Hermione sat on the chair next to Ron, her arms crossed and shoulders tense. She was biting her lip in disbelief. She let Ron and Kingsley do the talking and only listened. Only when she had a strong desire to ask something, she would.
"You mean to say... you saw him? Did you talk to him?" Ron asked.
He was very interested in this story, and believed every word to be true, while Hermione was still skeptical.
"Yes. You-Know-Who had me locked up. I was caught and sent to the dungeons a few months prior to escaping and that's where I met him. I wanted to help Harry, but I had no idea how to. I promised to find a way to get him out of there."
"But, why were you kept in imprisonment? Why did they need you to stay alive? How did you end up there and- how did you escape?" Hermione asked.
"I'm not sure why they kept me. Ever since the war, I tried to stay hidden. I moved place to place in order to escape his wrath. True, it was quite selfish of me, but I wanted to live," he said with a frown, "I reached a house one day and, seeing it with open arms made me go in. Of course it was stupid of me to do so but I hadn't had a goodnight's sleep in ages so I decided to stay. I went inside, only to find a couple of Death Eaters who surrounded me. They took me to You-Know-Who and snapped my wand. He ordered me to be put in the dungeons."
"So, you mean to say that all this time you were alive, and instead of helping us end his reign, you thought of your own life!?" Hermione was furious. She couldn't believe how selfish Kingsley had been.
"Calm down, Hermione," Ron said, he looked back at Kingsley and asked, "How did you escape then?"
"After reaching there, and seeing Harry so injured and-, I came back to my senses. I don't understand why I had been so selfish. I-I just can't explain how much pain he was in, both physically and mentally. I tried to find a way for us to escape but, with all those Death Eaters, it was impossible. I saw that Lucius Malfoy had been visiting almost everyday, to remind Mr. Potter about how he were to die a painful death, and You-Know-Who would take over completely," he paused with a sigh, then continued, "One day, I saw that, instead of Lucius Malfoy, his son had come. He ordered the guards to go outside and started using the Cruciatus Curse on Harry Potter, only I snatched the wand from him, before he seriously injured Mr. Potter and petrified him. The guards had heard him scream and started raging in. I used the wand to petrify him, and I was able to escape."
Hermione and Ron left the room with their minds full of questions that were yet to be answered. Hermione left for her room, while Ron went to have dinner with the Weasleys.
Hermione lay in her bed with her bushy brown hair still wet because of the shower she'd had. She wanted to sleep, and was really exhausted but couldn't. She twisted and turned by wasn't able to fall asleep. All she could think of was if Harry was ok. She knew what she was going to do.
The next day, Hermione went to Ron to have a talk. She had decided that they were going to go and save Harry, no matter what it takes.
Ron was downstairs, having breakfast with Mrs. Weasley. Hermione asked where everyone else was only to find out that George and Ginny were outside, watering the plants and the rest had gone to Diagon Alley to take out some money from their vaults. Hermione found that the perfect opportunity to leave without having to answer too many questions. It would probably take everyone a few hours to return. Hermione patted Ron, who was stuffing his mouth with pumpkin pie on the shoulder and signaled him to go upstairs with her.
Ron quickly followed her. Seeing Hermione's expression, he knew whatever she wanted to talk about was serious, and that it couldn't wait. He realized that it was Harry she was going to talk about. Ron, himself needed to have a talk with her as they had to do something about it and found this as a good opportunity. Hermione knew that no one would believe Harry was alive without any evidence. She, herself, was still doubting it as Kingsley had no proof, but hearing about how Harry was suffering there, she needed to see for herself. What if it was true? If she would think now that he was dead and wouldn't do something about it, something bad could happen to Harry. She just had a feeling that he was alive, now that she'd listened to what Kingsley had to say, just like how Ron had a feeling he was alive ever since Kingsley said it.
Ron and Hermione went into the study and Hermione closed the door behind her, making sure no one would listen.
"What is it Hermione? You look like you haven't slept all night," Ron asked.
"My sleep is the last thing we ought to worry about right now, Ronald," she answered.
"So what is it that you want to talk about?"
"Harry. We need to save him," she went straight to the point.
"What?" Ron's mind lagged. "Yeah, I mean, I was thinking the same thing, but how're we going to do it?"
"We have to leave as quickly as possible. I've packed all the necessary things and-"
"Wait," Ron stopped her, "Leave? What are we supposed to do when we leave? How're we going to find Harry? And if we do find him, what are we going to do to help him escape? And after escaping, how are we going to end You-Know-Who?"
"All I know is that we have to kill the snake."