Hermione, also smiling, merely nodded in agreement and led him towards their room. Holding Sarah in between them, they all eventually fell asleep.
The next morning, as usual, Harry was the first one awake. The difference was, he was awake before two people rather than just one person. He sighed, running his hand through his hair as he realized that a lot more was going to change. Could they care for a child while still in school? Would this change things between him and Hermione? Could they still train while caring for Sarah? They were mostly in control of the griffins by now, it was true; but the sight of said griffins-and the dangerous curses they were learning-was still scary. Not to mention that they often dueled and spells went astray. It wasn't like he could leave Sarah on her own, and he and Hermione weren't going to be separated.
Heaving another sigh, he cast a stasis charm on Sarah before waking Hermioine; they needed to talk, and not just about Sarah. "Hermione," he whispered, shaking her gently.
"Harry?" Hermione murmured sleepily, eyes still closed.
Harry nodded, but realized her eyes were still closed and said, "Yes." Rising from the bed, Harry said, "Come on, we need to talk." Hermione groaned, but nodded, reluctantly opened her eyes, left the warmth of their bed, and followed Harry into what was basically their living room.
Sitting on the couch and stifling a yawn, Hermione asked, "What exactly did you have in mind to talk about?"
Harry wanted to talk about Sarah, and their new responsibilities. But he was going to work up to it by discussing the battle, first. "You remember that magical power test thing that Dumbledore did?" Harry asked, receiving a roll of the eyes for his terminology but a nod for the question. "If my recharge rate is that high, why was I exhausted after the battle yesterday?"
Hermione didn't even have to think about it, she immediately responded, "Harry, you may get your magic back almost immediately, but you have to push that magic through your body. You could have ten times the amount of power as Dumbledore, but your body still has to control that power." Her eyes got a hard glint, and she continued, "Unfortunately, despite the summer you spent at my house, the Dursleys caused a lot of damage, and your energy reserves won't be high enough to sustain a good, continual use of your magic."
Harry looked nonplussed. "But Dumbledore doesn't seem very strong, but he didn't look exhausted after the intense battle against Voldemort."
"I suspect he is stronger than he looks," Hermione said wryly.
"He's, what, 150?" Harry asked, skeptical. "How strong could he be?"
Hermione seemed thoughtful for a moment before her eyes lit up. "I suspect he used part of his magic to give himself energy for a while," she said. "The downside is it makes him more exhausted later." Harry nodded in understanding before she asked, "Now, what's really on your mind?"
Harry gulped, answering softly, "Sarah." Hermione frowned slightly, but didn't appear to be surprised. When she didn't say anything, Harry continued. "What if I was wrong? What if we can't take care of her? We still have school, after all, and training. With Voldemort after me, it's hardly safe. I'm putting her in danger," he finished, looking much harried.
Hermione smiled over his concern for Sarah, and once again wondered at how quickly the little girl had wormed her way into his heart. "Let me ask you this, Harry," Hermione began with a smile. "Could you let her go?" Seeing his stunned look, she continued with, "I would also suggest you ask her if she would rather be adopted by someone else, or us, before making up your mind. And I have a plan to keep her safe," she added mysteriously.
A lot of Harry's nervousness cleared up at the statement, and he asked, "What's the plan?" Hermione merely fingered her locket, causing Harry's eyes to light up. Capturing her lips in a quick kiss, he breathed, "You're brilliant."
"Yes," Hermione agreed, acting pompous. Then, turning mock angry, she shoved Harry gently, saying, "And you should have told me about the charms. Who did them, anyway? They're really difficult."
"Really?" Harry asked in surprise. "They didn't seem that difficult. I just kind of told my magic what I wanted," he admitted before frowning. "Although I was exhausted afterwards," he admitted.
Hermione stared at him with wide eyes. "You did these charms?" She asked softly. At his nod, she asked excitedly, "Can you please tell me what they do? I can't figure it out," she admitted with a small pout.
Hiding his grin at her pout, he explained, "Well, I found out in one of our books that you can draw magical energy from other things, including spells. So it occured to me to wonder about protective charms on things like jewelry and stuff. When I found that, I basically told my magic that I wanted to enchant your locket so that any spells were used to give you energy rather than do what they were supposed to do. It probably has to be recharged now," he added thoughtfully, holding out his hand. Hermione wordlessly handed him the locket, amazingly still shocked at what he could do with magic. Watching closely, she saw a brief glow of white mixed with black appear around the hand holding the locket, and Harry looked exhausted as he returned the locket to her.
Hermione looked at the locket in her hand thoughtfully, thinking of all the impossible things he had done; it had started in Third Year, when he repelled all of those dementors. Fourth Year, he had thrown off the imperious curse with ease compared to everyone else. Last year he had been able to throw off a possession by one of the most powerful wizards alive, possibly injuring him if Dumbledore was to believed, and this year he was practically doing it daily! The way he had been able to protect them both from a basilisk's stare, giving her the ability to speak parseltongue, summoning Death Eaters' wands, and these charms! She could only think of two things they had in common: Harry wanted to do it, so he did, and he had no idea that it shouldn't be able to happen. From that moment forward, Hermione resolved not to explain things to him, and just let him do what he wanted. If him not knowing things were impossible got him to do said things, she wasn't going to stop it!
Abandoning her thoughts, Hermione asked, "Why did it glow white and black? And why didn't the colors mix?"
Harry looked slightly ashamed as he admitted, "I think the colors didn't mix because they represent different magics. As for the particular colors, the protective charms are considered light, but stealing another's power is considered dark. Hence, white and black. At least, I think that's why."
Hermione nodded, but wasn't convinced. Unless it was Harry's perception that changed the color. She thought about that, adding in that he wasn't using specific spells, and thought it likely. However, with her new resolve to let him succeed in the impossible, she simply stood, saying, "Let's go get Sarah and start the day."
Harry nodded and started to stand up, but then he hesitated. "I'll wait here, Hermione," he said with a smile, sitting back down.
Hermione, though perplexed, nodded. She had assumed that Harry would like to wake her up; they had known her for maybe a day, but if she asked for anything, Hermione was sure Harry would give it to her. As she headed into the room, she realized that Harry probably wanted her to get along with Sarah as well.
Hermione paused as she reached down to shake Sarah gently awake; there was some kind of spell placed on her. Panicking, Hermione quickly examined it, breathing a sigh of relief when she found that it was a simple stasis charm so they wouldn't wake up their daughter and she could continue to be nightmare free.
She was about to undo the spell when the word she had just thought filtered through. Daughter? She thought. Looking down at Sarah, she nodded to herself. Daughter. Maybe she'll let us adopt her, she thought hopefully, finally able to fully comprehend that this was probably how Harry felt as well.
Smiling, Hermione undid the spell and gently shook Sarah awake. The little girl rolled away from her, muttering sleepily, "Five more minutes mummy."
Hermione's heart leaped into her throat and she froze in shock at the unexpected term. It didn't matter that it was because she was used to it being her biological mother waking her up; being called 'mummy' unleashed something in her. Something that really wanted to be called 'mummy' again.
Unaware of the tears pooling in her eyes, she asked, "Don't you want to explore the castle, Sarah?" Mention of the castle seemed to wake her up, and she sat up, nodding eagerly, though there was more than a hint of sadness in her eyes. "Then you have to wake up," Hermione said teasingly, trying not to dwell on her previous thoughts. With another eager nod, Sarah raced to the bathroom to get ready.
With a sigh of longing, Hermione headed back into the living room, where she was met by a grinning Harry who asked, "How'd it go?"
"As if you don't know," Hermione retorted with a snort.
"Me?" Harry asked, feigning ignorance. "How would I know?"
"Like you weren't listening in. Remember, I can detect you," she said, tapping her head.
"Would I do that?" Harry asked, now feigning innocence as well as ignorance.
"Yes," Hermione replied simply, though there was definitely a smile tugging at her lips.
"I would not," Harry declared with mock indignation. The effect was ruined by the fact that, like Hermione, there was a smile trying to make itself known.
"Are we gonna tour the castle now?" Sarah asked as she came into the room, interrupting the couple's mock argument.
Hermione scooped her up, but it was Harry who replied, "Yes we are, little one. I'm sure you'll love it, too."
They started the tour by travelling all the way down to the first floor to show Sarah the Great Hall. They decided not to go to the dungeons; as Harry put it, "You're not a bat, a snake, or some type of mold, so you won't like it down there." Thankfully, it was pretty early for a Sunday, and everywhere was empty, so when Harry magically placed a glowing sign that said, "Welcome to Hogwarts, Sarah!" He wasn't interrogated by anyone. As Harry and Hermione brought her around the school, they slowly started encountering more and more people, all of who doted on the little girl in Hermione's arms. Harry was pretty sure that Malfoy and his ilk wouldn't have, but, thankfully, they stayed asleep-or at least out of sight.
By the time they were done with the tour, all the trio wanted to do was eat and sleep. Thanks to Dobby, that was exactly what they did.
The next day, of course, things went crazy.
Malfoy, in a typical display of stupidity, was the one to open his mouth first. "Hey, Potter, the Mudblood not enough for you? Now you're raising your own little whore?" His two goons probably would have started to laugh, but Malfoy had already started screaming.
Harry was staring at him with fury blazing in his eyes. He stood up and faced down Malfoy, who seemed to be paralyzed to the spot. "Malfoy," he spat, "why won't you learn?" Although his voice was quiet, and Malfoy was still screaming, everyone in the Great Hall eating breakfast heard him. "Time and time again you've confronted me or people I care about, and each time you've lost." Reaching out, Harry grabbed one of his fingers and broke it, all while staring into his eyes. Hermione was preventing Sarah from seeing this, and had cast a silencing spell on her ears. "Stop insulting me and those I care about, or you'll find yourself wishing I had stopped with only two broken fingers." That said, he broke a finger on his other hand, and sat down.
When Harry sat down, it seemed to signal some sort of release on whatever Harry had done to Malfoy, and his screaming promptly decreased. Staring in horror at Harry and his fingers, he promptly ran out of the Great Hall-presumably to the hospital wing. "Mr. Potter," Dumbledore called from the Head Table-after he got over his shock, "what did you just do to Mr. Malfoy?"
Glaring at the Headmaster, Harry responded, "I warned him repeatedly to leave me alone, and he didn't take the hint. So, I was more...decisive. I went easy on him compared to what Voldemort will do once he joins the Death Munchers, sir." Turning back to his meal-and his family-Harry ignored the gasps at the name and his blatant disrespect for the Headmaster.
"Mr. Potter," Professor Mcgonagall exclaimed, clearly affronted. "Professor Dumbledore is the Headmaster and you will show him the respect he deserves. Furthermore-"
"The respect he deserves?" Harry roared, standing up again. Hermione-guessing at what was coming-promptly reapplied the silencing spells to Sarah's ears as Harry stalked towards the Head Table. "What respect does he deserve? He left me with my relatives who treated me worse than a house-elf and who's idea of fun was 'let's see how much pain the freak can take before he cries!' The last time they played, I didn't cry until they had gotten past all of my ribs and both my arms." McGonagall was now sitting down, pale and horrified, as she stared at her student as he continued his rant. "Naturally, they couldn't take me to the hospital, so I had to set all my own bones. Ever try setting your bones with two broken arms? It's not easy. Ribs are particularly difficult since you can't touch both sides," he added, almost conversationally.
Suddenly roaring again, he continued, "So if I don't respect him for who he placed me with, perhaps I should respect him for protecting the school? Except he hasn't done a very good job of that, has he? First year, I faced Quirrelmort. Second year, there was a great big snake I had a fight with, that was being controlled by Voldemort. Third year, a host of dementors tried to suck out my soul. Fourth year, that stupid bloody tournament, followed by the return of he-whose-name-must-be-hyphenated. Fifth year, I was pegged as a lying, attention-seeking bastard, along with the toad woman who tortured students for her own, sick, pleasure, followed by yet another battle with the Dark Wanker. So please, enlighten me as to why I should respect Headmaster bloody Dumbledore!" By this time, he was directly in front of McGonagall, unknowingly levitating himself to be at the correct height. McGonagall couldn't even look at him, and Dumbledore was also looking decidedly pale. "No, nothing?" Harry asked snidely. Even Snape was silent as Harry turned and stalked out of the Hall with his wife and sort-of daughter.