Hermione spent the night after her first mission going over what the events
that had taken place. It had all happened so quickly, she was still a bit
confused as to what exactly had taken place. The Fairy Elf had entered the
shielded area, and they had followed. They had known immediately that her
Exaudio Charm had been temporarily dispelled. Their Exaudio Charm was
still in place, thanks to the protection of the Invisibility Amulet and the
foresight of the Weavers who had Woven the Invisibility Cloaks. They had
worried, and did not know what to do. The Lone Unicorn had contacted
Dumbledore, and told him of the circumstances. Knowing what circumstances
to expect, the Order of the Mystics had waited out, while the Preliminary
Aurors infiltrated the area.
And then that man had come on stage. Hermioen had been suspicious of him at first. He had seemed so ... oily. She knew, at least, that he wasn't Lord Voldemort, because before Harry and Ron had gotten mad at her, Harry had often described what he looked like, to get it off his back. He only talked after a lot of convicing every time he looked drawn and tired, though. She knew he often had nightmares, and woke up the people in his dorm with them. But at that moment, she hadn't been too overly concerned with the man. She had noticed at once that he didn't have a wand. She had known that he had something up his sleeve (all bad guys did) but she hadn't been overly worried.
Until he began hypnotizing the crowd. That's definitely a bad sign. Of course, that meant that the crowd was under his control. Hermione has a very analytical mind. It is her impulse to think of all possibilities to begin with, and she usually covers them all, so she is upset when she overlooks something. So of course she was upset when she realized that she ~should~ have been overly worried. But she spent the entire time panicking instead.
She didn't mean to. But she panicked. She did manage to maintain the Exaudio Charm, and she did manage to not convey her panic. She wouldn't have been able to ~bear~ it if ~Malfoy~ of all people found out that she was panicking. Of course, the Lone Unicorn had been closely observing him, and she said that the man's grip on the will of the crowd would weaken in a couple of seconds. And just as it did, and the three Pre-Aurors were about to storm the stage, they watched the Fariy Elf step on stage.
She pulled her hood back, revealing the face of Hannah Abbott.
Hermione did not know Hannah Abbott well. They were in the same Year, true, and in several of the same classes. She was currently going out with Lucas Whittaker, which she knew courtesy of Lavender-and-Parvati Telgraph Gossip System. But from the generalizations she heard, Hannah Abbott was a typical Hufflepuff. Roundfaced and rosy-cheeked, her blonde hair was always tied in two pigtails that stuck down her shoulders at awkward angles. She was "dunderheaded", but hardworking, doing well in Charms and Arithmancy. She had also been classified by Hermione as another bumbleheaded prep who didn't know that more serious life-or-death events were taking place around the world.
Apparently, Hermione was wrong.
She watched in astonishment as Hannah's voice began to rise, denouncing the man-who-hypnotized. *She's providing us with a distraction!* she sent through the link the Exaudio Charm provided her with.
*Right,* came the Lone Unicorn's voice. *I'm contacting Dumbledore.* Then, *Tehy're disabling the wards, which they finally figured out, but if we don't hurry, the guy's going to have the corwd under his control again*
*We need an extra distraction* the Black Dragon mused.
*Under control* the Lone Unicorn said. *Just be prepared to subdue the students if they swarm on stage*
Without another word, the link was cut. Before Hermione could react, a dark blue-cloaked walked out on stage. She pulled back her hood to reveal the face of a unicorn, eternally frozen in time. Then, she closed her eyes, and the glamour was gone. In its place, was the eternally mourning face of Cho Chang.
*****
I pushed my hood back, to reveal what I knew must be a rather heartbreaking unicorn's face. I closed my eyes, and let the glamour fall away.
When the Fairy Elf had stepped onto that stage, I had know she would do something drastic. And when she had revealed her identity, if only to us, I knew what she was giving up.
To reveal your identity is to lose your position. Not the first thing we were taught, but definitely not the last. And I knew that I was doing the same.
Hufflepuffs have always been sentimental. I have found that each House conforms its students to fit its stereotype. A Slytherin can start school as a kind, caring person. By the end of Seventh Year, if they have not quit yet, they will have turned nasty. Hufflepuffs are sentimental because they don't conform. They disguise. They pull on a mask of dunderheadedness, and hide under its a patient personality.
I knew none of this until I met Cedric. Cedric opened my eyes. People ask me why I still mourn for him. I cannot say that I lvoed him. After all. Despite everything, we're not old neough to consider love as an option. I cared much for him, and he was my boyfriend. He taught me much about books and their covers.(1) And we were close.
The day he died, I was mostly in shock. I remember the whispers as two figures emerged from the maze. One was upright, but stumbling. The other was limp. And I knew with a horrible certainty that one was alive, and the other was dead. And I knew which was which. Even if the relationship I shared with Cedric was not lifelong love, it was still a strong relationship, and I was hurt.
The Hufflepuffs understood this. Once my eyes had been opened, they could never again be veiled. They made me an honorary Hufflepuff. And because them, I have a sort of hold on them.
Today, I would break their trust and use that hold to cruelly manipulate them. All for the side of Good, of course. The side of Light. Of course. Never for anything else. Never.
I say the words I know will trigger their sense of sensibility. And I cry inside. I agreed to become a Preliminary Auror because I thought I could make a change in the world. A good change. An important change. One that would help the world now, not the world in 50 years. Amd I say these words, I find myself crumpling inside.
I was not meant for this. But at least I helped.
*****
A week later.
One was cloaked in a red and orange cloak that obscured her face. The otehr was clad in a green and black cloak that hid his face.
They were at Hogwmeade, in a hidden corner. "We now have three people to investigate," the Flaming Phoenix murmured.
"Blaise Zabini, Percival Weasley, and Philip Patil," the Black Dragon ticked them off. "All three unknowns, although the Lone Unicorn... Cho did make a note by his name that he seemed to have become a Death Eater, although she was doubtful, and wanted to investigate it."
"All right," the Flaming Phoenix nodded. "I think he should be first on our to-do list."
"We'll need a background history search done on him, and we'll need to know his current situation, who he hangs out with, and what kind of work he does. We'll also probably need to interrogate him at one point." He saw the Flaming Phoenix's wand hand raise in the air warningly, and hurriedly added, "Just kidding."
"I'll take care of the background history," the Flaming Phoenix said, standing up.
"And I'll take care of his current background," the Black Dragon ended.
"When do we next meet?" the Flaming Phoenix asked.
"The Yule Ball is coming up. Dump your date and show up during the candelabra dancing in the middle of the topiary, by the unicorn bush."
"All right." The Flaming Phoenix departed without another word.
Meanwhile, the Black Dragon was thinking wearily about how he was ever going to infiltrate Blaise's barriers and wards without giving himself up.
*****
Harry stared disconsately at the fire. He wasn't really mad at Hermione. He just wished that she would apologize. They wouldn't really have dueled. They'd probably just have gotten into a fistfight. She didn't have to go and report them anyways. And she went ahead and acted like they were tht one being gits. If she hadn't gone to so much trouble to avoid them, they'd be friends again by now.
"Hey, Harry," Ron said as he finished preditcing his death by shame after being expelled by the Headmaster of school after he failed all his classes because Hermione wasn't there anymore to help him with classwork.
"Writing those predictions are a waste of time if the only person who will read them is Trelawney," Harry pointed out.
"Well, it feels like I'm apologizing to her," Ron shrugged. "So it eases my conscience."
"How is telling her you're going to die apologizing?" Harry inquired, amused.
Ron shrugged. "Dunno. Mebbe she'll feel sorry for me and be friends again."
Harry almost rolled his eyes.
At this point, Fred and George entered the room. They surveyed the sad glances on Harry's and Ron's faces, and shook their head with identical expressions.
"Still mourning?" Fred asked.
"Gits," George sighed.
"If she's trying to avoid her-" Fred began.
"But you're trying to find her-" George continued.
"Then track her with Weasley's Handy-Dandy Witch-Tracker!" they said at the same time.
Harry stared at them blankly. Ron looked at them confusedly.
Fred looked at George, and sighed. "If you use this, you can track down Hermione."
"How?"
"With this," Fred produced.
To be continued ...
And then that man had come on stage. Hermioen had been suspicious of him at first. He had seemed so ... oily. She knew, at least, that he wasn't Lord Voldemort, because before Harry and Ron had gotten mad at her, Harry had often described what he looked like, to get it off his back. He only talked after a lot of convicing every time he looked drawn and tired, though. She knew he often had nightmares, and woke up the people in his dorm with them. But at that moment, she hadn't been too overly concerned with the man. She had noticed at once that he didn't have a wand. She had known that he had something up his sleeve (all bad guys did) but she hadn't been overly worried.
Until he began hypnotizing the crowd. That's definitely a bad sign. Of course, that meant that the crowd was under his control. Hermione has a very analytical mind. It is her impulse to think of all possibilities to begin with, and she usually covers them all, so she is upset when she overlooks something. So of course she was upset when she realized that she ~should~ have been overly worried. But she spent the entire time panicking instead.
She didn't mean to. But she panicked. She did manage to maintain the Exaudio Charm, and she did manage to not convey her panic. She wouldn't have been able to ~bear~ it if ~Malfoy~ of all people found out that she was panicking. Of course, the Lone Unicorn had been closely observing him, and she said that the man's grip on the will of the crowd would weaken in a couple of seconds. And just as it did, and the three Pre-Aurors were about to storm the stage, they watched the Fariy Elf step on stage.
She pulled her hood back, revealing the face of Hannah Abbott.
Hermione did not know Hannah Abbott well. They were in the same Year, true, and in several of the same classes. She was currently going out with Lucas Whittaker, which she knew courtesy of Lavender-and-Parvati Telgraph Gossip System. But from the generalizations she heard, Hannah Abbott was a typical Hufflepuff. Roundfaced and rosy-cheeked, her blonde hair was always tied in two pigtails that stuck down her shoulders at awkward angles. She was "dunderheaded", but hardworking, doing well in Charms and Arithmancy. She had also been classified by Hermione as another bumbleheaded prep who didn't know that more serious life-or-death events were taking place around the world.
Apparently, Hermione was wrong.
She watched in astonishment as Hannah's voice began to rise, denouncing the man-who-hypnotized. *She's providing us with a distraction!* she sent through the link the Exaudio Charm provided her with.
*Right,* came the Lone Unicorn's voice. *I'm contacting Dumbledore.* Then, *Tehy're disabling the wards, which they finally figured out, but if we don't hurry, the guy's going to have the corwd under his control again*
*We need an extra distraction* the Black Dragon mused.
*Under control* the Lone Unicorn said. *Just be prepared to subdue the students if they swarm on stage*
Without another word, the link was cut. Before Hermione could react, a dark blue-cloaked walked out on stage. She pulled back her hood to reveal the face of a unicorn, eternally frozen in time. Then, she closed her eyes, and the glamour was gone. In its place, was the eternally mourning face of Cho Chang.
*****
I pushed my hood back, to reveal what I knew must be a rather heartbreaking unicorn's face. I closed my eyes, and let the glamour fall away.
When the Fairy Elf had stepped onto that stage, I had know she would do something drastic. And when she had revealed her identity, if only to us, I knew what she was giving up.
To reveal your identity is to lose your position. Not the first thing we were taught, but definitely not the last. And I knew that I was doing the same.
Hufflepuffs have always been sentimental. I have found that each House conforms its students to fit its stereotype. A Slytherin can start school as a kind, caring person. By the end of Seventh Year, if they have not quit yet, they will have turned nasty. Hufflepuffs are sentimental because they don't conform. They disguise. They pull on a mask of dunderheadedness, and hide under its a patient personality.
I knew none of this until I met Cedric. Cedric opened my eyes. People ask me why I still mourn for him. I cannot say that I lvoed him. After all. Despite everything, we're not old neough to consider love as an option. I cared much for him, and he was my boyfriend. He taught me much about books and their covers.(1) And we were close.
The day he died, I was mostly in shock. I remember the whispers as two figures emerged from the maze. One was upright, but stumbling. The other was limp. And I knew with a horrible certainty that one was alive, and the other was dead. And I knew which was which. Even if the relationship I shared with Cedric was not lifelong love, it was still a strong relationship, and I was hurt.
The Hufflepuffs understood this. Once my eyes had been opened, they could never again be veiled. They made me an honorary Hufflepuff. And because them, I have a sort of hold on them.
Today, I would break their trust and use that hold to cruelly manipulate them. All for the side of Good, of course. The side of Light. Of course. Never for anything else. Never.
I say the words I know will trigger their sense of sensibility. And I cry inside. I agreed to become a Preliminary Auror because I thought I could make a change in the world. A good change. An important change. One that would help the world now, not the world in 50 years. Amd I say these words, I find myself crumpling inside.
I was not meant for this. But at least I helped.
*****
A week later.
One was cloaked in a red and orange cloak that obscured her face. The otehr was clad in a green and black cloak that hid his face.
They were at Hogwmeade, in a hidden corner. "We now have three people to investigate," the Flaming Phoenix murmured.
"Blaise Zabini, Percival Weasley, and Philip Patil," the Black Dragon ticked them off. "All three unknowns, although the Lone Unicorn... Cho did make a note by his name that he seemed to have become a Death Eater, although she was doubtful, and wanted to investigate it."
"All right," the Flaming Phoenix nodded. "I think he should be first on our to-do list."
"We'll need a background history search done on him, and we'll need to know his current situation, who he hangs out with, and what kind of work he does. We'll also probably need to interrogate him at one point." He saw the Flaming Phoenix's wand hand raise in the air warningly, and hurriedly added, "Just kidding."
"I'll take care of the background history," the Flaming Phoenix said, standing up.
"And I'll take care of his current background," the Black Dragon ended.
"When do we next meet?" the Flaming Phoenix asked.
"The Yule Ball is coming up. Dump your date and show up during the candelabra dancing in the middle of the topiary, by the unicorn bush."
"All right." The Flaming Phoenix departed without another word.
Meanwhile, the Black Dragon was thinking wearily about how he was ever going to infiltrate Blaise's barriers and wards without giving himself up.
*****
Harry stared disconsately at the fire. He wasn't really mad at Hermione. He just wished that she would apologize. They wouldn't really have dueled. They'd probably just have gotten into a fistfight. She didn't have to go and report them anyways. And she went ahead and acted like they were tht one being gits. If she hadn't gone to so much trouble to avoid them, they'd be friends again by now.
"Hey, Harry," Ron said as he finished preditcing his death by shame after being expelled by the Headmaster of school after he failed all his classes because Hermione wasn't there anymore to help him with classwork.
"Writing those predictions are a waste of time if the only person who will read them is Trelawney," Harry pointed out.
"Well, it feels like I'm apologizing to her," Ron shrugged. "So it eases my conscience."
"How is telling her you're going to die apologizing?" Harry inquired, amused.
Ron shrugged. "Dunno. Mebbe she'll feel sorry for me and be friends again."
Harry almost rolled his eyes.
At this point, Fred and George entered the room. They surveyed the sad glances on Harry's and Ron's faces, and shook their head with identical expressions.
"Still mourning?" Fred asked.
"Gits," George sighed.
"If she's trying to avoid her-" Fred began.
"But you're trying to find her-" George continued.
"Then track her with Weasley's Handy-Dandy Witch-Tracker!" they said at the same time.
Harry stared at them blankly. Ron looked at them confusedly.
Fred looked at George, and sighed. "If you use this, you can track down Hermione."
"How?"
"With this," Fred produced.
To be continued ...