Chapter Two

Despite herself, Hermione continued to look into Harry's predicament. A wizard did not just lose his magic for no reason. There had to be some explanation. And, if she could find an explanation, she might be able to find a cure. Anything to bring her
Harry back.

For the most part, she started to believe that she was the only one even remotely concerned about Harry. She went back to Hogwarts feeling like she was letting him down, just leaving him to fend for himself in the great big Muggle world. Only, she couldn't
help him by hovering. So she did what she did best.

As normal, Hermione spent most, if not all, of her free time in the library. When she wasn't in classes, performing prefect and head girl duties or eating in the Great Hall, she had her head buried in a book. Besides her studying, Hermione researched
everything to do with the loss of magic. Truthfully, she came up empty more often than not. Even Professor McGonagall couldn't remember any other instance of such a thing occurring.

Except, well, Voldemort himself.

In the beginning, Ginny showed interest in Hermione's research; her feelings for Harry true to form. But even her queries grew seldom as the term went on. Hermione continually wrote to him but received no response. To say she was worried would be a gross
understatement. She repeatedly asked Ron to check in on him, just to make sure he was all right, but the redhead was as stubborn as ever.

Ron was, however, there at the station when Hermione arrived for Christmas break. He looked excited to see her, which warmed every bit of her. Their haphazard start to their relationship had made things strange at first, but the ease of which she glided
into his arms was unlike anything she'd experienced before.

For the first time in a while, she felt like things would be okay. Well, right until the moment she brought up Harry. Ron had timed it. It had taken her exactly forty seven minutes to bring up their once best friend. Ron did his best not to roll his eyes.

"Have you been to see him at all since I've been gone?" Hermione asked as they sat across from each other in a cafe in King's Cross Station.

Ron didn't respond immediately. If he told the truth, she would berate him. If he lied, she would only question him further.

Hermione read his lack of response for what it was. "You haven't, have you?"

Ron opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it.

"I can't believe it," she said, even though she could. "I asked you to do one thing, Ronald. One thing. Goodness knows how he's got on all this time."

Ron sighed. "He's fine."

"And how would you know?" Hermione almost yelled, rising to her feet. "I'm going over there right now. You better hope that I don't find him dead."

Ron pulled out some Muggle money and dropped it onto the table before he followed her in her haste. He almost had to break into a jog to keep up.

"Hermione," he called out. "Wait. Just wait up, would you? Let's talk about this. You can't just rock up at his place without warning. You know how he can be now that he's -"

She stopped walking quite suddenly and turned to look at him. "Now that he's what?" she asked, her voice sharp and accusing. "Now that he's no longer one of us?"

"I wasn't going to say that," he said, sighing. "You know I wasn't. It's just that he wants nothing to do with us anymore. We can't deny that things are different. It's hard to be the type of friends we once were. And it isn't as if I haven't tried. We
all have. Everyone, except him."

Hermione didn't want to have this argument. "I'm still going to see him."

He sighed. "At least let us Apparate there then."

So they did. They appeared right into what they knew to be a broom closet in Harry's apartment building. They were so close, standing face to face, and Hermione couldn't stop herself from stealing a kiss. Even though they were on a mission for Harry,
she had to assure Ron that it was him she wanted to be with.

"It's Apartment 2B," Ron reminded her as they made their way through the building. He started to feel a bit nervous as they approached the door. He hadn't seen Harry in months, and he had no idea what to expect from this meeting.

Although, he had to admit that what they did end up finding could never have crossed his mind.

Harry Potter was not in the apartment.

Someone else was.

Hermione was actually lost for words. There were questions she wanted to ask, but nothing seemed to come out. From her position, she could tell that the interior was different. It wasn't Harry's apartment. It wasn't his place. Harry no longer lived there.
That was the truth of it. A truth she hadn't known; a truth he hadn't told her.

Harry Potter was gone.

Hermione couldn't put words to what she was feeling. Ron managed to ask questions of the new tenant about the old tenant but the answers were vague. Harry was gone and nobody knew where. Hermione was convinced he had told someone. He had to have told
somebody where he was going. Famous wizards didn't just disappear without anyone knowing.

Or they did.

Hermione spent most of her Christmas break trying to track down Harry but to no avail. His former landlord had no idea where he had gone and none of his supposed neighbours even recognised who she was asking about. They'd never met Harry. Surprising.

Hermione even considered not returning to Hogwarts and continuing her search but Ron convinced her not to. He promised he would continue the search while she wrote her N.E.W.T.S. She knew he wouldn't, what with Auror training and his family claiming most
of his time, but she still agreed. Harry wouldn't want her to make her schoolwork take a backseat.

The rest of Hermione's school year went quickly. She scored very highly on her exams, and she had the entire Magical world to choose from. Hermione chose the Ministry. Magical Law. It was where her passion lay, and it also gave her access to great libraries.

Ron was adorable as ever, dropping in to see her whenever he could. He was doing well as an Auror, shining in his own light, with Dean and Seamus to back him up. They were slowly becoming a formidable team, almost unstoppable, but there was always that
whisper about Harry. Where was he? Would he ever return? Would he get his magic back and become the Auror they all believed he would be?

Like his father.

Hermione knew that bringing Harry up to Ron or any of the Weasley family wouldn't sit well so she kept talk of him to a minimum. She had to find him. She kept busy with her research into the loss of magic, into his whereabouts and into her own work. She,
like Ron, was doing good, even great work. She was fighting the fight, whether as a prosecutor or a defender. She always upheld the Law as best she could.

Hermione rarely took things remotely Harry related home with her because, even though they weren't officially living together, Ron always seemed to be around. He stayed with his brother, George, in Central London, near enough to the entrance to Diagon
Alley as well as the Ministry. Hermione lived a little further away. She liked to be able to make a break for her parents' house whenever she wanted, without having to worry too much about distance and traffic. Apparating into her parents' space just
didn't seem like good manners.

Bringing Harry home with her always made her a little nervous. She and Ron were good when he wasn't a topic of conversation. She sometimes thought that Ron thought she still blamed him for the fact that Harry disappeared from right under his nose. She
didn't. Well, not anymore. They were past it. Sort of. It was just something they didn't talk about. Well, at least not until that night in late November, just before the snow arrived.

"Hermione?" Ron called out. His tone worried Hermione just a little as she made her way from the kitchen to her study to find him standing near her desk with a pile of papers in his hand. "What is this?"

Hermione swallowed. "What's what?"

He raised the pages. "This. These. What's all this about Harry?"

For a moment, she considered her options. The one she settled on would prove to be detrimental, but there shouldn't have been anything taboo about the topic of their friend. Ron had to understand that.

Only, he didn't. The fight that ensued was paramount to nothing they had had before. And they had fought. Or bickered. It was what they did. They pushed each other's buttons but it was what made them so perfect. Right?

"All this time," Ron yelled. "You've been trying to find him all this time?"

"Always."

"And behind my back? Merlin, Hermione, finding Harry isn't even your department. It's mine."

She frowned. "You think this is about the Ministry?"

He frowned. "Why else would you be trying to find him? Want all the glory, do you?"

She just stared. "Excuse me?"

He shook his head, as if getting rid of his previous thought. "It's always going to be Harry, isn't it? No matter what I do, no matter what I say or who I become; it will always be him? Has it always been?"

"What?"

"Can you tell me right now that if he still had his magic; would you even be with me?"

"What kind of question is that?"

Ron closed his eyes for a moment. "An entirely realistic one."

There was a moment - a long one - where Hermione came to the realisation she would carry with her for the rest of her life. The terms of who she had developed into as a person were tied heavily around her two boys. She had absolutely no idea who she was
without them both. Both. One wasn't enough. But neither?

When Ron left that fateful evening, he didn't leave her with an ultimatum or a choice to make. In his mind, she had already chosen. Unlike him, she couldn't leave Harry behind. She didn't want to. That wasn't what made him mad. In fact, he probably loved
her more for it. What made it unbearable for him was that he was able to. What kind of person was he if he found even the slightest relief in the fact that his best friend was gone? What kind of person relished the fact that Harry had no magic?

And for it, he hated himself.

Hermione deserved better.

Gosh, even Harry deserved better.

Wherever he was.


It took Hermione close to two years to give up her tireless search for Harry. It came the morning of Sirius' birthday. It was difficult for her to let it go but, if he wanted to be found, she would have already. He clearly wanted nothing to do with any
of them, and who was she to force the issue?

What she didn't stop was trying to figure out why his magic was gone. Like everything, it was a puzzle that interested her. It was something she had to figure out. No matter how long it took. She continually consulted with aged witches and wizards, trying
to figure out the mystery.

November third also marked the release of Rita Skeeter's tell-all book on Harry Potter. The Truth About the Boy Wizard, No More. To say it wasn't at all scandalous would have been foolish. She was a woman hell spent on sensationalism, no matter who the
subject was. Hermione purchased the book, more out of curiosity than anything. Of course, there were a lot of things said about her. One of which, and she probably wouldn't have argued as profusely as she might have if Harry were actually around,
was that Hermione was in love with the heroic Mr Potter.

A conversation with Ron she had had in recent months made her consider the truth of it. Well, some of the truth. She had and probably would always care deeply for Harry but there had never been romantic feelings between them. Had they? And what about
for him? It had always been Ginny. And it had always been Ron. Until it wasn't.

Which was what Ron so loved to point out. He was happily moving on and he was convinced that the reason she wasn't was because she had unresolved feelings regarding Harry.

She wondered if Harry was reading the book wherever he was. Whatwould behis reaction to Rita's accusations be? He'd probably say nothing, even if he burned with anger. She knew he hated people assuming things about his life. His life was already
hard enough.

"A letter arrived from Luna," Margaret said, entering Hermione's office after a light knock. "And more flowers from Cormac."

Hermione let out a long breath. "You would think the guy would get a clue."

Margaret smiled. "You would think the girl would give him a chance."

"Oh, I did. At Hogwarts. And it was awful."

Margaret didn't say a word more as she handed over the letter from Luna. "Don't stay too long tonight. Remember that you have a full day in the Wizengamot tomorrow."

Hermione's eyes drifted towards the pile of case files on her desk. "I haven't forgotten." She waited until Margaret was gone before she opened Luna's letter. Whenever Luna wrote, it was normally something important.

And this letter was no different. Luna wrote of a boy who had asked her to dinner; a boy she had yet to say yes to. From the description, Hermione knew exactly who the boy was. She wasn't sure how she felt about how things were unfolding in all of their
lives so she decided to wait with a response.

She had already made one big decision for one day.