WARNING: There's a nasty bit of magic that takes place early on. The first of some rather gruesome deaths. Consider yourself warned.
Chapter 5: Recovery
Harry reappeared outside a neatly manicured neighborhood. He took stock of the situation around him. He was in a higher class neighborhood from what he could tell. The houses were all larger than they were in Little Whinging, but like the small suburb they were almost exactly the same, save for the one behind him.
Harry turned and saw the house completely darkened. A lump formed in his throat and he frantically scanned the sky for a sign of the Dark Mark. Not finding one he hoped and prayed that he wasn't too late.
Harry bolted through the front door, wincing as he knocked it off its hinges. His face contorted with a mixture of pain and anger at what he saw next. There at his feet were the dead bodies of Hermione's parents, their faces frozen with the pain and torture one could expect from the cruciatus, and the light unmistakably absent from their eyes. Harry leaned forward to glance at them for a moment before standing up again and taking in the rest of the house. He made note of the blast marks that dotted the walls. Undoubtedly Hermione had put up a fight. Harry swallowed down a lump in his throat, forcing the bile to sink downwards. He heard a few movements coming from upstairs, and he slunk back into a shadow, concealing himself temporarily.
He watched as from downstairs three men in black robes came walking down. One in the back he didn't recognize, but the two in front he immediately recognized from the graveyard as the elder Crabbe and the elder Goyle. He fought back the urge to go running after them immediately, instead trying to listen to them quietly.
"Filthy little winch has got to be here somewhere," Crabbe said in his low pitched, rather dull voice. He walked over and kicked an orange pillow that had been in his way, something that Harry realized was the corpse of Crookshanks.
"What was that noise we heard anyway," Goyle asked, staring down at the open door.
"Be on guard," the other man said, raising his wand. "We're not alone."
Harry's features darkened considerably. He would be discovered sooner or later and he needed the element of surprise on his side. He unsheathed his wand and felt a burning rage growing deep in the pit of his stomach. From deep inside his mind, knowledge of curses flooded forward and his wand hand twitched to life. Jumping out of the shadows he fired the first thing that popped into his head.
"Avello Viscus!" a nasty looking purple beam shot out of the end of his wand, nailing Goyle right in the chest. In almost an instant the skin was literally ripped off of Goyle's bones, and the body collapsed in a pool of blood. Crabbe and the other man stared down in shock at Goyle's remains, and then stepped forward to face their attacker. They were too slow however....or at least Crabbe was. "Eviscero!" Harry yelled, firing the disemboweling curse straight at Crabbe, who made a loud squishy sound as his entrails were scattered out onto the floor in front of him and he collapsed. The third man raised a hastily made shield and made his way towards the front door, apparently trying to get away as quick as possible. "Levicorpus!" In an instant the man was turned upside down in midair by his ankles, leaving him to stare at Harry with a frantic look in his eyes.
"Please, please don't kill me." Harry snarled as he stared down at the man, the cold fire of rage burning within him still. How many people had begged for mercy at this man's feet he wondered, only to have their pleas fall on deaf ears. Still, Harry needed a messenger, someone to tell Voldemort that the kid gloves were off. Harry released the curse and conjured a pair of chains to wrap the nameless Death Eater in. He leaned forward and stared into the man's rapidly shrinking violet eyes, Harry's own emerald glaze glistening with righteous fury.
"You tell your master," Harry spat out, "that I'm not playing games anymore. The Rightful Heir of Slytherin has returned, and I won't put up with his little temper tantrums anymore." The man frantically nodded, leaving no doubt he had the message. Once Harry made sure it was ingrained into his memory, he summoned some knowledge from his newly acquired abilities. Carefully picking which memories to leave out, Harry muttered, "Obliviate..." and in an instant the man's eyes glazed over as he forgot one important detail, the true identity of his attacker. "Soporifor..." Harry added, sending the man into a deep, painless sleep. He walked over to Crabbe, who was barely breathing but still alive, suffering from pain. Harry contemplated the killing curse to ease the man's pain, but knew that death would come soon for the portly man. He also obliviated Crabbe's memory. Suffice it to say, there wasn't enough left of Goyle to erase the memory of.
Harry took several deep breaths as he surveyed the carnage around him. He wondered frantically how Order members could have let that happen, a notion quickly set aside by the fact that he still hadn't found Hermione. Harry frantically started searching the house, but she was nowhere to be found alive or dead. Harry wondered if she had gotten out somehow, escaped to find help. He was about to go upstairs when a voice from the back of his head told him to calm down and take control. Harry nodded, not at all bothered by the prospect of listening to voices in the back of his head given everything that had happened in the last 24 hours, and closed his eyes. He felt out with his magic, driven by unseen skills, and tried to track down Hermione's aura. He felt a little silly after a while, and was about to give up when he felt a flicker. Off in the corner. Opening his eyes and turning around, but keeping his mental focus, Harry slowly walked into the kitchen and noticed a slight depression against the wall that would have gone easily unnoticed. Harry walked over and knocked on the wall, finding it made of metal and hollow. He had heard of these panic rooms before. Hermione must be inside.
"Hermione!" Harry called out, hoping beyond hope she was still conscious and still breathing. "Hermione it's Harry! I'm here to help you!" There was no response. Harry tensed up and felt a knot at the bottom of his stomach grow in intensity. "Please god," Harry thought to himself, "Don't let her be dead." Harry pointed his wand and silently unlocked the door. He mentally moved the wheel that needed to turn to open it from the other side and, stepping back a few paces, watched it as it flung open.
He immediately dodged out of the way of an incoming expelliarmus that nearly nicked him in the arm. Instinctively Harry dived for cover and looked over at his bushy haired attacker. His heart sank when he saw the fear and anguish in her eyes, her face callous with tear stains and blood falling from a few cuts on her arms and brow. Harry slowly stood up and approached her, and she stood up as well.
"H-Harry....is that you?" she stammered out, getting a nod from her friend. Almost desperately she dived into Harry's awaiting grasp, her eyes no longer fighting back the emotions of everything that had happened. Harry embraced her and held himself out for her to cling onto. He quickly realized though that if any passing muggles came by and noticed the door....he'd rather not deal with the Bobbies right now. Harry pulled away from Hermione, almost forcing himself away she clung to him so tightly, and looked her in the eyes.
"We have to get out of here," Harry said as calmly as he could. Hermione just nodded. "Where are your things," Harry asked, and Hermione gestured to the upstairs. Harry sighed, he didn't want to take her past her parent's bodies. Clutching her tighter he said. "I'm going to apparate." She looked at him widely. "Hold on," before she could argue they popped out of the room.
They reappeared in Hermione's bedroom which appeared virtually untouched. Harry didn't take much time to look around, simply grabbing her school trunk and summoning a few outfits from an open wardrobe. He hastily threw them in the trunk, slightly embarrassed by some of the clothing he had to handle, and then summoned a stack of books that were sitting on Hermione's desk. He didn't take the time to gather all of the materials, though all things considered it was relatively empty. Hermione herself simply grabbed a small album and tossed it on top of everything. Harry didn't regard it much and instead shrunk the trunk and stuck it in one of his many pockets.
"Harry, how are you..." Hermione finally asked, trying to deal with everything at once.
"I'll explain later...let's get you out of here." He thought of places he could go. He didn't want to put Dobby and Winky in a spell after seeing them so happy. Nor did he want to take Hermione away from all of this in case they needed something later. And he personally didn't want to be around if and when the Order finally showed up. Finally deciding on a course of action he grabbed Hermione close and apparated away. They reappeared in the backyard a moment later, and Harry looked at Hermione closely. He whispered a few small words of comfort. Pointing his wand skyward, he shouted "Morsmordre!" A green light shot out and sparkled for a moment before a gigantic skull with a snake coming out of its mouth appeared in the blue sky. Harry didn't hesitate a moment longer when they apparated away from the scene, just a few minutes before Aurors appeared in the backyard to deal with the scene.
/ - / - / - /
Harry and Hermione quickly reappeared just outside a small hotel. Harry scanned the area with his wand, prepared to obliviate any muggles who happened to be wandering by, but in the small village he had apparated to, there were not many people around. Sheathing his wand he held his hand over Hermione's forehead and whispered a few words that she couldn't understand. There was a small glowing from her face, and her cuts healed. She frantically looked around but her eyes quickly locked into Harry's Harry could feel the fright radiating off of her in palpable waves, and the feelings of helplessness nearly ripped him to shreds. He had a million thoughts raving through his mind, but he needed to get them into the hotel and dealt with. Harry transfigured his clothes without a thought and did the same for Hermione, all the while she continued to stare at him.
"H-how did you know?" Harry looked at her and managed as much of a grin as he could.
"Hedwig found me. I told you she'd find me." Hermione tried to laugh, but it didn't come out. Instead she forced a half-smile and simply looked off in the distance. Harry held her hand and began to lead her into the hotel. He didn't notice how desperately she clung to him.
After getting them a small room for the night, Harry removed his and Hermione's trunk and set them off to the side, unshrinking them as he did. Hermione had gone in to take a shower, something he reminded himself he needed to do as soon as possible as well. Harry looked outside at the waning sunlight of the dusk and gave a deep sigh. He had been close today, all too close at losing her. It was not something he wanted to remind himself of. A few more minutes and if they had found her then....Harry didn't dwell on the idea.
He simply wondered when it was that he had noticed Hermione in this way, as his best friend in the world, the one person he really couldn't live without. He couldn't put his finger on it but something was different between the two of them, some kind of unspoken bond that had formed between them that ran deeper than friendship. Harry hadn't had time to consider it but with the rush of new information and events that had transpired, for the first time he examined it closer.
It was an odd feeling to be certain, something light and certainly much more pleasurable than many of his own personal feelings had been in his life. He thought hard to remember a time when he had actually felt the feeling before, and he struggled to claim it. There was only one instance in his long history, far back in first year, at the very end. It was when Hagrid had given him the album of his parents. As he sat on the train and contemplated the pictures, feeling the warmth and the joy radiating from their faces. It was all encapsulated in a word that brought Harry's breath to a standstill.
Love.
He dismissed the thought almost as immediately as it came to the forefront. In love? With Hermione? Harry shook his head and tried to get the image out of his mind. Sure he cared for her, and she meant more to him than probably anyone still alive, but he couldn't be in love with her. Could he?
The sound of a door opening shook Harry from his internal thoughts and he glanced up at the bathroom door. Hermione stumbled in, her hair hanging loose and her eyes a bloodshot red. She was clad in a simple red robe that the slightly upscale hotel provided for usage. Circles were starting to form around her eyes, and Harry could tell that she had been crying. Sighing he stood up and helped lead her to her bed. She sat down and hung her head, almost in shame at the day's events. Harry leaned forward and lifted her chin, bringing her eyes directly into contact with his.
"Hermione, I'm sorry," he began. "I want to say the pain will go away but...." her eyes squinted a bit, holding back tears. "Look, if you don't want to talk about it now then..." she stopped him at that and took a deep breath. Her eyes glazed over slightly as she recounted the tale.
"We sat down to have some tea," she began, her eyes awash with the memory replaying itself in the back of her mind, "When those three apparated right into our living room. I didn't even have time to react I mean...I got my wand out and tried to stun them but...." her voice caught and she leaned forward. Harry put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and she continued. "They disarmed me and used the....cruciatus on my parents." The tears were flowing freely from her eyes. "They just sat their and tortured them, laughing all the time and all I could do was watch. And then they killed them, like they were rotting pieces of meat." She nearly screamed at this and Harry leaned forward and embraced her, letting her cry into his shoulder. He absorbed the memory in his mind and his face darkened. Why had no one come he continuously asked himself. Dumbledore had promised her parents that he would protect them...so why hadn't anyone? His face contorted more with anger at the old man, who was quickly rising up on his list of worthless assholes in his opinion. The sound of Hermione's cries dropping to whimpers and short sobs brought him back as he pushed away from her and allowed her to continue.
"They were going to do that to me when...I don't know what. But I just waved my hands and the air just became pitch black. I summoned my wand but I knew I was no match for them. So I ran to the panic room and hid there till you came. Somehow Hedwig and Thoth flew down to the window and I scribbled that note to you. You were the only person I thought to call." Her head hung low again and she snickered. "I know you have your own problems and shouldn't have worried about me but..." she was cut off by Harry, who lifted her chin and stared directly into her eyes.
"Listen to me Hermione. Don't ever think that way. I would never consider you a burden. You have always been there for me through everything, and I will always be there for you. I promise." Harry offered a small smile which Hermione returned.
"Th---thank you Harry." They both sat their a moment, unsure of how to continue. She regarded his features for a moment before she tugged on the slight goatee he was sporting. "Where did this come from," she asked, almost desperately trying to change the subject. Harry mentally rolled his eyes. He had nearly forgotten in all the ruckus.
"Well, that's a long story..." Harry sat back and dropped on his bed, mindlessly casting a silencing charm on the door which drew an eyebrow from Hermione. She said nothing though and let him explain his tale.
/ - / - / - /
It took several hours, till nearly 1 in the morning, before Harry had finished his tale, up to and including the destruction of the death eaters at the Granger residence. Hermione just sat back as she always did, taking in all of the information and processing it bit by bit. She looked at him oddly, and he felt a rush of shame cross his face.
"I know I probably should have stunned them but....I don't know what came over me...it was like this rush of anger and power that came out of nowhere. I didn't even know those curses existed yesterday but...." he trailed off and caught a slight smile on her face.
"You saved me didn't you? You stopped them from hurting anyone else didn't you?" Harry was going to protest but Hermione stopped him. She breathed deeply, a hint of both sorrow and anger lying just beneath her gentle features. "Harry....stunning them won't work. Not with them. You did what was necessary." The finality in her voice made it so that Harry couldn't argue the point anymore. Hermione sat back up and went through the rest of the information.
"Why didn't Dumbledore tell you all of this? I mean...he must have known! From what you tell me it was common knowledge that your father underwent the ritual. And your mother! Why didn't he say anything to you?" Harry just shook his head.
"You said we shouldn't trust him," he suddenly remembered. "What made you say that." She shook her head and a small bit of anger crossed her face.
"It was just before we left school. He pulled me and Ron aside and said we shouldn't write to you this summer. That you'd want to be left alone. But I knew that was just rubbish, that you would go crazy cooped up there all by yourself. Then the thing on the train..." she trailed off and the anger grew. "He definitely placed those curses on you. I mean, power blocks aren't all that uncommon for particularly gifted magical children but....memory blocks? And that thing with your uncle? It doesn't make sense."
"None of it makes sense," Harry repeated, his fist clenching slightly at what else Dumbledore had failed to tell him. Hermione saw this and asked him what it was. Harry grumbled a bit, and Hermione leaned forward, urging him to continue.
"There's a lot he didn't tell me." He breathed deeply as he continued. She needed to know about the prophecy, and he knew he could trust her more than anyone. "Just before I was born," he continued, "a seer made a prophecy."
"I know," Hermione replied, confused, "but it was destroyed at the Ministry." She cringed slightly as she remembered that day, something followed by Harry.
"Except one other person heard it in its entirety. The person the prophecy was made to, Dumbledore. He showed it to me after the battle, in his pensieve." He stood up and started pacing back and forth across the small room, as he recalled the prophecy in his mind.
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives...the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..." he trailed off, stopping his pacing and sitting down on a small desk chair next to a television cabinet. Hermione mouthed part of it to herself, and her eyes went wide.
"But that means that you..." Harry simply nodded. Hermione bit her bottom lip and trembled. Tears started to fall down her face again, and Harry walked back next to her.
"'Mione, it's alright. I can live with this. I don't know why he didn't tell me but...." she waved her hand and tried to collect herself.
"Listen to me ranting on and you have all this to deal with. Jesus Harry I'm sorry for burdening you with this." Harry pulled her close again and let her rest her head on his shoulder.
"I told you, you will never be a burden to me. I want to help you. I need to help you." He stopped short at the last statement, and was eternally thankful that she didn't catch it. They sat there for a long time, neither one moving. Harry could hear Hermione's breathing even out and he looked down, finding her asleep. He smiled at the thought of her falling asleep in his arms. As gently as he could he picked her up and laid her gently on the bed next to him. He then followed suit, transfiguring his clothes again into more appropriate nighttime attire, and laid down in the other bed. Before turning out the lights he looked at her again, bathed in the moonlight seeping from the open window, and he smiled. Waving his wand he shut off the lights and drifted off into as peaceful a sleep as he could manage.
A/N: We shall depart the particulars for a small moment for the next chapter, though there might be a small part about them towards the end. Rather we shall focus on the machinations of the other two sides in this war, that of Voldemort and Dumbledore. I hope you all will enjoy.