Chapter 19: Time and tide wait for no man.
*** September 12th, the corridor to the Headmaster's office ***
"Harry! Harry! Wait!"
Bewildered, Harry stopped walking and chatting to Hermione, and turned around. No one else than Albus Dumbledore was calling for him, running after them, his baby blue robes hiked up to show some spindly, pale legs and bright yellow oriental slippers with long, upward turned points. 'Strange, I had pegged him for a bunny slipper type,' Harry thought - a surreal thought spurred by a surreal experience.
"Come with me, quick!" Dumbledore said when he reached them, leading them quickly back to the office they just left.
Dumbledore threw the door closed as soon as they had entered. "You have the locket?" he asked, grabbing Harry's arms with both hands, nearly shaking the boy in excitement.
"Sorry! I got carried away," he quickly apologized as Harry shrugged the hands off. "You really have the locket?" he inquired again.
"Yes, I do think so. We found it at Grimmauld Place this summer," Harry replied.
"Actually, we had found it there a year ago, when we were cleaning the house with the Weasleys," Hermione corrected. "We found it in a cabinet full of dark stuff. We couldn't open it, so we threw it away."
The Headmaster blanched at that. "You tried to open it?" he asked breathlessly.
Harry nodded. "Yes, of course."
"Remember? I even banged it against a table a couple of times in order to open it, but it wouldn't," he said, grinning at Hermione, not noticing the Headmaster nearly swooning at his proclamation, just out of his sight.
"I remember," Hermione said, glaring at Harry for some reason. "Given what happened to Kreacher, you got away lucky, Potter."
Harry flinched as he realized how he had dodged that bullet by sheer luck. "Uh-hum. It seemed a good idea back then," he admitted sheepishly, while Hermione tapped her foot, rolling her eyes in annoyance.
"What happened to Kreacher, and the Locket?" Dumbledore interrupted their banter. Both could see that the man was visibly distraught for some reason. He looked rather pale around the nose and eyes. As this was the only part of his face readily visible due to his beard, it had to suffice.
"We found the locked near his scorched remains - it had burned a hole through his chest. He seemed to have worn it around his neck and somehow, he managed to open it. At least it was open when we found it," Hermione reported how they had come into possession of the locket.
"So it has been destroyed?"
"It showed some minor damage from the heat, but is still mostly intact. Why are you interested in it?" Hermione asked, before she hit her forehead with her right hand. "Of course! How stupid! It's Slytherin's Locket. It's an irreplaceable artefact of the Founders - it's priceless, especially for Hogwarts."
Dumbledore had stumbled to his seat while Hermione did her monologue. Heavily, he sat and stared out of the window. "If only," he sadly whispered too softly to be heard, before straightening.
"I must do some tests on the Locket - may I see it?" he pleaded at Harry.
Harry didn't mind. "No problem, Headmaster. We can surely arrange that over the holidays."
"I would rather see it immediately," Dumbledore replied in an eager way.
"I could fetch in less than an hour, provided I am allowed to leave the castle," Harry retorted, sensing that this might be important. But since Hermione wasn't of age, yet, they technically weren't allowed to leave.
"Do this, my boy!" Dumbledore said, writing a note on a piece of parchment, which he handed to Harry. "Take this to Professor McGonagall and have her escort you, for safety."
"Is it safe to handle?" Hermione demanded. The Headmaster's behaviour had made her wary.
Dumbledore thought a moment before answering. "It should be. You touched it before, even when it was intact, and nothing happened. But to be sure, better levitate it into a box and do not touch it."
"But the Underage Decree..." Hermione replied, earning herself a sly smile from Dumbledore.
"Miss Granger, I am very well aware that the Ministry can't track underage magic in a Fidelius protected home, just as well as you are. Or do you want to make me believe that you both developed your knack for word- and motionless casting overnight?" he told her with twinkling eyes, laughing softly.
Harry joined the laughter and pulled his sputtering girlfriend towards the exit.
ooOOoo
Thirty-five minutes later, Harry handed a pink Tupperware box over to Dumbledore, who raised an inquiring eyebrow.
"It was the first box with a lid I found," Harry answered the unspoken question with a shrug, slightly annoyed. He had to answer that question twice, already.
Dumbledore turned the box over in his hands, and looked for the hinges or nails that kept it closed. Finally, he pulled at the lid, which came half open with a loud pop. "Interesting," Dumbledore said and pushed the lid shut, getting another pop, only to pull it open again and examine the edges of the box and lid, and how they worked together.
"Albus! Aren't there more pressing matters to tend to?" Professor McGonagall chided her superior. Sometimes, he could be as bad as Arthur Weasley when it came to Muggles and their concoctions. When it was important enough to warrant her escorting a student to London to fetch some object immediately and at haste, he should at least pay more attention to that thing than to the box it came in.
"Of course, Minerva," Dumbledore replied absentmindedly, putting the lid onto his table, no doubt for later inspection.
Now focussing on the task at hand, Albus Dumbledore gave the locket in the box a thoughtful look and examination. It was Slytherin's Locket, without question. Minerva's gasp in the background signalled that she had identified the artefact, too.
"Mister Potter! How did you come into possession of it?" Minerva McGonagall nearly screamed as she whirled around to address the boy. "This is an invaluable historical object! Would you be interested in a lend agreement with Hogwarts?" she said while Dumbledore drew his wand and began to cast inspection spells at the locket, each more obscure than the other.
"We would agree to a ten year exhibit for starters, if we could receive joint quarters," Hermione took advantage of the situation. Harry blushed brightly at the unexpected candour of his girlfriend, and even Dumbledore failed an incantation as he broke into laughter at his Deputy's face. McGonagall was warring with herself, worrying her lip - she couldn't condone, much less facilitate, such behaviour, but it was in exchange for a Founder's Heirloom!
"Minerva, please, although I know your love for the Founders, you know that this is not possible," Dumbledore said with a chuckle. "But I believe Mister Potter would gladly have that Locket displayed at Hogwarts in his name, anyway. By the way, could you please go and remind all the staff that this term's mandatory weekly meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, five to seven p.m.?" he said innocently.
"Why should I, Albus? You already..." Professor McGonagall began, only to notice the twinkle in the Headmaster's eyes and the bright smiles on her student's faces. Sighing deeply, she acknowledged the deal.
"I will remind them, Headmaster. Mister Potter, Miss Granger, please be aware that I will be very disappointed if this administrative information leaves this office," she said frostily, and with a nod to her boss, she left the room. 'It's for Slytherin's Locket,' she reminded herself as she pulled the door shut behind her.
"Would you mind to leave me this trinket for a while for some tests, Mister Potter?" Dumbledore asked after they were alone again. When Harry agreed, he bid them goodbye and watched them leave. 'What a pity. He would surely have turned into a really good wizard,' he thought sadly as the boy left, contemplating what cruel fate the boy was destined to. Then he shook his head and banished that thought for now. He had some important tests to do.
ooOOoo
The rest of September went by in a uniform flow of classes, study, practice and make-out sessions. Only a few days stood out in memory.
The first Quidditch practice on September 14th, for example was one candidate. Since the team had lost its Beaters, the Keeper and two of the Chasers, it was nothing else but a huge tryout. All in all, only Harry and Katie remained from last year's team. Katie had been made Captain, something that both agreed was only a slight against Harry, since Katie had read in the papers about the state of relations between the Headmaster and Harry at the time the badge was given to her. Given the fact that she was in her NEWT year, and Harry the next oldest team mate, it would have been clear that he should have gotten the badge. They agreed that they would share the burden, as Katie had less time, and they split off to review their candidates, Katie putting the Chasers and Keepers through a wringer, while Harry played target for the Beater prospects.
Most of the trial was easy. Apart from choosing Ginny and a girl named Demelza for Chasers, a no-brainer given Ginny's flying and Demelza's skill at dodging Bludgers, Dean made it reserve Chaser, something that he would surely be rewarded for by Ginny later. The Beaters were rather easy to replace, since only two boys, named Peakes and Coote, were any good. At least they were better than Kirke and Sloper, but that wasn't exactly rocket science.
The whole experience of Keeper tryout, on the other hand, was difficult to describe properly: Catch-22, Hobson's choice, between Scylla and Charybdis, between a rock and a hard place, between the hammer and the anvil, between two fires, cornered, in a dilemma, in a pickle, sitting on a powder keg, or the good old 'pick your poison'.
It was not so much that the two contenders were incompetent, not at all, but they were Ron and an arrogant asshole named Cormac McLaggen. Both were about equal in skill, but what Ron lacked in confidence, McLaggen more than compensated in pure assholery.
In the end they - or better Katie - chose Ron, because of McLaggen's very smooth attempts to offer Katie to 'go out' with her, which he made near the end of the tryouts. She might have knocked a tooth loose when she rejected his proposal.
ooOOoo
"Did you see Katie slapping that jerk?" Harry gasped, nearly doubled over in laughter as he met Hermione by the stands after he had changed. "I wish she had a beater's bat at hand. He was driving me mad with his running commentary about how bad all the others were and what he would do in their stead."
"What did he say to her?" Hermione inquired curiously. Of course she had seen how Katie had punched that boy to the ground and had continued yelling at him as he laid there, clutching his nose.
"She only told us that he offered to 'earn' his position - what a stupid jerk!" Harry told her through his laughter, reaching out for his girlfriend and her bag.
Hermione joined his laughter and graciously let Harry take her book bag to carry it. "Come on, it's still some time left, care for a walk around the lake?" Harry asked, knowing that Hermione wouldn't resist such an offer. As predicted, Hermione happily agreed. What Harry didn't predict was that they ran into Hagrid when they made it a few steps around the stands.
"Oh, hullo Harry, Hermione!" sounded his voice from above their heads.
"Hagrid! Nice to meet you, what are you doing here?" Harry beamed back, but quickly noticed that something was wrong with his biggest friend. "Has anything happened?" he asked in a concerned voice.
"Oh, nuthin'," Hagrid said, hastily cleaning his face with a wipe of his coat. That action only made his puffy face stand even more out. Harry and Hermione exchanged a look while Hermione stated, "Doesn't look like 'nothing' to me, Hagrid. What's wrong with you? Maybe we can help you?"
The reply consisted in Hagrid letting out a pained wail, before he cleaned his nose in the tablecloth he used as handkerchief. "It's Aragog - he's old. Won' make it much longer, the ol' chap," Hagrid blurted before getting all tears once more.
"Aragog?" Hermione whispered at Harry, who mouthed 'giant spider king' at her while Hagrid went on wailing about how he raised that monster from the egg on. Hermione shuddered as she remembered what Harry had told her about that particular adventure. She was actually quite glad that she was petrified during that part of the year, especially since that meant that Ron had to deal with these spiders. On second thought, she should find some spiders for Ron sometimes. She still owed him one for the stunt at the twin's shop.
They consoled Hagrid for a few more minutes, but finally they had to make their excuses, since they were expected at the 'Slug club' meeting tonight.
To their surprise, that meeting actually wasn't half bad, if you ignored that most of the people around were just invited because the host was trying to get in their good graces. Harry and Hermione had a brilliant time there, with Neville and a surprisingly also attending Ginny.
Ginny had gotten an impromptu invitation instead of a detention after she had hexed McLaggen in the halls, where Slughorn had seen them. The ass had badmouthed her performance on the pitch, claiming she and Ron got their places because they knew Harry; completely ignoring the fact that it was Katie's decision - she was Captain, after all. Slughorn was mightily impressed by her bat bogey hex, and told everybody in range about how far she would make it. Ginny took it in stride, focussing on her snacks and the conversation with her friends as they milled around the room, the group always surreptitiously staying as far as possible away from Slughorn - who had gotten a bit tipsy as the party had moved on and thus louder in his praises of whomever he was talking to at the moment.
During the party, Ginny eventually managed to trick Hermione into revealing that the beach vacation had indeed occurred in the Caribbean, on a Black property. Hermione had subsequently declared that this was to be kept secret, or she would learn how to obliviate and use this to erase the knowledge of potty training from the girl's memory. Harry then proceeded to explain to the properly cowed Ginny and Neville how to avoid Snape's legilimency, and agreed to instruct them, along with Luna, in a sort of mini-DA.
*** The next Tuesday ***
"Sure it's safe?" Hermione cautiously commented as they stepped into the Room of Requirement, now showing a rather accurate copy of their room in Black Manor.
"Dumbledore won't dare to go back on his agreement. McGonagall wouldn't even acknowledge she knows about this deal. Snape looks straight through us as if we don't exist. And we're in the Room of Requirement while all teachers are at their meeting," Harry ticked off on his fingers.
Reaching for and taking hold of her shoulders, he bowed to get his mouth right next to her ear. "You're only nervous about what I have in mind for you, aren't you," he growled softly, letting shivers run down her spine.
Turning her head, she involuntary had to swallow as the intensity in his look seemed to double as he pointed towards the bed. "Strip, and on all fours," he commanded with that damnable grin she adored so much.
While she complied, Harry stripped as well, but then put his belt back on, around his hips. He then adjusted it so that it sat three inches below his belly button.
Hermione slightly regretted her - now in hindsight - imprudent teasing during their fencing practice as Harry conjured ropes to secure her, moved into position behind her, and then proceeded to charm the belt hovering between his pelvis and her buttocks with a stinging charm.
ooOOoo
Without warning, nor any means to escape, September 19th arrived, a day Hermione had dreaded since the middle of summer. She didn't want to hint at it, but she sincerely hoped that Harry had planned something. Over the last years, her birthday had mostly passed without much fanfare, maybe a quick recognition and a generic 'some friend' present. But this year, not only she had a boyfriend-slash-fiancé, it was her seventeenth birthday. She was officially an adult now!
Hiding her inner restlessness perfectly, she slowly stepped down into the common room, at their customary early time. To her great joy, she was welcomed by a spinning hug and happy kiss by a merry boyfriend and her friends. Ginny and Neville were congratulating her to her 'big day', and then they left for the Room of Requirement. Luna joined them as soon as they were out of the door, wishing her a happy seventeenth-one-fifth birthday. Hermione eyed the Ravenclaw girl warily. That number was alarmingly close to her own estimate for the time-turner use in third year for classes, homework and extra studies. The others, except for Harry, laughed at what they thought a brilliant Luna joke, and dragged Hermione with them, making it impossible to make a subtle inquiry about how Luna gained that knowledge, and quickly, they had forgotten about it. Their good mood got a dampener when they ran into Nott on the way to the room, but the lone Slytherin wisely retreated quickly without comment.
As the group entered the Room of Requirement, Hermione was delighted. Instead of their normal training room, it was a rather good copy of the drawing room in Grimmauld Place #12, her favourite room to lounge and relax, with a good book and a boyfriend in snogging range, preferably. A moment later, a good breakfast and an iced cake were waiting on the table between the couches, courtesy of the elves. Harry had to do nothing but ask; they were actually delighted to have extra work to do.
Harry helped her into her favourite seat, without hovering annoyingly over her, something she resented with a passion. She magnanimously allowed him to serve her tea and cake, smiling and chatting happily with her friends. Finally, Ginny started the obligatory round of gift-giving, handing a tidily wrapped package to Hermione. Hermione happily tore the wrapping off the box of Honeydukes Finest. While that was not exactly a personal gift, Hermione very well knew that this was a rather expensive gift for the girl in notorious dire strait, and thanked her more enthusiastically than Ginny had expected. The resulting return hug turned out especially rib bruising.
Neville gave her a book about magical plants of the Caribbean, a thoughtful and useful present - and just personal enough to not be insulting. Neville blushed brightly when Hermione gave him a thank-you peck on the cheek, and to everybody's surprise, Ginny added her own to the other cheek. Luna couldn't let this slide and went straight for the centre; kissing Neville directly on the lips. It was a rather chaste kiss, more like a peck, but Neville nearly had an apoplexy when those lips drew closer.
Luna gave Hermione her gift, of course wrapped in the most garish green-yellow patterned wrapping paper ever seen by man. It was made even worse that the borders between the colours were moving, undulating and bending - forming patterns that Hermione was sure laughed at the concept of Euclidean geometry. She kept the paper for later study, and blushed at the present, a book about sexual positions possible by clever spellwork.
"Be sure to take notes on the suggestions, I might borrow them some time," Luna said, absently-mindedly brushing some lint, imaginary or real - no one could really tell with Luna, and to her, the borders on that were fluid, anyway - from Neville's shoulder. Poor Neville barely avoided his second near-fatal seizure at this action, missing how Ginny smiled brightly at Luna, and gave her a conspiratorial wink. Hermione could now clearly see the conspiracy against the poor boy and guessed that by the end of year, Neville would either be Luna's boyfriend or dead. 'Or maybe both, in either order...' she mentally corrected herself - they were talking about Luna, after all.
Harry concluded the gift presentation by handing Hermione a rather long package. Neville and Ginny immediately began discussing what broomstick that might be, while Luna assumed a collapsible totem pole.
When Hermione had removed the packing paper, a polished wooden box came into view. Ginny immediately corrected her guess, stating with authority that this must be a Nimbusbroom transport case. Hermione was a bit disappointed by this. A broomstick to make her fly with him would be a nice gift, but a somewhat selfish one, since she still didn't like flying that much. At least it wasn't a book - books from her friends were expected, but from Harry, it would be very disappointing.
Hiding her disappointment, she opened the box, and gaped at the long, slender wooden rod in there. One end had an ornate brass cap for protection and the other side a double-circle hilt and a grip. No bristles, but a grip. A smallsword style hilt and grip. A scrimshaw ebony grip with golden pommel and a golden shell-style hilt, the two halves resembling clam shells. With a quick turn, Hermione hurled herself at Harry, tackling him and his seat to the ground while she devoured his lips. Luna's wolf whistles and comments made her realize that they still had company, but the smouldering look she gave Harry while she climbed off him promised him that she would make that present worth every Knut .
With a practised move, she took the sword and unsheathed it, the blade singing during the motion as it flicked through the air. She expertly whirled and thrusted a few times against an unseen enemy, getting more and more excited - just like her audience, once it became clear to Luna and Neville that she knew how to use that 'poker'.
"Harry! I love it! It's perfect!" she squealed. "Where did you get that?"
"Well I couldn't just let you use a slowly disintegrating transfigured sword anymore, so I nicked it and went to Lenny to comission a copy worthy of you," Harry chuckled.
"It's a Lenny's?" Hermione squealed and looked the blade over. Of course, on the unsharpened part of the blade under the hilt - called a ricasso, she remembered - there were the sharpness runes and rune-sets to make it unbreakable - and Lenny's mark, the crossed bones, causing her to smile even wider.
"Look at the pommel," Harry hinted ominously, and Hermione examined the yet unknown markings on it. She then calmly sheathed the blade, put it back onto the table, and launched herself a second time at her fiancé.
While they were occupied, Ginny took a look at the pommel, curious of what had caused the current attack. There were two images, one on each side, which looked like coats of arms. "Figures," Neville said after a short look at them. "Those are the Black and Potter crests."
While Ginny went on about what a sweet gesture those crests were, Luna interrupted her and asked if they shouldn't provide the two with a comfortable bed or couch, for she would like to take some notes on their other techniques, as well. This comment was odd enough to even stop Hermione's oral abuse of Harry's lips. Luna just moped about the lost opportunity as the couple separated without coupling.
The rest of the impromptu party continued with a short demonstration of their fencing to Luna and Neville, which Harry won by a hair's breadth, and some brief and funny lessons to the other three. Finally, it was time to pack and return to their dorms to stow the gifts and get their book bags for Charms class this morning.
"Too bad we can't carry them," Hermione sighed while putting the newly christened 'Venus' back into the case to transport 'her' somewhat covertly. "It would be reassuring to have some ace in the sleeve, just in case."
"You don't have to tell me. I tried to come up with a solution, but it's too awkward carrying a concealed blade around. Especially since it is explicitly forbidden in Hogwarts," Harry replied with a sad face. "But you're right, it would be cool," he agreed with a longing look in his eyes.
ooOOoo
"Hey Harry? How about some flying after class?" asked Ron after Charms class was finished.
Harry thought for a moment before responding. They had a free period before lunch, and since it would have been DADA after lunch, he would be free, too. But it was Hermione's birthday, and she would appreciate having the homework done and then a walk or whatever in their free time. "Sorry Ron, but not today, we would like to finish charms homework first," he finally said, and got an approving smile from Hermione. Seemingly, he had begun to understand the rules of the boyfriend game, as strange as they were in their case.
"Come on, we have to get in shape for the match. Slytherin won't be easy and we have to beat them, that homework isn't due till next week," Ron said with fervour.
"And that match is in November," an annoyed Harry replied, while Hermione rolled her eyes.
That obviously seemed to prove Ron's point somehow, at least in his opinion. "See, we don't have any time to loose, this is the most important match," he insisted, before making a crucial error. "We can always copy our homework later from 'Mione."
Harry had just enough time to flinch before Hermione reacted. "So that's all what I'm good for?" she asked with an expression between hurt and anger.
"Hey, you didn't want to date me, so what do you expect?" Ron huffed at her.
The sound of her hand impacting on his cheek was ear-splitting. Only their long, and now probably former, friendship kept her from using a fist like she had done with Malfoy years before. Without a further word, she stomped off, leaving Harry to deal with the jerk.
"You really can't help but to push her buttons, don't you?" Harry asked with a sad shake of his head.
Ron was also shaking his head, but for a different reason. "That girl is mental! What's wrong with her?"
"You! Good grief - you're such a bloody git, sometimes! Do you even remember that today is her birthday?" Harry replied angrily, shaking his head in chagrin as Ron at least had the decency to blush. "You know, if I were you, I'd stay the hell away from her," Harry added as he stalked off after his girlfriend, wondering how much deeper into the doghouse Ron would manage to get himself.
*** about a week later ***
"No, Professor, I don't have any idea what happened. I didn't see anything happen to him," Harry responded truthfully.
"According to your teammates, you were standing right next to him when he started screaming," Professor McGonagall asked again. "So there was no visible effect? No spell flash?"
"No, Professor. One second, he was showering and complaining about practice, and the next he started jumping and screaming."
"Interesting," she replied as she took some notes. "What did he shout? Just screams or did he say something?"
"Something about spiders and bugs, and then we should get them off him. Then he stared at us as if we were monsters or something. He slowly backed away from us and suddenly shouted about the walls melting and ran out off the shower."
Professor McGonagall nodded slowly as she took some more notes. "That explains his attire. That is all. Thank you, Mister Potter."
"Do you know what caused him to act that way?"
"No, Madame Pomfrey has checked Mister Weasley thoroughly, but found no signs of magic or potion traces. She suspects some food poisoning, or maybe an allergic reaction, as she found a huge variety of perishables when she drained his stomach. He'll need to spend the night in the infirmary for observation, but will be released tomorrow, in time for class."
"Thank you, Professor," Harry spoke as he stood and turned to leave the office. Although he never would tell, he had a slight inkling about who might have been responsible for this, concerning the number of trips Hedwig has made between Hermione and Grimmauld Place in the last week since Hermione's birthday. Still, he'd love to know the how...
ooOOoo
BANG!
The sound of the gun in the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack would have been just as devastating to their ears as the lead ball had been to the target, if they weren't wearing the earmuffs they had 'borrowed' from the Glasshouse. No one would miss two pairs, now that class was over for the day, and they would return it before they'd head back to the castle.
"A bit low and..." Hermione stated, squinting her eyes to see the target better through the smoke. Waving her wand, she cleared the noxious fumes, continuing after the sight had cleared. "...to the right. You're yanking the trigger again, don't you?" she criticised his technique.
"As if you'd be a better shot," Harry teased back.
"It's not me who's owning a gun - and I'd do as well as you do, if it weren't for that I'm only half as strong as you are," Hermione replied testily, squinting her eyes at him before she turned and transfigured another piece of wood into a small pile of black powder.
It still bothered her that she couldn't keep that kicking mule on target, properly. The blackpowder charge and the nearly three quarters of an inch diameter lead ball produced entirely too much recoil for her to handle. Coupled with the built-in inaccuracy of the design, she was lucky if she hit the target at ten paces. She still remembered the words of Matty when she pointed out that deficit after he had briefed them on those weapons.
"Guns like that aren't used at range like a wand. They are up, close and personal! You'll feel the blood splash into your face!"
That comment was enough to dissuade Hermione from any notion to buy her own gun.
Harry immediately raised his hands and took a step back. "Ok, ok, sorry! Gee, at times like that I'm happy you don't have a gun, Hermione."
When she smirked at him, he couldn't help but tease her. "But then again, you'd never hit me with it," he laughed, and started running towards the shrieking shack as she stopped conjuring lead shots and gave chase, casting tickling charms at him in quick succession.
***October 12th, the road to Hogsmeade, early in the morning ***
"Have you given Professor McGonagall the note?" Hermione, asked Harry as she sneaked her arm into the crook of his arm. They were casually strolling down to Hogsmeade on this bright October day, enjoying the last rays of sunshine before the grey Scottish autumn would set in.
Of course, they first had run Filch's even more aggressive gauntlet at the door - brandishing his detectors like a sword, he had prodded every student all over, although they were leavingthe castle. More than one had commented on the stupidity of that, and had gotten some even less gentle prods in reply.
Harry tackled her lightly, careful to not make her stumble too hard. "Why, of course not, my dear," he replied in an overly posh voice.
"Why should I keep her informed on us going to London to get your Apparition license, under supervision of my wizarding guardians; when I could just disappear in a time of war, keeping them wondering what might have happened, organizing search parties and giving us hell once we return?"
Hermione fought hard to keep the laughter to a smile. "How silly of me, that would take the whole fun out of it."
"Don't think about it," Harry smiled jovially. "You know that I could do with a bit more excitement in my life. It has been nothing but boring, ever since my birth," Harry said, both laughing loudly along the last meters into the town.
Approaching the 'Three Broomsticks', Harry stopped and held the door open for Hermione, inviting her in with a flourish. While she entered, Harry noticed Draco Malfoy had followed them, heading for the same pub. At least, the boy seemed to have learned his lesson to not mess with a Potter, finally. Ever since the meal incident, he kept clear of Harry, and even kept his big mouth shut. He still glared daggers at them during meals, but most of the time he was out of sight, somewhere.
Entering the bar, they made a beeline for the fireplace, and a quick look told him that most of Slytherin, at least the upper years, were already in town. He could see Zabini with some girls and Nott talking to some guys, among them Vaisey and Urquhart, some seventh years he knew from the team. That house seemed to start the day early on Hogsmeade days, probably to be 'away from the riff-raff'. Hermione, mentally already half through the exam, the took some Floo powder - tossing it without breaking stride - and stepped into the fire. Harry waited for the flames to die down when the door opened to admit Malfoy, who scowled at seeing Harry standing there.
'Thank goodness I don't have to stay here with that ponce and his friends glaring at me,' Harry thought as he stepped closer to the fireplace, throwing a few Knuts into the bowl and taking some Floo powder to follow Hermione to Grimmauld Place. 'The sight of his face would have ruined my appetite,' he chuckled while throwing his handful of powder into the fire.
ooOOoo
Stepping out into the foyer of Grimmauld Place, he was immediately greeted by Tonks with a warm hug, followed by a healthy handshake and slap on the back from Remus. After the Grangers had their chance to hug the arrivals, they went to change, and within minutes, they had changed into normal everyday robes and prepared to leave for the Ministry. As the Ministry wasn't easily accessible to Muggles, the Grangers opted to wait for their return and to organize the ensuing party.
Hermione was already past mental revision and in full pre-test jitters mode, reciting the 'Three D's' and other theoretical stuff over and over, causing Tonks to roll her eyes most impressively - she was a metamorphmagus, after all.
Harry kept with the time-proven method of just ignoring it and carrying on as if nothing were wrong, and prompted Tonks to take the lead, since the Ministry was her 'turf'. Tonks did so, but only after flicking at Harry's left ear in passing. Harry added that technique to the long list of ways Tonks would use to apply non-magical punishment.
ooOOoo
His ear still tingled when he stepped out of the Ministry Floo. Rubbing the offending appendage, he briefly wondered if Tonks used depleted uranium to paint her nails with.
Together, they made it through the guard's station where a completely star-struck Auror was weighting their wands. Harry feared for a moment that the guard would keep his wand as a memento to meeting the Boy-Who-Lived, but the man finally handed it back to him, if a bit reluctant. Hermione didn't notice it; she barely noticed anything until they were standing in the test office. All the time she was rehearsing her mental notes for the test, causing the other poor sod that was also waiting to sign up for the test to nearly wet himself in fear of being inadequately prepared as he heard her mutter under her breath. Harry shot him a glance and a sympathetic shrug, he had taken long enough to not be affected by her antics, anymore.
Finally, her application was filled, with every 'i' dotted and every 't' crossed, and she and the poor guy were sitting at desks in the test room, while the others were sitting outside in the waiting area. After non-cheating quills had been passed out, they were told that they have 30 minutes for the written theory part.
Hermione started scribbling like mad, the auto-engorgement charm on the test paper struggling to keep up with her space requirement. Five minutes into the test, her paper had tripled in size, the examiners' eyes had doubled in size, and her co-testee was sweating by the bucket.
Finally, the time was up and Hermione finished her last sentence. Reluctantly, she handed the now nearly four feet long sheet of parchment to the woman supervising the examination. The other testee was nearly crying as he handed his non-engorged paper over and ran out of the room, probably to hide in a toilet and bawl his eyes out. 'Or maybe getting sick,' Harry mentally corrected himself when he caught sight of the man's face as he rushed out.
Thus knowing that the exam was over, Harry and his 'bodyguards', as he jokingly called them ever since Matty had identified them as such, entered the room, where Harry moved immediately to hug a distraught Hermione, who keep whispering things like "I forgot …" and "…sure to have that wrong…" while Harry shook his head when she wasn't watching, smiled supportively when she was, and kept on patting her back at all times.
Given the size of the parchments, the examiner started with the man's parchment. Within barely a minute, she stamped it 'Passed' and returned it to the man who had returned halfway through her correction. Still a bit green around the gills, he took it, shot Hermione a nasty look and rushed out to get the practical part done without that damned witch in sight. Hermione was fidgeting around, biting nails while the examiner studied her test, which should be called a treatise, proper.
All the time, the woman gaped at parts of the answers, shaking her head or huffing at herself, and Hermione managed to get even more nervous - her nails already digging into Harry's lower arm. Harry chose to take this in stride, and tried to keep the wincing to a minimum, while Tonks found the situation most amusing. 'I wonder if sadism is a requirement to become an Auror,' Harry thought, keeping his mind focussed on the things they usually did when Hermione dug her nails into his flesh - that helped against the pain building up.
Before blood was shed, the examiner finished, letting the parchment drop onto the table and staring at Hermione, but saying nothing.
After a few seconds of being stared at, unblinking, Hermione couldn't take it anymore and asked "Did I pass?" in a shaking voice, like she was sure to have totally flunked it. Harry was grinning broadly, joined by Remus and Tonks, when the woman at the desk let her jaw drop at this comment.
"Pass? You could have written the book!" she blurted, while reaching for the 'Passed' stamp.
Shaking his head, Harry herded his squealing girlfriend out of the room.
ooOOoo
Ten minutes later, Hermione was lead out of the practical room, waving her Apparition Licence parchment at her friends, squealing "I did it!" - Like that would come as a surprise to anyone present.
Clutching his girlfriend in a bear-hug, Harry spun her around while the older couple offered their congratulations verbally. Coming to a standstill, Harry kept the hug a bit longer, while Hermione burrowed her face into his neck. As he felt her smile against his skin, he got a sudden idea.
"Remember about the woman saying you could write the book?" he asked. "Well if you'd like to do so, I could arrange for it to be published," he softly told her.
Much to his surprise, her hug became a strong squeeze at his words, while he thought he felt her collapse against him for a brief moment. "Is everything alright with you?" He asked as he held her at arm's length to look at her. She looked a bit flushed and seemed to be slightly dizzy; Harry immediately became afraid that she might have overextended herself while impressing the examiner with her Apparition prowess.
"Oh, yes, I'm fine," Hermione said, sounding a bit winded, though.
"Really?" Harry asked, still a bit concerned.. "Should I get you some water?"
"That might be a good idea," Hermione replied absent-mindedly, before she took a deep breath to compose herself. "How about a visit to Fortescue's? I could do with a chocolate ice-cream right now," she inquired, still rather flushed.
Tonks guffawed loudly, mumbling something sounding like "I bet you would," before leading the group towards the exit, pulling Remus after her, who was staring at Hermione with wide eyes, his nose twitching.
Harry kept wondering and protectively hovering around her all day, through lunch with her parents and the rest of the day they spent with them. Their day was topped by an hour relaxation in the sun on a tropical beach for the adults and a short stint on board of the Revenge for them, where she finally told him what had happened.
He should have known…
Tonks and Remus remained, in order to take the Revengeto Britain with a small crew of men. They estimated that it would take them two or three weeks, depending on the wind. Four weeks, tops, if they had to make their own wind.
After returning to Hogwarts in a rush of Portkey and Floo travel, followed by a nice walk up to the castle, Harry felt that this day had gone rather well. His opinion improved when Hermione pulled him into a broom closet to continue celebrating.
ooOOoo
The next morning during their training, Ginny stormed in, completely out of breath and completely unaware of how close to a bad case of death she had come, bursting in like that. "Where did you go yesterday? I stayed up all evening, trying to find you anywhere!" she wheezed, doubled over from the run, while Harry averted his battlewand and carefully pushed the spell out of his mind.
"Celebrating my Apparition License on a sunny beach," Hermione smirked, causing her friend to go wide-eyed.
"Congratulations! Why didn't you take me with you? Merlin knows I could do with a tan," Ginny lamented, looking quite accusingly at her friends.
"Family business, we couldn't have taken you with us without consent of your parents," Harry replied.
When Ginny scowled back at him, he shrugged his shoulders. "It's the rules, don't give me that look," he admonished, a moment before Hermione could do the same. For a fraction of a second, she was looking put out that he had beaten her to the scold, but then she took a deep breath and calmed herself.
"Still, you'll be in big trouble if you weren't back in castle before curfew," the redhead changed the topic.
"We were, but we kind of got stuck in a cupboard we came by. We snuck back under the cloak, later," Hermione said, acting the innocent, and failing badly.
"You say such things just to make me envious, don't you?" Ginny huffed at her, mock glaring, but quickly losing interest in that activity and returning to the idle activity, gossip.
"Anyway - Did you hear? A fourth year Ravenclaw girl had been caught trying to sneak a cursed dagger into the castle. When McGonagall found out at the checkpoint with those detectors, she tried to draw the dagger and attacked, but McGonagall had her bound before she even had the dagger out of her pocket. Turned out she was under the imperiuscurse," Ginny recounted the latest news in the Hogwarts gossip network.
"It was Malfoy," Harry said as soon as she had finished her tale.
Hermione was a bit put out that Harry would be so fast to judge. "While it is possible, I think it could have been someone other than Malfoy. Anybody could have done it - Hogsmeade is a public place," she chided her 'shoot from the hip'-type boyfriend.
Harry pondered her reply a bit. "Possible - that git probably isn't able to cast that spell properly," he replied smiling. Hermione rolled her eyes at him but contented herself with half a victory. After all, she had him only for a few months yet, so she should be grateful that he was house-broken already.
"If it was him, it was a stupid plan, for he must have known that the door would be checked on return," Ginny added her two Knuts to the discussion. Hermione nodded her agreement, then suddenly stopping and looking thoughtful for a moment, before she posed a question.
"Wait a minute - why on earth was McGonagall using those detectors? Isn't that Filch's job?"
"Well, he got a bit adventurous" - Ginny stretched that word wide, wiggling her eyebrows wildly - "with his detectors, especially with the older girls. When he jabbed his sodding sensor under Susan Bones' skirt, she slapped him silly, and threw a few good kicks in, for good measure. Professor Sprout was near and saved him from worse when she heard the commotion. After all the girls present told her what happened, Sprout took his sensors away and had the female professors on shifts, taking over the checks on the returning students. I have it on good authority that she was close to hexing him, herself. After last year and now this, I don't think we will see Filch much longer."
Harry was doubled over by the time she had finished her tale. Hermione was a bit more reserved, but not less amused.
"You know what?" Hermione told them after Harry had controlled his laughter a bit, "If he still were on duty, then, the girl would probably have killed him. That means that he actually owes his life to Susan for slapping him," she laughed.
The other two readily agreed to that, after they had stopped rolling on the floor in laughter - literally, in Harry's case.
After breakfast and a bit of gossip, courtesy of Ginny, that assessment spread rapidly through the school. Even Filch grudgingly had to agree.