Thanks for the review. And hopefully people who wondered where the Harry/Hermione bit was are still reading.
CHAPTER TWELVE: Realisations
More than a day had passed since McGonagall's death and the disappearance of the five children. In that time, Harry and the others hadn't moved from Hogwarts. Harry was well aware that they were pinning all their hopes on Souvren's spell but he was fresh out of ideas.
He sat in one of the empty classrooms with Lily and Hugo sat either side of him. Given their worries about their elder siblings, they had been excused from class. Neither of them could concentrate much anyway. Harry watched as the pair used their wands to practise floating a feather for Charms class. Hugo seemed to be having difficulty with the spell and Harry was keeping a close eye on him, remembering the destruction Seamus had wrought trying out the spell during their first year. Lily managed it nearly every time but the achievement seemed to be bringing her no pleasure.
"Can we help look for them?"Hugo asked at last.
Harry shook his head. "They're not in the forest anymore, we're sure of that. That's why we're planning to catch the people that took them when they come back."
"But what if they don't come back?"
Harry had asked himself the same question quite a few times but he wasn't going to tell Hugo that. "They've been to the forest lots of times already, haven't they? So we can be pretty sure they're going to come back again."
"But is there anything we can do to help?"Lily asked suddenly.
Harry looked at his daughter closely. "Tell me again what Albus said to you."
Lily thought hard. "He said that what they were doing was to do with what happened to Mum. That they were going to find out who…who killed her and why they did it and what else they were doing. Does that help?"
In truth it didn't but Harry smiled at her anyway. "Well, it's given me a lot to think about."
"Harry?" Hermione appeared in the door of the classroom. "Do you want some company?"
Harry got up, trying not to appear too hasty. "Can you just keep an eye on these two? I want to go for a walk."
Hermione felt that pang of disappointment again as he walked out and chided herself for it. There was no point in thinking that way.
"Where's Dad going?"Lily asked.
Hermione looked down at her niece, managing a smile. "I think he just wants to be on his own for a while."
Harry walked through the corridors of the school, berating himself for his childishness. After all the years they'd known each other, he should manage to be around Hermione without feeling uncomfortable. Yet somehow, now, whenever he saw her, it seemed to spark off a lot of things he didn't want to feel. He was attracted to her. He was aware of that. If he was honest, he'd been attracted to her since they'd both gone through puberty. It had just never been an issue before. Even back then, from the way it had been obvious to everyone but them that they'd wanted to go to the Yule Ball together, he'd known that she and Ron liked each other. And it wasn't like he hadn't had other girls on his mind, from his infatuation with Cho to the growing strength of his feelings for Ginny. But now, it seemed like Hermione was on his mind more often than not, as if he was dreaming of a future that he knew couldn't happen.
He noticed a slight blonde figure sitting by the side of the cloisters and realised it was Emily. She was dabbing at her eyes, as if trying to wipe away tears. He walked over to her. "Emily, are you all right?"
She looked up, startled. "Mr. Potter! Um, yes, of course I'm all right, I'm just…"
"Worried about Martin?"he suggested.
"No…yes…" Emily sighed. "Can I tell you something awful?"
He sat down next to her. "I doubt it'll be that awful."
"I am worried about Martin but…most of the time I'm…I'm worried about James." She noticed his surprised look and sighed. "I said it was awful."
"No, no, it's not,"he assured her. "Martin's your brother and you love him but…I guess we all need someone special to worry about and to worry about us."
Emily looked flustered, pretty much confirming what he was beginning to suspect. "Oh, no, I don't mean anything like that…We're friends, that's all."
Harry smiled at her. "Wherever James is, if he knew you were thinking about him, I think it would make him happy."
Hermione had taken Harry's place watching over the two children, as they lapsed into silence practising their first year spells. She found her mind drifting back to when she, Harry and Ron were that age: learning magic, fighting trolls and finding philosopher's stones. Somehow, it all seemed a long time ago.
Ron slipped into the room and gave her a smile. Hugo saw him and ran to hug his father, holding onto him as though afraid he'd leave. Ron gently prised himself out of his grip. "How are you getting on with the spells?"
"Not very well,"Hugo admitted.
"Yeah, well, I was never any good at them either. Your mum kept telling me where I was going wrong. Tell you what, the Quidditch pitch is free. How about you and me go and have a bit of a flyabout?"
"Will we be allowed to?"
"Hey, I won the Quidditch Cup here once. They're not gonna say no to an ex-star player, are they?" He put his arm around his son's shoulders and led him out.
Hermione smiled as she watched them go. Having Ron in the house felt like having three children to look after at times but he'd always been able to relate well to Rose and Hugo. Better than she had, probably.
"Was my dad any good at spells?"Lily asked.
The question jolted Hermione out of her thoughts. She crouched down by Lily and smiled at her. "Has anyone ever told you the story of the day we had our first flying lesson?"
Lily shook her head, even though Hermione suspected they had.
"Well, what happened was…"
Although McGonagall's funeral was being held elsewhere, the school had arranged a short memorial service to give the students a chance to remember her. Professor Flitwick, who had worked with her longer than anyone, shared his memories and Neville spoke on behalf of the Gryffindors.
A number of ex-students had come to the school for the service and Harry noticed several members of the Order among them. He noticed Ron and Hermione sitting together and cursed himself for the irrational spark of jealousy he felt at their closeness. Even Draco was there, sat at the back and looking as though he wanted to be the first out.
When Slughorn dismissed them all, Harry hung back, scanning the crowd for familiar faces. He saw Parvati and Padma coming towards him and drew back to a secluded corner, sensing they wanted to talk in private.
"I'm sorry, Harry,"Parvati sighed. "We've been keeping an eye on things at the Ministry but we haven't seen anything out of the ordinary."
In truth, Harry wasn't surprised. It had been a long shot. "Well, you did your best,"he reassured them.
"Padma's had an idea though."
"It's that necromancer that disappeared,"Padma explained. "Obeney. You told us he had a habit of disappearing on quests? Well, we've had a look and it seems the last expedition he went on was to Tibet. There's a wizard living in seclusion there who's supposed to have found the secret of soul transference."
"Soul transference?"Harry repeated.
"It's a form of Dark Magic. A lot of people say it's a myth but if it's true then you can swap the soul of a live person for a dead one. Bring that person back to life in a new body while the person whose body it was dies."
"So, if Obeney found out the secret,"Parvati continued,"and if you're right about him being kidnapped and interrogated… maybe we should go there so we can find out just what he learned?"
Harry nodded. "All right. Let me know if you find anything."
Harry made his way through the corridor of Hogwarts to a particular doorway. A stone guardian blocked his path. "It's Harry Potter,"he told it and the statue moved aside.
He entered the office. The office of the head teacher of Hogwarts. Dumbledore's old office, Snape's old office, McGonagall's old office… He supposed now it was Slughorn's office.
He looked at the two portraits in the centre of the far wall. McGonagall's two immediate predecessors. "Do you know what's going on?" They nodded. "Do you have any advice for me?"
Dumbledore sighed. "I believe, Harry, there is very little I can tell you that you do not already know. The student surpassed the master a long time ago."
"And if you wish for my advice, Mr. Potter,"Snape droned,"then you should have paid more attention during all your wasted years as a student here."
Harry sighed. He'd expected as much. But it was worth a try. "Then I guess I'll have to find our children myself."
A single glowing ball lit the room, the after effect of a Lumos Maxima Charm. The five of them huddled in the basement, aware that it was cold and dank and moisture was running down the walls. Albus and Scorpius had sat either side of Rose, the three of them cuddling up for warmth. James and Martin sat opposite. They had only received a glimpse of the dark robed figures who had grabbed them and transported them to this place, after hitting McGonagall with a Killing Curse in front of them. Once a day, a hatch appeared in the door and food was pushed through. The rest of the time, they had no idea what was going on elsewhere in the building, wherever it was. Albus had suggested that someone had cast a Muffliato Charm around them and no-one disagreed.
"I'm frightened,"Rose admitted quietly, not for the first time.
She expected James to snap at her, as he had done on all the previous occasions. It was unnerving that he simply sighed. "Me too."
