Chapter 7 : The Traitor
Harry sat alone on the park bench replaying the events, which had just occurred in his head. Oh, I can't believe I kissed her! What was I thinking? I hate these stupid teenage hormones. The frustration ran through his head, until at last, worry and guilt took over him. She had had a really rough time recently and now Harry had given her another reason to worry. He started to wonder where Hermione had gone and if she was safe. Especially after the recent kidnap by Lucius Malfoy. Harry knew that he had to try and find her; he couldn't bare it if anything happened to her. He sprinted away from the bench and began his search of Hogsmeade, hoping that she would either be there or Hogwarts.
Harry searched Hogsmeade for about three hours. He had looked everywhere from The Three Broomsticks to The Shrieking Shack. The night was slowly drawing in and Harry pulled the hood of his cloak over his head as the cold air and fog whipped around his ears. He could see his breath in front of him and it looked as though it would freeze right there, it was so cold. If Hermione was out here, she would be in a lot of pain from this cold.
Harry made his way back to Hogwarts quickly. He ran up to the Gryffindor Common Room, he passed a few students on his way. Harry found Ron in the common room. He was sat by the fire, doing his homework. "Ron!" Harry shouted, as Ron turned around in shock. "have you seen Hermione!" Ron looked seriously at Harry.
"No, I thought she was with you," he said quickly. Harry panicked even more, he knew that Hermione would be in the common room, by now, after all it was nearly ten o'clock.
"Oh, Ron I've made a mistake, it's to late to explain. All I can say is that I lost her, do you have any idea where she might be?"
"Um…no…unless she's at Diagon Alley, that's the only place I can think of other than Hogsmeade," said Ron.
"I'm going after her." Harry said abruptly. He pulled up the hood of his cloak, and turned to leave.
"Wait!" shouted Ron. "You can't go looking for Hermione now, Diagon Alley might not be as safe at night. And how are you going to get past the prefects, professors, Filch and Peeves. I mean I know that you want to find Hermione, and so do I, but I'm not going anywhere tonight. What you do is up to you, but I suggest that you wait for a while to see if she turns up."
Harry sighed. "You're right Ron, it is up to me what I do, and I'm looking for her. You don't know what happened at Hogsmeade. I have to find her." Ron sighed as Harry grabbed his invisibility cloak and rushed out of the common room without giving him chance to speak.
*
Harry held the invisibility cloak over him all the way out of Hogwarts. He had to breathe quietly so that nobody heard him. His footsteps were just as light. Harry noticed how everything looked a little different at night. He reached Diagon Alley after about two hours, so it was already nearly midnight when he got there. But he knew this was only part of the journey. He still had to find Hermione.
He walked briskly down the main streets of Diagon Alley noticing a few drunken wizards stumbling down the street, not to mention the one that was asleep on the bench he was walking past. He could hear shouting and loud music coming from the pubs, and he couldn't help feeling the urge to have one of those nice warm Butterbeer's trail down his throat. But he had to stick to his route.
He explored the main streets with the invisibility cloak still draped over him. He decided to take some of the dark back streets, where all he found was two cats vigorously fighting. The concern he felt for Hermione grew deeper and deeper as he explored more of the strange nighttime Diagon Alley. After searching for a little longer he reached the signpost to the one place he hoped he wouldn't have to visit. But he knew that was the last place left to look. Yes, he was going into Knockturn Alley. He hadn't been there since he accidentally landed there from the Weasley's fireplace in second year. It had been scary then, at ten o'clock in the morning, not to mention now at one o'clock in the morning.
He slowly stepped into the place under his invisibility cloak. The dark witched and wizards were roaming the streets with their peering eyes. Harry almost felt as though they knew he was there. There were not many shops here, apart from the odd boarded up deserted shop. Harry crept slowly through the dark streets with his cloak wrapped tightly around him. He came up to a dark pub called. "The Dark Mark." Harry looked inside to see the man with slick blonde hair. Lucius Malfoy. He could see but not hear Malfoy talking to a little wizard who seemed to be listening to the story intently. He turned around to continue walking when he bumped into a tall wizard. He had dark eyes, and a bushy black beard; he stared around looking for what had hit him. Harry scramble to his feet and stood on his invisibility cloak. Removing it from his body, he looked them man square in the eyes.
He turned and ran as the wizard ran after him. Harry ran for about five minutes, with the tall skinny man galloping after him. Some people turned their heads to watch but none of them tried to stop Harry. He leapt round two corners, before finally losing sight of the man. He leaned back against the wall, breathing heavily. He turned to look around when he felt a hand grab his throat, pushing him back against the wall. The man he thought he had lost sight of had his hand wrapped tightly around his neck. Harry struggled to breathe as the grip tightened.
"So, here we meet again Harry Potter," the man hissed quietly.
"Who…are you." Harry forced out. He noticed the man had a foreign accent.
"Oh, you know me, we met two years ago," said the man. Harry only just noticed a sack on the ground when it started moving and screaming.
"Hermione." Harry cried as he looked at the sack. He hit the man in the stomach but it didn't really affect him too much as it wasn't a very fierce punch, as Harry was so weak from his choke.
The man whipped Harry across the face with the back of his hand, knocking him to the ground. The man stepped back and pulled off his hat, revealing short black hair. He then removed the fake beard and revealed his full face. Harry couldn't believe who it was. "Krum, Viktor Krum?" Harry gasped.
Krum smiled and let out a laugh, which was more like a cackle. "Yes, it is me," he hissed. "I have turned to the other side, the side of the most powerful wizard ever, the side of Lord Voldemort. I have kidnapped the mudblood behind me, to prove just how evil I can be. Not that it will matter to you because she will be dead in a little while once she is with my master, and you won't even remember it. That is, once I've conducted this little memory charm on you." Krum turned and walked over to Hermione. He opened the sack and pulled her out. He wrapped his arm tightly around her neck as he turned her to face Harry. Krum had his wand up at Harry with the other arm. "Crucio!" the spell shot out at Harry, he felt the pain surge through him, as he heard Hermione screaming. As Krum laughed. Harry regained focus to see Hermione step on Krum's foot, and then kick him in the groin. She ran over to Harry and knelt down beside him.
"Harry are you ok?" she sobbed.
"Yeah, I'll be fine." He saw Krum getting up again and he pulled out his wand and pointed it at Krum. Showing the true coward that he is, Krum ran away quickly yelling the words. "We'll get you Potter!"
Harry looked up at Hermione, only just realising that she was wearing only her shirt and jeans. "Here take this," he said, putting his cloak over her shoulders. "Did Krum take your cloak?"
"Yes," she answered.
Harry noticed a small trapdoor next to him, he opened it up and looked down, he could see nobody and it looked as thought there wasn't much there anyway. "Come, on let's get in here," he said, as he took Hermione by that hand, he led her down and they both muttered the 'lumos' spell. Hermione spotted a light switch and she turned it on. After all nobody could see them as there were no windows. They had no idea where they were or if they were safe.
"Somehow, I think we'll be ok here for now." Harry said. They sat down on a pile of wooden crates in the otherwise empty room. There was a long drawn-out silence.
"Harry"
"Hermione" they both said together. They both let out a nervous chuckle afterwards. "You first Harry," said Hermione.
Harry looked into her deep brown eyes. "I'm sorry about earlier," he muttered. "I don't know what came over me, it's just…you looked so beautiful and I knew you were hurting…so I guess I just thought I could make it better." Hermione gave him a weak smile.
"That's all fine Harry but to make me feel at all better, you didn't need to kiss me. Why did you do that?" she asked.
Harry felt the nerves burning through him again. "I…I…I did it because…you know…" he trailed off feeling very apprehensive to tell Hermione how we felt; he knew that it was now or never.
"No, I don't know Harry, did you just do it because you felt like snogging your best friend?" she snapped.
"Hermione, you know I would never do that to you," he said softly. "I did it…because I like you Hermione. And I don't mean just as a friend, I mean I really like you." Harry felt a slight weight off his mind after he had finally told her, but he was still worried about how she would react. He looked up slowly at her and their eyes met. He noticed Hermione smile ever so slightly. She finally spoke.
"Harry…I think it's sweet that you like me like that but I'm not sure if I feel that same way about you. Besides what would it do to our friendship?"
Harry shrugged. "I don't think our friendship would be any different to how it is now, after what I just told you. But I respect your opinion if you don't like me the same way that I like you, but I am willing to give it a try if you are." Harry cupped her face in his hands and kissed her gently, but this time she kissed him back. It was a soft and gently kiss. They slowly broke away and Harry smiled at Hermione. "How do you feel after that?" he asked.
Hermione smiled and giggled. "Ok, I admit I felt something there. And I guess I'm willing to give this relationship a go."
Harry felt happiness and relief inside him as he heard her words. "Hermione, can I ask you something?"
"Sure," she answered casually.
"Why did you run away from me earlier?" he asked curiously.
Hermione shrugged slightly. "I guess I was just scared. I was scared of what this could do to our friendship, and I didn't know if I could handle anything else this year."
Harry put his arm around her and pulled her close. "You'll be fine Hermione, trust me," he whispered in her ear.
And with that they slowly drifted off into a soft sleep in each other's arms.