Different Paths

Chapter 6: Arrival at London

"Ah yes, the city of London. Never looked so much better," Ginny Weasley muttered as she walked down the streets of the capital of Great Britain. "Hey look, there´s the Muggle Parliament building. What´s that big clock called again? Big Ben?"

Harry completely ignored her, seemingly lost in thought. This irritated Ginny who placed a swift kick on Harry´s shins. "Ow! Why´d you do that for?"

"I was speaking to you, Potter! One of the first rules you must observe when you´re with a lady is never ignore her when she´s talking."

Harry tried to grin but it came out more like a grimace. "Sorry about that Ginny, but I was lost in thought."

"I´m not even going to bother asking about what," Ginny muttered.

Harry sighed as he looked over the River Thames, which they were walking along. The truth was that Harry was thinking about Hermione as he had often done since he had left Hogwarts. He tried to keep his mind off her by trying to make out how high the Tower Bridge was.

After walking a few more blocks Harry and Ginny came upon a grubby looking pub that appeared to be invisible to the muggles surrounding them. "Ta-daa! Here we are! The Leaky Cauldron!" Ginny announced with much fanfare.

"Not so loud!" hissed Harry. He self-consciously hid his scar underneath his bangs. "I don´t want anybody recognizing me. The last thing I need is half the wizarding world following me around Diagon Alley wondering why I left Hogwarts."

"You´re too much of a worry-wart," said Ginny as she pushed the pub´s door open. "Well, come on. You´re not going to hang around out here all day are you?"

Grumbling to himself, Harry followed Ginny into the pub.

As soon as they entered, Harry relaxed visibly. The pub was all but deserted that day meaning that Harry could get his lodging without the Daily Prophet banging on his door asking for an interview. "Come on, let's go see if Tom has some open rooms," he said.

The first thing Harry noticed when he and Ginny approached the bar was that the person behind it was not Tom the bartender. Although he was facing away from them apparently wiping some empty tankards, the man was clearly a lot younger than Tom. He appeared to be in his late thirties though his full head of brown hair was streaked with gray. Harry couldn´t shake the feeling that he knew this man from somewhere.

Shaking off the feeling, Harry cleared his throat to catch the bartender´s attention. He couldn´t have been more surprised when the bartender turned around and Harry was greeted with the familiar amber eyes of his former Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Remus J. Lupin. Furthermore, as soon as she had seen who it was, Ginny had launched herself at Lupin wrapping him into a bear like hug. "Remus!" she squealed. "I´m so glad to see you! I missed you so much!"

At first, Lupin´s face wore an expression of being stunned. Almost immediately however, it took on an expression that could only be parental anger. "Ginny Weasley! Where have you been?! Do you have any idea how worried everyone at Beauxbatons was when you left for England so out of the blue? What in heaven´s name were you thinking when you did that? How do you think I felt when one of my star pupils just left me like that?"

Ginny looked very sheepish as she pulled away from Lupin. "I-uh, came after Draco."

"I know that!" Lupin thundered. "Why else would you leave? It was always about Draco when it came to you! Did you even think to consider how much danger you´d be in if you just left like that?"

"There was nothing to be worried about!" Ginny exclaimed. "I was perfectly safe, though I never found Draco. But I did run into Harry along the way and we came back to London together."

"Harry?" It was only then when Lupin first noticed Ginny´s companion.

Harry, to say the least, was very confused. "Um, did I miss anything?" he said.

* * *

Later on, Harry and Lupin were sitting in one of the booths talking while Ginny was upstairs getting changed. There was in fact quite a story to tell. As it turned out, after Lupin´s one-year tenure at Hogwarts, Remus had journeyed to France where he had eventually settled at Beauxbatons. There, he was appointed the profession of Residing Professor over the Dark Arts Defense Exchange Program that Ginny and Draco were a part of. During the two years there, Remus had apparently formed a mentor-student bond with both Ginny and Draco. Remus for his part had a lot to say about Draco.

"He´s grown very powerful these past two years under my tutelage," he said. "But he´s like a closed book. I think Ginny and I were the only people he ever actually opened up to and that was just skimming the surface of Draco Malfoy." Remus took a sip of his butterbeer before he continued speaking. "At first, he was pretty much the same as he was at Hogwarts: an arrogant, wise-craking, stuck up, spoilt brat. But then something happened about a year ago. He became quiet, pensive, lost in thought, and seemed to be in a lot of pain all the time. Ginny simply fell in love with this new cooler Draco but he´d rarely open up to anyone. Best student on the exchange program though. One of the best I ever taught."

`A year ago,´ Harry thought. `That´s around the time of the Slytherin Revolts. That must be what changed him.´ "Tell me Professor Lupin..."

"Please Harry, call me Remus."

"Oh, OK. Tell me, Remus do you know what happened at Hogwarts a year ago."

"No," said Remus. "There were rumors but no actual news came out to France. Did something really happen then?"

Harry nodded and told Remus everything about the Slytherin Revolts. As soon as Harry was finished with the stories, Remus buried his face into his hands and sighed. "I should´ve known something like that happened. Especially after the way Draco changed. I only came back to England after I heard Fudge was assassinated: wanted to check it out myself."

"So how did you end up being the bartender at the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Just a few days after I arrived, I found out that Tom the bartender was considering retiring. I offered taking over his job and he accepted. Besides, the Leaky Cauldron turned out to be the perfect location for our headquarters."

"Headquarters?"

"Of the Order of the Phoenix."

That caught Harry by surprise. The Order of the Phoenix, or "the old crowd" as Dumbledore referred to them, was a group of powerful wizards and witches united in their common goal of the defeat of the Dark Lord. Harry knew several key members of the order aside from Remus including Sirius. Harry was about to comment on the Order when another familiar member of the Order burst into the pub bellowing, "´Ello Harry! What´re yeh doing down here in Diagon Alley?" A second later, Harry found himself in the bear hug of the friendly half-giant Rubeus Hagrid.

"Hagrid!" Harry exclaimed hugging his old friend back. "It´s great to see you again!"

"Same `ere, Harry," bellowed Hagrid. During Harry´s fifth year, Hagrid had left Hogwarts on a mission from the Order to seek help from the giants. Harry had hardly seen him since and was absolutely overjoyed to see him again. However, the reason why he had left Hogwarts in the first place soon came crashing back into his memory.

"Uh, guys. It´s not that I don´t appreciate any help you guys want to offer me but I really don´t want..."

"Now hold it just a second Harry," said Remus. "You seem to forget that you´re not fighting a personal war against Voldemort. We´re all involved in this, especially the Order. Even if you don´t want us to, we´re going to provide you with all the help you need." Behind Remus, Hagrid nodded in full agreement.

"Well, if you say so," said Harry. "First things first, I need a new wand."

* * *

At the exact same time only a few blocks away on the other end of Diagon Alley, a different sort of conversation was taking place.

"`Let's take a portkey,´ you said! `It´ll be safer that way,´ you said! I can´t believe I agreed with you on using a portkey to get here," Ron Weasley muttered.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Do I have tell you this again Ron? We couldn´t risk coming here with Floo Powder. It´s very likely that Death Eaters would be monitoring the Floo Network. We would´ve been caught the instant we walked out of the fireplace."

"It would´ve saved valuable time," Ron countered. "We would´ve gotten to Diagon Alley in seconds. We had to wait for weeks as it was getting the portkey ready!"

"It doesn´t matter," said Hermione before their bickering could blow into one of their usual arguments. "It´s the past now. We´re here."

Ron however didn´t seem to want to let it go. He continued complaining about portkey travel. Hermione simply ignored him and tuned his voice out. As she did this, her thoughts started wandering back and she started to recall events that happened in the past...

Two years ago. It was during their fifth year just a week before Christmas break started. Fifteen-year old Hermione Granger was sitting alone at the Gryffindor Table, sulking. About three days previous, Hermione and Ron had a disastrous break up following their two-month rocky relationship. The effect of the fallout was that she was now avoiding her two best friends: Ron for obvious reasons and Harry because she thought of him as being Ron´s accomplice. As far as she was concerned she didn´t want anything to do with Ron Weasley and the fact that she would be going home to spend Christmas with her parents in a few days was a relief.

However, as luck would have it, Harry and Ron walked into the Great Hall or rather, Harry was dragging a sulking Ron into the Great Hall. Harry took a seat across from Hermione and forced Ron into the seat next to him. He tried to grin at Hermione while Ron just glared at her. Hermione´s response was an icy glare at both of them.

Harry sighed and buried his face into his hands. "Hermione, it´s been three days now. Can´t you just put it behind you?"

"I can put it behind me," said Hermione. "But it looks like he," meaning Ron, "can´t seem to do so."

"I wouldn´t have to put it behind me if you hadn´t just called it off," Ron said rather icily. Hermione´s eyes narrowed.

"Perhaps I wouldn´t have called it off if you hadn´t been so controlling," she hissed.

"What´s that supposed to mean?"

"It means, Ronald, that when I say I need to study or read, you let me study or read. Not attempt to drag me into some broom closet to do who knows what?" exclaimed Hermione.

"You spend far too much time studying anyway! We were supposed to have been going out. But for you, it seemed like you´d rather spend time with your books than with me!" shouted Ron. By now, the entire Great Hall was interested in the argument.

"Maybe I just had my priorities straightened out!" Hermione shouted. "That should´ve been something you should´ve done rather than try to kiss me every free time we´ve had!"

"That´s another point!" Ron yelled. "You didn´t let me kiss you at all! When two people are going out, I would´ve expected at least some kisses!"

Harry banged his head on the table wishing he was anywhere but there. The entire Great Hall had their attention on his best friends and Harry couldn´t have been more relieved at that moment that Malfoy was away on an exchange program in France (Harry and Hermione had also been selected for the program but Hermione still hadn´t decided if she wanted to go or not and had prolonged the decision till January. Harry for his part had decided that if Hermione was going, he was going and if she wasn´t then he wasn´t). He noticed that some of the professors were heading toward them.

Hermione was about to retort when the entire Hall, including Ron and Hermione suddenly became dead silent. A single owl had just flown into the room carrying a black envelope. This black envelope was a great source of dread ever since Voldemort´s return. It was an official notice from the Ministry about the death of a family member of whoever received the envelope. For quite some time, students and staff held their breaths in dreaded silence as the ominous owl circled over their heads. Finally, the owl dropped the envelope right in front of Hermione, much to the shock of Harry and Ron.

With trembling hands, Hermione opened the letter and started to read it. As her eyes skimmed down the parchment, Harry noticed how her eyes filled with despair as they welled up with tears. "No," Hermione whispered. Her tears were starting to fall freely and she dropped the parchment as if it were on fire. "No!" she screamed. She ran out of the Great Hall, sobbing all the way. Harry quickly glanced at the parchment and skimmed its words before taking off after Hermione. Ron hesitantly picked up the parchment and started reading it. By the time he had finished, Ron was white as a ghost. Although the letter had used many words to cover up what was written there, the message was clear: Hermione´s parents had been murdered by Death Eaters.

* * *

Her parents were dead. That was the only thought in Hermione´s mind as she ran down the corridors of Hogwarts. She wasn´t even sure why she was running or from who she was running from. She didn´t even realize that she had just given the portrait of the Fat Lady the password and was now in the Gryffindor Common Room.

It was dark in the Common Room, the only source of light coming from the fire. Hermione had intended to go up to the dormitories and cry herself to sleep but she didn´t make it that far. She collapsed on one of the sofas in front of the fire as more sobs racked her body.

Her parents had been killed. Hermione felt like nothing made sense anymore, as if her entire world had been turned around. She was lost now, her family and home stolen from her by Voldemort. Nothing made any more sense and a small part of her wished that she would die just to end the misery. Perhaps it also had to do with her break up with Ron but Hermione was now feeling worthless, that nobody could possibly love her anymore and that she was truly alone.

Then, she felt a hand on her back. Harry was gently rubbing her back hoping to provide at least a little bit of comfort to Hermione´s tormented soul. Hermione didn´t move but the simple act had clearly calmed her down a little.

As gently as he could, Harry slid onto the sofa right next to Hermione and wrapped his arms around her petite body. Hermione buried her face into Harry´s chest and sobbed some more. Harry held her close and whispered soothing words into her ear as he gently stroked her long brown hair. Finally, after many minutes, Hermione´s sobs subsided though the tears did not stop.

"They´re dead," she whispered. "My Mum and Dad are d-dead." She burst into another round of tears.

"I know, I know," Harry whispered. He gently placed a kiss on Hermione´s head. It wasn´t until a few minutes later when Hermione felt tears fall on her head that she realized Harry was crying as well. Days later, she would come to realize that Harry had also been crying to share her pain and because he simply couldn´t bear seeing her that distraught.

"Does the pain ever s-stop?" she whispered.

Harry couldn´t relate the feeling of losing one´s parents but he could relate to being an orphan. "No," he answered honestly. "But it dulls over time, becomes numb, and you soon only barely realize that it´s there."

Hermione nodded as more tears came. For the entire night, they just sat there with Harry´s arms wrapped protectively around Hermione as Hermione cried on and off. All of the other Gryffindors decided to just let them be and disappeared into the dormitories without bothering them. Eventually, they fell asleep with Harry´s arms still around Hermione. It was Harry´s presence that had allowed Hermione rest and it was because he was there that she was able to sleep peacefully that night.

When Ron had come back to the Common Room, he was surprised to see Harry and Hermione in front of the fire, both asleep on the sofa. Harry´s arms were wrapped securely around Hermione as if trying to protect her from the horrors outside of the castle. Hermione´s face was still tear streaked but being in Harry´s presence seemed to have calmed her down and was very peaceful. It struck Ron just how natural the two looked right there on the sofa.

In that moment, Ron realized that he had lost. He had lost Hermione to Harry. But as the anger and jealousy started to well up he realized that that thought wasn´t accurate. He hadn´t lost Hermione since he never had a claim on her: he had only deluded himself into thinking so. Hermione and Harry had been each other´s from the very start and there was no way that he could´ve ever had had Hermione whichever way. Fighting down the impulses of anger and jealousy Ron decided right there that he would become a better friend to both of his best friends, once he could control his emotions that is. Before he lost his resolve and shouted something he would later regret, Ron summoned Harry´s Invisibility Cloak and left the Common Room, intending to cool down with a few walks around the lake. He stayed out there until dawn. When he came back, Harry and Hermione were still sleeping on the sofa. He sighed and crept up to his dorm trying not to wake them.

Hermione woke up about half an hour later when the morning sun hit her eyes. She still felt hurt and empty by the loss of her parents but being with Harry had helped calm her and she felt very peaceful. Barely moving so as not to disturb Harry´s slumber, she looked up into his sleeping face. She mused how vulnerable and child like he looked when he slept, especially since he wasn´t wearing his glasses (which were on the floor). As she lay there, Hermione couldn´t help but marvel at how Harry had spent the entire night with her, comforting her in her loss, protecting her from the misery that threatened to overwhelm her. She had never felt more loved in that moment and it was perhaps that feeling that made her do something she had never done before, not even to Ron.

She had kissed him.

She had brought her lips up to his and had closed her eyes as she tried to convey all the gratitude and love she had felt for him. Soon, she was surprised to feel him kiss her back but she still did not stop the kiss. It was sweet and blissful and unfortunately it eventually had to end. As she pulled away, Hermione opened her eyes only to look into Harry´s confused green ones.

"Hermione?"

"I´m sorry," she whispered as her eyes welled up with tears again. "I shouldn´t have done that."

"No, no. It´s OK. I..."

"Harry, I just broke up with Ron. My parents have just died. I´m not ready."

"Oh." Harry exhaled and smiled at her. "I´ll wait."

"Really?" whispered Hermione. When Harry nodded, Hermione couldn´t help but form a small smile. She snuggled deeper into Harry´s arms. They remained in that position until just before noon, and none of the Gryffindor students dared bother them since Ron had silently threatened each one of them as they came down the stairs.

After that Harry and Hermione simply continued growing closer. Their relationship with Ron was strained for a while as Ron tried to control his volatile emotions but he eventually came to fully support their improved relationship in a few weeks and the trio became closer than ever. Hermione eventually fell deeply in love with Harry but somehow lacked the courage to tell him that she was indeed ready. Still, Harry had waited and perhaps it was that sense of security that had made Hermione feel like it was OK not to tell him since it was a foregone conclusion that they would eventually get together. However, that sense of security had been shattered when Harry had abruptly left.

"Hey snap out of it! Fred and George aren´t going to be waiting for us forever you know!" Ron´s voice snapped Hermione's thoughts back to the present.

"What?"

"If I know Fred and George, they´ll only let us stay at their store while the place is open. That means we have two hours to get there. Now let's go!"

"All right," said Hermione. She quickly hurried after Ron who was grumbling. "OK, which way is your brothers´ store?"

Ron however did not answer. Hermione turned toward him to see what was wrong. Ron was apparently staring at someone in a crowd. His eyes were wide, his mouth was hanging open, and he looked rather pale.

"Ron what´s wrong?" Ron however didn´t seem to have heard her question.

"Him? What´s he...what´s that git doing here? Back in England?"

"Who?"

"Malfoy!" Ron spat the name out as if it were some kind of poison.

"Malfoy? As in Draco Malfoy?"

"You know any other Malfoys?" exclaimed Ron. When Hermione raised her eyebrows at him, he said, "You know any other living Malfoys?"

"Are you sure it was him? He hasn´t been in England for two years."

"Of course I´m sure. I´d recognize that ugly mop of blonde hair of his anywhere. It was Malfoy!"

"But I don´t see him."

"He just disappeared into that crowd over there," said Ron pointing to a large crowd on the other side of the alley. "He was headed toward Knockturn Alley."

Hermione sighed. "Well, we can´t do anything about that can we?" She started tugging on Ron´s arm. "Come on, let´s get to your brothers´ store. We can worry about Malfoy later. I´d rather worry about Harry and try to start looking for him."

"All right," said Ron with a sigh. He reluctantly let Hermione drag him away but not before looking up to see if Draco had indeed headed into Knockturn Alley. But he couldn´t see him anywhere.