Chapter 6, Unpleasant Holiday Happenings

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – December 19

Harry is missing! Neville found me in the common room this morning worrying about why he hadn’t come down yet and told me that he had had an awful nightmare. It was so bad that Neville had to go get McGonagall, and then she took Harry and Ron to Dumbledore’s office. At first I was afraid that Harry had finally been possessed and had attacked Ron, but Neville assured me that nothing like that happened, and that Ron went along to help Harry get there. However, neither of them returned to the dorm. Then I discovered that Ginny is gone too.

Next I went to see Professor McGonagall but she was reluctant to tell me anything. She could see that I was becoming frantic, though, and told me she would speak to Dumbledore about informing me what had been done. She did confirm that Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George were no longer in the castle. I’ve been a wreck all day – I haven’t been able to concentrate on classes at all! It just feels wrong to be sitting there without Harry next to me. Umbridge was furious about Harry leaving, but I honestly told her I didn’t know anything. I don’t think she believed me though.

This afternoon I went to see Hedwig and asked her to find Harry. She seemed to understand and took my note and flew right off.

Dinner was the worst. Lavender and Parvati sat by me, and Neville too, since they could all see how lost I felt without Harry, Ron, and Ginny. No one else seems to know any more about what happened. I asked McGonagall again if she could tell me anything, but she said Dumbledore told her it had to remain confidential for now. I can’t believe that he wouldn’t at least let me know what’s going on, even if I’m not allowed to tell anyone else!

Now it’s bedtime already, and still no word. I’m afraid I’m going to start crying any minute. I can’t believe how I could have been so happy just 24 hours ago and be so miserable now.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – December 20

Harry wrote back! Hedwig came right into my room this morning without waiting for the normal owl post at breakfast. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to see her! It was just a quick note saying he’s all right, but that something awful happened and he experienced it personally. Then he said he couldn’t tell me where he was but if I tapped into my marauding nature that I might be able to work out how to learn more about it.

After reading that I tapped the parchment and said ‘I solemnly swear that I am up to no good’ and another message was revealed. He got Sirius to charm the parchment for him. The nightmare was even worse than I had imagined. Harry thinks he somehow became Voldemort’s snake, and attacked Mr. Weasley! Ron assures him that he never left the dorm room during the nightmare, but it was so realistic he’s still worried. At any rate, when they got to Dumbledore’s office the headmaster immediately talked to some portraits and they reported that Mr. Weasley had in fact been attacked at the Ministry, and they were able to cause someone to discover him and take him to St. Mungo’s. Then Dumbledore sent Harry off with a portkey before Umbridge could find out, and Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George as well so they could go visit Mr. Weasley in the hospital. He’s going to be all right – thank goodness they got to him in time!

After I read the note I went to McGonagall again and told her what I knew. She took me to the headmaster’s office once more and he still didn’t want to tell me everything. He tried to tell me not to worry, everything’s all right. Well, I wasn’t going to take that anymore – I knew Harry needed me. This time McGonagall supported me and Dumbledore eventually relented. Harry is at the same house he went to at the end of the summer and it’s under the Fidelius charm, as I suspected. Dumbledore is the secret keeper and he told me. I’m going there today as soon as we’re dismissed for Christmas break. I’m going to take the Knight Bus. Hedwig agreed to take a letter to my parents telling them I wouldn’t be coming skiing with them after all. I hope they aren’t too upset, but I tried to explain to them that I have to be with Harry.

Hermione arrived at Grimmauld Place and watched the Knight Bus disappear with a bang. Then she walked up to the empty space between No. 11 and No. 13 and thought about the words Dumbledore had spoken to her – ‘The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London’. As she stood there the building appeared and she hurried up the steps, gave a look of disgust at the twisted serpent shaped door knocker, and rang the bell.

“Hermione, what are you doing here?” Sirius asked in surprise as he cautiously opened the door, holding his wand in one hand and a Christmas ornament in the other. Her reply was cut off by a loud shriek from a painting in the entrance hall.

“Filth! Scum! Begone from this place! How dare you defile this noble house you mudblood filth. You …”

“Shut up you horrible old hag, shut UP!” Sirius shouted as he struggled to close the drapes over the painting.

Mrs. Weasley appeared and hustled Hermione through the door at the end of the hall.

“What on earth was that?” Hermione asked in a low voice, shaken from the experience.

“A portrait of Sirius’s mother. An extremely unpleasant woman, as you’ve seen,” Molly answered. “But that’s a long story. Now, what brings you here? We weren’t expecting you.”

She led Hermione into another room, where the Weasley children were decorating a Christmas tree. They all turned toward her with similar looks of surprise, and Ron quickly moved across the room to her side. “Did you hear about Harry?” he asked anxiously.

“Yes, that’s why I’m here,” she responded, answering both his question and the original one. “Where is he?”

“He’s shut himself up in one of the upper rooms and won’t talk to anyone,” Ron replied as the others nodded in agreement. “He’s pretty shook up about … what he saw.”

“And you’re just leaving him by himself?” Hermione demanded. “Why doesn’t someone do something to help him?”

“You know him,” Ginny shrugged with a resigned expression. “There’s no getting through to him when he gets in one of his moods.”

“Oh honestly!” Hermione snapped, and then whirled and swept out of the room. Ron and Ginny shared a look, then Ron picked up her bag and they followed her. Fred and George exchanged a smirk at the scene they had just witnessed. Hermione had dropped her bag right where she stood, and hadn’t even taken her coat off, in her haste to get to Harry. It was quite clear what her most important priority was right now.

Back in the entrance hall Sirius had managed to close the drapes over his mother’s portrait, but Hermione swept by with only a nod of acknowledgement and hurried up the stairs. Ron and Ginny followed, but stopped on the second floor.

“He’s up in the room on the top floor with Buckbeak, but he’s ignored everyone who’s tried to talk to him,” Ron informed her. “We’ll just wait down here for you.”

Hermione raced up the rest of the stairs and pounded on the door of the room Ron had indicated. “Harry, it’s me. I know you’re in there,” she called out. “Will you please come out? I want to help you.”

“Hermione! What are you doing here?” Harry gasped, pulling open the door. “I thought …” He was interrupted by a mass of bushy brown hair in his face and a pair of trembling arms that wrapped around him in a crushing hug. He responded with a desperate embrace of his own, holding on to her like a lifeline. Harry had never been so glad to see anyone in his life. Hermione wouldn’t be afraid to be around him. She would be able to figure out what was happening to him.

Finally they broke apart and stepped back from each other, but Hermione didn’t let go of his hands. Only then did Harry notice that there was snow in her hair and her face was pink with cold, and realized that she had rushed up to find him without even taking her coat off first.

“I knew you would need me here, so I sent Hedwig to my parents telling them I wouldn’t be joining them after all,” Hermione explained while she shrugged her coat off. Harry reached out to help her and as soon as the coat hit the floor she was back in his arms again. “Oh Harry, why do all of these things have to happen to you?” she moaned into his shoulder. A warmth filled him as he remembered the last time they had been together. Had that really been only two days ago?

“I came on the Knight Bus,” she continued as they settled into a comfortable embrace. “Dumbledore finally told me this morning where you were and I came straight here as soon as term officially ended. I was only just able to persuade him to let me know what was happening. It was fortunate that McGonagall took my side. Honestly, it really seems as though he doesn’t want me to be so close to you.” Harry frowned, but it wasn’t the first time that the two of them had voiced that suspicion. “Come on, let’s go see Ron and Ginny and sort this out,” she finished, taking his hand and leading him back to the second floor.
 

Ron and Ginny were rather chagrined that I had managed to get through to Harry so quickly. They were sitting on Ron’s bed waiting for us, so Harry and I sat on his bed. Ron pretended not to notice that we were holding hands, but Ginny gave me a little smirk. At first, things were a bit tense. Ron and Ginny claimed that Harry was avoiding everyone (which he was) and Harry shot back that they wouldn’t even look at him. I made a little joke that perhaps they were taking it in turns to look and kept missing each other. That got a little chuckle out of Harry and things settled down.

Harry admitted that he didn’t want to talk to anyone because he was afraid he was being possessed. Then Ginny pointed out (with her usual sarcastic tone) that he was being stupid because she was the only one he knew who had been possessed by Voldemort (she said You-Know-Who, of course) and that she could have told him what it was like. That really got his attention. He apologized immediately for not realizing that, and then they compared notes.

Ginny informed us that there were big blank periods where she couldn’t remember what she had done, and she would find herself somewhere and not know how she’d got there. That wasn’t the case at all with Harry. And Ron assured him that he’d never left his bed.

Then Harry revealed what had him so upset – in his dream he’d actually been the snake. He could feel his fangs sink into Mr. Weasley’s body, and could feel his ribs splinter and the warmth of his blood gushing out. The rest of us were horrified and agreed at how awful that would have been for him. I put my arms around him and hugged him tight, and Ginny moved over to his other side and hugged him too while Ron muttered something he meant to be comforting. Then I asked him if he would classify this as more of a vision than a dream, and Ron and Ginny wanted to know what I was talking about.

“Harry’s been having this recurring dream about a long corridor,” Hermione explained. “We think it’s in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic. And we think that there’s a weapon there that the Order’s been guarding. That’s probably why your dad was there that night.”

“But why would Harry be dreaming about that?” Ron asked in puzzlement.

“It’s coming from Voldemort,” Harry answered and the two Weasleys shuddered. Harry’s mouth twitched slightly at Hermione’s predictable huff of annoyance at their reaction to the name. “We think he wants whatever’s down there and I’m picking up on it somehow. You know how we have this connection,” he pointed at his scar. “Well, sometimes I get twitches of his emotions when he’s feeling particularly strongly about something, and sometimes I actually get visions of things that are happening. Those are always from his point of view, like I’m in his mind. Lately, I’ve been dreaming of this corridor. Hermione and I have decided that I’m tapping into his thoughts about it because he wants it so badly.”

Ron and Ginny sat open-mouthed through this explanation, and Ron shook his head when he finished. “Life just never gives you a break, does it mate?” he observed sympathetically. Harry shot a glance at Hermione as if to say, ‘Well, there’s one part that’s going nicely,’ and she blushed. On his other side Ginny elbowed him in the ribs and he winced while she rolled her eyes at him, indicating that she had picked up on exactly what he had been thinking. Fortunately, Ron missed all of this interplay.

Hermione cleared her throat to get them back on topic. “So, this appears to fall under the category of ‘vision of something that’s actually happening’. It’s different in that Harry was experiencing it from the snake’s point of view, but I think that must have been because Voldemortwas actually possessing the snake at the time. They must share an extremely strong connection for him to do that, as I’ve never read about a wizard being able to do that with his familiar.”

The four of them concluded that this was the correct interpretation, and that while extremely unpleasant, this ability of Harry’s to pick up Voldemort’s thoughts and sometimes even see what was happening was extremely useful. They also agreed that there was no evidence so far that the dark lord was possessing Harry or reading his mind, but the other three vowed to be alert for any signs of it.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – December 25

After everything that’s happened, we were fortunate to have a rather nice Christmas. Sirius has been tireless in trying to make sure everyone enjoys themselves, and has been having the lot of us cleaning and decorating for days. We all exchanged presents this morning. I got Ron and Harry talking homework planners as a bit of a joke, teasing them that now I could nag them about doing their homework without even being present. Ron’s reaction was to throw it at me, but they were both amused. I also got Harry a new watch, (he’d never replaced the one that got ruined in the lake during the second task of the tournament) and he got me a locket with a picture of us in it. Of course, many people got me books, and Harry got defense books from Remus and Sirius. The most amusing was a necklace Lavender gave Ron that said ‘My Sweetheart’. He was so embarrassed! And of course everyone got hand-knitted jumpers from Mrs. Weasley.

There is a house elf here named Kreacher who is rather creepy. Or as Ron puts it – completely nutters. I asked Harry why he hadn’t mentioned him in any of his letters last summer and he sheepishly admitted that he didn’t want to set me off and have to read me ranting about house elf freedom. I must admit that even I have trouble feeling sorry for this one. He’s constantly saying really foul, loathsome things to me. But even so, I think it’s because of the way he’s been treated. Sirius is quite nasty to him. I tried treating him kindly, and even got him a Christmas present, but it didn’t help – he still insulted me.

Mr. Weasley is recovering satisfactorily, and we all went to visit him after lunch. He was in good spirits, and had been talking with his healer about the possibility of using stitches to close up his wounds. Mrs. Weasley, however, thought that was simply an absurd idea.

We also ran into Neville. He was there to visit his parents, who have been in the long-term spell damage ward since they were tortured into insanity by Death Eaters when he was a baby. He was embarrassed to have us find out, but his gran was proud of it. Harry later told me that he had already known – Dumbledore had told him and it had been BellatrixLestrange who’d done it.

The only unpleasant incident of the day happened this afternoon when Mrs. Weasley caught me ‘thanking’ Harry for his gift upstairs in his bedroom. The curious thing was that her reaction seemed quite excessive for an adult catching two teens kissing in a bedroom. Honestly, I can understand that she considered it to be an inappropriate setting, (although I would think she knows Harry and me well enough to trust that we wouldn’t go too far) but she began to loudly berate us for ‘betraying’ Ron and Ginny. It was as though she had the idea that I was dating Ron and Harry was dating Ginny. I have no idea what could have given her that idea, and when Ron and Ginny showed up wondering what all the shouting was about, Ginny quickly set her straight.

But then she turned on Ginny and said something about ruining all of her plans, and Ginny turned bright red and immediately went silent. Then she shot a look at me that I didn’t understand at all – sort of a guilty look combined with being terrified about being found out. Later when we were alone I asked her what that was all about but she turned pale and refused to talk about it. The only thing I can think of is that Mrs. Weasley knew that Ron was interested in getting together with me, and of course everyone knows that Ginny used to have a massive crush on Harry. I thought she was over that though. Apparently Mrs. Weasley doesn’t realize that yet. But even if she still has some feelings for him, I know Ginny would never try to steal Harry from me.

It’s probably just as well that I’ll be leaving tomorrow to spend the rest of the holidays with my parents. That will give Mrs. Weasley a chance to calm down. I’ll miss Harry, but I know he’ll be fine now, and will have a good time with everyone else. And Sirius can really use the company. He’s been so excited to have us all here, but especially Harry. I told Harry I’d write and check up on him to make sure he’s done all his homework, and he hugged me and promised he’d do it.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – January 12

We’re back at Hogwarts now. We really needed the break from all the problems we’ve been having this year. Unfortunately, it looks like they’ll be starting right up again. After I gave him a rather enthusiastic greeting, Harry led me to a corner of the common room and told me about an unpleasant event that happened yesterday. It seems that Sirius had been gradually growing more morose as the holidays came to an end, and Harry was quite concerned about him. I can understand why he would have been feeling down – he really loved having Harry and the Weasleys there. That house must be unbearably gloomy for him when he’s living there by himself. Harry thinks that partly contributed to the unpleasantness that followed.

First, Harry was summoned to the kitchen to meet with Snape, who informed him that he was to begin studying Occlumency. He didn’t ask him if he wanted to, mind you, or give him any choice in the matter, he just stated that Dumbledore had ordered it. It’s like Harry’s a pawn that the headmaster can move around whenever he feels like it. I’ve half a mind to suggest to Harry to tell the old man to stuff it, but I suspect that he feels the same way and he might take my suggestion literally.

I’m going to have to read up on Occlumency, but basically it’s protecting your mind against external penetration. That fits precisely with what Harry and I suspected that the adults are worried about – that Voldemort will take possession of Harry’s mind and force him to do something. Well, so far that hasn’t been a problem – it’s been more that Harry’s been penetrating Voldemort’s mind. And frankly, that’s been rather useful at times, despite how unpleasant it’s been for Harry. I’m certain that Harry would gladly trade a nightmare for Mr. Weasley’s life.

The most unpleasant part of the incident was that Snape couldn’t resist taking a cheap shot at Sirius, trying to set him off. The two of them nearly came to blows. Of course Snape managed to insult Harry and his father as well. I swear, that man is despicable. And I just know he’s going to make these lessons as miserable as possible for Harry and will use them as yet another opportunity to torment him.

Perhaps as a result of that confrontation (or possibly he’d planned it anyway) Sirius gave Harry something that would allow them to communicate – charmed mirrors. At first, Harry wasn’t even going to open the package they were in, worrying that whatever was inside would get Sirius into trouble, but I argued that he should at least know what it was. I finally talked him into opening it this evening by pointing out that he could always decide then not to use it if he didn’t want to. Sirius said Harry was to contact him if Snape gave him a hard time, but I pointed out that Harry could use them to contact Sirius just to talk. Harry readily agreed, and commented on how that might help Sirius not be so lonely. I had to give him a big hug for that.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – January 14

Harry had his first Occlumency lesson last night, and it was as awful for him as I had feared. Snape didn’t give him any instruction at all other than ‘Clear your mind’ before mentally attacking him. He basically forced Harry to relive all sorts of painful memories (and unfortunately Harry has plenty of them) while Harry tried to force him out of his mind. And of course, he taunted him the entire time about how weak-minded he was. He claimed that Voldemort would find Harry’s mind especially easy to penetrate because he was so emotional. Harry was exhausted and his mind was in tatters by the time they finished.

Something about this doesn’t add up. It seems to me that Harry is penetrating Voldemort’s mind, not the other way around. And it happens when Voldemort is feeling strong emotions. So by Snape’s argument, is Voldemort weak-minded? (I’m glad Harry didn’t ask him that last night – Snape would have been furious.) So why is Dumbledore so insistent that Harry learn this? We have no indication that Voldemort is reading Harry’s mind, do we? Harry says that Voldemort doesn’t even seem to notice he’s there when he breaks into his thoughts. It would make things so much easier if they would just sit down with Harry and tell him what they’re worried about and what they’re trying to prevent.

When he got back to the common room Harry had another flash of emotion from Voldemort – he said he was extremely happy about something. At first I wondered if the session with Snape had actually weakened Harry to the point that he was more open to Voldemort’s thoughts, but this morning we discovered that it might have been just a coincidence. The top story in the Daily Prophet reported that several Death Eaters escaped from Azkaban last night. It was all anyone could talk about today.

A total of 10 escaped, and the Prophet had a small bio of each one. They were all horrifying to read. Some students had a more personal interest in the story. Susan Bones came up to us during Herbology and talked to us about it, and pointed out that one of them had killed her aunt, uncle and cousins. She commented that now she realized somewhat how Harry felt with the unwelcome attention she was getting. The Lestranges, who tortured Neville’s parents, also were among the escapees. It turns out that the only woman Death Eater involved was Sirius’s cousin, BellatrixLestrange. She seems to be especially sadistic. As one might expect, Neville is particularly shook up about all this.

“Harry, when are we going to start up DA meetings again?” Susan asked in a low voice after she had finished explaining about her family. “I think it’s more important than ever now that we learn to defend ourselves.” Her voice started to quiver as she went on, “especially for me. Aunt Amelia is certain to be a target and they’ll probably come after the rest of my family too.”

Hermione moved around the table to try to comfort Susan as Harry considered her question, somewhat flustered. Crying girls always made him nervous. “I’m not sure,” he responded. It’s tricky finding a night when everyone’s free.”

Fortunately, Susan pulled herself together and even had a good suggestion. “Why not do it more than once a week? Those of us who aren’t playing quidditch or who aren’t prefects can come more often, and those who are busier can still come at least once. I know you have five quidditch players from Gryffindor, but Zacharias is the only quidditch player from Hufflepuff, and Cho and Michael are the only ones from Ravenclaw.”

Harry and Hermione shared a look. Since he was no longer on the quidditch team, and neither of them were prefects, they did have more time. However, those times when Ron was otherwise occupied had been their ‘alone’ time, and extra DA meetings would cut into it. Finally Hermione nodded to him. They would just make do – this was important.

“That’s a really good idea, Susan,” he replied. “Hermione and I should be able to handle at least two meetings a week. We’ll check with the others and get back to you.” Then Susan embarrassed him by giving him a big hug, which caused several heads to turn in their direction and Lavender and Parvati’s eyes to go wide. Hermione rolled her eyes in exasperation and moved closer to Harry and entwined her arm in his, signaling to every female present that he still belonged to her.

Back in the Gryffindor common room, Neville was equally enthusiastic. “Please consider it, Harry,” he urged. “I need all the help I can get. I only wish …”

Harry nodded sympathetically. He understood the desire for revenge all too well, but didn’t want Neville to get carried away. “You’re doing great Neville,” he encouraged. “By the end of the year you’ll be as good as anyone. But don’t even think about going after them. They’re all cold-blooded killers who have years of experience on us. The Aurors will be after them; let them do their job.” Neville nodded hesitantly, and Hermione gave Harry’s hand a squeeze. In this instance, she knew that Harry needed to heed his own advice. She received a return squeeze as he signaled that he understood.

They were interrupted by a commotion across the common room – Fred and George were demonstrating their latest creation.

“Headless hats?” Hermione breathed in amazement as several girls screamed when Fred’s head disappeared. “That’s impressive magic. To extend an Invisibility Spell beyond the boundaries of the charmed object. I wonder …” Harry grinned as his girlfriend’s mind analyzed the spellwork that went into the prank. The twins were indeed talented at charms, and Hermione had often bemoaned how much they would be able to accomplish if they’d only take their studies seriously. But he could see where her thoughts were headed this time. If the field could be extended even further they would have an alternative to an Invisibility Cloak – one that left your hands free to cast spells. She turned to him with a thoughtful look on her face, and he smiled back, appreciating her inquisitive nature as she continued her commentary. “I’d imagine the charm wouldn’t have a very long life though … What?” she asked indignantly, finally noticing his grin.

“Don’t ever change, Hermione,” Harry teased as he wrapped her up in a hug.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – January 20

Harry’s so cute. We were talking about the next Hogsmeade weekend, and what we were going to do, when he realized it was on Valentine’s Day and immediately turned pale. He’s afraid he’ll mess up this whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing and I’ll get mad at him. I reassured him that whatever we did, as long as we could spend the time together, it would be fine with me, and he should just get me something simple. I don’t think he’s convinced, though.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – January 31

About the only thing that’s going well these days is the DA. The twins report that the Gryffindor quidditch practices are miserable. The replacement beaters hit their own teammates as often as not, and Ron has been terribly uneven. When he’s not self-conscious, he’s fine, but as soon as he feels he’s being watched he falls apart. Fred suggested that they ask the spectators to turn their backs whenever the quaffle is in our end. On the other hand, Ginny’s doing pretty well.

Harry is making no progress at Occlumency. I’ve checked out a book on it and it certainly seems to me that Snape’s doing it wrong. Harry actually thinks things are worse now than they were before he started. His scar prickles nearly all the time now, and it’s particularly bad after one of his lessons. I’m beginning to question just what Dumbledore is trying to accomplish with this. He must know how much Snape hates Harry. Is he trying to open Harry’s mind up to Voldemort’s thoughts like some sort of aerial (that was Harry’s term for it) antennae? Is he using Harry to keep tabs on what Voldemort’s thinking, but telling us the opposite in order to keep us in the dark? He’s still never talked to Harry this entire year.

At least we have the DA! We’ve expanded the meetings to twice a week – now it’s easier for everyone to make at least one of them, and some students (Neville and Susan most notably) have been coming to both every week. It’s amazing how much Neville has improved! After learning a few jinxes and counterjinxes, Harry showed us the Shield Charm this week. Neville was the second one to master it after me, and Susan was not far behind him. Then Harry had the two of them duel each other, with rather interesting results.

“Stupefy!”   “Protego!”  Susan called out the stunning spell, but Neville blocked it. They continued to circle each other as the other students cheered them on.

“Expeliarmus!”   “Protego!”  This time Neville led with a disarming spell but Susan raised a shield in time to retain possession of her wand. By the informal understanding of the duel it was now Susan’s turn to cast first.

“Expeliarmus!”  "Expeliarmus!”  To Susan’s surprise, Neville ducked to the floor, letting her disarming hex pass over his head while simultaneously launching his own. Caught by surprise, Susan was thrown back against the cushioned wall while her wand flew into the air. Before it even hit the floor, though, Neville was rushing forward, skidding to his knees in front of her.

“Susan, are you all right?” he gasped, as he grabbed her arms and ran his hands up to her shoulders and back down. Unwittingly, he brushed his fingers against her chest briefly as he did this, and Susan turned bright red. Quickly, she raised her own hands and caught his in them before he could do it again, then pulled them both to their feet.

“Yes, yes, I’m all right,” she managed, not letting go immediately. His initial panic abated, Neville finally realized what he had just touched, and also noted her hands in his, and blushed furiously. By this time Hannah Abbott had joined them and they moved apart. Hannah grinned broadly as she led Susan away, while Neville stood there a moment longer with his mouth working silently. A couple of the guys slapped him on the back, congratulating him on his victory. Then Susan turned back.

“Nice move Neville,” she said in a low voice and a smile. “You really got me with that one.” A few knowing smiles were exchanged among the other students, along with some chuckles at the possible double meaning, while Harry called out the next pairing. Neville’s gaping look turned into a sheepish grin, and he had trouble concentrating on anything other than Susan’s soft curves for the rest of the evening.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – February 14

Well, this was an interesting day, to say the least. To begin with, when I came down to the common room Harry met me at the foot of the stairs and handed me a red rose. That was so sweet! Then he leaned in and whispered in my ear, asking if I was wearing anything special today (meaning my red underwear). I blushed and whispered back that I was, and he told me he was also. Then I got him back by asking if he wanted to see them and he turned bright red. I told him I was only teasing and gave him a quick thank you kiss, then ran back upstairs to cast a preservative charm on my rose and put it in a vase by my bed.

Then, at breakfast I finally heard back from Rita Skeeter. I had been trying to set up a meeting with her to see if she’d be willing to tell Harry’s side of the story in print. She agreed to meet with us today in Hogsmeade.

Next, I discovered that Lavender had convinced Harry that he just had to take me to Madame Puddifoot’s tea shop for our date. It was the ‘girliest’ place I’ve ever seen! Everything was covered with frills or bows, and it was apparently decorated even more for Valentine’s Day. There were little golden cherubs hovering over each of the tables occasionally throwing pink confetti over the people sitting there.

Both of us looked around uneasily, then sat down at the last available table. Unfortunately, it was right next to Roger Davies and a pretty blonde girl. It wasn’t so bad at first, as they were only holding hands, and Harry took my hand also as we exchanged embarrassed smiles. Actually, the entire place was filled with couples, and all of them were holding hands. But then after Madame Puddifoot brought us our tea Roger started kissing his date.

Harry cocked a questioning eyebrow at me and I knew exactly what he was asking. I glanced around the tearoom and noticed that many of the other couples were doing the same thing. On the other hand, quite a few of the rest were watching our table. I turned back to Harry and gave a small shake of my head. He allowed his eyes to dart around the room and realized my concern about not wanting to give the rest of the room a show – seeing the two celebrities snogging would be quite a tasty news item back at the castle. He looked back at me and nodded, then smiled and squeezed my hand to let me know he understood. Then he shot me a sly grin as if to say, ‘I’ll make it up to you later when no one’s watching’. All in all I thought it was pretty impressive that we conducted that whole conversation without exchanging a single word.

Shortly after that I nodded toward the door and he almost jumped to his feet and quickly tossed some money on the table. The relieved expression on his face was just too much! I managed to hold back until we were out onto the street, but then we both burst out laughing.

“Well, that was quite an … experience,” Hermione laughed as they took each other’s hands and began walking back. “I never figured you for the ribbons and bows kind of guy, Harry.”

She was rewarded with a loud groan. “Lavender …” he began, then just shook his head. “That’s the last time I get dating advice from her. Hermione, I am so glad that you’re not like that.”

“Like what, Harry?” Hermione asked with an innocent expression. However, she couldn’t maintain a straight face when she saw the panicked look that appeared on Harry’s face at the thought that he had just insulted her, and pulled him into a reassuring hug.

“And I’m glad that you don’t expect me to be like that,” she confirmed. “I like to dress up and look nice on occasion, but that sort of thing is just too much.”

“So, where to next?” Harry wondered, glad now that they were on the same page.

“Well, why don’t we check out the shops for a while, and then I’ve made arrangements to meet someone at noon,” Hermione suggested, feeling somewhat nervous about what his reaction would be. When she had decided to surprise him with her plan it had seemed like a good idea, but now …

“Who?” Harry asked the obvious question, and Hermione decided that it was better that they have this discussion now, instead of in front of Rita.

“Rita Skeeter.”

“What!” Harry nearly shouted, causing a few passers-by to turn their heads. “Why would we want to talk to her?”

Hermione pulled Harry’s arm to move them to a more private spot, taking them into the side street that led to the Hog’s Head tavern. “Because I’m hoping to convince her to write your side of the story. People need to know the truth, Harry, and they certainly aren’t getting it from the Daily Prophet!” Harry calmed down a bit and thought about her proposition.

“What makes you think she’ll write it?” he countered. “And what makes you think she’ll write the truth? You know better than anyone about all the lies she wrote last time.”

“I think I can persuade her,” Hermione responded. “She hasn’t published anything since the end of last year, and I’m counting on her being desperate to get her name in print again. Also, I still have the whole illegal animagus thing to threaten her with. And finally, Luna’s father is going to run the story in the Quibbler, and that will help us maintain final control over what’s printed.” Hermione paused while Harry considered her points, then made her final argument. “Please Harry, I’m doing this for you, but it will also benefit everyone. Trust me?”

Harry’s shoulders relaxed, and Hermione, recognizing that he was giving in even before he answered her, threw her arms around him his neck and hugged him tight.

“OK. I trust you,” he said simply. Then he kissed her tenderly on the forehead.

After a nice long cuddle, the two of them meandered back through the town, waving to Ron and Lavender who were headed in the opposite direction. They shared a chuckle about how poor Ron had no idea what was in store for him at the frilly tea shop. Finally, they made their way into the Three Broomsticks at the appointed time.

There, at a table in the back, sat one of the unlikeliest pair of drinking mates Harry could have imagined: Luna Lovegood and Rita Skeeter. Apparently Luna had been expounding on some of her bizarre conspiracy theories, or perhaps describing some unusual magical creature or other, because Rita had an expression of total disbelief on her face. Harry and Hermione shared a glance and began to chuckle – compared to what Luna was probably telling her, Harry’s tale would seem to be the most logical thing in the world.

“Hello, Rita,” Hermione said sweetly as they sat down across from the other two. “Have we got a story for you!”

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