Chapter one

From the moment Harry Potter and Hermione Granger admitted how they felt about the other, they were never far from the other. It only took a couple of weeks before they decided that after being close for seven years they wanted to commit fully, so they ended up making love. Naturally the first time was awkward as neither of them had any experience. But one thing they noticed was neither one was embarrassed about being naked in front of the other. The moment their bodies joined they knew they were meant to be, and that they would be together, forever, whether it was in this life or the next.

After their friend Ron Weasley left, or ex friend as they thought of him now, Hermione and Harry realised they would have been together longer if it wasn't for a lot of circumstances. One being Ron, the other was Dumbledore and another was Molly Weasley. It always seemed to them that Molly would push Harry towards Ginny while making sure that Hermione spent time with Ron. Albus Dumbledore always seemed to make sure that Hermione went to the Burrow or headquarters weeks before Harry was allowed to join them. They realised that Dumbledore wanted Ron to have some time with Hermione before Harry turned up.

'He's been gone for three weeks and we got together a few days after he left,' Harry said.

'Yes, are you going somewhere with this?'

'I'm not sure, but I'm curious as to why our feelings for each other surfaced within days of being alone.'

'Mrs. Weasley told me she used a love potion on Mr. Weasley. She said it was only because he was really shy, she thought the potion would give him the courage to approach her.'

'So she's not against using a potion but would she make it for more than just to let us show our feelings for Ron and Ginny?'

'I don't know, but we know Ginny has been obsessed with you before she even knew you. She did date others but she admitted to me she was hoping you would get jealous. You know, it might not have been Mrs. Weasley, it might have been Ginny. She is pretty good at potions, she learned a lot from Fred and George, not to mention her mother always made sure Ginny helped her.'

'Okay, so Ginny decided not to wait any longer and dose me with a love potion. What about Ron and how you felt about him? I really never thought you two would get together even after hearing many others say you two fight like an old married couple. I mean, you two were complete opposites, so much so you got on Ron's nerves just like he got on yours.'

'Maybe she dosed Ron without him knowing. No, he was here with us for weeks, the potion would have been left his system. Maybe she asked Ron to help her, get you away from me which would give her a clear shot at you. Ron knows you have money, Harry, maybe he wanted to help his sister which would mean she would have a good life if you two married. So if that's true then it means he didn't care if he used me as long as his sister got you.'

'Yeah, and even though you are beautiful, Ron never saw it. He always wanted the best looking girls even if they weren't suited yet he never thought you were in the same league as those other girls like Lavender. He would use anyone if it got him what he wanted and he wanted to be popular. It's why he was always jealous of me, he thought I got all the attention, he never did. We could be just paranoid but something is telling me we were manipulated, someway, by someone. It might not be Ron, Ginny or Mrs. Weasley, it might have been someone else.'

'It could have been but then it couldn't be a potion as it would have been gone from our system since we've been away from everyone, except Ron.'

Harry sagged, 'I hate thinking he might have been in on something like this, yet our feelings did change suddenly, or more precisely, our feelings showed themselves suddenly. Not long after he left. But I can't deny that he was never the greatest friend. He deserted me a few times, he's gone again now, just because it's been rough. He always had a go at you, he made you cry, a lot, and at times I thought he actually hated you.'

'He did hate me until the troll in first year. Then it was you who asked me to join you for breakfast the following morning. He would have noticed you wanted to give me a chance so he began to…well, tolerate me. The more I think about it Harry the more I'm convinced Ron and Ginny kept us apart using a weak love potion.'

'Then let's move again and hope we can get some evidence before we see Ron again.'

Hermione and Harry were so used to packing quickly that they had disapparated within five minutes of deciding to move to another area. They always knew there were risks whenever they appeared anywhere. They didn't just have to worry about muggles, they also had to worry about death eaters.

'I think I saw Ron appear just as we disappeared,' Harry said.

'Quick,' Hermione grabbed Harry's hand and just as they began to turn they saw Ron but they disappeared before he could get near them, 'Don't say his name, I'll explain in a moment,' they looked around, then hurried to cast their charms then put up their tent.

'Hermione, what is going on?'

'I think…he has a way to track us when we use his name. Think Harry, we refused to say his name until earlier, then we leave, but he turns up. He might have been there from the moment we said his name but because of the new enchantments he couldn't get to us so he waited. Then, just as we left the second time I saw him.'

'If he can track us, then it must be the dilluminator. I always knew Dumbledore had a way of tracking me and I was curious as to why he left that to R…him when it was something he invented. He also never had anything to do with Dumbledore.'

'Then I would say if we're right about being manipulated, Dumbledore is involved, or was involved.'

'I hate thinking this but one day I did overhear Dumbledore talking to someone about how I have to end up with the right type of girl. Imagine the-boy-who-lived marrying into some dark family.'

'No, not dark, if he was worried then it would not look good if you married a muggleborn. It makes sense Harry. He always went on about how people like me should be treated the same as purebloods. But he allowed all the fighting and arguing to go on, especially Malfoy, who got away with calling me mudblood. Harry, if you were able to finish off Voldemort then you would have the respect of almost everyone, you would be admired which would have people listening to you. I could see many people trying to get you into the ministry, until you were older where you could take the job as minister for magic. But if you married a mudblood, how would that look?'

'He never did anything about Malfoy or Snape, he gave second chances to the criminals and the victims had to just put up with having their attackers around them all the time. None of you were offered help after being petrified, you're parent's weren't asked when he put you down the bottom of the lake. I remember Mr. Weasley those holidays after the tournament. He was angry and he never gets angry. It was right then that I noticed Mr. and Mrs. Weasley didn't praise Dumbledore like they used to. I think he realised that using R…him caused a problem, but not you as they didn't care what your parent's said. But also think of this, I was still angry with the red head, I spoke with him after the dragons but I never spent any time alone with him. How could Dumbledore really believe that…he was the one I would miss the most when I was still pissed off?'

'You're right, if he was watching then he would see you stayed beside me more than anyone, you also began to get closer to Neville. But also look who two of the other champions had as their hostages, their yule ball dates. Victor and I hardly knew each other so how could they believe I meant something to him. Cedric had only just started to date Cho, but we can't know if they would have stayed together. Now Fleur's hostage made sense, it was her little sister. He didn't use your hostage like he did with the other three champions. I think he used…him to get you to be friendly again and I was used for Victor to get me away from you by making it seem I felt more for him than for you.'

'Are we being paranoid?'

'No, I don't think so. I've done a lot of thinking over the years, but more so after the tournament. Let's go out to eat Harry, I'm sure we can find a muggle town without too much danger. It would make it harder for him to find us let alone death eaters. When we finish eating we're going to talk about some things that I believe will make you see that you've been manipulated from the moment you arrived at Hogwarts.'

'Okay, I want to clear my head for a bit and I am hungry. If we can let's buy some can and packet food that will keep us going in case we don't get another chance.'

'Yes, that's a good idea,' Harry and Hermione moved outside the enchantments, Harry allowed Hermione to take him by apparition as she had been studying the maps so she knew where the muggle towns were that had places they could apparate to. They just hoped it didn't have dementors or death eaters there. They didn't believe they would, but they would be cautious and alert, just in case.