Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does. Some things just aren't fair.
Chapter Eight!
Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny sullenly returned to Hogwarts where the Halloween feast was about to commence. As they crawled through the slit between the statue of the witch and the Honeyduke's passage, the last cluster of students were making their way to the Great Hall.
"I don't feel much like eating," Harry told the others, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the sleeve of his robes.
"We need to talk," Hermione said darkly.
Harry sighed, and Ron moaned with frustration (even wild attacks from an evil bird could subdue his hunger.) Minutes later they were sitting on Ron's four-poster, crowded around a plate of sandwiches that Hermione had materialized.
"Harry, I've never come across birds like that in my readings. I don't...I don't even know if they are birds. All I know is that it was definitely evil because -- didn't you notice that it just disappeared? It didn't leave any remains. Only evil creatures die without leaving remains. But that's not important right now. Did you recognize the woman that the bird attacked?" Hermione asked, almost desperately.
"No, I've never seen her before," Harry answered, picking at the crust of his sandwich.
Ginny gasped, "Was...was that really Madeleine McGonagall!"
Bites of sandwich fell from Ron's mouth, "McGonagall's sister?"
Hermione nodded numbly.
"I didn't know she had a sister," Harry admitted.
"She doesn't mention her," Hermione replied mysteriously.
Ron, Harry, and Ginny were now leaning in closely with anticipation. Hermione returned to her sandwich. Ron rolled his eyes, "Finish the story, now!"
Hermione sighed, "Okay. Simplest way to put it...Madeleine McGonagall had been a member of the Order, the first time. And when your parents, Harry, were joining, she recommended that Peter Pettigrew not join with them."
"Wait a minute," Harry interrupted, "Pettigrew...that rat...tried to join the Order of the Phoenix?"
"Yes, that's what I'm telling you," Hermione said, irritably, "at the beginning. Before he probably even thought about turning to Voldemort. In fact, I know he hadn't thought about. Because, you see, at Madeleine's insistence, Dumbledore denied Peter a place in the Order. I'm sure he had other reasons than that, but that's the story anyway. Well, after Peter was refused, Madeleine went to him, and she...well...she set arrangements for him to work for Arthur Hemmings. I think he was supposed to make maps and stuff, I can't remember. But Hemmings was a Voldemort sympathizer, and Madeleine knew it. Death eaters actually met at his home several times. It was close to London, but very isolated, so it was perfect. Madeleine knew this too. As you can imagine, the right connections fell into place, and Peter was put on the path that led to the betrayal of your parents. And that, is why Professor McGonagall never speaks of her sister."
Ron's face was scrunched in confusion, "So, what did they do to her? I mean, she betrayed the Order."
"Dumbledore didn't find out until after Harry stopped Voldemort and the Order was dispersed. McGonagall didn't find out until our fourth year. I know because...well, it was late, and the library was closed, but I couldn't study in the common room because of a quidditch party. So, I was in an empty classroom, and I heard McGonagall shouting. I hid, and they came in. Seems her sister had disappeared as the Order was dispersing, and they had thought she was dead. But she came back our fourth year, and Dumbledore finally told Professor McGonagall. They think she was looking for Voldemort. Traitor the whole time."
Harry was gaping, "Why did you never tell me?"
"Well, first off, I didn't know all about the Order. So, I was confused. I mean, I knew there had been an allegiance, but the conversation never really made sense to me until that summer we spent at Grimmauld Place. Then you showed up so angry. I just never told you."
Harry nodded, "So, why is it important that that bird...thing...attacked Madeleine McGonagall?"
"I think Voldemort may be sending you another message."
There was silence.
Finally, Harry spoke, "Like when he attacked Godric's Hollow?"
"Yeah," Hermione said thoughtfully, "it's almost like he's playing everything backwards. Reminding you of where your parents died, then how they were betrayed, and I don't know what came before that."
Ron cursed softly, "He's trying to torture you."
Ginny whimpered and patted Harry comfortingly on the arm. To everyone's surprise, Harry chuckled, "What will he think of next?"
(scene change --- I'm really upset that it will not let me put up dashes --- if you have suggestions, please let me know )
A tawny owl came to the fifth year boys' window that night. It tapped anxiously and hooted until Harry grudgingly got out of bed. A short note was tied to its leg which Harry ripped off rather roughly. It read:
Harry, I need to see you Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, and Miss Weasley in my office immediately. Thank you, Prof. Dumbledore.
Harry bitterly crumpled up the letter and tried to shake Ron awake.
"Ron! C'mon, Ron!" Harry hissed.
"Wha's th' matter, Harry?" Neville mumbled from behind his bed curtains.
"Nothing, Neville. Go back to sleep. Ron!"
Harry ripped the covers away from Ron and called his name again. Nothing. He picked a sock off the floor and transfigured it into a spider dangling from a string. He tickled Ron's nose with the spider. Slowly, Ron's eyes opened. He lay there dumbly for a moment, adjusting to the light --
"AHHHHH!!!" Ron jumped up on his bed, flailing his arms around madly, managing to rip the curtains down. They fell on top of him, and he began to roll around as if on fire.
"Ron! Calm down! I was just -- ."
Ron hit the floor with a thud. The mass of tangled bed curtains rose.
"Big -- ."
Thud.
"Hairy --."
The curtains were crawling furiously toward the door.
"SPIDER!"
Bang. The curtains hit the wall, fell from the room and went sailing down the spiral staircase, unraveling as they wound around. Harry calmly collected Ron's slippers and robe and walked down the stairs. Ron was crumpled at the bottom, shaking.
"It's gone," Harry assured him.
Ron shook his head furiously.
"I killed it."
Ron snorted. Red patches were beginning to break out on his skin.
"Guts everywhere."
"Eh," Ron looked up at Harry, "are you sure?" he croaked.
"I promise," Harry smiled.
Before Ron could manage to pull himself from the floor, Hermione and Ginny appeared at the end of the girl's stairs.
"What happened to you?" Ginny giggled.
Hermione inspected the trail of red curtains fluttering on the stairs, "Have a nightmare?"
"Somethin' like that," Ron said in a deep voice, courageously lifting himself from the floor and dusting himself off with a flourish.
"Here are your slippers," Harry smirked, holding them out with the hand that the spider was dangling from.
"AHHHH!!!"
(scene change)
"I hear that you four had quite an interesting afternoon?" Dumbledore gazed at them from behind his spectacles, "Mr. Weasley, are you sure you're quite all right?"
Ron was splotchy and still working on catching his breath, "Just fine, sir."
Professor McGonagall was hovering behind them, clearing her throat often and appearing quite upset.
"I've simply called you here to get the facts correct," Dumbledore informed them, "Now, you went to Hogsmeade on the invitation of Misters Fred and George Weasley."
Harry snorted, "They needed a special guest for their Halloween party."
"Ah, yes. And you complied...not without hesitation," Dumbledore smiled, "and then a bird attacked a Madeleine McGonagall, who died from the wound."
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny simultaneously nodded their heads.
"All right. Then the bird flew back into the air, and that is when you, Harry, released a ball of fire from your wand and killed it. May I ask, what spell did you use?"
"I don't remember," Harry explained, "Just the first one that came to mind, I suppose."
"It's evil," Hermione whispered, "What is it?"
Dumbledore lowered his head as if reading a piece of parchment on his desk, "I have never heard of such a bird. It must be a hybrid of Voldemort's. From what two or three animals it comes, I do not know."
Hermione was noticeably disappointed.
"Now, I'm afraid, that I'm going to be forced to take house points for sneaking off the grounds."
Ron moved to protest, but McGonagall gripped him firmly on the shoulder.
"Fifty points from Gryffindor."
They rose, dejected, and dragged themselves to the door.
"Oh, and Mr. Potter," Dumbledore called before they left.
Harry turned.
"A hundred points to Gryffindor -- for courage, bravery, and being in the right place at the right time...as you so often are."
(scene change)
"So, you think it's a good idea?" Hermione asked Harry, anxiously.
"Actually, I do."
"Good."
Ron approached the two, who were standing outside Tonks's classroom, "What's a good idea?"
Harry looked around and saw that Malfoy and his pair of cronies were making their way to Defense, "Um...you'll see," he said quietly, disappearing into the classroom.
"Oh, Harry!" Tonks exclaimed, dashing over to shut the door behind him, "I heard about what happened on Halloween. How horrifying!"
"You want to know the worst?" Harry laughed, "Fred and George have had booming business since. They've made more in the past week than they usually make in two months, I hear. They're feeling so charitable, they sent Ron more girl tracking devices."
Tonks snickered.
"So if you see him pull out an antenna during Defense, you'll know he's really trying to detect who thinks he's the most dashing."
Tonks roared with laughter, "Ah, Harry. I think I may know how Fred and George conjured that one."
"How do you mean?"
"You just keep a close eye on our dear Ronald during class," Tonks winked, "Now, speaking of class, I was wondering if you could show them the spell to make that fireball."
"I don't remember," Harry said, earnestly, "I think it must have been a mistake."
Tonks gave him an appraising look, eyebrows furrowed, "Hm, well, then just help me demonstrate, all right?"
"Sure," Harry smiled.
The voices on the other side of the door had intensified. Tonks reached for a thin silver flask on her desk and took a long swig, "Time for class."
(scene change)
"Today, class, we will be learning a particularly nasty launching spell!" Tonks said brightly.
Harry, who was sitting on a stool in the front of the room saw Hermione whisper to Ron excitedly, who responded by rolling his eyes.
"Okay, Harry, if you'd join me," Tonks gave a little clap for Harry. The rest of the class weakly followed suit, "Now, a launching spell will throw your opponent back very forcefully. I'm going to try and go a bit easy on Harry because it's not rare for the recipient to receive serious wounds. If you'd just move as far away from the wall as possible...yes, that's it. All right, Harry, brace yourself."
Harry prepared himself for excruciating pain. Tonks raised her wand and said evenly, "Propello!" Harry felt himself being jolted from the floor, and in an immediate flood of panic he furiously tried to think of a counter spell that would cause him to hover. Maybe...but wait. Why had he not hit the wall yet? He hadn't fallen on the floor. He looked down and saw that he was floating a couple of feet above the floor. He softly landed.
Tonks stood motionless, staring in amazement. Harry released the grip on his wand that he had maintained through the folds of his cloak.
"Um...well, I must have pronounced the spell wrong..."Tonks stuttered, "Harry...if you'd just...get back in position. Propello!"
Again, there was a rush of panic, and Harry was hovering above the floor. He landed.
"Harry," Tonks said slowly, "why don't you try it on me?"
Harry began to protest, "I've never -- ."
"Just try."
Harry removed his wand from his pocket, "Propello!"
Tonks went sailing with excessive speed through the air. Harry winced as he prepared to see her hit the wall, but the wall stretched back before she collided. And very gently she rebounded, landing on the floor, much in the same fashion as Harry had.
"Hmm," she murmured as she passed him on the way to her desk, "You're all going to divide in groups now! Let's see Seamus and Lavender..."
(scene change -- I'm sorry if this is annoying :( )
"It was so strange, Harry," Hermione whispered, "Propello!"
Neville skidded across a desk on the other side of the room, narrowly missing the wall. He lay on the floor whimpering.
"Yeah, mate," Ron looked up from the antenna he was trying to conceal in his lap, "it was strange. Cool but strange."
Parvati Patil passed by. A bar across the bottom of the antenna turned a deep blue. Ron glared angrily at Parvati's retreating back, "Hey, Parvati, you're hair looks dreadful. What'd you do to it!" Ron snapped bitterly.
"RON!" Hermione whacked him on the back of the head.
"What? She thinks that I am as attractive as the giant squid!" Ron hissed, "Her --with her -- big hair!" he called over his shoulder.
Harry shook his head in amusement, "So, what's the best you can do?"
"Well," Ron explained, "If it turns red, that means she thinks you're as attractive as...well...Fred and George Weasley. But those gits made it, so you get the point."
Tonks came over to their table. Ron quickly covered the antenna with his cloak.
"So, how's it going?" Tonks asked.
"Just fine," Hermione beamed, "You might want to check on Neville though."
"Will do. And you, Ron?" Tonks smiled.
"Oh, I'm doing fine, Tonks. I just -- ow, ow!" Ron threw the cloak off of the antenna, which was glowing a vivid red and releasing steam.
"What's that?" Tonks asked innocently, bending over Ron's shoulder.
Ron looked up at Tonks, his face frozen with horror, "Tonks?" he gulped.
"What?"
Ron's voice shook with terror, "I never knew...."
(scene change)
"I didn't know you wanted to start the DA again," Ron said as they left dinner.
Hermione was tapping the coin to change the last date from the previous year to a day the following month, "We'll have to spread the word. I'm sure they've forgotten to keep up with their coins."
"We may have to get some new ones," Harry commented as they reached the portrait hole, "Filibuster."
The portrait swung open to reveal a packed common room. The center of attention was a table that had been set up underneath the notice board.
"Get your Quibbler: Hogwart's Edition!" Colin Creevey called over the crowd.
"Hogwart's Quibbler?" Ron spat, disgusted.
"Oh, yeah," Harry remembered, "Luna's been working on it. I think the feature's ghosts of Hogwarts or something."
"Great picture, Harry, Ron!" Joseph Belty said as he walked by.
"We're not ghosts," Ron calculated.
Hermione, who they hadn't noticed had disappeared, pushed her way out of the mass gathered around the table, a rolled up magazine clutched tightly in her hand, "Come over here!"
She pulled Harry by the wrist to a corner of the common room. Ron followed with some difficulty.
"Look!" She said, exasperated.
Harry took the magazine, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Underneath the title of the magazine was the headline: HOGWARTS FAB FIVE TELL ALL. The cover picture was of Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Neville waving madly, their backs to the astronomy tower railing.
"When was that taken?" Harry asked.
"You remember. We had been working in the library with Neville. Ginny showed up, then Luna. Then we took a walk. Luna asked for a picture. We were too tired to argue -- ."
"Oh, yeah."
Ron grabbed the magazine from Harry.
"The whole article is about us, and things we've said that Luna must have remembered. Rumors of things you've done in the past, how we were involved. Our...get this...crushes," Hermione began to look ill as she relayed the article.
Harry took her arm and led her to a nearby chair. Students kept coming by and waving. Harry would glare, they would scuttle away. Ron would curse, Hermione would get irritated. The night drawled by much in that fashion. It wasn't until nearly midnight that the common room cleared and Harry could actually sit down to read the article, which was probably not a wise decision.
The Hogwarts Fab Five
[For hundreds of years Hogwarts has seen the goings and comings of many brilliant witches and wizards, but none have been so united as the small group of our time's greatest witches and wizards that dwell within the walls of our beloved school even as you read this.]
"Time's greatest witches and wizards?" Ron's forehead crinkled as he repeated what Harry had read aloud.
"That's you, Ron," Hermione yawned.
She received a blow from a pillow.
[Harry Potter and his best friends, Ronald Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Neville Longbottom roam the halls, their presence an inspiration to the younger students, but does anyone really know the story behind this teen superhero?]
Harry felt he was going to be ill.
"So...who's the superhero?" Ron demanded.
Hermione sighed, "Harry."
"Why does Harry get to be the superhero?"
The article continued much as Hermione had said.
[...when interviewed, Rubeus Hagrid, mentor and grandfather figure of our fabulous friends said, "Well, Harry n' Hermione n' Ron, they're very special kids, see. Saved many lives, they have, and escaped from dreadful things. Why, in their firs year, they help'd me take care of Norbert - er, a pet of mine...well, don't write it down or nothin' but he was this little dragon of mine..."]
"Oh, crap, crap, Hagrid, no!" Harry moaned, hitting himself with the magazine.
"Harry," Hermione tried to retrieve the magazine.
SLAP. SLAP.
"Harry!"
Harry angrily lowered the magazine. Hermione, satisfied, ordered him to continue.
["...well, personally," said fifth year, Lavender Brown, "I think that Harry and Ginny Weasley are going to hook up, but he's perfect for this friend of mine, Candy..."]
"I refuse to read the rest of this," Harry muttered, tossing the magazine aside.
"Now, now Harry. Candy sounds like she could be pretty fun," Ron gave him a knowing look.
"RON!" Hermione stormed, "I'm glad Harry's not a prat like you!"
Ron snatched the magazine, "Hm...let's see, Hermy, according to this poll, 52% of Hogwarts students think you'll end up with Harry, 40% with me...Harry's loss...er, 2% with Neville, and...my favorite part...ah yes, 6% will Draco Malfoy. Dun-Duh-DUH-Dun!!!"
Projectiles began flying.
Somewhere around two in the morning, Hermione got hold of the magazine.
[It appears to your author that Harry Potter must harbor some extraordinary magic that has made his difficult life bearable and that makes him a compelling individual, who really just seeks goodness and truth in everything. ]
Hermione began to cry.
[His friends are what get him through each passing day, a bond that will never be worn or broken....]
Hermione began to wail, digging her head into the cushions of the couch to muffle the racket of sobs.
"Should we...do something for her?" Ron asked as if trying to decide whether he should be concerned.
"I dunno. Maybe it's just a girl thing."
[For they hold each other in such high esteem, willing to compromise themselves for the good of the others...]
"Maybe, if one of us...like...patted her on the back?" Ron suggested, his face a deep scarlet.
Hermione was curled up between the cushions, blubbering profusely.
"Okay, so you're gonna pat her on the back, and I'll -- ."
"Oh, no, no. WE, we're going to pat her on the back," Ron corrected.
"But -- ."
"TOGETHER."
Harry and Ron inched closer to the trembling girl.
"Should we pat her with our hands, "Harry winced, "or you know...a pillow?"
"Pillows are soft," Ron concurred.
[They know the depth of each other's souls, the most lasting bond of all...]
"She's still crying. Why's she still crying!" Ron snapped, fanning Hermione with a pillow.
"I don't know," Harry said, aghast, "I mean, we were reading that crap Luna wrote, then, then she was just...like this."
"Did we say something?" Ron asked.
Harry sat down next to the bawling Hermione, resting his head in his hands, "I can't think of anything offensive," then realization dawned, "You didn't say anything about her hair being big, did you?"
[ In conclusion, we should all be so lucky to find friends that will go with us through the most evil of places and celebrate with us in the most wonderful. And I know, no matter the circumstances, that the fab five will be inseparable, together through everything that crosses their path.]
"Look, I'm tired, Hermione," Ron said, leaning over Hermione who was still shaking and howling, her head still buried in the couch, her hair wet and sticking to the sides of her face, "TIRED."
"Maybe she needs some alone time," Harry said, standing.
"You know, you're probably right," Ron agreed.
"See you in the morning, Herm," Harry yawned.
The howling quieted, and they could hear her muffled voice say into the couch cushions, "I love you guys!" The howling quickly resumed.
"Definitely needs alone time," Ron said slowly.
"Yeah," Harry laughed.
The two boys began to ascend the spiral staircase.
"Keep telling you she's mad...."
A/N: Reviews are greatly appreciated! Oh, and a reviewer asked about pairings. I'm not sure yet. Sorry. :( I'm in as much anticipation as you! (Well, if you're in anticipation, that is to say....) Thanks Oriana8 for all of your wonderful reviews and for all my other reviewers. Thanks guys. God bless.
