Wandless magics. I want to mention a couple of things about this quickly, simply because I know that I will get questions about it anyway. In my mind (and hense this fic) there are several different types of wandless magics - inner magics, `wandless' magics, and core magics. Wandless magics are what we have seen Harry do on occassion with his Lumos and Accio spells. Inner magics is what Fey was actually explaining to Hermione during her detention. We have not seen core magics yet, nor will we for quite some time, so I won't mention them again. This concept of the tripart wandless magics is my idea, and if you wish to use it, please contact me first.
If any of that is unclear, feel free - as always - to ask. I should also mention that not everything about last chapter will be cleared up right away, but please trust that your questions will be answered. With that said, enjoy the chapter!
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Chapter Fifteen: Against his Nature
Mayhem in the Ministry
Around 1:20 on the third day of November, the Ministry of Magic was attacked by a force or forces unknown. The person behind the attacks is believed to be You-Know-Who, the dark wizard whom the Ministry confirms has returned to power. In the wake of the attack, the Ministry has lost eight Aurors, three Unspeakables, and several other witches and wizards of various ranks.
The most shocking news, however, is that the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, is dead. It appears that this was the main intent of the attack, as with the death of the Minister, the terrifying dark wizard apparated to places unknown.
The news from the Daily Prophet had been posted all over the school, and Harry felt sick to his stomach as he read the one posted just outside his classroom. He had woken up about half an hour ago, and when Madame Pomfrey turned her back, he had slipped out. He supposed it was for the best that he woke when he did - she told him that, except during classes, there were always people surrounding him, doing whatever they could to help.
Not bothering to read the rest of the article, he looked in the open door, where he saw the rest of his class working on shielding charms still. Few of them seemed to be able to focus very well, and many were sparing glances towards the door after every attempt. Even the Wanderer seemed a little preoccupied.
He pulled back quickly before any of them saw him. The weight in his chest and heart was more than he thought he could bare. As fast as he could, he slipped away and up to the seventh floor of the castle. He looked for a moment to the painting of Barnabas the Barmy, the wizard who was being clubbed by mountain trolls, and felt a twinge of envy for a split second.
He stepped into the Room of Requirement and set a sealed letter on the desk. As he walked away from the room and started down the stairs to the second floor, he pulled out his gold galleon. With a brief thought, he closed his eyes and set the meeting time for that day. He did not leave a time - any of them who felt it would leave class immediately, knowing that he was awake again.
He had no idea what had happened, exactly, in the week that he had been out. Madame Pomfrey had been kind enough to tell him how long he was out, but nothing more. He checked his pockets one last time, and found the blue stone still in the box, the golden snitch that was enchanted as a portkey, and the old mirror. Clasping his wand firmly in his hand and closing his eyes to the inevitability of it all, Harry pushed open the door that he was next to and disappeared inside.
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"Gimme that," Ron said, his face pale after hearing Hermione read the brief note that was sitting on the desk. Everyone in the DA had gathered already, and Hermione had been elected to read the note to everyone. "Blah, blah... don't know what's going on... Sometimes you have to know when to act... it's all my fault... Bugger Harry!" he cursed, throwing the note on the ground. "What in the bloody hell do you think you're trying to pull?"
"Ronald," Luna said softly, picking up the note to scan it herself. "Please watch your language." She looked down to the parchment, closed her eyes, and then handed it back to Hermione, who had sat down on the edge of the desk and was looking more lost than anyone could ever remember seeing her. She wasn't alone, either - almost half the DA were looking confused and almost scared with Harry's declaration that he could no longer help them. "Anyone know where he could have gone?"
"Talisien might know," Kailyn offered, moving to the door. "I'll go get him. He could help us look if not... I doubt anyone else in the castle would be able to find him as quickly."
"Right then," Ron said firmly, nodding to her as she left. "Somebody should tell Dumbledore and McGonagall... it sounds like he's planning on leaving here for good, and they should be warned. They'll know how to stop him from leaving the grounds."
"No," Hermione said quickly, looking up and taking a deep breath as she forced herself into action. "No, we can't let the other teachers know. When they find him, they'll give him a month of detentions!" Sniffing slightly as she pulled herself off the desk, she looked around. "No, we can look for him ourselves. Who here knows about the secret passages in the castle?"
"Fred and George showed me all of them last year," Ginny offered. "And they told me the passwords for each, too. I'll find him."
"Good, you take Curses and Charms, and split up to search each of them," Hermione suggested.
"What about us?" Susan Bones asked. "We're not just going to let you search on your own. Even if he can summon a patronus, there are still things out there that could hurt him pretty badly. We need to start doing a thorough sweep."
"Alright," Hermione admitted. "You take everyone in Counter Curses but Ron and everyone in Protection who's still here to start the sweep. Start in the northwest tower and move down."
"Right," Susan said.
Luna hesitated for a moment, and then gave Ron a kiss on the lips and ducked out with the others, muttering something about checking the Ravenclaw common rooms and trying to get more help to search from some artifact that her father had given her.
"Everything alright, Hermione?" Ron asked quietly.
"Of course not, Ron!" Hermione said sharply. "Harry's gone and done something stupid, and then he decides to lock us out again. How would that ever be alright?"
"Fine, fine," Ron said quickly. "Look, fighting isn't going to help things, right? We can have our usual row later, once we find Harry. For now, why did you want me to stay behind."
"I need you to go to Harry's trunk and get the Map," she said.
"Of course!" Ron said, slapping his forehead. "Why didn't I think of that?"
He left running before Hermione could answer. Left alone, she started to pace up and down the room, glancing at the foeglass every so often as she had always seen Harry do in the meetings all year.
"Hermione," a soft voice said from the entrance. She turned in an instant as Talisien pushed the door open, Kailyn right behind him. "Kailyn has told me what has happened. Have you any idea where he might have gone?"
"I'm not a mind reader, Talisien!" she snapped.
"I am aware of that," he said in a calm voice as he brought the hood to his cloak down. The gesture seemed so out of place that it calmed Hermione for a moment. "No, I simply meant that, as his close friend, you would be more privy to places in the castle he might chose to hide in, correct?"
"I can't think of many, though," she whispered.
Talisien took another step towards her, and held out a hand to her. Clasped firmly in his grip was his silver dagger, still in the brown leather sheath. Across the sheath was gold embroidery, but Hermione just looked at it blankly.
"I know you will find him," he said with a smile. "And when you do, I need you to give this to him. When it erected a barrier around him, shielding him from Voldemort's mind attack, it chose him. He will be forever safe from further intrusion if he keeps this close to him."
Hermione took it hesitantly, looking carefully at the weapon in her hands. "What makes you so sure I can find him?"
"Let's just say that my wife is more observant that even I am," he said, a twinkle in his brown eyes as he met her own. With a small nod, he turned and put his hood back up. "Kailyn tells me that Harry left a note that asked you not to follow him, am I correct?"
"Yes," Hermione said. "But..."
Talisien cut her off before she could say anything else. "I will not go against his wishes and try to track him, then," he said. "You and your friends know him well enough to break his request, but he is still just a student to me, and I will not break that bond."
"Couldn't you at least do something, to help point us in the right direction? You could find him, if you wanted to, couldn't you?"
"Of course he could," Kailyn said at once. "I've seen him track waywatchers before... waywatchers who are never seen by any elf unless they wish to be. He can find even them. Surely he could find Harry, too."
"But like I said, I will not." He looked over his shoulder to Hermione as he reached the door. "Do not forget to ask his friends, Hermione. All of his friends..."
Ron returned just as Talisien left, and pointed after him. "Is he going to start looking?"
"No," Hermione said, still a little bitter despite his explanation. "He's not."
"I'm going to go join one of the teams searching," Kailyn offered. "My skills may not be as good as granddad's, but they are better than most of the people here!"
"Could you send a few people back when you get there?" Hermione suggested. Kailyn nodded and was gone moments later.
"We needed his help," Ron said, sitting on the desk and looking to Hermione. "Because it looks like Harry was actually one step ahead of you this time, cause he's got the map." She nodded, but said nothing. Sighing, Ron went on. "By the way, I think it would have made better sense to split the groups up, so everyone had a protection, charms, curse and counter curse member. I think that was Harry's intent, wasn't it?"
Hermione looked to him in surprise, but had to admit that he was right. "I guess all that time of playing chess really helped you, didn't it?"
"I know tactics," Ron said with a shrug. He then leaned in a little closer. "We'll find him, you know. He might have been one step ahead, but how long do you really think he can hide from all of us? Ginny and I have Fred and George's knowledge of this castle to back us up, too..."
Luna walked into the room the next moment before Hermione could reply, and was followed by Neville and Lavender. She walked up next to Ron and linked her hand with one of his free ones, shaking her head as she did so. "It was no good."
"Why did you call us back, Hermione?" Neville asked. "Do you have a lead?"
"Talisien wouldn't help us look," Hermione replied softly. "But I think he gave us a clue... and I think I just figured out what it means. I thought a group of us should go down together, though."
"Dangerous, is it?"
"We may have to go into the Forbidden Forest to find who we need."
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Rozan's blue and white fur stood out in the green fields as the group approached Hagrid's Hut. The time wolf was standing facing them, as though he had been expecting them for quite some time. That made it apparent that the trip to the forest would not be necessary right away, anyway.
Be calm, children, Rozan's voice sounded as they approached. Although in many cases, they each would have been insulted to be considered a child, being called so by a time wolf that could be over several thousand years old didn't bother them. Your minds are in turmoil.
"Of course they are, Rozan. I'm sure you've heard by now what's going on, right?"
The Wanderer did stop by here, Rozan admitted. But I should tell you now that I will not betray Harry's confidence in me. He knows that I can find him wherever he goes, after we shared so much time working in his mind. He knows this, and still trusts to hide, so I can not help you.
"Great, another dead end," Hermione muttered.
"C'mon, Hermione, we'll find him. He can't have left school grounds yet, right? He left most of his clothes... actually all his clothes but what he was wearing. He even left his Firebolt with Flitwick!" Ron pointed out.
"He's strong, too," Lavender said gently. "He'll return when he's good and ready, I think. I mean, Merlin knows he's not going to be having an easy time being away from you." At Ron's startled glance, she went on hastily. "Either of you. Or some of us, too. He enjoys leading the DA, doesn't he?"
"So you're just giving up, then?" Hermione asked heatedly. "Just letting him run away? How do you know he's not going to just leave and never come back? I mean, as soon as he leaves school grounds he could be killed! You read the article in the Profit, didn't you? `I'm coming for you, Potter!' written in blood across the walls of the Ministry?"
"I never said I'd stop looking, Hermione," Lavender said quickly.
"We'll all keep searching. But we have to believe he is safe," Neville said. "Because, quite frankly, if Harry can't survive somewhere, then none of us really stand much of a chance either, do we?"
Please wait, Hermione. Hermione paused midstride as the group had started back to the castle. She turned back to the time wolf for a moment before shaking her head and continuing up the grassy slope. You will want to hear what else I have to say, child.
Hermione took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she stopped. The others looked to her in surprise, but she just turned around. "Go on ahead without me," she said. "I'm going to check with Hagrid, and see if he knows anything."
"Sure. We'll meet you in the Great Hall," Neville suggested. When she nodded, the others went on.
Thank you for trusting me.
"Don't give me a reason not to, then," she warned. "I thought you spent part of the summer preparing his mind to keep something like this from happening!"
Our time was cut shorter than I had expected. He was ready for everything except a directly forced invasion.
"Wasn't that the big problem in the first place that you were supposed to block out?" she asked angrily.
Rozan looked to her calmly for a minute before standing and walking over to her, circling her slowly. I wish for you to take one of my whiskers, Hermione Granger.
Hermione's mind was instantly buzzing. The whisker of a time wolf could be used as a magical core for a wand, and was extremely valuable. No wand in current use used such a core, for the obvious reason as difficulty in finding the hair. A time wolf only offered a whisker when it knew something in the future would have need of it, and then only to one that it trusted.
Hesitantly, she took hold of one of his whiskers when he finally stopped in front of her. The moment she touched it, it was released into her waiting hand. She carefully pocketed the precious gift, and then sealed her pocket using a simple charm. "Thank you," she whispered. "Although this doesn't really help me find Harry, does it?"
No, it does not. I will tell you this much, child. He is in a place that is now safe.
"It's safe now? It wasn't always, then?"
You truly are the brightest witch of your age.
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It was only with great fear and almost no nerves left after a sleepless night that Hermione found herself standing in front of the stone gargoyle that lead to Dumbledore's office. She knew that she had told the others not to tell any teacher - not that they wouldn't be finding out soon enough anyway when he didn't go to class that afternoon - but after not finding anything else all night, she knew it couldn't be helped.
The others had managed to get a few hours of sleep, but she was simply too worried. She had tried to contact him using the two way mirrors, but there had not been any answer. She asked Ron to look for Harry's mirror, but he said that Harry always carried it with him.
"The password, Miss Granger, is Ice Mice," Dumbledore said kindly from behind her, making her jump in surprise. As the gargoyle spun aside, he motioned her ahead of him. "I believe we should wait to hold our conversation until we are in my office."
She nodded and walked up the stairs quickly, trying in vain as she went to hold her emotions in check. After a sleepless, worry filled night, though, she didn't think she had much of a chance.
He motioned for her to take a seat in front of his desk, and he sat down behind it, leaning on it with both arms and resting his chin in his hands. "Now then, Miss Granger, this would be about the disappearance of Harry, would it not?"
"How did you know?" she demanded in surprise.
"Despite your... request," he said slowly, his blue eyes watching her carefully. "A few members of a certain, well-trained group decided to pay me a visit yesterday. Each asked me not to get upset, and not to tell another soul, and each told me what had happened, and some of what our young Mr. Potter said in his farewell note. I believe I know the entire contents by now, actually."
"I should have come, Professor," she said, bowing her head to him. "I'm sorry, I was just..."
"Overcome with concern and not thinking as clearly as you are more than capable of," Dumbledore prompted when she fell silent. She nodded, and he smiled to her. "It happens to the best of us when loved ones are in peril."
"He's my best friend, Professor."
"And more," Dumbledore said softly, almost to himself, leaning back in his chair. "Harry seems to feel that getting close to people goes against his nature. Surely you have noticed this - I am amazed that he had managed to gain so many close friends in his time here at Hogwarts, when he simply wishes to avoid hurting people. A purer soul I have not seen in many years..."
"But sir - "
"However," Dumbledore went on as though she hadn't said a word. "Belief that getting close only causes pain is wrong, and he knows this. It is not an easy thing to change for anyone, though, Miss Granger, and for Harry, this holds twice as true. His belief that anyone he cares for will die only strengthens his resolve given the apparent track record... and it especially increases his resolve to stay as far away as he can from you right now."
"But I want to help him!" Hermione said forcefully. "He shouldn't just run away like this! I told him that I didn't care about the risks - I want to stand by him. I intend to be right beside him during the final battle with Voldemort when he strikes the killing blow."
Dumbledore smiled to her, but said nothing for a moment. "Harry told you the prophecy, then."
"Some of it," Hermione, feeling a little guilty. "But he doesn't really know he told me."
"The mirrors, then?" She nodded. "An incredible invention, really. Like certain places, they really stand the test of time, don't they?"
"I guess so," she said hesitantly, not sure what he was getting at.
"It is my firm belief, Miss Granger, that nothing I can do would be able to kill Tom," Dumbledore said after a long pause. "You see, I want to kill him for revenge for all the evil he has caused. Revenge is a dark motive indeed, and I doubt that a dark motive would be able to finish such a powerful dark wizard."
"Then what can?" Hermione asked. "I want to help Harry when we find him, and I will do whatever I can to help him."
"Do you love this boy, Hermione?"
Hermione sat up quickly in her chair, caught off guard by the question. "I... I don't know, sir," she admitted. "I care about him... more than I thought possible, really. But I do not know what love like this is supposed to feel like."
"It is not a subject that can be found in books," the headmaster said knowingly. "But you will feel it with your heart, when you know." He leaned forward again and looked into her eyes. "It will be that that can destroy him. If Harry fights Voldemort with a heart filled with caring and love, I think he will destroy him."
"I want to find him, sir," Hermione said quietly. "I need to find him."
"Then I suggest you continue looking," Dumbledore said, standing slowly from his chair. "In places you have not looked yet." He was looking pointedly at her, but she didn't know what he meant exactly. With a nod anyway, she stood and made her way to the door. "You would be pleased to know that he has not left school grounds, at least, not persay. Oh, and Hermione?" When she turned, he continued. "I am sorry that Minerva changed the password to the Gryffindor common rooms after only a week of classes. She seemed to feel that having half of Gryffindor unable to enter their own dorm meant it was necessary. It was a nice try."
Hermione said nothing to anybody as she trudged slowly to the Great Hall to sit at the Gryffindor table. She had hoped that Dumbledore would be able to help somehow... or at least take some of the worry off her mind. All she had received, though, was a couple of vague hints that didn't seem to help at all.
As she went through the motions of eating, she became vaguely aware that there were more than just Gryffindors sitting at the table. Cho, Terry, Anthony, Padma, and Luna were all there from Ravenclaw, and Susan, Ernie, Justin, and Hannah were all there from Hufflepuff. The rest of the DA was also sitting close, all looking to her, as though waiting for instructions. It seemed that they were completely ignoring the stares from the other tables, and even from Gryffindor, as they leaned in close to listen.
"Anyone know anything new?" she asked in a tired voice. She found it a little unnerving to be faced down with everyone expecting her to know what to do... she usually wouldn't have minded much, but this was different. They wanted her to lead - and she knew she was no leader.
"No," Ginny offered. "But not for lack of trying. We'll go back to searching at lunch, and then we'll try to talk Talisien into letting us off this afternoon to keep looking."
"At least Malfoy's keeping quiet about all this," Ron pointed out helpfully.
"That worries me, actually," Hermione said, looking around at the Slytherin table. The blonde she was looking for was nowhere in sight, though. "Usually, he'd be drawing all sorts of attention to this, wouldn't he?"
"That would be our fault," Pavarti and Padma said together. Padma kept talking. "We heard him talking before you came back from seeing Dumbledore, and decided that you really didn't need to deal with what he was planning. Had a whole great thing ready, talking about how `Potter's mudblood girlfriend must have killed him off...' You don't want the details, do you?"
"No," Hermione groaned, setting her head on the table. She understood suddenly why Harry found this helpful. The cool wood seemed to penetrate her thoughts, giving her something to focus on besides those gathered around her.
"He'll turn up," Ron reassured her, looking to the others for support. He hadn't expected her to be taking it so hard, but then, he knew he had never really understood Hermione anyway. "C'mon, it's Harry, right?"
Hermione just moaned and finally pulled herself up from the table. "Look, I'm going to go have a lie down for a bit... didn't get much sleep last night and all."
"Hermione, skipping class?" Dean asked in surprise. "You must be feeling pretty bad... You sure it wouldn't be best for you to head to see Madame Pomfrey?"
She didn't reply as she left the Great Hall and made her way to the Gryffindor Tower. She knew there would be a few sixth and seventh years there, but she didn't care. So long as there was no one in her dorm, she would be fine.
Flopping down onto her bed after staring at it for a moment, she closed her eyes to all her thoughts. She had expected to fall asleep almost at once when her head hit the pillow, but apparently she had no such luck. Everything everyone had said to her since Harry's disappearance kept flashing through her mind, and none of it was making any sense.
She needed sleep, and she needed to clear her thoughts. Harry missing shouldn't be able to mess up her life this badly... but she wouldn't have it any other way. As her mother had always told her, you worry more about those you care the most about, even when they don't need it. Well, Harry certainly needed the worry now, but that alone wouldn't be of much help.
The strange sensation in her pocket wasn't helping her think at all. After a moment, the buzzing feeling intensified, and she reached into her robes to find out what was going on. As her hand wrapped around the handle to her mirror, her eyes widened and she sat up instantly, pulling out the mirror quickly to look into its surface.
"Harry?"
Her image was not being reflected back to her, which told her that the mirror was active. Wherever he was, though, it was dark. Very dark. She could barely make out his brilliant emerald eyes looking back to her.
"I'm sorry, `Mione," Harry's soft whisper came to her ears.
"Where are you?" she asked instantly.
Harry shook his head, and she realised that her eyes must be adjusting to the dark, as she could make out a little more of him. "I won't tell you that, `Mione. I can't. There's a lot I want to tell you that's like that. Mainly, I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry."
"Why can't you tell me where you are?" she demanded, her voice hardening a little. "I want to help you, Harry. There are so many people searching for you right now... we're all worried about you. Please..."
"It's because of that that I have to stay here," he whispered, looking away from the mirror. Something reflected off his glasses, but she wasn't sure what it was before he looked back to her again. "The more people that care about me, the more people I care about. And that can only mean one thing..."
"Oh not that again!" she said, exasperated. "You are not blaming yourself for everything again, Harry, I'm not going to allow it."
Harry smiled sadly to her and looked down. "That's one of the reasons I had to leave. I know you'd be able to talk me out of this... and I can't let you do that. Not this time. Everyone means too much to me... and I can't protect everyone. Someone would die at Christmas, and it would be all my fault."
"At Christmas?"
Harry nodded. "In the vision I had, I saw him kill, `Mione. Lots of people. His raw hatred almost consumed me, it hurt so badly. He told me then. He told me that he would kill my friends over Christmas, and that I was next. So... I have to leave. If I don't have friends, then he can't kill them. He can't kill you."
"Honestly, Harry, don't you think you're overreacting just a little? I mean, yes, he threatened us. But so what else is new? We all know that being close to you means a certain amount of danger and trouble... but guess what? We don't care!"
She was startled to see tears in his eyes when he looked up to her again. "I'm sorry, `Mione. This is something I have to do. I can't keep putting you at risk like this. Even though my heart will always lie with you... it will always be yours... I have to stay away. Your death would be like my own."
She tried to answer him despite the tears in her eyes at how deeply his words had touched her, but the mirror went blank suddenly. "Harry," she said sternly to the mirror. He had told her how to activate it, to contact him. Nothing changed in the mirror, though. She just saw her own reflection looking back at her. "Harry Potter," she repeated. Again, nothing.
Closing her eyes tightly to the feeling building in her chest that was making it difficult to breath, she set the mirror down carefully on her nightstand, afraid that if she didn't, she might end up breaking it. She then did something she once swore she would never do.
She cursed. Loudly. Many, many times.
When she could think of nothing else to say about the stupidity of men, of war, and of dark wizards, and nothing else to say about the foolish boy that she had fallen for, she pulled herself out of bed, not feeling any better - in fact, her throat felt a little raw now. She had seen him, but it hadn't helped any.
After a moment, she noticed Crookshanks purring around her ankles. Seeing him didn't help her mood at all, as he simply brought back memories of the short time they had spent in the Astronomy Tower. Well... alright, it had been an entire morning, but it wasn't nearly long enough. Not when she wanted a lifetime.
She walked downstairs slowly, and was surprised to find Lavender and Neville sitting close to each other on the couch, talking in quiet whispers. Neville had his hand on her shoulder, and she wasn't meeting his eye.
Hearing her footsteps, they both shot apart instantly, and Lavender stood up quickly to meet her. "We finished another sweep of the castle," she explained. "I'm skipping Divination for this, so you know how I feel about it, right?"
Hermione smiled weakly to her friend and nodded. "Sorry for telling you off earlier."
Lavender waved her apology aside. "Don't worry about it. Friends get told to sod off every once and a while. Besides, I know how hard this is hitting you."
"Thanks." Hermione sank into one of the chairs by the fireplace and sighed. "I just spoke with him," she said after a long silence.
"What?" Neville demanded, leaping up from the couch as Lavender sat down hard on the ground by Hermione's chair, leaning against it. "When? Where? How?"
"I believe you left out who and why, but I guess you already know that, don't you?" Hermione said with a weak smile. "He contacted me using the mirrors," she explained, looking to Lavender briefly until the other girl nodded her understanding. "And he told me that Voldemort - honestly, grow up! - spoke to him when he collapsed a couple of weeks ago. He said that his friends would all die over the Christmas holidays, and that he would be next."
"So what, he's planning on hiding somewhere to try and convince V-V-V... You-Know-Who that he doesn't have any friends?" Lavender asked. Hermione nodded. "Prat. He's a prat. Biggest one I know - and that includes Ron! I always knew it, but that confirms it."
"I tried telling him that, actually," Hermione admitted. "But he... he just told me that his heart will always be with me, even though he never can. Then the mirrors stopped working."
Lavender gripped Hermione's arm reassuringly, and Neville nodded slowly. "Right, Lavender mentioned that to me," he said with a grin. "You two make a great couple, you know."
"No, I wouldn't know!" Hermione said forcibly. "Because the Great Harry Potter's decided to do something noble and stupid once again, and now I'll never see him to have a chance to find out!"
It must have been a sign that Neville had really grown up recently that he didn't back away at her anger. Instead, he leaned in a little closer, and smiled weakly back to her. "If you believed that, I don't think you'd have come down from your room."
"Any idea where he is?" Lavender asked softly. At Hermione's frown, she went on quickly. "I mean, you said you spoke to him through the mirrors, right? Did you see anything that you might be able to use to find him?"
"No, it was just too..." She stopped suddenly. It was dark. Very dark. He was in a place that used to be dangerous, but now was perfectly safe. A place that few people could ever get to. A place that withstood the test of time.
She stood up so quickly that Lavender actually fell backwards, as she was leaning on the edge of the chair, and it tipped with the unbalanced weight. "Where are you going?" Neville asked as she made her way quickly to the portrait hole.
"I have an idea, and I have to check it out," she said hurriedly. "Don't worry, and please have someone get my homework for this afternoon's class..." She couldn't believe she said that, but it was a part of her too. She checked the deepest pocket of her robes, and found that the dagger she was supposed to give Harry was still there. With a deep breath, she started down the halls as quickly as she dared. She was not going to be stopped by a teacher now, at all times.
Hermione couldn't help but smile to herself as she stepped in a puddle of water outside the bathroom on the second floor. Myrtle must have been upset about something again, which came as no surprise, really. Pushing open the door, she looked into the girl's bathroom a little tentatively.
There was no sign of anyone. Closing the door behind her quickly, she walked up to the sinks in the centre of the room and started looking at them, looking for a particular marking that she knew would still be there.
"You!"
She whirled around in an instant, her wand out, and found herself face to face with Moaning Myrtle, who was hovering three feet above the ground and appeared to be - no shock here - crying. "Hi Myrtle," Hermione said as cheerfully as she could muster.
"Don't you `Hi Myrtle,' me, you... you... cat-girl!" Myrtle wailed. "How dare you come into my bathroom after what he did to me? It was... horrible!"
"What happened, Myrtle?" she asked quickly, trying to appease and quiet the ghost before she attracted undue attention.
"What happened? He ignored me, that's what! Harry finally came back into my bathroom, I thought to see me, even, and then he ignored me completely!"
"Harry just ignored you?" Hermione asked, faking surprise. In reality, she felt elated at the news - Harry had been there, which meant she must have been on the right track.
"Well..." she moaned, looking away from Hermione's brown eyed stare slowly. "Not completely. He did say that, even though I was dead, he shouldn't be near me, either. Horrible thing to say, reminding me of that fact!"
"Myrtle... did he go down to the Chamber?"
"I... I wouldn't know!" she wailed, turning and drifting a few feet away. "After he insulted my death state, I returned to my u-pipe to wallow in my own self misery..."
"Thanks, Myrtle," Hermione said kindly, looking back to the sink for a moment. "Er... you wouldn't be able to open the entrance, would you?"
"Oh, that's right!" Myrtle wailed more loudly than ever. "That's right! Ignore pour, pathetic, moaning, moping Myrtle until you need something from me, and then come crawling back, just expecting me to help!" Before Hermione could say anything else, the ghost vanished through a wall, screaming and crying harder than she had ever seen her before.
"I believe that conversation could have gone much better," a soft voice said from behind her suddenly, causing her to jump in surprise before whirling towards whoever had entered the bathroom.
Somehow, she wasn't shocked to find the Wanderer leaning against the doorframe, looking to her as though trying to determine something. "You knew he was here, didn't you?" she accused him.
"I did," Talisien admitted. "I checked to make sure he had not left the castle, but I did not enter the Chamber. Nor does he know that I checked. I am a teacher, after all. I couldn't just let him leave, if that was his intent."
"You could have said something, you know," Hermione said bitterly.
"I could have, and in fact I did, just now. I also happen to know that you received a few hints from several different sources, and, being as bright as I knew you were, you figured it out on your own anyway. No harm done, right?"
"Except I can't open the bloody entrance!" Hermione growled. That made twice in one day that she had sworn... she knew she was overtired and overextended, but she didn't care. She was bringing Harry home before resting.
Talisien nodded and was next to her looking at the sink carefully. "Hmm... yes, that is a problem. As I'm sure you are aware, I am no parseltongue."
"Then how I am supposed to get to him?"
The Wanderer said nothing, but he was by the doorway again, causing her eyes to jump from the sink where he had been to the door again. He was leaning against the now open door, his arms folded before him. "You have been told how."
Before she could ask him what he meant, he was gone, and the door shut quickly with a bang. Hermione turned back to the sink, and found her eyes reflected back to her from the rusty metal faucet. "Alright, think Hermione," she muttered to herself as she traced the snake with a finger. "You're good at puzzles. You love puzzles. This is one you can solve. So how?" She knew that talking to herself was yet another sign of how tired she was, but she was beyond caring about that.
"Ron... Ron would try blasting the thing apart right away... no good there. What would Harry do, then?" That thought caused her mind to cloud over as she knew he was just below her, and so she shook it from her mind. "Alright then... Fred and George. They could get into anywhere..."
She closed her eyes to think for a moment, and pressed her hands against her tired temples slowly, trying to massage thought into herself. As she did so, she caught sight of her hands through what Fey had called her `magics' eye.'
"Wandless, inner magics!" Hermione breathed. "Fey said that they could do anything that was necessary, if you have the power to do it!" Opening her eyes, she held a hand out to the sink. "Just concentrate..." she muttered, closing her eyes tightly again. "Open..."
It was an odd sensation that suddenly gripped her around the middle, and she felt like she was about to throw up, despite not having eaten anything. The pull was incredible, even though she wasn't moving, and she had to fight with all her strength to keep from falling to her knees. A strong, burning sensation that started in the pit of her stomach wove out around her, and then concentrated on her outstretched hand.
Chancing a glance, she opened her eyes and saw tangible energy held firmly in the air before her. Squeezing her eyes shut again quickly, before anything changed, she tried to picture the sink in front of her. As she did so, grey and green energy appeared before her. It looked like it was woven together over the sink in a beautiful spider web that had taken centuries to perfect.
As the blue and white energy in her hand started to merge with the grey and green, the spider web weaving started to disappear. The blue followed closely to the green and seemed to swallow it, engulf it, and finally replace it with an empty nothingness, while the white energy held the grey in check.
As soon as the blue had removed all the green, the white energy vanished, and the grey collapsed in on itself in a tangled mess - all beauty in the pattern was gone. Opening her eyes as an odd sound came to her ears, she leapt back in surprise as the sink started to open and a large pipe appeared in front of her.
Before she could cheer or even jump for joy, she slumped over and barely managed to hold herself up by one of the other sinks. A gut-wrenching feeling had gripped her and was pulling at her... she felt like everything was fading, just when she had finally found Harry.
Hermione groaned as she fought off the sickening dizziness, and just when she thought she could take no more, it vanished. The shock of an empty feeling made her gasp, and she was suddenly breathing heavily, as though every breath was her first breath all over again.
Sitting up slowly, she looked down into the dark abyss that lead to the once-feared Chamber of Secrets. Now, it only held one secret... a secret that she knew wasn't a dangerous one. Slipping her feet over the edge of the pipe, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and pushed off the solid ground behind her.
It seemed like an eternity before she landed on the ground. She pulled out her wand first, before doing anything else. "Lumos," she whispered, and a bright light filled the dank passageway hidden beneath the school. "Scourgify," she added, pointing her wand at herself to clean the muck off.
It was then that she really took a good look around. There were hundreds of skeletons of rats and a few larger animals scattered throughout the passage, and the steady drip of foul smelling water caused her to wrinkle her nose.
"Alright Harry, where are you?" she muttered to herself as she started walking. After hearing Harry retell the story of going down into the unknown so many times, she could appreciate his attention to detail right away.
When she came to the area of the passage that had caved in just beyond the entrance, she found that someone had levitated all the rocks to one side, and had even formed a path going beyond.
Stepping aside of the large basilisk skin that she had excepted to see, she eventually came face to face with a large set of double doors that had lifelike snakes on either side of them, towering high above her. Framing the doors were two torches that were lit with a green flame - an everlasting flame, unless she missed her guess.
It was the third time she cursed in one day. With the fleeting thought that Ron would be proud, she cursed again and kicked the large double doors hard. The spell keeping them closed was even more complex than the one to the main entrance. Muffling her pain at such a stupid, foolish action, she limped a few feet away from the doors and sat down on the dank ground to think.
If she couldn't open these doors, then Harry would never even know she was there. But there was no way she could do another spell like her inner magics had let her do earlier... she could hardly believe that she had done it before, even still.
She closed her eyes to think, and took a deep breath. This was a challenge that might take some time. She ignored the hunger in her stomach - Harry must be worse off than she was - but even that didn't help.
"'Mione?"
The voice was so quiet that she thought she must have imagined it. She opened her eyes just a peak, and found Harry kneeling over her, reaching out as though to check for a pulse. He looked pale, wet, cold, and more than a little afraid. It was not how she had expected him to look at all.
Without another thought, she spread her arms and pulled him down to her before he could protest at all. She held him as tightly as she could possibly muster... there was no way he was going to escape again. Not ever again, she promised herself that.
"Harry James Potter," she whispered fiercely. "You are the biggest fool and prat I have ever known." When he tried to pull away, she just squeezed a little harder, and then finally released him.
He was walking away again already, and she forced herself to her feet and caught one of his hands, halting him in his tracks. "Please let go, Hermione," he whispered, not looking back to her as he took another step back to the main chamber.
She stepped up beside him and shook her head. "If you are going back in there, I'm coming with you. And you should know by now that you aren't going to be able to talk me out of it. Just try it - I can be more stubborn than even you."
Harry sighed and ran a hand through his ruffled black hair and smiled weakly to her. "Fine," he said after a minute of silence, and then returned to the Chamber.
Hermione followed him quickly, and just as she got inside, she heard him hiss three sharp words, and the doors swung shut again. "Harry, we have to go back," she said, catching his arm before he could go too far away. "Harry, we..." she trailed off as she saw the decomposing body of the basilisk at the other end of the chamber, and shuddered involuntarily. "That's the basilisk?" she asked despite herself.
Harry nodded. "Second year, `Mione," he explained in a very tired voice. "This was what destiny threw at me in my second year. I thought first year was bad enough, and then this came. Third year... don't even get me started! And fourth was even worse..."
"Harry, it's alright," Hermione said softly, turning to him and trying to get him to look to her.
"No!" he shouted suddenly, turning to face her fully, a terrible anger in his eyes that she had never seen before. "No, it's not alright, Hermione Ann Granger! How can any of this be right?" He turned his back on her and took several steps away.
"I was there for most of that, remember, Harry?"
"What does that matter?" he demanded. "You have an option. You could leave. I'm the bloody Boy-Who-Lived! I've got to `play the hero' every time some ruddy fool gets his knickers caught around his head! I get to face each day knowing that I'm the one who gets to face him in the end, the only one who can!"
"Harry, let me help you. Please."
"Get out. Now. Before I do something I'll regret." His voice was oddly calm and vexed at this point as he turned away from her again.
"Like what?" Hermione asked in a whisper. "Curse me? Hex me? Force feed me poison - though if you made it, I'm sure it would be an antidote instead... Would you go so far as to kill me if I didn't leave?" Her voice had steadily risen in volume until she was returning his shouting.
"Please leave... please... before I ask you to stay," he said so softly she barely heard him. "I can't do that to you, `Mione. You are too special... too important. Please... leave while you still can."
"There's only one way I'm leaving here, Harry, and that's with you," she said stubbornly, crossing her arms as she did so. "So get used to the idea."
"I'm not leaving," he said calmly, turning back to her. "So what do I have to say to you to make you leave?"
"How far are you willing to go?"
"You'd make me curse you, wouldn't you?"
"You don't have the power to make me leave, Harry," Hermione whispered.
"I do, actually," Harry replied. "I could lie to you. I know something I could say to make you leave cursing my name." He closed his eyes off from me then, and turned away. "But it would be a lie. And, whatever the reason, I can't lie to you."
"Let me help, then."
"Bloody hell, Hermione, don't you get it?" he demanded, his shoulders sagged in defeat. "You. Can't. Help. Me!"
She didn't know why she did it. She wasn't sure exactly what drove her to it, and could never pinpoint what part of her agreed with what she was doing. She was, after all, against violence for the most part. But the next second, she had spun him around and slapped him hard across the cheek.
That did it. It was a breaking point, and something in Harry's harsh eyes faded suddenly, and he was in her arms crying so hard she thought he would break. "Help me... please..." he whispered whenever breath came to him. "Do something... make it all... just go away... please..."
She took him gently in her arms and held him. After a few minutes, she realised that they were on the hard, cold ground, but she didn't care. All she could do, all she could focus on was the fact that Harry was crying in her arms, and she had caused it.
No words were said as Harry finally stopped sobbing. After a few soft sniffs, he pulled away from her just enough so he could look to her, and he smiled weakly, but it was forced. "Sorry..."
"Never say you're sorry for showing emotion, Harry," she said instantly, taking one of his hands in her own. "Please. Let me in, tell me what's wrong... I can't make anything go away if you don't talk to me..."
"I already did," he whispered, breaking their eye contact as he looked to a space on the floor a few feet away from them. An old bloodstain, from what she could tell. "And you already know about the prophecy."
She bit her lip at that comment. He knew that she knew, but they had never discussed it. He knew she had heard him talking to Sirius. As heavy a feeling as it was on her own heart, she could only imagine what it was like for him.
"You'll do it, Harry. I know you can."
"But I have to be a murderer, `Mione... Either that or be murdered."
"You can't murder a soulless creature like Voldemort!" she said fiercely, holding him tightly to her as she spoke. "You'll still be Harry, after it's over. And I'll do everything I can to help you. You know that. Even if you won't let me, I'm still going to help."
"I never said I was leaving here," Harry pointed out. "Nothing can reach me here that I don't let in." He sighed and pulled away a little more, though she still held on a little. "I don't know why I let you in, either. I shouldn't have - now you are probably in even more danger. He'll read my mind again sometime, and then he'll know..."
She shifted a bit, and he got up quickly, sitting down next to her instead of in her lap. Although the lack of physical contact and the warmth that accompanied it was a shock suddenly, her legs had been starting to go to sleep. It was not the best way for them to sit on hard stone. Pushing such thoughts out of her mind, she reached into the pocket she had been aiming for, and pulled out Talisien's dagger.
"Talisien... he... he wanted me to give this to you," Hermione said softly, holding it out to Harry. "He said that it would help you, that it chose you."
Harry took the weapon tentatively, and drew it a few inches from the sheath to look at the blade. Just above the hilt, at the base of the blade, an oak leaf was inscribed, with a crown over it. When the blade was back in the sheath, he looked back to her slowly, without words.
"It'll keep him out of your mind, Harry. No one will be able to penetrate it ever again, so long as it is close by," she whispered. "He can't reach you now."
Harry clutched the weapon to his chest as she said that, almost as though he needed it to breath suddenly. "I..."
He stopped right away, and she took a deep breath. "Look, Harry, I know that what happened was horrible, but it wasn't your fault."
"Bullocks," he muttered.
"It wasn't!" Hermione insisted. "Voldemort would have killed them anyway eventually, right? And if it hadn't been you, he'd be tormenting someone else, wouldn't he?"
"But you are all going to leave me at Christmas," he whispered. "He's going to - "
"Be at a loss to find us, Harry, because we'll be with you. Do you really think Dumbledore would send us home where we could be attacked?" She reached out for his hand, but he pulled away. "If nothing else, I'm going home with you."
"So many people are going to die because I lived, `Mione," he said slowly. "Because I care too much. They're going to die."
"You know what? I think I prefer angry Harry to brooding, upset Harry. At least he seems to think every now and then, and listens to some reason..." she said with a grin. He was smiling - though it was weak - and she knew she had gotten through to him. "If you had died, there would be a lot more dead people today, Harry. And if you had died, then think of everything you would have missed."
Harry snorted and shook his head. "Right, I'd miss Malfoy's taunts and seeing Cedric die in front of me. I'd miss helping revive Voldemort, and I'd miss causing Sirius's death. Sounds to me like I wouldn't be missing much - "
"Except friends who care about you, Harry. You'd be missing Quidditch, the DA, getting to tell Snape off during the off-season... you'd miss ever having met Ron... or me..."
"I get the feeling you'd all be better off without me anyway."
"Right," Hermione said angrily. "I'd be dead by now, thanks to a mountain troll in my first year. Sounds a lot better to me!" When Harry didn't reply, she glared at him for a moment before she remembered something. "Do you remember what you said in the mirror?"
"I said not to come looking for me," Harry replied softly, still not looking at her despite all her attempts to make him look up. He was still cradling the dagger close to him, holding it almost like it was a long lost child.
"You also said that your heart is mine, so I'm calling it in. Now." That seemed to get his attention, and he looked up quickly, startled. "That's right, Harry Potter, I'm calling in your heart. It's time you started listening to reason for a change, and I intend to make you. We're leaving here, and you're going to tell Dumbledore what Voldemort said in his message to you, and then we're going to get you something to eat, even if I have to force your mouth to chew every bit and massage your throat into swallowing, and then - "
"Do you think... then I could get some sleep? In a soft, warm bed? In dry clothes?"
It was what she had been looking for ever since she had found him again. Although there was a haunted sadness in his eyes still, there was a glimmer of something more, something much better and stronger.
In his emerald eyes, she could see hope again, for the first time in a long time.
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I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed my story thus far. It always means a lot, and I will always take the time to reply to every review, no matter the length. So, thanks to everyone!
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Until the sun sets upon a broken world...
The Shadows
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