Lost Memories

lix. bad to worse

"Harry, Hermione, where's Ron?" I bellowed out in a panic. "Ron?!"

Something grabbed onto my arm as cloaked and masked figures Apparating from black smoke in the crowd. I almost elbowed the person next to me when I realized it was a panicked Ron. Looking into the crowd, Remus and Tonks raised their wands and shouted "Protego!", cries echoed on all sides.

"Ron! Ron!" Hermione called, half sobbing as we were buffeted by terrified guests. Harry seized my hand and I grabbed Hermione's to make sure we weren't separated as a streak of light whizzed over our heads, whether a protective charm or something more sinister I did not know —

"Let's go!" I shouted a random place coming to mind. It felt right.

Quickly, I turned on the spot, the sight and sounds were as darkness pressed in upon us. I squeezed Harry's and Hermione's hands, hoping they wouldn't let go as we pressed through space and time, away from the Burrow, away from the descending Death Eaters, away, perhaps, from Voldemort himself.

"Where are we?" said Ron's voice.

"Um, uh– I- I'm not—" I panted, my breath getting caught in my lungs; too much energy to Apparate two grown men, Hermione, and myself.

"Tottenham Court Road," said Hermione looking around.

"Come on, walk, just walk, we need to find somewhere for you two to change," Hermione said.

Harry and Ron did as we asked. We half walked, half ran up the wide dark street thronged with late-night revellers and lined with closed shops, stars twinkling above us. A double-decker bus rumbled by and a group of merry pub-goers ogled us as we passed; all of us still wearing our dress robes.

"Hermione, we haven't got anything to change into," Ron told her, as a young woman burst into raucous giggles at the sight of him.

"Why didn't I make sure I had the Invisibility Cloak with me?" said Harry, inwardly cursing his own stupidity. "All last year I kept it on me and —"

"It's okay, I've got the Cloak and clothes for all of us," I reassured them.

"Just try and act naturally until — this will do," Hermione said.

She led us down a side street, then into the shelter of a shadowy alleyway.

"When you say you've got the Cloak and clothes..." frowned Harry.

"Yes, they're in here," I said rummaging through Hermione's clutch.

I pulled out two pairs of jeans, two sweatshirts, socks, and finally the silvery Invisibility Cloak.

"How the ruddy hell—?"

"It's Hermione's," I said. "An extendable clutch with a charm on it. It'll hold pretty much anything, including Hermione's thousands of textbooks."

"When did you do all this?" Harry asked as Ron stripped off his robes.

I quickly turned around, seeing as they were getting changed.

"Hermione and I did, all summer," I nodded.

"I told you at the Burrow, I've had the essentials packed for days, you know, in case we needed to make a quick getaway. I packed your rucksack this morning, Harry, after you changed, and put it in here," shrugged Hermione. "I just had a feeling..."

"You're amazing, you are," said Ron to her.

"Robes," I said and snatched the robes out of Ron's hands, stuffing them into the endless bag. Harry give them to me with a soft smile.

"Please, Harry, get that Cloak on!" Hermione shouted.

Harry threw the Invisibility Cloak around his shoulders and pulled it up over his head, vanishing from sight.