Harry Potter and the Hidden Truth

Chapter 2 Hermione's Dream




"We rest.

A dream has power to poison sleep;

We rise.

Our wondering thought pollutes the day."

Percy B. Shelley

Hermione awoke with an ear-piercing scream, her hair wet from sweat and tears, eyes puffy from crying. It took her a moment to register her surroundings. She was in her bed at home. She used to feel very safe in this bed, but not anymore. She had been having these dreams more and more frequently, always waking with a start. She was glad that her parents were away at a medical conference. She hated waking them when she screamed. They would always rush to her room, to make sure she was ok. Then they would fuss over her until she finally slipped back to sleep.

She pulled the sheets away from her and threw her feet over the side of the bed. She went to the bathroom, splashing water on her face. She dried her self off, then sat herself down in a large armchair near the balcony in her bedroom. She pulled her knees up against her chest, staring out the open doors of her balcony. She had to admit; the breeze lofting through the doors felt soothing.

She thought again about the nightmare that she just had. It was the same one that she had all summer. It never changed. No matter how hard she tried, she could not dream about anything else. She had even begun giving herself pep talks before she went to bed. Trying to will herself to have a pleasant night of sleep. However, it never worked.

She didn't know, why her dream went like it did. All she knew was that Harry had received a letter, and then vanished. In her mind, were a million different ideas about what had happened after he disappeared. After she had read the letter, she felt responsible. She supposes this is why her dream goes the way it does. Harry dying to save her. Every time she woke after the dream, the same feeling of guilt came over her, but she had to keep telling her self, that it was not her fault. But believing that was really hard to do.

She started having the dreams about two months ago. That's when she got the news. She could remember it, like it had all just happened. She was afraid that it would be engrained in her memory for the rest of her life.

It was a week after her fourth year of school at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was a beautiful early summer day. She was out in her garden, sitting amongst the already blooming flowers, doing homework for History of Magic class. When she caught the movement of something out of the corner of her eye. She turned to where she saw the movement; she could hardly believe what she was seeing. At the back of the garden, near a large tree, she saw a huge snake. It was coiled near the tree, with its head in the air, as if it were watching her. She quickly jumped to her feet, slowly started backing away from the snake. For a brief moment, she couldn't help but think that the snake wouldn't harm her, but then she shook herself back to senses, as other thoughts crept into her head.

Could this be Nagini? She had never seen her, but had heard Harry talk about her. If this was indeed Nagini, than I am in some serious trouble.

A thousand thoughts raced through her head, and for once, she did not know what to do. If she screamed, the snake could attack. She couldn't use magic, because she was underage. Sounds from the street, broke her out of her trance, she glanced back at the snake. It was still there, just like before, its eyes fixed on her. Then she heard the sounds of someone, or something coming up the sidewalk, that led to the garden. She didn't want to turn her back to the snake, but at that moment, she felt more threatened by whatever was approaching her from behind. With one more glance at the snake, she turned to the entrance to the garden, waiting to see who was there.

A large black dog, jumped the gate, landing on all four feet, and then turned in her direction. It was Sirius. A feeling of relief swept over her whole body. As the dog took human form, she turned back to the snake. It was gone.

"What-Where did it go?" she said in a worried tone, still frantically searching the garden.

"Where did what go, Hermione?" Sirius asked.

"The snake." She replied. "I saw it over by that tree." she raised her finger, and pointed to the tree where the snake was.

"A snake?" he said with a puzzled voice, "I didn't see any thing." His eyes darted from Hermione to where she had pointed.

"Sirius, could it have been Nagini? I have never seen her, but Harry has talked about her."

"Did it attack you? Or give you any indication that it wanted to harm you?"

"Well---no it didn't. It just watched me."

"Hermione, you know the muggle world better than I. It was probably someone's escaped pet."

She thought about it for a moment. "I guess your probably right, Sirius."

She looked back to Sirius. "Sirius, what are you doing here? Its too dangerous, you could get caught, you need to…."

"Hermione, be quiet!" he said with more force than he wanted to. "We need to talk."

The tone in his voice, told her that something was wrong, and not to question him. She was curious though, why would he need to talk to her?

"Ok, but we need to go inside. Can't risk you being seen." She said as she picked up her things and headed up to the house.

Sirius followed behind, as they made their way up the garden, to the patio doors at the back of the house. She pushed aside one of the doors, nudging Crookshanks away form the door with her foot. She led him through the family room and into the kitchen. Putting her books down on the table.

"Would you like something to drink? We have…" her voice trailed off, as she opened the refrigerator to see what she had to offer him.

"No Hermione. There is no time. Have you seen Harry?" He stared blankly at her.

She could hear the sense of urgency in his voice. "No, I have not seen Harry since we got off of the train at Kings Cross. Why, what's wrong?"

He looked directly into her eyes, but did not say anything. He was trying to decide how much she should know. Hermione, was one of Harry's best friends, she deserved to know the complete story.

"Sirius, please tell me what's wrong." She said, but the falter in her voice almost made you think that she already knew what he was about to say.

"Hermione." He paused. "Harry is missing. No one has seen or heard from him since yesterday."

She didn't know what to think, Harry was at the Dursley's, he should have been safe. "He's missing? How---What happened? I thought that he was safe with the Dursley's?"

He began to pace about the room. "We thought that he was safe with the Dursley's. After Voldemort's attack on Harry, when he was a baby, Dumbledore put all kinds of magic up around the Dursley's home, to make it safe for Harry. Just like Hogwarts, no one can apperate to or from Harry's home, nor for several miles around it. He even had a witch live in the neighborhood, to keep an eye on Harry and his family. She was the one who alerted us to his disappearance. She had charms up over the house that let her know when any magic is done on the premises. Yesterday, one of her charms alerted her to magic at the home. She immediately went to investigate. When she got there, Mr. Dursley told her what had happened, though she isn't sure if she believes him." He now stopped pacing the room, and stared at the floor, lost in thought.

"What did he say had happened?"

"He told Arabella that on owl delivered a letter for Harry. Harry read the letter, a strange look came over his face, and then he just disappeared."

"What---What do you mean he just disappeared? He ran away?"

"No, Hermione, we believe that he disapperated."

"How Sirius, you know that we can not do that yet." She stated. It seemed rather obvious to her, that Mr. Dursley had to be wrong. There was no way that Harry could know how to apperate yet. "Could we give Mr. Dursley some Veritserum potion? To make sure that he is telling us the truth."

"No Hermione, we can't. We do not want to get the muggle authorities involved in this if we don't have to. It is against our laws to use that potion on a muggle, without their consent, it affects them differently than it does us."

"Well, why does Arabella not believe him?" she asked.

"Hermione, Vernon Dursley, is hardly the type of man that one can easily trust."

"There has to be some other explanation, we do not know how to apperate yet, and you said that no one could apperate to or from the home. Besides, Sirius, Harry would need to have a license from the Ministry in order to do that." She thought that everything that she had just said should have proved that Harry could not have apperated. She waited for Sirius to respond. She began petting Crookshanks, who had just jumped onto the counter next to her, purring wildly, staring at Sirius.

He looked lost in thought again like he was trying to decide if he should hold back any information. "Hermione, here is what we know. There is only one person, who can apperate to or from the house, and that is Harry. Dumbledore told me about some of the magic that is protecting the house. The charm was cast so that Harry could apperate from the home, by himself or with the aid of someone else. This was done for emergencies. In case they needed to get Harry away from the home quickly. Arabella's detectors can tell her exactly what kind of magic was performed at the home. That is how we know that he apperated. She said that no one apperated in, but someone apperated out." He paused again; wondering what she was feeling. "Hermione, let's sit down." He motioned over to the kitchen table, pulling out a chair for her, and one for him, and then took a seat.

Hermione pulled Crookshanks down from the counter, and set him on the floor, and than set in the chair he pulled out for her. "Sirius, could some one have walked in, and then apperated out with Harry."

"Yes. If Harry was with them, any one could have apperated out of that house. The Dursley's memory could have been modified, but that is not what we think happened. Dumbledore feels, and I agree with him, that if it had been Voldemort or a death eater, that they would have killed the Dursley's and left the dark mark."

"Sirius, if Harry had left, then why wouldn't he tell someone where he is? And how could he apperate by himself? Did you look for him at the Burrow? Maybe he is with Ron. The Weasley's have rescued him from the Dursley's before."

"No, we checked. He is not at Ron's, and they have not seen him either. Dumbledore has people out looking for him right now."

"What about the Ministry? Are they involved?"

"No." Sirius said quickly. "Dumbledore alerted them. But Fudge won't help. After the Rita Skeeter articles, about Harry, Fudge isn't sure that he didn't run away. He still refuses to believe that Voldemort is a threat. He is unwilling to use any of the Ministries resources looking for a deranged boy."

Hermione watched Sirius, he was hiding something. His eyes and his behavior gave him away. "Sirius," she asked. "What is it that your are not telling me.? And don't say nothing, because I know your holding something back.? As she finished, Crookshanks, jumped up on the table and began rubbing his face against Sirius's robes.

Sirius scratched behind the cats ear, looking at Hermione the whole time. She sure is a clever witch, he thought to himself. Then he spoke. "Hermione, I told you that Harry received a letter right?"

She nodded her head, then said "But you didn't tell me what was in the letter, or who it was from."

Sirius fumbled around in his robe pockets, pulling out a piece of black parchment. He handed it over to Hermione. "Here. Read it for yourself."

A little hesitantly, she grabbed the parchment, and began unfolding it. The first thing she noticed, was the green ink, in which it was written. Then at the top of the letter she saw the dark mark. "This is from--is this from you-know-who?" she asked, although she already knew the answer. "Yes, Hermione, it is." Sirius replied.

When she finished the letter, she sat there in shock. She could not believe what she just read. A wave of guilt rushed into her mind. She focused on two words in the letter, for those two words hurt her more than she thought they ever could. your mudblood

She now made eye contact with Sirius, he could see the tears that trickled down her cheek. "Sirius? I'm the mudblood, aren't I." she asked. Sirius, could tell the pain that she was in, and he wondered how he could help her through this. "Yes Hermione. Dumbledore thinks that you are who he was referring to."

Sirius watched Hermione, waiting for her to say something. He knew this was a lot of information, and it would have overwhelmed most people, but not Hermione. She was strong. If anyone at her age could handle this, it was her. There had to be a reason she was put into the Gryffindor house, instead of Ravenclaw.

"Sirius?" she started, then stopped, her voice faltering again. "This is all my fault. Harry could be in danger because of me." She said, tears now pouring down her face. Sirius knew exactly how she felt. He had been blaming himself for everything that happened to Harry since the death of his parents. If only he had done things differently.

"Hermione, you must not think that. Harry is in danger because of who he is, not who his friends are. Voldemort will stop at nothing to prove that he can't be bested by Harry." He knew as he said this, that it would probably not make any difference to the pain she was in. He tried to tell himself the same things, but the words never comforted him. But he had to remain positive for Hermione's sake.

"We have to hope for the best. Harry will be ok, and back at school with you and Ron come the start of term. We have to focus on that."

She thought about what Sirius had just said, and it did make sense. Crying was not going to solve anything. She had to keep telling herself that Harry was alive, and would be at Hogwarts on September 1. Besides, if you-know-who had killed Harry, he would have made sure that the whole world knew.

"Now, for some other business. Dumbledore and I feel that anyone close to Harry may be in danger. So we are sending some wizards here and to the Burrow, to set up charms. There will be wizards stationed in the house next door, to watch the neighborhood. They will take you to Diagon Alley, to get your school things. Ron will meet up with us there, and then I will escort you both to the Hogwarts Express. I will be with you on the train as well, untill we reach Hogwarts." he said. He waited for her to say something. At least the tears had stopped.

"Hermione, I have to go now." They both got up from their chairs, and she walked him to the door. "Sirius, please let me know if you find him. And be careful."

"I will Heremione." he said. "We will find him Hermione." With that he transformed back into a dog. She opened the door, and said . "Good luck, Snuffles."

The large black dog bolted from the house, and she watched as it ran down the road and out of sight. She closed the door, and then fell to the floor, tears once again pouring down her face.

She could not believe that it has been nearly two months since anyone has seen Harry. Dumbledore still had his people looking for him, in both the wizard world and the muggle one. Hermione, had released Rita Skeeter, who agreed to write a story about Harry's disappearance, in exchange for her freedom. To her credit, she did write the story, and even let Hermione check it over before it went to the paper. The good thing about the article, was now the entire wizard community knew of the mysterious disappearance of the boy who lived, and Minister Fudge's lack of effort to find him. Now with everyone in an uproar, Fudge had no choice, but to act as though he was concerned about Harry. He set up a group of Aurors, to look for him. He still did not think that You-know-who had returned.

Hermione, got up from her comfortable chair, and got back into bed, telling herself that tomorrow would be a better day. She was going to meet up with Ron and Sirius in Diagon Alley, to get their supplies for school. She was also excited to tell Ron, that she was named a perfect. But what she hoped for the most, is that this would be the day that Harry was found.