Full moon madness

Just basically trying to get the story moving again. Still trying to work out some kinks in the Umbridge takeover plot but it's going relatively the way I wanted it to go. Got a few ideas of things I can do with it. The story should be winding down soon, I know I haven't talked much about some of the other couples but the main focus was always going to be Scabior and Hermione. Will probably use the companion pieces story to post some stories of the other couples.

After Fen and the boys left for the hunting grounds, Hermione suddenly found herself with more guards than the Muggle royal family had. Literally the only place she was allowed to go, by herself was the loo and she still had the company of the other girls, unless she was actually taking a bath. Every house got in on the guard duty, up to and including Slytherin, much to the surprise of everyone except Mike, Alexander and Severus.

Finally, she put her foot down. "Listen, I'm NOT a fragile, little China doll! I will not break if I don't have a guard with me all day every day! I know Mikey was worried about me being alone while he's gone but I am perfectly fine! You don't need to hover over me constantly! I won't break that easily!" she snapped at Harry and Ron, who were the two that had hovered the most.

"Listen, Hermione. We just want to be sure that Umbridge doesn't get a chance to get her mitts on you. You know that's Mikey's biggest fear. He knows, as bad as she hates him and Alex, you and Victoria are her biggest targets. She knows hurting the two of you is the surest way to hurt them. Haven't you noticed Victoria getting the same treatment?" Harry laughed. Hermione's eyes widened and she glanced at Vicky, who nodded at her.

"Yep, they've been doing the same thing with me. Why do you think I've been following you around?" Vicky laughed as well. Hermione conceded the point. After all, Mikey had as good as told her that was his greatest fear after he had collapsed in Defense. He'd not wanted HER to tell Umbridge he couldn't attend detention, he'd wanted her to send his dad, she remembered that now. He'd been afraid Umbridge would try to hurt her. Had it not been for his dad taking her 'detention', Umbridge WOULD have, she'd been prepared to send Hermione a good ways up a rickety ladder, possibly leading to a fall and miscarriage.

Just then a note floated down in front of Hermione, inviting her to the Headmistress's office. It seemed the Minister of Magic and his fiancée wanted to visit with her. She sat up straight with excitement. Surely they had found something! That had to be why they were here. She quickly explained what she'd been doing so much research on the past month or so.

"But, Hermione, if they repeal the law, then some of the people already matched won't want to go through with the wedding. If they're already married, they'll want to break their vows and bonds. What then?" Ron asked.

"If they can break their bond that easily, then they weren't a good match to start with." Hermione reasoned.

"The matches that are meant to be will hold together." Harry said firmly, knowing why Ron had raised that particular doubt. He still doubted that Mikey was going to honor his vows to Hermione. Harry knew that was a ridiculous thing to doubt, all anyone had to do was watch how intently Mikey watched Hermione to know, there was not a chance in hell of him NOT marrying her. He hated that Ron was still trying to drive them apart.

He needed to worry more about himself and Parvati than anyone else. Also he needed to worry more about making peace with Malfoy for the sake of their fiancée than anything. If Harry knew the twins as well as he thought he did, they would NOT put up with their husbands constantly clashing and fighting!

Hermione and Victoria went to McGonagall's office, with Harry and Ron trailing behind them. As they gave the password, they tried to figure out what it was they might have discovered about Umbridge. McGonagall bid them to enter and they walked in to see her, Shacklebolt and Amelia sipping tea and nibbling biscuits.

"Hermione, dear, how are you? I'm sure you and Miss Samms, is it? You both remember Amelia Thompson, right?" Kingsley proudly re-introduced Amelia to the girls. They shook hands with her enthusiastically.

"Have you found anything here, Hermione?" asked Kingsley.

"Not much but I DID receive a surprising bit of advice and a warning. Mr. Filch told me that she communicates daily with someone at the Ministry, he's heard her talking to them. He also told me that she's got it out for me, Harry, Mikey, Alex and Fen. She wants rid of me and Harry for fifth year. She's angry that Fen was released and thinks the boys should have GONE to Azkaban." Hermione reported.

"Well, we have found out quite a bit on our end. We possibly might be able to get the marriage law overturned and send both Umbridge and Runcorn to Azkaban for use of Unforgivables and illegally voting in an unnecessary law." Kingsley told them. He told them everything he and Amelia had found out.

"Just practice caution a little longer, Hermione. I know it irks you that everyone wants to wrap you up in cotton balls but this is a dangerous pair we are dealing with. At the same time, I know we also have a dangerous pair. Frankly, I think our pair is more dangerous, which is why I'm glad WE have them." He smiled as he remembered some of those boys' wilder exploits. "I know they're gone for the full moon this week but I think it'll take longer than a week to get things set into motion anyway. I think the earliest we can expect to get anything done is November or December. There might be some unhappy people in the next few months who are already married or about to be but I can't guarantee anything earlier than November."

Hermione sighed. She could deal with it for a while longer, she SUPPOSED. It would be easier when Mikey got back because he liked spending as much time with her as he could. He'd already told her, before he left, that when he got back, he was going to try to steel himself to show her his Voldemort memories. Those were going to be the hardest ones for him to talk about because they also involved her. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too hard on him, though, because she had a few of her own from that time to share with HIM. So basically, this time, they would both need to talk and help each other heal. As she thought about it, she realized this would show her what had happened at the Manor. Draco had told them he had been repeatedly hit by the Imperio and the Crucio. She was, quite frankly, not sure that she was even ready to see them, much less make him relive the whole experience.

"Amelia, we're planning to have a baby/bridal shower soon for Hermione. It would be wonderful to have you there. What do you say?" Vicky asked Amelia eagerly.

Amelia smiled. "I'd love to be there. When you decide the time and day or evening, owl me. I'll be sure to be here."

Hermione was covering her face. "All right, this is the first I've heard of this!"

Victoria laughed. "Weelll, I might not have been supposed to mention it yet but I just had to invite Amelia while she was here, didn't I?!"

Hermione laughed at Vicky's spirited defence of her actions. This was one reason why she was glad she was going to be her cousin in law. Life with Vicky in it would never be dull. The same could also be said of Mikey. She already knew being married to him was going to keep her on her toes.

Kingsley and McGonagall exchanged amused glances. They were pleased that the three were getting along so well. While the girls gossiped among themselves. McGonagall took great pleasure in filling him in on the first month of school. Soon she had Shacklebolt shouting with laughter and slapping his knees in amusement. It almost made him wish he could have been a fly on the wall of Umbridge's classroom. He was still chortling as he and Amelia prepared to take their leave.

Hermione and Victoria stayed and had tea and biscuits with McGonagall and walked down to the dining hall with her. Harry and Ron, who had stayed out in the hall while they visited, walked them down. Then they went to get their Quidditch gear and go practice. Parvati and Padma were quietly talking but quickly hushed as soon as they saw Hermione. Victoria was quick to let them know she'd already spilled the beans about the party they were planning. The four of them sat and talked gifts until it was time to eat.

Over dinner, quite a few of the eighth year students received letters from their families regarding their future spouses. The main gist of all the letters were in regards to holiday and wedding plans. Since all marriages were to be carried out by the new year, a lot of the couples were leaving the plans to their parents while they worried about school.

Hermione's parents had written to tell her to invite Mikey and his family for the holidays. She was leaving her wedding to her parents, they had been planning it for years already, so she told them to go ahead and solidify some of their plans after they contacted Mikey's parents to coordinate schedules. They were looking forward to meeting this boy they had been hearing so many conflicting stories about. They weren't sure whether Ron was deliberately trying to make the boy look bad so they would reject him or whether Harry and Hermione were trying to make him look good so they would accept him without question.

As far as Hermione was aware, she was the only one who was actually pregnant, therefore her parents were angling for a Hogsmeade weekend when she and Mikey could bring the friends they wanted to invite. They had already coordinated with his family and everything was set, they just needed a date and the happy couple.

After much discussion with the other girls, Hermione went to speak to McGonagall at the Head Table, then came back. She sent a letter back to her parents, confirming a Hogsmeade weekend the next week. Mikey would be back by then. He'd told her before he left, he didn't care when or where they were married. All she had to do was tell him when to be there and where he was going, he'd be waiting for her.

Molly had written Ron, telling him to invite Parvati and her sister to visit over the holidays. Of course, this meant extending an invitation to Draco Malfoy as well. Ron looked quite green around the gills at the thought of having to face Malfoy during the holidays. He knew, though, that he was going to have to get used to seeing a lot more of Malfoy than he'd ever wanted to see. The twins were very close, so of course their spouses would be expected to be equally as close.

Neville's grandmother had written to Pansy and, much to Neville's and the other Gryffindors' surprise, the two had began to send regular owls and Pansy had happily accepted Mrs. Longbottom's invitation for a holiday visit. She had taken to randomly dropping onto the Gryffindor bench beside Neville to either ask or tell him about some new or rare plant she thought would interest him. They were actually getting along much better than either of them had anticipated.

Aidan and Millicent had discovered that, as long as she let him talk Quidditch all the time, they got along great, but as soon as the Quidditch talk dried up, so did their companionship. Things were not looking good for them. They had come to the conclusion that their marriage would be pretty much in name only and mainly platonic except when they needed to produce a child or two.

Olivier and Alicia got along with mixed results as did Blaise and Katie. The two couples were both used to going their own ways and not having to answer to anyone. The boys were having difficulties understanding that they couldn't just expect Alicia and Katie to drop everything and hang around, waiting on them hand and foot.

Marcus and Angelina were both looking forward to facing off on the Quidditch pitch. As far as they were concerned, it was a dog eat dog world and they were both determined to win. The fiery couple had already clashed several times since day one of the school year. At the same time, they could not hide the fact that they were hugely attracted to each other. Half the school was betting they didn't make it to the altar without one of them dying. The rest of the school predicted that Angelina would be the second pregnant bride to walk down the isle.

Goyle and Lovegood were a surprisingly easygoing couple. As long as he let her tell him about the Nargles and Wrackspurts without laughing at her, she didn't mind a bit that he rarely spoke. He was always surprisingly gentle with her. Now that the war was over and he was allowed to be himself, he was able to drop the bullying façade he'd shown in the early years of his schooling and was actually excelling in their Care of Magical Creatures class. Hagrid was especially proud of him for helping him with Buckbeak, who Hagrid had been allowed to bring back to Hogwarts after the death of Sirius Black.

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