Unofficial Portkey Archive

By : FayeValentine00

Chapter 16

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True to her word, Jessica met up with Harry and Hermione in the Gryffindor Common Room the following night with the rough draft of her report dangling in her hand. Both Harry and Hermione had been preoccupied with studying so neither even noticed her approuch until Ginny greeted her loudly.

"Hi Jessica. Is that the report?"

Jessica's face lit up when she saw the redheads excited expression. "Y-yes. Harry told me that you might be willing to help me edit it. I wanted to make sure that everything was perfect."

"Forget about them, Jessica. Obviously the perfect couple is much too busy to worry about this. What do you say about me and you working on it together?" As Ginny spoke, a devilish gleem began to shine in her eyes.

"Well... ummmm... D-do you think that will be okay?" The blonde girl looked nervously over at Harry but Ginny was already dragging her away.

Once the two girls were out of sight, Hermione looked at Harry with confusion on her face. "What was all that about?"

"I'm not quite sure," he responded with a similar expression. "Do you think we should go see what Ginny's up too?"

After a few moments of thought, Hermione rolled her eyes and groaned. "She's so much like Fred and George. Do we even want to know?"

Harry couldn't help but laugh. "Maybe not."

"Besides, we still have a lot more work to do before bed," she sighed but Harry knew that she wasn't half as depressed about it as he was.

Nearly two weeks had passed since Ginny had carted Jessica off to her room and no one had been able to get a peep out of either girl about the progress of the paper. Harry and Hermione had tried to trick Ginny into talking but she'd seen right through the act and tried to convince them that the paper had been changed into "Historical Snogging Spots at Hogwarts."

Luna and Neville had tried to talk to Jessica but they'd come back convinced that Ginny had made her promise not to talk. Apparently the first year had apologized until she'd nearly broken down into tears. After that, no one had the heart to press her any further.

It wasn't until it'd been a full three weeks that they learned that the paper had finally been finished. Jessica had turned it in without anyone but Ginny knowing and had received a perfect score for her efforts. It wasn't until she'd received it back that they others received their own copies to read.

The beginning of the paper was exactly what everyone had expected. It spoke about the events of the night that those few members of Dumbledore's Army had gone to the Ministry of Magic and ultimately revealed that Lord Voldemort had returned. Ginny must have helped her with some of the finer points of the battle in private because there were some very descriptive moments that could only have come from someone who was there, but it was the commentary after the story that really touched their hearts.

Although the dark forces of He Who Must Not Be Named and his followers were not defeated on that night only two years ago, I still consider the topic to be historically relivant. It was only that short time ago that the Ministry of Magic had done everything in their power to make Headmaster Dumbledore and Harry Potter look like they'd gone mad, only to have to eat those words later. It is this kind of cover up and denial that has made wizards all over Britain question the loyalties of certain members of the Ministry ever since.

While writing this paper, I was given the honor of speaking, not only to Harry Potter, but also to many of the other people who accompanied him to the Ministry that night. Let me say that I have learned for a fact that Mr. Potter is quite sane, as are the friends he took with him. They all fought against the evil that they knew was lurking in the shadows without a care about the consequences. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood and Ron Weasley did what was right and fought together. If we only had more adult wizards in the world who would fight as bravely as these children did, I think the world might be a better place for all of us.

Harry and Hermione finished reading the paper almost simultaneously and exchanged small smiles. Although they loved how Jessica had worded the paper, it was the memories of Ron that made the happiness feel a bit empty. They both knew that Ron would have loved to have read this article, having always been in the shadows of his brothers and best friend. Jessica's essay had made hero's of them all, especially Ron. Harry supected this was partically Ginny's doing but he knew that no one would have wanted it any other way.

"She did a good job," Hermione said in a cheerful voice but Harry could see the teary look in her eyes. Thankfully, she was able to hold the tears back because if she had broken down, Harry knew he probably would have followed suit.

People say that loses get easier over time but it simply didn't seem so for them. They were the trio but how can you be a trio when a member is gone? Harry was beginning to wonder if it would ever get easier. He knew that he'd felt this very same way after he lost Sirius but that was a little different. Sirius was a father figure and one of the last connections he had to his parents but Ron was somehow more than that. Ron was the best best friend, brother and partner in crime that anyone could have asked for and even now Harry still woke up at times and expected to see him in his dorm bed.

"Harry, are you alright?"

Harry managed to push aside his thoughts and offer Hermione the most reassuring smile that he could muster. "I'm fine. Just thinking."

Hermione nodded sliently, knowing exactly what was going through his head. She reached out and gave him a tight hug. "You watch, Harry. Everything is going to be alright. Someday Voldemort is going to pay for what he's done to the world ... to us ... and especially to you. We are going to be just fine."

Harry hugged Hermione a bit tighter as he took in her words. She always seemed to know just what to say to make the world seem a little brighter. He didn't even dare to think about what could happen anymore. The battle was coming and everyone knew it. The only thing they could do now is just wait and flow with the punches.

"I love you," he whispered as he pulled her away.

A true, full smile spread across he face as she nodded her acknowledgment. "I love you too."

Later that evening, Harry and Hermione were able to find Ginny and Jessica in the Gryffindor Common Room laughing about something that they apparently found quite amusing.

"What's so funny over here?" Hermione asked with a grin on her face. She was happy to see Ginny looking so ... Ginny-like again. She missed the free spirited, fun-loving girl that'd seemed to disappear after Ron's death.

"Ginny was just telling me stories about her brothers, Fred and George. They sound like the most interesting people," Jessica answered while still in the middle of the giggles.

"Oh yes, Fred and George. I think interesting would be the perfect word for them." Harry couldn't help but join into the laughter.

The foursome spent the next several hours telling the young first year about all of the thrilling adventures of the terrible Gryffindor twins. Hermione would later look back and wonder if they should have told such an innocent first year about the secrets of Fred and George but, all in all, it was just fun to be happy and laugh again with a group of friends.

"Did you guys like the essay? I was really worried that you might not like it but Ginny swore that you would think it was completely appropriate," the young girl finally asked towards the end of the evening.

"It was entirely appropriate. You really did a wonderful job," Hermione answered while Harry nodded his aggrement.

"Well, thanks again for the interview and everything. It was really great. Since I want to be a journalist someday, I think it was good experiance."

"You want to be a writer?" Ginny suddenly asked with new interest.

"I've always wanted to be even before I knew anything about the wizarding world," Jessica answered with a blush, as if she was giving away a big secret.

"Well, if you ever become a reporter, I promise to be your first interview subject, okay?" Harry added with a smile.

At these words, every head turned to Harry. He was definetly not the kind of guy who went around giving interviews everyday but he knew deep down that their was something special about this girl and he was willing to give her a bit of help if she needed it. At least he knew that she was honest and that seemed to be a rare trait in the journalists that he'd met over the years.

"Okay, I'll hold you to those words," Jessica smiled more excitedly them they ever remembered seeing her before.

The last few months at Hogwarts flew by for Hermione and Harry. Studying for their NEWTs and doing the riddiculous amounts of homework that had been assigned to them every night seemed to take up nearly every waking moment. If they weren't working on a report, they were studying for a test. If they weren't studying for a test, they were researching something for the NEWTs.

Finally, two days before the exams, Harry'd had enough. He tossed his book aside with a big groan and climbed to his feet. Hermione looked up at him from her book with exhaustion written all over her face.

"What are you doing, Harry? We still have loads more to do."

"I'm done. Nothing else is going to sink into this brain tonight."

She eyed him with disapproval as he began to stack all his books up. "No way! There is only two days left to study and you still have so many things that you haven't learned yet," she lectured while pointing to the stack of books that he still hadn't touched.

"Come on, Hermione. Lets just go on a walk. I'll go mad if I don't get out of this place soon," he whinned to her with the best puppy face that he could make.

Although she tried hard to hold it back, Hermione burst out into laughter. "Fine, but only a quick walk. We still have to study."

"Okay. Fine," he responded as he took the book from her hands and pulled her to her feet. "Lets just go."

They made their way out of the building walked along the path that led to the lake. Even at this late hour, they could see lights on all over the castle and it was obvious that they weren't the other ones studying like mad.

"Fred and George were so lucky to get out of this place before the NEWTs," Harry spoke in a whimsical voice.

"Foolish is more like it. They were so close to finishing too. Good thing their shop is so successful. Really, Harry. What would they have done if the store flopped?"

"Anything was better then being stuck here with Umbridge."

Hermione thought for a moment but then reluctantly nodded her agreement. "True."

"What are you going to do when we leave here, Hermione?"

The question was so unexpected that Hermione stopped dead in her tracks and looked at Harry with a rather horrified expression. At one time, the answer would have been so simple. She would have gone off to a wizarding college and become a professor or scientist or something equally brainy but now life had become so different. Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley had thrown such a curve ball into her life that sometimes it was hard to even figure out which was was up.

Could she really be happy with the kind of life that she'd always dreamed of? Would she really be able to just walk away from her experiances like they didn't effect her? She knew that she'd never walk out on Harry but where would they stand when they left to start their "real" lives? It suddenly seemed very strange that they'd never really spoken about it seriously.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yes. I'm fine. I-I was just thinking."

"About?" Although Harry was trying not to look nervous about the conversation, inside he was a wreck. He wanted to ask Hermione that very question ages ago but the timing never seemed right. There were always so many other things to deal with. Now they only had a week left in Hogwarts and there was no time left to stall.

"I don't know really. I just..." she sighed in frustration and raked a hand through her bushy hair. "I just don't know what I want anymore. Nothing's as simple as I used to think."

"I'm sorry." Although he spoke quietly, Hermione didn't miss the tone in his voice. He obviously blamed himself of her confusion and in truth it was partly due to him. It just wasn't in the way he thought.

"Don't be sorry, Harry. There is only one thing I am sure of these days and that is the fact that I love you."

"I know but where do you want to go. Surely you want to go to University and study all kinds of horrible classes with all sorts of boring people."

Hermione laughed out loud at Harry observation of "university" people but ended up nodding in agreement. "Yes, I do want to go but I don't think I'll go very far away."

"Don't worry about me, Hermione."

"Of course I worry about you! The battle is coming soon. Everyone is saying it and I am not going to let you fight alone. We're still a team, Harry. Even if there's only two of us. Ron would still want it that way."

Harry wanted to argue with her so badly but he knew her current expression like the back of his hand. Her jaw was set in a defiant grimace and her eyes were narrowed as if daring him to even try to disagree. After a long while, he finally broke down and nodded his understanding.

"I have one more thing I want to ask you," Harry said with a smile.

"And what's that?"

"Well, after we leave here, I am really in no hurry to get back to the Dursleys' so I was wondering if you wanted to spend a few days at The Three Broomsticks. Maybe we'll even be able to get a bit of peace and quiet."

Harry saw a bright blush sink into Hermione's cheeks as she thought about his proposal but after a moment, she nodded her agreement. "Sure, sounds good. I guess we'll be able to talk more then."

With a victorious smile, Harry reached out and pulled Hermione into a tight hug, pressing his lips firmly against hers. She quickly kissed him back with equal enthusiasm. They took the time to enjoy the peace of the night together before they managed to make it back up to their rooms, their studies completely forgotten.

Thankfully everyone had already gone to bed. Considering everyone already thought the couple were lovers, coming in late at night would have looked quite bad. It would definately have looked worse then it really was.