The morning after Christmas, Jake and Hermione were up early, but not Hogwarts early. It was early enough to be up before the adults, but an hour after they'd usually get up at Hogwarts. They had been in contact with Harry and Ron, and it wasn't the easiest to make sure Mark didn't see an Owl arriving with a letter, but they managed it well enough. In a letter, Harry had mentioned how the Weasley's were all staying at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, as it was closer than the Burrow to St. Mungo's.
"I'll ask Mum if it's okay for us to go and stay with our friends for the rest of the break. I don't think she'll have a problem with it," Hermione said to him.
"No, I don't think she will either," he replied, "Arthur seems to be doing fine, but from the way Harry talks, Arthur doesn't seem to take his injuries too seriously."
"You mean like you don't?" Hermione asked him.
"There's a difference between Arthur and I, though," Jake said.
"And what would that be?" Hermione asked, a grin playing on her lips.
Before Jake could answer, Jane had come through into the dining room where both teens had taken up temporary residence, "You both are up early, not that I'm surprised."
"Mum, is it alright if Jake and I go and stay with Harry and Ron for the rest of the break?" Hermione asked.
"Well, I don't have a problem with it, dear, but may I ask why?" Jane asked, going to the fridge to fix breakfast.
"Ron's dad, Arthur, he uh... he got hurt," Jake said, causing Jane to look at him, "it's nothing fatal, but he is having to stay at a Hospital for the entire break as a result," he said, figuring that honesty was the best policy.
Jane looked in thought for a moment, "Alright, you can go and stay with them for the rest of break. Where am I dropping you both off, the usual place?"
"Yeah, that'll be fine, Mum, thank you," Hermione got up from her seat and over to her mother, embracing her.
"Of course, Hermione," Jane smiled and returned the embrace, "well, do you want to eat breakfast before going, or will you get something once there?"
"We can eat before we go, if that's not too much trouble?" Jake asked.
"Oh, don't be silly, of course it's not," Jane smiled at him and fixed him and Hermione breakfast.
She told Mark she was dropping Hermione and Jake off at their friends house for the rest of Christmas break, and he thankfully didn't question it. Hermione packed up all of her things, Jake sent Chloe ahead to Grimmauld Place, and her mother dropped them both off at the Leaky Cauldron, and after hugging both of them, wished them well and drove off, a sad look on her face that neither teen missed, but they almost did.
"I feel bad now..." Jake said.
"She understands, though, otherwise she wouldn't have agreed to it," Hermione said and looked up at her boyfriend, "so, I think before we go to Grimmauld Place, we go and get my ears pierced, so I can start wearing the expensive earrings you got me some time before the school year ends."
"Okay, that sounds good, do you know where you can get that done?" He asked her.
"I do, there's actually a Salon not too far from here that will do it, and since I'm Sixteen, I won't need my parents permission to do so," Hermione said.
"Good, it was probably best to do so anyway, but it's nice to know that you didn't need it regardless," he said and they both walked to the Salon. Since it was still early, there weren't that many customers in the Salon, and a young, attractive lady was sitting behind the desk.
"Welcome to Antionette's Beauty Salon, I'm Tri-" she stopped when she saw Jake wearing an eyepatch, but she didn't comment on it and recovered quickly, "Trisha, what can I assist you with today?" She asked Hermione and Jake.
"I'm here to see about getting my ears pierced," Hermione said, "my boyfriend here got me a pair of earrings that I can't wear until I do," she said, making sure to drop the fact he was her boyfriend, and therefore off-limits.
"Oh, got a bit ahead of yourself, did you?" Trisha asked and Jake nodded, "well not a problem, I can work you in right away and get you out of here so you can enjoy Boxing Day."
Hermione smiled and Trisha took her to a vacant chair. Jake stood off to the side, waiting for Hermione to be done, and he idly looked around the Salon. Hermione saw Trisha approach her in the mirror in front of her and she got to work. She had braced for the pain that would no doubt be there from her earlobe being pierced through, and when Trisha used the needle to give her the hole, Hermione definitely let out a sharp sound of pain, "That hurt worse than I expected it too..."
"Well, I've got one more ear. Unless you've decided you just want one ear pierced?" Trisha asked.
"No, my boyfriend got me two earrings, I need the other ear pierced too..." Hermione said and braced herself for the other ear. Trisha walked around to the other side and did the same to Hermione's other ear. She let out another cry of pain, but was otherwise fine.
When all was said and done, and Hermione had her temporary piercings in, Trisha was explaining what to do, "-and these have to stay in for Six to Eight weeks, okay? Make sure you clean the area at least twice a day. That'll be £30."
Without hesitation, Jake pulled out his wallet, got out three £10 Notes, handing them to Trisha, "Jake? What are you doing?" Hermione asked him.
"Paying the Salon, what's it look like?" He asked back
"He's a keeper, dear," Trisha told Hermione, "my man, he never was quick to pay for anything for me. Not that I'd ever ask him to do so, but he never was quick about it either," she looked back at Hermione, "Don't ever let him go for anything, a gentleman like him is hard to find."
"I definitely won't," Hermione looked up at Jake, and he looked down at her, "I'm never letting him go. So how do they look?"
"They look good. They'll look better when they've got the ones I bought for you in them," he said, chuckling.
"They better," Hermione smiled, "have a good day, Trisha!"
They both walked out of the Salon and back to the Leaky Cauldron, "Do you think the Floo is connected to Grimmauld Place?" He asked.
"If it is... do you think it's safe?" Hermione asked back.
"With the Toad keeping an eye on it, probably not," Jake sighed.
"How are we gonna get there?" Hermione asked, but Jake didn't have an answer.
They got back to the Leaky Cauldron, and eating breakfast was Neville and his grandmother, along with Susan and Amelia Bones, quite surprising to both teen arrivals, "Madam Bones?" Jake said, getting her attention.
"Oh, Jake, how wonderful and fortunate that I found you so quickly!" Amelia stood up, "Excuse me a moment," she said to her niece, Neville and his grandmother.
"You were looking for me?" He asked.
"Oh, of course I was, I talked to Cornelius about reinstating your Adult Wizarding Status, and he agreed to it almost too quickly," Amelia pulled out the document stating that Fudge had put his status back in place.
Jake could hardly believe that Fudge actually went through with it, "Seriously? He - He actually did it?" Unbelieving of the paper she handed him.
"He did indeed. You are now able to legally use magic again outside of Hogwarts, so long you don't risk breaking the Statute of Secrecy," Amelia said, smiling.
"Thank you, Madam Bones," he looked up at her, "truly, thank you."
"No thanks necessary, but you are welcome," Amelia turned to the table she had gotten up from, "Susan tells me you are helping her and a few others with Spells, is that true?"
"Yes, it is true," he said, smiling politely at Susan, "I'm happy to help."
"Neville said you've also read every Grade Book of Spells?" Amelia inquired.
"Yes, I finished reading the Grade 7 Spellbook last year," he responded. It felt like he was being interrogated, but only mildly.
"I'm sure being related to Merlin makes a difference, but Harry is also quite adept at his spellcasting too from what I hear," Amelia said, sitting back down.
"He did get Second Best in the Third Year Defense Against the Dark Arts exam, and he wouldn't have survived the Tournament last year if he wasn't," Jake said, turning to acknowledge the other three at the table, "Hey Neville, Susan, good morning Ms. Longbottom."
"Did you not tell them either, Neville?" She asked her grandson.
"Tell us what?" Hermione asked.
"About his parents," she looked at Hermione.
"I knew," Jake said, surprising Neville and Hermione.
"How did you know?" Neville asked him.
"When Malfoy was insulting Harry, he said Harry belonged in St. Mungo's, and just before someone removed Malfoy's mouth, I saw your eyes, they flickered with anger. The only reason you'd have done that is if someone close to you was in St. Mungo's, and who else but your parents would you react that way for?" Jake said, impressing Amelia with his deductive skills.
"Have you thought a career as an Auror?" Amelia asked him.
"I have," Jake said, "but it's not what I want to do after Hogwarts."
"Oh that's a shame, the Auror Department would greatly benefit from having you in its ranks. Might've even made Head Auror at the age of 18 given your abilities," Amelia praised him.
"Aunt Amelia, stop," Susan said, feeling second-hand embarrassment.
"Oh don't be silly, Susan, there's nothing to be embarrassed about," Amelia said, a laugh escaping through her lips. It was odd to both Hermione and Jake seeing Amelia laugh, given how she was in the Courtroom.
"Where were you two headed on Boxing Day?" Neville asked them.
"We were going to spend the rest of the break with the Weasley's," Hermione said, "and Jake and I were debating on how best to go about getting there, but since his Adult Wizarding Status is back in place, we'll just be Apparating there."
"I heard from Pendragon that you know how to Apparate," Amelia said, looking at Jake, "he said he first saw you do so at the World Cup, when Crouch and many other Witches and Wizards fired Spells at your friends."
"Really it was just Hermione I was protecting," Jake admitted, causing his girlfriend to go red in her cheeks, "I didn't want to hurt the Ministry Witches and Wizards, but if they'd attacked her again, I would've retaliated."
"Yet you and her aren't together?" Amelia asked. Last she remembered two days ago, they weren't officially together.
"We are," he replied, causing Neville and Susan to go wide-eyed with their mouths hanging open, "just after we were brought back to the park by Scrimgeour, I asked her if she wanted to go ahead and make it official, and she said yes to it."
"It'll get around one way or another at Hogwarts, so you both can tell anyone who'll listen, if you want to," Hermione said.
"I'm sure some of the Hufflepuffs will be happy to see it finally happen," Susan said cheekily, "many in our year were waiting to see how long it would take. Justin bet it'd take until Seventh Year."
"People were taking bets!?" Hermione practically yelled, almost scandalized to know that.
"How do you suppose Harry and Ron will react?" Neville asked them, ignoring Hermione's outburst.
"We aren't really sure, but we hope they are supportive of us," Jake said.
"Well, we won't take up anymore of your time, I'm sure you have catching up to do with your friends. You both take care," Amelia said, wishing them well.
"Thank you, you four take care as well," Jake said, holding onto Hermione, "ready to go?"
She turned to him, "Ready."
The next thing they both knew, Jake had apparated them to the front steps of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. Jake placed his wand onto the door, and the locks on the other side began to unlock, and soon, the doors last lock clicked open, allowing both teens entry into the home.
"Ladies first," Jake pushed the door open for her.
"Such a gentleman," Hermione smiled and entered the building. She saw that the interior hadn't changed since the Summer, not that she really expected it to. Sirius was kept too busy doing nothing to clean up properly.
Jake pulled the door closed behind them, Hermione's trunk standing in front of him, "Hello!?" He called out, and since he got rid of Sirius' Mother's Portrait, there was no risk of blood-curdling screams.
The sound of footsteps was heard, rustling around in multiple directions. Molly soon appeared and greeted them, "Oh, it's you two, I'm so glad to see you both," Molly hugged each of them in a near death grip, "Ron will be happy to see you," she said to both of them, but she was looking at Hermione as she said it, "and Harry, he won't come out of his room... he did yesterday for Christmas, but the moment we got back from St. Mungo's, he shut himself off..."
"How is Arthur doing?" Jake asked, addressing the Weasley Patriarch by his First Name.
"He's fine overall... won't stop reopening his wounds... and would you believe he actually got a Muggle Treatment? Something called Stitches , honestly..." Molly sighed heavily.
"Well... for non-magical wounds they work great," Jake said.
"But Mr. Weasley's wounds are magical, aren't they?" Hermione asked.
"I believe they were, if they were inflicted by a snake?" Jake asked.
"How did you-" Molly was about to ask.
"Harry told us," Hermione lied. He technically hadn't told them about a snake attacking Arthur, but Jake had deduced as much, and since he seemed to be having Divination type visions without trying, he was no doubt correct in this assumption.
"Oh... well I wish he hadn't... but maybe now that you both are here, you can coax him out?" Molly asked them.
"We will do our best, Mrs. Weasley," Jake said.
"Oh thank you, both of you," she gave each of them another embrace before disappearing back where she came from.
Hermione turned to him, "Why do you think Harry's shut himself away from everyone?"
"He might be thinking he was the one to cause harm to Arthur, his connection to Voldemort... he would've seen it through the snake's eyes the way it sounds, so he believes he did it... and he feels guilty for it," Jake said his thoughts.
"Oh, Harry..." Hermione whispered, "let's go find him, he's probably in the same room, or on a higher floor if he's avoiding everyone."
They stalked up the stairs until they came to the floor they stayed on over the Summer. Hermione asked Jake to put her trunk on the bed that she used last time, and she was standing in front of Harry's and Ron's door. She knocked gently on it.
"Harry...?" She asked quietly, "Harry, I know you're in there, come out and talk to me."
She heard the sound of footsteps, and the door was opened, just as Jake came out of the room behind her, "What are you both doing here?" Harry asked them, looking a bit worse for wear.
"I'm just here for the food," Jake said, causing Hermione to sigh and shake her head.
"We are here because we wanted to see how everyone is doing," Hermione said, "and we have to tell you and Ron something."
"Well, I'm doing as well as I can for having attacked Mr. Weasley..." Harry said predictably.
"That's bullshit and you know it, Potter," Jake said, " you didn't attack Arthur, regardless of what you saw in that dream, or vision, whatever you want to call it. If Voldemort didn't intentionally show it to you, then he intended for Arthur to die... but if he did intentionally show it to you, then what was the reason for it?"
Harry stepped aside so that the both of them could come in, "Why am I not surprised you've come up with something like?"
"Because it's me," Jake smiled and walked in behind Hermione.
"So what did you two want to tell me?" He asked.
"You and Ron," Hermione corrected, "do you know where he is?"
"Probably in the dining room," Harry said, "I've not had much an appetite the entire time I've been here and at St. Mungo's... speaking of St. Mungo's there's a patient there that we all know-"
"Hermione? Jake?" The familiar voice of Ron was heard from the doorway, "What are you two doing here?" He asked, his eyes lingering on Hermione for a bit too long.
"Came to see how everyone's doing," Jake said.
"Who's at St. Mungo's, Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Lockhart," Harry said, causing her to go wide-eyed.
"Lockhart is in St. Mungo's?" She asked, exasperated.
"I guess he would've had to have his memories intact to wind up in Azkaban," Jake said neutrally.
"It doesn't help that the Nurses there feed into his delusion of being something he's not. I don't even think one of the Witches knew Lockhart was a fraud," Harry said.
"As much as I hate the Prophet , at least some important news can be ascertained from it," Jake said reluctantly.
"So what did you and Jake have to tell us, Hermione?" Harry asked, getting Ron's attention on them again as he went and sat beside Harry.
"Oh, right!" Hermione suddenly got butterflies in her stomach. Harry and Ron were her best friends, and it was different to tell them as opposed to Neville and Susan, "Well, Jake and I..."
"We're together now," Jake interlocked his fingers with Hermione's, holding their hands up.
Neither of their friends really knew what to say, Ron having an absolute look of disbelief on his face, but Harry recovered first from it, "Congrats, I always knew you both were close, but I didn't know you were that close," he smiled at them.
"I asked Hermione on Christmas Eve if she wanted to make our relationship official. Just after getting out of King's Cross, and getting to the Leaky Cauldron after Hermione's parents took us there, we admitted our love to one another," Jake said, looking at her.
"We initially decided to wait until Voldemort was dealt with before making it official, but then... a Dementor attacked us, and Cornelius Fudge took away Jake's Adult Wizard Status, so when he used the Patronus out in public, Ministry Witches and Wizards appeared almost immediately after he received an Owl, that read similar to yours, Harry," Hermione explained, "and he wasn't even given a trial date, they took him immediately to a Courtroom and had Amelia Bones not shown up, well... Jake said he'd have hated to have fought his way out of there."
"The Toad was there, and she thought she had everything going her way, she thought for sure I would be expelled, or something similar, but then Madam Bones showed up and put the Toad in her place," Jake said.
Harry had a content smirk on his face, but Hermione noticed Ron was deathly quiet, "Everything alright, Ron?"
"Huh?" Ron snapped out of his thoughts, "Oh, er, yeah, yeah everything's fine," he said unconvincingly.
"Everything is not fine, not when your dad got attacked," Hermione said, misreading Ron's silence.
"Right... right, been trying to occupy myself to cope with it," he replied. Hermione knew Ron was lying, but about what, she didn't know.
*******
If there was one thing that annoyed Jake greatly, it was having a House-Elf refer to him as 'Master' and asking what he needs or what can be done for him. It was the reason he didn't have a servant of any kind at the Tower; he hated someone treating him as though he were from a higher social class. When Kreacher kept bowing to him and calling him 'Master from the Most Noble House' it was enough to drive him mad. He was so thankful to have Hermione to keep him grounded and calm.
Jake also noticed that Sirius, on the day they arrived, was cheerful and happy, but the closer it got to the date they went back to Hogwarts, he seemed to be more and more prone to what Molly called 'fits of the sullen' in which he would become taciturn and grumpy, often withdrawing to Buckbeak's room for hours at a time. He couldn't understand why Sirius would act this way while Harry was still at the house, but he guessed that maybe it was the fact Harry had to go back to Hogwarts and would be alone again with Kreacher, who had been obeying orders more docilely than he had over the summer. He had caught a glimpse of what Kreacher was doing when not following orders or bowing to him; Kreacher had been taking things to his little stash of what Sirius referred to as Relics of the Black Family. Sirius said it was eventually going to be tossed, but Jake figured if he hadn't got to it yet, would he ever get to it?
It was on the very last day of the holiday break, the four of them, plus Ginny, Crookshanks, and Chloe, were all in Harry's and Ron's room, watching Harry play Wizard's Chess against Jake, who was the current reigning undefeated champion ever since he beat Ron so awfully a couple years back. Molly had poked her head into the room and was speaking to Harry, "Harry dear, could you come down to the Kitchen? Professor Snape would like a word with you."
It was Jake's move, but his words never formed after Molly had finished talking. He turned to her, "What would Snape want with Harry?"
" Professor Snape said it was only for Harry to know," Molly said reprovingly, clearly not appreciating the casual dismissal in his voice for the Potion's Professor. She turned back to Harry, "Now come on, quickly, he says he can't stay long."
"Be careful, Harry," Hermione said just after Molly withdrew from the room, her voice filled with worry. Harry nodded and slowly stood up, walking just as slowly out of the room, "What on Earth could Snape want with him? You don't think he's done something, do you?"
"No, I doubt that..." Jake said slowly, "it probably has to do with the vision Harry saw, that Voldemort showed him," he said, and Ron and Ginny both shuddered horribly.
"Wait, do you mean-?" Hermione stopped herself, unsure if she was actually right in her guess.
"Yeah... Snape's going to teach Harry Occlumency on Dumbledore's orders... the worst fucking person to teach Harry anything, with how much hatred Snape seems to harbor for Harry, with how callous that greasy-haired prick is..." Jake stopped talking for a moment, "Harry will be lucky to even learn the basics of Occlumency."
"Well... you're a Natural Occlumens, right, Jake?" Ginny asked him.
"Yeah, but-" Jake stopped when Hermione interrupted.
"But nothing, you'd be a better teacher than Snape would be," she said confidently, "you should go to Dumbledore when we get back from the break and ask him if Harry can learn from you."
"No, I can't do one-on-one teaching sessions... that's why I was so adamant about the damn D.A. when you brought it up for teaching a group of students about proper Defensive Spells," he said, getting a bit heated, "it's one thing to see a lot of people messing up, I can divide my frustration evenly to all of them, but for it to just be one person - you saw how I was towards him last school year when trying to help him prepare for the final task, right?"
Hermione was about to protest, but couldn't deny that he was right, he didn't even much help Harry beyond the first day. They suddenly heard Harry's voice, which was faint, but definitely the sound of him yelling, " Sirius !" The four still in the room hurried out and down to the kitchen, and just before they got to the door, Harry yelled again, "NO! Sirius, don't-"
Jake opened the door first, his eye red, ready to restrain and defuse whatever situation had arised. What he saw was Sirius and Snape both with their wands aimed at one another. He might have hated Snape more than anyone in the room presently, but if Sirius tried to attack Snape, he would stop him. He already decided that when the time came, Snape would die by his own hand, and no one would take that from him, even if it meant saving Snape's worthless, pathetic life.
Hermione was stood slightly behind him, watching everything going down, when the door behind them opened to reveal Fred, George, Molly, and Arthur, surprisingly. They had visited him a couple of days prior, and he was seemingly okay, but wasn't yet released from the hospital. Now he was standing there, all smiles, "Cured!" He announced brightly to the kitchen at large, "Completely cured!" His large smile withered away to almost nothing when he saw the sight before him, "Merlin's Beard... what's going on here?"
Snape and Sirius both lowered their wands, and Jake's eye returned to normal. Both adults still glared at one another with utmost contempt for the other. It seemed the arrival of more adults was enough to bring the both of them to their senses. Snape pocketed his wand and swept back across the kitchen, passing the Weasley's, Hermione, and Jake, who was glaring at him, without comment. He did turn when he got to the door, "Six o'clock Monday evening, Potter."
He was gone, and Sirius glared after him, his wand in his as his arm hung limply at his side, and Arthur spoke again, "But, what's been going on?"
"Nothing, Arthur," Sirius said, he was breathing heavily as though he had just run a long distance, "just a friendly little chat between two old school friends..." Sirius lied. The way he and Snape acted just then, there was an old and burning hatred for one another, and it was never going away, "So... you're cured? That's great news, really great..."
"Yes, isn't it?" Molly said in faux cheeriness, trying to ease the tension as she lead her husband forward into a chair, "Healer Smethwyck worked his magic in the end, found an antidote to whatever that snake's got in its fangs, and Arthur's learned his lesson about dabbling in Muggle medicine, haven't you, dear ?" She added, rather menacingly.
"Yes, Molly dear," Arthur said meekly.
Jake looked at all of the adults: Molly was being more dominant than usual; Arthur was much more passive to his wife; Sirius was trying to be happy for Arthur, but it was clear that he was being forceful about it and as soon as Sirius thought no one was looking, his face turned into a moody and brooding expression. They all seemed different from the past two years, and he couldn't exactly blame them, he himself was different even from Third Year.
After dinner that evening, Jake was sitting in his room, on his bed, watching Chloe eat a rat she found. His ability to do any magic outside of Witch and Wizard only environments has been returned to him, and he felt good from that, but there was a nagging feeling he couldn't shake. Umbridge would now have a vendetta against him, and she would probably stop at nothing to make his life harder at Hogwarts. He was ready for her, he wouldn't provoke her, but that didn't mean he'd just let her walk all over him, either. He would bide his time, and strike when the moment was right.