Harry was eyeing Ginny again. Hermione had seen him doing it nearly all year long. It was funny, knowing about his crush on Ginny, while at the same time knowing Ginny still had a crush on him. Ginny had told her several times this year about how her crush on him had never really died away. Hermione had listened to her, knowing Ginny wanted to get it off her chest. Her relationship with Dean had been, to use Ginny's words, "superficial at best". Hermione had expected Harry to act on his emotions earlier, telling her about his crush. But, just like with her and Ron, there seemed to be something that was restraining him. If she had not awoken two months ago in the common room, when Ron was telling her about his feelings for her, they might still have been silent about it to each other too.
I guess things sometimes need a little push. A nudge in the right direction.
She glanced over the book she was reading and looked at Ron. He looked away immediately. Ron had been looking at her again. He had been doing it for nearly a year, and it had only gotten worse over the last few days. After solving his second puzzle and taking a walk, they had decided to sit down in a covered piece of the Hogwarts grounds. They had sat there, kissing and talking to each other for more than an hour. It had been blissful to feel like lovers after such a long time of alienation. But at last, after all those months of dancing around their feelings for each other, and after Ron's horrid relationship with Lavender, they started to feel ready to be together.
Hermione's eyes lingered on Ron's freckled face. He was pretending to read, Hermione noticed, because his eyes weren't moving. He was staring at something, probably waiting a while for another chance to look at her. He had done so hundreds of times by now, unaware of Hermione knowing this. When his eyes shot back, she looked straight at them. Ron smiled at her, knowing full well that she knew he was eyeing her. They stared at each other for a moment, until both of them looked away.
It's a wonderful feeling, looking into his eyes, but it still feels so... so unknown. What do I do with the knowledge that he wants the same thing as I do?
For nearly fifteen minutes, Ron and Hermione kept stealing glances with each other, sometimes looking each other straight in the eyes, smiling secretly.
"So what do you think of my theory? Malfoy in the Room of Requirement all the time to create a weapon?"
Hermione let out a sigh. Harry had been obsessed with finding out Malfoy's plans for weeks on end. In the beginning, it had been a nice subject to talk about, but after several weeks of debate and discussion, she had grown rather tired it. Ron was still interested, but he had told her he was starting to lose interest in it too.
"Perhaps he's trying to do his homework," Hermione said, "like you two should be doing."
Ron gave her a half-hidden smile. Harry instead, was looking at her destructively.
"Maybe Malfoy's meeting some girl in there." Ron said, "Check if Pansy Parkinson is still on the map mate."
Harry closed the Marauder's Map. "You two obviously aren't interested," he said, "So I'll just go upstairs, I need to take my rest before our match against Ravenclaw."
Ron gulped. The upcoming match was important, so naturally, his nerves had started to act up again, just like the always did. Only this time, there was no denying the importance of the match. Gryffindor needed to play a good match, or they might end up last in the competition.
Hermione absent-mindedly flipped through the book she was reading. Or, it might have been a better description to say the book was being read by her. It was written in some draconian, old language that has probably not in been use for ages. The words on each page were re-arranging as you read them, all of them trying to get your attention. It was hard to read at first, but if you relaxed a bit, and if you let the words guide your eyes over the pages, it was actually quite easy and fun to read. The book was being read by her about advanced use of metrics in a search space of Arithmancy. It was an interesting read, especially if you liked Arithmancy (like Hermione did).
Ron was sitting in front of her, looking rather smug.
"What?"
"Nothing..." Ron said, rather too nonchalantly for him to actually sound nonchalant.
"What?"
"Hmm?"
Hermione looked at her surroundings. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. Ron was sitting in his usual chair, closest to the fire. He was looking directly at her, apparently unafraid to show his interest in her without Harry around. Looking back at the book, Hermione noticed what had changed. Somehow, Ron had managed to slip a message on the pages. The parchment it was written on had been tucked between two other pages. She quickly picked it out and unfolded it. Ron was beaming at her by now, apparently very pleased about his abilities to slip her a note in secret. Hermione noticed he had been holding his wand secretly behind his back all this time. She scanned the lines. She had expected a rhyme, or a riddle, but instead, it was more like a letter.
"Dear Hermione,
Today, I would like to take the opportunity to take you back a few years. There are some things I would like to say to you, and I in the process, you will discover a new riddle. Are you up for the challenge?
In our first year, I'm afraid to say, you were a royal pain in the ass. Not only were you a bossy know-it-all, you were also always right. Harry and I were right not to like you at first, but after some troublesome times, we were befriended. Without your help, I might never have been able to knock that horrid creature unconscious and instead of getting us expelled, you lied to everyone and took the blame yourself. That claustrophobic place mirrors the beginning of our friendship. Go there, and find the first part of the next riddle.
Ron."
Hermione looked up at Ron. He was smiling at her in a slightly unsure way, like he wasn't sure whether Hermione was going to go out of the Dormitories after hours or not. Hermione had not doubted this at all, ready to take any risk to find that new riddle. She got up, packed her bag and flung it over her shoulder. Then, she sprinted out of the portrait hole, heading down to the lower levels of Hogwarts.
When Hermione entered the Girls's Lavatories in the dungeons, she recognized it immediately. She had gone down there in her first year, after a nasty (yet, correct) comment about her that Ron had given Harry. She had felt horrible and above all, alone. She knew he was right about her not having any friends. She knew he was right about her being a know-it-all. Yet somehow, Ron had managed to say it so crudely, so tactlessly, that she had felt horrible when he did. She had ran down to this lavatory, knowing that every girl in Hogwarts that wanted to cry and wanted to be left alone went there. She guessed trolls didn't know about such things...
The lavatories were exactly like she had remembered them. Cubicles lined one of the sides of the room. They were old, worn by time and disuse. Some of the lavatories were scratched on by students, their doors carrying snide remarks or strange doodles about teachers and other students. The opposite wall was lined with sinks and made of a white-brown stone. The last few were relatively small, perhaps an older model used years ago. The other sinks were newer; replacing the broken ones the troll had smashed when he had advanced to Hermione. She remembered well the fear that consumed her then. She had been petrified, trying to make herself as small as possible. She had backed out into the wall in front of her now. It still bore the old, round mirrors it had born that day. She remembered looking into them, cursing herself for her insecurities, before the troll had gone into the lavatories.
Hermione began searching the room. There seemed to be no visible clues about the whereabouts of the riddle. She opened each cubicle, inspected every sink and even probed all the pipes visible in that place. After nearly fifteen minutes, Hermione still wasn't any closer to finding the riddle. She had truly searched everything in the room for the riddle, except for her bag, of which she was quite sure it didn't hold anything interesting. She sighed, and walked over to a mirror. She had searched everywhere for a message. For a while, she had thought Ron might have put it on one of the doors of the lavatories. While searching them she had discovered a nifty doodle of professor Sprout covered in Bubotuber Pus and that a boy named Clack McAllister should have something down a place that made Hermione blush. Unfortunately, there were no messages written by Ron, leaving Hermione slightly confused.
If Ron left a riddle here, why can't I see it?
She walked put to a mirror. It was shiny and reflective, like the mirrors in the Gryffindor tower were. They reflected Hermione's interested face, because something was odd about them. The lavatories, which have been in disuse for years, were dirty. The mirrors however, were sparklingly clean, like they had been polished recently. Hermione had the nagging feeling that the mirrors were somehow the answer, but how would she find the riddle? She inspected one of the mirrors closely. They were unstained, and fingerprint free. Even the mirrors in the Gryffindor Tower weren't that clean.
Hermione decided to do a small experiment. She opened the hot-water tap on all of the sinks. A few seconds later, hot water began pouring out, causing steam to billow up. The lavatories were rather cold, located down in the dungeons of Hogwarts, so the steam developed quite quickly and heavily. It swelled up thickly from the sink, expanding in each direction as time passed by. After a while, the steam started to touch the mirror, condensing against it.
Of the five mirrors in the room, the middle started to condense differently. A big cross appeared on it. It was placed upon it by cleaning the windows, and then, when the window was condensed again, drawing it.
"Okay Ron," she said proudly, "I see what you mean."
She took out her wand. With a quick, whip-like movement of her hand, she flicked her wand, causing the window to disappear. A small piece of parchment was hidden behind it, glued to the wall by an invisible spell. Hermione reached out and pulled it slightly. Whatever spell had kept the parchment on the wall immediately dissipated. She unfolded it and read another small letter from Ron:
"Dear Hermione,
Well done, I knew you could figure it out. You've always been the most intelligent of us three, and perhaps even the wisest. You certainly showed Harry and me your brilliance in our second year, when Slytherin's monster was loose upon us. You were able to figure it out completely on your own, putting together the pieces of the puzzle without effort. You've paid for your brilliance too that year, because before you could tell us about the monster, you were petrified.
Go now. Fly off to the place where Harry and I first saw you when you were petrified.
ps. The first part of the next riddle is on the back of this parchment."
Hermione flipped the parchment over in her hands. She glanced at it quickly, seeing something that wasn't what she'd expected, but did greatly excite her.
"(1-3w)"
Had Ron given her a mathematical puzzle? There was no time to linger though, as Hermione wanted to get that other piece of the puzzle as fast as she could. She stowed the piece of parchment in her backpack and shot out to the other side of the castle. Ron and Harry had told her the Quidditch match had been cancelled due to the attack. That meant that Hermione had been discovered before they saw her. That left only one place for her to go to: Madam Pomfrey's.
Hermione had a close shave on this trip, nearly bumping into professors McGonagall and Professor Vector. Luckily, they were in deep conversation with each other about the security in Hogwarts. Hermione had dashed off behind a suit of armour, silently waiting for them to pass far enough to risk walking out of its shadow again. When she did, she steadied her pace, realizing that if she would be found out of bed in the middle of the night, she would never be able to get the next riddle.
It took her about ten minutes to reach the hospital wing. She was about to open the door when she realized she didn't have an excuse to enter the hospital wing.
Madam Pomfrey will be suspicious of me if I don't have a reason for visiting the hospital wing, Hermione thought, So what am I going to use as an excuse?
Suddenly, the light sprang on in the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey was apparently still awake at this hour, perhaps tending some unfortunate recipient of a curse. Hermione realized this wasn't going to be as easy as she had hoped. If Madam Pomfrey was asleep, simply using that Muffliato spell would have been enough. But now that she was awake, more drastic measures had to be taken. Hermione took out her wand again. She pointed it at her legs, doing something she never expected to do to herself.
"Oh hello dear," Madam Pomfrey said benevolently, "You're out late. If mister Flich sees you, you'll be in for some trouble."
Hermione whimpered. Madam Pomfrey looked down at her legs.
"I guess it would have taken a while to get here like that, wouldn't it?"
Again, Hermione whimpered, noticing the positive effect it had on her acting performance. She had cast the Jelly-Legs curse on herself, knowing it was easily removed and gave her an excuse to be late.
"I've been trying to get from the library to the hospital ward for more than two hours now," Hermione lied, while wobbling on her legs, "Nobody seems to be up at this hour."
Madam Pomfrey swished her wand trough the air, solidifying Hermione's legs.
"I'll write you a note that will clear you for moving through the castle after hours," Madam Pomfrey said, "That way, you won't have any trouble with the guard... I mean teachers, should you meet them."
As Madam Pomfrey turned around to grab a piece of parchment, Hermione peered into the hospital wing. It was quite dark, with white light shining in from the window. Hermione noticed a small piece of parchment on the windowsill. Anyone else might not have noticed it, but for those looking for something out of the ordinary, it was rather obvious. She pointed her wand at it.
"So, miss Granger, ready to get back to bed?" Madam Pomfrey said.
Hermione quickly shot her wand-hand back.
"Yes, I'm beat."
Madam Pomfrey gave her the note, clearing her for being out of bed at such a late hour. Hermione accepted the note, while Madam Pomfrey started to push her out of the door.
"Off you go then," she said, "I've got more pressing matters to attend to."
Hermione flicked her wand, using a non-verbal spell to close the curtains around one of the beds. This seemed to put madam Pomfrey off slightly. She looked at the bed in wonder, not realizing it was Hermione that had just closed the curtains magically. Hermione had already flicked her wand again, causing a bedpan to zoom through the air. It clattered into the corner as a bedside table started to bob dangerously, spilling the scissors and syringes on top of it over the floor. Madam Pomfrey quickly walked over to a cabinet that was starting to lean over dangerously. She pushed it back while the contents of several drawers were zooming through the air, forming complicated figures above madam Pomfrey's head.
"PEEVES," she yelled angrily, "STOP THIS RIGHT MADNESS RIGHT NOW!"
Hermione held out her hand, as a small piece of parchment came zooming through the pandemonium. Madam Pomfrey, completely oblivious to anything else, was cursing Peeves under her breath while trying to pull one of the beds back into the ground. When Hermione closed the door, Madam Pomfrey hadn't even noticed her leaving the room.
She ran out of the corridor, and into one of the empty classrooms. There, she unfolded the small piece of parchment:
"Dear Hermione,
Another parchment found, another piece of the riddle in your hands. I hope you haven't had too much trouble getting it.
In our third year, Sirius strayed into our lives, causing an old villain to be uncovered. Fear isn't the word for what I felt that day, when I was being pulled into the opening at the Whomping Willow. The next part of the riddle is located in a place where you can see best, the thing that ruined Sirius's chances for a normal life.
- Ron"
When Hermione flipped the parchment over, on it was written:
"90o"
Excellent!, Hermione thought contently, Time to get the next part.
She flung her bag over her shoulder and gripped the door. Suddenly, she realized she didn't know where to go.
A place where you can see best, the thing that ruined Sirius's chances for a normal life, Hermione thought as she reread the riddle. What was Ron talking about? Sirius wasn't murdered here at Hogwarts...
Of course, Hermione thought, In our third year, Lupin turned into a werewolf because of the full moon, just after we found out Sirius was innocent. If he hadn't changed back then, Sirius would never have still been thought of as murderer. Ron isn't talking about his death, but about the place where you can best see the moon. He's talking about the Astronomy Tower!
Hermione raced up the tower. It took more than five minutes to climb to the top of its stairs, but when she had finally reached it, she noticed it was worth the effort. The surroundings were magnificent. The astronomy tower had a dozen soft beanbags in it. Sitting in them meant practically lying on your back, making the strain to look up at the sky a little less irritating. The tower had a high ceiling with a round oculus in it, a round hole that let light in. She had seen one before on a trip to Rome. This one was different though, as it magically magnified the sky and didn't let rain or snow pass through. It was a clear sky tonight, so the oculus was magnifying hundreds of little stars.
Hermione had always found it ironical that the only thing the muggle world had surpassed the wizarding world by was their thorough investigation of outer space. It was also the thing that was furthest out of reach. Everyone knew that wizards, although highly interested in the courses of planets and stars over the sky, didn't have any interest in the exact science of astrology. Muggles had long revered the stars, but had now given up on mysticism, replacing it with facts and figures of stars no man alive would ever be able to reach.
Hermione stood below the oculus. High above her, the pale, waxing moon shone upon her face, giving off enough light to cast shadows in the astronomy tower, yet too little to make out much detail. The moon was magnified by a hundredfold, its pockmarked surface clearly visible. Hermione was able to clearly distinguish different features on the moon, like Mare Crisium, Mare Tranquilis, and the lunar landing site. She wasn't, on the other hand, able to distinguish Ron's next part of the riddle. She decided to search the tower, trying to find the riddle or at least some hint about it.
She sat down in one of the beanbags twenty minutes later. Nothing. Not even the slightest trace of a hint was visible in the gloomy astronomy tower. Hermione stared up at the ceiling, looking straight through the oculus at the sky. For some reason, The waxing moon seemed to stare at her. Its eyeless, faceless body wasn't physically capable of staring, but still, that awkward feeling of being stared at started to fill her up. She averted her eyes, deciding it was a nice night for a quick glance outside. She stood up, the moon still staring at her without eyes, and walked up to the side of the tower. The view was nothing short of spectacular, as it always had been. The enormous British landscape filled every part of Hermione's vision, showing a rugged terrain. The forbidden forest was draped over the uneven terrain like a thick blanket, absorbing the feeble glow of the waning moon completely. It stretched out onto the horizon, where the first mountains were beginning to dominate the terrain. The village of Hogsmeade was shining like a small candle in the darkness, connected to the grounds of Hogwarts by the railway that moved through the terrain like a black snake.
Hermione looked down from the window. The astronomy tower was high, very high, and apart from the waist high wall, there was nothing to keep someone from falling down. Hermione had never been able to suppress the urge to look down from the tower at the ground, fascinated by the depth. As she peered down though, she noticed something different. In the grassy grounds of the Hogwarts castle were set up several torches. They were placed there by the house-elves every night this year to light the grounds in case of emergency. Today, they were set up in a peculiar arrangement. For some reason, the house elves had placed them in the exact same shape as the moon. Could this be the hint Ron had left for her?
Hermione ran back to the centre of the astronomy tower and peered through the oculus, back at the moon, which was now acting remarkably unimpressive (as far as heavenly bodies millions of kilometres away can act unimpressive). She examined it closely. For some reason, it seemed to be different from its usual state. After close inspection, Hermione suddenly noticed something.
"You're mirrored!" she said aloud at the moon, "Mare Imbrium isn't on the right side of the moon, it's on the left!"
Hermione peered outside. The moon was indeed not waxing, but waning. She walked back to the oculus. She quickly discovered, after closer inspection, that the image wasn't from the oculus, but a projection in front of it. Hermione whipped out her wand.
"Dissipatus!" she said, causing the mirage in front of the oculus to disappear. Immediately, the moon flipped around, showing a waning moon instead. Although this was interesting to see, Hermione's eye quickly noticed the small parchment on the side of the oculus.
"Accio", Hermione said, causing the third part of the riddle to fly into her hands. She unfolded it eagerly, feeling proud of discovering it.
"Dear Hermione,
I'm glad to see you're paying attention. I guess all those hours of studying astronomy finally paid off for you. I hope you don't mind me having cashed in on a favour with one of the house elves. I paid him a sock, so I guess I can still be a member of S.P.E.W.
S.P.E.W. takes me back to our fourth year at Hogwarts. Again, there is something I feel I need to apologize to you for. At the time, I was still rather in the dark about my feelings for you, and seeing you with him drove me jealous. If there was one day I would like to do over, it was the day they announced the Yule Ball. I would ask you to be my date immediately. So I could stand where you need to go now, and watch you walk down those steps to me...
- Ron"
On the back of the parchment was written:
\_\/
Hermione stared at it for a while.
That's odd, she thought, I don't recognize that symbol in maths. I thought the riddle was some formula, but this doesn't seem to be a real mathematical operator.
Hermione put the note in her bag with the rest and went down to the great hall, where she knew Ron wanted her to go. Ron had finally admitted to her that he felt sorry for behaving so badly during the Yule Ball. It had ruined Hermione's night, with her ending up in the girls's lavatories again.
Hermione flew down the steps, trying to get down as fast as she could. She jumped the last few steps, and sprinted off towards the great hall, which was only a few corridors away. Hermione started to feel a familiar feeling, rising from her stomach. It felt like being picked up from the ground, soaring through the sky without effort. She had called it swooping to herself. She knew it was just a biological reaction of the brain to the adrenaline pumping through her veins, but it felt magical all the same. She ran down the stairs of the second floor corridor, only one more passageway between her and the great hall.
"Oho, Severus," she heard Slughorn say just before running down the stairs, "Still up at this hour?"
Hermione quickly dashed off to the left, only able to hide behind the statue of a plump witch moments before Snape and Slughorn passed within viewing range.
"Yes," Snape said, his voice nearly able to freeze someone's butterbeer two miles apart, "I'm guarding the Great Hall today."
"I see," Slughorn said, "I expect to be volunteerd by McGonagall any time soon too. Never thought guarding Hogwarts was much use. With those protective spells and enchantments on it right now, I'm surprised the students were able to enter."
"Spells and enchantments can be broken, I'm afraid." Snape replied emotionless, "It would be foolish to keep the grounds unguarded at night, while everyone sleeps."
"Still," Slughorn said, though with less enthusiasm, "who would attack a castle filled with wizards?"
"I guess that's why you're the potions master and I'm the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor."
This seemed to have ended the conversation. Slughorn shuffled passed the statue only seconds later, muttering something under his breath. Snape, Hermione saw, as she peered through the legs of the statue, was eyeing him with contempt. He turned around on the spot and walked back to the chair he had been sitting on.
If only Snape would leave for a while..., Hermione thought, But what will drive Snape away from his duty?
She had not yet finished the sentence in her head when Slughorn came running back from the other side of the corridor.
"Severus," he panted, "Someone's left the water running in the girls' lavatories in the dungeons! Half of that floor is already flooded!"
"WHAT?", Snape said heatedly, "Has the water reached my personal cupboard of potion ingredients yet?"
"I'm afraid so, Severus," Slughorn said, "The Slytherin common room is also starting to flood. We need to stem the flood now!"
Hermione saw Snape and Slughorn storm by her, running down to the dungeon levels. She realized time was short. Snape and Slughorn were both excellent wizards, able to clean up this sort of mess quickly. If she wanted to find this part of the riddle, she had to move fast. When she saw Snape's black robes billow round the corner, she quickly got up from her hiding place and ran into the great hall. The four house tables were standing neatly in line, ready to be used for next morning's breakfast. Hermione didn't have much time; she estimated it would take five to ten minutes at worst to clean up the mess she had left below. She quickly checked the tables for anything obvious, like plates or dishes. She found none.
Suddenly, Hermione noticed a small sausage plate standing against the wall in one of the corners. She was sure the house elves would have cleaned it up if it didn't serve any purpose. She picked it up and looked at it. It was just a simple plate, without any markings, beside the Hogwarts crest on the bottom. She was sure it would serve some purpose to her. She walked back to the Gryffindor table and sat down on her own seat. She placed the plate in front of her, expecting something to happen. Nothing did.
"Stupid me," Hermione thought, "This is just a bloody plate, nothing special."
Hermione picked up the plate again, wanting to put it back in the corner and hoping Snape wouldn't notice anything. She lifted it up from the table, and immediately, she noticed a small white piece of parchment underneath it.
Uhgg, How could I forget.. Hermione thought as she picked the piece of parchment off the table, I did the exact same thing.
Hermione put the plate back on the table and noticed that it vanished immediately, like it normally did when dinner was over. She unfurled the piece of parchment, reading it quickly to find the location of the next riddle. It would be for their fifth year, and Hermione really had no idea where Ron was going to send her.
"Dear Hermione,
Our fifth year wasn't exactly what everyone would have hoped. Apart from Harry being a git sometimes, Fred and George becoming drop-outs and Sirius's death, we also bickered a lot together. I'm sorry if I sometimes drive you mad, but you just look so cute when you're angry at me...
It was also our first year as prefects. It felt great to me, sharing something with you, without Harry being part of it. I know he likes us both, and that he likes spending time with us, but sharing something with you, just you, felt great. I know you sometimes disagreed with me on how I used my powers as a prefect, but for someone who stressed me so much on correct use of power, you've organized quite an amount of illegal gatherings.
- Ron"
Hermione smiled. Deep down, she had always known that Ron loved to see her angry with him. There were times when he seemed to take the opposite of her opinion just for the sake of it. She hated him for disagreeing with her, but deep down, she loved to bicker with him too. She noticed Ron hadn't really told her the next location, but by the looks of the last sentence, she had a good guess about where to go next. When she flipped the parchment over, she read:
"(w)"
Great, Hermione thought, More mathematical nonsense.
Suddenly, Hermione thought she heard footsteps in the corridor. She quickly dashed out to the Great hall, stuffing the parchment in her bag. She rounded the corner just before Snape entered the hall, red-faced with anger. On the way to the third floor, she nearly walked into professor Sprout, who was animatedly talking to professor McGonagall. They too, were discussing the security on Hogwarts.
Hermione was standing beside a tapestry of several trolls in tutus, armed with clubs. She had just walked passed the room of requirement three times, hoping the door would open. It didn't. Hermione had tried to open the door with: "Show me the place where the riddle is", but the door remained undeniably shut. Further attempts, such as "Show me what Ron wants me to see", "Show me where I have to go" and "Show me the room I need to find" gave similar results. Hermione sighed. She suddenly realized the frustration Harry must have felt all year long, trying to find the way into the Room of Requirement while Malfoy was in there. Hermione started to think. What was it Ron wanted her to see? How should she open the door?
"For the last time, Severus," Hermione heard professor McGonagall say as she was walking down the corridor around the corner, "I hardly believe someone stole the plate. Perhaps one of the elves took it."
Hermione jumped up, realizing too late that she was standing in a corridor that was often used. Snape and McGonagall would probably be walking passed this corridor soon. Hermione quickly walked past the door three times, opening her eyes after the third time. The door was clearly visible now. She wrenched it open, slipped in and just before professor McGonagall and Snape walked up to the corridor, she closed the door.
Hermione was standing in the DA classroom. It had been the first thing she had thought of. It was filled with small cushions and, in the middle of the room, quite out of place, a small table. On it were placed a set of candles, plates and cutlery. It was prepared for two, although there was no food and no drinks. She walked up to it in slight amazement, not expecting a romantic dinner table to be set in the middle of a room that had been unused for over a year. The chairs were set opposed to each other, the line of sight from one person to the other only blocked by one of the candles in the middle. It was an interesting sight. Hermione sat down on one of the chairs and surveyed the table. On each plate was placed a red napkin, folded by an obviously very experienced origamist into tiny dragons. Someone had also placed a spell on it, making the dragons come to life. She could clearly see both dragons sleeping quietly on the plates. Hermione inspected the dragons closer. They were sleeping on something. It was general knowledge that dragons always slept on treasure. Most dragons in these parts of the world had been killed, because of the treasure they had hoarded.
Hermione took out her wand and prodded the red dragon on her plate. After some grumpy, irritated snorts, it yawned, stretched and turned to look at Hermione. It had a pointy, straight snout, resembling a Keldon Ember-Blower most. Hermione noticed the dragon had been sleeping on a small, folded up piece of paper. She tried pushing the dragon aside with the tip of her wand, but the beast turned out to be quite strong, pushing back fiercely. It bit the end of her wand, causing some purple sparks to emit from it. Hermione moved her wand to the right, the dragon slowly following it, until it hit the side of the plate. Only then did it realize Hermione's other hand quickly picking up the parchment. The red dragon let out a defeated roar before solidifying again, the spell probably broken.
Hermione unfolded the small bit of paper. It was the left half of a piece of parchment torn in two. She scanned the lines quickly, but the sentences were all nonsense. Hermione walked up to the second plate. The dragon, awoken by the other's roar, was growling fiercely at her, ready to give his life for the treasure he was guarding. She tried the same trick, but this dragon proved to be more intelligent, never leaving his treasure unguarded. In the end, Hermione had to tip the plate over, causing the dragon to fall down the side. She then quickly snatched the note away, leaving another red napkin motionless at the spot.
"Dear Hermione,
I guess the greatest mistake I've ever made, was made this year. Our sixth year at Hogwarts actually began quite nicely. Unfortunately, I messed things up badly after quidditch, snogging Lavender. For some stupid reason, I felt left out, inexperienced, and uninteresting. I hope you can forgive me for kissing Lavender, I know it was stupid. I guess now, we've both snogged someone else.
Still, our sixth year wasn't all bad. Our 'swim' in the prefect's bathroom, the riddles we've left each other and the intimate moments we share when everyone is off somewhere else have made this year my favorite. I must admit that kissing you really was like I had always thought it would.
Go now, to the place where 'us' began. Go to the place where we both talked for hours. I'll be waiting there for you, knowing you've been able to get all the pieces together.
- Ron"
Hermione flipped the note over. On the back of the parchment was written:
"90o"
"The last part of the riddle!" Hermione said proudly, "The final piece of the puzzle is in my hands."
She opened her bag. Inside, she found the four other pieces of paper, neatly stacked together. She took them out and arranged them on the table, in the order she'd found them. She took the fifth part, adding it to the end of the parchment. Bright sparks erupted from the pieces of paper, causing Hermione to back away. She noticed the sides of the parchments were fusing together. After the pieces had merged into a whole, the words on the back started to shift, moving closer together, forming into:
"(1-3w)90o \_\/ (w)90o"
"So this is it," Hermione said euphorically, "I've found all the pieces and I now have the next riddle!"
She folded the parchment up carefully, placing it in her bag with the gentleness of a mother Dragon moving her eggs.
Hermione opened the door of the Room of Requirement an inch. She couldn't believe it had been so simple. Her bag around her shoulder, she listened through the opening she had created, hardly visible from outside. She heard nothing. Slowly, she pushed the door a little bit further. When she peeked around the corner, hoping against hope that no teacher was walking by, she noticed that the corridor was empty. She quickly went out of the opening and closed the door. It vanished immediately.
Hermione started to walk stealthy and cunningly up to the Gryffindor common room. She avoided the main corridors, taking occasional detours past disused corridors, making the chances for her to walk into a teacher as minimal as possible. It took a while, but after fifteen minutes, Hermione had crossed most of her journey, only one floor and two corridors away from the portrait of the fat lady. She started to walk faster, wanting to reach the common room as soon as possible. She forsook stealth for speed, taking greater risks in order to arrive earlier.
Perhaps, she thought, Ron will still be awake, and I will be able to tell him I've found all the pieces.
Hermione went up the stairs. She jumped the fifth step from the top, remembering it was a fake. She ran down the corridor, staying in the shadows as much as she could. She started to feel the slight stinging sensations she always got from running and decided to ignore them, knowing it was just a small distance to the portrait. Hermione could see that familiar golden light that emanated from the torches near the fat lady. It shone brightly around the next corner. She quickened her pace.
Just a bit further! Hermione thought, Just a bit and I'm there! As she rounded the corner, a long, dark shape suddenly loomed up. Hermione was moving too fast to stop, and subsequently crashed into it.
She tried to get up as fast as she could, but it was to no avail. Despite her slightly fragile looks, professor McGonagall jumped up like a cat, grabbed her shoulder and gripped it firmly.
"Of all the people I might have expected to be out of bed at this hour, Miss Granger," she said slowly, "I never expected you to be one of them."
Hermione tried to make up an excuse, but when she looked into professor McGonagall's eyes, she realized that would be as effective as Harry's occlumency.
"I'm sorry professor McGonagall," Hermione said in a defeated tone, "Am I going to be suspended, or even expelled for this?"
Professor McGonagall smiled, (or, to be more accurate, stopped frowning) and looked into Hermione's eyes.
"My, you've grown tall."
Hermione was at a total loss for words. What did that have to do with her being out of bounds at this hour? She simply stared back, not knowing what to say.
"You're about my size by now," Professor McGonagall continued, completely unaware of Hermione's confusion, "but I still remember you walking up to the sorting hat as a little girl. I see you've discovered the benefits of make up too."
Hermione stared back, still at a loss for words. She had been in class with professor McGonagall every year. Why suddenly begin about her appearance?
"Miss Granger," McGonagall continued, suddenly speaking in her normal, bossy tone of voice, "Considering you were out of bounds, I'm sad to say there should be a punishment of some kind. The staff has been meticulously guarding Hogwarts for your safety, among with every other student. Do not repay us by disregarding the rules."
Hermione felt it coming. Any second now, McGonagall was going to tell her she would have to do lines, or do detention with Filch.
"Under normal circumstances, I would have given you a detention. But for someone who has gone out of bounds, passing every patrol between here and the dungeons with stealth, just to flood the Slytherin common room, I can't really find any worse punishment than this:"
Hermione was trembling. The dramatic silence professor McGonagall had inserted in her speech was working. She was sure she would be expelled. She could see herself standing outside with all her belongings in her trunk, her wand snapped in two and hopeless already. Perhaps Ron would let her stay with him, assuming he still wanted to be with her...
"Tut, tut, tut!" professor McGonagall said, waving a correcting finger in the air, "Now off you go, it's well passed bed-time for you. With some luck, you might still fall asleep sooner than the Slytherins, whom are emptying their common room with buckets as we speak."
Hermione smiled and thanked professor McGonagall (and whatever god was smiling down on her today, too). She ran to the portrait of the fat lady. She was looking at her in a confused way.
"You're not going to use that spell again, are you?"
"Don't worry," Hermione replied, "I just want to get in and go to sleep."
The fat lady smiled at her. "Is he worth all this trouble?"
Hermione stared at the fat lady in quiet wonder. "Who are you.."
"One benefit of being a painting, my dear," the fat lady interrupted, "Is that you have seas of time. You know the paintings like to gossip. One of them being the mermaid in the prefect's bathroom. Another is the old cleric in the Gryffindor common room, or my friend Violet."
"So you're telling me all the paintings are gossiping about us?"
"No dear, just the ones that gossip. It's awfully boring, being a painting without anything to do."
Hermione smiled at the fat lady. She smiled back in a questioning way. "Well?"
"Well what?"
"Is he worth it?"
Hermione smiled as the fat lady slowly opened up.
"He's worth more than all the trouble in the world combined."
The common room was empty, as it should be around this hour. Hermione looked around. Only one of the fires was still burning, although it was in desperate need of more wood. Most of the flames were dying out, slowly shrinking away into the embers of the logs. For some reason, it reminded Hermione of Dumbledore. She shrugged and walked up to the fire to add some wood to it. Suddenly, she saw an arm, hanging out of the chair closest to it. She recognized it immediately. Hermione picked it up gently and placed her hand in Ron's. He had fallen asleep in front of the fire. Hermione knelt down in front of him, smiling at him in a way only lovers can smile at each other.
"Don't worry Ron," she whispered, "I'll find out what the riddles are leading to. Before long, we will be together. You are worth more than all the trouble in the world."
And after looking at Ron's face and body for an immeasurable amount of time, she stood up and went to bed.
"I'll solve the riddle tomorrow."