A crowd had formed in the Gryffindor common room, students in scarlet craning their necks to look at a poster on the notice board. Glancing over at Ron, Harry waited until the throng started to thin out, before making his way over to the sign. Hermione joined him, a spring in her step, as they made their way through the chattering crowd.
"Oh wow! The delegations from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons are getting here on… the 30th of October! That's what, a week?"
Hermione turned excitedly to Harry, as he examined the sheet of parchment on the board. Nodding slowly, he turned to her, gesturing to Ron to get up from his game of chess against himself.
"Yeah, it looks like it. I guess everything is going to be starting pretty quickly, huh."
Grumbling slightly, Ron joined the two at the back of the common room, giving the poster a cursory glance.
"Oh so those schools are coming soon huh. Big news, big news."
He yawned and slumped back against the wall.
"Couldn't they have given us less homework? The years hardly started, for crying out loud. We won't be able to enjoy any tournaments if we're stuck with a pile of homework to do every day."
Hermione clicked her tongue, frowning at Ron.
"If you think we're having a hard year, can you imagine the 5th-years? They've got their OWLs this year. Or the 7th-years? They've got NEWTs, a test that literally says nastily exhausting in its name."
Ron rolled his eyes.
"Alright, alright. But still. Doesn't it feel like a bit too much for the start of te-"
The doors to the common room flew open, and Professor McGonagall strode in, a furious glare on her face.
"Fred and George Weasley!"
Her bellow echoed throughout the room, eliciting cringes and shudders from many of the scarlet clad students in the common room. From the staircase of the boy dormitories, two redheads strode into the room, cherubic smiles on their faces. In unison, they spoke.
"Yes Professor McGonagall?"
The angered Head of House primly grabbed the twins by their shoulders, and marched them stiffly out of the Fat Lady. Silence reigned in the common room, as the Gryffindors strained to hear what the twins had done this time. Harry, Hermione and Ron hustled over to the entrance way, placing their ears to the inner door, listening to the commotion outside. Even through the wood, they could hear Professor McGonagalls voice, sounding out into the hallways.
"What on earth compelled the two of you to do such an irresponsible and cruel thing! To members of a different house no less! And to Ravenclaw? What have they done to merit such absolutely overdone pranks and humiliation?"
Hermione's eyes widened as she listened to the conversation, the twins offering nothing in ways of their defense.
"Does that… really sound like the twins though? Cruel humiliation? I know they love pranks, and a good laugh, but it always feels like it's done in good fun, or at least in retaliation for something before, don't you think?"
Ron shrugged.
"I mean… they did nearly burn my tongue off when I was younger, and trick me into an Unbreakable Vow, but I don't think they'd be that mean. Also, the Professor said Ravenclaw right? They're just bookworms, I can't think of any reason why Fred and George would want to prank any of them."
With a final shout, silence fell outside the door. As it swung open, the Gryffindors inside scrambled to get back to where they had been sitting, in a failed attempt to hide the fact that they all had been desperately eavesdropping on the one-sided yelling of Professor McGonagall. Pushing the twins before her, she entered the room with a steely glare on her face. Her nose twitched slightly as the mess of furniture, papers and other objects revealed themselves to her, the aftermath of a rush to and from the wall closest to the entrance. She coughed lightly, eyes piercing those who dared meet her line of sight.
"As Gryffindors… I expect you all to conduct yourself with a certain amount of… grace and nobility, as befits our house values. I hope you all remember this in the future. Good day."
With that, she turned, striding out the passageway, leaving a quiet room behind her. With a flourish, the twins turned to their awaiting crowd. Winking, they spoke.
"Now now, I'm sure you'll all be glad to hear, especially the more… educationally inclined of you."
Here they paused, meeting the eyes of several students, Hermione included.
"We have not lost any points from Gryffindor, we managed to bargain McGonagall down from that. You know how much she wants us to beat Slytherin to all the cups. As for what we did to deserve 3 hours of toilet cleaning everyday for the next month…"
They winked, and shrugged, leaving the crowd to wonder at what on earth the two could have done for such a harsh punishment to be meted out. As they walked back over to their seats, the pair gestured to the trio, calling them over. On the way, they flanked Neville and Ginny, bringing the two with them, flustered, to a set of armchairs in the back of the common room, slightly away from the buzz of the room.
Harry, Ron and Hermione joined the group, sinking into chairs and looking at the two older boys, who were looking uncharacteristically serious.
Fred spoke first, George leaning back into his chair.
"So that Ravenclaw friend of yours? Luna, right? Turns out she's been having a little bit of trouble with her housemates. Not fitting in, being left out… bullied."
George let out a snarl, clenching a fist.
"We found her wandering around on the 6th floor a few nights ago. Middle of the night, it was absolutely freezing. She was barefoot. We asked why. Said she didn't have any."
George shook his head, sighing. Fred followed up, finishing his twins sentence.
"She told us that they'd been missing, the 5th pair of shoes that had vanished since the start of term. You should've seen her feet… absolutely black with dirt. She didn't have much in the way of clothes either, apparently they went missing as well."
Hermione and Ginny let out gasps of horror as they listened to the twins speak, tears brimming in the older girl's eyes. Harry grimaced, recalling his own life back at Privet Drive, knowing how much of an escape Hogwarts was for him, he had never thought that it could be quite the opposite for some. The three boys glanced at each other, faces pale, grimaces evident.
"So that's why you… did whatever you did to the Ravenclaws, I'm guessing?"
Ron spoke up in a quiet voice, looking questioningly at his older brothers. The pair nodded. Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but Fred cut her off.
"We know Hermione. We should go to the Professors. But… should we really? Look, we know what bullies can be like. And let's be honest, are teachers really the best at dealing with that kind of thing? How many staff members are there here at Hogwarts, like 15? It's a big castle… they can't be everywhere. I'd rather whoever the idiots in Ravenclaw know that if they screw with Luna, we'll happily take detentions to get back at them."
Hermione frowned slightly, but smiled weakly.
"I… really disagree with that kind of method, but I don't really fault you two for wanting to use it. I'm not going to tell on you guys to the teachers, but I'm not going to actively help you, or even stop a teacher from finding you two planning something."
The two smirked, a touch of mirth returning to their faces.
"Tacit approval to prank from the Hermione Granger huh. Looks like they touched a nerve."
Hermione rolled her eyes, momentarily breaking out of her seriousness as the group chuckled lightly. After a moment, George shook his head in disbelief, bringing them all back to earth.
"And she didn't even seem to care, you know? At least outwardly. Just kept smiling, you know that smile of hers."
He sighed heavily.
"I know pranks aren't going to solve this kinda thing, but what could?"
Hermione quirked her lips, in thought.
"I mean… It's a very simple idea, but… I'm quite surprised that Hogwarts doesn't have a counselor, or a student office, something like that, you know?"
The majority of the group being born and raised in the wizarding world, most of the faces that Hermione was seeing were cocked in curiosity, unsure of what she was talking about. Hermione looked imploringly at Harry, the only other one who had been raised in a muggle household, to no avail. Harry also looked confused, and gave a rather guilty shrug. Hermione threw her hands up in the air, muttering under her breath, then started to explain.
"A counselor! Like someone who you can talk to? Confide in? Who's licensed to practice psychology, who can help you out when you're not feeling the best?"
Still seeing puzzled looks, she shook her head, and tried putting it in easier terms.
"Like Madam Pomphrey, except not for physical injuries. Stuff involving the mind, feelings, emotions, things like that."
From his position on the floor, hugging a cushion, Neville spoke up tentatively.
"Like… Mind Healers?"
Hermione raised her eyebrows, turning to the quiet boy.
"That… actually sounds like it could be pretty close to what I'm talking about. Could you tell me a little more about Mind Healers, Neville?"
Neville shuffled uneasily, awkwardly looking down as the weight of the group's eyes fell on him.
"Well… they're a type of Healer, but if I remember right, they focus on well… the mind. I think they deal with things like lost memory, curses and spells attacking the mind… or …"
Here, his voice faded to a whisper.
"Insanity."
The group, who had fallen into silence trying to catch the tail end of Neville's sentence, froze. They waited for a moment, wondering if Neville would continue, but it seemed that the boy had finished his piece, and was content to settle back into silence. Hermione nodded slowly, before talking, a slight catch in her voice.
"Well, I'll definitely look into that. Harry, didn't you say back at the Burrow that you wanted to talk to Madam Pomphrey about healing? Maybe I could come with you sometime, and talk to her about how Muggle medicine, counseling, therapy, all that works into the Wizarding system of treatment?"
Harry nodded.
"Sounds good to me. I guess we should also make sure to keep an eye out for Luna if we see her, make sure she's doing alright."
He sighed.
"Although judging from some of our past years, associating with me might just be making her situation worse."
With a grin, the twins bowed down to Harry, hissing as they did so.
"All hail the Heir of Slytherin, beware his sliminess else he will turn you to stone!"
Harry groaned, and the group descended into some needed laughter, the twins once again back to the role of providing levity in the Gryffindor common room.
-line break-
Harry yawned as he made his way into the Great Hall for breakfast, clambering through the crowds and finding his seat, an even drowsier Ron slumping along behind him. Looking up from his plate of greasy, delicious looking food, he was taken aback to see a familiar head of silver hair sitting across from him.
"Good morning, Harry Potter."
Luna's cheerful, soft voice came across the table, causing Harry's head to snap up, raising his hand in an awkward wave.
"Oh, hey Luna! It's great to see you! Did Hermione invite you?"
Luna nodded, a small smile on her face.
"Yes, Ginny and Hermione came over to the Ravenclaw table today and asked if I wanted to eat with them, so I agreed, and here I am."
Harry shrugged, and nodded.
"Well I'm not too familiar with the rules of who can sit where, but if this is Hermione's idea, I'm sure it's all clear. It's good to see you Luna, I hope you've been doing well?"
The younger girl hummed gently as she nibbled a piece of toast, thinking to herself before replying.
"Well, I've seen a lot less Nargles since a few days ago. I don't know exactly what happened, I'd be terribly sorry if they were all extinct. They were a bit of a nuisance, but I did get quite used to their little games."
Luna shrugged.
"But ah well, I'm sure they'll find a way back eventually. I'll have to think about what exactly might have warded them off, it took quite a bit of experimentation to find that bottle corks helped with that, but whatever changed must have been quite the shift!"
Harry looked on bemusedly as Luna started to write on a checklist all the things that she had done on the previous days, all while continuing to snack on her piece of toast. With a shrug, he returned to his meal, content at least in the fact that she was probably in better company here than where she might have been eating before.
As Harry finished up his meal, he glanced over to Hermione, who was furiously writing, a scroll around the length of an end of term essay spilling from the table.
"Uh… Hermione? What… is that?"
"Hmm?"
Hermione looked up, absent-mindedly.
"Oh, it's just a quick little letter I'm sending off to my parents, I've got some books at home on psychology, and they are medical professionals after all, so I've asked a few simple questions and requested a little advice."
From next to Harry, Ron chuckled from his position napping on the table.
"A little, she says. Never change, Hermione."
Hermione gave him a light whack with her quill, but continued to write. As she did so, she couldn't hold back her excitement, starting to talk faster and faster.
"Hopefully this'll get us a little closer to making Hogwarts a little better place. And ooh, I absolutely can't wait to ask the students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons about how they approach counseling in their schools…"
AN: Another update kinda cutting it close, I'm sorry for that. Hopefully I haven't lost you with these, a little bit of side story and some building depth at Hogwarts. I'll be getting back to some of the more main plot points soon, but hopefully all of these things tie together. Hope you enjoy, and thank you for reading!
