The Boy Who Fought: OC X Hermione

He knows

"How is it you.." Hermione starts, Harry cutting her off.

"I saw him."

"You can't keep letting him in Harry!"

"I can't always help it, Hermione! Maybe I can, I don't know!"

"Never mind that! what did you see?" Ron asks.

"He's angry. But he's scared too. He's going to make sure the other Horcruxes are safe."

"What happens when he finds out four are gone?" Carson asks Harry, hoping he had an answer.

"I reckon he'll do anything to stop us from finding the rest. There's more: one of them's at Hogwarts."

"What?!" Carson and Hermione shout, as Ron looks sick.

"You saw it?" Carson added.

"I saw the castle. And Rowena Ravenclaw. I think it must have something to do with her. We have to go there, now."

"Tonight? But we have to plan. We have to figure out what.."

"Honestly, Hermione, I love you, but when have any of our plans actually worked? We plan, we get there and all hell breaks loose." Carson tells her.

"'Fraid he's right. One problem: Snape's Headmaster now. We can't just walk in the front door." Ron added on.

"We'll go to Hogsmeade. To Honeydukes. Take the secret passage in the cellar. There's something wrong with him. In the past, I could always follow his thoughts. Now everything feels disconnected."

"Maybe it's because of the Horcruxes. Maybe he's growing weaker. Maybe he's dying." Carson hoped.

"No. It's more like he's wounded. If anything, he feels more dangerous."

The four got ready to apparate, and they soon appeared in Hogsmeade. When they arrived, alarms went off. They sounded out throughout Hogsmeade, alerting the death eaters of their presence.

"There! Right there!" Someone shouts, as the four look and see death eaters running out of the three broomsticks. The four make a run for it and hide into the fog.

"I've got them! Down here!!" Another shouts, as the four look up and see another death eater. They run again, hoping to find somewhere to hide.

"They were ready for us." Hermione whispers as they run down a side street.

"We know you're here, Potter. There's no getting away." One shouted, "Perhaps you need some convincing."

"What's he mean by that?" Carson asks.

They all look up to see a dementor above them, flying over to them. Harry whips out his wand, ready to cast the dementor away.

"No, you'll give us away." Hermione whispers, bringing his hand back down.

The night grows darker, and the happiness starts to fade as the dementor draws closer. Hermione and Carson start to become devoid of happiness, both of them trying to keep thinking of happy memories to keep them going. A tear falls from Hermione's eye, reliving Carson's screams she heard in the cellar of Malfoy Manor.

"Expecto patronum!" Harry casts.

A silver stag bursts from his wand, sending the dementors away from them. They four quickly run off to the other side of the Hog's Head.

"It's him! He's down there!" One death eater calls.

They run against the cobblestone glancing around desperately for help. Suddenly a bolt grinds and a hinge squeaks, and a door opens.

"In here Potter."

The four quickly slip into the door, eager for help and hiding from the death eaters. Carson, Harry, Ron and Hermione slip quickly past the man and inside. He gestures toward a rickety wooden staircase, bringing a finger to his lips.

Harry enters another room, with a threadbare carpet and a small fireplace, above which hangs a large oil painting of a blonde girl with a sweet, but vacant stare. He steps near a dirty window to see death eaters looking around in confusion. Just then, Carson, Hermione, and Ron enter the room.

"Did you get a look at him! For a second I thought it was.." Carson whispered.

"I know!" Hermione responded, a bit shaken up, gripping Carson's hand.

"Harry! I can see you! In here!" Hermione tells him. Harry looks at the mirror shard before turning his attention to the others.

Harry turns, watches Hermione take a shard similar to his own from the mantle. He glances down at the piece in his palm, and sees Hermione's eye looking out at him. These two pieces must connect.

Just then, Aberforth makes himself known. "You bloody fools! What were you thinking coming here? Do you have any idea how dangerous it is..."

"You're Aberforth." Harry states. "Dumbledore's brother. It's you I've been seeing, here. It's you who sent Dobby." Holding up his shard.

"Where've you left him?"

"He's dead."

"Sorry to hear that. I liked that elf."

"How'd you come by it? The shard?" Carson interrupts.

"Mundungus Fletcher, 'bout a year ago."

"Dung had no right selling you that. It belonged to...."

"Sirius. Albus told me. He also told me that you'd likely be hacked off if you ever found out I had it. But ask yourself where you'd be if I didn't."

"We'd be dead. Carson would've been tortured to insanity." Ron tells them.

"Right then. Reckon you're hungry. Let's get you fed, then think of the best way to get you out of here." Aberforth responds.