Oi, I don't know how you guys read this before! I decided (after going back over the stuff on my account) that this was in dire need of editing. I tried my best, hope you guys find it much more easier and much more enjoyable!
ECH
Disclaimer:
"Harry Potter doesn't belong to me.
If he did, he wouldn't be drinking tea.
If he did, he wouldn't use glasses to see.
If he did, he would have Sirius in year three.
If he did, some people wouldn't be dead.
So, enough said."
"Harry, Ron!" Hermione called from across the common room, and when finished with that task, she focused herself to another. Huffing and puffing, she desperately tried to shove books of various sorts into her bag.
Knowing the inevitable, Ron, who shrugged and stole a glance at Harry, then walked over towards her. Harry sighed and followed his redheaded friend.
They reached their destination and gave each other quizzical looks. She successfully cramped the last large book into her bag and sighed. Satisfied, she turned to look into the faces of her curious friends.
"Where do you go?" Harry asked in a whiny voice. All three flinched at the awful sound, but Harry didn't falter. "Every night you disappear and don't reappear until it's time for breakfast. Where do you GO?"
"That's none of your business," she replied strictly, a scowl on her face.
Avoiding their pressuring gazes, she turned back to her bag and tried to close it. She continued speaking as if to reassure, "The only reason I sent you over here is to tell you guys I can't check over your Astrology essays, sorry. I might have time during breakfast, but I highly doubt it."
"That's it?" Ron inquired as he crossed his arms over his chest. "How about an explanation? We're your best friends for goodness sakes!"
"I would," explained Hermione, "but Dumbledore made me swear I couldn't tell anyone, not even you two. Plus, if I did, Dumbledore would be bombarded with complaints and nasty Howlers, not to mention the ones that'd be sent to me as well. I couldn't do that to the Headmaster, so I just wanted to inform you about your essays so you can check over them."
At her final words, she slung her bag over her shoulder and turned to them with an apologetic expression.
Before Ron or Harry would say anything to try to coax her to talk, she swiftly said goodbye and left.
Almost instinctively, Harry smirked, an idea formulating in his head. Without warning, he raced to the boys' dormitory. Ron scowled at the abandonment and called out, "Now you abandon me with no explanation whatsoever?"
Five minutes later, with ragged breathing and a clenched fist, Harry emerged from the depths of the hidden rooms.
"What are you planning to do?" Ron asked, narrowing his eyes. "Are you going to try to sneak away from me or something? I'm telling you right now, it's not going to work on me, Harry."
At Ron's remark, Harry snorted and replied, "Of course I'm not ditching you, you git; I was going to include you."
"What do you have in mind?" Ron grew interested as Harry grinned at his friend's predictable behavior.
"We're going to follow Hermione – now get under here before I do abandon you! I'm going to find out the great secret of Hermione Granger, no matter what!"
Harry ducked under the cloak before draping Ron in it almost as an excuse to shut him up. They slowly crept out of the common room, one trailing closely behind the other. Harry took out a scrap of old parchment before tapping it with his wand and saying the necessary words. Just then, as if invisible hands were writing on the piece of parchment, little scribbles and dots appeared, showing the entire length and depth of the castle as well as its occupants.
As the four eyes wandered eagerly over the parchment, they found dozens of familiar names, but not Hermione's. Neville Longbottom was serving his close-to-daily detention with McGonagall for accidents within the class; Luna Lovegood was wandering aimlessly around, close to the walls; and Peeves the Poltergeist seemed to be floating behind her, like a weak magnet.
Almost suddenly, Hermione's name appeared; she was hurriedly walking down the corridor leading to the Charms classrooms.
As quickly as the two could manage under the Invisibility Cloak that shrunk year after year, they followed their friend. But then, as spontaneously as she appeared, she disappeared.
"Where in the—?" Harry began, his wide eyes frantically searching the map.
Apparently, Ron was intent on not losing Hermione again; he stretched and practically climbed over Harry so his finger could follow her dot.
"Look! She's right there, mate!" Ron pointed out eagerly, his finger poking the parchment unnecessarily hard. As said, under the redhead's finger, lay the dot Hermione Granger. Unlike the others, she seemed to be moving faster than possible.
"I see, now get off me! Uh, Ron – err! Gerroff me!" Harry choked out.
The weight of Ron was too much for Harry's back; he and his fellow Gryffindor collapsed onto the ground. Grunts and groans echoed as they tried to untangle themselves. They were finally able to stand up but regretted it.
Hermione was once against missing from the map, and a small Ravenclaw girl with black curls darted her eyes nervously around the empty hallway.
"W-Who's there?" she squealed, taking her wand out and pointing it stupidly around. The wood shook in her trembling hands. "I-I'm good at Defense spells, y'know! Don't come any closer!"
At her proclamation, Ron snorted. Harry instantly dropped the map to cover his friend's obnoxious mouth.
Almost as if pinpointing their location, the girl stepped closer to their invisible, huddled forms. The two then instinctively stepped back from her searching, narrowed eyes.
All of a sudden Harry noticed the shift in the girl's eyes. He had to cover his own mouth to stifle his gasp of horror. The map had not trailed with them under the Invisibility Cloak and was laying carelessly on the floor.
Ron noticed the hazardous situation and, out of pure Ron-like stupidity, lifted up the cloak. Seizing the advantage, he then cried, "Boo!"
The girl looked up in shock to see the floating head glaring venomously at her. Not remembering weird things like floating were bound to happen, she screamed. And then proceeded to run as fast as her legs could carry her down the hall.
"Rude, indeed!" a picture of Gary the Geological said, determined to shame. Yet the scowl had no affect on the two, who retreated from under the stuffy cloak.
The portrait huffed as Ron eyed him, as well as the dirt all over his outfit and his messy, grey hair sticking up oddly. Meanwhile, Harry retrieved the map; he scanned it eagerly in the hopes of catching Hermione's dot.
"I'll give you rude," Ron angrily replied. He then made an offensive hand gesture that only served to upset the portrait even more. Basking in the moment, Ron cockily continued, "How's that? Rude enough for Sir Needs-A-Shower? You don't mind me asking, but do you happen to be related to a certain git named Snape?"
Scarlet, the portrait huffed in outrage and stormed away through other various portraits.
Pleased with himself, Ron called out, mockingly, "Don't worry – I wouldn't want to be associated to that git either! Your secret's safe with me!"
"Are you done?" Harry dryly asked his friend, who scowled in reply at the joke not being shared. "I just found Hermione."
"Let's get this done and over with already. It's becoming too dramatic for me, anyhow." Ron followed Harry under the Invisibility Cloak and missed the rolling eyes.
They proceeded to follow Hermione's trail to various, if not oddly suspicious, places within the castle. Each place seemed to be the destination; however, when she approached it, she wouldn't stop. The process began to frustrate both Harry and Ron even more.
As they continued to stalk Hermione without her knowing it, they passed by a large window, lighting up the corridor with the bright full moon; they also journeyed by a numerous amount of couples sneaking away to deserted and calm parts of the school. They found Professor Binns telling off a very embarrassed Dean Thomas and a very stubborn Seamus Finnegan; it seemed they were trying to sneak back into his office to retrieve the nasty magazine that was confiscated earlier during the day.
At one point in the night, Hermione accidentally came upon a snogging Terry Boot and Lisa Turpin. Harry and Ron had to cast Silencing spells upon the other to hide their laughter. After Hermione sent the embarrassed couple to bed, unfortunately for Ron and Harry, nothing else as remotely hilarious occurred after that.
The two continued on after her until Harry abruptly stopped at the beginning of the corridor. (Further down this particular hallway was the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, which now was inhabited by Remus Lupin.)
"Why-?" Ron began but was stopped by Harry shoving his wand into his mouth. It took all of Harry's self control to not hex his mouth off.
In explanation, Harry pointed to the end of the corridor. Hermione was there, taking spells off of the door leading to the classroom. She huffed in annoyance and let her bag, which was horribly cramped, fall to the ground with a rather large thud. She continued to cast spell after spell on the door.
"Quickly!" Harry urged at a whisper. He took out his wand, now covered in saliva, and raced down the corridor. Ron followed, trying also to remove the wood taste from his mouth.
Hermione had finally unlocked the door and picked up her heavy bag with a grunt. Right when Hermione fully entered the classroom, Ron and Harry dove into the room. Thankfully, and by pure sheer luck, the Invisibility Cloak continued its purpose for existence and kept them invisible. They landed in one of the empty rows where their professor would walk up and down while lecturing.
As they assembled back together, Hermione had made her way up the staircase leading to the professor's office. They raced as quietly as they could up the stairs; however Hermione already entered the office and left only a crack of the door open.
They couldn't slip into the room without opening it and giving themselves away. And the curse that Hermione had then placed on the door forewarned them to not even bother trying to sneak in now.
They could, however, catch a glimpse of the inside of the office and hear what was going on.
"Hello, Professor, did you miss me?" Hermione joyfully greeted. There was a huge thud; the sound was similar to when her monstrously huge bag was dropped. Another thud sounded, and Harry and Ron peered in closely to see Hermione lying on the stone ground. Only her head was showing since the door had cut the rest of the view of the room to a minimum.
"Oh, stop! I didn't know you missed me this much!"
There was a very low and husky growl in reply. Hermione giggled rather girlishly before moaning. Ron and Harry exchanged worried and shocked glances before their best friend spoke again.
"Professor! I'm strictly here for business, you know that! You're just going to have a wait!"
Ron looked at the room in horror; meanwhile, Harry, somewhat embarrassed, turned away to wipe the saliva off of his wand.
"I brought a few books to read to you. Professor McGonagall says it helps you sometimes. Professor! Please, restrain yourself! I swear you have the stamina of a teenager!"
"Er, come on, mate," Ron said, jabbing Harry with his elbow. "This is giving me the creeps, I don't want to be here any longer."
After thinking for a moment, Harry nodded in agreement, and the two slowly stood up and retreated away from the room. Hermione's voice and giggles haunted them as they descended the stairs. They then cautiously opened the door and snuck out. Harry unveiled them from the Invisibility Cloak and sighed heavily.
"That was close."
There was a moment of silence before Ron awkwardly spoke again, "So, uh, Hermione's been going to see—err—Lupin this whole time? And Dumbledore knew so that's why she couldn't tell?"
"I never would of guessed, it's so odd," Harry replied with a shiver. He took his glasses off and shakily wiped his eyes. "Come on, let's just go, I've got a massive headache."
Ron shook his add, murmuring, "It's always the quiet ones you've got to watch out for."
They walked away, ignoring the sniggering portraits around them. However, there was a very loud and stern cough, and the two carefully turned around.
Professor McGonagall towered over them, her nostrils flaring and her foot tapping ominously against the ground. A cowering Neville Longbottom, with a Muggle toothbrush in hand, stood behind her.
"And just where do you think you two are going?" McGonagall asked in a deadly voice. At the question, Harry gulped and Rom murmured nonsense excuses.
"We—uh, were, um, just, you know, going to a—the—er—bathroom," Ron lied, trying hard to sound innocent.
"Under the Invisibility Cloak?" McGonagall asked in a disbelieving tone. She raised her eyebrow. Behind her, Neville flinched at her tone even though it wasn't directed at him.
Ron lamely replied, "Well, you know how Peeves is at night. Won't let a bloke relieve himself without taunting him."
"Well then, why would you be this far away from the bathrooms near Gryffindor Tower? I'm sure the Defense Against the Dark Arts corridor doesn't have any."
"Professor," Harry added sheepishly, fiddling with the edge of his sweater, "we were actually spying on Hermione." At her furious look, he added quickly, "We were just worried about her; she wouldn't tell us where she was going."
"We were just looking out for her," said Ron.
"Well then," McGonagall said, turning to the sniggering portrait behind them, "Gary, I appreciate the tip. Please return to your post."
Both Harry and Ron turned to the portrait of Gary the Geological. While McGonagall turned to focus on her students, the portrait stuck his tongue out and flashed said students with a rude hand gesture. Gary the Geological ran away cackling before the two could point and noisily complain.
"Sixty points from Gryffindor," McGonagall snarled, as Harry and Ron gave her scandalized looks, "each."
The two began to pester and complain, but she loudly cut them off, "Do you boys realize the dangerous situation you almost landed yourselves in?"
"What are you talking about, you barmy—" Ron said.
McGonagall abruptly pointed to the window at the end of the corridor. Framed in the window was the full moon, which brightly shone, lighting up most of the dark corridor.
"Miss Granger has risked her life to tend to Professor Lupin during the full moon," McGonagall explained, her nostrils flaring once again. "She has been giving the Wolfsbane Potion to him."
While the boys, including Neville, raised their eyebrows in shock, McGonagall continued, "I want you to never speak of this to anyone. It is a dangerous discussion, and you cannot comprehend the sort of actions parents will take once they know a student is the one checking over Professor Lupin," at this she added sourly, "instead of a professor like myself."
McGonagall grabbed a good chunk of their robes and dragged them away to her office. She muttered along the way, "After all of these years I still don't understand Albus."
Neville, on the other hand, grabbed the weirdly textured Invisibility Cloak and followed, toothbrush still in hand.
Ron and Harry had served the rest of the night in detention with Neville. They scrubbed the Transfiguration classroom floors without magic, only toothbrushes. They had no time to check over their Astrology essays, and Harry wasn't able to tell Ron that something had been bothering him; McGonagall's lecture about the importance and danger of Hermione's new job didn't fully add up.
"How'd the essays go?" Hermione asked them cheerfully at breakfast.
The two looked at her and, in embarrassment, turned their eyes to their plates. Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed in annoyance.
Her hands were outstretched. "All right, you two, give them to me."
The two instantly, if rather sheepishly, handed over their essays. She smiled fondly and assembled her quill and ink. She scanned over their parchments and munched on some buttered toast.
Seizing this opportunity, Harry poked Ron's arm, gaining his attention.
"What?" Ron hissed in annoyance. He put his pumpkin juice down and shifted his eyes toward him.
"Something's been bugging me," Harry truthfully whispered. He quickly glanced at Hermione, who made a huge slash mark on his essay. He flinched but turned back to Ron and continued, "Hermione's supposed to take care of Lupin during the full moon, right?"
"Uh…right," Ron replied slowly, his ears turning red.
"So, that what, takes up a whole week of looking after him, right?"
"Err, I guess so."
"Then why is Hermione gone the whole month?"
At the discovery, the two looked at Hermione with wide eyes. Unbeknownst to her friend's spying, she slyly looked at the teacher's table and flashed a small smile at Lupin, who nodded affectionately.
"This is one mystery I want to leave alone," Ron stated, pushing aside his plate.
Harry, on the other hand, continued staring at Hermione in amazement. However, he decided that he better keep his nose out of other people's business. Hermione's wrath (especially concerning poking into her private life) was something he did not want to deal with.
Harry turned back to Ron and said, "I agree."
Please let me know if I missed anything or need to fix something. :)
Thanks to my mom for inspiring this story by kicking me off the computer so she could read her mail. Woo! Thanks a bunch!
Thanks to Bethany, yet again, for being the first person to want to read my newly developed stories that make no sense whatsoever! I award you with a poke!
To an anonymous Emma, since I wasn't able to thank you before: Thank you so much for your review! XD
To those who reviewed before, thank you! I finally know that all that hard work has paid off!
Please review! All are welcome! If you wish I would just fall off the face of the earth, I'd like to know! (I'm sorry to those who wish this because I won't be able to fulfill it since it is physically impossible.)