Tending to Him
Chapter 14: Ready the Ships
Hermione's Point of View
I was, yes, a bit surprised (to say the least) that McGonagall (who was headmistress) named me Head Girl next to Neville as Head Boy. Our conversation was not long, because I, of course, knew all the duties of Head Girl. Although, since I told McGonagall I had it all under control, she left the duty of calling all the prefects to the meeting and figuring out a time schedule for rounds and such up to me. So, I went to each table and told each prefect boy and girl to rendezvous right outside the Great Hall after they had taken their houses up to the dormitories. Then, after dinner had ceased, the prefects met with Neville and me and began our meeting.
I had rounds with Neville twice a week at nine o'clock. I smiled thankfully knowing that I was partnered with someone I knew and trusted.
"What about extra activities?" one of the sixth year prefects from Ravenclaw asked.
"What do you mean?" Neville wondered.
"Well, are we going to do anything for Halloween, for example?" the other Ravenclaw asked.
"I hadn't thought of that," I admitted. "McGonagall mentioned that we could organize a dance or something along those lines."
"Perfect!" a Hufflepuff fifth year cheered. "What should we do for it?"
"How about just a costume party?" the Slytherin sixth year put in. "I don't know if we can afford to do anything else if we want to do more than this one dance."
"Very true," I said. "I like that idea. A costume party for Halloween will be on Halloween Night beginning at eight o'clock and ending at…"
"Midnight?" Neville suggested.
"If we can get it that late, then yes," I agreed. "All in favor?"
Everyone was smiling and raising their hands.
"It's settled then," I confirmed.
Ron's Point of View
I walked down to the main office and looked at the sheet that listed all of our groups. I was, indeed, in Group A with Harry, Poppy, Daniel, Theresa, and a woman named Annette. It said our schedule for the day, and we would be going to the field at ten this morning. I had five minutes to get there.
*StarStarStar*
Yes, Daniel did wake me up because we both wanted to get fresh breakfast, but he had gotten distracted and ran off with Poppy when he had heard something in the room opposite the cafeteria.
It was the start of our second week at the Academy. For some odd reason, Theresa had not shown up the first day our group was assembled.
…Not that I had a problem with that.
I did, though, question why Harry was asked to speak with Robert privately in his office in the middle of breakfast. I was left alone at the table with Annette, who was extremely unlike her missing roommate. Annette was mildly shy at first, but as I got to know her, she was very sweet. She had straight brown hair that reached beneath her shoulders, and deep brown eyes. She was a bit smaller than Harry, and she spoke with a Spanish accent. She had come from Mexico. Her father was French, and her mother had died after giving birth to her youngest sibling, Luis, who was now four years old. Castalia, her seven-year-old sister, and Luis live in France now with their father.
I had been talking to her about her family before Harry came into the room with confused looking Poppy and Daniel behind him.
"Harry?" I wondered as Annette and I looked up at him.
"We…we've been assigned a mission," he told us. "Our whole group. We leave tonight."
"Already?" I asked and stood up. "What is it?"
Hermione's Point of View
September when by very quickly, and so did the majority of October. It was the 29th, which was only two days until the party.
"So, who are you going to take?" Ginny whispered to me as we walked down the Great Hall after breakfast. I was worried about that. Everyone else was flipping out about dance partners to take to the dance.
"I don't know, Gin," I whispered as we turned the corner together, looking a bit dismal. "Who would I bring?"
She shrugged and looked the same as I did.
"I don't know," she whispered. "The same goes for me… Have you been thinking about him?"
"Who?" I asked as I turned towards her.
"Ron, who else?"
"Have you been thinking about Harry?" I replied, not giving an answer.
"Of course I have," she responded.
"Then I've been thinking about Ron," I finished. She laughed half-heartedly at my answer and looked up at me.
"I haven't talked to them in so long," she confessed. "I hope they're doing alright."
I nodded, and I silently added in my head, "I hope they're doing alright, too."
"Actually, we're splendid," a voice said in front of Ginny and me as we turned the corner. I smiled brightly as I embraced Ron around his neck laughing into his shoulder.
"What are you doing here?" I questioned once I saw his face again.
"I'll explain to you in a bit," he replied. "Ginny, Harry's looking for you. He's close to the Gryffindor corridor."
Ginny smiled and hugged him as well before scurrying off to find Harry.
I looked back at Ron, the smile never leaving my face, and we both reacted at the same time as our lips pressed together. It felt so nice, so relieving to kiss him again knowing that he was okay.
We pulled apart and kept our gazes at each other until there was a soft voice behind Ron. We spun around in unison and saw a girl that might've been a bit taller than me looking around up at the ceiling, portraits on the wall, and the rest of the surrounding area.
"Wow," she spoke in a Spanish tongue, "I've only seen pictures…"
"Hermione," Ron began and walked towards the girl, "this is Annette. She's part of the group that was sent here."
"Hi," I greeted her and held out my hand. She took it and smiled at me once before continuing to look around the hall. I looked up at Ron, and my eyebrows inclined.
"…She's never been here before," Ron clarified to why she was so consumed in the building. I understood then, but something he said caught my attention.
"The group that was sent here?' I repeated.
Third Person Point of View
Ginny was walking down the corridor towards the Gryffindor common room when she saw him. She smiled largely and ran towards him, not caring about the noise she made. This caused him to turn towards the sound, and he smiled back, catching her in her arms after she pounced onto him. He held her for a few more moments before he moved to look at her face.
"I didn't think I'd see you for another three months!" Ginny exclaimed as she examined his body from head to toe. His boulder, provocative body…
"Me neither," Harry confessed, chuckling at what she was doing. When her head faced back to his, she brought his lips down to hers, and he held them there, consuming the feel.
They broke apart when someone behind them interrupted, "Hurry up, will you? We've got stuff to do."
Harry turned around to his partner looking agitated. Ginny looked past Harry's arm to see the man standing behind him.
The man apparently saw Ginny look at him, and he said with a smile, "I'm Poppy. Nice to finally meet you, Ginny," as he walked forward, holding out a hand.
Ginny smiled a small smile back and shook his hand, keeping her other hand on Harry as he had one on her.
"What 'stuff' do you need to do?" Ginny questioned, her attention back to Harry.
Harry seemed to hesitate before he told her why he was there.
"We're here on a mission," he replied quietly. Ginny furrowed her eyebrows, and he continued.
"Supposedly, there's someone here causing trouble to the professors. He or she keeps saying that he knows things about an escaped Death Eater, and that he's threatening to bring him back with him if they don't do what he wants them to do. McGonagall is furious. She doesn't know what to do."
"What have you done so far?" Ginny inquired.
"Nothing," Harry responded. "We've only been thinking of all the possible people that could've done it. And, according to Kingsley and some others at the auror academy, the only Death Eater left is a young woman. They don't know her name, though."
"…So she's here? Now?" Ginny wondered.
*StarStarStar*
"Yes, she's here now," Ron replied as he and Hermione stalked down the hallways on their way to Harry and Ginny. Ron had told Annette to find Daniel.
"And has she threatened to attack the students to?" Hermione wondered.
"That is a great possibility," Ron replied.
"Oh no," she whispered and stopped suddenly. Ron noticed she had halted, and he spun around.
"What is it?"
"It's just that…the Halloween party is two days from now," she explained. "It'll be dark, the kids will be dressed up, and it'll last until midnight-"
"And she'll most likely strike us then," Ron finished and grabbed Hermione's hand, now in more of a rush to find Harry, Ginny, and Poppy.
"Harry!" he called when he saw the three of them discussing right outside the common room.
"Ron," Harry answered when he saw them.
"I think we have an idea of where she's going to be," he replied.
"I think we do too," said Harry.
Hermione's Point of View
It was the day.
There were loads of people that went from different types of animals to princes and princesses.
I was in the Great Hall trying to look passed massive wads of witches and wizards stationed all about. Then, that's when I saw him.
Ron was stationed on the other side of the door dressed somewhat like Zorro (looking pretty attractive, might I add), and Harry was standing in a little corner dressed as the Phantom of the Opera with a fedora placed on his head. The whole auror team was dressed somewhere along those lines: they all had on something black that wouldn't stand out. Poppy and Daniel seemed to have worked out a scene for their disguises. Poppy was a matador and Daniel was the bull. I definitely did question this, but since no one noticed them, I just let it slide. I didn't see Annette until I was deep inside the Great Hall. She was wearing a "black spider-man costume" is what she told me.
Later that night, I found Ginny, who was dressed as a cat, much to Ron's silent disapproval.
I, on the other hand, was dressed as the young maiden from The Warlock's Hairy Hear in The Tales of Beetle the Bard.
Ron walked up to me, and a small smile formed on his face.
"You look amazing," he muttered. I giggled slightly and looked down at my dress.
"What, this?" I replied, feeling a slight blush coming to my face. He chuckled and nodded. His face was inching towards mine, but he stopped when a hand was placed on his shoulder.
"Come on, mate," Daniel whispered to him. "We should get going."
I nodded, knowing what their plan was, and watched him as he left, midnight just minutes away.
"Excuse me?" a voice interrupted my thoughts, and I turned in the direction it was coming from.
"Yes?" I asked. There was a young woman I'd never seen before standing in front of me. I couldn't help but think…
"Are you Hermione Granger?" she asked in a light, innocent voice. It was almost too innocent…
"Yes," I answered, but right after the "s" left my lips, she struck me, the echo of the slap carrying through the whole hall, and I fell down onto the hard floor, hearing some gasps along the way.
I hit the floor with a bang, but I hastily searched for my wand, which was in my annoyingly high, scratchy boot.
She was quicker though, and my wand flew from my hand.
"What is going on here?" McGonagall projected throughout the hall as she stepped over to us. Other voices sounded too: Ron's and Harry's.
McGonagall stopped when she saw the sight and raised her wand. The woman tried to disarm her, but two arms around her arms stopped her. Poppy and Daniel had taken her wand from her hand and pulled her back a bit. Annette stepped quickly in and poured what appeared to be Veritaserum into her mouth. She stepped back until she was standing next to me. There was only silence before Ron spoke up.
"Theresa?"
She looked at him and began laughing.
"What is your name," Harry spoke in a sinister, quiet tone to her.
"Theresa," she replied, still struggling to get out of Poppy and Daniel's grasps.
"Name the escaped Death Eater," Harry ordered.
"Theresa," she answered. There were a few faint intakes of breaths around us, and I finally realized that her costume was not a costume. It was her uniform.
"Why did you attack Hermione?" Harry demanded one last time.
"Finish what the Dark Lord started," Theresa sputtered out and looked up at Ron, another wicked smile emerging onto her face.
"Take her to the Ministry," McGonagall said. "I'll be joining you in a few moments."
Harry nodded and led the way out of the Great Hall with his group following him.
"Are you alright, Ms. Granger?" she added. I nodded.
"Yes, thank you."
She nodded in return and focused back on the students all around her.
"If the prefects will please lead their house back to your dormitories, that would be greatly appreciated. I will be joining the aurors at the Ministry for the time being."
Then she faced me again and said, "I will have Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter inform you of what has happened tomorrow."
She then sauntered out of the Hall, and was seen no more that night.
A/N: YAY! Exciting chapter? No? Maybe? A lil bit? Anyways, I hope you liked it! Let me clear something up for you if you didn't understand: Theresa was the one threatening the teachers that there was an escaped Death Eater, but it was always her. She was, in a way, covering for herself. Got it? Awesome.
And, as always, thank you for the comments! Hah I don't like Theresa either, guiz!
That's why she's gone. Forever. Hopefully. Maybe. You'll see ;)
Next chapter coming soon!