Chapter 36
Red Alert
Author's Note: So I saw Deathly Hallows Part 2! Amazing movie! Look for my review at the end of this chapter! I'll say this right now though. I loved all the Ron/Hermione moments! So cute! This chapter starts a few minutes before the last chapter ended.
(Ron's PoV)
Ron and Harry were taking a well-deserved break in the locker room after a thoroughly difficult morning. Allison was so impressed by their rumble with the robot, and she wanted to see if they could do more. She had discovered how talented they were on brooms, and the next challenge she assigned them was to duel each other in mid-air while on broomsticks. Ron and Harry flew around the training room and sent spells back and forth to each other for a good ten minutes before a well-aimed spell by Harry made Ron lose control of his broomstick and he was sent crashing into the ground. Ron wasn't badly injured but he was sure he'd have bruises the next morning.
"Mad, that woman is," Ron muttered, taking a large gulp from his bottle of butterbeer, "And to think... I thought she was rather attractive at first."
"I believe there is a common phrase for that," Harry said, grinning, "You can't judge a book by its cover."
"You sound like Hermione," Ron said, "We're talking about women here, not books."
"That is not what I meant," Harry said, "I – oh, nevermind. But I'll say this for Allison, she's a whole lot better than Shippe."
"Better?" Ron asked, "She's completely mental. Setting that metal piece of junk on us? Making us duel each other on broomsticks? She's going to kill us before we become Aurors... yeah, Harry, she's a lot better than Shippe!"
"I just meant that she isn't a bleeding traitor," Harry said.
"I'm glad you think so," a voice said.
Harry and Ron turned. Allison was standing at the end of the row of lockers.
"Like I said earlier," Allison said, as she walked toward Ron and Harry. "I am very impressed with the both of you. You outrank everyone of your peers and even Aurors who have been in the field for years. I read your file, Mr. Potter. You could be an Auror already, but you enlisted in the training program. Why is that?"
"Maybe I wanted to prove to myself that I am as impressive as you think I am," Harry said.
Allison laughed, mirthlessly.
"I seriously doubt that, Mr. Potter," she said, "You won the Triwizard Tournament. You defeated the most powerful Dark Lord the world has ever known. Is that not impressive to you?"
Ron had to admit. Allison had a good point. She knew what she was talking about.
"No, Mr. Potter," Allison said, "I think I know why you joined the training program. Your best friend, Mr. Weasley here, enlisted the same day as you."
"What is wrong with that?" Ron asked.
"You are probably wondering, Ron," Allison said, "Why I put you and Harry against each other on broomsticks earlier. Is that right?"
"It was on my mind," Ron said, shrugging.
"I put you two against each other," Allison said, "Because I feel like you two seem to be trying to help each other through the training program. You two seem to be inseperable."
"You said it earlier," Harry asked, "We're best friends."
"That may be," Allison said, "But sometimes that could be a bad thing. You two are limiting yourselves. You are not proving just how great an Auror you can become."
"What happened to us being impressive?" Ron asked.
"You're impressive as a pair," Allison asked, "But I haven't had a chance to see how impressive you are while you are not assisting each other. So, starting tomorrow, I am assigning both of you to different training partners. Only then can I see your true potential as future Aurors. I'm sure this has come to some shock for you, so you two can have the rest of the day off to prepare."
Allison smiled, turned around and walked back down the aisle.
"She's mental!" Ron said, "She can't do this!"
"She's our trainer, Ron," Harry said, "I think she can. Besides, I have a feeling this is only temporary."
"Temporary?" Ron asked.
"Until now, we haven't been told what our test is for this month," Harry said, "Allison did say we were the most impressive out of everyone in the program. So we have a different test than everyone else."
"So you think Allison is testing us?" Ron asked.
Before Harry could speak, he was interrupted by a distant voice.
"Hello?" a very familiar voice said, "Is anyone there?"
Harry and Ron turned.
"Is that Hermione?" Harry asked.
"I think so," Ron said, jumping up.
Before Harry could say anything more, Ron was running toward the direction of Hermione's voice. Before long, he found himself at the fireplace. Hermione's head was in the roaring fire.
"Ron!" Hermione said, "Thank goodness."
"Hermione?" Ron asked, as he heard Harry's footsteps behind him, "What's wrong?"
"I'm at the Surejan Dragon Reserve," Hermione said, "I think we're under attack! There's smoke coming from over the hill."
"What can we do?" Harry asked.
"We need help," Hermione said, "We tried to contact the Auror office, but nobody answered."
"We should tell Allison," Harry said.
"Are you mad?" Ron asked, "I don't trust her enough for this."
"What are you going to do then?" Hermione asked, "Because it needs to be quick."
"Harry and I will go," Ron said.
"I can't ask you to skip your training," Hermione said.
"We were given the rest of the day off," Harry said, "I agree with Ron. We'll go, Hermione."
"Okay," Hermione said, "But hurry!"
Hermione's head disappeared from the fire.
"Do you think we should Apparate?" Harry asked.
"It'll take too long to get to the Apparation-Safe area in the Atrium," Ron said, "Besides, the Surejan Dragon Reserve is where Charlie works, and he told me you can't apparate into the Reserve. We'll have to take the Floo Network. It should be open since Hermione was able to use it to contact us. I'll go first."
Before Harry could reply, Ron grabbed the bag of Floo Powder from on top of the fireplace, grabbed a handful of the powder, and walked into the fireplace.
"Surejan Dragon Reserve!" Ron said, clearly.
Ron closed his eyes as he was lifted off of his feet. After half-a-minute of spinning and twisting, he landed on solid ground. He opened his eyes and walked into the dust and debris. When the dust cleared, he saw Hermione standing in a small room with a couple of wizards. One was looking through a window, while the other was sitting in a chair, looking absolutely terrified.
"Harry will be here in a moment," Ron said.
"Harry?" the man in the chair asked, "Harry Potter? Oh thank Merlin, we're saved."
"Who are you?" Ron asked the man.
"This is Brady, Ron," Hermione said, "My boss."
"Interesting bloke," Ron muttered, low enough for only Hermione to hear.
Hermione cleared her throat.
"Brady," she said, "This is Ron, my fiancee."
"Pleasure to meet you," Brady said, though he did not look at either Ron or Hermione.
Suddenly, the window behind Ron and Hermione exploded. Without hesitation, Ron pulled Hermione onto the ground, narrowly dodging the shards of glass flying around them. Before Ron could look up to see what had happened, he was surrounded by a plume of dust and debris.
"Hello?" Harry's voice came out from near the fireplace, "Ron? Hermione? Where are you?"
"Harry!" Ron said, "Get down!"
A moment later, Ron heard a brief thud and Harry was crawling over toward him and Hermione.
"What in the bloody hell is going on?" he asked.
"A window just exploded!" Ron said, "I haven't had the chance yet to see what else is going on."
"Oh no!" Hermione moaned.
Ron immediately turned around. Hermione was kneeling over the man who had been standing by the window. Several deep cuts along the man's face and body told Ron that the man was now deceased.
"Do you know his name?" Ron asked.
"Basil," Hermione said, softly, "He was one of the security here. He was ordered to look after Brady and I."
The dust and debris cleared and Ron walked over to the window. He peered out of it. In the distance he saw green and red spells flying toward a large group of witches and wizards who were running toward the buildings. No – not running – fleeing. Hermione and Harry stood next to Ron and looked out the window.
"Oh no," Hermione moaned again, "Those are the dragon trainers who were headed over the hill towards the smoke.
"Looks like they met up with some opposition," Ron said.
Suddenly, Ron noticed a very familiar ginger-haired wizard exchanging spells with his pursuers.
"Charlie," he muttered.
Without hesitation, Ron ran for the door, ignoring Hermione and Harry as they called out his name. He ran out the door and headed through a group of wizards who were trying to head for safety.
"Protect the dragons!" one wizard said, "They're after the dragons!"
"Forget the dragons!" a panicky witch yelled, "Save yourselves!"
Ron ignored the screaming and yelling. He was only focused on getting to his brother.
"You – will – not – take – the – dragons!" Charlie bellowed, each word separated by another spell he cast at the incoming opposition.
Only a brave few had stayed with Charlie to help hold off the enemy. Now that Ron had gotten a good look at the opposition, it seemed there were at least three dozen of them, outnumbering the force that were trying to hold them off by at least two-to-one.
"Protego!" Ron yelled, pointing his wand toward Charlie, as a number of spells headed his way.
To Ron's surprise, the shield was more powerful than he intended: the spell had actually forced a number of the opposition to stumble back onto the ground. When Harry and Hermione joined by his side, he realized what had happened. All three of them had done the same spell, combining the force.
"Ron?" Charlie asked, turning around momentarily to see where the spells had come from, "What are you doing here?"
"Hermione contacted us through the Floo Network," Ron said, "Said you had a bit of trouble on your hands. Harry and I came to help."
"It's Potter!" a wizard on the opposing side bellowed.
Suddenly, the opposing side had stopped running toward them, and this caught Ron off guard. What had stopped them?
"Well?" a witch said in the group, "Let's nab him! He'd be an added bonus to our treasure!"
"No!" bellowed the wizard who recognized Harry, "You know our orders. Retreat at once!"
One by one, the opposing witches and wizards all disappeared with resounding cracks of Apparation.
"What the bloody hell?" Ron asked, "Where did they go?"
"They must have disabled the Apparation barriers," Charlie said, "But the question isn't where, Ron, it is why did they go? They outnumbered us greatly. They could have taken us all down and kidnapped the dragons easily."
"Harry," Hermione said.
"What?" Harry asked.
"No," Hermione said, "They mentioned you, Harry. Something about orders. It was like you weren't part of their plan."
"That hag seemed eager to nab him," Ron said.
"Then why didn't she try?" Harry asked, "Charlie said it. They could have taken you all down."
"I think they weren't prepared for that," Hermione said.
"Well, then," Charlie said, "You scared them off, Harry. If you didn't, we wouldn't have had a chance. Thanks for that."
Hermione still seemed doubtful.
"Now, if you'll excuse me," Charlie said, "I need to round up my crew and make sure the dragons are all safe. Hermione, I think you better make sure your boss is okay. He seemed out of his wits when I saw him last."
"I'm glad you think of me so greatly," Brady muttered behind them, causing everyone to turn. "I see you scared them off. Nice one."
"Yes, well, I better get going," Charlie said.
Charlie seemed eager to avoid Brady, and Ron was beginning to agree with him. There was something about Brady he didn't like. In fact, if Ron wasn't seeing things, Brady seemed to be looking back and forth between him and Hermione.
"Well, Hermione," Brady said, "It doesn't seem as if the Romanian Ministry of Magic were even going to come today. It seems those... whoever they were... were the ones who sent the letter announcing the arrival of the Romanians. I'm going to finish up here, but I think it'd be all right if you had the rest of the day off."
"Are you sure, Brady?" Hermione asked.
"You've done enough for today," Brady said, "See you tomorrow."
Brady walked away, without another word.
"Nice bloke," Ron commented.
Ron noticed that Hermione looked rather distraught about something.
"Is something wrong?" he asked her.
"No," Hermione said, shaking her head, then sighed, "Maybe. I don't know... I'll tell you later."
"Well, I think we need an early lunch after this," Harry said, "My house. I'll even make something myself."
"You can cook?" Ron asked, skeptically.
"Your sister had the same exact reaction the first time she caught me cooking," Harry said, grinning, "Come on. We should go before the apparation barrier closes again."
Ron took Hermione and Harry's hands and all three apparated to Harry's house at the same time.
"Ginny's probably going to be training late," Harry said, as he led Ron and Hermione into the house, "Big game on Saturday."
"That's right," Ron said, "Puddlemere United, I almost forgot."
Ron followed Hermione and Harry into the small kitchen. Harry started cooking up something that, in his words, was going to be a "surprise". Ron and Hermione sat at the table, and Ron couldn't help but notice that Hermione looked awfully distracted. Hermione caught his glance and shook her head. Ron took that as "I don't want to talk about it around Harry." The problem was... Ron didn't know exactly what Hermione was not wanting to talk about.
"So what do you think those evil blokes wanted with the dragons?" Harry asked, as he turned on the stove.
"Probably planning on using them in a future attack," Ron said, "We can't ignore the possibility of an attack now."
"We can't," Hermione said, "But I'm sure the Ministry will. You wait and see, there will be nothing about this in the Daily Prophet tomorrow."
"I wouldn't be surprised if your friend, Brady, is being hounded not to say anything as we speak," Harry said.
Hermione nodded but said nothing. Harry set a frying pan on the stove and put something in it. Ron heard the sound of grease bubbling and cracking in the pan. Harry sighed and turned to Ron and Hermione, temporarily ignoring the pan.
"So are we just going to ignore the fact that my name was brought up by some evil blokes?" he asked, his voice a little louder than normal, "And that somewhere along the line, their plan is to kidnap me?"
"Harry," Hermione said, sighing.
"What, Hermione?" Harry asked, his temper rising, "You expect me to not say anything about it? Apparently I'm the target once again for a group of wizards who looked like they could rival the Death Eaters, and are probably planning some kind of attack that we know nothing about! Do you think I should just ignore that?"
"Of course not, Harry!" Hermione cried, "I wasn't saying that."
"You weren't saying anything," Harry said, "That's the problem."
"Don't you have a go at her!" Ron snarled.
"No, Ron," Hermione said, reaching a hand over to Ron's and covering it, which calmed down Ron greatly, "He's right. We shouldn't ignore this. We learned some troubling news today. You're still a target, Harry, even after the fact that Voldemort is gone. Now we just have to find out who they were."
"Can't the Auror department do that?" Ron asked, "We have enough on our plates at the moment."
"I don't think so, Ron," Hermione said, "If we tell the Ministry about this, they'll probably accuse us of rumor-mongering."
"They can't do that!" Ron said, "Not with the witnesses we have. My brother, Charlie, for one."
"That's just it, Ron," Hermione said, "The Ministry will end up with some half-baked theory that we are starting rumors, and have brought Charlie into it as well. Even if we bring in Charlie's co-workers as witnesses, the Ministry will end up saying that we made Charlie tell his co-workers to say what we want them to say."
"That's completely rubbish!" Ron said.
"She's right, Ron," Harry said, "If we brought it up, we'd probably be in trouble, even if it is true. We don't need anymore trouble than what we are already dealing with at the Ministry already."
"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked, looking from Harry to Ron.
"Our trainer decided to split us up," Ron said, "We're not training partners anymore."
"Why?" Hermione asked.
"Apparently," Harry said, "Allison has translated 'best friends as partners' into 'helping each other get through the training program'."
"Basically she thinks we're cheating," Ron said.
Hermione only grinned, which surprised Ron.
"What's that?" Ron asked, pointing to the grin, "You think Allison is right, don't you?""
"Have you forgotten how much time I spent with you in classes at Hogwarts?" Hermione asked, "I know you cheat."
"That's different," Ron said, "Harry's not the best person to copy answers off of. You are."
"Thanks for that, mate," Harry said, sarcastically, returning back to the frying pan.
Hermione gave Ron a look that clearly said "you deserved that." Ron didn't know how to respond, so he said the only thing he could think of.
"So, what's for lunch?" he asked.
Ron and Hermione returned home a couple hours after their lunch with Harry (which turned out to be breakfast food, much to Ron's confusion. Breakfast for lunch?). When they arrived, an owl was perched on the windowsill in the living room. Hermione took the scroll of parchment from the owl, and the owl flew off. She opened it, and read silently. Ron just watched her eyes, wondering what she was reading.
"It's from Brady," Hermione said. "It seems the Romanian Wizengamot and our Wizengamot are quarreling over who has the rights for homeland advantage in the escaped dragon case. It looks like the Britain Wizengamot gets the case, but the Romanians will have half of their Wizengamot join ours. Brady's on the defense, so I'll have to be there, I guess. It takes place next Monday."
"Sounds exciting," Ron said.
Hermione nodded.
"Speaking of Brady," Ron said, "Are you going to tell me what was bothering you about him earlier?"
"It's not too bad," Hermione said. "Please don't overreact when I tell you, okay?"
"I'll try," Ron said, slowly.
"I think Brady was trying to flirt with me today," Hermione said.
She paused for a moment, as if checking Ron's reaction.
"Go on," Ron said.
"It's nothing really," Hermione continued, "We were hiking in a mountain range for two hours, just to get to the reserve. Well, he kept trying to help me over fallen tree logs and stuff like that, and kept giving me these glances. I tried to tell him about... you know, you and me... but something always seemed to interrupt us. Finally, it was brought up, except it was Charlie who brought it up. Brady's acted different ever since he found out."
Ron grinned, and Hermione raised her eyebrows, which only made Ron grin more.
"What?" Hermione demanded, "Tell me what you're thinking!"
"I'm not the least surprised that Brady has a crush on you," Ron said, "I'd be offended if he didn't!"
"You're kidding," Hermione said.
"Look at you," Ron said, "Your absolutely beautiful. It'd be mental for anyone who just met you not to fancy you."
Hermione blushed.
"So, you mean you're not jealous?" she asked, "Or mad?"
"No!" Ron laughed, "Why should I be?"
"I don't know," Hermione said, "It's just you. You're known to... react and get jealous like that. Krum, for example. I know how jealous you were during the Yule Ball. Of course, then, I thought it was for different reasons."
Ron laughed again.
"Hermione, that was when you weren't my girlfriend or fiancee," he said, "Back then I thought I lost you, and that is why I was jealous. I have no reason to be jealous now."
Without warning, Hermione pounced on Ron and kissed him fully on the lips.
"And what was that for?" Ron asked, grinning.
"I'm so relieved," Hermione said, "I was afraid to tell you cause I thought for sure you'd be mad at me."
"Actually, I'd feel very bad if I got mad at you for that," Ron said.
"Why?" Hermione asked.
"I'm kind of guilty of the same thing," Ron said, "I think Allison's been trying to flirt with me."
"Your new trainer?" Hermione asked, then smirked, "Is she cute?"
"I've seen cuter," Ron said, grinning.
Hermione kissed Ron again.
"Good answer," she said.
-
Weird place to finish, but I thought it was okay. Wow, as I was writing this, I was thinking... I have a long ways to go with my story... I want to end it sometime around the start of the new year (in the story), and with perhaps some epilogue chapters months later... and it is only the second week of September in my story. This could take forever!
Anyway, hope you liked the chapter! Reviews would be wonderful!
Oh yes, my Deathly Hallows Part 2 review.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 - 9.7/10
I need to see it again before I go into too much detail, but here we go:
An epic finale. Loved just about every bit of it and my complaints are too minor to be too important. Prince's Tale was amazaing, Snape's death was chilling, King's Cross was BRILLIANT, Aberforth's Tale was wonderful, Epilogue was cute, and I loved Ron and Hermione's kiss in the Chamber of Secrets.
The only two things I have complaints about at the moment are:
1) The Gray Lady... while I loved the dialogue in the scene, her floating around everywhere was so very much distracting.
2) The 19 Years Later text... I wish it had more of a Harry Potter font to it... I basically raised my eyebrows at it. It looked weird. I know it is weird for me to hate this, but... I dunno, I guess I just do.
Overall, brilliant film, great acting all around, simply gorgeous visual effects and Cinematography.