What If… Harry Potter

“Bahahaha! IIIII killllled Sirius Blaaaack!” Bellatrix sang as she ran from an enraged Harry.

“She killed him! I'm going to kill her! I'LL KILL HER!” Harry yelled and took off after her.

Bellatrix turned the corner and ducked from a spell that slammed into the stone by her head and broke the stone apart. “You missed me! Come on, Itty Bitty Potter! You have to do better than that!”

Harry's anger filled him and he darted after the witch that had just killed his godfather. He chased her up another hallway towards the elevators and missed the closing doors with a spell and she disappeared from sight.

“Are you coming to get me?” Bellatrix taunted and laughed maniacally as the elevator rose.

Harry jumped into the other elevator and kept smashing the button for the Atrium. It was the only escape she could take. Just as the doors started to open, he squeezed through the gap and saw her. She was already halfway across the large lobby area and was running to the telephone exit.

“CRUCIO!” Harry yelled with his wand pointed at her back. The woman let out a startled yell and fell to the floor, her wand clattered on the floor beside her. He ran over to her prone form and she turned to grin at him.

“I barely felt that.” Bella taunted and her hand found her wand. “Never cast an unforgivable curse before, have you?”

Harry stood above her with his wand aimed at her, breathing heavily.

“Shall I tell you the secret, Potter? You need to mean them. You need to actually want to cause them pain!” Bellatrix said and then laughed. “Righteous anger doesn't last long enough to harm anyone, you ignorant fool!”

Harry glared down at the woman and saw her start to inch away. He couldn't let her, not after what she did.

“I'll show you how it's done, shall I? Give you a private lesson...”

“No, I think I got it, thanks.” Harry said and gripped his wand tightly. “Crucio.”

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” Bellatrix's haunting scream echoed throughout the entire Atrium and even went up and down several floors of the Ministry of Magic. Her entire body burned from the inside out and her eyes locked onto Harry's against her will. She had expected to see compassion or some remorse, because he was Dumbledore's pawn in the game... and all she saw was a slight green glow and no emotion at all.

*

Voldemort was monitoring the scene and waited for his chance to enter the fray to retrieve the prophecy. His minor connection to the boy had been very fortuitous for his plans and he would reward Severus for this information. He dipped slightly into that connection and felt... nothing.

“No! Only I can kill the boy!” Voldemort spoke and apparated through the Ministry's wards and appeared at the muggle entrance of the Ministry, the one hole in their wards that they never closed. What he saw shocked him.

Standing there with a shivering and mouth frothing Bellatrix on the floor below him, was Harry Potter.

“Harry! Get back!” Albus Dumbledore said after he appeared from the elevators. He swished his wand at the boy to get him out of the way, only for Harry to duck and keep his wand on Bellatrix.

“It's fitting, isn't it?” Harry said in a cold voice. “Bellatrix will be staying with Frank and Alice now.”

“NO!” Voldemort and Albus yelled at the same time, for different reasons, and rushed over towards where Harry stood.

Albus grabbed Harry's arm and flung him towards the fireplaces and then whipped out a spell that gathered the fountain's statues in front of them to prepare for Voldemort's attack.

Voldemort didn't pay any attention to that, however. He knelt beside the woman that had been his most loyal follower for years and saw the blank look on her face. He was a little surprised when he didn't really feel anything inside of him at the sight. He felt bad that he had lost her and also that she had been so easily taken by a mere boy. He searched through her clothing and found only an extra wand and no prophecy.

“Give me the prophecy.” Voldemort said as he stood and faced the fountain's animated statues.

“I destroyed it.” Harry said and stood up to look at Voldemort in the eye.

Voldemort couldn't resist the temptation and dove into Harry's mind. He searched for the prophecy's location and easily found it. It was pieces on the floor and Harry hadn't heard what the little ghostly figure had said. His rage gave him a foothold when he felt something similar in Harry and took over the boy's mind.

“Kill me, Dumbledore.” Harry's slightly altered voice said. “It's what you need to do to finally kill me.”

Albus' face drained of color and quickly cast a restraining spell on Harry, only for Harry to dispel it.

“Go ahead, old man.” Harry said and cast a piercing hex at Dumbledore that he dodged. “I won't block an attack spell, so do it.” He took a step forward. “DO IT!”

“Fight him, Harry!” Albus said and cast several shield spells around the boy and then ordered the statues to attack Voldemort's real body.

Voldemort cast several blast spells and destroyed the statues, then cast a blue shield around himself. “Uh, uh, uh. No cheating.”

“Kill me!” Harry said and cast several shield breaking spells. Two of the shields shattered and the third held, just barely.

“Harry, he doesn't understand you!” Albus said. “Fight him! Show him what he doesn't have! The power he knows not!”

Inside Harry's mind was a battleground. Harry and Voldemort squared off and the two of them faced each other.

“Go ahead.” Voldemort said and looked bored. “Show me what I'm missing.”

Harry wasn't sure what Albus was talking about, then he remembered what he felt before Bellatrix told him what to do, then her advice about it. “All right.”

Harry brought forth into his mind all of the brief happy moments that he had had with Sirius... laughing, Christmas, playing pranks with the twins... then he showed Sirius dying in the veil room. At that moment, Harry's righteous fury slammed into Voldemort and made him cry out in pain.

“Now I'll show you what Bellatrix taught me to do with it.” Harry said and that righteous anger turned ice cold and froze Voldemort's mind probe into a statue. “Get out of my head.” He said and slammed his fist into the frozen Voldemort, making it shatter into a million pieces.

In the real world, Harry and Voldemort cried out at the same time and dropped to their knees. Albus was glad to see Harry break free of Voldemort's control and helped the boy stand.

“Are you all right?” Albus asked.

“I'm fine.” Harry said and nodded to where Voldemort knelt. “He's not, though.”

Albus turned to look and saw Voldemort's face contorted in pain. “What... what did you do?”

“I broke his Legillimens.” Harry said with a slight smirk on his face, just as the others from his group and the Order of the Phoenix came out of the elevators.

“You broke...” Albus shook his head. He had a battle to fight and needed to concentrate. He could worry about what Harry did later. “Get to the fireplaces and wait there with your friends. I have a dark lord to attend to.” He turned to Tonks. “Nymphadora, take care of them.”

Tonks was too shocked by what was in front of her to protest. She gathered the students up and brought them over to Harry. He didn't say anything and helped Neville carry Ron over to the fireplaces. They all started to light up and the first people through were the Minister for Magic and his staff, then several Aurors and Amelia Bones came out.

“What's going on here?” Fudge asked, his voice shrill with fear. “No! He's not back! He can't be back!”

As Tonks brought Harry and the other students by him, Harry couldn't resist the temptation.

“I've been telling you he was back for a whole year and all you did was slander me, make fun of me, and libel me in the newspaper.” Harry said in the cold voice that he had just recently perfected. “Good luck keeping your job now, you idiot.”

They were all shocked at his declaration, then an explosion of magic washed over them all.

“I'm going to kill you, Harry Potter!” Voldemort loudly declared and everyone turned to face him.

“You've done a piss poor job of it so far.” Harry nearly yelled back. “You didn't kill me when I was a baby, you didn't kill me as a first year at Hogwarts, you didn't kill me in the graveyard last year, and you didn't kill me today. That's four wins for me and four losses for you.”

Several people gasped, especially the minister.

“Mark my words, I will rid this world of you!” Voldemort spat and grabbed Bellatrix's arm. He leapt backwards and almost flew to the muggle entrance, then he apparated away.

“Madam Bones, we have a dozen death eaters captured in the Department of Mysteries.” Kingsley Shacklebolt said. “A few are... prominent members of the Wizengamut.”

“I don't care who they are under their masks. Make sure they are restrained and stunned. Remove any magical items from them and put them into holding cells.” Amelia said and glanced at Harry. “I suppose I have you to thank for this mess.”

“No, don't thank me for getting my innocent godfather killed.” Harry said. “Voldemort lured me here.”

“Harry, please don't say anything until we discuss things.” Albus said and walked over to him.

“I'm sorry, headmaster. Do you have any authority over me to stop me from investigating this?” Amelia asked in a deadly voice.

Albus realized he had just stepped into the proverbial poop pile. He couldn't refuse that he didn't want to interfere and he also didn't want her to find out anything that had been going on. The problem was that it was her job and everything had happened right here inside the Ministry.

“I am the Chief Warlock.” Albus said, just to cover his own ass.

“That is an administrative title for ruling over the Wizengamut.” Amelia said and managed to not scowl at the interfering old man. “You better keep yourself out of Auror business.”

Harry couldn't help the scoff that came out of his mouth.

“Do you have something to say?” Amelia asked with a glare.

“Yes, where were you tonight? Where were all the workers in the ministry?” Harry asked and several people looked uncomfortable. “I see a whole bunch of people who have to be staff, and yet this place was completely empty when six students entered on a rescue mission an hour ago and they made it all the way down to the Department of Mysteries without anyone knowing about it.” He took a step towards her. “Where were the Aurors then?”

Amelia had no answer to offer, since someone should have been here.

“No alarms went off and no one showed up, even though a long and drawn out fight happened between my friends and twelve death eaters. The fight wrecked most of the rooms down there and not a single person showed up to see what was going on.” Harry said and looked into her eyes. “My godfather Sirius Black spent twelve years in prison for crimes he didn't commit. He never had a trial and then he was trapped in his own home because to go outside meant he would be sent back to prison.”

“You've been harbouring a fugitive!” Fudge nearly yelled.

“SHUT UP!” Harry actually yelled and Fudge winced and ducked back as he stepped away. “No, I wasn't hiding him. He was under a Fidelus charm. The sad part was, he heard I was in danger and came to rescue me.” He turned his head slightly and let a single tear roll down his cheek. “Now he's dead, my friends and I are hurt, and it was all for nothing.”

“Harry, my boy.” Albus said and tried to step close.

Harry backed away and shook his head. “Don't touch me! This is your fault, too! If you had told me that Voldemort could do what he did to me, none of this would have happened!”

Albus took a deep breath and let out a sigh as his shoulders slumped. “Yes, you're right.”

That shocked everyone and they stared at both Harry and Albus.

“For now, let's get you kids back to the school and some medical attention.” Albus said and waved at the fireplaces.

“St. Mungos would be better for this many injuries.” Amelia suggested. “Kingsley, Tonks, go with them and do not let anyone talk to them.” She glared at Albus and then at the two Aurors. “I mean anyone and that includes Dumbledore.”

Kingsley and Tonks had no choice but to agree and they led the hurt students to the fireplaces to take them to St. Mungos.

“Albus, we need to talk. Now.” Amelia said and ignored the blustering of the minister and how he wanted to be there as well to discuss things. She lead the headmaster to her office to get a few things straight between them. At least, she hoped they could. The last thing she wanted was to have to fight both a returned dark lord and Albus Dumbledore.

*

“They're going to be fine in a couple of weeks.” The nurse reassured Harry as he sat beside Hermione's bed. She had been attacked with a very dark curse and it left a large scar all the way from her shoulder, across her chest, and down to the opposite hip. Luckily, it had missed her breasts and the scar was between them.

Harry was sure that he wouldn't forgive himself if her breasts had been mangled in any way. “Thank you.”

“I need to check you now.” The nurse said and Harry let her check him over. She took several scans with her wand and her face changed to look like a sour lemon. “There's no way you received all of these injuries tonight.”

Harry pulled on his righteous anger and let it cool before he spoke. “Years of abuse by my relatives and various injuries and attacks at school.” He said and pointed to the couple of bruises and cuts he had received tonight. “Only those are fresh.”

The nurse shivered at his cold tone, then she nodded and left without a word.

Harry wasn't sure what she was going to do, considering she said she was going to treat him. His eyes squinted slightly as two large men came in and he was immediately on guard. His wand was in his hand and he eyed the two men. Neither of them spoke, then they both went for their wands.

Harry quickly swiped his wand across the two men's chests and cast a Diffindo. It might have been the default cutting spell, except for the fact that Harry poured a lot of power into it.

Their robes split open and so did the flesh of their chests underneath. Both men let out gurgles instead of yells and collapsed onto the floor.

Harry wasn't going to take a chance with them coming back after him, not after Bellatrix's lesson, and he cast Crucio onto the both of them and held it on them. To his surprise, this increased the blood pooling on the floor and before they could become vegetables like Bellatrix, both men bled out and died.

Harry nodded and went back to sit beside Hermione's bed. He wasn't in any rush to let the medical staff know that someone had tried to kill him and Hermione.

It took half an hour before a different nurse came in and saw the gruesome sight. She screamed, of course. That made several people run in to see what was going on.

“Yaxley and Mulciber!” Tonks exclaimed when she saw them. “Harry, what happened?”

“Nothing to concern yourself with.” Harry said.

“Harry! I'm an Auror! You have to tell me!”

“Why? You weren't here doing your job before. Why should you do your job now?” Harry asked with the sound of genuine curiosity in his voice.

Tonks' hair flashed different colors before it settled on a deep red. She didn't say anything, though. Yaxley was an Auror and Mulciber was a suspected death eater. There would be no way that they would be here together, so they must have fought each other. She thought while trying to piece the scene together. It didn't match up to her theory, though. They weren't facing each other.

Tonks surveyed everything as she cast preservation charms on everything, then her eyes went to Harry as he twirled his wand in his hand. She stopped herself before she gasped and realized what had really happened. Harry had attacked when they entered the room and killed them. She averted her eyes and didn't want to admit that she had just thought of that young man as a killer.

“Did you figure it out yet?” Harry asked.

“I need to call Madam Bones.” Tonks said and stepped out through the open door.

“Make sure you tell her that you weren't at your post.” Harry said and Tonks didn't say anything as she closed it and locked it. “Wow, they didn't even ask to move Hermione away from the crime scene or treated my injuries.” He chuckled and sat back in the chair. “I knew most wizards and witches were daft; but, this is getting ridiculous.”

It took another half an hour before Amelia Bones herself came into the room and saw the scene.

“Why are you both still here and not secured?” Amelia asked, confused.

“We're just lucky, I guess.” Harry said and showed off his arms. “I still haven't been treated.”

Amelia let out a curse under her breath and looked at the scene for barely a minute. “They came in and tried to attack you, didn't they?”

Harry smiled and nodded. “One overpowered Diffindo and both men went down.”

Amelia looked behind Harry. “They didn't even get a spell off.”

“I couldn't take the chance that Hermione would be hurt again because of me.” Harry said and let out a sigh. “Do you want to check their arms? I'm sure at least one of them has the mark.”

“What makes you say that?” Amelia asked and bent to look.

“Voldemort wouldn't send anyone too lowly against me, not now that he knows what I'll do to them.”

Amelia sucked in a breath at his words, because she remembered an unconscious Bellatrix on the floor. “You're right. Both are marked.” She said to cover her slip. “Yaxley's an Auror.”

Harry shrugged. “Tonks knew both men by name and she assumed I killed them in cold blood.”

Amelia sighed. “She would, considering she didn't take into account where you were in relation to the two men. They had to stand side by side in a fighting stance to be wounded like they were.”

Harry nodded. “Are you going to charge me?”

Amelia gave him a pointed look. “I really should.” She said and then her look softened. “Except we both know that would play right into Voldemort's plans.”

Harry nodded again and stood to hold his wand out. “Do you want to check it?”

“No, you admitted to doing it, so there's no need.” Amelia said and looked back down at the two bodies. “They really are going to come after you.”

“They have been since I was a baby.” Harry said and sat back down.

Amelia nodded and her eyes went to Hermione. “They also know your weakness.”

“We won't stay weak for long.” Harry said and his hand took Hermione's. “Even as we are now, we still held off and defeated twelve death eaters. Even experienced Aurors haven't done that.”

Amelia didn't admit that he was right. She could see that he knew it was true, anyway. “I'll have someone come and gather these up and clean the mess.”

“If you meet Tonks or Kingsley, can you make sure that they don't leave the door unguarded again? I don't want to add more bodies to my conscience tonight.”

“I can guarantee it.” Amelia almost growled. “Tonks will be put on suspended pay for two weeks and both she and Kingsley will be on night shift for the next month.”

“That doesn't sound like a good punishment for dereliction of duty.” Harry commented.

Amelia smiled crookedly. “They call it the graveyard shift for a reason.”

Harry blinked his eyes for a moment and then barked a laugh. “Okay, I get it.” He said. “Thank you.”

“It seems you're going to be in trouble for the foreseeable future and I have a feeling that after tonight, we are all going to need to keep you around a lot more than we all suspected we needed you.” Amelia said and left the room.

Harry sat there for a long time before a group of Aurors and several cleaning staff came in. The bodies were stripped and tagged, as were the clothes and items, and the blood cleaned up with a few swipes of their wands.

Almost right afterwards, a nurse and a healer came in. They didn't say anything and checked on Hermione after asking Harry to step aside and let her hand go. When they were done with her, the healer checked Harry over. He almost had the same reaction as the first nurse had.

“We have to admit you to start your treatment.” The man said.

“Only if you put me in this room with Hermione.” Harry said.

The man gave him an odd look, then nodded.

Thus started Harry's lengthy hospital stay under Auror protection.

*

“How did he live with all of that underlying pain?” A male healer asked his co-worker as they looked over Harry's medical history.

“I think that poor boy has such a high pain tolerance that most normal injuries don't seem to even register anymore.” The other healer said and she shook her head. “He's only fifteen and some of those broken bones are at least a decade old. I don't even want to mention the diluted basilisk venom in his veins.”

“How did you get the potions to work properly on him?” A healer in training asked as she came into the room. “It's been bugging me for a week!”

The male healer laughed. “I had to add a single phoenix tear to each one.”

“WHAT?!?” Both women gasped.

“How can he afford such an expense?” The training healer asked.

“Actually, a phoenix popped in and cried a single drop into each potion before I gave them to the patient.”

Both women stared at him like he was insane.

“It's true. I even saved a pensive memory because I never want to forget something like that!”

*

“Finally!” Hermione said happily as she and Harry were discharged and they walked down the stairs slowly. “I was getting sick of the hospital food.”

Harry chuckled and gave her a sideways glance as she clung to his arm for balance. “Are you sure it wasn't the company?”

Hermione laughed and shook her head. “You were the only thing keeping me sane.”

“You definitely look a lot better now than you did when you went in.” Harry commented.

“Hey, are you saying I was ugly going in and now I look decent?” Hermione asked and mock glared at him.

“Wh-what? No! No, I... I only meant...” Harry stammered, almost panicking.

Hermione laughed and leaned her head on his shoulder for a moment. “I'm just joking.” She came to a stop on a landing to rest for a moment and turned to look at Harry's face. “It was odd hearing you react like that, though.”

Harry wasn't sure why he felt a bit flustered, so he used the same technique he used when fighting Voldemort and let it flow over him to calm his mind. “Hermione, you are a very beautiful witch. I've never commented on it, because we're best friends and I'm scared to take the chance that if we did get together, my love for you will change and I'll lose my best friend and only have a girlfriend.”

Hermione stared at him and she had stopped breathing. She had almost seen a physical change in Harry as he calmed down and then his words shocked her to her soul. It took her thirty seconds to remember to breathe and took a deep breath to compensate for the lack of oxygen.

“You... you love me?” Hermione asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“I always have.” Harry admitted. “Even before I saved you from that troll, I snuck glances at you and admired your brown bushy hair.”

“Wh-wh-what?” Hermione gasped.

“I was so jealous. You had all that nice hair and all I had was a messy mop that can't be combed. I stopped trying when the last one broke and that was two years ago.”

Hermione laughed and then covered her mouth. “I shouldn't laugh.”

“Why not? That was funny.” Harry said. “It took me two weeks and a dozen showers to get all the plastic prongs dug out.”

Hermione snorted and then laughed loudly.

“I love your laugh.” Harry said and lightly touched her face before cupping her cheek tenderly. “I also really like your smooth skin and your brown eyes with all that intelligence behind them.”

Hermione blushed and didn't know what to do. She had never felt like this while around Harry before and it showed. In fact, it was a little scary how she was reacting.

Harry smiled and nodded. “You see? It's scary, isn't it?”

Hermione nodded back. “It's like... what can it be like if... well...”

“I know. We might lose ourselves to each other.” Harry said and his thumb caressed her skin. “I've been kind of a jerk for a long time, mainly out of habit from how I was raised. I'm sorry for all of the hateful things I've ever said in the heat of the moment. I never meant anything by it, because I was hurting and let people dictate how I acted and what I did with my life.”

“I know.” Hermione said and she put her hand on Harry's that was still on her cheek. “I never took what you said personally, even if someone else did.”

Harry chuckled. “Ron. Yeah, I know.”

Hermione saw an opportunity and she wondered what this calm and articulate Harry would say. “What do you think of Ron?”

“He's a jealous idiot that can't stand it when I get attention, even though he's getting it or causing it while hanging around with me, which I suspect is exactly why he does hang around me.” Harry said, to her surprise. “If I gave him a thousand galleons, he would piss it all away on junk and not save any of it like he should.”

Hermione wasn't sure what to say to that, because that did sound like something Ron would do.

“I can prove it with a small test.” Harry said and motioned to the stairwell. “They all should be waiting at the bottom of the stairs in the lobby. I'll bet you a single kiss that he'll do exactly what I said.”

Hermione wanted to say no, she really did, then Harry's knowing look made her choose to watch his test. She needed to know if Harry was right, because it would show what Ron was going to be like if he ever got a job and spending money.

“What do I get if I win?”

Harry winked at her and led her down the next two flights of stairs, paused at the landing to let her rest for a moment, then kept going. They reached the bottom floor and a bunch of people were there waiting for them, mainly the Weasleys and several members of the Order of the Phoenix.

Notable by their absence were Tonks and Kingsley. The night shift was not a good work shift and Harry was very happy with Amelia about it. Remus also not being there was a blow to his heart that he wasn't going to acknowledge until he absolutely had to.

“Hermione!” Several of the group of people exclaimed and came over to greet her properly.

“Take her arm until I come back, will you?” Harry asked Mr. Weasley. “I need to use the bathroom.”

“Of course, Harry.” Mr. Weasley said and took his place as Harry walked off down the hall.

When Harry was alone, he ducked into the owl office and wrote a quick note. He sent it off to Gringotts and waited to see that it was gone. He nodded his thanks to the man manning the counter after paying for the quick delivery and went back to the group.

“Thank you, Mr. Weasley.” Harry said and resumed his spot by giving Hermione his arm to hold.

Hermione gave him a sly look and kept talking to the people around her.

“We better get you back to headquarters. You need your rest!” Molly Weasley said and started to usher them all out of the lobby and out the large picture window. She called the Knight Bus with her wand hand and it arrived a minute later.

“I suggest a sticking charm on your seat and on the legs.” Harry said and did just that to a small couch, before he cast cushioning charms on the other chairs and couches. He sat down and carefully sat Hermione beside him, making sure that his body would block anything coming towards them.

Hermione's heart fluttered at the care he was showing her, even though he was still in his calm state. When everyone was sitting down, she leaned in close to Harry to whisper in his ear.

“How can you still feel emotions when you're so calm like this?” Hermione asked.

Harry turned his head to face hers and his lips lightly brushed hers.

Hermione blushed at the contact and quickly turned her head to give him her ear.

“I still feel everything. I'm just using my calm to keep my head completely clear of everything that's not important.” Harry whispered, which pleased Hermione. “You don't know how happy I am that you already figured out when I'm using my new calm technique.”

“Harry.” Hermione breathed. “Why are you... um...”

“It's not on purpose.” Harry whispered and then his lips touched her ear. “Well, that was.”

Hermione blushed again and was glad that no one was looking at them right then. She really didn't know what to do with this version of Harry and she wasn't sure if her heart could take much more.

The ride on the bus continued on for nearly ten minutes before they arrived at their destination. They had dropped off several other witches and wizards that were on the bus before reaching the street where they needed to go. Harry set the walking pace for himself and Hermione and only one person stayed near them. Alastor Moody. He had a peg leg and actually liked that at least one other person wasn't in a rush.

“Home, sweet home!” Molly exclaimed and opened the front door.

Harry bristled at her and hissed in a harsh whisper. “Not so loud! Do you want everyone on the street to know we're here? There could be death eaters right there in the small park!”

Molly and a few of the Weasleys gasped at his words and Alastor nodded.

“Good lad. You've got the right mindset for this.” Alastor said before anyone could get angry at Harry for admonishing Molly. “The Fidelus charm really needs to be applied with the previous owner no longer around.” He waved everyone in and closed the door behind them.

“I'll get supper started.” Molly said and walked off, her expression was off from her normal one.

Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Alastor's face.

“He fought the good fight and he died doing what he always wanted to do.” Alastor whispered. “Taking care of you.”

Harry took a deep breath and nodded.

“You should take the young lady up to her room to rest and you can bring some food up to her later.” Mr. Weasley suggested.

Hermione thought about it and shook her head. “I'd rather be in the kitchen with everyone else for a bit, if that's okay. I've been mostly alone in my room for two weeks.”

Harry smiled at her, knowing that she really wanted to witness what he planned for Ron.

“All right, as long as you tell us as soon as you feel tired.” Mr. Weasley said and they followed everyone into the kitchen where Molly already had several pots and pans cooking food.

They had barely settled down when there was a tap on the kitchen window. Fred opened it and a Gringotts owl flew in and landed in front of Ron.

“What's this?” Ron asked and took the note on the owl's leg. “NO WAY!”

“What is it?” Ginny asked and looked over his shoulder. “WHAT! NO WAY!”

Hermione clamped her mouth shut and tried to not say anything or laugh at their outbursts and bulging eyes.

“Ron, hand it over.” Mr. Weasley said and Ron handed it to him. “Oh, my.”

“Dad?” George asked.

“It's a voucher from Gringotts.” Mr. Weasley said, his voice filled with disbelief. “It claims it's compensation for damages he sustained in the Ministry.”

“Wow! How much is it for?” Fred asked and sat down beside his twin.

“I... I shouldn't say.” Mr. Weasley handed it back to Ron, who was beaming with the biggest grin he had ever had on his face.

“It's for a hundred galleons!” Ginny told them and everyone reacted with surprise while Molly nearly dropped her stirring spoon.

“What are you going to do with it all?” Molly asked. “You really should put it aside for emergencies and...”

“I'M GONNA SPEND IT!” Ron yelled. “New robes! Quiddich gloves that aren't worn out! Ooo, maybe even see if I can get a nice broom out of it! No, it's not enough for one of the good ones. I know! I need to check out the owl order catalogues. There's a wizard chess set made of crystal that I've been eyeing for ages! It even self repairs! I should get that!”

Harry and Hermione did their best to not react differently from everyone else, even though they both wanted to laugh their asses off.

“I think Mr. Weasley was right before. Hermione needs to go to bed a bit early.” Harry said and she nodded in agreement. He helped her stand and they left the kitchen at a slower than normal walking pace.

No one commented on it because they were only focused on Ron's sudden windfall.

Harry brought Hermione up to her room and as soon as he shut and locked the door, Hermione cast the silence spell on it and burst out laughing.

“H-Harry! You were right!” Hermione said between laughs. “Oh! Ohh! My chest is starting to hurt! I shouldn't laugh so hard!”

Harry sat her down on the bed and his hand lightly rubbed her back to try and calm her down.

Hermione's laughs eased off and she took several deep breaths. “Their reactions... as if they've... never seen that much money at once.”

Harry nodded. “That's kind of the problem with them.”

“What do you mean?” Hermione asked as one of her hands absently rubbed the spot between her breasts where the scar was. It would take a month of potions to start fading, according to the healers at the hospital. Her other hand was in Harry's and she couldn't remember how it got there.

“You saw their reaction.” Harry said and his hand on her back made slow circular motions. “If they knew how rich we really were, I think they would start resenting us.”

“What? No, that... can't be true?” Hermione said as if it was a question.

“Ron already resents me, mainly because he just assumes I've got money from all the Harry Potter books and things.” Harry said. “By the way, I don't. They are using my name and likeness without permission.”

Hermione gasped. “Harry! You need to sue and...”

“There are no copyright laws in the wizarding world.” Harry said.

“What? No! That... can't be true...” Hermione stopped talking and looked into his eyes. She saw the truth there. “You've already checked?”

“Sirius did. His cousin-in-law is a lawyer that crosses both the muggle and wizarding world.”

Hermione almost snorted a laugh. “Cousin-in-law?”

“It was quicker than saying his disowned cousin's muggle husband.” Harry shrugged. “He's also Tonks' father.”

“Okay, small world.” Hermione said ad he nodded. “So, what are you going to do about it?”

“Nothing.”

“Harry...”

“The Ministry and the press have been calling me barmy for a year now. No one will listen to anything I claim now, no matter if it's real or completely fabricated.”

Hermione sighed. “I can see that.” She said and she squeezed his hand. “I'm sorry.”

“Why? It's not like you're publishing stories about me and not paying me for it.” Harry said.

“I could!” Hermione joked. “You're not keeping your brand protected, Mister Potter!”

Harry chuckled and the two of them sat there for several minutes in silence.

“Harry.” Hermione whispered and he turned his head to look at her. “You won the bet.”

Harry's face formed a small smile and Hermione's heart beat a little faster. “Maybe you want what you would have won instead?”

“Oh? What was that?” Hermione asked, curiously.

“Lay down and relax.” Harry said and he moved to allow her to lay on the bed properly. He sat down by her feet and then he lifted them to rest them on his lap.

“What are you... ohhhh.” Hermione moaned as Harry started to massage her feet. “How... mmm... did you learn... ahhh... to do that?”

“My aunt. She hated housework and cooking, so when she had to do it for Vernon's work associates and I wasn't allowed to help, she made me do this for her sore feet.” Harry admitted. “The stupid bint always wore high heels in preparation for the night and they always squished her toes.”

Hermione let out a laugh and then moaned. “Harry, you... are you okay with...”

“I'm fine. Even if I wasn't staying calm through all of this, I would still enjoy making you happy.”

“But, you learned...”

“I can cook like a master chef, clean like a professional cleaner, and massage like a masseuse. All lessons I learned at the end of a broom handle and frying pan. The wrong end, in case you're wondering.”

“Oh, Harry.” Hermione sighed. “You can stop now.”

Harry gave her feet one last rub and then he moved up on the bed to lay beside her. “I'm sorry I ruined your mood.”

Hermione turned her head to look at his calm face. “Can you stop calming yourself for a minute?”

“Of course.” Harry said and the change was almost physical. “Oh, damn. I really did it. I set Ron up to prove he's an idiot.”

Hermione barked a laugh and then her hand reached up to cup the side of Harry's face. “You can claim your winnings now.”

Harry's eyes widened and his face flushed red. “Hermione, I said that... as a joke. Yeah, a joke. I only wanted to see if you would gamble for something so precious...”

Hermione smiled and slid her hand behind his head before she pulled him close and kissed him like her life depended on it. She wanted him to know that it was Harry she was kissing and not his calm demeanor.

Harry wasn't stupid and he responded in kind. He didn't even try to use the technique, as if he knew that Hermione wouldn't enjoy it as much if he did. She wouldn't have asked him to stop, otherwise.

The kiss lasted for several minutes and they were both very careful of her injuries. Neither of them wanted pain to be associated with their first kiss. When they eventually broke apart, they were both blushing fiercely.

“W-w-wow.” Harry whispered and stared at the blushing girl in front of him. “I mean... that was brilliant.”

That only made Hermione blush more and she bit her lower lip to try and fight against it.

“That was even better than I ever imagined.” Harry said and his hand lightly brushed her hair. “I can't believe... our first kiss...” He chuckled. “How the bloody hell are we going to top that?”

“Language!” Hermione said and then laughed. “Yeah, that was definitely worth a 'wow'.”

The two of them laid there and just looked into each other's eyes without saying anything, until someone's stomach rumbled.

“I couldn't tell if that was me or you.” Harry said with a crooked smile. “I better go and get something for us.”

Hermione nodded and she watched as Harry carefully climbed off the bed and cast finite on the door. He unlocked it and pulled it open, only to see Ginny tumble into the room and fall on the floor.

“I'm not even going to ask what you were doing.” Harry said and walked past her. “I'll be right back with something to eat, Hermione.”

“What were you doing?” Ginny asked in an accusing tone.

“Listening to my stomach rumble.” Hermione said in response.

Harry held in his laugh and jogged down the stairs. He went to the kitchen and saw several dishes of food out, so he quickly did up two plates and left before anyone could ask him anything. He walked back up the stairs and saw that the room's door was still open.

“We were only talking.” Hermione said. “No matter how many different ways you ask, the answer is still the same.”

Harry didn't want to be angry at Ginny, so he used his calming technique and stepped into the doorway. “You know, one of the definitions of a crazy person is that they repeat the same thing multiple times and expect a different result each time.”

“Harry!” Hermone and Ginny gasped at the same time.

“What? Ginny just has to stop repeating herself and everything will be fine.” Harry said and walked over to the bed. “Do you need a hand sitting up, Hermione?”

“No, I got it.” Hermione said and eased herself up into a sitting position, then she slid back and rested against the headboard. She accepted the plate of food that Harry handed her. “Thank you.”

Harry sat on the end of the bed and the two of them ate in silence as Ginny sat on the other bed and practically glared at the both of them. Harry ignored her, because he didn't want to deal with her jealousy. He had a feeling that the little trick he had played on Ron was starting to sink in for her. It was a little surprising to Harry that Ginny was more like Ron than he wanted to admit. The look in her eyes said it all, though.

Harry glanced at Hermione and he saw the calculating look on her face. He held in the smile that wanted to escape, because it looked like she had just come to the same conclusion. He stayed quiet and continued to eat, a bit slower than he normally would, just to tease Ginny a little more and see if she said anything. He didn't have to wait long.

“I think we need to get some sleep, Hermione.” Ginny said, even though both Hermione and Harry had food left on their plates.

Hermione didn't respond and her movements slowed down, just like Harry's, and drew out finishing off the food. By the time the last spoonful was in her mouth, Ginny was practically growling in frustration.

Harry didn't comment that she made it worse for herself by trying to rush them. He finished his own and took Hermione's plate. “I'll be right back with the drink I forgot to get you before.”

“I'LL GET IT!” Ginny yelled and took off running out the door.

Hermione put a hand on her chest and tried to only laugh softly. She didn't want to aggravate her injury. “She really wants you out of here to grill me about the time we spent together today.”

“I'll bet you another kiss that she's going to ask about us staying in the same room at the hospital.” Harry said and put the plates on the nightstand.

“That's a sucker bet. I'd lose as soon as that door closes with you on the other side.” Hermione said and her mouth twisted a little into a crooked smile. “I accept.”

Harry chuckled and bent down to kiss her on the lips. “I'll see you tomorrow.”

Hermione nodded as Harry picked up the plates again. Before he reached the door, she spoke. “Harry, I want you to consider something.”

Harry turned to see what she was going to say.

“Maybe changing best friend to best girlfriend won't be so bad.” Hermione said in a soft voice.

Harry immediately dropped his calming technique and let a huge smile appear on his face. He saw her blush and used the calming technique again before he stepped out into the hallway. It was just in time, because Ginny ran up the stairs with a glass of pumpkin juice.

“I'll take that.” Harry said and plucked it out of her hands. “Hermione can't drink something so sweet.”

“What?!?” Ginny gasped and looked at her now empty hand. “We have it at school all the time!”

“No, you and Ron do.” Harry said and leaned back into the room. “I'll come back with a glass of water in a minute.”

“Thank you, Harry.” Hermione said. She appreciated that he respected her parents by making sure she didn't indulge too much in sweet things.

Harry left a surprised Ginny at the top of the stairs and jogged down the stairs. He didn't drink the glass, because he suspected there was something in it. Ginny had been gone for too long if she ran both ways to the kitchen. He poured it into the troll leg umbrella stand that no one used anyway and went to the kitchen. He left the dishes in the sink and took a clean glass.

“How is she doing? I hope she's resting. Did she eat it all by herself?” Molly asked.

Harry nodded and filled the glass with water. He left the kitchen without saying anything, because it was still filled with the Weasleys and Order members. After everything that happened, he didn't want to start a conversation with any of them right now. He went up the stairs and once again heard Ginny trying to pester Hermione about her time in the hospital.

Harry stepped in and saw Ginny as she stood by Hermone's bed and loomed over her. “Ginny, that's enough.” He said in a very cold tone.

Ginny jerked like she had been slapped and turned to look at him, clearly embarrassed.

“Hermione needs to rest, not be interrogated.” Harry said and walked over to the bed. “Either leave her alone or I'm moving you to another room.”

“You can't do that!” Ginny said. “Only mom can...”

“I own this house now, so yes, I can tell the people staying here on my good graces, where they can sleep and how they act towards my other guests.” Harry said and handed Hermione the glass of water. “Do not make me move you to another room to prove it.”

Ginny opened her mouth to speak and Harry whipped out his wand and silenced her.

“Get your things and go across the hall. You can bunk with Ron from now on.” Harry ordered and saw her mouthing the words 'what about you?'. “I'll be moving into this room, just to spite you and your unfair attitude towards Hermione. For the rest of the summer, you'll be wondering what we're doing in here behind a silenced and locked door.”

Hermione took in a sharp breath and saw Ginny's face flush bright red.

“Now get your things like I ordered you to and leave Hermione alone. If I catch you attacking her verbally one more time, I'll kick you out of my house.” Harry said and Ginny looked shocked. “If you don't think I'll do it because of the danger, you're mistaken. I've faced Voldemort four times now and lived. Kicking a little girl out of my house is literally nothing in comparison to that.”

Ginny looked on the verge of tears and didn't move.

“I won't ask again.” Harry said and took a step towards her and glared at her. “Get. Out. Now.”

Ginny burst out crying, which was still silenced, and she grabbed a few things from beside her bed and ran from the room.

“Harry, wasn't that a little harsh?” Hermione whispered as she clung to the half-empty glass of water.

Harry nodded and sat beside her. “I expect to hear Molly shriek in horror in about five minutes.”

Hermione's eyes widened at his words. “You're doing it on purpose?”

Harry smiled. “Ginny ran out to get that juice and I caught her running back up the stairs. There's no way she took that long in the kitchen without putting something in that juice.”

Hermione caught her breath and she stared at the water she held. “I didn't think of that.”

“Make sure you don't drink anything that Molly, Ron, or Ginny hand you. In fact, don't drink anything that you didn't get yourself or I gave to you.”

Hermione sighed. “You're right. Ginny would have to get whatever was in that juice from someone.”

Harry nodded again. “Let's see what Molly has to say... in three... two... one.”

“HE DID WHAT?!?” Molly shrieked and it easily carried all the way up to their rooms. It even set off the painting of Walburga Black.

Hermione clamped her mouth shut to stop her laugh. Harry winked at her and went over to the door. She expected him to shut it when she heard the heavy clomping of feet that approached and all Harry did was stand in the hallway with his arms crossed.

The following scene would be burned into Hermione's mind for years. Harry stood resolute as Molly raged and complained, accused and verbally berated him, and all Harry did was calmly tell her that if she didn't like how things were in his house, she was free to leave at any time. He even offered to pack her bags for her. Molly had tried, quite fruitlessly, to get Ginny back into Hermione's room.

Harry stood there and didn't move. “I already told Ginny to leave her alone on threat of being kicked out.” He said and squinted his eyes at the older woman. “Do I need to make the same threat to you?”

Molly seemed to deflate a little at that. She shook her head and the other Weasleys watched in shock as their mother walked away.

“You can't talk to my mother like that!” Ron said when she was out of sight.

“You just saw that I did.” Harry said with a shrug. “The same goes for you. If you don't like it, the door's right there. Have fun finding somewhere safer than this place.”

Ron's face went red and he balled his hands into fists. He really didn't want to bunk with his sister, and yet, he also didn't want to leave the rest of his family. In the end, he just went into his room and slammed the door.

“If you break it, you bought it.” Harry called through the door. “I heard you have some money now, so I'd be more careful in my house if I were you.” He ignored the muffled reply.

Ginny wouldn't look at him as she entered the same room and closed the door normally. No one else said anything and left the hallway, which left Harry standing there alone. He waited for a couple of minutes, sure that someone from the Order would try to approach him, and sure enough a woman named Emmeline Vance came to him.

“Harry, Dumbledore gave me a message for you.” Emmeline said.

“Is he bringing Hermione and I our school things? We can't go to the school to get them ourselves.”

Emmeline sighed. “He's coming here tomorrow night to discuss what happened at the ministry.”

“Well, he's in for a surprise, because Madam Bones declared it a secret and made us give an oath to never speak of it or what she discovered during her investigation.” Harry said and almost laughed at the look of shock on her face. “Anything else?”

Emmeline shook her head.

“Thanks for wasting my time, then. Can you let Dumbledore know? Thanks. Goodnight.” Harry said and entered Hermione's room before he shut the door on the woman's surprised face.

Hermione cast silence on the door and laughed.

Harry locked the door and walked over to her. He settled down on the bed beside her and she leaned into him as his arm went around her back.

“I'm going to remember that for the rest of my life.” Hermione said and laughed a little more as her hand rubbed the scar between her breasts. “You need to stop making me laugh so hard.”

“I can kiss it and make it better.” Harry offered and Hermione's face flushed to a deep red.

“Oh, god.” Hermione whispered.

“I promise that I'll only flirt a little. I don't want to tease you too much while you're hurt.” Harry said. “I've waited five years to admit how I felt about you, so I have no problem with waiting another month or so.”

Hermione turned her face to look at him and he gave her a feather light kiss on the lips. “Harry.”

“I don't have a lot of experience with things like this and I hope you can be patient while we figure things out. Is that okay?”

Hermione looked into his eyes and saw that he was being sincere. “It's more than okay. It's perfect.”

Harry smiled briefly and gave her another kiss. “Are you tired?”

“Yes. I should lay down.” Hermione said and after a few awkward moves and slightly dishevelled clothes, she had her head on her pillow and stared into Harry's eyes. “I really should get changed.”

“I'm not stopping you.” Harry said with a lopsided grin, which made her laugh.

“Do you really want to see me in just my knickers?” Hermione asked, half-teasingly.

“I'm the one that's supposed to flirt. Don't take my job, dammit.” Harry said and she laughed some more. “I'll step out to give you some privacy.”

“Thank you.” Hermione said and watched as he did exactly as he said after dispelling the silence spell. She changed carefully, so she didn't strain her scar, and she climbed back into bed. “I'm decent.”

Harry came back in with a bundle of clothing in his arms. He closed and locked the door before he cast the silence spell and went to what was now his bed.

Hermione's breathing sped up as Harry stripped off right there in front of her. She had seen him do it a few times during their time at the hospital and it didn't bother her. This time, though... all she could think about as she watched him disrobe was that he had lean muscles all over and he had filled out a lot more than she had noticed before.

Harry stood there in just his boxers and turned to give Hermione nearly a full frontal view. “I can almost feel your eyes on me.”

Hermione blushed. “I'm sorry, I... I didn't meant to stare.”

Harry walked over to her and he could hear her heartbeat speed up. “I wasn't complaining.” He said and pointed to his eyes.

Hermione caught her breath when she didn't see that he was using his calming technique, then his lips were on hers and all thought seemed to stop in her brain. Her hand reached up and rubbed his chest and she moaned a little into his mouth as his hand caressed her face and didn't try to copy what she was doing to him.

Harry broke the kiss and stepped back. “Goodnight, Hermione.”

“G-g-goodnight, H-Harry.” Hermione stammered in response. She watched as he climbed into bed with just his boxers on and her eyes widened. “W-wait, what were those clothes you were carrying? I thought they were pyjamas.”

“No, that's my outfit for tomorrow. I always sleep in just my boxers.” Harry said and flicked his wand towards the light to make it go out.

He's actually good at flirting even when he's not using his calming technique. Hermione thought and tried to not imagine being there in his bed next to him with just her own underwear on.

*

Albus Dumbledore was not a happy man. A lot of his plans had been derailed over the last two weeks while Harry was in the hospital. His stranglehold on information that was vital to fighting Voldemort had been loosened to the point that almost everyone now knew what he knew. He still had some secrets, big secrets, and he would only reveal some of them to Harry during their long postponed meeting.

His thoughts on Harry were worrying, mainly after what had happened at the Ministry. He couldn't figure out how Harry had stopped Voldemort's mental attack. How did he break a Legillimency probe? If he couldn't figure out how Harry did it, he couldn't take the chance by using his own to see what happened that night.

Perhaps if he weakened his emotional state by revealing the prophecy, Harry's mental defenses might be weak enough for Albus to slip a subtle probe in. It only detected surface thoughts; but, if he mentioned that night first, it should be all Harry is thinking about and the details would be easy to see.

His plan set, he gathered a few things from his office to leave for headquarters. Albus hoped to bring Harry along to try and entice an old teacher to come out of his retirement. He just had a few places to visit to track the man down before going to Grimmauld Place for the Order meeting that evening. As he left his office and stepped past the gargoyle that protected the entrance, he saw Emmeline Vance walking down the hallway towards him.

“I'm glad I caught you before you left, Albus.” Emmeline said and then relayed what had happened with Harry the night before. “I would have sent an owl, except I know that isn't as secure as we hoped it would be.”

Albus nodded and his plans for the evening needed to change. If he couldn't question Harry about the Ministry, how was he going to find out what happened? “Thank you for coming in person so quickly.” He said to the woman and saw her pleased smile. “I'll handle things this evening after the meeting.”

“All right, Albus. I'll let everyone else know.” Emmeline said and walked away.

Albus waited for her to no longer be seen and stepped to the right of his doorway to a blank piece of wall. He placed a hand on it and it opened up to reveal a secret passage. He entered it and arrived at the front of the castle before Emmeline was halfway through the castle.

Being the headmaster has its advantages. Albus thought and walked out past the gates and apparated away. He hoped that Horace Slughorn kept to his old habits of muggle luxury and would be easy to track down.

*

“Good morning, Hermione.” Harry said when he saw his roommate open her eyes.

“Morning.” Hermione said and yawned. “What time is it?”

“No idea.” Harry responded. “I've been sitting here and waiting for you to wake up.”

Hermione blinked her eyes for several moments before she spoke. “You've been watching me sleep?”

“For about three weeks now.” Harry admitted.

“Harry... that's... kind of creepy.” Hermione said.

“Only if I had impure thoughts about you.” Harry said and she had to agree. “I like seeing that peaceful look on your face, like nothing in the world mattered except keeping that look on your face.”

Hermione looked into his eyes and saw he was using his technique. “So, you only had pure thoughts?”

“Oh, no. I've wanted to kiss those lips for ages.” Harry said and watched the blush creep up her face. “I was just worried that if I did, you'd wake up and I wouldn't get to see your sleeping face anymore.”

Hermione sighed and eased herself into a sitting position. It was then that she noticed Harry sat there in just his boxers and he hadn't gotten dressed. “Why are you still like that?”

“I already took a bath and these are different boxers. I wanted to ask if you needed help getting a bath and there's no point in getting dressed if I have to get undressed again.”

“That was well thought out, except for my embarrassment at having you see me naked.” Hermione teased.

“I've got a blindfold.” Harry said and her eyes widened. “I don't want to make you uncomfortable, Hermione. I just want to help and I know Ginny won't treat you well if you ask her to do it.”

Hermione reluctantly nodded. She hadn't had anything except sponge baths for weeks. A good soaking in a tub was needed by now.

Harry smiled reassuringly and came over to the bed to help her get out of it. “Don't worry, I planned everything out. Notice-me-not charms in the hall and the bathroom, extra towels, double the bubbles in the bath. Everything.”

“Really?” Hermione asked as he led her out of the room and down to the large bathroom. “Did you happen to bring gloves to stop you from touching me in... certain places... as you bathe me?”

Harry raised his eyebrows at her and she laughed softly. “I was planning on using the levitation spell, actually.”

It was Hermione's turn to have raised eyebrows. “You did?”

“I told you. I don't want to make you uncomfortable. I also don't want you to think that I'm trying to take advantage of you and your situation.” Harry said and closed the bathroom door with a click, which meant it was now locked. “You're my best friend and I love you too much to do anything like coping a cheap feel.”

Hermione was more than surprised to hear that, because she had assumed that Harry was going to do exactly that and had accepted that he would get a good feel of one of her breasts or caress her butt when his hand eventually 'slipped'.

True to his word, Harry sat her in a chair beside the tub and made sure everything was where it was supposed to be, then he put on a blindfold. He stood there and waited for her to get undressed and didn't say a word.

Hermione took off her pyjama top and left her bra on, waited a moment to see if Harry would react, then she stood and took off her pyjama pants. She waved her hand in front of his face and he didn't move. She went to slap his face as a test and he didn't even flinch. Reassured that he couldn't see anything, she took off her bra and panties before she lightly touched his chest with a hand.

“Help me into the tub.” Hermione said and Harry gently took her arm and helped ease her down and into the water. She wasn't surprised when the bubbles really were thick and went up almost to her neck, covering even a glimpse of her chest. “I'm ready.”

“Right leg, please.” Harry said and scrubbed up a sponge with soap. He reached for the tub and used it as a guide to touch her leg, then proceeded to give her a thorough scrubbing while being gentle about it.

Hermione was surprised at how diligent he was as he moved to the other leg and did the same thing. Harry stopped halfway up her thighs and handed her a different lathered sponge. She finished her legs with one hand and he scrubbed her free arm, then they switched and he cleaned her other arm.

“Do you want to wash your front first or do you want me to do your back first?” Harry asked as he lathered up the sponge again.

“My back, please. I can do the front after that and then soak for a while.” Hermione informed him.

“Good idea. I'll let everyone else know not to use this bathroom.” Harry said and ran his hand along her arm to her shoulder, then he eased her forward and washed her back for her, right down to her lower back and stopped right above her butt. “Wingardium Leviosa.”

Hermione was actually surprised again when Harry easily used the sponge under the water with the levitation spell. She didn't think that was possible and she wasn't sure if she was more pleased with his ingenious use of the spell or frustrated that he didn't try to grab her butt when he had the perfect opportunity.

“I think you got it all.” Hermione said and Harry moved the sponge to her front and let the spell go. He didn't try to catch it or anything, meaning he didn't touch her butt second hand by holding the sponge that had washed her there. She didn't let her growing frustration show as she moved the sponge aside and used a soft cloth to lather and wash her chest.

She had to be very careful to not rub too hard over the scar that went from her shoulder to her hip. She hissed a little as her fingers dug a little too hard when she rubbed her stomach with the cloth.

“Are you okay?” Harry asked, concern in his voice. “Where are you scrubbing?”

“My belly. The cloth snagged the edge of the scar.” Hermione said and stopped moving as Harry's hand found her arm and he ran his fingers down and followed her arm to her belly. He lightly touched the cloth and moved aside, then he gently touched her skin there. It sent a thrill up her spine as his fingertips caressed the healing skin.

“I think you're okay. I can't feel any separation between the scar and your skin.”

“How do you know about things like that?” Hermione whispered, because she was sure she couldn't speak normally with how her emotions were fluctuating.

“Years of my own healing scars.” Harry said and removed his hand. “The healers at St. Mungos think that my magic helped me along and recovered faster. Maybe yours is doing that, too.”

Hermione caught his hand and Harry's turned to hold on. “You really aren't going to try anything, are you? I'm completely naked in front of you and you aren't even going to peek?”

Harry's hand squeezed hers lightly. “I would like nothing more than to rip off this blindfold and see the beautiful girl that I've admired for all these years.” He said and his other hand traced her arm up to her shoulder and then he cupped the side of her face. “I might be a nice guy, but even I can't help myself sometimes.”

“What do you mean?” Hermione asked.

“Don't look down.” Harry suggested.

That made Hermione look down right away and her eyes widened at the prominent tent pole in his boxers. “Oh.”

“I said not to look.” Harry chuckled and let both her face and her hand go. “I'll leave you soak for a while, all right? I'll be back in half an hour or you can holler when you want to get out before then.”

“Okay.” Hermione said and watched as Harry stood. His waist was at the same height as her head now and she blushed at the tent pole that was right there in front of her. She kept her eyes on it as he turned and her imagination was not her friend as it automatically measured the length of what she assumed was barely hidden under the loose cloth.

Harry reached out and carefully walked until his hand touched the wall. He quickly slid his had until it hit the door and he unlocked it and opened it just enough to squeeze out. He went through and closed the door with another click, which meant it was locked again.

Hermione sighed and leaned back in the bath to relax. She tried to calm her nerves down as her mind replayed what had been a wonderful bath. She had never felt so clean or taken care of in her life. She was also tingling a little between her legs and she knew what that meant. Harry had turned her on by being a perfect gentleman and she wondered why her mother hadn't warned her about things like that.

*

It was nearly noon before Harry and Hermione made it downstairs and settled down in the sitting room. There were only a few Weasleys in the house, since Bill was at work at the bank and Mr. Weasley worked at the Ministry. Molly was a stay at home wife and continued to putter around in the kitchen. She had lunch made and sent Ron with it to Harry and Hermione.

Both Harry and Hermione were surprised that Ron acted normally and didn't mention what happened the night before. After he left the jug of juice for each of them, Harry and Hermione exchanged knowing looks. Harry locked the door to the room and thought about vanishing the liquid, then thought better of it and gave Hermione a grin.

“Oh, you can't.” Hermione said and covered her mouth to stifle her laugh.

“If there's nothing in them, nothing will happen at supper tonight, right?” Harry asked and cast preservation charms on both jugs and shrunk them before stashing them for later. “If you would do the honors.” He waved at the tray of food.

Hermione nodded and used the Specialis Revelio spell and two different things glowed on their plates. It showed that both of those items had been modified by something, either a potion or a spell to change them. It didn't reveal what was done or what the food would do, though.

Harry vanished the tainted parts of the food and they ate the remainder. After that, they spent the afternoon talking about all of the things that they couldn't do during the summer. Harry because of the danger that Voldemort and his death eaters presented and Hermione because she had to take it easy as her injury healed.

“Do you really think the headmaster will try to send you back to the Dursleys?” Hermione asked.

“He's done it every year, so yes.” Harry said. “It's just too bad it won't work this time.”

“Why not?” Hermione asked and he gave her a curious look. “I meant that he's probably going to drag you back home or have the Order do it.”

“I am never going back there. It's never been my home and I have no family there. They are just my relatives.” Harry wasn't sure why he felt something inside of him crack and then fade away. It wasn't until he felt magic flood into him that he realized what it much have been.

“Harry? What is it?” Hermione asked at Harry's expression.

“I think the wards on Privet Drive just broke.” Harry said and looked down at his hands. He could almost see the magic flowing through his body. “I never realized how much magic they needed.”

Hermione frowned. “Harry, wards are powered by ward stones and not by the people living there.”

Harry had to laugh. “That's funny, because that's exactly why Dumbledore said I had to go back there every summer.”

Hermione gasped. “You were the anchor?”

“I guess so. Dumbledore said something about blood relations were needed to complete the wards or something last year. I honestly wasn't listening at the time, because he was ignoring my pleas to stay at the castle.”

Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing. “Harry, there's a reason that people aren't used as power for wards. If anything happened, they would draw directly from the person's magic to stay intact.”

Harry opened his mouth to say something, then he realized what she said. “I could have died if anyone attacked the house?”

Hermione's hand reached up and turned his face to her. “Have you ever felt extremely tired for no reason, or after casting an advanced spell?”

“Yeah, hasn't everyone?” Harry asked. “I was just overtired those days and...”

“No, Harry. Someone was testing the wards or strengthening them during those moments. Since you are the power source, any new ward would act like a dampener on your personal magic ability.”

Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. “Oh, bloody hell. I've been protecting those excuses of human beings with my own magic and possibly at the cost of my own life?”

Hermione didn't admonish him for his language. “I'd tell you to calm down, except you're already pushing your technique to its limit, aren't you?”

Harry could only nod and leaned into her hand. The two of them stayed there like that and ignored several thumps from the locked door until it was nearly suppertime. They left the sitting room and Harry snuck the two jugs of juice into the kitchen. He made sure that he helped set the table and put each jug beside the people he wanted to have them. It was a little difficult with nearly every member of the Order showing up for the meal and a meeting afterwards.

Hermione did her best to stay quiet as another one of Harry's experiments was being performed and both Ron and Ginny took drinks from the jugs. She also noticed that Ron was wearing a nice watch that he hadn't had before and she looked at his clothing. It was crisp and new and Ron confirmed that he had spent the whole 'compensation' that Harry had given him, by admitting he had ordered the special chess set and new dress robes that he didn't need.

“It'll be here in the morning. I paid for rush delivery, too.” Ron said and shoved a pork chop into his mouth. The bone was cleaned a few moments later and he chewed with his mouth open. He didn't have much choice with that much food in his mouth.

“I'm sure you'll enjoy playing with yourself.” Harry said and Hermione snorted and bit her lip hard to cut off her laugh.

“Huh? No, Harry. I want you to play with me, too!”

Hermione couldn't stop her bark of laughter this time and changed it to a cough before anyone noticed, except for Harry. He was giving her a wink and she really wanted to smack him for making her laugh with so many people around. She slipped her hand under the table and when she thought she could get away with it, she slapped his thigh and gave him a look that told him he deserved it.

Instead of reacting like she thought, Harry's hand disappeared from sight and she felt him take her hand and put it back on his thigh. She couldn't stop her blush as he moved her hand up and down and made her caress his thigh.

“Are you feeling all right, dear?” Molly asked her.

Hermione jerked slightly and stared at her with wide eyes. “I'm... I'm fine!”

Molly shook her head at the obvious lie. “You've been up for most of the day, so why don't you go back up to your room to rest?”

“I'm not tired. I can stay up for a bit longer.” Hermione said, half in truth and half in protest.

“I'll make sure she gets to her room without veering off or getting lost.” Harry said and let her hand go before he stood. Hermione's hand slid down the inside of his thigh and he turned slightly so that no one else would see it. He helped her up and they left the kitchen with several people telling her to feel better.

“You did that on purpose.” Hermione whispered when they reached the hallway.

“You were the one that smacked my thigh. I couldn't let that go without an appropriate response.”

“How was that appropriate?” Hermione asked when they reached the stairs.

“I made you comfort my poor bruised skin after you caused the bruise.” Harry said with a smirk and put his arm around her waist to help her go up the stairs.

“I don't need this much assistance.” Hermione said, halfheartedly.

“I know.” Harry said and practically carried her up the stairs. They didn't have to pause at the landing to let her rest because Harry pretty much did all the work.

“I thought you said you weren't going to take advantage of me?” Hermione teased and saw his smirk become a grin.

“I'm not. I'm waiting for you to be wearing jeans before I grab your butt.”

Hermione snorted and laughed. “Of course you are.”

“Have you seen your butt in jeans? Sweet Merlin, I just want to dig my hands in there and maul you as I snog you senseless.”

Hermione's face flushed deep red, because that sounded like a very nice thing to have happen. She didn't comment as they entered her room and Harry set her down on the bed.

“What book do you want?” Harry asked and picked up her backpack. “No, wait. You read all of these. I'll be right back.”

Hermione waited for several minutes before Harry came in carrying several books.

“Sirius set these aside for you.” Harry said and Hermione saw that he was using his calming technique. “I'm sure when the will is read, he'll be giving these to you.”

Hermione ignored the books and reached for Harry's face instead. “Let it go, Harry.”

Harry shook his head. “I'm not ready to face it yet. Not yet.”

Hermione pulled him onto the bed and made him sit beside her at the headboard. “He loved you and he... he died protecting you.” She said and tears rolled down her face. “Like Professor Moody said, he died doing what he was meant to do. He couldn't have asked for a better reason.”

Harry stared at her for several moments without saying anything, then his face started to crumble and tears flowed out of his eyes. Hermione couldn't hug him close because of her wound, so she pulled his head down onto her lap and stroked his hair as he cried. He hugged her thighs instead of her body and let it all out.

Harry was silent at first, then it quickly devolved into outright sobbing and crying. His pained wails would have shaken the whole house if Hermione hadn't cast the silence charm on the door. It broke her heart to see her best friend lose it like this, which meant he had been holding back a lot more pain and guilt than she had assumed.

Thankfully, no one tried to disturb them.

*

Albus Dumbledore stepped inside the doorway of Grimmauld Place like he owned it. He was in his element as the leader of the Order, and strode down the hallway to go to the kitchen. As he passed the stairway that went up to the rooms, he felt a very strong fluctuation in the magic inside the house. It was centered in one of the upstairs rooms and he let out a sigh. He knew it was Harry, because it felt familiar to what he had felt the few times he had been near Harry after some accidental magic.

He ignored it for now and went to the kitchen where the other members of the Order were waiting for the meeting to start. He had a few things to tell them and hoped that Severus had something new to report from Voldemort's camp.

“Good evening, everyone.” Albus said as his eyes roamed over everyone. He caught Tonks' and Kingsley's tired eyes and both of them nodded. “Molly, if you could have the children go to the sitting room to wait...”

The children protested, like they always did, and the woman ushered them out with her hands and threats. Albus tried to not laugh at their antics and he waited for Molly to return before speaking.

“After the events at the Ministry, things have been moving at both a fast pace and going slowly.” Albus said. “The minister...”

“...will be out by the end of the week.” Kingsley Shacklebolt said and rubbed his face. “The idiot tried to spin everything into a public relations problem and told them that it was not his fault.”

A bunch of the others laughed and he smiled.

“They tore him to shreds and are singing Harry Potter's praises.”

“Wait, you said Harry and not Albus?” Dedalus Diggle asked.

“Before Amelia ordered the lockdown on the investigation, a few of the secretaries let slip what Harry had said in the Atrium that night.” Kingsley said.

“Oh, that's not good.” Tonks said and a few people nodded. They had all heard about Harry saying it was also Dumbledore's fault.

“The press are running with it, especially by making Harry out to being abused by both the Ministry and Hogwarts, even though it was the press that had done it on the Minister's orders.”

“They talked to students?” A woman's voice asked.

“School is out right now and the students are easily accessible.” Tonks responded. “I wonder who they talked to?”

“I don't think that matters anymore.” Albus said, in an attempt to divert their attention from students onto more important matters. “I think we need to put forth our candidate for Minister before the opposition does.”

“Do you think Scrimgeor will accept the nomination?” Tonks asked.

Kingsley gave an uncharacteristic snort of laughter. “He's been eyeing Amelia's job for two years and has been trying to convince her to retire or move to another department.”

“He's definitely ambitious.” Emmeline Vance agreed. “Jumping over a head of department position to the Minister's job would appeal to anyone.”

Albus smiled slightly as nearly everyone at the table nodded. “Very good.” He said and looked at certain people. “Please spread the word and encourage anyone you think will support him. The more people we have behind him before the nomination, the better.”

After that, a few things were discussed, namely that Severus didn't have anything to report. It was odd, considering Voldemort's aggressive stance. They all expected him to try and push his own candidate.

“Well, as long as you all keep an eye out for anything else happening, we should have time to prepare an appropriate counter.” Albus said and they all agreed.

The meeting broke up and Albus stayed at the table without moving as he bid them all a good evening. He knew that a lot were going to stay the night, because it was late and there was lots of room in the large house.

“What is it, Albus?” Molly asked when everyone else had left.

“I cannot decide what to do with Harry.” Albus said with a sigh. “Since the night at the ministry...”

“He just needs some time to deal with it.” Molly said. “He didn't get to spend much time with Sirius, so he should be over it fairly quickly.”

Albus didn't want to remind her that Harry had just lost the only real family he had left. He suspected that the Dursleys didn't count, especially if all the times that Harry had begged to stay at the castle was any indication. He didn't sigh at the thought of making Harry go back there for the summer. It had to be done, however. He had already let it go past the normal safety margin by not having Harry's medical treatment done at home.

If the boy wasn't back at Privet Drive before the wards started to fail, bad things would start to happen before Albus could stop them.

“I need to talk to Harry for a few minutes.” Albus said and stood.

“He's upstairs in... Hermione's room.” Molly said, hesitatingly.

“Excuse me?” Albus asked and blinked his eyes, the twinkle suddenly absent.

“He moved Ginny out of there and moved himself in.” Molly said. “I tried to put a stop to it...”

Albus immediately imagined how that conversation went, considering how she acted when Sirius was in charge. “I will talk to him about it.”

“Thank you, Albus!” Molly said, assuming the matter was now handled. “I'll let Ginny know she can move back tomorrow.”

“Molly, don't be too hasty...” Albus tried to warn her.

“Nonsense. He has never said no to anything you asked him to do.” Molly said and stood up herself. “I'll clean up and give Ginny the good news.”

Albus sighed under his breath and left the kitchen. He headed for the stairs and wasn't surprised to see the umbrella stand was knocked over, since Tonks usually kicked the thing every time she passed by. What was surprising was the yellow puddle on the floor. Albus hoped it wasn't what he suspected and waved his wand to check what it was.

Pumpkin juice with... is that a lust potion keyed to Ron Weasley? Albus asked himself. He shook his head and vanished it. What the kids did on their own wasn't any of his business.

Albus went up the stairs after standing the umbrella stand up and went to Hermione's room. He knocked on the door and there was no response. He waved his wand and checked to see the door was locked manually and a silence spell was on it. He didn't want to just barge in, so he subtly weakened the silence spell enough to listen.

Harry's distinct crying nearly broke the old man's heart. Albus stood there and leaned against the wall to wait as he cast a disillusionment on himself. He wasn't going to interrupt whatever was going on, not with what he had planned to tell Harry.

After what seemed like a long time, the crying seemed to slow and come to a stop. Albus waited another ten minutes before he ended both his disillusionment spell and the silence spell on the door. He knocked and waited for another minute. The door opened and a normal looking Harry stood there.

“Headmaster.” Harry said, his voice cold.

Albus managed to not react to the tone. “Good evening, Harry. May I speak to you for a moment?”

Harry looked like he was thinking about it, then he shrugged and stepped back to allow him inside the room. “Hermione's asleep...”

“I won't be long.” Albus promised and stepped by the boy and walked over to the other bed. “There are a couple of things I need to tell you.”

Harry sighed and pulled over a chair to sit down. “Go ahead.”

Albus looked into the boy's eyes and could see that he was hiding his emotions very well, considering what he had heard barely twenty minutes before. “This is a very sensitive subject and I've debated telling you about it for... well, for years.”

Harry's eyebrows raised slightly; but otherwise, he didn't react.

“You have asked me several times about why Voldemort targeted you when you were a baby.”

Harry's raised eyebrows dropped and he squinted his eyes. “Now you're going to tell me? Now? After I lost my only real family?”

Albus sighed. “I know, my boy. I'm sorry. I should have said something before, except that I fell into a logic trap that I couldn't work my way out of.”

“How?” Harry asked and his hands became fists.

“At the end of your first year, you asked me why and I thought to myself, eleven is much too young to carry such a burden. You were only a child and you needed to have a normal life...”

Harry huffed. “You were lying to yourself. I told you what it was like at the Dursleys and why I wanted to get away from there.”

Albus was surprised at his observation. “Harry, there are extenuating circumstances...”

“Yes, the wards. Hermione and I figured it out.” Harry said. “Go on.”

Albus was stunned for a moment. He mentally shook his head and continued. “At the end of the second year, you were only twelve and had just had a horrible experience. I thought you were still too young to handle the burden I didn't want to saddle you with, and chose to not answer your question again.” He sighed. “Do you see the logic trap yet?”

“You deluded yourself into believing I was a child and couldn't handle the truth, even after killing someone and then a sixty foot long basilisk.” Harry said and shook his head. “What did you tell yourself at the end of third year? Oh, right. Nothing, because I didn't ask.”

“Harry, I was only trying to protect you.”

“You've been doing a bang-up job of it so far, headmaster.” Harry said with a soft laugh. “So, how did you justify lying to me at the end of fourth year when he came back using my blood?”

Albus sighed and took his glasses off before rubbing his other hand over his face. “You had, once again, been through a traumatic experience...”

“You kept me in your office for over an hour to get the story and the memory from me.” Harry almost spat. “My blood pooled on the floor from the spider bite on my leg, not to mention the long knife wound on my arm.”

Albus had no response to this, because he had been too focused on Voldemort to be concerned with anything else.

“Well? What was your excuse that time?” Harry asked. “Hurry up. I'm tired and I need to get to bed.”

“I thought... fourteen wasn't much older than eleven.”

“Of course.” Harry scoffed. “Who cares what happened to me as long as you get what you wanted.”

“Harry...”

“You've kept it to yourself for over a decade and a half. Why would you share anything with a kid, right? He's too young and stupid to accept it.”

“That's not...”

“Well? Go ahead and tell me. I'm dying to find out why I've been Voldemort's punching bag since I was a baby.”

Albus put his glasses back on. This talk wasn't going how he had thought it would. “You aren't going to forgive me for this, are you?”

Harry chuckled. “I haven't forgiven you for anything so far, so yes. You can bet that I won't forgive you for not telling me when you should have.”

Albus slumped in his chair. “Before you were born, a prophecy was made.” He said and then told Harry about it, what it meant, and what had to happen.

“Get out.” Harry said and stood.

“Harry, please listen...”

“I want you out of my house in the next three minutes, or I start hurling curses at you.” Harry said, his voice ice cold, and the wand in his hand started sending out bright red sparks.

“Don't overreact. I know this is a huge burden.” Albus said with his hands up in a placating gesture.

“In two minutes, you're going to see first hand what I can do.” Harry said. “What right did you have to do what you did? Who gave you the power to rule over my life and make me suffer for all these years?”

Albus let tears flow out of his eyes. “Harry, that's not what happened.”

“Stop the fake tears, you old bastard. If you cared about me at all, you wouldn't have ignored me all bloody year and avoided me like I had the plague.” Harry said. “You're down to less than a minute and a half.”

“Harry, please...”

“You need to leave before I do something you're going to regret even more than everything you've done to me.” Harry said and the red sparks from his wand changed to a stream and started to burn the carpet.

Albus stood and Harry turned to keep facing him as he walked by. “I know you hate me now for it; but, you need to go back to the Durleys.”

“I'd curse your face off right now if I didn't know you already have a shield ready.” Harry growled. “I'm never going back there and you can't make me.”

“Harry, you have to listen to reason. It's not safe for you to stay away from there.” Albus said when he reached the door.

“It wasn't safe for me staying there, not that you cared about that.” Harry said. “Thirty seconds.”

“I'm going.” Albus said and stepped out into the hallway. “Molly told me that you moved in here and kicked Ginny out.”

“Did she also tell you that Ginny was antagonizing her? Interrogating her? Looming over her with an angry face and her wand in hand?” Harry asked. “No, she wouldn't. That wouldn't fit in her limited view of her daughter.”

Albus sighed and closed his eyes. “You can't stay in a room with a girl. It's not proper.”

“Well, you can shove proper right up your wrinkled old ass.” Harry said and then smiled. “Your time's up. KREACHER!”

“Filthy half-blood calls Kreacher?” The old elf asked.

“Albus Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix are no longer guests of this house. Kick them all out, please.”

“Harry, no!” Albus gasped.

“I warned you.” Harry said and nodded at the elf.

Kreacher had a manic look on his face and snapped his fingers. “Mistress will be happy to get rid of the blood traitors and half-bloods.”

Albus was frozen and was lifted into the air. He couldn't speak at all as he was floated down the hallway. Several other half-dressed people floated out of different rooms and joined him on the trip down the stairs and they were shoved out through the door.

When they were past the doorstep and the edge of the wards, the elf's magic dropped them into a heap and several of them let out squawks of surprise. A minute later, a pile of clothes, wands, and various items floated out the door and over their heads. A second later, they were dropped and more sounds of protests were heard.

That wasn't the concerning thing for Albus, however. No, it was that Molly and Arthur Weasley were also mixed into the pile. Right at that moment, there were no adults at all inside the house and they were no longer allowed to return. He also had no idea what he was going to do about it.

*

“Harry, you... that was...” Hermione started to say, then she sighed. “I guess he did have it coming.”

“You guess?” Harry asked and sat down next to her. “You heard what he said.”

“Yes, and we are going to go over the wording of the prophecy piece by piece.” Hermione said. “Hand me some parchment, please.”

“Shouldn't we go to sleep?” Harry asked and handed over what she wanted with a quill and some ink.

“I don't think either of us is sleeping tonight.” Hermione said, guessing correctly, and she wrote out the prophecy word for word. “We can guess the basic premise...”

“Yeah. It's me or him.” Harry said and was quiet for several minutes. “Although, if you think about it, it's technically completed.”

Hermione looked pensive for a moment and nodded. “He was defeated by you several times already.”

“Once when I was a baby and once when he was possessing Quirrell.” Harry said. “The body he was in died both times.”

Hermione chewed on the end of the quill by her face. “It's definitely referencing you, with the marking as his equal thing.”

“It just seems like a setup.” Harry said and Hermione gave him a questioning look. “Why just me? Was I the only one to qualify? Or better yet, were my parents set up so that it had to be me?”

Hermione sucked in a breath. “Dumbledore knew who the secret keeper was.”

“He cast the Fidelus spell, so yes. Now why would he leave Sirius in prison for twelve years?”

“He wanted you alone.” Hermione whispered. “No real family to care for you and no one to help you get away from the Dursleys.”

“I think it's worse than that.” Harry said and his hand found hers. “He didn't want me to have any love except for what I found when joining the wizarding world.”

“The Weasleys!” Hermione gasped and Harry nodded. “He set them up to show you what a real family would be like.”

“I'm thinking that, too.”

“But, that isn't right. Why would he...” Hermione looked down at the prophecy's wording. “Oh, that bloody bastard!”

Harry smiled at her cursing. “What did you figure out?”

“He wants you to give your life for the wizarding world, the world where you finally found a family worth protecting.” Hermione said. “Neither can live while the other survives.”

Harry sighed. “It almost worked, too.”

Hermione's hand in his tightened. “Harry, you can't.”

Harry gave her a sad smile. “Not for them. For you.”

Hermione couldn't stop the tears forming in her eyes. “No, you can't. It's not worth it.”

Harry lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. “If I thought it would let you live your life, it would be.”

Hermione shook her head and wiped at her face. “I won't let you.”

Harry leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss. “I know.”

They stayed up for several more hours and worked through everything. They both knew that they were missing several key pieces of information, like what Voldemort would do if he heard the whole thing and also why he was still around and had managed to get a body back. They also knew that Dumbledore wasn't going to tell them anything else, because he hadn't wanted to tell Harry about the prophecy at all, at least until after Sirius died.

“So, what do we do?” Hermione asked as Harry stripped down to his boxers.

“The only thing we can do. We wait for you to heal up and then we start to train.” Harry said and tossed his clothes aside.

“We?” Hermione asked.

“I'm not leaving you behind.” Harry said and laid down beside her. “You've been by my side since first year. If I'm going to do anything, I want to keep you there and make sure you're ready for anything that happens.”

Hermione was touched at the sentiment and she leaned her head on his shoulder. “Things are going to be hard from now on.”

“I thought I told you to not look down.” Harry joked.

Hermione blushed as her eyes went right to below Harry's waist to see if he actually was hard.

Harry laughed and kissed the side of her face. “Made you look.”

“Harry!” Hermione gasped and then they both laughed.

*

The next morning, the Weasley kids were surprised when the place was completely empty except for them. They did a quick search and didn't find anyone, not even their mother in the kitchen.

“I wonder what happened?” Fred asked and sat down at the table.

“Maybe it was an Order emergency.” George responded.

“We didn't hear anything like that with the ears.” Fred said.

“Who's making breakfast?” Ron asked and sat down as well.

“You can.” George said.

“What? I can't cook.” Ron turned to look at Ginny. “You're a girl. You can cook.”

Ginny gave him an incredulous look. “Just because I've got breasts, that doesn't mean I know how to use pots and pans, Ron!”

“You have breasts?” Ron asked, confused.

“UGH!” Ginny grunted and went to the kitchen door to leave, only to have it open and Harry came in.

“Morning.” Harry said and went right to the stove.

“Morning.” The twins said at the same time.

No one else said anything as they watched Harry prepare a full English breakfast for everyone. He didn't even use magic, which was a surprise, because the food came out looking better than what their mother made.

“Enjoy.” Harry said and handed out four plates to them, a heaping one for Ron, and took two plates for himself. “See you later.”

The twins and Ginny stared at the kitchen door as it swung shut. They couldn't believe what just happened, at least until they heard Ron slurping up a sausage and munching on it.

“This is really good!” Ron said and scooped some eggs into his mostly full mouth.

The twins exchanged looks, shrugged, and started eating.

A few minutes later, a familiar family owl slammed into the kitchen window. Ron barked a laugh and Ginny stood up to get it.

“Bloody old bird.” Ron said and kept eating.

The owl carried several letters and Ginny took them all. The owl didn't protest at losing its burden and hobbled over to a glass of water and drank some.

“Fred and George.” Ginny said and handed them one of the letters, kept the one that was hers, and looked at the last three. All of them were for Harry. She put them down and kept eating until she was done, washed her hands, and picked up her letter.

“What does yours say?” George asked and waved his letter. “Mum's in a right state.”

Ginny started to read hers and was shocked. Harry had kicked the Order out of the house. “That... that... how could he do that to my mother?!?” She nearly screamed.

“Yeah, it wasn't like that.” Harry said from the doorway.

“WHY?” Ginny yelled.

Harry pointed at her face. “That's why. I didn't want to hear your mother screaming at me again for something that was none of her business.”

Ron stood with a look of anger on his face.

“One more word and you'll be out, too.” Harry said and put two dirty plates in the sink. “I warned you before that I would.”

“Harry, what happened last night?” Fred asked as Harry washed the dishes.

“Dumbledore finally told me why Vomitmort keeps trying to kill me.” Harry said and didn't bother looking to see their reactions. “He also thought I would forgive him for not telling me sooner.” Harry huffed. “I told him there was no chance of that, not after him making me go back to my abusive relatives every summer.”

No one said anything and Harry finished up drying the dishes and put them away.

“Before you say anything, no I won't be letting them back in. I won't have them controlling my life anymore or telling me where I need to stay for my protection.” Harry said and walked towards the kitchen door.

“Harry, mate...” Ron started to say.

“I don't want to hear any excuses, Ron.” Harry said and Ron closed his mouth. “I told Dumbledore to leave me alone and he kept pushing me and pushing me, so I kicked him and his Order out of my house. They won't be coming back here. You can leave whenever you want if you don't like it.”

No one spoke and Harry left the kitchen.

“What do we do?” Fred asked.

“What can we do? He's right. This would be his house now, since he's Sirius' heir.” George said.

“We can't go back to the Burrow. It doesn't have a quarter of the wards that this place does.”

“Yeah, and Harry won't let our parents stay here anymore.” Ginny said, angrily. “He's letting them die when he could easily save them!”

Fred and George exchanged worried looks.

“You make it sound like he's setting them up for You-know-who.” George commented.

“He is, isn't he? Making them go home where everyone knows where we live?” Ron asked.

“I don't think it's Harry's job to keep our parents safe.” Fred said.

“He's the Boy-who-lived! Of course it's his job! It's been his job since he was a baby!” Ginny exclaimed.

“That's enough.” Fred said and scowled at her, which made her flinch. “Harry's only fifteen and he just lost his godfather. You will keep your opinion about his job to yourself.”

Ginny started to cry. “Why? Why do I have to...”

“I think someone needs to think about what Harry's been through the last few years before she can start accusing him of not helping people.” George said, not so subtly reminding her that Harry had saved her life. “Come on, Fred. Let's leave these two to think about things.”

“What? Why me, too?” Ron asked, confused.

“That's why.” Fred said and followed his twin out through the door.

Ginny sat at the kitchen table and let her tears flow. Her life was falling apart and she didn't know what to do about it. The more she tried to get closer to Harry, the more he pushed her away. Even the jug of potion didn't have any effect and her mother had promised that it would work.

“It's okay, Ginny.” Ron said and put an arm around her shoulders. “I'm sure Harry will come to his senses soon.”

Ginny leaned in to her brother and took several deep breaths to try and calm down. She liked the smell of his shirt and clung to him tightly to keep breathing in the scent.

Ron never noticed the nice smell of his sister's shampoo before and took several deep breaths to enjoy it for as long as he could. He pulled her in tighter when he felt her hug him, happy that he didn't have to let her go.

The two of them stayed that way for quite some time and the three letters for Harry sat on the kitchen table, forgotten.

*

“They haven't written back.” Molly said an hour later.

“I'm sure they're just eating or something.” Arthur suggested and then winced when he realized what he just said.

“NO ONE'S MAKING THEM BREAKFAST!” Molly yelled and jumped to her feet. “I'll have something whipped up in a few minutes and we can send it right over!”

Arthur sighed and shook his head. At least she would be busy for a while.

*

Minerva McGonagall was surprised when she tried to use the floo to go to the Order headquarters and nothing happened. She stared at the empty fireplace and wondered what was going on. She had Hermione's and Harry's trunks to bring over and sighed when the floo didn't light again.

“Floppy.” Minerva said and an elf popped in.

“Yes, Missus Kitty?” Floppy asked and his over-large ears flopped on either side of his head.

“Can you pop over to...” Minerva's tongue became tied when she tried to tell the elf the address. “Damnation, I can't say it.”

“What's you bees needing, Missus?”

“I was going to get you to check on two students.”

“Nameses?”

“Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.” Minerva said and saw the elf close his eyes. “I have their school things and...”

“Floppy can finds them.” Floppy said and touched the two trunks, then he and the trunks disappeared.

I never thought of that. Minerva thought and waited.

Floppy popped back in and was hopping around with something in his hand. “Students bees happy to have their stuff back! They gives me a sausage and a pat on the head, too!” He said happily, then he popped away while taking a bite of a delicious looking sausage.

Minerva stood there and wasn't sure what surprised her more. The fact that an elf could find someone under a Fidelus charm or that the elf was happier than she had ever seen him.

*

To Harry's surprise, no one tried to contact him after the elf dropped off his and Hermione's school trunks. They were even nicely packed with all of their things inside. Of course, most of the clothes were his oversized cast-offs from his cousin, so those he took to the fireplace and chuckled them inside before lighting them up with an Incendio spell. It was the first bit of offensive magic he had performed since the wards broke and a huge gout of flame almost instantly roasted the clothing.

“Harry!” Hermione gasped at what she saw. “Calm down! I know you hate them...”

Harry chuckled and stopped the spell. “Hermione, I wasn't even thinking about them when I did that.”

“Oh. Well, then what was it?”

“I think the wards were sucking up more of my magic than you calculated.” Harry said.

Hermione blinked her eyes for a moment and dug into her backpack. She pulled out several sheets of papers and went over her calculations. “Okay, how much powerful do you feel now?”

“I honestly don't know.” Harry said. “I've always been good at Defence Against the Dart Arts.”

“You've cast several spells like the lock spell and silence...”

“This was the first spell I've cast that could be used offensively.” Harry repeated his thought for her.

“That's it!” Hermione said loudly and her quill scratched over the papers in certain spots. “I didn't account for the intent of the magic! How could I have missed that?”

“I think I was nibbling on your neck at the time.” Harry said with a lopsided smirk, which made her blush.

“That... that was... immaterial.” Hermione tried to deny it.

“Really?” Harry asked and slowly stalked across the sitting room towards her chair.

“H-Harry...” Hermione whispered as her blush intensified the closer he got to her.

“I see a tasty neck getting closer.” Harry teased and ducked into a crouch to put his face at the same height as hers. “Mmm, I can almost taste it.” He whispered and licked his lips in anticipation.

Hermione's heart was nearly pounding out of her chest and she tried her best to not look at him and concentrate on her work. She caught her breath when his hand lightly touched her hair and moved it back to expose the side of her neck.

“What was it that old movie said... oh, right.” Harry whispered into her ear. “The nectar of the gods.”

Hermione's face was a deep red as Harry's lips touched her neck and she couldn't stop her moan as he started to lightly kiss and suck on it. Her hands dropped the parchment and quill and she reached out to hug him. She shivered as his tongue darted out and she purred a little as he gently rubbed her inner thigh.

*THUMP!*

“Ow! What the hell?” Ron's voice cut through their special moment. “Why's the door locked?”

Harry stopped kissing her neck and sighed. “I swear, he has the worst timing.”

Or perfect timing. Hermione thought and tried to get her raging hormones back under control. She was tingling nearly all over and she wanted Harry to do a lot more than just kiss and pet her. A lot more.

“Just a second.” Harry said and made sure Hermione was presentable before he went to the door to unlock it. “I was burning my old clothes and didn't want the smoke and stuff to get out to the rest of the house.”

Ron looked at the huge pile of ash in the fireplace and nodded. “Good idea. There's no windows anywhere in this place except in the kitchen and the upstairs bathroom.”

“What are you doing here, anyway?” Hermione asked, now that her blush was gone.

“I wanted to play some chess.” Ron said and pointed at the chess set at the side of the room.

“Why is it in here? It's supposed to be in the den.” Harry said.

“You guys never go to the den.” Ron said and walked over to the chess set. “Harry, do you want to play?”

Harry looked right at Hermione and couldn't stop his eyebrows from wiggling. “Yes, I do.”

Hermione's blush rushed back and she picked up the parchment papers and started working again.

Harry went over to Ron and they had three games of chess before it was time for Harry to go and get supper ready. When he left the room, Ron turned to look at Hermione.

“How are you doing?” Ron asked.

“Better.” Hermione said. “The potions aren't completely horrible and the skin creme only burns for a few minutes.”

Ron winced at her description. “I'm sorry about that.”

Hermione shook her head. “You had to use some, too.”

Ron nodded and looked at his forearms with the slight redness that the brain tentacles had left there. “Only another week for me.”

“I've got three more weeks to go.” Hermione said with a sigh.

They fell silent for several minutes and didn't look at each other.

“Do you regret it?” Ron suddenly asked.

Hermione had expected it and shook her head. “No, I chose to go and we fought death eaters.” She said, confidence in her voice. “Us, fifth year students, took on fully grown evil wizards and we won.”

“We got hurt, though.”

Hermione huffed. “No one should expect to go into a fight and not be hurt.” She said and leaned back in her chair. Her calculations were done and she hid the results from Ron. “I knew going in that we could be hurt, maimed, and maybe... die.”

“Hermione, you didn't really think...”

“I did.” Hermione said, her voice full of resolve. “We were willingly going into a trap that was set by the worst dark lord in a hundred years. I had no delusions about what I was going into.”

“But Harry...”

“He told us not to come and that he was going alone. We made him take us, remember?” Hermione said and stopped herself before she touched the space between her breasts. She didn't want Ron looking at her there. “None of it is his fault. We made the choice and we faced the consequences. For you, scars on your arms. For Neville, a broken nose and a very happy grandmother.”

Ron barked a laugh and Hermione smiled.

“As for me, I was very lucky that Harry muted Avery before I was hit with that dark curse. Very, very lucky.” Hermione said. “I didn't die and I thanked Harry every day in the hospital until he threatened to tickle me if I didn't stop.”

“Wait, that stopped you?” Ron asked, surprised.

“I couldn't move a lot back then and laughing hurts like mad.” Hermione said and her smile grew. “Harry knew just what to say to get me to accept that he didn't want me to thank him anymore.”

Ron nodded and fell silent again. Neither of them knew that a set of extendable ears were lodged under the door and Fred, Ginny, and George heard every word.

*

Harry finished making pork chops, mashed potatoes, and buttered vegetables and set some aside for Kreacher. The small plate disappeared and Harry didn't comment about it or called him. He knew the elf didn't like him and that was okay, because it was just like he acted with Sirius.

Harry went to the table to set out the food and saw three envelopes on the floor beside the table leg. He bent down to grab them and saw his name on all three of them. He flipped them over to see who they were from and shook his head. Without opening them, he tossed them into the fireplace and conjured a match to light them on fire.

Never again. Harry thought and watched as letters from Albus, Molly, and Remus burned up. He cast a Sonorus charm on his throat and stepped out of the kitchen door. “SUPPER!”

Three yelps came from the landing in front of the sitting room and Harry laughed. He walked up the stairs and saw Fred, George, and Ginny rubbing their left ears. He smirked at them and went into the sitting room to get Hermione.

“Oh, my ride's here.” Hermione joked.

Harry nodded as he went to her to help her pack up. He let her lean on him as he led her from the room and down the stairs to the kitchen.

“It smells great.” Hermione said and took in several sniffs.

“Make sure you chew everything up well.” Harry said in a motherly voice to make her laugh.

“Ow. Stop making me laugh.” Hermione admonished him and sat down. “How many times do I have to tell you?”

“Maybe once or twice more.” Harry said and lightly brushed his fingers across the back of her neck where no one would see it. “Want me to sit beside you and cut your meat up for you?”

Hermione snorted and stopped her laugh just in time. “Get going, you!”

Harry chuckled and sat beside her anyways.

Hermione gave him a glare and he held his hands up in surrender, so she nodded and put some food on her plate.

“We're almost out of edible food.” Harry told the others. “I'm tempted to go by myself to get groceries; but, I don't know where the closest store is around here.”

The others looked at each other and shrugged. None of them knew where the closest one was, either.

“We could ask mum where she gets her food.” Ron suggested.

“You don't know?” Hermione asked before Harry could. Ron shrugged and so did the others.

“I guess it's going to be field trip time.” Harry said just as Errol thumped into the kitchen window again. “Who keeps closing the window?”

There was a soft elvish laugh from the door to the furnace room. The twins burst out laughing at the thought of an elf playing a prank on them.

Harry shook his head at them and opened the window. The poor owl flopped inside and it was breathing heavily. Harry took the package from its leg and the bird fell asleep right there on its back.

“Did he finally kick it?” Ron asked, curious.

“No, he's just exhausted.” Harry said and carried the package to the counter before he opened it. “Who wants breakfast?”

The twins looked at each other and burst out laughing again. It took their owl all day to bring them breakfast.

I wonder if we can owl order food from a grocery store? Harry asked himself and turned to the others. “Where do wizards get their food?”

“No idea.” Ron said and ate some more potatoes. “These are really creamy and delicious. You should tell the elves at school how to make them.”

Hermione took in a sharp breath and Harry slapped himself on the forehead.

“Dobby!” Harry and Hermione said at the same time.

The elf popped into the kitchen and looked at Harry excitedly. “The great Harry Potter sir and his friend Hermy bees calling for Dobby!”

“Hi, Dobby.” Harry said and pat his shoulder. “I've got a few questions for you.”

“I's be answering if I can, Harry Potter sir!” Dobby exclaimed.

“Where did you get food when you worked for a family?” Harry asked.

“Oh! There's be a special market for elves to buys food.”

“How do you get the money and pay for things?” Hermione asked.

“Family elves have access to family vault and can get money when needed to buy things for the house.” Dobby said.

Harry's eyes went to the door to the boiler room and his mind raced through the implications.

“Harry.” Hermione said and took him out of his thoughts.

“Sorry, just thinking.” Harry said and looked at Dobby. “How would you like to be my house elf?”

Dobby let out a squeal of delight and tears burst from his eyes. “I's bees the happiest elf in the world!”

Harry nodded and ignored Hermione's sigh. “Well, we need the pantry stocked up. If you can, use preservation charms to make it last for a while.”

“Nows I bees have family magic again, I's bees doing lots of things to help yous, Harry Potter sir!” Dobby said and hopped several times, then he popped away without a sound.

“I thought they made noise when they did that.” Ron said and pointed to where Dobby used to be.

No one said anything, because none of them really knew any house elves to compare Dobby to. Kreacher didn't count, because he didn't really do anything. He was a bit too old to work normally and too young to die of old age. In fact, he was in what some wizards called 'elf limbo' because of his age.

Most families would have put him out of his misery years ago and replaced him. Because Sirius was imprisoned, Kreacher had been left alone for well over a decade and lived long past his normal usefulness, with nothing more than a crazy portrait to give him orders.

Harry ate his food and talked with the others about how long they think Dobby would take. When they were nearly done eating, Dobby popped back in carrying several large bags. A second later, the pantry door opened and Dobby unshrunk the bags to make them the size of barrels. The teenagers watched in fascination as the food was levitated onto the shelves and magic coated everything to preserve it.

“Is there bees anything else Dobby can bees doing for Harry Potter sir?” Dobby asked.

Harry shook himself slightly and then thought of something that would make the elf very happy. “I thick this place needs a bit of cleaning.”

Dobby's eyes lit up and a huge smile appeared on his face. “I's bees starting right away!” He exclaimed and took off running out through the briefly opened kitchen door.

“Take breaks when you need to and don't try to do it all at once!” Harry nearly yelled before the door shut. “He can run pretty fast on those little legs, can't he?”

The twins laughed a little after agreeing.

“Harry, you might have eased him into the job before dumping the whole house on him.” Hermione said.

“Well, I knew he'd be happy with so much work to do. I couldn't force him to only do one room at a time, could I?”

“You could have.” Hermione said and then sighed. “I know what you mean, though.”

“Thanks.” Harry said and put his arm around her shoulder. “Have you eaten enough?”

Hermione nodded. “I've got a bit more work to do in the sitting room and then I need to go to bed.”

“I am at your service.” Harry said and cleared up the dishes in front of them, then he helped her up and out of the kitchen.

“He's really doing everything for her, isn't he?” George asked.

“More than he should.” Ginny whispered, only everyone heard because it was so quiet.

“You would be doing the same if it was Harry that was hurt.” Fred said.

Ginny couldn't deny that. She also couldn't help but think about why she would be doing it and her eyes went to the once more closed kitchen door. She was tempted to see if what she suspected was actually happening, because there was no way that she would pass up the chance to have some personal time with Harry. If Harry had the same thoughts about Hermione... she would need to do something about it.

“Ginny, we should head to bed.” Ron suggested.

“Okay.” Ginny agreed and the two of them quickly left the room.

Fred and George exchanged looks again.

“That was a bit strange, wasn't it?” Fred asked.

“Only that they are usually at each other's throats and now they are acting like they did before Ron went to school the first time.” George said.

“You think it's because mum's not here?” Fred asked as they left the kitchen.

“Maybe.” George said. “Or they are missing their friends. Since they are bunking together now, they might think that they only have each other to hang out with.”

Fred nodded, even though he didn't think it was true. Something else might be going on, too. Harry had been acting odd since he came out of the hospital and now Ginny and Ron were acting odd. He would have to keep an eye on them and see if he could figure out what was going on.

The twins walked up the stairs and by the room Ron and Ginny shared. Neither of them noticed their siblings changing out of their normal clothes and putting on pyjamas in front of each other. It would have rung alarm bells in Fred's head if he had seen that Ron and Ginny hadn't tried to shy away or hide themselves when only wearing their underwear.

*

The days slowly passed into weeks while Harry nursed Hermione back to full health. She had been in contact with her parents the whole time and they had gone on vacation to get away from the wizarding world and the potential terrorist organization that was causing trouble. They wanted to take Hermione with them, except she had to stay and recover with the potions and creme needed for her wound.

Harry and Hermione were getting closer physically and emotionally as well. In fact, the last bath that Hermione had, she told Harry that he didn't need to wear the blindfold. He had refused at first, then Hermione reached up and untied it for him. He kept his eyes closed and Hermione kissed him, then she did a very bold thing. She took one of his hands and placed it on her breast.

Harry gasped at the sensation and his eyes opened as his hand moved automatically to cup and caress her offered tender bit. “Hermione... this is... wow...”

Hermione's blush flowed up her face and partially down her chest.

“Beautiful.” Harry whispered and let her breast go. “Really, you're beautiful.”

“Harry, you don't have to lie about...”

Harry leaned forward and kissed her passionately. His hand cupped her face and not her breast, even though she had just let him do it. Hermione's heart fluttered at his consideration and she was sure that she would let him touch her again, because of his gentle nature and how her body had reacted to it.

“Look into my eyes.” Harry said and she saw that he wasn't using his calming technique. “I think you are the prettiest girl in school. I always have.”

“Oh, Harry!” Hermione exclaimed and wrapped her arms around him to kiss him soundly.

Harry slipped off the edge of the tub and fell right into the water with her. He spit and sputtered for several minutes before he looked at Hermione's startled face that matched his own, then they both started laughing.

Hermione wouldn't realize until later that her chest didn't hurt after laughing so hard.

*

Not surprisingly, Molly Weasley had tried on multiple occasions to enter the house or send someone else in to check on them. Her frustration grew as she sent multiple letters a day to try and get them to respond. She was in such a rush to try and get her children to tell her what was going on that she hadn't included anything like a question in her letters.

By the time she started using Howlers, none of her children were opening her letters and just tossing them into the fireplace alongside all the letters Harry threw in the fire.

*

Their Hogwarts letters arrived near the end of July in the morning. By that point, Hermione was mobile and she realized that it was getting close to Harry's birthday. Only she remembered it, though.

“Are we all going to Diagon Alley?” Ron asked and looked at everyone's faces at the kitchen table.

“I don't think any of us should go.” Harry said, to everyone's shock. “Come on, think about it.”

Hermione had a pensive look on her face for a moment, then she chuckled. “We'll be ambushed!”

“Ohhhh!” Fred and George said at the same time, finally getting it.

“Yeah, we've been living alone here for how long now?” Harry asked and everyone nodded. “I think we should try sending Dobby. Nobody will guess that he's helping us.”

Everyone exchanged looks and nods.

“It's worth a shot.” Fred said.

“Dobby!” Harry said a bit loudly and the elf appeared. “Hi, buddy.”

“Hi, Harry Potter sir.” Dobby said. “Whats can I bees doing for yous?”

“Can you get our school supplies for this year?” Harry asked and handed over his letter. “Except for the Divination stuff. I failed that owl and History of Magic, so I'm dropping them and Potions.”

“Potions, Harry?” Hermione asked and looked at his OWL results.

“Snape only takes Outstandings and I only got an Exceeds Expectations.” Harry said with a shrug. “It's no big loss. I was never good at the subject anyway.”

“I think you can blame the teacher for that.” Hermione said, to everyone's surprise. “What? Harry got EE and that's with Snape teaching him. What would he have gotten if we had a decent teacher?”

Her observation was a shock to everyone, especially Harry.

“I'd say some self-study would do you good.” Hermione said with a smirk and Harry groaned.

“Dobby bees getting your school things.” Dobby said.

“All of them.” Harry said and quickly plucked everyone's lists from the table to hand over.

“Harry!” Hermione gasped.

“You can pay me back later.” Harry said and handed the stack to Dobby. “Try to be stealthy.”

“No one will knows Dobby be there!” Dobby said and disappeared without a sound.

“Man, that is odd every time I see it and don't hear it.” Ron said and went back to eating. “I'm going to miss your cooking, Harry.”

“You better not let Mum hear you say that.” Ginny said with a smile.

Harry laughed and shook his head. “We've got another month before we leave for school. You've got plenty of time to eat before then. You all do.”

“It really has been great having you cook, Harry.” Hermione said, sincerely.

“It's pretty easy to make something that each of you likes.” Harry shrugged. “I doubt I could make individual meals for more people than this, though.”

Ginny thought about that. “Why do you never let Dobby cook?”

Harry took a breath and let it out. “Because he did it for the Malfoys.”

That made the others nod in understanding. The less they reminded Dobby of being their slave, the better.

“I'm going to the sitting room to get ready for when our new books arrive.” Hermione said and stood. “Thanks for breakfast, Harry.”

“I'll be in after I clean up.” Harry said and gathered up the breakfast dishes.

Hermione left and went to the sitting room that had become their personal study room over the weeks that they had been staying at Grimmauld Place and she was recovering. Her hand lightly touched the spot between her breasts that had the scar and she sat in the comfy chair that had become hers. After she waited for a few minutes, she had an idea.

“Dobby?” Hermione asked and waited a moment.

Dobby popped in with a bag in his hand and a book in the other. “What is Harry Potter's Granger be needing?”

“Harry's birthday is in two days.” Hermione said and almost laughed as Dobby's already large eyes nearly bulged right out of his head. “I want to get him a present and I don't want him to know. Can you help me with that?”

Dobby nodded his head several times.

“Thank you, Dobby.” Hermione said. “You better get back to shopping. Pop in to see me later when I'm alone, okay? We can talk more then.”

“Okays. Dobby bees seeing you then.” Dobby said and popped away.

A minute later, Harry came into the sitting room. “How are you feeling today?”

Hermione smiled. “The same as when you asked me an hour ago in our room.”

Harry sat down in the chair with her and she leaned on him. “I guess I'm too used to keeping an eye on you now.”

Hermione chuckled and her hand rested on his chest. “I don't mind. Not really.”

“Not really?” Harry turned her face to his and gave her a light kiss. “I'll keep that in mind.”

Hermione laughed and gave him another kiss. “I'm tempted to tell you that I can take care of myself.”

“I'm tempted to kiss you all over.” Harry said and she blushed. “We can't always have what we want.”

Hermione stayed silent for several minutes as she fought her blush, then she spoke. “What if you can?”

Harry froze for a moment, then he let a huge smile spread across his face. “Don't look down.”

Hermione fell for that every single time and looked down to see the tent pole. This time, she didn't bother looking up right away. She moved her hand down and touched it lightly, making Harry suck in a breath. She rubbed it only briefly to make sure it actually was hard and then she looked at his face. What she saw there made her very happy.

“I love you.” Hermione whispered.

“I love you, too.” Harry whispered back and kissed her. He knew not to do it passionately, not with the potential of someone walking in on them, and he satisfied himself with the thought of actually doing his fantasy later that night. Or maybe sometime today when everyone was distracted with their school things.

“I know that look.” Hermione said with a smirk.

“I'm just imagining a few things.” Harry freely admitted.

“Oh? And what exactly is going through that mind of yours?”

“You, of course. I'm surprised your legs aren't sore from all the running around you do in there.”

Hermione snorted and barked a laugh. “A cheesy pick-up line? Really?”

“Did it work?” Harry asked, his voice hopeful.

Hermione looked into his eyes. “Maybe.”

Harry gave her another brief kiss.

*

At a minute to midnight on July thirtieth, Dobby popped into Hermione's room and gently shook her awake. He didn't say anything at all at her being wrapped in Harry's arms. He had seen them hugging and things for weeks and he knew how happy Harry was with that.

“Thanks.” Hermione whispered and after Dobby popped away, she reached down and used a hand to caress a certain part of Harry's anatomy that she was quite ready to see put to use. When the clock struck midnight, she shifted her body and moved up slightly to kiss him on the lips.

“Hmm.” Harry mumbled for a moment, then he realized why he was feeling so good. His arm around Hermione's shoulder tightened and his other hand reached up and cupped her face as he kissed her in earnest.

“I love you, Harry.” Hermione whispered and then she sat up and let his member go.

“Hermione? What are you... oh. Oh, boy.” Harry whispered as she slipped off her top to show him her chest. He laid there and watched as she seemed to wiggle with her hands under the blanket, then a tiny piece of cloth was tossed to the side of the bed.

Hermione straddled his waist and saw the realization on Harry's face. She knew then that he was ready for this, too. “Happy Birthday.”

“It really, really is.” Harry said and then Hermione sat down on him. She let out a hiss and closed her eyes. They stayed like that for a few minutes, then Hermione took a deep breath and opened her eyes. Neither of them said anything and just looked into each others eyes. It was their first time and the both of them knew that they wouldn't have wanted to share themselves with anyone else.

They were both sixteen and were more mature than anyone else even close to their ages. Hermione because of her intelligence and Harry because of all the things he had been through. They had to grow up long before they were supposed to and now they were together, both figuratively and physically.

Their bodies started to move in concert and they both got into it fairly quickly. It was their first foray into a physical relationship and neither of them were prepared mentally for how good it felt. Hermione came only a few minutes later and paused with Harry sheathed inside of her. She tried to catalogue what her body was going through, then she let out a yip as Harry rolled them over to put himself on top.

Harry's look was intense as he started moving in and out of her, almost frantic, and Hermione stared into his eyes as he had sex with her. They knew that it was a bit too early for them to make love to each other without any real experience with pleasing each other; but, they silently resolved that they would work on that from now on. Together.

Harry didn't last long and pulled out, showering himself all over Hermione's stomach and thighs. Hermione had a look of disbelief on her face as she stared down at the sheer amount he had pretty much exploded all over her.

“You're so hot.” Harry said, sincerely. “I couldn't hold it back.”

Hermione's face flushed red and she bit her lower lip.

Harry thought it was the cutest thing he had ever seen, told her so, then he waved his wand over her to vanish the mess. He slipped himself back inside of her and kept going. Hermione didn't object in the least. She had taken the contraceptive potion Dobby had given her earlier. There was no chance that anything bad was going to come from their very first coupling.

Dobby got Harry a nice pair of woolly mismatched socks.

*

“This new Defense Against the Dark Arts book is the dumbest thing I've ever read. That's saying something, considering what Umbridge gave us last year.” Hermione said with a sigh. “I wonder who the teacher is going to be?”

“Well, with this book as evidence, we know they are going to be worse than Lockhart.” Harry said and closed his copy of the book. “I'm tempted to throw this in the fire, except that I'm sure the fire doesn't want it, either.”

Hermione laughed. “It probably is fireproof.”

“I thought it was a joke item.” Ron said from the side of the room. “All the years have the same book. Just like Umbridge.”

“Yeah.” Ginny said and held up her copy. “What a waste of a galleon.”

“Does the bookstore take returns?” Harry asked.

“No.” Hermione said and Harry raised an eyebrow at her. “I've tried to return some other pieces of drivel, only for them to say that all sales are final.”

Harry frowned a little. “If that's true, where do their second hand books come from?”

“Estate sales. I asked the same thing at the time.” Hermione said.

“Huh.” Harry said and sat back to think.

Hermione recognized the look and poked his cheek. “All right, spill it.”

“It's nothing.” Harry responded.

“Now you have to tell us. She won't leave you alone after that weak of a denial.” Ron said with a grin.

Ginny laughed and Hermione nodded as she poked Harry's cheek again.

Harry chuckled. “Okay, fine. It's a stupid idea, since we're too young to do it.”

“Do what?” Ginny asked.

“Open a second-hand discount bookstore.” Harry said and was met with complete silence.

“Harry!” Hermione gasped. “That's brilliant!”

“I don't know.” Ron said, doubt in his voice.

“Depending on the quality of the book, we could buy them for half to two-thirds of the original value and then sell them for eighty to ninety percent of the 'buying new' value, assuming we can fix or repair them into better condition.” Hermione said, her voice getting excited. “There's not much we can do about it right now, considering we're going back to school in a few weeks... but...”

“We'd have a whole year before next summer. That could give us time to build a nice backlog of books.” Harry said, getting into the idea, thanks to Hermione's quick buying strategy. “We might even find some cheap or free books, depending on how we word the ads we put in the Daily Prophet and the Quibbler.”

“I LOVE YOU!” Hermione yelled and kissed Harry soundly on the lips. She didn't stop after a second and the two of them hugged and kept kissing.

This went on for several minutes, because the other two occupants of the room were too flabbergasted at the sight to interrupt or say anything to stop them. Ron and Ginny just stared at their friends making out like there was no tomorrow. Even though Ron had found a few couples in broom closets during his Prefect patrols and Ginny had kissed several boys that she had dated to try and make Harry jealous, they had never seen anything like what they were watching now.

The door to the sitting room opened and Fred and George walked in. “We just heard from... whoa.”

Hermione and Harry heard them and realized that they weren't alone. They broke the kiss and both blushed deeply at the blatant stares from Ron and Ginny.

“George, I owe you a galleon.” Fred said.

“I thought I bet that they would wait until school started and you bet they wouldn't?” George asked.

“You did? I thought it was the other way around.” Fred said with a shrug. “You owe me a galleon.”

Hermione was sure that she didn't like being the object of a bet. “You guys bet on us?”

The twins grinned. “We bet on everything.”

“They really do.” Ron said and pulled out several silver sickles. “Here you go, Fred.”

“Thanks for not welching.” Fred said and took the four coins.

“What did you bet on?” Harry asked, curious.

“That nothing would happen.” Ron said with a sigh.

Harry and Hermione looked at each other and shared the same thought. Boy, was he wrong!

“Who did you hear from?” Ginny asked the twins, now that she had recovered from what was a complete shock to her.

“Bill and Charlie. They said they'd pick us up outside and walk us to the station for the train to Hogwarts.” Fred said.

The four younger people in the room exchanged looks.

“It's not like we can say no.” Hermione said. “We do have to go to school.”

“An escort could work.” Harry said and rubbed his chin. “How much do you want to bet it won't only be them?”

“Odds are too low for that bet, mate.” George said with a chuckle. “We all know Mum's going to be there.”

“She's gonna lose her mind after us being alone all summer.” Ginny said, wisely.

“I can't believe it's almost over already.” Harry said and gave Hermione a certain look. She knew what that meant and she nodded.

“It's not so bad. You'll just have a harder time sneaking around with all the other students staring like Ron and Ginny did at you.” Fred said and gave them a thumbs up, which made Harry laugh and Hermione blushed again.

“Send back acceptance and we'll see them at nine in the morning on September first.” Harry said with authority and the others looked at him with wide eyes. “No more last minute packing, either. You'll have it done the night before or you're not taking it. You'll go with what you have on you and that's it.”

The others didn't say anything in response. They knew Harry was serious when he spoke like that, then he smiled at them.

“Who wants to take a quick trip into muggle London for some last minute shopping?” Harry asked.

“What do you mean?” Hermione asked.

“You don't think I want to wear Dudley's cast-offs anymore, do you?” Harry asked. “I need new clothes and...”

“LET'S GO!” Ginny yelled and shot to her feet. She knew that Harry would have to try on clothes and she wasn't going to miss that for anything.

“Someone's excited.” Fred said and put an arm over her shoulders.

“We'll need to stop off and exchange some galleons for pounds.” Hermione said.

Dobby popped in and handed Harry a huge wad of cash. “I bees getting it already. Calls when you needs me to take bags.” He said and popped away.

“Now that's a great house elf.” George praised him and the others nodded.

“Does anyone need to change before we go?” Harry asked and they all shook their heads. “Let's go.”

*

It was the best day of shopping that either Hermione or Ginny had ever had. They hadn't really seen Harry wearing anything except overly large baggy and old clothes, besides his school uniform and robes. Those covered up a lot, so when they sat in front of the dressing room and Harry came out wearing a tight t-shirt and a pair of jeans that actually fit, both girls almost swooned and fainted at the sight.

Harry wasn't very muscular that they were bulging; but, he was toned and had an athletic build that most sports players had. All of his time training for Quiddich really made wearing normal clothes be very appealing for him. Even the sales girl that was hovering nearby had noticed and nodded with approval.

“We have several nice shirts in appropriate colors for you to try.” The young woman said and pointed to a nearby rack. “You don't have to take off the t-shirt, either.”

“Thanks.” Harry said and went to the rack.

Hermione and Ginny watched him like hawks as he slipped on a pale blue shirt and buttoned it up most of the way.

“What do you think?” Harry asked and turned around to show it to them.

“Take that and the green one.” Hermione said right away.

“Good idea.” Ginny said and closed her mouth before she drooled. She didn't try to stop her eyes from looking at Harry's butt in those jeans when he turned around. She hadn't seen it hugged by denim like that before and she knew she would be spending a bit more time in the bathroom tonight because of it. She didn't notice that the sales girl had a similar look on her face.

The twins had gone off on their own and Ron went with them, mainly because he had seen Harry changing clothes for years and wasn't interested at all in watching him do it some more.

It took several hours and a couple of trips by Dobby to get everything back home. The girls had a wonderful time, especially when Harry had turned the tables on them and offered to buy them a few things, as long as they kept it reasonable. They did and enjoyed it even more, because they knew that they could have taken advantage of Harry's generosity and he wouldn't have minded.

Harry called them 'back to school' gifts and the girls were okay with that, as long as he let them show them off to him later. He was a bit reluctant to let Ginny do that, considering she was Ron's sister and he didn't want to lead her on. He didn't mind at all that Hermione wanted to do it and even looked forward to it. She had snuck off at one point and came back with a slight blush and no bag, so he didn't think anything of it.

It wasn't until that night that he would find out she actually did buy a few things. After the little fashion show back at Grimmauld Place with Ginny and Hermione showing off several mixed outfits, they all ate supper and Hermione took Harry back to their room. There was a changing screen set up across the room and Harry gave it a questioning look.

“Sit and watch.” Hermione said, her face red, and she went behind the screen.

Harry sat and waited, then his mouth dropped open when Hermione stepped out from behind the screen wearing only a couple of little pieces of white lace. They barely covered anything at all and she turned around to show that there was only a string between the cheeks of her very perky butt.

“Wh-what do you think?” Hermione asked as she faced him once more. Her embarrassment was evident by her flushed face and her slightly ducked head.

“I didn't think you could be any more beautiful and then you go and do this for me.” Harry said and stood. “I want to tear that off of you and... you know.”

Hermione blushed and she stiffened briefly as Harry's arms went around her. She softened and sighed before she hugged him and looked into his bright emerald eyes.

“I love you so much.” Harry whispered and gently kissed her.

“There... there's more.” Hermione admitted with a whisper.

Harry gave her what she thought was a very pleased smile. “I'm looking forward to it.”

He let her out of the embrace he had her in and went back to sit on the bed to see what else she had bought. He wasn't disappointed when Hermione came back out wearing a sheer baby-doll teddy and a triangle of see through cloth as panties.

“I don't know how you can look even sexier wearing that.” Harry said, slightly confused. “I thought the white one was great...”

Hermione turned around and then bent over just enough for the end of the dress to lift and show off her butt and what was nestled between her legs.

“Sweet Merlin!” Harry gasped at the sight. Before he knew it, he was across the room and had his face buried into her backside as his tongue licked her very sensitive place.

Hermione moaned at the unexpected pleasure and then she was looking at Harry's frantic face and he was inside of her. Harry kissed her hard as he had his way with her and she was very happy at her successful teasing. It had been something she read about how men would react to an 'offering' and she was glad that it had worked.

She was still a little self-conscious about her body and wasn't really happy about the proportions. She never thought she would be, to be honest. Knowing that Harry was more than happy with her had settled her emotional state just enough that she wouldn't question if he really liked her. His constant whispers of how pretty she was and how much he loved her, made her love him back that much more.

*

September first arrived and they had all packed the night before, thanks to Harry's badgering and Dobby's help. Nothing was left behind and no one forgot anything.

“Kreacher.” Harry said and the old elf popped in front of him. “Lock up the house and make sure that no one enters. If someone breaks in...”

“No one trespasses on Black Family property.” Kreacher said, adamantly.

The others looked a little worried about that and Harry only smiled.

“I'll leave it to you.” Harry said and lightly touched the elf's shoulder. “Protect the house and don't listen to anyone else's orders except mine.”

Kreacher looked conflicted and Harry chuckled.

“If Walburga gives you an order that contradicts anything I've ordered you to do, agree to what she says and then don't do it.” Harry said. “Come to me and tell me what she asks. If it's not unreasonable, I'll give you permission to make her happy.”

Kreacher relaxed and nodded. “I will do as the master says.”

“Thank you, Kreacher.” Harry said and waved everyone out through the door, then he turned back to look at the old elf. “Perhaps your head will be mounted on the wall with the others before the year is out.”

Kreacher gave him a big smile and nodded.

Harry closed the door after he stepped out with his trunk and saw the surprised faces on everyone. “It's his fondest wish.”

The twins looked at each other and chuckled, Ron shrugged, and Hermione looked a little put out about it, mainly because she knew it was true. Harry never kept any secrets from her.

“You asked him about it, didn't you?” Ginny asked.

“Yeah.” Harry said and walked with everyone out of the house's protections. “It's an honor for House Black elves to be mounted when their services are no longer required.”

“Aye, it is, lad.” Alastor Moody said when he approached the little park in the middle of the subdivision where the house sat. “Tradition plays out oddly sometimes.”

“KIDS!” Molly yelled when she heard Moody talking and noticed the children. She practically dove at them and pulled each of her children in for huge hugs and crushed them against her chest. When she reached for Hermione, she froze when a wand was almost shoved up her nose.

“Stop.” Harry's very cold voice ordered and everyone stopped moving and talking. “Don't you dare try to hug her like that.”

“Harry, put your wand away.” Arthur Weasley said.

“Didn't any of you put up a notice-me-not charm?” Harry asked and knew without looking at their faces that none of them did. “Now you know why we didn't need you this summer.”

“Harry...” Bill started to say.

“Some curse breaker you are. Where are the basic protections for your excursion team?” Harry asked and his voice didn't lose the coldness. “I thought you came here fully prepared to escort us. I'm disappointed to see that you don't even have your wands at the ready.”

“That's enough, lad.” Moody said.

“Constant Vigilance.” Harry said and saw Moody's real eye twitch before he waved Molly back. “Hurry up and cast the right spells on us.”

It took a moment before they nodded and Moody and Bill got to work casting the right spells. Harry glanced at Hermione and saw that she was keeping track of the wand movements and the names of the spells to look up later.

“I'm surprised Dumbledore isn't here.” Harry said when they were camouflaged and concealed. “What about our trunks?”

“Portkey to the bulk luggage storage on the train.” Moody said and waved for them to stack them together. He cast Incarcerous to tie them together and placed a little gizmo on them. A second later, they disappeared.

“Dumbledore had things to do at the school.” Arthur said and they all started walking down the street. None of the people in the square looked at them.

“I'll expect to be called into his office as soon as the train arrives, then.” Harry said and no one responded. They all expected that, too.

The group walked for over half an hour and across several streets into another area of London to reach King's Cross station. No one spoke and Harry stayed beside Hermione to make sure she was all right. She gave him an appreciative look and stopped herself before she took his hand. The other people around them didn't need the knowledge that they were together. Not yet, anyway.

The journey into the station was a sombre affair and they stayed quiet as they made their way through the barrier and into the magical side of the station. It wasn't as loud as usual, because they were there so early with well over an hour and a quarter left before the train was set to leave.

“This place seems so empty.” Ron said and looked around at the nearly deserted platform.

“That's because most parents wait until the last minute to come here with their kids.” Harry said and pointedly didn't look at Molly. “We should find a compartment before they fill up.” He joked and the twins barked laughs.

“We can get one and then do whatever we want for the next hour.” Hermione said and everyone nodded.

Harry offered his arm to her and they walked away as Molly and Arthur said goodbye to their kids. For the first time in years, he would be getting to work on September first before he needed to be there.

Harry led Hermione onto the train into one of the middle cars. “Is here's good?”

Hermione shook her head. “We'll have people walking by constantly.”

“Good point.” Harry said and led her to the first car behind the engine and over to the very first compartment. It wouldn't open for him, however.

Hermione looked at him slyly and didn't say anything. She knew what compartment this was.

Harry whipped out his wand and cast a very strong unlock charm. The door actually creaked and bent slightly before the lock popped and the door slid open.

Hermione was shocked at the display and couldn't say anything as Harry took her inside. Once he saw what the place looked like with the patrol schedules and assigned seating for the Prefects, his face flushed red and he sighed.

“Thanks a lot, Hermione.” Harry said and sat her down in her seat. “I'll see you later.”

“Harry, wait!” Hermione said when he turned to leave and he gave her a withering look. She sighed and glanced at the door. “You shouldn't be able to open that door. It's for Prefects and the Head Boy and Girl only.”

“Which you should have told me when we got here.” Harry said, his voice back to being cold. “Now I've broken into a private space and can't stay, because I'm not a part of the system. I suspect a warning has been sent to whoever runs this place.”

“Harry...”

“I'll be in the next compartment over and waiting all by myself for someone to come along and tell me what my punishment is going to be.” Harry said and left her there.

Hermione fought back her tears. She had only wanted to trick him by the door not opening and then she would have told him. It had gone wrong, though. She hadn't meant for it to happen like that.

A minute later, the conductor opened the door and looked at her. His face was inquisitive and he took out his wand.

“It was my fault. I didn't think he could open the door.” Hermione admitted and hadn't tried to deny it.

With a little swish of the conductor's wand, he nodded to her and turned around to follow the magical signature.

Hermione watched as the man talked with Harry, then he handed Harry a piece of paper. A tear came to her eye when the man left and Harry held up the paper to show her. A fine of a hundred galleons and a month's detention to be served cleaning the Hogsmeade station and the train. She tried to apologize and the words caught in her throat. She had unintentionally wrecked what could have been the best train ride of her life and it was all because she hadn't told Harry essential information.

“What's got you so down?” Ron asked as he entered the compartment.

Hermione couldn't look at him and stayed quiet. She wasn't sure she could take his simple-mindedness over something like this. If he joked about it as well, she would feel even worse about it.

Ron shrugged and sat beside her to wait for the other Prefects.

*

Harry sat in his compartment all alone as the train left the station. He was seething behind his calmness technique at his own stupidity. He knew that if a door was locked, there was a reason behind it. He had to try and impress Hermione with an overpowered Alohamora that nearly broke the door. Now he was a criminal and logged by the train conductor as someone that damages property.

The man said that it didn't matter how it came about or who's fault it was. He committed the crime and would face the consequences. Harry had just nodded and accepted the paper, then showed it to her. He saw her sad face and he fought with himself to go to her and hug her. The problem with that was he was banned from ever entering that compartment or any other, except for the one he was in now.

“It's now warded like the Prefect compartment.” The conductor had informed him. “Only you are allowed in here and no one else can come in.”

Harry didn't tell him that was appropriate and remained quiet.

It was a very long train ride and the conductor was right. No one passed by his compartment and no one else tried to enter. He could see the Prefects doing their duties and the Head Boy and Girl monitoring their patrols on the train. Not a single person looked his way and he didn't try to open the door. He somehow knew that he wasn't allowed to leave, unless it was important like going to the bathroom.

*

Hermione ignored everyone as she did her rounds. Her stamina had been slowly growing over the last month and she was almost back to her normal physical self. She walked the whole length of the train every hour for her turn and practically collapsed after each round in the compartment that Ginny was in with Luna, Neville, and Ron.

“Where's Harry?” Ginny asked. “I tried looking for him and I can't find him anywhere.”

Hermione was embarrassed about the whole thing and opened her mouth to say where. The words stuck in her throat and she was surprised. She couldn't tell anyone where he was, even though she knew. She couldn't even tell them she suspected that he was under a modified Fidelus Charm.

“I'm sure he's around here somewhere.” Ron said and took out a chocolate frog.

“I thought the two of you would be all over each other.” Ginny said with a bit of vindictiveness. She couldn't help herself and had to poke and prod at their relationship.

“What do you mean?” Neville asked.

“They started going out over the summer.” Luna said from behind her magazine. “It's taken a turn for the worse lately, though.”

“WHAT?!?” Ginny yelled.

“How do you know that?” Hermione asked.

“The nargles are practically swimming around you and your emotions.” Luna said without looking at her. “The wrackspurts are at a loss on what to do with you, though.”

Ron, Ginny, and Neville stared at Luna and didn't know what to say.

“I've ruined things already and we just started!” Hermione said and the tears she had been holding back started flowing down her face. “I don't know what to do to fix it!”

The others were shocked by her sudden breakdown and only Luna was unaffected. She closed her magazine, tucked it into her robes, and moved over to sit beside Hermione.

“You can explain it to him when we get to the castle. He'll be released then and he won't be angry.” Luna said and gently hugged the crying girl.

“Released? What do you mean?” Ginny asked.

Luna shrugged and kept holding Hermione gently.

*

The train came to a stop and Harry felt the ward around the compartment drop, which was odd, considering he hadn't felt it go up. When he stepped out, the conductor was there and took his arm. He led Harry to the closest door and escorted him off the train.

“I'll see you here tomorrow night after supper.” The man said and the door closed behind him.

Harry was still behind his calming technique and didn't sigh at his plans of looking for the others being cut off before they started. He walked over to the closest carriage and stood there to wait. A lot of students walked by him, some of them surprised that they hadn't seen him for the entire train ride.

“Harry!” Ginny shouted and waved from the crowd.

“There you are, mate.” Ron said as he, Ginny, Neville, Luna, and a very sad Hermione walked up to him. “What happened?”

“Nothing.” Harry said. He knew by the look on the conductor's face and by his words about no one else being allowed to see him while on the train, letting his friends know where he was would make no difference. “Let's go.”

Ron shrugged and climbed into the carriage with Ginny right behind him. Neville went next and Harry helped Luna into the carriage behind him. Harry turned and held his hand out to Hermione to help her and she saw the look on his face. Fresh tears came to her eyes as she saw him using the calming technique and she took his hand to accept his help.

Harry helped her in and climbed in himself. He sat beside her and didn't do anything to show that they were a couple, which only made Hermione's silent tears flow faster.

“Harry, you're hurting her.” Luna said.

“I know.” Harry said and everyone looked surprised. “It's not good for me, either.”

“Then why are you doing it?” Luna asked.

“I don't know how to fix being stupid.” Harry said, to their shock. “I tried to impress Hermione and now there's a mess that I can't do anything with.”

“H-Harry, I... I told him it was my fault.” Hermione whispered. “I should be held responsible.”

“He said it didn't matter, because I did it.” Harry said and fell silent. He didn't respond when any of the others asked him what he meant. When they reached the castle, he told them all that he had detention for a month starting tomorrow after supper and wouldn't have any time for anyone, let alone his girlfriend.

Hermione burst into tears again at the reminder that she had ruined things and she took off for Griffindor tower.

“I'll get her.” Ginny said and followed the crying girl.

“Don't bother. She won't come back with her so emotional.” Harry said and Ginny sat down.

“That was pretty harsh, Harry.” Neville said.

“Why? She knew before. I was just letting you guys know that I wouldn't be around.” Harry said and walked into the Great Hall. Neville and Luna looked at Ron, who shrugged because he didn't know what was going on, and they split up to go to their house tables and sat down.

“Potter!” Snape snapped as he strode over to the Griffindor table. “The headmaster wants you in his office right now. He likes Licorice Snaps.”

“You can tell the headmaster to stop ignoring his duties to the school and that I haven't had anything to eat since this morning.”

“I will do no such thing.” Snape sneered. “Get up and go to his office. Now.”

“Make me.” Harry challenged.

Snape's sneer grew and he reached for Harry's shoulder. He grabbed him and dragged him to his feet while shaking him.

“CHILD ABUSE!” Harry yelled and the entire hall froze at his words. “Someone! HELP ME!”

No one moved, not even Snape. The other professors stared with blank expressions at him, as did his friends.

“No one at all wants to help me? Wow, you all suck.” Harry said and shook off Snape's grip. “Not even my friends reacted?” He asked and looked to see their embarrassed faces. “I thought you would have jumped in to help stop this greasy bat from doing that.”

Neville was the only one to say anything. “It was so sudden and I didn't know what to do.”

“That's what's wrong with everyone.” Harry said and they all looked at him. “You all just sit there and think that someone else will eventually step in and deal with it... and then no one does and none of you cares. At all.”

“That's not true! I care about you!” Ginny said loudly.

“No, you only care about how to get with the boy-who-lived, the famous Harry Potter. Not me, not Harry.” Harry said and ignored her angry face. “Don't forget that all last year, according to the Ministry and the newspaper, I was deranged and crazy. If any of you had any sense, you would have known...” He shook his head. “No, it doesn't matter. None of this matters.” He looked at Snape. “You don't matter.”

“One hundred points from Griffindor.” Snape said, angrily.

“Take a thousand.” Harry said, to everyone's shock. “I literally just said that it doesn't matter.”

“Detention, then!” Snape spat.

“Nope, sorry. I already have detention for the next month. Not that I'd show up for your detention anyways. Try again.”

Snape was almost frothing at the mouth.

“What? Can't think of anything else useless that you can threaten me with?” Harry asked and Snape grit his teeth together. “Why not threaten me with expulsion?”

“NO!” Several voices said loudly.

“Now my friends react.” Harry said and looked back at Snape without meeting his eyes. “So? Are you going to threaten it?”

Snape didn't say anything as the main doors opened and Professor McGonagall came in with the first years to be sorted.

“I didn't think so.” Harry said. “A dog doesn't have any bite when you remove his teeth.”

Snape made a fist with his hand and moved to reach for his wand.

Harry's wand was shoved into Snape's stomach and he looked up at the taller man. “Go ahead and curse me, Snivellus. Let's see how long you stay out of Azkaban for assaulting Harry Potter. The Chosen One. The one who's destined to fight Voldemort.”

Hundreds of gasps spread across the hall and whispers broke out all over.

“It's true. There's a prophecy and everything.” Harry said and Snape's face lost all of its color. “Born as the seventh month dies. Marked as his equal.” He reached up and showed off the lightning bolt scar. “I've survived fighting Voldemort four times already, so that proves to everyone that it has to be true, right?”

Snape took a step back and Harry slipped his own wand away. No one said anything and Harry sat down at the table to wait. Everyone stayed where they were.

“Well? Get on with it.” Harry said and waved at McGonagall. “Try to do this part of your job properly.”

Several gasps came from around him and he ignored them.

McGonagall gave him a stern glare, then she continued on her walk to the front of the hall.

“What the hell, mate?” Ron asked.

“I'm tired of them pissing all over me and the teachers not doing anything about it.” Harry said.

“They could kick you out for this.” Neville warned.

“Oh, they could... but, they won't.” Harry said. “You see, I've come to realize something important.”

“What's that?” Neville asked.

“The wizarding world needs me.” Harry said and let a smile appear on his face. It was almost scary because he was still using his calming technique. “What they don't realize is that I don't need them.”

Ginny was the only one to get his meaning. “No!”

“Yep. I can stand up and walk right out of those doors without looking back. I passed my owls and am a qualified wizard allowed to have a wand. I might not be seventeen yet; but, that just means I've got a year before I can officially tell the wizarding world to suck it.”

“You can't abandon me!” Ginny exclaimed.

“What's to abandon?” Harry asked. “You're Ron's little sister and a friend. That's it. That's all it will ever be.”

Ginny blushed in embarrassment and a few people felt bad for her.

The sorting happened and Professor McGonagall did the opening speech this year. She also introduced the new teacher. Professor Slughorn was the new Potions professor and Professor Snape was taking over Defense Against the Dark Arts.

“No!” Harry said and stood.

“Mister Potter! You will sit and be quiet!” McGonagall responded.

“Not going to happen.” Harry said and glared at her. “I was wondering why the new defense book sucked and now I know why.”

“Mister Potter! Fifty points from Griffindor!”

“Make it a thousand, you stupid old woman!” Harry spat and the entire hall reacted. “I'm a Griffindor and you've ALWAYS penalized me for it!”

“I'll keep penalizing you for your uncouth behavior!” McGonagall said. “Detention for the week and...”

“I already have it for the next month!” Harry said and she looked shocked. “Try again!”

The room groaned as she fell into the same trap Snape had been in.

Professor Vector leaned close to McGonagall and informed her of what had happened earlier.

“Mister Potter, you will head to the headmaster's office immediately.” McGonagall said.

“I haven't eaten yet.” Harry responded.

“And you won't.” McGonagall said and waved her hand. Harry's plates and utensils disappeared.

“You're going to starve me too, just like my abusive muggle relatives did for the last fifteen years?”

McGonagall's face drained of color and the entire hall reacted. Most were shocked, some growled, and a few pounded their hands on their tables.

“Fine.” Harry said and stood. “I know when I'm not wanted. I'll submit my withdrawal from Hogwarts when I speak to the headmaster over whatever stupid thing he wants me for.”

Lots of shouts of 'no' hit his ears, which he ignored, because he just told them he would do it.

“On the plus side, with Snape as the defense professor, he'll be out by the end of the year.” Harry said with a grin and walked from the Great Hall.

McGonagall was too shocked by everything to speak. Her mind whirled at Harry's words and she didn't know what to do.

“Start the feast!” Professor Vector hissed in her ear.

McGonagall waved her hand and spoke in a whisper, because she was sure her voice would crack if she tried to speak normally. “Let the feast begin.”

“I can't believe he's going to do it.” Neville said, his voice sad.

Ron stared at Ginny and her wet face from crying. He held a hand out to her and she burst out crying and dove across the table to hug him closely.

*

“Come in, my boy.” Albus said as the wards in front of his door pinged Harry's arrival.

“You know, passwording your office so that no one can get in during an emergency is really stupid.” Harry said and sat down without being invited.

Albus was shocked at his accusation. “There are a lot of sensitive things in my office that...”

“It's not like you don't have a protected and secured place with even more protections than this office.” Harry said and cut him off from his flimsy excuse. “What do you want?”

Albus tried to look into the boy's eyes and he couldn't catch them, even when he used the twinkle eye glamour to draw attention to his eyes. “Harry, I need access to Grimmauld Place for...”

“No.” Harry said and cut him off again. “Anything else?”

Albus hid his sigh. “Sirius' will was read over the summer and...”

“Liar.” Harry said, to his shock. “Gringotts postponed it on my request until school started. No, you aren't invited. What else?”

Albus couldn't stop the sigh this time. “Harry, why are you acting like this?”

“I'm done with being led around by the nose and lied to about everything.” Harry said and stood. “If that's all, headmaster?”

Albus shook his head. “Please sit. I have a few things to discuss with you.”

“I doubt that.” Harry responded.

“Excuse me?” Albus looked confused.

“You never discuss anything. Hermione and I discuss things. You dictate and lead people where you want them to go. You never volunteer information and keep everyone in the dark about everything.” Harry said and walked over to the door.

Albus flicked his hand at the door and it locked. “Harry, please. Let's talk.”

“No, headmaster. Whatever you want to tell me, doesn't matter.”

“It's about Voldemort and the lessons I'll be giving you this year.” Albus said, throwing the boy a bone. Hopefully, a tasty bone that he will chew on as a distraction.

Harry turned to look at his nose. “Will you be teaching me magic?”

Albus opened his mouth to say yes and saw the look in Harry's eyes. He's waiting for the lie. “No. Our lessons will be about Voldemort and how he came to be.”

“Irrelevant.” Harry scoffed. “That has nothing to do with fighting him.”

“Ah, but it has everything to do with fighting him.” Albus said with a smile. “You see, I have several memories for us to go through and when you see the patterns...”

“You apparently already know what it all means, so why waste my time?” Harry asked. “Wait, that's it, isn't it? You're intentionally wasting my time.”

Albus didn't say anything in response as he tried to come up with an excuse.

“I thought so.” Harry said and reached for the door. “Well, thanks for nothing.”

“Harry, wait.” Albus said and then sighed. “You need certain information...”

“...that you're never going to tell me until you think the time is right.” Harry said and he saw the truth on the old man's face. “Let me save you a lot of time, headmaster.” He said and smirked. “I, Harry James Potter, formally withdraw from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.”

“NO!” Dumbledore gasped as a flash of light appeared and the door unlocked.

“You can't restrain a non-student in your office without it being a crime.” Harry said and opened the door. “Unlawful confinement, I believe. I expect the remainder of my two years of school tuition to be returned to my vault by tomorrow.”

Albus stood up to rush over to him, only to have his own office door slam as he reached it. He grabbed the handle of the door and it wouldn't turn. “Dammit! Open up! I can't let him leave!”

“You can't legally do anything to him.” The sorting hat said from his perch. “Once he left school, you can not compel him as his magical guardian.”

Albus sighed and slumped against the door. “He can't leave. We need him.”

“You should have thought of that before manipulating all of his life to make him hate the wizarding world as much as he hates his relatives.” The sorting hat said.

“What? I didn't do that!” Albus said in his defense.

“Of course you did. Setting the whole school on him during his second, fourth, and fifth years. You also never once defending him from their taunts and curses when he needed it. What else was he going to feel for his peers and the teachers that never helped him and in one case openly hates and reviles him? Affection?” The sorting hat laughed. “You are a fool, Albus.”

The old man felt the door unlock behind him and he knew that he was too late.

Harry Potter was gone.

*

“Come with me.” Harry said as he shrunk his trunk.

“Harry, I need to finish my education.” Hermione said, her voice weak. She wiped at her face and cleaned up the fresh tears. “You can't think that going off on your own is going to help you fight Voldemort.”

Harry put his trunk in his pocket and walked over to her. “Hermione, I love you; but, you can be really stupid sometimes.”

“Wh-what?!?” Hermione almost shrieked.

“Is Hogwarts the only school in Britain? How can it be the best if there's only one?” Harry asked and her face went red. “I know it's the most expensive, being a boarding school and everything.”

“Harry...”

“That thing on the train as well. How could you not tell me something that important?”

Hermione's mouth opened, then she closed it and shook her head. “I didn't get the chance.”

“You've been using that compartment all last year. You could have told me at any time.” Harry said.

“Ron...”

“Doesn't have a clue about things like that and you know it.” Harry said. “I hold Ron to a different standard than you, anyways.”

Hermione blushed and she wasn't sure why.

“Look, I'm leaving and the headmaster can't stop me.” Harry said. “When the others get back from the main hall, ask them what happened there.”

“Harry, you... I can't leave.” Hermione whispered.

“Talk to Neville. He'll straighten things out for you. If you change your mind, you know how to contact me.” Harry said and walked over to the dorm's door. He looked back at her and dropped his calming technique to let her see the pain he was in. Two tears came out of his eyes and he didn't wipe at them. “Goodbye, Hermione.”

Hermione took a step towards him as he left and she dropped to the floor on her knees. She knew there wasn't anything she could say to make him stay and that hurt her heart even more than him suddenly leaving. She needed to do what he said and talk to Neville. Maybe if she knew what happened, she could change things and maybe fix it.

*

“You can't be serious.” The headmaster of a little known school said as he looked over the transcripts for the famous Harry Potter a week after said student left Hogwarts.

“It's true.” The recruiter said. “He's left Hogwarts stating it's too dangerous for him with the way the teachers abuse their positions and all the bullying and curses he suffers in the hallways daily from the children of Death Eaters.”

“Wait, did you say their children go there?” The headmaster asked, shocked.

“Yes, and their head of house is a former Death Eater himself. Severus Snape.”

“Bloody hell.” The headmaster said and rubbed a hand over his face. “Do you think we can chance it?”

The recruiter let out a laugh. “He said, and I quote, 'my tuition for the next two years at Hogwarts is yours to do with as you wish'. I think he's completely serious and wants to attend here.”

“How much are we talking?” The headmaster asked.

“Flip the page.” The recruiter said with a smirk.

The headmaster looked at the total and he almost choked. “Get him in here right away! With this kind of money at our disposal, we can upgrade the wards and protect all of the students, not just him! We'll have our best charms people glamour the young man and no one will know who he is!”

“I knew you were going to say that.” The recruiter said and went to the office door to open it and looked out into the waiting room. “He agreed.”

“Great.” A voice said and then Harry Potter entered the office wearing a nice suit that matched the new school's dress code. “Thank you for his opportunity.”

“Mister Potter, we'll bend over backwards and accommodate you in any way possible for this kind of money.” The headmaster stood and saw the looks on both the recruiter's and Harry Potter's faces, and laughed. “Yes, I know exactly how that sounds.”

“I think I'm going to like it here.” Harry said with a grin and shook the man's hand.

*

“There's been no word about him at all and it's been six months.” Moody said during the Order of the Phoenix meeting in the headmaster's office at Hogwarts. “His friends don't send him letters and we can't track him that way, either.”

Albus sighed and sat back in his chair.

“At least You-know-who can't find him.” Tonks said and several people nodded.

“That's both a blessing and a curse.” Kingsley said. “He's split his forces looking for Harry and causing a ruckus.”

“That means less destruction overall but on a wider scale.” Moody clarified for everyone.

“It has also spread out the available Aurors all over the country.” Kingsley said with a sigh. “Madam Bones is not happy.”

“None of us are.” Emmeline Vance said. “I had to work a double shift yesterday and spent most of my time doing the paperwork on petty crimes that should have been handled by interns and not a seasoned professional. I should have been out in the field and not behind a desk all damn day.”

“I hear that.” Tonks sighed. “My skills haven't been put to proper use in months.”

“Aye, none of us have.” Moody said with a grunt. “I think Kingsley has it the worst.”

The large black man nodded. “Amelia's grooming me as her replacement.”

“So, it's true? She's retiring?” Tonks asked, surprised. “She's barely old enough to...”

“She's been in the Auror department for near on twenty years.” Moody grumbled and rubbed the knee above his wooden stump of a leg. “She's smart to get out when she has the chance.”

A few of the other members gave each other uncomfortable looks. None of them wanted to admit that she was leaving because of the increased attacks on political officials the last few weeks.

“The announcement will be in the paper tomorrow.” Kingsley said.

“I assume you're taking all of the proper precautions?” Deadalus Diggle asked.

“If you mean that no one knows I'm taking over her job, yes.” Kingsley confirmed.

“Good. The less people that know who her replacement is, the better.” Albus said and nearly everyone in the room looked right at Snape.

Snape didn't bother saying he wasn't going to tell Voldemort about it, because that was between him and Albus Dumbledore. If the old wizard wanted Voldemort to know, Snape would tell him.

“Let's set up the patrols of the hot spots and keep an eye on the enemy's movements.” Albus said and the large group of people gathered around his desk to look over the routes and the times they would be needed. One particular detail did not go unnoticed by one member of their group.

“Why are you still watching Privet Drive?” Snape asked when he couldn't hold his curiosity back any longer. “Potter hasn't been seen there since last year.”

“His family still lives there.” Albus said and a few people at the meeting scowled at him.

“I'm not taking that route, unless it's to burn their house down.” Tonks said, clearly angry. “Did you read that Quibbler article about what they did to him?”

“That magazine is trash.” Snape said without any inflection.

“It also told the truth while the Daily Prophet printed lies and bullied an underage wizard.” Tonks said.

“How do you know it was the truth?” Snape asked with his trademarked sneer.

“I've talked to his ex-girlfriend and his friends.” Tonks said.

“Aye, as have I.” Moody said. “I don't know why it took so long for Potter to finally snap after everything that's happened to him.”

“Oh, boo hoo. The boy had a bad childhood. He needs to grow up and get over himself.” Snape spat.

“If you had taken your own advice and stopped your constant bullying, Potter wouldn't have left school.” Moody said and looked at Albus. “That is, assuming your loyalty vow to Albus would allow you to act nicely to the boy.”

Several people sucked in breaths at the accusation.

“Alastor, this isn't the time.” Albus said with a sigh.

“Well, when would be a good time?” Moody asked. “I've been trying to get the whole story from you and you've been giving me the runaround since Potter left. I figured pressuring you in front of witnesses would be the best time after all your delays and evasions.”

Albus sighed. “All right, Alastor. Stay afterwards and...”

“No, tell us all right now or I'm taking a page from Potter's book. Fill me in on what I want to know or I walk.” Moody said, gruffly.

Albus looked around and saw everyone's expectant faces, because they all knew that he wouldn't want the Order to lose their best operative. “I suppose it is about time that I told you all.”

They all sat there for another hour as Albus explained everything. How there really was a prophecy and that Harry was the only one that could fight against Voldemort. He also told them the part that Voldemort heard, leaving out the rest of it. He didn't want Severus to hear it all and possibly passing it on to Voldemort. If the madman had any clue that with Harry gone, there was no one to stop him, the wizarding world would be lost.

“You are an idiot, Albus.” Moody growled. “You knew that all these years, and yet you let that boy suffer with those muggles? On purpose?”

“He needed to appreciate the wizarding world and being away from his relatives.” Albus explained. “He was. He latched onto the Weasleys and they showed him what a happy family really was like.”

Moody stood and leaned forward. “Like I said, you were an idiot. Yes, he saw a happy family... that wasn't his.”

“Why in the world would you think he would fight for something he doesn't have?” Kingsley asked.

Tonks took in a sharp breath. “Oh, no.”

“What is it?” Moody asked as he turned to face his old apprentice. “What did you figure out?”

“He's been treated like crap for the last couple years. Because of the tournament he suffered from the students taunts and then last year because of the Ministry's smear campaign.” Tonks reminded everyone. “That's why he left. He thinks no one is here for him.”

Moody let out an inarticulate growl, like a wolf warning people. “How he acted back in September when we escorted him, makes sense now. If he didn't trust anyone besides himself and his friends...”

“He left them behind.” Tonks said with a sigh. “He asked Hermione to go with him and she refused.”

Moody shook his head. “Damn fool kids.”

“What?” Tonks looked confused.

“All she had to say was she would wait for him, not tell him she'd never leave.” Moody clarified. “He loves that girl and she hurt him. He's not coming back if he has a choice.”

“He doesn't.” Albus said. “We need to find him and bring him back. We can't win the war without him.”

Moody laughed. “You can bring him back here once, twice, or a hundred times. That doesn't mean he's ever going to fight, Albus.” He stomped over to the fireplace. “Don't bother calling me for these meetings anymore. I'm retired and I'm going home.”

“Old friend, you can't just leave.” Albus said. “I told you everything that you needed to know.”

“That right there. I bet that's why Potter really left, isn't it? You wouldn't come clean about what's really going on.” Moody said. “You don't have to deny it, we all know it's true. Goodbye, Albus.” He said and tossed some powder into the fireplace. “The Leaky Cauldron.”

Everyone watched as Moody disappeared in a flash of green flames and didn't know what to say.

“I think we can call an end to the meeting here.” Kingsley said and stood as he picked up a piece of parchment with his route and schedule on it. “I'll let you know if my duties allow me to do this.”

As he left, Tonks stood and didn't bother taking the piece of parchment with her assignment on it. “I'm pulling a Potter.” She said and left without looking back.

The others exchanged looks briefly, then they all stood and left. The only ones left in the office were Snape, Minerva, and Albus.

Minerva stood and walked out without a word. She wouldn't know what to say if she did try to speak.

After a couple of minutes of silence, Albus sighed and turned to Severus. “I need you to...”

“I know.” Snape said and stood. “How many?”

“Half a dozen of them, no more.” Albus said with a sad face. “They need to see the danger that Voldemort poses as much as I do.”

Snape nodded and knew which ones he would volunteer as examples. The Order of the Phoenix needed some pruning anyway. Neither he nor Albus would suspect that one of the lesser known members of the Order would be having their family over and several other members of the Order to discuss if they wanted to stay with the illegal organization.

It was a massacre.

*

“Thirteen dead and seven almost mortally injured. Three tortured and one child abducted.” Albus read in the paper that weekend and his heart squeezed in his chest. He hadn't accounted for this much death in his plans, which were now almost completely ruined. Most of the Order had heard about the attacks and correctly guessed how Voldemort had found the addresses of the victims.

Severus was arrested and charged for aiding and abetting a terrorist organization. Albus would get him out before his trial and would sweep the whole thing under the rug. The problem was, he needed Severus as a spy and couldn't let him stay in prison, which meant the rest of the Order heard about his plans to get the man exonerated and had abandoned him completely. None of them came back, not even Minerva, whom had always been one of his staunchest supporters.

It was all getting away from him and he didn't know how to salvage it. His resources had dwindled as his manpower had and he had little to few options left to him. Albus looked at Fawkes and grabbed a piece of parchment. He wrote out a plea, included a vital piece of information, and folded it to give to Fawkes.

“Old friend, please take this to Harry Potter.”

Fawkes gave a shrill cry and Albus felt the bird's frustration.

“I know I messed things up.” Albus said and stroked the birds feathers. “This is one of my last options.”

Fawkes gave him a sorrowful look and took the note into its beak, then flamed away.

He didn't come back until a week later. He had suffered an unexpected burning day and was only a young bird at the moment. His flames were just strong enough to get him back to his perch and he collapsed.

“What happened?” Albus asked as stood from behind his desk to go to the bird. It looked pitiful. “Who did this to you?”

Fawkes didn't say anything and pulled a half-burned letter from underneath his wing.

Albus was surprised and used his wand to repair the letter. It reformed and filled in, so he opened it and started to read.

Hey, old man.
You're still an idiot, huh? Sending a phoenix through Goblin wards specifically designed to stop him was one of the stupidest things you've ever done. You didn't even ask him to scout first or check for any other wards designed to keep out unwanted visitors. I wouldn't have even noticed Fawkes at all if I hadn't been outside at the time and seen the fireball.
Horcruxes, huh? Well, thanks for that piece of information. If you'd only told me that during first year when Voldemort was a spirit sitting on the back of Quirrell's head, I could have handled it back then. Yes, I was only eleven. No, I wasn't stupid. I was brave, courageous, and by that time I had faced the most evil man on the planet and won. Twice. You should have told me when I asked.
No, I'm not coming back. No, I don't have to. Your pleas are as worthless as your fake grand gestures to help me. Which never did. What good were points to a kid that had just killed someone? Where was my Order of Merlin? Where was my recognition for doing it myself? Right, there was none, and it was all thanks to you keeping everything quiet.
It's always been like that and I really, really hate you for that. Thanks to my calming technique, I haven't gone over there to curse you personally or to spit in your face. You're really lucky.

Albus paused in his reading and rubbed his eyes. He processed what Harry said for a few moments and then kept reading.

Thankfully, I have some people that I've hired to do it for me. You should expect a visit by the goblins, the Aurors, and probably a lot of the public. My exclusive interview about everything I went through in the safest school in Britain should be published soon.
I tried to stop Fawkes from leaving before he was ready and he must get it from you, because he's been trying to flame out for the last three days after he woke up. I'm tucking this letter under his wing to try and protect it from the flames and hope that it somehow survives and gets to you.
I'm looking forward to seeing if you get sent to Azkaban for all the laws you broke and for all the laws you ignored as the Chief Warlock. A few thousand charges of child endangerment from letting a basilisk roam the school for over fifty years really adds up.
Anyways, I hope this letter finds you old and decrepit. Say hello to everyone for me. Oh, wait. There's no one left there for me to care about. Never mind.
The wizarding world can suck it.
Mister 'I'm not your boy' Potter

Albus had to read it twice to understand what had happened. He couldn't believe that Harry hadn't jumped at the chance at going after the horcruxes. It was the only way to get rid of Voldemort and he didn't want to know about them or where they could possibly be.

Just as he reached that realization, he felt the wards be challenged and accept a large group of people at the front gates. Albus dashed to his door and ran down the stairs, quite spry for his age, and he ran through the halls and down several staircases to reach the front doors of the castle in time. He cast several spells on himself to clean up and remove his sweat, then he opened the large oak doors.

“Headmaster.” Amelia Bones said, her voice as hard as a knife's edge. “I've gotten hundreds of sworn statements that you've been endangering the sole heirs of dozens of pureblood families. For years.”

“Amelia, so nice to...”

“One of which is my sole family member.” Amelia cut him off. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I am innocent.” Albus said, automatically.

“Of course you are.” Kingsley said. “Don't think of fighting us, Albus. You may be on your home turf; but, we have the law on our side.”

“Kingsley, please. You know I need to stay free to fight Voldemort.” Albus said.

Amelia smiled almost evilly and the goblins behind her had similar grins. “Ironclaw, if you would.”

“Of course, Madam Bones.” Ironclaw said and stepped forward. He opened a stone box that was bigger on the inside and Albus sucked in a breath at the sight. Inside were several very prominent historical items. They were also mangled.

“There's one more and it's inside the school.” Amelia said and nodded at the goblins. “Remember, anything you find, you split evenly between the Potter Estate and yourselves.”

“We haven't had this much fun in ages. We won't break our word.” Ironclaw said and the goblins swarmed around Albus and went up the stairs before he could say anything in protest.

“Amelia, what is the meaning of this? I can't have goblins running unchecked though my school!”

“That's another thing.” Amelia said and held her hand out to the side. An Auror Albus didn't know put two scrolls in her hand. She unrolled them both. “As the retiring head of the DMLE, as my last act, I hereby remove Albus Dumbledore from any and all government held positions under the suspicion of criminal activities.”

“You can't do that.” Albus said.

“I can and have.” Amelia said and switched parchments. “The board of governors were quite concerned over all of the crimes you have committed on their children and the other occupants of the school. You are suspended until further notice. If any of the thousands of charges are held up in court, you will be summarily dismissed.”

Albus seemed to lose all of his strength and his shoulders slumped. “You are going to let Voldemort win over such petty things.”

Amelia's hand was across the short distance instantly and had slapped the old man's face so hard that his glasses were flung off after his head whipped to the side.

“MY NIECE IS NOT A PETTY THING!” Amelia yelled and felt a hand on her arm. “You're lucky that wasn't my fist, you old bastard.” She spat and nodded at Kingsley. “Cuff him and remove all of his magical items.”

One of the other Aurors retrieved the headmaster's glasses and added them to the large evidence bag. A lot of other things, like rings, a pendant, a bracelet, an anklet, and several things from the headmaster's belt were added, as was the belt buckle. The letter was added to a separate bag and Amelia chuckled as she read it.

“I'm glad Harry's tip about the phoenix being out of commission was right.” Amelia said as Albus was cuffed and taken from the castle. “This was a great taunting note.”

Kingsley nodded and waved at the staircase. “I'm sure his office is unlocked and the password is gone, now that he's not the headmaster.”

Amelia nodded and she brought the rest of the Aurors inside with her. “Gentlemen, spread out. Use the detection spells and follow the maps. I want every piece of dark magic out of this castle by the end of the day.”

“Yes, ma'am.” The group of men said and pulled out copies of a very familiar magical parchment.

“I'm glad the Unspeakables figured it out.” Kingsley said and took out his own copy.

“When will the one for the Ministry be done?” Amelia asked as they walked towards the headmaster's office.

“They're hoping for the weekend. They're leaving off some of the rooms in their own department, of course.”

Amelia chuckled. “They wouldn't be Unspeakables if they didn't have secrets.”

They entered the office and started casting the detection spells. It was filled with magic concealments and protective barriers, most of which were only over certain things. Amelia was drawn to a small shelf full of little doohickeys and gizmos. She cast several more spells and gasped when Harry's face appeared above six of them.

“Kingsley!” Amelia shouted and he ran over to look.

“I see.” Kingsley said and sighed. “He'll go down just for those six things.”

“Harry's guess that Albus was a secret Dark Lord is looking more and more plausible.” Amelia said, her voice full of disappointment. “He wouldn't see anything wrong with torturing a little boy.”

Kingsley put a hand on her shoulder. “Have you told Harry yet?”

Amelia shook her head. “I'll bring everything with me for our meeting next week.”

“What do you think he's going to say?”

Amelia took a deep breath before she answered. “When I tell him I've retired and we've dealt with Voldemort, I hope he'll hug me and accept it, even after all these years.”

They packed the items into a special box and left them intact, as proof, then Kingsley shrunk it and tucked it into his pocket. They worked through the office for half an hour before one of the goblins ran into the room with a feral grin.

“We found it!” The goblin exclaimed, happily.

“Who had the honors this time?” Amelia asked.

“Knarltooth. The unholy and haunting scream the diadem released hurt our ears! It was glorious!”

Amelia couldn't help but laugh at the little being's ruthlessness. “Excellent. Please continue your work in the room. Salvage what you can and destroy the rest. I want that room empty by the morning.”

“We'll have it done by tonight! I love unwanted destruction! Ha ha ha!” The goblin said loudly and ran out of the office.

Kingsley laughed as well. “We should have thought of hiring the goblins ourselves years ago.”

Amelia nodded and went back to work. Harry has been full of surprises since he was a baby. She thought. She wouldn't voice that out loud, considering how redundant the statement was. It was always Harry that things happened to. It always was.

*

Harry stared at the copy of his mother's will. It had been quite different than his father's that he had just read, as if she had hidden it from him and didn't want him to know about it.

“Is... is this... binding?” Harry asked and looked at the older woman next to him.

“Your father died first, according to the goblins. Since the first stipulation was that he left everything to your mother if he did...” Amelia shrugged.

“Even though it was only minutes?” Harry asked.

“It could be seconds and it wouldn't matter.” The goblin at the other side of the table said. “She owned everything the second after your father was killed and your mother's will is the arbitrating factor now.”

Harry looked back down at it. “I... I don't... I don't know what to say.”

“That's why Dumbledore sealed the wills.” Amelia said and Harry growled like a goblin. “Yes, I was angry when I found out, too.”

“Where is he?” Harry asked.

“Serving twenty years in Azkaban.” Amelia said with a smile. “Yes, before you ask. He's in isolation and no one is allowed to tell him anything about the wizarding world.”

Harry's angry scowl almost immediately changed to a happy smile. “He's ignorant of it?”

Amelia reached over and touched his shoulder. “He doesn't know we got Voldemort, the snake, and his Death Eaters.”

“Are they in the same wing?” Harry asked. “Surely, they'll taunt Dumbledore...”

“No, I had Kingsley send them through the Veil as his first act as Minister of Magic. We are trying to clean things up, not keep the same rigged system in place.” Amelia said and Harry nodded. “It's left a huge hole in the Wizengamut with all those dark families without their heads of houses.”

“I'm not going back.” Harry said, adamantly.

“I know and I would never ask you to.” Amelia said. “So, what do you think about living with me like your mother wanted? Can you put up with me for the next six months until you're seventeen?”

Harry didn't even hesitate as he leaned forward and took her into a hug. “I think I'd want to have you as my family for a lot longer than six months.”

Amelia's heart fluttered at his statement. “I'm... I'm sorry that Alice couldn't...”

“No, it's okay. I know if you knew back then, you would have taken me in without hesitation.” Harry said. “Plus, after all the help you've given me, including sending that recruiter to me...”

Amelia smiled. “I wasn't going to let the literal savior of the wizarding world out of my sight, young man! I've worked too hard the last six months with you to get things settled!”

Harry chuckled. “How did you like my solution to the prophecy?”

“Kingsley praised it and was quite sad that we didn't think of hiring the goblins to send them after Voldemort years ago, not that we could after hearing the whole prophecy. By your hand, indeed.” Amelia smiled and stood. “Ironclaw, thank you for your assistance.”

“We gained honor for our clan, brought down the darkest dark lord this century, and were given the credit to the shock of wizards everywhere.” Ironclaw said with a huge grin that showed off nearly all of his very sharp teeth. “The loot and treasure from our conquests wasn't bad, either.”

Amelia and Harry laughed and shook the goblin's hand. They left the meeting room and Harry reapplied the glamours he had worn for the last six months.

“I'm sorry that you still need to hide, even with the scar gone and your lack of glasses.” Amelia said and let the goblin guards open the doors to the bank to let them out. “Thank you, gentlemen.”

The guards nodded to her, which was high praise for them.

“Now what?” Harry asked. “I commute to school and...”

“...that's not going to change. You need to finish your schooling and the headmaster knows who you really are. I'm not going to interfere in your life. That's not what's going to happen.” Amelia said and brought him into a small alley between two buildings. “Unlike everyone else that's been messing with your life, I have no intention of changing anything. You're family now and that's all there is to it. You'll live with me for as long as you want and I'm going to love you like you should have been your entire life.”

Harry's calming technique slipped and his face changed from the passive look it had into one that looked to be on the verge of tears.

Amelia didn't say anything else and took him into a soft but firm embrace. She felt his body stiffen slightly, then his arms went around her and his head tucked into her neck. He almost melted in her arms and she felt him shake slightly. She knew soundless crying when she felt it. She had done a lot of that during her life and knew that Harry had just as much reason to do it as she did.

They stayed there for several minutes until Harry let out a deep sigh. Amelia let him go and took his hand. She led him from the alley to the apparition point, then apparated him to Bones Manor. Thanks to Dobby, his things were moved into his room in less than an hour.

“Welcome home, Harry.” Amelia said.

Harry's fake smile that he wore at school all the time slowly changed to become a genuine one.

*

Ten years later, Amelia sat at her desk in her office and heard a familiar scuffle outside.

“That's enough, Susan! Get going!”

“Aww! You never let me look when I want to!”

“I swear, if you don't get out right now and go visit Justin, I'll ban you from the house!” Amelia almost shouted.

“He's my husband! I see him every day!” Susan shouted back and there was a thump on the door. “Okay, fine! See if I come here tomorrow to babysit!”

There was a sound of feet walking away and Amelia waited for a minute. “I can hear you breathing.”

“Dammit!” Susan spat and actually walked away.

A male laugh came from across the room. “You know she wants to see the little tyke all the time, no matter what we're doing.”

“I think that's why. She wants to catch us in the act.” Amelia said and walked over to kiss the man standing beside the bassinet.

“I don't think we've ever had sex with her in the house. I was never that direct. Or crass.”

Amelia chuckled and kissed him again. “You know, he has your eyes. He's going to be a real lady's man when he's older.”

“When he's older? He gets them all now.” The man laughed. “Even your niece can't stay away from him for more than a day and she's almost thirty years older than him.”

Amelia shook her head and leaned her head against her husband's shoulder. “I think she's looking for your secret of getting me pregnant or hoping that being around a baby will let her get one, too.”

“If only it worked that way.” He said and turned to hug the woman he fell in love with. “How many times have I thanked you for what you did?”

“Once every day and twice on the weekends.” Amelia said and kissed him passionately. “I never thought it would work out like this, though.”

“You did promise to give me all the love I should have had my whole life.” Her husband said and kissed her again. “The only thing I regret is that you made me wait until I was twenty five before you would accept my advances.”

Amelia grinned and smacked his arm. “Who got me pregnant less than a year later with me on contraceptive potions?”

He chuckled and looked into her eyes. “You bring out the best in me and let be beat insurmountable odds all the time.”

“Uh huh.” Amelia said with a sexy smile. “I love you, Harry Potter-Bones.”

“I love you, too.” Harry said and kissed his wife again.