Unofficial Portkey Archive

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, it belongs to JK Rowling, etc etc.

Authors Note: Okay, sorry if it annoys some people, but Harry goes on a big explaining rampage in this chapter. The reason I didn't just gloss over it is because I wanted to show Hermiones reaction to it, and to make it plain just what she knew, and what she didn't. Hope it works out okay. Also, I admit that the Draco/Ginny plotline isn't all that original, but I like stories like that, so if you don't, too bad. Sorry. Anyway, thanks for the reviews. Enjoy!

Chapter Eleven

"Harry," Hermione pleaded, whilst being pulled along by the Slytherin to some unknown destination, "please tell me what's going on. Where are we going?"

Harry had dragged her all the way back to Hogwarts after they had witnessed whatever it was that had happened to Katie Bell, the Gryffindor chaser, and all the way Hermiones head has been practically spinning with questions. Why was Harry acting like this? She had never seen him so frantic. He was normally so calm and rational, but something about what had happened had made his calm persona fall away like a flimsy veil in a harsh wind.

So many questions, but the one at the forefront of her mind, the one she should have asked a long time ago. Was He Who Must Not Be Named really back? Was that why Harry was so worried? Did You Know Who have something to do with what happened to Katie? But that was crazy, why would the most powerful dark wizard in the world (if he even really existed) want to attack a poor helpless student? Not to mention, how?

"Harry please," Hermione continued to plead, "Answer me. Does this have something to do with You Know Who?"

Harry stopped suddenly, turning to face her sharply. His eyes held something in them she had never seen before, but what was it? Fear? No, she didn't think so. Worry? Maybe a little. But whatever it was, it scared her.

"Not here Hermione," was all Harry said, before pulling her along behind him again, "we can talk once I'm sure no one will overhear us. Then you can ask me anything you want, okay?"

"Okay," Hermione murmured, the intensity in Harry scaring her more than she cared to admit. What had she gotten herself into? Did she make a mistake in trusting Harry? Was he really the psychotic dark wizard in the making most people perceived him to be? He seemed so normal, up until now...

"Here," Harry finally said, dragging her into an abandoned dungeon that looked like it used to be a classroom, but had long since been forgotten. "Claudos," Harry put a quick Locking Charm on the door, and then, "Silencio," added a Silencing Charm on the room. He finally turned to face Hermione, who hadn't taken her eyes off him for second. When she didn't endeavour to speak, Harry frowned, "Well?"

"Well?" Hermione murmured, and despite herself found a grin creeping up on her face, followed by a burst of laughter, although she wasn't amused. "Well? Are you insane Harry? First you go all crazy on me, drag me all the way back here, without a word of explanation, and then you dump me in this room, expecting me to understand what's going on? Well?"

"Look," Harry said, holding up a hand to stop her when she attempted to speak again, "let me explain then. Like I said outside, I needed to find a place to talk privately with you. Sometimes I can't just tell you what I'm doing Hermione, you just have to trust me. I'm sorry if I rattled you but it was necessary."

"Rattled?" Hermione screeched. "You think rattled is the word? Try terrified! What is going on?"

"Voldemort," Harry said, and grimaced when Hermione winced, "that's what's going on. Or at least I expect."

"So he really is back then?" Hermione asked.

"What?" Harry spluttered. "What do you mean 'he's really back then'? You didn't think he was back before, after all Dumbledore and I did to tell everyone? You think it was a practical joke? That me and Dumbledore and Cedric Diggory are all sitting up in the headmaster's office having a good laugh. Cedric is dead Hermione. I watched him die, and then I watched Lord Voldemort rise again!"

Hermione had tears in her eyes now, wondering how she could have ever believed the boy in front of her, who was also crying, was anything but a great person. Wondering how she could have doubted his sincerity when he told the world You Know Who was back.

"I'm sorry Harry," Hermione sniffed, rubbing at her eyes, "I didn't mean...I'm sorry. Of course I believe you."

And she did, and that was a scary thought all in itself. It was true then. You Know Who was back, and if Hermione thought she was terrified before, she was really terrified now. What made it worse was, no one believed Harry and Dumbledore. No one was doing anything to try and stop him.

"It's okay," Harry said vehemently, and she could see the anger coursing through him, the emotions raging through his body after finally being let loose, and he turned away from her so she could no longer se him cry.

"Harry," Hermione set her hand on his shoulder and turned him to face her. He was looking down at the ground, his eyes sparkling with tears, and Hermione found herself just wanting to kiss them all away. She placed a hand on the curve of his cheek, making him look at her. "It's okay to cry. I won't tell anyone. You can cry in front of me, if you want."

And Harry did, letting out torrent upon torrent of salty tears, burying his face in her shoulder. She just put her hands around him, holding him close. By the power of the sobs going through him and how much his shoulders where shaking Hermione suspected Harry hadn't cried in years, and that all of this had been slowly building, until now.

When he finally stopped crying, he pulled away from her, regarding her soaked shoulder with some embarrassment. She smiled a sad smile at her, which she returned.

"Sorry," he said, "I didn't mean to drench your shoulder."

"It's okay," Hermione assured him, "I'm just glad you're okay now. You are, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Harry said, wiping at the remnant tears on his cheeks and rubbing his eyes, "I'm fine now. It actually felt pretty nice, relieving, you know. So, err, thank you."

"Your welcome."

"So," Harry rubbed the back of his head, not really knowing how to act around Hermione now that she had seen his weaker side, "want to ask me some questions?"

"I just want to know what's going on Harry," Hermione said, "If I'm going to be a part of your life, I need to know. And I think I deserve it as well, don't you?"

"Of course," Harry said, "I always intended to tell you Hermione. It's just hard for me, to trust people, though I want to trust you. I do trust you. It's why we're here."

"Me too," Hermione agreed, "I trust you too. So, why don't you tell me about...You Know Who, and whatever got you so spooked earlier."

"You should say his name Hermione," Harry advised, "Dumbledore always told me, 'Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself'. It's one of his better quotes. You should remember it."

"It's hard Harry," Hermione admitted, "saying his name. How do you do it?"

"I do it because I know it's silly to think saying his name will bring down his wrath on you," Harry said, and Hermione blushed at the unintentional insult, "and you know it's silly Hermione. And I know something else, and that is that you aren't the silly type, so quit being afraid of his name, okay?"

"I'll try," Hermione said.

"Good," Harry began, "and now I think you wanted me to tell you about Voldemort. Understand that what I tell you does not leave this room, you cannot tell anyone, not even your friend Neville. Okay?"

Hermione nodded.

"Right then," Harry took a breath, before plunging in. "Voldemort came back at the end of our fourth year, when I came back from the Triwizard Maze with Cedric's body. What Dumbledore told everyone is true, but he left out key facts, facts that have been kept secret by the Ministry. When Cedric and I reached the Triwizard Cup we had both suffered a little damage, and saved each other's lives at least once, so we decided to take the cup at the same time. But the Cup turned out to be a Portkey, and we ended up in a graveyard in Little Hangleton, the home of the Riddles. The Riddles are the Muggle side of Voldemorts family - "

"You mean he isn't a pureblood?" Hermione asked, rather surprised.

Harry laughed. "No, he isn't a pureblood. He's a half-blood like me. Witch Mother, Muggle Father. Anyway, Voldemort needed a bone of his father for the resurrection spell, so the graveyard was a perfect place to perform it. He also needed the blood of a servant, he used Wormtail, the wizard who betrayed my parents to Voldemort the night he tried to kill me. I'll tell you more about that later, I've got a lot to get through."

"Okay."

"The last ingredient he needed was the blood of an enemy, which is - "

"Where you come in, right." Hermione finished. "And Cedric?"

"He was an unexpected complication," Harry said, "so they...killed him. Then Wormtail tied me up and performed the spell. Voldemort came back and summoned his Death Eaters, Lucius Malfoy included." Harry said the word with such venom that Hermione almost jumped.

"But...?" Hermione faltered, blushing a little.

"What is it?"

"Aren't you," Hermione began, "friends with Malfoy? I mean, Draco Malfoy."

"Yeah," Harry confirmed, "but that doesn't mean I'm a friend of his fathers. Trust me Hermione, Draco hates his father as much as I hate him. Draco is on my side, just like you. He would never admit it, but Draco is as loyal as a Hufflepuff."

Hermione couldn't help but smile at that.

"Back on track," Harry said, before continuing his tale, "Voldemort did his thing, punished a couple of Death Eaters for renouncing him after his fall, and then untied me so we could dual. He never expected that my wand would be the brother wand to his own though, and when we tried to attack each other, I'm sure you know what happened. You've probably read all about it."

"Priori Incantatem?" Hermione sad, her eyes alight with wonder. "What was it like? What happened?"

"I can tell you all about that later," Harry said, unable to hide his amusement at Hermiones enthusiasm, "but for now, let's stick to the facts. So are wands clashed, Priori Incantatem happened, and then I just about managed to escape using the Triwizard Cup, dragging myself and Cedric's body back with me."

"But Harry," Hermione said, finally realising something amongst all that she was being forced to take in, and it was a hell if a lot, "how could the Cup be a Portkey. Someone would have had to access it to change it into one, and I'm sure it would have been on Hogwarts ground for the entire time, so how would Vol...Vol...You Know Who and his Death Eaters get to it." Hermione blushed, being unable to say You Know Who's name.

"Because one Death Eater was at Hogwarts," Harry said, "and again Hermione, what I'm about to tell you cannot leave this room. It's very important you understand me."

"I do."

"Good," Harry said gladly, "the Death Eater was disguised as a teacher, using Polyjuice Potion."

"You mean?" Hermione asked, and she didn't have to say the name, Harry knew she had figured it out already.

"Mad Eye Moody," Harry verified, "was actually Barty Crouch Jr., long thought dead in Azkaban. It's a long story," Harry said, seeing Hermiones mouth open in question again, "which I'll save for a later date I think. Point was, Crouch turned the Cup into a Portkey to take me to Voldemort, and then when I returned, he tried to finish me off. But Dumbledore, Snape and Professor McGonagall stopped him before that could happen."

"Then what?" Hermione was hanging on his very word.

"Dumbledore used Veritaserum on Crouch and he told us everything," Harry answered, "Dumbledore and everyone else took me to the Hospital Wing, as you can imagine, I was a bit shocked, running on overload, you know. But while we were gone, Minister Fudge had Dementors brought in and they performed the Dementors kiss on Crouch, before he could confess everything. Dumbledore tried to convince Fudge that Voldemort was back, but he wouldn't have any of it. No matter what we said, he refused to believe it. He's scared, I think. Either way, he's an idiot, and a pathetic Minister for Magic, but we can't do anything about that at the moment, we have bigger things to worry about."

"So what did you do then?" Hermione asked, glossing over Harrys blatant slandering of the Minister for Magic and his obvious distaste for the wizard.

"Dumbledore reformed the Order of the Phoenix," Harry said, "an old resistance that fought Voldemort last time, with mostly new members of course, but some old ones as well, including the real Mad Eye Moody. My godfather Sirius and Remus as well."

"Professor Lupin?" Hermione asked, surprised.

"Yeah," Harry said, "he was one of my dads best friends in school, along with Sirius and...Wormtail. Anyway, Professor Snape is also in the Order of the Phoenix, but he works as a spy for Dumbledore, because he used to be a Death Eater."

"Oh my," Hermione gasped, eyes wide. "He was a Death Eater? And Professor Dumbledore lets him teach here?"

"Dumbledore trust Snape," Harry defended his mentor, though without much conviction.

"It sounds like you don't," Hermione observed. "Is that why you waited to see what Professor Snape did? When he picked up at that package."

"Yeah," Harry confirmed, "it was a necklace. I think I've seen it before as well, but I'll have to check to make sure, I didn't really get a good look. But if it's the one I think it is, it was a cursed necklace, and whoever puts it on is as good as dead. My guess is that girl - "

"Katie Bell," Hermione told him, "her name is Katie Bell, she's on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, so you should know her."

"Right," Harry said, "I knew I recognised her from somewhere. Anyway, my guess if Bell touched the necklace when she was arguing with her friend and got zapped by it."

"But why would she have it?" Hermione questioned.

"That's the bit that's got me worried," Harry said, "could you ask around for me, see if you can find more information on what happened, what Katie did before she touched the necklace, stuff like that."

"Of course," Hermione assured him, "I'll try my best."

"I need to go speak with Dumbledore about all this," Harry said, "so I'll see you tomorrow, right? Library at the usual time?"

"Sure," Hermione agreed, giving him a reassuring smile.

"Right," Harry gave a smile, a quick kiss on the cheek, and then dashed from the room with a quick 'Alohomora'. Hermione raised her hand to the spot he had kissed, blushing, but she couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. She'd hoped he would have kissed her properly, something that Harry hadn't done at all. He only ever kissed her cheek. Frowning and thinking about everything she'd just been told, she started back towards the Gryffindor common room.

(----)

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