~A/N> Thank you for all of the great reviews on the last chapter! And for those of you who pointed out that
Harry never took his invisibility cloak off, that was a mistake on my part and it has been corrected. Thanks for
pointing it out! Thanks again to Spaz141 for all the help!!
I saw the jet of light streaking towards me and thinking quickly I stuck my hand out in front of me and shouted, "deflecto!"
The spell bounced off of the invisible shield in front of me and ricochets back towards Wormtail, hitting him squarely in the chest. I watched as he fell to the floor stunned and breathed a sigh of relief. I turned towards Draco and noticed a surprised look on his face. "Don't ask, let's just get out of here."
"Not before we search the study," he replied as he walked over to where our wands were; once he handed mine back to me he turned to open the door. I stood in the corridor keeping an eye on the rat while Draco searched through the study to see if he could find anything of importance. I heard him opening and closing drawers and then heard him yell, "I found something!"
"Good, why don't you shut it and keep looking. I'm sure you'll find more" I said, anxious to get the hell out of this place. It was bad enough that Wormtail had already discovered us; I didn't want to stick around for when Lucius and Voldemort came back. After a lot of noise from the room, Draco finally emerged with an armload of parchments.
"Alright, let's go" he said and then started to make his way back to the kitchen. I looked down at Wormtail for a moment and then hurried after Draco. Once we made it back to the dungeon, Draco shrunk the rolls of parchment in his arms and put them in his pocket. We were halfway across the yard when suddenly my scar felt like it was being ripped open. I dropped to the ground, clutching my head and trying hard not to scream out in pain. "Potter, what are you doing?!" Draco quietly asked, aggravation evident in his voice.
"My scar" I replied, gritting my teeth. "Voldemort must be inside; they must have found Wormtail."
"Then we've got to go NOW!" Draco said. He roughly grabbed my arm and pulled me off of the ground; I half stumbled, half ran the rest of the way to where our brooms were hidden, my scar throbbing in pain the entire time. I took my invisibility cloak off of the brooms and grabbed mine quickly. Once I was mounted I covered myself and took off into the night. I looked back once to make sure Draco was following me, and after that I flew as fast as I could back to Hogwarts, trying to ignore the searing pain.
~*~
I had never been more worried in my entire life: it was almost one in the morning and I was wide-awake, pacing in front of the common room fireplace. I heard the portrait hole open and whipped my head up, expecting to see Harry walking in. Instead, Professor Dumbledore was walking towards me, looking old and tired.
"Professor Dumbledore, sir, I'm surprised to see you here so late" I said, trying not to sound disappointed.
"Having trouble sleeping Miss Granger?" he asked. The way he was looking at me gave me the impression he knew the reason I was awake.
"Um...well...you see Sir..." I started, and then turned my gaze once more to the portrait hole, where Harry and Draco had just walked in.
Harry was leaning on Draco as he walked, his hand clutching his scar; I got worried when he looked up at me and I noticed his face was white and covered with a thin sheen of sweat. Their eyes grew wide with surprise as they noticed Dumbledore standing there with me. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, care to explain why you were out of your house common rooms at this late hour? And why is Mr. Malfoy in the Gryffindor common room instead of his own?"
Ignoring Dumbledore's questions I ran up to Harry, and just as Malfoy stepped away from him, I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him with all my might. I didn't care that Dumbeldore was watching and I didn't care that Malfoy had a disgusted look on his face; my only concern was that Harry was back, and he seemed to be okay. I pulled away from him and studied his face for a moment; he seemed unhurt, but he still kept his hand over his scar, as if removing it would make it hurt worse. Dumbledore cleared his throat, drawing our attention back to him and Harry looked at me; I gave a slight shake of my head, trying to convey to him that I had not told Dumbledore they were gone. He looked back at the Headmaster and said, "Well, Sir...we were just..."
"I found Potter passed out in the corridor" lied Malfoy. 'Idiot' I thought, knowing that Dumbledore would easily catch his lie.
"Is that so Mr. Malfoy?" asked Dumbledore, staring at him intently. "Perhaps you and Mr. Potter should come to my office and we can discuss where you really were."
Harry looked at me, defeated, and then stood up straight. His hand was still covering his scar, and when he removed it I gasped. "Harry, your scar is bleeding." I rushed to where my bag lay on the sofa and rummaged around inside. I finally found my handkerchief and made my way back to him; I quickly pressed the cloth onto his scar, noticing that he winced at the contact.
"Thanks 'Mione" he said, placing his hand over mine. I felt a little tingle go down my arm at the contact and gave him a smile. He smiled back at me and I heard Malfoy mutter, "how revolting."
"Well gentlemen, shall we?" Dumbledore asked, motioning towards the door. Harry and Draco turned and made their way back to the door. I had started to make my way back to the sofa when Dumbledore said, "Miss Granger, I almost forgot the reason I came here in the first place. I am afraid there were many casualties in the fight at Hogsmeade this evening; your presence would be greatly appreciated in the Hospital Ward. Madame Pomfrey requires all the competent assistance we can gather?"
"Absolutely Professor" I replied, surprised by his question.
"Could you also wake Miss Weasley and ask her to go with you? I am afraid you may not get much sleep tonight." I stopped and looked at Dumbledore; suddenly I was afraid of what I was going to see when I got to the ward. I shook my head and turned to make my way up to wake Ginny. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder, and when I turned, Harry was standing behind me.
"Are you all right?" he asked, grabbing my hands. When I didn't say anything, he said, "I'm sorry if I worried you 'Mione, but I hope you understand that I needed to go tonight. And I think we may have found some important documents; maybe they'll tell us what Voldemort is up to."
"That's great Harry, and I'm fine" I replied, squeezing his hands gently. He pulled me forward and wrapped his arms around me; it felt so good to be held by him, and I was so relieved he was okay. "Where did Malfoy and Dumbledore go?" I asked, noticing they were no longer in the common room.
"They're waiting for me in the corridor" he replied, pulling away slowly. He bent and gave me a brief, gentle kiss and then let go of me. "I should get going, and it sounds like you have some work ahead of you."
"Yeah, I'm kind of afraid of what I'm going to see when I walk in there" I said, and he gave me a look of understanding.
"I'll come help you after I'm done talking with Dumbledore, if he'll let me" he said, and I smiled at him once more.
"Thanks Harry" I answered, and then stood on my tiptoes to give him another quick kiss. "I'll see you later."
He smiled, gave a quick wave and then turned around and left. Once he was gone I turned back to the stairway; I needed to wake Ginny first and then change my clothes. It was going to be a very long night.
~*~
Malfoy and I followed Dumbledore up to his office, neither of us making a sound. We stopped just long enough for the Headmaster to say the password and then we followed him up to his office. Once the three of us were seated, Dumbledore steepled his hands and levelled his gaze on us. "So, who is going to explain to me what you two were up to tonight?"
Malfoy and I looked at each other for a second, and I knew he wouldn't speak up; it was going to be up to me to get us out of the potential trouble we faced. "Well Sir, you see...we were at Malfoy Manor." Dumbledore sat there staring at me, making me uncomfortable, so I pressed on, "Draco sought me out tonight to tell me that he knew where Voldemort and his Father were going to be. He explained how he knew about the first attack on Hogsmeade and why he fought against his father, and we discussed what should be done. The two of us decided to fly to the Manor to have a look around for ourselves."
"And do you feel that was a wise decision?" Dumbledore asked, looking upset for the first time that evening. When neither of us answered he said, "Harry, you must admit, you did a very foolish thing tonight. You put yourselves into great danger, and if anything had happened, there would have been no one available to assist you. The teachers, among many others, were off fighting in Hogsmeade tonight; we would not have discovered you were gone until it was too late."
"We understood the risk we were taking Sir," stated Draco defiantly. "I had the feeling my Father was planning something big, and when I learned of the attack tonight I knew there would be more to come. I asked Potter for his help, and he agreed to go with me; I might add that we did not come back empty handed." He stood up and reached into his pocket, withdrawing the shrunken documents he had brought back with him. He returned them to their normal size and handed them over to Dumbledore.
"What are these?" he asked, opening one up.
"We haven't had a chance to look them over properly, but I know a couple of them are maps" Draco replied.
Dumbledore took the parchments from him and unrolled them on the desk. He studied one after the other, looking deep in thought, and then looked up at us suddenly after he had glanced at the last one. "I believe you may have found something of great importance," he said, looking from me to Malfoy. "This is a map of Hogwarts; it has every ward that has been placed around the school outlined on it. Mr. Malfoy, do you happen to know what they were planning to do with this map?"
"No Sir, I wasn't allowed to attend the meetings after I refused to become one of them" Draco replied. Dumbledore studied him for a moment, as if deciding whether he was telling the truth or not, and then nodded his head slightly.
"You shall both serve one week of detention with your head of house; what you did tonight was very dangerous. You may have found some very important information, but you foolishly risked your lives in the process. You may return to your houses now." Malfoy and I nodded our heads in understanding, thoroughly reprimanded for what we did, and made our way to the door. "Harry" Dumbledore said, stopping me in my tracks, "I believe Miss Granger may require your assistance in the Hospital Wing."
I turned to look at him and smiled; "Thank-you Sir" I said, and made my way out of his office.
~*~
Harry walked into the ward about an hour after Ginny and I had gone down to help Madam Pomfrey, and I had never been so happy to see him. There were at least fifty injured witches, wizards and Aurors in the ward when we got there, and there were more being brought in every few minutes. The Aurors who weren't severely injured were sifting through what used to be Hogsmeade, searching for the dead and injured. St. Mungo's was even starting to turn patients away; they were over capacity and could barely tend to the patients they already had. Poor Madam Pomfrey was running this way and that way, trying to take care of the most serious cases and working her way down. She had quickly taught us healing charms when we had gotten here and had assigned us to broken bones and cuts, along with bringing her whatever she may need to treat her patients. Professor Snape had been coming in and out all night long, replenishing her potion stores.
"Oh look, Potter's here to save the day," Snape drolled as he passed Harry, and Harry looked as if he was biting his tongue to keep himself from retorting.
"Hi Harry" I said, giving him a quick hug, "did you and Malfoy get into a lot of trouble?"
"We were each given a weeks detention with our head of house" he replied, following me over to one of the beds.
"I'm afraid you'll have to wait on that Potter" came a voice from the next bed.
"Professor McGonagall?" we said at the same time.
"I didn't see you come in; what happened?" I asked.
"I got hit by a couple of stunners and Dumbledore felt I should get checked out" she replied. "Don't worry Potter, I'll be up and around in no time and you'll be able to complete your detention then. I'm almost afraid to ask what you did this time."
"I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will explain it to you Professor" he replied, trying not to smile as she just shook her head and closed her eyes.
I taught Harry the healing charms and quickly put him to work; it seemed as if the flow of injured people would never end. We were both shocked when Remus Lupin came in carrying Tonks. "What happened?" I asked, running up to him.
"One of the buildings that was on fire collapsed and she wasn't able to apparate out in time" he replied. "She seems to be having some trouble breathing, I think she might have broken a rib or two."
I had him place her in the one empty bed we had left and went to get Pomfrey as quickly as I could. I may not have been close to Tonks, but she was with me when my Mum died and she had stayed with me afterwards; I didn't want anything bad to happen to her. Once the nurse was taking care of her, I went to check on the other patients I'd taken care of before. I was able to have Pomfrey clear about twenty of them, leaving us empty beds in case more arrived. When the flow of injured had finally calmed down and it seemed that there would be no more new patients coming in, the nurse approached me and said, "You've done very well tonight Miss Granger, perhaps you might consider a career in healing."
"Thank you Madam Pomfrey" I replied with a sense of pride as I watched her walk away. I had never even considered going into the medical field, but now that she had mentioned it, I found the idea did appeal to me.
"Hey you" said Harry, walking up beside me, "you looked pretty far away just now."
"Sorry, I was just thinking about something Madame Pomfrey said. She complimented me on my work in here tonight and said I should consider pursuing a career as a healer" I answered, smiling at him.
"You'd make an excellent healer," he said, smiling back at me, "or anything else you decide to become for that matter."
"Are you trying to get on my good side, Mr. Potter?" I asked playfully, feeling very punchy after being awake for over twenty-four hours.
"I wasn't aware I was on your bad side Miss Granger" he replied flirtatiously. He leaned down to kiss me, but Madam Pomfrey walked up behind us at just that moment and cleared her throat rather loudly.
"This is a Hospital Wing Mr. Potter, I suggest you keep your lips to yourself" she said rather curtly. We both blushed and took a step away from each other, which seemed to appease the rather cranky nurse. Of course we couldn't blame her, the poor woman had probably treated over two hundred patients in six hours.
Once she was gone, Harry looked at me and said, "You know, you and I have never been on a proper date."
"No we haven't" I replied. "Actually, I really shouldn't let you kiss me until we have."
"If I remember correctly, we've had a snog or two" he said cheekily.
"Well then, I guess I'll just have to 'keep my lips to myself', as Madame Pomfrey just said" I replied, just as cheekily.
"You can't resist me Granger," he said, walking up to me, looking as worn out as I felt at the moment.
I closed the distance between us, and leaning in close to his ear I whispered, "we'll see about that Potter."
~*~
After running the entire spectrum of emotions in one day, I felt exhausted. After flirting shamelessly with Hermione, our exhaustion seemed to catch up with us. Dumbledore had come into the ward to check on everyone and had told us that classes had been cancelled that day, so Hermione and I decided to grab some breakfast before returning to our dorms.
We talked intermittently as we walked to the Hall hand in hand; I was still surprised and relieved that she hadn't stayed mad at me. My excursion to Malfoy Manor seemed ages ago; so much had happened since then. Just seeing all of those injured and dying people made me appreciate her so much more.
We walked into the Hall and it seemed eerily quiet; everyone's eyes seemed to focus on us the moment we walked in. I spotted Ron and steered Hermione over to a seat across from him. Realizing how hungry I was, I started piling food onto my plate and then eating quite heartily. I looked up and realized that Ron was just sitting there, looking at me.
"What's up mate?" I asked as Ginny shuffled in and sat next to him. He cleared his throat and looked a little uncomfortable.
"I think there's something you should see," he said, producing the Daily Prophet from under the table, where it seemed he had been trying to hide it.
I took it from him and skimmed over the front page, and then froze. I re-read the article in front of me and then looked up at him. "Dumbledore didn't say anything about this" I said, feeling angry all of a sudden. "I just saw him an hour ago and he didn't mention one word about this."
"What is it Harry?" Hermione asked, obviously worried. When I didn't respond, she laid her hand gently on my arm and asked quietly, "Harry please, tell me what's wrong?"
I looked at her, really not seeing her clearly and replied, "They were attacked last night by Death Eaters. They found the Dark Mark floating above their house." I looked once more at the picture of the Mark hovering over the house I knew so well and whispered, "My Aunt…Uncle…Dudley, they're dead; he's killed the last of my relatives."
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