LETTERS FROM BEYOND
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, if I did Ron and Hermione would already be together.
CHAPTER 9-NEW PLANS
"Thank you both for coming to see me on such short notice," Dumbledore said with a concerned look on his face as he slowly sat down in his chair behind a small round table, motioning for Hermione and Ron to sit down at the same time.
"Don't mention it sir," Ron quickly replied with a sheepish look on his face as he slowly slid into his seat beside Hermione.
"Upon confidential information that the Order has uncovered…it appears that Voldemort will make his first move against Hogwarts very soon, possibly as early as Christmas break," Dumbledore calmly said with a deadly serious and somewhat worried look on his face as Ron noticed suddenly just how old Dumbledore was.
"Of course, with most of the students gone it'll be easy for him to have overwhelming numbers," Hermione chimed in with a very worried and shocked look on her face as instantly she whipped her head around to look pleadingly at Ron. At first Ron didn't have a clue as to what to say to try and alleviate Hermione's, or his own, fears. But suddenly a thought hit him.
"Then let him come, we'll be ready for him," Ron stated with a very bold and proud grin on his face as he stuck his chest out a bit and looked every bit the hero.
"Ron, I can't believe that you're making light of this…have you lost your," Hermione started to exclaim with an angry and flabbergasted look on her face before Dumbledore reached a hand up and smiled.
"I think Ms. Granger…that there is more to Ron's jubilant outburst than is at first glance," Dumbledore said with a curious but reserved wink in his eyes as he turned his gaze from Hermione to Ron.
"Right…well if Voldemort attacks during the Christmas break thinking that Hogwarts will be deserted then he's going to have quite the rude awakening," Ron said with a sly grin on his face as he crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned back in his chair.
"You surely cannot think of having most of the students fight against Voldemort Ron, they'll be killed before they can even get their wands out of their pockets," Hermione gasped out with a still confused look on her face as she angrily shook her head.
"Of course not Mione, have a little faith…but what you said is true, that's why up until Christmas we need to figure out which students have what it takes to stay and fight against Voldemort, then when the holiday comes and most of the students go back home those that are approved will stay here to help fight, along with the members of the Order and all of the Aurors that we can get, we'll hide everyone throughout Hogwarts and lay a trap for Voldemort and the Death Eaters," Ron said with an eager smile on his face as he turned in his chair and stared directly at Hermione, silently daring her to find a fault in his plan.
"And you expect Voldemort to just walk right into such an obvious trap," Hermione scoffed with a slightly haughty expression on her face as she crossed her own arms and looked away from Ron and to Dumbledore.
"Tom would come if the bait was strong enough, and it is possible that he would become so blinded by rage that he would make such a fatal mistake, however to get him to that level we would need to damage his operation severely," Dumbledore quipped with a very serious and concerned scowl on his face as he furrowed his brows and they almost meshed together into one large eyebrow.
"But how can we do that Professor without having any idea where any of his followers are," Hermione wondered aloud with a confused and unconvinced look on her face as she sat up in her chair and stared straight across the table at Dumbledore.
"Well Ms. Granger we are not without resources, and while it is true that we unfortunately do not know where most of the Death Eaters are…we do know how to find them, I have already sent orders ahead with members of the Order to seek out these meeting spots and report back," Dumbledore said with a competitive glint in his eyes as he turned to Hermione and slowly nodded his head.
"Is there anything that we can do," Hermione asked with an eager expression on her face as she fumbled around in the pockets of her robes for a piece of parchment and a quill.
"Yes, continue to act as normally as possible, as if nothing is out of the ordinary, go to your classes and do your homework, however while you do this seek out those that you believe that would stand with us when Tom comes, but above all else keep this quiet, I don't want anyone outside of this room and members of the Order knowing anything about this," Dumbledore replied with a serious and somewhat concerned look on his face as he slightly leaned forward onto the table and made it a point to look both Ron and Hermione in the eye.
"Of course sir, you can count on us," Ron stammered back weakly at first before his voice gained strength and he finished confidently.
"We won't let you down," Hermione added with an eager smile on her face before she pulled a small inkwell out of one of her pockets and began to furiously scribble down some ideas on the parchment.
"I'm glad to hear it, and now the two of you should hurry along unless you want to be late for your next class," Dumbledore said with a half amused smirk on his face as he leaned back in his chair and gazed over at the clock on the wall.
"Who cares, I've been late hundreds of times," Ron started to say back with a confident air about him as he looked to be trying to get comfortable in his chair.
"One word Ron…potions," Hermione quickly informed him with a nervous and rightfully so scared look on her face as she reached over and laid a hand on Ron's arm. It took a few moments before Hermione's words sank in.
"Bloody hell…Snape," Ron exclaimed loudly with a scares stiff expression on his face before he shot up out of his chair and out of Dumbledore's office.
"Hmpf, I keep telling him and telling him not to swear…but does he ever listen to me, of course not, all he does is smile that special smile of his and I melt…I'm like an amoeba, no backbone to speak of…," Hermione started to ramble with a slightly flustered look on her face as she collected her things, half bowed to Dumbledore, and left the room, still rambling about Ron's affect on her.
111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
"I never thought that Snape could possibly be any more of a git than he already was," Harry grumbled with a frustrated and annoyed frown on his face as he sulked around a corner followed by Ron and Hermione.
"You should know better than that Harry," Ginny chided him with a sly grin on her face as she walked up to the trio and tried not to blush when Harry smiled back at her.
"Yeah, I bet he sits in his office all day just dreaming up new ways to make our lives a living hell," Ron said with a sly grin on his face as he switched his schoolbooks from his left hand to his right.
"But Ron, if he does that then when would he possibly be able to teach," Hermione snickered with an almost giggle worthy smile on her face as she beamed back at Ron, something that luckily for them Ginny and Harry missed as the latter held a door open for the former.
"I'm just glad that Christmas is almost here, I can't wait to go home and not have to worry about schoolwork," Ginny exclaimed with an excited smile on her face as she turned back to Ron and Hermione.
"Me to, I can't wait until the first snowfall," Ron chimed in with a look of expectant joy on his face as Hermione knew from experience that Ron was only waiting for the first snow to fall on Hogwarts so that he could draw everyone into a snowball fight. But just as she was about to speak up a trickle of thoughts slipped into her mind of how this holiday could be different from the others given that she and Ron were now together. These thoughts brought a happy smile to her face that lasted nearly an hour.
"Only because you can't wait to have a snowball fight and catch us all when we're not looking with a snowball to the back of the head," Harry said with a sarcastic grin on his face as he lightly glared across the hallway at Ron, who tried his best to look as innocent as possible.
"That's not true Harry…it's not my fault if you lot can't dodge a simple snowball," Ron exclaimed with a hurt pout on his face as he shook his head and did his best to look like they were all attacking him.
"Well sorry if some of us don't like getting ice cold snow down our backs Ronald," Hermione shot back with an icy glare on her face that she did mostly to keep up appearances, but truth be told she still liked giving as good as she got with Ron.
"You only get ice down your backs because you're so slow and…," Ron started to say to defend himself before Harry and Ginny only shook their heads and hurried off down the hallway, leaving Ron and Hermione alone.
"See what you did Ron, you scared Ginny and Harry away," Hermione snapped with a slightly irritated scowl on her face even though when Ron stopped walking to give a retort she leaned up on her tiptoes and planted a light kiss on his cheek.
"I didn't mean to, it's just that fighting with you must be hardwired into my head somehow," Ron finally said with an odd smirk on his face as he scratched his head and subtly jutted out his lower lip.
"Must be, now come on we have to hurry unless you want to wait for the stairs to go through their complete cycle before we can get back to the common room," Hermione joked with a sly grin on her face as she patted Ron on the shoulder before she started to walk off down the hallway after Harry and Ginny, looking back every few inches to make Ron aware that she was waiting for him to follow her. The two arrived in the common room ten minutes after Harry and Ginny, late enough to find the two having already begun their homework. In the corner of the room furthest away from the fire Hazel and John sat doing their best to keep from fighting.
"Think we should say something to them," Ron asked with an incorrigible smirk on his face as he turned to Hermione and nodded his head towards the two first years in the far corner.
"Don't even think about it Ron, we have homework to do and I'm not going to have my boyfriend flunk out of Hogwarts just because he wanted to play a trick on a couple of first years," Hermione grumbled back harshly under her breath as she made sure that no one heard her call Ron her boyfriend.
"But what's the fun of being in our sixth year if we can't even," Ron started to say through a sad pout as he slumped his shoulders and hung his head before following Hermione over to the two empty seats at the table that Ginny and Harry were already studying at.
"What took you two so long," Ginny asked with a sly grin and wink as Ron and Hermione pulled chairs over to the table and sat down.
"We uh…took in the scenery," Ron stammered out quickly before he ruffled up his hair a bit to try and hide his suddenly bright red ears.
"What scenery, everything's dead out there, it's all brown and sickly looking," Harry commented with a confused look on his face as he glanced up from his parchment and stared oddly at Ron.
"So what are you working on Ginny," Hermione asked with a hurried and odd tone to her voice as she slid over next to Ginny and did her best to change the subject as she saw that Ron was struggling mightily for an answer to Harry's question.
"Transfiguration, McGonagall gave us a seven foot long parchment to write on the origins of transfiguration, and it's due before Christmas," Ginny replied with an odd look on her face as she caught the strange look that Harry was giving her.
"And we still have that history of magic parchment to finish remember Ron," Harry added with a forlorn pout on his face as he lightly elbowed Ron in the ribs. Ron instantly went pink and tried to get Harry to shut up but the damage was already done.
"Ronald Weasley, you told me that you had that parchment done two days ago," Hermione exploded with a very angry and hurt look on her face as she wheeled around to face Ron.
"But I did Mione I swear…but then last night Harry reminded me that it was supposed to be four foot long instead of three," Ron finally replied weakly with a scared look on his face as he drooped his shoulders a bit and hung his head down until his hair covered up his face. Hermione looked ready to let out a string of criticism's at Ron but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the guilty look on Harry's face, that and the boy who lived would not make eye contact with her. He seemed to instead becoming immediately focused on the tip of his quill.
"Sorry Ron, I…didn't know, I shouldn't have yelled at you," Hermione said slowly and softly in a very stifled voice as she did her best to calm down and apologize to Ron. It was all that she could do to keep from hugging him and pushing his hair off of his face in front of Ginny and Harry.
"It's okay, I just didn't want to tell you…thought Harry said that he wouldn't say anything, thanks a lot mate," Ron said back with a conciliatory tone to his voice as he nodded his head and when his gaze met Hermione's they both knew that the discussion was not fully over that both would have more to say late that night in their suite, but for now both were willing to let it drop.
"Sorry Ron, it must have slipped my mind, but look at it this way, at least now you can finish it on time and have Hermione to help you with it," Harry said back at first with a look of regret on his face before he cheered up and his earlier look was replaced by a sly grin.
"I guess, but it's going to be a long time before I tell you any of my secrets," Ron shot back with an icy glare cast Harry's way before he relaxed a bit and turned back to Ginny and Hermione.
"So you mean then that there are other secrets that you've told Harry Ron, ones that I don't know, I wonder what they could be," Ginny began to say with an eager and kidding grin on her face as she set her quill down and looked intently at her older brother.
"Well Ginny," Harry began to say with a sly snicker as he laid his quill down and leaned back slightly in his chair and looked ready to speak before Ron interrupted.
"If you value your life Harry you will not say another word," Ron grumbled with an instantly furious scowl on his face as he reached out and tightly gripped Harry's shoulder, squeezing it hard every time that he opened his mouth.
"Please Ron, let Harry speak, Ginny's not the only one that's interested in all of your deepest and darkest secrets," Hermione added with a humorous grin on her face as she pulled out a quill and parchment and looked ready to jot down any secret that came out of Harry's mouth.
"Any time Harry," Ginny stated with a cheesy grin on her face as she picked her quill back up and pulled out another piece of parchment.
"Harry…if you say one thing then I'm going to tell them both about," Ron started to say with a very threatening scowl on his face before he leaned in close to Harry and whispered something into his ear. Neither Ginny nor Hermione was close enough to hear what Ron whispered to Harry but both knew that it was something important as the grin that was on Harry's face dropped off completely as Ron spoke to him.
"You…you wouldn't," Harry gasped with a look of shock and terror on his face as he leaned back away from Ron and took a sharp breath.
"Just try me Potter," Ron shot back with a devilish grin on his face as he crossed his arms and leaned forward in his seat.
"Anyone want to play chess," Hazel asked with a nervous look on her face as she walked across the common room and stood by the table.
"Not right…you know what Hazel, I think that Harry wants to play chess with you, don't you Harry," Hermione started to say softly to turn Hazel down before she got an idea and the edges of her lips perked up into a smile as she laid her quill down and turned to Harry.
"I do," Harry said with a very stupefied and surprised expression on his face before Ron decided for him.
"Of course you do Harry, but I have to warn you, Hazel here is pretty good, in fact she's almost as good as I am," Ron exclaimed with a very proud smile on his face as he patted Harry hard on the back.
"Yeah, she beat me twice yesterday," Ginny added with a slightly frustrated scowl on her face as Harry could tell that she wasn't happy about having lost to a first year, or anyone else for that matter, at wizard's chess.
"I got lucky Ginny, I barely beat you," Hazel interjected with a very nervous look on her face a she shifted her weight from one foot to the other and Hermione could tell that she was nervous.
"Not true Hazel, you easily defeated her both times, she used an improper opening attack and you took advantage of it, she barely knew what hit her," John countered with a very surprised and confused look on his face before Hermione snapped her head around and glared heavily at him.
"This ought to be fun," Harry grumbled with a slightly scared and confused look on his face before he slid out of his chair and walked over to begin a game of chess.
END OF CHAPTER 9