Hermione began to panic “ this wasn’t her son. And if this wasn’t her son, where was her son? Her eyes became larger as she asked for her son. “Nurse, this boy isn’t my son. Where is my son?” she asked impatiently.
The small nurse looked to the other nurse who was holding the young blonde boy. “I’m sorry miss; this is the little boy we found in your car this morning. He was buckled into is seat belt rather tightly “ and lucky for him too. If this isn’t your son, I’m afraid your son isn’t at this hospital. I’ll check again, but I’m positive this is the one.” The other nurse turned to leave, but remembered something. “Does your son have blonde hair just like this?” she pointed to the little boy in her arms.
Hermione nodded slowly then confirmed, “Yes, exactly like that.” The other nurse nodded then left the room. The small nurse came to Hermione’s bed.
She told her, “Miss, I’m sorry about this whole misunderstanding. We’ll straighten it out.” The small nurse gave her trademark smile, and then left the room. Hermione was now all by herself. How could they do this to me? I’ve just lost my husband, and now I lose my son?” She began to cry, but quickly composed herself. There’s no sense in crying- I have faith in them; they’ll find my son she reassured herself. Just then, the other nurse came in with a small piece of parchment. She handed it to Hermione gingerly.
“Here miss. We found this lying at the other little boy’s bed. It’s got you’re name on it. It looks pretty old though, so be careful.” she too smiled at Hermione, then left her to read the letter. Hermione thought over the words that the nurse just spoke, It looks pretty old though, so be careful. But this parchment isn’t old, it’s rather new looking. Hermione didn’t quite understand what the nurse was talking about. As she looked around the room for an answer, something caught her eye- a piece of Muggle paper. She remembered it from many years ago at her parent’s dentist office. That’s why she thought it looked old- I forget that people who live in Muggle London don’t use parchment. She pushed the thought out of her head and began concentrating on the parchment she had in front of her. She slowly opened it, afraid of what she would find written inside. Hermione soon found out.
Your son is in great care. He is being fed very well and taken care of by the finest house elves. In order to get him back, you must first sacrifice something. To ensure that your sacrifice is genuine, use the Sacrificial Charm in Charms: One for Any Occasion . In order for your sacrifice to be worth anything, you must perform the charm before midnight tomorrow. Remember Ms. Granger, your son’s life is on the line.
Sincerely,
Your son’s finest mentor
Hermione was now very frustrated. Well now at least I now that he’s in the Wizarding world, and not the Muggle world. I really need Harry’s help in this. Just then, the other nurse came back into the room. She had a worried look on her face.
“I’m sorry ma’am, but your son is not in our hospital. We’ve looked everywhere, but he’s just not here. Maybe if you filed a missing person’s report someone will find him. Again miss, I’m sorry.” She patted Hermione’s shoulder. Suddenly, a thought came to Hermione’s head.
“You haven’t read this letter, have you?” she blurted out to the nurse.
“Of course not, miss. We here at Midvale Hospital respect our patients’ privacy,” she reassured Hermione. The young witch nodded in return. Good she thought she has no idea I’m a witch.
“When do you think I can get out of here, nurse?” Hermione questioned.
“Well, since you are already mostly healed, you can leave tonight. I hope you’ve had a wonderful stay at Midvale Hospital. If you have any troubles, just call for me, I’ll be right down the hall.” And with that, she left the room. Hermione was rather proud with herself. At Hogwarts, she had observed Madam Pince a great deal, and had memorized many of her healing charms. She had to admit, she didn’t think they would work this quickly. But, no matter; she was now able to perform the Sacrificial Charm tonight. But now she had to think of what to sacrifice….
“Hermione, this letter has a code in it. Give me a few moments to decipher it,” Harry told her. Hermione had just arrived at Harry’s house. It was late at night, but she wasn’t allowed out of the hospital until after she ate her dinner. Ginny was taking care of hers and Harry’s baby, so she was not in the room at the time. Hermione looked up at Harry.
“A code? What kind of code?” she asked quietly. She crossed over from the mantle where she was standing to the desk at which Harry was sitting. He took out a piece of parchment and a quill. He began to read the letter. Hermione stood at his desk for a few moments, then figuring since she couldn’t help in any way, she would look at the pictures in Harry’s study. Some of them were of he and Ginny, some were of just Harry and his little baby girl, and some were just of Ginny and their daughter. As Hermione was getting to the older pictures, she found some of Harry, Ron and Hermione all together “ they were of the three of them when they were still at Hogwarts. On another wall, she found pictures of Harry and Ginny’s wedding, of Ron and Lavender’s wedding “ but when she got to the spot of her and Draco’s wedding picture, there was just an empty space; nothing. She turned to Harry, “Harry, what happened to my wedding picture? There’s an empty space here.”
Harry looked up from the letter. “Oh, that. It was the oddest thing; a couple of weeks ago, an owl flew in here and knocked it down. Actually, nearly all of the pictures fell down, but yours and Draco’s was the only one that broke. It was about midnight when it happened, so we didn’t realize it until the next morning. Ginny took it to a picture shop about a week ago.” He turned back to the letter. “Hermione, I think I’ve gotten this figured out. Come over here and I’ll show you.” Hermione hurried over to the desk. She leaned over Harry’s shoulder. He took his quill and wrote out the code so that she could understand it. “Ok, do you notice how there are spelling mistakes? Well look at the letters that are either omitted, written differently, or underlined.” He gave Hermione time to look over the letter and find as many mistakes as she could find. After nearly ten minutes, Harry interrupted, “Here, let me help you. Look here. The “g” in Granger is not capitalized. That’s the first clue.” He took his quill and wrote down a “g”. He turned back to the letter. “Alright, the next letter that is different is the “o” in doing.” Again, took his quill and wrote an “o” next to the “g”. Harry and Hermione looked through the whole letter, finding all of the mistakes. Once they finished, Hermione looked at Harry’s parchment.
“Godric’s Hollow? What about Godric’s Hollow?” she questioned Harry. He shrugged and suggested something was maybe hidden there. “But I wonder what that has to do with me.” Hermione pondered. She looked to Harry for an answer.
“I’ll tell you what. You sleep on it tonight, and if you decide that you need to go there in the morning, I’ll go with you. And we’ll look for Paul too, okay?” Harry stood and took Hermione gently by the shoulders. “What do you say?” Hermione nodded in agreement, then hugged Harry.
“Thanks Harry, you’re the best.” She turned to leave, but remembered something. “Uh, Harry, do you mind if I sleep here tonight? My house is seeming rather large at the moment, and I’d not like to be in it alone.” Harry chuckled then nodded and held out his hand in a friendly way. Hermione took hold of it as Harry led her to the kitchen. There, Ginny had a cup of tea waiting for the both of them; she had one for herself already. Harry told Ginny of Hermione’s plans to stay at their house for the night. Ginny stood up, and hugged Hermione.
“’Moine, you’re always welcome here, right Harry?” she said as she wrapped her arm around her husband’s waist. Harry nodded, and took his steaming cup of tea. Hermione did the same. Once they had finished their tea, they told each other goodnight, then went to bed. Hermione thought she wouldn’t be able to get to sleep, but once her head hit the pillow, she was in a deep sleep.
In the morning, Hermione woke early, her decision made. She, and Harry, would go to Godric’s Hollow and search for whatever was there. She dressed and followed the lovely smell of pancakes and bacon and eggs wafting up from the kitchen. Harry was sitting at the head of the table with his daughter in a high chair eating her breakfast as he fed it to her. Ginny had just finished making some hot tea, and she placed it one the table. Hermione sat down at a chair, and felt something soft rub up against her leg. At first, she was startled, but she realized it was only her own cat, Crookshanks, Jr. “How’d he get in here?” she asked Ginny as she picked up her purring feline.
Ginny giggled, “He wandered in last night; I had to let him in. I figured he’d find his way up to you, but I guess not.” She set a small bowl of milk down on the floor, and Jr. (as Hermione called him) went straight to it. Hermione finished her breakfast, as did Harry; they were off to Godric’s Hollow.
Although the morning was bright and clear, there was a small amount of fog hovering over the ground near Godric’s Hollow. There was something different about it; it was sinister. Hermione looked at Harry, “If you want to leave, we can. I’ll completely understand if you want to go. Don’t hesitate to tell me.”
Harry shook his head, “No matter what happens, I’m here for you. You’ve already done so much for me in my lifetime; I can do just this one thing for you.” He chuckled. Hermione knew he was right, but she still felt as if she was doing something wrong. They walked around for quite sometime, not knowing exactly what they were looking for. They had split up and gone in different directions, but now they had met back up. “We’ve been everywhere, but back there,” he told Hermione as he pointed a spot with the most fog in it. They looked at each other, and decided “ with out saying a word- that they would have to look over there. As they got closer, they could both see a tall figure standing in the shadows. For some reason, Hermione felt as if she knew this person, but they were not close enough to see what he looked like. They stopped as the figure came closer- his features were becoming more distinct. He was nearly a yard away when Hermione saw exactly who he was-
Draco Malfoy.
a/n: mwahahaha! A cliffie! So, what do you think? Is it really Draco, or is it someone else “ let me know! And keep reading to find out…..