Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Vox Corporis: Rebirth	By : egb67 Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Harry/Hermione Views: 43015 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
Vox Corporis: Rebirth

Chapter 84

�Rowena�s Story�

Original story by -> MissAnnThropic

http://fanfiction.portkey.org/story/6586/1

Email: miss_annthropic@yahoo.com

Pursuant to the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988 and the Digital Millennium Copywrite Act of 1998, this work is copywrited 2007 with all rights expressly reserved by its author unless explicitly granted. No portion may be reproduced in any fashion without the express written and notarized permission of the author.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters. All characters are creations of Joanne K Rowling, � 2007, to whom I am deeply indebted.

CONTENT Disclaimer: This story contains sexually graphic and explicit material and as such, it is not suitable for minors. If you are a minor, please leave now, as it is illegal for you to be here. If it is illegal for you to read or view sexually explicit material in the community you view such material, please leave now. This story and characters are purely fictional and any resemblance to events or persons (living or dead) is purely coincidental. If you are offended by sexually explicit stories, please read no further. If you are offended by stories featuring group sex, bisexual situations, incest, or any other situation, please check the story code before reading the text. These stories are just that, stories, and do not promote or condone the activities described herein

In Gratia: The original story was created so beautifully and so powerfully by MissAnnThropic. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to her for her kindness in letting me �play in her sandbox�.

Note One: To those of you who reviewed my last chapter � THANK YOU! I was really flattered by your support and the encouragement you have all given me.

Note Two: I have used an estimate of 0.15% for the wizarding population of the United Kingdom (based on recent UK population census number � 60,776,000 +/- 1%), which makes the UK�s magical population roughly 92,000. I�ve tried to be conservative in this, but some of you may argue it. My argument goes something like this: Magic is �blood-born� for lack of a better way to put it. If AB- blood (the rarest type found in the US) shows up in only 1 out of ever 140 people, then magic could be similarly restricted.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_type for blood-type statistics.

Chapter 84 - �Rowena�s Story�

Inkwell Blaine watched the building burn and shook his head. There was nothing they could do about it, even though they had tried repeatedly. The heat and the flames were just too intense. Even with a flame-freezing charm, they couldn�t get close. Not feeling the fire and not being burned by it was not enough. They still had to look at it � and with all of the inks and special magical chemicals, the light was too much. It burned their eyes. Even the bubble-head charm could not give them enough oxygen for a long enough period of time to explore the building to see if there was anything that could be saved.

Soon, he knew, the muggles would be showing up. It was impossible to hide fire and smoke; whether they were magical or not.

The headquarters of the Daily Prophet had existed at 26 � Charing Cross Road, at the corner of Charing Cross Road and Cecile Court, for almost two hundred and twenty-five years without interruption.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gordon Potts, bent double, coughing and choking. Gordon had gone into the building repeatedly, searching to see if there were any records or items that could be brought out to safety, to no avail.

It had all begun so innocently.

Gordon and he had agreed on wording for a letter to Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. They had, he thought, been very reasonable in their request. All they had said was that if they did not have a response from him regarding the papers� offer of payment for a half-hour of their time for an interview, that they would publish the article as it stood, without Harry or Hermione�s input.

�That�s the way muggle papers do it, isn�t it? Perfectly reasonable way of going about things�, he mused, dejectedly.

The response had been sure and swift.

Thirty minutes after the mail owl had given the message to Ron, who had been helping Harry get ready for the wedding, an impromptu, secret meeting was held. The twins, Ginny, and Ron met with Neville, Luna, and two others who were contacted and summoned surreptitiously, Cho Chang, and Dennis Creevy. It was decided that the time had come to deal with the Daily Prophet once and for all.

The decision taken, the participants melted back into their prior roles, to abide their time, until the assault could be mounted.

*************************

Saturday morning, September 21st � Office of the Managing Editor - The Daily Prophet � 7:30 AM.

The first hint that someone was in his office, besides himself, was that the door, which had been open since he had arrived at the office an hour earlier, slammed shut, as if for no apparent reason. Then someone/something moved and there was a slight disturbance of the light.

Inkwell Blaine was a cautious man, so he went for his wand, which was in his right-hand desk drawer. For the good it did him, it might as well have been in the next district. He knew he was in trouble when there was suddenly painful pressure at a point, on his neck, right below his ear.

A voice that he didn�t recognize said, �Move Blaine and the next thing that happens is that I blow your brains all over your office wall.�

Ron�s voice was at his menacing best, even if he didn�t really mean a word of it. He needed to have the man believe that he meant it � and he achieved that in spades.

The Editor sat frozen to his chair as the eight assailants removed their disillusionments and surround him at his desk.

Red hair. Four of them. Weasleys. Hogwarts students. Blaine�s thoughts were running full tilt towards panic. He was surrounded by seven very angry-looking sixth- or seventh-year students and one who looked like he was no more than third year.

Ginny looked at him and did something that Ron thought only Harry and Hermione could do. She summoned her magic and was letting it play along her fingers, like St. Elmo�s fire. Only, Ginny�s fire was a deep red, as if she were actually playing with fire. The very image of it scared Ron and made him realize that his sister was truly no one with whom to trifle.

Snuffing out the fire on her hands, she leaned over the desk, letting her blouse fall open in the front. Blaine, for all of his pretensions about being a happily married man, could not help but see the magnificent twin globes of her breasts, uncovered by a bra. Her breasts were beautiful � works of art in their own right � and by the way she was standing, she dared him to look anywhere else but at her.

He was starring. He couldn�t help it. In total, she was possibly the most beautiful young woman he had ever seen and that was saying a lot. She had it all and she knew it. Her nubile body was so exquisite as to make the most celibate of preachers be willing to explore the sins of the flesh if they saw it. In the moment, she was using it to get what she wanted without having to resort to violence.

After a minute or so, she stood upright, withdrawing the view which had mesmerized him.

�Ron?� Ginny looked at Ron, imposing as he was at 6�3, and Ron took the cue to slam Blaine upside the head with the side of his hand, which sent the editors� head snapping forward painfully.

Ron leaned close and said without a hint of remorse, �Now that we have your attention, Blaine, I have two messages for you. One - leave the Potters alone. You will not get another warning from us. If you ever print another word about them for any newspaper, anywhere, for any reason, we will kill you. Two - you have two minutes to evacuate everyone from this building.�

He wanted to protest; to say anything that might rescue the situation. He croaked, �I didn�t do it. I didn�t write it. Potts did. It�s his fault�.

�You think we care? You�re the editor. It�s your fault. Now you�re going to pay.� For emphasis, Ron had placed his wand-tip at Blaine�s ear. The message was loud and clear that there was nowhere to run. He had seen the almost equally beautiful Asian girl place a rune-stone on his desk and he knew that it was a disapparation ward stone, which prevented him from getting away.

Carefully, Blaine leaned down to his desk and pushed a magical button on the interoffice speaker. Clearing his throat, he said carefully, �Your attention please. Your attention, please. This is the Managing Editor. This is not a drill. Everyone is to clear the building immediately. Again, this is not a drill. Everyone out.� His voice rang out through every floor of the building, and in every corner, so that there was no one who could not have heard it.

Ron nodded and dragged the man to his feet and around from behind his desk; shoving him roughly towards his twin brothers. Fred and George, who were even bigger and stronger than Ron, simply nodded and grabbed him roughly and shoved him towards the door.

By the time that the twins had Blaine outside, the fires had already started. Ron, Cho, Ginny, and Dennis made short work of setting the building, and all its contents, on fire, after Luna, who�s job it was to know what to look for at the paper, had grabbed all of the important records; even the hidden ones, which the group had agreed should be �acquired�. Those she placed them into one of the Twins� Ever Expanding Bags, for easier transport.

The several hundred workers from the paper looked up from the street in front of the building in horror as the tongues of flame started to lick out the windows and the black, acrid smoke poured from every crevice. There was nothing to be done to save it, the group made sure of that.

Once Ron and the others exited the building, every floor was fully engulfed. Even the massive, floor-to-ceiling, magicked printing machines, so long in their construction and installation, burned and then melted to slag. Ginny had used her magic to make quite sure that the Daily Prophet would never, ever rebuild them.

A look from Cho, who had master-minded, and then organized the assault, signaled to the others. It was time to go. Neville, who had been in charge of keeping any would-be heroes sufficiently cowed and terrorized, trotted over to where Ginny was standing. He took her in his arms and held her for a moment before they joined hands with the others and Cho activated the port key she had made for their exit.

A swirl of blue and white light and the eight of them disappeared.

Left behind were ragged, mostly burnt pieces of the very last edition of the paper � the reason for its destruction.

Bent over double, and coughing hard from the smoke, Gordon looked around, as the magic eddies of the portkey washed over him. He was not much of wizard, but he was strong enough to feel when powerful magic was used. He looked down at a scrap of the front page of the paper that had blown towards his feet when a guest of fire-driven wind had picked up and sent ash and embers everywhere. He knew what it said, every word of it, and he realized sadly that it was the reason that he was now out of a job.

He looked up and saw his boss stumbling away slowly, like so many of the others. He wanted to call out to him; to ask him why they had been sent out, but somehow, he already knew in his gut. Potter, or Potter�s friends, had come to take their revenge. Blaine had said, �Tell him we�ll pay him or his favorite charity whatever he asks, within reason, for a half-hour interview with him� but somehow, Potts had thought that he�d be smart and save the paper the money by telling the Potters that they were going to run his article and asking only if they were interesting in responding to it.

Now there were abject, tear-stained faces all around him and he didn�t know what to say to them. He knew that more than anyone else, it was his fault that they were now all unemployed. Much of the article had been written long before the wedding even took place. Merlin knew that talk in their office had often focused on little other than what Potter might have been doing or what he was rumored to have done. In his heart-of-hearts, Potts knew that his accusations against the Potters were false or so completely conjecture as to make the entire article a lie. But � that�s what had always sold copies and that�s what he delivered.

Several long minutes passed as he stood there and finally, he realized that he really didn�t know what to do. There was no more work to be had and going home held�..nothing. His wife Angela, who had been a support and comfort for thirty-eight wonderful years, ever since they had been graduated from Hogwarts together, was gone. They had been mostly loving, and sometimes even joyous years, interrupted only occasionally by their minor disagreements. All that had been taken from him the year before by a lorry-driving muggle who was drunk. Now�his children were all graduated; scattered to the winds in magical Europe, and he was alone. For the first time in his adult life, he fell to his knees and cried.

As the muggle firemen struggled with their hoses and equipment, to contain the blaze which had been started so expertly, the employees began to fade away, one and two at a time, down the long and twisting streets; back to whatever homes and lives they could. Each of them wondered what tomorrow would bring and who would be around to report on it.

Some of the employees realized that for the first time, they did not care. One or two simply sat down where he or she was and read the very last copy of the Prophet that would ever be released.

Muggle-lover Potter Marries!

By Gordon Potts, Deputy Managing Editor

Friday, September 20th

Late Edition

Harry Potter, the �savior� of the wizarding world, has gone and done it again. We can confidently report that last night, in a muggle ceremony, Harry Potter finally married his long-time friend and lover, Hermione Jane Granger in a church near her parents� house in Nonington-on-Kent. Contrary to tradition and norms of behavior for heads of major wizarding families, the Potters saw to it that no reporters or photographers from the wizarding world were invited to or notified of, the impending nuptials and so there are no pictures available for this article (see stock photos, page. 2, col. 1 ). This was typical behavior for Mr. Potter, according to Messalina Scrivner, of Witch Weekly.

Reporters from all over wizarding Britain have struggled for years to put together the history of Harry Potter and his new bride. There are still many pieces missing, but because of the significance of this marriage, this paper has chosen to report what is known.

The Potter / Granger story began; it has been said, during their first train-ride together to Hogwarts. Reliable sources told Prophet reporters that even early on; there was a chemistry of sorts between the two. Not immediately, but definitely by the beginning of the second term, Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger began to be seen constantly in each others� company and that they spent many nights in the Gryffindor common room, in close, physical contact as they studied. Prophet reporters at the time were even shown photographs, taken secretly, that showed Ms. Granger sleeping in Mr. Potter�s arms in one of the large love-seats that they favored.

The story between them became tangled in their second and third years and there is much that is not known about those times. No pictures exist that anyone knows about and no one has been willing to speak about what occurred during their second year, when the infamous �Chamber of Secrets� was opened, except to say that Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger were in the middle of whatever happened and that they, and Mr. Ronald Weasley, were given special commendations by the Headmaster for �Services to the School for Bravery Above and Beyond the Call�. It is extremely suspicious that the Headmaster staunchly refused to speak about the events which lead to those awards and that even a simple request to photograph the award plaque was denied.

Gilderoy Lockhart,

One of the odder events that occurred during Mr. Potter's second year was the permanent incapacitation of the famous self-styled �defense against the dark arts expert�, and now discredited, Gilderoy Lockhart. The healers in the St. Mungo�s long-term care ward have refused to answer any specific questions about Mr. Lockhart or his treatment, other than to confirm that he was the victim of his own Obliviation spell, using Mr. Weasleys� broken wand. Whom Mr. Lockhart was trying to obliviate, and why, is still a mystery. That it happened just before or just after the Chamber of Secrets was opened raises natural concerns about what Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley were doing.

Longtime Hogwarts-watchers have conjectured that Mr. Lockhart was attempting to obliviate Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley when they caught him trying to run away from his responsibilities as the Defense against the Dark Arts professor. What his attempt to flee the school and the discovery of the opening to the Chamber of Secrets had to do with one another is unknown.

What�s wrong with the Minister for Magic?

The Minister for Magic was approached by reporters from this paper at the end of Mr. Potter's and Ms. Granger's third year for a comment regarding the events which led to Sirius Black's exoneration by the Wizengamot and the execution of Peter Pettigrew � a young wizard who, it turns out � had been the secret keeper for Lily and James Potter and had betrayed them to Tom Riddle, aka Voldemort.

Minister Fudge pointedly refused to talk about what why Sirius Black was discovered and then exonerated, other than to say that it had come to light that Black was completely innocent of the murders for which he had been accused and sent to Azkaban. Remus Lupin, Black�s long-time friend, had been teaching Defense against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts and he was asked afterwards about what had happened to his friend. Mr. Lupin casually told our field reporter he�d be willing to meet to discuss the matter on the evening of the 25th of the month. Our reporter declined the invitation. The 25th of June of that year was a full moon. Unfortunately, that was Mr. Lupin�s last public statement on the matter.

Not much is known, officially or otherwise, about Mr. Potter and Ms. Grangers� forth year together in or out of Hogwarts. One photograph of the two of them, captured fortuitously by Rita Skeeter�s long�time associate and photographer, Tom Shutterling, showed Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger in a loving embrace, just before the first contest for the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

Some have said that it was during Mr. Potter�s and Ms. Granger�s fourth year that they discovered their feelings for each other, but it�s speculation, because no one will say anything either on or off the record. Former members of the now disbanded Slytherin House at Hogwarts who were brave enough to go on the record from time to time and comment about what they saw happening at Hogwarts are, disappointingly, permanently unavailable for comment.

What is known for sure this that Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger were engaged sometime over this last summer, and that it was the culmination of everything that had happened to them since they first met.

Read another way, however, and their engagement could easily be seen as the crowning achievement of Ms. Granger's master-plan to snare away from the rest of the wizarding community�s eligible women the affections of the most eligible bachelor since Dumbledore was a young man. Our official �Potter-watcher�, Rita Skeeter, had the following to say in her article on Saturday, August 31st:

�Time and time again, she [Ms. Granger] has insinuated herself into the graces of Mr. Potter or his loyal friend, Ronald Weasley; playing off the affections of one against the other. I have it on good authority that between October and December of their fifth year, just months before their final confrontation with the Dark Lord, she played Mr. Weasley for a fool and forced him into a fight with Harry that could have ended in death or permanent disfigurement for Mr. Weasley, if Professor Minerva McGonagall had not intervened. �

The only people who can set the stories to rest are the Potters themselves, and they are not talking.

Does the wizarding community deserve a straight answer from the two of them? I would argue that it does, for on the surface, it sounds like a beautiful, even perfect, but secretive love story of boy-meets girl, boy-is-frightened-of-commitment, boy-overcomes-fear (and wins the girl) , but if you dig down a little bit, something very disturbing and much more frightening starts to take shape.

The first inkling of there being something wrong came in the form of peoples� reactions to the wedding itself. They�ve been all over the map, from complete dismay, to wild celebration. However, the majority of those here in wizarding Britain seem to be of the opinion that it doesn�t matter, one way or the other. Very curiously though, every person whom we tried to interview who is known to be a friend or confidant of Mr. and Mrs. Potter, angrily and sometimes violently refused our request for interviews. That included, incidentally, the Headmaster and deputy-Headmistress of Hogwarts. Just before going to press with this article, I sought to obtain comments from Dumbledore and deputy-Headmistress McGonagall and was unable to get past the wards at Hogwarts, though I tried repeatedly. I was told pointedly, after my third attempt, that another attempt would be �very bad for my health�.

If that were not enough, my life was threatened when I went to Diagon Alley yesterday morning, to have a conversation with the Weasely twins. I was met at the door of their shop, Weasleys� Wizard Wheezes, at wand-point and told directly that if I ever returned, I would be killed. That, in itself, was not shocking. I�ve been threatened before. No, what was incredibly disturbing was the complete lack of regard for the Weasley twins� threats by the head of the Magical Law Enforcement department. No one to whom I spoke cared or was even willing to take an official statement. When I attempted to speak with the Minister for Magic himself regarding what had happened, I was told that the Minister would not see me for such a trivial issue and that perhaps I should �brush up on my defense against the dark arts training�. When I casually asked one of the deputies to the Minister for Magic why I should brush up on my DADA skills, he replied that if I persisted in asking after Harry Potter and his wife, I would not survive the cue for those wanting to protect the Potters by cursing me into the ground.

Only a careful review during the early afternoon, yesterday [Friday, Sept. 20th], of the public records of the Central London branch of the Ministry for Magic�s new SWAT team (a muggle acronym which stands for �Special Weapons and Tactics�), allowed reporters from this paper to discover that the S.W.A.T. Team had been deployed the previous evening to Nonington-on-Kent to protect the Potters and all of their guests. Fortunately, we were tipped off that the new special MLE team had been sent there. It appears that not everyone is so sanguine about the �boy who conquered� being married to a muggle-born who doesn�t appreciate wizarding ways and traditions.

What surprised this reporter was that when Amelia Bones was approached to confirm the deployment, there was not a moments� hesitation on her part. She cheerfully told me that the new team had, in fact, been deployed to watch over Mr. Potter and his new bride and that it was nothing more than a thank you for Mr. Potters previously unknown and unacknowledged gift of twenty sets of dragon-hide armor to the MLE.

Where Mr. Potter found 700,000 galleons to afford such a gift is an area of inquiry that should be followed-up on soon, and by those who know financial analysis better than this humble reporter. We are left to wonder if Mr. Potter is not funneling money for others who seek to influence the course of Ministry actions. It has been suggested more than once, by various quarters in the business community, that the Weasley Twins might have an active interest in manipulating business regulations for their own ends.

In a separate vein, there has been speculation as to whether the Potters, and all who know them, are laying low on purpose because left-over followers of Tom Riddle might still be alive. This is seen as an unlike explanation. The agreed-upon count of death eaters killed at Hogwarts was nineteen (19), including Tom Riddle himself. A Ministry source who was close to this matter told our official Ministry reporter, Emelda Barkshot, that even though there was, initially, extreme difficulty in identifying the bodies of the death-eaters � due to the horrendous and violent nature of their deaths � positive ID�s were eventually made and the bodies cremated.

Too many questions

The editorial board of this paper wonders why everyone who is connected with the Potters refuses to talk about them. It seems remarkable that such a large group of people could uniformly decide to go silent about the purported hero of the wizarding world and his new wife. The Board finds odd the extent to which the Ministry for Magic, and the Minister himself, seem to be afraid of the Potters and wonders, officially, if there are things that are known about them that could substantively change peoples� attitudes towards the most powerful magical couple in a thousand or more years.

We are forced to ask some very tough questions, because of the multiple dead-ends and mysteries surrounding the Potters. One of the most critical questions is: What is their relationship to the rest of wizarding society here in Britain going to be? Are they saviors or something else?

Is there anyone in their lives who can act as a check and a break on their magical powers? Certainly, the Headmaster and/or the deputy Headmistress may be filling the role right now. However, once they are graduated, it is another matter. Hermione Granger is not going to be a check on Mr. Potter � she was the one with the obvious disregard for the law who talked him into becoming an unregistered animagus in the first place! Nor is it reasonable to expect that her parents, both muggles, could serve in the role, even if they wanted to do so. Some people in the wizarding world believe - though they are still a minority - that muggle parents should never be allowed to have such power over their magical children. Uncertain, too, is whether Rowena Granger, Ms. Grangers� paternal grandmother, about whom not much is known presently, is interested in the role. Certainly, she cannot be forced into a position of loco parentis against her will.

Plans Within Plans

Our sister publication, Witch Weekly once asked, rhetorically, in its lead editorial, if there was more than met the eye with Hermione Granger. At the time of the article, not much was known about the bushy-haired, brilliant, muggle-born young witch. The editorial speculated aloud that Ms. Granger might have something to prove � a �chip on her shoulder�, to borrow a muggle phrase, that could only be satisfied by outdoing all of her �magic-born� classmates.

Letters to the editor, in the months that followed the publication of the editorial (January 1995) ran the gamut from insane to insightful. One writer postulated that, much like muggle society, Hermione Granger saw Hogwarts as only a jumping-off point or a �launching pad�, to borrow another muggle phrase, from which to make a leap into either politics or higher education. At the time the letter-writers� response was printed, Ms. Grangers� non-platonic connection to Harry Potter was unknown.

Carrying the letter-writers� point forward, the question is left hanging: What if snaring Mr. Potter was only her first step in a more grandiose scheme? What might young Mrs. Potter have planned for wizarding society? Does anyone really know her well enough to know what she might have in store for the rest of us? A review of the published academic standings at Hogwarts for the first five years that the Potters were at Hogwarts shows that Mrs. Potter has been the top student in the school and that Mr. Potter was forth, in behind Marietta Edgecomb (#2), and Cho Chang (#3).

Being the top student at Hogwarts for five years running is an extraordinary achievement and was last accomplished by the deputy Headmistress herself. It also is a comment on the sorry state of education within the wizarding world that a muggle-born could come along and outdo all the magically-educated students in her year.

As a stand-alone achievement, it does not reveal much about the new Mrs. Potter. But, and it is a big �but�, Mrs. Potter's grades are not the whole story. A recent review of the papers submitted to Transfiguration Today by Prof. Minerva McGonagall during Mrs. Potter's sixth year, showed that Hermione Granger is credited in about half of them as her co-researcher. Not �research-assistant� or �student-assistant� but co-researcher. That means that Professor McGonagall has given Mrs. Potter extraordinary, extra-curricular teaching time in a way that no other student has received in many years, if ever and that Mrs. Potter has taken full advantage of it. Is it reasonable to expect that other students would have the same opportunity to partner with Hogwarts� professors? Of course not. Is it likely to happen any time soon? No. And that�s the exact problem. In or out of school, the Potters get special treatment and it is not fair.

Star reporter missing.

Rita Skeeter, the Prophet�s long-time Potter-watcher and dedicated reporter has gone missing and we were unable to contact her, to ask her for her take on the Potter wedding. Sadly, we have strong reason to believe that Rita was following Mr. Potter and that she had discovered something dark or disturbing about Mr. Potter or his bride and that in her attempts to flee with her hard-won information, she was captured or compromised.

Mr. Potter is an exceptionally dangerous wizard � perhaps the most powerful young wizard in the last thousand years. That is a widely accepted fact. What he has done to Rita, or ordered done to her, is still matter of speculation at this point, but given that she has never previously failed to make her scheduled check-in, we believe that it is safe at assume that something very foul has happened to her and the Potters are the most likely cause.

We hope that we are wrong. It is the fervent wish of this reporter, and every employee here at the Daily Prophet that Rita is safe and will return with her brilliant, acerbic commentary and reporting soon. She is missed by all those who know and work with her. We beg the Ministry for Magic to inquire into her welfare. We cannot stand by and see her become just another unchampioned victim of violence!

Things We Must Consider

Perhaps the most distressing thing about the current situation: I.e. the Potters� wedding � is that it forces us to ask: What has happened to our current Minister for Magic? Have the Potters and their supporters so cowed him that he is unable to speak out? Does he feel like he needs them so badly that he cannot anger them? What has become of wizarding pride and power that a couple of teenagers can prevent the highest-ranked and most esteemed person in magical Great Britain from having his say?

In the opinion of this paper, irrespective of their now-married status, and without some certainty about whether they have the wisdom necessary to control their extraordinary magical gifts, it is completely unreasonable to have these two young, mythically powerful people roaming loose, without continuing adult supervision, in an orderly, traditionally-minded society, irrespective of whether they are legally �adults� or not. The question are these: Who�s going to tell the Potters that they can�t go along doing what they are doing without supervision and Who�s going to step up and do what has to be done?

*************************

Office of the Minister for Magic; 11:30 am. Saturday, September 21st

The Minister for Magic was not in a good mood. Before the Friday late-edition of the Prophet had come out, Scrimgeour, a normally quiet, intense man, had felt like a number of loose ends were coming together nicely. Now he was furious, both because his power as Minister for Magic had been called into question, and because he had been made to look the fool in front of all of the 92,000 or so people who constituted wizarding Britain.

The muggle walnut-wood grandfather clock had just struck the hour when his private floo had lit up and the head of the Central London Magical Law Enforcement appeared. She had looked troubled.

At first, the Minister for Magic was alarmed. It took quite a bit to rattle Amelia Bones.

After she dusted herself off, Scrimgeour waved her over with his left hand as he finished signing a bunch of documents. �What is it, Amelia?�

�Rufus, I�ve just gotten word that someone, or several someones attacked and destroyed the Daily Prophet early this morning. It�s been burned to the ground.�

She had his total attention. �Continue�.

�We�ve talked to most of the workers already and none of them know anything. We tried to talk to Gordon Potts and Inkwell Blaine and neither of them is willing to say anything.�

That was interesting. Much more interesting that the paper being burned down. He knew that it would have taken someone of enormous power or real evil to frighten those two men that much.

�Are there descriptions of any of the attackers?�

Bones nodded, sadly - something that also got his attention.

�Well, don�t just stand there. Spit it out.�

�You�re not going to like it, Minister. I can scarcely credit it, myself.�

�Who, dammit.�

�Four redheads. School-age redheads. There was one �stunningly beautiful� Asian girl; a tall, gangly boy, a platinum blonde, and a younger boy with wavy brunette hair and a very vengeful expression.�

The Ministers� first reaction was incredulity. The second was elation.

�You mean�..?�

Bones leaned against the desk and sighed. �Yes, Minister. That�s who I mean.�

Amelia Bones looked at her boss and realized too late, that the information she had just given him was exactly the wrong kind of information for him to have been given. She hadn�t known for a fact, though she had suspected, that the Minister for Magic had it in for Harry Potter and his new bride. Seeing the elation play across his pock-marked, mustached face confirmed her fears.

Rufus Scrimgeour leapt to his feet and made his way from behind his enormous mahogany desk over to the fireplace. Digging his hand into the large brass bowl of floo-powder, he looked at his subordinate and said, �Come with me.�

The Headmaster�s private study; Saturday, September 21st, Hogwarts

�You have to punish them, Albus. They have to be expelled. They can�t get away with doing what they did. If you don�t punish them for this, I will, and I will use the Wizengamot to do it.�

Amelia Bones watched impassively from a chintz chair in the corner. She found the entire confrontation to be ridiculous and beneath her dignity. Scrimgeour was a fool and needed to be replaced.

While she sat and watched, the Minister for Magic was purpling in the face with rage. He was storming around the Headmaster�s sanctum sanctorum, bumping into the furniture as he paced back and forth.

�Whom shall I punish, Minister? Certainly, the Potters had nothing to do with what happened this morning and I think it unlikely that if they had, anyone would ever find out about it. Harry and Hermione are�.exceptional.�

The Minister almost spat. �No! That�s not whom I�m talking about. Of course the Potters didn�t do this. It�s not their style. NO, I will tell you exactly whom I want arrested. I want the Weasley Twins, as well as Ron and Ginny Weasley, along with Cho Chang, Neville Longbottom, and Dennis Creevy.�

The Minister was fixated on Harry. Dumbledore had seen that in the thoughts he was furiously projecting. �How do you know that it was those students? And oh, by the way, I have no power to detain either Fred or George Weasley, as they are no longer students.�

�You know damn well that it was that group, Albus. They owed the Potters their loyalty and they are all students who could get out of the school without being seen.�

Albus Dumbledore was suddenly not in a mood to be told what to do by Scrimgeour, whether he was the Minister for Magic or not. He locked eyes with him and suddenly, Scrimgeour felt his occlumency shields shredded, as if they were not even there. It was like being raped.

Scrimgeour clawed at his own scalp; trying to force himself into the right state of mind so that he could fight the Headmaster�s mental intrusion. Finding none of the mental focus that he needed, he started to scream in his mind as he fought to push Dumbledore out of his head.

Meanwhile, finding the rest of what he needed in the Ministers� mind, Dumbledore broke off the attack.

Power such that Amelia Bones had never seen before surrounded and enveloped the Headmaster. His aura, almost perfectly white, splashed against the walls as he faced down the Minister for Magic. �Get out. Now. Get out of my office and leave this school. If you come back here again under fall pretense, the Wizengamot will hear of it and it will go badly for you.�

The Minister for Magic looked up at the Headmaster with horror. To have had his plans for the Potters so easily discovered was horrifying; but more horrifying was the prospect that Albus Dumbledore now knew all of the Ministers� carefully guarded secrets and machinations.

Forgetting that he could use the floo, Scrimgeour backed away, turned and ran for the door; through the outer office, down the spiral staircase, and out towards the great doors of the school. He did not stop until he was free of the wards and could apparate way safely.

Amelia grinned, stood up and walked sedately over to the fireplace. Stopping for a moment, she looked at her former Headmaster and smiled. �You�ve never lost your style, you old fox.�

Just before she disappeared in a roar of hellish-green floo-fire, Dumbledore�s eyes twinkled at her and he smiled. Once she was gone, he sat down again; took his pipe from his left pocket; lit it with a fire which appeared at the tip of his right index finger, and blew perfect, albeit smokey, phoenixes.

Godric�s Hollow; Sunday Morning, Sept. 22nd. 8:15 am.

One of the things about their telepathic bond that had amazed and delighted both Harry and Hermione was that erotic thoughts were among the easiest thoughts to share, as well as the most fun. The best part of sharing such thoughts was the fact that that being desired carnally was the most powerful aphrodisiac possible. Harry�s mind was always wide-open to Hermione, whether she was awake or not, and so the insistent proof of his aroused state which was sliding between the silky cheeks of her arse, as they lay spooning together, simply reinforced the mental images of what he wanted to do with her.

Her semi-awake, but lust-filled thoughts welcomed his desires. �Take me, Harry. Put it in my arse and roger me�.

Harry wondered for a moment how anyone could resist such in invitation/command. �Your wish is my command, love.�

�Good, because I�m horny now and I don�t want to wait�. She rolled over onto her stomach and placed a couple of pillows under her hips, so that she was most open to his advances.

Her eyes were heavy-lidded with undisguised lust as Harry reached down between her legs with his hands to touch her sex and smear the wetness that had gathered there all over her nether hole.

His own organ was throbbing and glistening with the wetness of his desire, as he moved between her legs.

Lewdly, she arched her back and pushed her arse up at him. Once he was in position, he pushed a little, to let her know that he was there and she pushed back; impatient to feel his organ inside her.

Do it, Harry. Put it in me. Please. Fuck me.

The first time they had made love this way, they had not had the mental bond, so it had been a very different experience. Harry remembered being terrified that Hermione would feel so violated and so used that she would hate him for the amount of pleasure that he experienced as he took her.

What had redeemed the experience was that she had been the one to initiate the intimacy that memorable afternoon�by pulling up her skirt; slowly pulling down her silk knickers; and bending over in front of him in a very, very blatant show of submission to their mutual desires.

He took her repeatedly that afternoon; loosing himself in the pleasure of finally being joined to her body. Looking back, Harry realized that the experience had been somehow incomplete.

This time was going to be different. And it was�.

The moment he entered her, she felt the incredible wave of pleasure that he was experiencing as he felt hers. As her inner muscles relaxed, Hermione lifted her head and looked over her left shoulder at him. His face was awash with the amazing joy of feeling his body coupling with hers.

As he sank all the way into her, his thought to her was �I love you, Hermione.�

Her love for him was so palpable that she didn�t have to respond with words. She was already radiating incredible love and desire for him.

I�m not going to last too long, �Mione. It feels so incredible.�

�Please, Harry. Try. Just go slow for a moment.� She squeezed down around him and it caused Harry to cry out in pleasure.

�Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! Don�t do that! I�ll lose it for sure!� Harry caressed her back and her arse slowly and deliberately with both hands; in a touch of affection and understanding that told Hermione that he wanted their coupling to last, too.

Ok. You can move a bit now. Just�take it easy. I want this to last. It feels amazing.

Harry slowly pushed his hips forward, burying himself to the root in her, before withdrawing almost all the way and then pushing back into her. Like Hermione, Harry kept shaved, so that he could revel in the feeling of her touch against his bare skin.

As they coupled, Harry thought about the first time they had been so intimate. The image of Hermione lifting the back of her skirt and showing off her tiny, sexy, pale, pink silk knickers was a visual that by itself would have been sufficient to bring him to climax, if he had been alone. In combination with actually doing the act � it was enough to bring him right to the edge of something so glorious, so soul-wracking that it defied description.

You love seeing me in knickers, don�t you? Hermione thought to him.

Oh God, Hermione. Yes. It�s like waving a flag in front of a bull.

Hermione had just started to giggle at the image of Harry, with an enormous erection and nothing but a towel, trying to fend off a bull, when Harry�s hands fell to her silky, slim hips and he pulled her all the way onto his erection, causing her to groan with pleasure.

I�m glad you like me in knickers. I�ll make sure that�s all I wear around the house, just for you.

Harry showed her how much he liked that idea by thrusting himself into her forcefully and repeatedly.

After a few minutes, the combination of Harry�s prodigious organ and her own fingers playing in her sex was enough to push Hermione screaming over the edge of orgasm.

The contractions of her silky, hot, nether muscles along the length of his shaft and the wave of emotion that she was broadcasting at him helped him to spend himself deep inside her. Pulse after pulse of his seed poured into her and he collapsed on top of her; their bodies still joined. �Hermione, love, that was incredible.�

For her part, she was so filled physically and yet so drained emotionally, that all she could do was revel for a moment in their love, before sliding back into dreamy sleep � a sleep that claimed them both.

*************************

Godric�s Hollow; Sunday Morning, Sept. 22nd. 11:45 am.

At some point during the late morning, Harry figured that he must have slipped out of Hermione. Not that he had wanted to, but that he had�probably because she had rolled off the pillows and then draping herself more than half on him; laying her head on his chest, so that they could sleep more comfortably.

As he opened his eyes, he saw the sunlight trying to get in, past the curtains and shades, but succeeding only intermittently. It was not at all like being at Hogwarts, where the light streamed into all of the high, open windows, whether they wanted it to or not. Whether Hogwarts: A History said it or not, it had always been apparent that the schools� postal and message-owls were accommodated while the perpetual desire of all students to have a good lie-in on Saturdays and Sundays was not. A good lie-in, of course, being defined as the chance to sleep in a dark, undisturbed room; free from noise and the early-morning natterings of other students or the house prefects, until sometime just after noon.

Harry grinned to himself. Since this was his and Hermione�s home, they could do anything they pleased, in terms of keeping their room the way they wanted it, and that is exactly what they did.

Most importantly, they had privacy. The paparazzi who formed the front lines of the magical media were limited in how much they were able to know because of the strength of his magic and the ancestral magic which surrounded and protected Godric�s Hollow.

Harry felt Hermione shift positions and grinned a goofy grin as her left arm wrapped around his body automatically.

Hermione?

Yes, love?

Wanna go take a bath together and then open some presents?

Hmmmmmmmmm. Sounds good. I need some tea, though, and a biscuit or two, with some strawberry jam.

I�ll call Dobby. I know he is probably dying to do at least something for us today. We�ve practically given him these last three days off and Merlin knows, he must be beside himself by now. I wonder what he�s been up to...

Harry concentrated for a moment and focused his thoughts on his elf-friend. Without having to utter a word, Dobby suddenly appeared.

Two things immediately caught Harry�s attention. The first was that Dobby appeared silently � which was a Dumbledore trick that the two of them seemed to have mastered and the second one was that Dobby was wearing black trousers and a black shirt, with a vest over it, that showed off the crest of the House of Potter.

As Harry looked at his friend, he also noticed that Dobby was wearing leather boots. It was a funny detail, but one that seemed to please the little elf. Harry could not but feel very happy for his friend.

�Dobby? You look great! I love seeing you wear the house crest and the clothes seem to really fit you.�

Dobby was bouncing up and down. �Harry, sir. I is loving my new clothes! Mistress Hermione told me that it would please her if I picked out an outfit for myself.�

Harry smiled at him. �You�ve done a great job, Dobby. I�m very proud to have you as a part of the family.�

Dobby could not contain himself any longer and grabbed Harry�s hand, to hug it. Watching their interaction made Hermione smile as well, and gave her a sense of satisfaction that their house-elf was not only free, but wore clothes and respected himself enough to have gone and picked them out, without any guidance or direction. It was the first step, Hermione knew, in what was going to be a long campaign to have every house-elf free and independent.

�Dobby?� Harry said, interrupting the hug gently. �Would you be willing to bring us some food? Hermione and I would both love a pot of tea, with some honey and some milk, and we�d love to have some of those biscuits you make...the ones with the chocolate chips? And could you find some strawberry jam? I know that Hermione�s mother makes some every year. Could you ask her for one jar? For us, please?�

�I is getting all of that as soon as I can, Harry, sir. I is happy to be working again. Three days off is too much for a house-elf. We is not knowing what to do with ourselves with that much time!�

Both Harry and Hermione laughed at this pronouncement. Hermione reached over the side of the bed and touched the side of Dobby�s face in what Harry knew was an amazingly warm and loving touch. �Thank you, Dobby. It would mean a lot to us. Harry and I needed this time together, so that we could celebrate our marriage.�

Dobby was looking like he was going to cry again, so Hermione caressed his cheek again and said to him, �Don�t cry, Dobby. Proper family members always say thank you. I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate what you do for us.�

Dobby nodded; a measure of real understanding showing in his face. �I is being back soon, Mistress Hermione. Take care of Master Harry while I is gone.�

Hermione giggled. �Don�t you worry, Dobby. I will do that, certainly.�

Once Dobby left make food for them, Harry summoned a robe and made his way out of their bed and to the warm bathroom, where the hot-tub/bathtub was located.

Drawing a bath for the two of them was something that was very special to him, because of its intimacy and just the luxury of it � something that Harry had never had growing up.

� �Mione? Bath is ready and it�s nice and warm. Coming?�

Hermione�s cheeky response filtered into his mind. �Not right now. Did that earlier, remember?�

How could I forget, love? I seem to remember taking a fairly active role in that. Harry�s thoughts were decidedly on the lewd side, but he kept them in check as Hermione came into the bathroom naked and climbed into the tub immediately.

*************************

Their time luxuriating in the hot-tub would have been extended, if Dobby had not returned with a Goblin-wrought sterling silver tray laddened with the biscuits that Hermione had asked for, as well as a jar of strawberry jam that Hermione recognized as coming from her mothers� kitchen. Next to the platter of baked treats stood a magnificent silver teapot; on the side of which was carved the Potter family crest.

Harry looked at it and once again recognized that there were so many things he still didn�t know about his family and his lineage. He wondered idly whether there were things in his family�s past that might have helped him fight and destroy Tom. Probably, he thought.

Turning his attention back to his wife and the meal that Dobby had brought to them, he reached out with his magic and summoned the tray to the edge of the tub, so that he could break a biscuit in half and share it with Hermione.

�Thanks, love. I suddenly realized that I�m hungry!�

�You should be, love. It�s just about 12:45.�

Hermione smiled at him. �Have I told you how much I love you, Harry? I can�t believe how good this has been for me. I�ve never taken off this much time without at least picking up one book.�

Harry started to laugh and almost choked as the piece of biscuit in his mouth started to go the wrong way.

Dobby was instantly right next to Harry, prepared to save his master, as Harry cleared his throat. Harry saw the look of concern on his wife�s face. �Sorry, love. You caught me off guard.�

Hermione blushed; embarrassed by his gentle chide.

Dobby watched the two of them from the corner where he sat and waited as they touched and fed each other bits of food; kissing in between bites. He saw their expressions shifted again and again. He knew that they had connected in ways that no other wizarding couple had ever done. He understood that they were talking with their minds, in the same way house elves did. It made him feel closer to them, if that was possible.

When they were done eating, Hermione rose and stepped out of the bath, unconcerned about her naked state or his presence. Dobby, not being a human, and therefore not the same sensitivities about being undressed, waited until he was needed.

It was several long minutes until Harry looked over at him. �Dobby?� he said quietly �Could you take the rest of the things from the tray away, but leave the rest of the hot tea? Hermione and I have some gifts to open and we�d like to curl up in bed again and drink it while we do.�

Dobby nodded. Harry Potter didn�t ask him to do much most of the time and in that way, was one of the very easiest masters in the entire wizarding world to work for. Sometimes, when he was with other house-elves, he thought about it and wondered if he was really doing enough to take care of his master. In those times, he had to remember what Harry had told him about being a friend and part of his family and remember that it was all right, from Harry�s perspective, that Dobby came and went and that he was gone for hours at a time.

�Dobby? Can I ask one more thing before you go? Would you go to my friend, Jonathan Banks, at The Capital Restaurant in London, and tell him that I would appreciate a table for 7:15 tonight, if he can do it? It�s a special night and I want to treat Hermione to the very best. Oh�and Dobby? For right now, it�s a secret from Hermione, ok?�

Dobby nodded and smiled a great big smile. He saw how much his master loved his Mistress and so Dobby was willing to do anything to help that.

In a moments� time, Dobby had gathered up the things from the silver breakfast tray and disappeared.

*************************

The crack! that usually accompanied apparition was completely absent, Jonathan noticed, as the house elf appeared in front of him; momentarily startling him.

It didn�t take even a second to know whose elf it was, though. The crest of the House of Potter was evident on the elf�s vest � which meant that he was looking at the only free house-elf in all of wizarding Britain.

�Master Banks, sir?�

Jonathan looked down at the self-assured elf. �I am he. What can I do for you?�

�I am Dobby, sir, and my master, the great Harry Potter, would like a table for him and his new bride for tonight at 7:15 and he asks if you can do it for him, sir.�

Jonathan didn�t need to look at his reservation book to know that he always had a spot for Harry Potter � and would always have one for him � until the end of time. What shocked him was that Harry and gone and gotten married. Not that he hadn�t realized that it was eventually going to happen�but rather that it had happened so soon. Something must have happened, he thought, to make it more important to the two of them.

He had seen the article in the Daily Prophet about Harry and Hermione, of course. He had also heard that the Prophet had been attacked and completely destroyed shortly after the article had come out. That meant that Harry, Hermione, or people close to them had taken very serious offence to the article. Not that he blamed them in the least, but he was at least surprised by the totality of the destruction.

Suddenly, and in the midst of his reverie, he felt a tug on his pant-leg. He grinned stupidly and realized that he still owed the elf an answer.

Looking down, Jonathan said, �You can tell your master that I have a special, private table reserved for him and his bride for tonight, at 7:15, just as you asked. Please also tell him that I look forward to seeing him again.�

Dobby threw himself forward and hugged Jonathan�s leg for a moment, and then just as silently as he had come, he disappeared.

*************************

Once dinner reservations were settled, Harry and Hermione settled back onto their bed and began looking at the gifts they had been given.

Because most of them were muggle gifts, Harry and Hermione set them aside. There were some beautiful silver candle-stick sets; some silk bed-sheet sets; some muggle money � which Harry immediate set aside to give to Hermione�s� parents � and there were some beautiful, glowing cards that they took turns reading.

The most wonderful cards were from Berti, Hermione�s parents, and every one of the Hogwarts students. All of them expressed pride and joy in being with Harry and Hermione for their marriage and all of them said that gifts would be forthcoming for their magical wedding. Gifts were the last thing that either Hermione or Harry cared about, but they appreciated the sentiment. What mattered to them was that each of their magical friends made a point of saying how excited each one was about being a part of that celebration.

Once they were finished reading all of the cards and sharing them with each other, they turned their attentions to the gifts that they had been given by the Queen.

Not knowing what to expect, Harry sidled next to Hermione and laid the portfolio from the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

There were a number of documents which looked like land survey maps and statements of title � none of which Harry recognized. As Hermione gazed at them, a smile began to form at the corners of her mouth and because of their connection, her shift in emotions made Harry glance at her. Sweetie? What is it?

�Oh�.� Came the reply. �I think I know what this is all about!�

�Share?�

She pointed with her fingers at the map-markings and at the legend down at the bottom right-hand corner of the page. Harry�s eyes followed her pointed finger and then went wide when he pieced together what was going on.

�Is that what I think it is, �Mione?� Instead of answering his question immediately, Hermione began shuffling papers around; looking for one that she could match to the map they had in their laps, and after a moment, she pulled an individual sheet free and held it up.

�Yes! Thought so.�

Harry had not been listening to her internal thought processes closely while she had been looking through the stack of papers. They had happened too fast, really, for him to follow, and they had been too disjointed for him to understand completely.

�What did you find, �Mione? I couldn�t follow everything you were thinking.�

�Oh? I�m sorry, Harry. I didn�t think about whether I was broadcasting for an audience. It�s just that I saw the legend on the map and that made me think of a park, the Lord Willinghamshire Crown Conservation area, not too far from my parents� place. It�s not connected with anything, really, except that I knew that the map was showing ownership of a large bit of land, backing onto a large conservation area. Once I had that in mind, I went back to see if I was right and I am.

Harry waited for the concluding sentence, which he knew from experience was coming.

Harry, this letter, along with the title papers in the stack, shows that the Queen has given you the lands adjacent to Balmoral Castle and extending all the way west the coast and Godric�s Hollow. I think, if I�m right, you and I are now the second largest land owners in north-central Scotland, and maybe in all of Scotland. We own all of the lands around the hollow, except for the land in and around the village itself.�

Harry was stunned. He tried to comprehend what it meant, but couldn�t take it in. He just wasn�t old enough to grasp what it meant. He was going to have to talk to Remus Lupin and to the Headmaster, for sure.

�Is that a good thing, Hermione? I mean�how much land are we talking about?�

�Well, it appears we own everything from the Kyle of Lochalsh on Lochalsh Mountain in western Scotland to all the way over to Inverness on the eastern coast, down to just north of Greenock and then east of there, over to just north of Dundee. It�s a huge piece, Harry. Massive, even. It�s something like one hundred fifty kilometers wide and maybe just a little over a hundred kilo�s high. It�s like�fifteen and a half thousand square kilos, give or take. Call it six thousand square miles or about six-tenths of a percent of the total United States. Anyway you look at it Harry, it�s huge.�

Harry was staggered by the news. It was almost too big to imagine. It was almost one hundred times bigger than the Malfoy�s land holdings and they owned a lot of land.

Swallowing hard, Harry looked at his wife. �So�what do we do with it all? I mean, I�m no land manger or land steward or something. What am I supposed to do with that much land?�

Always the practical one, Hermione shook her head and looked at him. She hadn�t really ever expected that she�d be forced to deal with this sized problem, but she knew going into the marriage that life with Harry was never going to be dull.

�I think, Harry, that we talk to my parents and to Gringotts, and to the Headmaster. They�ll have some idea of what we should do.�

Harry thought about it for a moment and then grinned at his wife. �Want that we should build a dragon preserve? We have enough land for it, I think. We could raise welsh greens.�

Hermione rolled her eyes at him and punched him gently in the arm, before he grabbed her and sent the papers on their lap scattering everywhere.

Sensing that she was about to be ravished again, she waved a hand at the papers; summoning them all back to her and indexing them into the right order.

�Ok, Mr. Potter, want to try round two?�

Harry�s eyes were feral with sexual hunger, while his mouth and smile were playful. Knowing that she was in for another bout of loving made Hermione almost instantly wet. She welcomed him with open arms as they fell back into bed together.

*************************

An hour later, the two woke in each others� arms.

He felt her fingers running through his hair as he rolled from one side to the other, so that he could look at her.

�Hey�

He took hers from his hair and pulled them to his lips, so that he could kiss her palm. When she felt his hot breath on her hand and looked into his eyes, she shivered with a renewed desire.

�God, Harry. Do you know what you do to me?�

�I know what you do to me, Hermione, and that�s enough. There�s no one in the whole world except you for me.�

Hermione could feel the love he was feeling. It was like touching the swirling waters of a natural hot spring. Her magic responded to his and soon the two were kissing each other and letting their combined magic envelope them.

In many ways, it was like their sex together � passionate, driven, and powerful � but different. There was no climax to be reached; no ever-increasing crest of pleasure to be ridden. Rather, as they lay in each others� arms and kissed, their magic caressed them and wove itself through their hearts and minds; connecting them in unbreakable bands of love and magic.

�I could never have had this with anyone else, Hermione. You are the magic of my life� he thought to her, as they held each other.

�I could never have given myself to anyone else, Harry. It�s always only been us.�

�Is anyone going to suspect that a magic wedding for us is kind of pointless?�

Hermione�s laughter rang in his mind. �Oh God, Harry�.� Hermione was thinking fast, and their magic swirled around her in deeper, more intense colors as she did. �What if people see us glowing, like McGonagall did? What are they going to say?�

It was Harry�s turn to laugh. �Guess we�re going to find out, eh? I mean, really�.who�s going to say anything to the Head Boy and Girl? The heroes of the wizarding world, no less. You�d think that Hogwarts students would be smarter than to say anything. Besides, it�s not like we can really control it.�

Harry thought immediately about their wedding ceremony and how they had deliberately controlled the glow by focusing on it.

�That�s different, Harry. It was almost like our magic knew enough not to show itself around my parents� friends.�

�Don�t suppose we�re ever going to know for sure, �Mione.�

Harry sent her an image of someone raising their hand. �Subject change?�

�What?�

�Well�..I thought we�d finish opening the Queens� gifts. There were some more papers we didn�t get through and then there were a couple of things we should look at. One was from your parents and the other two were from your grandmother and Berti.�

�Oh�ok. I was thinking of leaving that for another night, but I guess so. It wouldn�t hurt to know what the Queen sent, besides the title to most of Scotland!�

Harry groaned. He still wasn�t even sure what to say about that. To discover that he now owned a great deal of Scotland, including most all of the land which bordered the estate upon which Hogwarts sat, had been a shock and he still wasn�t coping with it well.

Just then, as the two newlyweds started to sit up in bed and re-orient themselves so that they could sit side by side, as they had been earlier, a post owl � resembling Hedwig, but darker in color � flew in the window and landed lightly and delicately on the bed. On its leg was tied a note, bound by a yellow silk bow.

Harry reached out with his magic and eased the note off the birds� leg and then reached out to physically touch and reassure the bird. Summoning an owl treat, he gave it to the thankful bird and watched it fly to a perch outside, to consume the treat.

Hermione ran her hand over the note and felt the magic it contained. She recognized the magic as belonging to someone she knew, but couldn�t place it for a moment. Harry looked at her as she concentrated and then, all of a sudden, the note unfurled itself and hung in mid-air so that it could be read easily by the two of them.

Dearest Harry and Hermione

Congratulations on your marriage. You were the most radiant couple I have ever seen and it was a joy to see you married in the same church where your grandfather and I celebrated our marriage.

I know that I didn�t get a chance to tell you both how proud I am of you and how much it means to me to be back in your lives. There were times when I was away that I despaired of ever seeing you again. Now that I am back though, I�d like to tell you some things that you need to hear and to hear about your exploits in a setting away from Hogwarts. I suspect that the walls have ears and there are some things that I would tell you that are not fit for public consumption.

If you will permit me, I�d like to meet you for dinner tonight. Could you arrange for us to meet somewhere convenient?

Love always,

Rowena (Grandmother!)

Eyebrows raised, Hermione looked at the note again and then at her husband. �Well?�

�Actually � I had something planned just for the two of us tonight�but reading between the lines, I get the feeling that she really wants to talk to us more than she can say. I think we ought to just extend the invitation and see what happens.�

Hermione smiled at her one true love and waved a lazy hand in the air, making the scroll fold up and put itself away in the top drawer of the oak secretary table in the corner of the room, where all of her other correspondence was stored.

As she started to turn, Harry caught her by the arm and looked at her. �Love? That�s the second or maybe third time you�ve done wandless magic this weekend. You had always used your wand before. What happened?�

Grinning impishly, Hermione put a finger to his chest and very slowly dragged it down. It was a very sensuous movement and Harry was pretty sure that she was giving him a non-verbal answer.

He dwelled on the possible answers for a moment and then looked at her with a big smile. �Me? I�m the cause?�

Hermione grinned unabashedly and spoke into his mind. �It could only ever have been you, Harry. Our marriage has given me access to all of your powers and pretty much all of your knowledge; �cept for that one piece you seem to be hiding.�

�I didn�t know I was hiding anything. I thought I had been completely and totally open with you. If there�s something there that I don�t know about, maybe I should go have a talk with Dumbledore. He�s going to have to know about whatever is in there and will know how to get at it.�

Hermione thought about it for a moment and then looked at him. �Let�s not worry about it now. I want to look at the other thing that Her Majesty sent us.�

Harry was somewhat surprised that she had spoken aloud, as they had not done that all weekend.

�Not used to hearing your voice, Hermione. Somehow, I�ve gotten used to hearing you this way and it�s more comfortable. I�m not sure that I�m going to be able to stop when we get back to school.�

She looked at him; stretching out a hand to touch his face. �I know. We can always just tell people, but somehow, I�m not comfortable doing that, either. I think we just have to be careful to hide and tell only those people who absolutely have to know.�

Harry captured her hand with his and pressed hers to the side of his face. It was warm and gentle and it made him feel loved in ways that he couldn�t express because he just didn�t have the words. His magic was not so limited, however, and it sprung up and surrounded them both. That was all the answer that Hermione needed to tell her how much he appreciated her touch.

She leaned in and kissed him, while continuing to touch his face. �I�m never going to be able to get enough of you, Harry.�

�Nor I, you, Hermione. I love you.�

A tear threatened to escape his eye and Hermione felt it immediately. �Don�t cry, Harry. No one can ever hurt you again. They can attack us, but no one will ever hurt your heart again. Not while we live.�

*************************

It took them some time to pull out of the rapture that engulfed them and they did so languidly; knowing that they really didn�t have to move all that fast to be anywhere. Of course, they were going to have to get showered and dressed at some point so that they could go to dinner, but they had more hours free before that was the case.

Harry looked over and saw that it was a quarter past three in the afternoon. He had been naked and in bed with Hermione since they had arrived on Thursday night. It was the longest period being naked that he had ever experienced and he found that it was completely comfortable for him. He wondered, briefly, what that said � if anything � about him.

*************************

Gryffindor tower, Head�s Common Room � 3:15 pm. Sept. 22nd

Ron was lazing in the chair closest to the fire, where Harry and Hermione usually sat, cuddled up together. Only, this time, Luna was in his lap and he felt more powerful and more in control of his life than he ever had before.

Luna was moving slowly and sensuously on his lap and he could not stop himself from groaning. The pressure of her incredible, gorgeous, knickers-less arse against his pajama-covered erection was almost too much to bare.

�You are such a minx, Luna�, Ron whispered in her ear.

She turned her head so that her lips were just about on his. �I know�, she said breathlessly, as she ground herself on him.

The long men�s shirt that she was wearing as an impromptu mini-skirt would cause her to lose serious house points if she dared wear it to class, but it was Sunday and everyone was allowed to dress however the felt like if they didn�t venture out of the tower. However � Harry had given Ron the password to the Head�s private residence; allowing the two of them to have a honeymoon of sorts too. They had barely left the bedroom for the first thirty-six hours as well.

The two of them were very much in love and while they had not done anything to formally announce the fact that they would be getting married, everyone knew. It was obvious from the way the two of them constantly went out of his/her way for the other to do kind things. Ron had started paying a great deal of attention to the way he looked for her � clean shirts, polished shoes, cologne � and, most significantly, had undergone an almost miraculous transformation in his table manners. It was like he had suddenly taken his parents� admonishments to heart all at once.

Even Hermione, before they had left to be married, had commented quietly to Ron that she loved the changes he had undergone and that she was very, very proud of him for making the changes that would it that much easier and more fun for Luna to love him. Ron had walked away from that surreptitious meeting fairly glowing with pride.

Ron nuzzled the back of her neck and held her close. �What are you thinking, love? You�ve been pretty quiet.�

Luna shifted around on his lap. Since she was considerably shorter than he � by almost 23 centimeters � she was able to rest her head next to his so that her cheek was touching his. She took out her wand and mentally verbalized �Accio blanket�. It was an easy bit of magic, but she made it look so natural that he could not help but admire her for it.

Once the blanket was wrapped around the two of them, Luna looked at her husband-to-be and answered his question. She didn�t need to yell � it was just the two of them � but her voice was quieter than usual. �I was thinking about what we did yesterday. I have to think that they�re not going to try to do anything to us, because if they were, it would have happened by now. I�m still a bit worried, though. The Ministry�.no, scratch that. I can�t imagine that Scrimgeour would stand by and let anyone destroy a wizarding institution so openly and I�m willing to bet that he already knows exactly who destroyed the Prophet yesterday. It�s not exactly a secret that we could have kept � especially with you, the twins, and your sister all being there. It was not the most subtle thing that we could have done. We were rather sure of ourselves or we would have all worn glamours or something.�

It was not news to Ron. He had thought the same thing � but second-guessing after the fact was pointless. What he wondered was how much his father knew about the attack. Ron figured that he would have gotten at least one howler by now if his parents knew about his or Ginny�s involvement � and so far, the skies had been clear of owls bound for them.

As their hand began to caress and explore, Ron said to her quietly, �I know, Luna. I�ve thought about that, too. I figure that they already know who destroyed the Prophet and are trying to make up their minds about whether or not to come after all of us. I think that dad was right. The head of the MLE is going to be under tremendous pressure regarding whether or not we get away with it because we�re winners of the Order of Merlin, 2nd class and because we�re best buddies with Harry and Hermione.�

He continued, unabated. �As for Scrimgeour � I have to think that we�re protected from him by the fact that Dumbledore can not stand him and will probably tell him to take a flying leap. I also think that the Minister is still trying to figure out what to say about Harry and Hermione�s wedding. The fact that the two of them married muggle-fashion first was seen as a slap against the magical world. That it�s not true is beside the point.�

Luna was fascinated. Ron was talking (mostly) like an adult, not a teenager. She wondered whether there was even more going on under the surface though that he was not telling her.

Momentarily, Luna was struck with an idea. �Ronald? Can I try something on you for a moment?�

Ron looked at her and smiled. �Sure, love. Just don�t turn me into anything right now. I�m warm and comfortable here with you.�

That comment was enough to earn him several long minutes worth of intense kisses and whispered promises of a great deal more when they went back to bed.

Luna took her wand out again and pointed it at his forehead, while holding eye contact with him. Ron knew immediately what she was about to do, and opened his thoughts to her touch as much as he was able.

�Legilimens!�

The connection snapped in place immediately and Luna could feel Ron�s mind inviting her inwards. He seemed to be very comfortable and as she explored the outer-most layers of his thoughts, she felt his growing comfort with her presence.

It was going to be a very, very interesting afternoon.

*************************

Godric�s Hollow; Sunday, Sept. 22nd, 3:45 pm.

Bounding through the woods felt great. It wasn�t just that the air was crisp and cool; it was that he felt free and alive in a new way. The air was filled with smells that meant home and the magic of the place was decidedly friendly.

Racing along as he was, Harry would have cleared the next patch of tall grass which he was fast approaching � that is, if his feet hadn�t been knocked out from underneath him.

Suddenly, a tawny brown, maned lioness was on top of him � pinning him to the ground - and was growling affectionately at him.

It had been almost two weeks since they had been able to �let the kitties out� � which was their private term for going for a run together � and they both were reveling in how good it felt. It was powerful � and made more so because they had each others magic to rely on as they leapt and bounded through the woods. Hermione, in her muggleness, had said it reminded her of a scene from a movie she had once seen called The Empire Strikes Back, where the hero had used a kind of magic to give his body more energy and strength while he ran. Leave it to Hermione, Harry thought, to compare their real magic to a muggle movie!

�I heard that, love� Hermione chided gently.

�Oh boo� Harry sent a mental �raspberry� to Hermione and to his surprise; it was not �lost in translation�. To express her displeasure, Hermione, as Sagehunter, bit him not-quite-gently on the tip of his nose.

The bite precipitated a tussle in the sunlit glade, which eventually saw Hermione submit to his greater strength and weight. It also found him standing over her, his front paws on either side of her supine cat body. Not one to lose an advantage, Hermione lifted her haunches up at him and moved her tail aside in what was her classic supplication/seduction maneuver.

In the weeks since Hermione had bonded their magic to Dobby�s � and by so doing given them the ability to communicate with their thoughts only - they had learned to share everything that they were thinking or remembered. However, they had not fully mastered using their telepathy while in their animagus forms, so it was fortunate that there are some messages that do not need translation. Hers was one of those.

*************************

Private residence � Muggle Studies Professor � Hogwarts Castle;

Sunday, Sept. 22nd, 4:30 pm.

Pacing never did any good�but what was she supposed to do? She had sent the letter before her courage failed her and now she was waiting for an answer. An answer, frankly, that might or might not have been successfully delivered and one that may or may not have engendered a desire to reply.

One thing she knew about her granddaughter � the girl was notoriously protective of Harry and she was, after all, on her honeymoon. She might just sandbag the invitation and make her apologies when she got back to the school on Monday. That was, if she decided to come back on Monday. Rowena knew from talking to the other teachers that before Harry and Hermione left, they had both completed all of the expected assignments for the next two weeks�which gave them as much time together as they might want.

Rowena was optimistic, though, that the lure of the library would be too strong to overcome and that Hermione would be drawn, inexorably, back to the school by her own innate need to keep learning.

Of course, that would by necessity mean that Hermione overcame the objections to returning early that Harry might have � which might be numerous. Given the state of things when they left, the two of them could take the rest of the year off and there would not be a single problem. The prefects seemed to have everything very well � and some would say frighteningly well � in hand.

She made another turn to walk the length of her office again when a beautiful snowy owl gracefully glided into the office through the always-open window near the ceiling of the room. It held a note � also with a yellow ribbon � tied to its leg.

Landing with eerie precision, the snowy owl looked at her and hooted expectantly.

�Hedwig?� she said; unsure whether she was right.

The owl nodded several times and then tossed her head in the general direction of the bag of owl treats that lay on the slate tiles on the bay window which graced Rowena�s office.

�Oh!� Rowena exclaimed. �Of course�.you�re hungry! I�m sorry, Hedwig. I�m just totally distracted.�

The owl nodded � which Rowena thought might or might now indicate that she understood everything that she had said in her ramblings.

Picking up the bag and opening it, she held it out for the owl. To her amazement, Hedwig held the bag open with her bill and then took the foot which was not encumbered by the note and used it to retrieve two owl treats � one after another.

Seeing her do so astonished the usually unflappable, Johnny-come-lately muggle-studies professor and made her wonder, not for the first time, whether owls like Hedwig were not, in fact, real owls, but wizards who were imprisoned in the form of an owl, for some undetermined length of time to serve out a sentence or something. It certainly sounded plausible enough�.and just like the kind of thing that the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry for Magic might get up to. Being a former Unspeakable herself, she could attest to the fact that the Ministry employees who worked in the DoM were eccentric � exceptionally so (at that was saying something, she knew), even given all the usual weirdness that magical folks got up to at times.

Once Harry�s familiar had made short work of the treats, Rowena stroked the feathers on the back of her head and then moved her hand down to the message scroll. Obediently, Hedwig lifter her leg up and allowed the older woman to untie it.

The message was not encrypted, because it was not signed. However, once it unfurled itself, it lasted but thirty seconds. She barely had time to copy down the time and place that the scroll had revealed before the entire scroll disappeared in magical flames.

Well � that answers my earlier questions. It will be interesting to see them.

With that, Rowena went back to studying. She had several hundred pages to read before classes in the morning and she didn�t want to be in the position of not having read as much as some of her more scholarly students.

*************************

Godric�s Hollow; Sunday, Sept. 22nd , 4:45 PM.

Baths are great things, Hermione thought. She was warm; safe, and feeling like there was not a pressure in the world. It had been days, in fact, since she had picked up a book or even thought about school. Slowly, surely, she was beginning to realize that there were more important things in her life � namely her love for and marriage to Harry. It had taken all of her school life to come to the realization that she need to live for something more than studying, but she felt that maybe, she was finally there.

Harry, for his part, was lying, still naked and semi-stuporous, on their bed, listening to Hermione�s thoughts.

Hermione had just begun to shave her legs, using the ambient magic of their union. She was wandless � but somehow thought nothing of it, because it seemed so natural to be able to control magic without a wand � using only her own will and mental disciplines.

�Harry? You awake, love?�

Harry was awake � at least a part of him was � which was frustrating. He wanted to do something about it, but didn�t really have the energy. How pathetic is that? That I�m too tired to even wank off, Harry thought to himself. He didn�t realize that Hermione was listening in on his thoughts as well.

I�ll be there in a few minutes, love, and I�ll be happy to take care of your problem.

Hermione�s voice was lusty and seductive - which further exacerbated his problem. It was a problem because part of him really wanted to roll over and sleep. Harry, like Hermione, mostly slept on his side (when he was with her) or face-down and sprawled out, with his head turned to the side.

�Mione? Don�t rush love. My so-called problem will go away on its own, if I can get some sleep.

Hermione�s giggles echoed in his thoughts. That may be true, love, but you�ll sleep better after I take care of you and besides, I need the protein.

Being the wicked, seductive teenage witch that she was, Hermione sent Harry an incredibly lewd image of being on her knees, sucking on him and caressing his organ with one hand, while pleasuring herself with the other.

Not being willing to be outdone, Harry lifted the covers and looked down his body to his incredibly turgid member and sent the image to Hermione over their link. That image he followed with one of her on her knees, pleasuring him, while he ran his hands through her amazing mane of curly ringlets. He companioned that image with his feelings of boundless love and desire for her.

The blowback to what he had done was immediate and dramatic. He was brought almost upright as he felt wave after wave of her orgasm and her almost-panic in the tub.

In the blink of an eye, Harry had apparated to the side of the tub, to help his wife.

Wiping the water out of her eyes, Hermione looked up at him. Damn you, Harry. It�s so not fair that you can do that to me. I was not expecting it and suddenly, I�m cumming hard.

He looked down at her and caressed her face. �I love you, Hermione. I�m sorry I scared you.�

�You could have warned me,� she said aloud; answering his thought.

�I know, but that would have taken the fun out of it. I just didn�t realize that you weren�t sitting up in the tub. I guess I should have realized that you�d be lying back, relaxing. I�m sorry.�

He was, too. That was the thing about him. Harry could never, ever disassemble with her, even a little bit, and so she knew, not because of their link, but because she just really knew her husband that well, that he really did feel bad about not being thoughtful enough about her situation.

She thought about what had happened and then eyed his enormous erection - which had begun to fade a bit, with the near-accident in the tub. Seeing it was enough to get her twitching all over again.

Since she was about level with it as she sat in the tub, she just reached a hand out and caught him behind the thigh and pulled him close. As she did so, she homed in on his erection with her mouth; capturing it orally in one fell swoop.

Harry looked down at her. One good favor and all that?

Her answer was short and sweet. Un-huh! Now, let me do this so that we both can feel good.

*************************

Foyer, The Capital Restaurant, Sunday, Sept. 22nd , 7:00 PM

Always waiting.

That�s what Rowena Granger was doing in the foyer. She was doing it life, too. Waiting.

She had been waiting a long time. Waiting and wanting to die.

After tonight, she might just be free to reunite with the one person who had loved her and whom she had loved more than life itself.

It all depended on what her granddaughter said. It all depended on whether she could be forgiven for what she had done. If she could, there was hope. If not, then she would find out if her husband was truly waiting for her. Either way, she would know soon.

*************************

Foyer, The Capital Restaurant, Sunday, Sept. 22nd , 7:15 pm.

One minute they were not there and then, they were. No noise; nothing to give away their comings and goings. It was not only eerie; it was frightening. No one � not even the Headmaster himself, had ever been able to so effectively disapparate.

Harry and Hermione Potter were anything but normal.

Looking up from where she sat at the nearby bar, Rowena sensed that an enormous magic presence had just appeared and she smiled. There was only one person who felt like that to her and it was not the Headmaster of Hogwarts.

Getting up from where she sat, she slipped a galleon across the bar to pay her tab. It was expensive, she knew, but the cocktail she was still nursing was made from the top-shelf muggle liquors she had gotten used to in her years away from wizarding society.

Hermione saw her first and, momentarily letting go of her husbands� hand, she moved to embrace her grandmother.

As they came together to hug, Rowena looked down at her granddaughter affectionately. �Has it been everything you hoped, love?�

Hermione�s smile told her that it had been and the glow that formed around her and Harry as he took her hand in his once again showed Rowena that she shouldn�t have any worries about the two of them.

As they moved to the private alcove which had been set aside for their meal together, Hermione removed her fur cloak. As she turned to hand it to an attendant, Rowena gasped audibly.

Hermione�s head snapped around to look at her grandmother. �What?�

�Hermione. Stop and lift that necklace up very carefully. If that is what I think it is, we need to talk.�

Harry moved protectively to Hermione�s side as she reached down to lift the blue, diamond star up to the light.

Rowena moved close to Hermione and reached out a hand to touch the star. The moment she made contact, a bolt of energy blazed out from it; making Rowena yelp and snatch her hand back.

�What the fuck?� Rowena muttered under her breath; mindless of the fact that Hermione could overhear her.

She looked down again and pointed to it, as if to ask her to lift it up. Harry reached out and touched it with no problem.

Rowena looked at the two of them and said, �I think we ought to sit and talk about this, before I tell you why I wanted to talk to you both tonight.�

Nodding, Harry moved so that he could draw a chair out for Hermione; allowing her to sit first. Then he did the same for Rowena, before taking his own seat. It was a small thing, Rowena thought, but she thought it spoke volumes about who Harry was as a person.

*************************

Once they were seated, had ordered drinks, and were satisfied that they were alone and had privacy, Rowena started in on the two of them.

Her voice was serious, but concerned, so Hermione did not react when her grandmother looked at her and said, �Ok. I�m not sure what you�re doing with that bauble, but I don�t think you understand what it is and what it means. Wearing that here means you�re playing with forces you don�t understand. First I want to know who gave it to you; though I think I have a pretty good idea.�

Surprisingly, it was Harry who spoke up first. �Professor�

Rowena looked at him and felt the intended barb that Harry was delivering by using her title instead of her name. �I�m not sure what you�re implying, but Hermione was given that �bauble�, as you call it, by the Headmaster. His note said that it was intended for the wife of the most powerful, currently living wizard. I assume that he means that I am that wizard.�

Rowena looked at him and contemplated whether it was worth it to try to penetrate his thoughts to get a clearer picture of how they had truly come into possession of the necklace. He made her decision easier by looking her in the eyes and then, almost casually, smashing apart her own occlumency shields. �Don�t even try it�, was the message he left in her thoughts.

Rubbing her temples, Rowena rued the fact that she had such a readable face. Poker had never been something she had enjoyed and now she knew for certain that it never would be.

�You know, young man, that power that you so casually tap into is going to be a problem if you don�t learn to wield it more gently.�

Harry didn�t smile and Hermione sat, impassive, as Rowena finished playing whatever game she had on with Harry.

Finally she looked at her grandmother and spoke up. �Are you going to tell us what this necklace is or do I have to go to the Headmaster directly for an explanation?�

Looking slightly offended, Rowena said, �Be patient, Hermione. I�m getting there.�

It was Hermione�s turn to cast a barb. �Better get to it, then. Harry and I had a private dinner planned until we got your note. So far, I�m not seeing a reason to stay here. There are lots of places to eat where Harry and I could have privacy and not play word games.�

Rather than rise to the challenge, Rowena started to stand. �There is no reason for me to be pushed for an answer by two petulant seventeen year-olds.�

Harry caught the look on his wife�s face. �Let it go, Hermione. She can storm around all she wants, but we don�t have to play into it.�

�I know. It�s just�.I thought she actually cared about me.�

�She does. She�s hiding something and she�s hurting a lot. There were images that I saw when I was in her thoughts that I think were of your grandfather.�

Hermione looked up at her grandmother with a look that approached sympathy. �I�m sorry, grandmother. Please stay?�

At Hermione�s words, the old woman�s shoulders sagged with the emotions she was feeling and she slumped down into her seat. �You�re right, I�m sorry. I was hasty. I�m not used to dealing with teenagers who are much more than my equal in power.�

Harry grinned. �Get used to it, Professor. You�re going to find that there are lots of students at Hogwarts who are much, much more than they seem on the surface. Hermione and I are only the most extreme example of that.�

�If there are others who can get into my head as easily as you did, then perhaps they should be teaching and I, the learning.�

Once Rowena�s smile returned, Hermione and Harry were able to relax and sip the wine which had been discreetly brought to the table. Harry had taken the interruption of the wine service as an opportunity to transfigure their two chairs into a more comfortable love seat for two.

Hermione had smiled and said nothing, as she folded herself into his waiting arms.

�Better?�

�Yes, love. Much. I was as annoyed as you were at not being able to be touched by you.�

�I wish you two wouldn�t do that�, Rowena said with a smirk � to which Hermione replied with a raspberry.

�Get used to it, Professor. Hermione and I have things to say to each other that are not for others� ears � even yours.�

Just as quickly as her more relaxed mood had come; it was gone. Suddenly, her face betrayed much deeper, more painful emotions. �Harry, I know the joy of love and having someone know you almost better than you know yourself.�

After sending a string of images to Harry, Hermione took a chance and said, �When did my grandfather die?�

If the chair hadn�t been holding her up, she would have collapsed, they were both sure. The look of pain and sadness on her face was more than enough to tell them that they had guessed correctly.

The moment he finished speaking, Hermione was up and off his lap, the deep blue silk of her skirt rustling as she moved, in order to be at her grandmothers� side. It was one of those moments when further words were unnecessary. Rowena would tell them what had happened when she was ready to do so and there was no point in trying to force it out of her. Clearly, whatever she had experienced was more painful than she could describe and Hermione knew better than to presume that she could offer words of reassurance that would be meaningful. In that, she knew she was too young and too inexperienced.

The tears that Rowena had bottled up and refused to let fall for so many years were finally coming and her body shook with great, wracking sobs as she cried. She didn�t see her granddaughter take her husbands hand, nor did she hear the incantation, �Legilimens�.

*************************

Believing that there are some times when you should not be left alone, Hermione took a chance. Seizing Harry�s hand and letting herself infuse with his magic as well as her own, she looked her grandmother in the eye and willed herself to touch her grandmothers� thoughts. It was an act of bravery for someone who had never before tried to enter a persons thoughts against their will. Hermione was afraid that she would be pushed back and didn�t know what to expect.

The other trick to legilimency was to maintain eye contact and Hermione found that she was more challenged by that then by the odd sensation of seeing, in her mind, an entire panorama of images � images that were flowing though her grandmothers� head.

At first, Hermione could not make sense of what was going on, because the images were moving too fast and she felt that there were areas she was being shunted away from deliberately.

It became easier to tell what was going on in her grandmothers� mind when another presence - Harry�s � fortified her control and she began to be able to sort through some of the images that were flying by.

One picture, more than others, kept popping up. It was of a man � a curly haired, brown-eyed, square-jawed, handsome man � standing with a gun in his right hand.

The man must have meant a great deal to her grandmother, because the image strengthened � and soon, there were no other images competing for Hermione�s attention - just his.

Hermione (and Harry) watched in horror as the man lifted the gun to his temple.

Hermione recoiled in horror and Rowena knew it immediately. The image played on, despite Hermione�s reaction.

The words that the man was saying became clearer as she focused on hearing them, even though he was sobbing.

�Rowena�..I love you, but I can�t live with you thinking that I ever hurt our little girl. I hope that you�ll forgive me someday. Please know...I love you and I loved her.�

At that instant, Hermione understood everything and in that same instant, the man pulled the trigger.

She was shoved, hard, out of her grandmothers thoughts and found herself again in Harry�s lap, crying as she looked up.

Harry, for his part, held his wife to his chest and let her cry; because he knew she needed to do so. What they had both just seen was disturbing on so many levels and yet it had been so very poignant. He could understand why Rowena had sent the missive and could understand why she might be considerably less emotionally stable that she appeared to students and faculty.

For Rowena � who had been hurting for so long � it was just as traumatic, because of the additional (and sudden) burden of guilt which she felt. Hermione had grown up without a paternal grandfather because of what she had done and worse, without the love and encouragement that she herself might have given to Hermione. It would have been especially helpful and useful, she knew, true just before and after Hermione�s 11th birthday. In that way, Rowena thought, she had been responsible for the sadness of three generations of people whom she loved.

It took several long minutes before she was strong enough and collected enough emotionally to face Hermione and, by extension, Harry. She knew that having the two of them know the truth might be problematic � but�.and it was a biggie�but she also knew that if neither ever learned the truth about why her husband had killed himself, then neither would ever have a chance to forgive her for what had happened.

From the corner of the restaurant, Jonathan watched the three of them interacting, but not speaking. He found it odd, but realized that he was not in a position to judge. There were a great many things, he figured, that would be forever unknown about Harry and Hermione and the way they communicated was just one of them.

Jonathan also knew that Harry was not to be trifled with casually�..well, he amended humorously in his own thoughts�not to be messed with at all, ever. He had gotten wind of what had happened to the Prophet the day before and knew that even if Harry had had nothing to do with it, the Prophet was still destroyed and its people, spread to the four winds.

He hefted the small bag of galleons that Harry had quietly slipped him, just before they had been escorted to their table, to cover the cost of dinner. Jonathan knew damn well that dinner was not going to cost anything approaching the amount of gold that was in the bag, yet Harry had insisted that he take it.

Being a concierge and general manager of one of London�s best and most exclusive restaurants meant that he knew when to accept a patrons quirks without comment. Jonathan snorted as he thought that his father would have said that what was really going on was that Jonathan recognized that it was much more that discretion and quiet acceptance was the better part of valor. So - he set aside a number of galleons equal to what he estimated Harry and Hermione�s dinner would come to and then figured the VAT at 17.50%, plus a 15% tip. It still left a very healthy number of galleons in the bag, so he made a note to himself to do some wine-buying with the money that had been left over and to put whatever wines he acquired into the Potters� private wine cellar in the basement of the restaurant.

As he backed into the shadows, in order to watch some of the other tables and guests, Jonathan thought he heard Hermione�s voice.

�Tell me what happened, Grandmother. Start from the beginning.�

She did and slowly, the story came out. Painfully, and in bits and pieces, but it came out.

When it was finished, Hermione sat, stunned, at what her grandmother had experienced and what had happened between her and her grandfather. She couldn�t believe that he had been a squib � but Rowena gave them incontrovertible proof. More, the depth of Rowena�s guilt and sorrow over the loss of her husband was evident in everything that came afterwards. That included her antics during the evacuations of the ex-pats from Cambodia; her killing of the dark witch Patiareh by single combat inside an ancient temple on the Singu plateau, north of Letha Taung and the city of Mandalay, in March, 1971 � a murderess who whored herself for power, gold, and pleasure; and her callous disregard for her own safety during the Malvinas war.

After killing Patiareh � she gravitated to wherever there was fighting. No one could touch her magically, despite the fact that she almost never shielded herself or attempted to dodge curses. It was supremely frustrating.

It could not have been more evident to Hermione that her grandmother wanted to die. She had stopped caring � about anything - after Rodan died. That much was clear as day from the memories that she had allowed them to see.

Berating herself for not seeing it earlier, Hermione realized that Rowena had done almost no magic in her presence and she wondered just how capable she was. What was left of the almost legendary Unspeakable? Was she like Moody? Or did her wish to die make it worse than that?

Harry caught the flicker in Hermione�s emotions and her voice spoke softly in his mind. �She�s not stable, Harry. Unless or until she feels truly forgiven, she�s going to continue to be unbalanced. That makes her dangerous to students. Dumbledore needs to know.�

Harry was very concerned as well. He knew, better than just about anyone else, what it felt like to want to die. When Hermione was laying in St. Mungo�s, he contemplated what he would do if she didn�t make it and he was quite sure that there would have been no one who could have kept him from taking his own life, so that he could be with her. If Rowena felt that way - and had lived with that feeling since 1971 � then Harry guessed that she was either a coward for not killing herself (preferring instead to have someone else do the deed), or knew deep down that she had something to live for in Jake and Hermione.

He desperately hoped that it was the latter and that Rowena could be healed. Madame Pomfrey was a medi-witch of singular skill � that�s why she had the posting at Hogwarts. However, Harry was pretty certain that Rowena�s issues were at once simpler and harder to heal than anything else with which she had had to contend during the time that Harry had been at school.

�Hermione? We have to get her to a healer, fast. She�s not well and if we don�t get her help, it could be bad. She wants to die, doesn�t she?�

Her voice � the voice he heard in his head � was so subdued and sad that he hardly heard it. �Yes.�

Stroking Hermione�s face gently with one hand, he reached across the table to the older woman, to offer her his hand and to try to show her that she wasn�t alone in her suffering. It was a simple gesture, but it meant a great deal to Rowena. She covered his hand with hers and felt the warmth of his magic and the power that he kept bottled up.

She smiled at him. It was a weak smile, but it was there. Hermione saw it and she knew that there still was hope for her grandmother.

*************************
- 15
- 16
- 17
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Vox Corporis: Rebirth