I Do Not Own Harry Potter or Any Other Character or Place That Occurs in the Harry Potter Series. If I Did I Would Be Able To Afford A Much Nicer Computer.
I Knew It Before I Saw You
By A Silent Reverie
It was raining. But that wasn't odd for this village on the banks of Scotland's famous Moore's. The cold moon was just visible from a break in the rain clouds. It shone upon the face of a man, carefully picking his way up the old road towards a house perched precariously on a small hill. He wore strange clothes, a long cloak of deep magenta was slung over his shoulders, and underneath, just visible, he wore robes of deep black velvet. The man made no effort to cover himself from the rain, save for the slight hunch he maintained under the barrage of water. He made his way to the house on the hill and stopped at the thick wooden door. He knocked once. Twice. Three times in slow concession. A pause, then: "Yes?"
The man tossed his hood back to reveal long brown hair and a weathered face, deep lines etched it, yet he could not have been a day over thirty.
"I've got the information you requested. It was easy enough to get. The trick was to stay inconspicuous about it. Can I come in? I'm getting soaked."
His voice was dry and hoarse, as if he was unused to speaking in a civil tongue. The door slowly swung open and the man stomped his feet free of water and stepped into a dimly lit foyer.
"She goes to Hogwarts, well she'll be going there anyway, right now it's still the summer holidays. She, and the rest of the students, will be going back on September the first, and since that's tomorrow, well, all I'll say is you'd better hurry. This is everything, where she goes, who she goes with, her family, everything. And might I say she is quite the active Muggle born, let me tell you."
The man handed the man at the door some slips of paper and he reviewed them. After a moment he deftly removed a sack that clinked tellingly of money and tossed it to the man. The door man made to shut the door again but the traveler blocked his way.
"Thanks...er, do you mind if I ask what you want with her? I mean, you didn't pay me to follow around some random Muggle born witch, did you?"
"It is none of your concern what the Master wishes." Said the door man gruffly.
"Look, I don't care if you find her, kidnap her or kill her. It's no matter to me, just curious. Curious." Said the man.
"I said-"The doorman started, but he was interrupted by a cold, calculating voice from behind him.
"Glidden, that's quite alright, our guest wishes to know my plans..." The man looked up into the cold eyes of death and he froze.
"Y-you...it's...you!" He started on his heel to run. There was a flash of green and the cruel, methodical laughter rang. The bag of money tinkled to the floor.
2 Days Later...
"Since this is your last year before your NEWTs, I thought I'd try to get a head start on upper level Transfiguration. Lucky for you."
The whole class let out a collective sigh. It seemed like it had only been yesterday that they were enjoying their summer holidays, and now the sixth year students of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry were once again sitting in a classroom, waiting to be shown their lesson by Professor McGonagall, who, in a spirit of goodwill, had decided not to give the students their surprise-beginning-of-term pop quiz.
"Now, some may say that this is too advanced for you, but I think you can take it. We will be starting on...self-transfiguration!" McGonagall paused and waited for the class to give a collective gasp. It did not come. She ploughed on nonetheless.
Somewhere near to the back of the room a lanky, red haired boy leaned over to his friend and whispered.
"Can you believe this?" Said Ron, jerking his head in the direction of the Slytherin side of the room. "I can't concentrate while they are here." He jerked his thumb towards what he perceived as his classroom. "We've always had Transfiguration alone. Why have them join now?"
Harry pretended to keep listening to McGonagall.
"Probably because of the sorting hat, inni't? It said we were to join together."
Ron let out an exasperated grunt and Hermione shushed him.
Harry smiled. This past summer had been almost unbearable with the death of Sirius, he had found no solace with the Dursley's who had steered clear of him the past summer, no doubt still wary he might turn them all into fig leaves or something. But he felt better here, in the company of his friends, living in what he considered home. Harry was determined to have a good year, even with all that had happened to him the last year. Even Draco Malfoy could not deter his good spirits today. He looked up at McGonagall as she was talking about the correct ways to go about turning a limb into various objects. Today they would be turning they're own hands into gardening rakes. The class started to buzz with excitement.
"Cool!"
"What if it stays that way?"
"Like Freddy Krueger!"
"Who?"
"WHAT IF IT STAYS THAT WAY?!"
Harry had a vision of his fingers slowly elongating into the three sharp metal rakes he had seen his aunt petunia use so much in her immaculate garden. He warily eyed the Slytherins in the class, especially Malfoy...was it wise to equip them with pointy metal extremities? But before he could ponder the pessimistic outcomes, McGonagall had waved them into silence and was demonstrating the correct wand work.
"It's more of a swoop and point, like so" She brought her arm in a wide arc before quickly changing direction and pointing to her own left hand. "Metalamantafora!"
She said with force and the awed class watched as their instructors hand turned into nothing less than a perfectly silver gardening rake. The class applauded as, with a slight pop, her hand turned back to normal.
After a moment the air was filled with waving arms and shouted spells. Harry watched as his hand went rigid and straightened into a well shaped rake, only the color was still that of his skin.
"Mine looks more like a hoe, doesn't it?" Whined Ron, looking dourly at his own creation. Hermione studied her hand before letting out an agitated cry.
"They're not sharp enough!" She cried, but Harry thought they looked plenty sharp, waving under his nose. Ron nudged him and motioned with his head to where Malfoy and his friends were seated, they all had fairly well shaped rakes, except that Malfoy's only had two points.
"Well I don't see how we'd ever need to know this." He said to McGonagall when she pointed this out to him. "I mean, if I needed gardening done, I'd just tell one of our house-elf's." The Slytherins snickered. Hermione bristled.
"Granger, would you please show the class how it's done?" McGonagall said, choosing to ignore Malfoy's comment.
She turned to Hermione with a certain amount of pride, Harry thought. The whole class turned to face Hermione as she quickly turned red, then swooped her arm and brought it jerking to a point. Her fingers went rigid and thinned, curving and pointing, the class watched as Hermione's hand completely lost it's human shape and turned into a perfect gardening rake. The classroom, with the exception of the Slytherins, burst into applause.
"That will be ten points to Gryffindor, miss Granger, well done." McGonagall clipped.
Across the room, if anyone were looking, they would probably be able to see Draco Malfoy eyeing Hermione in his cruel, cold manner. Something glinted in his eye.
That night during dinner, Hermione was oddly silent. Ron and Harry kept giving her sideways glances but she didn't seem to notice. She had been beaming since their first lesson of the day, Transfiguration, but then had seemed to slip into a stormy reverie. She was now poking her potato's in a way that made Harry think potato's had wronged her in some way. Watching her, Harry was sure potato's would apologize if they could.
"Er...Hermione?" Ron ventured, cautiously.
"Yes?" She said without taking her eyes of her plate.
"Are you...alright?"
"Yes."
Then, when it seemed they would not get anything more from her, Harry turned back to Ron and did he best to act casually.
"Quidditch auditions soon. I reckon the Beater positions will be the most popular." He said this not because the position itself was famed, but because the last two Gryffindor Beaters were. Fred and George Weasley. But they were pulled from their conversation when, without so much as a backward glance, Hermione picked up her bag and walked out of the hall. Harry and Ron watched her go. Ron started to get up to follow but Harry pulled him down.
"Don't. Leave her alone a while, she's fine. She's fine." He repeated, not sure of it himself.
In Gryffindor tower, where the new first years were just beginning to settle in, there was a general agreement that this would be a year of silence and dour study. This, in part, was due to the eminent rise of the Dark Lord, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, but also, in part, to something else.
"I miss Fred." Said a bored looking fourth year as he draped his head over the arm of one of the squashy arm chairs that were so plentiful in the Gryffindor common room.
There was a general murmur of agreement. Someone else said
"I miss George." Again a general sound of consent. Harry could not help a grin as he heard this. The Weasley twins had indeed been the life of the Gryffindor common room, and now, as he, Ron and Hermione sat trying to work out their Potions homework, it was more evident than ever. In the back of his mind, Harry wished someone would turn into a canary, or someone else accidentally eat a Man Eating Gummy Worm. Hermione certainly looked like she could use a laugh, she still hadn't gone from her kind of trance, and Harry could tell Ron was beginning to worry. He kept sneaking sideways glances at her from across the little table they were working at. Harry shook his head, the whole school could figure out Ron's feeling for Hermione except Ron himself.
"Um. I'm going for some pumpkin juice, d'you want some?" He asked hopefully. Hermione just shook her head. He slumped his shoulders slightly and walked out the portrait hole. Harry and Hermione worked in silence for a moment, before she suddenly looked up at him.
"I need to talk to you." She said, almost pained.
"Sure," Said Harry, concerned "What's wrong?"
"Not here. Let's go somewhere else."
"Er...alright." Bemused, Harry followed Hermione out of the common room and down the corridor. They didn't speak and Harry had a feeling there was something wrong. Could something have happened to her family? No, he would have heard. Then what was it? Harry could not ease the growing sense of dread in his stomach as he walked slightly behind Hermione, past the Great Hall and down onto the grounds. He followed her down to the lake, to a spot right next to a weeping willow. The sun had long since gone down, but even in the dark Harry could recognize this as the place he had seen his parents in the Pensieve last year. Hermione stopped and faced him, she looked strained and worried.
"Harry, look," She said, Harry had the idea she was summoning up a great amount of courage. "Since last year...I mean I've always...Look, last year was horrible. I don't mean the whole year, just Umbridge and...you know." Harry did know. She meant Sirius. He didn't say anything, just stood and listened, waiting for her to explain what was wrong.
"Things changed, I know they have. I don't see you or Ron the same way anymore. I see you now and you're colder, distant, you're not the same boy I met when I was eleven. But every once in a while I see that boy, and it makes you light up, Harry. I see you light up and it makes me light up." Harry was confused but he didn't interrupt her, she seemed to be trying to get somewhere with this. "Listen, I'm not stupid or blind, I know how Ron feels about me, it's just that I don't think I feel the same way. I love him, very much, but...not in that way." Was this what she had brought him here to say? Harry hoped she didn't want him to tell Ron this. "Harry, what I'm saying is...I mean what I wanted to tell you and I've been thinking about this a lot lately, I wanted to say...Oh Harry, I think I'm in love with you."
She said the last part barely above a whisper but it hit Harry as if she had shouted it. Love? But Hermione...? He had never thought of her like that, she was just his friend, possibly more to Ron, but to hear this now...what would Ron say? What could he say? Harry stayed silent for a while, Hermione stood in front of him and he could see that there were tears in her eyes. Harry was suddenly very angry at her for telling him this, what right did she have coming here and confessing this to him. Nothing could ever happen, not with Ron being his best friend. What did she want from this?
"I have to finish my potions review." He said finally.
Hermione flinched as if this had been a blow. Harry didn't care, though, he hated her right now. He turned on his heel and walked towards the castle, not once looking back.
Draco Malfoy paced his room, every moment or so glancing at his clock. As with all the wealthier Slytherins, he had his own room, complete with satin sheets and a roaring fire. Any student could get such luxuries, so long as your father could pay for a new wing of the library.
At a quarter to one Draco looked expectantly up at the fire place and straightened his robe. He was still wearing his uniform but had taken off his tie and left his collar open. For a moment nothing happened, Draco stood facing his fire and took long breaths. Finally, with a long whoosh the fire glowed deep royal blue and out stepped the tall, dark figure of Lucius Malfoy.
"Father." Said Draco, nodding his head in greeting. Lucius walked over to his son and looked at him.
Since last year Draco had grown a good four inches and was now slightly taller than his father, at 6'2''. A look of distaste briefly crossed his features and he passed his son, walking to the window and closing it.
"Everything is set, Draco, all you need do is make sure everything goes smoothly. A task I could even assign to you, without fear of mistakes." He sneered. Draco looked away and scowled.
"I still don't see what you want from her, she's just a Mudblood, it would be easier to simply take Potter himself." Draco said, drawling the words with a cynicism akin to his fathers.
"I told you, Draco," Snapped his father "You will not question His motives. And if you speak that way to me again, I will not be held accountable for me actions." Draco quickly strode to his father and stood facing him, he stood so close their chests were almost touching. Draco was pleased to see his father take a small step back, but he was on the floor, clawing at his stomach an instant later.
"I told you, boy," Lucius said, keeping his wand on his son. "I told you." Lucius lifted the curse and Draco slowly got to his feet, panting slightly.
"I still don't see why I have to do it, they'll know it was me and I won't be allowed back." Draco spat, smoothing his hair back.
"Son, you won't need this place. We must stay to the plan. We have planned too long for this. Once the Dark Lord has taken care of your little school-mate, He will set His sights here. You won't miss much. And besides, I daresay this little, ah, favor, will not go unnoticed. He rewards with power and privilege beyond what you could dream."
Lucius sneered and put a hand on his sons shoulders. Draco flinched slightly, but this went unnoticed.
"You know what to do?" He asked, one last time. The wind picked up outside and it began to howl, it rustled through the trees of the forbidden forest and in the distance the whomping willow struck out at nothing.
"Yes, father."
Harry didn't go back to the castle that night, he turned off at the front gates and down the path towards Hogsmeade. He didn't think about leaving school grounds, or about the repercussions that might follow, he didn't think about homework or, for the first time in months, his godfather. He thought about Hermione. And Ron. And how she acted around him. How long had she felt this way? Harry kicked aside a rock that lay in front of him, it scuttled out onto the field and upset a family of mourning doves. They rose into the air with coos of disapproval. Harry barely noticed.
He kept walking, eyes unfocused. Where was Hermione right now? Crying, probably. Most likely alone. Harry didn't think Hermione was the kind of girl to run to her friends about something like this. Harry almost laughed. But she had run to a friend about this. She had run to Harry.
He stopped at a tree and leaned against it, slowly he slumped down until he was in a sitting position.
"Shit." He said finally.
By the time Harry returned to the castle it was dawn. The birds tweeted their morning song and the sun shone brightly on the grass that had been lightly dewed. Nothing of this day told of the rough and restless night spent by Harry Potter. His eyes were red rimmed and his hair disheveled (Though this was not new), he walked slowly up to the castle, thinking of how night had turned into day so fast, without him even blinking. He also thought about not returning at all. The Dursley's were a good option compared to what he was afraid he'd have to face this morning.
He stopped outside the portrait hole entrance to Gryffindor tower and tried his best to smooth his hair out, thinking that maybe no one'd notice his disheveled appearance. Maybe Hermione had just been joking...maybe...
"I said password!" Urged the fat lady.
"Oh. Sorry. 'Silent Reverie'." The portrait swung open and Harry was confronted by a uncommonly empty common room. Light filtered through the windows and illuminated the room. Harry could still see their homework on the table where he, Ron and Hermione had left it. He did a double take. There, asleep next to their unfinished homework was Ron, one of the stained glass windows turning his face green. Harry walked over and nudged him, carefully. Ron started awake.
"Huh? Wha'? Where...Harry! Where did you go off to? I came back and neither you or Hermione were here. I waited all night, I must've dozed off..." The bottom of Harry's stomach dropped out.
"Hermione was gone all night?" He asked, exceptionally calm voiced for what he was feeling. Cold dread. Why hadn't she come back?
"Yeah, she wasn't with you? I asked Padma and she said Hermione wasn't in their room. What's going on, Harry?" Ron looked at Harry, confusion laced with sincerity. Not suspicion. Not yet at least. Harry groaned inwardly.
"I dunno, Ron, I'm sure she's fine. She probably came in after you fell asleep. Come on, I'm hungry." He started to make for the portrait hole but Ron wasn't moving.
"What are you not telling me?"
"Nothing, Ron, c'mon."
They left for the Great Hall which was, at this time, deserted. They piled their plates with food, neither of them touching anything.
By eight o'clock the Great Hall should have been bustling, but Harry and Ron were still the only ones. Not even the staff table was occupied. Something wasn't right. And right then, as if reading his cue, Professor McGonagall came hurrying into the Great Hall.
"There you are! We've been searching all over the castle for you three, is Hermione with you?" She seemed frantic, her lips were pursed so tight and her hair looked like it hadn't been combed.
"What do you mean, is Hermione with you? What's going on?" Ron demanded.
Professor McGonagall looked as if her worst fear had been realized.
"You had better come with me." She said and turned on her heel. Harry and Ron jumped out of their seats and followed close after. As they walked McGonagall would not speak to them, no matter how much they demanded. Their walk ended in front of Dumbledore's office and they were instructed to go in and wait for him. They did. An hour passed and still no Dumbledore. Neither of them spoke, their mind was on one thing: Hermione.
Finally Dumbledore walked through his office door, gave the two boys a fleeting smile, and sat down opposite them.
"We had some trouble finding you. We thought perhaps..." He didn't finish and Harry thought he saw a look of mourning in his eyes.
"Where is Hermione?" Ron asked, barely above a whisper.
Dumbledore inhaled and looked at them over his half moon glasses.
"At approximately 2 o'clock this morning we believe a member of one of the other houses found their way into Gryffindor tower and somehow disabled the girls staircase. We believe this person was a student because no one else could have gained access to the grounds. We were told by Miss Patil of Gryffindor that at this time, a masked intruder came in with his wand and a knife and," Harry watched as time slowed and he was aware of everything. He could see a smudge on the end of Ron's nose, he heard the ticking of uncountable clocks. He watched as Dumbledore looked him in the eye and continued. "kidnapped Miss Hermione Granger." Ron's arm slipped off his chair and he gasped, Harry felt his heart beat faster than he's ever heard it go, there seemed to be a rushing in his ears. This can't be real, both Ron and Harry seemed to be thinking.
Dumbledore continued. "All the students were quarantined to their respective common rooms so we could take a census. When it appeared all three of you were missing a search ensued. We found you. We did not find Miss Granger. We also did not find Draco Malfoy, all of his things are gone and we believe it was he who took her. A small amount of blood was found on her sheets but otherwise she seems to have been taken peacefully." Dumbledore stood up and crossed to his window. "It was not until recently that we discovered...this." Outside where his window gave a clear view of the whole castle, including Gryffindor tower, there above it, quite visibly and horribly clear, the Dark Mark.
For a moment all sound had ceased for Harry, it took him a moment to realize Dumbledore was still speaking.
"...I tell you all of this to both of you because I have great respect for you. I know you are no longer children and need to know such things. But you need to listen to me, especially you Harry, a note was left for you, it was a taunting letter, I believe the plan is for the kidnap of Hermione to act as a ruse. Voldemort wants you, Harry, this is a trap. You must promise me you will not go searching for her. You both must promise to leave this to us. Promise. Promise me, Harry..."
After the trip to Dumbledore's office both Harry and Ron were escorted back to Gryffindor tower. Neither of them spoke, afraid that, if they did, if they validated what had just happened by speaking about it, it would become real. Hermione was not gone. She was in the common room, waiting for them.
Thankfully the common room was clear, presumably for classes. Harry found himself angry with this, angry that the whole world hadn't ground to a halt for Hermione. Ron took a seat by the window and sat looking out, unfocused eyes and slow breathing. Harry wondered if he had entered a trance. He himself was holding Crookshanks, who had seemed to sense his masters absence and was yowling at the portrait hole.
Perhaps minutes had gone by, perhaps hours, but when Harry looked up he realized there were tears on his face and the sun had set. Ron was gone. He shuffled to his room and fell into bed, he could hear Ron next to him, awake. He slept fitfully, his dreams peppered with Hermione's screams, Malfoy's cool drawl, and Voldemorts cruel laughter. He shot awake, sweat pouring from him. A clock read 2o'clock, exactly 24 hours since Hermione had been kidnapped. A moments thought, then:
"Sod this." He got out of bed and kicked open his trunk, pulling out his traveling cloak, invisibility cloak and wand. Throwing the traveling cloak over his shoulders he strode across the room and down the stairs.
In the common room the fire was down to embers. Harry crept along the floor towards the portrait hole.
"She was right here, you know" Came Ron's voice. "Right here. She always was, if there was one thing you could say about her, it was that she tried hard. She worked hard. Maybe too hard." Harry looked to see him sitting where the threesome had sat the previous night, dressed in his travelers cloak. He looked up at Harry and gave a small smile.
"So what took you so long?" Harry nodded his head and a look of determination crossed his face. He pulled Rom up and they strode to the portrait hole together and climbed out. They both knew one thing: This was not something they could just ignore, and this was not something they could leave in the hands of Aurors who didn't know her...who didn't know how she smiled and laughed and how she growled when she got angry.
They silently made their way to the front gates and, without a second look behind, left their school in search of a girl.
Short and kind of...well, bad, but there you go. I love reviews, they let me know if I need to write more ;-)
Next Chapter: Goblin Strip Clubs, Draco Wears a Thong, and Why Is Ron Wearing A Dress?
Allie J.