"Aren't you getting tired?" Ron said, startling Hermione out of her concentration.
"No. Well… yes. But it's not a problem. This is important," Hermione said, though privately she admitted that all the words on the parchment in front of her had ceased looking like words at least an hour ago.
Ron came around and sat down across from her.
"You really think you can find him in all this?" Ron said, gesturing at the piles of parchment.
"I don't know. I just know that we have to find him," Hermione replied, then rubbed her eyes.
"But why?" Ron said, crossing arms over his chest.
"Because Dumbledore said. He believed that Harry was special and that he could defeat Riddle… if he ever came back. Harry can travel across worlds… and if he can do the things his mother learned to do, that would be incredible," Hermione said, grinning at the parchment.
Hermione had barely started reworking and annotating the copy of the diary that Draco Malfoy had sent her but already felt she was learning a great deal. She had flipped through the later parts and been amazed and bewildered by certain things still to come.
"So if he's so bloody special, why isn't everyone in the Underground searching for him?" Ron asked incredulously.
"They never met him. Some don't believe he even existed or he wasn't who we thought he was. You weren't in the Underground yet. You don't understand," Hermione said.
Ron pursed his pale lips, his blue eyes glaring at her, seeming offended.
"Then explain it to me. There are a million books in this place but not a one on Harry Potter," Ron complained.
Hermione sighed, resting her chin in one of her dark hands.
"It was two years ago. A man showed up in London, introducing himself to people as Harry Potter and inquiring about the Phoenix Underground. I was a new recruit and assigned to London, for basic information collecting. The Underground has been directionless for the last two decades. Riddle was defeated and everyone moved on. But Dumbledore continued to recruit, believing that Riddle would return," Hermione said.
"I know all this stuff," Ron said with a shrug.
Hermione rolled her eyes but continued: "Anyway, once Harry started asking about the Underground, I was tipped off and I arranged a meeting. He said he was a friend of Draco Malfoy and that… he had traveled from another world. Lots of us in the order weren't alive when the old war happened. The records we have from Remus Lupin… they all seemed too fantastical to be real… and they were incomplete, seeing as Remus disappeared."
"The war ended and no one knew what happened. The Illustrious Council disappeared. Riddle disappeared. Everything just stopped… Queen Victoria returned the throne, no worse for wear. It was as if nothing had happened. It was easy for people to convince themselves that nothing had happened. Research was done into travel across worlds but no one could manage it. But then Harry Potter showed up."
"Sounds like he was full of it. Travel across worlds… what a load of bollocks," Ron sneered.
"He was nice. And what's more he looked much like his father is described in the diary and in Remus Lupin's records. Except his eyes… he has the same eyes his mother is described as having," Hermione said.
"So then what? Why didn't the Underground bring him in?" Ron said.
"They did. I interviewed him and he told me… some of his story. The problem was… it seemed like he wanted our help. He was searching for people. He was searching for his family and he wanted to find some girl he said was lost. I can't remember her name," Hermione said, searching around the table for the parchment containing the interview.
"He was looking for her here? Did you find her?" Ron asked.
"No. To both questions. She was on some other world. He said she was in some sort of danger and he had promised to save her. Oh. Here we go… her name was Ginny, with a G," Hermione said.
"Huh. That name seems… sort of familiar but I can't place it," Ron said, rubbing the top of his red-haired head.
"Not to me. I cross referenced it with every individual we have on file. No one matched the name and description, at least what he knew about her. He said they'd never met," Hermione said.
"No surname?" Ron asked, looking interested.
"No. Just Ginny. She had red hair and freckles… just like you," Hermione said with a grin.
"Me and loads of other people," Ron said.
"Haven't you ever been curious about finding your family?" Hermione asked.
Ron frowned. This was a sore subject with him. He had been orphaned at a young age, barely more than a baby. His memories of his family were faint at best. He had grown up in foster homes all around the United Kingdom until he finally joined the Underground a year ago. Hermione had grown fond of him in that time, even if his dedication to the Underground seemed at times a bit insufficient.
"Of course, I am. There aren't any Weasleys in the Underground's records either," Ron said.
Hermione wished he was wrong but she had searched herself. She wondered if perhaps the name was wrong but Ron had maintained that the one thing he knew was that his name was Ronald Weasley because it was stitched onto the shirt he was wearing when he was found, on a patch, which struck Hermione as very odd.
"I do hope we can find your family someday, Ron," Hermione said, reaching over and placing a hand on one of his pale hands that was resting on the wooden table.
Ron blushed and smiled.
"Sometimes I think I've given up," Ron said as Hermione slowly pulled her hand away.
"Don't. The Underground has resources. Things just haven't been the same since Dumbledore died," Hermione said with a frown.
Ron yawned and stretched.
"I guess I should go to bed," Ron groaned.
"Me too, probably," Hermione said, beginning to gather up her papers.
"So what's the deal with the Malfoy connection? The Malfoys don't exactly have a good reputation," Ron said, standing up.
"I don't know. I've met him a few times. He seemed… cold… elusive. But Harry said they were friends. I think Draco is hiding something," Hermione said.
"You think he's hiding Harry?" Ron asked, furrowing his brow.
"No. I think he's looking for him, just like I am. But I think he knows more than he's letting on. I may be forced to make a trip out to London to visit him, observe his behaviour," Hermione said with a small grin.
With all her papers in a folder, Hermione walked through the dimly lit stone tunnels of the Underground to her bedchamber, Ron by her side. They lived in the same section of the Underground.
Hermione unlocked the old wooden door that led to her room then turned to say goodnight to Ron.
"Goodnight," Ron said, squeezing one of her hands with affection, making it her turn to blush.
Ron was cute and sometimes Hermione had an urge to kiss him. But she tried to take her work in the Underground seriously. On the other hand, she didn't think it would be fair to deny herself a personal life forever and the way he smiled at her…
"Goodnight," Hermione said, gently squeezing his hand back then entering her bedchamber alone, not willing to chance things at the moment.
Once inside she changed into her bedclothes then slid into bed with her newly arrived copy of Sirius Black's memoirs in her hands. She often found it hard to sleep without reading and she was still looking for excerpts to add to the casefile.
She was drawn to his descriptions of his friends. Sirius had a knack for beauty and sadness. He described Harry's parents both with admiration and sadness throughout the book. She had flipped to the end of the book once she got it, just as she had flipped to the end of the diary transcriptions. The diary just ended, the adventures over, but Sirius fills in what happened later. The last paragraph of his memoirs, Hermione found very troubling:
James and Lily Potter are no more and the diaries are long gone. I don't know what's become of Harry Potter. The paths between worlds have been closed and I will someday die ona world on which I was not born. But I have Remus with me, so I am not alone.
The events of the end seemed hazy without context. Hermione had no choice but to read the rest of the diary and the book to try and make sense of everything. She put the book aside and put out her lantern.
She was filled with a sense of urgency. She wanted to fix everything. She could find Harry, find his family, find Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, find Ron's family too. She had a lot of work ahead of her and she knew that things weren't going to get any easier.