Chapter 2:
A/N: I'd just like to say that, 1.) This story is based off of something that has happened to me in my life, but well, duh. All of my stories are based off of real life inspirations. It is NOT, as according to belief, based off of inside jokes, because if it was, I wouldn't even be writing it, because no one I know comes on this website. 2.) The Evil Leprechaun Family isn't really a family, it's more like one of those "secret clubs" that everybody on the planet has created with their friends at one time or another. 3.) Why is it that all the people who are overtly critical of stories, aren't even authors on Portkey? I don't mean to offend anyone, but it just really ticks me off.
Disclaimer: Don't own HP.
Breaking Hermione's Rule (Harry's POV)
Hermione will never admit the fact that she actually loved the E.L.F. from the beginning. When we went shopping before we went back to Hogwarts, she disappeared for hours, finally showing herself at lunch. In her hand was a huge paper shopping bag.
"Are you hiding something from us, Hermione?" I flirted with a waggle of my eyebrows, knowing that Ron wouldn't notice my intentions. Sure enough, he sat there without moving, inhaling a plate of French fries. Hermione only smiled at me sweetly before pulling three huge, bright green felt hats with a band and a buckle with four-leaf clover poking out of the band. She fluffed one up so that it was at its full, two-foot height, before plopping it soundly on my head. She gave Ron his and put one on herself. Even when Ron tried to take it off an hour later, she forced him to keep it on.
Yup, she was going, going, gone on our little madly insane secret society.
The whole ecstasy of the leprechaun lore kept us busy our whole fourth year. We would sneak off at random times during that year, meeting in the room of requirement, to do secret "rituals," which were generally just our term for playing truth or dare, talking, and doing stupid stuff together. Our play was innocent, completely pointless, and oddly amusing. We added rules such as, "You must speak in a Celtic accent on St. Patrick's Day," and "You must wear a bit of green everyday." On our first St. Patrick's Day together, we spent the whole day at the lake, performing the leprechaun dance and eating Lucky Charms, along with the corned beef and cabbage that the school served for the holiday. That summer we wrote back and forth in a "secret code," using green parchment that Hermione had charmed to sparkle magically. Our society of friendship and brotherhood (sisterhood, if you counted Hermione) was perfect. Then, when our fifth year started, things started to go…bad.
On September 1, when we took our usual train ride to school, we leprechauns got a car to ourselves to talk about our secret society. Well, Hermione and I got a car, anyways. Ron had met us at King's Cross and disappeared soon afterwards. We shrugged off his absence, figuring he was just chasing down Pigwidgeon or something.
How wrong we were.
Twenty minutes into the train ride, Hermione had just gotten her things rearranged and was settling down next to me on our seat. She leaned close to me to see my Chocolate Frog card when the cab door flew open, Ron, Ginny, Neville, and numerous other people behind him. Hermione's head jerked away from mine so quickly that I was sure the poor girl got whiplash. Ron merely looked at her before stepping into the car, motioning for all those behind him to enter. Not only were Ginny and Neville there, but Fred, George, Seamus, Dean, Luna, Lavender, and Parvati as well. The car was only big enough to seat 6 people, and seeing as how there were twelve of us, we were forced to set two to a seat. Hermione and I were squashed very tightly together, and her face was blushing a lovely shade of crimson.
"Ron," she hissed. "Why did you bring nine people to our car?"
"They want to be inducted into the leprechaun family. Okay, guys, here's the gist of it."
He began to explain to the newcomers all about the club. Something was tickling at the back of my brain, but I couldn't quite figure out what it was. Something about Ron's bringing all the people there was wrong, but I didn't know why-until I noticed that Hermione had grown deathly quiet, a rarity for her. Her chocolate eyes were still and the usual sparkle had gone from their depths.
The reason why bringing the others into this was wrong struck me like a lightning bolt. Hermione had only made one rule about the club, and that was that no one else could know about our alias leprechaun lives. Suddenly I knew why Hermione was silent, and I didn't like it one bit.
The meeting went on, and when the train stopped, all nine imposters were officially leprechaun. Hermione hadn't spoken since Ron had trooped them all in, and her lips were tightly together in a thin line. When we got into the carriages to be taken up to school, I gave Hermione a reassuring smile and, whispering, asked if she was all right. She nodded firmly, but looked out the window silently. I could have sworn I saw a tear fall from her eye, but it may have just been the reflection of the rain on the glass.
I never would have expected for things to go as wrong as they did. The new leprechauns went stark crazy with the idea. Ginny began to control meetings, making them a formal affair instead of just a time to relax among friends and goof off. Fred and George had created new rituals that took hours to complete and were very practical, one thing that the leprechauns were not. And Dean, Seamus, Luna, Parvati, Lavender, and Neville were constantly talking about the leprechauns in front of everybody they possibly could, causing everyone at Hogwarts to know about the family and ask to join it. Before Christmas, there were a total of 37 members to the club, half of which Hermione and I barely knew.
That St. Patrick's Day was the biggest nightmare of my life. Ron had "the greatest idea in the world": having a leprechaun festival in the room of requirement. The idea was pretty cool: we would have Irish food, Irish dance-offs, leprechaun related games, and a huge display by the main members of the club. I could tell that Hermione wasn't pleased with this idea at all, but she never complained once. But when Ron gave us the guide for what was to happen on March 17th, things got ugly.
"YOU'RE MAKING ME AND HARRY WORK THE BOBBING FOR CABBAGE BOOTH?!"
"Well, yeah, I mean, we need someone to do the work."
"Ron," I said, clearing my throat, "Hermione is the vice president and I'm the parliament of this family. I don't really think it's fair that we don't get to do anything fun."
"Well, that's what we need you to do. Is that cool with you guys?"
Hermione's face had turned a violent shade of purple. "No, Ronald, it is not cool. This family was supposed to be a secret. And you told everybody about it, making it a lot less fun. Now, we have to be structured which really is no fun whatsoever. And, you are just pushing me and Harry to the side, even though this is our thing, too."
"You know, Hermione? You didn't even want to do this club in the first place, so why are you all defensive now? They actually like us, we're popular now! We've started a revolution at Hogwarts!"
"That's not what I wanted. All I want is for you to go back to the old Ron, and if that means having this stupid family disbanded, that's fine by me."
"Well, this club is more important to me than anything else, so you're going to work the cabbage booth or I demote you!"
"You don't have to demote me, because I quit!" Hermione took off her clover brooch, and threw it to the ground before running off in tears.
Ron whistled softly. "What's her problem?"
I had had enough. "Ron, you are her problem. She had one rule to this club, and that was that no one could know about it. And now, you've taken it and turned it into something we're not."
"I knew you'd take her side."
I reached up and pulled the live cloverleaf from my collar. "Happy St. Patrick's Day, Ron."
The cloverleaf fell to the ground and I turned away to go find Hermione. She was sitting in the Astronomy Tower, tears pooled in her eyes. I sat down behind her and stroked her hair gently, letting her cry everything out.
"I just don't understand, Harry! The E.L.F. was my sanctuary, my one place where I could be stupid and daring with my two best friends! And now, well, now it's over."
I said something stupid about how it would never really be over, but I knew in my heart it was true:
The E.L.F. was gone, along with the naivety of our childhood.
A/N: R&R!
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