Chapter 11
Author's Note: Nice to see you all again! I didn't have time to put up this chapter quickly because I've been moving into boarding school. Isn't that awesome? And our dorm level is decorated like Harry Potter! I'm excited! Anyway, I'll put my notes to my reviewers on the next chapter, which will be up much sooner than this one was. I hope you like this chapter, especially the joke at the end, haha! Anyway, bye bye!
Disclaimer: "Oh, how many times must I tell you? I've tried to kill them, but they always come back in larger numbers. We just need organization, that's all, there're more than enough of us, we can take them!" The man in the long, white jacket smiled at her sadly. "But this isn't your battle. J.K. Rowling has to do something about it. We're going to up your prescription to 600mg a day, okay?" "No, no, I know the rights aren't mine! They're hers, they're Rowling's, but we have to stop them, Warner Brothers is going to destroy all of it! Please! No! The medicine clouds my vision, it makes me tired! Noooooo!!!" The door slams on the girl and she tries to get up, but her straitjacket is too tight, so she leans back against the soft wall of her cell, frustrated.
Hogwarts Train trips and Over-Protective Hippogriffs
A much lighter, brighter red curtain is flung away, and the audience sets their eyes on a train that's zooming through a countryside, four friends sitting inside one of the compartments, two talking, and two observing…
The snow was fresh, and blanketed the scenery with freshness, with purity. This beautiful picture was being pulled constantly past the eyes of the four persons, as the train made its way toward Hogwarts castle. Draco was just looking out the window, contemplating something, staring off in the distance, out the large window. He seemed unable to withhold his snobby disposition, and looked almost impatient, and disdainful. Ron and Hermione knew better than that, and Harry was quickly catching on. It was hard for him not to call Draco…Malfoy, though.
At the moment, Ron and Harry were talking to each other confidentially, their voices bursting with excitement and happiness. Ron was telling their story with a lot of excessive hand gestures and voices, along with exaggeration, which was the usual with Ron, of course. Harry knew when this was going on, though, because at some points he would grin knowingly, and just nod modestly, pretending to accept Ron's story as reality.
This was all being watched closely by Hermione, who was sitting at the other end of the compartment, reading a book, or at least, it looked like it to anyone who wasn't paying close attention to her. If they were, they would have noticed not only that the book was about quidditch, a game which completely bored Hermione out of her wits (she'd stopped reading books about it after first year), but that the book was upside down. But she looked on pleasantly, absorbing the actions of the three boys.
With a deep sigh, she pretended to look at the book again, but looked back up to Draco. She knew that behind that shrewd face, he was really very sad, thinking about what had happened at Malfoy Manor yet again. She didn't blame him at all, if her father had died like that, if that had happened to her, she didn't know what she would have done with herself. But she gave her book an encouraging smile she knew he wouldn't receive.
Looking down at the necklaces, Hermione noticed his to be a greenish-turquoise. At that time, Ron's was a bright blue, and hers was violet. She turned her gaze now upon Ron, and his…imaginative version of their daring quest to find the Boy-Who-Lived. Come to think of it, Hermione thought, it should be the Boy-That-Lived. (A/n: Sorry, just had to put that in! It isn't mine!)Well, that figured. Anyway, she was caught by Ron's expressions, and started watching him.
Hermione had to hold back her laughter as he made a wide arch with his arms, and then brought them in tightly by his sides. And he did some sort of motion as if he was tiptoeing, and tapping someone on the shoulder. Then he brought his hands up to his face like he was asleep, and said something to make Harry laugh. Her eyes stayed there, on his face, where his bright blue eyes were brought into all kinds of different emotions. The sun that streamed into the compartment lit up his head, making his bright red hair look like it had caught fire. His freckles danced cheerfully around his cheeks and long nose, jumping to and fro, aiding him in his facial expressions. She saw many impressions of people as she watched him. There were Dumbledore, and Sirius, Lupin, Snape, Draco, of course, and at many times even Hermione herself.
Abruptly, Ron looked toward her, and he saw Hermione staring at him. Immediately, as their eyes locked, Hermione tore hers away (it was very hard to do), blushing furiously once again, and looked down at her book, concentrating very hard on the word falling, in the middle of the page. No, she couldn't be, could she? "I'm not falling," she said quietly, and decided to focus on the word bludger instead. It reminded her of another time, a not so happy time, when Viktor had fallen.
Hermione shut her eyes tightly, trying to block his face, the dent in his head from her vision. It kept flickering, flickering from him in the hospital, being cold and hard, dying, to Ron, Ron with his injuries, Ron shouting at her, Ron smiling at her, Ron defending her.
When she'd steadied herself, she looked back up at Ron and Harry. They were talking very quietly now, their heads together, sharing some sort of secret. Hermione looked on in interest. Harry started smiling again, in a way that showed he knew and had been expecting this secret to be told for a long time, but instead, when Ron pulled back to see his reaction, Harry had placed a shocked and impartial expression on his face, and said, "Really?" As though he'd had no idea what Ron was saying. Ron nodded solemnly; he was wearing a rather perplexed expression now. What's that all about? What does Harry know? Ron is confused? About what?
After about five minutes of trying to think of what they were conversing on, Hermione surprised herself by challenging Ron to a game of chess. She had no idea why she'd done so, she always lost against him, but he agreed. Harry looked delighted. "I play winner," he said, moving across to sit next to Ron, while Hermione took Harry's place, and they set up the board. They grinned at her, as though they knew she was going to lose royally.
"Boys," she muttered, and commanded her white pawn to move forward two spaces. The game ended with a magnificent loss by Hermione, but it wasn't all in vain. Ron taught her some useful tips during the game. She now switched places with Harry to sit next to Ron, and their necklaces became a peachy red color. Harry clamped his mouth shut, but the corners of his mouth were threatening to turn upward.
Harry was much better at chess than Hermione, after practicing with Ron all those years, but he still wasn't a match for him. Ron now would whisper to Hermione all the things Harry was doing right or wrong in his game, pointing to certain pieces, and telling her how their position was. Harry seemed half embarrassed, and half amused by this, and sat, waiting each turn for Ron to move, his arms crossed smugly over his chest. Hermione was learning good tactics from Ron, and was starting to understand the way he thought, about life, about their situations, about people, and why they would do things. This contented Hermione, and she felt a lot closer to him while this was going on, and she didn't mean just the fact that they were almost sitting on top of one another, being both crowded in front of the chess board. When Ron had won again, they talked for a little while, and played two rounds of Exploding Snape!, a game the Weasley twins had invented for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, before they arrived at Hogwarts.
"We're here," Draco announced.
They left their things in the train, except for the things they were carrying with them, so the House-Elves could carry them up to their beds. This wasn't done, however, without a small argument from Hermione, insisting that they shouldn't have to deal with their luggage. Ron patiently shoved Hermione out of the train and into a horseless carriage successfully, though, and they made their way up to the castle.
When they arrived, the students were busy eating supper in the Great Hall, and Harry and Draco had to keep a firm grip on Ron to keep him from fleeing to the Gryffindor table and feasting like he used to. Snuffles caught his attention by barking at him, and Ron came back to reality.
"Oh, hi Snuffles. I'm sorry, it's just, the food here is so good."
He gave him a pat on the head, and the dog seemed to understand Ron's point. Harry was very excited, and knelt down to scratch Snuffles behind the ear, and the dog put a paw on Harry's shoulder. Hermione and Draco also greeted the dog, and Snuffles barked, and led them to Dumbledore's office.
Once inside, Dumbledore inquired after the events which took place since they left, and Sirius returned to his human form, greeting all of them (and especially Harry) with great admiration. One by one, they all told Dumbledore what happened, and Draco had a very hard time of it. When he was finished, for he was the last person to share, the group fell silent.
Sirius walked over to where Draco sat, and placed a compassionate hand on his shoulder. "You have proved yourself to be a decent man; anyone could have been scared into doing that. I have a lot of respect for you, Draco Malfoy. You're a separate person from your father, and I understand what you're going through. Don't worry. All of us see you for who you are, and no matter what, you can't change what happened in the past, so…I know this isn't the most graceful or poetic speech, but," Sirius smiled, and patted him on the back. Draco looked up at him, and nodded thoughtfully. Hermione smiled as this happened. She looked over to Harry, who seemed to agree with what Sirius had said, and she looked over to Ron, who was smiling like she was. Their eyes found each other again, and stayed like that for a few seconds, until Dumbledore spoke.
He told them that what they had done was more help than they could have imagined, expressed his relief that Harry was with them once more, and told them that the group from the ministry hadn't found Ginny yet, and that if they wanted, (Ron had a threatening Let-Us-Take-The-Case-Or-Else look on his face) they could help also. Ron beamed, as did Harry, and they discussed the issue with Dumbledore.
"What happened with the Death Eaters, Professor?" Hermione asked, after they'd finished. Dumbledore and Sirius smiled at each other.
"I was wondering when you would ask that, Miss Granger. In fact, they were about to attack, when a group of Hippogriffs decided to guard the gates to the school. Needless to say, the Death Eaters retreated. Sirius has said he's had nothing to do with it, but I think a certain Buckbeak has a different story, if he decides to come around again." Sirius laughed.
"Hagrid was thrilled when he saw them. It took two days to convince him that the Hippogriffs would be fine to leave." The whole group, even Draco (though he was a bit confused why this had to do with Sirius), laughed at this.
"Well, good for them," Harry said. By the time they left his office, Dumbledore looked at least five years younger, and they were all smiling.
"Alright, Ron, we can have dinner now," Hermione said, finally giving in to his pleas.
"Yes!" he whooped, jumping for victory in the air. Then he grabbed Hermione's hand, and ran toward the Great Hall, Hermione struggling to keep up with him.
Draco and Harry laughed at this for a long time, looking after their friends. They looked at each other, and for the first time, it didn't strike loathing into one another's minds. "I'm Harry," Harry said, grinning, and held out his hand. Draco grinned back, knowing what he meant, and took Harry's hand. "Draco," he said, and they started talking very amiably, as though they had just met.
"I wonder what their children will look like," Harry said, when they got onto the subject of Ron and Hermione. Draco smirked.
"I already know," he said, matter-of-factly. Harry gave him a confused look.
