Chapter 4, Trouble With Umbridge

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – September 1

My, but this was an eventful day. I hadn’t even got to the train before I ran into Parvati and Lavender and had to explain why I wasn’t a prefect. It seems that Lavender just got a letter with the badge yesterday. While they were both excited about Lavender getting it, they had obviously expected it to be me. I told them that I had asked not to be considered (which was sort of true) but that I’d had no idea which of them would be selected and I hoped Lavender would do a good job. I explained it by saying I was concerned about having enough time to study for OWLs and they somewhat skeptically accepted that. Then I subtly changed the subject by saying that Harry hadn’t been selected either and I wondered if it was because of all the negative publicity he’d been getting. They were both as shocked as I was that Harry hadn’t been named a prefect, confirming my feeling that there was something suspicious about it. Lavender had mixed feelings about Ron being the male prefect.

I was getting more worried by the minute as it got closer and closer to 11:00 when Harry finally came through the barrier, and I practically knocked him down with my enthusiasm. Once he recovered, he hugged me back just as hard as I was hugging him, so much that I think we made Mrs. Weasley a touch uncomfortable. Sirius was with them in his dog form and he jumped up on both of us, which finally broke us apart. I swear his barking sounded like he was laughing at us, which I suppose he was.

When I asked where Ron was Harry told me they had come in three different groups – something to do with Mad-Eye Moody’s paranoia. Ron and Ginny came through a bit later, followed after a few more minutes by Fred and George. It was just as well, I guess, that Ron and Harry arrived separately, because I think Ron might have been put off by my greeting of Harry. As it was, he was quite upset when he found out I had turned down the prefect badge.

“Shall we go and find a compartment, then?” Harry asked. Ron gave Hermione a look and she realized that she couldn’t put off telling them any longer.

“Hermione and I have to go to the prefect’s carriage,” he announced as he put his hand on Hermione’s arm somewhat possessively to guide her away.

“Actually, I don’t,” Hermione corrected, pulling away and moving closer to Harry. “I decided not to accept the prefect position.”

“What!” three different voices chorused, Ron’s being the loudest. “What do you mean, you turned it down?” he continued. Harry didn’t say anything further but Hermione knew that he expected an explanation as well.

“I thought about it for a while and I decided that I didn’t want it after all,” Hermione retorted. “It occurred to me that I was mostly impressed with what an honor it was, and then I determined that the honor didn’t mean that much to me. My studies and other things are more important.” Harry’s head jerked up a bit at that the words ‘other things’, and Hermione noticed it because she was watching closely for his reaction, but neither Ron nor Ginny did.

“Are you sure it wasn’t …” Ron began but broke off at the glare Hermione sent him, one that communicated that she had said all that she was going to say on the subject.

“Ron?” Lavender appeared in the corridor wearing an impatient look. “We need to get going to the meeting.” Ron’s expression changed from irritation, to confusion, to one of comprehension as he realized that Lavender must be the other Gryffindor prefect now. As he looked at her more closely the others could see that it was occurring to him that there was some advantage to being co-prefect with his attractive blonde housemate. With one last uncertain glance at the other three he followed her toward the front of the train.

Once that little drama was concluded, Harry, Ginny, and I looked for a compartment. We finally found Neville and the four of us joined an odd-looking girl sitting by herself. She had straggly, waist length blonde hair and eyes that gave her a permanent look of surprise, and she was reading a magazine upside down. Later I noticed that she was wearing a necklace made of butterbeer caps. Interestingly, Ginny knew her and it turned out that they lived near each other in Ottery St. Catchpole. Ginny introduced everyone, but of course Luna already knew who Harry and I were. Later it turned out that she knew Ron too, which was to be expected I suppose, but she also seemed somewhat taken by him. Her odd questions and statements certainly left him flustered.

We also had a few other interesting encounters on the train. Susan Bones passed by and looked into our compartment, surprised that I wasn’t at the prefect’s meeting. Her best friend, Hannah Abbott, is the fifth year prefect for Hufflepuff so she was killing time until the meeting was over. I invited her in and introduced her to Harry. It turns out I was right about her being related to Amelia Bones. She is Susan’s aunt and Susan is actually named after her, as Susan is Amelia’s middle name. Susan informed Harry that her aunt had been impressed with him at the trial, that he kept his cool despite Fudge’s provocation, and that he could perform a corporeal Patronus.

When she mentioned that it prompted me to give Harry’s arm a squeeze to show him how proud I was of him. This in turn prompted some raised eyebrows from Susan and Ginny. I just smiled knowingly which raised their eyebrows even more. I have a feeling I’m going to be interrogated by Ginny soon about what’s going on between Harry and me. To move the conversation along I told Susan that I had cast the charm too and wondered why I hadn’t been charged as well. She agreed with me that it seemed suspicious, but I asked her to keep it to herself and she promised not to get me into trouble.

A bit later Cho stopped by the compartment. Apparently she’s not a prefect either.

Neville was just describing the properties of his Mimbulus mimbletonia plant when the compartment door slid open, revealing a very pretty girl with long, shiny black hair.

“Hi Harry,” she said breathlessly. “Um … are you busy?” she added as she looked around the compartment with a bit of disdain for its other occupants. Harry blinked once as he looked at her. She was possibly even prettier than he remembered, but somehow that didn’t seem all that important now. He shot a glance at Hermione that was uncertain and questioning and she managed a slight smile. He returned a small apologetic shrug and stood up. Cho gave him a dazzling smile but his return smile was merely polite and a bit forced. Hermione found that she had been holding her breath and let it out as the compartment door closed. Neville continued to stare at the door while Luna’s head was buried once more in her magazine, but Ginny raised a questioning eyebrow once more, which Hermione answered with but a shrug.

A few seconds later Harry returned with a relieved look on his face and shot Hermione a smile more genuine than the one he had given Cho, and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze as he took his seat beside her. Hermione noticed Ginny’s eyes widen. Harry leaned closer to Hermione and whispered, “I think she was interested in starting up something but I let her know I wasn’t interested,” and Hermione smiled broadly. Then, as though it had been only a minor interruption, Harry urged Neville to resume his explanation of his plant’s stinksap defense mechanism. Neville proceeded to poke it with a quill to demonstrate. Fortunately, Hermione had read about these plants as well and managed to cast a shield around it, preventing any of them from getting hit with the foul smelling fluid.
 

Eventually Ron came back and he was in a bit better mood. Evidently he had enjoyed patrolling with Lavender, and Harry had bought a whole assortment of sweets for him from the snack cart. Then he started talking about how he was going to get Crabbe and Goyle. This is exactly the kind of thing I expected would happen when I protested his appointment. I started to snap at him but Harry put his hand on my arm to calm me down. Then Ron did an imitation of Goyle doing lines that was rather funny, and Luna cracked up. I took the opportunity to shoot a smile at Harry thanking him for his intervention.

There was one final oddity at the end of the trip. When we were getting into the carriages to ride up to the castle Harry stopped and stared at the front of our coach. When I asked him what was wrong he pointed to the empty space and asked me if I could see it. Well, I couldn’t see anything, but with all the criticism he’s received accusing him of making things up I didn’t want to say that. Then Luna said she could see whatever it was and that they had always been there. I would have shrugged it off as another one of her fanciful creatures but Harry was really distressed about it. He described them as scaly winged horses. I shook my head that I couldn’t see them but whispered to him that I’d look into it and try to figure out what was going on. Then I pulled him into a carriage and since it was dark I snuggled up to him and held his hand and he calmed down.

The welcoming feast also provided a few items of note. First of all, Hagrid’s not here; Professor Grubbly-Plank is teaching Care of Magical Creatures. But possibly even more distressing is that a witch named Umbridge is teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. Harry said she was one of his inquisitors at his trial, and she backed Fudge completely. He thought that she was Fudge’s personal assistant, and she denied that dementors could have been anywhere near Little Whinging. She was one of the few that voted to convict him, so she probably has it in for him. That makes me very nervous. To top it off, she stood up and interrupted Dumbledore and gave a long speech, the gist of which was that the Ministry’s going to try to interfere with what’s taught at Hogwarts. I have a very bad feeling about this.

Oh, and the Sorting Hat’s song seemed to be saying that this was a dangerous time for Hogwarts and that the houses need to work together. It doesn’t look like that’s going to happen anytime soon either.

When the feast was over, I had to remind Ron that as a prefect he had to show the first years how to get to GryffindorTower. He grumbled about it, but Lavender grabbed him and they got to it, although he insisted on calling the new students midgets. I am more and more glad that I turned down that prefect badge. I think if I had to nag him about his duties all the time I’d be ready to kill him by the end of the year. On the bright side, this gave me a chance to talk to Harry alone for the first time today. I knew exactly what would be the first thing he would ask.

A lot of students were whispering and staring at Harry as they left the Great Hall, but Hermione’s glares had them turning hastily away. This was exactly what both of them had been worried would happen as a result of the Ministry and the DailyProphet’s smear campaign over the summer. To her relief Harry took her hand and pulled her into a concealed shortcut to GryffindorTower and they found themselves temporarily alone.

“Are you going to tell me why you really turned it down?” he asked abruptly.

“I think you know,” she responded as they stopped and she turned to face him.

“I don’t want you giving this up for me,” he protested with mixed feelings. Part of him was glad that she would do this just for him but part of him felt bad for her missing out on something she had wanted so very much.

“I gave it up in protest of an obvious wrong,” she explained. “I feel very strongly about that and I decided that I needed to act on my convictions. Besides, part of the reason I was excited about the badge was that it meant spending more time with you. Now, giving it up means spending more time with you.” They both fell silent at the frank admission and subconsciously began to move closer together. Just then another group of students entered the shortcut and they quickly broke apart and resumed the trek toward their dorm.

 

“OK, what’s going on between you and Harry?”

Hermione had nearly finished writing in her journal and was alone in her dorm room as Lavender hadn’t finished with the first years yet and Parvati was waiting for her in the common room. Ginny took this opportunity to corner Hermione and came bursting into her room demanding an explanation of their behavior on the train.

“Well, it hasn’t gone too far yet but something’s definitely starting,” Hermione admitted with a shy smile. “We wrote to each other a lot this summer, and I went over to visit him twice and then he stayed at my house those four days after the dementor attack. We’ve been hinting to each other that we’re interested and the hints have gradually gotten stronger. I think we’re both nervous about it and we’re both taking it nice and slow. It’s sort of by unspoken mutual consent.”

“And you’re sure you’re both on the same page about this?” Ginny wondered.

Hermione smiled, thinking of the looks the pair of them shared, knowing what each other was thinking without speaking. “I’m sure. You saw what happened when Cho stopped by the compartment.” Ginny nodded. “I knew exactly what he was thinking when he left and when he came back he told me she had expressed interest in them getting together but he turned her down.”

Ginny was amazed at this but had to admit that Harry and Hermione were often on the same wavelength about things and had demonstrated this ability in the past. Then she frowned.

“You know this is going to be a problem for Ron, don’t you?”

Hermione hesitated. “Well, I expect there will be some adjustment on his part, and a bit of awkwardness as he gets used to us … you know … doing things, but I don’t think …”

“Hermione, it’s more than that,” Ginny insisted.

“What do you mean?” Hermione asked, now worried about what Ginny was implying.

“Well, I think he has ideas that you and he ought to be together,” the younger girl revealed.

“What! What makes you think that?”

“Well, he was really looking forward to you being with us this summer, and he was pretty upset when you didn’t come,” Ginny explained. “And he was even more upset when he found out that you had been with Harry instead.”

“Well, if he’s interested in me that way, he certainly has a strange way of showing it,” Hermione declared.

“Why?” Ginny asked. “I mean, I know he’s not the smoothest guy in the world when it comes to dealing with girls, but …”

“Ginny, don’t you remember the way he indirectly insulted me when he was talking about asking a girl out to the Yule Ball last year, and the way he actually did ask me as a last resort?” Hermione snapped.

“Yeah, but …”

“And remember the way he treated me and insulted me to my face the night of the Ball itself?” she continued.

“Yeah.” Ginny was starting to see her point.

“So Ginny, would you want to have a relationship with a guy who treats you like that?”

“No,” Ginny admitted, shaking her head. “But I still think you’re going to have a problem. I don’t envy you having to break this to him.”

Ginny left then, and Hermione sat thinking for a while before returning to her journal. This complication was going to make things more difficult than she had thought.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – September 2

I was worried about how to tell Harry my concerns about Ron but it turned out I needn’t have. When we met up this morning in the common room I gave his hand a quick squeeze as we were leaving, then let go and nodded forward to Ron, who had already gone through the portrait hole. Harry understood immediately and nodded back, then brushed the back of his hand reassuringly along my arm as we followed him, and we avoided any other contact after that. He stayed a bit closer to me than he might have done last year, but otherwise we acted normally when we were in front of other people. I guess we really are on the same wavelength. I like that we can communicate like that but eventually we’re going to have to talk about this.

Ron and Harry told me that Seamus was among those who didn’t believe Harry (or at least his mother didn’t), which evidently made for an uncomfortable situation in their dorm. We also discovered that Fred and George seem to be a lot farther along in setting up a joke shop business than we suspected. They’re recruiting test subjects. At least they’re farther along than Ron and I suspected. Harry didn’t seem surprised at all. I think something’s going on there, and I think I know what it is. If I’m right, it’s just one more example of what makes Harry so wonderful.

Binns was as boring as usual, and Harry and Ron goofed off most of the period. When I scolded them afterward, Ron was as defiant as ever but Harry looked contrite and gave me a little nod, letting me know he’ll try harder to pay attention. Snape was his usual malicious self. I had thought with us all joining together to work against Voldemort he might be more reasonable, but I guess I was wrong. I know he has to keep up his cover but that’s no reason for him to act the way he does. I wish there were something I could do to help Harry in Potions. He’s really not that bad at it, it’s just that he lets Snape’s animosity get to him and then he makes mistakes.

Harry also pointed out something that I have to work harder at. I never realized just how much Ron and I bicker with each other, but we seem to be doing it constantly, and Harry finally snapped today and shouted at us to knock it off. He’s right, I guess. He’s under enough pressure without having to referee Ron’s and my quarrels. After he stormed off I followed him and found him sitting alone in a corridor. We both apologized and shared a hug, then went down to lunch. Ron and I both agreed to try to get along better, although Ron gave us a suspicious look when we came into the Great Hall together.

The biggest problem of the day was Defense Against the Dark Arts. This is really unfortunate, because in the past it has been Harry’s favorite subject. It turned out to be every bit as bad as I feared. We were astounded that Professor Umbridge expects us to just read about spells in a book and never actually practice them in class. Of course, that didn’t go over well at all with Harry, or any of the rest of us for that matter. He eventually got into an argument with Umbridge and I immediately backed him up.

Dolores Umbridge was rapidly losing control of her class. She had already fielded hostile questions from Dean and Parvati as well as complaints from Harry, Hermione, and Ron. Having just taken ten points from Harry for bringing up Voldemort’s return, Umbridge turned to the rest of the class. “You have been told that a certain Dark wizard has returned from the dead.” She shrugged off Harry’s interruption and continued. “That is a lie.”

“It is NOT a lie!” Harry shouted back. “I saw him! I fought him!”

“Detention, Mr. Potter!” Umbridge snapped back, proud of herself for baiting him into his outburst. “Tomorrow evening. Five o’clock. My office. I repeat, this is a lie. The Ministry of Magic guarantees …”

“It’s the Ministry of Magic that is spreading all the lies,” Hermione interrupted hotly. Around her, a flood of gasps came from the other students. Hermione Granger never talked back to a teacher! “They’ve been spreading horrible rumors about Professor Dumbledore and Harry just because they have the courage to tell the truth about …”

“That’s enough!” shrieked Umbridge, losing her cool at last. “Miss Granger, I see that you wish to join Mr. Potter in his detention. I’m sure that I will be able to accommodate both of you.”

“Better make that three then,” Ron broke in, rising to his feet. Umbridge glared at him and then returned to her sweet voice.

“I see. I’ve been informed about this trio of Gryffindor troublemakers. I suppose it is appropriate for you to share detention as well.”

“Count me in too.” Neville now rose and moved to stand on Harry’s other side.

Umbridge now dropped the fake smile and snapped. “Very well. Will there be anyone else?”

The other students exchanged looks and Dean rose, followed by Parvati. Lavender took a look at Parvati, than shot a glance at Ron and stood as well. Finally Seamus, looking terribly conflicted, joined them. In a remarkable show of house unity, every Gryffindor in the class was offering to share in Harry’s punishment.

Completely red-faced now, Umbridge pulled out a roll of parchment and scribbled on it for a while, hesitated, then handed it to Lavender. “In that case, you are all dismissed and will receive failing grades for the day. Please take this to your Head of House. Now get out of my classroom.”

Needless to say, McGonagall was not thrilled that her entire fifth year class had got into trouble on the first day. She read Umbridge’s note and informed us that she would be supervising the detentions for everyone except Harry and me, and that the two of us would be in detention with Umbridge every night this week. Ron started to object but then remembered the quidditch tryouts on Friday. Harry immediately told him that he needed to go to those, but that Harry could afford to miss them since he already had a spot on the team. Ron was relieved to hear that, and reluctantly gave in. Neville was a bit more stubborn about it, but McGonagall held firm.

At that point she told us all that we needed to avoid any more confrontations with Umbridge and dismissed everyone but Harry and me. Then she elaborated for us that we needed to be very careful around the woman, and mentioned her speech at the start-of-term feast. When I offered my interpretation she agreed with me and told Harry she hoped he realized how fortunate he was to have me as a friend. Of course, that made me blush and I blushed even harder when Harry responded that I was a treasure that he cherished more than she knew. He took hold of my hand as we left her office and suddenly the day didn’t seem so bad after all.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – September 3

I never would have believed how evil that foul toad woman could be. She made Harry and me write lines using a quill that carved words into the backs of our hands. Harry had to write ‘I must not tell lies’, which had to kill him because that accusation has been haunting him all summer. For me it was ‘I must refrain from contradicting my betters’, which was also quite difficult for me to swallow. At the end of the night she told us that we must not have got the message yet, and that she would see us again tomorrow.

I insisted that we had to report this to McGonagall. Harry resisted at first, but I eventually convinced him. I’ll be visiting her first thing tomorrow. I have no idea when we’re going to get our homework done this week. I told Harry we’d cooperate and do it together. I helped him with Vanishing spells before we went up to bed and he drew two bowtruckle sketches while I worked on Arithmency. We’ll have to get up early to do the rest in the morning.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – September 4

McGonagall was incensed when we told her what Umbridge had made us do and how long she had kept us. But later this afternoon she informed us that Dumbledore told her there was nothing he could do about it. I could tell that she wasn’t happy with that response, but her hands were tied. Things must be worse between Dumbledore and the Ministry than I thought. The lines were just as bad tonight. I think Umbridge plans to keep it up until the words are permanently carved into our hands.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – September 6

Thank God that’s over with. Tonight was our last detention with Umbridge. As I suspected, the phrases we’ve been writing now stay cut into the backs of our hands. Some good news is that Ron made Keeper on the quidditch team. When we got back from our detention everyone was celebrating. I noticed Lavender hanging on Ron’s every word. I’m not happy with the job they’re doing as prefects, but it looks like they’re at least getting along.

Harry and I begged off after a little while, saying we were exhausted. I was a bit nervous about suggesting to him that tomorrow would be a good day to catch up with our homework, but he gave me a tired smile and said as long as he was with me it wouldn’t be so bad. I smiled and told him that was the right answer and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before we went up to our dorms. That boy can be so sweet sometimes. I need to make sure we finish in time for him to go flying with Ron a bit before quidditch practice. He really could use the break, and I can relax up in the stands and finish my reading assignments.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – September 7

Today went as well as could be expected. Harry and I got caught up with our essays, although he’s still behind in the reading. I’ll finish that on my own and try to fill him in on the critical points. At lunchtime he told me that he saw one of those winged horses flying over the forest while he was out practicing with Ron. I’d completely forgotten about that, and headed for the library straight away. I discovered that there really are flying horses called Thestrals that are invisible! Harry will be so glad to hear that he’s not seeing things. I guess that Luna Lovegood’s not as batty as I thought. The reason neither I nor the others could see them is that they’re only visible to people who have seen someone die. Harry can see them now because of Cedric. I wonder who it was for Luna?

I enjoyed the quidditch practice more than I usually do. Malfoy and a group of Slytherins showed up to heckle the team, but especially Ron. I took care of that with the silencing charm we’re learning this term. It took several minutes for them to figure out that he couldn’t hear them at all. Then they were quite annoyed and started to threaten me but Harry had been keeping an eye on me while he was flying over the pitch and was there instantly with his wand out. Within seconds the rest of the team was hovering over them and the Slytherins realized they were badly outnumbered. I refused to lift the silencing charm, and none of them were able to break it, so they all stalked back to the castle. The only bad part was that Ron really wasn’t too good at Keeper. Harry says he just needs more practice.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – September 8

One week down. Today was the best day so far. Ron had put off his homework so he was stuck inside all day. Since Harry and I had caught up we were able to take advantage of the nice bright sunny day and we took a walk around the lake. It was the first time since early August that we’ve been able to have a private conversation.

They began with Hermione giving Harry a brief synopsis of the reading she had done, and answering his questions until he was satisfied that he had the gist of it. Then she told him what she had learned about the Thestrals and Harry was so relieved that he hugged her for a good long while. Then they went on to catch each other up on their thoughts about what was going on with Umbridge, Dumbledore, and the Ministry. By that point they had reached a private spot, and sat down under a tree at the edge of the forest by the shoreline of the lake. Harry stretched out his arm around Hermione’s shoulders and she snuggled into him and sighed contentedly.

“So,” Harry began hesitantly after a comfortable silence. “Do you want to talk about – you know – us?”

“Yes, I think so,” Hermione answered softly.

“I … I like what we’ve been doing lately. I feel pretty comfortable with you,” Harry offered. “We seem to be closer than we were last year, and I like being able to tell you things and I can trust you not to laugh at me or tell anyone else.” He paused, then continued. “I …. um … also think the physical part’s nice.”

“Me too,” Hermione agreed. “I especially like that you trust me with things, and I feel the same.” She reached out and took his other hand and put it in her lap, shyly tracing the back of it with her finger as her cheeks turned pink. “Do you think you’d like to take this a bit farther?”

“I … yes, I would … eventually,” Harry stammered. “I just don’t want to do anything that would make us feel awkward around each other.”

“I agree,” Hermione replied, affirming his concern. “I think I’m ready to move forward but I’m in no hurry because I’m enjoying what we have now. Let’s just take it one step at a time and see how it goes. If either of us gets uncomfortable we’ll let the other know.”

“Sounds good to me,” Harry declared. He paused nervously, then leaned over and gave her a little kiss on top of her head. Hermione lifted his hand from her lap, interlaced their fingers, and gave it a squeeze.

“How much do you want to let other people see?” Hermione asked next. “For example, Ginny has pretty sharp eyes for this sort of thing and she’s already asked me about it. Don’t worry,” she reassured him quickly. “I just told her we were only starting to explore if we wanted our relationship to go in this direction. But she told me something we’ll have to watch out for.”

“Ron?” Harry guessed. Hermione nodded. “I’ve noticed that too. I think we have to give him time to notice that we’re growing closer together, and when he asks be honest with him. In general, maybe we should keep this – he gave her hand another squeeze – and this – he hugged her more tightly to himself for a few seconds – for when we’re alone.”

Hermione nodded again. “And we could gradually increase the amount of our physical contact, when we’re sharing a sofa in the common room for example.” Harry smiled and leaned his head over to rest on top of hers and gave her shoulder another squeeze. After a moment Hermione added teasingly, “Just as long as all the other girls understand that you’re mine.”

The only thing that clouded the day was a letter Ron got from Percy. It was incredibly pompous and basically warned Ron to distance himself from Harry. It also hinted at some changes in the offing that Percy knew about. To Ron’s credit, he tore it into pieces and threw it into the fire.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – September 9

This is getting tiresome. Another week’s worth of detentions with Umbridge. I have got to learn to keep my mouth shut in that class. Whenever Umbridge insults me Harry can’t help coming to my defense, and then he gets in trouble. But the problem is that we aren’t learning how to do anything ! Actually, I’m toying with the idea of asking Harry what he thinks about us organizing an independent study group.

The situation with Umbridge keeps getting worse, irrespective of our detentions. Today it was announced that she has been appointed Hogwart’s Grand Inquisitor, and will be inspecting classes. That must be what Percy’s letter was referring to. What I suspect it means is that she’ll be trying to get some professors fired. I can’t imagine why Dumbledore’s letting the Ministry get away with this. What kind of game can he be playing at? Is he trying to wait until they go too far and then expose their foolishness? But what about all the damage they’ll do to Hogwarts in the meantime? There must be something else going on here that we don’t know about.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – September 15

I am such an idiot! Harry found me knitting hats (well, they were supposed to be hats – I suppose they looked more like misshapen lumps) in the common room this evening and asked me what I was doing. I proudly announced that I was going to use them to free house elves, by leaving them out for the poor enslaved creatures to pick up. He laughed at first and I glared at him, but when he saw that I was serious he gave me an odd look and then told me it wouldn’t work. He reminded me that when he freed Dobby, he had to trick LuciusMalfoy into giving the sock to Dobby. It wouldn’t have worked if Harry had given it to him, since Harry wasn’t the one who owned him. Since I don’t own the Hogwarts house elves, it won’t free them if I give them the hats.

I was so embarrassed I almost cried. Harry quickly sat down beside me and put his arm around me to comfort me. Then he commented that this wasn’t like me – usually I thoroughly research something like this before I do it. He suggested that I was being overzealous about this issue and it was affecting my judgement. That did make me cry a little, but partly it was because he was being so nice about it. It makes me even happier about our relationship. I was very fortunate that Ron was on prefect duty during this incident. I’m certain he would have had something insulting to say and he would never have let me hear the end of it. And I know that I can trust Harry not to mention it to him.

After he was finished consoling me, I asked Harry again about him leading a defense study group. He was reluctant the first time I brought it up, but after two weeks of Umbridge’s non-lessons I think I have him convinced. I assured him I would help him research spells and decide which ones to teach. I also persuaded him to open it up to more students than just me and Ron – whoever wants to learn. I told him I would try to set up some kind of organizational meeting during the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – September 19

Harry remembered my birthday today! He gave me a book entitled ‘How to prepare for OWLsWithout Going Mad’. I’m embarrassed to say that I probably need it. He also gave me a box of sugar quills. I told him my parents would kill him if they knew, but he just grinned at me. Ohhh, that grin makes my knees go weak!

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – October 4

We had quite a successful visit to Hogsmeade today, in more than one sense. Harry and I had our first ‘date’, and we managed to organize a Defense study group. The former just sort of came together.

As the students were waiting in the Entrance Hall for the carriages to Hogsmeade, Ron approached Harry and Hermione. “Lavender and I have to wait until everyone’s loaded before we leave. I’ll catch you up later, OK?”

“Sure thing,” replied Harry agreeably. Hermione moved closer and lowered her voice.

“If we don’t see you beforehand, we’ll meet you in the Hog’s Head at noon,” Hermione reminded him. “Don’t forget to spread the word among the other prefects.” Ron nodded and then hurried off to resume his duties with Lavender.

As they disembarked in the village Harry leaned in close to Hermione. “Too bad they don’t have a movie theater here. I could take you to a scary movie and if I was lucky you might end up on my lap.”

Hermione laughed and hit him on the shoulder, then looked up at him quizzically. “Mr. Potter, are you suggesting that we treat this as a date?”

Harry stopped and looked at her nervously as the rest of the students in their carriage moved away. “Maybe. If … er, if you wanted to, that is.”

Hermione decided to lighten the mood. “Great idea!” she declared enthusiastically. “Now, since this is an official date …” she paused and gave him a knowing smile, “… and there’s no movie theater for us to snuggle up in, where are you going to take me?”

Harry played along. “Hmm. I suppose we ought to go to places you’d like and not just where I’d like.”

Hermione nodded. “Very good. You’re off to a great start. But we can go somewhere you’d like too.” They joined hands and began to walk along the path into town.

“And I thought lunch in the Hog’s Head Tavern would be appropriate,” Harry joked. Hermione responded with a groan, and Harry laughed and went on. “But the tricky part will be finding a secluded place for the goodnight kiss at the end of the date.” Even though he had said this in a bantering way, he held his breath waiting for her reaction.

A nervous tension suddenly enveloped the couple, but Hermione deliberately kept her response lighthearted even though her pulse had quickened. “Harry Potter, what kind of girl do you think I am? I don’t kiss on the first date!” In fact she would have liked very much to kiss him, but she was worried about moving forward too quickly, especially with the uncertain situation with Ron.

Harry was actually somewhat relieved, but kept up the teasing tone of the discussion. “Oh well, guess I’ll have to wait till next time then.” Both of them relaxed and smiled at each other. What hadn’t been said was just as informative as what had been. They had managed to broach the issue and had dealt with it with minimal awkwardness. And both were able to communicate that kissing was something that each was interested in, and would come into their relationship eventually. For her part, Hermione was also very glad that Harry had not brought up her Yule Ball date with Viktor Krum.

By unspoken agreement the pair took the long way into the village, detouring past the Shrieking Shack, so as to extend their private time together, and before they came out into the main street Harry stopped and pulled Hermione into a brief, tight hug.

“Was that for anything special?” Hermione smiled up at him as they broke apart and headed for the first shop.

“Just for being you, and to let you know that I appreciate everything you do for me,” Harry responded.

They stopped for some sweets in Honeydukes, and then checked out Scrivenshaft’s where Hermione picked out a black and gold pheasant feather quill, which Harry insisted on paying for as a token of their first date. They spent the rest of the time before noon in a bookshop across the street, and then moved on to the Hog’s Head for their meeting. Ron spotted them as they came out of the bookshop.

“Oh, there you are. No wonder I couldn’t find you. Figures that Hermione would drag you into a bookshop on a Hogsmeade visit.” Ron muttered. Harry and Hermione exchanged grins and followed him towards the decrepit building that housed the somewhat dodgy pub they had picked out for its relative seclusion.

I was surprised at how many students showed up, but Harry was positively astounded. We hadn’t been quite sure how the attacks on his credibility had affected the older students who knew him and what he’d done over the years. It was gratifying to see all the Gryffindors from our year, and other years besides. But there were also all four fifth year prefects from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw along with some of their friends. I had expected Susan Bones to be there, but Luna Lovegood was a bit of a surprise. In all there were twenty-five, not counting Harry, Ron, and myself.

Harry still had some misgivings that they were looking for a ‘freak show’ as he put it, and there were some snide comments from Zacharias Smith, but the rest of them seemed genuinely appreciative of what he’d accomplished and were interested in learning from him. There were quite a few ooh’s and ahh’s when he admitted to some of his exploits. That darling boy is so modest! I am somewhat unhappy about the looks Cho Chang was giving him, though. I’m going to have to keep my eye on her.

We finished up by agreeing to meet once a week, and I had everyone sign a parchment. I feel a little guilty for not telling them that the parchment had a confidentiality hex on it, but I had to do something to protect Harry from getting into any more trouble. We both agree that Umbridge would not be happy to discover that we’re practicing spells behind her back. I’m still trying to decide if I should let McGonagall know what we’re doing.

The meeting finished off on an amusing note, when Ron discovered that one of the boys who came, Michael Corner, was Ginny’s boyfriend. He hadn’t even realized she was going out with anyone! As I expected, he ranted about it all the way back to the castle. What I found most interesting is that he acted the same way as he was last year when Viktor was interested in me. That makes me wonder if he doesn’t understand just how he feels about me. He may be confusing brotherly affection for romantic interest.

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