Little Whinging Prison-Chapter 19
When Pappy Apparated near the antique shop, he walked across the lot in front to see if the lights were still on. It was around half-past seven and he expected someone to be awake, but he wanted to face them without sadness that had overtaken him.
He knew that what he'd told Draco was only part of the truth, but they'd all trusted him because Pappy had confirmed his story that it was for their safety while they got better and not any other reason. Draco was there to give them a male presence while he could not be. He'd left out that leaving Harry isolated from all but Hermione for a while and Ron reduced the chances of one of them being possessed by Voldemort. Those that had been controlled by Voldemort were a greater danger to Hermione and Harry.
He thought how he could bring this news without seeming as if he'd violated their trust. His sense of timing told him that within the week either his vision would come to fruition or he will have changed it and given Harry the fighting chance he needed. Only three things mattered to him now. First and foremost, Voldemort had to be defeated. Secondly, Harry and Hermione must not meet that awful fate. And, finally, he could look at himself in the mirror and know his selfish desire to avenge Francine had turned out for good.
He felt ready to confront them. He Apparated into the apartment part of the shop as he usually did.
Everyone was startled at his arrival so late in the evening, but they had no schedule to follow here except to open the shop and Draco did that every morning. "Pappy, why the late visit?" asked Draco.
"I have several bits of new for you actually…and a confession." Hermione said impatiently.
Pappy he looked at her with sad eyes. "Ginny and Luna, it is true you were separated from the school to heal. Yet, just as true, you two were a danger to Harry and Hermione. In your weakened states, both mentally and physically, you would have been easy targets for Voldemort. We know of at least two and probably three people at Hogwarts that are not themselves. That is to say under the Imperious Curse. Draco was not told this directly although he may have guessed.
The people whom we cannot trust are your brother Ron, Ginny. Luna that should tell you why you had to be moved. Severus Snape has openly supported the Ministry in its claims that the Death Eaters have been disbanded and are no longer a threat. We all know that to be false. And, finally, Gregory Goyle and Pansy Parkinson have been vitriolic in their treatment of muggle-born students since the death of Mr. Goyle.
Ginny and Luna were angry. "Pappy, what do you mean Ron can't be trusted?" `I would die for Harry and Hermione but not if Voldemort was not going to hell with me,' he thought.
"I'm afraid, girls, that is not the case. Draco was instructed to leave a note on your bed Luna telling him not to try to find you or it could result in your death. It was signed by Draco." Pappy explained patiently. "Ron confronted Professor Dumbledore with the meaning of it and accused Draco of spiriting you to off to Voldemort. Professor Dumbledore told him that it was obvious that Draco was told exactly what to write and that he was working under someone else's orders." Pappy paced the room looking at each of them as he spoke.
"They were your orders, right?" said Hermione. "I was there when Dumbledore explained it to him. Why didn't Dumbledore say it was you to begin with?"
"Ron did not accept the simple statement that it looked like someone was trying to protect Luna and Ginny. He hated Malfoy to an extreme that even for you or Harry was over the top. You heard him. He had incited his friends Seamus and Dean against Slytherin even before he brought the note to you and Harry. He had the hate in his heart that only Voldemort could arouse." Pappy explained.
The mood was sullen as Hermione looked at each of her companions in turn. There faces had become marked with furled eyebrows and puzzled looks. "My Ronnie could never be like that?"
"That's what we thought too, Luna. If Ron had been calm and reasoned with us, looking for a way to find you, he might be here in this very room today." Pappy explained. It pained him to tell them that Ron showed flashes of Voldemort's hate and leave out that there were times he was not nearly as bad. The fact was that someone was controlling him.
"I don't understand why Snape is not gone from the school." Draco said. "Has Professor Dumbledore lost his nerve? He rebelled last year and another time before that. Even we Slytherin students admired him for his strength even if we hated his politics."
"Those were different times. The threat was real, but he could fight the battle without being in Hogwarts then. If he were to let one of the Undersecretaries from the Ministry, or God forbid, someone like Umbridge to run the school like before there would be no hope for muggle-born students at Hogwarts. He remains where he and I can share counsel and continue the fight against Voldemort. If he had concrete evidence that Snape were under the Curse, he would banish him from the school or worse, dispose of him." Pappy asserted.
"No, clear evidence. How the bloody hell can either of you say there is no clear evidence? I was in his house for the past five and a half years. He hated Potter, muggle-born students and the Ministry for accepting the mudbloods in." Draco said passionately. "I sorry for using the term mudblood, but he uses it often."
"Dumbledore has his reasons for believing in Snape. As do I for believing in you, Draco. We cannot know everything that drives a man." Pappy philosophized.
"You all know me as a kind old wizard who has some very powerful abilities. If you were to ask Dumbledore what I am capable of, he would say that I am more powerful in many ways than he. I am a seer, a Metamorphamagus, an Acclumens and Occlumens, and I have an extensive background in the Dark Arts and charms. How many of you knew all these things." Pappy asked. "I am not bragging, but none of you knows how powerful I can be. Only Hermione knows the story of my wife and how it ties in with the death of Harry's parents." Hermione started to listen more intently. She could feel the hatred for Voldemort coming from Pappy.
Draco sat in shear amazement at these revelations. So did Ginny and Luna. In their midst, there sat a wizard nearly as powerful as Dumbledore and the Dark Lord himself.
"None of you know yet the terrible power of Harry Potter. He will far exceed Professor Dumbledore or me. He has neither learned his full capabilities nor how to harness all of the ones he's discovered in himself." Pappy continued.
Hermione sat listening to Pappy's explanation. She loved the old wizard but she sensed that he was covering something up. "Pappy, why is there all this secrecy? Voldemort will do what he is going to do no matter what?" She was getting angry. She had spent her last night with Harry making love to get him to agree to something she didn't want to do in the first place. It may the most serious sexual experience of her life feel cheap. "Why am I sitting here in this God-forsaken antique shop when my boyfriend and I could be defending ourselves in Hogwarts? I'm sorry, I love you Pappy. But just what is going on here?" Pappy could feel himself losing control of Hermione. These children were a young wizard and three witches. `They must not have their wands,' Pappy thought.
Pappy was no longer shocked at her anger and directness as he looked in her eyes. Hermione had sensed his motives. He had to be careful with his answer. He couldn't make it sound like he was holding them against their will. "I have explained this. I have arranged it so there are fewer suspects who can be the one that Voldemort uses to get the rest of the school." He kept pacing as he spoke.
Hermione had had enough of the lies and deception that everyone at Hogwarts was subject to over the past six years. "Why don't you tell them that we are pawns in a game of Wizard's chess that may not be won? Tell them that it is a prophecy by the old fraud Trelawney is the reason that everyone allows my poor Harry to be nearly killed everywhere he goes?" Hermione was crying and turned away. She missed Pappy's sense of relief as he'd quietly collected all of their wands.
"Hermione, you think you understand, but you don't." Pappy was afraid that much more of this and he'd have to blank everyone's memory to avoid them knowing too much. Pappy was growing increasingly paranoid that someone would figure out exactly why he allowed Harry to be put in such a dangerous situation. "I have seen the same prophecy. I have a version that I have seen some of you dead."
Hermione looked at him furiously. "So, fate may make us dead pawns at that. So, Ginny can't be happy with her brother or have the freedom of her own life with Draco. Luna can't spend time with Ron before he kills Harry or her or..? Pappy I think you're using us to get revenge." Hermione ran to him and slapped the old man across the face.
She had spent so much time away from Harry now that nothing in the world mattered. She wasn't the Hermione Granger she'd been before. She was living on dreams that had happened in her past. Now she would have nightmares of her own and Harry's death. She knew it. She hated Pappy at this moment more than she'd hated Draco for his hateful treatment. She still looked at him with disgust, but swallowed it for Ginny.
"Hermione, I probably deserve that, but you can't think that I would do this to hurt any of you?" He asked.
"Harry told me of how you loved Francine more than anything in the world. I can believe you would use our desires to gain your revenge. Dumbledore has followed your every recommendation because he trusts that you love us. I don't believe you anymore. You want what we want, but you don't care whose lives are destroyed to get it." Hermione walked out the door.
Pappy couldn't fault her anger. She had pegged him exactly. He looked at the shocked and fearful faces of Luna and Ginny. Draco stood leaning against the wall with a toothpick in his mouth glaring at him. Draco said, "You wanted me here in case I had to shut Granger up or one of the others. You think that I am just as bad as Goyle and the others." Pappy had put Draco under the Imperious Curse the night he'd taken the girls from Hogwarts. The spell had just been broken as he heard the truth, Pappy had silently lifted it.
"There is nothing that any of you can do now that will change anything. I have to concentrate on getting Voldemort." He walked toward the door and saw Hermione standing just outside. "Hermione, go inside." She stood and glared at him. "Now! Or I will force you."
Hermione looked for her wand. She noticed that Pappy had all four of them in his hand. She realized that he'd been collecting them as she'd been talking. "Why Pappy? Why did you let me have Harry's memories of us destroyed, if you knew he could die?"
"Hermione, I am not the evil in this world. I had the power to go after it all my life, but I ignored my power. And then, Francine was gone. My perfect life was gone. I hid from Dumbledore for a year as I tried to find Harry. I protected him when the bungling squibs and Order of the Phoenix morons couldn't. I would kill Snape in his tracks if I thought I could successfully pull it off. Dumbledore had made the Dursley's home a safe haven, but outside its confines I had protected him. You have to believe I love him." Pappy's tears were real, but he kept the wands from her grasp as she walked past him.
"You love him." Hermione looked at Pappy with sadness and anger. She knew he couldn't tell anymore which of his actions were out of love and which actions were built on revenge. "I don't think you know what love is anymore. In a warped way, you are a different kind of manipulative evil, selfish and cruel."
Then the picture became complete. "You knew the prophecy before Voldemort became the ruthless tyrant he became. You were the man outside the window at Trelawney's making sure that she prophesied what you'd seen. That was all you would do, your life was complete. You were satisfied that it was in Dumbledore's hands. What you hadn't seen was Voldemort walking up on the house that night. You hadn't expected the danger to Francine. Least of all, you hadn't foretold your own sad life without her. For fifteen years you sat in misery until you met Harry face to face and hatched this plan. You love him and me, I know that. But just like Voldemort, hate is what keeps you alive not love." Hermione said with a finality that brought tears to Pappy's and her eyes.
Pappy composed himself. "You are wrong about the last part. I will not let you down if it is in my power. But Voldemort must be stopped at all costs. Your life, mine, Harry's, none of our lives will be worth a damn if Voldemort survives. I said from the beginning that we had to go on the offensive. We did. We've drawn him out."
"None of you will be able to leave until I come back for you or the power of my spell is released at my death. I
am sorry Hermione. I won't destroy your memories of love. But now that you know, I cannot release you until
Voldemort or Harry and I are dead." He turned and walked out.
Hermione ran toward him as he walked out, but as she reached the door an invisible force repelled her violently on her bum in front of the door. It would not allow her out. She went to the windows. She could open them, the breeze blew in, but she could not put her arm out the window. They were trapped.
She looked at Draco with disgust. "You are such a feeble excuse for a man. You didn't try to help me."
"Listen Hermione. I know you still hate me, but don't let it eat you up. What was I going to do? Pappy was not going to allow us to have our memories. He had me under a spell this whole time that wouldn't allow me to question anything he said. I doubt seriously that Ron is under any curse at all. He's simply mad as hell. He feels the same hatred for me as you, only he thinks he lost two people to me. I'd bet you anything that if we could get word to Dumbledore and tell Ron where we are. He'd stop." Draco said. "So lighten up the witch bitch routine."
Hermione walked toward him. He grabbed her hand before she could slap him. "Not this time." He saw it coming. "We ought to play nice because we are in prison here together. And we can't leave or tell anyone what we know."
"Will you two stop it?" Ginny cried out loud. "I have no idea what happened here but it's as if a Dementor had just sucked the happiness out of this place." Draco went to her and kneeled down next to her.
"Ginny, I am so sorry. I know I promised I wouldn't do that if any of them mistrusted me, but Hermione just pushed my buttons today." He looked up at Hermione. "You may not believe me, but I love Ginny. You were nice to me because of her and I was nice to you because of her. She…." Draco was cutoff by Ginny putting her finger to his lips.
Luna sat in the corner shaking with huge alligator tears. She was silent and looked lost.
But blind, Ginny saw what the others didn't. "Where's the tablet?" She asked. "Remember? The tablet McGonagall gave us. I don't think he took it with him, did he Hermione?"
Hermione walked over to the side of the refrigerator and found it hanging unused for its original purpose since the day it was delivered. "No, it's here." Hermione realized her ego had gotten in the way. Her brilliance had overshadowed the simplest solution, but Ginny saw it.
"Bring it to me." Ginny said. Hermione handed the unadorned pad of regular looking paper to her and the pen that was left with it. Ginny began writing. Once she finished writing, she asked Draco to read it.
"Professor Dumbledore, Hermione has been teaching us how to Apparate and Disapparate, but unfortunately she splinched herself. Can you come and sort her out? Please hurry, she looks uncomfortable with her bottom-half on the apartment side of the building and her torso in the shop." Draco stopped and thought as he smiled at that image.
"That's brilliant darling. Since Dumbledore's our secret-keeper, Pappy can't keep him out. But even more brilliant is that he won't question us about the reason we need him here. If we told him our suspicions he might check them out before coming and Pappy is gone." Draco said.
"Yes, that's brilliant. It isn't that funny, Malfoy." Hermione was embarrassed still that she'd missed this opportunity, but glad that Dumbledore would soon be here.
They waited patiently for an answer. They began to wonder if Pappy had taken the other end of this system rendering it useless. They waited for ten more minutes. "Okay, maybe he's busy with something else." Just as those words escaped her lips, a message appeared at the bottom of the sheet.
"I'll be there soonest. Plans are changing quickly. Snape is missing from the school. Pappy and Harry are going after him. They think he's gone to the Forbidden Forest to rendezvous with Voldemort." Draco read it out loud in a trembling voice. "He's going after Voldemort." Another message appeared after the last one. "It has begun. You will all be back soon." Draco read it as it appeared.
"No, no, write back quickly. Someone is here. We are afraid to pickup Hermione for fear that we'll hurt her." Hermione said to Ginny. Ginny wrote as fast as she could hoping that the danger of them being exposed would be enough for Dumbledore to show up.
Moments later, Dumbledore popped into the apartment. "What? What is this? I have to go back. I am shocked you would draw me away…"
"Professor," Luna said shaking in the corner with her tee shirt soaked in sweat and tears.
"I am so scared." She choked on her tears for a second. "Listen to Hermione."
Hermione told the whole story as she knew it in just a few brief minutes. Dumbledore stood silently and seemingly unfazed as she told the story. She was explaining the tablet when he interrupted her.
"You don't know the spell he used to trap you here?" Dumbledore asked. "I know what it must have been, but I am wondering if it is not best left in place."
"Professor, we can help Harry. We know we can." Hermione said.
Dumbledore took an ordinary coffee mug from the counter. "His spell was based on you not being able to Disapparate or Apparate. You cannot physically leave the confines without magic. You've no wands. But this will get us out when it is used as a portkey."
Moments later they found themselves at Hogwarts in Dumbledore's main office. The eerie pictures of the previous Headmasters gave them the chills. Dumbledore retrieved Madam Pomfrey as soon as he could to calm Luna. He believed that Hermione was right. Ron probably had not been compromised. He sent Draco for him Disillusioned while Ginny sat in the corner quietly.
Hermione sat nervously looking at Dumbledore. She was embarrassed. She knew that what she'd told them about her and Harry would forever change the way he looked at her. "Professor," she said quietly. "I am embarrassed about everything I told you. But I wanted to make sure that he and Tonks didn't, you know."
"Minerva, would you come in here please?" Dumbledore asked. Minerva had been in the library watching the Marauder's Map when they saw Snape crossing the grounds. Ginny heard her being called. "Please tell Miss Granger about your conversations with Tonks." Dumbledore winked at Minerva. They moved away from Ginny for privacy. "Hermione, Minerva and I have been like you and Harry since the day we left Harry behind at the Dursley's. We keep it secret, because it is our business and no one else's. She knows the details of your relationship with Harry."
McGonagall began as Dumbledore's face changed to one of concern as he walked through the door to the library. "Hermione, love does strange things to people. Tonks has told me that she is resigning after this assignment--which, by the way, is not complete. She told me the other day about how being treated with love and respect has changed her heart. She told me that she'd experience lustful sex, but never love. She is too young to have had those horrible experiences. I don't know why she came to me, but she obviously felt the strain of being with someone as closely as she's been with Harry. None of us can be sure, but we think Harry knows that you were not here. Talk to her about how wonderful your loving relationship is. Do it soon. She needs to know how to respond to Harry. That part is not in his memories; it is part of his soul. She will never be able to copy that." Dumbledore interrupted from the library.
"Snape disappeared into the Forbidden Forest. Harry is now being followed by Nathaniel. I thought they'd be going together. That is strange indeed. I would approximate that finding the entrance will take them about fifteen minutes." Dumbledore said. "Hermione, come here my young friend."
Hermione walked through the entrance in the bookcase that had hidden this office from the library and looked at Dumbledore at his desk. "Did Pappy say anything more about his vision than seeing the two of you dead? Did he say where?"
"No, just that we were together and dead. The look on his face was one of revulsion though." Hermione recalled that he'd looked away as though he were going to be sick.
He looked down at the Map. Tonks was sitting in the Gryffindor common room. "Minerva, go retrieve Tonks please. Don't tell her that Hermione is here though, not yet."
"Hermione, let's hope that Nathaniel's version of the vision is true up to this point. Our only other hope is that Harry defeats Voldemort with Nathaniel's help."
"What are the prospects of that Professor?" Hermione sensed he was not hopeful of that outcome.
"I don't know, Hermione." Dumbledore looked exasperated as he spoke.
"What's troubling you, Sir, if I may ask such a question?" Hermione said.
Dumbledore looked older than she'd ever seen him. He looked like he was alone and sad. Hermione had never touched Professor Dumbledore except in an official capacity like a hand shake. She had the urge now. She hugged him saying, "Don't let Harry die. I know you are the only one who can help." She felt terrible because she knew that whatever he was feeling was made worse with her plea for Harry.
Dumbledore's emotions bubbled to the surface for a flash as Hermione let go of him. She could see the pain in his face. "I was blinded by my love for my old friend. I suspected that he was out to avenge Francine. I even told Professor McGonagall so. But Nathaniel is very convincing for those who love him. I do love him and this news is very disturbing."
Dumbledore paused and walked to a group of pictures that Hermione had never noticed before, even though she'd spent a great deal of time upstairs and in this room. One of the pictures was of Francine and Nathaniel with Dumbledore holding up their diplomas. Another was the one of Francine and Nathaniel from the album she'd seen weeks ago as she poured through the books. And, finally she saw what had elicited such emotion from Dumbledore. There was a group of four pictures: Nathaniel, Francine, James, and Lily outside their cottage; Nathaniel, Francine, Dumbledore, James and Lily with a baby in Lily's arms; Francine between Dumbledore and Nathaniel with Francine holding the baby; and, Francine and Nathaniel holding the crying baby up to their lips kissing him.
Hermione had walked up to see what he saw, but turned away when she realized that he'd withheld these pictures from Harry this whole time. He loved Harry as Pappy loved Harry. His suspicions had been changed to disbelief by his love and pity for his old friend's loss. The only person, Pappy had ever loved more than Harry and Albus Dumbledore was Francine.
Harry looked so cute in his baby outfits. "So, those are the first pictures of Harry aren't they?" Hermione asked a moment later.
"Yes, Sirius was his Godfather, but this was after they'd changed the choice of Secret-Keeper to Pettigrew." Dumbledore sighed as though there were a weight on his chest.
"Professor Dumbledore, I have a guilty conscience. Other than not telling him that I was in love with him this summer and letting him think there was someone else, I never lied to him…until that night…I used sex like a common whore to get what I wanted. I wanted him to agree to let me stay so that we could do the switch. I have regretted it every moment of every day. When are you, I and everyone else going to stop lying to Harry? He is brave and courageous. He is the one who is going to save us, but we keep screwing him up."
Dumbledore looked at Hermione closely and for the first time allowed the emotion he'd always choked back to emerge. "My greatest fault is also my greatest strength Hermione. I cannot allow the ones I love to be hurt. I tell them only what I think they need to know. Yet, it doesn't always work. I nearly let Harry get you all killed last year in the Department of Mysteries because I wouldn't be honest or tell the whole story. I allowed your plan to be adopted for the same reason. I ignored what I knew Nathaniel's Achilles heel and because of it we are here tonight.
He heard Tonks come in with Minerva. "Hermione, stay here for a moment."
Hermione heard whispering and then Dumbledore's distinct voice, "Come here please, Hermione."
Hermione crossed through the bookcase and saw Tonks in her usual leather pants and pink hair. She walked over and hugged Tonks. Tonks spoke first. "You have one incredible fella there. Don't worry I didn't jump his bones." She smiled as she said it to alleviate the tension. "He said something to me the first day, he knew it wasn't you but couldn't figure out why. I have to apologize. I got a little carried away. So, we had to go snogging in all of your favorite places together after I screwed up in public a couple times. Then we could replace his existing memories of being with you to the ones of being with me so he wouldn't notice as much."
Hermione was a little upset, but she realized that Harry didn't realize the depth of their physical relationship. So to him, snogging was snogging. `The change was subtle,' she thought as she tried to convince herself.
"Minerva tells me you have something to tell me." Tonks said trying to keep Hermione's mind off Harry facing Voldemort, yet again.
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