Before you read: I'm sorry if I mixed up the Obliviate spell and the Memory charm, but I completely lost my orientation there. I only read the books in German so I'm sometimes not sure about how the special Harry Potter words are called in English. :-) But no matter how the spell/charm is called, I guess you'll see what I mean! Thanx!

Chapter 3 – Telling Ron



(Disclaimer: View chapter 1)

That evening Hermione was very quiet at dinner. Neither had her memory come back nor had she been able to think of any satisfying solution.
The air was filled with laughter and giggle, but she didn't listen. She just felt so out of place!
Harry had not tried to talk to her again – which Hermione appreciated very much although it hurt her to treat him like that.

Now she forced herself to eat a few bites, then put her fork aside. This had no sense, she wasn't even hungry.
She saw Harry say something to Ron, then he stood up and walked away.
This was the kind of moment she had been waiting for.

"Ron?", she asked.

"Hmm?" His mouth was filled with baked potatoes – so at least his appetite had not disappeared over the day. But he didn't know yet what she knew. "I need to talk to you", Hermione whispered. Ron made a gesture towards the direction where Harry had disappeared a minute ago and Hermione shook her head.

"No, alone. Do you know the Poisons classroom in the fourth floor? The one that's not used anymore." "Yeah", Ron nodded, "But what if Filch finds us?"

A dirty smile appeared on Hermione's face.

"He won't. I'll care for that." She thought of Ginny. After their last year at Hogwarts Fred and George had left a large variety of fun stuff for Ginny – and she began to like it. So she'd surely do Hermione a favour...

"It's very important. So will you be there?" Ron nodded again and before he could ask her anything more, she stood up and looked for his sister.

Ten minutes later she reached the old Poisons classroom and quietly entered it. As she had expected it was dark inside, but that was no problem.
She lifted her wand.

"Lumos!"

And a moment later she illuminated the room. It was not very large but full of tables, chairs, cupboards and – above all – bottles of all colours and seizes. Hermione guessed they might still contain some of the poisons, but she didn't dare open a single one. No risks before she had not even found out what the hell had happened to her!

She had been waiting for almost ten minutes and was already afraid something might have happened, when suddenly the door flung open and Ron stepped inside the room.
Hermione waited until he had shut he door again, then she snapped: "Where have you been? Can't you just once be in time?!"

Ron rolled his eyes.

"Hermione – I've been only five minutes too late." He smiled amused. "By the way you should have seen the trouble downstairs! Ginny and her friends have done excellent work – I guess you're behind that." She nodded. How else would Filch have been busy? They couldn't risk to be caught by him. Not right before the NEWTs next month.

The NEWTs. Hell, she hadn't studied any book the whole day! She would never be able to regain the lost time.
As she sunk deep into her thoughts and didn't start to talk by herself, Ron sighed and dared to ask.

"So, Hermione. Now I'm here. What's wrong with you?"

Hermione hesitated and made a decision – she'd first find out what happened the day before, then tell Ron the news.

"Well... What happened yesterday evening?" Ron looked puzzled. "Pardon?" "I... don't remember", Hermione explained and felt stupid. "The last think I know is lunch in the Great Hall. This morning I woke up with a terrible hangover."

Ron smiled slightly.

"Yeah, you had a lot of beer, my friend...", he exclaimed amused and as she gave him an inquiring look he went on. "All right. This season's most important Quidditch match has been yesterday afternoon, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Of course we won. Harry caught the Snitch after about an hour. I guess you can imagine there was a huge party!"

Now Hermione could understand why everyone around her appeared to be so damn happy.

But Ron had not finished yet. "You should have seen Snape! He was so angry and disappointed – I thought he'd curse Harry when the match was over... The Slytherins have no more chance to win the championship anymore." Ron smiled. "Too bad you can't remember last evening. The party lasted almost the entire night! ...by the way: Where have you been after ten?"

Hermione ignored his question – a thought had come to shape in her mind. "The party lasted almost the whole night?"

"Yes, I said so, didn't I?", Ron replied and rolled his eyes.

"So... this is what Snape meant when he asked me if it has been a long night?"

"Yes of course!", Ron told her and it was obvious that he was irritated.

Hermione's blood rushed faster. Perhaps it had been just a misunderstanding?

"And this is, too, why he wanted to know if I was so exhausted that I could not even concentrate on such an easy potion? Because he thought I had partied all night long?", she quickly asked and could hardly stand to wait to hear Ron's answer.

"Hell, yes – what did you think?", Ron exclaimed and pulled his brows together. "Why do you ask me all those stupid questions?"

Hermione didn't even listen. That's a load off my mind, she thought with relief and she couldn't keep a smile from spreading all over her face. He didn't remember. He just treated her so bad because he was in a very sinister mood. Besides, he had never liked her, so it didn't surprise her now that he had chosen her to blame. Could have also been Neville or Harry. At least someone from the Gryffindors.

"Hello! Do you hear me?", Ron shouted and waved a hand in front of her eyes. Hermione winked and shook her head as if to wake herself.

"I'm sorry. What did you say?", she asked Ron and gave him an excusing look. Ron sighed loudly and repeated his question: "Where have you been after 10pm? You were gone all of a sudden! Did you go to bed?"

"Well... yes." Hermione replied and watched Ron relax. She closed her eyes and added: "But... I'm afraid not my bed."

Ron raised an eyebrow. "Not yours? What do you mean?"

Hermione looked down at her hands. So this was the moment of truth? She swallowed hard and hesitated. But she had nothing to loose.

"I'm afraid I... erm... spent the night with..." she broke off. Admitting to someone else what had happened was not as easy as she had thought.

"With whom?", Ron asked apprehensively.

Hermione cleared her throat. Then she whispered: "Snape."

Ron's mouth opened. "WHAT?!" he shouted in disbelief and shook his head so hardly that his half-long hair flew into all directions. "You're kidding!"

"I'm not", Hermione sighed. "I wish I were."
Then she told him everything she remembered – except perhaps leaving out a few embarrassing facts like she had upchucked.

When she had finished there was a long silence in which Ron just stared at her with unseeing eyes. She understood he tried to handle what he had just heard.

"Ron?", she asked carefully.

He simply shook his head, mumbling something that sounded like "Holy shit"...

After a while he cleared his throat and asked: "What will you do?"

"I don't know."

"Will you... talk to Snape?", he carefully asked and Hermione's eyes got a really scared expression.

"NO!" she shouted louder than she had planned to and went on her normal voice level. "No, Ron. I can't. I'm so glad that he has a blackout, too – and that I had already been gone when he woke up. But I don't know what to do either. I'm not even sure about my feelings!"

Ron gave her an inquiring look and Hermione snapped: "You better not ask!"

"All right", Ron hurried to reply, then remembered something else. "What about Harry? He's your friend, too. Shouldn't you tell him, as well?"

"I can't! Don't you understand? I think he likes me very much and he hates Snape! They are still mortal enemies!", she shouted and felt desperation rise in her again. "That would made the situation even worse!"

"What if he found out somehow else?", Ron asked. "Then he'd be even more disappointed, because you didn't tell him."

Hermione's eyes glared awesomely. "He won't if you don't tell anybody. And you should better not!" The expression on her face changed from anger to sadness. "I trust you, Ron. Please don't disappoint me."

"I won't. It's your decision, Hermione." he replied. "I can keep a secret."

Hermione smiled slightly in relief. "Thank you."

Ron cleared his throat. "But that don't change anything concerning the question what you're gonna do. ... Any ideas?"

There was something. Hermione remembered she had read about that. But she still hesitated. It was a crazy idea, but the only one she had. And it appeared to be the only solution to get out of this nightmare.

"Well, did you ever hear of the Obliviate-spell?", she asked and was not surprised when he shook his head. "Ron! You should read more in your free time, really! The Obliviate-spell is a very difficult one and pupils at Hogwarts are not taught how to perform it. With this spell you can make others forget certain things."

Ron's face cleared. "Ah, I understand. And you want to use it to make Snape forget the last night? But if it's so difficult and not taught – how will you be able to perform it?"

"I know there's a certain book in the restricted section of the library. If I take Harry's invisibility cloak, I can get there and learn how to do it. But I need your help."

"I feared that," Ron replied and pulled his brows together. "You want me to steal Harry's invisibility cloak for you!"

"No, not steal. I just want to... borrow it for a short time." She saw him shake his head. "Please Ron! I must do this, and I don't like it either!"

"I won't do it", Ron replied harshly and crossed his arms in front of his breast.

Hermione's eyes filled with tears. "Please, Ron! My future depends on this! If someone found out I'd be sent home and there are the NEWTs next month!"

She saw Ron think hardly and he didn't say anything for a while. Then he sighed. "All right, I will help you. But if you'll ever get into such a situation again and ask me for help I won't do it again! Understand?"

"Yes, thank you, I will never ever ask you again to do me a favour!" Hermione smiled happily. Now there was a small light shining in the darkness of her situation. A way out.

Ron stood up and went towards the door. "I must go, else I'll be late for the next lesson. I'm sorry, but Professor Trelawney keeps an eye on me since I predicted her soon death in my last homework." He giggled.

"Ron? I – well, I think I need the cloak this night.", Hermione said carefully and Ron nodded.

"I thought so. Meet me at 1am in the common room."

"Thank you".

Ron had already opened the door, then turned around a last time with an amused smile on his face.

"Well, now that you told me I understand what was wrong with Snape this lesson. Apart from blaming you he seemed to be very relaxed and even- tempered!" His smile grew. "You two should meet more often - I guess you did him good." He quickly went rushed of the room.

"RON!", Hermione shouted and flushed with anger, but the door had already shut. He was unbelievable!

to be continued...

Will the spell work? Will Harry find out?
What is it about her feelings that Hermione isn't sure about?

Thanx for your reviews!

RavenclawGirl714 - You see Snape didn't know, but you're right: He'd never embarass himself that way. :)

MistressMoonDemon, Slytherin Queen, Wiily, strega-in-progess - being told that you like what I read means much to me, really. It's always a difference it I like the idea or if I can manage to write it in a way that someone else, too, says "Hey, that's great!" :-)