Disclaimer: I own none of this. I’m making no money from anything on this page. Any similarities in this story to other authors’ stories are purely coincidental unless otherwise stated. These characters belong to JK Rowling; I’m just playing with them.

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…

So take while you can so you can meet demands

My insanity is what you thrive on

So rip it from my soul, so everyone will know in the end

We were never friends

Have you ever felt lost inside?

So unloved within that you almost die

Have you ever stepped out of the light and realized

There’s a stranger inside

Don't push your ignorance on me

I'm not unrehearsed to your jealousy

And I know you think I don't see the signs

Well how do you know, do I look blind

So take it while you can so you can meet demands

My breakdown is what you thrive on

So rip it from my soul so everyone will know in the end

I'm the break you're the bend

…

Stranger Inside.

 Harry looked around and saw nothing but darkness, a vast, empty space.

“Kill her, Harry,” A mysterious voice commanded. The voice confused Harry, he had just searched the space, and there was nothing. There was no girl to kill.

“No,” No Harry responded his confusion disappearing, and his defenses bubbling to the surface.

“You must kill, Harry, it is your destiny. You have no choice, you will kill her,” the voice sounded almost warm and kind.

Harry looked at his feet, and saw a bound and gagged Hermione, her eyes open to reveal the pure terror she felt. Panic tore at him; he had never seen her so terrified in all of his life. He had promised himself, hadn’t he? He would never let anything happen to her again. “No, don’t make me do it,” he pleaded with the voice. “I can’t, not her.”

“It doesn’t work that way, Harry. Did you think I forced you to go and get Sirius and Dumbledore killed? It will happen one way or another, Harry. Would you rather it be somebody else, who will torture her, or you, quick and painless.”

“I won’t do it, you bastard!” Harry yelled, searching the space above him for the source of the voice. Harry dropped to his knees, hurriedly untied Hermione, and helped her to her feet.

“You leave me no choice, Harry. If you won’t, I most definitely will,”

“NO! Leave her alone… please”

“Come, come Hermione. Face your death with pride. It is an honor to die at the hand of Harry Potter.

“NO! NO! RUN!” Harry yelled urging Hermione forward.

She was just feet in front of him when he heard the voice bellowed “AVADA KEDAVRA!” Harry saw the green bolt pass over his right shoulder and hit Hermione square in the back. He watched as she crumpled, her momentum carrying her forward, skidding and tumbling for another ten feet before slowing to a lifeless heap.

“HERMIONE!” Harry shouted as he awoke with a start. He found that Hermione was extremely close to him. She had a firm grip on his hand and a cool hand on his clammy forehead. Even without his glasses, her face was close enough for him to see her eyes were full of fear.

Harry let out a shaky breath of relief, “Oh, thank Merlin,” Harry muttered collapsing back onto the bed, just before Hermione launched herself on top of him in a bone-crushing hug. Harry reveled in the sweet vanilla and brown sugar scent of her hair. For the first time in a long time, he felt immediately calmed after a nightmare. All too soon for Harry, Hermione pulled away and placed his glasses on his face.

“Oh, Harry, what happened? I’ve never heard you sound like that before,” Hermione said shakily.

 ‘You think you were scared, at least you didn’t see your best friend murdered,’ Harry thought.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Hermione asked cautiously.

“Do I ever?”

“No, I suppose you don’t,” Hermione said. Harry noticed she was biting her lip and avoiding eye contact with Harry. Two telltale signs she had something to say that he probably wouldn’t like.

“What is it?” he asked.

“It’s nothing,” she said at first. “You were talking in your sleep. You kept saying no, don’t make me, I can’t, not her, I won’t, leave her alone, RUN, and then you screamed my name as you were waking up. Please tell me what happened.”

Harry ran a hand through his hair, “You were murdered. I don’t know by who, it was just a voice saying you were going to be killed because of me. We couldn’t run fast enough. And, well, you could figure it out from there.” Harry then shocked himself by pulling Hermione back down into the hug. He found himself pleasantly surprised when Hermione did nothing but settled in closer with her head tucked in on his chest under his chin.

“Well, Harry,” Hermione said a bit more upbeat, “I have some not-so-bad news. When you were dreaming, your scar was extremely hot to the touch. So had you been awake I’m sure that it would have been hurting. So it isn’t really your mind causing you to have nightmares, it’s just Voldemort again.”

“Well, that’s good news,” Harry said, deadpanned.

“Just a bit better than learning you may be turning into the next Dark Lord. Wouldn’t you say?” Hermione asked, snuggling closer to Harry without realizing it. “Besides, you said you were much more powerful now, so putting occlumency to practice shouldn’t be an issue. I’ve read up on the right way to learn occlumency while I‘ve been here, it will be easy enough for you to learn.”

“Sounds good,” Harry replied. A silence fell upon them that was not awkward in the least. “Hermione, are you comfortable with this?” Harry asked suddenly.

“With what exactly?” Hermione responded distantly.

“With how we are right now. Being close and not having to talk.”

“Yeah,” she sounded a little confused.

“Good.” Harry smiled to himself; maybe the potential for his feelings for Hermione wasn’t all in his head after all. “I don’t think I could do this with Ginny. We didn’t do so well with silence. I could be like this for--”

“Harry?” Hermione interrupted.

“Yeah?”

“Shut up,” she said dryly.

“Alright,” Harry had a smile on his face as he slowly drifted to sleep.

Harry could feel the warm body pressed up against him as he groggily straightened his glasses with the hand of the arm that was tucked under his pillow. When he found them, he couldn’t fight of a yawn and he stretched, arching his back, pressing into the body spooned up against him. Harry froze as he heard the person moan softly. ‘Hermione!’ his mind shouted at him.

“Oh Merlin,” he whispered, “I’m in way over my head.” He slowly pulled his other arm from around Hermione’s waist and rolled away from her.

“Harry? Is something wrong?” Hermione asked only half awake, before rolling herself over.

“No” Harry responded quietly. “Everything’s fine.”

“How long have we been asleep?” She asked following a yawn.

“Not very long, it’s only noon,” They both fell silent, lost in their own thoughts.

“It’s been before we got back from Hogwarts since I’ve slept that well. I hope you aren‘t upset,” Harry said after a considerable silence.

“Of course I’m not upset. I haven’t slept well in ages either, long before that night,” Hermione said.

“I need to tell you something, Harry. It’s been making me feel horribly guilty,” She said softly, pulling his arm back around her and hugging it tightly to her chest. “Deep down, I think I knew that Ron and I would never work that day he was poisoned. I was terrified when I heard what happened, but when I found out he was going to be alright, it didn’t have near the effect on me as it should have. I love him, you know I love him, but it was only as a good friend surviving some freak situation,” Hermione said sadly. “With you, I would nearly lose my mind if you went into a fast dive during Quidditch. I’m terrified for you whenever something remotely dangerous is happening.

“Things have been a little tense around here lately, too. With Ron and me fighting, and all. But now Ginny is angry with me. We had a fight yesterday about you, it wasn’t pretty, I kinda let loose.”

“Why were you fighting about me?” Harry asked.

“She seemed to think she was the most important person in your life, and I… disagreed,” Hermione stated simply. “She wasn’t very happy about that, and now you’re not talking to her. She’s having a rough summer.” Hermione paused and gave a resigned sigh, “I think we should head downstairs and see if things have calmed down. Ron might be in a better mood, it is lunchtime after all.”

From their walk to the kitchen, it became apparent that the rest of the house was deserted.

 

“There you are, Harry, Hermione. We couldn’t find you all this morning,” Mrs. Weasley told her while setting plates in front of them.

“I was in Harry’s room, looking through the personal library. Surely you thought to look there?” Hermione asked, confusedly.

“We did, but the door was locked and we couldn’t hear anything inside. Mum couldn’t even open the door with an unlocking spell,” Ginny announced rather spitefully, whereas Ron maintained a stubborn silence.

“We haven’t done any magic this morning. Harry went to sleep, just like you asked, Mrs. Weasley. And I read a little before dozing off myself, it was a long night, after all.”

Everyone started as a nervous elf popped into view. “Dobby is sorry, Mrs. Wheezy. It was Dobby’s fault that Master Harry’s room was sealed,” Dobby spoke rapidly. “Dobby sees that Master Harry and his Miss were sleeping together and Dobby didn’t think theys should be bothered.

Harry’s eyes immediately shot to Hermione’s as Dobby misspoke. Both knew that this scene would become ugly.

“WHAT!” Mrs. Weasley shouted as Ron sprayed his sister with the pumpkin juice he had been attempting to drink. “SLEEPING TOGETHER?”

“No, Mrs. Weasley, it’s not what you think.”

“I WILL NOT TOLERATE SUCH BEHAVIOR UNDER MY ROOF!”

“YOU SLUT!” shouted a dripping wet Ginny, followed quickly by Ron’s “NOT PHYSICAL, MY ARSE!”

“THIS IS NOT YOUR HOUSE! IT WILL NEVER BE YOUR HOUSE!” Harry shouted, rage immediately consuming his features. “SUCH BEHAVIOR HAS NOT TAKEN PLACE AND I WILL NOT STAND AROUND AND LISTEN TO YOU INSULT HERMIONE!”

The fallout of Harry yelling at Mrs. Weasley was instantaneously apparent. Everyone stood completely still, and Mrs. Weasley rage was matched only by her two present children.

Harry continued in a quieter, but by no means calmer, voice. “Dobby simply misspoke. We were both asleep at the same time, not sleeping together. This is my house, left to me by Sirius. It will never be your house. If what you were suggesting was to happen in this house the only authority you would have would be over your own children. Not myself or Hermione.”

Harry turned quickly toward Ron and Ginny, “If you two have anything at all to say to Hermione, I suggest you do it now, otherwise you will have to deal with me,” He observed them in their silence. There was a noticeable energy surrounding Harry that none in the room wanted to confront. “Well? Is there nothing you can think of? Fine, this is finished, here and now.”

“Come on, Harry,” Hermione pulled him toward the door, “I want you to meet my parents.”

“I didn’t know your parents were here,” Harry said in a light, conversational tone, quite the opposite of how he had just addressed the Weasleys.

The fireplace at the end of the kitchen burst into life, effectively delaying Harry’s introduction.

Hestia Jones’ face floated in the green flames. “Molly,” she said breathlessly, “the Grangers’ place was finally attacked. Several Aurors arrived as soon as they could when the wards were tripped. There were only two new recruits there when the Aurors arrived. The entire Ministry has been put on high alert, they reckon it was just a distraction, so tonight’s meeting’s been cancelled.”

“Thank you, Hestia. I’ll let everyone else know,” Molly replied, while hurriedly putting away remains of the lunch before bustling out of the room, pushing her way through the twins who had just entered the kitchen.

“Merlin, Mother. What do we look like, ghosts?” Fred said loudly.

“She’s gone barking mad, I tell you,” George told Harry.

The twins took the seats on either side of Harry and Hermione. Fred leaned in close to Harry to make sure Ron and Ginny who were bringing their dishes to the sink to be washed didn’t over hear him. “Everyone is supposed to go to Diagon Alley today. You lot have to be fitted for dress robes. When we get to there, we’ve got some things that may interest you in our shop,” Fred whispered.

“Yeah, we’ve been doing some special research for you,” George continued at a much more natural volume as Ron and Ginny had disappeared out of the kitchen. “I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”

Mrs. Weasley came bustling back in with her handbag under her arm, “Are you lot ready to go?”

“We’re still going even though the Ministry thinks the break-in was a distraction for a larger attack?” Hermione asked incredulously.

“We’ve had this Auror detail scheduled for nearly two months; we haven’t the time to request another. Now let’s go. It’s more comfortable to floo from the main fireplace,” Mrs. Weasley said, leading the group out of the kitchen.

“I’ll take you to get something to eat in Diagon Alley, since we didn’t get anything here. It’s on me,” Harry whispered to Hermione. “Are your parents coming with, Hermione?” He asked at a conversational volume.

“No, I don’t think they should. They’ll probably have had their fill of magic today when they hear about the attack on the house.

Harry was the last of the group to come through the floo to the Leaky Cauldron. He surprised himself by not falling, headfirst, out of the floo. He opened his eyes once he stopped spinning, to find himself standing on the inside of the fireplace.

The twins quickly made excuses to get Harry and Hermione away from the rest of the group as they headed toward the robes shop. George ushered them into Weasley Wizarding Wheezes then flipped the open sign to CLOSED.

“Verity,” Fred said to the blonde girl behind the counter, “we have some private business to attend to. So, if you don‘t mind, take an extra long lunch,” The young witch nodded before heading back to the staff room. “You two,” Fred pointed, “follow us.” The twins led Harry and Hermione into a room neither of them had been during their previous visit to WWW. Inside the extensive, magically enlarged room were, what Harry assumed to be, all the tools of the Weasley twins’ pranking machine. They were led to the far wall where a small wardrobe stood.

“Harry, we know that you don’t like all the attention that comes with your fame,” Fred began.

George continued on Fred’s train of thought, “So, we originally had this idea to help with avoiding your celebrity image. But, after we heard how you went through Knockturn Alley last summer, we realized the potential of our idea and set to work on it straight away.”

“At the very least, neither of you will have to claim to be Draco’s girlfriend ever again. Sorry Harry, but at least you can still dream about it.”

“Now,” George said opening the doors of the wardrobe, revealing the two finest sets of robes Harry had ever seen. Each of them were black with a sheen, which had Harry guessing that the robes were silk. “The original plan was a cloak that would impede on someone’s ability to identify you. But these beautiful babies here, well these are just so much more interesting.”

“It took us quite a bit to get these how we wanted. They were the most difficult magic we’ve done to date,” Fred informed them. “These are the pride of Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes.” Fred could see the impatient look on Harry’s face and quickly remove the robes from the wardrobe.

“There are charms on these robes to help you to go unnoticed and also assist with stealth. You could disappear entirely in the right situation,” George waved his wand and conjured a mannequin inside one set of robes. “First off, the hood. Wearing the hood up activates a partial Disguising Charm. From here up,” Fred said, indicating with a finger, to a point between his nose and mouth, “will be cast into shadow, but your eyes will show. It’s very intimidating.”

“Especially intimidating for you, Harry,” Hermione said, “your emotions always show tenfold in your eyes.”

“You, too, Hermione. There’s nothing like an enraged female,” Fred shuttered from his own experiences. “Back to the robes. There are distraction and stealth charms that activate in the appropriate situation. Also, when you’re out after dark or in the shadows, the only thing superior to these is an invisibility cloak. You will all but disappear even while moving; it’s similar to being disillusioned.” To say Harry was impressed would be a grand understatement.

“These are bloody fantastic. I didn’t know you could do these sorts of things to a set of robes. We could get these made for the entire DA.”

Hermione turned sharply toward Harry. Looking confused, she whispered, “You’re starting the DA again? I thought you said we weren’t going back.”

 

“I don’t intend on going back, I thought maybe we could hand reigns over to the next most competent member. The students need to be prepared, right?”

“Absolutely, but I just never thought the DA would be something that you would try to start up again, even from the outside. I always thought Neville and Luna would,” her counter was a valid one. Neville and Luna were the most affected by the DA.

“Sorry to rain on your parade,” George interrupted, “but, there is one… issue with these. Now, we don’t fully understand why this particular problem is there, but we do know that neither one of you will be affected by it.”

Fred elaborated on George’s statement, “It seems the combination of spells used has caused the robes to have trouble responding to only average-powered witches and wizards. So you can’t equip all of the DA with these. We,” Fred indicated his twin and himself, “aren’t even powerful enough to use them.”

“Surely that can’t be the case, I mean you made them. You used the magic that created them, you should be powerful enough to make it work. That’s basic Arithmancy.”

“You think we don’t know that?” Fred asked. “As much as we can figure, the use of the magic is basic application, which we were powerful enough to do. But, it seems that the spells we used have never been used together in quite this way. The robes seem to be able to sense the raw magical ability of someone,” Fred paused to let this information sink into Hermione’s brain. “That’s the most we can figure. We know all this because, even though we can’t use them, Verity could. She’s tiny, but she packs quite a wallop, magically speaking. Now she says that there was no detectable energy drain, so I think this is a brain buster for Hermione to figure out.”

“Go ahead, try them on,” George said excitedly.

“I don’t think I’m powerful enough to make them work,” Hermione said quietly to Harry.

“Oh bollocks, Hermione. You’re plenty powerful enough for these,” Harry told her vehemently.

Hermione watched has he pulled on his robes and lifted the hood. Instantly the upper portion of his face disappeared. She regarded him for a moment before he opened his eyes. He opened his eyes to see Hermione flush as he watched her. He couldn’t discern exactly why she had blushed, he was only looking at her the way he normally did. What he found in her eyes nearly made him blush as well. She was watching him with an intensity he had never seen from her.

“Whoa, Earth to Hermione,” one of the twins called, he watched her start, breaking their connection. “I thought we lost you there for a moment.”

“Err, yes, well. I, uh, was just thinking how Harry looks like… like Batman,” she stuttered and Harry smiled.

“How could somebody be half bat?” the twins looked confusedly at one another.

“It’s a muggle thing, guys,” Harry explained, never taking his eyes off Hermione’s own. “Go ahead, Hermione, put yours on.” As she did, he took a moment to observe what he felt in the robes. He recognized the magic working around him the way the twins had described, and just as Verity had claimed, he couldn’t feel the magic draining him of energy.

Hermione finished slipping the robes on by pulling up her hood, immediately casting most her face into shadow. “Wow,” she said, “I’ve never really felt magic before. The effects, sure, but never the magic itself. It’s such an odd sensation.”

“See,” Harry said proudly, “you’re plenty powerful to work these.”

“We’ve got a few more ideas in the works, but that’ll have to wait until next time. You’ve got to get back before Mum has a stroke,” George said, taking them to the door. “We’ve got our dress robes already so we’re staying here.

Back out on Diagon Alley, Hermione spotted Ron and Ginny step out of Madam Malkin’s. She raised her arm to wave them over automatically, but Harry reached out and pulled her arm down. “Don’t,” he told her. He quickly flipped his hood up. “Let’s see how well the robes work. Remember, think about not being seen.”

 Without a second thought, Harry pulled Hermione to him so her back was tight against his front. He leaned them into the shadows and against the brick wall of the shop a few doors down from Fred and George‘s.

The sudden grip on his hand brought his attention to Hermione as Ron and Ginny grew nearer. “You don’t have to be nervous,” he whispered into her ear.

“But, what if they see us, Harry, like this? They‘ll be furious. You saw how they reacted earlier, it‘ll be so much worse if they see us this close.” Her eyes shone with her nervousness from under her hood. Harry specifically noted that she never once objected to their current position.

“They won’t,” with a smile, his reply was simple and decidedly firm. “Trust me.”

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A/N: Inspiration: Shinedown’s Stranger Inside. Seriously, go check it out.