Thanks to my reviewers: mysteriouscharm, nobody, Stacey, SlytherinBeauty (yep… I cried, too…), orlandoroxmysox (I've heard rumors that R.A.B. is Regulus Black…), maraudersrock77 (yes, as I said to Orlando, I've heard rumors that R.A.B. is Regulus Black. Where did you hear this information so that you have the confidence of knowing it for sure and not merely having a hypothesis?), Hermione-Potter-52036, reddfire, Goku-lover21, yongweeperson (sadly, JKR's word is final.), Jayu (thanks for the compliments!), and dork1147!
Also, a quick side-note: I've had people ask me if there's "more to Hogwarts being blown up than meets the eye" and such. I will say right now that the bombing of Hogwarts was nothing more than a muggle accident and was never intentional to bomb what muggles knew as a school of wizardry. There's nothing more to it than what you've read.
Now, chapter 13!
Chapter 13: Rescue!
"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" yelled Hermione outside the motel bathroom door.
"What!" came his muffled reply.
"You have been in the shower for FORTY-FIVE MINUTES, and I'm dying to get clean! Get out, NOW!" she hollered.
"All right, all right, give me a minute!" he said. Hermione was in a very huffy mood, since it was 8:25 on Friday morning, and if she didn't leave for work in fifteen minutes, she'd be late. She marched over to her bed and flopped down on it. A few seconds later she heard the water turn off, and then after another two minutes, Harry emerged in his restaurant clothes, aside from the apron, which they were required to leave at the restaurant.
"Is that really the time?" gasped Harry, looking at the alarm clock.
"Yes, Harry, it is," said Hermione, quickly getting up from the bed. "That means I have less than ten minutes to shower, thanks to you," she said, and she disappeared into the bathroom.
"She woke up on the wrong side of the bed…" said Harry quietly.
"I heard that!" came her indignant reply. Harry just chuckled and continued combing his hair.
Just when he was slipping on his shoes at 8:40, Hermione dashed out of the bathroom, her shirt un-tucked and a towel still on her hair. She fumbled around for her wand while throwing the towel on the floor, and when she finally found her wand, she charmed her hair dry and then brushed it quickly.
"Come on, Harry, let's go!" she said, and practically ran out the door, Harry close behind her.
When the two of them opened the doors of the restaurant at 8:50 and walked in, Mr. Larrep was there, waiting for them.
"You're late," he said sternly.
"Mr. Larrep, we're so sorry, we…" started Hermione.
"Oh, I'm only kidding!" he said. "Here, I've got your aprons, your nametags are already on them." The two teens thanked their boss and then silently put the red aprons on.
"Hermione?" said Harry after a few minutes of them checking the tables.
"Yes?" she answered tersely.
"I'm really sorry about taking so long in the shower… I just forgot about everything for a while and started daydreaming," he said sheepishly. Hermione sighed.
"It's okay. I over-reacted. We got here before the doors opened, so it's okay. Apology accepted." She checked her watch. "It's almost nine o' clock, and we've checked all the tables. Let's go back to the kitchen."
"Why?" asked Harry.
"Because I want to talk to Trisha," said Hermione. Trisha was the person that assembled all the non-cooked plates, like the salads, fruit dishes, and other such things.
"Oh, okay," said Harry. So, he followed Hermione into the kitchen and stood by, quite bored, as Hermione and Trisha talked for the next fifteen minutes until the first person showed up for breakfast. Courtney, the morning hostess, came into the kitchen and told Hermione that she had seated someone at one of her tables. Courtney also told Hermione that the guy looked like he was healing from several bad injuries. Curious, Hermione walked out of the kitchen immediately and spotted the back of a head full of blonde hair in her section. She walked over and started her normal introduction of "Hi, my name's Hermione and I'll be your server today," but she never even got to open her mouth.
Draco Malfoy was sitting in front of her. Hermione started stuttering nonsense syllables when he spoke.
"Well, if it isn't the mudblood. Where's your little boyfriend?" he asked smoothly. Hermione's mind rewound back to a dark corridor outside the potions classroom, the anger she had felt then, and her reply to that very same question he had asked.
"None of your business just yet, ferret," said Hermione, not bothering to hide her contempt.
"Oh, touchy, are we? I said in my last owl to you that we'd be sending someone to rescue you," he said coolly.
"Yes, but I wasn't expecting you," she said.
"You know, if you can't keep your mouth quiet, Granger, I can just leave here without you," he said in barely more than a whisper. Hermione tried to appear indifferent to this idea, although she desperately wanted rescue. Draco made up for her lack of words.
"If you don't scuttle back into the kitchen with my drink order soon, they're going to wonder what's up out here and come to investigate," he said smugly. This brought Hermione back to her senses.
"Fine," she said shortly. "What would you like to drink?"
"Water will do," he said simply, examining his cuticles. Hermione turned around and walked as calmly as she could back to the kitchen. Once the walls safely hid her, however, she rushed over to Harry, who was standing by the sink looking quite bored.
"Harry!" she said, practically jumping on him.
"What!" he asked, surprised.
"Draco bloody Malfoy is here!" she said through gritted teeth.
"Say again?" asked Harry faintly.
"The ferret has arrived," said Hermione.
"For what? Surely he isn't rescuing us!" remarked Harry.
"He is," said Hermione simply. "And he's not being very nice about it either. He's insisting on dining while he's here…"
"You mean he ordered something?" asked Harry.
"Just a drink at the moment, water. I'm glad he ordered that and not a Butterbeer…" muttered Hermione as she got Malfoy's water together. She soon walked out of the kitchen and brought it out to the smirking blonde.
"Anything else I can get for you?" she asked, as politely as she could. Mr. Larrep was standing in a nearby corner. Hermione noticed Draco hadn't even opened his menu.
"Not just yet, I still need more time," he said loudly. He then leaned toward her and lowered his voice to a whisper. "And when you come back, Granger, bring Potter with you," he said in a far less kind tone.
"Yes, master," mocked Hermione quietly, as she walked away. She was just about to go into the kitchen when Courtney told her she had seated a family of four in her section. Hermione had hardly noticed the restaurant filling up because of the distraction of Malfoy. There were already at least ten seated tables. Hermione turned back around out of the kitchen and went over to the new table.
"Hello, my name's Hermione and I'll be your server today…"
Meanwhile, Harry was watching the whole ordeal from just outside the kitchen doors. The whole thing was rather fishy, he thought. He had never trusted Malfoy before, why should he start now?
But then again, he thought, things were different now. Maybe the destruction of Hogwarts changed Malfoy. He continued to observe Malfoy closely until Hermione returned to the kitchen and saw Harry standing there.
"Harry, I'm going back to Malfoy's table, and he told me to bring you with me. Come on," she said, and beckoned him to follow her. When they arrived at Malfoy's table, Hermione had started to ask if he wanted anything else when Draco pulled out his wand.
"Malfoy, what in the bloody hell are you doing?" asked Harry quietly.
"Listen to me, both of you. Grab the saltshaker - it's a portkey. After I do what I'm about to do, it will activate," said Malfoy.
"That had better be—" Hermione started.
"And don't worry, Granger," Draco cut her off. "It's authorized." He then pointed his wand in between Harry and Hermione.
"Stupefy!"
The last thing Hermione heard before she was spun into a whirl of color was the loud crash of glass breaking.
No one noticed the three sixteen-year-olds vanishing into thin air. No one noticed that where there were once three living people, there was only a solitary water glass.
Everyone in the restaurant was too busy looking at the waitress lying motionless on the floor, shattered glass surrounding her.
Hermione and Harry landed on their hands and knees, hard on solid ground, with Malfoy standing beside them. Harry stood up, grabbed Hermione's hand, and helped her to stand. When they saw where they were, Hermione gripped Harry's hand so tightly that he thought she must have been breaking his bones. But he hardly noticed, as he himself was in shock.
Directly in front of them, majestic no more, was the remains of Hogwarts castle that they had left so long ago. Hermione had silent tears running down her cheeks once again, but Harry was looking up in the sky. There was something there, very far away, coming slowly towards him. A few moments later, when it was very close, he realized what it was, and he held out his free arm, tears of joy in his eyes.
With a soft hoot of greeting, Hedwig landed on his arm.
AN: Hope you all liked that. Review please, I beg of you! And just a reminder, only 2 more chapters to go…!
-xXx SpicySugar xXx-