Chapter Thirty
CLARA LEWICK
Author's Note: Having trouble uploading this one. I think it might be too long. Part two of two.
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"`Mione, I think that it's safe to say that things have changed between us," Harry was saying. "We're... er, not exactly first years anymore, and everything that we've been through has changed the way that I feel about you. And, well, after all that, I'm not sure if things can be what they once were. You see, I, er, I really like-how long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough to know you have it even worse that I'd reckoned," said Ron, smirking from where he was leaning against the doorframe. He stepped into the room and shut the door securely behind him. "So you're going to talk to Hermione today?"
"If I can figure out what to say to her," said Harry nervously. He sat down on the edge of his bed, still unsure of how to tell Hermione about his feelings for her. Maybe it wouldn't be that difficult after what he'd said to her the night before, but even that logic didn't do anything to settle the growing knot of fear in his stomach. "I'm not supposed to be this nervous, am I?"
Ron scratched his head before flopping down on his own bed. He propped his chin up on his elbows. "Probably not, but maybe so. I was bloody terrified when it came time to tell Anna I liked her." He continued thoughtfully. "It all turned out well in the end. She told me that she liked me before I managed to get all the words out."
"Great," Harry grumbled. He reached absently for the nearest object, which happened to be his wand. He began to twirl it about his fingers and twiddle it unnecessarily. "So what should I do? This isn't just any girl-this is Hermione. What if I screw this up? Then where am I? Five years of friendship down the bleeding drain?"
"This is Hermione," Ron repeated. "It's just Hermione, Harry. I doubt that even I know you better she does. If you say the wrong thing, she'll understand. She always has before, right?"
"But I don't want to say the wrong thing," said Harry, sighing. "I thought you were going to play some Quidditch with Dean and Seamus. That was only an hour ago, wasn't it?"
Ron looked reasonably guilty. "Er, we were going to do that," he admitted, "but we kind of changed the plans. Neville seemed to want to play. I like Neville and all, but you know as well as I do what a disaster that would have been."
"That's an understatement," said Harry, snorting. He glanced at his watch. It was nearly noon-he had skipped breakfast and slept in because he had been up so late. It wasn't even that long ago that he had gotten out of bed, dressed, and showered. Because they had just finished their O.W.L.s, the fifth years didn't have classes. "But what did you do for the last hour, then?"
"Er, you see," said Ron, tugging at the collar of his shirt. "Anna's in Muggle Studies, you know, she really thinks it's fascinating, like Dad does, but I still kind of convinced her to skip class."
"Yeah, well," said Harry, grinning in spite of himself, "that would explain your cheek."
"What?" said Ron, sitting straight up and rubbing furiously at his face. "Where?"
"What are you talking about?" said Harry slyly. Ron glared at him. "So what were you doing with the dashing Miss Clemens? I used to think she'd keep you in check, but after last night, I-"
"Belt up, Harry," said Ron crossly, folding his arms across his chest. The tips of his ears were turning red. "Anna... well... there's something special about her, and I..." He glared defensively. "And my parents met when they were our age, so you can stop laughing now."
"So it's like that?" said Harry, more seriously. He let his mind wander back to Hermione, and the fiddling with his wand began again. "Have you talked to Hermione yet this morning?"
"Yeah," said Ron. "She had some huge book with her at breakfast, but she said hi to me and asked where you were. I think I answered, but it wasn't much longer before I fell asleep in my scrambled eggs. She'd gone back to the common room by the time I woke up, and she's sitting down there with Crookshanks, reading, right now. I talked to her a few minutes ago. She-Bloody hell, Harry!"
Harry's wand twirling had led to him accidentally igniting the corner of his bedspread. Ron, swearing under his breath, put it in about half a second, but he got up and snatched away Harry's wand nonetheless.
"You're not allowed to have this anymore," said Ron, and he dropped Harry's wand into one of his desk drawers. "Tell you what-I'm going to lock this up, but as soon as you've come out of your Hermione-induced state, I'll let you have it back. Now go talk to her!"
"Or you could just keep my wand," Harry protested, but it didn't do any good. Ron had drug him from his bed and was now shoving him quite forcefully in the direction of the drawer.
"I can't keep you wand," said Ron patiently. "You'll need it when we have class again, and it'd be really unfortunate if you were to accidentally set another fire then. I can see it now. `I didn't mean to, Professor McGonagall, honest! You have to believe me! I'd never set Hermione on fire, never! Well, not on purpose, at least...' That wouldn't go over well."
"What do I say?" said Harry desperately as he was propelled out into the hallway.
"You'll think of something," his best friend called, shutting the door in his face. "Oh-I'd watch out for Crookshanks if I were you, though. He's in one of his moods. I'd let you see the scratches if I didn't think you'd lock yourself in and me out! Go on now, Harry!"
"Damn it," Harry swore, hitting his fist to the door. Ron didn't say another thing, and Harry realized that he was serious about not letting him back in. Choosing a few more curse words, Harry set off down the staircase to the common room, hoping that the right words would come to him. He clutched the railing tightly and took each stair slowly.
Hermione was sitting in one of the comfiest armchairs in the familiar round room, all the way on its opposite side. A bunch of the fifth years were gathered in a circle around the fire. They had a deck of Muggle cards out, and it sounded very much like Dean was explaining the rules of poker to the group. Other than that, the common room was empty, but Harry figured he'd still probably drag Hermione to some other part of the castle before talking to her.
"Hey," said Harry, a little more shyly than he had intended to. Hermione looked up, shutting her book quickly and flashing him an equally shy smile. It made him considerably more comfortable to see her as she was. Harry was suddenly struck with a thought of just how pretty she was when she smiled like that. Hermione was a plain girl by almost any standard, but Harry had long found her bushy hair, once over-sized teeth, and small stature pretty. When he said that he liked Hermione, he meant he liked everything about her.
"Harry!" exclaimed Hermione. She hopped up so suddenly that Crookshanks went sprawling onto the floor. He glared at both his owner and her friend distastefully before trying to claw Harry's leg. He skulked away before Hermione could scold him. Hermione didn't really notice because she'd thrown her arms around Harry's neck.
"Aw, did you miss me or something?" said Harry playfully, setting her back down. She was so much shorter than him now that he nearly always ended up lifting her off the ground.
"Always," said Hermione without batting an eye. "Ron said that you slept in. All rested now?"
"Yes, I am," said Harry. He kissed her forehead. "Did you sleep all right?"
Hermione kind of shrugged; it was clear that she wanted nothing more than to avoid that subject. She grabbed his hand. "Sorry about Crookshanks."
"He's no problem," said Harry, his eyes searching the room for the ginger cat. Crookshanks was now lurking around the base of the boys' staircase. "Hey, I was wondering, do you think we could talk about something? Maybe not here-I kind of don't want them-" he gestured to their classmates "-listening in. What do you say?"
"Let's go for a walk?" said Hermione, her brown eyes shining. They smiled, understanding each other perfectly, and headed out of the common room. They were quiet as they passed the Fat Lady even though she wasn't. Her exclamations of their compatibility of a couple were more or less expected.
"Behave, you two!" the Fat Lady called as they headed down the hall. Harry was still holding Hermione's hand, but he didn't make any motion to drop it.
"Where do you want to go?" Harry asked.
"Outside?" said Hermione hopefully. "I was going to read in the courtyard this morning after breakfast, but Snape caught me heading out the doors." She scowled. "I'm apparently a fool for even trying to be alone now. I can't protect myself, you know. Honestly, they can't keep me cooped up in the castle forever."
"Well, we can go outside now," said Harry helpfully. "We could even go to Professor Sprout's garden, if you'd like. I remember the way."
Hermione's nose wrinkled up, and Harry noticed for the first time that she actually had a few freckles. Only a few, here and there, and certainly not like Ron had, and Harry found them cute just the same. "It's too much Ron and Anna's place."
Harry shuddered. "He's a bad influence on her. He convinced her to skive off from one of her classes to spend time with him. I think-scratch that-I know they were snogging."
"Oh, oh," Hermione groaned, lacing her fingers tighter through Harry's. They walked down the stairs without talking.
"I keep trying to imagine," said Hermione as Harry held open the door for her, "what it would be like next year to go to a Muggle school. My parents don't know yet, about my powers. I might not tell them because I just can't picture it. It wouldn't matter if they sent me to the most prestigious Muggle school in all of England. It wouldn't matter because there's no place on earth better than here." She laughed, and she leaned into Harry. "Besides, I think the grounds alone should be reason enough to come here. They're so beautiful at this time of year. Maybe I'll just have to take a leaf out of Ron's book next term and skip constantly. You know, to enjoy all this greenery."
"You wouldn't," said Harry simply. He had this feeling that, like he would later, she just needed to talk for a while.
"No, I wouldn't," said Hermione with a laugh. "You know, things were so much easier before I realized I was magical, and even when I knew but before I came to Hogwarts, but maybe everything's still much better now. Maybe I'll never cast another charm again or ever get a chance to hex Marks to next year-and I'm fairly sure that I've found a spell that does exactly that-but maybe that's better than never even knowing this world existed. It's something that I understand, how one levitates a feather or causes another to have a giggling convulsion, but it's still something that amazes me. Do you ever feel like that?"
"Sometimes," said Harry, squeezing her hand.
"It's wonderful, and I'm glad that I got a chance to know it," said Hermione. She glanced off into the distance. Even though it was a fairly warm spring day, smoke was rising from the chimney of Hagrid's little house. "The seventh year girls were talking the other day, about the things that they would miss most about Hogwarts. Angelina is going to miss the Quidditch pitch, and Alicia is going to miss Charms class, and Katie actually said that she was going to miss the library." Hermione swatted at Harry when he grinned. "One of them is going to miss seeing her friends every day, and another actually said that she'd miss Bryan Dawes, the sixth-year Hufflepuff, the most `because he has a very nice arse.' I think I know what I'd miss most."
"And what's that?" Harry said as they approached the lake's shore.
"Hagrid," said Hermione with finality. "He might not have been the very first magical person that I met, but he was really the first to take any interest in me. Did you know that? It was just like my Muggle primary school when I first came here because Know-It-All Hermione with the bushy hair and large front teeth wasn't very likable. Hagrid liked me though, from the time he helped me gather a certain type of plant we'd used in Potions. I wanted to learn more about it, so I asked Professor Sprout, and she sent me to Hagrid. He was so very nice." She glanced toward his hut. "I should probably say that I'd miss you and Ron the most because I always miss the two of you when we're not together, but I just don't see my life going anywhere without the two of you. We'll probably end up living together in a flat near Diagon Alley. You'll be Aurors, and I'll be the most boring librarian ever, but we'll all be together because that's how it supposed to be. Right?"
"Right," Harry murmured.
"Oh Harry," said Hermione, stopping so suddenly that he kept right on going to the point that he nearly ended up dragging her forward with him. He had seen this moment coming, but he figured she'd just keep walking about the lake when it came. "I just want to be able to handle this well. I don't want to be some kind of inconvenience, to you, to Ron, to Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore. I don't want my parents to reconsider letting me stay at Hogwarts over something silly-" she said this sarcastically "-like me not having any qualifications to be here. I used to be magical, and now I'm not. I should be thankful that I'm not dead and haven't lost my soul, but I just can't be. Magic has been a part of me since I was three and inadvertently hexed Annmarie because she kept trying to play with my favorite doll. It's just-it's just that I hate it," Hermione finished, tears running down her cheeks. In a small voice, she added, "I'm trying to be brave."
"You are," said Harry, holding her tightly. He started to wipe her tears away with his thumb, but his heart seemed to have a better idea a few seconds later, and his lips ended up on hers. It seemed that things just went in that direction anymore-rather pesky, really, and probably not very good for Harry's already mixed up emotions.
"Goodness," said Hermione, when they broke apart. "I really was rambling quite a bit there for a while, wasn't I?"
"Just a little," said Harry with a grin. He took her hand again. "You're allowed to, though. You're amazing, Hermione. I can't even imagine what it's been like to have to confront all that, again and again, day after day. I get the feeling that you've had way too much time to think about it lately."
"I haven't been sleeping well lately," said Hermione, and she squeezed his hand. He wrapped an arm around her. "What was it that you wanted to talk about?"
"Do you want to walk around the lake?"
Hermione didn't answer right away. She said instead, softly, "Do you think that we could go there?"
"Go where?" said Harry, confused.
"I want to go into the Forbidden Forest," said Hermione, taking a deep breath. "I see it all the time in my dreams, Harry. It's just a couple of trees, I know, but I want to see them. We can talk on the way."
"Your nightmares," said Harry gently, and he added unconvincingly, "but I don't have my wand."
"Why not?"
"I-er, well, you see-I set my bed on fire this morning," Harry admitted. "It was a total accident, but Ron's decided I can't have it for a few hours."
"I'm pretty sure that I don't want to know," said Hermione. She shook her head and withdrew something from the pocket of her robes, blushing. "Take my wand. I know, I know. It's pathetic that I still carry it, and I know that it isn't yours, but if what I've read about wands in the past is true, it shouldn't be that big of a problem."
Harry didn't say anything, but he did take her wand away from her. "You know, the Forbidden Forest is off limits to all students, or am I not aware of a new rule? Because we all know that Hermione Granger always plays by the rules."
"Please Harry?"
Harry hesitated before hugging her. He grabbed her hand and started toward the forest. They were already at the lakeshore, and therefore past the point where the Forbidden Forest was visible to the rest of the school. "Okay, but you're staying right with me the whole time."
"What? Do you really think I was planning to lead you in there and stray away at once?" Hermione said. "Now, what was it that you wanted to talk about?"
"Well," said Harry, stalling for time. His throat was suddenly very parched, and he was very sure that his heart was racing. "Er, it's about last night."
"Ah," said Hermione, her cheeks faintly pink. "I figured as much. So, this is about my brazen request at the foot of the staircase? Oh my, I spent an hour thinking about that and still couldn't figure out what had gotten into me." She glanced up at him. "Sorry?"
"It was a little surprising," Harry admitted, stepping a little faster so he could be in front of her now that they were in the Forbidden Forest. He wasn't sure how much he liked this idea, but he could tell that it was really important to her. Maybe it had to do with closure, or something similar. Either way, if it was what she needed, Harry was determined to let her have it. "But rather endearing, nonetheless."
Hermione laughed nervously, and she stepped closer to him when something in the distance made an odd noise. They walked along in their companionable silence once more; she understood that Harry was still trying to collect his thoughts.
"It hasn't been an easy year," said Harry at least, "especially not for you. It wasn't supposed to be easy, but I thought that the hardest thing to deal with would be Voldemort. For some reason, as much as the thought of him scares me, it scared me so much more to see you hurt. The thought of losing you-to anything-well, that's what really did me in."
"Harry..."
"I'm almost done," Harry promised, squeezing her hand gently while holding his other hand up. "It's not like when we were younger, when we cared because we were best friends. You're still my best friend, Hermione, you and Ron, but I've started to care for you in another way. Not just as a friend anymore." He glanced over at her; he'd been following his feet with his eyes for several moments. "I really like you, Hermione."
"You do?" she sounded surprised, and confused. "Why?"
"Er," said Harry. "Because you're pretty, and smart, and sweet, and kind, and-just because you're you. Because you're Hermione. And-what did I do wrong? You're crying. I didn't mean to-oomph!" She had chosen that moment of his stammered apology to hug him so tightly that he really couldn't breath.
"Oooh," said Hermione, pulling away from him, her cheeks scarlet. "I've really had issues lately with keeping my emotions in check." She hastily wiped away her tears. "You didn't do anything wrong, Harry. That was just so sweet of you."
"So it's okay?" Harry said, sure his relief was noticeable. "It's okay that I like you? I'm not crazy or ruining our friendship?"
"Of course not," said Hermione, pressing her side to his as he wrapped a familiar arm around her shoulders. "Are you trying to tell me that Ron never told you that I like you?"
"He might have mentioned it," said Harry, reaching up with his other arm to scratch the back of his head. "Yeah, he did. He'll be happy, won't he?"
"Oh, so you did notice that he's been trying to get us together for the better part of the year?" said Hermione. She looked anxiously at Harry. "Does that mean we are? Together, I mean?"
"Sure," said Harry. He had to be grinning stupidly at the moment. It was all he could do not to jump with joy. Something behind them began screeching.
"On second thought," said Hermione, "a walk around the lake would have been more romantic."
"I think we're almost to the Life Circle," said Harry softly. It was weird; he'd been concentrating so hard on saying all the right things to Hermione that he hadn't paid a bit of attention to where they were heading. Nevertheless, they were currently walking through a grove of trees that Harry found very familiar. "That's-er, not where it happened, but.."
"That's where you found me," said Hermione.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Harry blurted. "We could go back to the castle now, you know. It'll just upset you, to go beyond the Life Circle and see where it happened. Come on, Hermione. Let's just go back."
Hermione whirled around on him so fast that he had to take a step backward. "I do not like it when you do that, Harry."
"Do what?"
"I'm well aware," she said, "of what it'll do to me to see that spot. It's not going to make me break, though, Harry. I know you think that I can't do anything on my own, and it's very nice to have you looking out for me at times, but at others it's quite annoying. I usually do quite well to take care of myself, though. You can't protect me from everything." Hermione looked at him for a long moment, and her tone was suddenly very shy. "It's just something that I need to do."
"In defense of myself," said Harry nervously, "it's only because I care about you?"
"Oh, I know," said Hermione, sighing almost guiltily. "I'm sorry, Harry, I didn't mean to go off on you like that. I'm not thinking so clearly. And-I meant what I said, but it's rather difficult to stay mad at you when you look so innocent and lost."
"Okay," said Harry, "I'll stop being overprotective-well, not so overprotective at least." He looked down at her hopefully. She pulled herself away from him and grabbed his hand.
"How much farther?" she asked once they were past the Life Circle.
"It's over there," said Harry vaguely, "but not far. Ron and I passed it once we had you. We could see the-see the-we knew where you had been." The memory of that day was suddenly as clear as it would have been if Harry had stored it in a Pensieve, which was odd because he knew that he hadn't been thinking that clearly when it had actually happened.
"There," said Hermione suddenly, pointing. She sounded strangled. "From my dreams..." She dropped Harry's hand and started forward. He folded his arms across himself as though he had a stomachache. If he kept thinking about what this place meant, then it wouldn't be any time at all before he had one for real.
Harry tried to step forward, but he couldn't make himself, so he kept a careful eye on Hermione as she stood firmly between some of the greatest trees in the forest. He was starting to understand what she was doing, and he hated it even more. He knew that she was trying to ease the memories she knew for sure as well as the fragmented visions she had been experiencing for almost two weeks now. Still, even though this was of her own violation, it didn't make it any easier for him to watch her stand there, hugging herself as the wind picked up, silent tears streaming down her face.
"Nothing," Hermione said quietly a few minutes later, walking back toward him. "It was all for nothing. I didn't have a single flash of what happened before I woke up in the forest, no dungeon room, nothing. It must have been the head injury, that's all. I just can't remember what happened because of it. That's all."
"Probably," said Harry. "Are you ready to go back?"
"Yes," said Hermione. They walked as closely as they always had, and it was enough to make Harry realize that things really hadn't changed. It all seemed pretty inevitable from here.
"So," said Harry a few minutes later, once they were past the Life Circle and into the more open part of the Forbidden Forest, "you said that you couldn't stay mad at me. Does that mean we won't ever fight?"
"Everybody fights, Harry," said Hermione, rolling her eyes. "We've fought before."
"Yeah, we've fought before because you just didn't understand what an amazing broom my Firebolt is."
"I was right in the end," protested Hermione. She giggled suddenly. "Did you see Ron and Anna last night when they were fighting?"
"They were fighting?"
"Oh, only for a few seconds," said Hermione waving her hand. "I reckon you were trying to finish one of Clara's diary entries. It was actually pretty funny. Ron says they get into it a lot, about having to keep everything a secret and all."
"Well," said Harry nonchalantly, "they still spend more time trying to find the other's tonsils."
"Harry!" exclaimed Hermione. "You're no better than he is."
"But so much more charming, don't you think?"
"Oh, my opinion is a bit biased," said Hermione, "but I suppose so. I do believe you're flirting with me, Harry Potter."
"And what if I am?"
"Then..." Hermione trailed off. "Dork."
"That's some kind of insult," said Harry dryly. "Did learn that one during first year, or before?"
"Ugh," said Hermione. "Okay, you're not a dork. Maybe that's what I should be calling myself. I should warn you, I'm a bit of a nerd. Always reading and stuff..."
"Nah, you're just studious," said Harry affectionately. "I can be the nerd if you'd like me to. I have the glasses and everything."
"Oh, I've always found your glasses most endearing," said Hermione.
"That was my word earlier," said Harry.
"I'm not allowed to use it?"
"I reckon you can, if you really want," said Harry. "I'm feeling charitable, can't you tell?"
"When did we start bantering like this?" Hermione wondered aloud.
"I thought it was flirting," said Harry. "Have you changed your mind on me?"
"I'm allowed to," said Hermione knowingly. She dropped his hand, which she'd been holding, to let him wrap an arm around her. "You know," she said softly, "we should have figured this out ages ago."
"Yes, we should have," said Harry. And they should have, for this new them wasn't so different from the old them. It was only better. They walked out of the forest together, his arm around her, not really needing to talk.
"Ron really is going to have it with us," grumbled Harry as they stepped out of the forest. "Do you have any idea how smug he's going to be?"
"Yes," said Hermione. She paused. "Especially because there are Galleons on the line."
"What?" Harry screeched, a little louder than he intended. "He said he wouldn't be taking bets on us."
"Oh, well," said Hermione, blushing. "I probably should have told you, but I was quite scared of scaring you away, and as much as Ron insisted, I didn't believe that you could ever like me. Anyway, it's just against Fred and George. They thought it would take us until next year, and he was fairly sure that his meddling could make it happen this year."
"Maybe we just shouldn't tell him," said Harry, sounding slightly wicked.
"Oooh, maybe we shouldn't," said Hermione. An uncharacteristically sly grin was spreading across her face. "Wouldn't that be just the way to torture him?"
"I always knew your mind was amazing, but..." Harry dropped a kiss on the top of her head. Hermione glanced up, her eyes searching his.
"You don't want to tell anyone," she said quietly.
Harry shook his head. "And it's not because I'm embarrassed or anything, rest assured," he said. Then, he smiled sheepishly. "It's that pesky overprotective thing again. I keep thinking about Voldemort, and that it was he that wanted you hurt. I'm so afraid that you were a target because of me. Now..." he trailed off. "No use making it any worse, right?"
Hermione sighed. "You have a point," she said, sliding out from under his arm and grabbing his hand. "I was actually thinking about a certain beetle as we left the forest. You know, her year is very nearly up."
"I'd forgotten about her," said Harry, smacking a hand to his forehead.
"Oh, I tried to," said Hermione, "but then I realized that she had been right. She shouldn't be allowed to be right."
"You didn't like me all the way back then, did you?" Harry asked, alarmed.
Hermione's cheeks went pink, and she averted her eyes. Quickly, she said, "I kind of liked Ron back then."
"Yeah, I heard something about that," said Harry, grinning a little.
"Goodness, he told you," said Hermione, sounding very relieved. "I think I would have died of embarrassment if I had to be the one." She shook her head. "No, it wasn't like that. You know how much I love him, but it's all as a brother."
"He could certainly use a few more sisters," said Harry, starting to walk more slowly as they approached the castle. If he and Hermione were going to keep this quiet, then this moment would have to end, and he didn't want that.
"Who, Ron?"
Harry and Hermione whirled around quickly at the sound of that familiar voice. Hagrid, in all of his great and shaggy massiveness, was standing behind them with a wide smile barely visible through his thick beard.
"Yeh've been off in yer own little `orld," said Hagrid cheerfully. "I've bin walkin' behind yeh for awhile now, an' yeh never once looked around. How are yeh? How'd yeh do with yer O.W.L.s?"
"Hermione did so well in Potions that Snape complimented her," said Harry, grinning proudly.
"Harry!" scolded Hermione, her cheeks going pink. "He's the one that got a perfect score during the practical part of the Defense exam."
"Well yeh've bin fightin' the Dark Arts since yeh was a baby, `Arry," said Hagrid reasonably. "It all makes sense. Can I interest yeh in a cuppa back in me hut? Olympe's making lunch righ' now. Going to France this af'ernoon, talking abou' the wedding with her mum, she is." He looked hopefully to Hermione and added, "Erinel's bin all in a frenzy."
Harry and Hermione exchanged a quick glance. He could almost see some sort of wheel turning behind her eyes and knew at once that she'd just come up with yet another reason to visit Hagrid than to be sociable and to see Erinel. Either way, it had been a long time since he'd spent time with the groundskeeper, and Madam Maxime's cooking always seemed to make the area around Hagrid's little hut smell just wonderful.
"That would be great, Hagrid," said Harry. Hermione had opened her mouth at the same time.
"We'd love to," she said.
Hagrid landed a beefy hand on each of them. "Come along then," he said. "I'm so hungry that I could ea' a hippogriff, not tha' I would."
Ten minutes later, Harry and Hermione were sitting in Hagrid and Madam Maxime's house on the edge of the Hogwarts property. It kept changing, that little hut did. It had gone from being purely wild, very much like Hagrid, to a very comfortable and livable place. It was still all one room, but there were definite divisions of where each room started and stopped. Madam Maxime had welcomed the two more warmly than they would have ever expected when she had first arrived almost two years before while Hagrid warmed up a few bottles of butterbeer that he had lying around.
"So yeh both did well on yer O.W.L.s, all things considered," said Hagrid, setting down two piping mugs in front of them. "Any interestin' stories yeh want to share? There's always some, yeh know, this time o' year. Professor McGonagall jus' couldn't stop laughin' the other nigh' at dinner. Said that one of yer classmates had a dream charm forced on him, and up came somethin' with his girlfr'end."
It was all that Harry and Hermione could do to keep from laughing, and even that didn't last long. Choking on his butterbeer, Harry said, "Er, that was Ron."
"Was it?" said Hagrid, chuckling while he planted what had to have been a very whiskery kiss on Madam Maxime's cheek. "I didn' know Ron had a girlfr'end. Though' tha' one girl broke up with `im."
"Oh, they're sort of back on," said Hermione, waving her hand.
"Zat happened once at ze Palace of Beauxbatons," said Madam Maxime sadly in her heavy French accent. "Ze poor boy, `e was so embarrassed."
"Are the O.W.L.s your students took very different than ours?" Hermione asked kindly. Harry worried at first that this would upset Madam Maxime, but she looked pleased to have been asked.
"No, zey were just in our language, of course," said Madam Maxime, shaking her head grandly. "It iz not so bad to think about now. I am lucky to be here. Do you like the-eh..."
"Pancakes," supplied Hagrid helpfully. He had gone over to the other side of the room to straighten out something or another.
"I always get zese food names confused," said Madam Maxime. "Cooking here is so different-it is all so rich." She shook her head once more. "Presentation is not so important anymore."
Hermione, who had been to France on holiday twice before, began asking Madam Maxime a bunch of questions about French culture that prompted Harry to go over and talk to Hagrid. It wasn't long before Madam Maxime had served their lunch, which was as wonderful as it always smelled. Harry had headed out back afterwards to retrieve Erinel while Hermione helped Madam Maxime with the dishes. He got back just in time to hear her question to Hagrid.
"Hagrid, did you ever know a Clara Lewick? She was here at Hogwarts with Harry's parents," Hermione asked politely, scrubbing furiously at a pan with a dishrag. It seemed that they had opted out of magic use altogether because Madam Maxime was doing the same to one of the pots.
"Eh, sure I knew Clara," said Hagrid cheerfully; he had been scratching behind Fang's ears. "Professor Lupin tell yeh about her? She was a real smart one, real focused, like yeh, Hermione, and yer Mum, Harry. Year or two behind `em though, I think. Real sad what happened-or is tha' what you wanted to know?"
"Well, yes," said Hermione, sharing a look with Harry, her eyes growing wide with happiness anyway when she saw Erinel, who was squirming in his eyes.
"Er, didn' reckon Professor Lupin would tell yeh that part," said Hagrid sadly. "Grew up together, those two, and dated for years. `Ey was like all the young couples in love back then-yeh got married righ' out of Hogwarts `cause yeh just didn' know if yeh'd have another day. Never did get a chance to, which was righ' sad. Clara could do some o' the fastest wand work I've ever seen, and our side needed those types back then.
"It must o' bin March, if not April. There was the worst fight, and it wasn't far from here," said Hagrid, shaking his head. "Lotsa people died in it, and Clara was one of them. They must've been when your parents were right out o' here, Harry. Yer father took so many Stunners that we weren' sure if he'd make it fer awhile." Hagrid seemed to chill because his great shoulders shook. "It was a ruddy awful day."
"Iz it ze Life Circle fight you are referring to?" said Madam Maxime, leaning down on the table. Hagrid nodded, and she turned to Hermione. "It was ze worst day of fighting I ever saw. It was right here, actually. In ze Forbidden Forest."
Harry had dropped Erinel in Hermione's lap before standing behind her to listen to Hagrid's tale. He had his hands on her shoulder, and he could tell that this wasn't the kind of story she had been looking for.
"That's horrible," said Hermione at last.
"Yeh don' think on it, `Ermione," said Hagrid at once. "Yeh don' need to worry abou' summat that happened years ago and can' be changed. Yeah, yeh jus' forget yeh heard that. I'll tell yeh something happier about Clara. She was the only match I ever did know to James and Sirius's pranks. Used to set random things on `em, let `em chase the boys around the ground. I think she migh' o' intimidated `em. They picked on her something awful because they knew she'd retaliate.
"She was a prefect, and then Head Girl, like `Ermione `ere is going to be," said Hagrid jollily. "I remember tha' real well. It was when we were setting the wards on the castle again. Worth it, o' course, but real hard with my work. Head Girls and Boys then were not only the smartest but also the best figh'ers. Clara, along with your parents and Sagesse Bom and a couple o' others, they rewrote half the wards on this very castle. Dumbledore needed their help, he was so busy `imself. Had `im working with the very original book o' wards."
There was a silence for a moment before Hagrid clucked his tongue nervously. "I shouldn't o' said that."
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