|7.6| A place to hide

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EVERYTHING SEEMED FUZZY, SLOW. Grace, Harry and Hermione jumped to their feet and drew their wands. Many people were only just realizing that something strange had happened; heads were still turning toward the silver cat as it vanished. Silence spread outward in cold ripples from the place where the Patronus had landed. Then somebody screamed.

Grace, Harry and Hermione threw themselves into the panicking crowd. Guests were sprinting in all directions; many were Disapparating; the protective enchantments around the Burrow had broken.

"Ron!" Hermione cried. "Ron, where are you?"

As they pushed their way across the dance floor, Grace saw cloaked and masked figures appearing in the crowd; then she saw Remus and Tonks, their wands raised, and heard both of them shout, "Protego!", a cry that was echoed on all sides –

"Ron! Ron!" Hermione called, half sobbing as she, Grace and Harry were buffered by terrified guests: Grace  seized both Harry and Hermione's hand to make sure they weren't separated as a streak of light whizzed over their heads, whether a protective charm or something more sinister she did not know –

And then Ron was there. He caught hold of Hermione's free arm, and Grace felt her turn on the spot; sight and sound were extinguished as darkness pressed in upon her; all she could feel was Hermione's and Harry's hand as she was squeezed 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.

Grace opened his eyes. For a moment she thought they had not left the wedding after all; They still seemed to be surrounded by people.

"Tottenham Court Road," panted Hermione. "Walk, just walk, we need to find somewhere for you to change."

Grace did as she asked. They half walked, half ran up the wide dark street thronged with late-night revelers and lined with closed shops, stars twinkling above them. A double-decker bus rumbled by and a group of merry pub-goers ogled them as they passed.

"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 –"

"Hermione's got the clock and the clothes for us," said Grace. "Just try and act naturally until – "

"This will do." said Hermione as she led them down a side street, then into the shelter of a shadowy alleyway.

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