Author's Note:

Chapter 13! I hope you have fun reading this. Every review gets me to write more, so feel free to type in any criticism or praise that is in your mind!

Hermione was hurt. Her arm was aching all through the night, but her spiralling emotions were far more painful than the actual physical pain. How had everything gone so bad so quickly? She had tried reasoning with her father until deep into the night, but she wasn't able to get through the protective instincts of Dan at all. Her mother wasn't helping either, sitting silently beside them arguing, only suggesting that they should head to bed when they had been arguing for hours.

At least the ministry wasn't suspecting anything, or at least that was the impression Hermione got from the Aurors that had questioned them. Even Dan had stuck to their prepared story, and they were able to completely hide the fact that Hermione had forcefully received the Dark Mark.

With a sigh Hermione left her bed early in the morning, absently rubbing her forearm. The mark had faded a lot over the night, most likely because of Voldemort's currently weak form, but still it was hurting quite a lot. She showered and got dressed mechanically, entering the kitchen like in some sort of haze.

"Hermione?" her mother's voice nearly made her jump in surprise. She hadn't even seen her sitting at the kitchen table.

"Mom," she answered, taking a seat next to her mother. It didn't take more than three seconds for Hermione to start crying again, even though she thought she had exhausted her tears all through the night.

"Oh dear," her mother quickly enveloped her into a hug, slowly stroking her hair.

"Mom…" Hermione began speaking as her sobs slowly receded, "The Wizarding World will be at war soon. If I didn't have Harry, I would most likely have died as soon as Voldemort starts hunting muggleborn witched and wizards again, because I would have neither the skill to defend myself, nor the support to help me. I would not even have known that this is what is coming for me. But Harry explained it to me, and he gave me the choice to leave! I refused! And I would do it again. Because since meeting Harry, I have never been happier. I made friends that care for me, and I will not let them die if I can stop it. Mom, I can see that I am more powerful than my classmates. And not only a little bit. I could most likely beat most second and third years after only half a year of training with Harry. They NEED me. And I will not let them die by the hands Voldemort. We will stop this war before it even properly begins, and then we will reform wizarding Britain, and I will play an important part in that, even…even if you and Dad hate me for it."

A loud sigh by the door let Hermione's head spin around to face her father, standing there looking just as exhausted as herself. He slowly came over to sit next to them, putting a hand on her knee for comfort.

"We will NEVER hate you, Hermione," he spoke slowly, "We are worried. The though of something happening to you kills me. You are my little girl, and you entered a world where I am utterly powerless and useless to protect you as a father should."

Dan made a small pause, as if thinking what to say next. "I would like to speak to Harry again. If…I can't stop this I at least want to be involved and by your side, as much as I can be."

Harry must have thought this was his cue, because at that moment, the doorbell rang, cutting Hermione off from answering. Dan stood up deliberately, and Hermione watched with conflicted emotion as he went towards the front door. It took all of Hermione's will to stop herself from following him, and when she saw her father returning with Harry in tow, she had to physically restrain herself from running into Harry's arms.

Harry looked utterly exhausted, a wave of sadness and anger washing over his face as he looked at her, before it turned into a small smile. "Hello Hermione, Mrs. Granger," he greeted them before taking seat next to her father who had already returned to her side.

"Mr. Potter," her father addressed Harry far more calmly than Hermione expected, "Can you promise something to me?"

"That would depend on the promise, Mr. Granger," Harry answered, and Hermione could see how from her side view of his face, how anguished he appeared.

"Promise me that you will not put Hermione in danger that she would not need to be in. Promise me to do everything in your power to protect her, and that you will not lie to us about what is happening."

Harry looked at her father for a few long seconds, before taking out his wand and holding it in front of his chest.

"I swear on my magic that I will not put Hermione intentionally into danger that is not ready to handle or that I feel like could be avoided. I swear to do everything in my power to protect her from harm, and that I will not lie to you about anything concerning her safety. As I swear, so mote it be."

A small glow emitted from his wand and engulfed Harry's chest for a moment, before dissipating.

"Mr. Granger, I am terribly sorry for what happened here yesterday. Remus and I will start warding your house as soon as possible, so that we will arrive as soon as any unwelcoming guests try to approach your property. I neglected that, because I deemed the risk very unlikely at the moment, I would not have predicted Quirrell acting so impulsively. The possession he was under must have taking a bigger toll in his mind than I expected."

Dan nodded silently, before shooting a glance at Hermione. "What that maniac did to her…what are the consequences?"

Harry's face turned into a grimace. "Luckily, through our vows, her mind and her actions cannot be swayed by the marks magic, as it would on most other people. She will have that disgusting thing as long as Voldemort is alive, and he has the power to send a medium amount of pain through the link if he wished to do so. Other than that, he is able to send short commands to her, which Hermione can luckily ignore."

Harry stayed for a couple more hours, going over the marks magic and possible next steps with the Granger family. The atmosphere was still extremely tense, but civility remained in all their discussions. When Harry went to leave, Hermione enclosed him into a long hug, which managed to ease his worry somewhat.

-o-o-

The next stop on Harry's agenda for today was the Lovegood residence. Luna's letter had most likely saved Hermione's life, but Harry couldn't shake the wariness from his body. How had Luna known that Quirrell would choose today to attack the Grangers? How had Luna known about him and Hermione in the first place? The only reasonable explanation would be some sort of sight into the future, which Harry had to admit he knew very little about. Harry hadn't had much contact with Luna in his past life. If he was being honest, he didn't even know how she had died. Well, maybe the girl would be able to explain what had prompted her letter.

A short knock on the door of the Lovegood home was followed by the sound of excited footsteps, and a few seconds later a grinning face framed by blonde hair appeared in front of Harry.

"Harry!" Luna Lovegood exclaimed, quickly stepping aside and motioning him to come in, "I was wondering when you would show up!"

Harry raised an eyebrow, following the girl inside.

"Daddy!", the bubbly girl shouted through the short hallway, "Harry is here, we are gonna' talk in the parlour!"

"Sure, Sweetheart," was the answer that echoed back, and Harry didn't know if he should be worried about the Lovegood's patriarch's lack of caution for his daughter or just accept the total weirdness that seemed to run in the family.

A few moments later both he and Luna were sitting in comfortable chairs, in the rather small living room for the rather old pureblood family. The whole house was more alike to the Weasley's home than an actual manor like the Malfoy's. It lacked the slight disorder the Weasley's home projected though.

"So, Luna, First I would like to thank you for your letter. It came just in time to pretend the worst," Harry began the conversation, "Although I would be very interested where you got that information."

Luna smiled dreamily, her eyes seeming slightly unfocused, so that Harry wasn't sure if she was actually looking at him or at something completely different.

"The women in our family have been seer of one form or another since as long as we can recollect. The gift can show itself very differently and can vary in its potency by a lot. Mommy always said that mine would be…strong. One part of that are visions at night, which since around two years ago started to focus very heavily on…you."

Harry nodded, his brows slightly furrowed together, processing the information. Then he motioned Luna to continue.

"Mommy officially died in an experimental spell accident, but that is not completely true. Months before her death she had a vision, which prompted her to undergo a ritual with me. She left this for you to read."

Luna stood up while talking, hopping over to a table standing by the side, and picked up an envelope, slowly stroking the paper before handing it to him. Harry couldn't stop the surprise from showing on his face, as he pulled the letter out of the envelope and began reading.

Dear Mr. Potter,

I am writing this letter to relay to you what information I could gather through my visions before my impeding death. I will use a ritual of my own construction which will take my life soon. The purpose of that ritual is to protect Luna from any unwilling bindings, and to only allow those she willingly chooses to take a hold of her.

I am doing this because Luna will be an ally in the group you should be currently forming, and only with her help will you be able to fulfil your goals. Her gift is incredibly strong, and the upcoming madness associated with every seer will start to kick in shortly after your return. It will start slow but build up over time to the point of a state of mind that is so overwhelmed it cannot process the storm of information, rendering her in state of conscious unconsciousness.

For the help Luna will provide to you I have only one demand. Find a way to preserve her mind. I have instructed her to only take a vow where you promise to do your utmost best at fulfilling that condition, I hope that you can not only save the wizarding world, but my little girl too.

I wish you the best luck on your journey, you will need it. And with that I have another thing to leave you with. A prophecy that I myself don't understand. I hope it will help you in time.

When the castle falls,

The only chance lies in the shadows,

The last one can be found within,

And an end must be chosen for the world to find peace.

Harry had reread the letter around three times, before he looked up at Luna. "I presume you know its contents?" Luna nodded, her dreamy smile not faltering for a second.

"I waited for you to come to me on your own, but now that you are here, we can do the vows after heading to the place you and the others are at currently." Luna exclaimed.

Harry was still taken aback by all that information. Could he trust Luna? He didn't know her. It was a variable he hadn't considered, but her and her mother knew too much for this to be fake or a setup. Well, it seemed like he had to not rely on his future knowledge of people for this.

"Very well," he said, while rising from the comfortable chair, carefully putting the letter in his pockets, "Let us inform your father that we are heading out."

-o-o-

Remus and Sirius were surprisingly calm when Harry explained the situation to them. After all that hat happened the last few days, maybe they were just so overloaded that such a surprise didn't bother them that much. The vows were taken, with Remus doing the part of the binder. For a moment, Harry had hesitated when Luna had gripped his hand. Was he able to take on that burden? To save Luna, even though he had no clue were to even begin? But when he looked into her eyes, he saw a kind of determination that washed the last bit of doubt away. He would try, what was one more life to save when he already had lost so many? No, he would not fail a second time.

Afterwards, after he had brought Luna back to her father – who had just nodded at him politely when he had taken her to Godrics Hollow – he sat down in the comfortable living room, staring at the Firewhiskey in front of him. He had poured himself a small glass, careful not to overdo it. There was just so much to process, so much to do, to plan, to execute. Kusznezow would be soon visited by Remus – Harry had taken a drop of Luna's blood as well to get her a wand too – and he had to visit him himself as soon as the schoolyear would end to talk about a possible secondary focus. Hermione was branded, and Harry had no idea on how to handle that. Hogwarts was short a defence professor, and Harry had no idea on how that would affect the timeline. His future knowledge seemed to slip further away day by day, and with it fear and anxiety flooded his senses. They hadn't even begun making moves towards either the ministry or Voldemort. The Dark Lords Horcruxes' needed to be destroyed, and Harry didn't even know every one of their locations.

Harry sighed, taking a small sip of his glass, when the familiar voice of his godfather cut him out of his musings.

"Hey pup," Sirius let himself fall on the couch next to Harry, laying a hand on his shoulder, before pouring himself a glass of Firewhiskey next to Harry's, "Troubling thoughts?"

"Quite a few," Harry answered, letting his head fall back on the edge of the couch.

"We are making progress," Sirius stated resolutely "I know it doesn't seem like much right now, but as you said, we can't run straight into trouble without preparations – not for this."

Harry let a small chuckle escape his lips. "That's funny coming from the number one wizard to run headfirst into trouble."

Sirius let out a barking laugh. "That sounded a lot like something Lilly would say Harry."

"I take that as a compliment," Harry said, a small smile forming on his lips.

"That's the only way being compared to the wonderful girl you had as a mother should be taken."