Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
This chapter is a transition chapter, which is why it's shorter than usual. Expect the next chapter to be better (hopefully).
Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I really liked a lot of them.
Chapter Thirty-Four: The Next Hurdle
……………………………………………………………
Harry's head hurt.
Judging by the noise Ginny made beside him, her head was also hurting.
'Hangover Potion,' she muttered into his neck.
'Did you make one?' he asked.
'No,' she whined. 'But I really need one.'
Harry forced his eyes open and winced against the light that shone through the curtain. He rolled over and nearly fell out of bed when his eyes landed on Ginny's clock.
'Oh!'
Not so loud, Harry … I'm dying here.
Ginny – the clock.
It's too early to get up.
It's nearly breakfast!
Ginny shot up. Her hand immediately flew to her forehead. 'Ouch,' she said. Then, she looked at him with wide eyes. Don't just stand there! Get dressed and Apparate up to the twins' room before someone comes looking for you!
The twins probably spent the night here, Harry reasoned. I think all of your brothers did, actually. The only thing I can do is go up to Ron's room. Maybe he's still sleeping and won't see me sneak in. Or maybe he passed out on the couch last night and hasn't even been up to his room yet.
Hurry up, then. And if Mum tries to come up here and wake me up, don't let her.
Harry forced himself out of bed and pulled on his clothes. Okay. Bye.
Each step was murder as Harry climbed the stairs up to Ron's room. He felt as though he was walking toward his doom – and maybe, in some sense, he was. He said a silent prayer that Ron had stumbled into his bedroom late last night and hadn't noticed the empty bed beside him.
He passed Hermione, who was coming out of Ron's room. She handed him a glass. 'Hangover Potion,' she said softly. 'I was just coming to find you.'
He gulped it down gratefully and although the taste was rather awful, he felt his head immediately begin to clear. 'Thanks,' he said.
She looked at him expectantly for a moment.
'I'm, uh, going up to Ron's room,' Harry said tentatively. 'He isn't – he isn't awake, is he?'
Hermione bit her lip.
'Shite,' Harry said. 'D'you think he'll believe that I passed out in the loo after spending the night throwing up? Can't get mad at a bloke who was up sick half the night, can you?'
'Actually,' Hermione said, 'Ron got up quite some time ago. He's already been to the loo and he'll know you're lying … oh, Harry, would you like me to come up with you?'
'No,' Harry said. He knew Ron would be furious with him, but he also knew that Ron would think Harry was a complete coward if he dragged Hermione up there as his shield. 'It'll be okay. You can go down to breakfast. Oh – and try not to wake Ginny. Just leave the Potion beside her bed, yeah?'
Hermione nodded. Giving him one final look of concern, she turned and began walking downstairs.
Harry paused before going into Ron's room. What was he going to say? Ron was going to kill him. It wasn't as if he could pretend nothing had happened with him and Ginny.
When he thought back on it, he couldn't believe how stupid they'd been. They'd just disappeared together. Ginny's brothers might've been drunk, but surely at least one of them hadn't been completely incoherent. And what about Ginny's parents? How was he going to face them at breakfast? This was a disaster.
Taking a deep breath, Harry pushed Ron's door open and went inside. 'Er, good morning,' he said.
Ron fixed him with a nasty glare before pushing past him and going out the door.
This so wasn't good.
……………………………………………………………
Ron avoided Harry's gaze all morning and only spoke to him when he asked Harry to pass the pumpkin juice.
Harry didn't mind very much. If Ron wanted to act immature, that was his prerogative. Ginny tried several times to speak to him, and each time, Ron acted like a complete arsehole to her. Needless to say, Ron wasn't the only one who was angry at the moment.
Thankfully, the other Weasleys didn't know why Ron and Harry weren't speaking. During breakfast, Mrs Weasley had inquired about why they were so quiet, but both boys had shrugged and muttered something about being tired before going back to their meals.
It was to be a full moon that night, so when Harry and Ron went to Hogwarts for training, they practiced with Tonks instead of Lupin.
'We're going to do some more physical training today,' Tonks said when she came in. 'I hope the party wasn't too much for you last night, because we have quite a bit to cover today.'
They started by running laps around the Quidditch Pitch, as always. Ron and Harry ran in silence, and Harry was grateful for it, because it gave him time to think of how he was going to make things right again. He and Ron had had their share of arguments in the past – they'd sometimes gone days, even weeks, without speaking – but they had been kids then.
They were adults now, and they should've been able to deal with their hostile feelings far better than they currently were. However, Harry knew that pointing this out to Ron would most likely earn him a punch in the face, so he said nothing.
Still, Harry had to wonder – what would happen when he, Ron and Hermione left and went searching for Horcruxes? If he and Ron got into an argument over something, would the entire mission be jeopardized because neither could get over it and keep focused? And what about Hermione? Would she get caught in the middle, like Harry always did when she and Ron feuded? She would obviously side with Ron now. Where would that leave Harry?
He hated thinking about things like this, about worrying himself over fights with Ron. It made him feel like a girl. But he couldn't help it – not when it came to Ron or Hermione. They'd always been there, since day one. And what if they both decided they didn't want to be there any longer? What if they went off together and left Harry alone?
He would have Ginny, of course, but she was different. Sometimes, Harry just needed to talk to a bloke. His girlfriend had red hair and freckles, but she wasn't anything like Ron.
'Let's do that thing,' Ron said, and for a moment Harry thought Ron was speaking directly to him, rather than to Tonks. 'Y'know, the thing where Harry and I fight.'
He pulled out his wand before Tonks had even agreed, and faced Harry.
Tonks must've noticed something was up between the two friends, because she looked at Harry questioningly. 'Do you want to, Harry?' she asked.
If he said no, Ron would hate him.
If he said yes, Ron would still hate him. But at least Ron would get out his aggression and Harry would be able to look at his best mate without receiving dirty looks in return.
'Er,' Harry said, 'fine.'
Harry pulled out his wand and hoped for the best.
……………………………………………………………
'So tell me,' Ron said.
Audrey had just been over to examine and treat both Ron and Harry, and now they were lying on their backs, staring up at the sky, with orders not to move until Tonks returned.
'Did you have fun with my sister last night?'
He was too sore and far too tired to speak with as much malice as he'd like.
'I don't know,' Harry said, sounding just as weary as Ron felt. 'Did you have fun with mine?'
'You don't even have a sister,' Ron said.
'Hermione's my sister,' Harry said simply.
In a way, Harry was right. But in another way, he couldn't have been more wrong.
Harry hadn't watched Hermione grow up the way Ron had with Ginny. Harry hadn't taken baths with Hermione when they were little, and he'd never put a bandage on her knee after she'd fallen. She'd never snuck into his room in the middle of the night crying because she'd had another dream about Tom Riddle and he was the only one she felt could protect her. And although Harry would jump in front of Hermione in a second if he thought something bad was going to happen to her, it was different than it was when Ron jumped in front of Ginny.
'Not by blood,' Ron said.
'Since when do you care about blood?' Harry challenged, and Ron knew he was right. Blood didn't make a family. Harry was as much his brother as Bill, Charlie, Percy, and the twins were.
If he absolutely had to pick someone to be with Ginny, it would be Harry. But it was a lot easier to feel good about his sister's relationship with his best mate when it wasn't being flaunted in front of him. And it was even easier when he didn't know exactly what that relationship entailed.
Merlin, what if Harry died?
He didn't normally let himself think about things like that, but it was a possibility. And what would happen to Ginny if Harry was gone? Ron wouldn't be able to pick up the pieces. Not this time.
He wanted his sister to be happy. She deserved it. She deserved to feel the same way as Ron did when he was with Hermione. But what if she could only ever feel that way with Harry? After all, Ron was certain he could only feel that way with Hermione.
'If you hurt her, I'll cut it off,' Ron threatened, changing tactics.
Harry shifted slightly beside him and then said, 'If I hurt her, I'll cut it off myself.'
Ron couldn't stifle the small laugh that escaped his lips. He rolled onto his good side to regard Harry.
'You're a real git, you know that?' Harry said lightly.
'You shagged my sister and now you're calling me names?'
'Pretty much,' Harry concluded. 'And you're only hacked off with me and Ginny because Hermione still won't let you shag her.'
Ron felt his ears begin to turn red.
……………………………………………………………
Hermione spent the next day with her parents. The Weasleys were called to Hogwarts, but she stayed at The Burrow to see her parents off.
'We want you to come home,' Mrs Granger said, as they stood at the door and prepared to leave, 'but we know that you don't want to, and we have to respect that.'
'The second you want to come home, though,' Mr Granger piped up, 'don't hesitate to contact us. We'll be here to pick you up as soon as we can.'
'I appreciate that,' Hermione said. 'I really do. But I'm going to stick this out until the end.'
'What if you get hurt?'
Hermione wrung her hands. 'I'm willing to take that chance,' she said sincerely. 'I don't care what I have to do, I'm going to help Harry and the others win this fight.'
'Why is it your responsibility?' Mrs Granger asked. 'Why is it suddenly your fight?'
'It's always been my fight,' Hermione told them. 'I have been involved since the day I went to Hogwarts. Just because I've never really given you all the details doesn't mean I haven't been in this sort of situation before.'
Hermione's parents frowned.
'I know that there's a chance I could get seriously injured,' she continued. 'I may even die. But I think my life is a small price to pay if our side can win this war.'
'Don't say that!' Mrs Granger cried.
'It's the truth,' she said, 'whether you agree or not. Harry's parents are dead, and so is his godfather, and so are a ton of others that he loved. He's lost so much, but he's still going. And as long as he's fighting, so am I. I can't let him go alone. I won't.'
'Ron can go with him,' Mr Granger said. 'You don't need to.'
'I want to,' she said. 'Especially if Ron is going.'
Why couldn't her parents seem to understand what she was saying? Was she not articulate enough? How could she make them realize that this whole thing was more important to the survival of both wizards and Muggles than her parents realized and acknowledged?
'I'm doing this for you, too,' she said. 'If Voldemort wins this war, the first thing he does will be to come after people like you, who don't have magic. By being so active in this war, I've already put a target on both of your backs. Now, it's my job to defend you.'
'Hermione –'
'All I'm asking,' she said softly, 'is for you to understand why I'm not coming home with you today.'
Mrs Granger and Mr Granger looked at each other, and then at their daughter. Nodding, Mrs Granger said, 'We – we understand.'
……………………………………………………………
Harry was running laps when he looked up and noticed McGonagall standing by the pitch. He slowed to a jog and then stopped altogether when he was sure she was there to talk to him.
'Professor?' he asked, noticing her expression. "What is it?'
'Come with me,' McGonagall said. 'Weasley, too.'
Harry signaled Ron and they followed McGonagall into Hogwarts. As they made their way up to Dumbledore's old office, they kept throwing questioning glances toward one another, but neither had the guts to ask McGonagall about what was going on. It didn't appear as though she would give them any clues, anyway.
The rest of the Weasleys were waiting in the office when Harry and Ron arrived. Ginny gave him a nervous look. He stood unmoving for a moment before Ron spoke, a strange sense of panic in his voice.
'Where's Hermione?'
Harry felt a sickening sense of dread pooling in his stomach. Hermione? No, not Hermione. Nothing could've happened to her! She was supposed to be at The Burrow … she was supposed to be safe! As long as she was there, the Death Eaters couldn't touch her. Could they?
Suddenly, the world felt like it was caving in on top of him. Hogwarts had been attacked … so had The Burrow, at the wedding … was Grimmauld Place next? Was there no safety left in the world at all anymore?
Where was Hermione?
Wherever she was, she had to be okay. And they would get her back, because they just had to. It was Hermione. She was his sister in every sense of the word.
But thank Merlin it had been Hermione, and not Ginny. Yes, Ginny was still okay. And it was an awful thing Harry was doing – feeling relieved that Hermione had been taken instead of Ginny – but really, wouldn't Ron do the same thing if the roles were reversed? It didn't mean Harry wanted Hermione to be hurt, just as Ron wouldn't want Ginny to be hurt. But, ultimately, if it came down to a decision of who to rescue, between his two friends and his girlfriend, Harry would choose Ginny. And Ron would choose Hermione. That was just the way it was now.
'She's fine,' Ginny said quickly.
'She's spending time with her parents,' Mrs Weasley said. 'Before they leave.'
Harry sighed in relief. But if Hermione wasn't present, the information they were about to hear couldn't be all that important, could it?
'So why are we here?' Ron asked.
'Dunno,' said Fred.
'We're just as clueless as you,' George said.
'Well, maybe not that clueless …' Fred added with a snicker.
'Professor?' Ginny asked. 'Harry and Ron are here now … can you tell us what you needed to talk to us about?'
McGonagall nodded severely. 'I am afraid,' she said, 'that the recent developments of which I am about to speak will serve only to complicate matters.'
'What recent developments?' Mr Weasley asked.
McGonagall paused, and then said: 'A second prophecy has been made.'
Harry felt the blood drain from his face. 'What?' he said. 'But – about me?'
'Yes,' McGonagall said. 'There are two names on this one, as well.'
'Me and Voldemort,' Harry said. He didn't think he needed to guess.
'You are indeed the first name,' McGonagall told him. 'But the second name belongs to Miss Weasley.'
……………………………………………………………
For every 93 people reading this story, I get one review. Don't let yourself be one of those other 92 people! Hehe.