LChapter Five
After work on that same Monday, Ron and Hermione Apparated to Harry's bakery shop. Thankfully, it was still open. It actually turned into a neat little bistro when the sun set. Several couples now claimed the tables and Ron and Hermione walked in just
like any other. Of course, before they left the Ministry, they had changed. Ron's walking around in his Auror uniform would have been enough to turn heads.
Hermione was dressed like a Muggle woman from work, in black slacks and a white blouse. Nothing seemed out of place as one of the waitresses showed the two of them to a table. Harry wasn't anywhere to be seen, and neither of them was particularly ready
to ask for him just yet. They absently studied their menus for a few minutes.
"Are you reading these?" Ron asked, a mixture of amazement and concern in his tone. "He might as well have used A History of Magic to come up with all of these dish names."
Hermione looked around. "Do you think this is really his place? Like, his his?"
Ron nodded as his attention returned to the menu. "I don't think I could eat anything," he admitted after a while. "I find I'm a little nervous. Something is going on and I'm quite certain I'm not going to like it one little bit."
Hermione had to agree. Harry knew something, she was sure of it. Now, all they had to do was get him to tell them.
"Hello," a young waitress said as she approached, getting their attention. "My name is Anna and I will be your server this evening. Can I get you something to drink?"
Ron and Hermione exchanged a look. Ron was the one who spoke. "Umm, well, actually, we were looking for Harry."
Anna stepped back ever so slightly. "Harry? Umm, Harry isn't here. He hasn't been back since some men came and dragged him out of here this morning."
Ron and Hermione exchanged another look. "That's strange," Hermione said.
Anna nodded. "I'll say. He hasn't missed a day of work since he reopened this place." She sounded proud, her admiration getting the better of her. "I can check in with Julia, if you'd like. She's in the back, manning the kitchen."
"Julia?" Ron asked.
"Julia. Harry's girlfriend."
The floor seemed to fall out from under Hermione. He'd said he had found someone but she never allowed herself to believe it.
Ron looked over at Hermione to see her looking particularly grief-stricken. Merlin, it was worse than he initially thought. Maybe coming had been a bad idea. He watched as Hermione's facial expression eventually turned to one of utmost focus. This was
work-related. She could handle it.
"Please could you," Ron said to Anna. "It's kind of important that we speak with him."
With a quick smile and a nod of her head, Anna turned on her heel and disappeared into the kitchen. About a minute later, Anna returned, followed by a woman who Ron would have to describe as a Muggle Hermione. She, like the woman sitting opposite him,
had brown frizzy hair, brown eyes and she looked about as accomplished as he always knew Hermione to be.
Once the two women arrived at the table, Hermione was sure she wouldn't be able to speak. Julia was beautiful, way pastpretty. Harry had chosen well.
"I understand you're asking about Harry," Julia said, cutting right to it. At their nods, Julia sent Anna to see to other customers. Then she went down on her haunches and dropped the volume of her voice. "He said you would come," she said, surprising
them both.
Ron frowned.
"Don't worry," Julia said, risking a smile. "He hasn't told me anything. All he said when he got back today was that he was sure you would come. And, when you did, I should send you to the house."
So she did.
Ron took the lead getting the address and thanking her before he and Hermione took a cab to 87 Bollinger Rd, Coventry. Ron opted for Muggle travel, mainly to give Hermione a bit more time to recover.
It was a modest house, Hermione would say. It looked like something Harry would live in; something practical and understated. Pretty much exactly like him.
When Harry answered the door, Hermione had to bite back her gasp. Harry could barely stand up straight and he was bruised and bleeding as if someone had attacked him from the inside out. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he had been tortured.
But why? And for what?
"Took you long enough," Harry muttered as he ushered them in, and then locked the door behind them. It was such a Muggle thing to do and he almost laughed at its absurdity. Even First Years could get through that ward.
Ron and Hermione moved into the living room of the house and waited while Harry made his way back to them. It took everything Hermione had not to see to him. She was rather desperate to perform some healing magic on him but she had no idea how a Muggle
would react to it.
Harry made his way into an armchair and invited them both to sit. Ron and Hermione sat at opposite ends of the couch, years of practice coming into play. They had started their routine of making sure other people weren't awkward around them the first
time that Ron had introduced his current girlfriend to her. It had been about three years since then.
"What happened?" Ron asked.
"You would think that I would have developed a better tolerance to pain over the years, but it turns out I haven't," Harry said, attempting to lighten the mood.
"Who did this to you?" Ron asked, wishing desperately that Harry wouldn't say that it had been Dean and Seamus.
"People," he said. "Well, magical people. None that I know, that's for sure. I don't think anyone who actually knows me could have been able to perform the Cruciatus Curse."
"What!" Hermione said, leaning forward. "Harry, who would do such a thing?"
Harry shook his head. "I told you. People. I don't know."
"You're lying," Ron said. "We know when you're lying, Harry."
"Well, you don't want to know then," he said. "What I do need to know is what exactly the two of you are doing here?"
Ron and Hermione exchanged a look. "We know something's up," Ron said. "Your conversation with Kingsley was strange, to say the least."
"And you seem to have expected us," Hermione pointed out. "What is that all about?"
"Kingsley wants the Cloak of Invisibility for a reason," Harry said. "I won't give it to him, and I won't tell him where it is."
"Kingsley?" Hermione asked. "Why would he need it?"
Ron looked at Harry. "It isn't just Kingsley, is it?"
Harry shook his head. "I believe it's the Order. It was formed during a war, then disbanded, and then reunited for our war with Voldemort. They need a purpose, and I think they've been planning something from the moment they found out about the prophecy."
"Dumbledore?"
Harry's features hardened at the mention of the name. Even years later, his feelings regarding the man were somewhat unresolved. "Probably," he concluded.
Hermione sat forward. "Harry, do you know what happened to your magic?"
He shook his head. "All I know is that it was gone after Voldemort fell. As if my abilities were linked to him, like everything else."
It was Ron who spoke next. "Okay. More importantly, do you think that the Order had something to do with the loss of your magic?"
Harry didn't respond immediately. Then, he affirmed, and the other two in the room went very quiet. A truth like that was a lot to take in and nobody quite knew what to say for a good few minutes.
Hermione recovered first. "How can you be sure?"
Harry just managed to raise his arms, wincing as he did. "Look at me." Then, more seriously: "And Kingsley may have told me. Sort of. Not directly."
"What? When?" Ron asked.
"After Hermione left for Hogwarts," he admitted. "He stopped by Piccadilly Circus and all but admitted to the Order thinking it would be best if I remained a Muggle. He suggested I relocate, but only after I handed over the Cloak. I left the next day."
"But why? What is this all about?" Hermione asked. "I mean, you must have some theories, Harry. Why would they want you to be powerless?"
It was Ron who answered. "Because they're afraid of him." He took a deep breath. "They've always been afraid of him. The most famous wizard in the world, who cheated death as a toddler. Who grew up to face and defeat the darkest wizard they've ever come
across. Who wouldn't be afraid of how powerful he was?"
"So they just took his magic away?" Hermione still couldn't believe it. "I mean, how would they even do that? I mean, I have my theory, and it seemed entirely plausible until right now. If they actually took his magic away, we're not dealing with
a simple reversal anymore."
"A simple reversal?" Ron asked her. "You told me it was a complicated procedure?"
Hermione didn't comment on that. "And who in the Order would have agreed? Honestly. The last time I checked, weren't we members of the Order? Why wouldn't we have been consulted about something like this? And, again, who in the Order would have agreed?"
They were all very good questions; questions that nobody had answers to. Harry had been alone with this information for so long, with nobody to turn to.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Ron asked. "Did you think we were part of it? Didn't you trust us?"
Harry was saved from a response by a key turning in the lock of the front door, and the door opening. Julia bundled in with her massive handbag and two plastics of wonderfully smelling food.
"Hi, guys," she said when she spotted them in the living room. She looked very calm, as if none of this was strange to her. "I brought dinner."
Harry gingerly rose to his feet. Hermione noticed the worry on Julia's face but the woman said nothing. She chose to believe it when he said he was fine. She knew she signed up for a guy with a dark past and several skeletons in his closet. She guessed
that she had just met two.
"What about the shop?" Harry asked as he made his way towards her.
"Milo eventually showed up," she assured him. "It was rather quiet anyway. I deluded myself into thinking that you needed me here."
Harry eventually reached her. "No delusion. I always need you."
"Introduce me?"
Harry did the introductions quite quickly. "Julia Ahern, this is Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. We went to school together." It was a demotion, of course. They had been through so much more than just school. But both Ron and Hermione understood
that Harry couldn't mention any of that. "Ron, Hermione, this is Julia, who I believe you met briefly at the shop?"
Ron nodded. "It's nice to meet you, Julia."
"Likewise," she said, smiling. Then she looked at Harry. "I'll be in the kitchen."
When they were alone, the once Golden Trio returned to worried silence. Harry could tell they would not be able to talk freely anymore. Although, he wasn't sure what more he could say. He had already given them enough to think about.
Hermione wanted to leave. She wanted to get up, walk out and never look back, but she knew she was incapable of such a thing. This was Harry. Her Harry. Even years after the end of the war, he was still facing a battle. Would it ever end? He had been
stripped of his powers, and yet the magical world still needed something from him.
Ron, Hermione, Harry and Julia sat down to a very thoughtful dinner. Julia had insisted they stay, even as both Ron and Hermione protested. Julia was a woman who usually got her way. Kind of like Hermione.
Julia asked questions about Harry mostly. They had to pick what they said carefully. Exposing themselves as witches and wizards was not an option.
It was a dinner that lasted much too long, and yet flew past. Harry walked them out when they insisted that it was getting late. Julia studiously offered them tea and cake but they politely declined. Hermione couldn't wait to get out of there. Watching
Harry interact with Julia was particularly painful, and Ron seemed to notice. He expedited their leaving and they found themselves in front of the house at 87 Bollinger Rd, Coventry.
"Kingsley will expect you at the Ministry some time this week," Ron told Harry as they stood under the starry night. "To keep an eye on you, I suspect."
Harry looked at Hermione. "You'll tell me your theory about my magic when I drop by?"
She nodded.
Harry took a moment to look at each of them. "It isn't that I didn't trust you," he said, addressing the question from earlier. "I do. I've always trusted you. The Order runs deep in some places, and I didn't want to put you two in danger. I didn't want
to taint what we had accomplished. I was the sacrificial lamb. They didn't expect me to live. Whatever happened, I was never going to stand in the way of whatever is happening now. The next best thing was ridding me of my magic."
"You'd rather be dead," Hermione whispered.
"And I'm not the only one who thinks it."
Ron and Hermione didn't rush back to London. They needed time to digest all they had learned. Harry was in love with a Muggle. The Order they'd fought with was responsible for Harry's loss of power. The Order was planning something unsavoury. They were
corrupted. Someone, under the Order's order, had performed an Unforgivable Curse on Harry. On a Muggle. Which was worse.
"Are you okay?" Ron asked as they sat side by side in the train back to London.
Hermione hadn't said a word since they had left Harry's and Ron was beginning to worry. All she managed to do was shake her head.
"It's a lot to deal with," he said softly. "I don't want to believe it."
"He has no reason to lie."
"I know. It was all too good to be true then, wasn't it? There will always be another war, and there will always be traitors. I mean, everyone we know is in the Order, Hermione. My parents, my brothers, the other Aurors. Who can we trust? Who do we go
to with all of this?"
"Nobody. We go to nobody, Ron. We realised long ago that nobody was going to save us. Harry knows that. He's always had to save himself."
"But he's a Muggle now, Hermione. It isn't the same. He would be useless against a wand. He can't protect himself the way he once could."
"Well, that's why he has us."
"Just you and me?"
Hermione sighed. "Whatever the Order's got planned has to involve people who weren't part of Dumbledore's Army. They would never agree to something as horrendous as stripping Harry of his magic. However they did it, it had to involve old, maybe dark,
magic. My bet is on the old members, who were around when Dumbledore first formed it. They had to have been planning this for quite some time."
"Harry said they didn't expect him to survive Voldemort."
"And taking his magic was the contingency plan. They were afraid of what he could become. He was, at the time, the strongest wizard around. And, with the Elder Wand, he would have been impossible to defeat, if ever he stood in their way."
"Do you think they were afraid of what would happen if he ever turned against them?" Ron asked.
"Another Voldemort?"
Ron shuddered. "I suppose they were allowed to be afraid. But this is all a little extreme, isn't it?"
Hermione relaxed ever so slightly. "At least they won't kill him," she said, as if that were the only silver lining of the day. "They need him alive. He seems to be the only one who knows where the Cloak is."
"Well, we need to figure out why they want it."
Hermione took out a pen and paper from her handbag and started on a concealed list. "And who's involved in all of this."
"Kingsley, definitely. The bloody Minister of Magic. Of course. Has that position never led to some sort of trouble?"
"We can't let him know that we suspect something is going on," Hermione said seriously. "Right now, I'd say our first advantage is that he believes we're oblivious to what's happening."
"Do you think he thinks Harry will end up telling us where the Cloak is?"
"We should make sure he doesn't tell us," she said, appreciating how his Auror training was coming into play. "There are ways of getting the truth out of people."
"Like an Unforgivable Curse," Ron said sadly. "I still can't believe it. And he withstood it. You know they'll try again, right?"
"I know."
"Things are going to happen quite quickly now," he said, as more of a warning. "We aren't going to be following Harry into battle now."
"He's going to be following us."
