Escape ↣ Harmione

Chapter Three

They left the room and returned to the tower, and they separated in the common room. Hermione went up to bed while Harry glanced around the room. Ron was deep in the middle of a chess game, and he didn't want to disturb him. If Ron was busy, now might be a good time to sort through his trunk.

His trunk was at the bottom of the bed, he pushed the lid up, and open. He started taking everything out, sorting it into piles and throwing away the rubbish. Neville came in, got ready for bed and sat watching him. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Discovering what the bottom of my school trunk looks like," Harry said, with a smile. "I think there are things in here from the first year. It's no wonder why the damn thing is so heavy."

"Don't you put feather light charms on it?" Neville asked.

"Hermione does," Harry confirmed. "But only after I've forgotten and gotten it down into the common room."

Neville laughed. "At least you don't have to carry it to the train."

"True," Harry agreed. He vanished the accumulated crumbs and fluff at the bottom of the trunk and cast a quick cleaning spell for good measure before repacking his things into it.

"So what brought that on?" Neville asked.

"Well, actually, I don't remember. I got a little sidetracked." Harry smiled at Neville, Neville laughed and got into bed, Harry went through his routine and got into bed himself "Goodnight Neville," he said.

"Night Harry."

Harry pulled his curtains closed and lay staring at the ceiling for a while. He would be leaving Neville behind too. He sighed and rolled over, he had made his choice, and it hadn't been much of choice anyway. He hoped Hermione was able to sleep tonight.

The next morning, he sat next to her at breakfast, waiting until Ron was distracted with food, he leant over and in a quiet voice said. "I sorted my trunk last night I've got my stuff ready."

She nodded. "I'll come up with my bag later and take it then."

They ate quietly, each lost in thought. The day carried on normally attending classes. Harry concentrated on not causing any suspicions to head their way. So used to hiding their relationship, he found that this wasn't much different. Harry wondered when they both didn't return if anyone would think they went together or if they'd come up with something else.

That night he led Hermione to his dorm. Ron was playing chess again oblivious to the room and everyone else.

As Harry handed over his things, not that there were many, he asked her. "Do you think we should keep quiet, you know, about spending Christmas together? When we don't return if they believe we vanished separately, it might delay the search."

She sat on his bed thinking chewing her lip and fiddling with an escaped curl, he reached out and took the curl weaving it around his fingers. "Well," she said, clearly still in deep thought. "Originally the plan was to say you were coming skiing with me, in case you got asked questions about leaving at Christmas. I see your point, though. They'll think I've run off to escape the law, but won't they believe that you'll have just come after me?"

"How would I have known, though?" Harry proposed.

"True, but I would have told you, so there's that," she said. "To be honest, I hadn't thought about it. I had an excuse to get you out of the castle. My parents are going to say to anyone who asks that I took myself back to the train station to return to Hogwarts. We decided it was unlikely that Hogwarts would inform them I was missing until magical methods of finding me were exhausted."

"You don't think Professor Dumbledore will tell them when you don't return?" Harry asked surprised.

"Harry, Hogwarts didn't inform them I was in a magical coma for weeks back in the second year. They sent an owl to say I had been in an incident at the school, and I was currently in the infirmary, but I wasn't physically injured."

"Really?!" he asked, shocked.

"Yeah, I told my parents what happened. I had to take my exams during the summer. They were unimpressed."

"The injury from the night at the Ministry?"

"I told them the truth."

"And they'll let me anywhere near you?"

"Well my Dad might have something to say about fools rushing in, but we came to an agreement when I enrolled here. I would give them total honesty about every aspect of my magical life, and they would give me every support they could, even when things happened that they didn't like. They have no say in the magical world, Harry; they are nothing. It is the only way they wouldn't lose their daughter, and I wouldn't lose my parents. It's hard for both sides, but this was the agreement we made as a family."

"I can't imagine that," he muttered.

"I know and so do they. Mum and Dad understand that someone in your position would react differently to someone else when your godfather was potentially in danger." Hermione reached for his hand squeezing it.

"They know..."

"Total honesty Harry." Hermione looked worried for a moment, "I know you have problems with trusting adults, but they are going to ask it of you too. Especially now. The trust has to be there the consequences are, well you know what they are. They have to trust us to stay safe in Spain. We have to trust them that they won't accidentally give us away, and will join us so we can hide properly. It's a lot to ask of you, they know it and so do I. Will you promise me you'll try, though?"

Harry looked at his hands, then at his girlfriend's face creased with worry, not for herself but for him. For asking him to trust her parents the way he trusted her.

"I promise you I will try, and if I've got a problem, I will tell you. Is that OK for now?"

"Yes," she agreed. "That will do nicely."

The week left up till Christmas was wound tight with tension and anticipation. They were both quiet about their plans, deflecting attention when asked by their friends.

The night before they left she went into his dorm and sat on his bed with Ron. They spent the evening laughing and joking reliving their adventures. It was heart-warming and heart-breaking, they were saying goodbye to Ron though he didn't know it. They wouldn't see him again for, well Hermione didn't know. She hoped she'd see him again, and Neville, and Ginny, and the twins.

Hermione finally went to bed only to rise early, dress, collect up her book bag, complete with undetectable extension charm and feather light charm. Holding in it everything she and Harry would be taking with them, and went for a walk around the castle. She refused to think of it as a goodbye even though it was.

Hermione climbed the stairs to the Astronomy tower and leant against the rails watching the sun come up over the forest. She heard the door open but didn't turn around. Harry joined her at the rail.

"I've left the map for Ron," he said, explaining how he had found her at the same time. "I thought about taking it with us so we could see everyone but I think it would make it harder." She nodded slightly, and they stood taking in the last dawn over Hogwarts they would see.