Chapter Twenty-Five

Hermione POV

As the members of the group that arrived at Hogwarts from the Weasley's went into the Gryffindor common room, they were attacked with a loud squeal, "Won-won!" Lavender Brown jumped into his arms as he twirled her around, "I've missed you so much!"

Ron smiled and seemed to melt into the girl's arms. "I've missed you too, Lavender." Several of the other Gryffindors in the room sniggered.

Hermione laughed at her friend's blissful ignorance to the scene he was a part of. "There's a table over there… let's sit down."

Ginny hesitated. "I actually have to talk to Dean." She sounded grim.

Hermione raised an eyebrow at her friend who just shook her head as if to tell the other girl, talk about it later. Harry's green eyes followed the youngest Weasley with a look of disappointment. "I don't get what she sees in him."

"She'll pick the right person in the end." Hermione laid a hand on her friends arm in a comforting matter. "Let's just enjoy tonight and get ready for the next term. I'm sure you won't want to think of school with Dumbledore's and all your other classes."

He smiled sheepishly at her. "Thanks, Hermione. You're a good friend."

They sat around and enjoyed each other's company as their other friends wandered into the common room from holiday. Neville was telling them a story of how his grandmother had nearly chased him around the house because he accidentally said You-Know-Who's name over dinner. From the look of his face, it was sure to be his newest fear.

The next day, all of the 6th years were excited from the sign that was pinned to the common room notice board about apparition lessons. It cost 12 galleons and had a sign up available under the posting. "Are you two going to sign up?" Ron asked.

Harry seemed to turn a little green in the face. "I don't know… when Dumbledore apparated with me it made me feel sick."

"I better pass my test the first time. If the twins can, I'm sure it can't be that hard." Ron frowned at the sign.

Hermione smacked the back of her friend's head. "Your brothers aren't idiots, you know. Besides… didn't Charlie fail it the first time that he did it?"

Ron blushed, forgetting sometimes that Hermione would defend the twins when they weren't around. "Charlie's a lot bigger than me… I didn't mean… oh bloody hell… sorry."

As the other 6th years were busy talking animatedly about the prospect of apparition lessons, Harry disappeared with only Ron and Hermione noticing to his lesson with Dumbledore. Hermione took this opportunity to get out a piece of parchment and quill. Ron seemed to notice that she would be busy and snuck off somewhere with Lavender.

George,

Guess what?

6th years are finally being allowed to learn how to apparate! Now YOU will be the one getting surprised by ME as I apparate whenever I please. Although, I do think that you and Fred took it to the extreme back when you first turned 17.

Isn't it strange thinking how different our lives were just one year ago? You should see how nervous Ron is of failing the test. His only reasoning behind not wanting to fail the first time is because you two passed the first time! I will admit if I fail it I will be a little miffed that you both were better at something than me the first time around.

How are the mail in orders going?

How is your family?

I know I just left but I already miss being able to see you all!

I don't think Ginny and Dean are doing well. I know she wouldn't like me to gossip but perhaps you guys could send her a little something to cheer her up? I know she would appreciate it. Do NOT tell her I said anything otherwise she will jinx me into next week! I think her and Molly are the only Weasley's I'm actually afraid of.

Anyways, I should probably get a head start on my readings for this coming week. First day of term is always so busy! Anyways, I love you! Write soon.

Sent with love,

Hermione

The next day, Harry told the rest of the Golden Trio all about his lesson with Dumbledore. Ron didn't seem a bit concerned with Harry getting information from Slughorn. Hermione shook her head. "He must be determined to hide what really happened if Dumbledore couldn't get it out of him." She bit her lip until it bled a little out of frustration.

"What's wrong, Hermione?" Harry asked concern was laced in his green eyes as he watched his friend toy with a missing piece of information in her brain.

"I've never heard that term before, Harry. Horcruxes… I don't like that it's something I haven't even came across reading or hearing about in all of my years of schooling here. At this point, I've read through majority of the library and I've never heard of Horcruxes."

"You haven't? That's… alarming." Ron agreed.

"They must be really advanced Dark Magic. Otherwise why would Voldemort want to learn about them when he was in school? Be careful, Harry." She shivered at the thought of what these horcruxes could possibly be.

Harry decided to wait to talk to Slughorn about the Horcruxes like Hermione suggested. She was thankful since this seemed to be a very serious matter that Dumbledore was trusting Harry. He had enough to worry about anyways with the ministry officials coming in for apparition lessons.

When they entered the Great Hall on the day of the lessons, all of the tables were gone. The Heads of Houses were standing next to a small man from the Ministry. "Good morning! My name is Wilkie Twycross and I shall be your Ministry Apparition instructor for the next twelve weeks. I hope to be able to prepare you for your Apparition Tests in this time. I would like each of you to place yourselves now so that you have a clear five feet of space in front of you."

Everyone seemed to scramble in the room, eager to learn the new magic. It excited Hermione to see everyone so thrilled with learning. She wished they viewed every lesson at Hogwarts with this same level of enthusiasm.

"The important thing to remember when Apparating are the three D's! Destination, Determination, Deliberation!" He went on about the steps of apparating which ended up being very difficult.

When the ministry official asked everyone to try apparating for the first time, many lost balances and spun around in their spot. They continued to practice, constantly readjusting their hoops to provide them with space. On the fourth attempt, a loud screech of pain came from Susan Bones of Hufflepuff house. Hermione almost threw up and she realized that Susan was no longer connected with her leg. The Heads of House reattached the leg with magic, but Susan looked like she was going to throw up from the shock and pain that had just happened.

"Splinching, or the separation of random body parts occurs when the mind is insufficiently determined. You must concentrate continuously upon your destination, and move, without haste, but with deliberation." Twycross gracefully demonstrated apparating across the hall as if a student had not just literally lost their leg trying to do the same thing.

Hermione could not understand why the twins would decide to do this so carelessly when the threat of getting hurt was so high. Then again, the twins never did anything in life without a little risk.

The lesson went on each week and it seemed to be getting easier and harder at the same time. She was getting flustered and thought she would never be able to apparate. Harry was rather distracted when they left the lessons, he was using that time to attempt to spy on Malfoy and his idea that he was a death eater.

March suddenly appeared out of nowhere and a post went up on the notice board canceling the trip to Hogsmeade. Hermione's heart sank. That was her opportunity to see George.

Ron seemed even more upset. "It was on my birthday! What a bloody joke."

"Not a big surprise after what happened to Katie." Harry shrugged and tapped the back of his friends back. "Sorry, mate. We will do something for your birthday."

"If Won-Won won't be busy with Lavender Brown." Ginny chuckled and dodged a pillow that was chucked at her head from her brother.

The next day, Hermione woke up and was alarmed at Harry basically tugging Ron's arm from the boy's room. "Happy Birthday, Ron!" Hermione chuckled at Ron's bewildered face.

Lavender jumped up to wrap her arms around her boyfriend but was cut off by him looking at her like she had a third head. "Leave me alone. Harry is going to introduce me to Romilda Vane!" He pushed his way through her and out of the portrait hole.

Harry made an apologetic face to Lavender who began to tear up. The boys were out of the common room before Hermione could even ask what was going on. Then… it hit her.

The love potion.

She stormed up to Lavender, who was with Romilda in the bathroom when they were talking about the love potions. "Ignore what he said."

Lavender turned to her with tear filled eyes. "Of course, it's always going to be another girl I have to worry about. If it's not you, it's Romilda Vane." She shook her curly hair and looked at her feet. "Why can't I be the one people want first? I'm always a second choice."

"Oh, come off it, Lavender. You aren't thinking properly. Ron is obsessed with you. I think he got into something that wasn't meant for him. Perhaps… meant for Harry?" Hermione crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow in an accusing way.

Lavender blushed, knowing instantly what Hermione was talking about. The two girls knew that the product was banned from Hogwarts grounds and Romilda shouldn't have had it in the first place. "How could I have been so stupid. Of course, Ron loves me." She shook her head as if to get the thought out of her mind. "He's under a love potion. I'm going to kill Romilda for trying to steal Ron."

"Er—I think she was after Harry. She still shouldn't be trying to do any of that at all. However, I do want to tell you. Ron is only my friend. I'm in love with George, Lavender. You don't have to be threatened by me or any other girl for that matter. You're beautiful and a Gryffindor which means you're the best of the best." Hermione patted the girl's arm awkwardly. She didn't really know Lavender, but she had a suspicion that the girl was over the top more so around Hermione to claim dominance over Ron.

Lavender blushed slightly. "I'm sorry, Hermione. I should've brought this up to you earlier. Thank you."

Hermione went to studying before Ginny came up and found her with tear filled eyes. "Hermione. We have to go. Now."

The alarm made her jump up and follow after her red-headed friend. "What's going on, Gin?" She asked as she tried to chase after her athletic friend which was a challenge on its own without trying to ask questions at the same time.

"It's Ron!"

This seemed to help Hermione push forward and charge into the evening hallway with Ginny. They raced up to the Hospital Wing and found Harry as he paced outside of the closed double doors. "What happened?" Ginny demanded as she stormed up to Harry who was looking rather flustered.

He filled the girls in on visiting Slughorn and Ron's near-death experience. Hermione felt like she was going to throw up. How many more times would the Weasley family have to suffer? It seemed like too much.

Madam Pomfrey let the three students in at about 8 o'clock. Fred and George arrived an hour after.

George POV

"This isn't how we imagined handing over our present to him," George said grimly as he set a large and obnoxiously wrapped gift on Ron's bedside cabinet before sitting next to Hermione and wrapping an arm around her as if to shelter her from the scene in front of her.

"Yea, when we pictured the scene, he was fully conscious." Fred added while plopping in the hospital chair next to Ginny.

"Then we were in Hogsmeade, waiting to surprise him—"

"You were in Hogsmeade?" demanded Hermione looking at her boyfriend, accusingly.

Fred jumped in to respond when he saw that George would not answer. "We were getting serious about buying Zonko's location. You lot aren't allowed on the weekends it seems anymore so… never mind that… it doesn't matter." He shook his head and turned his attention back towards his brother's pale face on the cot.

George turned to Harry, ignoring Hermione's look of questioning on why he didn't inform her he would be in Hogsmeade. He didn't feel like he owed her an answer considering she failed to inform him that the trip was canceled, and they wouldn't see each other this month. "How exactly did this happen, Harry?"

Harry retold the story that he had told to Hermione and Ginny hours ago. "Blimey." Fred stuttered.

"I'm thankful you had thought of a bezour." George looked over his pale brother and bit his lip. Hermione grabbed his hand in support, and he returned it with a fierce squeeze. He was thankful that she was here, to keep him from spiraling at the thought of losing his brother. Even though he was a little upset at her for being distant, he knew she was busy. Right now, he was her anchor to weather the storm.

"Mum and Dad are in Dumbledore's office now." Ginny sniffed, letting a small tear run down her face before she whipped it away fiercely. "They saw Ron about an hour before you all did."

"Did Slughorn slip something into his drink?" Fred asked in a whisper to the group of Gryffindors as they watched Ron try to mumble something in his slip.

"Why would a professor try and poison a student?" Hermione asked in a voice that sounded smaller than her own, unsure. George knew that the thought of a professor trying to hurt a student would be hard for her to comprehend. Professors at Hogwarts were her role models, she looked up to them.

His twin shook his head. "No idea. There must be loads of people who'd like to poison Harry. The Chosen One?" His face darkened as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "I'd just like to know who was behind this."

"Do you think Slughorn is a follower of You-Know-Who?" Ginny asked in a small, squeaky voice.

"He could be under the Imperius Curse." George said curtly and his arm that was wrapped around Hermione tightened. It was one thing to leave her at Hogwarts by herself, but another if Professors were working under a death eater. It pained him to not be able to protect her right now and watch over her like he was able to do in the Summer and over Christmas break.

The wooden dormitory doors flew open, making all of the people jump. Hagrid came in crying about Ron being hurt and who could do something like that. His tears were filling up his large handkerchief that he pulled from his pocket and he wallowed at the foot of the bed.

"I think there's a connection to the attacks." Hermione said quietly at his side as Harry was comforting Hagrid.

George turned to look down at her. She was in deep thought, which he could tell by the crease in between her eyebrow. "How d'you work that out?"

"Well, they both ought to have been fatal and weren't, although that was pure luck. And for another, neither the poison nor the necklace seems to have reached the person who it was truly supposed to kill. Of course, that makes the person behind this even more dangerous, because they don't seem to care how many people they finish off before they actually reach their victim." Hermione looked at the others as they processed what she said.

"Hermione, you make it so hard for me to leave you here with the thought some deranged murderer is on the lose." George pinched the bridge at the top of his nose in frustration at being so helpless in the situation. Although, he was trying to tell himself that if he was here, he probably wouldn't be able to see an attack coming if Harry wasn't able to help Ron before the poison hit his throat.

She patted his back gently as the dormitory doors flew open once more. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley came running up to Ron's bed. "Oh, Harry… you saved Ginny, Arthur, and now you've saved Ron. What would we be without you?" His mother was crying, and she gave the dark-haired boy a fierce hug. "We are so thankful!"

Madame Pomfrey came rushing up to the bed. "Only 6 visitors! Two of you will have to leave!" The healer looked at the large group fiercely, showing she would not budge on the rule.

Harry and Hermione exchanged a glance before standing up, opting to be the ones to leave. George panicked at the thought of losing his anchor and his comfort during this moment of turmoil. He reached out and grabbed her small wrist and looked at her with eyes that pleaded for her to stay. "Hermione, please stay." He said verbally so Hagrid would hear him beg her to stay with him.

"Oh… oh… I better be off." Hagrid said, picking up that he should be the other guest to leave. "Molly… Arthur… I'll be right outside the doors watching over everything."

His father smiled at the half-giant in thanks. Harry seemed to already disappear. "Where'd he run off to?" George whispered into Hermione's ear after she settled back down into the chair that was next to him.

"Dumbledore, I suppose. He's been meeting with him regularly." She turned to George. "I feel like I don't belong here. It's your family, George."

"You are family, Hermione. I want you here. I understand… if…" he let the sentence fall. He couldn't bring himself to say that he understood if she wanted to leave. He didn't understand. He needed her. George couldn't think of her not being here right now.

"I'll stay." She held his hand fiercely and smiled at him. "Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere. I was just telling you what I felt. I want to be here, with you. And for Ron."

He wrapped her in his arms as his mother continued to cry and give hugs to her children and talk about how lucky Ron was that Harry was there to save him. His father seemed to give glances at Fred and George with a knowing look that although it was lucky that Harry was there to save the day, it should not have been necessary. Dark wizards have infiltrated Hogwarts somehow. Two Weasleys, Harry, and worst of all, Hermione were stuck within the castle walls with no protection like sitting ducks waiting for an attack.