A Second Channe Through Time

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Page count: 10

Sirius' Apartment - Friday 5th March 1982

It had been a month since the meeting at the Burrow and the discussion of destroying the locket. They had planned to retrieve it from Grimmauld two weeks prior but their plans had to be put on hold with the twins and Kingsley informing Hermione of Dumbledore's newfound paranoia and increased tracking of her movements. They had to be cautious and they couldn't risk being followed.

Instead, Hermione had taken to reading more on the Unforgivable Curses, after effects and the theory behind it. She still hadn't figured out how Harry had survived without Lily sacrificing herself and it was frustrating. For two weeks she'd looked at the same books, the same words, the same diagrams and she couldn't take it anymore.

She slammed her book shut and stood. In the last two weeks, she'd only left the apartment twice and that was for food shopping. They couldn't floo anywhere as Hermione'd detected tracing spells on their floo network, they couldn't apparate because their magical signatures could be traced and they couldn't leave the apartment because they were being followed. The Aurors that had previously been assigned to tracking their movements had been removed and now they had others following them, others that weren't on their side.

But taking all of that into account, she had to get out of the apartment. It was driving her insane and with that in mind, she left her bedroom, grabbing a set of robes on the way out and putting them on over her clothes. She made sure she'd her beaded bag and her wand was in her back pocket.

"Where are you going?" James asked with a raised eyebrow, the others turned to her.

"To get another Horcrux and destroy it. I can't stand this any longer, this is what he wants. I'm not afraid of Dumbledore and him confining me here is a victory for him, he's not beating me," she scowled.

"It's not safe," Remus reminded her.

"Right now, I don't care, we're two weeks behind schedule and it's driving me insane being stuck here," she glowered.

"They'll follow us" Sirius pointed out, standing up and walking over to her.

"Then we give them something to follow, don't we?"

"How?" He arched an eyebrow.

"I've found a new anti-tracking spell, it delays our movements by three hours, and if we apparate to several different locations, our magical trace will get jumbled and it will take a while for them to unscramble it. But they'll realise what we've done and tell Dumbledore," she shrugged. "I don't care though, I'm bored and I feel boxed in. You should never corner a wild animal."

"Let's go then," Sirius grinned, reaching for his leather jacket and ensuring he had his wand before they left the apartment, apparating to Diagon Alley, then to Hogsmeade, then to Godric's Hollow, back to Hogsmeade and finally back to London.

~000~000~000~

12 Grimmauld Place

They approached the house that had magically appeared in-between houses numbered eleven and thirteen and Sirius withdrew his wand and waved it in a series of complicated gestures before tapping it to the door and it clicked open.

He rolled his eyes. "She hasn't even bothered to change the passcode," he grumbled and she snorted at him.

He entered the house first with Hermione superstitiously crossing her fingers and closing her eyes tightly before she followed him, slowly opening her eyes when she heard Sirius' laughter.

"You should've seen your face," he teased.

"I didn't know if I was going to die or not for stepping into your humble abode," she argued.