10

Hermione handed over the briefcase of memory vials to a very pleased Kingsley Shacklebolt and handed over her concise report too. He hadn't thought Harry would have time to deal with house elf issues, but was very pleased that it had worked that way.

Only running about five minutes late, Hermione found Harry in the Ministry foyer. He had turned to and was looking in her direction as she arrived.

"Let's go," Harry said.

"Are we going to a magic or muggle place?" she asked.

"I thought muggle would be better. There's a nice cafe just around the corner from here."

Hermione nodded and walked beside him. They left through one of the other exits, this one appeared to come out of a workshop for prosthetic limbs, and it faced out onto a different street and in a different direction to the one Hermione used to enter the Minstry.

They walked down the street, neither talking as the traffic and screeching of London's buses, and black cabs made it hard to be heard. The cafe was indeed just around the corner, at the bottom of the street. It was fairly small, but very clean, with just enough bustle to make any conversation private.

As they entered the cafe Hermione went to a table at the back of the room and Harry went to get the coffees. He came back shortly afterwards carry the two coffees and bag of cookies.

"I didn't know if you wanted anything to eat or not, so I thought I couldn't go wrong with cookies," he smiled, setting down the cups onto the table, and sitting down opposite her.

A pregnant pause of silence fell between them, and both were wracking their minds to find a way to start the conversation. So, of course, they started talking at the same time.

"Herm..."

"So Har..."

Hermione gestured to Harry. "No, you go first. After all, you asked me to have coffee with you."

"I'm sorry about Saturday, Hermione," Harry said.

She wasn't sure how to answer that, not knowing, as of yet, what he knew about the whole event; so she just nodded and idly stirred her coffee, willing him to say more, if only to give her a hint as to how she should proceed.

"Ginny told me all about it," he said.

SHIT! Hermione thought, but answered. "She did?"

"Well, when I say 'all', I mean she told me the gist of things. I know why you were upset and left."

He looked up at her, to see how she would react or whether she was ever going to say anything.

"I...I...I was being silly, Harry," was all Hermione could think of to say.

"Ginny and I have broken up," Harry said. Hermione did look up then. "Yeah, I know, you'll half expect us to get together again, right?" the man continued.

"Well, you have before, Harry?"

"No, this was the real thing. I think it's final this time. I only have myself to blame for not being more committed earlier," said Harry looking very down.

"I'm sorry," Hermione said, while thinking...you did it Ginny, you actually bloody did it! That thought should have made her feel like dancing a jig, but she immediately reined herself in, remembering all the complications that faced her, one of which was opposite her sipping his coffee.

"I know what happened yesterday and I want to thank you, Hermione."

"What?" Hermione uttered before she could think properly. Why is Harry grateful that I'm the reason Ginny dumped him? She took a cookie out of the bag and nibbled a bit of it to give her some more thinking time.

"Ginny told me that you were only trying to protect me."

Hermione coughed on a crumb. WHAT? And why do people keep telling me these things when I'm eating and drinking? She hoped the small flush of mixed emotion on her face wouldn't give anything away. It appeared it didn't and that her friend might have taken it as embarrassment, or a result of coughing on the cookie.

Harry continued on. "Ginny said she told you she was going to break up with me and that when you saw us in the attic fooling around, that it upset you, to think she was playing with me, literally."

Hermione took a gulp of her coffee, wishing she had a huge shot of Hagrid's brandy in it. She decided to play the whole thing vaguely.

"Well, I wouldn't quite put it like that, but I was concerned for you both," she said. There, that wasn't exactly lying...unlike a certain redhead...if I ever get my hands on her...and strictly in the non-sexual way! Her thoughts had drifted off until she realized that Harry was talking again.

"...matter whens, whys and wheres, I kind of know what you were thinking when you saw us. I'm sorry you got stuck in the middle of it all."

Hermione had another sip of her coffee. You have no idea what I was thinking, Harry!

"So what will you do, now?" she asked, trying to deflect the conversation a bit.

"I'll carry on with my work at the Ministry, I'll still be living at Grimmauld Place. In a lot of ways nothing will change. I just won't have that potential Ginny option anymore. I was stupid to think she would keep coming back to me and waiting."

He took a cookie out of the bag and broke a little piece off it and ate it, looking a little lost.

Hermione felt so guilty seeing him looking forlorn and she kept hearing everyone saying all the "he's been through so much" sentences from over the years, which made her feel worse. On the other hand she thought that she herself had been through a lot too, so why did Harry have a better qualification to happiness with Ginny than her? Great, now you're thinking like you're a couple of puppies fighting over who gets the squeaky toy! She shook her head at herself.

Her natural curiosity peaked and she asked. "Sooo, what did Ginny do after you had that talk, or however she told you?"

"She went back to Holyhead last night instead of today," Harry said. "She needed some space, of course, and as I'm sure you can understand her mum isn't taking it too well," he grimaced.

"Oh crap! First Ron and I, now Ginny and you?" Hermione put a hand to her mouth, to stifle a little laugh at the chaos of everything. "I'm surprised she's not in St Mungo's for the disappointment and shock she's had these past couple of weeks?"

Even Harry had to smile. "I expect she'll go into maximum knitting mode to cope".

Hermione did giggle then. The tension had dropped slightly.

"I thought Ginny might go straight to your place, because she was very upset, almost distraught about the way you left. She didn't, or I should say, couldn't, talk to me for over an hour," her friend added.

Hermione kept a small ironic smile in her mind, forbidding it to reach her lips. Ginny was upset and distraught over me leaving? Really? How interesting! Oh gods, listen to yourself woman!

They were at a point where nothing much more could be said and there would be inevitable silence again, so Hermione made a point of looking at her watch.

"I think I had better move now. I have a couple of errands to run for myself." She didn't have any errands to run in reality, but it sounded good; she made to stand up, then rested a hand over Harry's. "I'm sorry, Harry."

He looked up at her with a sad expression and nodded to her. "I'm glad we talked, Hermione."

"Me too," she said, although in her mind she was having a battle of sincerity...you've been lying to him since you walked through that cafe door Hermione! How is he going to react when he knows the truth about you and Ginny? Bugger that, I'm not with Ginny am I? So there's no big lie! Yes, you keep telling yourself that, dear! Arrghhh!

"Thanks for the coffee, Harry. I'll see you soon, either at the Ministry or wherever," Hermione stood up.

"Yeah, see you around, Hermione."

With that all said, Hermione left the cafe and made her way to a tube station. Yes, she could go to an Appariting point and go straight home, but she fancied taking the long route, by tube and a walk from the nearest station to her flat to get a little air.

She walked into her flat and went through to her kitchen to get a cold can of coke from her fridge. It was then that she saw an owl on her kitchen windowsill outside. It was a small tawny owl and was leaning against the window with it's eyes shut.

"How ever long have you been there?" she said out loud.

The owl stirred, turning its head round to stare through the window. It couldn't get through the window there as it was only a small push-up type. So she went through to the living room which doubled up as a dining room at one end, and opened the larger window there. The owl worked out what she had done, and fluttered across to the larger open window, steered in through it and landed on top of the dining table. The table was the leaf kind, which could be made smaller for space and had two leaves to pull out to make it bigger.

Hermione took the letter from the owl's leg and fetched it some water and a treat. She was also uncertain of whether she would need to send a reply.

She turned the letter over and looked at the handwriting. It was from Ginny. Hermione felt a bit confused as to how she truly felt about that. Was she excited over what the letter might say, now that she had talked with Harry? Or was she dreading having more complications or more rejection?

Hermione knew procrastinating over opening it, wondering what it contained, was ridiculous and she would only know the answer to that if she actually opened the thing and read it.

Dear Hermione

I need to see you. We need to talk.

Love, Ginny.

As she laid the letter down on the table, Hermione felt very disappointed. She was hoping for a bit more than that, but there again this was a Weasley and although Ginny was far more elegant and eloquent than her brother Ron, she still shared the same genes.

What to do? She wanted to see Ginny so badly, she wanted to know what the woman was thinking. Yet, she still had this annoying confusion, which made so little sense, when she had wanted that woman to notice her for so long. Hellooo, Ginny does notice me, but I don't know what to do about it.

There was no point in being all timid and aloof; the only way she would get some answers was to talk with the woman. She would particularly like to grill her over what she had told Harry. However she decided she had had enough excitement for one day and it wouldn't hurt to have a little time before she replied to Ginny. She was fresh from talking to Harry and processing all he had told her, and she herself was raw from the events of the past few days. A part of her was weirdly feeling too proud and not wanting to seem like she was throwing herself at the woman.

After the owl had rested and had restored its energy she simply let it go again, without attaching a letter to it. She would contact Ginny tomorrow, maybe, a new day and a new challenge.

For the rest of the day Hermione became engrossed in a new project, which until now she had frowned upon and once vowed she would never do; she became a couch potato. She ordered pizza, and watched some TV; one of the channels was showing reruns of 'Bewitched' which she found hilariously bad. Hermione felt particularly wistful when she saw a cartoon again which she had loved as a young kid, 'Count Duckula', the vegetarian vampire duck. Being a couch potato for half a day, was quite fun, but also a terrible waste of useful time. Oh well, you have to experience everything at least once, she thought.

XXXXXXXXXX

For a couple of days Hermione kept herself to herself, doing odd jobs around her flat, reading some magical and muggle works she had been meaning to read for ages, and if she admitted it, generally trying to avoid the subject of Ginny. She was surprised the redhead hadn't arrived on her doorstep demanding to talk to her, as Weasley's were never the most patient entities on the planet. Part of her was slightly disappointed that that hadn't happened. She hadn't received any more letters, so it crossed her mind that Ginny might have been busy herself, with training or something. To think in that way, also let her fool herself that she didn't need to do anything and Ginny would contact her again anyway. Also her slight issue of pride was adding to her feelings about it all.

Hermione was finishing washing up her breakfast things when she heard a tapping noise on a window somewhere in her flat. She went through to the dining area of the living room and saw a barn owl waiting at the window. She opened it and let the owl inside. Hermione untied the letter from its leg. It wasn't from Ginny, which subdued the little feeling of excitement which had begun to simmer deep down. Why would she write when you ignored her earlier letter anyway? she thought.

The letter was from the Ministry, from the Minister himself.

Hermione,

The Death Eater Felgate has escaped, surprisingly with his elf too. We don't know how it happened yet. We believe you might be in danger. One of the memories Harry and yourself extracted has placed you as a target for many years. There is no telling how much...

There was a knock at her door, distracting her from the letter. She automatically picked up her wand from the table, holding it, ready for anything that might be on the other side of the door.

Hermione approached the door, as the doorbell was pressed. She unlocked the door and was about to turn the doorknob, but as her hand touched it, she was thrown back violently, with what can only be described as an electric shock.

Her wand had flown from her hand as she landed, winded on the floor, someway back from the door. She then discovered that she couldn't move; something unseen was binding her. Then she saw the door was open and there was a man standing in the doorway wearing a smug grin. He was of a stocky build with short, dark brown hair, greying at the temples.

"Well, look at that! We hit the jackpot first time!" He clasped his hands in front of him and cracked his knuckles with a mad kind of glee. "Go on then, get her wand you dopey prat!"

To her horror, Hermione saw the ugly, evil, capering little form of Morty the house elf scurrying up towards her and to the side, to pick up her discarded wand.

"Ho ho, want to offer me some sweet nothings now, mudblood?" the elf hissed.

"MORTY!" Felgate bellowed. "I told you to get her wand, not flirt with her!"

"Sorry master. Morty was just so pleased for master." The elf scampered back and handed the wand to Felgate.

Felgate walked closer so that he was looming over her prone figure on the floor.

"They all said the 'Boy Who Lived' was the dangerous one. Kill Harry Potter! Pah, I knew the truth, but would they listen? No! The Dark Lord had lost his touch, along with his marbles!" Felgate bent over her to look straight into her face. "Oh no no no no, it was YOU we should have concentrated on."

Hermione had felt remarkably calm when she had first found herself bound by magic on the floor. She was always known for having a cool head in a tight situation, right from her first year at Hogwarts. But calmness had gradually grown to terror, she tried hard not to show it, but she was sure the two intruders could hear her heart racing madly in her chest. She wondered if she had been tongue-tied too; it appeared not.

"Why, why are you doing this now? Voldemort is dead," Hermione stated.

"Yes, that snake-faced bastard has gone. But revenge, and thought of vengeance can smoulder and be so sweet when the opportunity arrives," Felgate answered in a calculating voice.

"What did I do? I know I was on Harry Potter's side, but it was he who killed Voldemort, won the War and changed the path of things. Not me," she deflected.

"What did you do? Who was it helped Potter to escape nearly every time the Death Eaters or the Dark Lord had him in their grasp? Oh yeah, YOU!" He poked a finger at her sternum to emphasize the word 'you'. "Who was it prodded the Potter boy to nearly every piece of information he needed? YOU! Who was it worked out how to kill the pieces of the Dark Lord's soul? That would be YOU too!" he jabbed at her, causing her to flinch.

"How will...c..capturing me do any good now?" Hermione asked.

"It won't do any good, but it will make ME feel better, won't it?" Felgate smirked. It was obvious that this guy was a few sandwiches short of a picnic, which seemed to be a common trait with Death Eaters. "Now we can't be staying here can we?"

"Master? Morty suggesting Home home?" the elf uttered.

"I know that, you bloody stupid piece of shit. I wasn't asking for suggestions. I was saying we need to get moving."

Oddly the elf didn't look at all deterred, and almost radiant, bathing in the verbal abuse of his beloved master.

As the Death Eater was bantering back and forth with his elf, Hermione knew she was going to be taken somewhere. She didn't have her wand, she didn't even have a DA token coin anymore; although if she had, it was debatable that anyone else still carried theirs around with them. All that was left was some kind of wandless and wordless magic. She had to think fast, she didn't have enough to strike an attack, not against a Death Eater and his nasty elf, so she would have to leave a message somehow.

A patronus was impossible in her current predicament. The only thing she could think of was Dumbledore's ghostly presence at Grimmauld Place all those years ago, acting as a guard to all people entering the house.

She could feel her hands on the floor at her sides, she tried to dig her nails into the carpet as deep as they would go, and focused on the word 'help'. She had no idea if it would work, but hopefully she had managed to imprint enough of herself onto that spot in the hallway. Of course, she then had to rely on someone trying to find her at home to see it, and somehow find out where she was taken, but she couldn't worry about that now.

Felgate looked at her as she grimaced and strained. "You can't move my lovely! So you might as well give it up," he said, thinking she was straining at the magic which held her, not trying to perform magic herself.

Hermione realized that she hadn't seen Felgate using a wand, then remembered how several Death Eaters were nearly as powerful without one as with one. That thought didn't help her feel any better, only doubled the worries.

Morty must have said something else not needed as Felgate cuffed the back of his head. "Just shut up!" The elf still seemed to enjoy whatever his master said or did to him, as if any attention was better than no attention at all.

Felgate walked over to her, got hold of her arm and she felt a pulling, nauseating sensation as she was Side-Along Apparated to the Death Eater's 'Home', wherever and whatever that was.