Credits: All the references to Harry Potter, the world
of Hogwarts and the magical community are J.K. Rowling's. All the rest
are mine. (obviously)
Author's note: I'll try to make them longer, sorry, I know some people (cough cough, those that read and REVIEW) are pestering me to make them slightly longer. Well, a lot longer. I love long stories myself, but somehow I'm not that much of a typer so, well, I get tired often typing. But, I will try! And you have to review. HAVE TO. Please. Only if you're low on sugar or PIXIE POWER do you have the right to not review (water's better, though). Actually, then you have even more need to review, because that will make you hyperer!- um, never mind. Just go and read. Or, first go have something to get hyper offa and come back... oh wait, you better not, you'll probably get your computer annoyed, laughing at absolutely nothing...
Chapter 10
There was silence for a couple of seconds while Hagrid's
mouth opened wider and wider and McGonagall slowly turned purple.
Professor Dumbledore, however, seemed only slightly surprised. Then
suddenly, McGonagall burst out with,
"And what do you think you're doing here? At this
hour! Swimming? In your bathing suits? It's
nearly 20 degrees outside (like 70 or something degrees F)! Miss Granger!
Miss Dumbledore! Mr. Potter! Mr. Weas-"
"Minerva! I think that is quite enough. I
daresay they might be saying the same things to us." Dumbledore
interrupted firmly. The four gave each other guilty looks, and Hermione
looked deeply embarrassed. She looked down at her toes.
"Um, we, well, I just wanted to go swimming for a bit,
and..." Nirry started to say awkwardly as explanation. "I
mean, I was bored so I decided to-."
The professors stepped closer to the students, and,
involuntarily, Ron, Hermione and Harry stepped back a bit. Professor
tried to say something, then stopped, fuming still, glancing at
Dumbledore. Nirry stood where she was, and glanced curiously around at
the cavern.
"Um, Professor? What are you guys doing
here?" Her friends looked at her, aghast. Nirry thought better
of it and stammered out, "you know, just asking."
Dumbledore smiled slightly and seemed to be considering
them. Professor McGonagall's face had subsided to a dull pink, and Hagrid
relaxed, which made his bushy hair calm down slightly.
"Considering your long history about finding Hogwarts
mysteries, I suppose you should be given the benefit of the doubt. Come with
us." At this, McGonagall seemed about ready to protest once more,
but instead followed Dumbledore back into the door which they had just come
from. Harry, Nirry, Hermione and Ron followed after an encouraging smile
form Hagrid and his rough, "Hey, yer all right, then?"
Once out the white cave, they emerged into a long dark
corridor. For the first time, Harry remembered he was underneath the
lake. He shuddered and tried not to brush accidentally against the dark,
slimy walls. He could sense his companions ahead of him, and hurried to
catch up.
Up ahead, Dumbledore reached a stop and there were a few
scuffles as Nirry bumped into Hagrid and Hermione bounced off of Ron. Not
noticing, Dumbledore took out his wand and muttered something. A sliver
of yellow light showed through the door opening of which he was opening, which
got much larger when Hagrid opened it, followed by the four teenagers in
swimsuits.
Soon they were all in the room. It was not as large as
the one they had just left, but contained one long table and chairs, a
chandelier with yellow, flickering candles, and cheerful white marble walls.
Dumbledore motioned towards the chairs, and the rest took
their seats gratefully, suddenly conspicuous of their nearly naked bodies with
only swimsuits on. They all avoided looking at each other and instead
focused on Professor Dumbledore's face. Dumbledore sat at the head of the
table and leaned forward, clasping his hands around each other. Hermione
and Ron fidgeted nervously.
"We all know Voldemort has returned this year," he
began, and Hagrid, Ron and Professor McGonagall winced at the sound of the
name, "which of course has many people, myself included, concerned about
the students' safety. Therefore, I had decided to train various people in
the art of defense in case Voldemort decided to show himself near
Hogwarts."
Harry, Nirry, Hermione and Ron looked slightly
confused. Dumbledore noticed this and went on.
"These rooms are for our trainees I had mentioned earlier.
Here we can let other, less knowledgeable people in this particular area of
Defense mingle and learn from those who do." Having finished, he sat
back and waited for the torrent of questions.
"So, this is kind of a Dueling Club or something?"
Nirry asked him. Dumbledore nodded curtly.
"Actually, it's a representation of a defensive
class. Our, let's say, group name happens to be Allies, as in allies
against Voldemort."
"Who's in it?" Ron said timidly, nervously looking
anywhere but Hermione.
"Well, as you can guess, myself, Minerva, Hagrid, and
every other teacher in the school. Although there are more from outside
such as your parents, Mr. Weasley." Dumbledore explained
patiently. Ron looked slightly dumbfounded.
"My own parents!" he whispered to Hermione, who
was just asking a question herself.
"This is for our safety?"
A door thudded shut and the echoes of it reached their
ears. Dumbledore nodded, then looked at his watch hanging on a chain
inside his robes.
'Hagrid, may I ask you to greet our arrivals?" he said
to Hagrid, who also nodded, then got up and left in the direction they had just
come from.
"Professor- was- I mean, do you know if- er,"
Harry said, an idea sprouting in his head.
"Yes, Mr. Potter, your grandfather has been in contact
with me." Dumbledore continued, though he had his head cocked to ward the
door in order to catch any sound that came within. Harry looked confused
once again.
"I haven't heard from him in a while and, well, I just
wondered..." he trailed off.
"Quite understandable. And now, my dear students,
I believe it is time for you to be in your dormitories. I have some
additional business to take care of."
* * *
Harry, Nirry, Hermione and Ron returned a half hour later
to their dormitory, which was now empty. They collapsed into easy chairs
in front of the fireplace, thinking about what had just happened.
For a while all they did was stare at the flames. At last, Ron began
with,
"Why is everyone else still in bed? It couldn't be that
much later, could it?"
Hermione, Ron, and Nirry glanced at their watches and then
tried to answer at the same time. Harry looked at his wrist as well, but
remembered he had thrown out his watch during the summer, and had not had any
time to get a new one.
"It's nearly ten o'clock, and it's Saturday
tomorrow."
At this, Harry leapt up into the air.
"What? Bloody hell, I've got our first game
tomorrow! Good night!" He sprinted in the direction of his
dormitory, waving a hasty good night at his friends. The other three
looked at each other.
"Well then I guess I'd better get some sleep in case
I'm needed for some strange reason tomorrow at the game," Nirry said
awkwardly, "um, you guys, I'm sorry I made you come with me swimming- I
mean, but, we did find out some interesting things, didn't we?"
Hermione smiled quickly. "Oh, no, Nirry, it's
okay. It's probably a good thing that we saw them, or else we would have
gone through all those things, and not known a thing about it." there she
stopped, then began once more, tentatively, "On the other hand, I hope
Professor McGonagall doesn't give us detention or anything, imagine if it had
been Snape..."
"Oh, come on, Hermione, you know she wouldn't have done
anything to us, Dumbledore was there. Snape wasn't there, and that was
good, he might have tried to expel us all. I reckon that's why Hagrid's
been so weird, too, he's had to keep it secret..." Ron chipped in.
Nirry grinned mischievously at them, which caused both Hermione and Ron to
wonder if she might have been going to plan some other hare-brained
scheme. However, all she said was,
"You guys are so cute, you know," she said,
starting to stand up and stretching.
"What?" asked Hermione wrinkling her forehead at
her. The two were best friends, sharing the bond of being the only girls
in their Harry, Nirry, Hermione and Ron group. Hermione had no idea what
she was talking about.
"Well, the way you act around each other, you're just
so- cute!" and leaving Ron blushing and Hermione openmouthed, she traced
Harry's steps up the stairs.
'But- what- why," Hermione spluttered, trying not to
turn pink.
Realizing that they were alone together, Ron and Hermione
looked at each other. They both stood up. Hermione noticed Ron's
ears were still red from Nirry's teasing. She hoped hers weren't, what
would he think if he saw it?
"Hermione, er," stammered Ron. Hermione
turned to look at him and waited patiently for whatever he had to say.
"Yes?" she asked, gazing into Ron's eyes, only
inches from her own face.
"Er- well, who do you think will win tomorrow's
game?" Ron said finally.
A little disappointed, Hermione answered,
"Oh- Gryffindor. Good night, Ron."
With one last fleeting glance at Ron, who was looking as if he could have
smacked himself, she left him alone in the common room.
"What did I have to that for?" he moaned, putting
his face into his hands and burying his head. "Why can't I ever talk
to her? No wonder she went for Krum last year..."
And Hermione, only halfway up the stairs, smiled.
A/N: Ooops! I just realized that Dumbledore said, Harry's GRANDfather, sorry, I meant GODfather. Sorry. Review!