Hey everyone... I'm back with Chapter 95... It's a personal chapter to our favourite couple. Hope you enjoy it!


The weekend approached and everyone seemed eager to visit Hogsmeade. Harry, however, had decided to stay back.

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" asked Ron.

"I don't feel like it, you know?" retorted Harry. "But I promise... I will join you all in the evening for the party," he added, reassuringly.

"Fine," sighed Ron and left.

Harry had already convinced Hermione to stay back, though, truth be told, she didn't need any convincing. Hermione was already planning on staying back at the castle to study for the OWLs. She was only going to head out for a short while towards the evening.

"Hermione, will you stay back with me at the castle?" asked Harry.

"I haven't started revisions yet, Harry... Of course, I am not going to spend my time at Hogsmeade," she replied. After a moment, she glanced at him. "Why did you want me to stay back?" she asked.

"I'll tell you later," he replied.

Once most of the school had left, Hermione and Harry were left alone in the Gryffindor common room, except for a handful of students.

After a short while, Harry made his way to Hermione and stood right in front of her.

"What is it, Harry?" asked Hermione, without even glancing upwards to look at him.

"Is this how you greet someone?" chuckled Harry.

Hermione glanced at Harry with a smile. "Harry, what do you want?" she asked, warmly.

"Come with me," said Harry and took her hand.

"Where?" asked Hermione, getting up. "Harry... I have loads to do today," she added.

"You are going to have to keep the books aside for a bit," replied Harry after a couple of minutes, as the couple made their way up the stairs.

Hermione followed him, intrigued. But, it became quite evident after a minute where they were headed.

"Why are we going to the room of requirement, Harry?" asked Hermione, curiously.

Harry didn't respond. Instead, he went ahead and walked a few times in front of the wall and like it always did, the room opened to Harry. Hermione walked into the room followed by Harry and found a nice and comfortable sofa in the middle of the room. The room was well lit and it seemed like the perfect setup to spend quality time.

"Harry..." began Hermione and turned around to face him. And almost instantly, she felt Harry's hands pulling her into him. The next moment, Harry's lips found hers and they shared a deep kiss. But, it only lasted a few seconds before Hermione pulled away.

"Harry," exclaimed Hermione. "If you have brought me here... for... what I'm thinking... then I'm going to kill you," she remarked, blushing, yet seriously.

"And what are you thinking about?" asked Harry, chuckling.

"I... I'm leaving," replied Hermione and began to make her way out of the room. But Harry stopped her.

"Hermione, I'm messing with you..." chuckled Harry. "But, honestly, you look beautiful today," he complimented and Hermione blushed further. After a few seconds, the expression on Harry's face turned a little serious. "Sit down with me," he said. "I wanted to speak with you," he added.

"You better not touch me while we are talking," retorted Hermione and walked back to Harry.

"How about we hold hands?" suggested Harry. And immediately, Hermione took Harry's hands and sat down beside him, on the sofa. Harry turned on his seat and sat facing Hermione and she did the same.

"Firstly... I'm an idiot, you know that right?" asked Harry.

"The biggest," replied Hermione, smiling.

"It didn't take me a single day to apologise to everyone for the way I acted with them... But I never apologised to you," began Harry and Hermione's expression turned as well.

"Harry, you don't have to apologise," replied Hermione, but she looked hurt.

"But I want to, Hermione. Not because I meant what I said, or the way I acted with you, for getting angry. But because I know I hurt you. And I'm sorry that it happened," remarked Harry.

Hermione looked at him, at his eyes, trying to come up with a response. Instead, a silence lasted between them for a few seconds. "It's alright, Harry," she said, finally. "I know you are sorry, I don't need you to tell me that," she added.

"I'm sorry," repeated Harry, for he could still see that Hermione's words didn't exactly reflect her expression.

After a couple of seconds, Hermione spoke up. "I need you to be honest with me," she began. "Was there any truth to any of what you said?" she asked.

"Absolutely not," replied Harry.

"So, there wasn't any truth to any of what you felt during that time? In any of your incidents?" she asked.

Harry stared at her and collected his thoughts. "I thought about it a lot," began Harry. "I had a lot of time to myself to think when I was in Iceland... this was the only thing I thought about," he continued.

"And?" asked Hermione.

"And I think there was some truth to everything that happened," replied Harry and it seemed like Hermione's heart sunk. And he quickly continued, "I think he took out my deepest thoughts, fears and emotions... amplified it... and twisted it around in my head," he remarked. "I have never once before those couple of weeks, ever thought about Ron hurting Daisy. But I just dreamt it again and again and somewhere I believed it," he added as Hermione watched him keenly. "Never once before had I ever felt jealous of Cedric and your friendship, never felt uncomfortable or anything. But, on that day? I felt like I wanted to spend time with you and every time I saw you, you were with Cedric and something snapped in me," added Harry.

"Cedric is a friend, Harry... He's like an older brother who talks to me about OWLs and the different career options after school. He listens to me rant... but, we will never... ever be anything more than that," replied Hermione.

"I know, Hermione. I'm glad that you have him to talk to. Which is why I'm sorry about what happened that day," said Harry, apologetically.

Hermione stared at Harry and after a second, gripped the hold she had on his hands tighter and smiled at him. "I'm sorry too, then," she said, smiling.

"What for?" asked Harry, confused.

"I did something that made you think... that something was going on between Cedric and me... even if you were manipulated into thinking that way. So, I should share some blame," replied Hermione.

"Now, that is stupid," chuckled Harry.

"I'm glad that we talked about this, Harry," remarked Hermione.

"Hold on..." retorted Harry. "I've just started," he added. "You didn't think I brought you here, just to apologise to you about that day?" asked Harry.

"You didn't?" wondered Hermione, puzzled.

"I've been thinking... I had been thinking about this even before all of this. And once again, I know I'm an idiot. I should have told you all of this ages ago," began Harry. "This is probably selfish, but I don't care... I want someone to confide in," he remarked.

"That's not selfish, Harry... And I want you to tell me," replied Hermione.

"Right... So, where do I begin?" remarked Harry. After a moment, he began. "A year back, Dumbledore told me some things... things about everything," he started. Hermione watched him keenly.

"Did I ever tell you about my first duel against You-know-who?" asked Harry.

"You mean the time when..." trailed off Hermione.

"I didn't," sighed Harry and that's where he really started. He told her about sharing wand cores with Voldemort, and how that meant, that they could never kill each other with their wands, and hence why John gave Harry his other wand, his mother's wand. Once Harry explained Priori Incantatem, he went on to tell Hermione about his discussion with Dumbledore that happened a year back. Hermione, meanwhile, listened to everything he said carefully, asking questions, or just consoling him at different moments.

And then Harry came to the prophecy.

"I don't know if you have thought about this. But, I always wondered why You-know-who wanted to kill me, what he had against my family... turns out, it all has a reason," remarked Harry.

"I have wondered... Why? What's the reason?" asked Hermione curiously.

Harry then narrated the story Dumbledore had told him about Professor Trelawney and finished with the prophecy.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born as the seventh month dies... He will have power the Dark Lord knows not... Trapped with him in an unendless cycle, the Dark Lord will mark him his equal... Everything will be lost... Neither can live while the other survives... And it will begin once again..." narrated Harry.

Hermione mouth remained wide open in shock. "All of this, for a prophecy?" she asked, flabbergasted.

"Hermione," chuckled Harry. "I know your views on divination, but Professor Dumbledore believes in this prophecy. You-know-who believes in this prophecy and that is why he keeps coming after me," he replied.

Harry and Hermione then went into a brief discussion about the prophecy and what it could mean. But, nothing came out of it, partially due to Hermione's unwillingness to let herself believe in it.

"So, I got this bombshell thrown at me by Professor Dumbledore. But it didn't stop there," continued Harry. "He told me that killing You-know-who was going to be a lot more challenging than I had thought," he said.

Hermione stared at him with a puzzled look. "He, to remain immortal, created something called Horcruxes," informed Harry. Hermione, for once, did not know what it meant. So, Harry went into describing what they were and how they were created. Meanwhile, Hermione listened to all of it, with a disgusted and terrified look. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"How did you manage to live knowing all of this for so long?" asked Hermione.

"The thing is," began Harry and gave a laugh. "No one knows about Horcruxes, no one from the Order. I'd imagine that only Dumbledore, McGonagall, White, Snape and maybe Jane would know about Horcruxes," he replied as Hermione gave a gasp. "And Slughorn," added Harry, to which Hermione looked confused. "And believe me, I wanted to tell both of you that very evening. But, something stopped me, I don't know what it was. Maybe, I just didn't understand what I found out. So, I didn't really want to burden you two with it as well," he added.

"I'm glad that you told me now, Harry. You are not supposed to fight this fight alone. You have all of us that will be behind you till the end of the way," remarked Hermione, reassuringly.

After a moment, she asked, "Professor Slughorn knows about Horcruxes?" and looked surprised by it.

"Right... So, guess who was also a member of the Slug Club, back in the day?" asked Harry with a twinkle in his eye.

"Who?" wondered Hermione.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle," replied Harry, chuckling.

"What?" gasped Hermione.

Harry then told Hermione everything he knew about Slughorn's relationship with Voldemort, when he was a student at Hogwarts, most of which he had known from Professor Dumbledore. He then went on to tell Hermione, how Harry and Dumbledore recruited Slughorn, how they know for sure that Slughorn knows more about Voldemort's Horcruxes and how the entire year, Harry had been doing different things to get into Slughorn's good books, to gain his trust so that he would tell Harry the secret.

Suddenly, it seemed like all of Harry's behaviour in the slug club made sense to Hermione.

"So, what are you planning now?" asked Hermione.

"Something happened between Professor Slughorn and Professor Dumbledore and I went out of favour with Slughorn. I don't think I'm ever going to find out the secret from Slughorn. Besides, there's only one thing I want to know," replied Harry.

"What is that?" asked Hermione.

"How many Horcruxes does You-know-who have?" replied Harry.

"Do we know about any of his Horcruxes?" asked Hermione.

"His diary was one of them," replied Harry. "That one's destroyed, but I don't know about any more," he added.

"Do you think Dumbledore knows?" asked Hermione.

"He probably does," replied Harry, confidently.

After a few more minutes of discussion on different things, Harry remarked, "So, I have told you about Horcruxes, the Prophecy, and Slughorn," he listed out.

"How many more things have you kept hidden from me, Harry?" asked Hermione, smiling. "I'm already feeling a little dizzy," she added.

"I have just covered the easy stuff," replied Harry, calmly. Hermione stared at him with a worried look. After a moment, he continued. "Professor White," he announced.

"What about him?" asked Hermione.

"He's not exactly who he seems to be. He has another side to him," replied Harry. "Speaking of which... I'm not sure I should be telling you this," he added, chuckling. "He once threatened me that he would kill me if I talked about this," he added, nonchalantly.

"Harry," exclaimed Hermione. "What are you talking about? And how are you so blasé about this?" she asked, shocked.

"The way he behaves in front of everyone... It's all a lie, an act," replied Harry. After a moment, he continued. "Or maybe the way he acts with me is the act. I'm not quite sure," he chuckled. Hermione stared at him speechlessly. "Professor White is ruthless in our training sessions. I have been bruised more by him than I have been by You-know-who and Quidditch combined. And he's completely unapologetic about it," he remarked. "In the beginning, he made my life a hell. But, gradually, our sessions have improved," he added.

"You were in the hospital wing, a couple of days before you collapsed, weren't you?" asked Hermione. "Colin told me that he saw you there," she added.

"I was," replied. "I know exactly how you are going to react to this. But, fun fact... Professor White used the cruciatus curse on me that day," he remarked.

Hermione clutched her head the moment she heard it. "I don't know what to say anymore," she sighed, stunned.

"How are you so cool about all of this? How did you even get through in the beginning?" asked Hermione.

"I'm just used to it now. And I definitely did not get through any of this in the beginning. I suffered every day," replied Harry. "Professor Dumbledore told me to train with him and that's what I am doing," he added. Hermione nodded in response even though she disagreed with what was happening.

After a long time, a silence lasted between them for a couple of minutes. In the meantime, Harry sat right back on the sofa and laid back comfortably. Hermione shifted much closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder as she held his hands once again.

"We can take this slow, you know?" she remarked. "You don't have to tell me everything today," she added.

"Are you getting bored, Hermione?" retorted Harry, chuckling.

"Harry... I'm serious," said Hermione. "I can't imagine how difficult it must be for you," she added.

"It's fine... Let's talk about something a little more exciting," replied Harry. "You-know-who, somehow managed to attack me, even though I was inside Hogwarts, inside these protected walls. But, we knew something like this was bound to happen," remarked Harry. "We knew that there was going to be some kind of retaliation," he added.

"Retaliation?" asked Hermione sitting up straight.

"I did something to him, without even meaning to," replied Harry, smirking. Hermione was now listening carefully. "You remember how a few months back, You-know-who went on a spree of destruction, capturing different Ministries of Magic?" he asked.

"Of course... He was even defeated by the Germans and Italians," replied Hermione.

"I... might have had something to do with it," replied Harry, chuckling.

"What?" retorted Hermione, confused.

Harry began a long narration starting from the first time he had his vision when he saw Janus Keddle being tortured by Voldemort, and soon after that, he was found dead of natural causes. His next vision, which he had in Daisy's presence, was where he saw the Albanian ministry fall, and the one after that and the one after that. Harry went on detailing every single vision he had, as much as he remembered them. And then came the part about Nurmengard castle, where he had the vision in Slughorn's office, in front of Slughorn and Ron. The vision where he saw Snape with Voldemort and his death eaters. Harry paused for a moment.

From the beginning of the narration, Hermione's expression did not change. At this point in the afternoon, she had heard it all. She was stunned speechless and remained that way till Harry took a pause in his narration.

"I know where you are going with this Harry... Have you gone completely mad? Why would you continue to look into You-know-who's thoughts?" remarked Hermione.

"I wasn't meaning to do it, Hermione. It just happened... I had to put effort into not doing it, in fact," replied Harry.

Hermione and Harry went back and forth on the different times he had visions before Harry could proceed to the Snape discussion.

"So, you are saying that You-know-who helped in Sirius being proven innocent... why would he do that?" asked Hermione.

"I don't know why he did that," replied Harry. "But, Sirius hasn't exactly been living a wonderful life, has he? The papers have been tearing apart his verdict from the very beginning," he added. Hermione nodded in acknowledgement, but she knew that she had more to listen to, so she asked Harry to continue.

"I could see glimpses of places in my visions. Nurmengard, Italy, and German ministry were all like that," began Harry. "But, in all my visions, there was one that disturbs me to this date," he continued. "Snape... is a death eater," announced Harry.

"What?" gasped Hermione, shocked.

"I saw him in my vision, with You-know-who. And they were definitely plotting something," he replied. But before Hermione's head could explode, he continued. "When I told Dumbledore about this, he said that Snape is spying on You-know-who for us," he added. "I had my doubts for a long time... But, Dumbledore keeps convincing me that he is on our side. I'm, however, sceptical," he finished.

"This is big, Harry... What if he is spying on us for him?" asked Hermione.

Harry did not want to go into the details Dumbledore had given him, in hopes of convincing him, details that involved his mother. "I know... but again, Dumbledore trusts him... So, we have to live with it," replied Harry.

"So, do you still have these visions?" asked Hermione after a couple of minutes. Meanwhile, Hermione had started cosying up to Harry once again.

"No... I don't," replied Harry. "I was told to stop with these visions before Christmas. I even started training on Occlumency. But, after Christmas, I haven't had any visions," he added. "Speaking of which, I did have a vision during Christmas," he continued and narrated the vision he had involving Daisy, Ron and Hermione. How Voldemort plotted to attack all three of them at the same tim, and eventually ended up attacking just Daisy.

"Wow," sighed Hermione. "If you didn't have the visions, a lot of people would have died," she remarked, proudly.

"I didn't mean to have those visions, Hermione. It just happened to me. Anybody would have done the same," replied Harry, smiling.

"You're just being modest, Harry. Not everyone has the courage, the good heart and willingness to act," retorted Hermione.

After a few moments, the expression on Harry's face turned a little restless. He had only one thing left to tell.

Hermione stared at Harry for a few seconds. "Let's go out and get some lunch," she said.

"But I still have something to tell you," replied Harry.

"Harry... I can see it in your face. If this is anything related to what You-know-who did to you recently, I don't want to know. You don't have to live through those feelings, those moments once again," retorted Hermione.

"Are you sure?" asked Harry in response.

"Harry," began Hermione and squeezed his hand. "I want you to be open with me, share your thoughts with me freely... but never at the cost of feeling uncomfortable or uneasy. You can tell me some other time," replied Hermione with a warm smile.

Harry looked a little relieved. As he continued staring at her, he couldn't resist but leaning in for a kiss, and another after that.

"What was that for?" asked Hermione, blushing and panting a little.

"I don't think I'll realise how lucky I am to have you in my life," whispered Harry as he pulled away from her.

"And I don't think you realise how lucky all of us are... to have you in ours," replied Hermione, smiling.

Just then, Hermione remembered something. "Ron," she gasped. "Are you going to tell him?" she asked.

"He should know about all of this. But, let's wait till we finish the year. We can tell him leisurely when we are back home," replied Harry.

And with that, the pair made their way to the Great Hall for lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon chatting. Hermione had a mountain of things to talk about when it came to her revision plan, how much she had completed in every subject and how Harry should go about completing his preparation. Now and then in between she'd remember an instance from the past year where she saw Harry snooping, sneaking around, or looking, acting a certain way. And she'd then ask him about it.

"Wow, Hermione," sighed Harry laughing at one point. "How often do you stare at me wondering I've been up to... I don't even remember most of these instances," he chuckled. "How do you manage to get anything else done?" he asked.

"Exactly the way you get all your things done, despite staring at me the entire day," retorted Hermione, chuckling.

As the afternoon went by, an interesting thought came to Harry's mind. He had been thinking about it for the past few days, but suddenly he got an idea which seemed like the answer he was looking for all along.

"Hermione," called out Harry, softly, almost whispering into her ear.

"Hmm?" hummed Hermione in response. She was practically lying half on the ground and half on Harry.

"You can read my mind whenever you want, right?" he asked.

Hermione stayed silent for a moment, confused as to where this was coming from.

"I could if I wanted to," replied Hermione.

"And you'd be able to see whatever I'm thinking, feeling..." remarked Harry.

"Yes, I suppose..." replied Hermione, getting more and more curious.

"What if I didn't mind?" asked Harry.

"I didn't get you," retorted Hermione and got up a little to face him.

"What if I gave you full access to my mind and told you to monitor it?" asked Harry.

"Full access? I don't understand... where is this coming from?" asked Hermione, confused.

"Professor White believes that I'm extremely vulnerable to more attacks... from You-know-who. He, in fact, was keeping tabs on me from the day I woke up till a few days back. Back in Iceland, he had one of his men do it. In here, he had been doing it," began Harry. Hermione stared at him like she understood what he meant, yet there was a deep expression of discomfort on her face.

"Now, he has a way I can completely block off You-know-who or anyone from penetrating my mind. But, that is dangerous and not to mention, illegal and involves really terrible dark magic," continued Harry.

"Dark magic?" wondered Hermione.

"Necromancy," whispered Harry, not even daring to see it out loud.

"What?" gasped Hermione, shocked. "He's going to teach you necromancy?" she asked.

"Hermione," exclaimed Harry. "Keep your voice low," he added in a whispery tone. "And no, he doesn't want to. But, he doesn't any other way," replied Harry. "He gave me a choice and said that he hoped I'd reject it," he added.

"You should not do it, Harry... I have only read a little bit about them. You won't find many books even talking about it in our library, not even the restricted section," replied Hermione. After a few seconds of thought, she continued. "I don't understand how You-know-who attacked you in the first place," she remarked and got up. Harry followed suit. "Think about it... in the past few years, Hogwarts security has been increased a lot. Nobody should be able to do what he did to you, especially from outside the castle," she continued, pacing around.

"But, Hermione," interrupted Harry. "We already know that we share this weird connection. We share wand cores from the same phoenix, I somehow survived his killing curse, I got visions of what he was doing, saying or planning... we have a prophecy about us..." he listed down. "This is just destiny... there isn't an explanation," he replied.

"I don't know if the prophecy is real. But, it doesn't matter. Everything has a reason, Harry, we just don't know this one's yet," she retorted.

"So, what? Do you think he was in the castle that night, or for the couple of weeks preceding it?" retorted back, Harry.

"No, Harry, obviously not. If we understand how he did it, we might be able to prevent it from happening," remarked Hermione, calmly.

"Well..." began Harry and paused.

"Well... what?" asked Hermione. After a moment, panic shot through her. "You are not actually considering it, are you? You cannot do it, Harry," she remarked, almost pleading.

"No, of course not... I'm not considering it. All I have been doing for the past few days has been thinking of ways to not do it," replied Harry. "And I just found my perfect alternative," he added.

"What?" asked Hermione.

"Well... I had an issue with having Professor White in my head, all day... But I don't have any issue having you inside me..." remarked Harry and quickly added, "In my head, I mean," he chuckled.

"Harry..." sighed Hermione, shocked. "I don't... How will I..." she mumbled, but didn't say anything.

"Listen," remarked Harry. "Think about it... take your time. And don't worry about anything. I know you are capable of it," he said, calmly.

"Harry... this is a big ask and I'm afraid I won't be up to it," sighed Hermione, hesitantly. "What would I be doing?" she asked.

"Just perform Legilimency on me and make sure that everything is normal," replied Harry, nonchalantly.

"Harry, it's not that simple," retorted Hermione.

"It isn't... that's why I'm coming to you," replied Harry, confidently. "And this is not a permanent thing. I'll train harder and harder and become better at Occlumency. Until then, I will be completely vulnerable to you..." he added. "And you can take care of me," he chuckled.

"I don't know whether to cry that you have placed such trust and confidence in me... or cry that I'll fail at this, I don't even know where to start," retorted Hermione, chuckling, though there was concern in her eyes.

"You can do it, Hermione," remarked Harry, confidently.

Harry and Hermione spent some more time together before Hermione exclaimed about how little time she had studied for that day, while Harry realised that he should be heading out to Hogsmeade for the party.


Severus Snape was walking with great care, not to evoke any suspicion in the man he was following. He had been following him across the town, the entire afternoon. Snape had it on great authority that the man he had been following, was one of White's men. And if he wanted to find out White's secrets, this seemed like the only place left.

A short while later, Snape found himself taken into a dark alley and instinctively he had his wand within his grasp.

Almost as if he had expected it, the man he was following, fired a spell at him from far away.

Snape blocked it easily and fired a stunner back. It soon turned into a duelling ground as spells got fired from both the wands. But, it only lasted a few moments for Snape was considerably quicker and cleverer.

As the man lay on the ground, bleeding and injured, Snape strolled over to him, calmly. But before he could ask any question or say anything, the man muttered something under his breath and the next second, he lay motionless.

"What?" gasped Snape, shocked as he ran over to him. But there was nothing to be done. The man was dead.

And a few hours later, Snape found himself standing in front of Voldemort, narrating the incident to him.

"He looked afraid, My Lord... afraid of saying something he shouldn't," remarked Snape. Voldemort took in everything Snape had to say with a thoughtful look.

"You are a loyal man, Severus," remarked Voldemort in his usual whispery voice. "Even after I put Harry Potter in his place, here you are," he added, sniggering.

"My Lord?" retorted Snape, confused.

"I remember... many years ago... you came to me... begged me not to kill your dear Lily Potter, did you not Severus?" remarked Voldemort.

"I did, My Lord," replied Snape, calmly.

"Do you not feel even a little angry... sad... vengeful... about what I have now done to Harry Potter, her son?" asked Voldemort.

Snape stared at him, confused. "My loyalties lie with you, My Lord," replied Snape. "I wouldn't have it any other way," he added.

"Then tell me, Severus... What are the Deathly Hallows and why is Albus Dumbledore concerned about them?" he asked.

"The deathly hallows?" retorted Snape, puzzled. "I have never heard of them before, My Lord," replied Snape.

"Someone is after the Deathly Hallows and I want to know what they are and who is after them," snapped Voldemort, loudly. "If Dumbledore is planning something, I need to know," he added angrily.

"I will find out," replied Snape and bowed down. And with that, Snape left wondering what piqued the Dark Lord's interest in the Hallows.


Well... that's it for the chapter. Let me know your thoughts, send me some love everyone! 😂

PS - The next chapter will be out in a couple of days. Ciao!