Rating:
G
House:
Astronomy Tower
Characters:
Harry Potter Hermione Granger
Genres:
Romance Drama
Era:
Multiple Eras
Spoilers:
Philosopher's Stone Chamber of Secrets Prizoner of Azkaban Goblet of Fire Order of the Phoenix
Stats:
Published: 02/13/2004
Updated: 02/13/2004
Words: 3,340
Chapters: 1
Hits: 863

Confidence Lost

PeterMurray

Story Summary:
When everything seems to be going well for Harry and Hermione, fate has a shock in store for them. Sequel to \\\'Closeness through Cooking\\\'. H/Hr post-Hogwarts

Posted:
02/13/2004
Hits:
863
Author's Note:
Thanks once more to Anne for beta-reading this story.

Confidence Lost


'Valentine's Day is next Sunday,' said Harry, looking at the calendar. 'Do you want to go out anywhere?' Since they'd only told each other how they felt the previous June, this would be the first Valentine's Day that they'd been a couple.

'I suppose we could go out for a meal somewhere -- or we could cook one ourselves,' said Hermione. Harry had returned the old cookery books to Mrs Weasley, and had bought himself some newer ones in Flourish and Blotts.

'It's more romantic now Remus is teaching at Hogwarts,' said Harry. 'With just us here... I suppose we look as suspicious as your parents thought this arrangement was.' Since Remus had already been a teacher at Hogwarts once before, Professor McGonagall had been able to hire him to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts again. He added, 'I was going to say it's easier to eat out, but it's fun cooking together, and washing up after with magic is so much better than the Muggle way.'

Hermione nodded. 'This way seems even easier than using a dishwasher. I suppose there isn't much in it, unless we want to eat something too adventurous for us to try cooking for ourselves yet.'

'I like the idea of us actually going somewhere. We could go to the Three Broomsticks, since that's where we finally talked about being in love.'

*

They had spent the next couple of days debating whether to eat at the Three Broomsticks, rather than cook for themselves, but they'd practically decided to stay at home when they heard the bad news.

'Knock knock!' called a voice from the hall, after someone had Apparated in. From the sound of the voice, and the fact that their visitor had tripped over the troll's foot umbrella stand, they decided it had to be Tonks.

'We're down in the kitchen, Tonks!' Harry called up. He was surprised to see the Auror's grim expression when she entered a moment later.

'There's news -- bad news,' she told them, sitting down carefully and managing not to knock the chair over. 'You remember Mulciber and Travers? They escaped from Azkaban, then we caught Mulciber when they lured you to the Ministry with the prophecy?'

'And Mulciber escaped again with Lucius Malfoy and some others. Yes, I remember,' said Harry. 'I don't remember Travers though.'

'We never caught him. They've both been seen, though, when ... well, look at this.' She produced a photo and put it on the kitchen table. The two teenagers looked at it, and gasped. The photo showed the Dark Mark hovering above a building. Flames were destroying the building -- as they watched, the roof collapsed.

'I thought they were in hiding,' said Harry. 'Did you catch them?'

Tonks shook her head. 'No. This photo was taken as evidence by Douglas Thomson. He must have thought the Death Eaters had left. From what we heard from some people hiding in another house ...' she swallowed. 'It seems they used the Cruciatus Curse on him until they were bored, and then the Killing Curse. I remember him from Hogwarts -- two years older than me, but always friendly to us younger ones.' She rested her head on her hands and closed her eyes for a few moments, apparently remembering happier times. Harry and Hermione glanced at each other, not wanting to disturb her, not wanting to believe that somehow, despite Voldemort's death, the whole terror of Death Eaters' killing sprees was about to begin again.

Tonks opened her eyes. 'He was a good Auror, as well.' She took a deep breath and continued, 'When the people called the Ministry, and Aurors got there, they found a note fastened to his clothes. It said the Dark Lord was dead, but his followers would continue his work, and avenge him by killing his killer. Douglas's death, this photo, the witnesses -- they all fit with some other things we'd heard. We've got Lucius Malfoy safely locked away, but Draco has vanished. So have other people who we had on a list of possible Death Eater recruits -- but we've never had any evidence that they'd actually joined You-Know-Who.'

'He's dead. You can say his name now,' Harry pointed out. He remembered when Sirius had shown him the tapestry with pure-bloods' family trees listed. Tonks' aunt had married Lucius Malfoy, making Draco her first cousin. Another aunt was the Death Eater whose actions had killed Sirius. Tonks and her parents seemed to be the only decent people in their branch of the family.

'He may be dead, but it seems that those two Death Eaters are trying to continue where he left off. You're in real danger, Harry. They've already said they want to kill you as their revenge for killing him. Hermione, we think you're probably safer -- unless they hope to get to Harry by kidnapping you.'

'Is that likely?' Hermione asked.

'Voldemort captured Ginny twice for that reason,' Harry said glumly. 'It'd be nice to think this new group doesn't know me well enough.'

'Draco was in your year at Hogwarts, wasn't he? Does he know you that well?' Tonks asked.

'Yes, he would,' said Hermione, frowning. 'We haven't been hiding the fact that we're dating, either. We haven't been announcing it, or telling the Slytherins, but the Falcons' regular fans have seen me there with Harry.' Tonks frowned too.

'And I've twice heard him say he hoped Hermione would die, or that he wished the Basilisk had killed her,' added Harry. 'I don't know how many times he might have wished it when I couldn't hear.'

'That's not good,' said Tonks. 'Harry, Kingsley doesn't think you should be seen in public, where you'd be an easy target. Since you're only a reserve player, it ought to be possible for you to stop going to the Falcons' matches and training sessions. You understand it's necessary, don't you? If they get awkward about it, tell us and we'll persuade them.'

Harry nodded. 'Because if I'm there, others on the team might be injured. I suppose if they announce it's because I was injured training, it'll be plausible enough.'

'Yes, and it won't link your disappearance to the Death Eaters.'

'I can't just stop going to work,' Hermione objected. 'It took me long enough to find a job, and I can't stop turning up after only a few weeks there. Harry's reputation means he's in a better position at the Falcons -- people come to the games just in case he's needed.'

'Remus says you work at the Ministry though, so you can use the Floo Network to get from here to the Atrium, without having to go outside, can't you?'

'So you think it's OK, providing I don't go outside for a while?'

'Yes. This isn't just me saying this -- I was at a meeting in Kingsley's office, with Dumbledore and some others. Kingsley suggests you either get your food in Muggle areas where you might not be so vulnerable, or have it delivered -- basically, food by owl order, from places you can completely trust.'

The two teenagers nodded. 'Muggle shops might be safer,' said Hermione. 'I can go shopping near my parents' house; I can Apparate there to see them anyway, and then just walk round to the shops. That shouldn't make them targets, I hope.'

'They won't mind seeing you more often, either,' said Harry.

'Are you going to be OK?' Tonks asked them.

'No,' said Harry. 'But it's not your fault. I've been avoiding or fighting these people for too long. I thought it was over.'

Tonks nodded in sympathy. 'We hope it won't last too long. Everyone's been thinking it was over, and now ... it has to be over soon. We need peace again. Families need to stop fighting each other.'

'We can hope,' said Hermione.

After Tonks had left, the two teenagers just sat looking at each other. Harry broke the silence. 'Prisoners. We're just prisoners. Innocent prisoners.'

'At least I can get out to go to work. You don't even have that.'

'I was quite happy with the idea that we didn't want to go out anywhere on Sunday, and we'd just stay in and cook something together.' He leant back in his chair. 'Now that we don't have a choice, it doesn't sound as good.'

'At least it was the choice we looked likely to make anyway. It might be frustrating to have it forced on us like this, but we don't need to change our plans.'

'No, that's true. I'd just like the freedom not to change our plans.'

'Yes. I wonder when we'll have that again.'

There was a long pause, broken by Harry saying, 'Well, it could be worse. At least we're stuck here together.'

'This is our big chance to drive each other mad,' Hermione agreed.

'That's an idea. Maybe when we're mad, we won't mind so much.'

Hermione smiled. 'Maybe not.'

'Do you really think you'll be safe at work? After all, you work in the Department where Death Eaters nearly killed you in the fifth year.'

'I remember that -- often. They've improved the security since. They know how the Death Eaters got in: they used Polyjuice Potion to disguise themselves as people like Fudge, or Lucius Malfoy, who wouldn't be suspected, and just claimed that they'd forgotten something and come back, to hide the fact that each disguise had arrived more than once. So then all twelve of them were in the Department waiting for us. The Polyjuice wore off while they were there, of course.'

'Oh. Yes, of course. Didn't anybody notice that none of them had left?'

'Back then, the security just checked people coming in. Now it checks for people going out, too. Obviously, nobody looking like Lucius Malfoy would be allowed in now, either. They've also ordered Ollivander to give them a list of all the wands he's sold, so now when you have your wand weighed, it's checked against the list. If you're not on the list, like when Fleur visited Mr Weasley, you have to leave your wand at the entrance. There was a lot of fuss about that, but the Minister basically forced the rule change.'

'So you either have to be who you look like, or you need to steal their wand when you take their hair for the Polyjuice.'

'Yes. I know it's not perfect, but there doesn't seem to be a way to prove who anyone is. Even Moody's eye can't detect Polyjuice,' Hermione said.

'That leaves a lot of people who work in the Ministry -- though I suppose if they're checking they don't come in twice, that's less of a problem.'

She nodded. 'It should be a lot safer now than when Fudge was in charge.' Cornelius Fudge had resigned in disgrace after the Umbridge debacle, and had been replaced by Alex Braine as Minister.

'You hope.'

'Well, Braine was once an Auror. He's got a much better grasp of what security really means, and more control of security, and everything's a lot more restrictive now than it used to be.'

'Well, considering what Tonks told us, that's good.'

'I should be safe. Maybe you can still go to the Burrow, or other places where everyone knows you. I don't think that would make them more likely targets than Ron's friendship already makes them, unfortunately.'

'No, but I'd hate to do anything that might put Ron's family in danger.' A thought occurred to him. 'They could come here, though.'

*

'Everything still happens to you, doesn't it?' Ron said sympathetically. 'I'm glad I'm not trapped at home.'

Susan nodded. 'I suppose we could still Floo back and forth, but it'd be so restrictive.' She hesitated, then said. 'I don't even remember my uncle's family, because of Death Eaters, and now you're training as an Auror.' Ron reached out and gripped her hand tightly.

'I suppose you are safe, Ron?' said Mrs Weasley nervously.

'With Death Eaters on the loose, nobody's safe,' said Mr Weasley. 'Especially if they are recruiting new members.'

'That's cheerful,' said Fred. 'So, what order are we going to die in?'

'I don't mean just us,' said his father. 'I mean nobody is safe. No witch or wizard, anywhere.'

'That's good,' said George. 'So instead of being chosen from a list of a dozen or so, we're just a few people in a list of several thousand.'

'You're hardly helping,' said Percy, frowning at the twins.

'Perce, relax,' said Bill. 'Harry is in more danger than most, but Dad's right: none of us is completely safe.'

'Oh, don't,' said Susan. 'I'm already having nightmares about finding Ron dead.' She added, emphasising each word, 'Every ... single ... bloody ... night.'

'I know. I'm sorry, but we do need Aurors,' Ron said, hugging her. 'As much now as we ever did.'

'Yes, I just wish you weren't going to be one of them. I know it's selfish. They've all got families, not just you.'

'Hermione's the only other one likely to be in as much danger as Harry,' said Ron, 'just because she's dating him, and now living here with him.'

'Talking of which ...' began Fred, but he subsided as both his parents glared at him.

'We're still just good friends,' said Hermione.

'I believe every word you say,' said George. 'Except those last five.'

'George!' scolded Fleur. 'Your mind is dirty. You should wash it.'

Harry didn't want to argue with George, or anyone who was visiting to cheer them up. He smiled as he looked around the kitchen. The only Weasleys who weren't there were Charlie, who was still working in Romania, and Ginny, who was at Hogwarts. He appreciated their visit -- he was sure that the twins, for instance, could easily have found something else they'd rather do on a Friday evening. Ron, Bill and their girlfriends must have better ways to spend their time, but they were all there in his kitchen to show their support for their friends. Fleur had had to use Floo powder, as she wasn't able to Apparate through Dumbledore's defences.

'So,' asked Bill, 'Are you two planning anything for Valentine's Day?'

'We were thinking of going out for a meal, but it looks now as if we'll be staying here,' said Harry.

'That sounds much better,' said Fred, with a wicked grin.

'You, you are as bad as George,' said Fleur with a sniff.

'They're both incorrigible,' said Percy. 'Er ... it means they'll never learn to be better.'

'Ah, merci.'

To change the subject, Hermione said, 'Susan, Ron didn't tell us what you're doing now.'

'I'm working at Gladrags -- in Diagon Alley,' Susan replied. 'I deal with the owl orders.'

'I don't remember you ever being quite this quiet before, Harry,' said Fred. 'Missing Quidditch already?'

'I'm just enjoying all of you being here. Thanks for coming.'

'Well, we couldn't leave you both here alone, with nobody else to talk to,' said George. 'You might have stopped talking and found something better to do.'

Fleur rolled her eyes.

*

'No visitors today,' said Hermione at breakfast.

It was Sunday. They'd been visited the day before by Remus, McGonagall, Dumbledore, Tonks and Ginny. Ginny had convinced McGonagall that she was allowed to leave the school, as she'd be safe in the company of three teachers and an Auror. That visit had had less innuendo about Harry and Hermione sharing a house, though Ginny had managed a couple of ambiguous comments, to McGonagall's obvious but unvoiced disapproval.

McGonagall had also told them that, since Dumbledore no longer wanted any involvement with the running of the school, Flitwick was the new Deputy Headmaster, after Dumbledore had helped out during the transition.

'Alone for the day. We didn't get as far as deciding what we were going to cook, did we? Tonks's news made us forget all about planning anything,' said Harry.

'If we decide on something that just uses the ingredients we've got, we won't need to spend any time shopping.'

'That's true.' He went to have a look. 'Plenty of eggs if we wanted omelettes. Bacon, half a ham -- who bought all this garlic? It doesn't work on Snape, you know.' He looked further. 'Two pork chops, lots of milk, one and a half nutmegs, three blocks of cheese -- we need a recipe that uses up some of this collection -- three oranges ... oh, help. How do you feel about pork a l'orange? There's no apples.'

'No pasta left?'

'There's that fettucine. We finished the spaghetti when we fed the Weasleys.'

'Oh, of course. So there's no minced beef left, either?'

'No, that's all gone too. No lasagne until we get more shopping.'

Hermione thought. 'I suppose we could either list everything in there or eat things at random until there's so little left it's easy to list. It's not your fault we didn't plan anything. Romance would be easier without Death Eaters on the loose.' She looked away. 'Tonks said that Draco Malfoy had vanished. Do you think we're misjudging him, or that he's really joined them?'

'I bet you the contents of my vault to a Knut that he's joined them.'

'No, be serious.'

'I am serious,' he told her. 'I remember the way he said those things, when you were Petrified or hiding from us because of what Polyjuice did to you. He's not just some misunderstood kid, he's vicious and vindictive -- OK, so maybe it's mostly his upbringing, but he wasn't exactly fighting it, was he? Calling you names was bad enough, but I believe he really wanted you dead. He's tried to attack me more than once, too. I'll never trust him, even if he hands over all the other Death Eaters to the Aurors.' Harry tried to change to a more cheerful subject. 'Do you feel like doing anything much for Valentine's Day, or did I just wreck the mood completely?'

'Not completely, but I don't feel very hungry now. Do you want to do anything?'

'No. Well, at least we're agreed on that. Let's go and sit in the lounge.'

They went upstairs and into the lounge, sitting together on the couch. 'So, how can we get a TV to work in this house?' Harry wondered. 'The radio's OK, but I get bored with it, and I can't stand just doing exercises all day to keep fit for Quidditch. It's all right when you're here, but not during the day.' He hastily added, 'I don't mean you shouldn't go to work, I just wish there was somewhere safe I could go.'

'I suppose you could go to the Ministry. It'd be as safe for you as it is for me, with the Aurors checking everyone. You could go to Hogwarts, too. It's probably still as safe as ever, not that the defences ever stopped you being attacked.'

Harry nodded. 'I might visit the Ministry. Suddenly, this seems to be a very boring house. Are you sure you mean it when you say you're not bothered about TV?'

'I think you haven't seen enough of it to know it gets boring too. It was better when you were the only one with a job, and Remus and I were around more, wasn't it? Now it's turned around -- you're stuck here with nothing to keep you busy, and Remus and I have jobs.'

'I suppose it was. But I'm glad you got a job using your NEWTs.'

She put an arm round him and hugged him to her. 'Thanks.'

He put an arm around her, and hugged her too. 'Well, it may not be wildly exotic, it may not even involve going out of the house but, after all, isn't just being close, like this, what Valentine's Day is basically about?'


Coming next: Death Eaters on the loose cause nightmares for several people. That includes Harry and Hermione, but they remember a childhood way of reassuring each other.