Connected Together, Protected Forever

"Connected Together, Protected Forever"

Chapter 1: Planning and Memories

A young man, named Harry Potter, is now in his room slowly packing his school trunk. He was never coming back to this room or this house, for that matter. He is checking under the loose floorboards and in the corner behind the bed for his things. He does not want to leave any evidence of the fact he ever inhabited this room. Neither does the family who lives in this house want any reminders he ever even existed, let alone lived here. This is usual. They have been trying to hide him for sixteen years, so why should they change now?

Today is his seventeenth birthday and he knows there is someone coming to pick him up and escort him to his real home, #12 Grimmauld Place, the only place besides Hogwarts, the wizarding school, he has ever called home. This is also the headquarters of The Order, a group of wizards and witches fighting against evil. You see, Harry is an extremely powerful wizard, not that he believes this. He feels that it is purely coincidence that he is The-Boy-Who-Lived, after a lifetime of constant attacks on him and his closest friends and mentors. What he does not understand is the fact that Voldemort, also known as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, could sense the powers that even a very young Harry possessed. He knew someday that power would be incredible. Almost undefeatable, some would say. Voldemort is a very powerful dark wizard. He is the leader of a group known as the Death Eaters. They have started a war against all that is right. Voldemort wants to have complete power over the wizarding world and destroy all muggles, non magic people. Voldemort believes that muggles, half blood magic people, and also wizards born from muggles are trash. Harry is a half- blood wizard. His father was from a pure blood wizard's family and his mother was born from muggle parents. He has been prophesied to either destroy Voldemort or be destroyed by him.

Today he comes of age; yesterday was his last day as an underage wizard and his nasty Aunt Petunia took advantage of this fact and had Harry doing a long list of demeaning and tedious chores. Now the abuse is all over. Harry will never have to do another thing his aunt tells him to do again. In fact, he hopes to never see them again. They were incredibly cruel and vicious through his whole life and he hated them, but he does not want anyone else to die because of him. His family is in danger because of him. He is legally allowed to perform magic any time he needs or wants. He has taken advantage of this fact early this morning, as he began to cast a complex series of spells and charms on this house and its occupants. His first spell was a complex protection spell, similar to one that protects Hogwarts from attack. His next spell was a muggle protection spell, which he cast using silent magic on each of his relatives. This spell is to protect them from others using magic on them and also alerting Harry if this occurs, so he can apparate there as soon as possible to help. They would, of course, hate to have his help, and blame him for the whole situation. Harry would blame himself as well.

The next thing that has weighed heavily on his mind since the death of his most powerful mentor, Albus Dumbledore, is the safety of his two best friends, Ron and Hermione. He has thought of little else this summer. His mind had again and again returned to how to keep them safe and protect them as well as let them live as normally as possible. Ron comes from a long line of powerful wizards. Harry already asked for them to cast as many protection spells as they could think of to keep Ron safe until Harry could arrive. Although Hermione is a powerful witch, in her own right, he still knows that because of her connection to him she is in great danger. He has asked Remus Lupin, his former teacher and present mentor, to cast protections with several of the strongest members of the order on her and her family. These people were to do this without either Ron or Hermione finding out. He knew they would be hurt if they felt he didn't trust their own abilities to protect themselves. Harry hoped he would not be confronted with them finding out. He just needed extra assurance of their safety.

Harry has also made his concern for their safety his main priority since the death of Dumbledore. How can he ensure that he will be there in their time of need? He has studied this dilemma continuously for the past two months. Professor McGonagall, his former teacher and recently appointed Headmistress of Hogwarts, and Remus Lupin have been helping Harry figure out a solution to this problem. Headmistress McGonagall was called upon to answer questions and provide materials about ancient protection charms and spells, magical transportation, and strong disillusionment charms. Harry used the summer as time to learn everything he could about these and many other spells to aid him in the future. Lupin was asked his advice on the best objects to enchant and recommendations on how to make these objects as useful as an emergency defense for the owner. Harry also called upon his favorite twins, George and Fred Weasley, to introduce him to any new defensive and offensive object they felt he might need. He asked for these to be made in triplicate, one for each of his team. Harry took this task very seriously, and dedicated his every waking and available moment to it.

Harry decided exactly what spells and enchantments he was going to use and the objects on which he would be using them. The objects were specially ordered and very specific in nature. There was to be no other jewelry of this kind or even similar ever to be made again. He chose rings he designed himself. Ron's was a platinum band, of sorts, with a rounded, three karats, burgundy, Pyrope Garnet. Hermione's was the ring he spent the most time working out. He wanted hers to be fantastic, something that each time she looked at it, she would think of Harry and how much he cared for her. He was not examining his need for this right now; in fact, he did not even acknowledge this was out of the ordinary at all. He designed hers to have both London Blue sapphires and white diamonds alternating over the top in one karat princess cut stones, three of each, set in a brilliant platinum setting. His was very similar to Ron's except that his gem stone was a round cut three karat emerald. The inside of all of these were inscribed with the words, "Connected Together, Protected Forever." Hermione's also had the inscription, "With my love, Harry."

Harry felt these rings which were completed and the enchantments, which Harry had to complete now that he was seventeen, were a turning point in their lives. They reminded Harry of a myth about three necklaces, the Triclyphs which he had heard so much of throughout his years at Hogwarts. These were not going to be a myth though; Harry was making these a reality. The first thing, early in the morning hours, Harry charmed these rings to do, was to connect these three rings together. When one of the others would whisper a name into the stone, whichever name they said would be able to converse with them directly or be able to apparate directly to the location of the person calling. The next charm he placed on these was one that had to do with the powerful disillusionment charms that Harry had been studying. When one apparated to the location of the one calling, they would be instantly under a very powerful disillusionment charm to protect their whereabouts from a possible enemy attack that might be in progress. This gave them the upper hand for a moment and a chance to react first. This charm could be dispelled by an intentional tap on the head with the persons own wand. It also apparated them about ten feet from the caller and avoided any people or obstructions in the way. The next charm was a spell to protect the wearer from anyone trying to remove the charmed ring. This would counter any severing charms or even a manual attempt to remove the finger, hand, or arm which the ring is associated. These rings were to be worn on the left hand, middle finger. Once put on they could not be removed without the permission of the other two, or in the event of the death of both of the other ring wearers which constitutes the three.

Other charms placed on these were many different kinds of shield spells and low key defense spells that will automatically be triggered if an attack, whether physical or magical, occurs. The next was an emergency beacon, if the ring senses that the user is in immediate physical distress, and is unable to contact someone. This spell calls for each of the other users by employing a light stinging sensation around the ring, not painful just noticeable. These rings also use a basic telepathic sense of communication. When one of the others whispers the name, the one who is contacted hears this voice in his or her head; this makes it safer for the one being called. They do not have to worry about anyone else hearing their name or listening to the conversation. The last of the charms to date, is a charm that allows for the three of them to feed off of the magical energy of the other to make their spells even more powerful. This also was created personally for this situation, by Harry, so that it would not drain too much strength from the other two. The bond of these rings, unbeknownst to Harry as he is creating them, is an incredibly strong connection between his ring and Hermione's ring. It is feeding off of his powers and emotions while creating all of them and has picked up on something that Harry had yet to deal with.

This problem was with his feelings toward the women in his life. He could not understand why, now that he was away from Hogwarts, his feelings for Ginny have diminished so much that he is a little disgusted by what happened between them last year. He could not understand why he had wanted to be with someone so badly that he always considered a little sister to him. It scared him, because he almost felt as if he were under some kind of spell. He researched this over the summer as well, and concluded that there was no spell that could cause those specific effects. He did find several references to love potions, but discounted this as not something that anyone he cared for would do to him. His friends knew that he needed to be at the peak of his awareness, in case of an attack, either a physical attack on the castle or a mind attack by Voldemort. It could put him in real danger to be under some potion's effects.

He also has discovered a desperate need to know where Hermione is and if she could be susceptible to an attack. He has asked Lupin to assign someone from the order to keep an eye on her. Tonks, who is an Auror as well Lupin's girlfriend, volunteered for the job, as well as a few of the newer female members of the order. They were to take shifts, and had already reported to Harry that Hermione had been followed one day and they had to dispose of her shadow. She was unaware of that follower. She is also unaware of the fact that she is being watched, or at least Harry thinks she is. Hermione is, of course, completely aware that she is being tailed and is sure that Harry instigated this protection. She is very moved that he cares so much about her, as to remove someone that should have been helping in the war, just to follow her around. She is also sensing something in the daily letters that she is receiving from Harry. He writes every day, asking about anything useful she has learned from her constant studying. At first, he was also asking when she would be going to the Burrow, because she will be extremely safe there. She feels he truly does not want her and Ron there together without him, but she cannot figure out why it matters so much to him. Hermione has been going back and forth from her home and the Burrow almost the entire summer. She has been asking Mr. & Mrs. Weasley to help her locate different information or books on certain materials.

She and Ron had to come to some kind of understanding almost from the very beginning of the summer. They were fighting constantly one minute, and then Hermione was crying for everything that had happened the previous year. She cried about all of the terrible things that had happened to Harry and how he must be feeling. She also cried for how stupid she had acted and for how she had totally ignored Harry's concerns and fears. She was not herself and she did not understand what had happened to her. She felt the need to try to figure out what had happened to her and Ron over the previous year, and what they needed to do to clear it up. Ron didn't see that he had been a total prat the entire year, and could not understand why she felt the need to discuss it. He had sworn off women after his disastrous relationship with Lavender. He knew that at least now he was over his stupid crush on Hermione. He figured out that it was not about him being with her, but it was about keeping her with himself and Harry. They were the ones that needed her. She needed to understand that he had grown up over the past year and had finally figured out that it wasn't his place to keep her from other guys, just to protect her against the foulest of them. He of course would not tell Hermione of his decision to hex anyone into next month that he did not deem worthy of her.

Hermione and Ron had discussed their relationship and how they had to do everything in their power to get along, for Harry's sake. Harry needed them united together, not constantly bickering. For Harry to access his full strength, his concentration could not be broken by some silly squabble between Ron and Hermione earlier in the day. They also both knew, without a doubt, they would not be well suited as a couple. Ron would always be jealous and feel inferior to Hermione's mind. He could not change the fact that Hermione would always be more powerful and smarter than he was. Ron was very powerful in his own right, but a large portion of his magic was instinctual and the magical skills he had learned over a lifetime of watching other perform amazing magic. Hermione knew of Ron's jealousy of her mind, and her brilliant use of her abilities. She could recall almost anything ever written and still studies as if she would be tested on it at any moment. She wanted, more than anything, to be prepared to help her Harry in his time of need. That was her goal in life, to keep Harry alive and help him find happiness, and if that meant that he would end up with Ginny, so be it. She would make that happen. She knew just how much Ginny still cared for Harry, but she had been feeling that there was something that Harry wasn't telling her about that relationship. She knew he wasn't eating the food Ginny sent to him, but she knew how Ginny cooked and couldn't blame him. He had been receiving daily food packages from Ginny, but she did not have her mother's skill in the kitchen. This surprised both Harry and Hermione considering how well she did in potions class. Ginny did not know that he wasn't eating her food, and Hermione did not feel that it was her place to say something, even if she wanted to, which she didn't.

She was also thinking about Harry almost constantly. Was he sleeping? Was he eating enough? Was he sad and lonely? Was he thinking of her? Actually, that's not really what she was wondering about. She was wondering if he was thinking of what needed to be done about the Horcruxes. Yes, that was what she is thinking. She certainly had no reason to be wondering if Harry was thinking about her as often as she was thinking of him. He plagued her dreams most of all. She had woken, in the night, screaming his name, in fear of his life. She had also woken screaming his name for other reasons. She decided it was because she had spent so much time with him over the years, and has wondered what kind of boyfriend he had been to Ginny and even to Cho. Ginny seemed to be almost obsessed with him, so Hermione assumed that Harry must have been doing something right. Yes, that was the only reason she was dreaming about him sliding off his glasses, sliding down her body, them slipping his tongue right on that one spot . . . Oh, she had to get a handle on that. Now she was doing it while she was awake. It must be the stress, yes, that's it, the stress.

What she does not know is that Harry is also dreaming of her. He also has woken, up sweating and scared that something had happened to her. He would also wake up holding onto himself, after dreaming of Hermione with her long, creamy, soft legs slowly slipping apart. He could see just a glimpse of her silky baby blue panties. His tongue licking the side of her neck, then he would see himself slip off his glasses, then slip down her body, all the while licking every spot he could reach. He would then wake up sweating for a totally different reason. He would swear he could taste her on his tongue still. It was killing him. He could not understand where these dreams were coming from. Was it just because he was a teenaged boy, with needs, or was it because he was with her all the time at school, yet missed the closeness they had once shared, because of all of the arguing they did last year.? They had an amazing bond before the last school year. It seems like that was when his life began to fall apart. Maybe this was his minds way of regaining their prior connection in Harry's mind. Yes, he is sure that is all there is to it.

He had been writing to her every day, with orders to Hedwig, his owl, not to leave until she wrote back to him. It did not matter to him how long it took her to write, he needed to hear from her to reassure himself that she was still safe and alive. He had even purchased a second cage, food bowls and owl treats for Hermione to use at her house. He was using extra Hogwarts owls to keep in constant communication with McGonagall, Lupin, the Weasley's, and different vendors in Diagon Alley. Hedwig was only for Hermione, because this was the most important of his communications.

He could acknowledge the fact that he did not think he could continue to breathe if Hermione died. She had somehow become his best friend and only confidant. Yes, Ron was also his best friend, but for different reasons entirely. His friendship with Ron was based on the experiences they had in common, the interests they shared, and the laughter they were able to draw from the other. Yet, there were still obstacles that kept them from becoming even closer. Harry knew that Ron was still jealous of him. He would never understand this. He would love to have somebody else's life, a life with parents and unconditional love. His greatest desire was to have nobody trying to kill him and those closest to him. Really, Cedric was only in close proximity to him, and look what happened to him.

Harry did not understand why anyone would choose the life of someone whose parents were killed because of him. A boy whose only living family abused him and treated him like a house elf the whole time he was growing up. Whose first year of school, after finding out how he became an orphan then had a crazy freak, with a nasty split personality problem, trying to kill him every chance he could find. He then had to watch this teacher die right in front of him when Harry touched him with his hands. That seems like it would be a real blow to the ego that one. Then during his second year of school everybody thought he was evil and scary. What gits! He is The-Boy-Who-Lived, how can they now think he is evil. How fickle can people be? Then a nasty big snake tries to take a bite out of him. That had to seriously hurt!

Year Three there was someone wanting to kill him again, big surprise there. Then he had one bright moment when the murdering maniac, who turned out to be his godfather, wanted to be a surrogate father. Yes, he needed a bath and a haircut, but at least he didn't have to go back to the creepy Dursleys'. Then that was yanked away from him. Year Four, the stupid Triwizard Tournament... Harry should have known his name would be called. How could he have thought that he would be able to enjoy the tournament from the sidelines? This, again, was a huge plot to kill Harry. Yes, it's shocking. Now onto Year Five---it'll be hard to guess--- someone wants to kill Harry. This time an old bat comes to Hogwarts to sabotage Harry and the other students, just in case Dumbledore decides to form an army of children. As completely crazy as that sounds, some idiots believed it to be true. Then Voldemort send a fake SOS to Harry via his scar. Because of this trick Harry ended up having to watch his godfather, Sirius Black, fall through a veil that basically had no exit sign. Then, to top it all off, Harry was possessed by Voldemort, who asks Dumbledore to just kill Harry to kill Voldemort. How stupid could he think Dumbledore was?

Now on to Year Six, which ended just two months earlier, with the death of Dumbledore, and it seems that everyone has gone through a brain transplant. Harry manages to fall in lust with Ginny, Ron's little sister, with no forewarning. Hermione becomes a silly teenager, and Ron starts snogging with Lavender, someone he never even seemed to notice before. Nothing seems to go right this year, Harry has stopped having the DA meetings, and these are a Defense against the Dark Arts club that meets weekly to learn how to defend themselves and others from those who wish to harm them. They call themselves Dumbledore's Army or the DA for short. Harry abandons this group in favor of private lessons with Dumbledore. Unfortunately, the only thing he learns with Dumbledore is about Tom Riddle's, also known as Voldemort's, ancestry. He learned how Voldemort became the last living descendant of Salazar Slytherin, one of Hogwarts founding members. Harry is also afraid something shifty is going on with is arch rival, Draco Malfoy. Draco's father, Lucius, is a well known Death Eater and serving time in the wizarding prison, Azkaban, for assisting in the attack on Harry the previous year at the Ministry of Magic, the wizarding government.

Hermione brushing off Harry's concerns of Draco's suspicious activities, further alienating Harry from Hermione. This is further aggravated by Ginny and Harry becoming a couple. Hermione begins to constantly argue with the couple. She usually avoids fighting with Harry at all costs, and has spent a lot of time with Ginny creating a friendship between them. It seems something unusual is happening to everyone close to Harry, as well as Harry himself. There is a new Potions Master, Horace Slughorn. He seems to be introducing some rather strange potions to his classes. One of these is the Felix Felicis potion. This causes the user to have a sense of great luck, like they could do anything and have people agree to whatever they want. Another he introduces is Amortentia, which is a very strong love potion. It gives off a powerful plume of steam that contains vapors of the potion into the nose of anyone near, and if ingested the effects are extremely heightened. Slughorn tries very hard to find his way on Harry's good side, but then turns around and completely ignores and even avoids Harry after he asks Slughorn to give him his memory of Tom Riddle during his school years. Slughorn refuses because he is afraid that he gave Riddle too much information about an item known as a Horcrux. A Horcrux can be created when a wizard performs a particularly heinous murder. At this point they can direct a part of their soul into an object, so that if someone were to try to kill them, it would be impossible because only their physical body is destroyed. This part of the soul then looks for a new body to inhabit. This is what Voldemort has done to his own soul. He wants to be immortal and this seems to be the best way to ensure this. He split his soul into seven distinct parts, placing each in a different object significant to him. These objects which are holding a piece of soul are then considered Horcruxes.

Harry was trying to help Dumbledore recover a Horcrux one night near the end of the school year when his life began to fall apart around him. He was rushing Dumbledore to Professor Snape, the new DADA teacher, previously the Potions Master. Dumbledore was dying from something that he had to drink that was protecting the Horcrux. Harry thought that Snape would be able to save Dumbledore. As they landed on the uppermost tower, Dumbledore cast a spell called Petrificus Totalus, on Harry. This causes a person to freeze right where they are. They are unable to speak or move, but they can hear and see everything around them. Not even a second after Harry was frozen he felt a burst of magic rush past him, it was heading for Dumbledore. You see, Harry was under an invisibility cloak and therefore was not seen. He then sees one of the people he despises most, Draco Malfoy, walk into his line of sight. The spell that flew past him could not be blocked, because Dumbledore used his only second of offense to immobilize Harry so that he could not join the fight.

Harry was in Hell. He was unable to help one of the most important people in his life, and a man that so many in the wizarding world believed to be the most powerful wizard alive. Harry was stopped by the very man whose life was in jeopardy. Harry began to feel despair with every word out of Draco's mouth. Draco was sent to Hogwarts to find a way to allow the Death Eaters to bypass the castle protection and gain access, and also his primary mission was to find a way to kill Dumbledore. Dumbledore seemed to be talking Draco out of this decision, and then several more Death Eaters came out on the tower and began to taunt Draco, telling him he was a coward and that Voldemort was going to kill him if he does not do what he was ordered. Draco still could not do as he was ordered. Draco still hesitated. Snape burst through the door, and Harry had never been quite so happy to see the great, greasy, git before. He felt for sure that Snape would save Dumbledore. He was wrong. Snape advanced toward Dumbledore, as Dumbledore said to Snape, "Severus, Please." At this point Snape pointed his wand a Dumbledore and yelled Avada Kedavra, the killing spell. Dumbledore flew backwards over the wall to the ground far below. Snape and Draco lead the way out of the tower with the other death eaters hot on the tail. The spell on Harry was broken, and he went surging after Snape. He chased Snape across the lawns where all those who were able, fled for the gates to apparate away.

Dumbledore was dead, and Harry knew what he needed to do. He had to finish the mission of destroying the Horcruxes. He broke up with Ginny and decided that he would never be coming back to Hogwarts as a student. He now had unfinished business to take care of. Hermione told him they would be by his side the entire way. They were the most powerful Trio once again, and knew that the future of, not only the wizarding world, but the muggle world as well, was resting on their young shoulders. Would they be up to the task or be killed leaving the world to fall to Voldemort.

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