Authors Note: Still none of these great characters belong to me. I want to thank everyone who's taken the time to give me feedback! You guys rock! I hope you enjoy the chapter….
Chapter 18
"All Good Things…"
"Is he awake?" the student asked as he arrived for the meeting. He'd dropped everything when he'd received the urgent owl post that his presence was required immediately at the safe house. Of course, he'd had to make doubly sure that no one saw him leave and that no one suspected anything was amiss. He hadn't been followed. He'd made sure of that.
The master's minion looked up from his book and nodded. "He's been expecting you."
"Right then," the student whispered. With a quick glance around the house, he slipped through the steel gray doors. The house was cold, almost bone-chillingly so. The windows, which were boarded up from the outside, also bore heavy drapes that blocked out any sunshine.
To the outside world, there was nothing in this house except for cobwebs, field mice and spiders. The outside world had no idea that there was something far more sinister inside this house than a field mouse or a black widow spider. Pretty soon, the others would know. They would all know what kind of force and power and darkness lurked in these halls.
The student walked down the long, narrow hallway toward the master's bedroom. He'd been confined to his bed the past couple of days. His strength came and went so frequently these days, that he'd been urged by his own personal medi-wizard to rest whenever possible. This news hadn't been met with much resistance. The master knew that he would need his strength for the battle that lay ahead. He'd willingly taken to his bed for rest and relaxation. He dreamt dreams of bringing down those who'd taken everything he'd worked so hard for away.
He was resting in his four-poster bed. Large red drapes covered the bed and a line of candles lit the room. The student came forward hesitantly as the master beckoned for him to come closer.
"I called for you nearly an hour ago," the master whispered, hoarsely. "What part of immediately did you not understand?"
"I'm sorry, master," the student said. "I had to make sure I wasn't followed. And I wanted to
make sure that my leaving wasn't going to be seen as suspicious."
"Silence," the master said. "I don't care to hear your excuses. What have you heard?"
"They know," the student said. He could feel his hands shaking and he quickly shoved his hands into his pants pockets. "Granger and Potter both know. They've seen the article. Sirius Black has gone to Hawaii to retrieve them. I expect they'll be back in London quite soon."
The master smiled. "It's going just as I planned. It's all coming together now. They're behaving just as I said they would. The press is eating this up. Ah, but you just wait until they find out the real truth. Wait until they find out what's really coming. They won't know what hit them."
Hermione felt as if she was moving in slow motion. She knew that they needed to hurry. Their flight was scheduled for 1 a.m.-the redeye back to London. They could have probably apparated back with Sirius, but had decided to take the longer route home. They weren't really in a hurry to get there.
So here she was in her bedroom with the suitcase open, but no clothes or accessories inside it. She sat on the edge of her bed, her head in her hands. She had managed to change out of her sundress into a pair of beige Capri pants and a blue peasant-style blouse. She'd kept her hair in its plait, but it looked messier than it had when the night began.
"How had all this happened? How had everything fallen apart so fast?" she couldn't help thinking as she sat on the bed. It had only been a few short hours ago that she and Harry had been sharing a romantic dinner in the hotel restaurant.
They'd been debating whether or not to order dessert when Hermione spotted a familiar sight across the room. Rather, a familiar sight in a very unfamiliar getup. She stared as she watched a man, a man who looked just like Sirius Black, decked out in a loud Hawaiian shirt with a pair of green Bermuda shorts. He wore sandals on his feet and a pair of sunglasses on his face. Hermione had never seen Sirius look so colorful. In all the years she'd known him, she'd never seen him in any color other than brown, black or gray.
She sat with her mouth wide open as he came closer. Amused at what was making Hermione look so shocked, Harry turned to see his godfather walking toward him. He, too, mirrored Hermione's expression. When Sirius reached their table, the two of them burst out in a fit of giggles.
"What in bloody hell?" Harry asked, finally regaining his composure. "Okay, who are you and what did you do to my godfather?"
Sirius frowned. "Harry," he began. "I had to blend in with the natives, so to speak." He pulled up an empty chair from a table near them.
Hermione let out a guffaw at this remark. "Blend in? Sirius, you stick out like a sore thumb in here!"
It was quite true. Although the atmosphere was hardly formal, it wasn't casual. Most of the restaurant patrons were somewhat dressed up. Sirius' tourist getup was quite conspicuous.
"Very funny, very funny," Sirius said. "Well, don't get to used to it. I don't think these colors are very me, anyway."
Harry dissolved into laughter again. After a few more smart remarks at Sirius' expense, Harry and Hermione looked at him expectantly.
"Okay, then. You certainly didn't come all this way just to get a wardrobe makeover. So, let's hear it," Harry said.
"Does this mean we can go home?" Hermione asked.
"All in good time, my dear," Sirius said. "We should probably go upstairs to your room. We have no idea who might be listening in."
Harry and Hermione quickly looked around the restaurant after Sirius said this. Should they have been concerned? Surely, no one from their world knew they were here, did they? They'd been careful not to do too much to draw attention to themselves, hadn't they? They hadn't used magic at all on this trip, not even once, barring the time after they'd arrived when they'd both drank the anti-jetlag potion Hermione had brought along.
Harry nodded. "We can go back up to the room, then." After agreement with Hermione, Harry quickly took out a couple of twenty dollar bills and lay them on the table. Taking Hermione's hand, he led her and Sirius back up to their room.
Once inside, Hermione and Harry looked expectantly at Sirius. He hadn't said much on the lift. He'd been rather quiet, which only raised both of their apprehension at his sudden appearance. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good news.
Taking a seat on the couch beside Harry, Hermione urged Sirius to tell them what was going on. They both watched as Sirius took a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. It looked like a torn-out newspaper article to Hermione. He didn't say anything to them, as he simply handed them the article. He took a seat across from the couch as he watched them read the article. He watched as both of their expressions turned from curiosity, to shock, and then to despair.
Hermione got up from the sofa and walked over to the window. Harry still sat on the couch holding the paper, but not saying a word.
The silence was deafening. Hermione finally said, "When was this in the paper?"
"Tuesday last," Sirius said. "It's the talk of the town, so to speak. It's the talk of the whole bloody country, if you must know."
Harry finally dropped the paper and asked the question that both he and Hermione had been thinking since they'd read the article. "Does Ron know? Has he seen it?"
"No one knows," Sirius said. "We haven't heard or spoken to him in days. He was on a promotion tour in New Zealand for the team and he hasn't checked in with anyone. He has to have seen it though, Wizarding World News also ran the story."
"And the Weasleys?" Harry asked.
"You know they've seen it," Hermione said, sadly.
Harry turned around to look at Hermione. She was still staring out at the window. He wanted to comfort her. He wanted to go to her and take her in his arms and tell her that everything would be okay, but he couldn't do that. He didn't know if things would be okay. He couldn't be sure if things would ever be okay again. If he'd even tried to lie to her, she'd have seen right through it. There wasn't really anything that he could say. He turned his concentration back to Sirius.
"So what should we do now?" he asked.
Sirius stood up and took Hermione's empty seat on the sofa. He put an arm on Harry's shoulder. "I think you should come back as soon as possible. With all of your luggage it'd probably be best if you took a flight back instead of apparating."
Harry nodded. "I, um, I guess I'll go call the airline and see when the next flight for London is."
He took a long look at Hermione as he stood up from the couch. He walked into his bedroom and closed the door.
Hermione had begun to cry and Sirius quickly stood up from the couch and put a reassuring arm on her shoulder.
"You okay, love?" he asked. "Hey, it's okay. Go ahead and cry. Let it out."
Hermione turned suddenly and hugged Sirius with all her might.
"What have I done?" she asked him.
"You followed your heart," he said. "Can't blame you for that."
"Yeah, but at what cost?" she asked, between sobs.
"Hold on to Harry, sweetheart," he said, looking her straight in the eyes. "Hold on to him, and the two of you will get through this together."
"How did you know we were--," she began to ask him.
"I'm old, not senile, Hermione," Sirius said. "I know young love when I see it. I watched the two of you for a while downstairs before I approached you. You looked happy and in love and together. You can't hide that. The eyes give it away everytime, you know. That's one of the first things that I was ever taught when I became an auror. The eyes never lie. If you want to know insight into a man's soul, you look into his eyes. It never fails."
"What are we going to do about Ron, though?" Hermione said. "This is going to crush him."
Sirius said. "He'll be hurt, no doubt, but he's a strong person. He'll get through this. And so will you and Harry, trust in that."
Hermione smiled and wiped away a tear. "You almost make me believe that could happen."
She gave him an appreciative hug and saw that Harry had returned to the room.
"There's a flight at one a.m.," Harry said. "I booked us a couple of seats."
Hermione gave him a slight smile, "Okay, I guess we'd better pack."
Harry nodded. "Yeah, me too. Sirius, are you sure you don't want to fly back with us?"
"Yes," he said. "I'm going to apparate back. We've still got a case to solve, you know?"
He gave Hermione an encouraging smile and walked over to his godson and gave him a hug. "You two best be careful, now. Take care of each other."
Harry walked him to the door and came back a few seconds later. Hermione had left the living room. Her bedroom door was closed. Harry thought about knocking on the door, but didn't. She obviously wanted to be alone. With one last look at her closed door, he walked toward his own bedroom to begin to pack.
Hermione had finally finished packing and she hooked the latch on her suitcase. She heard a slight knock on the door.
"Come in," she said.
Harry was standing there, looking lost. "I wanted to know if you needed any help?"
"No, I've got it," she said. "I guess this is it, then."
"Yeah," he said. "All good things must come to an end, right?"
Hermione hated this. Things seemed so formal between them, so distant all of a sudden. It wasn't a feeling that she liked.
"Are you ready?" he asked.
She looked at him. "No," she said. "I'm not."
He smiled. "Me, either. How about we stay here?"
She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him. "We can't."
"I know," he said. "We have to go back. Clean up the mess that we made."
"We made our beds, I guess it's time to lie in them," Hermione said. "So to speak."
Harry sat down on Hermione's bed. She took a seat beside him and put her hand on his knee. "It's going to be hard. We've hurt a lot of people. Our being together is going to hurt a lot of people; namely, someone we both care a great deal about."
Harry nodded. "Yeah."
There was a knock on the door and Hermione rose to answer it. It was the bellman here to collect their luggage.
"I'll just carry your bags downstairs," the bellman said, putting their luggage on a trolley.
"We'll be right down," Harry said, handing him a couple of dollars. "Thanks."
After he'd left, Hermione and Harry agreed to check around the suite to make sure they'd left nothing behind. Within a few moments, they were at the door ready to leave, but Harry grabbed Hermione's shoulder.
"I love you," he said. "I don't want you to forget that. Whatever happens back home, remember that. I'm not leaving. I don't want to lose you."
She stared at him. He regretted what he'd said immediately. She obviously didn't need to hear that, now. He'd spoken too soon, he thought sadly. He looked down at the carpeting, not wanting to meet her gaze.
When he looked back up, he was shocked to see her beaming at him.
"What?" he asked her. "Say something."
She put her forehead to his and smiled brightly at him. "You couldn't lose me if you tried, you ought to know that by now."