Sorry it took so long for me to update; school is ruling my life right now. I'm sure a lot of you can feel my pain.
Extended Disclaimer: (see chapter 1)
Summary of Extended Disclaimer: None of us (Katt, Izzee, and Zane) own anything.
Chapter 2
The mass of students moved into the room behind the auror. The Room of Requirement turned into a rectangular shaped ballroom just large enough to fit the group.
Two of the four tables were along the far wall, which was the longest, while the other two tables were each on the adjacent walls. Each table held a bowl of punch, a ladle, and cups, as well as had an auror manning each bowl. If the cups were counted, it would be discovered that there were exactly enough cups for the amount of students that would be attending this meeting.
Clusters of students began to follow the auror's orders and started to head towards the bowls.
(=^_^=)
Hermione hesitantly followed Harry and Ron to the table where Kingsley Shacklebolt was standing; the only auror in the room that they recognized.
"Harry, good to see you, and you too Hermione and Ron," Kingsley greeted as they stopped in front of him.
"Hello Kingsley," they responded with smiles.
The auror noticed them eying the punch suspiciously. "Would you like some punch? I made it myself; I think it's tasty," he said, lying easily.
Since they trusted him in the war, the Golden Trio accepted the proffered cups but still didn't drink any.
"What is this meeting about, Kingsley? Dumbledore didn't explain during dinner which makes me a bit wary," Hermione said.
"Don't worry about it. It's nothing bad, but I can't tell you anything now. You'll have to wait for the announcement like the rest of the students," Kingsley responded evasively; he didn't like having to lie and betray their trust.
"But what is so important that only the sixth and seventh years can hear, and not the rest of the students?" Harry asked, not ready to drop the subject.
"I'm sorry, Harry, but I really can't tell you," Kingsley answered apologetically.
Ron, who had been silent up until now, said, "Guys, he's obviously not going to budge. We might as well just do what the auror said and hang out until they're ready to spill the beans." He wanted to know just as much as his friends, but in one of his rare moments of perceptiveness, he could tell that questioning Kinglsey right then was getting them nowhere.
He downed the contents of his cup in one gulp and immediately looked surprised. "Hey, this is good. Kinglsey, can I have some more?"
After having his cup refilled, he sauntered off to go chat with Seamus. Seeing that their redheaded friend drank his punch without seeming to be affected any, Harry and Hermione began to sip at their own as they went to find their other friends to talk to. They felt slightly bad for using him as an unofficial guinea pig but it eased their worries over the drink.
Harry and Hermione found Luna and Neville on the outskirts of the group. They greeted each other before Harry and their two friends fell into easy conversation while Hermione stayed quiet. She was deep in thought, trying to puzzle out the whole situation.
There is the possibility that the Ministry wants to talk to the older students about their life after Hogwarts. If this is the case than why are the aurors and Professor Dumbledore being so secretive about it? Talking about universities and jobs did not warrant a need to have a meeting that the students cannot be informed about its topic beforehand. She crossed this off her list as well.
Another possible reason could be that the Ministry has modified some rules at Hogwarts, but again, why would they only want to tell the sixth and seventh years and not the whole school? And if this is the correct reason, why did the Ministry have to tell the students and not let Professor Dumbledore be the informant? This reason was crossed off as well.
Another reason Hermione thought of for the meeting could be that the Ministry is going to take over Hogwarts. This idea seemed very farfetched to Hermione, so she did not spend much time thinking about it, and eliminated it quickly.
What if there is some kind of law that was passed by the Ministry that greatly affects the older students of Hogwarts and now they are here to impose it on the sixth and seventh years? If this is the case than what is this new law? She decided that this has some merit to it so she left it on the list she has been mentally writing in her head.
What if the reason is that the Ministry needs recruits because the remaining Death Eaters in hiding have banded together and are going to attack Hogwarts? This was a scary thought for Hermione. They had just defeated Voldemort not too long ago and had suffered many casualties along the way and in the final battle. Everyone's lives are only beginning to become somewhat normal again; an attack from the remaining Death Eaters would not be a good thing. Recruiting for this new battle would not go over well either. Hermione wondered how many Death Eaters were still around anyway; surely there cannot be so many that it requires the Ministry to have to recruit fighters in order to defeat these Death Eaters? As much as she wanted to eliminate this from her list, she could not. She decided to blame it on her lingering paranoia left over from the war.
From this reason it was easy for Hermione to jump to the possibility that the meeting was called because the Ministry needed recruits because Voldemort is not actually dead and there is going to be another battle. This was an even worse thought than the previous one, and was one she could not eliminate either for the same reason as for the Death Eater attack possibility. Out of her last two assumptions, Hermione prayed to Merlin that neither were correct.
With so little information to work with, her mind was like an organized tornado heading towards worst-possible-scenario-ville ready to destroy some innocent, poor, unassuming houses. Hermione was becoming impatient. She just wants the aurors to get down to business and soothe her trepidation, as well as her curiosity.
Hermione realized that she had finished her punch and decided to go back to the punch bowl Kinglsey was manning to get some more because she had to admit that it was quite good. She decided that she would try to get some information out of Kinsley, but she knew it was a long shot so she did not expect to get much, if any.
Hermione, more at ease now that she had a plan-even though it was not much, turned around to head back to Kingsley, but did not get very far because she had the unfortunate luck of turning right into Draco Malfoy.
Katt: I am dedicating this fanfic to Fallon Monroe. She has been there for me from the start of this fanfic and has been awesomely patient with me for being such an indecisive slacker. She is my favorite brain to bounce ideas off of. She is the best!
I'm gonna be really busy with school because all of my classes are either honors or AP, so it'll probably take me a few weeks to update. I'm going to try to catch up on my writing over Christmas Break.
If anyone is wondering why Izzee isn't helping any, it's because she says that it's my story, not ours. Personally I think she's just mad at me for locking her in the basement and now she's getting back at me.