Clarity

Foretold

Several hours later Hermione Granger woke in the middle of the night from her restless sleep at the end of a terrible nightmare. Hermione shivered under her blanket at the realness of the dream. She saw Harry facing Voldemort at what seemed to be the Final Battle, and he was losing. A thin fog lay at their feet as they confronted each other for the last time; Hermione could still feel the clammy air on her cheeks. Harry’s eyes were bloodshot from exhaustion. His clothes were tattered and bloody. He stood across from Voldemort, weak but determined. Voldemort’s green snake eyes shimmered with delight as he cackled, “This is the end, Potter,” and shot the killing curse at Harry. She woke up before the curse hit his chest. She laid in bed for several minutes trying catch her breath.

Knowing she would not find sleep again so easily, she sighed heavily and quietly left her dorm for the common room. As she descended the staircase, she saw Harry asleep at one of the study tables. She sighed in disappointment. He going to search endlessly until he found every horcrux, but she knew he needed to rest too. Hermione was afraid her dream would come true if he didn’t keep himself healthy.

She walked the rest of the way down the stairs and over to where he slept. Gently she shook his shoulder; the tightness of his muscle reminded her why she didn’t touch him very often: she couldn’t get enough of him. She leaned in close to his ear and whispered, “Harry, wake up.”

It only took that little whisper. His head rose slightly and in his sleepy state he gargled out, “Yea?” Hermione smiled at him as he turned his head revealing his askew glasses and funny imprint across his cheek from his shirt. He smiled when he saw her, “Mione.” Inside she beamed at his nickname for her. “Did I fall asleep here again?”

“Yes, Harry. Sleeping might be better spent in your bed then on these dusty books. Why don’t you go upstairs and I’ll send these books up after you?” She brushed his hair off his forehead. Just stop, Hermione, she thought. He’s with Ginny and that’s that. You can’t change it just because you love him.

“Thanks. I think that sounds like a good idea.” He stood up, towering over her little frame, and swooped down to kiss her cheek. His soft lips quietly placed the cutest kiss Hermione had ever experienced on her warm cheek. She blushed, but Harry was already walking up the stairs. “Good night, Mione.” He vanished into the dark staircase.

“Good night, Harry.” She whispered to herself. With the tingle of his lips still on her cheek, she gathered all of Harry’s books into one pile, tapped on them three times, and wordless they vanished. Instantly they reappeared at the foot of Harry’s bed.

Harry smiled when he saw the books appear. His lips tingled from Hermione’s warm skin, and as he drifted off to sleep he wondered what his lips would feel like if they touched hers.

Back in the common room, Hermione had only just notice Ginny laying on the couch. Huffing in frustration, she roughly shook Ginny awake. Startled, Ginny woke up with confusion in her eyes. “You really shouldn’t be sleeping in the common room, Ginny. You should go upstairs.” It was times like these that Hermione appreciated her position as Head Girl.

Ginny frowned, and then looked behind her at the table Harry had been sitting at previously. Her frowned deepened, and replied, “Yea. Ok. I’m going.” She got up and shuffled upstairs. Hermione and Ginny had once been best friends. The day Ginny and Harry became a serious couple Hermione couldn’t stomach her anymore. She couldn’t be around the two of them together either, because all she wanted to do was ring out Ginny’s neck.

Once Ginny had ascended the stairs Hermione collapsed into the cozy couch. She wrapped the blanket Ginny had been using around her legs and conjured up an extra creamy hot chocolate. The first sip was absolutely sinful. The thick chocolate slid down her throat and warmed her body. She smiled, Too bad chocolate can’t give you orgasms, she thought and stared into the fire. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something ominous was about to occur in their lives. How ridiculous, Hermione. Of course something ominous is going to happen, we’re at war. She would just have to get used to the eerie unsettled feeling that she harbored, she knew it wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. As the fire started to dwindle, so did she. And she dozed off into a dreamless sleep for the rest of the night.

She woke up early the next morning, paranoid she had missed her first class. When she glanced outside, however, the sun was only just rising. Breathed a sigh of relief. She stretched out the kinks from sleeping on a couch and walked up stairs to her dorm to get ready for the day.

Ginny, on the other hand, did not wake up as content as Hermione. She was quite livid that her boyfriend left her downstairs to get snapped at by Hermione. Ever since Hermione was given the Head Girl position, she had been on a power trip. She always snapped at Ginny, and they never hung out anymore. Even over Christmas break, Hermione was rude to Ginny at the Burrow.

After quickly getting ready, she stamped her way down the stairs and over to the boy’s tower. She huffed into Harry’s shared room, closed the curtains around his bed and shook him awake in an abrupt fashion.
“Ah! No!” Harry yelped as he woke up. He was sitting up now and staring into the chocolate brown eyes of his girlfriend. Those eyes did not look happy. He sat there blinking at her for a while, and realized he was going to have to speak first. “What’s going on, Ginny?”

“What’s going on?! I’ll tell you what, Harry Potter!! I was gracious enough to sit by you as you did your research last night, and I accidently fell asleep. And you left me there!! Hermione caught me sleeping on the couch!”

Harry frowned, “Did you get detention?”

“Well…no.” Ginny answered.

“Well then what’s the problem? So she told you to go to bed? Why are you so mad?” he was getting angry now. He didn’t like to wake up to Ginny yelling at him, it didn’t start his day off well.

“I’m mad, because you left me there! And why are you taking her side! I’m your girlfriend.” Ginny snapped.

Because you’re acting like a little girl, Harry thought. But he thought better of saying that aloud and replied, “Because she’s one of my best friends, and I don’t think you have any right to be mad at her, or me. I fell asleep too and was too sleepy to remember that you were down there.”

“Oh! So you didn’t remember me? Nice, Harry, real nice.” With that she stormed out of the room, calling back that she’d meet him in the common room for breakfast.

Sighing, Harry pulled the curtain back to see all four of his roommates staring at him wide-eyed. “What?” he snapped.

Seamus, Dean, and Neville shook there head feverishly ensuring him “nothing” was up. But Ron, Ginny’s brother and Harry’s best friend, replied, “You know she doesn’t like Hermione, Harry. You knew that would piss her off.”

Harry looked at him, “I know. That’s why I said it. She’s being ridiculous, Ron. Your sister needs to grow up and get over this little feud with Hermione. Hermione makes an effort.”

Ron coughed to hide his smirk, “Only when you’re around. But look, it’s your relationship. I think Ginny’s a little brat, but she’s still my sister.”

“Yea, Yea.” Harry answered on his way to the bathroom. As he stood under the hot water in the shower, he willed himself not to let this ruin his day. He was determined to get past the petty nonsense with Ginny even if she was making it extremely hard.
Ever since school started, the two had been on a downward spiral. Although, Harry wasn’t positive they had ever been on an upward spiral. They had been dating now for over a year, and he couldn’t remember being truly in love with her.

He asked her to be his girlfriend in the middle of sixth year, and ever since then the pressure to stay together has dictated their relationship. They were highlighted weekly in every major newspaper. They were constantly interviewed by teen magazines, and articles were written about their dates to Diagon Alley. Ginny ate all of it up, but for Harry it had gotten a little old.

Anyone could see they were just together to be together, but no one was willing to question it. It was the way it was supposed to be. Harry wasn’t unhappy though. Ginny took care of him, making sure he was doing his work and staying focused on the war. She relaxed him with massages and the sex was decent. But Harry knew there was something missing. His stomach didn’t do flips anymore, his skin didn’t burn when she touched him, and she definitely didn’t calm him when he needed to be.

He blew out the last of the resentment from his lungs and stepped out of the shower. The bathroom was full of steam, so he had to wipe off the foggy mirror. Doing everything the muggle way, he quickly threw some gel in his hair and brushed his teeth. He contemplated shaving, but realizing the time he gave up the prospect. He threw on his muggle clothes and then his Gryffindor robes and flew down the stairs to meet Ginny.

She had a very different attitude, probably because, Harry noticed, Hermione was sitting at the study table editing a potions essay. When Harry came down the stairs Hermione tried to hold in her sigh of contentment. He was gorgeous. His hair was done up the muggle way, and his black school robes fluttered back revealing his preppy muggle outfit: Khaki pants and a white button down with maroon stripes under a grey sweater. Hermione couldn’t take her eyes off of him. He smiled at her, and she gave him a shy smile back.

When he bent down and gave Ginny a quick kiss on the lips, the spell was broken. Hermione heard Ginny accost Harry about gelling his hair, apparently she hated it. I think it’s sexy, Hermione hummed in her head. She turned her attention back to her work and focused on the grammar for Snape’s essay. She didn’t even notice Harry come over to her. He put his hand on her paper causing her to look up into his beautiful green eyes. He grinned at her and whispered, “Thanks for sending me to bed last night. I would have had a nasty crick in my neck this morning.” Hermione nodded and smiled at him. He continued, “Are we still on to study potions this afternoon?”

“Yea, of course. If you can still do it?”

“Oh. I can do it.” He winked at her. Where the fuck did that come from? He mentally smacked his forehead.

Hermione raised her eyebrows and replied, “Oh really. Well I guess I’ll see you in the library.” She grinned at him, and he smacked a kiss on her cheek before catching up with Ginny.

Hermione went back to work not thinking about potions but about the feeling of Harry’s scratchy facial hair and soft lips on her cheek. She didn’t see Harry turn his head over his shoulder to get one last glimpse of the beautiful, smiling brunette before the portrait closed. Ginny snapped him to attention by grabbing his hand and demanding, “Are you listening to what I’m saying?” Harry nodded, and she continued on with her ridiculously childish gossip.

He really had no time for who Lavender was sleeping with this week, or whether Pavarti wanted to break Ron and Luna up. “And, Harry, did you hear that Hermione and Seamus are secretly dating? Although, its not very secret anymore.” Harry was going to nod in agreement like he always did, when his brain registered that this bit of information was about Hermione, his Hermione. Not yours you dumb-ass. Ginny is yours. Still, there was no denying he felt a sting of jealously.

“No. I don’t think that’s true. You know Hermione would have said something to me.” He replied trying to convince himself more than Ginny.

As they sat down next to each other in the Great Hall, Ginny glared at his disagreement. “I’m sure she doesn’t tell you everything, Harry. Anyway why do you care so much? You should be happy your ‘best friend’ finally is getting laid.”

“Nice, Ginny.” Harry shot her a look.

“What?” She shrugged filling her plate with eggs and toast. Just then, Hermione entered the Great Hall. She was laughing ridiculously hard to something that Seamus was telling her. The hair on the back of Harry’s neck stood up and fury flew into his eyes. Ginny looked up at the disturbance too and smugly remarked, “I told you.” Glancing at Harry, her heart sank. His eyes hadn’t left Hermione and Seamus, and his face was contorted into anger. He doesn’t look like that when I’m with other guys. She didn’t say anything out loud. She kept her cool and pretended it was out of protection for a “best friend.”

Ginny couldn’t deny that she realized her relationship with Harry was quickly becoming sour. She wanted to say that she was deeply in love with him, but she didn’t have to because the Prophet did it for her. Of course she told Harry that she loved him, and that she was happy. And she agreed with both of those statements, but she knew something was missing. And when she saw Harry’s reaction to Hermione and Seamus, she knew that was it.

She didn’t doubt that Harry would be furious and hurt if Ginny fell for another guy, but she was certain Harry’s pride would be more hurt than his heart. They were good together. They fought, and they made up. The sex was good, and they had a great time hanging out. But this was the way it was supposed to be. She was the little girl that loved Harry Potter; seeing she had nothing else going for her, she needed to play that role. So she pretended like she loved the attention from the press, and she told her parents that she was the luckiest girl alive. She knew that neither one of them was in love with the other, and Harry’s actions were evidence of that.

She sighed out of realization, and continued to eat her breakfast. Harry’s fury was interrupted when a second-year Hufflepuff nervously handed him a note from Dumbledore.

“I’ve gotta go Ginny, Dumbledore needs to talk to me.” Roughly and emotionless, he kissed Ginny on the mouth and stormed out of the Great Hall.

Hermione glanced up at Harry as he passed, sending him a small smile. He glared back at her and continued on. What is that about? She thought. Putting it aside until later, she turned her attention to Seamus again and laughed about this silly rumor that was running rapid through Hogwarts.

“Us?!” Seamus laughed. “No offense Hermione, but you’re too much of one of the guys.”

She laughed and nodded. It wasn’t that she wanted to be Seamus’ girlfriend, but rather that she didn’t want to be “one of the guys.” She tried hard to find her feminine side, but she supposed she could kick that up a notch. She looked down at her outfit under her robes, boot-cut jeans and a muggle band t-shirt. Well, she thought, at least the t-shirt is fitted. Her long, curly mess of hair was pulled back into a bushy ponytail and she had a little bit of make up on. Yea, I could definitely kick this up a bit.

She realized that she could be a part of their group of guys, and still be a girl. Excusing herself from breakfast with the guys, she walked down the table to sit next to Lavender.

“Hey, Lav.” Hermione grabbed a piece of toast off her plate and took a generous bite.

Lavender laughed and replied, “Sure, Hermione, I don’t mind if you have a bite of my toast. Go for it.” She laughed more as Hermione mumbled thank you through her mouthful. “Whats up? Did you finish your potions essay?”

Lavender and Hermione had become close friends over the past year. Lavender knew about her feelings for Harry, and why she didn’t hang around Ginny any longer. For Hermione it was great to have someone to confide in. But that’s not what she wanted to discuss with her today.

“Of course I did! I was wondering if you’d go shopping with me this weekend? I know we aren’t supposed to, but I thought I’d plead to Dumbledore to let you and I go.”

“Oh Merlin definitely. You get the yes, and I’ll be there. Anything in particular you want?”

Hermione shrugged. “I have all that muggle money from working at the hospital over the summer, so I was thinking of going into London for some new clothes.” Lavendar glanced at her attire.

“Yea. Good idea. No worries, hun. I’ll help you.” Hermione thanked her and said she’s get back to her later about the details. She was running late for Defense Against the Dark Arts and sprinted out of the Great Hall.

Lavendar shook her head with a small smile as she watched her friend go. It’s about time she picked up her game and got her man.

In Dumbledore’s office Harry had just taken a seat across from the Headmaster. “Harry, I have something very important to discuss with you regarding the war. There has been a development.”

“What is it, sir?” Harry pondered.

“There has been a new prophecy. This time I am certain no one on Riddle’s side knows it was spoken.”

“Who told it, Professor?”

“A five-year-old girl who lives near Hogsmead.” Harry looked confused. “She will undoubtedly grow up to become a very powerful witch and seer. But right now my concern is that you know and understand this prophecy.” He handed Harry a piece of parchment that read the prophecy:

Dark and Light must soon collide
No longer let the truth hide
Follow not the path to the soul
Conceive a new answer, now foretold
With this answer secured in tight
The only outcome will be light

Harry was fairly certain he knew what it meant, but he was too scared to actually say it aloud. He looked up at Dumbledore with wide eyes.

“So I’m guessing you understand. We’ll go through it regardless, just to be sure. The first line is a bit obvious, don’t you think?” Dumbledore chuckled, but Harry didn’t see the humor in his looming demise. “Moving on, I think the third line clearly states that the Horcruxes are no longer of importance and that there’s another answer. Unfortunately, from the wording of this fourth and fifth line I think you must conceive a child to win this war, Harry.” Harry hung his head. He was only 17! He knew that a lot of Wizarding couples got married and had kids when they got out of school, but he was raised Muggle and saw it as a little too soon. He wasn’t even in love with Ginny. “It’s the second line that seems to be the hiccup, Harry.” Harry read it over again, No longer let the truth hide. What the hell does that mean? Dumbledore chuckled. “Only you have the answer to that, Harry. I suggest you dig deep and find the truth, and go win this war.”

“Sir, I don’t know what that means at all. Truth in what?” Harry was completely confused.

“Honestly, Harry. I don’t know either. You’ll know when the time is right. I suppose you should start trying to figure both out, finding the truth and conceiving a child.” Harry nodded solemnly and left the office. He had to go find Ginny. This concerned her as much as him.