Chapter 14: Where Are You?

Hermione had cried herself to sleep. Lavender had sat by her the whole night while riding the snake. Ron kept a lookout for Harry and Sirius, and Percy looked out for any danger that may have been following them. The manor was no longer in sight, and no one knew where the snake would be taking them. Ginny and Penelope kept a watch on some of the villagers, helping the elderly and caring for the young. Most of the people kept silent, some were praying for Harry and Sirius, hoping they were safe, while some slept, shivering from the cold from time to time. Harry had long ago fallen asleep. After a night of trying to remain hidden, freeing his friends, duelling with his enemy to exhaustion, he was sleepy. Sirius was trying to remain awake. That night had been too long for his liking and all he wanted to do was curl up in a nice warm bed and sleep. But he couldn't as he was trying to reach the flying snake speedily, and without waking Harry up. Draco was at the ministry, ranting loudly about the loss of his house and how a wedding would not be taking place, while a matron followed him around, trying to tend to his wounds, but giving up after she was snapped at by him.

Harry woke up and squinted in the sun's light. He yawned and stretched a little, but stopping after pain shot through his arm. They were still flying over Scottish countryside, over a loch, and ahead of them was some more forest.

"Morning sleepyhead," Sirius greeted tiredly and yawned out wide.

"Hey Sirius," Harry greeted sounding tired.

"Exciting night last night, wasn't it?" Sirius grinned. Harry smiled.

"Yeah, won't want to go through another one in a while though." Harry muttered.

"You won't have to. We have all your things, and the manor burnt down to the ground." Sirius stated.

"Crap!" Harry suddenly cursed.

"What?!" Sirius said, a little surprised.

"The will! It was in the house! And it's burnt down! That's the only thing that can prove my innocence!" Harry said, the realisation hitting him hard. Sirius didn't know what to say after that, but then a thought popped into his head.

"There is always the truth potion," Sirius tried to comfort him.

"Like Malfoy would let me take truth potion to prove my innocence," Harry said, all hopes fading away.

"Harry, I don't like it when you turn all negative on me. You've never given up before, and you're not going to start now. I might have to do a Ron and punch you to get some sense in you." Sirius scolded Harry couldn't help but laugh a little at that.

"You're right. If I go on like this, I'll be bruised for life." Harry said.

"Crap! So I don't get to do a Ron on you? Damn! Me and my big mouth!" Sirius joked. Harry chuckled. He felt the wind blow through his hair, refreshing him. He liked that feeling, being up in the air.

"So, where exactly is this snake going?" Sirius asked.

"Just keep flying north and we'll get there," Harry said.

Meanwhile, further north from where the duo flew, the flying snake made a gradual dive to the ground. Ron looked down to see where they were landing, and saw it was village inhabited by many house elves. They were jumping up and down, waving and cheering madly at them. Some were at work, adding some finishing touches to the breakfast buffet they had prepared. The snake landed with a small thud. It leaned to one side and Ron jumped off. He was immediately ambushed by the elves that had many plates with different appetisers for them to eat.

"Here you go sir! Eat as much as you like! Plenty for everybody, we did what Mr Harry Potter says, we good house elves!" said one elf with an extremely high pitched voice.

"Um…thanks," Ron said, taking a plate out of courtesy.

The other villagers started to mount off the snake, and the elves tended to them, giving the appropriate person the right breakfast. They gave bowls of muesli, cereal, plates of bacon and eggs, toast with many spreads, all types of eggs and any type of breakfast food imaginable. Hermione took a plate of food out of courtesy and sat by a small sycamore tree. She wasn't hungry. She was worried and anxious. She couldn't help but think about Harry. Thinking that he might have died back in the explosion, and that Sirius would come back, bearing bad news. Or if he would return at all, a stray guard might have caught him, or he may have died searching for Harry. Tears formed in her eyes as she thought about the many possibilities. All more depressing than the previous thought.

"Does miss not like the food?" Hermione heard a voice say. She looked down and say a tiny elf with tufts of blonde hair tied back in a loose ponytail. The elf had large hazel eyes and a tiny red apron with a cherry on it. It was a child house elf, and it barely reached Hermione's knees.

"No, not at all, the food is delicious," Hermione said, giving a small smile to the house elf.

"Then why is miss so upset?" the elf asked in a curiosity only a child could have. The elf sat down beside Hermione.

"I might loose two very special friends," Hermione's replied truthfully to the small house elf.

"Oh, me sorry miss. Penny is very sorry miss. But they might not be lost yet. They may be out there," the house elf called Penny said pointing out into the vast forests. Hermione smiled at the small elf.

"You're right Penny. They might be out there," Hermione replied.

"That's it miss!" the small house elf said. She took out a handkerchief and gave it to Hermione. Hermione dabbed her eyes with it and thanked the elf. She complimented the elf on the cooking which made the elf blush.

Ron had long ago finished any food he could have eaten. Now, he searched the skies to see any signs of Harry or Sirius. It wasn't much help when numerous elves had tried to feed him more food, but he politely refused the food. He saw that Hermione had calmed down a bit, which he was very thankful. He didn't know how to handle crying women too well. He looked at the forests from time to time, to see if they had come by foot, but he knew Harry had his broomstick and would easily fly here. It would take them a good few days to reach the village of house elves by foot. Ron then noticed he wasn't the only one searching the skies. Hermione, Remus, Friar Hagrid, Fred and George, Neville, Mrs Weasley and many other villagers peered at the skies and forests looking for the two outlaws. Lavender approached Ron from behind.

"Any sign of them?" she asked. Ron sighed and ran a hand through his flaming red hair.

"No, I'm starting to lose hope. Harry and Sirius can fly quickly on the Firebolt, they should be here by now. Or maybe within a few hours," Ron said, and searched the skies once again.

"I'm sure they made it out, they can't have been trapped in that manor. They're too witty for that," Lavender said.

"They have to be here, otherwise this whole village will collapse," Ron stated, "and Hermione would be the worst effected."

"What about you? He's you're best friend, will you be ok?" Lavender asked concerned. Ron smiled at her.

"I trust Harry, I'm sure he's going to be here," Ron said determinedly. Lavender smiled and looked at the sky. Her hands brushed his and he held it, for comfort.

At this time, the whole village needed some comfort. The previous night had been traumatic and now to think that the legend and his godfather had perished in the flames was too much to bear. The House elves had made lunch and dinner for the villagers as the day went by, but some had lost their appetite, as they saw that neither one had returned that day. The sun was slowly sinking over the horizon and no shadow to the familiar shape of Harry or Sirius could be seen. No silhouette could be seen in the sky as the sun was setting. Through this whole time, Ron had been standing at the same spot with Lavender, searching the skies. Remus had been walking around in circles the whole day, waiting for his best friend, who was like a brother to him and his godson. Hermione had sat by the tree with Penny all day. Unshed tears had escaped her eyes as every hour passed with no sign of Harry or Sirius. The Weasley Family were silent that day, not their usual cheerful selves. Friar Hagrid had been sat down and had been twirling the same twig while looking for them. The whole village was tense, and alert to any unusual sound or sight that whole day. The children had drifted off to sleep as the night came, as did some of the elders of the village. Soon enough, only Hermione and Ron were awake searching the skies. Ron had remained in the same spot, searching the skies; Lavender was leaning on Hermione as she slept, and the house elf Penny lay on Hermione's other side, sleeping peacefully. 'Dammit! What's happened to them? They should be here!' Ron thought as he watched the night sky. He then dropped his gaze from the skies, and clenched his fists until his knuckles were tight. 'They're not coming back.' Ron thought, he'd been denying that thought most of the day but it was sinking in. A single tear made it's way down Hermione's face as she saw the change of gesture in Ron. He had lost hope. She had lost hope, she had lost Harry. Hermione angrily wiped the tear away. 'You promised you'd be alright. Harry, you always play the hero, and it ended up killing you! I love you dammit, you can't leave me!' Hermione thought as she wiped away more of her tears.

"…'ione!….'on!…" came a distant call. Hermione looked up, as did Ron. A dark shadow could be seen, and wings? No…they were arms, and they were waving.

"…'mus!…'rid!…" came another slightly lower call. It sounded like…no, it couldn't be! Hermione got up and Ran to where Ron was standing on a perched rock. Lavender woke up when she hit the ground.

"HARRY!!!! SIRIUS!!!!" both Ron and Hermione yelled. This awoke all the villagers and the house elves.

"…'ry….'ius…." the distant voices said. Harry and Sirius grinned.

"Good! They heard us!" Harry grinned and stopped waving his arms.

"Yeah, now we can stop flying. Flying for this long, non-stop is tiring," Sirius said tiredly.

"Non-stop? We stopped to eat three times and stopped 6 times cause you were tired or that you needed to go to the toilet!" Harry exclaimed.

"Hey, we need to eat and we need to use the toilet, it's only healthy to do so," Sirius pointed out. " And it isn't exactly easy to fly with a heavy sack load of goods and with two people."

"Whatever you say Sirius," Harry said while sighing exasperatedly. Soon, a cheer could be heard from the villagers and the House Elves had started a warm and controlled fire.

"Sounds like we were expected," Sirius stated. Harry laughed.

"Yeah! I knew they'd come back!" Friar Hagrid roared with please.

"Harry! Sirius! Where've you been all this time?" Lee Jordan shouted out.

"Oh yeah, the whole village was worried, but we knew you were going to come. Isn't that right Fred?" George asked.

"Why yes George! All these people were crying and shaking and worried. Not us! We kept spirits high!" Fred joined in.

"Shut up!" Angelina and Alicia said in unison and whacked the twins.

Soon enough Sirius landed the broomstick and the whole village ambushed the two and grabbed them in hugs and backslaps. Harry winced in pain every now and then from the backslaps but dealt with it. He didn't want them to worry over him more than they already had. Sirius however was above the crowd as they lifted him over his shoulders. Before Harry could stop them, they had done the same to him. He winced a little as hands were placed on his wounds but he laughed as the started bouncing as if he had just won a Quidditch match at school. After the dispersed a little and put his down, they bombarded him with questions.

"Now, now! Let our boy res' or summat like tha'," Friar Hagrid said and moved the crowd away. Harry winked at him, very thankful that he had done that. He rubbed his wound on his arm, which had been a little sore after a while. He then felt the lightest kiss on the back of his neck and turned around. What he saw was a sight for sore eyes. She looked like an angel. Her long wavy hair all down, her skin glowing with the fire light, her mesmerising eyes sparking bright through some tears of happiness, her long flowing white night dress blowing gently with the wind, she was outright beautiful. She smiled up at him as a tear escaped her eyes. Harry bent down and kissed it away. Their faces were inches apart, but they wanted that chance to gaze into each other's wondrous eyes. They slowly came closer until their lips met in a kiss so full of passion that it nearly overwhelmed them. Hermione's hands wound around Harry's neck to pull him in closer, one hand roaming his mess hair. Harry's hands rested on Hermione's waist, and brought her in closer, deepening the kiss. Catcalls and whistling could be heard from the villagers behind them. They parted and looked up at them smiling at them and blushing slightly.

"That's our boy! We taught him everything we knew! Go Harry!" came different voices from the male population of the villagers. Mainly from the Weasley twins. Angelina and Alicia soon whacked them both, but they couldn't help but laugh gingerly.

"Harry," Hermione whispered.

"Yes?" Harry said, turning to face her.

"I love you." Harry smiled down at her, which could make her melt on the spot.

"I love you too."

A/N: Alright, there's all the fluffy romance that you're gonna get for now (yeah, I know it sucked). As Gary Skinner so appropriately quoted for me ' Romance? Bollocks! I'm feeling lousy, let 'em all suffer like me!' Well, I'm not actually like that, I love romance, and I love writing it, but there wasn't a lot of it in the chapter, and when you're unwell, romance doesn't come to your head as easily as you would like it to. Trust me, I'll try to write more romance in the last chapters, but I am feeling lousy…so…some reviews will make me feel happier!