— CHAPTER TWO —
The Lost Cat
'Numbing the pain for a while will only make it worse when you finally feel it' - J.K Rowling (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)
The feeling of losing someone; never truly goes away. It's something we all need to learn to coexist with — a constant reminder of our own mortality. Still, that's what makes it all worth living for.
The night was crisp and beautiful and the sky was full of falling snowflakes that cloaked the tree-tops and covered the grounds with crystal white. The forest was still and peaceful and she could hear nothing except for the dim sounds of her moving footsteps.
She was trying to make her way through some thick branches when the voice appeared; someone was faintly whispering her name. She pushed herself out from the wall of twigs and threw herself out in the open where she stood very still, listening. And then it came again but this time a lot clearer — 'Hermione?'
Hermione jumped where she stood, almost falling over; she knew that voice and the familiarity of it swept over her like a wave, drowning her with emotions. With a shattered voice she called out, — 'Mum?'. The time went very slowly as she stood in the grove waiting for her mother's voice to reappear. However it did not take long before she heard something again, but now it was her fathers voice that she heard.
'Hermione? Hermione?'
'Mum… Dad? I'm right here!' she screamed and made a gallop forward, but no answer came and she was still alone, but she kept on moving, forcing herself through the forest: which had turned into a labyrinth of thick wilderness. She was stopped by a massive fallen oak-tree; blocking the path ahead. As she tried to jump over it she felt her bottoms get stuck on one of the branches, she tried to pull herself loose and in the process of doing so, she suddenly caught a glimpse of silhouette, lurking by the river, less than ten feet away.
Hermione took up her wand and pointed it in the direction of the disguised figure, and whispered. 'Lumos!'
Her heart skipped a beat when she saw him; he was quite alone — the light of her wand making his ginger colored hair shine through the darkness, slightly highlighted from the white ground.
'Ron?' she whispered slowly — her eyes started to tear up at him again, as she gazed at him, she had missed him so much. But Ron only stared back at her with cold and unfeeling eyes and then he turned around; slowly walking away from her.
Hermione startled and dashed after him; she could not lose him again; he would not leave her this time.
"Ron! Ron! Please stop!' she screamed as she tried to keep up with him, but he was getting further away. 'Petrificus Totalus!' she screamed with her wand held firmly in her hand, still, nothing happened and the space between them kept on increasing. 'Stupefy!' — the spells kept on missing him. 'Ron! No! Please wait! Come back! PLEASE!'
The weather started to change: the stillness of the forest had turned into a chaos of mother nature, the wind was getting strong, and the snow fell hard on her: making it almost impossible to see: she could barely see him now, the silhouette of Ron Weasly was fading away with the storm until he was devoured by the darkness.
Hermione Granger woke up by her own screams and turned her eyes directly on Ron's bed — it still glared at her with his mocking absence, except for the pile of books she'd been looking through just before going to bed. After staring at Ron's pillow she rested her eyes on Harry's bed instead: longing for some comfort, but to her horror; it too, was empty. She raised her arm and checked her clock; it was almost two-o'clock in the morning.
With anxiety rushing through her blood, she got up and searched the tent, but to no avail: Harry wasn't there. She put her shoes on and rushed outside, millions of possibilities rushed through her head as she made her way through the trees: he's getting water, or wood, or he just needed some air, whatever it is — he will turn up, he won't be far off.
After almost an hour of searching: Hermione had to decide that Harry had probably left the forest. Instead she decided to visit the nearby village, the one Harry had visited the day before to fill up their food supplies,
She apparated in front of a very tiny, shabby looking shop and luckily the streets were empty and quiet: no lights were coming through any of the windows, and all the shops were closed: the only movement she could make out was coming from a stray cat jumping searching in one of the bins nearby.
Hermione started to make her way down one of the streets, called out as she went, ''Pad Foot?'' — in case someone unfriendly happened to overhear her.
She turned right, stepping into a narrow street covered with small houses on both sides. She could see three boys walking further down the road, they couldn't be much older than fourteen, but they were closing in on her, and she held her hand tightly around her wand as they got closer. The boy in the middle, who was a lot bigger than the rest, mumbled something as the gang made their way past her: something that sounded like: "I think the loony bin is missing a patient", making the others giggle.
And it wasn't until then that Hermione had realized how she must look; she was running around in a small muggle-village, in the dark, wearing only her pyjamas and shoes, in the middle of winter: obviously they thought she had lost her marbles.
'Are you alright sweetheart?' A raspy old voice suddenly appeared behind her and Hermione turned around: there was a tiny, old, muggle-woman, standing outside her, blue front door, in a lilac dressing gown. The old woman was scamming Hermione up and down with a weary expression.
'Aren't you cold?' asked the woman. 'Lord! You are not even wearing a coat!'
'I'm looking for my cat, I've lost him you see.' said Hermione with a small smile, thinking quickly. She straightened herself and tugged her wet, frizzy curls back from her face.
The muggle-woman stared at her with an expression with utter disbelief, but before she could speak again, Hermione continued.
'His name is Pad-Foot, he's really old and has almost gone all blind, so naturally I'm very worried about him.'
The muggle made no attempt to smile as she said,'Well… I am sure you are very worried dear. However there's no need to wake up the entire neighborhood simply over a lost cat! I am sure he'll turn up eventually.'
Clearly not a cat-person, Hermione thought.
'Well if you do see him please don't catch him, he's awfully scared of strangers' said Hermione, not bothering forcing a smile this time. She nodded her head towards the old woman in a bid of farewell and started to walk down the road again. She managed only a few steps before the little woman shouted after her.
'Girl? You have not told me what the little creature looks like! How am I supposed to know if it is the correct cat?'
'He's black with green eyes' said Hermione, not turning around.