- CHAPTER NINE -
A Taste of Freedom
"NOOO!"
Hermione was woken up abruptly by her boyfriend's scream in the early hours of the morning. She bolted upright and fumbled for the bedside lamp while Harry groaned and whimpered as if in severe pain. Finally, she found the lamp and turned the light on.
She leaned over Harry and looked at him with worry. He was thrashing around in the bed, his face glistening with sweat.
"Harry!" she shouted and shook his shoulders. "Harry! Wake up!"
"No, no! I..." Harry moaned, but he seemed to awaken slowly. She shook him again, and at last he blinked and opened his eyes, looking around, disorientated.
"Hermione?" he mumbled weakly, frowning at her in confusion.
"Yes, Harry, it's me," she replied softly. "It's all right. Everything is all right. It was just a nightmare."
Harry sighed and gave her a sombre look. "I... No, not a nightmare..."
Before she could ask him what he meant, Harry went on to explain.
"It was... Voldemort. He... he isn't happy about what happened at the tournament..."
"Oh, Harry," Hermione muttered sympathetically and hugged him tightly. "What did you see?"
"He... was angry... Wormtail was with him, Voldemort tortured him... And there was another man, I didn't recognise him... Voldemort didn't address him by name... But he was the one who put my name into the Goblet of Fire, because he lost his magic, and Voldemort..."
Harry took a shuddering breath, trembling slightly. "He said that a Squib was of no use to him and that he should pay for his failure, so he... he killed him."
"I'm sorry... that you had to see that..." Hermione said sadly. She didn't feel any sympathy with Voldemort's latest victim, however. If she was honest with herself, she was relieved that the person responsible for entering Harry into the Triwizard Tournament had met his due end.
"Are you all right now?" she asked hesitantly.
"I'm fine," Harry mumbled, but he shrunk under her hard stare.
"Just... the scar still hurts a bit," he admitted reluctantly
"I'm sorry," she said and cuddled closer against him, trying to offer him what comfort she could. "And... you know... I think we should look closer into that, by the way. It's not natural for old scars to hurt like that. And you having these dreams is strange, too..."
"Yeah..." Harry nodded. "That's why I asked Sirius about it, but he only told me to tell Dumbledore..."
"We'll find a solution," she promised him. "We'll keep it in mind. It might be difficult to talk to healers, but maybe we can try to get more books on healing and such during our next visit to a magical quarter."
"That sounds good," Harry mumbled sleepily and closed his eyes again.
She also lay back in bed, trying to relax and fall back to sleep. Only now, she noted that heavy rain was drumming on the roof of the tent and a strong wind was howling through the woods outside. It sounded as if a heavy storm was passing over them, but luckily, the tent appeared unaffected by the elements.
Pondering Harry's dream and what it meant, it took her a while to settle down again, but slowly she drifted back to sleep to the sounds of the wind and the rainfall.
#
They got a few more hours of sleep that night, and by the time they got up in the morning, the storm had passed, leaving only a light drizzle behind.
It had got cold, too, but the tent proved worth its price once more. It had stood unwavering in the storm, and the enchantments and the magical fireplace ensured that it was cosy warm inside despite the freezing temperatures in the forest.
"So, what's the plan for today?" Harry asked as they sat down for breakfast.
"Maybe we could do some more shopping in Amiens?" Hermione suggested while she poured both of them some tea. "Mostly to get some clothes for you. And maybe some other small things..."
"All right," Harry agreed, though she could see that he wasn't exactly thrilled about the shopping trip. "Once the rain passes, maybe?"
Hermione nodded. She also didn't want to go outside in the cold rain.
"You know, I think we should move further south," she mused. "The tent should handle colder temperatures fine, but... well, it'd still be nice to have some warmer weather, don't you agree?"
Harry nodded eagerly. "We would be further away from Britain, too."
"Right. And you have never seen the Mediterranean, have you?"
He shook his head. "No. You know I've never been outside Britain."
"Then we absolutely have to go south," Hermione stated resolutely. "Maybe travel along the Côte d'Azur."
"It's... how far?" he asked.
"Five hundred miles, maybe," Hermione estimated.
"All right." Harry nodded. "That's a day on the broom, maybe a bit less. Shouldn't be too difficult."
"Tomorrow then?"
"Yeah," Harry agreed with a smile. "If the weather is good."
"Great," Hermione said. "More tea?"
They continued with their breakfast, talking about their possible destinations. Or rather, it was mostly Hermione who talked about the places she had visited and that she thought Harry might want to see, while he listened with a fond smile. When they were done with their meals, Hermione decided they could start planning their self-studies until the rain passed.
"Let me show you the books I got and how I sorted them yesterday," she said to Harry and dragged him to the bookshelves in the living area.
"See, we have all the textbooks up to seventh-year for all our classes," she began and pointed towards the different sections of books on the shelves. "Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Defence, Herbology, Care, Runes, Arithmancy, History... Here, even Astrology, though honestly, I don't think we'll need much of it. Muggle books on the topic are much better, though, maybe we can get one or two. Anyway, then we have books on Herbology and Care. We can't really do any practical work in those subjects, so we'll have to focus on the theory. But we can brew Potions."
"Uh-huh..." Harry nodded slowly, seemingly a bit overwhelmed, but she excitedly went on.
"And, of course, I have taken more than the prescribed textbooks, so we have many more books on advanced Runes, Charms, Transfiguration, Rituals, Duelling. See this book here? It's a rare compendium on Arithmantic Numerology. It's great reference material and really well written. And then-"
She halted abruptly when she realised that she had been rambling. "Sorry," she muttered, blushing slightly.
"It's all right," Harry said with an amused smile. "This does look good, though I think I'd rather read the books on duelling... So, for now, I guess we'll just grab the textbooks for this year and start reading up on everything?"
"Well, yes, but first, I'll make a schedule and everything," Hermione clarified. "And we can help each other. Like when you're done faster than me figuring out a spell in Defence, you can help me. And I can help you with the more theoretical parts in most subjects in return."
Harry gave her a weary look, but Hermione wasn't discouraged by his lack of enthusiasm. "Oh, come on! All of this will be much better than at Hogwarts, trust me! Like, without Snape, imagine how much fun Potions might be! And, also, we won't be writing essays, obviously, so we'll have more time for more useful stuff."
Harry laughed out loud. "Hermione Granger calling essays useless?"
"Well," she paused and gave him an impish smile. "I get why they did it at school. But it's not the best way for us to learn now. We'll have much more time and we'll be able to progress faster when we just practice together. And we can use the time for something else... For leisure, and travelling – and for shopping and cooking and such, of course. And, oh, I also thought I would bring you up to speed with Runes and Arithmancy!"
Harry frowned slightly at that. "Really?"
"Yes," Hermione went on excitedly. "I mean, you won't be doing Divination any longer, it's rubbish anyway, so you have some time... to..."
Hermione trailed off when Harry gave her a funny look. She suddenly felt that something was wrong, even though she couldn't figure out what it was.
"What is it, Harry?" she asked worriedly.
"It's just... When have we decided that?" Harry asked with a neutral voice.
Hermione opened her mouth several times but couldn't form the words. "I... Uhh..."
"I'd say it's a pretty big decision what subjects I take," Harry said, slowly becoming more upset, "Don't you think... I'd really prefer you'd talk to me instead of making all these decisions without involving me."
"What? I... No! I'm not..." Hermione exclaimed, paling when she realised that she had been doing exactly that. "Oh, Harry! I'm sorry!"
She rushed towards him. "I'm sorry!" she repeated and hugged him tightly, burying her face in his chest. "I've always been the one to take care of stuff like that, to make our study plans at school and all, so I just... I just didn't think... But you're right. I should've talked to you... "
"Thanks, Hermione," Harry breathed as he relaxed in her arms, and she could hear in his voice that he was just as relieved as her that they had avoided a fight.
"I'm sorry..." she mumbled again, still not looking at him.
"It's all right," he said softly and wrapped his arms around her, giving her a comforting hug. "I'm grateful for what you're doing, and you're much better at planning all of this, but... Just talk to me, okay? I... I'd be a fool to disagree with you when you make a good point, but... I'd like to have a say in my own future..."
"Of course, Harry!" she confirmed. "You don't have to do anything with Runes or Arithmancy if you don't want to, we can even try to buy some books on Divination in-"
"No! Gosh, no!" Harry laughed. "You're right, it's rubbish. And I'll gladly give Runes and Arithmancy a try, but I won't promise anything yet. Thank you for offering to tutor me."
"Thank you, Harry," she breathed, very relieved that their disagreement had been resolved so quickly. She was also proud of him for how he had handled this. He had stood up for himself without losing his calm, when she had been acting inconsiderately towards him. She knew that she could be a bit bossy sometimes, she was working on it, but it was reassuring to see that he wouldn't let her run roughshod over him in the meantime.
"We're good?" she asked, still not letting go of him.
"We're good," Harry confirmed with a smile, giving her a peck on the lips as confirmation.
With the matter resolved, they began working out their schedules for their self-studies. Hermione drew up some timetables, and they compiled their course goals for the coming months, adjusting Hogwarts' curriculum to their interests and current needs. As they wrote down what they wanted to learn, Hermione felt more and more excited for the opportunity to finally study at her own pace, and even Harry seemed satisfied with their study plans in the end.
#
It was almost noon when they were done with everything, and by then, the worst of the rain had passed over them. After a quick lunch, they got ready for the broom ride to Amiens.
As they wanted to buy clothes for Harry, he couldn't take Ageing Potion this time. Hermione also decided against taking the potion after having experienced how weird it had been for her when her boyfriend had been transformed into someone else the day before.
Instead, they decided that a simple spell to change their hair colour would be a sufficient disguise for now. She felt certain that they would be safe in the muggle world. In a larger city, they wouldn't stand out, and they'd simply be two teenagers going clothes shopping. Even on the off-chance that they were spotted and identified, they'd still leave the area the next day and travel south. They'd long be gone before the news reached Britain and Dumbledore.
"Well, what colour do you want your hair to be?" she playfully asked Harry after they had donned their coats.
Before he could answer, she flicked her wand and hit him with the Colour Switching Charm, turning his hair neon green.
"Hermione!" Harry squeaked as he observed himself in the mirror near the tent entrance, but he recovered quickly and pulled his wand to retaliate. "Oh, you're on now! Colovaria!"
The charm hit her, and Hermione snorted when she saw that her hair had taken a deep aquamarine blue.
"Colovaria!" she cast again, adding pink highlights to Harry's hair. Harry responded by giving her hair orange tips.
A few minutes later, they were both panting from laughter, both their hair having cycled through all the colours of the rainbow.
"Although we both look very pretty right now," Harry said between chuckles, "wasn't the point of this to look inconspicuous and not draw attention to ourselves?"
"Right," Hermione said with a snort. With his hair sporting the Gryffindor colours red and gold and hers charmed to a bright violet, they probably were a bit too noticeable.
She grinned and aimed her wand at herself. "I guess you're right... So how about... this? Colovaria!"
"Please don't," Harry groaned as he saw her ginger hair. "You look like a Weasley. That's weird."
"Then how about... Colovaria!"
"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed in mock outrage. "If you don't change your hair back right now, I'll have to break up with you! I won't date Malfoy's sister!"
"Sorry," she chuckled and changed her platinum-blonde hair into a darker shade of blonde.
"That's fine?" she asked.
"I suppose," Harry agreed, and he immediately changed his hair into the same colour. "At least we match now."
"I could say something about the inappropriateness of us looking like siblings now," Hermione began with a laugh before she tossed him a woollen cap from the coat stand. "But you need to wear a cap, anyway, to hide the scar."
"Right," he said and put it on, adjusting the cap to cover his forehead.
"You know..." she mused as she looked at him. "Maybe we could get you some contacts instead of glasses. That'd also make you less recognisable. Have you ever thought about it?"
"No..." Harry said and shrugged. "But sure, it might be good... "
"All right. We might not have enough time right now, but we'll keep it in mind," Hermione said with a nod and exited the tent.
Harry picked up his broom and followed her outside. As he stepped on the broom and waited for her to get up on it behind him, he shot her a mischievous grin.
"You know what?" he asked. "Now that you'll tutor me in Runes and Arithmancy, I think you should let me tutor you in return, too."
"In what?" Hermione wondered as she sat down on the broom and wrapped her arms around Harry.
He grinned at her. "Flying."
"What!?" Hermione gasped. "No! Why?"
"Because it'd be fun," Harry said with a shrug. "But also because at some point, it might be useful for you to know how to fly a broom."
"I can fly a broom," Hermione insisted.
"You mean you can float steadily five yards above the ground," Harry retorted. "No offence, but that's not flying, Hermione."
Hermione harrumphed, offended by his totally accurate description of her broom-flying skills.
"We have only one broom, anyway," she pointed out logically.
Harry shrugged. "For now..."
"Haarryy," Hermione whined, giving him what she hoped was a cute pout.
He didn't budge. "No, I'll learn Runes and Arithmancy, and you'll learn to fly a broom."
"Fine," she sighed. "You win."
"Great!" he exclaimed, grinning at her happily. "I look forward to it."
Forgoing an answer, she only harrumphed again.
"I love you too," Harry chuckled and pushed off the ground.
"Love you too," Hermione mumbled back and strengthened her hold on him as they ascended past the treetops and slowly picked up speed.
#
The flight to Amiens didn't take long, and they landed in a park in the city centre less than ten minutes later.
They spent some time walking through the city, admiring the beautiful old town with its many historic buildings and an old medieval cathedral. The town would have been even more charming if it wasn't for the grey weather, but they weren't here for sightseeing anyway.
They found a department store, where they bought two jackets, jumpers, trousers, and several shirts for Harry. He also bought himself some underwear but insisted on doing so on his own. In the end, they spent a good sum of money in the store, but Hermione felt it was worth it, and Harry didn't complain either. After his initial reluctance, Hermione thought he had actually been quite eager about finally being able to select some clothes to his own liking.
When they were done with the clothes shopping, Hermione dragged Harry into a large bookshop, where she was happy to find several language learning books for French. Harry also found two cookbooks on French dishes written in English, and Hermione agreed with him that they needed to buy some books to help them with their cooking. They both knew the basics, mostly from observation and some little practice on Harry's part, but neither of them had ever cooked a full meal before. They'd need some good instructions if they wanted to cook by themselves during their travels.
After looking through the cookbooks and picking out some recipes they wanted to try, they also bought more groceries before they returned to the tent late in the afternoon.
That evening, Hermione and Harry tried out the kitchen in the tent for the first time. It took them a while to figure out how all the magical appliances were supposed to be operated, but luckily, they had seen most of them being used during their stay at the Burrow that summer.
They made a French chicken stew, making a mess of the kitchen and of themselves in the process, but in the end, they managed to cook a tasty enough meal, even though the sauce was a tad too salty and the baked potatoes as the side dish were slightly burned. Given that it had been their first real attempt at cooking, Hermione concluded that they had done well, and they were only going to get better with more practice.
Instead of cleaning up the kitchen manually after they had eaten, Hermione decided to look through the Charms books to find household spells that would make things easier for them. She knew that Mrs Weasley had used plenty such spells at the Burrow, but unfortunately, neither Harry nor her had paid enough attention to learn the incantations and wand movements themselves.
It took them half an hour of joint research fo find suitable charms, and it took them one more hour of practice – during which they wrecked dozens of dishes – but in the end, they were able to clean up the kitchen with a few flicks of their wands. The broken plates and dishes were also easily repaired by quick Mending Charms.
"So, what do you want to do now?" Hermione asked when they fell onto the sofa after their impromptu Charms lesson.
"I dunno," Harry said with a shrug. "You want to read now?"
"Well, you know me, I'd never mind reading a good book," she replied with a small smile. "But I doubt you want to read some tome on magical theory this evening. So, what do you want to do?"
Harry frowned briefly before his lips curled into a smirk and he leaned towards her.
"This," he whispered, pecking her on the lips. She wasn't unhappy to reciprocate and deepen the kiss, but it wasn't what had been on her mind.
"Honestly, Harry," she muttered when they parted again. "We can't snog all the time."
"Why not?" he asked with a pout, causing her to laugh.
She gave him another peck, but then she sat upright and gave him a more serious look.
"I'm actually asking because it's important. We... we'll spend a lot of time together, and... well... Now that we're on the run and it's only the two of us, what would you like to do in your spare time? I mean... don't you..."
She trailed off, uncertain what to say. If she was honest with herself, she was afraid that she would bore him. She also realised how little she knew about him.
"I mean, what do you like to do for leisure? What do you enjoy doing?"
She chuckled when she saw the mischievous grin on his lips. "Besides snogging," she added.
Slowly, Harry's smile faltered as he actually considered the question.
"Huh..." he mumbled. "I... Actually, I don't really know. In Hogwarts, there was usually something going on. And when we had some downtime, I usually just went along with whatever the other guys were doing."
Hermione nodded, waiting for him to continue.
"I... I like flying," he said eventually, stating the obvious to her. "I did enjoy playing games with Ron and the other boys, though I actually don't really care much for chess."
"But... what about during the holidays?" she asked hesitantly. "What about before Hogwarts?"
Harry shifted around in his seat uncomfortably, giving her an embarrassed look. "I... The... the Dursleys... They never... they'd never give me any games or let me do anything fun. Often, they just had me working in the house. They usually left me alone apart from that, or we'd try to avoid each other. So, when I wasn't working, I was just alone with my thoughts... trying to avoid my cousin and his gang..."
"Oh, Harry," Hermione mumbled and wrapped her arms around him tightly, tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm so sorry... Do you... do you want to talk about it? What it was like?"
"Do I have to?" he asked, the reluctance clear in his voice.
"No, of course not," she assured him. "I think it might be good... But I won't badger you about it. Just... whenever you're ready..."
"Thank you..." he breathed. "But... just not yet, please..."
"That's all right," she agreed. In truth, he had already opened up more about his life with his relatives than ever before.
"So..." she said, trying to get the conversation back on track. "About what you'd like to do now... Is there anything you'd like to do? Sports? Reading? Any games for us to play?"
Harry looked thoughtful for a while. "Well... as I said, I do like flying..."
"It will be hard to find enough people for a Quidditch match here," Hermione pointed out.
"No, no," he said quickly. "Quidditch is nice, too, but to be honest, I like just flying my broom even more..."
Hermione nodded slowly. She could see why he would like the sense of freedom that came with flying through the air, after he had been trapped all his life.
"Is that why you wanted to teach me flying?" she wondered.
"Well, yeah..." Harry said. "I mean, it might be fun to just fly around and explore the countryside... and, well..."
He gave her a slightly embarrassed look. "And I can fly faster and more... well, more recklessly, I guess you'd say... when I don't have you on the broom... I wouldn't do those more fun manoeuvres with you even when I know it's safe..."
"Well, thank you, I appreciate it," Hermione replied with a smile. "All right. I get it. I'll try to learn so we can fly together, though I'd need a broom. But you could always go flying by yourself, too. Just be careful with your aerobatics, please."
"I always am!" Harry insisted. "I mean, I've never crashed just by flying. I've only been hurt when there was some attack or something during a match."
"All right, Harry," she relented. No matter how dangerous the stunts looked that he did on his broom, she knew he had a point there.
"So, we have flying," she said after a pause. "What else is there?"
"Well, you know..." Harry said hesitantly, "I actually don't hate reading. I don't think I'd mind reading a good book from time to time. Just not those textbooks that you read for fun... No offence," he added quickly.
"None taken," Hermione replied, chuckling. "That's fair. We can get more books. I'm in favour of that. Of course I am. What genres do you like?"
"Uhm... I don't know." Harry shrugged awkwardly. "I didn't have books at the Dursleys, aside from my textbooks for school. I sometimes got my hands on my cousin's old toys, but the only thing Dudley never got was books..."
"Go figure," Hermione muttered and exhaled deeply.
"Well," she concluded. "I'm sure we'll find some bookshop in a bigger city that sells books in English. We can find out what interests you then. And we could also buy some board games, or maybe even a radio or a CD player for entertainment..."
She nibbled her bottom lip while she thought about it. "We don't have electricity, of course, but devices powered by batteries might work in the tent... I don't know, we'd have to test it..."
"That sounds good," Harry agreed.
"Yes, well, I'm glad that we'll find some stuff for you to do to not get bored... And in the meantime..." she said with a low voice and leaned towards him. "I guess snogging will have to do."
Harry laughed out loud before she captured his lips with hers, and he happily wrapped his arms around her.
Before they lost themselves in each other, Hermione contemplated the small glimpses into Harry's life with his relatives that he had given her and how he had never known a normal childhood. It was heart-breaking and maddening, but she tried to push down her anger and focus on the future. His silent suffering was finally over. And here, on the run, in a tent in the middle of nowhere, he would get a better semblance of a normal life than he had ever got while living in Britain. She would make sure of it.
