I still own nothing really; Rowling pretty much owns this whole universe.
Chapter 15 We Know Nothing, Nothing.
**********************Riddle mansion***********************
November 1
"No Master, NO! Cried a small greasy man, visibly cowering at the presence of Voldemort.
Unfortunately for Peter however, Voldemort had just lost four months of work and at least eight of his followers to the grave or to the custody of the Order, which was most likely worse, at least from his perspective. Wormtail was guilty of the sin of being present, here and then, and therefore he must suffer. "You filthy, disgusting rat, CRUCIO!" Voldemort screamed, in a high eerie rasp.
"Master, there was no warning, they did not apparate in, at least some of then came in from above, but as to how they took out our sentries, without being seen?" Lucius Malfoy interjected, groveling over to one side. The hooded figure slowly turned to him, a slight, terrible red glow leaking from under his hood.
"It's because Dumbledore was returning a message. They almost reenacted the final mission of the Potters against me before I destroyed that deviant and his mudblood. Dumbledore wanted me to know that my attack on Potter and his friends had failed. I also noticed that your son was not able to warn us in time." Voldemort replied in a hissing voice, the implication obvious in his voice.
But Malfoy was not paying attention; he still could not believe that Granger had dared to start to come after him herself, or that for a brief instant he had felt a flash of fear at the prospect. "I can not believe that that mudblood Granger had the temerity to..."
"Silence, Malfoy. Or should Bellatrix have let the mudblood destroy you? She would have you know. She is more powerful than she lets herself believe. I have received Dumbledore's message. I will reply, but as to now..." Voldemort smiled coldly and returned to Wormtail to finish releasing his frustrations.
***************************Hogwarts*************************************
By the time Harry and Hermione made it down to breakfast, most of the Gryffindors were already present. Dean had already had his wounds fixed and had been back in bed by two. Ron had been kept in the infirmary in case he had a concussion, and to mend various cuts and bruises. The moment they returned, Luna had found out that he was in the infirmary and had borrowed Harry's invisibility cloak to stay with him last night. Which almost caused more harm than good, as Madame Pomfrey had almost started brewing potions when she came out of her quarters at three am and found Ron talking to the air.
Fortunately for his stomach, Luna had revealed her presence in time. After a half-hearted tongue lashing from the matronly nurse, somehow she had ended up being able to stay with him. Harry and Hermione had completed their patrol, and chased several Slytherins who had been sneaking towards the Owlry back to bed. They then had violated school rules again themselves, though each was too tired to do anything but cuddle. They took turns comforting each other when the nightmares came, holding each other in their arms.
Fortunately for their sanity if nothing else, this was a slow day. Since it was a Tuesday, Harry and Hermione only had Care of REALLY Dangerous Creatures, self-directed studies that they could do anytime, and even more History of Magic, which they could sleep in. Even Hermione had finally given up on Binns' classes and just read the books ahead, she didn't even try to take notes, usually she worked on S.P.E.W. or DADA work or just watched Harry sleeping. It wasn't like it mattered anyway, both of them were taking History of Magic for the hours only, as long as they passed they'd be fine. Though both of them had O's at the moment, due solely to reading the book, Merlin knows any interesting information that Binns might have spewed out of his spectral mouth had died of boredom before it could have reached their ears.
Lackadaisically they both munched their bacon and eggs, and with the ringing bell trundled down to Hagrid's cabin.
"'ELLO." Hagrid greeted them, fortunately for their peaceful morning; Draco was not in this class. Malfoy had received a P in his OWLs in magical creatures, probably because he was too busy making fun of the teacher. As this disqualified him from the NEWT level class, Harry and Hermione did not have to deal with him today, which was always a good thing.
But before class could truly start, Luna came running up to Hagrid and gave him a note. "Professor Hagrid, Ron had an accident last night and is in the infirmary, he slipped and hit his head, He's ok, but Madame Pomfrey was keeping him for observation, she asked me to give you this note." Luna played out the charade for the Slytherins, who unlike Malfoy had passed into NEWT level in this subject.
Not all the Slytherins were bad, truth be told some of them would probably join against the dark wizards if given a chance, but the chance could not be taken. Besides the few known to be on the side of light, the rest would have to prove which side they were on. The experiment from last year, where Harry had held the DA open for Slytherins was mostly a failure, as only one or two had showed up. The rest were either openly or covertly for the dark, or were too intimidated by their housemates.
Of course Hagrid, knew quite well were they had been last night, after all he had been sitting in a classroom, with McGonagall and some others, waiting to go in case they had needed additional help. As had Luna, Neville and Lavender for that matter. Luna had, uncharacteristically for her; paced back and forth the whole time Ron was gone. "Ok, thank you Miss Lovegood." She left with a small wave at Harry and Hermione and he addressed the rest of the class. "Today we will be looking at Griffins, does anyone know what purpose Griffins are sometimes used for?-'Ermione?"
"Well, sir," she started with a smile as Harry rolled his eyes. "Griffins like Sphinxes are often used by wizards to guard treasure. These creatures are believed to have originated in Greece, and only eat raw meat, preferably living."
"Correct as usual. Today we have Whiskey here to look at, isn't he beautiful?" The class dutifully applauded the creature, as Hagrid pointed out it's various features. The
The Gryffindors next went to History of Magic, where Hermione made out a quiz for her 2nd year DADA class to have fun with tomorrow, while Harry, Lavender, Dean and Seamus played a miniature game of Quiddich with torn up pieces of parchment Harry had enchanted to make minuscule players. Binns never noticed, even when the tiny snitch flew though one of his ears and out the other, he just kept droning on.
Finally escaping, Harry and Hermione grabbed a quick lunch and headed up to the infirmary. As they arrived they beheld Ron sitting up in bed with Luna hovering attentively over him. Luna must have skipped lunch and had gone directly up to see Ron. Walking up to them Hermione looked around, It's amazing, those two can be the flightiest people I know, but when they are around each other, its amazing the concentration they have towards each other. Sensing this thought, Harry agreed with a slight squeeze of her trapped hand.
The usual piles of get-well chocolate frogs and every flavor beans were pilled on the bedside table. Do we keep Honeydukes in business? Do they keep a special section called the get well Harry Potter and friends of Harry Potter section ready to go on an owl's notice? Harry asked himself more or less seriously.
"Oi mate," Ron cried out a little dopily after seeing Harry come in. " Madame Pomfrey said that she has had nameplates made up for our beds," and with this Ron, sure enough held up a brass nameplate with Ronald Weasley inscribed on it and pointed over to the "Harry Potter" bed which was indeed christened with a brass plaque bearing his name.
Before Hermione could see that she too now had a second bed in Hogwarts, Harry threw an arm around her shoulder and steered her so as the Hermione Granger bed was behind them.
"Harry" Luna asked languorously, holding Ron's hand, he was busy playing with the chocolate frogs. "Have you heard if any of the prisoners from last night talked yet? I can go help convince them," with an evil glint in her eye.
"Not that I'm aware of, but I don't think Moody needs help." Harry replied hastily, suddenly a little scared of the blond 6th year. Harry backed away just a touch from her, just in case, and shared a look with Hermione, she shrugged helplessly.
"OK" She replied with a weird smile and went back to playing with the frogs with Ron. Luna and Ron started some sort of odd contest with the chocolate frogs as Harry and Hermione watched; a touch amazed.
"We're going to go to the library now...and study, Ron, Luna" Hermione called back to the two as she grabbed Harry's hand and led them out the door, with a shared look. The pair of them backed up slowly until they escaped the room with a muffled laugh.
"OK" They heard back, followed by a soft CROAK from a chocolate frog.
"Mione" Harry murmured in her ear as the reached the hall. The hall was mostly empty at this time, still before afternoon classes resumed. Far down the hall they could see Crookshanks and Spooky, stalking something, probably a mouse.
"Yes love?" She replied, turning from the sight of her kneazle charging into a sprint after something small, brown and furry. Ginny's familiar followed, the pair of them breaking into a set of orange and gray streaks.
"You don't really want to go to the library do you?" Harry asked with a leer just for her. She just bit her bottom lip in response and waggled her eyebrows. With a tug on his hand she looked up and down the hallway. Seeing no one, she pulled him the length of the hall, down a set of stairs and around a corner.
"Not particularly" and with a mischievous grin decorating her lips and eyes, she pulled Harry into an alcove. Pressing a hidden switch, a patch of the wall rotated around taking them with it into a hidden passageway. With the instincts of a seeker, Harry seized the opportunity and pressed her against the worn smooth by time, stone wall. For her part, her hands knotted in his hair, pulling his face to hers. Small hands loosened a crimson and gold tie and pulled it over his head. At the same time, practiced fingers popped the clasp on a set of robes with red and gold trim, causing them to fall away. Hermione grinned against his lips as she pushed away from the wall a bit, eliciting a slight cat-like growl as she ground against him, her hands proceeding to explore hidden vistas.
After several minutes of a pleasant lack of higher brain functions, "Hermione?" Harry asked a little breathlessly, as a random, odd thought passed his mind's-eye, probably due to lack of blood in necessary cognitive areas.
"Yep," she cooed distractedly as Harry's hands slid up under her shirt, he fulfilled last nights promise as one hand was lazily playing with her belly button ring while the other was about a foot higher and to the left, working in small circles.
"Which one of those two was on the potions?" Harry asked rhetorically as she gasped slightly, with a slight tweak from his left hand.
A sudden realization as her brain belatedly processed the encounter with the two in the infirmary. Hermione almost bent double as she burst out laughing. And after a second more, Harry joined her, the pair of them collapsing on each other for support.
*********************Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts****************
Dumbledore sat nursing a cup of coffee, a slew of DADA papers on his desk. He smiled as he picked up Harry's; it was lying on top, the topic, a dissertation on the use of Patroni against Dementors and their limitations. He read through Harry's essay, smiling as he marked an O on the top and progressed to Hermione's, which just happened to be next in the pile. Not terribly surprising as she sat next to him, or bloody near in his lap, He observed with a small grin only seen by the phoenix in the corner who chirped at him in reply. With a sudden WHOOSH, an emerald flame erupted in the fire. Dumbledore set down the essay, and looked over to see Arthur's face hovering in the flames. With a small wave, Arthur nodded and came all the way through.
Arthur looked weary as he unfolded himself from the fire, and brushing off ashes, crossed to the guest chairs in front of the Headmaster's desk. He took the offered cup of coffee, more to settle his thoughts than for need of actual sustenance. Finally he nodded to Dumbledore, "So Arthur, what brings you here today?" Dumbledore inquired, marking an O on Hermione's paper, having decided it wasn't really worth his time reading three feet on the subject.
"The activities of last night have been called into question Albus." Arthur stated bluntly as he took a sip of his coffee. "The use of...students had been brought into question in some quarters. There is even talk that under Fudge no such thing would have happened."
Dumbledore nodded knowingly, he seemed to think about the topic for a bit then shrugged and looked down at Ron's paper. He seemingly read the first few paragraphs, noting absently that Ron's schoolwork had improved greatly, but really buying time, "And what would these...people have me do? And who are these people?" Dumbledore marked something on Ron's paper and took a sip of his drink.
Arthur grunted, "well besides Molly," They both chuckled briefly at that, "seems to be parents, but the curious thing is, it does not mostly seem to be any parents that were actually involved, though that could be due to who you had involved. I did get a howler from Finnegan's mum, but for the most part..."
"It was Harry, and your children except Ginny. Yes I know, and you know my reasoning behind that. However all of those who went on the raid, were of age, I did not take Ginny or Luna because of that fact." Dumbledore looked at him, and sighed, "Arthur...we can not fight with just the Aurors and the out of school members of the Order. There are too few. You have, what, a hundred Aurors in commission, with perhaps another twenty or so on the way as cadets. Even the ones that have had additional training in school, such as Miss Chang, will not be available until sometime this summer, and right now Harry and his compatriots are the best we can field. Let's face facts Arthur, the vast majority of the Order, is not fit for this, not really. Some of them were not the last time around, and now..."
Dumbledore sighed, his eyes suddenly haunted, "Emmeline and Secil both died at the Grangers, probably because, for all their skills, they never were fighters. I had too few to protect everyone at the time, and Tonks and Lupin, who are still assigned to protect Harry and Hermione, even though they don't know it, were with their primary responsibilities at the time, or in the case of Lupin, trying to get some sleep. Kingsley was off trying to look into a lead. Who else, Arthur, Merlin knows I would like to have more resources. I mean besides myself and those I just listed, there is Severus, who has to maintain his cover, Mad-Eye, who is still only one person, Minerva, who is too old really, and Hagrid who for all his other talents, is a middling wizard at best. There are the rest of the professors, of course, but I need them here, I must protect the school at all costs.
And even the Aurors for the most part, those few that have survived the last two years and Fudge's budget cuts before, were trained as police first, not as agents, or fighters, not how we are training the new Aurors, or Harry and his friends. They are being trained for war, not for peace. I just wish I had started earlier, twenty years or so...James and Lily are dead and Sirius is gone as well, there are few " Dumbledore looked down at Ron's parchment, and whispered, "I just hope my mistakes do not cost us all more than they have already."
A/N: Next Chapter, lets go to Hogsmeade.