A/N: Hopefully I'll finish this fiction by the end of the summer… well before I go to school at the end of this month. I think if I write a chapter per day it should be finished by then. Anyway, here's chapter 3, hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I do NOT, nor will I ever own the world of Harry Potter. Anything you recognize is J.K. Rowling's and we must bow down and worship her for creating such an awesome world… an of course for not suing us all for playing around with her fantabulous characters. Thx!
Chapter 3: First Hogsmeade Weekend
By the middle of October every student at Hogwarts was waiting for the notice for their first Hogmeade weekend to appear on the common room bulletin boards. It was of course the job of house prefects to quiet down the restless masses of students as every morning they rushed to the board and were rewarded with a blank piece of cork board. Each morning as the disappointed students walked down to breakfast they hoped that maybe a miracle would happen and the Headmistress would stand up and announce what they hoped would be news they wanted to hear. On October the 14, the Gryffindor students were first into the Great Hall and were glad to see their headmistress sitting, smiling and waiting for the rest of the school to appear. The Gryffindors waited patiently for the Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Slytherins to walk in and when they did, each student looked expectantly toward the Head Table. Professor McGonagall stood and cleared her throat.
"As you all know the Professors have delayed announcing the first Hogmeade weekend because of what has happened recently and we wanted to be sure that no students would be in danger when you left the castle grounds. Now that we are sure of your safety we have decided that the first weekend you will be able to leave the castle will be in two weeks on October 31 the Headmistress said in her loud clear voice. The hall erupted in noise and friends were talking about what they were going to do and which shops they would visit first. The Golden trio plus Ginny, Aiden and Holden were talking about how they were going to get into Fred and George's not yet opened joke shop. As the food arrived Ron and Harry started to stuff themselves in regular fashion when Hermione looked up suddenly and giggled. Ginny looked at her and Hermione grinned.
"We can FINALLY go shopping!" she squealed. All four boys groaned at this and went back to their meal. When the post arrived Hermione received a particular looking letter from a black owl. She scowled as she opened the tenth letter she'd received from this particular person.
Mudblood,
Soon you will be at my mercy and all that you have done will be returned.
DM.
Hermione almost ripped the letter in half when Harry looked up and saw her angry expression.
"What's wrong Hermione?" he asked.
"Malfoy's daily letter" she passed him the letter.
He read it quickly and cursed.
"That fucking bastard is going to pay for this… he can't just threaten you everyday without consequence" Harry said madly. He passed the letter to Ron who then read it and said the same thing. Hermione shook her head.
"He's only trying to get a rise out of me… and it's not going to happen" she said taking the note and lighting it on fire. They all watched it burn until it was a pile of ashes lying on the Gryffindor table. She finished her juice and excused herself from the table saying that she was going to the Library to look up cursed for a certain Malfoy heir.
As the next two weeks progressed Hermione fell more and more into anger and hatred. By the Friday before the Hogmeade weekend most students stayed away from her in the Tower and avoided her in the halls and Library. Each day she received another letter from Malfoy and it was making her more and more upset and her friends nervous and angry towards the piece of shit that was doing this to their friend. On this particular Friday morning Hermione was burning another letter from Malfoy when an owl delivered a letter to Blaise Zambini, one of Malfoy's 'girlfriends'. This letter was to explain her role in his plan to rid the world of Potty's sidekicks. She showed the letter to Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy while finishing off her own Pumpkin juice. Once they had all read the letter Blaise burnt it in the same fashion Hermione had been burning them systematically everyday at breakfast.
At Gryffindor table Hermione was looking more than upset that Malfoy's letters had not let up. She had burnt them and tried to forget them but by doing so her temper had been aroused and nothing was taming it. She had become the person to avoid around the school and even the Slytherin's seemed to be slightly afraid of the boiling woman. She knew that the younger students thought of her as a role model but the only modeling she was doing now was that of a bitch not to be dealt with. Although this was an image she would rather not have it was what suited her at the moment and she was not bothered to change until Malfoy's little white dirt-squirrel ass was either in jail or six feet under, where he deserved to be.
The first Hogsmeade Saturday soon approached and Hermione got one final letter. All it said was that her time had come. She looked unperturbed by the news and again burnt the letter to a crisp. She looked around her for a moment and excused herself. Twenty minutes later she returned with a small purse and wearing a pair of white washed jeans with a flirty red halter neck. On her feet she wore a pair of black boots that went up to her knee under her jeans. She smiled as she sat down and looked at Ginny.
"So, ready to shop?" she asked in a happy voice they hadn't head Hermione use in over two weeks.
"Of course… hold on ten minutes while I get my purse and put on some decent clothes" Ginny ran from the Hall and Hermione turned toward the boys.
"Are you excited about shopping?" she looked expectant.
"Sure" Ron said, "Can't wait to get into the broom shop, mum told her if there was a good broom for a good price that I could charge it to their account"
"It's the least I could do Ron, your parents were basically the only parents I've had since I was 11" Harry said smiling at his friend, happy that he finally had some money to purchase what he liked. When Ginny returned to the Great Hall the six Gryffindor's walked outside and Hermione ordered them to the Mustang sitting in the parking garage.
"I know walking is good for you but why walk when you can ride in style?" she laughed as Harry charmed the back seat of her Mustang to hold four people comfortably and turned the car on. They drove into Hogsmeade five minutes later and parked beside The Three Broomsticks. The girls ended up dragging the boys towards the new dress shop in town and spending three hours trying on every dress in the store until they had each picked about half a dozen to purchase. After handing off the bags to the men Ginny and Hermione went to a shoe store a few blocks away and bought three pair each to go with their new dresses. Hermione then decided that it was time to go to the bookstore, which was of course typical of her. They entered the store, with the four boys laden down with shopping bags. Ginny suggested that they shrink them and place them in their pockets. Harry nodded and with a flick of his wand did so.
Leaving the book store an hour later all four boys followed Hermione and Ginny down the road. Hermione had alert to any disturbance near or around Hogmeade and she received what she was waiting for when Holden slid up to her beside her and nudged her.
"Her Hermione"
"Yes Holden…" Hermione smiled up to the man, she wasn't quite sure whether or not she was interested in him or his half-brother.
"There's a blond following us… been behind us from the beginning" he whispered.
"Thanks Holden" she turned toward him and rewarded him with a huge flirty smile. Then she turned towards the rest of the group and asked if they wanted to rest at the Three Broomsticks. They all agreed and the six Hogwarts students walked back towards the pub. The blond followed them discreetly. They entered the pub and Draco Malfoy slipped unnoticed. Hermione led them to a booth big enough to hold them all and told her friends that she'd buy the first round of butter beer. She walked up to the bar and asked Madame Rosmerta for six butter beers. Then she turned towards the dark corner on the back of the pub and called out.
"How about you Malfoy, you want a butter beer or is that too tame for you?"
Although Hermione could not see the blond's expression she would bet that he was surprised because he didn't answer right away.
"How'd you know I was there Mudblood?" he asked with a sneer.
"Not very many slimy assed blonds follow me around"
"Don't you fucking dare talk to me like that, you are nothing and today you'll pay for what you've done over the years your fucking bitch" behind her Ginny slid out the door and alerted the Aurors that she knew followed Harry around wherever he went. While she did that both Harry and Ron cast Apparition wards around the pub so that their ex-classmate and resident Death Eater could not disappear. Hermione stalled the blond while Ginny called Tonks and whoever was on duty with her appeared. It didn't take long for them to walk into the pub wands drawn and looking for the intruder. When Malfoy saw who walked in he tried to disapperate but was not able to. Hermione smiled at him as Tonks magically handcuffed him and took his wand. She pulled up his left sleeve and revealed the Dark Mark; the mark that most students in Hogwarts suspected was burnt onto Draco Malfoy's left forearm. The Golden Trio frowned when they saw the Mark, they had hoped that the man who they had grown up with hadn't become a minion for the most dangerous and moronic man on the planet. They knew as Tonks led him out into the street and apperated with him that he would be given a trial with Veritaserum and then given a life sentence. Draco Malfoy would spend the rest of his life as a prisoner of the Ministry of Magic. Harry sighed as Madame Rosmerta handed Hermione the butter beers and she brought them to the table.
"So, that was a pretty interesting first Hogsmeade weekend" Hermione said smiling at all of her friends, quickly noticing Harry's frown and giving him a reassuring smile across the table.
