Many thanks go out to my wonderful reviewers. My work is so much the better for your encouragement. I can always use constructive criticism!
To anyone who has commented on my chapter length, I try to make them short so that I can get them out frequently, seeing as how I'm pretty impatient myself.
Now, the story.
A Dangerous Project – Part Six – Who Needs Spells?
The next few days were some of the best so far that year. It was lovely outside, so most of the Gryffindors gathered around the lake to chat and work on homework, especially a particularly brutal Potions essay. Hermione watched Harry and Ron practice flying while she relaxed under a tree, running her fingers through the lake water lazily. Days like this have a horrible habit of making everything seem unimportant, she thought. Perhaps I should work on some homework...
But as Seamus and Neville had a water fight in the lake and Harry flew a loop-the-loop around Ron, Hermione Granger decided, for the first time in her life, to not do her homework. It was, after all, just as important to relax as work hard...
Hermione woke from her afternoon nap and stretched, eyes still half closed. She wondered what had woken her – until she felt the familiar prickle of being watched. She turned towards the forest and was just in time to see a branch sway. Was she becoming paranoid, or was there actually someone there? She called Ron and Harry down.
"Hey Hermione, what's going on?" Harry asked, landing softly on the grass beside her.
"I think we need to keep working. Even if we don't go inside, we should think, or write stuff down. I don't like the fact that we haven't been doing anything. It's making me nervous." To her surprise, it was Ron that agreed with her.
"You're right, Hermione, and I really don't like that there's something going on we don't know about. What d'you think, Harry?" Harry scowled.
"Can't we ever take a break from this?!" he burst out. Hermione and Ron drew back in surprise as Harry mounted his broom and flew off.
"What's going on with him?" Ron asked in confusion. Hermione just shook her head. It was very unlike Harry to have these, well, mood swings!
"Maybe the stronger Voldemort becomes, the more Harry is connected to him," she suggested. "That's the only reason I can think of for him being so unlike himself." The two of them gazed at Harry as he flew higher, swirling and spinning. He didn't look like he was coming down anytime soon, so Hermione pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill. She drew three columns, labeling them.
"Okay, what have we accomplished so far, what have we found out, and what do we need to do still?" she asked Ron.
"Well, we've done Illumini Furtivus, Alertus Emotis, and we've started working on the spell for the door lock, right?" Hermione nodded and scratched this onto her parchment. Ron continued.
"We've found out that someone is helping us, whether it's for good or bad. We've found out Alertus Emotis works, and we've found all the things that appeared with Illumini Furtivus. By the way, here's my list from yesterday." He handed it to Hermione, who added it to the others and made a mental note to look over it later.
"Oh, yeah, and we found out Malfoy doesn't like us. Surprise! How useful to know, huh?"
Hermione laughed at his sarcastic tone, but couldn't help noticing that he still sounded worried about Harry. She sighed, wishing she knew what was going on in Harry's head. It was so irritating, not knowing.
"We need to find out who's helping us. We need to find out if anyone here supports You-Know-Who, I guess. What else?" Hermione shrugged.
"I don't know, maybe we'll find out more things to look into later. Oh! Wait! I just remembered! I think someone was watching from the forest earlier, before I called to you and Harry." Hermione shivered, remembering the creepy feeling of being watched.
"Strange," Ron commented. "But we can't really do anything about it now, so we'll just have to be very careful in the future." Nodding, Hermione thought about everything that could happen. This year, the stakes were higher than ever. Again, she wondered what she was getting herself into.
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Harry strolled through the hall, scribbling down everything that glowed at the mention of Illumini Furtivus. He made his way slowly, checking off everything on his parchment. After all, any little thing could be useful. However, when he came to the end of the hallway, he stopped in shock.
"Bloody hell," he breathed.
There in front of him, a section of wall was shining such a bright white-green that it hurt Harry's eyes. He experimented with a few spells, trying to see what was there, but decided it would be better to get Hermione. He vanished the spell, running to find Hermione.
A few moments later, Hermione, Harry, and Ron were gathered in front of the massive stone wall, looking in contemplation at what Harry had found.
"What d'you think it is?" Harry asked anxiously. Hermione was staring thoughtfully at the wall, while Ron poked and prodded around curiously. Hermione shook her head.
"I don't know yet," she admitted. She pulled a book out of her robes and started flipping through it. "But I'll know soon! I just have to hit on the right spell." She pulled out her wand, rolled up her sleeves, and started casting.
Half an hour later, Hermione had collapsed on the floor, tired and frustrated.
"Not a spell! Not a single bloody spell did a thing!" Harry patted her back in consolation.
"I'm sure it's out there, and you're good at finding things like that. You'll get it!"
"Thanks, Harry. Ron, what are you doing?"
Ron was still poking around, looking at the stones in interest and mumbling to himself.
"Er, nothing. Just looking around."
Suddenly there was a soft thud and a creak. An entire section of wall slid back silently and smoothly, revealing a narrow, dark corridor. Hermione and Harry jumped up in shock.
"Ron! How did you do that?" Hermione shrieked.
Ron blushed furiously and shrugged.
"I just figured, we're in a place crawling with wizards and witches, so maybe the smarter thing would to have made it something non-magical. So I remembered some muggle mysteries you lent me and poked around."
"Right, and if it hadn't had that spell on it, we wouldn't have noticed at all! That's brilliant, Ron!" Harry exclaimed. Hermione looked a bit put out, but not enough to be disinterested in what was behind the stone. She peered into the corridor.
"Should we go in?" she asked in a hushed voice. Ron thought for a moment.
"Well, we have plenty of time. No more classes today! So I guess now would be good," he suggested. Hermione and Harry nodded.
"You keep lookout, Harry," Hermione told him. "We have to know if someone's coming. Ron, you first, since you seem to be good at this." The three of them silently took their positions, and Ron began to tread silently into the corridor. Before Hermione was inside, Harry jumped.
"In, quick!" he hissed, "Students are about to come around the corner!"
Their hearts in their throats, Hermione, Ron, and Harry crowded into the corridor entrance and pushed the door shut behind them, realizing with dread that knew neither how to get out nor what was ahead of them.