CHAPTER THIRTY
NO PLACE SAFE
Harry thought the flight had gone well, Hermione didn't crush his hand too much during takeoff, but the landing was almost more than he could bear. Hermione had always mentioned she wasn't fond of flying, but Harry now had living proof that she was terrified of it. As the landing gears deployed and the plane started to shake, it was all he could do to keep her from going into hysterics. Never before had he felt such a powerful grip as he did during the last thirty minutes on approach to the Colorado Springs airport. He had felt some of her crushing grip during the layovers in New York City and Oklahoma City but the weather was rough at their destination and the turbulence had set Hermione on edge.
"Please, please, please let it be over." She was whispering to herself over and over again from her aisle seat. Her eyes were tightly closed and she was gripping onto Harry's arm and hand as if he was the only flotation device in an endless sea.
Harry tried his best to keep his girlfriend calm, whispering that everything would be fine and stroking her hand and arm with his free hand. Despite his reassurances, it seemed that Hermione wouldn't be satisfied until they were safely on the ground again.
"Everything will be fine, Hermione." He said soothingly. "The air is just a little choppy but we'll be on the ground in a few minutes."
"I just want to be on the ground in one piece, Harry." She said shakily from her seat, her eyes still closed. She double checked that her seatbelt was fastened, that her seat was in an upright position, and that the tray was indeed locked in. Feeling with her feet, she pushed her bag under the seat as far as it would go.
"Everything's fine, Hermione." Harry said gently. "I can see the runway just outside, we'll be on the ground in just a few-"
Harry was interrupted as the squelch of rubber on concrete sounded below them and the passengers were pitched slightly forward as the air brakes were deployed and the plane began its deceleration to taxiing speed.
"There, we're on the ground." He cooed in her ear, patting her hand gently. "A nice, soft landing." He reassured her.
Hermione visibly calmed as she opened her eyes and looked nervously about.
"I'm glad that's over." She said with a sigh of relief. "Thank you for taking the window seat, Harry, I don't know if I could have handled that."
"Welcome to Colorado Springs, Ladies and Gentlemen." The captain said over the intercom. "It's a brisk thirty-eight degrees Fahrenheit or 3 degrees Celsius today. There's a weather watch tonight for a strong snow storm from the south. It's cloudy but there is no precipitation as we make our way to the concourse. Thank you for flying British Airways. It has been our pleasure to serve you on this trip. Please enjoy your stay in the United States."
"We're here." Harry said with a smile. "Maybe we could take the Floo back home?" He added with a whisper.
"I don't know which is worse." She said with a pale face. It was clear that she was still recovering from her adrenaline rush. Her hands were shaking lightly and she started massaging her temples in an attempt to ward off a headache.
Harry smiled and massaged his hand and arm. "I didn't know you had such a strong grip."
"Oh, I'm sorry, Harry." She apologized. "I didn't hurt you or anything, did I?"
"No, not at all." He said with a lopsided grin. "Just a little stiff is all."
"We will be parking at concourse D in a few moments. Please remain seated until the aircraft has come to a complete stop."
As promised, the plane was parked a few minutes later and the aircrew began disembarking its passengers. There were groans of relief as people stretched their sore muscles from the flight and the travelers began their trek into the airport.
Harry and Hermione were off the large plane before her parents and patiently waiting for them at the gate. They were leaning against the wall, arm-in-arm, watching the reunions of hundreds of people who were either visiting or returning home.
"There you are!" A familiar voice wafted over the din of the busy concourse.
"We've been waiting for you, Mum." Hermione said with a forced smile. She was still working her way down from her flying experience, one her mother was well versed in.
"How are you feeling, honey." She said as she gave her daughter a comforting hug and rubbed her back. "You'll feel better once we're out on solid ground again."
Mr. Granger was spotted soon after carrying a sleeping baby in one arm and lugging his carry on in the other.
"I wish I could sleep like that during a flight." Hermione said jealously. "Then I wouldn't have to know where I was."
"Do you mind being the baby toter, Hermione?" Her father asked as he reached the three of them. "My arm seems to have fallen asleep along with her." His eyes glinted as he smiled at his baby daughter.
"Sure, Dad." Hermione said as she carefully transferred the sleeping little girl to her arms. Diana let out a soft, tired sigh and nuzzled into Hermione's neck before lying still again.
"Well, let's get to baggage and claim our things." Mr. Granger said cheerily as he rubbed his now free arm. "Then we can get an auto and head to the cabin. I don't want to get caught in that storm that's heading for us."
Harry took his girlfriend's carry on and the four tired companions made their way through the teeming masses. It was quite a few minutes of following sign after sign that they finally reached their designated luggage retrieval bay and after collecting their belongings were slowly making their way through customs.
"Do you have anything to declare? Any live vegetation or animals? More than ten liters of alcohol? More than ten thousand in foreign currency?" The customs officer was asking over and over again as he randomly searched the luggage of one person or another. As Harry passed through the formalities the officer stared at him for a moment. With the appropriate answers and a quick look at his passport he was ushered through the turnstile along with the others.
There seemed to be a lot of waiting in lines as they made their way through the remainder of the airport and were finally piling into a rented minivan.
"Oh it feels so good to be out of those packed halls." Mrs. Granger said with a yawn from the front seat. "How far is it to the cabin, Robert?"
"According to Anne's directions, it shouldn't be more than an hour to an hour and a half. She said it was on the north side of the city near Pikes Peak." He replied as he pulled into the busy traffic.
Harry turned to ask Hermione a question and to his amusement, she had fallen straight to sleep. She slid sideways until her head rested comfortably on his shoulder. He smiled and took her hand in his, content to let her sleep off the hours in the air.
He, however, was wide awake. He looked out every window as they made their way down the busy streets. Everything felt new and far away from what he had to deal with back home. Harry found himself looking at museums and local natural attractions that he was sure that Hermione would love to visit. She seemed to have a knack for turning vacations into educational field trips.
"Ah, there's highway twenty-five." Mrs. Granger said as she pointed to the sign. "The directions say we take it north to twenty-four west."
Harry watched as they merged into traffic. The mountains to the west were majestic; a towering wall of rock and snow. One mountain stood tallest amongst them. That must be Pikes Peak. Harry thought as he took it all in.
"I'm sorry, but when is your convention again?" Harry asked as he looked around at the passing city.
Mrs. Granger turned and smiled. "It's this weekend. We'll have close to two weeks before we have to go back after that. Did you have anything in mind?"
"Well, I know that Hermione likes educational trips. I was wondering if we might get a chance to visit a museum or two. From what she's told me, the Garden of the Gods natural park is supposed to be nice in the winter." He said as he watched a school bus pass by.
"Those sound just like places she'd like to visit." She said with a grin. "Anything you'd like to see while you're here?" She asked again.
"To tell you the truth, I came with because Hermione asked me." Harry replied. "Sure, it's been nice spending holidays with her and Ron, but I could have just as easily stayed at the castle." He looked back at his girlfriend's mother quickly. "Don't get me wrong, ma' ... err ... Elizabeth, I'm very happy to spend the holidays with you and your family."
She laughed lightly. "Don't worry, Harry, we're not offended. I'm glad that you came along. Hermione won't be cooped up alone in the cabin while we're at the convention."
Harry smiled at her reply. "I'm sure she would have stolen herself in a book or five and I'm pretty sure that she still will." He laughed and Mrs. Granger joined him.
"There's our exit, dear." Mrs. Granger said as she pointed out the window.
"I suppose she's brought along homework then?" Mr. Granger asked as he pulled the van onto the exit and merged with the westbound traffic on the new highway.
"Yes, sir." Harry said with a smile. "But only written work and reading, we thought it would be a good idea to leave our practical lesson stuff back at school."
"Ah, good thinking. I wouldn't want to explain to Anne how her cabin had mysterious potions blow up in her house." He said with a chuckle.
"There's the road, Robert." His wife directed him to a gravel road on the right. "She says that it's the last place on the road by a small lake at the foot of the mountains."
A few moments later, they were pulling up to a nicely sized log cabin that looked out over the lake. They had arrived just in time as dark clouds swept from the south and it had begun to snow.
"Hermione, we're here." Harry said quietly as he shook her gently awake.
"Hmm?" She yawned sleepily. "I'm so tired, Harry."
"I thought you might be. You were so wound up on the plane." Harry said with a slight smile. "We'll all get naps when we're inside."
The four of them unpacked the car and went straight into the cabin before the weather could get too bad. The place was nicely decorated in what could only be called American Cowboy. A large horseshoe hung over the doorway, there was a stuffed fox on the mantle, and the furniture had a rustic, Wild West feel about it.
"There are three bedrooms." Mr. Granger said as he put down the luggage and pulled out a small floor plan that had been faxed to him. "The master bedroom is downstairs, the other two are upstairs. The toilet is off the kitchen."
"They stocked the refrigerator, Robert." Mrs. Granger called from the kitchen.
"Anne told me they would." He replied as he took Diana's portable crib into the master bedroom. "She's also left us some movies." He reappeared a few moments later and relieved Hermione of the sleeping bundle in her arms. "Come on, little one, your bed is ready."
Harry and Hermione stowed their luggage in the two rooms on the next floor. Harry had just sat on the window seat and looked out into the building blizzard, the lake could still be seen but the mountains looked dark and foreboding through the white curtain of falling snow.
Hermione walked in and stifled a yawn as she settled next to him to enjoy what view was left.
"I'm so tired." She said after a few moments and a rather large yawn.
Harry looked at her and smiled. "Why don't you go ahead and get a nap before dinner? I'll probably do the same." He said after a yawn of his own. He stood and gave her a light kiss. "I'll let your parents know, okay?"
Hermione thanked him with a hug. "Ok, I'll see you in a few hours then."
They walked across the hall to her room and they kissed for a few moments before Harry took his leave and let the adults know their plans. They agreed that it was a good idea and they made plans to wake one another in a few hours.
Harry trudged sleepily to his room and fell asleep right as his head hit the pillow.
The wind was howling and Harry could barely see five feet in any direction. Each step he took the fiercely falling snow seemed to engulf his own footprints. He was lost and he knew it. Transforming was out of the question, the force of the winds and the poor visibility would mean that he could easily break a wing or something worse.
How long had he been searching? He was barely aware of time now. The only thing that mattered was shelter. He could only hope that Hermione would be ok. He couldn't find her if he were dead at the bottom of some snow drift and as it stood now he could barely feel his legs and arms due to the creeping numbness that threatened to hold him at bay.
Harry took a staggered step forward, determined to not give up. He was so cold that he couldn't feel the pain of the frostbite that had started to attach itself to his limbs. The wind changed, it wasn't howling anymore, it was chanting. Harry had heard nothing like it in his life, not even from the odd western or two that Dudley had watched on TV when he was younger.
A small orange light winked into existence not far away and Harry made his way there as quickly as he could. The life saving warmth soon rushed over him as he fell to the floor of the cave that held the flame of his salvation.
"Harry Potter, you have come a great distance to share my humble hearth." A strangely accented man said from the back of the cave.
"W-W ... N-N-N ..." Harry mumbled. His teeth were chattering so bad that he couldn't speak properly.
"Let the heat warm you, young shaman. Partake of the bounty of the land and allow the life of the rabbit to restore your strength. I can offer you this for now and when you are strong, I can offer you guidance on your vision quest." The wrinkled, dark skinned man said mysteriously. He looked back to the floor where he was moving small, flat, smooth rocks in a large circle. An ebon rock was moved towards the center of a cross that ran through the circle of differently colored rocks.
After Harry could feel his arms again and he was warmed, the man gave him a bowl of stew and a piece of bread. "Eat and regain your strength. You will need it to find your center."
Harry still could not find the words to ask the man anything so he humbly accepted the food. After the first bite, he found that he was famished and quickly drained the bowl of its contents and the bread followed just as quickly. He was offered seconds and that too was reduced to nothing by his ravenous hunger.
"Please, sit by the wheel, young Potter. It is the only way you can find your friend."
Harry got to his feet and sat on the opposite side of the circle of rocks. He looked over it curiously. In the center was a red stone, no larger than a Knut. Next to it, along one of the arms of the interconnecting cross was a dark brown pebble and a large, smooth chunk of ebony. There were other stones in the circle that seemed to pull at his memory; a group of red ones reminded him of the Weasleys, a silver-gray that reminded him of Dumbledore, and a honey brown one that could only be Hermione.
"Hermione." Harry said aloud.
"Your center has been found on the wheel. It is good, she is still with us." The Native American shaman said mysteriously.
Harry looked at the man curiously. "Thank you for helping me." He said at once but his curiosity got the better of him. "Who are you?"
"I am he who helps you on your vision quest." The stranger said without looking from the wheel in front of him. "I am to guide you on your quest through the medicine wheel. Your center is in grave danger and you must protect her."
"You keep referring to Hermione as my center, why is that?" Harry asked as he looked back down to the medicine wheel. The man was now moving a red and black striped rock on the other side of the wheel, closer to the one that Harry knew was Hermione.
"She is your strength, your reason, and your life, Harry Potter. Without her, you are lost and if you are lost, so are we all." The shaman looked back at Harry. "You must find the one who carries your life when you cannot. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named will certainly remove her if it is to help his plans."
Harry looked back to the wheel, there were several, small black stones moving down towards Hermione's. He tentatively reached for her but the black stones were moving faster and he wouldn't make it in time.
"You must go to her, young shaman." The shaman said one last time as he picked up her stone and threw it into the fire.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Harry woke with a start, cold sweat beading down his face and his heart pounding rapidly in his chest. He was sitting upright with his hand stretched out into the dark room. Harry had woken himself up with that scream and he looked around frantically. A few moments later, his door flew open and Hermione rushed to his bedside.
"Harry?! Are you alright?" She said quickly as she wrapped her arms around him.
"It's ok, Hermione, I just had a bad dream." Harry replied with panting breath.
She looked him in the face and could tell he was struck with worry. "Was it ..."
"No, Voldemort wasn't in it, at least not directly like last time." Harry said as he fought to calm himself down.
"But you were screaming, Harry." She said with concern. "The only time I know of that you've screamed in your sleep was when it was connected to Voldemort."
Harry nodded. "I know. This time was different. It did deal with him, in a way, but it ... It's hard to explain." He said in frustration. "There was something about a wheel and you being in danger ... A-a vision quest ... And a shaman-"
"Is everything alright up there?" Mrs. Granger called from the stairs.
"Harry had a nightmare, Mum." Hermione called back. "It's ok."
"I woke everyone else, sorry." Harry said as he got out of bed and looked out the window at the raging storm outside. "I was looking for you in a blizzard and nearly froze. But a shaman in a cave helped me."
Hermione crossed the room and caught Harry in a tight hug. "I'm not lost, Harry. I'm right here." She cooed comfortingly.
Harry rested his chin on the top of her head and returned the embrace. "I know. But the dream felt real, a warning maybe?" He shook his head. "I hope this isn't a prophetic dream like the one I had back at Grimmauld Place."
"You never told me about that dream, Harry." Hermione said disappointedly.
"After I told Dumbledore, I felt at ease and didn't bring it up again." Harry told her truthfully. "Basically, I had two dreams. The first one, I was in Grimmauld Place and everyone was gone. I fell into an icy blue pool in the basement and a Dementor pulled me down into it." He recounted. "Then I woke up in the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey was trying to feed me a potion and I turned and saw Ginny dead on the bed next to me."
"That's awful!" Hermione said with a gasp. "Wait, is that why you were so frantic when you saw her sleeping after the fight with Mosag?"
Harry kissed the top of her head. "Yes. Only, in my dream she was staring blankly at the ceiling. Dumbledore was there explaining that the wand was cursed to explode after a certain amount of time. I really thought I was at Hogwarts until I had a hard time resisting the suggestion to drink that potion.
"The next thing I knew, I went into my occlumency trance and Dumbledore changed into Voldemort. He ordered Madam Pomfrey to kill me. But because of my trance, I woke up."
Hermione rested her head on Harry's chest and thought for a few moments. "You dreamt about the delayed curse before Dumbledore told you and you dreamt that Ginny would be in the bed next to you in the hospital wing."
Harry nodded. "They were pretty dead on, except that Ginny wasn't dead. This was the same way, the same feeling. Only I couldn't find you and the only link I had to you was a rock on a medicine wheel."
"From what I've read, medicine wheels are very powerful magic." Hermione started going into her information zone and started pacing the room. "It could be that whoever that shaman was tried to warn you that something was going to happen."
"Well, there were a couple of other stones in the wheel. A red and black striped one and an all black one. They were the largest stones on the wheel. I guess mine was the solid black one, he put it down next to an orange one, I'm guessing that was the fire."
"There were several red ones off by themselves with a small black one near them. And then there was the one that I knew was you. It was surrounded on all sides by small black ones that I could only feel were Death Eaters."
"Wait, if the small ones were Death Eaters ..." Hermione said with wide eyes.
"Ron!" They both said in unison.
Harry scrambled for his luggage and pulled out a battered mirror. It was obvious that the mirror had been shattered before due to a few small missing pieces.
"What happened to your mirror Harry?"
"After Sirius 'died' I hoped that he had the mirror with him so I could talk to him. I got frustrated and smashed it. Lupin repaired it after I got to Grimmauld Place but there were some pieces missing." Harry explained quickly.
Harry held it to his face. "Remus? Are you there?" He said to his reflection.
A few moments later, the mirror distorted and the familiar face of Remus Lupin stared back.
"Harry? Is something wrong?" He asked tentatively.
"Nothing at the moment here." Harry replied quickly. "I had a strange dream that I can't really go into now. I think Ron and his family might be in danger."
"How do you know?" Lupin asked with a slight bit of panic showing on his face.
"I had a dream about a shaman and a medicine wheel. There were these small black rocks in it that I felt were Death Eaters. Several were around a rock that I knew was Hermione and there was one by a pack of red rocks that I knew were the Weasleys."
"Are you sure it wasn't just a dream, Harry?" Lupin said with a little concern.
"I'm sure. I think it would be a good idea to send word to Mr. Weasley, there might be an attack on one of them soon." Harry reassured his old professor. "I don't know what I'm going to do about what I saw concerning Hermione, but I'll let you know if anything bad happens around here. Keep the mirror with you just in case."
"I'll get word to Arthur as soon as I can-" Lupin was interrupted by two loud pops behind him and the Weasley twins came into view behind him.
"Oi, Harry!" George called over Lupin's shoulder.
"How's America?" Fred said from the other side.
"It looks like I can get word to him faster than we thought." Lupin said with a smile. "Harry, be on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary."
"I will, it'll be tough with this blizzard going on." Harry replied as he looked out the window.
"Blizzard? Where are you, Harry?" Lupin looked very concerned.
"We're in a cabin in Colorado Springs." Harry said absentmindedly as he looked around the property.
"Tell me you're not near a lake next to the Rocky Mountains." Lupin's face drained of its color rapidly.
Harry nodded. "We got here just a few hours ago."
"Harry, get out of there as quickly as you can. Voldemort is nearby!" Lupin's urgency wasn't lost on the two teens.
Harry grabbed his luggage and checked that his wand was in his pocket. "We're heading to the car now." Harry said quickly.
"Moody and Tonks will be there as soon as I tell them!" Lupin said quickly and his face disappeared from the mirror.
He and Hermione ran to her room and gathered her things.
"We have to get your parents ready, quickly!" Harry said over his shoulder as he ran down the stairs. "Mr. Granger, Mrs. Granger, we have to leave now!"
A sleepy looking Elizabeth Granger opened the door holding Diana. "What's wrong? What is it?" She said with a yawn.
"It's not safe here, Mum!" Hermione said as she scrambled down the stairs. "We have to get out of here before we-"
Hermione was cut off by an explosion close to the house. Harry peeked out the window.
"They've destroyed the van!" He said in a harsh whisper.
The lights in the house flickered for a moment and went out just before an unnatural chill settled in the air.