Again, this is JK Rowlings characters, and my plot. She owns them, and I own nothing.
Chapter 5
Snape appeared with a 'pop' in a park, just down the street from Ronald Weasley's home. As Snape looked towards the home on the other side of the street, he looked into the sky. No mark. Snape felt relief flood over him. As he looked down the street, he grabbed his wand and stuck to walking near the parked cars.
'Hermione, what have you gotten yourself into this time? You should have known better… Gryffindor foolishness, that's what this is.' Snape muttered to himself, trying to convince himself that she was the little girl he once knew. 'Why didn't you seek my help? Of course you would not seek it, after what I had put you through, I wouldn't seek it. Why was I such a fool to…'
BOOM!
Snape had dropped behind a parked car. 'What the?' Snape lay prone to the ground, luckily 2 houses down from the Weasley residence. Five figures in dark robes with hoods with wands drawn had cast Incendio on the residence from the back of the house, and moved to the front. Snape rose carefully, peeking through the car window. One of the hooded figures cast a locator charm upon the house, and seeing it empty, gave the signal to leave. One by one the hooded group disapperated. The heat from the fire was strong, and Snape thought he better get out of there before the neighbors all came out.
POP – Snape was in an alley in London near the Leaky Cauldron. 'Where to now?' Snape thought logically of what had occurred. "Granger gets attacked. Granger goes to Weasley. Potter, Longbottom, Mills are the only others aware of the project. Where to?
RINGGGG, RINGGGGSnape's robe began shaking and making noise. Startled, Snape jerked to his left, looked down, and looked to his right, with his arms up in front of him. "Bugger". Snape reached in with his left hand to his right inside pocket. He precariously opened the contraption and heard a voice shouting "Mione? Mione? Are you there?"
Snape shouted into it, "Hello? Can you hear me?"
"Mione? Who's this?"
Seeing where the voice was coming from, Snape put the cell phone to his head, "Professor Snape. Whom am I speaking with?"
"The Professor Snape". Snape heard additional giggles.
"Of course, what other one do you know? Now tell me who this is?"
"Um, right. I'm Sephe, Mione's cousin."
"Where are you?"
"In the loo at a coffee shop. Why? Where's Mione? Are you two togeth…"
"Do not leave." Snape cut her off. "Where exactly is the shop?"
Sephe gave the location.
"I'll be right there. Do not leave."
London"They could be anywhere," Hermione said to Ron as they walked out of the fifth restaurant that Sephe enjoyed.
"Let's try the coffee shop again, maybe they went there after dinner" Ron said hopefully to Hermione.
"OK, but if they are not there, we need to see Dumbledore." Ron took Hermione's hand and they headed toward the underground.
"So where exactly have you been these past two weeks?" Hermione queried Ron as they entered the subway platform.
"Auror business, hey, how is the cure coming along? Ron asked, trying to switch subjects.
"You're not getting out of this that quickly," Hermione replied as they entered the train. "How much danger is the mission on a scale of 1-10?"
"It's not even close to what we're playing with tonight." Ron looked at Hermione and saw how much she's aged since he first met her. Gone was the bushy haired know-it-all. Well, maybe the know-it-all was there a little, but Hermione had blossomed since he had first met her. She had shed her bushy mane for a shoulder length cut, and with the help of some muggle styling products and a straightening iron, her hair had finally laid sleek and flat. She had Sephe to thank for that. Sephe was a self-proclaimed beauty queen, and passed over all her tips to her little cousin. Unlike Parvati and Lavender, Sephe's mission to transform Hermione from awkward to beauty was a 10 year struggle, which she won gradually, and produced quite a swan. Sephe's beauty tips lead to styling tips, and much of Hermione's wardrobe was shared with Sephe, and included designer labels from the muggle world. They often fought over the Prada accessories and Versace suits.
"Let's talk about it once we find them," Hermione suggested since she was aware others were listening, and became increasingly optimistic that they would find her cousin. "This is our stop", Ron stood up and grabbed Hermione's hand to help her up.
"We will find them." Ron said looking directly in her eyes. They exited the train and began their ascent to the street. "What is it with coffee bars? I don't get it, people getting all crazy drinking inordinate amounts of caffeine."
"It's not just coffee, there are poetry readings, live music, interesting discussions, lots of things to comment on," Hermione defended her coffee bars since she was addicted to espressos.
"Here we are again," Ron said, "Let's hope we find them this time." Ron was leading Hermione across the street when he glanced into the coffee bar. "Bugger!" Ron recognized one of the patrons as a suspect in a case he was working on. Ducking in the doorway of the shop next door, Ron looked at Hermione, "Hermione, you have got to get out of here. I need to notify the ministry. I've been after this guy for months now."
"Ron, what guy? Who?" Hermione asked as she was peeking around the corner of the door. "We've found them!!! That's Michael Tollman, Sephe's date – she emailed his picture to me this morning. Let's go."
"Mione," Ron said, pulling Hermione back into the doorway, "That's not Michael Tollman. That's Edward Cummings, I've been following him for a few months now – Auror business. He's not to be trusted. We need to find the girls. Let's walk down the street, and apparate into the alley behind. We can enter from the back, and look for Sephe."
"Ron, I hope you know what you are doing" Hermione replied as they began to walk down the street and into a small alleyway.