That Sunday was the next D.A. meeting. It was also the first meeting
they'd have in the Shrieking Shack. The previous week's meeting Hermione
had assigned everyone a time for when to arrive at Headquarters. It'd look
very suspicious if there were so many people at the Whomping Willow at
once.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione got there first. The next group was Ginny, Neville, and Luna. The rest came in ones and twos. By four o'clock everyone was there.
"I know this is earlier than we normally meet and I know that some of us have been here for quite sometime, but it was necessary because otherwise people who have seen us coming here. Most people don't normally hang around the Whomping Willow. Before we get started: any injuries from the tree?" asked Hermione.
No injuries.
She continued. "Okay, then. Let's begin. This is our Headquarters. We aren't going to meet in here every week though. You know how long it took to get everyone here in a manner that didn't arouse suspicion. But this is our Headquarters. If anyone finds something out, something we all need to know, write it down and come tack it up on the bulletin board. This is more private than the Room of Requirement because nobody can get in here without the password. And unless somebody blabs, and be sure something absolutely dreadful will happen if you do, nobody else will know about this place. Now, we've got to keep everything official. Does anyone object to this being our official headquarters?"
No one objected.
"Good. That's settled. Then are there any questions?" she asked.
"Yeah, why do you talk so much, Granger?" asked Zacharias. "I thought Potter was in charge of this club."
"It's not a club, it's an organization!" she said, heatedly. "Besides, Harry's got enough to deal with and I'm not going to bother explaining it to you."
"Of course he's got enough to deal with when he breaks school rules so much. Didn't he fly off campus last year and end up at the Department of Mysteries?"
"Yes, and he came face to face with Voldemort and he lost someone he cares about very much, so just shut your trap!" Hermione immediately regretted her words.
"Who'd he lose? His parents are already dead. Was it was one of those Muggles you live with?" He directed the question at Harry.
Harry glared. "It was my godfather. Sirius Black. He died fighting a Death Eater." He died because he was being cocky. He was making a joke out of it and he lost his balance. But that's just the way Sirius was. He made a joke out of everything in life.
"Sirius Black. He was sent to Azkaban for murder. He was part of the Dark Side."
"He was NOT!" Harry drew is wand before he'd realized it; Hermione and Ron standing on either side of him had done the same, so had Ginny and Neville.
Zacharias glowered. "Loading the odds against me. 5 on 1 is not fair!"
Nobody noticed Luna wander between them and say gently, "Expelliarmus." All 6 wands leapt into her outstretched hand. "Sit down."
None of them moved and it seemed the room didn't breathe.
"You should have listened to me," she said.
"And why's that, Looney?" asked Zacharias.
"You'll see."
Suddenly, Zacharias gave a yell. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" His shoes were smoking.
Harry started to laugh, that is, he laughed until a bucketful of mysteriously ended up down the back of his robes. "Yow! Cold! COLD!"
Ron's legs folded beneath him and he couldn't get up.
Hermione was propelled backwards by a mysterious force and couldn't get up from the wall.
Luna looked at Ginny, and Neville and asked, "Do I have to make an example out of the three of you as well?"
They sat down almost immediately.
"Good." Luna glanced at Harry and Zacharias, and then at Ron and Hermione. "Are you all going to behave?" Zacharias's foot was still smoking, Harry still felt like there was ice all down his back, Hermione apparently couldn't move from where she was, and Ron couldn't stand up. They didn't really have a choice in the matter. "I asked if you were going to behave. You'd better answer."
Ron nodded. Hermione sighed and gave a resigned answer in the affirmative. They were released from whatever magic bound them and they returned to their seats.
"What about the two of you? Are you hotheads going to be civil to one another, or will it take more convincing?" Harry noticed to his horror than he began to sink into the ground. Zacharias started laugh at him until suddenly more smoke started to come out of his shoe. He couldn't get rid of the fire.
"I give," he said. "My feet are burning, do something!"
Harry had sunk about up to his knees. "Yeah, me too." Ha, he'd lasted longer than Zacharias had.
"Good." She waved her wand carelessly and Harry found the ice gone and he was now standing on the floor rather than in it. He noted that Zacharias's feet had stopped smoking. "Now, I'll give the six of you back your wands after the meeting. Please continue, Hermione." Luna's glazed expression returned and she went back to her seat.
"Well, er, let's get back to the task at hand. Are there any questions?"
"Yeah. What type of information are you looking for? To be posted, I mean"
"Rumors. Anything about the whereabouts of Voldemort, or what the Death Eaters are planning," answered Harry. "Or anyone you know for sure is involved with the Death Eaters. I've got some names and I saw them with my own eyes but the more we know the better. Make sure you've got a decent amount of evidence before you tack anything up on the wall though. If there's something urgent, absolutely cannot wait, use this mirror," Harry took the mirror out from where he'd been hiding it. "Just say 'Harry Potter' and my face will appear in the mirror and we can talk that way, I've got the other mirror that goes with it. It's like a Muggle walkie- talkie. But only do this in an emergency."
"Wouldn't it make more sense to put the mirror in the room of requirement?" asked someone seated near the back.
"Yeah, if there's an emergency it'll take longer to get here than it would to just look for you."
Harry turned to Hermione and spoke in an undertone, "Can we do that? I mean, it wouldn't be in there unless someone entered expecting it to be there, right? I don't want to lose these . . ."
"I know, Harry. I think we can. We can test it tomorrow to be sure," she whispered.
"All right." He raised his voice and addressed the room. "Okay, I'll put it in the Room of Requirement. Remember, if you need to talk to me in an emergency and you can't find me, go to the room of requirement, you all know about how you have to pass by three times thinking of what you need? Concentrating on needing this mirror so you can talk to me. It'll be there."
Hermione hissed, "Mention Muriel and Marcus!"
"I'm going to turn the floor over to Hermione to talk to you about those spies we're interested in." Harry sat down abruptly.
"Well, we've put it off for this long but now that headquarters has been established and we can communicate better I think we should talk to the Muriel and Marcus Hundus, who as we discussed a few weeks ago would probably make excellent spies. They have not been approached yet but we thought it best to see if there were any objections. Are there?"
No objections.
"Excellent. Who's going to talk to them?"
"I think it should be Harry."
"Harry."
"Harry."
"Hermione."
"Harry."
"Ginny."
"Ginny."
The votes were being called in the air until Hermione conjured a whistle to make the noise stop. "Okay, we are going to vote in an organized manner." The "or else" part was implied in her voice even though she didn't say it. "Nominations."
Zacharias raised his hand, "I nominate Harry."
"I second that," said Neville.
Parvati stood up, " I nominate Hermione. She talks better sense than anybody."
"I agree with Parvati," said Lavender.
"Well I think it should be Ginny," declared Colin.
"Me too," agreed Dennis.
Harry asked, "What about Luna? I think she'd be good at talking sense into them. She's very . . .convincing."
Nobody seconded his nomination, but finally Ron said what most of them were already thinking. "Look, Harry, we want their help. We don't want them to be terrified of us. If we send Looney, I mean Luna, in to recruit them she might scare them. She definitely will scare them if she tries to pull another stunt like today." Ron unconsciously rubbed his knee.
Hermione said briskly, "Fine, I'll second the nomination. Now if there are no more nominations we'll vote. All in favor of Luna Lovegood to entreat the Hundus twins to join?"
Harry's hand went up but no one else's did.
Luna gave Hermione back her wand and Hermione shot ribbon out of it spelling "LUNA 1" in the air.
"All in favor of Ginny Weasley?"
6 hands shot up in the air and Hermione wrote "GINNY 6" before asking, "All in favor Hermione Granger?"
7 hands went in the air and she wrote "HERMIONE 7" before finally asking, "All in favor Harry Potter?"
Harry held his breath as he silently counted the number of hands. He shut his eyes; he didn't like the number. When he opened his eyes he saw Hermione had written the final words, "HARRY 8".
"Congratulations, Harry. You win," said Zacharias, with an ever so slight sneer.
"I don't want to . . ." Harry started, before he realized it was useless. No backing out now. He didn't have time for this. "Meeting adjourned. We'll meet next week in the Room of Requirement at the usual time. I'll try to talk to the twins between now and then." He sighed; as if he didn't already have enough to do. It was getting dark outside by this time so they were able to leave in groups of 4 and 5 instead of 2 and 3. Harry had such a headache. "Hey, Hermione, you guys are leaving last, right?"
"Yes," she said.
"Great, I'm going to lie down upstairs. I've got a monster headache. Let me know before you go, okay?"
"Sure thing, Harry."
He felt dizzy and went upstairs a to a small bedroom and lay down on the bed. Maybe he could get Hermione to talk to Muriel and Marcus for him. He certainly didn't need anything else to do. He was busy enough already. He didn't have time to be sick. No time at all.
Harry fell asleep with a hand on his head and a hand clutching his stomach. It was an hour later that Hermione came in. "Harry, time to go." She gently shook him awake. "We've got to get back to Hogwarts." He wasn't very responsive, so she helped him sit up. "You're burning up with fever!"
"Huh? My head hurts," he said groggily.
"Of course it does. You're sick. Can you stand? Ron! Luna! Come help me. Harry's ill."
Ron and Luna came up the stairs. "What is it?"
"He's burning up with fever. We've got to get him to the hospital wing." She conjured a stretcher and it floated beside her. Carefully, they placed Harry on the stretcher and it followed them out of the room.
Harry was only dimly aware of what was going on. He vaguely recognized that they were going through the tunnel that went between the Shrieking Shack and the Whomping Willow. He heard his friend arguing.
"The best thing for us to do is let Madam Pomfrey take care of him!" insisted Hermione.
"I don't think so. I think I can help."
"What can you do, Luna?" Hermione's voice had a terrible edge on it.
"I'm not completely useless. I've get experience with Healings, you know."
"No. I doubt it."
"Really? Watch this." Harry couldn't see her but Luna must have done something because suddenly he heard a shout from Ron.
"My nose is bleeding!" Ron exclaimed. Luna must have then done something because suddenly Ron said, "Hey. It stopped. Thanks."
"Wow, you can cure a nosebleed," Hermione said sarcastically. "Injuries and illness are different."
"Have it your way." Luna said no more on the subject, but instead directed her voice at the stretcher. "Harry, you've been running yourself ragged week after week. Rest. Ssh. You don't need to be killing yourself like this. The Quiditch team will survive without you. The D.A. is in good hands with Hermione. You're really getting the knack Occlumency now. Homework isn't so tough anymore. Classes are easy. Christmas break isn't that far away. You don't need to be so stressed. Just relax. You can handle this."
Luna's voice was soothing. Harry felt better. And it seemed she was right. Nothing was wrong. Everything was going to be fine. Soothing. The last thing he heard before consciousness slipped from him was Ron whispering, "How'd you do that? He looks loads better already . . ."
When they surfaced at the Whomping Willow, Harry woke. He wasn't quite feeling a hundred percent, but he was feeling well enough for Hermione to vanish the stretcher so he could walk to the hospital wing.
Hermione did the speaking when they got to the hospital wing. "Madam Pomfrey, Harry's ill. He fainted. And he's got a fever. It was higher before and he was really pale."
"He seems fine now. Probably stress related. But let the young man speak for himself. How do you feel, Mr. Potter?"
"Better. Still a little dizzy."
"But that's to be expected. Wait one moment." She bustled away and came back with an orange potion. Drink this. All of it. You'll feel better and you'll be good as new by morning. Drink it!"
Harry did as he was told and handed back the bottle.
"You may go now."
"That's it?" Normally his visits to the hospital wing required a stayover.
"Well is anyone else here sick?"
"No."
"Then, that's everything. Go! Take it easy the next few days. No extra curricular activities and no Quiditch until Wednesday."
They left.
Hermione had something of a pout on her face. "I'm going to the library."
"We'll see you later, then," said Ron. When Hermione was out of earshot he asked, "Luna, how'd you make Harry better by just talking to him? He stopped shivering, he wasn't so pale anymore, and he looked healthier."
"We've all got our secrets," she said, in her usual, dazed, almost singsong voice. "I'm not telling. I've really got to be going now. Research to do. I think I should talk to Hermione." She started off in the direction of the library.
"I don't think that's a good idea!" called Ron.
Luna ignored him.
"I'll sure feel bad for Luna when she finds Hermione."
"Don't be to sure about that. If it came down to a fight between the to of them . . ." Harry let out a whistle. "I don't know who'd win but it'd be intense."
"You're right about that. Let's get back to the common room. Knowing them they might blow up the library if they started to fight."
"Right."
(Okay, I realize I made Hermione rather whiny and bratty in this chapter but I had good reasons. I kind of thought of Hermione's relationship to Harry as kind of mother or sister to him. But she's jealous because it seems like somebody's taking her place. I mean it was bad enough about the Occlumency lessons but add in this and it makes things about 10 times worse.)
Harry, Ron, and Hermione got there first. The next group was Ginny, Neville, and Luna. The rest came in ones and twos. By four o'clock everyone was there.
"I know this is earlier than we normally meet and I know that some of us have been here for quite sometime, but it was necessary because otherwise people who have seen us coming here. Most people don't normally hang around the Whomping Willow. Before we get started: any injuries from the tree?" asked Hermione.
No injuries.
She continued. "Okay, then. Let's begin. This is our Headquarters. We aren't going to meet in here every week though. You know how long it took to get everyone here in a manner that didn't arouse suspicion. But this is our Headquarters. If anyone finds something out, something we all need to know, write it down and come tack it up on the bulletin board. This is more private than the Room of Requirement because nobody can get in here without the password. And unless somebody blabs, and be sure something absolutely dreadful will happen if you do, nobody else will know about this place. Now, we've got to keep everything official. Does anyone object to this being our official headquarters?"
No one objected.
"Good. That's settled. Then are there any questions?" she asked.
"Yeah, why do you talk so much, Granger?" asked Zacharias. "I thought Potter was in charge of this club."
"It's not a club, it's an organization!" she said, heatedly. "Besides, Harry's got enough to deal with and I'm not going to bother explaining it to you."
"Of course he's got enough to deal with when he breaks school rules so much. Didn't he fly off campus last year and end up at the Department of Mysteries?"
"Yes, and he came face to face with Voldemort and he lost someone he cares about very much, so just shut your trap!" Hermione immediately regretted her words.
"Who'd he lose? His parents are already dead. Was it was one of those Muggles you live with?" He directed the question at Harry.
Harry glared. "It was my godfather. Sirius Black. He died fighting a Death Eater." He died because he was being cocky. He was making a joke out of it and he lost his balance. But that's just the way Sirius was. He made a joke out of everything in life.
"Sirius Black. He was sent to Azkaban for murder. He was part of the Dark Side."
"He was NOT!" Harry drew is wand before he'd realized it; Hermione and Ron standing on either side of him had done the same, so had Ginny and Neville.
Zacharias glowered. "Loading the odds against me. 5 on 1 is not fair!"
Nobody noticed Luna wander between them and say gently, "Expelliarmus." All 6 wands leapt into her outstretched hand. "Sit down."
None of them moved and it seemed the room didn't breathe.
"You should have listened to me," she said.
"And why's that, Looney?" asked Zacharias.
"You'll see."
Suddenly, Zacharias gave a yell. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" His shoes were smoking.
Harry started to laugh, that is, he laughed until a bucketful of mysteriously ended up down the back of his robes. "Yow! Cold! COLD!"
Ron's legs folded beneath him and he couldn't get up.
Hermione was propelled backwards by a mysterious force and couldn't get up from the wall.
Luna looked at Ginny, and Neville and asked, "Do I have to make an example out of the three of you as well?"
They sat down almost immediately.
"Good." Luna glanced at Harry and Zacharias, and then at Ron and Hermione. "Are you all going to behave?" Zacharias's foot was still smoking, Harry still felt like there was ice all down his back, Hermione apparently couldn't move from where she was, and Ron couldn't stand up. They didn't really have a choice in the matter. "I asked if you were going to behave. You'd better answer."
Ron nodded. Hermione sighed and gave a resigned answer in the affirmative. They were released from whatever magic bound them and they returned to their seats.
"What about the two of you? Are you hotheads going to be civil to one another, or will it take more convincing?" Harry noticed to his horror than he began to sink into the ground. Zacharias started laugh at him until suddenly more smoke started to come out of his shoe. He couldn't get rid of the fire.
"I give," he said. "My feet are burning, do something!"
Harry had sunk about up to his knees. "Yeah, me too." Ha, he'd lasted longer than Zacharias had.
"Good." She waved her wand carelessly and Harry found the ice gone and he was now standing on the floor rather than in it. He noted that Zacharias's feet had stopped smoking. "Now, I'll give the six of you back your wands after the meeting. Please continue, Hermione." Luna's glazed expression returned and she went back to her seat.
"Well, er, let's get back to the task at hand. Are there any questions?"
"Yeah. What type of information are you looking for? To be posted, I mean"
"Rumors. Anything about the whereabouts of Voldemort, or what the Death Eaters are planning," answered Harry. "Or anyone you know for sure is involved with the Death Eaters. I've got some names and I saw them with my own eyes but the more we know the better. Make sure you've got a decent amount of evidence before you tack anything up on the wall though. If there's something urgent, absolutely cannot wait, use this mirror," Harry took the mirror out from where he'd been hiding it. "Just say 'Harry Potter' and my face will appear in the mirror and we can talk that way, I've got the other mirror that goes with it. It's like a Muggle walkie- talkie. But only do this in an emergency."
"Wouldn't it make more sense to put the mirror in the room of requirement?" asked someone seated near the back.
"Yeah, if there's an emergency it'll take longer to get here than it would to just look for you."
Harry turned to Hermione and spoke in an undertone, "Can we do that? I mean, it wouldn't be in there unless someone entered expecting it to be there, right? I don't want to lose these . . ."
"I know, Harry. I think we can. We can test it tomorrow to be sure," she whispered.
"All right." He raised his voice and addressed the room. "Okay, I'll put it in the Room of Requirement. Remember, if you need to talk to me in an emergency and you can't find me, go to the room of requirement, you all know about how you have to pass by three times thinking of what you need? Concentrating on needing this mirror so you can talk to me. It'll be there."
Hermione hissed, "Mention Muriel and Marcus!"
"I'm going to turn the floor over to Hermione to talk to you about those spies we're interested in." Harry sat down abruptly.
"Well, we've put it off for this long but now that headquarters has been established and we can communicate better I think we should talk to the Muriel and Marcus Hundus, who as we discussed a few weeks ago would probably make excellent spies. They have not been approached yet but we thought it best to see if there were any objections. Are there?"
No objections.
"Excellent. Who's going to talk to them?"
"I think it should be Harry."
"Harry."
"Harry."
"Hermione."
"Harry."
"Ginny."
"Ginny."
The votes were being called in the air until Hermione conjured a whistle to make the noise stop. "Okay, we are going to vote in an organized manner." The "or else" part was implied in her voice even though she didn't say it. "Nominations."
Zacharias raised his hand, "I nominate Harry."
"I second that," said Neville.
Parvati stood up, " I nominate Hermione. She talks better sense than anybody."
"I agree with Parvati," said Lavender.
"Well I think it should be Ginny," declared Colin.
"Me too," agreed Dennis.
Harry asked, "What about Luna? I think she'd be good at talking sense into them. She's very . . .convincing."
Nobody seconded his nomination, but finally Ron said what most of them were already thinking. "Look, Harry, we want their help. We don't want them to be terrified of us. If we send Looney, I mean Luna, in to recruit them she might scare them. She definitely will scare them if she tries to pull another stunt like today." Ron unconsciously rubbed his knee.
Hermione said briskly, "Fine, I'll second the nomination. Now if there are no more nominations we'll vote. All in favor of Luna Lovegood to entreat the Hundus twins to join?"
Harry's hand went up but no one else's did.
Luna gave Hermione back her wand and Hermione shot ribbon out of it spelling "LUNA 1" in the air.
"All in favor of Ginny Weasley?"
6 hands shot up in the air and Hermione wrote "GINNY 6" before asking, "All in favor Hermione Granger?"
7 hands went in the air and she wrote "HERMIONE 7" before finally asking, "All in favor Harry Potter?"
Harry held his breath as he silently counted the number of hands. He shut his eyes; he didn't like the number. When he opened his eyes he saw Hermione had written the final words, "HARRY 8".
"Congratulations, Harry. You win," said Zacharias, with an ever so slight sneer.
"I don't want to . . ." Harry started, before he realized it was useless. No backing out now. He didn't have time for this. "Meeting adjourned. We'll meet next week in the Room of Requirement at the usual time. I'll try to talk to the twins between now and then." He sighed; as if he didn't already have enough to do. It was getting dark outside by this time so they were able to leave in groups of 4 and 5 instead of 2 and 3. Harry had such a headache. "Hey, Hermione, you guys are leaving last, right?"
"Yes," she said.
"Great, I'm going to lie down upstairs. I've got a monster headache. Let me know before you go, okay?"
"Sure thing, Harry."
He felt dizzy and went upstairs a to a small bedroom and lay down on the bed. Maybe he could get Hermione to talk to Muriel and Marcus for him. He certainly didn't need anything else to do. He was busy enough already. He didn't have time to be sick. No time at all.
Harry fell asleep with a hand on his head and a hand clutching his stomach. It was an hour later that Hermione came in. "Harry, time to go." She gently shook him awake. "We've got to get back to Hogwarts." He wasn't very responsive, so she helped him sit up. "You're burning up with fever!"
"Huh? My head hurts," he said groggily.
"Of course it does. You're sick. Can you stand? Ron! Luna! Come help me. Harry's ill."
Ron and Luna came up the stairs. "What is it?"
"He's burning up with fever. We've got to get him to the hospital wing." She conjured a stretcher and it floated beside her. Carefully, they placed Harry on the stretcher and it followed them out of the room.
Harry was only dimly aware of what was going on. He vaguely recognized that they were going through the tunnel that went between the Shrieking Shack and the Whomping Willow. He heard his friend arguing.
"The best thing for us to do is let Madam Pomfrey take care of him!" insisted Hermione.
"I don't think so. I think I can help."
"What can you do, Luna?" Hermione's voice had a terrible edge on it.
"I'm not completely useless. I've get experience with Healings, you know."
"No. I doubt it."
"Really? Watch this." Harry couldn't see her but Luna must have done something because suddenly he heard a shout from Ron.
"My nose is bleeding!" Ron exclaimed. Luna must have then done something because suddenly Ron said, "Hey. It stopped. Thanks."
"Wow, you can cure a nosebleed," Hermione said sarcastically. "Injuries and illness are different."
"Have it your way." Luna said no more on the subject, but instead directed her voice at the stretcher. "Harry, you've been running yourself ragged week after week. Rest. Ssh. You don't need to be killing yourself like this. The Quiditch team will survive without you. The D.A. is in good hands with Hermione. You're really getting the knack Occlumency now. Homework isn't so tough anymore. Classes are easy. Christmas break isn't that far away. You don't need to be so stressed. Just relax. You can handle this."
Luna's voice was soothing. Harry felt better. And it seemed she was right. Nothing was wrong. Everything was going to be fine. Soothing. The last thing he heard before consciousness slipped from him was Ron whispering, "How'd you do that? He looks loads better already . . ."
When they surfaced at the Whomping Willow, Harry woke. He wasn't quite feeling a hundred percent, but he was feeling well enough for Hermione to vanish the stretcher so he could walk to the hospital wing.
Hermione did the speaking when they got to the hospital wing. "Madam Pomfrey, Harry's ill. He fainted. And he's got a fever. It was higher before and he was really pale."
"He seems fine now. Probably stress related. But let the young man speak for himself. How do you feel, Mr. Potter?"
"Better. Still a little dizzy."
"But that's to be expected. Wait one moment." She bustled away and came back with an orange potion. Drink this. All of it. You'll feel better and you'll be good as new by morning. Drink it!"
Harry did as he was told and handed back the bottle.
"You may go now."
"That's it?" Normally his visits to the hospital wing required a stayover.
"Well is anyone else here sick?"
"No."
"Then, that's everything. Go! Take it easy the next few days. No extra curricular activities and no Quiditch until Wednesday."
They left.
Hermione had something of a pout on her face. "I'm going to the library."
"We'll see you later, then," said Ron. When Hermione was out of earshot he asked, "Luna, how'd you make Harry better by just talking to him? He stopped shivering, he wasn't so pale anymore, and he looked healthier."
"We've all got our secrets," she said, in her usual, dazed, almost singsong voice. "I'm not telling. I've really got to be going now. Research to do. I think I should talk to Hermione." She started off in the direction of the library.
"I don't think that's a good idea!" called Ron.
Luna ignored him.
"I'll sure feel bad for Luna when she finds Hermione."
"Don't be to sure about that. If it came down to a fight between the to of them . . ." Harry let out a whistle. "I don't know who'd win but it'd be intense."
"You're right about that. Let's get back to the common room. Knowing them they might blow up the library if they started to fight."
"Right."
(Okay, I realize I made Hermione rather whiny and bratty in this chapter but I had good reasons. I kind of thought of Hermione's relationship to Harry as kind of mother or sister to him. But she's jealous because it seems like somebody's taking her place. I mean it was bad enough about the Occlumency lessons but add in this and it makes things about 10 times worse.)