Hermione Granger was fuming when she returned back home to her sleeping parents after the will reading. Who did Harry Potter think he was, denying her access to that wealth of information that the Blacks had at their disposal? She was livid at his attitude, but a tiny voice in the back of her mind kept telling her that she deserved it. Groaning she reluctantly agreed with it after a while and slumped down onto the nearby bed staring at her pile of school books.
She didn't feel like attempting to sleep at this point in time as the sun would be up in a matter of hours and her body was still charged from the adrenaline rush of the will reading. Deciding on what to do she moved to the books and picked the first one up Practical potions for the depressed witch. It was odd, she thought, but it was just what she needed, and she could brew it without magic being used. She ran her hand down a list of potions and smiled at one in the middle, the chapter within described it as being a fairly complicated potion to clear away any unwanted thoughts and put her in a deep meditative state. The book explained that in this state she could view her memories as an objective person and determine if anyone had modified her memories of the event.
Nodding she moved her cauldron out from her school trunk and got to work on the potion. It would take a few hours to brew, but she had the time and she was quiet enough not to wake her family. The liquid bubbled and churned as she thought about what had been happening. I did the right thing getting away from Harry like that, right? He saved my life and I toss him aside, but he's put me in so much danger and others. That troll wouldn't have even been there if Harry wasn't at the school.
The light of the dawn was slowly peeping into the windows of her bedroom and she could hear the first stirs of Crookshanks down in the garden ready for his morning hunt of the mice around the house. The potion was nearly done as she held up the crystal blue liquid in an unused phial. Shrugging her shoulders she slowly took down the potion and felt her body slowly go numb and almost limp. Collapsing into a nearby chair she started to view her memories as if she was in a pensieve. There was her first trip to Diagon Alley, the train ride to Hogwarts, her meeting of Harry.
At the memory of Harry she saw her younger self swell with respect and almost love when she knew it was Harry Potter in front of her. Disgusted with her younger self she passed over a few more memories. It was during her second year that she was thrown violently out of her own mind. Trying to figure out what had happened she touched her hair to find something wrong with her hair.
John and Anne Granger were just sleeping soundly when the piercing scream of their daughter woke them with a start. Rushing down to her room they tripped over each other as they saw she was in the bathroom. Sliding on the hardwood floor, and cursing themselves for going with the cheap slippery floor coving, they finally reached the door and gaped at their daughter. It was here that both the Granger women collapsed in a dead faint and John fought hard not to laugh out loud.
XoXo
Ginny Weasley paced her bedroom slowly as she kept sneaking glances out the window and at the petite blonde that was sitting peacefully on the edge of her bed. Luna Lovegood had agreed to spend time with her friend and had come over the day of the will reading to find her red haired friend incredibly volatile and for no apparent reason whatsoever. When she tried to get her to talk, Luna was screamed at, so she just sat there patiently waiting.
"That arrogant jerk, showing up there and all that." Even Ginny wasn't sure why she was mad, just that she hated Harry Potter at that very moment.
"Ginevra, perhaps you are still in love with the boy that you profess to hate." Luna knew that it was wrong to say, but quickly continued before the fiery girl could open her mouth again. "He is quite wealthy now, and you have always desired the fame that he comes with."
Thankfully Luna was saved from having to answer by a yell from downstairs. Both girls recognized the matron Weasley's voice as she screamed loudly about one thing or another. Sticking their heads out the door they could make out a little of the conversation that was going on in the kitchen between the two adults of the family; although now they weren't acting like much.
"We put so much hard work into the boy and now this! You would think he would be grateful for us giving up so much for him, but no, he throws it back in our faces."
"Molly, dear, you knew very well when we made the contract that he could contest it if this ever happened. I agree that he should be grateful that he would get her, but we can't be all that surprised."
"He was always interested in her, even when they met on the platform before Ron's first year, I saw the sparks. Even she knew that they were always going to be together, and now all the hard work that we put into this is gone to ruin." The girls could hear the matron storming through the kitchen making pots and pans fly from the shelves and clatter to the floor.
"Molly, there are still plenty of other ways to get his money, you know this. We still have…"
"No, Arthur, all of that was turned down by the goblins. This was our only shot and now he's ruined it by coming of age soon. Did you see the callous way that he treated us? He knows something before the will reading, even denying Hermione those books was peculiar."
"You don't think the kids had anything to do with that? If they talked to him then it could have affected him badly to the point where he would refuse the contract and put us in this situation." The girls paled a little more and quickly, and silently, rushed up the stairs towards Ron's room.
Ron, for his part, had been locked away in his room for the better part of the day. He was glad that he had finally gotten some money and away from Potter. As much as he was jealous of the fame and the money that the boy had, he had tried hard to be the boy's friend at his mother's insistence. She had told him before his first year that Harry Potter would be a powerful friend to have need to anything happen to him. And now he knew that everything that happened had been Harry's fault and wanted to be as far away from him as possible; he wondered lightly if his parents could now afford for him and Ginny to be transferred out of Hogwarts and away from Potter. His thoughts were interrupted by his sister and her crazy friend bursting into his room and pressing them against the door to hear if anyone had heard them.
"Oi, get out you two, I have a few personal things to take care of." Ron wasn't really doing anything, but he liked his privacy.
"Like do things to that picture of Hermione under your bed." Ginny snarled a little and Ron paled slightly before regaining his composure. "At any rate, pervert, we have a huge problem. Apparently mom and dad had some plan that involves Potter and we ruined it."
"We just heard your parents say that there was some contract that Harry turned down because he's emancipated now. They were hoping on our friendship to do something, but we're not sure what." Luna huffed a little and sat down on the edge of the bed dreamily looking towards the window.
"Who cares now? We've got money and can go far away from Potter as we want."
"You stupid, prat." Ginny smacked her brother in the side of the head. "We'll be in serious trouble if our parents find out what we did." It was of course this very moment that Mrs. Weasley did find something interesting and everyone in the next three counties found out that she was mad.
"GINEVRA, RONALD, GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!"
XoXo
The only young man that had gotten any semblance of sleep over the last few hours had been Neville Longbottom. Not being part of the will reading or having to deal with any exploding mothers he slept soundly in the large manor house that he stayed in with his grandmother. In his mind however it was a conflict of interest as his mind kept replaying the events of the Department of Mysteries.
Neville ran alongside the pale blonde head of Luna as he felt the whoosh and crack of air of a nearby appearance of another Death Eater. He protected the crazy girl, stepping to yell out another stunner at the offending man bearing down on them. In the shadows he could see and hear the sounds of battle nearby, but he kept running towards the nearby door with Luna's hand in his.
It wasn't until they got to the amphitheater with the veil that he took the time to really look around. Harry was protecting them, putting himself between his friends and the other Death Eaters. He didn't need to do that, they could hold their own against the adults, but it was his bravery that Neville focused on in the dream. The mad cackling of the crazy black haired witch was overshadowed by the power radiating off the young man with the unruly black hair. In an instant though, he felt like he was falling and enveloped in the darkness all around him.
Sitting bolt upright in bed he wiped the sweat off of his forehead and stared around at his darkened room. The sun was just coming up over the edge of the manor and the dream was slowly slipping away from his mind. He put it out of his mind; they had done the right thing in getting away from Harry. He was sure that they had done the right thing; to keep themselves safe they had to be far away from Harry Potter.
XoXo
Remus chuckle a little as he moved through the hallways of the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Moving off towards the living room he laughed openly now at what he had done, but shrugged it off as he smiled a little. Looking up he saw Harry pale faced sitting in a chair staring at the documents in his lap.
"What's up, Harry?" Remus came closer and sat down on the chair facing the young man. This movement brought him out of the trance and he slid the folder closed, setting it aside as he rubbed at his temples.
"Why me, Remus? Why is it always me that these things happen to?"
"Not good news."
"Oh, the worst, I just read the contract that the goblins have and it turns out that…" Here however Harry was interrupted by a smirking Snape and a worried looking Professor Dumbledore.
"Harry, I know that Miss Granger and your other former friends have made you upset, however would it be all right if we brought her to headquarters? She seemed quite urgent in her letter." Indeed Dumbledore already had a letter in his hand and was shaking it a little. Harry brushed it off however.
"What's the Know-It-All want now? Probably some more books for her collections."
"No, it appears that there was a problem with a potion that she tried; foolish girl brewing potions with such a volatile attitude." Snape seemed to almost laugh with glee at what was going on.
"Fine, Fine, if she's in such an urgent position then she can come here, but I'll be gone when she gets here." Harry stood up and moved towards the stairs, but the front door swung open to an interesting sight.
Standing on the front stoop of the ancient house was two very nervous looking people, a man and a woman with a bundle moving between them. The bundle appeared to be a smaller person, hunched over with a coat over their head. All Harry could see was a pair of golden eyes sticking out of the darkness of the coat; however when they saw him they went wide and shrank back against the nearby wall. This peaked his interest a little and he followed the trio back into the living room.
Professors Dumbledore and Snape moved to the adults and spoke in low undertones with them both as Harry moved back over towards Remus. He had known those people from somewhere, but he wasn't sure where. He couldn't place it, even as the young woman produced a dusty old book from her own coat and handed it off to Professor Snape to look at. Dumbledore seemed to be trying to get the third person to remove the coat from their head, but it only quivered and Harry thought he heard a soft hissing sound. The hiss held no special meaning though, it wasn't parseltongue as Harry knew it, but it sounded familiar some how.
"Any idea who they are? By the looks of them they might be muggles." Remus asked Harry in a soft tone to make sure that they weren't found out to be spying on the other five in the room.
"The adults look familiar some how, but I can't seem to place it." Harry tapped his finger on his chin for a moment and then his eyes light up. Speaking a little louder he called out to the trio standing in the middle of the room now. "Mister and Misses Granger, what are you doing here?"
It was this declaration that changed a lot of things in the room. Both professors had ignored him until he had said something and looked almost sick at the fact that Harry had recognized his friend's parents. For their part though the Grangers merely turned at the mention of their name and smiled at the black haired teen, figuring that he was the one that their daughter spoke of in such high regard; Anne for her part always thought her daughter might fancy the young man.
The problem came from the middle of the two Granger adults. At the outcry from Harry they began to turn, pulling the coat with them until the person in the middle became completely exposed. Standing between the adults was a young woman dressed in a very familiar jeans and t-shirt that the others had seen only a little while ago. What was different though were the ears poking out of the top of her bushy hair, the amount of hair on her back and the tail poking out of her jeans. Feeling herself exposed she turned around and Harry could see the feline features and couldn't help himself.
Bursting out laughing was the only reaction that Harry could think of at the time, and later he would reflect that it might not have been the best reaction, but it was how he felt at the moment. Hermione Granger, brightest witch of her age stood before him turned into an interesting cross between a brown cat and the girl that she was. If this indeed was a failed potion, he wanted to know how they were going to reverse it, and secretly hoping that they couldn't. This of course didn't escape the other adults or the feline girl in front of him.
Emitting a high hiss Hermione the cat launched herself at her former best friend, claws extended. Harry noticed a little too late and went tumbling down on the ground with the girl trying to scratch his eyes out. Even though he was getting scratched he kept laughing; he just couldn't stop himself, it was too funny seeing the smart girl out done by her own lust for knowledge. It took several minutes for Remus to wrestle Hermione off of Harry, but that wasn't the end of it. To make it even more embarrassing for the young woman, Harry reached over and did the only thing he could think of; he scratched behind her pointed ears. Hermione stopped her thrashing around at once and purred contentedly, closing her amber eyes and pushing her head back into Harry's hand.
"I guess there are some advantages to this situation." Harry smiled at the others and saw them relax a little more. "She kind of looks like she did in our second year."
"Yes, I seem to remember Madam Pomfrey treating Miss Granger for a failed Transfiguration that made her turn into a cat for a time." Dumbledore sat back in the chair and affixed Harry with a grandfatherly look, his eyes twinkling with unshed laughter. "Perhaps you would like to explain what actually happened."
"Not that it matters now, but the potion that she made was a simple memory enhancer, and it looks like she did fine with it. Whatever she experienced must have caused the change, so yes, Potter, please enlighten us." Snape affixed him with a slightly less then loving stare as the rest of the group gathered around Harry in chairs. Harry was careful to keep his fingers still scratching and keeping a purring Hermione content on the floor.
"Well, Sirs, I think that you should know first that the potion was perfectly done and if she had done it in class, you would have to have awarded her points for it. Anyway, during the whole Chamber of Secrets crisis, we all thought that it would be good to get information from the Slytherins because it was their heir that was spoken of." Harry didn't mean either of his professors' eyes as he spoke slowly.
"What does that have to do with our Hermione?" Ms. Granger seemed to have been calming down a little more, but she still clutched at the night dress that she wore under her coat.
"Oh, Hermione came up with the idea of using polyjuice potion to look like Crabbe and Goyle so that we could ask Malfoy if he knew anything about it. Unfortunately the hairs that she had gotten off of Milicent Bulstrode were actually her cat hair, and that's what landed her in the hospital wing." This had the interesting reaction of calming some of the people down while the Grangers still looked a little confused.
"Polyjuice potion, when brewed correctly, will allow the drinker to take on the looks of another for a period of one hour. If Miss Granger had indeed used the highly regulated potion then she would have been expelled, although I suppose that she's suffered enough by now." Snape looked almost happy about the situation as he closed the book in his lap.
"What's going to happen now?" John Granger spoke up for the first time since they had arrived.