Confused

gl1346

Rating: G
Genres: Action & Adventure, Mystery
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 6
Published: 28/01/2007
Last Updated: 26/06/2007
Status: in_progress

Please don't be misled by the 'G' rating, this story should interesting for all ages, even adults. Harry, Ron and Hermione are living together in 13 Grimmauld Pl. All have the usual jobs, but something's wrong with Hermione! This is my first fic for Portkey, so please review. Enjoy!

Chapters

1. The Runaway

2. Welcome to America

3. The Chase Begins

4. Moving In

5. The Chase Begins

6. Lost and Found

7. The Second Day

1. The Runaway

Confused By: Clean_Fics

Disclaimer: I don't Harry Potter or its characters. That honor belongs to a certain J.K. Rowling. Nor do I make any monetary profit out of this, although I hope to make emotional profit seeing people enjoy my work.

Author's note to revised version: After I posted up this chapter I received a lot of constructive criticism from a number of readers, and I'd like to thank all who did. Because of this, I've re-done this chapter a bit. The story itself hasn't changed, just the layout of it.

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Harry was confused. Well what else is new? He thought. It seemed that for the past 23 years of his life he had always been confused about one thing or another. He sank deeper into his chair, sipping his tea slowly- he had had too much experience scalding his tongue- and thought back to see if there had ever been a time he hadn't experienced that feeling he was currently experiencing.

When he was a kid, of course, it had been how his parents had died. He'd never really thought the car crash was very viable, because why would he have remembered green light? It would've been red light; either from the car in front of them or from the traffic signal. He'd had no other choice but to believe the car story though, so he remained confused about that.

Then, on his eleventh birthday, Hagrid had solved that mystery but brought along many more with him. Now Harry was confused, amongst all the other confusing things wizardry brought with it, about why him? Why had Voldemort tried to kill him? He remained confused about this almost until his 16th birthday. Well, a month or so before, anyway. Even now he cringed as he remembered how he had shouted at the kind old man who had helped him all his life and how he had broken many of his things, especially now that he knew what they were. He was sure Dumbledore had simply 'Reparo'd' them as soon as he had left, but he still felt bad.

Over the next year was the confusion of Voldemort's past, which dove-tailed into what could house his horcroxes. Once that confusion cleared he thought he'd be ok, but then he was confused as to why people still hated him, at least on the Wireless and newspapers, while in person they hero-worshiped him as much as ever. That in itself was confusing enough without any other complications.

This had confused him for around five years until he had decided that it wasn't worth his trouble being confused about. Now something else was confusing him, and he was afraid it may well have been the most confusing thing he had ever been confused about. Hermione. He sat back and sighed, placing his now empty teacup on the saucer in front of him. What had gotten into her recently? After school the three of them had stayed together, converting the house at 12 Grimmauld place into a somewhat decent place to live. Harry had gone on to become an Auror, as he had wanted to, Ron was now a reserve Keeper for the Cannons, and wasn't doing half bad either. He had actually been in the running for highest save percentage last year. Even though he hadn't won, they had still seen it as a tremendous improvement over his touch-and-go performance at school. But Hermione.

Hermione had started off great, just as everyone had expected. After Voldemort had been destroyed she had immediately applied to St. Mungos Graduate School for Magical Medicine, hoping to devote her life to helping the sick and making discoveries. She had progressed nicely and was into her third year when suddenly she had begun to change. She seemed to lose interest in her work, became a lot less social with everyone, and would come home and head straight to her room after grabbing something from the fridge (one of a number of muggle appliances they had decided to keep in their home, much to Ron's delight).

A few months later she had dropped out of school after speaking with one of the counselors. No one knew what had been said behind the closed doors, but whatever it was, the school had given her a "contemplative leave of absence" with a clause that she could return whenever she wished provided she could commit herself once more to her duties.

Harry picked up the letter next to his cup, the latest source of confusion. He re-read it for what must've been the sixth or seventh time, as if trying to find a deeper meaning in its contents. He read:

Dear Harry and Ron,

First off, I'd like to apologize for the way I've been behaving lately. I know I've been anti-social, moody, grumpy, and just plain unbearable. I also know you guys are disappointed at me for my situation at school. Well, I hope to fix that all. I'm going away for a few weeks to collect myself, and I hope when I get back, things can be back to normal. Please don't try to track me; I really need this time to myself. All my love,

Hermione.

Harry shook his head, put the letter in his pocket and was rinsing out the cup when he heard the screen door slam open. He was hopeful for a second until he heard Ron's voice,

"Guys! I'm home!" Harry went downstairs to meet him.

"Hey mate. What's going on?"

Sensing Harry's somber mood, he groaned.

"What is it Harry? Blimey, not you too?"

Harry smiled sadly, shook his head, took the letter out of his pocket, and handed it to Ron.

Ron read it slowly, read it again, then read it a third time and shook his head, handing it back to Harry.

"Well, I guess it was a matter of time. She had been acting, you know, kinda weird lately. It was bound to come to this."

"What are we gonna do about it?"

"Do? Nothing, just like she said. Just wait and hope for the best."

But Harry had started pacing rapidly, and Ron knew what that meant. He had seen that look before.

"Look, mate, there's nothing we can-" but Harry cut him off.

"We can't just sit here doing nothing. In the state she's in- whatever that is- she won't be able to protect herself. If she even took her wand, and I won't be surprised if she forgot."

"Granted, but whatever's going on with her, she needs to face it alone. All we'll do is get in her way and defeat her purpose."

Harry sighed. 'Frustration would be another mood to add to confused', he thought.

"But why? What happened? She was fine and then she just-" he threw up his hands. "The least we can do is try to find her, just in case. To keep an eye on her, not to interfere." he said, sensing what Ron was opening his mouth to say.

Ron sighed in resignation. "Fine." he said. "But she can't know."

"Agreed." Harry said, putting out his hand. Ron shook it, a hint of their old playfulness back in effect. "But first" Harry looked up expectantly.

"Let's eat."

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Hope you guys liked this start-up chapter. I hate to leave you with only one chapter, so I hope to upload the second very soon. I t's already written, as is the third, but I have to look them over again. In general, just to warn you, my thing with updating is very touch-and-go. Some times it may take me a while, while sometimes I may update multiple times in one day. It all depends on my work load. Hopefully I'll find my first story interesting enough to work on it often, but any support from you guys would be greatly appreciated. If you just want to give a quick comment (I know Portkey's against that) just throw me an e-mail at cleanfics@gmail.com (it'll automatically be forwarded to my regular address, so a quick reply is almost certain) and I'll count that as a review. Thanks!

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2. Welcome to America

Thanks for your support everyone! 8 reviews in 24 hours was a lot better than I expected! I have a beta now, so hopefully the small knots have been ironed out. Please review this one too! Thanks :) Now, what's wrong with Hermione?

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Hermione walked down the deserted dirt road, lost in thought. 'What happened?' She thought for the thirty-second time- she'd been counting, caught herself, chastised herself for being so stupid, and did it again. It was another way to get her mind off of what was really bothering her. Harry. She had realized long ago that he was the person with whom she wanted to spend the rest of her life, but she had no idea of knowing if he shared those feelings, and she was afraid of chasing him away by asking and getting the wrong reply. She had thought that she would be better off just keeping him as a friend, instead of jeopardizing even that platonic relationship. Unfortunately, she realized too late, she had gambled and lost. Not knowing one way or the other had eaten her up to the point where she couldn't even work anymore. She lost all desire to do anything, even the things she loved the most. She finally decided it would be best for everyone if she were to disappear for a little while until she was ready to finally confront her fear and ask him out. So she had run. She hated leaving both of them in the lurch like that, especially Harry, but she had had to. With a sigh, she started thinking about her excursions that morning.

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She woke up extra early and packed some clothes and things, gingerly avoiding anything that might remind her of Harry or school. She quickly wrote a letter explaining what she was doing, carefully avoiding any indication of where she was going. Then, putting the letter in a place Harry would find it when he got home, she went outside, took one long look at their house, as if trying to imprint it on her mind forever, and left. Catching a bus to London (she specifically avoided the Knight Bus, as too many people knew her there) she withdrew some money out of her Gringotts account and changed it into muggle money. She took another bus to Heathrow airport and claimed the round-trip ticket to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey that she had bought three weeks earlier. It had cost her a nice sum, but she had been saving up for a while. Now she took the ticket from the smiling women, nodded when she wished her a nice flight, and got onto her plane.

The flight itself was pretty uneventful, considering it was one of her first. The only time she had ever flown before was to France, and that was when she was still in school. Her family had decided to fly instead of drive since she'd never been on a plane before, and she'd loved it. This time, however, she wasn't exactly flying for a pleasure trip, so she decided to just use the time to sleep. She asked a flight attendant for a pillow, and was out in a minute.

Since she had gotten her sleep during the flight, she wasn't really tired when she disembarked. If she had been, she might not have noticed the paintings on the wall as she walked down the terminal. Even if she had, she wouldn't have noticed the slight glimmer on one of the portraits. As it was, she almost missed it. As soon as she noticed it she stepped on one of her sneaker's laces, pulling it loose. As she bent down to tie it, she examined the shimmering painting more closely. It didn't look like anything a muggle device could have done, even one of those projectors she always saw advertised, which meant there must be some sort of spell involved here. The question was, which one? She racked her brains trying to think of any spells that would produce this result, as well as the other question of 'What kind of spell would someone put on a picture frame in an airport?' It could be an Apparating Assist spell, but then why the glimmer? But at the same time, why would someone put a pan heating spell on a picture frame? The whole thing was just too confusing, and she wished now that she had thought to bring more of her books along with her. She hadn't exactly been planning to study, but maybe she'd have been able to connect the two. Smiling, she started to unzip her bag when she realized that her books were in her suitcase, and the only book in her carry-on was...

"Um, miss? Are you alright?"

She looked up to see one of the airport security guards standing there.

"You've been crouched like that for fifteen minutes. Are you planning on staying like that all night?"

Looking flustered, Hermione stood up quickly, smoothing out her skirt as she did, and said,

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just tying my shoelace and must've drifted off. Uh, thank you, sir."

She walked off, conscious of the guard staring at her as she did and picked up her pace. As soon as she turned the corner she slowed down and once again started thinking about that picture in the galleries.

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She continued down the path, absorbed in her thoughts, now thinking about that picture. She still couldn't figure out what type of spell had been put on it. There were only a few possibilities, each as unlikely as the next. She wished that security guard hadn't come along, it would have been much easier if she could just examine it more closely without having to explain to anyone why. She berated herself for not trying to explain herself off as an art buff simply interested in the painting itself, but suddenly stopped herself as she realized she was defeating her own purpose. She had come here to relax and think, and that's just what she was going to do. She turned around and started heading towards the house she had rented.

'Upstate New York is great,' she thought, 'I should come here more often.' It was quiet, but not deserted. The occasional car drove by, but it wasn't a mad house like London was. Children played in the yards, but there were no booming stereo systems to be heard. It was the perfect atmosphere to contemplate, and contemplate she would. She resolved to get that strange painting out of her head, at least until this was all over.

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Well, now we know what's wrong with her, but what about that painting? Or did I just it in there for fun? Stay tuned...

Also, for those of you who read the original first chapter and not the revised one, my thing with updating is very touch-and-go. Some times it may take me a while, and I mean weeks (though that won't happen very often hopefully,) while sometimes I may update multiple times in one day. It all depends on my work load. Hopefully I'll find my first story interesting enough to work on often, but any support from you guys would be greatly appreciated. If you just want to give a quick comment (I know Portkey's against that) just throw me an e-mail at cleanfics@gmail.com (it'll automatically be forwarded to my regular address, so a quick reply is almost certain) and I'll count that as a review. Thanks!

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3. The Chase Begins

A/N: Hello again! I can't thank you guys enough for the reviews you've been giving. I'd hoped to get a couple, but double digits already!!! Thank you so much guys (and gals)! Please keep it up, it's really keeping me motivated! Now, back to England…

Confused: Chapter 3

"She's just too smart for us!" Ron threw up his hands in defeat. They'd tried everything they could think of. Asking the usual people, performing the usual counter-spells, tracking spells, etc. but to no avail.

"Can't we just admit that and stop? It's not like she disappeared, you know. She left us-"

"I know, I know." Harry cut him off.

"I'm sorry, but I've been thinking about what we haven't tried yet. Let's think here. If you're Hermione trying to run away, and you don't want to found, what would you do?"

"Well, I suppose I wouldn't do anything that could be tracked through magic, so apparating, floo powder, and portkeys are out. She doesn't know how to fly, so no broom. That leaves..."

"Muggle transport," Harry finished off. "She could've left in any cab, bus, or whatnot and we wouldn't be able to track her through magical means. Non-magical tracking is just as 'iffy', since she could've left anytime from a second after we went to sleep to a second before I came home from work. So thinking about her choice of transport is out. Let's think destination. What are her favorite places?"

Ron had to think for a while, so Harry answered his own question.

"Her favorite place is Hyde Park, but she loves the London Zoo, and, of course, shopping in downtown London."

"Yes," Ron replied, "but that's just for recreation. We have to think long term" his voice trailed off. Suddenly he looked up, exclaiming,

"Wait a minute! I remember, years ago, she once mentioned that she'd love to visit the States and its magic community some day. Do you think...?"

For the second time in as many minutes, his voice trailed off. Harry hardly noticed, though. Ron's statement had hit him like a thunderbolt.

"Ron" he said excitedly, "if we ever went to America, where would the one place we'd absolutely have to go to?"

"Well, New York City, of course" Ron answered, catching on.

"So you think she flew there?"

"Well it's worth a shot."

Harry answered, reaching for his phone (another muggle device they'd retained) and calling Heathrow, turning on the speakerphone for Ron's benefit.

"Thank you for calling Heathrow International Airport. My name is Todd, how can I help you today?"

"Hi Todd, I'd like to know if you have a passenger list for all flights from this morning going to all airports in the New York area."

"I'm sorry sir, but I can't just give out that information." Harry raised his eyebrows at Ron and waved his hand over the phone, looking for all the world like a Jedi Knight.

"Of course not, but I have special clearance, so you can tell me if Hermione Granger is on any of those lists."

"Ah, yes, sir. Due to your security clearance I can tell you that a Hermione Granger was indeed on a 10:30 flight this morning to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey."

"New Jersey? How far away is that from New York City?"

"Oh, approximately a half hour to an hour drive."

"Ah, yes, of course. Thank you. You've been quite helpful."

"You have a nice day, sir."

"Same to you" and he hung up.

Two seconds later they both burst out laughing. "'Ah, yes, sir. Due to your security clearance' I can't believe you pulled it off. What was that little hand motion, though?"

"It's from a movie called Star Wars. I'll show it to you someday. 'You've been quite helpful' wow, I'll bet he's scratching his head right now trying to figure out what just happened."

"Yeah, that was great." Ron's smile slowly faded, and he started concentrating on the more important aspects of the call.

"Anyway, at least we know where she started now."

"Yeah. Let's start tracking her from there and see what we can pull up.

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Unbeknownst to them, however, at that very moment, a certain aircraft agent had just replaced the receiver when he promptly picked it up again and dialed a local number. "Hi, Hermione, it's Todd. The ball's started rolling. Hope all works out for you."

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3,500 miles away, Hermione put down the receiver, smiling to herself. Her plan was working out fine, but now it was time for phase two. She pulled out the phone she had rented for her stay in the U.S., dialed *86, entered her password, and left a message on an answering machine. She knew that she was treading on thin ice here, but she felt she had to do something. She had known that Ron would want to search for her immediately, but she was surprised that it had only taken them this long to track her. They must've only have gotten home an hour or two ago, judging by the time. Still, she was kind of relieved. This might make it easier when it all came down to it.

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With a small pop of displaced air, Harry and Ron appeared in a deserted section of Newark's parking lot. Dressed in dark suits, white button-down shirts and ties, along with the attachÃ© case they held gave the distinct impression that they were businessmen. This, of course, was the point. They immediately went to the front desk where Ron asked the agent on duty for International Arrivals while Harry "looked" around for traces of magic that might lead him to Hermione. Although she had covered all tracks leading here, Harry doubted she had done so after she had arrived. His spell detected a couple of witches and wizards as he had expected, but one person's "signal" immediately struck him as worth investigating. Maybe it was Hermione maybe it wasn't. Even if it wasn't Hermione, it might at least be a person who could help them. He reached into his special-made jacket pocket and flicked his wand through the material. The action itself looked like he was cleaning his jacket or something, but it did the trick. That person, whoever they were, was now under Harry's personal tracking spell enabling Harry to know where (s)he was at any given time. He now patiently waited for Ron to finish with the desk agent, although for some reason Ron was chatting with him like an old friend.

About a minute later Ron turned around and said,

"Concourse E. This way"

He nodded with his head in the appropriate direction and they walked off. As soon as they were out of earshot Harry asked,

"What took so long?"

"Well, you know that stunt you pulled with the Heathrow chap?"

"Yeah..."

"Well after you hung up he called this guy and told him what happened. The guy here told him not to worry, that it was probably a legitimate request, but the Heathrow guy, Todd, told him to watch out. Anyway, when I mentioned Heathrow it reminded him of that, and he told me the whole story before giving me the Concourse. How did you fare?"

"Well, I found someone whose power ratings were high enough to be Hermione's, but I couldn't see them. I'm tracking them, so whenever you're ready..."

"Of course I'm ready. Let's go."

*Flash*

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A/N: Well, looks like I need to add another disclaimer. Star Wars and Jedi Knights are registered trademarks of George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd. Â©1977-2007 (Yay! 30 years!) I don't make any money off of this.

I just want to explain the whole timeline as I know it can get confusing. Just remember that England is at GMT (Greenwich/Global Mean Time) and the U.S.'s Eastern Time Zone is -5 GMT, five hours behind England. With this in mind:

Hermione Leaves: 10:30 GMT-05:30 EST (Chapter 2)

Hermione Arrives in US: 5:30 P.M. GMT-12:30 P.M. EST (2)

Harry finds the letter: 7:30 P.M. GMT-2:30 P.M. EST (1)

Ron reads letter: 8:30 P.M. GMT-3:30 P.M. EST (1)

Harry Calls Airport: 9:00 P.M. GMT-4:00 P.M. EST (3)

Harry and Ron Arrive: 9:30 P.M. GMT-4:30 P.M. EST (3)

Hermione's Walk: 10:00 P.M. GMT-5:00 P.M. EST (2)

I hope this clears it up. If you have any questions just leave a review or e-mail cleanfics@gmail.com . See you guys next time!

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4. Moving In

Wow, how time flies! I had a writer's block on my Star Wars story down at ff.net, and until my friend and Beta straightened it out I was stuck. I'm basically alternating between the two stories, so update times may be a little delayed.

Also, I was going to spend more time and made this chapter longer than previous ones. Please tell which you prefer. Obviously, the longer the chapter, the longer the time it'll take. It's all up to you guys. I'm warning you in advance, this chapter's a little slow, which is one of the reasons why it took so long to write. I decided it was better to post this and not leave you guys hanging much longer. I'm going to work on the next chapter now, though, instead of working on the SW one.

So... where were we? Oh, yes. Harry and Ron are tracking "someone of extreme power." Before we get to them, though, let's drop in on Hermione first...

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1:00 P.M. EST:

Hermione felt the eyes of the TSA guard on her as she turned the corner, and moved quickly to get out of his line of site. She hurriedly made her way to the baggage claim, where she picked up her suitcases, rolling her eyes when she saw the label "overweight" in big red letters. Apparently, her idea of "a few books" was considered to be over the limit allowed to passengers, and she had been forced to pay a small fee to let it through. Performing the feather spell, as she liked to call it, she peeled off the tape and went to look for a cab

After hearing the announcement that she shouldn't "use non-registered cabs" and that "transportation agents are standing by to help" so many times that she wanted to blast the speakers to smithereens, she finally found a cab that would take her to her apartment in upstate New York. It turned out it was only an hour away, and even though the driver kept asking her questions in a valiant, if not futile, attempt to make conversation, she managed to enjoy the ride.

"Where are you going?" the driver asked for the third time. Hermione sighed, and then, resigned to this ride told him the address.

"Oh, wow! That's really far out! What brings you there?" He had asked this exact question a half-hour ago, and Hermione knew exactly where this was going.

"Oh, just visiting. I needed a vacation and my friends told me that that area's pretty nice."

"Oh, yes. It is. Let me ask you something."

'I don't let' Hermione thought, but her British manners would never actually let her say it, so she stayed quiet.

"You're from England I presume?"

"Yes."

"How is it there? I've always wondered. What do you do there for recreation?"

"Umm... Go bowling?" She wasn't sure what he was driving at.

"Oh." He sounded disappointed. Hermione wasn't sure exactly what he wanted to hear, but apparently that wasn't it. He wasn't about to give up, though.

"Well, what about..." At that point Hermione stopped listening. She simply tuned out his voice and settled back for the ride. He seemed to realize this and fell silent.

'Finally' Hermione thought, as they cruised down the New York State Thruway.

1:45 PM EST

The cab pulled up in front of a simple, two story white townhouse. As Hermione pulled out her purse to pay the driver, the driver turned to her and said,

"By the way, you may want to look for yourself. You never know what may happen in a foreign country."

With that he took the money and drove off.

'What was that about?' Hermione wondered as she climbed the short flight of stairs leading to the house and rang the doorbell.

“Who is it?”

“Hermione Granger” she replied. “I came to look at your apartment a little while ago.”

The door opened to reveal a woman who strongly reminded Hermione of Mrs. Weasley. She was wearing an apron (although there was no wand sticking out of it) and was drying her hands, as if she had just washed them of whatever she had been doing until then.

“Well, good afternoon!" she said, putting the towel down. "Please come in. Yes, I think I remember you. You're that English woman, aren't you? So, you've taken your vacation then?” The woman, who had identified herself as Mrs. Heller, had told Hermione the first time that she could have the apartment for a week or two at a very reasonable rate whenever she took her “vacation” from work.

“Yes. I just flew in this morning.”

“So how long would you like the apartment for? The full two weeks?”

“Well, at least one, then we'll see about the rest.” It really depended on how she felt, so she couldn't be sure one way or another. At the moment she just wanted to collapse. Not to sleep, but to…well…collapse, for no apparent reason. Then maybe she'd go for a walk and start thinking.

"Very well. Here, let me get your key. Won't you come in? Sorry about all this" she motioned to the towel and her living room, which Hermione now noticed was quite a mess. "We're in the middle of setting up for my son's 8th birthday party, and I just put the cake into the oven. Would you like a cup of juice? That's all we have right now. My husband just went out to do some shopping."

"Oh, yes, that's quite all right. Thank you." Very grateful for the offer, Hermione walked in and closed the door behind her. Following Mrs. Heller into the kitchen and accepting her glass of orange juice while she rummaged around a drawer, Hermione looked out the kitchen window at the street below. It was empty, although that was probably because the kids weren't home from school yet. She had heard a lot about this area from a co-worker, and she hoped this place would live up to that image.

She was broken out of her daydreams as Mrs. Heller finally proclaimed, "Here they are!" and held up a small key ring. "Now, this one over here is for the top lock, see? And this one's for the bottom. It's already furnished, so enjoy!"

Thanking her, Hermione took her luggage and let herself in to her new temporary home. As soon as she walked in she immediately switched into housekeeper mode. Some of the furniture needed dusting, and the beds needed new linen sets. She immediately set down her bags, rolled up her sleeves, and got to work.

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An hour later she stopped, looked down at her handiwork, and smiled, content. All the dust was gone, and the chairs were neatly situated around the table. She had given the living room a complete makeover, moving the couch so that it faced the window, giving her a great view of the area. The desk was also now facing a window, and the sunshine illuminated it like a few hundred LED's.

The bedroom had been similarly redone. The bed was pushed against the corner to maximize space, and the night table was easily accessible from it. All in all, Hermione was very happy with her work, so she threw herself on the bed and closed her eyes.

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I know this wasn't worth the wait (although if you think I'm wrong, please tell me) but I'll try to make it up to you soon. Please review one way or the other, though. Thanks!

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5. The Chase Begins

Confused: Chapter 5 by CleanFics (gl1346)

A/N: Sorry about last chapter, although thank you all for your encouraging words (you know who you are)! I guess, although I didn't mean it like this in the beginning, that the title refers not only to H/R/Hr, but to the readers as well! (Not to mention me when I'm writing this story :) ) Also, I wanted to get this out, so it hasn't been beta'd. I hope it's ok.

Just a quick continuity note, I've been using the word "concourse" to describe Newark airport's sections. In reality they're called "terminals", just based on how the airport's shaped. I'll be using the proper terminology from now on. Just wanted to mention that. And now, without any further ado...

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Day 1, 4:50 PM EST

*Flash*

Harry and Ron silently apparated into separate high-speed internet access terminals, got up, and walked into the hallway.

"Where is he?"

"Or she" Harry appended. "Walking down this corridor to our right."

"What about the plane schedules?"

"Perfect. There's a 5:00 flight leaving from gate 25." He pointed at the "5" sign above his head. "There's reason enough to be running."

Ron nodded, and they quickly started out in that direction. They were so intent on catching their suspect that they didn't notice the woman staring at them from behind the internet access booth, nor did they notice when she disappeared into thin air.

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"There! I see her!"

"Hermione? Where?"

"Right up... oh. She just turned the corner up there."

Running to the hallway that separated gates 20-40 from gates 1-19, Harry and Ron both turned to find...

"A restroom???" Ron realized that this could be hopeless. Hermione, or whoever it was, could easily apparate out without suspicion, making this chase a lot more difficult. He turned to Harry only to find him smiling.

"What's so funny about this?"

"You're forgetting something."

"What?"

"She can run, but she can't hide. Remember?"

"Oh, yeah, right." Ron, recalling Harry's tracking spell, admitted sheepishly. "Where is she now?" He asked, trying to recover.

"Still in the restroom, actually. Wait, she's moving out."

As he spoke, a woman walked out, carry-on in hand, and Harry heard a little alarm go off in his head. He signaled to Ron who turned and said to her, "Excuse me ma'am."

She turned, but when she Ron and Harry her eyes grew wide. She kept her composure, though, and said, "Yes?"

"Sorry to disturb you, but would we be able to speak with you for a moment? The name's Weasley, by the way, and this is my partner Potter. We're with MI6."

Harry raised his eyebrows internally at Ron's name-dropping introduction, but his eyes revealed nothing. The woman's expression remained the same as before, as if unfazed at being confronted by England's Finest.

"Oh, of course. How can I help you.. Officers?" she finished off, unsure of how to address these men.

"'Gentlemen' will do. Now please, this way." Ron motioned to the now-empty Gate 25, the flight having left around three minutes before.

They took seats next to each other while the woman sat across from them. As soon as she was sitting she said, "Ok, let's drop all pretenses. What do an Auror and his friend want from me?"

This time Harry decided to step in. "We're searching for our friend Hermione Granger." he reached out through the weak mental link established as a side effect of his tracking spell, but it was unnecessary. She immediately answered,

"Yeah. What about her?"

Harry knew they had to tread carefully here. If this woman- whose name they didn't even know- was in league with Hermione, she might alert her and cause this whole operation to be rendered worthless. He spoke up, choosing his words carefully:

"We know she chose to go on a vacation for a little while. However, we're not sure if she's in the proper state of mind to just be roaming around a foreign country like she is. Therefore we'd like to observe her and make sure she's all right. Do you know where she is?" He held his breath and waited for her reply. It seemed to take a while, but finally she stood up, and pulling a business card from her pocket, said,

"The name's Sarah Goodman. Pleased to meet you." With that she mouthed the words 'follow me' , and vanished. Without a word Harry and Ron followed suit.

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The street was quiet. Too quiet, some would think, had they been walking down it at this time. Even though it was the middle of the day, not a sound could be heard. Not a car, for no one in their right mind would ever drive down here. The locals had known it for years, and visitors were immediately warned by locals if they ventured too close. Nor could the sounds of birds, dogs or cats be heard. They too, by whatever instincts led them to survival, knew to stay away. It was too quiet. But not for long.

One man knew this as he stood inside of one of those many derelict buildings. He himself was a large part of the reason that no kid came close enough to walk on this street "just to say he had." He had his reasons to want his own perverse form of privacy, and he had the means to get it. Neither Police nor the AMP (American Magic Patrol) would ever expect this derelict old building to carry the responsibility it did, not that they'd ever checked. After all, there were so many of these kinds of buildings scattered throughout the street, what was one more?

The man checked his watch. The numbers 22:02:35 and 17:02:35 blinked back at him from two sides of the timepiece. Robert was late. He frowned. He didn't like it when people were late. It got on his nerves. Finally he heard a small 'pop' come from somewhere off the side of the house. He ran over there and immediately said,

"Pipe that down. Do you want to be caught? You're late. It better be good."

The man, dressed in all black, knew he should be used to this treatment by now, but somehow one never got used to being abused by, well, by Him. Instead he explained,

"I'm sorry, sir. I haven't got this army time down. I apologize ."

"What!?!? That's your amazing excuse? How hard is it to take the number and subtract the hour by twelve?! You know full well why we have to work in 24-hour time. Now, report!"

The unfortunate sentry snapped to attention.

"Sir! 683-948 detected. Tracking procedure has been initialized. Request further orders, sir!"

His superior looked please. "And just where is this 638 located?"

"Upstate New York, sir. Approximately 35 miles North of the City, sir!" He had an exact address, but wasn't about to give it so soon. Fourtunately for him, the point wasn't pressed.

"Dismissed" was all he said before dissapearing into the house. The sentry paused for a moment before following him inside. He stared into the night, smiled, and walked inside, leaving the street as empty and deserted as before.

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Uh-oh! Who are these people? Well, here we are, Chapter 5. Next chapter I'll start tipping my hand a bit, maybe... ;) ;) Please, please, please review, even if you already have on previous chapters. It really keeps me going. (Plus, it makes up for the lack of reviews on ff.net :( ) Thanks guys!

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6. Lost and Found

I would like to express my highest condolences to the families of the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre. As those involved attempt to return to normal life, though they know that it will never be the same, our hearts and prayers go out to and with them. May G-d only allow good news in the future for all them and us all, may G-d console the families of these victims, and may G-d bless America and her citizens.

A/N:

Sorry about the delay, but I have a surprise for you! A double-feature! That's right. This one is over 2,000 words, excluding the Author's notes, totaling it at 2609! A lot of confusion will be cleared, but I haven't revealed all ;). Enjoy, and please review. I can almost promise you that the more reviews, the faster the next update.

Harry Potter and all related people and items are copyrighted and registered trademarked to J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers. I get absolutely no fiscal benefit from this story, though I do get emotional benefit from other people's enjoyment of it.

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Confused: Chapter 6 by CleanFics (gl1346)

Day 1, 4:18 PM EST

Hermione woke up to an orchestra rendition of Beethoven's Ninth. An instant later she realized it was her phone ringing and picked it up.

"Hello"

"Hi, Hermione, it's Todd. The ball's rolling. Good luck." *click*

Hermione smiled. 'Good, so they're on their way. I hope this works, 'cause if it doesn't, I'm really in trouble.' She sat up, remembering that day not so long ago...

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Day -4, 3:22 PM GMT

Heathrow International Airport: British Airways customer service

Hermione wandered through the house, lost in thought. She was planning for this "great escape" as she called it, and it had to go smoothly. Going over the thousands of permutations in her head, she tried playing out the scenario.

"I leave a note, I leave, I get there, they get home, they come chasing me. But how will I know when?" After thinking for five minutes, she came up with a plan. She quickly apparated to Heathrow and went up the customer service counter. An agent came over to her.

"Good afternoon. How may I help you?"

"Hi, my name's Hermione Granger. Can I ask you for a huge favor?"

He cracked a smile. "You can always ask. Whether I'll do it is a different story."

She smiled and went on. "I'm going on a trip soon, and I'm afraid a couple of people are going to follow me. Oh, not maliciously," she added quickly, seeing his hand reaching for the phone, no doubt to call the police, "they're friends. I just want to take this vacation alone. The thing is, they're probably going to call and ask if I was on a flight."

"Oh, don't worry about that, ma'am, we never give away information like that over the phone." But Hermione was shaking her head,

"I'm sure you don't, but my friend's an, umm, accomplished hypnotist, and he might get it out of you."

Now the man was starting to look amused, and Hermione sighed and handed him a slip of paper

"Look, if it happens please give me a call at this number. It's a local call that'll forward to my cell phone there."

"Ok, Miss Granger, but what if one of my colleagues picks up the phone?"

"Well, you'll be able to tell if they're hypnotized, so you know what? Here's the signal. If they call you, call me Hermione, and if it's your partner, call me Miss Granger."

"Ok, that sounds fine. I hope whatever it is you're doing works out."

"Yeah, me too. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Next!"

Hermione then walked off, satisfied with how that had gone, found a quiet corner, and went home.

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So, they had come after her, and used suggestion magic to boot. She quickly followed the plan she had set up weeks ago and twirled off to the pre-programmed location

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4:22 PM EST

Residence of Mr. and Mrs. Josh Goodman

Sarah was sitting at her dining room table chatting with her husband at the recently-completed dinner table when they heard the knock on the door. Although they usually had a no-disturbing policy during this time, Sarah got up from her chair and went to answer it, answering her husband's questioning glance with a reassuring one of her own. Opening the door, she broke into a huge smile.

"Hermione! Great to see you! Hey, Josh, come quickly, it's Hermione Granger!"

This outburst was, of course, pre-planned, but Josh Goodman wasn't to know of the secret meetings between his wife and her childhood friend. The FBI agent knew of his wife's "witch-hood," and, unlike the TV show, had full respect for it and its advantages. As such, he knew of Hermione's family and had even had the opportunity to meet her parents during one of their vacations. This visit was a surprise for him, but he supposed these witches didn't have to worry to much about air-fare.

Josh listened as his Sarah and Hermione carried out an animated discussion.

"It's so great to see you!"

"You too! How long will you be in for?"

"A week, maybe two."

"Oh, that's all?"

"It might be longer. Depends on what happens."

"Ok, but will we be able to see you much?"

"I don't think so. I'm probably going to be busy the whole time. That's why I came over now."

"Oh, that's too bad. Josh?" She now turned to face him and saw him leaning against the door and laughing.

"Yes, you go and have a good time. I'll clean up."

"Oh, no need for that." Sarah interjected. She snapped her fingers and the dishes all cleaned themselves off, the remainder of the food finding the garbage can, the dishes flying into the sink, washing themselves and setting themselves in the drain board. Josh simply stood there and mouthed "thanks" as they walked out the front door.

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Robert stood at attention as he waited for further orders. He hoped it wasn't what he never wanted to do, but with Him, one never knew. Suddenly, He turned to Robert and exclaimed, "Don't you know anything?! It's 683-336! 948's are our female cadets. And it's 267, not 287. Oh, never mind. You'll never get it anyway. Where is she." He was more interested in obtaining information then in punishing Robert, so he allowed him to ramble on.

"Currently at her temporary 784, sir. Shall I dispatch a team?"

"Yes, unit E-3."

"Unit E-3, sir?" Unit E-3 was the best of the best, and were only deployed for special operations. Robert didn't know why they were being deployed in a standard terror operation like this, and he didn't dare open his mouth, except that the Code required confirmation when deploying E-units.

"Are you deaf as well as dumb?! I said E-3, did I not?" Unfortunately the code said nothing about how polite the confirmation had to be.

"Yes sir" he said in one breath, and disappeared.

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05:03 PM EST

Tool shed of Mr. and Mrs. Josh Goodman

"So you know where she is?"

"I know where she is right now. I'm not sure where she's staying, though."

"Well, could you tell us that?"

"I told you, she asked me to be her decoy since I'm an AMP officer, and thus my power ratings are higher than most. She obviously doesn't want to be found, so how can I tell you?"

"You know I can find out just by

searching your brain. Why not just tell us?"

"Because I know you won't."

Harry sighed. She was right, of course. Once Harry was convinced a person meant no harm, he would never use the link to extract information against the person's will. It was comments like that that had kept them here for the past ten minutes.

"Can I at least see her so that I can trace her?"

"And be able to pick her brain, too? Isn't one enough?" For some reason she was extremely sensitive about that mind link. The only thing keeping Harry from blowing up at her was his Auror training, which was why Ron had stopped talking a long time ago. He took a deep breath, blowing out as slowly as his next statement came out.

"No, I'm not going to make a link because I trust her. I wasn't sure who I was tracking before, hence the link. Since I know who Hermione is, no link. Ok?"

Sarah sighed, wondering why in the world Hermione had to come up with such an elaborate scheme for so simple a task, but hey, that's what friends were for, wasn't it?

"Very well, follow me."

She led them out of the broom shed to the kitchen window, through which they could see Hermione talking with Josh about the recent headlines and how his department was reacting to them. Immediately Harry breathed a sigh a relief, let out a breath, and, pulling out his wand, cast the tracking spell. This done, he turned to Ron and said,

"How about getting out of here before she comes back."

"Good idea" he responded. They both turned to Sarah, who was looking a little uncomfortable at this point.

"Thank you very much" Ron started off, "We know what it meant for you to do this, and you made the right decision. We'll just make sure she's ok during her stay here. We won't intrude on her privacy, we promise."

She sighed and nodded.

"I guess I feel better knowing she's being watched. Just take care of her, ok."

They both smiled, about to assure her that they would, when they heard the screen door slam. They quickly ran back towards the shed, muttering invisibility spells under their breath. Thankfully they reached it in time and, looking out the small square of light in the back of the shed, saw Hermione about to leave the house.

"Ok, I'll see if I can drop by later. Tell Sarah I'm sorry I wasn't able to say good-bye to her."

"Ok, will do. Good luck and have a nice vacation."

"Thanks. I'll try." With that, she spun around and disappeared.

At the same time, Harry felt a small tingle telling him that same fact. When he had designed the spell he had realized that there might be times when he wouldn't want to pop out right next to the person, but rather in a hiding place nearby, so he and a number of highly-trained friends had built a tricky feature into it where you could see a layout of the area in your mind's eye and pick a place to go. It took a lot out of a person, but it had been worth it. The basic design was Harry's. He had always loved video games as a kid. Not so much playing them- as if Dudley ever let him anyway- but watching them being played. The Dursley's had thought that his constant staring was due to jealousy, but in reality it was fascination at how they worked. When he had grown up and leaned the art of personal spell-making and casting*, he started designing extremely graphical spells in nature.

*I know it's against etiquette to put a note in the middle of a story, but I have to make an exception her. Personal Spell Design is my own little invention so that Harry can use spells that shouldn't exist. Essentially, each individual witch or wizard, if powerful enough, can create their own spell and incantations, but only that wizard can use them. The reason for this is that the spell exists only in their mind, so only that mind can cast the spell. Multiple people may create the same spell, however, and each would have the ability to use it. And now back to your regular reading...

His tracking spell was no exception. It had the ability to see the person as a dot on a map, Marauder style. That wasn't so surprising, considering that the last remaining Marauder had helped him build it. Remus had spent a lot of time explaining how the map had worked, something which Harry was very thankful for. This was one of favorite spells, and he used it quite often.

He now checked it to see where Hermione was now, and was surprised to see her in a small house in a rural area. After thinking about it for a little, however, he realized that that sort of lifestyle might actually suit her, and he might consider it if they ever... 'Hey! Where did that thought come from?' Pushing it out of his mind he told Ron where she was, eliciting raised eyebrows from him. Holding onto Ron's hand, he then performed an assist-apparation and transported both of them to a safe street corner close by where they could see but not be seen.

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8:08 PM

3.6 meters away from where Harry and Ron are standing

Unit E-3 stood at a street corner where they could see the target area without being seen by the target. The attack was slated for twenty-four hours, and since the witch in question was known to be extremely cautious and, well, good, the attack had to be planned very precisely. Surveying the layout of the house would take about that long and they wanted to get started. They were extremely tempted when they had seen her going for a walk earlier, but protocol dictated that they carry out the mission appropriately. Later they saw her re-enter her residence and retire for the night.

Invisibility boosters were activated, tents set up, and planning began.

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When they saw Hermione come home from her walk, Harry knew something was wrong, but Ron finally convinced Harry that there was nothing they could do and that they might as well go home and wait. Both of them feeling much better, they spun around and went home.

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A/N: So, the plot thickens and andreneline starts pumping (well, not really). Remember, this is rated G, so don't be so scared. The problem is that I realized school's coming to a close and there's no way I'll be able to write this in college, so I have to start wrapping it up. At this point, I'm guessing ten chapters, but that's still up in the air. I hope you were happy with this chapter, please tell me. Thanks guys.

Oh, and before I go, here are the codes translated. From now on they're all going to be in the end-of-story note, and I'll make sure not to write any spoilers before them. There may be some after, so be careful!

Basically, it's all based on a phone. For example,

"6" = 'm','n', or 'o',

"8" = 't','u', or 'v',

"3" = 'd','e', or 'f',

so 683 = mud, obviously a rude hint towards Muggle-Born.

336 = FEM, or female, telling which kind of muggle born.

948 = WIT, or Women In Training, their female recruit system,

267 = AMP, the American Magic Patrol first introduced last chapter. In this context, however, he means BMP, or British Magic Patrol, which, of course, doesn't exist, but Robert doesn't know that.

784 = QTH, or the term used by amateur radio operators (like me) to speak about a location. For example, "I'm reaching my home QTH, I'll talk to you later."

One last thing, I know people are going to ask this, so I'll say it now. The disillusion charm, though quick, is not fool-proof for a stationary person who's trying to hide from someone like Hermione, so a more complicated one was necessary.

Thanks for reading everyone! See you next time!

- CleanFics, gl1346

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7. The Second Day

A/N:

OMGosh, I am sooo sorry. Ok, I sounded like a girl there (no offense), so let's try again. I'm really sorry for the delay, but our cultural education system has created the Devil Incarnate, a.k.a Finals, along with his demons, studying. Anyway, I had absolutely no time whatsoever to write, although that probably had less to do with studying and more to do with the fact that I was making a movie during my spare time (autographs later :) ). So here's #7, sorry it's so short. I realized I don't have much plot left, and I wanted next chapter to have all of the, well... don't want to give it away, now, do I? Anyway, we'll see how many more there are, as we are drawing to a close (aww...). Enjoy!

Harry Potter and all related people and items are copyrighted and registered trademarked to J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers. I get absolutely no fiscal benefit from this story, though I do get emotional benefit from other people's enjoyment of it. c.148

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Confused: Chapter 7 by CleanFics (gl1346)

Day 2; 7:25 AM GMT

Harry woke up, looked at the clock, and jumped up. For the first time in his career he'd overslept. He turned around to find a note from Ron on the night table.

Hey Harry, didn't want to wake you. I told your boss what happened, and he was very sympathetic. See you around J

- Ron.

Harry smiled in spite of himself. He was his boss, so it was kind of an in-joke. At any rate, now wasn't the time for jokes. He had to get to the office and quickly. Activating his counter-spells to turn off all ministry security defenses, he apparated into his office.

“Anything happen while I was gone?” he asked his secretary.

“No, sir. Just the standard intelligence reports on your desk. I'll get you your coffee.”

“Thank you.”

Harry went back to his desk to take a look at the reports. There were the standard updates on the various neo-death eater groups, which he just scanned over, until a certain paragraph made him double-back.

Name: Unknown

Location: Newark, New Jersey, USA

Main objective: Standard NDE activity, with emphasis on foreigners

Muggle Connection: Most stay away, knowing of an unknown danger.

Last known operation: Upstate New York, Recon of unknown target

Action being taken: Standing by for further info

Something struck him about that group. Although “unknown” groups crept up all the time, and the term “Standing by for further info” usually meant nothing, he usually didn't think twice about it. Most countries were responsible for their own wizards, and countries didn't get involved in each others' affairs. But now, now something was different. Hermione was in trouble, and he was going to do something about it.

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Day 2, 12:45 PM EDT

Hermione got up, got dressed, and went out to the park she had heard about in the flyer. Walking around, she finally got a chance to think. What would happen if she asked and he said no? Wouldn't that just destroy whatever they already had? But if he said yes, they'd be all that better off. So what to do? She realized it was a gamble. She had no idea how he felt, and it could either get better or a lot worse. Then was the issue of whether a girl was supposed to propose at all. Wasn't that the boy's job? But in this case the boy obviously had no intention of asking, so wasn't this an exceptional case? It was all too confusing. And as she pondered her plight, she was so involved she didn't notice the pair of eyes following her from the bushes.

After an afternoon of introspection, Hermione returned to her apartment. Opening the door and, once again, collapsing on the bed, she tried, in her organized way, to sum up what she had just thought of.

1. It was up to her.

2. She had to act quickly, before he started dating seriously.

3. She had to be ready to accept the consequences, even if it meant having to move out of the house.

With this last thought in mind, she let the jet lag kick him, and dropped off.

As soon as they sensed the sleeping figure inside, the team sent to take her out jumped into action. They set up a perimeter and prepared to infiltrate the area. Their scan for protective shields proved positive, and they got to work dismantling them. It would take a while, but in only a few short hours, the woman who had assisted in the termination of their Master would be gone.

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Day 3, 2:00 AM GMT:

Harry paced his office, back and forth. To act, or not to act, that was his question. Technically he was breaking international regulations, but on the other hand, this was Hermione they were talking about. Was it worth it to keep a few rules and lose the life of his almost life-long best friend? He finally breathed a sigh of relief as Ron walked into his office.

“What's up, mate? It must really be important for you to call me out this early”

“Oh, believe me, it is. I know you're going to think I'm being paranoid, but I think Hermione's in real danger.”

“Does this have anything to do with yesterday?”

“Everything. I tracked her to the same location as a Neo-Death Eater group, and”

“You think they're after her?”

“Well, the evidence does seem to point towards it and…”

“Come on Harry. Just because some Neo group decides to check out a supposed Muggle doesn't mean they're going to attack her.”

“You don't understand, I…”

“Harry, I hate to say it, but you're pushing to be the hero. In this case I don't think…”

“Ron, you don't understand. I wasn't going to say anything, but…”

“Fine. What is it.” It was more of a statement than a question.

“You know that note I showed you?”

`Yeah. What about it?”

“Well, actually, there was something I didn't tell you.”

“What was it?” Ron was starting to get a little more worried now.

“That wasn't the only letter she wrote.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean,” and here Harry had to pause for breath. “That Hermione wrote a second letter.”

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What did it say? What impact does that have on the danger Hermione's in? Next Chapter will clear up everything. After that it's just wrapping up. I'd say two more chapters probably. Thanks for your reviews. Please continue. The summer's about to start, and I'm going to start getting bogged down. Every review I get is a reminder to write, so please review, even if you've done so on previous chapters. Even if you're reading this after the story was completed, please review. I'd still love to hear from you.

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