Unlikely Beginnings

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Chapter Thirty Nine

In the darkened street in Hogsmeade, outside the Hog\'s Head inn, no one paid
any mind to two heavily cloaked men apparating with a crack into the middle
of the road. No one batted an eye when they walked into the establishment,
and paid for a room, just for the night. They had their hoods up on their
black cloaks, and it didn\'t draw any attention from the bar patrons as they
wound their way through the room, heading for the stairs.

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Their lessons on Friday had dragged along, due to not many people paying
attention. Most people were chatting about the trip over the weekend, where
everyone who had permission from Third Year and up could leave school
grounds for the all-wizarding town of Hogsmeade. All through breakfast, the
Gryffindors were talking about what they were going to do, and who was going
to hang out with whom. Ron had stayed quiet, but he seemed to be listening
to Dean, Seamus and Neville. Hermione had listened as well, finally getting
the hint after several tries to talk to her best friend.

They had both shared a look when Seamus started asking Neville what he
wanted to do after breakfast. \"Uhm, I think I might stay here today,\" said
Neville. \"I want to finish my Transfiguration homework before I forget about
it. Maybe Sunday?\"

\"Oh, come on, Nev,\" Dean said, nudging the other boy\'s shoulder with his
own. They were sitting across from Ron and Hermione, Seamus on the other
side of Neville. Neville shook his head and grinned, sticking to his
explanation. Hermione had an inkling that Neville had other things to do
than homework. While almost eighty five percent of the Seventh Years were
out at Hogsmeade for the next two days, it left an awful lot of empty places
around the castle. They would be perfect for a couple to run off to, shut
the door, and have some alone time.

She barely had wondered whether there were other rooms Harry and Malfoy had
been in together when the boy across the table from her mentioned her
missing friend\'s name. \"Hey, is Harry going to be back this weekend?\" Seamus
asked. \"He\'ll miss a great pre-game celebration for Hufflepuff if he\'s not.\"
Ron still didn\'t say anything, though he was obviously trying to think of
what he should say if she didn\'t. He looked to her, and she spoke up.

\"I think Dumbledore added another week onto his training, but he may be back
sooner than that, depending on how it goes,\" she said. Merlin, she hoped
they didn\'t keep asking. Even if they only asked every other day, it was
still hard to feel confident that Harry would return when she thought he
would; when Lupin had said they should be back. Dean and Seamus shrugged and
went back to their food, thankfully not harassing Neville about going with
them today.

The whole school knew that Harry was gone, and it did go off well to tell
them he was in training. They had said he was on an errand to begin with,
but that soon turned into a training session. There was nothing Dumbledore
would take Harry out of school for more than two days to complete,
therefore, it had to be something concerning Harry directly. All of the
Slytherins knew that Draco was missing, and they knew that thanks to Blaise
Zabini, and Neville, of course. Ron had been noticing the other boy a lot
more lately.

He hadn\'t realized how out of the way the quiet Slytherin was, but he didn\'t
start fights, had good grades, Hermione told him. Ron just didn\'t know how
to take the other boy. It was strange for him to think of anyone from
Slytherin as a good person, but he supposed it happened once in a while.
Hermione had told him that just because someone possessed qualities that the
Sorting Hat was trained by Salazar Slytherin to observe in a person\'s mind,
didn\'t mean they were bad. Harry had those qualities, and he was alright;
Ron couldn\'t dispute that, so it got him to thinking.

That didn\'t mean he was happy about the whole Malfoy situation. Aside from
it making him gag when he created some disturbing mental image of the blond
with his best friend, it just didn\'t make sense. Why would Harry be with
someone like that? It boggled his mind, and that was why he\'d just opted not
to think about it at all anymore. He wanted Harry to come back, and to
return safely, with minor injuries, if any. Hermione had told him that they
were still traveling. Yesterday after supper she\'d found Professor Lupin and
asked him to update her on what was going on.

He hadn\'t much to tell her. \"Professor Dumbledore is confident that no harm
will come to the boys, and they should return within the next week,
depending how far they\'ve gone already,\" Lupin had said to her, but that was
about it. After that, she\'d ask him about Snape, and he said he had put a
stop to the telepathy, trusting that Snape had received his message. \"Snape
will be very helpful in this situation, Hermione, trust me.\"

Hermione had a hard time trusting the Potions Master, despite knowing his
involvement in the Order of the Phoenix. He wasn\'t the most social of
people, but he had never once stayed for dinner at Sirius\' house, even after
the accident in the Department of Mysteries. She didn\'t want to think about
that, though. It was hard on her, and Ron, and all of the children, for that
matter, when Sirius had disappeared. For those that saw it, it was even
worse. They couldn\'t believe he was still gone, but they couldn\'t sit and
cry about it, they needed to get on with their lives. It was an ode to the
man, who hated to be kept from doing something he didn\'t want to do.

Who wanted to cry, anyway? Exactly. There had been a nice funeral, and Fred
and George had obtained some alcohol, and, aiding to the delinquency of
minors, they\'d shared it with them. Ginny wasn\'t allowed any, but Ron had
managed to get positively pissed. It was a fond memory, despite not
remembering much of it, and Ron smiled as he shoved the last bite of toast
into his mouth. It was a nice day outside, and he looked up to the enchanted
ceiling, seeing the blue sky, scattered, white, fluffy clouds drifting
around. It wasn\'t snowing yet, but it wouldn\'t be long before it did.

\"You ready?\" Hermione asked him, and he looked down to her, swallowing the
food in his mouth. He nodded and smiled again, and she smiled back. They
hadn\'t talked about the trip to Hogsmeade, or what they were going to do
today. That was mostly due to the worry about Harry, but she could tell that
Ron was a bit nervous about it all. After all, it was a \'date\'; their first.
How was he supposed to act? Did he have to pay for everything? He hadn\'t
been on many dates, and not without some other friends there, too. Harry
wasn\'t around, and he didn\'t want Seamus or Dean hanging around, so what was
he supposed to do?

The two of them made their way back to Gryffindor Tower to collect their
cloaks and money before heading back down to the front doors to the castle.
They took a carriage into the wizarding town, and thanked the driver when
they climbed out. Dumbledore hired safe transportation for his students, so
they didn\'t have to pay the man. He tipped his hat at them and started off
with his horse. They headed down the main street of the town, wondering
where they should stop in first. They peered into the shop windows, and Ron
wanted to go into Honeydukes to stock up on a few candies, since the house
elves usually didn\'t have some of the ones he really liked.

Hermione bought a few Toothflossing Stringmints for her parents, since they
had expressed their fondness for them the last time she\'d sent them some.
\"I\'ll wait by the door,\" she said to Ron, leaning in to whisper the words
into his ear. It was a bit noisy in the shop, since some of the Third Years
who were eager to gather up sweets were talking quite loudly. Ron agreed
with a nod, and he went up to the counter to pay for his candies.

Hermione walked to the door and stood to the side so as not to block the
way, and looked out the window to the bustling street outside. It was a bit
chilly today, but that was to be expected for November. There were students
running from shop to shop, carriages trotting by, and town residents milling
around, talking to each other, and groups of students stood and chatted
about things. It looked like a pleasant scene, and she smiled at it. It
would have been perfect if it started to snow right now, soft little flakes
drifting down. Most people were wrapped warmly, so there wasn\'t any harm to
be done, not especially if they\'re wizards, to boot. Ah, the marvels of
Warming Spells.

There was one thing that caught her eye, though, and it didn\'t fit in with
the happy picture she saw through the window. Hermione felt Ron at her side,
and she turned back to see him, bag in hand, ready to go. \"What are you
looking at?\" he asked, looking out the window, frowning as he tried to see
what she had seemed to find so interesting.

\"Those men,\" she said, pointing out to a tall lamp post where two men in
dark cloaks stood, one leaning against the poll. \"Their hoods are up, and
don\'t they look like they\'re watching for something?\" Ron watched them for a
minute, and they were, indeed scanning the crowds. \"What\'s strange, is that
there are mostly students here today. Why would they be looking for a
student?\"

\"Good thing Harry\'s not here,\" Ron said, thinking very unpleasantly of
You-Know-Who sending goons after Harry. Hermione didn\'t say anything for a
moment, not even when someone pushed by Ron to get through the door he was
blocking. He knocked into Hermione, and she shuffled over, trying to give
him some more room to look out the window with her.

\"I don\'t think they\'re looking for Harry,\" she said, sounding more sure than
she felt about it. \"If they were, why wouldn\'t they be following us? I mean,
it\'s no secret that we\'re his best friends, right?\" Ron nodded, frowning as
he looked over her shoulder. That was true, and it had happened before, not
to mention the two of them always getting involved in Harry\'s adventures.

\"Who would they be looking for, then?\"

\"I don\'t know,\" Hermione answered honestly. \"Who else would have two cloaked
men watching for them?\"

\"Malfoy,\" Ron whispered. She hadn\'t really expected an answer, but it made
her laugh for a moment. It did make a bit of sense, though. There might be
people looking for Draco, but she couldn\'t think of any reason why. Maybe
not looking to capture him, or hurt him, but to protect him made a bit of
sense. After all, his father was a very rich man, and with Lucius Malfoy in
prison, it left the family\'s assets a bit vulnerable to thieves holding out
for a ransom.

\"They are kind of big,\" Ron said in defense. \"Maybe they\'re supposed to be
body guards or something.\"

\"Well, whoever they are, I hope they don\'t herald trouble for anyone that I
love and care about. Or anyone period, for that matter,\" Hermione said, and
Ron took the hint at finality and followed after her as she opened the door
to exit the sweet shop.

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