Duelling Club and Midnight Meetings
Hermione and Harry walked through the corridors back to the Gryffindor common room in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. oh god Hermione thought how is this happening to me? And Harry isn't talking to me! He must be really mad that I didn't tell him before. she sighed and glanced at Harry, walking a little apart from her, a worried expression on his face. "Harry… I am sorry you know…about not telling you before…please don't be mad at me anymore. I really am sorry." she said, watching him. He stopped mid-stride and looked at her in surprise.
"Me? Mad at you? Hermione, I thought you were mad at me about shouting at you earlier. I -" he stopped when two Ravenclaw third years passed them, staring at him and Hermione and whispering together. He looked around then grabbed her hand and pulled her into an empty classroom, ignoring her startled protests. He put his arms around her and she instantly felt the rift between them evaporating. "I wasn't mad at you in the first place anyway, I was mad at Rookwood for stalking you like this." he said in her ear. Hermione snorted "Stalking me? I wouldn't call it that. Annoying me more like. Scaring me. I wonder what she wants anyway. Why me Harry? What could she possibly want with me?" she said, hugging him harder.
Harry didn't have an answer for her. He didn't know why Rookwood asked Hermione to join her, unless it was to get to him…but then why didn't she just come into his dreams? He ruled out that possibility. There was no reason Rookwood would want to kill him really, it was Voldemort who thought his existence a personal insult and tried to kill him at least once a year, and Azalea Rookwood was totally separate from Voldemort, Snape had made that clear when he reported on Voldemort's meeting with Rookwood and the offer he extended to her. Harry was still vaguely amazed that he had been allowed to know that piece of information, Dumbledore now seemed willing to fill him in on a lot more since the summer. Well, on things about him anyway, he still had no idea what kind of things most of the Order got up to.
Hermione loosened her hold on him and stepped back. She sighed and made a face "I think we've missed enough lessons today, we've got Defence against the Dark Arts after lunch. We missed potions this morning, Snape's going to enjoy giving us a week's worth of detentions for it." she said with a scowl. Harry grinned at her. "You look cute when you do that." he said, then kissed her.
Hermione joined Lavender heading towards the Defence against the Dark Arts classroom. She had left Harry in the great hall, talking quidditch with Seamus and Dean. Lavender smiled at her. "We've got professor Weasley as well today haven't we?" she asked. Hermione nodded. Usually on Thursday afternoons they had professor Tonks, but today they both wanted to speak to the class. Hermione and Lavender walked into the room and went to their seats, Hermione next to Harry and Lavender with Parvati at the front.
Bill Weasley stood at the front of the room, Tonks sitting on the edge of the desk, her hair black with electric blue streaks today. "Good afternoon class." Bill started "Today we want to run an idea past you and get your feedback. We were talking about this the other day, and decided that the lessons that you are getting this year are not enough." Bill's voice took on a serious note "You all know about Azalea Rookwood, but few of you can really comprehend what the rise of a new Dark witch could mean. you have all seen the effect of her attack on the Hogwarts Express at the beginning of the school year. That should give you an idea of what she is capable of. So we have come up with an idea that allows us to get through the Ministry curriculum that we have to teach you, and also actually teach you useful things that you will actually need in the real world." he finished, the class muttering agreement t his last comment. Tonks stood up and continued where Bill left off. "So we came up with the idea of a duelling club. A set time every week when students in fifth year and above can learn new spells and practice old ones. I think that it is extremely important for all of you to learn how to fight because, although we wish is wasn't so, there are Dark wizards and witches again, and you must know how to protect yourselves. You must know." she said, driving home each word. Harry leaned across and muttered in Hermione's ear "She sounds like a younger, female version of Moody."
Bill spent the rest of the lesson teaching them about various blocking spells and magical defences. As they were all packing up, her called out "Anyone who is interested in joining the duelling club please write down your name on a slip of parchment and give it to me before you leave. And spread the word, we want as many people as possible."
Harry packed up his books and scribbled his name on a spare bit of parchment and took it up to the desk. He was just turning toward the door when someone knocked his shoulder and pushed roughly past. Harry looked around and saw Ron disappearing through the door. "Still not forgiven you yet then Harry?" Tonks asked, looking thoughtfully after Ron. Bill looked up from counting the slips of parchment and snorted. "Don't worry about it, he'll be ok. He just needs to get himself a girl." he said, grinning. Tonks slapped his arm playfully. "Is that all you ever think about? Honestly! Men!" she said, winking at Hermione. Hermione exchanged glances with Harry and grinned. Tonks and Bill seemed to be getting on very well recently. They said goodbye and quickly left before Tonks or Bill could ask why they were both grinning like loons.
~*~*~*~
Word spread about the duelling club, and soon it seemed that everyone in fifth, sixth and seventh year would be going. It was decided that the first meeting would be held on Saturday afternoon because there was no quidditch that weekend. Hermione was really looking forward to the first meeting, and couldn't wait to learn new spells and practise duelling with other people.
On Friday evening she was looking over her notes, making sure that she had all the spells memorised when an owl flew in through the open window and landed on her bed. Hermione untied the parchment from its leg and unrolled it. She recognised the untidy scrawl and smiled. Harry she thought. He had written:
Hermione, meet me tonight at the Quidditch Pitch at midnight. don't ask - it's a surprise!
Hermione smiled and wrote back, saying that she would, but it better be worth it. She attached the note to the owl's leg and it flew off to deliver the reply. Hermione spent a while longer reading her notes, then pulled on a jumper and jeans and put her wand up her sleeve then went to meet Harry.
She managed to get out of school without being seen, and made her way to the quidditch pitch. She walked onto the pitch and looked around. It was dark and silent, and he wasn't there. The changing room entrance caught her eye - the door was ajar. She pushed it open the rest of the way and walked in. She looked around the door and saw something move in the shadows next to the lockers. She moved forward, small smile on her lips. What was her surprise?
Suddenly someone grabbed her from behind and she yelled in surprise. A hand quickly went over her mouth and someone shoved her roughly into the wall. She fell and pulled out her wand, only to have it snatched off her by a second person. She looked around wildly, but could only see the shadowy figures of three people closing in on her. She saw a gap between them and ran for the door. She was grabbed again and this time someone tied a thick piece of cloth around her mouth to stop her making a noise. "Stop wriggling little girl or we'll have to make you stop!" a voice hissed in her ear. She elbowed the source of the voice and he grunted in response, loosening his grip. She kicked the shins of the other person holding her and managed to struggle out of his grasp and for one hopeful second she was heading for the open door. She unexpectedly tripped over an outstretched foot and found herself flat on the floor. She could hear them laughing quietly as they hauled her up by her arms. Tears slid down her face, her eyes frantically searching for a way to escape. "Aw don't cry little girl." that same voice whispered behind her. She kicked her leg backwards and had the small satisfaction of hearing the man curse and swear behind her before something came crashing down on her head, then all she knew was blinding pain as she sank into oblivion…