Healing the Broken

Chapter 34- Dennis Creevey

She shuts the boys dormitory door behind her, and switches the lock. Her mind flies to Harry and Ron, who were keeping careful watch on the stairs to make sure that no one was coming up- the last thing she needed was to have to explain that Harry owns something called the Marauder's Map. And what on earth she was doing in the seventh year boys dormitory. She looks at the beds, and based on the things around them, she can tell that Harry's bed is the fourth one in, and Ron's is the fifth. She makes her way to his bed and bends over, pulling his trunk out from underneath his bed.

She heaves and sets it down onto his blue comforter- and due to the hot weather, the comforter, which was jinxed to change in it's thickness depending on the weather, thicker for cold nights and thinner for warm nights, was thin and breezy- and undoes the top, popping it open.

She starts to shift through clothes, Quidditch robes, boxers, socks and the like, searching for a folded piece of parchment. When she can't find it, she decides to check the pockets lining the side. Her fingertips brush three small items, and she grasps them, pulling them out into the air.

The first of the items is the model dragon that Harry had received in the first task of his fourth year. She smiled down at the deeply detailed dragon, which walked up and down her arm, nuzzling her here and there and sending out affectionate bursts of fire that singe her arm hairs. Honestly, it delighted her that Harry had kept this little guy.

She sets it down on Harry's pillow, where it proceeds to make a black mark on the pristine white case, Hermione rolling her eyes as the dragon beamed in delight at the burn mark it had made. She moves her attention to the next object.

She can't help but stare at this one. It was a picture of Harry and Hermione laughing- taken by Colin Creevey in their second year- and it was them in front of the lake, talking about something funny that Hermione couldn't recall. On the bottom of the picture, Colin had scrawled 'Some things that are meant to be don't become apparent until it's too late- don't let this be one of them'. Hermione, who is already shocked at how deep this caption was for an eleven year old, can't help but think about how she had personally watched Harry throw away all of the pictures Colin sent him- Harry got at least three every hour.

But he had kept this one.

She turns the picture over to see Harry's handwriting, and it said '...maybe you're right Colin.'.

She terribly wants to take the picture and keep it with her forever, for they both looked so happy and carefree- and they were still innocent. Unlike how they all were now, with so many deaths on their sleeves. But Harry had kept this picture for a reason- he had wanted it. She had no right to come in and take it from his trunk when she was supposed to be trying to save Dennis.

Hermione's brain immediately snaps back to what she was supposed to be doing and she sets the photograph down to examine the final thing she had pulled out from Harry's trunk. And sure enough, it was a folded piece of parchment- the very one that would show her where Dennis was.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." She says, tapping the parchment with her wand. Immediately a full map of the Hogwarts grounds appears, and she searches for Dennis's name- only to find that it isn't there.

Hermione frowns. "What?"

She searches again, and again. It is in the middle of her search that the door opens and Hermione jumps with a start, dropping her wand and map. The map flutters to her feet and her wand rolls under Harry's bed.

Hermione groans when she sees that it's only Harry and Ron who had come in. "What do you two want? I nearly found him."

"No, you didn't." Harry says, snatching her wand out from under his bed and handing it to her, as well as taking the map to look at himself. "You've been up here for a half hour, and it takes two minutes tops to find someone on the map. Either he's not here or you aren't looking hard enough-we'll find him for you."