Author's Note: Hey, all! Here's the next chapter for me, and I apologize for the delay, but in the wake of the Book-Which-Should-Not-Be-Named, I found it difficult to find the love for the characters that I once had. But, I plan to finish this fic, and thank all of you for reading. There will be one more chapter, and an epilogue to follow.
Happy Reading!
Chapter 10 - Dangerous Territory
Early the next morning, Harry absently greeted the first risers of Gryffindor House as they headed off to breakfast before returning his attention to the book on his lap. He could feel some more than mildly curious looks for his early morning occupation.
Ron came down a few minutes after the first exodus to the Great Hall with a sly smirk and took a seat across from his friend. Dean and Seamus clattered down the steps, followed by Neville and Colin Creevey. They headed out the portrait hole with Seamus engaged in telling a rather off-color joke. He passed out of Harry's hearing as he reached the punch line but Harry heard the huffy exclamation of the Fat Lady followed by the definite slamming closed of the portrait hole that cut off the boys' laughter.
Harry looked back at Ron and found him staring with an expectant expression.
"What?" He questioned his red-headed friend.
"So, how were your dreams last night? Anything you'd care to share?" Ron waggled his eyebrows knowingly.
Harry was taken aback. "My dreams? What are you on about, Ron?"
Ron leaned forward, looking about the empty common room before whispering. "You were saying girls' names in your sleep, mate."
Harry froze, and felt the rush of blood to his cheeks. "Girls' names? I don't know what you talking about."
"You were muttering, but I clearly heard Parvati's name. Maybe Lavender as well, though I expected Hermione's name as a given. Bloody girl is on a tear again about the latest Charms test that's coming up and how we haven't studied properly for it," Ron shook his head sadly. "The girl is almost as bad as she was in Third Year."
Desperately, Harry dove back into his book to avoid Ron's gaze and sought for some comment to distract his friend. "Well, erm - you know how important such things are for her. So, how about the new strategies for the Ravenclaw match?" Ron's expression grew suspicious as he narrowed his eyes and inwardly, Harry prayed for intervention.
Distraction arrived in the forms of Hermione and a loud growl from Ron's stomach. Harry glanced up quickly at his female friend and stuffed the book he had been reading into his bookbag.
Hermione's eyes reflected her surprise at both boys' presence. "A bit early for you lot, isn't it?"
Harry just shrugged nonchalantly, while Ron rubbed his middle. Hermione smiled and shook her head. Ron followed Hermione, while Harry tarried behind for a moment, hoping that the blush that had risen to his cheeks would subside by the time they reached the Great Hall.
###
A few hours later, Harry returned to the empty Common Room with a deep sigh of relief. He'd been struggling all day against his memories and reflexive blushing. If only Ron knew exactly why he'd been muttering names last night. Would probably put the red-head off eating for a day or so.
He'd managed to enter the dorm undetected, but was surprised to find that the 6th year girls dormitory was still lit. The boys had been asleep for at least a couple of hours by now, but the girls were still up and about. Maybe Hermione's late night studies weren't so unremarkable after all.
Slouching down into the chair near the fireplace, Harry closed his eyes wearily as he recalled what had happened to him last night.
After climbing the stairs and slipping through the door silently, Harry tracked Hermione's scent to her bed and trunk easily enough. He heard the voices of the girls, including Hermione's, coming from the bathroom beyond.
Quickly, he shifted form to human and carefully lifted the latch on the trunk. It had taken only a moment to lift the lid, and find the journal. He had snatched it up and lowered the lid quietly. Such good luck, he thought.
Of course, it couldn't last for him, now could it?
The sound of the bathroom door opening had sent him into a shift and a quick dart under Hermione's bed. He was lucky that Hermione was as neat as he and Ron were messy. The floor under his bed would not be as clean and bare as hers had been.
Peeking out from the end of Hermione's bed, he had an excellent view of the girls entering from the lavatory in their selected nightwear selections.
Somehow, up to now, Harry had never spent much time imagining or fantasizing about the about underwear choices of girls as the other boys in his dorm had, but he was certainly making up for that now.
Parvati's nightdress was a short, sheer negligee that didn't look like it could stand up to a strong draught, much less the usual chill of the Castle. Harry tried to avert his eyes from her shashaying form, but the flash of multicolor behind her caught his gaze with horror.
Lavender preferred an incredibly loud tartan teddy, but not one of the shades in it blended well with the starkly magenta shade of the face cream that was slathered across her face like a mask.
Her blond hair was bound up in rag curlers that stuck out at odd angles from her head. The image had been horrifying compared to Parvati. The perfumes of the two girls drifted to his nose, forcing Harry to restrain a sneeze with difficulty.
Harry pulled his head back a bit from the edge as Hermione approached her bed. She was much better kitted out for sleep to Harry's mind with her overlarge tee-shirt and sleep pants. He wondered how the other two slept at all in their outfits.
He relaxed a bit when the girls crawled into their beds. After all, it didn't take long for the boys to get to sleep in his dormitory once they retired. With a silent sigh, he arranged his feline form more comfortably to wait.
He couldn't have been more wrong.
What followed was a graphically frank discussion of the various merits of the boys in their year and more information than Harry would have ever wanted to know about his fellow students. The only bright spot to the scene was that Hermione didn't participate in the general talk, but Lavender and Parvati didn't seem to require any additional input to continue. He guessed that Hermione was already aware of that fact.
As she sat in bed and read, the warming of the bedcovers released more of her scent. Harry felt his eyes beginning to droop closed as it relaxed him. It slowly overwhelmed the strong patchouli of Parvati and the heavy floral perfume that Lavender favored. He much preferred Hermione's scent anyway normally, but his animagus form enjoyed it. That fact was a bit disconcerting for Harry to acknowledge.
"So, Hermione, which is it? Ron or Harry?"
The sharp question caught both Harry and Hermione by surprise. His eyes widened as he heard Hermione's stunned response.
"Pardon me?"
Lavender snorted. "Don't give us that, Miss Prefect. Which one do you prefer? Or have you already had them both?"
"Well, neither one is hard on the eyes," Parvati chuckled. "Though I would think Weasley would be a passionate snog if you got him going."
"I'd agree with that, though it might be hard to be in competition with a good shepherd's pie for attention." Lavender chortled.
Harry heard Hermione's book slammed shut. "I don't know what you two are on about, they are my friends!"
"So? It's not a crime for you to date your friends. We just want to know which one is better," Lavender said. "Or do you prefer having both of them? Tsk, tsk, Hermione, it's rude not to share the wealth."
Harry felt his eyes starting to cross; an uncomfortable state given his current form. These two were the worst gossipmongers in the entire house, and he didn't like to contemplate what else they might be saying about him and his friends.
"It's none of your business who I prefer, Lavender!" Hermione spat.
Parvati made a dissenting noise. "Of course it's our business, you silly girl. We need to know, information like that is important. You don't want some other girl to inadvertently poach on your territory, do you?"
Hermione was making strange gasping sounds that were starting to concern Harry. "Ron and Harry are my friends. I thought I made that clear enough during fourth year!"
"That was fourth year, Hermione," Parvati sighed. "This is sixth year. Things have changed."
A short silence fell, and Harry worried for a moment that he might have been discovered, then Hermione said softly. "It doesn't matter who I like, Parvati. They are their own people, and they make their own decisions."
"Then you wouldn't mind if I asked Ron to go to Hogsmeade with me?" Lavender asked archly.
"Of course not!" Hermione exclaimed heatedly. "He's his own person and can decide for himself if he wants to go with you."
"I bet I can get Harry off by himself there," Parvati said. "You know the old saying; the quiet brooding types are always the best at the physical stuff."
Harry nearly came out of his skin at that comment.
"Harry wouldn't fall for such a pathetic ploy," Hermione sneered.
Harry shuddered in agreement. The idea of being pursued by a girl wasn't completely awful, but the uncomfortable impression of being stalked chilled him. He would make a point to avoid any possible encounters with the dark haired girl in the future.
"Oh, really? He's a boy, after all," Lavender answered. "They are rather simple that way, you know."
Parvati laughed. "And that's how we know he would fall for it."
Hermione's tone turned to ice. "If that's all you're going on, you're sure to fail."
"Oooh," Lavender cooed. "I think someone's issued a challenge, Parvati."
Harry felt the bed shake as Hermione huffed loudly and heard pages being turned.
"Well, shorten the skirt and open the blouse. That's the quickest way to get his attention," Parvati said wickedly.
Harry raised an eyebrow at that. Not bad of an idea, in general, but he wasn't enthusiastic about the whole idea of Parvati using it to come on to him.
The bed began to shudder and the pages began turn furiously. He knew Hermione was a fast reader, but not that fast.
"A nice shade of lip-gloss and a touch of Sleekeasy's to finish the look," Lavender chimed.
"And what should we talk about?" Parvati asked.
"There has to be talking?"
Hermione's book slammed to the floor just scant inches from Harry's head. He jerked back reflexively and then froze, hoping his movement hadn't given his presence away.
"Of course there has to be talking," Parvati said archly. "It can't be all snogging."
There was a long pause. "It can't be all snogging?" Lavender queried worriedly.
"Of course not, so what would be of interest to someone like Harry Potter?"
Harry wondered himself during the pause. What would interest him for conversation with a girl? He had never really thought about that aspect of a dating relationship, and his previous track record with girls he was interested in was not stellar.
"Well, he's not especially interested in schoolwork, so classwork is out," Parvati sounded thoughtful as she continued. "Though he's pretty brilliant at DADA."
Lavender snorted at that. "Discussing Hinkypunks and Dementors would put me off any thought of romance first thing.
Both girls fell quiet then, and Harry felt the bouncing of Hermione's leg against the bed impossibly increase.
"Of course, there's…," Lavender started to say.
"Quidditch!" Both girls exclaimed in unison, and Hermione's leg stopped bouncing.
"Harry is not a trophy or prize to be won!" Hermione spat furiously.
Harry flattened his ears against the volume, but his friend's outburst brought the other two girls to silence. It went on for such a time that he was seriously tempted to peek out to see what might be going on between the roommates.
"So, it's Potter, isn't it, Hermione?" Lavender asked, her tone soft.
Hermione did not respond.
There was a tumult of thought passing through his mind at this. Hermione liked him, possibly more than simply as a friend? What should he do about that? For the major part, he felt dreadfully confused.
"What are you waiting on then, Granger?" Parvati asked in a similar tone to Lavender's. "You should be landing him by now. The boy is pretty much putty in your hands, we've all seen that."
Putty? Outraged, Harry nearly growled aloud. He was not putty in Hermione's hands!
He heard a soft sob and then the curtains slammed shut violently around the bed. Hermione cast a Silencio then, and began to cry bitterly.
Harry cringed beneath the bed, wanting to comfort his friend but knowing that if he revealed his presence, he would only hurt her more. Crookshanks pushed his way through the curtains and gave Harry a hard glare before leaping lightly to the bed above.
Hermione greeted her familiar, and from the rustling, she was snuggling the ginger cat for comfort. He laid his head down to the cold flagstone and waited.
Hermione's crying slowed and finally ebbed into silence. Harry cautiously inched his nose through the curtains beyond the Silencing spell and listened to the sounds of the other two girls.
Lavender was snoring rather loudly, and Parvati's breathing was slow enough to indicate sleep as well. Harry nudged the book out in front of him and carefully slinked from beneath the bed. Some time had definitely passed, because the cold of the stone floor and the tight position had cramped every muscle.
Snatching the book into his jaws, Harry beat a hasty retreat back to his own dormitory.
His bookbag fell against his leg and brought Harry back to the present. He needed to finish Sirius' journal as soon as possible. It had to be the source of Hermione's knowledge of the tailored Hypnotic potion that so worried Professor McGonagall.
With a heavy sigh, Harry opened the book and settled more comfortably into the seat cushions.
###
The quest for the information lasted until just before dinner. Harry turned a page and noticed a strange heaviness to it. Examining it closer, he noticed a slight magical tingle as he ran his finger along the edge of the page.
Going with a hunch, he pulled out his wand. "Finite Incantatum."
The pages fell apart and revealed the process by which the Marauders had managed to make Peter Pettigrew an animagus. Including their deliberate "pranks" to get sent to the headmaster's office enough times to gather the information necessary for the potion, he found that part with a sense of relief. McGonagall would be pleased to learn that the procedure's information had still been contained from general knowledge.
"Yes!" Harry shouted. The other students in the Common Room looked up from their studies or games in curiosity. He ducked back down behind the book with a faint blush. Way to be inconspicuous there, he thought.
He dug out a spare fragment of parchment to act as a bookmark and went to place it when a movement on the page caught his attention. An ink splotch appeared to be disappearing around the edge of the page in question.
Turning the page, Harry pursued the splotch and placed a finger in front of it. It swerved away from his finger and slithered over the edge of the page. He flipped to the next page and found it blank except for the ink splotch that was slowly forming into a silhouette of a dog in the center.
Harry began to wonder what other things Sirius' journal contained. Plucking his wand from his pocket, he cast a standard revealing spell.
The ink dog shook himself and lifted his leg. Ink droplets began to spray from the book, causing Harry to slam it shut and then cast a quick "Scourgify" to clean his clothes and face.
He heard the portrait hole open then, followed by Ron's voice asking Hermione why she wouldn't let him copy her notes for Charms. Harry shoved the journal inside his bag to examine later and rose to greet his friends.
Hermione was quiet during dinner that evening, and Harry felt the tension she exuded. McGonagall's deadline was rapidly approaching. The trio parted after dinner; Harry and Ron returned to Gryffindor Tower while Hermione headed to her usual nook in the Library.
After two rounds of Wizards Chess where Ron trounced him unmercifully, Harry pulled out Sirius' journal to research it further while Ron tried to work on his Charms scroll before Hermione found out he'd put off to the last minute.
The procedure that Harry had uncovered was detailed and precise. He noticed that the scribing of the section varied with three distinct handwritings as he read through the procedure by which the Marauders had "helped" Peter Pettigrew achieve his Animagus form.
He fought off a shiver of revulsion at that. Hermione had intended to follow Pettigrew's example to achieve an Animagus form. Something was so wrong with that concept that Harry felt physically ill.
By the time he'd finished the section; Ron had completed a few inches on his essay and was now definitely fighting to stay awake. His head kept dipping toward his arm, then jerking back upright. The motion made him appear like a strange red-headed bird bobbing its head up and down. Harry smiled and glanced up at the ornate water clock on the mantle and saw the hour was late.
"You should call it an evening, mate," Harry said.
Ron looked up and blinked before responding. "Yeah, that sounds brilliant. You coming?"
"In a bit. Want to ask Hermione a question about my last Potions essay."
"Good luck with that," Ron wished earnestly. "Don't let her talk you into rewriting it though."
Harry smiled and nodded as his friend bundled his books together and headed up the stairs. There were two others still studying, and since Harry expected Hermione to return any moment, he flipped the journal open to the beginning of the blank pages where he'd seen the magical ink dog.
The dog was curled up at the bottom of the page, appearing to be asleep, but Harry was more surprised by the appearance of a stag silhouette from the edge of the page. The stag moved slowly, regally across the white expanse until he stopped next to the sleeping dog and turned his head as if looking out at Harry.
"Prongs," Harry whispered, reaching out to try and trace the ink animal. The stag bounded away from his finger, then turned about to face it and lower his head as if threatening to charge.
A third ink blotch appeared above the first two and resolved into what appeared at first to be another dog, but after closer scrutiny, Harry recognized it to be a wolf. It circled his finger and looked to be bearing its teeth.
The standard revealing spell had not worked, so Harry suspected it was something special to unlock the mystery; something only known to Sirius and the other Marauders. Sitting back with a frustrated sigh, he glanced up at the clock and realized that it was past midnight. Hermione should have been done her last patrol nearly thirty minutes ago.
The last two students finished up and departed with a quiet good night to Harry. He waited until the sound of their footsteps faded before he fished out the Marauder's Map and activated it to find Hermione's indicator. She was slowly moving back toward Gryffindor Tower. Harry wiped the map and placed it back into his pack before returning to the book.
The ink animals had moved to the outer corners of the two facing pages and were still now. It couldn't be that simple, could it? Harry wondered with a flash of inspiration.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he whispered and tapped the journal with his wand.
The animals blurred and ran into lines that resolved into the dominant handwriting of the journal's author. Harry recognized it also from Sirius' letters to him.
The section was short, but fascinating. Sirius had not had an easy time with the change either. James had been the first to master it, and Harry's godfather had been very jealous of that fact.
James was the one who discovered the Muggle relaxation techniques that had assisted Sirius with his problem with the transformation. He, like Hermione, had had great trouble with the vision quest portion. James had observed the difficulty his friend had had and scoured the books in the Library for a solution to no avail.
Harry laughed out loud at the next bit. The book with the answer had been Lily's muggle book on mediation techniques. James had swiped the book earlier that year, not because of the subject matter, but because it was hers. Sirius' record of taking the mickey out of James over the book was classic.
The rest of the section documented the process of meditation that Sirius had used to affect the vision quest and find his inner animal form. Harry hurriedly bookmarked the page and shoved the book into his bag once more.
He heard Hermione give the password to the Fat Lady as he latched his bag shut, and looked up to see his friend enter, shoulders slumped. She sat down in the squashy chair next to the fire and murmured an absent greeting.
"You're a bit late tonight, aren't you?" Harry answered as he took a seat on the nearby coach.
"I stopped to see Professor McGonagall about what topics are still available for the Advanced Transfiguration class," She responded sadly, not looking away from the fire.
Harry found her sadness to be upsetting. "Perhaps, you can try the vision quest one more time?"
"Oh, Harry, of what earthly good would that be now? I've failed every time I've tried," Hermione glanced at him, and then looked away with a faint blush on her cheeks.
Harry suppressed the urge to squirm at that reaction. Was she reacting to him, or was it her own feeling of failure that was causing her embarrassment. "When do you need to decide on the topic, or have you already done so?"
"I have until Monday's class to decide," She answered slowly. "Professor McGonagall gave me the weekend to think over the topics first."
He racked his brain for the best way to bring up what he'd discovered in the journal without tipping her off. The silence dragged on and made Harry quietly desperate to say something constructive. It was hard to think clearly with his new awareness of Hermione's possible interest in him.
The distant sound of voices from the girls' dormitory steps echoed down, followed by the sound of footsteps descended. Harry jerked his head around in alarm. Lavender and Parvati were coming down to the Common Room. Remembering the events of the previous night, Harry suddenly knew what he should do.
"So, Hermione," He turned back to his friend who raised her eyes from the fire when he spoke. "Er…Want to go to Hogsmeade tomorrow?"
She furrowed her brow in puzzlement at his tone. "Certainly, I need to pick up some new quills and ink and Ron's been whinging about running low on Chocolate Frogs."
Harry suppressed a sigh. He was such rubbish at this relationship stuff. "No, I meant…"
"Harry!" Parvati's excited squeal was excruciating. Several of the portrait's inhabitants covered their ears. He felt the sound ring in his ears for a few seconds as she came across the room.
Harry saw Hermione's expression turn stony, her dark eyes glittering. He glanced over his shoulder as the other girls approached. One didn't need to be a seer to know this wasn't going to be good.
Lavender hesitated near the table with her gaze switching from Hermione to Harry and then back again. Parvati seated herself on the arm of the couch; much too close for Harry's his comfort. Harry made a point of sliding a few inches away from her while keeping his eyes carefully away from the overt display of leg.
"Are you going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" Parvati asked him with a bright smile.
"Yes," Harry answered curtly.
"Brilliant, we can go together then," The witch slung her heavy fall of hair over her shoulder in a calculated gesture.
Hermione's foot began to bounce. Harry shifted a few inches further away from Parvati and fixed his gaze on his friend.
"I was hoping to ask about the last catch of yours against Hufflepuff; I've never seen something like that before," Parvati cooed.
Hermione shot to her feet. "He can't go with you! I've already asked him to go with me!"
Parvati looked shocked for a moment, then smirked. "Oh, really? Is that true, Harry?"
Hermione's face was flushed, her eyes desperate as she silently urged him to back her up. In that moment, Harry saw the field clear and glimpsed a metaphorical Snitch and, without a pause, seized it. He would get to go to Hogsmeade with Hermione, and he wouldn't have to make a bigger fool out of himself tonight.
"Yes, I am going to Hogsmeade with Hermione," He replied with a grin. "I've only been waiting on her to ask me." Parvati looked as stunned in that moment as Hermione did.
###
"You don't need to spend all day with me, Harry," Hermione said again in a low voice as they waited in line to checked against Filch's list.
"I thought the point of going out on a date was to spend time together," Harry kept a straight face with difficulty as he watched Hermione's eyes narrow. She huffed in vexation at his deliberate denseness.
Ron stood behind them, barely managing to restrain howls of laughter. Luna watched his antics with a soft smile, and occasionally shook her head when he sniggered aloud. Hermione hunched her back and stolidly ignored their red-headed friend's amusement.
Thankfully, no one else seemed interested in the by-play at present. The rest of the students were far more focused on passing through the roster check and getting down to Hogsmeade.
Ron's difficulty was mildly amusing, but Harry wondered if perhaps telling Ron that Hermione was going on a date with Harry to Hogsmeade after the scene in the common room had been such a good idea. Remembrance of the conversation drifted through Harry's mind as they waited in queue.
Harry had been concerned about Ron's feelings and felt it important to talk to him about the possible change in their three-way friendship. So he had chosen to tell him straightaway that night.
After Ron had woken up fully enough to comprehend what Harry was telling him, he'd brayed with laughter so loud that Harry slapped a silencing charm on him and hustled him into the bath.
Ron asked about Parvati's "move" on Harry after he got his breath back and Harry lifted the charm. "So, did she sit on the couch arm in that really short skirt of hers."
Harry smirked. "Yes, the short skirt, and yes, her legs were nice, but she was only doing it because of a challenge. And to upset Hermione, I would reckon."
Ron blinked owlishly. "How'd you figure that, mate?"
"Because they talked about it before…," Harry stopped short as he realized his error.
"Talked about it before what?" Ron scrubbed a hand through his hair and yawned.
Harry fudged the facts a bit at that point and made it seem that he'd overheard them conspiring in the Common Room. He knew he couldn't admit to spying on the girls in their dormitory, even as accidental as it had been.
"So, then Hermione asked you for a date?"
Harry bit his lip. He couldn't let that perception stand. "No, I asked her first to go with me, but she didn't understand."
Ron was silent for a moment as he digested that. "Well, you know, if you hurt her, I'll have to flatten you like a rogue Bludger."
Harry leaned his head back against the wall. "I know, are you alright with this?"
Ron's hands were gripped tightly in his lap. "I'm not good with all of it, at least not yet," he said with a sigh. "It's weird, but if it isn't me she fancies, at least it's you…better than some prat of a Bulgarian. Besides, every time I got the nerve up to ask her, something always held me back. Just isn't meant to be, I'd wager."
"But, you should be mad at me; you've fancied Hermione since fourth year, haven't you?" Harry pointedly asked.
Ron just shrugged. "I'm more mature now."
Harry cocked his head at that statement. "You're more mature now?"
His friend nodded, but his eyes slipped away from Harry's gaze, which made Harry suspicious enough to ask. "So, when did you get all mature then? Because you weren't as of a few days ago."
Ron scowled at that and fidgeted before muttering almost incoherently. "I'm learning…not a teaspoon any more…besides g'out to Hogsmeade wi'Luna."
"You're what?"
"I asked Luna to go to Hogsmeade with me," Ron said. "Tomorrow."
"You have a date with Luna tomorrow?" Harry blinked in confusion. "When did you two start dating?"
"I asked her today when her housemates were being mean to her; making fun of her never having a date. They were hurting her feelings."
Harry's eyebrows lifted at that. "How can you tell with Luna?"
Ron scowled even more darkly at that. "She wasn't as…as…sparkly."
"Sparkly?" Harry parroted.
"Hey, this isn't about me," Ron pushed to his feet. "I'm not the one who's swooning over our best friend and possibly jeopardizing our academic futures." The last bit was a pretty accurate mimicking on Hermione's bossy tones.
Harry recognized his defensiveness. "Have you told Hermione that you're going with Luna yet? She's kinda expecting that it'll be the three of us as usual tomorrow."
"What do you think I am? Mental?" Ron snorted. "You know Hermione."
"You should tell her, Ron," Harry stood and faced his tall friend squarely. "It's the right thing to do, and you know it will only cause bad feelings if you don't."
Ron nodded reluctantly. "I'll tell her at breakfast. Then it's your job to keep our resident bookworm busy," he finished with a smile and waggle of the eyebrows.
Harry watched as his friend headed back to his bed, and wondered when the idea of "keeping Hermione busy" had taken on such appeal.
Ron had kept his word and told Hermione that he and Luna were going together to Hogsmeade over breakfast. Harry felt a nice boost to his ego that Hermione was more preoccupied with him and their "situation" as she phrased it and acknowledged Ron's apparent defection with a distracted "oh, that's nice."
They reached Filch and were dutifully checked off his list, though Harry was treated to a sullen glare and sniff before they were let through the door outside. The black carriages lined the courtyard ready for passengers, as the weather was impending with heavy clouds and the occasional rumble of distant thunder.
He helped Hermione into a carriage and then took the seat beside her. After a minute, the vehicle began to roll out of the courtyard without any other passengers. A quick glance over his shoulder revealed Ron waving broadly with a bright grin.
He doesn't need to worry about becoming a rogue Bludger sometime, Harry thought exasperated, I'll introduce him to a rogue bat by tonight.
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