Hermione's Plan
Training Ron
By Chem Prof
Chapter 18, Training Ron
Tuesday, August 5 10:35 PM
“Ready for bed, Mine?”
Hermione looked up from writing in her journal to see Harry smiling at her, and she smiled back broadly at the use of his special nickname for her. She had just finished sending the last of the other six Harrys and Rons back in time at five-minute intervals. For the first time in a week there was only one Harry Potter in the castle. She knew that Harry was looking forward to having her ‘all to himself’ that night.
“In a minute. I’m just finishing up with my notes,” she responded happily. Harry moved behind her and his hands started massaging her shoulders.
“As you wish,” he replied. A shiver went through her at those words and she reached up and took one of Harry’s hands from her shoulder and ran it against her cheek, sighing contentedly. Harry had started using that phrase on occasion ever since they had watched The Princess Bride together.
The cottage in Brighton, unlike many other wizarding houses, had been equipped with electricity, so Harry and Hermione had fetched the Grangers’ computers, telly, and VCR so that her parents wouldn’t be so bored in their hiding spot. The computer’s modem had taken over the phone line and the dentists had relied on their cell phones for voice communication. But the availability of the VCR had led to what came to be known as ‘Movie Night at the Grangers’. During the remainder of the week that they had spent preparing before coming to the castle, the two students had gone to the beach front cottage every evening to keep her parents company. Each night they made popcorn, poured soft drinks (sugar-free of course) and settled down to watch one of their favorite movies.
Until Emma had teased her about it, Hermione had never realized that her favorite movies could be summed up in two categories. ‘Girl Falls In Love With Her Best Friend’ and ‘Reluctant Hero Saves the World’. A bit obvious, really, now that she thought about it. Of course her all-time favorite, Spiderman, was in both categories. A real tearjerker, since the hero decided that saving the world meant he couldn’t be with the girl who loved him. But when they watched it that weekend she got to snuggle up with Harry during the movie, and she didn’t cry nearly as much as usual.
Reluctantly, she returned her attention to the journal in front of her, in which she had faithfully kept track of everything that had gone on during the ‘seven weeks of training in one week’ that Ron had just undergone. Her final entry detailing the sending back in time of six pairs of her best friends dovetailed nicely with her first, which had been about greeting them the week prior as they appeared in the Gryffindor common room.
-oooOOOooo-
From the Journal of Hermione Granger – Day 0 – Tuesday, July 29, 10:45 PM
Everything is off to a good start. At 10:00 I sent Harry and Ron up to the first year boys dorm and sat down to wait. At 10:05 the time turner brought them back for the second go round. I’m going to start numbering them to keep them straight. Anyway, Harry #2 gave me another good night kiss and I sent him and Ron #2 up to the second year boys dorm.
10:10 H3 and R3 arrived. This Harry had a mischievous look in his eye, and I found out why when he gave me a rather longer good night kiss as Ron squirmed a bit. I shooed them up to the third year boys dorm.
10:15 H4 and R4 arrived. Harry seems to be playing some sort of game with Ron. This time the kiss was even longer and more passionate, and Ron headed for the stairs for the fourth year boys dorm as soon as it started.
10:20 H5 and R5 arrived. I decided to teach Harry a lesson and offered him a handshake instead of a kiss. Then I burst out laughing at the look on his face. He was so dejected that I gave him a kiss anyway. Poor Ron had gone up the stairs as soon as they arrived, but then he turned around to see what was going on as I started laughing, only to have to see us kissing again.
10:25 H6 and R6 arrived. Harry must have learned his lesson because this time it was a nice sweet kiss. I decided to cross him up next time. Anyway, this pair is in the sixth year boys dorm.
10:30 H7 and R7 arrived right on schedule. This time I attacked him! Ron fled up the stairs to the seventh year boys dorm while I pulled Harry down onto the sofa. Since this was the last pair I didn’t have to send him up right away. I definitely gave him something to remember me by, though.
Unfortunately, now I have to decide where to sleep. I certainly don’t want to sleep by myself in the Head Girl’s room. But which of my Harrys should I go to? I think it’s going to be a long night.
-ooOoo-
From the Journal of Hermione Granger – Day 1 – Wednesday, AM
To keep things as simple as possible, Harry and Ron are going to eat breakfast in their dorm rooms, and lunch and dinner in whatever classrooms they’re in that week. My job is to keep everything coordinated. Dobby and Winky (she’s back to full health now) have organized seven house elves to help us out with the meals. Anyway, this will be the regular morning plan:
Daily Schedule
7:30 I come down to the Gryffindor common room and check to see that everything is ready. Winky sends the house elves up with breakfast at 5-minute intervals.
8:00 H1 and R1 come downstairs to the common room and I send them off to the Arithmency classroom. Dobby had to show the prats where it was, since neither of them had ever taken the class or bothered to find out where the room was. (Next year I’m going to make Harry walk me to class!)
8:05 H2 and R2 come downstairs and I send them off to the Astronomy classroom, reminding them that it’s the classroom, not the tower.
8:10 H3 and R3 come down and are off to the Transfiguration classroom.
8:18 H4 and R4 came down a little late the first morning since Ron overslept. I shooed them off to the Charms classroom.
8:20 H5 and R5 head off to the DADA classroom.
8:25 This week they’re starting life magic, so H6 and R6 are off to Firenze’s pseudo-forest classroom.
8:30 Send H7 and R7 out to the greenhouses, reminding them to stay away from the quidditch pitch.
After that I make the rounds of all the classrooms, looking in on them periodically to see how they’re doing and take notes.
-o-
Something we forgot – Harry #1 has to go down and open the Chamber of Secrets each day for Bill. I’ll send him there directly from the common room from now on.
-o-
The first problem we ran into was with physical training. Harry and I have planned an hour of exercise each day to try to get Ron into better shape. Unfortunately, Ron didn’t agree that he wasn’t in shape. The git seemed to think that quidditch kept him fit enough. Honestly! It’s just riding around on a broom (or in Ron’s situation as a keeper, sitting on a broom) for a few hours.
We have turned the Room of Requirement into a gym, with weight training and a track. It was quite a revelation for Ron when he saw how much more weight Harry could lift than he could. And how quickly he tired out when running. One lap around the track and he was ready to collapse. Reluctantly, he agreed that perhaps he could use some conditioning. Then I challenged him. It really shocked him when I outran him, and then matched him on half of the weight machines and beat him on two of them (I have pretty strong legs now).
The ‘gym’ schedule
9:00 – 10:00 H1 and R1
10:10 – 11:10 H2 and R2
11:20 – 12:20 H3 and R3
Break for lunch
1:00 – 2:00 H4 and R4
2:10 – 3:10 H5 and R5
3:20 – 4:20 H6 and R6
4:30 – 5:30 H7 and R7
Harry carries the invisibility cloak with him all the time, so in case they run over a bit, they can avoid running into themselves.
They also take a break to go flying out on the quidditch pitch in the afternoons. Ron grumbled quite a bit when he saw I was only giving them half an hour.
Quidditch Schedule
1:00 – 1:30 H6 and R6
1:40 – 2:10 H7 and R7
2:20 – 2:50 H1 and R1
3:00 – 3:30 H2 and R2
3:40 – 4:10 H3 and R3
4:20 – 4:50 H4 and R4
5:00 – 5:30 H5 and R5
We’ve decided to try to have Ron learn the combat spells and their counters together. We’ll do one major offensive spell each week, and 5 – 10 defensive shields or blocks for dark spells that we won’t use but that might be used against us. Ron also needs to learn silent spellcasting. I think that’s going to be the most difficult part for him. I hope he doesn’t get too frustrated with it. Part of each day will be spent on speed and accuracy as well. They’re going to be going through a lot of targets. I’ll probably spend several hours each day just conjuring targets. Professor Flitwick said he’ll help me with that. …
Hermione and Ron watched as Harry set up five small targets, then walked back ten paces. He turned and silently flicked his wand five times, and five silver streaks of light exploded the targets.
“Bloody Hell, Harry, how did you get so good at that?” Ron exclaimed, shaking his head.
“Practice.” Harry shared a look with Hermione, then turned back to Ron. “The more you do it, the better you get at it. Start with making sure you hit the target, then work on getting the spells off faster. It doesn’t do you much good if you can shoot five spells in five seconds but can’t hit anyone.” He set up five more targets, then stepped back and motioned Ron to take a shot.
“Reducto! Reducto! Reducto! Reducto! Reducto!” Ron got the spells off in ten seconds, but only two of them hit. He looked hesitantly over at Harry.
“That’s fast enough for now. Let’s work on your accuracy. Don’t worry, when Hermione and I started this drill she could only hit one in five.” He turned to wink at Hermione and she stuck her tongue out at him. That was only partly true. One in five was her worst result. Every other time she had hit more than that. By the end of the second day she was consistently averaging four of five. Now, like Harry, she never missed. But it was the right thing for Harry to say. Ron’s shoulders straightened up a bit at that news, and he got a determined look on his face. Hermione nodded to Harry and left the room.
-ooOoo-
From the Journal of Hermione Granger – Wednesday, PM
I’ve decided to eat lunch with Bill and Fleur in the Great Hall. That way I can keep up with how they’re doing. McGonagall, Flitwick, and Hagrid join us. I guess all the other professors are gone this week. Well, except for Trelawny, and I’m quite happy that she doesn’t eat with us.
-o-
The Marauder’s Map is very useful for this project. I can keep track of all 14 of them. Especially moving to and from the Room of Requirement for their exercising, and the quidditch pitch for their flying break.
-o-
The evening schedule is just a repeat of the morning schedule, except I have to make sure they come back to the common room at the right times so that each pair gets upstairs before the next one shows up. I’ve decided to send Dobby to remind them ten minutes ahead of time. By 10:00 they were all back in their dorms. I told them I wanted them asleep by 11:00. Ron #1 gave me one of his looks and a sarcastic “Yes Mum.” Harry #1 followed up with “Yes Dear.” A couple of stinging hexes to their bums while they were going up the stairs fixed that. Not surprisingly, none of the other six pairs gave me any trouble at all. (smirk)
Whew! That was exhausting. Six more days to go.
-ooOoo-
From the Journal of Hermione Granger – Day 2 – Thursday, AM
Today is the day I’ve been anxious about. I hope everything goes well. It certainly started out well! …
When the first pair of boys came down the stairs at 8:00, Hermione met them at the bottom. “Happy Birthday Harry!” She gave him a kiss and then handed him two chocolate frogs, indicating that one was for Ron.
Harry gave her a hug, then returned the kiss and whispered in her ear, “Are you all set for your parents?” She nodded and hugged him again. Ron groaned and pulled him away towards the portrait hole.
The second pair of boys had expectant looks on their faces. This time Hermione gave Harry a bit longer kiss, and handed him four chocolate frogs. Ron’s eyes lit up while Harry chuckled.
With each pair of boys, the kiss got better, and the number of chocolate frogs increased by two. By the fifth pair, Ron asked if they could have the frogs first, so he could leave while the two lovebirds were snogging. Hermione decided that would be OK.
For the seventh pair, Ron was out the portrait hole long before the kiss ended. When they finally broke apart, Hermione whispered, “I love you Harry. Happy birthday again. I wanted to make up for all those horrible birthdays you had growing up.”
Harry pulled her tightly to himself. “Thank you so much. I love you too. I can assure you that this is one birthday – or eight birthdays I guess - that I’ll remember for a long time.”
-ooOoo-
From the Journal of Hermione Granger – Thursday, AM (continued)
Ron #2 is working on the Diffindo spell. I was watching Harry demonstrate how to control it when he started clowning around. He transfigured his clothing to give himself a black cape and a black mask like Zorro and started slashing Z’s everywhere! I’m pretty sure he did it to help take my mind off what’s going to happen at noon today. He’s such a dear! …
“What on earth are you playing at?” Ron blurted out, as Harry finished adjusting his mask.
Harry brandished his wand like a sword, waving it back and forth and making lunging motions. “Stay back, evil villain! Or you will feel the cold steel of Zorro!” He turned and made three quick slashes with his wand, and a large Z appeared on one of the star charts in the Astronomy classroom, while Ron stood there gaping. He then surrounded it with several smaller Z’s and stepped back to admire his work. Hermione’s laughter caught his attention, and he approached her with an evil grin on his face.
Hermione immediately knew what was on his mind. Folding her arms protectively across her chest she attempted to give him a stern look. “Harry James Potter, don’t even think about it!” However, she was unable to keep up the look, as the corners of her mouth began to curl up. She tried to work out if she would be able to reach her wand and put up a shield before he could slice through the top she was wearing.
But then Harry stopped and bowed low, sweeping his arm before him in a grand gesture. “Fear not, my fair lady, I would never dream of harming even a single hair on your beautiful head.” The gallant effect was severely compromised when Hermione started giggling. She reached up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, then began casting Reparo spells on the star chart as Harry started explaining to Ron who Zorro was, and how he was trying to illustrate fine control with the cutting spell.
-ooOoo-
From the Journal of Hermione Granger – Thursday, PM
I’m glad that’s over with. Everything went according to plan. Hedwig arrived while I was in the Great Hall for lunch. I showed McGonagall the note from Mum and left. I went to Potter Manor and stayed there for an hour, discussing some things with Minnie, then came back and talked to Dobby. He agreed to help (naturally) and will wait until the Harry back home calls him. After that I found Harry #1 and told him that it was all OK. (Obviously, the other six Harrys already knew.) He came over and gave me a hug, then we explained to Ron what had happened.
-ooOoo-
From the Journal of Hermione Granger – Day 3 – Friday, AM
Harry #3 made a breakthrough with Ron on silent spellcasting today. It was brilliant. He told Ron to use the ‘Up’ command on his broomstick that we learned in our first flying lesson in first year. Then he made him try it silently and the broomstick jumped into his hand. Ron realized that he had been doing this without thinking about it for years! But once Harry pointed it out, he got some idea of how it felt, then they moved on to other simple spells that we use all the time without thinking about them. My fiancé is SO smart!
On a hunch I decided to check with Harry #6 who is in Firenze’s ‘forest’ classroom with Ron #6 working on life magic. Sure enough, that Harry is using the same technique for wandless magic. He’s having Ron wandlessly summon his broomstick. I think he would make a great teacher some day. He’s really good at figuring out the best ways to get people to learn things.
-ooOoo-
From the Journal of Hermione Granger – Day 4 – Saturday, PM
I am going to kill Fleur Delacour Weasley. Oh, it will be in the nicest possible way, but she’s going to die. Perhaps I’ll do it by slipping Bill some Viagra and locking them together in a room all day. Naked. Without their wands so they can’t transfigure themselves some clothing. She’ll die with a smile on her face.
She really got me good at lunch today. She is such an incredible tease! …
Just as Hermione was beginning lunch Fleur sat down next to her with a sly smile. “I must say, ’Ermione, I don’t know ’ow you manage. You’re really somezing.” At Hermione’s puzzled expression Fleur continued with a shrug. “’Ow do you ever manage to ’andle seven ’Arry’s at once? I must say zat one of my Bill’s ees enough for me. Especially at night.” Hermione gave a nervous laugh. Surely Fleur wouldn’t go there? But the French witch raised a perfect eyebrow and went on. “Weeth a man as … powerful … as ’Arry you must be completely worn out by ze morning.”
Hermione’s jaw dropped and her face turned red, a red which doubled in intensity when, to her horror, she heard a sound from her other side. From Headmistress McGonagall, to be precise.
“Ahem.” Mortified, Hermione refused to turn around. If she had, she would have seen Minerva McGonagall, for one of the few times in many decades, struggling to keep a straight face.
Hermione glared at her part-Veela friend, but received only the most innocent smile in return. “Excuse me, Headmistress,” she muttered, still without turning around. “Fleur, could I have a word with you?” As gracefully as she could manage, she rose and walked to the end of the table, with Fleur nonchalantly following behind. But before Hermione could say anything, Fleur spoke first.
“Well? I know zat you’re not sleeping een ze ’Ead Girl’s bedroom.” Recognizing that nothing she could say would dissuade the other woman, Hermione sighed and gave in.
“Okay. I didn’t know what to do. I considered setting an alarm and changing beds every hour, so as to spend one hour with each of him each night.” Fleur’s shoulders shook with suppressed laughter. Only Hermione Granger would plan out sleeping with a man to that level of detail. “Then I just decided to begin the night with one, and change beds during the night so I woke up with another.”
Fleur’s eyes were dancing with mirth. “And I suppose you’re making sure zat you spend ze same amount of time weeth each one?”
Hermione gave her a puzzled look. “Of course,” she answered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“And are you possibly writing all of ze nights and times down een your journal so zat you can keep track of eet?” Fleur continued. Hermione, realizing she was being teased, nodded sheepishly. Fleur grabbed her into a hug. “Don’t ever change ’Ermione, don’t ever change.”
-ooOoo-
From the Journal of Hermione Granger – Day 5 – Sunday, PM
Harry and I have to be very careful about what we reveal to each other. The later Harrys have to make sure they don’t say anything to me about things that happen later in an earlier week, and I have to make sure I don’t tell an earlier Harry something that I learned from a later Harry. For him it was most difficult the first few days. For me, it got more complicated as time went on and I observed more things. As we move to the end of the week it won’t be as much of a problem.
There was a good example today. I noticed this morning that Ron #3 was doing well in hexes, but lagging behind in shields, but that Ron #4 was much better at shielding. Harry #4 thought about it and then told me it was my doing. “You’ll see,” was all he would say. This afternoon I went back to watch Ron #3 again and realized that he was taking it for granted that Harry could break his shields and didn’t try very hard. So Harry had me test him. Ron was embarrassed that I could break his shields effortlessly too. After that he was more motivated to work harder on shields.
-ooOoo-
From the Journal of Hermione Granger – Day 6 – Monday, AM
Ronald Weasley is such an idiot. A likeable idiot, to be sure, but an idiot nonetheless. I’ve been joining them out at the quidditch pitch to fly with them. I really love my new broom, by the way. I joked to them that I might even try out for the quidditch team next year. Unfortunately, that got Ron thinking. The git decided that he and Harry could have a quidditch match here, right now. It would be the Potters against the Weasleys. That is, all 7 Harrys vs. all 7 Rons! It took me quite a while to talk him out of it. …
“Hermione, it would be great!” Ron insisted. “Just think, a quidditch team of seven Harry Potters! You could sell posters and everything.”
Hermione gave an exasperated sigh, then threw a glare at Harry for good measure. He immediately put up his hands and shook his head in a ‘not my idea’ gesture. Then she proceeded to explain to Ron, in simple language, why they couldn’t do it.
“Ron, the basic rule of the time turner is that you can’t go back and change something you already knew happened.”
“So? We’re only going to play one game.”
Hermione forced herself to stay calm. “No, Ron you aren’t. There aren’t really seven of you. There is only one of you doing the same week seven times. If we had a quidditch match, you would play it seven times, each time in a different position. And since you’ve already been through the week five times, you already know it didn’t happen.” Ron frowned. He couldn’t think of a counter for that.
“And even if we had planned it from the beginning, it still would be too dangerous. Let’s say you played keeper the first time, then beater twice, then chaser three times, then finished as seeker.”
“I think I’d play chaser before beater …” Ron began, but stopped abruptly at Hermione’s glare.
“It doesn’t matter!” she hissed. “By the time you played seeker you would have already seen Harry catch the snitch six times. (Ron looked like he wanted to object to her assumption that Harry would catch the snitch every time, but thought better of it.) You would know exactly when and where it happened. Would you try to do something different with that knowledge, so you had a chance to beat him to it?”
“Of course. What’s the point if you don’t try to win?”
Harry stopped Hermione from trying to pull her hair out. “The point, Ron, is that you would be changing something you already knew had happened. And if you change it then it didn’t happen, so then you wouldn’t know it, so you wouldn’t know to change it. It’s called a paradox.” he replied calmly, while restraining Hermione by wrapping her up in a hug. “According to the laws of time, you would end up unconscious or in a coma. It’s just not worth the risk.”
Ron knew from experience that he could never change Hermione’s mind on anything if Harry took her side, and besides, he could see now what the problem was. But he couldn’t resist one last comment to wind Hermione up.
“Still seems like it would have been fun, though.”
Harry was massaging her shoulders now, so Hermione was simply unable to gather up the proper amount of scorn for that comment. She was just too busy enjoying the massage, and fighting hard to keep from purring. She did manage to roll her eyes at Ron most impressively.
-ooOoo-
From the Journal of Hermione Granger – Monday, PM
Besides flying with the boys on the quidditch pitch, I’ve been flying as an owl every day. It’s really given me another perspective on Hogwarts. I now know what the tops of all the buildings look like. Some pretty interesting views actually. I also visited with Hedwig in the owlry.
Harry and I have gone out to the Forbidden Forest some nights, too, with him in his jaguar form and me as an owl. (Harry #4 thought of it first, so I went once with him, then H5, then H6. Tonight was H7.) I think it will be a good idea for us to get to know that forest better. I have a feeling that Hogwarts might be vulnerable from that direction. We made contact with some centaurs this evening. For some reason, they’re more hospitable now. I don’t know if it’s because they respect Harry (and possibly me also) more because he’s an animagus, or they realize that we all need to put aside our differences and work together, now that Dumbledore’s dead. It’s too dangerous to keep up the feud any longer.
-ooOoo-
From the Journal of Hermione Granger – Day 7 – Tuesday, AM
Ron has really learned a lot during these seven weeks, and is much improved at magical combat. Unfortunately, he’s gotten a bit cocky. This morning Ron #7 challenged me to an all-out duel. Since he’s been with Harry every day he knows he’s no match for him, but for some reason he seems to think that he ought to be able to take me on. So bring it on, Weasley! It’s time I put you in your place.
We’re going to do it this afternoon. Since we’re at the end of the week and it’s the last time through, there’s no problem with any of us knowing anything in advance.
-ooOoo-
From the Journal of Hermione Granger – Tuesday, PM
I had my final lunchtime visit with Bill and Fleur today. Even though there was no Horcrux in the Chamber, they managed to get into all of the hidden rooms. Bill also spent time talking with Dumbledore’s portrait, and going through his notes. They now have lots of information on Tom Riddle’s plans, and good leads on where the other Horcruxes might be.
It seems that Dumbledore was initially dubious about the idea to turn the Horcrux project over to Bill and Fleur, but eventually went along with it. Harry has mixed emotions about the whole thing, as do I. He has the utmost admiration for Dumbledore, but he also resents some of the things he did. I’m not happy with the way he manipulated Harry, and the whole Dursley situation makes my blood boil. It’s difficult for Harry to deal with the portrait. I think it was a good decision to leave all of that to Bill and Fleur.
They’re going to leave this afternoon, right after my duel with Ron. (They want to watch.) They’re concerned about Molly. The healers say she’s ready to go home, but she’s still delusional. I told them about Harry’s offer of one of his houses and they think it’s a good idea. If she goes back to Grimmauld Place, it will still seem like everything’s the way it used to be. Being in a different house, and forced to confront the fact that the Burrow’s gone, might help her begin to accept reality.
With regard to my duel with Ron, bragging rights aside, it’s a good idea. We’ll use it as a way of determining how far along he’s come. Harry agrees. He has no doubt that I could take Ron out easily, but wants me to stretch it out and give him a good workout. …
They decided to hold the contest out on the grounds near the lake, where there was plenty of open space. Harry reviewed the rules while Hermione and Ron loosened up. No injurious spells were allowed, such as explosion, slashing, or bone breaking hexes. Stunners and bludgeoning hexes were fair game. This would be a contest of power, speed, and agility, combined with blocking and shielding ability. They had discussed whether to wear their dragonhide armor, but Harry felt that it might lead Ron to rely on the armor to stop a curse instead of blocking it or dodging it himself.
While Harry was finishing, Hermione removed her robes to reveal an outfit consisting of thigh length spandex shorts and one of her stretch tank tops. She grinned at the stunned expression on Ron’s face, and the amusement on Harry’s.
“What are you doing?” Ron sputtered. “How am I supposed to concentrate on dueling when you look like that?”
“Sorry, Ron,” Harry responded. “Distraction is a part of dueling. Feel free to strip down as much as you want.” Ron glared at him while Hermione smirked. Then Harry motioned them to begin.
At first Hermione shielded while Ron threw a variety of hexes her way, in order to test his spell strength. She noted that even though he was using nonverbal spells, he moved his lips when he thought the incantation. She easily blocked them, but nodded in satisfaction at the variety of spells he was using, not getting into a discernable pattern.
After several minutes Hermione went on the offensive, flicking her wand to send out three stunners, which Ron blocked, then a disarming spell which he managed to duck out of the way of.
“Is that all you’ve got Granger?” he taunted, gradually becoming more confident. He sent another nonverbal hex her way and she recognized it just in time to block it. A Diffindo! Aimed right at her top. She heard Harry chortling off to the side and had to make an effort to suppress a smile.
“I suppose that was your idea Potter?” she shot over at him. She was about to ask him where he was planning on sleeping that night but caught herself just in time. Bill and Fleur were watching and she didn’t need to give the French witch any more teasing material. She and Ron traded some more spells, each conjuring up shields to block the other. She had a good idea now of just how strong Ron’s shields were.
“Two can play at that distraction game, you know,” Harry yelled back. In front of her Ron nodded and smirked.
Her response was a sweet smile and a high powered stunner, which shattered his shield, along with a wandless bludgeoning spell that knocked him to the ground. She calmly stepped back and motioned him up and he quickly scrambled to his feet, suddenly looking more nervous.
Ron screwed up his face in concentration and gestured with his arm. Hermione felt herself being pushed back but called on her own magic to resist. Suddenly a tree root appeared behind her and she stumbled, but quickly decided to go with it and threw herself to the ground as Ron snapped off two stunners that sailed over her head. Continuing her roll she sprang to her feet as she threw up a shield with one hand and sent another series of bludgeoning hexes back with the other, causing Ron to break off his attack to evade.
But Ron had another trick up his sleeve. He sent a stream of water at her, which she diverted easily, and then launched another nonverbal spell, this time only thinking it. Hermione abruptly found herself dangling upside down in the air, a victim of the Levicorpus jinx. Thinking quickly, she cast Protego to intercept his expected disarming spell while thinking the Liberacorpus counterjinx which dropped her back to earth.
Now it was time to end it, Hermione decided. Dodging his next spell, she shot two powerful stunners at him sandwiched around a disarming hex. The first stunner broke his shield spell, so he had to evade the disarming hex while conjuring another shield, which likewise shattered. While he was fully occupied blocking the stunners and dodging the Expeliarmus, she reached out her free hand and wandlessly levitated him off the ground to a height of five feet. Alarmed, Ron temporarily neglected his own spellcasting as she mentally banished him away from her, then abruptly summoned him back, ending with him in his original position, only upside down. Holding him in place with one hand, Hermione swirled her wand to initiate a transfiguration spell.
“Hermione!” Ron suddenly found himself clad only in a Speedo style swimsuit and quickly drew his arms and legs together to cover himself. A final disarming hex relieved Ron of his wand, then with a saucy grin Hermione made one more gesture and Ron sailed into the lake as Harry joined her, beside himself with laughter.
“That was brilliant!” he announced, catching her up in a hug. Then he grinned and continued in as deep a voice as he could manage. “Impressive! But you are not a Jedi yet.”
Hermione laughed and smacked him on the chest. “I know he’s not a starfighter, but he’s the biggest thing I’ve ever managed to levitate.” Harry nodded and gave her a congratulatory kiss. A shout from the lake got their attention and the pair of them turned, still in each other’s arms, to watch as Ron popped to the surface of the lake and thrashed around trying to regain his balance.
“You know, that looks pretty tempting,” Harry declared, pulling back to look at Hermione. “And you look like you could use a swim yourself.” Hermione had worked up a good sweat in the warm afternoon sunshine.
“I think you’re right,” she agreed. “Shall I transfigure you a swimsuit too?”
“Only if I get to transfigure yours,” he replied with a gleam in his eyes.
“Harry, now behave,” she protested, hitting him on the shoulder.
“Trust me, I’ll do it right,” he said with a warm smile. Hermione hesitated, then nodded. Harry stood with his arms out and she changed his clothing into the same Speedo style that she had given Ron (except that she made Harry’s with two inch sides instead of four inch), then held her breath as she waited for him to do her. With two swirls of his wand she was wearing a black string bikini just like the one she had worn in Mexico. After a quick check she decided it was satisfactory – he had even made the top with a bit more coverage than the one on her actual suit. “Shall we join him, then?” Harry inquired when he saw that his efforts had passed inspection.
Just then Bill and Fleur caught up with them. “’Ermione, magnifique!” Fleur called out, clapping her hands delightedly as she ran up to give Hermione a hug.
“Looking good, Hermione,” Bill offered with a wolfish grin, eyeing her up and down. Hermione, though, had become accustomed to his flirtatious teasing and affected a pose with her head cocked and her hand on her hip.
“I think the two of you are overdressed,” came her rejoinder. Fleur agreed and pulled out her wand to transfigure swimsuits for herself and Bill.
In the meantime Harry nodded toward the lake and gestured with his hand, tracing the path through the air that Ron had taken. Hermione indicated her agreement and raised her hand to levitate Harry and send him toward the lake. Meanwhile he did the same to her, and they floated in tandem on a graceful arc that deposited them into the cold water next to Ron, who was watching them in open-mouthed amazement.
“Sometimes I just don’t believe you two,” he finally managed. Then he remembered what he was wearing. And what Hermione was wearing, especially the fact that her bikini top was pointing out how cold the water was. His face remained a bright shade of red until Hermione took pity on him and transfigured him a more conservative pair of swim trunks. There was a splash as Bill took a running leap into the water, followed by Fleur wading into the lake in a more dignified manner. The arrival of Fleur immediately turned Ron’s attention away from Hermione’s swimsuit. Fortunately for her brother-in-law’s mental stability, Fleur had not transfigured herself a thong bottom, but had mimicked Hermione’s suit. Bill sent a wall of water crashing into Ron to break him away from his ogling of Fleur, and that started a water fight among the three males.
Hermione moved over by Fleur, away from the splashing, but kept an eye on them. Soon they settled down, and Bill spoke up. “Well, despite the fact that you got your arse kicked by a girl, that was some pretty impressive magic, little brother.” Ron’s head jerked up in surprise, and Hermione felt a twinge of sympathy, knowing that the one thing that Ron yearned for more than anything in the world was recognition that he was as good as his brothers. “Seriously,” Bill continued, “that is one incredibly powerful witch. I wouldn’t stand a chance against her.”
Ron turned to Harry, as if seeking confirmation. “He’s right, Ron,” Harry confirmed. “I know it’s hard for you to think of her that way, since we’ve known her since she was an annoying little twelve year old …” He was interrupted by a jet of water blasting into the back of his head and he turned to confront Hermione standing with her hands on her hips, pretending to glare at him, while Fleur giggled beside her. Harry lunged at Hermione, who backed away with a squeal, but slow enough so that he could catch her easily. The scene soon deteriorated into a tickling, hugging, and splashing match for the two couples, as Bill took the opportunity to attack Fleur also. Ron just leaned back and watched, smiling, happy to be an important part of such a great group, and proud that they thought him worthy of inclusion.
-ooOoo-
Wednesday, August 6
The next morning the trio met with the Headmistress, somewhat puzzled to find themselves in her old Transfiguration office, rather than in the office of the Headmaster. (They would later deduce that McGonagall wanted their conversation to take place out of earshot of certain portraits.) Harry and Hermione exchanged a shrug and Harry stepped forward. “Professor McGonagall,” he announced. “We’ve decided to accept your proposal and return to Hogwarts in the fall.” Hermione noted that McGonagall’s customary rigid composure slipped a bit as she permitted herself a large sigh of relief.
“You have no idea how delighted I am to hear that,” McGonagall responded. “I really do think it will work out for the best all around.” Then she motioned them to be seated. “If I could impose on a bit more of your time, though, I have several more issues that I would like to discuss with you, and get your input on.” Ron dropped into the comfortable stuffed chair while Harry and Hermione sat down together on the sofa. The three students exchanged puzzled looks and shrugs indicating that none of them had any idea of what was coming.
“Now,” the headmistress continued when they were comfortable. “I would like you to ponder this question. If you were the head of this school, what changes would you make?”
-xox-XOX-XOX-xox-
Author Notes:
The description of ‘Movie Night at the Grangers’ was inspired by a short fanfic of the same name, written by canoncansodoff. It can be found here on fanficauthors.