Chapter 6: Early Snow
The question of whether to use the necklace to call for Dumbledore or to find a teacher was made moot by the arrival of Argus Filch, clucking his tongue and calling for Mrs. Norris.
Mr. Filch said, "Students by the dungeons with 20 minutes till curfew? Get to bed. I'll give you a pile of detention slips if you're out a moment past curfew."
Ron pointed.
Filch raised his lantern, saw Mrs. Norris hanging by her tail from the torch bracket, and rounded on the students. "You killed her! You killed her! You killed her!"
Harry had never known what to do about insensible anger other than wait quietly and try not to break into a nervous smile.
"You're grinning, you did it, I'll kill you!"
Harry reached under his robes, flicked the cap to his necklace open, and pressed the button that alerted Dumbledore. "It wasn't us, sir. We found her like this. And are you sure she's dead? She might just be petrified."
"You petrified my cat and hung her by her tail?"
"We're first years. We don't even know how to petrify." He glanced at Hermione, who shook her head.
Filch's spittle hit their faces as he jabbed his index finger into Harry's chest. "And what are first-years doing here where they have no business being, well after classes?"
"Argus."
Dumbledore appeared in the hall, large red phoenix on his shoulder, Professor Snape and Snape's TAs in tow. The old wizard took one look, spotted the cat, and with a wave of his wand, brought it down from the torch bracket.
"Argus. Snape. Aitches. Mr. Weasley. Come."
As they began walking, Harry stayed where he was, wondering who Aitches was and why Dumbledore wanted Ron but not him.
Hermione grabbed his elbow and pulled him along. "We're Aitches. Hermione and Harry."
Harry decided to hear it from then on as 'Hs.'
They went into Snape's office, which was full of vials and beakers. A small purple head bobbed in a jar of orange fluid. Dumbledore laid Mrs. Norris on the table and examined her minutely, touching, putting his ear to her stomach, opening an eye-lid.
As Snape closed the door, he said, "What were you doing in the dungeons so near curfew?"
Hermione said, "We wanted to talk privately, and you know how it is. When you're walking and talking you keep walking till you're done talking. Then Harry heard something. We followed it, but we didn't see anything. We were just talking about going to our dorm when Ron saw Mrs. Norris."
"You heard something?" said Snape.
Harry said, "I'd like to talk about it in private with Professor Dumbledore."
"Is it such a great secret that I can't hear it, Potter? Too serious for a mere Potions Master to handle?"
Harry glanced at Filch. "I'll let Dumbledore decide."
Dumbledore turned to Mr. Filch. His voice was soft as he said, "It was dark magic, unusual and advanced. There's no chance the kids did it. I'm sorry Argus. It seems to have been quick."
The old man sobbed, producing a gasping sound, snot running from his nose.
Harry said, "You can just get a new cat, can't you?"
Hermione stomped on his foot, and Dumbledore said, "That's a detention, Mr. Potter."
"What did I-"
Hermione elbowed him in the ribs. He looked at Ron, who shook his head, and mouthed 'Apologize.'
"Sorry Mr. Filch. I shouldn't have said that."
The caretaker kept crying, and Harry thought he hadn't been heard either time.
Phil, who'd been sleeping, ran to the end of Harry's hairline, looked at the cat through a couple stalks of hair, and began chittering and running about. All Harry could tell was that Phil was afraid of being eaten, which wasn't unusual; 90% of Phil's communications were about wanting to eat something or being afraid of being eaten by something.
Filch got to his feet, asked if he could take away Mrs. Norris, was asked to wait till Professor Trewalney had had a look, nodded, and, tears and snot still coming liberally, stumbled out the room.
Dumbledore said, "About that voice, Harry."
"It was breathy, echoey, cold. Medium pitch, I can't say whether it was man or woman. It was quiet, but not so quiet the others shouldn't have been able to hear it. It wasn't making sentences. Just, 'So hungry, kill. Rip. So long.'" To Harry's ears, what he had to say next sounded crazy even in his head, but the cat was dead, after all. "Ron and Hermione couldn't hear it. It was quiet, but not that quiet. We chased it-it sounded like it was moving-but then Hermione said that a voice only I could hear might be Sirius Black drawing me into a trap. If he's gotten into the castle. So we were going to go back, but then Ron saw the cat, and Filch came."
Dumbledore and Snape exchanged a long look. Dumbledore said, "Where were you when you first heard it?"
"The second dungeon."
Hermione said, "Between the lavatory and the geologic cutout."
"Near my classroom," said Snape.
"Not far from it," agreed Harry.
The Potions Professor gave him a long, slow glare that suggested that wherever Harry might be, he couldn't be there for a good reason, and Professor Trewalney burst in.
She wore a scarf around her head, and massive glasses that reminded Harry of the hubcaps on a car, moved immediately to Mrs. Norris, sighed, and said, "Spit a hairball, saw the Grimm in it, figured I'd best get to you, Headmaster."
"You spit a hairball?" said Ron.
"Oh, seers do all sorts honey." She stroked the cat. "Still warm."
Dumbledore said, "Aitches, Mr. Weasley, wait just outside the door. I've called for Remus. He should be here momentarily to pick you up."
With that, they were booted out, the door firmly shut, Dumbledore's phoenix exiting with them and perching on a candelabra and fixing them with its gaze.
Harry put his ear to the door and heard only his pulse. The office doors, he guessed, had charms for privacy.
Harry grew the ears of a lion, Hermione clapped a hand over Ron's mouth as he started to say something, and Harry heard only faint, muffled, indecipherable sounds from within.
Hermione, holding her wand in her other hand, handed him a glass cup. He nodded, placed it rim down on the door, changed lion ears to owl ears, and heard Trewalney.
Trewalney said, "She'd been moved. Not far. The one who moved her... was frightened and confused, yet wore gloves for secrecy." Had the voice he'd heard really been a person? He'd had the idea somehow that it wasn't. "I see two yellow lights." Her voice shuddered. "There is power in them. I can't make them out; I hesitate to try. Beyond that, I see only the brightness of life."
Hurried steps coming down the hall. Harry jerked his head away, pocketed the glass, returned his ears to normal, and whispered "later" at Ron, who was staring at him with large eyes.
Mr. Lupin jogged down the corridor.
They greeted him, and Mr. Lupin tapped on the door, opened it a crack and said, "I'll take them back if there's nothing further."
Lupin's hands were shaking more than before, so much like a breaking muggle machine that Harry half expected a high-pitched hum.
"Do," said Dumbledore.
On the way to the Gryffindor dorms, they told him about the cat, and Hermione asked if it could have been Sirius Black.
Lupin said, "It's hard to imagine him getting inside."
Ron said, "Harder than a troll getting inside? Last I saw the newspapers still said the school didn't have a clue."
Harry, who'd gotten in easily the first day by transforming into an owl, bit his lip. Ron and Lupin didn't know he could do that.
Lupin at last said, "The defenses of Hogwarts are more than walls. Someone who's not allowed to enter shouldn't be able to without setting off alarms, not even if a door were left open. And the secret entrances, even those usually left accessible so students can taste mystery and adventure, have been sealed and trapped.
"Secret entrances?" said Harry.
"And passages. Whole rooms. Wait till your third year-they stop hiding so well then. Sirius knows most of them-we caused a lot of trouble as students-but Dumbledore knows them all. If Sirius is using a secret passage, it's one Dumbledore doesn't know about it, and one he never told me about it, and both of those are hard to credit."
Hermione said, "Are you saying he has inside help?"
Lupin was silent so long Harry thought he wouldn't answer. It wasn't till they were nearly to the dormitory that he did.
"That's on everyone's mind. But if Sirius Black really did have the run of the castle, it wouldn't be Mr. Filch's cat he killed. The ministry acts as if it's fact, but I'm unsure whether he's in the area at all. Rather..."
"Rather what?" said Hermione.
They stopped outside the portrait of the fat lady, which led into the dormitories.
Lupin said, "It's a big world, and a lot goes on. But if it is Sirius... I couldn't do it, having the Shakes, but in third year, James, Peter and Sirius all became animagi. James a stag, Peter a rat, and Sirius a big black dog. He shouldn't be an animagus anymore. They give prisoners at Azkaban potions to break animagus ability, whether they're registered or not, but during the war James and Lily were always calling Peter and Sirius over to try out improvements. If anyone could survive the animagus stripping potions, it'd be Sirius. So Harry, if you happen to see a big black dog in the corridors, sound alarm and run."
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Harry felt glum the next few days. Even the prank hadn't ended up being much fun. A piece of ham had fallen on Percy's lap, which had set Ron laughing, but it'd only taken the prefect a moment to understand the problem and cast a counter-charm that undid the softening charm through the whole of the great hall. Then he'd stared hard at Ron.
When word spread that Mrs. Norris had died (no one mentioned dark magic) Katie Bell had said that she had used to pet Mrs. Norris when Mrs. Norris was in the mood, and Harry had felt inexplicably guilty.
Harry cheered up with the coming of the first real snow. Thick and powdery, bright in the sunshine, ice spreading across the lake, and the students of Hogwarts came out to play, snow angels and snowball fights radiating out from the kegs of hot cocoa put by the doors.
Harry ducked beneath a snowball, hit Ben with his own, and dropped into a depression that he was slowly building into a foxhole, mounding up snow walls at the lip of it whenever he had a moment. The Gryffindor first-years were at the outer edge, older students having claimed the prime spots by the cocoa and restrooms, which Harry didn't think was quite fair, since fourth-years and up were allowed to warm themselves with magic, but there were better things to think about.
A large black dog trotted across the snow, tongue lolling, tail wagging, friendliness in every line of its body.
Harry recoiled, heart in his throat, remembering Lupin's warning.
Neville took a knee and it ran to him. The Gryffindor first-years gathered around, petting it, only Harry, Hermione and Ron hanging back.
Hermione said, "Is it Hagrid's?"
Harry shook his head. "It's not Fang."
"Doesn't Professor Kettleburn have a couple dogs?"
Harry said, "The black one isn't this big."
Ron said, "It probably ran over from Hogsmeade. That's not far."
Neville said, "It's skinny. Does anyone have anything for it to eat?"
Harry tossed it a biscuit from his bag, and the dog inhaled it. He approached warily and stretched out a fist. The dog sniffed it, whined, and Harry flipped his fist, opened it, and the dog delicately took the two strips of bacon he'd been holding.
Harry felt its ribs as he stroked its coarse fur. "I wonder if it's a stray." He offered it another biscuit, which it scarfed down on the snow.
Other students offered it whatever food they'd taken from the Great Hall, Eloise Midgen sending the dog into ecstasy with a pair of sausages she'd wrapped in wax paper.
Harry gave it another biscuit from his Expanded bag, then jerky, smoked fish from a week ago (the bag preserved food better than any can), and a hard boiled egg that peeled in a moment.
Eloise said, "Why do you have all that?"
"For feeding dogs, obviously."
"Harry."
"I like picnicking. Should we take the dog in? If it's from Hogsmeade a teacher can take it home." He raised a biscuit, the dog looked up, and he finally made eye contact. The dog felt friendly, and like a dog, but distant and dim somehow, like he was looking at it through tinted binoculars.
A sudden chill knifed through Harry, through the gloves, boots, robes and pants beneath that had resisted the snow and wind.
Cloaked black shapes coming out of the trees, gliding across the snow like a murder of crows, pushing the cold, fear and sorrow before them.
Neville said, "The-they aren't supposed to be here."
Harry said, "We'll just do what we were told."
The students didn't run. They'd been told that running invited chasing. They backed slowly away, still facing the dementors, each step taking them toward the castle, slipping wands from their pockets, wondering if they should call for help, but surely the dementors had some business to conduct, surely they weren't after them.
Without discussion, Harry and Hermione took smaller steps than the others, drifting to the front of the retreating group.
The black dog ran away.
The dementors continued toward the students, moving more quickly than Harry could run.
The black dog turned back and ran barking around the dementors, snapping at a fluttering robe, jetted away, and the dementors ignored the dog, continuing straight ahead, the air colder and colder, knees shaking, darkness around his vision.
Hermione shouted "Alarum" at almost the same instant Harry cast Periculum, sending up a stream of red sparks that hung in the air. A few other Periculums were sent off, but most of the students had frozen.
"Get Harry out. I'll hold him off."
Double-vision in his mind's eye, the dementors closing, how many, so many, they shouldn't run, there was no point to running, everything was dark and helpless.
A red-haired woman appeared above, and snatched him into her arms. She was warmth itself, and for a moment they flickered, but the flickering ended.
"Expecto Patronum." Hermione, quavering but brave, white mist shooting out of her wand, but it was like holding back the tide with a bank of fog.
The red-haired woman cast a spell that blew a wall off, a sheer drop into the yard. She dropped Harry in the crib, tugged open the closet, twirled out gripping a broomstick, and a monster walked in.
"Expecto Patronum," Hermione cast again, almost crying, and hardly a tendril of white mist came out. The dementors circled them, like students on a winter day around a keg of hot cocoa.
The red-haired woman darted between the monster and Harry.
"Not Harry."
"Stand aside."
"Spare the child."
A twisted grin. "No."The monster raised its wand.
The red-haired woman raised her own.
Students began to faint, and Phil bit Harry's neck. The pain was pure and clear as a shard of ice, jerking him from the stupor, fear to anger and anger to a roar that left through long teeth, fur sprouting, nose becoming snout, four paws on the ground, a transformation to lion that spread from the mouth.
The dementors rocked in the roar like boats in a gentle ocean swell, and were no more affected. But Harry's own mind was relieved, like a storm-wracked sailor washed up on a beach, wondering for a moment whether the respite was from the roar or the transformation, remembering an instant later with the returned clarity that animagi in animal form being resistant to dementors was something Quirrell had mentioned.
"Expecto Patronum!" Hermione again, still scared, the tremble in her voice running all through her body, head to toe, but firmness beneath, the mist a barricade.
They hadn't tested it, but Harry and Hermione had talked of how, against the troll, her Incendiare spell had been much more powerful when he'd roared at the same moment she cast it, and Harry waited for the moment.
Once more, "Expecto Patronum!" her surest yet.
Again the silver cloud, static and weak till Harry roared into it like he was blowing a bubble. The cloud extended here, retracted there, four legs and a mouth that roared, a silver lioness that pounced, forcing the dementors back.
From the side a large silver dog dashed in, driving more dementors in front of it, then a silver doe leapt through the students, and the dementors flew off at top speed, the doe pursuing, the silver dog vanishing as quickly as it had appeared, the lioness fading as Hermione staggered.
Harry transformed into himself so he could catch her if she fell, but Severus Snape, breathing hard, red-faced from exertion, beat him to it, one hand to her back, steadying her, the other hand holding his wand, directing the silver doe as it chased the fleeing dementors, casting glances at Harry all the while.
"Chocolate," said Snape. "Eat your chocolate."
A flash of fire, and Dumbledore appeared, white-faced with anger, phoenix on his shoulder. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A silver phoenix burst from his wand, very like the red one on his shoulder, but so bright it hurt to look at, so powerful the air shivered.
Harry hadn't known the dementors could flee more quickly.
"Severus, get them inside!" And Dumbledore was off, not quite flying but gliding over the snow in a fashion eerily reminiscent of the dementors.
Harry took Hermione's arm.
"Are you alright?"
"Just dizzy."
More than dizzy, Harry thought, as they sat on the snow. She was pale as the snow. He took a heap of chocolate bars and treats from his bag and threw most of it at the other students, who were lying on the ground panting or crying, tore the wrapping off a large one, and gave two-thirds of the bar to Hermione, the rest to himself.
She bit into it slowly, then inhaled the rest, so he gave her another, then another for himself, warmth coming back into his limbs.
"Up," said Snape. "All of you, up. Eat chocolate as you walk, the walking will help. Back to Hogwarts we go." He pulled up Neville up by the arm, then Eloise. "Get up, or do you want to be left behind?"
That got the students standing, Harry feeling a flash of fear, then a flash of anger at Snape for frightening them into it. But the walking helped.
Other students were gathering around, older students looking with fear and curiosity. Snape spoke into his wand, and his voice came from the sky. "EVERYONE IN THE CASTLE. ALL STUDENTS, RETURN TO THE CASTLE."
Then quieter, to the Gryffindors. "Eat your chocolate as you walk. McIntyre needs more chocolate, who has more chocolate?"
Harry tossed a bar to Snape, who gave it to Tiffany McIntyre.
"You have more, Potter?"
He took a large, half-empty box from his Expanded bag. "School store."
Snape took the box, distributing the chocolates among the other students, the silver doe prancing around them all the while, and Molly Weasley ran out of the castle, wand raised.
Ron had been avoiding her like he avoided Snape's eyes in potions class, but he ran to her, hugged her, and she returned the hug with only one arm, wand up, eyes scanning the field.
Snape said, "It's alright now Molly. Just get them inside.
The students were sat at tables, hot cocoa appeared, and Snape said, "Potter, Granger, with me."
They trailed in his wake, following Snape to the Hospital Wing.
Madam Pomfrey looked up from her fiddling with a poky, many-levered implement Harry hoped to never see the use of, and Snape said, "A private room, if you will, Poppy."
Madam Pomfrey gestured to open doorway, and Harry and Hermione followed Snape into a little room with two chairs, a bed, a desk and no window.
They sat on the bed while Snape, closing the door, stood before the larger chair. "The Aitches, once more at the center of catastrophe."
Harry swallowed, figuring that if even Snape was calling them that he was probably an Aitch for good.
"Granger, did you cast that lioness Patronus yourself?"
"I..." She glanced at Harry.
"Potter, transform."
Though reluctant, he didn't dare defy a teacher, and the lion took up nearly all the free space in the room, his tail batting Hermione's face.
"It is visible to anyone who knows how to look that that lion form is not a normal lion. The fur almost glows. The Nemean lion, which is what I take it you are, has the ability to disguise itself as a normal lion. Go someplace very private with a mirror and mayhap a close friend, and learn that. You can never have too many cards up your sleeve.
"So this is what we'll say. 'Harry Potter is a natural-born lion animagus.' Too many students saw for us to say otherwise. 'He was unregistered because he's a muggle-raised first-year and didn't know he should be registered.' As for that bloody large roar... Everyone heard it. It certainly answers for me what happened on Halloween, and gives hints to others. So, 'just as on Halloween, Potter cast an Amplification Charm on himself before transforming, which was quick thinking, as it allowed him to continue calling for help while transformed.' Harry, do you know the voice Amplification charm?"
Harry said, "I can learn it."
Hermione said, "Sonorus. I already know it.
"Very well, 'Granger cast Sonorus on Harry, so he could continue calling for help while transformed. She also may have entertained hopes that the heightened roar would frighten off the troll and the dementors, respectively. Yes, muggle-born, but she's a quick thinker and very skilled. Hadn't you heard, she's managed the incorporeal form of a Patronus as a first-year, which she used against the dementors, not to much effect of course, though it likely saved her fellow students a few shivers and nightmares. Then every capable wizard who could see what was happening cast the Patronus Charm, and a crowd of Patronuses drove off the dementors. A doe, a dog, a big cat of some kind, a phoenix, and we're not really sure what else, a lot happened very quickly, and everyone pitched in.'
"What we will not say is that Hermione Granger cast an incorporeal Patronus, and the roar of Harry Potter's Nemean lion form turned it into a lioness. Will that bother you, Potter? It won't chafe at you to hide your part?"
Harry bit his lip. Snape was always making little comments like that. And he didn't like that the story had Hermione casting Amplification. It makes her seem even more like supergirl. "It's fine."
"Good, now tell me exactly what-"
The door opened and Dumbledore walked in, jaw set.
Snape said, "Headmaster, what did the dementors say?"
"That they were hungry, and felt the students playing. That they won't come again-I frightened them enough that they won't try again for a long while." He looked at Harry and Hermione, measuring them up, and continued. "They also claim that, as our Patronuses drove them off, they detected, for a moment, the presence of Sirius Black."
Snape hissed.
"They claim that his presence was absent, then was there, then was absent again. Like a light being turned on and off."
Snape said, "If whatever method he's hiding himself from the dementors with is so effective, why are they even here?"
"A question I will surely bring up to Minister Fudge. Politics being what they are, I'm unsure what the effect will be." Dumbledore took the smaller chair and said, "How are you two? You've had chocolate?"
Harry said, "If I have anymore my stomach will hurt."
"Good. Tell me everything."
When Hermione mentioned the dog sprinting around the dementors and barking, Dumbledore said, "What dog?" and they had to go back and explain, which, sent the old wizard into deep thought, a hmming, mmming and scratching of beard.
Harry said, "You're wondering if-"
Dumbledore said, "I was just thinking that I haven't played with a dog in ages. Continue."
When Harry mentioned hallucinating as the dementors got closer, Dumbledore stopped him again.
"Memory. The horrors dementors bring to mind are our own memories. Sometimes repressed or forgotten."
He looked from Hermione to his lap. That was real? It'd been horrible, tasting of dread and loss. But he had seen his mother in a way that was realer than any photograph. "They were just about to start fighting when I transformed into a lion. Voldemort and Lily Potter."
A wince from Dumbledore and a gasp from Snape, followed by the potions master saying, "Lily Potter?"
Harry said, "Is it alright for me to call her mother? I never knew her. It feels presumptuous. Would it be okay?"
In the silence, Harry heard how high-pitched and nasal his voice had been, how it had demanded that anyone listening tell him that Lily Potter had called him her son, and of course he should call her mother or mum or mom or even mummy, if he liked.
Harry said, "Sorry."
"Continue."
Hermione did most of the talking from there, and when she was finished, Snape said to Dumbledore, "Pensieve?"
Dumbledore shook his head. "They don't need to relive it with such clarity today. Now, as to what we'll say happened...
Snape filled Dumbledore in on his planned story, and Dumbledore said, "I'll explain it that way at dinner. And Harry. Learn the Amplification Charm. And I'll find some place where you can work on controlling that roar. But before that, before you even leave this room, you must learn to imitate a muggle lion. The moment you step outside the medical ward, you will be bombarded with questions by your fellow students, and demands that you transform into a lion. Given that it's the symbol of your house, no will not be taken easily for an answer. Passing shouldn't be hard. It's one of the basic abilities of a Nemean lion."
Harry nodded, thinking it would be even easier for him than Dumbledore supposed.
"Severus, I would like a moment alone with Aitches."
With a curt nod, Snape left the room.
Dumbledore held up a small square of glossy white paper in one hand, and his wand in the other. "Close your eyes, and think very carefully of the dog you met."
When they opened their eyes, the swatch of paper had a moving picture of the dog, eating a biscuit and being stroked by a crowd of hands.
"I'll show this to Lupin, when he's up to it." The photograph disappeared. "There will be a rumor, called ridiculous by most, that Miss Granger, in a moment of great danger and stress, cast a corporeal Patronus. There will also be rumors that there's more than sound to Harry's roar; the students felt that. The school newspaper won't be held off from trying to interview you much longer, and some form of whatever you tell them will be re-printed in The Daily Prophet. Say what you like; I look forward to reading it.
With a twinkle and a smile, he left.
#
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"That's pretty good Harry. You don't look at all magic now. You're smaller too."
He tried a small roar, like tip-toeing with his voice, and it didn't carry beyond the room.
"Still a little magic," said Hermione. "Like exciting music."
He tried again, and she gave a thumbs up. He turned back into himself, sat on the bed next to her, and they didn't say anything.
Eventually, she lay back, so Harry lay next to her.
At first it was relaxing, but he got bored so he sat up and said, "We can't stay in this room forever."
To which Hermione replied, "Do you ever wish you hadn't gotten the Hogwarts letter?"
He jerked like he'd put his finger in an electric socket.
"I love magic. I like magic. And Hogwarts is great. And I have friends-I'm even getting along with Lavender and Parvati again-but I miss my parents every day. And back home I was never attacked by a troll, or a dementor, and I was never worried about my best friend being hunted by a murderer." She looked around the room, at the old stone walls, the candles that made unwavering light and never dripped. "If this is the price of magic, I don't want to pay it."
A hundred replies and a thousand ways she might respond rushed through his head, Harry searching for the words that would convince her to stay at Hogwarts but would also be true.
Harry said, "Would you like to know my biggest secret?"
"I thought I already knew your biggest secret. The one even Dumbledore doesn't know."
"That's not my biggest secret." He looked around the room and almost whispered, "Until Professor McGonagall made my Aunt and Uncle and give me a room, I slept in the cupboard under the stairs. I slept with my knees bent, or I didn't fit. I was in there a lot even when I wasn't sleeping. They liked locking me in there."
Hermione sat up, eyes wide.
"My Uncle used to tell me that guests and fish both stink after three days, and I should be grateful they hadn't kicked me out. They gave me my three meals, but I wasn't allowed to get seconds or to snack, so I was hungry. Not enough to look through the rubbish bin, but if there was free food at school I'd get as much as I could, and eat some and hide the rest. If I saw a rice-krispie on the ground, half out of its wrapper, missing a bite, I'd break off the part that was bitten and eat the rest.
"During dinner my Aunt and Uncle would watch the news, and every day things much worse than that happened. So I don't think it has anything to do with magic. Lots of horrible things happen to lots of people who don't have any magic at all. Before, you weren't one of them. The reason horrible things are happening to you isn't that you came to Hogwarts, it's that you made friends with me."
Harry shuddered. He had been confessing to convince her she shouldn't leave Hogwarts, but now he was telling her to leave him.
Harry said, "Maybe you should stop talking to me out of class until they catch Sirius." He was afraid to look at her, afraid to speed up her reaction.
She hugged him, chins over each others' shoulders.
Harry wriggled. He'd never been hugged before. He tried to draw back, and her grip tightened. He tilted his head to look at her face.
"Why are you crying?"
She hugged him tight enough to squeeze air out his chest. Slowly, hesitantly, like a child afraid of being sent to bed without dinner, his hands met behind her, and pressed against her back.
Hugging was a warm feeling, once he relaxed into it. Hermione's shoulder beneath his chin was damp, and he didn't know why or when he'd started crying.
#
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Hermione said, "I know what I'm going to do regardless of what you want, but what do you want me to do?"
"I should tell you not to spend time with me anymore, at the very least not till this is over, but my old school guidance counselor would tell you I wasn't raised with enough love to be selfless like that. I'm sorry, that was a bad sentence, I was trying to guilt trip you into staying my friend. I don't think I meant it to be, but maybe everything I've said has been a guilt trip."
Hermione said, "From my best friend I'll allow it."
:::
Yo: I guess a lot happened this chapter, but I still feel like it was nothing but "talk talk talk." I guess that's a little inevitable, since Harry Potter books are mysteries that would be resolved more easily if people would have longer conversations and be familiar with what seems like it oughta be common knowledge, but Imma try an' do better.
Harry x Hermione shippers should like this chapter, & I feel you, but Harry's eleven and Hermione's twelve. The hug is a just a hug. That's why I sat them up.
Check out my book on Amazon if you wanna read something with no dead cats.
Go to Amazon, select the department 'books,' search for 'Monstrosity, select the one by JLL (L, JL). and click on 'read free sample.' The cover is the same as my profile pick.
Thanks to Flashx11 for his proofread.
I feel bad about killing Mrs. Norris. Wrote the scene both ways, decided I liked it this way better, and besides, y'all know no character is safe from an author willing to kill a cat.
I'm hoping a major plotline will be resolved in the next update, but it might not be till the one after that.
Strikes me as pretty cray cray sometimes that film composer Danny Elfman used to be the frontman for a successful rock band.