now was virtually with Harry twenty four hours a day and the girl that she knew from her Hogwarts classes. She could still picture the cold aloof Greengrass that made it seemingly apparent that Hermione was so far beneath her that she didn't even warrant acknowledgement. The problem as she now saw it was how much of the girl she remembered was the actual Greengrass, if their interactions over the past week were of any indication less that twenty percent of the girl from her ancient runes classes remained.
Tracey Davis had always been an enigma as far as Hermione was concerned, bubbly but intelligent Tracey would always acknowledge anybody who acknowledged her first, she was polite, hardworking and had a very quick mind, and Hermione had enjoyed sparring against the girl in Arthimantic challenges set by Professor Vector.
Greengrass the junior, she had no real memory of and thus was at a loss of what to make of the bubbly, vivacious girl with a razor sharp intellect. She frowned as she thought about the girl, from what she had heard from various people Greengrass junior had managed to trap poor Neville into some sort of pureblood sanctioned relationship, the problem being that from what she had managed to observe, Neville initially had a few reservations with regards to being in a relationship with the girl but the more she saw of them together the less he seemed to have.
The sound of people moving up and into the dormitory stopped her musings, the curtains were drawn around her four poster bed and she could hear two people moving across the floor to stand in the centre of the floor, she palmed Bellatrix's wand feeling somewhat safer even though it felt wrong in her hand. A loudly whispered 'Hermione, are you awake,' spread across the 7th year Gryffindor girls dorm. Frowning to herself she poked her head out of her curtains to see Harry and Greengrass standing there peering into the darkness, with their wands raised high and alight with lumos spells.
'What do you want Harry?' she hissed at the pair of them, it was late and everyone else was sleeping, tilting her head she determined that the spell on the stairs was obviously broken, she would have to have a look at that in the morning and add it to her must fix asap list, it wouldn't do to have boys wandering around the girls dorms willy nilly, one never knew what they might see.
The pair tracked over to Hermione's bed, Harry was still clutching Daphne's right hand and Greengrass held a wand in her left. Hermione gasped as she recognised the wand in Greengrass' hand, before focusing on her best friend. 'Harry exactly how did you repair your wand and why does Greengrass now have it in her possession?
Harry groaned, giving a quick look over to Greengrass, 'it's a long story Hermione, and one we don't have time for now; you need to get up and follow us back down to the infirmary.'
'Why would I need to do anything of the sort?' she snapped back at Harry, unhappy that he didn't answer her question.
Harry's voice was stern, 'Hermione, I am not arguing with you about this, I told you that if you didn't see Madam Pomfrey that I would come and get you, so you have two choices. You either come with us now under your own steam, or I physically carry you back, your choice.'
She glared at him; she was really struggling to get a handle on this new assertive and logical Harry, 'I really don't…' she started relaxing her grip on the wand for a moment… Harry sighed then his wand light went out and ropes wrapped around her body from shoulders to ankles, making it impossible for her to move causing her to drop Bellatrix's wand in surprise. 'You untie me this instant Harry James Potter,' she growled up at him struggling to flip herself over so that she could glare at him her head hanging over the edge of the bed, before she yelped in surprise as he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder her head facing away from his direction of travel.
'I gave you a choice Hermione and you were trying to blow me off, so this is your own fault, Daphne can you please fetch her wand from the bed, she watched as the blonde witch moved past her to pick up the wand from where she had dropped it, studying it shortly before placing it in one of her pockets.
'God damn it Harry James Potter, you put me down this instant,' she hissed furiously as she struggled as best she could trying to get him to put her down.
'Stop it Hermione or I will smack your bottom,' Harry chuckled.
Hermione paused momentarily before dismissing the threat and continuing to try and shake herself off of his shoulder, before "smack," she felt a firm but not hard hand spank her behind, she stopped struggling, blood rushing to her face as Harry commenced his walk to the dorm room door, her mind was in total shock that her best friend had just smacked her on the behind like a naughty child, she blinked remembering that she had only ever been spanked once as a child after wilfully disobeying a direct order by her father not to cross the road without him.
She was still trying to get her mind around this fact as they exited the door, raising herself slightly and looking back she saw Fay Dunbar's head poking out between her curtains a shocked look upon her face, she groaned to herself she was so not living this down, a sigh escaped her lips as she lowered her head resigned to the fact that Harry was indeed going to carry her all the way to the infirmary like some caveman taking away his female prize.
Over the first ten minutes of the journey after she had finally engaged her brain again she had tried reasoning, wheedling and threatening him, to no avail. He was adamant in what he said he told her, she had made her choice, and he was a man of his word therefore he was going to carry her to the infirmary. The only consolation that she could find was that so far only Fay had seen her being carried like a sack of grain over Harry's shoulder, she hoped she might be able to get back to her in time to convince her not to say anything to anyone else.
As an aside her mind found it interesting that he was obviously far stronger than her memory of his frame would suggest, she hadn't noticed she conceded to herself until she was slung over his shoulder that he had definitely broadened across his shoulders and chest, at least she mused that her subtle tweaking of his nutrient potions had done him some good, 'a lot of galleons well spent,' she thought with a quiet sigh.
She looked around at the corridor that she was now being carried down and let out another sigh, at least they were nearing the infirmary now and the indignity of this journey would be at an end, she had said nothing for the last five minutes as Harry had again threatened her bottom if she didn't stop trying to get out of going to the infirmary, she wasn't going to push him twice.
