Chapter 2
Hermione stood in front of the main entrance to King's Cross train station, tapping her foot impatiently on the concrete sidewalk. Ron was late and she was not happy. Not wanting to wait around in the cold, Hermione turned around and entered the train station. The train station was relatively busy for lunch, but that didn't surprise her. She could tell people were getting ready for the holidays.
There was an empty bench next to the doors and she decided to read the most recent issue of the Daily Prophet. Before opening the newspaper, she took a moment to look around the station. It had changed significantly over the past few years. Several walls were covered with cheap plywood and plastic sheets. The city was renovating the entire place. Hermione was overcome with a strong feeling of nostalgia as she watched her childhood disappear in front of her eyes.
"Hi," Ron greeted her as he entered the train station. Hermione looked up at him, shoved the paper back into her bag, and didn't bother with the pleasantries. He was late and she wasn't happy. She didn't want to bother with the "heys" and hellos."
"Well?" Hermione asked. Ron rolled his eyes and started walking towards the south side of the station. They passed several platforms before reaching the end of King's Cross. In the back of the station was a small hallway that led to a dead end.
"Are you going to stay mad at me forever?" Ron muttered.
"I don't know," Hermione replied. "Are you going to be a jerk forever?"
"I don't even know how to respond to that," Ron growled. He stopped when they reached the end of the hallway. Hermione was confused at first because the wall was made of brick while the rest of the walls were composed of tile and plaster. Ron looked behind them to make sure no one was watching before he made his move. The Auror pulled out his concealed wand from his overcoat and touched the brick wall. It began to collapse on itself and opened up a secret hallway behind the wall. It made her think of the entrance of Diagon Alley.
"I'm sorry," Hermione admitted. "Maybe I've been a little of a jerk myself." She followed him down the bricked passage. The decorations on the walls brought a bright smile to her face. It reminded her of Hogwarts. There were paintings of different witches and wizards hung along the hallway. Each of them would wink, smile, and even wave at her when she walked by. It was as if they knew her and they were reuniting with her after being apart for so long.
"Oh, a little?" Ron laughed as they headed down a flight of stairs. He wasn't being mean; she could hear the playful tone in his voice. When they reached the end of the hallway, she froze in the archway. The sight of the underground train station stunned her. She couldn't believe that such a thing existed under King's Cross.
"The train's leaving," Ron shouted as he ran for a black train that was starting to move. Hermione screamed, out of anger and excitement, as she chased after the both of them. The Auror was the first to make it onto the train as it began to pick up speed. He spun around and held out his hand. She grabbed it quickly and jumped on when the train's horn blared as it left the station platform.
* * * * *
"We need to find a seat." Hermione made her way down the aisle of the train car. The seats were filled with a variety of witches and wizards from different worlds than her own. A few of them were dressed in their wizardry robes, while others resembled the everyday muggle. And a couple of them, well, they weren't wearing much at all. It was a weird but interesting thing to see, the full train car, not the two wizards in loin clothes.
The seats were not the only things that were occupied. She had to make a conscious effort not to step on anything valuable that lay about on the floor. At the end of the train car, she found a pair of empty seats. Hermione took the one along the aisle while Ron sat next to the window.
"Want some?" Ron asked and took out a thermal from his bag. He pulled out his wand and pressed the tip of it against the bottom of the thermal. Steam began to rise from the opened thermal as he heated up the tea.
"No thanks." said Hermione as she pretended to peruse her bag.
"I may have lied, a little," Ron muttered. He took a sip from his tea and hissed when the hot liquid burned his tongue. Hermione would have scolded him for doing such a stupid thing, but what he said grabbed her attention. She looked at him, but he refused to meet her eyes. He pretended something outside was more interesting.
"Lied? Lied about what, exactly?" Even though the thrill of going on another adventure had filled her up, it didn't mean her ears stopped working.
"Well, I don't know where Harry is," Ron smiled softly. However, his smile wouldn't get him out of this one, it rarely did.
"You don't know what?" Hermione shouted, drawing the attention of almost everyone in the train. Everyone went quiet for a second, hoping to eavesdrop on their conversation. "Was I talking to you?" She turned around in her seat and glared at them. The witches and wizards tried to avoid her gaze and started talking amongst themselves.
"Look, I don't know where he is." Ron explained himself. Hermione immediately raised her index finger into the air in front of his face, silencing him. His eyes went cross-eyed as he focused in on that singular point.
"Then why are we on this train, Ronald?" He recognized the angry tone in her voice.
"We're going to meet a contact of mine," Ron said as he noticed Hermione was beginning to pull out her respective wand. She hesitated and squinted, trying to read him.
"A contact?" She slowly put her wand back into her bag. Ron couldn't help but let out a deep breathe when he realized she was no longer on the offensive.
"Yes, his name is Logan," replied Ron.
"Where's this Logan?" Hermione asked.
"He's at Province, we'll be there in a few hours," he answered her. Satisfied with his response, Hermione returned to her bag and pulled out her crumpled copy of the Daily Prophet. She opened it up and began to scan the different stories the journalists reported. After a few minutes of reading, she gave up.
"And who is he?" Hermione needed to know more about this mysterious man.
"He's a friend of mine, well not a friend," Ron thought out loud. "I've never met him actually." Hermione almost smacked herself in the forehead but decided punching Ron was the better alternative. So she did. She formed a firm fist and punched him in the shoulder. Ron howled in pain, but no one paid him any attention. "Damn, Hermione. You punch like a bludger."
"You've never met him?" Hermione hissed. "Then how can you trust him?"
"During my apprenticeship, we had to build contacts that we could later use when we became Aurors. Nine months ago, Logan contacted me by owl. We started a correspondence and then before you know it, he was one of my contacts."
"You realize how stupid that sounds?" Hermione wanted to punch him again but she held back her rage, if only for a moment.
"Logan wrote to me about Harry. He saw him in Province." Ron said quickly when he saw Hermione tightening her fist up again. However, when she heard this, her hand went limp.
"How did he know you and Harry are friends?"
"After we broke up, I needed someone to talk to. I needed to talk to Harry," Ron began. Hermione's heart sunk when he mentioned their break, but she forced herself to continue listening. "So I sent an owl to all my contacts about his whereabouts. Maybe they had met with him by some coincidence."
"And Logan said he met Harry?"
"No, there was no formal meeting. But I figured if we're going to start somewhere, it might as well be Province." Then there was a long silence between them. The train car was filled with people talking and laughing, babies crying, and the sound of the wheels on the tracks below. It was peaceful.
"Ron?" Hermione decided to break the awkward silence between them. "I'm sorry." That's all she could say. That's all she could think of to say, but she had to address the situation between them. It wasn't fair to Ron and it wasn't fair to her. The air needed to be cleared if they were going to work together again and they couldn't be at each other's throat if they were to find Harry.
"About what?" Ron asked. He wasn't picking up on her signals, he rarely did.
"I'm sorry about how things ended between us," Hermione explained. She then saw Ron's face change as he digested her words. He swallowed hard and thought long about what he was going to say.
"I'm sorry too," said Ron. "I didn't handle things well. I was so stressed about becoming an Auror that I was blinded to your problems."
"But the way things happened, I wasn't very fair," Hermione replied.
"It's okay, neither was I," Ron took her hand into his. "The past is the past. I think the best thing for both of us is to move on." He squeezed her hand gently and let it go. Hermione smiled softly and looked down at the newspaper on her lap. Even though she expected a shouting match to occur between the two of them, she was happy with the results. Then she thought about a certain someone.
"So, how's Ginny?" she asked. Ron jumped and almost dropped his thermal. But that didn't stop him from spilling his tea all over himself. Before he could pull out his wand, Hermione had hers out at the ready. With a flick of her want, the tea evaporated instantly. "Something on your mind?" She smiled and waited for a response.
"I'm guessing my father didn't tell you," Ron replied. Hermione shook her head, a big smile still on her face. "She eloped with Dean Thomas two months ago!" He dropped his head in shame. Ron was obviously not happy with her decision to marry Dean, but he wasn't fond of her being single either because that meant she was still pining over Harry. He couldn't win.
"I mean, at least she's happy. It could be worse, she could be with Malfoy," Hermione attempted to comfort him.
"She's pregnant!" Ron cried out. This time he got the attention of everyone in the train car. They all turned to look at him and Hermione.
"No, not me," Hermione assured the crowd. "I mean we were together, but not anymore. He's talking about his little sister actually." They all stared at her for a second and returned to their own business. She laughed, obviously fake, and gave Ron her full attention. "How? When?"
"How?" Ron cried again. "Do you want me to draw a picture for you?"
"No, that's okay, sorry." Hermione laughed.
"She told mum a few weeks ago. I can't believe it…" Ron started to gag.
"Wait, she's only…" She tried to do the math, but even she was having problems due to the mental images.
"Nineteen! I know." Ron shook his fists into the air. "She only graduated from Hogwarts over a year ago… a year ago…"
"Well, that's interesting." She didn't know what to say. What was there to say? Hermione wanted to do nothing but laugh, but that wasn't the smart move right now. And she wanted to avoid exciting Ron into a frenzy.
"It's horrible," he buried his face into his hands, she could barely understand him.
"At least you'll be an uncle." Hermione tried to find the silver lining, and she found it. Ron lifted up his face, he face displaying the realization of this new fact.
"I'm going to be an uncle," he muttered to himself, Ron was in complete awe. "I'm going to be an uncle!" This time he raised his arms into the air and cheered, but no one acknowledged his happiness. They only seemed to be interested in the drama.
"Are you okay?" Hermione chuckled. Ron nodded and sat back down, breathing heavily due to the rush of exciting. There was a sparkle in his eye, something she hadn't seen in a very long time.
"Yeah," Ron smiled. "I'm good." He turned his head towards window and noticed the train was approaching their destination.
* * * * *
Hermione exited the train station of Province first, with Ron clunking behind her. They stood a few feet outside of the double doors and engulfed the view of the small village before them. The best word to describe the town was: strange. It resembled Hogsmeade in architecture by varying degrees, but the popular was something different. Hermione couldn't help but notice the number of muggles walking around. They weren't witches and wizards dressed for work in the city, but actual muggles. And the muggles appeared completely unfazed by the amount of magic that occurred around them.
"Where are we, again? It's just… I feel so out of place," Hermione wanted to be sure. It was like walking into a childhood book that her mother used to read to her at night.
"It's Province," Ron assured her.
"How can you be sure? You've never been here before," Hermione mentioned under her breath.
"You don't have to remind me," Ron hung his head in defeat. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "Come on, it's time we go and meet Logan." He led her down the busy street that went directly through the village. The small town seemed to congregate around this street. Ron pulled out a small piece of parchment from his bag and unrolled it. Before he could read it, Hermione pulled it out of his hands and read it for herself:
Ronald,
I'm glad to learn you're coming to Province, old friend. You can find me at the Owl Barn. It is small bar off the main street of the city. I'll be drinking butterbeer and reading an issue of The Quibbler. By the way, have you ever read this amazing newspaper? It has some very compelling articles.
Logan
Hermione halted when she finished reading the message. Ron stopped and turned around to hear what she had to say. He waited for the worst.
"Are you sure about Logan?" Hermione asked, not as bad as he expected.
"Yeah, why?" Ron responded.
"He reads The Quibbler," Hermione argued.
"So. They've published some very interesting stories lately." Hermione rolled her eyes and pushed the letter into Ron's chest. She continued walking down the street, ignoring his pleas of confidence. After a couple of blocks, they came up to a giant, wooden door with "OWL BARN" burned into it.
"Here we are," Hermione muttered. Ron nodded and opened the door for them. The Owl Barn was exactly what the sign on door read. It was an owl barn, but had bar built along the wall and the rest of the empty space on the floor was filled with tables and chairs. Above them, several owls were perched on beams hanging above them. Despite the smell and lack of visual aesthetics, the Owl Barn had a strange charm to it.
"There he is," Ron pointed out a man sitting in the back of the bar. He was dressed in a brown cloak that covered the majority of his body. A pint of butterbeer, which was half full with a bent straw, sat on the corner of the table. His feet were also up on the table, a pet peeve of Hermione's. However, she couldn't see his face since The Quibbler he was reading covered it. They carefully crossed the bar. Ron made sure to check out every person in the bar, a mixture of muggles and wizards. Hermione did the same, but kept most of her focus on Logan.
"Hello, Logan?" Ron stuck his hand out to shake. "I'm Ronald Weasley."
"Nice to finally meet you," Logan said as he lowered The Quibbler. Ron and Hermione jumped back drawing their wands when they saw Logan's face. Instead of a face behind The Quibbler, they found a white mask with a black "V" painted across it.
* * * * *
A/N: Thank you for reading and a special thanks to those of you who left a review. It's a great feeling: knowing people like what I've written thus far. Since I'm also on break, I'll be updating this story within the following week. And again, thanks for reading!
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