~A/N>alrighty then, here's another chapter! Thanks to everyone who read and/or reviewed the last chapter,
the reviews were great! I try to respond to as many as I can before my kids pull me from the computer. There are quotes
inserted before each section of this chapter; they are relative to the section, I promise. They actually give a little
hint about one of the characters in that section. The first ones easy, and I know y'all are smart, so you'll
figure out who the second and third one pertain to. I will try to update again as soon as I can! Thanks to Spaz141 for
the help and great ideas!!
~*~
"She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom."~ "The Scarlet Letter".
When our carriage arrived in front of the school, Hermione, Ron and I got out and made our way inside. As we were
walking towards the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall intercepted us and said that Professor Dumbledore wanted to see us
in his office. We approached the stone gargoyle and said the password, "Skivving Snackboxes"; making our way
up the stairs, Hermione grabbed my hand and held it tightly. I looked down at her and gave her a small smile of
encouragement as we walked into the office.
On the right side of Dumbledore's desk stood Crabbe, Goyle and Malfoy, still bound with rope and looking very surly. The Headmaster motioned for us to sit in the three chairs that were sitting on the opposite side of his desk as he sat down in his own chair. "So Ms. Granger, Professor McGonagall said that Mr. Malfoy attempted to...attack you?"
"Yes Sir" she replied, looking directly at him. "After our Prefects meeting, Ron and I went to find Harry. We were making our way down the corridor when suddenly we were attacked from behind. Crabbe and Goyle each grabbed one of Ron's arms and Malfoy grabbed both of mine, and then they pushed us into the next empty compartment. Crabbe, Goyle and Ron started fighting while Malfoy proceeded to push me down onto one of the seats. He...ripped my shirt open and kept saying that I was going to get what I deserved, and that once he was done with me..."
"Please continue Ms. Granger" said Dumbledore, looking at her with compassion in his eyes. "I know it must be hard for you, but I need to know what happened before I give out their punishment."
Hermione nodded her head slightly and took a deep breath before she said, without looking at anyone, "he said that once he was done with me, Harry, or any guy for that matter, would never want to see or touch me again."
I went to jump out of my chair, hell-bent on strangling Malfoy, but Hermione held on to my hand tightly. "Please don't Harry" she whispered. "He's really not worth it."
"He may not be worth it" I said, "but you are." I was rewarded with a sweet smile from her as she squeezed my hand.
Dumbledore nodded and said, "Ms. Granger, would you mind stepping out of the office with me for a moment?" She looked at him with curiosity written all over her face, and then nodded while standing up. She followed him out the door, and then it closed, shutting us in the office with the three imbeciles.
Ron looked at me and said, "if Dumbledore wasn't right outside, now would be the perfect time to have a pop at them."
I looked at Ron and shook my head; I couldn't blame him really, it had been two against one and Ron had been on the losing end. I'd probably want to take advantage of the situation too if I had been the one they beat up. I was surprised that Malfoy hadn't been spouting off, but when I looked at him, I realized that he couldn't. His mouth was moving, but no words were coming out; Dumbledore must have used the silencing spell on them.
A few minutes later the door opened and Hermione followed Dumbledore back into the room. She sat back down in her chair and when I looked at her, I noticed that she had a Cheshire cat grin on her face. "What's going on?" I asked.
"You'll see" she replied, still smiling.
"Well, Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Crabbe and Mr. Goyle, thanks to your families influence with the Board of Governors, I was not allowed to dole out the punishment I saw fit to give, which was expelling the three of you from Hogwarts." Malfoy's snotty smirk appeared on his face, but quickly vanished as Dumbledore said, "I would not get so confident yet Mr. Malfoy. I have decided that since I was not allowed to expel you, then Ms. Granger should be allowed to choose your punishment."
Malfoy looked at Hermione with such a look of hate in his eyes that I once again felt the urge to get up and beat the crap out of him. Hermione, however just stood up with an air of confidence about her, and approached Malfoy with the same smile on her face. She walked right up to him, her eyes never strayed from his once, and I felt immensely proud of her in that moment. She was standing up to him and showing him she wasn't scared; she brought out her wand, and waving it in front of Malfoy's face said, "Engravate!" I watched in awe as the words "attempted rapist" appeared on his forehead in glowing red letters. Ron looked as if Christmas had come early, and the pride I felt tripled. She repeated her actions with Crabbe and Goyle, only their foreheads read "attempted murderers".
"Um, murderers?" I asked, thinking the term a little harsh, even for them.
She turned to look at me, and I could see the conviction in her eyes. "You didn't see the way they attacked Ron, Harry. Who knows what they would have done had you not shown up."
"Those words shall stay on your foreheads for one month, of which you will also be serving detention with Professor McGonagall, every day", explained Dumbledore. Malfoy's eyes grew wide and he kept looking up towards his forehead, as if trying to read what it said there. With a wave of his hand, the ropes fell from around them and I heard a small noise come from either Crabbe or Goyle. Malfoy shot a dirty look towards us and then stalked out of the office at a fast pace. I knew he was going to find a mirror to see what words he would be wearing for a month.
Dumbledore excused us so that we could go to the Welcoming Feast, and as we made our way down the corridor that led to the Great Hall, I looked at Hermione and asked " 'Mione, what gave you the idea for that punishment?
"I got it from the book 'The Scarlet Letter' by Nathaniel Hawthorne" she said, smiling. "The only difference is that in the book, they were forced to wear signs around their necks with the first letter of their crimes on it; Malfoy's would have had 'AM' on it."
~*~
"No man for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true."~ "The Scarlet Letter".
Things went somewhat smoothly after our first day; classes went on per usual and Quidditch started up once more, to the delight of the boys. Harry's lifetime ban was lifted so that he could play again, plus he was made the team captain, and I hadn't seen him that happy in a long time. Dumbledore asked Harry to start up the DA once again, and with everything he had going, he asked if I could schedule the meetings for him. Of course I agreed, and we started to have one meeting a week. Harry did wonderfully, and seemed really confident in his abilities, which made me extremely proud.
One morning during breakfast, the owl post arrived and I received my Daily Prophet. There, on the front page, was the announcement that we had been dreading; the Death Eaters had escaped from Azkaban, including Lucius Malfoy. Shortly after receiving the newspaper, an eagle owl flew towards Malfoy; he was an outcast of Slytherin house now, and he and his cronies sat at the end of the table by themselves. As he read the letter the bird had brought him, his face turned pale and when he finished reading, he looked around the Great Hall with fear in his eyes. I wondered what had been so frightening in that letter; if it was from his Father and it scared even him, it must be something horrible. As I watched him, he looked up and caught my eye, and what I saw in his stare frightened me; he looked truly concerned and almost like he wanted to come over to our table and talk to me. The change in his demeanor alone was enough to concern me, but the fact that he seemed worried for my welfare made it downright scary.
I had noticed a slight alteration in Draco's behavior over the past couple of weeks; he seemed to be distancing himself from anyone associated with Slytherin and I had actually seen him by himself in the Library a couple of nights. When he saw me, he would look at me, but not with the same look of hate he usually wore. He looked almost...apologetic and I didn't know how to take his sudden change. I couldn't decide if it was a set-up or if he was truly trying to turn his life around.
I decided to keep my wonderings about Malfoy to myself for the time being and concentrated all of my attention on the DA and course work. I had taken every class I was offered after I received my O.W.L. results; I had gotten twelve O.W.L.'s, which was a perfect score. I had been thrilled when I saw my results and was even happier when Harry said he had gotten nine out of twelve. Ron had gotten only seven, but he seemed happy with his results; his Mum on the other hand kept pushing him to do better this year, which only served to aggravate him more.
After a very rigorous six weeks, our first Hogsmead weekend was upon us, and I couldn't wait to get out of the castle for a little while. Harry and Ron seemed to share my sentiment, because they were even more intolerable than usual.
"Hurry up and finish eating so that we can go" said Ron, glaring at me. I looked at him, curious as to why he was in such a hurry to leave; as if knowing what I was thinking, his cheeks became pink and he mumbled "I'm supposed to meet Luna by the front doors so that we can share a carriage."
I heard Harry trying to stifle his laughter next to me, and trying to keep the smile off of my face, I asked, "you wouldn't be referring to 'Loony Lovegood' by any chance, would you?"
He tossed a piece of bread that he had been playing with at me and said, "don't start with me; Harry's been teasing me something horrible ever since he found out I asked her to go with me this weekend."
I looked at Harry and asked, "and why didn't you tell me that he asked Luna to go?"
"Because he swore me to secrecy; he said I wasn't even allowed to tell you" Harry replied. "You'd have thought he'd know better than to tell me; you would have been the better choice to share his little secret with, because I have teased him mercilessly all week."
"I doubt it, I probably would have had a go at him about it also" I replied, sharing a smile with Harry and then we both broke out in laughter.
Ron glared at both of us and said, "hah bloody hah; some friends you two are." He got up from the table and started to walk away as Harry and I tried to quell our laughter long enough to go after him. By the time we caught up with him, he was standing next to Luna and we broke out in a fresh round of laughter as we spotted his beet red face.
Harry and I actually shared a carriage with him and Luna, but only after he took us aside and made us swear to quit laughing. Of course we both agreed and as I watched the passing scenery out the carriage window, I realized what a fun day it had been already; it felt good to laugh with Harry like that and just be a normal teenager for once.
~*~
"It is to the credit of human nature, that, except where its selfishness is brought into play, it loves more readily than it hates. Hatred, by a gradual and quiet process, will even be transformed to love, unless the change be impeded by a continually new irritation of the original feeling of hostility."~ "The Scarlet Letter"
Hermione's eyes were bright with happiness, and I found myself staring at her quite a bit as we walked around
Hogsmead together. Ron had pulled Luna away from us the minute they were out of the carriage and headed in the opposite
direction of where we were going. I knew Ron was a little peeved at us, but Hermione and I had both taken our fair
share of ribbing from him over the years; it wouldn't hurt for him to get a little dose of his own medicine for
once.
The first place we went was Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, of course, and I couldn't help but watch Hermione as she happily flitted around the store; it had been the happiest I had ever seen her. She seemed as if she hadn't a care in the world, and that, in turn, made me extremely happy. After that we went to Gladrags because she wanted to look around. She would try on clothes and ask my opinion; I told her that she looked good in anything she wore. I was trying to decide between two jumpers, and I had casually asked her which one she thought would look good on me, the maroon colored one or the emerald colored one. She chose the maroon one and then completely floored me when she made an offhand comment about how similar the colors were to our Quidditch uniforms and how good I looked in it; when I asked her to repeat what she had said, she just smiled as if she hadn't said a word.
When Hermione asked where I wanted to go after that, I had said Zonko's joke shop, expecting her to start lecturing me about how I would only find things to get me in trouble there. Imagine my shock when she agreed to go, and then seemed to have fun looking at the various jokes and tricks they sold there. After I had picked up a couple of things, I offered to let her choose the next shop, and she said she wanted to go to Honeyduke's. We made our way into the store, hand in hand, thoroughly enjoying the day so far and feeling like normal teenagers for once. After buying sugar quills and chocolate frogs, we left the store with plans to go to the Three Broomsticks; unfortunately, we never got there.
We had taken about five steps away from Honeyduke's when Bellatrix Lestrange jumped out from behind the next building, her wand pointing directly at me. "Potty wee Potter, we meet again!" she said, smiling like a maniac. Someone else came out and stood next to her, but I didn't pay any attention until I felt Hermione squeeze my hand painfully; Dolohov stood there glaring at her, looking like he was ready to pounce on her at any moment. We both seemed to come to our senses finally and brought our wands out, pointing them at the two Death Eaters in front of us.
When Bellatrix had the start of a curse on her lips, a loud, male voice behind her said "I thought I told you to just apprehend them? I don't recall saying that you could engage them in a duel." I knew that voice...
Lucius Malfoy pushed them aside and walked up to us, his hatred shining in his eyes. I was proud of Hermione when she didn't take a step back from him; she stood her ground next to me, no matter how scared she was at that moment. "If it isn't Potter and his mudblood girlfriend" he sneered, sounding disgusted. "I'm surprised Dumbledore even let you out of the castle."
"Why wouldn't he?" I asked, and then feigning insight said, "Oh, right, the escape of you lot, the scum of the wizarding world."
His eyes narrowed so much that they were now nothing but tiny slits; he was breathing quickly as if trying to contain his anger, albeit unsuccessfully. "Meddlesome boy; it's time you learned how to respect those that are above your social standing. Cru..."
"Expelliarmus!" came a voice, one I never would have believed if I hadn't seen the person it came from. Draco stood off to the side of us, his wand drawn, having just disarmed his own Father.
"What do you think you're DOING?!!" yelled Lucius, glaring at his son. He held his hand out and quickly said "accio wand". I watched it fly to his hand, and he was armed once more. "I will take care of them, and then I will take care of you."
He turned to us once again, but he must have seen Draco move out of the corner of his eye because he quickly turned his wand on him and yelled "Crucio!" Draco dropped to the ground, trying not to scream in pain as I tried to comprehend how a Father could cause his own son so much anguish. Hermione acted quickly as she trained her wand on Lucius and yelled "Stupefy!"
He expertly dodged the jet of light, and after that, all hell broke loose. If anyone had ever said that I would one day fight alongside Draco Malfoy, I would have told them they were nutters. But the three of us fought side by side that day against Bellatrix, Dolohov and Lucius; what seemed to be about half an hour later, Tonks, Kingsley and another Auror I'd never seen before showed up and apprehended the three of them. Hermione had a pretty deep cut on her left arm and complained that her entire body hurt while I couldn't feel the entire right side of my body. I didn't hear the curse that caused it, so I hoped that Madam Pomfrey would know how to reverse it.
After Tonks had bound the three Death Eaters and took them away, Kingsley walked up to Draco, who was lying unconscious on the ground. "I'll take him to St. Mungo's before we take him into custody" he said, pointing his wand at Draco and levitating him off the ground.
Without hesitation I said, "No, Kingsley, he fought with us today." He looked at me strangely, as if wondering if I had been hit by one too many curses, and I limped my way over to him. "He fought against his Father today and probably saved our lives."
He studied me for a moment and then nodded. "Well then, we need to get the three of you back to Hogwarts so that Madam Pomfrey can fix you up. Don't suppose you happen to know why Draco's unconscious?"
"He was hit with a wide range of curses" I said. "The only reason Hermione and I fared so well was that we have been learning a bunch of defensive spells for the DA. Malfoy, on the other hand, has never come to our meetings, so he really didn't stand much of a chance."
After that, Tonks returned from dropping off Lucius and his friends, and the three Aurors took us back to school in one of the carriages. Tonks must have somehow notified him, because Dumbledore was waiting for us when the carriage stopped and Hermione and I stumbled out with Kingsley's help. Dumbledore conjured three stretchers and levitated us up to the Hospital Ward, where Pomfrey kept muttering about how she saw way too much of me and bustled about, treating us. She wasn't too sure why Malfoy was unconscious and used every counter-curse she knew. He was awake for about two minutes, and then he was right back out again.
Dumbledore came over to talk to Hermione and I once Madam Pomfrey had done all she could for us; we would of course be spending the night in the ward again. When I saw his face, I knew something else, besides us being attacked, was wrong and waited for him to speak first. "I am afraid I have received some terrible news" he said, looking from Hermione to me. "At the same time you were attacked, the rest of Voldemorts Death Eaters attacked three separate muggle and wizard towns in England; there are thousands dead and injured, and it looks as if it is only the beginning." He sat down on the end of my bed, sighing heavily and looking all of his one hundred and fifty years as he said, "It would seem that the Second War is upon us."
~"The Scarlet Letter" was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I know there is still a lot that needs to be
explained, namely Draco's complete turn around, and it will come in the next chapter. There are a couple of other
things that will be explained too, and the trio will finish their sixth year. Please review, I love hearing from you
and they are very inspiring!