Monday approached all too quickly for Harry, and though he shook off Hermione's worried glances and the pale tone to Ron's cheeks, he couldn't help feel apprehensive himself. The weather, as usual, was stormy and foreboding throughout the day, creating a sense of restlessness throughout the castle. The Gryffindor could hardly sit through the charms lesson, and Hermione was distracted enough to not even remark at how poorly Ron had done on their latest assignment.
The Alliance hadn't had any sort of contact with one another since the first meeting, and Harry had insisted that they keep the warning a secret between the three of them.
"Mr. Potter?"
Harry's head snapped up at once as he was woken from his reverie. "Sorry, Professor." He said automatically, wondering when exactly he had left Charms and moved to Transfiguration.
With a slight purse of her lips, McGonagall moved on, tapping Ron's desk rather loudly.
The day continued to progress, flashing them by. It wasn't until Harry exited his last class when a prickle of uneasiness ran over his neck.
"Hello?" He said loudly, in the middle of the mostly deserted classroom. Ron raised a brow, nudging him slightly.
"You OK, Harry?" he asked worriedly, obviously distraught about the next few hours leading to the feast.
Harry frowned, before nodding. It wouldn't go over well if he worried the redhead further about lingering, stalking, presences in the corridors.
x.x.x.x
Dumbledore's speech rang throughout the Great Hall clearly, the twinkle in his eyes prominent as he directed the students to the meal in front of them. There had been nothing extremely out of the ordinary, and Harry reached over the table for the pudding rather easily. It was obvious he had calmed down, deciding on the note being a prank.
"I told you we shouldn't have alerted Dumbledore," Harry said with a smile at Hermione, while gathering a spoon.
Hermione chewed her lip, looking worried still, though Ron nodded. "He's right 'Mione. Was probably a prank." He added while chewing on a drumstick.
Though she looked unconvinced, Hermione nodded. "You're right," she said with a hesitant chuckle. "I suppose with this blown over, we can plan the first official meeting for The Alliance."
Harry nodded, though made no actual effort to plan anything. Hermione, however, leaned in and pulled out a small notebook from her robes.
"I've made a list of those likely to join," she said in a whisper, pointing to the Gryffindor section. "It's ordered by house, firstly, then year."
There was a large splash of red ink on the paper where Hermione had written down the Gryffindor names. They outnumbered the rest, and Harry frowned when he realised that Slytherin had two names.
"Malfoy will be able to gather more than two people, Hermione," Harry said confidently, Ron immediately making a face at the topic of Slytherins.
"Of course he will, but we don't know exactly who he's going to bring," Hermione said with a wave of her hand, while turning to the Ravenclaw section. "Terry Boot's already signed up, according to Lisa."
"I don't like that guy," Ron said at once, perhaps because of the slight, dazed edge, Hermione's voice took as she said his name.
Harry rolled his eyes, noticing the Hufflepuff list was also growing. "Right, this should be enough for a first meeting. How will we get word out?"
"It should be perfectly easy," Hermione said, nodding. "It's a very legal club, so we can post notices quite possibly everywhere. I've actually already posted one in the girl's dormitory."
"With Snape caring for the club, we'll definitely get a bit of sway with the Slytherins—" Harry began, leaning over the parchment, when Hermione suddenly cut him off.
"Harry, what is that?"
The brunet pushed his glasses up his nose, as though he missed seeing something, before swiveling his head toward the doors, then each table in turn. "What?"
"In your robe pocket," she added, pointing her quill at the front pocket of his robes where there was a gleam.
Harry frowned, reaching within the folds of the fabric to pull out a sparkling pendent. He suddenly let out a soft sound of recognition, before opening his mouth to respond.
Before he could even utter the first syllable, a low snarl sounded throughout the Great Hall, followed by the unmistakable rattle of chains. Harry's eyes widened as he grabbed hold of his own wand by force of habit.
The loud chatter that had been sounding throughout the Hall came to a sudden stop as everyone held their breath waiting for another snarl to reach their ears. When it didn't come, students began to send each other looks as a low buzz of whispers sprouted at each table.
"What…" Ron said, his voice low and with a wide-eyed expression. "Was that?"
Hermione opened her mouth to reply, but instead of the usual clear voice, there was another snarl, this time louder and possibly even more vicious.
Then finally, as everyone held their breath in anticipation, the Great Hall doors barged open violently as the sleek head of a gigantic eagle swooped down toward them, enormous wings flapping and sending waves of wind to spiral toward the tables.
Everyone began to shriek at once, the frequency increasing when the eagle walked entirely through the door, showing off its hind legs which looked like a lion's. A slender tail swayed around the creature as another keening cry left its beak.
The three Gryffindors didn't hesitate to join the rest of the crooked jumble of students all trying to exit the Hall, their screams loud enough to overtake Snape's snarling voice as he tried to calm them down.
"What on Earth is a Griffin doing here?" Hermione cried, crawling underneath one of the tables with Ron following, suffering a violent kick to the shoulder by the shrieking first-year behind him.
"Griffin?" Ron gulped, his wand clutched tightly between his fingers. "What are those?"
Hermione rounded on him, narrowing her eyes. "If you paid attention in Care of Magical—"
"I do pay attention, Hermione," Ron retorted, scowling and crawling faster as though trying to lose her.
The girl rolled her eyes visibly, before continuing. "They're magical creatures that are rarely violent," she said a bit wonderingly. "Even humans can't control them to be vicious; I wonder how on earth Harry's pen-pal is managing to dominate it."
Ron, not having been paying avid attention, too busy crying out and casting wayward spells on the wing that had crashed down the middle of the table, strong enough to split the thing in two, shrugged before asking:
"Harry, what was that one spell… with the water?"
Hermione held her hands over her head, slivers of wood falling atop them and causing several splinters. The lack of response made her lift her head however, squinting through the dust and noticing only Ron's panicking form as the wing brushed past his nose, nearly hitting him squarely.
"Harry?" Hermione tried again, before her eyes widened. "Ron, the Griffin is a trap for Harry! How could you lose him!"
Ron, oblivious, turned around and ducked as a talon scraped across the broken piece of wood. "What?" He cried, scrambling from under the table after Hermione. "I didn't lose him! How was I supposed to know he'd disappear," the redhead mumbled, a bit worriedly.
Hermione ducked, avoiding another wing as dust and wood flew passed her eyes, obscuring her vision. "Oh, this is silly!" She said with a glare, pulling out her wand. Of course, being no match for such a gigantic beast, she wasn't likely to make a difference—
"Impedimenta!"
Although the majority of the Griffin's body was moving, the tip of the wing slowed down enough for Hermione and Ron to escape into the open. It wasn't until the Griffin's beak was in their line of vision did Hermione let out a gasp.
Harry's robes were bloodied, his glasses crooked on his nose and a lens consequently missing. The Griffin seemed intent to attack him, restrained by chains as Harry tried his hardest to stay out of reach. Though, the hold on the Griffin weakened with each of its pulls, and he was making his way to Harry steadily, beak snapping.
"Harry!" Ron and Hermione cried in unison, immediately standing up and running to their friend's aid.
Harry's own wand was gripped in his hands as Ron aimed a spell at the beak.
"Incarcerous!"
Ropes wrapped around the sharp beak at once, the Griffin unable to snap and threaten any longer. Snarling through its nostrils, it rounded on Ron menacingly, though seemingly found no interest as it turned back to Harry, eyes gleaming.
They seemed to be reflecting something, and Harry licked his lips ready to fire another spell.
"Harry… wait! Wait!" Hermione cried suddenly.
"Hermione, this isn't anytime to be sprouting any of the S.P.E.W nonsense," Ron said exasperatedly, soothing a cut on his eyebrow where shards of a plate had cut him.
"No, it's not that. Harry, I've just remembered something… Have you got that pendent with you?" The brunette called over the shrieks. Most students were still running around, causing chaos and ignoring the others completely.
The professor's, occupied with the safety of their students rather than the furnishing of the Great Hall were also hurriedly gathering them, looks of shock clearly shown in their eyes.
"Pendent?" Harry said finally, heaving breath into his tired lungs as he avoided another swipe of the Griffin's talons. "Yeah, it's still here." He pulled it out and showed it to her, and Hermione winced.
"No, no, Harry—Put it back, hide it from sight—"
The Griffin had seen the pendent however, and the large amber eyes suddenly sparkled red, the beak snapping open and breaking through Ron's ropes. Finally, it leered forward, shrieking in a furious way as though Harry was the very bane of its existence.
Hermione, climbing atop a table as quickly as she could, tossed Ron her book-bag and pulled out her own wand, crying at the top of her lungs:
"Accio Pendent!"
The yell was loud enough to attract the nearby students' attention, and some of Gryffindors, realising their housemates were cornered, ran to Harry's aid, also firing their own spells. Though all spells seemed useless physically, the onslaught of sparks and spells seemingly confused the Griffin, and it whimpered loudly, stomping a leg as it swished its tail threateningly.
The slender fur swiped across Parvati Patil's cheek, leaving a violent red mark. Ron winced, as she yelped suddenly, before Snape's voice shook through the crowed once more.
"Get away from that beast, Finnigan! What on earth are you doing on that table, Granger! Weasley, what in Slytherin's names are your ropes doing tied to my ankles?"
Through all the commotion, Hermione managed to grasp the pendent easily and unnoticed. In fact, the only one who detected it was Draco Malfoy, who frowned immediately, burrowing out from underneath the Slytherin table where he and his housemates had chosen to hide.
Pansy followed him, as usual, before placing a hand on his arm. "Draco? What's wrong?"
The Slytherin arched a slender brow, the shrieks and yells chorusing around them. "That pendent…"
x.x.x.x
Harry narrowed his eyes, staring accusingly at Hermione who was smirking cheekily at him. "I actually rather like it in here," she said, referring to the Hospital Wing. "It's a great place for quiet reading—"
Ron interrupted, looking just as furious. "What were you thinking? And better yet, how did you know the Griffin would go after you once you got hold of the pendent?"
Hermione shoved herself into a sitting position using leverage from her bandaged arm and suddenly looked very serious. "I remembered something as Harry was fighting the Griffin," she said with a calm voice. "They guard treasure. In fact, they're overly peaceful when their treasure is undisturbed and are rarely violent."
A nagging feeling crawled up Harry's toes as Hermione continued.
"It was when I remembered this, combined with the knowledge of the pendent that it occurred to me—you were obviously meant to find that pendent before the feast and the Griffin was meant to attack you. It became evident that the pendent was the Griffin's treasure, which was why it was attacking you, and only you." Hermione raised a brow. "I no one could control a Griffin to such an insane point," she said with a slow nod, feeling relieved.
Ron's red face loomed over hers once more as he scowled. "So you made yourself the target, Hermione?" He said angrily, his blue eyes fiery.
Hermione nodded nonchalantly, before smiling a little. "I'm really fine, Ron. There's no need to worry—"
The door opened suddenly, and the trio turned their heads to glance at Severus Snape who was looking particularly angry. Dumbledore followed them, his eyes twinkling unnaturally as he smiled at Hermione in a kind way.
"How are you, Miss. Granger?"
"Perhaps you should as her that after you've sent her to a mental institution, Albus." Snape snapped, glaring at Hermione.
Dumbledore chuckled noncommittally, with a small nod. He stroked his beard in an abstract way, before sitting on the edge of the bed next to them. "Her intelligence is only beaten by her bravery."
Blushing and desperately wanting to change the subject, Hermione immediately let out the description she had given to Ron and Harry, though much more detailed, to the two Professors. Snape's eyes were still narrowed once she had finished, but Dumbledore was nodding gravely.
"I had figured as much," he said with a sigh. "Remus said he noticed something strange that day—"
"Lupin?" Harry said, puzzled.
Hermione suddenly looked extremely nervous, wringing her gauzed hands while a guilty flush adorned her cheeks.
The door chose that moment to open, a ragged Remus Lupin entering the room with an uneasy smile. "Afternoon."
Harry narrowed his eyes, suddenly not feeling to keen on seeing his old mentor. "Hermione…" He said warningly, but the girl avoided his gaze.
Dumbledore nodded. "Ah, that's right. Mr. Potter, Miss. Granger here was quite troubled over something when she came to my office half a week ago."
Ron frowned, slowly cluing in as Harry's jaw clenched.
"She had explained to me that you received a certain letter, from an anonymous sender—and rightfully so—asking me to assign someone to watch over you until the Feast. Of course, the most suitable option was Remus Lupin," Dumbledore said, moving to Hermione's bedside and gathering a stray trinket in his hands.
Harry let out a soft "oh" as he realised the presence he felt throughout the week in the corridors was none other than Lupin following him. The sandy-haired man sent him a thin smile, nodding in confirmation.
"I had mentioned it to Severus right away," Dumbledore continued, as Hermione pretended she wasn't listening and played with the hem of her night dress. "It was obvious that if anyone had inside information on Harry's well-being, he would be the apparent candidate. When he assured me that it wasn't he who was sending you the anonymous letters, we decided that security measures needed to be heightened. It was then that Hermione Granger asked Severus to take care of this Alliance."
Feeling overwhelmed, Harry sat on the bed a bit dejectedly. "You had this already planned?" He said to Hermione.
Lupin sent Harry a small smile, before shaking his head. "She didn't want you to know because she knew you'd be worried about troubling us. But really, Harry, concern about your well being is barely trouble for us."
Ron sent Harry a slightly worrisome look as the brunet nodded a bit, a permanent frown etched onto his face.
"Now Harry," Lupin said, his expression turning oddly somber. "You need to tell us where you found that pendent."
Images of his last detention flashed across his mind, and Harry opened his mouth to respond. He realised that telling them the exact truth would cause them to immediately expect Draco, and he chewed his lip in thought.
"I found it in the Greenhouse," he said, a bit hesitantly. For some reason, he believed vehemently it wasn't Draco who was causing the havoc, so he figured a small lie wouldn't hurt…
"The same place I was sent the first letter actually," Harry lied.
Dumbledore stared at him for a moment, before nodding and standing up. "Is that so? Interesting."
Lupin followed him as he made his way out the door, promising to visit Harry once again before he left back to Grimmauld Place.
However, Snape sent him a suspicious look that was frighteningly similar to the expression Hermione was eyeing him with.
After the three had left, and the trio was left in silence once more, Hermione raised a brow. "Where did you really find it, Harry?"
The Gryffindor let out a long sigh, slumping his shoulders.
"Hermione," Ron said agitatedly, "You're should be resting. Who gives a bloody damn about that pendent right now!"
Harry smirked at Hermione who flushed at once. "Ron, I'm not eleven years old—I can take care of myself—"
"You can, can you? Is that why you're in here in the first place?" Ron said with a scowl, shoving the covers toward her feet and standing up, pulling Harry's sleeve toward the door.
"Harry, don't you dare think this distraction's made me forget! Where did you get that pendent?" Hermione called, her voice holding back the growl as Ron tried to push Harry through the frame of the door.
Finally letting out a frustrated snort, Harry pulled his sleeve back inside the room, causing Ron to stumble inside as well.
"During detention with Draco."
The commotion stopped and Hermione raised a brow, before Pomfrey interrupted their thoughtful silence.
"Out, out, out!"
x.x.x.x