THE DADA MANSION
CHAPTER THREE - The First Group
Harry glowered at Ron, who was, in fact, slowly falling asleep in his chair, got up and ran up the stairs after Hermione.
"Hermione!" he called after her.
She stopped just as she was about to close the dormitory room door.
Looking slightly perplexed, she turned and faced him. "What's wrong, Harry?"
Catching his breath, Harry replied, "What? Oh, nothing's wrong with me, Hermione."
"Oh." she said, a little confused, "Well, why did you run after me? I thought something was wrong." Seeing that Harry was looking uncomfortable, she continued, "Is there something you need to say to me?"
"Well, er..." his voice trailed off, and he paused to clear his throat before continuing, "Are you all right Hermione? You seemed a bit, off, just before"
Brushing his worry off, she replied, "Of course I'm all right Harry. Like I said, I'm just feeling tired today, that's all."
Harry hesitated, then said, "Well, to tell you the truth, Hermione, you didn't seem completely all right back in the common room."
Hermione looked slightly uncomfortable, as if she were debating whether or not she wanted to share whatever was wrong with Harry. Finally, she spoke. "Let's go for a walk, shall we?"
Harry nodded and followed her down the stairs, back to the common room (where Ron was well and truly asleep on the couch), and out of the portrait hole. Hermione didn't seem to want to talk until they reached whatever destination she had picked, but Harry didn't mind. There were few people about at this time of evening, and it was an opportunity for Harry to enjoy walking around the castle, something that he never tired of doing. All the people in the portraits moving to talk to one another, the ghosts floating around, and overall the sense of magic that filled the air of Hogwarts . that, he thought, was something that he couldn't get anywhere else. Still following Hermione without consciously paying attention to where they were going, the evening air caught him by surprise as they exited the castle. Hermione lead Harry onto the path that went around the lake, and she finally started to explain what was going on.
"You know how important school is to me, Harry?" He nodded and Hermione continued. "Well, this mansion that we're all supposed to go into for Defense Against the Dark Arts, it just seems like a bad idea to me. I don't know exactly why, I just got a terrible feeling about it when I first heard those school governors talking about it." She paused, as if unsure how to continue, and Harry jumped in.
"I somewhat know what you're talking about, Hermione. It is a risk, and there is danger involved, but remember, this is a school; they're not going to put us in life-threatening danger."
Hermione smiled slightly, but shook her head. "That's the first thing I tried to tell myself, too. But it's not just the danger and risk factor of the tasks that has me worried, and it's not even the fact that we are the trial year, and that some things are bound to go wrong. I... I hate to admit this, but I'm scared," She briefly looked at Harry's concerned face, and continued. "You will be great in the mansion, Harry. You've faced things much, much worse than this and you've always come out on top. This mansion will probably require someone to think on their feet, to think fast, remembering every single curse, hex, charm and probably potion that we've learnt so far in our years of magical education. I had those books out, however unrelated you clearly think they are--," she added at the look on Harry's face, "--because they might teach me something that I don't already know. Something that could save you, me, or the lives of whoever we're put in that mansion with," She stopped talking, seemingly suddenly at a loss for words.
Harry didn't know what to say or do. Hermione had always worried about school, but at the same time, she'd always topped any class she was in, and probably always would. He didn't think she was telling him everything, though. Something about those books didn't quite fit in with Hermione's personality. For starters, if she had wanted to look for new spells, there were far more logical books for her to look in. Considering the amount of time Hermione spent in the library, she ought to have known this.
Harry looked up, paying attention to his surroundings for the first time in a while. Looking at Hermione, he saw that she was gazing off into space, and for once Harry couldn't read the expression on her face. She seemed to sense him watching her and turned towards him, still looking slightly troubled.
Harry smiled at her, and said quietly, "We should be heading back to the common room, it's getting dark."
Hermione nodded her agreement, and they turned and walked towards the castle, silhouetted against the darkening sky.
They reached the common room to find it empty of most students, and to find Ron snoring loudly in the chair where Harry had left him earlier. Harry shook his head, and told Hermione that she should go on up to bed. When Hermione was out of eyesight, Harry turned his attention to Ron, who looked like he would be asleep for the rest of the night. Even though it was tempting to leave him there, Harry decided not to; he wanted to talk to Ron about Hermione. Giving Ron a jab in the side with his finger only made Ron snore harder, so Harry chose to use a more drastic method of waking him up. Moving so he was standing behind the chair, Harry bent down, and lifted the chair with all his strength. It worked. Ron tumbled onto the floor asleep, then opened his eyes and looked around. When he saw Harry standing over him with his arms crossed on his chest and a self-satisfied look on his face, he responded.
"Oi, Harry. What d'ya do that for?"
"Someone had to. Your snoring is really loud, you know that?"
"No, it's not," Ron replied indignantly.
"Yes, it is, but that's not the point," Harry responded.
Yawning, Ron got up off the floor and collapsed back into the chair. "So did you talk to Hermione? Is she ok?"
Sitting down opposite Ron, Harry replied, "I'm not sure. She's really worried about the DADA mansion, Ron. She thinks that those odd books she was reading will help her in there."
Ron looked slightly worried. "It's not like Hermione to be so illogical when she's trying to research something. Even using my imagination, I can't think of what would be helpful in those books."
They both sat there for a few minutes, lost in thought. Then Ron shattered the silence with a massive yawn, which looked as though it shocked him for a second, then he and Harry both burst out laughing.
"Well," Ron said, still chuckling, "I suppose I should go to bed now."
*******
Friday must have been the longest day ever at Hogwarts. The students were all on edge and couldn't stop talking about the mansion. Hannah, Parvati, Millicent and Pansy each had students following them around all day long, pestering them with questions about what they thought they were going to have to face in the mansion. Some of the teachers were in terrible moods by the end of the day, snapping at students to be quiet and do their work. Other teachers decided it was best for the students to get their excitement out of their systems, and let them talk and create as much noise as necessary. Eventually though, after many long, winding hours, Friday progressed into Saturday.
Saturday morning breakfast was one of the noisiest ever in Hogwarts long history. Even some of the teachers were drawn into the party-like atmosphere and started looking like five-year-olds on Christmas Eve. Professor Trelawney, the Divination professor, sat at the teacher's table looking superior to the rest of the inhabitants of the school, as though she - and no-one else - knew what was going to happen.
As soon as Dumbledore had finished his breakfast, Snape stood up. The hall went silent almost immediately, and all eyes turned to him. He cleared his throat unnecessarily, mostly just to draw out on the suspense of the moment. "Would Ms. Abbot, Ms. Patil, Ms. Bulstrode and Ms. Parkinson please stand and make your way down to the Entrance Hall?"
With that, Snape strode down the center of the hall, ignoring the fact that every eye in the room was following him closely. Professor Dumbledore got up and followed Snape down the center of the hall, the difference this time was that he looked at the students. As soon as he had exited the hall, every student got up and there was a crush as they all tried to fit through the door at the same time. None of the teachers got in the way, they would have caused more trouble in the chaos. The students soon sorted themselves out and walked out onto the school grounds towards the almost-looming mansion. The mansion itself was quite large, but against the Hogwarts castle, it almost looked insignificant. Almost.
The school gathered around the edge of the Dark Forrest, chattering, and crowded against the temporary magical barriers that had been put up. Hannah, Parvati, Millicent and Pansy were standing near what looked like the front doors to the mansion, alongside Professors Dumbledore and Snape. The four students seemed very nervous and apprehensive, as well as looking almost naked, they way they were standing there holding only their wands. Dumbledore leaned down to speak to them, and the crowd quieted, leaning in to try and hear what he was saying.
"... You will only have a limited amount of tasks to complete, and they should be of negligible difficulty for sixth-year students of such skill as yourselves. The tasks that have been set should only take you until dinnertime tonight to complete. Food will be provided within the mansion when needed. Good luck, and we will see you tonight at dinner."
The door to the mansion opened. Hannah, Parvati, Millicent and Pansy nervously looked at each other and slowly walked toward the open door. The crowd of students started cheering, which seemed to give the girls more confidence as they walked into the mansion, and the door closed behind them.
Students gradually started to drift away back to the castle.
"Well, that seemed a bit melodramatic," commented Hermione.
"Hmm. I suppose there's not too much more to do now than wait until tonight and see what happened in there," Harry replied.
"Now then, what shall we do for the rest of the day?" asked Ron
"I was thinking we might as well go and see Hagrid, that way we'll be near the forest when they come out," replied Harry.
"We might as well, eh?" said Ron
Hermione glared at them.
"What?" Ron said indignantly, glancing at Harry to see if he knew what Hermione was annoyed at. Harry just shrugged.
"You two are pathetic. You only want to stay with Hagrid so that you will be one of the first to talk to the girls when they come out of the mansion, so that everyone else will have to talk to you to find out what happened. It's simply dismal. I'm not wasting a day just to try and be Little Miss Popular. If you need to find me, I'll be in the library."
With that, Hermione turned and walked off to the castle.
Shaking his head, Ron turned to Harry. "Man, she's mental. As if we'd waste a day just trying to be the popular guys who have all the news about the mansion."
Giving him a meaningful look, Harry said, "Yeah. Imagine."
They walked off towards Hagrid's hut.
*******
It was beginning to get dark now, and the wind was picking up on the Hogwarts grounds. Harry and Ron were the only students left waiting by the magical barriers outside the mansion. The other students, who had gathered there out of curiosity, had left a while ago, more concerned about eating dinner than talking to the girls when they came out of the mansion.
"They're taking a long time, aren't they?" said Ron, "I wonder what tasks they had set, I."
He paused as he heard footsteps coming up behind them, and Professor McGonagall cut him off in the middle of his sentence. "I told you two to go back up to the hall for dinner. Go now, before I take twenty points off Gryffindor!"
"Twenty!" Ron exclaimed.
"Each," replied Professor McGonagall coldly.
"We're going Professor," said Harry.
Grumbling slightly, they made their way up and into the castle, and took a seat at the end of the Gryffindor table in the hall.
"Another Hogwarts dinner. Yum," said Ron sarcastically, "Where's Hermione? Don't tell me she's still in the library."
Looking up and down the table, Harry said, "I can't see her. Why is it that we get in trouble from McGonagall for almost missing dinner because we are out in the forest, but Hermione never gets in trouble for all the times she's missed dinner because she's been in the library?"
"Actually, I almost always make it in time for the end of dinner." Hermione had arrived, her bag weighed down with books. She sat down at the last seat available, next to Harry. "You two are usually just having too much fun playing with your food to notice that I arrive."
Harry blushed as Ron started laughing, "You really know how to put your foot in it don't you?" he laughed.
Harry glared at Ron. "Oh shut up," he said.
Dinner slowly calmed down as it went on, and the number of students constantly standing to look at the entrance to the hall diminished. Soon, it began to feel like a normal Hogwarts dinner. The hall slowly drained of occupants, those students who felt no need to hang around waiting for the sixth-years to come out of the mansion. Even most of the sixth-years were over the excitement and chose to go back up to their respective dormitories to get on with homework or relaxing. Hermione, as usual, left the table as soon as she had finished eating, presumably to go back to the library. Just as Harry, Ron and some fellow Gryffindors were planning on going back up to their common room, the door to the hall burst open, nearly hitting the edge of the Slytherin table.
Hannah stumbled into the hall, gasping as though she'd just run a marathon. Harry got up hurriedly and ran over to help her sit down on the nearest bench seat. She just sat there, gasping for breath for a few minutes as the remaining occupants of the Great Hall gathered around her. While she was catching her breath, the hall was silent. Not only did no one speak, but there was no audible intake of breath. Not one person moved an inch. The only sound was Hannah's rapid breathing.
After a short while, Hannah's breath subsided, but she still seemed anxious. As she took a breath to speak, the door to the Great Hall blew open for the second time that night.
In stormed Parvati, Millicent and Pansy. They saw Hannah surrounded by the leftover occupants of the hall, exchanged looks with each other, and strode furiously towards her. The crowd around Hannah parted rapidly to let them through.
*******
Many thanks to CrabNebula78, Destiny, hermione512, Stellar Snape and Memo Malfoy for their reviews.
Next chapter: We see the main characters go into the DADA Mansion and face the perilous tasks.
CHAPTER THREE - The First Group
Harry glowered at Ron, who was, in fact, slowly falling asleep in his chair, got up and ran up the stairs after Hermione.
"Hermione!" he called after her.
She stopped just as she was about to close the dormitory room door.
Looking slightly perplexed, she turned and faced him. "What's wrong, Harry?"
Catching his breath, Harry replied, "What? Oh, nothing's wrong with me, Hermione."
"Oh." she said, a little confused, "Well, why did you run after me? I thought something was wrong." Seeing that Harry was looking uncomfortable, she continued, "Is there something you need to say to me?"
"Well, er..." his voice trailed off, and he paused to clear his throat before continuing, "Are you all right Hermione? You seemed a bit, off, just before"
Brushing his worry off, she replied, "Of course I'm all right Harry. Like I said, I'm just feeling tired today, that's all."
Harry hesitated, then said, "Well, to tell you the truth, Hermione, you didn't seem completely all right back in the common room."
Hermione looked slightly uncomfortable, as if she were debating whether or not she wanted to share whatever was wrong with Harry. Finally, she spoke. "Let's go for a walk, shall we?"
Harry nodded and followed her down the stairs, back to the common room (where Ron was well and truly asleep on the couch), and out of the portrait hole. Hermione didn't seem to want to talk until they reached whatever destination she had picked, but Harry didn't mind. There were few people about at this time of evening, and it was an opportunity for Harry to enjoy walking around the castle, something that he never tired of doing. All the people in the portraits moving to talk to one another, the ghosts floating around, and overall the sense of magic that filled the air of Hogwarts . that, he thought, was something that he couldn't get anywhere else. Still following Hermione without consciously paying attention to where they were going, the evening air caught him by surprise as they exited the castle. Hermione lead Harry onto the path that went around the lake, and she finally started to explain what was going on.
"You know how important school is to me, Harry?" He nodded and Hermione continued. "Well, this mansion that we're all supposed to go into for Defense Against the Dark Arts, it just seems like a bad idea to me. I don't know exactly why, I just got a terrible feeling about it when I first heard those school governors talking about it." She paused, as if unsure how to continue, and Harry jumped in.
"I somewhat know what you're talking about, Hermione. It is a risk, and there is danger involved, but remember, this is a school; they're not going to put us in life-threatening danger."
Hermione smiled slightly, but shook her head. "That's the first thing I tried to tell myself, too. But it's not just the danger and risk factor of the tasks that has me worried, and it's not even the fact that we are the trial year, and that some things are bound to go wrong. I... I hate to admit this, but I'm scared," She briefly looked at Harry's concerned face, and continued. "You will be great in the mansion, Harry. You've faced things much, much worse than this and you've always come out on top. This mansion will probably require someone to think on their feet, to think fast, remembering every single curse, hex, charm and probably potion that we've learnt so far in our years of magical education. I had those books out, however unrelated you clearly think they are--," she added at the look on Harry's face, "--because they might teach me something that I don't already know. Something that could save you, me, or the lives of whoever we're put in that mansion with," She stopped talking, seemingly suddenly at a loss for words.
Harry didn't know what to say or do. Hermione had always worried about school, but at the same time, she'd always topped any class she was in, and probably always would. He didn't think she was telling him everything, though. Something about those books didn't quite fit in with Hermione's personality. For starters, if she had wanted to look for new spells, there were far more logical books for her to look in. Considering the amount of time Hermione spent in the library, she ought to have known this.
Harry looked up, paying attention to his surroundings for the first time in a while. Looking at Hermione, he saw that she was gazing off into space, and for once Harry couldn't read the expression on her face. She seemed to sense him watching her and turned towards him, still looking slightly troubled.
Harry smiled at her, and said quietly, "We should be heading back to the common room, it's getting dark."
Hermione nodded her agreement, and they turned and walked towards the castle, silhouetted against the darkening sky.
They reached the common room to find it empty of most students, and to find Ron snoring loudly in the chair where Harry had left him earlier. Harry shook his head, and told Hermione that she should go on up to bed. When Hermione was out of eyesight, Harry turned his attention to Ron, who looked like he would be asleep for the rest of the night. Even though it was tempting to leave him there, Harry decided not to; he wanted to talk to Ron about Hermione. Giving Ron a jab in the side with his finger only made Ron snore harder, so Harry chose to use a more drastic method of waking him up. Moving so he was standing behind the chair, Harry bent down, and lifted the chair with all his strength. It worked. Ron tumbled onto the floor asleep, then opened his eyes and looked around. When he saw Harry standing over him with his arms crossed on his chest and a self-satisfied look on his face, he responded.
"Oi, Harry. What d'ya do that for?"
"Someone had to. Your snoring is really loud, you know that?"
"No, it's not," Ron replied indignantly.
"Yes, it is, but that's not the point," Harry responded.
Yawning, Ron got up off the floor and collapsed back into the chair. "So did you talk to Hermione? Is she ok?"
Sitting down opposite Ron, Harry replied, "I'm not sure. She's really worried about the DADA mansion, Ron. She thinks that those odd books she was reading will help her in there."
Ron looked slightly worried. "It's not like Hermione to be so illogical when she's trying to research something. Even using my imagination, I can't think of what would be helpful in those books."
They both sat there for a few minutes, lost in thought. Then Ron shattered the silence with a massive yawn, which looked as though it shocked him for a second, then he and Harry both burst out laughing.
"Well," Ron said, still chuckling, "I suppose I should go to bed now."
*******
Friday must have been the longest day ever at Hogwarts. The students were all on edge and couldn't stop talking about the mansion. Hannah, Parvati, Millicent and Pansy each had students following them around all day long, pestering them with questions about what they thought they were going to have to face in the mansion. Some of the teachers were in terrible moods by the end of the day, snapping at students to be quiet and do their work. Other teachers decided it was best for the students to get their excitement out of their systems, and let them talk and create as much noise as necessary. Eventually though, after many long, winding hours, Friday progressed into Saturday.
Saturday morning breakfast was one of the noisiest ever in Hogwarts long history. Even some of the teachers were drawn into the party-like atmosphere and started looking like five-year-olds on Christmas Eve. Professor Trelawney, the Divination professor, sat at the teacher's table looking superior to the rest of the inhabitants of the school, as though she - and no-one else - knew what was going to happen.
As soon as Dumbledore had finished his breakfast, Snape stood up. The hall went silent almost immediately, and all eyes turned to him. He cleared his throat unnecessarily, mostly just to draw out on the suspense of the moment. "Would Ms. Abbot, Ms. Patil, Ms. Bulstrode and Ms. Parkinson please stand and make your way down to the Entrance Hall?"
With that, Snape strode down the center of the hall, ignoring the fact that every eye in the room was following him closely. Professor Dumbledore got up and followed Snape down the center of the hall, the difference this time was that he looked at the students. As soon as he had exited the hall, every student got up and there was a crush as they all tried to fit through the door at the same time. None of the teachers got in the way, they would have caused more trouble in the chaos. The students soon sorted themselves out and walked out onto the school grounds towards the almost-looming mansion. The mansion itself was quite large, but against the Hogwarts castle, it almost looked insignificant. Almost.
The school gathered around the edge of the Dark Forrest, chattering, and crowded against the temporary magical barriers that had been put up. Hannah, Parvati, Millicent and Pansy were standing near what looked like the front doors to the mansion, alongside Professors Dumbledore and Snape. The four students seemed very nervous and apprehensive, as well as looking almost naked, they way they were standing there holding only their wands. Dumbledore leaned down to speak to them, and the crowd quieted, leaning in to try and hear what he was saying.
"... You will only have a limited amount of tasks to complete, and they should be of negligible difficulty for sixth-year students of such skill as yourselves. The tasks that have been set should only take you until dinnertime tonight to complete. Food will be provided within the mansion when needed. Good luck, and we will see you tonight at dinner."
The door to the mansion opened. Hannah, Parvati, Millicent and Pansy nervously looked at each other and slowly walked toward the open door. The crowd of students started cheering, which seemed to give the girls more confidence as they walked into the mansion, and the door closed behind them.
Students gradually started to drift away back to the castle.
"Well, that seemed a bit melodramatic," commented Hermione.
"Hmm. I suppose there's not too much more to do now than wait until tonight and see what happened in there," Harry replied.
"Now then, what shall we do for the rest of the day?" asked Ron
"I was thinking we might as well go and see Hagrid, that way we'll be near the forest when they come out," replied Harry.
"We might as well, eh?" said Ron
Hermione glared at them.
"What?" Ron said indignantly, glancing at Harry to see if he knew what Hermione was annoyed at. Harry just shrugged.
"You two are pathetic. You only want to stay with Hagrid so that you will be one of the first to talk to the girls when they come out of the mansion, so that everyone else will have to talk to you to find out what happened. It's simply dismal. I'm not wasting a day just to try and be Little Miss Popular. If you need to find me, I'll be in the library."
With that, Hermione turned and walked off to the castle.
Shaking his head, Ron turned to Harry. "Man, she's mental. As if we'd waste a day just trying to be the popular guys who have all the news about the mansion."
Giving him a meaningful look, Harry said, "Yeah. Imagine."
They walked off towards Hagrid's hut.
*******
It was beginning to get dark now, and the wind was picking up on the Hogwarts grounds. Harry and Ron were the only students left waiting by the magical barriers outside the mansion. The other students, who had gathered there out of curiosity, had left a while ago, more concerned about eating dinner than talking to the girls when they came out of the mansion.
"They're taking a long time, aren't they?" said Ron, "I wonder what tasks they had set, I."
He paused as he heard footsteps coming up behind them, and Professor McGonagall cut him off in the middle of his sentence. "I told you two to go back up to the hall for dinner. Go now, before I take twenty points off Gryffindor!"
"Twenty!" Ron exclaimed.
"Each," replied Professor McGonagall coldly.
"We're going Professor," said Harry.
Grumbling slightly, they made their way up and into the castle, and took a seat at the end of the Gryffindor table in the hall.
"Another Hogwarts dinner. Yum," said Ron sarcastically, "Where's Hermione? Don't tell me she's still in the library."
Looking up and down the table, Harry said, "I can't see her. Why is it that we get in trouble from McGonagall for almost missing dinner because we are out in the forest, but Hermione never gets in trouble for all the times she's missed dinner because she's been in the library?"
"Actually, I almost always make it in time for the end of dinner." Hermione had arrived, her bag weighed down with books. She sat down at the last seat available, next to Harry. "You two are usually just having too much fun playing with your food to notice that I arrive."
Harry blushed as Ron started laughing, "You really know how to put your foot in it don't you?" he laughed.
Harry glared at Ron. "Oh shut up," he said.
Dinner slowly calmed down as it went on, and the number of students constantly standing to look at the entrance to the hall diminished. Soon, it began to feel like a normal Hogwarts dinner. The hall slowly drained of occupants, those students who felt no need to hang around waiting for the sixth-years to come out of the mansion. Even most of the sixth-years were over the excitement and chose to go back up to their respective dormitories to get on with homework or relaxing. Hermione, as usual, left the table as soon as she had finished eating, presumably to go back to the library. Just as Harry, Ron and some fellow Gryffindors were planning on going back up to their common room, the door to the hall burst open, nearly hitting the edge of the Slytherin table.
Hannah stumbled into the hall, gasping as though she'd just run a marathon. Harry got up hurriedly and ran over to help her sit down on the nearest bench seat. She just sat there, gasping for breath for a few minutes as the remaining occupants of the Great Hall gathered around her. While she was catching her breath, the hall was silent. Not only did no one speak, but there was no audible intake of breath. Not one person moved an inch. The only sound was Hannah's rapid breathing.
After a short while, Hannah's breath subsided, but she still seemed anxious. As she took a breath to speak, the door to the Great Hall blew open for the second time that night.
In stormed Parvati, Millicent and Pansy. They saw Hannah surrounded by the leftover occupants of the hall, exchanged looks with each other, and strode furiously towards her. The crowd around Hannah parted rapidly to let them through.
*******
Many thanks to CrabNebula78, Destiny, hermione512, Stellar Snape and Memo Malfoy for their reviews.
Next chapter: We see the main characters go into the DADA Mansion and face the perilous tasks.