"You know, I used to like snow." She looked at Harry, who was like her standing in a few inches of freshly fallen snow.

"I still do." She said, before adding with a scoff, "Admittedly though, it is much more enjoyable to watch it through a window. My feet are freezing." Despite wearing a pair of winter boots, the long slog through the thick and sticky snow had made cold penetrate even the fluffy water-resistant footwear they were wearing.

"Yeah, a few more hours and I'll lose my toes." Harry responded drily, but she could tell that wasn't a joke. They would both be losing them if they didn't get warm soon. After robbing the shop in the morning, they had continued walking under the cloak well into the afternoon, putting as much distance as possible between them and any potential pursuers.

After a bit, Hermione had suggested they head into one of the many Scottish forests, where they would almost certainly not be found, but she was beginning to regret this choice. She was counting on the tent they'd stolen to give them some reprieve from the harsh weather, but there was no real good spot to put it down on. At least the complete seclusion allowed them to ditch the cloak, making their progress much faster.

"How about this." She offered, "We keep going for a bit more, and if we don't find anyplace good to stay, we simply put it in the snow. I'll melt the snow, and we'll make it work." It wouldn't be ideal, but it would certainly be better than getting frostbite. Harry nodded at that, before the pair continued their trek through the forest. All of the trees were covered in white, and it was actually rather beautiful to look at. Well, it would have been had Hermione not been freezing to the bones.

The two icy and increasingly more miserable-looking teens continued their trek for another 30 minutes, and Hermione was just about to give up when Harry spoke up excitedly; "Look at that, Hermione." She followed where he was pointing, and her eyes lit up. There, a few hundred yards ahead of them, was a small wooden structure. Hermione was almost certain it was one of those small cabins that hunters used to stay in during their hunting trips.

The pair half ran over to it, Hermione nearly stumbling multiple times in the snow, her cold legs starting to feel sluggish. When at last they made it to the front door, Hermione wasted no time in pulling out her wand and muttering the Alohomora spell. The door immediately swung inwards, but there was no rush of warm air. The cabin was still shelter though, and they quickly made their way inside, Harry closing the door behind them.

It really was a small cabin by all standards, the inside space consisting of a pair of cots by the far wall, a simple-looking wood-burning stove, a lone table surrounded by a few chairs, a couple of empty hooks and rags, as well as a pair of large closets. The walls were full of animal trophies though, from pelts to antlers to a full-sized, presumably real taxidermized deer head.

"Not much warmer inside." Harry's teeth were audibly chattering as he spoke, and Hermione knew she wasn't in any better of a state. Her legs felt frozen, as did her face, while the warm jacket she'd stolen kept her at least moderately warm in her torso.

"We need to get the stove going. That should heat the place right up."

"We need wood for that." Harry countered, walking over to the cots and stealing the sole blanket from it. She knew he was correct, but going outside to get some wood right now wasn't something she was willing to do. Getting warm was still the top priority though. She decided to take the lead.

"Ok, let's get the tent set up. We'll get the blanket and our body heat should get the small space warm-ish rather quickly." She said getting to work, using a recently learned spell of hers, Erecto, to immediately get the tent set-up. The bright orange tent wasn't a very impressive thing, looking barely large enough for the two of them, but Hermione didn't much care at the moment.

"C-come on." She beckoned Harry forward, removing her frozen boots and wet socks, before crawling through the entrance into the tent, Harry following suit with a blanket he'd found. He closed the flap as soon as they were inside, giving the blanket to her. Her jeans were wet all the way up to her knee as well, so she sat up in the small space, and pulled those off as well, not caring too much about decency.

It was only as she caught Harry's gaze on her now bare legs that she started feeling a bit self-conscious, but Harry quickly averted his look, his cheeks tinged in red. She used her wand to conjure up a few of her bluebell flames, the small jars of fire warming up the tent's air somewhat.

"I'm s-so c-cold." She said out loud, her teeth still chattering as she covered herself with the blanket, trying to warm up her numb feet. Harry was still sitting awkwardly at the other side of the tent, his gaze directed anywhere but towards her, and he looked miserable. She sighed unhappily, and decided to throw caution to the wind.

"Harry." There was no arguing with that tone, and he turned his wide eyes to her. "Take off your pants, I can see from here they're fully soaked. After you do that, come here under my blanket, and we'll share heat." His eyes widened even further if at all possible, but Hermione was freezing, and she didn't much care.

"Now, Harry, I'm freezing and you look no better."

"B-but…" It took only one look to silence him again, his cheeks burning bright red as he pulled off his jeans, before awkwardly shuffling towards her. She simply lifted her blanket for him, shivering as the cold air wafted through the gap.

"Hurry up." She snapped, seemingly pushing him back into motion, as he shuffled to sit directly next to her, their entire sides touching, warm blessed heat pouring off him. She wrapped an arm around his middle and made herself press against him even more, the heat he was giving off intoxicating. He seemed uncomfortable for a few moments, but she could soon feel him relaxing into her, the cold slowly being replaced by warmth under their blankety cocoon.

"I don't think I ever want to leave here. I'm not going outside this tent until summer." She said contentedly, her head buried in his warm shoulder, her legs tucked underneath her.

"It does feel rather nice, yeah." She chuckled at his awkward tone, pulling her head fractionally away to look up at his face.

"Why do you look like you're an inch away from death? Am I that disgusting to be near or what?" She kept her tone light, but there was a hint of hurt in her tone. She knew it wasn't really normal for friends to cuddle under a blanket in a state of undress, but this was a necessity due to the circumstances, and they weren't just regular friends either, were they. No, what they had went much deeper, of that Hermione was sure, and his reactions confused her.

"What?! No, of course not." The tenacity in his voice alleviated her fears, and his arm coming to mirror hers dispelled them entirely, "It's just... I don't want to make you uncomfortable. I don't know what the… protocol for this is." The awkward way he said it was so incredibly Harry that she had to chuckle. He was so endearing.

"Well, I'm not uncomfortable. And there's no protocol Harry. I'm your best friend, and I trust you completely and utterly. I know you would never do anything to make me uncomfortable on purpose." She said, trying to prove her point by squeezing him a bit tighter. He seemed to relax fully at that, his body almost sagging into hers.

"Ok, that's fine, then."

"Come on, lie down, we should probably get some rest while we warm up." She told him, pushing him down until he was lying on his back. He didn't protest, and she snuggled into his warm body, placing her head on his chest. She would be lying if she said this didn't feel good.

"I think we should stay at this cabin for a few days at least." She said as soon as she was comfortable in her position, feeling his thoughtful hum through the fabrics of his hoodie and shirt.

"I agree. We have enough food to stay a week, probably. But what then?" He asked, startling as she pressed her still-freezing legs against his, tangling them together. She ignored his surprised yelp, already focusing on formulating a plan.

"Well, we need a more permanent spot to stay, obviously. Either that, or we could try and leave the country." She said shrugging, knowing their options were rather limited.

"And go where?"

"Don't know. America maybe? Australia? Canada?" She listed off a few of the options, but she knew deep down that Harry would never go for that. Her Harry Potter reading skills were once again proven correct a few seconds later.

"No, I don't think that's smart. I still intend to help Dumbledore after we get this Horcrux out of my head." She didn't argue, knowing this was going to be his answer even before he opened his mouth. "Plus," He added, "you still have your parents here, a future. You'll need to finish Hogwarts too, and you can't do that if we run away."

"We, Harry."

"Hm?"

"We're going to finish Hogwarts. Because I'm getting this stupid thing out of your head, and I'm making sure you live. I promised after all." She said, kissing his scar to make her point, and she could feel him sigh underneath her.

"Right. That's the plan, isn't it. But stuff rarely goes to plan when I'm involved in them."

"True, but we have always reached the result we wanted in the end. We tweak the plan, adapt, and make it work." That was always something that infuriated her, how Harry always managed to derail her carefully constructed plans about 3 seconds into them. Then again, he somehow always made them work, so she couldn't be too mad. There was silence for a good while, and she'd nearly fallen asleep in her comfortable position.

"I miss Hogwarts." She didn't know why she'd said it, it was a thought that had somehow escaped her lips.

"Already?" Harry's response was a mix of mirth and melancholy, and she couldn't help but feel embarrassed for feeling such a way considering their current predicament.

"Yeah, I know I shouldn't be thinking that, and should rather focus on the now, but I can't help but think if all this could have been avoided had Dumbledore not been so… rash, I guess." She spoke carefully, not wanting to make Harry think she regretted her decisions. Thankfully, Harry didn't seem miffed at her.

"You're not the only one thinking about it, so don't worry. I imagine we'd probably be having Snape right now, and somehow, I'd almost prefer that than-"

"Flitwick."

"What?"

"We'd be having Flitwick." She could feel her cheeks turning red at his baffled expression, "You know, right now, Tuesday the 6th, we'd have Charms in the evening." She felt her embarrassment deepen as Harry burst into laughter. She swatted at his shoulder, whilst simultaneously trying to hide in his shoulder.

"Don't laugh!"

"Sorry Hermione, but that is just such a you thing. Till when have you memorized the schedules?" She turned redder at that if possible.

"February 27…" She mumbled, and Harry was laughing again.

"Well, to finish what I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me," He said in an over-the-top manner, earning himself a second hit to the shoulder, "we'd be sitting in Flitwick's class, you'd be nailing everything as usual, me and Ron would be as lost as ever, and Seamus would probably have set himself on fire." They both chuckled at that.

"If my 11-year-old self would see me now, she'd be horrified. I left school willingly…" There was disbelief in her tone, as if she couldn't believe what she'd done, and she could feel Harry tense up at that.

"You can still go back. You'd only miss like three days." She rose to her elbow to glare at him, giving him a third punch in his shoulder.

"I don't regret this, Harry. I thought we got that cleared." He raised his hands in defence, although the guilt in his eyes remained.

"I know, I know. Still, I'm sure this will all be over soon, and then we'll be able to go back." She hummed thoughtfully at that, feeling extraordinarily sleepy after the day they'd just had. It was a nice thought, an optimistic one, but Hermione had a feeling that it wouldn't be that easy. Things never were when Harry Potter was concerned. But she'd be damned if she let that slimy bastard take her best friend from her. Nu-uh, not happening, was her last thought as sleep claimed her.

When Hermione woke up, she felt oddly warm and well-rested. She stretched out, immediately noticing that Harry wasn't present in their tent. The warmth he'd left behind was though, and she was reluctant to leave it. After 10 minutes of no Harry, she was starting to get worried, wondering where he could have disappeared off to. Judging by the sunlight coming into the tent through the small plastic window it was certainly morning.

Her worries mounting, she sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she rummaged through her backpack, pulling out a fresh pair of jeans she'd stolen yesterday. Her other ones were surely still moist, so she was glad to be able to change into a dry pair, and a freshly stolen pair of warm fluffy socks followed. Lastly, she pulled on her jacket, before exiting the tent, shivering at the cold air that hit her as she did so.

As her eyes scanned the small cabin, they found no Harry Potter, and her apprehension mounted. He wouldn't just leave her here alone, would he? No, of course not, she bit back at herself, she trusted him not to do something like that. Her fears were allayed a second later by the door opening, bringing with it a rush of freezing air and a disgruntled-looking wizard.

"Where have you been?" She immediately challenged, putting her arms on her hips and directing her glare at her best friend. He looked at her like she'd lost it, moving to the side and dropping an armful of branches onto the floor.

"Collecting wood to keep us from freezing." She instantly felt sorry for attacking him, and she told him as much.

"Sorry, I just got worried when I couldn't find you."

"Thought I ran off?" He joked, chuckling at her half-hearted glare. She moved to help him get the… dry branches towards the stove.

"Where did you find dry wood? Everything's under 2 inches of snow." She said feeling impressed, using her wand to light up the first few pieces of timber they'd stuffed into the stove.

"Don't even ask. I've been searching out there for a whole hour, and came back empty-handed, only to realize there is a bunch of wood under a roof at the back of the cabin." He sounded supremely annoyed, and she covered her laugh with a fake cough. But his rosy cheeks and blue lips told her he hadn't been lying, and she took pity on him, grabbing one of the chairs by the table and setting it in front of the now blazing stove.

"Here, sit down and get warm. I'll make us something to eat." He did as she asked, holding his hands out towards the heat coming from the stove, the cabin getting warmer by the second.

"What's the plan for today?" He asked after a few minutes, Hermione in the middle of heating up the cans of beans they'd stolen.

"Well, you've made sure we won't freeze, that was the first thing on my list. And then I wanted to go through some more spells, maybe try and find anything on Horcruxes in that old book from the Black library." She explained, beyond hopeful that the book in question had something useful in it.

It was one of three she'd brought with her, but while the other two seemed mostly focused on spells, this one seemed to delve into the darker aspects of magic, or so the description said. She didn't have the time to be picky at that moment, she just took the ones that looked useful.

"I was reevaluating my stance on us learning to apparate by the way."

"Yeah?" She asked curiously, wondering what brought this change of heart considering his refusal when she suggested it the first time.

"Mhm, then we can avoid similar situations as what we got ourselves into yesterday. We can't always rely on getting lucky to get away. My cloak might work against muggles, but that won't fool Aurors or Death Eaters." He explained his reasoning as he moved away from the fire, hanging his jacket on one of the hangers by the door. She did the same after a moment, the cabin now warm enough for just the hoodie and shirt.

"We need to be careful though. We don't want to end up getting splinched." She added thoughtfully, but deeming the risk worth the reward.

"Yeah, that is proba-" Whatever he was going to say was interrupted by a loud tapping sound on the door, both Hermione as well as Harry freezing in their spots, their wide eyes meeting across the room. Hermione immediately abandoned the beans, pulling out her wand and pointing it at the door. She saw Harry do the same in her peripheral, but she hoped he wouldn't need to use his, as that would activate the trace and certainly give away their position.

"Who's out there?" Hermione asked loud enough for her voice to be audible through the wooden door, whilst simultaneously trying to peer through the sole small window. There was no response. The tapping persisted, and Harry stepped right up to the door, looking towards her and she immediately nodded at him, wordlessly telling him she had his back.

With a quick tug, Harry wrenched the door open, both of their wands immediately trained on the culprit behind the knocking.

"What…?" Only for their eyes to set upon a snowy white owl waiting patiently on the ground. Seeing Harry standing in the doorway, the owl flapped her wings and flew directly towards the stunned boy.

"Hedwig!" Harry exclaimed, offering the beautiful owl his arm for her to perch on, her talons digging into his hoodie as she perched herself on his forearm, before giving his nose a playful nip. The owl hooted happily as Harry stroked her feathers, before turning her head 180 degrees towards Hermione, hooting again as if greeting her.

"I'm so sorry for leaving you at Hogwarts, I didn't know I wouldn't return." Harry said apologetically, while Hermione snapped from her daze, walking over and joining Harry in petting the owl. Hedwig hooted loudly at Harry's words, nipping his ear playfully as if telling him she'd forgiven him.

"How did you find us?" Hermione asked curiously, feeling a bit stupid for talking to an owl. She felt even stupider when the said owl turned her head to look at her with something Hermione could only interpret as 'really?'.

"Sorry, sorry, I forgot, that's what you do." She held her hands up in apology, at which Hedwig's glare disappeared and she hooted.

"I'm sorry girl, but we don't have any real food to give you." Harry sounded genuinely apologetic, "Unless you want to try beans." Hedwig gave him another nip on the ear for that, before flapping her wings and taking flight. A few moments later she disappeared into the snowy backdrop of the forest.

Hermione was just about to go back to making beans, when the owl reappeared, flying straight through the door and perching herself on the taxidermized deer head, a dead mouse in her beak. Hermione frowned, while Harry called a 'Bon Appetit', the owl digging into her meal at about the same time as Hermione finished preparing the beans.

"I'll admit, that mouse looks almost more appealing than this." She said as she gave him his can, but Harry only shrugged.

"Nah, it's fine." He didn't seem bothered by the frankly terrible-looking sight of cheap heated-up beans, and nothing else.

"I'm considering going hungry." She said using a fork she'd found in one of the drawers to impale one of the beans on it, "Impressive, Harry." She commented spotting Harry eating with no issues.

"Don't feel too bad, I've had practice. Trust me, you'd eat grass after not having food for a few days." He seemed to freeze at that, his wide eyes meeting hers, and she placed her can on the table, the singular bean still impaled on the fork.

"What do you mean not having food for a week? When have you not had food for an entire week?" She asked in quick succession, her eyes narrowing even further as she saw Harry pale further.

"T-that was a j-joke. Forget I said anything."

"Harry." There was a clear warning in her tone, and she could see him gulp loudly, seemingly realizing she wasn't going to drop it.

"The Dursleys… had a weird, and slightly over-the-top punishing system. And seeing as I was punished all the time, there were times I went a few days with no food." He seemed mortified to be talking about this, his gaze directed straight at the table, using a nail to trace one of the cracks in the wood. Hermione felt her anger rising, and she had to do her best to tamp out the temptation of walking right over to Surrey and hexing those oafs.

"So, they starved you? They starved a child? What sort of people do that!?" She was beyond angry, but Harry merely looked resigned.

"Why do you sound so surprised? You sent me food during the summer? I thought you'd connect the dots." Hermione had never before felt so stupid as she did right then. Harry was right, how hadn't she connected the dots. Him coming back to Hogwarts looking like a twig every year, the look in his eyes as he spoke about his relatives, and lastly the bloody food she'd sent him. What an idiot she'd been! And the worst thing was that they kept sending him there every summer.

"Why didn't you tell anybody?" She questioned with more bite than she intended to, and this seemed to have finally triggered Harry's defence mechanisms.

"I told Dumbledore! Mr Weasley too, he knew. As did Ron, Fred and George, they saw the bars they put on my windows! But nobody did anything!" This was the Harry from 5th year, but she knew the anger was coming out not because he was furious at her, but because he felt betrayed, or maybe left alone. He felt like he had nobody to trust. Her annoyance with herself increased. But her anger at the people Harry mentioned was blinding.

"Ron never told me that! How could they all just leave… They put bars on your windows?!" She was sure she'd melt the entire forest if she stepped outside right now, such was the fury she was feeling. How dare those wretched people do that to Harry, and how dare the adults he depended on not react. Harry's anger left him all at once, his shoulders slumping in that familiar way, and his gaze returned to the table.

"It was just for that one summer. It's ok, it was worse for Hedwig than it was for me really." He said sounding incredibly sad, sharing a pained look with his familiar, the owl looking almost as mad as what Hermione was feeling. She couldn't take the distance between them anymore, her need to hold him overwhelming anything else. So, she rose from her chair and rounded the table, pulling him to his feet and enveloping him in a hug.

"It isn't ok, Harry. None of this is okay." She whispered into his neck, trying her darndest not to cry, knowing she had to stay strong for him. She could feel him relaxing in her hold, his arms coming to hold her around her middle.

"I know." His admission was nearly silent, "But nobody ever did anything. Why didn't they do anything?" He sounded so small, so lost, and Hermione lost the fight with her tear ducts.

"Had I known, I would have gotten you out of there. There is no way in hell I'd leave you there." She spoke nothing but the truth, knowing she would never have tolerated that. She'd get her parents, and they'd get him out. He could have stayed the summers at her place, that would have been fun. How could she have missed this. He was her best friend and she'd…

"I don't think Dumbledore would have allowed that."

"Well, he wanted me to leave you to die, and I ignored him. I would have ignored that too. Because I care about you and he doesn't." She could tell Harry was thankful for her words, but after a few minutes of them just standing there in complete silence, Hermione's curiosity got the better of her. She just had to know.

"Did…did they ever hit you?" She asked tentatively, carefully, mindful not to put anything but love and concern in her tone. He stiffened slightly, his grip on her middle tightening.

"Uhm, yeah, but not so much in recent times." If he thought that made it better, then he was certainly severely mistaken, and Hermione was glad she couldn't apparate or she'd have killed those bastards.

"And Dumbledore knew of that too?"

"No, I don't think so. I never told that to anybody." Hermione merely nodded at that, knowing how hard it would have been to share something like that. Her heart ached for her friend, scarcely able to imagine how terrible of a time he'd had growing up. He spent 10 years in a hellhole, being beaten and starved, and then he got to Hogwarts, where he was ridiculed and nearly killed on several occasions. Only to be sent back to the hellhole for summer break each year. How could they have all failed him this spectacularly.

"You have me now, Harry. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, I promise. I promise." She broke the hug to place her hands on either side of his cheeks, looking him in his misty eyes, "Even if I have to kidnap you and take you to bloody… I don't know, the middle of Russia." She was pleased to see him chuckle at that, some of the light returning to his eyes.

"Haven't you already kidnapped me?"

"Nope, you came willingly. Besides, the news said you kidnapped me, so it's only fair I return the favour." She joked, releasing his face and stepping backwards, giving Harry some time to recompose himself. She knew it wasn't healthy, but she always admired his mental resilience, how he was always able to shrug off things that would have broken most people. He was so strong, and so brave.

"The beans are getting cold." She could see the redirection for what it was, and she allowed him to steer them away from the topic at hand, returning to her side of the table as they began to eat. She was still furious at herself for missing the signs of his torment at the hands of the Dursleys, but that anger paled in comparison to the one she felt against Dumbledore, and even to a smaller extent Mr Weasley.

Ron, Fred and George were children, they probably panicked, didn't know what to do, irrelevant. But Dumbledore and Mr Weasley, they should have bloody well done something about it. She was going to have some serious words with especially the former once she saw him again, but first, she had to prove his other plan regarding Harry was like ways a complete disaster.