Chapter Two

Notes- this chapter title is from the song "This is how I disappear" by My Chemical Romance. All rights to the song go to them and their producers and no copyright infringement is intended.

This is how I disappear

"Can you hear me cry out to you?

Words I thought I'd choke on figure out.

I'm really not so with you anymore.

I'm just a ghost"

Hermione looked at the house as the car pulled up. She had seen it in various states of repair. Ginny and Harry had bought an old barn on this site two years ago and spent the time repairing the place by any means magical or muggle. It was beautiful, the building belonged more on the American plains than it did in the Hertfordshire countryside. It was a large airy building with white wooden panels covering the pair silently walked up to the bright red front floor. They were not the first people in the house, in fact it it was already packed. George was in charge of the music stood in front of the large magical stereo pointing his wand at it every few minutes causing the song to change. Hermione said hello to several people she hadn't seen since school and danced a few numbers but she felt apart from everyone else and even her best friends could not cheer her.

"Come on Granger, crack a smile." A voice said in her ear and she turned to see Draco Malfoy. He took her by the hand and led her to a free couch by the side of the room.

"How's life Malfoy?" She asked.

"Fine you know they still haven't found Severus?"

"Yes I had heard that somewhere."

"I know you all think I am wrong but there was something that Dumbledore knew that we didn't I am convinced of it."

"I am sure there are many things Dumbledore knew that we didn't." He pulled a face

"You know what I mean Hermione."

The song that George was playing changed to a popular wizarding pop song and Draco grabbed Hermione by the wrist.

"Granger," he smiled "let's cheer you up." Hermione smiled the irony of her, Hermione Granger, being cheered up by Draco Malfoy the boy who had been her childhood nemesis struck her as she smiled back taking his hand. The pair carved out a little space on the floor in the middle of several couples. Hermione could see both Ginny and Ron peering over the crowd to she her and Malfoy dancing. Ginny was grinning and giving her thumbs up signal whilst Ron scowled as he turned back to the conversation he was having with Corey Hill, a friend of Ginny's from Hogwarts. For some reason as Hermione turned and danced and smiled she still felt detached from the frivolity around her. She felt happy for her friends but somehow their happiness did not seem to touch her. She scolded herself because she knew a couple like Harry and Ginny should make anyone smile but she just felt cold inside.

After half an hour or so she grabbed a girl who's name she didn't know who had been making cow eyes at Draco all night and put them together. She surveyed the scene before her and seeing Ron making his way towards her she quickly exited up the stairs. Entering Harry and Ginny's room she opened several drawers before she found what she wanted. The Invisibility cloak she had not seen in years. It was stuffed in the bottom of a sock drawer.

"Typical Harry," she thought shaking her head. The the cloak seemed to bend light towards it. The moment Hermione had opened the drawer she had seen it although it was hidden below the mound of mismatched socks. She pulled it out and placed it over her. She smiled at it's familiarity and as the cloak just reached to her toes she wondered how the three of them had ever fit under it.

She heard footsteps and shut the drawer. "This is how I disappear," she thought as she looked down and watched her body disappear in front of her eyes. Ron rushed into the room.

"Hermione?" He asked she remained completely still and he moved on. She heard a conversation in the corridor hay she was sure was between Harry and Ron. Hermione had heard enough conversations between them over the years to know it was them but she could not make out what they were saying.

After a few minutes the voices died away and Hermione slipped out of the room and down the stairs the bottom step creaked loudly but no one seemed to hear and no one turned around. The people in Ginny and Harry's large open plan kitchen/living room were dancing, singing, talking and laughing. No one noticed and no one looked towards her, Hermione squeezed through the crowd occasionally she felt someone push her or stand on her foot but whilst people were looking around she was gone. She opened the front door and slipped outside into the increasingly cold night. It was summer but with a typical britishness the weather had stubbornly refused conform to the season. The night was clear and the stars shone down upon her as she left the house.

She looked at the front garden in front of her. It belonged in a picture postcard. It looked like a meadow the lush green grass was peppered with a plethora of flowers most of which Hermione could not even name. She saw a huge oak tree that dominated the garden, a low branch had a rope swing hanging from it. Hermione sat on the swing kicking off her flat shoes and swung, she felt her toes skim the wet grass and for the first time in months she felt the anxiety and worry inside her melt away.

Ginny sat on the marble kitchen top in her new home sneakily eating some sandwiches she had kept behind.

"Harry?" She asked as her fiancee as he came close to the kitchen "have you seen Hermione?"

"She was talking to Draco."

"Yes," Ginny nodded "but that was over two hours ago. I haven't seen her since have you?"

"No," his brow furrowed.

"I'll ask Draco," Ginny said jumping off the kitchen counter and making her way to the blonde man dancing with her work friend Joe Marshall. Ginny smiled at them Joe had lost his family in an anti-muggle attack three years ago she smiled Joe deserved some happiness.

Harry made his way outside he needed some fresh air if he was about to cast a spell to find Hermione's life essence. It was a spell Hermione herself had taught him on their year looking for Horcruxes. Before he had time to cast the spell however something caught his eye under the rope swing Mr. Weasley had insisted on putting in on their tree. He ran over and saw a pair of blue shoes with a small gold ribbon on it Harry began to breathe deeply: they were Hermione's he was sure of it. Just a few metres further on he saw a glint of moonlight reflect of the surface of something on the ground. No one else would recognise it from such a distance but Harry had enough years of familiarity with the object to know what it was. He picked up a silver death eater's mask. His mind went blank as he walked towards the house the shoes in one hand and the mask in the other.

"The war is over," he thought "we can't lose her like this. It's over." When he entered the house it was pandemonium it took him a few seconds to realise what was going on. Ginny and George where holding back Ron whist Blaise Zabini had his hand on Draco's shoulder the pair looked at each other like they wanted to kill one another. Draco had a split lip that was bleeding heavily and a crowd had gathered around the pair.

"You are mad Weasley," Draco said in contempt.

"Hermione has gone missing you were the last person talking to her."

"That makes me a witness not a kidnapper you prat." Harry walked into the middle of the pair and dropped the two items.

"Explain Ferret," Ron snarled at Draco.

"I have no idea what this is," Draco cried.

"It's a death eaters mask you idiot your father owned one or have you forgotten?"

"A Death Eater has taken Hermione," Harry said his voice barely above a whisper yet silence befell the room "and we have to get her back. We are all on the same side."