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CHAPTER 9.
Hermione stayed in the living room through out the day, with the Weasley children, bar Ron, keeping her company, reading and chatting.
At one point fleur and Ginny had convinced her to let them play with her hair, which seemed to last hours, and was very relaxing.
Bill turned to the young witch curiously, "So, how come you speak russian?" The others all turned to her expectantly.
"I had an Uncle in the Navy, he passed on his love of languages." She explained, grinning fondly in memory.
"Do you speak any other languages?" Ginny asked.
"I'm only fluent in English, but I could get by in German, Greek, Russian, French and Arabic." she admitted, to the stunned silence of the room.
"Are you serious?" Charlie sounded impressed.
Bill pulled out his wand, and worte in mid air;
'كنت حقا تعرف العربية؟' (You really know arabic?)
Hermione grinned excitedly, gingerly extracting her own wand, and replying.
'نعم، لكني لم أحصل على فرصة لممارسة. فإن كل من بطاقات عيد الميلاد الخاصة بك أن تكون باللغة العربية من الآن فصاعدا، فقط حتى تعلمون!' (Yes, but I never get to practice. All of your christmas cards will be in arabic from now on, just so you know!)
Everyone watched impressed, as Bill grinned, and nodded happily at the little witch.
"I told him all of his christmas cards would be in arabic from now on!" Hermione shared with the room, earning chuckles.
As the afternoon progressed, and with much more exploration of hermione's linguistic prowess, which ended up with her caving to the twins nagging, and singing them the only traditional celtic lullaby she knew in gallic. He sweet voice had rendered the listners silent, and people had come from all over the house to listen and gape in shock.
"O negro é a cor do cabelo do meu verdadeiro amor." It was about an old irish gypsy, pining for her long lost lover.
Everyone got over the shock eventually, of both her linquistic skills, and her haunting singing voice, thinking that they should have expected something like this from the brightest witch of her age all along.
They ate lunch in the livingroom, mrs Weasley having levataed in an enourmous platter of sandwitches, along with crisps and fruit. Then, after food, everyone settled down to chatting, exchanging story's.
After a particularly funny story from fred and George about a prank that went wrong, involving half a dozen balloons filled with custard, Mrs Norris, and an extremely angry dwarf, they were interrupted by the sound of the door opening.
There stood Harry Potter, messy hair and all.
"Hi everyone." He called, grinning as he looked about the room, he reached Hermione, and did a double take. His mouth dropped open, eyes widening and jaw going slack.
"Hi Harry." she managed weakly, much to the amusement of the others. Shock gave way to disbelief on Harry's face.
"Hermione?" he almost yelled, causing Ginny to turn pink with her determination not to laugh.
"I take it Dumbledore didn't fill you in." Came sirius' voice from over Harry's shoulder. Harry still numb shook his head, never looking away from Hermione, who was now growing uncomfortable.
Fred, who noticed this punched harry in the shoulder, a little harder than was strictly necessary. "Oi, snap out of it mate!"
"What...?" asked a confused Harry, shaking his head like a dog trying to get rid of water.
"Bless him!" George teased, ruffling harry's hair.
"If only you knew young harry!" fred said, with an infuriating knowing smirk on his face.
"What...?" Harry just asked again, looking around for an explination.
"Well..." Ginny began, with the air of someone stettling in for a long flight.
Once Harry had been filled in on everything, including Ron, the boy who lived had grown somewhat accustomed to the new Hermione, and much to her joy and relief, was siding with her on the Ron issue.
The situation had reminded Harry of the way his best mate had behaved after the Goblet of Fire issue, and so he had pleanty of sympathy for Hermione, who had always stood by him, even when Ron hadn't.
Mrs Weasley then came to call the for dinner. On the way to the kitchen, they met the angry looking red head in question.
"Awkward." one of the twins sang in falsseto under his breath. Hermione only nodded In agreementt from her place inbetween Fred and George, who each had an arm wrapped tenderly around her slight shoulders.
Harry decided to break the Silence, "Hey Ron, where've you been mate?" He asked, his voice held an air of polite detatchdness.
Ron mearly glared at Harry, then after sending a particularly nasty look Hermione's way, said, "Oh, remembered me, have you?"
Harry only sighed, he'd seen Ron like this before, he had been right, this was exactly the way he'd acted during fourth year, over the Triwizard debacle.
"Ron..", he began, only to be interrupted. "Just forget it Harry." Ron snapped, before storming back the way he had come. The twins grumbled darkly, and unwrapped themselfs from Hermione's shoulders, to go ahead into the kitchen, murderous expressions of their faces.
"It's like fourth year all over again." Harry mutteredd, Hermione hung her head, and Charlie wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her into a gentle hug, which, miraculously, didn't hurt. Thank you Fleur.
"Come off it Mione." Harry began. "This isn't your fault, you didn't ask for this now, any more than I did then." He pointed out with a tone of finality. She nodded, feeling better.
Quick to change the subject, Bill enquired after Hermione's side, which turned out to be a bad move, for it meant relating the tale to an irate Harry, and the showing him her newly painless, though still badly bruised and slightly swollen ribs. The look of steely determination on Harry's face was one she would never cross, Hermione thought privately.
None of them saw, or heard from Ron, until Harry went to bed that night, and only then because they where sharing a room, which was uncomfortable to say the least.
The days following Harry's arrival would have been perfect where it not for the absence of Hermione's other best friend. Now that things had settled down once again within Grimauld Place, everyone had been tasked with making the house habitable. Hermione was just happy that this time she could use her wand. It's this, that caused Hermione, along with most of the people currently residing within the house, to be standing silently in front of the portrait of Mrs Black, on the ground floor hallway.
Sirius had finally managed to convince her to try and get rid of this painting as she had with the other one, he said, "Feel free to use any means necessary." With the true marauder glint in his eye.
"So, any ideas?" Harry whispered, as Hermione just stare perplexedly at the large frame.
"How did you do It last time?" He asked, causing her to blush, and shuffle her feet awkwardly, much to the amusement of the others watching.
"Suffice to say, I don't think that will work this time!" Was Hermione's staunch response, which only made the onlookers chuckle harder.
"Ok, well here goes nothing." she said, squaring her shoulders slightly, before pulling back the heavy velvet curtain obscuring the late Black matriarch.
The effect was instantaneous, but a complete shock for everyone. Instead of her trade mark screaming and cursing, the woman merely stared at Hermione, in utter silence. It was creepy, Hermione decided, as everyone else watched agape, at this unexpected turn of events.
Then, the portrait spoke, in a rough, cloying voice.
"Well, aren't you the pretty one. Excellent breeding, I can always tell." She rambled to herself insanely.
"Ona dumayet, chto seychas ya krasivaya, posle nepristoynosti ona vopila na menya cherez raz ya proshel yeye kadr . No znayu, chto menya schitayut dostoynym ..." Hermione mumbled darkly under her breath.
(she thinks i'm beautiful now, after the obscenity she yelled at me every other time i passed her frame. but know that i'm considered worthy...)
"Is that russian?" Hermione heared tonks and lupin whisper in stereo, sounding shocked. The others just chuckled, and Bill filled them in on their new descoverie's about the brightest witch of her age.
"Vy vsegda byli krasivyye , printsessa!" Charlie told her, a wicked grin on his lips, Hermione blushed furiously, turning quickly back to the painting hiding her face. She could hear Charlie's quiet chuckles though.
(You were always beautiful, princess.)
The air of madness coming of the woman was unparalleled, you could tell that this was where Bellatrix got it from, must be a product of the inbreeding, she thought idly. Hermione thought about pointing out the fact that Mrs Black had screamed bloody murder, calling her a "Moodblood" every time she had passed previously, but refrained.
Ignoring the madwoman, Hermione studied the portrait, noticing for the first time a runic inscription on the base of the frame. Kneeling in front of it, she squinted, trying to decipher and translate the ancient language. If she was not mistaken, and she rarely was, then this would explain why Mrs Black had so out stayed her welcome at Grimauld Place.
Chuckling throatily, Hermione once again got to her feet, and pulled out her wand. Biting her lip in concentration, proceeded to use her wand to gouge over the runes currently etched into the wooden frame, then once they where gone, she knelt down once more, and proceeded to replace them.
After a few minutes, she leaned back, inspecting her work, grinning triumphantly. She then levelled he wand at the portrait, and with a flourish, a puff of smoke and an angry scream, Mrs Black fell from her perch on the wall, now truly yelling for the whole world to hear.
"You vile little brat, you by-product of worthless do-gooders, your outer beauty cannot hide the ugliness within." she cried vehemently.
Turning to her audience, Hermione bowed sarcastically, causing a mixture of applause and laughter in the no longer silent hall, incredulity on the faces of all those present.
"I don't know why we doubted you." Came the amused voice of Remus Lupin.
"Brightest witch of her age." Said a grinning Tonks.
Mrs Black mean while had continued to scream, and Sirius stepped forth, a delighted expression on his face, "You have no idea how long I've waited to be able to do this."
With a swish of his wand, the picture exploded, into confetti and party streamers, causing everyone to once again laugh raucously.
It was during dinner, where Hermione was heartily congratulated by all, that Harry turned to her with a hopeful expression.
"Mione, now that you can do magic legally, is there any way you could spare some of your genius to make to back garden big enough for quidditch?" he begged, at the end pulling a ridiculous puppy face, that made hermione choke on what she was eating. Whilst Ginny slapped her on the back, she thought for a moment.
"Making it bigger should be easy enough, but i'll need the back up of one of the others to help me move the wards." She pointed out uncertainly.
"I'll help." Volunteered a cheerful looking Bill. "Wards and cracking them is kind of my thing," he said cheekily, "Plus, I haven't had a decent game of quidditch in ages!"
"Ok then." Hermione agreed easily, "After lunch?" she asked, as if she where planning on moving furniture, not hundreds of years worth of powerful protection spells.
Bill just nodded, amused, he knew better than to doubt the young Hermione. It's a shame, he thought to himself, that his youngest brother had yet to learn that lesson.
During their meal, Harry quietly filled Hermione in on his visit with Professor Dumbledore to the Slughorn man's house. Hermione realised that this must be the new teacher. If she was honest, she had expected more from Dumbledore by this point. Harry then let it drop about his private lessons with said headmaster this coming year.
"What?" Hermione whisper shouted, "You didn't think to tell me this until now?" she questioned furiously.
Harry shrugged, "Forgot." he admitted sheepishly.
He forgot, she thought numbly to herself, the fait of the wizarding world in his power, and he forgot, she suddenly felt faint.
She was called back to the present, by Harry's exclaiming, "Oh yes, he also said our OWL results should arrive soon, they come before the book lists." Hermione had suddenly gone deathly pale.
"Listen to me Harry Potter," she said very seriously. "I want you to think very, very carefully, when did he say they would be coming?" he asked.
"Um"...he scrunched up is face in concentration, thinking. "He said Friday, I think." By this point the conversation had drawn quite a few onlookers, and all of them where now shaking their heads despairingly at Harry.
"What?" he questioned stupidly.
"Harry, today is Friday." Mrs Weasley pointed out gently.
Hermione seemed to be frozen in shock, her mind had run away with its self, constructing scenarios in which she had failed everything, or worse, gotten exeeds expectations in everything. She shuddered at the thought. She wasn't sure why that was worse, but it was.
"Here we go." Intoned Fred from the other end of the kitchen table.
"We've been waiting for this." George stage whispered, nodding his head in agreement of his brother. Ginny was just shaking her head, her face a mixture of despairing and amused.
"What?" asked Sirius, looking confused, he wasn't the only one, most of he room where now looking a Hermione curiously.
"She's managing to convince herself that she's failed everything." Ginny said dryly, shaking her head in a condescending manner. This brought snorts of disbelief from those watching.
That was until Charlie spoke up. "Oh my God, you're serious? You actually think you've done badly?" he asked, incredulous.
"For peete's sake Mione, we all know you've gotten all outstanding OWL's, I don't see why you're panicking." Harry said sagely.
"No, no, don't say that, what if everything was wrong?" she asked in mild hysteria.
"C'mon Mi, whats the worst that could happen if you did fail everything?" Questioned one of the twins unhelpfully. Hermione opened her mouth to panic some more, when Ginny skilfully changed the subject,.
"Why do they wait until evening to give out exam results, book lists arrive with the morning post?" she asked the room at large.
It was Sirius who answered, "Because the results come from the ministry, not the school, and they enjoy watching you squirm." He added, looking pointedly at Hermione, who as now doing the dishes the muggle way to keep her mind occupied, and mumbling to herself under her breath.
They took pity on Hermione however, and pulled her away from the dishes.
"C'mon, lets go dissimilate some wards." Bill cheered, practically dragging Hermione into the garden, the young witch still seemed to look a bit lost.
Bill and Hermione stood back to back in the middle of the garden, wands drawn, swirling and lashing in identical motions, like a choreographed dance. Once they had successfully enlarged the wards, Hermione set about make the garden itself bigger, using her own personal take on an undetectable extension charm.
Having finished that as well, she stood back and admired her handy work, the garden as not as big as the pitch at Hogwarts, but was plenty big enough for these friendly matches.
Fifteen minutes, much nagging, and six failed attempts to get her onto a broomstick later, found a still nervous Hermione sitting on the grass next to fleur, who also disliked flying - maybe it was a veela thing? - with a book, watching the rest of her friends doing ridiculously dangerous stunts fifteen feet in the air.
And thus continued the game for a good long while, they had been playing for some half an hour, Hermione couldn't tell you who was winning, when the inevitable happened.
Ginny and Harry had both dived for the snitch, only for it to disappear again, whilst Harry pulled out of the dive quickly, Ginny had worse luck, slipping forwards, and then loosing the grip she had on her broom. She was falling through the air so quickly, to quickly, nobody would be able to catch her.
Hermione acted on instinct, having flash backs of Harry in a very similar situation, only with a fleet of dementors at his back. Forgetting about her wand, Hermione stretched her hand towards Ginny, as if to catch her, the screamed, "Aresto momentum."
It was as if the air Ginny fell through became thicker, slowing her progress, until she was falling in slow motion, looking around wildly, to try and understand what was happening.
When her eyes finally fell on Hermione, some ten feet bellow her she smiled, only to gasp upon seeing Hermione's lack of wand. The only other person she's ever seen do wandless magic had been the headmaster. The other seemed to have come to the same realisations Ginny, and where watching Hermione in disbelief as Ginny landed gently of her feet in the middle of the lawn.
"Very impressive Miss Granger." Came a familiar voice from behind her.