Ride the lighting

Part 2

Five weeks went by with no mention of their night of passion. The weather turned bitterly cold and the mood in the tent became increasingly depressed.

Hermione sat on the floor of the tent each night, surrounded by books desperate for any idea of how to recover Gryffindor's sword or the next Horcrux.

She came up with nothing. She had tried every summoning spell in the mountain of books. She was almost ready to give in and admit failure, if the stubborn part of her would allow it.

Harry spent most nights lying in his bunk opposite the spot she had chosen to sit in. He spent each day pouring through books with her, or out finding food to tide them over while they worked out their next move. However he had another dilemma in mind.

When he was not occupied with the daily tasks he was consumed by guilt. He had betrayed Ron. No matter the circumstances of Ron's departure from their quest, Harry knew that Ron loved Hermione.

His feeling of betrayal continued further, when he thought of Ginny. He had told her not to wait, but he knew she would. He knew that Ginny loved him, and he in turn loved her, but that had not stopped him from making love to Hermione that night.

He would watch Hermione from the corner of his eye, her hair would obscure her face as she turned page after page of the large tomes she had brought with her. Her fingers would slide down the pages as she read, and his eyes would follow each movement.

Each time they would accidentally touch, when handing over a book or while packing up the camp, Harry's skin would tingle. He felt an attraction for her that would not dissipate, making his guilt multiply.

She consumed a part of him now. Everyday that went by a little piece of him yearned to touch her again and it took all his strength not to follow the instinct.

But he knew he couldn't. It was one night and no more.

.....

"Harry we have to go to Godric's Hollow" Hermione declared one night. "I've been putting off saying it because You Know Who will expect you to go there but I can't see what else we can do. We're stuck here and we might be able to find a lead on the Sword"

"Where do we start?" Harry asked, feeling the adrenalin rush from finally being able to make a plan.

"Bathilda Bagshot still lives there, she knew Dumbledore, and she might be able to help. We find her and see what she knows" Hermione stated.

" Let's go" Harry said, jumping up and looking around for his rucksack.

"Don't be silly Harry, we need to make some decisions first" Hermione chided him.

"Like?"

"Like, do we use Polyjuice potion? Do we go in the day when there are muggles on the street or late at night when the area is deserted? We have to think about who we are endangering" Hermione's voice took on an exasperated tone.

"I'm not using Polyjuice Potion. We'll go under the cloak" Harry decided, it was clear that he wasn't willing to discuss it.

"Okay. Well then we need to go at night. There is too much risk of bumping into someone or the cloak slipping" Hermione began to plan, pulling a piece of parchment and a quill from her beaded bag.

"We'll apparate there. I've seen pictures, it's the best we can do" Hermione continued.

"When do we go?" Harry pondered aloud.

"Next week. That gives up enough time to plan out how to go about this and hopefully we won't have to move again before then. Except, of course, if any snatchers come this way" Hermione decided.