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Tweak says, "Don't have a cow, man"

Harry James Potter (sonofastag) wrote in wished,
@ 2009-10-03 01:11:00

Entry tags:

!1997: 10, !complete, !plot, harry potter, hermione granger, ron weasley

Who: Hermione, Ron, Harry
When: Saturday, while the rest of the students are at Hogsmeade
Where: Godric's Hollow
What: Retrieving the first horcrux.
Rating: T.B.A. Likely Pg-13 for
Open/Closed: Closed

Harry kept wanting to reach up and touch his hair, or the bridge of his nose, where his glasses didn't rest. The bloke whose body he was wearing hadn't worn glasses, and his hair was all gray and coarse feeling beneath Harry's fingers. He kept getting startled by how clearly he saw, or the darker tint of his skin. (He was Indian, apparently.) And very short and a little pudgy. But really - Harry wasn't complaining. He'd definitely gotten the better end of the deal. What with Hermione and Ron's little mix up.

Harry looked over at them and hid another laugh behind his hand and a badly feigned cough. They'd apparated out of Hogsmeade, and Harry had the cloak with him, just in case - but for the moment they weren't exactly recognizable anyway. He was. . . uneasy about coming to Godric's Hollow to poke around the graveyard his parents were buried at. The repeated urge to laugh at his friends' misfortune was really a bit of a welcome diversion.

The clothes Hermione had socked away for this - she bloody thought of everything - were itchy and a little too long in the sleeves and trousers, but they fit well enough. Harry rolled his sleeve up again, shifting the flowers he held in his arms - transfigured from a stick they'd found, and looking a little. . . wooden, still. "All right, so we'll just. . . walk in and look for the mausoleum Fletcher mentioned, then pop out, yeah?" He'd just figured if they were going to a graveyard, bringing flowers for a grave made them look. . . more natural.

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geroffme
2009-10-05 03:59 am UTC (link)

Ron stared blankly at the woman who was shouting at them, nearly frozen. The last thing they needed was for anyone to be calling attention to them, even if they were damned well disguised - and someone shouting nonsense in a graveyard was bound to turn a few heads. It didn't click for him that what she was saying was actually perfectly coherent until Harry shouted back to her. He suppressed a groan, and hurried along behind the two of them. He wanted to kick off these bloody ridiculous shoes; he didn't think it would be possible to run in them if push came to shove.

"Yeah, still in hiding, actually," he added as he passed by the shocked-looking strangers. "So keep it quiet, will you?" Merlin, something always had to go wrong ... He caught up with Harry and Hermione. "Just - behind the church, you think?" he said quietly, trying not to look over his shoulder. "We can just Apparate, they won't see ..."

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cerebralwitch
2009-10-07 01:48 am UTC (link)

Apparating from behind the stones in the open with muggles about was a horrible idea, but Hermione couldn't muster up to say so because as Harry started directing her, and then Ron seemed to catch on, it finally dawned on her what the woman had been saying.

Dead. Murdered. They and the children. She had a sudden flash of her neighbors playing in their back garden with them. She could look down from her bedroom window and see over the fence, and while she'd been reading in the windowseat she would, sometimes, when she'd read for so long that her eyes began to cross.

Murdered.

And suddenly it all clicked, and she understood why. And when.

"Oh God," She whispered to herself, and her voice... sounded like her voice. Not the manly voice it had been for the last hour. The Polyjuice was wearing off.

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sonofastag
2009-10-07 05:04 am UTC (link)

Harry heard that feminine note in her voice and turned, wincing as he realized her face was going a little. . . less bearded. And also a good bit fuzzier. Perfect.

"Just get out of sight," he told Hermione, his voice an odd mix of the Indian bloke's and his own as he skittered behind the Church, dragging Hermione with him, as she looked more than little stunned. He dug out his wand - and his glasses, shoving them on his face a bit lopsidedly.

"No time to get anywhere else. Just go on. Pop back to Hogsmeade," he told Hermione. Ron seemed to have caught up to what was going on already, but Harry wasn't going anywhere until Hermione was clear. Because she must have just sussed out what Harry had started to figure out as soon as the shouting started.

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geroffme
2009-10-08 02:02 am UTC (link)

As he turned the corner around to the far side of the church, Ron watched them both beginning to melt back into their usual bodies - and felt his own clothes start to feel wrong around him. A very vivid memory from second year flashed into his head, and he kicked off his shoes while he still could. There wasn't going to be time to flounder around in those when they got back to Hogsmeade, probably.

"Go," he hissed in agreement, peering back around the edge of the building to be sure they weren't being followed, at least not too quickly. "If they're confused now, they'll really be wanting explanations in a few minutes."

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	cerebralwitch 2009-10-08 02:12 am UTC (link)
	Hermione absently realized that Ron would be walking up from Hogsmeade in a skirt, and was glad on his behalf that Harry had thought to bring the cloak, but mostly even her apparation was rote. And whens she found herself inside the Shrieking Shack first, she sank down onto the broken bed, still in a bit of a haze. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

sonofastag
2009-10-08 04:41 am UTC (link)

Harry was the last to pop out, a split second behind Ron, rush of voices threatening to round the corner at any moment. By the time he popped in with the others, the hands peeking out from too-long sleeves were his own, and he could feel the familiar tangle of his own hair at the back of his neck, and knew that if he took off his glasses, he'd be squinting again.

He took a second to catch his breath, tucking his wand away again and touching his pocket, where he'd shoved the re-wrapped locket. "Well. . . that could have gone worse."

He peered at Hermione a bit worriedly. "Hermione, you all right there?"

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geroffme
2009-10-09 12:36 am UTC (link)

"It could have gone better," Ron countered - and he wasn't even referring to his now patently ridiculous outfit. Between the rats, the graves, Harry's collapse, and the dead people, it seemed like a pretty bare success. At least it hadn't been a total waste, but he knew that until the adrenaline wore off it was going to be hard to feel very grateful for that.

... Maybe even after that. He leaned against one of the bedposts, pushing a still-shaking hand through his hair, and watched Hermione, anxious. He didn't like seeing her look dazed - it seemed entirely wrong, and a little frightening.

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cerebralwitch
2009-10-16 09:16 pm UTC (link)

"They're dead..." It took Hermione at least five more minutes to speak, though generally she processed new information quite a bit faster. By the time she spoke she was herself again, and her voice was her own even if it was decidedly shaky.

She heard that shaking, though, and then cleared her throat and swallowed once - then almost visibly pushed the thought away and stood up. "Come on," She said, waiving her wand at Ron and transfiguring his clothes back into a school uniform. "We ought to figure out how we're going to deal with that thing before everyone else goes back from Hogsmeade."

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sonofastag
2009-10-16 09:37 pm UTC (link)

Ron still in a dress would normally be enough to have Harry fighting mirth. Again. But Hermione's shaking and blank look really cut through any amusement, and he gave Ron a quick look and then looked back at Hermione.

"We don't have to right away. . . you can take a bit of time, Hermione," he offered, quiet and awkward. He put an arm around her shoulders, squeezing quickly to try to offer a little comfort. Inept or no.

Hermione was focused though, and both boys found themselves ushered off to start work on figuring out how to destroy the Horcrux. Harry kept it wrapped, but just having it on him was already starting to make him feel tense, and like his skin was crawling. He hoped they sussed it out quickly.

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