Chapter 14: Hogsmede Weekends

Hermione sat on the Gryffindor table and spooned all the eggs and bacon she could reach. For some unknown reason, she was extremely hungry that morning. Ron was starring at her like she was a lunatic. Loud screeching noises suddenly echoed in the Great Hall, signaling the arrival of the Owl Posts. A large, brown tawny owl landed in front of Hermione. She dropped a single Knut in its pouch and received her Daily Prophet.

Hermione's hand flew to her mouth the moment she unfolded the paper.

"What?" Harry said, alerted.

"This can't be happening. I can't read it out, you do it." Hermione handed the newspaper to Harry with a shaking hand and pushed away her half touched plate.

Ron looked over Harry's shoulder and gasped. Harry's eyes went wide with shock and horror.

Dark Lord murders hundreds in London

"To muggles is an enormous gas leek from their underground train station, to us, another disgusting work of Lord You-know-who"

That was only the first headline

Death Eaters tortured and murdered 6 children

"3 of the Dark Lord's death eaters were seen harshly torturing 6 children on Hogsmede's outskirts. Screams woke half the town last weekend only to find 6 dead children of an Auror's family. The witnesses themselves described the scene as dark and gruesome, definitely the work of You-know-who. The young victims' parents had been sent to St. Mungos to recover from shock that might lead to permanent mental disability.

One of the few pictures didn't improve the news.

"That is so sick. Too sick," Ron said moving away from the paper. Harry meanwhile continued reading the articles.

"He must be stopped. He couldn't do this, he can't," Harry muttered.

"There's nothing we could do, Harry," Hermione comforted.

"Maybe not we, but-"

"Don't even say it! You couldn't do it alone!"

"She's right mate. There's always another way to stop these things, with or without you." Ron sounded right, but Harry didn't seem to think so.

"Thanks, guys, really. But sorry to say that I'm not in the mood on being comforted" With that, he left the table with a small nod.

"Go talk to him," Hermione instructed.

"Why me? You could do better, you go?" Ron retorted.

"We tried that already remember? It didn't work."

Ron shook his head in return and looked down on the Prophet lying in front of him. No amount of comforting could do any improvement on Harry. All they know was that they would help him no matter what.

Hermione closed her transfiguration book and stuffed her 3-foot-long essay in her bag. She had just finished the day's homework and Ron and Harry preferred a Quidditch practice rather than do their own.

The bushy-haired girl stretched for a while before taking a red diary which she had been hiding in her bag for the whole day.

March 10

Dear Diary,

Today's the Hogsmede weekend. Unfortunately, I couldn't go with Sam and Wilma as I usually do. Today, I had to go with Potter to gather some things we could use for the Easter Holidays. I met him in the front doors, as always every Hogsmede weekend since were the Head students. He was standing with his usual pals. When Black saw me, he gave one of his grins that made almost all the girls in Hogwarts melt.

"Hey Evans, going to have a lovely time with James today, eh?" I gave him a glare and helped a couple of third years with their permission forms.

"Well, make sure you don't do anything against the rules," he added. The rest of the Marauders laughed. Those 4 sometimes could really make my blood boil. Correct that…not sometimes…always.

"Just go Sirius, I'll meet you all later," Potter told them with a wink. Whatever that means, I didn't like it. When we were finally allowed to leave (after all the other students left), I gave Potter a stern glare.

"No funny business Potter, or there'll be heck to pay."

"Don't worry Evans, I don't want anything to ruin our first date." I glared at him more. "I was joking, relax," he added with a laugh.

We went to the decoration shops first and bought all we need. I was fascinated by some of the magical Easter Decorations in some of the shops. There were these Eggs which change colors to your own liking and those that open and reveal amazing surprises. I almost got hooked on one made of glass and crystals with sparkling contents. The inside told a story about Easter Rabbits…something like a muggle hologram but more magical. Then it will change to reflect your own mood if you touch it. It was beautiful and genuine. But the prize shooed me away.

Next we went to Honeydukes, which was always my favorite in Hogsmede. It was as crowded as usual, so we had to squeeze in. The usual Easter products were there, including some new ones. I love their Eggs, they come in many flavors.

"Why are you taking 6 bags full?" I asked Potter. He was scooping huge amounts of the Eggs in 5 enormous paper bags. It was a good thing there were enough for everyone since the shelf magically filled itself.

"4 of them are for the each House, the last two are for you and me." He handed me one of the bags after paying for them with his own money. I was shocked.

I wasn't planning to accept it if he didn't push the bag into my arms (together with my other buying) and left the store. Anyways, why waste a nice gift?

The place I know we would go but dreaded to was Zonkos. I figured it was probably Potter's favorite.

"Come on Evans, it wouldn't hurt looking at some of their products," he urged. It did hurt actually. I've only been to Zonkos twice and they hadn't been very nice visits. The first time, I was pushed and nearly stamped on because of the huge amounts of people. The second time, Black and Pettigrew decided to use one of Zonkos products on me, causing my hair to turn into Rainbow colors. What was worse is that the owner asked me to pay for the used merchandise!

But I went in anyways. I was hoping that nothing major would happen.

Believe it or not, I was fascinated with some of their products. It was a good thing I was no longer the 13 year old girl who get pushed out by the large crowd. I was interested at one strange device that looked like an innocent stuff animal. I stuck my hand out to touch one of them and found my arm being yanked by James Potter.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he warned. He dropped a rolled up parchment on top of the stuff animal. It jumped back as it snapped up and tore the parchment to pieces.

"Isn't that dangerous?" I asked Potter incredulously.

"It is quite as a matter of fact. The same reason they include a Wound Cure potion when you purchase it." He didn't look at all bothered.

He bought a few stuff which he explained all the purposes to me. I didn't really approve on most of them, but I couldn't do anything about it.

After we got all we need, we retired to the Three Broomsticks. It was very crowded as usual.

"Are you tired? I'll get the drinks." I didn't complain. I was beat!

Potter came back with two bottles of Butterbeer. "Aren't you going to see your friends?" I asked him.

"Nah, they are probably around the Shrieking Shack anyways since it's where--"he paused, "it's where, well, Moony, you know what I mean." I just nodded and drank up.

"Do you want to go there afterwards?" he asked.

"Well, I don't know. Maybe we should be getting back since it's starting to get dark." I didn't mean to show my reluctance.

He laughed at my worried face. "Don't worry. There aren't any crazy spirits in there. Dumbledore just made that story up to cover the real use of that old shack."

I sighed, "I should have guessed."

Still, I didn't want to go there. Maybe the Marauders set something up in there. I think it showed on my face when I replied.

"But if you don't want, we could head back up to the castle."

"No, I need the fresh air anyways."

"Yeah, that nose of yours spends too much time behind a book Evans." I gave him a shove for that remark.

We walked right in front of the Shrieking Shack and leaned on its old fence. "Is it really scary to be in there with a full grown werewolf?" I asked.

"Nope. It's quite fun actually to get out and do something dangerous for a change. Though I don't think you find that all amusing, right?" he added after I gave him a look. I shook my head. "I just don't think you could just risk all your lives like that, including Lupin's. You don't get caught?"

"How could we? We're the Marauders remember?" I snorted loudly at the response. Just a second later, a loud bell rang to signal that we must return back to school.

Potter and I headed back to the castle. We had to stand in front of the Oak Doors to usher students in. It was quite boring too, especially the waiting part. The only interesting part was scolding 2 third years because of bringing a humongous bag of Zonko purchases. Well, I was doing a good job of scolding him, but like all trouble makers, he didn't listen. Potter managed to scare him to giving in some of the purchases though. I wished I knew what he said to him because it sent the poor kids running up the grand staircase. His friend nearly poured the whole bag into Potter's hands!

"What did you say to him?" I demanded.

"Oh nothing, just a little threat and slight exaggeration. Well, these things are quite a price aren't they?" he said, examining curiously a lethal looking weapon.

"Don't you even think of keeping that?" I warned him, because I know he will.

"Of course not," he replied with a wink. I don't trust that wink.

When all the students were inside the castle, it was about 6:00 p.m. I waved goodnight to Potter and turned to leave when…

"Evans wait!" I turned around to see Potter catching up to me.

"What?"

"I forgot to give you this." He took something out of his pocket that made my jaw drop. It was the glass crystal Easter Egg I saw at the store.

"What?" I muttered hoarsely. I didn't get over the shock.

"I'm giving this to you," he said simply, trusting the Egg in my hands. That woke me up. I pushed it back towards him.

"Oh no, no, no, I can't take something like this. Do you know how much this thing costs?" I nearly scolded him for it.

He clasped my hands around the priceless gift (well it's not really priceless, almost).

"Yeah, I know. That's why I bought it…you're worth it all." He smiled at me before going up the grand staircase. I couldn't believe he gave something like this to me!

So, now here I am, staring at the glass-crystal wonder sitting on my bedside table. It currently displays the Easter Rabbits, but once I touched it, it would show something to portray confusion and shock. It was a nice gift I'm telling you…but why me?

What did he mean by 'you're worth it all'? Well, I'm sleepy now. Goodnight.

-Lily

Hermione closed the book and put it in her bag. Lily made her daily life always so exciting, even just the normal stuff. Secretly, she wished that her life would be interesting as well…in a nice way.

NOTE: Please read and review…maybe I'll make Hermione's life interesting as well…hehe…a new fanfiction, not connected to this one (see my profile), but I'm not sure yet. So…please read and review.