In the way of warnings this chapter has a character death and gasp OOC.
Disclaimer:YAY! NO SCHOOL, NO SCHOOL! What do I do now…?
Chapter 8
The days passed and Hogwarts settled into a form of normality. Harry's exceptional talent simply became part of life as did his insanity. Even Hermione and Draco were becoming used to taking care of the "gifted" wizard, though Hermione had begun to have rather odd dreams involving finger puppets. And so, before they knew it, Halloween was upon them. Hermione and Draco did not plan on attending the feast because the idea of Harry at an event that supported people wearing strange garments and playing odd music sent shivers of terror down their spines. Instead they planned on taking Harry to the farthest place as possible from the Great Hall which happened to be the Astronomy Tower. So at a quarter to eight they headed up to the highest, and most-likely- to-fall-from-and-be-squished-into-a-yucky-mess-when-colliding-with-the-ground place at Hogwarts.
"Man, it's cold up here!" said Draco, shivering, as they walked up the last staircase and into the cold night air.
"Yep." Responded Hermione through clenched teeth as she dragged Harry up the steps. He had just discovered a previously nonexistent fear of heights and Hermione was having difficulties getting him to the top of the tower.
Suddenly, Draco smirked rather evilly and said, "Hey, I have an idea. Why don't we just let him run around up here? Maybe he'll fall off the side and then BAM, end of all our problems!" he thought for a second then said, "Well more like SPLAT, end of all our problems."
Hermione rolled her eyes at this rather violent solution, but surprisingly let go of Harry's arm never the less. As soon as she let go, Harry smiled happily and said, "Ah, I was just fooling you silly-heads! I love heights!" As if to prove himself he sprinted to the edge of the tower and began to do a dance routine from West Side Story. The two other students sat down and watched. Even though these odd displays of talent were no longer shocking, they were still rather entertaining.
About ten minutes into the "show" a familiar figure appeared at the doorway, waving cheerfully, "'Ello! Watcha doin' up 'ere in the cold?"
"Hello Hagrid," greeted Hermione, "We didn't think it would be the brightest idea to take Harry to the feast, so here we are. Do you want to watch the show with us?" she said, gesturing to Harry, "He's really quite good."
"Don' mind if I do." Said the half-giant, walking over to stand in a precarious position along the tower's precipice. It was obvious that he enjoyed the performance by the way he did a kind of dance-in-place. This went on for about half an hour. Harry had just done a spectacular flying leap and Hagrid had tried to imitate it. He landed with a loud thump that got Harry's attention and the performer ran over to greet his newest audience member.
Harry bounced over and said in a sing-song voice, "Poke!" He followed this exclamation by extending his finger and prodding the "big, funny man". Unfortunately, his imitation of Harry's leap had put Hagrid off balance and as he happened to be situated at the most dangerous place on the tower, the poke was not a very good thing. Time seemed to stand still as Hagrid fought hopelessly to remain steady, then, his eyes grew wide and his enormous bulk fell over the edge. The occupants of the tower top waited in a stunned silence for the sickening thump that was sure to follow. Sure enough, a split second later a crash sounded throughout the Hogwarts grounds that made Hermione and Draco flinch.
They continued to sit in shock for a moment until Draco regained the ability to speak, "Look, we better get out of here or we'll be blamed. No one knows were up here and we could just go to the library or something and say we were there the whole time."
Hermione nodded dumbly, still unable to speak, then grabbed Harry's arm and steered him down the stairs and to the library with Draco following behind. They made it into the library with hardly a noise, then went to the very back and began to discuss what had happened. Hermione was still in shock, though grief hadn't kicked in yet, so it was Draco who led the discussion. He turned to Harry and spoke, "Do not tell anyone we were up on the Astronomy Tower, if anyone asks we were in the library the whole time, okay?"
Harry shook his head and wagged his finger back and forth, "No, no, no, that's lying and lying is bad. Very bad."
Draco sighed and said, "In this case lying is good."
"Lying is good?"
"No lying is bad, but right now lying is good."
Harry looked utterly confused and Draco tried to clarify things, "Look, lying is bad, but if you tell people that we were in the library it is good, okay? And if you tell people this I'll give you a cookie or something."
Harry nodded happily at the prospect of a cookie and remained silent. Draco next turned to Hermione, "I know he was your friend, but we have to act like we don't know any of this happened until someone informs us, alright?"
The witch nodded then curiously asked Harry, "Why did you poke him?"
"Poke who? Oh, the big funny man, someone told me to!"
"What?" exclaimed Draco, "Who? Where were they, it was only us up on the tower."
Harry shook his head, "Nope. Somebody was hiding near the wall. They told me to poke him, so I did!"
"Who was? Did you see them?"
"I dunno who it was; it was too dark to tell. Can I have a cookie now?"
Draco absentmindedly conjured a cookie and gave it to Harry, then asked the still shocked witch beside him, "Do you think it was the same person who pushed Weasly out of the train?"
The question seemed to jump-start Hermione's mind and she said thoughtfully, "You know, that's rather likely."
"But who would want to kill off these people?"
Hermione looked at him as though he were stupid and said sarcastically, "Yeah, I really wonder who would want to kill off the people that usually guard Harry so they can get a better shot at him. And you claim to be a Slytherin!"
"Oh duh, Voldemort. Right well that means there's someone working for him in the castle since it's been proven five-billion times that he can't get in on his own."
"Yep, and that means its most likely a Slytherin, since all their, well your, parents are Death Eaters. So guess what your job is!" She said with an annoyingly enthusiastic tone.
"I'll start interrogating them all at once." Said Draco dully, "It'll be kind of hard since I don't have as much power over them as I used to, but yeah, I'll try."
"Good!" said Hermione and at that precise moment grief took hold of her and she burst into tears. Draco just sat there, awkwardly patting her on the back and wondering how on Earth he had managed to get himself into all of this.
A/N: Yeah I know, this chapter took FOREVER, but now I'm out of school and should be able to write a bit more, that is if my life doesn't become more dramatic than it already is (If you're weird and really want to know more about my chaotic life, read Neon Leprechaun's A Hogwarts Soap Opera). Anyway, I need some advise on this story. When you review (hint, hint) could you please tell me if you think I should write some Draco/Hermione romance into this because I'm not sure if that's the way it's going or not… Ok Dokay, that's about it. Bye bye!