Endurance

Disclaimer: I own nothing, except, of course, the plot and any OC characters in here.

Chapter 9

Harry felt himself lose his breath as he stared at Tanya. He could tell that she was serious by her expression. It was hard and cold. She was definitely not joking.

"How are you going to protect me when you're in the hospital?" Harry asked. "How could Dumbledore ask you to come here and protect me when you're only sixteen? How?"

"Harry," Tanya said holding up a hand. "Stop rambling. Look, my family was born and bred for this type of work. It is our job to defend those who cannot defend themselves or don't know what they're up against."

"I don't know what I'm up against?" Harry said softly, but Tanya could tell by his tone that he was offended. "I watched Voldemort kill Cedric! I watched him, I heard him kill my mother!"

"Harry," Tanya said softly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say anything to offend you, but I'm here because I have to be." Harry shook his head.

"How?" he continued to ask. "How are you going to help me fight a war I started?"

"Harry, you didn't start the war. He did."

Voldemort smiled, well as much as a snakelike creature could smile, as he and his minions exited the train that lead into Hogsmeade. They'd traveled under aliases so that they were not recognized. He could feel the power of the one he sought already. She was so close.

Soon he would hold her life, and perhaps her power, in his hands. If she was strong enough to beat off his hexes, then she may have the amount of power he could use to expand his own. It was not needed, but it would be fun to experiment on her. Make her suffer for defying his will.

Tanya watched as Harry stood to leave the room. Her eyes widened suddenly as Harry reached towards his scar complaining of a burning sensation. The both of them knew what that meant. Tanya jumped up from bed, ignoring Harry's protest and went to get dressed.

When she returned Harry was still standing in the same spot waiting for her. He seemed surprised that she'd changed so quickly. She was just pulling her hair back into a ponytail as Harry watched.

"Harry," she said lowly. "I want you to go and grab Hermione and Ron and get Dumbledore. Do not, for any reason under the sun, go outside of this castle and do not get anywhere near Victoria if you can help it." Harry just stared with an open mouth as Tanya swept passed him.

"Where are you going?" Harry called when he found his voice.

"To buy you more time."

Oliver sat on the bench in the Gryffindor locker room with his head in his hands. He didn't know how things had gotten to be such a mess. Damn Victoria. He just knew it was her fault. He didn't buy for one second that her kissing him had been an accident. How the hell she'd pulled it off so that Hermione would see was beyond him, but he knew she'd planned it.

His only thought was that she was lucky she was Victoria instead of Krum, because if it had been him who'd walked in on Krum kissing Hermione…he shuddered to think how many years in Azkaban he'd have been sentenced to.

"Oliver," he heard a soft voice say. He immediately recognized it as Hermione's. He looked up sharply to see her standing in front of him biting her lip. He followed the movement with his eyes and recognized it for what it was. Hermione was nervous.

"Yes?" he asked making sure not to put too much hope into his voice. Right now he felt as though he was right back at the beginning with Hermione. Right back to where he started in his sixth year.

"I-I want to talk to you. It's about us." Oliver sighed and gestured to the remaining space on the bench he sat on. Hermione sat allowing enough space for another person between them. "Oliver, I don't really know what I came here to say other than I can't believe you kissed her." Oliver opened his mouth to argue. Hermione held up her hand to stop him.

"Let me finish," she said. Her tongue darted out from her mouth to wet her lips so that she could continue. "I don't know if I will ever be able to forgive you for kissing Victoria, but I want the chance to think it over. I want the chance to heal because it does hurt." She stopped as she began to tear up. "I'm not giving you a definite answer as to whether or not we'll get back together and I don't expect you to wait, but I want to do this on my own time." Oliver looked at her with furrowed eyebrows.

"I'll wait," he said in a low voice. "For as long as it takes. I'll wait." Hermione nodded.

"Thank you," she whispered as Harry ran into the locker room.

"Hermione!" he said completely breathless. "Come on! Ron's outside. We've got to find Dumbledore." Hermione sniffed and hurriedly wiped away her tears as she turned to face Harry.

"You've been crying," he said with a frown. He glanced at Oliver. "You should get into the castle, Wood. It's not safe out here."

"What's going on?" Hermione asked.

"I can't explain yet, but just do what I said. Trust me." Oliver and Hermione nodded and jumped up from the bench. The three ran out of the locker room and met Ron outside, where they then ran up to the castle.

"Oh and, Oliver," Harry whispered to the older Gryffindor before they parted. "Stay away from Victoria and make sure no one is alone with her. It doesn't have anything to do with what happened between you two. It's something very different. Just trust me," he repeated. Oliver frowned but nodded again before jogging off towards the common room.