Harry and Hermione Pt. III -- Finishing their Sixth Year and Into the Summer

Chapter X

Monday, September 2, 1997

"What's wrong, Ron?" Susan asked, joining her arm and hand with her boyfriend's.

"Look at them," Ron said, almost growling. Susan did so. They were standing at the entrance looking into the Great Hall, where a small crowd was studying. Susan saw Ron was looking towards the Gryffindor table, where Hermione, Ginny, and Luna were entertaining and supervising a group of First years.

"So?"

"I noticed it yesterday. It's as if they don't miss him, or if they do, it's barely there."

"I'm sure they do."

Ron shook his head. "Ginny and Luna were moping until they visited Hermione last week. It's as if they decided to put Harry in the past and move on. And yes, I know that's the healthy thing to do, it just seems too fast."

"We all grieve differently, Ron." She hesitated, then said, "You know, once Harry . . . died, I haven't felt any part of the merges. Have you?"

"No," Ron admitted. "We aren't supposed to. Hermione and Dumbledore both said Harry's ability to sustain those links, not just between us and himself but between all of us, was unique."

"Exactly. Even though it wasn't a long period, we were all used to that sustaining link. I would be shocked if Ginny and Luna haven't merged since then, and I would imagine Hermione merged with them as well. That could help heal their grief."

"You might be right," Ron agreed.

"It's a nice afternoon. Let's go someplace where we can be together. Let me heal you, Ron."

"Thank you," Ron said. They left together. From that moment on, Ron withdrew ever more slightly from his old friendships, even with Hermione. Ron and Susan became what they needed most, and faced the future together.

By the end of the school year, Ron spent very little time with his Housemates. Hermione, who had been Head Girl, had organized most of the Seventh years to study for their N.E.W.T.s, but that study time and their few classes together had been their only real contact. Ron was the Quidditch captain, and was busy leading Gryffindor squad to the Quidditch Cup and romancing Susan.

Between taking all six N.E.W.T.s (three O's), being on the winning Quidditch team two of the last three years, and being engaged to the Minister's niece (and heir), Ron moved right into a position in the Department of Magical Games and Sport. After a year, he was transferred to a position as the British junior representative to the International Quidditch Confederation, where he made a name for himself over the next four years as an impartial official, and also as a solid referee for International games.

In June 2004, he was came back as the principal secretary of the Department, although he accepted it on the condition he could still referee.

Ron and Susan had married on January 1, 1999, and started their family soon after.

Friday, August 20, 2004
7:05 pm

Ron Weasley stood on a busy street, watching Muggles ignore the entrance to an obscure square in an obscure corner of northeastern Greater London.

"Daddy, what are we looking at?"

Ron looked down and smiled at four year old Harry Sirius Weasley. "Nothing important, Harry."

"Is baby okay?"

"Amelia is fine, Harry." The infant squirmed a little in Ron's arms.

Harry tugged on his mother's arm. "Mummy, I have to pee pee. Can we please see Auntie Ginny or someone soon?"

Ron smiled a bit more broadly. "Come on then. We'll see if Fred or George are in yet. You can whiz there -- where it doesn't matter if you miss."

"Ron!"

"Daddy!"

Harry had started to buy out every resident of Grimmauld Place, and Hermione had completed the process. All 22 houses on the square now belonged to the Potter Trust. Ron didn't come here often, perhaps three brief visits a year.

Still, he knew all the occupied houses and the people who lived in them. Dean and Padma and their daughter; Seamus and Anna and their new-born son; four empty houses and then Fred and Angelina and their terrors of two year old triplets; newlyweds George and Daphne in the last house on the row. The far end, six houses, had Colin's house, Remus and Tonks' and their little girl, the empty #11, #12 (used primarily as the headquarters for ROMP), Hermione and her children's house at #13, and finally the house used by Ginny, Luna, and their children. The other side had Neville and Lavender's house ('Wasn't she supposed to have that third baby by now?' Ron thought), nearly-newlyweds Parvati and Anthony Goldestein, Wills Lloyd and Henrietta and their daughter, an empty house, Millicent and her daughter, Ernie and Hannah Macmillan and their son, Justin and Morag Finch-Fletchley and their daughter, and Lee and Eloise Jordan with their two daughters.

Ron frowned as he saw four four year-old children on the front steps of Ginny's house. Even at this distance, he knew who they were: the four children born at the same time by artificial insemination, all just a few weeks older than his Harry. Severus Malfoy-Bulstrode, Marcus Malfoy-Weasley (oh, how Ron loathed that name!), Lily Potter-Lovegood, and Ronald Potter-Granger.

As they came closer, Ron could see the two house elves ('No,' Ron reminded himself, 'just elves') who were minding the children. Ron wondered where the two two year olds, Hermione Potter-Weasley and Sirius Potter-Granger, were.

Harry let go of Susan's hand soon thereafter, and ran to meet the other four year olds. The children greeted each other, and Ron smiled as one of the elves let his son run into the house to use the toilet.

A few seconds after young Harry went into the house, Ginny came flying out, followed by Luna, Millicent, Parvati, and Lavender at a more sedate pace, with Neville bringing up the rear. Lavender was moving a bit painfully, and was holding an infant.

"Lavender!" Susan squealed. "No one told us!"

"She was a week late, but when she came, she came quick!" Parvati explained. "She only arrived about forty-seven hours ago!"

"Yeah," Ginny complained, "Lav went into labor in the middle of dinner, and she was out twenty minutes later! The elves are still trying to wash out the carpet."

"What's her name?" Ron asked Neville.

"We were going to call her Nymphadora, but Tonks threatened us," Neville said with a smile, "so we're calling her just plain Dora."

"Congratulation, both of you. I take it Tonks will be the godmother?"

"Tonks and Anthony," Neville confirmed. He tickled Amelia under her chin. "Your little one looks healthy."

"So she is, much more than Harry was as baby," Ron answered with relief.

Millicent came up to them. "I'm to relieve you of Amelia, Weasley. Harry and Marcus will be spending the night with Severus and me. Amelia will be staying with Parvati and Anthony."

"How did they get chosen," Ron teased a little.

Suddenly a tremendous squeal echoed through the square, and the women, who had been joined by Tonks and Hermione, all started hugging Parvati.

"Oh," Ron said, "I see."

"Yes, Parvati just learned today. Baby's due in mid-March or so."

"Who all will be at dinner?" Ron asked. "Do either of you know?"

"Hermione, Luna, Ginny, Tonks, and Remus, so far as I know," Millicent answered. "Well, we'd best get going. Have a good evening."

Neville clasped Ron on the arm. "Yes, have a good evening. Thanks for staying the night. We can talk in the morning, if you want."

Ron shrugged. "Alright. See you both tomorrow."

Ron entered #12 Grimmauld Place for the first time in over two years. He winced a little when the portrait of Harry waved at him. Ron didn't know why the portrait bothered him so much, but the first time it had spoken to him, Ron at snapped at it. The portrait contented itself with sadly waving the few times Ron had passed since. Ron forced himself to nod back.

As Ron sat in the formal dining room, he remembered back to that happy Christmas Eve, now nearly eight years in the past. The room had been nearly bursting then, of course. Any less than seven people would have seemed a bit lost in the room.

Dobby came in with the food, to receive Hermione's thanks for cooking dinner. Ron managed a wan greeting in response to Dobby's "Greetings, Mister Wheezy" -- why the elf could say 'Ginny Weasley' and not his name made no sense to Ron. He knew better than to correct the elf in front of Hermione, however.

Hermione filled them all in ROMP's latest battles and the accomplishments of her two children by Harry's stored semen, which led to everyone else doing the same. That took a great deal of time, as they were all proud parents. Ron found himself relaxing for the first time at any house on Grimmauld Place for the first time since 1996.

After dinner, the adults enjoyed strawberries and spumante. "So," Hermione asked as Ron poured his second glass of sparkling wine, "are you glad you came over tonight?"

"You know, I really am," Ron admitted.

"Would you like to be considered for one of the houses?" Hermione asked.

While Ron's Quidditch work paid all expenses, he had only just reached a really decent paying position in the Ministry. If he and Susan had their wishes, they would end up with a family at least as large as his parents'. Having a large house where they would only have to pay for the upkeep would be a tremendous help. Ron still didn't like taking charity, but with two brothers and a sister with the same living arrangements, even Ron's pride wouldn't be too hurt. He looked over at Susan.

She had obviously already anticipated the question, and looked eager to move in immediately. Ron smiled, opened his mouth, and then realized what Hermione had said. She almost never said anything other than exactly what she meant to say. "What do you mean 'considered'?"

"This is a community, Ron, a family, really. If this was just a group of people living near each other, we would have asked you years ago."

"It means more than just babysitting without complaining," Ginny said, taking over. "Think of the Place as the Burrow on a grand scale."

"Are you afraid I'll be Percy?" Percy was still semi-estranged from his family, and still aligned with the reactionary factions within the Ministry.

"In part, although you would never act like him."

"How do you feel about us, Ronald? Think back to how you felt about us in the months before Harry passed on. Do you, or can you, still feel that way about us as a group?" Luna turned to Susan. "I do of course mean you as well."

"I would love to, and I like all of you, and love most of you," Susan answered.

"Ron?" Hermione asked.

"I feel that way," Ron said slowly, "and I understand why you'd ask. But. . . . but I still miss Harry! It still hurts. It hurts that it seems that you, all of you, don't miss him as much as I do."

"Ron, Susan, you do know we love and trust you, right?" Remus asked. They nodded. "Will you promise, will you swear, that if we reveal a secret, the secret that holds us together, you will keep it even if you decide not to join us?"

Susan nodded, and Ron, looking puzzled, agreed.

"Then you should know," Hermione said slowly, "we don't miss Harry as much as you do."

"What?" Ron gasped.

"We don't," Tonks said, grinning.

"What do you mean? Harry's dead, right?"

"He is," Luna agreed. "And no, he's not a ghost, either."

"Then what do you mean? What do you know about Harry that I don't?"

"Well," Tonks said, "I know he's standing behind you."

Ron looked puzzled, then his eyes went wide and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Ron slowly turned around.

And there stood Harry Potter. Stiller than anyone Ron had ever really seen anyone.

He hadn't aged a bit.

"Harry!" Ron half stood, but stopped and stared. "Harry? Harry! you're . . . you're. . . ."

"A vampire? Yes, Ron. I am a vampire."

"Why?"

"Because yes, I was dying. I had destroyed Voldemort, in a way he never anticipated because he feared death more than failure, but it fatally injured me. Cassandra was already there -- I knew she could be trusted not to bring in the calvary too soon, and that Voldemort was unlikely to detect her in the first place."

He looked into a distance. "It was terrifying, dying. Maybe I was hallucinating, or maybe it happened, but I saw the so-called white light, and you'd never guess who I heard?"

"Sirius?"

"No, Snape."

"Snape!"

"Yes, Snape," Harry almost spat. "He really yelled at me and drove me back." Harry grinned. "I hope I didn't just imagine it. Anyway, while I was dying, and then being made and dead, Dumbledore had separated us from the rest of the rescue party, and then made certain I wasn't mutilated or embalmed when they laid me out." They all knew the horror stories of newly-made vampires who had been autopsied or embalmed. "He also had me dug up the night of the burial, so when I came out of my coma, which was Saturday night, I was able to come out without difficulty."

"So, vampires really are dead?"

Harry shrugged. "Well, that's been argued about for at least a thousand years. If my body isn't dead, it has certainly transformed. During daylight, I would pass for a corpse that's been around for a day or two. Am I totally dead? I guess not in some ways, but this body is in most ways more dead than alive."

"Harry," Susan said in a soft, trembly voice, "how . . . who. . . ."

"Who do I feed on?" Harry asked. Susan nodded.

"In the beginning, it was . . . difficult. I needed at least a liter of blood a night just to keep my sanity, and it was really more like two. Animal blood doesn't taste very good -- some worse than others. Just imagine choking down two liters of some nasty potion. Still, most of the blood I had for the first six months was animal blood. After two liters of pig or sheep's blood, Cassandra would take me out hunting Muggles some nights. I never killed any, of course, but I can't explain the difference of taste and power, taking the blood of a living person verus just drinking any blood, even donated from a person but not taken right from their body."

"How much blood do you need now?" Ron asked.

"I need a pint a night to stay sane. I drink a pint of animal blood when I revive -- that's why I don't look more dead right now than I do when I revive. I drink just half a cup of human blood later on most nights, but not every night, and then another pint of animal blood before I go back, unless I've had an active night."

"Active?"

"I work part-time for the Ministry, MLES."

"And when did you all learn about this?" Ron demanded.

"When did I learn about it?" Hermione asked rhetorically. "Two days after Harry revived. I didn't actually see Harry until Christmas break."

"We found out the same day as Hermione," Tonks said.

"And Hermione told us when we stayed here," Ginny added.

"And except for us, Dumbledore, Cassandra, the elves here, and a few people in the Ministry, no one else was informed until a year and a half afterwards," Remus said. "We wanted to tell you, but you had withdrawn. It's taken this time for you to come around."

"I was grieving!"

"And in most ways, I'm as dead as any ghost," Harry reminded Ron. "You had to work through this, and to make your life with Susan, before we could ask."

"And everyone here is one of your . . . donators?" Susan asked.

"All the adults, except Remus and Colin, of course," Harry said.

"Is that also a condition?" Ron asked.

"You wouldn't want charity, would you, Ron?"

Ron flushed.

"Trust me, Ron. I won't force you, but please consider joining us."

"And if we do, do we become vampires, too?"

"I'm only allowed to make one vampire every hundred years," Harry reminded Ron of what they had learned about vampire regulations in DADA years before. "Cassandra had to leave because of that." Harry frowned, then brightened. "Right now, I'm the only vampire allowed in Britain. Cassandra will be allowed back in 2008."

Ron looked at Susan, who nodded. Ron stood, and moved jerkily towards Harry. He tentatively reached out and touched Harry's cheek, then jerked back. Harry felt cold, clammy. In short, dead. But this was Harry.

Ron lunged and gathered Harry into an embrace and swung him around the room in joy. Finally setting Harry on his feet. "We're going to have to talk about keeping me in the dark for all this time. It wasn't all my fault."

"No, it wasn't," Harry agreed.

Ron bit his upper lip in thought, then said. "How do we do it?"

"The wrist is slower, and slightly painful; the neck faster, but very erotic," Luna called out. "The inner thigh works best in many ways -- I orgasm every time! -- but Harry won't go there with the boys."

Ron flushed and the girls giggled. Ron looked Harry in the eye. All that mattered was that this was Harry.

Ron took off his robe and his under vest and leaned over. Harry gathered Ron into his arms, and Ron suddenly realized how strong a vampire really was. Harry's lips touched Ron's neck, and Ron realized with embarrassment that he was erect.

He let out a hiss of pain, and then felt Harry slowly suck out his blood from the small cut he had made in Ron's artery. Ron orgasmed in his ecstasy.

And then he felt his magic merge with Harry's, and was aware for the first time since that awful night of a connection with a larger group -- Ron was shocked when he realized he could identify each of the adults of Grimmauld Place. Then he felt Susan entering the group -- he opened his eyes and realized he was sitting on a chair. Harry was just releasing Susan, and she had the same flush as she did after making love.

"Welcome back to the House of Potter," Harry said.

"Is it always that. . . ."

"Wonderful?" Ginny asked, standing. "Oh, yes!" She opened her collar, and moaned with passion as Harry bit into her, drawing just an ounce or so of blood. A lick of Harry's tongue made her shiver with her orgasm, while it healed the wound. Another lick cleaned her neck.

"Ginny would let Harry do that every day, if he would let her," Luna said without jealousy -- for in truth, she would like Harry to bite her every day, too.

"And he's never lost control?"

"Never," Hermione said. "He's come close a few times while we're intimate, but he's never actually bitten me then." She smiled. "Harry gives all of you orgasms, but only I give Harry his."

"If I did bite while we were making love I might really lose control," Harry admitted. "Anyway, I doubt if you want a lesson on the sex lives of vampires. You don't HAVE to offer your blood in turn, but the others do. I only take half a cup.

"Have you had enough?" Ron asked.

"Oh, yes," Harry answered. "I've fed well tonight."

"We'll be moving in, Harry," Susan said. "Which house?"

"The last one open in this row if you want it, of course," Harry said. "Number eleven is free if you want it. If you think that's too close, being right next door, you're welcome to any of the others. The one next to Seamus' is set up with more Muggle amenities, the one between Wills' and Millicent's is totally ready, and closer to purely magical. Number eleven is sort of in between."

"We'll let you know, but we'll be here," Ron said, comforted by the feeling of togetherness he had been missing since Harry's apparent death. "We're with you." Ron was complete again. He could feel that the others, especially Harry and Hermione, felt the same.