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Chapter Nine: In Which Harry Dreams A Dark and Terrible Dream



For the very first time, Hermione Granger shared a room with Luna Lovegood. Being in different houses meant that they rarely saw one another.

Though she genuinely liked the younger girl, she very quickly saw why the other Ravenclaws picked on her so much. Luna Lovegood did not just talk in her sleep, she sometimes sang, sometimes recited poetry, and once recited almost word for word Plato's Republic in its entirety, in the original Greek. If it were not for the fact that she did so in a normal speaking voice in the middle of the night, Hermione would have been impressed with the girl's memorization skills.

Eventually, she placed a silencing charm on Luna's bed and tried to get back to sleep.

She fell quickly into a wonderful dream of Harry sliding into bed beside her. His hands roamed freely over her body as his lips nuzzled against her neck. He looked down at her and said, in Luna Lovegood's voice, "I love your hair."

Hermione's eyes snapped open. The lips nuzzling against her neck were most definitely not those of a boy, much less Harry Potter. "Luna, what are you doing?"

"I'm sleep-kissing," the girl said with her eyes closed.

Hermione lifted a foreign hand from her breast and glared. "Luna, would you please get back in your own bed?"

"Will you come with me?"

"I will not."

"How can I kiss you if we're not in the same bed?"

"You can't," Hermione said. "Save your kisses for Harry."

"But I love you too!" Luna said, still with her eyes closed. "I want to kiss all of you."

Hermione sighed tragically, and then climbed out of bed. She wasn't going to sleep anymore anyway, not with the threat of seeing her parents again after what she did. Luna sat up behind her, wrapped both arms around her stomach, and leaned her head against Hermione's back.

"Sorry," the younger girl said. "Never had friends before. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do. You don't like girl kisses, then?"

Despite herself, or possibly because of the bond, Hermione found she could not be angry with the girl. Truthfully, the nuzzling did not feel bad. But like everything else since they returned from the ministry, Luna's attentions just felt wrong somehow.

"Just trying to come to grips with my morals," she finally said.

"Morals can be useful, I suppose," Luna said with ayawn. "I've never had any, mind you, but I know many who do. But seems like they can really make people unhappy." She squeezed Hermione's stomach. "You know I love you just as much as I love Harry. You're like a sister I would have had if Mum hadn't died."

"Would you kiss your sister like you were kissing me?"

"I'll never know, will I?" Luna said. She scooted over until she sat beside Hermione. "I wonder if Susan or Daphne will like girl kisses?"

Hermione stared at her friend almost with a sense of wonder. "You really have no problem with any of this, do you?"

"Did you know that Harry was the very first boy, after four years of school, who was nice to me?" Luna's eyes looked into some unknowable distance, though her voice was soft and filled with a tone of wonderment. "There were some boyswho wanted to touch my body or make me do things for them, but they were not very nice and I said no. There was that one boy who touched me anyway. I sent the nargles after him. He didn't sleep for a week."

"You mean Michael Corner?" Hermione asked. She remembered Corner went an entire week the previous year without sleep.

Luna nodded. "But Harry was nice. He didn't make fun of me even if he didn't understand everything I was trying to say. He was nice. And he felt so delicious during those DA meetings when he would reach around and help me with my wand work."

"Yeah, that was nice," Hermione reminisced. She was better in theory than anyone else, but in Defense Harry was such a natural that he even had to help her on occasion.

"So I don't have a problem," Luna summed up. "I am getting a man who I think loves me, and three sisters. I'm sure one of them will like girl kisses, so when Harry is with one of you I will have someone else to hold and kiss too. You see, I don't like being alone. I have been alone a long time, and now that I can see I won't be alone, soon, I don't ever want to be alone again."

It made sense, in a Luna Lovegoodsort of way.

There conversation was interrupted by a loud shout in the hallway. The two of them jumped to their feet without hesitation and ran into the hall. They were stopped almost immediately by the out-stretched hand of Albus Dumbledore. A step behind him stood Professor McGonagall.

"Professor, what's..." Hermione started.

"Shhh," Dumbledore whispered. He nodded up the hall, and the two girls saw Harry Potter walking stiff-legged through the hall.

"Rowena!" he screamed again. "What have you done to my son!"

Hermione's lips formed an "O" as she looked back up at Dumbledore. "Son?"

"He is not himself," Dumbledore whispered. "We will follow to ensure he does not harm himself. Come."

The headmaster started ahead. McGonagall nodded for the two girls to follow and then brought up the rear. They followed Harry to the Ravenclaw tower. All of them watched as Harry waved a hand and the Ravenclaw portrait swung wide to admit him. This was Hermione's first time in the Ravenclaw dorms and she had to admit she was impressed. The interior was beautiful.

Still Harry strode up the stairs screaming for Rowena Ravenclaw, until he reached the uppermost room. Professor Flitwickwas on holiday, so his room was sealed up tight. Harry removed all of the diminutive professor's wards and spells with a flick of his hand and stumbled into the room. Those who cared for him followed afew steps later to find Harry standing in the center of the room, staring down at Flitwick's desk.

"What did you do to my son, you...you...whore!" he roared. Magic flared out from him, but it was not Harry's magic. If felt dark and twisted by an ancient and alien rage.

As the magical wave passed over them, Hermione blinked. Beside her, Luna gasped as a ghostly image formed in front of them. Flitwick's desk faded before the image of an old four-poster bed of heavy oak. On the bed lay the withered form of Rowena Ravenclaw, ancient and dying.

"It has been sixty years, you fool," the ghost whispered. "And you only now realize the truth? Did his ghost finally confess to you?"

"What did you do to my son?"

"I sent him after your daughter."

Harry staggered back as if struck. "Daughter?"

"Did you not realize the child was yours, Salazar? When you took your leave with me that night so many years ago, did you not think the child I bore nine months later was yours? Did you not note the common eyes your son shared with her?"

"You...you...why did you not tell me? Tell them? You let my son woo her. You let them bear a child together, brother and sister!"

"And when my daughter stole my diadem and ran away, I sent your son after her, knowing he would bring her back. But they are cursed, Salazar, by having your blood in their veins. He killed her for her foolishness, and then himself for his. Their child I have spirited away, to be raised by others better fit for such endeavors. You will never know your grandchild, Salazar Slytherin. Your name shall die with you, and it shall be cursed as a dark and twisted name for a dark and twisted wizard. I shall ensure it, for this is the very least I owe you for your affections. On my death bed, I speak to you of nothing but my hatred for you, and my curse. You shall have no peace for the rest of your days. Madness shall descend on you, and haunt you until your end. This I say to you, Salazar Slytherin!"

Harry stood trembling. Sweat poured from his back as he raised his wand. Hermione did not recognize the spell he used, but the results were horrible. The dying Rowena Ravenclaw cried out in agony as the spell ripped the flesh from her bones in a shower of cutting magic. Her body writhed as it was literally ground and cut into a bloody heap.

Suddenly the image faded. Harry fell to his knees on the flagstones of the floor, then leaned over and was thoroughly sick.

Whatever leash Dumbledore thought he had on the girls snapped as Hermione and Luna both rushed forward to Harry. McGonagall stepped forward as well. "Albus, was any of that real?"

"Oh yes," Dumbledore said with a note of awe in his voice. "Very real, and important as well. For a question has been answered that has plagued me since Harry was revealed as the heir. The magic of the heir is obvious, but Hogwarts said he carried the blood of Slytherinas well. Now I understand. Rowena's granddaughter was herself the granddaughter of Slytherin through both her parents. That girl would grow up and marry Antiochus Peverell. From her loins came the three brothers of the Deathly Hallows. We know Voldemort was descended from the son Cadmus. And we know that Harry was descended from the brother Ignotus. And now we know beyond doubt how the Peverellsare descended from Slytherin."

McGonagall nodded and looked back to Harry and the two girls comforting him. "Albus, I am not comfortable with Harry having all these bonds. It is bad enough to try and encourage amarriage between minors, but a plural marriage seems outright barbaric."

"I too feel a certain apprehension," he admitted. "When word is received of this, I have no doubt what reputation I have left will be tarnished. But I trust even you would be hard-pressed to deny the power of the bonds they have already formed."

McGonagall nodded. "And when they really are married? How will we house them?"

"They will be allowed separate quarters. In fact, I suspect Hogwarts will provide quite well for her lord."

Harry heard nothing of the adult's conversation. The taste of bile still stung his throat as Slytherin's dark magic hummed in his veins and his wand. He could still clearly see the look on Ravenclaw's face as she pronounced her curse. He could feel the hatred pouring from her eyes at him. Suddenly all the other facts became clear, including the great tragedy.

A wash of cold air made him look up. He felt hands on his back and heard both Luna and Hermione gasp as the Bloody Baron floated into the room. Moments later he was joined by the Grey Lady. Harry leaned back on his heels and stared at both of them with tears in his eyes.

"I'm so sorry," he said. He did not bother to hide the tremor in his voice.

The Bloody Baron, whose name while alive was Saladin Salazar, knelt in his ghostly form before Harry. "In you flows my blood."

The Grey Lady joined him, beautiful even in death. "As well as mine."

Harry looked at each of them. Like Godricand Helga, he knew these two were in essence his grandparents with many greats added. "You should not have suffered like you did," he said. "They should have loved you more!"

"The past is the past," the Baron said. He looked at the Grey Lady. "For a brief time, we knew love so powerful it burned us. Even now, after all these centuries, knowing that our love was forbidden for more reasons than even we knew, I cannot regret it. My only regret is that I let that love blind my senses and lead me to murder."

"I could never have gone back to her," the Grey Lady said to the Baron. "When she told me of you and our relationship, I could not return. The fact she never told you just proved her cruelty in the end. Her hatred for what our father did to her killed us, my love, just as surely as your blade."

The two of them turned to Harry, Hermione and Luna. In one voice, the Bloody Baron and Gray Lady said: "We bless thee, Harry Potter, last scion of our houses. We bless those you love, and all those who shall forever come after you. May your love shine as bright as ours, and much, much longer!"

The two ghosts faded from sight. Harry discovered he had been holding his breath and released it. Suddenly the Grey Lady returned, hovering an inch from him. "Seek my mother's diadem," she whispered. "Just as the other heir of my father sought it years ago. You shall find it in the heart of the castle."

She disappeared again.

Harry remained where he was on his knees, with Luna and Hermione on either side, as the morning sun broke through a bank of clouds and sent rose-colored light through the stained glass effigy of Rowena Ravenclaw.

"We're going to have to re-write Hogwarts: A History," Hermione said.

--

--

That afternoon found Harry and Hermione pacing nervously in an unused classroom on the first floor of the castle just inside the gates.

Luna watched them pace while enjoying a cup of pudding. Beside her, XenophiliusLovegood busied himself by looking over several future articles for the Quibbler. Neither of them seemed particularly concerned.

Hermione and Harry, however, continued their nervous pacing.

"Mr. Potter! Miss Granger!" McGonagall finally said, "you are going to wear down the flagstones. Just please sit down."

"Easy for you to say," Harry muttered. "I'm about the meet the parents of four girls I'm going to marry. Four sets of future in-laws. Do you have any idea what that's going to be like?"

"At least you didn't obliviatethem, give them false memories and exile them from their home," Hermione said. She looked like she was on the verge of tears herself.

Harry stopped his pacing and stared at her. "Oh."

Minerva McGonagall was a pragmatic woman. Over the years she had seen many things, including arranged marriages among the very young. She once had a pair of fourth years that were legally married and, by right of their contracts, required to both consummate the marriage and sleep together. She still remembered comforting the poor girl the next morning while her fourteen-year-old husband looked on in obvious discomfort.

But never had she encountered a situation like this. Harry had every reason to be nervous. But what struck her was the way he stopped and lost all sense of his own impending meeting when Hermione confessed her own fear.

The old professor watched as Harry moved across the floor, stopped Hermione's pacing by taking her shoulders, and pulled her into a long comforting hug.

The gesture made her think that perhaps there was some hope for Harry after all.

The Grangers chose that moment to step through the door, and they did not look happy.

Hermione froze in Harry's arms as she caught sight of them. She took a few steps toward them and then stopped. "Mum, Dad."

"Are we?" Saint John Granger said with a thunderous expression. "Are we your parents? I can't remember exactly myself."

Hermione bent over, as if he had struck her in the stomach.

Harry rushed to her and glared at his future father in law. "Better to have a hazy memory than be dead!" he growled.

"And you must be the inestimable Harry Potter," Mr. Granger said. His voice rose with each word. "For years and years we heard all about the great Harry Potter. Harry did this, Harry did that. Harry took our sixteen year old daughter on a trip that damn near got her killed!"

"Harry didn't take me!" Hermione said. "He wanted to leave me behind and get himself killed just like always!"

"And just like always she wouldn't let me," Harry said. "Because she is the bravest person I've ever known. Can you imagine what it took for her to wipe your memories and send you away? Can you imagine how much it hurt her to know that if she didn't, you would both be killed? Have you seen your house since you got back?"

"What about our house?" Mrs. Granger asked.

"Burned," Hermione said. She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand. "The Death Eaters came to kill us all, just like I thought. We weren't there, so they burned the house. We were the lucky ones. They killed Harry's guardians and tortured his aunt for an hour before she died."

The righteous fury dropped from St. John's face as he stared first as Hermione, then Harry. "Killed?"

Dumbledore chose that moment to enter. The door closed behind him. "Mr. and Mrs. Granger, now that your memories have been restored, there are some things you should be made aware of."

"We're at war," Hermione said. "At the end of our Forth Year, a Dark Wizard everyone thought was dead kidnapped Harry and a classmate named Cedric Diggory and performed the darkest magic to restore himself to a new body. They killed Cedric, but Harry managed to get away. Last year, when Harry and Professor Dumbledore tried to convince the wizardingworld that Voldemort was back, the Ministry attacked Harry and even tried to arrest the headmaster. They sent this horrible woman to run the school and she tortured Harry and almost used an Unforgivable on him. At the end of the year, Harry had a vision that Voldemortwas going to kill his godfather at the Ministry of Magic. He was going to go by himself, but none of his friends would allow him to, so in the end six of us went."

"It was a trap," Harry admitted. "Voldemort sent afalse vision. We were able to hold them off long enough for help to come, but my Godfather died. Then the night I got home after term, they attacked my home."

"The night you..." Calliope looked at her daughter. "Your dream. That's when you..."

"I felt everything he felt, mother," Hermione said with misty eyes. "I saw what they did to his family and the pain of the curses they had him under. We've...we've bonded. I knew that Voldemortand his Death Eaters would come after me next because everyone knows Harry and I are close. I was right."

"She saved your life, Mr. Granger," Harry said. "She made a hard decision no one should ever have to make, and chose to be alone so that you and your wife would live. She's the bravest, strongest witch I've ever met. And I love her."

"This is too much," Mrs. Granger said. She sought a chair to sit on and barely blinked an eye when Dumbledore transfigured a chair for her.

On the headmaster's unspoken order, a pair of elves appeared with a full tea service. They disappeared quickly. Calliope Granger took a cup with one unsteady hand. "Thank you."

"Of course, Madam," Dumbledore said.

"That's why you brought us here?" Saint John Granger said. "To tell us these things?"

"Er..." Hermione blushed and looked down at her feet. "Actually, that was the easy part."

Beside her, Harry flushed a brilliant beet red.

"It appears Harry needs to get married," Dumbledore said for the two teens. "We've asked you here for you to consent to a traditional wizarding marriage contract between your daughter and Harry."

"What?" Mr. Granger staggered.

"Oh, it gets better!" Luna said happily from her corner.

"Or worse," Hermione muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mrs. Granger said. She sounded a bit shrill now.

"It appears Mr. Potter needs to get married multiple times. Four is our current estimate."

"Four weddings?" Now Mr. Granger sounded hopeful.

"Four brides," Dumbledore corrected him.

Finally Mr. Granger sat on a quickly transfigured chair. "You people are bloody insane."

"Why, yes we are, thank you," Luna said with natural cheer.

"Let me guess, she's one of the brides?" Saint John said.

"She is. Two more will be here within the hour."

Saint John looked at his wife and shook his head. "Hermione, I love you so much, but I'm beginning to realize sending you to this blasted school wasthe worse decision we ever made. In the course of just a few days our own daughter steals our memories, ships us off to the other side of the world, then has her teachers magic us back so she can tell us she wants to enter into some barbaric polygamist union with a boy nearly a year younger than she is."

"That about sums it up," Dumbledore nodded sagely.

"He forgot the part about his daughter saving his and Mrs. Granger's lives," Harry said a little coldly.

"You!" Saint John said as he shot to his feet. "You don't get a say in this! Hermione is my daughter! She is my responsibility. And I'm not going to let her get sucked into some wild teenage ploy."

"She is to be Lady Gryffindor of the House of Gryffindor,"Harry said. "By charter granted by King Aethelstan and later confirmed by King Henry IV, her first-born son will be Lord Earl Gryffindor and one of the richest men in the wizarding world."

"You...are...sixteen...bloody...years...old!" S aintJohn roared. "Why do you think you need to do this now?"

"Because I probably won't live to see eighteen," Harry said calmly.

Granger fell completely still.

"For reasons beyond his power," Dumbledore said into the silence, "Harry is essentially our only hope against Lord Voldemort. But he is also the sole surviving Heir of the four most important wizarding families in England, and perchance the world. The magic within him, and the magic of this school, is compelling him to continue the family lines. He and his potential brides have all formed deep emotional bonds with each other through their magic, a process not even I can fully appreciate or understand. Simply put, they are all madly in love with each other. And it is happening now, Mr. Granger, in the event Harry is unsuccessful in his war with Voldemort."

The man stared first at Dumbledore, then Harry, and finally at Hermione. "You are all insane," he finally said. "Come on, Hermione, we're leaving."

"No, Dad, we're not."

He stopped as if struck and turned to stare at her. "You are my daughter!" he roared. "You are coming with me right now!"

"No, Dad, I'm not," Hermione said again. "I am your daughter, but I am also a witch. I don't belong in your world, not any more. And like it or not, I am bonded with Harry."

She left Harry's side to stand before her father. "Daddy, I never told you what was really happening because you would never understand. I'm not like you or mom. I never will be. Magic isn't just some trick I do, it is who Iam." She turned her wand on her own dress and transfigured it into a long, flowing white gown.

Because of the under-age restrictions, this was the first time the Grangers truly saw what Hermione could do. Mr. Granger stepped back a little, gaping.

"And you should know that Harry..." She looked back at where he stood, ready to lend support. She turned back to her father, and her mother who now stood right behind and to the side of him. "Harry is part of who I am as well. He saved my life from a troll during my first year. Didn't hesitate. He's always accepted me for who I am, and...even without this blasted bond, I think I would love him regardless. We're just speeding up the process a little."

"But you're only sixteen," Calliope said. She was weeping.

"In September, I'll reach my majority age by wizarding law," she told them. "We're just not sure we should wait that long."

"But if you're right and something happens..."

"She will never want for anything," Harry said with certainty.

"Arrangements will be made to ensure Miss Granger and the others are safely evacuated from the country should the worst fall. Sadly, if such should happen I have no doubt I will fall with Harry, but we have many friends both here and abroad and they will be well-cared for."

"Mother, Dad, Iknow it's hard to believe this. But for the wizarding world, this is a war. And like it or not, I'm right in the middle of it. The Minister of Magic has already released me from the restrictions for under age use. Even she recognized that we are the next soldiers. Please don't make this any harder than it has to be."

Saint John looked up from his daughter's face to Dumbledore and the rest. Finally, his eyes landed on Harry. He stepped around Hermione until he towered over the shorter boy. "Why Hermione?"

"She was the first person in my life to hug me," Harry said simply, with a shrug. "She nagged me to do my homework. During the hardest times in my life, she was there to support me and help me, and sometimes lead me. She is the smartest, bravest person I have ever met. She is beautiful, and Ilove her."

He pointed to Luna. "And her?"

"After I lost my godfather in the Department of Mysteries, she came to comfort me. She didn't try to tell me what to think, she simply listened. I've never known anyone so brilliantly imaginative as her, and in the fight she was one of the few to come through without injuries. She loves completely, without hesitation. She is beautiful, and I love her."

"I bet you'd say that about all your girls."

"I haven't even spoken to one," Harry admitted. "I'm almost sick to my stomach with it. Imagine how you felt meeting Mrs. Granger's parents the first time, then multiply that by four and then add in the fact that some of those parents could hex me, and you might start to guess how this feels for me. But I'll do it, sir, because I love Hermione."

Saint John turned to Xenophilius. "You're daughter is in on this. Why don't you object?"

The older, slightly unhinged wizard blinked. "Object to my daughter marrying Lord Ravenclaw? What, man, do you think I'm insane?"

"I thought you said he was..." Callliopesaid.

"Harry is the embodiment of the Four Founders. Each woman he marries will be marrying asingle aspect of his status," Dumbledore explained. "Even under wizardinglaw, plural marriages are not generally allowed except for the rare purposes of continuing fading bloodlines. Miss Lovegood shall marry Harry Potter, Lord Ravenclaw. Your daughter will marry Harry Potter, Lord Gryffindor."

Albus looked up and smiled. "And it appears that Lady Hufflepuff has just arrived. Amelia, please bring Susan and her parents in. Mr. and Mrs. Granger, I'd like to introduce you to Amelia Bones, Minister of Magic. This is her niece, Susan Bones, and her parents, Stella and Albertus Bones."

"Call me Albert, please," Susan's father said. He reached out a hand and Saint John found himself taking it. "So, a muggle, eh? You should know your daughter is somewhat famous in the wizarding world. She's been called the brightest witch of her age."

"Er, thank you," Granger said.

Susan stepped away from her family toward Harry and Hermione. She looked for the longest time at Hermione, then at Harry. Her face flushed red. "Hi," she said. "Thank you. For saving my life."

"He does that," Hermione said. Then, acting on an impulse she knew was right, Hermione stepped forward and wrapped the taller girl in a hug.

Susan returned the hug, and before either knew it Luna was there, and they were all crying. Harry blushed and turned around to wipe his eyes.

"Hmm," Albert said. "Looks like Susan isn't the only one, then."

"You mean you're okay with this whole mess?" Saint John asked.

"What, about the marriage contracts?" He shrugged. "She's going marry someone someday anyway. He saved her life a few days ago. Saved her aunt too. Faced the Dark Lord himself without batting an eye. I may not be thrilled with her being just one of four wives, but if I have to have a son in law, I couldn't think of a better one than Harry."

Saint John turned to Amelia. "And you, you're the Minister. You're okay with it too?"

"I am," she said clearly. "So long as my niece is. And as you can see, Mr. Granger, Susan does not appear to have an issue with the other girls."

Dumbldore stood up and cleared his throat. "And it appears the last participant has arrived. Welcome, Mr. Greengrass."

Harry gulped so loudly everyone could hear it.