To say the least it was a long night. Hermione sat in the Great Hall, bleary eyed and feeling exhausted. She stirred a cup of tea and stared blankly at the Charms book lying open on the table before her. The words were jumbles and for the first time she couldn't concentrate upon what she was reading.
She glanced around the Great Hall, everything seemed normal. There were no talks about any attacks or anything happening over the course of the night. Hermione sighed and rubbed her aching eyes, maybe Ron has seen reason and not done anything foolish. She highly doubted that but it was a hope.
"Hey, Hermione." Ron said, sliding into the seat across from her.
Hermione looked up and then noticed Neville and Seamus flanking Ron, both taking seats on either side of him. They looked smug and all had small grins upon their faces.
"What did you do?" Hermione asked warily.
Ron shrugged. "Nothing."
"I'm sure."
Ron laughed. "Okay, nothing yet." He said.
Hermione just stared at him. "Why are you doing this?" She asked.
"Do you even have to ask that? Harry's our friend, how many times has he stood up for us? How many times has he stood by our side, we owe him this." Neville and Seamus nodded alongside Ron.
"But you don't have any proof." Hermione said, even to her it sounded weak.
Ron shook his head. "We don't need it. We know who did this and he'll pay for it." Ron said grimly.
Hermione sighed. This was a part of Ron she'd never seen. She'd seen him angry, she'd seen him hurt, but she'd never seen him burning for revenge like he was now.
"Think, Ron. Don't do anything stupid." She warned.
Ron smiled. "Oh, we're doing nothing stupid. It's all been thought out and planned. You just watch, things'll be solved by lunch time and that bastard will get what's coming to him." Seamus and Neville nodded alongside Ron.
Hermione groaned, feeling an intense headache coming on. "Don't you think Dumbledore's going to find out who did this? Don't you trust him to do his best in finding the culprit?" She asked.
Ron shook his head. "This isn't about Dumbledore or our lack of trust in him. This is about friendship. This is about looking our for those that you care about, those that have been by your side for a long time." Ron said his voice rising and his face flushing with anger. "Obviously you don't understand. You'd rather let somebody else deal with it. You saw what they did to him, you saw the pain and the hurt they put him through. Tell me you don't want that bastard to hurt for what he did."
Hermione couldn't look at him. She couldn't meet his eyes, for she knew she wanted whoever hurt Harry to hurt for what they did, but this was insane. They couldn't just take revenge in their hands. There were other ways of deal with things like this.
"You can't just..." Hermione began, but Ron quickly rose to his feet.
"Yeah we've heard it before." Ron said cutting her off. "You stay here then. You keep to your books and to your studies. We'll do what's needed." With that he turned and left, not looking back. Neville and Seamus quickly left with him, Neville giving her an apologetic look, but still following Ron.
Hermione sighed, her head was pounding like a drum. Thoughts ran through her mind. She could tell the professors that Ron and the others had something planned, that they were looking for revenge. She could stop them before anything happened, but she sat there, staring hollowly at her Charms book, not seeing the words. All she could think about was the bloodied and battered Harry that had been carried into the Hospital Wing the day before.
She angrily shoved her book into her bag and got up. Ron had been wrong. She wanted revenge, she wanted whoever hurt Harry to hurt more, to pay for what they did. She wanted all these things and it terrified her.