Note:, Id like to thank everyone who read my story and those that took time to review it. Choccy2604, Looney Warner Mouse., Minnimione and hbraveheartp. I hope you all enjoy this part as much.
"The lying bastards, someone should burn down their offices and put this… this rag out of business." Harry and Ron looked at each other glad that Hermione's outburst had been swallowed up by the noise in the Great Hall. While the level of hate surprised them both the source of it didn't today's edition of the Daily Prophet. "Look at what they're saying; not only are they insulting you and Professor Dumbledore, but their saying Professors MacLeod and Lupin aren't qualified!"
The fifth-years first DADA lesson had been the day before. By the end of the lesson Hermione had pronounced Professor MacLeod 'competent' her highest accolade for a teacher. During the lesson Harry had noticed a few things he'd missed at the feast. She walked with a slight limp and there was a cluster of pale lines on her face, as if a number of thin cuts had only recently healed. On her hand was a discoloration that Ron had said was caused by a potion that stopped burns from scaring.
"What does it say?" The only answer Harry received was having the newspaper shoved into his hand as Hermione scowled.
'New Term, New Incompetence' screamed the headline on the front page. Harry began to read the story even though he had a good idea what it would say. 'I, like many of our readers, have happy memories of my time at Hogwarts and have a great respect for the Headmaster Professor Dumbledore. Yet I can no longer allow my sentimentality to cloud my judgment. Today I found out that Professor Dumbledore has hired Morrigan MacLeod, an ex-Auror, to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. While an ex-Auror would seem to be an ideal choice to teach DADA, but when you discover other facts about Miss MacLeod, you may well begin to question the wisdom of hiring her to teach our children. Miss MacLeod did not resign, but was sacked after refusing to obey orders and putting other Auror's and innocent people at risk. Miss MacLeod was recently seen at St Mungo's hospital with extensive injures that are consistent with dueling injuries. Rumors are linking her injuries to the attack on a hit-wizard squad on the same night that left three of their number dead. While no charges were made her refusal to tell investigator how she was hurt has left her a suspect in the ongoing investigation.
Morrigan MacLeod is only the latest in a series of unfit people to hold the DADA post at Hogwarts in the last Six years. With a possibly dangerous teacher, the increasingly erratic behavior of Harry Potter and Professor Dumbledore's obvious lack of concern; I feel compelled to ask are our children safe at Hogwarts? I leave the answer to you.'
"Hermione, you can't let your self get angry at things like this; that's exactly what the Ministry wants. If they can't get me to lose it, you and Ron are the next best thing. You can just see the headline 'Potter Deranges Fellow Students'.
"Harry's right, Hermione. They'll use whatever they can; I mean look at last year, just because a story wasn't true didn't stop them from printing it," said Ron before going back to his plate of food.
"I know, it's just not fair," said Hermione visibly calming down.
"Look its Saturday, we're going to see Hagrid today and I just want to relax. So could we leave putting the world and all its wrongs right until at least after tea, please?" asked Harry with a grin.
"Okay if I must. So what were you and Hagrid talking about yesterday?"
"Nothing important, he just wanted to know what my summer was like." He'd actually been asking for Hagrid's help in getting Hermione a present for her birthday. He hoped that she wouldn't notice the half-truth.
"Ah, the brute was asking how the orphan's summer was. Isn't that sweet?" Malfoy's voice cut through the din with ease. They'd managed to avoid Draco and his minions both on the Express and in their classes. Harry had been the most thankful because he wasn't sure how he would react to any of Draco's usual insults towards Hermione.
"Piss off, Malfoy!" growled Ron before either Harry or Hermione could react.
"I don't think your Mummy would be happy at you using that sort of language; a problem Potter doesn't have," the last word was followed by Draco's trademark sneer. Harry was up and reaching for his wand.
"Harry." Hermione's tone was low but there was no mistaking the warning in it; he let go of the wand and let it slip back into his pocket.
"I'd love to stay and chat, but I can only stand the stench of a Mudblood for so long." Malfoy walked away with Crabbe and Goyle sniggering behind him. Harry was already pulling his wand out his pocket when Hermione's hand clamped down onto his wrist and with a slight shake of her head told him not to do it. A small part of him wanted to push Hermione away and then hex Malfoy with the worst curses he knew, but the look in Hermione's eyes stopped him.
"That arrogant stuck up bastard." Fortunately Ron's words only carried a little way across the table with the only acknowledgments of his words being smiles.
A few minutes passed before Harry spoke. "I need to go speak with Ginny for a minute; I'll meet you both back at the common room."
"Okay, but remember Quidditch in an hour," said Ron as he left the Great Hall with Hermione. The trials were supposed to have been yesterday, but the Hufflepuff team had taken longer than expected so Gryffindor had been pushed back to Saturday.
"Ginny, can I have a quick word in private?"
"Sure, Harry. What can I do for you?" asked Ginny as they just outside the Great Hall.
"I need your help with Hermione's birthday present. I need you to go into her dorm and get something for me."
"What?" asked Ginny. Harry just smiled and then explained what the present would be and what he needed her to do.
"The common room in twenty minutes?" asked Harry
"Sure," said Ginny with a huge smile.
"Have you told Ron about Michael yet?"
"No, and Hermione shouldn't have told you, it was a secret."
"I know she just wanted to reassure me that I wouldn't be upsetting you. You're a good friend and I wouldn't want to lose you."
"I know; I'm not angry with her. I just don't want Ron sticking his nose in, but then again he took the news about you and Hermione so well, maybe I should tell him." The sarcasm in her voice was unmistakable and brought a grin to Harry's face.
"Okay point taken. It's your life so I won't interfere."
~ ~ ~
Twenty minutes later found Harry in the Common Room waiting for Ginny. Ron was in the corner with the twins getting some last minute tips for the tryouts and Hermione was reading a book with Crookshanks in her lap. Ginny finally came in and walked up to Harry.
"Okay here's the cloak, when you get it wrap up and then take it to Hagrid. He's going to Diagon Alley today and will drop it off for me."
"She's going to love it, Harry, but what if she comes up when I'm in her room?"
"Don't worry about it." With a last smile she was off up to the dorm. It was twenty minutes later and she still hadn't come down and Harry would have to be off to the Quidditch tryouts soon. Hermione put her book down and walked over to Harry and gave him a quick kiss.
"I'm just going to grab a jumper and then we can head down to the Quidditch pitch, okay?" No it was not okay Ginny still hadn't come down yet and he was running out of time; he'd have to use his backup plan.
"Okay, I'll wait for you." As Hermione walked off he got Neville's attention and gave him a nod.
"Hermione, could you give me a hand with my Transfigurations. I still don't get this part." Neville's voice rang out and stopped Hermione in her tracks. Neville had actually been working hard at his classes and understood the transfiguration extremely well, but had agreed to play up to his image in order to help Harry. It took another five minutes for Ginny to finally appear. Harry had begun to panic because he knew that Neville wouldn't be able to delay for much longer. Ginny walked right past him with just a quick nod and then was out of the room with only a good luck to Ron.
"Is it done?" asked Ron as he wandered over to Harry. The grin Harry gave him was all the answer he needed.
"What you so happy about?" asked Hermione as she walked back into the room.
"I'm just thinking about something"
"Thinking about what?"
"How beautiful you look when you smile." Even though she didn't care much about her looks, it did feel good to be told she was beautiful.
"Come on you two break it up," said Ron.
"Don't worry, I think you're beautiful when you smile too, Ron," said Harry in a tone that oozed sincerity.
"Sod off, Potter."
"Keep up that sort of tone and I won't kiss you."
"Oh, so Ron gets a kiss, but your girlfriend doesn't?" asked Hermione with joy dancing in her eyes. Ron had wondered away muttering to himself, but was glad to see his two friends happy especially with the strain that had put on their relationship in the last few days.
"Hermione, put him down, you don't know where he's been. And, Harry, we had better hurry or Angelina will shout at us again." Fred's shouting interrupted Harry and Hermione's kiss.
~ ~ ~
Hermione sat watching the game with Ron. Both Ron and a third-year had done well enough in the first round that they were now being tested in conditions closer to a full game. The Gryffindor team was trying to score against the third-year, but even Hermione could tell that the distraction of all four balls and a whole team was getting to him.
"There's too much going on for him to cope with," said Ron mirroring Hermione's thoughts. "That's the problem with Quidditch, it's difficult to play a game with full teams so it's hard to prepare."
"You're not worried about that?"
"Of course I am and that first round showed just how bad I am."
"You didn't do too badly and you better get ready his twenty minutes are almost up."
"You're right. Hey there's Parvati; could you do me a favor, Hermione, and ask her to ask her sister if I could have a word with her after lunch. Thanks," said Ron running off before he got an answer. Wondering what her friend was up to, she walked over and talked to Parvati who told her she'd ask her sister for Ron.
Hermione watched the rest of Ron's tryout alone but she didn't mind too much. It was a nice day and she could tell how much fun Harry was having flying. While Ron's performance didn't get any better it didn't get any worse. He let in a handful of goals but the confusion of a larger game wasn't getting to him. The tryout soon finished with Angelina telling them she'd make a decision by night.
"Parvati said she'd ask her sister."
"Thanks, Hermione." Seeing Harry's puzzled expression he explained what he'd asked Hermione to do.
"Why?" asked Harry.
"I've decided to do something none of my brothers have done." Before they ask what he walked off towards the castle.
"Well that's just weird. Any idea what he's up to?" asked Hermione as they walked back to the castle at a slow pace, hand in hand.
"Not a clue." Harry looked down at their hands and smiled. "So how long do you reckon it will be?"
"Wednesday."
"Monday. Never underestimate the efficiency of the Hogwarts Information Network."
"We're only holding hands," said Hermione with an innocent tone.
"And kissing when you need to go to a different class."
"Not to good at keeping to the subtle thing are we," said Hermione in a sad voice that contrasted sharply with the look in her eyes.
"Not really, but this is more fun," said Harry as he leaned down to kiss Hermione.
~ ~ ~
The lunch was up to Hogwarts usual high standards, but he was looking forward to talking to Hagrid to eat much. He got a small lecture from Hermione about his eating habits as he'd had a light breakfast.
"Ron, you wanted to speak to me." Padma stood waiting for Ron with a look that said that this had better be good. They walked a little way out of the Great Hall to get some privacy. "So what do you want?"
"I wanted to say sorry for the way I acted at the Yule Ball. The way I treated you was wrong and I'm glad you had a good time despite of me. Anyway I just wanted to say sorry."
~ ~ ~
They were sitting in Hagrid's hut having a cup of tea and all three of them had the exact same questions in mind. What happened with the Giants and what happened to your beard?
"So what happened with the Giants?" asked Hermione not being able to stop herself from asking anymore. That wasn't the first question on Harry and Ron's minds, but they still wanted to know the answer.
"Now firs' thing firs'. Congratulations you two. You better be treatin' her right Harry. So how did you spend the summer?" Hermione just stared at Hagrid and slowly crossed her arms. "Yeh want an answer don' you?"
"Yes please."
"The three of yeh always knew too much. It didn't go too badly, Olympe and me found them quick enough; it's easy if you know where to look. We tried to get them to support Dumbledore and it was working 'cos they knew about him. Then some Death Eaters turned up and started chucking magic at Olympe and me. The chief decided that if they would do that to half-giants they might attack them too. So their chief hit one of the Death Eaters."
"What happened to him?" asked Ron
"Well if I said splat I wouldn't be telling the half of it."
"Okay."
"So will they help us?" asked Hermione with hope on her eyes.
"No, they still remember what the Aurors did to them, but they blame You-Know…"
"Voldemort," said Harry speaking over Hagrid. "He's just a man."
"You're right Harry. They blame Voldemort." There was a slight hesitation as he said the name. It was if he expected to be shouted at for using the name; only a few months ago he would have been. "For them being' driven out of Britain and other places. So they won't help us, but they won't help him either."
"And your beard?" asked Ron.
"I picked up a few scrapes when the Death Eaters attacked. I'm no healer and neither is Olympe so we did quick fix. When I got back to Hogwarts I went to see Dumbledore, but he was in the Hospital Wing. I went to tell him I was back and before I could say two words Poppy had her wand out, my beard was on the floor and she was slapping some gunk onto my face. Only a few more days and then I can let it grow back."
"I think you should leave it, you look very handsome." Hagrid started to blush at Hermione's words.
"You thin' so?"
"Of course. Maybe you could ask Madame Maxine what she thinks."
"Well I am going to see her at Christmas. I could leave it and see what she thinks. Now I'll make us another cuppy and you can tell me about your summer. I heard Bill was nursing a sick Horntail?" They spent the rest of the
afternoon with Hagrid talking about their summer and reaffirming the ties of friendship. Night had already descended by the time they started back towards the castle.
As they were climbing into the common room they noticed that Angelina was at a table with Fred and George.
"What do you think there talking about?" asked Ron in a nervous voice. All three knew that it was most likely be who got the Keeper position, but nobody wanted to say it.
"Hey, Ron, come over here a minute," said Angelina as she spotted Ron.
"Do you think he got it?" asked Hermione biting her lip.
"Yessss!" Ron's shout shattered the calm of the Common Room.
"Maybe." Ron's joy was infectious and the rest of the night was given over to a small party. The party finally broke up at two in the morning as the die-hard's finally gave in to Hermione's threats and went to bed.
The next day was spent relaxing, no study, no Quidditch practice and best of all from Harry's point of view, no Malfoy. Hermione did do some schoolwork, but it was light and Harry could tell from the subjects that she was probably enjoying herself. It was getting late as Harry and Ron were playing poker for Every Flavor Beans when Hermione put down her Arithmancy book and went to pick up one of her books from home.
"Harry, wait a sec, I need to speak to Hermione." He seemed nervous and Harry couldn't figure out why. "Hermione, have you got a minute?"
"Sure what do you want?"
"I want to say sorry for how I've acted in the past. Especially how I treated you when we first met." Ron had just started to walk away when Hermione spoke.
"Okay, Ron, what's going on? First you apologize to Padma now to me, why?"
"Like I said yesterday. I've decided to do something none of my brothers have done."
"Which is?" asked Hermione with a hint of annoyance in her tone.
"I'm going to grow up. War's coming and I can't just muck about anymore. I blame Harry. Well I'm off to bed, see you tomorrow." Hermione spent the next hour mulling over what Ron had said.
"You're quiet," said Harry as he sat down next to her.
"Just thinking."
"What did Ron want?"
"He wanted to apologize." Hermione explained about her short conversation with Ron.
"It's nothing to do with me. I didn't say anything to him."
"I know and you should be going to bed too. You're practically asleep."
"You're right. I'm off to bed. What about you?" he asked standing up.
"I'm going to stay up for a few hours. You know I don't need much sleep."
"Okay see you tomorrow." Harry kissed Hermione on the head before making his way up the stairs.
He was just drifting of to sleep when the noise of someone bursting into the dorm woke him up and sent him grabbing for his wand.
"Harry, it's me," said Hermione running to his side before she whispering to him. "Its Sirius. He's been hurt."