Harry Potter and the Womb of Requirement NOW CODED

47

They all went down to dinner. Draco a bit subdued. The two girls still weary. Harry and the Six nervous, jumpy. Arthur and Molly took Cariad while the Ten refuelled. Seated with them were Severus, Remus, Albus, Minerva and Poppy. The rest were all on guard duty. Still no sign of the enemy.

Hermione commanded, {Eat}, and all tucked in with varying levels of enthusiasm. Draco picked as did Hermione, Until each sent to the other, {Go on, I’ll have another mouthful if you do}, and they matched each other, both exhausted but grinning at each other and fed.

She sent, {I’m sorry about your dad, Draco}, Draco shook his head, {Don’t be hasty here, Harry thinks He’s sprung them from jail. He dowsed the picture in the Prophet. Loads of Death-eaters but no death. They’re coming here. To claim either Harry or me for him. He’s a Mage, an unbonded one at that. There’s a reason Harry hasn’t been killed by him so far. He knows about both of us, but not that we’re bonded. He took Harry’s blood. He’s fantasised about me}. Hermione could sense Draco’s terror and reached a hand out to him squeezing his arm, letting her fingers interlace with his, sending her own courage. Draco suddenly knew what it took to be a Gryffindor and quailed.

{Hush, Draco. Don’t be afraid. Know when to step back. My Girlie told me. We all have our role to play and maybe this one isn’t yours. You have a very young baby to look after. You bore her. This isn’t our role either. I was getting a swelled head until my Girlie brought me back to earth}. She grinned, {I felt I was carrying you all for a while, got a bit arsey about it ‘til she brought me back. Don’t be afraid of doing your part and stepping away. You’ve just borne a child. We are merely three of Ten. Let them do their bit now. Trust them}.

Draco bowed his head before such wisdom even while he saw the truth of her words. {I know, but I feel I should be part of this somehow}. She smiled at him, {You are, idiot. Without you, none of us could be as powerful as we are. Him to you, you to me, me to the rest. That’s how it works}, she chuckled.

Draco gazed at her, {You mean I can let myself off the killing hook?}. Her return brooked no nonsense, {No. You have to support him. You have to show what courage you have. Harry doesn’t want to kill either if I read him right}, she chewed her lip lost in thought for a moment, then came back, requesting the attention of just her two Magi and her bond-mate. In seconds she had their undivided attention.

{Harry, the other night when I was pissed, I said I’d tell you what you were capable of, but time got away from me. It’s time you knew now and it may save you from having to kill him}. At this they were all ‘ears’.

{Harry. You of all people in the entire Wizarding world have a power that no-one else has. You can take Magic away. Simply remove it. I don’t know how, but the Ancient texts say this is the preserve of a true Ipsissimus and no-one else. Harry, you might not have to kill him after all, just render him harmless. Having said that, though, nobody gets near you two without they partake of my Serum. And my serum will work on Magical or Mundane. It does nothing to your Magic. It tests the heart and even he has one of those if only for pumping blood around his evil body}.

They all digested this, heads bowed. Then Harry looked into Hermione’s eyes and saw the light there and felt a slow smile start, {Is this really true, ‘Mione mine?. Does this really mean I don’t have to commit cold-blooded murder?. That I may come out of this able to sleep at night?}. He was aware of a surge of hope building in his heart. She reached out and cupped his face with her hand, {Yes, my Harry. Though I’ve absolutely no idea how you are to set about it. The texts say nothing}.

He pulled his Elemental to him in a hug. She could feel the tears on her shoulder and held him tight, stroking his back. {It’s part of your Prophecy, Harry, ‘The Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not}. Harry frowned, {All very well, but what about the bit that only one of us can survive this?}. Hermione giggled, {Suppose it’s the Magic that has to die, Harry, not the man}.

Harry reeled back from her, incredulous, then looked squarely into those warm hazel depths and felt his heart lighten. There was one small point that she’d neglected to mention, but she fastened the thought firmly in the back of her mind and didn’t transmit it to her now beaming Mage.

Albus saw Harry’s smile and guessed at what Hermione had revealed to him. He sent with a chuckle, {If we were still in term-time, I would award her a thousand points. You still have to devise a way, Harry, to take his power from him, though}. Harry nodded, {I will. I won’t think about it too much, I’ll just let my instinct drive me on the night, so to speak. I feel like a weight just lifted from my heart}, he grinned at his Headmaster.

Who also saw Hermione gather into herself, looking down, chewing a piece of skin on her lower lip. Ginny looked worried, too. Albus sent on their private channel. {Hermione, I know what worries you and I feel it too. But you are not a killer. The Truth will probably kill him, but it is not you. Do you understand that?}. She raised tear-filled eyes to his and nodded once. Then Ginny and her fled from the Hall, to astonished looks from the rest of the Ten. Harry called out, “Hermione. What’s wrong?. What’s the matter?”, to their retreating backs.

Ginny managed to get her bond-mate up the first flight of steps before Hermione collapsed, sobbing as if her heart would break. She sent her Girlie the unvarnished truth. {So he will still die?}. Hermione nodded, {And at my hands, too. Not Harry’s}. Ginny held her Missy’s head on her shoulder, {Not your hands, loved one, your Potion. One you made with love. You cannot know if a heart is truly good or evil, and this sorts the wheat from the chaff. To be honest, the thing I’m most worried about?}, Hermione looked blearily into her lover’s eyes, {What?, sweetheart}. Ginny sighed. {I’m worried that your Truth Serum will take Draco’s father. I’m not sure I could take it, him watching his own Father die before his eyes}.

Hermione opened startled eyes upon her lover, {Shit!, I hadn’t even thought.....}, to Ginny holding her and shushing her. {Lover, what is, is. However this turns out. There will be death. But we will prevail. I feel it in my guts}. Hermione lowered her eyes, a slight smile playing with her lips, then glanced sidelong at her bond-mate and nodded once, {I know. I’ve Seen it. Not to mention the Sights the boys have had. I want them to have that house. That garden. To watch their second daughter take her first steps}, she set her shoulders, rising from the cold step, {And I mean to see that it happens with all that is in me}.

They started to walk away slowly to their rooms, Ginny taking her lover’s weight against her shoulder as Hermione’s sobs turned to sniffles. At the bottom of the stairs to the Protected Section, she pressed her Girlie into the wall and took her mouth in a kiss to end all kisses.

Which is how the others found them a minute or two later.

Rushing up, out of breath. Thinking that something calamitous had befallen them, only to find them crushed against a wall snogging the life out of each other. Ginny sent, {Hey, crisis averted}, to her fellow Warriors, but Harry discerned something deeper and quizzed the redhead. She dipped her eyes and sent the truth. Harry replied, {She will do anything, won’t she?}. In response, Ginny captured her lover’s mouth again and simply sent, {Yes}.

That afternoon, the Four retired to their rooms while the Six stood watch. In their own spaces, but with their senses on high alert. It was only a matter of time now.

As day edged into night, all nerves were on edge, not helped by the late August thunderstorm raging outside, battering the castle walls with the deluge of rain. Harry looked on his lover in sleep, then took Cariad from him. She had suckled her fill and he settled her. He gazed out at the storm feeling more relaxed than he had for a while.

Below him, Ginny similarly regarded her own lover asleep. The sheet cast aside in the heat and humidity. Hermione on her side, sleeping the way she had since a child, her head down, curled up, her fists balled between her knees. As the temperature cooled, Ginny covered her with a sheet. She reached for papers and the last quarter ounce of the grass and rolled herself a large one, leaving their bed. She perched on the open window-sill and stared out at the storm, smoking reflectively. So they still had a part to play in this. And here was she, thinking that their role was finished. She giggled as the weed hit her. They wouldn’t be finished until the last Death-Eater was tested.

She felt a gentle send into her mind, {That smells good. Any left?}. Harry.

She quickly rolled one then levitated it to his room by way of a drying bubble and their open windows, to feel his send of thanks moments later.

From far above her, she heard the distinctive snap of a can being opened. {Got a spare one?}, she quizzed. To receive, seconds later, an icy cold can. She giggled as she popped the ring-pull, hoisting it, {Cheers, Harry. Nice one}. Harry felt comforted knowing he and Ginny were sharing a convivial smoke and drink a floor apart, both sitting staring out at the storm raging beyond their windows. The rest of their Section in complete silence around them.