Unofficial Portkey Archive

By: FayeValentine00

Chapter 9

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry slept in longer then usual the next morning and found himself awoken by Neville's voice screaming his name from the stairwell. He'd tried to put his pillow over his head to block out the sound but when Harry realized that the voice was growing closer, he sighed and pulled himself into a sitting position.

"Harry! Wake up! T-There is something that you have to see," Neville said, running into the bedroom with a paper gripped tightly into his hand.

"What is it, Neville? I'm tired. Can't this wait until later?"

"No, Harry! This is serious." Neville leveled a serious gaze straight at Harry before tossing the papers into his lap. "Just look!"

Harry's eyes scanned over the pages quickly and nearly passed out. He felt all the blood drain from his face. "W-Where did you get this?"

"Everyone has it. It's this mornings Daily Prophet."

Harry let out a string of curses that would have made the twins proud before he turned back to Neville. "Has Hermione seen this?"

Neville gave him a look of sheer sympathy before nodding slowly. "The girls stopped her before coming down for breakfast. It seems..."

"It seems, what?" Harry asked Neville slowly, trying not to displace his anger of the sitsuation on the messanger.

"It seems that the Slytherin's have made the pictures into a banner and..." He paused a moment and took a deep breath before finishing his statement with nearly uncomprehensible speed. "AndposteditintheGreatHall."

"THEY WHAT?!" Harry leapt to his feet, the paper still gripped in his hand, and looked around for something to tell him that this was all just a bad dream.

"I-I'm sorry, Harry." The boy had such a worried expression on his face that Harry couldn't bring himself to shout anymore.

"Umm... Thank you, Neville."

"Professor McGonagall took down the picture."

Harry nodded absently, unable to think straight and not trusting his own voice. He pulled the paper up once more and read the article carefully.

The-Boy-Who-Lived Gets a Girlfriend
Exclusive Photos

An unknown source sent these pictures to the Daily Prophet offices by emergency owl late last night and, as you can see, a photo is worth a thousand words.

Growing up with a famous name and constantly being referred to as "The-Boy-Who-Lived" hasn't stopped Harry Potter from finding love. Even after the recent tragic death of his best friend, Ronald Weasley, Harry has begun an relationship with the boys' mutual friend Hermione Granger.

Granger, a Muggle born witch attending Hogwarts as a 7th year student, has always been close with Harry but The Daily Prophet has heard rumors that her intentions may not seem as true as Harry thinks.

An anonymous reader has sent us the following quote about just how devious the young girl may be. "Hermione Granger is an attention seeker. She always has the best grades and is the teachers pet in nearly all of her classes at Hogwarts. It only makes sense that Harry Potter would be her next choice. Who better to get her the kind of attention that she desires? Besides, she had to wait until Harry was emotionally weak before he'd even give her the time of day!"

Our sources tell us that this reader is not the only person with that opinion and if you remember the articles written a few years back by Rita Skeeter, you will remember that the same Hermione Granger was the one who played games with young Harry's heart. Can this girl be trusted? The Daily Prophet will keep you updated.

Harry's eyes gazed over the pictures again but it was even worse the second time around. For the first time since entering the wizard world, Harry wished the pictures didn't move. There were two pictures on the page and neither looked remotely innocent. It would be a long time before either Harry or Hermione were out of detention.

The picture on his left showed Harry sitting against the tree with Hermione sitting in his lap. Every few seconds, the picture Harry would kiss the picture Hermione on the cheek. The picture would have been innocent enough except that from the way the picture was taken, it looked as though Harry was grabbing her chest.

The second picture was a billion times worse and Harry wished he could sink through the floor. It had been taken when Hermione was laying on her back in the grass and Harry had been leaning down over her. Whoever had taken the pictures had made sure to find them in the most compromising positions because the two in the picture were obviously much to involved with each other to be worried about anything else.

Harry's first thought was to thank god that Hermione and himself didn't go any further last night. He wouldn't put it past The Daily Prophet to print even the most obscene pictures if they thought it would help to sell more copies. His second thought was on the part of Hermione. He was furious that anyone would dare to make her out like they had. Harry'd know all along that some women would've used him for his fame but Hermione was the last woman on the face of the earth who would've even considered it.

"Harry?" Neville's voice reminded Harry that he was not alone in the room and he looked up feeling rather dazed. "Ummm... Professor McGonagall wants you and Hermione to stay here and she will come speak with you after the classes start, okay?"

"Sure, Neville."

After the other boy had let the room, Harry went back to his scattered thoughts. There was only one last thing that completely confused him. Who could have taken those pictures? It made no sense. No one was out there but...

OF COURSE! The noises they'd heard in the bushes must have been the photographer not some other students out on a midnight stroll. How could they've been so stupid? Harry tried to pose the question to himself but before the thought was even finished, he knew that answer. They'd both been too busy to worry about it.

With a heavy sigh, Harry forced himself to get dressed and head down to the common room. At first glance he'd thought that it was deserted but then he saw her sitting in the corner with her knees tucked up under her chin. There was a blank stare on her face and he wondered if he should even try to talk to her, yet he knew he couldn't just wait and hope it would all go away.

"Hermione?"

She looked up at Harry quickly and flushed. Obviously she was just as worried about everything as he was but he had no clue what to say. Instead, He walked over and pulled her to her feet. He wrapped his arms around her but when she didn't move, Harry feared the worst.

"What is it?"

"D-Do you believe what they said about me?" Harry would have thought she was joking had it not been for the obvious look of fear in her eyes.

"Don't be stupid." He leveled his eyes at her with all the annoyance he felt. It was insulting that, after all these years, she'd still worry about something as stupid as anything The Daily Prophet would print. "Of course I don't believe that crap!"

Hermione's lips began to tremble and tears welled in her eyes when relief flowed through her body. "I just... I just..."

Unable to watch her cry, Harry sighed and pulled her into his arms. "It's okay, Hermione. I don't believe any of it so don't worry, okay?"

After a moment, she nodded and wiped her eyes on the back of her robes. "I'm sorry."

"Would one of you care to explain this to me?"

Harry and Hermione jumped apart at the sound of Professor McGonagall's voice and turned to find her staring at them with obvious anger on her face.

"W-We can explain," Hermione stuttered under the glare of the tranfiguration teacher.

"I should think so." She leveled her piercing stare at the two students and when neither of them responded, her voice became more impatient. "Well, speak."

Hermione looked up at Harry with concern etched heavily into her face. He hadn't wanted to be the one to explain everything to Professor McGonagall but it looked as though Hermione might drop into a dead faint at any moment. He didn't have any choice. With a heavy sigh, he sat down in a chair near the fire and tried his best to meet McGonagall's stare.

"Alright. I'll tell you."