Chapter 12: Just a Bit of News
The old wizard guided his student away from the place she desired to go, and to the other side of the room. Smiling, she sat in the very chair she had sat in a month ago when she had first learned about Rachel. Dumbledore took his place behind his desk and clasped his hands together.
"I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you for everything you are doing for Rachel. She certainly has come leaps and bounds from when we found her. I've had the pleasure of speaking to her on several occasions; she truly is a very special girl."
Hermione felt her cheeks burn at the compliments from Dumbledore, for both her and Rachel. "Yes, sir she certainly is," she said with a smile. "I have greatly enjoyed getting to know her better over the past few weeks."
Even though he didn't say it, Hermione could tell by looking into his eyes that something was wrong. "If everything all right, Professor?"
With a sigh Dumblefore reached across his desk and picked up a paper. "I feel it best that I should inform you that there might be a small problem in keeping her presence a secret much longer," he said seriously and handed a newspaper to Hermione.
Taking The Daily Prophet in hand, Hermione felt her heart drop as she looked at the front page. The picture was clearly of a crime scene as flashbulbs flickered from other reporters in the background. The big bold letters of the headline spread across the entire front page reading, Four Bodies Found in Forest Near Hogwarts. She glanced quickly up Dumbledore who stared back with somber eyes.
"As you can see they have finally found her friends earlier this morning," he said as he unclasped his hands. "I was afraid of such a thing happening this soon. I was hoping to have a better plan as to what to do with her before this occurred."
"But sir isn't this good?" she asked as she skimmed over the article, which told the tale of a hunter who stumbled across the bodies on his early morning hike. "Now they can be returned to their families and get the proper burial they deserve. Besides I'm sure Rachel will be pleased to know that her friends' bodies aren't just forgotten out here."
With a nod, Dumbledore rose and crossed to the front of his desk. "Yes that is true, Miss Granger, but you see when they tried to identify them there arose a problem. The ministry realized that when no magical family came forward to claim them that they do not belong to our world. Now, it's hard enough to try to explain how four muggles managed to get into the Forbidden Forest. But when they realized there should be a fifth girl… people have started to demand answers about her whereabouts," he explained as he watched Hermione's face fall.
"I received an owl from the minister this afternoon warning me about this muggle being on the loose. If I was to see her I should detain her and contact him immediately. In the mean time they will be conducting searches in the surrounding areas in hopes of finding her."
Shaking her head, Hermione tried to erase the negative thoughts that had begun to burrow deeply into her brain. "But… but she's hidden if they were to come here," she said to Dumbledore but in actuality she was trying to reassure herself. "She would be safe from them. They can't take her away if she just stays in her room."
Before her eyes, Hermione watched her headmaster try to search for the right words. "That would be true but . . . for security reasons the ministry has knowledge of every hidden room in the school. This means that there would be no place where I could hide her."
"What would happen to her if they would find her Professor?" Hermione forced herself to ask, dreading the answer she knew she would receive.
With a heavy sigh, he replied, "If she is found here, she will be taken straight away to the ministry where a memory charm will more likely than not be performed on her, erasing any memory of the magical world. I dare say Miss Granger that if she is brought into the public eye, she would be susceptible to attack by . . ." his voice trailed off knowing he had just crushed any positive thoughts that his student still clung to.
Hermione lowered her head and tightly shut her eyes as the image of Rachel being struck with the killing curse filled her mind. The headmaster bent down in front of the young witch and gently grasped her shoulder. "I won't let them take her, Hermione, if I can help it," he promised her. "I will do everything in my power to hide her but perhaps there are other ways in which you or your friends could do to help," he said as a smile crept across his face.
Gasping slightly Hermione raised her head so that she could look the old wizard in the eyes. Of course, she thought happily as she caught onto what he was saying, why didn't I think of it sooner? With a quick wink Dumbledore straightened up and headed toward the door.
"If you can think of a way of doing this than I will leave your actions up to you. As of right now I know nothing about this muggle or where she can be found," he said and before descending the stairs he turned back to his student. "Oh and just some advice…if I were you, Hermione. I would hold onto her very tightly. There aren't many like her out there." With a wave he exited his office and headed off toward a faculty meeting about this muggle manner.
You have no idea how right you are professor, Hermione thought as she stared down at the newspaper. Stuffing the paper into her bag she rose and raised her wand toward the bookshelves.
"Descendo," she said and watched as the wooden structure sink into the stone floor. The walk to Rachel's door seemed to be the longest one hundred feet ever as the weight of The Daily Prophet articles still clung to her shoulders. Outside her door Hermione battled with herself for a few moments about whether to break the news about the find to Rachel, or to keep it to herself. Once she made up her mind she placed her hand on the doorknob, and for the first time ever forced a smile on her face.
