A/N this is another of my favorite chapters in the story
Chapter 15 Fighting the Cold
********************Canton, England*******************************
December 22, 2004
10am
"Jane, why again are we braving the crowds to go shopping, I hate shopping, and I have patients waiting?" Roger Granger growled to his wife, from his post on the couch where he was reading Hermione's Daily Prophet. "And speaking of that, where is our daughter anyway, I just put off appointments for this morning not all week. It's not like Harry was down here or anything."
"Shush," Jane replied from across the room at his cross expression. Harry Potter was still a somewhat nebulous subject in this house, they had both met the boy multiple times, and truthfully they both liked him greatly, however Roger still partially blamed him for the various, "accidents" Hermione had had over the years at Hogwarts. Albus Dumbledore had magically repaired the exploded kitchen that had resulted from the fight over if she would return to Hogwarts this year, and he hadn't forgotten the lesson or the talk they had had with Dumbledore after, but he still was her father. "Anyway, they're just friends, Roger" Jane replied grinning, as she got up to straighten a Christmas ornament that Crookshanks had been playing with.
"My arse" he muttered in return as he turned the pages of the prophet. "I'm waiting for Harry's bloody owl any day now, with a letter asking for her hand."
"They aren't that far along, they haven't even gone on a date." Hermione's mother, an almost identical older version of her daughter, replied giggling just like her, as she straightened up from the Christmas tree.
"Only because they are both chickens." He wryly observed.
"Who's a chicken dad?" Hermione replied; her eyes laughing as she came down the stairs.
Roger glanced at his wife, who was hiding further giggles behind her hand. "My patients honey, I've got a whole group of them, that I almost have to go and drag into the office."
"Oh ok, I got that letter sent off to Harry" Hermione replied matter-of-factly as she grabbed her coat from the hall closet and walked to the door leading to the outside and the garage.
Jane's eyes met her husband's he just raised an eyebrow exactly like his daughter was wont to do. "How did you send a letter to Harry dear?"
"Oh Hedwig showed up with one from him this morning, so I sent one back in return." Hermione replied as she slipped her wand into her inner coat pocket, exactly where it would have been if she were in her school robes, not catching the "letter this morning" that her father mouthed over to Jane.
"Why the wand dear?" Jane asked as she slipped her coat on too.
Hermione shrugged, "Habit mum" Oh, like I'll tell you two, that I'm afraid Voldemort's thugs are everywhere and that that 'habit' comes from training to help my best friend kill the darkest wizard to cast his shadow on the world since Morgana. Besides, Harry would kill me if he found out I left it at home.
The three of them piled into her father's Land Rover and went to the mall just outside of town. Hermione had said that she hadn't had time to shop for anyone's Christmas presents yet. Additionally and more importantly, as Jane had told him when she made him clear his schedule for this morning, he had cleared it for the whole day but hadn't told his wife he was saving it for a surprise, that he should spend time with his daughter. Especially since, she pointed out forcefully, that he was the reason that she hadn't stayed with her friends for Christmas and gone to the Burrow with the Weasleys and Harry. His weak disjointer that she had canceled on them last Christmas to be with them hadn't flown, as neither of them believed the "skiing isn't my thing, mum, dad" line that Hermione had floated last year.
"Ohh, I do need new trainers" Hermione muttered as she went into a shoe store with her mother, Roger just shook his head and stood patiently outside the store with the other fathers, husbands and significant others, holding packages and at least one purse for the two. After twenty minutes, Hermione came out carrying another bag, most likely with the aforementioned trainers. To his great relief, unlike most of the other children in their relatively affluent neighborhood, their daughter never had been spoiled; she really had needed new trainers, her old ones looked as if they had a great number of miles on them. And he had noticed that their normally pretty fit daughter was in very good shape when they had picked her up at Platform 9 3/4, and had sometime in the last semester developed the habit of getting up at five am to exercise. But with only seeing her once or twice a year anymore, and usually for a month at a time at the most, these infrequent shopping trips were something else. Glad I brought the Rover, instead of the car, not everything would have fit. Suddenly he rubbed his arms, heating's broke down in here? Getting awfully cold all of a sudden, Roger thought as he glanced around and saw other shoppers reacting similarly.
Hermione paused from where she was talking to her mother, trying to figure out something to get for Ginny, she really hadn't had time to get Christmas presents except for something she had already picked up for Harry. Hermione had already arraigned for Lupin to stop off tomorrow to ferry presents to the Burrow, to keep Hedwig from a heart attack carrying everything back to her friends. I don't really blame mum and dad; I did blow them off last Christmas to be with Harry and Ron. That's weird, you'd think that they'd have better heating in this mall, it's new...OH SHIT...Hermione trailed off in her thoughts, as she knew that cold, that feeling. Her hand dove inside her jacket as she grabbed her mother with her free hand, and pulled Jane over to her father, dropping her new trainers as she went over to him.
"Hermione dear, your shoes, what's..."Jane Granger stopped as she saw the curious sight of people falling over, apparently without cause. She was a dentist, but dentists were doctors after all and she started to go to the people only to be stopped by her daughter's firm hand. "Hermione, dear I have to go help them."
"You can't mum" Hermione replied sadly, for the cause to her eyes was not unknown, she could plainly see the dark shapes of the Dementors, she grabbed the front of her fathers jacket now, with the hand holding her wand. Where, the burrow? Harry and the rest are there it'd be safe anyway. I hope I can do this with both of them. With an effort Hermione mentally concentrated on the burrow, willing herself and her parents there, but she felt a curious resistance. Anti-Apparation wards? She thought incredulously, as that could only mean that there were Death Eaters about somewhere. Lord, Harry I wish you were here...Her thoughts flashing back to her and Harry on the dance floor on Halloween, "EXPECTO PATRONUM." A shining silver otter burst from the end of her wand, the muggles near her looking on curiously at the daft girl, as they couldn't see either the Dementors or the spell.
Fortunately however, the fact that the muggles couldn't see the otter had nothing to do with its effectiveness. Hermione's glowing otter dove among the several dementors and where it passed the Dementors were gone only to be replaced by an equal number in turn. More, oh for the love of Merlin...Hermione forced her thoughts to even happier memories, of a ride on the back of a particular Hippogriff in third year, of the feeling when Harry returned battered, beaten but alive, so alive from the Graveyard duel with Voldemort, the weight that had come off her shoulders. Her patronus glowed even brighter, and with another pass, the rest of the Dementors were vanquished. But unfortunately that was just the start of her problems. For if there were anti-apparation spells up, that meant Death Eaters were somewhere in the area, and even if they hadn't come after her specifically, even if this was just another terror attack, any wizard in the area would have detected her patronus.
"Mum, dad, we have to go, now" Hermione said firmly as she started to drag them towards the door to where their car was parked, glancing from side to side to look out for enemies, wishing for the first time that she had a magical eye like Moody's.
"Dear, what was?" Jane Granger asked a little fretfully.
To which she got a grim reply that instantly confirmed Roger's and her fears for the last six years, "Dementors, and I couldn't apparate us out so someone has put up anti-apparation charms around this place and that means Death Eaters. They'll see that patronus."
Hermione glanced around hoping without hope that she was wrong, but she wasn't. "Thorton look, isn't that the Granger Mudblood?" A masked man in black robes said to another, there were suddenly at least six of them.
"Why yes it is O'Neal, yes it is, the Master will reward us greatly for this, "STUPEFY"" A bolt of red light shot towards Hermione, and in an instant, all thoughts of secrecy were gone from her mind.
"Behind me, PROTEGO" Instinctively her parents listened and stood behind their daughter as she fought a fight they couldn't begin to understand, they couldn't see the red bolt of light but they could clearly hear the sound of its passage, and see the huge chunk that the deflected spell took out of the wall. Hermione snapped off a quick shot at the one called "O'Neal," he got up a shield of his own, but he only managed to deflect her spell into one of his cohorts knocking him unconscious.
Ok, that works, She thought grimly as she witnessed the results. She dove backwards, taking her parents with her as she heard the beginning of the Death Curse, just barely pulling the three of them under the cover of a concrete fountain. The green bolt shot overhead and smashed a concrete pillar behind them, giving her an idea. "MUM, DAD, do not move."
"What's wrong Mudblood?" One of the Death Eaters yelled over to her, his voice magically amplified. "Afraid that we'll send your pretty head to Potter in a box." He laughed manically, and fired another Kedevra over her head.
Hermione grimaced, and mouthed once again "stay down" to her parents, who were sheltered with her behind the fountain. She took a deep breath, and held the tip of her wand over the lip of the fountain, "REDUCTO" a brilliant bolt of light, to her eyes anyway, reached out and detonated right over the heads of the Death Eaters attacking her, battering a second into unconsciousness as a large chunk of debris hit him on the head. Hermione never looked, she was already rolling to her left, and as she cleared the fountain, she shot two very quick stunners, each of which hit their targets, dropping two more to the floor. Rolling quickly back under cover, she breathed heavily, knowing that there were still two more. Then there were none, standing anyway. For in an instant, she heard a beautiful, hauntingly familiar burst of song, saw a beautiful red and gold swan-like bird appear, and a pair of loud CRACKs rang out.
"STUPEFY" Lupin, Tonks and Dumbledore cried at once. One of the two remaining Death Eaters took both Tonks and Lupin's shots in the same spot on his chest, he dropped instantly and did not breathe again, the other one took Dumbledore's stunner with such force that he flew back almost ten feet and smashed into a wall with a sickening crunch.
Dumbledore looked around grimly, but it was too late for the dead and or soulless muggles, and anyway he had one of his own to protect. Where? Her own home? Hogwarts? Aw yes. Dumbledore waved his wand at Hermione's new shoes and they shot over to him. Laying them on the edge of the fountain, "PORTUS" the shoes glowed blue for a second and did a weird dance then lay inert. "Hermione, take this portkey, it will take you to the Burrow, Harry and the Weasleys are there, you and your parents will be safe there. Hermione nodded bleakly and instructing each of her patents to grab onto the shoes, she did so and all three of them vanished in a flash and a POP.
Dumbledore looked up from where his second favorite student had just vanished and glared around at the devastation. "Nymphadora, Remus, take those creatures to the Ministry, and have a talk with them. This looks like a random attack, however I am highly concerned at the timing, that Hermione just happened to be here with her parents."
"And you?" Tonks asked as she tied each of the Death Eaters to a portkey she had just created.
"I'm going to clean up this mess. Closing his eyes, he waved his wand in a broad circle and incanted three spells, slowly and distinctly, "ENVESCO, OCCUPATO REPARO, OBLIVATE AREUM". With a flash the damage caused by the Death Eaters, and Hermione's Reducto blast was instantly repaired, the muggles that remembered the battle immediately forgot, and the bodies of the soulless and dead muggles, victims of the Dementors and Death Eaters vanished to a special morgue at St. Mungo's set up for just this contingency. With a nod and a swirl of his cloak he vanished.
************************The Burrow*******************************
Harry was going spare; he had been talking quietly to Lupin in the kitchen about some tricks Lupin, Sirius and James used to play, when Lupin threw a hand to his chest, grabbing a peculiar medallion from under his shirt. The medallion, which seemed to have a Phoenix emblazoned on it, was vibrating furiously. Lupin had taken the time to shout a "STAY HERE HARRY" and had disapparated with a CRACK. Harry for his part was worried sick, he knew the only thing that would have caused that reaction, would be an attack by Voldemort's forces. But where and on whom, Harry worked desperately though the possibilities, Diagon Alley? the Ministry again? Some poor muggles? Of course the last was the closest to the truth had he known, but he did not allow himself to follow that thought all the way though.
In a snap of light, Harry's questions were answered as Hermione and her parents appeared, still clutching her shoes that had been used as a portkey. Harry's reflexes, were perhaps the fastest seen in a generation, and his wand was pointed at Hermione's heart before she fully materialized, only to be lowered instantly as he saw who it was. As he saw her fully he knew. He dropped his wand and rushed to her, taking her in his arms, both of them ignoring the presence of her parents. "Mione are you all right...you're hurt" He muttered noticing a cut on her cheek that she got from flying debris.
"I'm alright Harry, Dementors and Death Eaters," she whispered into his shoulder. Then with a sound from her parents they broke apart.
"I'm glad to see you Harry" Jane Granger said quietly, "In fact I think I should be very glad to see you" She went on after her and Roger had exchanged a forced grin at their daughter's and Harry's reunion.
Harry nodded, "You're safe here," he went to the door, stuck his head into the living room, and yelled, "MOLLY."
Molly Weasley came running into the kitchen, "Harry wha..." only to stop at the sight of the Grangers standing in her kitchen, Hermione still very close to Harry, her parents standing with Roger's arm around Jane, all three of them looking battered. She turned to Harry and finished her question a little differently. "Harry what happened?"
Harry glanced over at the Grangers, "expecto patronum" he murmured the incantation in response to her question, causing her to cover her mouth with her hands in fright.
"My god" Molly gasped making the obvious conclusion, "are you all right?"
"Yeah, Molly we appear to be, however I would like an explanation, full this time, mind you Hermione." Roger said evenly as he started getting over his shock.
"And you shall have it" Albus Dumbledore replied from were he had just appeared, silently. "I suggest that we adjourn to the living room as it has more space. Molly if you would summon the rest of your family." Molly nodded and left the kitchen, her voice already sounding loudly through the house, calling her family in. "Harry, if you would escort the Grangers to the living room, I will be there in a moment." Harry nodded, and with a gentle motion he did that very thing.
Dumbledore sat down heavily in a kitchen chair and stared at the wall for a long, long moment. He slowly pulled a package of lemon drops from a pocket of his starry, purple robes and tossed a couple in his mouth. After another minute or so he went into the front room, just as Lupin appeared with a CRACK, causing Roger and Jane to jump slightly although no one else moved, as everyone else could apparate themselves and was therefore used to it. "Remus?"
"Random" Lupin replied with a word, and Dumbledore felt a touch of relief, not at the loss of life or worse suffered by the muggles, but that Hermione and her parents hadn't been the target.
"Roger and Jane, explanations are in order." Dumbledore said, looking at them resolutely where they sat on a
couch together, holding hands. Hermione had dropped on an opposite couch next to Harry, Ron had sat down on the other
side of her when he came in, thankfully not asking any questions for now, as he could easily determine that something
was very wrong if Hermione and her parents were here. The rest of the Weasleys that were at the Burrow, Ginny, Charlie,
Bill and Molly came in soon after; Arthur was at the ministry, while Fred and George were at their joke shop in Diagon
Alley checking up on things. "I assume that you remember what I told you last June?" Hermione glanced over at
her parents than at Harry next to her, he shrugged, as this was news to him too. "I told you of some of the trials
Harry has been through, and therefore what some of his friends have gone through. Unfortunately I did not tell you
everything, a failing that your daughter and Harry have seen fit to call me on, rightfully so, on more than one
occasion. Forgive me if I assume you know something you don't
or vise versa, I don't know what Hermione has told you about our world. Do you know what dementors are?"
Jane looked at her husband, then evenly at Dumbledore, "Guards of some prison or another, I can't remember for sure, I read it in one of Hermione's books.
Dumbledore nodded sagely, "Indeed they were. They were the guards at the Azkaban prison. Recently they have turned on the Ministry of Magic and are now in league with Lord Voldemort." The usual gasp of shock was heard, uttered from Molly, by now the rest of the family was used to it, and Harry wasn't scared of the name. "What happened today, was that the mall you were in was attacked by those dementors. They feed on the happy thoughts and souls of humans, the cold that you felt was a side effect of their passage. Hermione drove them away using a spell that very few wizards her age, indeed few wizards period, can do at all."
"What about those people in the masks then? And they seemed to know Hermione, they called her by name, then by something else, mudgut, mudsometing." Roger asked, confused as he had seen them just fine.
"Death Eaters" Harry replied for Dumbledore, "They are followers of Voldemort."
"The mudblood term is an insult to my parentage dad" Hermione replied evenly, "It means my parents were muggles."
"So?" Jane replied.
"Simply put they are evil." Dumbledore responded evenly. "One of the tenants of their beliefs is that only pureblooded wizards are worthy of survival, that half-bloods, like Harry and muggle-borne like your daughter are abominations and should be wiped out. And that muggles are ultimately playthings for their amusement. That is what happened today, a group of Death Eaters was following around a squad of Dementors looking for sport. Hermione being there undoubtedly saved many lives."
"But why did they act like they knew Hermione?" Roger asked, determined to get his original question answered.
Harry took a deep breath and started to answer but was stopped by Hermione's hand on his arm. "Because I stood up to Voldemort," She said, ignoring Harry's muttering at her side.
Roger stood up abruptly, "Molly can we use your kitchen, I would like to speak to my wife and daughter in private." At her slow nod, he motioned Jane into the kitchen, and glared at Hermione until she followed, which she did after she got a squeeze from Harry's hand that she was holding surreptitiously down by her leg.
After the door closed, Roger turned on Hermione with a glare worthy of her own or the head of Gryffindor. "Just when were you going to tell us, at your funeral? I should ban you from going back; you still are underage in both worlds young lady. This is because of Harry isn't it? He somehow conned you into going to that ministry place, and you got hurt and now this madman wants you dead too."
"Silencio," The walls of the kitchen flared with a bright light for a second then faded to normal. Hermione glared back at her father, and only the long sessions of training were what were keeping her from her second kitchen detonation in less than a year, though I doubt it would be the first time this kitchen got blown up in this house, a corner of her mouth flicked upward at the thought.
"Something funny, Hermione Jane?" Roger said with a cold fury, that didn't even come close to hers.
But Hermione stomped on her response ruthlessly, toning down the words she replied with before it was too late. "Father" she said in the flat voice, that if she had used on Harry or Ron, they would have dove for cover, but her parents and especially her father didn't know her as well as her friends, not anymore. Like Harry she had grown up at the school, not at her house. Small tendrils of her hair were floating gently with a life of their own, while in her mothers identical hair, a static charge was starting to take hold. "Did you not listen to Dumbledore? Yes, they want me dead because I'm Harry's friend, but they want me and you and mum dead just because of who we are, just like all those other poor muggles in the mall." Hermione turned on her heel and strode back into the living room without another word.
"Roger" Jane growled just a bit.
"She's my daughter Jane, and that boy..." Roger snarled only to see his wife's temper flare.
"For the love of Pete, Roger, Hermione was right you didn't listen at all, we were attacked today just because we were there, not because of who she is. Anyway, this is who she is, Roger, did you pay attention today? And as to Harry, this isn't his fault, am I angry with him for dragging my daughter into this, yes maybe a little, but you know damn well, that nothing he could say would have gotten her to do anything that she didn't want to." Snarling, Jane leaned on the kitchen table and glared at him.
"She's in love, Jane" Roger said as if that would explain everything away. "And the boy will get her killed, someday."
Jane Granger took a deep breath and didn't look at him for an instant; she had already figured that part out for herself and had tried to reconcile it with her fears. "Roger, you saw his face when she got here, he didn't even notice us two feet away, hell, I doubt she remembered us until you said something. Yes, she might get killed with him, but I seriously doubt that whatever got her, wouldn't have already had to kill him to get to her. And honestly that's all I can really ask of the boy isn't it?" She levered herself off of the table and headed back to the living room, wiping with one hand the tears that had come to her eyes at the thought.
Roger followed her wordlessly from the kitchen, as he reentered the living room, he saw that everyone was gone, everyone except his wife and Dumbledore. Dumbledore waved to a seat next to Jane, and he took it, though his glare was now transferred to his daughter's professor. Dumbledore silently regarded them over the top of half-moon glasses, his fingers steepled before his face. "Roger, Jane, I have sent the rest away, as I probably should have done in the beginning."
"Hermione?" Jane asked with a trace of worry breaking though her voice.
Dumbledore frowned slightly, and sighed. "She went for a walk, I am sure she is adequately watched over."
"By Harry" Roger interjected.
"ROGER" Jane snapped, as the same temper her daughter had inherited, started to boil.
Dumbledore ignored the tone of both of them and responded calmly as it had been merely a casual inquiry. "Very possibly...Right now you are both angry, and not without cause, however I will tell you that Harry, or indeed any of us did not foresee today's events. I can guarantee, that if any of us, and especially Harry, had had any inkling that any of you were in danger, we would have taken steps to prevent the incident."
"But how did Hermione learn to fight like that." Roger asked, his anger fading into confusion.
"Training," Dumbledore replied, with a trace of his normal humor, "in many ways, she is almost the perfect wizard, or witch rather. Her skills and powers match or surpass almost all of my professors right now, and they will grow, possibly to match or surpass mine, in time. At this moment, the only student whose powers surpass hers is Harry; she leads in raw knowledge though to be fair to him not by not much. Their closest friends are also very powerful for their age, and unknown to most of them, I have made the matter more pronounced, as I have accelerated their coursework beyond where it would normally be at this time."
"But why would you train her to fight, she's just a child..." Roger asked plaintively, his confusion fading slowly towards acceptance.
"Honestly," Dumbledore shrugged, "because circumstances will force Harry, eventually, to face Lord Voldemort, and she will be there with him. She may be many things, but a child, I submit, she is not. They have been in love with each other for almost as long as I can remember, though neither has admitted it to the other, or to themselves, I suspect. And if she will be in the fight, she deserves to be trained. I doubt there is anything I, or even Harry could do by now to dissuade her from joining in this conflict. Too many of her friends, and indeed those she considers family, are in his fight or have already fallen in it."
"Sirius" Jane breathed, remembering their conversion from last June.
"Yes" Dumbledore nodded, "Harry considered Sirius almost as another father, and your daughter was probably the closest to him after Harry. I suspect in a way they both were subconsciously substituting Sirius for James, Harry's real father. It was not purely her loyalty to Harry that led her into the Ministry last summer, but also the thought of Sirius dying as well. The same thought that drove Harry there in the beginning. And if you really have to blame anyone for that debacle, blame me, it was my choices that led to Harry thinking he had to go."
*****************Woods Outside the Burrow********************
"Leave me alone Harry" Hermione snapped at her shadow. She had already blown through Ron, Ginny and the older Weasleys, leaving each in turn, none daring to follow her in this mood.
Harry rolled his eyes; thankfully he was still trying to catch up so she didn't see it. "Hermione you know I won't leave until you talk to me." His feet made crunching sounds in the snow as he hurried to catch up.
"That's a fucking change, wasn't you who didn't want to talk all last year?" Hermione snapped in return. Harry visibly bit off a response, and as she had done minutes ago, he held his tongue at the first rejoinder that flashed across his mind.
"You're right Mione" Harry said softly with an air of defeat.
Hermione pulled up short and stopped, her head dropping, at the reminder of the guilt he was carrying around. "I'm sorry Harry, I..." She turned to face him.
"Its ok, it's the adrenaline still talking." Harry sat down on a fallen tree, brushing off enough snow for the both of them, and after a moment she joined him.
"So you heard dad, huh?" Hermione said gazing at her trainers. She shivered in the cold, she had been so angry that she had taken off outside without any thought for the weather. Harry noticed and pulled his coat off and draped it over her shoulders. She glanced at his old beat up leather jacket, probably something he found in Grimmauld place, and looked back down, hiding the sudden grin that flitted across her face. "Now you'll get cold." Hermione bit her lower lip nervously; "You know that I don't blame you, for today, or for..." It wasn't your fault Harry just some damn Death Eaters out for a bit of fun.
"You should," but before she could snap a reply, "but yeah I know, and I love you for it, even though I don't deserve a friend like you." Damn it Mione, I wish you would just run for cover, stay out of this war...I don't want to loose you, when Lupin disapparted and then you showed up bleeding with your wand in your hand and...my heart almost stopped.
I never will leave Harry, I promise, no matter what happens, I love you after all...OH SHIT, Hermione glanced over at Harry, worriedly out of the corner of her eye, hoping desperately that he wasn't able to determine her thoughts as they so often had over the last five and a half years. OHH, god just what you need, another silly girl declaring her undying love for you, you don't need the distraction, not now, probably not ever.
Fortunately for Hermione's piece of mind, at that instant Harry was also distracted with his continuing thoughts, when you popped in...Her dad's right, I led her to the Ministry, she'd be better off without me...Now who's lying a soft feminine voice enough like Hermione's that he glanced over at her to make sure she wasn't talking, responded. You wouldn't survive without her and you know it, and you know she feels the same way. Do I...Lord you really haven't been awake for the last few years have you? Harry eyes flicked over again to Hermione's form, Damn...I wasn't kidding a second ago, I do love her, but I'm just too dangerous to be around. And besides, she just likes me as a friend; she'd have done the same for Ron, wouldn't she? Harry stood, his thoughts troubled as he extended his hand to Hermione. Taking it she let him pull her to her feet, and with his arm around her shoulders they returned to the burrow, neither knowing for sure of the thoughts of the other, and that they both were indeed, "Chickens" as Roger had stated earlier this morning, for a muggle his prophesies had proven very insightful.