Recommendation: This chapter's recommended fic is "A Werewolf and a Veela Walk Into a Pub" by . Harry has been bitten by Lupin and contracts lycanthropy; Hermione discovers that she's been chosen by Apollo to be a veela. Will their new natures help or hinder their relationship? It's not complete yet, but this author does finish their fics. H/Hr.
Chapter 47 - Bad Moon on the Rise
Friday, March 12, 1995, Evening.
"Thanks again for those books," Ginny said, referring to the bag of muggle books the girls had given her the night before. Since Ginny was a close friend, Jasmine and Hermione had agreed that she should get the books from them personally rather than from Parvati.
"I already started reading... well, all of them, actually," Ginny continued, "I couldn't decide which looked most interesting, so I read the first bit of all of them. I have no idea when I finally got to sleep…." The dark circles under her eyes gave testimony to the fact that she had been up very late indeed.
"You're more than welcome," Hermione said. "I'll pass your thanks along to my mum, too. She was thrilled that so many witches here were interested in the first two books, which was why she sent me more to copy and distribute. I know she'll be excited to learn that even one witch is reading and enjoying them."
"I think she might have been thrilled to have finally been able to help you with something at school," Jasmine pointed out. "She'd have probably helped you with all sorts of things if you'd gone to a muggle school, but with magical schooling there's been nothing she could possibly do except drop you off and pick you up at the train station. Or take you to buy school supplies, but even there she'd mostly just be a chauffeur. Now, though, you've asked her for something that only she could help with."
Hermione looked both surprised and thoughtful, clearly never having considered that possibility.
"I started reading them a bit, too," Neville admitted, though he seemed a little embarrassed. "I didn't stay up late like Ginny, but... some of it is interesting. It's giving me some things to think about."
"That's good, Neville," Hermione said. In the background, Ginny was trying to hide her smile. "Do you plan on sharing the books with the other guys in your dorm?"
Neville snorted. "I don't think any of them would be the least bit interested."
"This morning Parvati tried to give me a bag too," Ginny added after a moment. "How come?"
"Oh, she's helping distribute them," Jasmine answered. "We created batches for each house, and Padma volunteered her sister to take care of Gryffindor. There are one or two people in each house doing it. They offered to take the burden off of us, since we did the work of copying them."
"That was nice of them," Ginny observed.
"Yes, it was," Jasmine agreed, "but we thought it only right to give you yours personally."
The four Gryffindors were so engrossed in their conversation as they walked to dinner that they didn't notice all the extra looks they were getting from other witches, nor that the sound volume dropped slightly as conversations paused. However, Jasmine and Hermione had been on the receiving end of so many stares that year, particularly over the last week due to Skeeter's article, that they probably wouldn't have noticed anyway.
The first indication that something had changed was when an unknown witch in Hufflepuff colors gave Jasmine a hug and mumbled thanks as they left at the end of dinner.
"What in Merlin's name was that all about?" Jasmine asked, still a bit stunned.
"Did any of you recognize her?" Hermione asked.
"She's not in my year," Ginny said. "I'd at least recognize the face if she were."
"She didn't look any older than second year," Neville added. "And maybe only first."
"Maybe there was something in the pumpkin juice this evening?" Hermione said as they resumed their trek back to the Gryffindor tower, though now watching a bit more warily for anything odd happening around them.
Albus Dumbledore observed the Gryffindor table carefully as Jasmine Potter interacted with her friends. Her relationship with them continued to be good, which he was pleased to see, though her closeness with Miss Granger still worried him. The scathing article in the Daily Prophet hadn't driven a wedge between them — in fact, it might have made them even more inseparable, and in retrospect he realized that he shouldn't have been surprised.
At this point he despaired of ever finding a way to reduce the muggleborn witch's influence on Miss Potter, which was not only a concern because of Miss Potter's changes in behavior but also a potential problem for his long term plans, he recently realized. The closer she was to the muggle world, the less support she'd have from pureblood families in the Wizengamot and the Ministry, which meant less political support for fighting Tom when he returned. Maybe forcing her to grow up in and continually return to the muggle world wasn't my best idea, he lamented.
Because he was so focused on Miss Potter, he failed to notice other differences in behavior around the Great Hall, like the fact that so many witches seemed to be engrossed in books and chatting about them quietly — something that would normally only happen at the Ravenclaw table, if at all. When he saw that the Gryffindors were leaving, he started to turn back to his dinner and almost missed it when the Hufflepuff witch ran up and hugged Miss Potter.
Now that was an odd occurrence, he thought, nearly as surprised as Jasmine was. Miss Cranmore is a second year Hufflepuff. I don't think that she and Miss Potter know each other or have ever had any cause to interact. So why would she hug her? Why is Miss Potter so surprised by it? I'm going to have to keep an eye on this...
Saturday, March 13, 1995, Afternoon.
"Fleur!" Hermione called out happily as the French witch entered the classroom.
"And Gabrielle?" Jasmine added, surprised to see the Fleur had come with her younger sister in tow. She was even more surprised to see how much Gabrielle had grown in such a short amount of time.
Both she and Jasmine jumped up to hug the sisters — it wasn't something that they had ever done before, but it immediately felt right to all of them. Hermione and Jasmine simply chalked it up to having been separated for so long and growing to miss their new friend; Fleur and Gabrielle knew better.
For her part, Gabrielle also felt that it was because she was greeting her heroine, the girl who saved her from the bottom of the Black Lake. Her hug for Jasmine went on just a bit longer than the one she gave Hermione.
While they were busy greeting each other by the door, Dobby and Winky popped in quietly to put food and drink on the table, something they always did in the background in order to encourage a closer relationship with the French champion.
"Look, Winky!" Dobby said softly. "You be seeing what I be seeing?"
Winky started nodding vigorously. "Yes, Dobby! There is being a bond with both Frenchy witches!" She paused and then frowned worriedly. "Winky is hoping they is not bonded with all Frenchy witches — we is not having enough Frenchy food for that…."
"Now they be helping our Mistresses!" Dobby said excitedly, ignoring her fretting and straining to keep his voice low. The two house elves had had a long argument when they first discovered that one French witch had a bond with their mistresses. Winky had been concerned that their creativity was causing problems, while Dobby insisted that it would only help in the long run. In the end Winky gave in since he had been bonded with Jasmine so long, but she remained skeptical.
As they were preparing to leave, however, Winky noticed something was amiss. "Dobby," she whispered hoarsely, "there be spying spells here! Old master Crouch always be making Winky look for them, and I be seeing them here!"
"Can Winky tell who be casting them?" Dobby asked, his anger unmistakable.
Winky shook her head. "No, Winky cannot do. But we must be removing them before Mistresses try to talk." Acting quickly, the house elves cancelled all of the listening and other monitoring charms they could find, vowing to start keeping a watch over this room to discover who was trying to spy on their mistresses.
Once all four witches returned to the table and served themselves some of the wonderful food that always mysteriously appeared when they met, Hermione asked, "Where have you been, Fleur? We've been watching for you everywhere and at all the meals."
"We were getting a little worried," Jasmine added with a hint of reproach. She and Hermione had been thrilled when they had received an owl from Fleur that morning asking to meet, but they were also miffed that the French witch had been out of communication for so long.
Fleur looked suitably contrite. "I am very sorry — I wanted to write to you, but Gabrielle and I are being given special training, and we were being kept in seclusion."
"Is this for the tournament?" Jasmine asked with a slight frown. "Seems a bit late to be starting."
"Non," Fleur said while shaking her head. "Zis eez something completely different. Zat eez why Gabrielle is training, too."
"Oui," Gabrielle added. "It eez very difficult, with both physical training and classroom lessons each for several 'ours every day."
"How did you grow so much, so quickly?" Jasmine asked Gabrielle, still amazed that she had changed so dramatically. "I almost didn't recognize you — you look so different now."
"Such changes are normal for veela who go through ze maturation process," Gabrielle answered, looking pleased that Jasmine had noticed how much she'd improved, "though I am going through it a bit early and a bit faster zan normal."
"It must be difficult," Hermione observed. "So much growth in such a short period of time must make things hard — like all the physical exercise."
Gabrielle nodded. "Oui, it eez a challenge, but I am happy zat it eez finally 'appening. I 'ave been anxious to grow up. Zere is much for me to do with my life, and I do not want to wait around to start."
"Ze reason why we needed to meet with you zis morning," Fleur eventually said, "eez because we would like to invite ze both of you to our Eostre celebration on ze twenty-first of zis month."
"Eostre?" Jasmine asked.
"That's the spring equinox holiday that celebrates the coming of spring, planting new seeds, and fertility, right?" Hermione asked, remembering some of what she had read in The Power of Love.
"Correct," Fleur responded. "Zis holiday is Germanic rather zan Celtic, but it eez still important for zome in ze magical world."
"It's the origin of many Easter traditions," Hermione said to Jasmine. "Easter eggs and rabbits, for example, are remnants of ancient beliefs about fertility."
"Huh," Jasmine said, "I always wondered what they could possibly have to do with the Christian Easter celebration. That makes more sense."
"So, will you come?" Gabrielle asked, both excitement and hope clear on her face. "Please say you will!"
"Will this be a veela celebration, like the last time?" Jasmine asked.
"Oui," Fleur answered. "Not everyone zere will be veela, but ze specifics of what we do and say will be ze same as you would find in a veela community celebrating ze day."
Jasmine and Hermione looked at each other for a moment, trying to decide what to do. Their last magical holiday ritual had led to some bad experiences at first, but it all turned out fine in the end — better than things had been beforehand, in fact.
"Yes, we'll come," Hermione answered as they turned back to the French veela.
"We look forward to it," Jasmine added.
"Oh, before you go," Hermione said, realizing that the meeting was probably coming to an end, "We have these books for you." She picked up a bag that had been by her feet and placed it on the table. "We only have one set for you, Fleur, because we didn't know Gabrielle would be coming too — or even that she was still around, actually."
"We'll get you a second set if you want it," Jasmine added, "but you can probably share for now. There are several books, so you'll each have plenty to read."
"Assuming we can find ze time," Fleur said as she started pulling books out of the enchanted bookbag. Both she and her sister were intrigued by what they found. Because veela culture wasn't as strict and repressed as British magical society, the ideas in the books weren't nearly as radical for them as they were for the witches attending Hogwarts. They were no less interesting, though, especially once the two French witches found out that the books were muggle in origin.
"I had no idea zat ze muggles wrote and thought such zings," Gabrielle said as she flipped through The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf.
"Not all muggles agree with what's in these books," Hermione cautioned them. "That one in particular has been very controversial, according to my mother. However, many of the ideas in the books are more commonly accepted now than they were a few decades ago. And the existence of similar books and people who endorse such views is somewhat common now, too. Certainly more common than in magical Britain."
"Some of zese ideas are not uncommon among veela, or even French wizards and witches," Gabrielle commented, "but not all. Even zough ze French magicals are much more open and tolerant, zere are still some ideas here which would be considered quite radical, I zink."
"Can you get more copies of zese?" Fleur asked hopefully. "My maman and 'er friend are 'elping train us, and zey would probably want to read zese books as well."
"Sure," Jasmine said with a shrug. "These are magical copies we made of the originals, and they should last several years at least." She didn't notice the widened eyes of the two French witches at hearing that. "We can make a couple more sets or help you get original copies from the muggle world. How do we get them to you, though? You aren't around much."
"Let's do it now." Hermione said. "We can pass by the Gryffindor tower as you leave the castle. Jasmine and I will go in, make a couple more copies of the set, and you can take them with you."
"You can do zat? Zo easily?" Gabrielle asked, very impressed that they could create such stable, long-lasting copies of books.
"Sure," Hermione said. "How many do you want?"
"Two... no, four more copies, if you can?" Fleur said. "Maman may want to send a set home."
"No problem," Jasmine responded. "Let's go take care of that now." Gabrielle felt something very close to awe as she followed them down to the Gryffindor common room.
Saturday, March 13, 1995, Night.
When Jasmine and Hermione had finished their wandless and mental magic practice for the night, Jasmine held her girlfriend back from leaving. Hermione had already figured out that there was something bothering Jasmine and was simply waiting for her to initiate a conversation about it. She'd learned some time ago that it was better to let Jasmine speak up when she was ready than to browbeat her about it — not that she always heeded that lesson, of course, but she did try.
So she sat and waited as patiently as she could while Jasmine figured out how to word whatever it was that she had been thinking about. Finally, Jasmine asked, "Do you think it's worth staying in the magical world?"
To say that Hermione was gobsmacked would be an understatement. She had considered many possible topics that Jasmine might want to talk about, but this wasn't something she would have thought of in a million years. "What?" she asked. "Wh-why would you think about leaving magic?"
"Not magic," Jasmine said as she sighed with frustration. "I mean the magical world. Magical society. All of the bigotry, intolerance, that sort of thing."
"Oh," Hermione responded, starting to calm a little. "What brought this on?"
"It's something I've been thinking about for a while now. Even before this year," Jasmine said. "The conversation with Fleur and Gabrielle earlier today reminded me of how backwards and repressed magical Britain is, but even other magical communities that are better are still behind muggle society."
She sighed again as she ran her fingers through her hair, then reached out to take Hermione's hand. "This year, or maybe these past few weeks, have really driven home for me how bad things are. You and I can't walk around freely, just holding hands. Can we do that in muggle Britain?" Jasmine's voice grew thick as she continued, "Can we just... you know... be us? Be together and be happy because we're together, without others trying to hurt us simply because of who we lo... who we choose to be with?"
Hermione squeezed Jasmine's hand, understanding now what she was talking about. "Everywhere in muggle Britain? Definitely not. There are lots of places here and abroad that wouldn't accept us. But some places? Sure. From what I can remember seeing on the news, things are improving. I think it's much better now than it was just five or ten years ago. It wouldn't be easy for us, but we wouldn't be completely ostracized by everyone."
"And there are so many other things that we wouldn't have to worry about," Jasmine continued. "No dementors, no Death Eaters, no basilisks…. Look, I know that muggle society isn't perfect. I know there are plenty of problems and that life for us wouldn't be a bed of roses. But the more time I spend in magical Britain, the worse it seems to me. Magic is great, but frankly, wizards and witches kinda suck."
Hermione snorted at that. "Not all of them suck, you know. And they're still human, which means that their problems exist with all humans, including muggles."
"True," Jasmine conceded, "but magic must change something about wizards and witches, because the problems seem awfully concentrated around here."
Silence fell between them until Hermione asked in a small voice, "So... you really want to leave?"
"I don't know — maybe," Jasmine answered. "Not now, obviously, and certainly not without you. But the more I think about it, the less convinced I am that there are enough benefits to magical society to outweigh the problems. I'm not seeing a lot of reasons to stay, but I do keep tripping over reasons to leave. So I was wondering what you think."
"I... I'm not sure," Hermione said. "I've always focused on the magic, not the people; and since magic is great, I've been happy. Or... content, at least. I guess. But now that you've asked, I have to admit that that will only keep working at school — and even then, only barely. Once we graduate from Hogwarts, we'll have to deal with magical society with all its faults. I won't be able to just bury myself in books and ignore the problems around me."
"It's not hard to understand why you prefer books to people," Jasmine conceded. "I wish I could hide in a pile of books, too, but you know how trouble always seems to find me."
Hermione nodded at that, then fell silent again, lost in thought. "I'll have to think about it," she finally said with a sigh, "but do you think we'd really be able to just leave?"
"I don't see why not," Jasmine answered. "They can't force us to stay, especially once we complete our OWLs next year. That will make us fully qualified witches with the right to leave if we want. Just like Bonnie did, remember? If the exchange rate isn't too bad, the gold in my vaults should be enough to see us through getting muggle educations. We might get a bit from the basilisk, too, which would give us even more of a cushion. We won't live like queens, but we won't starve. I hope. Then we just need to figure out where we can live openly and what sorts of jobs can be found there."
Hermione shook her head and said, "Jasmine, that's your gold. That's your inheritance from your family. I'm not going to take—" She was cut off as Jasmine leaned forward and kissed her passionately.
When she drew back a few inches, Jasmine looked very intently into her girlfriend's brown eyes and said, "Hermione Granger, if we're going to be together, then we're going to be together. That means that everything is shared. It won't be my gold, it will be our gold. Our cushion. The fact that I inherited it from my parents won't make it any less yours than if I earn it working a till in Tesco's. OK?"
Hermione gazed deep into Jasmine's green eyes for a long moment, seeing the sincerity and unspoken love there, before leaning forward herself and returning Jasmine's kiss just as passionately. When she stopped, she said softly, "OK. And the decision to stay or go will be our decision, made together, right?"
"Exactly," Jasmine said with a smile before sitting all the way back again. "Together — always."
Apolline and Adrienne stayed up late flipping through the books which Fleur and Gabrielle had brought from the English witches. Muggle society was different from both magical society generally and veela culture specifically, so not all of the ideas and arguments in the books were really relevant. Some were, though, and on the whole the books were still quite interesting.
"We should definitely pass these along," Apolline commented.
"I agree," Adrienne said, "as well as the information about how they were made. I'm pleased to see that a muggle background is looking like it will be more of an asset to Miss Granger than a disadvantage."
Sunday, March 14, 1995, Afternoon.
"How did everything go with the books?" was Minerva's first question when she sat down for tea with her two favorite Gryffindors.
"Well enough, I guess," Hermione said. "Our study group took them to distribute, and they seemed very happy to finally have them. I assume that all the sets have been given out by now, but I don't know yet what everyone thinks. Ginny liked them, and even Neville thought they were interesting, but we haven't really spoken to anyone else about them."
"I've been reading them in every spare moment since you left my office Wednesday evening," Minerva admitted. "That includes staying up a bit too late most nights so I could either read, or finish work I didn't complete earlier because I was reading. I have to admit, I'm quite impressed by what some of those muggle authors have to say. Impressed and surprised, because I didn't realize that muggles thought and wrote such things."
"Not all do," Hermione pointed out. "Not even all women agree with everything that's in those books, but some of the ideas are widespread enough to be taken for granted these days. Other ideas may be controversial, but it's not hard to find someone who defends them."
"And they aren't ostracized by the rest of society when they do," Jasmine added.
"Right," Hermione agreed. "People who disagree with these ideas might say they're wrong or ridiculous, but not so evil and depraved that anyone who believes them should be shunned."
"If only that attitude could spread to magical Britain," Minerva said sadly. "Well, do let me know how the books are received by the students, if you find out."
"Would other female professors be interested in them?" Hermione said suddenly, mentally kicking herself for not having thought to ask that before.
"I've considered that," Minerva responded. "I would have to tread carefully because if the wrong person saw some of that material, it could cause a scandal. That's why I was so happy when you told me that Mr. Longbottom had found glamour charms to disguise the books for the students." She took a sip of tea before continuing, "I'm going to have to carefully sound out a couple of the female professors to gauge what their political and social views are like. Professor Sprout is much too conservative, I'm sure. Professor Sinistra is fairly young, so she might be more receptive. And then there's Professor Trelawney…." She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Yes, I'll definitely have to give it some thought first. I'll let you know if anything comes of my inquiries."
After the two younger witches thanked her, she continued, "And speaking of inquiries, I finally got word back from my contact about dealing with a basilisk. He's not magical, as I believe I mentioned, so exchanging messages can be slow."
"What did you learn?" Hermione asked.
"He said he can do it and he'll be discrete," Minerva responded. "But it will be time-consuming, and it won't be cheap. Evidently it's a very difficult job, in part because it is best done non-magically, even if one is magical. According to him, any residual magic in the carcass can interfere with magical spells that one might use to harvest it. He doesn't recommend anyone try to do it unless they have plenty of experience with what he calls 'monsters.' He could train you, but that would take time, too."
"How did you ever get to know someone like that?" Jasmine asked. "A muggle who deals with such things has to be pretty rare."
"Oh, one of his friends is a witch who ran into a spot of trouble and had to come to Britain for some help getting her life straightened out," Minerva explained. "I met him when he visited her."
"What about elves?" Hermione asked, wondering why she hadn't thought of that before.
"Elves? What do you mean?" Minerva responded.
"House elves can obviously be trained to do all sorts of jobs," Hermione said, "so why not this one?"
"Ah," Minerva said, "and you just happen to have two elves that are available for work." She paused for a moment before continuing, "He didn't mention elves, though to be fair he may not know about them. I don't know if elves even exist where he lives. I'll write back to ask him if he thinks they could be sufficiently trained for this sort of work."
"We may need to pay him out of whatever we make from the basilisk," Jasmine said.
Minerva nodded, "I'll let him know. I think he'll be understanding on that point."
Sunday, March 14, 1995, Night.
For the second night in a row, Hermione was having trouble falling asleep. Ever since Jasmine had told her that she had long thought about turning her back on the magical world, she had trouble thinking about anything else.
Once she had found out about magic, Hermione never wanted to be involved with anything else. It became the focus of her entire life. The magical world, though… that was something different.
She hadn't thought about it as deeply as Jasmine obviously had, and in retrospect she probably should have. The more she did think about it, the more she realized that Jasmine's complaints were valid… and the less happy she was with magical society, especially in Britain. It no longer seemed like a wondrous, happy place that she'd love to live and raise children in.
If they couldn't stay in magical society as it currently existed, that left reforming it or leaving it. Was it worth saving? Was it worth all the pain, tears, and sacrifice that would be needed to reform it, especially when the two of them had a familiar and somewhat welcoming society waiting for them?
Tuesday, March 16, 1995, Late Afternoon.
"Potter!" came the gruff voice of their Defense professor as the students were packing up their books at the end of class. "I need you to stay behind for a little bit so I can talk to you about your hex deflection test." When Hermione made to sit back down, Moody turned to her and said, "No, you should go on ahead. I'm supposed to limit these sorts of conversations to just the student involved."
Hermione looked puzzled, then frowned in concern, but finally nodded and gave Jasmine an uncertain smile as she said, "I'll see you back in the common room before dinner."
After she left, Moody waved his wand and caused all of the desks and chairs to slide to the sides of the room. He then looked down at a large book on his desk before Jasmine spoke up, "I know I could have done better on that test, but..."
"It's alright, Potter," Moody said as he waved his hand dismissively. "I figured out what you're probably doing wrong, and the explanation is in this book." The last was said as he poked a stubby finger against one of the open pages. Moody then looked up and started walking across the room. Halfway there, he stopped, turned, and said, "Bah, I'll need the book after all. Would you grab it for me, lass? In fact, why don't you show me how you're doing with your summoning charm." Jasmine nodded and pulled out her wand as she turned towards the teacher's desk.
"Thanks," Moody continued, "my bad leg has been bothering me all day for some reason, and now..."
That was the last word Jasmine heard before her world went dark.
Tuesday, March 16, 1995, Evening.
When Hermione arrived at the study group's table, she was alone, without any books, and looked like a complete wreck. "What's wrong?" Susan asked immediately.
"None of you have seen Jasmine recently, have you?" she asked, worry and fear clear in her voice.
"No," they all said, looking around at each other and shaking their heads.
Hermione looked to be close to tears. "I left her with Professor Moody at the end of DADA, and she never showed up to go to dinner. She didn't show up at dinner, either. She's not in the DADA classroom... she's not in the castle at all. Professor Moody is in his quarters, but isn't answering my knocks at his door. I... I don't know what's going on. I knew I shouldn't have left her, I just knew it! He's been acting so oddly..."
"Shhh, shhh," Padma said as she stood up and put her arm around Hermione's shoulders. "Have you told any professors yet?"
Hermione nodded wearily. "I told Professor McGonagall, who was going to go talk to Professor Moody. I decided to come here to find out if you knew anything. I...I didn't know what else to do."
"How can you be sure she isn't in the castle?" Daphne asked.
Hermione shook her head and said, "I can't tell you, but I'm positive. She's not in the castle, not anywhere." She couldn't reveal the existence of the cloak or the map, the latter of which she had pulled from Jasmine's trunk and checked before deciding it was time to panic.
Just then, Professor McGonagall came into the library. Hermione turned to look at her with a hopeful expression, but that hope crashed when she saw how upset McGonagall looked.
"Hello, everyone, I'm afraid I must be brief," she said, then turned to Hermione. "Miss Weasley told me you'd be here. I couldn't get Alastor to answer his door, and I couldn't open it myself, so I went to the Headmaster and told him everything you told me. He confirmed that Miss Potter isn't anywhere in the castle. Right now he's breaking down the wards protecting Alastor's room."
Turning to the others gathered around the table, all with shocked looks on their faces, she continued, "The next step will probably be a full search of the castle, which means the rest of you will have to go back to your dorms. Although the order hasn't been given yet, I fully expect that Hogwarts will be locked down shortly so a thorough search and investigation can be made." Turning back to Hermione, she said, "Not you, though, Miss Granger. The Headmaster will want to get your story again directly and probably ask a few questions. We should go to his office now, because if he isn't back there already, he soon will be."
As the group packed up their books and supplies, they watched McGonagall gently lead Hermione away. They could tell that the Gryffindor witch was barely holding it together, and this more than anything had them worried. They knew that she, Ron, and Jasmine had been on several harrowing adventures together over the past four years, and at no point had anyone in their study group ever seen her so distraught.
If she was breaking down now, how much worse might the situation be compared to everything else those three had gone through?
"Suze, where are you going?" Hannah asked her best friend. "Our common room is in the other direction."
"I know that, Han," Susan replied irritably, "but I'm not going there. Not yet, anyway, I have something important to do first."
"But Professor McGonagall said that the school was in lockdown," Hannah protested as they started going up another flight of steps, Susan taking them two and three at a time.
"No, she didn't," Susan responded, breathing heavily from the exertion. "She said the school would probably go into lockdown shortly. Which means I don't have much time to get to the owlery before that happens."
"The owlery?" Hannah asked. "Oh!" she said after a moment's thought. "You're sending a message to your auntie?"
"Exactly," Susan responded. "And we don't have much time. When we get there, I'll start writing while you call down Hector. Get him ready for me."
"Got it!" Hannah said, glad there was something she could do to help.
Fortunately, the two Hufflepuff witches made it to the owlery in time, and in very short order Hector was flying as fast as he could towards London, begged by his mistress to get her message to her aunt with all possible speed.
He would not fail her.