"I'll go with you," Hermione pleaded, ignoring the tears running down her face.
"No," Harry said quickly. "Kill the snake, kill the snake, and it's just him."
Hermione said nothing as she moved to hug Harry for the last time.
After a few seconds, Harry pulled away, taking one last look at Hermione, and went to walk away, ignoring her pleading eyes not to go.
Harry woke up with a small gasp. Another dream, Harry noticed. With Hermione somehow a part of it. Harry wondered if his Grim Reaper was trying to show him something. Grabbing his glasses and putting them on, he swung his legs to the floor. Grabbing his wand, Harry cast Tempus and saw it was six-thirty. Running a hand through his hair, Harry hopes he won't get more dreams like that in the future, especially ones with Hermione getting hurt.
Knowing he wasn't going back to sleep, Harry walked down to the common room. Sitting down on an armchair facing the portrait, he thought about Dumbledore.
Harry thought of Dumbledore as a parental figure, but now Harry didn't know what to think of Dumbledore. Year after year, something always happened inside the castle. In the first year, the whole Philosopher stone issue and THREE first years had to do something about it because of the incompetent adults not doing a thing, as Harmonia says.
In the second year, a giant snake was loose around the castle, and a second-year figured it out, no one else. Harry fought the snake because the adults once again did nothing about it.
Just last year, the Dementors were around the castle. Soul-sucking creatures were around children. Harry wondered how someone could be so stupid into believing that was a good idea. At least Dumbledore told the Minister the Dementors could not go to Hogwarts grounds. Harry still had to learn the Patronus charm to protect himself. Third-year was a mess, with Sirius being innocent and Peter being the real traitor. It was all so confusing. The firebolt situation didn't help. Harry still felt guilty even though he apologized.
And now the fourth year, Harry despises the tournament. In the last timeline, the adults again did nothing. Hermione was the only one to help him, but he was so caught up on Ron and Cho he didn't realize who was in front of him.
Before Harry's fifth year, his friends didn't send any messages because Dumbledore said so. And then Dumbledore ignored him for the rest of the fifth year! Harry doesn't know if he should trust the Headmaster, but he knew he was not going back to Privet Drive.
Harry rubbed his face with his hands, not noticing footsteps.
"Alright, Harry?" Hermione's voiced cut through, startling Harry.
"Blimey," Harry said, looking at her. "Ello, Hermione."
"Are you alright?" Hermione questioned. "You're looking a bit pale," She frowned, her eyes darkening in concern. "Did you have another nightmare?"
Harry almost smiled, but he shook his head. "It wasn't a nightmare, but it also wasn't a dream. It was in between; It was weird."
I'll go with you.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Hermione offered.
This time, Harry did smile. "No, I'll like to forget about it."
Hermione nodded. "Just know I'm here if you want to talk."
"I'll keep that in mind," responded Harry.
"How do you feel about Quidditch being canceled?" Hermione asked after a moment of silence.
Harry shrugged. "It better be some big event," Harry said plainly.
Hermione bit her lip, "And would you join this big event?"
"No," Harry answered without hesitation. "I would like to be a spectator for once."
"Would you really?" asked Hermione.
"Yeah," Harry said. "Maybe be a normal teenager for once, you know. Like wondering if the girl I fancy fancies me back. That stuff," He said, looking if Hermione reacts. She tore her gaze at the ground.
"Yes, I suppose we do need a break from our adventures," Hermione said, barely meeting Harry's eyes.
Harry wondered if what Harmonia said was true.
Harry grabbed his wand and cast Tempus. He saw it was six-fifty-five, and he slumped onto the armchair. Harry remembered something. His owl is alive. Hedwig is still breathing. He perked up. "I'm going to visit Hedwig," He said as he stood up.
"Can I come with you?" Hermione asked.
"Sure," Harry said, wanting any excuse to spend time with her.
It was chilly as the pair walked to the owlery. Harry noticed Hermione shiver a little. "Alright there, Hermione?"
Hermione gave him a small smile. "Yeah, just a bit chilly."
Harry nodded. "Hopefully, the owlery is a bit warm," He said as the pair came upon the owlery. "Ladies first," Harry said with a smirk.
Hermione rolled her eyes but walked in anyway.
"Hedwig?" Harry asked hopefully.
A snow-white owl fluttered down to a nearby perch.
Tears immediately filled Harry's vision. Quickly forcing the tears down, he went to stroke Hedwig's stomach. "Hey, girl," He whispered, still feeling emotional. "How've you been?" He asked. Hedwig nuzzled Harry's cheek, making him chuckle. "Ah, I see you've been well," The young wizard said. He looked over to Hermione to see what she's been doing but saw her looking at him with softness and something Harry can't describe. He looked back at Hedwig, "You remember my friend, Hermione, don't you?" Harry asked. He saw Hedwig look at Hermione, and she hooted softly, making Harry smile. He looked over at Hermione. "She'll let you touch her," said Harry.
Hermione bit her lip. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah," Harry responded. He grabbed her hand and slowly stroked Hedwig. "See?" He said, trying to ignore how perfectly their hands fit together.
"Y-yeah," Hermione stammered, not having the same luck as Harry.
The pair spent a few more minutes with Hedwig before heading back to the castle. Harry whispered something to Hedwig before they left, though.
"What was that?" Hermione asked.
"What was what?" Harry responded with a grin. "Your birthday's on the nineteenth, right?" He asked before Hermione could open her mouth.
Hermione looked at Harry. "Yeah…. Why?" She asked.
"Just wondering," Harry said as the pair walked in silence with Hermione looking at Harry suspiciously. The pair walked into the Great Hall. "Oh!" Hermione said, causing Harry to look at her. "We forgot about the house-elves!" She hissed.
"Damn," Harry murmured. "Maybe we can ask Fred and George if they know where the house-elves are," He said, looking for the twins.
Hermione also looked but to no success. "Harry," She whined. "They're not here."
"Maybe, later on, we'll -"
"There you are, Harry!" Ron called out, walking to him, disrupting Harry. "Where'd you go? When I woke up, you weren't in the dorm or the common room," He said, leading them to sit down.
"Went to visit Hedwig with Hermione," Harry responded.
"Why?" Asked Ron.
Harry blinked. "Because Hedwig is my owl?" Harry answered, confused, and looked at Hermione, who had a similar look.
Ron shook his head. "No, I mean…." He trailed off. "Nevermind."
Harry narrowed his eyes slightly, wondering what Ron meant.
As Harry and Ron went to Divination, Harry wondered if Trelawney was still going to predict his death.
Harry and Ron walked through the mass of occupied chintz chairs and poufs that cluttered the room and sat down at the same small circular table.
"Good day," said the misty voice of Professor Trelawney right behind Harry, making him jump.
"You are preoccupied, my dear," she said mournfully to Harry. "My inner eye sees past your brave face to the troubled soul within. There will be difficult times ahead, but with the help of your closest friend, you will win," She said. After a pause, she continued. "Yes, I see it now. She is the key to winning," Trelawny finished, leaving an open-mouthed Harry and a stunned classroom. She moved on as nothing happened.
How could she know? Harry thought as he and Ron were walking out of the class.
"Harry!"
"Huh?" Harry said, looking up.
"Can you believe it?" Ron said.
"Believe what?" asked Harry.
"Miserable old bat giving me extra work! That'll take the whole week," Ron grumbled.
"Sure," Harry responded distractedly.
"Lots of homework?" said Hermione brightly, catching up with them. "Professor Vector didn't give us any at all!"
Ron said something, but Harry was too caught up in his world.
"Harry! Sorry, Hermione, this one has been staring into space a lot since Divination," Ron said.
"Why?" Hermione asked, frowning a bit.
"Something about the closest -"
"Not here, Ron!" Harry hissed as the trio got to the entrance hall where dinner was starting. Harry looked around and saw a classroom. "We'll meet you at dinner, yeah?" He asked Ron, who shrugged.
Harry led Hermione to the classroom, which was abandoned, much to Harry's relief.
"What's this about Trelawny?" Hermione asked in suspicion.
"You know how she always starts on about I'm going to die, right?" Harry said, waiting for Hermione to nod. "This time was different," He saw Hermione was about to object. "No, Hermione. Please hear me out," He pleaded. "She said something about my closest friend is going to help me win."
"Ron?" Hermione asked.
Harry shook his head. "No, not Ron. Trelawny said it was a her and -"
"And you think it's me?" Hermione cut through. "I'm your closest friend?"
"Well, I wouldn't be surprised. We both come from a muggle upbringing, and we both know Ron isn't the best with emotions. Remember….." Harry trailed off, he was about to say Godrics Hallow, but that hasn't happened yet. "Last year when we sat there waiting for the Whomping Willow stuff to end?"
Hermione nodded. "But Trelawny is still a fraud."
"I'm not asking to take her words to the death or anything. Just keep an open mind, yeah?" Harry asked.
"Fine," Hermione huffed.
The pair went to the Great Hall only to see Malfoy. "There's Potter!" He said, drawing the attention to Harry. "Ditching Weasley to snog the Mudblood?" Malfoy said with a sneer, causing Hermione to blush but only made Harry irritated.
"Why do you care about my love life, Malfoy?" Harry said coolly. Whispers broke out as Harry didn't outright deny it.
"You can do better than the Mudblood, that's all," Malfoy stated. If Harry didn't know any better, he'd think Malfoy cared about him.
"What? Like you?" Harry said hypothetically. "No thanks, I prefer people with a little bit of dignity," He said with a smirk. "And also girls."
Malfoy's face turned red as he opened his mouth a few times, but nothing came out. He walked away, with people beginning to laugh.
"Alright, Hermione?" Harry asked, noticing she didn't say anything to Malfoy.
Hermione nodded, her face a tad pink. "Let's just enjoy dinner," She said.
Harry noticed she didn't deny it either.
As Harry walked to the first class of Defense Against the Dark Arts two days later, he shivered subconsciously, remembering it's Barty Crouch jr instead of the real Mad-Eye Moody. If Voldemort is supposed to come back, Harry can't do anything to Barty Crouch. It didn't sit right with Harry as he felt tremendously guilty, leaving Mad-Eye in the truck, but he had his hands tied.
"Who can tell me the first unforgivable?" Asked fake Moody. Malfoy raised his hand.
"The Imperius curse, sir," Malfoy said proudly.
"Yes," fake Moody said. "Your father will know this curse well, with his weak mind and all. Claiming he was under the imperius," He said, causing Malfoy to flush as some students snickered. Moody went to grab the spider, casting an Engorgio for the students to see it more clearly. "Imperio," Moody said. He made the spider dance, causing students to laugh except Harry. "You think this is funny!?" Moody demanded, stopping the laughter. "I can make it drown itself. I can make it attack anyone on my command, and you're sitting there laughing! You must have CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" He boomed out. "Who can tell me the second one?" Moody asked after finishing demonstrating the curse. In the front row, Neville rose his hand sheepishly. "Yes, ?"
"The Cruciatus curse, sir," Neville said in a whisper.
"Exactly," Alastor said. "C'mon, up, up," He said to Neville.
"Crucio," Moody said.
Everyone in the class was soon disturbed, with some looking away; They all saw the spider crumble to itself and twitch as there was also heard a small squeal. Hermione grabbed Harry's hand and squeezed hard. Harry was somewhat lost in his world, remembering the curse very well.
Neville was grimacing and panting heavily.
"Stop it!" Hermione yelled. "Stop it! Can't you see it's bothering him?!" She said. After a few seconds, Moody removed the curse on the spider. Everyone could see how badly the spider was shaking.
"Right…." He said, clearing his throat as he grabbed the spider and walked to where Harry and Hermione were sitting, leaving a shaken Neville by the teacher's office. "Perhaps you can tell us the last unforgivable curse, Ms. Granger."
Hermione shook her head as some tears welled up in her eyes.
"Last chance," Moody growled.
Hermione again shook her head, tears threatening to leak.
"Ten points from Gryffindor," Moody snarled and without warning. "Avada Kedavra." causing some students to jump in shock. Harry heard a yell from somewhere. Hermione now had a death grip on Harry's hand. People were either looking pale or green. Some had a few tears come out. "The killing curse," Moody said in a whisper, but everyone heard him. "Kills anyone and anything straight away. There has been only one person who has survived this curse," Moody said. "And he's sitting right in front of me," He continued after a pause and walked away. "End of class."
The students got up slowly, with Harry being the slowest one. He was very pale at seeing that curse again. That was the last thing he saw before dying, a jet of green light.
"Let's go, Harry," Hermione said, looking very distraught and close to tears. "I need to get out of here."
Harry nodded and picked up the pace.
Ron caught up to the pair as they were leaving class. "That was wicked!" He exclaimed, receiving a death glare from Hermione. "I can see what Fred and George meant. He's awso -"
"He is not wicked, Ronald!" Hermione snapped. "Didn't you see what that curse did to Neville?!"
"Ok!" Harry cut in, not wanting an argument between the two so soon. "Hermione, let's talk for a moment, yeah?"
"Longbottom!" Moody called out. Neville looked up from the bottom of the stairs. "Come with me. I have some pictures of your parents," Alastor said, making Neville perk up.
"See you at dinner, Ron," Harry said as he found a clear corridor.
"What did you-oh!" Hermione said in surprise as Harry wrapped her in a hug. She quickly hugged him back.
"Are you ok?" whispered Harry.
It was getting too much for Hermione. Seeing and hearing about the curses are so different than she could have possibly imagined. She didn't know why she was so emotional right now. She doesn't have any connections to any of those horrible curses. She took a shaky breath.
"Hermione?" Harry asked with concern as he pulled back slightly.
"Sorry," Hermione murmured sheepishly. "I don't know why I'm getting so emotional. I don't have any personal connections with them when you do, and here you are comforting me when I should be the one an -"
"Hermione," Harry interjected softly, causing Hermione to snap her mouth closed. "I understand," He said as he hugged Hermione again. "It's ok."
Hermione nodded against his neck.
"You should hug me more often," Hermione said, after a minute, breaking the silence. Harry chuckled and pulled away.
"I'll see what I can do," Harry smirked. "How about we grab some dinner?" Hermione nodded.
-If I could rewind time like a tape.-
Harry was enjoying his dinner when a familiar snowy owl swooped in.
"Hedwig!" Harry exclaimed. "What do you ha…oh."
"What?" Hermione asked.
"Not here," Harry said. "In the common room." He said, getting up, with Hermione mimicking his actions.
"But the food!" Ron exclaimed.
Hermione rolled her eyes while Hedwig hooted at Harry.
"Oh, sorry, girl," Harry said, feeding Hedwig with some bacon. "Come by the common room."
Ron begrudgingly followed to the common room.
As the trio got to the common room, Harry and Hermione sat across each other while Ron sat on an armchair to Harry's left.
Harry read the letter out loud except for the last part.
Harry, I'm flying north immediately. This news about your scar is the latest in a series of strange rumors that have reached me here. If it hurts again, go straight to Dumbledore, they're saying he's got Mad-Eye out of retirement, which means he's reading the signs, even if no one else is. I'll be in touch soon.
My best to Ron and Hermione. Keep your eyes open, Harry.
Sirius
PS: Don't forget to ask a certain witch out on a date.
Harry blushed as he read the last part, knowing for a fact that it was not there last time.
"What is it, Harry?" Hermione asked, and before Harry could answer, she grabbed the letter. She read the letter and also blushed. "He's coming back north?" She asked, ignoring her blush.
"Seems like it," Harry said nervously.
"What does 'Reading the signs' mean?" Ron asked.
Voldemort coming back. Harry thought. He shrugged instead. "I dunno. I guess we wait and find out."
Hedwig chose to fly in the common room. "There you are, Hedwig," Harry said. "I'm going to write something back."
Finishing up, he tied the letter on Hedwig's leg. "Come back straight away. They have their own owls," Harry whispered.
Soon enough, students began to fill the common room. "Harry mate, want to study Divination?" Ron asked with a smile.
Harry gave him a fake smile. "Sure."
"I'll get the textbooks, don't worry," responded Ron. Leaving Harry and Hermione.
"What did Sirius mean about asking a witch to Hogsmeade?" Hermione asked pointedly, apparently having enough of the silence that fell between them.
Harry shrugged. "I dunno," Harry replied truthfully. "Maybe it's Sirius being Sirius."
Ron came down the stairs before Hermione said anything else.
After a mind-numbing session of doing Divination homework, Harry called it a day. "Goodnight, Hermione," He murmured. "And please don't stay up too late."
Hermione smiled at him. "No promises. Goodnight, Harry."
I'm trying to skip over the days to the tournament, but I can't. My muse wants to get into the nitty-gritty with this stuff. I really don't want to deal with class things, but here we are. This chapter kind of feels like filler tbh.
Today's the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, and I just want to say. Rest in Piss Snivellus Snape, you fucking bozo. I hope you rot in hell.
Anyway. I can only hope in the next chapter or two, and we get to Halloween.
Thank you guys for the support.