Andromeda and Narcissa had gone into Wizarding London for the
day. Harry had worried about the two of them together without others
but no he found himself absurdly grateful.
Grateful because Teddy was gone.
Well, not gone, gone, but one moment there was a babbling baby in
the house, the next the screen was busted in the lower window in the
kitchen. It wasn't the full moon. Teddy shouldn't have been able to
shift. But apparently he had, and now Harry was tracking paw prints
in the snow.
He had to jump over someone's fences, scale a brick wall and
muscle his way through some bushes. If they hadn't been in a
muggle neighborhood it would have been easier to take his broom.
Teddy as a human wasn't that fast, sometimes he had trouble
keeping his feet under him. As a werewolf puppy, it was near on
impossible to keep up with him. He could dig, he could run, he could
jump, and he could get himself into the darndest places.
One of the homeowner came out of his home brandishing a cane.
"You get out here you burglar!"
"I am looking for my so- puppy," Harry called back.
"Get out my yard or I'll call the authorities!" The man yelled back as if
he hadn't heard Harry or hadn't cared. Somehow it seemed more
likely to be the latter.
Harry sped up his pace. It took him invading another three backyards
until he found an end to the trail. Harry had to crawl under an
evergreen bush to reach Teddy at the trunk. His mixed matched eyes
blinked up at him and whined.
Harry felt his anger fade as Teddy shakily crawled into his father's
warm robe. He was shivering so much Harry began to worry about
hyperthermia. Sure he had been running and he had a nice fur coat,
but he was still a puppy, a baby in all reality. He might be more
susceptible to the cold, might have run away from home for the
adventure and may have run further and faster out of fear. With one
hand keeping the shivering puppy to his chest, partially wrapped in
his cloak, Harry began to crawl backward.
Which is when Harry's fickle luck truly kicked in.
"Stay where you are, Sir," a female officer's voice said.
Harry groaned internally. He recognized that female officer and knew
that whether he was in legal trouble or not it wouldn't matter.
The muggle police did not run away from danger, from fear, in fact,
the tougher a situation was the closer they stayed, the harder they
pressed. But they had run from the Tonks House. Ran before they
knew what they had been running from, and gotten far enough away
that logic had not allowed them to return without a warrant.
"Come out of the bushes, slowly," the officer's partner said.
Harry cursed his old warding skills, had they been done properly,
these people would have never gotten into his house. He could have
used a hundred different spells and slipped away. But no, he had to
use the bastardized versions of the wards he learned while in the
woods. Not only had his wards failed in their job but they had
cemented a permanent mistrust into the muggle cops' minds.
"Mr. Potter," the female officer said with a fierce expression.
Technically, she was smiling, but if that was a smile then every
snarling dog in the world was laughing.
"Officer Smitten and Officer Beckerman," Harry said pleasantly.
Officer Smitten glared at him and then asked, "Cut the horse shite,
Potter. What do you have in your jacket?"
"A very frightened puppy," Harry said.
Officer Beckerman put a hand on his partner's shoulder and
reluctantly, she lowered her weapon. "We received a number of
complaints about a black cloaked figure running through their
backyards."
"Who even owns a cloak now a days?" Officer Smitten asked
rhetorically, "Figures it would be you."
"Is your dog registered?" Beckerman asked.
"Not yet, we just got the puppy."
"A puppy and a baby?" Smitten noted. "You are asking for trouble."
"Every boy deserves a good dog," Harry said coolly. Teddy was
starting to warm up and struggling in Harry's arms.
"We need you to accompany us to the station," Smitten said.
"I need to get home," Harry said.
"No, we need you to come to the station, Mr. Potter," Beckerman
stressed.
Beckerman had been easier to deal with before the man had run out
of the Tonks House because of Harry's botch warding job.
Beckerman had been even less understanding after had lied to him
repeatable about the circumstances of Nymphadora and Ted's death.
They answer 'I'm not exactly sure' had not been well received.
"I need to get back to my son," Harry stressed.
"You left him home alone?" Smitten accused, although there was a
cruel upturn of her lips, Harry could face charges for leaving a baby
unattended.
"Of course not," he snapped, "Andromeda is with him but she's
probably worried, this is her puppy, you see."
"Then I'm sure a call from the station will suffice."
Harry wasn't always clear on all the nuances of muggle law but he
was pretty sure that the station trip was unnecessary. "And why
would that be?"
"Paperwork," Beckerman answered shortly.
Harry shook his head, "That's your job."
"You telling us how to do our job now, Potter?" Smitten almost
growled at him.
Teddy shifted in his arms and Harry was grateful for Andromeda's
lessons in wandless magic. He cast a muffliato charm around Teddy
as he adjusted his hold on the boy still in his pajamas. He did his
best to turn his body and adjust his cloak to hide that he was now
holding a baby and not a puppy.
"No," Harry said, "I am saying unless you are going to charge me
with something I am free to go and that as far as I am aware chasing
down my dog is not a crime."
"We have leash laws in this town," Beckerman said.
"We weren't on a walk he slipped out the back door while I was
taking out the trash. Now, if you'll excuse me," Harry finished and
began walking as fast as could be considered not running back to
the house.
"This isn't over, Potter," Smitten called.
Harry didn't turn back. They needed to get out of this town.
Once Harry had Teddy safely inside he began a warm bath for the
boy. He took a moment to repair the window before turning up the
heat. Coming back into the bathroom, he sighed when he saw Teddy
still shivering despite the warm air and warm water rising around
him.
Mournfully Teddy looked up his godfather, "Mapoppy, I fil bad."
Harry sunk to his knees, his cloak still on even as he reached into
the tub with a washcloth and began to rub down his son's shoulders.
"It's alright Teddy, you're going to be alright," Harry reassured. And
he most likely would be, although, Harry would not be the least
surprised if Teddy came down with a cold. He wished there was a
potion he could give him, but most potions -even brewed with
Andromeda's fine touch were not suitable for children. Some of the
ingredients were simply too potent to give to a child.
Teddy didn't say much during the bath. Once he warmed up, the
day's events seemed to catch up to him. He slumped into a restless
sleep against the side of the tube and Harry's arms. Teddy's hands
clung to Harry's soaked sleeves.
Reaching for a towel Harry scooped the boy out of the tub and
wrapped him in a towel that three times more than Teddy's petite
form needed. Harry cradled him and despite the stress of the two
hours he smiled. Teddy was growing faster than he could have
imagined but at the end of the day, he was still Harry's baby boy.
He brought him back to the nursery. Changed him into a fresh pair of
pajamas. He looked at the crib, but for Harry's own sanity, he knew
he couldn't have let go of his son. He went back to the living room
and made himself comfortable. He was sure that the two sisters
when they finally got back could work something out for dinner on
their own. Or at least, he knew Andromeda could.
Teddy was drooling on Harry's chest. Harry had used a simple drying
spell on himself and was finding his own eyes heavy with
drowsiness. Wrapping his cloak around them both like a blanket, he
let the realm of dreams take him.
Andromeda came back into her house without her sister who had
chosen to retreat back to her Manor. Things had gone well, almost
too well between them and neither of them had wanted to risk the
day going south.
The house was almost overly warm when she came into the house.
She found Harry and Teddy asleep on the couch. She frowned at
Harry being fully dressed for the outdoors except for him not wearing
shoes. Harry was more likely to wear comfy clothes around the
house and he only used his winter cloak for extensions into the
Wizarding world. Which was very seldom these days.
She walked to the closest and deposited the new robes Cissa had
purchased for her when Andromeda wasn't looking. She should
really put them upstairs but she hadn't been able to use the rooms
upstairs. Brief stints were the best she could do. If she needed
clothes she spelled them downstairs.
Walking into the kitchen, she found a letter on the table addressed to
Harry Potter in severe looking letters.
Goblins. Only goblins had that strange precise and threatening
lettering. She pulled her wand and checked for curses. Not that it
was likely, if a goblin was going to curse you, it would do so in
person, right between the shoulders blades as you left on 'good
terms.' They had an -interesting sense of honor, did the goblins.
Looking over at Harry, Andromeda decided he wouldn't mind too
much if she checked its contents.
Dear Mr. Potter,
Our past dealings have been regrettable, on both sides. But if you
are interested on making amendsAndromeda paused when she heard a tapping on the window.
Wendy Bird was tapping her beak against the glass. Hurriedly, so the
sound wouldn't wake Harry, Andromeda let the little barn owl inside.
She hooted graciously before sticking out her leg. Andromeda pulled
off the letter. It was addressed to both Harry and herself.
Dear Andromeda and Harry,
There have been some problems revolving around the banks.
People are pulling their money out of their vaults and taking their
paychecks out directly from their employers. People are cashing in
on the stock market. I fear the worst could happen and the ministry is
doing all it can to keep order. I would urge you both to stay away
from the goblins and avoid answering any type of questions on the
subject.
This could all end poorly rather fast. Despite marginally improved
laws for Magical Creatures, public and social treatment beneath the
surface has not. Stay safe.
Warmest Regards,
Kingsley
Andromeda read the letter over twice before returning to the goblin's
letter.
... if you are interested in making amends we would like to host a
private meeting with your esteemed self.
Regards,
Ragnok and the Council of Gringotts
Andromeda's fingers rubbed against the parchment. She wondered
at the goblin's ability to be both polite and sarcastic with the line 'your
esteemed self' but couldn't ignore the urgent tone in both letters.
She ha learned a bit about muggle history from Ted and she could
see how people losing faith in the market would be problematic.
Likely Gringotts would still stay in business but this could be
detrimental to the magical world's economy.
She folded both letters and put them back on the table for Harry's
perusal. She didn't know what she would do in his shoes. She
started dinner as it seemed Harry would stay out for a while longer,
she wondered what he had gotten himself into.
The next morning, Harry was clinging to his coffee and fending off a
migraine. Teddy had fallen back asleep after eating. It was clear that
shifting outside of the full moon was a strain, that or running more
than two miles in winter was more than a baby could either way…
"What are we going to do, Andromeda?"
She sipped her own coffee, with a straight back and a level of
properness to put the Queen of England to shame.
"What can we do? Harry, children will be children. Magic will be
magic. The two together always makes for something
uncontrollable."
"He shifted in front of the police."
"That's what obliteration is for," Andromeda said passively.
"Yes because pointing a weapon, even if only appears to be a stick
to them, is going to go over real well. That isn't going to help if a
dozen people see him."
"Then what do you think we should do?" she asked.
Harry took a deep breath and said bracingly, "I think we should
move."
She was quiet for a long moment before sipping her coffee again.
Harry's heart fell. A part of him had hoped she would jump at the
idea, the figurative ghosts in this house haunted her. Harry had
hoped that she might be ready to leave them, that maybe she was
ready to take her own steps to heal. Harry and Narcissa had been
doing the best they could but until Andromeda wanted to help herself
there was only so much they could do.
Harry stood up abruptly and went to the kitchen to make another pot
of coffee. He tried to swallow his regret. He had his own nightmares
to fight and he just wanted to start over. He shouldn't blame
Andromeda for not wanting the same.
When he turned to get the cream out the fridge and nearly jumped
out of his skin when he almost collided with Andromeda. He hated
when she walked around that silently.
"With whose money?" Andromeda asked.
Harry blinked, still feeling off balanced, he asked, "What?"
"If we were to buy a new house, whose money would we use?" she
repeated.
Harry flushed and ran a hand through his hair. "Andromeda, I-"
"Don't apologize," she cut him off from doing just that, "I wanted to
know if you were going to help the goblins."
Harry's brows pinched, "How could I help the goblins?"
"You read the letters."
"I did but neither Ragnok nor Kingsley had anything specific to say."
"Wizards are losing faith in the goblins. If you, the Golden Hero and
the guy who got all his vaults emptied into the goblins' pocket, put
your trust back into them -well, it would send quite the message."
Harry huffed a laugh, "You can't imagine the goblins would give me
my money and my inheritance back? Goblins don't part with money."
"At the rate things are going, the goblins might lose everything."
Harry gave her a skeptical look, "The goblins will never lose
everything."
"They might if the ministry opens up a state bank run by wizards."
"Yeah like that would end well," he remarked, thinking of how
corruptable humans were.
In all fairness, Harry had robbed the goblins and used unforgivables
against them. It made sense that there would be a price for that. Did
it matter that Harry had saved their society, maybe, but then if
wizards hadn't taken away the goblins' right to carry wands maybe
they could have been allies or fought off the Dark Lord and his
followers themselves.
Goblins might be grumpy bastards but they weren't beyond being
understandable.
Andromeda to a step closer to him, and as they were within an inch
of being the same height -they were eye level.
Her eyes were rich chocolate and as clear and as deep as freshly
blown glass. Yet this morning, behind all her beauty, he saw
something, a light, a flame flickering to life. For the first time, he felt
true hope that she could raise herself up from the ashes of her
sorrow.
She took another step forward.
Harry's pulse was suddenly in his throat.
She wrapped her arms around him. He hesitated for half a heartbeat
before hugging her back. She smelled of roses, jasmine and every
so slightly of citrus.
Andromeda pressed the side of her cheek to his, and spoke into the
shell of his ear, "Find a home for us, Harry and we will move.
Wherever you are, is where I want to be."
Harry suppressed a shiver at her words and buried his face into her
curls. He had no idea what he was doing. But Merlin help him, if
Andromeda Tonks wasn't building a permanent residence in his
heart.
Harry had no idea how to house shop and finding some secluded lot
seemed to be the best idea, butBut he found himself in inexorably drawn to Hogsmeade. This place
had its own ghosts but it had its own happy memories too.
"Harry!" A familiar voice called out to him.
Turning with a smile, Harry saw the welcome face of Lee Jordan.
"Lee," Harry said as they clasped hands and Lee gave him a hardy
pat on the back.
"What are you doing in these parts?" Lee asked, his smile broad as
they continued to walk down the streets. People stopped to stare at
Harry but no one made a huge fuss. They had all seem him
intermittently over the last six years after all. Sure, he was famous,
but Dumbledore had been too and they hadn't grovelled when he
came through on a casual errand. It was different than London,
where the crowd wasn't made up of all locals and regulars.
"Looking for real estate," Harry said.
"Ohh," Lee enthused, "Potter coming out of hiding."
Harry punched his shoulder, "Shut it."
Lee laughed and Harry smiled. Lee was like the twins, always ready
with a joke and a smile.
"What about you?" Harry asked in return, "Where does the great Lee
Jordon find himself these days?"
"Spintwitches Sporting Needs," Lee said grandly.
Harry raised a brow.
Lee grinned, "I know it doesn't sound like much but my aunt built it
from the ground up and she does custom brooms, repairs as well as
upgrades, and engravings so she stays pretty busy. She's been
training me. Interesting stuff really." He looked at Harry's face, "You
weren't expecting that?"
Harry shrugged, "I always thought you would do something with
people."
Lee's smile grew, "Oh I do. I deliver and pick up brooms, we hit some
semi-professional and sometimes the hotshot quidditch players who
wouldn't dream of sending their broom by owl and too busy to do it
themselves. I get free tickets all the time. Besides, in my free time, I
still do a radio show. Hope you don't mind I kept Potterwatch as a
name."
Harry shot him a grin, "Seeing as you actually know me and seeing
we are friends, no, I don't mind. Speaking of which, you see much of
the twins?"
"All the time. But they are busier than I am, they still make time to get
my opinion on a product or too. Haven't seen much of George lately
though." The last was said with a hint of bitterness.
"Why not?"
"Angelina Johnson," Lee said, looking a little crestfallen.
Harry remembered that Lee had had a crush on his old teammate
and patted him on the back, "I'm sorry man, tough break."
Not one to remain sad for long, Lee straightened his shoulders,
"What about you, Harry? You must be pushing the ladies off you.
Everyone -well, everyone but Fred and George, seemed surprised
you dumped Ginny."
Harry shrugged, "I've been taking care of a baby, it is kind of a full
time job and after the war… Ginny wants to live her youth, blaze her
own destiny. I'm ready to settle down. I've had enough adventure to
last me a lifetime, or five."
Lee nodded, "She is smoking though."
Harry couldn't deny it but noted, "Yeah, but I doubt my son cares
what my girlfriend looks like."
It was Lee's turn to give Harry a speculative look, "You going to date
by what your one year old godson deems appropriate?"
"No, but I am not going to bring people into my life who don't
understand that Teddy is mine."
"Dean Thomas seems pretty ecstatic that you turned Ginny down, I
saw them together in Honeydukes last weekend."
"Good for them," Harry said, truthfully. Dean was a good guy and he
was happy to hear Ginny was moving on.
"That doesn't bother you at all, does it?"
"Nope," and then Harry had a thought, "Have you seen Hermione
and Ron around too then?"
"Yeah, I did," Lee's voice was less than cheerful.
"And?"
"And I know as the little brother of my two best friends I should be
rooting for him, but dash it all if he isn't… Hermione Granger is far
too good for him. To be honest with you, Harry, I see them bicker
more than I see them care for one another."
Harry nodded, "I love them both, but…"
"But?"
"But Ron hasn't done much to deserve her," Harry said. He sighed,
"Sometimes I wonder how they've managed without me to mediate
between them."
"Not well," Lee said quietly.
Harry paused mid step, "Where are we?"
Lee grinned, and waved a hand, "Welcome to the residential area of
Hogsmeade. You said you were interested in real estate and seeing
as you're taking care of a family I figured you wouldn't want an
apartment over a shop like I have. If you walk down the street you'll
see some for sale signs, a lot of people moved out recently."
Harry looked at the houses, small cottages, each unique in their own
way. The road was dirt but the sides of the streets were well kept.
Yards separated each area and unlike in the muggle world, there
was no discernable grid between properties.
"It was nice seeing you, Harry," Lee said. "I need to get back to my
aunt but I hope to see you around more often."
"Same," Harry said, "tell the twins hello for me."
"Will do."
Harry spent the rest of the morning walking down Scaler's Road. The
longer Harry spent there the more he liked it. It was in a familiar
place, but not so familiar that he was fighting back memories. When
he knocked on the houses with for sale signs doors were opened
and he was welcomed with open arms. Harry Potter did not have
many enemies this close to Hogwarts.
Finally, Harry found a house that was pressed back from the road.
There were neighbors on both sides, but not so close as to be able
to peek into the windows. It was an averaged size house, one floor,
three bedrooms, one large bathroom, a large kitchen/ slash dining
room with an archway that led into the living room. The front door
opened into the kitchen, the back door was in the laundry room
which, also revealed to have a large one-room basement that a sink.
It was a dream house, and the backyard opened into the woods.
That if Teddy ran through would lead him away from the Forbidden
Forest, not towards it.
He told the owner's he was interested and they said for Harry Potter,
they would hold it for him up to a year. As he left they thanked him
endlessly and Harry's smile became forced as they mentioned that
he had avenged their niece.
There was no way to escape the war, but Harry was done hiding his
magic from muggles. With Teddy's growing powers, even if he might
face pushback for being a werewolf, it would be easier for him to
make friends in this world. Harry had been sold on the idea of
Hogsmeade when he had seen how many children of varying ages
had been outside playing in the mud.
Seeing as he was so close he decided to drop in on his friends at
Hogwarts. He wasn't halfway down the corridor when he saw a
group of fourth year Gryffindors facing off with a small group of
Slytherins.
Harry sighed and silently approached the group. The Slytherins saw
him coming, and the look of relief on their faces was heartbreaking.
"Honestly," Harry said, the sound of his voice causing the lions to
jump and spin to face them.
They gaped at him.
He kept his face passive and accioed their wands into his hand not
bothering to draw his own wand. "Aren't you all late for lunch?"
"You can't take our wands," one Gryffindor girl protested.
"You don't know who's guilty," a boy said snidely, but Harry could see
him trembling in his boots.
"Sure I do. It's written all over your faces," Harry said, "Now walk, I'll
give your wands to the Headmistress."
The Gryffindors looked sick and the Slytherins grinned at him.
They all trooped to the Great Hall and the Slytherins skipped to their
table as the Gryffindors scurried to their own.
Hermione spotted him first, she ran at him full tilt, almost knocking
him off his feet when she slammed into him.
Harry laughed, "Hi, Moine."
"Hi, Harry," she said back, smiling so brightly, Harry couldn't even
remember the last time she had looked this happy.
"I am going to say hi to the professors and we can hang out
afterward."
"Mr. Potter," she asked teasingly, "are you encouraging me to not
attend my classes?"
"Ms. Granger," Harry said back in the same tone, "At this point, you
should be teaching them."
She grinned at him and returned to the table. Harry waved at his
other friends. Luna waved back, starting from her hand to her waist
so that she waved with her entire body. Ron gave Harry a tight smile
and Neville blew him a kiss.
Neville's self-confidence made Harry feel better about life.
The teachers' welcome was as warm. Hagrid almost squashed him
in a hug. Minerva was pissed about the wands Harry handed her,
though thankfully her anger was not directed at him.
They summoned a chair for him and Harry was seated between
Minerva and Filius.
Filius and Harry got into a discussion about ward and charm theory
that Harry had been dabbling in his free time.
Until Minerva brought up the statue in Ministry which Harry to both
defend and explain.
Eventually he said, "Honestly, I don't know how I did it, I envisioned
it, I cast the spell and then I fixed it."
Her green eyes sparked, "A knew you were always holding back,
you are a natural, just like your father."
Harry gave her a look, "It was never that easy before."
"Some people have different approaches to magic, logic and theory
is the way we teach it here because it has the most predictable
results and is relatively safer, but some wizards and witches use
magic like they are making art, the technical skill is nothing
compared to their feel and instinct for it. It seems you are finally
finding your own stride," Minerva explained.
Harry thought that over and couldn't argue the point. Hermione was
very anticlitacle, but Harry's strongest spells were done under high
pressure and with little preplanned thought beforehand. Theory was
great but Harry didn't think about theory when he was working with
magic.
"So Harry," Professor Sintra began, "Why the visit today?"
"I had some business in Hogsmeade," Harry said.
"I have my seventh and eighth years after this," the defense
professor chimed in, "If you would like to step in for the day I will not
complain."
Harry nodded, "Seeing as I don't have to lecture anyone today, it
sounds good to me."
"What do you have for us today, Harry?" Neville asked, nearly
bouncing on the balls of his feet.
Everyone seemed happy to seem him, well aside from Ginny and
Ron. Harry worried a little that Ron was upset with him but then Ron
was off and on upset with him a lot. Nothing new there.
"Illusion charms," Harry said, waving his wand over himself and
creating a duplicate himself. It moved around the room and waved at
random people. Harry cast a stupify at it, and the illusion stayed.
"Found it in old book, dead useful, bit tricky though."
'Tricky' turned out to be an understatement. Luna got it first, followed
by Neville and Hermione. Dean and the Patils were the only others
to master it by the end of class, everyone else got shadow figures.
Which as Hannah proved, could still be rather distracting if it swept
under people's feet.
After the class period was over everyone left. Luna kissed his cheek
and told him to give Teddy some iced ginger tea with honey.
Ron and Hermione were the only ones to stay.
"How have you been?" Harry asked.
"Fine," Ron said shortly.
"I've been really well," Hermione said, "Madam Pince gave me
unrestricted access to the restricted section."
"She's been living in the library," Ron muttered, "I think she might
damn well finish reading the library before we're through with the
year."
Hermione glared at him, "At least, I'm using my time wisely. You
spend more time complaining about studying than doing your
homework."
Ron rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.
Harry could taste the old fight and was about to step in when
Hermione snapped.
"Why the bloody hell did you come back here!?"
Harry's eyes went wide, for Hermione to start off with that tone of
voice did not bode well.
"To get my NEWTs," Ron mumbled.
"Then why don't you pick up a damn book?"
"I do! I just I don't remember it being so hard to focus!" Ron shot
back.
"You don't remember because you never tried to focus!" Hermione
roared back. She turned on Harry, "I don't help him with his
homework anymore and he can't forgive me for it."
Ron turned on Harry too. Harry felt dread well up inside him. He
knew that expression, knew Ron was about to play the 'girls are
crazy' line and force Harry to pick sides. "She will not even check
over my major term papers or let me scan her notes."
Harry coughed, "Well Ron, you know-"
"Sure!" he yelled, face going red, "take her side! You always do."
"Ron," Harry tried again, voice calm, "It wasn't really fair to
Hermione, how much we took advantage of her brains in school. You
and I would have been better wizards if we had put the work in."
Harry looked at Hermione sadly, "Looking back, I am ashamed of the
way we treated you, Hermione."
Hermione's anger seemed to fade, "It's alright Harry, Merlin knows
you always had enough on your plate to deal with and I- well, I was
so desperate to keep you both as friends that I may have
overcompensated."
Harry smiled, "Three crazy kids in an even crazier world."
"Yeah, you two were always so crazy. Harry studied less than I did
and managed to do better without even trying."
Hermione stiffened at Ron's words, "Harry tried Ron, but then I
guess you weren't paying attention. I mean you missed our
preparing for the dragon in the fourth year and don't get me started
on last year when you deserted us in the woods."
"Yes," Ron snarled, "let's remind me. What did I miss between you
and Harry while you were alone in a tent together for weeks?"
Harry closed his eyes, he didn't need to see Hermione's face to
know how furious she was. The truth was that Harry had held her
while she cried over Ron's leaving.
Hermione would never admit that. Her voice hit a new octave, "You
bastard! How dare you? Where the bloody fuck do you find the nerve
to ask me that!?"
Harry winced at the new swear word. Hermione wasn't one for foul
language except in extreme circumstances.
"You're closer to Harry than you've ever been with me!"
Harry would have disagreed there, he had never stuck his tongue
down Hermione's throat.
"It only seems like that to you because Harry has emotions that
stretch below the shallowness of your world perspective!"
"Harry left us!"
Hermione made a harsh sound in her throat, "How many times do I
have to explain this to you!? He didn't leave us, he took up the
responsibility given to him, just like he always does. You're just
jealous that he's happy."
Ron threw up his hands, "Happy!? Bloody balls, what do I have to do
to make you happy? You're right I don't care about school, I never
really have, but I care about you and Harry. I came back to Hogwarts
to be with you. But you're more in love with books and heros than
you are interested in living in the real world."
Harry felt the power rising off Hermione. He made to step between
them when Hermione grabbed Harry by the edge of his cloak. She
yanked him down and kissed him
Harry froze, his mind going blank.
He loved Hermione, but kissing her wasIt wasn't that there was nothing there but there was also guilt and the
urge to pull her into a hug and comfort her. There was nothing
romantic in what she shared with him. Because Hermione didn't kiss
him like a woman in love or lust. It was a goodbye kiss.
Only it wasn't Harry she was saying goodbye to.
Ron bellowed and Harry wrapped an arm around Hermione's waist,
he twisted and throw up a shield charm. Ron's spell was strong
enough that vibration was enough to make a crackling noise like
fireworks against pavement.
Ron was breathing heavy, the look of rage and heartbreak was
focused solely on Harry. Ron lowered his wand and Harry lowered
his shield.
Ron's voice was cold when he finally spoke, "I am done playing
second best to you, Harry Potter. I'm out, I'm packing my stuff and
going home. I hope you two are happy." He turned on his heel and
slammed the door behind him.
Harry turned his gaze warily to Hermione. He had expected her to be
in tears, but her eyes were dry. When she looked up at him, he saw
only a cold purpose. He knew then that this hadn't been the first fight
or the dozenth. Hermione had made up her mind long before now.
"Sometimes I think he's what I wanted to be, easy going, loud, and
good at making friends. He never worried about not understanding
something. He cared about himself in a way I never cared about
myself and told anyone who tried to hurt him to toss off. I always
thought being him would be so much easier than being me. That
maybe if he loved me I could be that kind of strong, that I could be
normal like everyone else."
Harry started to speak but she cut him off.
"But I am strong, stronger than him, stronger than most people I
know. And being normal? I would have to stop being me to be
normal. And you know what, Harry?"
Softly Harry asked, "What, Mione?"
"I like who I am and I don't want to stop being me to fit the image I
beat myself up for not being. If I change I want it to be for the better.
Normal just doesn't cut it."
Harry was silent for a long moment before he said, "I've always liked
who you are, Hermione. You've always been the kindest and
strongest person I've ever known."
"I thought you were going to say that I was the most brilliant person
you've ever known."
Harry nodded, "You are and it probably saved our asses more times
than I care to count, but that's not why I was your friend."
Hermione tilted her head, "Then what was it?"
"Because you were always the girl with a bigger heart than her
impressively sized intellect."
Hermione hugged him then, "I'm sorry, Harry."
Harry held her, "Don't be, we are family, nothing could ever change
that."
"If we could go back-"
"It doesn't matter, considering everything that stood against us,
Hermione, we did better than anyone had the right to expect.