A Siren's Call
Chapter 7
The yule holiday went quicker for those staying at Grimmauld place than Hermione would have liked. She wanted nothing more than to stay cooped up in the library, listening to Cedric comment on everything she read to them from 'The Odyssey book II'. She wanted to sit and watch Fred and George pretend to be pirates, fighting with swords they had transfigured from some small trinket lying about. She wanted to snuggle up close to each one of them and never move; but alas it wasn't something they were able to do.
If it was not Molly keeping a strict eye on them to be sure that there was no 'tom foolery' going on. Then it was Remus sitting down in the library pretending to read, or Sirius coming in and stealing the twins away to show them a prank of some sort.
There were even times when Harry and Ron would come and take Hermione away from the library to their room, where they would sit and conspire about what to do when they returned to Hogwarts.
All Hermione wanted was some time alone with her boys. And it was not until the night before they were to return to Hogwarts that she got any time alone with Viktor.
After dinner that evening, Hermione was sitting in the library, on the window seat reading. Suddenly she felt the urge to look up, and Viktor was standing in the doorway.
Hermione sat up straight and put her book down next to her. Silently she beckoned him to come closer, as she scooted towards the edge of the seat. He stalked towards her, seemingly to be moving in slow motion, but really, he was taking long strides. It was not until he was towering over her that either of them realized how close they were.
She rose slowly from her seat, his form still towering over her slightly. She leaned her head back to look at him, what she saw made her breathless. There he was looking at her with such longing, with such passion that it stole her breath away.
There were no words between them, for over the past 2 weeks there had been nothing but words. Now was time for action. He reached out and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into him. He had done this so quickly that she hadn't had time to do anything but gasp as her body came into contact with his.
Her arms came instinctively around his waist, and they stayed like that for no one knows how long. After some time, she stood on her tippy toes, and instinctively he bent down, and their lips met. There were no shocks, no fireworks; but it still felt right, they were home. The kiss progressed slowly, the two of them wrapped around each other, as they hold and cling to each other's very being.
He wanted so badly to touch her, and he knew from the dreams he had been having, that she wanted the same. He knew what she and her mates were up to at school, it wasn't any surprise that they hadn't been able to resist temptation. And he wanted so badly to know the taste of her skin when she was writhing beneath him. He wanted so badly to have her ample breasts in his hands, but he knew this was neither the time nor the place. So, he did the only thing he could think of to relieve the tension, "read for me?" he asked, in a slightly breathy voice.
"Okay," she said picking up the book that they were reading the night before. They sat together in the window seat, she leaned against his chest and read aloud to him. Shortly after she started, Cedric and the twins joined them. And together they dove into the story.
Remus and Sirius stood in the doorway and watched as the four of them sat together in rapt attention as Hermione captured the emotions of the story as she read.
And it was like that that the yule holiday ended.
The very next morning, they were bringing their trunks down the stairs. They enjoyed a heavy breakfast before they were shipped off to Kings Cross to catch the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade. Hermione and Viktor shared a tear-less goodbye before she too boarded the train. She waved from the window before moving to the compartment she would share with some of her fellow D.A. Members.
…
Upon the arrival back at school, the D.A seemed to pick up right where it left off. They started learning the Reducto Hex, and the Patronus Charm.
It was becoming harder and harder to dodge Malfoy and his goons. It was also becoming more and more difficult for Cedric, Fred, or George to get any time alone with Hermione without being interrupted by someone. So, most contact was limited to the common room as it was near impossible to get into the girl's dorms. It would have been out of the question to take her to the boy's dorm, too many prying eyes.
Cedric had taken to stealing glances and pretending to bump into her in the hallway. Not only did he get to hold her hand to help her up from knocking her over, but he also got to feel the warmth of her skin on his. Many, many times he tried to lure her away for a makeout session but resisted.
Fred and George had taken to stealing all her free time in the evening. They would sit next to her in the common room, they would commandeer her table in the library so that it was impossible for anyone else to sit with her in the library. They had to do this while keeping the regulation distance between them. They were close to getting detention many times because they were 'Sitting', 'standing', and or 'being too close to their girl.
There were several times where Hermione had to stop them from plotting Professor Umbridge's demise. Not that they had not taken to plotting when they were in their dorm. In between, them, Lee and half of Gryffindor's male population, they had an extensive plan devised. It involved hot wax, the forbidden forest, and a big enough cauldron to fit a body.
…
However, it wasn't until Easter that things took a turn for the worst. They were in the middle of a meeting when Dobby popped in out of breath. After panting for a moment or two he was able to get out that they were in trouble. That the horrible pink Professor had figure out where they were hiding. That she had drugged a student, and the student had to tell the truth.
After Harry thanked Dobby for warning them, they attempted to escape. The room of Requirement had given them another door to escape through, however, their secret was out, and the D.A. was out of business.
Of course, Umbridge had all the information she needed, but it was plain to everyone who the snitch was. It was Edgebomb, the proof was as clear as day, written on her face so to speak, in big bold letters; SNEAK.
It was then that the D.A. Came to realize how devious Hermione Granger was. Fred and George looked at her in awe, they knew that she was the one who came up with the parchment that held everyone's names. She had said that something would happen if anyone chose to snitch on them.
"Brilliant but scary," Ron was heard saying more than once. Hermione glared at him briefly before smiling at him, with a brilliant smile. She found it was very hard to be angry with him, and maybe it was true, maybe she was scary. She shrugged mentally, oh well, she thought, it didn't really matter.
However, with Dumbledore dismissed from his position due to ministry interference, Umbridge was now in charge.
Everyone who was on the D.A. List was sentenced to lines, in mass detentions held in the Great Hall. Fred, George, and many of the other 7th year students started plotting amongst their own houses. They were going out of their way to cause commotions.
However things calmed down during testing, as it was OWL's and NEWTS, it wasn't until after that Fred and George put their plan into action.
After the twins flooded the courtyard, with their might swamp, and set off fireworks all over the castle. They set off a giant firework in the form of a dragon, that chased Umbridge down the corridor. Everyone had a great time, it wasn't until the finale of their grand show that Harry had a vision of Sirius in trouble.
Cedric and Neville ran interference, setting off a dung bomb in the dungeons. Harry and company attempted to get to Umbridge's office so that Harry could Floo Grimmauld place. It wasn't until Kreacher refused to talk to him, that Harry left the office and dragged Hermione into the office with him.
"Talk to Kreacher," Harry demanded, "he won't answer my questions about Sirius."
Hermione stuck her head into the Floo, "Kreacher," Hermione called, "Kreacher it's urgent."
"What can Kreacher do for mistress Hermione," Kreacher asked.
"Kreacher," I need to you think a moment," Hermione said softly, "I'm in a big hurry, and I need to know if Uncle Sirius or my father is at home?"
"They are both here at present miss Hermione," he said, "though Kreacher wasn't supposed to say that, Kreacher was supposed to say that they weren't here."
"Kreacher," Hermione said, "tell whoever it was that told you to say that Sirius was away from home, that you did as they said. I'll handle the rest from here."
"Yes Miss Hermione," Kreacher said, "thank you, Miss Hermione."
"No," Hermione said, "Thank you Kreacher."
As she and Kreacher were ending the conversation she was being yanked from the Floo, by the collar of her shirt. "Lookie lookie what we have here," Umbridge said in a sickeningly sweet voice, "trying to sneak out, were you? Where were you going? You were trying to Contact Dumbledore weren't you?"
Harry and Hermione both remained tight-lipped on the subject, and just when she was about to hex Harry; Draco and his band of misfits tumbled in, holding Ron, and Neville.
"Mr. Malfoy," Umbridge said, "Go and fetch Professor Snape."
They only needed to wait a few minutes, and Professor Snape was gracing the doorway, "You called Madam?" Snape drawled in an unconcerned tone.
"Severus I need some Truth serum, immediately," she said menacingly.
"I am sorry, Madam, but you used the last of my stores, questioning several of the D.A. Members," Snape said.
"Brew some more," she demanded.
"It would take a month to brew another batch," Snape said, "so unless you wish to poison them I cannot help you."
Hermione looked at Snape imploringly, while Umbridge was contemplating what to do. While Umbridge was distracted, Snape took the opportunity to look into Hermione's mind. There he found all the information that he needed.
Snape nodded, when Umbridge ushered him off, he knew just what to do.
However back in the Headmaster's office, Umbridge was threatening to use an unforgivable on Harry to get information, she really despised the boy. And it was then that Hermione improvised, "If you won't tell her Harry, I will."
"Tell me what? Well, speak up!" Umbridge demanded.
"Where Dumbledore's weapon is hidden," Hermione said cryptically.
And before they knew it, Umbridge was walking out of her office behind Hermione and Harry. It wasn't until Hermione entered the Forbidden forest that Harry started to understand what Hermione was up to.
"Why would he keep a weapon out here?" Umbridge questioned.
"Dumbledore needed to hide it where no one could stumble upon it," Hermione said looking pleadingly at Harry.
"Surely someone would have noticed if he'd hidden it in the dungeons," Harry said in a smart tone.
Or in the third-floor corridor, Hermione thought, before trying to hide her smile.
Hermione and Harry stumbled towards where Gwap, Hagrid's younger giant brother was supposed to be, only to find him gone. Hermione looked around looking for him, "It should be somewhere around here."
Umbridge stepped forward, pushing Harry and Hermione out of the way as she searched for the "weapon" they were supposed to be looking for.
It wasn't until they felt the ground shake beneath them and saw Umbridge's face bunch up in anger as they realized that they were surrounded. Umbridge turned around with a snarl, Hermione suddenly imagined Umbridge yelling "I told you never to interrupt me while I'm working!" at the centaurs and laughed. Unfortunately, Umbridge took umbrage, and turned her wand on Hermione, and shot a stinging hex at the girl. Unfortunately for Umbridge, the centaurs took umbrage with Umbridge and decided to shoot arrows at her.
Umbridge being herself took that as reason enough to attack, sending an incarcerous spell at the
Hermione tried desperately to get the rope off of the bound Centaur. The Centaurs started shooting arrows at Umbridge, causing Gwap to drop Umbridge on the ground. They swarmed around the area gathering Umbridge up and carrying her off. Harry finally remembered that he could use his wand and cast 'finite incantatem' on the Centaur.
The Centaur stood swiftly, and then raced off to follow the rest of his herd; but not before turning towards the pair of students still kneeling on the ground.
Harry helped Hermione stand, and it was then that the Centaur bowed in thanks for their help. However, it wouldn't be until later that any of the centaurs realized who the young lady was.
…
Harry and Hermione raced back towards the castle, in a hurry to meet up with Ron and Ginny. When they made it to the bridge, they were greeted by not two but four faces. Ron, Luna, Neville, and Ginny were standing in wait on the bridge.
"You never told us what Kreacher said, "Harry said.
"Sirius and Remus were at the House," Hermione said, "the images that Voldemort was feeding you thought the connection was lies. They're after the prophecy, and they've set a trap for you. Did Dumbledore come up with a plan to get the prophecy out from under nose?"
"We talked a little over the Yule Holidays, but we never got to getting it from the Department of mysteries," Harry admitted still a little confused over the situation.
"So what are we going to do?" Ron asked.
"I gave Professor Snape all the information I had when we were in the Headmaster's office," Hermione said, "he thinks we should eat into the Death Eaters plans and destroy the Prophecy. It'll be very dangerous."
"How do we know that Snape isn't in on the trap?" Neville asked worriedly.
"We don't," Hermione said, rather reluctantly, "but I think we should. He is promised to get word to the Order, they are to meet us there. We may have to fight for our lives, but if it means keeping the Prophecy out of their hands then we should have faith that Professor Snape will come through for us. Besides he promised my mother that he'd protect me."
"Let us hope that your mother put her trust in the right man," Ron said before changing the subject, "Now how are we getting there?"
~Department of Mysteries ~
After a few minutes, Harry and his friends found themselves in the Prophecy room. Harry tried to remember what row it was. Harry motioned for them to follow him, and after they walked for a few minutes. "It's in this row," Harry said, "Near the end, I think.
Hermione stepped up next to him, but it was Ron's voice that broke him from his thoughts, "Harry, have you seen this? It has your name on it."
Harry looked at the tag that was hanging from a clouded glass ball, the tag said:
S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D.
Dark Lord and (?)Harry Potter
Harry reached to grasp it, even after knowing that they were going to be in trouble any moment. It was then that Harry knew they were in trouble. Harry turned around at the familiar voice behind him only to come face-to-face with Lucius Malfoy.
Black shapes emerged out of thin air around them, wands directed at their hearts. Ginny gasped in fright. It was then that Lucius Malfoy repeated a second time, "give that to me Potter."
Harry noted that they were surrounded two to one. The odds weren't in their favor, "Where is Sirius?" Harry demanded, fully knowing that they didn't have Sirius, however the need to stick with the plan was more important at the moment.
"You really should learn to trust your friend's Potter," Lucius said, "Now give me the Prophecy."
"I want to know where Sirius is!" Harry demanded louder again.
And then out stepped Bellatrix Lestrange, and after a bit of arguing, Harry started whispering a plan to tho others. And on his signal, they all shouted "REDUCTO!" Their wands pointed in 5 different directions. The towers bowed and wavered, the clouded spheres burst apart.
"Run!," Harry yelled. Harry, Neville, and Hermione got separated from the others. Between Harry and Hermione, they were able to Stupefy 2 Death Eaters before ending back up in the round room. After trying door after door. Before making it back to the death Chamber. Harry and Luna had a moment to become distracted by voices only they seemed to be able to hear.
Suddenly they bunched themselves together as they became surrounded by Death Eater after Death Eater. They fought brilliantly managing to knock out a few of the contenders, but it was only a few minutes before they were all captured by their own Death Eater. Doholov held his arm around Hermione's waist, pinning her arms to her side, pointing his wand into her neck. He mocked her, dared her to move, she paled and tried not to flinch when his arm tightened suddenly.
Luna, Ginny, and Neville were all held at wand point, Lucius was bartering with Harry, "give me the Prophecy and I'll let your friends go. They ran, to the round room and tried door after door. Before making it back to the room with the Veil in it, or the death room. *
They stood together in a circle back to back, as they became surrounded by Death Eater after Death Eater. They fought brilliantly managing to knock out a few of the contenders, but it was only a few minutes before they were all captured by their own Death Eater. Doholov held his arm around Hermione's waist pointing his wand into her neck. He mocked her, daring her to move, she stood ramrod still as she realized that he was petting her and panting into her neck.
Luna, Ginny, and Neville were all held at wand point, Lucius was bartering with Harry, "give me the Prophecy and I'll let your friends go."
"Leave my friends to go and I'll give you the prophecy," Harry said eying his friends cautiously.
"Give him the prophecy," Bellatrix threatened in a high-pitched voice, "Or we'll see how long before they go insane," she finished before the room echoed with her evil cackling laughter.
Harry reluctantly handed the Prophecy to Lucius. As Lucius gave the order to leave Harry's friends to go as promised, the Order showed up. Moody and Tonks, helped Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Luna get to safety. Somehow amongst the crossfire, Lucius dropped the Prophecy and it shattered into a million pieces. and then something odd happened. the mist that was being held in the round orb rose from the ground, and a voice of the person who told the prophecy could be heard lightly before it disappeared with the mist.
Remus rushed towards his daughter and her captor wand at the ready. However Doholov refused to let his captive go, and he used Hermione to shield him from her father's spells. Doholov must have known that Remus wouldn't hurt a child because he all but stopped fighting. Even when she yelled for him to keep fighting, Remus lost all will. It wasn't until Sirius sent a curse at Doholov's back that Hermione was finally able to get free.
There wasn't any time to check and see if she was injured, Remus grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the door that leads to the atrium where her friends were waiting for them.
Sirius and Bellatrix were locked in a heavy battle, they were yelling back and forth, and Sirius barely dodged several of her curses. Harry and Hermione watched in shock, as Remus dove towards Sirius, pulling him down and out of the way. They both came close to getting hit with the Killing Curse once or twice.
Bellatrix attempted to fire again when suddenly Hermione dove at the witch knocking her to the ground. Bellatrix and Hermione's eyes locked for a moment before Bellatrix pushed the girl off her. By then it was too late and Moody knocked her out.
"Good job Granger," Moody said patting the girl on the shoulder.
"Don't do anything reckless like that again," Remus said hugging her tightly.
"You either," she whispered in his ear, "I can't bear to lose you."
"What about me?" Sirius asked, "could you bear to lose me?"
"I couldn't bear to lose either," Hermione said transferring her arms from around her father's neck to Sirius's.
Then together they rushed everyone out into the atrium. There they saw Dumbledore dueling with Voldemort. Harry was caught up in the sight and fell behind everyone as they were leaving. And then as Voldemort stood nearly defeated once again, he tried to possess Harry, and take over his body. Once again, the feeling of love drove Voldemort out.
The minister and several officials and reporters stood there in complete silence. You could tell by their faces that they were too shocked for words. Flashes snapped, pictures of the three would be printed into the prophet for days to come. And Voldemort disapparated into thin air leaving a confused Harry and a disgruntled minister behind.
Dumbledore sent Harry up into the lifts so he could have a private chat with the minister.
"In the Death chamber you'll find many that many of the wanted criminals have been bound," Dumbledore said, "Now if you excuse me I must be off. I have some urgent matters I must attend to."
"This isn't' over Dumbledore," The minister said.
"No, it isn't," Dumbledore said, "dismiss Umbridge as headmistress, let me go back to the school and address the damages. I'll set aside a half-hour this evening to explain everything."
The minister could only nod in approval as he was still shocked about what had just happened.
…
Back at Hogwarts, students were still talking about the Weasley's Exit. They didn't even notice the disappearance of the six students that disappeared to the Ministry. After the battle was finished, and all was said and done, they were all sentenced by Madam Pomfrey to spend the remainder of the night in the infirmary. There wasn't anything too severe wrong with them, just some minor cuts and bruising.
Most wouldn't have any lasting damage, however, Hermione would carry a small scar under her chin where Doholov had dug too deep with his want. Neither Hermione nor Madam Pomfrey knew if it was consciously done, but the small scar would stay nonetheless.
…
The day before the end of term, the six students were pulled to the Headmasters' office after dinner.
"I wanted to thank you for seeing to Umbridge's departure," The Headmaster said, "You have my thanks. As to the Trip to the Ministry, I can't say that was the wisest choice you've made this year."
"And what choice were we given," Harry asked, "Had we not forgotten about the plans to capture the Prophecy from under Voldemort's nose we wouldn't have been there at all, and no one would have gotten hurt."
"That is true my boy," Dumbledore said, "had I not forgotten about the plans to obtain the prophecy this wouldn't have happened. I'm sorry I put you in a position where you thought you had to take matters into your own hands. However difficult as that was, you still should have gotten assistance or told someone of your departure. Had the Order not made it in time, I shudder at the thought of what might have happened. You all must be more careful in the future."
"Professor Dumbledore sir," Hermione said, "we did have a plan. A plan that I'm sure Professor would be happy to relate to you at your earliest convenience. As you said we had little choice in the matter. Had we not gone, Voldemort would have entered the prophecy chamber on his own to take the prophecy. And as I said before someone did know we were going, who do you think informed the Order?"
Dumbledore sat and pondered her points for a moment or two before thanking them and dismissing them back to their common rooms.
…
The summer holidays started without a hitch. Harry was required to spend a month at his aunt and uncle's house. Though he received letters from Ron and Hermione weekly. His family wasn't being as horrible to him as they were the previous year, lately, they tended to ignore him; except when they couldn't.
Ron and Ginny on the other hand weren't so lucky. Molly was still angry about the twins ditching school, and though they tried to smooth things over, nothing worked really. She was up in arms at mostly everything, and to make matters worse Bill was bringing his Fiancée home for part of the summer.
Hermione couldn't wait to go and stay with them. She loved her father and Sirius very much, but she wanted to see her friends.
The twins thought they wanted to see Hermione more than once or twice a week, we're busy setting up their shop. Hermione was surprised at how well they were doing.
Though they were allowed to visit Hermione at Grimmauld place, the visits were supervised. Remus thought that it was a good idea, and naturally, Sirius followed suit. "I'm too young to be a grandfather," Remus would say out of nowhere.
And Sirius would just laugh and walk away. Hermione never did quite understand them, she often finds herself shaking her head at them. Kreacher would often ask her what she was laughing over, and she would just shake her head and say nothing.
Cedric was unsure what he wanted to do, for the time being, he was helping the Weasley twins set up their shop. They had even offered him a job once their business took off. They told him he was welcome there as long as he liked or until he figured out what he wanted to do in the future for a job. There were a ton of opportunities at his disposal, but he didn't want to work at the Ministry. And he wasn't sure if he wanted to be an Auror or not.
Viktor promised to visit at some point over the summer but was unsure when he would be able to. For now, they were sending letters every other day. Most had nothing to do with the war, and just the daily goings-on.
Hermione eagerly awaited her trip to the Weasleys, she longed to see her friends. They had a lot to talk about that couldn't be put in letters. Plus she had a feeling that something good was going to happen over the summer.
A/N: So I went back and added chapter 8 to this chapter, it makes it a little longer but at least it not a short chapter.
still not a hundred % happy with the last part of this chapter. Updated 5/30/21 the last Sunday in May.
I would apologize for all the Umbridge takes umbrage jokes but I am not sorry.
If you recognize it, I don't own it.
