Awakening the Dragon
Chapter 4
Silence reigned in the back of the London cab; Harry sat staring out the window while Hermione sat in the opposite corner of the black cab watching him cautiously.
"Wouldn't blame you if you wanted to leave you know."
Hermione frowned as she folded her arms across her chest. "I am getting tired of hearing you say that Harry, I said I would come with you, but Harry, what happened back there." She leaned forward her hand resting on his knee wanting him to look at her.
He reached out, laying his hand on top of hers but he refused to meet her eyes. "I-I can't explain it, I can't control myself." His head dipped and a long sigh escaped from him. It's kind of like last year with the snake, my anger just gets to the point where I take a back seat and something else takes over and all it wants today is destroy." He snorted in disgust. "It started the night of the Department of mysteries debacle, I got so mad at Dumbledore I trashed his office."
"YOU DID WHAT!"
Harry turned and faced her incredulous expression waving his hands to quieten her down as the taxi driver stared at them both in his rear view mirror.
"Shhh!" He shook his head sadly. "I'm not proud of it Hermione, but to learn that he's known exactly what I had to do since before I was even born made me so mad." He raked his fingers through his messy black hair and sighed once more. "He could have just told me what the dreams were about, but he didn't, he was so worried that Voldemort would reach through me and use me that he left me floundering and it almost got you and Ron killed, it got Sirius killed."
"And since that night it's gotten worse?" Hermione asked him quietly reaching out once more to take his hand in her squeezing it gently trying to give him some of her strength.
He nodded sadly. "I had no way to deal with my grief, my anger, after all Dumbledore's words at the end of the year I still ended up at the Dursely's cut off from everything and everyone I knew and kept in the dark." He chuckled mirthlessly. "And Moody's threat didn't work the way he planned, it made them leave me alone physically, but verbally it had gotten much, much worse." He smiled as he felt her squeeze his hand reassuringly. "Vernon Dursely's a bully Hermione, he picks on those weaker than himself, and with the magic restrictions on us outside of Hogwarts he believed I was weaker than him, he knew he couldn't touch me or threaten me. But bully's don't know when to stop so he attacked me verbally till I finally cracked and what happened back in Diagon Alley happened, I pretty much blew up Petunia's kitchen and magically manhandled Vernon into my old cupboard."
"So now when you get angry you lose control, this is serious Harry, maybe we would be better at Hogwarts?"
Harry shook his head vemhnently. "No you saw what happened back there, Dumbledore want's his weapon for his war, and I don't have enough control, first time someone upset me like Snape or the Ferret, I'm liable to cause a lot of damage, and I can just imagine the headlines then." He turned away once more looking out the window noticing that they neared the airport. "No Hogwarts can't help me, it can't teach me what I need to know, you know yourself, outside of Expeliramus, Stupefy, and my Patronus, everything else we know, we taught ourselves, If I'm going to beat him Hermione, I need to learn combat magic."
She nodded slightly in partial agreement. "Then we learn together you and I, deal?" She raised her hand and spat on the palm and grinned at him. Grinning he too spat on his palm and clasped hands with her.
"Deal."
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It wasn't long after their bargain was sealed that the Taxi pulled to a stop outside of Heathrow airport, quickly paying the taxi driver who was quite clearly giving the two teenagers strange looks they made their way into the departure lounge.
"Not to spoil the moment Harry, but do you even have a passport?"
Harry grinned slightly as he tugged the small purplish book from his pocket. "When I was nine the Dursely's were planning to go to Spain for a vacation, but everyone who could watch me for them while they were away wasn't available. So Vernon was forced to get me a passport, cause it looked like I was going to have to come with them, Petunia didn't want to risk leaving me in the house alone. So I got my passport, unfortunately before the holiday was due to happening Mrs Fig suddenly was available, I'm guessing Dumbledore didn't like the idea of me out of the country."
Hermione just watched her friend a look of pity growing on her face.
"Don't ok, don't feel sorry for me Hermione, You all don't seem to get it, I can't really miss something I've never had."
Hermione nodded slowly the logic dawning on her, she felt awful for him, maybe he had never known what it was like to have a vacation, but she did known, and she couldn't help but feel sorry what he'd gone through. "Have you decided where we will go?"
"Yeah I was thinking Japan, as far from here as we can get." He grinned at her surprised expression. "What?"
"Nothing, I'm just surprised is all, I would have thought you would say America, we would blend in more there, and there wouldn't be the language barrier we would have in Japan, not to mention cultural differences…" She trailed off at Harry's amused glance. "What?"
"That's exactly why I say we head for Japan, it'd be the last thing they would expect me to do, America is huge, plenty of places to hide, able to blend in, it'd also be the first place they look for us." His amused expression spread into a full-blown grin. "Moody once told me the best way to hide is to not be where they expect you to be, so while they search the states, we will be on the other side of the world."
"I must be tired, that almost made sense." Hermione shook her head as Harry led her towards the flight desk to try and get on the first available flight.
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TBC…
AN: Yes it's shorter than my other chapters, but I've kept y'all waiting long enough, and frankly with my shoulder still all strapped up, it's probably the best you'll get for a while yet. Sorry if it lets you'll down
Yours Truly
The Evil one armed man Kai Lun Mau