A Deadly Snake And A Cowardly Lion
Harry and Hermione spent a happy Christmas Day in each others arms, and each felt lucky to be holding the other. Hermione received a lot of presents and she gave a lot back to Harry. All in all, it was an equally big pile for the both of them. Harry would have settled for just holding hands with Hermione if anyone had asked him. Christmas Day morning was spent in a snowball fight with members of the other houses, and Tori and Tracy came round to join in on Harry and Hermione's side. Dinner came and almost everyone ate in the great hall, though the normal house tables had been arranged so that they sat in a square rather then the normal rows of house tables. Harry, Hermione, Tracy and Tori where among the last to enter, and Harry and Hermione sat down at their converted house table, and then the two Slytherins did the same, sitting protectively in between several tough looking Gryffindors. Draco Malfoy was not pleased, and was deep into planning his next attack.
#
The New Year brought trouble, as Harry found to his distaste one morning in Potions.
"I see you are late" Snape said to a newcomer.
"Sorry, Professor Snape" Ron Weasley said, "Professor McGonagall was giving me some information and stuff" he added.
"Well sit down" Snape said, and the only space left as next to Hermione. Harry and his sister swapped places while Snape continued on tell the class about making a Forgetfulness Potion. All the times that Snape wasn't nearby, Ron kept whispering bad things, but for Hermione's sake Harry remained silent.
Harry had Quidditch practice three times an evening and Hermione came to see each and every one of them. Harry was the youngest person to play in over 100 years, and the only first year to play ever in over 75 years. Some people protested that Gryffindor was being given special treatment and they did have legitimate grounds for them. Harry didn't bother to listen to most of them, as he had other things on his mind. He soon made friends with all of the other members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and they told him about the 13 year losing streak to Slytherin. Harry and Hermione talked late into the night about it, and the next morning, seven Nimbus 2000 broomsticks came into the hall at breakfast time – a gift from Harry. Harry played freely with some of his money, and the mortgage on the Granger residence paid off in full, paid for a large garage to be built next to the house, and purchased a Leyland Olympian to fill it with. Hermione found this all funny but one thing surprised her a great deal. One Saturday evening a post Owl came towards Hermione and she plucked it out of the air before the Owl could land. It was good that Fred caught her when she nearly fainted from the gigantic shock she'd just received.
Gringotts Bank
London
Dear Miss Granger
As requested by Mr Harry Potter, you are now in possession of legal documents. This will allow you to take control of Mr Potter's money and estates should he die. Please find enclosed the relevant documents
Griphook
"Where's Harry?" Hermione asked weakly. Fred looked round but couldn't see him anywhere.
"I have no idea" he admitted, just at the same time that Hannah and Susan came over to the Gryffindor table.
"Why did we see Harry in company with Draco Malfoy and Ron Weasley?" asked Hannah.
"What?" Hermione said sharply.
"We just passed them near the trophy corridor" Susan said. "Odd thing was that they had their wands out". If Usain Bolt had been watching, then you would have seen him cry – his record had just been beaten. Hermione broke into a run and departed the hall and rushed to the corridor that the two Hufflepuffs had told her about. She could see the entrance in front of her but was thrown backwards by some kind of barrier. Hermione picked herself up and examined the barrier closely. It was a solid shield of inky blackness that Hermione could not pass through. Neither could any of the group of Hermione's and Harry's friends who had followed Hermione to the corridor.
"What is going on?" asked Neville.
"No idea" Hermione said, and filled some of them in on what she knew. Running feet made her turn to see Astoria come running towards them.
"Thank goodness I found you" she panted.
"Why?" came a collective question.
"Draco and Ron insulted Hermione and her name. They also insulted Hermione's honour by calling her a slut and a tart" Tori had the grace to actually blush while saying the bad words.
"So then what?" Fred asked.
"Harry was challenged to a duel, and he accepted them both at the same time" Tori said.
"What an idiot" Hermione muttered.
#
"Let's get this over with" Harry said simply. He was facing Draco Malfoy and Ron Weasley in the Trophy corridor. As they entered, Harry had the thought that Hermione might come to break this up, and he didn't want her to get hurt. Once through, a solid black wall appeared at both ends and it seemed to be some sort of shield. His two opponents must have known about it as they didn't look too nervous at the unbreakable wall.
"You worried, Potter?" Malfoy asked him.
"No" Harry said and Ron just laughed.
"You should be!" he smirked. "Two wizards against one weakling? This should be a walk in the park" Ron added.
"I might have known the magical world as long as you have, but I can do anything that you can do" Harry told them both.
"I do believe he means to fight us" Malfoy said to his companion.
"Let's teach the blood traitor some manners" Ron said, and then both began casting spells. Harry took the best option and dived out of the way and the spells only just missed him. He rolled and fired off a leg locker curse at Malfoy which hit his left leg, and the Slytherin was furious.
"Get him" he thundered at Ron.
"Right" the Weasley family member replied, and fired off something while Malfoy did the same. Harry was able to take one but the other one hit him squarely in the chest and sent him flying into the stone wall. Every nerve on Harry's back complained about the sudden burst of pain they each received, and the boy had to assume that his back might well have been broken. The spell binding Malfoy had worn off – somehow – and both he and Ron looked at Harry.
"You dead?" Malfoy asked, and then was surprised when Harry chuckled and then charged them both.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Harry said, and then punched Malfoy to the ground. Ron dived onto him, grabbed his head tightly, and thumped Harry in the back of the head just below the bottom of his skull. Harry instantly went totally limp and was thrown off the top of Draco Malfoy, and the blond boy got up to his feet. He and Ron looked down to see blood pouring out from Harry's nose and ears.
"Time for us to leave" Malfoy said, noting that the shield was going. They left from the other end just before Hermione and the others came in.
#
"He is in so much trouble" Hermione growled. "I'm going to give him a piece of my mind" she added.
"LOOK!" pointed the Patil twins. Hermione spun to see the shield come down, and she raced in. she didn't see Harry until the girl looked down on the floor.
"Oh shit…" Hermione swore. She rushed to Harry's side and saw the blood flowing from his nose and ears.
"GET POMFREY AND MCGONAGALL!" Fred shouted, and all the followers left to get the nurse and headmistress. Hermione sat on the floor and cradled Harry's head in her lap.
"Can you hear me?" she whispered to him, "Say something Harry" Hermione pleaded with him. She remained like that until Madam Pomfrey came hurrying to the scene. She paled as she saw Harry's state and the nurse got to work pouring something down Harry's neck and then after doing some interesting pieces of magic, she put Harry onto a stretcher and took him away. Hermione watched as they left as she remained to answer McGonagall's questions. The headmistress asked the Weasley twins and Neville to take Hermione back to Gryffindor tower to rest for a while, but Hermione had other ideas.
"That's not the way to go home" Neville said nervously.
"I'm not going back to the tower" Hermione said.
"Then where?" asked the Weasley twins.
"I am going snake hunting" Hermione said grimly, and walked in silence to the Slytherin common room door. She tried to open it, but she was unable to do so.
Give the correct answer the guardian said. Hermione was furious by now, and she snapped.
"GET! OUT! OF! MY! WAY!" and the door exploded into a million tiny pieces, and the Weasleys and Neville looked at each other in stunned silence – Hermione hadn't drawn her wand at all. Hermione scrambled over the debris and entered the common room with fire in her eyes. The other three stood by the entrance hole as back up to her – assuming she needed it after that performance.
"What do you want?" sneered a Slytherin.
"I want you to shut up" Hermione said, and the Slytherin's mouth was covered with something that looked like tape. "Now then" she said, "Where is that excuse for a human being, Draco Malfoy?" she asked. Nobody answered her question so Hermione looked herself. She went into the first year boys dorm – after opening the door correctly – and she stormed in to find Malfoy sitting on his bed.
"Get out" he said.
"No!" Hermione said, "YOU GET UP!" she roared and Hermione draw her wand and thought about ropes. With that thought in mind, ropes sprung forth from her wand and tied the blond haired idiot like a trussed up chicken. "You foul and evil piece of humanity" Hermione said to him, and gave him a kick in the ribs – was that a bone breaking?
"You need help?" asked George from the doorway.
"I want to take him to McGonagall" Hermione said.
"I'll do it" George replied, and the tied up Slytherin floated into the air and left the dorm. After leaving the astonished Slytherins behind them, Hermione, Fred and Neville returned to Gryffindor. They found McGonagall waiting for them, and she had an unreadable facial expression.
"Mr Weasley is in his dorm and refuses to come out" she said, "Madam Pomfrey is working on your brother as we speak" she added, looking at Hermione. Hermione nodded and then looked around to see anger in the faces of all of the Gryffindors present.
"What is going to happen to our brother?" asked Fred.
"I have confined him to the tower for what he has done" McGonagall replied. "But he will not come for me to tell him in person, and the door will not open either" and George smiled.
"Allow us" he grinned, and he looked at his brother. "We can't use the door, so let us go in through the window" and Fred nodded. They picked up the brooms which they had left in the common room and flew out of the tower. A second later and the pair had reached the window.
"If I point my broom towards the window" Fred said, "Then you can open the window and allow me to zoom right inside" and it sounded a good plan.
"Right" his brother agreed. The two got into position and George opened the window using magic. Fred kicked his Nimbus 2000 into forward flight and raced inside the first year dorm. Ron had turned to see them just in time to be knocked off his feet by Fred on the broom. The two struggled as George came in and unlocked the door to the dorm. It swung open and what seemed like most of Gryffindor came pouring in to lend assistance. No magic was used to subdue a struggling Ronald Weasley – it was a good old fashioned slug fest. With the sheer amount of numbers the resistance was brief and the red haired boy was being held by his arms and legs by pair of students to each extremity. McGonagall swept into the room and looked at Ron.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" she asked him.
"I only hope that that dickhead is going to die!" Ron said.
"Shut it" said Dean and shoved a sock into Ron's mouth.
"Thank you, Mr Thomas" McGonagall said, "Ten points to Gryffindor" and she really meant it. She looked back down at Ron and considered the options of what she could do. "I am suspending you again, but am not saying when or if you may return. An Auror is on the way to escort you to your home. Until that happens, you will be kept under watch by the students holding you" and with that she left the room.
"I am disgusted with you" Percy said, and he left the room with anger and disgust written over his face. Downstairs, Hermione was being comforted by the girls from her dorm plus Astoria Greengrass. McGonagall went over and spoke in low tones to her, and after putting an arm around her, Hermione was led out of the dorm.
"I hope Harry is going to be alright" Neville said.
"I do to" Percy said, and then looked round to see that Fred had appeared nearby.
"We've tied him up" he reported.
"Good" Percy said, and then seemed to consider something. "If Ron resists, you have my permission to shoot him" he added.
"Right" Fred nodded and went to tell the jailers the good news.
#
Hermione went as white as a sheet when she saw Harry lying pathetically on the bed. The blood had stopped pouring from his ears and nose which the girl took to be a good sign, and she asked Pomfrey what she had done.
"I have stopped the bleeding, healed his broken back and done the same for his legs" Pomfrey said.
"I didn't see any break" Hermione said, keeping her eyes on Harry.
"He most likely didn't feel it himself as he was running on adrenalin whilst fighting Misters Malfoy and Weasley" Pomfrey replied. Hermione speak for a few moments as she tried to come to terms with what had happened.
"Why isn't he awake?" she asked, "Did you give him a sleeping potion?" and Pomfrey shook her head sadly.
"Whatever I do will not work on him" she told Hermione, "There is only so much I can do with magic potions and spells, but brain injuries are the one thing that I can not heal. Not even a full hospital could do anything" Pomfrey paused, "The only thing I can do is to make Harry comfortable and…" the sentence was left unfinished.
"Harry will get better, I know he will!" Hermione said fiercely.
"I hope that you are right" Pomfrey said, "I hope that you are right". The nurse returned to her office and Hermione pulled up a chair and held Harry's hand in her own two hands.
"You're stupid to have done this" she said through the tears running down her face from her glistening eyes. "Why didn't you tell a teacher or something?" she asked, and Harry made no answer of course. Being the smart person she was, Hermione knew all about people in comas and she read a book from the Famous Five series – one of his favourite book series. She begged and pleaded with McGonagall to not tell their parents about the incident, and the headmistress agreed. That battle was much easier then the one that she faced with Draco Malfoy's father.
#
"It is good that you was able to come here so quickly, Mr Malfoy" McGonagall said to the man sat across the desk. Lucius Malfoy was tall with blond hair, dressed in dark robes and had a walking stick type of cane with him. During the Dark War with Voldemort, he had been one of his most loyal followers but escaped justice by saying that Voldemort had placed curses on him which made him do the dark deeds he had been accused of.
"Where my son is involved, I am always quick to respond" Lucius Malfoy said.
"Yes" McGonagall said under her breath. "I hope you understand the seriousness of the allegations your son faces" she said out aloud.
"I understand that Draco got into an argument with another boy" Lucius said calmly.
"He did more then that" McGonagall said, "He helped to severely injure the pupil in question" she added.
"From what I have been told, it was the other pupil's fault" Malfoy senior said. McGonagall counted to ten in Latvian before answering.
"The boy in question was Harry Potter" she revealed, and Lucius Malfoy's eyes widened a few millimetres at the news. "And he was only defending the name of a fellow pupil and housemate" McGonagall added. "And if you want to blame anyone, I would blame your son. He has insulted Mr Potter and Miss Granger – the person insulted – since the first day they arrived here. He has constantly used the term 'Mudblood' in her presence, and takes every chance to remind her that she is a muggle born witch" and Lucius Malfoy considered options for a moment before replying.
"Perhaps, but that does not excuse the fact Mr Potter attacked my son" he said.
"YOUR SON ATTACKED MR POTTER FIRST, YOU STUPID IDIOT!" McGonagall roared, making several pupils who passed the entrance to the spiral staircase flinch in horror. Minerva McGonagall almost never shouted at anyone at all, not even the Weasley twins. "HARRY POTTER IS LYING IN THE HOSPITAL WING WITH BRAIN DAMAGE AND MIGHT NOT FULLY RECOVER, YOU FLAMMING TWIT!" and McGonagall felt a bit better after that outburst. When Dumbledore had been around, the most either Draco or Ron would get was detention or points deducted – but that had now changed now she was Headmistress.
"I think that you should calm down, Minerva" Lucius said.
"Don't tell me to calm down" McGonagall spat back. "You son attacked first, I have had the scene scanned by an Auror, and your son had somebody with him. Although your son didn't do the worst of the injuries, he was the one who broke Mr Potter's back. According to the Auror, Mr Potter only used spells that could be learnt from a first year book. The worst he did was to use a leg locking curse. Your son used a banishing spell to slam Mr Potter into a heavy stone wall" McGonagall paused so that she could keep calm.
"What will Draco's punishment be?" asked Lucius. "Point deduction and detentions for a month?" he added with the air of someone who was confident that he would be winning the argument.
"Right now, your son is in his house dorm and packing his things" the headmistress.
"I beg your pardon" Lucius said, clearly surprised at what she had said.
"You have to do my then just beg to get my pardon, Lucius Malfoy" McGonagall said. "You son has been suspended from Hogwarts until Mr Potter is awake" and Mr Malfoy was startled by that news. His face turned red with anger, and fury flashed over his sculptured features.
"You can not do that" he hissed, "I'll go to the governors and appeal" Lucius added, "I'll do everything in my power to stop Draco from being suspended" and McGonagall rose from her seat dramatically.
"Lucius Malfoy! I do not care if you are the Minister for Magic and have a note from God. Your son has been suspended and you will take him from here at once" McGonagall looked her opponent in the eye and he looked back. "You may leave" she added. Lucius Malfoy left the office promising the woman that she had not heard the last of this.
#
Hermione rose from her bed, showered and dressed in her uniform robes. She was persuaded to eat breakfast by her friends who said it wouldn't help Harry if she was not eating. After eating something that her friends passed as acceptable, Hermione left to go to the Hospital Wing and see if there was any improvement. When the girl got there, she was surprised to see Seamus sitting next to Harry's bed with his held bowed down as if he was sleeping. She knew he wasn't because he was fiddling with beads on a string and was muttering something in hushed and low tones. Hermione stood off until he had stopped muttering to come near them. Seamus looked round to see Hermione and he stood up to offer her the chair.
"You sure?" she asked, sitting down.
"Yeah" the boy replied, "Been sat down for an hour and a half" Seamus added.
"What were you doing just now?" Hermione asked Seamus. The boy hesitated for a moment before answering.
"I'm muggle born" he said, "Dads a wizard and apparently it took her a fait bit to get over the whole burn at the stake thing" Seamus shrugged. "My mother is a member of the catholic church, and goes every Sunday for mass and everything. I wasn't into that sort of thing, but she gave me this before I left home for here" and he showed her some prayer beads. "I just left them in my trunk but after finding out about Harry, I thought that it couldn't hurt to try a little prayer" and Hermione was stunned at his thoughtfulness.
"What was you muttering?" she asked.
"Last Rites" Seamus answered, "And before you say it, it can help to heal wounds as well what it is normally associated with" and Hermione hugged Seamus.
"Thank you" she whispered.
"Save it for Harry" Seamus replied, and Hermione giggled for a moment. After a minute or so, Seamus left to go to get the last bit of breakfast that might be left, and Hermione held Harry's hand in her own hands and talked to him about the upcoming match that he was supposed to be playing in later that month. A little while before lessons began, Madam Pomfrey had to tear her away from her brother and boyfriend and tell her to go to lessons. Al that day she thought about Harry and hoped that he would get better soon. Hermione also hoped that Harry's brain had not sustained any damage or at least be able to heal if it had.
#
"What happened?" Harry asked, eyes snapping open wide.
A/N:
Another exciting chapter for you to enjoy, and I hope that you liked it very much.
References: there are at least two references to the first film embedded somewhere in this chapter… see if you can spot them! There is also a reference to the TV film "Hornblower" which might be a bit harder. The last reference is from the book Star Trek: Doctor's Orders. This has been modified to fit the wizarding world, but it still works will enough I think.
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A lot of things happen here that have turned this story round on its head, and I hope you liked it. McGonagall is more vocal now that she is headmistress and I always thought that Dumbledork held her back from punishing some students for whatever reason. Now she is in charge, she do the right thing!
The chapter title might confuse some people and that is understandable. The deadly snake is of course Malfoy, and the cowardly lion is Ron. The cowardly lion is because a lion attacks face to face with its enemies but Ron hits Harry from behind. The lion and snake are the symbols of Gryffindor and Slytherin.
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