Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Victim of the Fall	By : PrettyDesdemona Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 32726 -:- Recommendations : 5 -:- Currently Reading : 7
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter universe or any of its characters. I do not make any money off this story. Only love!

Chapter List
- 35
- 36
- 37
CHAPTER 36

ANTICIPATE

"If there's anything I've learned all these years on my own, it's how to find my own way there and how to find my own way back home."

The air was so still, Hermione felt as if she could have been standing in a wax museum. Every member of the tovarasi was staring at Ginny's discarded wand.

"I… I can't feel her." said Luna softly, breaking the impenetrable silence.

"She's not dead!" growled Draco harshly, making Hermione jump.

She felt herself sway on the spot at the knowledge that they had been thinking the same thing as her. Ginny hadn't just popped out for a bottle of milk, she wasn't in the bathroom, about to emerge and laugh at their silly assumption…

"Ron!" Hermione cried into her bedroom, "RON!"

Her bathroom door opened and she stared into the scowling face of her former boyfriend. The scowl fell away however, at what she said next.

"Ginny's gone."

"What?! Where?!" he demanded, walking towards her.

"I… I don't know… She left her wand." Hermione pointed towards the balcony door.

Ron stopped and stared at the sight just as the rest of them had, his face falling into subdued terror. He and Hermione shared a long look before he said in one breath, "Harry."

Isobel let out a little stifled sob, "Hermione… What are we going to do?"

Hermione's hands shook as she spoke, "We're… We're going to stay calm… We need to think here… Does anyone remember seeing Ginny get up at any point during the night?" she directed this question mainly at Blaise.

He shook his head, looking dumbfounded and a hairs breadth away from panic, "No… She was right here. All night." he said quietly, running his hand over the empty space beside him.

"Right… Right… Ok." Hermione began to pace. "Suggestions. Where would she have gone? Any possibilities?"

"She might have gone back to Hogwarts." offered Susan doubtfully.

"Yes… You're right. You and Juliet, go to Hogwarts and talk to McGonagall and Teodora… Even if she isn't there, they need to know." Susan rose immediately and picked up her cloak while Juliet wordlessly disappeared back into the bedroom to pull on her jeans. Hermione looked back at the remainder of the group. "Anything else?"

"Maybe she went back to the Burrow." said Padma.

"Good point, but I don't think having just anyone show up there looking for her is going to go down well." Hermione responded, frowning. "Why don't you and Eli go down and talk to whichever Auror is on duty and let them know what's going on? Then they can check with the Weasleys."

Before Padma could do anything but nod, Draco had cut across her. "No, I think I'll do that. Max is on."

Hermione nodded stiffly and Draco swept out of the front door without another word, followed closely by Susan and Juliet. She looked at Ron, trying desperately to keep a hold of her roiling emotions.

"Can you think of anything else?" she asked him.

He grimaced, his hands grasping at his hair, "I don't know Hermione. She could be anywhere. She might have gone to Grimauld Place or the forest of Dean. She might have decided to try and find him… I don't know!"

The look on his face wanted her to fix everything, to make it go away. He was pleading with her, even though he hadn't said it aloud. He was begging.

"It's alright." she said urgently, knowing as she did that her words made absolutely no difference. "It's going to be alright. We… we just have to think about this. Come on, Ron! This is what we're good at!" she tried to pour every ounce of her determination into Ron, tried to make him feel her defiance. He nodded at her, staring desperately into her eyes.

"My little sister, Hermione…" he choked and it was as if she and him were the only two in the room.

"I know. I know… Look… I don't think Ginny would leave of her own accord, honestly, I don't think she'd do that to us… So, we've got to think like Harry don't we? Find him, and we'll find Ginny."

"But where would he go?! We've already checked everywhere!" he responded, near hysteria.

Hermione began to pace, feeling the eyes of the tovarasi on her as she did so. She walked over to the balcony door and picked up Ginny's wand. In her mind, she said the appropriate incantation and determined that the last spell the younger girl had cast was lumos. That didn't give her much.

"I feel like it's right there… That it's obvious… And I just can't see it." she said more to herself than anyone else. "Where would Harry go? Where are the places most important to him?"

It felt like the hunt for the Horcruxes all over again. The places began to list themselves in her head, over and over. Godric's Hollow, Grimauld Place, the Burrow, the forest of Dean, Hogwarts… Anything else she could think of wouldn't work. Too public. Places like the Ministry or Gringotts. Harry was a fugitive. The Aurors were combing the entire country for him. He wouldn't be anywhere he could be exposed.

Hermione stared around her flat blindly, noting that the tovarasi had begun to move. Isobel was banishing the conjured bunks that cluttered up the lounge room floor, Padma and Eli were in the kitchen making tea, Blaise was sitting on the couch with his head in his hands and Luna was patting his shoulder feebly. Ron, it seemed, was in the same position as Hermione, the look in his face intent and concentrated. She knew that look.

Draco returned minutes later and told them that the Minister had been summoned and the Aurors were on their way to the Burrow. Hermione found herself frustrated, she didn't want more involvement with the Ministry. They didn't know what they were doing. The idea of explaining everything to Kingsley again was annoying and unnecessary.

Nevertheless, when the Minister arrived half an hour later, joined by a selection of Aurors, Hermione resigned herself to giving him a full explanation of what had taken place, telling herself all the time that if it helped Ginny, she'd talk until she had no words left at all.

By that night, the mood in Hermione's flat was significantly less calm. There had been no progress whatsoever, the Aurors had been forcing their way into any place connected with Harry all over the country, even going so far as to secure permission from the Minister to enter his Gringotts vault. But it had all been for naught. Harry was nowhere to be found and neither was Ginny. And Kingsley had outright refused to allow Hermione, Ron and Draco to go off on their own again based on the fact that her somewhat abridged description of taking the Zeitei Otrava had led him to believe that it was 'too dangerous'. Though she strongly suspected that it was a greater power he feared.

The tovarasi flitted in and out of her flat and it took Hermione a little while to understand what they were doing. It wasn't until Padma and Eli returned sometime in the afternoon carrying an armload of clothes and bedding the she finally caught on. They were setting up camp. Her fridge and pantry were being filled, new shelves were being added to the bathroom so that it could hold more things, and she even thought she overheard Susan and Juliet conversing with one of the free Aurors about how they might magically enhance the size of the lounge room.

Hermione, of course, was caught up in constant strategizing and thought with Ron. She did not feel she had the time to devote to anything else; it had been with careful reluctance that she'd even showered that morning. But she was glad the rest of her friends were finding ways of occupying themselves, even when the omnipresent frowns on their faces never faltered, she knew if would have been much harder for them to just sit and do nothing.

She knew this because she felt like this had been exactly what she'd been doing all day.

At about eight o'clock, Hermione found herself sitting on the couch next to Ron, nursing what felt like her fifteenth cup of tea that day, and watching as the Minister paced backwards and forwards in front of them.

"Can you think of any place Harry has ever expressed a wish to visit? Anywhere he might have chosen to go, even if he's never been there before?" he shot at them.

Hermione sighed wearily, "No, sir. None at all."

"And you have provided the Aurors with a complete list of all the places you camped during the year you were evading Voldemort?"

"Yes, Minister." Hermione bit out through gritted teeth, knowing that Kingsley knew full well she had already done that.

He looked then, to Ron, "And what about Ginny? Any family you went to see over the course of your lives? Anywhere she might seek refuge?"

Ron shook his head dejectedly, "Not that I can think of… Unless you count Muriel's. But I think she'd rather cop a few torture curses before going there."

"We've already checked with your great aunt." said Kingsley, ignoring Ron's vague attempt at humor.

"I know it might be going out on a limb, but have you thought to try the homes of people who've been important to Harry? Like maybe Dumbledore's or Remus Lupin's…?" asked Hermione.

The Minister frowned, "No, but I suppose it might be worth a try." he said doubtfully.

She felt a small surge of smug satisfaction. Despite the fact that Kingsley had reiterated over and over again that she could be of no use to the operation, she was still the one offering the most suggestions. If it hadn't been for her, the Aurors would not have checked inside the Shrieking Shack earlier that day and found fresh footprints in the dust that looked to be Harry's, moving into the secret passageway that led into Hogwarts, then back out again. Consequentially, they now could reasonably guess, given the evidence, that Harry had indeed taken Ginny as it had appeared he had gone to Hogwarts first, looking for her.

Hermione shifted uncomfortably and looked up at the pacing Minister, hoping that she didn't sound so much like a whiny child, "Sir, if you would just let Ron and Draco and I…"

"Miss Granger, for the fifth time, absolutely not!" growled Kingsley, cutting across her, "I should never have allowed you to go in the first place. One of you was almost killed!"

Hermione bit back a retort and looked across at Ron who seemed on the verge of mutiny. She put a hand on his knee and shook her head minutely. It would be of no use to them if he lost his temper. He glanced at her and nodded stiffly, a silent acknowledgement of what she was trying to say.

The Minister seemed through with his line of questioning and became immersed in a conversation with on the Aurors.

Hermione's hand lingered on Ron's knee as she sat back, sighing frustratedly.

At that moment, Draco entered the flat and Hermione noticed his eyes flick towards her hand on Ron's knee. There was a tiny moment, an infinitesimal second in which she saw the Draco she knew and saw herself through his eyes, saw herself sitting next to Ron on the couch, pressed in beside him the way that her and Draco had sat so many times. She saw that it hurt him. In a flash, she was remembering all that had passed between them, all those shared conservations, the laughter and the touching. For the last three days, he'd been the old Draco, the Draco that had called her a mudblood and teased at school. It was like the last four months had never happened at all.

"What are we going to do?" asked Ron into her ear, snapping her eyes away from Draco's face. And the moment was gone.

"Hmm?" she said vaguely.

"Kingsley's not gonna budge and you and I both know the Auror's won't find Harry…"

Hermione nodded and sighed. "I don't know… They'll leave soon. We'll talk more then."

She patted his shoulder feebly and stood up, walking past Draco and into the kitchen where Isobel was pawing through her fridge. The younger girl looked up when Hermione joined her.

"Are you alright?" Isobel asked and Hermione could hear the dejected weariness in her voice.

"Yeah, I think so… I need to talk to you."

Isobel frowned and straightened. For a moment, she looked a little defensive and backed away from Hermione slightly to lean on the kitchen windowsill. "What about?"

Hermione looked behind her to make sure that they were properly alone. "It's nothing much. I just… I need to talk to someone. About anything that's not to do with Harry. I just need to talk." she was conscious of the fact that her voice was becoming more and more laced with desperation as she continued to speak. It hadn't been a conscious thing; in fact she hadn't planned it at all. But the moment she'd looked at Isobel, she'd been seized with the urge to lean on her friend and the words had just tumbled out.

Isobel's eyebrow contracted in concern. "Of course, Hermione… What's wrong?"

Hermione moved to join her friend on the windowsill so that they could speak quietly. She did not entirely trust the voices of the Aurors and the remaining tovarasi to mask their conversation. "It's Ron and Draco actually."

Isobel nodded understandingly, "Ok… What about them?"

Hermione grimaced, "I'm... confused. I don't know what I'm doing. This whole thing is just… Fucked." she ducked her head, wishing that she still had her long hair so that it could swing forward and hide her face. Her eyes were burning. "Ron and I are so easy. It just happens and I don't even realise it, we're standing close together or sitting next to each other. There is no space between me and him… I'm so used to it that I don't notice it. But I like it. I missed him. Always." The tears built and spilt down her cheeks faster than she could wipe them away. "But I love Draco. I love him. And I'm so hurt… I can't believe he… I wish I'd never seen that memory. I want it to be like it was. I miss being in love with him, I miss being near him. I wish he would stop looking at me like he hates me."

Hermione turned to face the window as her chest heaved with each sniff. She brushed the tears away but they kept coming. Isobel turned as well and rested her head on Hermione's shoulder.

"He doesn't hate you Hermione. He doesn't even blame you for what you did or said. He's hurt too…" the younger girl said quietly.

"It's broken now though, isn't it?" Hermione whispered, her breath fogging up the glass.

"I think it always was."

Hermione's forehead pressed itself against the cold glass as she tried her best to make her sobbing as unnoticeable as possible to anyone who might be watching. Isobel's hand ran circles on her back, her head remaining on Hermione's shoulder.

Hermione looked sideways at her friend, her wet cheek sliding against the window, fogged by their combined breathing.

"Isobel…" she breathed, her words catching in her throat, "I don't want to survive this."

Her young friend sighed sadly and took her hand, "You don't have a choice."

They stood like that for a long time, staring out into muggle London together. Isobel allowed Hermione to cry until she was ready to stop and it was some time before she was able to master herself.

Eventually, Hermione pulled away, scrubbing at her face with her sleeve. She moved over to the sink and splashed her face.

"I'm sorry for getting so mad at you by the way…" she said quietly to Isobel as she dried herself with a tea towel.

"It's ok. I'm sorry for not listening to what you said." the younger girl replied with a kind smile.

"Why were you so intent on talking to him anyway?" she asked, and it was a thought that had been coursing through her head for three days.

Isobel looked away, appearing more than a little uncomfortable. "Well… For one, I understood Draco's fear and I thought maybe he could be talked round, and two… I… I figured if he really was planning on going back to Voldemort, it would be in our best interests to keep him here." she gave her a pointed look and Hermione knew exactly what she meant. Why release an active Death Eater? She found herself shocked at Isobel's cunning and deviousness.

"And what if he couldn't be talked round? What if he'd said no?" Hermione asked in a whisper.

"Blaise and I would have stunned him and handed him over to the Aurors. We… We talked about it on the way here…" Isobel replied sadly. "I'm glad it didn't come to that."

Hermione was thrown for a moment before she felt a little bit guilty that she'd ever doubted Isobel's loyalty. The funny thing was, she found when she thought about it, that Isobel had never outright declared her loyalty, had never said anything that might lead anyone believe she had totally renounced her former pureblood obsession, but she had been loyal and her loyalty was unwavering. Even in the face of confronting Voldemort, she was willing to stun and betray a Death Eater she would have considered her friend, just to help the light.

Isobel Holub had truly switched sides.

Draco on the other hand had made a lot of pretty speeches. The first to the entire school, the next few to her, and one of the last to Auror Watson. But it was all words. He was just a peacock ruffling his feathers. He might have meant what he said at the time, but she knew he'd never really thought about what it would actually mean to fight for the light. He'd just trusted that the opportunity to prove his loyalty against the Dark Arts would never come. He'd been rather unlucky in that respect.

Hermione pulled Isobel into a tight hug. Wordlessly, they smiled at one another and returned to the lounge room to see that Kingsley and the Aurors were just leaving.

Along with the rest of the tovarasi she nodded obediently in response to the Minister's last minute warnings and admonitions and heaved a great sigh of relief when the door finally shut behind him.

There was a moment's silence in which the group stared around at each other before Eli exclaimed, "Please tell me we can start planning for real now?!"

Hermione nodded firmly. If Kingsley thought she and the rest of the group were just going to sit around and wait like compliant little children, then he had clearly forgotten who he was dealing with.

Two hours later and they had very nearly chewed through Hermione's monumental supply of tea bags. The atmosphere was tense and far from jovial.

"But it's a good point!" Draco was saying forcefully, his finger stabbing down on the table in front of him.

"No it isn't. This is Harry Potter we're talking about and if he…"

Draco cut Juliet off before she could finish, "But it's not Potter, is it? It's the Dark Lord! And the Dark Lord has taken refuge most of all in the homes of his followers!"

"Can you think of who he might go to?" asked Padma, pushing a piece of parchment and a quill towards him. He snatched them up and began scribbling.

Hermione stared down at the large map of Britain stretched across her coffee table from her position standing by the balcony window. It was covered in crosses and circles, hastily scribbled words and arrows… Her head hurt. It felt like they'd covered every possibility.

"Wait." said Ron suddenly from his position on the floor, his eyes out of focus, "If we're supposed to be thinking like Voldemort… Holy shit!" he leapt to his feet and looked directly at Hermione, "The Horcruxes!"

"Oh no…" Hermione groaned, her face falling into her hands. She understood exactly what he meant.

"What?" said Draco impatiently.

"There are two places that Harry might be… Places that Voldemort hid his Horcruxes. The Gaunt Shack or the cave…"

"And what's 'oh no'?" asked Susan.

Hermione grimaced. "Well, we know that the Gaunt Shack is near Little Hangleton, but not the exact location, and the cave… Well, only Harry and Dumbledore knew where that was. It could be anywhere on the coast… We can reasonably deduce that it would be close to London as the orphanage Voldemort grew up in was there and they wouldn't have taken the children very far away, but that doesn't really narrow it down. I mean… I guess we could try and gain access to the memories Dumbledore showed Harry in our sixth year but…"

"That won't be easy." Ron finished for her.

She shook her head resignedly. "No, it won't. Not without the Ministry catching on to what we're doing. And if that happens, Kingsley will just drive Harry further into hiding when the Aurors go bumbling into these places."

There was a tense silence as the reality of the situation sunk down over the group.

"Hold on." said Luna after a while, "Maybe we're being too black and white about this. At first we were trying to think like Harry… Now we're trying to think like Voldemort. But, if what Hermione said is true and the piece of soul possessing him is damaged, wouldn't it be more likely that he would now be a mixture of the two? Harry and Voldemort?"

Hermione nodded slowly, "You're right… You're so right! For Voldemort, the cave would be the perfect hiding place as he inhabits the body of the only living person who knows its location! But Harry would never go back there! Not after everything that happened!"

"Exactly." said Luna with a touch of pride in her voice.

"And the Gaunt Shack is… is… oh." Hermione couldn't finish her sentence. Something had slammed down over her mind, something awful, the worst feeling she'd ever felt, and she'd felt it many times in the last year. It was heartbreak and betrayal, despair and hopelessness.

Her knees hit the floor with a crack as one of her hands moved up to clutch at her throat. She felt like she couldn't breathe unless she was screaming, and if she opened her mouth that was exactly what would come out.

"What the fuck is going on?!"

Hermione looked up at the sound of Ron's shout and saw him staring around at them all in alarm. Every member of the tovarasi was in much the same position as her. Susan, Juliet and Padma were crying unabashedly, Blaise's fists were clenched in his lap, his body shaking, Luna stared around at them owlishly, panic and fear contorting her features, Eli had his head in his hands and Draco was leaning into his arms, propped up against the table, gasping uncontrollably.

Hermione leapt forwards, ignoring Ron's continued questioning and grasped at her beaded bag. She drove her arm into its depths and pulled out the innocuous looking wooden box.

"What are you doing?!" choked Draco but she ignored him.

The lid clicked open and, lighting fast, she produced a vial of the Zeitei Otrava, flicked off the cork and tipped it down her throat. The colour faded from the world but Hermione did not wait for it to come back. She leapt to her feet, her knees shaking uncontrollably, and rushed over towards the couch.

"Move!" she demanded of Luna and Draco, and both of them slid onto the floor. Hermione pulled the map towards her and seized the quill lying discarded on the table top.

The colour burst into life in front of her but it was dull compared to what she'd experienced in the forest of Dean so she ignored it as she closed her eyes and concentrated.

Inside her mind felt a lot calmer than she'd expected. It was almost easy under the influence of the Zeitei Otrava, to separate her own emotions from Ginny's. Once this was done, she tried to examine the situation with a critical eye, but that didn't work. The one thing she'd learnt when deal with both Dividing Line magic and the bond of the tovarasi, was that both relied almost entirely on instinct.

And so Hermione took a deep breath and let her instincts guide her.

She began to move. Not her body, but her mind. It was flying out of her flat, over London, heading in one definite direction. She felt her hand scribble something on the map.

It wasn't far, only a short distance, until her mind slowed and stopped. When she opened her eyes then, she saw, for the briefest of moments, Harry's face staring down at her and felt her wrists bound tightly. But it was only a flash before her mind was whipped back across the distance, colliding with her body painfully.

She opened her eyes and looked down at the map to see what she'd written.

"South-west." said Luna aloud in a shaky voice, looking over Hermione's shoulder.

"Would someone please tell me what the fuck just happened?!" demanded Ron.

"We're feeling Ginny." said Padma from the floor, wiping at her wet face.

Ginny's feelings were beginning to become bearable but Hermione still had to fight to hold onto her emotions as she looked around at her friends.

"Alright… So what was all that about Hermione?" Ron asked, looking like he was trying very hard to hold on to his patience.

Hermione took a shaky breath. "The Dividing Line magic is all about mind and perception. The tovarasi bond is the same. I feel the same basic structure to both magic's. So I thought that seeing as we are feeling from Ginny's perspective and the Zeitei Otrava enhances perspective, that it might be used to enhance the bond too. And it did. I saw through her eyes for a moment." said Hermione in the same reverential tone she used every time she took the potion.

A collective gasp whispered through the room.

"What did you see?" asked Luna lowly.

Hermione frowned and closed her eyes, trying to bring the image back to life. "She's bound in a dark room. Harry is standing over her. He looks… Deranged." she opened her eyes again and shook her head as if to clear it, "I didn't get anything else… But I know in which direction my mind traveled to get to her." she tapped the words she'd writing on the map.

"South-west." confirmed Isobel.

Blaise suddenly joined Hermione on the couch, staring down at the map, brow furrowed. "Well… That cancels out the Gaunt Shack, Little Hangleton is directly south of us…" he took up the quill and drew a large cross over the area. "And we can forget about the cave, the coast is east… But what's south-west?"

Hermione watched as he drew a line from Diagon Alley, down to the corner of the map to illustrate their position and the direction her mind had flown. Her eyes ran over the names and places close to the line until they fell on something that stirred her thoughts.

"Surrey." she whispered. "Oh my god… Oh my god! Think like Voldemort! Think like Harry! Voldemort stayed close to his origins, though he despised them, something he and Harry shared in common! And Harry would want to be somewhere familiar! A place he knew well! I know where he is!" she leapt to her feet, kicking herself for not thinking of it sooner, it had been so obvious.

"Privet Drive." said Ron quietly, staring at her with wide eyes. She nodded.

"Should we call the Aurors?" asked Juliet fearfully.

"No." said Hermione firmly, shaking her head, "No… We're going to go together. All of us. Harry… Harry mustn't be allowed to kill anyone and I can stop that. If the Aurors come, I won't be able to take the potion."

"So what are you suggesting?" asked Draco lowly.

"That I take another dose of the Zeitei Otrava here, wait until it takes effect and then we go there. Tonight." she replied, daring him to contradict her. To her surprise, he did not.

"Shouldn't we plan more?" asked Padma, sounding near hysteria, "Shouldn't we think about this?"

"Do you really want to leave Ginny in this position for any longer?" asked Isobel seriously.

Padma shook her head and looked at Eli, eyes wide. He put an arm around her shoulders and rested his forehead against hers. Their auras merged and throbbed slightly and Hermione had to look away, seized with a yearning so strong it nearly crippled her, to have that kind of comfort for herself…

"Let's do it then." said Ron, getting to his feet.

Hermione nodded numbly, dragged her bag back towards her and produced another vial of the potion, her hands shaking. She drank it quickly and waited anxiously for what she knew was coming.

Just as she'd thought, after a moment, her vision blanked out along with all of her other senses. Despite the fact that she'd gone through it before, she couldn't help but panic over the collective sensations she was feeling.

It was like pain but it wasn't. It was like a total, unequivocal evaluation of herself. Like her body needed to shut down and reboot into that altered state.

But quicker than she expected, the feelings faded and she was able to smell, touch, taste, see and hear again. She opened her eyes.

Blaise was still sitting next to her, staring in alarm at the foot of space that hung underneath her body.

It was strange, being in a room full of people while in that state, seeing their magical beings, their auras, the patterns on their skin. Hermione noticed a thick thread connecting Eli and Padma that glowed brightly, their love was strong.

"You feel ok?" asked Ron carefully.

Hermione nodded, trying to find a rhythm in her breathing. After a minute she realise that just like she could will herself to stand upright in the air, she could also will herself to be in contact with the ground. She sunk slowly down until she was sitting on the couch again.

"I'm ready." she said and her voice echoed around the room causing everyone to start and look about themselves.

She stood slowly, almost expecting her head to spin, but it did not. The scents of the room, however, were making her feel sick. It was too much, the smell of fear and despair, as well as the love and the bond. It was like she'd just dipped her head into a vat of perfume; from a distance it would have been lovely but as it was so concentrated, it made her stomach churn.

"I want to leave now." she reiterated when no one moved.

"Now?" asked Isobel slowly.

"Yes." said Hermione, her hands beginning to shake. "Right now. Let's go."

She stood up, scooped up her bag and walked over towards the door. Without waiting for any of them, she opened it and charged down the spiral staircase, the scent of the books, though overpowering, calmed her.

Outside in Diagon Alley, the darkness was nothing to her, she saw everything. It was as if the street had a memory that it was allowing her to view. She could see the shadows of the witches and wizards that moved there throughout the day, throughout the years, drifting through the darkness like ghosts. The Dividing Line breathed on the back of her neck, sending shivers cascading over her skin.

After pausing for only the briefest of moments to take in the sight, Hermione turned and walked purposefully up towards the Leaky Cauldron. She smelt rather than heard the tovarasi coming up behind her.

When they reached the courtyard, there was a moment of hesitation as only Ron had ever been to Harry's aunt and uncle's house which made it difficult for everyone to apparate there safely. Instead, they hulked around a rusted out cauldron sitting by the wall and Hermione performed the required magic to turn it into a portkey that would take them to Magnolia crescent, a couple of streets away from Privet Drive. It wouldn't do for them to appear right on the doorstep of number four without knowing what to expect first.

"Are you ready?" she asked the group at large, her voice taking on more of an ethereal quality out in the open.

Her question was met with nods and looks of fear before the group moved to crouch and crane to touch a part of the portkey.

The cauldron glowed blue, shooting out many little tendrils into all of their arms and Hermione felt an old familiar pull behind her naval before Diagon Alley was swept away and she was twirling though something that made her feel as if she was inside a kaleidoscope. Of course, to the others, it just looked like a rush of colour and light, too fast to take in, but under the influence of the potion, Hermione was privy to every last excruciating detail.

When they finally landed on solid ground, her head was spinning sickeningly, the colours still imprinted on her retinas. She stumbled a little away from the group and threw up gracelessly.

"Are you alright?" asked Luna frantically, rushing to lay a hand on Hermione's back.

"Fine." she breathed in reply, "It's just overwhelming is all."

Hermione allowed herself a few minutes to crouch quietly on the pavement, one hand thrown out to balance her. When the head spin stopped, she took a few deep breaths and stood.

"So how will we know if he's here?" asked Eli seriously.

Hermione turned around to reply, finally looking up but the words stopped in her throat.

There, in the background behind the assemble group, was a great dome of light, protruding from the landscape like a mountain. It glowed brilliantly and appeared to pulse and throb in the darkness. Never in all her life had she ever seen anything neither so epic nor so beautiful. The stark contrast between the pedestrian muggle environment that ached with mediocrity compared with this monolithic half sphere was breathtaking. It was like looking into the face of the sun from only metres away.

At the look on her face, many of the tovarasi wheeled round in alarm to see what she was gawking at. They were nothing more than dark silhouettes against the light.

"What is it, Hermione?!" demanded Draco.

"Is he here, can you see him?!" asked Padma, fear potent in her voice.

Hermione could do nothing but shake her head mutely. After a moment, she forced herself to speak, only because the panic and terror she could smell on the air because of the group was beginning to make her dizzy.

"I can see… I can see the protective enchantments around the house… But they're unlike anything I've ever known. They're… Beautiful." she whispered in awe.

"So Harry and Ginny are definitely here?" asked Ron urgently.

"Yes." she breathed in reply.

Without waiting for any other sort of confirmation, Ron turned heel and began to walk purposefully towards the dome. After a moment, Hermione and the rest of the group followed.

As they approached, she began to see more and more detail in the half sphere, could see what looked like a network of veins stretching upward through the magic. They reminded her so strongly of the veins in her wrists that she began to fear that these protective enchantments were the result of complicated blood magic. The thought shot horror through her heart. She'd read the same books Harry had and knew what he would have had to do to acquire blood…

Ron reached the base of the dome and Hermione cried out. She rushed forward to grasp his arm and pull him roughly backwards.

"Nobody move any closer! We're at the foot of the enchantments now and I think it might be blood magic. If you walk through them, you will die." she said urgently.

When Ron had moved back to a safe distance, Hermione stared upward, her mind speeding along any idea she could think of to bring the dome down. Long moments passed as she wracked her brains to no avail.

Suddenly, the dome pulsed violently, coating her in light and she was thrown backward. She knew that if it had not been for the potion, the flare would have killed her. Hermione landed painfully some ten feet from the half sphere and the tovarasi rushed to her side, Padma skidding to a halt on her knees and pulling out her wand.

Hermione hands were bleeding and stinging but she had no concern for that. She looked up at Ron, her eyes wide.

"He felt me. Harry knows we're here."

A/N You campaigned for longer chapters so here you go! Enjoy :D

Aranel - AHA! AHAHAHAHAHA!!! I am psychic. Also, I love you too :D

kain - Lol, Kain, when you say a 'short review' do you really mean EPIC?! But seriously, I love you. Have I told you that recently? No? Well there you go. So yeah, everything you said is pretty much on the money! Also it appears you, me and Green_Eyed_Mist must go drinking! I don't know if we're on the same continent or anything but... Yeah lol. OH! And I might have a little surprise for you after the last chapter is posted so stay tuned :D xx

tabitoo - Yeah... Let's prey Ginny's alright, huh? Hope you like where it goes from here!

Bogarto - Well I can't really respond to any of that without giving anything away can I!? Hehe. Though is did like your metaphor there of Hermione "flicking away a killing curse like a mosquito" lol.

Green_Eyed_Mist - DRINKING WILL BE HAD!!!! HUZZAH!!! xx

lisha - Haha the chapters are as long as they've always been! Though I have listened to your plea and added another thousand words :D that doesn't stop the cliffhangers though >:D

MegWebs94 - Hehe thank you so much! I am usually up til 3:30 am writing it!! I'm glad you like it :)

floispez - Aw! Thank you! Don't worry, I couldn't stop writing if I tried :)

The quote at the beginning of this chapter is from Ani Difranco's song Anticipate. Her music has served as a huge inspiration for this piece. I own nothing. Thanks Ani!
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Victim of the Fall