A/N-Hello my fellow Portkey Pals! You find out in this chapter why I coded this Action/Adventure. I really feel like the whole FF has led up to the scenes you'll read in this (and the final) chapter. I appreciate your replies and it continues to amaze me how people enjoy my writing. This is my first ever FF, and I am consistently impressed by the reception it has gotten! I still can't believe it landed on the H/H recommendations page!
There is good news and bad news however...
The good news-this FF is almost over. The next chapter will be the last in Power. However, I'm well into a sequel already (it's already as long as this FF and I've only just gotten our trio on the Hogwarts Express. It's WAY more involved than this story is. Lots more action, arguments, some fluff of course…and I acquired my moniker as the "Kleenex Queen" in several updates.
The bad news…just when you thought you understood my nickname as the "Cliffhanger Queen"…
Read on!!! And Enjoy!!
Vicarious Leigh
Chapter 11 - Lost and Found
Harry awoke the next morning feeling as close to prepared for his exams as he could be. He had worked day and night with Hermione for five solid days and finally felt ready to sit for the tests. The trio had a quiet breakfast together. Hermione was pouring over her books in a last minute effort to ensure she had memorized them all properly. While still completely mystified about whatever Malfoy had been talking about, Harry was compelled to some last minute studying as well. Ron didn't seem hardly conscious enough to engage in conversation, but before long the impulse overtook Harry.
"Ron, has your dad said anything about work lately?" Harry asked. Hermione's eyes whipped up from her textbook and she peered at Ron.
"What do you mean?" Ron said, nibbling on a strip of bacon.
"I don't know. Just wondered if you'd heard anything peculiar?" Harry asked nonchalantly.
Ron noticed the looks he'd attracted from Harry and Hermione and clued into the larger story. "What's going on?" Ron asked. With a cursory glance toward Hermione, Harry took a breath and told Ron the story of what they'd heard the evening before. "I don't know," Ron said dejectedly. "Maybe we can find out from Tonks?"
"Maybe we can do that after our exams. It's time to go," Hermione said getting up from the table. Ron and Harry followed suit and gathered their books, setting off for the first exam of the morning.
***
"I'm starving!" Ron whined, as they reentered the Great Hall for lunch.
"Honestly, Ron! You think you would waste away to nothing if you didn't eat a four course meal every two hours," Hermione scoffed. She looked up to, Harry expecting to see a smirk or smile from her comment, but instead saw him staring off to the head table. "Harry?" she inquired, following his gaze to the table. She quickly saw what he found to be peculiar. Tonks and McGonagall were engrossed in a conversation joined by Mad-Eye Moody and Remus Lupin. All four were engaged in an animated discussion they were obviously trying to keep confidential. Moody and Lupin suddenly swept from the room. Shortly thereafter, Tonks followed behind. Albus Dumbledore was the one person whose presence was markedly absent.
"Something big is going on," Harry said quietly.
"Where's Dumbledore?" Hermione whispered.
"Maybe we should send an owl," Ron proposed.
"Who would we send it to Ron?" Hermione quipped. "Your mum surely will think we're too young to know what's going on and everyone else is here. The only one who would've told us the truth was Sir…" She stopped abruptly and looked up to Harry. "Harry, I'm sorry," she said looking away with a saddened expression.
He reached across the table and took her hand. "It's okay. You're right anyway. Sirius is the only one who'd tell us the truth." Looking to change the subject in any direction from where it had gone he added, "what exams are next?"
"Er-I've got Arithmancy and we all have Defense Against the Dark Arts at four o'clock," Hermione answered. Looking at the watch on Harry's wrist, she pulled her hand from his and began to gather her books. "I imagine the both of you will be studying chapter thirty-four to forty in the meantime. You were both a little weak on Roshack's theory of defensive maneuvers." She rustled through her bag for her favorite quill and upon finding it, looked back to her two best friends. "I'll see you both at four."
She smiled and swept from the Great Hall among their well-wishing. Harry and Ron returned to the common room under the pretext of following Hermione's advice. However, they spent the vast majority of the time engaged in speculation over the appearance of members of the Order at Hogwarts. Their conversation became so involved they entirely lost track of time.
"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed, looking down at his watch. Its five minutes to four! They had expected their walking alarm clock to ensure they'd make the exam on time. However, Hermione had never returned to the common room.
"Oh, she's going to be in a right state if her Arithmancy exam took that long!" Ron mumbled as they ran out of the portrait hole and down the stairs.
"Even worse, we'll get lectured for being late!" Harry added as they moved faster down the hall. They ran down the corridor, rounded the corner and nearly bowled over a horde of gathered students. Their Defense Against the Dark Arts classmates were huddled around a piece of parchment posted on the door. It gave no explanation and served to confuse Harry and Ron even more. It simply read, "exam canceled."
This is getting out-of-hand.
Harry searched the crowd for Hermione. They needed to regroup in order to make sense out of what was going on. Hermione was no where to be found.
"Ron, do you see Hermione?" Harry asked, feeling Ron's vantage point might serve them better as he was at least six inches taller than Harry.
Ron looked around the group and scrunched up his face. "No I don't see her. She must've gone looking for us back at the common room," he said giving a knowing glance toward Tonks' sign. They raced back to Gryffindor tower to find her. They were stopped as they rounded the corner.
"WHOA! Harry, Ron, we need to talk…now." Remus Lupin caught them in mid-step and gestured toward a nearby classroom.
Harry hesitantly followed, still gazing uselessly down the corridor leading toward the Fat Lady. "What is going on?" Harry asked impatiently. He still wanted to find Hermione, but conceded after thinking better of it. This way they could get their questions answered and bring her the whole story when they returned to the common room.
"Harry, we discovered who jinxed your broom. We found the leak in the Ministry of Magic," Lupin said quietly.
"What? Who did it? How'd you find out?" Harry stammered, as the door opened behind him.
"You told us," Mad-Eye Moody added with his typical sunshiny temperament. "When we were talking in the hospital wing the day you woke up," he said, peering out of the nearby window.
Harry didn't remember a lot of their conversation other than to say there wasn't much of one. He told them he hadn't seen anyone at the Quidditch pitch and Mad-Eye left annoyed with him. "But, I didn't see anyone that day. I told you that," Harry added confused.
"You told me there were Chudley Cannon scouts in the stands," Mad-Eye grumbled. "It's not a big surprise who the greatest supporter of the Cannons is, and he's been doing a bit of scouting on the side." Mad-Eye grew even more agitated.
"Calm down Moody, we've all told you a hundred times that even the best Aurors make mistakes. You're entitled to yours," Lupin said exasperatedly.
"I'M THE ONE WHO STOOD UP FOR HIM AGAINST ROOKWOOD!" Moody roared. He was so agitated Harry leapt backwards a few steps. Harry and Ron gave a pleading look toward Lupin, begging for answers.
"Ludo Bagman," Lupin replied with a heavy heart.
"WHAT!" Harry and Ron yelled together.
"Ludo...Ludo Bagman?" Ron stuttered. "But, he's the coolest bloke in the Ministry! He can't be working for Vol..Vold…AH! You-Know-Who!" He finished never having said Voldemort's name.
"Oh, use your head kid!" Moody growled. "It makes perfect sense! He took longer than the artic winter to even start looking for Bertha Jorkins. He probably knew what happened the whole time. He accrued a formidable gambling debt and was clearly on the run from the goblins." Moody continued to pace. Harry started to feel like he was watching a volley at Wimbledon and looked away. "Didn't it ever strike you as odd he just showed back up into his job…AFTER having paid the goblins off," Moody said, seeming to be angrier at himself than anyone else. "I guess he just played dumb better than the rest of us thought." He slammed the window shut and turned toward Harry and Ron. "For the love of Merlin, he even tried to recruit Winky to work for him, and spy on you!"
Harry felt the ardent desire to ask where Bagman had gotten the money, then realized he didn't need to. Moody was right, it did make perfect sense. Voldemort gave Bagman the gold he needed in exchange for inside information from the Ministry itself.
That explains why Winky tried to leap out of Gryffindor tower at Christmas. She would probably be happier as a house-elf pancake than a servant to another sworn ally of Voldemort's.
"That must be what Malfoy meant," Harry muttered to himself. In truth, he wouldn't have been surprised if Lucius Malfoy bankrolled the entire operation. Ron interrupted his musings with an important point.
"But, I looked in the stands, I never saw Bagman. I would've noticed him." Ron said quizzically.
"He wasn't there," Lupin replied confidently. "He never left the Ministry that day. But, the entire entourage of Cannons scouts were recruited by Bagman and any one of them with sufficient knowledge of the dark arts could've hexed Harry's Firebolt." Lupin finished.
Oh, dear God!
Harry felt sick. He couldn't catch his breath and leaned over on a table to ensure he wouldn't fall over. His heart pounded so loudly in his ears he was unable to hear clearly. His throat constricted and he squeaked out what had brought on his reaction…"Hermione!"
He sprinted out of the classroom, Ron following behind, bellowing wildly.
"Harry! Talk to me! What's going on?"
Harry burst into the common room to find it full of fellow Gryffindors, happily discussing the end of their exams. Crookshanks hissed at him from a nearby chair as he ran past.
"Ginny!" Harry screamed, finding her sitting with Neville, Seamus, and Dean.
"What? Harry what's wrong?" Ginny asked, reacting to the clear expression of dread on Harry's face.
"Have you seen Hermione?" Harry said, grabbing her by the arms.
"No. I wanted to talk to you about that. Merc Thompson said she missed her Arithmancy exam." Ginny added with concern. "Harry what's going on?" Ginny yelled as he set off toward his dormitory taking the spiral stairs two at a time.
He threw the door open and dove for the trunk at the foot of his bed. As he struggled to pull it out, Ron appeared in the doorway behind him, completely breathless.
"Oy, mate! Please tell me what is going on!" Ron said, attempting to catch his breath.
"It's Hermione," Harry said, unlocking his trunk and opening the lid. "She never made it to Arithmancy." He was throwing things out of the trunk wildly searching for something. Ron instantly shared Harry's desperation.
Hermione would never miss an exam.
"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good," Harry muttered as he touched his wand to the Marauder's Map. Ron rushed to his side and they both began to scour the map together.
"Nothing!" Harry snapped in frustration.
"I don't understand," Ron said with a worried expression. "Where could she be? Why would she leave Hogwarts grounds?" he said, growing more incensed.
"I don't think she had a choice," Harry said quietly.
"What? Then how…" Ron began.
"Krum," Harry said, crumpling the map in his hand. "Bagman recruited him. He came to London to work in his department. Don't you remember what Hermione said he was doing for him?" Harry roared.
"Scouting," Ron added at a whisper. "What do we do? How can we find her if she's left the grounds?" Ron said, returning to the harsh reality of the situation.
"Well, he can't apparate or disapparate on the grounds. Unless he used a portkey, which the Ministry would likely know about, he can't be far," Harry added with a note of hope. By this time several members of the D.A. had arrived in the room to determine what the commotion was all about. "THINK, Harry!" he snapped at himself while pacing the dormitory. Neville moved forward out of the crowd and extended his hand towards Harry.
"Harry, I found this on my way back to the tower. I don't know if you want to see it but I think you'd better," he added, opening his hand. Laying peacefully on his palm was the ring he'd given to Hermione. The diamond encrusted horntail glistened in the candlelight but the stone had changed to a color that needed no description.
It was black.
Harry slowly reached for the ring, his heart pounding, and legs quaking nearly to the point of collapse. Ginny gasped as he took the ring in his hand, she'd seen it too. Harry slumped into a nearly chair and grasped the ring firmly in his hand. He buried his forehead in his hands and tried desperately to think of something, anything!
"I wish she could just tell us where she is," Ron muttered.
Harry's head snapped up. "What did you say?" Harry replied.
"I said, I wish she could just tell us where she is," Ron repeated. Harry sprung from the chair and walked to his four-poster bed; the ring firmly grasped in his hand.
"Maybe she can," he said hopefully. "Okay, I need you all to be completely quiet. I have no idea if this will even work." Harry settled himself on his bed. He took several deep breaths and closed his eyes. Only Ron had the slightest inclination what Harry might be trying.
"Legilimens!" Harry shouted. He grasped the ring as firmly as he could, concentrating with every bit of energy he had to forge some kind of connection. He saw flashes of the same thing he'd seen before. There was a dark room, there was a man pacing back and forth in the shadows. Hermione must've been on the floor, as the man seemed to be eight feet tall.
"Tell me where you are…tell me where you are….tell me where you are," Harry muttered it over and over, begging Hermione to hear him, to help him. The dark room faded away and her thoughts changed. There was a street, there were witches as wizards passing nearby shops…he recognized the shops.
"She's in Hogsmeade," Harry said, opening his eyes to a thoroughly stunned group of D.A. members. He jumped up from the bed not realizing Crookshanks had hopped into his lap and sent him careening across the floor. Just as he got up to head for the door he was hit with an all-too-familiar sensation.
Pain. Excruciating pain.
Harry let out a wail and collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain from his scar. His stomach lurched, but his physical pain was nothing compared to how he felt in his head. The connection he'd forged with Hermione had not subsided entirely and he saw, very clearly, what was happening. The pain returned in full force and he could muster only two words.
"No! Hermione!"
"Crucio!" he heard Krum shout at Hermione. He could hear her screaming in his head. It was even worse than the echo of his mother's screams. "I loved you! You broke my heart and all for him!" he blasted. Hermione was crying uncontrollably. She was trying to explain.
"Viktor…Viktor, please! If you loved me you wouldn't do this…please," she struggled to get the words out.
"Shut up!" he roared. "You'll never understand how much you hurt me! I moved halfway around the world for you, and you send me an owl! You sent me his owl!" he screamed.
"No!" Harry yelled, feeling another wave of the Cruciatus Curse slamming into Hermione.
He couldn't take it. He'd have done anything to help her, to trade places with her. He tried as hard as he could to focus on Hermione. He pushed his way into her mind - an unforgiving and blinding pain began to wash over him. He curled up on the floor, every bone in his body feeling as though it were on fire. Stabbing pain filled every inch of his body and he heard himself screaming. He didn't care. In his heart, he knew what he was doing and, if necessary, he'd do it until it killed him.
Just as quickly as he'd made that decision, the pain was gone.
The D.A. was crowded around Harry, hovering over him. Of all the concerned faces peering down at him, Neville's was the most formidable. Harry lay on the floor shaking violently, but was satisfied with the thought that Krum had stopped. He had stopped torturing Hermione when he couldn't understand how she had thrown off his curse.
"We've got to get to Hogsmeade now," Harry said, Neville helping him to his feet, "Before he kills her."
***
By the time Harry, Ron, and Neville made it to the secret passageway they had acquired some help. Ginny, Dean, Seamus and Luna had joined them running down the corridor. There were far too many of them to hide under the invisibility cloak and frankly Harry hadn't given it a second thought. He actually held out some hope that several professors or students would tag along; demanding to know where they were going. He had the sinking feeling they were headed into a larger crisis than anything Krum could manufacture himself. They were going to need a lot of help. Unfortunately, there was no time to ask.
"How'd you find out about this?" Seamus asked, staring with disbelief into the secret corridor that wound its way into Hogsmeade.
"Nevermind," Ginny answered quickly, passing by him and following Harry into the dark passage. She had obviously heard enough family stories to have determined Fred and George's Marauder's Map had something to do with Harry's inside intelligence. They all set off in a flat out run through the dark corridor.
The seven of them burst onto the main street winding through Hogsmeade and Harry felt a sinking feeling overcome him. He'd not said two words since barreling out of the common room but his mind hadn't quit talking to him. Secretly, he had been praying with everything he had that Hermione was actually in Hogsmeade. In actuality, he was scared to death; not only for Hermione, but also that he was reliving last year's events. There was far too much déjà vu going on in his head to mark it all up to coincidence. Last year, he'd led the same friends into a trap because he was convinced Sirius was at the Department of Mysteries. Now he was convinced Hermione was in Hogsmeade - it was all so familiar and he didn't have an answer for Neville's question.
"So where in Hogsmeade is she?" Neville asked, peering down the street. The seven of them glanced up and down the street at a loss for where to run next. Witches and wizards were bustling by peering in store windows and settling down for drinks outside the Three Broomsticks. One older graying witch actually walked right into Ginny while checking the galleons remaining in her pouch.
"We're going to have to split up," Harry said, still systematically searching the passersby for any sign of Hermione's location. "Neville, Ginny you go to the left, Dean, Seamus, and Luna go to the right, Ron and I will go this way," Harry directed, pointing his drawn wand down the street toward a decaying old building. "Meet back here in ten minutes," They all nodded quietly and set off without so much as a word to each other. Those who didn't have their wands drawn, conspicuously tucked their hands in their pockets, no doubt with their wand at the ready.
"Let's go," Ron said after watching the others disappear into a bustle of Hogsmeade residents. Ron took the left side of the street while Harry took the right. They peered into store windows looking for anything out of the ordinary. By the time they reached the end of the street, Harry had fallen into a near panic. His scar had never stopped burning dully and he couldn't stop his mind racing to what Krum might be doing now. Just as he was about to express his bourgeoning concerns to Ron, he looked toward the one shop they had yet to check - The Hogs Head Tavern.
He and Ron charged to the window and couldn't see a thing. The Hogs Head was not known for its cleanliness. Harry thought back to the cloudy glasses they'd been handed when first organizing the D.A. The bar usually had scattered patrons, all of peculiar origin. That's what they fully expected to see. However, when Harry and Ron stepped through the door and found the Hogs Head an even more peculiar place than the last time they visited….it was completely empty.
"Where do you suppose everyone is?" Ron asked quietly.
"I don't know," Harry replied. It did strike him as incredibly peculiar that even the proprietor wasn't at his station behind the bar.
The Hogs Head was dim, only a few streams of diffused light broke through the cloudy windows and laid strips of gray light across the floor. Dust particles swirled in the diffused sunbeams and the only sound they heard was that of their footsteps on the creaking floor. They continued to scan the room looking for some revelation, some answer.
"Harry, there's a door over there," Ron said, pointing to an exceptionally dark corner of the bar. They silently agreed this was the best idea they had and headed for the door. Even if it opened to the barman's face, he could possibly give them some information that might lead them both to Hermione. As Harry pushed open the creaking door, he realized this was exactly what they were looking for.
A dark staircase wound down to a lower level and both Ron and Harry could hear the exasperated voice belonging to the famous Bulgarian seeker. They charged down the stairs together and found themselves in a short hallway with a door cracked open at the far end. They ran down the hallway, wands extended, but before they could reach it they heard Hermione…screaming again.
Harry and Ron burst through the door simultaneously shouting, "stupify!" at the top of their lungs. A blinding flash of light exploded from the end of both their wands and landed squarely in Viktor Krum's chest. He was lifted off his feet and blown backward into a rickety set of shelves containing a variety of bottles. His body smashed both the shelves and bottles into oblivion and he fell to the floor unconscious. Ron and Harry whipped around to find Hermione crumpled on the floor in a dim corner of the room. They charged to her side, Harry gently rolled her onto her back. Her eyes were rolling back in her head and her entire body was reverberating violently. Her face was dirtied by the dust covered floor, punctuated only by the tracks down her cheeks where the dust had been washed away by her tears. Harry wasn't even sure she knew they were there. He gave a quick glance to Ron and tried to gain her attention.
"Hermione?" he asked desperately. "Hermione, can you hear me? It's Harry." Remembering what her words had done for him, he added quietly, "I'm here. Everything's going to be alright." Ron gave him a concerned look. She didn't seem to be responding.
"Harry, we have to get her out of here," Ron added sliding his arm under hers. Harry followed suit and they pulled Hermione to her feet.
While it seemed a good idea to merely help her walk, they both determined this plan had no possibility of success. Aside from being essentially unconscious, she was shaking so violently, she wasn't able to stand under her own power. Her legs simply wouldn't hear of it. As they folded under her, Harry threw his other arm around the back of her legs and scooped her up, dropping his wand as he did. Her head rolled off his chest and hung backward over his arm, swinging helplessly with each step he took. It was all Harry could do to hold back the flood of emotions threatening to erupt inside him. He wanted to scream, he wanted to cry, and he wanted to kill Viktor Krum. His heart was breaking to see her like this.
Hold it together, Harry. She needs you to hold it together. Just get her back to Hogwarts.
Ron grabbed Harry's wand from the floor and rushed to hold the door open for him. The expression on his face let Harry know; he too, was barely holding himself in check. As he carried her toward the stairs, he felt like he should've been struggling more with Hermione's weight, but the adrenaline pumping through his veins strengthened him. He easily climbed the spiral staircase behind Ron. They burst out of the Hogs Head Tavern into the street.
We're going to make it, Hermione. We're almost there.
The passageway was only steps beyond and in no time they would have Hermione safe within the boundaries of Hogwarts. Harry had barely finished this thought when he realized Ron had stopped in his tracks, and for good reason.
They had only been in the Hogs Head a matter of minutes but the entire scenery of Hogsmeade reflected a drastic change. It was deserted. The witches and wizards perusing the shop windows only minutes before were no where to be found. Ron gripped his wand and looked around. "Neville, Ginny! Over here!" he shouted, spotting his sister and fellow Gryffindor jogging down the street. Dean, Seamus and Luna must've heard Ron's voice and appeared out of a nearby shop.
"This is spooky Harry," Dean said as Ginny rushed over to check Hermione cradled in Harry's arms.
"Hermione?" Ginny's voice trembled as she brushed the hair away from her face. She seemed to be stirring a bit and Harry couldn't help but notice her body was considerably calmer than it had been only minutes before. He tore his gaze from Hermione; he couldn't take looking at her tear-stained face for long. Ginny continued to absently brush her hair away from her face in a futile attempt to rouse her.
Answering Dean's concern, Harry said, "I know its spooky, and I don't care to find out why. We have to get her to Madam Pomfrey." Harry started off toward the passageway. The group followed behind closely behind, peering in all directions for signs of any danger.
They didn't have to look far. As it always seemed with Harry Potter, danger found him.
They turned the final corner in route to the passageway and came to an abrupt halt. It was now perfectly clear to Harry where the residents of Hogsmeade had gone. Ginny gasped and Ron let out a muffled squeak. They all, save Harry, seemed to pull their wands in unison and held their breath.
They had come face to face with no less than eight Death Eaters.