"Where are you going, Hermione?" Harry asked me as I was about to sneak out the door.
I looked around, worried that someone else had noticed my attempted escape. Seeing no one, I decided there was no harm in telling Harry, at least.
"I have to go look for something, Harry," I looked up at him, trying to make my eyes as big, soft, and round as I could, "Could you please keep this between us?"
Harry looked at me with worry in his face. It reminded me of a look someone had given me once, but I couldn't put my finger on who it had been. He seemed to gaze at me for hours. Finally, he seemed to come to a decision.
"All right," he said, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief, "But please hurry back," he added, as I was practically out the door.
"I promise I will," I answered sweetly, and then rushed out into the cool August night.
It seemed silly to be going out like this, but I simply had to. I had to figure out where these memories were coming from. It all started on that night, that night about a month ago.
I was sitting at the table eating a lovely dinner. Harry had just arrived, and he and Ron were catching up while I tried to make some progress on my huge piece of ham.
It was quite sudden when it happened, and quite unexplained, but all the sudden, I felt something. Not an ordinary something, a spiritual something. It felt like a part of me that had been missing was returned.
I quickly excused myself, after glancing at Professor Lupin. Out in the hall, I began to pace, wondering what had happened. A moment later, Lupin joined me.
“Did you feel it too?” he asked, stopping me in mid-pace.
“Oh yeah, I felt it. But there was someone else, someone else should’ve felt it,” I said, half to myself and half to Professor Lupin. Suddenly, comprehension dawned upon me.
“What did you and Sirius do that night?”
“Honestly,” he said, “I can’t remember. It seems to be fading. It all seems to be fading. Like it never even happened.”
But after the night, the little understanding I had gained began to fade once more. I knew it had something to do with Sirius, but my own comments no longer made sense to me. What did they what night? I had to know the truth.
And that’s why I was going out that night. I knew it was stupid, and I knew Harry had reason to worry, but I just needed to get some kind of closure on that strange event.
I had a thought in my head, one of those strange memories; a hidden house, under a tall building, invisible to those who don't know where it is. My feet seemed to lead me to it as I walked that night, and before I knew it, I was standing in front of a safe house, a hide-out from a totalitarian government.
I took the stairs three at a time, my heart beating faster than it ever had before. Cautiously, I opened the door, and stared at a familiar looking home. It was familiar looking, I knew, because it had once been my home; once, not so long ago, when the world was not right.