Esprit de Corps

Chapter 3

Hermione Granger hummed to herself as she got ready to leave. Her parents, sleepy-eyed, watched her blearily.

"Do you have to leave so early, dear?" her mother queried.

"Yes, Mum. I wouldn't leave if it weren't."

"Shall I drive you, honey? Little Whinging is quite far...you'll take about three hours."

"No, Dad. I'll be fine. I've got a map with me, and I've been there twice already."

"Take care, dear."

"Thanks. Bye, Mum. Bye, Dad!" Hermione stepped out of the house, waving at her parents and got into her car. She leaned out and waved again once she'd taken out the car.

This was the third time she was visiting Harry this summer. She'd been so pleased when her parents had given her the little sports car...she'd driven over to Ron's, picked him up and then they'd visited Harry. And truly speaking, Hermione was very worried about her black haired friend.

She'd woken up with a jolt and a desperate feeling of utmost terror surrounding her, knowing that it was coming from Harry. She had wanted to leave immediately, but she couldn't...it would raise a lot of problems...she'd put it down to some bad dream she couldn't remember, and tried to sleep again. But then Ron's letter had arrived and Hermione nearly had a heart attack...she wondered what he had seen...

She had rung up the Dursleys immediately after replying Ron's letter. But the telephone seemed to be out of order...then she'd remembered Harry telling them that the Dursleys disconnected the phone before they went to sleep so that Harry couldn't use it...

Rage filled her as she stepped on the accelerator. How dare they treat Harry like that! She would curse all of them if they harmed Harry in any way...never mind the underage Wizarding law...

She blew her horn impatiently. The car in front of her seemed to be crawling at a snail's pace. After a few minutes of honking, the driver finally allowed her to pass. Hermione glanced at the driver and nearly crashed in shock. Seamus Finnigan was sitting inside with a man who could only be his father, and there was a big 'L' symbol on the car. Hermione gave him a thumbs-up sign as he grinned at her and shot forward.

Hermione pushed her little blue car to its speeding limit. It was a miracle that she wasn't given a speeding ticket. The three-hour journey was covered in half the allotted time. As she pulled up in front of Number Four, Privet Drive, a strange sense of dread filled her. She ran to the door and rang several times before being opened by a nettled and sleepy Mrs. Dursley.

"Hello, Mrs. Dursley. Is Harry in?" she asked politely, forcing herself to be calm.

The horse-faced woman moved and Hermione walked in. She didn't hesitate as she ran up the stairs she knew led to Harry's room, ignoring the lascivious look the sleepy Dudley shot her.

Hermione threw open the door to Harry's bedroom and nearly screamed. He lay on the bed in his night-clothes, pale as death and in a pool of blood. Hedwig was not in her cage.

"Harry?" she whispered. He opened his eyes slowly.

"'Mione... go...danger..."

Hermione was kneeling next to him. She'd unbuttoned his shirt and she was examining the wound on his chest. It looked as if he'd been stabbed. Hermione stared at him in horror...she knew her biology very well...he'd been stabbed straight through the heart...

"Shh...Harry. I'm going to take you away to a safe place, okay? I need you to lie still..."

"'M fine...don't...magic...expel..." he gasped painfully and fainted. But Hermione was past caring about her expulsion from school. Her best friend's life was in danger, and she wasn't too sure that she wasn't too late...she cursed herself for not driving over immediately...Harry must have been lying in a growing pool of his own blood since then...

Hermione put her arms around him carefully and plucked a button from his shirt. She pointed her wand at it.

"Portus!"

She held on to Harry tightly as the familiar tug at her navel told her that her spell had worked.