Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Thank you for all of your reviews. I really appreciate all of them. I am sorry it has taken me awhile to undate. I hope this chapter is worth the wait.
Time of the Essence
Chapter 3
Later that night, Hermione apparated to her temporary residents, The Shrieking Shack. Now walking up to the room she called her's in the beginning of July, she decided she had to have a meeting with Dumbledore.
The problem was, she did not exist. Hermione remembered Moody mentioning a spell that would make a person exist, as a fake identity. She knew which book it was in, but it was very expensive. 12 galleons. Hermione had no money, since she had not been paid yet.
And so, with nothing else to do, Hermione made a plan. When she got her pay for the week she would buy the book, making her first appearance in Diagon Alley in this time, perform the spell, and send a letter to Dumbledore requesting a meeting. Her first pay check was tomorrow. With the excitement of putting her plan to action, Hermione laid down on the bed and fell to sleep, dreaming of food which led to dreams of Harry and Ron.
Hermione went to work bright and early as usual. She was getting off at noon as a treat from Mrs. Seabrook. When she arrived, Mrs. Seabrook was scurrying around, putting new books from the shipment that arrived this morning on to the shelves. Hermione went and helped. After the bustle was over, Hermione's boss gave her a greeting. "Hello dear, how has your morning been?"
"Good Morning, fine, how has your been Mrs. Seabrook?"
"Oh wonderful, we got new books, which always is exciting", was her reply, with a huge grin. "I have your check behind the counter, why don't you go fetch it and you can go a little early? I will see you tomorrow Hermione dear."
"Okay, thank you."Hermione said as Mrs. Seabrook walked into the back. She couldn't stop the smile on her face as she walked over and grabbed her check. She had money!
Walking out of the store, Hermione began walking to The Leakey Cauldron. Walking in, she noticed a group of hags talking at a table in the corner and Tom behind the bar. No one else was in the infamous pub. Hermione said a quick "good morning" to Tom as she walked to the back of the pub, to the entrance to Diagon Alley. Drawing out her wand, she tapped the brick three up, and two across three times. She stood watching the archway to Diagon alley form, remembering the last time she had been in Diagon Alley.
Harry, Ron and Hermione were ordered by Professor McGonagall and Lupin to spend a day together, like normal teenage wizards. Being the beginning of April, they decided to go to Diagon Alley and shop. Hermione had to go to Flourish and Blotts, the Weasley twins had set her Hogwarts; A History on fire and she needed a new one. Ron wanted to go to Eeylops Owl Emporium, to get an owl now he had money and Harry wanted to go to Quality Quidditch Supplies The new broom, Thunderbolt 1900 just got in stores last week, and he wanted to check it out.
Walking through Diagon Alley, they talked about normal thing while relaxing. They forgot about the war and all their responsibilities as top members of the Order.
"Mann, did you hear about Neville and Cho Chang getting together Harry?" Ron asked, as they passed the couple standing outside Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.
"Yeah, they've been together for over a year Ron," Harry answered , giving Ron a 'where-have-you-been' look.
"Neville and Cho are engaged now actually." Hermione said leading the way to Flourish and Blotts.
Harry and Ron both looked at her. "Are you serious? How do you know?" The boys asked together.
Hermione looked at them confused, "Didn't you see the invitation to the wedding we received a few days ago?"
Their dumbfounded looks answered her question. Hermione mumbled "Boys", and just kept walking with a small smile on her face. They will never change.
Harry came to his senses first, looked over at Ron and asked,"So Ron, when are you and Luna going to pick a date?"
Ron turned beat Weasley red, "Well...ummm...well you see I..."Ron never got to actually answer the question.
Ahead they heard screaming and bright lights flashing. Drawing their wands, the trio ran towards the battle. Death Eaters were everywhere, shooting spells at anything that moved. Ernie Macmillan was hit with the killing curse right as they arrived. The Death Eaters were easily winning this fight and knew it, but now the Golden Trio had arrived. Harry, Ron and Hermione's talent with and without their wands was becoming well known. Though Ron wasn't as great as the other two with wandless magic, he could do things with a wand that made Dumbledore look incompetent. As they joined the fight, the Death Eaters sent a message for more Death Eaters to come and help. By the end of the day Voldemort wanted control over Diagon Alley.
Hermione, Ron and Harry got separated while fighting. They hated being separated. They tried to get to each other while dueling the Death Eaters who had formed a circle around each of them. They were outnumbered 1 to 6 each.
'The Order should be here' Hermione thought as she dodged a reductor curse. 'We need help', was what she thought when she saw Ron's wand fly into the air. 'Not good'.
She fought harder to get to Ron, and saw out of the corner of her eye, Harry doing the same. Her carelessness caused the Death Eaters' curses to hit their target more than before. She HAD to get to Ron. Ignoring the wounds and Death Eaters, she fought towards Ron. Just a bit more. Right when she had two or three more Death Eaters to get through, a green beam of light flew towards him. Before she could do anything it hit him square in the chest. Ron glowed a bright green light before collapsing on the ground.
Hermione just starred at Ron. She didn't notice anything going on around her. Reaching him, she fell to her knees beside him. Looking into Ron's eyes she let out a sob. His eyes, his best feature, gone. Ron's sparkling bright blue eyes, always filled with enthusiasm and a joy for life were gone. They were replaced by empty pools of plain blue. Empty.
Hermione collapsed, crying on Ron. He was dead.. Gone. What were Harry and her going to do? They were no longer a Trio. She couldn't believe it. For near seven years, the three were inseparable. Because of two words, the seven year friendship was over in a matter of seconds.
Fighting was still going on. Many coloured beams of lights flew over her head. Her best friend was dead. The first boy she had feelings for. The man who had saved her life countless times. She felt someone kneel down beside her. Harry. Hermione looked up to see Harry, tears rolling down his face. He said nothing just leaned over and hugged her. Harry held her as she cried, letting his own tears fall. They had lost a part of them. No one went near them when the battle finally died down with the Death Eaters retreating. The few who had tried to go near them got a glare from Harry. No one wanted the Boy-Who-Lived angry with them.
Harry and Hermione sat there crying for hours into the night. It was dark when Hermione finally pulled away from Harry. She looked up at him.
"What are we going to do now Harry? Ron he's ...he's..", Harry raised his hand, and stopped Hermione from completing that sentence.
"What we are going to do is fight. We will never stop fighting, promise me Hermione. No matter what happens you will never stop fighting."
Hermione starred at Harry for what seemed like hours. "Alright Harry, I promise."
Harry leaned down, kissed her forehead, "Good, now let's take Ron home."
Harry got up, picked up his wand from where he dropped it before, levitated Ron, walked back to Hermione, grabbed her hand, helped her up and lead the way to The Leakey Cauldron. There they flooed to The Burrow. Their night was far from over.
Hermione came too when someone pushed past her into Diagon Alley. Since that day, her and Harry had avoided coming here. Now she didn't really have much of a choice.
Hermione walked into Diagon Alley looking around. There were so many memories of Ron, Harry and her here. Harry's first pet Hedwig was bought in Eeylops Owl Emporium as well as Crookshanks, Hermione's cat. God she missed him, curling up at her feet, always looking for attention. Hermione fought down the tears forming in her eyes. She had to keep herself together.
Hermione quickly walked over to Gringotts. After entering, she walked straight to the nearest available goblin and exchanged her muggle check for wizard money. Picking up her bag of gold, she excited the bank run by goblins towards her next destination.
Hermione entered Flourish and Blotts. She had always loved this store since she first set eyes on it when she was eleven. Walking towards the advanced spells section in the back, she scanned the shelves until she found what she was looking for, 'Disguises and Identities; ways to detect and create new identities'. Picking the book up, Hermione walked over to the witch at the counter. Putting the book and the money it was worth down on the counter, she gave a look to the employee when she showed signs of beginning a conversation. The look clearly said she was not in the mood to talk, causing the witch to close her mouth and quickly give Hermione her change. Receiving her change, Hermione picked up her new book and left the store. She walked quickly to an abandoned alley and apparated to The Shrieking Shack.
Opening the book she found the spell that was needed. She read the instructions. Hermione needed a simple potion for the spell to work correctly. The potion ingredients she could steal from Hogwarts if she sneaked into the potions ingredients storage room.
Hermione grabbed a piece of parchment and wrote down the ingredients she needed. With her list, she walked over to the trapdoor to the tunnel that led to the Whomping Willow. Hermione quickly walked down the tunnel crouched down, breaking into a run now and then. Finally she saw the exit. Sticking her wand out, she whispered "Imobilus" causing the tree to stop it's movements. Hermione searched her surroundings for movement before climbing out and heading to the castle. While walking, Hermione looked over to the tree by the lake. The Golden Trio's tree. No one had ever sat there, it had been reserved for them. Turning away, Hermione quickly reached the doors to Hogwarts and opened them. Looking inside, she saw the coast was clear. Squeezing in, she continued her walk down in the direction to the dungeons. Turning the corner she saw the door she broke into many times before this. Hermione had stolen ingredients for Polyjuice potion in her second year, and many other potions during the year she should have been attending Hogwarts for her seventh year.
Opening the door, she noticed things will not change much. The shelves stood seven feet tall in a 9x7 room. Walking in, Hermione closed the door and took out her list. Going around to each shelf, she found all the ingredients she needed. Re-checking her list, she knew she had all ingredients before transfiguring the parchment into a bag. After filling the bag with the ingredients for the identity potion. Hermione quietly and slowly opened the door. Peeking out, she was about to leave the sanctuary of the storage room, when she detected movement coming from down the hall in her direction.
Thank you for reading, Please review.