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Chapter 61: Fun With Seeing




"I had to go to bed all by myself." Harry pouted at the girl in his arms.

"You could have brought this Pansy to your bed; you know she would have you."

He shook his head. "That's dangerous territory, I don't want another relationship. I don't even know how I feel about playing with Cho..."

"You know you enjoy yourself very much, so did I."

He smiled and kissed her on top of her head as she snuggled into his shoulder. "I suppose I did, but things are...well uncomfortable now. I doubt she wants to share so I don't think there is any reason for a repeat performance."

Gabrielle turned and smiled up at him, "Non, Master. There is plenty of reason, it was fun and you have wanted her for a long time. I think you should take her though."

"I will not be taking anyone else's maidenhood."

She kissed him softly before sitting up. "My noble Master, she would want you to have it I think. But then, most of the women in this school would want to remember losing their virginity to you if I am not mistaken."

"You know how I know this is just a dream?" She shook her head but smiled knowingly. "Because you have almost completely lost your accent."

"I am part of you now Master, why would I still have the silly accent?"

He pulled her toward him and rolled over on top of her so that he could slide himself into her warm core. "Because I always thought it was sexy?" He asked.

"Oh, okay zen. I can always exaggerate ze accent as does mine seester."

He made a face. "Okay that is a bit much, is it that hard to fake it?"

"Non Master, it is just hard to remember what it is like to speak your language so poorly." She pouted up at him.

"So Fleur really exaggerates her accent then?" The girl beneath him nodded as he moved inside her though her cheeks were getting flushed with the effort to continue conversation rather than simply moan and shout his name. "She sinks eet eez sexy!"

He grinned and doubled his pace not asking anymore questions as he could sense her needs. Finally she came with a scream and nearly picked him up off the ground as her back arched before she collapsed back into the grass. She grinned up at him with bright blue eyes and flushed cheeks. He couldn't help but to lean down and kiss her. He pulled back after a while. "You know, I already realized this was a dream, shouldn't I be waking up soon then?"

She shrugged even as her image started to fade away, "Stay away from ze Darkness Master and maybe you will dream more often of me?"

Before he could ask her what she meant his world faded to black before he woke up to a knock on the door. He had fallen asleep in his glasses and apparently he had kicked off his sheets in the night. Before he could call out for Pansy to come in she entered on her own to find him drenched in his own cum in tangled up sheets. As had happened before she stopped and stared for a second.

She seemed to have forgone the nightgown since he had already seen her in the buff so two naked teens were left staring at each other in the low candle light. "You know Pansy, if you don't want me to stare, maybe you could return the favor?"

That brought her back to her senses but she couldn't stop looking at him, she gestured to the puddle on his chest and stomach and he looked down before blushing quickly and heading for the bathroom ahead of her to shower off. He rinsed as quickly as he could before turning around to find her sitting against the bathroom counter with her arms folded across her breasts.

"What the Hell!" He exclaimed.

She shrugged, "You didn't close the door when you rushed in here so I'm just waiting my turn. So do you want to explain why you...well how you woke up?"

"Not really?" He answered in slight distress but knew she wasn't going to leave him alone about it. She arched her eyebrow and he sighed, "Interesting dream alright?"

She shrugged and brushed past him leaving a tingling trail across his arm where her nipples slid against his skin; and into the glass enclosed shower before turning on the water. He couldn't help but glance in the mirror as he brushed his teeth and watched the water run down her hair and onto her back or over her breasts when she began to shampoo her hair. He wondered where the shampoo came from and quickly realized she was keeping her toiletries in his bathroom.

Before that line of thought could get any further he quickly rinsed and cleaned the sink before getting out of the bathroom and getting dressed. She joined him with a towel in her hair as he was putting on his t-shirt. "Look, I don't know why you are so uptight about all this. You are the one who told me you might be shagging in the common room and that I would just have to be comfortable with nudity."

"I meant ours! I didn't expect you to start running around starkers..." He lost his train of thought momentarily as his eyes glued themselves to her breasts, circling her nipples before they began to drift down her stomach... He snapped himself out of it. "Anyway, it's just a bit uncomfortable being so...open with you when we aren't intimately involved."

She walked saucily over to him and placed a hand on his chest before leaning close to his ear, cheek to cheek he could feel the heat from her body and the spot on his chest felt as though it was burning a hole. "I like you uncomfortable," She whispered, "And you can keep dreaming of me milord, that's the closest you're gonna come." She punctuated the last word causing him to shiver before she turned and headed back for her room after dropping her wet towel on his floor again.

Just as she walked into her room he realized what she had said. "Hey I wasn't dreaming of you!" Unfortunately her door closed as he finished leaving him to wonder if she had heard him or not.

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Nothing more was said about the incident that morning on their way down to breakfast. Harry sat down at the Gryffindor table where his Witches quickly sat down beside him looking like they hadn't slept.

"Good morning sunbeams." He said with a grin getting growls from each side for his trouble. "What's the matter; isn't it a lovely Thursday?"

"The slave driver here had us up until two studying..."

"Excuse me I am just trying to help and you were all a bit further behind than you should have been. I do not appreciate being compared to someone who condones slavery!" Hermione retorted.

"Ladies please...I know how much you love each other so how about some tea to help wake you before we try this again?" He got two more growls but they quickly conceded the point.

A few minutes later they both seemed a bit more themselves so he tried again, "So, you didn't get much sleep?"

They both shook their heads, "Too used to cuddling..."

"And we ended up in our own beds to keep up appearances..."

"I didn't sleep at all that I remember." Ginny finished.

"Who did you take to your bed that you are so chipper this morning?" Hermione asked him.

"What?" He exclaimed in surprise, Hermione read it as guilt.

"Did you finally give in to Pansy's machinations?"

"Or did Padma stay behind?" Ginny asked. They were getting too good at sounding like the twins and his head was starting to spin.

"For your information I went to bed alone and stayed that way...well sorta..."

"Sort of what?" Hermione asked suddenly quite interested.

"Well, I dreamed of Gabrielle again last night."

"Oh I'm sorry Harry!" Ginny tried to soothe him but he turned and smiled at her.

"Actually it was quite nice; I could swear it was real..."

Hermione perked up at that, "How do you mean?"

He shrugged, "I don't know, we held an actual conversation and I don't think I could have come up with some of the things she told me. I also don't usually remember dreams unless they were real..."

"Oh, like a Tom dream?" Ginny asked.

He nodded, "That's the only time a dream sticks with me for more than a few minutes...you don't think he is trying to use her memory against me do you?"

"You said she told you things you couldn't have known or thought of, like what?" The brunette asked.

He closed his eyes and tilted his head back as he recalled the conversation. "Like the fact that Fleur fakes her bad accent because she thinks it's sexy and so does Bill."

"Phlegm...I could see her doing that." Ginny said a bit venomously.

He turned to her, "You know she really isn't all that bad, I spent some time with her in the hospital wing with Gabrielle there." He waited a moment for the pain to accompany the memory but it didn't come, he smiled. "She reminded me a lot of Gabby in any case, like how she might have looked and sounded in another year or two."

Ginny was quiet for a moment before shrugging, "Well, Bill likes her so I guess I should stop hating her..."

"You were just jealous of the attention and you know it dear." Hermione said and ducked behind Harry's shoulder as the redhead sent a light swat at her behind his back.

"Hey I am not to be used as a Human Shield without permission!" He called trying to calm the two of them again.

"So Harry," Hermione began to change the subject, or rather to come back to the subject, "Was there anything else that would lead you to believe that this was no ordinary dream?"

He blushed before he could catch himself and knew it was no use trying to hide it from his girlfriends. "It was a very...uh...vivid dream...I made a bit of a mess of myself this morning."

"Oh!" Was all the reaction he got before they went back to their meal in silence.

Before the bell rung Harry remembered what he had told the new members of the Old Guard and took out six galleons which he placed on the table in front of Hermione. "Would you mind joining these to the protean charm from last year? We need to get the Old Guard organized again."

She nodded and flicked her wrist before catching her wand and muttering an incantation a few times which each coin glowing red for a moment.

"There you are Harry." He smiled and picked them up as he stood before heading directly for the Slytherin table.

"Potter." Draco sneered as he passed but he completely ignored the boy as he walked over to Blaise, Daphne and Pansy and placed the coins in front of each.

"You know what these are?" He asked. They each nodded and he nodded back. "Good, then you can consider this payment on the new deal. If you have questions you can find me later."

After another nod he made his way to the Hufflepuffs repeating the line and getting nods in return, as he walked behind Susan and Hannah he couldn't help the impulse to run his fingers across their backs as he passed enjoying the delicious shivers he caused without even looking back. Neville seemed not to have noticed from the other side of the table.

At the Ravenclaw table he stopped at the close end and handed a coin surreptitiously to Su Li as he whispered instructions to ask Cho about it in her ear once again enjoying the shiver from his attentions. He then walked down to Mandy who was looking around nervously as he approached. He sat down beside her getting odd looks from a few of those around her but they were soon left alone.

"Hey Mandy."

"Uh...Hey?" She said looking around like she couldn't believe he was sitting with her.

He reached under the table and placed the coin in her hand and she blushed at the contact but soon realized it was mostly a ploy. "You know what that is?" He asked.

She shook her head so he leaned in and whispered in her ear. "There is a charm that will change the date on these and warm them up in your pocket to alert you of a meeting of the Old Guard. When it goes off you should make your way up to the Seventh Floor."

She was panting a bit at this point and the voice of Gabrielle seemed to whisper in his ear that he should have a little fun with her. He leaned in closer as he sat his hand on her knee and brushed his lips very lightly against her earlobe. "Do you know where the Tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy is?"

She whimpered a bit but nodded her head. "There will be a door in the wall across from that tapestry which is the Room of Requirement. Also, you are doing a very good job of acting right now." He said with a grin knowing her reactions were completely involuntary.

"Right!" She squeaked out, "Acting, yes...okay, um, thank you Harry. See you later?"

He nodded but was caught off guard as she quickly kissed him on the cheek causing him to blush and making her feel much better. "You're not such a bad actor yourself."

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The time he was allowed to spend with Ginny and Hermione was cut shorter and shorter over the rest of the week as they crammed information into the Fifth year study group before Christmas break. So Harry arrived alone outside the Headmasters door at the appointed time on Saturday. Irving jumped aside as he approached to avoid a confrontation.

As he reached the top of the stairs Dumbledore called him in before he could knock so he entered and sat down across the desk from the man.

"So Harry, do you have the memory from Horace?"

Harry nodded as he picked up a lemon drop and popped it in his mouth. Dumbledore grinned at the action. Nobody ever took a lemon drop. "Ah I knew you would be able to charm it out of him."

"I tried that, and when it didn't work I simply plucked the memory from him." Harry said with a shrug.

"But Horace has amazingly strong Occlumency shields! I was not able to get anything from him but that which he allowed me to see!"

Harry shrugged again, "Honestly I was getting a bit fed up with everything that day, I tried schmoozing him and when that didn't produce results I went in and got what I was looking for. It's for the greater good right?" Harry challenged.

Dumbledore was quiet for a full minute before he nodded though he looked a bit defeated. "As you say...so does the memory contain the information we needed?"

"It looks like seven was his original plan though I still say that might not be the limit and we shouldn't focus on the number, but rather a way to take him out no matter what."

"You already have my materials and my permission to seek further down that path, however I must continue along mine. I believe I have located the cup."

Harry perked up at that, "Really?"

The old man nodded, "Sources tell me it is in the Lestrange Vault at Gringotts; however the Goblins will not allow us access to their High Security vaults even with a Ministry Order."

Harry had the beginnings of a plan forming but didn't voice the idea. "I guess we will have to think on that one. Have you had any thoughts as to the others?"

"A few, but that can wait for another time. Did you have any other questions?"

Harry ran through his mental checklist and remembered Blaise's words. "You know that I have already placed Pansy Parkinson under the protection of House Black?" The old man nodded, "In the near future it may come to pass that the Greengrass girls as well as Blaise Zabini may need to move out of Slytherin as well."

"So you are asking about larger accommodations?" Harry nodded, "Unfortunately there really are not larger quarters at the moment, however as magical as this castle is I believe that the elves would be able to place permanent expansion charms on your current suite. Thus they could create spare rooms if need be."

Harry nodded and ran through his list again, "What about plumbing? Would it be possible to install a shower in each of the rooms?"

The old man smiled sadly, "We are very lucky to have plumbing at all Harry; it was almost unheard of in its current form even in Rome. I am afraid that the same magic that makes the stone pliable, also means we would need to use Muggle means in order to expand the current plumbing as the Magic would simply be absorbed. Your guests will simply have to share your shower or perhaps the Prefects bath if you know of a Prefect or two who would share the password?" His eyes were twinkling a bit at this last statement but Harry was too upset that Pansy would still be traipsing naked through his room to notice.

"Very well, if there is nothing else?" Harry shook his head and the old man continued, "Tonight I thought we could go over the properties of Fiendfyre."

"Fiendfyre?"

"You remember my duel with Tom at the Ministry when he cast that Cobra of flame?" Harry nodded, "That was Fiendfyre, it is an extremely volatile substance that consumes absolutely anything it touches and continues to burn uncontrolled until the magic is spent. If there is magic present in an area it will add fuel to the length of the spell before burning through that as well as any material objects nearby."

Harry blanched a bit remembering that snake striking at the two of them. "So if it were to touch a wizard or other magical being?"

"Even a small amount could completely consume a human being with magic in a matter of very painful seconds. The fact that it is so destructive and nearly uncontrollable is why it is classified as dark. However if you have enough power and enough focus it is possible to control it."

Harry sat up liking this idea more and more. "So if all else fails Fiendfyre should be able to destroy a Horcrux?"

The Headmaster's eyes went wide at that, "Why yes, I suppose it just might!"

Harry nodded; his reading of the books on dark magic was definitely paying off by letting him think in different directions. "So will you be demonstrating?"

Dumbledore shook his head sadly, "I'm afraid not Harry, I was barely able to control it while I was in possession of the Elder Wand, I doubt I would be able to control it any longer."

Harry mulled that over for a moment, if true then Dumbledore may have been the only wizard alive that could face Voldemort, only because he had the Wand of Destiny at his command. Without it he was no longer a match; which of course left defeating him entirely up to Harry. It was one thing to know about the prophecy; it was another to hear the proof.

"So how will we be testing this? I have no idea what I'm doing."

The old man conjured a ball of bluebell flames which gave off heat without burning anything and held them in the palm of his hand. He then began waving his wand around the flames making them slightly larger and changing their shape until a small cobra sat in the palm of his hand. "The idea is the same, controlling fire to this degree is almost completely an act of sheer will. The only difference is the power needed to back up your intent which increases exponentially as the destructive properties of the flame increase."

Harry stared for awhile into the fire before reaching out his hand and allowing Dumbledore to place the creature in his palm, however the moment it lay in his hand it reverted to a flickering blue flame.

"Concentrate Harry, you must be able to feel the magic at work and manipulate it to do your bidding."

He stared into the flame and imagined the first animal that came to mind, a Stag. He then felt for the magic but was only barely able to detect the traces of it. "I can't feel it very well." He said through gritted teeth.

"That is because it is foreign magic; you are trying to manipulate something I created. However I still believe this exercise is necessary as you will likely be faced with controlling a creation summoned by Tom."

Harry nodded and concentrated again; He closed his eyes and quickly found his center and reached for the magic from his core quickly finding the similar threads. Soon he began weaving them in his mind's eye into the shape of a Stag before sending it out to run once around the room just like his Patronus would. Opening his eyes he watched it dance around the room with a smile before his eyes found Dumbledore's startled face.

"What? Didn't I do it right?"

The old man nodded, "That was remarkable; you didn't even need to use your wand..."

"Oh is that all?" Harry said flicking his wrists to produce both wands. "I have found that I can cast with my wands without actually holding them. Hermione calls it Non-Wandless casting."

"How long have you known how to do this?"

Harry shrugged again, "Since this summer but I have gotten better, forgive me for not sharing with you but up until a few nights ago I was not of a mind to trust you completely. I'm sure you understand."

He sighed and seemed to grow older before Harry's eyes. "I'm afraid I do Harry, I have so much to make up for and so little time remaining."

"Is there nothing that can be done to help you?" Harry asked quietly.

"Alas my boy I have lived a great number of years, possibly more than I should have. It is simply time for me to move on and I am grateful for the life I have lived thus far."

Harry really didn't want to think about losing Dumbledore any longer so he changed the subject. "Do I have any more homework? That is besides researching a way to destroy Tom without destroying all of his Horcruxes first?"

Dumbledore seemed to sense his mood and nodded, "I would suggest you attempt to control the bluebell flames for a while longer and then perhaps a normal Incendio charm. I would prefer you not attempt to control actual Fiendfyre inside this school or anywhere else for that matter. If you are able to control a sufficiently large amount of normal magical flame I think it is safe to say you will be able to stop the darker version."

Harry nodded as he stood up and headed for the door. "You aren't leaving any time soon right?" He asked again quietly.

"Not if I can at all help it Harry, it is my dear wish to see you graduate."

Harry nodded and exited the room.

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Saturday morning a week later Harry enjoyed his lie in with both Gin and Mione, despite everything he was not being intimate with anyone else and he sincerely missed them during their study group during the week. He had never really been a morning person, but with a Slytherin knocking on the door and waking you up every morning he couldn't help but wake up early now. This morning though he was thankful for waking up early so he could watch and listen to his girls sleep beside him. Hermione had her back turned to him but he could hear the soft whistle of air through her nose and see her breathing slowly. It did his heart good to simply watch her at peace; on her other side he could see Ginny with a mischievous smile on her face even as she slept. He hoped that meant she was having a pleasant dream. Most likely she was stealing her brother brooms to fly when she was young or she was playing pranks on Gred a Forge.

Pansy casually walked into the room without knocking and completely in the nude ignoring the occupants of the bed on her way to the bathroom. Harry tried not to stare at her fuzzy figure but couldn't help himself; he had been debating with himself over the last few days just what it was he was feeling for her. Protective obviously but he thought it was more of a big brother or father figure type of protectiveness. But that was before she had taken to walking about in the buff, much like with Ginny there was no way he could ever see her as a little sister no matter how much he hated her.

That was another thought though; he couldn't muster those hateful feelings any longer. Over the last week he had seen the change in her from Pureblood snob to someone almost likeable; she even got along with Hermione which amazed him. His main problem was what to do if Draco tried to file a fraudulent marriage contract with the Ministry. He had finally sat down over the last week and read up on all the old family laws at the Ministry. He had done plenty of legal reading before the Werewolf Legislation but most of that was on procedure and studying the other members of the Wizengamot. The idiotic laws that could still be enforced concerning family customs especially amongst Pureblood families made him a bit ill. For the time being he ignored the girl and closed his eyes simply enjoying the quiet, the sound of the shower running told him Pansy had decided not to close the door but he once again pushed that train of thought aside.

Padma had somehow taken Hermione's place at his side when neither of his girlfriends was around; he was remarkably not uncomfortable with her presence and simply accepted the fact that she wanted to be near him. Not much had happened with her in the last week though there were times when she acted strangely. She was always her intelligent and seductively calm self when they were working on the project, but during some meal and class times he could sometimes catch her looking at him strangely as if she were trying to figure something out. They had wide ranging conversations about things from Quidditch to Arithmancy though he barely understood anything she said about the math. He found that if required he could work his way through arithmantic problems if given an explanation of the equation but he would never be a fan of it like Gin, Mione and Padma seemed to be.

Harry completely ignored the snarky bastard that was running around inside his head; his mood had improved greatly once that man was no longer a teacher and no longer able to insult he or his friends. Hermione and Gin had been right about the one thing though, being the jailer for the man that had caused the death of his parents just as much as Wormtail was a very good outlet for his darker emotions. On Friday afternoon he had found himself down at the lakeside sitting beside the marker for Gabrielle and staring out across the water. He was finally able to let some of the bottled up emotion go without destroying anything, with every tear and every sob he felt closer to Gabrielle which quickly helped him replace the depression and anger in his memories with love.

He had seen the strange looks from others at the school; Harry Potter from the year before would not have been able to accept the death of the woman he loved, he would have remained moody and dark for months on end afterward. Lord Potter-Black however had learned a bit about dealing with his emotions, even if she would not answer his call with the stone he hoped she had moved on to that paradise that Cedric described. He loved that he could imagine her with her arms around his neck in a hug and almost feel her pressed against him. He might be delusional but he almost didn't feel like she was gone,

He heard the water turn off and decided it was safest to do as normal and pretend to be asleep to avoid seeing her leave the room. Once he heard his door close behind her he got out of bed and headed to the bathroom to take care of necessities and grab his shower. He was soon joined in the small glass enclosure by his witches and they had an enjoyable time of getting each other clean before getting ready for the rest of the day.

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There was much surprise later that evening when Dumbledore stood in the Great Hall to make an announcement. "Due to circumstances in the wider world it has come to my attention that many of you will be staying at the school over the upcoming holiday. I also understand that you may still wish to exchange gifts to celebrate the occasion; that being said I would like to announce a Hogsmeade visit next weekend."

Immediately the atmosphere of the room brightened as students began holding whispered conversations, "The gates will open immediately following the Quidditch match or at two in the afternoon on Saturday, whichever comes first. Now let us eat."

The tables filled and people began making plans, Harry was of two minds about the whole thing, for one he had no idea who would be the correct girl to ask. As it stood Ginny or Hermione should technically get top billing, but they could also go together instead just to leave him open. A quick glance at them told him that was exactly their plan so he sighed. As he ate he thought through the candidates for a date. He could ask Susan but the revelations of their conversation a few weeks ago still give him pause. He didn't want to give Cho the wrong idea about their relationship so that left him with three choices: Padma, Pansy or Luna.

He excused himself and headed over to the Ravenclaw table getting the barest of glances from the birds before they went back to their own conversations. "Hello Harry."

"Hey Lu, so Hogsmeade next weekend."

"Yes it is." She looked on with a smile and he couldn't tell if she was being her dreamy self or if she was trying to contain her laughter.

"So would you like to go?" He asked, realizing his mistake almost immediately.

"I would very much like to go, though I did not know that I needed your approval?"

He growled at himself for falling into that. "Sorry I meant to say, would you like to accompany me to Hogsmeade Miss Lovegood?"

She thought about it for a moment before shaking her head, "I'm afraid I am not going to be able to do that Harry, there is supposedly a gathering of Wooly Geebus at the edge of the Forbidden Forest on Saturday after the Quidditch Match. In any case you are going to be busy."

He looked at her a bit confused, "Busy?"

She nodded and looked over his shoulder where Ron was standing. "May I help you Mister Weasley?"

The boy was looking extremely nervous but stood his ground. "Uh, can I speak to you Lord Potter-Black?"

That threw Harry for a loop; he didn't think Ron would ever be able to say that respectfully. "Uh sure... Luna I..."

"It's alright Harry, thank you for the invite though, perhaps something later that day?" She asked with a wink.

He grinned as he stood and followed Ron out of the room and down the hall a ways. "What can I do for you Mister Weasley?" Harry asked as they stopped.

Ron closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I love her."

"Huh?"

"I love her Har...milord."

"Luna?" Ron looked offended before shaking his head. "Lavender?" He nodded. "Congratulations I guess, why did you feel the need to tell me that?"

He took another deep breath. "Because I know you were right and I was a git, I know she was completely out of line and lied to me. But I love her."

"Is there a point here; and just how do you know?"

Ron gulped and blushed deeply reminding Harry of his sister so he decided to cut him a little slack. "Uh...because she was still a virgin..."

Harry's eyes went wide with surprise. "Wait you and Lav? Really? What about that fourth year?"

"Despite whatever rumors she started we never got that far...and yes, me and Lav. I'm really sorry mate; do you think you can ever forgive me?"

"Do you think you can get Lavender to apologize and rescind the rumors that I used and tossed her?"

Ron shook his head sadly but was able to look Harry in the eye, "But I love her, and I'm sorry."

Sighing Harry leaned back against the wall and thought about it. "Look Ron, I can't accept what she tried to do when I tried to be a gentleman. She knew what she was getting into, so did you. You apologized, I can accept that but we can't be best mates anymore, not until your girlfriend apologizes. I'm not telling you that you have to choose between us, just that I can't be around her and that is going to affect our relationship."

Ron sighed and leaned against the wall next to him, "So where does that leave us?"

"You can stop with the looks and you can sit closer at meals if you want, you need to apologize to your Sister and Hermione as well."

"Are they...you know?" Harry nods. After a shiver he continues, "With you too?" Harry nods again. "That's going to take some getting used to I guess...is Ginny happy?"

"Why don't you ask her? Or just look at her? Right now they are cramming for OWL's so I don't get to see them much but I can honestly say your sister is the happiest I have ever known her. Don't take that away from her."

After a long pause Ron lets out the breath he was holding, "I guess I'll have to get used to it; so uh...the Gryffindor/Slytherin match is next weekend...I don't suppose..."

"Ron if you are apologizing just to get me back on the team..."

"What? No! I mean yeah but no that was completely an afterthought I swear!"

Harry thought about it for a whole half a second but he can't kid himself. "Fine, but only because I need an excuse to run Malfoy into the ground!"

Ron grinned like a mad man before sobering up a bit, "Uh right, we'll see you at practice Thursday?"

"Yeah alright."

The two parted rather nervously but overall it felt better to have his first male friend back; as he walked down the hallways lost in thought an unwelcome voice pulled him from his revelry. "Still you live yet the Grim stalks you, however I also see a new aura about you. You have mastered death."

"What?" Harry asks in surprise.

"You seem troubled, how can I help you?"

Apparently her brush with unemployment the year before convinced Trelawney to lay off the Cooking Sherry because she was suddenly very lucid and making way too much sense. "I'm sorry?" He asked still confused.

"My boy, it seems clear to me now. The reason you always carried the specter of death in your aura is because you had mastered it not because you were succumbing to it. However that does not seem to be what is troubling you?"

"Uh, no..."

"Ah, girl trouble. So even he who need not fear death is still a teenager. But this is no ordinary girl... interesting..."

Harry was still too stunned to speak properly but decided this was not a conversation he wanted to have with one of his least favorite Professors. He turned to go but she stopped him with a hand to his shoulder. "She is not gone from this world lad, your aura has changed, you are more than you were but less than you will become."

"Can you see her? Can you speak to her?" Harry latched on to the idea despite his misgivings.

She shook her head and he was getting a bit dizzy watching her magnified eyes swing back and forth. "I cannot, only you can."

"What about the other girls? I feel like I am betraying her?" He couldn't stop the questions that had been bothering him for three weeks from spilling out of his mouth. She may still be a fraud of a teacher but the woman was way too accurate to be guessing.

"She is at peace with you and your actions, your aura shows much love and no hint of jealousy...So why can she not move on?" The woman suddenly looked upon him with more interest than he was willing to endure.

"Uh, thank you Professor... I need to go..." He cowardly turned and ran toward his suite with her calling after him.

"Wait Mister Potter! She is bound to you, do not be ashamed!" He didn't hear anything else she called after him as he reached the stairs and took them two at a time, skipping over the vanishing stair. He didn't stop running until he was in his suite and collapsed on the couch panting.

Bound to me? But happy to be here and happy with my actions... Since when is the Crazy Divination Lady suddenly the real deal? And what did she mean only I could contact you... "Gabrielle?" He called out to the empty room; naturally he still got no response even though he is turned the ring furiously.

"Gabrielle?" he breaks down and begins to cry, tears of frustration, tears of happiness. He had been afraid that he was losing his grip on sanity, but if Trelawney was to be believed then Gabrielle was still here. Maybe he wasn't seeing or feeling things that weren't there when he thought she was with him... He curled up into a ball on the couch and cried the last of his repressed guilt and grief. He cried for what he had lost and what he might still have. Soon he cried himself to sleep hoping to see her in his dreams whether it was real or not.

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When he awoke much later that evening he was on the couch which had been transfigured to be more comfortable and covered by a blanket. He got up and made his way unsteadily into his room before disrobing and climbing into bed behind Hermione. They didn't wake up and soon he was back to sleep.

A few hours later he awoke to a kiss from the brunette in his arms. "You look much better than you did last night." She said quietly.

"Was that you that transfigured the couch?" She shook her head, "Gin?"

"Pansy," He shut his mouth before he caught any flying insects, "Huh?"

Hermione continued on in hushed tones, "We were going to levitate you in here but she convinced us you probably needed to sleep...you still had tear tracks on your cheeks...Harry what happened?"

He sighed, "Hold on...Gin?"

"I'm awake Harry, you two should know by now I'm a light sleeper after dawn. Mum always made me get up and help her with breakfast for the boys even on the weekends."

"That is completely unfair!" Hermione said scandalized, "Why didn't she do that when I was staying in your room?"

Ginny rolled over to face them though her face still looked a bit groggy as she snuggled into her girlfriends shoulder. "She was going to make us both help but I let her know in no uncertain terms that it wasn't going to happen. She didn't take it so well but I helped out with Dinner most nights to make up for it."

Hermione leaned down and kissed her quickly in gratitude. "So what happened Harry?" She asked turning her attention back to him.

"Trelawney caught me in the hall... She said Gabby is still with me, like actually part of my Aura or some nonsense..."

"Just because she is an incompetent teacher doesn't mean she doesn't see things though...was she..." Hermione couldn't bring herself to ask.

"Drunk? No actually, she was the most lucid I've ever seen her, even when she was giving the rat prophecy she didn't seem so intense."

"So maybe she does actually have the sight...Luna does and you see what it does to her, maybe drinking was how she kept herself sane?"

"Hey Luna is perfectly sane!" Harry defended.

"Well of course she is Harry, that isn't what I meant at all, just that having visions and seeing things others can't simply has to drive you a bit batty." Hermione said quietly back.

The door opened and Pansy walked into the room in all her glory headed for the bathroom, both girls stared at her in shock but Harry just waved, "Morning Pansy."

"Morning milord." With that she disappeared into the bathroom.

"When did you two get so cozy?" Ginny asked with a grin.

He shook his head, "Mistakes were made on both parts, a bit of embarrassment at least on my part. Some extreme discomfort during the week especially without you two here in the mornings as a buffer. But eventually you get used to it."

Hermione ran a hand down his chest to his erect member. "Hmmm, if you say so Harry."

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He explained everything that Trelawney had told him over breakfast in the common room, as well as all the little things he had been hiding from them when he thought he was going nutters. They simply looked back at him once he was done; "It makes a bit of sense, but I have no idea how you would try to get in touch with her, maybe your dreams have been real, maybe she really is hanging over your shoulder and whispering in your ear. But there is no precedent for how this situation should be handled short of exorcising you."

"No!" He exclaimed jumping up from the desk.

"Of course not Harry, I was just thinking aloud. Are you okay?"

Sitting back down he looked up at Pansy who was politely trying to ignore the conversation as she read her magazine and ate her eggs. "Yeah, sorry. It's that I just found out she might not be gone and you mentioned getting rid of her... anyway that was why you found me on the couch like that last night... Thank you for that Pansy."

She looked up, "Oh, no problem..." Their eyes locked for a second before she looked back down at her periodical.

"I have felt like utter crap for the last two weeks because I wasn't sad, I felt guilty that I was living my life almost like normal when Gabrielle was dead!" A tear ran down his cheek unnoticed by him at the moment. "Then I find out that she never left, that she kept her promise not to leave me. I know that makes me a selfish prat but it explains why I don't feel like she is really gone. She isn't!"

Hermione put a hand on his from the other side of the desk. "We were worried about you, but after all you went through while she was in the hospital we thought you must have just dealt with most of your grief before she was actually gone. Even still we never thought you were being selfish. If anything we were."

"What?"

The two looked at each other for a moment, "Harry we have been going on like nothing happened, I know it's wrong but you took it so well we felt like it wouldn't be fair to you if we were still grieving where you could see..." Ginny said quietly.

He got up and walked around to pull her to her feet and hug her to his chest. "Maybe you knew on some level she was still here as well, plus you have been busy with OWLs. I never blamed you two."

Hermione stood and joined the hug, basking in Harry's love she sighed in contentment. "So you don't think we are heartless shrews who just wanted to continue having our wicked way with you?"

He smiled down at them, "Heartless? No. Wicked Way? Yes please."

He was greeted with a smack to both shoulder blades and stereo comments of "Prat!"

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"Potter! Lord Potter-Black! Milord? Please?"

Severus Snape found himself wishing the worst he had to look forward to was a naked old man and a hug. The days had blurred and he no longer had any idea how long he had been stuck in the insufferable brats head; dying over and over again in seemingly contrived situations, and always wearing that dreadful red uniform.

When he was not stuck in death-or-death situations he found that he was stuck in complete darkness, the boy had skill; he had to grudgingly admit at least that much. At the moment he was back in the never ending darkness once more and glad of it; the only thing it seemed he could look forward to was that awful ethereal voice which he had finally identified as that of the ringleader of this little drama.

"Captain's Log, Stardate 4372.5. On a top secret diplomatic mission, the Enterprise has entered the Tellun star system. Maintaining communications blackout, we have taken aboard Petri, Ambassador from Troyius, the outer planet and are now approaching the inner planet, Elan."

Suddenly he was standing in a passageway made of that same strange blue metal with carpeting of all things on the floor. He looked down and found he was wearing the dreaded red shirt once more. He sighed, "Fine Potter, let's see what uncreative way you have chosen for my demise this time?"

Turning a corner he read the plaque on the wall that said Engineering Deck and reached down unhappily to find that his weapon was missing. With another sigh he continued on into that section of the ship and toward the anti-matter pods; he didn't even stop to consider why he knew that. Turning a corner he found a man in a strange red and gold outfit bent over one of the pods and messing with the controls.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" He asked detachedly.

The man turned suddenly and the world seemed to move in slow motion as the hands came up to his head; before he could do anything to defend himself he felt the torturously slow and painful cracking and popping as his neck was snapped and he fell to the floor before everything faded to black.

"Captain's Log, Stardate 4372.5. On a top secret diplomatic mission, the Enterprise has entered the Tellun star system. Maintaining communications blackout, we have taken aboard Petri, Ambassador from Troyius, the outer planet and are now approaching the inner planet, Elan."


A/N:

So it's been forever due to moving and family stuff, but guess what? I've written the next seven chapters! Yay! Now I can't guarantee that they will all be posted in a row like I did early on but I shouldn't go more than a week anymore. I am still moving but should be done this weekend.

I know my writing contains a lot of Fragments, I know I confuse their/there and your/you're a lot. Sorry about that, I try to beta myself once I am done, and I will go back and beta all of it once I finish with it so I can put it in PDF form on my Yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gml_fanfic

That said I also noticed that I was writing drunk or something, or reading too much badly written fanfic, and my tenses are all screwed up in the 40k+ words that I have written in the last week or so. Things like He sees instead of He could see or He saw, it reads more like stage directions in a script instead of a story in the past tense which is my usual style.

So if you catch tenses or homonym there/their type errors please email me so I can fix them and give you credit. Or join the group above and let me know. However please refrain from actually quoting or writing paragraphs of information on what I am doing wrong. That is just annoying and I know how to fix what I did wrong, and I know why and how I got it wrong. I don't need to be edumacated I just need to pay more attention while writing. As it is, I'm up to chapter 68 and pushing on toward probably 75 to 80 chapters total. But we will see where the story takes me.

Till next time, read/review/ and be Merry! Happy Independence Day my fellow Americans!