Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Harry Potter. All mistakes are my own.
Sorry guys for the INSANELY late update. Chapter 4 shouldn't take NEARLY as long for me to update :] Almost done with it! Thank you guys so much for the reviews!
Hermione waved her wand in the general direction of the large body of water as she stood up. Two medium-sized fish washed up along the shore, wiggling about. Trout, if Hermione's memory served her correctly. Hermione quickly stunned them, then levitated them into a plastic bag she had grabbed, before stuffing it in her beaded bag and began to run in the campsite's direction. She sent her patronus to Harry, urging him to clean up evidence that they'd been there and to pack up the tent.
Within a few minutes, Hermione had made it back to the campsite. She looked around for the tent, frantically, snatching it off the ground and threw it in her bag once she found it.
"Hermione, what's wrong?" Harry looked at edge. Hermione just took his hand, and instantly they span on the spot. Hermione felt as if she were being sucked into a vacuum, like her body was being pulled on, starting at the head. Her lungs felt compressed, but it was all just a minor inconvenience to her.
Hermione let go of Harry's hand as soon as they had landed in a small forest, located right next to a farm. Hermione started right away in setting up the protection enchantments, going the extra measure to surround the farm with protection, as well.
"Set up the campfire, so we can eat." Hermione paused her spellwork so she could reach inside her bag. She threw the bag of fish to Harry, who caught it with perfect ease. "Clean them up and cook them, then we'll talk." Harry, who looked frustratingly anxious and worried, nodded and began doing just as what she said. Hermione sighed, resuming her protective spells.
Once she was done, Hermione grabbed the tent and threw it a few feet away from her.
"Engorgio," she mumbled, watching as the tent grew larger, before saying a few spells that caused it to stand up and have everything inside be set up. Hermione walked inside, going to her room. She sat down on the bed, staring at her hands. The events came flooding back like, pressing against her sanity like a ton of bricks. She began to bawl, the sobs making her body seem as if she was having a convulsion. She leaned back, resting her head on one of the pillows, bringing another over her face as she began to scream into the pillow. The snatcher had taken her virginity. Even if he hadn't penetrated fully, he had still pushed the head in. He had taken her innocence away, and she could never get it back. He stole wasn't rightfully his, and what should've been Ron's. Hermione screamed some more into her pillow, not caring if Harry heard her or not. Being on the run for the past few months was starting to wear her out. Having to hunt down food all the time, never getting a proper bath, and dealing with their misery was bringing her down…it was becoming too much, but she'll never abandon Harry, even if he's the reason they are doing all of this in the first place. It was tiresome, always having to change locations, trying to run away from snatchers so that they didn't get turned in to Voldemort. She didn't care that she may have been coming off as a spoiled brat, if one were to be reading her mind at the present moment. Now she had to worry about not getting caught by a certain snatcher, who was very efficient in tracking her, from finding her, so she could avoid getting raped again. This thought brought another fresh round of tears for Hermione, who began punching the pillow, thinking about how unfair life was for Harry, as well as herself.
It took five minutes before Hermione decided enough was enough with her pity party, and she needed to help Harry with their dinner and tell him about what had happened. Hermione wiped at her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater as she made her way outside and sat down next to Harry on a log. Hermione dug through her beaded bag, pulling out a sauté pan, as well as a kettle and set them on the ground. She filled the kettle with water, filled it with two teabags of honey vanilla chamomile tea, then levitated it on top of the fire. She then grabbed the bag of assorted mushrooms from inside her enchanted bag, pouring them onto the sauté pan. Harry grabbed the two pieces of fish that he had cleaned out and skinned, placing them onto the pan and levitated it above the fire.
Hermione took a deep breath then turned to Harry. "Snatchers," She started, gauging Harry's reaction. Harry immediately tensed and turned his body to her.
"What about them?" He asked. Hermione bit her lip, gazing down in her lap as she played with the edge of her jacket. She looked back up.
"We're being tracked." She told him. "I was collecting, and…two of them must've heard me. They were nearby." She glanced back down to her lap.
"Did you see who they were?" He asked. Hermione could practically see the adrenaline within Harry radiating from his body. "Did you recognize them?" He persisted.
"One." She didn't look up to meet his eyes. "I only caught a glimpse of the other." She wiped her palms against the front of her jeans, as they were starting to perspire. When she looked up, she saw the tense, impatient set in Harry's jaw.
"Fenrir Greyback is amongst the group of snatchers." She continued. Harry's eyes widened. Hermione saw that he recognized the name, and how dangerous it was for them that he was amongst the ranks of the snatchers, searching. She glanced over at the food to make sure that it hadn't started to burn. "These snatchers…one of them got a hold of the scarf I had intended for Ron to find, in order to track us down. " Hermione saw the panic that started to twist in with Harry's adrenaline. She decided she would tell him the truth. "This is the third time we've almost gotten caught by them. That's why I've been so jumpy lately."
Harry jumped up onto his feet and faced her. "How could I have been so stupid in letting you go off by yourself!" He was pulling at his hair, pacing in front of Hermione. She could only watch him, slightly panicked about what would happen if they got caught again. "Did they see you? Did they hurt you?" He asked then silently cursed at himself. Of course they haven't touched her, otherwise she wouldn't be here right now…and neither would he.
"No!" Hermione cried out, a little too quickly then flushed when she saw Harry intently looking down at her. "No," she said a little more calmly. "I'm here, aren't I?" She reasoned, casually. 'So maybe just a little bit of the truth,' Hermione thought. It wouldn't be right for her to tell Harry about the two occurrences that happened between her and that grungy man. He didn't need to worry anymore than he already did. Besides, she wasn't his responsibility. His only responsibilities were to find and destroy horcruxes without getting caught. "We just have to keep moving, and put up every protective charm we can think of." She flicked her wand at the fish, having it flip over to the other side and stood up. Harry stopped pacing in front of her and gently took one of her hands into his. He took in her appearance. Her clothes looked disheveled, her hair messily being contained inside a rubberband. Her eyes were a bit glassy, bloodshot and red-rimmed.
"Mione, I'm so sorry," Harry ran his thumb over the top of her hand, "I've been completely selfish keeping you here with me and putting your life in more danger. Thank you so much for everything you've done for me, but I couldn't bare it if I lost you to one of those snatchers, or if anything happens to you. It's my fault Ron's not here, my fault you aren't happy! You should go to the Weasley's and sta-"Hermione pressed the fingers of her free hand to Harry's lips, successfully hushing him. Hermione gave him a weak, grateful smile. "Don't be ridiculous, Harry. I'm not leaving you." Harry moved his face away from her touch. He grabbed two plates and a pair of forks from Hermione's bag and put together their plates as she took a tentative sip of her tea. Harry handed her a plate and sat down beside her. The two ate in a comfortable silence. Hermione realized, as she chewed on the rubbery texture of a mushroom, that she felt better after talking with Harry. She hadn't said much, but it was the longest conversation they had had since Ron had left them. They had been blaming themselves for Ron's departure and been keeping to themselves, taking watch respectively every six hours. It was harder for them to get any sort of quality sleep, and it was apparent in the way they looked. Harry's face, Hermione noticed, had started to thin out, his skin more taut over his cheekbones. She could see the dark rings under his eyes, the only color in his face besides the pink tinge to his cheeks from the rough winter breeze.
Hermione finished the last bit of food off her plate then stood up. Harry took the plate from her, standing up as well. "Go inside. I've got it." He rested his hand on her bicep, letting it linger there for a moment before slowly trailing it down her arm until his arm hand was back by his side. Hermione nodded, turning around and walked inside. She pushed back the curtain to the 'dining room', securing it with the strap around a pole. She sat down at the wooden bench, extracting the copy of 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard' Dumbledore had left her from her purse and sat it down on top of the table. She flipped it open, landing it on the 'The Tale of the Three Brothers' for about the fifteenth time since she's received the book, hoping to find a clue, any clue that Dumbledore had left for her to figure out. Harry had once told Slughorn that she was the brightest witch of her age, and knew others agreed. She wasn't stupid…she knew she was the insufferable know-it-all Snape claimed her to be, as much as it hurt her to agree, even silently, but maybe Dumbledore had overestimated her, she wondered not for the first time.
'But though Death searched for the third brother for many years, he was never able to find him. It was only when he had attained a great age that the youngest brother finally took of the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son.' Hermione was almost done when she felt a hand on her shoulder, diverting her attention. She then noticed the music that was playing softly in the background as she looked up to meet Harry's eyes. He trailed his hand down her arm until his fingers wrapped around hers, tugging on them gently until she was pulled into a standing position. He led her down the few steps into the tent's living room, the sound of the music growing louder. She spotted the old-school black radio Ron used to listen to religiously when he was still with them in the corner of the room next to a dimly lit lantern. She felt something tug at her heart painfully, almost knocking the breath out of her. Harry lifted her chin up to look at him as he pulled her into his arms. She rested her head on his shoulder, exhaling slowly as he started to rock them back and forth. He snaked his hands down to meet hers, putting one of her hands on his shoulder, the other hand being held out in the air with his. Hermione scrunched her eyebrows together pulling back slightly, but he just firmed his grip. He started to exaggerate their movements, dipping their hands towards the floor, then up as he turned them. He started off slowly, but quickly picked up speed. Hermione though briefly how terrible of a dancer he was until she saw the silly grin plastered across his face. She began to laugh, shocked at just how good and welcome the feeling it brought to her was. Her face lit up as Harry joined in, lifting her arm to twirl himself around and into her arms. What may have been an attempt to be a sexy shimmy against her turned out to be an awkward squirm, bringing tears to her eyes as she laughed hard at the gesture. She pushed him out from her arms, only to be pressed up against his chest once more. Harry dipped their arms back to the floor once, twice, the third time shocking her as he bent her torso backwards, her hips jutting forward into his as he leaned over her, her head falling back limply as he swung her in a semi-circle. Not wanting to be outdone, Hermione stood straight, twirling herself under his arm then stepped out. She threw her free arm out for dramatic effect before wrapping herself in his arm until her back was pressed against his. Hermione placed the hand she held against her stomach, his other hand finding its way to her hip. They moved their hips together in sync, gyrating against each other slightly for a moment until Harry turned her around to face him. He brought the hand that rested on her hip up to her chin, gently lifting it up so she could look him in the eyes. Hermione could see in his eyes how exhausted he was and realized he was just as miserable as she was, if not more. She could see the pride that welled up in there, what he held onto to deal with the mission Dumbledore had set him on, preventing him from confining with his friends. She instantly felt ashamed of herself for being so selfish and wallowing in her self-pity when she could see that Harry needed her…someone to talk to. He was just as lonely as she, if the intensity of heat radiating from his eyes were anything to judge from-she realized he was moving in slowly, as if he were to kiss her. Panicking, she quickly turned her head to the side, his lips coming into contact with her cheek. He let them linger for a moment then pulled his head away, sighing. Hermione felt awkward against him. She glanced around the room quickly, finding anything to focus her attention on until her eyes landed on the object on the table. She found her escape, gently pushing away from Harry as she made her way over to the horcrux on the table. She lifted the locket by the chain, catching the look of protest on Harry's face as she brought it over neck.
"Get some rest. I'm going to take watch, okay?" Harry started to walk over to her when she held up a hand, stopping him mid-stride. "No Harry, I'm okay…really. Go get some rest, I've got it." She kept her gaze down at her feet as she made her way outside.
A/N: I kinda feel terrible to give you guys this after months without an update. But not to worry, our favorite snatcher will be back!