The Adventure Continued
Chapter 15: Spit it Out, Already!
A/N: Alright, short note because I have to go to work in ten minutes. This is just for those who can't wait for the next chapter. I'm going to go back over this and make sure it looks good grammatically, so please don't pester me on that. I know it's not a final draft, but some of you guys might die if you don't read this…so yeah. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Hope you enjoy and thank you EVERYONE who reviewed! I got a record of 12 reviews for just this chapter! Yay! Note:two more chapters will be posted before Christmas!
"You're cloak, Harry?" she whispered. "Why would anyone take your cloak?" Harry shifted his eyes between Hermione and the student she was attending to. Hermione, getting the tip, muttered a few words and touched the student with the tip of her wand. Immediately, the boy stopped bouncing in place and jumped off the table.
"Thank you, Madam," the boy responded politely before running out of the hospital wing.
Harry's eyes followed the boy until he disappeared. "Polite thing," he commented.
Hermione sighed. "Yes, he is. He's also bait for bullying, too. He comes in a couple times a week with all kinds of things done to him. But, you were going to say something, Harry…"
"My cloak is gone. I can't find it!"
"That's very obvious, Harry, but why would anyone want to take it? Who else knows about it besides Ron and me?" Hermione questioned with concern.
"Ginny. It has to be Ginny. She was the one going through my office a few weeks ago!"
Hermione looked skeptically at him. "Ginny? I know you are angry with her, but you shouldn't be making false accusations, Harry. You don't know it was her."
"But is has to be! No one else knows about it," Harry argued back.
"Why do you need it anyways?"
Harry look taken back, but didn't answer.
"I would advise you don't meet them, Harry. You don't know who it is!"
"If I don't go, I won't know who it is! This could be important!" Harry exclaimed.
"Shh!" Hermione hushed, pointing at the door that led to Madam Wilmer's office. "Alright, you do what you want; this is your job after all. What happened at the Ministry, anyways? I can tell that you're back."
Harry retold everything that happened between when the hearing started to when he left Ron telling him that he wouldn't be joining the Weasleys for Christmas. When he finally came to the letter, Hermione had a hurt expression on her face.
"You won't be joining with us for Christmas, Harry?" Hermione asked.
"I told you and Ron that I had plans," Harry replied, holding his hands up. "I've spent every Christmas with the two of you since we were in school. Why would missing this Christmas make a difference?"
"No reason, I guess," Hermione sat back into a chair and sighed. "You are like a brother to me. It just won't be the same without you."
"According to Rita Skeeter, I'm your soul mate," Harry chuckled.
Hermione smiled. "Yeah, some couple we turned out to be! But really Harry, are you actually planning to meet this 'mysterious' person?"
"Yeah, I am."
Hermione sighed and got out of her chair. "Well, if you plan on meeting this person, then I'm going with you."
"WHAT?"
At a quarter to five, Harry and Hermione slipped outside the castle and made their way across the grounds. A small layer of snow covered the earth with more falling from the sky, a sure sign that winter was underway. The two had barely made it to the entrance gate when Harry picked up another sound.
"Stop," he commanded Hermione and slowly turned around. "I thought I heard something."
Hermione looked around, but her lost expression showed that she noticed nothing out of the ordinary. "Harry, you're imagining things! There are only two tracks from the castle: yours and mine. Let's go!" Hermione grabbed Harry's arm pulled him forth, but Harry could have sworn that he saw the snow move a few feet behind him.
When the two walked into the Three Broomsticks, Harry and Hermione breathed in the sweet smell of pine trees. The place was decorated with trees and wreaths, ready for the Christmas season. Madam Rosmerta bustled around a tree, swishing her wand back and forth. A moment later, the tree glistened with silver sparkles and bubbles hung off the end of the branches like ornaments.
"Harry! Hermione! What brings you to Hogsmeade in this weather?" Madam Rosmerta asked cheerfully, bringing over two glasses of butterbeer.
"We just thought we'd visit," Hermione replied warmly. "It's been way too long, hasn't it, Harry?"
"Huh?" Harry pulled himself away from staring at the other side of the pub. In the corner booth sat a cloaked person almost hidden in the shadows. "Yeah, it's been long. Come on, Hermione."
Harry pulled Hermione away from Madam Rosmerta and pointed in the corner. "Do you think that's him, Harry?" Hermione whispered.
"Who else would it be?"
"Anyone," Hermione replied sarcastically, remembering all the times Harry had been wrong.
Harry got the hint and grunted. "Ok, well, I'm going to assume that's him. Come on." Before Hermione could stop him, Harry marched across the pub and sat down across the cloaked figure.
"What do you want?" Harry demanded. The cloaked person hissed at him in reply and took a sip of some drink Harry had never seen before. "Come on, you asked me to come here! What do you want?" The creature hissed again.
"Harry…" Hermione muttered under her breath.
"Come on; spit it out if you can!"
"Harry!"
"What, Hermione?" Harry turned to her looking annoyed.
"I don't think that's him," she whispered.
"What makes you think that?"
"Because," Hermione whispered, looking nervous, "that's not human. It's a vampire and I think that right now, judging by the way it's hissing at us, it wants us to be his next victims…"
"Oh," Harry muttered, now quite embarrassed. "I'm sorry, sir, my mistake! I'll be going now." Harry pushed Hermione away from the table and across the room to another table. "Why didn't you tell me it wasn't human in the first place?" he demanded.
"I tried to, Harry! I told you it could be anyone! I didn't know it wasn't human until I noticed that it was drinking what looked like blood," Hermione answered irritably. "Let's just wait. This mysterious person knows who you are. If it sees you, it will come to us."
Harry didn't like the plan very much: waiting wasn't one of his favorite pastimes. However, ten minutes went by and no one came. Another twenty minutes passed and still, Harry was sitting in his chair, sipping more butterbeer.
"Harry, I don't think anyone is going to meet you," Hermione finally proclaimed, but a moment too soon. At that very moment, a medium cloaked figure walked casually into the pub. It hardly took a few seconds before the person spotted Harry and sat down at the end of the table.
"Thank you for coming, Mr. Potter," the voice whispered in a hoarse voice, "and you, too, Miss Granger." Harry and Hermione exchanged bewildered looks, both looking just as confused as the other. The person kept the cloak over their eyes and the two could barely hear them in the noisy pub.
"Potter," the voice directed to Harry, "she's here. She's hiding in London. I have been tracking her for the last four months. You need to know- you can do something!"
Harry's heart skipped a beat. "You have been tracking her? Why? And why are you telling me?"
"She's after you, Harry," the person warned urgently. "She wants revenge for her master. I believe she's been biding her time, looking for a plan. Now, she has one."
"Harry, what is he talking about?" Hermione finally interrupted, looking between the two people.
The cloaked person raised its head a little in surprise. "How could you not know? Who else would want Harry dead more than Bellatrix Lestrange, You-Know-Who's most loyal supporter?"
Hermione blinked. "She's dead- it was in the Daily Prophet years ago."
"Don't be fooled, Hermione," Harry replied, shaking his head, "that was just a cover up. I have been assigned to track her down since I became an Auror. It's why…why I never went back to Ginny. I was didn't want her to get involved- I wanted her to be safe. I was scared." The room was suddenly silent except for some sniffling that sounded far away.
"Harry!" Hermione gasped, and then quickly regained her composure. "You should have told her, Harry. She would have understood that!"
"It was an assignment, Hermione," Harry answered, taking a small sip of Butterbeer, but not really tasting it. "I couldn't tell you, Ron, or Ginny. You believed she was dead! Everyone believed she was dead! Could you believe what the Wizarding World would think if I could defeat Voldemort, but not get rid of someone who is just as bad?"
"Oh, so it's your pride, is it?" Hermione sniffed, her brown curls being thrown back.
The cloaked person cleared their throat, interrupting their quarrel. "You don't need to look for her anymore, Harry. She will be coming after you," the person cautioned. "Tonight, I am going to learn her true plans. If I survive, I will send an owl. If I do not, remember my words, Harry. You can do something." The person disapparated before Harry and Hermione knew what was really happening and left the two in silence.
"Harry? Do you know who that was?" Harry shook his head in reply, meeting Hermione's eyes.
"You two might not know who that is, but I do!" In a swish, Ginny pulled off Harry's invisibility cloak and looked him in the eye. "I know those big feet better than the two of you."
"Ginny?" Harry gasped, remembering all that he had said. Now, she knew. "What are you doing here? And my cloak! You took my cloak?"
Ginny's eyes looked apologetically into Harry's green ones. "I'm sorry, Harry," she began, "but I was scared for you." For a moment, a beam of understanding flashed between the two and Ginny burst into tears. "I'm so sorry, Harry."
Harry looked at Hermione who looked ready to cry. This was definitely not what he was expecting when he set out from Hogwarts that evening. After the moment passed by, he broke the silence. "Ginny, you said you knew who it was," Harry asked, while trying to wipe the tears off of Ginny's face.
"Oh yeah," she answered, using the rest of Harry's arm to clean her face. "You won't believe me. It was Neville."
"WHAT?"