Chronicles of Camelot

Flowers and forebodings

He was the wind beneath her wings;

As long as he held her, Hermione knew that she would never have to fear flying or being in danger as he would be there, her Superman, to protect her.

'I love you too,' Hermione replied mentally, the day's presence turning into night as they enjoyed each others presence…

Chapter 27: Flowers and Forebodings

Despite the heavy burden of being a King of a magical realm, Harry was surprised as to how easily he managed to divide his time between his regal position and his life as a Holy Knight, betrothed and son; with Dobby on hand, as well as a young manservant assigned by the Lords to act as a messenger between them and the King, Harry was able to spend time with his friends and family before, at a summons, he'd either answer it or send a message in response.

Other than that, Harry's personal training also continued and it was as varied as his time management between his Knighthood and his throne; for example, he could be either sword-training with Hermione, Sebastian and one of the Order, or he could be Elemental training with one of the other Knights and the Lord of said element or, just basically, he could be doing his summer tasks in preparation for fourth year Hogwarts. When he wasn't doing that, he would be meditating, learning to close his mind to all but his betrothed and advancing his mental defences in the art of Occlumency, though, as only Hermione knew, with the mindscape that Harry had crafted himself, there was no real chance of anyone getting into his head and finding what they wanted: the ever-changing sceneries and atmosphere made Harry's mind clearly defended, but also appear to be a muddle of thoughts and emotions that would result in a headache for the one attempting the alter to Occlumency, known as Legilimency.

Finally, when he wasn't learning mental or Elemental magic, Harry was being trained by Merlin himself – a part of him wondering how many of his friends back at Hogwarts would believe this – in the spell and pure wandless magical side of his powers, learning to not only cast spells without the aid of a wand, but also wordless – or in his mind as Merlin later suggested when Harry found himself having trouble – and, though it still seemed impossible, through Excalibur.

As his betrothed and his blood-brother, Hermione and Neville usually joined in with these lessons and, whether it was through all his training and actions as the King or whether it was the fact that time just seemed to fly by when he kept himself busy, Harry didn't know, but by the time three weeks had passed by, leaving ten days before they were to return to Hogwarts, the young King found himself looking forwards to his return.

As such, all four of the main band of Knights – Harry, Neville, Luna and Hermione – sagged down onto separate seating areas within the Royal Garden, Harry resting his back against the stone base of the fountain as he explained, "So much has happened and yet so much is still to come."

"Does that mean you're not looking forwards to saying goodbye Harry?" asked Luna, looking over to where the Arch-Knight was looking like any average relaxed teenager.

"Of course I'm not Luna," Harry sighed, his voice calm as he ran his free hand along the stony ground of the garden pathways, "But I know that, until I turn sixteen at least, I have to keep up appearances and make sure that Dumbledore does nothing to jeopardise my plans for Riddle becoming one of us."

"Well," Hermione reasoned, her own seating position on the edge of the fountain, her hand now lazily drifting through her boyfriend's hair as she addressed him, "On one hand, we do have something that will keep him worried in case we know he's manipulating us."

"You're talking about Mum, aren't you?" asked Harry, now looking up to the brown-haired beauty that had captured his heart, a soft smile crossing his lips as he looked to her, a part of him wondering, as it usually did, what could have been had it not been for Harry being in the Hospital Wing for those unexplained blackouts. He didn't want to think about it, because he knew that his life had changed for the better when he had announced his love for Hermione.