AN: Keep it up, it may just be worth it.
Part 1: When the silence screams.
Hermione sipped her coffee and sank further into the armchair. The quiet echoed around her, the screams of dozens of children just a memory at this hour. Griffindorr common room had never been so peaceful to the sixth year girl. Knowing that at any moment, two boys would burst through the portrait hole and ruin her peace, she savoured the feeling. Hermoine was glad the three of them did not fit under the invisiblity cloak anymore. It meant she had probable cause to say it was not a good idea if she went with them an another so called adventure.
It was true. She was getting to old for this. Sure, she wanted to save the world and fight the good fight but, she figured she would be better off doing it in a lab. A lab where Hermione the book nerd could loose herself day in and day for the rest of her life and die an old woman with too many cats. Yes, that was her plan. Leave the physical stuff to Harry.
Harry. Harry Potter.
He and Ron were off doing what they called a patrol but what Hermione suspected to be just plain mischief making. She was worried. Ron would do pretty much whatever Harry told him to do, as long as Harry didn't grand stand. And what Harry wanted to do these days was down right malicious.
As a rule, Hermione hated when a psychologist blamed a person's childhood for the mistakes they make later in life. 'My mother left me when I was too young to remember, boo-friggan-hoo,' but, lately, she had cause to doubt her evaluation.
Harry's Godfather died. His last real family. And Hermoine believed that to be really true. Sirius was his family but now, every one in his family was dead. The Dursleys obviously do not count.
Hermione winced at the thought of Harry's... whatever you would call them. If there was pureblood bigotry in this world, then the Dursleys were the exact opposite. Hermione never thought people could be like that, so ignorant of a world that they are so closely connected to. Her parents were always interested to know things about her life, asking questions when they did not understand something but these Muggles simply refused to care.
Hermione shook her head and rose from her seat, placing her empty mug on the table beside her. The silence that was so comforting now unnerved her. The boys should have been back by now. She was worried for two, equally compelling reasons.
Number one: The boys were caught by a teacher, or worse, Snape but any would do. They would get punished, the cloak taken away thus loosing a great assest for a foolish reason. They would probably loose about a gazillion house points as well. Always bad.
Or...
Number two: They explode themselves in the process of pranking... whoever, just fill the blank with the appropriate name, causing them to die and rendering the cloak un-usable thus loosing more than one great assest.
Hermione moved over to the fire and warmed her suddenly cold blood. It was time she spoke to... Ron... about Harry's behaviour. Yes, that would be a good starting point. To tell you the truth. Harry had been a little scary lately...
She was pulled from her thoughts by muffled laughter.Hermione recognised it straight away and opened the portrait door before thay had a chance to wake the Fat Lady.
"Shush," she whispered to the night air, feeling a presence move past her and over to the fire. The muffled laughter was still there, though they were actually trying to stifle it. Not really working.
Hermione grimaced disapprovingly as her friends revealed themselves.
"Blimey it's cold," Ron said as he appeared, his fit of laughter ebbing away as the heat warmed him.
"Tell you what though," Harry replied as he folded the cloak awkwardly. "It is going to be worth it tomorrow. I can't wait to see their faces... and their hands!"
That did it for the two boys, both succombing to the thought and letting waves of laughter roll out of their mouths. Hermione shook her head once more, for a different reason this time and moved over to Harry.
"What did you do?" she asked as the boy cleaned his fogged glasses with his jumper. He smiled.
"You didn't want in 'Mione. So you will just have to wait till tomorrow like everyone else," he answered, his face wide and bright.
But Hermione felt a dark shadow crawl through her heart. Harry's laughter was infectious but, all the same, it failed to reach his eyes. Dull, they were and frighteningly fearless. But it was not the fearlesness that came with bravery, it was what came with foolishness. She understand and was scared. Scared for her friend's very soul.
"Hey, Harry." Ron said, not quite cutting through Hermione's thoughts. "Did we run into something? We did hey? Outside Snape's rooms. Strange. I could have sworn I saw eyes, green eyes floating in the air. What about you?"
Harry became somber suddenly.
"I saw nothing of the sort, but we did bump into something. Probably was Peeves. Stop getting yourself scared, Ron. Floating eyes. Now there is a piece of shite if I ever heard it. I'm going to bed."
And, at that, he left. He left leaving two very unnervedfriends in his wake, one scared of the unbelievable and one scared for absolutely believable.
Part 1: When the silence screams.
Hermione sipped her coffee and sank further into the armchair. The quiet echoed around her, the screams of dozens of children just a memory at this hour. Griffindorr common room had never been so peaceful to the sixth year girl. Knowing that at any moment, two boys would burst through the portrait hole and ruin her peace, she savoured the feeling. Hermoine was glad the three of them did not fit under the invisiblity cloak anymore. It meant she had probable cause to say it was not a good idea if she went with them an another so called adventure.
It was true. She was getting to old for this. Sure, she wanted to save the world and fight the good fight but, she figured she would be better off doing it in a lab. A lab where Hermione the book nerd could loose herself day in and day for the rest of her life and die an old woman with too many cats. Yes, that was her plan. Leave the physical stuff to Harry.
Harry. Harry Potter.
He and Ron were off doing what they called a patrol but what Hermione suspected to be just plain mischief making. She was worried. Ron would do pretty much whatever Harry told him to do, as long as Harry didn't grand stand. And what Harry wanted to do these days was down right malicious.
As a rule, Hermione hated when a psychologist blamed a person's childhood for the mistakes they make later in life. 'My mother left me when I was too young to remember, boo-friggan-hoo,' but, lately, she had cause to doubt her evaluation.
Harry's Godfather died. His last real family. And Hermoine believed that to be really true. Sirius was his family but now, every one in his family was dead. The Dursleys obviously do not count.
Hermione winced at the thought of Harry's... whatever you would call them. If there was pureblood bigotry in this world, then the Dursleys were the exact opposite. Hermione never thought people could be like that, so ignorant of a world that they are so closely connected to. Her parents were always interested to know things about her life, asking questions when they did not understand something but these Muggles simply refused to care.
Hermione shook her head and rose from her seat, placing her empty mug on the table beside her. The silence that was so comforting now unnerved her. The boys should have been back by now. She was worried for two, equally compelling reasons.
Number one: The boys were caught by a teacher, or worse, Snape but any would do. They would get punished, the cloak taken away thus loosing a great assest for a foolish reason. They would probably loose about a gazillion house points as well. Always bad.
Or...
Number two: They explode themselves in the process of pranking... whoever, just fill the blank with the appropriate name, causing them to die and rendering the cloak un-usable thus loosing more than one great assest.
Hermione moved over to the fire and warmed her suddenly cold blood. It was time she spoke to... Ron... about Harry's behaviour. Yes, that would be a good starting point. To tell you the truth. Harry had been a little scary lately...
She was pulled from her thoughts by muffled laughter.Hermione recognised it straight away and opened the portrait door before thay had a chance to wake the Fat Lady.
"Shush," she whispered to the night air, feeling a presence move past her and over to the fire. The muffled laughter was still there, though they were actually trying to stifle it. Not really working.
Hermione grimaced disapprovingly as her friends revealed themselves.
"Blimey it's cold," Ron said as he appeared, his fit of laughter ebbing away as the heat warmed him.
"Tell you what though," Harry replied as he folded the cloak awkwardly. "It is going to be worth it tomorrow. I can't wait to see their faces... and their hands!"
That did it for the two boys, both succombing to the thought and letting waves of laughter roll out of their mouths. Hermione shook her head once more, for a different reason this time and moved over to Harry.
"What did you do?" she asked as the boy cleaned his fogged glasses with his jumper. He smiled.
"You didn't want in 'Mione. So you will just have to wait till tomorrow like everyone else," he answered, his face wide and bright.
But Hermione felt a dark shadow crawl through her heart. Harry's laughter was infectious but, all the same, it failed to reach his eyes. Dull, they were and frighteningly fearless. But it was not the fearlesness that came with bravery, it was what came with foolishness. She understand and was scared. Scared for her friend's very soul.
"Hey, Harry." Ron said, not quite cutting through Hermione's thoughts. "Did we run into something? We did hey? Outside Snape's rooms. Strange. I could have sworn I saw eyes, green eyes floating in the air. What about you?"
Harry became somber suddenly.
"I saw nothing of the sort, but we did bump into something. Probably was Peeves. Stop getting yourself scared, Ron. Floating eyes. Now there is a piece of shite if I ever heard it. I'm going to bed."
And, at that, he left. He left leaving two very unnervedfriends in his wake, one scared of the unbelievable and one scared for absolutely believable.