Chapter nine
Lights Dumbledore and Fawkes
Early the next morning after a very filling breakfast the visitors to the Granger house, all but Remus who decided to spend the day with his best friend, either port-keyed or apparated to their various homes, the rest of the day was uneventful and both Harry and Hermione spent the whole day with the family, both eagerly looking forward to being alone that night.
It wasn't until late evening as the sun went down that they finally found they were alone, Mr and Mrs Granger along with Sirius and Remus were sitting out on the small patio and were supposed to be playing cards, instead they sat in stunned silence staring open mouthed as the lawns in front of them were bathed in a warm golden glow that was gradually growing brighter, the glow was coming from the room that Harry and Hermione now shared.
Up in their bedroom both Harry and Hermione were oblivious to anything going on around them as they made love for the first time, it was a dream come true for Hermione, and as they shared their bodies for the first time they also shared their magic, magic that was growing beyond the capacity that their bodies could hold, the excess magic was being slowly released into their auras, both auras glowing in a golden hue were growing as the passion of their love making grew.
Their bedroom was filled with golden light as their auras mingled and became one, as their love making grew toward the bodily connection that would take away their young bodies virginity so the light grew in it's intensity, as their bodies finally connected and their virginity died, so the light that emanated from them grew filling the entire upstairs of the house, spreading out through the windows to light up the lawns, as the two Potters reached their climax the light display reached its peak.
Had it not been for Hermione's excellent combination of wards around the Granger house and grounds, the Muggles of the area would have been able to see a fantastic lighting display, beams of multi coloured lights shot out from the windows of the house, streams of golden stars swirled toward the heavens, the display could not have been better if it had come from one of the new laser display companies, the lawns of the Grangers garden were lit in a golden light that was even brighter than the mid day light from a summer sun.
"Bloody hell!" Sirius exclaimed as the light finally died down "did you see that?"
"Yes their magic must be tremendously powerful," Remus whispered in an awed voice.
"What just happened?" Mrs Granger asked rubbing at her eyes.
"Do we want to know?" Mr Granger asked with more awe than either Sirius or Remus, he already had a good idea as to what had happened.
"I would say that our two young Potters' just became man and wife in every sense of the words," Sirius answered Mrs Granger blushing a little as he spoke.
"The power, did you see the power?" Remus said still truly amazed, he had heard of the glow of bonded couples but none of the stories came near what they had just been witness to, he vaguely noticed that they had all stepped into the middle of the lawn to get a better view of the light show.
Upstairs in their room Harry and Hermione still physically connected held each other tight, their energy drained due to the release of so much magic they slipped into a deep and peaceful sleep.
Hermione was woken up around four thirty the next morning by a strange feeling that she was being watched, feeling Harry beside her she immediately remembered the night before and just how wonderful it had felt to give herself completely to the man she loved so much, it was as she was remembering that she realised it was not Harry that was watching her as she slept.
Sitting up and reaching for her wand Hermione's eyes scanned the room, she froze when she saw Fawkes sitting on her dresser looking straight into her eyes.
Fawkes gently trilled and some how Hermione could hear thoughts that were not her own, 'sadly bond with Albus breaking, have something, you should copy, read' the thoughts it seemed were not actually in words and yet she understood it all perfectly well.
Fawkes rose elegantly from where he was perched and flying to her he dropped a brown leather note book into her lap, reaching for her wand again she looked at the Phoenix and wondered why he had come to her, then with a shrug of her shoulders she waved her wand over the book and made a duplicate copy, she then held out the original to the bird.
Fawkes hovered gently above her, the book held in one of his talons, another gentle trill came from him and more thoughts entered Hermione's mind 'I will see you again human but for now I must leave'.
A flash of fire was all that indicated that the Phoenix was gone; Hermione opened the book to find nothing but blank pages.
It took only a few seconds for Hermione to work out that Fawkes had brought her a book that belonged to Dumbledore, the only part she had not yet worked out was why. Staring at the book of blank pages Hermione began to wonder what was so important to the head master that he would have it concealed from prying eyes, she also wondered for a moment if she should return the copy she had made but dismissed the thought as fast as it had appeared, there must be a password she mumbled.
Harry woke and with his head filled with the wonderful memories of the night before he turned to see what Hermione was mumbling about. "What's that?" he asked putting his glasses on as Hermione mumbled another odd word.
"I think it is Dumbledore's notes, it must be important, Fawkes dropped it off about an hour ago, I haven't figured out the password yet though," Hermione answered sounding frustrated.
"Did you try Lemon drop?" Harry asked as he got up to go to the bathroom.
"It can't be that simple… can it?" she answered as the bedroom door closed 'OF COURSE that has to be it, something simple, I mean who would expect a powerful wizard like Dumbledore to use a simple password,' Hermione exclaimed even though Harry had left the room.
'Hermione love, I hope you're not going to yell like that every morning, you nearly made me miss,' Harry replied as he relieved his full bladder.
Lemon drop was not the correct password so she tried Hogwarts, and was amazed as the neat script of Albus Dumbledore began to fill the pages of the book, 'Harry you are brilliant' she said as she began to read.
"I know," Harry said as he came back into the room and sorted out clean clothes for the day.
Hermione was still sat up in the bed, almost exactly in the same position she had been in when Fawkes had given her the book, she began to read through the notes, the first few pages were filled with random things, questions Dumbledore had jotted down, things like 'where can I acquire more house elves, and should I employ Quirrell? After the first few pages she began to wonder why Fawkes had thought the book important, it just seemed like Dumbledore had simply used it to jot down his everyday thoughts similar to a journal or diary.
Harry meanwhile had got dressed gone down stairs and cooked their breakfast, Hermione smelling the aroma of freshly cooked bacon put the book down and dressed then with the book tucked under her arm she went down and joined Harry and Sirius in the kitchen, Sirius was talking about the light display from the previous night when she arrived in the kitchen ready for food.
She noticed as soon as she entered the room that Harry was blushing almost as red as a Weasley "So what are you two talking about?" she asked apprehensively as she sat down at the table.
"Last night," Sirius said chuckling "when you and Romeo here gave us all a grand light display, the sex must have been bloody brilliant eh Harry? Never saw anything like it before," Sirius said laughing out loud at their mortified looks.
"Mum, and dad, as well?" Hermione gulped.
"Yes them too, Remus was actually blushing nearly as much as you when I explained it to them," Sirius said laughing again.
"Not as much as you," Remus said as he walked into the kitchen, walked to Hermione and gave her a peck on her cheek and said hello to Harry "you should take no notice of Sirius, after all we all know what happens when people get married."
"That's not helping Remus," Hermione said still feeling embarrassed that their love making had actually caused a light display for everyone to see.
Harry still a little red in the face placed Hermione's breakfast in front of her before turning back to the stove to collect his own and Remus's. "So did you find anything in that book?" he asked hoping to change the subject from the currently embarrassing talk about the sex that he and his wife had shared the night before.
"No nothing yet love," Hermione answered as she opened the book and propped it up on a tumbler. She began to read again as she slowly ate her food before it became to cold.
Harry was just washing the plates up when Hermione began to mumble, the mumbling turned into almost a scream when she suddenly slammed her hand down on the table and yelled "I CAN'T BELIEVE HE DID THAT."
"Who did what?" Sirius asked as Mr Granger followed by his wife entered the kitchen.
"Harry listen to this, 'It seems my experiment to change the blood lines and to inject new blood into the pure blood lines has worked, today Mr Lancaster married Miss Dogood, I must admit I was not sure that the subliminal suggestions that Severus and I placed into their minds would work, I think that we should find two new students who are a little less compatible in order to verify that the results were a direct result of the Legilimens we used."
To say that Hermione was furious was a slight understatement when she came across the list of names Albus had chosen from their year, Hermione herself was paired with Ronald Bilius Weasley, Harry was paired with Ginevra Molly Weasley, all in all there were at least five couples from every year for the past ten years. Hermione suddenly saw red when she realised that all the suffering she had been through in her former life had been because Dumbledore had decided that she should think she had fallen in love with and then marry Ron Weasley, wife beater.
An hour later Hermione Jane Potter was in a cold fury as she stood outside Minerva McGonagall's quarters in Hogwarts, Harry pounded on the door and waited, he to was beyond simple anger and had their been any students around the magic that escaped him would have terrified them.
It took several minutes before a dishevelled professor McGonagall opened her door to be met by two of her students who were literally bristling with magic.
Ten minutes later McGonagall her self now seething with anger, slammed the notebook shut and having made a floo call, led the two teenagers to the headmaster's office. She did not bother to knock as they reached the large oak door; instead she barged right in followed closely by Hermione and Harry.
A rather surprised Albus Dumbledore looked up from his desk at the uninvited intrusion in to his office, "Ah Mr and Mrs Potter to what…" thwack!!
The sound of Hermione's resounding slap across Dumbledore's face echoed down the stairwell and out into the corridor beyond.
"YOU EVIL OLD BASTARD," Hermione screamed in his face that now had a bright red print of her hand glowing across his right cheek "you would have sentenced me to a life with a woman beater you bastard."
Harry gently pulled Hermione back as she was about to slap the headmaster again "If you weren't such an old senile bastard I would beat the living daylights out of you," Harry hissed in a terrifyingly cold yet powerful voice at the dumbstruck Dumbledore.
Fawkes sat watching as the events unfolded in front of him, as Harry stood in front of Hermione and yelled at Dumbledore, Fawkes flew over and landed on Hermione's shoulder, moments later both Fawkes and Hermione were surrounded by fire, as the flames died McGonagall let out a gasp, Hermione turned to look at the deputy head wondering what had just happened.
"Fawkes just bonded with you Hermione, it is unheard of for a Phoenix to change who they are bonded with," McGonagall said in a whispered gasp.
"Fawkes?" Hermione said as she looked at the bird perched on her shoulder.
Fawkes bent his head forward and gently rubbed his beak up and down Hermione's cheek and gave a short trill, Hermione again understood just what the bird said as it looked at her eyes, 'together, my human'.
Dumbledore sat stock still in his chair wondering what was happening, his mind raced around trying to figure it out but he was at a loss, his mind kept coming up blank.
"Albus, I am afraid that as deputy head it is my duty to remove you from the office you have misused, I have floo called to the governors regarding your behaviour and for the well being of my students I must ask you to pack and leave the grounds," McGonagall said as she held up the copy of his notebook.
"But I just wanted to help, it was for the greater good, surely you can see that, new blood to stop the inbreeding," Dumbledore said as he finally grasped what was happening.
"So for the greater good someone like Hermione would have to spend over a hundred years with a wife beater, or spend a life time wondering why they married someone they don't even like?" Harry asked incredulity in his voice.
"I did not know Mr Weasley was a woman beater," Albus said pleading his innocence.
"He beat his sister for nothing more than saying she would tell me something, how many more have you condemned to such a fate," Harry yelled sparks from his magic shooting from his clenched fists and bouncing from the floor "even Fawkes knows it was wrong you stupid old fool, and to think I could ever have respected you, to think I thought you were a great man, you make me feel sick."
Dumbledore was about to reach for his wand to Obliviate them when he noticed that there was a stream of magic flowing between the two Potters', the fear that that sight caused made him stop and move his hand away from his wand, he had read about the phenomenon, and he knew that as powerful as he was they were by far the more powerful right at that moment, no spell he could cast would be strong enough to better that amount of raw magical power.
Harry looked at Hermione when a sudden thought struck him, without even thinking he reached out his hand and called the elder wand, Dumbledore could do nothing as the wand left his pocket and sailed in to Harry's open hand "Where is the stone, Gaunts ring it has to be destroyed?" he asked Dumbledore as the old man sat wondering how every thing had gone so wrong. Not getting a response Harry took out his wand and cried "Accio Gaunts ring,"
A few seconds later the ring flew into Harry's waiting palm.
Twenty five minutes later Minerva McGonagall along with Harry and Hermione escorted Dumbledore and Snape out of the main entrance hall, out side waiting a few feet from the door were six Aurors; they arrested the now former head and ex professor Snape and took them away.
"I wonder what will happen to those people Dumbledore carried out his evil on," Hermione said as she turned to thank McGonagall for helping put a stop to such an evil practice, she then thanked Fawkes for getting the book to her.
Fawkes gave a trill and in a flash of fire he vanished, reappearing in the Granger kitchen, he took up a perch next to Hedwig Harry's owl and settled him self into his new home.
McGonagall admitted that she had no idea what would happen, she was glad though that no one else would have to suffer from the plot to change the blood lines.
Just a few short minutes later Hermione had apparated them home and they were sitting in the kitchen telling how both Dumbledore and Severus Snape had been removed from Hogwarts by the new head mistress Minerva McGonagall.
Chapter Ten
The power he knows not.
The Weasley family owl Errol announced his arrival by slapping hard into their bedroom window very early the following day, Harry had to nip down stairs and out into the garden only wearing his boxers to recover the unconscious bird.
The letter Errol had brought them was extremely short with just a few words.
'Need to see you soon, today if possible. Luna. Ginny.'
Harry wondered if it was a trap to lure them out into the open, but Hermione pointed out that had the letter been sent by a death eater there would be only one signature. Not having anything planned for the day they decided they would leave right after breakfast, Hermione would dissaparate them both to the Burrow. Maybe with a little luck they would be able to s tay for one of Molly's famous lunches.
Both of them were a little worried about the letter as they ate their quickly prepared breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast, but neither voiced their worries. Ten minutes after breakfast Hermione transported them both to the Burrow, even though the letter had said soon, Ginny, and Luna, had not expected them quite so soon. After quick hello's and hugs all round the two younger girls left their unfinished breakfast, and excitedly led Harry and Hermione out to a very secluded spot hidden from view right in the middle of the Weasley wood.
"Ok you two what is so urgent you needed to wake us up so early, and drag us all the way out here?" Hermione asked as both Ginny and Luna took a seat on a large granite rock.
Ginny did not say anything instead she just pointed her hand at a twenty foot high tree. Then with out a word she nodded toward the tree, and as Harry and Hermione watched the indicated tree they saw it pushed slowly until it began to topple, then with a loud crack the trunk snapped just below half way up the trunk and the top of the tree fell to the ground. Before they had time to properly digest what had happened Luna had pointed a finger at the rock Ginny was sitting on. The two eldest watched as the rock that must have weighed several tons simply lifted from the ground like a feather and floated gently upward following the path of Luna's finger. The two Potters' stood open mouthed as Ginny and Luna took turns in doing things that even Albus Dumbledore had been unable to master.
"How… I mean what… what I'm trying to say is you can't do that, it's just not possible," Hermione said as Luna quickly repaired all the damage the two girls had done around the clearing.
"It all started the day after we visited the department of mysteries, I did the house chores, I was nearly finished before I realised I had forgotten to use my wand," Ginny said as she and Luna once again got them selves comfortable on the large granite rock.
"Don't you feel different?" Luna asked a dreamy look taking over her face again.
Hermione began to say no when she remembered something, it had been so insignificant she had not noticed it at the time.
"Harry when you took the wand from Dumbledore how did you do it?" she asked a still very puzzled Harry.
"I… I don't remember really," he answered scratching his head.
"How did you summon Gaunts ring?" Hermione looked at her husband with a small smile on her lips.
"I used the elder wand… I didn't use my wand to get Dumbledore's wand, I just thought about it," Harry said suddenly realising what his wife was thinking.
'Give it a try love, transfigure something' he thought as the full impact of what it could mean hit him.
Hermione nodded as her eyes turned from Harry and she looked at the rock the two girls were sitting on. Simply thinking about what she wanted to do made the rock start to shake, just one second later a rather luxurious brown leather six seater sofa stood in place of the rock. Ginny and Luna looked around at their new seat and both of them looked surprised.
"You did that without doing anything at all," Ginny said awe showing in her quiet voice.
Amazed at what she had done just by thinking about it she turned to Harry 'Your turn' Hermione thought as she looked into Harry's eyes.
Harry turned toward the thicker part of the wood and thought 'diffindo', the crashing noise that followed as at least twenty trees were cut down a foot from the roots sounded deafening in the small clearing.
"Oops," Harry said as he looked at the damage he had done 'Reparo' he thought as he looked at the trees again, within a second the huge number of chopped trees were back to normal, not a single mark on them.
"I think I'm going to have to be a lot more careful and concentrate just a little more in future," he said sheepishly as Hermione lifted an eyebrow at him.
"No wonder we gave a light display," Hermione said smiling at the memory.
"Light display? What light display?" Ginny asked looking decidedly puzzled.
Hermione blushed and hastily said "It's nothing, just a private joke."
'It wasn't so private love' Harry thought with a grin.
Hermione's blush deepened as she thought of her parents and Sirius watching the result of their love making, before she shushed Harry while she thought about all that was happening with them.
"It has to be the power that was in that locked room, we must store it like a battery, as far as I was able to find out when I studied it, nobody has ever been recorded as having been in the room since it was built, no one before we entered that is," she said as all their eyes were on her.
"Blimey, Hermione Granger did something with out having any real idea of what would or could happen," Ginny said laughing.
"It's not the first time," Hermione replied seriously as she thought of her marriage to Ron. "I've made some really big mistakes before now."
Hermione looked at her husband and wondered what was going on in Harry's head; he was being too quiet on the walk back to the Burrow. The last thing she wanted was for him to do something rashly, something that could get them all injured, before she could confront him he suddenly stopped walking causing Ginny to walk into his back.
"He was right, Dumbledore was right, the power the dark lord knows not, Dumbledore got it right," he said with a huge grin on his face "we're going to put an end to this war before more people get killed."
'I knew it' Hermione thought as she realised what he was saying.
"So what are you going to do love?" she asked a little cautiously
"We need to see Mr Weasley," Harry said as he rushed off without waiting.
The three girls looked at each other and rolled their eyes "Looks like he's on another crusade," Ginny said smiling.
In the kitchen of the Burrow Harry convinced Mr Weasley to help in collecting up all the Horcrux's, Arthur told them that he would call a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix for seven that evening, he then explained to Harry who the order were and what they did.
Hermione tried to act as surprised as Harry was when he learned about the things that the order did. It was after Mr Weasley had gone to work that Hermione voiced some concerns about how the order would react when they found out that their leader was under arrest for a crime exposed by her self. Having spent the day at the Burrow testing their new found power, Harry noticed that Ginny and Luna seemed to be losing their extra magic as the day went on; when he mentioned it to Hermione she thought it through for a while before she came to the conclusion that it was all Harry's fault in a way. She chuckled when she told them her conclusions, not because she found the fact that they were losing their extra power funny but at the look of total horror on her husbands face when he exclaimed he had done nothing.
Hermione sat back and began to explain what she thought might be happening, "It's simply because you don't love them Harry, we got the power from, for the want of a better description, the room of love, I think our love being so strong is keeping the power alive where as Ginny, and Luna's love isn't returned it's only one way, they are giving you their love but you cant give any back, you're literally draining it from them."
Harry scratched his head and looked at Ginny, Luna, and then Hermione, with a look of total confusion on his face "Sorry," he muttered though he didn't know why.
Hermione saw the confusion on his face "I'm sorry love I can't think of any better way of putting it," Hermione said smiling at them, "I think it's rather nice, at least it shows that what Dumbledore was doing was unnecessary where Ginny was concerned."
It was then Ginny's turn to look confused "I don't see what Dumbledore has to do with all this," she said giving Hermione a questioning look.
"Well it proves that you really do love Harry," Hermione said then she went on to tell them all about Dumbledore's plot to change the blood lines.
That evening as order members began to arrive, Ginny, and Luna, were sent up to Ginny's room, neither girl was too bothered because they were sure that Harry and Hermione would tell them every thing later. By seven fifteen the Burrow kitchen was full to over flowing as more and more members arrived, by twenty minutes past seven there was no more room inside so some members were left out side, some peered in at the windows.
Harry and Hermione were squeezed up against the table when Harry had come to the conclusion that the whole thing was going to be a waste of time with half the crowd outside, climbing on top of the table he took a deep breath then said rather loudly "Quiet, everyone outside." There was a powerful authority to his command and with out question everyone began to file out into the garden.
Harry and Hermione were the last ones out of the kitchen as they followed Sirius and Remus through the door into the garden.
Hermione looked around at the forty or fifty people gathered, she nudged Harry to get his attention 'We can't do this in the open Harry' she thought.
"Follow me," Harry told the gathered witches and wizards as he walked out to the field where the Weasleys played Quidditch. With a quick wave of his arm Harry conjured a large marquee then just walked inside and waited.
Hermione followed and as she entered she cast a silencing charm on the huge tent so that anyone listening from outside would not be able to hear anything said. Once they were both inside Harry conjured two chairs which every one else emulated, Mr Weasley called the gathering to order and as silence began to fall on them Sirius stood up and walked to the front.
"Dumbledore will not be joining us tonight, thanks to Mr and Mrs Potter, I wonder Minerva, if you would like to explain it to us?" Sirius said looking at the new head mistress of Hogwarts.
McGonagall walked out to join Sirius, and began to explain about their former leader and what he had been doing, "…And so I think we should elect a new leader before we find out why we were all summoned to this meeting," she ended her story.
It suddenly sounded like chaos had broken out as everyone began to talk or shout, Hermione looked around and found it hard to believe she was with a gathering of around fifty adults, they were making more noise than the students at Hogwarts made at the leaving feast.
'We need to do something Harry, or we will never get them to help' she thought as she looked around again.
Harry stood up and once more the powerful force of his presence spread out like a mist, people began to fall silent and look at him as he looked around the room. As silence filled the tent Hermione stood up next to her husband, and gave him a nudge 'You have to say something love'
'What, what do I say, I'm not a leader' Harry replied to his wife's prompt.
'Shacklebolt, nominate Shacklebolt Harry, he will make a strong leader for the resistance' she told him as she looked at the faces all looking at them.
Arthur Weasley remembered the presence Dumbledore had at the Wizengamot and thought that the boy he had thought of as a son was giving off a very much stronger aura "Harry, I think we should choose Harry," he said standing for a few seconds.
Before Harry could react several of the people who knew him personally, including McGonagall had all agreed with Arthur, and Harry found himself elected as leader of the Order of the Phoenix. Harry stood staring at the gathering, the last thing he wanted was to be leader, head of the people fighting the death eaters of Voldemort, Hermione knowing what he was thinking looked around at the people then having found the face she wanted she called out to him "Mr Shacklebolt would you join us for a second."
Kingsley Shacklebolt was the one person Hermione knew who had the skill and wisdom to head the order, he had been the one they had elected as minister after the fall of Voldemort in her last life, he had been the man who had bought the wizarding world from the brink of anarchy and collapse.
'Harry love you have to appoint Shacklebolt as your representative, tell them you will be to busy to devote the time required' Hermione urged him to speak as he stood a little uncertain of what to do.
As Shacklebolt joined them Harry asked if he would be willing to help, having received a nod from the Auror Harry began to speak to the rest of the order.
"As a student of Hogwarts I will not have the time to devote to the task you are asking of me. I have to spend my time improving my skills, getting ready for the next time Voldemort tries to kill me… So I am appointing Mr Shacklebolt as my representative. He will carry out the duties that I would be unable to do. Thank you for your confidence in me, I can only hope it is not ill founded." Harry turned to Shacklebolt "If you would take over Mr Shacklebolt."
"It's Kingsley Harry, and thank you."
Harry and Hermione sat back down with Kingsley and Harry told him what they required, the Horcrux's needed to be collected without those collecting them knowing what they were, Harry did not want another wizard getting the same ideas of immortality as Voldemort. He did tell Kingsley that the items he required were extremely dangerous and were protected by really strong dark magic. Hermione told him where they could all be found and what to expect of the spells protecting them, then she led the way back to the Burrow kitchen as she and Harry left the order to get on with things. Hermione was so proud of Harry that as soon as she had entered the kitchen, she turned and wrapped her arms around him. They were kissing for several minutes before they were interrupted by Ginny, and Luna, who both wanted to know what was going on.
It was a week later when an owl arrived as Hermione was preparing breakfast for her family; she took the letter from the owl and fed it some of the freshly cooked bacon, then placed the letter on the table while she finished off cooking breakfast. She was just about done setting out the plates when her mother then dad, and finally Harry, all came down to eat. Harry had a huge grin on his face that made Hermione blush a little when she remembered how she had woken him up that morning. She loved to make love to him as a way to wake him up.
Harry sat down as Hermione filled his plate for him; he picked up the letter and began to read. It was the letter they had been expecting, a letter from Kingsley. It told them that all the items had been collected with only two minor injuries; Kingsley wanted to know where they should be delivered and whether any order members would be needed. Having read the letter out Mr Granger wondered out loud if what they were about to do was dangerous, Harry answered honestly that he did not know, but he felt sure Hermione would find a way to keep them safe.
"Once those evil things are destroyed we can go after Riddle himself, and hopefully put an end to all this killing," Harry said as he finished speaking and started on his breakfast.
Late that afternoon Hermione and Harry accompanied by Fawkes met Kingsley Shacklebolt at the ministry of magic, together with ten members of the order they made their way down to the department of mysteries.
As Hermione and Harry stood with the door to the room of love open just enough to enable them to watch what happened and waited. One by one, Fawkes a creature of love and devotion, untouched by the power in the normally locked room dropped the Horcrux's into the circle and watched as each piece was destroyed and the soul fragment with in was consumed.
Hermione could feel the power from the room as it gradually once again enveloped them in pure love, she could tell that Harry and those standing close behind her were also enveloped in the same power. As the last Horcrux was destroyed Harry closed the door but did not lock it, together with Kingsley, Harry set about deploying the order members, they were all placed in hiding close by, once that was done Harry stood in the corridor leading to the room where all the prophesies were kept, concentrating hard on Voldemort, Harry sent out a message that he was about to look at the prophesy that the dark lord had been so eager to get his hands on.
Once Harry thought that the message had been sent, all that he and Hermione could do was wait to see if the connection to Voldemort still worked even with out the Horcrux they had destroyed.
Chapter Eleven.
Dark demise
Once every one was in place, Harry checked that they were well concealed as they waited to see if Voldemort had received the message he had tried to send, and if he would indeed show up himself, or just send some of his minions.
Hermione conjured a small glass ball complete with swirling mist that looked amazingly like one of the original prophecy containers; several times as they waited she had to ask Harry to stop juggling with it as they both paced past each other in the dark corridor that led from the room that all the prophecies were stored in.
Twenty minutes later just as Harry was thinking their plan had failed he suddenly felt the now familiar feeling of someone trying to look into his mind, without the pain that usually accompanied Voldemort's invasion of his head Harry wasn't quite sure at first that it was indeed the dark lord, seconds later though he knew who it was, Voldemort was trying to see if Harry had yet looked at the prophecy.
With a quick nod to Kingsley Harry and Hermione began to discuss the best place to look at the prophecy and find out what the future held, they were still talking when the death eaters entered the far end of the corridor, there were at least ten of them but Voldemort himself was no where to be seen. Harry grabbed Hermione by the hand and together they began to run back along the corridor and toward the room of love.
The waiting order members were well positioned and stayed under cover until the death eaters chasing Harry and Hermione had passed them, rounding a corner Harry and Hermione stopped and began to cast various spells at any death eater that tried to follow them. Within thirty seconds of the last death eater passing them, Kingsley Shacklebolt and the other order members had left their cover and after only the briefest of spell and curse exchanges caught in a crossfire all the death eaters lay bound and unconscious on the corridor floor.
Harry waited while the order members once again hid them selves before surveying the bodies of Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix LeStrange, at the same time he concentrated on sending the image to Voldemort. Hermione could almost feel the hatred coming from Voldemort as he yelled out what he was going to do to the two teenagers that had dared to attack his best servants; Both Harry and Hermione could hear and feel Voldemort getting closer. Voldemort stood looking at Harry with his evil face contorted into the closest that it could come to being a smile, the two Potters' were standing with their back to the wall in the large circular room that was full of doors, it looked like the door they had tried was locked and he had them at his mercy.
Harry watched as behind Voldemort slithered Nagini, the huge snake quietly hissed as it stopped to watch its master rid the world of the Potters'. Outside in the corridor a bright flash of fire erupted next to the order members, Fawkes landed gently on Arthur Weasleys shoulder the sword of Gryffindor held firmly in his beak, Arthur needed no words to know what he was to do, taking the sword he drew his courage together then on tip toe silently entered the room, it was time for his revenge on the snake that had nearly killed him. It took Arthur just one swift swing of the sword to sever the head from the huge snake. With the death of the snake came the destruction of the last Horcrux when Arthur swung the sword at the ghostly human shape that drifted up from the snakes body, the magic in Godric Gryffindors sword destroyed the piece of soul easily even before it had begun to take shape, Arthur then silently stepped back out of the room.
Ignoring the thump of something hitting the floor behind him, because he knew it was his faithful pet guarding the door, protecting his back, Voldemort advanced on Harry and Hermione certain that he had at last trapped Potter and was about to end his life and as an added bonus he could kill the mudblood as well.
"Harry, be good boy and give me the prophecy," Voldemort said in his hissing evil voice.
Harry stuck out his chest a little before answering "Why don't you try to take it Tom?" taking Hermione's hand in his Harry grinned at the dark lord "or maybe you are afraid of ending up like Malfoy."
Voldemort looked around the room, the leer on his face became a snarl, "There's no body here to die for you today Potter, just you and your mudblood so give me the prophecy and I might just kill her quickly."
Hermione let out a strained laugh "And what makes you think I would let you kill me Riddle?"
Voldemort angered by Hermione stepped closer, each step placing him closer to the door to the room of love.
"You dare to speak to me you mudblood whore," he yelled his red eyes becoming wide at her words.
"Thomas Riddle mind your language, anyway what makes you think you are going to kill either of us, besides why should I be afraid of some little upstart that denies his parentage?" Hermione said further angering Voldemort.
"Hermione love would you allow me to handle this little pipsqueak?" Harry asked politely.
Voldemort screamed at them in a raging fury caused by the two teens, he cast several spells at them, all of which were deflected with ease, something that in his rage he had not noticed.
"You need to do better than that Tommy boy," Harry said in a quiet threatening voice.
Voldemort was in an absolute fury his red eyes were glowing as he stepped closer, Harry cast a very weak stunner spell which Voldemort laughed at as he almost nonchalantly deflected it, several more rather weak stunners were cast by Harry and while Voldemort was distracted by them Hermione cast a charm that opened the door behind him. As soon as the door was open Harry gave Hermione's hand a quick squeeze, together they silently conjured a powerful shield that had a golden glow, then they began to move forward, Voldemort was confused as they approached him instead of running or cowering, only Dumbledore had ever refused to run from him, he cast several killing curses at the advancing Potters, each of which was dodged, the pain Voldemort felt when the shield reached him took him totally by surprise, he had never come across anything like it before, it was far worse than even the most powerful Crucio, there was a power behind the shield that over whelmed him making it hard to think and it forced him back, slowly Harry and Hermione pushed forward, each time Voldemort was able to cast a spell at them they dodged out of the way, their golden shield never wavered.
Had Tom Riddle ever known what love was he would have known that the shield that glistened with a golden hue was not a protective shield, he would have known it was a manifestation of the love the Potters had for each other, as it was he was finding it difficult to think clearly, almost impossible to concentrate enough to cast a curse, there was a power surrounding him that he did not understand, a power that was more painful to him than anything he could ever remember encountering. Trying to get away from the golden glow and the pain he stepped back into the room behind him, Voldemort tried to think of a curse, a spell, or even a simple charm that he could cast against the Potters but his mind was consumed by the pain that seemed to invade his every nerve, slowly he backed away from the two advancing teenagers, but as he did so he could see their power growing, getting stronger, their shield growing in size. Tom was then over whelmed by a feeling of fear, a deep fear, he knew that his bid for immortality was at an end, he knew his Horcrux's had been destroyed just as he was about to be destroyed and for the first and last time in his life Thomas Riddle soiled himself.
The last thing Tom Riddle saw as he entered the circle in the middle of the room was two young people who were full to over flowing with a power he did not know nor understand, a power that was greater than he was.
Harry and Hermione began to back away as soon as Voldemort entered the centre circle, they watched from the door way as Riddle screamed in agony for several seconds before the final piece of his soul was wrenched away from him and destroyed, the body of the once evil dark lord fell silently to the floor, still in the centre circle of the room of love.
Harry managed to close the door behind Hermione before together they both leaned against the wall then slowly sank down to sit on the floor, the amount of love that they had both used and been refilled with during the fight with Riddle amazed them both, they were both still glowing with a golden hue when the order members began to enter the room. Kingsley asked about Voldemort, Hermione called on Fawkes who entered the room of love and emerged with the now dead dark lord held firmly in his talons, dropping the body at their feet Fawkes began to sing, the phoenix song filled all within hearing of it with a feeling of joy.
After a short rest the Potters rose back to their feet, with the body of Voldemort levitated between them Harry and Hermione led the order members and their death eater prisoners up through the ministry, reaching the atrium they found their way blocked by a huge crowd, all with their wands drawn, Voldemort's use of an unforgivable curse had trigger every alarm in the building.
Minister Fudge forced his way through the crowds of witches and wizards who had flocked into the ministry foyer and filled the atrium as soon as all the alarms indicating the use of unforgivable curses inside the ministry went off, finally making it through the crowd he and his entourage came face to face with Harry and Hermione Potter, levitated between them was the body of Voldemort. Blustering like the fool he was Fudge demanded an explanation, at his side Delores Umbridge stood leering at Hermione.
"Well answer the minister," Umbridge yelled out at them.
Instead of answering Hermione turned to Kingsley Shacklebolt, "Kingsley you are a senior law officer, am I correct?" she asked in a tone of voice that made everyone pay attention.
"Yes, Mrs Potter, I am," Kingsley answered coming forward a little.
"Harry hold out your right hand," she said still in the same tone of voice. "Take a look at the back of my husbands' hand."
Kingsley did as Hermione asked then he gasped in disbelief, "How did you get these scars Harry?"
Hermione answered before Harry said a word "Kingsley I want Umbridge arrested for the use of an illegal blood quill, I also want both her and the minister arrested for the attempted murder of Harry Potter and his cousin Dudley Dursley, it was they who authorised two dementors to attack them in Little Whinging, if you need any evidence you will find the memories of five Hogwarts pupils who were held at wand point while Umbridge admitted it, she was also about to use the cruciatus curse on a pupil until she was distracted."
Harry gave a nod to Kingsley who then called some of the aurors who had stood listening, he did not have to give the order as the other law officers placed both the minister and Umbridge under arrest and led them away. Fudge glanced at the body of Voldemort and he knew beyond any doubt that he was about to spend a long time in Azkaban. Umbridge how ever was still shouting out stupid orders to her former colleagues. Silence suddenly reigned as someone from the crowd shouted "Shut up you ugly toad," and sent a silencing charm at the ungainly and ugly ministers assistant.
Hermione noticed a grinning Arthur Weasley blowing imaginary dust from the end of his wand; with a quick wink to the Potters he began to chuckle silently. The great celebration began within an hour of Voldemort's body being taken through the ministry and on to St Mungo's where they certified that he was well and truly dead.
A/Note sorry again for the shortness of this chapter but it seemed right to end it there.
Chapter twelve
Hogwarts again
The month since Voldemort's defeat had been rather hectic for Harry and Hermione, travelling from celebration to celebration, visiting new memorials to those who had died in the second Voldemort war, and for the past week they had been attending the trials of former death eaters. Between them Harry and Hermione had been able to hand a large list of names of death eaters a lot of whom had claimed to be under the imperious curse and were therefore technically innocent, but with the list having been written by the Potters it was accepted as true and complete evidence, all of the death eaters who had previously been able to buy their way out of a goal term or the death sentence found themselves not only being taken into the room of death, but for those serving long stretches of time in Azkaban they were made to watch as the more evil of the death eaters were sent through the veil of death, most of them crying like babies and pleading for unfound mercy. They also found thanks to a suggestion from Hermione, their money and possessions confiscated to pay out damages to those people who had been injured or to families who had lost loved ones because of Voldemort.
It had been a satisfying time for Hermione as she watched the end of the death eaters and though she had nothing against purebloods the near eradication from the wizarding world of the pureblood belief in their supremacy came as a great relief and gave her a feeling of satisfaction. It was on a Monday just over a month since the battle at the ministry, as lunchtime approached she sat in the court room with Harry by her side as Lucius Malfoy was sentenced to death, she watched as he was led away screaming his innocence to the room where the veil of death was, it had tickled Harry somewhat when Lucius had expected to be set free simply because he did not take part in the final battle, but with Harry's evidence, starting at the attempt to kill Ginny Weasley and other Muggle born students at Hogwarts Lucius was doomed to pay for his crimes.
Hermione sat back a little with some satisfaction as the junior Malfoy who had plagued both her previous life and this one, was sentenced to twenty five years in Azkaban for having the dark mark and helping in several tortures of Muggles, she also felt some satisfaction knowing that Mrs Malfoy who had been sentenced to five years, would if she survived leave Azkaban as yet another penniless pureblood, all the Malfoy wealth had been confiscated and thanks to information from Mundungus Fletcher all their money and possessions stashed away in the muggle world were confiscated too.
Then as the prisoner she had been waiting to see was brought in and chained to an old oak chair she sat up and readied her self to be a witness. Delores Umbridge was sentenced to two twenty five year terms for the attempted murder of Harry Potter and Dudley Dursley, and for the attempted use of an unforgivable spell and for using an illegal instrument to punish pupils.
Three weeks after the last of the major death eater trials Harry and Hermione returned by invitation to Hogwarts, they were there to cram in some work before taking their N.E.W.T exams, before then setting off for a well earned rest and a holiday tour of the world. They were sat in the common room of Gryffindor tower reading the story in the Quibbler about the mob destruction of the Daily Prophet news paper offices and all the press room equipment. Harry chuckled out loud as he read about one Rita Skeeter being tarred and feathered and paraded through Diagon Alley tied to an old Muggle broomstick, during the celebrations Rita had published yet another story about Harry that was full of lies, it had been one ficticious story about their hero to many for the people of the wizarding world, and what had started off as a small gathering calling for her to be fired turned into a full mob destruction of the news paper that was now seen as a main supporter of the evil Voldemort.
Having been back at Hogwarts studying for their NEWT exams they had spent the past three months in secret training. Hermione had been teaching Harry how to dance; they had spent every spare moment they had in the room of requirement, every free period, every evening some times late into the night they had danced. When they first started Harry had still been a little stiff and clumsy but he had very soon begun to improve, and as Harry led Hermione around the empty dance floor provided by the room of requirements for the last time, she felt proud of him, he danced far better than Viktor Krum had and as far as she could tell he was now an excellent dancer. Like with everything else he did for her he worked hard to get it right.
On the last day as students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Harry was trying his best to plaster his unruly hair into some semblance of order, he gave up after several failed attempts feeling sure that his wife would forgive him once again, either that or she would subject him to a very swift and extremely short magical haircut. Looking up from his mirror he could not help but chuckle as he thought about the last time he had been to a School ball, pictures of his one time best friend dressed in the most hideous dress robes imaginable came into his mind and he wondered what Ron Weasley would be wearing tonight, would it be pyjamas or one of the hospital gowns. Ginny informed Hermione that her vicious brother had attacked his healers in an attempt to leave St Mungo's and was now under close guard in a rather small room, there seemed no hope of him ever being released, some thing to do with his jeans, her mum seemed to think that maybe he should only be allowed to wear trousers but the healers had not agreed her.
The last night as honorary seventh year students Harry and Hermione were to be guests of honour at the schools first annual 'Potter summer ball'. Harry had been just a little annoyed when he first heard about the name of the ball, but Hermione had pointed out that it would serve as a yearly reminder to future Hogwarts students what could happen if evil was left to spread unchecked.
At exactly seven thirty Harry stood speechless with his mouth wide open as Hermione, no longer just the pretty girl who had wowed him at the fourth year ball, walked down the stairs from her room, now she was an extremely beautiful young woman, her once bushy hair grown into long and wavy tresses that hung down to the base of her spine, her once boyish figure now curvy, her long shapely legs hidden by a fabulous periwinkle dress robe that showed all her beauty as she joined him at the bottom of the stair.
Together they walked from the Gryffindor tower down to the great hall, Harry could not help but feel proud when he saw the looks of envy from both male and female students, he heard some of the gasps and whistles aimed at Hermione as they made their way to the great hall with the other students. Professor McGonagall had them wait in the entrance hall as everyone else filed in to the great hall, then she gave them instructions to enter when she next opened the doors. Hermione could not remember ever feeling quite so nervous but with Harry holding her hand and reassuring her despite his own nervousness she managed to keep the shaking to a minimum, the great oak doors opened and Harry offered her his arm, together they walked slowly up the aisle made for them by the students. On reaching the head table they were offered seats where everyone could see them, as soon as they were sitting the rest of the students were told to sit, speeches followed and for thirty minutes different dignitaries from around the world praised the two Gryffindor students and conferred honours on them, the two heroes of the wizarding world.
The speeches were over and Hermione looked at all the expectant faces, she had just learned as everyone else had that they were not starting the first dance, they were starting the ball by dancing the first dance, it was just going to be the two of them on the dance floor for the whole dance.
Kingsley Shacklebolt the new Minister finished his speech and waved Harry and Hermione toward the dance floor, both feeling nervous as seemingly hundreds of pairs of eyes watched them they took up their position and waited for the music to start.
Hermione need not have been worried though, as the music began Harry led her effortlessly around the polished wooden floor. For the first time she could remember she felt really truly graceful and elegant, dancing with Harry somehow felt like dancing on a cloud. There was thunderous applause as the music ended and Harry leant Hermione backward a little and kissed her in front of everyone. Hermione began the next dance with pink cheeks as they were joined by dozens of couples on the dance floor.
Several witches tried to get Harry to dance with them but he kept all but two of his dances for Hermione. They did not see Ron, thankfully it appeared he would not be released from the long term mental damage ward at anytime in the foreseeable future, and the fact he could not attend was some small relief for both of them as it avoided any awkward situations.
Neville was there with Ginny and Luna and they all joined Hermione and Harry at their table during a break from the dancing, Luna congratulated them on getting to their final exams a year early, she said it was probably caused by interference by the bottle nosed erikilywad, though as usual no body had any idea what she was talking about. Harry danced with both Ginny and Luna and they heaped praise on him when he escorted them back to the table, Neville admitted to feeling just a tiny bit jealous because he was hopeless at dancing, Harry told him all he had to do was find the right witch and she would put wings on his feet.
"Maybe so Harry, but I bet they still stay as two bloomin winged left feet," Neville laughed.
Hermione felt immensely proud every time she danced with Harry, it wasn't pride in her self she felt, it was a huge pride in her husband, as the evening wore on and the music began to get slower and more intimate Hermione became aware of more and more witches watching them dance, she could almost feel the jealousy and it made her cling ever tighter to Harry. She wondered for a moment how she had gotten so lucky to have found a way to have a second, chance and to have some one who had grown so handsome fall in love with her, but she did not worry about it as she revelled in his loving touch.
By the time the ball was over Hermione was more than ready for bed, she had enjoyed this ball so much more than the only other ball she had been too, and though she had been dancing all night she was far from tired, and she didn't care if they gave a light show for all the world to see either. The journey south on the Hogwarts express the following morning was unusual only in it's lack of Draco Malfoy trying to get a rise out of them, Harry and Hermione sat in a compartment with Luna, Ginny, and Neville, the time was spent chatting or playing the odd game of exploding snap.
Reaching Kings Cross after rushed goodbyes to their friends Harry and Hermione had to rush to catch another train, joining Mr and Mrs Granger just in time to catch their connection; they climbed aboard the train that really began their holiday around the world.
They were all off on a year long sea cruise with only three stops at wizarding towns along the way; they looked forward to living the life of ease in peace and quiet for a while.
Their return to England after their break of a full year found Harry, Hermione, and her parents making a visit to St Mungo's their first stop, where after Hermione had a quick examination by a healer the Potters found out they were soon to become the proud parents of twins…
The End for now…