Chapter 3:
Author's Note: Hey, guys! Thank you all for reading my first two chapters, and I'm soooooo sorry for uploading this so late. All you R/H shippers will just have to wait, this is a long story. I will keep writing as fast as I can, and Welcome Aboard the Good Ship R/H!!! By the way, this chapter is dedicated to Sarah, a good friend of mine from school. Her nickname is Hermione.
Disclaimer: Bugger off, Warner Bros., I'm not making any of your money.
The Lonely Letters
When they arrived, they were greeted by a rotting wooden sign, which read: Godric's Hollow, in faded, black letters. The trio approached Harry's house very cautiously, wands raised. Inside, everything was extremely messy. In the living room, tables were upturned, CDs on the floor, pictures crooked, papers strewn everywhere, and everything else was the same.
" This place was raided," said Ron, bending down to pick up a chair.
"Very good, Weasley. We didn't notice," drawled Malfoy.
As they walked through each room in the house, they got more and more depressed. Hermione was almost brought to tears when she saw his old school trunk, lying in the corner of one of the rooms.
"Come on, let's open it," said Ron, taking Hermione's hand. It was locked.
"Hermione, what's that opening spell you used to save us from Filch in our first year?"
" You
mean the one that got us into the Forbidden
Corridor on the third floor, in the middle of the night, with that horrible,
three- headed dog "Fluffy"?" She asked through wet eyes.
"So my midnight duel trick worked, did it?!" Malfoy laughed. Ron hushed him.
"Uh, yeah, that one," said Ron uneasily.
"You know that spell just as well as I do," said Hermione, but she opened it anyway. Inside, they found his books, his firebolt, his invisibility cloak, the old sneakoskope Ron had given him, and an old piece of parchment. The sneakoscope started whistling shrilly.
"Ah, this thing's probably broken by now," said Ron, "but we should probably take the cloak and map. They could help."
Malfoy recognized the cloak, but said, "What map?"
Ron showed him the piece of old parchment, and took out his wand. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," said Ron. The familiar map of the Hogwarts castle spread across the sheet. In awe, Malfoy examined the map closely. "Whoa," he said.
Ron then muttered, "Mischief managed," and tapped it with his wand. It went blank; he took it from Malfoy and put it in his pocket.
As they walked through each room in the house, they got more depressed. Each was messier than the last, but with no useful information. When they reached the last and smallest room in the house, they halted. All three gasped, a short intake of breath, surprise.
"Is it _ just me, or is this room a bit different?" Malfoy asked, looking confused and a little shaken.
"It's not you. This room is very different." Hermione stepped forward, and looked around the room.
What was different about this room was actually quite simple. It appeared as though it hadn't been touched. It was neat and organized, as though they had just forgot about it being there. If they hadn't seen the rest of the house, they could've guessed that someone was still living there.
They searched the room thoroughly, looking everywhere. All of Harry's belongings, save the ones they had found earlier, and his wand, were there. "This is very odd," Malfoy commented, looking through Harry's clothes.
"What's this?" asked Ron, holding up a small scrap of paper. "It was the only thing on the floor. The rest of the rug is clean."
The other two hurried over to investigate the new-found clue. On it, was a single letter: F. "Let's look through the rest of the house. We might've not noticed these in the other rooms!" Hermione declared, as she always did when they were close to figuring something out. By the end of the day, they were exhausted. Back at Hermione's apartment, they looked at all the letters they had collected.
F, S, D, I, L, U, E, and I were sitting on the coffee table in the living room. "What are all these letters for?" Ron wondered out loud, before a huge yawn.
"I don't know, but I'm going to bed," said Malfoy, also yawning.
"Don't worry, 'Mione'll have it figured out by morning. I assure you. You know what? I'm gonna go to bed, too," he added. "G'night," said Hermione, biting her fingernail, and staring at the letters.
The next morning, Ron walked out of his room, and into the room they worked in last night. Hermione was curled up asleep, on the floor, and on the table, the letters were in arranged in a way that it formed a single word: FIDELIUS.
He smiled, shook his head, and thought about it. Then he bent down, and gently shook Hermione awake. "Just five more pages Mummy, please? It's almost the end of the chapter," she said, turning over.
Ron whispered, "Hermione, you need to get up." Hermione replied with a groan, and stretched. Ron sighed.
"I'll make you a bagel," he said, smiling.
"A bagel?" Hermione asked, suddenly wide awake. She looked at him, and her face turned pink. "Sorry," she muttered.
"No problem. Good work," he said, helping her to her feet. They walked to the kitchen, and Hermione sat down at the table, while Ron busied himself with making breakfast. He was currently trying to work the toaster, and proceeded to have one fly three feet into the air, and (very hot) land in his hand. "How long were you up last night?" Ron asked, while trying to wave the heat off with an oven mitt.
"Oh, just until I….oh, until I figured it out. I don't know what…..time it was," Hermione yawned back. After fifteen minutes, Ron just decided to use magic, and brought over two deliciously, perfectly toasted bagels, smothered in cream cheese.
"Mmm…"said Hermione. She was very hungry, after being up so late. She finished chewing and asked, "So, how's everything been going lately? I never really had a chance to ask."
"Other than the fact that Harry and Ginny are missing? I guess things are alright. Not much was happening until now. We caught a few Death Eaters spying on the Department, though."
"Really? Who?"
"No, wait for it, Crabbe and Goyle."
"Really?! But they're…"
"Yes, they're in Azkaban now."
"But Malfoy said he wasn't a death eater…"said Hermione, trailing off.
"Of course not, what do you mean?"
"Well, those two were his best friends in school, I thought they'd follow him."
"Hmm," said Ron, through a mouthful of bagel.
"Anyway, has there been anything else going on? How're the twins, and Percy?"
"Oh, Fred and George are fine. Fred's finally gotten engaged to Angelina! Oh, and Percy married Penelope Clearwater. Remember? That Ravenclaw prefect you helped out in our second year?"
"Oh, yeah! Good for Percy! And Fred, too. So, who's your sweetheart now, hmm? Fleur Delacour? Padma Patil? Who?"
"No,no. Neither of those. Actually, I've been a little too busy with my job to think about stuff like that."
"Yeah, I'm sure. You probably sit around and beat Malfoy at chess all day!"
Ron got a disgruntled look on his face, and muttered, "That's not what we do."
"Then what does an unspeakable do?"
"I can't tell you. Otherwise, I wouldn't be called an "unspeakable"."
Ron and Hermione then started bickering, just like old times. Hermione claimed that Ron was just covering the fact that he didn't do anything, by not telling her what he supposedly did. Ron insisted that she just said that because she was jealous and angry that he wouldn't tell her what unspeakables did. Until…
"Ahem."
Hermione and Ron looked up, their frustrated faces now mingled with shock. Against the doorway leaned Malfoy, in a silver silk bathrobe that was way too big for him.
"Some people were trying to sleep," he said, looking annoyed. Ron and Hermione snorted in laughter. Trying to stifle it, Ron managed to ask, "Is that your bathrobe, Malfoy?" They started laughing again.
"No, actually it belongs to the British Museum. Please, people! Why else would I be wearing it?"
Hermione got control of herself and said, "Well, it is a tad, um, too, er, it's a bit big for you, isn't it?
Malfoy sighed, rolled his eyes, and went to sit at the table. "Okay, what does "Fidelius" mean?" Malfoy asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee.
"We don't know yet," said Hermione, taking over. "I'm sure I have a book that mentions it, though."
They set to work after breakfast, looking through more boring books about illegal spells, and their facts and statistics. "This doesn't seem to be getting us anywhere," said Malfoy, but Ron seemed to be thinking hard about something.
Hermione stared at him, wondering. What is he thinking? There must be something, cause that's always the look he gets.
He suddenly looked up, straight into Hermione's eyes. Those violently blue eyes were twinkling rather brightly. Yes! He's figured something out!
"Hey 'Mione, remember the story of Harry's parents?"
"Vaguely, why?"
"Well, do you remember how they hid from Voldemort?"
Malfoy flinched at this, but Ron was still waiting for Hermione's answer.
"N-no, I don't," she said, itching to remember something that she couldn't quite put her finger on.
He started telling the story, which Hermione and Malfoy listened to with rapt attention. But then he paused.
"And then, of course, they would be killed if they didn't hide from him. So they hid with…no, wait for it… the Fidelius Charm!
"Oh!" Hermione alighted with excitement.
"And what is that?" asked Malfoy.
"Well," Ron stated, "It's a charm to hide someone or something. So, if say, I wanted to hide from someone, say Hermione, and I performed the Fidelius Charm, she wouldn't see me sitting here, right next to her. No one else would either. The thing is, I'd need a secret-keeper, let's say you, and you were told where I am. No one would know, or could tell where I was, except you. But if you told anyone, especially Hermione, everyone would suddenly be able to hear me and see me again. Get it?"
"Yeah. But you, being the one in hiding, would have to completely rely on me not to tell your secret. You wouldn't be able to tell anyone, either."
"Right."
"Maybe You-Know-Who is under the Fidelius Charm."
"No," said Hermione, "that wouldn't work for him. He wouldn't be able to attack anyone, and the secret-keeper would be in control of his life."
"They all thought about this for a moment. Ron gave a victory whoop, very loudly, and said, "I think I've figured it out!"
"What then? Don't beat around the bush!" Malfoy shouted.
"Right, this isn't really that great, but what if Harry was forced under the Fidelius Charm?"
"Oh no! We'd better send an owl to Dumbledore!" Hermione said, realization dawning on her face.
"Better yet, why don't we see him in person?" Malfoy suggested.
They all agreed on this, and sent Dumbledore a letter ahead, telling him when they were coming.
