(A/N: Wow, 9 reviews for the previous chapter! Thanks a lot! I'd like to mention all the people who left a review, like godsowndevil, pottergirlajg, eekii, HeidiHo, harry4NDhermione4eva, TheDivineMsD, FBline, CrimsonTemplar, hermione4harry. I'm sorry, if I've left you on a cliffy, but I like so much doing so!!! Did you want to know what was that explosion? Well, I'm glad that CrimsonTemplar has gone really close to the truth! Enjoy the reading.)
Chapter 24. INCOMPREHENSIONS
...
Which is the year? Which is the day?
This is the time for me to live with you
As you can see, my hands don't tremble any more
And in my soul
In the deep of my soul
Immense skyes and immens love
And then again love, just love for you...
...
"Gardens in March" by Lucio Battisti
Harry thought that an earthquake had just begun; in horror, he saw Hermione losing her balance and inevitably falling backwards into the ravine.
"NOOO! HARRY!" she shouted desperately, stretching out her arms.
"HERMIONE!"
By instinct he rushed to her. With a great effort, he managed to grab her arms and pull her to the ground when a second deafening blast resounded through the valley and the earth shook again.
Without hesitation, Harry protected Hermione with his body. They were both lying on the ground when debris and several large rocks started to fall down from the top of the mountain.
The young wizard acted quickly; he took out his wand and pointed it at the rocks.
"REDUCTO!"
At his command, the bigger rocks shattered into pieces, though the smaller ones hit heavily on his back.
Hermione trembled in Harry's arms. They were so close to each other that he could feel her breathing. In that moment, he was determined to protect her with his own life.
When the silence returned, he raised his head and looked around, coughing from the great quantity of dust he had just inhaled.
"What was that all about?" Hermione asked, deeply shocked.
"It seemed like..." Harry didn't have time to finish his sentence because a third blast resounded and the valley trembled a third time.
Again, Harry protected Hermione with his body and more rocks and debris fell on them from the mountain.
After a few minutes, both raised their heads, trying to figure out what had just happened. As soon as Harry moved, he grimaced, feeling a sharp pain in his back.
"Harry, are you all right?" Hermione asked, staring at him concerned.
"Yes, I'm fine," he lied, trying hard to stand up.
"Maybe those explosions came from Hogwarts!" she exclaimed, horrified.
"I'll have a look! Don't move from here, right?" Harry ordered and Hermione nodded.
With his heart beating faster, he ran to the edge of the hill where he could overlook the area. Luckily, the castle seemed untouched, but when he turned to Hogsmeade, he stepped backwards astonished. Three huge columns of black smoke were rising from the houses.
"Oh no! They've attacked the village!"
Harry faced Hermione, who in the meantime had followed him, not heeding his request.
"I've just told you to..."
"LOOK AT THAT!"
Hermione's face paled abruptly and she raised a hand to her mouth. When Harry turned again to the view, his eyes widened in surprise.
In the sky above Hogsmeade, Voldemort's huge Dark Mark was shining: a horrible green skull with a snake coming out from its mouth.
Harry felt the panic rising and remained dumbstruck.
"What do we do now?" Hermione whispered, terrified. Harry moved closer to her and spoke with a determined voice.
"We must go back to the castle!"
They both mounted the broomstick again and shortly were flying in the sky, desperately hoping that the attack hadn't caused any deaths.
"D-do you think that Ron and Luna are fine?"
"I'm sure they are," Harry tried to reassure her, even though his heart feared the worst.
After a few minutes, they landed on the grounds near the lake. Harry grabbed Hermione's hand and together ran to the main entrance of the castle.
They were already climbing the stairs when Professor McGonagall came to them, clearly worried.
"Mr. Potter, Miss Granger! Thank God I've found you! You should immediately go up to your common room and stay there, no matter what!"
"P-professor, have you seen Ron?" Hermione asked with trembling voice.
"I'm sorry, but I didn't see Mr. Weasley. He's probably waiting for you in Gryffindor tower. Anyway, a group of teachers are going to the village to check what has just happened. Now go, there is no time to lose!"
Harry and Hermione stared at each other for a moment, deeply worried, and then climbed to the entrance and headed to their House Tower.
Throughout the whole school a general panic had just spread everywhere; the corridors were full of students frantically running, trying to reach their common rooms as quickly as possible.
A few times, Harry and Hermione stopped and raised their heads looking for Ron in the crowd.
"I don't see him!" Hermione seemed beside herself and was trembling like a leaf.
"Maybe he's waiting for us in the common room. Let's go!"
Even though Harry was deeply worried, he tried his best to hide his feelings.
The Gryffindor Tower was overflowing with frightened students, but Ron wasn't there.
"Harry, Hermione! Is Ron with you?"
Ginny came out from a group of fifth years girls, red in the face and eyes wet.
"We... we thought that he would've been here with you!" Hermione replied with concern.
Suddenly, Ginny burst into tears, covering her face with her hands. Hermione moved closer and hugged her tightly.
"Don't worry, I'm sure that Ron is fine. Teachers are looking for those who are still missing. He'll be here with us soon."
Ginny was inconsolable and kept crying on Hermione's shoulder. Harry was feeling so bad, his heart was squeezed by fear. He really wanted to reassure his friends, but he just couldn't find the right words.
Then he noticed a group of students coming in through the portrait hole and to his great relief, he saw that Ron was among them.
"There he is!"
The three of them reached the door and Ginny threw her arms around his brother's neck, hugging him tightly.
"Are you all right, mate?" Harry asked, feeling his heart lighter.
"Yes, I'm fine, I'm fine. I made it just on time!"
"What's happened?" Hermione asked, slightly reassured.
"I don't know much. Luna and I were already coming back to the castle when the explosions started. But I heard a few students talking on the street. It seems that a group of Death Eaters have attacked several shops and a few houses and then in the village started a crazy panic all around. You can imagine!"
"How could they've dared so much!" Hermione commented with anger. She then turned to Harry spontaneously, but shifted her gaze away in great embarrassment.
In that very moment, Harry recalled their quarrel of that afternoon and a deep resentment rose in his heart.
Feeling offended, he turned his gaze from her as well.
***O***
After a few hours, Professor McGonagall had come to the common room, saying that all the students were safe, though among the inhabitants of Hogsmeade there were several deaths and many more wounded.
She then gave the order to go to bed and everyone obeyed immediately, including Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Between the worry of that day and the sharp pain he was feeling in his back, that night Harry couldn't manage to fall asleep. He kept restlessly turning over and over again. Finally, he lay on his side and stared out of the window, where the rain was falling heavily.
The sky was completely covered by dark clouds and sometimes he could hear the rumble of thunder in the distance. This terrible atmosphere reminded him about the loud bomb attack of that afternoon.
It seemed incredible to him! In the morning, he and Hermione were quietly walking along Hogsmeade's streets, looking at the shops and at the unaware crowd around them.
Nobody could have ever imagined that something like that was going to happen. It was a real provocation, Voldemort's warning to Dumbledore, to let him know that the Dark Lord wasn't afraid of him.
How much more horror and suffering would this absurd war bring?
Then, the image of Hermione appeared pressingly in his mind.
Why did she react that way? Why did she run away and then kiss me? I don't understand! he thought, confused.
Tomorrow I'm going to talk to her and this time, I'll get a definitive answer, a yes or a no!
Harry was really determined and the resentment over Hermione's behavior was still burning inside.
***O***
The following morning, Harry got up with great difficulty. In addition to his backache, his head was throbbing painfully as he hadn't slept at all the previous night.
Harry and Ron were late and when they went down to the common room, Hermione wasn't waiting for them as she usually did. Harry didn't know if he could tell Ron about what had happened between them, especially since he wanted to talk to Hermione first.
They rushed downstairs and hurried to the Great Hall, shortly before breakfast was over. In the main entrance, they saw a large number of students waiting in front of the wooden door, each with his or her trunk by their side.
"Where are they all going?" Ron asked astonished.
"After what happened at Hogsmeade, I'm not surprised!" Harry replied with a sulky face.
When they entered the great Hall, they found most of the remaining students still sitting at their tables, chatting to each other worriedly.
Tension was also pouring from the teacher's table. Dumbledore was talking seriously with Professor McGonagall and Lupin was frowning at the students in front of him.
Harry had just got seated at his table when Dumbledore unexpectedly stood up and started to speak. Suddenly, the buzz in the Hall stopped and the students turned to hear what the Headmaster had to say.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your breakfast, but I have a very important announcement to make. As you already know, yesterday evening Voldemort's Death Eaters attacked the village of Hogsmeade."
At hearing the Dark Lord's name, most boys and girls started to whisper in alarm, but after a few seconds, silence came back and Dumbledore spoke again.
"Luckily, all our students are safe. Nevertheless, most of their families have decided to call them back home. If you want to know my opinion, I can't blame them!"
Hearing those words, Harry shuddered all over, fearing that the Headmaster wanted to close the school. In that moment, Dumbledore turned to face him, staring directly in his eyes.
"It is my duty to officially inform you that our school won't close. The other teachers and I will remain here, together with those students who are willing to stay. Despite this decision, we are going to increase our usual security measures in order to guarantee your safety at all times. Each teacher is going to inform their students about these measures and I'm sure you're going to give us your full cooperation. Now, you can quietly finish your breakfast and then start your classes."
Dumbledore went back to his chair, without swaying his gaze from Harry.
"What do you think about that?" Ginny had just taken a seat in front of Harry and Ron, staring at them deeply worried. "Do you think that Mum'll call us back home?"
"I don't think so! Mum and Dad trust Dumbledore a lot and as long as he remains here, this school is the safer place to stay." Ron simply replied.
"Hey, did you hear that? What're those other safety measures Dumbledore was talking about?" Seamus asked concerned, moving closer to them with Neville.
"Oh, don't worry about that! I'm sure that he meant the usual things like everybody inside before sunset, no more Hogsmeade weekends, and so on," replied Ron, without giving any importance to the subject.
"Let's go now or we're going to be late!" Harry exhorted them, standing up abruptly and heading to the door. Then, he rushed to the dungeons fearing he would be late to his Potion class. Luckily all his classmates were still waiting outside the door.
At the bottom of the corridor, Hermione was chatting with Lavender. She didn't notice Harry, and he didn't want to call her. He then turned to Malfoy and the other Slytherins, who were laughing amongst themselves. Those stupid guys seemed really amused by the recent events and it suddenly made Harry feel the strong impulse to go over there and punch them in their ugly noses.
At that moment, Harry felt a sharp pain in his scar and raised a hand to his forehead. Oddly, he sensed an extreme satisfaction inside his heart. Surely, Voldemort was happy about the successful attack.
Harry's thoughts were cut off by Professor Snape, who opened the door abruptly and signaled for them to enter the class.
Harry sat in a single desk at the back of the class, while Hermione took a seat close to Lavender, without even looking at him. He felt deeply wounded by her behavior and was more determined to ask for an explanation afterwards.
He stubbornly forced himself to concentrate on the lesson and didn't turn in her direction.
That morning, Snape had assigned them a very difficult reducting potion. Due to the tension with Hermione and the throbbing of his scar, Harry wasn't able to concentrate. He missed the correct order of almost all the ingredients and at the end, Snape glared horrified into his cauldron and gave him no points for the day before vanishing his potion with a light flit of his wand.
When the bell rang, Harry was completely furious with the whole world and rushed out of the classroom before the others. He ran along the corridor and shortly found himself outside in the gardens, longing for fresh air.
When he heard someone calling out his name, he turned around and saw Hermione running toward him at great speed.
"HARRY! Harry, please wait!"
Hermione had stopped right in front of him and was panting heavily because of her run.
"What do you want?" he asked rudely, feeling a great anger rising inside him.
"I think we should talk," she said with firm voice.
"Yes, that's right! I really need to hear what you have to say!" Harry frowned at her and crossed his arms.
"I can't blame you. My behavior has been really... unforgivable. But I'd like to explain what I'm feeling right now."
Hermione lowered her gaze and started to play nervously with the belt of her school bag, which was hanging heavily on her shoulder.
"It's a bit complicated for me. I-I don't really know where to start..."
Harry felt all his frustration exploding inside and shouted at her.
"I'm just asking for a simple explanation, Hermione! I just need a yes or a no from you. It doesn't seem to be such a difficult task!"
A few students who were chatting nearby turned to them and then rushed inside the castle, scandalized.
Hermione raised her wet eyes to him and then spoke in a whisper.
"How could our future depend on a yes or a no?"
"Don't you understand? My life is complicated enough without thinking about your silly troubles as well!"
Hermione was almost bursting into tears, but Harry didn't care. He was too angry and disappointed; he wanted to let her feel bad, just as he was feeling at that moment.
"I'm asking you for a simple answer!"
"I'm not able to give you an answer now, I'm sorry!" Hermione was forcing herself not to cry, even though she had a painful knot in her throat.
"Well, in that case, I'll give you a good solution!" Harry spoke in a hasty way. "Let's pretend that nothing ever happened between us, all right? Forget every word that I told you yesterday! It'll be easier for both of us..."
"But, I could never do that!" Hermione replied, with desperation in her voice.
Harry glared at her with endless anger, then spoke with a resolved tone.
"Do what you want, then. I don't care! But please, don't play games with me ever again! I have to go now, Ron is already waiting for me!"
Harry ended the quarrel and rushed away; Hermione turned to him in silence, not having the strength to react, as a warm tear slowly crossed her face.
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