Harry Potter and the Golden Bell
Chapter 12
Hermione's Finds
A/N: Just a few things before you start...I decided not to do a History of Magic Class...IN THIS CHAPTER. Cuz the Quidditch Game is Sunday so there's no HOM. But this is Saturday and there's no classes either, it's impossible for this one or the next chapter. So therefore, it's in the chapter after that. I was thinking that Binns was going to do like...an extra class for exams but Quidditch was the day I was gunna do it, so I decided to add a different scene you might enjoy for this chapter. I was gunna make this practice scene be the day of the match..but that made that too crammed, so it's in here. Besides, it would make it long if I put the match and the practice in there...it's better seperated...see A/N at the bottom if that made no sense at all..and rereading it, it really doesn't so just bear with me 'cause I'm too lazy to change it at 12:15 AM. (goes to bed)
Harry's head overflowed with questions. He had so many things to ask Hermione, but couldn't all at once. If he opened his mouth, he was sure that something like: "Where what did happen Voldemort where why what's he doing?" So, he just kept his mouth shut and let her do what she was about to. Ron stood up from his chair, and Hermione glanced at him at his action, but then looked at Cho.
"Can you excuse us for a second?" she asked politely.
"Yeah, sure," said Cho.
"Come on, I'll explain everything back at the castle," said Hermione, grabbing Harry's sleeve and dragging him towards the door of the tea shop. She motioned Ron to follow the two, and he did so. A blonde haired woman with short curly hair and glasses studded with rhinestones that was sitting at a table near the door turned her head to look at the three leaving the shop. She smiled a bit and she stood. She was wearing a red leather V-neck jacket over a red shirt. She had on red leather pants and red high heels. Her earrings, also red, were hoops with tiny sparkling diamonds encircling them, flying around the outside of the hoops in spirals. She had on bright red lipstick, dark black mascara, long red nails, a ruby bracelet and necklace set, and blue eyeshadow. She picked up one of the pink sheafs of parchment laying on her table and a red quill, looking like a phoenix feather. She stepped in front of the door and smiled.
"Well," she said, "I see someone's back." Hermione narrowed her eyes at Rita Skeeter, Daily Prophet reporter.
"When did you get in?"
"Move out of the way, Rita - I'm not answering any of your stupid questions," Hermione said promptly, and forcibly.
"I don't want to ask you questions...just Mr. Potter. Can you please step over to my table, Potter? Just for a second?" Harry eyed her red nails, looking more like claws, holding the phoenix feather quill.
"What kind of questions?" he asked, taking his eyes off of it. Rita had always carried a bright green "Quick Quotes Quill," a quill that when the tip was put into the mouth of the writer and balanced on its tip on a piece of parchment paper, twisted the words of the person being interviewed into misleading statements.
"Well, come over here and I'll ask you them," she said, putting her arm around Harry and leading him to her circular table. Hermione fumed. She had so much to say, but couldn't now that "That Skeeter Woman" had interrupted. Harry eyed the quill again as they were seated.
"Now. Harry. I understand that you are going out with the girl being possessed by Lord Voldemort," she said, folding her bony fingers on the table and peering at him over her black glasses.
"I'm not...exactly...going out with her," said Harry, looking back at her face. He glanced at Hermione who was leaning against the wall near the doorway tapping her toe and blowing mad breaths up at her hair. Ron looked indifferent, his expression hadn't changed a bit - it was mostly shock and a hint of worry.
"I see..." she began writing something on the pink parchment.
"May I ask you a question?"
"'Fraid not. I'm the reporter," said Rita airily, still scrawling blood-red cursive sentences on her pink parchment. Harry frowned.
"Thanks, but I'm not answering any of yours if you don't answer any of mine," said Harry coldly and standing from the table. Rita looked up from the parchment at Harry. He pushed in the chair.
"I'll see you in the paper," said Harry, turning on his heel. "Let's go," he said, pushing his friends out of the door.
"I'll be seeing you in the paper as well, Mr. Potter," Rita said to herself, smiling a bit, looking down at the parchment and continued from where she had left off.
---.:.---
Hermione wouldn't answer any questions on the walk back, for she was afraid that they might be overheard somehow. In fact, they didn't talk at all, and this silence collected more questions for Hermione in Harry's mind. No one talked about Rita Skeeter, nor asked about her on the way back. Once they got there, they ran through the halls and up to Gryffindor Tower where Harry gave the password and the three climbed through the portrait hole into the Common Room. When they were sure that the room was deserted, they took their three couches in front of the hearth.
"First off," said Hermione, beginning to rummage through her ripped robes, "There's this." She extracted from them a copy of The Daily Prophet. "Rita Skeeter's back and on you again - as we have clearly seen in the Prophet. We should have just left Puddifoot's, Harry - she'll be writing something like this again." She handed the paper to Harry and Ron, and they put their heads together to read it.
Harry Potter Dating Lord Voldemort
"What is this rubbish?" Ron said, cringing, "The way she puts it - "
"It has been recent news that the unstable Harry Potter has given information that Lord Voldemort is indeed, once again, at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The person in question of lending her hand to the Dark Lord's plans in order to kill Potter is 15 year old Anna-Nicole Ginnesbrook of Ravenclaw House at Hogwarts. She is said to be possessed by him at this current point in time and is plotting with him dark and evil plans."
"Her vocabulary's decreased," remarked Ron, snorting. Hermione watched Harry read the rest with a panicked look on her face, trying to ignore Ron's comment.
"Hang on, listen - 'She is also said to fancy Potter and is currently dating him. They are going to Hogsmeade on their first - ' how old is this?" Harry looked up at Hermione, scowling.
"I don't know, a day or something. I only got hold of that page," said Hermione.
"Where'd you get it?" asked Harry, looking back at Harry and Anna-Nicole's faces smiling and blinking back at him.
"I got it on my way back," she said.
"Way back from where? Where did he take you?" it was Ron this time who spoke.
"I don't even know. It was some dark enclosed area. He took my wand and snapped it in half - I don't know, I don't remember. I just remember being bound in ropes laying on the floor and hearing a fight going on. Someone's wand flew down in front of my hand after the person was being disarmed, and i managed to grab it and split open the ropes. I ran around the cave until I found a big hole in the wall, which I escaped out of. I just ran as fast as I could back to the school - I told Dumbledore I was back and asked where I could find you. He said you were all at Hogsmeade, so I went there. I guessed Puddifoot's, because I knew you were going with Anna-Nicole on a date there next Hogsmeade weekend," she paused, then said, "I have a question for you, Harry. At any time yesterday, did your scar hurt?" Harry thought back, then something hit him.
"Hang on...are you sure it was Voldemort that was there in the fight?"
"Yeah I saw - "
"No you didn't," said Harry immediately, "I was with Voldemort - Anna-Nicole's eyes glinted red when I talked to her. It wasn't Voldemort who was keeping watch over you after he captured you. It was someone else."
"Do you still have the wand?" asked Ron.
"Yeah," said Hermione, withdrawing a dark brown wand from her robes. She handed it to Harry, who examined it. He felt around it with his thumb and it landed upon a lifted bit of wood. When he looked at what he had felt, he saw that it was a serpent. "Lucius Malfoy."
"Malfoy?" asked Ron.
"He was there with you, Hermione. Lucius Malfoy and someone else. Two people were watching after you, you say - and only two?"
"Only two."
"Lucius Malfoy is one of those people. I do have an idea how to identify that it is him," said Harry, looking around at his friends.
"What's that?" asked Ron.
"Mr. Ollivander," said Harry, "I remember him telling me in my first year, when I went to go buy my wand, that he remembers every wand that he sold. Everyone buys their wands at Ollivander's, he'll be able to identify it."
"Bravo, Harry!" Hermione said excitedly, but the smile faded from her face, "But we can't send it by owl, it'll be too dangerous. If it gets intercepted, we'll lose the wand and we won't be able to find any of this out. Plus, getting things in and out of Diagon Alley is sketchy. It's so busy - the owl could get hurt or the package can be knocked off."
"What about...a permanent sticking charm?" asked Ron.
"That would be a good idea...except...how would we get it off the owl when it comes back with a response?" asked Hermione. There were a few seconds silence, while the three thought about the solution to this, and then Harry spoke up. "What about a...Semi - Permanent Sticking charm?" he asked slowly, "Is there such thing?"
"Yeah," Ron agreed excitedly, "Like a Temporary one, so that when the recipient tries to pull it off, it detaches itself."
"That would be dicey," said Hermione, sounding unconfident. "I'd have to do it just right and add a few words to the incantation. But there's no reason that we couldn't try," she added quickly, seeing the disappointed looks on the faces of Harry and Ron, "Anyway, I'm going to go clean up. I'll meet the both of you back here when I'm done."
"No, I think I'm going out to the Quidditch Pitch with Ron so he doesn't make us snuff it in the game tomorrow," said Harry, smirking at Ron, who weakly smiled.
"Allright, then I'll meet you there," said Hermione, getting up from her cushy red chair. She went up the stairs to her dorm and Harry went to his.
"Hang on...what about Fudge?" No one heard this inquiry, as the Common Room was once again deserted. Ron shrugged and quickly abandoned his thought and followed Harry up to the boys' dormitories. Once they were all changed and had their broomsticks, they headed outside.
"Any thoughts as to who the other person is?" Ron asked Harry finally when they were halfway to their destination.
"Not really. How many of the Death Eaters like Lucius Malfoy? Psh...he's like a saint to them; none of them would think of arguing with him on anything - he could make life hell for them if he wanted to and if they did choose to pick a fight. Unless the person was an intruder or something. But then again, how would the intruder know where to find the spot where Hermione was being guarded? It doesn't make sense. What about you, did you have anything?"
"One...but...you're going to laugh," said Ron sheepishly.
"No, I won't laugh. But if you're going to say Snape - "
"Not Snape. He's supposedly not a Death Eater anymore."
"Who then?"
"Fudge." There was a moment's silence following this suggestion while Harry considered this. After a few seconds consideration, he nodded.
"Fudge is a possibility. I'll agree with that."
"Let's ask Hermione later. I'm sure she'll have come up with something by the time she meets us."Hermione cleaned herself up, put on a pair of jeans, and a long sleeved shirt, and walked out of the castle into the cool afternoon weather. There was a bit of a breeze that was blowing stray leaves about the grass. She didn't first go to the Pitch to meet Harry and Ron, but instead to Hagrid's hut. When she got to the doorstep, there were sounds of bustling in the small wooden cabin, so she knocked on the front door. Sounds of barking were heard, and Hagrid opened the door, his enormous form filling the doorway.
"Well hello, Hermione! We've been a bi' worried abou' you!" He put an enormous arm around Hermione and gave her a bone-crushing hug. She forced a smile through the pain and looked up into his face.
"So where are yeh headin' ter?" he asked happily, unwrapping his arm from her.
"Harry and Ron are practicing for the Quidditch match tomorrow. I'm going down to the Pitch to meet them/"
"Oh righ' - Gryffindor/Slytherin. That should be fun. Well, I'll be there even if somethin' real importan' happens; you can count on that."
"Do you want to come along with me?"
"Me? Now?"
"Of course you right now."
"Well, I suppose..." Hagrid looked back into his house and at his large black dog, whose barking had ceased seconds before this action, and who was laying contentedly on an overstuffed chair in one of the corners of the room.
"You man the fort, allrigh' boy?" Fang barked to signify a 'yes' answer.
"Good boy," said Hagrid, "I'll be righ' back, don' you worry." He closed the door and the pair of them set off in the direction of the Quidditch Pitch. On the way there, she explained to Hagrid what she had seen, and what had happened after Anna-Nicole had taken her.
"...And needless to say, he succeeded in getting the Golden Bell. He gave it to the man with the long whitish-blonde hair for safekeeping until he returned after killing Harry - which probably won't happen anyway," she added hastily, in reaction to Hagrid's sharp intake of breath.
"The few things we don't know yet are why Snape asked Harry where the bell was if he is a former Death Eater. We're also not sure if the wand i found really belongs to Lucius Malfoy, and we don't know who the other person was that night. Oh, and where Voldemort's body is...he had to have left it somewhere. I bet he's getting impatient now - it ought to be starting to rot about now - unless something's somehow keeping it alive."
"Have yeh told any o' this ter Dumbledore yet?"
"Dumbledore..." started Hermione slowly, "didn't seem to care very much about the matter. He's acting as though it's some game - he wants Harry to figure it out for himself. He might be thinking that it's useless to call on the Ministry for help, since it's gone to dirt. No one there's going to care anyway after reading about how senile he's getting and how Harry's a big complaining git. I'm not even sure if everyone's convinced that You-Know-Who's back. And what can anybody do about it if they cared at all? He's not going to come out upon someone asking him to - unless someone kills Anna-NIcole - he wouldn't want to live in a dead body when he has his own to occupy - if it's still intact and livable."
"Well I guess in that sense, Dumbledore's righ'. Drawin attention ter it all over th' place won' make matters better or do much good." Hermione sighed deeply.
"Harry's got enough to worry about besides this anyway," she said, "This is just another thing to weigh him down. I feel sorry for him in that sense...I don't know, I wish I could help him more...but I can't. This is his baggage - for him to sort out. I can't do anything for him."
"Oh, don' yeh go sayin' tha', Hermione."
"What? What can I help him with now?"
"I'm not talkin' 'bou' now - I'm talkin' 'bou' wha' yeh have helped him with. He couldn' 'a ga'en ter th' Sorc'rer's Stone if it hadn' been fer you." Hermione looked forward. Hagrid was right - in order to get to the Sorcerer's Stone, the three had to complete a small series of tasks, and in one of them, Hermione had solved a riddle as to guess which potion it was describing.
"Hm," said Hagrid triumphantly, also turning his head to look forward.
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When they reached the Pitch, Harry and Ron were deep in practice.
"Try to catch it this time, Ron," said Harry calmly. He threw the Quaffle and it went straight through the top goal hoop. Harry sighed.
"Let's do it again - Accio Quaffle."
"Hey!" called Hermione, waving. Harry looked down and waved back.
"Hey! Hey, Hagrid."
"Hagrid thinks we should tell Dumbledore," said Hermione.
"About Lucius Malfoy?" asked Harry, "He's not going to care. I told you before, he wants me to figure it out for myself." (Harry threw the Quaffle at Ron again, who lifted his arms to block it, and screamed when it bounced off of them.)
"Well, he might care if it's him."
"What if it was Cornelius Fudge?" Ron piped up, "Would he care then?"
"Cornelius Fudge is not a Death Eater. And you said it yourself, Harry - they were palling around last year in the Ministry after your hearing. Lucius Malfoy and someone else were fighting."
"They're both big dolts," said Ron, "They probably get on each other's nerves once in a while."
"You sure you didn't hear them say each other's names at any point? - Accio Quaffle."
"I'm sure, Harry. They wouldn't just reveal their identities in front of me - all of Voldemort's followers know we have ties to Dumbledore. We could get them in big trouble."
"It's still not impossible for two people to get in a fight," said Harry. (He threw Ron the Quaffle again, who knocked it with his arm, making it slam into the metal ring with a ching and drop to the ground.)
"True," agreed Hermione, "But Fudge is the Minister of Magic. He's not a Death Eater," she repeated.
"You never know," said Ron shrugging. "Why do you keep defending him, anyway? You on his side or something?"
"Of course not," said Hermione, sounded utterly offended. Harry decided to interject a very important subject - listening to Ron and Hermione bicker was the last thing he needed.
"We need to get that wand to Mr. Ollivander," he said, "We're running out of time. Tomorrow is the last Quidditch match of the year and a day after that, I'll be dueling with Voldemort, then there's exams and the year's over. Accio Quaffle." Hermione sighed, and Harry threw the call to his friend again, who whacked it hard with his arm and it sailed down towards Hagrid.
"Watch out!" called Harry. Hagrid looked, then put up a massive hand and caught the ball before it cracked him in the head.
"See? Hagrid can catch it. He would be a good keeper," said Harry sounding frustrated.
"Well, I'm not ten feet tall!" Ron exclaimed defensively.
"Weasley cannot save a thing," Hermione sang quietly, "He cannot block a single ring." Ron's head snapped to look at her. "Stop!" Harry immediately caught on and a grin spread across his face.
"That's why all the Slytherins sing: Weasley is our King."
"Harry!" Harry threw the Quaffle at Ron and continued singing with Hermione.
"Weasley was born in a bin. He always lets the Quaffle in." Ron caught it and turned red with anger.
"SHUT UP!" He whipped it back, Harry caught it, and threw it straight to Ron again.
"Weasley will make sure we win. Weasley is our - OW!" Ron had just caught and threw the Quaffle; it hit Harry square in the nose.
"Sorry, Harry!" Ron called, flushing a bit. The two descended and dismounted their brooms, Harry with his arm pressed against his face.
"I'm really sorry - it's just - it - you made me angry, you know I don't like that song!"
"Don't worry about it. You caught it anyway," said Harry dully, looking at his arm, covered in blood.
"Well you were singing it. If Malfoy sings it, it's embarrassing - but you - you're my best friend, you shouldn't be singing it."
"The point was for you to block the hoops, Ron. If you do the same tomorrow, it's a guaranteed victory for us - there's no way that the Slytherins can win," said Harry, his arm back to his nose.
"Come on, Harry - let's get you to Madame Pomfrey. The last thing you need is a broken nose during a Quidditch match," said Hermione, taking Harry's other arm and leading him back in the direction of the castle. Ron closed his eyes and smacked his forehead.
"I am such a git. What is my problem?" he opened his eyes to see Hermione tilting Harry's head back to calm the blood flow. Hagrid let go a small chuckle that made Ron look up at him.
"He's fine, Ron. Come on, yeh wanna come back to me house with me?"
"That's okay...er..." Hagrid looked a little disappointed, and was fighting to not show it.
"I'll see you at dinner, Hagrid."
"Allrigh'...see yeh la'er." Ron dropped his broom and made for the large brown trunk where the balls were kept and began straightening it up as Hagrid took off in another direction off of the field.
GBGBGBGBGBGBGB
Harry had gotten himself a broken nose, but was fixed in a heartbeat by Madame Pomfrey and was feeling good as new by dinner. Everyone had eaten it without interfering with each other much at all. Besides Anna-Nicole's constant glances at Harry and Neville's comment about the girl creeping him out, it was quiet and undisturbed. She couldn't have been mad too long if she was doing that. After dinner, Harry, Ron, and Hermione went up to the common room and got settled into their nightclothes after talking in low voices by the fire for about an hour. Harry stared out the window of his dormitory, his hangings undrawn, thinking about everything that had happened that day. He played through parts of it in his head, leaving some moments worth leaving out, until he fell fast asleep.
A/N: Yay! This chapter is out extremely early. Maybe because I'm happy that it's ENDING SOON! Three more chapters - I've decided to make it 15 to break up stuff more and to make chapters shorter. I was going to put the Quidditch match in this chapter, but I decided not to because it's long enough already. Anyway, I hope you wanna know what's comin' up next! Everything is completely planned out. And a few end scenes of the sequel are planned too. YIPPEE! Chapters 1 and 2 of the sequel are also written...but not coming out until...hmmmm....November 12th. Ha. Okay. Bye!