What If… Harry Potter

It was just after midnight on July 31, 1995. It was also Harry Potter's fifteenth birthday and he was both extremely sad and pissed off. He had witnessed the rebirth of the worst dark lord of the century a month ago, the death of a schoolmate that everyone blamed him for, and none of his friends would write anything more than to stay inside the hellhole that was his relatives and not cause trouble.

He had written them dozens of times and pleaded and begged for both information and to stay at The Burrow or wherever Sirius was staying. They had only responded once and said they couldn't tell him anything, just that they were together and not at the Weasley's, they were safe, and they would see him a couple weeks before school started.

Harry laughed at their response. They were safe! He thought angrily and tore up the letter he had been reading. They were safe. Not him. Never him. Even though it was always him that things happened to. Even though it was always him that saved them when they were in trouble. Why were they the only ones that deserved to be safe?

There was a strangled cry from outside his window and Harry stiffened as he heard several spell impacts and then a thump. He dove under his bed and pried up the loose floorboard and retrieved his wand. He wasn't going to just sit there and not defend himself if someone came to attack him.

Before Harry could decide if he wanted to take the chance to peer out the window and see what happened, a kind of familiar bushy-haired head floated up into view in front of the window.

“Hermione?” Harry asked in a whisper.

“Close. We are related.” The girl said and waved her wand at the window. It opened all the way and then expanded. “She told me all about you.”

Harry stared as the mystery girl floated in riding side-saddle on a style of broom that he didn't recognize. He let his eyes roam over her muggle clothing of jeans and a t-shirt that fit her very well, and she was a healthy-looking girl in the chest department. Why he thought that in the middle of someone invading his room, was beyond him at the moment.

The girl smirked at Harry's lingering gaze and felt justified in her decision to do this. “My name is Rose. Just Rose.”

Harry looked a little confused. “Just Rose?”

“Yeah, like you're Just Harry.” Rose said and Harry raised his eyebrows, because no one ever listened to him when he tried to claim that.

“You're not going to tell me who you are, are you?” Harry asked.

“I'm afraid if I did tell you who I really am, you wouldn't believe me and you won't let me help you.” Rose said and didn't say anything else.

“You want to help me?” Harry asked, surprised.

“Of course I do. I travelled a long way to help you.” Rose said and stood on the floor, shrunk her broom, and tucked it into a pocket.

“I thought brooms couldn't be shrunk. The enchantments fight against alteration.” Harry commented.

“That's because it's a custom Pot... it's a special broom that allows the owner to shrink it.” Rose barely corrected herself and hoped that Harry hadn't noticed the slip.

Harry had, only he ignored it for now. “What exactly are you going to do to help me?”

Rose smiled a quite evil smile and waved her wand at his bedroom door. All of the locks on the outside clicked and the door swung open. Before Harry could ask her what she was doing, Rose was out the door and inside the master bedroom with the door locked. He tried to open it when he heard a few shouts, then there was nothing.

A few minutes later, Rose stepped out of the bedroom and waved a small stack of papers at him.

“What's that?” Harry asked and looked into the bedroom. “What did you do to them?”

“A few compulsion charms, a truth serum, and they signed your custody over to me.” Rose said and rolled the papers up and shoved them into her front jeans pocket that shouldn't have held them.

“Wh-what?” Harry asked, shocked. “What did you say?”

“Legally, you're officially mine, Just Harry.” Rose said, smugly. “Pack up your things and let's go. We have to get out of here before your guard shift changes.”

“My what?” Harry asked as Rose dragged him down the stairs to the cupboard under the stairs and she unlocked it and pulled his trunk out. “Hey, how did you know that was there?”

“I already told you that Hermione told me all about you.” Rose said and levitated the trunk behind them and dragged Harry back up the stairs to his room. “You can leave all the hand-me-down oversized clothes. You won't need them.”

Harry nodded and only packed the things he wanted to keep, like a few muggle books and his bit of muggle money hidden under the loose floorboard. “Why hasn't an owl appeared about magic being used here?”

“It's a temporary anti-magic spell I cast on the house wards. By the time we leave, it will fail, as will the nasty blood wards, and you won't have those things holding you back anymore.” Rose said and handed him his sneakers. “Put those on and we can leave.”

“What do you mean the wards are holding me back?” Harry asked and sat down on his bed and put one of his sneakers on and tied it.

“Blood wards are powered by magical blood, Harry. Since you are the only wizard that lives here, who do you think the wards are draining to keep everyone in the house safe from You-Know-Who?” Rose asked him and turned around to close his trunk, shrunk it, and bent over at the waist to pick up the tiny trunk to tuck into her back pocket.

Harry just stared at her and didn't say anything. He had been completely distracted by the quite nice arse in a tight pair of jeans that had been practically shoved into his face.

Rose turned around and saw Harry's stunned expression and the smirk was back on her face. That's twice I've distracted him. She thought in triumph. I knew he really liked me and could never say it. “Hurry with the shoes. Time's wasting.”

Harry nodded numbly and slid on his other shoe, barely tied it, and stood. He only just noticed that the girl was his exact height and their eyes locked onto each other. His emerald green and her chocolate brown stared into the depths of the other for several moments and neither of them breathed or spoke. It was like they were caught in their own little world and no one else existed but them.

*CRACK!*

“Oh, for Merlin's sake!” A female voice hissed from outside the window. “Mundungus! Wake up!”

“Dammit.” Rose whispered. “We can have our first snog later. We have to escape right now.”

Before Harry's brain could think about kissing such a pretty girl, his hand was in hers and they were out his bedroom door and down the stairs. They made it out through the back door and across the yard before whoever was in the front yard realized Mundungus wasn't asleep.

Rose took out her broom and made it normal size again. “Put on your cloak and climb on.” She said and put her own on and climbed onto the broom.

Harry did as she asked and climbed onto the broom behind her.

“Hold onto me tightly, Harry.” Rose whispered and she almost fainted when Harry hugged her from behind. With them being the same height, it made their closeness terribly intimate, and she had to close her eyes to stop herself from moaning at him pressed up against her back. “Here we go.”

The broom easily shot up into the air with two passengers and disappeared underneath them.

“This is bloody brilliant.” Harry whispered into Rose's ear. “I should have done this years ago.”

Rose had to bite her lip and still moaned a little at how turned on she was.

“Are you... okay?” Harry asked, his voice a little deeper than usual. He wasn't sure why he was acting like he was, just that he had never been near a girl like this and felt so relaxed before.

“H-Harry, s-stop distracting me.” Rose pleaded, halfheartedly.

Harry heard the wavering in her voice and couldn't stop his smile. He couldn't believe this was happening. He had escaped his hated relatives, had a beautiful girl teasing him and he was teasing her right back, and he was flying faster than he had ever gone on his Firebolt. This was the best birthday ever!

*

Nymphadora 'Don't Call Me That' Tonks stared at the dead body that used to be a petty criminal that had been part of the newly reformed Order of the Phoenix. She didn't bother cleaning off her blood covered hand after checking the man's neck for a pulse, only for her fingers to slide right through the severed skin.

It took her several minutes to calm down and Tonks cast the Patronus charm and send a message back to headquarters to let them know Mundungus was dead. She took two deep breaths and used her wand to open the Dursley's front door. It did not look like what she expected after a death eater attack. She did a quick search and found the Dursleys were alive and fine.

Five cracks of apparition came from the front lawn and Tonks went back outside to greet her colleagues. After a quick recap of her findings, including that Harry was gone, as were some of his possessions, they discussed what could have happened.

“If magic was used here, and it clearly was, why hasn't the ministry been alerted?” Albus asked himself just before the wards fell. Everyone there felt the wards fail and how strong they were. “Oh, no.”

“What just happened?” Tonks asked. “I actually felt that magic fluctuation! What kind of wards were they?”

Albus sighed and shook his head. “It doesn't matter now. They're gone.”

“I think it does matter.” Kingsley Shacklebolt said. “Those were a lot stronger than normal ones and I was there when Madam Bones had her Manor warded.”

“Albus?” Remus asked him.

“They were blood wards.” Albus admitted. “Formed from Lily Potter's sacrifice for her son.”

Tonks gasped, as did the other woman, Hestia Jones. Kingsley shook his head, Dedalus Diggle shrugged, and Remus looked sick.

“You can't be serious.” Remus whispered. “Even on a magical home, it would severely weaken any witch or wizard that lived there, because part of their magic is used to charge the wards.”

“There's a reason that blood wards were declared illegal, Albus.” Kingsley said, accusingly. “Harry Potter's academic standards make a lot more sense now.”

“He would be spending most of the time at school recovering from the drain in his magic.” Tonks said. “And he still managed several large feats of it each year.”

“Only near the end when he was fully recovered.” Remus said in understanding. “That explains so much. It was why Harry always struggled with simple spells at the first of the year and then performed so well on end of year exams. He was suffering from magical exhaustion for months at a time.”

“Is that why he's so short and skinny?” Tonks asked. “He hasn't been developing properly because his magic has always been siphoned off and repressed?”

Albus looked quite guilty and turned away from the questioning looks. He didn't want to admit that he knew what Harry had been subjected to in that house over the last fourteen years. It wasn't only magical suppression he suffered from, because he was also beaten and starved. That culminated into a meek and weak little boy that could be easily moulded into the perfect sacrifice that the world needed.

“We need to find him as soon as possible.” Albus said instead. “With his blood protection gone, his family will be vulnerable to attack.”

“What? His family?” Tonks asked, surprised.

“That sounds like you want to reinstate those illegal blood wards, Albus.” Kingsley said, his tone was not a happy one.

Albus thought about lying and decided that they already knew more than he had wanted them to. “It's the only way. As long as Harry can call this place home, his family will be protected.”

Only Diggle and Jones nodded in agreement and the others gave him incredulous stares.

“Perhaps you would like to go and take a look at the cupboard under the stairs.” Tonks said, her voice accusatory. “Go ahead. We'll wait here for you.”

Albus didn't bother listening to her request. “Our time would be best served looking for Harry.”

“Are you sure about that? Because I'm sure that the state of Harry's room would make him never want to come back here.” Tonks said.

“What do you mean?” Remus asked.

“The boot cupboard was Harry's room for years, if what I saw there was real. His actual room upstairs is a pigsty that's full of broken toys and old furniture.” Tonks told him.

“It's just a boy being rambunctious.” Albus said as an explanation.

“Which boy are you talking about? The huge whale of a cousin in all the family pictures or the one that there is absolutely no external evidence that lives there?” Tonks asked.

Remus went into the house and ducked his head into the cupboard under the stairs. He winced at what his nose told him and he went up the stairs to Harry's room. He winced there as well, so he knew it was not a place that was a good one for Harry. Not at all. The smell of blood, sweat, and tears was a familiar one for Remus. The look on his face when Remus came back out was all Kingsley needed as proof.

“If we do find Harry, we should take him back to headquarters.” Kingsley said.

“It's too soon for that. Harry already knows we will pick him up a couple of weeks before school starts.” Albus said.

“You can't bring him back here.” Remus said.

“I'd bring him to my flat to sleep on the couch before I'd let him come back here.” Tonks said.

Albus held in his sigh. Defiance in his followers shouldn't be encouraged. “We can put off worrying about the circumstances of his living arrangements until after we've found him.”

Tonks gave Remus a pointed look and they both looked at Kingsley.

“I'll check the underage magic registry and the apparition records at the Ministry.” Kingsley said.

“I'll check the Knight Bus and the Floo network.” Tonks offered.

“I'll check with the local werewolf pack and see if Harry's scent trail leads anywhere.” Remus said.

The three of them nodded at each other and apparated away.

Albus asked Diggle and Jones to search Harry's regular haunts and he apparated to headquarters to let the rest know what was going on. The two assigned to search the places Harry hung out, kind of shrugged, because there was only the park at the end of the block and the back yard.

The older man and young woman checked both places and he wasn't there, so they went home and went to bed. A report full of nothing could wait until morning to be delivered.

*

Harry had been a little surprised when Rose told him they were going muggle for the rest of the summer. He was shocked when they checked into an expensive hotel in Paris. They hadn't done the obvious thing and rented one of the top suites, even though they were spending the money anyway.

Rose explained that just because they were splurging, they didn't have to be obvious about it. Harry completely agreed with that mentality. If there was one thing he had always wanted, it was to not stand out. Being famous only meant being ostracized and he hated his fame almost as much as he hated the man that made him that way.

“Um... Rose?” Harry said, almost in a whisper.

“Yes, Harry?” Rose asked as she took out his trunk and her own trunk from her pockets.

“There's only one bed.” Harry said and pointed to it, as if she couldn't see the thing that was right there in front of them.

“It's a big bed.” Rose said and bent over her trunk as she searched through it.

Harry's eyes went right to her arse and he stared at it as it swayed from side to side.

“Don't worry too much about it.” Rose said and stood up with two sets of pyjamas in her hands. “We'll be fully covered and I think we're both too tired to do anything more than sleep.”

Harry lifted his eyes when she turned around and accepted the pyjamas. “How did you know my size?”

“I didn't. They're my size.” Rose said and chuckled at him looking at the pyjamas with a critical eye. “Relax, Harry. They're unisex. Your bits won't be all bunched up while wearing them.”

Harry's face flushed a little red at her words.

“I'm showering first.” Rose said and closed her trunk. “I'll only be about ten minutes.”

Harry nodded and watched her walk across the room to the bathroom. He blushed from embarrassment when Rose quickly turned back to see he was staring at her ass again.

“I like that look on your face.” Rose said.

“What? Embarrassment?” Harry asked.

“No, desire.” Rose said and then blushed. “I've looked at you the same way.”

“I... ah... didn't notice.” Harry said. He had been too busy checking her out to see if she was checking him out, too.

“That's because I was trying to not be too obvious about it.” Rose said and saw his face go redder. “I won't try so hard in the future.” She said and obviously looked him up and down, gave him an approving smile and nod, then closed the bathroom door.

“Bloody hell.” Harry whispered and sat on the edge of the bed. He went over what had happened to him and he almost couldn't believe it. A girl he didn't know that also looked familiar, had shown up at the Dursleys to rescue him. Him, Harry Potter.

Harry thought about how Rose acted around him and she wasn't in awe of him or treated him like a celebrity. That alone had put her on his good side, even without the whole exciting escape and staying at an expensive hotel thing. He looked down at the pyjamas in his hands and wondered if it was really happening.

The bathroom door opened and Harry's eyes widened as a dripping went goddess stepped out wearing just a towel. Without the bushy hair to distract the eye, Rose's face was revealed and it was beautiful. The dainty nose, the high cheekbones, and the expressive eyes all combined to make her face one of the most perfect ones that Harry had ever seen.

Rose stopped drying her hair and stared at him as he stared at her face. She didn't blush, even though she thought she should. His look was so intense that it gave her shivers, really nice shivers, and he wasn't staring at her legs or her considerable chest. He was staring at her face!

The hair towel was dropped on the bed and Rose stepped close to Harry. With him sitting down, she was about a foot taller than him, and he looked up at her with awe on his face. Rose wasn't going to miss a second opportunity to do what she wanted and she bent down slightly to wrap her arms around Harry's neck and her lips went right to his and locked on.

“MMMM!” Rose moaned loudly and pushed forward.

Harry fell backwards onto the bed and hugged the girl that was trying her best to snog the hell out of him. His hands moved on their own as he kissed her back with enthusiasm and a lack of experience. When he gripped a cheek of her ass and squeezed it, Rose moaned into his mouth and her hands dug into his hair to hold onto him.

They stayed there for a good ten minutes before they came up for air. The both of them were blushing and stared into each other's eyes as they thought about the epic kiss they just shared.

“I'd say that was a fairly good first kiss, Mister Potter.” Rose said with a smirk. “But, you know what they say.”

Harry's brain was a little preoccupied to come up with anything. “What do they say?”

“Practice makes perfect.” Rose said and kissed him again.

Harry didn't mind practising at all.

*

The next morning at the breakfast table, Hermione was quite upset when she learned that Harry had run away from his relatives and no one could find him. Ron just shrugged, because he knew Harry hated living there and he understood wanting to get away from your family for a while.

“I knew we should have told him something.” Hermione said as she tried to write out another letter.

“We did tell him something. We told him we were here, safe, and would see him in a few weeks. What else would he need to know before coming here?” Ron asked.

“Everything!” Hermione exclaimed and took a deep breath. “We should have told him everything.”

“Should we?” Ron asked and shrugged. “If he was taken by death eaters like Mad Eye Moody claims, then they would find out everything he knows. If he doesn't know anything, then he can't say anything.”

“There would have been a lot more damage at the house if it was a death eater.” Hermione said.

“How do you know that? If it was just one...” Ron started to argue.

“They would have set off the dark mark after... after...” Hermione stopped talking because she didn't want to mention that someone had died watching Harry.

“The headmaster said that he was supposed to be safer there than anywhere else.” Ginny reminded them. “Would what happened have happened if he was here? He begged everyone weeks ago to get him out of there.”

There were a few guilty faces at the table at her words. They knew she was right, especially Sirius. He didn't like Mundungus much; but, he had taken up guarding his godson and died for his trouble.

“There's no need to second guess things now. It happened and we have to deal with it.” Molly said and handed Ron another plate of food. “We'll get Harry back and everything will be fine.”

Everyone felt a bit better at Molly's reassuring words.

*

Harry woke up in an unfamiliar bed and he was surprisingly okay with that. After several pretty intense snogging sessions, he had showered and changed into really comfortable pyjamas before he went to sleep with the prettiest girl he had ever met. He also cuddled her shamelessly and she was more than happy to cuddle him right back.

It had been the first time he had shared a bed with anyone and he thought it was one of the best things ever. He was sure that he felt a few exploratory gropes during the night and that was okay, since he had done a few himself while they kissed and turnabout was fair play. He had a bit of a problem now, however. His morning wood was pressed into a certain place and he needed to use the bathroom.

“Well, good morning to you, too.” Rose muttered, still half-asleep, and wiggled her ass.

Harry blushed, because it rubbed him in just the right way to make him feel really good. “R-Rose...”

“Hmm.” Rose hummed and clenched her cheeks briefly, then sighed and moved forward and away from his hardness. “Go ahead and use the bathroom. I'll wait.”

Harry wasn't sure what she was waiting for and didn't ask. He slid out of bed and pretty much ran for the bathroom to relieve himself. It almost sounded like a firehose as it hit the water in the toilet and Harry sighed with relief when his bladder finally emptied. He washed his hands and went back out into the room.

Rose giggled when she saw his face. “I'm not apologizing for teasing you.” She said and climbed out of bed to stretch.

Harry's eyes went to her half-opened top and he remembered the feel of her warm breast cupped in his hand. He wanted to do that again and didn't know how to ask her for something like that.

“I really do like that look on your face.” Rose said and walked over to him and gave him a quick kiss. “I'll order room service after my own bathroom break.”

Harry nodded and watched her backside as she passed him and went into the bathroom. He definitely preferred her in denim, even if pyjamas would grant him quicker access. His chuckle at such a normal thought was odd, considering the year he had and half of the summer spent suffering at the Dursley's.

Almost as if Rose knew what he was thinking, her hands snaked around his waist and she kissed his cheek from behind. “It's all going to be okay now, Harry. I promise.”

“How?” Harry asked. “I mean, I know you're my guardian now and...”

“That reminds me. I need to pop into the magical district here and send off an owl to the Ministry in Britain.” Rose said and turned him around to give him a proper kiss before she went to the house phone. She spoke in French and ordered breakfast and hung up. “An owl to Gringotts after that to forward me your mail is needed as well.”

“My mail?” Harry asked.

Rose stepped close to put her arms around his neck. “Harry, you've had fan mail for years and it's been redirected to a vault at the bank. There's probably thousands of letters and packages in there.”

“Wh-what? How?” Harry asked. “I've never heard about...”

“That's Dumbledore's fault. The idiot wanted you to grow up away from your fame. You couldn't do that if you were receiving letters from fans since you were a baby, could you?” Rose asked, derisively.

“But... but...”

“It's all right. I'm here now and you won't have to deal with any of their crap anymore.” Rose promised.

“Who do you mean?” Harry asked, even though he knew who she meant.

Rose leaned in to give him several quick kisses. “Ron and Hermione, your so-called friends.”

Harry frowned. “You can't say stuff like that about them.”

“Can't I? Who abandoned you last year because he was a jealous berk that wouldn't believe you didn't put your name in the Goblet of Fire?” Rose asked him.

“I forgave him for...”

“You know he intentionally acts badly to keep everyone away from you, terrible manners and everything.” Rose interrupted him. “No one else can be the boy-who-lived's best mate, even though you have more in common with Neville than you do with Ron.”

“What?”

“He lost his parents in the war, his birthday is a day before yours, you both find gardening calming because it gets you out of the house and away from a yelling and controlling relative, you're both quiet and introspective, and neither of you had any friends growing up.” Rose explained before a knock came on the door.

Harry was stunned into silence by her words and watched as Rose brought in the cart with their breakfast on it. He never knew he had so much in common with Neville.

“His mother is also your godmother, Alice Longbottom.” Rose said and they sat on the bed to start eating.

Harry shook his head. “What... how... why didn't anyone tell me that?”

“The headmaster doesn't want you being influenced by anyone he doesn't approve of. Ron is the son of his staunchest supporter and his jealousy keeps you firmly tucked into the headmaster's pocket.”

Harry didn't like this conversation much, even with Rose pressed close against him. “Oh, yeah? Then what about Hermione?”

“She's so enamoured with people in authority, especially McGonagall and Dumbledore, that she always runs to them whenever anything is wrong with you and reports it to them.” Rose said and Harry opened his mouth to deny it. “You remember the broom, right? She went right to McGonagall with it without even talking to you about it first.”

“She was just concerned about me and...”

“She knows McGonagall has never helped you three during your adventures in the castle and she still reports to her and Dumbledore every single time.” Rose said and sighed before she ate another bite of the tasty Crepe Suzette on her plate.

“But...”

“How many times during the last two summers has she been told to not write to you and to leave you alone to wallow in your guilt and sorrow?” Rose asked without looking at him. “She listened every single time because they told her it was for your own good.”

“Every single time? How do you know that?” Harry asked and squinted his eyes at her. “Who are you, Rose? Who are you really?”

Rose turned her head and looked into his eyes. She couldn't deny him anything and made her choice. “Harry, I... my name really is Rose.” She let her fork go and took out her wand. “Rose Granger.”

Harry looked at her familiar bushy hair. “Are you her cousin or something?”

Rose shook her head and tapped her head with her wand. Her brownish-red hair changed and became a very familiar red. “My full name is Rose Muriel Granger-Weasley.”

Harry's mouth dropped open and he stared at the girl. He knew she was someone that shouldn't exist.

“I know this is going to be hard to believe...” Rose started to say.

“You're Hermione's and Ron's daughter.” Harry cut her off she she looked surprised.

“How did you...”

“Only someone as smart as Hermione could figure out how to come back in time and get me away from the Dursleys without anyone else figuring it out enough to follow us.” Harry said. “I knew the hair was familiar and not quite a match. The real color, though? It matches all the Weasleys.”

Rose nodded. “I planned to tell you everything before we went shopping for our school supplies.”

“Wait, really?” Harry asked, surprised.

“Yes, Harry. I know how much you hate people keeping things from you.”

Harry really did hate that. “We were close?”

“Yes and no.” Rose said and finished her crepe.

Harry put his own fork down, his food unfinished. They turned and faced each other at the same time and Rose took his hand. She held it as if it was the most precious thing in her life.

“I really shouldn't tell you anything, because that future is never going to happen now.” Rose said and saw the look on Harry's face. She reached up with her free hand and cupped the side of his face. “What did I just say about not keeping anything from you?”

Harry closed his mouth and nodded.

“I always felt like I was born in the wrong time. I was too smart, too competitive, I had no rivals, no friends, and no one I could trust.” Rose said and looked into Harry's eyes. “Unlike you, I wasn't smart enough to dumb myself down in public to stay within my peer group. If I had done just a bit more than what was needed to pass, everyone would have accepted me as normal.”

“You know why I'm like that.” Harry whispered.

“I do and I love you even more because of it, because you never let what they did get to you.” Rose said and Harry felt his heart flutter at the look in her eyes. “You're good, and kind, and you've never done anything malicious to anyone, not even to those that deserve it.”

“I... I wanted to.” Harry admitted.

“Everyone wants to, Harry. Everyone. You are just too good to go through with it.” Rose said and leaned into give him a tender kiss.

“You were talking about school.” Harry prompted her.

Rose smiled, sadly. “I excelled when I became Griffindor's best chaser on the Quidditch team and McGonagall praised me in front of the whole school for it. It made me even more of a pariah because I was just too good for anyone to come close to matching my skills and speed.”

Harry knew what that felt like and his hand reached up and cupped her face.

Rose fought back the tears at the look in Harry's eyes. He really does care about me. She thought. “I was better than everyone at everything and the more I tried to fit in, the more I stood out. Nothing I did worked. The only time I wasn't seen as this all encompassing and intimidating girl was when I spent time at the Potter house.”

Harry could hear the desperation in her voice. “You mean with me.”

“Yes, with you. You, the boy-who-lived, the man-who-conquered, the vanquisher of the Dark Wanker...” Rose paused at Harry's chuckle. “You looked at me and saw me. Just Rose. You made me feel like I was just me. My accomplishments meant nothing to me and your accomplishments meant nothing to you. We understood each other like no one else ever has before.”

Harry leaned in and gave her a tender kiss, because he thought she needed it.

“You taught me that I didn't have to feel guilty about being myself and no one wanting to be my friend, because you were there and no matter what, you would always be my friend.” Rose said and several tears rolled down her cheeks. “When I eventually found out that you were too good of a man to cheat on your wife with me, even though you loved me, that's when I started to plan.”

Harry wiped at her tears. “Of course you did. Nothing could get in your way, could it?”

“No.” Rose said and took a deep breath. “When it comes to you, I wouldn't... no, couldn't... accept reality the way it was. You went through so much and it hurt me to see you in a loveless marriage with that harpy!”

“Who?” Harry asked.

“Ginny Weasley.” Rose almost spat. “She's worse than Molly when she gets going.”

Harry blinked his eyes for several moments as he thought about that. “You're not kidding.”

“Unfortunately.” Rose said with a sigh. “She hatches an elaborate plan over this year and next that involves dating several popular guys and making out with them in front of you to make you jealous.”

Harry frowned. “Why would that work? I barely know her.”

“It's Hermione's plan.” Rose said and Harry's eyes widened. “She convinces Ginny to treat you like a normal person, to become your friend first, and then show you how much you're missing by not being with her. She even joins the Quidditch team next year as a chaser and spends a lot of time being one of the guys.”

Harry was a bit too stunned to speak. Why would Hermione get her to do all that just to date me?

“She dates Micheal Corner this year and eventually gives up on that, because he's in another House and you barely see them together. She switches to Dean Thomas next year to make you really jealous, because it lets her be in your dorm all the time and she rubs it in your face.”

“Why... why would Hermione...”

“Because she fancies the idiot that's your best mate and wants you distracted.” Rose said and then smiled. “She messes up in sixth year, though. She gets Ron on the Quidditch team by cheating and then he starts dating Lavender after the team wins a big game.”

Harry frowned. “Why are you happy about that?”

“Because for the smartest witch of her age, she's an idiot and never tries to get what she wants on her own, just like Ron. He sits back and expects everything to be handed to him and doesn't do anything to better himself.” Rose said and felt her anger rise. She took several breaths to calm down. “Hermione does everything for him and believes Ron needs her, so she never stops trying to do everything and Ron lets her, because he believes it, too.”

Harry thought back over the last four years and he had to admit that Rose was right. “So, you came back to change things for everyone?”

“Ha!” Rose barked the laugh. “Of course not. They can all rot for all I care about them and their stupid plans and plots.”

“Then why...”

“I came back for you, Harry. I couldn't have you in the future, because you were such a noble bastard. You wouldn't even take my virginity when I asked you to.” Rose said and Harry blushed. “That's the exact look you had then, too.”

“You... you... did all this, so we... so that I...”

“Harry, I love you. I've loved you for years. I waited, and waited, and waited some more. When I felt like I was finally ready to let the man I fell in love with have me completely, you actually cried and said that you were honored, very flattered, and that you wished you had met me when you were a teenager.”

“I gave you the idea.” Harry said and Rose nodded. “And you... now you're here.”

“I am and I am not going to pressure you.” Rose said and Harry raised his eyebrows at her. “Harry, you are still a noble bastard and that never changes. You repress your own needs and wants to make everyone else happy, and that stops now. I know all about you and I love you.”

Harry felt tears form in his own eyes. “Rose...”

“We have unbelievable chemistry together, Harry. I want to snog you forever and I never want to let you go.” Rose said. “When we cuddled, you felt warm, and safe, and like home. I won't give that up for a quick shag.”

Harry wiped at his face. “But... I thought...”

“Love is built on trust. I have to build that with you, all over again, and I'm happy to do so. I'll wait for as long as I have to for you to see that unlike everyone else in your life, I will never betray you, report you to anyone else, or ever deny you my friendship or my love.” Rose said and gave him another tender kiss. “Nothing you could ever do or say would make me love you less.”

Harry was a little shaken by her devotion as he thought about her words. “What if I told you I was a bloke's bloke?” He asked, as if trying to discourage her.

Rose snorted. “I'd laugh my ass off and then prove how not gay you are.”

Harry couldn't stop his smile. “How would you do that?”

Rose smiled as well and stood, took two steps away from the bed to push the cart out of the way, then turned around and pulled open her pyjama top. Harry made a strangling sound as Rose's breasts did a wonderful jiggle dance and her nipples popped right out for him. Neither Rose nor Harry missed Harry's pyjama bottoms as they expanded and showed off a significant tent pole.

“How was that for proof?” Rose asked a completely stunned Harry.

Harry made another strangled sound and his eyes shifted from her chest to her face.

“You want to know why I'm not closing my top?” Rose asked and Harry nodded several times. “Just because I'm not going to pressure you to have sex with me, that doesn't meant I won't tease you about it and we can't fool around.”

“You... really mean...”

Rose took two steps forward and her breasts were right there in front of Harry's face. “I love you, Harry. You can do whatever you want. Touch them, play with them, kiss them. Anything.”

Harry couldn't stop his hands as they slowly rose up and touched the bare skin of her sides. Rose shivered at the gentle touch and tried to not moan as Harry's hands slid up her skin, caressing her, and then his hands were on her breasts and she couldn't stop her sexy moan. Her knees felt weak as Harry played with her breasts like she had always imagined he would.

Rose started to collapse and Harry caught her and turned to lay her down on the bed. He continued to fondle and suckle on her breasts. He had never felt such soft firmness before and he was fascinated with how they moved and the little sounds that Rose let out when he did certain things, like flick her nipple with his tongue or gave one a small pinch.

They stayed there for quite some time while Harry played with her before Rose made an almost pained sound and sighed, clearly satisfied. Harry sat up and saw a wet spot grow on the crotch of her pyjama bottoms and he felt satisfied as well, which was a new feeling for him.

“How did you come back in time?” Harry asked her, now that she was relaxed.

“Experimental time turner and a ritual.” Rose whispered. “I could have used just the time turner, except any changes I made would erase people from existence, especially me.”

“Because you might cause Hermione and Ron not getting together.” Harry reasoned.

“Yes, so I did a ritual to maintain my own biological integrity.” Rose told him. “Even if the circumstances of my creation changes or ceases to be entirely, my existence won't, because I ensured I would still have the same two original biological sources.”

“How?”

“I modified Riddle's ritual to remove the dark aspects. You helped me with the samples I needed and kissed me goodbye.” Rose said as she drifted off to sleep. She kept mumbling and it was quiet enough that Harry still heard her. “It was the first time... you admitted that you wished you could love me back... and you hoped I could convince the younger you... that you actually deserved it.”

Harry sat there for quite some time as he listened to Rose's soft breathing. He watched her beautiful breasts as they rose and fell, their movement almost hypnotic, then he suddenly realized that he was staring at a sleeping half-naked girl. He blushed and carefully buttoned up her top enough to cover her chest and he laid down beside her.

Why am I not running away? Harry asked himself. Her story was ridiculous. She couldn't possibly be Hermione's daughter that came back in time for him. It shouldn't be possible. It wasn't worth it. He wasn't worth it.

Harry's eyes went to Rose's peaceful face and he thought about everything she had told him. Instead of answering all of his questions, it gave him a bunch more. Why was coming back in time more important to her than staying where she was and living her life like she was supposed to? Why did she give up everything for him?

As if in answer to his questions, Rose's hand reached out and landed on his chest. She let out a happy sound and cuddled into him as if she had always done it. Instead of feeling trapped or being used, Harry felt happy that he could keep that peaceful look on Rose's face... and wasn't that an odd feeling to have for his kidnapper in the middle of his own kidnapping.

*

A week later, the Dursleys were rendered into soulless husks when a pair of Dementors appeared in Little Whinging looking for Harry Potter. Since there was no one there to guard Harry, no alarm was raised and no magic was cast to repel them. That meant the people at the Ministry that were waiting for the notice of magic in a muggle neighbourhood, never received anything.

By the time the Dementors had eaten their fill and left, three quarters of Little Whinging's population were mindless bodies and empty shells. The muggle police showed up the next day when so many people failed to show up for work and they discovered the gruesome scene of mass coma patients that were brain dead.

The emergency call was sent out and everyone showed up, even the Aurors that monitored the muggle response teams. They easily determined the cause of so many people suffering from the same affliction and reported it back to their boss. It was too late to cover it all up, because it was already in the newspapers for both the muggle world and the wizarding world.

It was quite easy for the Aurors to find the Dementors that had cause it, because they were sluggish and full. A quick inquiry found the order from the Minister's undersecretary and both she and the minister were ousted from office and put into prison for killing so many muggles.

Their protests that it was only supposed to be Harry Potter that was supposed to have his soul sucked out, was accepted as a confession and earned them another ten years on top of their sixty year sentence. The head of the DMLE also released an impassioned plea for Harry to turn himself in for his own protection.

This caused a resurgence in The Order of the Phoenix for their members to find the boy before anyone else did. He had both the good side and the bad side after him and they were both desperate to find him.

*

“Did you know this was going to happen?” Harry asked Rose as they sat at a small cafe in muggle Paris. They had picked up various British papers every few days to stay in the know.

Rose reached over and cupped the side of his face as she leaned in close to look into his eyes. “No, Harry. I wouldn't allow so many senseless deaths if I knew what was going to happen.”

“Then what was supposed to happen?”

“You were stuck in that hellhole all summer. The ministry sent two Dementors after you to discredit you and hopefully remove you from magical society.” Rose said and let his face go. “Luckily, you cast a Patronus charm and scared them away before they could suck out Dudley's soul. He had nightmares for years about it.”

Harry wasn't sure why he didn't feel guilty about that.

“However, because you cast magic in front of a muggle in a muggle neighbourhood, they expelled you from school and were going to snap your wand.”

“No!” Harry gasped.

“Dumbledore stopped them from acting right away and managed to change it to a hearing to listen to your side of the story.” Rose said and Harry relaxed. “They held a full criminal trial instead and tried to railroad you after proclaiming you were delusional about You-Know-Who being back and took part in the murder of Cedric Diggory.”

Harry frowned at that and clamped his mouth shut to stop himself from ranting about it.

“They even brought up you blowing up Marge like a balloon and Dobby using that hover charm in first year, too. They really painted you into one of the worst offenders of breaking the Statute of Secrecy they had ever met.” Rose said and Harry's anger faded away.

“What happened after that?” Harry asked, even though he didn't really want to know.

“Wiser heads than Dumbledore's listened to your explanations while the old fool tried to appeal to their good natures.” Rose said with a roll of her eyes. “He completely ignored all the work Hemione did researching actual precedents and cases where underage magic was allowed near muggles.”

“Of course he did. Dumbledore knows best, after all.” Harry said with a scoff.

“It was a close call and you barely managed a two-thirds majority to be cleared of all charges.”

“I got off?” Harry asked, surprised.

Rose smirked at him and made a kissy-face at him.

Harry couldn't stop his chuckle and gave her a quick kiss. “What happened next?” He asked, because now it didn't seem so bad.

“You spent the next two weeks being pissed at everyone for ignoring you and not telling you about the Order of the Phoenix, your guards keeping you at Privet Drive all summer, and about them all staying at... dammit, the Fidelius charm won't let me say it.” Rose huffed. “At headquarters where Sirius lives.”

“Sirius lives there?” Harry asked, his voice flat.

“Most of the Order stayed there all summer with the Weasleys, Hermione, and Remus. It's fully warded and is better protected than Hogwarts.” Rose said and Harry's anger came right back. “Hey, I'm sorry.”

Harry fought his anger back down. “Why didn't you warn anyone about the Dementors?”

Rose reached a hand up and combed Harry's hair. “Two reasons.” She said and sat back to continue eating. “First, who was going to believe me in person if I confronted them? Or worse, what if I sent a random note about a potential attack with an untraceable post owl?”

“That's surprisingly true.” Harry admitted. Merlin knew no adult ever believed him when he went to them about something important during the last four years.

“Second, with you gone and everyone knowing you were gone, I honestly thought the Dementors wouldn't be sent to find you.” Rose said and sighed. “I thought they sent them to find your magical signature, which was why I took you out of the country and they couldn't find you. I can't believe that they sent them to your real address in Little Whinging and they stumbled across you at the park.”

It was Harry's turn to reach over and he cupped Rose's cheek. “It's not your fault they still did.”

“I know. I thought...” Rose sighed again and leaned into his hand. “I thought getting you out of there and avoiding that whole mess with the trial completely was the best outcome, because they wouldn't have the chance to bring up everything you've done while breaking the law.”

Harry gave her a questioning look.

“All of it still came out in the newspapers because there were multiple reporters there. It made you being vilified by everyone even worse. By the time September first comes around, you are held in almost the same contempt as you were back in second year as the Heir of Slytherin.” Rose motioned to the Daily Prophet. “Even though you haven't had a trial and the minister is in prison, they are still making backhanded jokes about you to discredit you.”

Harry opened his mouth to ask why, then sighed and ducked his head.

“More than a few of them blame you for Cedric's death, just like you do.” Rose said and leaned close to hug him tightly.

“If I had been faster...”

“It wouldn't have mattered. You were facing an experienced and evil wizard and you would have been in the way.” Rose whispered and gave him several soft kisses. “You would have taken it for Cedric if given the choice. I know you would.”

Harry looked into her eyes and he wasn't surprised to see that she believed it.

“You still fought and you brought his body back. You lived and you can avenge him.” Rose said and placed several soft kisses on his cheek.

“How can I do that?” Harry asked in a whisper.

“By winning before the second blood war even starts.” Rose said.

“How is that possible?” Harry asked her and turned his head to face her.

“With my help and my love, Harry.” Rose said and gave him a long and lingering kiss.

Harry couldn't stop himself from believing her and kissed her back. Being loved was such a new thing for him that he was both skeptical about it and wanted it more than anything. He just didn't know if he could love her back as much as she loved him.

Rose felt his hesitation and broke the kiss. “It's all right, Harry. I have enough love for the both of us.”

“How did you...”

“I know you.” Rose said and let him see it on her face. “I am yours and I always will be.”

Harry's heart fluttered at her sincerity and he leaned back in to continue kissing her. None of the people around them said anything about their open show of affection. They were in the City of Love, after all.

*

“Why can't they find him?” Fred asked as they listened with their extendable ears at the kitchen door during the latest Order of the Phoenix meeting.

“It sounds like they are searching everywhere.” George answered.

“No, not everywhere.” Hermione said and Ron, Ginny, and the Twins looked at her. “None of them are looking in the muggle world for him.”

“In the muggle... you need to tell them!” Ginny almost shouted.

“Shh! We're trying to be sneaky here.” Fred warned her.

“Sorry.” Ginny said and gave Hermione a pointed look. “Why didn't you say anything before?”

“I just thought of it.” Hermione said and felt guilty, because she had given away another of Harry's secrets. He could function perfectly well without magic.

“On the plus side, he hasn't shown up at Gringotts for any money.” George said.

“Why is that a plus?” Ron asked.

“They could easily catch him if he does.” Fred said.

“He's either going to run out soon or already has and is getting desperate.” George guessed.

“They have a couple of people watching the bank.” Hermione said as the people in the meeting discussed exactly that. “It's getting close to the deadline for buying school supplies.”

“Do you think we'll meet him if we go to Diagon Alley?” Ginny asked, her voice hopeful.

“If he's not in disguise, we might see him.” Fred said.

“Why would he be in disguise?” Ron asked and everyone gave him the look that said he was an idiot. “Never mind.”

“I doubt they'll let us go unescorted.” Hermione said and sighed when Molly Weasley volunteered to gather all of their school supplies for them because it was too dangerous with Harry missing and death eaters searching for him.

“Or not at all. It's too dangerous they'll snatch you lot up to bring Harry out of hiding.” George said.

“Not you two?” Ginny asked.

“Nope! Only a select few know we adore Harry.” Fred said.

“Yep! Secret our love is. Don't say anything.” George added and both he and Fred grinned.

Hermione huffed and ignored their antics. The group fell silent as they listened to the rest of the meeting. Nothing new was discussed, so they quickly reeled in the extendable ears and ducked back near the wall of the stairs just before the meeting ended.

“I'm going to tell them.” Ginny said and darted down the stairs.

“No!” Hermione gasped and then sighed as the kitchen door opened and Ginny ran over and slipped by the people trying to leave. She didn't need extendable ears to hear the Order members being asked to return to discuss the new information.

Ginny looked surprised when Molly ushered her out of the kitchen and shut the door on her face. “Hey! It was my idea!”

“Thank you, dear!” Molly said and then a silence spell was cast and the talking disappeared.

“Dammit!” Ginny said and walked back over to the stairs and went up.

“What did you do that for?” Hermione asked.

“I was trying to get into the meeting to find out where they'd search.” Ginny sighed. “Mum just shoved me right out anyway.”

Hermione held back her biting comment about how stupid that was and glanced at Fred and George, only to see them shake their heads. They couldn't take the chance of using the ears right now.

A few minutes later, the kitchen door opened without warning and several excited voices floated up to them. The Order members were eager to start looking at muggle transportation methods and tracking Harry down. The Aurors already had things in place with the various muggle emergency services and Kingsley and Tonks would make short work of the search.

“All right, kids! Lunch is ready!” Molly's voice bellowed through the house and set off Walburga's portrait. It screeched and hollered curses at everyone and Sirius ran out and argued with the thing. It almost looked like he enjoyed it, because he didn't close the curtains over the portrait until everyone had left and Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and the Twins were in the kitchen and eating.

“So, what's going on with the Order?” Ron asked Sirius when he entered the kitchen.

“That's none of your business, young man.” Molly admonished him. “Now eat up. We have the drawing room to clean next and you need your strength!”

Ron groaned and dropped his head to concentrate on eating his bowl of hearty soup.

Hermione ate in silence and didn't complain that she wasn't a maid and shouldn't be cleaning. She was a witch and could probably clean up ten times faster than by hand if she was allowed to practice. Despite being inside a magical house and behind wards, Molly wouldn't let her do any magic, not even for school.

Ginny just accepted her mother's word was law and did as she was asked. Fighting against her was always a losing battle, so she never tried. Things would be different in her household, though. No one was going to tell her what to do when she was in charge. Little did she realize this was Molly's exact mentality and had successfully taught it to Ginny, along with yelling loudly to get what you wanted.

Fred and George patiently waited until they were old enough to flee from their mother's influence, just like Bill and Charlie had. They knew a losing battle when they saw one and wouldn't waste their time trying to argue with a woman that still had the power to ground them whenever she wanted to.

*

Rose and Harry stayed at the expensive hotel in Paris learning essential magic right up until the day before it was time to go to school. Surprisingly, no one had reacted to any of the paperwork that had been filed on Harry's behalf or mentioned it in the newspaper. Whether it was because of confidentiality or because no one paid any attention to the records department at the Ministry, didn't matter.

They also did their school shopping in the French magical district. This made Harry pretty happy, because no one recognized him and he moved about without people eyeing him like he was a nutter or about to start cursing everyone. They did see quite a few Beauxbatons students shopping as well and that was okay, because none of them had been at Hogwarts the year before.

On their way back entering Britain, they stopped off at a certain military base. With the liberal use of their invisibility cloaks and a disillusioned broom, they easily made their way into the supply depot to pick up a few necessary things they would need. It would take over a year before the supply clerk would test one of the grenades from that particular crate and find out it was a dud.

The first place Rose and Harry checked was Privet Drive and they found several alert wards were set up around the whole neighbourhood. That told them there was no point in trying to stay there for the night. They also knew they couldn't stay at the Leaky Cauldron, because it would let everyone know Harry was back in Britain and it would set off a huge flurry of activity.

“Why can't we go back to France again?” Harry asked Rose as they flew back towards London. Holding onto her from behind had become one of his favorite things.

“Crossing the border is the most difficult during the days they know students are travelling to school, both in the muggle world and the wizarding world. They would catch us almost immediately, even with our real travel papers and passports.”

“And that's bad?” Harry asked.

“Only if you want to miss the first day of school.” Rose said. “You know they'll keep us locked up to get all of the answers that they will demand we answer for them to get the whole story.”

Harry had to agree with that. “We can't just claim it's family business?”

Rose almost giggled. “I wish! Can you imagine the looks on their faces if we said that?”

Harry grinned at the thought. “I want to see their faces when they find out that a beautiful girl my age is my legal guardian and fully responsible for me.”

Rose's face flushed red at his compliment. “H-Harry...”

Harry kissed her cheek. “Why don't we stop at the Ritz Hotel and splurge for the penthouse suite? It's only one night.”

Rose thought about that. “Why not. It's not like we can't afford it.”

Harry laughed and Rose steered them towards the expensive hotel. It hadn't been a surprise when Rose said she had brought back the contents of both the Potter family and Black family vaults. He had no idea that Sirius had made him his heir and he would inherit everything when the old dog passed, and wasn't that a shock to learn how it happened in the future.

They landed in an out of the way alley, took off their cloaks and put the broom away, then held hands and went inside the lobby. No one said anything to them, even though they wore jeans and shirts. The desk clerk actually laughed at them when they asked him if the penthouse suite was available.

Harry slapped his hand onto the counter and made the man jump. “Get your manager out here now!”

“You can't just demand...”

“You just laughed in our faces! What kind of professional behavior is that to show to potential customers?!?” Harry shouted and gained a lot of people's attention. “I thought this was supposed to be the best hotel in London, not an opportunity for idiots like you to insult people!”

“Is there a problem, sir?” A posh voice asked as a well dressed man came out of the back.

“Are you the manager?” Harry asked and the man nodded. “My girlfriend made a simple inquiry about a room and your clerk laughed at her.”

The manager's eyes dropped to their clothing and went back up to their faces. “Perhaps your manner of dress gave him the wrong impression.”

“So, because we have school tomorrow and wanted to celebrate our last day of freedom without dressing up, gives him the right to laugh in our faces and for you to look down on us?” Harry asked.

That had a lot of people in the lobby muttering and the manager sighed.

“Sir, they asked about the penthouse suite.” The clerk said, as if that would defend his actions.

“I suppose we should have taken out a handful of thousand pound bills and slapped him across the face with them.” Rose commented and both the clerk and the manager stared at her as she pulled a thick bundle of money out of her front pocket.

“No, I don't think so.” Harry said and patted her hand with the money. “If they can judge us harshly because we are wearing brand new high-end clothing, I doubt flaunting how rich we are would make them change their minds.”

“Oh, all right.” Rose said and tucked the money back into her pocket. “I think 45 Park Lane on the next block might have been the better choice after all.”

“Good idea. Let's hope they will accept clients dressed in normal clothing.” Harry said and he and Rose walked across the lobby with their heads held high. “Imagine having to get dressed up just to stay at a place where you get undressed and sleep! Ha ha!”

Rose laughed as well and they left the hotel. The story would end up in the newspaper the next day because there had been a reporter conducting an interview with a government official in the lobby.

The second hotel had no problem renting the penthouse suite. Harry and Rose thanked the clerk and tipped her heavily, which made the woman very happy, and they went up to the room after ordering a late supper. The food was delivered promptly and they ate as they laughed about pulling a prank on the Ritz clerk with transfigured money that was quite rare and not really in circulation in Britain.

Without saying anything, they undressed and changed into their pyjamas in front of each other. Both of them had ogled the other and neither of them felt guilty about it. They had pretty much touched and kissed each other all over during their month together and the only thing they hadn't done was gone all the way.

The large bed was soft and welcoming, just like them, and they cuddled under the blanket and made out for several minutes before they relaxed and fell asleep. It was one of the best sleeps they had, even though they were both nervous about going to school.

Minerva McGonagall hadn't responded to Rose Granger's transfer into the school, which was a surprise. The flimsy explanation that she was home-schooled and was a distant relation to the Dagworth-Granger family had been accepted without question. Maybe it was because it was her OWL year and any extra tuition money was greedily accepted, no matter where it came from.

Breakfast was both filling and tasty, so they tipped heavily and thanked the clerk again when they checked out at ten that morning. The woman almost hopped over the counter to thank them right back and said she hoped they visited again. It left Harry and Rose with a great impression and they promised to return when they could.

The trip to King's Cross Station was a short one and they easily avoided the people eagerly searching for them. Invisibility cloaks were great for that. They passed through the barrier and made it onto the train without incident and picked a compartment that already had another occupant. They took off their cloaks in the hallway and opened the door.

“Hi, Neville.” Harry said and let Rose enter the compartment before he shut the door and locked it.

“Harry!” Neville gasped and watched as Harry spelled the windows opaque and no one could see in. “Everyone's been looking for you all summer!”

“No, only since the first of August. They didn't care at all about me before then.” Harry corrected him and sat next to Rose.

Neville stared at him and didn't know what to say about Harry's casual dismissal of his predicament.

“Oh! I forgot to introduce you.” Harry said and motioned to Rose, whom had spelled her hair to be brownish-red once more. “This is my girlfriend, Rose Granger. She's transferring into Hogwarts this year.”

Neville could only nod at her and didn't know how to react.

“I think you broke him.” Rose said with a laugh.

Harry laughed, too. “Me? I think him seeing a gorgeous relative of Hermione's has fried his brain a little.”

“Are you sure it's not the fact that you have a sexy girlfriend that loves you?” Rose asked, teasingly.

“Maybe it's because I'm happy and laughing when I'm usually brooding because of all the crap I've been through?” Harry asked back.

Rose leaned close and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “Let's say it's a combination and let it go.”

“Good point. I agree.” Harry said and smiled at Neville. “How've you been?”

“I... good, I guess.” Neville said, unsure of what was going on.

“The old battleaxe still giving you trouble at home?” Rose asked and Neville didn't know what to say. “Don't let her get to you, Nev. You'll be seventeen in two years and an adult. She won't have any say whatsoever in your life then and you can tell her to shove it.”

Neville's eyes almost popped out of his head at her words.

“Isn't she great?” Harry asked with a laugh at Neville's reactions and put an arm over Rose's shoulders to hug her. “I wasn't sure what to say to her when we first met, then we started talking. Like really talking. About everything.”

Rose leaned into his side. “Harry, don't give too much of our relationship away.”

Harry chuckled and kissed the side of her head. “You know everyone's going to ask how we met.”

“You better not tell them the truth about me kidnapping you!” Rose exclaimed. “That's a secret!”

Neville made an odd sound and slumped down on his seat, because he had fainted.

Harry and Rose exchanged surprised looks, then the two of them laughed and laughed.

*

“We can't find Harry anywhere.” Hermione said when she and Ron returned from the Prefect's meeting and her first patrol of the train. They sat down in the compartment that they and Ginny had claimed and the Twins had left their trunks in. A girl named Luna Lovegood from Ginny's year was there, too.

“Oh, no.” Ginny whispered and she feared the worst.

“Did you look in every compartment?” Luna asked without looking up from her magazine.

“Mostly.” Ron said and took a bag of quartered sandwiches out of his pocket.

“What do you mean, mostly?” Ginny asked.

“There were a couple that had curtains, one that had obscured glass, and a few that were locked and wouldn't answer the door.” Hermione said.

“Then he could be in one of those!” Ginny said with hope in her voice.

Ron just shrugged as he ate his snack. Hermione didn't bother trying to argue about it. She was sure that Harry would have sought her out to argue with her about ignoring him all summer and she regretted again that she had listened to the headmaster's orders to keep Harry in the dark. He hadn't even provided a reason, just that it was for Harry's own safety.

The door to the compartment opened and the Weasley Twins were there. “No luck?”

“No; but, they didn't search everywhere.” Ginny said before Hermione could answer.

“Well, we could easily change that.” Fred said with a mischievous smile.

“You are not setting off a dung bomb in every train car.” Hermione said, understanding what he meant right away.

“Scary, she is.” George responded. “She saw right through us.”

“I think we need to up our pranking game.” Fred said.

Hermione sighed. “Please, don't. Ron and I are Prefects and...”

“Oh no! She said the dirty 'P' word!” George exclaimed and put a hand on his forehead and pretended to faint.

Fred caught him and waved a hand at his brother's face. “George! Noooo!”

Luna giggled and kept her eyes on her magazine.

Hermione rolled her eyes at their antics. “We'll get more chances to search halfway through the trip to school and again when we come to a stop.”

“It's not fair that she uses logic to ruin our fun.” George said and stood up straight.

“Yes, it's terribly terrible.” Fred said. “Shall we ignore her intelligence and look anyway?”

“You're on!” George said and waved at the compartment as both twins stepped out. “Toodles!”

The door shut before Hermione could get over their compliment and stop them from leaving.

“Leave it.” Ron mumbled and stopped Hermione from following them. “They're probably gone looking for Lee.”

Hermione sighed and sat back down.

“I doubt they would let you follow them anyway.” Ginny said and Ron nodded in agreement.

Hermione had to agree as well. After spending the whole summer with the Weasleys at Grimmauld Place, she had gotten to know all of their personalities pretty well. The twins were consummate pranksters and incredibly smart, Ginny was more boyish than girlish in her behavior, and Ron was Ron.

“Why is your magazine upside down?” Hermione asked when she noticed how Luna was reading.

“It's a secret.” Luna said and didn't say anything further.

Hermione opened her mouth to ask what the secret was and Ginny put a hand on her arm and shook her head. Hermione took her advice and closed her mouth. For some reason, she expected today to be a fairly long day and a frustrating train trip.

*

Harry had the best train trip ever. He spent it with his girlfriend and with his new best mate, and no Malfoy showed up to annoy and irritate him. It was great! As the train came to a stop, both he and Rose put on their invisibility cloaks and Neville chuckled at them hiding like that on a train full of people.

The three of them waited for the crowd to thin out before Harry cancelled the spells on the windows and door and they left the compartment. Neville was fairly tall after hitting a growth spurt during the summer and no one crowded him.

“Let's hide with the Hufflepuffs.” Rose suggested in a whisper.

“Brilliant.” Harry whispered back. “Any recommendations?”

“Neville's sweet on Hannah Abbott. Let's use that.” Rose said and Neville blushed.

“I think that was a yes.” Harry said and led Neville over to where the girl was standing with her friends. Before they reached them, both Harry and Rose dropped the hoods of their cloaks. Because of the crowd gathering to get into the carriages, no one noticed them appearing.

“Excuse us just approaching you like this.” Rose said and Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, and Megan Jones turned to look at her. “Would you mind if we joined you in your carriage?”

Hannah saw Neville, a quite tall and buddingly handsome Neville, and smiled. “Not at all!”

“Hannah.” Susan said, almost like a warning.

“If Harry's really a nutter like the papers say, Neville will protect us.” Hannah said and snaked her arm around Neville's. She didn't wait for her friends to follow before she dragged a blushing Neville towards the middle carriage.

Susan sighed and Megan softly laughed.

“He's not crazy.” Rose said in Harry's defense as she, Harry, Susan, and Megan followed Hannah and Neville. “He's suffered horribly at the hands of muggles for fourteen years and then suffered even more at the supposedly safest school in Britain.”

Susan and Megan stared at her with wide eyes.

“Oh, don't look so surprised! You treated him horribly yourselves, especially last year during the tournament that he was illegally entered in against his will.” Rose said and both girls looked embarrassed. “By the way, he won it with Cedric and you still hate him for stealing Cedric's spotlight.”

Neither girl said anything to defend themselves.

Harry felt bad about Rose stating it so bluntly... for about three seconds... then he realized that neither of the two girls were going to apologize for how they treated him.

“I hope you don't think he forgot how you treated him in second year, either.” Rose said as she climbed into the carriage and Susan and Megan blushed at the second reminder. “I wonder where the famous Hufflepuff friendship and loyalty mentality went?”

Hannah looked confused at Rose's statement as her friends climbed into the carriage with Harry Potter right behind them.

“I was talking about how Harry was treated last year by the Hufflepuffs.” Rose told her as Harry sat beside her and she leaned into him.

Hannah blushed from embarrassment. “I'm really sorry about that, Harry. Cedric told us to lay off of you before the first task and some of us did.”

Harry decided to test that as he looked at Susan's face and then at Hannah's. “Do you still have the buttons?”

Hannah shook her head while Susan's face flushed red and she looked away. Megan looked embarrassed, too.

“I think Hannah's a keeper, Nev. She's a true Hufflepuff like you.” Rose said with a huge smile.

Both Hannah and Neville blushed from the compliment.

“Wh-what? I thought he was a Griffindor.” Megan said.

“Nope, that's his Gran's fault. She wanted him to act like his father and made him go into Griffindor.” Rose said and Neville really looked embarrassed. “Nev would like nothing more than to spend the rest of his life in his greenhouses and taking care of his plants.”

“You have greenhouses?” Hannah asked, surprised.

“Huge ones!” Rose said and motioned with her hands, as if she could convey how big they were. “He said he's got everything from everywhere and even a few rare tropical plants, too.”

“R-really?” Hannah asked, her face showing her enthusiasm.

“Yep! Once you get him talking about them, he can go for hours and hours without stopping.” Rose said, almost proudly.

Harry clamped his mouth shut to stop his laugh at the looks on the faces of the Hufflepuffs. Susan looked shocked, Megan looked thoughtful, and Hannah looked extremely interested. He hadn't missed the sexual innuendo, either.

The trip to the castle seemed short after that revelation and Hannah didn't get the chance to start Neville talking about his plants. She did get him to promise to talk to her on the weekend about it, which made Neville both nervous and happy. Rose whispered the word 'date' and Neville almost fainted when Hannah blushed and beamed a smile at him.

Rose sat with Harry and Neville at the Griffindor table and they ignored everyone that tried to talk to them. Ron and Hermione were the last ones to enter the Great Hall, because they were searching the train for any stragglers. Before they could bombard Harry with questions, Minerva McGonagall entered with the new group of first years.

Minerva nodded to her and Rose slipped away from the table and joined them at the back of the group. She sorted everyone and left her for last.

“Granger, Rose.” Minerva said and a few people made surprised sounds, especially Hermione.

Rose stepped forward and put on the hat. There was a whispered conversation between them for several minutes before the hat made its decision.

“Better be... Slytherin!” The hat shouted.

“Yes! That's my girlfriend!” Harry shouted and stood up to clap his hands loudly. He was the only one to do so, because nearly everyone else in the entire Great Hall stared at him, too shocked to react. He was supposed to be the Griffindor Golden Boy and he had a Slytherin girlfriend. It was unbelievable!

“Thank you, Harry.” Rose said and waved to him before she joined the fifth year girls at the Slytherin table.

“Who the hell are you?” Draco asked, his face almost twisted with anger.

“Me? I'm the Queen of Slytherin.” Rose said and everyone around her gasped.

“You are NOT my queen!” Draco spat.

Rose softly laughed. “Of course I'm not.” She said and he looked vindicated. “You're not the King.”

“WHAT?!?” Draco and Pansy exclaimed.

“You think just because your daddy's rich and You-Know-Who's bootlicker, that makes you the consummate Slytherin? Ha! Don't make me laugh. That's pathetic.”

“Hare dare you!” Pansy exclaimed.

“Wait until my father hears about this!” Draco exclaimed at the same time.

“Oooo, I'm so scared about a death eater that's half a country away and only has a quarter of my wealth.” Rose said with a roll of her eyes.

“Granger isn't a Sacred 28 family.” A platinum blonde girl said.

“The Dagworth-Granger family didn't want to pay the thousand galleon bribe to Cantankerus Knott to be published in his stupid pureblood book in 1935.” Rose said and her voice dripped venom. “I was surprised the Weasley family did, though. The idiots could have invested that money and made five times that back in the last 60 years.”

Everyone at the table stared at her.

“Then Septimus' grandson ruined their status 40 years later and became a declared blood traitor by taking a moral stand about marrying half-bloods and muggleborns, even though he himself didn't believe that.” Rose said and shook her head. “Most of them are idiots and easily swayed with pretty words and promises of money and fame.”

Rose had distracted them so much that they forgot they were supposed to be arguing about who was the King of Slytherin. There were several announcements from Albus Dumbledore that were mostly the same as every year, including the introduction of yet another Defense professor, and the food appeared.

Across the Great Hall at the Griffindor table, Hermione was having a loud whispered conversation with Harry, only he always spoke in a normal tone and kept saying the same thing after every one of her questions.

“Why are you talking to me now? You had all summer to tell me what was going on and never once said anything.” Harry said and ate the food on his plate. “I even begged you and you refused.”

“Harry, mate.” Ron said between bites of porkchop. “Dumbledore said not to say anything, so give her a break.”

“Why are you talking to me now? You had all summer to tell me what was going on and never once said anything.” Harry said and kept eating. “I even begged you and you refused.”

Hermione made a frustrated sound. “Look, I'm sorry I listened to the headmaster. He said it was to keep you safe...”

“Safe? HA! More like isolated and alone! You keep doing that to me! I could have DIED and...” Harry stopped talking and paused as he pushed his plate away, then he gave Hermione his best glare. “Why are you talking to me now? You had all summer to tell me what was going on and you NEVER said ANYTHING!” He said in a yell, clearly angry. “I even BEGGED you and you REFUSED!”

Hermione felt like crying at the look of hatred on his face. “Harry, this... this isn't you.”

Harry's face suddenly went blank and he slowly stood. “You're just like everyone else in this stupid castle. You only see what you want to see and you ignore everything that's right in front of you. You don't see me. You don't see Just Harry.”

Hermione couldn't speak as her best friend looked at her with disappointment on his face and then he walked away from her.

“Don't worry, Hermione. He'll come around. He always does.” Ron said and kept eating.

No, I don't think he will. Hermione thought and saw Harry's girlfriend get up from the Slytherin table and she walked over to him. Not this time.

The new couple kissed like they were alone and it made a few people make wolf whistle sounds. They ignored everyone and left the Great Hall holding hands with happy smiles on their faces. A moment later, everyone watched as Minerva McGonagall strode across the room and went after them. They all assumed she was going to give them detention for the public kiss, and they were wrong.

The headmaster wanted her to tell Harry to meet him in his office after the meal, because he wanted to know where the boy had been all month. He hadn't expected Harry to leave before the welcoming feast had served the desserts, however. His eyes went to the Griffindor table where everyone nearby had witnessed the confrontation between Harry and Miss Granger.

Like everyone else, he assumed it was just a normal argument between friends and that everything would be fine in a day or two. They had kept Harry in the dark all summer and Albus expected some anger about that. He knew the boy would accept their reasons eventually, just like he always did.

When Minerva entered the Great Hall several minutes later, her face was a little pale and she looked sad. She walked at a normal pace back to the head table and sat down on her chair beside the headmaster.

“Did you inform Harry that I only need to speak to him and not his new friend?” Albus asked.

Minerva looked like she had bitten into something sour.

“Minerva? What is it?” Albus asked.

“I won't repeat what he said when I told him to report to your office.” Minerva said and couldn't stop herself from keeping her lips pursed. “I will say that his legal guardian has absolutely refused to allow you to be anywhere near Mister Potter.”

“Excuse me?” Albus asked, surprised.

“They threatened to call the Aurors if you try to coerce him into meeting you alone again.” Minerva told him.

“We wouldn't be alone. Severus would be there and...”

“Mister Potter has dropped Potions, History of Magic, Divination, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Care of Magical Creatures.” Minerva interrupted him and showed him the letter of intent. “He also expressed a desire to not continue his education after his OWLs.”

Albus was stunned and couldn't believe what he was hearing.

“If I don't follow his guardian's instructions to the letter, they will remove him from school immediately and hire tutors to take his OWLs.” Minerva said with a sigh.

“You cannot do as he asks. Harry must remain at Hogwarts and...”

“Did you not hear me?” Minerva asked, a little shrilly. “He will be gone as soon as I try to tell him he can't drop those useless classes!”

Silence seemed to fall in the Great Hall as word of what she said spread out.

“Potions and creature care are not useless.” Albus said to defend Snape and Hagrid.

“Mister Potter said he learns more from the book than from Severus, since he never teaches. Hagrid's teaching style is throwing the students into pens with wild creatures and hoping no one is too hurt by the end of class. He also hasn't had a good Defense professor since Remus.” Minerva said and her lips pursed even more. “Binns doesn't know who is in his classes and don't get me started on Sybil's subject.”

Albus held in his sigh at the truth in his friend's words. “Harry can't stay at school with just Charms, Transfiguration, and Herbology. Most of his class schedule will be empty.”

“You think I don't know that?” Minerva asked him, a little incredulous. “Perhaps I can talk him into picking up Arithmancy or Ancient Runes.”

“I'm sorry, I can't allow that.” Professor Babbling said. She was the Ancient Runes teacher. “He's two years behind his classmates and we are at a delicate stage of learning. Even if he could somehow catch up with the coursework before Yule, it would still be too dangerous to teach him how to carve runes without the previous two years of deciphering runic scripts.”

“What if you put him in with your third years?” Professor Vector asked.

Babbling chuckled. “He would stand out even more than he would in his own year and that's assuming they don't laugh at him for being stuck with the younger children.”

Minerva sighed and looked down at her half-finished meal. “I need to go and figure something out.”

The other teachers and most of the students watched as the dejected woman left the Great Hall.

*

“I can't believe you convinced me to come back here.” Harry Potter said to his girlfriend after they had vanished the cave-in debris in front of the Chamber of Secrets.

“I can't believe you killed a 60 foot long basilisk with a sword when you were 12.” Rose countered and grinned at him. “And that was after you showed me the memory.”

Harry shook his head. “I really did love you in the future if I shared that horrible memory with you.”

Rose blushed and felt all warm and tingly inside at another confirmation. “You shared everything with me so that I could convince you I was telling the truth about who I was and what we had to do.”

“Everything... but that.” Harry whispered.

“Yes, like I said, you were a noble bastard.” Rose said and gave him a quick kiss. “We just need to do a couple of things here and then we'll portkey the carcass to the giants.”

Harry chuckled. “Are we really going to feed them a partially rotted carcass?”

“They won't turn down free food, even if it is poisoned.” Rose said and Harry hissed for the door to open. “Mind you, they won't know it's poisoned until long after they've eaten it and start dying.”

“Can we really condemn them like this?” Harry asked as they entered the Chamber.

“There's really only one large settlement left and they don't take it well when You-Know-Who gets some of their people killed in the final battle.” Rose said. “The muggles explain it away as a series of hurricanes and wildfires when the giants rampage across part of Europe to come here for revenge.”

Harry took a breath and let it out. “That's the thing. Can we judge them for something they haven't done yet?”

Rose turned to look into his eyes. “Harry, I'm not judging them for future events. I'm judging them on their behavior ever since they existed. They are mean, vindictive, fight all the time, and eat their weight in animals every week... and those are their good points.”

Harry opened his mouth to say that couldn't be true and saw the truth in her eyes. “How can you be so convincing?”

Rose gave him a soft and tender kiss. “Love is like that. You know I won't lie to you, even if it's for your own good.”

Harry sighed. “Why couldn't I have met you years ago?”

“I tried the calculations for earlier than the Dark Wanker's resurrection and they always failed and came up with a zero sum. Even when I tried adding in the intentional sacrifice of the experimental time turner, all it did was fizzle out and me coming back didn't change anything.”

“How was that possible?” Harry asked.

“The calculations always showed that I die in the temporal explosion.” Rose said, as if that explained everything. “Put on your dragonhide gloves and give me a hand opening the beast's mouth.”

Harry followed her orders and they soon had several large jars filled with basilisk venom and two fangs, one from the mouth and the one that had broken off. Both of them had been filled with venom again and sealed.

After that was done, Harry called for Dobby. The little house elf happily accepted becoming a Potter Family elf and then he retrieved the sword of Griffindor that Dumbledore had taken from Harry in second year. If Harry had kept that in his possession, the last two years would have gone a lot differently. That revelation made Harry curse for several minutes.

“Harry, it's all okay now.” Rose consoled him and rubbed his back. “It's not your fault that a wizarding mentality infected you with all of the stupidity that the general population just accepts as normal.”

Harry calmed down and hugged her close. “Is that what happened to Hermione?”

“Yes, unfortunately. Her deference to authority figures had her adapt to their way of thinking almost immediately, just so she would fit in more. She didn't realize it actually made her stand out more instead.”

Harry sighed and rested his forehead against hers. “Did you see that they made her and Ron prefects?”

“Yes, and neither of them deserve it.” Rose said.

“Wait, what?” Harry asked, confused. He was sure that Hermione did.

“Almost no one likes Hermione. She's stiff, rigid, and no one can approach her because she's abrupt and sees everyone as less intelligent than her.” Rose said. “Why else do you think she still hasn't made friends with her dorm mates and this is the fifth year that they've roomed together?”

Harry felt a bit stupid to be reminded of that, which just pointed out Rose was right that he was being struck with a wizard's mentality.

“Lavender would have been a much better choice as Prefect, because everyone likes her. She just doesn't care about the responsibility and would have turned it down.” Rose explained.

Harry had to smile. “You asked her.”

“No, I asked Pavarti.” Rose said and frowned. “Lavender gets bitten by Fenrir Greyback and...”

“I don't want to know.” Harry interrupted her. “That's one of those things you won't lie to me about, even if it's for my own good.”

Rose smiled sadly and nodded.

“I'll ask about it again someday.” Harry said and she nodded again. He let her out of the hug and picked up the sword of Griffindor. “Let's get this overgrown snake chopped up and ready to serve.”

“Dobby? Go ahead and build the cooking fires.” Rose said.

“Dobby bees doing that, Harry Potter's missus Grangey.” Dobby said and didn't miss Harry's and Rose's blushes as he ran over to the first spot where he started summoning deadwood from the Forbidden Forest. He held in his giggle at teasing Harry and Rose and stacked the wood into proper piles before he used his magic to chop them up into the right sizes.

It took the trio several hours to rend the basilisk down, discarded the parts that were too rotted to use, and then cooked up a ton of snake meat while making sure it was coated in venom. It smelled surprisingly good as Dobby used seasonings from the kitchens to make the meat even more tasty. It was still deadly poisonous after cooking it, however.

Dobby transfigured some of the unused sticks into hanging racks for the cooked meat and Rose changed them into portkeys. She did them all and counted down before she activated them all and sent the meat to the place the giants had settled. They had been surprisingly easy to find.

“Thanks for all your help tonight, Dobby.” Harry said and yawned.

“Youse be getting to beds, Harry Potter.” Dobby said and wagged his finger at him.

“I will.” Harry promised and turned to give a particular look to Rose.

“Don't give me that worried look.” Rose said with a laugh and hugged him. “Neither of us are spending a single second with people we know have grudges against us.”

Harry raised his eyebrows at her.

“We have a room up on the seventh floor that has our names on it.” Rose said and looked at the house elf. “Goodnight, Dobby.”

“Goodnight, Harry Potter's missus Grangey.” Dobby said and popped away.

Harry didn't question Rose as she led him out of the chamber and back to the slide. They flew their brooms up the passage and put the brooms away and slipped on their invisibility cloaks. Harry used the Marauder's Map to get them to the seventh floor unimpeded.

Rose showed Harry the Room of Requirement and what it could do, which he thanked her for by going down on her on the bed that appeared there. It was the first time that they hadn't tried to change into pyjamas to go to sleep and neither of them objected to the more intimate feeling of being naked and cuddled up together.

*

The next morning, Minerva looked down at the practically empty school schedule in her hands and she didn't know what to do about it. She had approached the other professors again to see if she could convince them to use some of their off time to tutor Harry in their subjects, only for all of them to refuse. They had too much work to do, just like she did, and they wouldn't agree to do anything to keep Harry's interest in the school.

Albus had tried again to get her to refuse the boy's requests and she had to practically yell at him that they weren't requests and were orders by his magical guardian. When he used her floo to call Sirius and asked why he would make those changes to Harry's classes, the man had no idea what he was talking about and was excited that Harry had finally shown up and Sirius asked to see him.

That had both Albus and Minerva nervous and they said they would ask the boy about that as soon as possible. They had thought Harry had somehow been in contact with Sirius and now they knew that whomever Harry claimed was his magical guardian, it was not Sirius.

“What do we do, Albus?” Minerva asked.

“I need to make a quick trip to the Ministry and I'll check the registry.” Albus said and used her floo to do so.

Minerva waited anxiously for him to return and she kept checking the time as it ticked down to the start of breakfast. She had until midway through that hour to deliver the class schedules. With only ten minutes to spare, her floo flared up and a worried Albus Dumbledore stepped out.

“Albus? What is it?” Minerva asked.

“It seems the emancipated Rose Granger is Harry Potter's magical guardian.” Albus said.

Minerva caught her breath. “You can't be serious.”

“I am afraid it's quite true.” Albus said and ignored the easy Sirius Black joke as he sat down on the chair in front of her desk. “She took official control of him and his account at Gringotts the day after his disappearance.”

“No!” Minerva gasped.

Albus sighed. “She withdrew everything he had access to, including the deeds to the properties the Potter family owned.”

“She can't do that.” Minerva said and looked unsure. “Can she?”

“She had his mail redirected to her and also served notice to the Ministry about confiscating private property without cause or compensation.” Albus said. “The goblins already fined the Ministry for denying them the repair contract and for fourteen years of rent that the Potter family should have received for their vacation cottage.”

Minerva was too shocked to respond to that ridiculousness.

Albus would have laughed at her expression if he hadn't had more shocking news to share. “My personal account at the bank has been seized and emptied for the illegal kidnapping of the savior of the wizarding world from his godparents and subjecting him to fourteen years of verbal and physical abuse by his muggle captors.”

Minerva made a startled sound and fainted.

Albus felt the same way. It wasn't the accusation that worried him; it was that there was documented proof, and he had absolutely no defense besides saying it was for the greater good of the wizarding world for Harry to be safely away from his fame and fortune.

He used his wand to wake Minerva up and the woman looked shell-shocked. The two of them left her office to go to breakfast and Albus helped Minerva stay steady on her feet. They arrived just as the food did and sat down to eat. Neither of them had much of an appetite.

Minerva went about her duty at the right time and she handed the nearly empty schedule to Harry without a word. The bright smile on Harry's face was unmistakable and quite a few students of the female persuasion noticed how handsome he was. It was funny how they could ignore their thoughts of him being a liar, a cheat, and a murderer.

Rose received a similar schedule from Severus Snape and the man also stayed quiet. She almost laughed at the disgusted look on his face and knew it was because he was wondering why she was with Harry. She gave the sour man a bright smile and went back to eating her breakfast.

For some reason, none of the Slytherin girls asked Rose where she was the night before, unlike with Harry and everyone asking him where he was. He didn't bother telling them that it was none of their business and just ignored them as he ate. Hermione saw Harry's practically empty schedule and tried to ask him why he dropped nearly everything, only for Harry to ignore her as well.

Harry stood up and walked away from the table and met Rose halfway to the doors of the Great Hall. A brief hug and a kiss was shared and then they were out through the doors to head to Transfiguration. Hermione sighed and chivied Ron along and they followed the happy couple, as did the rest of their year of students.

Ron mumbled a complaint when they entered the classroom, because Harry had sat with a slimy snake and not his best mate. Hermione hushed him and pushed him to the front desk and sat down. She had seen the squinted look on Harry's face and she knew that he heard. She also suspected that he actually was sitting with his best friend.

Minerva swished her wand at the classroom's door after all of the students arrived and she gave the lecture for the vanishing spell. They had a short introduction near the end of last year and this year they would be working on the practical application. On snails.

The students were intimidated by the seriousness of the professor's tone and her warnings, except for Harry and Rose. They waited for Minerva to give them permission to perform the spell and the both of them made their snails completely vanish. Everyone else was stunned, even Minerva. She summoned two more snails and they were easily vanished as well.

When Minerva praised them for doing well and then asked Harry and Rose to help their fellow students, the pair laughed and quoted the last Daily Prophet article about Harry being crazy and shouldn't be allowed to interact with his fellow students. That shut Minerva up faster than a silencing spell and she left them alone after that.

Charms was next and it was only a review of the previous year's material. They would be doing that for two months, since they had four years of spells to go over and be comfortable casting before they moved on to the advanced things they would need for their OWL exams.

Herbology used up the next class and the day ended for both Harry and Rose. That left them a full class before lunch and the entire afternoon off, which they would repeat on Wednesday and Friday. Tuesdays and Thursdays had no classes at all for them, so they had a lot of free time to work on everything. It was one of the main reasons that they had returned to school.

Nearly unlimited access to the library for all of the subjects they wanted to study, a room in the castle that would become anything they wanted, and food they didn't have to prepare themselves, made it worth the tuition.

*

As the days turned into weeks, Albus became even more worried than he had been. Harry had become a social pariah and didn't interact with his classmates at all. He was sure it was his girlfriend's fault and there wasn't anything he could do about it.

When he had asked Minerva to urge Miss Granger and Mister Weasley to try harder to talk to the boy, she said Hermione claimed they were no longer friends and cried while Ron had shrugged and said Harry would get over it. Neither Albus nor Minerva believed that to be true. Albus couldn't even use his normal tactics to have Severus cause strife, because he was not Harry Potter's professor.

The single time Albus had tried to get Severus to intervene with Rose Granger, the young woman had torn into the man verbally, dragged out all of his secrets, and left him embarrassed when she ordered him to leave her and Harry alone or he would face the Aurors.

That experience was not something Albus wanted to subject himself to, especially since he had no idea how Rose knew the things she did. That alone made the old headmaster wary, because he couldn't figure it out. He also couldn't figure out how Rose wasn't being bombarded with owls or visits from the Aurors.

*

“Is this going to work?” Harry asked as he used a piece of piano wire and wrapped it around the top of the grenade.

“Like a charm.” Rose joked and grinned at him.

Harry laughed and carefully lowered the grenade into the bowl of basilisk venom. The liquid easily covered the thing and Harry picked up another piece of wire and wrapped it around another grenade.

“How long do we let them soak for?” Harry asked and carefully lowered in another one.

“We probably don't have to do it for long, since we only need to cover the outside. However, since we have no idea if the metal casing being shredded might blow off the venom first. Since these things are not waterproof...” Rose's words trailed off and she handed him another grenade.

“I get it. Coating the inside a little won't hurt it.” Harry said and Rose nodded.

“Once we have them done, we just have to wait for the right time to use them.” Rose told him.

“How will we know that?” Harry asked.

“Dobby!” Rose said loudly.

Dobby popped into the Room of Requirement. “Harry Potter's missus Grangey be calling Dobby!”

“Harry and I have a very important mission for you.” Rose said with a smile.

“Oh, that's bloody brilliant!” Harry said with a laugh. “You're going to like this, Dobby.”

“Dobby wants to know what he bees doing!” Dobby said, excitedly.

“You're going to help us get revenge on a certain arrogant blond ex-master of yours.” Rose said and Dobby clapped. “Are you still friends with the other Malfoy elf?”

“Dobby be helping Floppy by adding dog poop into soup stock.” Dobby said with a manic grin and a giggle. “We bees straining it before adding veggies and meats, so its never found out!”

Rose and Harry laughed.

“And I thought Rose was brilliant!” Harry said and made an 'oof' sound when Dobby jumped and hugged him.

“We're going to need to know when the next... ah... house party is going to be for... ahem... you-know-who and his followers.” Rose said. “You can either go there and watch yourself or ask Floppy to keep an eye and ear out for us.”

“I can bees doing that.” Dobby agreed.

“We don't want you staying up all day and night trying to find out. Take your time and make sure you rest and eat properly. There's no rush.” Harry said and Dobby nodded several times.

“Maybe we should get Winky to help, too?” Rose asked.

Dobby almost jumped out of his skin, he was so happy. “Dobby bees sobering her up and will bring her here as soon as she be clean!” He exclaimed and popped away.

“I told you we should have asked for her help before.” Harry said.

“We didn't have anything for her to do before. Why disappoint her?” Rose asked and Harry shrugged. “Anyways, with three elves on the job... eventually... we'll be able to give the Malfoys quite a smashing party.”

Harry leaned over and gave his girlfriend a kiss.

*

Madame Maxime stared at the body of the Hagrid as the French Aurors she had called looked over the scene of the crime. The lovable idiot had partaken in the same food that the Giants had been gifted and had gotten sick. It had taken her weeks to sneak away from the Giant's Enclave and returned home just long enough to get help.

She never suspected that when she returned that they would all be dead. Every single one of them, including the man she loved.

“We've managed to dredge out something from the Gurg's stomach.” One of the Aurors said and held up a chunk of well-cooked meat that hadn't been chewed and only partially dissolved.

“What is it?” The head Auror asked.

“As far as I can tell, it's the last thing he ate. Snake meat.” The man said and turned the thing over. “We have to call in an expert magizoologist to find out what kind.”

“Are there a lot of snakes that can get that big?” Madame Maxime asked as she motioned towards the fist-sized chunk.

“A few, like anacondas and boa constrictors.” The man responded. “I'm just glad I wore protective gloves. It's probably poisoned and... I had to... dig out...” The man wavered where he stood as his skin started to turn green.

“Drop it, Jacques!” The Auror next to him exclaimed and jumped back out of the way, picked up a stick and swatted at the man's hand. The meat was flung away and the protective glove had dissolved.

“Why isn't he wearing dragonhide?!?” The head Auror asked as a healer ran over to the collapsing man.

“He is... or was.” The healer said and examined the man's hand. “It's the cheapest pair on the market. Swedish Short-Snout.”

“What's the poison and can you treat it?” The head Auror asked.

The healer waved his wand over the downed man and his face paled. “No! It... it's basilisk venom!”

Everyone in the entire area froze at those words.

“Drop everything and activate your emergency portkeys!” The head Auror shouted and everyone did so. He grabbed Madame Maxime by the arm when everyone was gone, cast Fiendfire at the dying Auror, and activated his own portkey.

When the swirling stopped, Madame Maxime dropped to her knees and cried.

*

Harry and Rose left the castle on the weekend that Halloween had fallen on. It had always signified something bad at school and neither of them wanted to be around for whatever was going to happen. They donned their cloaks and flew their brooms across the countryside to Little Hangleton.

The pair landed near the little shack that was the previous home of the Gaunt family. Rose cast silencing charms and then set up a ward barrier to stop anything from reaching them. Harry gave her a kiss before he threw a normal grenade inside the shack through a broken window. Three seconds later, it exploded and most of the shack disappeared.

“I can't believe that worked.” Harry said with a laugh.

“Mostly.” Rose said and pointed. “It tore up the floor and only exposed the ring.”

“Right, it needs another treatment.” Harry said and put on a dragonhide glove and carefully lifted out a treated grenade by the wire and pulled the pin. He chucked it right into the torn up floor and Rose transfigured an earth wall barrier between them and the ward barrier, just in case.

There was a loud bang, a burst of shrapnel, and a soft scream.

“I'd say that was a successful test.” Rose said and used her wand to push the earth barrier out to cover the ground around the second explosion. They walked over to the small crater and saw the remains of the ring.

“It's dissolving the stone.” Harry commented about the corners of the black stone that looked melted.

“We can't actually destroy it.” Rose said and conjured a box for it and levitated it inside and sealed it. “At least, not by conventional means.”

Harry nodded. Rose had told him all about what was supposed to happen this year as she taught him to protect his mind from intrusion. They had made great progress over the last two months and his feelings for her grew. Looking into her mind and seeing that she really was completely devoted to him and really loved him, gave him more reasons to completely trust her.

Because of their actions, they couldn't predict how things were changing, so Harry didn't hold anything against her. It wasn't her fault that consequences spiralled out of control, even when they took precautions to prevent as much collateral damage as possible.

“Let's change out the bones of those graves, too. Pettigrew is still around and knows the recipe.” Rose said and Harry let out a growling sound. “It's all right, Harry. We'll get him. He never goes far away from You-Know-Who. The other death eaters don't trust him.”

Harry sighed and nodded. “It's just frustrating when you can't get what you want right away.”

“Oh, I know.” Rose said with a teasing smile and Harry blushed. She had shared a lot more mentally with him than he expected, including some of the things she wanted him to do to her. Rose gave him a kiss before she led him over to the graveyard and they switched out all of the Riddle family bones with transfigured sticks.

Back at the castle, Albus Dumbledore had made the announcement that Rubeus Hagrid and the last known group of giants in the world had been murdered, probably by Voldemort, because they wouldn't join him. The hubbub about it would be over before Harry and Rose returned on Sunday night.

*

The goblins never checked private packages sent to the bank through Owl Post, except for curses or anything that could hurt a goblin. They found nothing wrong with the latest deposit of a bag of gold into Bellatrix Lestrange's vault. It was delivered immediately and the vault sealed once more.

Two hours later, the temporary transfigurations ended. The bag became a piece of parchment and five of the galleons that spilled out, had reverted into treated grenades that already had the pins pulled and the stasis charms ended.

Since it was an older vault, the explosions were not heard by the goblins. The entire contents were contaminated with basilisk venom and Hufflepuff's Cup let out a small scream as it melted and the horcrux was destroyed.

*

Sirius Black would never know that his house elf Kreacher hadn't died of natural causes. He had heard the small scream of pain from the boiler room and rushed in, only to see the old house elf with a smile on its face and a half-melted locket clutched to its chest.

Thankfully, he never touched the thing as he beheaded it and mounted it behind glass next to the other house elf heads and vanished the body. The empty vial of basilisk venom and the note on what to do would remain undiscovered under the boiler for seven years.

*

“I really, really, really regret having to do this.” Rose said a week later as she hefted the Sword of Griffindor over her head.

“We tried researching how to remove the blasted thing without harming the container and we found nothing, even from experienced curse breakers.” Harry said and knew this was going to hurt Rose more than anything else that had happened in her life. It was why he wanted her to do it instead of doing it himself.

“Damn you, you noble bastard.” Rose grumbled, because she knew he was making her do it, just so she wouldn't blame him for it.

“Ha!” Harry barked the laugh. “Hurry up and finish it. I want to hug you and make you feel better.”

Rose took a deep breath, let it out, and swung down. The sword cut through the center gem on Ravenclaw's Diadem and the unholy scream made Harry relax and Rose started to cry. Harry took the sword from her hands and hugged her tightly as she cried over losing such a precious learning artifact. Harry eventually led her out of the room and the door disappeared.

Three paces across the space had another door appear and Harry brought her inside. Rose didn't even see the decor because Harry started to kiss her passionately. Her own libido flared at his intensity and she could feel her desperation reach out to his. Their clothing vanished and then they were on the bed for barely a moment before Rose cried out with pleasure as Harry drove into her for the very first time.

“I LOVE YOU!” Rose yelled and kissed him as if he was the only thing that mattered in the world. She was soon panting with ecstasy as Harry made love to her and her body responded to his as if they had always been together.

It was almost a religious experience for the both of them. One because she had always wanted to physically love the man she had always loved, and the other because he could physically feel the love that Rose had for him. It was the last thing Harry needed to finally understand what it meant to love.

“I love you, too.” Harry whispered in her ear and was so overwhelmed with love that he didn't feel his scar break open.

“OHHHHH!” Rose screamed in pleasure as she came so hard that her body locked up. Neither of them heard the soul piece in Harry's scar scream and dissipate. Rose had to ride out her orgasm until it was over and almost cursed, because Harry hadn't stopped moving and she came again and again. She didn't tell him to stop, though. If this was what it felt like to be with the one you loved, she never wanted him to stop.

They stayed in the Room of Requirement making love all night.

*

It was during Yule break that Dobby reported a large ball that the Malfoys were hosting. Rose, Harry, Dobby, and Winky spent several days in the Room of Requirement with a Pensieve that it recreated for them as they went over old Harry's memories that Rose shared. It gave them the location of Malfoy Manor and the layout, including the dungeon and prisoner cells in the basement.

Both Harry and Winky cried when they saw Dobby's heroic sacrifice as he saved Future Harry and his friends from Voldemort and the death eaters. The little being was stunned when he was hugged by Harry and proclaimed a lifelong friend. The look on Winky's face was not one Dobby had ever seen before and he would find out that night what it meant.

“Wes be completing the plans on time tomorrow nights, Masters Harrys and Roses.” Winky said and with a snap of her fingers, the mostly full crate of tainted grenades disappeared, as did the last few vials of basilisk venom. She grabbed Dobby's hand and looked at Rose. “Don't bees calling us until tomorrow.”

Both house elves disappeared with a pop and Harry and Rose exchanged amused looks.

“I think we might have underestimated how much Winky likes having a strong family to take care of.” Rose said with a laugh.

Harry could only nod, since he suspected Winky was going to be starting that family tonight. It gave him a weird feeling inside and he felt his body move to embrace Rose. She didn't resist as he kissed her, because she was happy that he was taking charge. Their bed appeared behind them and they were soon naked and sharing each other again.

*

The Daily Prophet reported it as 'The Yuletide Massacre'. Nearly all of the pureblood families that had supported Voldemort, either openly or secretively, were dead. All of the death eaters that had been marked, were also taken care of, including a particular potions professor that had kept trying to get Harry into detention.

The remains of a giant snake along with Voldemort himself were found at Malfoy Manor, their bodies had been shredded by some unknown means. They did have the presence of mind to cast detection spells and found everything to be contaminated with basilisk venom, so the Aurors burned it all to the ground.

No one asked what happened to all of the house elves, because they were always overlooked.

*

The rest of fifth year passed by with Harry and Rose studying like crazy, having fun, and avoided every attempt by Hermione and Ron to make friends with them. With Ron it was easy, because of his extreme bias against Slytherins. With Hermione, they avoided going to the library and the Great Hall during busy mealtimes.

Neville and Luna had been surprised to be included as Harry's and Rose's friends. The people that had picked on them previously had all been viciously pranked and warned that if they ever did or said anything to their victims, they would end up just like the death eaters. Luna and Neville were left alone after that.

Harry and Rose signed up for all of the OWLs being given, even though they hadn't taken the classes. They hadn't done it through Minerva McGonagall, though. She had never helped them before and they didn't ask for her help this time, either. It had been arranged through the Ministry of Magic's testing authority and a nice donation of galleons to their department ensured their agreement.

Thanks to Rose's and Harry's efforts with studying and sharing their memories all year, they passed everything and tied for the most OWLs in history with the highest marks. Impressing the proctors for the exams always gave extra points and they made sure to show off without being arrogant about it. They also beat out Albus Dumbledore's record that had been in place for over 130 years.

With that finally out of the way, Harry and Rose bid the wizarding world goodbye and pulled all of their money out of Gringotts. They still had to stay around for two weeks to wait for the official results of their exams and did that in the same hotel they had stayed at during the previous summer. It was a much better experience this time, since they used the bed for its intended purpose.

They bought a huge muggle mansion in California and applied for American citizenship, which was almost immediately approved, and they sent over all of the house elves that had accepted service with their family. They told Luna and Neville that they could visit whenever they wanted, as long as they never brought anyone else except their family along. They would even have their own wing in the mansion to decorate as they liked.

Luna happily accepted, because she and her father would be travelling occasionally to the states and would like to have a home away from home. Neville would never leave Britain and only agreed to stay in contact by international post.

As soon as Rose and Harry received their OWL results, they used their purchased international portkey and went to their new home. They were greeted enthusiastically by all of the house elves, because the mansion was absolutely huge and they had tons of work to do and lots of friends to help and talk to.

“You're going to have even more work to do soon.” Rose said and rubbed her belly.

All of the house elves stilled as if petrified and Harry was right there with them.

“R-Rose... you... are you...” Harry tried to ask, stunned.

“I'm just like you, Harry. I love you and I want us to have a big family to call our own.” Rose said with a blush. “Now that we're away from all that madness in Britain, I thought we could get a head start.”

“So, you... um... you...” Harry stammered.

“I stopped taking the potion after Yule and only used the contraceptive charm. I stopped using that after we took our OWLs.” Rose said and reached up to cup the side of his face. “Winky? Can you cast the health check spell on me?”

Winky snapped her finger and a light blue glow came from Rose's stomach. “You bees having a BOY!”

“YAAYYYYYY!” All of the house elves cheered. The only thing they enjoyed more than taking care of the family home was having their master's family getting bigger and taking care of them, too.

*

Hermione still ended up with Ron, since he was the only one that was willing to put up with her. They still had children and careers as their lives moved on. It took years before Hermione had said she had enough children and the last one was a girl. Her name was Rose Muriel Granger-Weasley and she was born with a smile on her face that no one could explain.