Flower Petals

-31-

Days after the ministry had fallen it had installed a new government of death eater controlled witches and wizards.

Ron, Hermione, Harry and Alli sat in the dark of the Black's house. The last 24 hours had thrown them into a whirlpool of dislallusion until they only had one, common, goal.

To retrieve and destroy Umbridge's  locket.

They rested at the black house all night, Alli stared at the portraits on the family tree until she passsd out, wondering if Regulus was like Mason too. She was named after him, after a man unable to escape, her father remembered him with only love and admiration.

Was Sirius then, like Paula? She wondered where she was, if she was ok, she let her thoughts roam to Draco and shut them down as soon as she got there.

Ron read her snippets from their book Wuthering Heights in the morning as Harry and Hermione descended the stairs into the kitchen. Alli's head lay on his lap in the living room, listening intently and tracing his face with her eyes.

Her bag which she clung to this entire trip say in front of her, it had Ron's 'R' jumper, their book, her note from Dumbledore, pictures of her parents and her brother, it was a time capsule of wonderful things she wished were her ordinary life.

There was an emptiness about the house, it was devoid of love and light, but that symbolism capitalized on the groups experience in the muggle world. They'd been chased and shot at and now, just when the dust was settling they were about to enter the tornado.

Hermione ran her hand through her hair, fixing the rats nest on the top of her head, she turned to look at Harry, and he looked away.

There was a disparity between the two. Harry was so set at the wedding, so sure that Hermione was what he needed, but now that they were once again away from the eye of the hurricane he felt that perhaps her safety was more important then his happiness.

Harry wanted so much that he felt was innapropriate in his position, putting anything but the world first was selfish, and Harry was anything but that.

Hermione had never had a man reciprocate any feelings she ever gave, and frankly she never understood why she believed this time it could be different, it was after all the definition of insanity to do the same thing again and again expecting different results. The chosen one was anything but decisive, she was independent, strong, intelligent, and yet she felt so incapacitated and enraged.

Hermione and Harry were afloat.

It was almost like they were in two separate lifeboats in the same sea, drifting too each other naturally, and then putting in all their effort and might peddling themselves away.

"Ok, the only way in and out of the ministry are the portals, or if you are Hermione Granger.." Hermione said devilishly reaching into her endless bag or curiousity "...apparaters." She held four circular devices coated in silver and sparkling with magic and electricity "I only have four so please.." she said looking sharply at Ron "BE CAREFUL. You'll be stuck unless you can make it back to the entrance." She handed them out delicately. "We only really have one chance at this, one dose of polyjuice, one apparater."

Harry's mind drifted, he didn't like Alli accompanying them, but liked less the idea of her being alone in the Black's house.

Ron put down the quill in his hand, which Alli assumed meant he had doodled in the margins. He closed Wuthering Heights, placing it sweetly into Alli's bag.

"I think it's time to go my Flower." he said running his thumb against her forehead. Ron's heart began to beat out of his chest, Alli was precious to him, and he wasn't sure he'd made it clear enough, that he'd held her tight enough, but it was too late now.