32: One More Down

Chapter 32: One More Down

When Severus arrived a few hours later, the sun was beginning to set, and Hermione had worked her way through half the front garden, cutting back overgrowth, pulling weeds, and tidying up. She greeted him with a curt hello, then turned her attention back to the weed she was yanking out of the ground with all the ferocity of a she-lion.

Severus had felt her anger for the past few hours, sensed her location, but had been unable to leave his place at the Dark Lord's side. Now, he looked down at his wife and saw the pale skin of her arms and neck turning pink from sunburn and knew she had been too angry to think ahead. He wondered, as she hacked at an overgrown rose bush with a kitchen knife, if she planned to sleep that night or finish all of the considerable work the yard still needed before taking a break.

"What happened?"

"Idiot, pig-headed, stubborn . . . " She continued the mantra under her breath, but he could tell her anger wasn't directed at him. Strangely enough, he thought part of it was directed back at herself.

He allowed her to mutter for a little longer, then seeing the cuts and scrapes on her unprotected hands, pulled her to a standing position. "Who are you trying to punish: the idiot you're maligning or yourself?" Severus lifted her hand and uncurled it from around the knife. "I was under the impression, wife, that you are a witch...one rather talented in the art of transfiguration. Surely you could have turned this into a more appropriate tool."

"I didn't want to, didn't care. I'm just so angry I want to pummel someone." She pushed her hair away from her face, and he felt desire spur through him. Power all but radiated from her, anger turned to good effect. There was something sleek and feral inside her...something aching to get out. He could feel it. And while gentleness had been the thing she needed most when she worried about her parents, today what she needed was action.

And he was happy to provide.

He pulled her into the cottage, leaving the screen door to slam behind them as he led her to the bedroom. When they arrived, he cast a healing spell on her hands, cleaning and repairing the damage she had done to herself, then carefully set his wand on the nearby bureau. "You need to expend some energy? Expend it on me." He lowered his head and took possession of her mouth. She kissed him back with fervor, tugging at his jacket, fumbling with his buttons, and yanking on his hair to pull him closer at intervals. With a growl, she lunged, and they fell onto the bed.

*****

When they lay panting some time later, Hermione felt considerably better than she had expected. Three hours of hard labor in the yard were nothing compared to a high-energy romp with her husband. Being in his arms provided a shelter, a comfort she hadn't known elsewhere.

"So now you've used me and are ready to cast me aside for other activities, perhaps you would condescend to tell me why you were so angry in the first place?" The soft circles he was caressing along her back were in opposition to his accusing words.

She would have smiled if she weren't so disgusted with Ron, and even more with herself for taking the bait he had thrown out to her. She accused him of acting like a child, then she reacted to his awful words, sharing something that was best kept secret. "I had a stupid fight with Ron. He made me so angry I said things I shouldn't have."

"Oh, did you divulge the location of my favorite freckles, denounce the Cannons and tell him that the Wasps would trounce them in the finals?" His fingers slid up her back to her shoulder blades, then lingered to smooth over that skin.

It tickled a bit, and Hermione decided she couldn't have this conversation with Severus in their current position. He wasn't going to be happy with her when he heard. She pulled away from him, and though he appeared reluctant, he let her go. After putting on a robe, she tied it around her, then walked back over to the bed and sat on the edge. He watched her, his patience about fifteen times greater than anything she would have thought him capable of owning only six months earlier.

"First." She had been about to start with Lupin, wanting to put off the discussion about Ron for a while, then realized of the two the second discussion of the day would be the easiest to broach. "Or rather, second...we'll start with second and work our way back to first. Remus took us out to Godric's Hollow today and during out Portkey travel Ron got zapped when he bumped into me. Harry didn't. When we got back, Ron got zapped again when he tried to touch my arm. Harry was already touching me and wasn't affected at all."

His eyes narrowed and a scowl appeared on his face. "You allow Potter to touch you?"

Hermione wasn't sure if it was outrage or irritation or simply teasing in his voice. She took a moment to analyze his emotions and decided it was a mix of the three...with heavy emphasis on the first two. "He's like a brother to me. His hand was on my arm, it was really nothing, as was evidenced by the fact that your little spell didn't so much as send him a tingle. Anyway, that brought up questions of why Ron couldn't touch me at all, and Harry could."

"And that, of course, enraged the red-head until he said something monumentally stupid to you." He reached up and picked up one of her curls, wrapping it around his finger.

She nodded. "And caused me to say something nearly as foolish back. Or maybe even more foolish."

He lifted an eyebrow. "Indeed?"

It always amazed Hermione that he could pack so much into one word. With six little letters, she felt as though she were being thoroughly interrogated. "I admitted to Ron and Harry that we've been married for months."

His hand faltered in her curls, and all emotion coming from him was cut off. Suppressing an inward groan, Hermione shifted a little closer to him. That could only mean one thing: he was so furious he used an Occlumency shield to wrap it up until he was ready to deal with her. Several long seconds passed before he moved or spoke. "He must have said something far more stupid than I even thought him capable of for you to have risked our lives like that. What was it?"

She started to shake her head, but he grasped the hair in his hand and slowly used it to make her urge her head closer to his. "What was it?" The words were little more than a hiss.

Hermione moved her head just a tiny bit closer to loosen the tug on her hair. He had moved slowly, so it hadn't hurt her much, but it was still uncomfortable. "I'm not going to tell you."

"What was it?" The words were spaced out, carefully controlled, but she could feel some of the anger radiating through the bond now. "You will not deny me this, wife. I will kidnap him from that joke shop and torture the admission from him if necessary, but I will find out. You won't keep me out of this like you did about the bruise."

After weighing her options, Hermione decided he was completely serious and it would be easier to admit the truth now. "He knows I spend the night with you sometimes, he was hurt and angry and called me a . . . " She still couldn't bring herself to say the hateful word.

With a whisper, he was in her mind, in her memory and saw the entire encounter. When he finished, he released her hair and ran a hand down the side of her face then back to grasp it in her hair. He didn't tug on the hair or hurt her, just held tight, allowing what she knew was an empty threat to express his anger. "You need to control your temper, wench. Just as Potter needs to control his, to keep his shields up; you need to do the same. No amount of Felix Felicis will protect you from yourself if you let loose your anger in the Dark Lord's presence. The spell I cast on you only protects you from physical attack, not magical. That's first."

When she opened her mouth to argue, he tugged lightly on her hair, silencing her. "Second, you should have hexed the little blighter into next year at least for saying that you could be anyone's whore. You deserve better than that little cretin could ever have given you. He would have played dirty every time you argued, and let's face it...you would have fought often." His fist released her hair and settled on her shoulder

"Granted. Is there a third?"

"It was brainless for you to tell the boys about the marriage, but I suppose if it makes your life less miserable in the long run, and as it is too late to change things, we'll deal with the consequences. But it really can't get back to the Dark Lord, Hermione, or I'm dead. We will both be dead, but not until after a long, painful torture session."

She shivered at the weight behind his words and knew they were true. "Of course. I took care of it. They won't speak of it to anyone, couldn't if they wanted to, and I'll work things out with them tomorrow. If they won't be sensible, I'll cast an Obliviate and hope I don't do too much damage." She really hoped it didn't come to that. She believed she could cast the spell without any problems, but she hated to do something like that to her best friends.

The expression on his face said he was thinking of making a nasty comment about Ron's brain...or lack there of, but he seemed to think better of it. "I may still kidnap and torture Weasley for saying something like that about my wife. But please, don't turn that wand on me. You're scary when you're angry." The frown on his face was a bit too forced, and after a moment one corner of his mouth began to creep up.

Hermione pinched his side. "Quit teasing me."

"Who says I'm teasing you?"

"You could never be scared of me. You're the big, bad Death Eater, remember?"

He pulled her close and covered her mouth with his in a long, drugging kiss. "You are my wife, and as such you have the power to make my life miserable. I ought to be scared, don't you think?"

"Let me scare you some more," she said, leaning closer to kiss him again.

He had other ideas, however, moving back out of her range. "So if that was second, what was first?"

"What?" She had honestly lost the conversation thread.

"The talk with the boys was second. What was the first thing you were going to come back to?"

"Oh, right. Well, hmmmm. I spoke with Remus today."

"He still doesn't want to trust me."

She smoothed back his hair from his face. The scowl had returned, but what she felt from him wasn't anger, it was sadness, hurt, disappointment...no, none of these, but all of them. The emotion was too complex to button hole. "No, I think he actually does want to trust you. Very much. But he's not sure he dares, and he knows no one else will willingly trust you."

"For good reason."

"For good reason," she echoed, then licked her lips nervously. "He wants you to take another vow."

"Not to him..."

"No, not to him. To me. In the presence of others. I'm sure he would want to approve the wording on the vow, but he knows you would never make one to anyone else in the Order."

There was a long pause as he considered her words. "I need to think it over."

"Of course. We figured you'd need time to decide. It adds another layer of both danger and protection."

"Yes." Silence lingered a few more seconds, then he seemed to break through the trance over him. "Well, we better get chopping those ingredients. We need to add them to the next step here in about an hour." He brushed his lips over her forehead, then stood, pulling her from the bed with him.

******

The next day, Hermione arrived at the Burrow while Ron was working for the twins and Harry was getting his Apparition License. Mrs. Weasley put her right to work moving tables into place, charming balloons and crepe paper while Ginny set the tables the old-fashioned way. Fleur and Bill were still away on vacation, but Charlie got off work early and came over to help during the last hour.

A little before three o'clock people began to show up at the door. She directed them out to the garden where food and drinks had been set out. School mates, Order members, Weasleys everywhere. Fred, George and Ron Apparated over right at three, directly into the yard. Ron glowered at her, then turned away. Hermione sighed.

By the time Mr. Weasley and Harry showed up shortly after three, there were at least forty people crowding into the back yard, laughing and talking until Hermione made the signal that Mr. Weasley had Flooed in.

"Hello," he greeted them as he stepped out of the fire.

"Hello, Mr. Weasley," Hermione cast the cleansing charm for him, since he seemed to be searching about in his cloak for his wand. "Harry right behind you?"

"Yeah, everyone here?"

"And their friends too, I imagine." They shared a conspiratorial smile as the hearth flared green and Harry twirled into view.

"Hey, Hermione. Don't know why Mr. Weasley insisted we come by Floo, now that I can Apparate." Harry tapped his wand to himself, clearing away the soot, then gave her a considering look.

Hermione locked her fingers together in front of her, nervous about how he would react to her news of the night before. "Well, you're here. And I'm sure we'll be putting your Apparition License to plenty of use now." Hermione grinned at him. "Come on back; we have a light tea on the patio. It's a lovely day. Ginny's back there." Hermione added this last when Harry lifted a brow at her. The Weasleys rarely had tea on the patio, but Ginny was always worth going out of his way to see.

"All right. We'll talk later, OK?"

She nodded and he turned and opened the back door.

"Surprise!" The whole group of people yelled out at him. Harry whipped out his wand automatically, but Hermione calmed him with a touch on his arm, and he paused to look around. His jaw dropped, and he stared at the crowd, the balloons, and mountains of food. The twins had set off a firework that spelled out the words Happy Birthday Harry and other fireworks were popping and fizzing around the perimeter of Party Central.

Harry just stood there, his mouth open, as though he had never seen anything so amazing in his life.

"Hey, you OK?" Hermione asked after a moment. People began to look at him askance.

"Yeah, yeah." A smile bloomed on his face. "You did all this for me? For me?"

"Of course, you dolt. No one else named Harry is having a birthday in this house today." She tugged at his hair and grinned, seeing the overpowering emotion on his face. "Go on out there; they're all here for you, you know."

Grinning now, Harry walked out and threw his arms around Mrs. Weasley, who was the first person he reached on the other side of the door. His 'Thank you' was muffled in her blouse. Then he let go and began greeting others.

Throughout the afternoon and evening, as the party raged on, Hermione thought she had never seen Harry so happy. He and Ginny only stole looks at each other across the party, preferring to let non-Order members think they had cooled off and split up. They both agreed it would be best for her protection, though Hermione was certain Ginny wouldn't stay in the background for long. When they began to fight, the youngest Weasley would be by his side, no matter what he had to say about it.

Ron continued to ignore her, though the pain of a cold shoulder had been dulled over the years as he had used it so often. He spent his time, instead, with Luna and Neville, laughing and talking under the shade of a tree on the far end of the yard. After the blow-up the two of them had the previous day, Hermione was just as glad to have some space.

She took her time moving around the group, greeting everyone she knew. It was nice to see her school friends, and she enjoyed talking with the Order members. Hermione was glad Harry was having such a great time...his eyes were lit up like Big Ben at night. However, she could have done with half the people, or maybe a tenth, and been much more comfortable. She didn't enjoy crowds; would rather be sitting in a quiet corner with a book.

After giving a covert answer to Remus about her discussion with Severus, Hermione found herself talking with Charlie, with whom she spent more than an hour before Kingsley wandered over and joined the conversation.

By the time the party began to wind down, the sun was setting, and it was too late to do anything about the Horcrux. Though several people stayed around to help clean up, it was full dark when the Burrow was more or less put back to rights, and Hermione was exhausted.

Harry was sitting in the kitchen at Headquarters with a butterbeer when Hermione came in for a glass of water before bed. "Hey," he greeted her.

"Hey, did you have fun tonight?" She reached for her glass in the cupboard.

"Yeah, it was great. The greatest. Mrs. Weasley said the party was your idea." He motioned for her to sit in the chair to his right.

"She did almost all the work. It was time you had a birthday party." She shrugged and filled her glass, then settled beside him.

He reached over and touched her ring finger. "Where is it?"

"You're touching it, but it's well hidden." Hermione touched it herself and said the incantation.

He turned it on her finger. "I'm not sure how I feel about this, about you keeping it a secret from us. You're full of secrets this summer, the Felix Felicis, the soul mate, the Animagus, marriage. I feel like I hardly know you anymore."

"I'm still the same Hermione you always knew. Regardless of what's happened to me, the man I married, I'm still the same. He's very private, so much more than anyone knows, and, Harry, it could be very dangerous for both of us if word got out that I was married."

"More dangerous than your life already is?" He didn't let go of her fingers, but touched her ring again.

"Yes. Please believe me, I would tell you if I could; I hate having secrets from everyone. Do you have any idea how exhausting it is keeping one set of stories for my mum, another for Order members, a third for you two? I can't wait until the whole mess is over. I want to quit having to pretend."

He ran his finger over the platinum ring one last time, then pulled back his hand. "When this is over, if I survive, do you think Ginny would accept a ring from me?"

She grinned. "I think she'd be thrilled to accept a ring from you. But remember to keep things appropriate until after the wedding." The chances of that were minimal, she knew, but she had to tease him anyway.

He only wiggled his eyebrows at her in response, causing her to laugh.

After writing a few lines in her diary in her bed back at Headquarters later that evening, Hermione drifted into sleep. She wished there had been time to resolve things with Ron...who had stayed home to jabber with his brothers a while later...and to take care of the Horcrux, but was thrilled that Harry was so happy with his party.

They could all use a little more joy in their lives right now.

*****

The next morning, Hermione was the last to rise. Harry and Ron were already sitting at the table eating when she walked into the kitchen. Ron glanced at her, then back down into his plate, focusing on his meal; Harry smiled and waved her toward her usual chair where a plate and cup were already sitting. "There's fresh coffee if you like."

"I like." It was as verbal as she could be after the way she had tossed and turned the previous night. After the party, she had considered going to the cottage for the night, thinking the bliss of not facing a sulky Ron over the kitchen table would be almost as wonderful as the possibility of sleeping in her husband's arms. In the end, she had decided to return to the House of Black. She didn't want to cause any more hard feelings.

When she sat at the breakfast table a full ten minutes without Ron glancing her direction even once, Hermione wished she hadn't returned. It wasn't as though her reception later that morning could have been any chillier than it was turning out to be.

"So, are we agreed on heading straight to Godric's Hollow after breakfast to take care of the locket?" Harry asked, obviously exasperated by the other two giving monosyllabic answers to everything else he had tried to discuss.

"Sure," Ron said. "I'm working at the shop this afternoon."

"Yes, good idea," Hermione agreed before returning her attention to her toast.

*****

An hour later, the three of them Apparated from the copse across the street from Headquarters and ended up in different parts of the clearing Hermione had picked out. The boys took a look around, then came back to the center of the clearing to join her.

"Looks good." Ron's words were grudging, and he didn't meet her eye, but it was agreement.

Harry nodded and flicked his wand at a spot in the center of the clearing, which cleared a space of ground about five feet in diameter. He walked over and placed the locket in the center of the circle, then stepped back. "Hermione, you go right; Ron, to the left." While they moved into position, Harry stepped back a few more feet, and Hermione knew he was judging the distance to make sure he would be behind the shields she and Ron would erect.

"You ready, Hermione?" Ron asked.

"Yeah." Her stomach turned with worry and anticipation, but she also felt a layer of certainty that this would work. It had to work. She lifted her wand and pointed it at the locket. At Harry's signal, she and Ron cast the shielding charm together.

When the shield was up and stable, out of the corner of her eye, Hermione saw Harry lift his wand and cast the spell she had gotten from Severus' text. The shield glowed blue and gold, then rippled as Harry held the spell on the locket.

Hermione felt the power seeping from her, concentrated harder and forced the shield to stay in place until everything around her seemed to collapse in on the point where the stream of magic issuing from her wand hit the shield. The spell became her whole world as she worked to maintain her focus.

The locket fought back, letting out purple, red and green smoke, flashing and wailing in high-pitched tones as it gave up the bit of soul inside it. Finally, the tiny white light that was the bit of Voldemort rose slowly from the locket. When it was well cleared, Hermione saw the stream of light coming from Harry's wand lift and the blast of dirty, gray power knocked all three of them off their feet and several meters backward into the deep grass.

Hermione gasped for breath, trying to force air back into her lungs after the impact had emptied them. She turned on her side and set her forehead on her arm, feeling lightheaded and a bit nauseous.

"You two OK?" Harry's voice asked after a few seconds.

"I'll live," Ron groaned.

"Ask me when I can breathe again," Hermione said. "Any broken bones?" Able to get a deep breath again, she sat up, then immediately hung her head between her knees. The shield had taken more out of her than she had expected, and she felt weak, and her stomach hadn't completely settled.

"I never did a bit of magic that wore me out so much." Ron sat up as well, and though he didn't hang his head like she was, Hermione glanced up to see him still breathing hard.

"Try Priori Incantatem some time. On second thought, don't try it." Harry stood, moaning when he stretched his muscles. "And we have to do that three more times."

This time it was Hermione's turn to groan. "Don't remind me, please." She got to her feet and stretched as well. There would be bruises on her back, she was sure, but it didn't feel as though anything were broken or really damaged. She wondered for a moment if Severus was any good at massage.

"Don't you think just killing Nagini will be enough? Are we going to have to go through this for the snake too?" Ron asked as he stood and started walking over.

"I hope you're right. That's something to look into. What's that?" Hermione's gaze was drawn to a dark object on the edge of the circle. She drew nearer, then had to hold back the rising bile in her stomach. A small bird had apparently been caught by the blast, and all that remained was bone and a few bits of charred flesh.

"Hermione, do me a favor and make sure not to go flying over someone when they cast a spell, will you?" Harry asked, setting a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah. I'll have to watch out for that." She wondered briefly if she would have been half as disturbed by the tiny bird body if it weren't about the size of her Animagus form.

"You two up to Apparating back yet?" Harry asked.

"Not quite." Hermione brushed her hair back from her face. "Give me a minute. That shield was draining to maintain. Whatever was in that locket along with the bit of soul sure didn't want to be contained."

"It didn't want to come out either," Harry said, stopping to scoop up the locket and stuff it back in his pocket. "I think we need to check with Bill and make sure it's inert now. As soon as he gets back."

"Good idea, mate. Hermione, you don't look so good." Ron looked over, lifted a hand as though he wanted to comfort her, then withdrew it before making contact.

Seeing both concern and irritation in his eyes, Hermione nodded. "I'll be OK; I just didn't sleep well last night. Too much on my mind, worn out. I just need a long nap, and I'll be fine."

Ron's face fell, and he looked away, stuffed his hands in his pockets and scuffed one foot. "Yeah, I guess I haven't made things easier. I...I want to stay friends. I don't want things to get out of hand like this again. We've been best mates for years, and I know I've been acting like a real prat."

It wasn't a direct apology, but for Ron, it was pretty straightforward. Hermione decided it was good enough and prayed things didn't regress anytime soon. "I'd like to stay friends too."

He blushed and grinned, but didn't take his hands out of his pockets. "This is normally when I would give you one of those friendly shoulder pats, but under the circumstances, you'll have to accept the spirit of it instead."

Hermione smiled back.

"You want to head back to work on Transfiguration before lunch?" Harry asked.

Hermione laughed. She never thought she would have Harry prodding her about Transfiguration when there wasn't a test the next day...even then that had always been her job. "I'm up to that. Ready, Ron?"

"Whenever you are."

In a blink they were gone.