DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters. 'Sides, you'd get more blood out of a turnip then you would money out of me! HA!
AUTHORS NOTE: I can't stop going over in my head what I want to happen later on in this story. Sometimes I even start acting it out. Is it bad when your dog starts looking at you like your nutszo?
SUMMARY: Harry feels like he's in hell, Draco's living through a nightmare. Can they help each other before it's too late to save either one?
FROM THE LAST CH.: Deciding to be happy with his mediocre fortune, he sauntered over to the trio with a goofy grin stretching his face, grabbed Hermione, whipped her down into a dramatic dip, and kissed the daylights out of her. He then proceeded to spin her around, slap her bottom, and exclaim, "That's a good girl." Ron and Harry made a run for it before the fireworks began to fly, although they did hear Seamus yelping in pain as Hermione threw one Sparks charm after another at his bottom. The two of them hadn't realized Hermione even KNEW some of the words she was yelling at that git
Tainting the Innocent
Chapter Four
Once on the other side of the Fat Lady Harry and Ron summoned two elementals. The sylph spread its essence to sense any approaching teachers or prefects on rounds and the salamander provided a bright light that didn't blind them in darkness, unlike a lumos spell. These nifty little creatures were a benefit of Hermione's academic boot camp. They had found, during one of the enforced routine library sessions, accounts of certain sects performing magic solely through their elemental servants. It claimed that some of the most famous and powerful of these Masters were muggles and that this was the only branch open to the non-magical. The trick was to develop the will enough to manipulate natural energies to summon elementals, and then to control them after that. The danger was if you over reached your abilities and summoned a creature whose will was greater than your own; then you probably died. Wizards, however, could use magic instead of their will to control their elementals, which was much more reliable. After reading all of this, Hermione had insisted that the three of them learn the technique and then teach it to the DA.
Dumbledore had finally found one Professor Tamaira Dupont to fill the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, but decided to keep the student organization running. Everyone had decided that Dumbledore's Army had done a sufficient job in preparing the students for their OWLS exams, and saw no reason why it shouldn't continue under faculty guidance. This helped lessen inter-house rivalries, diminished the sense of helplessness among some of the students, and got Harry off the hook. He was still the unofficial leader, but each house, Slytherin included, had elected instructors from among the seventh years. Every Sunday the staff and the four House Representatives were to decide upon the lessons for the following week. They had wanted Harry to be a part of this committee, but he declined.
Those members of the DA who looked up to Harry, however, would be shocked to know that at this moment he was slinking around and casting furtive glances over his shoulder for that distinctive bushy head. That he was, in fact, afraid of a girl. Ron wanted to laugh at the spectacle his friend made, but was in no position to judge, seeing as how he was doing and fearing the exact same thing.
"Oy, Harry, where are we going to hide from her? You know she'll sniff us out like a blood hound after dealing with Seamus if we don't find a bang up location." Ron looked quite worried at the prospect of Hermione forcing his poor brain to absorb even more knowledge. He figured it was about filled up and that important stuff, like stats for the Chudley Cannons, would be given the heave.
"Honestly, I hadn't thought that far ahead. My main priority was escape." He seemed agitated as they took one of the hidden passages to the next floor down.
"Har-ry," Ron whined with a cracked voice.
"What," Harry snapped back. "If you're so anxious not to be found, you come up with a hiding place!" Harry was quite tired of always having to think of everything. For once, he wished Ron would just grow some bullocks and take the initiative.
"Bu-but you always-"
"Exactly, I always," he yelled, spinning around to face the shocked redhead. "Well fine, here's my idea: how about we go jump in the lake and ask those pleasant merfolk to protect us from the Homework Nazi. Better yet, we can run down to the dungeons and hide in Slytherin house. She'd never think to look for us there. Do those sound like viable choices? No, well too bad." Ron stood there, mouth working silently. Harry had been having these flashes of temper off and on since the beginning of summer break, but it was always a shock when one hit.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to always rely on you." He looked so contrite saying this that Harry felt like a complete ass. "Um…well…since we're trying to hide from school work, how about we do it in plain sight. The library? We can look up some of those potions and charms the twins want for their new line of gag cosmetics."
Harry couldn't help but laugh at this. "Let me get this straight: you want to go to the library to do research when we just escaped Hermione?" Ron began to look uncertain about his choice, and Harry would have none of that. "Works for me. Let's book it before she finds us." Ron rolled his eyes at the pun, and hurried after his friend.
They did make a decent bit of progress with those potions and charms, but Hermione found them anyway.
The next morning at breakfast Hermione announced that the boys would be free of their scheduled study session for the next few days. Pounding them in the heads with books was interfering with her own study habits, and she needed to finish all her homework for this quarter. She would inform them when the regular meetings would resume. Having said that she fled to the library.
"You know what that was about, don't you," Ginny Weasley asked Harry and her brother. The two of them stared at her blankly, clearly more interested in their sausages than her theories.
"Hermione wanting to finish all of the assignments for the quarter before they're assigned," Harry bravely volunteered in a small voice.
Ginny rolled her eyes at male stupidity. "You hurt her feelings, the way you've been hiding. She's hoping that a few days rest will make you more willing to cooperate."
"We wouldn't be hiding if she weren't so bloody unbearable," Ron snarled to his little sister, bits of said sausage flying from his mouth. Harry nodded in agreement, holding a hand up in defense of the airborne food.
"She does it only because she cares, you prat! The way you two go about your schoolwork, she's justifiably afraid you'll flunk out. Now, looking at things from a Hermione point of view; can you really blame her for riding you hard?"
Ron looked like he was settling in for a long bout of arguing, so Harry put a hand to his arm to stop the tirade. He didn't like it that they had hurt their friend's feelings, and the fact that Ginny had to point this out made him slightly ill. "We'll do better once she sets everything up again, but the three of us have to discuss her lightening up a bit, too. Can you tell her that, Ginny? Please." His reward for diplomacy was a winning Weasley grin as he tucked back into his breakfast.
Neville Longbottom came ambling into the Great Hall as everyone started getting ready to head to class. He looked a bit ruffled and sleepy, but otherwise perfectly content. "Neville, where's your school pack," Seamus asked. "Class starts in just a few minutes, mate." Neville's eyes grew enormous, fear flooding his face as he looked from one Gryffindor to another. He glanced around the Hall and saw that some of the other students did indeed seem to be packing up for class.
"Bu-bu-but today's Sunday, it has to be! I've kept such careful track with that magical calendar Grams sent me. I…it has to be Sunday." He turned pleading eyes on his housemates, silently begging them to agree with him.
"No, Neville," Ginny said gently as Lavender giggled loudly. "Today's Monday. You have double transfigurations this morning."
"Oh, oh no." The poor boy looked as if he wanted to cry. "I-I've got to go grab it." He turned away muttering about stupidity, Death by McGonagall, and sausages.
"Poor Neville," Ginny murmured, shaking her head sadly, as she rapidly built sausage sandwiches. "Here, Harry," she handed the sandwiches to him tied up in a napkin as she stood up from the table. "Can you give him these once he gets to class? Just save him a seat next to you or something. You know how missing breakfast throws off his whole day." Harry quirked an eyebrow as she hurried away while Ron just looked dumbstruck.
"What the bloody hell was that about," Ron asked bewildered.
"That might have been every girl's worst nightmare." Ron looked even more bewildered by his friend's cryptic response, so Harry clarified. "I do believe that Ginny just became her mother."
AUTHORS NOTE: Dadadummmmm! AAAAAAAAAh! Noooooo, not Ginny! The horror. The horror!
