Harry Potter and the Lost Cities

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Harry paced across Hermione's office. It had been almost an hour since his encounter with the Neverseen, but his heart was still beating so fast, you'd think he'd have spent the last hour chasing a dragon. And his agitation made it clear that he apparently hadn't managed to catch the dragon, too.

"Harry, calm down―" Hermione tried.

"Don't tell me to calm down, 'Mione!" Harry cried. "I just lost an Auror over nothing! Nothing! We didn't learn anything!"

"Harry―"

"No! Did you even know Maya? She deserved better! But I was too stupid to save her!"

"I―"

"It's hopeless, you know that? Hopeless! They're too good! We can't beat them! I don't even know why we're trying! All it's done is lose me a good Auror and an even better friend! So you know what? I'm done! I give up! We're never gonna be able to save Rose or anyone else, so we might as well stop trying!"

Hermione had gone silent at these last words, and Harry glanced up at her. She was sitting behind her desk, suddenly stony-faced. She paused for a moment, considering her words carefully, then said, "You don't mean that, do you?"

Harry breathed heavily as what he'd said hit him. He was tempted to say that yes, he'd meant every word, that he was done fighting a battle they wouldn't win. But then Rose's face flashed through his mind, and Harry remembered Ron and Hermione's heart broken-ness over the past weeks.

"No," he sighed. "I'm sorry, 'Mione. I don't mean that."

Hermione closed her eyes, inhaling deeply. Harry felt a surge of guilt when he realized she was trying to hold back tears.

Harry bit his lip hesitantly, then walked around the desk to his friend, placing a hand gently on her knee as he crouched down next to her. "Really, Hermione. I'm sorry. I didn't know what I was saying, I was just― I've just been― I dunno." He sighed.

Hermione didn't reply for a moment, but when she did, she spoke gently. "You don't know what it's been like," she began. "Spending days and nights trying to find any trace of her. Only to come home empty-handed. And then seeing Ron, and he looks just as defeated, and I don't know how much longer either of us can keep it up... and every day, before he left back for Hogwarts, Hugo would come downstairs as soon as he heard us get home, and he would look so hopeful as he asked if we found her, and then when we said no, he would run up to his room, trying not to let us see him cry..."

"We'll find her," Harry promised. "I swear, I won't stop until I do."

Hermione nodded, taking a deep breath, then letting it out slowly. "Thank you."

Harry pulled away. "I'm sorry again that I blew up like that. I shouldn't have yelled."

Shaking her head dismissively, Hermione replied, "No worries. Just tell me again what happened?"

Harry recounted the events of the night, technically for the second time. But the first time had involved a lot of yelling, so he was pretty sure Hermione hadn't caught most of it. He gladly repeated himself, pausing when he got to what Gethen and Ruy had said about Rose.

"Closer than you think?" Hermione repeated. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know," Harry admitted. "I wondered the same thing. It felt like they were giving me a clue, but―"

Harry froze as an insane yet hopeful idea tentatively tugged at the back of his mind.

"After all, she's awfully close," Gethen had said. "Much closer than you think."