Chapter Seven
Harry and Ginny made their way to Professor Dumbledore's office. When they arrived they realized that they didn't have the password and were settling in to wait when the Gargoyle moved out of the way to allow them access. They thought that maybe one of the other Professors had turned up, but when they couldn't see anyone, just proceeded up the stairs. When they got to the office they, quickly found the portrait of Godric Gryffindor, and, as requested, activated it. He soon appeared and congratulated them on capturing the impostor.
"Thank you, sir," said Harry.
"Godric, before the others get here something, strange just happened. When we got here, the Gargoyle guarding the entrance to the headmasters office just moved out of the way for us, and now we think about it we have not had to use the password to get into Gryffindor tower since the bond," Harry said.
"Ah, yes, one of the benefits of being my heir Harry; the school will respond to your commands. The portraits know who you are now, so they will also respond to you differently. You will get use to it but it can be very useful too. Just think of it as your own personal spy network. There are hundred's of portraits through out the school," he said with a grin.
Suddenly Harry and Ginny grinned as well; the possibilities were endless. They were already planning how to make use of this when they heard voices approaching.
"I asked them to meet us here, Minerva, I don't know why they were not waiting downstairs," Dumbledore said as he entered the office.
"Where do you think they are Albus, they didn't return to the Gryffindor common room," she suddenly stopped as she saw them standing there.
"How did you get in without the password?" asked Dumbledore.
Before they could respond Godric Gryffindor spoke.
"You know perfectly well how he was able to get in, Professor Dumbledore; did you really think that Harry would not find out who he really was?"
Dumbledore was speechless; in all his years at the school he had never been able to activate the portrait; suddenly here it was talking to them.
"Of course, it all makes sense now; I was wondering earlier when he told me that you sent him to find me after discovering the impostor on the map. That was why the school wards changed wasn't it?"
"Yes, Professor, it was. Harry asked me this morning about it and as soon as I saw the map I realized something was wrong. I told him to come here and once everything had been sorted out, activate this portrait as only an heir could," responded Gryffindor.
"I see, and may I ask where Harry and Ginny were able to speak to you?" asked Dumbledore.
"You may ask, Professor, but we are not going to answer that question. There are secrets that even the headmaster of the school is not given. I can guarantee that you will never be able to find out either. The founders made sure that unless an heir decides to reveal the information no one else will be able to reveal it or discover it."
Harry felt the familiar brush of Legilimency on his mind as Godric continued to speak.
"DONT YOU DARE CONTINUE," shouted Harry all of a suddenly looking very clearly at Dumbledore.
"We warned you last time never to try that again, we will not forgive you next time," said Ginny.
Gryffindor and McGonagall looked angrily at Dumbledore. It was obvious what he had tried to do, he quickly relented and apologized.
Meanwhile, Hermione was walking back towards the Great Hall to find Harry and Ginny when she was suddenly attacked from behind. Before she could do anything, a large pair of arms had grabbed her and dragged her into an empty classroom. She wasn't sure what was going on, but soon realized that Malfoy, Goyle and Crabbe were the ones that had attacked her.
She heard Malfoy say something and point his wand at the door, she realized that he had just sealed it so no one could enter, or hear what was happening.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" shouted Hermione.
"Shut up, Mudblood, we are going to teach Harry Potter a lesson for interfering with our plans," said Malfoy as Crabbe and Goyle held her still.
"What are you talking about, Malfoy, and what has that got to do with me?" asked Hermione suddenly very scared.
"We are going to send him a message that he won't be able to ignore," said Malfoy as he got closer to Hermione.
She started to tremble as Malfoy walked up to her, she didn't like the way that Malfoy was looking at her and started to realize that he was planning.
"W... what are you going to do?" she said in a weak scared voice.
"We are going to demonstrate to him what will happen to his little girlfriend if he messes with us again," said Malfoy as he grabbed her blouse and ripped it open.
Hermione was crying now as Malfoy started to rip the rest of her clothes off.
Back in Dumbledore's office, they were continuing to talk about what had happened. Harry and Ginny had explained about the new shield they had learned about, and how it only seemed to work for bonded pairs. They were careful to avoid saying anything about how they learned of it. Before they could say anything else, Xavier flashed into the office.
'Harry, your friend Hermione is being attacked,' he said.
"Professor, Xavier just told me that Hermione is being attacked, we need to go and help her immediately," Harry shouted as he and Ginny grabbed Xavier's tail feathers and disappeared.
Seconds later Xavier returned for Dumbledore and McGonagall and brought them to the same room.
"So, Mudblood, do you want to know what a real man can do?" asked Malfoy as he continued to remove her clothing.
She was hysterical by now; she had never imagined this would happen to her, and was completely repulsed that it was Malfoy.
Before he could continue, however, a flash of fire brought Harry and Ginny into the room. In an instant, three stunners flew towards them and knocked them out. Moments later Xavier returned with Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall. Harry and Ginny were already at Hermione's side.
"We stunned them as soon as we arrived, Professors," Harry told them.
"Well done, we will deal with them in a moment; how is Miss Granger doing?" asked Professor McGonagall.
"She is okay, just a little shaken up, we got here before they could do anything physical to her," replied Ginny.
Professor McGonagall repaired her clothes so that she could go to the infirmary, however Hermione was too upset to walk so Ginny took hold of her and Xavier flashed them both and then returned for Harry and Professor McGonagall.
"How is she?" asked Harry when he got there.
"She is going to be okay," Ginny answered in tears.
"She told me that they wanted to send you a message for interfering with their plans and that next time it would be me!"
Harry took her hands and comforted her, he poured all his love through the bond and she quickly calmed down.
'I won't let that happen if I can help it,' Harry said.
'I know, Harry, but still it isn't fair on any of us,' said Ginny.
'As soon as Hermione is able to do Occlumency we are going to train her is some of the advanced stuff we are going to learning, next time she will be able to completely kick their butts.'
'Thank you, Harry, I think she will like that.'
Hermione was soon released from the infirmary and the three, escorted by Professor McGonagall, returned to the Gryffindor common room.
Meanwhile, Professor Dumbledore had sent the three students to his office, and a message to the Auror's. As he waited for them to arrive, he decided to leave them stunned; as he really didn't want to deal with this. He knew that he would have to, but to think three students would attempt to rape another was unbelievable. He had so hoped that Draco would turn out better than his father, but he could see it was a lost cause.
Dumbledore was pleased to see that once again Aurors Tonks and Shacklebolt had been sent, they were both members of his Order of the Phoenix so he could have an open discussion with them.
"What the hell has my cousin done now, Albus?" asked Tonks as she entered the room.
"I am afraid that he and his friends attempted to rape Miss Granger, a friend of Harry Potter's. We were, however, able to stop them before anything truly regrettable happened. Unfortunately, due to their age, we cannot use Veritaserum on them. There is also the matter of Mr. Malfoys father; the last thing we need is Lucius Malfoy causing trouble. We also need to take into consideration that we do not know how well protected Mr. Malfoys mind is, and again, don't want to risk it.
Dumbledore watched as the Aurors revived the three students and explained the charges. There was absolutely nothing that Malfoy or his friends could say; they had been in a sealed room and were obviously attacking Hermione. Also, when Dumbledore tested their wands, he found that it was Draco's wand that had sealed the door. After the Aurors had finished, He then proceed to tell them that they were expelled from the school, and he handed their wands to Auror Tonks, who promptly snapped them in half.
"You stupid bitch; father will make you pay for that - family or not," shouted Malfoy.
"I'm not afraid of your father, Draco; just because you are not man enough to stand up to him, doesn't mean everyone fears him," she responded in a bored tone.
"You will be singing a different song once we have finished with you," he said.
"We will see, Draco, we will see," said Tonks as she placed the restraints on Draco for escort to Azkaban.
Once the three of them were ready, Tonks pulled out a portkey and activated it, all five of them disappeared.
News soon travelled around the school that Malfoy and his goon's had been expelled for attempted rape; thankfully no mention of Hermione was made. Strangely, the attack had a very positive impact on the school. Most of the hostility between the houses disappeared. It seemed that Draco Malfoy had been using his father's money and influence to make life difficult for his fellow Slytherin's if they didn't agree with his stance on things.
Now that he was gone, Blaise Zabini who had always been in the shadows stepped up and took control of the house. He was from a well respected neutral pure-blood family, one that didn't believe in all the pure blood supremacy.
The next morning, Hermione was waiting for Harry and Ginny; she just didn't want to walk around the school on her own at the moment. She was also curious to find out what had really happened in the Great Hall as the story from the teachers seemed to leave a lot out, and it didn't explain why they were there. As they walked she started asking questions.
"Hermione, we cannot explain everything yet, but after dinner tonight we will take you somewhere that we can talk," Harry said.
The day seemed to drag on for ever. Harry and Ginny were both bored in their classes, and Hermione was way too excited about talking with Harry that evening to even focus on the lessons. Finally, after dinner, the three of them made their way up to the Gryffindor tower; however, instead of going inside, they continued past the portrait and appeared to walk into a wall. Hermione was amazed when they continued to walk without hindrance; the wall and the next thing she realized was that they were standing in a large room.
"What is this place?" she asked as they entered.
"This is the founder's study, Ginny and I found it after we returned from the Burrow on Saturday. It was built by the founders for their use whilst they were still at the school. Only an heir can access the rooms," Harry explained.
"But, how where you able to find it then?" she asked looking confused.
"I am the heir of Godric Gryffindor, Hermione," Harry stated.
To say that Hermione was shocked was an understatement. It was the first time that Harry could remember that she was actually speechless. Harry and Ginny settled down into the favorite seat and offered a seat to Hermione. Once the shock of Harry's news had passed, she sat down and waited for them to speak.
"Hermione, what we are about to tell you must never be revealed to anyone, do we have your word on that?" Harry started.
"Yes, Harry, I will never tell anyone, I promise," Hermione said. As she did, a flash of light surrounded her and then disappeared. "What was that, Harry?"
"You just made a wizard's oath, Hermione, it means that you cannot tell anyone even if they forced you to," Harry got up and went into the library. He returned a few minutes later with a book about Occlumency.
"Hermione, before we tell you everything we need you to learn Occlumency, it will allow you to stop people from accessing your mind without your permission. Unfortunately we recently learned that at least one Professor has used it on students before; of course he was never expecting to come across students that could detect and block him."
Hermione took the book and promised to work on it right away.
Harry and Ginny proceeded to tell Hermione what really happened after the ball, and about the bond, they only gave the information that they had already given to Dumbledore, just in case, and promised to reveal more once she had mastered Occlumency. They did tell her about the Shield Spell that they had found. They decided to leave the wandless magic for later as they didn't know what she would say and didn't want anyone else to find out about that yet.
The three of them continued to talk until curfew; just before they went back to the common room, and bed, Harry placed a charm on the book, so that only she could read what it actually said, to anyone else it would just be a book on charms. He explained that he didn't want anyone to even suspect that she was learning to block her mind.
They returned to the common room and then headed off to bed. Harry gave Ginny a goodnight kiss and wished Hermione a good night before going to his room.
Harry and Ginny were soon asleep in their rooms; Hermione was still absorbing everything they had told her. She finally fell asleep but had a nightmare about what Malfoy had tried to do to her.
The next evening, Harry, Ginny and Hermione returned to the study; Hermione immediately settled down at the desk and read the book on Occlumency. Harry and Ginny took the Pensieve into the library to find another memory to absorb. As Harry looked through the list, he noticed something called the Knowledge Transfer Spell. He decided that this looked interesting so selected it. As before, the memory was soon absorbed into their minds. They realized immediately just how useful this would be, and after careful review, returned to the main room. They explained to Hermione what they had learned and asked if she minded them trying it on her. The memory had made it clear that it would not hurt the recipient as long as they only attempt to transfer one memory.
Hermione looked a little scared but agreed to let them try. It took several attempts before Harry was able to get it to work correctly. Once he did, Hermione was amazed they had chosen to give her all their knowledge of Occlumency. She now understood all the concepts and how to make it work.
"Hermione, you should now understand Occlumency," Harry said.
"Yes, it is as though I have fully read the book and memorized it," she replied in awe.
"Yes, that is exactly it; the knowledge on its own will not help you protect your mind however, but you now know how to do it and just need to practice it. That is how Ginny and I learned the Shield Spell; once we had the knowledge we just needed to practice and were able to get it to work correctly," Harry said.
They could see that Hermione was already lost in practicing what she had learned. They realized that it would not be long before she had it mastered. Harry and Ginny returned to the Animagus book they had started, they soon realized another benefit of the bond, they had finished the book in record time and remembered every detail. They spent the rest of the evening reviewing the information. They had learned that they would need to brew a potion to reveal their animal form, then they would need to practice the transformations and most critically, they knew how to undo anything, should they make a mistake.
They decided that only one of them would practice at a time so that the other could fix any problems that arose, it would take longer to complete, but at least they would not have to worry about telling anyone else. They would also transfer the knowledge to Hermione once she had mastered Occlumency. When they reviewed the instructions for the potion, they discovered that they didn't have everything they needed, and they didn't want to risk taking anything from Snape.
Suddenly, Ginny had an idea, "Harry, what about Potter Castle, do you think there would be any potion supplies there?"
"I don't know, Ginny, it wouldn't hurt to go and have a look around, we can go on Saturday morning while everyone else at Hogsmeade," suggested Harry.
"That sounds great, Harry, but how will we get back, the portkeys will take us to the castle but I don't really want to return to Dumbledore's office?"
"We can ask Xavier to return us here when we have finished, that way no one will even know we left," Harry responded.
The rest of the week went by quietly. All three of them spent time in the study. Hermione already had a basic shield in place and could hold off an attack for a couple minutes before getting too tired.
"Well done, Hermione, that is very impressive after such a short amount of time," Harry said after she had held him for over two minutes.
"But you still were able to get in," she said a little sadly.
"Yes, I was, but it took a lot of effort; most people wouldn't be able to hold anyone off after only a few days of practice. The more we test you and you focus on building your defenses, the stronger it will be."
"Thank you, Harry," she said as she gave him a quick hug.
"Is there something you want to tell me?" said Ginny as she returned to the room.
"Actually, darling, there is, I have decided to run off with Hermione. I am sorry, I hope you don't mind," said Harry in a dead serious voice.
"Oh, that's okay then. I thought for a minute you might be cheating on me, but if you are just running away with her we should be okay; just don't do anything naughty," she said as they all burst out laughing.
