Chapter 3: NEWT Level
Harry couldn't seem to move as he watched Ron's mouth open and close stupidly. From underneath him, Hermione seemed the same way. All three of them weren't sure what exactly should be said.
"I-I heard you two had detention…" Ron said quickly, never tearing his gaze from Hermione. "Heard Malfoy boasting about it in the Great Hall, thought you two would be done by now…" he trailed off as he let the door close behind him. Harry jumped off Hermione and ran for the door, throwing it open.
"Ron!" He yelled, the footsteps on the stairs growing fainter. "Ron!" Harry sighed and turned back to look at Hermione who was now brushing straw off her skirt. She had pieces stuck to her jumper and small clumps tangled in her hair. It was quite cute.
"I suppose we should let him be on his own for a bit," Hermione straightened out her jumper, "We can't talk to him until he's sorted his mind a bit."
Harry nodded in agreement. They had some sort of tacit agreement that Ron walked in on an innocent roll in the hay that had no further intentions…or did it? The same sort of thing happened fourth year with the Tri Wizard tournament. When Harry had been picked to be one of the champions, Ron needed a bit of time to himself to collect his thoughts. That's how Ron was…his reactions were too impulsive to act on before he gave them some thought.
"Perhaps we should go talk to the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," Harry suggested. "You know, catch up on what we missed."
"Good idea." Harry held the door open for Hermione as he set a scourgify on the owlery before he followed her down the staircase and to the defense against the dark arts room in silence.
Harry noticed the way Hermoine walked, so deep in thought yet set straight on her destination. Her eyes would dart all over, even though she successfully walked without bumping into anything. Sometimes he wondered if her brain ever stopped working in overdrive, and if it did, what her thoughts were. Did she ever think of him?
"Come in," Harry never noticed when Hermione knocked on the door. She opened it briskly as they both filed into the dimly lit room. Their new defense against the dark arts teacher, a woman they had all seen at the welcoming feast, was scribbling furiously at her table; jars of red and black ink lay out on her desk.
She looked up at them and back down to her paper. "Yes?"
Hermione frowned slightly. "H-hello, professor. My name's Hermione Granger, and this is Harry Potter." The woman quit her hasty scribbling to look up at Harry's scar and did a once over, returning to her scratchy writing.
"I wondered when I would meet you, Mr. Potter."
Harry wasn't sure whether he should be upset about her staring, or offended by her lack of eye-contact. "We had detention…that's what-"
"On your first day?" The woman looked up at them again, quite amused. "You're more like your father than I expected."
"Did you know my father?" Harry asked eagerly.
"You could say that." She went back to her insistent scribbling. He hated how vague she was being, and could sense it was irking Hermione too. People were always keeping secrets from him. It took all his strength to not lash out, screaming come out with it all ready. "I also knew that shirty man they made your godfather."
"You knew Sirius Black?" Harry had almost bolted forward. Suddenly he wanted to know everything she knew, all the stories Dumbledore didn't entirely know, all the things Lupin still hid from him.
"Yeah, I guess you could say we broke up after they drug that cur off to Azkaban…but enough about that, I suppose you want your assignments, don't you?"
Just as quickly as his happiness came from finding someone else who could tell him about his parents, it left quickly. Why didn't she want to say anything?
Hermione seemed too shocked to say a word. "Well I suppose I'll give it to you. We're learning the physical properties of dark magic. You know, things like why the bloody hell does it hurt so much to be under the cruciatus curse and where does all the magical energy come from…how that energy is put into a curse so strong…"
"So basically in muggle terms, the physical chemistry behind magic?" Hermione was bound to ask it sooner or later. Harry, on the other hand was quite lost.
"Precisely. Magic doesn't just happen…you will learn these differences in your other classes…but this class will be a balance of book and field work…labs if you must. I want two meters on the electrolysis of dark magic and how it differs from other magic…due Thursday."
"Thank you professor." Hermione nodded curtly and began to leave. Harry followed her.
"Oh, and Mr. Potter?" Harry turned around, a slight furrow in his brow. "James would be proud of you, even though you're a good kid." Harry nodded slightly and left, slamming the door behind him.
"I do not like that woman."
"What are you talking about, Harry?"
"'James would be proud of you, even though you're a good kid.' What the toss is that supposed to mean?"
"Well, it seems she-"
"Likes to dangle this bit of information about my parents right in front of my eyes."
"Harry, I'm sure-"
"She gets some sort of pleasure knowing she knew them…and what's this with Sirius?"
"Harry, I'm sure she knew them, but wants to wait a bit before talking about them in too much detail." Harry sighed loudly. If he didn't stop talking now, he'd be shouting at the top of his lungs. He hated to draw attention. "Besides, we still need to get our work from the other classes we missed…what did you have?"
"Occulmancy and Astronomy…Dumbledore should know by now. He usually doesn't give me much to work on outside of class, and Sinistra will want some star charts most likely…"
"Right, well I have NEWT level arithmancy and ancient runes, and after what we missed in defense against the dark arts, I must be loads behind…"
"I'm sure you're ahead Hermione…let's just go see."
After Hermione collected the work from her other two professors, they headed back to Gryffindor tower.
"Phoenix String."
"You children are always bothering me in the middle of my practice…"
When they stepped inside, Ginny was sitting next to Ron, who looked quite nettled. His face flushed ten shades when he saw Harry and Hermione, muttering something about the library and taking off, ignoring the protests of the Fat Lady. They turned to Ginny who seemed busy with a muggle sort of book in her lap.
"What is his problem?" Hermione asked, sitting on Ginny's left. Harry sat on her right.
"Isn't it obvious, Hermione? You of all people should know."
"Know what?" Harry asked.
"But we…he thought we were…but it wasn't…"
"He thought you were."
"Were what?" Harry was fed up with all the secrets floating around. Hermione sighed and stood up.
"I need to talk to him," she said and left the common room with the Fat Lady yelling make up your mind!
Harry turned to Ginny, "What the bloody hell was that all about?"
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Can't you see that my prat of a brother fancies Hermione?" Harry had to struggle greatly to keep his eyes in his head.
"When did that happen?"
Ginny shook her head and returned to her book. "Around fourth year, honestly, boys are so dense."
Harry couldn't tear his mind from the knowledge that his best mate was nutters for their best friend. Ron couldn't fancy Hermione, he just couldn't…and what if she fancied him back? It would drive Harry mad.
The hard frown n his face slowly softened as he said good night to Ginny and headed up to his dorm room. His head was pounding with this new knowledge and he didn't quite know how to handle it. He should be happy for them if they give it a go. Every bloke should root his best mate on, but he didn't want it to happen.
And bloody hell, he had no clue why.
~*()*~
It was a nice day for Hermione's 17th birthday…perfect weather for an apparition test. If anyone shouldn't be flustered over an exam it should have been Hermione, but she seemed more nervous than any other time…even before taking her OWLS. She sat down at breakfast with a huff, ignoring the guys when they wished her happy birthday and kept scanning the pages of "A Guide to Simple Apparation."
"Hermione, quit it. You'll scare the owls away. Fred and George are supposed to be sending me something today…" Hermione glared at him. Things between the three of them seemed to be back to normal after that night Hermione had talked to Ron, though he would never look her in the eye. This Harry noticed, and Hermione would busy herself with something to keep from speaking directly to Ron, as though it were awkward. It worried Harry, yet he felt relieved to know nothing happened between the two, unless they were keeping something from him…
"Oh, I just know I'm going to fail."
"With the way you're acting, you're sure to splinch yourself or something…perhaps half of you will end up back here."
"Ron, how many times do I have to tell you…"
"You can't apparate or disapparate on Hogwarts grounds." Harry and Ron finished for her. She scoffed and kept flipping furiously through her guide.
"Hermione, if Harry and me here could pass the blasted exam, you'd have to be pretty knackered to not pass it."
"I know, it's just I've been so busy with my school work that I completely forgot about today, which reminds me. You two need to pay close attention for me in class so I don't miss anything."
"You're six chapters ahead, Hermione, you probably know more right now than we will at the end of the lesson."
"I hope you at least pay attention then."
"Without you there to poke at us, I doubt it."
Hermione scowled at Ron and checked her watch. "Well I ought to get going. How would that look if I were late…"
"Good luck, Hermione," Harry said.
"Yeah, send us a postcard if you end up in Aruba." Harry snickered at Ron's joke.
"Perhaps I'll send you one from Bulgaria." Ron shut up instantly, having never quite gotten over her platonic friendship with Viktor Krum. Harry smiled weakly as she waved goodbye. They finished their breakfast in silence and headed slowly to NEWT Transfiguration.
"Why would a seventeen-year-old witch need to be friends with an old Bulgarian seeker anyway?" Ron muttered. "He's too old for her anyway, not that I really care."
Transfiguration was long and boring as usual. Today they were learning about the molecular arrangement of an animagus transformation. The subject only made him think of his father and Sirius. His mood had been ruined for the day.
Charms wasn't much more fun either…learning more physical properties to magic, boring stuff. It wasn't until they were headed for the Great Hall for lunch that Ron brought it up, something he would think about once in a while.
"D'ya reckon Hermione would ever lighten up enough to let us try become Animagi?"
I would agree it would be stupid to attempt alone, but with help from McGonagall or Dumbledore, it would be feasible." The boys turned around to see Hermione grinning ear to ear like a pixie.
"I take it you passed?" She nodded vehemently and leapt into Harry's arms, squeezing the life out of him. Ron sort of patter her on the back funny before she embraced him too.
"Told you had nothing to worry about."
"I know, I should be more worried about the other people testing…they obviously didn't study one bit."
"So you would be talking about me and Ron?" Hermione tried hard not to roll her eyes, pretending to ignore his comment.
"So what is this about becoming animagi?"
"Well I've been thinking it couldn't hurt to try it…who knows, it could be helpful?"
"I agree, but only if we let someone help us with it. We'd be stupid to try it on our own…"
"My dad and his friends did it."
"Yes, but they took chances I'm not willing to take."
"Hermione, are you okay?" Ron asked. "You aren't going batty over our idea…you actually seem to be agreeing with it, what's gotten into you?" Hermione grinned.
"I'm serious. With the corruption of the ministry, they hardly keep tabs on animagis anymore. It's not a priority with Voldemort running-oh stop It Ron-with Voldemort running around."
"Do you think McGonagall would go for it?" Harry asked.
"As long as we're adults about the situation, I'm sure she'll help us. You should ask Dumbledore first though, Harry."
"Yeah. I have a quick occulmancy lesson with him before Herbology, I could ask him then."
"Good, we'll go with you."
"Actually. Fred and George asked me to collect all their orders and owl them off today…bloody prats."
"We'll meet you in class then, come on Harry." Hermione drug him out of the Great Hall and up the stairs to the Headmaster's office, where the large gargoyle stood proudly in front of the door.
"Peanut Brittle," Harry said, but the gargoyle would not budge. "Peanut Brittle." The statue shook its head. "What? That's the bloody password!"
"Maybe Dumbledore isn't here yet." He nodded and leaned his back against the cool marble. She looked at him with a grin. "Even the great Harry Potter can't move boulders once in a while."
He blushed, harder than he had ever done so in his life. She was flirting with him, and he felt as though fairies were fluttering about his chest.
"You can do anything, you know?" He shook his head, looking down at his shoes. "You really could."
"So could you." He looked up at her just in time to see her smile sheepishly. She bit her lip, looking down like a little girl and scuffed her shoe.
"Haven't we all ready had this conversation," she said, referring to first year, in the dungeons with Snape's potion. She had a dreamy look on her face, and when he smiled at her, she giggled, unable to wipe that stupid grin off her face.
"I'm usually annoyed by students loitering about my office," Dumbledore said behind them, making them both jump. He smiled warmly. "But I'll let it slide just this once." He turned to the gargoyle and repeated the same words Harry had only this time the gargoyle lept aside, allowing the three to pass.
"I must apologize, I charmed him into only letting people in when I'm in my office…I'm sure you remember Professor Umbridge…" Harry smiled at the memory of their toady professor screaming in her pouty voice to no avail.
"Professor, there's something we need to ask you," Harry said. Dumbledore turned around with a glint in his eye.
"I thought you'd never ask."
~*()*~
Wow, I'm soooooooo sorry for not updating sooner. I tried very hard to write over my 4th of July break…and produced this. I hope you guys like it. I tried to make it a bit longer to make up for the long wait. Review, please, because they keep me going. :)
Thanks for all my reviewers, you guys keep this story alive. :)
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