He watched her smiling brightly and listening to Neville- having stumbled upon the pair in a deserted corner of the stacks where a study area had been set up. He wondered if there were any more- because it was rather cozy with the sunlight and nicely cushioned chairs. He stepped closer to the stack he was against, hoping they hadn't seen him as he peered through books and shelves to watch them interact.
He smiled when he saw the normally stuttering and bumbling Neville talk clearly and then laugh at something she did in response.
"Hermione!" Neville's shock washed over his face suddenly before he blushed and laughed sheepishly. He ducked his head and rubbed the back of his neck- a defensive gesture Harry knew he performed himself; it was also one that made him wonder if Neville had been treated as badly as he had been. Neville sighed before grinning more strongly. "I don't think Sue would like me though- I mean I have that reputation."
Harry almost stumbled as he leaned forward to hear the response from `Hermione'. Her shoulders shook with a giggle he barely heard as she tried to cover up her mouth with her hand, and then she shook her head and lifted her hands and started to make signs. He felt his mouth drop as he squinted and focused, Neville repeating the action as he paid due attention to the hand signs and tried to interpret them.
When she finished the boy shrugged humbly before stating, "I didn't know many of those."
Hermione blushed before licking her lips and speaking. "I said that if she can't see how great you are then she's really not worth it." The way she stumbled with a breathy accent surprised him before everything fell into place, and Harry leaned boneless against the stacks as she leaned over the table to hold Neville's hands firmly in her own. "You've been a great friend to a Nobody, and if she can't see how loyal and brave you are to do that then she's a blind daft bint." She nodded her head firmly, eyes shining as she smiled softly squeezing his hands briefly before winking and laughing- her hands once again drawing up to cover her mouth.
Neville grinned and leaned back in his chair. "Hermione Granger- I think you might have a protective complex over me."
She smiled and signed something back in response, before suddenly sobering and doing a slower sequence of hand positions.
Neville grimaced. "Sorry," he spoke precisely now and more clearly, "I said that I think you have a protective complex over me." And as he spoke his hands made simple movements around his chin- Hermione watching, mouthing the words after him before her face cleared and she grinned while moving to pack up her stuff.
Harry got out of there as quietly and as quickly as he could.
……
Harry felt his breath burn its way down his throat and his nose stinging as a result of the heavy breathing he'd needed to escape from the cemetery with the comatose Cedric. He felt the blood trickle from his hand and winced as the crowd finally hushed and his head rung with the silence. He didn't let go of his grip on Cedric's shirt collar, fingers clasping even tighter when hands tried to pry the two champions apart.
He finally gasped as air finally rushed completely into his lungs, the warm feeling of a medical spell tingling along his blood as he looked around frantically. Dumbledore was talking calmly, though Harry could see the residual anger in his glittering eyes.
Harry blacked out for a second and when he shook his head to clear it he was further away from Cedric and he started to panic. "He's not dead!" He sobbed out in some attempt at a yell. "He's not dead!"
The milling adults gave him pitying looks though most were busy directing the crowd to leave the area, Harry briefly noticing the presence of official looking aurors before his attention went to Madam Pomfrey as she smiled wearily, "no, he's not dead." (That's great but that's not really what he meant…)
There was a loud relieved cry from Amos Diggory, and Harry moved to say something to alleviate this pressure on his heart but Dumbledore stilled him with a grim look. "You were very lucky Harry, if we hadn't gotten the warning the aurors wouldn't have been able to show up at the cemetery in time."
Harry still felt confused, his head spinning before an old hand was placed on his shoulder. He settled, partly for the comfort, but another part of him latently aware of the fragility of that hand and wondering if any movement would accidentally break it…like Cedric's bones had broken…like the blood had so easily came forth from his skull…like the knife had made it flow so profusely from his arm.
He choked on a sob and then he was suddenly gripped firmly in the hands of McGonagall, her stern eyes looking at him directly and taking away his will to fight, to speak. She pursed her lips and nodded her head before she muttered something to Dumbledore and steered him away from the mess that had became of the triwizard tournament.
He stared in some shock as they passed Mme. Pomfrey, delicately but efficiently escorting Cedric to the rest wards, and he swallowed down the blood from his bitten tongue as they walked into the halls of Hogwarts and then met at the doors to the healing ward, Harry spotting Cedric already sleeping on a far bed with curtains almost drawn completely shut- his father was there at his side.
Harry looked away, distracting himself with thoughts of all the passages the nurse had to know to get here so quickly.
His eyes swept over the sterile and unfeeling room to land on Neville, standing at a bedside and speaking with exaggerated facial expressions, Harry wondered why until he noticed who he was talking to. Even though there was no one to disturb with a loud conversation it really didn't matter to if one talked loudly to her, but it did matter what it looked like you were saying.
Hermione Granger was perched upon a bed, the white blanket wrapped around her until she was practically lost in it with only wide eyes and large hair visible accompanied by the small hands holding hot chocolate.
Neville smiled and rubbed her back soothingly, the girl lighting up and sipping at her drink before she spotted him and her eyes widened. Neville looked over and gave him a quiet look before he smiled and called out, "You alright there, Harry?"
He pushed his even more broken glasses up his nose and nodded, his mouth opening to question them before he was nudged in the back and started walking to the pair, knowing that his head of house was going to talk to the school nurse and simply realizing that it was hard to hold a conversation across a medical ward.
"Hey guys." He said tiredly as he stopped near the bedside, watching the pair sit together and comfort each other. His brows furrowed, he could have sworn that they had been at the stands in the beginning of the tournament.
Hermione shifted slightly, the hot chocolate on the bedside table before she was suddenly in front of him with her wand. Harry tensed as she put one gentle hand on his cheek; absently watching the hospital issue blanket tumble from her shoulders to the floor where Neville picked it up. He relaxed when she smiled, and her wand waved in front of his glasses a second while she stared- her eyes glowing intently enough that Harry could only stare back at her.
She gave a firm nod and sat back down, her friend fussing to put the blanket back around her while firmly wrapping her cold fingers around the mug. She smiled at Neville's mothering, and she resettled herself upon the cot as if she'd never moved.
"Her spell work…?" Harry mumbled as he took his glasses off his nose to stare at the clean undamaged glass and the straightened arms.
Hermione tilted her head and took a sip of her chocolate.
There was a comfortable silence between them, but Harry had the nagging pinch at the back of his head- why exactly were they in the hospital wing? What was wrong with Hermione that had her ensconced in the warm blanket and drinking calming cocoa? Why was Neville so proud and protective?
Harry hesitated, licking his lips quickly before his mouth could form the words. "What happened?"
Neville smiled shyly, "Hermione figured it out."
Said girl was staring at him and trying to figure out what he was saying, but Neville made no move to inform her and she bit her lip before going back to her cocoa. She shifted and Neville absently steadied her while staring at him.
"She figured out what?"
"She noticed what was up and went to warn the teachers." Neville muttered something before looking up with a steely gaze. "She had some trouble getting help because no one really understands her when she's talking fast or using sign language."
Harry grew more confused, if that was so then how could she have warned them in time? The way he said it Hermione had only realized what was happening during the maze… "She wouldn't have done it in time for the aurors to arrive when they did…"
Neville smiled and let his head tilt discreetly to his friend. "Yeah, but then she got so frustrated she used her time turner." He grinned sheepishly, "I don't know if I was more surprised to see myself walking to the tournament or that she actually was allowed to use one."
Harry gaped before things started to click rapidly into place.
"You mean she got the aurors to come because she went back in time? She did that for me? She helped save Cedric…?" That meant she could have been the one to save Sirius…
The events of his third year were chaotic and very draining for young Harry, discovering a tie to someone who was set to die because he had been framed for his parents' death- he had walked with the executioner and Headmaster only to watch them open the locked door into a shockingly empty room at the top of a lonely tower.
That also helped explain the missing Buckbeak.
And Sirius had contacted him later with a vague explanation….
Neville bristled and straightened, his eyes lighting up with the Gryffindor fire Harry hadn't seen in the timid boy before. "Hermione did wonderfully!"
Harry's eyes widened and he raised his hands up in surrender, stammering out to avoid this misunderstanding. "I meant that …you should…she could have…Cedric almost died and he's not dead!"
Neville was looking at him with wide eyes and Hermione had turned a curious and wary face to them, her hands slowly placing her cocoa on the side table before she was turning back to them and gently grabbing their hands to lower them from their tense positions.
She pursed her lips before she smiled, and as she shifted to face them more directly Harry noticed the now exposed bruise on her arm and the faint rip on her lip. He startled and made half a move to raise himself up before he was aware of their startled glances and Hermione's timid removal of her hand.
"Are you okay?" He attempted the finger spelling as he spoke (something he'd been trying to learn with the help of Neville- and something he'd been failing spectacularly at), but the odd `k' sign caught him and he gave up- only able to look plaintively at her as he stood and waited for her affirmation.
Her eyes widened before crinkling in a smile and her hand rose to cover her mouth as she nodded. A slow smile spread over Neville's face and he took a hand to brush aside one unruly curl as it fell to cover her face due to her movement. "I am, but are you?" She spoke softly, her eyes searching his and he wondered if she knew-knew; she seemed like she did.
He wasn't dead.
Harry shook his head and gave her another worried look, Neville grinning before he spoke up.
"She's fine. The person who orchestrated this found out she was foiling his plan…" he gave a particularly proud glance to her though it was underlined with a soft caring worry. "I got there in time to see her claw at his eye and then I stunned him."
Harry felt himself smiling for the first time in a while, Hermione glancing up with her eyes closed and a grin on her face before the door to the ward slid open and the Ravenclaw who escorted Victor Krum to the ball floated in.
"Luna!" Neville exclaimed with a quick pat to Hermione's arm to get her attention. The female Gryffindor lit up when she spotted the absentminded blonde; Luna smiled her usual dreamy smile and made her way to them.
"They skies were very angry today, they didn't like what happened."
Neville grinned. "Hermione wasn't either. But she did something about it."
Luna nodded solemnly with her large glowing eyes. "Of course, the clouds can only do so much." She turned to the curly haired brunette, meeting her happy gold eyes. "They say they're proud of you. Not many would notice the evil and then go one step further to stop it."
Harry found himself floundering, discovering that the odd way Luna spoke wasn't slow and exaggerated but enunciated enough that Hermione had no trouble `listening'. He'd made brief acquaintance with the blonde through Ginny- though that had been a stilted awkward affair and had left him avoiding Ginny and Luna whenever they were near each other.
Neville tapped him to get his attention before he whispered to keep from interrupting the girls. "It's called lip speaking; Luna knows it because she thinks the White bellied Saddleback understands it better than normal speech."
Harry looked at Neville in wonder before he looked nonplussed at the girls. "She's just speaking normal …but it's different."
Neville nodded his head, absently glancing over to the girls when Hermione laughed behind her hand and Luna smiled dazedly. "Lip speaking is emphasizing visual cues to help tell what words are being spoken- I use cued speech instead."
"Is that what you were doing with your hand?"
Neville gave him a sharp look, and it took Harry a moment to realize that he'd given away part of his secret- they didn't know he'd seen them talking before he'd actually `found out'.
He'd successfully avoided being found out, and only started to talk to Neville about the maze and any help he might offer- the chapter on gillyweed in that book had been a lifesaver, literally. He'd been surprised to meet up with Neville and Hermione- not having any ulterior motives of the sort at that point in time He'd simply wanted to survive the last task. And it had started quietly, with Neville translating the quiet Hermione's insistence on locater spells and meditation.
That had started a tentative friendship, though Neville and Hermione only informed them of Hermione's hearing difficulties when Neville took the first step and made some hand signs in front of him. They were more open after that, but they still only used sign language.
And now the kneazle was out of the bag.
Neville stood angrily and drew the attention of both girls over to them, Hermione stumbling to her feet dizzily because of her rush and unsteady condition before Luna steadied her with confused wide eyes. Harry stood, the guilty weight on his shoulders making him hunch like he'd been prone to do in the summer, trying to make himself as small as possible to avoid the hit.
Luna laughed a little watery giggle, sounding quite like the babbling brook he'd seen in a wizarding picture before Hermione smiled and looked at her friend. Neville spluttered before he deflated, regarding Harry with a cautious air but none of his previous hostility.
Harry gaped at the mercurial shift before he quickly sobered. His eyes darting around the room - catching the Diggory's solemn corner and wincing - spotting the bedside potions where Hermione had been and scowling - looking at the trio regarding him with varying looks from caution to dreamy observation to open and welcoming curiosity.
He sighed and scratched the back of his head, hunching over to accommodate the movement- and he hated it when he did that. The action was so like the little boy in hand-me-down clothes too large for him to move properly in, waiting for someone to smack him across the head for getting the question wrong or spilling the juice.
Luna walked up and gave him a hug. "Even the clouds have a little trouble avoiding the sun."
Harry sputtered before he blushed, Neville sighing before he let go and laughed, his hands mopping down his face before he gave him an obscure look and spoke. "Hermione's special, Harry, and the first thing I thought when you said that was that you were just playing with us to find out everything."
Harry gasped and stumbled to attention as he looked directly into Neville's face, and he slowly grew awed as he saw why the sorting hat had placed the last Longbottom in Gryffindor. He slowly shook his head, his mouth opening before he closed it because he had to swallow that heavy feel at the back of his throat. "I- I really wanted to get to know you."
Neville pressed his lips into a line as he winced and rubbed the back of his neck (once again, that all too familiar gesture to Harry). "You got to admit Harry; no one really wants to get to know us."
Luna tilted her head, her eyes on the corner of the room where the Diggory's were, though the curtains were closed and there was nothing to actually look at. She was strange like that, looking nowhere and everywhere at once and randomly speaking out of turn…
And Neville, he bumbled his way through the school and lost his homework almost as much as he lost his pet toad, and the parchment didn't have a set of legs to run away on.
Hermione crinkled up her nose at them, her eyes laughing before she gave them an exasperated look and Neville started laughing. She didn't understand. She couldn't hear them arguing and accusing and she simply accepted them because they accepted her.
Like no one else did.
But he wanted to get to know them, he wanted to accept them and be accepted amongst them.
……
Hermione sobbed as they caught her by her hair, she hadn't waited long enough and they had found her today. Her binder was tossed aside and broken - someone had stepped on it - and one of her hands had been smashed into the loose stones on the sidewalk and she could feel the stinging sensation of blood and dirt mixing.
She sobbed again and tried to sit up, the hold on her hair tightening before her face was forced into the gravel and someone kicked her knees out from under her as she tried to get up again. She cried out as someone stepped on her hand; her fingers were going numb as she pulled it back frantically and curled it into her chest, tears choking her as they flowed into her mouth and the pressure blocked her throat while she tried to get away from the stupid kids who always picked on her.
There was a flurry of movement in front of her blurry eyes, the kids' laughter was loud and their shouts deafening as she tried to get away from harsh hands and jeers. She screamed out for someone to help, but as usual there was no one and no one would bother later.
They kicked her school bag away and the first actual punch was thrown, a hard knuckle catching her in the eye as her breath caught in her chest- her form swayed in the hold of two other boys. There was more laughter, harsh and grating as her vision blurred with swelling and some more sticky tears, her hands trying to steady herself and push away her attackers at the same time.
There was a kick to her side, knocking the rest of her breath out of her lungs as her eyes widened and she choked on some blood from her bitten tongue. Another kick, a blur of someone pulling her hair back for someone else to punch her, and then her head was being shoved into the paved sidewalk.
There was a crack and she struggled with disorientation, the vague forms of the boys stopped what they were doing, a blurry sensation of them backing away. Hermione choked and then collapsed from where she'd managed to levy herself up, her throat heaving as blood and acid came up and she cried, trying to find her balance around the pounding of her head and the numbness of her beaten limbs.
Then adult hands had hold of her, and her head lolled back so she could see her teacher, Mr. Fairleigh, as his mouth moved and his angry eyes looked away from her and her struggling.
She settled into his arms as he stroked her messy hair away from her sticky face, her eyelids wavering with the call to sleep as the cocoon of silence surrounded her.
.
.
.
.
.
Author's Note:
Neville is using Cued Speech. This is a language aid where the speaker uses a very small variety of hand signs to represent consonant and vowel sounds while speaking so that hard of hearing people can pronounce the word themselves. In Hermione's case she has a linguistic background - she has post-lingual deafness (she learned to speak before she lost her hearing) - so she can understand the sounds and work to pronounce them even though she is completely deaf. (She's also a spoon bending genius, so forgive my exaggeration of her abilities ;) )
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