Cherished Memories -Chapter 2

Portkeys, Food, And Motels

Disclaimer- I don't own Harry, Hermione, Ron or any of the other characters. If I did, I would have all the money, and definately changed that epilogue. For that reason, most of DH is being ignored.

When they arrived at their destination, Hermione felt quite disoriented. They were in a clearing in the middle of the woods.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"Just outside of Defiance," a young blonde witch answered before going off to meet her smiling family.

"Defiance?" Hermione questioned Ron. "I thought we were going to Bryan. Where in the world is Defiance?"

"From what I was told by the guy we're meeting in Bryan, Defiance is about twenty minutes away. We have to Apparate to his office. He owled me a photograph so that we would be able to picture where we want to go." He pulled the picture from his pocket and handed it to her. "This was the safest place for the portkey to bring us all to." He pulled her away from the bus as people started gathering around for the return trip. "Now, let's go find this guy so we can get a room or something and get some food. I'm starving!" She let him lead her to a spot and once again Apparate them to a new place.

"You Ron Weasley?" asked a male voice when they'd reached their destination. Hermione turned to see an older man with dark gray hair and brown eyes smiling at them from a doorway.

"That's me," Ron replied. The man stepped forward and held out a set of keys and a map.

"It's the blue Neon at the end." Ron nodded hesitantly and they followed the man to a door leading out of the building.

The man pointed to the right to show them which way to their car and told them that they wanted to head north to get into town. Then smiling at them and wishing them luck, he went back inside and shut the door. Ron looked down at the car keys in his hand.

"You don't even know how to drive, do you?" Hermione chuckled. He looked up at her and shook his head.

"I'm a wizard, Hermione. Why in Merlin's name would I need to know how to drive? The most I've ever done behind the wheel of a car is with my dad's old Anglia and 'it' did all the driving, Harry and I just sat there."
Hermione held out her hand for the keys and headed in the Neon's direction when he'd handed them over. They located their car and got in. Hermione started the car and buckled her seatbelt, insisting that Ron do the same, then pulled the car out of its slot and headed north like they'd been told.

Five minutes later, they were passing a cemetery on their right and then a few stores and Ron spied a Burger King on their left. He gave her a begging look and his stomach let out a loud growl. Hermione laughed and pulled into the turning lane to the restaurant.
"Ron, wait," she said suddenly as he moved to get out of the vehicle when she'd parked it. He turned back to her with a questioning look.

"What is it?" he asked.

"We don't have any American Muggle money! How are we going to get food or a room if we don't have the right money?" Ron smiled and pulled a roll of green paper out of a pocket in his bag.

"Taken care of," he replied. "Changed it at Gringott's right before I came to collect you." He handed it to her, swung open the door and exited the car. Hermione sat dumbfounded for a second, then followed him.

"Ronald Weasley," she began, running to catch him just as he entered the building. "How long have you known about this?" she continued in an angry whisper when she'd caught up.

"Two days. And I can't say anything else right now because you'll blow up in the middle of the restaurant." She fumed silently, but nodded her head curtly.

After ordering their meals they sat in the center of the dining area, and began eating. Hermione noted as they were finishing that the receipt said it was only about two in the afternoon. She'd forgotten about that in her hurry to pack. That meant it was nearing seven in England, which is what time her body was telling her it was. Soon, they were going to be tired and wanting to go to bed, and needed to find a place to do that.

She raised her head to look out the window and had to do a double take. Harry had just gone by in a black car! She grabbed Ron's hand and dragged him out of the restaurant at top speed, ignoring the looks they were recieving and explained what she had just seen when they reached the parking lot as they ran to their car. Unfortunately, she'd not seen which way Harry had gone, and couldn't see the car he'd been driving in either direction. She sighed with disappointment as they got in to start their search for somewhere to spend the night.
"Here's a listing for a motel on east High Street, where ever that would be. Colonial Manor," Ron said, reading the map as they headed further north into the heart of the town. Hermione looked around herself when they reached what appeared to be the town square with a large castle-like building to their left. When she faced forward and saw the name of the street ahead of them, she got into the right hand turn lane.

"Where are you going?" Ron asked.

"You said Colonial Manor is on east High Street. We just turned onto High, and we're heading east."

They both started to search for the motel, not finding it for another mile or so, and Hermione pulled into the parking lot, begining to feel the time difference kicking in. To her and Ron, it was now after seven in the evening and although it being late May, and the sun was going down later each day all over the world, the fact that it was bright as noon at the moment simply irritated her.

A woman came to the desk when they'd entered the lobby and asked if she could help them. Ron handled their check in, asking for two rooms adjacent to each other. Hermione handed over the amount the woman requested for the night and taking her arm with a thank you, Ron led his friend, who was getting angry again, back outside and to the left around the building.
"You'll have to move the car," he muttered to her as he read the numbers on the doors, trying to match them with the keys he'd been given.

"And 'you' still have to explain how it is that you've known where Harry is for two days and didn't say one bloody word to me about it!" she hissed back.

"I was sort of hoping you'd forget that bit," he muttered as he opened one of their rooms. He held out the key to her. She snatched it from his hand and forced him inside with a shove.

"I want to know, and I want to know 'now', Ronald Weasley!" she thundered as soon as the door slammed shut behind her.

"It's not that big a deal, Hermione. I just found out two days ago that Harry was here in the States, but not his 'exact' whereabouts. It took until this morning for us to narrow it down to the city and state. I didn't want to take you on a wild goosechase around the States. It's a big country, you know. That's all it is. I had every intention of telling you what I know when we had settled in. Really I did." She gave him a skeptical look.

"That's all? Then why didn't you tell me this when you first located him?"

"'Cause I knew you'd do exactly what you did." She looked confused. "You bolted down the corridor and told me that you were 'going to bring him back', and for me to not try and stop you. I only came with you to keep any overemotional scenes from happening when we 'do' find him. I mean, what if he doesn't 'want' to go back? What if he's married and has a kid or two? Did you think of that?" He gathered from her stricken expression that she hadn't. She sat heavily on the edge of the bed.

"He can't," she whispered desperately.

"I know how you feel about him, Hermione. I know that you've been in love with the bloke since Hogwarts, I think since first year in fact, but... we have to face the fact that he 'may' be." With that, he turned and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him, and leaving her to think about possibly having lost Harry without even having won him in the first place.

She lay on her side and buried her face in the pillow as she started to cry softly.