Chapter forty-four.
"I miss Alice." Harry stated suddenly.
"Yeah." Hermione mumbled, with Alice gone, she should be at least happy that she could have the windows to her room closed during the night (and day), but after a couple of sleepless nights, she'd gotten up, opened the window and tried to do the same charm as Alice, but the smell wasn't quite the same…
"I miss how she always read weird books and discussed impossible things with Luna."
"Me too."
"And – and – and how she had that weird obsession with muggle paper clips and wooden boxes and always insisting on open windows, despite the weather and - "
"Yes! We know Harry! We miss her too!" Hermione finally snapped.
The Australian magical sector of the Armed Forces and Police were searching for her tirelessly, as most of them were close friends of hers… Unfortunately, Australia has plenty of land in which to bury a body and never be found.
And then there were the chances of her being taken outside of the country, but all International Apparations have been monitored… And niente.
…And then there was the chance of her being Underground, but they had to wait for someone from the Underground to show up to confirm anything.
So Harry, Hermione, Luna, Blaise, Neville, Hannah, Ron, Padma and baby Alice were all stuck in England, with no way of helping, while Draco was currently searching in the Underground and had been since Christmas… which was two months ago.
He had said he'd only be a day, but then again…that was a day in Underground time…
Hermione sighed and adjusted her gown. Emily was getting married today, after so many months of planning and middle-of-the-night-hysterical-phone-calls. Her older brother, Nik, was going to escort her down the aisle before her little sister followed with their Dad…
When they had found out that the Marriage Law had been retracted for all 'War Heroes' and their engagement was null and void, Draco had quickly proposed again to an ecstatic Hermione before he had disappeared to the Underground in search of Alice.
There were so many other people fretting as well; everyone in Australia, Molly and Arthur and the Twins and their girlfriends… (Like Draco, even though they had no longer been obliged to marry their government chosen fiancées, they had all decided to pursue a relationship, partly from the fact that everyone else they knew or would know have all been married off…) Amelia had been in almost constant tears when they'd left and Hermione had felt so helpless.
Harry, instead of rejoicing his renewed state of bachelorhood, (which Ron kept insisting that he should) he moped around angrily, like a caged animal, unable to move with freedom (it was like their school days all over again…sigh). Alice's disappearance and probable death weighed heavily on his mind, but he made sure to never let his students take the brunt of his anger, nor his new Goddaughter; Alice, whom he visited frequently.
Speaking of which, Padma and little Alice were already seated in the Granger gardens, awaiting the two boys and the beginning of the ceremony.
"Harry, Ron… You should both go sit outside, the ceremony's starting soon."
Harry pouted, and Ron rethought doing the same thing and decided to do the mature thing…how boring.
So he pecked Hermione on the cheek, told her how beautiful she was (which prompted Harry to knock himself out of his misery momentarily to say the same thing sweetly) and dragged a moody Boy-Who-Lived-To-Be-A-Pain-In-Ron's-Butt outside into the (very large) Granger Gardens.
Nik knocked on the door soon after they had left and poked his head in, "Hey Hermione! You look beautiful! Are you ready?"
Hermione smiled at her older brother, "Yeah, thanks, I am. How's Em?"
Nik chuckled, "Absolutely stunning and nervous as the Muggle's Hell. Then again…so's Nathan. He's so scared that Em'll 'realise' that she could do so much better than him and run away… But than again, that's what's Em thinking too…" Nik rambled cheerfully and Hermione chuckled.
"They really love each other, don't they?"
"Yep! But, to tell you the truth, I'm really looking forward to your wedding, Little Sis!"
Hermione cocked her eyebrows, "Oh? Any particular reason? And don't you dare say it's because you thought I would have to be married off with a large dowry because I'm a bookworm!"
Nik looked at her mockingly shocked, "Hermione! I can't believe you'd think that of me!"
"Nik, you've said that to me before. Numerous times."
"Oh yeah… But anyway, I just can't wait to see Harry Potter in a dress!"
"…Why would Harry be in a dress?"
"He's your Maid of Honour, right?"
"Yeah, but…"
"So he has to be in a dress!"
"I don't think - "
"Oh don't worry, he won't upstage you in the beauty apartment! Besides, I've been collaborating with the twins and there's a Japanese Charm that they got that changes anything you're wearing into a pink bunny suit, so they're learning Japanese in order to modify it! Then, when they get bored of learning, they're gonna hire someone who actually can! Understand Japanese that it. Hopefully, when Draco gets back, they'll have managed to change it to a dress of some sort, so Harry can't get out of it!"
Hermione had a sudden flash back. A girl's room in the middle of Outback Australia, a creamy coloured notebook with a carefully drawn sleeping dragon on it, and a spell…
"She flipped through the pages and noticed something highlighted and outlined several times on one of the pages.
TRY THIS SPELL ON DRACO NEXT CHRISTMAS…IT'LL BE HILARIOUS!
ピンクのバニースーツの変換"
"Nik…where did the twins get the spell from?"
"Oh, Alice gave it to them when she…' he gasped and covered his mouth shamefully, 'Oh shit! Hermione! I wasn't supposed to mention it! …You're crying - "
"Nikolas Granger. You know I won't cry! And I never will!"
He peered down at her sorrowfully, "Don't I?' He placed his hand on her cheek and Hermione was surprised when she saw it come away wet, 'I know I did, and I didn't even know the girl. So you, as one of her best friends…that her influence is still around… I imagine it must be really hard."
Hermione held back sobs; everyone was still talking about her, worrying about her, no one knew anything, it was like the world had paused and when it had started again, Alice wasn't there.
"How – How long do you think - ?"
"Well, it's been too long… they're only hoping for a body now…"
"But Draco! And – And the Underground!"
"'Mione… Emily needs you now and she's here with the living. Please… forget about Alice for the moment and be here for Emily…It's her wedding day."
Hermione sighed, "You're right.' She waved a hand and her tears disappeared, leaving her face immaculate, 'Lead the way Nik."
Black messy hair, bright green eyes…
Someone else' memories shifting…
A glass crystal ball surrounded her.
Sharp pain radiated through her back.
A golden blonde girl sat up from her bunk, gasping. The person above groaned and stuck her head over the side to peer down blearily.
"Goodfellow?"
"S-Sorry O'Harrow."
"Is it that dream again? You were thrashing about pretty heavily."
"Ye-yeah… I don't know how my brain can come up with these sorts of things!"
"…Maybe you watched too much 'Labyrinth'…that's all about a girl trapped in a crystal ball and it has faeries too…"
"Yeah…but in the dream, I'm a fae too! And the girl's only in the ball when the Goblin King gave her that peach… Seriously though… If you eat food in the Underground you have to stay! It's one of the oldest rules!"
The brunette sighed heavily, "By Jove, Goodfellow! It's too early for us to be discussing the finer points of Eire folklore and classic literature! We have to be up in three hours!"
"Oh, it's one already?"
"Yes, now sleep!"
The two girls laid in silence as others around them slept deeply.
"Goodfellow?"
"…Yeah?"
"Does…Does it hurt?"
"The shrapnel? …Sometimes."
"It hurts now, doesn't it?"
The blonde girl's eyes filled up with tears and she knew that if she spoke her voice would crack and give her away, so she just nodded.
The brunette took the silence as an affirmative and sighed.
"I'll go get you a hot pack." She rolled out of bed and jumped down gently onto the floorboards below.
She looked at the tangled sheets that had wrapped themselves around the exhausted new girl, the ship's rocking already lulling her back to sleep. She was a Kiwi doctor and had already seen several battles in the RAAF, leaving her scarred beyond belief, which was why she'd been placed in a the Sub-corps for the Navy. She never showed it during the day though, always being happy and cheerful, but when sleep over took her, she was plunged into hideous nightmares of tortured people dying before her eyes.
And when it wasn't that, it was of lost memories. She had been caught in a roadside bombing when her squadron was about to return home. Everyone had died except for her, she'd hit her head and gotten amnesia. She couldn't remember any of those gone, so felt incredibly guilty about surviving.
And, from what she called out during her sleep, O'Harrow and the others in the dorm could tell that she once had a sweetheart, but he'd died. She kept calling out for him to not leave her. Her Harry. Although, it must have something to do with her sub-conscious, as when ever she wakes, she can remember nary a thing. Not even her sweetheart.
By the time O'Harrow got back from sneaking into the medical tent for a hot pack, Goodfellow had fallen asleep, a worried look on her face as she lay belly down. O'Harrow smiled gently and pulled away the tangle of sheets, placed the hot pack over the spot where she knew to be a mess of scars concentrated in between her shoulder blades and pulled the sheets back up over the nice girl.
Ever since Goodfellow had arrived, their squadron had cheered up and gotten new life. It was as if, she'd brought something…magical with her.