Chapter 15 – Staying

Disclaimer – I think by now you get the point, I don't own Harry Potter.

A/N – I've felt that the last few chapters have been pretty boring so sorry about that. I'm going to speed it up though so the end isn't too far away.

Shout outs to –

Mental357,
D-daygirl,
Bhekie,
Harry kid

"What?" Hermione shouted. "You can't do that! That's not fair."

"Life isn't fair Miss Granger. Deal with it. Now get dressed, both of you, and come to the Headmasters office."

Both of them did as they were told and went along to Dumbledore's office. Cape was already there talking to Dumbledore.

"Ah, here they are Headmaster. Come and sit you two." Cape said and Hermione and Ron did so.

"So what's this all about?" Dumbledore asked.

"I'm afraid that I've just fired Miss Granger. She completely ignored my last warning so now I'm faced with no choice." Cape explained trying to keep the smirk from her face.

"I see, well that's an awful shame." Dumbledore said.

"But sir! She's got nowhere to go! She moved out of her house when she got the job." Ron pleaded.

"Very well. Hermione seeing as no replacement will be needed, Professor Cape will be doing that, there is still a room spare. You may stay at Hogwarts for as long as you like." Dumbledore smiled warmly.

"Thank you so much Headmaster." Hermione said as she and Ron left, shooting Cape a dirty look as they walked through the door.

"God, I'm so sorry Hermione." Ron said as soon as they were outside. "This is all my fault."

"Oh, don't be silly it's fine. At least I've still got quite a while before term finishes. I'll be able to find a place to stay for then hopefully."

"Stay with me!" Ron said suddenly.

"What? I couldn't."

"Sure you could! It's got two rooms so you could have your own if that's what you're worried about. Seriously I'll be moving in at the end of term and you could come with me. It's near Ginny and Harry so you won't be alone when I come back here and you can find working the village. They're always looking for people. Think about it at least." Ron pleaded.

"I don't need to. Ron I'd love to move in with you."

"Really?"

"Really!" She squealed as he lifted her from the ground and twirled her round in a hug.

Monday break time rolled around and Michael made his way to the Transfiguration teacher's classroom. He knocked on the door and it was opened.

"Michael. What can I do for you?" Cape asked.

"Whe-where's

Professor Granger?" he stuttered through shock

"Oh, she was fired."

"But I need to talk to her."

"Well, you could talk to me?" She suggested with an evil grin.

"No! I need to talk to Professor Granger."

"Not keeping secrets now, are we my boy?"

"N-no o-of course n-not." He said slowly backing away.

"Well good because I hate secrets. Off you go then." She snapped and Michael happily obliged by running off.

Hermione was sat with Ron, Harry, Draco and Neville by the lake eating lunch.

"I can't believe she was allowed to do that! It's not fair." Neville said after

Ron had finished telling the story of how Hermione had been fired.

"Well Ginny will be happy." Harry said, "She's been waiting for you two to get together since Ron came back. Looks like she'll have to find someone else to pair up now though."

"At least it wasn't a big scene like with Umbridge when she fired that coot

Tralwney. That was just plain embarrassing." Draco said reaching for another sandwich.

Hermione smiled and snuggled up to Ron who wrapped an arm around her. "What time have you guys got to go to lessons?"

"I've got classes until dinner when the bell goes. No break for me." Neville said, ending with a dramatic sigh.

"Yeah, me too." Draco said pulling a face. "Got the first years next. Some of them really are hopeless."

"I've got a free afternoon." Ron said happily, ignoring the death glares from

Draco and Neville.

"Well, can I hang out with you?" Hermione asked Ron who suddenly looked worried.

"Erm no, you can't I've g-got something to do. You can't come, sorry."

"Oh, what is it!" Hermione asked rolling over so she could see him.

"Nothing interesting, you'd be bored really." Ron said lying terribly and shooting Harry a pleading look.

"Hey, Ginny should be home when I get back, come with me and you two could go shopping." Harry said to distract Hermione.

"Sure." She smiled happily before giving Ron a suspicious look. He just looked down at his sandwich and pretended not to notice.

After saying goodbye to everyone Harry and Hermione walked down to Hogsmade and to Harry and Ginny's house.

Ginny instantly grabbed a coat and dragged Hermione into the town to shop. "Even if he is my brother I want all the details. Well maybe not all, you can miss out the full account of what happened in the bedroom, that I don't want to think about. But anyway, spill!" she said excitedly.

"Well it was so great! We went to the Mystic, it is so nice in there, and the food was great! We talked all through the meal and it was like getting to know him again. He was telling me all about his lessons and all his new ideas and stuff. It was so sweet and we didn't even argue once!" Hermione babbled happily,

"Then we went for a walk and he just stopped suddenly. I didn't know why I though something was wrong. But he just asked me what I thought of the house he was looking at. I hadn't a clue what he was on about so I just said 'yeah it's nice' and then he's like 'I brought it yesterday!' and it's such a nice house!"

They paused for a moment as they looked at a rack of clothes that was nearby before continuing with the girl talk.

"So what about yesterday when you were fired?" Ginny asked holding a top up to her self and looking in the mirror.

"Well, Dumbledore said I could stay at Hogwarts which is good as otherwise I'd be out on the streets. But when we left the office Ron asked me to move in with him!" Hermione said and she and Ginny both let out a squeal of delight.

Ron on the other hand was having quite a stressful time. He was on the Quidditch pitch with three of Hogwarts four Quidditch teams. Slytherin, of course, had flatly refused to take part in his plan. This one had been the one he hadn't told Hermione about over dinner. Which was a shame seeing as it was his best one yet. But she'd find out soon enough.

He watched as they ran through what he'd told them to do once more. Getting it completely wrong again he let out a moan and hit his forehead. This was never going to work.

"Ok guys, come back down here!" he yelled and they all landed around him. "Ok this is very important to me ok? It must be right. Ok split into your groups and practise on the ground, then we'll try one at a time to see if you can do it."

They all went off into their groups of about five or six.

Finally two hours later they were getting it. The routine looked like it should and with a little more practise Ron thought it would be great.

"Ok guys, off you go. Thanks! Five house points for each of you!" he called after them.

Two dark figures stood in the shadows of the forest in deep conversation.

"Well, that's ruined our plans!" one said with venom.

"No she's still staying until the holidays. We still have plenty of time."

"And the body? Is it safe?"

"Of course it is. No one will find it for a million years and by that time there'll only be dust." The other laughed.

"What of the boy?"

"He's yet to see sense, but he poses no threat. He'll be easy to get rid of if it comes to that."