It started with the small things, Ron noticed Harry sometimes scratching his left hand absently, it wouldn't have been weird if it didn't start immediately after Umbridge's detention.
Then Ron noticed Harry only took his left hand out of the sleeve of his robes for a very short amount of time, and even then only when he thought no one was looking.
Ron mentioned it to Hermione first, the girl nodding absent-mindedly.
"It's weird, I know," she said "But I don't know if we should confront him or not, I just-" Ron was pretty sure she was keeping her tears in check "I feel awful for not speaking up during the summer, for not forcing a contact, and I don't want to upset him, but I don't want him to feel alone either."
Ron hugged her close "I know," he said, "I feel the same way, and I don't fancy him as you do."
"What?" Hermione jumped up, "I don't fancy Harry!"
Ron simply lifted an eyebrow, a move he had mastered by copying his mother and Hermione folded like a house of cards.
"It's ok," Ron said, shrugging, "You two would be great together, you just have to get through his thick skull"
"Thank you, Ron," she said, relaxing back into his hug.
When they find out what is going on, Ron is horrified first and unbearably angry second, but he can see it in Hermione's eyes that his rage is nothing compared to Hermione's.
"I'm not letting her win." He heard Harry say, and Ron sighed because of course Harry would see it as some sort of battle to win.
"You have to tell McGonnagall." Ron insisted because really, she might be stern and a bit mental, but Ron knew with absolute certainty that she would never let something like this happen.
"No," Harry insisted "she can't stop Umbridge, she told me to keep my head down I can't go running to her."
"This is absurd," Ron said and he couldn't help but notice how silent Hermione had become "If you don't want to tell McGonnagall at least tell bloody Dumbledore!"
"And then what? I tell him just to be ignored?" Harry spat out ruefully
"Harry." Hermione finally spoke, and their discussion immediately stopped as both of them could hear the frostiness in her tone, and for the first time, Ron thought Hermione might be close to losing control of her magic.
The temperature of the room got slightly higher, and Ron was pretty sure the fire in the fireplace was steadily growing brighter.
"Give me your hand," she said, Harry immediately complied as she took his hand in hers, lightly clutching it as to not hurt him further, she silently passed her wand on his hand but nothing happened.
Hermione scowled, and Ron shuddered slightly, he might not be great at healing magic, but growing in the Weasley household meant looking at his mother mending small wounds for all of his life, from small cuts to broken bones, and if Hermione's spell didn't work it meant the cut was probably drenched in dark magic and would never completely heal.
"You don't have to do anything you don't want to do Harry," Hermione said, silencing Ron's objection with a look, "But I swear I will." She said with finality.
"You can't tell McGonnagall!" Harry said
"No, I will tell her. And if it turns out she can't do anything about it, then we'll see."
Ron paled a bit at the implicit warning, he hoped McGonnagall would help, because he didn't think Umbridge would survive whatever Hermione would do to her.
They went to their head of house the next day.
Ron sat there red-faced as McGonnagall told them she couldn't act without either Harry's word or actual proof of wrongdoing.
Hermione offered her memory of the wound, but McGonnagall countered her saying that people in the ministry would think Harry inflicted the wound on himself, and they had no proof of Umbridge forcing him into such a position anyway.
"Very well," Hermione said, the frostiness back in her tone "What I'm going to say now I'm going to say out of respect for you, and the faculty," Hermione took a deep breath "If Umbridge isn't gone from the school by tomorrow morning then the student population will have to take matters into its own hands."
They left the office of their head of house with two fewer Prefect badges.
"You didn't have to quit as well," Hermione said.
"You quit, I quit, it's for Harry and we've been shitty enough to him," Ron answered "And he should have been made Prefect in the first place," He added
"Don't sell yourself short Ronald," Hermione said, bumping shoulders with him "You would have been a great Prefect, I'm sure."
It took a week before Ron noticed the first signs of Hermione's plan.
While it was true that most of the students didn't know Harry well enough to believe him over the smear campaign of the prophet, it was also true that many remembered far too well how Harry seemed to never be at fault for the thing that people accused him of.
So when Susan Bones sat next to them in Herbology to have a quiet word with Harry he didn't think much of it.
Then the article in the Daily Prophet happened.
An apology to Harry Potter, saying that Even though the young man's claim of You-Know-who returning was unfunded, the press was sorry for the previous hateful and inaccurate articles and that they would focus their attention on the real culprits in this story followed by another smear piece against Dumbledore.
Harry looked dumbfounded and Hermione just a smidge too smug.
"Ok, spill," Ron said once the three were out of hearing range of the rest of the school "How did you do that?"
Harry appeared as curious as him, as Hermione simply smiled and said "Barnabas Cuffe, the chief editor of the Daily Prophet, is a closeted homosexual." And then left them to stew as she headed to her Arithmancy class.
The day after that Daphne Greengrass met them in an abandoned classroom on the fifth floor, which was devoid of life on Fridays.
Hermione had told Ron and Harry that she had organized an encounter with the Slytherin because she had every info they could need, and in exchange for help she wanted to talk to Harry.
Ron didn't expect her to ask for Asylum.
It was an older tradition, Powerful pureblooded families in the wizarding world could grant asylum to those who needed it.
Harry of course had no idea of what she meant, so it took them about an hour to explain everything to Harry and Hermione.
As it turned out she didn't want asylum for herself, but her younger sister was sick, and she didn't want her involved in the war that was coming.
"Wait, you believe me then?" Harry said.
"Of course I do," Greengrass replied "I'm not an idiot and anyone who doesn't believe you is in for a rough awakening."
The rest was smooth sailing, Harry would contact Gringotts and ask for the documents that detailed his holdings, and find out if he had a home in France as Daphne insisted.
"Potter, Honestly, your family had been producing the best wine for centuries, of course, you have a house in France, though I have no idea who's been managing it."
For how much Ron prided himself in knowing his best friends really well, he had no idea what Hermione was planning, and why she needed Greengrass of all people to help.
Then something else got published, not by the Prophet, but by the Quibbler.
Ron had never taken much stock in the absurd conspiracy theories that popped up in Lovegood's magazine, but this was different.
A buried trail of documents that proved the Dementors had been sent to Privet Drive by order of the ministry and as Damning evidence, a photograph of a kiss order against Harry J. Potter with no signature on the bottom but a big "Approved" stamp right on top of the signature empty space.
That was big, and his eyes unconsciously slid towards Hermione again, who wasn't even trying to his how smug she looked, how the hell did she manage this?!
Umbridge was fuming when she found out and promptly assigned even more detentions to Harry as soon as she could, Dumbledore interference was the only thing that stopped her from banning the Quibbler at school.
"Daphne's father used to work with the department of magical beings and creatures in the ICW," Hermione said as soon as they managed to be alone that day "He still has a lot of friends and the ministry had to disclose any requested documents."
"But why wasn't it destroyed after the fact?" Harry asked confused.
"It was," Hermione confirmed, "what you saw in the paper comes from a Pensieve, they are incredibly fascinating items, the one the inspectors from the ICW use is also capable of detecting falsified memories."
"Wait," Harry said, "How can you falsify a memory?" And Hermione launched into an explanation that had a bit too many details for Ron, but Harry seemed to be pending from her lips the whole time.
Of course, sooner or later Hermione would involve Fred and George in whatever she was doing.
The night after the article on the Quibbler she snuck out of the common room behind Harry, in his invisibility cloak, that Ron had previously asked Harry.
Of course, Harry had no idea she was following him.
When she returned she was red, shaking with barely controlled anger.
"It's based on the Cruciatus curse." She strongly whispered, "It focuses on the nerves to maximize the pain, and apart from Murtlap essence nothing even diminishes it!"
"How did you even find out?" Ron asked
"I had Fred and George distract her during the detention, she sent Harry out of her office as she went to investigate, and I got a closer look at the quill, I don't think I've ever seen anything like it, I'm pretty sure she invented it herself." She shuddered again as she leaned on him in search of support "You need such a devious mind to invent something like that! How could this woman be allowed to work at the Ministry of Magic I have no idea."
Very few people knew that Hannah Abbot's mother was an independent spell developer, it was an unusual job in modern times, spell crafters and spell developers were mostly hired by the Department of Mysteries, but Hannah's mother declined to work by herself.
So when Ron found Hermione and Hannah discussing over a parchment full of spell theory he hadn't known what to expect.
"It has to be enchanted with the will of hurting whoever uses it!" Hannah silently exclaimed, "it's dark and illegal, and close enough to an unforgivable that it makes me want to puke."
"That's what I thought, thank you, Hannah," Hermione said.
"What are you going to do about it? After the article came out I'm pretty sure the Ministry had been monitoring both the Floo network and the owls that leave school, they'll never let you give this info to anyone."
Hermione simply smiled as she noticed Ron's presence.
"Don't worry," she said, "Most wizards don't have an ounce of logic."
They said their goodbyes and left the library, Hermione seemingly directed to somewhere specific.
"So? Where are we going?" Ron asked curiously
"To the kitchens, of course."
Ron always struggled to get into the common room when he had to hold a plate full of sandwiches in one hand, who thought that the entrance to Gryffindor Tower should have a fifty centimetres high step was a bloody idiot.
Anyway, Ron still managed, he learned how to move around balancing food at the Burrow, and that should be an Olympic sport.
He spotted Harry sitting at one of the tables near the windows of the room, parchment around him and a quill balanced on the tip of his fingers, lazily spinning.
Ron never managed to learn the art of spinning quills on his fingertips, but he was sure Hermione found it strangely attractive, for some reason, she did always stare at Harry when he did that, but maybe that was the half-focused half-away expression he wore.
Harry was brought out of his musing by the clanking of the plate on the table, right in front of him, exactly on the parchment that contained the only three lines he had written on the amazingly interesting argument of why transfiguring wood into metal is not an alchemical process but a "normal" magical one.
"Ron!" He hissed "My essay!"
Ron simply snorted and looked at him.
He felt his shoulder slump before he could even start, and Ron smiled at his victory since he started copying the looks his mother gave his brothers he could stop both Harry and Hermione on their tracks.
"You skipped breakfast this morning," Ron said without preamble "which is ok, we have double potions right after so maybe you just wanted to avoid vomiting by looking at Snape too long."
Harry snorted trying and failing, to stop the corners of his mouth from lifting.
"But you missed lunch too, and while Hermione may not have noticed because of whatever plan she is cooking up for Umbridge, I have," Ron said, "So eat."
Harry simply shrugged and said: "I'm not hungry"
Ron simply lifted an eyebrow, it seemed to work on Hermione when she was spouting bullshite, so maybe it would work on Harry too.
Harry could only hold his stare for so long before he gave up and picked up a sandwich, Ron nodding once in the background.
They didn't talk as Harry was eating his lunch, but Ron couldn't pass this opportunity up, with Hermione not there he wouldn't get a better chance.
So he waited until Harry had fit the last piece of sandwich in his mouth before speaking "So, when are you gonna ask Hermione to Hogsmeade?"
Harry spluttered and started coughing as the last piece of his lunch got itself suck in his throat, Ron simply smirked and swished his wand watching as the piece of bread flew out of Harry's mouth and right out the window, he was sure he heard someone screaming outside, but that was dumb, they were way too high up to hear anything.
"What?!" Harry spluttered
"I mean you were planning to take her there next weekend, *right*?" Harry failed to notice the dangerous edge to Ron's question.
"Of course not! What is wrong with you?" Harry vehemently denied as he pushed the empty plate away (which immediately disappeared) and returned to faking concentration on his homework.
Ron pulled the parchment out of his field of view and glared at him as Harry started checking the different scratches on the table.
"Because you fancy her, you thick idiot!" He exclaimed forcefully.
"I do not!" Harry exclaimed even more forcefully.
Ron lifted the eyebrow again as Harry glared at him, and then it for the next minutes.
He never had a chance.
"Ok maybe I do," Harry said, shoulders dropping "but she doesn't feel the same, it's obvious she only sees me as a friend."
Ron other eyebrow joined his first one as he was how honestly surprised, and greatly confused.
"What the bloody hell!" He whispered to himself
"I know," Harry said misjudging his words, "how could she ever see me as anything else? She's smart and amazing and I'm just... You know, plain, skinny, bespectacled Harry."
"Bespectacled?" Ron said bewildered, where did he even learn that word?!
"It means that I wear glasses, Ron," Harry said "I picked it up in one of the books Hermione lent me to read during the summer."
"Harry," Ron said, commandeering the attention of his incredibly thick best friend "Hermione is planning a coup against the government because of what Umbridge has been doing to you."
"Which is incredibly dangerous and she really shouldn't, but she's just amazing like that, best friend ever," Harry said, and Ron could only barely hold himself so that his mouth didn't start hanging open.
"Oh my God," Ron said more to himself than to Harry, "He's an idiot."
"That's just rude," Harry said.
"Hermione fancies you as well you thick-headed idiot!" Ron half-screamed half-whispered.
"What?!" Harry exclaimed, "listen Ron if you're playing a prank on me right now..."
"Oh, for- Ginny!" Ron called his sister.
"What?!" She asked from the other side of the common room.
"Come here a second!" Ron answered without lowering his voice.
"Why?!" Ginny asked aghast.
"I need to ask you something!" Ron half-screamed back.
"But I *just* sat down! Can't you ask me from there?" Ginny whined.
"You've been sitting there for the last half-hour you lazy git!" Ron answered in kind.
"Sod off, you annoying bastard!" Ginny said, getting up from her chair and walking briskly towards them.
"What do you want?!" She huffed.
"Can you tell Harry here if you think Hermione fancies him or not?" He smirked, lowering his voice.
"You called me all the way here for this?!" She retorted, glaring at Harry as if it was his idea.
"I mean," Harry said, scared that his life might end at any moment "It was Ron's idea, I know she doesn't feel that way..."
Ginny suddenly seemed to calm down as surprise overtook her features "Oh my God," she said, "You're an idiot."
"What is it with everyone insulting my intelligence?" Harry said crossly.
"I'm not insulting your intelligence," Ginny said, "I'm insulting your lack of it."
"See?" Ron said, "You are thick-headed," he smirked as if he had just won a big argument.
"Of course Hermione fancies you!" Ginny said, ignoring her brother, "She's been fancying you since forever!"
"Oh."
_
Watching Harry and Hermione dance around each other had become even more annoying to Ron.
It had taken Harry three days to stop stammering around Hermione, and that only happened because Hermione glared at him every time he did it.
It had taken Harry two more days to build the nerves to ask Hermione out.
Two days and one of the weirdest conversations Ron had ever had.
"Hey, Ron," Harry said, sitting down next to him in the common room "I fancy Hermione."
"Yeah, I know," Ron said, never lifting his eyes from the chess problem he was solving.
"And Hermione likes me," Harry said.
"Yes, she does," Ron said, moving the Knight to check the King and then watching as it moved back, not the right move then.
"So I should ask her out," Harry said, seemingly without noticing the very little attention Ron was giving him.
"Yes, please do," Ron said, frowning as the pawn he had moved forward crept back to its starting square.
"Ok then," Harry said, leaving Ron alone and stumbling into the table that was holding the chessboard, causing Ron's Queen to move forward one square.
It didn't move back.
Ron swore under his breath and lifted his eyes just in time to see Harry approaching Hermione's table, he stilled and made eye contact with his sister on the other side of the room, she widened her eyes slightly and nodded swishing her wand and subtly levitating one of Fred and George's extendable ears under their table before making her way to him.
"I can't believe it's finally happening!" She whispered furiously
"I know!" Ron exclaimed, "it's about bloody time!"
"Shush," Ginny said, "They're talking!"
They both brought their ears close to the fleshy piece of sting hanging between them.
"So, Hermione," Harry said, and both the siblings rolled their eyes as he was already nervously messing up his hair "I wanted to ask you something."
"Hello, Harry," Hermione smiled, "what can I do for you?"
"Well," Harry stammered, "You know next weekend is a Hogsmeade one right?"
Hermione simply nodded.
"Well, I was thinking we could go together?" Harry asked directly.
Ginny and Ron looked at each other, surprised that Harry managed to move forward so easily.
"Well of course we're going together, did you have other plans?" Hermione asked causing the two siblings to slap their foreheads so hard that half the common room looked at them warily for a couple of seconds.
"Well, no I-" Harry said, trying to recover the situation "I meant just us two, you know? Boy and girl, going to Hogsmeade together, enjoying the day, maybe have a picnic, maybe getting two butterbeers at the Three Broomsticks..." Harry said, hanging his sentence as he noticed his own rambling.
"Oh," Hermione said, "Like a date?"
"Well, not *like* a date," Harry said "An actual date."
"Yes!" Hermione, Ron and Ginny exclaimed at the same time.
Their date went great: Ron knew it had from the moment he saw them walking in the common room holding hands and bashfully smiling at each other.
"So?" Ron asked, "How did it go?"
Harry looked at Hermione for half a second before answering "It was good," he smiled "Thank you for knocking some sense into me."
"Eh," Ron shrugged, "What are best mates for?"
"So," Harry said, "What's the next big phase of your plan?" he sat on one of the couches in front of the fire, pulling Hermione next to him.
"You'll see," Hermione smiled, "Just keep your eyes open tomorrow at dinner."
Ron shivered slightly "I still think you're scary Hermione, brilliant sure, but..."
Hermione's answer was simply an unnerving smile as she put her head on Harry's shoulder and burrowed in his neck.
Ron rolled his eyes at the display, hopefully, that was as far as they would go in front of him.
Dinner the next day was a tense affair, Hermione seemed to alternate glances between the doors to the great hall, Umbridge and both Dumbledore and McGonnagall.
And then all hell broke loose.
The doors of the great hall busted open as 4 Aurors in full body armour entered the Great Hall, followed by none other than Amelia Bones herself.
Ron had heard stories about the woman from his parents: they told him that while Voldemort feared only Dumbledore there was a reason he and Amelia Bones had never crossed wands, and Ron could see why.
As she stepped into the great hall the sky reflected in the ceiling darkened with storm clouds, Ron was never particularly sensitive to other people's magic, but even the most self-absorbed wizard could have felt the magical discharge from Amelia Bones, he later swore he could see small lightning bolts discharge from her as she walked through the great hall, stopping in front of the head table.
Dumbledore got up to greet her, but she silenced him with a wave of her hand, the movement was followed by a streak of lightning appearing in the sky on top of the great hall.
"Dolores Umbridge!" Amelia exclaimed, "I am here to arrest you under charges of Torture against minors!"
At this Umbridge bristled and got up from her chair, Ron could see the air around her shimmer and the revulsion he always felt around her amplified as he tasted the dark magic her aura was tainted with, he sneaked a look at Harry, who had always been the more sensitive of the trio, and he looked ready to puke until his magic cocooned around him in a protective shell, letting him relax slightly.
"How dare you! I am the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of magic! I will not be made a mockery of in such a fashion!" Umbridge interrupted her.
"I am not finished!" Amelia Bones thundered, and actual thunder could be heard from outside the castle.
"I am also arresting you under suspicion of the murder of Selene Sparrow, Daniel McTorin and..." She seemed to take a breath, "And Senior Auror Ryan Bones!"
Each name brought a new wave of pallor to Umbridge's face as she faced the charges laid bare against her.
"How do you plead?" Bones asked trying to maintain a formal arrest going.
"Guilty of course!" Umbridge said.
Sudden silence enveloped the Great Hall as everyone looked at her shocked, everyone except Hermione who smiled like the cat that ate the canary.
How the bloody hell did she set this up?
Umbridge paled even further as even more words spewed out of her mouth, seemingly without control.
"They stood in my way to power, and I got rid of them like I will get rid of any pest trying to stop me!"
Bones raised her wand as Dumbledore and the aurors erected a shimmering shield between the students and the head table, the other professor took their wands out just moments later to strengthen the shield, but the fight was already on.
Umbridge screamed a stream of curses as she swished her wand towards Amelia Bones, but the latter stood there unimpressed as she captured each of them with her wand, sending them towards the floor, away from every possible unintended victim.
Her wand slashed the air so quickly Ron could barely follow it as she started her counterattack, her aurors already passing through the shield to come to her aid.
A mad glint had taken residence in Umbridge's eyes as she lifted her wand overhead and Ron heard the dreaded words of one of the worst spells in existence.
"Fiendfyre!"
"The scary thing about Fiendfyre," Ron remembered his brother Bill saying "is that it's frightfully easy to conjure, very hard to control true, especially if you're trying to wrench control off someone else, but easy to conjure nonetheless"
Ron heard pretty much every student gasp in panic as most of them got up from their seats to run away from the fight, some seemed to be transfixed to the battle, incapable of actually leaving the Great hall, and Ron himself could only stare as Hermione paled and Harry's jaw set in a grim line as he took his wand out ready to defend himself and anyone else who needed defending.
The cursed fire shot out of Umbridge's wand, forming a protecting circle around her as the flames took the shape of monstrous creatures, most of which Ron couldn't even begin to identify.
The fighting stopped as the professors that weren't involved moved to try and get as many students out of the hall as possible.
"Don't move!" Uxbridge exclaimed, "I don't know what kind of treachery this is but if any of you makes a move I will unleash the fire on the school!"
Amelia Bones seemed ready to curse Umbridge, but even someone as powerful as she was would have been hard-pressed to take control of fully formed Fiendfyre before it did irreparable damage to the castle, probably taking some victims too.
The heads of houses were maintaining the shield, pouring as much magical power to keep it standing even a second more against a possible attack from the fire, Dumbledore seemed still occupied with casting something Ron couldn't recognize.
"You're not getting out of this Umbridge," Amelia Bones said, the lightning storm on the ceiling of the Great Hall betraying the calmness she was trying to portray.
"At the end of the night, you will either be arrested or dead, now the only way you'll avoid being sentenced to the kiss is giving up right now."
A mirthless laugh escaped Umbridge's mouth as her face twisted into a visage of rage "And live a life in Azkaban? Under the effect of dementors?" She spat as she said the name, "I'd rather die and bring some mudbloods and blood traitors with me!"
She pointed her wand forward and the fire pushed towards the Aurors, who run towards the shimmering shield, trying to avoid the fire speeding behind them.
At the same moment, three things happened: Amelia Bones moved forward, casting a stunning spell so powerful it put red spots in Ron vision, Dumbledore finished casting whatever it was he was casting, and Hermione shot up from her seat trying to stop Harry from moving forward and failing.
The stunner from Amelia Bones impacted Umbridge just as the floor of the great hall sprung forward towards Umbridge, coiling around her like a pair of snakes as she was surrounded by what looked like a giant bubble-head charm.
The Aurors were still trying to get out of the way to the fire when Harry pointed his wand at it forcing his magic against the will of the fire itself as Umbridge collapsed from the stunner.
Dumbledore turned around to try and wrench control of the Fiendfyre and found Harry facing it, only a handful of feet from the fire itself, the Headmaster knew he wouldn't be able to stop the fire before it reached Harry, and not for the first time he cursed the reckless courage of the young man.
Then, as it was custom around Harry Potter, the impossible happened.
Hermione Granger was not about to let Harry face this alone, so she stepped up, pointing her wand at the fire and pushing her magic and her will against it with all her might.
As the few remaining students in the hall huddled at the far end of it, behind the teachers, trying to get out of the hall before the fire could reach them, Ron thought he was going to see his best friends burn into ashes in front of him.
The fire roared and rushed towards Harry and Hermione before it split in the middle, surrounding them in a circle of cursed fire, the shapes changing from whatever nightmarish feline creatures they had taken the shape of.
Flaming Stags and Otters appeared between the flames, fighting and submitting the rest, absorbing them until they were the only ones remaining.
Harry and Hermione exchanged a look and flicked their wands downwards, the flames disappearing around them, and promptly fainted afterwards.
Ron got up from his seat and kneeled between them and checking their pulse as Dumbledore and Amelia Bones made their way to them and the rest of the students were finally evacuated from the hall.
"They're alive!" Breathed Ron as the Headmaster and the Head of the
DMLE approached.
"What the hell were you doing, Albus!?" Amelia exclaimed, "Why did you not stop Umbridge before she released the fire?"
"I was making sure the fire would be contained in the Great Hall even if I left the doors open for the students to try ad escape, I cast a protective shield that would have given us a few minutes before the fire burned through, in case I couldn't stop it." Dumbledore sighed, turning to look at Harry and Hermione, he waved his wand, and the two started levitating in front of the Headmaster.
"Now I must excuse myself: Mr Potter and Ms Granger need to be brought to the infirmary. Hopefully, it is just a case of magical exhaustion." Nodding his goodbyes to Amelia and the Aurors that accompanied her, he started heading towards the doors of the Great Hall and swooped through the students that were still in the room.
It took twenty-four full hours for Harry and Hermione to wake up, Ron was not in the infirmary when they came to their senses, but arrived soon after.
"You're awake!" Ron exclaimed, running towards their beds, "Thank Merlin, you're alright!"
"I still feel pretty tired, to be honest," Harry admitted, "And Hermione hasn't said a word yet: Madame Pomfrey says she's in shock."
"How the bloody hell did you two stop Umbridge's Fiendfyre?!" Ron said, still awed by the absurdity of the event.
"Well, I have no idea honestly," Harry smiled sheepishly, "Hermione and I studied all kinds of fire last year when we found out about the Dragons in the first task, so we kinda knew what Fiendfyre is and how to theoretically take control of it.
I was sure I wouldn't be able to until Hermione showed up and helped me: it was like we had only one mind, and our wills and magic synchronized and managed to take over the fire."
"Wow," Ron breathed, "I've never heard of something like that!"
"I think I can be of some help there, if I may," Dumbledore seemed to materialize next to Ron, making him jump in surprise.
"Headmaster! Is everyone alright?" Harry asked, "Madame Pomfrey said there were no victims between the students, but what about the aurors and Madame Bones?"
"Don't worry, Harry," Dumbledore reassured him, waving his wand to conjure a comfortable looking plush armchair, "Thanks to your and Ms Granger's bravery, no one was hurt by Dolores Umbridge's actions-"
"It was my fault," Hermione interrupted him with a deadpan tone.
"What?" Harry said, surprised.
Dumbledore remained in silence, waiting for Hermione to speak.
"I arranged for Madame Bones to come during dinner: I sent her a message and made it sound like her niece was being punished by Umbridge instead of Harry. I even made up a narrative about Ubridge controlling the mail traffic at Hogwarts!" Hermione started sobbing, bringing her knees to her chest and hugging them to herself.
"I wanted to make a spectacle of Umbridge, and I almost had you killed Harry. I'm so sorry!" She started crying in earnest, not managing to say anything else.
Harry slowly got up from his bed and slowly walked over to Hermione's with Ron's help.
He sat at her side and hugged her to him, whispering to her, reassuring her that he didn't think she was responsible for what happened.
"Harry is right, Hermione," Dumbledore said, his voice low and his expression pained, "You had warned us of Umbridge's actions, and we should have intervened, instead of making children feel like they had no one to turn to but themselves," He breathed heavily as he got up from his chair, putting a hand on Hermione's shoulder, "I am truly sorry, Hermione, for the weight we put on your shoulders, but what Umbridge did is in no way your fault."
"I am the one who made the situation escalate, I should have been satisfied with Madame Bones arresting Umbridge, especially after I pointed out her murders to her, but I wanted to humiliate her even more: I slipped a mild truth serum in her beverage so that she would feel compelled to answer to the accusations," Hermione said, looking up at the Headmaster with a grief-stricken expression.
"You didn't slip Veritaserum to her, did you?" Dumbledore asked.
"No," Hermione said, "I kept it all completely legal."
"Good," Dumbledore exhaled, "Trust me, Hermione, when I say that it will do you good to discuss your feelings with your friends in the next few days. It does not do well to close oneself when these kinds of situations occur: you will feel guilty regardless of what I say to you, you will need to face your guilt on the matter yourself."
Hermione simply nodded as Harry brought her head on his shoulder and squeezed her to him.
"Now, on a more positive note!" The Headmaster clapped, "Do you know what a Magical Resonance is?"
To Ron and Harry's surprise, Hermione shook her head with them in the negative.
"A magical resonance is a very rare occurrence," The Headmaster explained, his eyes twinkling with the pleasure of teaching, "When two people who are very in sync try to accomplish the same thing their magic sometimes will fuse together, to create a force multitudes stronger than even the sum of its parts."
"So," Harry said, "Hermione and I managed this Magical Resonance?"
"I do believe you did, and the consequences will make themselves apparent very soon," Dumbledore smiled, his eyes taking an even stronger twink.
"What consequences?" Harry asked.
"You will feel much more in tune with each other, and will probably be able to feel the other's magic much more clearly than before, you might even be able to perceive each other's emotions if they are strong enough!" Dumbledore exclaimed excitedly.
"Will that be permanent?" Hermione asked slightly worried.
"No, the effect will fade with time, unless you two cause another Magical Resonance before the effects of the first one fade, in that case, they will get slightly stronger and will last a bit more," Dumbledore explained, "I have only ever seen the result of multiple Magical Resonances when I lived with Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel, they were so used to their Resonances that they could almost communicate just with their thoughts, it was always very moving to observe their love for each other in such instances."
Both Harry and Hermione blushed, but slowly a small smile started to spread on both teens' faces.
"Well, now I must take my leave. I will leave the three of you to discuss it
between yourselves, goodbye, and have a good rest in the clutches of our dear Madame Pomfrey."
The next few days went by in a flash for both Harry and Hermione, they walked around in a daze, and most of the time, they barely paid enough attention in classes to take notes, and only managed to actually get to talk about all that happened in the weekend, as they isolated themselves in a corner of the common room.
"So," Harry said, "Will you explain everything that you did to me?"
Hermione nodded and started speaking, describing her plan from the beginning.
She knew the enchantment Umbridge had used on the quills had to be illegal, and after McGonnagal decided to ignore her pleads, she started investigating Umbridge, but the first thing she had to do was get the Daily Prophet to stop their smear campaign of Harry.
"Why was that important?" Harry asked.
"Well, the main reason was that if the Prophet painted you as a victim instead of a perpetrator, then Umbridge punishing you would have a greater impact on her reputation," Hermione explained, "Also, I hated reading about you being disturbed every time I opened the paper."
"Ok," Harry smiled, kissing Hermione's temple and squeezing her once, "Go on."
She then explained how her previous arrangement with Rita skeeter became useful in gaining info on Barnabas Cuffe, how even he didn't know about Rita's animagus form, and how she had to offer her something in return to get her to help in her scheme.
"What did you offer her?" Harry asked, curious.
"Well, I told her that if I succeded she would have the chance to run an article about a ministry employee torturing students and that it would probably cause the fall of the minister," Hermione shook her head, "That wasn't enough in the beginning, but then I pointed out to her that if Voldemort managed to go undetected long enough we may end up having no chance to win a second war, after that she decided to help, I think she could actually be a useful ally in the coming war."
Harry simply nodded and let her go on.
Hermione explained how after finding out Cuffe's secret she had to find a secure way of communicating with the outside world, she actually thought Umbridge was checking any mail that student's that caught her eye would be sending out, so she turned to the elves for help, and Dobby was more than happy to send a couple of messages for her, as elves could gro trough Hogwart's anti apparition wards they could go through anything, so she managed to send a copy of the enchantment on the quills to the DMLE, and when Amelia Bones declined to actually investigate on the basis that she didn't have enough proof, she knew she had to make it personal for the witch to move forward.
"So you sent her a message with Dobby to make her believe that Susan was the one being tortured by Umbridge?" Harry asked.
"Yes," Hermione nodded.
"But how did you find out about the murders?" Harry asked again.
"Rita had found out that the two people that had a chance of becoming Undersecretary before Umbridge had died a couple of months apart, both before the election of the Minister's staff, people just hadn't connected it to Umbridge before because she was supposed to be out of the country at the time, but I found out she was in the country when I checked the Prophet articles about their deaths and noticed her in one of the pictures of the people on the street after the accident that killed Selene Sparrow."
"What?!" Harry exclaimed, "She went to all the trouble of faking her absence from the country just to be present after the accident when there were Prophet cameras around?!"
"I know," Hermione said, "I thought it was weird too, so I asked Rita to check something for me, and as it turns out there was a piece of evidence registered as being found on the scene that disappeared afterwards from the DMLE deposit, I think she left something incriminating behind and went back to retrieve it."
"So you had dobby put the truth serum in her tea?"
"Yeah, I just never thought she would go berserk like that, she could have brought the school down with Fiendfyre!" Hermione exclaimed.
"She was totally out of her mind, but I understand why she would prefer dying than going to Azkaban."
Hermione could only nod as she put her head on Harry's shoulder, she still felt awfully guilty for the whole thing, but she was starting to understand that while her actions weren't exemplary, there was much more blame to put on Umbridge than on herself.
Harry and Hermione got up as they saw Ron walking towards them.
"Have you heard?" Ron said, seeming worried.
"Heard what?" Harry asked.
"Snape will be our new DADA professor for the rest of the year," He scowled "It's going to be awful."
"Well..." Hermione said, smiling, "Maybe we could put into motion the idea of the study group even if Umbridge is gone?"
"I'll think about it," Harry sighed, he already knew he would fold: how could he say no to Hermione when she looked at him like that?
AN: I tried to make Hermione as little of a Mary Sue as possible in this, for how much the concept itself let me of course.
Writing about Hermione banishing Umbridge from Hogwarts was fun, but I wanted her to face her actions, instead of her being absolutely right and perfect 100% of the time, thankfully no one died, but she still ended up endangering a great part of the school. I tried to write Umbridge as less of a joke, she isn't supposed to be one in canon, her education is shitty on purpose, but she is shown to be capable when it comes to actual magic. Hope you enjoyed the story, even if the tone shifts are a bit too heavy I think.