It was about noon in Londown when Hermione Granger decided to remove her attention from the book she was reading. She had been sitting in her back yard on a lawn chair reading a book labeled 'Hogwarts: A History' and at the moment she suddenly felt the need to take a break and stretch a bit.
She put the large tome down on a glass table next to where she was sitting and stretched her arms a bit as she felt some of the muscles in her back and legs strain from her stretch and a few of the joint in her neck pop as they released themselves from a bit of presure.
She sighed contetnly as she finished stretching then laid back against the chair she was own as she looked to the sky. It was a soft light blue, with white clouds scattered across the sky. It was peaceful, a complete opposite to how she knew her world, the magical world was.
That simple thought made Hermione sigh again as her thoughts strayed to the one of the two people her world was focused on. A one Harry James Potter. He had been one of her only friends at Hogwarts and one of the few people to turly udnerstand her for who she was, instead of seeing her as a bookworm or know-it-all. She was glad to have a friend like him but was worried at the moment for his own well being. She had not heard from him since they had left Hogwarts after their fifth year.
She was not surprised but she had hoped that he would at least write something. She knew that he had lost his godfather, Sirius Black, the closest thing he had ever had to coming to a real father during a fight at the Ministy of Magic. Harry had gone there with several of his friends after having a vision implanted into his mind by Voldemort, the darkest and most powerful lord to have ever existed.
He had thought he was going to save Sirius from Voldemort but it had turned out that it was all a lie to get Harry to go there and in the end, Sirius had fallen to a spell by his own twisted and evil cousin, that had knocked him back through a veil that there was no returning from.
Hermione had seen Harry in many states of emotion from rage to fear and sadness, btu never had she ever seen such lonlyiness and hoplessness in his eyes the day they left Hogwarts not so long after the incident at the Minsitry.
The day seemed to grow hotter though as she stayed in one spot starring up into the sky and thinking. She had orginally come out into her back yard to swim, her family having a simply and quaint pool there. She had come out in a black two piece bathing suit with a very thin black tie around to cover the bottom half of her suit until she decided to swim.
She had brought the book out wiht her though, intending on reading it after swimming but had decided to switch her plans around at seeing how peaceful the day was.
But now, with her body getting warmer, she decided that it was time for her to swim and thinking maybe being in the water might help her clear her thoughts a bit of everything that had happened recently.
She stood up from her seat then and removed the wrap around on her lower half and walked over to the side of the pool where she slightly dipped her foot in a bit to test the waters temperature. It was cool and warm at the same time and she thought it perfect. After assesing its temperature, she dove in swiflty and swam under the water breifly before coming back up for air.
Once up, she decided to just lazily float on her back and continue to look up at the sky while trying to get her thoughts in order. But as she did, the more thoughts of Harry kept comming to her mind.
After only a few minutes she slammed her arms down, which had been floating at her sides away from her with a frustrated grunt and leaned backwards into the water as if doing a flip. When the front of her body was facing the bottom of the pool she swam again unde the water for a little bit before her lungs told her she needed air again.
At that time, her head came back out of the water and she used her hands to move her hair behind her as she treaded water still thinking. The sound of wings fluttering caught her attention though and as quickly as she could in water she turned to where she had been sitting a few minutes ago.
Her eyes widened at what she saw for there was Hedwig, Harry's owl, perched on the arm rest of her chair, a single letter attached to her right leg and she was gently cleaning her feathers as Hermione swam over to the edge of the pool and got out. She grabbed the towel that she had also brought when she had come out and quicky dried her upperbody before wrapping around her waist and walking over to where Hedwig was now looking at her intently.
"Hey there girl. Harry finally decided to send me something?" she questioned as she came over to the owl and knelt in front of her. Hedwig hooted in response and stuck out her leg witht he letter attached to it.
Hermione quickly undid the note and opened the small piece of parchment. She did not expet Harry to write much of anything and she was surprised he had written anything at all. When she looked at what was written though, her heart felt like it was nearly crushed and pumping with rage all at the same time. The note read:
'Dear Hermione,
Sorry about not writting anything soon and that this will be the only thing you will probably get from me in a while but I'm leaving for a while. I'm tired of everything and just need to get away for a bit to sort my thoughts out. Please take care of Hedwig for me if she chose to stay with you. I want her to be safe while I am gone and please don't be angry with me. I will be comming back, of that you can at least count on.
Thinking of you,
Harry'
Hermione's emotions went through her like a hurricane after reading the letter. Her heart had soared at him finally writing, to utter despair at him suddenly deciding to leave, to pure rage at him for even leaving in the first place.
Hedwig, sensing Hermione's sudden change in emotions flapped her wings a bit to get the girls attention. The stir of movement did it's trick though as Hermione looked up from the letter to the owl and for some reason could not stop starring at the golden eyes of the snow white owl.
Hedwig hooted softly, a sense of calming and understanding echoing upon the sound and Hermione seemed to sense what the bird was thinking.
"You chose to stay her didn't you?" she asked and Hedwig hooted as she seemingly nodded in response.
"And you won't go back to Harry unless you know he's in trouble will you?" she asked and again the owl hooted its response.
Hermione sighed at this as she looked down at the note in her hands, which were now shaking as she felt tears start to well up in her eyes. Her tears stopped though as she felt a shift in the amount of weight on her shoulder and felt a soft but still sharp nibble on her ear.
She turned to see Hedwig now perched on her shoulder with a look in her golden eyes that seemed to say, "He will be fine and everything will be okay."
Hermione felt rather than understood what the animals eyes were saying and out of no where responded, "I hope you are right Hedwig. I truly hope you are right."
Meanwhile, Harry was looking around at all of the elves that now were finally awake again and starring at himin utter shock once more. They had awoken quite quickly from their self induced stupor not long after falling over and they had listened to Harry's story about why he was there.
They had all stayed silent and attentive to what Harry had told them and once he was done, they seemed to relax a bit mroe around him.
"So you truly is the Master and Mistresses son. We had thought you lost all those years ago when he-who-must-not-be-named attacked you all," the elf that had first shown up said to Harry after a few moments of silence.
"That I am but please call me Harry," Harry said as he looked around the room again. Most of the elves where comming to their senses yet again adn talking amongst themselves.
"Of course sir. But why did the misses give you what was to ber her saftey?" the elf asked in reply.
"That I still do not know, but I am greatful for the chance to get away from there for a while. Speaking of which, where are we at the moment?" Harry asked.
"You... Harry, are way outside any reaches of where anyone from where you live can reach you," a new voice said suddenly from behind Harry.
The foice seemed to frighten the elf in front of him as well as the other elves in the room as they all suddenly vanished just as fast as they had come, at the persons voice. It was a females voice, that much Harry was certain about, and it currenlty had a very amused tone to it that was unnerving to him.
In a heartbeat Harry turned on who ever was behind him with his wand drawn and a spell on his lips, only to find himself a second later being thrown over the womans shoulder and onto the bed that was behind her. His body hit hard and as just as fast as she had thrown him over her shoulder, his wand was removed from his grasp and his hand was held in such a position that he figured if he tried to move anything, he would find himself in an extrordinary amount of pain.
"Now is that anyway to greet someone who is only here to greet you yourself," the woman asked as Harry had his eyes closed, expecting her to hit him or something. Slolwy he opened one eye to see something he definitley did not expect.
It was a girl, probably about the same age as him and she smiling upside down at him as he started to open both of her eyes.
"Sorry... I guess I have a reason to be a bit jumpy as of late," Harry said as he looked at the girl from his current positon. He could see her face but it was a little blurred as his glasses had fallen off somehwere in his body moving through the air.
"Don't mention it, " the girl said as she let his hand go and dropped onto hsi chest what felt like both his glasses and his wand. He sat up from his new position on his bed and put his glasses on before he turned back around to look at the girl who was now smiling brightly at him.
Her face reminded Harry a lot of Hermione with the type of smile that she had on her ace right now. But everything else about her was reminding him of Tonks. She was leen and seemed to have a childish type of lifestyle about her. Her hair even reminded him of the metamorph for it was straight and black but had blonde streaks every now and then.
THe girls smile though after a bit of silence and Harry looking her over went from smile to scowl faster than Harry could catch and in an inrritated tone asked, "Are you done looking me over?"
Harry's head immediatly snapped to look at her face as his body stiffened and a blush crept across his cheeks. "Um... sorry. I didn't mean to... um..." he started to bable, trying to think of an apology.
His babling though seemed to lighten the girls mood though as she went back to her smile and giggled at him. The giggleing only made Harry blush more which in turn made the girl start to laugh full heartidly.
After the girl had stopped laughing though she extended her hand to Harry and said, "My name is Elizabeth. My friends call me Liz for short."
Harry looked at the girl scpetically for a few moments before he shook her hand said, "And I'm Harry."
"Yes I already know that much. You don't just come into a place like this without someone knowing who you are Mr. Harry Potter," the girl said with a grin on her face and her hands on her hips.
"Where is this place extactly?" Harry asked as he looked around the room again. It started to remind him oh how the Gryffindor common room looked but had a fair bit of a slytherinish touch to it too.
"You, Harry Potter, are in one of the hotel suites in good old Los Angeles, California," the girl said.
Harry's head snapped to look at her as if she had grown a second head and in shock shouted, "i'm in America!"
The girl cringed at how loud his voice had suddenly become and acted as if she had suddenly just gone deaf in one ear as he stared at her with expectant and questioning eyes.
"Sheez, you didn't need to shout. Yes you are in the states and I'm with the Auror department here to make sure our more descrete guest are taken care of," Liz said as if it was the most normal thing int he world.
Harry at that moment was doing a good interpretation of a fish as she said this and when she looked back to him he was still shocked silent.
"Oh don't look so, as you put, bloody shocked. You are after all the one who activated that portkey you have there to this room," stated Liz as she pointed to the necklace that was still in his hand.
He looked down at the necklace again and at the picture of his mom and aunt. His mom had given his aunt this as a way of escaping Voldemort and in turn she had given it to him for that very same reason.
It was then though that information started to process through his head.
"Wait a sec, you said your an Auror?" Harry asked as he looked back up at Liz.
She smileed sweetly at him again and said, "Yep. Managed to get in here when I was about thirteen or so and have been in this department keyed to this room ever since."
She looked closley at Harry again and saw he was more confused now than he was a few seconds ago. She sighed and lowered her head before starting to talk again.
"Look, a breif rundown of how I am where I am is that I am damn good at what I do and a lot of people noticed it. As for me being keyed to this room, every room in this hotel, which by the way is named the Phoenix Perch, has ver specific rooms set up for specific people who are in dire straights. When the portkey is activated to the room, another portkey, which is also keyed to this room which is held by an appointed guardian to the room, is also activated. Hence why you see me before you now. But imagine my surprise to not see the ones who the room was originally intended for but the legendary Harry Potter in the flesh," Liz said.
"I am anything but legendary, and if you'll excuse me I would like to leave now. My aunt gave me this portkey to get away from the magical world and quite frankly I would rather be anywhere else than here," Harry said somewhat angrily when Liz had finished.
His tone caught her by surprise and she saw a great deal of pain suddenly in his eyes. Harry just stormed over to his trunk though, completely ignoring this girl whom he was now getting angry at. He was impressed with her story yes but she was making him out to be some hero.
That simple fact was bringing flashes of Sirius fighting int the Department of Mysteries before his minds eye and watching his godfather fall behind the black veil.
He picked up the handle to his trunk angrily, nto really carring if his emotions where running away with him at the moment and looked around the room again for the third time. It was at this time though that he noticed there was no door and his temper suddenly tripled.
"Damnit, out of one prison and into another. Just let me out of here," Harry though angrily as he searched for a door in the room. His hidden request was answered not a few moments later though as he felt the familiar pull behind his navel and the last thing he saw int he room was the girl Liz looking terrified as she suddenly reached out for him. His vision blacked out then and with a loud pop, it suddenly came back and he was looking into a setting sun upon an ocean front.
"What the hell?" Harry asked aloud as he dropped his trunk and stumbled back fromthe sudden change in his vision. He fell on his back side from doing so but at the same time he realized he had landed in sand. It was then that he took in his surroundings and noticed he was on a beach. It was barren of people and behind him was a very large forest. The only sound he could hear was the sound of waves crashing against the shore and only when his feet suddenly became very cold did he notice he was not to far from the waterline.
Quickly Harry stood back up and grabbed his trunk as he moved back along the beach closer to the forest, his old sneakers having a sand stick to them like glue since they were wet and even sand was getting inside socks and grating his skin. When he was closer to the forest line he set his trunk down again and sat on it as he took of his shoes and socks.
Both were wet and he wondered exactly at how long his feet had actually been in the water. But once they were off, he set them aside on his trunk and looked back to the setting sun. It was about half down now and as he replaced his feet on the sand, he noticed it was still warm and uncociously dug his feet in to warm them up.
Harry lost track of the time though as he stared into the sunset, how the many colors etched the sky in briliant painting. It was when it was almost dark that he started to think about where he was. He had been in that wierd room with that girl Elizabeth before he had suddenly arrived at where he was now and he looked back down at the necklace that was still clenched tightly in his hand.
"Is this what brought me here?" he thought as he just starred at the two pictures on the inside. He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice the sound of footsteps comming up to him nor the shadow that had suddenly cut off the light that was left.
"Hey kid," a gruff voice said that made Harry jerk suddenly and he fell back off his trunk as he struggled to regain his balance. The voice just laughed at Harry's sudden actions and said, "No need to panic there kid. I aint here to hurt ya or nothing."
It was then that Harry took looked at where the voice had come from. And when he did, he nearly went completely slack jawed. There standing in front of his trunk where he had been sitting a few moments before had to be one of the biggest men Harry had ever seen. Than man towered over Harry like a behemoth and easily as tall as Hagrid was, if not taller.
What made Harry even more stunned was that, this man, who was currently without a shirt, litterly had a look of sheer power about him. His muscles, though slightly larger than normal, looked to have been chiseled into his frame and looked to be able to crush someone like it was nothing. Not to mention that his chest had various scars here and there that looked like they myust have hurt like hell.
The man reached over the trunk though, seeing as how Harry had suddenly become unable to fucntion properly and easily picked him up of the ground by his shoulders with a firm grip. When he stood back up with Harry still in his grasp, Harry looked down to see his feet easily three feet away from the ground before he watched the ground get closer and his feet touch the sand.
"You should learn to be a bit more careful there kid. And relaxe a little. Not much out here that would hurt ya unless you made it angry," the man said and then with a smile started to walk off to Harry's right.
It took a few seconds before Harry realised the man was walking away and he quickly regained his bearings.
"Wait!" Harry called as he looked over to where the man was walking to see he had stopped and turned around with a quizical look on his face.
"Yea kid?" he asked.
"Um... Where is here exactly, if you don't mind me asking?" Harry asked, a sudden shyness creeping back up in him.
They man turned fully back towards him and looked at Harry closley. He was still in the ragard clothes that the Dursleys had given him and for the first time he was starting to feel a bit self concious as the man seemed to be judging him.
"You aren't from around here are you?" the man asked to which Harry nodded.
"Grab your stuff kid and follow me. You're gonna need a place to stay for the night if you don't even know where it is you are," the man said and started to walk away towards the direction he had been heading.
Harry just starred after him for a moment before hurriedly grabbing his socks and shoes and stringing the necklace around his neck. He then grabbed his trunk and quickly moved after the man. But as he did, he realised the trunk was starting to get heavier as he started to follow the man. His body too started to get heavier and not even a minute after following him, his body felt extremly weak.
The man stopped suddenly when he heard something hit the ground a fair distnace behind him and turned around. He saw Harry now laying face first in the sand, his shoes scattered a bit a head of him and his trunk a good ten feet behind him. The man only sighed at this as he walked back to where Harry was and picked his now limp form up and tossed it over her shoulder befor bending down to pick up the shoes and walking back to grab the trunk.
Once he had his new cargo, he started off again along the path that he was headed.
Harry awoke some hours later, his head throbbing, his body feeling weak, and something pressed against him that was making it hard to move as well as very very warm. He couldn't open his eyes either for some reason and groaned as he tried in vain to at least roll onto his side.
"I wouldn't try moving around too much there kid, you exhausted all your energy back doing what ever it was you did to get here," a gruff voice sounded in Harry's ears. His head throbbed trying to remember who exactly it was that had such a gruff voice but could not place a finger on it.
All he could do was groan again as a throbbing pain shot across his forehead and made his headache worse. He heard footsteps start to approach him after he had groaned and deep chuckle once the steps had stopped at where he was laying down.
"Here drink this," the gruff voice said as Harry felt a very large hand reach behind his neck and head and lifted his uper body up and held something to his lips. Harry was in too much pain though from his head to really care about much else but when the taste of vanila gently splashed across his lips, his memory immediately went back to his aunt and the tea she had made him. His mind remembered how relaxed he had felt after drinking the tea and his body acted on its own accord from that point on. He drank hurridely and in large gulps as he felt what ever was holding the liquid his body was partaking in start to tilt more, letting more of the flavorful drink enter his now eager mouth.
When he was suddenly out of air did Harry stop drinking and start to to cough a bit as the drink was pulled away from him.
"Easy there now. You don't wanna drink too much too fast now. You'll make yourslelf sick," the voice said as the hand gently laid him back down and pull away.
"Who... who are you?" Harry asked as he suddenly started to feel sleep take over his senses again.
"Names Gracien kid. Gracien Black," were the last words Harry heard from the gruff voice before his mind put him into a peaceful and relaxed sleep.