Chapter Seven
My happiness from surviving Professor Snape and from actually healing someone by myself didn't disappear as Ancient Runes came and went. It was noticeable just how happy I was as Harry, Ron and I walked along the corridors to Defense class.
"What's made you so happy?" Ron asked.
I smiled at him and shrugged my shoulders. "Ancient Runes was a good class."
"Only you would be so happy after that class," Ron muttered. I only smiled back, which seemed to unnerve him even more. The class was nearly filled as Harry and Ron took a desk next to each other, leaving me near the front of the class with a lone seat next to me like always.
Malfoy walked in without his usual goons by his side, nearly late. Surveying the class he saw the only empty seat next to me. Without another word he sat down. I fidgeted in my seat uncomfortable waiting for some sort of scathing remark from him. It never came.
A paper bird flew by us from the back of the class. It was beautiful magic really. Simple yet it served its purpose well enough as breezed around the classroom trying to swerve away from the people trying to hit it. I heard Malfoy chuckle next to me as he joined in on the fun by launching a piece of paper at it. The bird simply swerved away, though not without faltering as the paper grazed its fluttering paper wing.
The class' laughter ended abruptly when a single spell zapped its way through the air hitting the paper bird. It crisped up, burning and disintegrating on its way down. Everyone seemed to somber up by the display as Umbridge strutted down the aisle to the front of the class.
"Good afternoon class," she said, a rather large smile plastered on her face. There goes my happy day.
A few people muttered a disjointed greeting. I could feel their growing hatred for her already.
"That won't do," she reprimanded. "Everyone together now." The class choired the greeting. It felt like elementary school all over again. I almost snorted at the thought.
"Much better," Umbridge said. "Now then, wands away and quills out." Everyone grumbled. Wands away? Surely, she didn't mean we weren't going to do magic in her class. She flicked her wand and muttered a spell under her breath. The books at the far end of the class fluttered about, each one finding its way to a student before dropping unceremoniously on the wooden desk. "This year will be quite special," she chirped sweetly, it sounded disgusting to my ears. "Ordinary Wizarding Level Examination. More commonly known as O.W.L.s." The blackboard behind her began to spell out her sentence before the chalk dropped down unmoving once more. "Now all of you now have a ministry approved course book, seeing as your education over this matter has been," she paused trying to find the right word, "lacking."
"There isn't anything here about using spells." I commented, having already read the book during my first year hoping to find any useful information, only to figure out the book was completely worthless. If I found it worthless in my first year when I was still fresh from the muggle world then it's still worthless now, probably even more so.
"Why my dear, I don't know why you would need to use spells in my classroom." She looked strangely confused and there were some truth in her words as she addressed me. Did she really believe in what she was saying? It's completely barmy not casting spells when we needed to learn them. Especially for our exams at the end of the year.
"We won't be using magic?" Malfoy questioned next to me. I looked at him and he appeared just as unnerved at the thought of not learning new spells to add to his arsenal.
"This place is a safe, risk free environment," the toad began.
"If someone, attacks us it won't be risk free," Harry added. I saw Umbridge twitch and her eyes crinkled with slight hatred.
Her voice turned sharp and cold, "Student will raise their hands before speaking." She looked over everyone of us before glaring at harry through a smile. "Who on earth would harm students?"
I wished Harry to not say anything. Mentally telling him to not do anything at all for that matter.
"I don't know, maybe Lord Voldemort," he exclaimed. Everyone jumped up slightly from their seats and I saw the professor's posture stiffen as her worried eyes scanned the rest of the class.
"Now let me inform all of you. There have been people," she paused looking at Harry, "who have claimed that a certain dark wizard is now at large." She paused again, surveying the reactions in the room. I fixed my now hardened eyes at Harry and Malfoy. Harry was growing more furious, his temper just waiting to explode while Malfoy stiffened knowingly that the events really did happen. Umbridge continued dramatically, making sure to enunciate each word, "this is a lie."
"It wasn't a lie. I saw him. I fought him!" Harry yelled at her.
"Detention Mr. Potter. Eight o'clock, my office," Umbridge snapped.
"So you think Cedric Diggory died all by himself?" Harry exclaimed.
"Cedric Diggory was a tragic accident." She stated simply.
"It wasn't an accident, it was murder!"
"Out! Out of my classroom and report to your head of house immediately for punishment. You have a weeks detention." She yelled. Her voice was high and out of control. She lost her precious order of the classroom. Harry left without another word. He grabbed his belonging and quickly shuffled out of class, slamming the door as he went.
The class was deadly silent.
"Turn to chapter one in your books and take notes. When you are done you will turn your notes to me," Professor Umbridge said. "And note, this will be your permanent seat." Her hand was trained on her wand in a tight grip as she made her way to the front of the room.
Averting my gaze I turned to the task at hand. Enchanting my quill to write my notes for me I took out my Ancient Runes book and began to read it for my homework.
She sat there in front of the class drinking her tea as we all did our work in silence, with the occasional whisper here and there. I saw Malfoy next to me tap his quill on the desk repeatedly.
"Can you stop that," I hissed. He looked at me strangely.
"Annoying you, Granger?" He sneered at me quietly. I nodded tensely as he continued his drumming of the quill. "Well I can't help it. I'm bored. Unlike you I've already finished with this task."
I grinned at him. "I've been done with this task the moment she said to start. I've been doing other work instead," I said slyly. His eyes widened slightly before looking at my moving quill that wrote out the rune translation for another class.
He looked at me calculating my actions. Why were all Slytherins always calculating and analyzing everything I did?
"Your book looks like the one she gave us." He commented. "How?"
"A charm." I whispered back. "And if you stop your drumming and call a truce for this year with me maybe we will just survive this awful class," I looked at him and smirked. It wasn't blackmail since I didn't have anything on him. In fact it was just a little preposition, definitely not coercion either. He knew what I wanted though and he observed me more carefully.
He soaked in what I said before nodding. "Truce for this class only."
"No, everywhere for this year," I whispered under my breath.
"For classes we have only." He tried to compromise, "I have a reputation to uphold."
I paused for a moment. "Everywhere, but discreetly."
"Entailing?" His lips were pursed in annoyance to my terms but we both knew this was for the best. We needed to survive this class, and dying from boredom would become reality instead of just an overused term if we didn't work something out.
"Everywhere you will be civil to me when we are alone or without anyone listening in. When you are with your friends you will try to ignore me and only when your friends initiate it you can support them."
"In exchange?" His voice trailed on.
"In exchange, I'll cast spells so we can use this class to do other work, and when alone we'll help each other with ancient runes." I offered. I knew that while we were both top of our classes, ancient runes was a time consuming, laboring work that having a partner with equal intelligent would greatly help. He knew it too.
"Agreed."
I pulled out my discretely wand and flicked it over to his back and then the book in front of him. The words changed quickly into the ancient runes dictionary and a paper appeared before him that looked like an ordinary blank parchment to the unknown eye. But to us both it held a series of runes that was our homework for the week. He nodded to me slightly and began doing his work.
"To an interesting year," I offered to him.
"To an interesting year," he mumbled back almost inaudibly.
The great hall at dinner was busy with the loud chatter of the students. Everywhere we went we heard the whispers of what happened with Harry in Defense against the Dark Arts class.
"He says he really fought You-Know-Who," a small Hufflepuff first year said to his fellow classmates. The hall talked endlessly and rumors grew wilder with every moment. At one point I heard a Ravenclaw girl saying that Harry went mental in the classroom and had to be hexed and stunned to subdue him.
"Don't pay attention to any of them," I said to Harry. He flinched at every whisper they said about him and I felt him coil up trying to mask his anger. I gripped his should reassuringly but he shrugged me off. I glanced at Ron who was already staring at me. He shook his head. We both knew. Harry was getting angrier and more moody everyday.
"Let's get out of here," Ron said to Harry, who just got up and began to walk. We quickly got our stuff and followed Harry, a few steps behind him.
"He's going mental, Hermione. Nightmares and everything."
"I know, but we can't do anything unless he approaches us. He'll just lash out with everything we say," I whispered to him. As much as I loved Harry as a brother, he is one of the most temperamental and emotional wizard I have ever met, I huffed in annoyance, "We'll just have to be there when he needs us."
"So we wait?"
"Yes Ron, we wait."
We finally reached the still open portrait that Harry had just passed through to see a flourish of colors in one corner with stacks and stacks of assorted treat. First years lined up at the side had all different minor maladies while Fred and George seemingly monitored their reactions.
"They…" I began, I was lost for words for once.
"They're just having a bit of fun," Ron said. "Harry's upstairs, maybe we should go after him to try and calm him down. He seemed awfully mad-"
"You go on right ahead. I need to talk to the twins."
He followed me as I walked towards the two identical Weasleys.
"Hermione, pleasure to see you," George began nervously.
"Fever fudge?" Fred continued.
"Are these your skiving snackboxes?" I asked them, my tone was hard and my eyes glanced over at all the first years. I could feel my own magic flaring to life as I spoke. I needed to handle this correctly, or else I wouldn't get what I want.
"Uhm…" Fred looked at George apprehensively, before muttering out, "Yes, you of course are a dear friend and if you want you can have a trial of the various sweets that would-"
"A trial?" I droned out, channeling my inner Snape. This was turning to be fun. Their expressions turned worried and I felt everyone's eyes on us, waiting to hear me reprimand them for giving untested treats to first year guinea pigs. "Surely you boys don't mean to bribe me with just a measly trial."
"We mean an unlimited amount for life or various treats of Weasely's Wizarding Wheezes products, when they are available and on shelf for the later ones," George quickly cut in anxiously.
"And items of course too," Fred added, nodding his head in confirmation.
Hook, line and sinker.
"Great! We have a deal," I chirped giving them a large smile. "I'll take a handful of each sweets. Make sure you don't hold your trials on Thursday night, Professor McGonagall plans to drop in sometime that night to check on the state of the house."
They stood there stunned and everyone froze at their spots. I looked at the twins again and they sprang to life grabbing a bag and filling it with sweets.
"You won't stop us now?" Fred asked, handing me the sweet filled bag.
"Nope. And I'll do you something better." I motioned them closer and leaned over to them both. "The Boils Bonbon," I whispered in Fred and George's ear, "place them in a chocolate box and send them to Umbridge with a note saying it's from Fudge and she will eat it them all up." I pulled away to see their grinning faces and winked.
"We have underestimated you, Hermione," George stated. I smiled at him and his brother. "We will take that into account. It has been a great pleasure doing business with you." They each held out their hands and I shook them with a firm grip.
Turning to everyone else with my bag of sweets at my side, "Well then," said as I looked at all of their widened eyes. "Goodnight everyone, I'm turning in." There was a choir of goodbyes as I left the common room.
"-But I'm your brother. How come I don't get free sweets?" Ron's voice was the last thing I heard from the common room as I went up to my dorm.
It was still empty and I finally relaxed completely. Tugging at my tie I loosened it. Kneeling down in front of my trunk I stripped it one by one of the wards in place before opening it up. I placed my new bag of goodies in a small container with an extension charm on it. Quickly drawing my wand I inscribed the name, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, before dropping the entire lot of treats, save a few, into it. Placing the box in its proper place I began the series of warding spells on it once again.
Shuffling through my drawers for a nightgown I picked out a new silky blue one that reached to the floor. Stripping and pulling on my nightwear I went through my usual nighttime routine. Crawling into bed I closed my curtains and again cast my wards on it, before picking out another book from my bag, my portable library really. Grabbing my notebook and quill, I opened the large tome.
Ancient Arts: Blood Magick. Chapter 7: Blood Healing.
