Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Title: Harry Potter and the Flaming Soul(Unfortunately, I have no title-writing skills, sorry about that.)
Rating: M (Just to be on the safe side because there are some slightly Mature themes)
Summary: Book 7 as I see it, with a twist: there are more perspectives than just Harry's
A/N: Okay, here is Chapter 4. Finally. Sorry, really, things have been crazy round' here. I made it good an long for you guys :D. Ooooo… it's from Hermione's perspective. Lots of drama ...sigh... . Anyway, I hope you like it, and please review!
Hermione tried, much to her frustration, to unite her friends, but they simply would not budge. Both Harry and Ron sat in Ron's room, irate, much like the flaming orange walls.
"You're both being stubborn idiots, you've fought this fight a million times before!" Ginny said, reprimanding them.
"Yes, you have fought this fight before," Hermione added, "And you're best mates, don't let this happen again! Harry, you feel that you have to take on the burden of the world and that Ron should support you, and Ron, you feel like Harry wants to be the famous person he is and that he wants all the recognition."
Harry and Ron simultaneously turned away from each other, grunting their discontent. Hermione decided it was time for drastic measures.
"Ron, if you don't talk to Harry… I'm, I'm going to break up with you!" she threatened. Everyone turned to Hermione, forgetting the grudge in their shock.
"You… you wouldn't…" Ron stuttered.
Hermione grinned smugly, "I would. Now, tell Harry why you're mad, and Harry you do the same."
Ron turned to Harry and said slowly, "Look mate, you're being an owl-brain, I don't always get to…" he stopped, looking for reassurance. Hermione shot daggers at him with her eyes, so he continued, "… to be a hero, sometimes it would be nice to get noticed for the stuff I do."
Harry, who still seemed irked, turned to Ron reluctantly. "Do I really have to…?" he asked, looking to Ginny. Hermione frowned, how could he be such a jerk? Ginny gave Harry a piercing look and said, "Yes, you do!"
"Fine… Ron, I don't like being known for who I am. I can't help it it's not my fault!" he yelled. Hermione could see that he had exhausted most of his annoyance.
"Look, mate… I'm…." he started, being nudged by Ginny, "Sorry."
Hermione sighed in relief. At least he had said 'sorry'. She knew the fight would be taken up again later, but it mattered little now.
Harry turned to Hermione and Ginny, "We're square now, so… no one speaks of this again." Hermione laughed, and was joined by Ginny as they looked at the embarrassed faces of Harry and Ron. "Alright."
A yell from downstairs distracted them all. Ginny looked confused, "Who's going at it now? As if we haven't had enough rows for the day…"
Before long, they had all learned the nature of the fight downstairs, though. The screams were all to audible to not know who was involved. Fleur's screechy yell was very distinct, and she seemed to be getting the best of Mrs. Weasley.
Glad to be rid of the previous subject of discussion, Harry and Ron dived into discussing the developing fight.
"Dang," Ron whispered, "If only we could apparate out of here!" Harry nodded glumly.
They were trapped in Ron's bedroom with Ginny and Hermione while Fleur and Mrs. Weasley were fighting in the kitchen. The sounds of Fleur's shrieks mingled with the clanging of the pipes in the attic.
Ginny sighed, "The ghoul in the attic is at it again. He doesn't seem to like it much when there's yelling."
Ron looked up expectantly, saying, "Couldn't we just get under the invisibility cloak and…" Harry looked at him disbelievingly, "All four of us? It's not like we could just… sneak past them."
Hermione sat with her head in her hands, mulling over the relationship she had observed between Mrs. Weasley and Fleur in the short time she had been at the Burrow. It was completely mad, she thought. She stroked Crookshanks absentmindedly. After one moment of true emotional connection over Bill, Mrs. Weasley was trying to build a relationship. It was insane, but not unlike Mrs. Weasley to distort reality to the point that she thought of herself as a friend to an arrogant girl whom she had hated for a year's time. How could she have not expected this? It wouldn't be long before they would be dueling… or at least throwing things.
They all sat in silence, in stark contrast with Pidwidgeon and Hedwig, who were both trapped inside, hooting noisily and flitting around the ceiling.
Ginny grimaced at Ron, "You could let them out, couldn't you? Mum's not blocking the windows."
He scowled, but dragged himself off the floor, where the four of them sat, and ambled to the window where he allowed a blur of brown and a blur of white to shoot out the it. Crookshanks eyed the owls as they left and turned back to Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny, but grew bored with the motley group and began to yowl at the door.
"Crud, Hermione, can't you shut him up? Soon we'll have Phlegm and Mum up here yelling…" Ron muttered.
Hermione threw Ron a dirty look, but pulled out her wand and swirled it in thin air, saying, "Silencio," and the disgruntled Crookshanks was immediately subdued.
Before long, a clang was heard from downstairs.
"What was that?" Ron inquired.
Hermione smirked, knowing she had been right about the increasing violence of the fight. "Sounds like a frying pan to me," she answered, turning to Ron.
"Geez," he replied, "They'll be dueling before long… shouldn't we try to stop them?"
Harry whipped out his wand, "Yeah, let's. Who knew that a wedding was such a big deal? I didn't realize they'd have a row."
Hermione put her hand on his wand arm, sending chills up her spine. Why does he do that to me? I don't like him anymore, she thought. We had a… well, passionate moment in Godric's Hollow, but that wasn't really because we like each other that way.
"No, Harry. Unless you want to have a flattened side of your head, you should let them work it out," Ginny replied wisely.
He nodded and slipped his wand back into his back jeans pocket, closing his eyes as if he were strengthening his resolve.
Seeing that Hermione eyed him momentarily he turned to her and said, "Moody warned me not to do that… he seemed to think I'd lose a buttock."
Ginny and Ron laughed uproariously, and a giggle escaped Hermione's pursed lips. It was obvious that Harry still had feelings for Ginny despite his resolution to stay away from her, as was demonstrated by his looking to her for affirmation during his row with Ron. Hermione was not so sure she still felt something for Harry, but if she found she did, she certainly wouldn't stare obliviously at him like he did at Ginny. Besides, she was dating Ron. It wasn't right to put him through this, and Harry needed his friends now.
Hermione was pulled out of her reverie by the halting silence downstairs. Ron was standing with his ear to the door.
He turned to them, asking, "Do you think it's safe now?"
Hermione pulled herself up, answering, "Well, safe or not, I'm bored out of my skull… let's see what they're up to."
As soon as she opened the door, Crookshanks darted out, giving her a scratch on the foot in his haste to get outside. She peered around the corner, hoping they hadn't decided to come upstairs. When it seemed that the coast was clear, she motioned for the others to follow her and crept down the stairs.
When they reached the bottom floor it was clear that both Mrs. Weasley and Fleur were still in the room. Fleur, usually elegant and regal in manner, was slumped over the table with her back to Mrs. Weasley. Mrs. Weasley was peeling potatoes at a feverish rate; it was obvious that the potatoes sitting in the sink would be sufficient to feed an army.
Despite their best efforts, Mrs. Weasley immediately noticed the four teens creeping through the kitchen.
In an overly cheery tone, she loudly said, "Oh, there you are, dears! Why don't you help me… er… clean up the kitchen to get ready for dinner." She glanced warily at the frying pan that had flown through the window, and the ladle that lay broken on a chair opposite Fleur.
Hermione looked to Ginny, who looked utterly shocked. Her mouth was hanging open as she stared at her mother, gauging how the damage had been done. Thankfully, Harry had the sense to tap her on the shoulder before Mrs. Weasley noticed.
He whispered something quickly in Ginny's ear, then pulled out his wand and muttered, "Reparo!" Immediately, the shards of glass that lay on the counter below the window flew back to their original place and melded together. Hermione whipped her wand out, repeating the spell and using the Accio charm on the now whole ladle. Fleur stood, unusually dignified, and swept from the room so fast that Hermione first thought she had disapparated.
Ginny turned to her mother, saying soft, soothing words, and Ron began adhering peels back on the mound of potatoes that sat in the sink. Harry managed to clean the smashed potato off the wall behind where Fleur had previously been, and Mrs. Weasley seemed heartened. Hermione sighed, relieved that they had, at least temporarily, solved the problem.
Ginny spoke just loud enough that they could all hear her say, "Mum, that should help, we'll be back in time for dinner, okay?"
Mrs. Weasley nodded over-zealously, and chimed in a too-high voice, "You lot go ahead, I'll take care of dinner…"
Hermione felt guilty as they slipped out into the yard, but pushed down the feeling as she realized she had no idea what they were doing now that they had gotten away. Her unasked question was soon answered as Ginny appeared at the back of the house, four brooms in hand, and tossed one to each of them. Hermione caught her broom with reluctance; she had never liked flying. However, she knew none of her friends could be deterred when Quidditch was involved.
"All right, Ginny and Hermione versus Ron and Me," Harry yelled, already on his broom.
Hermione realized she had been staring blatantly at Harry's heavily muscled arms that were flexing as her twisted his broom to face her.
He grinned at her, "Are you getting on, or are you just going to watch?"
She was being teased, but strangely, she didn't mind. Slowly, as if her body wasn't connected to her mind, she flopped over the broom and pulled it upwards. She sat in the air, watching Ron and Harry huddle together on the other side of the yard. Ginny nudged her, and then began discussing strategy. Hermione easily tuned it out, and chided herself for looking at Harry that way. Before she knew it, Ginny had clapped her hands and flew off. Oh crap, Hermione thought, What am I supposed to be doing? She flew forward, trying to sit between the positions of keeper and chaser.
Ginny turned and yelled, "Go back to the trees, you can't keep from there!"
Thank Goodness, she doesn't know I was ignoring her, Hermione thought. She drifted back until she sat squarely between the trees they were using as goal posts. She hoped that they wouldn't be playing as roughly as usual.
Hermione didn't think she was a very good keeper, but her confidence boosted as she blocked more than half of Harry's attempts at the goal. Ron wasn't doing nearly so well. She flashed him a smug smile and grinned even more widely when he looked back at her with disgruntled anger in his eyes. She could rub this in before they all went to bed. Ginny was making goals all over the place, and though she normally wouldn't have cared (because her team normally lost), Hermione began to like the feeling of winning at Quidditch.
Hermione wondered vaguely if she might get on the Gryffindor quidditch team, as well as things were going today. Her sensible side would have normally have quashed the idea, after all she hated flying; but she was enjoying sense of self that winning was giving her. She was trying to imagine herself in Gryffindor quidditch robes, standing beside a grinning Harry who was holding the snitch; when the real Harry came barreling towards her, watching Ginny's pursuit of him, and not paying attention at all. Smack!
Hermione fell clumsily off her broom and smashed into the ground as Harry managed to pull up just in time. Hermione felt lips against her forehead, and opening her eyes blearily, noticed that Ron was at her side even before Ginny, who had witnessed the whole event.
"Hermione," he said tenderly, "Are you okay? What can I do?" And, turning to Harry, he pulled out his wand. He was particularly red in the face.
"What did you mean by that, you clout? I should hex you until you can't walk!" Ron yelled, then turned to Hermione and plucked her from the ground. He rushed towards the house, concern etched on his face.
Hermione caught a last glimpse of Harry's confused, upset expression before the world turned black.
A/N: All right! That was it, finally. I don't know quite what the next chappie is yet, but don't you worry, I will post it soon (and I'm not lying!). Please review, and tell me what about it you liked/didn't like. I love writing Hermione, because she's so… well, naïve, honestly. Lotsa luv!