Chpt22: No one Expects the Spanish Inquisition.
The serenity and feeling of completion that had encompassed her lasted for the rest of the day, and for the moment she drifted from place to place as though under the influence of a levitating spell. Blissfully unaware of those around her, Hermione made her way back to the passage under the Honeydukes cellar, and standing in front of the mirror, she closed her eyes and ended the spell: "Tempus fugit."
Looking again, she stared at the image before her; the reflection stared back at her, its golden-brown locks tumbling over its eyes, its cheeks pink with hidden joy, its lips rising in a satisfied smile.
It had worked! An hour and a half before the potion should have worn out, she was, once again, in her usual teenage form.
Could this day get any better?!
Quickly getting changed, she began the long journey back to the main school building.
~*~*~*~
"Maybe she's got some sort of boyfriend that she doesn't want us to know about."
"Don't be stupid, Ron, this is Hermione that we're talking about."
"Well, I don't see you coming up with anything!"
"That's because I'm thinking."
"Well, what are you thinking about?"
Harry was silent for a moment. For the last few weeks, he had become increasingly worried about Hermione - she had taken to spending more and more time alone in her room, reading or talking to herself.
"Maybe she's finally cracked, I mean, we've been warning her for years about all the work she's taking on for no reason."
"Ron, I am trying to think!"
"Bloody hell, how hard do you have to think to figure out that Hermione's gone round the bend?"
"She's not crazy - she's up to something. Something big."
"Big?"
"Big," he maintained. "I wouldn't be surprised if it was something against the rules."
Ron simply looked at him for a moment, and then laughed. "You're right, Harry, Hermione's not crazy; you are!"
"Look," he paused to collect his thoughts, "she's been going off to Hogsmeade twice a week for the last three or four weeks on this independent project that she kept going on about during the holidays."
"Yeah." Ron looked confused.
"Well, you know Hermione, she can't bear to keep all these things to herself, and she hasn't mentioned the project for a good while now."
"Oh."
Harry raised his eyebrows. "Is that a good 'oh'?"
"Erm."
He sighed, "Listen, basically, it looks like Hermione is going off twice a week with my map - presumably to Hogsmeade, but we can't be sure of that."
"Why not?"
"BECAUSE SHE HAS THE MAP!"
"Oh. Ok."
They had been in their dorm for the past hour or so, trying to figure out what on earth their best friend had been up to.
"Well, what are we going to do?" Ron giving up on trying to make suggestions.
"I don't know."
"We are going to do something, aren't we? I mean, we need Hermione! Without her we won't be The Dream Team anymore! We'll be. The Dream Duo, and that sounds so wrong!"
Harry stopped thinking for a moment to look up at Ron.
"The Dream Team? Please don't tell me that people actually call us that."
"Why not? We've got the makings of the ultimate Team, Harry, there's The Brain, The Goof (that's me), and The Boy Who Lived. We're unbreakable!"
"Ron -"
"If that's what you think of Hermione, then I don't think you'll get very far with this little inquest of yours."
The boys looked up to find that Ginny Weasley was standing in the doorway, her hands on her hips.
Jumping to his feet, Harry ran up to her and closed the door, placing a locking charm on it before turning to the wilful sixth year in front of him.
"How long have you been standing there?"
"I hate to be clichéd, Harry, but I can only say that I've been here long enough."
Ron stood up, joining them, "Go on then, you obviously think that you know something."
Ginny snorted, "I know a lot of things Ron, though I'm not particularly sure that you'd be interested in most of them. As for Hermione though, I'm not sure what I know, but I wish I knew more."
The boys nodded, eagerly awaiting what she had to say.
Looking at them, Ginny had to smother a laugh, seeing the expectant expressions that they had acquired.
Glad that they hadn't simply kicked her out of the room, she went over to one of the beds and sat comfortably on the end.
"Well, it was a couple of weeks ago now, you know, on that Spaghetti Day that Dumbledore had."
"Yeah."
"Well, Hermione came in that night from Hogsmeade - looking a bit off colour, if you ask me - and then you two came out and gave her the Spanish Inquisition about gods know what. If you remember, she said she wasn't hungry or something,"
"Yeah."
"and then you went off down to dinner, adding that stupid comment about how it must be 'that time of the month again', Ron, which I really did not appreciate. It's unbelievably annoying when idiot males like you put everything down to something that you will never understand, I mean-"
"Er, Ginny, the point. Keep to the point."
"Huh?" She stopped her indignant pro-feminist mutterings to look at him questioningly.
"You were telling us about Hermione," Ron put in.
"Oh, sorry, yeah, where was I?"
"You were-"
"Yes, I know, Harry, thank you very much! Anyway, after you'd gone off to stuff your faces in spagbol or whatever it was that you were cramming yourselves with - I would have thought that you'd both have learnt decent table manners by now-"
Harry cleared his throat, cutting her off before she trailed off into irrelevant nonsensical ramblings again.
"Hmph, don't you clear your throat at me, Harry Potter! As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I went up her dorm, and I swear I could hear someone crying in there. At first I thought that I was imagining it, but then the next day I saw her again and - and-"
She paused. She had suddenly felt as though she were sharing something very personal, and very secret. Maybe she was wrong to have come here. Maybe she was wrong to have come, knowing what they would be doing, knowing that she would only become entangled in the web that they would inevitably weave.
"And what, Ginny?" Harry said, and looking at him, she knew that if anyone understood, it was him. "We care about her, we've got to help her somehow."
"I know, but - Okay." She took a deep breath, and let the words flow.
"I went up to her after you had left, and, well, she totally broke down. I don't know what had got to her so badly, but something had, and it was eating her up."
"Didn't she tell you anything? Anything?"
Ginny shut their voices out, trying to recall exactly what had happened.
"Nothing. She said that she'd made a mistake of some sort, a big mistake; she said that she didn't know how to fix it."
"It's not much, " said Harry, after a while, "but it's a start."
"I'd bet that it's a lot more than she meant to tell anyone."
They looked at Ron, nodding, and he looked somewhat pleased that his comment had not been rebuked.
"So where do we go from here?"
Now it was Ginny that they turned to - it seemed that she had proven herself to be the fountain of all knowledge, a position that was usually appointed to Hermione, and Ginny could really have done without it.
"Well," she felt distinctly uncomfortable and uncertain. The boys might not recognise it, but she knew that there was a friendship at stake here.
"Why don't we just keep an eye out for her, make sure that she's okay, and try to keep track of any changes in her. It won't be a good sign if she's picking at her food or sleeping too little - or oversleeping, at that."
"Or vanishing suddenly when only a second beforehand she was right behind us," Ron put in.
"Exactly."
"For all we know, she could be using the Time-Turner again."
"We'll soon see, but boys, for God's sake, be careful and be discreet. Especially you, Ron, if she finds out what we're up to we'll be somewhere beyond Coventry."
The serenity and feeling of completion that had encompassed her lasted for the rest of the day, and for the moment she drifted from place to place as though under the influence of a levitating spell. Blissfully unaware of those around her, Hermione made her way back to the passage under the Honeydukes cellar, and standing in front of the mirror, she closed her eyes and ended the spell: "Tempus fugit."
Looking again, she stared at the image before her; the reflection stared back at her, its golden-brown locks tumbling over its eyes, its cheeks pink with hidden joy, its lips rising in a satisfied smile.
It had worked! An hour and a half before the potion should have worn out, she was, once again, in her usual teenage form.
Could this day get any better?!
Quickly getting changed, she began the long journey back to the main school building.
~*~*~*~
"Maybe she's got some sort of boyfriend that she doesn't want us to know about."
"Don't be stupid, Ron, this is Hermione that we're talking about."
"Well, I don't see you coming up with anything!"
"That's because I'm thinking."
"Well, what are you thinking about?"
Harry was silent for a moment. For the last few weeks, he had become increasingly worried about Hermione - she had taken to spending more and more time alone in her room, reading or talking to herself.
"Maybe she's finally cracked, I mean, we've been warning her for years about all the work she's taking on for no reason."
"Ron, I am trying to think!"
"Bloody hell, how hard do you have to think to figure out that Hermione's gone round the bend?"
"She's not crazy - she's up to something. Something big."
"Big?"
"Big," he maintained. "I wouldn't be surprised if it was something against the rules."
Ron simply looked at him for a moment, and then laughed. "You're right, Harry, Hermione's not crazy; you are!"
"Look," he paused to collect his thoughts, "she's been going off to Hogsmeade twice a week for the last three or four weeks on this independent project that she kept going on about during the holidays."
"Yeah." Ron looked confused.
"Well, you know Hermione, she can't bear to keep all these things to herself, and she hasn't mentioned the project for a good while now."
"Oh."
Harry raised his eyebrows. "Is that a good 'oh'?"
"Erm."
He sighed, "Listen, basically, it looks like Hermione is going off twice a week with my map - presumably to Hogsmeade, but we can't be sure of that."
"Why not?"
"BECAUSE SHE HAS THE MAP!"
"Oh. Ok."
They had been in their dorm for the past hour or so, trying to figure out what on earth their best friend had been up to.
"Well, what are we going to do?" Ron giving up on trying to make suggestions.
"I don't know."
"We are going to do something, aren't we? I mean, we need Hermione! Without her we won't be The Dream Team anymore! We'll be. The Dream Duo, and that sounds so wrong!"
Harry stopped thinking for a moment to look up at Ron.
"The Dream Team? Please don't tell me that people actually call us that."
"Why not? We've got the makings of the ultimate Team, Harry, there's The Brain, The Goof (that's me), and The Boy Who Lived. We're unbreakable!"
"Ron -"
"If that's what you think of Hermione, then I don't think you'll get very far with this little inquest of yours."
The boys looked up to find that Ginny Weasley was standing in the doorway, her hands on her hips.
Jumping to his feet, Harry ran up to her and closed the door, placing a locking charm on it before turning to the wilful sixth year in front of him.
"How long have you been standing there?"
"I hate to be clichéd, Harry, but I can only say that I've been here long enough."
Ron stood up, joining them, "Go on then, you obviously think that you know something."
Ginny snorted, "I know a lot of things Ron, though I'm not particularly sure that you'd be interested in most of them. As for Hermione though, I'm not sure what I know, but I wish I knew more."
The boys nodded, eagerly awaiting what she had to say.
Looking at them, Ginny had to smother a laugh, seeing the expectant expressions that they had acquired.
Glad that they hadn't simply kicked her out of the room, she went over to one of the beds and sat comfortably on the end.
"Well, it was a couple of weeks ago now, you know, on that Spaghetti Day that Dumbledore had."
"Yeah."
"Well, Hermione came in that night from Hogsmeade - looking a bit off colour, if you ask me - and then you two came out and gave her the Spanish Inquisition about gods know what. If you remember, she said she wasn't hungry or something,"
"Yeah."
"and then you went off down to dinner, adding that stupid comment about how it must be 'that time of the month again', Ron, which I really did not appreciate. It's unbelievably annoying when idiot males like you put everything down to something that you will never understand, I mean-"
"Er, Ginny, the point. Keep to the point."
"Huh?" She stopped her indignant pro-feminist mutterings to look at him questioningly.
"You were telling us about Hermione," Ron put in.
"Oh, sorry, yeah, where was I?"
"You were-"
"Yes, I know, Harry, thank you very much! Anyway, after you'd gone off to stuff your faces in spagbol or whatever it was that you were cramming yourselves with - I would have thought that you'd both have learnt decent table manners by now-"
Harry cleared his throat, cutting her off before she trailed off into irrelevant nonsensical ramblings again.
"Hmph, don't you clear your throat at me, Harry Potter! As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I went up her dorm, and I swear I could hear someone crying in there. At first I thought that I was imagining it, but then the next day I saw her again and - and-"
She paused. She had suddenly felt as though she were sharing something very personal, and very secret. Maybe she was wrong to have come here. Maybe she was wrong to have come, knowing what they would be doing, knowing that she would only become entangled in the web that they would inevitably weave.
"And what, Ginny?" Harry said, and looking at him, she knew that if anyone understood, it was him. "We care about her, we've got to help her somehow."
"I know, but - Okay." She took a deep breath, and let the words flow.
"I went up to her after you had left, and, well, she totally broke down. I don't know what had got to her so badly, but something had, and it was eating her up."
"Didn't she tell you anything? Anything?"
Ginny shut their voices out, trying to recall exactly what had happened.
"Nothing. She said that she'd made a mistake of some sort, a big mistake; she said that she didn't know how to fix it."
"It's not much, " said Harry, after a while, "but it's a start."
"I'd bet that it's a lot more than she meant to tell anyone."
They looked at Ron, nodding, and he looked somewhat pleased that his comment had not been rebuked.
"So where do we go from here?"
Now it was Ginny that they turned to - it seemed that she had proven herself to be the fountain of all knowledge, a position that was usually appointed to Hermione, and Ginny could really have done without it.
"Well," she felt distinctly uncomfortable and uncertain. The boys might not recognise it, but she knew that there was a friendship at stake here.
"Why don't we just keep an eye out for her, make sure that she's okay, and try to keep track of any changes in her. It won't be a good sign if she's picking at her food or sleeping too little - or oversleeping, at that."
"Or vanishing suddenly when only a second beforehand she was right behind us," Ron put in.
"Exactly."
"For all we know, she could be using the Time-Turner again."
"We'll soon see, but boys, for God's sake, be careful and be discreet. Especially you, Ron, if she finds out what we're up to we'll be somewhere beyond Coventry."