DISCLAIMER- All characters are property of J.K. Rowling, except for Cassy Moon, Kammi Nott and the first names of the Lestranges.



Harry Potter and the Messengers of Sorrow- Ch.9



The next few weeks were a struggle for Harry. Hermione and Ron would not speak to him. They would not speak to each other. McGonagall saw that they were in a fight, so she confronted Harry and Hermione.
"For the Dueling Contest, you two need to work together as a team. That's one of the reasons why we picked you two- you work extremely well together. So I suggest that you end this ridiculous disagreement and be friends again."
Harry had no problem with this, and he told McGonagall so after Hermione stormed away.
"Harry, what did you say to Hermione the night of your fight?" McGonagall asked.
Harry gulped nervously and told her.
"Well, no wonder she's mad, Harry!" McGonagall cried. "I'd me angry, too." Frusturated, Harry told her what Hermione had said to him.
She smiled weakly. "Harry, you have every right to be mad, also. But you must end this. How does Ron feel about this fight?"
"He's in it, too," Harry confessed. "Neither of us will speak to each other."
"Why him?" McGonagall questioned. "The night in the hallway was just you and Hermione, was it not?"
Harry shifted uncomfortably in his chair and gazed at the pictures on McGonagall's office walls.
"He was mad because Hermione and I qualified for the Dueling Contest and he didn't," he whispered.
"Ah, yes," McGonagall said. "Well, that was extremely difficult for us to decide. You see, all three of you had the right qualifications. In fact, every Gryffindor in your year had the qualifications. But, we had to pair two people up that knew each other well and worked well together. We thought about Miss Brown and Miss Patil, but they would not be serious enough together. We strongly considered Hermione and Lavender, but then Professor Nemo kindly reminded us about their, ah, fight. You and Ron were a definite possibility, but, sorry... but we thought that you two would not be serious enough, either. At six-thirty the morning that they were to be posted, we had Miss Granger and Seamus Finnigan. But then we thought that they did not know each other well enough. So, that is how we ended up with you and Hermione."
Harry tried to put this all together, but he just sighed and stared up at his professor.
"Good luck trying to get Hermione to talk to me," he said, standing up and stretching. "But I better go. You handle it."
"Wait a minute there, Potter. I'm not going to convince Miss Granger to talk to you. If you want to look like fools in front of the entire student body, that's your choice. I'm just here to help move you along," she gave him a penetrating stare from under her wire rimmed spectacles. She rummaged around in her desk and pulled out two thick envelopes. She handed them to Harry. One had his name on it, the other Hermione's. "Give that one to Miss Granger. It has all of the things you need to do and prepare before the first duel." She smiled. "I hope to see you talking again by next week." She then ushered him out the door.

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The first visit of the year to Hogsmeade was scheduled for October, 28th. It was October, 22nd. As of right now, Harry was going alone. Hermione was going with Kammi Nott and Cassy Moon, and Ron was going with Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas. The only person left was Neville. But Harry wasn't sure if he should ask Neville if he wanted to go with him or not. He may just be better off going alone.

At last, it was time to go to Hogsmeade. Harry had not asked Neville, so he boarded the train by himself, looking longingly at Hermione and Ron. But he was not alone for long. Soon, Draco Malfoy appeared at his compartment, sneering. Crabbe and Goyle were not behind him, which was extremely unusual.
"So, the famous Potter has finally been deserted by his friends," Malfoy laughed maliciously. "But don't blame me. I warned you five years ago not to hang around with people like them." Malfoy gave a fake sigh, twirling his wand in between his fingertips.
Harry turned away from the window and glared at Malfoy.
"I warned you, Potter," Malfoy slowly started to leave the room. "If you ever want to change your mind about your friends, just let me know. Believe me, you won't regret it." Malfoy slammed the compartment door shut.
Harry leaned back in his seat and looked around the empty compartment. He felt a twinge of loneliness in the pit of his stomach. Then, he heard voices outside his compartment door. He recognized one as Hermione's.
"There is no space left on this train!" Then, his door opened. Hermione stuck her
head inside. "This is empty," she started to say, then she spotted Harry, "oh, never mind, someone's in here." She started to shut the door when Harry jumped
up.
"Hermione, wait!" he cried. Hermione stuck her head back in the compartment. "What?" she said dimly.
"Can you stay for a second? I need to talk to you." Harry said. Hermione sighed heavily.
"I guess." She turned around. "I'll be just a second, okay?" Then she walked in the room and closed the compartment door behind her.
"Who were you talking to?" Harry asked.
"Kammi Nott and Cassy Moon." Hermione replied shortly.
"Oh," Harry said. "I see." There was a pause.
"What'd you want to say?" Hermione asked.
"I wanted to apologize." Harry said quietly. Hermione looked at the floor, her hand still clutching the doorknob. "I'm sorry for yelling at you, and I really think that you're fun to be with, but..." Hermione looked up.
"I'm not as good as Ron, is that it? Because I'm smart, and I work hard, and I don't know anything about Quidditch, is that it? Well, Harry, that's how I am. Right now I feel like I have no real friends, and that you and Ron just use me so you can copy my homework. Isn't that the only reason we're friends? ISN'T IT?" Hermione was now yelling. Her fist tightened around the doorknob, and her face was turning pink.
"Hermione, what a load of rubbish!" Harry cried, standing up and walking over to her. "Ron and I think-"
"Oh, I know what you and Ron think," Hermione interrupted him, "and I know that you two prefer each other's company to mine. Fine then! FINE! I'll just become friends with Cassy and Kammi. They're smart enough to do their own homework!"
"But Hermione, McGonagall said that she'll pick new partners for the dueling contest if we're not friends again by next week!" Harry said, wringing his hands.
"Good!" Hermione said. "I hope she does. I don't want you to be my partner. From now on, Harry Potter, you're going to have to do your own homework!" Hermione turned the doorknob and walked out of the compartment. She slammed the door behind her, making the floor rattle.
Harry sank back into his seat. He had just lost a friend. And deep down inside, Harry knew that Hermione was right. Hadn't he just been thinking that he couldn't get his homework done without Hemrione? Was he such of a horrible person that he used Hermione all this time, just so he could get some easy studying? Harry sat back in his chair, and thought about all this the whole way to Hogsmeade.

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"Narcissa!" Isabelle Lestrange cried, collapsing into her old friend's arms. "I missed you so much."
"I thought you were dead," Narcissa confessed, and she looked over at her husband. "Lucius Malfoy, however did you free them?"
"It was simple, Narcissa. I just walked into Azkaban, and undid the lock. No guards, no dementors, nobody." Lucius smiled to himself, as he leaned against the familiar brick anterior of his house.
"Thank goodness! The Dark Lord must have the dementors back on his side! He will be regaining power soon." Narcissa said happily.
"My dear Narcissa, power has already been regained by the Dark Lord." Rupert Lestrange informed her. "Soon he will kill that Potter boy, and then he'll be free to rule the world."
"How will our Master kill that wretched boy?" Mrs. Lestrange asked. Lucius and Rupert exchanged sinister grins.
"We shouldn't share such, ah, powerful information with ladies such as yourselves." Lucius smirked.
"Oh, please, darling! I won't tell Draco." Narcissa said, sticking out her lower lip as far out as it could go."
Lucius laughed. "Narcissa, Draco is the key to killing Potter. He already knows the plan."
"Well, tell us, quick!" Isabelle exclaimed, as she and Narcissa leaned in toward their husbands. Lucius laughed again, and he leaned in and whispered his master's plan to kill Harry Potter.

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Lord Voldemort paced across the cold, damp, stone floor of his hideaway cave. He looked into the eyes of his prisoner.
"Now tell me again, Ms. Trelawney, what house is Potter in at Hogwarts?"
"Not a word about Harry Potter shall leave my lips. I have foreseen your plans to kill him, and I advise you not to even try it, for it will not work."
"You're trying to protect the boy?" Voldemort's eyes flashed dangerously.
"It is my duty as a professor at Hogwarts to protect all of our students."
"So, you don't feel this way about Potter alone? You don't care for the boy?"
"I despise him."
"I like the way you think, Ms. Trelawney. Why don't you join me, and we can kill Potter together?"
"Goodness no! I don't care for the boy, but that certainly doesn't mean that I want to kill him! You are foolish, and evil, and cruel, and selfish, and-"
"Miss. Trelawney, I believe I am the one that has you chained up, not the other way around!" Sibyll Trelawney fell silent.
"What do you want me to do?" she asked, her voice trembling.
Voldemort laughed. "Just this."


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Professor Albus Dumbledore stared into the faces of Severus Snape and Argus Filch. "So you say that you both heard Fred and George Weasley say that they did not steal the Sorting Hat?"
"That's correct, Headmaster," Filch said. "They said something about Draco Malfoy?"
"Severus, is this true?" Dumbledore turned to the potions master.
Snape sighed heavily. "That's what I heard Weasley say."
"You said something about a photograph?" Dumbledore said to Snape.
"Yes," Snape mumbled. "The Weasleys showed Potter a photograph.
"What did Harry do after he saw the photograph?" Dumbledore asked.
"He looked surprised," Snape said.
"We have to get that photograph, Headmaster," Filch said.
"I know, Argus," Dumbledore replied. "But how?"
"Call them in here, Albus. They'll show it to you. After all, it may get them off the hook, won't it?" Snape said.
"I suppose so, Severus. Call them to my office, please." Dumbledore said.

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"So, Miss Granger is extremely angry?"
Harry sighed. He had just finished telling Professor McGonagall about what Hermione had said to him on the train. "She's really mad, Professor."
"Well, Harry, were you just using Hermione for your homework?" McGonagall asked.
"A bit...okay yes, sort of, I don't know!" Harry said. He was getting extremely frustrated with himself.
"Harry, like I said earlier, if I were Hermione, I would be furious with you. But of course, Miss Granger is probably more forgiving than I would have been." McGonagall said.
"I feel terrible," Harry mumbled, resting his chin on his hands. "I just wish that there was something that I could do to show her that she really is my friend."
"Yes, Harry," McGonagall said. "But first, you must find out if Hermione really is your friend before you try to convince her that it's true. You can't tell someone something if you don't believe it yourself." McGonagall mumbled a few words, and pointed her wand at the sponge near the window. It immediately sprang up in the air and began washing the blackboard.
"Yes, but how do I prove it?" Harry inquired.
"I have an idea, Harry," McGonagall said to him, but her eyes were still on the sponge. "Offer her a trial period."
"A what, Professor?" Harry asked.
"A trial period. Let's say, oh, a two week trial period. For those two weeks you don't ask Hermione if you can copy her homework, and you just be the same friend to her as you are to Mr. Weasley. Then maybe, just maybe, she'll forgive you. Hopefully, you two will be friends again by the time you need to start practicing for the dueling contest. You missed a spot."
"I what, Professor?" Harry asked, confused.
"Not you, Harry, the sponge. It missed a spot," McGonagall said, getting up to show the sponge where it missed. The sponge seemed as equally confused as Harry.
McGonagall was trying to point to the spot where the sponge missed. She wasn't getting very far. Whenever she pointed her finger to the spot, the sponge wrung out some water on McGonagall's finger. The Professor was angry, not to mention wet.
"You stupid sponge!" McGonagall said, cursing under her breath.
"Ah, maybe I should go," Harry said, feeling quite uncomfortable.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Harry! Uh, yes, go, and, uh, do what I told you, will you?" McGonagall seemed frazzled. Harry didn't blame her. He ran out of the room quickly, dodging the sponge, who was now circling the room spraying water everywhere. He could hear McGonagall yelling at the sponge all the way down to the picture of the Fat Lady.
"Duelers rule," Harry said flatly. The Creevy brothers had made up that one. Colin and Dennis had been so excited about Harry being a dueler that they begged for it to be the new password. The fat lady swung forward, and Harry faced an almost empty common room. There were only three people in there. Cassy Moon was sitting in front of the fire, chatting with Kammi Nott, who sat opposite of her. Hermione was sitting in her usual chair, with a big pile of books on the table next to her.
"Hello, Hermione!" Harry said cheerfully, walking over to Hermione. Hermione looked up and glared at him, then she went back to reading her book. "Whatcha reading?"
"Just a book," Hermione replied curtly, without looking at him. Harry was startled. It was unlike Hermione to say that she reading "just a book". Usually, she would give him this long, complicated title, then she's explain every little detail about the book until you finally told her to shut up. But Harry wasn't going to let Hermione get away with that answer.
"Let's see," he said. He lifted the book off of her knees and read the title. "Magical Plants of the Sea and How To Care For Them". That sounds facinating!"
"What makes you so happy?" Hermione snapped, snatching the book out of Harry's grasp.
"Hermione, I have a proposition for you," Harry announced.
"Oh, really?" Hermione raised her eyebrows.
"Yes. I want you to give me a trial period."
"A what?" Hermione cried.
"A trial period," Harry repeated. "You give me two weeks to prove to you that we are really friends, and that I don't just rely on you for homework. Just give it a chance, please?"
"Okay," Hermione said.
"Okay? You mean, you agree?" Harry was astonished.
"Yeah. Sure. Why not?" Hermione shrugged.
"But you agreed so easily. I thought that I was going to have to beg!"
Hermione grinned. "Harry, I knew that you'd be crawling to me sooner or later. You just can't survive without me, can you? You, know, if it wasn't for me-"
"I know, Hermione," Harry said, "if it wasn't for you, I'd be dead."
"That's right," Hermione replied. "And Harry?"
"What?"
"I don't think your little trial period is even going to last a day."
"Why do you say that?"
"You don't even have Ron to help you."
Harry gasped. Hermione was right. He and Ron weren't speaking. Harry grabbed Hermione's arm.
"Hermione, is Ron talking to you?"
"No."
"Oh, no! Come with me, we have to talk to him!" Harry pulled Hermione off the chair and started dragging her toward the portrait hole.
"Harry, where are you going?" Hermione questioned.
"We're going to find Ron. Now that I've worked everything out with you, I want to be friends with Ron again, too. I want to sleep peacefully tonight." Harry said. He pulled Hermione down the hallway.
"Harry, do you even know where Ron is?" Hermione asked. Harry stopped.
"No," he said curtly, and kept going.
"Well, he's in the library, which is on the other side of the building!" Hermione cried. Without a moment's hesitation, Harry spun on his heels and started sprinting in the opposite direction, Hermione in tow.
"I'm going to settle this with Ron even if it takes all night!" Harry said. With a ferocious look on his face that Hermione recognized from Harry's most competitive Quidditch matches, Harry ran off towards the library, dragging a very exasperated and disheveled Hermione behind him.


*We know, we know. We were supposed to put our winners of the "misspelling contest" in this chapter. We just couldn't fit you guys in yet so early in the story. But don't worry, YOU WILL GET IN! We won't forget you. If we do, you can e-mail us Howlers. (Hee-hee) (Actually, you can e-mail people Howlers at the Warner Brothers Harry Potter site, or Harry Potter.com) We hope you liked this very long chapter! Please e-mail us at cassyandkammi@writeme.com to share your comments, or you can just review below. Thanks! Tchao!