DISCLAIMER: Of course I don't own Harry Potter! If I did, do you think I would be living in West Virginia when I could be cruising the Caribbean with hot guys?
Chapter 21: Unexpected Help
"I still can't believe she was evil," Ron said to Hermione.
They were currently sitting outside on the stone steps leading into the castle, watching children with carefree lives flutter by. Each couldn't help but think of the situation at hand.
"Why?" Hermione asked with distaste, rounding on him. "Now that I think about it, it should have been quite obvious."
"Yeah," Ron muttered dully, "well, with us she was always so…"
"Fake," Hermione supplied.
Ron looked at her. "Nice was the word I was going to use."
"Of course she had to be nice Ronald!" Hermione exclaimed, pulling her cloak closer around her. "She had to get close to us in order for her to get Harry. If she didn't have our trust, then she knew she would never be that close to him."
Ron looked at her through downcast eyes and she knew what he was about to ask. "What do you think they're doing to him?"
"Honestly Ron, I don't know," Hermione said, her voice softening as she gazed at him. She wasn't the only one, she acknowledged, that had lost a best friend.
"Do you think….that, you know….," Ron's voice faltered. He couldn't say it. He couldn't voice his fears that Harry could possibly be dead before they reached him or heard any clue to his whereabouts. He didn't want to say it.
Again Hermione whispered, "I don't know Ron."
His face broke her heart again. She didn't know if Ron could handle losing Harry. They were so close, they were like brothers.
She looked around at the students on the grounds. They look so happy, so carefree…so innocent. The war had yet to leave it's mark on them.
She put on her best 'everything's going to be okay' face and looked at the red head sitting beside of her. "Dumbledore says we'll save him. I believe in Dumbledore. We have to have hope."
Ron nodded in acknowledgement and then stood deftly. "I'm…er…going inside. It feels….it feels weird without Harry out here," he said softly.
Hermione watched him go. She remained still, she knew he had to work this out for himself.
Once he was inside, her face fell. She felt extremely guilty for Harry's kidnapping. If she hadn't been so caught up in her relationship with Bill that she forgot clear about her letter to Viktor, maybe Raven would have been exposed long before now. She wished she had gotten the letter sooner.
She stopped her thoughts as something dawned on her. The owl carrying the letter must have been compromised because the letter was dated clear back in October. So why did the person that stole it decide to send it to her? And that day of all days?
She rose from the steps and walked back to the school. Many people called out to her but she did not hear them. Like a zombie, she walked up the stairs leading to her dorm.
She walked into her room and threw her stuff down on the bed. She did not see the person in the corner until they stepped into the light.
"What are you doing here?" Hermione hissed as she drew her wand.
Aww, I couldn't leave ya there….
"I'm here to help you," Raven told her simply, not once breaking eye contact.
"You call cursing me and kidnapping Harry helping? You should have killed me, Raven, because now I'm going to kill you."
Raven merely smiled lazily and strolled over to the window and pulled the blind. Slowly, she turned back to Hermione with that same lazy smile on her face. "If I had wanted to kill you, Hermione, I could have easily done so."
"Then why didn't you?" Hermione growled.
Raven ignored her. "Furthermore, if you curse me, you'll never save Harry."
Hermione stared at her for a moment. And then, she knew. Her eyes grew wide as the truth hit her. "You allowed the letter to get to me." It was a statement, not a question.
Raven smiled at her and shrugged. "I had it the whole time. I knew if Krum wrote to you, it would be to tell you how evil I am and so forth. So, I did what I had to do at the time, I intercepted the letter."
Hermione shook her head slowly, trying to make sense out of all of it. Raven glanced at her wand and then back to her. "Why don't you lower the wand Hermione? I'm not going to hurt you."
Hermione looked at her skeptically but did lower her wand, though she still clutched it tightly at her side. "But why did you let me have it?"
"Why Hermione?" Raven laughed. "Why do you think?"
"You wanted someone there to see what happened so they could get Dumbledore," Hermione said slowly, letting all the information wash over her.
Raven clapped, "Bravo Hermione, though I didn't think it would take you this long."
"Yeah, well I've kind of had a hard time thinking anything good about you after having you curse me," Hermione bit back scathingly.
"I'm sorry for cursing you," Raven said sincerely. "But I had to make it believable. If you weren't unconscious and make the others believe that you were dead, then they would have killed you and in turn have killed me. Harry would have been without any hope then."
"So you figured you'd make them believe I was dead," Hermione said simply.
Raven nodded, "Yes, but that isn't important right now. We have to save Harry."
Hermione nodded. "To Dumbledore then."
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