Heritage

Chapter 10

“Hermione?” Ginny rapped quietly on the door to Hermione private Prefect quarters.
ome ome in.”

She opened the door and walked in, pulling Harry along with her. As usual, Hermione had her nose in a book. This one looked to weigh more than her. Several others were piled around her on her bed. “Hermione, we need to talk to you.”

“About what?” she asked, not looking up from her book.

“Hermione!” Harry shouted.

“What?” she finally looked up.

“I need to talk to you.”

“You are talking to me.”

“I’m being serious. You said I could tell you what was wrong and you’d understand. Well, I want to talk.”

Intrigued, Hermione set her book down and stared at Harry. “Alright, talk.”

“I need your help. There’s something wrong with me.” He looked pleadingly to Ginny for help. “I’ve been… changing.”

“We all are Harry. It’s called puberty.” Hermione rolled her eyes and turned back to her book.

“No, not like that. I mean, physically, my body . . . something has happened recently. I was in the loo and I…”

“Ugh, Harry” Hermione interrupted him with a grimace. “Can’t you talk to Ron about this stuff?”

“I’m not talking about that!” A slight blush crept across Harry’s face as he remembered what had happened in the loo earlier. Ginny giggled behind her hand. Harry cleared his throat. By this time, Hermione had resumed her reading, trying not to listen to Harry.

“Hermione!”

“What!”

“Look!” Harry turned his head to the side and pushed back his hair, revealing his tapered ears.

Exasperated, Hermione glanced up from her book. The moment she saw his ears, she froze. “Ohgod”god”

“Hermione, I can explain this…”

Hermione crumpled to the floor.

“Well,” said Ginny, staring at Hermione’s crumpled form. “I think she took it rather well.”

“Enervate.”

Hermione’s eyelids fluttered and opened. Her vision swam, as Harry and Ginny’s faces slowly came into focus. Harry slid his wand back into his pocket.

“Harry, I thought I saw…”

“You did see.” Harry turned his head slightly revealing a pointy ear.

“Harry, what’s happening to you?”

“Honestly, I have no idea. I hoping you could help with that. All this started after my birthday. I went to bed racked with pain and when I woke up, I had….changed. I was taller. My muscles were bigger. I’ve been hearing better, seeing better, moving faster…. “I’ve been eating like mad”

“What have you been eating? Anything unusual?” She gave him an inquisitive look.

“Umm, no…” Harry’s brow furrowed thoughtfully. “Nothing out of the ordinary; meat, vegetables, cheese, milk. I haven’t really felt like having many sweets lately.”

“Which is an oddity in itself,” said Ginny with a smirk. Harry turned to glare at her. She quirked her eyebrows in return.

“All right. Let me get this straight. You’ve been having dreams of talking trees. You’ve developed a voracious appetite and have been eating like mad, loading up on proteins and calcium. Your height and musculature have increased and now you’ve sprouted pointed ears.”

“Yes.” Harry sighed. “I’m going nutters here Hermione. You’ve got to help me.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Do some research. It’s what you’re best at isn’t it? I need answers Hermione, now, before I get any worse.”

“Alright, but it may take awhile. Your appetite is clearly a result of your physiological changes. Your body needs the protein and calcium due to the increase of your bone and tissue mass, but that doesn’t answer the simple question of how and why this change is occurring. We don’t even know what we are looking for.”

“Transformations, magical mutations, possessions, anything we can think of.”

Hermione sighed heavily. “I can get started first thing in the morning, but I don’t know how long it will take. We have to do something about those now.” She pointed to Harry’s ears. “Are you positive no one saw you?”

“Positive. We just have to find a way to fix this without anyone else finding out.”

The three of them swung around at the sound of Hermione’s door being flung open. Ron strode in, slamming the door behind him. “Hey Mione, Are you ever going to come down to the party?”

Harry slouches in his chair and tries to discretely cover his ears with his hands.

“Hey Harry.” Ron gave Harry a short nod and started to turn to pester Hermione again, when he stopped and looked back at Harry. “Whoa!” Ron stared, his mouth hanging open. “What’s wrong with your ears?”

Harry looked fearfully to Hermione. “Are trealreally that bad?”

Hermione reassuringly patted Harry’s arm. “No.” She turned to Ginny and winced.

Harry groaned and slumped back in his chair. “What the bloody hell am I supposed to do now? I can’t go out like this!”

“Maybe no one will notice” Ron said, a hopeful note in his voice.

Hermione, Ginny, and Harry all turned and stared at Ron.

Hermione glared at Ron. “Look Ron, I may not have noticed right away, but I’m pretty sure other people will. Malfoy, for instance,” she said withery ery exasperated tone in her voice.

Harry groaned and dropped his head onto his arms with a thump. “Great, as if I don’t have enough bloody problems with him as it is.”

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get rid of them,” said Hermione.

“Get rid of them?” Worried, Harry raised his hands to cover his ears.

“You know what I mean. Hid them. We are witches aren’t we? There has to be a spell to disguise those.”

“A glamour spell!” Gin exclaimed.

“What?”

“A glamour spell.”

“Of course,” said Hermione “ Lavender and Pavarti use them all the time. I’ve seen them do it everyday. Why do you think they always look so perfect?” Hermione whipped out her wand and pointed to Harry. “Occulto auricula”

The lobes of Harry’s ears seemed to blur and vanish, revealing round human ears. Harry reached up and touched his ears. Shocked, He turned to Hermione. “It didn’t work!”

“Yes it did. Glamour spells can only conceal things. They can’t make them go away. Go look in the mirror.”

Harry got up quickly and looked in the mirror. His ears looked normal. He sighed and turned to Hermione with a grateful smile. ”Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me yet. It’s only temporary. The spell will wear off in 24 hours and we still don’t know what is happening to you.”

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Harry awoke and looked at the time. 2:40 am. Harry slid out from under his covers. Quiet as a church mouse, he crept over to the cupboard and pulled out his broom. The only sounds in the room were the sounds of his roommates breathing, Trevor croaking and Ron’s snores, which echoed through the room. The soft moonlight illuminated the wispy frost decorating the window.


The chilly November weather had taken an icier turn than usual. He couldn’t risk leaving the bedroom window open. The cold might wake someone up. If they got up to close it, they might notice him missing. So he’d been sneaking out through the windows in the common room. Soundlessly, he crept down the circular stone staircase. As he passed the door to the girl’s dormitory, he froze when he heard an unfamiliar sound.


Then he realized the sound was coming from Ginny\'s room. Within moments, he was striding into the bedroom and past the four other beds. His keen eyes enabled him to maneuver around all the furniture easily. In the darkened room, he could make out Ginny\'s body lying tangled in the bed sheets. Every now and then she thrashed and shook her head, mumbling incoherently. Occasionally her mumbling would become a cry of fear, or a shout of anger.


His heart pounded painfully as he crossed the room, wanting desperately to comfort her. As he got closer, he saw that Ginny had kicked off most of the covers in her sleep. Her nightgown had ridden up leaving only a thin crimson sheet twisted around her slender waist. She lay on her back, with one arm raised above her head. The other was flung across her stomach.


The raised nightgown revealed her gently curving hips, all the way up the soft, pale planes of her bare stomach. The nightgown’s deep scoop neck revealed a good amount of cleavage, her young breasts pressing firmly against the dark green material. She shifted and the sheet fell away from one leg … one naked leg. Harry barely suppressed a groan as he realized that she was sleeping in little more than her nightgown and her panties. He felt his body respond fiercely to the sight.


Her fiery tresses lay in a tangle around her head. Ginny whimpered in her sleep, shaking him out of his trance. He suddenly felt like a cad, standing in her room and ogling her while she writhed in the grip of a nightmare. He hurried forward and leaned over her. Her soft scent of lavender and heather nearly overwhelmed his senses, causing a curious fluttering in his stomach, but he forced the sensation down.


\"Gin!\" He called, shaking her shoulders gently. \"Ginny!\"

She quieted for a moment, and he thought she was waking up. Suddenly she screamed, and the sound broke his heart. He pulled her into his arms, stroking her hair and calling her name over and over. She woke and for a moment, she continued to thrash, fighting his embrace. Then she quieted, wrapping her arms around him.


Harry swallowed, both confused and frightened by the kaleidoscope of feelings that she stirred within him. Protectiveness, joy, passion... Love.


Her face rested against his bare neck, and he could feel her breath on his skin. Harry brushed a lock of hair away from her face, and the feel of her soft, smooth skin against his fingers sent blood rushing to an area it should not be rushing to when looking at his best friend’s little sister.

\"Harry...\"

He looked down into coffee eyes clouded with fear. Without quite knowing how it happened, he was kissing her. But his lips were on hers and she was responding with so much sweet tenderness and eagerness and he thought his heart would explode.

When did she take off her nightgown? Or had he taken it off? He didn\'t know. She was revealed to him. Every inch of skin he had so often imagined and dreamed of but never actually seen was spread before him. His hands explored her, roaming every inch of her exposed skin, while her small hands moved over his bared skin.

Suddenly, as if protesting the actions going on within it, the bed let out a loud creak that echoed through the room. The young couple froze, listening fearfully for some sign that they had been heard. Their attentive ears were met only by the sounds of the other girls’ soft breathing.

Satisfied that they were safe, Harry looked down at Ginny. Her breath came in harsh pants as heavy as his own and he was quite certain that the dark, wild look in her eyes was mirrored in his own.

“I should probably go,” he said in a slightly shaky voice.

“Yeah, we might not get so lucky next time.”

“So there’s going to be a next time?”

Ginny socked him in the arm, causing Harry to let a stuttered laugh. “Go to bed Potter.”

“I am in bed.” He grinned.

“Your own bed, in the boys dormitory,” she said in a dry tone, shoving him out of her bed.

Harry rolled over the edge and onto his feet scooping up his neglected firebolt along the way. “Alright, I’m going.” He strode silently to the door before turning around. “Are you certain that you’re alright.”

Ginny turned to face him, though unlike his own, her eyes could not see him from across the room. “Yes, I’m fine.” She snuggled down into the covers. “Go to bed.”

Harry opened the door and almost stepped through when Ginny’s soft whisper stopped him.

“What were you doing up at this time of night? You were going to the forest, weren’t you?”

Harry looked to her, glanced out the window at the forest, then back at Ginny. “No, of course not. Sleep well.” He pulled the door shut behind him.