He slowly drifted into a sleep,he had been travelling all night and had only just stopped. For how long he sat asleep he did not know, but by the time he had awoken the streets had become as busy as usal,buses rolling past, commuters rushing along the pavement. For a split second he did not know what had woken him. Then he saw what had awoken him, standing in front of him, was a tallish blonde boy, 'Hello Draco, please dont tell me you screwed up again?' the man said with a tone of disapointment. 'What are you to presume whether i screwed up or not?!' the boy glared at the man. 'What happened Draco?' the man asked still he had not looked at the boy staring down at him. 'I'll tell you what happened as long as you tell me what we are supposed to be stealing and from where, deal?' the boy seemed confident in his speech,h wa clearly tens of years younger then this an, yet he spoke to him like his superior. 'Answer me Snape!' the boy snapped at him, the man rose to his feet and looked down at the boy, ' You will refer to me as Severus understand? You find out what were here for only after you tell me why you are here!' this was not a request more of an order. The blonde boy opened his mouth to argue, but promptly shut it. Slowly Severus began to walk down the road, followed rather reluctantly, they came to a stop outside of a small cafe, Severus acknowleged the chair and Draco took it, 'So Draco what happened?' Draco looked up from the floor, and began to explain what had happened at the Grangers days earlier. By the time he had finished a look of extreme anger was evident on Severus' face, ' You mean to say you and Bellatrix couldnt even stop that mudblood from escaping, I can see why you have been sent on this suicide mission!' At those last two words a look of pure terror exploded into Malfoys usually bright eyes. ' Wha... what do you mean?' Draco asked nervously. 'I forgot Draco the Dark Lord didnt explain the finer points of this mission did he! Well as you will know Dumbledore is dead, which also means he left a will, now the Dark Lord believes that there are many items of extreme importance or power included in this will. Now most likely they will be left to Potter, He doesnt want them to be around for Potter to retrieve. Are you catching my drift yet?' Severus turned to the boy, upon seeing his confused look, he sighed and continued explaining, 'We are not sure what items are in Dumbeldores will Draco,but we know that they are likely to be somewhere of high security, somewhere say like Gringotts, in a high security vault, protected by many enchantments and various other things! That DRacoi is why this is a suicide mission!' an evil grin spread across Severus' face as he looked at the shocked look on his young colleague.
Several weeks had passed since Hermione had first appeared at the Dursleys, at first the Vernon was furious but once he found out Hermione could turn him upside down then he quickly shut up. The past few weeks had been hard for Hermione, Ron had sent her a howler telling her they were finished and that she was not welcome at his house anymore. Hermione had locked herself up for a long time when this happened, refusing to leave Harrys room. Slowly the sun began to rise over the houses opposite, it was the day before Harrys birthday, hed be leaving soon enough, ever since Petunia had told him about what she had done he had wanted to leave, never to come back. As he began to stir on this morning, he rolled over and felt the coldness of his floor, he had totally forgot that Hermione was in his bed. Having been shocked into the being awake, he slowly pulled the cover off him and stood up, sitting on the window sill was a little brown owl, it was repeatedly flying off then back at the window almost knocking itself out. It flew away as Harry opened the window, seconds later the little ball of fur had flown straight into the door. Laughing quietly to himself Harry went to retrieve the owl, taking a letter from Pigwidgeon took far longer than form any other owl as he wouldn't sit still for longer than 10 seconds! As soon as Harry had take the letter form the over excitable owl, he instantly knew ho it was from. A sweet smelling aroma rose slowly up to his nose, turning it over Harry saw the pink writing,. He slowly undone the letter and began to read it it:
Dear Harry,
How are you? I hope you've been having a good summer. Mines been terrible, I havent been able to stop thinking about you Harry, all summer Harry all I've thought about is you. You broke my heart that day, although you done it for the right reasons. Harry I do not care about what you say about You-Know-Who wanting to kill me if I'm close to you, I wat you Harry, so so much and I know you feel the same. We will tlak about this once you get to the Burrow. Lots of love Ginny xxx P.S. If Hermione is there, I cant believe you went to Harry, you've really hurt Ron I'm glad he broke up with you before you hurt him even more.
Harry looked down at the letter, Ginny still like dhim, but Harry, he didn't like her anymore. The girl he liked was with him, in the very same room as him. True he had had very deep feelings for Ginny but over the summer they had disappeared. As he went to write Ginny a reply Hermione began to wake up, quickly shoving the letter in his pocket he sat by the window looking at the blood red sky and the swirls of lcoud which had taken over the sky.
For the rest of the day Harry and Hermione spent there time cleaning there possesions away.
Professor McGonagel had stated that she and several Order members would arrive at 10:00 to escort Harry and Hermione to the Burrow. By the time they had finished clearing away there many scattered possesions lunchtime had been and gone and Vernons harsh shout indicated that dinner was ready which meant it was 6:00! Slowly Hermone and Harry made there way downstairs, the meals for Harry had not got better even though he had a guest with him. As usual they ate in silence, Dudley still eating twice as much as anyone else, the silence was finally broken by Petunia, 'Harry for the past 17 years Vernon and I have been treating you badly, very badly. We both know it, we should have raised you as our own, but... well it was like I explained. Anyway tonight you will leave us Harry most probably forever, the last link of my sisters family leaving. What Im trying to say Harry is that I do love you and Im thankful that my sistes sacrifice wasnt in vain and that our blood has been able to protect you whenever you are here.' tears began to roll down Petunias face, Vernon looked down at the floor and Dudley was mistified at what his mother was saying.'Harry you are my nephew and you are my family, I love you Harry and I wish you good luck in your future, and well goodbye Harry.' Harry sat on his chair in shcok, shaking slightly his aunts speech had really touched his heart. Vernon had taken Petunias silence as his cue to leave the table, he lsowly rose and his son followed suit. They left the room as quickly as possible, 'I...I dont know what to say. Up until the night that you told me wha..what you done I didnt consider you to be any part of my family, I didnt have any feelings except hatred for this house, but when you said that my hatred turned to pity, you have been far nicer this summer. I wont be sorry to leave this place but I will know that at least for some time that I was here, I was loved. Goodbye Petunia,we will probably never speak again,' with that Harry rose from his seat and left the room with Hermione scurrying after him. Petunia was left in tears in the dining room.
For the next few hours Hermione and Harry sat in his room, waiting for the Order, both of them not looking forward to the going to the Burrow. Harry suspected that Ron would be very frosty towards him, also he had to tell Ginny he didnt have any feelings for her. Hermione was dreading seeing Ron. They hadnt talked for almost a month now. Slowly the sun sank into the sky, being replaced by darkness, not a star in the sky, the moon covered by thick cloud. Time began to tick by, each second felt like an eternity then it came, one by one the lights outside went out. The next moment, Harrys room was bustling with activity, 'Harry, Hermione are you here?' a rough voice called out, Harry recognised it immediatley as that of Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody, 'Yeah were here Professor, who have you got with you?' Harry called out into the darkness, 'Harry how many times have I told you, don't call me Professor, well McGonagels here, so is Kingsley, Lupin and Arthur' Moody called back out into the darkness. Finally Harry manged to find the bedside lamp and a dull light emitted throughout the room. Harry instantly recognised the faces fo those around him, he felt a sudden rush of joy, he was back where he belonged. 'Shall we go then?' Harry asked McGonagel, she looked at Harry and nodded, she took Harrys and Hermiones trunk and seconds later she had disappeared, and moments later she reappeared. 'Lets go then, by the way Miss Granger we will be flying , I assume you know how to fly?', Hermione looked at McGonagel and simply nodded although she did hate flying, very much. They made their way out of Harrys small room, and slowly moved down the stairs, Dudley was out but Vernon and Petunia were still awake. They moved to the living room door, 'Harry your going now?' Vernon asked, not in his usual voice that he saved especially for Harry, perhaps he was pleased to see the back of Harry, 'Yeah I'm going now, goodbye Vernon, goodbye Petunia' Harry turned to follow the rest of the Order outside, 'Goodbye Harry' Vernon said standing directly behind him with his hand held out, Harry raise dhis hand and placed it in his uncles,'Good luck Harry' and with that he turned back into the house, Petunia stepped out of her husbands shadow, she reached out and embraced Harry, he was shocked at this sudden display of emotion. She pulled away from Harry and stepped into the doorway, Harry turned into the starless night and the next moment the door had shut. He held his broom out, mounting it slowly, he looked back at the house which had been his home for the last 17 years. Part of him felt happy at leaving, but a second part of him felt sadness at leaving his aunt and uncle. As he pushed off, he muttered a silent goodbye to his aunt and uncle.
The wind blowing through Harrys hair felt like a blessing, he felt free. He heard the shrill screaming of Hermione just behind him, he let a small laugh slip from his mouth. The set up was the same as it had been the day Harry went to Grimmauld Place, Harry quickly turned his thoughts to something else, Sirius' death was still too painful to accept. The wind was beginning to cut into his skin like an ice cold knife, the initial joy of being in the air had disappeared, how he wished he could have apparated to the Burrow. They continued to fly for almost another hour, before the Order began to descend, 'Almost there Harry, hold on a bit longer' Tonks yelled back at him. Harry turned and sawy Hermione had quietened down a great deal ad appeared to be rather warm. Harry managed to force himself a smile, although he felt had he held it any longer it would have held in place.
The Order all landed softly onto the ground, Hermione let out a sigh of relief to be on two feet again. Slowly they made there way towards the Weasleys house, Harry noticed that the kitchen lights were still on, Mrs Weasley must still be awake. This filled Harry with a great joy, hye was starving and knew that Mrs Weasley would spoil him, and Hermione. They made there way through the backdoor into the cramped kitchen, it wasnt juust Mrs Weasley that was awake, Bill, Charlie and the twins were sitting round the kitchen table. 'Alright Harry, alright Hermione' they all said in a rather monotonous unison. Harry sensed they really didnt want to be up this late, he simply nodded back at them, 'Hi Mrs Weasley' Harry said looking towards the plump ginger haired woman standing over the stove, 'Oh hello Harry, erm.. its late I think you should go to bed,' she replied without even looking at him, with that she shuffled out of the room, Harry looked towards George who was sitting at the table,'Don't worry bout it Harry, shes just stressed and also well she thinks your the reason Ron and her broke up' he said nodding towards Hermione who so far had been extremely quiet, ' You two will be sharing a room, Ron seems to think the same as mum and well Ginny doesn't like you very much at the moment Hermione', Hermione gave a went to open her mouth but thought better of it, Fred got up and told them to follow him, they went into a part of the house Hrry had never been before, they walked down into what must have been the basement. It was quite large but stank of wetness, two beds had been rather hastily shoved into the room.' Like I said she doesn't really like you at the moment, actually your only here because us lot upstairs stood up for you.' Fred added with a smile ad went back up the stairs. 'Well I can't say I don't blame her for hating us,' Hemrione said in a quiet voice, 'Oh god Harry, we're gona have to face them tommorow, we're gona have to see Ron, and you'll have to see Ginny,' a lump bean to grow in Harrys throat and his stomach began to summersault, he was dreading it, 'Well Hermione, I suppose we we're gona have to do it somewhen, so ows better time than any, I'm tired, I'm going to try and get some sleep, night,' Harry slipped into the nearest bed, Hermione moved to the other bed just underneath a tiny window. Her feelings for Ron had disappeared, a few weeks ago she would have done anything to be with him, but this last week, she wouldn't have been able to get through them without Harry, slowly she drifted into sleep, the thought of Harry embedded in her mind.
Harry and Hermione were woken early by the sound of voices shouting from somewhere up above.
'I don't care Bill, I don't want them here!' Rons voice bellowed down the stairs. 'Ron this mine and Fleurs day and we want them here, you cannot tell us what to do!'Bill screamed back at Ron, Hermione and Harry climbed up the stairs and slowly pushed the door open just far enough to see what was happening. Rons face was red and he looked out of breath, 'She was my girlfriend and he was my best friend! For the last two weeks they've been together! She gets attacked and instead of coming to her boyfriend she goes to him! All my time at Hogwarts I've been in his shadow, now finally I get something that made me happy. But no, he has to take that as well!' Ron seemed to double in size, Bill slowly bowed his head, 'I'm sorry Ron, I can see why you're annoyed but I want them here and thats the end of it.' Bill turned and started to walk off, 'Choose, me or them!Who do you want at this wedding more?' Ron said, his voice was full of disgust, 'I'm not going to choose anyone Ron, you will be there ad so will they so shut up!' Harry figured itd be best that him and Hermione not reveal themselves until Ron disappeared but at that point, as Hermione turned to go back downstairs, her jeans caught on a nail and, she fell backwards straght through the door! Harry had turned to catch her, and managed to put his arm round her. This only pulled Harry down on top of her. As they lay in this comprimising position in the Weasleys hallway, they looked up and there above them stood Ron, 'Hello mate' Ron said in a voice usually preserved for Harry by Snape, he didnt even acknowledge that Hermione had been there and he turned and marched upstairs.
KMC Community Forums
Sep 13th, 2005 04:57 PM
Get well soon, everyone!
