Chapter 65

As November sped into December and the Christmas break loomed on the horizon, Harry found himself too bogged down with Occlumency exercises, Quidditch practices, and his end of term schoolwork, to give all that much thought to Coupling Potions or ridiculously complicated spells that may, or may not, block an Avada Kedavra curse. Not that he forgot about it by any means. But as Ron and Hermione seemed to be perfectly happy, and neither of them had experienced any extreme side effects that he could see, Harry decided it was probably best to focus his attention on a threat that was much more imminent for the time being.

"Get a load of this one," Ron said, his nose crinkling with revulsion as he stared down at an image of a bloke that had somehow managed to turn himself into something that looked like a cross between a cooked lobster and a catfish. "I don't fancy looking like that."

"How's that any different than the way you look when you're angry or embarrassed?" Harry joked. "You definitely have the coloring down."

"Shuddup," the redhead groaned. "Although," Ron added, thumbing back through the pages of When Human Transformations Go Awry until he found the image he was looking for, "there's a striking resemblance between you and this chap," he said, pointing at a man with hair that resembled the quills of a hedgehog.

"Professor McGonagall didn't assign this essay so you two could make jokes," Hermione admonished the boys, not even bothering to look away from the book she was currently perusing. "Those are serious magical disfigurements and not something either of you should poke fun at."

"Someone's feeling a bit 'catty' today," Ron retorted, after catching Harry's eye and making a sound like an angry cat.

"Think it's funny, do you?" Hermione snapped, jerking her eyes off her book and slamming it shut as she glowered at Ron. "We'll see who's laughing when I sit back and watch you botch all your spells. Maybe I should take a couple pictures of you in the hospital wing and give them to your sister so her entire class can have a laugh at your expense next year when they start Human Transformations."

"Oh come on, Mione," Ron moaned. "You have to admit that the whole cat thing was pretty funny."

"I most certainly do not," she stated, pushing her chair away from the table the three of them were sitting at in the Library so she could stand upright and gather a few of the closest books into her arms.

"Jokes on you," Ron sniggered, as they watched Hermione stalk off in a huff, "because I'll be transfiguring Harry, unlike you, who will be partnered with Neville. She'll wind up in the hospital wing before either of us," he said to Harry.

"Better hope she doesn't end up with lips like this," Harry chuckled in return, motioning towards a picture of a witch whose mouth was bright purple, swollen to twice its normal size, and flanked on either side by three wriggling, squid-like tentacles, "because she'll probably want you to kiss her and make her feel better."

"Good point, that," Ron replied, looking revolted again. "On second thought, maybe you should partner with Neville."

"Actually, I was thinking I should partner with Hermione, since she's hacked off at you and all," Harry said. "You'll likely be safer with Neville."

"So you aren't going to ask Parvati to be your partner then?" Ron teased, casually flipping through his book once more.

"Do you think I should?" Harry replied, shutting the book he'd been leafing through and focusing all of his attention on his best friend. He'd been spending more time with Parvati recently, mostly when Ron and Hermione were busy with their prefect duties and such, but it wasn't something he ever planned and he still wasn't sure what to make of it. He'd hoped that spending a little time with her might help him sort things out on his own, but all he'd managed to do was confuse himself further.

Maybe Ron will know, Harry reasoned. He knows more about women than I do, not that it takes much to accomplish that. Ok, so he isn't exactly an expert on the opposite sex, but he has a mother, and a sister, and a wife too, for that matter. One that in all likelihood won't be speaking to him for the rest of the day, he reminded himself, but still, he has to know something I don't.

"I don't know?" the redhead replied, sobering up considerably when he realized that Harry was seriously asking him for advice. "Do you want to?" he asked, knowing that they were no longer simply talking about who would practice spells with whom in class.

"How am I supposed to know?"

"I don't know," Ron replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "You just do, I guess."

"You guess?" Harry pressed. "How did you know?"

"Who said I knew anything? All right," Ron sighed, when Harry arched an eyebrow and gave him a disbelieving look. "I suppose I did suspect that I might fancy her a little by fourth year."

"A little," Harry scoffed. "Try a lot."

"But it took me a long time to figure that out," Ron continued somewhat uncomfortably, "and it's not exactly the same as what I feel now. I mean it is, but it isn't. Know what I mean?"

"No," Harry said sardonically. "If I knew, I wouldn't be asking you."

"You must know some of what I'm talking about," Ron stated, shifting in his chair and lowering his voice even more. "You fancied Cho, didn't you? You thought she was pretty and thought about... you know, snogging and stuff. You got jealous when you thought about her doing those things with other blokes, right?"

"Obviously," Harry replied in a near whisper, "but just because you think a girl is pretty, that doesn't necessarily mean you fancy her. And just because you want to jinx the bloke she's with every time you see the two of them together, that doesn't mean you're in love with her or anything. I mean, it could just be that you... you know, don't like the guy she's with because he's a prat, or you don't want to see her get hurts, or something like that, right?"

"Hold on," Ron said, holding one hand up in the air as he tried to make sense of Harry's ramblings. "Who are we talking about here?" he asked, sounding more than a little confused. "Because that last I heard, the only bloke Parvati has been snogging is you and you can't seriously want to jinx yourself for that. So who's this other girl you think you might be in love with?"

"I never said I was in love with anyone," Harry said defensively.

"But there is a girl you think you might fancy, other than Parvati," Ron added. "Only she already has a boyfriend?"

"I never said I fancied her."

"Do you think about her all the time?" Ron asked, noting the panic that flashed across Harry's face briefly before he managed to hide it.

"It's not like that," he insisted.

"Uh huh," Ron mumbled with a knowing smile.

"It's not," Harry persisted. It's not my fault I'm thinking about her, he told himself. How can I not? You only told me that I was going to have to link myself to her and give her access to every feeling I have. And as if that weren't bad enough, I'll have to feel what she feels when she's with that...that tosser.

"Maybe that whole denial thing will work out better for you than it did me," Ron joked. "Although... if you feel like someone slammed a knife into your heart every time you see her and this other bloke together, you may have a problem. And if you feel like someone has reached into your stomach and is twisting your insides into knots every time you see her, you definitely have a problem."

"I felt that way about Cho, but I don't reckon I was ever really in love with her."

"But you did fancy Cho, which means you do know what it feels like. So, who is it?" Ron asked.

"It doesn't matter," Harry replied instantly. "She already has a boyfriend, remember?" Not to mention the fact that she's your little sister, he continued in his head, hoping that if he reminded himself of the drawbacks enough times, he might actually be able to talk himself out of feeling what he suspected he might be feeling. And even if you don't go all big brother on me for having those kinds of thoughts about Ginny, it's still not going to happen. It's just too dangerous, he reminded himself for what felt like the hundredth time. Ron and Hermione are already at risk because they're close to me. I won't put Ginny in that position too. Things are already bad enough as it is. She's better off with Devane, even if he is a wanker.

"Sorry mate," Ron said, and then a new thought occurred to him. "But it's not... it's not Hermione, is it?" he asked rather cautiously, unsure if he really wanted to hear the answer or not.

"Are you mental?" Harry retorted, a bit louder than he should have. "Hermione?" he asked, lowering his voice once more.

"What's wrong with Hermione?" the redhead shot back defensively. "Ok," he sighed, when Harry fixed him with an incredulous stare, "so she's a bossy know-it-all that has to have everything her way. And maybe she's a little obsessed with rules and schoolwork and bloody house elves, but other than that, there's nothing wrong with her."

"You mean besides the fact she's like my sister?" Harry interjected.

"Ok, so there's that too. But she's still great."

"Even though she'll never appreciate Quidditch?" Harry asked rhetorically. He already knew the answer to that question of course, but he was hoping to prevent Ron from asking anymore questions about his love life by distracting him with other subjects, like Quidditch and Hermione. Unfortunately things didn't quite work out that way.

"Cho likes Quidditch and look how that turned out," Ron retorted. "Although she's a Tornados fan and that pretty much says it all. What team does Parvati support?"

"Other than Gryffindor?" Harry asked. "No idea."

"What about this other bird you're interested in? Is she a Quidditch fan?"

"Oh yeah," Harry replied with an emphatic nod of his head.

"So she plays then?" Ron asked casually. That was a point in her favor as far as he was concerned and it narrowed the field down considerably. "What position?"

"You are so obvious."

"Fine, don't tell me," Ron retorted, as he watched Harry rise out of his seat and gathered up a few of the books Hermione had left behind for the two of them to use on their own essay later.

"Let's go," Harry said, lifting half of the pile off the table and tucking the books under one arm. "If we don't get down to dinner soon you'll be late for your detention."

"Don't remind me," Ron moaned, snatching the remainder of the books off the tabletop and following his best friend across the room to Madam Pince's desk. "I was really hoping that McGonagall had forgotten about that too, " he grumbled. "And the worst part is, she's making me do it with Snape."

"Seriously?" Harry asked, somewhat surprised by this information. When Professor McGonagall had asked Ron to stay after class that afternoon so they could discuss his detention, he'd just assumed that his friend would be serving it with her. "Talk about a punishment. An entire evening alone with Snape. If that's not enough to keep you out of the girls' dorm, I don't know what is."

"Yeah, that's pretty much what McGonagall thought too."

¤

"RON!" Hermione shrieked, barging into the 6th year boys' dormitory without even bothering to knock. "Where is he?" she shouted at Harry, the instant she spotted him sitting in the middle of his four poster bed with his knees crossed and his eyes closed.

It was the fear in her voice that cut through the peaceful nothingness Harry had been attempting to surround himself with. It was impossible to stay below the surface and let his concerns ebb away when one of his best friends was screeching at him like a banshee in a blind panic.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, jumping off the bed and snatching his glasses off his bedside table as his stomach plummeted.

"Where's Ron?" she asked again, looking around the room despite the fact he was obviously not there. "It's after curfew and he's not in the Common Room either and..."

"He had to do his detention tonight," Harry reminded her, relieved that Ron's absence was what had Hermione so worked up and it was nothing more serious, although her overreaction was still a bit puzzling.

"He's not with McGonagall," she stated definitely, still clearly on edge.

"No, he's with Snape," Harry agreed, but rather than calm her as he'd hoped, his statement set her off again.

"WHAT!" Hermione cried, her brown eyes going wide with alarm. "You let him go down to the dungeon all by himself?" she admonished. "Oh, Harry, what were you thinking? What if Malfoy heard he had detention tonight and decided to lie in waiting for him?" she said, before spinning around and bolting for the door.

"HERMIONE!" Harry shouted, chasing her down the hall and catching her just before she reached the stairwell. "What's going on? Has something happened? Because you can't just go barging into Snape's office for no reason," he said, grabbing a hold of his friend's shoulders and forcing her to turn around and look at him. "All you'll do is get Ron in more trouble. You know how Snape is."

"He's already in trouble," she retorted. "He's afraid, Harry. I can feel it."

"Afraid how?" Harry asked, on edge again himself.

If Ron was really in trouble that changed everything. This wasn't like what happened with Sirius. Hermione had a direct link to Ron and if she said he was in danger, he probably was. On the other hand, Hermione was prone to overreacting these days, especially when the safety of him or Ron was an issue, so there was also a chance that she'd taken something relatively minor and blown it out of proportion due to her paranoia. Not that it really made all that much difference now, Harry was going down to the dungeons either way just to be sure. The question was whether or not he'd risk taking Hermione with him. If she was overreacting it would be best to just calm her down a bit and sneak out alone to double check.

"Is he grossed out afraid because Snape has him doing something disgusting, like pulling the legs off live spiders?" Harry asked, trying to come up with something that would scare Ron enough for Hermione to feel it without him actually being in danger. "You're sure?" he pressed, despite the fact Hermione was shaking her head before he even finished asking the question.

"If it were something like that he'd be revolted," she replied, "and he's not. He's just... he was startled," she explained. "Something happened that he didn't expect and the shock turned to fear and mistrust, and now," she said, closing her eyes and focusing on the sensations coursing through her body in an effort to distinguish her own anxiety from Ron's, "now he's resigned. He's steadying himself for something awful and he's afraid of it, whatever it is. Something terrible is about to happen," Hermione insisted, latching onto Harry's arm. "I know it," she said, tears springing to her eyes. "We have to get to him before it does."

"Right," Harry said, having heard more than enough to convince him. "Not that way though," he stated, turning around to face his room once more. "We'll grab my invisibility cloak and go out the window on my Firebolt. It'll be much faster. We'll be on the ground in a couple seconds and then we can get into the dungeons though the Entrance Hall. Hermione?" Harry asked, turning around to look for her when he realized that she wasn't following him.

That's when he saw her clutch her stomach and drop to ground like a stone.

"HERMIONE!" Harry yelled, racing back to her as she let out a blood-curdling scream. "GIIIIINNNNNNNNY!"he bellowed down the stairwell, praying that Ron's sister was in the common room and close enough to hear him. He couldn't just leave Hermione on the floor, writhing in pain, until someone else he trusted was there to take care of her.

"What happened?" Neville asked, as his round face appeared at the bottom of the stairwell. His eyes got about three times larger when he spotted Harry kneeing over Hermione, who was still on the ground.

"Get McGonagall," Harry barked. "Tell her to get down to the dungeons. Now."

"What about Hermione?" Neville asked, clearly concerned, despite the fact she'd stopped shouting and thrashing about, and was now simply lying on her side trying to catch her breath. "Do you want me to help you get her to the hospital wing."

"No," Harry snapped. He'd seen enough people in the throes of the Cruciatus Curse to recognize Hermione's affliction for what it really was. And since he knew for a fact that no one had cursed her, that could only mean that someone had cursed Ron and somehow she'd felt it through their bond. "If there are Death Eaters in the castle she'll be safer up here."

"Death Eaters?" several voices questioned from the bottom of the stairwell, where many of the more curious students were beginning to congregate.

"You don't think there could really be..."

" Did he say in the castle?"

"How could he possible know that?"

"Now Neville!" Harry yelled in an effort to get his startled roommate moving.

"If you don't get out of my bloody way, each and every one of you is going to receive a detention," Ginny shouted, shoving her way through the crowd at the foot of the stairs and finally appearing beside Neville, who took one last look at Hermione, then spun around, and ran towards the portrait hole to do as Harry ordered. "What happened?" Ginny asked, her eyes darting from Hermione, who was wincing, to Harry, who was helping her stand upright.

"Not here," Harry said. "Help me get her to my room. Hermione will explain," he said to Ginny, the instant they crossed the threshold of his dorm room and she kicked the door shut. "Stay in here," he ordered, letting go of Hermione's arm and hurrying over to the trunk at the foot of his bed to retrieve his invisibility cloak. "No wait," he said, abruptly changing his mind. "The girls' dorm in safer. Take Hermione back to your room," he instructed Ginny, "and don't let her leave the tower no matter what she says."

"You are NOT going down there without me," Hermione shouted, crossing to the window even as Harry summoned his Firebolt out from under his bed.

"You're in no condition to..."

"Don't you tell me what I can and can not do," Hermione barked, placing one hand on her hip. "I'm coming with you. You're going to need me if..."

"And what happens if they curse him again and you feel it? The invisibility cloak will be of no use if you scream like that again. You'll give us both away."

"Will one of you tell me what the hell is going on?" Ginny demanded.

"Ron's in trouble," Hermione stated, her eyes never leaving Harry's.

"Someone hit him with the Cruciatus Curse," Harry elaborated, "and it took Hermione down too. That is what happened isn't it?" he asked Hermione, despite the fact he could see the answer to his question in her eyes.

"Ron's broom is under his bed," Hermione stated for Ginny's benefit, completely ignoring Harry's question. "Either I'm going with you," she told him, "or I'm going with her, but either way, I AM going."

"Look, Hermione. We don't have time to argue about this."

"Agreed," she replied. "So let's go."

"Fine," Harry acquiesced, knowing that Hermione wasn't going to stay put no matter what he said. And at least if she was with him, he'd know where she was and he wouldn't have to worry about her quite as much. Ginny, however, was a different story. She didn't know where Ron was, so she wouldn't be able to follow them if they left her behind. "We may need that potion you have in your room," he said to the agitated redhead. "We'll wait here while you go..."

"Nice try, Potter," Ginny cut him off, drawing her wand out of her pocket, "but I'm not daft. As if you'd be here when I got back," she said, stooping over and dragging her brother's broom out from under his bed. "You're not getting rid of me that easy. In fact, you're not getting rid of me at all, and the sooner you accept that the sooner we can go after Ron."

¤

It was fortunate the threesome left Gryffindor Tower when they did, because no sooner had they touched down and dismounted their brooms, when Hermione keeled over again. She did manage to keep herself from falling to the ground this time, mostly by using one of the large oak doors leading into the Entrance Hall of the castle to support herself. And although she grunted and balled her hands into tight fists when the pain ripped through her body, she somehow managed to refrained from crying out, much to Harry surprise and relief.

Either the curse was lifted almost as soon as it was cast, or Hermione and Ron together had enough adrenaline pumping through their bodies to dampen the effects, because she was moving again almost immediately. Harry assumed that their link was also interfering with the spell to a certain degree. What was meant for one person was obviously being split between two, otherwise Hermione wouldn't be feeling it herself, she'd only sense what Ron felt. But she was feeling physical discomfort and the fact that they were both experiencing a portion of the pain, rather than the whole, likely made it easier for them both to withstand the effects.

"Are you all right?" Ginny whispered, as Hermione heaved herself away from the door she'd been using to prop herself up, while Harry pulled the one next to her open and clambered inside. "What about Ron," Ginny asked when Hermione nodded her head in response to her first question as she followed Harry back into the castle and towards the stone stairs that lead down to the dungeons. "Do you think he's ok?"

"He's still conscious, if that's what you mean," Hermione mumbled as quietly as she could. "And he's not afraid anymore," she informed Harry, who'd set his Firebolt against the wall where Ginny had deposited Ron's broom and quickly unfurled his invisibility cloak. "He's angry. Incensed really. What do you think that means?"

"You tell me," Harry replied, throwing his cloak over the three of them and crouching down so his feet wouldn't show. "You're the one connected to him."

"Obviously he doesn't like being cursed," Ginny whispered.

"Yes, but if it were Death Eaters doing it he'd still be afraid of them, wouldn't he?" Hermione questioned. "But he's not. He's just feeling resentful and angry."

"Maybe it really is Malfoy then," Harry replied. "There's only one way we're going to find out. Come on."

¤

Making their way down the corridors under the invisibility cloak was not as easy as it had once been. They'd grown quite a bit since first year, when Harry had received his father's invisibility cloak as a Christmas gift and started using it to sneak around the castle with his friends. Now that they were older and taller, three people barely fit. If Ginny hadn't been as short as she was, they might have had a real problem. As it was Harry and Hermione both had to crouch all the way to Snape's office.

Struggling with the invisibility cloak became a moot point however, when Harry reached forward and cracked the door enough so the conversation taking place inside the closed off room seeped into the hallway.

Ron, who had a tendency to curse when he was upset, was stringing sentences together that probably would have had Hermione blushing, had the circumstances been different. Not that that was really so odd. The odd part was he was shouting them at Snape, who stunned all three of them by allowing the redhead to get away with it.

"Stop your bellyaching, Weasley. I barely even hit you that time," they heard Snape snarl. "Although," he added somewhat reluctantly, as Harry pushed the door wide open and the three of them spotted Ron rising up off his knees with his wand in his hand, "you aren't as incompetent as I gave you credit for. Not that your feeble Shield Charm could possible hold up against an Unforgivable. Perhaps I should have a talk with Professor Tonks and see exactly what it is she's teaching her 'advanced' students, because that was actually rather pathetic. Of course, you're free to spend what little energy you have left trying to block it if you like. It'll make my job that much easier in the end. On three then? One? Two?"

"PROTEGO!" Hermione and Ron shouted in unison, a split second before the word, "Crucio," left Snape's mouth.

"Expelliarmus," Harry and Ginny cried together, throwing the invisibility cloak off even as they pointed their wands at the Potions Master, causing his wand to fly out of his hands into the air at the exact same instant a brilliant blue-white shield sprang up around Ron.

It was hard to tell whether Snape or Ron was more surprised by what happened next. The Potions Master barely had time to realize he'd been disarmed when the radiance of the shield that sprang up around his opponent lit up the entire room, momentarily blinding them all. Even as Snape turned his head towards the doorway where the three unexpected Gyffindors had materialized, his own spell collided with the barrier surrounding Ron and bounced back, catching him square in the chest and sending him crashing to the ground.

Professor McGonagall arrived moments later, out of breath and clearly startled by the scene she was met with. "What is the meaning of this?" she demanded, after pointing her wand at Professor Snape and lifting the spell that had him writhing on the cold stone floor of his own office. "What are you three doing down here?"

"He... he cursed Ron," Ginny shouted, apparently the first to find her voice. "We saw him, Professor. He was using the Cruciatus Curse on my brother."

"And how is it that you knew what was happening?" McGonagall inquired.

"We. Saw. Him," Ginny replied, as if she hadn't been clear enough the first time she said it.

"No, before that," McGonagall asked, not nearly as surprised by the fact that a Hogwarts Professor had been using an Unforgivable on a student as the students themselves were.

"My question exactly," Snape spat, rising up off the floor and shaking out his robes while glowering at Harry and his friends. "Even more important, how did you block that curse?" he hissed, his eyes jumping from Harry to Hermione, who was wobbling drunkenly behind him.

"HERMIONE!" Ron yelled, springing forward when the spots that had been dancing in front of his eyes due to the light that had briefly surrounded him started to dissipate and he realized what was about to happen. But before he could reach her, her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she keeled over one final time. Only this time, she didn't make a sound, nor did she get back up.

"Hermione!" Harry echoed Ron, spinning around just in time to see her hit the stone floor.

"I can't feel her anymore," Ron stated as he rushed forward.

"Get out of the way, Potter," McGonagall said, shoving both him and Ginny aside so she could assess Hermione's condition.

"Don't you touch her," Harry shouted, glaring murderously at Snape and pointing his wand at him when he started moving to assisting McGonagall, who had already stooped over his unconscious friend.

"Don't be ridiculous, Potter," McGonagall cried.

"Actually, Severus," Professor Dumbledore stated, as he appeared in the doorway and glanced down at Hermione's prone form, "It may be prudent to take Mr. Potter's advice in this instance. It wouldn't be wise to touch Miss Granger without first asking Mr. Weasley for permission," he continued, his eyes locked on the silver charm that had been dislodged from under Hermione's shirt and had come to rest on her neck, where it was clearly visible for everyone to see. "Unless I'm quite mistaken and that is not a Lànain talisman around her neck."

Author's Notes:

Yes, I know. It's another one of those awful, terrible, I'll just die if I don't find out what happens next, cliffhangers. What can I say, I'm evil. I don't know why all those online sorting tests put me in Gryffindor, because I really do belong in Slytherin. I know it's terrible, but I really do have a reason for leaving off here, other than simply being cruel. It's mainly about flow from one chapter into the next, but there is also the added benefit of you getting a shorter chapter sooner, rather than one longer chapter much later.

If it helps, I assure you that Hermione isn't dead or anything like that. As those of you that read the PoL thread in the forum know, she's just unconscious. The poor dear exhausted herself you see.

For those of you that feel Harry's reaction was a bit OOC in this chapter, and I know there will be some that do, I like to think of that as character growth. Harry has always been one to dive right in, (without thinking about the consequences), when it comes to saving someone, especially someone he cares about. Only I wanted there to be some repercussions from the whole DoM fiasco. After what happened to Sirius it made sense to me that he might be a bit more cautious when it came to dragging other people into a dangerous situation with him. Which is why I had him try and get the girls to stay in the tower (initially anyway) while he secretly planned on going after Ron on his own.