Hermione's Letter

Chapter 5

Harry, Hermione and Ron, still under cloak, ran round the last corner separating themselves and Ravenclaw Tower, only to find many members of staff there, including Professor Dumbledore. Harry, who had been leading, stopped suddenly, and Hermione and Ron tripped over him. The three toppled over, only just managing to hold onto the cloak. Ron smacked hard into the cold stone floor and was knocked out cold; Hermione landed almost perfectly onto Harry.

There were barely two inches between their lips; Harry felt his arousal as he stared into her deep brown eyes, as aligned with his as his lips were with hers. He had never been this close to Hermione before; it was a great thrill to him to have her body pressed up to his.

But he suddenly became aware of the regular sound of footsteps. He leaned his head back and realised it was Professor Snape walking in their direction. The hearts of both Hermione and Harry pounded. If they stayed where they were, they were going to be discovered; but if they tried to move, the cloak would probably slide off their bodies and they’d be seen anyway.

Hermione suddenly realised what she had to do. Pulling out her wand carefully, so as not to move the cloak too much, she whispered, “Linea leviosa!”

The Invisibility Cloak wriggled about until it matched the shape of the three young magic-folk’s bodies.

Hermione turned back to Harry and whispered her instructions, then carefully slid off of his body. Harry felt his arousal grow as she brushed over him, and Hermione knew about it. She flashed a quick smile at him and then moved over Ron’s body, coming to rest on the opposite side of the Weasley, facing down. She slid her arm around him, and Harry did the same, all the while Snape getting closer and closer, and the three getting closer and closer to being discovered…

Harry and Hermione stood up, struggling to pull up the weight of Ron with them. The cloak continued to match their adapting body shape, until they finally managed to stand tall. Quickly moving to the side, they leaned on the wall, just about managing to keep Ron upright.

Snape walked briskly through the area where the three had been lying, and slightly further on down the corridor, taking a quick look down the ajoining corridors, and then went back to examining the wreckage with the other staff members.

Hermione whispered, very, very carefully, to Harry.

“That was close. Very close.”

“How did you know that spell Hermione?” Harry enquired.

“It was on that instruction sheet that came with the letter. They said… or rather I said… that this was going to happen.”

Harry looked at her. “This would seem to prove the message is real. Either that or someone with good Divination skills wrote it, and to be honest, I don’t really believe in that, and I know you don’t.”

She smiled back briefly in agreement. Things that didn’t make logical sense didn’t work well with Hermione.

“We’ve gotta get Ron to safety somewhere. We can’t go on carrying him.” Hermione pointed out.

Harry countered. “But if we take him back to the tower it’ll take too long and we won’t have enough time!”

Hermione nodded, and then remembered something Ron had always found difficult.

Again articulating her wand, her spell was cast. “Winguardium Leviosa!”

Ron’s previously limp body began to float in the air, with the cloak still matching his movements. Hermione let go, swiftly followed by Harry, and his body remained in the air.

“OK, I’ll direct him with my wand, you follow my movements, ok?” Hermione commanded.

Harry indicated his agreement, and Hermione’s delicate hand gradually swept around until it pointed forward. Ron’s body and the cloak followed it, and Harry moved in closer and stood next to Hermione, so as the cloak would still cover the three of them. Slowly and carefully, they moved forward, towards the Ravenclaw tower base, once more. Circumnavigating the myriad of teachers there, they swept through to the centre.

As they did so, Hermione’s free hand reached out and found Harry’s, and he gripped her hand. A shudder made its way down Hermione’s back as she continued, a result of both the devastation, and of the sensation of physical contact with Harry. The warmth of his palm was a calming influence to her – the burden of responsibility was enormous for a third-year student.

It seemed her future self had been correct, at least about one thing.

***

Back in the Gryffindor tower the Prefects were trying to round everyone up. Nearly all the students, first-years included, had managed to prepare themselves quickly and hastily, and were assembled in the common room, but a few were still readying themselves. And there was plenty of conversation.

“How did she manage to Apparate in here? I thought no-one could Apparate in school!”

“Do you think I’ll need to bring my makeup kit?”

“Does this necklace work, or should I wear this one?”

“Do you think it’s you-know-who?”

There was plenty of conversation, except around young Samantha Tensenson, who was standing with her trunk, alone in a room full of people. Her nerves kept getting the better of her; she couldn’t talk with people because she kept stammering, and she felt anxiety a good deal of the time.

Except around Harry and Hermione and especially Ron, who was her first friend at Hogwarts, who had extended a hand to her, and had been one of only three who had taken to her immediately.

It seemed to her that she hadn’t managed to fit in with her Gryffindor companions, even though barely one night had passed since she had joined them.

She thought to herself. I’ve failed.

***

The prefects came back in from the dorm rooms at that point with the few remaining people, who had now apparently finished their business. These last assembled with the others; the Prefects went to the front to check everyone off. They had lists of all the Gryffindors in front of them, and were ticking off the names.

All but three, anyway. Harry, Hermione and Ron had still to assemble.

Sam started worrying about them; she cared deeply for the hard-working Hermione, the kind-hearted Ron and the courageous Harry more than anyone else at Hogwarts. Where were they? She suspected that they’d gone take a look at the Tower; she’d heard of their exploits in the past. The Whomping Willow incident the previous year was known even to her.

The Prefects finished checking off the list, noting the absences. One of them came over to Sam.

“Sam, you’re friends with Harry aren’t you? Any idea where he went?”

Sam froze. She hadn’t really anticipated this question. And she knew she couldn’t tell them where she imagined they were, so she did her best to think up a response.

“I… I think they went down to the Quidditch changing rooms. Harry said he’d left his broom there, he wanted to fetch it.”

The Prefect tutted. “Better go get him.” He let the other Prefect know where he was going, and left the Gryffindor tower.

Sam breathed a little sigh of relief a few minutes later when Harry, Ron and Hermione came down the stairs. Ron was still quite groggy from his fall, and there was no hiding it. The remaining Prefect stared at them in surprise, moving to question them.

“How did you get up there? Sam said you were down at the Quidditch changing rooms!” She was quite clearly angry at the triad.

Harry covered it. “Err… we flew back up. The Nimbus 2000 doubles as a good regular broom, you know.”

“And what happened to you, Ron? You look like you’ve been hit by a herd of stampeding concrete elephants!” There was a clear purple mark on Ron’s forehead, a result of his impact with the harsh stone flooring, although the Prefect’s analysis of it was clearly overemphasised.

Ron did his best to look up to the Prefect. “I… I…” He couldn’t make his answer.

Hermione stepped in for him. “He fell off the broom. Hit his head.”

The Prefect had apparently accepted both explanations, as she instructed the three to get their trunks and prepare to leave. The other Prefect arrived meanwhile, and also seemed to accept the explanations as fact. In any case, they really didn’t have time to argue. The female one made the journey to verify the house’s readiness for the trip with Professor McGonagall, whilst Harry, Ron and Hermione joined Sam in the Common Room.

A few minutes later, the call came for everyone in Gryffindor House to proceed to the Quidditch field, where awaiting them would be their ride out of the area.

On arrival at the area they found a very curious form of transport awaiting them.

It consisted of a dragon-like creature, and a very, very large one at that, the size of the entire playing field, with a huge carriage on its back, not unlike the carriages that used to be drawn by horses in the Victorian era. There were two more of these dragons and carriages in the air, waiting to land and pick up their precious cargoes.

Professor McGonagall, supervising the Gryffindor evacuation, ordered everyone to board the carriage. There were masses of rooms inside, and Harry, Ron, Hermione and Samantha found a room near the centre of the carriage. The rooms were perfectly sized for four people, but to the quartet’s surprise, on entry to the room they discovered four beds rather than four seats. This truly was excellent transport, especially for an emergency situation.

A large golden key to the door hung inside the room; once they had entered, and dragged their cases in, Harry locked the door and replaced the key on its hook.

Everyone had questions, but no-one cared to voice them in the group’s current residence. Ron needed to get some rest, Hermione’s eyes were almost closed, Sam was worn out after her first day, and Harry... he decided he needed some sleep too. Perhaps he would dream, perhaps even about the one he knew in his heart he wanted…

They all fell asleep.

But Hermione was once again disturbed during the night; the indefinable figure of her dreams returned to her. She’d made another effort to catch him; this time she chased him on Harry’s Nimbus 2000, but she couldn’t catch him, and again he escaped into the darkness.

She was just too tired that night though.

She fell back asleep.