A/N: I'm a first rate idiot. It's official. I meant to update this a looooong time ago, but I've had a case of what my sister so affectionately called 'writers apathy'. I knew I hadto write, I knew what I wanted to write, but with the release of HBP, I just honestly didn't care. So, I apologize. I'll try to keep this one going as a proper writer should have. I may not have quite as regular an update as I have previously, (My business is booming, and I'm going a little crazy.) so please, faithful readers, have pity on me!
Lockheart Disclaimer: Here man! Give credit where it is due! I say that everything written here is -of course- completely due to my wonderful writing skills and the awesome power of my brain! I knew I had it in me!
Chapter Three -
Hermione
The lights flashed on, and the three intruders scattered like cockroaches.
"What are you doing here!" Hermione Granger shrieked, now standing in front of her enraged father, looking as if she wanted to pull her wand on all of them, but didn't dare while her father was in the room. Mr. Granger had come down the stairs first, and nearly punched a hole in the little plastic keypad, trying to stop the wailing alarm. The siren had been turned off, but there was a small dent in the plaster beside it in the shape of Mister Granger's fist.
Ginny leaned on the large bay window to stand herself up, and the alarm began blaring again. She ripped her hand away from the pane of glass as if it had burned her. Mr. Granger snarled, and punched the keypad again, silencing the screeching once more.
He was a tall thin man, with a wiry mess of grey hair, and hunched shoulders as if he was carrying a heavy knapsack. He glared at the three of them with misty sleep covered eyes, and brandished a cricket bat in his left hand.
"What's going on!" Ron asked, scrambling up from behind the coffee table.
"That's what I'd like to know!" Mr. Granger snarled, now carefully shielding his pyjama-clad daughter who was still standing on the stairs.
Harry looked up at Mr. Granger in alarm and anger. "What do you mean?" He growled back. "You're the one who's apparently keeping Hermione out of Hogwarts. What's gotten into you!"
Mr. Granger slowly began to turn purple with rage, causing Harry to flinch mentally. This reminded him too much of his uncle. "If you think for one minute that I'll change my mind, you're sadly mistaken! What did you think I'd do? Just be all merry when I've heard that my daughter has almost gotten herself killed oh, say… five or six times? She is my daughter, and she will NOT be a witch anymore if that's the sort of shenanigans she'll be up to at that school!"
Harry looked over at Hermione, and for some reason she didn't look angry. The comment should have made her furious. Hermione was very proud to be a witch, and Harry had to wonder why she was being so loose about this.
Ron stepped forward. "Just what sort of safety do you think you're providing for her? She's already made herself a target just by being magical in the first place, do you think keeping her from a proper education is going to protect her?"
"THAT is not a proper education, and she wouldn't have made herself a target if you hadn't dragged her into it! From now on, you will have no contact whatsoever-"
"Dad! Just hold on a second!" Hermione interrupted him, her face suddenly alarmed. "You're making me sever my friendships!"
"I AM NOW!" Mister Granger bellowed, making it sound very final and very brutal.
Harry, Ginny and Ron stared dumbfounded at Mister Granger. How in the world had it come to this? Mister Granger had come to Grimmauld Place last Christmas, and he hadn't seemed at all like this. Why had he changed his mind this drastically? There had to be something more that Hermione had done to deserve this powerful a retaliation. It didn't seem fitting for the crime at all. Especially since during all last Christmas, Mister Granger had actually seemed like quite an affable man. He'd been interested in all of the little aspects of wizarding life that they'd showed him. This side of him just didn't make sense.
"All right." Hermione said quietly to her father, and Harry, Ron and Ginny gaped at her.
"What? Hermione, you can't be serious!" Ron exploded.
"Yes Ron, I am." Hermione cut him off, looking for all the world like she meant it. "I love my parents, and they really only want what's best for me."
This wasn't happening. Why was she doing this? Hermione wasn't like this. Hermione should have fought back. She would never have caved so easily.
"NO!" Harry yelled, bringing up his wand. "I don't believe you! Who are you and what have you done with the real Hermione!"
Harry saw Ron blanch beside him. Ginny was also pale, but at Harry's words, she too raised her wand, and pointed it at the now terrified-looking Mister Granger. Any other person using those words would have probably been joking, but Harry was dead serious. In fact, when Harry had his wand raised the way it was right now, in a fierce dueling stance, he was always serious.
The would-be impostor Hermione rolled her eyes. "You saved me from a troll in first year."
"Not good enough." Ginny barked. "Anyone could have heard that one. Ron's told enough people."
"Fine! You want specifics? Ron, you're afraid of spiders. Ginny, you're the bat-bogey queen. Harry, you've got a stag for a patronus, and you often call him 'Prongs'. Prongs was originally your father's animagus. Fox, Tiger, Lion," she added, pointing to each of them in succession, "Sidetrack, Sabertooth, Greymane. Don't forget our good friends Wrinkles and Stickyfoot of course." Harry began to smile, and listened to the continued ramblings with relief.
Hermione continued, "Would you like a full history of our friendship then? We've had good times of it with Moony at least once a month near a town that's changed drastically since our first year. Our favourite pub, which just happens to have unknowingly named itself after two of us, is owned and operated by someone that stupid Ron can't stop staring at every stupid time we go!"
"All right, Hermione, we believe you already." Ron grumbled, blushing a bit at her words. "And I don't stare at Madam Rosmerta," he added indignantly, scuffing his shoes together a bit.
Harry and Ginny had both lowered their wands by this point, so Hermione obviously agreed that she could stop. "Right." she said, pursing her lips together in anger. "Then what are you all still doing here?"
Ron looked crestfallen. "But Hermione-"
"I've made up my mind, Ronald."
Ron winced, and went even more brilliantly red. Very few people called him by his full name, and those who did, used it intentionally to raise his ire.
Harry looked over at Mister Granger, who was grinning triumphantly at the three visitors. He seemed to be unable to focus on any of them properly, and his triumph was dulled a bit by a vaguely tired feel to the look in his eyes.
No one really knew what to say. Hermione was obviously convinced, but something seemed wrong about this. Harry looked at her closely, and met her eyes. "Hermione are you sure?"
"There is no way I'll be coming back to Hogwarts this year. You couldn't force me to disobey my parents." Hermione said, with all seriousness, and Harry suddenly understood.
She was lying.
Hermione Granger was a fabulous actress. He very nearly clapped enthusiastically at her performance, and he imagined her taking a modest bow. He very quickly and carefully schooled his expression.
"Well, if you've decided for sure then, we bloody well won't stop you." He answered with the same amount of seriousness, anger, and a bit of reluctant understanding thrown in for good measure. She nodded only the barest amount.
"NO! Harry, we can't let her! No!" Ron whined, horrible watery shimmers collecting in the corners of his eyes.
Harry tugged on Ron's arm. "We have to Ron, she's made her decision, and you know the way she is when she's decided something." He tried to squeeze his friend's hand to let him know that he wasn't serious about it, but Ron didn't seem to take it that way. Harry realized that it was much like a gesture of comfort to someone who was desperate and about to permanently lose a very important friend.
"Merlin, No!" Ron said, pulling away and rushing up to the banister. "No, Hermione, you can't just leave the wizarding world! I won't be able to live without you!"
Hermione blanched slightly, but regained her composure when her father stepped menacingly in front of her, glaring at Ron's flushed face.
"You will not speak of my daughter that way!" He growled. Evidently he'd just worked out the intricacies of Ron's feelings toward Hermione, and he didn't like it.
"Get out of my way!" Ron nearly screamed, lifting his wand up suddenly to point at Mister Granger's face. "Don't do this!" his breath was coming in short desperate gasps, and he looked as if he might pass out any second.
"Ron!" Ginny yelled, to hold him back, pulling against his wand arm to keep him from aiming properly.
"Dad, hold on a minute!" Hermione leapt forward, and put a careful hand on her father's shoulder. "They don't understand. Let me talk to them alone for a second… you know, say goodbye properly and everything. They deserve an explanation." She said carefully.
Ron was stopped in his tracks, ready to let a curse fly should Mister Granger attempt to stop him again.
"Please, Dad, just ten minutes, and I'll say my goodbyes. All right? Go on upstairs, I'll be all right. We won't tell anyone they're here either. We'll just let them leave again once I've said goodbye. You know, keep ourselves out of it all."
Mister Granger glared menacingly at the frantic teen-aged wizard standing in front of him, and slowly backed away up the steps, eyeing Ron's wand with every step he took. He nodded, spun around at the top landing, and stomped off.
They heard a low grunt of frustration, the loud slam of an upstairs door, and Hermione promptly threw herself into Ron's surprised arms.
"Oh, Ron!" She whispered softly. "You great lout! It was so nice of you to say that!"
"Hermione, you can't just leave. You can't." Ron mumbled back, clutching at her, patting down her flyaway hair as if she might disappear.
Hermione chuckled. "Cast a silencing charm." She whispered.
Ron pulled away, looking confused for a second, before sudden hope gleamed in his eyes. He raised his wand immediately.
"Silencio." A blue beam of light encircled them all, about ten feet around.
"Good." Hermione nodded happily. "Ron, I'm so sorry for doing that to you, but I needed to make my dad believe me."
"Good show too." Ginny commented, and Harry rolled his eyes at her.
"Huh? You mean you aren't leaving the wizarding world after all?" Ron asked stupidly, letting out a long held breath of relief.
"No, of course not." Hermione said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Ron, you're a dear, but you're not very perceptive."
Ron's eyes narrowed at her. "Only when it's you! Because you're the most bloody aggravating and devious witch to walk the face of this earth!"
Hermione just kept grinning at him. "I'll have to take that as a compliment then, since you can't live without me, apparently."
Ron ignored the barb, and spun around to glare at Harry. "You knew?"
Harry's lips quirked up in a grin, and he shrugged. "I am supposedly a master Legilimens now." He answered.
"You knew she was lying, and you didn't tell me? You let me stand here and make a total prat of myself in front of her father!"
Ginny stepped forward. "Just because Harry can read minds, doesn't make it possible for him to put an idea into your head, Ron. You'd need the Imperius curse for that."
"Right." Ron said, looking a little sheepish.
The Imperius curse was one of three unforgivable curses that were highly illegal, and could earn a wizard a lifetime sentence in Azkaban prison if they were even attempted on another human being. It was a controlling curse that made a person do and say things they wouldn't ordinarily think of. It was normally the type of curse Dark wizards used when they wanted to keep certain people under control.
Something struck twelve in Harry's brain with those thoughts, and he whipped around to stare Hermione in the eye. "That's it, isn't it?"
Hermione looked at him, and nodded solemnly. "I can't be sure, and I haven't been able to tell anyone else, but I think that's what it is. They're showing all of the symptoms. I didn't suspect until last week, but by then they'd already done so many things to close me off. I was just so happy to be with them again, I didn't even think…"
"Huh?" said Ginny, obviously feeling as if she was missing something important.
"Oh, Merlin." Ron muttered. "The Imperius curse. It's been put on her father." Ginny gaped at the three friends, and put her fingers up to cover her mouth in alarm.
"My mother too." Hermione explained. "I think they're supposed to be spying or something, and I don't know what to do! The Death-Eaters don't usually use muggles, but if the person controlling them found out that I know, they would kill them! And me!"
She started to shake a bit, and Ron pulled her close to his chest again. "Shh. It'll be all right. We'll tell someone from the Order, and they'll come help them remember. They'll release the curse."
"You can't just make someone who is under imperius be released from the curse, Ron. They have to fight it themselves, or else the caster has to die or let it go! I've been trying to subtly prompt them into fighting it, but they're muggles, and I don't know if it works the same way for them. It's not exactly as though I've ever personally fought it off before, so to be honest, I'm not much of a help."
"It'll be all right." Ron said. "If we can get help for them from the order, it'll be okay. Maybe Mad-Eye or Kingsley will know what to do."
"Someone's been tracking the owls coming and going. Reading my mail! I put charms on all of my letter parchment before we left Hogwarts, and each one of them was broken, so I know the first person to read it wasn't the intended recipient, so I couldn't even send you a proper note! No one else knows yet!"
"We understand." Ron repeated. "It's all right. We'll let them all know."
"So, will you be coming to the testing tomorrow? Or will they make you stay here?" Harry asked, changing the subject.
"Of course I'll be there!" Hermione suddenly retorted haughtily. "I wouldn't miss it! It's things like this that I'd be able to stop if I become an auror!"
"What are you going to tell them?" Ginny asked. "How will you keep them from suspecting?"
"I already told them that I was going to the local library to study all day. I am supposed to be going off to the local comprehensive in September, so I told them I needed to work my way through the muggle schooling material. Catch up to my fellows and that. They understand."
Harry snorted. "No, they don't. But they will. Once they're freed from the imperius."
"You're right," Hermione nodded. "But until then, we can go to the ministry every day, and they won't be the wiser. They'll think I'm going to the library."
"Right, well, we'd best be going then." Ginny interrupted. "We didn't tell anyone we were going, see? So they might have come looking for us, and gotten worried when they couldn't find us."
"Oh!" Hermione winced. "I remember Professor McGonagall had a set of ward monitors for Grimmauld Place! She'll know you've left!"
"McGonagall has ward moniters?" Harry asked, confused.
"Yes, Dumbledore apparently left them to her. Besides, You know my parents are sort of unintentionally spying. They might be telling the Death-Eaters you're here right now! You have to go!"
"Right." Harry nodded quickly. "What about you? Won't our coming here cause any problems for you?"
Hermione paused for a second. "I don't know. They seem to want to keep me at home. I'm not sure that's Voldemort's typical modus operandi. He might have something specific planned for me. If he knows you've been here, he might cause trouble."
Harry nodded. "We'll send someone to check it out. Ron? A portkey. Quickly please!"
"You came by portkey?" Hermione asked, looking impressed.
"Yeah, Gin here found a book that shows how to make them, and hide them from the ministry's detection." Ron answered, looking around for their stuffed frog.
Hermione looked impressed, "Oh! You'll have to show me that tomorrow!"
Ron laughed. "I promise. In fact, how were you planning on getting to the ministry tomorrow?"
"I thought I'd take the train." Hermione said, blushing.
"That'll take too long." Ron said, shaking his head. "You'd have to leave at five in the morning just to get there on time. Your parents would never believe that. Here." He handed her one of the cushions off the couch. "I'll make this into a portkey for you to come to Grimmauld Place. Put it somewhere that someone won't move it or touch it until tomorrow."
Hermione grabbed it, and threw the couch cushion back where it started. "No, not that. Use this." She said, picking up a particularly ugly chipped sailor boy figurine from atop the mantle. "They won't notice if this is missing." She handed it to him, and he placed it back on the mantle.
"A portkey works best if you don't move it around too much." He explained. "At least, the ones you don't want the ministry to know about do. Just touch it when it's time to go, and count down from three. It won't be on a timer, so you can leave whenever your parents are out of the room. Will that be all right?"
"Perfect." Hermione nodded once.
"Portus" Ron said, pointing his wand at the little figurine, a look of intense concentration on his face. Once the figurine had stopped glowing, he said, "Right then, now for our own."
Ginny handed him the stuffed frog that had fallen to the floor, and he did the same to this one, holding it as steady as possible with his left hand.
"I'm glad you guys came. I've been going insane thinking no one was going to help me. I really do care about my parents, and I know this isn't really them, but it's just… difficult."
"We'll always help you, Hermione. We'll figure something out." Ron assured her, squeezing her hand.
"Now for the silencing charm." Hermione reminded him, waving her arm in a circle.
Ron waved his wand in an arc, and removed the silencing charm from the room.
"Oh, Ron. Thank you so much." She whispered, rushing forward, grabbing the sides of his face and kissing him hard on the lips.
Harry's eyes widened in surprise, and Ginny looked nonchalantly away from the kissing couple, grinning a little.
When Hermione pulled away, Ron blinked in vacant astonishment a few times, and Harry had to rush forward to grab at the portkey which his friend nearly dropped. He carefully held it as steady as possible, while Ron gathered his wits. Hermione nodded at him once firmly, as though she had just completed an especially satisfying homework assignment, then nodded at the others in much the same fashion for a farewell gesture.
Ron moved forward again, as if to pull Hermione back to him, but Harry grabbed his wrist, yanking it back toward the frog. Ginny put her hand on one frog leg, and clutched the back of Ron's shirt, since he didn't seem to have any controlled motor skills left, and was still trying to move toward Hermione.
"See you tomorrow then." Hermione whispered with a touch of relief in her voice.
"Huh? Tomorrow?" Ron said dazedly, just as Harry nodded at her and said, "Three, two, one," and the portkey whipped them away to the comforting gloom of Grimmauld Place.
Harry landed on the hard floor of the kitchen with a thump, and before he had a chance to think, much less try and untangle himself from Ron and Ginny, he heard the terrified squeals of Mrs. Weasley.
"Oh thank Merlin, you're safe! Just where did you think you were going! Who made up that portkey! What's going on here!"
Harry looked around, and saw Ginny being hauled to her feet by her livid mother, and Ron being chastised by a pointing finger.
Mrs. Weasley looked very tired. She obviously hadn't planned on a visit to Grimmauld Place tonight, since she was still in a dressing gown. The ragged worry in her voice indicated that she had actually suspected some sort of foul play in the sudden disappearance of her youngest children. She'd lost weight since Charlie's death, and Harry suddenly felt unbelievably guilty for worrying her.
Harry also saw the terrible image of a peeved-looking Professor Minerva McGonagall. She was standing at the side of the kitchen table, arms crossed, lips pursed, and toe tapping impatiently.
Even more disturbing was Remus who sat uncomfortably in one of the chairs, looking utterly devastated. Harry knew the werewolf's disappointment would hurt him the most of anyone's.
The most frightening of these images however, was that of Professor Severus Snape leaning victoriously against the doorframe, glaring at the three students who seemed to have been delivered out of nowhere into the kitchen of Grimmauld place. Snape was always ready to see a Potter being reprimanded, so he stayed where he was, grinning evilly, and clutching a hand carefully to his left forearm.
Harry felt horrible. What had made them even consider trying to leave by a portkey? Someone had obviously found them out. Just how much trouble were they in, exactly? Had the ministry detected it? Was Ron in trouble?
McGonagall spoke first, her voice heavy with threat. "I hope you three are very happy with the results of your little excursion. It will undoubtedly be the last time any of you are allowed to be alone this summer. You've wasted our time here tonight making us wait and worry, and from now on, it'll just keep happening as long as we are forced to mind you at every turn. I'm severely disappointed in you three." Professor McGonagall's nose rose in the air, and Harry very nearly quivered at the sight.
"Wait, professor. Hear me out!" He stopped her bravely. She didn't take well to interruptions, and Harry knew he was going to pay for it later unless he could make this a really convincing narrative. "It was Hermione! We think she's in trouble!"
The look of disappointment vanished, to be replaced by a look of intense fear. Harry knew by the look in her eyes that he'd said the magic words. Hermione really was McGonagall's favourite student, and the thought of her in danger was worth a little worry. "What sort of trouble?" She snapped. Snape huffed and rolled his eyes, as if he was impatient to see the verbal flogging he'd come to witness.
"Her parents. She thinks they've been put under the imperius curse in order to spy on us. They aren't letting her come back to Hogwarts this year, and someone's reading and all of her mail."
"How heartwarming." Snape sneered. "The poor muggles are in trouble. I can assure you, the Death-Eaters would do nothing of the sort. That would be only a half measure from their perspective."
McGonagall gave him an icy glare, and Snape returned the gesture.
"How would Miss Granger not coming back to school be in any way productive for Death-Eaters?" McGonagall pointed out. "If it were Death-Eaters, they would benefit more from just killing them. Creating fear is their usual style."
Harry stopped. Wait a minute. How would the Death-Eaters spy on the Order if neither Hermione or her parents were anywhere near it? Just what exactly did they have planned for Hermione?
"I don't know." He finally mumbled. "Maybe it's not Death-Eaters then?"
"Right, well you've thought this whole thing through thoroughly, of course." Professor Snape spat. "No doubt this was simply a ruse to try out something illegal. You're incredibly lucky the ministry hasn't detected that Portkey."
"Yes we were very lucky." Ron said aggressively, surprising everyone. "But unfortunately, we needed to talk to Hermione, and there was no other way to go about the act. Owls are being trapped left and right, fireplace floos are being monitored, and she doesn't have a connection to the system anyhow. We don't have the ability to apparate yet, and there was no one here we could send. Just what did you expect us to do! Now that I think about it, we could have tried somehow to get your attention, but how were we to know you weren't in an important meeting or at an attack or something? How were we supposed to get ahold of you? We didn't know where anyone was!"
"Ron, calm down!" Harry said, putting his hand out to lightly touch the irate redhead's shoulder. Ron was breathing heavily, and his ears were flushed red with anger.
"Right." Said professor McGonagall, turning to look at Snape, as if to consider his reaction to her decision. "Suffice it to say that they understood the underlying issues. I think an illegal portkey, charmed to keep the magic usage detectors silent, was probably the best thing these students could have done given the circumstances. It certainly got our attention."
Snape gaped at her, then shut his mouth, and sneered angrily, but didn't say anything, still hiding behind one crossed arm as if he were protecting his stomach.
It hit Harry in that moment, that Snape was now somehow beholden to McGonagall, since she would be the new Headmaster at Hogwarts. She was going to be his new boss, so he now had to be completely respectful if he wanted to keep his position. They'd always been a bit at loggerheads before, likely because of the long-standing Gryffindor – Slytherin house clashes. Now it seemed that McGonagall had the right to assume a sort of command over the Slytherin head-of-house. Harry smirked a bit at the thought.
"Hm-erm!" A throat was cleared forcefully just outside the door of the kitchen, breaking the sudden silence of the darkened room, and everyone present jumped. Harry thought he saw Professor McGonagall's cheeks turn a bit pink. "Hm-erm!" The sound came once more, much louder.
A short, handsome, silver-haired man strode through the open door. He was wearing a brown night robe and cap with a somewhat incongruous wand holster strapped to his wrist. He cleared his throat again. Harry wasn't sure if he was clearing his throat intentionally to let them know he was there, or if he was simply having an off day with his throat. Whatever it was, the man paused, and surveyed the assembled group, looking slightly bemused.
"Er… Bit late for a meeting. Did I miss the notice or something?" the man asked, his voice low and unnaturally gravelled. There was the slight trace of a Highlander accent hidden beneath layers of posh Londoner. "HM-ERM!" he cleared his throat again, and walked further into the kitchen. "Sorry for interrupting," he grumbled merrily as he passed. "I just wanted to get a glass of water."
"Not a problem Cameron, we were just finishing up." McGonagall said, smiling sweetly at the man by the sink.
Harry raised his eyebrows to Ginny, his eyes flicking between the two adults, and she snorted out a half-laugh.
The man named Cameron filled a waterglass, and tipped it to his lips, downing the whole thing in what looked like one gulp. "Ahh." He said, filling the glass once more, and taking it with him as he moved back across the room. "Oh!" he started, almost dropping the glass when he got a good look at who else besides McGonagall was in the room. "Harry Potter!"
Harry winced. He'd always hated the fact that people everywhere recognized him. "Pleased to meet you." He ground out through his teeth.
Cameron nodded his head, and shook Harry's hand. "Cameron Clerkenwell. Sorry 'bout that." He apologized. "I know you're not the type of person who likes others knowing all his business. You just surprised me."
"It's all right mister Clerkenwell." Harry said, shrugging. "These are my friends Ron and Ginny Weasley."
"Nice to meet you all." He said, shaking their hands too. "I think I recognize you." He added, nodding to Ginny. "I'm an auror, and I was at the Hogwarts battle in June. I witnessed a particularly spectacular hex cast on a Death-Eater, that I swear I'll never forget to my dying day. It made huge green things come flying out of the man's nose and begin attacking him. What exactly do you call that one?"
Ginny's eyes widened. "The Bat-Bogey hex. It's my specialty."
"Stupendous." He marveled, the london side of his accent coming out in full force.
Harry was impressed. He'd thought the man would immediately ask him about his own battle with Voldemort. It had been more than a little obvious, and he'd seen many an auror stop their own business to watch. He'd not expected this man to focus the conversation elsewhere, and Harry was pleasantly surprised that he had. Ginny was also looking very happy with the flattery.
"Right then, if you don't mind. I have to be at work early tomorrow. I'm on morning watch at Azkaban, then I've got a full afternoon's work at the ministry ahead of me too." He winked at the youths, and Harry got the feeling he'd be seeing more of Clerkenwell later.
"Right then, Cameron, I won't be seeing you before you go, so have a good day tomorrow." McGonagall said to him.
He rolled his eyes at her. "Not likely, but thanks all the same. Bloody depressing building Azkaban is. Anyhow, I'm off. Bit more sleep is most definitely in order. Beds here are ruddy uncomfortable. I wish they'd get my place finished right quick!" He downed his second glass of water, and strode out the door. "Bye then, Hm-Erm!" he cleared his throat again as he left the room.
"Right then." Remus said, continuing the end of the conversation they'd stopped. "You say Mister and Mrs. Granger are under the imperius?"
Harry nodded. "All the signs are there. I noticed that Mister Granger's eyes were a little out of focus, and to tell the honest truth, he didn't really look as if he recognized us. He didn't give any indication that he'd ever met us before. I remember him being incredibly nice to us last year, so the only thing I can assume is that he he isn't in control of his own actions."
"Imperius doesn't sound likely though." Remus answered. "If Voldemort was somehow able to get his hands on Hermione's parents, he would have killed them as he already has for five or six other muggleborn families. He would not put them under his control to spy. He doesn't have that sort of regard for muggles. It doesn't make any sense."
"Yeah, I see what you mean." Harry nodded at him. "But that's what I saw. I can't see it being anything else really. Professor Snape," he added quickly, "are there any potions that cause that same reaction?"
Snape looked surprised to have been asked anything. He scowled at Harry, but Harry kept his expression neutral.
"None that I can think of." Snape finally spat. "There's one that makes you obsess about any cause the potions master wants you to, but it doesn't make you change what your opinion is."
"We'll have to bring this up to Misters Moody and Shacklebolt. Someone should be looking into this." McGonagall interjected. "I know Miss Granger is very close to the action, but she might not be the only one in danger. There are at least fourty other Muggleborn children who attend Hogwarts, and they all need to be checked up on."
"In the meantime," Ron spoke up for the first time in awhile, "there's no way her parents are going to sign her forms for preliminary Auror training, so what do we do?"
Ginny's eyes lit up. "Hey! She could get herself a wizarding guardian! Just like you, Harry!"
"Is there any way to do that without having to go through her parents?" Harry asked cautiously.
Remus' eyebrows raised a bit. "There might be…"
"We need to discuss this with Miss Granger first." McGonagall said, nodding. "In the mean time, it's one-o'clock in the morning, and I still have twenty more first-year letters to write, so I'll take my leave of you. Misters Potter, Weasley and Miss Weasley, from now on, please refrain from taking any mode of transportation out of this house without my knowledge. I will not be so lenient the next time something like this occurs!" She spun around and left the room.
Snape scowled at them, and followed her example.
"Well that went all right." Harry muttered.
"Yeah, I was expecting a lot worse." Ron agreed. "I'm glad we could at least help Hermione."
"Goodnight all, see you tomorrow." Ginny said, and yawned. "By the way, Harry. Happy Birthday."
Harry's heart nearly stopped, and his eyes widened.
He was officially seventeen!
"WHUHOOO!" He screeched, leaping into the air. He pulled out his wand, and pointed at Ginny. "BEC!" he shouted.
"Eep!" Ginny said, slapping her hand to her cheek where Harry had just shot a kissing spell.
"BEC! BEC!" Harry added kissing spells to Ron and also to Remus. Ron leapt away from the spell, and Remus wrinkled up his nose as the spell hit him in the forehead.
"Avis! Flora! Flora! Flora! Arbetum oak!" Harry let loose the image of a flock of bluebirds, added a few shoots of flowering underbrush to the kitchen, and produced a huge oak tree, which sprouted from beside the ice box. The bluebirds were only an image, but with the help of a bit of floorboard transfiguration, the tree and shrubbery were very real objects.
"Harry! Harry! That's enough! I think we get the picture!" Remus said, waving his hands.
But Harry wasn't finished. He did put away his wand, but as soon as he did, he clapped his hands together, shooting green bolts of electricity out liberally across what remained of the floor.
Exotic red and white lilies and a pasture of grass took over the floor of the kitchen, and when Remus, Ron and Ginny were brave enough to turn themselves back to face Harry, they saw that he'd disappeared. In his place was a huge golden lion with a thick black mane, faint black circles around his eyes, and a shocking grey patch in the form of a lightning bolt running through the fur near the top of his scalp.
"Greymane, stop it!" Ron laughed. "I'm glad you're happy you can legally do magic, but this is a bit much!"
Harry, in the form of Greymane the lion, roared and stood up on his hind legs. He did an awkward-looking balletic leap, and smacked one of the chirruping bluebirds with his huge paw. He waited for another second with his face low to the grass, and wiggled his rear-end in the air. His low growl indicated that the hapless bluebirds were doomed. Even if they were only a magical image, and not the real thing, his cat form thought they might be a tasty snack.
Ron laughed at him, and changed into his own animagus form. Ginny looked slightly left out, and her frown at what the boys were planning made it all the more clear that she would not stand for it.
Ginny threw herself at Greymane, plowing her hip into his side, sending him for a bit of a roll, and he stopped only when he hit the counter cupboards. Ron in the form of Sidetrack the fox jumped up onto one of the kitchen chairs, and threw himself into the air, snapping his jaws neatly around one of the poor defenseless bluebirds.
"Ron! What are you doing!" Ginny yelled at her brother the fox, and Sidetrack grinned, staring at her ambivalently while he maliciously pretended to gulp down the fake feathery snack, licking his chops as it disappeared completely. He knew that if she were allowed to be in her own animagus form, she'd be dong exactly the same thing, and he was teasing her. They didn't really taste like anything anyhow. They were just fun to catch, and she knew it.
Remus just sat there and laughed until tears of mirth streamed down his face.
