Unofficial Portkey Archive

Title: Harry Potter and the Unbreakable Link (1/20)

Author: Silvestria

E-mail: [email protected]

Category: Mystery

Keywords: Hermione Estella Harry Voldemort Aphrados

Rating: PG

Spoilers: All books

Summary: 7th year fic in the good old traditional style. Voldemort has a daughter (only he lost her), Harry has a dream, Dumbledore has a past and Hermione has a problem. Major revelations about the Potters, and the beginning of a possible romance...

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Chapter 1- The Invisibility Cloak

She walked swiftly down the street. The night was hot- sultry. A cool breeze, however, blew inland from the nearby sea. A few street lamps illuminated the road, that was all. The sounds of midnight revellers could be from the main streets. She looked down at the cool summer dress she was wearing. Bother, I just didn't think of the clothes! I must show up very well in white on a dark street. Typical, isn't it, she muttered to herself as she walked on, you think of everything, the rope; you even tested it for weight! And you don't notice that you'll be seen in white. I plan it to perfection, and I don't think of that! At least I always wear flat shoes, high heels would have been dreadful!

Suddenly, out of an alleyway reeled a drunkard. "Kalimera! Hic- you're a- hic- pretty thing- hic- aren't you? Kalinihta!" He reeled away. She took a few steadying breaths and leant against the peeling paint of a wall. She'd survived! Pull yourself together! He's not Voldemort in disguise! she told herself severely. All he did was gibber in Greek! It's nothing to worry about.

All the same, she did look round more often than before, what if she was caught? What if he was already there, if she was too late? Perhaps he already knew. She had thought she had been the only one to know, what if she was wrong? What if she was all wrong? If it had all been a mistake? Then common sense returned. Of course she was right! She was always right. How could she be wrong? She had researched it so well! She almost laughed. She was going to save the world!

She ran down the street and across the little square to the other side where the Palace was. She could hear the fountain playing in the centre of the square, she could smell food. Someone was cooking kebabs in a house nearby. She looked at her watch, ten minutes past two o'clock in the morning. She should be safe. The grand house was surrounded by a garden and high railings. From under the maroon dress coat she pulled a length of strong rope with a bar of wood at one end. She stuck her foot through the railings to see what the ground was like. Grass, that was fine. Checking nobody was watching, she threw the rope up so that the stick caught between the tops of the rails. Checking that it was firm, she gripped the rope in both hands and started to climb up. I'm going to save the world, she reminded herself as she pulled herself up. At the top she remembered not to look down, and holding onto the stick, so that the rope would follow, so she could use it to get out, she took a deep breath, muttered, "This is for the benefit of all mankind!" and jumped.

She landed with bent knees, on the grass safe and sound. Breathing deeply, she stood up and rolled up the rope and put it into her pocket. She looked around her, she was definitely inside the gardens, not a thing was stirring, not even a bird. There were so many shadows though. They looked so human. What if they were? What if she was being watched? Her fingers closed on that vital piece of wood, her wand, in her pocket. She couldn't do magic in the holidays, but it reassured her, even so.

Surely those leaves crackled? Oh, that I had an invisibility cloak like Harry! If only! I'd be all right then.

But Harry was safe asleep at Privet Drive or at The Burrow with Ron. Oh for his cloak! She was sure there was someone there. She spun round. No-one! Her heart beating faster than normal, she moved noiselessly around the house to look for a side entrance that wasn't locked. Oh for some company! For a minute she saw a shadow- heard a footstep. What if it was- Her imagination took hold of her.

"I say, what are you doing here?"

"Ron! Thank goodness someone's come! I'm going to save the world and you can help me!"

"Save the world, er, Hermione, that's impossible!"

"Come on anyway!"

Then the shadow was someone else- Hermione's head span.

"What are you doing here, Granger?" it inquired in a different tone from Ron.

"None of your business, Malfoy."

"Oh no! We'll see about that, Mudblood!" he laughed, and then the laugh turned high and cold, and his face become the one she had only seen in her nightmares; a chalk white face, slit red eyes, and a flat nose.

"Noooooooooooo!" She sank down by a tree, terrified.

"Never cross the Dark Lord's path. I don't like meddlers, girl." He laughed again.

"You haven't saved the world yet, have you?" he raised his wand.

"Help! Harry! Ron!"

The laugh was crueller than ever, "Avada Kadavra!"

She fainted.

"Wake up! Wake up! Please wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" Hermione dragged herself back to consciousness. The voice cried, "Thank goodness you woke up." Hermione spun round, no-one was there. Who had spoken? It seemed to come from her head. That was impossible, however, she knew that of course. "Look out, the guards!" yelled the voice, and this she could footsteps and voices for real.

There was nowhere to hide, nowhere to go. She was trapped, no use to run; they would hear her. It was like her worst dreams.

Oh for the invisibility cloak! Harry! HARRY! Please, the cloak! I need the cloak! I wish I had the cloak! Oh, Harry, save me! She crept behind a tree and closed her eyes while she waited for the guards to come and arrest her. She couldn't think of anything to do. She couldn't even apparate or do anything that might be of use.

She could see Harry's cloak swim before her shut eyes. Oh how much she wished she had it. She felt a soft weight in her hands. She opened her eyes, (how close the guards were!) and there, in her hands was a piece of shimmering material, the invisibility cloak! Without stopping to wonder, she threw it over herself and held her breath to wait for the guards. Two thickset men walked past, revolvers in their hip pockets. Hermione understood enough Greek to realise that they had heard a noise round here and had come to investigate. They poked around a bit, then one said, "Must've been a bird or something," The other one agreed, "Come on, we've wasted enough time around here."

They walked away. Hermione let out a long breath. Fate seemed to favour her tonight! Checking that the guards really had gone, she gently took off the cloak. It really was Harry's for it said, 'J. Potter.' at one side. She didn't understand, how did she have it? Surely wishing for something didn't bring over seas to her? Was this a copy then? Was the real cloak at 4 Privet Drive as usual?

Frowning, she put it back on, she couldn't risk another close encounter like the one she had just had. She carried on walking, trying not to think of the cloak, but she couldn't. 'Well, I'm honoured to have possession of James Potter's invisibility cloak. I'll keep it very safe for Harry,' she promised.

There was the side entrance, and it wasn't locked. Heart leaping for joy at not having to break in, she slowly pushed it open. It creaked. Hermione waited a minute, no sound, and shut it behind her. I hope the guards haven't heard it, she thought.

The door led through into a long, paved corridor. Like all Mediterranean houses, it was cool and dry. The flags on the floor were broken and worn in places; she almost tripped up at one point.

She had reckoned that the room where the writing was kept would be on the ground floor, so she ignored the great, dusty, sweeping stairs. The first door she came to was the kitchen, and therefore unsuitable.

The next room looked like a sitting room. Gingerly she switched on the light, fortunately it was very feeble. She looked past the ornamental brocade chairs and the dusty grand piano. What a state of neglect this house is in, she thought sorrowfully, but saw nothing that could be called what she was looking for. She switched off the light and walked across to the next room.

She switched the light on in this room- it was the dining room. She scanned it, and her heart gave a beat of excitement. Next to the fireplace was a large glass case with a piece of paryrus in it. She approached it quickly, taking the red notebook out of her pocket as she did so. She compared the writing in the book to that on the paryrus. It was the same! She had found her goal! Now all she had to do was copy the bits she didn't have in her book. She took out her pencil and started to copy it.

Harry Potter woke up suddenly. He had had a funny dream. He had had others like it and he tried to remember this one. There had been the girl, of course. There always was the girl. And whenever he had looked into her face, to see who she was, he had woken up, before he could identify her.

This dream had been the strangest yet, however. He had seen the girl go through museums and great houses, in search of something, but in this dream, she had been in the grounds of a great house at night. It had been hot, he remembered and there been the shadows, not shadows, more like Priori Incantatem prowling around the grounds with him. There had been Ron and Draco Malfoy. Then suddenly the girl had collapsed. Harry had been just about to help her, when he had seen the two people, with guns. The girl was in danger from them, he didn't know how or why, but he knew she had to wake up. "Wake up! Wake up!" he remembered screaming to her and eventually she had woken. He told her about the guards and she had panicked. Then she had cried for his cloak, for him and for Ron. I'm sure I know her! he thought angrily. He furrowed his brows, but he couldn't remember what she looked like at all. And, he had given her the cloak; put it in her hands, and as he had looked up at her, he had woken up. As he always had. He desperately wanted to see her, instead of just helping her, he wanted to get to know her properly and whenever that could have happened, he woke up. It was so annoying!

He had given her the cloak though, he thought with sudden inspiration. He climbed stealthily out of bed, listened to the Dursleys to check they were asleep, then opened his trunk and put his hand into the pocket where he always kept his invisibility cloak. He almost had a heart attack.

The cloak wasn't there.

This chapter has ended.