Wow, my longest chapter so far! This chapter is actually more or less two parts, because otherwise it'd be as long as the actual Harry Potter books themselves.
Disclaimer: If I was J.K Rowling, I'd be able to afford a red Mustang or a Ferrari, or maybe a chauffer to drive me places. But I'm not her, so I can't afford to pay the chauffer. Hmmm...I wonder if they'd work for free...?
Loslote: I'm glad! Lockhart's hilarious and is extremely egotistical (!) and it just made sense to have him write a book from the mental ward at St. Mungo's. Thank you so much! I love doing the Hermione/Draco interactions, they're my favorite part, and I'm really glad people enjoy reading them! :)
Lou The Acid Jazz Singer: Thank you very much! Draco's confusion was a lot of fun to write about, even though I hadn't planned on putting it in quite yet :)
mydirt09: Thank you! It sounded like something a cynical Slytherin might say, especially because they probably wouldn't believe the sweet part themselves :)
darkcrystalwings: Lucky! I haven't seen that movie yet, although the trailer for it looks epic. And thank you so much, I'm happy you're enjoying the story! :)
sappheiros: Haha, I think a lot of people wanted to go with Ginny to kill Ron! Oh, she definitely can, she's really tough, the books prove that much ;) I'm glad you liked the Dramione interactions! Thanks, I had actually had the first three chapters plus the prologue written when I posted the prolouge. I've slowed down a bit, but I'm hoping to pick the speed up! Anyway, thank you! :)
And thank you so much for everyone to favorited or story alerted this story!
Also, thank you to everyone who's reading this story! Every single one of you is amazing!
Okay, before I finish this, I just want to say that I finished one of my classes today, so hopefully I'll be updating on a more regular basis :)
Okay, I'm done. Hope everyone enjoys the chapter! :)
Chapter Eleven – Us? Breaking and Entering? You Don't Say!
The next morning dawned bright and early in their little wooded campsite. Hermione lay on her back, staring up at Ginny's bunk above her own, enjoying the sight of the yellowy light filtering in through the pale red canvas walls of the tent, turning to orange. It was extremely peaceful to just lie there, thinking about anything and everything that ran through her mind, without the usual noise and bustle and annoyance that came with living with Ginny, Harry, and Draco. In that order.
She listened to the gentle inhaling and exhaling of her bunkmate, and tried to pick up any sounds or clues that her male tent mates were still asleep. There was the soft creak and rustle of a mattress and bedsprings as one of the boys rolled over and adjusted his body as he slept, but apart from that, she didn't hear anything on their side of the tent.
She rolled over onto her stomach, turning her head to the side away from the outer wall, and closed her eyes, trying to get a bit more sleep, but just as she was drifting back off, images of the summer before the beginning of her third year, laying on a beach in France, floating sweetly through her mind, the quiet whir of the boys' curtain being pulled back jerked her out of her daydream. Keeping her eyes closed, she listened as one of the boys tiptoed across the tent – from the sounds of it, Harry was the early riser – and raised the flap of the tent, before zipping it back up.
Well, that got her attention. What on earth was Harry doing awake so early when he didn't have to be? It couldn't have been much later than six-thirty, if her estimations of the sun's position were correct.
As gingerly as she could – she was beginning to feel the previous day's adventure in her limbs –, she pushed the covers off of her pajama-clad body – midnight and pale blue striped cotton pajama bottoms and a sky blue t-shirt –, pulled on the navy blue hoodie that was at the foot of her bed, slid her feet into her sneakers, and crept out from behind the curtain, out into the living area, and then straight outside.
Harry was sitting on the ground, legs spread out in front of him, in crimson pajama bottoms decorated with shimmering golden snitches, and a crimson sweat jacket, staring off into the tree-immersed distance. He was holding his wand loosely in his hand, and was tapping one of his fingers against the wooden length, deep in thought.
She settled in next to him. The movement, sudden warmth of another human body, and soft crunch of the grass, seemed to yank him from his stupor, because he blinked, halted his finger, and turned to look at her with a bright smile.
"Beautiful day, isn't it?" he said, not sounding at all as if he was up earlier than what should be humanly possible.
"Yeah," Hermione agreed, beaming back at him, "it's gorgeous out here."
Harry resumed his drumming on his wand, and Hermione leaned back on her arms, turning her face up to the weak sun, letting it warm her skin. A comfortable silence enveloped them, allowing them to just be, while the other thought about their own thing.
After several moments of this, Harry wrapped all of his fingers around the wand and turned to face Hermione again.
"I think we should head out to the Gaunt house, in Little Hangleton, in a few days. The sooner we replace the ring, the better, and then we can continue on trying to find the horcruxes."
Hermione nodded. The one horcrux they did have was stuffed securely down at the bottom of her bag, because more often than not it would be near her. Of course, right now it was in the tent, but with Ginny and Draco in there, and she and Harry sitting at the only entrance to the tent, she wasn't too worried that someone might try to steal it. Even if someone was in fact wearing an invisibility cloak, they would have one heck of a time trying to find the tent with all of the disillusionment and protection spells Hermione and Harry had cast on it. Plus, they had a secrecy sensor spell around their campsite, so if anyone did try to approach the tent under an invisibility cloak or with polyjuice potion, their disguises would immediately be revealed.
"I agree," she spoke, "and I think we should always try to get our hands on something else to kill the horcrux, so that we're not sitting around with evil objects on all sides."
"And here I thought that was everyone's dream," Harry ribbed her. "To have evil seeping in through every crack in the tent. Don't you want to be freaked out of your mind twenty-four-seven?"
"Sorry, I've already gone through that with you and Ron. You two are – were – scary."
It was a moment before she realized she had said Ron's name, but didn't draw attention to it; instead she just laughed when Harry elbowed her in the side, and she jabbed back at him.
They went back inside soon, to find Draco and Ginny just waking up. Harry and Hermione popped toast into the toaster, and fried up the leftover bacon from the night before, while Ginny and (with a hard foot stomp from her) Draco pulled out the butter, jam, forks, knives, and plates. When they had all sat down at their respective places, Harry cleared his throat.
"Hermione and I were talking and we think it would be a good idea if we replaced the ring in a couple of days."
Draco and Ginny glanced at each other, Draco with a crispy piece of bacon halfway to his mouth, Ginny in the midst of spreading jam over her bread. After a moment of silence, Ginny nodded and turned back to Harry and Hermione.
"Sounds good. It makes sense, it'll be safer than the island in any case – I'm assuming," she added, the undertone of her voice threatening.
Harry raised his hands as if to protect himself from her blazing eyes. "I think so – "
When she glared all the more forcefully, he yelped out, "I don't know! Dumbledore got the ring before he let me in on his secret, I think his hand got hurt in the process, I don't know how!"
"The horcrux probably attacked him in some way or other," Hermione said thoughtfully, laying her half-eaten piece of toast down on her plate. "Maybe he put it on, that might do it."
Harry shrugged, and with a quick glance at Ginny to make sure she wasn't going to bat-bogey him into oblivion for forcing her into danger without warning her, or withholding information, he went back to his food.
"While we're in Little Hangleton, we should probably stock up on supplies as best we can," Hermione added, bringing the toast back up to her lips. "Who knows when we'll be able to risk going into a town next, the Chief Death Eater might be taking over muggle towns next."
Draco choked on his bacon. "Whaddaya mean we're gonna be in a muggle town?" he slurred out over the bacon that hadn't quite gone down the right way. "I'll stay here thanks, I'm not associating with any more muggles than what I have to."
Hermione, Harry, and Ginny all exchanged exasperated glances and eye rolls.
"Hate to break it you darling, but you're not going to have a choice if you want to stay alive," Hermione informed him.
"I think I just became suicidal," Draco spat back.
Hermione fixed her brown-eyed gaze on him. "Don't say it unless you mean it sweetie, otherwise you might disappoint us."
"Why, bless my Slytherin heart – did Hermione Granger just say something cynical and mean?"
"Why, bless your Slytherin brain – aren't you smart?"
"And sarcastic? Now I've seen everything there is to see."
"Oh, don't get your hopes up, we're just getting started – unless you plan on carrying out that suicide threat, of course. If that is the case – here you go." She reached across Harry to hand Draco her knife, but Harry intercepted the cutlery.
"This is nothing to joke about you two!" he nearly yelled at them. "Draco – stop making stupid threats. Hermione – stop encouraging him to actually carry out those stupid threats."
"Yeah Hermione, stop being a trouble maker," Draco whined mockingly.
"Oops, sorry, I forgot that was your area of expertise," Hermione quipped back.
"Damn straight, and don't you forget it," he growled.
"Yeah, like it's something to be proud of," Hermione retorted with another eye roll. "And being an arrogant jack – "
"STOP BICKERING!" Harry roared, palms flat on the counter. "My God, am I going to have to lock you two in a room together?"
"And which room would that be?" Draco asked sarcastically. "The curtained off bedrooms, or the open living room slash kitchen slash dining room?"
"The bathroom, if you two aren't careful," Harry told him.
That shut them up. The tent did in fact have a bathroom, the only room with an actual door. The only problem was that it was extremely small, maybe seven feet by four feet at best, if you included a couple of feet for the shower, and two people in there would be extremely cramped.
Harry smirked triumphantly as he watched the two bickerers go back to their food, silent, with sullen looks on their faces.
And so the plans began. They made a duplicate of the ring – Harry did it this time since Hermione had never seen the ring before, and drew a rough map of the area, which Harry had only seen from other people's memories. From the meager information he was able to provide them with, they were able to assume that it would be fairly safe, with little or no death eaters hanging around.
"I mean, I doubt he'd be proud of how far down the Slytherin line sunk," Harry said the night before they left for Little Hangleton. "That place was a dump, he would have been humiliated by it, I'm sure he's been telling them that his family lived in a castle or some shit like that. Plus, he wouldn't want them to know how close to a muggle town they lived, or that his father – his dear muggle father who didn't want him – lived in a humongous manor. He'd want them to stay as far away from that town as possible; it would be much too easy for them to ahold of that information."
"From the sounds of it the only danger we really need to worry about is the collapse of the cottage," Ginny said. She was sitting on the floor, leaning against Harry's legs, like they had done so many times back at Hogwarts during the few weeks they'd been together. Her legs were crossed, and she was flicking through Hermione's copy of Hogwarts: A History with her tongue poking out a bit, barely taking in a word of it.
Harry snorted. "It's probably already collapsed, probably in ruins."
"Do you think they've cleared it away then?" Hermione asked anxiously, looking over at them from where she was sitting in her own armchair a few feet away from Harry. She was curled up and paging through one of her old Arithmancy textbooks; her favorite subject always calmed her nerves.
Harry shook his head. "I doubt it. Trust me, from what I saw, the muggles didn't want to get anywhere near to that place. Not that I blame them," he added. "The son – Morfin – had a snake nailed to the front door."
The other three shuddered, even Draco.
"That is seriously creepy," Ginny said. "And not something I want to see. I hope the place really has deteriorated to the point of ruin."
The next morning the four teenagers apparated to right in front of the cottage with the hopes that no one happened to be passing by it at that moment. They were in luck – there was no one around for miles.
Ginny's wish had come true – the place was now only piles of wood and stone and dust. Harry tossed the ring into the debris, and then they all backed away, with guilty expressions on their faces as if they had just done something wrong and had been caught in the act. To add to the uncomfortable feeling, there was a very distinct feeling of anticlimax – they had finished their mission in less than two minutes, and now weren't sure what to do now.
Hermione peered around, hand shading her eyes from the rising sun. "I think the town's that way," she said, pointing in the distance.
But Harry's eyes were focused on a distant hill, where a beautiful mansion rose out of the peak.
"Harry?" Ginny tugged on his sleeve. "Hermione wants to head into town."
"You guys go," he said. "I want to check out the Riddle mansion, see what it's like, and maybe look at the graveyard."
"Why?" Hermione asked, a bit revolted. "That's where he killed that old muggle man, and that's where he – he..." she broke off, a slight realization coming over her.
"I dunno, I just…I mean, it's a part of his past…maybe he hid a horcrux somewhere in the house while he was staying there? And I'd like to see the place where he came back to full life. I think maybe I need it."
Hermione glanced at Ginny, but the younger girl was gazing at her boyfriend. "You and Draco go on Hermione, I'll go with Harry up to the mansion."
"Are you – are you sure?"
"Of course. Go on, we'll catch up with you."
Hermione nodded, then turned to Draco. "Come on, let's go."
Harry and Ginny watched as Hermione grabbed Draco by the arm and dragged him away, towards the small town that could just be seen in the distance.
"You don't have to do this, you know," Harry said as he turned back to face Ginny. "I mean, it might not be the most pleasant experience."
Ginny shrugged. "This is a part of your past, and you should have someone with you. It's as simple as that." She stood on her tip-toes to kiss him, before slipping her fingers through his and tugging him along. "Which one to first?"
Harry swallowed. "The graveyard, I think, just to get it over with."
"All right, let's go."
Gripping the other's hand as hard as they could without breaking any fingers, they turned on the spot and were pulled into the suffocating blackness, before emerging into a cemetery.
The graveyard was at the bottom of the hill, in the shadow of the sprawling mansion, and Harry gazed up at the house, eyes transfixed, before coming to. He slid out of Ginny's hold and began walking around, examining the place. "This is where Cedric and I landed, when we took the portkey here," he muttered, stopping at a spot. He prodded the ground with the toe of his sneaker, as if expecting the ground to pull apart, creating a crevice.
Nothing happened.
"Is that where Cedric – ?" Ginny gulped back at her words, not quite able to voice what she was wondering, but Harry seemed to know what she was asking anyway. He nodded.
"Yeah…That's where it happened." He moved away, a few yards over to a tombstone.
"And this," he fingered the stone, "is where I was tied up."
Ginny followed him, and could just make out the name Tom Riddle engraved on the stone.
"His father," she whispered.
"And his body is now missing one of the bones," Harry laughed hollowly. "It went into the potion-thing, to bring him back."
"And Wormtail had to cut off his own hand," Ginny murmured, "and – "
"And he took my blood." Harry's voice was now cold, devoid of any emotion, and Ginny shivered. "So he could touch me and not die himself – as if he could."
He crossed his arms tightly across his chest, as if protecting himself from the flood of horrible memories that were no doubt rushing back into his brain with the force of a tidal wave.
Ginny hesitated, not sure if she should go over there or just stay where she was. The urge to comfort him and help him relieve himself of the pain was too strong, however, and she softly walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him.
"He'll never hurt you again," she whispered against his chest. "I won't let him." She spoke with such fierce, unwavering determination that Harry let his arms fall away from his chest, before slipping them around Ginny.
"Thanks," he murmured against her hair, burying his nose in her long tendrils. "And I would die before I let anything happen to you."
"Let's make sure nothing does happen then," she replied, and reached up once more to press her lips to his.
Harry had to admit it was bit ironic and satisfying to be kissing his girlfriend, the girl he had loved for over a year, on the spot where Voldemort had tortured and threatened to kill him – it was a bit like rubbing it in the dark wizard's face, as if he was saying, "Hah hah, I can love and you can't! Na na na na na na!"
Ginny pulled back away from him, and he stepped away from her. "Should we head up to the mansion?"
"Sure," she agreed. This time they hiked up the hill, to make sure that no muggles – such as a gardener or maid or whoever the current owner had hired to keep the place up – saw two teenagers appear out of thin air as if by – gasp! – magic.
It was a bit of a long trek, taking them close to twenty minutes, and by the time they they reached the back yard, they were both gasping for breath and clutching at stitches in their sides.
They crept across the yard, Harry leading Ginny to the backdoor. A movement out of the corner of his eye made him turn around, but when he looked, there was no one there except the house, the yard, and the cottage where the old gardener – Frank Bryce, the man who had been killed in that very house by Lord Voldemort – had lived.
Figuring it was just a tree or a bush blowing in the light wind, Harry tapped the door handle with his wand and said, "Alohomora."
With a soft click, the door swung forward slightly, and Harry pushed it open even farther, standing back to allow Ginny in first.
Once they were both inside the house, Harry closed the door behind him and locked it once more. The house was every bit as musty as it had been when Harry had dreamed of Frank Bryce's murder, if not more so. The carpet was nearly invisible under the thick layer of dust that had accumulated over the years, and in the early morning light that filtered in through the dirty windows, they could see the dust particles floating around in the air.
Ginny waved her wand and two handkerchiefs appeared. She handed the emerald green one to Harry and kept the blue one. When he raised his eyes at her she shrugged, but didn't say anything.
"You do realize we could have just done the bubble-head charm, don't you?" he asked her, as they began walking again, Ginny a couple of steps ahead of him this time around. She turned around to look at him.
"Yes, but this way we don't have to look like a fish bowl tried to attack us," she replied. "And this works just as well."
"You just like the idea of me wearing a green handkerchief because of my eyes," he called after her, and her own eyes glittered.
"Careful Potter, arrogance doesn't look good on you," she snipped back, but he could have sworn she was smiling, with the way her eyes sparkled all the more, and he smirked, still following her down the hall.
They explored the rooms together, the next one more dusty and filthy than the last. They saved the worst for last: The room where Voldemort had stayed in, and where Frank Bryce had found himself facing the dark lord's wand.
Ginny put her hand on Harry's arm as he stared at the chair that was facing the fireplace.
"That's where he sat," Harry said to himself in a low mumble that Ginny just barely managed to catch. "And he turned the chair around when Bryce challenged him to face him like a man. He raised his wand and – " he broke off in time to see Ginny shudder a bit.
"Sorry," he apologized. "I probably shouldn't have said that last bit out loud."
"No, no, I'm fine," she said quickly. "You experienced it, you should be allowed to talk about it."
"Not if it bothers you," he argued.
"Oh for heaven's sake Harry, quit being noble, it's what got us barely speaking to each other last summer in the first place."
Harry cut his eyes away from her. They had barely spoken about their breakup, or that summer at all. They hadn't gotten much of a chance for one thing, as someone was always around, or else they were busy making plans for their mission. Plus, it felt like it should be taboo.
"Thanks for my birthday present by the way," he finally spoke. "It was my favorite."
Ginny tossed her hair out of her face. "You're welcome. I thought you might like it."
Harry glanced around. "Come on, let's get out of here, we should probably go find Hermione and Draco."
"You mean save Hermione from Ferret-boy."
"Something to that extent."
They walked back through the house, and out the backdoor.
"All right, stop right there!"
They halted and found themselves facing several men in blue police uniforms.
"Put your hands up – you are under arrest for breaking and entering."
Somehow, this did not bode well for the rest of the day.
Okay, so this chapter was a little more focused on Harry/Ginny. That wasn't my original plan, but I think it worked out okay. But don't worry, lot's of Dramione in the next chapter. I'm just beginning on it, but I can promise plenty of bickering, and maybe even a couple of touching moments :) Maybe even more inner turmoil for Draco (I swear, if it's at all possible for a character to glare at someone outside of the story, he just did so at me)!
Anyway, what'd you guys think of the Hermione/Draco argument? I know suicide's a huge deal and is terrible, and I hope Harry managed to get that point across. And what about the Harry/Ginny scene? I haven't had a lot of them in this story so far, and like I said, I wasn't planning on having their own scene in this chapter, but the chapter grew legs and ran away from me ;) So...let me know what you guys think, I love hearing from you!
Rock on!
Science-Fantasy93 ;)