Anything for Harry: Chapter 2
Hermione sat in the living room with both of her parents. The three of them were in the middle of a long discussion, about school, Harry, and responsibilities. Tonight the conversation had turned nasty when she pointed out that at seventeen, soon to be eighteen; she was legally able to do as she pleased.
She wiped fresh tears from her cheeks. She had tried to get Harry to see reason this year by following his example. Obviously that had backfired in the worst way she could imagine.
She still hadn't quite stopped crying. The first day of her summer had been the worst yet. Her parents had not taken her news of not returning to school lightly but she had made a vow, whatever he needed she would provide. He meant too much to her for anything less. Never again would she ignore is needs or concerns. Yes, she would temper them with her own information and reasoning but ignore them, never again.
So she sat holding a tome on Occulmency, trying to read it for the third time. They were across the room in a heated but nearly silent discussion, about what next to say to her no doubt. Probably the concert she was to perform in two weeks. She was to begin practicing with the orchestra on Monday, not that she needed practice, they would need it to play with her. She glanced at the plaques along the far wall. There were many more in her room and some in storage. As much as she ached to play her violin again Harry was more important.
The front bell rang. Hermione tried to keep reading as her father went to answer it. She slipped her hand into her pocket and gripped her wand. Just in case, she told herself. The voices were muffled and a moment later she heard the door close. She looked up as her father walked back into the room. She nearly jumped to her feet when she realized Harry was with him.
Harry had Hedwig on his shoulder and looked rather proud of himself but when he saw her his face fell. She must look a mess. She had been arguing and crying for well over an hour. She turned away, tossing the tome onto the couch and pulled some fresh tissues from the box beside her.
Harry started talking, "Hello again Mr. and Mrs. Granger." There was a pause, she still didn't look up. "This is all my fault, I'm sure," that made her look up. Hedwig had flown to the back of the couch, Crookshanks glanced up at her then lay his head down again. Harry was across the room with his back to her while her parents stood in front of him. "I'll admit that in the past when I have made my own decisions most of them have gone pretty badly." That wasn't a good place for him to start. "The fact is that my fate was decided before I was born. Tom Riddle and I must fight and one of us will die." The room was silent, "I need to find and destroy some things before that fight or I can't win." He turned to look at her. "I have no chance of success without Hermione."
She tried to encourage him with a smile. He stood a little straighter and turned back to her parents.
Her mother said, "That is basically what she has told us. What Dan and I don't understand is why her? Isn't there some group in the magical world that can help you more?"
He rubbed his scar briefly. She wondered if it was hurting him. "Professor Dumbledore ran a group but it was one of the members of his group that killed him, I can't trust them. The Minister of Magic is not helping me either. Truthfully I just don't trust anyone else to give me honest answers. If she doesn't know an answer or thinks I'm wrong, she'll tell me. I need someone who is honest with me. Not telling me what they think I want to hear."
She had risen and walked to stand just behind him. She ached to put her hand on his shoulder, a physical link to reassure him. Her parents looked at her, which caused Harry to turn and see her there. He said, "I need you."
She nodded slightly and said, "I know." Looking up at her parents she continued. "I have to help him. We are in a war, a war we must win."
Harry turned back to her parents, they were both scowling. "For Hermione's sake I need the two of you to get far away from here. Until we tell you it's safe you need to stay away from England." He held up his hand to stop their protests. "Everyone in the Wizarding world knows Hermione and Ron are my closest friends. Because you are both non-magical folk you will be primary targets for the Death Eaters."
Dan and Emma exchanged a pained look before Emma said, "We can't afford anything like that Harry. Our practice would have to be sold."
"The only things you would need to do are to get your clients transferred and pack for your trip. Hermione is of age, she can pack everything in this house in under ten minutes. I'll cover the cost."
She saw the skeptical look on her parents' faces. Harry was still dressed like a street urchin after all. "Harry is very rich in the Wizarding world. He inherited a fortune from his parents and then again from his godfather. These are the clothes his aunt and uncle allow him to wear. Trust him, or if you can't manage that then please, trust me."
Her parents exchanged another pained look. Their hands intertwined and they looked back at her over Harry's shoulder. Her mother said simply, "Where do we start?"
Harry turned to his side and knelt saying forcefully, "Dobby!"
Hermione came around him and hugged both of her parents tightly. She spoke softly to them both, "Thank you." Then she turned back just in time to see Dobby appear in front of Harry, a tall stack of her hats upon his head.
"You called Harry Potter sir?"
"Yes my friend. I have a job for you."
She saw Dobby swoon at being called Harry's friend but Harry was continuing. "These are Hermione's parents. They are going to go away so the bad people can't find them. I need you to store all the furniture and things they don't want to take with them. If you need to I authorize you to open a larger storage vault for everything at Gringotts. Can you take care of that for me? Sorry, I mean for us."
Dobby nodded so vigorously all of his hats fell off and he spent the next minute picking them back up.
Harry stood and looked back at them. "There, now all you need to do is get everything sorted out. I'm not of age just yet so I won't do any magic just in case it's being monitored."
Her dad stepped up, looking curiously at Dobby but focused back on Harry to ask, "How are we to pay for this trip? Do you have a credit card or something?"
She watched as he dug in his front pocket. He pulled out a small folded piece of paper, took something small from the fold and handed it to her while he showed the paper to her father. She took the object from him without really looking at it as she was looking at the paper. She saw it was a bank note with a lot of zero's on it.
Harry handed the check to her father then cleared his throat. "I stopped at the wizard bank before coming here. This is to help cover our expenses in the muggle world while we fight the war. I figure we need half of it. You can deposit the rest of it in your account. Hermione told me she had her own account. This should be split so you two can do your own scheduling."
Her mother spoke softly, "Harry dear this is half a million pounds."
He looked at her, a worried expression on his face, "Do you think you'll need more? I can get more if you do."
Hermione felt like hugging him, he looked so worried, so she did. She was proud of him when he gently returned the hug. "That's plenty Harry. In the morning we'll go to the bank and deposit it." She stepped back from him, her right hand still clenching the object he had handed her. "Dad I think you should call a travel agent tonight and get a flight booked for early tomorrow. Mum, go with Dobby just tell him what objects need storing. Keep the beds for tonight, we shouldn't need much else." Her mother immediately walked off, Dobby bouncing behind, eager to be of help. She took the check from her father's stunned hand and gently pushed him towards the den. He nodded and walked off.
When they were gone she turned back to Harry. He was looking at her a little smile twitching at his mouth. "Care to fill me in on the rest of your plan yet?"
"Sure, that's another key to my vaults." She finally opened her hand and looked at what he had given her. "You have been amended to everything I own. I had them deposit 50,000 galleons into an account for Ron. We can use that account when in the wizard world and yours in the muggle one. That should cover our expenses while we search for the horcruxes. I think we should go muggle as much as we can. Voldemort would have a much harder time finding us." It made sense so far so she nodded, and tucked the key into the front pocket of her jeans. He continued, "I think we need Bill Weasley's help on the horcruxes. Maybe he knows how to destroy them or has a better way to detect them."
"I've made some lists of possible supplies. We need to keep the number of people who know what we're doing minimal though."
He nodded, "I don't see it going beyond that. Maybe McGonagall and Remus will need to know."
She ticked them off on her hand as she named them, "So the three of us, Bill, Fleur, Remus and Professor McGonagall? That's seven, a good Arithmancy number."
He shook his head, "I don't think we need to tell Fleur do we?"
"Yes, this will greatly impact the wedding and their plans. She needs to know. Remember the goblet picked her as a champion. She has to at least be the strongest witch from Beauxbatons and as much as I hate to admit it she is very smart."
He looked apprehensive. "Maybe we shouldn't involve Bill then?"
"No, you're right. I think we need his help, or someone with his experience. I'm certain some of the places we will need to go will be protected with things we can't think of."
He shrugged, "Ok, I'll send him a note that we're going to need their help for the next few months against Tom. I guess the sooner the better so they can change their plans. Where should we meet, somewhere in muggle London would be best."
She thought for a minute, "Tell him to meet us in Hyde Park at the gates to Kensington Palace at, um, four tomorrow afternoon."
He rubbed his stomach briefly and said, "Ok, I'll get to work on that letter." Then he pulled something out of his pocket and set it on the floor. "Can you expand this? I had Stan shrink it on the Knight Bus."
He was hungry. Those people hadn't bothered to feed him anything. She smiled and pulled out her wand and expanded his trunk. "I'll go make you a sandwich and check on the preparations."
He smiled warmly at her. "Thanks, I should have stopped to eat at the Cauldron but I was in a hurry to get here." He flipped open his trunk and started digging in it.
She walked out of the living room and went to check on her father. She looked into the den and saw he was on the phone so went on towards the kitchen. She could hear her mother and Dobby talking upstairs as she passed the foot of the staircase. In the kitchen she made Harry a ham and cheese on wheat with lettuce and tomato with just a little mayo. She cut it in half and grabbed two bottles of Coke and opened them, taking a big swig of one before heading back to the living room. Harry was bent over the coffee table writing his note. She set the sandwich and one of the Cokes down, he looked up and smiled his thanks. She just nodded and walked back to the den. Her father was just getting up from his desk. She took another sip of her Coke and listened as he outlined the plans so far.
"These last minute flights cost a lot. I got us on the 12:30 flight to Florida from Gatwick tomorrow. We'll go to one of those resorts in Florida for a week then head somewhere else. We should be able to keep moving for a while, maybe rent a house for a month or so somewhere. Will you be able to contact us wherever we are?"
"Yes, we can send an owl or a house elf, probably Dobby. I wouldn't want to send an owl half-way around the world. Just keep on the move and try to enjoy yourselves."
He looked apprehensively at her. "Are you sure the two of you won't come with us? I can get two more tickets added to the flight?"
"No dad. We're in the middle of this fight and I won't leave Harry to face this without me."
He looked down at his notes from the call to the travel agent. "I called the musical director and told him we had a family emergency and had to leave the country for the summer. He wasn't happy with that but begged me to commit to another date. I told him we'd call him later to schedule something."
She hugged him and as he patted her back answered. "Thanks dad. I really want to play but this, …, is too important."
He nodded slowly then as they separated he put his hands on her shoulders. "I know better than to tell you this but you seem to be avoiding it yourself. Tell him how you feel. I was once a boy his age, we're oblivious to how your species thinks at that age dear. Spell it out so he understands, he wouldn't be here if he didn't trust you with his life."
She felt her cheeks go hot but looked her father in the eyes. "I just decided yesterday I had to do that. Now that Ron and I have settled the same issue I have a clear conscience to talk to Harry about it."
Her father cocked his head and lifted his left eyebrow, "Ron?"
She blushed and looked at her hands. "I tried to date him this year. I made it pretty damned obvious. Yesterday he finally told me he just wanted to be friends. I thought he was trying to make me jealous, instead he was avoiding me."
He patted her back, "Sorry to hear that darling." He pulled back, "Are you sure about Harry then?"
She looked up into his eyes. "Positive. I've thought of little else for the last six years. Now that I finally got Ron to discuss his feelings I don't have to worry about hurting his and Harry's friendship."
He patted her again and stepped towards the doorway, "Remember, be totally honest with him about how you feel." She nodded and he continued. "I'll go tell your mother what's going on."
She took a long sip of her Coke and followed him out. Harry was done with the letter and half done with the sandwich and Coke. He was standing near her awards, reading them. He glanced at her when she entered but was chewing so didn't say anything. He gestured with his coke at the letter on the table. She sat on the couch, put down her Coke and picked up the note to look it over.
Dear Bill and Fleur,
Sorry to spring this on you but Hermione and I just came to the conclusion we need your help against Tom. Dumbledore gave me a mission to accomplish and Ron and Hermione are going to help me with it. This will be very involved and I need to meet with you to discuss it. Please meet us in Hyde Park, tomorrow at 4pm, at the gates to Kensington Palace. We will reveal the details then.
HJP
P.S. Please bring Ron if you can.
She looked across the table at him; he was looking at her while he finished chewing the last of the sandwich. "Direct but vague enough so if it gets intercepted it will not hurt us too much." He swallowed then nodded and took another swig of his Coke. "Mind if I send it then?" He just gestured to Hedwig with is Coke. She folded the note and went to Hedwig. The snowy owl was looking at her already. Hedwig hopped onto her hand. "I need you to take this to Bill Weasley, he may have a reply, please bring it back to us." Hedwig nodded her head several times then took the note in her beak. Harry was already at the side window pulling it open. She waited for him to finish opening it and launched Hedwig into the night. Harry closed and locked the window.
He asked, "What are all of these plaques? You never told me you were a musician."
She felt her cheeks turn hot but answered him honestly. "I was a child prodigy, began playing the violin when I was four. Did my first solo in a concert at my primary school when I was eight, I still perform one or two concerts each summer. I had a solo in two weeks in St.Petersburg Russia, dad just called the director and canceled me for a family emergency."
He looked stunned.
"Look, I love performing the music, especially Bach. I hate the fame that comes with it though. You understand that right?"
He nodded, "Wow, what can you play?"
She shrugged, "Just about anything for violin, once I've seen the music I close my eyes and play from memory. There may be some accidental magic involved, though I've never gotten a letter about it." Hermione looked back into the rest of the house, decided she could take a few minutes more before getting sleeping arrangements settled. "Harry, I need to discuss something else with you."
He looked a little apprehensive but didn't say anything.
She summoned her courage and looked him in the eye. "I finally got Ron to tell me how he feels about me. He just wants to be friends. This may not make a lot of sense to you. At least my dad doesn't think it will, but here goes. I didn't want to get in the way of your friendship with Ron so I tried to stay neutral. He seemed to be interested in dating me so I tried to make that happen last year. He was too shy to actually tell me how he felt, ok maybe he was too worried about how I would react. Anyway I finally got him cornered yesterday and asked him flat out. He admitted he didn't want anything more than to be my friend." She looked over her shoulder again, still no sign of her parents. She looked back to Harry. He seemed to be taking her speech well so far. "So, now with that settled I can finally tell you. I've been a right idiot."
He snorted and took a half step back. "You're never an idiot, trust me I are one!"
In spite of herself she giggled at his joke. She shook her head, "No Harry that you are not." She stepped closer to him and again cinnamon eyes met emerald, "I know this isn't a good time for all this but I want you to know that I'm here for you."
"Thanks, I really need your help. I-"
She stopped him, he didn't understand. Dad was right. "No Harry. You don't understand. I want to be your girlfriend, wife, mate, lover, and mother of your children."
A/N: Hermione I have always thought should have some talent. I do not believe her parents would let her sit and read all day. They would have made her take ballet, learn an instrument or something to "broaden" her. So with that assumption I took it another step. What if her magical talent manifested in that talent? Thus she plays magically J It will not have much of an impact on the story, just a piece I felt was needed to fill out her character. I wish I could do the same with Harry but we know his past, totally repressed. Maybe he will discover something similar.