A quick note- if there is anything you want to see in this book, more Harmione, more action, whatever... just tell me in the comments and I will try my best to add it in! Thanks guys, and enjoy the new chapter!

The pictures that Rita had took of them snogging were everywhere the next day.

Not only in Rita's personal paper, but in the Daily Prophet, and even-

"The Quibbler, really?" Harry said exasperated to Luna, who looked guilty when she showed him the new copy of The Quibbler. "Come on Luna. I thought we were friends." He said, joking at the last part.

She shrugs sadly. "I didn't know that Daddy was going to publish it until after I got the copy that I get every week." She says. "If he would've told me that the evil woman was bribing him, I would have stopped him from accepting her offer. But he didn't tell me. Sorry."

Hermione approaches the table then, wailing and clutching a bandaged cheek. "Really Luna, The Quibbler too?" Hermione demands as soon as she spots the cover.

"She says that her father didn't tell her about Rita's offer about putting this excerpt into The Quibbler, because if he would have she would've made sure that he didn't publish it." Harry explains to her as Luna apologizes and then walks off to talk to Padma Patil. "But I asked the same thing, so don't worry. What happened to your face?"

Hermione prods her cheek, wincing, before answering. "There was a letter, a very clever one, to be frank, and it said things like 'how dare you kiss Harry Potter' and 'Keep your filthy lips off of the boy who lived!' and there was a little... oh I don't even know what it was. A spike maybe? But the tip of it was dipped in dragon venom, Norwegian Ridgeback to be exact, and it was set up so that when the card was opened, the spike was driven into my face." She states, wincing at the last part. "But I guess you make me look small in the picture because they obviously used it for shooting calculations, and they were a bit off. I think they were aiming for my forehead."

"Merlin, Hermione." Harry says in astonishment. "Are you okay? You went to see Madam Pomfrey, right?"

"Sort of had to with a spike sticking out of my cheek."

Harry frowns. "I can't believe it. I pulled you into that bloody classroom so that I could finally kiss you without us being interrupted, and it turns out that stupid witch was there taking pictures!"

Hermione gives him a soft peck on the cheek and smiles at him, getting to her feet. "Yeah, our situation sort of sucks." And then she walks away.

~~~~~

Ron frowned down at the newspaper. He hadn't seen his best friends much these days, they were quite busy sneaking off and doing jobs for teachers together... and apparently snogging.

Harry hadn't waited for him for breakfast this morning.

He had just up and left early, leaving Ron scrambling awake to see that Harry's bed was empty, and he had been left alone. He didn't want to ruin this beautiful thing that Harry and Hermione had found together, but it hurt to be the third wheel. It hurt to be left behind.

Hermione was in the common room when he went down the stairs that morning however, and he had talked to her about feeling left out, and she promised that he was still important, and she needed both of her boys to make it in life. She gave him a hug after that, and he had felt happy. Hermione was always good at making people feel better.

During Charms, the day was even more fun now that he was no longer a third wheel- thanks to Hermione of course. She made sure that she was having a few moments with Harry, but not enough to be annoying and instead spending enough time with all of them just laughing together. And honestly?

Ron loved it.

~~~~~

The dew gave a frosted look to the grass, and it slicked her shoes, making them wet enough to the point where Hermione could feel them dampening her socks through her sneakers. She kept looking down at the note, worried she was going to the wrong place. But certainly she was. She was underneath the sixth tree from the lake, exactly twenty feet from the water.

She looked at it again- she couldn't help it.

Dear Hermione,

I want some time alone with you- we don't get to as much now that the homework is starting to pile up. Meet me at the clean part of the lake, the sixth tree from it, twenty feet from the water at midnight.

Love from,

Harry.

Though, his handwriting did look different, now that she really looked at it. And... that wasn't how Harry signed his name at the end of his letters. Her hand twitched towards the wand in her pocket as she looked up at the dark, starry night sky. And, if Harry had wanted to talk to her, why not just tell her himself? And why at night? And why didn't he just walk her here himself?

And... was that Greyback and Lucius creeping in the woods beside her?

She pulled her wand from her pocket and sent two silent Stupefy's at them, but they dodged them last second. Hermione thought back to when she first learned that they had killed her parents, and how she was ready to kill them on her own. Easier said than done, to be frank.

With a few more well placed spells, Greyback was knocked out, and Lucius was frozen in a perfect way so that the only thing that could move was his mouth. She stalked up to them, her cloak billowing in the wind, her eyes daring merciless daggers down at the two men- the two murderers who had killed her parents. Who had taken away her family.

Who was the reason that she was alone now.

She snarled and kicked Lucius, just to make sure he wasn't faking. She saw the pain flash in his eyes, but he stayed still, so she had placed her spells right.

"I want to kill both of you for killing my parents, and then for even thinking you could try to kill me." Hermione spits at him, and Lucius flinches away from her, or well, he would've if he wasn't stuck. She shot a glance at Fenrir, in case he was faking as well.

"I'm not afraid of you, mudblood." Lucius spits.

"Is that so? What if I was to pull out some Unforgivables?" She asks, twirling her wand between her fingertips and kicking Fenrir over so that he lies on his back. "Petrificus Totalus."

His body locks up, and she sighs in relief after taking his wand and stuffing it into her pocket, taking Lucius's wand as well. She feels a little more safe, now that they are both unarmed and bound up.

"You wouldn't use an Unforgivable. You're too soft." Though doubt had crept it's way into his voice.

"My parents. You killed them?" She demands, ignoring his jab.

Lucius's mouth moves, but she can tell that he wants to show disgust and shock on his face. "Bloody hell, no. We were torturing them, sure. And we wanted them dead, sure. But we never actually got to kill them."

Hermione's heart skips a beat and she starts to get a feeling of hope, one that she pushes away. He could be toying with her, lying maybe. "Where are they? What's wrong with them? Why haven't they come home?"

Lucius's mouth frowns. "They're in some sort of... enchanted sleep. We've had this happen before when we tortured people, but they always woke up. Your parents just never did. They're locked up in the basement of this old rubble sort of house..."

"How are they alive if they can't eat? Or drink? Shouldn't they be dead then?"

"Narcissa has taken care of them- despite my opinion. You could send an owl to her and she'll gladly tell you where they are." He says plainly, almost as if he was bored- but what could be boring about being put in a Full Body Bind and being disarmed, with a student interrogating you of whom can and will kill you any second if necessary?

"Why are you so willing to help me?" She asks suddenly, the suspicion creeping back into her voice.

"Draco." He says simply, as if that answers her question. And then he adds, "And if you never find your mum and dad, then I'm going to be stuck cooking lambchops for that loser of a partner." He says, and Hermione glances over at Fenrir whom is still out cold. "Could you let me free now? Please?"

Hermione considers it for a moment, before pointing her wand at him. "No. Wingardium Leviosa."

~~~~~

Hermione shoves Lucius into the room right after Fenrir, slamming the door and locking it behind her. She had used Wingardium Leviosa to get them all the way up here, but her spell had died out by the time she reached the right hallway. A lock had appeared on the outside of the Room of Requirement at her request, and she watched, feeling relieved as the door slowly melted back into a wall, leaving no trace of it ever being there.

She stormed through the halls then, and when she reached the Fat Lady, she said the password so fast and anxiously that she was surprised that the painting understood her. "Swedish Short Snout."

The portrait hole swung open, and, spotting Harry and Ron, whom were playing a game of wizards chess, she stalks up to them, grabs them both by the hem of their robes, and tugs them out into the hall. They asked her questions as she dragged them through Hogwarts, all of which she ignored. They would be answered momentarily.

She ducked into an empty classroom, shutting the door behind her and releasing her hold on the boys. Before they could start to complain, she launches into story. "In the library I was reading and got up to put a book back-"

"And why couldn't you tell us your book crisis in the common room?" Ron interrupts, receiving a well placed punch to the shoulder by Hermione.

"When I returned to my seat, there was a note on top of my homework saying to meet you," She points to Harry, "at midnight. I wasn't really thinking so I just went out there and followed the instructions. Then I noticed something was up because it wasn't your signature, handwriting, or anything. Then I spotted Lucius and Fenrir in the Forbidden Forest beside me." She put extra emphasis on their names, taking the note from 'Harry' out of her pocket and tossing it to Harry and Ron to read. "I took them on and the both of them are unconscious and locked up in the Room of Requirement right now. But, before I knocked out Lucius, he told me that my parents were alive, and the pair had never gotten the opportunity to kill them. He even said we could send an owl to Narcissa, asking her to take us there, which I already did."

They just stand there in shock for a moment. Ron speaks first. "So... the three of us are following Narcissa Malfoy to a old house to find your suddenly not dead parents locked in the basement?" He shrugs. "Okay. It isn't the craziest thing we've done at Halloween time." He says, referring to the decorations strung up in everywhere in Hogwarts.

Hermione frowned. "I think knocking out a mountain troll in the girls restroom and making a new best friend is way crazier."

"I don't know Hermione." Harry pipes up at last. Hermione turns to him.

"You think the mountain troll is less crazy than what we're doing?" Hermione asks, puzzled.

Harry shakes his head. "No, no, not that. It's just... what if this is all a trap? They could be tricking you."

Hermione smiles softly. "Lucius said he was telling me because he was tired of being Fenrir's partner- and something about Draco. And besides, this is like in our fifth year, with Sirius. We just have to take that chance."

"Hermione there was a way to check if he was there that time though!" Harry says hotly. "No way are we all following around some lady we don't even know that well, just for something that might just be a trap!"

'That's exactly what we did with Sirius, Harry!"

"AND SIRIUS IS DEAD NOW, ISN'T HE?"

"HARRY THIS IS MY PARENTS WE'RE TALKING ABOUT! WE COULD SAVE THEM!"

"THAT WON'T MATTER TO ME IF YOU DIE! I'D RATHER LOSE THEM THAN LOSE YOU!"

Hermione scowls at him, and her eyes flicker over to Ron, who has shrunk back into the corner. "Harry, this is an opportunity for me to not be alone anymore- to have my family back."

"You have a family, Hermione, I already told you this. I told you and told you- you do have a family. Ron, me, the Weasleys... we're your family." Harry says in a low voice.

"I want my parents! The ones who made me!" Tears are in her eyes now. "I understand that you're worried Harry, I am too, but this is just a chance I have to take. This is exactly what you said so many times to me, and now I'm saying it to you- that's a chance I have to take. And if you're going to be like this than I'll go alone." She turns on her heel and storms out of the room. Harry starts after her but is stopped when the door comes back and slams him in the face. He rubs his forehead just as Ron pipes up.

"You guys' relationship is going to be great. You fight like an old married couple."

"Shut up Ron."

~~~~~

As Hermione dashed through the halls, she pulled out the letter with Narcissa's short scrawled response out and read it again, just to be safe.

I will guide you there. Meet me at The Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade at seven sharp.

Hermione glanced at her watch. It was one in the morning. She changed directions and headed straight for the Portrait Hole, ready to get a quick five hour sleep (she would have to get up at six).

The next morning she was at Hogsmeade at six-fifty, a little early, but when she entered The Three Broomsticks, she saw Narcissa sitting at a table alone, drinking a coffee and reading the Prophet, a bag slung over her shoulder and her hair tied up in a long plait. She looked up and saw Hermione. Closing the newspaper, she gets to her feet, ushering her out the door.

"We must move quickly. Lucius and Greyback could beat us there with Apparation in a second."

Hermione plucked the two wands from her pocket. "Not if I have their wands and they're stuck in a Full Body Bind in the Room of Requirement." She pauses. "Sorry, I know he's your husband, but they were trying to kill me."

Narcissa lets out a short laugh. "We're getting a divorce anyway."

"What is this place like?" Hermione asks as she prepares for side-along Apparation, referring to the place where her parents are held captive.

"It's... it's a house, in a graveyard. The same graveyard that the Dark Lord was reborn in... the same one that so many people were killed in." She looks sideways at Hermione. "Granger I don't want to make you upset but... your parents... I don't think they..."

"Don't think they what?"

"Last night I visited them, and the pair of them were struggling to breathe. I left someone with them so that I could come to fetch you, but it turns out she left her post. She told me the only reason she would leave them is if they... passed on, and no longer needed caring." The ground seemed to sway to Hermione as Narcissa held her arm out for the Apparation. "I don't think they made it through the night, Granger."

And then Hermione's feet left the ground as they left to the place she was no longer anxious to see.

Hope you guys liked this chapter!

It took me a few days... sorry about that.

A few things I have to say first. One, I've recently started a new book about bullying. I'm very serious about this book and trying to make it one of the books that I can get published... Anyways, please, go read it, it's called The Trips, by Magisky and leave me some feedback. Thank you so much if you do!

Also, thank you for all of these amazing reads! I love ya'll so much.

And finally, if there is anything you'd like to see, more Harmione, more action, whatever, as I mentioned above- don't be afraid to let me know in the comments!

That's all for tonight.

Peace out,

Magisky