FicWad

For disclaimer see first chapter’s notes.

‘’ Equals thoughts and mind speak.

“” Equals Speech and quotations.

Thanks to my Proof reader: Tumshie

Chapter Four



Hermione slowly awoke and reluctantly left the bed and went to have a shower. She sighed as Harry slept on in the bed. She was reluctant to leave him even if it was just to freshen herself with a quick shower. While in the shower she thought back over the last ten months since New Year's Day. The Potter book contained many new spells that she and Harry had learned. During Harry and Hermione’s studies they discovered a method for going home to their own world, by combining both minds to the task of using a Travelling Sphere to get home.



Over the last ten months the young couple meditated on the problem of returning home and discovered a small trace of magic back to their home reality. Harry followed the link back and found that it was a very tiring experience just to send a ghostly image back during May. Meanwhile they finished their training regime by the end of August. Having knowledge of John’s vision had helped to keep spirits up during the long search. Hermione snorted as she realised that it was just like the film “Wizard of Oz” but not quite click their heals three times with magic slippers, it was far more involved than that.



Harry slowly awoke alone in the bed realising that Hermione was no longer asleep. He heard the shower running and proceed to the bathroom, he found a crying Hermione washing herself.



“What’s wrong, love?” Asked Harry, as he wrapped her into a comforting embrace.



“We are going back and I’ll miss Lisa and the others.” Said Hermione through her sobs.



“I know, I’ll miss them too.” Whispered an upset Harry as he felt the same way at leaving their friends behind.



“But we will never see them again.”



At this declaration, Harry decided that it felt like all their friends from this world were dieing, as after they went back home they could never return.



“I know.” Said Harry as he gently held a sobbing Hermione.



After the couple finished showering and had breakfast they packed two large backpacks with all their possessions; the four brooms, various weapons both bladed and projectile, and their large wardrobe of clothes, and various hybrid objects made for Tom’s craft's class. That afternoon they had a large lunch with all their friends before they attempted to return home. It was an emotional farewell. A crying Lisa hugged a weeping Hermione while Jim gave Harry a photo album of all their new friends so that they would never forget.



The group gathered in the courtyard for the last farewell. A sphere of energy formed and removed the two people from this reality. Jim sighed and hugged his wife; he already missed his two young friends.



The battered old Land Rover made its way slowly up the mountain path. The windscreen wipers were struggling to keep the window clear of sleet and snow. The driver’s heart was thumping in his chest at every little slide the old jeep made sideways as it made progress up the path. The path was on a cliff edge with over a thousand metre's drop to the jagged rocks. His passenger was gripping the door handle with her hands discoloured due to the pressure of her grip. The couple were travelling up to a way station half way up the mountain. Base camp was worried at the loss of communication three days ago.

As the old Land Rover rounded the bend the way station came into view. The way station consisted of an old stone hut and a couple of artic grade tents erected in a circle, with a clearing marked out for a helicopter to land. The driver grimly took in the devastation; the hut appeared to be missing its roof. The driver got out leaving the engine running as he went to investigate the camp for any survivors. He stood at the space where the door used to be and surveyed the damage to the old hut; it was missing the back wall and half of the wall on the mountain side. After leaving the gutted shack he proceeded to survey the tents, which were completely destroyed. It appeared that a fire had started and destroyed the camp.


Marian Flood sat in the battered cabin of the Land Rover bleakly looking out the window at Ger whom was searching the camp; she knew in her heart that her husband, Dave, was dead. He wanted to go on this adventure holiday, which she reluctantly agreed too. This was the tenth day of the trip; she had last spoken with her husband seventy hours ago. Marian was pulled from her thoughts at Ger’s scream of terror. Ger was running back to the Land Rover frantically waving his arms, before he was engulfed in a fireball. He fell face first into the snowy ground but it was no good as he was dead before his burnt body hit the ground.


A roar pierced through the howling wind as Marian scrambled across into the drivers seat. A large black scaly foot appeared beside Ger’s dead body. Marian slammed the car into reverse and slew the vehicle around to make her way back down the narrow mountain path. A fireball appeared above the roof of the Land Rover igniting the emergency pack on the roof rack. The spare tank of petrol exploded putting the Land Rover into a wobble as it hurtled uncontrollably down the path. Marian screamed as the glass shattered from the force of the explosion twisting the metal past the tolerance of the glass.


She slammed her foot on the brake as a hairpin bend loomed ahead. The wheels locked up and caused the battered old Land Rover into a skid on the slippery ice path. Marian screamed as she realised that the Land Rover would not stop before plunging over the edge into the gloom. The out of control Land Rover lurched to halt as it struck a jutting boulder, Marian’s head struck the wheel from the sudden impact, knocking her out.


Daniel Watson was not a happy man he was struggling to run the emergency response unit for the south of England and all this strange weather was driving him nuts. Freak weather was occurring all over the place. Flooding in Manchester, hailstones in London, tornadoes in Surrey and it appeared that there was a murky fog everywhere else. He sent crews where he thought they would do the most good, as he hadn’t got enough resources to cover every incident reported. And to make matters worse a pair of nutters in dresses were running around outside the operation centre upsetting his staff.


‘I need a pay rise.’ He thought as another crisis was called in. ‘No, a nice long holiday from all of this madness instead.’


Fire Fighter Hans Gruber a German immigrant working for Surrey council frowned as his fire hose lost water pressure. He turned around and gaped as he saw that the Fire Tender was missing a large portion at the rear, it reminded him of one of those “Terminator” films, water was flowing all over the road from the large hole in the Fire Tender. Hans gingerly made his way closer and was surprised to see a young man and woman in the space that used to be the Fire Tender unconscious. He looked up as a red lighting bolt struck the Tender and gawked at the man in a navy dress robe. He looked back at the couple and was startled to discover that they were gone as if into thin air. Hans’s expression took on a dazed look as the Obliviator wiped his mind of the last five minutes. The Obliviator frowned as he realised that he did not know how to repair the Fire Tender so he decided to make it look like a fire destroyed it.


Harry groaned as adrenaline flooded his system, ‘we made it.’ During his long training sessions in combat both he and Hermione had developed acute magical and mundane senses and one was screaming at him that he was in danger. He felt out and started to panic when he realised that Hermione was still out cold. He saw the ministry official cast a spell at the Fire Fighter and just knew that they had to leave. He missed the shocked expression on the man’s face as he willed himself and Hermione away from the danger they found themselves in.


Harry wobbled on his feet as he appeared in his room in No. 4 Privet Drive. He gently laid Hermione on his battered old bed after casting a cleaning charm upon it. He swayed from the magical exertion and frowned as he had cast much more magic before their return home to this reality. He slumped on the floor and mulled over their situation. It was only dawning on him that the travelling sphere had destroyed the Fire Tender but not his room, maybe he thought this was due to them travelling between worlds he would have to ask Hermione about it later. He felt drained and bone tired as he sat on the floor listing to the sounds of the house. The silence struck him as he could only hear the wind and rain outside. Normally Dudley would be playing games on his games console on a wet day like this, and Aunt Petunia would be bustling around down stairs, as she did not work, but the house was as quite as a morgue. Harry sighed as he got up stiffly to investigate, Hedwig gave a small hoot breaking the silence so he went over to console and reconnect with his avian friend as he had missed her. Merlin had he missed his feathered friend, it was very good to see her. After he got Hedwig settled again he leaned on the wall as he felt to tired to stand he was running on fumes he felt he had no energy.


Before leaving the room he checked on the sleeping Hermione. In his distracted state he tried the door and frowned when he found it was locked. After rattling it for half a minute he remembered that he was a wizard and with a thought the door unlocked and opened of its own accord. After searching the house and finding no one he noticed through one of the front windows activity of emergency workers and builders tending to the damaged buildings on the street. He spotted a suited man slowly making his way to No. 4, Harry frowned when he didn’t recognise the man. Making his mind up that he needed to leave again he went back up stairs to his room.


He again checked the slumbering Hermione on the bed; he was beginning to worry, as he was barely able to maintain the connection with his wife’s mind and magic. He was almost overwhelmed by the ambient magic that was everywhere, as the other reality had none. It was like going from a pitch-black room out in to a bright white room and being blinded by the intensity of the light. Maybe that was why Hermione was still out cold. The sound of the front door being opened with a key shook him out of his thoughts. His trunk started to pack itself of all of Harry’s possessions, his schoolbooks, clothes and various nick knacks. Hedwig gave a startled hoot at this action, as Harry had not used his wand. After the packing was finished all that was left was his school trunk, Hedwig residing in her cage and his Firebolt as well as the two packs Harry and Hermione had brought with them.


As the insurance assessor surveyed No. 4 he got the impression that the occupiers were very rigid as the house looked too clean and orderly to be lived in. He heard a noise upstairs and went to investigate. He frowned at the door that was ajar with various padlocks and a cat flap installed on the corridor side of the door. The contrast of the door with all the others on this floor sat uneasily with him it was as if the Dursleys were keeping some one locked up like a prisoner. Gingerly he pushed open the door afraid of what was behind the unusual door. He was dismayed to see a sparsely decorated room with a small single bed and a shabby old wardrobe in the corner. The floor was littered with old looking parchment and the cleanly made bed stood out in sharp contrast to the state of the rest of the room. He did not want to dwell on the poor occupant of this room, as they were obviously not well cared for. He got the feeling he was no longer alone and turned in surprise to see a strangely dressed old man standing in bright colours on the room’s threshold.


Albus Dumbledore took in the devastation as he slowly approached No. 4 Privet Drive as he skirted the various piles of debris. The debris was everywhere and workmen were slowly cleaning up the mess and attempting to repair the damaged buildings. He took heart in the fact that it appeared from the street that No. 4 looked undamaged. Albus frowned when he saw a taped notice on the door saying that an Insurance Assessor was conducting a survey. A quick glance around the street showed other doors with similar notices. A quick gesture with his wand permitted entry, a survey of the ground floor reviled that kitchen was devastated and a broken lawnmower was lying on top of the mangled cooker.


Dumbledore was not pleased that the guard around Harry had not informed him about this. He proceeded to investigate the upper floor and discovered a man standing in Harry’s empty room. Dumbledore learnt from skimming the man’s mind that the area was damaged by freak tornadoes two days ago and everyone was moved out of the area while the clean up occurred. Dumbledore was concerned when he learnt that only three persons were removed from No. 4. ‘Where is Mr. Potter, I need him to help me recruit Horace Slughorn.’ Before Dumbledore left he tried to determine if any magic was used and his scans only showed magic that was cast by the protection detail.


Frank Granger cursed as he raced home after his wife’s panicked call. He had learnt that his only daughter was missing. He pulled into the drive forgetting about parking the car in the garage in his haste to get to his concerned wife. His wife, Jane, was stood at the counter in the kitchen still in shock. As Frank absorbed the damage done to the back of the house he sagged in relief that none of the flying debris had hurt his wife, he did not want to contemplate what had happened to his daughter. After phoning the police and then the House insurance, he bundled Jane into the car and headed for the nearest unaffected hotel.


The following evening he slowly broke Jane out of her shock, as the hospitals were out due to all the chaos going on. The Police reported that there was a lot of missing person’s cases across the country and the odds of finding Hermione were not good. Needless to say it was a stressful twenty-four hours. The following afternoon the Granger's returned home to survey the damage and to find a recent non-magical photo of Hermione for the Police to use in their search of their missing daughter.


Frank frowned as he heard the shower running in Hermione’s room and went to investigate as he thought that it was only he and Jane in the house. He gasped as he saw his daughter alive and well with a towel wrapped around her body obviously just out of the shower. She tearfully wrapped Frank in a hug saying “Daddy.” Jane appeared at the bedroom door after hearing the tearful reunion.


“Hermione!” Exclaimed Jane as she realised that the skin of Hermione’s breasts peaking out of the towel were unblemished and showed no evidence of her earlier injury.


Her daughter left Frank and barrelled into her smiling broadly.


“Hermione, what happened to you?” Asked a shocked Jane, she was delighted to see Hermione better but was confused, as the last time she had seen her daughter she was badly injured and prospects of a full recovery appeared to be bleak.


Hermione hesitated to answer before a tall well built man appeared from the en-suite. Jane noticed the man had the most expressive soulful green eyes and a messy head of black hair. He wore just a white towel wrapped around his waist. Jane observed as the man noticed Herself and Frank standing in the bedroom and his expression changed from one of adoration of her daughter to one that resembled a “deer caught in the headlights” look. Jane was only just noticing the owl, trunk, brooms and extra bags in the room before Frank started to give out.


“Who are you? Are you shagging my daughter? Hermione, how could you? --” Frank ranted after the joy of finding Hermione wore off.


“That’s enough, Frank, let Hermione explain herself.” Interrupted Jane, ‘this better be good she thought.’


Hermione went and sat down on the bed, the man followed and sat beside her and pulled Hermione up into his lap hugging her. Frank growled in annoyance at this brash move.


“Mum, Dad . . . We got soaked when we arrived and needed to shower okay--”


“Who is he?” Demanded Frank.


“Harry, Harry Potter” Said a blushing Hermione as she realised that she had not introduced them yet.



“Harry, I thought he had glasses?” said Jane in confusion


“Well I don’t need them any more.” Replied Harry as he smiled at Hermione.


“But I don't understand I thought Harry was your age a kid and not a Man.” Huffed an annoyed Frank.


“Well, Daddy, I'm actually older than Harry by almost a year.” Responded a confident Hermione.


Frank frowned as he just noticed Hermione's mature body she almost could pass for Jane's younger sister and not her daughter. 'What the hell is going on?'


“Hermione dear, please explain what happened, two days ago you were badly injured and disappeared during the bad storms and now look at you in very good health. I thought you were badly depressed but now I don't know, you look happy almost glowing--”


“You still did not answer young man, are you shagging my daughter?” Interrupted a brassed off Frank.


The couple blushed but did not answer and it appeared to Jane that they held a conversation with just their eyes, before Hermione answered. “Please can we get dressed and discuss this over some food because Harry and I are starving.”


Jane nodded and dragged her irate husband out of the room as her mother’s instinct told her that her daughter was now a mature adult in a loving relationship. She did not understand how it happened but was glad that Hermione appeared to be happy. After worrying over the last two days over Hermione's prospects with her terrible injuries, she was beyond pleased to have found her daughter happy and well, and if this was due to one Harry Potter, well then maybe he might measure up to the man that she hoped her daughter would spend the rest of her life with. And if Frank was right that they were a sexually active couple. Well, it was to late to be worrying about spilt milk, even if she did feel disappointed in Hermione, even if that was the truth of the matter.


Jane found herself and Frank in the trashed kitchen, she left a frustrated Frank to set the table for four as she went about preparing something to eat. The insurance company had done an excellent job of patching the house and making it secure by boarding up the windows before the builders would come to complete repairs next week. As Jane prepared the food she heard Frank grumble about the Man in Hermione's room. After ten minutes Hermione and Harry arrived in the kitchen holding hands. Jane brought over four bowls of soup and a basket of bread rolls. Jane was distracted as she observed her daughter and Harry wolf down the food while Frank sulked over his meal.


Once the meal was finished Hermione started to speak. “The tornado took us away from here and time passed for us, I am no longer a sixteen year old, but actually just over nineteen years old.”


Jane sat stunned as she absorbed this, she did not know what to expect, not this but on reflection it was beginning to make sense. Hermione was no longer a developing girl but a young woman, a beautiful one in her opinion. Her wild hair was a little tamer, her figure more womanly and curvy, not like those skinny models passing for beauty these days. Jane took in the man beside her daughter, he was a tall, well built man, a little skinny for her liking and she had noticed earlier he had a toned body like an Olympic swimmer would have, however she had noticed that his body was marred by scars criss-crossing his lightly tanned skin. At a guess she would say he was a little less than six foot, but maybe should have been taller, she guessed he was starved in his youth. He was a good-looking chap and if she read into all that Hermione had shared about him before the tornado took her away was accurate they were smitten with each other. Now it struck her that Harry had been in the en-suite with Hermione naked, maybe they were now an item. She felt a pang of loss as she realised that she had missed three important years in her daughter’s life as she could see the truth in Hermione's statement. Now that she really looked at her daughter it was obvious to her that she had grown up, also her badly injured body showed no blemishes or scars even in the modest cut top Hermione wore that showed a hint of cleavage. A lot must have happened over that time, obviously with the young man sitting at her table.


Minerva McGonagall cursed as she realised that she had forgot to bring the novel she was reading with her when she left Hogwarts for summer break. It was a very good book written by a young witch from the States. ‘That does it I’ll just have to go back.’ She was just half way through the novel as it was difficult to find free time while working as deputy headmistress at Hogwarts as the job just soaked up all her free time. She had managed to read for about a half hour before bed each night during school term. It was the one way she disconnected from the world to unwind. She sighed at the prospect of having to go back and retrieve her novel. Unfortunately it was the fifth book in a seven book series. The author was a very talented witch from the states and the books were riveting. It was almost too difficult to but them down and concentrate on the job.


Minerva trekked up from the gates of Hogwarts after apparating from her home. The old castle felt lonely with no children around to bring it to life. She arrived at her quarters and frowned when she observed a flashing pink wall sconce. Something was knocking around in her head reminding her of the significance of the flashing sconce. When she assumed the most senior role for a female in Hogwarts she was approached by her predecessor Professor Melinda Munro about a matter that concerned her new position.


After Melinda had congratulated her on her new post and exchanged small talk she got down to the reason for her visit. “Rowena and Helga realised that times were changing and the old ways were dieing off. But they felt that one form of magic should not be allowed to die off, so the set in place means to help over the years. They had decided that the role would fall to the most senior female member on staff. In the time of the founders, marriage took two forms, the first was arranged marriage with binding oaths controlled by what would become the Ministry. And the second were magical unions of various strengths. As the years passed the common age of marriage increased from about fifteen to the practice of marrying just after school. It was felt that to aid these newly weds they should have co-habiting accommodation separate from their dorm mates to aid the early years of married life. To this end various wards were set up to detect marriages that occurred between students attending Hogwarts. These were recorded in books stored in the restricted section of the library. In my long career at Hogwarts I have helped only five couples where as in the time of the founders almost half the accommodation space was set aside for couples.” After the talk, a curious Minerva checked the records and was astonished to find that Hogwarts records were as complete as the records kept by the Ministry.


Minerva was delighted when she realised that she remembered the significance of the Pink sconce, someone attending Hogwarts had married since the start of the summer. It was always nice to hear stories about couples marrying in such trying times. After retrieving the novel she proceeded to the library to check the records, all the while thinking how she was going to help her first case in this important job. Melinda had impressed upon her how important in times past it was for Hogwarts to help young married couples in developing a strong bond. As magical unions were fragile in the first few years of married life. Divorce was rare in the magical world as it was next to impossible to fully sever the magical bond.



Names: Harry James Potter-Black, and Hermione Jane (Granger) Potter-Black*

Type of union: Soul bonding, Magical bonding, and Mind union.

Date of Union: 14/2/2009 R.W**

Notes: *Clerical error on birth cert Jane/Jean to be confirmed.

**Bonding occurred in another realm, detected once they returned 8/7/1996


Minerva’s jaw dropped as she read the new entry in to the password locked ledger. She did not understand the meaning of the notes. She went to check the recording of Harry’s parent’s marriage details and observed that it was just a normal love bond. She felt that she had to go and talk to the young couple as the ledger raised many questions as to how this could have happened. She was under the impression that young Mister Potter had a teenage romance with Miss Chang during the year even if short lived, but the ledger entry could not be dismissed.


Severus Snape sat in contemplation of his next move after Mrs. Malfoy and Mrs. Lestrange had left after Mrs. Malfoy's got a Wizard's Oath from him. It was uncanny how he always seemed to find himself in these sorts of situations. Playing as a spy for both Lord Voldemort and Albus Dumbledore and now as the back up for his godson Draco. He was pulled from his pondering as the dark mark sent a white-hot pain through him as the Dark Lord called.


After Portkeying to the Dark Lord’s location as it was heavily warded against apparition. Severus approached the throne room, and bowed at the Dark Lord's feet. Severus eyes widened a touch at the dull eyes of the Dark Lord, as they appeared almost lifeless.


“Tell me Severus how is it that Potter can now block my mind, just last week I had free reign in his head but yesterday that changed report.”


“I have heard nothing my Lord.” Stated a nervous Severus Snape.


“Did I not instruct you to leave him weak and helpless?”


“Yes” Stated Severus as he bit on the rest of his statement. ‘He was helpless but I do not know about that now, it would not be good for ones health to point out the megalomaniac's deficiencies.’


“For your failure.” Severus’ eyes widened as the Dark Lord cast the Cruciatus curse at him.


After the spell wore off Severus stiffly left the Dark Lord's presence wondering what had changed with the boy. “Don't fail me again. This is your last warning”


Lord Voldemort sat in contemplation, he had sent a six-man team to the ministry to find the boy's location a week ago. After he learnt that the boy had a trial before the start of school last year, he realised that the boy’s Muggle address would be recorded in the files of the court case so he had ordered the men to get the information and go and abduct one Harry Potter. He wanted to inflict the killing curse himself. But Wormtail had reported that the team along with a weak willed clerk had vanished. Now he had discovered that his spy Severus had failed in his task in breaking the boy’s mind. He was beginning to think that Severus was no longer a true follower as his potions were below par from his normal excellent standards. Finding a competent Potions master was very difficult, which was why Snape was rarely severely punished.


“Dolohov.” Commanded the Dark Lord, after a brief time a man approached and bowed.


“Report.”


“We have emptied the vaults as instructed in to the Lestrange vault. Our moles are in place M'lord, and Fudge has stepped down to be replaced by Scrimgeour. Also the Ministry is at a loss as to explain the freak weather occurring.”


“Excellent, it doesn’t matter who’s the Minister, as he will die soon. I have new orders just for you.”


“Yes M'lord.”


“A member of Dumbledore’s little band of white hats has been identified and I want you to eliminate him.”


“Yes M'lord, but who is it?”


“Crucio.” Antonin Dolohov writhed on the floor in agony for questioning the Dark Lord.


“I was not finished, the man I want dead is Arthur Weasley, the task must be done in the Ministry and is to look like infighting, understood.”


“Yes M'lord.” Stammered Antonin in agony.


“Get out of my sight.” Antonin swiftly left hoping to never displease the Dark Lord again.


Captain Robert Pennysworth of the S.A.S. stood in front of a group of two hundred of the best men that the British military had ever produced. “Good afternoon, gentlemen, what I am about to tell you does not leave this room understood.”


“Sir, Yes Sir.” Came the prompt response from the assembled men.


“What I am about to reveal is going to be hard to believe but it is the truth understood. This video was recorded at No. Ten Downing St. between the Prime Minister and an unknown Wizard.”


The men looked baffled, as they knew from the Captain’s demeanour that this was serious also there was the fact that someone in authority admitted to spying on the Prime Minister.


The lights were dimmed as a video was shown on a screen in the front of the briefing room. The video began by showing the Prime Minister sitting at his desk working through papers. The video had no sound, a man suddenly appeared in the bottom left corner of the picture. It appeared that the two men had a heated argument before the unknown man produced a thin long object and pointed it to the Prime Minister's head. The Prime Minister then sat back down and went back to work after about ten minutes staring into space. The date recorded on the data stamp was 4/4/1996


“The Prime Minister has no recollection of that meeting ever taking place gentlemen, which happened last week. M.I.6 stumbled upon them during operations in Germany during our little scuffle with the Nazis. They discovered the existence of magic and these so called wizards. These wizards do exist and can kill by uttering just two words; we will be training you in how to stop them. From intelligence reports we understand that these Wizards underestimate us. Intelligence also reports an increase of terrorist activity within their community, which is spilling into ours. We believe that they are responsible for all the freak weather occurring around the British Isles.”


The men were given half an hour before they started training in how to cope against what tactics they expected from these apparently overconfident wizards. The thought of how they would deal with magical beasts and creatures never occurred to the instructors.


After Hermione relayed an obvious incomplete account of their time in the other realm, Jane contacted the police to inform them that they had found their daughter. Jane believed her daughter but felt that Hermione was holding back a vital piece of information. It did not help that Frank was very upset at the change in his little princess. They had decided to stay at the house tonight and Frank made sure that Harry had slept alone in the spare room away from Hermione. With all these thoughts swirling around Jane's mind she fell asleep.


Harry struggled with his bonds furtively. He was bound to a chair with heavy twine and electrical cord. It was no use his wrists were being frayed by the tight bindings. He was in a dark, dank, stone walled room. The chair he was tied to was a heavy wooden construct. He had given up using magic, as it seemed it had deserted him. He was unconcerned about his own predicament as he was not alone in this room. Attached to the wall was a chain bound witch. She was wearing tattered bloody clothes that barely covered her modesty. She was wearing heavy black manacles that had rubbed her wrists raw. Her gaunt starved body was peppered with scratches and deep cuts. The marred skin was black and blue and ugly welts were liberally scattered in contrast. Her matted hair lay limp covering her face.


The sound of a deadbolt echoed in the small stone room. The door opened to reveal a wizard in full Death Eater regalia. The wizard whispered a spell, which caused the manacled witch to arch her back in agony. Her screams were interrupted by the sounds of bones breaking as her tormented body destroyed itself. The witch's back was broken and lay quivering her head lolling to the side as screams gurgled from her broken mouth. Harry sucked in a shocked breath as he recognized the witch's face. He would know those eyes anywhere. 'Oh, Merlin it's Hermione.’ As recognition snared him Harry struggled to unleash his magic in anger. But it never came, the faceless wizard cackled in glee at Harry's horror.


“Tell me, Potter, do want it to stop.” The accent-less voice asked.


Harry's mouth felt like the desert, he willed his magic to take on Hermione's suffering but it did not work.


“Well answer me, do you want me to stop.” The wizard goaded.


Hermione's anguished sobbing seemed to pierce Harry's heart, his mouth dried up, he could not speak, the air left his lungs he felt like he was losing the will to live. ‘Please make it stop.’


“Fine, it's on your hands.”


A green spell left the wand; Hermione's dead eyes seemed to bore right into his mind. Harry suddenly found that he could scream.


“NNOOOOOOOO”


Harry sat bolt upright, the sudden motion threw off his bedclothes. He keenly felt the loss of Hermione. 'No, she can't be gone.’ The mantra kept repeating in his head as he contemplated suicide to join her in the afterlife. He dimly felt a pair of feminine arms wrap around him in a hug. His heart was thumping wildly in his chest as his lungs struggled to provide enough oxygen to his distraught body. His tortured mind tried to process that a pair of female arms were hugging him into a soft female chest.


“Hush, Harry, it's okay, I am here, and it was just a nightmare, hush.” Consoled a worried Hermione as she gently rocked Harry.


Frank was startled awake by the panicked scream that had come from Hermione's room, Jane turned on the light and they both went to investigate as it was a scream filled with so much pain and anguish. Jane pushed open the door and turned on the main bedroom light and stopped short at the sight in the bed. Frank growled as he spotted a topless silently sobbing Harry, with Hermione hugging him from behind. Jane turned and took hold of Frank's chin, to force him to look her in the eyes and begged him silently to let her handle it with, he reluctantly nodded.


Jane turned and silently approached the bed and sat on the corner of the bed.


“What's wrong?” Inquired Jane as she noticed Hermione's panicked face.


“You remember earlier when we explained about learning to control our magic?” Asked Hermione as she continued to rock a distressed Harry.


Jane nodded wondering where this was going.


“Well when Harry healed me his magic made a connection with mine. That connection helped me through the bad times.” Jane noticed the pain in her eyes as she said this and wondered what that could have been.


“Well we discovered that we loved each other just after that first tough Christmas all alone.” Frank snorted and Jane turned and glared at him in annoyance.


“The following spring we went on holiday to Switzerland. Valentines night . . .” Trailed off Hermione.


Jane gestured for Hermione to continue encouragingly as she realised that she would finally get some answers.


“Well I had an, mmm, an erotic dream.”


“I don't need to hear that.” Interrupted Frank he still wanted to see his daughter as a sweet little girl, and did not want his delusion to be ruined.


“Frank, please, stop butting in, please continue, Hermione.” Jane also noticed that Harry seemed to have calmed somewhat from his frantic state.


“We learnt that we actually shared our dreams and awoke up as Husband and Wife.” Said a blushing Hermione.


“What? How? Oh my” As Jane noticed the wedding bands appear on the couple's fingers. She wondered how she had missed them.


“It was our magic that did it.”


“Okay, but why is Harry in this state?” As she decided to focus on why Harry was so distraught.


“Where we were had no magic, and we had to hold ours in so as to keep all the electrical devices working. And here has so much magic that it is overwhelming us. My connection with Harry is almost gone. We managed to avoid bad nightmares because we share dreams but since we arrived back I've had my dreams alone and I have gotten so used to Harry’s presence that now it feels so lonely without him.”


Jane gasped at all that was implied in her daughter’s statement. She wondered how she could cope with sharing so much of herself with Frank.


“I have just managed to reconnect with Harry and have just learnt that his nightmare was of a wizard torturing and killing me. And because our magic makes it real he was considering following me.” Said a shaking Hermione as Harry turned and hugged Hermione close to him.


Frank glared as he noticed that Hermione had been sleeping nude with Harry. Jane looked on, as it seemed that the couple in the bed communicated telepathically.


“What do you mean follow you?” Asked Jane.


“Well I thought she was dead, so I wanted to die too.” Stated a much calmer Harry.


Frank in the beginning hated one Harry Potter, but that all changed once he realised the depth of the bond shared between his daughter and Harry. He now understood Harry’s state was due to the belief that Hermione was tortured and killed in front of him. It was now apparent to him that Harry was head over heels in love with Hermione. He realised that he was upset that he had missed out on Hermione turning into a fine young woman. Frank turned and reluctantly went back to bed grumbling about what time of the morning it was. Jane smiled sadly and turned off the lights as she joined her husband for the rest of the night.


Harry turned and gently pushed Hermione on to her back. Hermione could feel all of Harry’s warring emotions through their restored bond, from relief and joy that she was alive to the anguish and horror of her death in his vivid dream. Harry started to kiss her forehead before moving down to her lips for a sensual kiss. Hermione lost herself into the kiss. Harry moved his attention down to the nape of her neck he trailed kisses down to her left breast. He kissed and suckled around the hardened nipple. Hermione traced her hands through his hair urging him on. He gently nipped her aroused nipple, her back arched. He moved to concentrate on her other breast so it would not feel left out. The part of her mind always on came to the realisation that Harry was reaffirming his love for her by worshipping her body after the trauma of his nightmare. She whimpered at the loss of his mouth on her breasts as he started to kiss up her legs. Her nerves tingled at the sensations he evoked as he made a languid journey up her body. She held her breath in anticipation as she felt hot breath against the inside of her thigh.


Hermione was alive to the sensations coursing through her and came hard as Harry kissed her there. As she was slowly brought back down she felt him slide up her body to claim her mouth in a heated kiss. All the while their bond was wide open to his turbulent emotions as he laid his very soul bare to her. She reached down between him and grasped him. He held his body taunt at the bold move as Hermione had allowed him complete control before now. She guided him and he slid home in one gentle thrust. Hermione put her hand on his shoulder and urged him to roll over. As Harry rolled over Hermione sat up and started to grind into him. Harry’s hands came up to caress her breasts. As he came, it pushed her over the edge again into another orgasm. She collapsed onto him and fell in to contented slumber. Harry wrapped his arms around her and followed her into her dreams.


Mafalda Hopkirk scowled as she sat at her desk in the Improper Use of Magic Office. The detectors had to be disabled due to the strange magical effects occurring across the country. She had nothing to do for the last month as her department was gutted due to this damn problem with ineffective potions. It seemed that all the potions in the country was on average at ten percent their normal potency and the Ministry didn’t know why. Because of this they were burying the knowledge. The atmosphere within the Ministry was tense, as everybody feared that he who must not be named could pop out and kill at any moment. The O.W.L and N.E.W.T. results were also delayed due to the strange magical occurrences.


Arthur Appleton grinned as he rubbed his hands together in glee. His plan was coming together nicely. He was a twenty five year old potion's brewer trying unsuccessfully to find a job. His dismal reference from his old potion's master Professor Severus Snape did not help matters at all. But that all changed around last Christmas he found a large black book in an old large disused house in Little Hangleton. The house had reeked of dark magic and he was terrified, as he had explored the ruined house. The book contained a ritual that would make him the undisputed master of potion making. After completing the ritual it appeared to him that nothing had changed. He found that it was still impossible to obtain employment. However during his search of the house for the book he discovered a small collection of old nasty potions. He guessed that they were over twenty years old and very potent. After researching these strange potions he decided that he was going to use them on the last wizard that failed to employ him. It was now July and he was hearing rumours of potions failing across the country however he did not notice a change in his own pitiful potion making. His friend Keith Bauer suggested wiping out the competition and installing a monopoly to control prices and get very rich. He thought it was a very good idea and he decided he was going to use the potions he found to accomplish it, however he discovered that he needed a magical host to incubate the magical device.


Hermione slowly woke up still lying upon Harry. She was delighted that their bonding had returned to full strength as it took a severe battering after the dangerous trip through realities. She firmly believed that Harry’s awful nightmare was due to his upbringing and the loss of connection with her. She was slowly adjusting to the massive influx of ambient magical energy even here in the mundane side of the barrier. She was pulled from her musings as Harry started to make love to her again.


Jane sat at the breakfast table deep in thought over last night’s events. Hermione was three years older give or take a few months and married as well. She found that she could not fully understand as she was not present for those absent years. Maybe the marriage was not legal as the ceremony seemed very strange and far-fetched. At least Frank seemed to be coming out of his opinion that Hermione was his little princess and was now a young woman in her own right.


The younger couple appeared for breakfast fully dressed. After an awkward breakfast, Harry said he had to run a few errands, kissed Hermione thoroughly and left in a multicoloured ball of light.


Frank looked startled at the way Harry left but after noticing the time he also left to go deal with the insurance company. Jane decided that what was needed was some mother daughter time. She was puzzled that Harry would leave on errands after his traumatic night. She suggested the two women go shopping and get reacquainted. Hermione nodded and the pair went shopping.


A large magical sphere appeared in front of Mrs. Black’s portrait at No. Twelve Grimmauld Place. The painting started to scream at the sudden appearance of an unknown magical person.


“Get out of my house you mudblood scum.”


The person pulled an unknown object from a harness under his shoulder and pointed it at the painting. After a brief flash the woman in the painting knew no more, and silence settled over the house once again.


Harry sighed in relief at the silence he felt sorry for shooting the painting but he did it instinctively after John had hammered it into them to always have defence options open to him. He felt loss at the thought of the dead old warhorse, in a way he was a bit like Mad-eye, always looking out for danger. His keenly developed magical senses were bombarded by dark tainted magic when he had appeared in front of the portrait. He had no time to think only react so did the first thing that came to him, he shot the painting and was surprised that shooting the painting had stopped the awful screeching coming from the troublesome painting. After taking a few calming breaths he let his magic flow searching for that particular unwanted dark taint. It had taken the displaced couple almost two years to develop this particular talent of divining the location of an object. In his search he was surprised at how many dark objects there were.


He replayed in his mind from Hermione’s perspective the feelings and process that she had used from removing Riddle’s taint from his head. He sighed in relief when he found that bitter tasting magical object. He was pleased to have found it. A small sphere materialised and dumped an ugly locket with an ornate S inscribed upon it on the floor. The couple had developed a new way of summoning objects instead of using the “Accio” spell as their instructors did not want anybody to see summoned objects flying around all over the place. They had discovered in their studies of Sphere transport that it could be used like the Accio spell and had mastered this technique in favour of using the wand-based spell. Harry concentrated on what Hermione had done to remove the tainted soul from him all that time ago. After an eternity he felt the fragment leave the object and he banished the black fog. He levitated the locket before willing it back to where it was before he summoned it. Once finished he left, he felt that he would deal with Kreacher later.


Jane found she was enjoying the shopping trip with her daughter. And after Hermione had tried on a few summer dresses it was clear to Jane that Hermione was almost like her dead sister, Juliet. Juliet was born two years after Jane and had been killed in a car crash when Jane was in college studying Dentistry. Frank had helped her through the loss. They had been a couple for three years at that point. Juliet was to be her bridesmaid, but it was never to be.


Hermione came out wearing a simple pale yellow top and baby blue skirt and asked for Jane’s opinion. Jane was pulled out of the past and thought that it would of suited her daughter before her trip to another world, but now she didn’t know. Hermione could tell her mother was distracted so put back the clothes. She paid for the few items they had already picked and dragged her mother to the nearest place for a coffee and a chat.


Jane found herself sitting in a quiet booth in a local pub with a large cup of Earl Grey and a pensive Hermione sitting across from her.


“Hermione, please explain why Harry’s nightmare hit him so hard and then he seemed to get over it quickly?”


Hermione seemed to gather her thoughts before she answered the question.


“Maybe when I explained what happened I wasn’t too clear on some points. I was unconscious for about six weeks. Then I felt a comforting presence, which I later learnt, was Harry. In those early months after he healed my injuries, I learnt all about Harry’s nightmares. He never had what is considered a normal childhood. He had tried to hide it at first but eventually I learnt all about it. If I ever meet his relatives they’ll wish they had never met me.”


Jane watched, as Hermione seemed to calm down from talking about Harry’s relatives. It seemed that Harry was abused.


“Harry learnt he had access to one of the most twisted and cruel minds which fuelled his terrible nightmares. The one last night was the torture inflicted on a father and daughter during the last war. Both were cruelly tortured and killed for a prophecy that was made about Harry. Riddle, who has been gunning for Harry has modified his memories so that Harry’s new nightmares put me in the place of the poor unfortunate girl and Harry assumed the role of the tortured father in the memory. Over the months in the other realm any time Harry or I began to feel we were in the throes of a nightmare, the other would gently enter and console and banish the nightmare. So it became the norm that we would rarely suffer from nightmares. But ever since our return it has been very hard on our magical bond. I was rendered unconscious and I believe that Harry went in to magical shock, it all caught up with us last night resulting in Harry’s nightmare. Afterwards we restored the bond fully, so we’re good now.”


Hermione took a sip of her tea and let Jane absorb the extra information.


“Okay, but what is Harry doing alone?”


“We learnt that Riddle split his soul and put those fragments in to objects. Riddle believes that they render him immortal. As you know, there is a prophecy that pits Harry and Riddle into conflict with the end result saying that only one survives. We came up with a plan that Harry is the one to survive. He is going after one of the soul pieces and I am staying behind in case he needs backup as at the moment we are the only two working together on this.”


“Oh. Your life at Hogwarts is not easy is it?”


“No it isn’t but it brought me Harry.”


The two women finished their tea break and went back to their shopping expedition.


Harry collapsed once he re-materialised in the Granger Kitchen. The women stopped their conversation to tend to the drained youth.


“Damn him he hasn’t got used to the magic here yet.” Exclaimed an upset Hermione.


“What happened to him?”


“He went to destroy an object we believe to be in Sirius’ house and the process almost drained all of his magical energy.”


Hermione studied Harry’s body and sighed in relief once she made contact with his mind. His body was fatigued from last night and his magic was drained due to his search. He had been gone for almost nine hours and he was starving, so Hermione pushed some magic into his body so that he could stay awake long enough to eat. Harry robotically ate the food and said very little as his body was not under his own control. Once he was fed Hermione put her husband to bed and resumed talking with her mother.


Molly Weasley was disturbed as she prepared a meal for the Order, there was something different but she could not put her finger on it. The front door banged open and she winced expecting the screaming and shouting to start coming from the demented painting but it never came. Auror Tonks was trying to right the umbrella stand she had tripped over before she stopped once she realised she had an audience. Molly gasped as she spotted a hole right through the painting between Mrs. Black’s eyes. She wondered what spell could have done such a thing.


She was pulled from her thoughts as Professor Dumbledore called the meeting to order, She and Tonks hurried into the drawing room for the start of the meeting. First order of business was the fact that one Harry Potter was missing. Second, employees of the Ministry were disappearing. Dumbledore grilled Harry’s guard detail but turned up no new information on his disappearance.


Severus had nothing to report, and Dumbledore frowned at Minerva’s absence. Molly called attention to the damaged portrait at the end of the meeting. After Mad-eye examined the painting he reported that it was not done by magic, and if it was done by Muggle means the resulting bullet was missing. The news sat uneasily with Dumbledore as it hinted that there was a new player in the game possibly a Muggle with extensive knowledge of the Wizard world. He was not sure if they were a wizard or not but it definitely meant that security was compromised. He instructed the Order to remove all of their equipment and supplies. He would have to look for a new headquarters to operate from.


Frank Granger sat in his study, pensive after a long days work. He was still upset about the changes in his daughter brought about by one Harry Potter. He could see the truth in her statement that she had aged about three years even if it did not settle right with him. She looked different, older, and happier even. He felt lost that he had missed it; it felt as if he did not know his daughter anymore. He wanted to hate Harry for his role in all of this but after his arrival just over an hour ago and the way Hermione fussed over him, Frank could see plain as day the way Hermione loved Harry. He did not want to learn about the girl talk that had occurred between mother and daughter all day so he retreated to the study to enjoy a small brandy.


After two hours sulking he went to find his wife. Jane was still in the kitchen drinking coffee with Hermione.


“. . I still miss them, mum. It's only been a couple of days, but I know I'll never see them again.” Said a crying Hermione.


Jane pulled the crying Hermione into a hug after hearing all about Harry and Hermione's time spent in the other reality.


“How's Harry?” Asked a gruff Frank.


Hermione looked up from her mothers shoulder and responded. “He is almost completely drained from destroying another soul piece, I am maintaining the connection so that he regains his strength and does not repeat last nights nightmare as I have almost adapted to the higher levels of ambient magic.”


“Huh?” Frowned a confused Frank.


“I'll explain later, dear.” Said Jane as she ushered him out as it was obviously just for female ears only. He sighed collected a glass of water and retired to bed for the night.


The following morning, Frank found a bright and cheerful Harry preparing breakfast. Frank was surprised to find the table set so ornately. The table was set just like you would expect if dining at Buckingham Palace. It appeared that Harry had found the delph and cutlery that was saved for special occasions. Franks eyes widened at the large array of food that Harry was preparing.


“Are you expecting to feed an army?”


Harry paused in adding some ingredients to his omelette on the pan to regard Frank’s question.


“MMM just us four why?”


“Are you trying to fatten us?”


“No. It’s just that a wizard or witch eats more due to the fact that using magic makes us hungry.”


“Hermione mentioned something about that, and said a witch or wizard’s metabolism was higher than normal due to the fact that they could do magic, something about food fuelling the magic or something. But that still doesn’t explain all the food.”


“Well when we spent time in that other reality we had to learn to control our magic. We discovered that once we mastered this it made us have a very large appetite. Jim our doctor realised that we must have been using a lot of magic due to our high food intake. We are on an exercise regime and a controlled diet.”


“I’m a health professional and I can tell that my daughter does not look like a person who spends all the time in the gym. How come you both don’t look fat?”


“FAT? No one insults my wife lightly, even her own father, and gets away with it.”


Frank slowly moved to the door way as he realised that the angry man was liable to do anything to him. Thinking quickly he apologised and explained that he was just trying to get a handle on the massive changes occurring in his daughter’s life.


About a minute after Harry calmed down, the ladies of the house joined the men at the table for breakfast. Frank was surprised that Jane said noting about the vast quantities the couple were eating. During breakfast Frank mentioned that the builders could not repair the house for a couple of months at least, due to the large number of houses in the area that need repair. He sat stunned as Hermione waved her hand and a soft glow appeared and wherever was damaged was slowly repaired as good as new and in some spots better than the original work. It was like watching a film slowly playing in reverse righting all the damage inflicted upon the Granger residence.


After the builders hording was magically returned to his yard, the windows looked as good as new. Frank sighed in relief that all his neighbours were not around to see the magical repairs. He was also delighted that the back of the house was the only area affected by the freak storms. He could see in Hermione’s flushed face that she appeared to be tired after that little display of magic. He thought that she needed to wave a little stick to do magic but must have been mistaken. He left for work pleased that he did not have to cancel his holiday plans due to the fact he would not have to pay for unexpected repair work. As he left for work he overheard the young couple mention going out for a twenty mile run.


Harry stepped out of the refreshing shower and groaned when he spotted a dark brown post Owl sitting on the headboard of the bed. His first thought was that it was a letter giving out about them using magic outside of Hogwarts. He was unsure of how people would look at him or regard him as his true age or the age he was expected to be, it was getting confusing. Ignoring the bird for now he swiftly got dressed and lamented the fact he had to shower alone, he always loved the shower with Hermione after an exercise, as it was he felt the best part of exercising together. But today she said she couldn’t because she had to meet her mother in town, and she would be late if they had shared a shower. Once Harry turned his attention to the post owl he got the impression that the owl was not happy. Harry leaned forward and removed the parchment scroll from the owl. Once that was done the owl hooted and swiftly left.


With a degree of trepidation Harry slowly unrolled the parchment and began to read as he expected a letter from the Ministry over the magic Hermione and he were using.


Wallace and Platt And Associates,

58B Diagon Alley,

Magical London,


10th July 1996,


Lord Harry Potter-Black

Hermione’s Bedroom,

The Granger Residence.


Dear Harry,


Allow me to offer condolences on the loss of your Godfather the late Lord Sirius Black. I am contacting you about the small matter of the paperwork required to settle his estate. Please can you and your spouse the Lady Hermione Potter-Black turn up at our offices tomorrow at 10 o’clock to sort out these unwanted matters at this difficult time?


Yours Sincerely


Hugh Wallace,

Wizarding Solicitor,


Harry frowned wondering how this man knew about Hermione. He was unsettled that the letter seemed a little thin on information and what was this business of adding Sirius’ surname to his own. He decided he would show the letter to Hermione later after she returned from town with her mother. Harry carefully rolled up the parchment and placed it upon the bedside locker on Hermione’s side of the bed and cast a spell upon it so that Hermione would look at it the first time she entered the room. Satisfied, he left the house by travelling sphere, the clock on the bedside table read five past midday.


Arthur Appleton was an ambitious Slytherin hoping to make it as a potions master however he had a Muggle father which closed a lot of doors to him. He had little to no friends, however there was one that he considered almost like a brother to him they had met shortly after Arthur had left Hogwarts. His friend was home schooled as his parents were poor purebloods and could not afford the high fees required to attend Hogwarts. After getting to know Keith Bauer he decided that Keith would have been sorted into Ravenclaw, as he was a highly intellectual individual with a decidedly grey outlook on morals as he had suggested putting all the other potion makers out of business.


While Arthur was obsessed with potions Keith’s obsession was women as he had led a very sheltered life as he was home schooled. The Bauer’s were a very private pureblood family that the wizarding world had almost forgotten about, as they were a very secretive family. The other families knew that the Bauer’s worked as Unspeakables and therefore the common wizard was kept in the dark about this most secretive of families. Arthur often tried to find out about Keith’s family but his friend remained tight lipped. He had only met Keith by chance while in Hogsmeade and they had instantly become friends.


Keith had bumped into the young witch by accident and had apologised profusely. After that first meeting Keith discovered that his friend Arthur had a keen interest in the lovely young woman but after a while Keith got fed up at his friends lack of courage to ask her out. At their second meeting Keith asked her out for an ice cream. During that first conversation he discovered that she was a student attending Hogwarts named Susan Bones. Keith was stunned at first as the Bauer’s were an old family that still arranged marriages. When Keith came of age he was told about the young witch he was to marry when she came of age. When he pestered his mother for her name she relented after two months of constant enquiries and replied the union was with the Bones as that family was heavily involved in law enforcement. So Keith was pleasantly surprised with himself falling in love with his betrothed. After he shared this news with Susan he was pleasantly surprised to find that she wanted to get to know him well. He was surprised at how forward she was as he had led a very sheltered life in regards to the fairer sex. He Floo called his friend Arthur to say he would not be available today and met Susan instead. The day was great as it lead to great love making with his future wife. He found that he was very thirsty and drained the glass of water dry that was sitting upon the bedside locker.


Arthur discovered that Keith had started going out with a young witch that he had his eye on. He felt betrayed that Keith would move in on her after he had confessed to fancying her. He had discovered a potion that would render himself invisible in the book he had found in Little Hangleton and brewed it to spy on Keith and the young witch. After observing the couple having sex he poured a poison into a glass on the bedside table. He was very angry with Keith and was pleased to see him drink the glass of poisoned water dry. He then stunned the young witch and proceeded to rifle through her belongings and was disgusted to realise that she was still a Hogwarts student. He thought she was about twenty, not sixteen and a half, he wondered how young girls could make themselves look older with a little bit of make up and some adult clothes. Her purse identified her as Susan Bones. He sat on the bed in contemplation of what to do next.


In a house in a highly secured location an old lady was reading the Daily Prophet to see what the controlled rag was reporting now, when there was the shriek of an alarm. This house contained a clock similar to the one residing in the Weasley family home, however this clock was a much more elaborate clock. The Hand with Keith Bauer’s name swung from Happy (in love and sexual bliss) to Dead (poisoned). The clock face was a highly prized heirloom and showed highly detailed information on the Family and extended family of the Bauer’s. About an hour earlier the name Susan Bauer (nee Bones) was added and that hand swung from Happy (in love and sexual bliss) to Mortal Danger (under outside influence). The old lady passed out in shock at the death of her great grandson. The alarm of the family clock blared in the empty house as it’s only occupant lay unconscious on the floor oblivious to the racket. The hand with Lady Bauer on it swung to the position of Dead (due to severe emotional shock.).


After fifteen minutes thinking, Arthur removed a potions flask from his robes and slowly approached the stunned young witch. He put the neck of the flask to her mouth and massaged her neck as he poured the potion down her throat. He removed a second potion and dumped it on to the corpse and watched it dissolve into nothingness. Just as the potion started to eat through the bed the witch sat bolt upright with a glassy stare as the liquid Imperius took effect. Arthur silently handed over three large flasks of the first potion to be ingested. After waiting the required hour Arthur handed over three small vials of the second potion, once it was ingested Arthur handed over a Stoppered vial of the third potion with instruction to drink it once at the target.


Susan stood up after ingesting all the potions and robotically got dressed. She felt the compulsion to visit the Apothecary in Diagon Alley. She took hold of the Portkey Keith had provided for her to use and returned home. She frantically searched her room for the Portkey to Diagon Alley and was dismayed when she could not find it. She needed Portkeys for magical transportation, as the residence was not connected to the Floo network, due to security concerns. She was underage so was not trained in Apparation. Her locked consciousness screamed in dismay at the automated actions of her drugged body as it furtively tried to complete it’s designated task. She had met Keith in a small bookshop and fallen madly in love. It was love at first sight. She did not know that Keith was over five years older than herself and her arranged Husband to be. As her locked mind grieved for her dead lover, her body stripped and got dressed into Muggle clothes. The distraught witch boarded the 2:20 express to Waterloo in London.


Hermione returned from an enjoyable afternoon with Jane in Jane’s small blue Renault Clio. The Mercedes was Frank’s for keeping up appearances with his side of the family. Jane wanted a second car so that she could leave the Dental practice to go shopping or meet her friends. She only had the car a couple of months and loved the sense of freedom after only just passing the driving test shortly before Frank bought the car as a reward for passing first time. When she had finished college she had large education loans to clear and could not afford a car then. Shortly after she fell in love with Frank and before she knew it she was married and pregnant. After that she never found the time to learn to drive until Hermione started to attend Hogwarts. She enjoyed driving the small nippy car than Frank’s big saloon. Jane loved the clothes shopping as it gave her another opportunity to get to know this new Hermione after her three years in the other reality.


Jane could sense that Hermione was worried about Harry and his current task. Yesterday Hermione explained the couple’s plans and the treat of one Tom Riddle known in the Wizarding World as “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named” or Lord Voldemort. Jane found herself agreeing with the couple’s decision to call him Riddle instead of the two ridiculous made up names. Hermione explained that they wanted to eradicate Riddle’s Horcruxes as soon as possible. It was decided that only one would tackle the problem while the other stayed behind in support in case anything went wrong. Jane understood that Harry was on such a dangerous mission now, which explained Hermione’s fretting. Hermione had retreated into her room to hug Harry’s pillow for comfort. Jane entered carrying a tray with two cups of tea and a plate of biscuits. Jane noticed the opened letter lying on the bedspread. She reached out to read it but paused to look at Hermione in permission. Hermione nodded and Jane proceeded to read the Solicitors letter to Harry and was surprised it mentioned Hermione and the fact they were married and she wondered at the double-barrelled name. The two women sat silently waiting for there spouses to return, Frank from a golf game and Harry from something much more serious.


Harry smiled as he materialised inside the Department of Ministries, it looked just the same as the battle only a couple of weeks ago. Hermione thought that concentrating on here would be the easiest way to gain access to the Ministry as they had been here before. He was delighted that her idea worked, he scanned his surrounds and was pleased to find that his entrance had gone unobserved. It appeared that the Ministry was unaware of travelling spheres as he had easily sphered into the building by-passing many wards probably. He opened the small backpack he had brought with him and donned one of the invisibility suits Hermione had made for Tom’s craft class. Once that was done he stuffed the pack into an expanding pocket of the suit. He retraced the movements the six had made earlier that summer back to the lift shafts.


Once he arrived there he took his bearings and lightly skimmed passing employees minds for anyone working in records. After a painful hour of standing rigidly out of the way he found an old witch heading to where he wanted to go. He started to follow her into the lift when his muscles sized from being held in the one position for so long. He struggled through the pain and made it in time before the doors closed on him. The lift stopped on three floors before the Witch left and made her way down to the records office. Harry found it hard to keep up with out alerting anyone to his presence with the amount of personal in the corridors. He sighed in relief when he made it into the office.


After an hour searching the files he groused the fact that the office had no computers with a search engine to simplify this arduous task. Trying to stay incognito was also tedious. About seventy-five minutes into his search a frantic Percy Weasley entered the office looking for a certain file number. The witch calmly left her filing to collect a large blue leather bound book and scribbled the file number on the first page. Harry approached to observe hoping that this might help him in his search. After ten seconds the writing faded away and the book suddenly opened on a certain page. After consulting the book the witch moved into the stacks and produced a wooden crate. She removed the lid and summoned the file from within. A satisfied Percy left before a bell tolled sounding the end of the working day. The witch simply left the office and locked the door and an invisible Harry remained behind.


Harry immediately removed the suffocating hood and sighed in relief, as it was not comfortable to breath through the breathing charm cast upon the facemask. He approached the book and wrote out his name as a test. After twenty three seconds the pages in the book flipped over before stopping on a certain page listing all the files relevant to Harry Potter. Harry’s eyes widened when he realised that there was over two hundred files listed. From a quick glance he discovered that they covered everything from school files, files on his parents, and all the people he was known to be in contact with, legal documents and a record of his trial last year. But the one that got his attention was the most recent addition to his file stating his Magical Union with Hermione Potter-Black. He was disgusted with some of the entries in the file saying that it was a pure bonding between virgins and the blood sacrifice of Hermione’s was significant. The file proceeded to state that the marriage was the most powerful ever recorded. Distractedly Harry summoned all the listed files and stuffed them into his small backpack, he was glad that the bag had an expanding charm to make it’s interior larger than it’s exterior. He was pleased that the bag easily contained all of the files. He hemmed and hawed over the Name Potter-Black so he filled out a new search under the names: Black, Potter, and Potter-Black. The new results added another six hundred and seventy five files to the earlier two hundred give or take a few files.


Harry shook his head to clear his mind he had gotten distracted from his goal and wrote again into the blue book. This time the page showed apparition co-ordinates to the location he wanted. However this was almost useless, as he did not know how to use them. In frustration he copied them down onto a scrape of parchment he had found on the desk. Suddenly feeling paranoid Harry let his magic flow through the book to see if it recorded search entries like an Internet browser did in the other reality. His magic could find none but Harry wanted to be sure that he left no evidence behind. With a thought a small magical sphere appeared above the table an deposited the “The Potter book of Magic.” Harry scanned through the book for wandless spells that could solve his problem. In his search he found an entry about the blue book being a complicated artefact and could only keep record of five searches in its memory before being overwritten.


Harry proceeded to do random searches on various Death Eaters known to him. He stuffed the new files into a freshly conjured bag for review later. Satisfied that he had left no evidence two spheres materialised and left the office empty once again. The Book returned to Hermione along with the files about himself and the Death Eaters along with an explanatory note. Meanwhile Harry appeared in Little Hangleton. Harry had scanned the Books section on Apparation and almost laughed at how easy it was to adapt co-ordinate Apparation to Sphere travelling. It just took his magic about two minutes to process the co-ordinates, and adapt the knowledge so that he could sphere to the desired location. It also helped that Hermione’s formidable intellect had also helped him by helping him in his mind after receiving the files by sphere transport and helped him solve this co-ordinate problem. He was delighted that their bond had returned to normal. He was pleased that his body and magic were adapting to this reality now after his terrible nightmare.


Susan looked out at Waterloo station as she checked the time, the train was unusually on time meaning that the train arrived at one minute past four. Susan disembarked and made her way to the London underground to get a tube to the closest Tube station to the Leaky Cauldron pub. The trip to the pub took half an hour to complete all the while her frantic mind tried to stop her uncontrollable body. She produced her wand and tapped out the correct sequence on the doorway to Diagon Alley and passed by Tom the barman whom paid no attention to her passage.


Hugh Wallace, Wizarding Solicitor. received a frantic Fire call from his Mother informing him that his pregnant wife was in St. Mungo’s giving birth. He swiftly collected his belongings and gave his small staff the rest of the day off. His sectary rolled her eyes as it was ten to five and the office always shut at five after opening at eight each morning. He was excited to being a father and was delighted that his wife’s difficult pregnancy was almost over. He hated going to work knowing that she was suffering but he was the sole breadwinner and the wizarding world had no health insurance so he could not afford to leave work. He had taken over from his late father Hank to run the family business.


Fred and George Weasley were in the back room of their shop trying to figure out why their potions based pranks weren’t working. As over half their stock was failing they were forced to shut down the shop side of the business to research the problem. Fred was pulled from his thoughts by a large boom, that shuck the building knocking dust onto their heads. George frantically put in a Floo call to the Burrow as his instincts screamed at him to leave the shop immediately. The Twins hustled through just before the ceiling fell in the workroom.


Susan entered the Apothecary and moved to the back to confirm that the owner was behind the counter. The sales assistant warned Susan that it was close to closing time. Susan removed the potion vial from her coat pocket and swiftly ingested the potion. Susan’s mind was the first to die as the potion reacted with the other two potions within her system. The first potion prepared her magical core for the second stage. The second potion converted all of Susan’s magical energy into a potentially explosive force. The third was the trigger, which simply set off the explosive force.


Immediately after Susan’s mind, which contained her identity and the part that was still fighting, was destroyed, her body levitated a foot off of the floor before a magical force sucked all of the magical objects to her body including the sales assistant and the Apothecary owner. All the extra magical energy was consumed by the magical reaction, there by killing all the magical persons within the building and fuelling the magical reaction occurring in the late Susan’s body. A split second before the explosion occurred the people on the street saw a brilliant flash of light before the building simply vanished into the light. The Weasley Twins were of the few lucky few to escape as they were behind the protective wards of their workroom. The wards were there to keep explosive experiments contained however they admirably kept out enough of the blast to buy the Twins precious seconds before the massive fireball consumed the shop.


The fireball roared in all directions killing almost all the witches and wizards in Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley. Very few were lucky to escape like The Weasley Twins or Hugh Wallace whom had left a scant few minutes earlier. However the magical community were not the only ones affected by the massive blast. The explosion ripped easily through the anti-Muggle wards and destroyed a large area almost a mile across in diameter in central London. The blast knocked out windows for miles and the explosive force stopped short of wiping out 10 Downing St., as it was only seven tenths of a mile away from the epicentre of the explosion. The release of so much magical energy acted like a nuclear blast and killed all electrical devices and services across the city of London resulting in a black out that hit the whole south of England. The Hospitals were the worst affected as the back up generators never kicked in resulting in many deaths for those on life support. The only systems unaffected were those of the military or security with EMP protected computer systems. Emergency services rushed to the scene of the blast but had to come from outside of London as none of the Vehicles inside the London area worked at all. Due to this delay the fire started to grip London almost recreating the great London fire of old.


Daniel Watson cried into his coffee after the generator kicked in. Reports were coming in that there was a large explosion in London. ‘There goes my holiday’ he thought grimly. Early indicators were that it was a nuclear bomb blast; he hoped to God that the I.R.A. had not obtained a black market Soviet nuke. Reports were sketchy at best as no one on scene had a working radio, but it was feared that it was a nuclear detonation. He felt that he needed a break as everything was going to hell so very fast. First the freakish weather and now this, what next Martians?


Hugh found pandemonium at St. Mungo's he had dropped home to get the giant teddy bear for his first-born. There were a lot of people milling about clearly shell shocked. It was just after five. He tried to make it to reception to find out where his wife was but it was near imposable due to all the people in the reception area. He overheard people gossiping about an explosion in Diagon Alley and dismissed it as a preposterous rumour. After struggling for fifteen minutes he heard a loud voice magically amplified announce that they were evacuating St. Mungo's due to an approaching magical fire out of control. The voice also was requesting competent Wizards and Witches to assist in putting out the incoming fire. Hugo battled with himself over his options, he realised that finding his wife and newborn in this madhouse was impossible and his best course of action was to help protect the hospital from the approaching fire.


The pilot of the British Airwaves Boeing 747 flying from New York to Heathrow was tired from the flight and being held in this holding pattern awaiting instructions to land as the airport was severely backlogged. He was startled awake when all the instruments went dark. He panicked when he realised that he had no control, he looked out the window to try and get his bearings as the plane was originally in a holding pattern waiting to land. He was shocked to see two large planes suffer a mid air collision. After a few seconds the tearing metal must of sparked resulting in a large fireball above the city. The plane was rapidly losing altitude and the controls were not responding, he frantically tried to restart the flight computer but it refused to start. The doomed airliner smashed into Little Whinging destroying the small town. Aviation fuel sloshed everywhere before igniting on a small fire in the hearth of a four bedroom house among the debris. The resulting fire destroyed the town killing the clean up crew trying to clean up after the freak tornadoes.


Dudley Dursley gawked from the passenger seat of his father's hire car as his own was wreaked during the storm. They pair were returning from a social gathering at the Men’s club. Vernon thought that attending the event with Dudley would help his career. They were travelling back to the hotel that the House insurance had provided when they had seen the large plane crash near their house. Vernon decided to go have a look for himself and was shocked to see his neighbourhood was the epicentre of the crash. As Vernon drove back he grumbled about the need to find a new house.


Dudley, on the other hand wondered what had happened to Harry as he had not seen him since the storm and he felt that he owed Harry his life. He may not of been able to see the monster but he would never forget the feeling of despair and helplessness, the monster had caused. He was grateful to have had Harry there to help even if it took almost a year to realise it. The catalyst of this change of heart was the unexpected death of his friend Piers. Piers was struck down by a lorry on his way to the shops to buy cigarettes over the Christmas. The delivery lorry had skidded on ice; the death caused Dudley to review his life, which was an unpleasant experience for him.


Meanwhile oblivious to the happenings in London, Harry was slowly approaching the Gaunt house with a degree of trepidation. He stopped at the front door and knelt down. He tried to reach a meditative state near such a building with its history but found that it was very difficult. He slowly relaxed and let his magical senses flow trying to find the ring or any traps. After being in this state for maybe four hours, his exploring magic suddenly found the ring in a small golden box under some floorboards within the building and summoned it via sphere. His magic flooded the golden box overriding the protection charms. Once the charms protecting the box were destroyed Harry removed the ring and laid it on the ground. He repeated his actions at Grimmauld and destroyed the soul fragment however a strange thing happened the stone in the ring glowed briefly before a ghostly form appeared out of the stone. The ghost had a green-blue colour.


“Hello, young man, you are one of the very few to travel between realms. Magic that high always carries a cost. In this case I’m afraid you have destroyed one of the Deathly Hallows, the ring is now only a worthless gaudy bauble.”


The ghost faded away in to nothing leaving a perplexed wizard. Harry returned the ring to the box and returned both to where he found them and found that there was no magical impression from them at all. He slowly forced some magic into it so that it would not stick out from its surroundings and departed via travelling sphere home to Hermione.


Harry Sphered into Hermione’s bedroom and glanced at the clock. He frowned when he realised it was almost two in the morning. He went to the bathroom to shower before joining Hermione in bed but found that the light did not work when he went to switch it on. He touched the lion within so that he could see in the dark and started the shower. He frowned; there was no hot water so he cast a spell that he would often use in the manor, as the old house would run out of hot water at the worst times. The spell caused the water coming out of the showerhead to be at a comfortably warm temperature. When finished showering and drying his hair magically he joined Hermione in bed. Spooning in behind her and drifted off to sleep glad that he had managed to destroy two of Riddles Horcruxes. He did not know what to make of the ghostly statement that one of the Deathly Hallows was destroyed he would worry about it later.

A/N Please review