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Forever Knight	By : AdamantEve Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Harry/Hermione Views: 15409 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
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
- 6
- 7
- 8
Author�s
notes: I would like to give special thanks to Lady Diamond for
fixing the mess that was chapter 5.
Ladies and gentlemen, her beta-reading has�and will�save me from eternal
fanfic damnation, and hopefully, she will believe me capable of redemption
throughout this story. ^_^ And if you find something
particularly brilliant in the last chapter and this one, it�s probably her
doing, not mine.

Also, thank you to all good souls who
offered to beta. I am touched. This fandom is amazing.

This is one of those� introspective
chapters. It�s necessary, but not much
happens.

Standard
disclaimers apply.

Chapter rating: R

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Sixth: Daytime

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry realized just how exhausted he was when he crossed
the threshold of his room in Grimmauld Place.
Physical aches he didn�t realize were there made their presence known and
one glance at his bed made him think that he could sleep for three days
straight. But as much as he wanted to
collapse in the warmth of his sheets, he felt he needed to bathe, again.

He had, earlier, so he could get the blood of Hermione off
him. Now he needed to wash off something
else, because he wasn�t quite sure he had gotten over his grief yet, when he
believed that he should have with utmost certainty. Because Hermione was alive.

Alive� not exactly�

He pushed that thought away, repulsed by it. How could he even think that?

All he needed was a bath; wash off the anguish he had
suffered at the thought�no, the reality of
her death. It hadn�t been a
nightmare. It had been real. She really had been dead. She had died in his arms as her blood seeped
through his fingers. He had been
completely unable to help her. He just
knew he would be having nightmares about it for months.

He took a quick shower, pulled on one of his battered old
shirts (he actually had a lot of those, as he hardly ever bought anything new
while living with the Dursleys) and a pair of plaid pajamas. As he rubbed a towel into his wet hair, he
looked at his bed.

It was terribly empty.

It wasn�t so long ago that he could look on the same bed
and find Hermione nestled beneath the sheets, usually naked. He remembered how he stood a bit away for
several seconds, praying that she would shift and have some part of the blanket
fall away from her to show a patch of skin.
Whatever patch it was, he had always thought it sexy enough to deserve
passionate admiration, usually expressed by his lips and hands. It was the best way to wake her, after all.

Without thinking twice about it, he threw the wet towel on
the edge of his bed and left his room to go to hers. Maybe it was a bit weird, but he didn�t
care. If he couldn�t have her, he wanted
to be surrounded by echoes of her. Her
�rising� was still just a concept to him; almost abstract. Everyone was telling him it was real, but
there was a desperate need for him to see so he could believe. The shock of her death hadn�t completely worn
off yet, and now he had to absorb this new shock of having her undead.
Being in her room might help balance things a little. His reality was disturbingly off-kilter in
the last few hours.

He got into her bed, throwing the blankets over himself
and taking one of her pillows to bury his face into it.

Her scent was on it. Strongest of all was her shampoo, but
it mixed with what was ineffably her, without the country-apple sweetness. He sought that familiarity and found comfort
in the fact that he was wrapped in a cocoon of who she was.

He fell asleep quickly enough.

His sleep was not as restful as he had hoped. His dreams were not filled with blood and
gore, but they were extremely disturbing.
He had been standing at the threshold of some door, seeing Hermione
beyond it. Her back was to him and she
was walking away while everyone else stood at the door before him, preventing
him from passing. He kept saying that he
just wanted to see her, but Remus kept telling him he couldn�t, that now was
not the time.

Harry woke up at nine in the morning immensely irritated
with everyone.

He cleaned up, dressed and resolved to get some things
done to keep himself occupied.

Harry was surprised beyond belief when he was greeted with
a �Wotcher, Harry!� just as an orange lump of fur leaped atop the counter
beside him.

�Tonks,� he gasped, just when Crookshanks rubbed his
muzzle against his arm. �And
Crookshanks��

�Found him at the Grangers,� Tonks said, her pink hair
shimmering as she lit the stove burner underneath a pan. She was wearing torn jeans and a strange
asymmetrical hooded black track-shirt with a pink pentagram on her chest. Her
black boots and black studded belt completed whatever look she was trying to
make. �Poor beast had been locked in a closet, hissing, spitting and
yowling. Didn�t want to be picked up by
just anyone, either. I suppose I should
feel privileged that he chose me.�

Harry picked Crookshanks up off the counter and held him
close. Neglected as the beast was by
Hermione in the last month, Harry knew how fond she was of her
cat-kneazle. Harry rubbed behind
Crookshanks� ears and the feline purred audibly, eyes fluttering closed as his
tail whipped to tuck itself around him.

He wondered if Crookshanks even sensed what had happened
to his mistress.

Tonks was looking at him contemplatively. �Alright, there?�

Harry took a seat at the kitchen table. He could only assume Tonks knew all about
it. Remus would have talked to her
already, and Harry really didn�t mind.
Remus needed someone to talk to as much as anyone.

Harry smiled wanly.
�Better than last night, I think.�

Tonks nodded, tossing oil into the pan. �Horrific, what happened. And I can�t even imagine what Hermione�s
going through. You going to see her
today?�

�Well, I�ll be going to St. Mungo�s, but I� I don�t think
they�ll let me see her. Cicero said I couldn�t.�

�Cicero?�

�Initiator.�

The term seemed to mean something to her. �I suppose it makes sense that they�d be
stricter about such things with vampires than they are with werewolves.�

Harry�s eyes flickered in surprise. She couldn�t have been around during Remus�
turning, was she? She was too young,
then. She probably didn�t even know
Remus existed. Then again, she and
Sirius were second cousins, once removed�

Tonks must have understood the question in his eyes. �I can only assume. From what I�ve read, you understand.�

�Right.� Harry
wondered if Tonks had to read So Your
Sweetheart�s A Werewolf, or something like that. �So you�re here while Remus is�?�

Tonks nodded. �I�ll
be taking care of Remus and all his affairs while he�s sitting out the full
moon. He�s not likely to go furry in the
next three days, I reckon. So long as he
doesn�t miss taking his wolfsbane and he stays away from the rays of the moon,
he�ll stay human, but Remus would rather not risk anyone�s safety by running
free about the house during the full moon.
He�d rather stay locked in the dungeon.
Nice, dark and windowless down there.
If I were so inclined, I might find that kinky.�

Harry was glad he wasn�t drinking anything at that very
second, because he would have spewed all of it through his nose. As it was, he thought maybe he was going to
explode. Hearing Tonks refer to anything
remotely sexual translated into Remus doing
things with her. It was almost like
hearing your parents talking about it, and
that was just psychologically catastrophic.

�Erm�� He just didn�t know what to say.

Perhaps detecting his unease, Tonks grinned and waved her
wand to move something from the counter to the table. It was a brown paper parcel.

�St. Mungo�s sent it over,� said Tonks. �Hermione�s personal effects.�

He stared at it, half expecting Tonks to tell him that
Hermione�s blood-covered gown was inside it.
Shrunken to fit in the bag, maybe.
The mere thought made his stomach roil, not because the blood was
disgusting, but because he had watched Hermione die in that gown; had felt her
blood on him as she faded away and there was nothing he could do about stopping
it.

�They only kept what they thought was important, Harry,�
said Tonks. �And I assure you, if there
was blood on any of it, they would have scourgified
it off.�

Harry reddened, wishing he wasn�t so transparent.

Setting Crookshanks gently aside, he took the parcel and
tore off the top. Gingerly, he let the
contents spill on the table. To his
utmost relief, there was no dress. It
was her wand, the glittery ribbons that had been holding her hair up, her
intricate armband and lastly, the locket.

He had completely forgotten about it. He hadn�t even realized the locket had been
on her. Probably kept it in her sash and
it had simply stayed there�

Tonks cracked eggs into the cooking oil and tossed in the
sausages.

Harry palmed the locket a bit. �Tonks, is Remus different during the full
moon? I mean, aside from being the
poster boy for Helena�s Hair-Gro Potion and being in dire need of a manicure��

She chuckled. She
didn�t reply at once, though she was smiling.

�Well?� he insisted.
�Is he?�

�He is. He�s very
different.�

�How different?�

She cleared her throat a bit. �More alpha,
I suppose, is the best way to say it.
You know how quiet he is, and gentle, and really quite sensitive� for a
man. No offense.�

Harry realized in mild surprise that there was none
taken.

She continued. �But
when the full moon approaches and actually comes around, furry or not, he
becomes fiercer. More aggressive, even
in the way he talks. He gets this thing
in his voice, like he growls when he talks, and his eyes sometimes glaze
black. He�s more ruthless, too.�

�Ruthless?�

�Like on any other night he wouldn�t think of hurting a
fly but on the full moon he would definitely find it in himself to kill a man
to avenge the death of his best friends.�

�Oh.� Harry
definitely remembered that night. He
supposed that in retrospect, Remus was never the type of person who would want
to kill, especially for
vengeance. That was more up Sirius�
alley. �Do you�umm�mind so much that
he�s different?�

She grinned. �Well,
it�s a little complicated. It�s
refreshing, that side of him, and I must say it can be terribly sexy, but I
don�t think I can stand to have him that way all the time. I mean, if he was that way all the time, I
think he�d classify as a complete pain in the arse. With that said, having that side of him in
three-day doses is exciting and appealing, unfortunately this supposed sexy
Remus Lupin is also a very dangerous Remus Lupin, and I can�t quite enjoy that side of him to its fullest
potential, if you get what I�m saying.�

Harry�s eyes widened and wished she hadn�t elaborated that
much. Now he just had another thing he
could add to his nightmares. He supposed
talking to Tonks hadn�t been a good idea.

There was a sound at the stairs and Ron soon came around
lugging a huge book with him.

�Hiya, Tonks,� said Ron.
�I smelled breakfast. Told you I would.�

Tonks laughed softly and Harry figured that meant Ron and
Tonks had already seen one another earlier.

�Didn�t expect to see you up this early, mate,� said
Ron. �You must�ve gone to bed at five.�

�So did you,� said Harry.

Ron shrugged. �I
thought I�d do some reading in the library.�

Harry arched an eyebrow in wonder. �That�s� unusual.�

Ron held up the battered brown book. Embossed in silver leaf was: Bloodsuckers: Understanding Vampire
Borrowing and Lending.

That explained things, and Harry appreciated Ron�s
intentions, but he couldn�t help but give his best friend a dubious look. �Ron, she�s your best friend, not your loan
shark.�

�It was all the library had on the subject,� said Ron,
turning slightly pink. �And I just felt
I had to read something.�

�Well, Cicero gave me a booklist, if you recall. I�m going to go buy the books today. You can come along if you want.�

�Yeah, I�ll go with you.
Keep me occupied.�

Harry understood that completely. Neither of them wanted to be sitting around,
thinking about what happened. It was
harrowing enough for both of them last night.

Tonks looked over her shoulder at them. �Going to Diagon Alley, then?�

�Yeah. Is that
alright?� Harry didn�t intend to sound cheeky, but he supposed he did.

Tonks arched an eyebrow.
�I�ll let the aurors in Diagon Alley keep a lookout for you. It�s for your own safety, Harry. And Ron�s, too.�

�Fat lot of good aurors did for the Grangers and
Hermione�� Harry was sorry the moment he
said it and Ron, even with his emotional range of a teaspoon, knew enough to
kick him under the table. Stifling the
cry of pain Ron�s sledgehammer of a foot brought him, he gave her an apologetic
look. �Merlin, Tonks, I�m sorry� I
didn�t mean to say... You lost a lot of friends last night, too. I�m a big arse git��

She expelled a breath and smiled wanly. �It�s alright, Harry. And I�m sorry, too. I can�t help but feel that we should have
been more prepared. Even if we were dealing with an ancient vampire.�

�It wasn�t anybody�s fault.�

�That�s what I try to tell myself.� She transferred the cooked eggs and heaping
sausages in a plate and put them on the table.

Ron got up to make some toast while Tonks cooked more
breakfast.

Harry wondered if she thought they had bottomless
stomachs. He looked at Ron and realized
Tonks was just being perceptive.

She looked at him uneasily. �Listen, Harry, when Hermione becomes more�
available, we�ll need to ask her about what happened that night; get as much
information from her as we can.�

Harry frowned. He
couldn�t bear the thought of asking Hermione to relive the horrors of it, but
he supposed it really had to be done. If
they were going to put a stop to it; if they wanted to find the ones�or one�who did it, then Hermione would
have tell them as much as she could remember.
�I�ll talk to her when she�s able, then.�

She nodded. �The
sooner the better.�

Harry got up to set the table and in another few minutes,
they were all seated and eating.

An owl delivering the Daily
Prophet came and Tonks took the paper.
She paled the moment she saw the headline and Harry dreaded asking her
what it said.

It was Ron who found the courage. �Well?�

She shook her head and folded the paper over. �You don�t want to know.�

Harry didn�t, but he reached for the paper anyway. The first thing he saw was a picture of him,
Ron and Hermione, arms around each other in their school robes as they smirked
and winked at one another. Hermione was
between them, all three of them stifling their giggles, as if they couldn�t
believe how ridiculous it all was. Harry
remembered the picture from the previous school year. An upperclassman was taking pictures of
Hogwarts and its students, saying he wanted to make some sort picture book
before he left Hogwarts forever. He also
said that their friendship was a Hogwarts fixture of sorts. They had felt a bit silly, letting him take
the picture, but he supposed it was a good picture, what with the lake as their
background. What bothered him now wasn�t
the picture itself but what it had been used for.

Picture book indeed.

The caption said, �Happier days. Hermione Granger (center); alive, healthy and
well.� And as if that wasn�t bad enough,
the headline said: �Muggle-born and her family slaughtered in their home!�

Of course there has
to be an exclamation point, because Lord knows, bold typeface isn�t enough to
get a reader�s attention, he thought bitterly.

It went on to report about the massacre in the Granger
home, the dark mark, and what little details the investigative team revealed to
the press. It was, of course, mentioned
that Hermione was a top student at Hogwarts, was best friends with Harry
Potter, the Boy Who Lived, a.k.a. The Chosen One and is even rumored to be his
girlfriend. Sources confirmed that they were very cozy just yesterday during
the Weasley-Delacour nuptials and that her death had left him distraught,
undependable and slightly barmy. He was
not available for comment.

Harry thought he would be sick. The least they could have done was give
Hermione and her parents a bit more respect.
What the hell is wrong with these
people?

Ron took the paper when Harry set it wearily aside. After a quick read his freckled face
blossomed even redder. �They just
couldn�t lay-off on the Harry Potter angle, could they? No respect for how terrible the entire thing
was.�

�None.�

�I wonder how long until they find out she�s been turned.�

Harry shrugged, sighing and rubbing his eyes beneath his
glasses. �Not long, I�d imagine.�

�Let�s hope the vampires use their muscle to keep that
part of the story quiet,� said Tonks.
�They like their privacy. Don�t
want anything calling attention to them.
They�ve already filtered that report,
at any rate. Do you see any mention of
them?�

Harry was surprised to realize that there hadn�t been the
slightest clue that vampires were involved.
�No mention.�

�So�� Ron said cautiously.
�How is this going to be played then?
You�re going to let the rest of the world think Hermione�s dead?�

Harry stared at him.
It hadn�t even crossed his mind, but Ron had definitely hit on something
important.

Tonks was unfazed.
�I�ve no idea yet what the Auror Department or the Order intends to do
about that, but frankly, I�d rather everyone kept believing what they�re told
to believe. We don�t know whether the
Death Eaters wanted her dead or turned, so I�d just as soon not say anything further than what
people think they know; at least not until we talk to Hermione. That�s just my opinion, of course. Not like I have much say in it if the top
people decide otherwise.�

Harry gave her last sentence a brief thought before he
shook his head to clear his mind. �In
the meantime, what are we going to do with the ton of condolences Ron and I
will be getting on account of it?�

Ron cursed, obviously realizing it just now as Harry said
it.

�You don�t have to say anything,� Tonks replied with a
dismissive wave of her hand. �You�re her
grieving best friends. People the world
over will take pity on you and �understand� that you�re in no condition to be
answering letters of condolences.�

Harry exchanged looks with Ron. Harry imagined he looked as miserable as Ron
did.

They continued with breakfast, and they decided they would
head on to Diagon Alley in about an hour.

It was around the time they were clearing away the plates
that the owls began to come. At first
they came in twos and threes, and then they began arriving in droves, some of
them with flowers, some with Muggle-religious items like special cards and
prayer books. The kitchen table and
floor quickly began to fill up and Harry desperately wanted to close the
windows so that the owls would stop.

Sighing, Tonks said she would take care of it all, telling
them that they should go on ahead and do their errands. She handed Harry a list, asking him to be a
dear and pick them up for her from the nearest Muggle grocery. He promised he would see to it.

Guilty about leaving her but wanting to get away, Harry
dragged Ron to the fireplace and flooed them both to the Leaky Cauldron.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Diagon Alley was about as busy as one would expect on a
weekday. There was constant activity,
but it was relatively more subdued than the weekend crowd. There were no children running rampant, for
one, and the adults weren�t on break from work yet. It was yet another hour before the lunch
rush.

Harry made a quick stop at Gringotts to withdraw some
pocket money before heading straight for Flourish
and Blott�s.

Ron followed him through the ringing doors and looked over
his shoulder. Ron had been trying to
spot aurors since they left the Leaky Cauldron.
If there were any around watching them, Ron hasn�t found them yet.

Harry, meanwhile, had been thinking up a way to get Ron to
separate from him in the store and keep busy.
Not that he didn�t like Ron�s company, but Harry wasn�t exactly prepared
to share an awkward moment with Ron when he picked up that book Allan so magnanimously added to the reading list.

The solution came to Harry as soon as he looked at the
list. Quite simply, he folded the list
in half, ran his nails over the fold to give it a razor-sharp edge and ripped
the list in half. It was a very
obsessive thing to do, considering he was the sort of person who wouldn�t bother
making precision folds before rending paper in two, but he supposed he was a
bit jumpy. Buying these books cast
another shade of reality to the entire Hermione-Is-A-Vampire business that he
wasn�t exactly sure he was ready for.

He gave the top half of the list to Ron while waving his
own half. �Go look for those while I go
look for these.�

�Would these be in the vampire section, then? Because you know how all proper bookstores
have to be organized.�

It took another moment for Harry to realize that Ron was
being a bit sarcastic. He shot Ron a
slight glare before heading off to consult with a store clerk.

Harry was glad that there wasn�t just one section for vampires.
The books on the list, while all of them about vampires, fell under such
categories as Self-Help, Health and Diet, and Creatures. Allan�s book fell under the Relationships
section. Harry decided he would run by
that section first, and quickly.

It took him several moments to find the book, and when he
did find So Your Sweetheart�s A Vampire, it
wasn�t the 8^th edition. He
considered just letting it be. 7^th
edition was probably almost as good as 8^th, but an attendant
happened to pass by and calmly said, �That�s not the latest edition.�

Harry half expected that he would be judged for merely
holding the book and he found himself beginning to explain. �It�s�er�for research� school, you see. I
have this report to submit��

Of course, school was all the way in Scotland and the term
hadn�t begun.

The attendant seemed exceptionally bemused, or maybe just
discreet. Harry supposed it was her way
of saying, without words, that she didn�t care if he wanked off on the books
because it wasn�t hers or anyone�s business what readers did to them. �Then you�ll want the latest one.� She plucked a book a bit further down the
shelf and handed it to him. It was the 8^th
edition.

The attendant left.

Harry eyed the book for a moment and felt that common urge
to skip through the preamble of pages so he could get to the most important
part. Sometimes, in regular books, that
meant towards the end. In this case,
perhaps it was towards the end as well, because the book couldn�t have
contained more than three hundred pages.
But he had a specific page in mind, and with guiltlessness that would
have scandalized Hermione, he moseyed to page 281 without a thought.

When he got to the page, there were no naughty pictures
(as he might have expected). There was
simply a symbol there, embossed in silver and gold. There was a shimmering red disc at the center
of the intricate circle. On the page
opposite were words that sounded like a spell.
At the bottom of the page was the caption: See that which you both desire.

Curious, he touched the symbol and read the spell out loud
in slow, halting syllables. Latin tended
to bog down his reading skills.

His mind threw him into a vision-like trance of ripping
off Hermione�s clothes, buttons popping and fabric tearing, in a room filled
with lit candles and delicate, spicy aromas.
His skin felt hot and hers felt hotter.
She was beautiful, and erotic and she was whispering his name in that
wonderful, sensual way of hers that drove him mad. He felt a savage urge to throw her over the
soft bed of silk and rose petals, so he did, and began to do exactly what he wanted do to her.

When he felt that inevitably embarrassing twitch in his
pants, he slammed the book shut and it tumbled from his fingers to his
foot. It bounced merrily off his
trainers and went splat on the floor.

He found himself back in the bookstore, with the soft
jazzy wizarding music in the background and the wild sensations leaving him in
a vicious rush. He gasped as the
tingling underneath his skin disappeared and his heartbeat immediately slowed
to a normal tempo, as if he hadn�t gotten so wound up so quickly just seconds
before. Whatever effect page 281 had on
him, it had all but disappeared.

Now all he could be was utterly shocked.

What in bloody hell�
He looked around
frantically�guiltily�trying to block
out the memory of his vision. Shite, can she even bend that way? And what if someone had seen me while�? Only
a perv would have a stiffie in a bookstore!

Then it occurred to him that he had had several stiffies
in the library at Grimmauld Place.

Yes, but usually
Hermione is actually there to help it along.

He felt an urge to hate himself for thinking that.

Dazed, he dropped to the floor to pick up the book.

�Oy, Harry, there you are.�

Harry knocked over a stack of magically balanced books
nearby, awkwardly burying that book underneath
it. He cursed Ron for showing up but was
glad that the books had spilled so fortuitously. �Yes, Ron?�

Ron came up beside him, scanning the shelves idly. �There was only one book on the list you gave
me and I�ve found it. Need help finding
the books in your half of the list?�

Harry looked up in surprise. �There was only one on yours?�

�Yeah. You crossed
out the others.�

�I didn�t cros�well, that doesn�t matter. You can go find Common Vampire Ailments by Ann Neamik.�

Ron shrugged.
�Alright. You okay? You look a little flushed.�

�I-I�m fine. I�ll
join you at the counter as soon as I�m done looking.�

�Right.�

Ron left and Harry rolled his eyes at his own awkward
attempts at dignity. He fished his book
out from beneath Daddy, Why Do You Have
Fangs? and tucked his now illicit
purchase inconspicuously in his arms.

Whose bright idea
was it to invite Ron along to this potentially embarrassing errand,
anyway? That�s right, Potter, yours!

He wondered whether there wasn�t an age requirement for
the book he was trying to buy.

He headed out to the other sections to get the rest of the
books. He was glad to discover that they
weren�t very thick tomes. The thickest
one was the relationship book, and even that was just a little over 281.

Now I�m obsessed
with the page, he
thought morosely.

Thirty minutes later, he had the three books in his list
on hand. He had given in to the
occasional distraction, browsing through a few other books. He didn�t suppose she would be very bored in her current disposition that
she would have leisure time to herself, but he found himself looking over a
leather-bound notebook with blank pages.

She might find use
for a journal. She might like the
normalcy of chronicling things� as they are�

He took the notebook and grabbed a quill with some
ink. He hoped he could get Cicero to
pass on the present for him; just to let her know he missed her.

Ron was waiting for him at the counter with two books and
an extra tome that was thicker than could be expected from Ron. He put the two books on Harry�s pile and held
the rest back.

�You bought a book for yourself?� Harry asked.

Ron reddened.
�Don�t be daft.�

He didn�t explain any further and Harry thought it best
not to pry since he wasn�t exactly forthcoming with his purchases either.

Harry paid for his selections and Ron paid for his, after
which they headed back out on the street.

�Think we can go by Fred and George�s for a minute? I need to get a new spell-checking quill,�
said Ron.

�Haven�t replaced the one that ran out on you last April?�

�Yeah. And it�s
really bad now. It�s turning all my Ss
into Cs and my Rs into Fs. It�s very
embarrassing when I have to write �sock� and �rucksack� in my letters.�

Harry would imagine so.

They arrived at Weasley�s Wizard Wheezes front steps where
the display was as garish and explosive as ever. Multi-colored lights flashed at the marquee
and a throng of customers, in spite of the relatively sparse Diagon Alley
crowd, were flowing in and out of the shop doors.

Harry let Ron step through the doors first to lead the way
and Ron wove through the aisles, directly for the enormous shelf of
quills. The twins had stocked up for the
up and coming school year and the quills and inks gleamed new under the store
lights.

Ron was quietly deciding between a blue or black quill when
the twins jumped them from behind.

Harry found himself amongst tall stalks of red once again,
remembering how he had been with them just yesterday. His insides ached, just thinking of
Hermione. He wished she were there. He wished he could hold her hand while they
watched Fred and George bother Ron.

Seeing the rack of love potions �disguised� as common
beauty products, he imagined her joking about spiking his coffee with amortentia and he would quite naturally
say that love potions were cancelled out when the emotion was already
there.

This was the first time, ever, that he had stepped into
Weasley�s Wizard Wheezes and felt this depressed.

�Gerroff me!� Ron growled as the twins urged him to try
this prototype and that. Ron told Harry
that the last two times the twins managed to convince him, his ears turned
bunny and he giggled like a fairy.

When Ron had successfully thwarted them, they set their
sights on Harry. Harry thought they were
going to go into their usual flamboyant welcome, giving him �complimentary�
gift packs and such. But while they
didn�t exactly stop smiling, they got this look in their eyes, something Harry
was surprised to realize was not pity
but shared grief.

George clapped Harry on the back. �Alright, Harry? Any word on Hermione today?�

�Not until later.
The�umm�one taking care of her won�t be available to report until
tonight,� said Harry quietly. �She�s
just sleeping now.�

Fred smiled. �Will
you give something to her for us, then? She
might need a bit of a picker-upper, eh?�
He rushed off to the counter, disappearing behind it for several
moments.

�We put this together for her this morning,� George
explained. �Thought maybe we�d try to
brighten her days at the dungeon.�

Harry cocked a tiny smile.
He couldn�t help but appreciate the gesture.

He was expecting Fred to come back with a basket of jokes
and blood candies (he might have found that funny, anyway, in a� twisted sort
of way), but he found that Fred and George were indeed full of surprises.

Fred did hand him a basket, but it was filled with
chocolate, prettily wrapped �surprise� boxes and miniature balloons that
enlarged on command. Fred also handed
him a bouquet of charmed flowers, enchanted to stay fresh for longer than it
was wont.

�The flowers are from Charlie and Dad,� Fred
explained.

George pointed to the basket and began speaking in a
confidential whisper. �There are about
half a dozen of our best fake wands under there and two go�s of our Patented
Daydream Charms. Ginny and mum have
letters for her in there, too.�

�Charlie told us that she�d appreciate the chocolate even
as� you know,� said Fred. �If she
doesn�t, she can always pass �em over to Ron.
He�ll eat anything.�

Ron shot them a glare.

Harry felt a bit overwhelmed. �Th-Thanks, you two. This� will mean a lot to her.�

Fred smiled. �No
problem. We felt really, really awful
last night, when we thought�you know�so this is as much for us as it is for
her. You should�ve heard mum and Ginny.
We thought they were going to make themselves ill, the way they carried
on crying.�

�R-Really?�

George nodded solemnly.
�Ginny was worse. I think she felt wretched that she�d been
nasty to Hermione all day that day.
Listen, Harry, we didn�t have time to tell Bill and Fleur last night
about what happened, and they won�t be getting the Daily Prophet where they are, but we�ll definitely let them know,
today. Don�t think they don�t care��

�Please don�t tell them,� said Harry, much to Fred and
George�s surprise. Harry hastened to
explain. �I don�t want them ruining
their honeymoon on account of what happened, especially now that Hermione�s�
not really�gone. Hermione wouldn�t want that for them,
either. Tell them after they get
back. But let them enjoy their time together,
for now.�

The twins cast him doubtful glances.

�Really,� Harry insisted.

�Fine, then,� said George.
�We�ll hold off for a couple of days.
But Harry, I think they�d want to know, anyway.�

Harry smiled.
�Yeah, well, I don�t imagine being half-mauled for the rest of your life
gets you that many breaks. Let the bloke
have his honeymoon with his unbelievably gorgeous wife.�

Fred laughed.
�Bill�s probably enjoying French cuisine
as we speak, eh?�

�Well, he�s enjoying something,
Fred, I�ll tell you that.�

Ron frowned. �You
two are impossibly single-minded.�

�Yes, because as nineteen year old wizards go, we�re
supposed to be less �single-minded� than a seventeen year old bloke whose been
hoarding our Witchling Magazine back-issues,�
said George.

Harry�s eyes widened at Ron. He didn�t know whether he should laugh or
demand that Ron share.

Fred nodded. �When
you say �less single-minded�, does that mean we�re supposed to be double-minded
or half-minded?�

�Well, we are twins.�

�A quarter-minded? So then we�d be half-minded put
together.�

�Shut it, you!� Ron cried.
�I do not hoard. I borrow.
And I only wanted the one with the article on Holly Coats. She�s a riveting stage actress, you know.�

��Coat, Un-Coat� I believe, was the title of that article,�
said Fred. �Interesting interview,
that. I rather fancied that �un-coat�
part.�

�One of the best issues,� said George. �Hope you didn�t ruin it, Ron. The magazine aims to please but the least you
can do is aim your pleasure somewhere else.�

�Enough! Harry and
I are leaving!� Ron cried. �Put the
quill on my tab and thank you for the presents.�

Ron hustled them out of the store as Harry tried to toss
proper goodbyes to the twins.

When they got back out on the street, Harry smirked. �Borrowed it for the articles, eh? I suppose
the literature�s pretty good once you get past the scantily clad witches waving
to you from the pages.�

�Mr. Chastity and Virtue over here,� Ron muttered
sardonically. �If you weren�t getting so
much �tender loving care� from Hermione, you would be drooling over those
magazines same as the rest of us poor fools.�

�Drooling? Is that
what you call it nowadays?�

�Well, I�m sorry.
I�m being cryptic: In lieu of shagging a beautiful woman for real, the
pitiful masses have to wank-off on their pictures instead.�

�When you put it like that, it sounds very sad.�

Ron sighed and shook his head. �It sounds ten times meaner coming from
someone who�s had some. Like you�re
gloating, actually.�

�Oh, shut it. I�m
not gloating. And I�d rather you not
talk about it like that. What Hermione
and I have��

�Isn�t just about sex.
I know. And amidst this deep,
profound and emotional connection you two have, the sex�fortunate bastard that
you are�just happens to be abso-bloody-lutely fantastic.�

Harry shot him a wry look.
He was of the opinion that his �fortune� was preceded by the worst luck
in the world (e.g. Fighting a possessed professor and then destroying him
without the slightest idea how it got done; getting bit by a basilisk and then
healed by a phoenix; getting lost in a labyrinth with a psychopath and managing
to get away, etc., etc.) and that Ron was forgetting that aspect of his life
again because Ron�s teenage hormones compelled him.

�Well,� muttered Harry.
�Whatever romantic thing I was going to say will sound stupid now, won�t
it?�

�You can always whisper your sweet nothings in my ear,
darling.�

�Right. And you
phrased it so appropriately for our �single-minded� conversation, too. It�s not how I would say it, but that�s the
gist of the matter, I suppose. Whatever
works for you.�

�Not to mention those killer legs of hers,� added Ron
absent-mindedly, as if taking Harry�s words to heart. �I tell you, the shape on them can murder a
man, dead. Tapering to really nice ankles. Bless short skirts��

Harry was beginning to get peeved. Hermione wasn�t Holly Coats, so her legs were
not open to discussion. �Ron, in this
dimension, it�s not polite to talk about your best mate�s girlfriend�s legs
like that.�

�Right. Sorry.�

They began to walk up the alley to the Leaky
Cauldron.

�You miss her already, don�t you?� said Ron. �I know you slept in her room.�

Harry hadn�t realized Ron had noticed, and the fact that
Ron did, made him feel strangely violated.
�Thank you for stripping me emotionally naked in the middle of Diagon
Alley.�

�Fine. Far be it
I�d force a macho man like yourself to talk about your feelings.�

Harry sighed. Then
again, none of it was Ron�s fault.

�Look,� Ron muttered.
�I�m not asking you to bare your soul or anything like that. That�s just gross. I�ll just feel less weird if I knew I wasn�t
the only one being�you know, stupid.
Because I miss her, even if
it�s been barely a day since��

Harry always thought that he was only a bit better than
Ron as far as emotional ranges go, so now he felt bad for shutting the
emotional door on Ron�s face. �I don�t know about being stupid� that�s your lookout�� He grinned a bit and Ron shot him a sardonic
sneer. �But I do miss her, too. I�m anxious to see her again. She died,
Ron. Now she�s alive and�and it feels
like she�d been gone a hundred years and this is the first time I�ll be seeing
her again after I missed her every single day of those hundred years.�

Ron cocked a wan, understanding smile.

They entered the Leaky Cauldron and used the portal to go
to Muggle London.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was almost three thirty by the time Harry and Ron got
back to Grimmauld Place. They�d taken a
late lunch out in a Muggle restaurant and Ron had spent half the time being
fascinated by bits of muggle curiosities.
It was a welcome distraction, and Harry figured it had a little to do
with the fact that once they got back home, he�d have to sit down and face the
inevitability of the state of things.

They had to use the front door to get into the house. While anyone can floo out of Grimmauld Place,
there was no flooing in. They had to
floo from some place nearby, take a bus and walk up the front steps. Ron was ecstatic to take a muggle bus. He couldn�t have imagined that transportation
could move so slowly.

Tonks welcomed them back in, helping them with their
packages.

Harry noticed that the unreasonably plentiful pile of
letters and flowers had been moved to the parlor, and that Tonks had left the
window open for owls to come and drop their packages off. She had left water dishes and pellets,
too. A few owls lingered atop the parlor
chairs. Evidently, some owls expected to carry something back.

He wearily wondered whether he had to answer all that
mail.

After they helped Tonks put away the groceries, Harry
deposited the Weasley gifts in his room while Ron said he was going to get some
shut-eye. He requested that Harry wake him
up when it came time to go to St. Mungo�s.

Finding alone time, Harry sat himself down and began the
one letter he was willing to write.
Three revisions later, he sighed and decided to go with what he
had. It was, at least, the most honest
and heartfelt one he could come up with.
He folded it carefully and stuck it in the journal he had bought for
Hermione. He then went to the library
with his books. He was glad that he
could look over the books by himself.
Aside from the embarrassingly erotic page 281, he really did want to
skim through the other books. He wanted
to be able to have some understanding of how to cope.

Harry remembered an incident in sixth year, when Professor
Binns told them (yes, he was actually listening that time) that they would be
having a test for the following meeting, and that it would be an open-book
exam. History class being what it was (a
time to reflect� on one�s sleeping time), Harry and Ron didn�t even bother to
open their books and prepare. It was
open-book, after all. How bad could it be? Hermione, of course, had warned them
constantly, telling them that open-book exams were usually more difficult than
usual, hence the need for constant reference.
Harry ignored her warnings at first, opting to�well�snog Ginny, but as
the day of the test neared, it was as if Hermione�s warnings came back to haunt
him with increasing frequency, so by the time the day of the test came, he
actually had a panic attack and found himself cramming as much reading as he
could between morning and History class.
Sure enough, when he sat in front of his exam, books and his sorry
excuse for notes laid out before him on his desk, he hadn�t a blessed clue on
how to answer a single question properly.
There were three, and all he could do was spin bullcrap with quill and
parchment. Harry thought that anything
was better than nothing. He was a
Gryffindor, right? Leaving blank spaces
would be like forfeiting a Quidditch match, and he would never do such a thing.

As it turned out, Harry wasted a fair amount of ink and
effort, however valiant (or as Hermione would term it, �desperate�) his
attempts were. Professor Binns did not
give credit for �trying�, especially because being a ghost, the poor Professor
dwelled less and less on the abstract the more reality left him behind. So the reality of the matter was Harry just
missed the facts completely. At least
Ron could say he flunked the exam with flying colors because his answers were intentionally hilarious.
Harry just flunked miserably, because his answers were unintentionally
laughable. For what it was worth (which
wasn�t much at all), he scraped a few measly points, though they were nowhere
near hanging by the hair of a passing grade.

Harry learned three essential truths that week. The first truth was that Hermione,
particularly when it came to lessons, was almost always right, so for future matters pertaining to school and
perhaps even life, he would do well to take that into consideration. The second truth was that when you think
you�ve got enough free time during the weekday to snog your girlfriend
senseless, then you�re probably skiving something
far more important. The third most important truth was that there
was absolutely nothing pleasant about being that unprepared, and that he never
wanted to feel that kind of inadequacy again. For all his encounters with
Voldemort and his evil Death Eaters, it was Professor Binns� history test that
taught him the horrors of what it was like to get caught with one�s pants down.

So now, with Hermione�s vampirism looming ahead, he was
going to take the third truth particularly to heart.

He started by arranging the books in order of priority:

Vampires For Dummies

So Your Sweetheart�s
A Vampire, 8^th Edition (Dating tips, relationship trouble-shooting and moving in
together.)

Bloody Mary�s Not A
Drink, She�s In the Basement, 1996 Edition (A comprehensive and useful comparison of vampire
and human [pop-] culture.)

Underworld: Vampire
Society (What
it�s really like down there.)

Common Vampire
Ailments

Harry didn�t think he�d be able to read all of it on time
for Hermione�s homecoming, but if he could read Potions and History textbooks,
he could very well take the time to read these.

Taking the first book from the pile, he opened it to page
one.

�A general overview
of all things vampire��

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry carried all his books from the library and deposited
them underneath his bedside table. He
wasn�t the least bit done with the first book, but time had flown as he read
and he had barely noticed. That seemed
like a good sign. However draining a
book �For Dummies� was supposed to be, it was interesting enough to keep him
focused.

He carried the book down to the kitchen and thought about
fixing himself a sandwich. He had missed
lunch. So had Ron, which was a bit of a
shocker. He supposed Tonks, unlike
Hermione, hadn�t felt the need to take care of a house full of boys (not that
two boys and one man in a mansion was a crowd).
Tonks was more laid-back that way.
Besides, Harry supposed a werewolf was handful enough.

He caught Tonks in the kitchen boiling some tea. She looked disgruntled.

�Alright, Tonks?�

�I�m just taking a break,� she muttered. She did not elaborate on her irritable mood.

�How�s Remus?�

�Go ask him yourself.�

Harry found pause and began to seriously consider going
down to the basement, a.k.a. dungeon, to check on their resident werewolf. Other than that catastrophic episode in third
year, Harry had never really taken a keen interest in Remus when the full moon
came around. That was probably
understandable, considering Remus had wanted to eat him that first and last
time they faced off. But Harry also
realized that Remus used to have Padfoot, Prongs and even Wormtail to get him
through those nights he was a werewolf.
Maybe now was a good time for Harry to reach out, in the spirit of that
same brotherhood, because he was James� son after all. Besides, Remus would stay human so long as
the rays of the moon didn�t reach him.

�I think I will,� said Harry.

Tonks gave him a faint smile as she daintily sipped her
tea. Of course with Tonks, dainty meant
dribbling only a little tea from the side of her mouth.

Taking his book with him, Harry made his way to the
dungeon.

The trip down was a dim one. There were no torches to light the passageway
so Harry could either carry the one mounted at the entrance or cast a lumos to light the way. He decided to use his wand. It was lighter and he was almost certain
Remus� chamber would have its own torches anyway.

He carefully descended the winding stairway and soon
reached the bottom where there was a long hallway. There was a pinprick of light flickering at
the distant end.

The stone was dry and dusty, so there were very few
creatures living between the rocks and corners, but there was the occasional
spider, which pretty much meant Ron wouldn�t be making an appearance anytime
soon.

When he finally reached the first lit cavern, he saw a
short row of stone cells sealed by thick iron bars. It wasn�t a particularly vast room, and there
was only a small section where Harry presumed a �guard� could stand and see
everything. There was a dark corner
where a massive iron door was situated.
It was either some kind of high-security cell or the torture
chamber. Judging from the Black�s
political leanings, a torture chamber wasn�t farfetched.

He spotted Remus in the farthest cell. He was hunched over a table piled with
books. He had a bed and a rather genteel
looking tea table with a teapot and a cup.
Of course, the pile of raw meat sitting beside the sugar bowl rather
ruined the effect, but he was an Englishman and a werewolf, after all.

�Tonks, dear, I hope I didn�t upset you too much. You know how moody I get this time of the
month,� said Remus without lifting his eyes from his book.

Harry never thought he�d ever hear a grown man use the
time of the month as an excuse for his mood swings, but lo and behold. Only in
the wizarding world. �Not Tonks, I�m
afraid. Sorry.�

Remus looked up and smiled. �Harry! Well, this is a surprise. I should�ve smelled you coming, of course,
but I suppose I wasn�t paying attention. So, what brings you here?�

Harry shrugged, pulling up a chair that Tonks likely sat
on to keep Remus company. Harry sat
himself as near to Remus� cell as allowed, just a little past the line marked
on the floor with chalk. �No particular
reason. Just visiting, really. Catching up on your reading?�

�Nothing important, actually. Mostly fiction. I tend to get bored with my usual scholarly
tomes around this time, so I catch up on my muggle literature. It�s fascinating how muggles write about the
worst people; serial killers, war criminals, rapists and murderers� but they
build it around a nice, intricate mystery with lots of blood and gore.�

Harry was beginning to understand what Tonks meant by
Remus becoming less his gentle self.
�That sounds riveting.�

�It is! Better
these than answering those bloody crossword puzzles� what�s that book you got
there?�

Harry held it up for Remus. �Vampires
For Dummies. Just want to be ready
when Hermione comes home. It�s
interesting reading, anyway.�

Remus nodded sagely.
�Vampires� an interesting study, particularly when it comes to Defense
Against the Dark Arts. They�re
notoriously difficult to kill. Silver
can�t kill them per se; many make that mistake, but silver can hurt them, and if you�re going to cut off their heads, it�s
better done with a silver blade. Cuts
through their flesh much easier than a regular steel sword.�

Harry fidgeted at the subject matter. That was rather brutal of Remus, but that was
excusable, considering the state Remus was in.
�Erm� right. But�um�I don�t
really want to be cutting off her head at this time� never, actually.�

Remus seemed surprised and he laughed. �Oh, I�m sorry. I wasn�t telling you to�I�m sorry,
Harry. I get a little savage around this
time��

�That�s alright. I
understand. So� what else do you know
about vampires?�

Remus settled more comfortably on his seat. �Well, there are many myths and
misconceptions surrounding them, mainly because these muggle writers botch up
the facts. Reflections, for example. Vampires have them. They can look into a mirror and see
themselves. There is just absolutely no
logical or magical reason why they shouldn�t have a reflection. Half the vampires of the world would go mad
if they couldn�t see themselves, because how else would they make themselves
beautiful? They�re a vain lot, I�ll tell
you. A race of buggery metrosexual men
and high-maintenance bitch�er�women.�

Harry was just slightly shocked at Remus�s use of the
b-word, and he began to gain a true understanding of what had Tonks so
exasperated.

Remus was blushing madly.
�Pardon me for�umm�that word. I never mean it in a very bad way. It�s just that I�m a little� wolfy right now
and I inadvertently refer to women as� well, it�s a dog-thing, but it�s still
very embarrassing. I don�t mean to be disrespectful. Tonks hates it like anything, as you might
imagine.�

Harry would imagine so.

Remus�s eyes roved to Harry�s book again. �Vampires� aren�t always as bad as people say
they are, but then the really nasty ones far exceed the worst stories about
them. Cicero�s a primary example of a
good vampire, and then there will be Januses. Vampires have common traits,
though, like vanity and ferocity, but I suppose even that is proportionate to
the kind of person they were before they were turned.� He sighed.
�I will not lie to you. This is
no small adjustment in your relationship.�

Harry stared at him in surprise.

�It will be difficult,� Remus continued. �And you will have gaps that will seem
impossible to bridge. But I suppose� I suppose
I�ve seen human and vampire relationships prospering, or something like it, at least.�

�W-What do you mean by that?�

Remus chuckled.
�I�ve not been among vampires for so long, and I�m sure many things have
changed since I last� socialized with them.
I�d rather not elaborate, lest I give you cause for unnecessary
anxiety. You have enough to worry
about. I�m just saying that if your heart
tells you that you want this relationship, then you must be willing to deal
with the most difficult and unusual issues that will arise from it. I know that�I know that it was so natural for
you and Hermione. It was as if you and
she didn�t even have to explain things to each other. The two of you just worked; you fit. And you were so passionate, too��

Harry�s eyes widened before he descended into unbearable
levels of embarrassment.

Remus smirked. �Oh,
don�t you look at me like that, Harry.
Even if I didn�t have super sensitive werewolf ears�yes, I heard, which is why silencing charms are
so handy�it�s obvious enough with the way you� well, are with each other.�

�Good God,� Harry moaned, running his hand down his
face. If he could melt through the
floor, that would be a blessing.

Remus waved dismissively.
�No need to be embarrassed Harry.
We�re both adults here, and such is the nature of relationships. The point is, don�t despair if things seem so
different. I suppose you can say I�m
rooting for you two because� well, Tonks and I� we�re not exactly the most
ideal couple, either. If you and
Hermione manage then perhaps Tonks� optimism about she and I has merit.�

Harry didn�t know if two sober blokes such as themselves
should sit there and encourage each other to carry bravely on in their
dysfunctional relationships. Weren�t
they supposed to be sitting in a pub somewhere and banjaxed out of their wits
for this sort of thing to seem less pathetic?

�Just remember,� said Remus sagely. �If you love her at all, you�re going to cut
down on garlic. Vampires are horribly
sensitive to the stuff. If you eat pizza
and you kiss her, it won�t be pleasant.
Besides, it�s never a good idea to kiss anyone after eating garlic,
vampire or human.�

�Right��

�Are you going to the hospital tonight?�

�Yeah� I don�t think I�ll be allowed to see her,
though. I�ll be dropping off some
presents. From the Weasleys and myself��

�Good! I�ve
something for her, too. It�s a little
something from a werewolf to a vampire.�
Remus dug through his books and brought out what looked like a
coin-sized disk made of glass. It had
something red embedded into it and the disk had a hole at the top where one
could pass a chain through. Remus held
it up so that Harry could see it through the bars. �It�s a Blood Moon Charm. That�s what the vampires call it, at
least. If she�s ever in any dire danger
and has no one else to turn to, I�d know.
I can either help her myself or send someone who can better assist
her. It�s akin to this werewolf as
servants of vampires thing, but less binding.
At any rate, I�d offer help of any kind to her whether or not she�s a
vampire. Call this a gesture. It might give her a sense of security; that
she�s never alone.�

Harry wagered that Hermione never knew just how many
people cared for her. �I know she�ll
appreciate it.�

Remus tossed the disk through the bars and Harry snatched
it deftly in mid-flight. He turned it over in his palm, studying it carefully.

�You�d best head back up,� said Remus. �It will be nightfall soon and I�m sure
you�re anxious to let her know she hasn�t been abandoned.�

Harry nodded. He rose
from his seat.

�Oh, and Harry, please tell Tonks that if she is better
disposed than when she last stormed out of here, I would really, really like
her company again.�

Harry cocked a smile.
�Sure, Remus. I�ll give her the
ol� Harry charm.�

Remus smirked. �You
do that. Goodness knows the whole
wizarding world goes maternal when it comes to you.�

Harry never saw it that way but supposed it was mostly
true when the wizarding world wasn�t ripping into his character, mental health
and love life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry did pass Remus� message along to Tonks and Tonks
showed no sign of being huffy about it.
She even said that she would be going back down to the dungeon
shortly.

He looked out of the kitchen window and saw that the sky
had grown dim. In another half-hour or
so, it would be nightfall. He should be
heading out to St. Mungo�s.

He was just about to go to Ron�s room to wake him up when
Tonks called his attention.

�By the way, Harry.
If you�re wondering about the services for Hermione�s parents,
McGonagall�s taking care of it with her parents� administrators. So you needn�t worry about that, alright?�

He stared at her.
The funeral arrangements for Hermione�s parents had completely slipped
his mind.

It was then he felt a surge of insecurity. How in the world could he have believed that
he was ready for any of this? If he
fancied himself grown up enough to deal with it all, then how could he have
forgotten something so important? What
else was he forgetting? What other
responsibility was he not ready for?

Perhaps seeing the frightened look in his eyes, Tonks came
over and gave him a brief embrace. He
was too dazed to make any sort of response.

�It will be fine, Harry,� she said. �I know you might not like the sound of this
but� the fact is you�re a victim in this, too.
Everyone is willing to pitch in to lessen the burden on you, Hermione and Ron.�

Harry gave a start.
She was right: he didn�t want to be a �victim�. He wasn�t.
It was never within the constellation of his thoughts. He was destined to fight Voldemort in the
end. Being a victim, or thinking himself
one, would help no one. Yet right now,
he might have to grudgingly admit that the real-life concerns were beyond
him. He hadn�t even considered the
inevitability of speaking to Hermione about her parents. It was all suddenly very overwhelming.

�You go on ahead to St. Mungo�s,� said Tonks. �All you need worry about for the time being
is Hermione and yourself.�

Harry nodded, though he was not nearly assured of the
state of things, not because he didn�t trust McGonagall, but because he was
slowly beginning to mistrust himself.

Troubled, he made his way to the rooms on the second floor
to rouse Ron from sleep.

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- 6
- 7
- 8
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Forever Knight