Unofficial Portkey Archive

Disclaimer: I still do not own 'Harry Potter,' I just make the characters do silly things.

A/N: In this chapter, Hermione arrives at St. Mungo's and witnesses the devastation fom the Death Eater attack, only to find Harry gone again. This time, she has the key to finding him. You'll also find out about the recurring dream (that seems much like the 'visions' that has been plaguing Harry) that's been keeping Hermione from getting a decent night's rest. No Kotone in this chapter, but she is mentioned, (and she's relatively safe.) So, here we go!

Chapter 10: Hermione's Road Trip

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Bring it back or when it's over take me home,
I'm healing.
And when in doubt, you'll live without all you have known
you've been feeling.

If I run tonight, would you promise to be there?
Would you say the words that comfort me? They're all around, I swear!
If I run tonight, and I take it overboard with a word or two
I give to you, it's all I can afford...

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Hermione appeared with a loud crack on the street just outside of St. Mungo's Hospital and immediately froze when she met a dozen wands being pointed at her. She looked around, stunned at the chaotic scene of destruction around her. Bodies and debris littered the area around the demolished front entrance to the hospital. Members of the hospital staff were frantically assisting the wounded, some milling about aimlessly, some crying, and some just staring off in a daze. Scores of emergency response wizards were rushing around interviewing muggles before modifying their memories and sending them away while ministry Unspeakables were bust setting up muggle-repelling charms around the area.

The aurors holding the wands on Hermione stood perplexed, warily considering the red-eyed, crying young woman who apparated on the street wearing nothing but knickers and a flannel nightshirt. Before anyone could speak, Moody appeared next to her and signaled to the nervous aurors that she was no threat. He turned to her and grabbed her arm before she tried to enter the hospital. He gave her a reproachful look and was about to tell her just how foolish apparating into an unknown situation was, when his magical eye that had been scanning the area wildly moments before, fixed on a pile of smoldering debris near the destroyed entrance.

"Great Merlin's beard! Tonks!" Moody exclaimed as he hurriedly pointed his wand at the pile of rubble and began to levitate large chunks of broken bricks and mortar. "Don't just stand there, girl, lend a hand!" A few of the aurors along with Hermione soon cleared away the debris, revealing a battered and unconscious Tonks, partially covered with a bloodied invisibility cloak. If she hadn't cast a shield around herself at the last moment, she would most likely would have been crushed to death by the destroyed wall.

Once a medi-witch began tending to Tonks, Hermione rushed into the hospital, desperate to find out if Harry was safe. As she ran through the corridors, she saw evidence of the battle everywhere. The walls held scorched patches where curses and hexes had landed, bits of shattered plaster and dust covered the floors and in nearly every room she passed there were people either obviously dead or being tended to by the hospital staff, which only fuelled her anxiety further. By the time she reached the floor Harry's room was on, she was in a full sprint, her bare feet slapping noisily on the tiled floor and tears streaming from her eyes. She skidded to a stop in front of Harry's room and threw herself against the door, causing it to slam against the wall.

She had to cover her mouth to prevent a scream from escaping when she saw the condition of his room. The floor was littered with parchment, the bed sheets looked as if they were thrown into a corner and shattered bits of glass covered most of the surfaces. Harry's hospital gown was on the floor next to his trunk, which laid open in front of the large locker in the far corner of the room.

Hermione laid her hand on her chest and unsteadily leaned against the doorjamb. She fully believed that the Death Eaters had taken Harry. Through tear-blurred eyes, she waved her wand, collected the scattered rolls of parchment, and sent them into the box that was lying on the floor. With another wave, she vanished the jagged bits of glass that covered the floor, bed and table, and then levitated the pillow and sheets to the bed and magically tucked the edges under the mattress leaving the room in near perfect condition.

As soon as she finished cleaning the room, she put on the robes she had brought from her home, trying to recover at least some of her decorum. She walked across the room, sat heavily on the bed and rested her face in her hands, still feeling the exhaustion from the 'episode' that she experienced earlier in her bedroom. The only thing that allowed her to hang on to the hope that Harry was still alive was the fact that she didn't find his body in the room. Still, the idea of his pale, battered form being dragged before Voldemort made that hope tentative, at best.

She laid back on the bead and let out a deep sigh. She could detect the faint but distinctive essence of Harry that still lingered on the pillow. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, trying to ease the tension that seemed to be embedded in her psyche.

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Hermione opened her eyes slowly. She was standing in a vast room, or what she thought was a room. Everything around her was a brilliant white. She could see the walls of the room far in the distance, which stretched so high that she couldn't see the ceiling. The room was familiar to her, as if she had spent a lot of time there. She slowly walked towards one of the walls. She somehow knew what she would find there. Facts about the room slowly started emerging from her memories. She knew that when she reached the wall, there would be nothing to find, no doors or windows, no signs or writing of any sort. She seemed to remember having walked around the entire room. She suddenly stopped walking, remembering that in this room, there was no exit, no escape.

There was something else about the room that she knew was important, but couldn't recall what that something was. It was something scary, or maybe dangerous. She once again focused on the wall facing her, and was surprised to see just how close she was to it. She knew that she couldn't have walked that long to have the wall that close to her. She quickly turned around and saw that the walls to the sides and behind her were just as close.

She suddenly remembered. The walls were closing in on her. It happened every time she found herself in this room, and every time it ended the same way. She drew her wand and sent a Reductor towards a rapidly approaching wall, only to have the red beam dissipate into a cloud of pinkish smoke before it impacted. Panic started to take hold of her. She started screaming out every hex and curse that came to mind… 'Reducto!... Impedimenta!... Arresto Momentum!...' Every spell she tried never even made it close to the wall before dissipating.

Out of desperation, she called out a very advanced spell that she had only read about recently. Normally, she would never consider using such a powerful penetration curse at such a close range, but knowing that if she didn't break through somehow she would be crushed to death. The wall was only a few metres away. She narrowed her eyes in concentration and loudly called out in a clear voice, 'Perfringo Permaximum!' An opaque, black jet of energy shot out from the tip of her wand and impacted loudly against the encroaching wall, but the effect was non existent. There wasn't even a scorch mark on the smooth white surface.

She just closed her eyes, expecting the worst to happen, when she heard a coarse, yet gentle voice calling, "Granger?" She felt a heavy hand on her shoulder softly shaking her.

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Hermione opened her eyes and jumped in fright when she saw Moody's scarred face looking down at her as she lay on Harry's hospital bed.

"Up you get," said Moody, "we were just getting Tonks patched up when she said that she wants to have a word with you."

Hermione just laid on the bed for a few moments before getting to her feet, trying to get her ragged breathing under control. She looked up at Moody and asked, "Harry's not here, does anyone know what happened to him?"

Moody nodded, "That's what Tonks wants to speak to you about, and she was guarding him this morning when the attack occurred."

Hermione followed Moody through the halls while going over the dream she just had. It was the same dream that she had every time she tried to sleep, and she would always wake at the same point, where the walls had closed to a point where she could feel the bones in her shoulders and chest cracking from the pressure. Even after waking, she could still feel the pain throughout her chest and arms, which effectively kept her from drifting off to sleep again. She really didn't know how much longer she could last by getting only a few hours of sleep each night.

As they entered the first floor from the stairwell, Hermione glanced into a large room and stopped short. Inside of the room stood rows of cots, upon them were obviously bodies covered in white sheets, most of which were stained with blood.

"Mad Eye, how… how many…?"

Moody stopped a few paces ahead and bowed his head, "We don't know yet, they are still counting, but we figure there are well over a hundred dead. The worst area was…"

She heard Moody take a deep steadying breath, apparently trying to keep emotion out of his voice. He cleared his throat and continued, "I'm told that the worst area was the children's ward. Most of the little tykes were sleeping and never knew what hit them. It was pretty much a massacre."

Hermione just stood for a moment, trying to absorb that information. Her thoughts rested on a tiny girl with white hair and wide violet eyes. In her mind's eye, she imagined the girl sprawled on the floor covered in blood.

Moody looked back in time to see Hermione's face contort in grief and heard her whisper, "Kotone…" before she lunged at him, wrapped him in a hug and began sobbing into his shirt. Moody stiffened and looked around helplessly while he softly patted Hermione's back as she cried.

"Come on, girl, buck up." Moody quietly said to her, "This is no time to fall apart. I heard there were a few of the kids that survived." Truthfully, Moody was having a very difficult time keeping the tears out of his own good eye.

Hermione, realizing that she was clinging to Mad-Eye, let out a squeak and jumped back away from him. 'What am I doing?'

"I… I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me! I'm not usually this emotional. It's just that there was a girl I knew in that ward, she was due to start Hogwarts this September. She was the one who told me to use my patronus on Harry. She has white hair and these strange eyes… almost purple… she was so small…"

"Oh, you know her?" asked Moody, who was looking at Hermione with a somewhat surprised expression, "She was one of the survivors. She actually stopped one of the Death Eaters, we're not exactly sure how, though. An auror who was searching the ward after the attack found one in her room with his wand painted at her, but he was just standing there staring. She won't answer any questions on how…"

"She can't," interrupted Hermione, "she either can't talk or just doesn't, I don't know."

"Moody started walking again, "Well, come on. You can visit her later, if the bloody ministry doesn't take her in, that is."

A few minutes passed before they made it to the room where there were about a dozen people laid out on hastily conjured beds. Moody led Hermione to the back of the room where Tonks was laying with a privacy curtain was blocking the view from the rest of the room. Moody waited outside of the curtain while Hermione stepped in. Tonks was on the bed, mostly covered by a white sheet that had a rather large blood stain around where her legs were.

Tonks tried to smile at Hermione, but the swelling on her battered face made the smile look more like a grimace. "Wotcher, Hermione," greeted Tonks weakly, and then noticed her staring at the stain on the sheet, "Yeah, I know… I won't be up for dancing any time soon, but they say I'll be alright in time. Do us a fav and put up some privacy, won't ya?"

Hermione quickly placed a silencing charm on the curtain surrounding the bed and waited for Tonks to speak. A minute of silence went by, as she seemed to struggle with what she wanted to say before Hermione's patience wore thin and she asked, "Well? What happened to Harry?"

"I think he's okay, but he's really angry, and when I say that, I mean scary angry. I was under my invisibility cloak, sitting in the chair watching him while he was reading through some of the papers he had in the box in his room, then he read something that really set him off. His magic just sort of… exploded, I can't begin to describe it. Trashed the room, he did, and he didn't even have his wand After he threw his magical tantrum, he decided to get himself dressed in front of me and go for a walk around the hospital in his father's cloak." She remembered the sight of the naked Harry as he dressed himself and let out a weak giggle, "Did'ja ever notice he's got a sexy bum?"

A blank expression washed over Hermione's face as her mind automatically thought back to the times she actually did check out Harry's arse before she caught herself and glared at Tonks who just tried to smile again then attempted to wink.

"Before he covered himself up, I put a keyed tracker on his shoe and followed him. I tracked him to the children's ward, and after he left there, I saw that he was heading for the exit. I thought he was just taking a walk around the hospital, but when I realized that he was leaving, I ran after him. I didn't realize that he brought his broom with him from his room because when I made it outside, the tracker was pointing up in the air. I was about to go back inside to alert someone when the attack happened.

"Well? Is someone going after him?" Hermione was partly relieved and partly worried, she was glad Harry wasn't in the hospital when the attack happened, but was concerned about him being out on his own so soon after waking from a month-long coma.

"That's why I wanted to talk to you. Harry was really, really beside himself. I mean, I've never seen him quite this angry. What do you suppose would happen if he finds out that an Order member was tracking him down while he's like he is?"

Without hesitation, Hermione answered, "He'd hex them into next month."

"Exactly, which is why I want you to find him and keep him safe until he cools down, or let us know if he gets into trouble. I know how he is around you. I think you're the only one who he wouldn't run from."

Hermione looked unsure, "I don't know, we haven't been on the best of terms with each other recently."

"Well, do you think Ron, or anyone else for that matter, has enough tact to keep Harry under control?"

Hermione remembered the mysterious, foul mood Ron was in the previous day during the visit with Harry and quickly said, "Ok, I'll do it."

"Great, it's the Sequor Tracker, and the key to the charm is 'Sirius,' you're familiar with it, right?"

Hermione nodded, and then just said, "Sirius?"

Tonks gave a slight shrug and simply said, "It's the first thing that came to mind."

Hermione nodded again in understanding. After saying her good byes to both Tonks and Moody, and had them arrange to get Harry's things to her house, she left the room. She briefly considered searching for Kotone, thinking that she was the reason Harry went to the children's ward that morning, but her need to ensure his safety overrode all concern for anyone else. She made her way to the entrance and back out into the chaos that was the muggle street and finding a concealed spot, she apparated back to her house.

Hermione sprinted from the utility shed in her back yard, across the lawn and into the kitchen door. She made her way to the one place in the house she knew her parents would be. She knocked on the study door and heard her father's voice allowing entry.

"Dad, I need to use one of the cars." Said Hermione in a tone that suggested it was more of a demand than a request. Her father closed the ledger he was working on and turned to look at his daughter. Her mother was sitting at her own desk, perusing a catalogue of updated styles of dental surgery chairs.

Alex Granger looked carefully at his daughter, instantly detecting the anxiety that she was obviously trying to conceal. "This has something to do with your friend, that 'Harry' fellow, doesn't it?"

A glare flashed from Hermione's eyes only for the briefest instant before she dropped her head and gave a small nod.

Alex sighed, having caught the glimpse of his daughter's anger, and then softly asked, "That Moody chap didn't say much when he followed you. What happened at the hospital? How is Harry?"

"Well, you already heard that the hospital was attacked by Voldemort's followers, but it was over by the time I got there. It seems that Harry's missing again. He left the hospital just before the attack, and it appears I'm the one who has to find him. He's still very ill and…"

"How long will you need it for?" interrupted Alex.

"I really don't know, as long as it takes to find him and keep him safe."

Alex produced his wallet and withdrew a credit card and several twenty pound notes then handed them to Hermione along with a set of keys, "Take the SL, it needs some petrol, so just top it with the card and do your mother and me a favor, will you?"

Hermione hesitated before reaching for the offering, "Favor?"

He looked into her eyes and said, "Just please, be careful."

Hermione had to resist the urge to roll her eyes, "Dad, nothing will happen to the car, you know that I'm a very safe driver."

Alex glanced at his wife, who was no longer reading the catalogue, but looking at her family.

"No, Hermione," Alex took a deep breath and then said concernedly, "You be careful. We love you and we don't want anything to happen to you."

Hermione stared blankly at her father, not knowing how to respond to what she just heard. She wasn't even sure that she heard what she had just heard. After a long moment, she very quietly asked, "W- What?"

Alex shifted uncomfortably on his feet before saying, "I know I haven't been the warmest father a child could have, and you can blame your grandparents for that, but I want you to know… well… You're my little girl. You've always been my little girl, and I know now that maybe I should have been a bit more emotive towards you as you were growing up. I guess I just took it for granted that you knew that I loved you… that we love you."

Hermione let out a choked breath that sounded something like 'Daddy' and threw her arms around her father, hugging him as tightly as she could. She managed to suppress a sob as she whispered into his shirt, "I love you, too."

She felt him gently return the hug as he said to her, "You had best be off to save your boyfriend."

She gave him one last squeeze before she stepped back and gave him a playful slap in the arm, "I've told you before, he's not my boyfriend!"

Alex handed her the card, money and keys while glancing to his wife, who wore a knowing smile. Hermione took the items then went and gave her mother a quick hug.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," said Hermione as she rushed out of the room towards the door that led to the garage.

Her mother leaned out of the room and spoke before Hermione opened the door, "Hermione? Can you do us another small favor?"

She looked back towards her mother and nodded.

"Smiling, her mother said, "Maybe, just for me, you can put on a decent set of clothes?"

Hermione looked questioningly at her mother before she looked down at herself and reddened, noticing that she was still wearing her nightclothes under her robes. She ran to her room and quickly dressed, gathered some toiletries, spare clothes and a towel into an overnight bag.

A few minutes later, Hermione pulled out of the garage in her father's black Mercedes-Benz SL600 Roadster Convertible. She stopped before the end of the driveway, placed her wand on the palm of her outstretched hand and said, "Sequor Sirius." The wand rotated on her hand with the tip pointing towards the west. She turned right out of the driveway, heading to the main road in St. Osyth that would carry her through Essex towards Greater London.

Nearly two hours later Hermione found herself on the A25 in Abinger Hammer, Surrey and still heading roughly west when the petrol warning light flashed on the panel. When she stopped for petrol, she asked the attendant for the easiest route to Little Whinging and discovered that she was about ten kilometers from the small village near Ottershaw, which happened to be to the northwest. Thanks to the directions she was given and the tracking charm, it didn't take long before she arrived in the neighborhood of Privet Drive.

'Why would he go back to Privet Drive? There's nothing there.'

The late-morning sun beat down upon the residents of Privet Drive as they spent their Saturday mowing their lawns, washing their cars and tending the gardens and flowerbeds surrounding their homes, all except for the residents of Number Four. The lawn of Number Four had patches of weeds protruding up from the over-tall grass, giving it the unmistakable appearance of neglect.

She parked the car in the driveway, and while hidden from prying eyes by the dark tinted glass, Hermione sat in her car for a moment and again incanted, 'Sequor Sirius,' causing the wand to point directly at the door of Number Four. She climbed out of the car and after making sure there weren't any muggles looking her way, she cast disillusionment on it, effectively hiding it from view. Concealing her wand, but making sure it could be quickly drawn, she approached the front door.

Inside of the house was somewhat dark, due to the fact that all of the blinds in the windows were fully drawn down, blocking out most of the daylight. She stood at the door and listened intently, trying to detect any sound or movement. She looked around into the furniture-less living room with its dusty carpet and blank walls.

She again said, 'Sequor Sirius' and watched as the wand pointed towards the stairs. She quietly crept to the staircase and slowly made her way to the second floor. As she put her weight on the fourth step, an ominous creak sounded from the loose stair causing her to freeze. She strained her ears to hear if the noise prompted any movement within the house. Hearing nothing, she made a mental note of the loose step and continued to the top landing. She quickly searched each of the three bedrooms, the bathroom, and another spare room that almost seemed like nothing more than an over-sized closet, all of which were empty.

Puzzled, she stood at the top of the stairs and cast the tracking spell again, 'Sequor Sirius.'

Her wand canted between her fingers and almost slipped out of her hand as the tip pointed straight downward. Surprised by this, she silently returned to the first floor, being careful to avoid the fourth step this time.

'Sequor Sirius.'

The wand pointed to the stairs. She looked on the side of the staircase and saw a small door with a sturdy-looking bolt lock on the outside, which was currently unlatched.

"Harry?" she whispered to the small door. Hearing nothing, she slowly pulled the cupboard door open and said, 'Lumos Minimus,' which caused a small, candle-like glow to emit from the end of her wand. She was met with a wave of stale, stiflingly hot air that came from the cramped space of the cupboard. In the dim light, all she could see was a small, dirty mattress pad and a dingy old, threadbare throw pillow.

Again, she said, 'Sequor Sirius' and watched as the glowing wand tip pointed inside of the cupboard, toward the bottom of the grimy pad. She reached into the tiny space, grabbed hold of a silky-feeling cloth, and uncovered her best friend.

"Oh, Harry…" she sadly whispered as she saw how thin and gaunt he still looked. His skin was flushed and sweaty from the stagnant summer air in the tiny space. Not wanting to wake him, and not wanting to wait out in the open, she carefully crawled into the cramped space that was the cupboard under the stairs along side Harry and pulled the door closed. In very quick succession, she cast 'Obfirmo,' 'Dissimulo,' and 'Silencio,' at the door, then 'Novo Aeris,' and 'Aeris Tepesco!' which sealed, obscured and silenced the door to the cupboard, as well as cleared and slightly chilled the air inside, respectively.

She then covered both herself and Harry in the invisibility cloak and then gently rested her head against his shoulder and quickly joined him in what she would find to be a very restful, dreamless sleep.

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A/N: Another one down. I hope you're enjoying the story. Harry and Hermione, alone together? Could this be the start of the promised H/Hr relationship? (insert evil laugh here) This is the last of the 'power updating,' the rest of the story will come as I write it. Don't forget to leave a comment and tell me how dreadfully confusing the story still is!