- CHAPTER SEVEN -

A Fit of Teenage Rebellion

"Hermione?"

"Hmhm?"

"Hermione!"

"What, Harry?" Hermione mumbled into her boyfriend's back as she held onto him for dear life. She didn't know exactly how high nor how fast they were flying, for she had buried her face in Harry's neck, her eyes shut. She knew, however, that she wouldn't like the answer. Just by the way she felt the Invisibility Cloak around them flutter in the wind, she could tell they were travelling at incredible speed.

"Hermione," Harry repeated once more, and she could feel that he craned his neck towards her. "I need you to open your eyes. You need to tell me where to go."

Hermione gave a weak sigh and nodded reluctantly. She knew that Harry was right. Slowly, she pried her eyes open, only to immediately clamp them shut again as she saw the rooftops of some London suburb rushing by several dozen metres below them. She wouldn't be surprised if even Harry could feel her heartbeat now, even through the small backpack between them, with the way her heart was rapidly pounding in her chest while she pressed herself even closer against him.

"Hermione!" Harry squeaked in protest as she tightened her hold of him around his torso. "I need to breathe!"

"Sorry," she replied hastily and relaxed her grip again. "But could you... could you maybe just reduce the speed and fly a bit lower?" she asked timidly.

"Fine," he agreed, though she could hear the reluctance in his voice. "But we have to stay a good way up to stay hidden. We can't trust the Cloak to cover us completely all the time."

Hermione only gave a nod in response, not that Harry could see it. She understood why they had to stay at a high altitude, but she was grateful when Harry tilted the broom slightly forward, allowing them to descend by a good distance.

Her breath still quickened when she opened her eyes again, and she still clung onto her boyfriend, but at least she was finally able to keep her eyes open. They were maybe twenty to thirty metres above a busy road, with nondescript apartment buildings passing by on either side not far below them.

Hermione could tell that they had long since left the inner boroughs of London behind them, but she realised she had no idea where they were right now.

"Uhm... Where have you been going?" she asked Harry while they flew along.

"Well, I've just been flying south," he replied, looking down at the tip of the broom. Hermione noticed that clipped on the broomstick was the tiny brass compass she had given him as a birthday gift the previous year.

"Right," Hermione said. She also noted that she should've been able to tell the direction herself, as the morning sun shone brightly in the sky to their left. But they needed more information on their current location.

"Can you fly lower so that we can see the road signs over that street?" she requested. "Just briefly, to get the name of the closest towns?"

Harry nodded and leaned forward, descending the broom to a lower altitude. When she was able to decipher the writing on the direction signs, Hermione was surprised by how far they had come already.

"We're already near Croydon," she informed Harry. "How fast are we flying?"

He briefly glanced back at her and tilted his head. "Maybe eighty miles per hour? The Firebolt can go much faster than that, but I don't want to go too fast or we might loose the Cloak."

Hermione nodded pensively. "All right. Keep flying south until we reach the next motorway, the M25. Then turn east. It's not the shortest route, but easiest to follow, and we can't miss Sevenoaks that way."

"Gotcha," Harry replied and steered the broom a dozen metres higher again. Hermione understood why he did it, but she still felt uncomfortable when she looked down. In her rational mind, she knew she had nothing to fear. Harry was a natural flyer, and as long as she held onto him, she was as safe as she could be. Now, she just needed someone to tell that to her heart, which was still rapidly pounding in her chest.

But over the next quarter-hour, as the town passed by below them and the apartment complexes slowly gave way to smaller houses and more rural settlements, Hermione started to get used to the height and the outlook. When they reached the M25 motorway and turned east, Hermione still wasn't entirely comfortable on the broom, but her worries about flying and falling gave way to new concerns about the impending meeting with her parents.

As they followed the motorway towards Sevenoaks and the town appeared in the distance, Hermione's mood became more and more sombre. To be honest, she didn't expect anything but a huge argument to happen between her and her parents. Her parents wouldn't understand what was going on in the wizarding world, nor would they tolerate her leaving the country.

She was wondering why she had agreed to this the day before. She didn't believe they would accomplish anything here, and by stopping in Sevenoaks they were wasting time they very well might not have. Dumbledore and others had perhaps started looking for them already. She knew that the smartest thing to do for them would be to get to the coast as quickly as possible.

But in the end, Hermione decided that this was still necessary. She knew how much Harry would beat himself up if he thought he was the cause of a rift between her and her parents. For his sake much more than for hers, she had agreed to come here. Besides, at least trying to talk to her parents was the decent thing to do before she and Harry left the country.

A few minutes later, they finally reached the outskirts of the town, and Hermione directed Harry to her parents' dental practice, which was located in the town centre in a modern building next to a small park.

Harry landed the Firebolt between two trees in the park, out of sight of any passers-by. Hermione was eager to get off the broom and stood with wobbly feet, leaning on Harry while they remained hidden under the Invisibility Cloak.

"All right," she said and took a deep calming breath. "I think it will be best if you wait here under the cloak and keep watch while I talk to my parents."

Harry didn't look thrilled about the plan, but Hermione hesitantly went on, "There... People might already be looking for us. So... if... if someone shows up... just leave! You're in far more danger than-"

For a brief moment, Harry looked at her in shock before he narrowed his eyes at her. "No."

"Harry-"

"No, Hermione," he said resolutely. "I'm sorry. You're brilliant, and I love you, but this is a terrible plan. I'll go in there with you, and we'll talk to your parents, and then we'll leave. Together."

He looked her in the eyes, his jaw set, and she knew there was no point in arguing. If she was honest with herself, she was glad about his insistence to join her. She might very well need the support.

"Fine," she relented. "Let's just be quick, all right?"

Harry nodded and put the Cloak and the Firebolt in his enchanted backpack. Hermione then led the way to the adjacent building that housed her parents' practice. She halted briefly when they reached the entrance and exchanged a last nervous glance with Harry, steeling herself inwardly.

"All right," she muttered and pushed down the door handle. She stepped inside the practice and gulped at the sight before her. Right in front of her, her mother was leaning over the reception desk, standing next to the receptionist, both women looking up at her.

Her mother's eyes widened as she saw her. "Hermione?" she exclaimed disbelievingly. "What are you doing here?"

"Hi, Mum," Hermione said timidly. "Is Dad here?"

"He is-" her mum began, just as the door to one of the examination rooms opened and her father stepped into view, leading a patient to the exit of the practice.

"-yes, and be sure to floss daily, Mrs Thompson. I'll see you-" he halted when he noticed the company in the reception room.

"Hermione?"

"Hi Dad. Mum," Hermione said nervously. "Can we talk?"

"Why aren't you at school?" her mother asked.

"And who are you?" her dad added with a look at Harry.

"Please, can we talk?" Hermione repeated, looking pointedly at the patient and receptionist in the room.

"We..." her mother began and shot the receptionist a questioning glance.

"Your other nine o'clock cancelled, but there was a caller with an emergency who will arrive shortly," the young woman supplied helpfully.

"Thank you, Lauren," her mum said. "Why don't you show Mrs Thompson out and take a smoking break now?"

"But... I don't..." the woman mumbled and trailed off, her confusion apparent on her face, before she nodded slowly. "Of course," she muttered, got up from her chair and walked to the door, the patient following behind her. Both women gave the newcomers curious looks as they passed them, but Hermione's attention was transfixed on her parents.

She steadily met her parents' eyes but kept silent until the door fell shut.

"All right, young lady," her mother said sternly as soon as they were alone. "Please tell us what you're doing here and why you're not at school."

"Yes. And who are you?" her father added with a look at Harry.

Harry gulped nervously. "Harry Potter, sir, ma'am. I think we met briefly two years ago in-"

"Right," her dad interrupted Harry tersely. Hermione knew that her parents hadn't been impressed by the visit to Diagon Alley two years ago, not that she could blame them. Arthur Weasley's curious yet ignorant and condescending attitude towards them and the Muggle world hadn't exactly endeared the wizarding world to her parents. And the subsequent brutish fight between Mr Weasley and Lucius Malfoy had made matters even worse.

"And what-" her mum began, but Hermione interrupted her.

"Please, Mum, Dad, could you just let me explain?" she asked.

"Go ahead," her dad said impatiently.

"Well..." Hermione paused and ran their fingers through her hair, uncertain where to start. "There... Well, to begin with, I should probably say that I haven't always been quite truthful about the things that happened at school. There-"

"You lied-"

"I just didn't tell you everything," she continued, speaking over her mother's question. "Besides, it's not as if you have ever asked, or have ever been interested to hear about Hogwarts..."

She gave her parents no chance to object as she quickly went on. "Anyway, there have been several incidents over the last three years where our lives were in danger because... because the teachers at Hogwarts were negligent in their duties to protect us. There were monsters in the castle-"

"What kind of-" her mum began.

"And we had to fight for our lives on several occasions," Hermione continued, increasing her voice. "Please, we don't have the time to explain everything. Just know that our lives were in danger because of the staff. And now-"

Both her parents were looking at her with a mixture of disbelief and scepticism. Her dad shook his head slightly. "What do-"

"And now," Hermione continued on, "this year, there is this international school tournament at Hogwarts with two visiting schools. And Harry got entered into it against his will and the teachers were forcing him to participate, without even offering to help him. So now he was forced to fight against some monsters and-"

Her dad scoffed dismissively. "Sure, monsters."

"Really!" Hermione said testily. "So, to keep Harry safe, we decided that we had to leave Hogwarts. And-"

"You've left the school?" her mum blurted out.

"Yes, and we-" Hermione confirmed and tried to continue, but she was interrupted by her mother's jubilant exclamation.

"Oh, that's wonderful news, dear!" her mum gushed joyously. "We've always hoped that you would come to your senses and return to a proper school!"

Hermione blinked. "I'm-"

"Now you can finally go to St Mary's, like we had always planned!" her mother announced happily.

"It will be difficult to get in there now that the term has already started, but we'll manage," her dad added with a confident nod. "I play golf with the deputy head, I'll give him a call. I'm sure we can work something out."

"You'll be so much happier there," her mum added with conviction, giving her a bright smile.

Hermione was gaping at her parents, flabbergasted by their reaction. "I- I'm not-" she sputtered, "I'm not returning to the Muggle world! It's more complicated than that!"

"What?" her dad asked, both her parents clearly taken aback.

"Harry and I... we can't return to the Muggle world," Hermione tried to explain. "We'd be found immediately and dragged back to Hogwarts, Harry especially. The Ministry and the headmaster would force him to compete in the tournament, whether he wants to or not. Harry has to hide, and I'm going with him. Even without him, I'd be in danger, too. We're going to leave the country."

"Don't be ridiculous!" her dad said dismissively. "If Harry's parents withdraw him from the school, no one will be able to do anything about it."

Hermione shook her head with impatience. "That won't work. The Ministry and Dumbledore don't care about laws like we do. They'll drag us back anyway."

She paused and glared at her parents. "And Harry's an orphan, if you've forgot everything I've ever told you about him already," she added heatedly. "And we'll stay together. He'll never return to his vile relatives who have abused him ever since he got there!"

"Abused him?" her dad repeated with furrowed brows.

"Yes! They did!" Hermione insisted, getting more irritated by the second. "You think I would lie about that?"

"No, no, I just-" her dad relented and paused briefly. "All right... If his guardians are mistreating him, we'll bring the matter to the authorities and they'll look into it."

"No! Didn't you listen?" Hermione shouted with frustration. "The only way for us to be safe is to get out of the country. We have to leave. We will leave. I-"

"Enough of this!" her mum said loudly. "I'm glad you decided to give up this whole magic nonsense-"

"I'm not-" Hermione began hotly. From the corner of her eyes, she noted that Harry was silently following the exchange, an incredulous look on his face.

"But you'll stay here and go back to a real school," her mum went on. "You'll be happy at St Mary's, you'll see. And if things are truly this bad with his guardians, Harry can make a statement with the authorities, and I'm sure they'll find a nice foster family for him. His new guardians can withdraw him from the school, and that will be the end to this silly tournament business."

"I'm sorry, but you're misunderstanding the situation," Hermione growled with barely contained rage. "I'm not 'giving up this magic nonsense', nor will I go back to 'a real school'. I will-"

"Of course you will!" her mum said loudly.

"I won't even live here!" Hermione yelled. "I can't! I just came to say goodbye. But I see now it was a mistake to come here."

"That's quite enough!" her dad said sternly. "You'll go back home now, Hermione, and we'll discuss this in the-"

"It's hopeless with you!" Hermione exclaimed, throwing up her arms in frustration. She shook her head and turned towards Harry, who looked back at her helplessly. "Let's go, Harry."

"You're going nowhere, young lady!" her mum yelled and stepped towards Hermione, reaching for her left wrist just as she was about to turn and leave.

Hermione whirled around when she was yanked back by her mother. Almost instinctively, Hermione reached inside her coat for her wand.

"Young lady, this has been quite enough of this attitude! You will go home now and-" her mother stopped her rant abruptly when she noted the business end of Hermione's wand pointing straight at her.

"Let go of me," Hermione hissed, her voice trembling with anger.

"He-Hermione?" her mum breathed in shock, looking at her with wide eyes. She loosened her grip on Hermione's wrist, and Hermione used the opportunity to yank herself free, taking a few steps back, her wand still levelled at her mother.

"What the bloody hell are you doing!?" her dad shouted at the same time and made to advance towards her until he, too, suddenly halted in his tracks.

"Stay back!" came Harry's low voice from next to Hermione, and she noticed that he had also drawn his wand, pointing it at her father. Harry had been silent the entire time, and he was clearly overwhelmed by the situation now, but Hermione had never been more grateful for his unquestioning support.

Despite her outrage, Hermione still felt bad when she saw the fear in her parents' eyes.

"I- I'm sorry," she began with a thick voice. "Please don't try to stop us. I'm sorry, Mum, Dad, but I have to go. We have to leave. There is no other-"

Hermione stopped when the entrance door to the reception room was suddenly pulled open. For a brief moment, Hermione thought that the receptionist had returned or that the next patient had arrived. But before she could even think of lowering her wand, one of the last people she wanted to see right now stepped into view.

With a stern expression on her face, and looking woefully out of place in her dark-green robes, Professor McGonagall entered the Grangers' dental practice.

"Ah, Miss Granger. And Mr Potter, too. Well, I'm glad I found-" the Transfiguration teacher halted when she took in the scene before her.

Hermione was frozen in shock at the sudden appearance of the professor, and glancing sideways, she saw that Harry also stood unmoving, looking equally troubled. Neither of them had lowered their wands.

"What is going on here?" Professor McGonagall demanded with indignation. "Miss Granger, Mr Potter, put your wands away at once!"

Hermione stood rigidly, her eyes darting back and forth between her parents, Harry, and the professor. She felt her heart racing in her chest and the blood rushing in her veins. This wasn't the way this was supposed to go. They didn't have time for this!

She knew that she had to act now, and she came to a snap decision. She moved her wand away from her mother in a steady arc to her right and flicked it in a well-practised pattern.

"Stupefy!"

Whatever Professor McGonagall had expected to find here, she wasn't prepared for her top student attacking her out of nowhere. Only the old woman's eyes widening in surprise as the red beam of light sped towards her indicated that she realised what was happening before the Stunning Spell hit her squarely in the chest. She crumpled to the ground, hitting the floor with a dull thud.

"What did you do?" Hermione's mum cried in a shrill voice.

"Don't worry, she'll wake up in a while," Hermione replied, trying to keep her voice steady.

She exhaled deeply. "I'd love to continue arguing with you, but we have to go. I just performed underage magic. I don't know if it got tracked. I'm not sure, but the Ministry might send people soon. If they do... tell them they can try searching for us if they want to waste their time, but they won't find us."

She paused and gave her shaken parents a last long, sad look. "Neither will you. I'll try to keep in touch. Goodbye."

Ignoring her parents' shouts of protest, Hermione turned around and walked to the exit of the practice. Harry caught up with her as she stepped outside. Silently, with hanging shoulders, they walked the short distance to the small park area, where Harry pulled his broom and the Invisibility Cloak out of his enchanted backpack.

As he readied the broom, Harry turned towards Hermione, giving her a mournful look. "Hermione, I..."

She only shook her head in response.

"Let's just go," she said resignedly.

Harry nodded and sat down on the Firebolt, Hermione climbing on the broom behind him.

"Oh, and give me the backpack," she asked softly before they took off. Harry glanced back at her questioningly but slipped off his backpack and handed it to Hermione.

"Thanks," Hermione mumbled as she threw it over her shoulders. She then put her arms around Harry's waist and snuggled close against him. "Much better to hold you like that," she added as an explanation.

Harry turned his head towards her and gave her a small smile before he threw the Invisibility Cloak over them and pushed off the ground. They took off into the sky, the Firebolt accelerating quickly. Hermione looked down and watched as her parents' practice first got smaller and then disappeared behind other buildings. A mile or so to her right, she could spot her parents' house – her childhood home – before it also moved out of her view.

"Go south-east," she said to Harry with a hollow voice. "That will keep us away from the bigger towns and the Channel is narrowest there."

He only gave a small nod in response as he adjusted the course of the broom.

As they flew along, Hermione pressed herself close against Harry, leaning her head into the crook of his neck. As the adrenaline slowly left her body, the full realisation of what had just happened hit her. She had attacked a teacher – yet another teacher – and had violently threatened her parents. She couldn't help but think that she was the most terrible daughter who ever lived. But there hadn't been another option. She and Harry needed to escape and couldn't let anyone stop them. Harry's life may very well have depended on that. And hers might have, too.

She thought back to the argument with her parents and how they just hadn't listened to anything she had said. She didn't want to cry, but she couldn't hold back some tears at the thought of how damaged her relationship with her parents had become. If she was honest with herself, things had happened precisely in the way she had expected. This fight hadn't come as a surprise to her.

She snuggled tightly against Harry, taking comfort from the close contact. She felt his heavy breath as she held onto him and could see that he was also in a sombre mood. She worried he would somehow blame himself for what had happened, even when it hadn't been his fault by any means.

They travelled onward in silence for a long while. It wasn't until Hermione could spot the blue of the sea glistening in the distance that Harry took one hand off the broom and reached for her hands, giving her a small squeeze.

"I... I'm sorry," he said softly.

"It's okay," she mumbled back. "My parents... they... they just didn't listen. They didn't understand. They never understood. But... but I still think it was good that we went there. At least... at least I could tell them in person, even if they didn't listen in the end."

"I'm sorry," Harry said again. "If I just-"

"That wasn't about you," she interrupted him, her voice gentle but firm. "It has never been about you. This... this has always been about my parents not caring or understanding that I'm a witch. With or without you, this would've happened sooner or later... Please don't think that this is in any way your fault. It had nothing to do with you."

He was quiet for a few long moments before he sighed and gave her a small nod. "All right."

"Good," Hermione replied softly and leaned her head against his neck once more.

A few minutes later, they reached the coastline and flew out over the open sea, the waters of the Strait of Dover passing under them.

It was a beautiful day. To their left, the morning sun illuminated the White Cliffs of Dover, and the waves of the English Channel below them shone in a bright blue.

As she looked back and saw the chalk cliffs and with them the island of Great Britain slowly vanishing in the distance, Hermione realised, almost with some surprise, that this was really happening. They were really doing this. She was really leaving Britain behind, and with it her home country, practically all the people she knew, the school, her parents, everything – everything but Harry.

But in the face of this realisation, Hermione's predominant feeling was not anxiety nor fear nor sadness, but excitement for their new adventure and relief that their escape had been successful. As she snuggled closer against Harry while the French coast slowly came into view ahead of them, Hermione knew that she was right where she was supposed to be and that everything would be all right.


A/N: A huge thank you to Proton6 and amidland for alpha and beta reading this chapter!