Harry Potter and The Fight of Logic vs. Love

Chapter 8

A/N I'm on a roll today! Happy Reading!

Chapter Eight-Off to the Burrow

The next few days went by pretty smoothly, though Harry noticed many more smirks on Mrs Granger's face anytime he was with Hermione. He had this nagging feeling that there was something that she told Hermione but neglected to mention to Harry. Was this what Hermione was saying about her mother insinuating something? But what was she trying to insinuate? Harry made a mental note to first find out what insinuating meant, then he would try and figure the rest of it out.

Over the few days, they visited the town a couple more times. On the 17th, Harry made a note to pick something up from a nice antique store for the Grangers as a thank you for letting him stay with them. He sent Hedwig to Gringotts to get some money converted to pounds, and he even treated Hermione to lunch at her favourite local restaurant. They were walking around after one of these lunch dates, when Harry spotted a nice antique store. He dragged Hermione in with many protests. They walked around, and asked her what she thought of some of the antiques. She said the same non-committal grunt to most of the antiques. When they came upon a nice looking vase, she stopped and stared at it.

"This looks like the same style that we have at home. My grandmother gave the vase to my mother just before passing away. My mother was always looking for a match to the set. I will have to let her know about it." She turned towards the large book section in back of the store. Harry took the opportunity to look at the price tag, and figured that the price was fine. He grabbed the vase and quickly took it up to the store owner.

"Listen, if I pay for this now, would you be able to have it delivered to this address tomorrow? I have the money." Harry inquired.

"Of course, if that is what you need. I assume it is a surprise for the young lady?" replied the owner.

"Well sort of. She can't know. Thank you." He gave the owner the money, with a look of awe on the owner's face. The vase was pricey, and the boy had the money in cash. The kid even put in a 20 pound tip while saying "Remember. Tomorrow and no one at the house is to know except for me.

"Of course sir, I will deliver it myself. Have a nice day sir." The owner said as he took the vase into the back room.

Harry walked over to the book section with Hermione. She was looking through a pile of old books that seemed to be in good condition. Harry walked up behind her, taking note of the title that she was paying particular interest in. "What's that Mione?" he questioned.

"What? Oh. This is a book obviously." She laughed. "It's a section on first edition books. You see, when you look inside the cover at the print date, it shows that the book are first editions. They are really rare, and really expensive. I was just looking at if there was anything worth spending the money on. Really doesn't seem like it though." She said, giving the book a longing look. Harry noticed that she had 4 different books set into a pile, and she put the last book on top of the others. She grabbed the books and walked over to the owner. "Would you please put these aside for me? I will be back shortly for them, possibly tomorrow."

"Of course Ma'am. I would only be too pleased to hold these." He noticed the young boy give him a glance, and watched him put his wallet on a desk. The boy mouthed "pick this up when we leave." With a final look, the pair left the store. As Hermione and Harry started their way down the street, Harry reached into his pocket and faked a surprised look. "Oh, Hermione. I must have dropped my wallet back there. I will be right back. Wait here for me." He took off back up the street and into the store.

"Welcome back." The owner greeted him. "I believe that this is yours." He handed Harry back his wallet. "Now if I am not mistaken, you wanted me to do something with these other than hold them for the young miss?"

"Yes." Harry stole a quick glance back at the door. "Listen, how much will all the books be together?"

"Well, it will be approximately 900 pounds. But for someone such as yourself, I think I can make an exception; one of the perks of being your own boss. How about we set a deal on 800 pounds?"

Harry looked back at the owner. "Alright, I don't have that much on me right now. I will have the money for you tomorrow when you deliver the vase. Will that work for you?"

"Of course sir. That will work just fine." The owner smiled at him. "You two make a nice couple; if I may be bold enough to say so. I'm sure that she will enjoy this gift."

Harry didn't think about the last part, but thanked the owner and left. He caught up with Hermione exactly where he had left her. "Found it. Thank god the owner had picked it up. I was afraid I lost it." Hermione looked at him funny, and he made a remark about getting ice cream. They went and had their favourite ice cream, strawberry. They walked away, feeling content, and went back home.

The next day, as the man stated he would, he delivered the packages of brown paper. He asked for a young man, and Mr Granger looked at him funny. Then he realized that Harry was living with them, and wondered what Harry was getting delivered. Harry came bolting into the hall looking terrified, but when he saw the man, John noticed he became less scared. He ran up to his room, and grabbed a small pouch and ran back to the door. Mr Granger stood in the hall watching the pair. They were using hushed toned, and he couldn't make out what they were saying. What he did see was a looked like a large wad of cash being passed between them.

As Harry heard someone ask for a young man, he recognized the voice of the shop owner. He bolted around the corner as he realized he must be delivering the items. What if Mr Granger saw them? He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw two brown packages. Thank god the owner had the sense to wrap them up. He walked up to the man and said he had to go grab something from upstairs. He came back a moment later, and Mr Granger stood back in the hall and watched Harry on the porch. He had to talk in a low voice so Mr Granger wouldn't hear, and tried to block his view. "Thanks. Here is the money we agreed on and a little extra for your help in keeping this quiet."

"Please sir, this is too much. You seem like a nice young man, but you shouldn't have to spend all your money like that. I appreciate the gesture, but I cannot accept this."

"I insist, I put you out of your way for this. You have been only too kind to oblige my needs. That is final." Harry passed him the large wad of cash that Hedwig had returned from Gringotts with this morning. He picked up his packages and bid the owner goodbye. Turning around, Mr Granger was only a few feet away, eyeing Harry carefully.

"So Mr Potter, may I ask what you are receiving from a strange man? Remember what I told you your first night here." Mr Granger told him.

"Oh. These are just some things I needed to pick up. They are some gifts for some people I really need to thank. Please, that is the truth." Harry told him.

"Alright Harry. I don't think that you are lying to me. So no need to go into any more of an explanation. I'm sure that there is nothing wrong. You can take them up to your room."

"Thank you Mr Granger." With that, Harry took the packages up to his room, and slipped the smaller of the two into his trunk. He was met by a knock on the door as he turned around to leave.

"Harry?" Hermione called. He opened the door and she came in. "What was that all about?"

"Oh well, they were just some things I bought yesterday. I mean it was something I bought yesterday." She looked at him, and he could tell he wasn't getting out of this. "Alright, it was just a present for your parents as a way of saying 'thanks for letting me stay'. That's why I dragged you into the store yesterday."

"Oh, well you may want to get that package and give it to them now. I got an owl from the Order. They are coming to escort us to the Burrow tonight. It seems that they were kind of worried after they found out that you weren't still at your Aunt's house. I may have forgotten to tell them that I stole you away from that place." She smiled. "Well I knew that they would make a big mess about it and want to either put some people on you or take you away the moment they found out. I didn't want to lose you that quickly, especially since I thought that would make you run for it."

"Thanks Mione, I appreciate that. I guess there isn't any getting out of the Burrow is there? How do you think Ron is going to take us being there? Even better, how is he going to take the news that we've been sleeping together for the past week." It had occurred that Hermione had trouble sleeping without Harry next to her. She seemed to get lost in nightmares when she slept alone. With Harry next to her, she was able to get a good night's sleep, with dreams of her and Harry under the tree by the lake or on the swing in her backyard. This was the first time that Harry or Hermione had said anything about it.

"Oh. I never really thought about that Harry" she lied. She had thought about it every time she woke up in Harry's arms. She could swear that she kept hearing the door open or close, but when she looked, it was always closed as she left it when she entered his room or he entered hers.

The first time she had the dream was the night after they fell asleep on the bench. She saw the pair of red eyes through the darkness, and saw a young man lying on the ground. When she looked closer at the body, she saw the piercing green eyes, only they had none of the regular shine in them. They were stuck open, glazed over. They had the look of death. She had woken up in a cold sweat, and started panicking. She had all but run over to the door, and down to Harry's room. She opened the door, and ran up to the bed, shaking him awake. He had awoken, staring into the face of a panic-stricken Hermione. "What's wrong Mione?"
"Oh Harry. Thank god you are alright. I was so worried."
"Mione, what's wrong. I'm right here. I am fine." She grabbed him, holding him tight. She never wanted to let him go. "Mione?" "Please don't make me leave you Harry. I don't want you to leave either. I don't want you to die. Can I please stay?" He looked into her pleading eyes. She had been crying. He moved to the side, and left half the bed open for her as he pulled back the covers. She jumped in quickly, covering herself back up with one arm, while she held onto Harry as if he would disappear if she let go. She quickly moved across and snuggled right into him. Harry was a bit unsure as to why she wouldn't let him go, and as to why she insisted on sleeping so close to him. He wrapped his arm around her, comforting her and holding her close to him. They both fell asleep in each other's arms.

Hermione woke early the next morning. Somehow, she had let go of Harry during the night, and he had ended up right behind her, with his arm draped over her and holding her to him. She remembered flashes of what had happened in the middle of the night, of her dream, and the feeling of relief that Harry was alright. She heard the door click and looked, but she saw no one. She must have imagined hearing it. She turned to Harry, nudged him to wake him up. "Harry, I better get back to my own bed before my parents see us and exaggerate the situation. I will see you in a while, whenever you wake up." He nodded his agreement, and she got up and went to her room to change. He couldn't sleep either, so they ended up coming out of their rooms at the same time and going to breakfast.

What neither of them knew was that just moments before Hermione had moved to the door to leave, her mother had looked in. She had checked on Hermione, and found her room empty. Normally she wouldn't interrupt a guest's sleep, but she wanted to see if Harry knew anything. She knocked and opened his door. The sight that awaited her made her smile. She was looking at the two teens sleeping; Harry had his arm around Hermione in a caring embrace. She looked at Hermione, and noticed that she was in the most peaceful sleep she could remember seeing her in since she was a child. Even sleeping, she had a smile on her face. Harry would make her happy, Elizabeth knew it. She decided that she should probably go back downstairs to let her husband know there was nothing wrong, that Hermione was just tired. If he suspected something, he would come up and check. That would not end well. She tried to be as quiet as possible since she knew Hermione was usually a very light sleeper. She got out just in time; as the door closed the young lady opened her eyes, looking towards the door.

The next night had become smoother. Hermione woke up, and went to Harry's room. She shook him gently to wake him up, and he moved the covers, inviting her in. She lay down next to him, and he covered her up. Then he draped his arm around her and they fell back asleep to dream peaceful dreams. It happened the same way it went for the next few nights.

Hermione was brought back to reality by Harry getting up and grabbing a large package. Something about the size was familiar but she couldn't think of what it was. He turned to look at her and said "well we can deal with Ron when the time comes. For now, let's go deal with this."

"You are in for it Harry. My parents won't like this. They don't like surprises." She laughed and followed him out of the room. "Mum? Dad? Can you come to the living room please? Harry has something for you." She laughed even harder at the look she got off Harry.

"You just had to say that didn't you? Can't you just let me die without laughing?" he smiled back. He walked into the room, and Mr and Mrs Granger were already sitting there.

"What is it Harry? What did you need?" Elizabeth asked.

"Well nothing, I really don't need anything except to thank you for all you have done for me these past few days. I really appreciate everything and wanted you to know that I feel sorry for being an inconvenience. I know you will say I haven't been, but I feel that I have intruded on your personal time and space. I just wanted to say thank you for putting up with me. I wanted to give you this as a token of my thanks." He handed her the package, and she looked at her husband before responding.

"Harry, you really didn't need to do this. We know how good your friendship is with Hermione, and how happy she is when she talks about you. If anything, we should be thanking you. From what we hear, you are always keeping our baby out of trouble." At this Harry's inside squirmed, knowing that he usually was the one getting her into the mess in the first place. Hermione sat with her glass of water, watching the situation unfold. She found it quite amusing. "You really shouldn't have. For all you do for our daughter, we were only too happy to meet the great Harry." She opened the gift, carefully unwrapping the rather large box. When she opened the top, she gasped. "Harry? How did you know that we had something like this? My, it looks like it would be an exact match to ours." She lifted the vase out of the box, just as Hermione took a drink from her water. As soon as she saw it, she nearly choked, spraying water everywhere. All three of the people in the room looked at her.

"Sorry, the water went down the wrong pipe" she explained. Really, she had been shocked. Harry had bought the vase. She remembered the price, and it wasn't some cheap trinket. It was over 500 pounds. She tried to get control over herself, and her parents looked away for a moment. She gave Harry a look that screamed 'WAY OVERBOARD HARRY. TOO MUCH. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?' He just smiled at her.

"Harry, we can't accept this. It must have cost a fortune. Really, just having you here has been enough to make us happy. Hermione has been one hundred times happier than she has any other summer. That gives us enough payment if you were to stay here for the rest of your life."

"She is right Harry. Whatever you think you owe us, you don't. Just being here has been enough payment for us. We would never dream of accepting this. It's too much. You really should have been thinking of yourself and your upcoming year at school" John told him.

"I am not taking no for an answer Mr and Mrs Granger. I'm sorry, but you can either keep the gift or throw it out. It is not returnable and money is not an issue. So do with it what you want." He said firmly. He wasn't sure how they would take it, but when Mrs Granger finally smiled, he smiled back. She put the vase down, and came to give him a great hug.

"Well if you aren't taking no for an answer there is only one thing we can do; accept it. But with you being so firm and stubborn with us, you will have to deal with the consequences." Harry started to get nervous, and wasn't sure what was coming next. Hermione giggled at his discomfort, and watched her father take a drink from his own water. "We are going to be taking no for an answer as well then. You are coming for Christmas dinner and that is final." At this, John shot water everywhere. All three looked at him.

"Sorry" was all he managed.

"Oh, uhm well." Harry stumbled along.

"There will be no 'uhm' or 'well' or 'but.' I told you that you would have to live with the consequences. So we are not taking no for an answer. You will be returning with Hermione when the train takes the rest of the students home for the holidays. We will be there to pick you up from the station, so don't even think of trying to escape." She gave him a quick serious glare, and then returned to smiling. "Well I am sorry Harry, but we must be going into the office for some work. We won't be here when you leave. So we should be saying goodbye now." She gave him another quick hug, and stepped back. Her husband got up, and walked over to Harry.

"Thank you again Harry. We will be expecting you at Christmas, so you better not disappoint us." He almost had to choke out the last sentence. How could his wife do that without consulting him? He would have to ask her about that later.

Harry regained his composure as quickly as his mind would let him. "Thank you very much Mr Granger. And thank you as well Mrs Granger. I couldn't be happier to come. I doubt that Hermione would let me get away with forgetting." He smiled.

"Then it's all settled. You will be coming and we can only wait until then. Now, if you don't mind, we must be off." With that, she grabbed her husband by the arm and walked out the door leaving a very shocked Hermione behind. As soon as she saw them drive off, she rounded on Harry.

"How could you do that Harry? You went way overboard with that." she said.

"What do you mean? It was nothing. I just wanted to say thanks to them for everything. And I also had something to say thanks to you." he responded.

"Oh no you don't Harry James Potter. That gift was much too expensive. If you think you are getting away with it that easily you are wrong. Nothing you can give me would get you off the hook. Especially if it is as expensive as the gift you gave my parents." She glared at him. He gulped as he looked at her.

"Ok then. Maybe I won't give you your gift just yet. Maybe I will wait and give it to you at Christmas." Oh screw it he thought. "Forget it. Wait here. I will be right back."

He ran upstairs and into his room. He opened his trunk and grabbed the package that contained the books. He opened the packaging, choosing a book at random. He grabbed 'Heart of Darkness' and put the other four back into the trunk. Running back down he found Hermione in the same spot he left her, only slightly redder in the face. "Well I hope you like it. I mean, I know you should expect something better from your best friend but I think you would like this. I mean, you deserve better than something like this, but I know you would like it, well I hope." He was getting nervous for some unknown reason. He hoped she would like the gift, and was trying to figure out what to say. "Well, I mean, here." He pulled the book from behind his back and handed it to her. She stopped glaring at him, and looked down at the book. She didn't say anything. She just stood there staring at the cover for what seemed like hours. Harry was starting to wonder if she would ever look back at him. When she looked up, it was hard to determine her expression. Her face had stopped going red, but she wasn't smiling. He could see tears forming in her eyes until with a reaction even quicker than his, she slapped him. Then, without warning, she grabbed him in the strongest hug they had ever shared. He was stunned and didn't know how to react.

"How could you do this Harry? How could you go and spend all this money on me like that. This must have cost a fortune. I told you that you couldn't do that and you did. What is wrong with you?" She was crying.

"I just saw the way you were looking at those books yesterday, the first edition ones. I thought-" but he was cut off by Hermione. She backed away from him, looking horrified.

"What did you say? First edition?" she looked down at the book as if not believing it. She thought that it was an earlier copy of the book, but she didn't dare to believe it was a first edition. "Harry, you have to take this back right now. There is no way that I am worth that much money." She opened the cover and sure enough, the writing proved it. She started to let the tears fall. She started to pass the book back to him, feeling disgusted that he would spend that much money. He stopped her hand and looked at her.

"No Mione, just like I told your parents, the gift is not returnable. You are crazy to think that you aren't worth that much. You need to start believing in yourself more. To the right guy, you're worth more than all the gold in Gringotts. For being my friend, my best friend, you are worth at least as much as Gringotts can hold. You saved me countless times Mione, and that makes you very important to me. I only hope that this shows you how important you really are" he said as he smiled at her. She just continued to stare and realized that he was not going to take no for an answer.

"Oh Harry! Fine, but this means no Christmas presents for me for the next few years. If you do I will hex you from here to the moon. Understand?" she smiled and gave him another hug.

Boy, she is going to be really pissed when she sees her Christmas gifts Harry thought.

Just then, there was a knock at the front door. They looked outside and noticed that there was a small group of people standing there. Harry looked out and saw that there was Remus Lupin along with three other cloaked figures, none showing their faces. "Well I guess this is our escort?" he asked Hermione. He wasn't sure why, but something didn't feel right about this.

"I don't know Harry. The note said to be careful of who comes along, since they knew that there were very few people they could spare. Something doesn't feel right" she responded, voicing his own thoughts.

Harry looked at Hermione, thinking quickly. "You don't think this is right either?" he asked. She shook her head, indicating that she didn't think it was. He started to think, and he came up with a quick plan. "Do you have your wand?" he asked. She nodded yes. "Good, wait right here." He bounded up the stairs, found his invisibility cloak and wand in his trunk, and ran back down.

"What are those for? You can't seriously be thinking of starting something can you? You are underage, if the Minister hears about this you could be expelled, or even sent to Azkaban." She was pleading with him.

"Listen Mione, if we don't fight, there's a good chance we are dead. Those DA lessons weren't done for fun. Time to put our abilities to use. Now listen carefully. I want you to take the invisibility cloak and slip out the back door. Take a position near the tree in your front yard and wait three minutes. If you see the front door open you know that I think it is really them. If by three minutes the door hasn't opened, take aim at one of the people on the doorstep and take a shot with a stunner. When I see your stunner go off, I am going to open the door and start from this side. Hopefully that will confuse them long enough for us to knock them all out." He was thinking on his feet, his first test in his new mission.

"Alright, but I don't like this Harry" she responded.

"I know, now go" he said as he handed her the cloak.

Harry looked out the peep hole in the front of the door, he heard Hermione close the door in the back, signalling she was out of the house. "Who is it?" He asked through the door.

"Harry? Is that you? It's me, Remus" came the reply.

"Who are you in love with but secretly won't tell?" Harry asked.

"Harry?" he pleaded. Finally as Harry looked out the peephole, Remus leaned closer. "Alright. Tonks. It's Nymphadora Tonks. Happy?" he said is a quiet voice.

"When did everyone find out about you and Tonks?" Harry asked looking at his watch. He saw one of the other cloaked figures say something to the other and nodded his head towards the street. Harry realized that it wasn't the street he nodded towards, but the tree.

"We don't have time for this Harry. We must get moving." Lupin sighed. He's getting to be as paranoid as Moody Lupin thought to himself. The reply he got caught him off guard.

"Wrong answer." Harry stated as he watched the last second tick off his timer. Next thing he saw was a red bolt of light fly towards the door, seeing it connect with Lupin. As the bolt passed the cloaked figures, he saw them turn and each fire a stunning spell towards the tree. Luckily, one collided with the trunk and the others sailed past without stopping.

Harry whipped the door open, and the stunned Lupin fell inside. He poked his own wand out the doorway and yelled "Reducto" at the closest cloaked figure. His plan had worked so far, since his yell had made the figure turn, and caught him off guard. The person was caught in the chest with the beam and thrown 20 feet away. He landed hard, and didn't get back up. Thinking fast as the saw the others turn towards him. "Dispersio" he yelled, and caught another one. The person, it seemed, was not quick enough to raise a shield spell and was thrown backwards, straight towards the tree. There was only one left standing in front of him; he must have been able to put up a silent shield spell before Harry had finished casting. Normally, the spell Harry used was able to throw multiple targets away from the caster in all directions. Harry squared off against the last cloaked figure, wondering what to do. He saw the figure on the grass, that had been knocked away with his second spell getting up and deflecting a few stunners sent their way. To his horror, the person started to send some stunners back, and Harry saw one stop in mid air and disappear. That only meant one thing, it had connected with something. It had hit Hermione. Harry started to move forward, and realized the other figure was still watching him. He quickly raised his wand and without thinking muttered an "expelliarmus" spell. The figure didn't have time to raise a shield, and the spell was strong enough to throw the wand onto the roof, and the figure back 20 feet to meet his first fallen comrade. Harry turned to the other who looked at him, as if sizing him up. Harry was momentarily caught off guard by a stunner sent by the third member he had just disarmed. Turning to look, he saw the disarmed one had picked up his comrades wand and started using it. The only thing Harry could think of was getting to Hermione to make sure she was alright. He raised his wand at the one in front of him, casting a stunner. This caused the one to protect themselves, and Harry dashed straight towards them. As he moved forwards, he raised his wand to the other on his right, and used a "lumos maxima" spell to blind them. As he neared the one in front, he fired off three quick stunners, the last of which made it through the person's protego spell, knocking them unconscious. He dove for the tree, landing behind it, followed by a few spells. He thought for a second, rolled to the right and fired off a quick expelliarmus, which hit its mark and sent the wand into the air and landing 10 feet from the enemy. Before he had a chance to stun the cloaked figure, it spoke to him in a raspy voice.

"Impressive spell work Potter. Now are you done trying to kill your friends?" the figure asked. Harry knew the voice, but almost didn't want to believe that it was him.

"Mad-Eye? Is that you?" Harry asked cautiously. "Cloak off." And with a quick remembrance of his manners in case this was the real ex-auror, he added "Please."

"Of course it is Potter. Only those in the Order would know where Granger's house is. It has nearly the same amount of spells and charms placed on it as the Burrow or Hogwarts. Some even cast by Dumbledore himself. You think a Death Eater would be able to get here without us knowing?" Moody asked.

"We will see, now if you wouldn't mind, move to your left a bit" Harry said as he poked around with his foot for Hermione, never taking his eyes off the person in front of him. Finally, he bumped into something, something that wasn't there. He bent over and felt for the edge of the cloak; finding it, he pulled it off. He grabbed her wand and pointed it at her, muttered a quick rennervate spell. She opened her eyes and stared up at him before realizing where she was. She quickly grabbed her wand off him and stood up.

"Well, Miss Granger. I knew I had seen someone under that cloak of Potter's. I was trying to figure out who it was when you sent that silent stunner at us. I bet Lupin is going to be barking mad when he wakes up." Moody chuckled. "You two make a good team. Maybe my teachings have finally rubbed off on someone."

"Let's move everyone inside Harry. That way we won't be seen by anyone who happens to take a peek." With that, Hermione cast a silent levicorpus spell, picking up the fallen people and moving them inside. Harry cast a quick accio spell to grab all the wands, including the one from the roof, and followed Hermione inside with a limping Moody in front. He sat Moody down on the couch, and Hermione dropped the others on the floor. She wrapped all of them up using the incarcerous spell, and then silenced them before reviving them. Removing the cloaks revealed Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt. She then went back outside, fixing any damage done to the house and the surrounding area. "Now all we have to do is wait for a while. I would assume if they took polyjuice potion, the effects should wear off within the hour; probably a little less because they would have needed to change before they got here" she said as she came back inside and locked the door.

"Good. So while we wait, why don't you answer some questions for us Mad-Eye? For starters, why would you four have opened fire on us if you weren't Death Eaters?" Harry asked. Before Mad-Eye responded, Harry knew the answer he would give. It was the logical answer. We fired first. Their attacks were in self defence. Sure enough, Moody told him the exact same thing.

"Come on Potter, you both caught us by surprise. Instinct took over and we fired back out of self defence. Even you would know that."

"Alright then, how is it that I was able to disarm you then? The real Mad-Eye would never have been disarmed twice by me. Not to mention you missed me with a number of spells. How would you explain that?" Harry asked. Hermione sat, watching the people on the ground while trying to figure out what had happened while she was stunned. Harry had disarmed three of these people by himself. That was impressive, especially if they were the real ones.

"Well Potter, that is a difficult question, but not unanswerable. That would be a result of many small factors; the first being my age and bodily status. While you are young and have always had incredible reflexes, I have been lacking. I am getting older, and my reactions aren't exactly what they used to be. The next is the impressive power you put into your spells. They were right on par with Dumbledore in regards to strength of spells, maybe even a bit more powerful. You disarmed me right through one of my strongest shield charms. That in itself I would have to say is impressive. Then again, I just told you that I am getting older, so maybe it isn't that impressive. The last major contributing factor is the even more impressive silent magic you started performing. It is most difficult to try and counter a spell when you don't have any warning. You definitely ran us through our paces. Though I would recommend you take a quick check on Kingsley. He didn't exactly get up from your first reducto spell. He may have some internal injuries. We should probably get him checked out by Tonks; she's the field medic of our group."

Harry turned to Hermione. "What do you think? Should we give Tonks a wand and let her check out Shacklebolt? I mean I know that we could handle one of them between the two of us."

"Alright, if you think we should Harry. Let's do it." Harry passed Hermione Tonk's wand, and Hermione removed the bonds around Tonks as well as the silencing spell.

"Bloody nice of you to finally let me go. Took you long enough, I was starting to get cramped all tied up like that. Now, my wand please?" Tonks asked as she stood up. Hermione passed it to her, as Harry spoke.

"Just remember. It's two on one. You make one false move and you are not going to survive."

"Oh come now Harry. You think that you and Hermione could take on a full grown witch, much less an auror. Well ok, a full grown witch you could, but not me." She smiled at him and laughed. Kingsley wouldn't wake up, so she removed his bonds. Waving her wand over him, she stopped over his chest. Waving her wand a few more times, she muttered a spell very quietly. "Well that is about as best as I can do until we get him back to the Burrow. We can floo him to Hogwarts from there, and Poppy can fix him up as good as new. It's only a few broken ribs and a cracked chest bone. That looked like it hurt like a witch. Remind me never to piss you off Harry; I don't want to end up on the wrong side of one of your reductor spells. One of your stunners is bad enough. They sure do pack a punch. I think my head is going to explode its thumping so loudly." She gave a chuckle.

"I will remember that for next time Tonks" Harry replied. He was almost sure that it was Tonks. He started to worry about what he had done to Kingsley. Only another 10 minutes to go and they would find out. "If you wouldn't mind putting your wand back down on the floor and sitting next to Mad-Eye." She did exactly as she was told. Sitting next to Mad-Eye, the two looked like they had run ten miles. The fight must have been that intense. Harry realized he had hardly broken a sweat during the entire scuffle. There is no way that they can be the real Mad-Eye and Tonks. If they were the real people, there is no way that I would have been able to take out all three of them.

The 6 of them sat in the room in silence for the next ten minutes. Harry was thinking about how it was that he used his wordless magic again, but couldn't even realize that he had done it in the first place. What had happened that caused him to do that? He couldn't make heads or tails of it. He was not the only one lost in concentration.

Hermione was trying t figure out the same thing. She knew that before she was stunned, she was able to hear Harry yell out his spells. How long after that did he start using silent spells? It didn't make sense. One minute he was yelling out spells, next he was throwing out spells without having to pronounce anything. The voice she hated, yet secretly loved, to hear was back again. 'It's just as I stated before. He did it out of love. How else could you explain that it wasn't until after you were hurt that he was able to draw on that power? You didn't see him break through Moody's shield; twice. The extra boost in power didn't come until after you were hurt. That is the logical explanation.' Oh no. Not this argument again. It must just come out in heightened times of anxiety. Knowing that he was alone would be the logical idea. He got scared, and his power flared. 'You saw the look in his eyes when he woke you up. There was no trace of fear in those emerald eyes.' The voice shot back. The only problem with arguing with yourself in your head, the voices can hear everything you say.

The sound of Harry's voice brought her out of her trance. "Well that is it then. I guess we owe you guys an apology. I'm really going to owe Kingsley something for what happened. So, I'm saying sorry to all of you. Here, take your wands back." He passed out the wands. "So where do we stand now?"

Moody was the one to speak. "Well Harry. We are now an hour behind. How are you going to explain that to Molly? But as it is, we are travelling using a few contacts from the Ministry. They were able to procure a ride for us; without the Minister knowing of course. He wouldn't approve of anything that would be done to help you Potter."

"Alright, so when do these people show up anyway? All our stuff is packed. Give us a minute to run upstairs and grab them." He grabbed Hermione and dashed upstairs. She went into her room and he ran to his. He decided on another action to take with the Christmas gifts for Hermione. He rummaged around in the desk, and found a pen. He quickly scrawled across the brown packaging:

Mr and Mrs Granger.

I would like you to keep these three books for me. If you could please wrap them, and I will sign them at Christmas. There is no need to send them to me; I will only need to bring them back here anyway. Thank you again for everything.

Sincerely,

Harry James Potter

He thought that would do and left the books on the freshly made bed. He had only left three books, since he still needed one to give Hermione as a birthday present. She would be 18 in fewer than two months. He picked out the book '1984' and put it back in his trunk, being careful not to damage it. He packed up the rest of his things and was thankful he didn't have his firebolt to worry about; that he had left it at school. He took his trunk and dragged it back downstairs. He found everyone waiting, including Hermione with her school trunk being carried out by Lupin.

"Come on Potter, it's time to leave. The car is in the driveway." With that, Tonks and Moody led Harry and Hermione out to the car. They had a rather large SUV. Well that is inconspicuous thought Harry. They made sure that Harry and Hermione got in first, and then packed away the trunks. Harry looked into the back and saw Kingsley lying there, still unconscious. Harry felt a pang of guilt towards what he had done. He looked at Hermione.

"It isn't your fault Harry. We both got worried and made the mistake of attacking. You wouldn't have done that if I hadn't suggested that it felt wrong." Hermione told him.

Moody slid into the magically enlarged car in the front seat along with Remus, Tonks, and another heavily cloaked figure that was in the driver's seat. "Potter; meet Henry. One of the Unspeakables from the Department of Mysteries. Just recently inducted him into the Order. We will have another vehicle following behind us about half a kilometre behind. There are another six people in there; aurors and Unspeakables. It seems a lot of people, including those in the Ministry, want to give you a hand. We had a lot of new volunteers for the Order after the Funeral. Seems they all needed to fight for something they love."

They were off within a few minutes. The car was speeding along the various streets, with Moody telling Henry to turn here and there. Harry got so twisted around he couldn't tell which way they were going. He recognized London; twice in fact. They were going in circles. He remembered seeing King's Cross, and the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron. Hermione pointed out that they were only a few blocks from her parents work with a hint of sadness in her voice. He knew how she felt; she was probably wondering if she would ever make it home to see them again. Harry made himself a vow to make sure that she did in fact make it home. After a while, they were back in the country again, and for the first time, Harry noticed a car following them at a distance. That had to be the following car, since they were the only two cars on this road. They finally came to a stop outside a small town.

They pulled into a driveway and into a garage. Harry was about to ask why they had stopped here when Moody hit a button on the dash. Harry watched as the hood of the SUV disappeared from view. He was sure that they had installed an invisibility booster on the vehicle. Harry hoped that it would work better than the one Mr Weasley had installed on his old Ford Angelina. The car backed out of the garage and moved up the street. As it did, the other car moved in and took its place in the garage. Harry watched as the other vehicle disappeared from sight. He looked back and forth, but couldn't detect any sign of the other vehicle. He felt the car shudder a bit, and when he looked down, he saw that they were starting to float. He had a bad feeling of déjà vu.

As the car soared across the sky, he felt Hermione's had wrap around his and squeeze. He knew that she hated flying and gave her hand a gentle squeeze back for support. She in turn gave him a shaky smile. He looked at Moody, and it had dawned on him to ask another question. "Mad-Eye, why is it that I didn't get an owl for all the underage magic I performed back at the Granger's home?"

"Well, that would be because the Ministry doesn't track who is doing the magic, more of where the magic was performed. They see that many spells were performed at the Granger's home, but they cannot tell who performed them. So as far as they know, it was Miss Granger that cast the spells. They wouldn't even have reason to suspect you since they think that you are still at Number 4 Privet Drive" Moody explained.

The rest of the trip went by quickly and in relative silence. Soon, a familiar house came looming into view on the horizon. A few minutes later, the SUV had touched down and the invisibility booster was turned off. Moments later, Harry saw the other car appear a few meters to their left.

No less than two minutes after the car touched down, had Harry started to exit the car and been swarmed by no less than ten people. Hermione, who was about to follow him out, stopped as he raised his hand and whipped out his wand, ready for a fight. "Well now, is that any way to greet our guests" came a voice from behind the crowds. Harry recognized the cheerful voice and looked around, seeing Charlie Weasley walking through. "So nice to see you Harry" he said as he embraced him in a brotherly hug. "Hermione, how are you?" he said as he repeated the hug with her; only after Harry Had lowered his wand and allowed her to get out of the vehicle.

"I'm fine Charlie. What has been going on here?" Hermione replied.

"Oh, just the usual before a wedding. Lots of talking, lots of laughing, and lots of arguments." He laughed. "Really I would much rather be out and about doing work for the Order than hanging around here. It isn't that I don't want to see my brother's wedding, but I would rather make myself more useful." He sighed. "Well we better get you two inside. Sorry about the warm welcome, but you are two hours overdue. We started to fear the worst, and then when the car showed up, we thought there was a chance it was Death Eaters."

"About being late, it was kind of my fault." Harry started.

"Our fault Harry. Don't blame yourself." Hermione interrupted. "We thought that something was –"

"What happened to Kingsley?" Charlie interrupted her.

"Well like I was saying. We thought that there was something fishy going on, and we kind of acted on our thoughts. A short duel ensued and we waited an hour just in case the four of them were using polyjuice to fool us. As for Kingsley, Harry caught him point blank in the chest with a reductor. One shot and he didn't get back up. Then there were Moody's usual over-zealous actions to try and keep us safe. That is why we are so late getting here."

"Hang on, you are telling me that you two took on all four of them and actually beat them? Boy, Moody is never living this one down. All that stuff about constant vigilance. HA" Charlie laughed.

"Actually Charlie, I only took out Lupin before the other three stunned me. Lucky shot of course by Tonks. Harry took out the other three." Hermione stated. Charlie looked at Hermione like she was mental, and then looked to Harry. Harry didn't look up, and Charlie automatically knew that what she was saying was true.

"I have to admit Harry, that is very impressive. You must have been great out there. Too bad I wasn't there, or you would have lost for sure." He joked.

Just then, a cry was heard from the kitchen window. He heard the unmistakeable cry of Mrs Weasley. "Everyone, they are finally back."

With one last gulp, Harry made the move that would take him into the room that could be his undoing.

A/N DUN DUN DUNNNNNN........