Hermione sat inside the Gryffindor common room, her books lying in front of her untouched. Around her she could see many of the other Gryffindors looking a bit dejected, the same thought on everyone's mind. 'Where's Harry?' She, like many others, had scanned the hall all through the sorting but saw no sign of the boy who lived. Many of the students had heard the Harry had vanished over summer vacation, and that Dumbledore had told everyone that Harry was in hiding, but no one really believed it. Hermione and Ron had sent owl after owl to their friend asking where he was, but only once did it seem the letters had been received. All of the other times their letters had been returned to them.
Walking to class the next day Hermione smiled and kept her spirits up like the rest of her housemates. She laughed at Ron's jokes, and participated in class just like she normally did. It just wasn't the same though. When she sat down for lunch and turned to say something to Harry she found he wasn't there. When Ginny moved to ask Harry a question about Quidditch, her question stopped mid-sentence. When Ron looked to his side to ask Harry about a friendly game of Wizards Chess he was nowhere to be found.
As she sat in potions class after lunch her heart skipped a beat. The door opened and she saw a lock of black hair, the shine off of the boy's glasses, and the familiar green eyes she knew so well, but when she was about to jump from he seat and hug her best friend she found it was someone else. So quietly she greeted Nikolas, and watched as Snape pushed him forward.
Nikolas. He reminded her of Harry. It was small things though; glasses, the way he brushed his hair over his face slightly, his vivid green eyes. For a moment she believed that maybe, just maybe, it was Harry under a sort of glamour spell. She thought that possibly Dumbledore did put him in hiding, but not in the way anyone expected. So when she was walking in the library later on that night she shot off a quick spell, something that would only work for a moment, but it would show if the person hit was under a glamour spell. He wasn't.
Her hopes fell. She watched the dark boy walk between the shelves of the restricted section, and thought about how Ginny said that he had helped her against the other Slytherins. It couldn't be him though. She scolded herself for thinking such a thing.
Harry would never pretend to be Snape's son. The two hated each other, and though Nikolas and Snape didn't seem to be very close, Snape never threw sarcastic insults at Nikolas as he passed.
Not only that, but Harry was a Gryffindor. She had read in Hogwarts: A History that no one was ever resorted because the Sorting Hat would not allow it. The Sorting Hat was never wrong about where it placed the students, and so even if it were Harry in disguise he would have been placed in Gryffindor again.
Hermione left the library solemnly, forcing back the tears that formed in her eyes. She would not cry because she knew that her friend was safe. He had to be. Dumbledore wouldn't be here if Harry wasn't safe.
When she stepped into the Gryffindor Common Room again she was met by Ginny and the other Gryffindors, each of them holding up a small counterfeit galleon. Ginny said something to her, but the words were lost. Hermione knew what they meant though, and she ran up to her dorms. Hidden in her trunk was the false galleon that had been given to her by Harry at the end of last year for safekeeping. She tapped the numbers with her wand and changed them to tomorrows date.
The next day she couldn't help but give a true smile each time a familiar face passed by and showed her the small piece of gold with today's date on it. And when she walked into the room of requirement later that night with a copy of the list she had found she couldn't pull the smile from her lips. She tacked the list up and looked over at all the books on defense.
"We are ready for you Harry. When you come back, we will be ready to help you fight." Then books on jinxes and curses appeared, and the door opened.
"Nikolas?"
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Okay. I know this was short, but something longer is coming up next. I'll try and give you the next chapter as soon as I can.