Thank you to the beta of this chapter- songofstars
Chapter 40– The Lists
Harry passed the file that was filled with names of students who had detention with Lockhart over to Hermione who took little time to flip it open and skim the long list of names that were presented to her, the realization hitting her hard that all of these people might be victims of Lockhart. Just how many students were walking around with no idea what may of happened to them? Hermione couldn't fathom the idea of not knowing. "We should divide this," Hermione suggested. "I think I should approach any girls, you know, as a woman to woman thing, while you two can handle the boys. People might feel better with their own gender. That is how it is for girls, anyways," Hermione explained. "They may not be willing to open up to you two."
"Sounds good," Harry agreed before reaching for the long piece of parchment and ripping it in half, keeping one half for himself and giving the other half to Ron. Hermione reached into her bag and pulled out a couple of quills and a bottle of ink. She set them down on the table before going back to the file that was in front of her.
Harry and Ron reached for the quills as Hermione started to read off the names. Harry and Ron each wrote separate lists, with Harry putting the girls' names down while Ron put the boys' names on his own piece of parchment.
It took well over an hour of going through the records to find everyone who had detention with Lockhart. When they were done, Hermione laid everything aside and leaned back in her chair with a sigh, bringing her hands up and rubbing at her tired eyes as she let out a long breath, feeling drained and numbed of all emotions. Harry passed over his list of the girl names over to Hermione.
"Lockhart doesn't seem to care how old they are or what gender they are," Harry commented, feeling sick to his stomach as he looked over all the names that they had written in the past hour. Many of these people he knew, Justin Finch- Fletchly, Susan Bones, Michael Corner. Harry couldn't help but to feel responsible for the pain that they must have suffered.
Hermione brought her hands down and picked up the parchment. "I'm already friends with several of them. I know Tasmin Applebee. She spends her free time down in the library. That's how I know her. I have run into her a couple of times and we started talking. She's part of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, right?"
"Yes, she's a chaser," Harry replied as he pressed his lips together. "She's good, too."
"Half the DA is on this list as well," Ron put in. "Amber Byrd, Deven Baxter, Dayana Ward, Seth Mercado," he read a few of the names he knew to be in the DA. Amber just signed up three weeks ago.
"Don't forget Michael. He's been part of the DA since the beginning. He's the quiet one, always in the back," Hermione explained. "He's in Ravenclaw."
Harry took in a deep breath as he thought of where they should begin. They couldn't just go around and start asking questions. The best way would be to hover in the background. "We just have to go through them one at a time," Harry said, watching as Hermione wrote one more name on the list for girls. "What are you doing?" Harry questioned as he leaned forwards a little to see what Hermione was writing.
Hermione was quick to cover what she wrote with her hand, looking up at Harry before shooting her eyes to Professor Snape's private potion lab where he had retreated to an hour ago. She glanced back at Harry and Ron, debating rather or not she would tell them, but she figured they would find out sooner or later and it would be best coming from her. "... I skipped a name when I was reading them off … I didn't know …" Hermione couldn't find the right words. She didn't know how to tell them so all she did was pass her parchment over to Harry and Ron so they could be able to read the name off.
'Ginny Weasley.' Her name stood out from all the other names like black ink against white parchment, Harry could feel his stomach drop as he read her name, he could feel anger rise within him at the thought that Lockhart touched her, that he managed to lay his hands on her body.
Ron shot up from his seat, his hands gripping the edge of the table as his face turned as red as his hair "... I have to go!" He spat out before turning and leaving.
"Ron, no!" Hermione yelled as she stood up from her seat, just before Ron made it to the door. "Remember what Snape said? We don't want to trigger any memories. If none of her memories are coming to the surface, then we want to keep it like that!" Hermione explained.
Ron quickly turned back around to face Hermione "He … she …" He struggled to get the words out. "She's my sister and that monster touched her! You can't expect me to do nothing!" He yelled.
"Do you really want to risk bringing back her memories? Do you have any idea what that could do to her?" This time it was Harry who yelled, standing up from his seat "We have a plan and we have to stick to it!"
"I saw Ginny this morning and she seems fine. I honestly don't think she was triggered," Hermione spoke in the hopes of calming Ron, but her words seemed to do very little to lower his rage.
"I can't just stand back and do nothing, not when she could be hurting," Ron said softly before storming out of the chambers, leaving Harry and Hermione alone in silence.
