Destination Unknown

Chapter 13

July 31^st, 2015

"Mum! What do you think you're doing?" yelled Cory as his mother levitated a huge pile of gifts and dropped it on him, rousing him from his sleep. He could hear similar yells from the next room and assumed that his father had done the same to Harry. Ace had wished them at midnight and was sleeping comfortably at present.

"Happy birthday, darling."

"Thanks, Mum."

Hermione moved forward to hug her son. When they broke apart, Harry and Draco were standing at the door, smirking.

"Happy Birthday, sweetheart," said Hermione as she hugged Harry. Draco came forward to wish Cory.

"Now dears, for your third year at Hogwarts, we would like to tell you to keep out of trouble, ok? You're not to put yourself in danger, no matter what the reason," said Hermione sternly.

"Uh...why do I get this uncomfortable feeling that this has something to do with what happened in March?" muttered Harry.

"You're right," said Draco, "we never got a chance to talk about it at that time, so we've decided to tell you now."

"But he would have killed Mum if we hadn't been there!" said Cory.

"We understand, dear. But we don't want you to risk yourselves. You're too precious for me!" cried Hermione.

"But Mum..." began Harry.

"No, Harry. Listen to me," Hermione caught hold of his shoulders, "I've no doubt that you two are very brave and very powerful, but you are not to subject yourself to unnecessary risks. Can you imagine how worried we were when you didn't wake up for two days? That kind of energy loss is dangerous. Promise me you'll never do that again."

Harry shook his head.

"Sorry, Mum," he said softly, "I can't. I love you as much as you love me. I will do anything to save you, Dad, Cory and Ace. I cannot sit back and watch you die. I'd rather die trying to save you."

Cory stood up and walked over to his brother.

"I agree with every word he said, Mum. You can't expect us to stay in the castle when our family is at risk!"

Hermione looked at Draco. He gave her his 'I-told-you-so' shrug.

"Very well," she said quietly, "I'll ask for something lesser, then. Promise me that you'll seek help from an adult first."

"We'll try to."

Hermione nodded sadly. She knew that was the best she could get out of them.

"Why did those men kidnap you, Mum? You never told us," said Cory.

Hermione sighed.

"You know all about Voldemort, right? Some fools are trying to recreate his theories and spread discord," the twins nodded, "well, you also know that Ron and I were the best friends of Harry Potter in and after school. After the final battle, both of them disappeared and were presumed dead - no one has seen hair or hide of them since. The theory is that they went into such a power-overload state that their bodies were vaporised in the process. These fools think that I know where Harry and Voldemort are buried. They want to resurrect Voldemort using his bones. Also, I am at a very important post in the research department. These men wanted some information from there, which would help them to destroy our Ministry and take control."

The twins nodded gravely.

"We're proud of you, Mum," said Harry, "keep up the good work."

Hermione looped one arm around each of them, throat too tight to speak.

"We're very proud of our boys, too," said Draco. Hermione nodded.

"Mum, can we ask you one more thing?" Harry asked.

"Fire away."

"Who was that phoenix? Was he an Animagus?"

"What makes you think that, dear?"

"Well, there are certain distinguishing characteristics..."

Hermione chuckled. Draco smiled and said, "I wonder why the Hat didn't put you two in Ravenclaw..."

"It said I'd do well in Ravenclaw and asked me where I'd like to go. I told it to put me anywhere it felt like as long as it wasn't Hufflepuff. It said Slytherin," said Cory.

"The Hat told me it had placed me in Gryffindor before, but I wanted to be with Cory, so I got Slytherin, too!" said Harry.

Their parents laughed.

"It's strange, though. We seem to be the only ones the Hat felt it had sorted before..." Harry mused.

"I believe age is finally catching up with it," chuckled Draco.

"You haven't answered our question yet," said Cory quietly.

Hermione shook her head.

"He is an Animagus. Or rather, was," she said softly. Her sons nodded, and refrained from asking her further questions. They didn't want to upset their parents any more than necessary, and mention of the white phoenix invariably aggrieved them.

"You know, something very strange happened one day when we went down to the kitchens...we found this House-elf named Dobby, who clung to Harry and started crying and calling him 'Master Harry' over and over!" Cory looked amused.

"Yeah. He shut up only when I promised to come down to meet him often," laughed Harry.

The boys did not notice the worried look their parents exchanged.