- CHAPTER TWELVE -

As Time Goes By

Over the next few weeks, Hermione and Harry travelled further south along the Italian coast at a leisurely pace, making plenty of stops along the way. After they left the Roman countryside two days after Christmas, the next major city along their route was Naples, where they made camp for several days and visited the historical old town and the archaeological sites of Pompeii.

Naples also had a small magical quarter, but with their last location of Rome possibly known to Dumbledore – depending on whether Sirius had informed the headmaster – Hermione and Harry didn't dare to visit another wizarding destination nearby. They restricted their outings to the mundane world and soon resumed their travels into warmer climates.

By the time they reached the southern tip of the Italian peninsula and made across the narrow Strait of Messina to the island of Sicily, Hermione thought they had truly left the cold weather behind them. The sun shone much stronger here, even allowing for occasional sunbathing in a protected spot during the day, and the nights, too, were pleasantly mild.

It actually felt as if spring was already beginning on the island when they reached the ancient town of Syracuse at the end of February. There, they hoped to finally catch up on recent events in Magical Britain when they visited the town's magical quarter to buy a copy of the Daily Prophet and resupply on various potion ingredients.

The magical alley in Syracuse reminded Hermione of that in Marseilles, with both the Roman and Greek influences easily recognisable in the architecture. But while it was a picturesque place, it was also the smallest magical quarter they had visited so far. The alley consisted of only a little more than a dozen houses, and she and Harry were unable to buy a copy of the Daily Prophet in the one tiny bookshop in the street. However, they found several recent editions of the French wizarding newspaper Le Cri de la Gargouille, and with no other options, they decided to put their recent French language lessons to the test and try and see if they would be able to make sense of the paper.

They arrived back at their tent in the late afternoon, and after a quick supper, Hermione took the stack of newspapers and curled up on the sofa while Harry cleaned up the table. It was his turn to do the dishes that day.

He joined her on the sofa a few minutes later. "So, anything on us?" he asked as he got comfortable.

She briefly stopped flipping through her newspaper and shook her head. "Nothing so far... I doubt that people in France would care about us, anyway."

"Yeah..." he agreed and picked up another edition of the paper.

"I have no idea what these articles are about," Harry stated after a while, a hint of frustration in his voice. "I don't think I even understand a third of the words."

"I don't get much of it, either," Hermione assured him. From what little she understood of the headlines, the papers were mostly dealing with politics and minor scandals involving officials of the French Ministry of Magic or other prominent citizens. "But don't worry about it. Let's just keep an eye out for articles that might be about Hogwarts or Magical Britain..."

"Yeah, all right," Harry agreed with a sigh, and they resumed looking through the papers.

It wasn't until she was skimming through her fourth newspaper that Hermione finally discovered an article that caught her interest.

L'ENNUI DES TROIS SORCIERS

La tâche la plus ennuyeuse de l'histoire du Tournoi des Trois Sorciers suscite le mécontentement des spectateurs et...

"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed when she realised what she was reading. "This is about the Second Task of the Tournament!"

"Oh, right! When was it?" Harry asked. "A few days ago, right?"

She furrowed her brows while she carefully read the text, trying to decipher the report. "It happened... yes, a few days ago... last Wednesday, I think..."

Harry scooted closer to her and also leaned over the paper. "The Black Lake?" he asked, pointing at the picture accompanying the text.

"Yeah..." Hermione nodded. "I think the champions had to... rescue someone from the lake. From underneath the surface. That's why the article mostly talks about the audience being bored..."

"They were just watching the empty lake the entire time?" Harry asked with a snort, and Hermione chuckled.

"Seems that way," she agreed.

"Wait, what's this with Ron?" Harry asked suddenly. "In the second to last paragraph."

"They..." Hermione tried to make sense of the section of text that mentioned Ron's name, but she couldn't believe what she was reading. "Do I understand this correctly? They included someone for you, too? Someone to rescue?"

"I... I think so?" Harry said, exchanging a bewildered look with her. "Why? That's... that's just stupid."

"No idea," she replied, "But apparently, you were supposed to rescue Ron."

"He's all right, is he?"

"Yes..." she confirmed, nodding slowly. "He and... Cho Chang and Gabrielle Delacour – that's Fleur Delacour's sister, I think – they were brought back to the shore afterwards..."

"Ah, good." Harry let out a breath of relief. "No one got hurt?"

"No, I don't think so..." Hermione said. She couldn't be entirely sure, given that she only understood every second word of the article at most. Still, she reckoned the article would've been written in a vastly different tone if anyone had truly got hurt during the task.

"From what little I understand, I think everyone made it safely back to the shore," she said after a while.

"Hopefully, Ron won't blame me for not rescuing him," Harry commented with a chuckle. "But at least he and the others are all right..."

"Yes, even when Fleur Delacour and Cedric apparently both failed the task, at least they weren't injured," Hermione said. "I suppose Krum will have a comfortable lead going into the Third Task."

"Good for him," Harry replied with a shrug. "I'm just happy no one got hurt."

There was little more in the newspapers about Hogwarts or Magical Britain – or if there was, they didn't spot it. After a while, Harry got tired of deciphering French headlines. He set aside the papers and instead resumed writing his letter to Sirius. Hermione continued skimming through the papers for another half hour, regarding it as an opportunity to practice her French, but she also concluded in the end that she wouldn't find any further articles of interest to them.

"How's it going with the letter?" she asked her boyfriend when she put down the last newspaper.

"Good," he announced happily and leaned back on the sofa. "I'm almost done. At least for today. You want to look over it and tell me if there's anything to add?"

"I can do that," she readily agreed and picked up the letter.

"Now, we just need to find a way for Sirius to get his reply back to us," Harry said and gave her a questioning look. "You think we'll have something ready by the time we send off the letter?"

Hermione sighed. That research was proving far more difficult than expected. Most of the potential solutions involved complex enchantments beyond OWL and often even NEWT level, and she had little hope to master them anytime soon, especially when she had to teach herself out of only a handful of books without any help from teachers or other more experienced instructors.

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "What I've read so far on the Protean Charm sounds promising. But it will be difficult to get it working in a way that actually helps us... I'll just have to keep working on it..."

"Okay," Harry replied and gave her a cautious look. "But... don't stress yourself out over it, okay? It doesn't have to be ready in a few weeks. And... please let me know if I can help. I know I'm rubbish at research and all that, but... I still want to help if I can..."

"Thanks, Harry." She smiled back at him. "Maybe we can take a look at the charm together, tomorrow."

"Sounds good," Harry said, and Hermione finally began to read his letter to Sirius.

She could soon tell that her boyfriend had been very thorough in his retelling of their previous three years at Hogwarts, highlighting all the weird little coincidences that they had so often discussed between themselves on quiet evenings over the last weeks and months. The odd traps that had protected the Philosopher's Stone in their first year, Dumbledore somehow not spotting that his Defence professor was possessed by Voldemort or that a Basilisk was attacking students in the following year, the rampant bullying at the school, the unprofessional conduct of Snape and other teachers, and much, much more. All the failings of the headmaster and the teachers over the last years were laid out in the letter at great length.

Harry had even included a brief summary of his life with the Dursleys, and Hermione was especially proud of him for that. She knew how difficult that must've been for him when he had only begun opening up about his childhood even to her.

As she read her boyfriend's words and his pleas to Sirius to believe him, it also got her thinking about her parents. They, too, were unaware of what she and Harry had experienced at Hogwarts in the past years. She had shared almost nothing of her adventures with them. She still thought that her reasoning for that had been sound – they probably would've tried to withdraw her from Hogwarts if they had known how often her life had been in danger – but at the same time, how could she expect her parents to accept her leaving Britain when she didn't give them the information they needed to really understand her motives?

Had she been unfair with them? Hermione wondered what her mum and dad would say if she told them everything. Maybe they would refuse to listen again or accuse her of lying. But maybe...

Hermione sighed, unable to shove aside her nagging guilt over her past decisions. Perhaps she should've done for her mum and dad what Harry was doing for Sirius now. He didn't know for sure if Sirius would have his back against Dumbledore at the moment, but Harry was putting in the effort of sharing the truth with his godfather in hopes of convincing him. Maybe it was time for her to do the same with her parents and give them the same chance...

"What is it?" Harry asked, who had apparently noticed her pensive look. "Is there anything I should add to the letter?"

"No..." she replied with a tiny shake of her head. "It... it's perfect. I'm just thinking..."

Coming to a decision, she finally looked up from the letter and gave her boyfriend a soft smile. She was grateful for his past insistence that she should keep in touch with her parents and at least let them know that she was all right on occasion.

"When we send off the letter to Sirius, I want to send a letter to my parents, too," she told him.

"Oh? What will you write them?" he inquired.

"This, more or less," she replied and raised the letter in her hand. "The truth of what happened over the last years at Hogwarts. It's time for them to know. Maybe then, they'll understand why we had to leave... I'm not sure if they will, but..."

She halted, unable to find the right words to express her doubts, but Harry scooted closer to her and put an arm around her shoulder. "I think you're right," he encouraged her. "I'm sure they'll understand."

Even when she didn't share his optimism, Hermione was still glad for his support. "Thank you, Harry," she whispered and embraced him tightly.

"I'm sure they'll come around. Just like Sirius," he assured her.

"Yeah... Let's just hope for the best..." she said lowly and exhaled deeply, resting her head on his shoulder. "I'll start writing the letter tomorrow..."

"And we'll also look further into the Protean Charm tomorrow, right?" Harry added.

"That, too," she affirmed. "Full day tomorrow..."

"Seems that way..." he agreed and stifled a yawn.

"Yes, indeed, it's getting late," she responded and glanced at him, giving him a small smile. "So... let's go to bed?"

His lips quirked in response. "To sleep?"

"Why, yes, of course," she said innocently and rose from the sofa, but then she turned back towards him and shot him a grin. "Eventually..."

Harry let out a laugh and tried to pull her back onto the cushions, but she evaded him and instead made for the bedroom, her boyfriend soon following along. With their plans for the next day made, they could leave the worries of the day behind for a while.

#

They sent off their letters on their last visit to the town of Syracuse three weeks later. Apart from the long letters to her parents and to Sirius, they also sent off an owl with a shorter note to Ginny. Hermione and Harry agreed that the youngest Weasley sibling deserved to hear from them the most among all the people they had left behind at Hogwarts. Hermione also asked the girl to pass along the message that she and Harry were all right, that they were safer than they had ever been at Hogwarts, and that contrary to public belief, Harry had never lost his magic – if any more proof had been needed that Harry hadn't entered the Tournament voluntarily, this would have been it.

With the letters sent and their location thus compromised, Hermione and Harry returned to mainland Italy on the very same day. They slowly travelled northward again over the following weeks, this time along the eastern coast of the Italian peninsula. Even as they got further north, it was still getting continuously warmer, and soon, spring was fully upon them. They had a good chuckle when Harry compared their movement pattern to that of migratory birds, going south during winter and back north in spring.

Hermione thought that even when they were simply enjoying their quiet and peaceful life on the move, time still passed at an astonishing pace. Between their continued studies, their additional research on charms and healing, their visits to every scenic town, historic site, and landmark on their way, and the hassle of all the everyday cores that came with living on their own, spring passed into summer before they knew it.

It was surprisingly easy to keep up with their studies, despite the distractions of their travels. Hermione almost felt a little smug when she and Harry even overtook the syllabus of Hogwarts and managed to progress through all their fourth-year textbooks by the end of May. They slowed down their pace when they started with the fifth-year material, instead allocating more time to their extracurricular research. In contrast to their success with their regular school work, their studies in both the areas of healing and communications had yielded disappointingly few results so far, despite the huge effort they were putting into it.

When they decided to return to France in June, Hermione had been experimenting with the Protean Charms and enchanted parchments for a long while, but her spells still broke down far too often when ink was added or removed from the sheets. She wouldn't even have got that far without Harry's help, who had been able to offer creative ideas or counterintuitive workarounds on several occasions. But he, too, was at a loss eventually when their enchantments just kept on failing no matter what they tried.

Hermione more than him was also bothered that they still didn't understand Harry's strange dreams or visions that appeared to correlate with him feeling pain in his scar. Their research had been entirely fruitless so far in that regard. Perhaps she might've made more progress with the entirety of the Hogwarts library at her disposal, but with nothing but the few books they had, it was much more difficult to really understand a topic or work out all the details of complicated spells when they couldn't study any reference material.

In France, they hoped to find more books to help them circumvent that particular problem, which was one of the reasons why they had returned to the country. Even when the books would be in French, Hermione felt confident that their continued language practice would allow them to understand at least the essence of most instructions. They really spoke the language rather passably by now, which also helped them during their travels overall. It made communicating with local folks much easier, and they stood out much less – though one didn't stand out much in France as a British tourist, anyway.

While they were en route to Paris and its large magical district, Hermione and Harry still decided to make a detour along the western coast of France after they left the Côte d'Azur. Just because they had several difficult and important problems to solve didn't mean they no longer wanted to travel and see new places, after all.

That was how, by the end of June, Hermione and Harry had put up their tent close to one of the many small towns along the French Atlantic coast near Bordeaux. There was no noteworthy magical quarter nearby, but they visited the large city twice for shopping trips in the mundane world. Most of their time, however, Hermione and Harry simply spent at the beaches, where they easily blended in with the ever-increasing number of tourists vacationing there.

They didn't concern themselves much with the happenings back at Hogwarts, and as such, the day of the Third Task began just like any other for Hermione and Harry. They had a relaxed breakfast, spent a few hours with their textbooks, and then briefly tried their hands at the Protean Charm again before lunch. For the afternoon, they decided to visit the beach and the small coastal town closest to their private campsite.

"Do you remember when the task is about to start?" Harry asked Hermione when they got ready to leave.

"At eight, I think," she replied, thinking back at the report on the French Wizarding Wireless they had listened to a few days prior.

"Ah, good," he stated, following suit as she routinely charmed her hair into a dark blonde. "We won't have to be careful about the time then. We'll easily be back to listen to it then."

"Definitely."

When they were done with the charms, Harry handed her his wand, and Hermione placed both their wands inside her handbag. As their light summer clothes were hardly suitable to pocket their wands, her handbag with anti-theft enchantments was the next best option to keep them instead.

"Ready to go?" she asked, looking herself over in the mirror near the tent exit and slightly adjusting the armless top and short skirt that she was wearing over her bikini.

Harry, dressed in Bermuda shorts and a T-shirt, put on his cap and sunglasses and nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

They left the tent, which was hidden on a wooded hillside overlooking the coast, and made the short hike down to the seaside. The wide beach with bright, fine sand was mostly empty of tourists out there, but it got more crowded as they reached the first houses and hotels of the small but lively village, which was apparently a rather popular holiday resort for tourists both from France and abroad. The promenade along the beach was lined with hotels, restaurants, ice cream parlours, and many stands of vendors offering bath towels, sunglasses, beach toys, and countless other knickknacks.

Harry halted when they passed a newsstand with a rack of postcards and inspected the motives.

"Hey, you reckon I could send Sirius a postcard with an owl?" he asked as he picked up one of the cards.

"He'd certainly get our location then, but as long as we keep moving, why not," Hermione replied after she had made sure that no bystanders were listening in on their conversation. "You could buy a postcard here, and we could send it from our next location?"

"I'll buy one." He nodded and turned towards her. "Do you also want one for your parents?"

"Maybe..." she said hesitantly. She hadn't found the courage to get in contact with them again after her letter in February. Though, unlike with Sirius, it would always be easy for her to talk to them, given that she could simply call them from a phone box.

"Or maybe I should call them..." she continued indecisively. "Or speak on their answer machine, at least... I could call them when they're not home and-"

She halted abruptly when a sudden thought hit her. "That's it!"

"What?" Harry wondered.

"Sirius!" she exclaimed. "That's how we can talk to him! We've been so stupid!"

"What are you talking about?" he asked with confusion. "He doesn't have a phone."

"No, but we can write him," she replied excitedly.

Harry nodded slowly. "Yes..."

"And we can write him and tell him to be at a certain place at a certain time!" she continued.

"To meet?"

"No, to call him!" she reiterated. "We can call a phone box in Britain, and then we can talk. We've been trying so hard to find a magical solution when there's been a simple non-magical solution all along!"

"We call a phone box?" her boyfriend repeated, sounding unsure about it. "You can do that?"

"Yes, we just need its phone number, but we'll get that from the directory assistance," she explained. "Well, and we need the location for a box we could call, but I remember a few places that would work. And then we'll call the phone box just when Sirius is waiting for the call!"

"He can't be out in public," Harry cautioned.

"He's a wizard, is he not?" she waved aside his concern. "He can change his hair colour, charm his face, take potions... It's really not that difficult!"

"Huh..." Harry nodded slowly as he considered the idea. "I guess you're right. We can do that!"

"He'll have to put on muggle clothes so he won't stand out," Hermione went on. "When you write to him, you'll have to tell him that. He has to wear actual muggle clothes that real people would wear in this day and age. And shave, so he won't look like someone who just escaped from prison."

Harry chuckled at the last remark. "Right. I'll do that. What places do you have in mind?"

"Well, it depends..." she replied. "What do you think? Would London be all right?"

Harry shrugged. "Sure. We don't know where he's hiding, so I don't know how he'd get there. But a large, crowded city might be best for him to not stand out."

"Good. I remember a few places with phone boxes there," she said. "Though I'd need to look up the street names on a city map... Well, we'll get a map of London in any large bookshop with a good tourism section."

"Maybe we could revisit Bordeaux tomorrow?" Harry suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," Hermione agreed happily.

Harry still hadn't paid for his postcard, and after he had purchased it, they continued their stroll along the beach in a much brighter mood.

"You want to take a swim?" Hermione asked her boyfriend as they observed the countless people swimming or playing in the waves in the shallow water.

"Maybe tomorrow near our tent. Not here," Harry replied and lowered his voice. "Better someplace where we can use warming charms."

"True," she chuckled. The water of the Atlantic was indeed rather cold compared to the temperatures of the Mediterranean Sea.

"That looks like fun, though," Harry commented and pointed at a group of teenagers playing volleyball on a sand court a bit further down the beach.

As they drew nearer, Hermione noticed that the two boys and two girls, who appeared to be their age and slightly younger, were shouting at each other in English as they passed the ball between them.

"Americans?" she guessed, trying to place the accent.

"Could be," Harry agreed, and they observed the match for a while. Though, calling it a match was probably too much. It was evident that the kids weren't practised at the sport and were only playing to have fun.

"Well, maybe we could also try it out later?" Harry suggested.

"Sure... Maybe we could buy a ball and-" Hermione paused when one of the girls on the field, the seemingly eldest of the group, suddenly turned towards them. Apparently, she had overheard their conversation.

"Hey there!" the girl shouted, and Hermione and Harry stood awkwardly as the American approached them in a jog.

"Hey!" the blonde greeted them cheerfully. "How are you? I noticed you're speaking English, too. Would you like to join? We could use two more people to play."

"Uh, well, we've never played volleyball..." Hermione said hesitantly.

"But we can give it a try," Harry added, more eager to take up the girl's offer. "It looks like fun."

"Great!" the girl replied cheerfully and grinned at Hermione. "Don't worry. We're all just learning. You've probably noticed already. A match is supposed to be two against two, but we really aren't good enough for that. We could really use more people."

"Sure, we'll play," Harry agreed readily.

"All right," Hermione relented. "We have some time to spare, anyway."

"Awesome!" the girl cheered and then flashed them another smile. "I'm Leanne, by the way."

"I'm... Jane," Hermione replied, deciding not to use their real names. "And this is James."

"You're siblings?" Leanne asked.

"Yes," Hermione said, going for the more inconspicuous answer.

"No," Harry replied at the same time.

"Uhm, well, we're half-siblings," Hermione added quickly. They really needed to get their stories straight, she thought. Luckily, the other girl didn't seem to have picked up on their weird behaviour.

"Well, it's great to meet you!" Leanne said and pointed at one of the boys as she led them onto the field. "That's my brother Josh, and my cousins Stephanie and Matt on the other side of the net, they're twins."

"Hi!" Hermione and Harry greeted the other kids. Hermione guessed that Leanne's brother was a year or two younger than the girl, and the other pair of siblings looked slightly younger still, which would put them at around twelve or thirteen.

"How are we gonna play?" Harry asked.

"Boys against girls?" the youngest boy, Matt, suggested, and everyone else readily agreed.

"Here you go, Jane!" Leanne said when they had arranged themselves, tossing the ball to Hermione. "You can start. Just hit the ball so it passes over the net!"

"All right," Hermione said nervously as she weighed the ball in her hands. "Just... I've never done this. Ha- James hasn't, either..."

"Don't worry," Leanne encouraged her. "We're not even counting points."

"Right... Here goes nothing," she muttered and hit the ball, surprised when she saw it actually flying over the net.

Over the next hour, they had much fun with their admittedly rather clumsy attempts to let the ball pass between them, and even Hermione had to admit that she was enjoying herself. The dives into the sand were particularly entertaining, although they were not often met with success in stopping the ball from touching the ground.

When they finally called for a break, they were sweaty, thirsty, and exhausted, and the sand had got everywhere. None of that dampened the entire group's bright mood, however, as they got to the nearest bistro to get some ice cream and lemonade.

Harry, being his generous self, of course insisted on paying for everything, even when Leanne told him that her parents had given her plenty of lunch money for their day at the beach.

"Don't bother," Hermione said to the other girl when she tried to object. "He won't listen."

"Fine," Leanne laughed. "Have it your way."

They then sat down near the volleyball court to eat the ice cream and engage in some small talk, and Leanne especially appeared excited to have people her age to talk to. Hermione did her best to steer the conversation away from any questions about her and Harry, but Leanne's curiosity eventually won out over Hermione's careful attempts at diversion.

"Oh god, we've spoken about nothing but my family!" the American exclaimed after a while. "Come on, enough of that! Tell me about yourselves!" she demanded, grinning at Hermione and Harry. "Where are your parents?"

"Uhm... at... at the hotel," Hermione replied.

"What hotel are you staying at?

"The... uhm..." she mumbled, trying to remember the names of the hotels they had passed.

"Just a bit further up the beach there," Harry picked up, vaguely gesturing in the direction they had come from.

"Yes, I just can't remember these French names," Hermione added.

Leanne laughed. "Totally! So, what-"

Luckily, a shout from Leanne's brother saved them from the interrogation.

"Hey, I'm bored!" Josh complained. "Let's continue!"

"Sure!" Harry immediately agreed, and Hermione also didn't mind playing volleyball for a bit longer.

Matt picked up the ball, and the boys raced each other to the field while Hermione and the two other girls stepped onto the sand court on the opposite side of the net. Matt then sent the ball flying towards her, and the match was on.

Hermione felt that she was getting better with practice, but she could admit that Leanne was much more skilled than her, and only her age gave her an advantage over the younger kids. She was unsurprised, however, that Harry was picking the sport up much faster than her, which made the teams quite well-balanced overall.

They played for even longer than before, and it had got quite late in the afternoon when Hermione let herself fall into the sand and called it quits.

"I'm sorry, but I need a break," she panted from where she sat on the ground, wiping the sweat off her brow with the back of her hand.

"Me too," the youngest girl, Stephanie, agreed, and Leanne also nodded, looking rather exhausted.

"Okay," Harry assented. "Should we maybe get something to eat?"

Everyone was in agreement with that, and they bought some baguette sandwiches at one of the stands at the seaside promenade. They all hungrily devoured the food back at the beach, and Hermione could see that the others felt just as ravenous as her after the long day of exercise.

She also noted that she and Harry were probably missing the start of the Third Task, but she could see how much Harry enjoyed spending some time with people their age for a change, and she also enjoyed the company, especially that of the upbeat and outgoing Leanne. As such, she saw no reason for them to leave, not when socialising like this was much more fun than listening to a French report on the Wizarding Wireless. The happenings at Hogwarts no longer truly affected them, anyway. They'd just catch up on the results afterwards on the Wireless or in a newspaper.

When everyone had finished their sandwiches, Josh and his cousins went off playing football a bit further down the beach, but Hermione was far too exhausted for any more sport. Leanne appeared happy to remain behind with her, and Harry also didn't move from her side.

"You know what, Jane, James?" Leanne asked them as they observed the other kids kicking the volleyball back and forth between them.

"What?" Harry asked.

"We've been talking for so long, but you guys still haven't really told us anything about yourselves," the blonde American stated. "Not since we were interrupted during our break earlier."

"Uhm, well..." Hermione began, but she was interrupted by the other girl.

"Come on! I want to know more about you guys!" she exclaimed. "I mean, like, where are you from?"

"Uhm, London," Hermione replied.

"Yeah, me too," Harry added, rather unnecessarily. Hermione thought they really needed to get better at their act if they wanted to interact with people more often.

Leanne had apparently picked up on it, too, because she looked at them with amusement. "What do your parents do?"

"They're dentists," Hermione replied, maybe slightly too fast, and Harry nodded, too.

"Yeah, dentists."

"All of them?" the other girl asked curiously.

"Uhm... Yes," Hermione stated.

"N-Yes," Harry corrected himself just in time, but it was evident that Leanne hadn't missed his stumble.

"You know..." the blonde said slowly and eyed them more critically. "Not to be mean, but you guys are strange."

"Well-"

"What-"

"Yes, you are," the girl interrupted their half-hearted objections. "For starters, you don't look anything alike..."

"Well, we're half-" Hermione began to defend herself, but Leanne spoke over her.

"You seem awfully close for siblings, half or otherwise..."

Hermione suddenly noticed how close she and Harry were sitting, their arms almost touching, and they quickly scooted further away from each other. She didn't want to imagine what their antics had to look like to Leanne, though.

"Yes..." the American continued after a rather long awkward pause, "Also, whenever I ask you a question, you never reply straight away. It's as if you need time to come up with an answer. And you always exchange those weird looks- Yes, those!"

Hermione and Harry snapped their heads back towards the girl when her last exclamation interrupted their attempt to silently agree on a good response.

"Okay, okay, just keep it quiet, okay?" Hermione tried to hush her.

"Will you tell me the truth then?" Leanne asked with a slight smirk.

"Yes, all right... We... we're not siblings, okay?" Hermione admitted hesitantly. "We're a couple. We became friends at boarding school."

"I knew it!" Leanne cheered. "But- wait! Your parents allowed you to go on vacation together!?"

"Yes. They... uh..." Hermione trailed off, unable to come up with a believable excuse.

Leanne grinned at them. "Ah... I'm pretty sure you're still not telling the whole truth."

"Why would you think so?" Harry asked defensively, but Hermione knew that it was hopeless.

"Because you still can't form a coherent answer," Leanne reminded them truthfully. "But, also because..."

The other girl paused and gave them a triumphant smile. "Because I have friends from London. And they don't have vacations yet."

"Ah... uhm..." Hermione paled when she realised the mistake she had made.

"We... well, but... but our... our boarding school is in Scotland, and their summer break starts earlier!" Harry tried to come up with an excuse. I might even have worked if their far too long awkward pause hadn't given them away before that.

"Uh-huh, sure," Leanne drawled, her eyes twinkling with amusement. "Somehow, I don't believe you..."

Hermione nervously glanced at Harry and noticed that his eyes were scanning their surroundings. When he turned back towards her, he pointedly looked at her handbag which held their wands and then back at her. Understanding his silent question, Hermione slightly shook her head in response. She was certain that doing something rash when they weren't in imminent danger would be a grave mistake. It would draw attention to themselves and trip the alarms with the French Aurors, not even speaking of the moral problem of hexing innocent people. They'd simply have to talk their way out of this situation.

Leanne didn't notice their byplay as she laid out her suspicions. "I mean, you're definitely from Britain. The accent alone gives it away. And it's also obvious you're a couple. But you're not here with your parents on vacation. Am I right?"

"If I say yes, will you please keep it quiet?" Hermione asked pleadingly.

"Will you tell me the full story then?" the American asked.

"We..." Hermione began, desperately trying to come up with a plausible explanation, having no more success than her equally tongue-tied boyfriend.

"Let me guess..." Leanne interrupted their silence. "You've run away with each other because... because your families don't want you to be together!?"

Apparently, she could tell by their faces that she had got uncomfortably close to the truth, because she gave a low squeal of delight. "Awww, that's so romantic! Almost like Romeo and Juliet!"

Hermione was just hoping that no one overheard them.

"Maybe I should call you that?" Leanne teased. "I bet James and Jane aren't your real names either!"

"Please don't," Hermione groaned. "And could you please keep it down?"

"Of course. Sorry!" Leanne said hurriedly. She then leaned closer towards them and giggled. "Sorry, Juliet!"

Leanne laughed when Hermione rolled her eyes at that, but the girl soon became more serious again.

"But really, how did you do this?" the American wondered. "How do you get by? You don't look as if you're struggling. But do you need help?"

"We're all right, really," Hermione assured the girl, surprised by her offer. "We're doing great, actually."

"How?" Leanne asked, looking at them with wide eyes.

"We..." Hermione began.

"We really can't talk about that," Harry said firmly.

"Sorry," Hermione added.

"Fine," Leanne relented. "Can you at least tell me how you've ended up here, near Bordeaux?"

"Well... we've just been travelling through France and Italy for a while now," Hermione replied, deciding to at least give the girl that much. "This has just been our latest stop."

"Wow, that's so cool!" the American squealed. "Where else have you been!?"

That, for a change, was a question they decided they could answer, and for a long while, Hermione and Harry entertained the girl with stories of their travels and the places they had visited so far. Leanne listened with rapt attention and threw in plenty of questions, though she soon learnt that she wouldn't get any answers on how they managed to travel and live by themselves at their age. Eventually, she ceased asking about it, despite her more than evident curiosity.

When their tale, abridged of all hints at magic, came to an end, the sun was already standing low in the sky.

"We should probably go," Hermione stated reluctantly when she realised how much time had passed.

"Yeah, it's getting late," Harry agreed.

"Right. Our parents might worry about us, too," Leanne said as they picked themselves up from the sand.

"Well, then..." Hermione began, trying to find the right words to say goodbye, but the other girl was cheerful as ever.

"Will I see you tomorrow?" she asked eagerly.

"Ah..." Hermione exchanged a brief look with her boyfriend, and they came to a silent agreement.

Turning back towards Leanne, Hermione sighed and gave the girl a sad smile. "No, you won't."

The other girl's smile fell at the answer. "Is it because of me? Because I found out about you? I won't tell anyone, I promise!"

"I believe you. I really do. But..." Hermione trailed off, giving the girl an apologetic look.

"I get it..." Leanne said miserably. "You can't be too careful. But could you... Well, could you at least tell me your real names now?"

Hermione wasn't sure about that, but her boyfriend made the decision for her.

"I'm Harry," he introduced himself.

"Hermione," she added.

"Harry and Hermione," Leanne repeated, a smile returning to her face. She cocked her head at Hermione and shot her a grin. "Heh, it's not Juliet, but yours is a Shakespearean name, isn't it? I've actually gotten close!"

"I guess you did," Hermione chuckled and offered the girl her hand. "Goodbye, Leanne. It's been a pleasure meeting you. Thanks for the fun day. And thank you for keeping our secret."

The girl surprised her when she didn't take the offered hand and hugged first her and then Harry instead. "Goodbye. Take care of each other," she told them.

"We will," Harry replied. "Goodbye, Leanne."

After they had said their farewells to the other kids, Hermione and Harry started to make their way back to their tent, walking along the beach where the waves washed ashore, where it was easiest to walk on the wet sand.

"That was a fun day," Harry said when they had left the resort town behind them.

"It was nice," Hermione agreed. "We should do this more often."

"Yeah..."

"Though," she added, "if we want to interact more with people, we really need to have a better cover story."

"That's right," he acknowledged her point. "I guess we really looked rather suspicious."

"Yes, we need to be able to answer basic questions and have a backstory that makes sense," she continued. "We made it far too easy for Leanne to figure us out. "

"Should we have... I dunno... Obliviated her or something?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"I know we've practised it for emergencies, but we've never actually done the spell on a person," Hermione reminded him. "And it would've tripped the alarms at the French Ministry. Besides, it would've been wrong. I don't want to do that when it's not absolutely necessary."

"Yeah, I don't either," her boyfriend concurred. "It... it wasn't a serious question, I guess. I don't believe Leanne will tell anyone about us, anyway."

"We still need to change location," she cautioned.

Harry nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we'll pack our stuff today and can be on our way first thing tomorrow."

By the time they arrived back at their private campsite, the sun was almost setting over the sea.

"I guess we missed the Third Task by now," Harry said as they stepped into the tent, though he didn't sound much bothered by it. "It's probably over already."

"Maybe we can catch up on it tomorrow on the Wizarding Wireless," Hermione replied. "For now, let's just make sure that we have everything ready for us to leave in the morning. But first, we really need a shower!"

"Yes, definitely," Harry agreed, "Should- AH! Ouch!"

"Harry?" She whirled around at his abrupt cry and was shocked to see her boyfriend's face distorted in pain.

"It... it's... owww!" he mumbled, rubbing his forehead with his hand and staggering slightly.

"Harry, what- HARRY!" she cried when he tumbled and fell forward, and she was barely able to catch him in his fall before he hit the floor.

"I've got you, I've got you," she muttered as she gently lowered him to the floor. "Please, Harry, please be all right!"

Panic rose in her chest as she looked over her unconscious boyfriend lying on the floor, groaning and grimacing in obvious pain even when he was out of it. His scar was turning an angry red, and she just knew that what was happening had to be related to the visions he had been having recently. But so far, his visions had only occurred in his sleep, he had never lost consciousness because of them. She feared this was something far more serious.

"Please, Harry, wake up!" she pleaded, shaking his shoulders. "Wake up, please!"

When he didn't respond, she reached for her handbag and fumbled for her wand, but her hands were shaking so much that she lost her grip on it and it rolled across the floor.

"Dammit!" Hermione cursed as she leaned over and picked up her wand again. She forced herself to take a deep, calming breath before she raised her wand with trembling hands, aiming it at her boyfriend's forehead.

"Episkey!" she cast, but the healing charm dissipated across Harry's scar to no effect.

"Rennervate!" she tried to bring him back with rising desperation. "Come on! Please, Harry!"

"Reparifors! Episkey! Rennervate!"

But no matter what spells she tried, Harry didn't wake up.