Chapter 17:
Author's note: Welcome, one and all, witches and wizards, muggles and squibs…well, maybe there are some of us who aren't welcome…*glares at Warner Bros. agents who promptly get up and leave since Evyfleur has a case of rotten fruit next to her on stage*…anyways, seeing that this is all in one sentence, I might as well keep to it, if you want to view my story, The Search for Potter (that title is rather pointless now) in an easier format, or either way, if you want to visit one of my best friend's glorious site, here is the URL: www.geocities.com/v_yfandes/scalawag.html (I highly recommend it), anyways, I'm sorry for my delay, but here is chapter seventeen and I hope you like it very much; to my faithful reviewers:
Sylvia Malfoy- Happy New Year! I'm glad that Draco's resolution worked out well, and I'm so happy that you enjoy my fanfic! I hope you like this next chapter, I loved writing it. Thank you so much for the awesome review!
Fxdreams- I know, isn't he so cute? Hope you like this chapter, thanks for the review!
RonLuver- Haha, I know! I love writing fluff between my dearest and Hermione. Of course, if they were real I would have murdered Hermione by now to keep Ron to myself. But we won't talk about that…I hope you enjoy what happens next, it was such a fun idea I couldn't resist. Thank you very much for your review!
CurlsofGold- Lol! Your review makes no sense, but I think it was positive! I love that, you're quite a funny person! Thanks for your great, if unintelligible review, but I really think you'll love this chapter!
bumpersticker86- Oh, don't feel bad. The reason it was that time is because that's what time it was when I wrote that particular part, I stay up really late when trying to work on such things. I hope you like this chapter! Thank you muchly for the review!
SnWfLakeSwEeTy- Oh, I love R/ Hr too! It's just so wonderful and I can't help that always being my preferred romance pair out of all of them. Hehe! Enjoy this next chapter and thank you for the review!
Mione Weasley- My dearest reviewer, how are you? I'm glad that you enjoyed the fluff I've incorporated, it's very important to me. As to Draco being a bit soft….I think it's a long process, and he goes through spurts and phases. I'm still developing my skill of writing with him, so please excuse my amateur-ness in dealing with him. As always, thank you for the wonderful review!
Disclaimer: Okay, everyone, you already know the drill. First I say something wonderful and worshipful toward our great author, J.K.Rowling, and then I threaten Warner Brothers that I will KILL THEM if they read this! Thank you…have a good read.
Forgotten Potions
The next morning Hermione woke up to see Draco making breakfast and Harry looking at the map. Ron was still asleep, his head resting lightly on her shoulder. She smiled and brushed his red hair out of his face. He continued to sleep.
"Well, good morning," Harry said, grinning at her. "I guess you two worked everything out then, didn't you?"
Hermione glared at him and carefully left Ron's side to eat some breakfast. Nice, crispy bacon on toast and an apple were exactly what she needed at the moment. Satisfied, Hermione started packing up her few things she had undone last night when they stopped. Draco was finishing his own meal, and greeted her through a full mouth.
"Morning, Granger" he tried to say.
"Good morning Draco," she said quite politely. Harry gave her a look that clearly said, "Hey, since when does Malfoy get treated better than me?"
"Since he stopped making silly comments about Ron and me," she said to him, getting up to take a walk. Harry looked after her, confused once again. Had he said something? Draco laughed good-naturedly and patted Harry on the back. He turned to Draco with a quizzical expression.
"I have no idea what you did, P- Harry, but you're in her doghouse today."
"Yeah, I guess so," he replied, taking his glasses off to clean them.
"So," Draco continued, "have we heard anything else from Ginny yet? I hope she's in satisfactory health. From the sound of what she's telling us, she's being treated incredibly well. I've never heard of Death Eaters being so gracious towards their prisoners. They're definitely waiting for you to come and get her, if you ask me."
Harry hastily took the piece of paper that connected him to Ginny out of his pocket to inspect it. Nothing more had been written. He sighed in despair. Draco was right about it, he knew that, but he didn't care. Gin was the person he cared most about, apart from Ron and Hermione. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. If she died, Harry wouldn't be able to forgive himself. He didn't care if he died trying to save her; as long as she was safe he would be happy.
"I don't care whether they're waiting for me, they were right. I am going to get her. No word from her, though. It worries me a little. Well, maybe a bit more than a little. We should probably hit the road soon."
"The road? There isn't a road in this forest and even if there was, we probably wouldn't be able to take it for Ministry safety requirements." Draco said logically. Harry rolled his eyes. What an anti-muggle. He was completely ignorant.
"It's an expression, it's- oh nevermind. You're hopeless, Malfoy."
"Not as hopeless as you, Potter."
"Oh yeah? Want to bet?"
"It depends on the bet. What do you propose?"
"I have an idea…"
*~~~~~~~*
Ron yawned and stretched his arms over his head. Getting up, he looked around. Where had Hermione got off? Ah, there she was. It was a beautiful morning. The butter-yellow rays of the young sun were just started to creep out from the edge of the horizon and hit the new green leaves of the ancient trees. Ron crept silently behind Hermione, taking care to not step on any branches or noisy underbrush.
Crack!
He had accidentally stepped on a twig. Hermione whipped around, her wand in her hand, pointing at Ron. He held his hands up.
"I surrender!" He exclaimed.
"Ron! I thought you were a Death Eater or something. Don't scare me like that! Next time you do you'll sorely regret it." Hermione held her hand to her chest so as to regain her confidence. Ron chuckled mischievously.
"I may not be a Death Eater, but maybe I am something else! Like a werewolf, or a vampire!" He pulled his cloak over his head and imitated a bat. "My name iz Dracula! I vant to suck your blood!" He pretended to attack her, and she swatted him away impatiently.
"Please, Ron, stop being so irksome. And where did you hear that?"
"From my Dad," Ron defended, disgruntled. Pulling his cloak back down, he said, "My dad used to find old muggle movies and play them on a real letefusion. Isn't that cool? I've seen Gone with the Wind, the Birds, and Casablanca, oh and Rear Window. That was real good, it had a guy named Jimmy Stuart in it that I really liked. My dad says he was a closet wizard and liked to live in the muggle world. He was in some other movie we watched, too. Something about Christmas. Ah, I don't remember now, but it was fun. Fred and George and I would sit around watching the muggle movies all summer."
Hermione couldn't help but smile at Ron trying to show off all of his great knowledge of the muggle world. He was so cute like that sometimes. She could just imagine him telling their children stories about when he was a young boy and used to watch "old muggle movies". What am I thinking? Don't even go that far! Children? No, Hermione, you must stop these thoughts immediately!
"Yes, Jimmy Stuart is regarded as one of the best actors ever. That Christmas movie you mentioned is It's A Wonderful Life. Oh, that was such a well-made movie. I haven't seen it in quite a while. And it is not a letefusion, Ron, it's a television."
"Oh," Ron said, looking at his shoes. "Well, erm, maybe you can come to the Burrow after all this is over and we can watch It's A Wonderful Life together. What do you think?"
Hermione smiled at him and they started walking back to the campsite where Harry and Draco were discussing something. "That sounds like the most fun idea I've heard since this whole ordeal began." She could see him blush furious to the roots of his hair; though this didn't stop him from holding her hand as they walked back
He grinned and started to sing, "Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight, come out tonight, come out tonight, Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight…"
"And dance by the light of the moon," she picked up, laughing. (A/N: Sorry, if you don't understand that, it is a song that they sing in It's A Wonderful Life, you'll just have to watch the movie to understand.)
I wish that we could have a wonderful life. What will happen when we find Ginny? I'll probably just go home to my apartment and we'll fade out of friendship again. That can't happen…I can't let it happen.
"So what will happen after that?" Hermione asked him, breaking off the song.
"After what?" he asked, his brow wrinkled in confusion.
"After we watch It's A Wonderful Life. When we find Ginny our case together…and with Draco and Harry will be over. We'll all go back home and be back to normal. Right?"
Ron gave her a worried look.
"Oh no you don't. You aren't going to fade into obscurity while I'm still around. You'll get at least one owl every day from me when you go home, though Pig will hate me for it, and when you have free time you'll be staying at the Burrow with us or with Harry, or Draco. There's no way we're going to let what occurred in the past happen again. I just won't let it. And neither will you. We've been through a whole lot in these past weeks, almost as much as was usual at Hogwarts, and it's changed us from the people we were at graduation. I think that Dumbledore has us working together for a reason. I don't know what reason other than getting us to be friends again, but there's something he isn't telling us."
Hermione was surprised by the fervor of his answer. He really did want her to be around. She wanted to be with him for her whole life, though she wouldn't allow herself to tell him that. If he wanted to be with her he would say something. He's always been straightforward like that. But that could mean that he never had said something about it and didn't intend to. Maybe he really only likes me as a friend…
As Ron and Hermione approached, Draco and Harry looked up from their discussion. With a look at each other they both noticed something. Draco gave Harry a glance that said he was right and he subtly rubbed his fingers together, took a notebook out of his pocket and wrote something down, grinning widely.
"Holding hands, eh?" Draco teased them. Immediately they dropped the grip and both blushed beet-red.
"We better hurry up and get to Wormtail's house today. I don't want to get there to find a deserted house, if you take my meaning." Harry said, gathering his belongings and putting out the fire.
They all agreed with this and hastened to get their possessions together so they could "hit the non-existent road" as Draco was now saying. The walk was long and hard, and it began to rain as they were trudging along. Mud was all over the bottom of their cloaks and robes now, and Hermione was chilled to the bone. A harsh wind blew continually through the trees, making them sway dangerously. Every once in a while a loud crack of thunder could be heard, it wouldn't be until the nighttime that they could start to see the lightning bolts.
After a few hours of walking, the house they had been searching for came slowly into view. All of them were soaked. Draco looked very put out at the fact that his hair was no longer held very well by his gel, and his magnificent, expensive fur-lined cloak was getting ruined. Ron was frowning deeply; his hair was scraggly, hanging over his blue eyes. He didn't seem to care too much about the rain though. He just looked exhausted after hiking. Ron's second-hand cloak looked like it always had, and it still would after the rain attacked it.
Harry's hair was being exceptionally disobedient in this weather, and his thin fragile figure was accentuated in the rain, making him look like a drowned animal. But as always, Harry got that determined look on his face, and as tired as Hermione was, she knew that he would insist upon going in there tonight and frankly, she agreed with his choice.
When they reached the edge of the forest, Harry looked to the others with a puzzled yet hopeful face. He needed their help with this, as he knew already, but he also knew that this was mainly his quest. She was his, and he would not fail to rescue her.
"How are we going to get in without suspicion or capture? Does anyone have an idea? Hermione?"
Hermione shook her head gravely. She was too worried and tired to think about it at the moment. She looked to Draco and Ron for a solution. Draco shrugged with no answer for them, but surprisingly, Ron straightened up, a hand in his pocket.
'Fear," he said simply. Draco seemed very annoyed by his suggestion, and addressed him with a raised eyebrow.
"Elaborate please," he remarked.
Ron moved his focus to his hand that was in his cloak pocket. He took out three small vials out of his pocket and held them out for the others to see. Hermione recognized them almost at once.
"Oh!" she cried, but quieted herself. "The Polyjuice potion. We never had a chance to use it!"
"Right. But there is only just enough for three of us, an hour each. That gives us the time to distract whoever is in there while one of us gets Ginn out of there," he said with extreme somberness.
"I will find Ginny," Harry said, hardly allowing Ron to finish his statement.
"Alright," Ron said. "Then the rest of us will be ghosts of the three Death Eaters coming back to haunt Wormtail. That should work out nicely, shouldn't it?"
He handed the first bottle, labeled "Lucius" to Draco, gave Hermione the bottle labeled "Goyle", and he kept the vial "Crabbe" for himself.
"Hopefully," said Draco, examining the contents of the Polyjuice potion. Ron gave him a slight glare.
"Remember to call him Pettigrew," he warned them. Then he gave Harry a huge, brotherly hug.
"You better find her, Harry. She's my little sister and I love her, and so do you. If you don't, I'll…well, you will find her. I know you will, because you're brave, and strong, and you'd never let any of us down. So, no pressure then," he said, and smiled at Harry. Draco gave him a hug too, though less close than Ron's.
"Good luck," he smirked widely and gave Harry a punch on the arm. "You're going to need it."
Harry smiled at both of them and then turned to look at Hermione. "Hermione?" he asked. "Do you have something to tell me as well?" She nodded, and came to give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She pulled back, gripping his shoulders.
"I've already told you what I need to. So, be careful Harry. You're a great wizard, you know." She and Harry shared a secret glance and she realized how long they had been friends. What if this is the last time I see him? She tried to fight crying, but it was no use. She was sniffling and sobbing.
"Oh, come on Hermione, don't get all teary on me! I'll be fine. I…I best be off now." He gave a last look to all of them. Ron nodded to him. He left, walking towards the back of the house through the woods.
Hermione burst into tears and hugged Ron tightly. "It's okay, 'Mione," he comforted her, patting her on the back not-so-awkwardly anymore. "He'll be alright. This won't be the last time you see him. I promise you that." She pulled away from him reluctantly.
"We better hurry up and get going," Hermione said, stifling her weeping.
"You're right," Draco declared, and emptied his vial. He grew taller, became fuller, and his hair became longer. Some wrinkles found their way into his face. Other than these, there weren't many noticeable differences.
"Bottoms up," Ron said resignedly, and drank his also. He clutched his chest, feeling nauseous. His skin was crawling. He became more muscular and big and his hair changed, his eyes changed colors into murky brown, a sight Hermione was very unhappy to see.
Finally, she drained her own vial, almost choking; it tasted disgusting. She felt herself grow taller and muscular and more masculine. "Ohhh," she groaned, and fell right into Ron's arms, who more than quickly set her on her feet and away from him.
As the three strange friends walked towards the formidable house of Wormtail, Hermione whispered under her breath,
"Remind me not to use the bathroom in the next hour."
~Evyfleur
