Ask nicely next time.
A/N: No, I am not doing the ball yet. Maybe later. It's dead boring and does nothing to really advance the plot, so I am just putting it aside for now. Instead, here's a prequel to the second task.
"Hermione Granger?"
The girl in question woke up, clearly grumpy at having been woken up so early. "Professor? Headmaster? What's going on? And what time is it?"
McGonnagal and Dumbledore were standing in front of her bed while Crouch and that other judge she couldn't remember the name of stood behind them. Albus smiled nicely at her. Not good. "Well, to answer your questions, yes, yes, there's an issue concerning Rose that requires your participation and it's three in the morning."
Granger cursed. "What's she done now?" As if the incident at the Yule ball hadn't been enough.
"Nothing too drastic apart from her usual antics." McGonnagal cut in. "It's just a minor... issue, that requires your attention." She said, looking like she'd just swallowed one of Snape's special potions.
Hermione sighed. It wasn't like she could get away from dealing with this. "Okay. But that 'minor issue' better be something good or, Gryffindor legends or not, I am hexing you into next week."
Minerva just nodded while Dumbledore smiled. Hermione was starting to hate that smile.
The next few minutes were uneventful. After Minerva hustled all the boys out of the room, she ordered Hermione to get dressed in her sturdiest clothes and left the room. Now sturdy for the average student meant a heavy uniform and serviceable shoes. For Hermione, it meant that the jumpsuit and boots Rose had gotten her in London as well as the heavy leather trenchcoat and enchanted backpack she'd worked on last year.
Rose had tested out the coat on her firing range the other day during task prep practice. It could stop small calibre pistol fire and most non-Dark spells just fine. The rifle rounds still went through, but lost most of their kinetic energy doing so, which meant that they only had a slight chance of killing you instead of a guaranteed one and the leather lining repaired itself afterwards too. Rose wanted one now, which Hermione had okayed as long as the girl taught her how to handle the heavier weapons in her arsenal.
So when Hermione stepped out of the room in her black jumpsuit, brown-green leather trenchcoat, large backpack and heavy, steel toe-capped boots, it barely elicited a comment from her head of house even as Crouch and Bagman stared at her. "What?" Hermione asked them. "These are the sturdiest clothes I've got!" Dumbledore just chuckled at his student's strange clothing.
Then the group set off towards the Great Hall, which set off some alarm bells in Hermione's head. Weren't they going to Dumbledore's office? And why weren't they doing so? She reached into her coat's sleeve, loosening her wand's sheath and switching on the coat's active defence wards. A brief surge of magic from her garment caused Albus to stumble and look at her curiosly. Hermione just smiled at him, pointing at Bagman's head and mouthing 'prank'. Dumbledore just frowned and looked at her in a way that told her that, while he disapproved, he wouldn't say anything. Hermione just let out a breath in relief.
The coat twitched minutely and settled itself into a better fit. Good, the kinetic wards she'd been playing with were working. The sticking charms on the soles of her boots were ready. The barrier ward operated by a few monitoring & voice activation charms stuck to the hem of her coat was on standby. She was ready for anything and hoping she wouldn't need it.
They headed into the side room where the champions had first met. Her coat vibrated, indicating that there were humans under enchantment in the area. So far, this was not looking good. Especially when a proximity warning went off directly behind her. Someone or something had fallen in behind her and was getting closer. She pulled out a pair of glasses she'd enchanted for Rose and put them on, ignoring the odd look Crouch was giving her. The world blurred slightly before sharpening. Hermione looked back the way she'd come. There was someone there, the blur of cloaking magic hiding the person underneath highlighting him or her as a threat. There were about five others in the great hall, all milling around next to potential exits. Hermione narrowed her eyes behind those thick plastic specs. This was bad. Very, very bad.
The group entered into the small room. The other judges were there alongside the heads of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. In one corner, a non-descript reporter for the Daily Prophet was writing things down in a little notebook. Hermione heard the door closing behind her and tensed. "So." She asked them. "What is this about?"
"Hermione Jane Granger, muggleborn, sixth year, consistently ranked amongst the top ten students in Hogwarts?" A scrawny-looking clerk type asked her.
"Yes. And what of it?" She asked, her senses spiking in anticipation when the word 'muggleborn' was uttered. The looks some of the others were giving her did not bode well.
"You have been selected to participate as a volunteer in the second task of the Triwizard tournament."
"What?" She asked. "Okay, first off, I haven't volunteered for anything. And second, in what capacity would you be 'volunteering' me for."
"Oh, has no-one told you? You have been volunteered by your magical guardian, one Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, as a hostage for the second task."
Oh. Oh no. "What you'd sorely miss... Shit." She said, both expressing just what she thought of her current situation and activating the agressive defence wards on her coat. Dumbledore stiffened in shock as his own enchanted specs showed a black aura appear around the Granger girl's waistline. The clerk didn't even notice a thing.
"Indeed. If you would do the honours, John." That settled it for Hermione. One, Dumbledore would never do that to one of his students. Two, if he did, he'd be the one to cast it. Ergo, this was not Dumbledore. These weren't the tournament officials. Hogwarts was compromised. Time to get out of here.
Auror Dawlish shook off his invisibility cloak and levelled his wand at the struck dumb teen in front of him. "Stupef-oof!" His stunner went wild as the girl's elbow embedded itself in his stomach, hitting the hapless reporter in the head and knocking her for six. However, what Dawlish was currently focusing on was the little girl in front of him who'd just entered right into his guard and followed up her elbow punt with a judo throw that lifted him over her head and threw him on the ground. The last thing he saw was her boot travelling at speed towards his nose.
Hermione shook her wand out of its sheath and palmed it before pointing at the door. "Reducto!" The deafening Whoomph of the overpowered blasting hex resounded throughout the room, causing the judges to panic and duck as reflexes last used almost two decades ago started to kick in once more.
Karkaroff snarled at the mudblood bitch as a bloodlust he'd thought long forgotten reasserted itself. "Cru-no, Morsus mentis!" The mind-pinching curse headed at speed towards the girl's back. If it hit, Hermione'd be burned alive in her mind until the spell was lifted. But the wards on the coat flared, diverting the hex away from her back and into a nearby statue. The statue's head vanished in a burning mist of ashen dust. Hermione turned around and screamed "Flamine!" , the modified blasting charm causing a wave of concussive sound to head for the ex-Death Eater. He cast a silent protego, but the wave just ignored it. Magic was one thing, sound and kinetic energy quite another. And Karkaroff would have had to say the spell to include those as he rarely had to shield against physical rather than magical frequencies. Durmstrang's headmaster was blown back, howling as he flew through the air. Dumbledore nullified the wave with a silent Silencio before shooting a stunner at the girl. Hermione, not exactly enthusiastic about tangling with the supposed headmaster, dove into the Great Hall and straight into the cordon of Aurors that had started to head towards the gaping hole that used to be a door.
"Stupefy!"
"Steeooopuhfy!"
"Stoopafy!"
"Stupefiez!"
"Somnium!"
"Obstupefaciant"
"Protego!" Hermione shouted, watching in horror as her shielding spell almost buckled under the assault. She could not fight these people on two fronts. She pointed her wand back at the smoking doorway she'd come through."Argila coniuro! Incendio!" A wall of clay popped into existence in front of the doorway before a tongue of blue flame engulfed it, blocking the entrance at least until the fire died down. Now for the threats in front of her. "Finite!" The shield vanished from existence. "Mutare Festum! Propulso!" The shards of wood and metal left over from her assault on the door flew outwards in all directions as Hermione's wand bucked in her hands from the kinetic feedback. Even as the supposed Aurors went to shield themselves, the purplish mist that had engulfed the area around them fell away. The Hall, instead of its normally solemn, grey stone and polished timber finish, was pink, decked out in streamers, balloons and party animals all hopping around the place and pouncing on the flummoxed attackers as the shouted for hugs and kisses. Hermione dashed towards the exit, making a note to thank the Weasley twins for their stupid pranking spells if she made it free & clear.
Gawain Robards was not a happy bunny. First off, Amelia Bones had just spent the last few days chewing him out for his lack of progress in the EuroQuid Cup Riot case. Then, he'd been tasked with leading the Hogwarts guard squad for the duration of the second task while Kingsley Bloody Shacklebolt took over his investigation. And now he was facing a sixteen-year-old girl who was nowhere near as harmless as her file indicated she was. John was already down, the Hall was a shambolic pink nightmare that gave him flashbacks of Umbridge's attempts at 'decoration' and a very angry & determined teenage witch was bearing down on his position. No, this was not Gawain's day.
"Depulso!" Hermione's focused banishing spell missed the guy guarding the exit, forcing her to frantically cancel the spell before it connected with the wall behind him and sent her ass over teakettle. She ducked as a chain of silent spells headed her way, the stream of jellylegs, tongue tiers, stunners and incarcerous spells singeing the air as they went past her. She dove to the side as her jacket vibrated, causing the second barrage of stunners coming in from behind to sail right past her - and straight into the guy that was wailing into her. Well, at least he was down for the count.
She pointed her wand at where the stunners had come from and let her anger go. "RUMPITUR!" BOOM. The canon blast charm went off like its namesake, coming into existence with the force of a thermobaric grenade. A visible wave of displaced air was pushed in front of the spell, taking everything it came into contact with along for the ride. The Aurors brought up their shields, but those buckled as the shockwave came into contact with them and were blown out of existence as the Hall's furniture collided with the hapless Aurors. By the time the last conscious Auror managed to stand up again, Hermione was gone.
Amelia Bones was not a happy woman. Fudge was riding her ass in an effort to curtail her investigation into what, exactly, had happened back during the summer. The European Cup itself had gone well, but the same could definitely not be said for the ensuing riots on the camping grounds. Reports of Death Eaters running around, twelve wizards dead and an exodus of muggleborns who'd had enough with the wizarding world did not make for happy law enforcement personnel. If she didn't come up with answers, Fudge would give someone else her job despite him being the one asking her not to do said job in the first place. She pitied Gawain, she really did, but she'd needed results yesterday and Shack was simply the best at getting them. But now this...
"What do you mean, she's gone?" She screamed over the floo connection. "Are you telling me, Auror Dawlish, that not only did you fail to stun a sixth-year, but that the entire delegation I sent to guard Hogwarts failed to apprehend her too?"
"Uhh, yes." The face in the fireplace cringed at the look on his boss's face.
"Bloody Fucking Merlin, John! How the hell did you manage to screw up so badly that I've got three, count them, three of my best men down in St. Mungo's swearing up and down the alley that they were fighting a fucking dark witch?"
"Well, you see... Oh screw it. We were doing this by the book, alright? The delegation picks up the package, goes to the room, gets informed of the task and gets stunned for transport. She was the last one too. Everything was going to plan until she elbowed me in the gut and took out Karkaroff. Then, she blew up the door, leapt out into the hallway, blocked the doorway by conjuring a wall and proceeded to dismantle the contingent guarding the Great Hall."
Amelia sighed. It was days like these that she wished she'd said 'yes' and taken Bagnold's job. "And Robards? How is he?"
"Still recovering. All six stunners hit him dead on as he was fighting the Granger girl. Poppy says that he'll be up and running in a day or two."
"Bloody shit. I am sending more men over. I want a report on my desk by tonight or I'll have your badge. Understood John?"
"Yes Lady Bones."
"Oh, and John? This had better not happen again, ever. You will not like the consequences if it does."
She cancelled the connection, going back to her desk and pulling out a bottle of firewhiskey she held in reserve for just such an occasion. She called it her Disaster Relief Donation. Whenever a monumental screw-up happened, out came the bottle. And there had been so many recently that Amelia was starting to think that maybe, just maybe, she should find something less mind-numbing to use as a coping mechanism. Turning up at a Wizengamot session dead drunk was not a good idea, after all, and it was starting to look like the kind of day where this could very well happen. Still, she took the shot before throwing the bottle into the open fireplace. She definitely needed to try something else, she thought. Maybe this cigars Dung peddles in the Hog's Head? Confiscate a bunch of them and Robert's your relative or whatever.
The door opened and Hermione Granger stepped through the door. Damn. And her Disaster Relief bottle was merrily blazing away too. Seems like Dung'd be paying a visit to the holding cells sooner rather than later.
"Miss Bones! Miss Bones! There's a situation up at Hogwarts!"
"What?"
"There were at least fifteen of them. Some spelled invisible, the others polyjuiced to look like faculty! You've gotta help-"
"Stupefy!" Amelia sighed as the Granger girl slumped to the ground, unconscious. Sometimes, if you wanted to do something right, you were forced to do it yourself. She headed towards the door. "Groat, could you please contact Hogwarts and inform them that I have a wayward witch here that needs to be picked up? Oh, and arrest Dung for loitering, please. I want a word with him." She looked down at the strangely dressed girl that was staring at the ceiling. "Stupefy." Rule 2; When in doubt, double hex. Good rule to have.
And there you have it. Yes, this update's fairly small and not very detail-oriented, but it should tie you over and show what Hermione can do after six years of the Hogwarts' survival training curriculum and having Rose in her life. The next update; day one of the first task. Magic, murder and mayhem as Rose showcases her skills and Murphy's Law goes magical. 'Til next time, enjoy!