Chapter 12: The Yule Ball.
Harry and Neville were working in Greenhouse One preparing the corsages for Hermione and Ginny. Neville had Ginny's corsage almost finished and he asked "Harry, can you grab me a fern leaf from over there please?" while pointing towards a large plant in the corner.
"Sure." Harry said while heading over to the fern in the corner. When he bent down to grab a leaf, he felt something grab his thigh. "GAAHH!" he cried out while jumping away from the groping appendage, spinning around with his wand in his hand.
He found Neville howling with laughter as he pointed to the creeper vine that had grabbed Harry. "Bloody plant." Harry mumbled while giving the vine a very wide berth on the way back to their workstation.
Neville saw Harry giving the creeper a lot of room and a nasty glare and it caused him to start laughing all over again.
Fifteen minutes later both boys had finished putting together the corsages for their dates, so they headed back up to the common room to get ready for the dance.
They were both waiting anxiously for Hermione and Ginny to join them in the common room. Harry turned to Neville and asked, "Why does it take them so long to get ready anyway?"
However, Neville did not answer. He was standing ramrod straight and staring at the two beautiful girls that were coming down the stairs towards them.
Harry's breath caught in his throat when he shifted his gaze to follow Neville's' eyes.
Hermione and Ginny shared a knowing look and approached the stupefied boys.
Neville was the first to recover and he said, "Ginny, you look amazing!" while handing her the corsage. "You too Hermione." he said with a smile.
Hermione smiled at Neville's compliment but she only had eyes for Harry. He had this wistful smile on his face as he stepped towards her. She could feel his emotions pouring through their bond; and the overwhelming feeling of love made her smile truly radiant.
Harry felt like he was in a trance as he moved towards Hermione. He didn't even realize that he was broadcasting his emotions to her until he felt hers come back just as strong. He stepped close to her and tenderly cupper her cheek in his hand. "I love you." He said softly while looking deep into her eyes before leaning in for a soft kiss.
Hermione had tears at the corner of her eyes as they pulled apart. "I love you too." She said as she leaned into an embrace and whispered into his ear "My husband."
Harry's smile was threatening to split his face in half it was so big. He continued grinning the entire time as he placed the corsage on Hermione's wrist. When he took a steep back he noticed that her dress matched his robes and he figured that Winky must have done that for them, he would have to thank her later.
He shifted his gaze to Neville and Ginny and noticed that the two of them were red cheeked but smiling at them. Confused, Harry asked "What?"
Ginny couldn't help it; she broke out in a fresh set of giggles which in turn set off Neville's laughter and put a half smirk on Hermione's face.
"Do I have something on my face?" Harry asked while rubbing his cheeks.
That set everyone into even bigger fits of laughter.
Ginny finally composed herself and said "No silly. It was how you reacted to Hermione. You looked at her as if she was the only other person in the room. I can tell you really love each other." She finished saying as she blushed. She gathered herself and continued speaking, "It was like watching something private." She said in a whisper.
By now, Harry was trying to fight back his own blush and failing miserably. Giving that up as a bad job, he said; "I do love Hermione and you're right. I didn't notice anything else once I saw her." He gave Hermione's hand a squeeze and turned back to Ginny "I'm sorry that I didn't say anything to you Ginny. You look very beautiful too."
"Shall we head down then?" Neville asked while holding out his arm for Ginny.
Looping her arm through Neville's, Ginny said "Sure. Oh, I am so excited! I always wanted to go to the Yule Ball since it was announced." Turning to Neville, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek and said "Thank you for inviting me Neville."
Harry and Hermione had to stifle their laughter as they followed the other couple to the Great Hall. Neville kept reaching up to touch his cheek where Ginny had kissed him.
When they arrived at the Great Hall Professor McGonagall pulled Harry and Hermione to the side and sent Neville and Ginny on their way.
"Please join the other Champions over there so we can announce you." The professor said as she pointed towards the other champions and their dates.
With a nod of understanding, Harry and Hermione joined the waiting group of champions. Once everyone had said his or her hellos, Harry whispered to Hermione, "Look at how Roger reacts to Fleur. She's part Veela; she said so during the Weighing of the Wands Ceremony before the tournament. I have noticed that she has that effect on some of the other students too. Weird, isn't it?"
Inwardly Hermione was highly amused. Harry did not realize why Veela affected some people. She leaned into Harry's side and whispered "Only people with disciplined minds or that are deeply in love aren't affected, and you are both."
"Oh." Harry said as a light blush appeared on his cheeks.
"And I love you too." Hermione said as she kissed his cheek.
Professor McGonagall returned and escorted the champions and their dates into the Great Hall.
Harry was amused and annoyed at his classmates as he kept hearing snippets about him and Hermione. A few of the snide remarks would have stopped him in his tracks if it were not for Hermione.
She was ignoring all of the whispering with a smile. Feeling Harry's irritation, she said, "They're just jealous. Ignore them, or smile at them as it will just irritate them more." Hermione spoke with a glint in her eye.
Harry could feel a bit of her irritation and sadness while people were making fun of her. He made mental notes of who was making the snide comments that hurt so he could repay them later. Outwardly, he appeared to ignore them as he kept a smile plastered on his face.
Albus Dumbledore was watching Harry Potter very closely as the pair approached the Champions table. He was surprised when he saw Hermione whisper something to him and his scowl shifted to a smile that looked almost predatory.
Seeing that smile on Harry's face sent shudders down the Headmaster's spine. He had seen a very similar smile on the face of Tom Riddle fifty-two years ago. It was over the Chamber of Secrets incident, which led to Hagrids' expulsion. Albus quickly replaced the shocked expression with a smile as the Champions drew closer.
Severus Snape was glancing over at the Headmaster when he saw the shocked expression flit across his face but a smile quickly replaced the look. Following the Headmaster's gaze his eyes came to rest upon Potter and the Granger girl both wearing smiles as they walked down the aisle.
He was just about to avert his gaze when he realized that Potter now had his eyes fixed upon him. That infernal smile was still plastered upon his face too. Snape tilted his head a fraction to the side as he pondered the look upon Potter's face.
There was something familiar about that smile, but it was eluding him right now. What he did realize was that smile had feral quality about it and it put him on edge. He decided that he would have to keep a much closer eye on the boy from now on.
Draco Malfoy had been glaring at Harry as soon as he entered the hall with his Mudblood girlfriend. He watched them until they had taken their seats at the Champions Table before turning to talk to his date, Pansy Parkinson. After a few seconds, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up on end. Sweeping his gaze across the Great Hall his eyes came to a stop when he saw that unnatural shade of green eyes of Potters boring right into him accompanied by a very predatory smirk.
He felt a very cold shudder travel down his back under that gaze. After a few seconds, Draco dismissed the warning feeling in his arrogance. He felt that there was nothing he had to fear from Harry Potter, he was a Malfoy after all. He sent a quick smirk back at Potter before turning his attention back to Pansy's inane babbling.
Hermione had felt the shift in Harry's emotions as he gazed around the room. They were almost animalistic in nature. She paused in her conversation with Percy Weasley about cauldron bottoms and reached out to Harry through their bond.
Harry felt Hermione's emotional prod and he took her hand and turned to face her. "Are you okay?" she whispered to him as she leaned close to his ear.
He nodded yes and said, "Just doing a little thinking. I'll tell you about it later." Harry said as he planted a quick kiss on her cheek.
As the meal progressed, Harry's admiration for Hermione's conversation skills grew. She was able to converse with everyone seated around the table without being intimidated. She had changed a lot this year, and he knew that it was for the better, and so had he for that matter.
Hermione had lost her blind faith in adults and authority figures. Because of these changes, she was now a well-rounded individual. Harry knew that he had undergone something similar. Except with him, it was a loss of the last of his innocence. The tournament and the events surrounding it had stripped it away. The biggest change had been his relationship with Hermione. He could not imagine his life without her in it anymore.
Minerva McGonagall was pleasantly surprised at how well Harry was handling himself this evening with everything thrown at him. When she saw him lean over and kiss Ms. Granger's cheek, she knew that they really loved each other. Their feelings for each other balanced out some of the hardships in his life. She gave Hermione a small smile as they continued their conversation.
When the meal was finished, everyone began heading towards the dance floor and the stage where the Weird Sisters were waiting to begin playing.
The Champions and their partners spread out on the dance floor and they began moving in step as the opening notes of the waltz began.
Harry was very thankful for the dancing lessons now. He felt at ease with Hermione in his arms even though the entire hall was watching them dance. About halfway through the opening dance, the teachers and the rest of the faculty and students joined in.
Neville and Ginny were dancing near Harry and Hermione. After a couple of songs, they switched partners. Harry was twirling Ginny around the dance floor and watching the smile on her face. "You look like you are enjoying yourself."
Ginny looked up at Harry and said, "I am. I'm glad that Neville invited me. I was really looking forward to attending the ball. I feel like a princess all dressed up."
"You are pretty Ginny." Harry said simply, causing her to blush. "Neville thinks so too. He told me when he was plucking up the courage to ask you to the dance."
Ginny's eyes had gone as big as saucers and they flicked up to look into Harry's emerald ones. In a tiny voice that barely carried above the music, she said, "Really?"
Harry smiled and nodded, yes.
Ginny squealed, threw her arms around his neck, and hugged him. When they broke apart from their hug, Harry grabbed her hand and pulled her over to where Hermione and Neville were dancing. "Can we trade back? I think that there are some things that you two need to talk about." Harry said with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"What was that about Harry?" Hermione asked as they resumed dancing.
"Let's just say that I was helping someone get over their crush on me and to realize that there was someone else out there that really liked her." Harry said with a smile.
Hermione smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "I didn't think that you knew about her crush? I'm glad that you were willing to talk to her about Neville."
"I knew about it." Harry said as he spun Hermione around once more before pulling her tight against his chest. "I just wasn't prepared to deal with it before and Neville really does like her."
Hermione's arms tightened their embrace around Harry's back and she put her head down on his shoulder.
They remained in that position, twirling slowly as the band played on in the background. When the song was over, they slowly untangled themselves.
"Would you like to go for a walk in the garden?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, I think that I would." Harry said as he held out his hand to her and made their way outside together.
Professors Sprout and Flitwick had set up the enchanted garden for the Yule Ball. Its design fit in with the holiday season and the theme for the ball. It was quite romantic and there were dozens of couples taking advantage of it. The bushes that lined the garden paths were full of fairies for light and decoration.
The young couple found a bench at the far end of the garden that looked back towards the well-lit castle.
"Thank you for teaching me how to dance. I had a really nice time tonight." Harry said while leaning into Hermione.
"You're welcome. I had a nice time too." She said while resting her head against his, relishing their closeness.
Chapter 13: Having a bad day.
Two days after the Yule Ball Rita Skeeter struck again. There were two stories on the front page and their headlines were in huge letters.
The first article was about "Dumbledore's Big Mistake"1. It painted Dumbledore in an unfavorable light and Harry was pleased to see the headmaster having to deal with some bad press and its encompassing issues. What upset Harry slightly was that the article also hurt Hagrid.
Harry's feelings towards Hagrid had cooled over the last half a year as he discovered more about his godfather, Sirius, better. He knew that Hagrid had been the one to deliver him to the Dursleys that fateful night on Dumbledore's orders.
What he found out last year, and later confirmed by Sirius, was that Hagrid had prevented Sirius from taking him that night even though he knew that Sirius was his godfather, and legal guardian.
That made Hagrid, a child in a giant's body, a kidnapper on Dumbledore's orders. Hagrid realized none of that; the greatness of Albus Dumbledore blinded him from the truth. Harry knew that as the Head of the Wizengamot, Dumbledore could have arranged for the reversal of Hagrids' expulsion and gotten him the right to carry a wand again. The information about his involvement with Harry's placement would have severe repercussions if it became public, hence, no trial.
Sirius's situation was definitely unique. Harry did not know why the headmaster hadn't arranged for a trial with the evidence that Pettigrew was alive. Remus had explained that Veritaserum would force anyone to tell the truth. The puzzling thing was why Dumbledore did not arrange for a trial.
Sirius had taken the time to explain the events surrounding that fateful night in October. Harry understood that Sirius didn't abandon him but that he wasn't thinking clearly in his grief and anger and it had cost both of them everything.
Harry took this lesson to heart and he tried his best to remain level headed no matter how angry or sad he was. That was why he was still upset at his loss of control in the Great Hall over Rita's last article.
His good mood over the article about Dumbledore evaporated quickly when he saw the second headline, and accompanying photo, in the Daily Prophet. 'Potters Pureblood Princess,' took up the entire upper bottom third of the front page. The photo showed him and Ginny hugging before they walked away smiling and holding hands.
The article went on at length about how Harry had finally broken free from his love potions induced stupor and had found true love in the arms of Ginny Weasley. Rita vilified Hermione, again. The decisive factor for Harry was when Rita called for an investigation of Hermione for the obvious use of an illegal love potion on the Boy-Who-Lived.
Harry was desperately trying to reign in his temper. The dishes around him had begun to rattle ominously. After a few deep breaths, he was starting to calm down and the dishes stopped rattling.
Unfortunately, just as Harry regained control of his temper two things happened that set him off all over again.
Draco Malfoy had sauntered over towards Harry with the Daily Prophet clutched in his hands and a sneer on his face.
"Finally saw the light, eh, Potter?" Malfoy drawled. "Ditched the Mudblood and found yourself a proper pure blood, even if she is from a family of blood traitors." Draco said with a sneer while pointing at Ginny, who was sitting across from Harry at the Gryffindor table.
Trying very hard to maintain control of his temper, Harry hissed, "I am not dating Ginny Weasley. I am in love with Hermione. Now leave you pathetic inbred fool before I do something that you will regret."
The dishes had started to rattle again, and a few even cracked, as Harry's anger rose. Magic was beginning to pour off Harry in small pulses he was so mad.
Draco could feel the power coming off Harry, as could anyone within twenty feet of him. He knew that it would only take one more little push for something bad to happen. Deciding that he did not want to be on the receiving end of Potter's outburst he began to back away slowly and silently.
He had gone about four feet when salvation arrived in the most unlikely form. Seizing his chance, Draco began backing away a little faster.
The Weasley temper had boiled over again, saving Draco from embarrassment in front of the whole school.
A hand gripped Harry's upper arm and spun him around violently. The shock of being grabbed momentarily quenched Harry's anger.
"What's the matter now Potter? Is my sister not good enough for the Boy-Who-Lived? She's much better than a nagging, know-it-all, bookworm." Ron said heatedly.
Quickly realizing that things were getting out of hand fast, Draco and a bunch of other students were backing further away from a shocked and angry Harry Potter.
There was a shout followed by the oddest squelching noise that caused a few people in the Great Hall to jump and then laugh when they saw the results of the spell.
Ron Weasley was lying on his back, slapping at the disgusting bat bogeys hitting his face. Ginny Weasley was standing with her wand still pointed at her brother as he writhed around on the floor trying to escape the attacking bogeys.
Draco saw the look on Ginny's face as she hexed her brother. By the time Weasley hit the floor, Draco was a good twenty feet away from the Gryffindor table. His self-preservation instincts kept him quiet as he continued to back away from the scene in front of him.
"Thanks Ginny. You have got to teach me that spell." Harry said with a light chuckle as he stepped back from the bogies attacking Ron. Amidst the chaos, his anger disappeared.
"You're welcome." Ginny said before she turned her attention back to her pillock of a brother. "Ron, if you had tried to get a date and actually show up for the ball, you would know that I went with Neville, whom I like a lot."
Neville was grinning like a Cheshire cat and trying to match the color of Ginny's hair with his blush. "Thanks, I like you too Ginny."
They linked hands and left the Great hall together, both still blushing from their confessions in front of everyone.
Harry knelt down next to Ron and whispered, "You just don't learn do you?" He stood back up, pointed his wand at Ron, and said "Stupefy."
Harry glanced around after watching Ron slip into unconsciousness. 'Why hadn't a teacher stepped in?' When he looked up at the staff table, he only saw the headmaster sitting there, watching him, but making no move to intervene. He could not figure out why Dumbledore didn't interfere before everything got out of hand.
Deciding that he didn't really care, Harry pointed his wand at Ron and said "Mobilicorpus."
As Ron rose into the air Harry began directing him towards the exit. Just as he reached the stairs to the second floor, Professor McGonagall and Hermione came out of the transfiguration classroom.
"What are you doing with Mr. Weasley, Mr. Potter?"
"Hello Professor; hello Hermione. Ron got hexed in the Great Hall and I'm taking him to the Hospital Wing." he indicated to the bat bogeys still attacking Ron's face.
He could have sworn that he saw a smile on his professor's face but it was gone in a flash.
"And why is he unconscious?" McGonagall asked.
"Well," Harry hesitated but one quick look at his head of house's face made him quickly continue "I kind of stunned him." he mumbled.
"What was that Mr. Potter?"
Taking a deep breath, Harry said in a clear voice, "I stunned him because I didn't know the counter jinx. He was slapping at his face and moaning like a baby so I did the first thing that came to my mind."
The professor gazed at the disgusting bogies still flapping around on Mr. Weasley's face was a bit nauseating, so Minerva dispelled them with a quick flick of her wrist. "Very well, take him up to the Hospital Wing then. Who was the teacher on duty in the Great Hall this morning Mr. Potter?"
"Professor Dumbledore was ma'am."
"Hmm." Minerva said through pursed lips. "Thank you Mr. Potter. You two are free to enjoy your morning once you drop Mr. Weasley off at the hospital wing."
"Thank you, professor." The two teens chorused together as Harry levitated Ron up the steps towards the hospital wing.
"What happened in the Great Hall Harry?" Hermione asked.
Harry was about to answer her when he noticed a portrait moving from frame to frame, following them. "Ron got hexed so I stunned him to stop the screaming." He answered while watching as the portrait continued to flit from frame to frame, as they got closer to the hospital wing.
When Harry had floated Ron to the nearest bed, the portrait had settled into the frame near the matron's office.
Hermione gave Harry a searching gaze before dashing off to fetch Madam Poppy Pomfrey.
The hospital matron bustled over and asked, "What happened to Mr. Weasley?"
Harry's gaze shifted sideways for a moment so he could see the portrait in the frame. It was listening in on their conversation intently. "I stunned him because he was screaming and slapping at his face from the hex that hit him. Professor McGonagall dispelled the hex but told me to bring him up here just to be safe."
Madam Poppy Pomfrey swept her wand along Ron's unconscious body. A quick healing spell on his nose later she was satisfied with her patient's condition. As she put her wand away, she said, "He'll be fine and should wake up in a few hours. Run along and have a nice day."
The two teens left the hospital wing hand in hand. The only place he could think of that did not have any portraits was their spot by the lake.
Hermione realized that something was bothering Harry but he seemed reluctant to talk about it while inside for some reason. Figuring that he would answer her questions once they were outside of the castle, she settled into a comfortable silence.
She had felt Harry's anger through the bond when she was talking with professor McGonagall. His anger had spiked a couple of times in the span of a few minutes before it vanished abruptly; in its place was a feeling of mirth.
They had reached their spot down by the lake and Harry pulled Hermione down onto the bench next to him. He gazed into her eyes for a moment before speaking quietly "We were being followed through the halls by a portrait."
Hermione instantly knew who had ordered the portraits to follow Harry. The question was 'Why?'
1. Goble of Fire, JKR. Paraphrased from the original title, Dumbledore's Giant Mistake.
Chapter 14: Unwelcome discoveries.
Life was slowly returning to normal in the castle following the winter holidays. Well, as close to normal as you could get for Harry.
Since the end of the first task, Harry had discovered that he no longer needed to vocalize his spells in class. He had to remember to say the spells aloud to keep this new talent secret.
Harry had told Hermione about the change, she had urged him to keep that skill hidden, and he agreed. Her reasoning was sound, as it would give him an advantage for a few precious seconds if something happened. So every day during his practice in the Room of Requirement, Harry would devote an hour solely on silent casting.
He noticed that his wand movements were decreasing. He no longer needed the lengthy flicks, swishes, and loops to get his spells to perform. The only people he could compare his new casting style to were the Headmaster and Professors Flitwick and McGonagall. Harry spent a good portion of his class time watching the adults in the castle to see how they performed magic. Some of the seventh year students were also capable of complete silent casting all of the time, but not everyone seemed to have the ability to master the skill.
Hermione had questioned him for hours over how he cast his spells silently and verbally. She was now able to cast most of the first year spells silently. Additionally, she was intently working on mastering the second year ones too.
Another side effect of the first task was that Harry now felt more in touch with his magic and the magic around him. It took him a few days to get the second skill under better control. There was so much magic in Hogwarts that it was difficult to sort everything out at first.
As Harry's control over sensing magic increased, he discovered a few other benefits of the skill. The first thing that Harry figured out was how to sense the magic on objects. He could tell if there were charms, wards, hexes, and curses on objects. He had found a tracking spell on his glasses that he quickly removed. He found one after searching his person for an hour that angered him.
There were also a couple of other spells that were on him that he was going to have to research what they were. He planned to ask Hermione and Remus to assist him in identifying them. One of the spells he found on himself was very dark in nature and it was worrying him more than he wanted to admit.
After Hermione explained the theory behind the tracking spell, it took Harry three days to figure out how to undo the spell. He used his own magic to break down the tracking spell and remove it.
His jubilation at removing the tracking charm was short lived though. The dark curse that attached to him did not respond to the same method. Harry had pulled some of the dark tendrils free but as he tried to remove the remainder of the curse, he felt a tugging sensation from the area around his scar before it snapped back into place on his forehead.
"Damn it!" Harry exclaimed while rubbing the scar on his forehead.
Hermione looked up at Harry's shout to see him pressing his palm to the scar on his forehead. "What's wrong?"
"Whenever I get close to removing whatever this dark curse is on my forehead it feels like it just snaps back into place." Harry barked out in frustration.
"Hey, it's okay. We will figure this out together. I'll ask Remus to send us a book on curse scars." She said while rubbing his back. "What does it look like when you are visualizing the connection?"
Harry looked at her in surprise. "You know, I don't know. I am not visualizing anything. It's more like sensing its connection to Me." he paused in thought, trying to recall the sensations from trying to remove the connection to his scar. "It feels…really evil." his voice just a whisper as if to ward off the feeling.
"Do you think that your scar is somehow related to the vision that you had the day of the World Cup?"
Somehow, his scar and that vision were connected, they concluded. They just didn't know why, or how, the correlation existed.
"Yes, I still think that's the best explanation that either of us has come up with so far." Harry replied glumly. "You know, when Hagrid first took me to Diagon Alley he told me that this was no ordinary curse scar. I wonder what he meant by that?"
"I don't know Harry. We should talk to Remus and Sirius about that later. Why don't you take a break for a bit and tell me about the other spell that you found on yourself." Hermione said.
Harry's visage darkened at the mention of the second spell and he stood up to pace around a bit. "It's a form of a monitoring charm." he said darkly.
"What? Who would do something like that to you?" Hermione asked. She was outraged that something so invasive, and without his consent, was being put upon him. His emotions were easy to pick up through their bond. He was angry but resigned.
Then she realized why and one word confirmed her fears. "Dumbledore." It was a statement, not a question.
Harry flopped back down onto the couch next to Hermione and sighed deeply. "Yes, it was him. I have been watching him enough to get a feel for his magic, he is the only one capable enough to cast that spell, and that has had access to me. My guess is that it was placed upon me while I was in the hospital wing or when he delivered me to the Dursleys."
Left unsaid was that it was probably put upon Harry before he was placed with the Dursleys thirteen years ago. That made Dumbledore's lack of supervision even worse, because that spell told him everything about Harry's condition.
"Aren't you going to remove the spell?" Hermione asked in concern.
Harry rubbed his hands down his face in frustration. "I'm not sure if I should. It's been damaged somehow but if I remove it he is going to know right away and that could pose all sorts of problems." he said remorsefully.
"Why don't you remove it this summer? That way he can't confront you immediately and we will have time to come up with a cover story if he does ask." Hermione said hopefully while gazing into Harry's bright emerald eyes.
"That could work. We'll ask Moony and Sirius before we do anything though." Harry said.
Glancing down at his watch, he realized that it was almost curfew. "Come on. Let's get back to Gryffindor Tower before we get detention." Harry said as he pulled Hermione up from the couch.
"You're right. We have double potions first thing tomorrow morning and we need to be at our best for that class." Hermione said as she re-shrunk the trunk and put it back into her pocket.
Harry had out his invisibility cloak and the Marauder's Map for their trip back to the tower. With a flick of his wrists, he draped the cloak over them and stepped out into the empty hallway.
Chapter 15: Eggs, Elves, and Pranks.
The second task was fast approaching and Harry still hadn't figured out what to do about his egg. Cedric had given him the advice to take a bath with the egg earlier that morning and he had told Hermione about it.
She had dashed off to the library with a quick, "I've got an idea.", and she was gone before he could get in a word edge wise.
Harry was more concerned with something else right now anyway. He had been quietly watching the comings and goings of certain individuals into meal times for the past week. It was time to exact a little payback for all of the pain that they caused Hermione with their spiteful remarks. He didn't really mind what they said about him anymore. It had stopped bothering him ages ago, something that he really did have Dumbledore to thank for teaching him.
There was a flash of a green trimmed cloak entering the Great Hall and Harry turned his gaze to see who it was. According to his calculations, it should have been Malfoy and his little entourage.
A small, satisfied, smirk graced Harry's face as he watched the group sit down at the Slytherin table for lunch. He flicked his eyes to the rafters where he knew that Dobby was watching and nodded once.
Dobby was watching his master, waiting for the signal. When it came, he almost fell off the rafter because he was so happy. A gift that was so enormous that he could not even describe it. The great Harry Potter was offering him a chance at revenge for years of mistreatment at the hands of the Malfoy heir.
With a faint pop, Dobby reappeared in the kitchens. He had enlisted the help of the kitchen elves for the first stage of the plan.
If anyone would have come into the kitchen at that moment, they would have been frightened silly. The sight of a house elf cackling madly and rubbing his hands together was very disturbing.
Dobby had learned a lot about the non-magical world from the Grangers. The best thing that they introduced him to was something that they called television. While watching something called an infomercial, he discovered something that would be a great help to his master in his plans to avenge the mistreatment of Mistress Mione.
The rest of the elves were busy mixing in an odorless, tasteless, product into all of the beverages for select individuals that were currently in the Great Hall for lunch. It had been surprising easy for Dobby and Winky to coerce the rest of the Hogwarts elves to help them in their endeavor. All that they had to do was tell them that what they were doing would help Harry Potter and the rest of the elves readily agreed to the plan.
It turned out that the majority of the people on the list were not very nice to the house elves of Hogwarts. So in a way they were getting a bit of revenge too.
The polyethylene glycol solution was easily obtainable in the non-magical world. When Dobby told Mr. Granger what the solution was for his only response was "How much do you need?" The look on Mr. Granger's face was simply terrifying and Dobby was glad that his ire was not focused upon him.
Dobby had procured enough solution, with Mr. Granger's help, for complete bowel irrigations for over thirty people. He wanted to have a little extra in case a repeat lesson was necessary.
The housekeeping elves were busy making sure that there were no bog rolls in any of the student loos in the castle. The staff areas had a full stock so that no teacher would be aware of the student body's dilemma.
They laundry elves were thrilled at the prospect of getting more work in the near future. They just weren't busy enough during the day and this would definitely keep them busy.
Hermione was in the library when Winky popped in and said "Hello Miss. This is for your bag today." she said while putting a brand new bog roll into her bag.
She had given up trying to figure out why their elves did some of the things that they did because there was always a good reason for their actions. Their uncanny ability to anticipate the needs of their family was simply amazing. Pushing the thought from her mind, she said to Winky "Thank you Winky. Have a pleasant afternoon."
Winky curtsied and vanished with a small pop. She reappeared next to Dobby in the kitchens and told him that she had completed her task. She had also delivered similar rolls to the tiniest Weasley and the Longbottom boy on her master's instruction.
Preparations complete, all the elves had to do now was to wait for the extra work to start rolling in. They were so happy that they were going to be busy later that day.
Harry finished his meal in silence and made his way up towards the library. When he sat down next to Hermione, she unconsciously reached over and patted Harry's thigh. He successfully fought down his urge to flinch but he noticed that it was getting better.
He was really trying hard to get over that aspect of his childhood. The Dursleys' never touched him in anything but anger so his reactions to being touched were very abnormal. Hermione's parents had sent along a few books with Winky with instructions for the two teens to read them.
Harry had been a bit embarrassed when he saw the books about child abuse and its effects on people. He was desperately trying to overcome the obstacles of his upbringing and he was truly thankful for their assistance. Remus and Sirius had not been much help on that front. The Wizarding world just did not have the resources dedicated to that branch of medicine.
Hermione felt Harry tense for just a split second before he relaxed under her delicate, but unexpected, touch. She smiled to herself and continued with her research. She had narrowed the noise in the egg down to something to do with the water. She thought that the noise was from something that lived in the lake or spent the majority of it's time in the water. What she did not know was what the task was going to be.
She turned to Harry and said, "I think that I have a basic idea of what the noise from the egg is. I guess that we will have to hear it later to get any more information. I think that Cedric wants you to open it underwater in the bath."
Harry smiled at Hermione. "You're really brilliant you know? I'm still trying to figure out what an egg and water have to do with each other and here you are figuring out the basics of the second task without hearing the clue yet." He said with a smile in his voice as he leaned over to look at what she was reading.
Hermione tilted the book so Harry could see the page that she was reading. "Here, I think that these are the most likely things that you will encounter in the lake. I need to go look up something else, be back in a tick."
Harry pulled the book to him as Hermione got up and disappeared amongst the shelves, looking for another book. The chapter heading was 'Creatures found in the Great Lake.'
Shrugging his shoulders, Harry began reading. He got about five pages into the chapter when he realized what book he was reading. It was 'Hogwarts, a History.' He and Ron had jokingly made a vow during their first year that they would never read the book because Hermione had carried it everywhere.
When Hermione returned to the table, she looked quite satisfied with herself. The book in her hands was about mermaids and speaking Mermish. She saw that Harry was looking at the book with a half smirk, half scowl, on his face. "What's wrong?" she asked.
Harry replied "I can't read this, Ron and I jokingly made a vow to never read 'Hogwarts; A History' during our first year."
"Why you..." Hermione started before she realized that he was having her on. "Oh, I see how it is then. I guess that I will never read 'Quidditch; Through the Ages' then. She said while putting her nose in the air with a look of superiority.
Harry almost laughed aloud at the thought of Hermione not reading a book. "I see, so we can just forget about you reading any of these other wonderful books too?" he said with a teasing lilt in his voice as he began to pull her stack of books towards him.
"NO!" Hermione cried while reaching out and pulling the stack back to her side of the table. Realizing that she had just lost their little game, Hermione began blushing while grinning back at him. The heat in her cheeks felt like a miniature flame.
Still chuckling, Harry pointed to the book on merpeople and said, "Can I read that with you?" Without waiting for a response, he pulled her chair next to his and leaned his head down on her shoulder.
"Okay." Hermione replied, enjoying the feeling of contentment that came with having Harry's head resting on her shoulder.
After about fifteen minutes of reading, Hermione realized that Harry had fallen asleep. He gave a mighty shudder and slumped onto the floor, in the throes of what appeared to be a nightmare, when she was about to wake him.
Harry gave a start as he realized that he was having another vision of Voldemort. Wormtail was on his knees in front of a large, winged back, chair. He was begging for mercy and Harry felt a sense of jubilation coming from Voldemort.
Before he could figure the feeling out, he raised his wand and lazily said "Crucio." Peter Pettigrew was writhing on the ground, screaming in pain. Oddly enough, Harry thought that he got a flicker of a feeling of pleasure from Voldemort.
He could not see what Voldemort looked like, because he was seeing things from Voldemorts' point of view. This vision was a bit different from the one just before the Quidditch World Cup. This time he was Voldemort instead of just watching things unfold as if a bystander.
Harry was struggling to keep his wits about him as the vision continued. The shock of seeing his tiny, scaly, arm come up and cast that unforgivable shook him just enough that he was able to pay attention but not getting the feeling that he committed the acts himself.
Voldemorts' voice issuing from his own mouth was even scarier if possible. There was no way that sound was human! His speech had a hissing quality to it.
"You are lucky that my other servant saved you from your mistake. If Crouch Sr. had been able to reach Dumbledore we would have been exposed, on the run again, and our plans ruins. Lord Voldemort is merciful. Now go and milk Nagini for my evening feeding." Voldemort hissed in a low voice as he motioned his tiny hand towards the door.
With a start, Harry's eyes snapped open and he began wildly looking all around him, fear plainly visible on his face.
"Shhh. You're in the library. Can you stand?" Hermione asked, very concerned.
Harry slowly stood up and allowed himself to be led to the exit. Hermione had tucked herself under his arm so that he could lean on her if he needed to while still looking like two normal teens that were dating.
He knew that she had asked him something but her voice sounded like it was muffled by a wall of water in between them. His body was operating on instinct and allowed Hermione to lead him out of the library.
Just as the two teens turned the corner there were two pops in front of them. "What is wrong with Master Harry?" Dobby said, his voice quavering a bit, as he stepped forward to assist his mistress in getting Harry to some place quiet.
Winky was moving to help but Hermione stilled her with a command. "Wait please Winky. Can you block the portraits from seeing or following us?"
Winky looked a bit surprised at the request but her answer was a positive one. "I will see to it at once Mistress Hermione." with a snap of her fingers all of the portraits in the hall were immobilized, and their picture frames had been draped with a black cloth.
Hermione was impressed with the tiny elf's control of magic, but she had more important things on her mind, so she pushed those thoughts aside for the moment and concentrated on getting Harry to the Room of Requirement so that they could contact Sirius and Remus.
They were a few hallways away from the Room of Requirement when Harry finally felt normal enough to walk on his own. He kept his arm around Hermione and realized that Dobby was walking next to him in case he should stumble. His voice sounded like broken glass as he croaked out "Thank you."
By the time they reached to entrance to the Room he was feeling completely back to normal. They entered a replica of the Gryffindor Common Room and he sat down on the couch and Hermione pulled his head into her lap and began running her hands through his hair in a soothing fashion.
"Mum used to do this for me when I had a nightmare. Are you ready to talk about it yet?" she asked him quietly.
Harry lay there with his head in her lap, enjoying her calming touch as he was going over the whole experience in his head. This was no mere nightmare; of that, he was sure. He was not going to call it a vision either. It was too connected, he was feeling some of Voldemorts' emotions in an eerily similar way to the way he felt Hermione's emotions.
To say that this revelation disturbed Harry would be an understatement. His shock was so great that he didn't realize that Hermione had been talking to him again and was now looking at him in concern.
"What's the matter Harry?" You look worse now than when you first had the vision." Hermione asked while gently stroking his cheek.
"I think that this connection is a bit worse than we thought before." he whispered, trying to ward off the dark feeling of foreboding that was filling him up. "I could feel his emotions and it scares me. What if I'm somehow bonded to him too?" He was close to tears by this time, his fears running rampant through his mind.
Hermione was more than a little shocked by this last revelation. Something did not add up for her though. She was remembering what Harry had mentioned about his scar when he tried to unravel the dark curse that was located there. Tentatively, and in a whisper as low as the one that he had spoken in a moment before, Hermione asked him "Do you think that your scar is acting like a connection to Voldemort somehow?"
Harry unconsciously reached up and ran a finger down his scar, tracing its contours, while he was lost in thought. Hermione had a novel idea about his scar and he was afraid that, as usual, she was spot on in her assessment.
The desperation was clear in his voice when he answered her. "Yes, I do. It is similar to our bond in ways but I think it revolves on my scar because when I get close to unraveling it there is a strong pulling sensation there before it snaps back into place. It's like there is something holding there. It feels like it's getting stronger too." Harry finished in a voice that was very worried. "What do you think that it all means?" he asked her in desperation.
"I don't know Harry but I'll do everything that I can to figure this out. I'm sure that Remus and Sirius will help too. Perhaps we should call them now?" Hermione's voice was firm in her conviction to help Harry face this new situation.
Hermione pulled out her mirror and handed it to Harry so he could make the call.
Taking a deep breath to steel himself, with the help of Hermione's feelings of support pouring through their bond, Harry called out "Sirius Black."
After a few tense seconds, the mirror activated to show the teens the smiling visage of Sirius. "Harry! What can we do for you?" After seeing the look on their faces, he quickly asked, "Are you okay?" his voice laced with concern.
"I had another vision or something from Voldemort a little while ago." Harry said solemnly. "Only this time I was seeing things from his point of view. I was him. I could feel his emotions while he was torturing Wormtail. Is this normal?" his voice barely above a whisper as he clung tightly to Hermione's hand, feeling unclean after being in Voldemorts' mind.
Remus had just entered the room when he heard the concern in Sirius's voice. He saw the mirror in Sirius's hand and figured that he was talking to Harry or Hermione and that something was wrong. He arrived next to Sirius just as Harry launched into his explanation of what he experienced and he was more than a little disturbed.
The connection sounded like the darkest of magic and something was niggling at the back of his mind. Remus knew that he had read a book from the Black Library containing information that sounded almost identical to what Harry described.
"I have come across something similar in my readings Harry. I will start researching that right away. Hang in there and call us straight away if something like this happens again." Remus said in a very somber tone.
Harry was still unused to this whole trusting others with his secrets thing but he was trying his hardest to move past his upbringing so he nodded in acceptance to Remus' request.
Sirius was not happy with this revelation either. His family had delved deeply into the dark arts in the last few centuries and the connection that Harry was describing was very sinister. "Harry, there may be something that we can do in the mean time that can help you attempt to block out these visions."
"What is it?" Harry said eagerly. He was willing to try almost anything to prevent himself from witnessing, or feeling as if he committed those atrocious acts.
"It's a discipline called Occlumency. It allows you to block mental intrusions from Legilimency. I'm not sure if it will work on your connection but it should at least help out a bit." Sirius said helpfully.
"Thanks. That would be great. I could use any help that you can give me with this nightmare." Harry said honestly.
Hermione was squeezing Harry's hand in support while he spoke with his godfather. "Perhaps I can ask my parents for some books on meditation too?"
"That's a great idea Hermione. We were going to head over to your parent's house to discuss some things anyway so we will make sure to fill them in and see if they have any books on meditation." Sirius said enthusiastically. "Take care you two."
"We will. Thanks Sirius." The teens chorused together before signing off.
Sirius was chuckling at their eerie ability to finish sentences together. 'One would think that they were an old married couple the way that they act sometimes' he thought as he went up to the library to help Remus with his search and to pull those books on Occlumency and Legilimency for them.
Hermione turned to look at Harry to see how he was holding up. He seemed much better physically by the time that they got to the Room of Requirement but she was more concerned about his mental state right now. "Are you feeling better?" she asked while holding his hand.
"I am; thanks. I'm still a bit nervous about the whole connection thing but you know that already don't you?"
"Yes, I just wanted to see if talking about it would help you. I think anyone would be more than a little nervous about having a connection to the Dark Lord."
"It helps to talk about it but I still don't like to. I'm getting better about it with your help though." Harry said warmly while holding Hermione's gaze.
Changing the subject, Hermione said "Can you tell me why Winky gave me a bog roll for my bag today just after lunch?"
Harry's countenance changed immediately. He was trying very hard not to laugh when he thought about what should be starting in various parts of the castle in the next few minutes. "Well, I sort of instigated a prank on some people that were bothering us." The smile on his face was in full bloom now.
Hermione found herself beginning to smile in response to the look on Harry's face. What ever it was, she was sure that it was major. "What did you do? And why do I need this roll?" she said while waving it around in front of her.
"Well, let's just say that it's worth a lot of gold because of how rare it is now." His smile had turned predatory as he thought about what people would be suffering soon.
"Okay, but what did you do?" Hermione cried in exasperation.
"Don't hate me but I had Dobby and your dad help with this too."
"What? My dad hates pranks!" the surprise was clear in her voice.
"Yes, well, he was actually doing this more for you than anything else. It was actually Dobby's idea and I ran with it from there. We even got the majority of the Hogwarts house elves to help too." Harry's voice held a pleading note in it as he was hoping to avoid getting into trouble with Hermione.
Her voice was increasing in sharpness as she asked for the third time "What did you do?"
"Have you ever heard of a polyethylene glycol solution?" when Hermione nodded no he continued. "Well, how familiar are you with the term Complete Colon Irrigation?" the smile was plastered on his face again and the mirth was evident in his voice.
"Oh my! You didn't?" seeing his grin become even larger she continued; "Who did you prank?"
"Well, most of the fourth year Slytherins, a few people from the other houses, Ron, the twins, Snape and Dumbledore. I'm not sure how many that we were successful with yet though." Harry said the last bit thoughtfully.
"Harry James Potter!" Hermione half shouted.
Harry cringed at the use of his full name and the tone in her voice.
"Thank you. You didn't have to, but thank you just the same." Hermione said earnestly before she leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
Harry was very relieved when Hermione kissed his cheek instead of continuing to rail at him for his childish behavior. It was a mark of how much she had changed this year that she did not start berating him the minute he admitted to playing a prank on two teachers.
"When do you think it will begin happening?" she asked in a curious, yet eager, tone.
"Well," he glanced down at his watch before continuing, "It should have started by now. Everyone is affected a bit differently according to the directions but most people can't hold out that long." Harry said with glee.
"Should we go then or do you want to stay here for a while?"
"I think that we should head down to the lake and just take a walk. People will see us down there as usual so that won't be suspicious and we won't be around when things start to go awry."
"Okay. Let's get going then." She said as she stood and held her hand out to Harry.
On their way down the couple passed by the corridor leading to the Ravenclaw, dormitories and they had their first experience with the prank. Marietta Edgecombe was running up the steps towards them with a look of discomfort and beads of sweat running down her face.
Seeing an excellent opportunity, Harry stepped into her path and called out "Hello Marietta. Why are you in such a hurry? Is everything alright?"
Marietta was mortified. She was seconds from having an accident, she could feel the pressure building, and here was Harry Potter standing in front of her wanting to talk. Just as she was about to speak her colon decided that it had had enough and betrayed her wishes with a very loud wet squelching noise.
Not bothering with formalities, she gave a small shriek and dashed around them heading into the girls loo at the top of the steps. The effort putting into wrenching open the door caused another loud, and very wet, noise followed by a moan as she fought to maintain control. Her dignity was lost somewhere back in the hall and she never saw the satisfied smile on the face of The Boy Who Lived.
Continuing on their way to the main entrance Harry was humming merrily to himself. His Voldemort induced experience in the library temporarily forgotten; while he enjoyed the fruits of Dobby's plan silently wishing that it had been Malfoy that he had spotted instead of Marietta.
When they were down by the lake, safely away from eavesdroppers, Hermione smirked and said, "That was rather enjoyable wasn't it? Disgusting, funny even, but yet oddly satisfying."
"Yes, it was." Harry replied with a light laugh in his voice. "I only wish I could have seen Malfoy, Snape, or Dumbledore's reactions to the stuff. Can you imagine the shrieking from Malfoy, 'I spend more time grooming than Parvarti,' when he soils himself?"
"Ooh, I would love to have seen his face too. I just hope it happened around a very large group of people. He could use a good embarrassing moment; it's simply amazing how large his ego really is." Hermione said wistfully as she thought of watching Draco getting embarrassed in front of the entire Great Hall.
The two teens were coming up to the area near the Durmstrang ship when they noticed someone dive into the lake from the bow of the boat.
"Is he mad? That water must be absolutely freezing!" Harry declared.
Hermione had paused to watch Viktor Krum as he pulled out his wand and did a spell before diving underwater and disappearing from sight. "I think that he knows what the task is and now he is training." her voice held a note of concern as she watched the area where Krum had disappeared beneath the surface.
"Right, I guess that settles it then. What ever I have to do for the second task is in the lake and the egg must hold the details of the task." Harry had paused to gaze out into the middle of the lake a look of discomfort on his face.
"What's the matter?" Hermione asked as she came up next to him and leaned into his shoulder.
His response was low and mumbled but she was still able to hear his confession.
"I don't know how to swim. The Dursleys never sent me to lessons." he paused when Hermione stiffened at the mention of the Dursleys. "Can you teach me to swim in a month? I don't fancy drowning as it would put a definite crimp in my lifestyle."
"That will be easy." Hermione said reassuringly. "It's the staying underwater for a long time that worries me. Viktor is still down there and there is no way anyone can hold his or her breath for that long. We are going to have to find a spell or something for you to use too." her voice laced with concern.
"Well, look at the bright side." He paused when he saw her look of incredulity. "You get to learn some new stuff and see me in my swim trunks." Harry finished cheekily as he watched the blush blossom on her cheeks.
She stood up and stepped completely into his personal space. Her lips millimeters from his ear as she spoke in a sultry tone "Are you sure you could handle the thought of me in a bikini trying to teach you to swim?"
Harry's reaction was immediate. He went from smug to panic to eager in the span of a few seconds. While he was fighting for control of his blush, he did not notice that Hermione had slid her wand out of her forearm holder in her cloak.
With a deft flick of her wrist, she silently levitated some snow behind Harry. Grasping the snow in her free hand, she slowly slid her arm up rubbing his back as she went. "Perhaps you should cool off a bit before you get too worked up." Hermione said as she thrust the snow down the back of his jumper.
Harry let out an entirely too girly shriek as he leapt away from Hermione and started shaking his jumper to get the snow out.
When he finished hopping around trying to remove the snow, Hermione was howling in laughter at his antics. She stopped cold when she caught the look in his eyes. Letting out her own shriek she turned and sprinted towards the castle with Harry hot on her heels and laughing the entire time.
Two soaked teens entered the castle thirty minutes later. Their cheeks flushed from frolicking in the snow and a few stolen kisses thrown in for good measure.
The house elves were busier in the middle of the day for the first time in months and they loved every minute of it. Students, and a couple of teachers, were generating dirty laundry at a prodigious pace. It was obvious that quite a few people had failed to make it to the loo before the prank too effect.
The only person on the cleaning staff that was unhappy was Argus Filch. He had the unfortunate task of cleaning up a few messes where students could not quite make it to the loo in time and were obviously too embarrassed to come back and clean up the mess, lest someone connect it to them.
It was with some small amount of pleasure when Filch caught the Malfoy boy fleeing the scene of one such mess. "You!" Filch roared. "Befouling the castle and making more work for me! I'll teach you to a lesson you won't soon forget boy!" he yelled at Draco, spittle flying from the edges of his mouth he was so enraged.
Draco was in quite the quandary. He knew that he was about to have another accident unless he could get to the loo quickly. The caretaker was blocking his way and shouting at him but his discomfort was so great that he didn't register anything that Filch was shouting.
Disregarding the shouting caretaker Draco began to move towards the loo before it was too late.
"How dare you walk away from me boy!" Filch shouted as he grabbed Draco by the arm and spun him around.
The violent jerking motion caused a couple of things to happen. Draco was pulled off balance, causing him to fall into the caretaker just as he lost the little control he had and everything let loose. It was all over the two of them.
"YOU DISGUSTING LITTLE BEAST!" Filch howled as he threw Malfoy away from him. "That will be detention for a month with me, cleaning the castle without magic. Be down at my office at six tonight to begin your detention! Now get away from me before you make an even bigger mess."
Humiliated, Draco slunk the rest of the way to the Slytherin dormitories so he could take a shower and put on some fresh clothes. He never knew that he had been pranked and that he was the only one that had been caught by a member of the staff.
By the next morning, the majority of the school would think that it Malfoy had been making the messes all over the castle. The other people that were effected by the prank were not about to come forward claim anything, especially after they found out how bad Malfoy's punishment had been.
Harry Potter went to bed that evening very happy, thoughts of Malfoy scrubbing the castle without magic dancing in his head.
Chapter 16: A dish best served cold.
Annabelle Granger came downstairs into the kitchen to grab a cup of tea and a spot of breakfast. When she entered the kitchen, she was surprised to find John, Remus, and Sirius already there talking.
She walked over to where everyone sat around the center island and kissed her husband on the cheek before sitting down. "Good morning. What's the meeting about?"
The three men shared a look with each other and seemed to come to an understanding.
Sirius spoke for the group after gathering his thoughts for a couple of seconds. "We were talking about the Dursleys."
A scowl forming on Annabelle's face made Sirius realize that she was as upset about the situation as they were. With a small smile he continued in a slightly amused tone "You didn't think that we were just going to let them get away with what they did to Harry now, did you?"
"I was beginning to wonder." Annabelle answered. "Why now?"
"Because revenge is a dish best served cold and Dursley had gotten comfortable in his new environment." Sirius replied, his voice hard.
"I'm in. What do you have planned for them?" Annabelle said with conviction.
All three men had a slightly shifty look about them and they were fidgeting in their seats.
"What? Did you three think that I wouldn't approve? The Dursleys are a bunch of child abusers. They may not have hit Harry that often but the emotional abuse and neglect was enough in my book." Annabelle stated heatedly.
Child abuse had always bothered her and if she was in a position to help, she would. The fact that Harry was going to be their responsibility from now on made her want to see justice done even more.
"Oh. Cheers then. I was worried that you might be angry at us for going after them without telling you." John said in relief.
Annabelle reached out and grasped hands with Sirius and Remus before speaking. "You're all forgiven, unless you don't tell me what you did and why Remus here looks like he was beaten up pretty badly." Her gaze took in the black eye and split lip that he was sporting.
Three identical grins broke out on the men's faces. This time John spoke up first. "Do you remember those legal papers that the Dursleys signed?" Seeing his wife's nod yes, he continued.
"One of those forms was a power of attorney over them and their financial affairs. John finished with an evil grin.
"You didn't? Oh my. You sly dog!" Annabelle said with a look of glee. "Did you leave them anything?"
"We did. I had the accountants set up a trust fund for Harry and Dudley. They cannot touch them until they are twenty-five. The majority of the proceeds from the sale of their house and belongings went to Harry with Dudley getting the rest. They didn't have too much in the way of savings due to Dudley's school tuition. They don't have enough money to come back for a long while."
"Okay. Now is someone going to tell me why Remus looks like he was beaten up?"
"That's because I was." Remus replied, speaking for the first time. Seeing Annabelle's concerned look he continued before she could start asking a myriad of questions.
"Vernon actually attacked me when I showed up in Australia to tell him what was going on." The look of smug satisfaction didn't quite fit with the visible damage to his face.
"Well, I flew to Australia, Polyjuiced to look like Harry. Dobby got the hairs for the potion. Harry doesn't know what we did yet."
Remus finished.
"Oh. Are you going to tell him?" she asked.
"Eventually, we want him to settle in first." Sirius piped up from the other side of the table.
"Please continue then." the eager tone of her voice was simple to pick up to the group.
"When I arrived I grabbed a taxi from the airport to the Grunnings office in Melbourne. I asked the receptionist to page my uncle, Vernon Dursley. Let's just say that things went pear shaped fast from there."
Remus said as before he began to retell the events that happened in Australia.
Vernon Dursley was having a very good day, a good month even. Petunia had called that morning to say that she had finally found the perfect house with a beautiful view overlooking the city.
He had also closed a deal that morning for a large order of drills that made up his entire monthly quota in one fell swoop.
'Yes sir, life was definitely good. The weather was fantastic, business was booming, and they had found a house that was befitting of someone of their stature in upper class society.' Vernon thought to himself.
He was just thinking about taking a nice extra long lunch to celebrate when the receptionist rang his desk. "Vernon Dursley speaking." He answered in his slightly nasal tone.
"Mr. Dursley, you have a visitor up front."
"Thank you Madeline. I'll be right out." Vernon answered importantly. He figured that it must be one of the dentists coming by to finally set up the contract for the large orders that John Granger had set up for him.
When Vernon entered the reception area he found the receptionist talking to a young man whose back was to him.
He was stepping forward to introduce himself when he heard a voice that stopped him in his tracks. A voice that he thought he would never have to hear again.
Vernon couldn't help himself and thirteen years of frustration erupted. He reached out and spun his nephew around by the shoulder. "Boy! What are you doing here?" he demanded angrily.
"Hello uncle, nice to see you too. I came to drop off some paperwork for you and to see what our new house looks like. We are on a bit of a break at school right now and the headmaster said that I could come and visit, so here I am." Harry finished in a pleasant tone. "How are Aunt Petunia and Dudley doing? I haven't seen them since boarding school started."
Vernon was turning a nasty shade of puce, as he stood transfixed, staring at his freakish nephew. He got the shock of his life when the boy stepped up and hugged him, hard, before he could push the freak away.
In a whisper so quiet that only Vernon could hear him, Harry said "I want you to know that the house, and your possessions, were sold and I got the profit from it. In addition, there will not be any large contracts from Mr. Granger's friends. They signed up with your competition last week." He pulled away from the hug slowly to give the appearance of really missing his loving uncle.
With an inarticulate scream of rage, Vernon backhanded his nephew in the face as hard as he could. The force of the blow was so great that it knocked Harry into the glass coffee table, shattering it and sending shards of glass everywhere.
Harry curled up into a ball and cried out "Please uncle, I'm sorry. I promise that I won't do it again!" His cries went silent when a foot landed square in his chest, knocking the wind out of him.
The receptionist screamed which brought a number of people running into the room. Among the people that responded to the scream was the Managing Director for the Australian Branch of Grunnings.
Mr. Anderson took one look at what was going on and told his receptionist to call building security and the police. It took three people to pull Vernon off his beaten nephew before security arrived and took over. The boy on the floor couldn't have been more than fifteen and he looked to be a right mess. "Call an ambulance!" he barked to Madeline.
"Son, can you hear me?" Mr. Anderson said kindly to the boy curled up into a ball on the floor.
The boy flinched at the closeness of the voice before slowly uncurling himself. Mr. Anderson gasped a bit when he saw the look of fear in the child's eyes. "Don't worry we won't hurt you. Can you sit up? We need to get you out of the glass."
They helped Harry up and seated him on the couch as gently as they could.
By the time the paramedics arrived, the police already had Vernon in a lorry on his way to the station. The additional charge of resisting arrest had been added to the assaulting a minor violation.
Harry received medical treatment on site for the worst of his injuries. Afterwards, he was transported to the hospital to have his wounds tended and evidence taken for the police report. The detective that interviewed him was very thorough and Remus was thankful for the very detailed letter from Harry and Hermione that spelled out everything that had happened to him since he was little. It allowed him to play his role as Harry to perfection.
By the time that the interview was over, the detective was assuring him that he would never have to see his relatives again and that they were going to do their best to ensure that his uncle has to spend some time in an Australian jail.
They kept him in the hospital overnight and Dobby had been a godsend. He had kept delivering Polyjuice Potion every hour to maintain the charade.
It was a full week later before the local law enforcement had gathered enough evidence to proceed with the trial. They video taped Harry's deposition because he had to get back to school in England and he didn't feel comfortable facing his uncle again.
Mr. Anderson had taken things a step further and fired Vernon Dursley and gave Petunia one week to vacate the corporate apartments. Without enough funds to purchase a house, Petunia had to start looking for a job and Dudley had to transfer to the local public school where he would learn quickly that he was no longer the biggest fish in the pond.
Remus finished the tale of his adventure as Harry and Annabelle enveloped him in a hug.
"That was a brave, but very stupid, thing that you did Remus. I don't think anyone can thank you enough for what you have done for Harry." Annabelle said with tears in her eyes.
John and Sirius both wore grim expressions as Remus filled in all of the little details of his ordeal. John had clapped Remus on the shoulder, to overcome with emotions to speak, in thanks.
Sirius understood a bit better than the Grangers did about why Remus was willing to go to the lengths that he did to ensure that Harry would never have to see the Dursleys again. He had felt like he had failed Harry as his godfather that fateful night and he was sure that Remus had similar feelings of remorse for not checking up on Harry when he was just a child.
The two best friends shared a look of understanding. They both knew that they would do anything to ensure Harry's safety and happiness and that this was just one small thing to make up for thirteen long years of suffering.