Hermione's Letter
Chapter 8
Copyright © 2003 Steve Gilks. All rights reserved.
Please R&R everyone!
***
Harry and Hermione reached the door of Professor McGonagall's room aboard the Gryffindor transport. Her room was right at the front, in full view of the large window which showed what was ahead. The pair took a moment to marvel over the sight of the early morning sky before tentatively knocking on the door.
"Enter," said the stern voice of the head of Gryffindor house, and the teacher of Transfiguration at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, from inside the cabin's four solid wooden walls.
Hermione took the door handle and turned it to the right, pushing on it as she did so, and the door opened gracefully. There were no squeaks on this door, although the internal state of the room was little different to that of the students' room. Professor McGonagall had placed various objects around the room, and there was only one bed in this room, but these changes aside, it was identical to Harry and Hermione's habitation.
Professor McGonagall was stood in front of the wall opposite to the bed, with her usual stern look on her face. On their entry she gestured to Harry and Hermione to sit down on the bed, not having any chairs to offer them. They sat themselves down rather nervously, not knowing for certain why the Professor had invited them, but having a fair idea of the reason. Rather suddenly, she commenced.
"I'm sure you have some idea as to why I invited you here; just to be certain, I'll tell you now. Myself and Professor Dumbledore are aware yourselves and your friend Ronald Weasley were present at the investigation into the destruction of Ravenclaw Tower last night; even before Ron fell, Albus had seen you. He is not to be fooled by Invisibility Cloaks or most methods of rendering oneself unseen to the naked eye, such is his power." Her intonation indicated her respect for the magical ability which Professor Dumbledore possessed; he was often labelled the only one who the feared Lord Voldemort was afraid of.
"We also know that you performed a spell, an incantation of some kind. Since you were whispering the spell, we were unable to ascertain what it was. It appeared to have no visible effects, but nevertheless, I must know what you did that night." She folded her arms and focused her eyes on Harry, before directing her glance at Hermione as well.
Harry looked at Hermione, and could tell she was trying to find a way out of telling Professor McGonagall the truth. 'Tell no one…' the letter had said. What could she say?
"We were performing an Honouring Charm, Professor," Hermione lied. "We wanted to honour the memory of those who had died in the accident, but we knew we'd never be given permission, and we didn't know how long we'd have to wait before everyone goes back to Hogwarts, so we, er, snook out using the Invisibility Cloak to perform the charm before we left." She looked straight into Professor McGonagall's eyes.
McGonagall turned and walked to the other end of her room and back again, with the gazes of Harry and Hermione following her, before she responded.
"Very well. I trust you to tell me the truth, Miss Granger, so I shall accept your explanation, and forgo punishing the three of you, on the grounds that you give me your word you will not do similar things in the future. It is dangerous to do such things; there could have been further structural collapses, or the aftermaths of charms that could harm you. Do I have your word?"
Hermione nodded and gave her word to the Professor. Harry also promised for himself and on Ron's behalf.
Professor McGonagall nodded too. "Now that I have dealt with that, I must inform you that I have arranged the dock with the Hufflepuff transport to occur at nine thirty hours precisely. I must ask that you bring Ron to the docking port at nine twenty. Yourselves, Ginny, and Fred and George if they must, will be allowed to go across with him."
Hermione spoke up almost immediately. "Professor, could I ask that you let Samantha Tensenson come too? I happen to know she cares about Ron a lot, he looked after her when she was sorted into our house."
The Professor nodded rapidly. "Yes, yes, that will be fine. I suggest you get going; it is nearly nine o' clock now."
Harry and Hermione nodded to McGonagall and left the room without another word. Not believing how lucky how they were to get away with having directly disobeyed her instructions without any punishment whatsoever, they headed back to their room in silence.
***
At nine-twenty hours, Harry, Hermione, Samantha, Ginny, Fred and George had arrived with Ron bound to a stretcher conjured up by Hermione, which was hovering toute seule in the air next to the docking port which was to be used for the transfer. The Hufflepuff transport was maintaining position five metres away from the docking port, trying to align its starboard side interconnector with the Gryffindor port side one. The procedure was a tricky one; it was not usually implemented unless absolutely necessary, but it was not impossible, and Professor McGonagall had the necessary skills to complete it.
Samantha and Ginny were stood slightly back from the rest; they were quietly chatting and giggling. Hermione's thoughts wandered back to the moment she had walked into her room earlier and found the two girls in a state of what could only be described as 'deviously plotting something', and wondered if she was observing an encore.
She was about to ask Fred and George for a word in private, when Professor McGonagall turned the corner and entered the docking area.
"Good, you're all here," she said, glancing round at the students. It was quite a congregation in such a small place; the airlock was only two metres by three metres in size. The door was barely wider than the stretcher on which Ron was lying. Looking first to the stretcher and then to the door, Hermione wasn't sure that Ron would be able to pass through it. But then she saw Professor McGonagall raise her wand, and take control of the levitating Ron, opening the side door with a large golden key. The door seemed to be stuck at first, before swinging open and fixing itself to the inside wall of a small conduit which currently led to the open air. Looking through the conduit, Hermione could just about see the opposite conduit, which was moving closer and closer. Three metres… two metres… one metre…
The conduit magically joined the other one to form a cylindrical tube between the two transports. There was no evidence of a join in the middle; it was as if the two transports had physically melded.
Professor McGonagall directed everyone to stand back. "This is the most dangerous part. If the next procedure is performed incorrectly, the conduit will be ripped apart and will create a backflow of debris into both transports," she informed the waiting crowd.
She pointed her wand into the conduit, and called, "Aumento conduito!"
A beam of blue energy came forth from her wand's tip and raced into the tunnel, smashing into a similarly-coloured beam from the other side. The convergence erupted, causing energy to splash onto the conduit's walls, and it started to shake and convulse. Blue energy waves started to sweep up the lengths of the cylinder, the shaking and convulsions becoming ever more acute.
Suddenly, it all stopped.
Hermione though to herself that maybe it hadn't worked, but her opinion was soon the direct opposite.
The conduit changed from a small cylinder to a large rectangular walkway. It was much like the corridors around the transport, except slightly narrower. It was composed of the same woodwork, and had the same wall-mounted candles for lighting.
Professor McGonagall tapped the floor of the conduit three times with the heel of her shoe and then declared it fit for crossing. She resumed controlling Ron's stretcher and directed it through the conduit, to the waiting Professor Sprout, who had cast the opposing blue beam from the Hufflepuff transport. She pulled the stretcher in using her wand, and following its transfer, the Gryffindor party transferred too with their Professor.
Hannah Abbott was waiting for Harry on the Hufflepuff side; she nodded to Harry as he completed the journey between transports. It took only a minute for everyone to cross onto the other side. Professors McGonagall and Sprout took off immediately to the Hospital Section, directing Ron with their wands carefully down the corridors. Ginny, Fred, George and Sam followed after them. Hermione hesitated when Harry walked over to Hannah instead of following; the latter had a very distressed look on her face. Harry explained to Hermione about the letter; Hermione decided it was best to leave them to it, as long as he promised to come and see Ron as soon as possible, which Harry did.
It was, however, to be a somewhat lesser time than Harry expected before he saw Ron and Hermione again.
Hannah and Harry walked down the opposite corridor to the remainder of the Gryffindor party, and entered a small room off to the left of one of the corridors. The room was vacant, which although mildly surprising, was not entirely unexpected. There was a single bed and a table with a lone chair positioned neatly underneath it, but there were no other belongings present in the room, which looked somewhat disused. It was darker than most of the rooms, the walls had no shine to them, unlike most of the cabins and corridors of both the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff transports, and it was rather a cramped room, to say the least.
Harry took up the chair, which creaked as he sat on it, and Hannah lay down on the bed, her head on the musty old pillow, which was coloured grey, and provided a total contrast to Hannah's vibrant blonde hair, which when she stood tall, reached halfway down her slender body.
Harry wondered why he seemed to miss certain… features of the female gender. His eyes were wandering again.
Hannah's soft voice managed to bring him back to the real world.
"Harry, you in there?" she said with a touch of sharpness, so as to try and bring him around.
Harry did his best to hide what he had been doing, although he couldn't prevent a little bit of pink tone settling itself in on his face. He prayed that Hannah wouldn't notice…
"Yeah. Sorry, I've, er, been a bit distracted since Ron's accident," he lied. "So, why did you want to see me?" he enquired.
Hannah breathed in deeply, followed by exhaling just as powerfully.
"Well, this is a bit hard for me to say, so bear with me, ok? I… erm, well, there's this boy, he's a Gryffindor, and I think I've fallen in love with him. But I need some help, I'm quite shy, you know, I need some help on getting his attention. I don't think he even notices me. It's not as if I'm attractive, or anything."
Harry raised his eyebrows at her last statement. Hannah was a very attractive girl; her hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall; it was golden and shined brightly, even in the dim light of the disused cabin; her face was unblemished, and she was filled out in all the right places.
But he had to know who it was.
"Hannah, which Gryffindor have you fallen for?" he asked, blushing slightly at the coincidental rhyme in his sentence. He didn't want Hannah to think he was making fun of her.
"It's…" she began, but was thrown off the bed and rolled over to the door, hitting it hard. The whole cabin was now on an incline. Harry was thrown from his chair and rolled along the floor, eventually rolling on top of Hannah. The incline was at least 60 degrees and it was impossible to move. Hannah was drifting in and out of consciousness, her eyes were struggling to remain open, such had been the force of the impact. Harry, too, had hit his head, but although he was able to maintain consciousness, he couldn't figure out what to do.
The two of them lay there, unable to do anything to help themselves.
Chapter 8
Copyright © 2003 Steve Gilks. All rights reserved.
Please R&R everyone!
***
Harry and Hermione reached the door of Professor McGonagall's room aboard the Gryffindor transport. Her room was right at the front, in full view of the large window which showed what was ahead. The pair took a moment to marvel over the sight of the early morning sky before tentatively knocking on the door.
"Enter," said the stern voice of the head of Gryffindor house, and the teacher of Transfiguration at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, from inside the cabin's four solid wooden walls.
Hermione took the door handle and turned it to the right, pushing on it as she did so, and the door opened gracefully. There were no squeaks on this door, although the internal state of the room was little different to that of the students' room. Professor McGonagall had placed various objects around the room, and there was only one bed in this room, but these changes aside, it was identical to Harry and Hermione's habitation.
Professor McGonagall was stood in front of the wall opposite to the bed, with her usual stern look on her face. On their entry she gestured to Harry and Hermione to sit down on the bed, not having any chairs to offer them. They sat themselves down rather nervously, not knowing for certain why the Professor had invited them, but having a fair idea of the reason. Rather suddenly, she commenced.
"I'm sure you have some idea as to why I invited you here; just to be certain, I'll tell you now. Myself and Professor Dumbledore are aware yourselves and your friend Ronald Weasley were present at the investigation into the destruction of Ravenclaw Tower last night; even before Ron fell, Albus had seen you. He is not to be fooled by Invisibility Cloaks or most methods of rendering oneself unseen to the naked eye, such is his power." Her intonation indicated her respect for the magical ability which Professor Dumbledore possessed; he was often labelled the only one who the feared Lord Voldemort was afraid of.
"We also know that you performed a spell, an incantation of some kind. Since you were whispering the spell, we were unable to ascertain what it was. It appeared to have no visible effects, but nevertheless, I must know what you did that night." She folded her arms and focused her eyes on Harry, before directing her glance at Hermione as well.
Harry looked at Hermione, and could tell she was trying to find a way out of telling Professor McGonagall the truth. 'Tell no one…' the letter had said. What could she say?
"We were performing an Honouring Charm, Professor," Hermione lied. "We wanted to honour the memory of those who had died in the accident, but we knew we'd never be given permission, and we didn't know how long we'd have to wait before everyone goes back to Hogwarts, so we, er, snook out using the Invisibility Cloak to perform the charm before we left." She looked straight into Professor McGonagall's eyes.
McGonagall turned and walked to the other end of her room and back again, with the gazes of Harry and Hermione following her, before she responded.
"Very well. I trust you to tell me the truth, Miss Granger, so I shall accept your explanation, and forgo punishing the three of you, on the grounds that you give me your word you will not do similar things in the future. It is dangerous to do such things; there could have been further structural collapses, or the aftermaths of charms that could harm you. Do I have your word?"
Hermione nodded and gave her word to the Professor. Harry also promised for himself and on Ron's behalf.
Professor McGonagall nodded too. "Now that I have dealt with that, I must inform you that I have arranged the dock with the Hufflepuff transport to occur at nine thirty hours precisely. I must ask that you bring Ron to the docking port at nine twenty. Yourselves, Ginny, and Fred and George if they must, will be allowed to go across with him."
Hermione spoke up almost immediately. "Professor, could I ask that you let Samantha Tensenson come too? I happen to know she cares about Ron a lot, he looked after her when she was sorted into our house."
The Professor nodded rapidly. "Yes, yes, that will be fine. I suggest you get going; it is nearly nine o' clock now."
Harry and Hermione nodded to McGonagall and left the room without another word. Not believing how lucky how they were to get away with having directly disobeyed her instructions without any punishment whatsoever, they headed back to their room in silence.
***
At nine-twenty hours, Harry, Hermione, Samantha, Ginny, Fred and George had arrived with Ron bound to a stretcher conjured up by Hermione, which was hovering toute seule in the air next to the docking port which was to be used for the transfer. The Hufflepuff transport was maintaining position five metres away from the docking port, trying to align its starboard side interconnector with the Gryffindor port side one. The procedure was a tricky one; it was not usually implemented unless absolutely necessary, but it was not impossible, and Professor McGonagall had the necessary skills to complete it.
Samantha and Ginny were stood slightly back from the rest; they were quietly chatting and giggling. Hermione's thoughts wandered back to the moment she had walked into her room earlier and found the two girls in a state of what could only be described as 'deviously plotting something', and wondered if she was observing an encore.
She was about to ask Fred and George for a word in private, when Professor McGonagall turned the corner and entered the docking area.
"Good, you're all here," she said, glancing round at the students. It was quite a congregation in such a small place; the airlock was only two metres by three metres in size. The door was barely wider than the stretcher on which Ron was lying. Looking first to the stretcher and then to the door, Hermione wasn't sure that Ron would be able to pass through it. But then she saw Professor McGonagall raise her wand, and take control of the levitating Ron, opening the side door with a large golden key. The door seemed to be stuck at first, before swinging open and fixing itself to the inside wall of a small conduit which currently led to the open air. Looking through the conduit, Hermione could just about see the opposite conduit, which was moving closer and closer. Three metres… two metres… one metre…
The conduit magically joined the other one to form a cylindrical tube between the two transports. There was no evidence of a join in the middle; it was as if the two transports had physically melded.
Professor McGonagall directed everyone to stand back. "This is the most dangerous part. If the next procedure is performed incorrectly, the conduit will be ripped apart and will create a backflow of debris into both transports," she informed the waiting crowd.
She pointed her wand into the conduit, and called, "Aumento conduito!"
A beam of blue energy came forth from her wand's tip and raced into the tunnel, smashing into a similarly-coloured beam from the other side. The convergence erupted, causing energy to splash onto the conduit's walls, and it started to shake and convulse. Blue energy waves started to sweep up the lengths of the cylinder, the shaking and convulsions becoming ever more acute.
Suddenly, it all stopped.
Hermione though to herself that maybe it hadn't worked, but her opinion was soon the direct opposite.
The conduit changed from a small cylinder to a large rectangular walkway. It was much like the corridors around the transport, except slightly narrower. It was composed of the same woodwork, and had the same wall-mounted candles for lighting.
Professor McGonagall tapped the floor of the conduit three times with the heel of her shoe and then declared it fit for crossing. She resumed controlling Ron's stretcher and directed it through the conduit, to the waiting Professor Sprout, who had cast the opposing blue beam from the Hufflepuff transport. She pulled the stretcher in using her wand, and following its transfer, the Gryffindor party transferred too with their Professor.
Hannah Abbott was waiting for Harry on the Hufflepuff side; she nodded to Harry as he completed the journey between transports. It took only a minute for everyone to cross onto the other side. Professors McGonagall and Sprout took off immediately to the Hospital Section, directing Ron with their wands carefully down the corridors. Ginny, Fred, George and Sam followed after them. Hermione hesitated when Harry walked over to Hannah instead of following; the latter had a very distressed look on her face. Harry explained to Hermione about the letter; Hermione decided it was best to leave them to it, as long as he promised to come and see Ron as soon as possible, which Harry did.
It was, however, to be a somewhat lesser time than Harry expected before he saw Ron and Hermione again.
Hannah and Harry walked down the opposite corridor to the remainder of the Gryffindor party, and entered a small room off to the left of one of the corridors. The room was vacant, which although mildly surprising, was not entirely unexpected. There was a single bed and a table with a lone chair positioned neatly underneath it, but there were no other belongings present in the room, which looked somewhat disused. It was darker than most of the rooms, the walls had no shine to them, unlike most of the cabins and corridors of both the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff transports, and it was rather a cramped room, to say the least.
Harry took up the chair, which creaked as he sat on it, and Hannah lay down on the bed, her head on the musty old pillow, which was coloured grey, and provided a total contrast to Hannah's vibrant blonde hair, which when she stood tall, reached halfway down her slender body.
Harry wondered why he seemed to miss certain… features of the female gender. His eyes were wandering again.
Hannah's soft voice managed to bring him back to the real world.
"Harry, you in there?" she said with a touch of sharpness, so as to try and bring him around.
Harry did his best to hide what he had been doing, although he couldn't prevent a little bit of pink tone settling itself in on his face. He prayed that Hannah wouldn't notice…
"Yeah. Sorry, I've, er, been a bit distracted since Ron's accident," he lied. "So, why did you want to see me?" he enquired.
Hannah breathed in deeply, followed by exhaling just as powerfully.
"Well, this is a bit hard for me to say, so bear with me, ok? I… erm, well, there's this boy, he's a Gryffindor, and I think I've fallen in love with him. But I need some help, I'm quite shy, you know, I need some help on getting his attention. I don't think he even notices me. It's not as if I'm attractive, or anything."
Harry raised his eyebrows at her last statement. Hannah was a very attractive girl; her hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall; it was golden and shined brightly, even in the dim light of the disused cabin; her face was unblemished, and she was filled out in all the right places.
But he had to know who it was.
"Hannah, which Gryffindor have you fallen for?" he asked, blushing slightly at the coincidental rhyme in his sentence. He didn't want Hannah to think he was making fun of her.
"It's…" she began, but was thrown off the bed and rolled over to the door, hitting it hard. The whole cabin was now on an incline. Harry was thrown from his chair and rolled along the floor, eventually rolling on top of Hannah. The incline was at least 60 degrees and it was impossible to move. Hannah was drifting in and out of consciousness, her eyes were struggling to remain open, such had been the force of the impact. Harry, too, had hit his head, but although he was able to maintain consciousness, he couldn't figure out what to do.
The two of them lay there, unable to do anything to help themselves.