Posted on: 08/06/2014 at 00:45 GMT/UTC/Zulu.
AN: Thank you to my reviewers KEZZ 1, Crapes, Lamia of the Dark, angel897 ExcitedPerson and jkc1997 and all those who have favourited or followed this story. I'm sorry this is up late. I had trouble writing this chapter, then I had a wedding to attend and then my family hogged the computer for two days.
Next chapter should be up on or by 13/06/2014.
The Marriage Curse
Breaking News
When they got back to the common room it was full of people and they were all looking at copies of the Evening Prophet and talking animatedly.
Harry joined Seamus and Dean. "What's going on?" He asked.
Seamus thrust the paper at him. Harry looked down at it and grimaced. "Oh that's not good."
"Understatement mate." Seamus said.
Hermione took the paper from Harry and Ginny and Draco looked over her shoulders to read it.
"ANCIENT MARRIAGE CURSE FALLS ON BRITAIN!" Screamed the headline.
"An ancient marriage curse that activated at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…" Began the article.
"I wondered how long they'd managed to keep the press silent." Draco said.
"Keep reading it gets worse." Hermione said.
"Worse?" Draco said.
He scanned the parts of the article that told of how the curse had activated and affected Hogwarts and read on beneath that.
"...The artefact in question was being studied by Unspeakables looking to break the curse until an accident destroyed it. Far from cancelling the effect of the curse; this has spread it. The full range of the curse is not yet known although it certainly covers both Great Britain and Ireland. Unspeakables refused to comment when asked if this could spread to Europe and beyond to the rest of the wizarding world stating that they don't have enough information yet…"
The article continued in like that for a while. Draco and Ginny looked at Hermione.
"You don't think it could really cover the whole world do you?" Ginny asked.
"I've no idea." Hermione said.
"I wonder who You-Know-Who will marry." Draco mused.
Hermione and Ginny looked at each other. The thought was at once both horrifying and amusing. Hermione giggled.
"Maybe he won't marry anyone, he'll lose his magic and Dumbledore can just finish him off." Ginny said hopefully.
"Yeah right." Harry said. "I'm sure he reads the prophet. I pity whoever he kidnaps to marry him though."
"Do you think we could persuade him to kidnap Umbridge?" George asked.
"Nah. I think even he's got standards." Ron said.
They fell about laughing attracting the attention of the rest of the common room. When she could breathe again Hermione bid her friends goodnight. She was the first to reach her dorm and go to bed. She appreciated the quietness of the dorm it wasn't often that she was in here without the gossip and giggling of Lavender and Parvati.
What if the curse did affect the whole of the wizarding world? And what if it never faded away and continued to affect every generation?
Hermione fell asleep with those thoughts going through her head and had a very peculiar dream where Lord Voldemort married Harry and Ginny's daughter.
Hermione woke with a jolt and sat up in pitch blackness her heart hammering. She wasn't sure what had woken her until her heart calmed down and she realised that the pulse in her palm didn't match her own. Her palm was also hot. Far hotter than it should have been. It was just below the level where it would be painful.
She pushed her curtains aside and reached for her wand.
Muttering a quick "Lumos" she looked down at her palm in the wandlight. The tattoo on her hand was the raven. Professor Snape's sigil. It was bright crimson and looked as though it had been inked in blood. She shuddered. The pulsing she felt was faster than she had ever felt her own heart beat.
What sort of danger was the Professor in to make his heart race like that? Hermione felt extremely uneasy and knew she wouldn't be able to sleep until she knew he was safe again.
She dressed quickly and quietly; careful not wake her dorm mates and slipped out and down to the common room. It was late but there were still a few people up. Hermione checked her watch. It was just before midnight.
"I thought you had gone to bed." Fred's voice came from an armchair in front of the fire.
Hermione moved a chair over to where the twins were sitting with a thick sheaf of parchment. She sat down and held out her hand palm up. The twins stared for a moment.
"Ah." George said.
Fred was already putting the parchment away so hermione assumed it had something to do with one of their latest inventions. She gestured at the bag containing their notes.
"If that's something you're planning to test on the first years again…" She started.
"It isn't and we consider ourselves duly warned." George said with a grin.
"So do you want to help us get one over on the toad?" Fred asked.
"Take your mind off it." George added gesturing at her hand.
"What have you got in mind?" Hermione asked curious despite herself.
Fred pulled a bag of powder out of his pocket. "Itching powder. Classic and simple but effective."
"We're going to put it in all her clothes and on all her furniture." George said with a grin.
Hermione smiled despite her worry suddenly feeling reckless. "I'm in."
"We'll wait till everyone has gone to bed and then get to work." Fred said pulling out some ordinary cards.
Hermione didn't think she'd ever seen muggle playing cards inside Hogwarts.
They played war while they waited. They didn't have to wait long. Fifteen minutes later they were the only ones in the common room. George gave Hermione a bag of itching powder and told her to be careful not to get it on her skin.
They disillusioned themselves when they got outside the common room ignoring the Fat Lady's questions. They didn't meet anyone on the way to Umbridge's quarters. Once George had worked out how to get them inside they cast of the disillusionment charms and split up.
Hermione took the furniture in the lounge. Fred took every other available flat surface. George sneaked into Umbridge's bedroom to get to her wardrobe.
"She's not in here! Fred keep watch!" George called out to them.
Fred gave his powder to Hermione and kept watch outside. They were not interrupted. George came back looking gleeful just as Hermione had finished putting the itching powder everywhere she could think of. Unlike muggle itching powder this stuff changed to disguise itself on the surface it was put on.
They were walking back to Gryffindor tower, back under their disillusionment charms, congratulating George for managing to get the itching powder all over her bed and the bathroom as well when Umbridge passed them heading for her quarters.
They ducked into an alcove and held their breath while she passed. Their disillusionment charms held though and she passed them without suspecting anything.
"Shall we go and do her office and her classroom as well?" George asked.
"I think we've got enough itching powder left. Let's do it." Fred said.
They changed direction and headed for Umbridge's classroom. Getting in here was easy. She hadn't bothered to ward the door. Fred and George turned out their pockets and unshrunk two more bags of itching powder.
The three of them put it everywhere that they could think of in the classroom; away from the student desks of course. Fred even coated the chalk with it. Unfortunately her office proved impossible to break into. They gave up as they'd already got the powder into more places than they'd thought they would.
Fred and George went back to Gryffindor tower. Hermione said that she would go back later. She'd enjoyed herself but the raven was still bright red and hot on her palm.
Professor Snape's heartbeat had been erratic while they worked. Sometimes racing so fast Hermione thought it should have overstressed itself and stopped and then slowing although still too fast.
She found a window that overlooked the grounds and more importantly the gates and sat down on the sill resigning herself to a long wait. She was joined about half an hour later by a tabby cat. She recognised the square markings around the cat's eyes and scarcely dared to breathe. Professor McGonagall would skin her if she caught her out so late.
Then it got worse. Professor Dumbledore joined them and he could see straight through her disillusionment charm.
"Good evening Miss Granger." He said.
Hermione jumped and nearly fell off the windowsill as she whipped around. He had come up silently behind them. She cancelled the disillusionment charm as Professor McGonagall turned back into herself.
"Good evening Professors." She said far more calmly than she felt.
"What are you doing out of bed?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep." Hermione answered truthfully.
She showed them her palm before remembering that Professor McGonagall was also linked to Professor Snape and that she was probably here because this was the best window to watch the gates from.
"Yes. I see." Professor McGonagall said. "Your concern is admirable but as a student you should be in bed. We will be capable of assisting Professor Snape should he be in need of it."
"I'll escort you back to Gryffindor tower Miss Granger." Professor Dumbledore said.
Hermione got up and went with him. She was glad that neither of them had taken any points or given her detention. She was silent on the way back. They walked past Mrs Norris and five minutes later Filch; who didn't say anything as she was with the Headmaster. From his malicious smile she knew that he assumed she was already in deep trouble.
"Severus has been a spy for many years. Do try not to worry." Professor Dumbledore said as they reached the Fat Lady.
Hermione said nothing. She nodded and turned to the portrait. The Fat Lady swung out of the way without waiting for the password and Hermione went up to her dorm. She changed back into her nightclothes and went back to bed.
Her thoughts would not quiet down. Even the best spy could be discovered. Eventually she gave up on sleep at about half past two. She grabbed her cloak and went to sit on the windowsill with her knees drawn up.
It was cold but her cloak kept her just about warm enough. The moon was bright and although Gryffindor tower was on the west side of Hogwarts she could see a bit of the drive. She watched it, alternating between looking down at the drive, and looking at the blood coloured raven on her palm.
About fifteen minutes later the raven suddenly cooled down, faded to black and disappeared. Hermione was alarmed. She checked her left wrist and found the raven back in place with the otter. She breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed. She was still determined to watch the path until the Professor was back safely though.
Twenty minutes later she was nearly asleep when she saw a black figure making it's way slowly back to the castle with a taller figure dressed in blue and another figure in green. He was back safe then.
Hermione stretched finding that she had stiffened up and went back to bed. She was so tired now that she fell asleep almost immediately.
She was woken up by Ginny and found that she had slept late and missed breakfast. Hermione got ready for the day in a hurry. Harry and Ron had saved her a stack of toast and she was grateful. She ate it on the way to class.
There was a rather unusual amount of chatter in classes that day and to Hermione's surprise none of the teachers tried very hard to stop it. She overheard Lavender and Parvati in Transfiguration and realised everyone was talking about the marriage curse.
Parvati was dismayed and wondering who she'd get as a step-parent. Hermione was suddenly relieved that she was a muggleborn before remembering her parents were gone. Her heart twisted with pain making her pause for a moment to collect herself before she went back to her essay.
Lunch was a welcome break. She was very hungry. When she went in she scanned the top table for Professor Snape. He was absent but that wasn't unusual. The teachers had to be there at breakfast and dinner but were free to do what they wanted at lunch. Even so she felt a twinge of unease. Then she noticed Umbridge.
The toad was trying to talk to Professor Flitwick but as she did she was scratching furiously everywhere she could reach. Hermione laughed and went back to her shepherds pie occasionally sneaking a glance at her. She wasn't the only one. Most of the hall was watching her.
"I wonder what's wrong with her?" Ron said.
"Itching powder." Fred said smugly.
George grinned and winked at Hermione. She smiled back.
Defence Against the Dark Arts was cancelled that afternoon. Hermione was pleased by the unexpected free period and agreed to help Harry come up with a plan for this weeks DA meeting.
It took them the better part of the hour. Ron helped them decide where they should place their obstacles and what spells they would be allowed to use. He roughed out a bird's eye view of the arena on a piece of parchment. Hermione was enjoying this. Perhaps she would choose teaching as a career one day. After Voldemort was dead and her children were old enough not to need her around all the time. Children. They'd all be parents in a couple of years...
"Hermione snap out of it." Ron said. "We've got to get to Charms."
"Oh right sorry." Hermione picked her bag up and checked she had everything.
"What were you thinking about?" Ron asked. "You had a really strange look on your face."
"Just how weird it is that we're going to be parents in a few years." Hermione said.
They rounded a corner and found themselves face to face with a group of eight Slytherins pointing wands at them. They froze.
Please review. Constructive crit is welcomed. Flames will be used to toast marshmallows for s'mores.
Yes I am leaving it there. Yes I am evil. :P