CHAPTER FIVE
I've been holding on to a love gone wrong
It's true, for too long
The hurt it left inside
Has made me want to hide
Too much, and I do
I'm not afraid to be alone
The truth is I'm all right
Bt something had been missing from my life
Maybe tonight
Maybe I'll fall
Maybe he'll crash through m walls
Maybe at last
Love will some back
And take me deep into his arms
Maybe the heart that comes apart finally mends
Maybe tonight I'll finally fall in love again
Cried a lot of tears
Faced a lot of fears
To get right here
Every chapter ends
Before the right one can begin again
In the story of love
And maybe tonight
Maybe I'll fall
Maybe he'll crash through my walls
Maybe at last
Love will come back
And take me deep into his arms
Maybe the heart that comes apart finally mends
Maybe tonight I'll finally fall in love again
I'm ready for another chance
But right now that's enough
I know I will survive whatever comes
And maybe tonight
Maybe I'll fall
Maybe he'll crash through my walls
Maybe at last
Love will come back
And take me deep into his arms
Maybe the heart that comes apart finally mends
Maybe tonight I'll finally fall in love again
Maybe tonight I'll finally fall in love again
Maybe tonight I'll finally fall in love again
Maybe tonight I'll finally fall in love again
(Maybe Tonight: Kate DeArouge)
Hermione was puzzled. Why had that stranger been so concerned about her welfare? She remembered back to a year ago, when Harry had disappeared. Hermione had fled to her dormitory and refused to come out for days. Lavender and Parvati had brought her food and homework but it was all left untouched.
Then, after a few days, Ginny had burst into the room and had demanded that she get out of bed. When the brunette refused, Ginny told Hermione that her best friend was insulting and ridiculing her, hanging out with Malfoy and sitting with the Slytherins. Turned out to be true. Hermione had decided to make reappearance. After that things went back to normal, or as normal as they could get without Harry.
Neville had started training- but he was still hopeless and wouldn't stand a chance against Voldemort- Ginny had started a course in healing, Ron had become a sort of honorary Slytherin, and was now flanked by Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle at all times. He hated the Gryffindors and wouldn't talk to any of them, unless it was to say something nasty about them or their family. Ron had also developed an interest in bloodlines and only talked to pureblood Slytherins. Most of the school just avoided him.
The rest of the Weasley family was disgusted by his pureblood-mania and would only allow him home for the holidays if he let it go. Of course, Hermione was always welcome. But she declined every holiday- it brought back too many memories of Harry. She missed him so much. Little did she know, he felt the same.
Harry and Samara had finally stopped laughing and took off their cloaks. They both set up camp and Harry made a small fire. With that, they laid down to sleep. This would have been easy, but Harry couldn't stop thinking about Hermione. Staring into the dancing flames, he thought about the girl who had captured his heart. She was perfect. Her face was the last thing he saw in his mind before sleep overcame him.
Hermione woke up a few days later, groggy and disoriented. The light shining through the windows was dim and feeble, so she went to the common room. Last night when the stranger showed his concern for her, she reasoned that he was some person spying on the castle and had seen her and felt sorry for her, learning her name through the students whispers. God knows there was enough gossip, no one needed to know the mysterious person knew who she was.
Hermione decided to take a walk; it was easier to think in the fresh air. So grabbing her scarf and cloak, she left the common room and began meander around the lake. After about half an hour, she was nearing the Forbidden Forest and quickened her pace, knowing the type of things that inhabited it. Unfortunately in her haste she didn't see the huge monster descending behind her.
The spider moved down the tree and when it was a metre away from the bushy haired girl (I know I said it wasn't bushy but I am still going to call her that) it struck out suddenly. Hermione wasn't quick enough, and was bitten by the large arachnid on her shoulder. She screamed and tried to run but the acromantula grabbed her around the waist and began to drag her back to its awaiting pincers.
Hermione was kicking and struggling with all her might, but it made no difference. Suddenly, she felt something pulling her to the ground and did so just in time, seeing knives flying through the air, aimed at the creature. They all hit the spider in the centre of its head and it keeled over, wriggling weakly.
Hermione looked up to see her rescuer was none other than the mysterious hooded figure from the other night. Lumbering to her feet, swaying dangerously, she felt a sharp pain course through her shoulder. Glancing down, Hermione saw her shoulder and clothes covered in blood. Funny, that wasn't there before she thought hazily and staggered backwards, when another wave of hurt hit her. The cloaked figure quickly moved to help her, steadying her with strong arms. Hermione collapsed and Harry caught her, lifting her into his arms, before calling Ujio.
The huge stallion appeared a moment later and Harry raised Hermione up so she could mount the steed. This isn't supposed to be happening, Hermione was the calm one, she can't faint! Harry thought, and jumped up on the horses back when it became clear Hermione was going to fall off without help, barely registering that he was still bare-chested, dressed for training.
He sat behind her and when she began to sway Harry wrapped his arm around her waist and held her close. He was surprised when Hermione didn't pull back, but leaned against him, putting her head on his shoulder. Of course, she was barely conscious and didn't know what was happening. He chose to ignore that. Ujio walked slowly up to the school and Harry carried her off the stallion and shadow teleported to the Room of Requirement, laying her down on the bed that appeared in the corner. After checking she was okay and wouldn't bleed to death, Harry then went to the sixth year girl's dormitory, looking for the youngest Weasley.
He spotted her vivid red hair and silently moved to wake her, keeping his hand over her mouth. She was awake in a flash, wand at the ready. Harry had been expecting that- she grew up with Fred and George. He stepped back and raised his hands to show he meant no harm and said quietly, "Hermione's hurt"
Ginny quickly dragged him into the deserted common room and demanded to know what was going on. Harry quickly explained in as few words as possible, "Hermione was walking and got attacked by an acromantula, she's in the Room of Requirement, and please don't ask questions."
The small girl couldn't help but notice the figure had an extremely nice body, but at the same time, it felt wrong to look at him like that, like he was her brother or something. Pushing that aside Ginny hurried up the stairs and grabbed her equipment, prepared to walk out the portrait when Harry grabbed her and dragged her over to a dark corner of the room muttering, "This is faster"
In less than a second they appeared in a room unfamiliar to her, but the brunette lying on the bed was. Running to her side, Ginny dropped her bag and pulled out what she would need to fix her friend's injuries.
Harry paced the room, oblivious to all around him, all he needed to know was if Hermione was okay. He continued to walk back and forth, lost in thought until Ginny moved up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. Harry turned around; knife at the ready, but let it go when he saw his old friend.
"I've fixed her shoulder and there wont be any scars, but she'll probably be a bit jumpy for a while," the redhead explained, when she had gotten over he shock of having a blade at her neck and after a moments hesitation added "but she won't wake up"
Harry nodded and moved across the room, picking up the unconscious girl, holding her close to him. Ginny was an observant girl and saw the amount of care with which he handled Hermione and mentally made a note of it. Harry carried her to the corner of the room and was about to teleport away when the redhead jumped forward, demanding to know 'what the hell are you doing?'
He replied, saying that if Hermione wouldn't wake up then it would be better for her to be in her dorm, in case someone comes in here. Ginny could make her excuses and it would be less suspicious if she were in her own bed. Harry looked at Ginny and saw her indecision, without another word, grabbed her arm and teleported away.
They appeared out of thin air in the seventh year girl's room, and Harry was thankful to see that everyone else was still asleep. Not knowing which bed belonged to his friend, he looked questionably at Ginny, who got the hint and led the way to a bed on the other side of the room.
Harry lay Hermione down gently on the bed, quickly muttering a spell under his breath. It was Japanese and very helpful getting blood out of clothing. Turning to the youngest Weasley, he saw she looked a little scared. Am I really that frightening? He thought.
"You cannot tell anyone what you saw this morning," he spoke softly, in a low voice that held no malice "you cannot tell anyone that I was here, and you cannot tell anyone Hermione was injured. Do you understand? I know Hermione will want to know what happened, tell her as best you can"
As Ginny quickly nodded her head, he heard movement over in a different bed, and vanished. The redhead ran out of the room, leaving the dormitory and Hermione. As soon as she left two pairs of curtains were pulled back and the confused faces of Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil were revealed.
Parvati looked at Lavender as if to say 'What was that all about?' This went unnoticed by her friend who was looking around the room with a hopeful expression on her face. It was finally understood when she voiced her question.
"Was there a boy in here?" she asked, smiling
Hermione woke a little while later to see that she was alone in her room and the sun was up. She had no idea what had happened since she went to bed last night, so the bushy haired girl got up and went to breakfast, checking her watch. She was surprised to see it was scratched and the glass was cracked.
She looked down and saw she was fully dressed, shoes and all, and her hair was up in a ponytail. Hermione was really confused now. She had a splitting headache for some reason had a strange feeling she was covered in blood. She quickly changed out of the clothes.
Making her way down to the Entrance Hall she saw her roommates all looking at her strangely. Do they know what happened? She was about to go and ask them, when she saw Ginny trying to catch her attention further down the table.
She sat down next to her redheaded friend and looked at her. Ginny looked pale and tired, with bags under her eyes. Hermione eyed the youngest Weasley while she ate, but she held her own and kept silent. Finally, when both girls left the Hall, Ginny led the older girl to the Room of Requirement. Once inside, she relayed the events of that morning.
Hermione was shocked- she got attacked by a giant spider? The stranger from the other night saved her? This was getting confusing. She needed to see what happened, needed to remember. As if the room heard her thoughts a Pensieve appeared on the other side of the room. She got to work, but it was no use, she couldn't remember a thing. The only person who could help her was the samurai.
Albus Dumbledore sat in his comfortable office, fingertips pressed together, eyes twinkling. It had been a week since Hermione had been attacked, yes he knew about that, and there had been at least four eyewitness reports of large groups of Death Eaters getting beaten back by two figures, hooded and cloaked, using muggle techniques. They were the same two people he had met on September 1st, he was sure of it.
The only thing he was missing was the knowledge of what happened during the incident with the spider. Hagrid had discovered the massive carcass during one of his lessons and it had been buried accordingly. All he needed was that memory. He had been pressuring the seventh year for it, even resorting to Veritaserum, but it was of no avail- she couldn't remember anything about that morning.
For the first time in his very long life, Dumbledore didn't know what he was going to do.
Harry watched the castle, particularly well that week. He knew that the old headmaster would figure it out and he also knew Hermione wouldn't remember anything. He had made it so; they would search for him and the knowledge of what had taken place in the small clearing. Harry knew he had to give them the memory soon, but it was so much fun-he got to outsmart the Order of the Phoenix.
He couldn't help but overhear a private conversation between Dumbledore and Snape, and from it, learned that they were beginning to think the two girls delusional. Not surprisingly, it was the Potions Master who suggested this. Well, we can't have that he thought and extracted the memory, carefully erasing his face, and altered his surroundings.
He was a master in Occlumency and Legimency and could perform such tasks with ease. Harry teleported to the girls room and saw Hedwig. She had taken a liking to Hermione after he had disappeared, but knew whom he was and flew over and began to nip his face and hands, seemingly overjoyed to have him back.
He quickly wrote a note and attached it and the bottle containing the silver memory, to the snowy owls leg. Harry watched her take off out the window, turning towards the Great Hall with all the other owls.
With that done, he retreated back to the forest. Voldemort was coming soon and he had to be ready. He also didn't want Samara to shoot him.
