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A/N: I do not own Harry Potter. But you knew that.





Harry Potter and The Acts of Betrayal



Chapter Six - Planes, Trains, and Automobiles



Andrew Granger stood and went to the room his wife had retired to. He lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling.



"What is it?" Anne asked.



"We're millionaires."



"You aren't taking his money."



"He loves her. He loves her enough to try and send her away."



"I knew that. I told you that. Where are we going?"



"America. Salem. He wants to get Hermione to go to the Academy there."



"America with three million pounds. That has possibilities. It will be a good place to wait while He and Hermione return to try and fix this."



"She isn't coming back here."



"Of course she is. He just doesn't know it yet.



...---===ooo000ooo===---...



4 hours into the flight, the meal served, the movie shown, now with the lights dimmed; people through out the plane were sleeping, or trying to. Harry was far too excited at being in an air plane and flying to the United States to possibly calm down enough to sleep, so he was reading the novel Hermione had suggested he pick up at a bookstore prior to the flight. It was a science fiction novel (also recommended by Hermione. "You'll like this Harry, his books tell a story without talking down to you"), that despite the title did not seem to have anything to do with a cat walking through walls, but was a pretty good story anyway. He was a third of the way through and if it continued like it started, he might have to see what else this 'Heinlein' had written. Hermione and her parents were also awake ("Try not to sleep on the flight Harry, we'll need to acclimate to the time zone change"), and reading.



He was somewhat surprised when Hermione drew her wand and cast a Notice-Me-Not on both of them. "Come with me." She whispered.



She led him to the forward head, opened the door, entered, and pulled him in after her. Quickly sealing the door and casting silencing charms, she turned to face him in the close space.



"You aren't leaving me to go off tilting at windmills Harry. Without me, you will be back in their thrall in a week. Without you, I would be too hesitant to protect myself adequately. You need me. I need you."



"Hermione they only did this to you because of me. You parents are on the run because of me. If they got you again, I don't know what I would..."



She kissed him. Kissed him hard, it was an intense needful kiss. It more than took his breath away, it took his mind away. After an eternity of bliss, she broke the kiss, leaving him gasping for breath and hungry for more.



"I needed to know." She looked into his eyes, tears forming in her own. "Needed to know if what we had was still there. It really has changed. I don't feel the same anymore Harry. Before I wanted you. I don't want you anymore Harry." His heart broke at her words. "I need you. If Ilost you, I would not want to go on. I just wanted you to know that." She unsealed the door and turned to leave.



Harry took her face in his hands and drew her back into the kiss; she resisted for a second, and then surrendered to him. They ran their hands over each other's bodies, and still their mouths were fused. She undid his belt and his trousers fell to the ground. She freed him from his boxers, pushing him back against he sink. She raised her skirt, rising to her tip toes, guided him into herself. Their shared passion spiked as they drove into each other in complete abandon.



His rational self noted that none of this following her turning away to leave had ever happened.



His dream self noted that this was a dream, not adocumentary, and further suggested that his rational self shut the hell up and quit messing around with a perfectly good fantasy. Besides, that hot dream flight attendant was about to open the door, discovering them with dream Hermione and find herself enraptured with their sheer manliness. And dream Hermione would be perfectly alright with that.



His moral self bemoaned how these two deviants were going to condemn them all to hell for the perversion of their fantasies.



Rationality and Dreams were both telling Morality to grow the hell up, when Compassion spoke up, admonishing them all to try to consider Hermione's feelings in all this. How would she feel if she knew of their thoughts of her, of what they wanted to do to her? Compassion asked how they were in anyway different than Ron. Compassion went on to explain what he would do to them all if they hurt Hermione in any way.



The others all always listened to Compassion. He was the one who took over during periods of stress, when Morality was crying, Rationality was gibbering in fear and Dreams was hiding. Compassion did things the others didn't like, but he was in charge by default.



...---===ooo000ooo===---...





Harry woke slowly to darkness. The digital clock beside the bed told him it was only 4 am. Of course, to his body clock it was nine in the morning. He was a bit ashamed of what he remembered of the dream he had been having, and was more than a little glad that Hermione could not read his mind. He was also glad that he would not be remembering it too much longer.



After Hermione had left him in the airplane toilet, he had resealed the door and broke down, ashamed of how he had reacted to her kissing him, how he had felt when she said she needed him, and most importantly ashamed that he hadn't been able to tell her how much he needed her.



He noticed that a light was on in the sitting room of the Suite. Rather than try and go back to sleep, he decided to see what was on TV at 4 am in Boston. If nothing else, he could read Luna's book again. He shrugged into one of the Suite's courtesy robes, and opened the door to the sitting room.



He found Hermione seated a writing table taking notes from atextbook. She looked up and their eyes met.



"Can't sleep Harry?"



"I'm tired, but can't sleep." He sat on the chair on the far side of the writing table. "I can't stop thinking about what you said on the plane."



"I meant it Harry."



"But what did you mean Hermione? Do you need me like you need a pair of shoes, or do you need me like ..." /I need you/ "like you need air?"



"Do I really have to spell it out Harry?"



"Yes please. And use small words."



She smiled. "You aren't stupid Harry. Ok. I don't know if I love you. I know I want to. I know I think I do. I know that when I realized what had been done to us; my only thought was to find you. I ran to my parents who I knew would help, when they couldn't I came for you myself. You have been the focus of my life since you dragged Ron along to tell me about the Troll. You risked your life for a girl you hardly knew when it would have been so much easier to run away." She reached across the table and took his hand. "You are far more than a pair of shoes to me Harry. Could I live without you? Perhaps, but I don't want to. If you return to Hogwarts, I'm going with you. I have way too much time invested in you to let you go off and get yourself controlled again."



"Your dad is going to kill me."



"Daddy is angry about what happened to us." She saw the look on Harry's face. "Yes, to us. He was livid when I told him what they did to you. You made real points with him when you told him to take me and run. You lost points with me for thinking that I would run however."



"I never thought you would run. I hoped your father could convince you to run. I knew you wouldn't for yourself, but you might for him."



"You two are very much alike."



"I have to wonder if your dad would appreciate the comparison."



"Mum tells me that he's as stupidly noble as you are."



Harry laughed. "You're going to have to let me get finished feeling sorry for myself before you can convince me that I'm noble in any way." The smile left his eyes. "Should we return to Hogwarts?"



"I think we have to. Going to the Salem Academy is an attractive idea, but that would abandon our friends to Riddle's tender mercies, not to mention what Dumbledore might do to them justifying it as being for the'greater good'."



Harry nodded. "Neville might end up the next 'Chosen One'. He has been through enough. Ok, it's August 2nd. We have 29 days to figure out what we are going to do, and get back."



"28 days. Jet lag the other direction is a whole lot worse."



"We flew in order to pass for Muggles, going back we could use an International Portkey."



Hermione shook her head. "I think it would be best to not appear on their radar until we absolutely have to. We shouldn't take the express either. We should get into London on the 30th, you take your apparition test on the 31st, and we'll apparate directly to Hogsmeade, and have a few words with the Headmaster."



"Like, 'Back off Asshole?'"



"Something like that."



A frown crossed Harry's face. "You always do this to me. How did we get from you not coming with me to us making plans for our assault on the castle?"



"I bedazzled you with my brilliance." She said smiling.



"Yeah that was hard. Next you'll be distracting me with pieces of string or shiny objects."



Her smile got wider, "Or I could do this:" she released his hand and moved her hand to behind his head, pulling him into a kiss as they both leaned across the table. Harry had fleeting thoughts of stopping this, but her tongue found entry to his mouth, and much like the kiss on the plane, he mind quit noticing anything but her mouth.



The kiss went on forever, but all too soon, Hermione broke the kiss and his mind started working again.



"Wow. Ok, I'm distracted. You're right; kissing you wasn't like that before. You were right on the plane, something has changed."



"Maybe we've grown up." She noticed the book in his hand. "What is that?"



"Luna gave it to me when she brought your parents to the Suite in London. She said I would need it. It's just a book about Pure Blood Wedding rituals and linage laws. I don't know why she thought I'd need it, but some of the traditions are kind of weird."



"May I?"



Harry nodded and handed her the book. She opened it and got that focused look that told him the conversation was over.



...---===ooo000ooo===---...



Albus Dumbledore was angry. No student had defied him like this since Tom Riddle. He fixed the Weasley matriarch with a withering glare, then turned his attention to her two youngest children.



"Ginevra, why did you write any of our plans down in your diary? I would have thought that you would have had enough of diaries your first year."



"I'm sorry Headmaster. I thought that Hermione was too much of a friend to go snooping in my personal things.



"Ronald, I believe you were instructed to keep Miss Granger completely enthralled."



"I did. She was mine, body and soul. If I asked for it, she gave it too me. It must have been the shock of reading about it in Ginny's diary. Even the deepest thrall of the potion never dulled her mind."



"And you Nymphadora, you had the relatively simple task to capturing two untrained children, one disfigures and nearly kills you, and the other has you delivered to the Ministry for causing a disturbance at Gringotts."



"I would have liked to see you do better Headmaster." Tonks spat from under the hood of her cloak. "Oh wait, it was your fault this all started in the first place wasn't it? He got to Gringotts by way of the oddball elf of his. The elf works for you doesn't he? Ask him."



"Dobby?"



The elf appeared before the Headmaster. "Yes Headmaster Dumbledore Sir?"



"Dobby, I need to find Harry Potter. Could you tell me where he is?"



"Harry Potter sir ask Dobby not to say where he is."



"I'm afraid I must insist you tell me Dobby."



"No, Headmaster Dumbledore sir. Harry Potter sir asks Dobby not to tell, Dobby will not tell."



"You are bonded to the castle Dobby. That means you must obey the Headmaster."



"Dobby is not bonded to the Hogy castle. Dobby is free elf. Dobby is paid."



"Dobby, you will tell me what I want to know." He drew his wand.



Dobby raised his hands and a wave of force shoved Dumbledore and his desk into the far wall. Various trinkets, silver mechanisms, and portraits fell to the floor.



"Headmaster Dumbledore sir not be threatening Dobby. Dobby good elf. Dobby keep Harry Potter Sirs secrets. Dobby Free Elf. Dobby Quit!" With a pop, the elf was gone.



The Headmaster picked himself up and straightened his office with a gesture. "That could have gone better."



"How long will they be under the potions thrall? I mean if we can find them and reassert control..."



"Ginevra, for a normal magic user the daily dose that they were receiving would be active for a week, maybe more. But Mr. Potter and Miss Granger are anything but normal magic users. It is more than likely they burned completely through the potion by this morning, sooner if they were very angry, which given their personalities they probably were. We will have to obliviate their memories and start again when we retrieve them."



"We need to find them now." Ron hissed. "Potter is not getting my woman."



...---===ooo000ooo===---...



Luna Lovegood sat under a tree in front of her home humming to herself. Harry had chosen Salem, Hermione had chosen to stay with Harry. Possibilities on the decision tree had pruned. They had tentatively decided to return to Hogswarts, though Harry still had reservations about it if he could not guarantee Hermione's safety. He had read her book, but hadn't make the association. Fortunately, Hermione was reading it now and she would make the association. The question was would she act on it. There was 33 paths that had her abandoning Harry when confronted by the other.



The possibilities for futures that did not end in fire and blood required them to take the proper steps, and none of the possibilities would allow her to interfere anymore than she already had.



Still, there were several chances of Luna becoming more involved. Several of those ended in tears. Some had her there for the final confrontation. One had Hermione Granger killing her. That one made her especially sad, she liked Hermione very much. Several others had Hermione loving her like a sister. There was no longer any chance of her ending up with the man she loved, so it was time to cut her losses and move on. Hopefully she was on one of the 7 paths that led her to love.



...---===ooo000ooo===---...



Harry went through the statement from the Bank again.



The local Gringotts branch had gotten them a furnished house and had it ready for them when they drove up from Boston. The kitchen was stocked, towels in the bathrooms, in short it was as if the previous owners had left it taking only their clothing.



Back to the statements. Over the years Dumbledore had been making substantial withdrawals from several of his accounts. The last was on the 3rd of July a 7,000 galleon withdrawal was made from the primary Potter Family vault, signed for by Albus Dumbledore and listed as tuition expenses, but an automatic withdrawal from his trust vault was made on the 31stfor 1,500 for his tuition.



"What's all this?"



Harry looked up into Anne Granger's eyes. "The Goblins were hinting about oddities about my accounts, these are all the transactions made in the last 16 years."



"This is quite a bit of money. Do you have any experience in accounting?"



"No, it's not something Hogwarts offers."



"Of course it isn't, it's just a useful skill that people all need to keep body and soul together. Sad. Tell you what, after dinner I'll sit down with you and go through this."



"Deal!" She ruffled his hair. "So what would you like for dinner."



"You don't have to cook Harry."



"I need to do something. My relatives liked to eat, so they made sure I knew how to cook. Let me see what's in the cupboards for what Ican come up with.



...---===ooo000ooo===---...



Dinner was lasagna garlic bread and a salad. He found some very nice sausage in the refrigerator and made the sauce from scratch. Not too bad he thought /probably only get three complaints from //Vernon/for fixing 'foreign muck' while he was shoveling it down his neck



The Grangers each took a single bite and looked at him in amazement.



"Something wrong? Too much garlic? I always put in too much garlic."



"This is wonderful." Said Anne. "When you said you could cook, I assumed..."



"If he can cook other dishes like this, I'm keeping him."Hermione remarked to her father.



"If you keep him, I'm eating at your house."



"It's only lasagna." He said shyly. "I made cheesecake for afters."



Andrew perked up. He nudged his daughter. "I'm definitely eating at your house."



...---===ooo000ooo===---...