"Harry?" Hermione woke him. He stirred gently. "Harry, I'm leaving." He sat bolt upright and stared at her.
"What do you mean? Where are you going?" He said in alarm.
"I can't tell you Harry, I'm under oath." She sighed. "Something has happened and Ginny and I may be in mortal danger, we have to be put in to hiding." Hermione explained, her words dripping with sadness.
"No. I won't let you leave!" he said defiantly.
"Harry it's no use fighting, we're going to have to go, to stay safe." She kissed him on the forehead. "Good luck with everything Harry, I'm sorry I'm not of more use. I'll do what I can" she sighed through a tired smile. "Ask McGonagall if you want to get a message to me ok?" she smiled, nearly crying. Ginny entered shortly after and was talking to Harry when Hermione woke Ron.
"Ron?" she woke him.
"What?" he moaned. She dutifully explained to him what was going on, and he too looked tearful to her surprise.
"This is stupid!" Ron cried. "They want to take away one of our most skilled fliers, and our most skilled brain. It's like they want us to lose or something. 'Ere McGonagall. You're off your head" Ron shouted.
"Why thank you for that skilled assessment, am I right in thinking you would rather have your friends stay here and be slaughtered – or worse- in front of you?" she snapped. He gulped and rolled his eyes in shame. "You've said your goodbyes?" she nodded towards Ginny and Hermione. They both nodded, but not before Ginny hastily ran to Harry's bed and kissed him, much to the bafflement of everyone else. "Then we shall leave" and with a crack Hermione, Ginny and McGonagal were just short of a huge grey building. It was an old abandoned stately home with some of the windows smashed, and paint chipped off. The plaster was cracked and the gutter was leaking, and the wood around the windows had rotted.
"I don't know about you but if I wanted to kill two people, the last place I'd look is the Bahamas" Ginny sniggered, and Hermione snorted a laugh bit back by her lips. McGonagall left them at the edge of the copse and when McGonagall sent the signal, the girls ran through the rain and into the house. They heard a crack, signalling that they were now all alone.
"I'm freezing" Ginny cried, lugging her trunk behind her into the house and shaking her head like a wet dog.
"Me Too. I'll scout out what they left us, and see if I can see any teabags and a kettle." Hermione grinned and ran away. Ginny looked up at the huge staircase. It smelled musty and horrible, the damp was so prominent that Ginny was almost having difficulty breathing. Ginny must have lost herself because before she knew it Hermione was sat on the trunk next to her with a cup of tea offered out to Ginny. "What's wrong? Are you ok? Ginny you look awful" she sighed.
"I'm fine" she said, slurping her tea to avoid burning herself. "But thank you for the confidence" she laughed. They chatted quietly until they had finished their tea, and Hermione left the dishes on the counter. She came racing back into the main hall when she heard an enormous bang. Ginny was lying at the bottom of the stairs with her trunk halfway on top of her.
"How on earth do muggles manage without lightening charms?" she said incredulously and Hermione chuckled.
"Here. I'll help you-Bloody hell! This is heavy!" Hermione laughed. They managed with some co-operation, and methodical tilting to get both trunks up the stairs.
There were lots of empty bedrooms and one huge bedroom with two doorways. They entered to find two beds at either side of the room, Bookshelves lining the back wall, a large fireplace, a TV on a chest of drawers on the left-hand side of the room, and a large desk pressed against the window. Two large radiators nested at the sides of the rooms, making it the warmest room in the house.
"My bed on the left!" Ginny said, bounding over to the bed and landing on it with all the grace of an elephant. Hermione just stared on.
"I think I'm going to catch up with sleep." Hermione sighed and retired to the bed on the right hand side.
A few minutes had passed and Hermione had started to relax to a state of slumber, when she heard rustling.
"Herm?" A curious Ginny questioned.
"Mmm?" She sleepily replied.
"I can't sleep" she sighed. Hermione didn't even speak and just instinctively threw back the covers, and timed in her head four seconds it took Ginny's footsteps from her own bed to Hermione's. Hermione smiled and fell asleep. She awoke three hours later to Ginny screaming.
"What's wrong? Are you ok?" Hermione sat up to find Ginny, screaming on the floor.
"SHUT UP!" she was shouting and pointing at an alarm clock. Hermione duly unplugged it. "What on earth was that?" her brow sweating and eyes wide open.
"That, Ginny, is an alarm clock" she laughed. "It's the muggle way of waking up" she laughed again.
"Well it's bloody awful" she sighed. Hermione stifled a giggle as an evil look from Ginny stopped her from laughing outwardly.
"I set it so we would still want to sleep tonight, and we'd be hungry about now, usually" she smiled. "Do you want some food?" she sighed quietly.
"No thanks I'm ok" she said, looking wistfully out of the window.
"Are you ok?" Hermione questioned, worried. Ginny nodded and Hermione just looked on quizzically on her way to the kitchen. She appeared fifteen minutes later with a plate of chips with ketchup. She walked over, lit the fire, and adjusted the aerial on the TV, that Ginny had been swearing at for the last fifteen minutes, and sat by the fire on the rug.
"Herm?" Ginny questioned, shimmying across the rug, spraying dust everywhere, and edging closer to Hermione.
"Mmm" she replied, a chip in her mouth.
"Can I have one?" She smiled cheekily and took one anyway. Hermione slapped her hand and laughed.
"I knew you'd do this" Hermione smirked as Ginny stole another chip. "On the landing. Windowsill" she said without even looking up, gesturing with her hand towards the door. A sheepish looking Ginny wandered in moments later with her own plate.
"Thanks. But you know it's been proven that stolen chips taste better." She paused. "Fact" she added satisfactorily eating another of Hermione's chips.
"Oi!" she cried out. "Fine." She smirked and stole one of Ginny's chips.
"You can't just do that! It's not how it works!" Ginny said stealing another chip.
"Ginny!" Hermione exclaimed as she dipped her chip in the ketchup and dabbing it on Ginny's nose.
"Oi" she grinned and finished the last chip, smearing a red stripe on Hermione's cheek, and another dot on her forehead. Hermione retaliated with a line down Ginny's neck, to which Ginny retorted with a dollop on Hermione's lips, which Hermione mimicked. It continued in that vein until the ketchup ran out.
Hermione leaned gently forward and kissed the ketchup off Ginny's nose. Ginny closed her eyes and smiled, she kissed the spot off the top Hermione's head and she smiled like a child. Hermione gently licked and kissed down Ginny's neck, she moaned quietly and giggled at the tickling sensation. Ginny licked off the stripe off Hermione's cheek. Hermione hesitated slightly and quietly and gently kissed off the ketchup on Ginny's lips. She did the same and then licked her lips and grinned.
Something about that childish yet seductive behaviour made Hermione's insides wriggle with glee, and for a few moments she forgot they were in mortal danger.