- CHAPTER FIVE -

Farewell, Hogwarts

Hermione glided down the stairwell from her dormitory, wearing her elegant periwinkle-blue dress. It was the night of the Yule Ball, and the festivities were about to start.

Harry was waiting for her at the foot of the stairs in the empty common room, dressed in a black tuxedo. He looked positively dashing in the tux, especially since he had forgone wearing a shirt under it.

They smiled at each other as she approached him, and they shared a tender kiss. When they parted, the orchestra started to play, and Harry led her onto the dance floor in the centre of the Great Hall.

They began to dance, moving in perfect sync with the music and each other, much to the admiration of the surrounding crowd. She and Harry glided over the dance floor with graceful movements, and as she pivoted around, her red flamenco dress whirled around her.

The ease of their dance surprised Hermione, considering that she had never actually learnt to dance, but it probably had something to do with the fact that she and Harry were literally gliding over the floor, their feet never quite touching the ground.

After a while, the music slowed down, and she and Harry stopped their wild dancing. They only held each other close and swayed back and forth to the rhythm of the songs.

When the music finally faded out, Harry took a step back from Hermione and reached for her hand. With her hand in his and his eyes never leaving hers, he got down on one knee before her.

Dressed in her white gown, Hermione stood with bated breath, anticipating his next words. At the same time, the hall seemed to get brighter all around her.

"Hermione," Harry said and paused dramatically, giving her a tender smile. "You have to get up."

"Huh?" Hermione mumbled and blinked while the room lit up even more. A brilliant, almost blinding light was radiating from seemingly everywhere and permeating everything.

"You have to get up!" Harry's voice repeated, a bit more urgently this time.

"Don't wanna," Hermione groaned as her eyes fluttered open. She was lying on the sofa, cuddled against Harry, her arms wrapped around his torso and her head resting on his chest.

She turned her head to look at Harry, who was smiling at her while he gently stroked her back with the hand that wasn't trapped under her.

"Morning," she mumbled with a small pout, frowning slightly at him.

Harry's smile fell as he looked at her.

"What's wrong, Hermione?" he asked, clearly worried. "Did I do something wrong? I swear I didn't-"

Hermione snorted. "Don't be silly... You just interrupted a perfectly fine dream..."

"Ah, well," Harry said with a relieved chuckle. "I'm sorry. But it'd probably be best to get up before people start coming down here. It's almost seven in the morning, people will get up soon..."

"Right," Hermione sighed. Groggily, she disentangled herself from Harry and sat up on the sofa. After only five hours of sleep, she still felt rather tired. But she knew that Harry was right. They really needed to get going before the rest of the House woke up.

Harry rose from the sofa and held out his hand to help her up. He pulled her upright, and as she got to her feet in front of him, Hermione quickly leaned forward to give him a small peck on the lips.

"Let's meet back here in thirty minutes?" she asked her boyfriend – her boyfriend! She still couldn't quite believe it. She expected that it would take her a while until she stopped doubting it and no longer wondered whether she was still dreaming.

"Sure," Harry replied with a soft smile, and Hermione's heart fluttered as she could see that he was just as happy as she was about their newfound relationship.

They walked towards the stairwell to the dormitories, but before they reached it, Hermione heard steps descending the stairs from the girls' dormitories.

She cursed internally when Ginny Weasley came into view from around the spiral staircase moments later and entered the common room, only to freeze when she spotted Hermione and Harry right in front of her. The two of them also halted their steps, looking awkwardly at the redhead.

Ginny took in their appearance, and Hermione knew that the girl wouldn't miss her and Harry's dishevelled robes nor the closeness with which they stood next to each other.

The younger girl caught Hermione's eyes, and Hermione only gave a small nod to answer Ginny's unasked question, giving her a sympathetic look.

The redhead grimaced in response. With trembling lips, she lowered her gaze to the floor and hurried past the couple towards the exit of the common room, clearly struggling to keep up her countenance.

Even though Hermione had hardly interacted with the girl sin the last weeks, she still felt bad for her. She knew of Ginny's crush on Harry, of course, and could imagine how devastated the girl had to feel. She had got along splendidly with Ginny over the summer during her time with the Weasleys and thought that they were maybe not close friends but at least good acquaintances.

"Let me talk to her," Hermione said to Harry, who was still looking at the portrait hole where Ginny had left the common room, a confused expression on his face.

"Huh?" he asked. "What... what was that all about?"

"Don't worry about it," Hermione told him. "You can go freshen up. Let's just meet back here in a bit."

With that, she dashed out of the common room, leaving a befuddled Harry standing behind her. Ginny hadn't got far and it only took Hermione a few steps to catch up with the girl.

"Ginny?" she called out and approached the redhead. She could spot the tears in Ginny's eyes as the girl turned towards her. "Listen... I..."

"I'm not mad at you, Hermione," Ginny interrupted her sourly, keeping her eyes downcast.

"I'm sorry," Hermione said softly. "It wasn't my intention to hurt you."

"I know... Of course it wasn't!" Ginny exclaimed, a pained expression on her face. "We're all right, Hermione, really! I'll get over it, don't worry."

"I'm sorry, Ginny," Hermione said again, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder and giving her a light squeeze.

"It's all right," Ginny assured her and sighed. "But... thank you. For your concern."

"Just..." the redhead added, looking up at Hermione and giving her a weak smile. "Just don't... try not to snog Harry right in front of me, all right? At least for a few weeks?"

"I... That..." Hermione sighed, suddenly feeling a bit guilty. "That won't be an issue, I promise..."

Ginny cocked her head at her, but then she exhaled deeply and nodded. "All right... Thanks... I guess I'll see you around..."

"Yeah," Hermione replied weakly and watched after Ginny as she left towards the Great Hall for breakfast. That had gone well, Hermione thought to herself, all things considered. Much better than she could have expected, really. It was nice to see that she and Harry still had a friend at Hogwarts.

Not that it would matter a day from now, Hermione thought as she returned to the common room and walked up the stairs to her dormitory.

#

Freshly showered and looking presentable again, Hermione met Harry in the common room a short while later.

After breakfast, they once more retreated to their secluded corner in the library, and Hermione looked up the Hiding Charm that Sirius had told them about the evening before.

After she had read the instructions on the spell in the seventh-year Charms textbook, Hermione felt confident she would be able to learn it in time. The wand movements and the pronunciation of the incantation were easy enough to work out, only the visualisation of the intended result was a bit more challenging.

In the end, it didn't take her very long until she felt that she was ready to try out the spell.

"All right," she said to Harry, who was sitting next to her, engrossed in another book on travelling in wizarding Europe. "I think we can test it now."

"You need me to volunteer as a guinea pig?" Harry asked with a grin.

"I could cast the spell on myself, too," Hermione replied. "But it will be easier to see if it works if I cast it on you."

"Sure," Harry said with a shrug and fully turned towards her. "Go ahead."

Hermione nodded and drew her wand, holding it flat in her palm.

"I'll cast a Point-Me Spells to check if the charm is working," she explained to Harry before she did the spell.

"Point Me Harry Potter," she whispered, and her wand spun around in her palm once and came to a halt when it pointed straight at Harry.

"Right," Hermione muttered and looked at the description in the textbook one last time.

With her brows furrowed in concentration, she then moved her wand in an intricate pattern over her boyfriend and incanted, "Abscondam loco omnino!"

"Did it work?" Harry asked when there was no light nor any other indication that the spell had taken hold.

"We'll see," Hermione answered and put her wand in her open palm again.

"Point Me Harry Potter," she spoke again.

She nodded with satisfaction when the wand in her palm spun around first once, then twice, and then kept on spinning.

"It's working!" she announced happily before she cancelled the Hiding Charm on Harry with a General Counter-Spell. "Finite Incantatem! I'll redo the spell right before we leave tomorrow, all right?"

"That's great. See?" Harry said with a wide grin and gave her a shy kiss on the lips. "I knew you'd do it in less than an hour. You're brilliant!"

"Thanks, Harry," Hermione whispered back and happily returned the kiss.

They exchanged some more kisses, but after a short while, Harry drew back and his expression became more serious again. Something had apparently occurred to him.

"With that spell on me..." he began hesitantly, "and with owls unable to find me... Hedwig also won't be able to find me, right?"

Hermione exhaled deeply, giving her boyfriend a heartfelt, sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, Harry," she said sadly. "But... no, she won't be able to find you from afar..."

Harry sighed. "Yeah... I figured as much... I don't suppose that we can bring her along with us?"

"I'm sorry," Hermione replied reluctantly. "It's... I don't think so... I won't be able to bring along Crookshanks, either... We can't put animals in the space-expanded bags. And we can't bring them along when we have to carry them everywhere in cages. It's... it wouldn't be very practical. I'm sorry..."

"Like... What if we have to make a quick escape because we're spotted?" she continued, trying to make Harry understand. "We can't risk the pets slowing us down in a situation like that..."

Harry nodded slowly, a resigned expression on his face, and Hermione was relieved that he saw the need to be pragmatic when their lives might be at risk. "Yes, I get it," he muttered. "What will you do with Crookshanks?"

"I was going to leave a note for Ginny and ask her to take care of him," Hermione replied, "I think she'd be happy about that. And Crookshanks, too. He got along well with her at the Burrow." With a small smile, she added, "As well as he gets along with anyone, I suppose."

"Do you think Ginny would like an owl, too?" Harry asked. "There aren't many people I would trust to take care of Hedwig, and... well, I suppose the Weasleys could use another owl... but with Ron..."

"I know," Hermione replied sympathetically. She understood perfectly well why Harry wouldn't want to leave Hedwig in Ron's care. "I can tell Ginny in my note that she'll have two pets now..."

Harry nodded while Hermione chuckled slightly. That news would come as quite a shock to Ginny. Hermione hoped that the pets would be at least a small consolation for the younger girl when she learnt of her and Harry's escape from Hogwarts.

"Well..." Harry spoke up after a short pause between them, "is there anything else left for us to prepare?"

Hermione shook her head. "Not really. We'll gather the books here before we leave. The only thing left to do is to think of a way to get to Snape's Potion supply... But I have no idea how we could do that. We can't risk being caught by him..."

"Yeah..." Harry said thoughtfully. "Stealing from Snape won't be easy... We won't have another class with him... Maybe I could use the Invisibility Cloak to sneak into the classroom during another class, or in the evening... but I think it's too risky."

"Yes, definitely," Hermione agreed at once and shrugged. "Getting these supplies isn't something we must do, anyway. It'd be nice to have them before we go. But we could just buy everything we need in France later on."

"Right," Harry said. "That's probably better..."

Putting the matter out of their minds, Harry and Hermione then spent the rest of the day reading more books on the magical communities in Europe and discussing their preferred travel routes. Though, they talked and shared their ideas mostly to pass the time, as there was no need to decide on a detailed plan already. They only needed to know their possible first stops, which would be in northern France.

Hermione could see that Harry was as excited as her as they quietly talked about the places they wanted to visit. At the same time, he also clearly shared her own worries of what the next day would bring. Given their nervousness, it somehow felt wrong not to further prepare for their escape, but she knew there was nothing more to be done than what they had done already. All they could do now was to wait and hope that their plan would work out.

In the evening, they decided to retire early for the night. Between the little sleep they had got in the morning and their escape planned for the night the next day, they really needed to get in a good night's sleep for a change.

As they said goodnight at the bottom of the stairs to the dormitories, Hermione embraced Harry in a tight hug and placed a soft kiss on his lips. She didn't know if any students paid close attention to Harry and her in the busy common room, but she decided that she didn't care. Hopefully, this would be their last night in the castle, anyway.

"Don't worry. It will all work out," she whispered to Harry, though she felt that she was assuring him as much as herself.

"I know," her boyfriend replied softly, wrapping his arms around her. "And I could say the same thing to you. Try not to worry too much... We have a good plan, I'm sure of it... Just wait and see, we'll be in France before you know it..."

They shared another brief kiss before they reluctantly stepped apart and went up the stairs to their respective dormitory. Hermione crawled into her bed a few minutes later, and despite her anticipation and anxiousness about the coming day, she was asleep almost as soon as her head hit her pillow.

#

Harry and Hermione had an early breakfast in the Great Hall the next morning. As they ate their meals at their usual spot at the end of the Gryffindor table, the Great Hall was slowly filling with students, but Hermione noted that most of them didn't give Harry and her a second glance. Evidently, the excitement over Rita Skeeter's article in the Prophet had finally died down and the school had returned to ignoring them for the most part.

Hermione enjoyed the quiet meal, as it helped to calm her nerves, but her peace and quiet got interrupted when Harry suddenly grabbed her arm and leaned towards her, an excited expression on his face.

"Hermione," he whispered, "I know how to get into Snape's classroom before we leave!"

Hermione gave her boyfriend a startled look. "You do?" she wondered.

Harry gave her a wide grin and nodded, looking very satisfied with himself. "I do. It's pretty simple, if you think about it..."

Hermione frowned. "What is it?"

"I... I'll show you in a moment," he replied with a smirk and turned around towards the hall, eyeing the teachers at the head table and the students of the other Houses.

"Harry," she growled, becoming tired of his secretiveness, but he only grinned at her.

"Just a moment..." he whispered. "A minute maybe..."

With a huff of annoyance, Hermione returned her attention to the plate in front of her. If Harry wanted to be silly, that was his prerogative. She wouldn't encourage him.

Still smirking, Harry continued to observe the students in the Great Hall, only to jump up two minutes later.

Quickly, he strode towards the exit of the hall, leaving Hermione watching after him with confusion.

"Oi, Malfoy!" Harry shouted, and Hermione noticed that Draco Malfoy and his two bookends had been approaching the exit of the hall from the Slytherin table.

"Potter," the blond Slytherin drawled. "What do you want? Are you-"

Suddenly, Harry's wand was in his hand and was pointing at the startled Slytherin.

Leaving Malfoy no time to react, Harry flicked his wand without hesitation. "Densaugeo!" he shouted, casting the hex that Hermione had got much too familiar with two weeks prior. The jet of light from Harry's wand hit Malfoy right in the face, and the boy screamed in pain as his teeth started growing rapidly.

Hermione was far from the only person to be startled by Harry's actions. There were many shocked gasps and surprised shouts from students all around the Great Hall, but the loudest scream came from the head table.

"POTTER!" Snape yelled and raced down from the head table towards the boys near the doorway. The other teachers in the hall remained seated and only watched the scene with apparent disapproval. McGonagall's lips were pursed into a thin line as she shook her head with anger. Hermione was glad that at least the headmaster wasn't in attendance that morning.

As he strode towards the boys, Snape drew his wand and waved it at Malfoy, stopping his teeth from growing further. Though by now, Malfoy's front teeth had reached a length of over two feet and were five inches wide at least, and the boy was whimpering in pain. Hermione noted with no small amount of satisfaction that despite Snape's intervention, Malfoy's teeth had already got much bigger than hers had. It just proved once more that her boyfriend was a much more capable wizard than Malfoy.

"Hospital wing, Draco," Snape snapped at the Slytherin, and Malfoy ran out of the Great Hall, leaving many laughing students in his wake.

Once Malfoy had departed, Snape rounded on Harry. "Your arrogance is truly astounding, Potter," the man spat venomously. "So, you think you can do as you please just because you managed to cheat yourself into the tournament? Or because your name was mentioned in the papers? Well, I don't think so..."

Hermione's eyes widened as she suddenly realised what Harry's plan was. She had to forcefully bite down on her bottom lip to keep herself from laughing out loud. It truly was a brilliant plan – in the insane, reckless way that was so typical for Harry.

"That will be... yes..." Snape drawled. "I think that will be one hundred points from Gryffindor and detention the entire week, starting today! Be at the Potions classroom at seven!"

"Yes, Professor," Harry muttered, his gaze lowered to the floor and an apparently disgruntled expression on his face. Hermione knew better, of course, but as Harry shuffled back towards her with hanging shoulders, she thought she really had to compliment him on his acting skills.

Harry slumped down on the bench next to her, staying silent and keeping his eyes downcast. Only when the excited chatter in the Great Hall had quieted down and he was no longer the centre of attention, he finally looked up at her.

"You- I can't believe what you did there," Hermione whispered to him, shaking her head disbelievingly when he gave her a very smug grin. "You know you're lucky it worked? What if some other teacher had punished you? Or what if Snape had assigned your detention with Filch or someone else?"

Harry snorted in response. "Snape was sitting right there. There wasn't a snowball's chance in hell he wouldn't be the first teacher to try and give me detention. And he always has me in detention with him, not with Filch..."

"Right," Hermione muttered. "So, you've got yourself detention with Snape. Congratulations. Now what? That's not enough for what we have to do."

Harry just grinned at her again, and Hermione sighed, shaking her head with exasperation.

#

The rest of the day passed much more quietly. They attended their classes as usual, keeping their heads down and not participating beyond the bare minimum. Once classes had ended, Harry and Hermione began with their final preparations. Hermione wrote out a short note for Ginny, telling her that they would leave Hogwarts in the face of the staff's negligence and all the threats to Harry's life and asking her to take care of Crookshanks and Hedwig.

After a quick dinner, they returned to their dormitories to collect their belongings. Hermione emptied her trunk and her drawers and packed everything in her space-expanded handbag. With a heavy heart, she then said goodbye to Crookshanks and left the note for Ginny in her empty trunk under her bed.

Before she left the dorm, she closed the curtains around her bed, hoping that her dorm-mates Lavender and Parvati wouldn't notice her missing curfew or wouldn't tell on her if they did.

She met with Harry in the common room shortly before seven, when his detention with Professor Snape would start. Harry held his backpack with his belongings in one hand, trying to look inconspicuous as he waited for her. Judging by the mournful expression on his face, she suspected he had just returned from saying goodbye to Hedwig.

With one last look back into the common room, they stepped out of the portrait hole into the corridor and made their way to the dungeons. As they walked along, Harry rummaged in the backpack and pulled out his Invisibility Cloak.

"Here," he muttered, handing it to Hermione.

"Thank you," she said with a low voice. "And give me the backpack, too. It'd look suspicious if you have it."

Hermione took the backpack from Harry's hands and shouldered it before she threw the cloak over herself. They then walked along in nervous silence until they reached the Potions classroom a few minutes later.

"You're ready?" Hermione whispered apprehensively from under the cloak.

"Yeah," Harry affirmed with a nervous nod. "Let's do this."

He raised his hand and knocked at the door, which was opened by Snape a moment later.

"Potter," the man spat, sneering at Harry. "Come in!"

Harry entered the classroom, closing the door behind him as if in slow-motion to give Hermione ample time to sneak into the room under the Invisibility Cloak.

"Stop dallying around!" Snape spat contemptuously as he turned and strode back towards his desk at the far-side of the classroom. "There is a barrel of pickled frogs that need to be disembowelled. After that, you will prepare and mash the frog livers for use. I would think that even a dunderhead like you, Potter, would be able to do that. But then, you probably..."

Hermione tuned out whatever insults the vile man uttered next when she observed Harry slowly drawing his wand. Under the cloak, she also raised her wand, though she and Harry had agreed that he would take the first shot if possible and she would only act as back-up. They had only practised the spell a few times, so she hoped that Harry would get it right with the first attempt.

With his back turned towards them, Snape was completely unaware of Harry raising his wand at him. And with the way the man droned on about Harry's supposed inadequacies, he also didn't hear the boy's whispered spell as Harry flicked his wand.

"Stupefy!" Harry incanted, and a red beam of light left his wand, hitting the unsuspecting teacher fully in the back. Snape collapsed and Hermione winced slightly when his head hit the ground with a dull thud.

She shed the Invisibility Cloak and stepped closer, her wand still levelled at the unconscious form of Snape. "We should make sure he doesn't wake up," she said and flicked her wand. "Stupefy!"

"Stupefy!" Harry also shouted again, and both Stunning Spells hit Snape in the torso.

"Right," Hermione said and exhaled deeply, much relieved that they had been able to take out Snape that easily. "Now let's get him out of the way."

After all, it wouldn't do to have the unconscious teacher be spotted by anyone wandering into the classroom unsuspectingly. So, she levitated the man behind the teacher's desk to hide him, though not without 'accidentally' bumping his head on several pieces of furniture on the way. Once she had manoeuvred Snape into a position where he wouldn't be discovered immediately, she unceremoniously dropped him to the floor again. She also disarmed the teacher and pocketed his wand. One could never know when a spare wand might come in handy, she thought.

"Are you done?" Harry, who had observed the whole spectacle, asked her with amusement, a small smirk playing on his lips.

"Yeah," Hermione confirmed with a nod, not apologetic in the least for her actions. "Let's get going!"

Over the next hour, Harry and Hermione raided both the supply closet in the classroom and the adjacent storage rooms that were usually off-limits for students. They found stores of many medical potions that Snape probably kept for Madam Pomfrey, and they collected vials of Essence of Dittany, Blood-replenishing Potion, Pain-relief, Pepper-up, Bruise Salve, and Skele-Gro. Hermione put all the flasks in her enchanted handbag.

She knew that these potions might come in handy if they ever had to treat minor injuries. It would be best in such a case to avoid going to a magical hospital where they might be recognised. She would have to read up on how long the potions could be stored before they lost their effect, but for now, they just took everything with them.

Harry and Hermione then collected the ingredients they would need to brew the potions of the entire Potions curriculum during their self-studies. Hermione also gathered supplies for more Ageing Potion and for some other potions she might need eventually.

They were done within an hour, and Hermione felt both excited and apprehensive over the ease of their heist. She feared they would run into some unforeseen obstacle soon. Their plans had never worked out that smoothly before.

Nervously, she and Harry then waited for curfew, when they would continue to the library. On the Marauder's Map, they observed as the corridors and the library slowly emptied of students in the late evening. It was a few minutes after eleven when Hermione and Harry finally got ready to leave the Potions classroom.

"Do we have everything?" Harry asked as he shouldered his backpack.

"Yeah, I think so," Hermione replied and lifted her handbag.

"Though..." her boyfriend began, giving her a questioning look. "Can we be sure Snape stays unconscious for the night?"

Hermione frowned, nodding slowly. Harry might have a point there. They couldn't risk Snape raising the alarm.

"Right," she muttered and approached the teacher's unmoving form. "Better safe than sorry..."

She pulled her wand and raised it at the man.

"Stupefy!" she yelled, hitting Snape with another Stunning Spell, and Harry, who apparently didn't want to feel left out, also Stunned the teacher again.

"All right. Good," Harry then stated with a nod, a small smirk on his slips. "Should we leave now?"

"Yes..." Hermione said slowly, looking at the unconscious teacher.

After being hit by a total of five Stunners, she felt certain that Snape wouldn't wake until the morning. It wasn't exactly healthy to take this many Stunners, but she was confident it wouldn't do any lasting harm, either. Snape would remain unconscious for the rest of the night and possibly until someone found him in the morning. He'd have a nasty headache once he was enervated, but apart from that, he should be fine. Probably. She didn't find it in her to worry overly much about the health of the unpleasant man.

In fact, he was getting off much too lightly, in her opinion. Thinking back to all the abuse the vile man had heaped upon her boyfriend, Hermione's anger rose again.

"Or maybe..." she muttered, "maybe one last parting gift is in order..."

She raised her right foot, and with an angry grunt, she forcefully stomped down onto Snape's face, right onto his crooked nose. Harry yelped in surprise next to her, but he didn't move to intervene.

With grim satisfaction, she then looked down on Snape's face and inspected her handiwork. She hadn't used enough force to risk seriously injuring the man, but enough to do some damage. Quickly, she turned Snape's head to the side with her foot, lest he would choke on his own blood while unconscious. Snape's nose was bleeding and rapidly swelling, being clearly broken in several places. Hermione couldn't help but grin about what she had done. The bastard deserved it!

"Huh," Harry said with mild curiosity. "That will hurt when he wakes up." He chuckled. "His nose is even more crooked now than before."

"Really?" Hermione asked airily and stepped away. "I see no difference."

Harry laughed out loud, and Hermione exchanged a smirk with him as they turned around and approached the exit of the classroom.

"Can we go?" Hermione asked Harry, her hand on the doorknob.

"Yeah, all clear," Harry confirmed after a brief inspection of the Marauder's Map and unfolded the Invisibility Cloak.

He threw the cloak over both of them before they left the classroom. Pressed closely together, they then slowly made their way to the library, always keeping watch on the Marauder's Map to ensure they didn't encounter any teachers.

Once they reached the library, Hermione darted around the shelves and collected books while Harry kept watch. She quickly gathered two copies of all the textbooks they would need and then began to pick several books for more advanced reading. She also collected a few tomes with intriguing titles just for some light reading on topics such as Enchantment, Mind Magics, or Duelling.

In the end, Hermione 'borrowed' almost five dozen textbooks and over three dozen further books. She was very grateful for her space-expanded handbag, which allowed her to carry all these books effortlessly. Though she still felt bad about stealing from a library. She assured herself that they would return the books eventually. Besides, it was all for a good cause, she told herself.

Not wanting to dally further and risk getting caught, Harry and Hermione left the library as soon as possible. Under the Invisibility Cloak, they climbed the stairs to the third floor, where they would leave the castle through the secret passage under the statue of the One-Eyed Witch.

They made it to their destination without encountering any obstacles. Harry then opened the entrance to the passage, and Hermione followed him down the narrow corridor. After the entry had closed behind them, Harry raised his wand and muttered, "Lumos!"

As the spell illuminated the dark, earthy passageway, Hermione released a breath she didn't know she had been holding. "It worked! We're out!" she whispered excitedly, throwing her arms around Harry and giving him a deep kiss.

"Yes, we are," Harry chuckled once they moved apart again. "But let's go, we should keep moving..."

"Wait!" Hermione said, "The Hiding Charms and the disguise first!"

"Right," Harry muttered, and Hermione raised her wand at him.

"Abscondam loco omnino!"

After she had confirmed that the spell on Harry had taken hold with another Point-Me Spell, she cast the Hiding Charm at herself.

With that done, she rummaged in her handbag and fished out the vial of Ageing Potion. Carefully, she measured out the right amount of potion in the cap of the flask. She was aiming to age herself by five years.

After an encouraging nod from her boyfriend, Hermione then raised the cup of potion and swallowed it with one gulp. She could feel the Ageing Potion's effect immediately. Her vision blurred while the proportions of her body changed slightly.

Hermione grimaced when she suddenly felt very constricted by her much-too-tight clothes. Her bra especially was too tight and was painfully tearing into her chest. She really hadn't thought that through, she thought, annoyed with herself.

Harry, in the meantime, had watched her transformation with wide eyes.

"Wow, Hermione, you're... hot!" he blurted out, only to blush furiously when his brain caught up with his mouth and he realised what he had said.

Hermione also felt her cheeks grow warm as she looked down her body. She didn't look too bad, she supposed, but to her, the differences in her figure were simply what was to be expected by the age difference. And right now, those differences caused her quite a bit of discomfort.

"Nice to know that you're enjoying the show, but I'm bloody uncomfortable," she muttered with some annoyance, though it wasn't really directed at Harry.

Luckily, she was able to quickly adjust her clothes with a few resizing charms. The charmed clothes still looked a bit off on her new body, but she decided they would do for now. Especially as she then donned her winter coat to hide her Hogwarts uniform under it. She finished her disguise with a Colour Change Charm that turned her hair blonde.

"Let's go," she said to Harry once she was done, and together they made their way through the narrow gangway to the end of the passage. With every step that took them further away from the castle, Hermione felt more hopeful that their escape would succeed.

They reached the end of the passageway a few minutes later. Trying his best not to make any sound, Harry opened the trapdoor to the cellar of Honeydukes, and they clambered into the dark room, once more hiding themselves under the Invisibility Cloak. From there, they crept up the wooden staircase that led to the ground floor of the shop. Thankfully, it was deserted for the night.

They only encountered a problem once they had reached the store's entrance door.

"The door is locked," Harry whispered as he repeatedly yanked on the door handle without success. "Unlocking charm?"

Hermione nodded and raised her wand. "Alohomora!" she muttered.

Relief flooded her when the lock clicked, but a moment later, she and Harry both flinched when a loud, wailing alarm began to sound.

"Shit!" Harry exclaimed and pulled the door open. "Run!"

With Harry pulling her along, they darted out into the street and rushed into a nearby side-alley, still hidden under the cloak.

At the same time, a light was lit in the shop.

"Where are you? Show yourself!" an angry yell sounded from within, and as she peeked around the street corner towards the shop, Hermione spotted a middle-aged man in a morning gown standing in the entrance of the shop, looking around angrily, his wand raised.

"Probably those damned twins again," the man muttered a moment later, sighed, and retreated back inside, closing the door behind him.

"Phew..." Harry breathed out heavily. "That was close!"

"Let's wait a bit before we go to the Three Broomsticks," Hermione suggested, also panting slightly. "Just to make sure that the coast is clear."

Harry agreed, and they nervously observed their surroundings for a while, but no more people were to be seen on the streets. After a few minutes, they decided to continue on.

Slowly, they made their way to the Three Broomsticks, which was still open at that hour. When they reached the entrance of the bar, Hermione stepped out from under the Invisibility Cloak and opened the door.

Trying to appear inconspicuous, she entered the busy room and walked towards the fireplace. However, she was accosted by Madam Rosmerta before she had crossed the room.

"Hello, Miss," the barmaid greeted Hermione cheerfully. "How can I help you?"

"Uhm..." Hermione hesitated, trying to think up a good cover story. "Bonjour, I 'ave been visiting my family from Beauxbatons..." she then said with a terrible fake French accent, "And I 'ave to get back to Diagon Alley tonight. Can I travel from here, s'il vous plaît?"

"Oh, of course, Mademoiselle," Madam Rosmerta replied brightly, and Hermione was much relieved when the woman didn't appear suspicious of her. "The Floo Powder is on the cupboard next to the fireplace. The fee is one Sickle. Please put it in the coin box next to the pot with the Floo Powder."

"Merci," Hermione replied, placed a sickle in the box, and took a handful of Floo Powder out of the pot.

"Go, Harry!" she whispered under her breath as she threw the powder into the fire but didn't step inside the swirling green flames.

"Diagon Alley!" she shouted at the same time as Harry spoke the destination from within the fire, and the flames rose with a loud swoosh as Harry was transported away. Hermione was confident that no one had heard Harry's voice over her own shout and the noise in the bar room. And as Harry had been invisible, Hermione hoped that to the bystanders, it would look as if no one had been standing within the swirling flames.

"Mademoiselle, don't you have Floo Travel in France?" Madam Rosmerta laughed out behind Hermione. "You have to step inside the flames!"

"Oh, of course," Hermione exclaimed, giving off what was supposed to resemble an embarrassed chuckle. She paid another Sickle and took another handful of powder, and this time she stepped into the fire.

"Diagon Alley!" she shouted and felt herself being sucked into the whirl of green flames, getting spun around rapidly. But it only took a few moments until the spinning stopped and she was catapulted out of another fireplace. She came to a halt a few steps later, regaining her balance and looking around, slightly dazzled.

She was relieved to see that she had indeed made it to the Leaky Cauldron and hoped that Harry was around under his Invisibility Cloak somewhere. From behind the counter across the bar room, Tom the bartender looked at her with a confused expression on his face.

"Good evening, Miss," the old man greeted her, frowning slightly. "Are you alone? I could have sworn the fireplace had activated twice..."

"Oh... uhm..." Hermione hesitated, looking like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights, before she regained her composure.

"Well, maybe you should stop drinking with your patrons if you start to see things double," she replied dismissively.

"Of course, my apologies, Miss," Tom replied amiably. "How may I help you?"

"I'd like to have a room for the night, please," Hermione answered as she approached the counter.

"Of course, Miss. That will be one Galleon and two Sickles," the bartender replied and took a key from a drawer behind the counter.

"Room Eight, second floor," he told her as she handed over the money. "Have a good night."

"Thank you," Hermione said, took the key and quickly made her way to the staircase leading to the upper floors. She hoped Harry was following her under his cloak.

Hermione easily found her room and unlocked the door. Stepping inside, she took in the comfy wood-panelled room, which was equipped with a large bed, polished oak furniture, and a crackling fire in an open fireplace.

As soon as Hermione closed the door behind her, there was a distortion in the air right next to her. Her boyfriend appeared a moment later as he lowered his cloak.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed happily and hugged him tightly, euphoric that they were safe. She moved to give him a kiss but was confused when Harry suddenly backed off and took a step away from her.

"Wait!" he exclaimed, looking at her awkwardly. "I... I know I said you were hot, and I stand by it, even when you're blonde... but... could you please turn back into... well... you?"

"Oh," Hermione muttered and blushed crimson. She had completely forgot about her current appearance. "Sorry."

Quickly, she took the antidote to the Ageing Potion and changed the colour of her hair back to normal.

"Is that better?" she then asked Harry as she approached him again, and forgoing an answer, Harry leaned towards her and caught her lips in a deep kiss.

They parted several long moments later, both breathing heavily.

"I can't believe how smoothly everything went," Hermione said happily.

"Yeah," Harry agreed, "Let's just hope that our luck holds tomorrow... But things have gone perfectly so far..."

"Yes," Hermione replied and sighed contently. "Well, should we turn in for the night?"

"Uhm..." Harry began, fidgeting slightly.

Hermione raised her eyebrows at him. "What is it, Harry?"

"Uhm... there... there's only one bed," Harry pointed out the obvious, giving her an awkward look.

"Well, yes," she said, nonplussed, "I could've hardly demanded a double room, could I?"

"Well, yeah, I suppose..." Harry muttered. "I guess I can sleep on the floor..."

"What?" Hermione exclaimed. "You will do no such thing! Honestly, Harry, the bed is more than big enough for the two of us. And I think I can remember us sleeping on the sofa in the common room just two days ago, and that was much narrower..."

"But- but... but I..." Harry sputtered, "But that wasn't in our nightclothes!" he insisted. "I... I don't want to accidentally do something you don't want... Or touch-" he halted, blushing furiously.

Shaking her head slightly, Hermione wrapped her arms around the boy, a fond smile on her lips. His concern was admirable, she supposed, but given Harry's usual shyness and the way he had been brought up, she deemed it much more likely that she would accidentally do something that he wasn't ready for.

"Harry," she said softly, "I trust you to be a perfect gentleman. And if... Say, if in your sleep, a hand accidentally moves somewhere, I won't hold it against you, I promise... I'd much prefer to fall asleep with you beside me than to have you lying on the floor..."

"Well, all right... if you're sure," Harry yielded after a pause, and Hermione smiled happily at him.

"Good," she said and pecked him on the lips. "Then get ready for bed. You can go first."

They both didn't take long in the bathroom and were lying in bed only twenty minutes later. Feeling frightened and nervous about what their future would hold, but also thrilled and excited, Hermione cuddled into Harry as he laid on his back. She turned to kiss him goodnight when she noted that Harry was staring at the ceiling, a pensive expression on his face.

"What's on your mind?" she asked, worried whether Harry might have second thoughts about their decision to run away.

"I'm thinking, and..." Harry began hesitantly, "Hermione, your parents live a bit south of London, right?"

"Huh? Yes, in Sevenoaks, why?" Hermione asked, confused why Harry would bring up the topic.

"So it's on the way..." Harry mused and looked at her cautiously. "I... I think we should visit your parents before we leave."

"What?" Hermione exclaimed. "Why?"

"I think we should go and see your parents tomorrow," Harry stated, his voice becoming more determined. "And you should tell them that you have to leave, and try to explain things, and at least say goodbye."

"Harry..." Hermione started, giving him a pained look. "They... they won't understand. They don't know anything about the magical world. They don't like that I'm a witch, they never cared, they always pretended I wasn't. It'd just end in a fight. It wouldn't do any good..."

"It's- it's just... I don't want you to lose them because of me," Harry said miserably. "I've never known my parents, and for you just to walk away..."

"Oh, Harry!" Hermione sighed and hugged him tightly, tears welling up in her eyes as she realised how it must seem to him.

"Just... just say goodbye, and that you'll be back, and that you'll write?" he said and looked at her pleadingly. "And... and then we can leave..."

Hermione exhaled deeply. She knew that her parents wouldn't understand why she and Harry had to leave. They might even try to keep Harry and her from going. Not that they would have any chance to succeed. But she also knew that at least on some level, her parents still cared for her, no matter how terrible they were at showing it. It would be the decent thing to do to inform them of her decision and her reasons and not leave without even a goodbye.

In the end, she gave her boyfriend a reluctant nod. "All right," she conceded. "They won't understand, but maybe I should try and talk to them anyway. Just so they can be sure that I'll be all right and that we'll see each other again in... in a few years..."

"Thank you," Harry breathed.

"No, thank you for not letting my pride get the best of me," Hermione replied softly. "You're right. They deserve at least a goodbye."

Visibly relieved, Harry nodded and wrapped his arms around her. After one last peck, Hermione snuggled closely against him and drew the blanket over them.

"Good night," she murmured as she closed her eyes and relaxed.

"Good night," her boyfriend whispered back and softly kissed her temple, pulling her closer against him. Deeply exhausted, Hermione was asleep a few moments later.