Chapter 66
"Hermione!"
"Hermione! Wake up, dear!"
"Hermione, comeon!"
"Hermione, come quick!"
"Hermione,wake up!"
Hermione groaned in her sleep, burying her face in her pillow. The calls of her name came to her in a fog, as though a single person was calling her name. She groaned again and the sounds of Ginny, the twins, Harry, Ron and Mrs. Weasley became clearer.
"Hermione!" Ginny cried in excitement as the door burst open and slammed against the wall. "Come on, wake up! Come quick, come on!"
"What?" Hermione asked tiredly, exhausted from having cried herself to sleep with worry the night before, and sat up slowly.
"Oh um," Ginny said, looking at her and biting her lip. "You um, you might want to get dressed and comb your hair, but um...hurry! Come on!"
Hermione blinked at the girl tiredly, her eyes swollen and dry, they felt itchy and irritated. Hermione yawned and stretched, rubbing a hand over her face and shaking herself, coming slowly to wakefulness, but before she could say anything else, Ginny was gone.
Hermione turned slowly and looked back at her welcoming pillow. She wanted to be like she'd learned from Harry that Ron was, and just turn over and go back to sleep. She groaned and rubbed her face once more. Ignoring the call of her pillow, she threw back the blankets and swung her legs out of bed. She knew that if she went back to bed they wouldn't let her sleep in again.
"Hermione!" another shout came from Ginny downstairs.
"I'm coming, give me a minute," Hermione called back and went to close the door the girl had left open. "I'll be right down," she called and shut the door with a click. Shaking her head, she quickly dressed and borrowed Ginny's brush, to comb out her hair before she made her way downstairs.
"Ah, here she is," Hermione heard Mrs. Weasley say as she came down the stairs.
Hermione stopped dead in her tracks as she rounded the corner and saw Oliver standing in the kitchen beside the whole of the Weasley family, seated at the table.
"Hello lass," Oliver said quietly, his mouth curving into a smile. "Hermione?" he asked when she didn't respond right away.
She didn't know how, given that her eyes were so dry and irritated already, but she hiccuped and then burst into fresh tears, running to him and buried her face in his chest as she cried, feeling his arms wrap around her shaking form.
"She's been really worried," Mr. Weasley said, excusing her behavior.
"Yes," Oliver said, as he held her in a protective hug and gently brushed his hand over her hair. "I can see that," he said. "And really, I don't blame her."
Hermione fought to collect herself, but didn't let Oliver go. "I was so scared for you," she whispered. "You and your family."
"I know," Oliver murmured in return. "Thank you."
"What happened?" Hermione asked, pulling back slightly to look at him, and realization came slowly that she was looking at him directly in the eye and her feet were not touching the floor.
"Do you want to sit down and I'll let you all know?" he asked, and looked to the others at the table.
Hermione nodded and Oliver lowered her slowly to her feet, but continued to hold her hand even as she sat down in the closest chair at the table.
"It was thanks to Hermione that I was able to help my parents," Oliver began.
"Are they okay?" Hermione asked.
"They're fine; well, there were someminorinjuries obtained by my father, Ash and Willow, but thanks to you, they'll be okay," Oliver said.
"Thanks to me?" Hermione asked, puzzled.
"Yes," Oliver said giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "If you hadn't warned me about the Death Eaters and urged me to go back and find them, I hate to think of what the Death Eaters would have done to them."
"Yes," Mr. Weasley said, "Hermione is quite exceptional in that department, I hate to think of what would have happened to my children if she hadn't directed them on where to go that night."
"Oh, brother," Ron grumbled and rolled his eyes.
"Speak for yourself," Harry replied, elbowing Ron.
"What?" Ron asked. "I was there with her when we found you."
"Yes," Harry said.
"In fact, I found you first," Ron said.
"Only because you have longer legs," Hermione said.
"Its true," Harry told Ron. "You've gotten really tall, so your legs are longer."
"Besides," the twins said, "You weren't all that determined to find him."
"Wait, what do you mean?" Harry asked.
"Shut up!" Ron growled at his brother.
"It's just that -" Fred began.
"It doesn't matter!" Hermione said, not wanting to cause more fights.
"Okay," Harry murmured, shaking his head. "It doesn't matter."
"The point is," George said.
"Is that we wouldn't have known that Harry wasn't with us until much later," Fred said.
"Face it, Ron," Bill said. "Without your friend here," he said, glancing to Hermione. "We wouldn't have known where to even look for Harry if not for Hermione."
"Not to mention, the danger he could have been in," Charlie said.
"That's right," Bill said. "If your friend didn't tell you that Harry wasn't with you, where would you have have looked? How long would it have taken?"
"Okay, okay!" Ron said. "Fine, I get it. It could have ended badly for us if not for Hermione."
"You got that, right," Mrs. Weasley said and gave a firm nod. "Remember your second year when we almost lost poor Ginny?"
Ron swallowed and nodded.
"We could have lost all of you," Mrs. Weasley said. "If not for this wonderful, brave, selfless girl."
Oliver laughed softly as he watched Hermione blush, and bury her face while at the same time trying not to release her hold on his hand.
"So what happened?" she asked after a moment, looking up to him.
"Well," Oliver said, noticing her question had brought everyone's attention back to him, and when he paused, Hermione noticed he was trying to figure out how to explain.
"Did the Aurors find you?" Mr. Weasley asked.
"Aurors?" Oliver asked, "No, why?"
"Well," Mr. Weasley asked. "How did you know to come here?"
Oliver wrinkled his brow in confusion. "We went to St. Mungo's almost immediately after we left the camp," he said. "When I met up with my dad, he was about to face off with some Death Eaters... He called the house-elves and put them under my command - nothing has ever scared me before more than in that moment. I thought he was doing it because he thought that he was about to die. I left Ash with him, and told Ash to use his magic to help my father. I then took Willow and Cherry, and we got my mom out of there. My mom's only request was to save the pictures - father designed the tent with pictures of my mom's family."
"That explains why she was so concerned about saving them," Hermione said and Oliver nodded.
"I sent Willow back after mum and I were safe with Cherry," Oliver continued. "She wasn't gone but a few moments, and when she returned, it was with Ash and father."
"You said there were injuries," Hermione coaxed.
"Yes," Oliver said. "Dad had a cut on his arm, but Ash had suffered more injuries. The Death Eaters must have focused their attack on him when he was protecting my dad. It was nothing too serious, but he still needed care. Once Willow returned with them, we went to St. Mungo's. That's where the problems started."
"Problems?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah," Oliver said with a sigh. "He sent the staff of St. Mungo's into a tizzy by taking Ash with him."
"Why's that?" Hermione asked.
"Because they don't treat house-elves," Mrs. Weasley said.
"They what?!" Hermione exclaimed in shocked surprise.
"Yeah," Oliver said. "Father sends them donations every once in a while and he promised those donations would stop and that we would take Ash and go to a Muggle hospital if they didn't treat Ash, because the elf had saved his life. You should have seen the uproar when Cherry and Willow showed up as well."
"Oh, I'm sure we'll hear about it," Mr. Weasley said, chuckling softly. "Not much happens that the ministry doesn't learn about in time."
"Anyway, the Floo Network Authority said that you had tried to make contact twice?" Oliver asked.
"Yes, we did," Mr. Weasley said. "I'm really glad you and your family are safe. I'll tell you, son," Mr. Weasley continued with a grin and shake of his head. "Hermione and my Molly here sure were in a state when they contacted you and found even your house-elves were gone. Sent me over straight away to investigate. Hope you don't mind."
"No, not at all," Oliver said.
"Oh, good," Mr. Weasley said in relief. "I checked out the whole house, I knew if I didn't, my Molly would be upset. It didn't look like there had been an attack so I apparated back to the house, but I reported it and -"
"That'swhy you asked about the Aurors," Oliver said with a smile, laughing when he saw Mr. Weasley nod. "Well, thank you, Mr. Weasley," Oliver said with a smile and held out his free hand that Mr. Weasley grasped firmly. "Now then," Oliver said, looking to Hermione. "Are you ready? My mum is still expecting a visit."
"Give me just one moment," Hermione said and reluctantly released Oliver's hand. She headed upstairs and grabbed the pajamas she'd slept in before hurrying back downstairs.
"Ready now?" Oliver asked, but Hermione moved passed him to her trunk, opening it and putting her pajamas inside, and closing it again turning to see Oliver shaking his head with a smile.
"Ready," Hermione said.
"Oh," Mrs. Weasley said, bustling over with a smile. "We're going to miss you!" She gave Hermione a tight hug, and moved over giving one to Oliver as well, who blinked in surprise. "Stay safe."
"We will," Hermione said. "And thank you."
She turned and waved as Oliver withdrew a pouch of Floo powder from his robes and gave Hermione some. "We're going to 'the Woods'," he told her, then gave her an inquiring look when she began to laugh, but she waved it away.
"Later," Hermione said, Oliver nodded and turned to pick up her trunk, and returned the Floo powder in the pocket of his robes.
"Thank you for keeping Hermione safe," Oliver said, turning to the Weasleys and shifting the trunk so that he could used his Floo powder fairly easily. "She's lucky to have such good friends."
"Any time," Mrs. Weasley said with a smile.
Oliver tossed his pinch of Floo powder. "The Woods," he said and watched as the emerald flames erupt. "See you on the other side," he said with a smile before he stepped into the flames and vanished.
Hermione waved one more time, before she tossed her Floo powder and called out, "The Woods," and disappeared in green flame.