Hello everybody! Another chapter from me :)

I wanted to say thank you to all my diligent reviewers as well as readers! You really make my day :) I find myself smiling stupidly at my Smartphone every time I get a message about a new follower or favourite or review :'}

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Previously:

Her friends were at her side again, but everything felt harder and gloomier somehow. There was an encompassing dread. It had been quiet in the wizarding world lately. Too quiet.

How the hell could they have come up with such a stupid idea?! Yes, Harry was head over heels in love with Ginny and yes, he was desperate to get her back, but this! This was too much. Hermione had the urge to hit both of them over the head repeatedly, but she had to pull herself together and remain calm until this charade was over.

They were all assembled in the Headmaster's office with Dumbledore himself sitting at his desk, deep, sorrowful creases wrinkling his old face. A brief image of herself sitting in the same positions with similar creases and grey hair flashed before her eyes and Hermione surmised that she might well end up looking like that in the not so soon future if Harry and Ron continued with their reckless ventures.

The Headmaster was looking at Harry and Ron, who were seated in front of his desk, their heads hanging low and looking as guilty as they should be. Next to them stood none other than the Minister of Magic himself as well as two Aurors who had brought the two of them back to Hogwarts after saving their sorry arses.

Professor McGonagall was present as well as was Malfoy in his position as Head Boy. He was leaning against the door, watching the whole affair intrigued.

"That was the most reckless thing I've ever encountered!" Minister Fudge ranted. It was already the third time he had said that, Hermione counted silently.

Professor Dumbledore nodded gravely, addressing Harry and Ron, "Can you tell me what was on your mind when you decided to do something so dangerous?"

They wrung their hands, and Hermione would have felt sorry for them if she hadn't been so outraged by their insolence.

"We wanted to buy a broom," Harry answered meekly.

"A broom!" Fudge threw his hands into the air.

Professor Dumbledore didn't let off. "Why did you need a new broom, Harry?" he inquired.

"Not for me… It was supposed to be a Christmas present. I- I wanted to apologise to Ginny with it," he looked at his hands sadly. "I didn't think about how dangerous it was to go to London alone."

"You didn't think about it?! You were nearly killed! Or worse, taken hostage! If there hadn't been our Aurors around – by pure chance I might add – the Death Eaters would have had an easy job of it!" the Minister cried outraged and Harry ducked his head even lower.

"Do you realize what this day could have meant for the war, Harry?" Professor Dumbledore asked him sternly.

Harry shook his head "I didn't… didn't think about it at all."

"This ignorance needs to be punished severely, Dumbledore!" Fudge demanded. Hermione really wished the hysteric man would shut up already.

"It was all my fault!" Ron suddenly interrupted, looking at the Headmaster bravely. "I told him if he doesn't make up with my sister, I would hex his balls off just before dumping him in the lake for the Squid to have for dinner! I couldn't see her cry any longer so I told him to get her something special for Christmas and bloody apologise to her!"

Professor Dumbledore nodded gravely, looking at Ron now. "Yes, this behaviour cannot go unpunished, I'm afraid," he looked up at the Minister and his Aurors. "Thank you for bringing our students back in one piece. We will take over from here."

Minister Fudge nodded. "Yes, yes. If there is ever any problem, feel free to contact me directly, Dumbledore."

"Your assistance in this matter was of great help, thank you Minister." The Headmaster stood to shake his hand. "I wish you a merry Christmas time and hope you will be able to buy presents for your beloved ones safely."

"Merry Christmas!" Fudge raised his hat and left with his Aurors in tow.

When the door had closed behind them, the Headmaster addressed Professor McGonagall, "Minerva, will you take care of this? I need to find out how it was possible for Tom to wrangle his men into Diagon Alley."

"Of course, Albus," she answered, ushering the students outside and leading them to her office.

She didn't add anything to the scolding the boys had already received, but shook her head at them, disappointed. "Mr Potter you will serve detention with Mr Filch for your lack of judgement of the graveness of the situation! As Mr Weasley has claimed main responsibility for your actions however, he won't get away so easily. But the choice of your punishment is for the Head Students to make as you are a Prefect and therefore fall under their responsibility." She turned towards Hermione and Malfoy.

Hermione nodded, already coming up with an adequate punishment.

"Miss Granger, as much as I value your opinion, due to your friendship to Mr Weasley you are clearly too involved in this matter to judge fairly. Therefore, I leave the decision to Mr Malfoy," Professor McGonagall told her with an apologizing look.

Hermione was speechless. She couldn't believe that Professor McGonagall didn't trust her to decide for a punishment unbiased. Malfoy would be relentless. He would do his worst, she was sure of it. Judging from his gleeful expression, he thought the exact same. "It needs to be a punishment that really teaches Weasley a lesson, right?"

"I'll leave that to you Mr Malfoy," Professor McGonagall answered.

"Alright," he nodded and turned towards Ron who opted to look over the other boys shoulder rather than meet his gaze. "Weasley, you are no longer allowed to play Quidditch and your broom will be locked away until the end of the school year."

Hermione could see Ron's hands balling into fists, but he only nodded tensely.

"Professor-!" Hermione spoke up, but was interrupted by Professor McGonagall raising her hand.

"This was decided upon, Miss Granger."

Hermione wanted to object, but stopped herself, when she saw the sombre look behind the strict facade of the woman. Professor McGonagall was as unhappy about this decision as her, she realised. There was no way out of this punishment. Professor McGonagall then sent them on their way back to their dormitories, seeming in need of something strong to calm her nerves after all this racket.

Hermione walked beside Malfoy back to their common room, fuming the whole way. She ground her teeth to not scream at him right then and there in the middle of the corridors. But as soon as both of them strode through the mirror entrance, she no longer held back.

"You arsehole!" she cried and took hold of the closest object to her right to hurl it at him. "You could have given him detention and be done with it! You clearly took advantage of the situation so that your team had a chance at winning!"

Malfoy dodged the book she had thrown gracefully like the trained Seeker he was and glared at her. "I taught that dimwit a lesson, nothing more," he told her haughtily.

"As if!" she yelled. "Admit it: You just wanted to shaft me! You make everything about yourself! You were supposed to decide on a punishment from an outsider position but you make this your little petty revenge stuff! You aren't just a minor Prefect anymore, Malfoy! You've got responsibility and you have to be fair! You have to do your job!"

"Well," he advanced on her until he was uncomfortably close. "If I'm so bad at it, why did McGonagall leave it to me to decide what to do? You better shut your filthy Mudblood mouth. You are not even worthy enough to criticise me at all," he hissed and she took a step backwards at his open hostility.

"You- Don't call me that!" she poked her finger at his face. He grabbed it hard and pushed her back. Hermione tried to evade him but that only made her finger joints pop audibly and hurt like hell.

"It's time you learned your place, little girl," he growled and she felt a shiver crawl up her back and scrape at her neck with icy fingers. Hermione didn't want to back up and she wasn't able to either as her back now hit the wall. So she just stared at him unrelenting. Malfoy was breathing hard, staring right back until he very slowly let go of her. It didn't feel like a victory though, because she now had to lean heavier against the wall to support her weak knees. Struggling to appear unperturbed, she slowly pushed off and strode past him up to her room.

The next morning, a ruffled looking owl did a crash landing into Ron's cereal. Patting at the milk splatters on her robe, Hermione pulled out the soaked letter from underneath the screeching bird. When it was freed from its delivery, Errol ruffled his feathers and then decided to fall asleep without leaving his self-proclaimed bathtub. Maybe the milk would work it's rejuvenating magic and make him more unerring next time. Ron accepted the letter Hermione had dried magically before handing it to him. He stared at the alarmingly red envelope, looking up at Harry with a painful expression.

"Weasley has gotten himself a Howler!" someone cried excited. Everyone at the Gryffindor table went silent, turning towards Ron expectantly. The rest of the Great Hall was still bustling, but gradually their schoolmates noticed the Gryffindors' unusual quietness and craned their heads, curiosity swapping over the rows of students in waves.

"Open it, before it's too late," Hermione advised. "You knew you'd get one, better get over with it quickly."

Ron swallowed and nodded, throwing a last glance at Harry who was unusually interested in his bacon and scrambled eggs.

Breaking the seal, Ron opened the latch. When the daunting thing started unfolding of its own accord, he immediately let it drop with a little squeal. The whole Hall seemed to collectively take a breath in anticipation.

"Ron, Harry," a deep and tired voice echoed unnaturally loud from the small letter. "I just came back from a meeting with Kingsley concerning the events in Diagon Alley."

Ron stared at the letter hanging in the air in front of him, trembling slightly as the voice of his father droned with deafening volume, seeping with disappointment. Harry had looked up from his breakfast with wide eyes. Clearly, he had prepared himself for Mrs Weasley scolding them mercilessly. The calm and disheartened voice of Mr Weasley was proving to be way more cruel.

"Your mother was too upset to write you, she is still resting from the distress you have caused her," Mr Weasley continued, his voice vibrating through the Hall so loudly that the candles above their heads started flickering. "I hope you are aware of the dangers you two put not only yourselves in, but many more people as well. We are still investigating the attack and I don't quite know if I should be relieved that they didn't attack because of your presence, or if it is instead more alarming that they are willing to risk being caught to cause so much destruction and harm."

At this point most students were already covering their ears to muffle the bone-quaking noise. "I'm not even trying to understand your line of thought that justified your actions. I simply cannot fathom how you came up with this idea and how Hermione could let you go through with it."

Hermione's ears heated. She hadn't known! How was she supposed to stop her friends from killing themselves if they didn't think of divulging her in their plans anymore?!

"I expect you to be on your best behaviour for the remainder of the school year. Otherwise I fear you will dig Molly, as well as yourselves, an early grave," Mr Weasley finished and the letter fell to the table, again lifeless and seemingly innocent, offering no hint of the crushing words it contained.

The students sighted with relief, when the letter finally fell silent. Everyone turned to the two culprits and slowly started whispering to each other. Within a few heartbeats, the noise level surpassed the usual bustling and the wildest guesses about last night's events were thrown into the rumour mill. Briefly, Hermione toyed with the idea of making Ron promise to rectify his father's notions of Hermione having stood for her friends' actions. But when she saw the devastation on his face, she patted his arm instead.

"How about a little visit to Hagrid later?" she suggested, trying to distract Ron from his agony over the Howler.

Harry nodded approving, seemingly happy for the distraction. "That's a great idea," he replied. "We didn't really make time for him the whole school year yet," he realized, looking a bit ashamed.

"Don't worry, Harry. He'll understand that we have a lot on our backs right now," Hermione comforted him.

So it was decided and the three of them turned their backs to the school at noon. The grounds were empty of any students, which wasn't remarkable as the weather had gotten atrocious in the last weeks. They had to hold onto their scarfs and hats to keep them on their body while the wind tugged at their limbs violently.

"Hermione, aren't you mad at us?" Ron asked on their way down. "You haven't even scolded us so far."

"Oh, I am mad as hell!" she informed him. "And I think Harry got away far too lightly," she looked at her friend sternly. "You should have lost you position in the team, not Ron. I'm not stupid. That haphazard plan reeks of Potter. It was you idea, wasn't it?"

Harry nodded ruefully.

"But I also think that you were scolded enough," she added. "I hope you learned your lesson, but I know you too well to assume that you would never do something like that again," she sighed. "Just try to stay alive, that would be great," she told her friends and they nodded grinning.

"I just can't comprehend why you didn't simply order a broom. It's not as if they didn't deliver them via owl."

Harry and Ron looked at her like she was an alien. "Hermione! You can't order a broom that you haven't even seen before. Unless it's a Firebolt maybe – everything depends on quality. But every broom has its own personality," Ron explained.

Hermione scoffed, receiving indignant glances from her two best friends.

The three of them were relieved when they reached the little hut at the edge of the Forbidden Forest and Hagrid opened the door for them. He ushered them inside, after pushing Fang from the door who was especially happy to greet his friends.

"Come in, come in. Let's shut the wind out," Hagrid invited them and they took a seat in front of the crackling fire. "What a weather, eh?" Hagrid smiled at them. "How nice of ye' to come down 'ere through that wind!"

"We missed you, Hagrid!" Harry smiled.

"Ye' got a lot of work, I know. I'm happy you've still got the time to visit. Hell, I'm glad I ne'er had to go through last year with finals and stuff!" he boomed, laughing.

"Yeah, lucky you," Ron added, looking actually envious which earned him a jab in the side from Hermione and a laugh from Harry.

They were in the process of peeling off their layers of clothes, when Hermione's pocket suddenly grew warm. Sighing, she fished out her Joint Mirror.

"Sorry guys, got to answer that," she excused herself and opened the lit to find not Malfoy facing her but Theodore Nott to her surprise.

"Why do you have Malfoy's mirror?" she demanded to know.

"Calm down, Granger," Nott sneered. "Draco's busy and has his hands full."

"Well, what is it?"

"There's a fight down here on the pitch. See?" He turned the mirror away from his face so Hermione could make out a little crowd in the shaky image. She wasn't sure, but it seemed like a Ravenclaw had taken hold of his broomstick, flailing the tail at a Slytherin repeatedly and she paused at that image for a moment.

Nott's face returned to the small glass. "Yeah," he said, nodding at her flabbergasted expression. "Draco needs his little Head Girl over here, I guess," he grinned, at which she knit her brows together.

"I thought I was not worthy enough for him?" She sighed. "I'll be there in a minute," Hermione ended the call closed the lid to find her friends looking at her expectantly.

"I'm really sorry. My presence is needed," she rolled her eyes.

"Take 'em cookies at least," Hagrid said good-naturedly and pushed the plate towards her.

"Thank you, Hagrid," she said, pocketing some of the rock hard sweets. "And sorry again. I guess this will take a while," she apologised.

"No worries, Hermione," Ron smiled. "It's your job, right?"

She beamed at him. "See you later, guys!" she bid them goodbye and took her leave.

While marching at a quick pace towards the Quidditch Pitch, Hermione tugged her scarf tightly around her neck to fend off the winds beating around the castle grounds. She looked up to the sky and knew that it would be snowing soon, maybe in a couple of days from now. She looked forward to that. Snow made the castle even cosier and you could sit in front of the fire for a whole day to soak in its warmth.

When she reached the pitch, she came upon a small crowd of Slytherin students and Ravenclaws dressed in their Quidditch gear, Malfoy among them shouting to all sides. His attempt at establishing order, however, seemed fruitless so far, as the students continued yelling at each other and at him.

"It's been pretty entertaining so far," Nott greeted her grinning. He lived for drama, Hermione knew, so she just rolled her eyes at him.

She skilfully cast a Sonorous at her throat and commanded silence. To her great satisfaction, indeed everyone shut up and turned towards her. "Will anyone do me the favour to enlighten me on what is going on here?" she demanded to know.

"I'll tell you!" the Ravenclaw captain Roger Davies came forward, an angry frown marring his face. "We've discovered a case of espionage on our Quidditch techniques! The Slytherins were hiding on the stands and spied upon us!" he spat.

The accused Slytherins - Hermione recognized Hanley among them - just looked at her untrusting, not offering their point of view.

Malfoy stepped forward, not quite looking at her. "Actually, some of my team wanted to see if they could do additional training. As no one signed up for the pitch and no sane person would want to fly in this weather anyways, they assumed the pitch to be empty. When they arrived they were accused of spying on the Ravenclaw team," he filled her in calmly.

"As if!" Davies roared. "They heard us discussing about whether we could train in this weather or not at lunch! They came here on purpose and just had an excuse up their sleeves!"

Malfoy looked like he would literally start fuming any moment.

"Did you sign up the Ravenclaws for the pitch today, or not?" Hermione asked Davies with raised brows.

"Well, no... But that's not the point here! They tried to cheat! They should be banned!"

"Don't exaggerate, Davies!" Malfoy bellowed. "You don't want to incur yourself detention, do you?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him. Malfoy really seemed extremely short tempered lately.

"As you are way too involved in this situation, it'd be my decision how to solve it, don't you think so as well, Malfoy?" she intervened firmly.

He whirled around to glare at her, "You owe me something, Granger, remember?" he told her, glowering.

"You really think I would let personal issues cloud my decisions as Head Girl? Don't mistake me with yourself," she retorted aloof.

Next Chapter:

"The team is banned from the pitch for the reminder of the year. You'll be expected to call on Professor Flitwick for further punishment tomorrow." With that she turned on her heels and left the pitch fuming.

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What would Ginny say, if she knew what Ron and Harry did to get her a nice Christmas present? Would she fall around their necks or would she cast a hex at them for their stupidity?

What do you think Hermione will do? The spoiler is quite telling, I know :D

Thank you KSB for still reading every single chapter and offering you opinion how to improve them before publishing!