CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Summary: Hermione's secret is discovered by The Order of the Phoenix. Before Harry is rescued, she needs to be first. But from who? With the help of Sirius she learns to put the past behind her, and with the help of two Weasleys, they show her a happy future. But Hermione isn't who she thinks she is, what she discovers will change her life for good. Rated M for a reason.
Disclaimer: All original characters and canon events belong to J.K. Rowling. Non-canon events are my own ideas. I am not making any profit from posting this fanfic.
Page count: 9
Hogwarts - Tuesday 16th April 1996
Hermione had barely been back at school a week and she was stressed. Her OWLs were less than two months away, her research for the D.A. was colliding with her study schedule, D.A. meetings had increased since it was almost the end of the year and Umbridge and her Inquisitional Squad became more relentless in their mission to catch them in the act of breaking school rules, meaning their every move was being scrutinized and they were being followed.
They were currently in another D.A. meeting. Whilst the others perfected their Tripping Jinxes and shields, Hermione and the twins were in the corner of the room, practicing casting their patronus. They had gone from a silver glow to a silver-blue glow, they were on the very cusp of casting a corporeal patronus, something was holding them back and she didn't know what it was.
Hermione was just about to give the twins more encouragement when the wall was blasted into pieces. Stone littered the floor and a thick smoke lingered in the air, causing several people to cough. When the smoke cleared, Umbridge stepped through the hole in the wall with a shit eating grin on her face.
"My, my, an unauthorised extra-curricular activity," she tutted, looking around the group of students, from third through to seventh years and from all houses, but one, Slytherin. "Such disobedience must not go unpunished."
~000~000~000~
Monday 22nd April 1996
Hermione couldn't believe it, Dumbledore had been dismissed, almost arrested and that Old Toad was the new Headmistress of Hogwarts.
She was currently serving one of her detentions; she was in the great hall, on her hands and knees as she scrubbed the floor with a toothbrush just as the rest of the D.A was doing the same. Hermione looked around as Umbridge sat in Dumbledore's high winged back chair, with a look on her face that had Hermione wanting to slip a Flatulence Potion into Umbridge's next meal; Dobby would likely do it for her if she knitted him a new scarf.
The thought reminded her fondly of Fred and George, perhaps they'd been spending too much time together; they were starting to wear off on her. Her eyes searched the great hall for her boyfriends, but she couldn't find them, they weren't there.
She sighed and went back to her task of scrubbing the floor.
Not ten minutes later the great hall doors slammed opened and fireworks exploded with a deafening bang in a myriad of colours and patterns, her favourite was the large golden lion that stood tall and roared loudly. Everyone was now on their feet, clapping and watching in amazement at the show that was before them, completely forgetting about an outraged Umbridge and her detention.
Fred and George flew into the great hall on their brooms, high above the students and they showered them with confetti and glitter, before swooping down and throwing another firework in the air. From the looks of things, it was their grand finale.
The final firework burst into brilliant reds, yellows and oranges, revealing the form of a magnificent dragon. Not only was it magnificent for it's incredible life-likeness, but also for the fact that it gave a loud roar and promptly chased Umbridge out of the room, leaving behind a hall of applauding and cheering students and a floor filled with Umbridge's rules and proclamations.
Hermione couldn't stop the burst of joyous laughter that left her.
The twins looked at each other and beamed. They had promised themselves they would set Umbridge's hideous suit on fire, since it was Hermione's greatest wish, and they had done that for her.
Now it was time for them to leave, they felt awful for not telling Hermione what they'd planned, but they had been dropping hints for a while now, Hermione was a smart girl, she would likely piece it together.
The twins flew out of the great hall, throwing a few Wildfire Whiz-Bangs to create enough noise to gain the attention of all the students on every floor of the castle.
The twins led everyone out to the entrance courtyard where the entire school gathered in excitement and laughter, as they told jokes, now back on the ground, their brooms hidden behind a suit of armour by the nearest alcove.
The laughter suddenly died down at the appearance of a furious Umbridge, her entire face a bright red, her hideous pink suit was charred at the ends and smoke was coming off it, even as Filch hurried behind her, fanning away the smoke.
"You two are about to learn what happens to wrong-doers in my school!" Umbridge shrieked.
"You know what? I don't think we are," Fred spoke with a smirk. "George, I think we've outgrown full-time education."
"Yeah, I've been feeling that way myself," George said, sharing a knowing look with his twin.
"Time to test our talents in the real world, don't you reckon?" asked Fred.
"Definitely," agreed George.
"Accio brooms!" the twins called, summoning their brooms, mounting them and kicking off the ground, flying high above the large gathered crowd.
"We won't be seeing you," Fred spoke confidently.
"Yeah, don't bother to keep in touch," George said with a laugh.
The twins looked around at the crowd of students in the entrance courtyard.
"If anyone fancies buying a Portable Swamp, as demonstrated upstairs, come to number ninety-three, Diagon Alley, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes!" Fred yelled.
"Special discounts to Hogwarts students who swear they're going to use our products to get rid of this old bat!" George shouted whilst gesturing to Umbridge.
"Give her hell from us, Peeves!" Fred shouted and Peeves who was also present, grinned wickedly, swept off his hat and bowed deeply.
The twins locked eyes with Hermione and that's when she realised she wouldn't see them for two months. After seeing them every day, spending hours of time together, laughing, studying, just lounging around in silence, holding her, they wouldn't be with her.
The realisation hit her like a tonne of bricks. She should've told them months ago, but she was afraid of the words, of what they meant. But she had to tell them, who knew when she would next get the chance?
Her eyes softened and with her eyes locked on theirs, she pulled her wand from her pocket and she muttered a quick spell.
"Flagrate," she whispered and with her wand, she wrote three words that would forever change her relationship with the twins, either for the worst, or the better.
When she dropped her wand, the fire flamed to life, leaving being the words, 'I Love You' flickering in the slight breeze.
She refused to break her gaze with them, it was obvious they were shocked by what she'd done. And suddenly, it was like something had clicked between the two school prankster drop outs.
They tore their gaze away from hers and turned to look at each other. Hermione looked on fearful as they shared a nod and before she knew it, they had pulled their wands.
They gave a shout of, "Expecto Patronum!"
It was as if everything happened in slow motion. A silver-blue fox shot out of the tip of Fred's wand, running around in the air, quickly followed by George's identical fox.
Hermione gasped in shock and almost stumbled back, but caught herself in time.
The two foxes moved over to her, floating in front of her face. She stared mesmerised as they opened their mouths and the twins' voices spoke clearly.
"We love you!"
Hermione's eyes watered and before she knew it, tears were falling down her face. "We'll write to you and we'll see you in two month's time, keep up the pranks for us?"
She laughed and looked up at the twins, she nodded as she wiped away her tears.
Even from the distance between them she could see the happiness in them; it practically rolled off them in waves.
She brought her hand up to her mouth, quickly kissing her fingertips and pressing it against her heart, Fred and George repeated her actions and with a final nod and smile, they turned in the air and flew over the grounds of Hogwarts and over the front gates.
Harry found his way over to her as the crowd was nowhere near done celebrating, even as Umbridge gave orders for everyone to return to their common rooms.
Without thought Hermione grabbed him and pulled him to her, hugging him tightly. Harry froze still, completely unsure of what his response should be.
She was touching him willingly!
When Hermione squeezed him tighter, carefully he brought his arms up and wrapped them around her, hugging her back.
"Did you know?"
"No."
"Why are you crying?" he asked her softly.
"I love them," she replied.
"Really?" he replied sarcastically, she ignored it.
"They love me."
"Do they?" Once more, his reply was sarcastic.
"We love each other," she whispered, almost disbelievingly.
"You don't say," he chuckled, she pinched his side and he winced. "Any idiot could see that you loved them, and they you. It was written as clear as day in your actions, your behaviour, not to mention, the way you can't seem to take your eyes off each other if you're in the same room, you gravitate towards each other."
"Really?" she asked.
"Really," he promised and he decided to change the subject. "So, their patronuses are foxes, that's interesting."
Hermione pulled away from the hug.
"Yes, it is," she frowned. She turned and made her way back to the Gryffindor common room, heading up to her bedroom.
"Expecto Patronum," she said quietly, but clearly.
As soon as the words left her mouth her patronus was brought to life, running around the room.
Her beautiful silver-blue fox, identical in every way to Fred's and George's.
~000~000~000~
Wednesday 15th May 1996
She was sat in the great hall with the rest of the D.A. sitting her detention, the detentions they'd all been attending for three weeks. This was the first where they were sat at single desks, a piece of parchment in front of them with a quill; it had a dark raven feather and the black stem sat in their hands. Hermione knew what it was as soon as she saw it; the look on Harry's face didn't go unnoticed either.
She was looking around the great hall, flinching every so often as she saw a third year crying, a fourth year sniffling and wiping at their eyes, a fifth year whimpering, a sixth year wincing and a seventh year cursing both Merlin and Morgana.
She could feel her magic building within her, Umbridge had to be punished, she was powerless to stop it. Her eyes screwed shut tightly, her hands clenched into fists and she gripped at her hair in desperation. The amount of magic in her waiting to be released was unbearable.
"Miss. Granger."
Hermione's eyes shot open and she looked up, Umbridge was stood in front of her desk, the rest of the hall had stopped their writing to look at her. She hadn't yet called her by her name of Black, which hadn't gone unnoticed either.
"I see you have not yet completed your lines, you will have detention a further three times a week, in addition to your previous four a week."
No one would dream of what happened next. Hermione's eyes darkened considerably and she stood up quickly, the air around her thickening and her chair went flying across the room, smashing against the stone wall and shattering into pieces, wood splinters going in every direction, but they didn't hit a single person, before they could hit any of her fellow D.A. members, they stopped and floated in front of them, bobbing and swaying gently.
The anger was building and building and building and she remembered everything Umbridge had done since September. Every first year that had come to her in a fit of hysterics. Every second and third year she had found crying. Every fourth and fifth year she had seen fighting back tears. Every sixth year she had found wincing. And every seventh year she had seen walking the halls looking exhausted. Most of the time, with blood dripping from their red raw hand.
It snapped; her magic wanted her punished. Umbridge gave a deafening shriek as she was thrown backwards and away from Hermione without any indication, no incantation spoken and no wand waved. Her body slammed into the high wing back chair that didn't belong to her and it tipped backwards, hitting the floor with a bang.
The air around Hermione was swirling with magic and she breathed heavily, trying to rein it in.
The entire hall was silent, not knowing what their reactions should be to what had just happened. Glee? Shock? Amazement? Respect?
Umbridge slowly got to her feet, her hair bow now at on odd angle, her suit jacket out of place, her skirt wrinkled and she was missing a shoe.
"You are EXPELLED!"
The entire hall gasped and stared in shock, Harry's eyes locked on her and he waited for her reaction.
Her eyes were still dark, but her expression calm, bored even.
"Very well," she spoke, causing everyone in the room to either gasp or choke. That was certainly not the reaction that had been expecting from her. "I can always take my OWLs at The Ministry, practical study is more ideal for me anyway, I've learned more from Harry in a week, than I did from you in your pitiful eight months here, you won't be here for much longer, that I can guarantee." She turned and walked out of the hall, before she stepped through the doors she heard Umbridge speak.
"I am the Undersecretary to The Minister himself, I have an influence over him, he will do as I wish," Umbridge spoke smugly.
Hermione turned around.
"Yes, but not only am I a Black, I am The Blue Mage, don't you forget that. Fudge will grant me anything I wish in fear of disrespecting me; don't expect to be The Undersecretary for long, it will be on public record of how you treated not only me, but the rest of the students here and the public will want retribution. Dumbledore it the greatest Headmaster Hogwarts has seen and he will return."
Hermione turned and walked out of the room, just as she heard loud shrieks of pain. She turned her head back to see Umbridge on the floor, doubled over on herself and clutching her stomach desperately.
"You forgot there are consequences for disrespecting and threatening The Blue Mage." Since knowing her magic could and would punish those that it deemed necessary, for the first time, she didn't feel guilty for the pain Umbridge was feeling.
She made her way through the halls, to the Gryffindor common room and up to her room. She waved her wand and had all of her belongings pack themselves away as she sat down and wrote a letter to Harry.
With her shrunken down trunk in hand she headed back down to the common room, left the letter on the table with it charmed so only Harry could open it and she left without a second glance.
She made her way through the halls, the news had obviously spread quickly as students applauded and offered her encouragement and compliments as she walked past them, a few causing her to laugh. Even a few of the Slytherins shot her proud smirks, an arched eyebrow or in the case of Draco, a bow. She outright laughed and he grinned at her reaction.
As she reached the Hogwarts' gates they opened for her magically, she stepped through and walked further away, when she was out of the protection of the wards, she turned to look at the castle and then with her wand in hand, she turned on her heel.
~000~000~000~
12 Grimmauld Place
Hermione entered Grimmauld Place and it was quiet, almost too quiet, that was until she heard breathless laughter coming from Sirius' study. She slowly walked down the hallway and entered the study.
Sirius, Remus and surprisingly, Fred and George were lounging on the couches, fire whiskey flowing and laughing loudly.
"What's going on here?" She drew their attention and they stared in shock at seeing her, doing a double take.
Sirius and Remus had their wands trained on her in seconds. 'Security questions,' she realised.
'It's me, when I have a nightmare you come and stay with me as Padfoot, when I signed the adoption papers, you said it was the greatest Christmas gift I could ever give you,' she thought whilst gripping at her necklace, Sirius' wand dropped immediately and he sighed before rushing over to her, Remus dropped his wand when he saw his best friend's actions.
"What are you doing here?" Sirius asked her, pulling away from the hug. The others were stood, all waiting for her answer as she quickly hugged them in greeting.
"I was expelled," she said cheerfully.
"WHAT?" she winced.
"I was expelled. Detention, Umbridge made everyone use blood quills. My magic wanted her punished and she provoked me, I couldn't stop it and she was thrown away from me and into Dumbledore's chair. When she stood up she expelled me."
"She can't do that!" Fred yelled in her defence, it made her smile. George was stood beside her looking furious.
"I know," she said joyfully. "She won't be at Hogwarts much longer, I can feel it. But until Dumbledore returns, and he will return, I can do independent study and my OWLs at The Ministry, it's not like they'll turn down my inquiry. It's okay though, she disrespected me and she faced the consequences. Everyone heard about what happened, even a few Slytherins congratulated me," she said, much to their shock. "But, anyway, I'm home until at least September, and I can return to school next term," she grinned.
They stared and she laughed, she then turned and whispered something in Sirius' ear and he looked at her softly and he nodded.
She turned around and held her hands out for the twins, without thought they took them and she led them out of the room.
"Where are we going?" Fred asked her, still in shock from her revelation of being expelled.
"You'll see," she lead them to the hallway staircase, she let go of George's hand and pulled her wand, pressing it against the banister in a sequence, before stowing her wand and picking up George's hand.
A door in the staircase swung open, much to their surprise. She ducked her head and walked down the stairs, pulling them behind her. As she walked, the torches in the room lit, brightening the room considerably.
"You've been practicing," George commented.
"I had to do something to occupy the time I've had since you left," she replied.
She skipped the last three steps and jumped to the floor, the twins copied her actions and they stood in a large room. The floor carpeted with a soft grey material and the walls painted a calming blue. The entire room was empty except for a few cushions and blankets stacked and folded neatly in the middle of the room.
"We meant it," George spoke, turning her to face them.
"We love you," Fred said softly.
Her eyes softened, it was even better it hearing from them in person, rather than their patronuses.
"And I meant it, I love you both," she spoke.
Before she could blink, she was pressed against them both and they hugged her tightly between them, Fred and George both pressing soft kisses to her cheeks, neck and temples, causing her to giggle.
"You were afraid to tell us, weren't you?" George spoke quietly, his breath ticking her ear.
She nodded slowly.
"Why?"
She bit her lip nervously. "It changes things, I didn't want to say the words that I fear most and have you reject me. I didn't want you to feel obligated to stay with me. Those words make or break a relationship," she admitted.
She felt them hug her tighter.
"We would never reject you," Fred promised her. "We love you, we love everything about you. We love everything that you are, everything that you do and everything that you stand for."
"You're an amazing, intelligent, caring and talented witch, anyone would be stupid to turn you down," George chuckled. "Why do you love us?" he asked her curiously, wishing to know how she viewed them.
"You don't treat me any differently, you haven't since finding out about my parents or since finding out about my being The Blue Mage. You don't judge me; you support, challenge and encourage me. You value my opinions and beliefs, you make me laugh, you can pull me out of a bad memory with a simple touch and with a smile you can make me forget everything he did to me," she confessed in a whisper.
The twins were beaming widely. They stayed in silence, revelling in just being together once again, before Hermione got out of their hold. Their greeting was over; it was time to find out why she had brought them there.
"What is this place? Why did you bring us here?" George asked her.
In response to their question, she pointed her wand and spoke clearly. "Expecto Patronum."
They watched in awe as a beautiful silver-blue fox ran around the room, around the twins before coming to the ground and it stood by their sides, in-between them. Hermione frowned slightly at its actions but shook her head.
"It's a fox," Fred spoke shocked and he jumped when said fox nuzzled its nose against his hand.
"Just like ours," George said in awe.
"Exactly like yours, yes. Identical in every way," she agreed quietly.
When her fox disappeared she stepped back from the twins, giving herself space and then she took a deep breath.
"What are you doing?" they asked her curiously.
Her answer was to lean forward and before her hands touched the ground, they turned into paws.
They stared at the spot where Hermione once stood, now replaced by the mahogany coloured fox with large chocolate brown eyes shining in the flickering light of the torches.