Disclaimer: Nothing.
Author's Note: Long delay, I know, but I was a bit preoccupied with family matters. And then there's Twilight of Dawn. I'm sorry.
I hope you like this chapter. It was fun to write.
Much alofas to my lovely beta Yuku, otherwise known as kurama's bitches. Thanks mate.
Light of the Dark
The next morning wasn't the Golden Trio's day. They had woken up late, something that Hermione wasn't very happy with the entire morning. Harry and Ron had suffered because, well, Hermione was suffering and in the book of universal laws, they have to suffer too.
Harry wasn't better off since he was still thinking of that beautiful, amazing, passionate kiss he had shared with Cedric. All he wanted was some kind of acknowledgment from the young man but all Harry had received was nothing. He didn't know how that made him feels. Oh wait, of course he knows how that made him feels: rejected, lonely, heartbroken, anguish, sad, crying, and every opposite of happy. Stupid Mr. Diggory. Even Snape approves of Harry's love.
Ron, the last member of the Golden Trio, was suffering because Hermione deemed it logical that since they woke up late, breakfast was not for him and Harry. Of course he was also not looking forward to Potions after lunch and the fact that Harry was "sulking" ("I am not sulking, Ron!" Harry cried) was getting on his nerves. Snape would not be happy when they arrive.
Lunch was an affair Harry was keen on not repeating. The students of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons deemed it a good idea to accompany their Hogwarts friends to classes instead of their own so the Great Hall was considerably crowded, the noise level higher than usual. But there was dead silence when Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered. Harry groaned. Here we go again, he thought.
He had hoped that everyone would forget the spectacle that happened last night. But it was not to be. They had immediately been subjected to whispers and staring and though they had a few classes in the morning and they had thought the whispers would die down as they hoped it would get old, it had not. After all, it's not every day you see Harry with red eyes and running to hug the life of out their strict Transfiguration professor.
Now they were once again on the end of their staring. Harry turned to Hermione and said in a stage whisper, "Why are they staring, 'Mione?"
Before Hermione could answer, Ron said, glaring at the surrounding Hall, "Because they have nothing better to do than stick their noses where it doesn't belong."
Faces flushed and turned away at the harshly spoken words. Ron huffed and stomped towards the Gryffindor table followed by an amused Harry and a disgruntled Hermione. The rest of their lunch passed uneventfully after that if you don't count the Gryffindors' inquiries on their whereabouts last night. It happens every time when they stay behind at the Godric Gryffindor room and every time, they are never satisfied with whatever answer the Trio comes up with.
As they made their way towards their Potions class, they were intercepted by Malfoy and his cronies. Honestly, the boy never learns. After receiving quite an impressive black eye courtesy of Ron, they continued with Hermione yelling in his ear. Undaunted, the red head just whisper to Harry, "Do you think Snape will give me a detention for that?"
"Well, of course you're going to get a detention! What do you think?" Hermione yelled.
"I have to agree with Hermione, mate. And if that's not enough, he's probably going to add training today," Harry whispered the last part with a glare at Ron.
Ron paled. "Can we call Sirius and tell him if Snape does add it?"
"He'd only hex Snape and Dumbledore won't be happy about that."
"Remus?"
"Remus would lecture you for an hour then forbid you from transforming for a week."
"McGonagall?"
"Same thing with Remus."
"Damn," Ron grumbled, ignoring the look of reproach on Hermione's face.
They reached their class and with some hesitation, Harry and Ron entered. Hermione was already making her way to the desk right in front of Snape's desk to the surprise of the fourth year Gryffindors and Slytherins. She and her male counterparts always sit in the back of the room. Snape himself was surprise though it was at the look on her face. She looked positively furious. The only people who manage to make her this way were Harry and Ron. Sure enough, when he looked at the doorway, he saw two very abashed looking Gryffindors.
He sighed, rubbing his temples. "What did you two do now?" He had noticed that Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were absent and knew immediately that whatever set off Hermione had something to do with the three Slytherins.
Ron turned a bright red. He mumbled incoherently under his breath. Snape looked at Harry; he wasn't likely to get answers from him either. So he turned to Hermione.
"Miss Granger, what happened?"
Hermione threw a dirty look at the two boys before facing Severus again. "Malfoy made trouble again in the corridors on our way here and Ron, even though I tried to stop him, gave him a black eye! Then he had the nerve to ask Harry on who would be willing to help him out of trouble and Harry, the bloody git, approved of his actions!"
Their classmates stared at Hermione. Never before had they heard her swear and they had to admit that it was funny. They looked at Snape; the Slytherins especially were waiting gleefully for the loss of points from Gryffindor and a detention for the Golden Girl. To their surprise (again), Snape just sighed and glared at Harry and Ron.
"Lessons for two hours after dinner," he snapped.
Harry yelled, "That's not fair! If you recall, it was Ron who hit the prat, not me!"
"Thanks a lot, Harry," Ron snapped at him.
"Take it as revenge for yesterday," Harry narrowed his eyes at Ron.
Ron thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Fair enough."
Snape was slowly getting red in the face. He snapped at the two boys. "Take your seats or I'll make that three hours."
Immediately, the two boys protested. Hermione rolled her eyes. She snapped, "Shut up or by Merlin I will gut you both."
Harry and Ron paled. Hermione was deadly with a sword—in the sense that she doesn't know which end is the blade and which is the handle. They had both suffered cuts from the lessons they take from Snape and although she was getting better with it, she was still better off working on defensive spells with Dumbledore.
Severus sighed once again. He seems to be doing that a lot when the three insufferable brats were around. "Hermione, please stop. Harry, Ron, sit down or I will make it four hours."
Eyebrows were raised at the professor addressing his so-called hated students by their first names. One Gryffindor was distinctly heard muttering, "Please let this be a hallucination."
Harry, willing to do anything to get out of the "lessons", drew out his best weapon. He grinned maliciously at Snape. "Today is our day off, Professor, you know that. Take it back or I'll say it."
Ron shifted to Harry, puzzled. "Say what?"
Harry whispered in his ear. The class watched as Ron's eyes widened and a smirk slowly forming on his lips.
"Yes, Professor, take it back or we'll say it," Ron grinned at Snape.
Severus slowly lost his color. They wouldn't. But one look at the glint in their eyes and knew that they would. Never let it be said that the Golden Trio wouldn't do well in Slytherin. But he's the adult here. He has to stay calm.
"Sit down," he growled. "Detentions for Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley for bribing a teacher, hitting a student, and tardiness to class. Ten points from each of you as well."
Harry and Ron looked at each other, grinning. Shrugging, Harry made his way towards Hermione. "Whatever you say, Unc—''
Harry didn't get to finish his sentence: Snape had cast a silencio on him.
Ron smiled giddily. "So we get today off?"
Snape glowered at him. "You get today off but both of you will see me for detentions tomorrow."
"Fair enough," Ron said.
Harry smiled. He disabled the charm around him and settled in next to Hermione, who was scowling at both of them.
"What did we do?" Harry and Ron chorused.
Dinner that night consisted of Harry, Ron, and Hermione on the end of more staring and whispers. It's like no matter what they do, they are always on display for everyone to point at and talked about.
What had happened in Potions earlier had gotten around courtesy of the fourth year Gryffindors and Slytherins. The attentions were constantly shifted from Harry, Ron, and Hermione to Professor Snape. Now as they sat in the Great Hall for dinner, there was a minimal amount of talking as everyone were quite content in staring at the aforementioned interests of the day. Hagrid was seen smiling and laughing whenever he looks at Severus; McGonagall, although appalled at the way her kittens had behaved, was smirking throughout dinner; Dumbledore was twinkling more than ever.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were enjoying themselves with their housemates when Ron saw Hermione tense. "'Mione, what is it?"
"Accio Peter Pettigrew!"
Harry and Ron immediately got to their feet, Ron catching the rat soaring to them at once. Hermione stood up, climbed on the table, and jumped down next to her friends on the other side. Harry was going over the rat and upon seeing the missing toe, he cast an immobile spell on it. Hermione did the honor of revealing the true identity of the rat.
Everyone gasped when they were treated to the sight of a short, plump, and ragged looking man in the middle of the Great Hall.
Harry sneered at him, an uncharacteristic look on his face. "Peter Pettigrew, we meet again," he said softly. "Tell me, how stupid are you to come back here again?"
Pettigrew stumbled to his feet. Harry sent out his magic, preventing the man from turning into his form and running away. "H-harry, dear boy, you won't hurt me, remember? You don't have the guts to kill me. You're weak, Harry Potter."
Ron delivered a punch to the traitor's jaw, sending Pettigrew to sprawl ungracefully on the ground.
Hermione looked up at the Head Table to find Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape making their way towards them. Half of the staff were pointing their wands at Pettigrew. But Professor Moody was…not himself. From the stories she heard of the infamous Auror, she would have thought that he would be one of the first on the scene.
She turned back when she was addressed by Ron. "What?"
"We're to go to Albus' office," Ron whispered in her ear.
She looked around, seeing the wide eyes and pale faces of the students and some of the staff. Dumbledore and Snape were heading towards the door that leads to the teacher's wing with a floating Peter Pettigrew before them. Harry was already headed out of the Great Hall so Hermione and Ron ran to catch up with them.
They heard McGonagall explaining things to the assembled Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons students leaving out some important things. They reached Dumbledore's office first. As soon as they were inside, Harry went straight to the fireplace and called Sirius and Remus.
"I'm glad Sirius will be cleared. This has gone on for too long," Hermione remarked as they sat waiting.
"Same here. Knowing Sirius, he'll probably make a fool out of the Ministry. I get front seats when it happens, though," Ron said, a smile gracing his features. He then frowned. "Harry, you alright? You haven't spoken much, mate."
Harry turned towards them, a smile slowly forming on his handsome face. He strolled gracefully towards Hermione, embracing her in his arms.
Hermione smiled, hugging him back. She didn't need to say anything. They never do.
As for Professor Moody, well, she would have to keep a closer eye on him.
*Don't hate me? Like I said, it's not what you are used to but hey, it's my story and I'll write it as I see fit.