Hermione and Ginny returned to The Burrow in the late afternoon. They were all too happy to talk about training sessions with the new student. Molly was curious about their new friend at school and Ginny was a little too eager to dish on where he came from.
"Ilvermorny?! That's not possible is it, Arthur?" Molly asked as they were setting the table.
"No, it shouldn't be. Ilvermorny was destroyed, everyone who was there died. He couldn't possibly be transferring." Arthur said. "I should make some inquiries at work about it, see what shakes out."
"Please don't, Arthur." Hermione spoke up. "Professor McGonagall has asked that I keep this secret. There is an investigation from my understanding, but she doesn't want it public knowledge he's here."
"An investigation about what?" a voice asked from the doorway. Ginny gave a squeal of surprise and dashed to the door as Harry Potter walked in to embrace her. Ron followed her.
"Yeah, what's this about an investigation? We're the Aurors after all, we'll be handling that." Ron said proudly as he walked over to Hermione. She stood to give him a hug and quickly sat down.
"It's nothing I'm sure, you two probably have enough to deal with without something Hogwarts related." Hermione replied.
"Should we tell them?" Ron asked with a smirk.
"I don't know, maybe we shouldn't. Don't want to interfere with school." Harry said as he sat next to Ginny.
"Tell us what Harry?" Hermione asked, curious now that they were all together.
"Well…" Harry started.
"Oh, go on Harry! Tell them!" Ron said with a grin.
"Alright. Ron and I were just told that we're being given a special case to work on. They wanted us since it deals directly with Voldemort and the war." Harry said. Immediately silence fell over the Burrow, and everyone leaned in close to listen to what he said.
"We've been told that a group of Voldemort's Death Eaters was sent to America last year.
Right before we started looking for the Horcruxes. There's rumor that none of them returned. We can't find any trace of this splinter group. But the going theory is, they were responsible for Ilvermorny." Harry concluded. Glances were all shared around the table before Molly, Arthur and Ginny were all looking at Hermione.
"Why are you all staring at me?" Hermione asked.
"Well, don't you think, you ought to, you know, tell them." Arthur said and titled his head towards Harry and Ron.
Hermione looked annoyed and took a deep breath.
"There's a new student at Hogwarts this year. He was brought here from America; he was a student at Ilvermorny." she said plainly. Harry and Ron were shocked. "There's more, I've been asked by Professor McGonagall to tutor him and rehabilitate him, so he's ready for the coming school year."
Ron threw up his hands. He looked aghast.
"Hermione! You can't. See? This is what I was talking about the other day. You shouldn't be going back to Hogwarts! There's always some kind of danger! And now you're right on top of it, aren't you? He's clearly a Death Eater in disguise!" Ron sounded terrified.
"Oh, please Ronald! I've spent hours with him, and he never once drank anything that wasn't water or pumpkin juice." Hermione shot back. "So, it's not polyjuice potion. That must be drank every hour and you know that!"
"Hermione, you do have to admit, it is all a bit suspicious." Harry said, adding his own skepticism to the conversation.
"Besides, he's too young to be a Death Eater, he's our age." Hermione interjected.
"Malfoy is too, and he took the mark and everything. This guy probably is just waiting until you turn your back so he can blast you." Ron said.
"Ron does have a point dear, maybe you should think about staying where it's safe." Molly said. Hermione was far too clever to be outsmarted here.
"If you're so suspicious, come and meet him then." Hermione challenged her two friends. "Come to one of the rehab sessions. I'm sure he'll be glad to meet the both of you."
"Alright. We will." Harry said. He knew better than to get too involved when the Weasleys all started to dogpile. He felt bad for Hermione though, usually it was someone who deserved it, like Ron or someone who had asked for it like Percy or Fred when he was alive or George.
"Be there tomorrow, one o'clock third floor corridor on the right-hand side." Hermione said, without ever specifying she meant the school, but they all knew.
"Oh, you're joking." Ron said exasperatedly. "I hate that room…"
That night Harry stayed at The Burrow, in some ways it felt like old times. Harry and Ron, up in Ron's room playing Exploding Snap or chess with Hermione and Ginny in Ginny's room.
If Hermione had not been sleeping in here since the war ended it would not have felt so melancholy, but the argument at dinner had left her feeling dejected.
Hermione decided to slip out of the house and take a walk through the garden. She was shocked when Harry caught up to her, nearly scaring her when he came alongside her.
"Hey." He spoke. "You ok?" he asked as if he had not read that something was not right from dinner.
"Not really." Hermione admitted, looking down. "Things have been rough." Harry looked surprised.
"Really? The way Ron talks you're doing well." Harry said.
"Ronald says a lot of things. I just wish he understood more." Hermione looked down as they walked.
"About you going back to Hogwarts?" Harry pressed.
"Yes. It's so vastly important to me. He just doesn't see it." Hermione sighed. "And it's not like you're trying to tell Ginny not to go."
"No, she'd jinx me if I did." Harry chuckled. Hermione even smiled.
"Look, you've got a lot on your plate. You're sure you want to be taking on this new student?" Harry asked.
"Yes! I'm not repeating third year." she said, recalling the use of the time turner and her overwhelming workload that year. "Helping someone else gives me an extra bit of revision and I can never study too much. You know that."
"Yeah, I do." Harry chuckled again.
"Ron's just worried is all. I doubt that this new person is anything to be afraid of. The odds are it's just a coincidence that he's from Ilvermorny. Just a coincidence." He was half trying to convince himself.
"Professor McGonagall thinks he might have been the real target, not the school. That's why he's supposed to be a secret, if word got out, he was still alive and someone else was targeting him, they might come after him. And honestly, he's a sweet person, but he's totally out of his depth. He'd be easy to pick off." Hermione explained.
"I suppose this won't help any either then…" Harry said and pulled a piece of parchment from his pocket. Hermione's eyes grew wide.
Antonin Dolohov Escaped from Azkaban
The header was from an official Ministry of Magic internal memo. Hermione stopped and stared. After a moment she closed her eyes and drew a breath to calm herself. She knew there would be no way the school year was going to be normal and not fraught with danger.
"This isn't good Harry." Hermione said.
"I know it isn't. I think that's why they gave me this assignment looking into Ilvermorny. The Ministry wants me out of the light for a while, doing something to keep me busy but not drawing attention." Harry said.
"It took a while to catch him didn't it, last time?" Hermione asked.
"He was one of the last ones we rounded up. No one knew why he was so hard to track down. The other Death Eaters were loads easier. It never made sense. Not to mention, Flitwick beat him during the Battle of Hogwarts."
"There's that look in your eye." Hermione said.
"What look?"
"The one you always get when you're about to go getting into trouble again."
"Well, McGonagall can't give me detention this time." Harry said. Hermione laughed. It felt good to get that out.
"Thank you, Harry." She spoke.
"For what? I didn't do anything?" He looked confused.
"For being you." Hermione said and hugged him. It felt good to have him at least, on her side.
"And don't worry about Ron. He'll come round; he always does." Harry said.
"Even if it's as I'm getting on the train to Hogwarts." Hermione grinned as she Harry shared a few more chuckles before turning in for the night.