A/N: I hope you enjoy year 2.1. :P fun, fun, fun! : )
Chapter seven: A String of Events
*Year Two*
"What do you mean: the car disappeared into the forbidden forest?" Hermione demanded. She, Harry, Ron, and Ginny were all sitting at the Gryffindor table. "I mean they don't just drive themselves." Hermione explained, jabbing her fork into a link of sausage.
"Hermione," Ron sighed for the millionth time, "you are forgetting that this is my Dad's charmed flying car."
"No, I'm not forgetting anything, Ronald. Charmed or not, it's still a car. They don't grow brains, it's an inanimate object." She refused to believe that the car had grown a brain.
Harry and Ron exchanged identical looks of frustration. They hated that she didn't believe them; the muggle side of her mind didn't want to believe it, it didn't want to admit that things of that sort could happen.
After a moments silence, they returned to their breakfast, and the morning post arrived. As the mass of owls flooded into the hall, they scattered letters, packages, and papers amongst the students.
"Oh-no…" Ron groaned as Errol, his confused owl, came wobbling into view; a bright red envelope clutched in his beak. The owl slid onto the table with a loud thud.
"OH! Pay up Fred!" George whooped loudly as Fred began to fish out a galleon.
"You made bets!" Ron shouted angrily, as he watched the galleon change hands. The whole table laughed.
"Of course we did little brother." The both snorted, it was common knowledge, and they simply wouldn't be the Weasley twins had they not taken bets.
Hermione laughed as she reached forward, picking the owl, she stroked his feathers lightly; the poor thing looked exhausted.
"You'd better open it, Ron." Neville said glancing down at the envelope, it had to burn around the seal. "It'll be worse if you don't. My Gran sent me one once, and I ignored it and… It was horrible." Neville flinched as the thought of that day crossed his mind.
Ron quickly took Neville's advice and quickly reached nearly ripping the envelope open. When the howler exploded, the hall fell silent.
"STEALING THE CAR," Hermione flinched, "I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY HAD EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT UNTIL I GET A HOLD OF YOU MISTER, I DON'T SUPPOSE THAT YOU STOPPED TO THINK ABOUT WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW THAT IT WAS GONE!" Mrs. Weasley's shrill voice rang through the hall angry voice; dislodging dust from the ceiling.
"LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, MERLIN KNOWS WHAT COULD HAVE GONE WRONG, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, AND BOTH YOU AND HARRY COULD HAVE BOTH DIED!" Ron sank lower into his seat, facing burning with embarrassment.
Hermione covered her throbbing ears as the howling continued. "I AM ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED, YOUR FATHER IS NOW FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK ANT ITS ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT, AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT HOME!" The letter exploded in flames as it tore its self to pieces. The hall remained silent until the twins let out a roar of laughter, after that the other students began to join in.
Hermione giggled, "I don't know what you expected, Ronald," She looked down at the boy, his whole body had slid beneath the table, "But you most definitely deserved it."
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Herbology came first on Hermione's list of things to do, and she couldn't have been more than pleased. Hermione had always liked Herbology, and despite some of the more gnarly species of plants, she considered it to be a peaceful subject. One that involved little exertion. As the class rolled on, Hermione discovered she was the only one familiar with the Mandrake plant, winning her house a whopping ten points.
Once everyone was clear on the concept, and knew how to work with them safely, well that's when the class grew interesting. Hermione had known re planting mandrakes would be a difficult but rewarding task, she loved a good challenge.
Next on her agenda was Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Lockhart's class. Right away Hermione knew that their professor was of a peculiar sort. He was a vain fellow, and loved to stand at the front of the room, and drone on and on about himself and his achievement the entire time. Hermione had already read half of his books prior to entering the class room, and she indeed found them fascinating, she even found him sort of fascination.
"What's Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?" Ron asked in astonishment as he read the test Lockhart had given him. The questions were less than anyone could have expected.
"Why are they all about him?" Harry hissed at Ron from behind Hermione, "I could care about his favorite color, let alone his birth stone?" Harry continued to scan the page, and he immediately knew… They'd be learning nothing that year.
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Hermione and Ron nearly jumped out of their skin when they saw the Slytherin's step out onto the Quidditch pitch late one Saturday afternoon. 'Trouble,' Hermione thought to herself as she looked down on the scene from the stands, the Gryffindor team had booked the pitch. Hermione nearly dropped her book when she caught sight of Draco; she hadn't known he was on the team.
As Hermione and Ron made their way down to the pitch, she could only make out the sound of the two captains having a heated debate. "We have a new seeker; we've got to train him up." The Slytherin captain sneered as he pointed back at Draco.
"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in," Hermione spoke sharply as she took notice of their brooms. They were all sporting the newest most pristine model brooms. "All of our players have pure talent; they don't have to go around stealing other people's time because they have none." Gasps echoed through the crowd.
"No one asked your opinion!" One of the Slytherin chasers bit back sharply.
"Just ignore her, McNair, she's only a mudblood; her opinion doesn't matter anyways." Hermione's heart sank as she watched the words leave Draco's mouth. Draco's eyes grew wide as his words began to dawn on him; he knew his words had all but slapped her across the face.
Hermione stared at him in shock, having never heard such a word escape his mouth. In the back of her mind, she knew that his words had been hollow, that there had been no real meaning behind them; but it still cut her deeply. She watched him closely, not really knowing what to do. She could see his guilt, his mistake, portrayed in his stormy eyes. Hermione slowly began to back away, not daring to utter another word; and then she left.
Knowing that Professor Sprout never locked the green houses, it didn't take Hermione long to find a quiet spot to hide out in. Hermione wasn't going to cry, she didn't like to cry; all it did was make her face sticky and her nose stuffy. So instead of crying, she simply sat there and allowed herself time to think.
She didn't know how long she'd sat there pondering her options when she heard one of the old doors creak open. "You know I didn't mean it," Hermione didn't look up when she heard him speak, she didn't want to even talk to him. "I'm sorry I hurt you," The apology was clear in his voice; but she still wasn't talking. Draco slid onto the ground beside her and grabbed ahold her shaking hand. He wanted nothing more than for her to acknowledge his existence.
"Why?" They'd been sitting in silence a long time before Hermione finally spoke, "I know you didn't mean it, but right now it's more of a 'you said it' kind of thing." Her voice held no scorn, anger or disdain; it held no emotion at all. "You could have chosen any other word," she said looking up at him, "why that one?"
Draco was dumbfounded, "I don't know," he said squeezing her hand tightly, he looked up over at her sad eyes, "you hate me don't you?" He let go of her hand as he looked away. Hermione sighed.
"I don't hate you, Draco," she didn't look at him, "I'm just disappointed in you." This time it was Hermione who grabbed his hand, "I forgive you," She told him sincerely as she gave his had a squeeze, "but you're gonna have to work your tail off to make it up to me." The two of them smiled at each other warmly.
"What if I let you punch me for being such an arse?" Draco laughed, hoping to cheer her up "Would that help?" Hermione laughed as Draco stood up, pulling her with him "right here and right now."
"No," Hermione said grinning, "If I'm going to punch you, I'll do it long after you have forgotten all about this." Hermione continued to smile. If there was anything Hermione knew how to do, it was how to forgive a person… but she never learned how to forget.
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"Remind me again why we're going to this," Ron moaned in agony as the three of them wandered down to the dungeons. Sir Nicholas, the Gryffindor ghost, had invited them to his Death day party.
It wasn't until they reached the dungeons, that they realized they had made a terrible mistake. Sir Nicholas's party wasn't your everyday gathering, and not only due to the fact that they were the only breathing guests.
The room, quite frankly, smelled like a ripe garbage can that had been left in the sun to long. Hermione thought that it might not have been so bad if it had been only the room that smelled, but instead it was the entire chamber. As Hermione looked around she imidiatly understood why the rooms smelled so bad, on tables against the far wall, food had been set out for the guests, food that had to have been older that Hermione herself. Hermione was glad she'd eat before coming.
"Oh no," Hermione stopped abruptly, trying to her best to fight her way past the boys. "Turn back, turn back now!" Hermione was frantic, maybe even desperate. "I don't want to talk to Moaning Myrtle."
"Who?" Harry inquired curiously as he held Hermione in place.
"She haunts one of the toilets in the girl's lavatory on the first floor." Hermione said, trying her best to stay out of sight.
"Okay, let me get this straight, she haunts a toilet?" Hermione could hear the distaste in Ron's voice.
"Yes, it's been out of service all year, she keeps throwing tantrums." Hermione explained, once more trying to slip past Harry and Ron. "I never went in if I could avoid it; it's difficult to go to the bathroom and to have her bug you while you are trying to do your business. Now let me through." The boys didn't budge.
"Hello Peeves." Hermione froze, no; this was no good at all. Harry eyed Peeves closely as the poltergeist came to a stop in front of them. He had a mischievous gleam in his eye.
"I heard ye' saying rude things bout Myrtle." Peeves threw a glance over his shoulder, "Oi,Myrtle!" Hermione's heart began to pound as she turned to face him; her cheeks bright red.
"Hello Myrtle, It's nice to see that you are out of that old toilet." Hermione smile was forced, sounding cheerful and friendly.
"She was just talking about you." Peeves said smirked as he looked between the two girls.
"Only saying how lovely you look tonight." Hermione knew that she'd failed the minute she saw Myrtle's suspicious glare. She didn't buy it at all, and floated away moaning about how she was so mistreated.
"Damn." Hermione muttered under her breath, the boys watched her with shock; they'd never heard her curse. Soon after, the Trio left.
"Harry, what are you…" Hermione trailed off, Harry had stopped a ways behind them. He was listening, calculating…
"Listen," he hissed urging his friends to stop in place. No matter how hard Hermione strained to hear this mysterious sound, she simply couldn't. There was nothing, not even the sound of someone walking.
"Harry, all I hear is you." She was hesitant, still straining to hear. The longer she listened; Hermione could have sworn that she did in fact hear something, a faint whisper of words maybe, but it wasn't strong. Surely her imagination had kicked in.
"Follow me!" Hermione shot Ron a stunned look as Harry shot off in the other direction. "IT'S GOING TO KILL SOMEONE!" Harry was panicking now as he ran towards the sound, Hermione and Ron followed close behind. They stopped dead their tracks when they saw it, and all three of them gasped in horror.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.
ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE.
"What's that hanging underneath…" Ron's voice had begun to quiver.
"I think-I think its Mrs. Norris." Hermione's stomach churned sickeningly, a new voice called out to them down the hall.
"Enemies of the heir beware!" Hermione turned to look his way, "You'll be next, mudblood." He was leading a large group of students, and none of them saw the horrified look he gave Hermione.
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Every professor in the school soon turned up for the show; all looking distraught. All of the other students had been sent to their dorms, and Hermione would have given anything to have gone with them. She couldn't deny that she was frightened; she hadn't the slightest clue what was going on.
He kept screaming, Mr. Filch that is… He kept screaming about how the three of them had murdered his cat. Screaming about how they'd been planning it for months; but Dumbledore had handled it smartly. He'd swooped in and explained how Mrs. Norris was very much alive, and that Professor Sprout could cure her. Filch however, continued to scream.
Professor Lockhart, having the ego of a Malfoy, continued on and on about how he could fix her, that he knew just the spell; when in reality, he hardly even knew the date.
Filch rambled on about how Harry 'knew' that he was a squib, that Harry had found out and waged war! In fact none of them had really known he was a squib, sure they'd found the letter, but they hadn't known.
After an hour they were released.
"Harry, what's going on?" Hermione slammed the portrait behind her as the clambered into the common room, "what is this?"
"I don't know, Hermione!" Harry hissed spinning around to face her, "The voice got to her."
"Harry what voice?" Hermione demanded, briefly remembering the string of sounds she'd heard before. "No one else heard this mysterious voice, only you." A few first years looked up at the Trio as the stomped through the common room. "That's never a good sign. It makes you sound even more suspicious."
"Yeah, and I'll just add you to my list of traitors who don't understand." Harry stomped away.
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The trio left History of Magic the next morning full of curiosity. In the light of recent events Hermione had convinced Professor Binns, their confused ghost of a teacher, to tell them about the Chamber of Secrets. He told them of a monster that lived with in, he told them of a girl who'd fallen prey to said beast, and the told them of the impeding danger that lurked ahead and that the heir of Slytherin was now in control.
"Do you really think there is a Chamber of Secrets, Hermione?" Ron asked breaking their loud silence.
"I don't know." She didn't lie; there wasn't a point in lying.
"Wow," The trio spun around quickly, "Never thought I'd see the day when Hermione Bookworm Granger didn't know something." Draco leaned against a column and smirked.
"No one knows everything," she watched him closely. "Not even the professors know what's going on."
"I wouldn't be surprised if you go next," she watched his eyes shine with fear, pain woven into his words; he hid it all so well behind a mask of scorn.
"Why don't go jump off the astronomy tower, Malfoy." Ron called out as Malfoy turned his back on them, striding purposefully down the hall. "I'd rather like to see him die." Hermione scoffed.
"I bet the feelings mutual, Ron."
"Did you see that weird line of spiders?" Harry asked causing his friends to stare, his thoughts having come from nowhere.
"Urgh." Ron groaned, "I hate spiders!" Hermione eyed him inquisitively. "Fred and George locked me in a take full of them once; when I was little. I had red bumps in very uncomfortable places and spiders in my ears for a month." He said reminisced loudly. "Even the dead ones freak me out." Hermione giggled.
"Nice to know, Ron." Hermione tried her best not to grin, she knew what to get Ron for Christmas…
"Wait," Ron demanded quickly, "why are we going into the 'girls' lavatory?" Hermione continued to usher them in.
"No one comes in here." She said, "This is Moaning Myrtle's bathroom." Ron eyed the room suspiciously but followed anyways.
"Hello Myrtle, How are you today?" Hermione asked the ghost as she walked into the dark room, light failing to shine in through the windows.
"They aren't girls." Myrtle pointed out with her nose held high.
"I am very much aware of that." Myrtle glared at Hermione angrily.
"We wondered if you could ask you a question," Hermione didn't wait for her consent. "haven't seen anything strange lately have you? A cat was attacked in the hall on Halloween." Hermione said.
"I don't know. Peeves upset me so much that I came up here and tried to kill myself." Hermione, Ron and Harry exchanged looks. "And then I realized that I am already, already…"
"Dead," Ron suggested bluntly; Myrtle began to wail.
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"I think it's Malfoy." Hermione looked up from her lunch in confusion. "Malfoy's the heir of Slytherin." Ron said quietly, jabbing a fork into his potatoes.
"Malfoy, the heir of Slytherin, I doubt it?" Hermione rolled her eyes; she'd never heard something so ridiculous. "What could he have possibly done to earn our suspicion?"
"He threatened you, Hermione! It all fits together; his entire family's been in Slytherin, his father set it lose while he was in school, now Draco's back to do the dirty work." Ron went on, not failing to supply as many details as he could.
"Ron, you can't make those kinds of accusations without proof." Hermione knew she'd have to humor him.
"How do we do that?"
"We'd need Polyjuice Potion. Snape mentioned it a couple weeks ago, that would allow us to disguise ourselves as Slytherin's." Her stomach churned, she didn't like where the conversation was going. It was pointless to go through such trouble when all she had to do was ask.
"I guess it's worth a try." The boys didn't worry about asking her if she were capable of brewing such a potion.
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Hermione had begun to worry about Harry's, Ron's and her own safety. Harry had been in a Quidditch accident, Ron was still puking slugs in the night, and she was a muggle born. She hoped that they'd all make it out alive.
Hermione, having fallen asleep in the library, was hurrying back to the common room when it happened. She didn't know what to do when she came across the body; all she could do was scream. Lying on the ground, camera positioned, was Collin Creevey, a first year muggleborn. Hermione kneeled down next to his lifeless body, and she shook him, hoping he were still alive. She screamed again, praying help would come.
OoOo A/N oOoO
Year 2 part 2 will be up soon. I hope you liked it and that it didn't bore you to tears. We have a lot more Malfoy coming up shortly! And I have a very great Pansy scene to come! REVIEW!
~Taylor