In honor of the nineteenth anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, I give you the longest chapter yet and the formation of the Golden Trio.
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To Harry's and Ron's surprise Malfoy actually looks relieved when he sees that they are still in Hogwarts the next morning. It troubles them but it doesn't damage the cheerful mood they find themselves in. They can't wait to have another adventure. Harry tells Ron about the package that seems to have been moved from Gringotts to Hogwarts and they wonder what could it be for it to need such heavy protection. "It's either really dangerous or really valuable," Ron says.
"Or both," Harry adds.
"You know what else is dangerous and really valuable?" Harry and Ron turn around to see a quite unhappy Slytherin behind them. "A very angry twin sister, that's what." Selena's eyebrows are scrunched, her lips are pursed, and her green eyes are cold. Oh yes, she is the most angry he has seen in a while and the younger twin finds himself to be terrified. Poor Ron, who has never seen Selena angry, heartless when she verbally attacked Snape but not angry, is shaking.
"O-Oh, good morning Moony."
"Don't you dare, 'Good morning Moony,' me Harry James Potter," she says with clenched teeth and Harry knows to shut his mouth. "What kind of an idiot could you possibly be to accept a wizard's duel when you know the barest minimum of magic?" She turns to the redhead, "And you, how dare you back him up on this? You know that wizard's duels are fought to the death but you went with it anyways. Why? Because you thought that Draco wouldn't know any spells either? There's no guarantee of that, you don't know his life or what he's been taught. Your lucky Malfoy would rather look like a coward at first than get caught, because if they had dueled and Harry was harmed you wouldn't be safe from me either." She doesn't yell, instead she speaks calmly in a volume just above a whisper. Harry has always found it to be more frightening, looking at Ron's pale face he can tell the ginger agrees. "If I hear about you doing something so stupid again Harry you better hope that you're good at hiding," with that Selena leaves to her house table.
Dean, one of the Gryffindors who are close enough to Harry to overhear everything, gives him a look of pity. "Mate, your sister is the scariest girl I've ever seen." The other boys around nod in agreement, the most fervent being from Neville. Hermione looks rather smug about it all though she refuses to comment as she is no longer talking to Ron and Harry. Not that they mind. With his twin being too angry to talk to him, getting back at Malfoy is the farthest thing on Harry's mind. Incidentally, revenge arrives in the mail a week later.
Selena is sitting with Blaise still too angry to even glance at Harry. She would have gotten over it long ago, but adding that he didn't visit her in the Hospital Wing nor has he apologized to her for not visiting, her anger hasn't decreased. But does she really expect him to realize what he did wrong? No, for the large sense of justice her brother has he's always been oblivious of his own injustices when it comes to emotional problems. He has, what Selena calls, emotional situational dysfunction. To put it simply, he doesn't know how to deal with emotions.
Because of their time together in the cupboard, Harry knows some of her expressions. He has seen her angry and he has seen her in some amount of pain and he has seen her happy. But never has she let him see her sadness nor the full extent of her pain and ruthlessness. So she supposes that it's her own fault why her brother is oblivious in emotional situations. Like her sibling, Selena feels too much but as the older sibling she doesn't have the luxury to vent. She has to take care of her younger twin's physical and emotional well-being.
That being said, Selena worries about how his obliviousness will affect his relationships. She will always forgive her brother, but not all of his friends will. Selena can see Ron's awe of being best friends with Harry Potter turn into bitter jealousy for always being second best. She can see Harry's dismissal of Hermione affect the attitude of the Gryffindors around her to the point that no one wants to be friends with her. Not that Selena is particularly nice to the girl herself, she finds her condescending know-it-all attitude annoying. However, it's not Selena Hermione is trying to make friends with, it's Ron and Harry. Their negative words affect Hermione more than Selena's do.
Lost in her thoughts, she only notices Harry when he pulls her away from her breakfast, "Moony you've got to see this!" He drags her to where Ron is, holding a large parcel in his hand. Ron leads them to a secluded corridor. Harry finally lets go and drops onto the ground with Ron to open it. The broom is made of mahogany that's been smoothed to a shine, a long tail made of straight twigs, and the words Nimbus 2000 written in gold near the top.
"Harry, why do you have a broomstick?" Her confusion is clear and Harry realizes he didn't tell her about what happened after she was taken to the Hospital Wing.
He rubs his neck, "Err...Did you hear what happened after you were taken to this Hospital Wing?" His twin nods. "Well apparently Professor McGonagall saw me when I caught the remembrall and when I landed on I thought for sure she was going to take me to Professor Dumbledore's office, but instead she took me to the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain Oliver Wood. She told Wood that I could play seeker for the team, seems like they didn't have one. He agreed but said that I'd need a new broom and she said she would see what she could do. Good thing it came today because I have practice tonight."
Selena blinks, did she hear that right? Her brother got exempted from punishment and the rules were bent for him all because he caught a glass ball in his hand? Madame Hooch gave her twenty-five points for risking her life to save another student and a recommendation to tryout for the Slytherin team as chaser next year while Harry got an expensive broom? Her brother forgot about her because he was too excited about making the team for a sport he's never played? She clenches her jaw.
It's unfair.
Is Professor McGonagall really that desperate to win? Why did the Headmaster allow this? Would he allow it if it was Professor Snape asking for her? Or is it because Harry's a Gryffindor? Or is it because he's Harry Potter?
"Is that a broomstick?" The trio turns around to see Draco with Crabbe and Goyle. "First years aren't allowed them, Potter," Malfoy sneers out with a bit of jealousy.
Ron opens his mouth but is interrupted by Professor Flitwick, "Not arguing, I hope, boys and girl? Oh, Mr. Potter is that your new broomstick? Professor McGonagall told me all about the special circumstance during breakfast, what model is it?" He beams at Harry.
"A Nimbus 2000 sir," Harry has to stop himself from laughing at Draco's horror stricken face, "and it's really thanks to Malfoy here that I've got it."
"That's enough," Selena says firmly, "Take that up to your room, now." Draco hasn't said anything to antagonize Harry so the jab at him was uncalled for. Harry looks at her with confusion. She sighs and gently grabs her twin's hand with a small smile, "The broom is beautiful. Good luck at practice and be careful, okay?" Happy that his twin is supporting him and seems to have forgiven him Harry gives a large grin back.
Harry and Ron head upstairs.
Selena feels worse than she did before.
"I better be going to class. Have a good day Professor. You all as well Draco, Gregory, and Vincent," she curtseys a bit before walking away.
"Hmm…What a polite young lady," Flitwick muses before leaving.
The three Slytherins flinch as they remember the incident from the other day, she's the devil.
Before seven o'clock, Harry makes his way down to the quidditch field. The stands are tall towers high enough for the audience to see and there are three golden poles with hoops at the end on either side of the pitch. They remind Harry of the time Selena got two little plastic containers of bubbles from the librarian and they used a pole like that attached to the cap to blow bubbles throughout their cupboard. Harry blew some in his sister's face and laughed at the expression she made when a bubble popped in her mouth.
Harry mounts his broom and swoops in and out of the goal posts while waiting for Wood, the broom turning at the slightest touch.
"Hey, Potter, come down!"
Harry lands next to Oliver to see him carrying a large crate under his arm.
"Right," says Wood as he sets down the crate. "Now, Quidditch is easy enough to understand, even if it's not too easy to play. There are seven players on each side. Three of them are called Chasers." The older Gryffindor takes out a bright red ball about the size of a soccer ball, "This ball is the Quaffle. The Chasers throw the Quaffle to each other and try and get it through one of the hoops to score a goal. Ten points every time the Quaffle goes through one of the hoops. Follow me?"
Harry nods, "So, it's sort of like basketball on broomsticks with six hoops, isn't it?"
"What's basketball?"
"Nevermind."
Oliver shrugs, "Now, there's another player on each side who's called the Keeper. I'm the Keeper for Gryffindor. I have to fly around our hoops and stop the other team from scoring."
"Okay, three Chasers and one Keeper. They play with the quaffle. Got that." Harry points to the three balls left in the trunk, "What are those for?"
"Two of these are Bludgers. I'll show you what they do," Wood hands Harry a small club, "Take this." The Bludgers are black and a bit smaller than the quaffle. Harry notices that they seem to be trying to escape the straps holding them down in the crate. "Stand back," Wood warns him before releasing one.
Immediately the ball rises in the air and attempts to hit Harry in the face. On reflex, Harry hits it with the bat before it can break his nose. It zooms around the pitch and makes a shot at Oliver who manages to dive on top of it and pin it to the ground.
The Quidditch Captain pants as he straps the Bludger back in. "The Bludgers rocket around, trying to knock players off their brooms. That's why there's two Beaters on each team. The Weasley twins are ours, it's their job to protect the Gryffindor team from the Bludgers and try and knock them toward the other team. Now, the last member of the team is the Seeker. That's you. You don't have to worry about the Quaffle or the Bludgers unless they crack my head open, but the Weasleys are more than a match for the Bludgers. I mean, they're like a pair of human Bludgers themselves." Oliver reaches into the crate and takes out the last ball. It's about the size of a walnut and gold in color with silver fluttering wings. "This is the Golden Snitch, and it's the most important ball of the lot. It's very hard to catch because it's so fast and difficult to see. The Seeker's job is to catch it. You've got to weave in and out of the Chasers, Beaters, Bludgers, and Quaffle to get it before the other team's Seeker. Whichever Seeker catches the Snitch wins his team an extra hundred and fifty points, so they nearly always win. That's why Seekers get fouled so much. A game of Quidditch only ends when the Snitch is caught, so it can go on for ages. Well, that's it. Any questions?"
Harry shakes his head and they practice by Wood throwing golf balls as hard as he can in every direction for the Potter twin to catch. He doesn't miss a single one and after half an hour of this Oliver is delighted.
The younger twin has such a good time at Hogwarts, especially now that his sister is no longer angry at him, that he hardly believes two months have passed. The castle feels more like home than Private Drive ever has, he only wishes to have more opportunities to talk to Selena.
One major difference Harry notices, during breakfast on Halloween morning, is that his sister doesn't avoid her housemates anymore- instead they seem to avoid her. He doesn't know what she did to cause that but he can imagine it must have been frightening. His good mood increases when Professor Flitwick announces in Charms that they are ready to make objects fly. He pairs the class up to practice. Harry can't help but feel thankful that his partner is Seamus Finnigan instead of Neville. Ron is paired up with Hermione, and it's hard to tell who is angrier about the matchup.
Seamus and Harry try the swish and flick method Flitwick taught them but their feather doesn't move from the desktop. Seamus, due to impatience, prods his feather with his wand and sets it on fire. Harry puts it out with his hat.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron shouts, waving his arm around with no results.
"Stop, stop, stop." Hermione snaps, "You're going to take someone's eye out. Besides, you're saying it wrong. It's Win-GAR-dium Levi-O-sa, not Win-gar-DIUM Levi-o-SA."
"You do it then, if you're so clever," Ron snarls.
Hermione flicks her wand, "Wingardium Leviosa!" The feather rises off the desk and hovers about four feet over their heads.
"Oh, well done! Second student this week!" Professor Flitwick cries with joy and pride. "Everyone see here, Ms. Granger has done it! Ten points to Gryffindor!"
Ron is in a very bad mood by the end of class. "It's LeviOsa not LevioSA. No wonder no one can stand her," the ginger tells Harry as they walk away from the Charms classroom, "she's a nightmare, honestly."
Someone knocks into Harry in a hurry to get passed him. It's Hermione and he is startled to see tears streaming down her face. "I think she heard you."
"So?" Ron looks uncomfortable. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."
Harry doesn't say anything else and as they go throughout their day they don't see her. On their way to the Halloween Feast, Harry and Ron overhear Lavender Brown telling Parvati Patil that Hermione is crying in the girl's bathroom and wants to be left alone. Ron looks more awkward at this information but Hermione is quickly put out of their minds when they enter the Great Hall and see the Halloween decorations. Thousands of bats are fluttering around the hall, causing the pumpkin candles to stutter when they swoop too close. The food appears on the table just as they sit down. Harry and Ron are about to serve themselves when they hear loud footsteps quickly approaching them.
They turn and Selena almost pounces on them. "What did you two do?" She hisses, looking at them both.
"W-W-What?" Ron asks, afraid and confused.
Her eyes focus on Ron and narrow with an intense heat that Harry cannot describe, "I just heard from Blaise, who overheard Parkinson, who was talking to Malfoy, who heard it from Daphne Greengrass, who overheard it from Parvati Patil telling Padma, who was told by Lavender Brown, who saw the whole thing, that Ron said that no one can stand Hermione and that's why she has no friends. And that she overheard. AND that she started crying. AND that neither of you did anything thing about it!"
"B-But it's true!" Ron tries to defend himself.
Selena slams her fist on the table, if all the Gryffindor's eyes weren't on her earlier they certainly are now, "I don't care if it's true! You don't make a girl cry and do nothing about it as if it isn't any of your fucking business!" She turns to Harry and her twin is finally able to recognize the emotion behind her eyes, though it has never been directed to him, it's disappointment. "And you. You stood by and let your friend be a complete ass? Why didn't you say anything? I raised you better than that!" She notices that the Professors at the high table are looking at them in wonder and steps away from the table. Without a word she walks briskly out of the Great Hall to the girl's bathroom where she heard Hermione is.
For about ten minutes, nobody dares to say a word to the two boys solemnly eating their food. Ron's older siblings feel that Selena is right. The youngest male Weasley feels as if he just was just scolded by his mother. Harry can only think about the way his sister looked at him and how he never wants to see her look at him like that again.
Suddenly, Professor Quirrell comes running into the hall, terror on his face, "Troll in the dungeon! Troll in the dungeons!" He reaches Professor Dumbledore and in contrast with his earlier screaming calmly says, "Thought you oughta know." Before fainting and landing on the floor.
Panic immediately spreads throughout the Great Hall and it takes Dumbledore using his wand to shoot out firecrackers to quiet the students down. "Prefects," he rumbles, "lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"
Percy immediately gets to work, "Follow me! Stick together, first years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a prefect!"
Harry grabs Ron's arm. "Selena!" He hisses with terror-filled realization.
Ron's eyes go wide, "S-She went to her common room, right?"
The younger twin shakes his head frantically, "Knowing her she went to go look for Hermione!"
Without another word the two boys duck down and follow the Hufflepuffs. They slip down an empty corridor and hurry to the girl's bathroom. They turn around the corner and when they hear footsteps they immediately hide behind a large stone griffin. Peering around it, they see Snape crossing the corridor and disappear from view. "What's he doing?" Harry whispers. "Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the rest of the teachers?" As quietly as they can, they walk to the next corridor. "He's heading to the third corridor," Harry concludes.
Ron covers his nose, "Can you smell something?"
Selena knocks gently on the door of the girl's bathroom.
"Go away," a sniffling voice from inside says.
"Now I know that my brother is an idiot and I haven't been exactly nice to you, but those words Ron said about you weren't right," the oldest Potter says, in a tone reminiscent of a mother comforting a child. She hears footsteps and when the door opens Selena finds herself being hugged. She returns the embrace before gently guiding Hermione back in the bathroom, to the wall where the sinks are hanging. The two girls sit down, the ravenette keeping an arm around the brunette. "He's just jealous."
Hermione looks at Selena with disbelief, tears still in her eyes.
The Black Heiress nods, "It's true. Even if Ron isn't a believer in all that blood purity crap, he's still a boy from a magical household. A boy who grew up with five other boys, he's used to having his brothers one up him and he's used to being better than his little sister. It doesn't excuse his behavior, like hell, but it likely irks him that a girl is beating him in magic. Even worse, a girl who knew nothing about magic until she received her Hogwarts letter. It's a discriminatory thought, but that's human nature and he doesn't mean it to be derogatory, he just believes that since he has more experience with magic he should be better at it than you. But he's not, because you're more talented."
"Y-You really think so?"
"Yeah, with me it's different. I have an eidetic memory, you see. So Ron chalks up my talent with magic to my natural gift, and while it does help a lot that's not the whole truth. Reading and observing doesn't make you a master of a skill, practice does. And I practice every chance I get. I've burned my hands with my own magic more than enough times, at first I hid it but after the flying lesson incident Blaise kind of hovered. He dragged me to Madame Pomfrey when he saw me burn myself and they were both angry when they learned it wasn't the first time. Ever since then Madam Pomfrey has been teaching me healing spells and remedies so that I wouldn't always have to go to the Hospital Wing...Ron is different from us. He wants to be distinguished from his family but he has no passion, no drive, no ambition...I think that you could have easily been sorted into Slytherin with all that ambition, but of course you weren't."
Hermione glares at nothing in particular, "Because my parents weren't magical?"
Selena shakes her head. "No, because you don't use your talent to make things go your way. That is really the only difference between Gryffindors and Slytherins. Both houses are brave, both are clever, and both are natural-born leaders. But Gryffindors rather use these traits for the greater good while Slytherins use these traits for their own good. It's because they are so alike but their intentions so different that the houses clash like cats and dogs. According to Hogwarts: A History, Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin also fought a lot but they were able to look past their difference and be great friends. But, from what I read in The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, is that during the rise of the first Dark Lord Gellert Grindelwald was often described as clever, cunning, and ambitious. Slytherin traits, and thus the distrust for Slytherins began."
Hermione looks up at Selena in awe, as if she had just given her the secret of life. But then she seems to ponder something, "You said that Ron wasn't like us, that he has no ambition. I know what mine is, but what's yours?"
"I want to protect my brother," Selena says so softly that Hermione can barely hear her. She smiles at the bushy-haired brunette, "Even before I knew Harry was the Boy-Who-Survived or whatever, everything I did and everything I will do is to protect him, from anything. So it's probably my own fault that Harry turned out to be an oblivious idiot when it comes to emotional situations because I'd only let him see me happy or angry. Today is actually the first time I've ever been disappointed in him, or even raised my voice at him. I don't like to yell when I'm angry, I don't want to sound like my Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon, but yelling felt like a good idea at that time."
"...You can't always be there for him, you know," Hermione says with concern.
The Potter Heiress sighs, "I know." She grabs the Gryffindor by the shoulders, "I'm going to ask for you to do something for me, and before you say anything hear me out." Hermione nods. "I have a plan that will get Harry and I out of my Aunt and Uncle's house, don't ask why, you'll probably find out soon enough. This plan is in progress and it mean I have to be the adult, I mean, I know I act a lot like a mother but when it comes down to it Harry knows that as his twin I'll always be at his side. I'm not sure if he'll see it the same way when I officially become his guardian. Don't ask how, it's probably best if you don't know. What I'm asking you...Is to please forgive Harry and please," holding back tears in her green eyes Selena manages to say the most gut-wrenching thing she has ever said in her life, "be his sister when I can't."
Hermione nods, crying tears for the girl who won't allow herself to. Selena slumps onto her shoulder, "Thank you."
Before anything else can be said, the sound of the bathroom door creaking open echoes throughout the room and Selena hurriedly drags Hermione to a stall to save face. Selena has just locked the door when a mixed scent of old socks and dirty bathroom hits her nose. The girls look at each other questioningly then silently decide to take a look. In front of the closed door of the bathroom, there is a twelve feet tall, gray lumpy body with a small bald head, short thick legs, and flat horny feet. Its holding a wooden club, which drags along the floor because of it's long arms. "A troll," Hermione whispers in horror and Selena covers her mouth before she can scream.
Then a click.
"Please tell me somebody just didn't lock the bathroom door," Selena prays.
Hermione shrieks from behind Selena's hand, catching the attention of the troll who immediately stomps towards them. The troll raises its club and the girls manage to get out of the stall and move away before it can whack the stall and them in it. They are against the wall with the sinks again, and Selena is about to grab Hermione to try to make a run for it when Harry and Ron come in.
"Selena! Hermione!" Her twin yells, directing the troll's attention to him before it decides that two girls shrinking against the wall make better prey. The troll advance to them, leaving destruction in its path. Harry and Ron desperately try to seize the troll's attention by throwing debris at it to annoy it.
It works.
The trolls turn to Ron, who is at a much safer distance from the troll than Selena and Hermione are. Harry gesture for the girls to run but Selena can't move Hermione who is still flat against the wall. The trolls gets too close to Ron for comfort and Harry does the bravest and stupidest thing he ever has.
He lunges on the troll's neck.
The troll, at first, doesn't notice him but it certainly does when Harry's wand goes up into it's nostril. Selena, scared out of her wits because of where her brother currently is, also does an incredibly brave and stupid thing. She casts a spell, one above her grade level, one she has only read the theory behind in Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland, and one that she knows won't have any, if little effect, on the troll. But she is desperate.
"Stupefy!"
A blinding red light shoots from the tip of her wand, burning her hands due to her putting too much magic into the spell and to her surprise causing the troll to stagger.
Ron takes the opportunity and whips out his own wand, "Wingardium Leviosa!" The club suddenly flies out of the troll's hand, high up in the air, and drops onto its owner's head. The troll sways and falls flat on its face.
Harry gets to his feet and is immediately assaulted by Selena's hands patting him down to see if he's injured. He grabs her wrists, "Your hands, their burned."
She pull them away, "You're okay," she says in relief.
Harry takes a second to process how easily she dismissed her injury.
"Is it...dead?" Hermione asks.
Harry looks at it and shakes his head, "No, just knocked out." He bends down and pulls his wand out of the troll's nose, "Ugh, troll boogers." He cleans his wand off on the troll's pants.
Slamming and loud footsteps makes the four look up. Professor McGonagall comes bursting into the room, followed by Snape and Quirrell. Professor Quirrell takes one look at the troll, lets out a faint whimper, and sits down quickly while clutching his heart.
Snape bends over to look at the troll. Professor McGonagall looks at Harry and Ron. "What on earth were you thinking of?" She says with cold fury in her voice. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?
The Potions Professor gives a sharp look at Harry. Ron, who still has his wand up in the air, slowly begins to lower it at Selena's sharp look towards him.
"Please, Professor, they were looking for me," Hermione squeaks.
"Miss Granger!"
"I went looking for-"
"Ron made Hermione cry and she's been here all day," Selena cuts Hermione off from her lie. She crosses her arms, hiding her burned hands and looking reprimanding. "When I heard about what Ron said and that Harry didn't do anything, I yelled at them for being jerks. That little scene I made in the Great Hall earlier. Then came over here to check on her. We didn't know about the troll. Harry knows me well enough to know that I went to look for Hermione and made the connection that both of us were in danger. Hermione and I managed to dodge its first swing at us, and honestly our chances of coming out safe were slimmer without them. Hermione was too scared to move and there's no way I'd be able to defend us for as long as it took for you all to get here."
Ron and Harry look at Selena with large confusion and a sliver of betrayal, they saw that Hermione was about to lie to a teacher to get them out of trouble, so why did she have to go say the truth? Hermione, however, understands what the oldest twin is doing. She's making sure they get punished so that they know they did wrong.
She's being the adult.
"Well...In that case," the Gryffindor Head of House looks at the two boys, "Forty points will be taken for Mr. Weasley's and Mr. Potter's shameful behavior. I'm very disappointed in you two, we do not talk down on our peers nor allow others to do so." Ron and Harry hang their head in remorse. "Twenty points will be given to Slytherin for Ms. Potter's honourable actions. Another five points to her and to each of you, not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll and lived to tell the tale. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go to your common rooms if you're not hurt at all. Students are finishing the feast in their houses."
"Actually Professor," Harry pipes before Selena can run away, "Selena burned her hands casting a spell earlier. Stupefy, I think it was."
Selena sends a glare at her twin who looks unapologetic.
"Stupefy is a third year spell Ms. Potter, it's dangerous for you to attempt at your age," Minerva scolds her lightly.
"I've noticed," she drawls.
"Trolls are resilient to Stupefy, Ms. Potter," Snape says in an almost condescending way.
Hermione's brows furrow in thought, "But Selena made that thing stagger."
Severus and Minerva look absolutely disbelieving but one look at the girl's hands and they can see how badly she burned them. The skin is raw and there are patches of it bleeding. It makes them wonder how much magical energy she channel into the spell. "Then I'll be taking Ms. Potter to the hospital wing," the Head of Slytherin says.
"I can get there myself," she spits out before running out of the bathroom in the direction of the Hospital Wing.
The other three first-years hurry out of the chamber and don't speak at all until they are approaching the Gryffindor common room entrance. "We didn't deserve any points really," Ron mumbles. "But why did Selena have to rat us out like that?"
"I know, she's never done anything like that before," Harry says more in confusion than anger.
"She did it because she thought it was the right thing to do," Hermione huffs. "I admire your sister, she's a good person. While it may seem like she turned her back on you Harry, trust me that isn't the case." The brunette looks at them, "She just wants you two to know you did wrong."
"But why? She isn't my mother," Ron grumbles so low only Harry can hear.
"Pig Snout," Hermione tells the Fat Lady and she swings open.
The trio stand there awkwardly, not looking each other in the eye, "Thanks," they all say before hurrying over to the food.
From there on out Hermione became their friend, and years from now Harry will look back at this moment in grief.