Power and Persecution: Part Five
Harry walked ahead of her along the corridor, the two of them followed by four large men and Draco. Harry was looking around pleasantly at everything around him, whistling a bright little tune as he led the way to what Hermione had to assume was the place they were meant to die. Even if Harry seemed to be accepting of their outcome, Hermione wasn't quite so happy with it. She knew Harry must have some idea on how to get out, that was his way, but Hermione wasn't ready to just let Harry lead the way and hope he was right.
`Why do you build such big buildings?' Harry asked craning his neck to look at Draco.
`I don't think that is neither here nor there' Draco said scorn fully making Harry shrug and carry on whistling his relentless tune.
`How's your day been?' Hermione said sarcastically as she watched Harry grinning, trying to get any sort of rise out of him.
`Oh, you know, same old same old' Harry said shrugging `I was listening to the radio and can't stop myself whistling one of the tunes'
Hermione couldn't help but chuckle slightly at Harry's extreme confidence in the face of what they heading to, she had missed him since she had come back home and it had only been a day.
`When we finish here we're going to have to go to this little memory place I know' Harry said smiling at her `they specialize in extracting small memories, for example that damn song!'
`Excuse me but your not going anywhere' Draco said nastily.
`I'm sorry!' Harry said bashfully `in case we get out of here we must visit that memory place'
Hermione laughed as Draco flushed with fury at Harry's words, and at Harry as he carried on whistling happily to himself. Harry suddenly stopped beside a door and smiled at the Slytherins.
`How did you know this was the room?' Draco demanded as he looked worriedly at the door.
`You'll know that and more once you suck my power and keep it for yourself' Harry said pleasantly `and I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise for you'
Draco stared at him and the door for several long moments before he nodded and opened the door, leading them all into the room. Hermione looked around the room and her heart dropped, all of her new friends were tied tightly to chairs with what appeared to be thick metal chains, each of them were struggling in vain and seemed in pain.
`Now this is more like it!' Harry said looking around `in nearly a month I haven't been able to show Hermione one old fashioned torture chamber! I thank you Draco for being so retro!'
`Shut up!' Draco said nastily, he seemed to be reaching the end of his tether with Harry, who just smiled at him nodded and sat down on one of the two chairs.
`I'll have this one' Harry said looking at the chair like he was inspecting it, before he turned back up to the room and smiled.
`Harry, don't sit there!' Remus said warningly, but as soon as he said it the large metal chains seemed to appear from nowhere and wrap themselves around Harry, who was somehow still smiling.
`Don't worry Remus, I've been in these things before' Harry said helpfully in a tone of Harry trying to rest Remus' worries `You going to tie Hermione up? I should warn you that she used to enjoy that with her boyfriend, James!'
`No we didn't!' Hermione said indignantly `why do you have to say things like that!'
`I was only joking!' Harry said apologetically `it appears to me that we're about to die so I didn't think you'd mind as you would have bigger things on your mind… and I know James wouldn't have minded one bit!'
`How would you know that?' Hermione moaned but Draco cut her off.
`You two stop your squabbling!' he shouted, looking completely angered at their behaviour. Hermione looked around the room and saw that all the exits were covered, she knew she wouldn't be able to fight her way out, so she shrugged and decided to play along, until she could find a moment for action.
`So where do you want me?' Hermione said finally.
`You, muggle, can stay where you are' Draco sneered meanly.
`That's a mistake' Harry said simply as he whistled his tune.
`Why is it?' Draco snapped.
`Because you shouldn't underestimate her' Harry said helpfully.
`She's a muggle in a room of a dozen wizards! What could she ever do?' Draco said throwing his head back and laughing meanly.
`And underestimating, muggles as you like to call them, is definitely a mistake…running a world with 6 billion of them, each and everyone of them with the fire and passion to drive through any adversary, any strife that lay ahead of them, and you consider them nothing more than ants? Definitely a mistake' Harry said passionately, his voice rising louder as he spoke.
`But we have the power over them, and sooner or later they will be nothing more than brainless followers' Draco sneered. Harry stared at him for a few moments, a fierce fire burning in his eyes.
`You're wrong…' Harry spoke the words softly before adding, back in his usual bright voice along with his now complimentary whistle`so how are you planning on doing this?'
`We're going to use you the same way as a muggle would a battery' Draco said with an evil smile playing over his lips, he took a large black ring out of his pocket and smiled.
`You've set it up to act as a carrier wave of power?' Harry said with a surprised look on his face.
`Exactly!' Draco said triumphantly `you'll be linked to our collective, where we will drain you of all your magic'
`Now that's a terrible idea' Harry said seriously.
`I assure you its perfect' Draco said walking over towards him.
`Linking a person of my power to your collective?' Harry said incredulously `can you not see that that is going to back fire?'
`Thanks for the warning but we've put up our own blocks' Draco said, he was now about a foot away from Harry and was looking down upon him `we have a dozen people here to help perform the draining, each and every one of us is trained in sufficient amount of occlumency and most importantly the ring cannot receive power, only give it'
`Even so it's a huge risk!' Harry said seriously `linking me to you isn't a good idea'
`Whatever you can do with the link, the fact remains that only we can draw power from you' Draco said seriously looking down upon him.
`Ok then' Harry said finally and smiled.
Draco walked up to him and slipped the ring on Harry's hand, and then took several steps back until he took his place in the circle of Slytherins that had Harry encircled.
`Ohh…' Harry said in deep concentration `I can feel the link! You guys are good!'
`And we can feel your power!' Draco said, his eyes starting to glisten over in joy and concentration `so much power!'.
`Well done, so far' Harry said, all of the Slytherins had a look of deepest concentration `but why oh why hasn't anyone asked me why I keep on whistling throughout all this?'
`So why are you whistling constantly?' Hermione asked looking up at him. A huge grin spread across his face as she asked this question, but the Slytherins seemed too distracted to notice.
`It's so the people listening on the end of my radio know just when to attack' Harry said simply, like it was a throw away comment.
`What did you say?' Draco said, his eyes slicking open to look at Harry, confusion in his eyes.
`The radio I have in my inside pocket' Harry explained `Hermione, come get it out for me, my hands are a little restrained right now'
A smile spread across her face as his words jotted into place, her Harry had had a plan. She walked over to it and run her hand under his jacket and located it, a thick and heavy portable radio like the kind you always saw on police men.
`Brilliant!' Remus shouted.
`Are they going to help us?' Sarah spoke, worry etched in every word.
`Draco, I'm coming to get you' Ron said, his voice evidently joyous.
`Whoever's there please come now' Hermione spoke quickly into the radio.
`No need to rush' Harry added with a quick little whistle of the ditty he had been doing for a while.
`They wont be able to help you' Draco stuttered out, but the other Slytherins seemed confused and a little scared, their trap had turned into a trap for them.
`I think they will' Harry said cheerfully `you are having to use nearly every piece of power you have to break my defences, and with enough time you would be able to, unfortunately, you don't have that…'
Harry paused to look at the door at the same time as it was slammed open with a loud crash as it smashed against the wall. Five or six men came running into the room, wearing a mix match of black clothes that looked very much unprofessional, but what was most surprising was the fact that each of them were carrying guns, which she had never seen a wizard hold.
`Shields!' Draco screamed at the Slytherins, and each and every one of them seemed to tighten even more in concentration.
`Howdy people!' Harry called happily, sitting happily in his chair like it was a sofa. The new people looked momentarily confused for a moment before they started to spread out across the room. One of them stood still and stared at her, and as she saw him she stopped in her track. James was one of them.
`You came here?' Hermione said in shock.
`With your running away all the time I didn't see another choice' James said with a smile as he looked at her.
`So this is the illustrious James?' Ron said with a laugh.
`Yep, he's here to save humanity' Harry said arching his head around in his chair to look at Ron.
`More like to save Hermione' Ron laughed at this.
`That's why I thought he was perfect!' Harry said laughing back.
`Cut it out you two!' Hermione said strictly making the pair stop mid laugh. She turned her attention back to James who was looking at her like she was something of a mirage or a goddess `James…'
`We haven't got time for this' James said quickly as he broke eye contact with her and moved towards Harry `How do I untie you'
`Don't worry about that' Harry said dismissively shaking his head `you need to occupy the Slytherins, draw their power away from attacking me for a moment'
James looked at Harry, then at Draco, then at his friends. A look of confusion was across his face before he looked back at Harry seeking an answer to how he was going to help.
`Use your freaking gun!' Harry said in exasperation
James raised his gun and pointed it at Draco but paused, a worried look on his face.
`Don't worry, he has a shield up' Harry added with a wince `Please be quick, all this is starting to sting'
James shot his gun but the bullet seemed to vanish in mid flight before Draco. James nodded to the others and all of them started to shoot repetitively at the Slytherins. Hermione could see the look on their face getting more and more severe as the bullets came flying.
`Come on…' Harry said softly staring intently at the Slytherins, the beginning of pain coming into his voice worrying Hermione slightly `come on…'
`You wont' Draco stuttered in anger.
Hermione could feel her heart beating in rhythm to the loud hammering of each bullet as they smashed against the shield, Hermione wasn't sure how long the Slytherins could hold of for or how long Harry could last.
`James… do something' Hermione said taking a step towards Harry, he seemed to weakening slightly.
`I'm trying' he said determinedly as he shot of another round at Draco.
She stepped over and put a hand on Harry's shoulder, and at that moment a Slytherin fell to the floor, wriggling slightly in what she could only assume to be pain.
`That's it!' Harry shouted.
`Coming for you Draco' Ron said softly, menace in his words.
`Hermione…' Harry said tuning his head to look at her, a huge grin spread over his face `watch this!'
Hermione barely had a moment to hear the words before something happened. A quick flash of blinding light filled the room and all of the Slytherins except for Draco had followed the first and fell roughly to the floor, shuddering and groaning in pain. Draco however stood still, sweat flooding down his face as he stared straight at Harry in the deepest hatred.
`What are you doing?' Draco said through gritted teeth, he seemed to be fighting an intense urge to follow in the wake of the other Slytherins.
`You've linked yourself to me to drain my power, but you didn't think about how I might be able to reverse the effect and push it back onto you' Harry said as he removed the now weak chains from his arms and standing up.
`That's impossible' Draco snarled, he seemed to be close to passing out with only will carrying him through this long.
`Don't blame me!' Harry said shrugging `I tried to warn you that it wasn't a good, I also tried to warn you not to underestimate Hermione or rest of the populace, but will you people ever listen?'
`How are you doing this?' Draco said as he fell to his knees but still kept conscious.
`As I said your spreading your power all over the place' Harry said walking over to Hermione and smiling at her before going back towards Draco `all of you together might just be able to have drained me, but doing a complicated bit of magic like shield as well, and having…'
Harry stopped and looked at each and every one of the new men, all looking slightly confused but happy with what they thought might be happening.
`I thought you said there would be six of you?' Harry asked confused.
`Well there are five' James said stone faced.
`Kind of makes the name Peckham 6 a little stupid' Harry said in bewilderment.
`Peckham 6?' Hermione asked confused.
`Your boyfriend's resistance group!' Harry said brightly `I saw them in the paper when I was at your mothers place'
`The one with you on?' Hermione asked.
`You wouldn't have seen the story as I took up the first 28 pages!' Harry said with a wink `but I was checking for any mention of my Ford Anglia in the paper as I wasn't sure if I could use it if they had, and I saw a resistance movement called the Peckham 6'
`So how come you had all this set up?' Remus asked.
`Because he's brilliant!' Hermione said as she moved next to him to and wrapped her arm around his.
`Hermione's right!' Harry said laughing `Although to be more specific I have to add that I was planning to grab the pensieve tonight anyway, and a simple anti magic field is as visible as a man dancing the tango to me'
Harry turned to look at Ron before he spoke again, Ron out of his chains as well and was staring intently at Draco with menace in his eyes.
`I found out they were going to move it and I could tell that Ron here would go blazing in no matter what' Ron turned to look at Harry and seemed impressed `so I hatched this little plot, went and told the Peckham 6 my plan and told them to bring guns and a radio, things that an anti magic field wouldn't effect'
`Did I say you were brilliant?' Hermione said chuckling `more like a genius'
`Defiantly am' Harry said with a wink `it was true that I couldn't drain Draco and he could only drain me, but it wasn't very hard to let a huge amount of power through to him at once, as soon as their attention was somewhere else as well' Harry said triumphantly `using Dracos' metaphor, this battery threw out so much power at once that it blew the light bulb out'
Harry went to walk away but stopped mid step and tuned back around and smiled `I almost forgot about Draco'
Hermione looked around and saw Draco standing still in complete concentration, his eyes shut and his fists clenched.
`I hadn't' Ron said gravely, he was still staring at the blonde haired man.
`What shall we do with him?' Harry said light-heartedly looking at him.
`You wont get away with this' Draco said.
`If you carry on talking like that I'm not going to break the link and free you' Harry said waving his finger in front of him warningly. Draco eyes opened and he stared at Harry in hatred. Harry watched him fro a moment and as Draco didn't speak Harry smiled `See, your learning already'
Harry whipped out his hand and removed the ring in one quick motion, and as he did this Draco fell to his knees with the look of exhaustion covering his whole body.
`Your more devious than I gave you credit for' Draco said, not bothering to move as
`Coming from you I'll take that as a compliment' Harry said beaming down at him.
`Who's going to finish me then?' Draco said looking up at the others who had now gathered around, Hermione noticed a glint in Ron's eye.
`No one is going to kill you' Harry said bored as he rolled his eyes `but if you try this again…I will…'
`If I was you I would have already!' Draco spat at Harry.
`That's how we're different' Harry sad softly looking down at Harry.
`You're a fool' Draco said as he started to get up to his feet, fighting his legs inclination to falling over.
`I prefer the term human' Harry said as he whipped out his wand and pointed it at the ring he held in his outstretched hand and passing it over to Draco who took it nervously `A portkey'
`You'll regret this' Draco said.
`I probably will' Harry said brightly just as Draco disappeared on the spot, the portkey taking him away.
`Where did that take him?' Remus asked.
`The Sahara desert' Harry said laughing.
`I bet the albino in him loves that!' Ron said nastily.
`Lets get out of here' Hermione said taking Harry's arm, this place was still giving her the creeps.
`Your wish' Harry said giving her a grin `is my command'
*
Hermione looked around, half an hour ago she had been held captive and was facing the prospect of impending death. Now she stood amongst friends at the wizards' hideout looking upon the Peckham 6 as they marvelled at magic for the first time.
`Enjoying yourself?' Harry said appearing next to her.
`Please tell me I didn't look like that!' Hermione groaned as she watched one of James' friends throw a hand up to his mouth as he watched Remus magic a glass of wine.
`Nah' Harry said shaking his head `you were too busy trying not to get absorbed by plastic!'
`Thanks god for the pastocrese then!' Hermione said as she sniggered slightly.
`Harry, Hermione!' Albus said walking over to them with outstretched hands. The rest of the room stopped what they ere doing and either watched them or made their way closer `How can I ever thank you for what you've done?'
`Don't worry' Hermione said modestly.
`Without you the Slytherins would have tightened their strangle hold, they would have run this world into the ground and destroyed all our hopes for the future' Albus said honestly `you saved the whole of humanity today'
`Seriously it was all our pleasure!' Harry said laughing.
`You obviously don't have much fun then!' Ron said laughing.
`Oh this was much more than that! This was history! Soon both communities will live side by side, you will stop being scared of what doesn't make sense and they will understand that humanity brings with it a fantastic drive for knowledge, for acceleration…for a bettering of every living being on the planet' Harry spoke with a smile on his face, walking back and forth throughout the room `This is perhaps the first step along that line towards the golden era, towards what humanity has always promised but never reached. With the soul of each of your worlds the new one will be…fantastic!'
`You can't believe how exciting this is for us, I had stared to believe that I may never live to see the day our communities can join' Albus said walking up and offering a hand to James, he looked at it for a moment and shook it.
`This sure is weird…' James said gingerly `but as everyone keeps on saying…sure is exciting'
`You have no idea' Hermione said laughing looking at James as he looked out of place among these eccentric wizards.
`Watching you people nearly makes me want to give up my adventure for this one' Harry said looking at Albus and James.
`Why don't you?' Remus said eagerly.
`I said nearly' Harry added laughing `still so much to see and so little time'
Hermione looked around and thought how much he world was going to change, Harry had said this was the first step and the allure of what the rest of the walk would hold was gripping her imagination.
`Shall we help you take the pensive' Ron said stepping towards the pensieve they had `liberated' from the Slytherins. Hermione could tell that this was his way off offering a hand of friendship and smiled to herself.
Harry stopped and looked at it in silence, his eyes scrunching up in concentration. His head turned slowly to look at Hermione, concentration still etched in the lines of his face.
`You know what…' Harry said shaking his head `I don't need it anymore'
Hermione walked over to him and looked into his eyes, she knew that something was going on `are you sure?'
`Absolutely' Harry said with a wink before turning towards James quickly `before I go I need to know why you five are called the Peckham 6?'
`Don't know' one of them said and the others shook their heads.
`I do' Hermione said, seeing James turn instantly red.
`Don't' James said pleadingly making Hermione laugh.
`It's Tony Adams shirt number' Hermione said bursting into laughter
`Oh that is fantastic!' Harry said laughing `The man saves the world and frees humanity but the boy names it after a footballer!'
`He's more than a footballer!' James said laughing at himself
`Don't worry' Albus said chuckling `I once named my group after a pet of mine!'
`And we all thought it was cool!' Ron said laughing.
`Ron's girlfriend broke up with him after finding out about that!' Remus added teasing as he nudged Ron
Hermione looked around at the room and saw a sight she could hardly believe, normal men laughing side by side along wizards, and in the middle of all this she stood side by side with Harry. Harry. Her Harry. The man responsible for everything good in her life. As the laughter quieted down all eyes started to rest on Harry and her.
`So what now for Harry potter?' Albus asked eventually.
`And for Hermione Granger?' James added.
`You know, same old travelling' Harry said shrugging before his eyes turned to Hermione.
Everyone was now staring intently at her, she knew what she wanted to do but couldn't find the words, and she didn't want to hurt him.
`Are you coming home?' James asked, his eyes wouldn't look properly at her.
`We could do with someone like you in this brand new era' Remus said honestly.
`So could I' Ron added with a little laugh
She looked up at Harry who was looking down at her, a little sad smile on her lips.
`I'm…' Hermione said looking away from Harry and down at her feet for a moment `…I'm…going to go with Harry'
Hermione was staring intently at her shoes, so much so that she noticed they were still her work shoes, she would have to change back in Ford Anglia.
`Well I wish you the best' Albus said happily.
`If you're ever in town, remember to drop by' Ron said, a little disappointment in his voice.
`I'll look after your mum' James said finally, acceptance in his voice that welled her eyes. She looked up at him and saw a brave look in his eyes, a brave look that would have been tears without all the restraint he had. She ran to him and threw her arms around him, feeling his hands running along her back as he gripped her with all his might.
She held like that for ages, not caring that everyone was watching, till finally he broke the hug and stepped back.
`Where are you guys going to go next?' Remus asked, breaking the awkward silence as Hermione walked back to stand beside Harry.
`To Venezuela!' Harry said with his characteristic grin back on his face.
`What's in Venezuela?' Ron asked confused, speaking the words everyone else seemed to be thinking.
`Well…' Harry said weighing up his thoughts before turning to give a wink to Hermione `to tell the truth, nothing…yet!'
And with those words Harry took Hermione's hand and led her back towards the Ford Anglia, back towards adventure and danger. Back towards her home.
*
Hope you enjoyed that! I liked writing it. Now poor little Hermione has truly become a traveller…I wonder if she'll follow with Harry forever??? Well, actually I don't wonder…but you guys should!
And don't worry about Draco…he's not quitting yet, and next time he knows what he has to beat! Trust me when I say that if you see him again that things are going to go BAD for your travelling duo!
Till tomorrow (that's when I'm updating)…
Jms Granger.
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