AN: I do not own Harry Potter, that honor goes to J. K. Rowling.
Chapter 11 - Change
Hermione Jean Granger awoke with a start, the screams from her nightmare fading as she peered around the strange darkened sitting room. Ginny, her flaming hair covering the side of her face, lay on a cot across from her. It took her a moment to remember she was in the Black's ancestral home. After the shocking night, she hadn't had a proper look around the dark and foreboding house. The stuffed heads of the poor House-elves and numerous Pure-blood elitist engravings on the displays gave her enough information to confirm that the Black Family were the worst sort of old wizarding families. When she and Harry researched Sirius Black's past, she knew the rakish wizard came from a sinister family, but nothing prepared her for the shocking sight of a once-living being's head pinned to a polished hardwood on the wall.
She swung her legs off the cot and wiggled her toes to get some feeling back into them. Her feet felt like blocks of ice. Muttering to herself about the simplicity of a Warming Charm in the rooms, she slipped on her socks and rubbed her feet to warm them up. Ginny mumbled and turned in her sleep. While she waited for her feet to warm, she replayed everything she remembered from the previous night. The panic, cursed fire, and the sickening sight of Barty Crouch dismissing his House-elf like she was rubbish made her stomach twist with revulsion.
When the riot first started, Bill tried to lead them away from the commotion, but they got separated when a mass of people pushed through their group. One moment he was in front of them, and the next he wasn't. She stuck with Ginny and forced them to stay put until Bill could find them, despite her friend's desire to wander off and find the others. After two heart-pounding minutes, Bill found them again.
They'd escaped the mass of tents when the fire started on the other side of the campsite. Truly afraid, she allowed Bill to lead them toward the large thicket but got stopped by a small group of Ministry Officials, urging people to move toward the south. Following Ginny and keeping an eye out for any trouble, she watched as lurid green and red spells from three areas around the campsite arced high into the air. She'd wondered what it would look like to her parents if they saw the display from afar. Up close, it was terrifying.
Bill led them closer to the entrance they'd come in from when a massive green skull with a serpent winding around the eye socket appeared high in the night sky. Terrified screams like nothing she'd heard before shook the night around her as witches and wizards scattered away from the evil sign. Bill looked shaken, pale. She knew what the Dark Mark was from her studies with Harry. Coupled with what Ginny suspected, her heart twisted with fear. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named must be back. She remembered her hands shaking as they tried to get away from the Dark Mark overhead as Bill shouted something.
Four figures, two of them on the ground, looked horribly familiar. Bill bellowed something, his voice echoing through the night, and started sending spell after spell in quick succession at a cluster of wizards. After Bill checked on his brothers and nearly took Amos Diggory's head off with a spell, the Senior Ministry Official, Barty Crouch, found Winky, a small House-elf, stunned in a stand of trees, holding a wand. The poor sobbing House-elf pleaded with her master that she hadn't cast the spell. Hermione believed her. She knew, unless ordered, a House-elf would never touch a witch or wizard's wand. It was part of the wretched contract wizards forced into their very soul when the House-elves were created.
"Hermione?" Ginny asked, her voice coming from a long way off.
Blinking away her memories, she looked up to see her friend's worried face looking at her. "You okay?" the flaming-haired witch asked.
"Just thinking about last night."
"Oh," Ginny muttered as she sat up. "Blimey, it's cold," she complained and wrapped the blanket around her tighter. "What time is it?"
"Probably close to ten," Hermione answered as she pulled on her shoes. She grimaced when she saw the dark soot on the corner of her trainers. With a shudder, she pushed the thought out of her mind. "How are you?"
"I just can't believe what happened," Ginny muttered. "It went from one of the best days of my life to one of the scariest in the space of a few hours."
Hermione hadn't missed the looks her friend gave Harry at the World Cup. The summer Harry spent at the Burrow seemed to have deepened Ginny's crush for him. It was obvious Harry knew Ginny liked him, but she had a feeling he didn't like the red-haired witch in that way. The thought of choosing between her two close friends made her stomach twist in a knot. She pushed her musing out of her mind as she tried to focus on the present. "We'll be going back to school next week," she said, hoping to change the subject.
"Oh, I know," Ginny answered with a sleepy smile. "Although, I'm going to miss learning from Professor Lupin. I learned loads over the summer. You should have been there, Hermione! The things Harry can do now."
Hermione did her best not to roll her eyes as a bubble of envy rose in her breast. She wanted nothing more than to learn everything Harry did and more. Taking a deep breath, she smiled at her friend. "I'll learn everything he knows before Halloween," she declared.
"I know you will," Ginny replied with a smirk. "I was just saying, no need to be jealous."
Hermione turned away to hide the blush she knew was on her cheeks. "How was Charlie? I know Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were worried about him the most," she asked as a way to change the subject again.
Ginny froze for a moment. She spoke in a quiet voice, "he'll have some bruising. I overheard Mum say it was a close thing. He probably will be back up on his feet in no time... but last night."
Hermione cursed at herself in her mind. It was the first question that had popped into her head. "He'll be off with his dragons before you know it," she consoled with a bright smile.
"He's more dragon than he is wizard these days anyway. Mum is going spare trying to find out if he's seeing anyone."
"He's still young," Hermione countered with a shake of her head. Of all the Weasleys she'd met, Charlie was the one she respected the most. He remained dedicated to his work and, by all accounts, excelled in his field of study. She liked the rugged, attractive look to Charlie's face and toned figure. "Where did that thought come from?" she thought to herself, horrified.
"... better get downstairs for breakfast. Hermione?"
Covering her inattention, she nodded and rose from her cot, looking around. "We should," she said with a nod.
"I asked if you wanted a shower first," Ginny teased as she rooted around in the blankets for her fuzzy socks.
"Oh, uh... no. I'll be fine until later. This place," she muttered as a portrait of several wizards in dark robes standing around an ornate dagger stabbed into the center of a marble plinth caught her eye. Something moved in the darkness behind the group performing the ritual. A shiver ran down her spine.
"I know," the redhead agreed with a glance to the display case near the door. It held an old tome wrapped in thick iron chains. "I wouldn't have wanted to grow up here. Everything feels so... dead and dreary," she finished with a glare at a portrait of a smarmy wizard in a top hat.
"I'll pop in the washroom for a moment, then head down," Hermione said as she rose from her cot.
"Professor Lupin said it's at the end of the hall on the right. Just be aware of the suits of armor. He mentioned a few of them are still enchanted to shoot streams of water at people that pass by."
"Why would suits of armor need to shoot water at passersby?" she asked, bewildered.
Ginny opened her mouth before closing it again and gave Hermione a searching look. "I don't know for sure," she finally said with a half-hearted shrug.
Hermione looked at her friend and knew the bright witch knew more than she was telling. Something in her brown eyes glittered with a mischievous light that she associated with the twins. "Keep your secrets then," she taunted with a huff.
"You're no fun," Ginny commented with a smile. Her smile widened as she slid on her fluffy, multi-colored sock.
Hermione put the issue out of her mind, so she wouldn't dwell on trying to figure out whatever Ginny knew. She'd find everything out later. She always did. The hallway, lit by dim gas lamps, cast eerie shadows at regular intervals. She wondered if the spell fueling the lamps could deepen the darkness in the small recesses of the corridor. A framework of spells came to mind as she stepped into the hall but the lattice of numbers shattered when she saw a dark shape glide past the end of the hall, near the bathroom she wanted to go in. A shiver went down her spine.
"Nothing will hurt you," she chided herself loud and straightened her back, angry with herself for being afraid.
"That isn't completely true in his house," a deep, rich voice commented.
She ground her teeth and spun to stare at Sirius Black. Harry's godfather wasn't an imposing wizard, but he held himself with cock-sure confidence that bordered on arrogance. "Mr. Black," she barked before biting back an apology. The lines around the older wizard's eyes tightened for a brief moment.
"Mr. Black was my father. Call me Sirius, please. Ms. Granger, we haven't had a lot of time to talk, but I wanted to say welcome to my... home."
Hermione watched Sirius' movements as he spoke. She didn't know him as Harry did. "Thank you... Sirius," she got out a moment later. "What do you mean, about the house not being safe?" she questioned.
Sirius shifted his weight and brushed his wavy brown hair out of his eyes. "Some of it is my fault, and some of it is the house itself," he answered with a bright smile.
"Your fault?"
"As a birthday present to Harry, Remus and I enchanted the place to be a sort of obstacle course. He loved it... and hated it," he said with a boyish grin she expected to see on one of the twins' faces.
A flash of Ginny's face flickered across her mind as the words, "...Sirius gave me an amazing birthday present, but I can't tell you what it is just yet," echoed in her thoughts. "Harry can use magic outside Hogwarts?" she questioned. She focused on Sirius' face to spot any signs of deception.
"I asked him and the others to keep mum about what they could do over the summer. I'm his legal guardian and paid the Ministry to allow me to teach him over the summer. They couldn't say no to a pile of Galleons."
More snippets of conversations between herself, Harry, Ginny, and Ron ping-ponged around in her mind as she came to one, inescapable conclusion. "You've been letting everyone use magic? Professor Lupin," she murmured to herself as the clues clicked into place. "He's been teaching everyone over the summer! I'm going to jinx Harry into a puddle for not telling me!" she declared.
"Surprise," a jovial voice commented from a little ways behind her.
She spun to see Harry Potter, The-Dunder-Head-Who-Lived, smirking at her from the stairwell. "You didn't tell me!" she hissed as she stalked toward him. A vicious, sweet thrill ran through her when he winced.
"I was going to tell you, but you were working on other things and enjoying the summer with your family," Harry answered as he set his shoulders.
She wasn't going to let him off that easy. "You hinted at it three times over the summer. I thought you were just learning with Professor Lupin, not practicing with magic too! You deliberately left that out. Ohhh," she growled as a powerful desire to punch that self-satisfied smirk off his face welled up inside her. She decided his arm would have to do, for now.
"Ow! Hey!" Harry complained as he warded off her blows to his shoulder.
"You will tell me everything next time. Ohhh, you! I want to hit you again. What did you learn?" she questioned, trying to hide her smile when he backed away with a bewildered expression. It was fun to mess with him. Even if it hurt her hands when she hit his surprisingly solid body. She'd missed him over the summer. It would be amazing to start working hard again once they got back to Hogwarts.
Harry eyed her as if she were a particularly venomous snake before nodding. "I'll tell you," he promised, but she didn't believe him. "We're working through Elemental Theory and Safety Charms at the moment. I know you've worked out that all of us have been learning with Professor Lupin."
She tried not to ground her teeth, really. Ginny could have told her. They talked about everything! She tried not to show how much it hurt her to know they kept something from her. "Elemental Theory? That's some pretty advanced stuff. I know you did Neville's present. I should have put all the clues together when you said Fred and George helped," she complained to herself. "What have you learned? What can you show me?"
"After breakfast," Sirius called. "Good morning, Ginny,"
Hermione turned to see a sheepish look on her friend's face. The tightness in her chest relaxed a little as she glared at the redhead. "I was going to tell you once we got back to Hogwarts," Ginny explained with a blush growing in her cheeks. "I just wanted to impress you with what I'd learned."
She heard Harry mumble something behind her but didn't catch what he'd said. "Oh... it's fine," she allowed as she let out a deep breath. "I heard breakfast?" she said, trying to change the subject. As Sirius smiled and started to rattle off a rather lengthy list of mouth-watering dishes downstairs, she promised herself she'd get all of them back with a prank or something of her own. It wasn't like she'd been lazy all summer, and she'd learned a few things herself from Andromeda Tonks.
By the time she'd freshened up and taken care of her morning ritual, her empty stomach was making its displeasure known. Instead of eating in the kitchen, Sirius set up a long table in the private dining room on the first floor. When she entered the noisy room, she saw the twins entertaining everyone with a dancing clown puppet on strings.
"...it'll be dead useful. Watch, it can even hold your book for you while you read," the twin closest to her announced with a grand sweeping motion. A book appeared from nowhere and thumped onto the table in front of him.
Hermione blinked and stared. Fred or Geroge performed wandless magic. That in of itself was impressive, but what shocked her more was the casual way he conjured a book. She looked to the far end of the table, where Harry sat talking to their Ex-Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Remus Lupin. The werewolf had a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he watched the twins.
"Hermione, dear, good morning," Mrs. Weasley greeted as she bustled into the dining room from the swinging door that led to the kitchen. "I've got eggs and sausage ready for you."
"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," she said as she took the spot beside Ron. "Morning, Ron," she greeted.
"Mforning," Ron answered with his mouth full. She wanted to sigh at her friend but stopped. A plate floated over and landed in front of her. She did sigh when she smelled the heavenly aroma that seemed to warm her entire body.
Neville waved to her as he dug into a plate of eggs and toast. She smiled back at him.
"Hermione, I'll be stopping by Diagon Alley today before you all leave for school tomorrow. Is there anything you need while I'm out?" Mrs. Weasley questioned with a smile.
"No, thank you, Mrs. Weasley," she answered with a smile. "Mum and I took care of everything last week." She refrained from mentioning that Andromeda Tonks met them at Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and helped pick out the required dress robes on the school list for the year. It was an awkward and enlightening experience.
"Are you going to see Charlie?" Ginny asked as she came in and sat down beside her.
"He needs rest today. Your father and I will go tomorrow if you'd like to come," the matronly witch answered with a penetrating look at her daughter. "Today, you'll need to come with me."
Ginny's back straightened, and it looked like she was going to argue but deflated a moment later. "I know, Mum," she muttered and glanced toward Harry.
Hermione wasn't sure what to make of the exchange but put it out of her mind as Arthur Weasley strolled into the room with a bounce in his step. "Everyone up already? Blimey, the day is skipping along. Molly, dear, could I nip a bit of toast before I head off?" he questioned, eyeing a plate of eggs and bacon in front of one of the twins.
"You'll sit down and eat. What happened last night has passed. You don't have to rush into work."
"I really should," Arthur challenged, but Hermione could hear the reluctance in his voice.
"Sit, dear," Mrs. Weasley ordered and strode into the kitchen. Arthur sat with a small smile.
She enjoyed breakfast, even if Sirius and the twins talked about bodily functions at the table. For the life of her, she couldn't understand why boys found Booger Flavored Toffees an amusing subject to debate. Harry added his input a few times but, for the most part, continued his hushed conversation with Professor Lupin. Bill sat back and watched everything, but she had the feeling the events of the previous night deeply troubled him.
"Hermione?" Harry called after the twins and Sirius left the table to explore the house.
Pulled from her thoughts about hexing some sense into Ron for picking his nose at the table, she turned to see him standing by the doorway to the kitchen. "Yes?" she questioned, her anger rising to the surface again. She wasn't ready to let him off the hook for keeping secrets from her all summer.
"Want to talk?" he asked, his left eyebrow raised as he stared her in the eyes.
Something inside her relaxed as the tension she didn't realize she had in her shoulders loosened. "Yeah," she answered with a nod. "Where?"
"Drawing room upstairs. Come on, I've got loads to talk to you about. Ron, Neville, coming?"
Ron waved his hand at Harry as he turned back to Bill, "go on, I'll join you in a bit. You can't get into the tomb? Why?"
"I'll join you in a bit, too," Neville answered with a smile as he turned back toward the oldest Weasley child.
Hermione heard Ginny's chair scape beside her as she rose. "Ginny, dear, we need to be off," Mrs. Weasley called in a soft voice. She didn't need to turn to see the look on her friend's face to know Ginny wasn't happy.
Harry led her through the hallway and up the stairs. She glanced at the grotesque display of heads on the wall before turning away. The sight made her think of Winky and all the wizards who abused the poor House-elves. On the second floor, they heard a boom from above them, followed by cackling laughter.
"I think they like getting into trouble," Harry muttered as he stared at the ceiling above him. "You'd think they'd have waited until their mother left."
The sounds of Mrs. Weasley's angry shouts echoed through the entire house. "Come on," she insisted and pushed through the closest door. She realized it was the room Harry, Sirius, Professor Lupin, and Neville slept in by the scattered robes on the floor.
"Lucidas," Harry intoned as he waved his hand in a broad arc in front of him. Every lamp in the room lit up.
She looked from her friend's hand to the room at large. "You're getting a lot better," she complimented with a warm smile. She knew how important it was to him to be able to successfully cast wandless magic. "That looked smooth and practiced."
"Simple spells are easy now," Harry admitted with a faint reddish tinge to his cheeks. She wondered why but didn't press the subject. "I'm working on spells we learned in our second year now. Duro is giving me some trouble. Sirius had to cure my hand after I'd accidentally turned my fingers into stone."
She winced. "That couldn't have been pleasant. How are you doing it? I haven't been able to practice unlike someone," she hissed but didn't feel any true anger toward her friend.
"Okay, remember when we were speculating about the natural flow of magic within our body? Here, try this out," Harry answered as he bounded over to his cot. After rifling around in his trunk for a bit, he produced a circular ceramic disk. "Hold it in your hand and imagine circulating your magic around your palm. It might feel like a dumb idea, but if you start to think about your magic as a physical substance you can touch and move, then it becomes so much easier."
Hermione frowned as Harry dropped the surprisingly weighty disk into her palm. She attempted to do what her friend suggested but didn't feel any difference within herself. "I don't feel anything," she reported a few minutes later.
"No problem, we'll try this," Harry countered with a bright smile.
She tried, really tried to understand what Harry was trying to show her, but she couldn't see how magic, an ethereal force all around her, could be physical. "I'm sorry, I just don't see what you mean," she conceded after fifteen minutes of futile effort. "What are you trying to show me?"
Harry sat back on his cot and tapped his lip. "What I've found is that if you can constantly be in contact with magic, then you can start to feel subtle changes in the world around you. Neville is the only other one I've been able to teach this to. Even Professor Lupin is surprised by my... discovery. I guess that's the best way to explain it. Hedwig still hasn't returned, so I can't send off a letter to Professor Dumbledore," he admitted with a shrug.
"You... feel changes?" she questioned. She'd never run across a spell that could let you feel changes in the world around them. It must be Accidental Magic of some form or another.
"I had to learn it, didn't I? Using the See Enchantment Charm that Professor Lupin taught me can only go so far. Sirius knew what he was doing when he made this place a prankster's dream. Almost everything was enchanted in one form or another, even the walls. Residual magic lingers, which is another theory I'm working on. How are natural Muggle-borns born? Anyway, I closed my eyes one day and felt around me with magic as I thought about it being a physical hand or nose to sniff out dangerous things. Hermione, you wouldn't believe it. It takes time and a massive effort of will, but I can feel the intent now... well, sort of anyway."
Hermione blinked and looked her friend over. "You feel the intent?" she questioned.
"Neville says he feels the desire behind the spell. Fred and Geroge enchanted his quill to write on his face. They came up with that charm all on their own. Of course, the first spell they create is a prank. Anyway, he says he felt something wrong with his quill. He said it felt like laughter emanated from it. We looked it over and switched the quill Professor Lupin used. They looked similar enough," Harry reported with a smirk. "You should have seen the twins' faces."
"I'm sure it was funny," Hermione said in a flat voice. She felt a complicated feeling rise within her. It sounded like everyone had an amazing summer without her. While she was proud of them, she still felt left out. "So, you discovered this new... trick with magic."
"I'm not sure I discovered it. I've been thinking. Do you really think a witch or wizard would write down or teach every spell, trick, and method of using magic that they'd discovered? No, if I'm right, someone with Dumbledore's skill will have already discovered this trick."
"You talked about Elemental Magic earlier?" Hermione probed.
"Yeah, I'm trying to learn it. Honestly, the subject matter is beyond what I'm ready for. There are things Sirius and Professor Lupin take for granted that I've never considered. I already have a massive pile of notes for us to go over. You're the genius. You'll probably pick up on things I haven't yet."
Hermione felt a flush in her cheeks. "Oh, I'm not," she argued. "We'll go over everything. You'll have to start over from the beginning," she warned.
"You've always said the basics are important. By the way," her friend said before breaking off. He started at the wall, his eyes unfocused. "I know we discussed that you'd take Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, and I'd take Divination and Care of Magical Creatures. This summer," he said as he turned back to her. He had a look in his eyes that she'd rarely seen, a steely determination. "I need to take Arithmancy and maybe Ancient Runes. It'll make learning the hands-on portions of the other classes harder, but I really feel I should do this. I need to do this."
Hermione marshaled her thoughts and looked him in the eyes. "Is this about... about You-Know-Who?" she questioned. The tightening around Harry's eyes made her heart skip.
"He's coming again," Harry answered in a quiet voice. "He... may... is already in the country. I told Neville, Professor Lupin, and Sirius about my dream... vision. I don't know what it was, but it was real. I've had a little time to process the riot at the World Cup. I agree with Sirius. It doesn't feel connected to... him. However, he is here, in Britain, somewhere. I need to be ready. I can't ignore him and hope everything turns out okay in the end. You've read just as much as I have concerning his reign of power."
Hermione felt a shiver wrack her body as she idly scrubbed the goosebumps on her arms. "That will make things difficult, but I agree with you. If that's what you feel is necessary, then you should do it. It was your idea anyway. We can get the hands-on notes from Ron or Neville. I'll get them to see how important it is," she promised with a strained smile.
She watched Harry's face as a myriad of emotions played across his handsome features. "He's more than worried," she thought as she fought down the urge to hug him. Out loud, she said, "are you still considering changing schools?" It was a worry she'd struggled with all summer.
Her friend sighed and scrubbed a scarred hand through his hair as he stared at something over her head. "I want to," he admitted in a soft voice. "I don't think I can. Sirius wants me to stay this year. He says it's going to be an important year or something. I think I understand the hint he gave me about what will happen at Hogwarts, but I'm not as excited as he is about it."
Frowning, she looked over her shoulder at the door. It was closed, so she turned back to Harry. "What is happening this year?" she questioned, jutting out her chin. It was a tactic she'd learned worked on him the previous year. When she wanted to know something badly enough, she had to make some physical indication that he seemed to pick up on.
Harry grimaced and sighed. "It won't matter much anyway. Unless I guess wrong, this year Hogwarts will host the Triwizard Tournament. Sirius hinted that Durmstrang and Beauxbatons would be involved this year. After a quick search through Hogwarts: A History, I found the answer."
She blinked and pursed her lips. "That..." she mused before faltering. "Something about the seventeen hundreds. The number of student deaths was insanely high or something. They stopped that Tournament," she continued as she tried to dreg up anything she could remember. As she spoke, pages seemed to flash in her mind as more information came to her. "Sometime in the 1790s, early, I think, is right, they stopped the tournament altogether. You really think they're starting it back up again? Why? What does Dumbledore... and by extension, Fudge, have to gain?"
Harry sat back and eyed her. "I hadn't given it much thought. What do you think?" he questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Fudge will be the one that is pushing for this, I'm almost sure. Dumbledore doesn't need the prestige, and there is too much that could go wrong. After... after the World Cup... I don't know if we'll have the Tournament though."
"I get the feeling that it's too late to back out now for the schools," Harry said as he picked at a spot on his pajamas. "Are you angry with me?" he asked after a moment.
Hermione eyed him with pursed lips. "You could have told me," she answered into the silence.
"I debated it."
"Why didn't you?"
He sighed and leaned back on the cot. "Partly because I wanted to surprise you. Another part is that I wanted you to focus on learning whatever Mr. Tonks could teach you and enjoy your summer with your parents. The last is because I knew you'd catch up to whatever I learned," he answered as he stared her in the eye.
Hermione felt her cheeks flush, but he continued before she could say anything. "You're a real genius, Hermione. Everyone says I am, but they're wrong. I'm barely able to keep up with you." Oh, Merlin's Pants, she was really blushing now. She needed to divert his attention. "Now you," she hissed, shaking a finger under his nose. She tried not to laugh when he jumped. "You should have told me! We're friends," she scolded.
"I know I messed up," Harry admitted with a grimace. "It won't happen again. I'll make sure I tell you everything. Even when I go to the bathroom."
Hermione let out a sigh and let her finger drop. It always came around to bathroom humor with boys. "Keep your disgusting bodily functions to yourself, thank you," she snorted and put her hands on her hips. When would these boys grow up? Her friend spent too much time with Sirius the twins. They were a bad influence on him. She'd heard what book Sirius got Harry for his birthday. Ginny had been less than amused. "You should look ashamed."
Harry grunted and shrugged. "What did you learn from Ted?" he asked after a moment.
Accepting his efforts to divert the conversation to safer waters, she sat down beside him and smiled. "Thank you," she said in a soft voice. "I was mad at you at first, but I learned more than I thought possible. Mum and Dromeda get on well, and so does dad and Mr. Tonks. They both asked me questions about you, you know," she said with a side-long glance at her friend. "The Tonks that is."
"I think they thought of me as an interesting puzzle," he mused with a shrug. "I'm glad everything worked out for you though. I know how important learning this stuff is to you. Do you have a plan? Going forward?"
Hermione suppressed a shudder as she looked down at her hands. "I... I saw something last night. Something that needs to change. Will you stand by me, when I ask you to?" she asked in a quiet voice. Her mind, awhirl with ideas and potential plans since waking, seemed to focus on one fact. House-elves needed protecting from the wizarding community. What she saw Mr. Crouch do was irreprehensible.
She looked up to see Harry staring into her eyes. A dark flicker, something almost savage, behind his green eyes made her bite her lip. "You know I will, Hermione," he answered in a low, dangerous voice. "What Carrow, Malfoy, and the other Death Eaters did is evil," he spat with a twist to his mouth.
It took her a moment to realize what he was talking about. "No... yes, that too," she quickly said as his eyebrows rose. "I need some time to process what I saw, make a few more plans, and layout an idea or two before I talk about what I want to do. I trust you, Harry, but Mr. Tonks is right about one thing. The more information I have to bring to the table the first time, with plans, goals, and objectives to reach, the better chance I'll have of succeeding in what I want to do."
Harry cocked his head to the side, just a little, as he studied her. It was like he was seeing her for the first time, and she wasn't sure how she felt about it. "If you need me, then I will be there to help you," he promised with a nod after a moment. A boyish, albeit strained, smile came to his lips as he raked a hand through his hair. "What could be harder than going against Voldemort and his cronies anyway?"
The banter sounded forced, but she smiled at him anyway. "Thank you," she said and meant it. "Now, before anyone comes up here, we need to go over the material Professor McGonagall gave us. We've got a week before we go back to Hogwarts, but there is no reason we shouldn't check over what she gave us to do. I for one, want to see if you got the same answers as I did."
Harry's head rocked back and forth for a second as a myriad of expressions played over his face. She fought back a giggle. Mrs. Tonks, echoed by her mother, told her that if she wanted to make a man forget what he was thinking, she just needed to change the subject to something completely different than whatever they'd been talking about. Andromeda, in particular, seemed amused by Hermione's horrified expression as her mother told her the subtle touches she used to gently guide Denis to what she wanted to do. It had been an enlightening summer, if not how she expected it to be.
"Professor McGonagall?" Harry questioned as his eyes flicked back and forth. "Right, the coursework she gave us. That was a mental leap," he complained. "Professor Lupin helped me a lot. It will be good to see if you have any insight into the subjects that we missed. You always do."
Turning away, to hide the furious blush she knew radiated across her cheeks, she started for the door. "Just get your stuff out. We can find space up here to spread our things out," she ordered with a harsher tone than she'd meant to use. "By Merlin, what was wrong with me today?" she thought as she strode out of the room.
