A/N: I just wanted to say that I have really appreciated all of your reviews so far and you guys have really been great. Thanks for being so patient with me and all and enjoy!
Chapter 15
Unanswered
"Are you completely mental?"
"Play games? At this time?"
"I think he's had it!"
Harry knew that he was about to get this response, and he was ready for it since he had spent much of his time at Hogwarts trying to convince many of those that attended the school that he was not hit in the head.
"Would you just listen to me?!" he shouted above the disturbed murmurings in the room.
Everyone, even Ron and Hermione, suddenly looked at him, slightly taken aback.
"Thank you," said Harry furiously. "Look, just let me explain, all right." He began to pace again.
"The only way that we can be prepared for this is if we take them by surprise. It is most casual and the best way for us to plan our steps from the Quidditch stadium. The entire school will have to be there, including the professors. We'll have our brooms and we will be divided into teams. If all of us are given the right directions, then this may just be the safest way to - "
"But Harry," said Hermione quietly. "I mean, I know what you're thinking and all, but...how can you be sure that everyone will be willing to participate?" As Harry cast her an angry look, she quickly continued, "I mean, I'm not so sure that the Slytherins will want to take that big a part in this."
Harry was ready for even this and so he replied, "Well, if they don't participate, then I suppose that they may simply stay back at the castle and be murdered like the rest." (Several gasps emerged from the crowd.) " Not like they have much of a choice, do they? Besides, one House against the whole school is not that big of a threat. Especially since a bunch of them are wimpy cowards anyhow."
A majority of the D.A. members laughed nervously.
"So.." said Hermione nervously. "So...what exactly are you thinking?"
Harry smirked. "I thought you knew?"
Hermione blushed slightly.
He continued.
"Just as long as we can be prepared for it. This will take a lot of work and concentration, but the important thing is that we all agree to do it. Look, the Quidditch pitch is the closest to the forest. If anything, a majority of us will be able to fly away on signal before any attack comes. I bet you anything they'll go after the castle - "
"But won't they be able to stop us on brooms, though?" asked Seamus.
"Not unless we Disillusion ourselves," said Harry.
"That's right!" Hermione whispered to herself, her eyes widening and her mouth slightly plopping open as she now appeared to be deep in thought.
"So," Harry continued. "So, with that, I believe that it would be proper to evacuate all under the ages of fifteen - "
"Hey!" came several outbursts.
"DON'T YOU DARE TELL ME THAT ANYONE UNDER THAT AGE SHOULD BE PART OF A WAR!" Harry was suddenly screaming. He didn't know why, but something inside of him had suddenly burst. After so much patience, for so long, the fact that so many lives were going to be risked had finally got to him. "DON'T YOU GET IT? THIS ISN'T JUST ANYTHING! IT'S NOT JUST QUIDDITCH! THIS IS BLOOD ON MY HANDS! I AM GOING TO COMMAND YOU WHAT TO DO AND YOU BETTER LISTEN TO ME BECAUSE IT'S PROBABLY THE ONLY HOPE WE HAVE RIGHT ABOUT NOW. SO DON'T YOU GO AND TELL ME WHAT I SHOULD AND SHOULD NOT DO; WHOM I SHOULD AND SHOULD NOT TAKE; WHO SHOULD LIVE AND WHO WILL NOT! I MAKE THAT DECISION, YOU HEAR ME?" Harry stopped screaming and was breathing very deeply. Everyone was staring at him with completely frightened faces. He couldn't distinguish one expression from the other. It seemed as if every person in the room had gone as white as a ghost.
"Sorry about that," he mumbled, "but it kind of irritates me when you think that you know what you're doing; when you think that all of this is just another lesson. This isn't school any longer! It's a battleground! And as much as it has been my home for so long, I'm afraid that we may have to leave it behind unless we win this war. We can't risk everything for Hogwarts. We just can't..."
Harry looked at Hermione and saw that she had only just began to regain some of the color in her face. Suddenly, he was taken aback as she stood up and came to stand by his side, taking his hand, and facing the meeting.
"Harry is absolutely right! We have no right to decide what's good for us! Harry is the only one here who truly knows what it's like to face Voldemort and if we're here in the D.A. then we have to trust him to deliver our lives where they belong. He'll give us a place! Hogwarts has also been my home for a long time and I will not give it up to some lousy, no good, rotten Death Eaters who have nothing better to do than ruin people's lives! I've had enough of this, and I'm more than sure that many of you have too! So the only way that we can win this is if we trust Harry and listen to him! He is probably the only person in here that knows how to face this battle or that has any idea in the least! So are you with us? ARE YOU WITH HOGWARTS? ARE YOU OR ARE YOU NOT DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY?"
A loud outburst of cheers rose from the group as Hermione raised Harry's hand up high and the rest of them came running up to the couple, clapping, whistling, and shaking Harry and Hermione's hands. Harry caught a glimpse of Ron, Luna, Ginny and Neville grinning at them from the crowd. If Harry felt that he could have produced a Patronus when he won the Quidditch Cup, that was nothing compared to how he felt now, knowing that he had the support of all of these kids that trusted him with their fates. Harry could have cried, but didn't find it appropriate for the moment when they had just elected him as the one person who could save the school from what can well be the worst attack that it will ever experience.
After the rally, as everyone cleared out, Harry noticed that Luna had stayed behind to talk to Ron. He knew that it would have been appropriate to leave them alone, but there was something in Harry's chest that seemed unresolved; something that he had been curious for such a while and, yet, even though he knew that it was probably wrong to ask, he felt as if he had to. The urge inside him was too strong to resist, and so he came up to Luna as she was still in deep conversation with his best friend and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Er - say, Luna, d'you mind if I have a word with you? I have to ask you something," he said grimly.
Luna nodded her head and said, "Just one moment."
She whispered something to Ron, who smiled, and kissed him on the cheek, turning to Harry.
"Is something wrong, Harry?" she asked, looking dreamily about the room.
"Well, it's just - " Harry began, wondering how to phrase it. "Luna, how did you - whatever happened with - with the veil."
Luna's perturbed eyes widened even more and she opened her mouth to speak, but didn't seem to be able to find the right words.
"W-Well, I just - you see I can't - Really. Say," she finished, looking at him.
Harry took a harsh breath. What was it with women and secrets? Did they absolutely have to have one that could be so crucial?
"Look, Luna, have a seat, why don't you," he said, leading her toward one of the tables and pulling a chair out for her.
"No, that's all right, I'd rather stand," she said.
Harry walked around the table and sat down. Motioning with his hand to the other side, he said, "Please have a seat."
Luna seemed slightly surprised, but followed his order.
"I don't think you realize how important this is to me right now," he said, leaning toward her from his chair. "Luna, you have that power or whatever it is you said. That's important for me to know. I want you to help me. If you can learn how to use your power or whatever, then so can I! You have to help me! Please."
She looked at him pityingly. "I'm sorry, Harry, I really am, but there is nothing I can do. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't tell you." She got up. "I'm sorry," she said once again and began to walk away.
Harry stood from his chair and said, "Could you at least consider telling me?"
She turned and walked up to him. "There's nothing to consider, Harry. There is nothing I can do."
"Right," said Harry. "Of course there isn't."
"But Harry, if there is ever anything that you need me to help you with, I'll always be there for you. I want to be your friend, Harry, but there are just some things that I don't have answers to. Neither does Hermione, I'm sure," she said, smiling sadly. "Even though I may believe in some absurd things, even I sometimes doubt their existence. I'm afraid that it is the same with life. You may often think that there is an answer to everything when really there is not. That is where I cannot help you, Harry. Sometimes things must be left...unanswered. That's why I don't think Hermione is always right. Because to be right you have to know that you are right. And knowing you are right, in her case, takes more than what you believe to be true and what is truly real."
"I don't understand," said Harry, perplexed. "How can something exist that cannot be answered? Have no resolution?"
She smiled again and said, "You'll see. In time, you'll always see. They never do. But you will, I'm sure."
Luna came up to Harry and hugged him. Puzzled, Harry hugged her back. It was a strange hug and, knowing Luna, he expected nothing less, but Harry couldn't really explain how much that hug meant to him. She didn't hug him like a friend, but like a brother. It was as if she was telling him that she was looking out for him and, somehow, hugging her back, Harry sealed the contract. Being the most peculiar person he'd ever hugged, Harry soon let go of Luna and smiled back.
"You're weird, Luna Lovegood," he said. "But you've got a good heart. You take care of it. And take care of my friend too. That Ron Weasley, he deserves you."
Luna smiled, her bulging eyes seeming wider than ever, and walked out of the room.
Harry didn't know if what Luna had said made him feel more confident or uncertain, but whatever she had meant, he couldn't wait to find out what she was talking about, because it seemed like a hell of a lot more than he could handle. And he felt ready for whatever it was.
As Harry sprang back to the Gryffindor common room, he found Ron waiting for him by the fire.
"So what d'you talk about?" he said, rather densely.
"I wanted to ask her...about the - you know - about what happened with the veil," said Harry, somewhat hesitantly.
"Oh," said Ron, sounding a bit relieved. "Is - Is that all?"
"Yeah," said Harry, suspiciously. "Why? What else would I talk to her about? Ron, you know she's just a good friend of mine, right?"
"Oh. Yeah. Yeah, you're right, Harry, I just - I don't know - I've - all this time Luna and I have been together and it's - I dunno. Weird. I haven't had the chance to be jealous of anyone yet. She's so...loyal to me. I mean...I feel...bad."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Ron, what are you talking about? Why should you feel bad? That's kind of the opposite of what you should be feeling!" He gave a nervous laugh.
Ron sighed. "No, it's not that I feel bad about her. It's that I feel bad about me. I feel as if - I dunno - I haven't been loyal to you before. Or Hermione. I mean, no one's really payed as much attention to me as she has and now I just - I feel lost!"
"So," said Harry, racking his brains, "So she's loyal to you so you feel bad because you think that you haven't been loyal...to us?"
"Well...yeah," said Ron.
"Don't be thick!" said Harry. "Are you mad? Ron, you're my best friend and you've always - well, most of the time - have been there for me. Look, I wouldn't choose anyone else to stand by me except you and Hermione and that's because I trust you, d'you get that?"
Ron went red.
Harry groaned. "Let me guess. Now you feel even worse?"
"Sort of," said Ron in a whisper.
"Look, Ron, you're being ridiculous about the whole thing. You've never really betrayed me at all. The only time that you've ever wavered on me was during that Goblet fiasco, but that's behind us, all right? Look, I don't even know why I'm talking about this. You should know better Ron, honestly."
Harry shook his head and was about to head for the boy's dormitory when Ron's voice stopped him again. "It's not just that," he said.
Harry spun around. "What d'you mean?" he said suspiciously.
"Harry I...I've sort of...betrayed you more than that one time..."
"I'm listening," said Harry.
"Well, you - you know how I said that Hermione had loved you for who knows how long?"
Harry thought back, though it was hard. After all of that yelling at the D.A. meeting, he could hardly think properly. "Yeah. So?"
"Well, I - I did know for - for a while..."
"How long a while?"
"Well, since - since the beginning of fifth year."
"So..."
"See, I sort of figured how she felt about you...but...I...I..."
"What Ron? Would you just spit it out?"
"I tried to stop her," he said really quickly, not looking at Harry.
"Stop her? Stop her from what? Ron, what are you talking about?" Harry was beginning to get angry. He didn't see where Ron was going and he wished he would get to his point already.
"I..I tried to stop her from - from telling you," he breathed.
"What - ? Ron...why?" said Harry.
He turned to face Harry now, and spoke, "I tried to stop her for - for several reasons. One, I guess, was that I didn't want her to get hurt because - because I sort of thought that she would - that you wouldn't, you know, feel the same way and the second was that I - I just didn't want you two to be together without - without me."
"Ron..."
"Look, Harry, I'm really sorry. I know, I do feel like a git, but I just didn't want to lose my friends. Believe me, I wanted you to be happy, I really did. I mean, I sort of didn't even like Cho either. I didn't like Krum. I hated everyone who would take you two away from me. But then if you...got together...then I thought...where would that leave me?" said Ron in a very small voice, staring at the floor.
"Ron, you'll always be our best friend no matter what. Nothing will change things!"
"Yeah, but now with this war...I mean, Harry you're taking up a really serious role and all. I just - I don't think - I'm not so sure we can all make it."
Harry clapped his hand on Ron's shoulder and smiled.
"Look, mate, if I don't make it, then you sure as hell can't make it, so if we go down, we go down together!"
Ron grinned and said, "Yeah, I guess you're right. No one's getting left behind, right?"
"Right!" said Harry and they began to climb the staircase that led to the boy's dorm.
"So...um...is there anything else that you've forgot to mention, Ron?" said Harry. "Like, oh, I dunno...have you betrayed me any more than that?"
"Well," said Ron, smirking, "maybe just once when I didn't tell you about taking your Invisibility Cloak several times to go and take a bath in the Prefects bathroom in the middle of the night."
"But you were a prefect. Couldn't you just do that - "
"Nah. A bunch of naked prefects running around the place during the day. It's sickening! I thought my eyes were going to bleed. Bloody hell, they needed help!"
Harry and Ron laughed, going up to sleep only to get up for another day of classes and planning however it was that they were going to fight in the war.
The next day, they made their way down to breakfast and through their classes. Separated for the day, he only got to see Ron again during lunch time but then had to head off to Defense Against the Dark Arts with Hermione.
"Why don't we just skip the class?" he asked her. Hermione looked mildly offended.
"It's only study hall. Professor Malfoy's - "
" - just returned!" Hermione finished the sentence for him merrily and watched the woman fumble at the desk at the front of the class. Harry stared at Narcissa. Hermione made her way hurriedly toward the Professor and said, "Professor Malfoy! How've you been? Are you feeling better?"
She looked up for the first time and said, "Why, of course, Miss Granger, why do you ask? Do you assume that I am incapable of feeling well?"
Hermione looked a bit stricken. "Well - no, it's just that the last time we saw you - you - well you - "
"I was doing just fine. Now if you would, Miss Granger, please have a seat. Just as always. You should know my instructions by heart."
"Yes, Professor," Hermione mumbled, slightly put out.
"What's got her throat?" asked Harry, sitting next to Hermione.
"I - I don't know what you mean Harry," said Hermione cooly. "She's always like that."
Harry raised his eyebrows.
"Well - all right, she is acting a bit - strange, I suppose. But do you think she might have been out on a mission for the Order?"
Harry snorted. "Right. All we're missing is Lucious Malfoy's wife on a mission for Dumbledore. Just shoot me now - "
"Mr. Potter, are you incapable of following my usual directions? Or have you perhaps...forgotten? Very well. Books Away! Wands out! Pay attention! And if I hear another peep out of one of you I don't want to see your face in my class again. Is that clear?" she snapped.
Harry and Hermione grinned to themselves; Professor Malfoy was back after all.
"Now, I'm happy " - she paused on the word as if she'd spoken it for the first time in her life - " to announce that you all did exceptionally well on your latest exams so far in the class, but I must warn you that only the most complex Eternal Spells have yet to be covered. And so, for these few remaining spells, I will have you do some research for me in the Restricted section of the library."
Several excited murmurs erupted in the class.
"Have I said something?" she spoke silkily. "Silence! I believe that I have already reminded you not to speak! Now, as long as you can thoroughly research these last remaining six spells, then I am more than sure that you will be able to cover it most defiantly in your Final Exams and will be sure to defend yourself against any opponent. For, you see, I have failed to mention this, but it is in the art of a witch or wizard to simply be familiar with the Eternal Spell and that will enable...all."
Harry looked at Hermione who, like him, seemed to be sitting at the edge of her seat and looking so hungrily up at the professor that it seemed as if she was hanging on to her every word for dear life as if off a fifty foot cliff.
"You look excited," Narcissa said to the class, as if surprised. "But don't be fooled yet. We have much to cover. And so, let us move onto the seventh Eternal Spell, otherwise known as the Animism Spell. Anyone?"
Hermione raised her hand, though rather tentatively.
"Miss Granger?"
"I'm not exactly sure, but is it a Spell that transforms a human permanently into an animal?"
"Ah. Well done. Yes, I do believe that is as close as anyone in this room is going to get," she replied. "As a matter of fact, the Animism Spell is one of the cruelest spells known to wizarding kind. It is a spell known to manipulate the bodies of both humans and animals...into whatever they please."
"That's horrible!" said Hermione.
"Indeed," sneered Narcissa. "And you barely know the half of it yet. That is why it is in my desire that this Spell, amongst several others, be researched thoroughly. I will be handing out signed permits for you to use the Restricted Section of the library, and, of course, I have recommended the exact books that you will need, so it will not be necessary to do any further research. You may trust me on that. After the research is complete...well, we will go a bit further into the Spell. For now, take your passes" - she cast her wand to a drawer and dozens of small papers flew out to the class, each student catching his or her own. Harry took his paper and saw Fauna Anomalousness by Crow Degrobrithson written on the parchment.
Harry looked over to Hermione's paper and saw that, on it, the words Mutata Construira by Shastine Vantonavich were written.
"What do these words mean?" he whispered, pointing to his paper. She looked at it an sighed, saying, "They mean...abnormal animal-humans."
Harry looked at it.
"How did you know that?" he asked her, looking upon the words etched upon the parchment.
"I read, Harry," she answered in a rather shaky voice just as the bell rang.
"Well, what does yours mean?"
Hermione looked at down at her paper and gulped, looking at Harry. "It says...It says the construction of mutation."
Harry whistled. "This is going to be a fun term," he said and, grabbing their books, Harry and Hermione exited the classroom, heading off for Gryffindor tower.
"Harry!" called Lupin as he strolled over to them in the halls.
"Remus? What are you - what are you doing here?"
Lupin walked over to the two of them and stared at the parchment in their hands.
"Well, I should think that you would recognize that I'm here for the Order, aren't I?"
"Oh, yeah," said Harry. Hermione beamed at Lupin.
"What's that you've got there?" he asked the two of them.
"Oh, they're a list books that we have to check out for Defense class," said Hermione.
"May I?"
"Sure," she replied, handing him her paper.
"Ah. Mutata Construira. I've read that book. Very interesting read. A bit unpleasant, of course but - "
"How do you know about it?" she said. "Surely you didn't - "
"Well how else do you suppose that James and Sirius learned to become Animagi? Picked the lock in the Restricted Section and ripped out some pages from the books. Dumbledore reckoned I should read that one, though, considering my condition."
"Right," said Hermione, thought slightly shocked at the fact that they would sabotage the school library books.
"And - er - by the way, Hermione," said Lupin, gazing at her, "would you mind meeting them in the Third Tower this evening?"
"Third Tower? But that's - "
"It's a bit high up, but you can handle it, can't you?" he said kindly, smiling. Hermione gulped but nodded.
"I'll leave you two at that then," he finished and left Harry looking dumbstruck after him.
"Wha - But - b-but - what did he just mean?" Harry rounded at Hermione.
She turned to him and said, "It's nothing, Harry. Just never mind."
"Third Tower? What was he talking about, Hermione?" he spun on.
"Nothing! I already told you Harry, just forget it - "
"Does this have anything to do with your wounds?"
She suddenly looked at him, stricken. For a moment, he thought that she wasn't going to say anything at all, but then she responded, "Harry, forget about it, all right? It's none of your - "
"You're damn right it's my business!" he said, stopping her from walking any further down the hall. She looked at him, her eyes watering.
"I - I can't," she whispered and, head bowed, quickened her pace to the library.
Furiously swearing under his breath, Harry wheeled around and followed after her, only to find a large group of student, obviously seeking out their Defense books, packed around the librarian in an angry mob.
"It's taking forever!"
"Can't we just get the books ourselves?"
"We know what we have to check out!"
"All right!" Madam March finally screamed. "Fine! Do as you please! Oh, I can't wait to get out of here. Of course, not that it matters, after all it's only the Restricted Section! The things they're teaching the students these days. Back when I attended Hogwarts we weren't even allowed to come feet within it's distance, but noooo!" Mumbling angrily under her nose, she scampered over to the lock on the Restricted Section and opened the doors.
"There! Go! Get what you need, but come straight to me! If I so much as see one of you leaving this library before seeing me, believe me, I will know! Oh how I will know..." she said nastily.
A majority of them, however, hadn't even listened to what she was saying and immediately walked in to the section, shuffling and whispers coming from the strange books.
Following the crowd, Harry looked down upon his sheet of paper one last time and searched the shelves for Degrobrithson. Although, it definitely wasn't that hard to find considering the fact that he had snuck into the Restricted Section once before.
He located the book amongst the shivering and slightly moving books on the shelf, and saw that the cover was made from metal, looking centuries old. Trying to obtain the book in the middle of a rummaging crowd earnest to reach for whatever it was that they needed was certainly not that easy, but Harry pulled it out rather quickly, nearly dropping it because of it's weight and left to find the end of the line at the check out with the librarian.
"And don't read too much into that!" she screamed after Neville. "I don't think it mentions some appropriate imagery for your age!"
Neville shook his head, but shuddered slightly, looking at the book in his hand. No sooner had he left the library, however, than Harry witnessed as two hollow screams came from the hall. Draco Malfoy had come in screaming with one of his crones and holding what appeared to be an extremely bloody book. He dropped it as soon as he got to the library and looked up at the librarian, who was smirking. "I warned you," she said.
"What was that supposed to be? Was that supposed to scare us?" he spat.
"Well it sure did a bloody good job," Harry commented as he leaned against one of the book shelves, snickering, as the crowd in the library followed suit.
"Shut it, Potter," said Malfoy.
"I'm not the one that got my fingers caught in a book. Did the mean wittle book scawe you, Malfoy?"
Malfoy turned red. "We'll see, Potter," he said. "We'll see who'll have the last laugh in the end."
"Oh, I'm not so sure you've got a good sense of humor," said Harry.
Malfoy smirked, rubbing the blood off on his robes. "We'll just see about that," he said and left the library, kicking the book across the floor so that it made a trail of blood, walking though it so that his footprints now left bloody marks in his pace.
Harry stared after him, the rest of the class murmuring about the event behind him, unsure of how it was possible for Malfoy to have ever been Narcissa's son.
Sitting down by the common room fire that evening, Harry plotted out a sheet on which he drew the Quidditch stadium, laying his book on mutation aside. Ron had gone to bed early and he was left alone by the fire, trying to figure how to best arrange his plans, but his mind was jumping now and then to the thought of where Hermione was at the moment. He couldn't possibly decide what it was or where it was that Lupin had instructed her to go.
As he dwelled on the thought, reminding himself that he should be able to trust her, Harry leaned back into the cushion of the couch and closed his eyes, tying to image what the attack would look like, but he couldn't do it. He couldn't seem to be able to focus his mind on such a horrible thought.
Suddenly he felt a pare of gentle hands find their way on the back of their neck and begin to massage it. Harry opened his eyes and saw that Hermione had walked in quietly and was looking down at him and smiling, her hair windblown and her cheeks rosy.
"Hey," he said. "Where've you been?"
She shook her head, grinning. "Are you still on about that?"
"Yes," Harry said defiantly
"Just relax, Harry. You've had a rough day..."
"Not really," Harry admitted. "It's pretty much like this all the - "
"Don't argue with me," she whispered. Harry knew that he couldn't bring himself to do so.
"You argue with Ron," he pointed out.
She grinned. "That's different, though, Harry. I don't mind fighting with Ron but with you it's - I don't know. I hate it when we don't agree on something."
Harry considered it for a moment and then nodded. He had to admit that the massage that she was giving him was wonderful and that he really did need it.
"That's really great, Hermione," het told her, "I needed that."
He watched as she smiled once more, turning his head to see her fully. Hermione bent over and kissed Harry very gently, opening her eyes to meet his slightly and grinning. Just then, she gave a slight yelp as Harry pulled her over the side of the couch and onto his lap. They both laughed and Hermione continued to stare into his eyes just as he did into hers.
"How are those plans coming along?" she whispered.
"What plans?" he replied comically.
She smiled again. "You know what I mean."
"Oh, you mean these plans?" he asked her and leaned over to kiss her once more.
Hermione grinned, laughing slightly and said, "No, I mean the Quidditch plans, Harry. Have you gotten any work done?"
He frowned slightly. "You really need to loosen up, Hermione. I'll get to them."
She raised her eyebrows, but threw her arms around his neck and said playfully, "Isn't this loose enough for you?"
"It depends by what you mean," he answered, smirking.
Hermione leaned into him and gave him a very deep kiss.
"That was nice," said Harry breathlessly when she finally let go.
"Mmm," said Hermione, looking at him.
Sparing a breath, Harry and Hermione leaned back in, staying up for much of the night until it was only too evident that if they didn't go to sleep soon, they wouldn't be able to get up for their morning classes.
Later that week, Harry's thoughts were still dwelling on the battleground. Hermione walked up to him one day and sat down urgently, looking upset about something.
"Harry, I don't know what we're going to do," she said, looking stern.
"What d'you mean?" he asked, puzzled.
"Lavender knows. She saw us," she whispered.
"Saw us - what? What are you talking about?"
"She saw us, you know, that night...The night that we were together in the common room," she said pointedly.
Harry's eyes widened and he slammed down his fist, swearing.
"Damn! Why did it have to be Lavender? Any. One. But. Her. Damn it!" he said through gritted teeth.
"I know," she whispered. "I know, Harry - so we have to do something - "
"What, Hermione? What do we do know if she - she's like the one thing that won't shut up!"
"I know, I know," said Hermione nervously, looking around, "but I'll try to think of something, I promise," taking Harry's hand under the table and smiling slight.
Harry smiled back and nodded, though not all together reassured.
Just then, Ron walked over to the pair and sat down on their other end.
"Oy," he said, in an undertone, "you're not serious, are you two? Lavender reckons you're cheating on me, Hermione, which means - "
"That she knows, yeah, we know. Thanks, Ron," said Harry irritably.
His eyes widened. "So what're you going to do?"
Hermione shook her head but, just then, a smile broadened on her lips and she gazed dreamily into space.
"What - ?" asked Harry, but she had already gotten up and said, "I'll see you later."
"Does she always have to do that?" said Ron, watching her go.
Harry sighed, "I just hope she's got a plan, is all."
Ron nodded.
"So have you started to read that book yet?"
"Huh - wha - ? Oh no," said Harry.
"I have. Well, only a bit."
Harry was so shocked that his mouth dropped. "You mean you actually opened the book?"
"Well, yeah," said Ron. "And I've got to tell you, it's got some pretty gross stuff in there," he said, laughing.
Harry shook his head, grinning.
Ron suddenly looked somewhere above Harry's head and stopped laughing. Harry turned around only to see Mr. Thompson standing there in his grey coat, Matt standing by his side, though looking a bit woozy, accompanied by Professor McGonagall and Remus Lupin.
"Well, Harry? Are you ready?" asked Mr. Thomson.
Harry stood up, nearly falling over. "Er, ready for what?" he asked slowly.
"We were told...that you have a plan."
A/N: Argh, I've left you off with another cliffhanger, haven't I? Oh, well, what can you do with me, right? Instead of answering some things I've only brought up more questions. Curiosity kills, doesn't it?
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