Yay! Ch2 because chem. is getting too repetitive! Now we see into the mind of our hero…only not, cause Jayne's not the hero in this story…I don't think. That is if there even is a hero to the story, which might end up being Mari cause I like her and she knows Jayne isn't all she seems to be (see? She's smart too!)…oh well for now I'll just call Jayne the hero, even though she's really not.
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Two months earlier….
It was a bright, sunny day. This wasn't really anything special, except for the fact that it had been raining for the past week. It would rain all day, then let up to reveal dark storm clouds. And just when you thought the sun was going to come out, BAM it starts raining again, just like that. But now the rain had subsided, and it was so nice out for a change. Who wouldn't want to be outside on a day like this? But the days of running free out in the sun were becoming fewer and farther between. After all, there was a war on; and they were at the middle of it. Not by choice, of course…after all, who in their right mind would choose to have such a life? But by necessity. As it was indeed necessity that kept her inside on such a perfect day.
"Miss Granger? Miss Granger, I know this is hard for you, but I need you to stay focused."
Hermione tore her gaze from the bright path of sunlight streaming in through the open window. The patterns made by the ancient dust that floated past had entranced her as she tried not to listen to the gleeful shouts of carefree first years taking advantage of the good weather. She brought her attention back to Professor Dumbledore, who sighed before continuing.
"Miss Granger, you are a smart girl. I have no doubt in my mind that knew that Voldemort would eventually try to use your family as a way of getting to Harry, but I think that this is more than that."
"What do you mean, Professor?"
"Well it is my belief that Voldemort is also trying to get to you. I believe Muggles call it 'killing two birds with one rock'."
"Stone." Hermione whispered.
"What? Oh, yes, right, well anyway, it is no secret that you are extremely intelligent. If Voldemort had you, he would think it rather amusing to have one of Harry Potter's best friends working for him. You would make a good addition to his side. No matter how hard you would try to fight him, if he found you in a vulnerable position, I'm sorry to say you would be at a great disadvantage." He paused for a moment and looked her straight in the eye. "I know you want to be there for Harry right now, but I don't think he would be able to stand it if he lost someone else close to him, especially after what happened to Ginny. So, it is in my opinion that it would be best if you went underground. Well, not literally of course," he chuckled at his own joke before once again becoming serious. "But you would get a new identity and be taken far away from here. Unfortunately you will not be able to remain with your parents as they have already gone into hiding. Now in circumstances such as this it would not be wise for you to remain in the country, so if you agree, I will be sending you off to live in America. I'm sorry to say, you will have to loose the accent though, I'm not really too fond of the way Americans speak, but it's important that no one know where you are from. You would also have to appear to be a Muggle. Now I know that that shouldn't be too hard for you, as you were raised one, but it will mean your training will be more difficult. You obviously can't stop your schooling all together, so if you accept, I can arrange it for you to stay with a witch or wizard trained to teach the craft. You will be, in a sense, home schooled, though you will also receive Muggle education. Now I cannot force you to agree to this, but I do believe that it would be in your best interest until you have come of age."
"But Professor, how can I just leave behind my life?"
"I never said it would be easy, Miss Granger." The nearly-ever-present sparkle had nearly-fully left his eyes. "But I do believe it would be best for everyone involved. For the most part you are safe here at Hogwarts, but once the summer holidays roll around, we have no way of protecting you."
"You really think this is the only way?"
"I wouldn't have suggested it if it weren't."
And so Hermione decided to take Dumbledore up on his offer. After all, how could she help Harry when the time came if she was under Voldemort's control? The only real problem, she realized, as she made her way down to the entrance way, was explaining this to Ron…and Harry, but mainly Ron *wink, wink, nudge, nudge* only not…because she didn't think about him like that. They were just friends. Nothing more. Right. He was just her friend.
'But,' She thought to herself, 'If he's just a friend, then why is it so hard for me to even consider saying goodbye?'
"'Mione!" Her thoughts were broken by Ron's call.
"We've been looking all over for you!" Harry grabbed her arm and pulled her outside. "Its such a nice day out, so don't tell us that you've got homework or something!"
"Actually, I have to talk to you guys. It's important."
"What's wrong Hermione?" Ron seemed genuinely concerned.
Hermione looked about for a moment, trying to find a spot that wasn't already overrun with people. She walked over to a shady spot on the edge of the lake, the rest of the dream team following behind her. She sat down, and looked up at them.
"Please, don't say anything until I'm finished; it'll be easier that way."
Harry and Ron nodded in agreement and Hermione continued.
"This morning my parents went into hiding. I knew this was coming. Before the term started we had a long talk about this. I knew that they would be in danger, and Harry," she turned to reassure him, "I don't want you to think even for one second that this is your fault. It's not. I chose my side in this war a long time ago. You-Know-Who just has issues with people who try to oppose him."
"I wonder why." Commented Ron, sarcastically, earning him a nudge in the side.
"An-anyway the point is that Professor Dumbledore thinks that I'm in danger. He told me that You-Know-Who wants me to use my knowledge of magic to help his cause. Apparently He would find it entertaining to have me working against the Great Harry Potter- don't start Harry – so Professor Dumbledore wants me to go into hiding as well. I told him that I would."
"YOU WHAT!?!?!?!?"
Hermione put a hand to her head, "Please Ron, don't do this. I can't bloody be of any help if Voldemort has me working for his side, now can I?"
"But Hermione," How Harry was able to remain calm is still, to this day, one of the great mysteries of the universe. "How can you just leave?"
"I'm sorry Harry, I really have no choice."
"Well fine, that's just fine!" Ron turned and stormed off towards the castle.
Hermione sighed, "Harry, you do understand, don't you? It's not that I want to leave, it's just-" tears were beginning to form in her eyes.
"I know, 'Mione. It's better for you to be safe. It's just so hard to loose another friend, especially so soon."
"But Harry, you're not really loosing me. This is only temporary. I will be back to help you defeat the dark wizards."
"Harry! Hermione! Have you two seen Trevor? He was in the Common Room this morning, but then he just disappeared. I'm worried that he could have gotten out."
The moment of seriousness having passed with the interruption, Harry and Hermione exchanged a glance of acknowledgement before laughing it off to help Neville find the missing toad.
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Um, I think there's gonna be one more chapter on the good old days at Hogwarts (and that should explain what happened to Ginny) before we go back to Mari and Jayne and the rest of the Americans.
And yeah, I know they prob would have many, many ways of ensuring Hermi's safety, but those don't work for this story, so lets pretend they don't exist. Oh, and I think that from now on in all my stories, whenever a scene takes place in a classroom, I should base it on real life. Ie. today in history class the teacher was sitting there talking, meanwhile one person was reading a book, one was knitting (yes, knitting), another was doing something with a bunch of gum wrappers, one was checking current events on www.cnn.com , and I was writing this. Who knew school could be so entertaining?
Lily and James Potter- hopefully this chapter made at least a little more sense. If not, don't worry, the whole thing'll come together eventually.
YAY! That makes one review! And had YOU reviewed, I would thank you, but ya didn't, so I can't…too bad…there could have been cookies involved…
In the words of Tigger, TTFN: Ta Ta For Now!