Three days remained of the Christmas holidays. Everyone was trying out all there presents. Ron ran into the woods with his broom and flew about the marsh. Hermione, however, seemed rather uptight. She spent most of her time staring out the window as though expecting to fall through it. “What’s wrong?” asked Harry. Hermione jumped.
“It’s nothing… I sent my parents a letter the day I came here, and they never wrote back.” Harry gave a small “Oh…” and sat next to her. “But it’s not the first time. I wrote to them before the holidays to tell them when I would be home, but they never got the letter.” she said with a hint of concern in her voice.
“But you saw them when you came home didn’t you?” asked Harry.
“That’s what’s confusing me. They were afraid I wasn’t coming home. My owl was waiting for me when I got there though.” she said. She sounded like she had wanted to say this for a while.
“Come on, let’s go get something to eat.” said Harry for a change of subject. Hermione nodded and they went down to the kitchen, where Mr. Weasley was eating some lunch. Hermione went over to Mrs. Weasley’s cookbook and flipped through the pages until she found something to her interest and tapped the page with her wand.
A small barn owl soared into the window and dropped a letter at Mr. Weasley’s feet, who picked up and skimmed through it quickly. With a heavy sigh he got up and grabbed a coat from the hanger. “Arthur what is it now?” Mrs. Weasley asked as she entered the kitchen.
“Another attack on a group of muggles.” Mr. Weasley said shortly. He took a hat of the top of the coat hanger and headed over to the fireplace. Hermione looked up.
“What city is it-” she tried to asked but Mr. Weasley had already taken the floo powder and left. Hermione looked quite upset. She stared for a moment and then headed back upstairs.
Harry didn’t follow her. He would have anything to say that might comfort her. He wanted to say something like “It isn’t your parents Hermione.” or “Don’t worry.” But he couldn’t. He hated to think what it would be like to say that and then have something happen to her family.
Harry went to bed early that night. He had nothing else to do. He began to dream. He was back at Hogwarts in the Room of Requirements. Dobby was cooking an odd sort of potion in the middle of the oversized room. Winky sat in the very corner with a large flask. Harry was about to ask what Dobby was making when the dream changed…
He was gliding on his stomach towards the tattered veil. A loud crack, indicated that someone had apparated behind it.
“Lucius, you’re here… Where’s the girl?” said a familiar but cold voice.
“Nowhere in Leeds,” Lucius said viciously, “That worthless owl led me nowhere near her. But naturally her muggle parents were there.” he said in a highly annoyed voice.
Harry new he should use his Occlumency, but wanted so hard to listen. The snake continued to glide towards the veil.
“Damn! She’ll be back at that school by tomorrow.” the other voice snarled.
The snake slipped under the veil. With another loud crack a women Harry new to be Bellatrix apparated. The area behind the veil looked like an attachment to the room Harry was just in. The veil, however, was no longer there. It was replace be a solid brick wall. In the middle of the room stood three people; Bellatrix, Lucius, and Sirius.
“Where is she?” Bellatrix shrieked, “Potter’s not going to come here for no reason!”
Harry hissed something in Parsletounge, but Harry didn’t realize it until after he had finished. The three people looked down at the snake and frowned. “We were not able to find the girl.” Sirius said softly to the snake. Harry nodded and slithered back towards the now empty wall.
As the snake went through the wall, but Harry stayed behind. Extreme pain built in his body as the snake went further away from him. He did the only thing he could think of to do; clear his mind. It was the hardest Occlumency he had ever done. The sadness of seeing Sirius tried to crepe into Harry’s mind. Pain was building along his scar.
Somehow he had done it. He had escaped the veil. The dream ended and he woke with a start. Ron was standing over him. Before Harry said anything he walked over to his Pensieve and placed his hand in it. He did not want to loose any of what he just saw.
Just as he finished did he realize who they were talking about. Hermione… Harry thought. Everything seemed to fall into place. They must have intercepted Hermione’s mail. They wanted her so they could lure Harry into the veil. Harry felt suddenly relieved that he was attacked by Dementors. Otherwise Hermione would have still been in Leeds.
Harry looked up at Ron. “Hermione’s not safe.” he said softly, “Especially when she’s with her parents. They can’t protect her.”
“Harry what…?” Ron asked but Harry held up his hand and pointed to the Pensieve. Slowly Ron’s gazed changed from Harry to the Pensieve. He drew his wand and drove it into the Pensieve. Harry was left in the middle of the room.
He should have expected something like this to happen. Being a muggleborn was always a danger too her. Ron appeared next to the Pensieve and stared at the ground for a moment.
“Dad had to leave today… because of a muggle attack.” he said softly. Harry nodded slowly. Neither of them wanted to be the one to tell Hermione anything. Lucius didn’t say he killed Hermione’s parents, but Harry was sure he would. A Death Eater has no mercy.
The thought of the veil confused him. Why couldn’t he go back out of the veil with the snake? Then he remembered what Hermione said. “Only if you keep your mind can you come back out of the veil.” But then why did the snake come back out…? Of course, Harry thought to himself. The sake already thought it was a Death Eater, so it would keep it’s mind.