Chapter 14: The tunnel to honeydukes.

This chapter is again, 6 pages long, so a pretty lengthy one. R & R.

Discleimer: I own nothing.

'You know, it was an accident,' Harry said one sunny day on a walk round the grounds with Hermione (they both had their wands out). Hermione sighed.

'I know, but Ron still won't talk to me. It's not my fault,' she said, almost reassuring herself.

'Yeah. You know Ron hates Malfoy now?'

'Doesn't anyone?' The news of Hermione impressive departure had spread round the school like wildfire. Harry laughed quietly.

'Hey Hagrid!' Hermione called out, waving to someone Harry had not yet seen.

''Ello, Hermione, Harry. Yeh sure yeh should be out on the grounds? Innit a bit dangerous?'

'Nah,' said Harry, looking a bit apprehensive as they got nearer to the forest. 'But just in case, should we go up for lunch?'

'Yeh can come an' have lunch with me, I don' mind.'

Harry glanced at Hermione.

'OK Hagrid,' she said, and they went inside, hoping they would have some cooked, edible food.

'Now, I heard wha' Ron did, an' how're yeh?' Hagrid called over from the fire.

Hermione went a bit pink, but answered normally. 'I'm fine; he's just being a bit –'

'Stupid?' Harry supplied with a laugh.

'Yes, that. Well, I'm sure he'll be out of it sooner or later.'

'Ere yeh go, riso'o,' Hagrid said. It looked like risotto, Harry thought, but there could always be something inside.

It turned out that there wasn't, and after eating they went up to the castle. Hermione saw a centaur in a window.

Harry,' she said in a panicky voice, grabbing his arm, 'isn't that a centaur. It's gone now,' she said, because Harry had looked towards the window. Harry still swore under his breath. It was a mark on how serious the situation could get that Hermione did not reprimand him.

'Let's go,' Harry said, and they sprinted up to the school. They burst open the doors and people turned around in fright, their drawn wands shaking. When they saw who it was they sighed with relief.

'Harry, you've got to help us –'

'– Our things haven't vibrated –'

'–­they haven't – have yours –?'

'– I can hear their hooves –'

'– I'm scared –'

'– Me too –'

'BE QUIET!' Hermione yelled, taking even herself by surprise. 'Now, listen to Harry.'

Harry had already started to listen for noises. He couldn't hear any.

'Are there centaurs inside?' he asked the nearest person to him.

They're near the Charms corridor –'

'– That puts that passage out of use …'

'We can use the passageway,' Hermione suggested.

'Where?' a few people said.

'Never mind, just follow Harry, or you'll be –'

'THEY'RE COMING UP TO THE CASTLE!' a girl screamed.

'This way,' Harry said, sprinting to the staircase.

The corridor with the one-eyed-with was deserted, but Harry could still hear a rustling.

'Keep you wands out,' he said needlessly, for no one had put their wands away. Harry climbed down the hump first, because he sensed something wrong. When he had gone down the slide, he had to stop himself from yelling.

'How'd you get here?' he asked the large group of people in front of him. As an afterthought, he added, 'it's safe to come down, now. Come quickly.'

'It's OK, Harry, they're with me,' came a familiar voice, and Andrea's head came poking out from the crowd.

'OK,' Harry said, and when the rest of his group had climbed down, he shouted, 'WILL YOU GUYS SHUT UP! I'm surprised that they haven't sussed that there's a hole here yet. You're not an exception,' he shot at a tall blond boy, with an upturned nose, who fell quiet at once, sneering at Harry.

'How many people have you got?' Hermione asked Andrea.

'Eighteen,' she said nervously. 'Two classes of nine. You?'

Hermione quickly counted the heads of the group huddled behind Harry.

'Nine,' Hermione said.

'That's not right,' Harry said immediately – surely he was wrong … 'Count again,' he said again, with a bit of unwanted force in his voice.

'We have nine,' she said patiently, 'and they have three-four-six-eight-there's five, so that's thirteen.' Andrea swore very loudly, with an uttered apology to Harry for making some noise. She started pointing at people.

'Zack, Haley, Me, Andrea, triplets; Tom, James, Megan; Ann, Beth, Charlie,' she said at top speed, 'obviously no Ginny, Rachel, er –'

'Lauren,' a dirty-blond haired girl supplied with a nervous smile. 'And that's Peter.'

'Where's Gina and Liz?' Zacharias Smith said, looking pale and worried.

No one said anything for ten seconds, then –

'They've gone down the tunnel, haven't they?' Harry said quietly; a nag in his head told him that they'd never come back, and that it was his fault …

'I told them not to, I did, honest, Harry,' said Andrea. Harry hugged her.

'It's not your fault.' He whispered. 'Hey – you! Where're you going?' he called out as loudly as he dared. Don't let him offend you, Harry…

'We're going to find them, duh,' one of the two boys who had walked further down said.

'Oh no, you're not,' Hermione said.

'Oh yeah? Why?' the second boy pouted.

'Because they're probably already gone. Harry said not to go down this tunnel for a reason. Duh,' she added in imitation.

'Did you tell them that the tunnel,' Harry lowered his voice, 'leads to Honeydukes?'

'No,' Andrea said, shaking her head. 'They must've been curious.'

'We have to find them,' one of the boys insisted, his wand drawn.

'Don't point your wand at me,' Harry retorted snappily. 'I'll jinx you both before you can think of the spell. So don't even think about it.'

'He's quick, and he's got me, too,' Hermione said, as they both opened their mouths.

'I don't care, I'm goin–'

In a flash of red light, both boys keeled over, and Harry and Hermione relaxed their wands.

'No one try to do that, OK?' Harry asked. Everyone nodded. 'Good. Talk quietly please. No, quieter than that,' he added, smirking at the look on Zacharias' face.

'D'you think Ron's alright?' Hermione asked as soon as Harry turned around.

'I think so, he isn't stupid,' Harry said, slipping his hand into Andrea's.

'He'll be fine, Hermione,' Andrea said reassuringly, but Hermione just bit her lip. 'D'you know about Phorion? Is she OK?'

'I dunno,' said Harry uncomfortably – what if something happened to her?

Hermione sat down on the earth, and put her head in her hands. Harry and Andrea followed suit, but kept their hands clasped together. Hermione fell asleep after an hour of half-hearted talking. Many other people had as well, even though it was the afternoon.

'Right, can we all try to sleep, now?' he hissed quietly; Andrea's head had just dropped onto Harry's shoulder. Several people threw Harry dirty looks, but everyone managed to find someone to lean against. Harry even saw Smith blush as a girl with long, wavy hair and long eyelashes fell asleep on him. He smiled inwardly to himself, and told himself that now was not the time for gossip.

He would find out her name later.

'Harry? Are you awake?'

'I am now,' a grumpy Harry said to Andrea.

'Good, because it's like four in the morning, and we've had a couple of injuries –' Harry sat up very suddenly, cricking his neck.

'Who? What? How?'

'I don't know,' Andrea said sadly. 'Lauren, Hermione an–'

'Hermione's hurt?' Harry said, standing up. What had happened to her? Harry swore and started to climb the hole.

'Where're you going?' a girl asked, rubbing her eyes. 'What if the centaurs come?'

'I'll be fine,' Harry said, though he was uncertain.

'Not, you, but about us; What if more of us are injured?'

'D'you know how she got injured?'

'No,' the girl said.

'Did anyone see?'

'No.'

'What if she went – went down the tunnel?'

'No one can go down there – you said yourself!' said a boy with a pointy nose, yawning, but his beady eyes fixing on Harry for his reaction.

'Damnit. I'm going to the Hospital Wing. Nothing can hurt you,' he added, for several people had cried out.

'See you, Harry,' Andrea called up to Harry, who by now was in the corridor. She blew him a kiss, and Harry mimed pocketing it. Then, after a few minutes running, he got to the Hospital Wing. Then, with a sinking heart, realised that it was closed for very serious injuries. He opened the doors anyway.

'We're closed, sorry – oh, it's you, Potter. What do you want?' she said wearily.

'Is Hermione Granger here? And someone else called, er,' he racked his brain for the other girl's name, 'Lauren. Well, are they here?'

'No, sorry. I can try and narrow it down for you; here's the list of new Wings… any use?'

Harry scanned the papers – there were over twenty new Wings.

'Are people still being jinxed?' he asked Madame Pomfrey.

'Yes,' she said, filling up a water jug with a lazy flick of her wand.

'Can I keep these?' Harry waved the papers.

'Hmm…'

'I'll give you them back when – wait! I've found them! Ward Thirteen – that's unlucky!' he said, dropping the papers, and running out of the room.

After three staircases, five corridors and a secret passage (where he had found a group of nervous first-years) he arrived at Ward Thirteen. There was no teacher in there.

'Hermione – are you in there?'

'How about "Ron"?' came a voice from the corner.

'Hi Harry, I'm over here,' Hermione said, ignoring Ron.

'Are you alright?' he asked her; she nodded grimly. 'What happenne–'

'Hello? I'm injured over here!' called Ron's voice indignantly. 'I'm sure Hermione can find another couple of blokes to comfort her, so can you ask me if I'm alright already?'

'Are you alright?' Harry asked with his eyebrows raised.

'No, I'm covered in bloody bandages, and I have a big pain in my chest.'

'OK,' Harry said, not paying attention; he was more concerned about Hermione because she had been right under his nose before she had been attacked: was this his fault.

'It's not your fault,' she said, making Harry think that she's a mind-reader.

'Blah blah,' Ron said from the corner, with his hands over his ears, though Harry could tell that he was listening intently.

'D'you remember what happened?'

'Um … well, I felt a hand on my throat, but there was no one there, it lifted me up – it was weird, like he – or she – was suffocating me. It was awful; I was so scared; I thought I was going to – you know – die. I'm so lucky I didn't, I don't know what happened; the last thing I remember was trying to scream, but I couldn't – I obviously passed out,' she finished, like she was explaining the obvious. Harry noticed that Ron was quiet during Hermione's monologue, and looked a bit paler, touching his neck gingerly.

'But, honestly, I'm fine,' she said loudly to where Ron was lying down. 'It's not like I get upset because my boyfriend won't talk to me, even though I thought I had died. I, mean, Harry, it's no biggie.' And she turned around on her side. Harry saw a couple of tears fall down. He went over to Ron.

'What's your problem?' he asked Ron in a low, but aggressive tone.

'Excuse me?' Ron said sitting up.

'Can't you tell she's upset? You idiot, I know you're upset, too, come on –'

'Onto what?' Ron said. 'She can get any bloke she wants –'

'She wants you, thick-head,' Harry said, a bit bored; he certainly didn't want to spend the rest of the day matchmaking them.

It would be so much easier if you could make the traitor see sense …

Yeah, you're right, Harry thought back at himself, staring at Ron, who waved his hand in front of Harry's face.

'Harry? Hello? Are you there, or is it someone el–' he cut off mid-sentence. Harry could feel his blood pumping vehemently through his veins – why couldn't Ron see sense?

'Calm down, Harry, calm down –'

Hit the brat; make him suffer through the years of my suffering … hit him …

Well, I don't really want to, thought Harry; and he didn't…

I SAID "HIT HIM"!

OK, thought Harry, and he raised his fist; Ron swore, and tried to move back.

'Pertrificus Totalus!' cried a voice from the door; Harry turned round just in time to see Neville standing there, his wand raised, and his face red. Then he fell to the ground with a loud CLANG.

'I hit him!' he said. 'I actually hit him! Wow,' Neville said.

'Thanks, Neville,' Ron said.

'What?' Neville said blankly.

'You just stopped me punching me,' Ron said slowly, frowning.

'Yeah, I heard some Gryffindors got hurt, and I came to see–'

'Hermione's over there,' Ron said angrily. 'And she's got another little fan club by the looks of it.'

Lavender, Pavarti, Seamus and Dean were standing next to Hermione. Whilst they gave Hermione some Chocolate Frogs, Harry tried to make a noise, knowing full well that he couldn't. He blinked his eyes furiously.

'Oh, yeah,' said Ron, 'here you go; Renervate!'

Harry felt his muscles regaining strength, and he realised that it was all Ron's fault that he was laying on the floor. A whisper in his own head did not help him; it egged him on, and he stood up vehemently.

'Harry, its Ron, your best mate, hello-o?' Ron swore a couple of times. Then, he said to the rest of the group, who were watching Harry apprehensively, 'Just let him whack me. His stress level will sink down, and –'

WHAM!

Harry's fist finally hit contact to Ron's face. He whimpered, and lay still on his bed, as if worrying what Harry's next move would be. Harry swung his hand back, ready to make him pay back–

'Harry!' cried someone from the door. It made Harry drop his hand and spin around.

'What do you want?' he said aggressively to Andrea, who was standing there looking scared.

'Er, well, I'm not coming back to, er, Hogwarts,' she said, shaking slightly.

Harry's aggression slipped a notch: she wasn't coming back?

Good, there will be more that are pure born, and the sooner we can rid this filth, this scum, this

'It's not that ridiculous voice thing again is it?' Andrea said loudly, looking at Harry.

'Yes,' said Hermione, Ron and Neville in unison. Everyone else just stared at Harry, sometimes flicking their heads towards Andrea. Seamus opened his mouth, but Andrea cut across him.

'Well, I'm sorry that you can't muster your bloody feelings for one minute,' she yelled, and Harry was taken aback; this was the first time he had heard her yell at him. 'So you'll have to put up with me for a couple more school days, a stupid two-week holiday, and then I'll be gone. But, honestly, it perfectly alright that you don't care enough to even ask what I'm going to do, or where I'm going; but that's OK, isn't it? Well?'

Harry didn't know what to say. Half of him wanted to rage at her. The other half made him stare at the floor. Hermione got out of bed, put her hand around Andrea's shoulder, and lead her from the room. Harry felt awful, sat down on the nearest bed, and could almost hear what he had assumed was his own voice: that was a terrible, horrible, disgusting thing. Sirius wouldn't have approved. Harry's heat sank a few notches, and he remembered Sirius. His eyes filled with tears, and his scar burst open momentarily – he could hear laughter - he forgot he was in a Hospital Wing, and that there were people watching him. All you care about is Sirius, someone told him, there is nothing but Sirius…

'Are you OK, Harry?' Neville asked Harry. 'What do you want?'

'I – I want to see Sirius, Neville, I want to see my godfather, now, I do, I do, I do – help me…'

And he sunk into a dead faint.

Well, if there's one thing for sure, Harry seems to be cracking up. Is the end too predictable? Review and tell me!