An Outlandish Affair

When Albus Dumbledore arrived unannounced at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement via Floo Flame the Friday after Halloween, Harry immediately knew something was very wrong. 

Harry Potter had known Ron Weasley since they were eleven years old. He had seen him through countless ups and downs; the awkward stages, first dates, end of year exams, magical mishaps.

Like that time in second year, when Ron accidentally cursed himself with the slug vomiting charm. He had been defending Hermione from some pureblood elitist snob who’d dared to call her ‘a filthy little mudblood’, but his wand, which had been broken and poorly taped back together, failed and the curse backfired. 

Harry had been the first one Ron told when Hermione agreed to be his girlfriend, and he was there for him when Ron failed out of Auror training, which took everybody by surprise.

But Harry would be at a loss for how to help his friend through this. 

Albus had only told him that there was an emergency back in Scotland, and Ron needed him urgently. As he stepped out of the fireplace in Dumbledore’s office and towards his best friend, who was seated in an overstuffed armchair, he could see that Ron had been crying. Harry rushed to kneel beside the chair, his hand coming to rest on Ron’s shoulder.

“What’s happened, Ron? What’s going on?” Harry looked quickly between his friend and Albus, who had come through the floo behind him and moved silently to stand near his desk with his hands clasped in front of him solemnly. 

The redheaded man looked at his friend, eyes shining with fresh unshed tears. He opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it again, words seemingly failing him. He glanced to the Headmaster, and then to the floor, the tears that filled his eyes spilling down his cheeks.

“Merlin, would somebody please tell me what’s happening? Has somebody died?” Harry exclaimed as he stood, his voice raising slightly in panic, when it dawned on him. Standing next to a crying Ron, in Albus’ office, he realized there was somebody who wasn’t there with them. 

“Ron? Is it Hermione? Tell me what is going on.” Harry knelt back down, this time in front of Ron, forcing him to make eye contact. 

“Harry, I-” Ron’s voice cracked, and he cleared his throat, trying again, “I need your help. ‘Mione is…” He took a deep breath, “Hermione is missing.” 

Harry felt all the wind leave his lungs. Missing? Capable, clever, resourceful Hermione, was missing? He couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t possible. If anybody was ever lost in the world and needed to find their way back home, Hermione would be the one who would be able to do it! 

Harry spoke calmly, despite the worry that was slowly gripping him. “What do you mean ‘missing’? When was the last time you saw her? Are you sure she isn’t just out foraging? I know she mentioned a while back she’d found some new patches tha-”

Before he could finish his sentence, Ron stood without warning, knocking Harry over onto the floor.

“She’s missing, mate! Nobody has seen her in nearly two bloody days!” Ron shouted, his eyes wide and full of panic. Harry looked up at Ron, taking in his disheveled appearance. His hair looked as if he’d been pulling at it repeatedly, his robes were unkempt and wrinkled, his eyes were dull, and the bags underneath were a telltale sign that he hadn’t slept. 

Ron paced the room as Harry stood slowly, and Albus finally cleared his throat to speak. “Harry, we have checked the surrounding hamlets. Rubeus has taken up a search party in the forbidden forest. The professors, house elves, ghosts.. they have all been questioned. But indeed, Ronald is correct. Nobody has seen or heard from Hermione since the morning of Halloween.” 

A small bubble of anger was rising in Harry’s chest. “You’re telling me that Hermione has been missing since then, and you’re only just now telling somebody?” Harry asked quietly, the realization slowly kicking in. 

Ron stopped pacing, snapping his head towards his friend. “No, Harry, I’m only just now telling you. We have been trying to search for her the best we could before involving everybody and scaring her parents.”

He clapped his hands to his head, fingers tugging violently at the red locks. “Merlin, her parents! What the bloody hell am I going to tell them?” Collapsing back into the armchair he had previously occupied, Ron sighed heavily, and looked pleadingly into Harry’s eyes.

“What do I do, Harry? Please, I need to find her. I need to bring her home.” Defeated, he hung his head. 

“Harry, perhaps the two of you can go together to retrace Hermione’s steps from that day. I'm positive your keen Seekers eye will see something one of us have missed,” Albus cut in gently, “I believe your training as an Auror will also be quite useful in that regard.”

The Headmaster walked towards Ron, and patted his shoulder gently. “We will find her! Do not despair and give up hope, Ronald.” Continuing towards the door and opening it he added, “I shall be out of the office for the remainder of the afternoon, but should you have need of me, just send out a patronus.”

Before they could leave, Albus had disapparated with a crack. Harry shook his head. “I guess being Headmaster does have its perks,” he huffed slightly, before turning back to Ron. “Come on, mate. Let’s go find your girl.” Ron gave a half-hearted smile and stood. 

“We’ll start at the last place I saw any sign of her. We wanted to try the tracking spell, but Albus thought you’d be best to cast it, what with you being a fully trained Auror now and all..” Ron spoke with a slight hint of jealousy. Harry chose to ignore it. 

They left the office, heading down the staircase and through the gargoyle, and ran straight into Poppy Pomfrey. 

“Oh, Ronald, I- oh! Mr. Potter! How lovely to see you again. I was just coming to see if there has been any news about Hermione,” She looked between the two of them, her eyes brimming with hope. 

Ron shook his head. “Not yet, Poppy. Harry’s just arrived to help us with the search, that’s where we are heading now, actually.” He tried to give her a smile, but it came out as what Harry could only describe as a grimace. 

“Oh, wonderful. I do wish you luck, we are all beside ourselves with worry. If you require my assistance with anything at all, please, come see me.” Poppy reached out to tenderly squeeze Ron’s hand, and turned to head back to the hospital wing. 

As they left the school, Harry contemplated what he needed to ask Ron. All he knew so far was that Hermione went missing on Halloween, and nobody has seen her since. He needed to know more.

“Ron…” he began, not wanting to push too hard, “What happened before Hermione went missing? If I can ascertain a timeline it might make the search a little easier.” 

He heard Ron sigh heavily from beside him. Harry knew that sigh. There was more to this story. Watching his internal struggle play across his friends face, Harry pressed a little more.

“You can talk to me, Ron. You’re my best mate, you can tell me anything.” 

“I’m not so sure you’ll feel that way when you find out what happened. This is all my fault, Harry. I drove her away.” He swiped at his cheek with the back of his hand, quickly wiping away the tear that had slipped out. “She was busy at work, again, and I was bored. I went out to The Three Broomsticks for a drink, and bloody Lavender Brown walked in.” 

They reached the Apparition point, both coming to a stop and facing the other. Harry furrowed his brow in confusion. “Lavender? What does she have to do with anything?” 

Ron reached his hand out for Harry’s before saying anything else, and apparated them away. 

When they reappeared, they were somewhere in the highlands, on a dirt path that was zigzagging towards a large hill. “This is where you last saw any trace of Hermione?” Harry asked, taking in their surroundings.

Ron nodded. “Yeah, I had been following what I assumed was her path. She had been foraging for ingredients, that much I know,” and he began walking up the trail.

Before he moved to follow Ron, Harry couldn’t help but ask again. “What did you mean about Lavender? I thought she was working at the Ministry, what was she doing up here?” 

Stopping in his tracks, Ron let his head lean back, eyes closed. With a deep sigh, he turned back towards Harry. “I don’t know why she was here. She didn’t say, and I didn’t ask.” Running his hand through his already mussed hair, he took a breath. 

“She kissed me,” Ron finally blurted out. “I had been drinking and so had she. We were laughing one minute, and the next she was leaning in and kissing me.” Ron balled his fists at his sides, gritting his teeth. “I.. I didn’t stop her. I didn’t lean away, I didn’t push her, nothing. Hermione walked in and… she saw.” 

Before Harry could respond, Ron continued his confession. “We had a fight after that. She ran out and I chased after her. We fought, and.. She left. Told me not to follow her.” His shoulders slumped. “Now she’s taken off, or something terrible has happened, and it’s all my fault!”

Harry didn’t know what else to do, except cross the ten feet that separated them, and embrace his friend. Ron stiffened at first, but ended up returning the hug. Harry sighed.

“Ron, you numpty. Hermione would never just leave because of something like that. Hermione would never just leave. She’s too rational and logical.” They released one another, with Harry clapping Ron on the back. “Besides, she’d sooner wallop you than take off,” He added with a chuckle. “Come on, let’s go cast this tracking spell and see if we can find anything.” 

Together they continued up the trail, Ron leading the way towards the hill. 

“How do you know she was here?” Harry asked. Starting to climb up, Ron pointed to his left at the now nearly regrown plants.

“Dittany patch. I recognized the way she cut them, and I could see she’d cast a regrowth charm.. plus at the top of this hill I found bundled dittany tagged with the date.” With a grim look on his face, he added, “It was her handwriting.” Harry felt uneasy at that statement.

At the top, they paused, taking in the surroundings. The only thing there was a large oak tree that was mostly bare. Looking out, Harry could see sprawling fields and a stream winding through the tall grass. He’d always loved the highlands.

Pulling his wand out of its holster on his forearm, he walked to the center of the top of the hill. He turned towards Ron and said, “Keep your eyes peeled. If you see anything, let me know.” 

Harry brought his wand up to his mouth, pointed outwards. “Appare Vestigium,” he muttered.

As he said the incantation, he leaned slightly forward and spun in a circle. Gold dust sprayed from the tip of his wand, blanketing the area. As the dust spread, they could see large, shadowy stones appearing around them. Ron and Harry looked at each other in surprise.

“Harry, what are those? They definitely weren’t here before.” Ron whispered, though he wasn’t really sure why he was whispering. 

“I have no idea, keep watching, maybe there’s something else.” Harry also whispered, his well trained eyes scanning the area. Watching the dust spread, a figure appeared opposite them. Ron noticed it first.

“Hermione!” he called. “Harry, there!” Pointing towards the golden essence of Hermione, they watched as it rounded the top of the hill. Looking closer, Harry was able to make out her facial features. She looked… confused?

They could see the figure reach a hand out towards one of the huge phantom rocks and lean forward as if she was peering around it. Ron moved to get closer but Harry placed an arm across his chest, “Wait.” 

In the blink of an eye, as the figure’s hand pressed into the shadow stone, Hermione’s essence vanished. The stone glowed brightly, and then everything was gone. Ron sputtered beside Harry, “Wha- where did she go? Harry, do something! Make it come back so we can see where she went!” 

Harry was just as surprised, he didn’t really know what to make of what he just saw. Raising his wand again he barked, “Revelio!” 

As they moved closer to the spot they had seen the golden figure of Hermione, they could see footprints glowing on the ground. The prints stopped right where they’d seen her disappear. Ron started frantically looking for more. “Why would they just stop right there? Did she apparate?” 

Harry shook his head, “No. I’ve seen apparition before when using a tracking spell, and there is no sign that she did.” Sighing heavily, he looked at Ron, “I have an idea that may work, but we’re going to need to talk to Dumbledore.”