Hermione's Plan
A Call to Arms (and Legs)
By Chem Prof
Chapter 19, A Call to Arms (and Legs)
“If you were the head of this school, what changes would you make?”
McGonagall’s question hung there before them, demanding their attention. The three students exchanged nervous glances. Were they supposed to answer? Was she seriously asking their opinion or was this a rhetorical question? “I assure you that I’m quite serious,” declared McGonagall, realizing their uneasiness.
Hermione had some opinions to offer, but decided to allow Harry to go first, so she reached over and gave his arm a squeeze, and gestured to him to go ahead.
“Well, there are several things that I’ve thought of,” Harry began. “One is security. I’ve heard so many times how safe Hogwarts is, or is supposed to be, but frankly it’s been pretty dangerous from my point of view. How many different people have tried to kill me since I’ve been here? Maybe I’m a special case, but what Malfoy pulled last year just shouldn’t have been possible. We’re in a war, and you have to do a better job of keeping the enemy out of the castle. I’m almost certain that Malfoy had the Dark Mark already last summer. So I’d say number one is screening the students better – don’t let any Voldemort supporters come back, whether they’re active Death Eaters or not. And that includes the staff as well.” McGonagall frowned, but nodded. Hermione could see that she was embarrassed by the fact that some of her colleagues had turned out to be Death Eaters.
“Secondly,” Harry continued, “there’s too much division in the school. There are a lot of good things about having different Houses, but the way things are now there’s too much of an atmosphere of rivalry instead of cooperation. Some rivalry is OK, but it’s gotten out of hand. It needs to be more of a friendly competition instead of a life or death struggle.”
“You’ll be happy to know that I quite agree with both of your points, Mr. Potter,” McGonagall revealed. “Professor Flitwick and I are working on devising ways to identify Voldemort supporters among the students, and the staff will be subjected to a thorough scrutiny. Mr. Lupin and Miss Tonks will be spending a great deal of time over the next month scrupulously examining the school and grounds for weak points in our defenses. I believe that Mr. Lupin, in particular, is well acquainted with possible secret passageways into Hogwarts.” Hermione caught Harry’s eye and smiled. She wondered just how much the sharp Transfiguration professor knew about the Marauders and their exploits.
“You might want to bring in Fred and George Weasley on that project also,” suggested Harry with a grin, and the ghost of a smile crossed McGonagall’s face as she nodded to acknowledge the merit of that idea.
“With regard to your other point, I think you will agree that one of the main obstacles to developing a better atmosphere in the school is no longer with us. I might add that I have also persuaded Mr. Filch that it was time for him to retire. I feel that it must be possible to enforce rules in a school without having a hatred of the students.” She paused as the three students exchanged a look of surprise. “For all of his many fine qualities, I’m afraid that Albus was somewhat lax in his supervision of the staff’s treatment of students. I intend to be considerably less tolerant of abuses of this nature.”
Here McGonagall leaned forward over her desk, warming to the subject. “But I would also like to take a positive approach to this issue. I think we can promote activities that encourage students to overcome barriers. For example I plan to establish separate lounges geared to year level rather than houses, with spaces for both studying and socializing. In this way we can preserve the close relationships one develops with housemates in the common rooms, but also allow for the establishment of ties with classmates from other houses. I would like to keep the point system, however, divisive though it seems to be, as I feel it encourages excellence in students’ various pursuits.”
“One possibility would be to make assignments that require inter-house cooperation, and give points tied to how successful students are in working with other houses,” Hermione suggested.
“Thank you, Miss Granger, that is exactly the sort of suggestion I was hoping for,” McGonagall responded encouragingly. I’ll direct the staff to begin to develop such assignments right away.” Hermione beamed at the praise from the headmistress, as Harry gave her hand a squeeze and Ron grinned and reached over and clapped her on the shoulder.
“Another idea that I had was to encourage more cross house clubs and organizations,” McGonagall went on. “In that regard I am hoping that you might reform your defense study group. I’m sure I don’t have to mention the additional benefit that would be provided by that particular club. The three students nodded, and Harry informed her that they were already intending to do something along those lines. “I am also planning some all-school social activities as well, but I’m not ready to be more specific on those at this time,” McGonagall finished.
Hermione was eagerly making notes on all of this information. Clearly the new headmistress had been giving this a lot of thought. She hoped that another ball might be in the offing; this time she would be certain to dance with Harry. She noticed, however, that McGonagall hadn’t said anything about instructional quality yet. Knowing what she was probably thinking of, Harry indicated that he was finished and that Hermione should take her turn.
“Professor, I’m wondering if you intend to make any changes in terms of the educational experience,” Hermione offered, trying to word the statement as politely as possible. “There are many fine teachers here at Hogwarts, but … well, there are also some who aren’t very effective in the classroom.” She paused, but McGonagall encouraged her to continue. “There are two possible problems,” Hermione stated. “Professors who know their material but can’t teach very well and professors who don’t know their subject as well as they should.”
“I understand your concern and I agree with you, Miss Granger,” the headmistress acknowledged, to Hermione’s relief. “Let me give you some examples, and tell me if you believe that there are others.” She paused, and Hermione nodded.
“The most obvious culprit of the former type was Severus Snape. You could also put Professor Binns in that category, I believe. And while I hate to say it, Rubeus Hagrid has some problems in that area as well. In his case, though, I believe that he is willing to listen to suggestions for improvement, so I intend to hold off on replacing him. Mr. Snape is obviously out, and it’s long past time for Professor Binns to retire.” All three students clearly caught her refusal to use the word ‘professor’ with Snape’s name. Since Harry and Ron had been repeatedly chastised for doing exactly that, it was an unmistakable indication that things were indeed changing at Hogwarts. There were also sighs of relief regarding Hagrid. Even though they all agreed with her assessment of his teaching skills, they did not want to lose him.
“As to the other type,” McGonagall continued, “it is possible that Professor Trelawny ought to be included. I confess, however, to some degree of bias against her discipline, so it is more difficult for me to assess. I believe that Miss Granger, at least, shares that bias.” This brought smiles to the faces of the students, as Hermione was well known for her disdain for Divination. “Therefore I am going to keep her on, but see if I can persuade her to tone down her overly dramatic approach to the subject.” McGonagall looked at Hermione to see if she had any additional examples.
“Muggle Studies,” Hermione added.
“Indeed?”
“The professor teaching that class clearly doesn’t know enough about muggles. Take electricity for example. The only thing he said about it was that it was what muggles used instead of magic. So he dismissed it as not worth learning about. In a real study of the difference between wizards and muggles, electricity vs. magic would be the centerpiece of the course. The only thing he really understood was their system of government. And even then he thought that the House of Lords was more important than the House of Commons.” She paused and noticed that McGonagall was nodding in the manner of a listener who didn’t have the slightest idea of what the speaker was talking about.
Hermione took a breath to calm herself down before she said something insulting. “Professor, with all due respect … Frankly, I don’t think anyone raised exclusively in the wizarding world could possibly do an adequate job in that course,” Hermione stated firmly. Beside her, Harry nodded emphatically. “In order to teach that class the professor ought to be a muggleborn, or at the very least a halfblood who has spent a significant amount of time in living in the muggle world. For example, Ron’s dad is very interested in muggles, and headed the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry, but he is woefully ignorant of muggle culture. He can’t even pronounce common words properly.”
“In my opinion,” added Harry. “Muggle Studies ought to be a required course for every first year student who hasn’t been raised muggle. Mr. Weasley is a perfect example of how inadequate the wizarding world’s knowledge of muggles is. If a person whose job involves muggles is so uninformed, what does that say about everyone else?”
“And we both feel strongly that there ought to be a similar course required of first year muggle raised students called something like Wizarding Studies,” asserted Hermione. “We were under a tremendous handicap when we started here. I don’t know what Harry and I would have done without Ron explaining things to us.” This brought a smile to Ron’s face, replacing the frown caused by the comment about his father.
“This is very interesting,” McGonagall admitted. “I must confess that I had never thought about it that way before. I’m very glad that you brought this to my attention. Now,” she said, turning to Ron, “do you have any ideas you’d like to share Mr. Weasley?”
“I think we should have more quidditch,” declared Ron. Harry burst out laughing while Hermione rolled her eyes and huffed in exasperation.
“Now, now, let’s give Mr. Weasley a chance,” scolded McGonagall. Duly chastened, Hermione quickly assumed a neutral expression. “Could you please elaborate?”
“Well, I think there are too few games involving too few people. And because of that, each game becomes so important that we go crazy. Players make themselves sick worrying about how they’re going to do because so much is riding on each game, and it also leads to that bad feeling between houses you were talking about earlier. We practice for months for one game. The whole thing’s out of balance. It would be more fun if we could just play sometimes without the pressure.” Once she got over her initial reaction, Hermione was amazed at the thoughtful analysis Ron had just delivered. And what’s more, he was absolutely right.
“I think you may be on to something Mr. Weasley,” McGonagall agreed. “I was thinking of something similar. I’d like to see more students have the opportunity to play. What about having a development squad, say limited to first through third years, for each house? And some sort of limitation on practice time compared to game time.”
“We could have reserve teams, too, and maybe they could also play each other,” Ron suggested.
“How about also having time for pickup games, just for fun?” Harry added.
“Thank you, you have given me a lot to think about,” McGonagall declared, standing up to indicate that the meeting was coming to an end. “All three of you, I very much appreciate all of the ideas you have shared today. And I’m especially grateful about your decision to return to Hogwarts. Miss Granger, let’s stay in touch about your curriculum ideas, and you Mr. Potter, if you could share your thoughts regarding security issues with Mr. Lupin and Miss Tonks. And Mr. Weasley, please give some more thought to how we might reorganize quidditch. And try to enjoy the rest of your summer, however much time you have left. The three students grinned at her for the time reference, and left her office to head for home.
-ooOoo-
Later that week Molly was released from St. Mungo’s and the Weasley family moved into the Black family mansion in Birmingham. Winky moved in with them to take up her duties as the Weasley house elf again, while Dobby took over the maintenance of Grimmauld Place and the other Black family properties, now that Kreacher was gone. Dobby joined Winky in getting the Birmingham mansion livable, and Bill and Fleur stayed for a few days to make sure everyone got settled in all right. The mansion was unplottable, like all of the Black family properties, and had a direct floo connection to Grimmauld Place. There was quite a bit of floo traffic back and forth as different Order members looked in on the Weasleys, doing whatever they could to help Molly adjust. Most of that time was spent preparing her for the release of Arthur, who had been brought out of his coma and was scheduled to come home the following week.
Molly seemed to have come to some sort of compromise with reality. It had been easy to persuade her that Bill and Fleur were married – that at least was happy news that she had no problem accepting. She eventually accepted that Arthur had been injured in a battle with Death Eaters. She had convinced herself that Charlie had been in some mishap with his dragons and was still in Romania recovering. She refused to consider the possibility that any of her younger children would be involved in any way in the war. She also could not accept that the Burrow had been destroyed. She either believed that they were staying away because of the danger of a possible attack or that there had actually been an attack that had caused some damage which was being repaired, depending on which day you talked to her. Mostly the members of her family tried to avoid the subject.
Bill and Fleur discreetly informed Harry and Hermione that they should limit their visits, and not be too affectionate towards each other when they were there. Molly asked about Harry often, worrying that he wasn’t getting enough to eat at his relatives or that he would be lonely if he wasn’t with Ron or Ginny. Whenever she got a chance she would try to talk to Ginny about how things were going with Harry, and offer advice on how she could move their relationship along. Ron firmly quashed any similar suggestions on pursuing something with Hermione, so Molly backed off on that front.
She had never really seen eye-to-eye with the muggleborn witch, so she wasn’t as set on that pairing. Getting Harry and Ginny together was her main priority and her primary concern about Hermione was that she would get in the way of that match. She knew that Ron and Hermione were all wrong for each other, but thought that Hermione would be a good first girlfriend for her shy son. They would break up long before things got serious, but in the meantime it would have kept something from developing between the other two members of the trio until Ginny could solidify things with Harry.
Fleur rescued Ginny as often as she could while she was around, and the sisters-in-law grew closer as they spent more time together. Fred and George stayed in London, Ron spent as much time as possible with Harry and Hermione, and Tonks, along with Remus back at Grimmauld Place, was busy planning a wedding and preparing for her new teaching position at Hogwarts. Fleur, therefore, was the one who was in the best position to shield Ginny from her mother’s unrelenting pressure. Unfortunately, that support vanished when the newly married couple left for Albania and Ginny was left to resist the force that was Molly Weasley all on her own.
-ooOoo-
The first gathering of the reconstituted DA took place that Saturday. The mood was dampened considerably by the news that there had been more Death Eater attacks on Friday evening. Among the homes attacked was that of Cho Chang, and she and her entire family had been killed. Saturday morning’s Daily Prophet reported that half of the families attacked had acted on Harry Potter’s suggestion and purchased emergency portkeys, and the members of those families had largely escaped without serious injury. Apparently the Changs were not among them. Harry and Hermione discussed this news that morning at breakfast.
“What do you think?” Hermione asked with some apprehension.
“It might be another message to me, I don’t know,” Harry responded dejectedly. “None of the other families had any connections to me. I do feel bad about Cho, but not that much more than about the others that died. What does that say about me? Am I that unfeeling?”
Hermione moved around behind his chair and knelt down and put her arms around him. “You are certainly not unfeeling, I can assure you. It’s been more than two years, from our point of view, since you had anything to do with her, so she’s really no more than an acquaintance at this point. I know you’re worried that all of the deaths will harden you, but I don’t see that happening. You still feel all of them.” She moved in front of him so she could see his face, and locked eyes with him until he nodded his agreement. “I do think we should say something about it at the meeting this morning. Make a point about how we’re all in danger, and make sure they know that they might be bigger targets by associating more closely with you. Then let them make up their own minds.”
-ooOoo-
The Potter mansion, out in the Welsh countryside, had been very quiet for some fifteen years. That changed abruptly when a series of young witches and wizards began appearing out of thin air on this warm August morning. For this first meeting, they had been instructed to go to Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes at staggered intervals, in two’s and three’s, where they were handed portkeys. Harry and Hermione, along with Ron and Ginny, watched them arrive and greeted them.
“You have to give me a backrub,” Hermione teased in a sing-song voice as the last students arrived. She had beat the target number by one, as there were a total of twenty-six former DA members present, and so had won their bet. Everyone who had been in the original DA had shown up except Marietta Edgecomb and Zacharias Smith, and of course Cho Chang. After allowing the students to mingle and greet those whom they hadn’t seen since the school closed in June, Harry called them to order. He and Hermione had decided to deal with the unpleasant news right up front. After a few words about how good it was to see everyone again, Harry got serious.
“I’m sure that by now everyone has heard about Cho,” he said, nodding to the cluster of Ravenclaw students who would be expected to be the most affected by the news. “There are different ways that you could choose to react to this attack. You could decide that being here is too dangerous, that it will make you a bigger target. I won’t deny the possibility that Cho’s family was attacked and killed at least in part because of her association with me.” There was an exchange of nervous glances among his audience. “These three people standing up here with me are proof of that. You all know about how Ron and Ginny’s home was destroyed, and members of their family killed or injured, but you probably didn’t know that Hermione’s parents were also nearly killed last week when their business was blown up.” The nervous glances escalated to anxious muttering as this news was assimilated. It might have got out of hand were it not for the stern glares from the three who had just been named. As their eyes locked with those of various students in the crowd before them, the message was clearly sent. It happened to us and we’re still here.
“Another response to attacks like this is to decide to fight back. To make the enemy regret their decision to attack you. And to do that you need to prepare, to train. And also to do things to protect yourselves and your families. That’s what we’re going to do here.”
“This is not about learning defense in order to get a good grade on OWLs or defying a miserable excuse for a professor. It’s about learning how to stay alive and defying a group of evil killers.” Harry paused for a moment, and looked at Hermione on his right, then at Ron and Ginny on his left, then at Neville and Luna at the front of the group of students, and finally at Fred and George and the other Hogwarts alumni standing off to the side. (They had closed the store for the morning so that they could all be here for this initial meeting.) “It’s your choice. For me, and for those of you who asked me to do this, we have made the decision to do what is right rather than what is easy.”
Harry leaned over and said something to Hermione, then turned and walked out of the room. Hermione exchanged a look with Ron, then glanced over at Fred and George and nodded, then took a step forward. “Harry and I have spent more time than you can possibly imagine training ourselves to become the best fighters we can be. You might even say we’ve turned ourselves into fighting machines. I will admit,” she smiled over towards Lavender and Parvati who were looking at her in amazement, “that we have taken the time to do one or two other things as well.” This line got some genuine laughter, and even a whistle from Seamus. “But we are deadly serious about this. We have just finished a very intensive week of training for Ron, and we are willing to dedicate the rest of our summer to doing what we can to improve your defensive skills as well. Neither Harry or I, nor any of the others up here are in this for fame or money. We aren’t charging anything for this. We’re here because we want as many of you as possible to stay alive to graduate and go on to lead long and happy lives, as we hope to do as well. We’ll give you some time to decide what you want to do.” With that she turned and followed Harry out of the room.
At that point Fred and George stepped up to join Ron and Ginny and related how they and their fellow Hogwarts graduates had requested that Harry and Hermione do this, and they described some of the things they had seen the pair do in the fight at the Burrow. Then Ron also attested to the battle skills that his friends had acquired. In the end, everyone decided to stay. In fact, they had already pondered the alternatives Harry had offered, and made the decision before coming that morning. But Harry’s comments had spelled it out in very clear terms, and they all appreciated his forthrightness. Seeing how the conversations were going, Ginny shooed Ron into the other room to fetch his best friends back.
In the next room Harry was pacing back and forth when Hermione came in and stopped him by stepping in front of him and throwing her arms around his neck for a hug. “Did it sound OK?” he worried. “Was I too harsh?”
“You were great, Harry. You did just fine,” she reassured him with a quick kiss. “You said what needed to be said and gave it to them straight. It’s up to them to decide what to do with it.” Just then Ron came in with a big grin on his face.
“C’mon you two,” he announced cheerfully. “Your fan club awaits.” Hermione felt Harry’s body relax a little in relief and they shared a smile as she led him back to the main room where they once more resumed their place before the assembled students. Several of the students, particularly the girls, smiled as they noticed that the two of them were still holding hands.
“Today is mostly an organizational meeting,” Harry began, “but I want to make a few points and give you some information. First, Hermione has some replacements for your charmed Galleons that she’s going to distribute. These will have better communications ability and will also serve as your portkeys to get here to the training site. This estate is effectively a secret from the rest of the wizarding world and we want to keep it that way. She’ll be talking to you about that later.”
“Second, how many of your families have emergency portkeys?” About half of the hands went up. “Those that don’t, take care of that immediately. Pay for them yourselves if your parents are reluctant. If all else fails, talk to me and I’ll make one for you myself. This is absolutely essential. You all read the Prophet story. Cho and her family would probably still be alive if they had them.” There were general nods of agreement, and not a few chagrined students vowed to themselves to rectify that situation at their homes before the day was out.
“Next, Fred and George have some interesting hats for you. They’ve agreed to sell them at cost. Justin, Dean, and Colin have already been distributing similar ones to families of muggleborns, but you should all have them too. They’re one of the reasons that Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George came through the attack on their house without any injuries.” There was an interesting reaction from the students this time. Their initial response was laughter, given the twins’ reputation for pranks, figuring the hats had some humorous jinx on them. By the time Harry finished his statement, though, the primary expression was one of wide-eyed wonder. But it was nothing compared to what was next.
“The last item I want you to think seriously about acquiring is this.” With those words, Harry, Hermione, and Ron removed their robes to reveal their dragonhide armor, to a chorus of gasps. The reactions were perfectly split along gender lines. All of the males’ eyes went immediately to Hermione, and the trim figure displayed by her form-fitting garment, and every male brain shared the same thought. That’s Hermione Granger? That’s what she’s been hiding under her robes? Wow! Looking good! The females were all entertaining similar thoughts regarding Harry and Ron. After gaping for several seconds, each group shifted their gaze to the opposite gender, with reactions of equal amazement, but with some jealous thoughts replacing ones involving desire.
Eventually the hormones were brought under control and the assembled students began to appreciate the protective function of the apparel. And the cost. “I won’t deny that these things are very expensive,” Harry admitted. “But so is a world class broomstick, and these are going to be a bit more useful this year. Some of your families have the money to buy something like this; I’ll try to help out anyone else and work out some kind of loan. If you intend to go into a battle alongside me, I’d like to see you as well protected as possible.” There was another murmur of conversation as the teens in front of him considered this statement. They realized that Harry was asking them to make some difficult choices that day. And he wasn’t finished yet.
“Now, it may have occurred to you that my focus so far today has been on protection, and not on learning spells. I assure you that we will be learning spells too, but there are a few more points we want to make first. And we’re going to do that with a little demonstration.” With that he called for a volunteer, and after some looks were exchanged Ernie Macmillan stepped forward. To his amazement, Harry asked him to shoot stunning spells at him. To help persuade Ernie, Harry pointed out that his dragonhide armor would keep him from getting hurt.
“Stupefy!” Once more the assembled students were in for a surprise. They had been expecting Harry to demonstrate a shielding spell, but instead he just stood there as the spell missed. Harry motioned Ernie to try again, and this time he dodged. In five tries Ernie never hit him once. Then Harry motioned Hermione forward. To Ernie’s embarrassment and everyone else’s amazement, he couldn’t hit her either, as she displayed agility that none of them would have dreamed she possessed.
“I hope you learned a couple of things just now,” Harry called out over the excited conversations that had broken out. “The essential point is that a spell has to hit you to have any effect. From the spellcaster’s point of view that means that accuracy is at least as important as power or knowing a lot of spells. From the other point of view, if you can keep from getting hit you won’t get hurt.” He turned to Hermione and they shared a knowing smile. “We’re going to spend a lot of time on target practice. But we’re also going to spend a lot of time on conditioning.”
“Conditioning?” Ernie blurted out. “You mean like exercise?”
Ron smirked and stepped forward, putting a commiserating arm around Ernie’s shoulder. “Ernie, believe me, you have no idea what these two are about to put you through.”
It took a while to convince everyone that they were serious about the whole exercise thing, with the pureblood students being the most resistant to the idea. Harry and Hermione split them up along gender lines to further explain their plan. Among the guys, the muggleborns Dean and Justin were the most enthusiastic, while purebloods Neville and Ernie were pretty dubious. Seamus seemed OK with it, and Colin and Dennis Creevey were willing to go along with anything Harry said. The Ravenclaw contingent, Terry Boot, Anthony Goldstein, and Michael Corner took a wait and see attitude. Fred, George, and Lee were of the ‘whatever it takes’ school of thought.
Hermione had a harder sell with the girls. Angelina Johnson and Ginny were the only ones who showed a definite interest, Angelina because she was the athletic type, and Ginny because she had seen most closely what the workout program had done for Hermione. Katie and Alicia had similar feelings to the twins and Lee – whatever it took. They had played quidditch under Oliver Wood, after all, so they were used to long hours of training. All of the rest needed convincing, although it was difficult to tell exactly what Luna was thinking.
“All right,” Hermione began, “I understand that a lot of you are not exactly enthusiastic about this. And we aren’t going to force you to do anything. But there are some definite advantages to being fit.” Once they were closer to her and got a good look at her now shapelier figure that was revealed by the skintight armor, the other girls definitely realized what one of those advantages might be. Hermione, seeing the looks she was getting, knew she didn’t need to say anything more along those lines, and instead focused on the advantages of being in shape in terms of surviving a fight. But she also had another point to make.
“Regardless of how much you decide to work out, you should consider getting some muggle style exercise clothing. Robes like you’re wearing are a real detriment in a serious battle. You should wear something close-fitting for all of the training we’re going to be doing. Ginny and Angelina?”
The two girls stepped forward and removed their robes. Ginny was wearing a normal scooped neck tank top and a small pair of shorts that looked very good on her. She felt rather exposed, but was resolved to get used to it. Angelina had a spandex T back tank top that showed off her well developed shoulders and arms, and paired it with snug fitting capri length bottoms. Meanwhile, Hermione pulled off her dragonhide armor to reveal a sports bra, and spandex bike shorts like she had worn during the duel with Ron. The rest of the girls were shocked into silence as she summoned a tee shirt from her bag and pulled it over her head.
“Well,” she asked with a grin. “Any questions?”
-ooOoo-
The girls broke up into smaller groups after Hermione discussed schedules for using the workout equipment that Harry and Minnie had been installing in the mansion. She assured them that there would be times when they could come to work out without any boys present – except Harry of course. The general consensus was that they didn’t mind having him present, since he would be showing them what they needed to do and besides, as Hermione pointed out, he was used to seeing her dressed like that every day. She also assured them that she and Harry would be available full time to train anyone who showed up. They felt that they needed both daytime and evening sessions in order to work around the students’ other obligations and the work schedules of the six graduates.
Katie and Alicia stayed with Angelina while Luna, Hannah, and Susan clustered around Ginny. Padma approached Hermione but hung back while Lavender and Parvati spoke to her first.
“Well,” Lavender smirked, gesturing to Hermione’s bare legs. “I see you’re shaving your legs now.”
Hermione rolled her eyes. “Leave it to you, Lavender, to cut through all the unimportant details and get right to the heart of the matter,” she said sarcastically.
Lavender would not be deterred. “But you have to admit that this is quite a change for you. You never used to care very much what you looked like, and now …” she peered more closely. “My word, you’re even wearing make-up! What have you done with Hermione Granger!” At an exasperated sigh from Hermione, Lavender stepped back a little and moderated her tone. “Well my point is, you look great. I mean it. We’re very impressed.” Hermione relaxed her attitude somewhat, as she could tell that her two roommates were honestly complimenting her appearance. Lavender continued, “But what we want to know, is this a cause or an effect? Did Harry fall for you as a result of your making yourself more attractive, or does being in love make you want to look good for him?”
Hermione frowned for a few moments as she tried to work up an answer. It was actually a good question. “Some of both, I suppose,” she admitted. “You know that Harry and I have been close for a long time, but I did do a few things to make him notice me that way. And no, I’m not going to tell you what they were,” she added with an evil grin as the two girls’ faces fell. “And now that we’re together, you’re right, I do enjoy looking good for him. Being so happy is part of it too.” She leaned closer conspiratorially. “And it is a lot of fun seeing his reaction to … certain things.” She smiled in a knowing manner as their eyes went wide before they burst into giggles.
“Hermione!” Lavender gasped. “You have to tell us! You can’t tease us like that!” But Hermione simply shrugged and reached down to gather up her dragonhide armor and began to fold it. Once she calmed down, Lavender made one more try and gestured at Hermione’s outfit. “Given your clothing preferences, I thought maybe you would be naked under that skintight armor – which looks very good on you, by the way.”
Hermione gave them another wicked smile. “Who knows, maybe when it’s just Harry and me training by ourselves I am?” That statement had the desired effect, rendering the two gossips speechless.
Parvati recovered first, and tugged on Lavender’s sleeve, motioning toward where Harry and Ron had been intercepted on their way to rejoin Hermione. Hannah and Susan had spotted them coming and left Ginny to hurry over and comment on how good they looked in their dragonskins, running their hands over Ron’s chest while Harry watched in amusement. Lavender immediately decided to forego any more teasing of Hermione and protect her territory.
Padma now came forward. “Hermione, I was wondering, would you and Harry be willing to have any more students join us?” She then explained about her meeting with her fellow Ravenclaws.
“It’s interesting that you should ask that,” Hermione responded. “I just received a similar inquiry yesterday from Tracey Davis on behalf of her and Daphne Greengrass.”
Padma gave her a curious look. “And you would be all right with that?” The whole castle was aware, of course, of the animosity between the Gryffindor trio and certain Slytherins.
“Harry and I have talked about trying to do things to overcome house barriers,” Hermione replied. “Professor McGonagall actually encouraged us to use this group as a way of achieving that. I guess I see this as a test of whether we’re really serious about that idea. I must admit that I was surprised, but honestly we haven’t really ever had any trouble with those two. I confess that I know Tracey better than Daphne.”
“Oh, as far as I know neither of them have ever supported Malfoy and that gang,” Padma assured her. “They’ve tried to stay neutral as much as possible, which has caused them to be ostracized in their house as you might imagine.” A wry smile crept onto her mouth. “As far as Daphne is concerned, I think she’ll give Lavender a run for her money in the ‘empty-headed blonde knockout that all the boys fantasize about’ category.” That remark made Hermione wonder if the small dark skinned, black haired witch didn’t have some self esteem issues of her own. She had never been popular with the opposite sex like her twin sister had, even though she was equally as pretty. Personality wise, she was much more like Hermione had always been, and focused more on her studies than on fashion and boys.
“Well, I’m going to talk about this some more with Harry and get back to you. Perhaps after we get this bunch on track we can think about adding more.” Padma thanked her and turned around, only to spot Luna, now standing apart from everyone else. She was staring wistfully at Ron, currently surrounded by three flirting girls.
Padma walked up and put her arm around Luna’s shoulders. “Come on, Luna, he’s not worth it,” she consoled the eccentric blonde girl as she led her away.
Just then Harry arrived, still chuckling at Ron’s predicament, along with Seamus and Dean, while Neville, Colin, and Dennis wandered over towards Ginny and the quidditch girls. “Looks like Ron has some admirers,” Harry laughed. Seamus and Dean were doing some admiring of their own, taking a good look at Hermione. Wisely, they kept those opinions to themselves since she was engaged to the wizard next to them, who could take them apart without breaking a sweat.
“He’s not the only one,” Dean responded. “There were a few witches here that were eyeing you up pretty good. I thought Parvati and Padma were going to pass out. And Katie looked like she was going to start drooling.”
Harry snorted his disbelief. “Oh, right, like they fancy me.” Hermione lowered her head and shook it back and forth while trying to hide a smile, and Dean and Seamus looked at Harry as though he was daft.
“Only since third year!” Seamus insisted. To Harry’s skeptical expression he continued. “What, you don’t really think Parvati didn’t have any other offers of dates to the Yule Ball, do you? She was holding out for you. Everyone figured you’d be too shy to ask anyone besides Hermione until it was too late, and then she’d be available for you. I still don’t know why you didn’t ask Hermione, though.”
Hermione turned bright red. “Um, I guess Parvati did know I was already going with Viktor. But I didn’t encourage her. I thought you would end up with Cho.”
This time Dean spoke up. “And don’t tell us you didn’t know that half the girls in the castle fancied you. By last year it was so obvious that even you must have noticed.”
“But … but except for Cho no one ever said anything ,” Harry objected, now bright red himself.
“That’s because of your bodyguard,” Seamus grinned, gesturing at Hermione. “After what happened with you and Cho when she dared to criticize our dear Miss Granger, all the girls knew they didn’t stand a chance with you unless she approved of them. And the only girl she ever approved of was Ginny.” Harry and Hermione locked eyes briefly, then Hermione dropped her gaze to her shoes, a small smile on her lips. There was a bit of truth to what Seamus was saying. Meanwhile Harry’s mouth was opening and closing silently.
“Well thank Merlin you two finally worked things out,” concluded Dean. “Now the rest of us will have a chance with the other girls.” Hermione noticed a slight wince from Harry, who was undoubtedly thinking that Dean probably still felt that Harry had stolen Ginny from him. Well, he was welcome to her now. She reached out and took Harry’s hand and squeezed it to let him know they really didn’t have to worry about all of this any more.
“Well, Mr. More Fanciable Than Ever,” she announced with a grin. “Let’s wrap this up and get back to work.” The other two Gryffindors grimaced at the ‘back to work’ remark and shot sympathetic looks at Harry. To their surprise, he didn’t seem to mind a bit. For his part, Harry just smiled.
-xox-XOX-XOX-xox-
Author Notes:
If you thought the suggestions for improving Hogwarts were familiar, they are pretty similar to what I wrote in Soul Searching. Hey, the problem hasn’t changed since I wrote that, nor have my ideas for solutions. I did change the quidditch plan, though.