'Dumbledore wants Snape to teach me Occlumency.' Harry declared, dropping into his usual armchair in front of the fire.
'Snape!' Ron sympathised, looking up from his homework.
'Apparently Dumbledore thinks Voldemort is possessing my mind or something.' Harry complained. 'so I have to have private lessons once per week.'
'Harry, Occlumency is a really advanced subject and I've heard Snape is a master. You're really very lucky to be learning from him.' Hermione added, unable to believe that the two boys could be so tied up in their hatred of the teacher that they couldn't see this fabulous opportunity for what it was. Hermione would have given anything to learn Occlumency.
'Hermione, its extra lessons with Snape. He'll be lucky to learn anything.' Reminded Ron and Hermione had to concede the point. Harry and Snape had the ability to wind each other up more than any adult she'd ever seen. Perhaps, if she spoke to Gellert during the next DA meeting he would be able to give her some pointers to pass on.
She shuffled her parchment for ElfAid, no longer focusing on the work. Badge sales were generating a moderate income, mostly among muggleborns but she had yet to persuade anyone who actually owned an elf. She had been perusing books on wizarding genealogy to try and find a potential pureblood candidate but had yet to find a candidate in anything other than the unlikely column.
She gave up. They boys were still moaning about Snape, so she decided to take up the one subject that would quickly distract them. Then her thought were completely derailed as she heard what Harry was telling Ron.
'... but it wasn't a complete waste. I asked Cho Chang to Hogsmede on Valentines day.' Ron gawped at approvingly.
'Cho Chang? Really? Wow Harry, she's a year older and super pretty' Hermione barely restrained a huff of frustration. Boys, it seemed, were the same in both the wizarding and muggle worlds.
'Oh, Harry. I've been thinking...' She said airily, interrupting the crude comments the boys were making. 'It would be good to get the true story out don't you think?' She looked at Ron for backup and he redhead started nodding, fortunately he didn't seem too concerned by the change of subject. She had no doubt they would return to it back in the dormitory.
'Yeah – that's a great idea Hermione. I can just see the headlines now "the boy who lied".' Harry mimed quote marks with his fingers. Hermione forced herself to be patient, her friend was under an unbelievable amount of pressure. It was only understandable that he would snap, even if it wasn't entirely necessary.
'Actually, I was thinking we could speak to Luna Lovegood. Get the story published in The Quibbler.' Harry scoffed and looked to Ron for support.
'Right, even if the magazine is usually a bunch of tosh, all we need to do is get the story published.'
'I know a writer who will increase the audience as well; she owes me.' Hermione added. Harry was beginning to look between them rather desperately.
'and once it's published, we could let Umbridge know about it!' Ron exclaimed and both Hermione and Harry looked at him with surprise. 'Well, Fred and George always said the best publicity at Hogwarts is getting something banned. ' His face flamed as brightly as his hair but Hermione could immediately understand.
'That's brilliant, Ron.' Hermione decided. 'I'll organise the meeting now.' She decided jumping up. Her ElfAid work fell to the side and she only paused to roughly stack it before taking the mason jar that was already shrunk in her bag and hurrying off to the owlery.
Harry's first lesson in Occlumency was an unparalleled disaster. Not only had he come back knowing exactly where to find the prophesy, but the lesson had clearly had no benefit as Ron informed her the next morning that Harry had been experiencing You-Know-Who's emotions again.
He was happy, very happy, which she could only hope meant that Grindelwald had enacted the first part of their plan. Unfortunately she was quickly proven wrong at breakfast. Gellert dropped into the seat opposite her, and she looked up in surprise. He hadn't spoken to her outside of classes since Christmas.
She knew straight away that he didn't have good news; his expression was grave and he held a tightly rolled daily prophet in one hand.
'I had hoped that you might have enacted the first stage of our plan.' Hermione sighed and the dark wizard grimaced.
'Unfortunately not.' He unrolled the paper in front of her and Hermione froze. A middle aged wizard took up most of the page, white hair almost glowing in the grainy black and white photo. She didn't have to see the mismatched eyes to know it was Grindelwald. The haughty expression and arrogant stance were unmistakable, despite the difference in age and build. He was wider, heavier set and wearing an old fashioned suit. She noticed suddenly the subtle changes he had made overnight to the way he wore his uniform to differentiate from the photo. He had done up his shirt the whole way, actually tying his tie for once and not wearing the waistcoat he usually had underneath his robes.
'Has anyone recognised you?' She demanded, worry coursing through her.
'No, I've got a notice-me-not charm up.' He dismissed with a casual wave of his hand. True enough, people's eyes just seemed to drift past them as if they were not there. Her eyes were drawn back to the paper as he tapped one of the ten smaller images surrounding his. Nine wizards and a witch, all purebloods by the captions beneath them and all convicted of a crime.
Antonin Dolohov seemed to be glaring directly at her out of the paper, she could imagine those cold eyes calculating the best way to hurt her. He had been convicted of the murder of the Prewetts. Mulciber could have been handsome, if one missed the deranged, manic look in his eyes. She shivered and her eyes drifted to the heading, dwarfed by the pictures that dominated the page.
"Dark Wizard at large: Grindelwald orchestrates mass breakout from Azkaban. cont p2." She didn't need to read page two, it wasn't hard to imagine what it said.
'Dumbledore had already given his opinion. A glowing argument in my defence...' Gellert moaned, 'so he'd been labelled one of my supporters and they've taken his order of merlin.'
'Can they even do that?' Hermione asked in dismay. She couldn't believe Dumbledore was so bad at working the media, perhaps if she hadn't been reading up on Grindelwald's propaganda before Harry's interview, she would never have noticed.
'They have. Either way it makes his position as headmaster very precarious.' Hermione found herself biting her lip as she tried to force her mind through all the ramifications. It was more important than ever to get something out about their side of the story, but would it be advisable to mention this latest fiasco or should they disassociate themselves from Dumbledore? The question would almost certainly come up. Perhaps she should ask Gellert for his opinion... but first...
'Gellert, could you please give Harry some pointers in Occlumency? Only, he's having lessons with Snape and I don't think they're getting him anywhere.'
She went pink under Gellert's stare. Suddenly she felt very foolish for asking and she opened her mouth to take back her request when he abruptly nodded and stood, striding up to the staff table. His notice-me-not charm must have been incredibly powerful because nobody blinked an eye as he engaged in an intense conversation with Professor Dumbledore. From the dumbfounded expressions of the nearby faculty, she could guess that Gellert was giving Professor Dumbledore the scolding of his life.
Umbridge seemed to be under the thrall of the charm, but she was still glaring intently between her plate and Harry, who had just entered the hall. She waved him over, and he spotted her, tugging Ron to the seat Gellert had just left. She grimly pushed the paper over to them, interrupting Ron as he reached for the bacon.
Neither boy seemed to recognise Grindelwald's photo, although she could see them doing double-takes when they read the headline. For a minute there was silence as they scanned the names below each image. Ron grew paler and paler, obviously recognising the names. Harry gravely tapped the image of the witch, she was leaning against her frame, inspecting her nails with heavily lidded eyes.
She read the caption underneath – "Bellatrix Lestrange, torture of Alice and Frank Longbottom."
'Is Neville okay?' She asked and the two boys shared a look. They didn't know. Gormless boys. 'I'll make sure he knows.' She decided, abandoning her toast regretfully. It would be better for him to find out away from all these people.