"It's a quarter to nine. We should probably head for the Room of Requirement now." I declared when I looked up from my armchair in the common room to check the time, Wednesday evening had finally arrived. And that meant Defence lessons.
It had taken me by surprise when I had noticed how much I actually was looking forward to the first meeting of the Phoenix Pinions, each passing day doubling the anticipation for the event.
"You're right. It might has to be altered by us manually, once we're inside of course." My best friend agreed and lay down the Transfiguration book he currently was reading for our latest homework.
I followed his lead and stored my materials in my bag before putting it on the desk we had chosen as our studying camp.
"Wait a second, I'm gonna get my cloak and the Marauder's Map. That way we can hide if we should come close to Filch or Umbridge." Harry told me but I crooked my head.
"Harry. We are allowed to be outside the common room until ten, nobody can prove what we're doing and students wander the seventh floor every day. Do you really think that's necessary?" I smiled softly. He was probably nervous because of the meeting and wanted everything to go off without a hitch.
"You can never be safe enough!" He declared before heading to his dorm.
The raven-haired wizard didn't let me wait long, moments later he was back at my side and we made our way to the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"I tell you, this is absolutely unnecessary. The cloak, at least. The map can be useful when we want to leave the Room of Requirement again." I said and Harry shrugged his shoulders.
"We'll see. Right now I've got more important things to worry about, honestly.", He then sighed, "I can't believe it: I'm really going to be a teacher."
"Relax, Harry. You have a plan for the lesson, you know what you're doing and most importantly: People put their trust in you." I tried to calm my best friend, who chuckled sheepishly.
"Yeah, thanks again for planning this with me. It's simple, quite honestly, but I wouldn't have been able to get it that structured and logical without you." Harry admitted and I flashed him a warm smile.
"You're more than welcome, Professor Potter.", I teased and giggled when I saw his surprised reaction, "Better get used to your new position."
"I swear, if somebody calls me like that I'll quit teaching." He half-joked and I rolled my eyes with a grin.
"Nah, you're just Harry to all of us. You don't exactly look like the authoritarian kind of guy." I teased and he raised a brow nonetheless.
"You think so?" He asked, apparently not catching the humour in my voice and I looked at him with a far more serious expression now.
"No, Harry. You absolutely radiate authority when you want to. Remember how you stood your ground against Umbridge on my birthday? I bet with you, nobody in the room could have pulled that off. You might have gotten yourself into detention for it, but you made her abandon the lesson." I injected a bit of confidence into my best friend with my little speech and watched how his fingers formed a fist again, his expression one of determination.
"You're right, I got this. Not because I'm a tyrannical arse, but because they trust me. And because I have your support, which always works wonders, 'Mione." He told me with an intense look in his eyes. I found myself blushing under his gaze and praise.
"I fuckin' love him.." I thought to myself with a dreamy sigh.
"Thank you." I mumbled and desperately looked for something that would distract him so he wouldn't notice my blush too much.
"Um, don't you want to check the map? We're nearly on the seventh floor now." I quickly asked and saw his eyes lightening up temporarily.
"Oh, of course! Dammit, I almost forgot that." He said as he pulled the Marauder's heirloom out of his pocket and tapped it with his wand as he whispered the magical words, making the piece of parchment come alive.
"Alright, we should be safe right now. Umbridge is in her office and Filch is down on the first floor." He stated as we arrived on the seventh floor.
"What about Mrs. Norris?" I asked, knowing the cat was almost worse when it came to catching students doing illegal things.
"She's on the forth floor, no need to worry."
The corridor with the tapestry of Bernabas the Barmy came into view and my tempo increased, but the young man with his long legs easily kept up.
"Well then, let's get inside before we really get into trouble, Mr. Careful." I said and came to a stop in front of the blank wall where I knew the door to the Room of Requirement would appear momentarily.
"We need a room where we can learn to defend ourselves. We need a room where we can practice, where nobody can find us who is unwanted." I thought and paced forth and back three times, a highly polished and detailed, wooden door magically materializing in front of my eyes.
"Wow, even when you know how the room works, it's still pretty amazing to see it in action. The last time I was here, you had me blindfolded." I stated and Harry snickered lightly, a smile on his face that clearly indicated he remembered the evening of my birthday very clearly.
"I'll make sure to have YOU blindfolded on your birthday if you continue to act this childish. Weren't you nervous or something?" I teased and Harry smirked.
"My, my, Hermione. Are we getting aggravated?" He countered and I realized how easily his mood could change. Which was a good and a bad thing at the same time.
I didn't reply to his playful taunt and instead grabbed the metal handle of the door before pressing it down, revealing the room behind.
Spacious it was, lit with bright and orange flames of torches attached to brackets on the walls.
We quickly entered and shut the door hastily, before our amazement wiped out our brains entirely. I turned my head and gasped loudly when my eyes took in the sight of dozens of tomes on shelves.
I immediately went over to the shelves and inspected the titles of the books: They were all related to the topic of learning proper, practical defence and offence.
"Wow!" I exclaimed when I stroked the spine of one of the tomes before pulling it out of the shelf. "Offence is the Best Defence" it read on the front cover.
Noticing an area not far from the book shelves, equipped with soft and silky cushions on the floor, I was soon seated on one of the fluffy pillows.
"From the eagerness on your face I assume that they don't have this book in the library?" Harry asked me, obvious amusement in his voice, and I nodded briefly before opening the first page of the book in my lap.
"Yes, it looks like none of the books here are also available in our library." I replied, "And now I want to read."
"As I expected." Harry said with a teasing undertone but I didn't react to his amateurish attempt to provoke me.
"Why must he always tease me like that?" I found myself asking as I straight skipped the foreword and turned to the page where the first chapter started.
People soon started arriving, excited chatter sounding through the room, and by the time it was nine p.m., all the members were seated on one of the many cushions on the floor. I marked the progress of my reading and lay my book aside just in time to see my best friend coming to a halt in front of the group.
"So, I see everybody has found it's way into here. Splendid!", Harry started when all eyes were on him, "And judging by the smiles on your faces I take it that you like the location Hermione and I have chosen for our Defence lessons."
"Like it? I absolutely love it!" Cho exclaimed and I did my best not to clench my fists or murder her with my look.
"Excuse me, he is MY future boyfriend!", I mentally screamed when I caught the intense note of flirting that was attached to her exclamation, "Even if I myself don't exactly know how to make him mine.."
"Cho is right. This room really is lovely." Luna confirmed, her gaze lifted towards the ceiling of the room, a bright smile plastered on her face.
"And Umbridge-safe.", The twins added with a joyous gleam in their eyes, "Feels good to break the rules again."
"Well then, I don't see a reason to delay our first lesson any longer. For the beginning, Hermione and I came up with the idea to practice the most basic, rudimentary skills and tools every combatant needs.", Harry explained and his eyes wandered across the many faces in front of him, "Namely known as shielding and disarming."
"Oh please, like a disarming spell will save my life." Zacharias Smith rolled his eyes with a groan.
"If that's insulting to you, well, you're free to leave whenever you want to. Though if I might add, the disarming spell did indeed save my life last June. I used it on Voldemort and well, I'm still alive as you all see." Harry said with an almost neutral tone and I already liked the objectiveness he tried to retain whilst teaching.
"Wow, you really used a disarming spell on HIM? You gotta teach us that trick!" Dean said and as a collective murmur of admiration went through the group, my best friend scratching the back of his head in response.
"Well, to be fair, I had quite a bit of luck on my side, but yes. Spells work all the same, no matter who you're attacking them with. Even Voldemort would get disarmed with an Expelliarmus if he doesn't block it.", He explained with a small smile, "Which brings me to my next point: The disarming spell is kind of simple compared to other curses and jinxes, but just because it's easy to produce doesn't mean it's weak. The strength of all your spells is only determined by your determination, your imagination and ambition to practice."
During the last part of his explanation he looked at me intently, emerald discs shining brightly, and I had the feeling he was trying to sound like me again, which made my heart hammer MADLY inside my chest.
"What about the killing curse? As far as I know it always does the same, no matter how strong the wizard is that produces it." Michael Corner was tactless enough to ask the person who lost everything because of that spell, but the Boy-Who-Lived wasn't somebody who showed his feelings in public. Though I could catch the glimmer of sadness that flashed across his eyes for the split of a second.
"Good question. But unfortunately I don't have an answer for you, since I know next to nothing about the dark arts. Except how to defend myself against them, which brings me back to my original topic.", Harry seemingly effortlessly returned to the actual topic of today's lesson, "Shielding and disarming."
"There are two ways how to defend yourself in a fight. Well, actually there are countless ways, but for today let's just focus on the two most straight-forward ones: I either relieve my opponent of his weapon, that being his wand, or I shield myself against his attacks. I think we all know that Expelliarmus is the incantation for the disarming spell, thanks to Lockhart's amazing duelling club of course, but what about the shielding charm?" Harry asked and many people laughed because of his jab at our ex-professor.
"Ah, the good ol' days!", Fred exclaimed in between his cackles, apparently vividly remembering the truly unique scenario, "Harry was the heir of Slytherin and petrified people and our DADA teacher was better at smiling than teaching."
"Well, to clarify that once and for all, I am not the heir of House Slytherin." Harry joined in the chuckling before taking a deep breath.
"Alright, so what's the incantation for the shielding charm?"
I of course knew the answer to his question, but just as we had discussed in our planning, I wouldn't raise my hand. Which wasn't that easy for my, quite honestly.
To probably everybody's surprise, Neville Longbottom raised his hand hesitantly.
"Yeah, Neville?" Harry prodded on our friend with an encouraging smile.
"Protego?" The Gryffindor boy said and my best friend clapped his hands.
"Exactly. Now, Protego is your way-to-go method when you want to deflect some minor curses or jinxes. I'm sure it could handle more, depending on your strength of course, but you always have to keep in mind that every spell costs you magical, as well as physical strength. There is no need to create an ultimate protection when a simple Protego is all you need to counter. Do you understand that?" Harry continued with his theoretical introduction and the group collectively agreed with a nod.
"Okay then, let me give you a little demonstration of what we'll be looking at in today's lesson. Hermione, if you don't mind." He gestured for me to get up and join him at the front of the group, making the corners of my mouth quirk up a bit. I relished in being his sparring mate again.
I stopped, five, six metres away from him and got into my way-to-go fighting stance that Tonks and Kingsley had taught me over the summer.
"Now, she's already got a bit of experience as you can tell by her stance, but don't worry: We'll go through the stances as well when I think it's a good time to do so." Harry announced and suddenly a good chunk of people were snickering again.
"Hey, you can't give your girlfriend private lessons! That's uncool man, really uncool." George pretended to scold us and made my face become hot enough to probably fry an egg on my cheeks.
"Um, anyway. You ready, Hermione?" He asked with a dry voice and I just nodded, not even wanting to speak a single word. I knew my voice would give my emotional state away even more than the redness of my face.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry called and a red bolt of magic erupted from the tip of his wand, heading directly towards me.
"Protego!" A shield in the form of a silver disc appeared in front of me at my command, making Harry's spell bounce off. The spell collided with the wall, the room's magic effectively annulating the damage it would have normally caused.
People then were clapping and nodding their heads with a convinced expression etched into their faces.
"Well, first of all, thank you Hermione.", Harry said as he gestured towards me and I tried my best not to look too dreamily at him, "And secondly, I have a task for you: Form groups of two and practice what Hermione and I have just demonstrated. I'll go around and give you a tip here and there, should you need it. Ready, set, fight, I'd say."
In a noisy tumult of excitement duos formed and quite a few people asked me to be their partner. Boys of other houses amongst them.
Ginny's words about me being popular amongst the male population of Hogwarts echoed through my head as I kindly rejected every one of them, mentally smirking when I noticed Harry's angry expression whenever a boy asked me, which changed into an expression of relief when I said no. And then came the next boy and the cycle repeated itself.
Luckily, there weren't too many, so I soon found myself searching for a partner who wouldn't try to flirt with me.
"Ugh, why can't I just spar with Harry?" I thought with a pouting voice and glanced at him when his back was turned towards me. In that moment I wanted that another person was leading the group, only so I and him could practice together. I was sure that I would be his number one in this scenario.
"His number one.. His one and only.. Just HISSSS." I thought and suddenly felt very hungry, hungry for kisses and pleasure.
"Um, Hermione, can I practice with you? I'm sure I'll need your help." Neville lightly tapped my shoulder to catch my attention and I glimpsed to refocus on what truly mattered right now. Damn my stupid hormones.
"Of course, Neville." I agreed immediately, knowing the young lion in front of me truly wanted to practise with me and nothing else.
Lots of disarming spells and shielding charms were shouted across the room as the students started practising, wands and red bolts of magic flying in all directions, and I had to duck several times before Neville and I had found a little less-crowded area of the room.
"Alright Neville, a good Expelliarmus needs two things: Determination and the right wrist movement. You have to flick your wand a little in order to produce a proper disarming spell. Just like this." I demonstrated the wrist movement and Neville nodded.
"You will attack me and I will parry. And when you've mastered the disarming spell, we'll swap. Okay?" I asked and Neville smiled shyly.
"Don't expect too much from me, Hermione. You know my tendency to mess things up."
"Rubbish. You just have to be more confident.", I encouraged him before going into the fighting stance, "Are you ready?"
"Expelliarmus!" Neville called but moved his wrist far too hectically, making his own wand fly to his left instead, almost hitting Ron on the head.
"Watch it Neville." The redhead told him when he handed the black-haired boy his wand.
"Sorry, Ron. I didn't want to hit you."
"Just make sure you don't accidentally hurt somebody, okay?" The Weasley sighed and I narrowed my eyes on my ex-friend.
"Do you have to be so rude, Ronald?!" I asked him and his eyes darkened with disdain.
"It's the truth. But yeah, since when does that matter to you?" He stated and I could only guess what stupid allusions he had made with his words, making me spin around. Talking with him was a pure waste of time.
I ignored Ron for the remainder of the exercise, rather focusing on improving Neville's spellwork, which indeed improved over time. Gradually, but steadily.
The shrill sound of a whistle then echoed through the room, making everybody look into the direction of the noise's source: Harry.
"Alright, that wasn't a bad start.", He said and nodded briefly, "Though we definitely can do better. For now I want you to change partners. When you've found a new partner, I want you to duel another team of your choice so we have a two versus two. You'll find it much easier in a fight when you have somebody at your side than when you fight alone."
As people started forging new alliances for the next exercise, I felt a hand taking mine before pulling me back a bit from the rest of the crowd.
"I want to win this, Granger." Daphne said with a smirk when I had turned around to face the person who had taken my hand.
"You really are a Slytherin.", I sighed with a small grin, "But yeah, I'd actually really like to partner up with you too."
"So.. Which group do we want to face?" The snake asked me and I shrugged my shoulders.
"Don't know, really. Any preferences?"
"Yeah. Zacharias' group."
"Why is that?"
"He annoys me and probably is the most sceptical person in this group when it comes to allowing a Slytherin in here." She explained with a focused gaze and I hummed.
"Well, he annoys me as well. And I have to admit it's a good possibility to teach that idiot some manners." I giggled evilly and so I made my way to the person in question, Daphne at my side.
"Hey, Zacharias! Want to duel me?" The white-blonde girl challenged the Hufflepuff who smirked victoriously.
"Yeah, of course! Because who would.. oh, you're her teammate.", He gulped when he noticed that I was her partner, "Hey Michael, I think I've found us a group!"
It took a few seconds until Michael appeared at Zacharias's side and I assumed he had went looking for an opponent for himself and the badger.
"Well done, mate!" Michael immediately agreed when he noticed me and I mentally raised a brow in suspicion, the way his eyes glimmered giving his intentions away.
"Why am I hit on by the boys I don't like?" I asked myself and inconspicuously glanced sidewards to check if Daphne noticed what I did. Our eyes connected for a split second before we focused on the boys in front of us again.
"Don't worry, I won't be too hard on two charming ladies like you." Michael said and I resisted rolling my eyes when our teams got ready to fight.
"That's exactly why you'll lose.", Daphne provoked, "In a real fight your enemy will exploit your restraint."
I didn't even have to ask her why she knew that: Exploiting was a Slytherin's second nature.
"Keep dreaming, blondie." Zacharias laughed as he drew his wand, "We'll win this easily."
"Well then, come on. Show us what you've got." I told the boys, knowing that a battle always had a psychological side as well. They felt superior, which meant they would act more reckless. And recklessness was something I knew to exploit.
The duo glanced at each other for a second and I knew they were trying to play dirty. A pity I knew what they were up to.
"Expelliarmus!" Both boys called simultaneously, aiming their wands at me, and instead of conjuring a shield I ducked, surprising my opponents.
"Expelliarmus!" Daphne quickly used her advantage of being assessed the weaker opponent and pointed her wand at Zacharias, who managed to put up a shield in time just to see Daphne's spell bounce off, hitting an unprepared Michael instead. With a loud clattering sound his wand dropped to the floor.
"And there goes your teammate." I teased with a sing-sang voice that made the badger's face redden in frustration.
"You cheated!", He exclaimed, "Harry said disarming or shielding. You dodged."
"Come on! Cheating would be if I had used a stunner on you or a leg binding jinx." I laughed and Zacharias growled angrily.
"Michael you idiot! Why didn't you see her spell bouncing off in time?!" He instead yelled at his partner who just rolled his eyes.
"Zac, your shield was crappy, that's why Daphne's spell got deflected so strangely.", Michael groaned, "Now come on, give it your best. We haven't lost.. yet."
In precisely that second Daphne had fired off another disarming spell that hit Zacharias directly on his arm, making his wand fly high into the air before landing in Daphne's outstretched hand.
"GIVE ME BACK MY WAND, YOU SNAKE!", A furious Zacharias exclaimed before he snatched his wand out of the slender girl's hand again, "You definitely cheated. We were talking and you just caught me off-guard."
"Then I've already taught her half of what I can. Surprise is the best weapon you can have in a fight.", Harry's voice announced itself from behind and I shuddered lightly at hearing his masculine voice producing such confident words that tolerated no back-talking, "And when you have a chat during a sparring fight, I think I would use that opportunity as well."
"It was obvious we had paused the fight and she still attacked! What do you think would have happened if she had hit my head, hm?" Zacharias argued but my best friend remained completely unimpressed.
"Imagine you were in a battle with Voldemort. Would he stop attacking you just because you're taking a break to catch your breath? No he wouldn't. He would kill you faster than you could blink." Harry lectured the boy, who groaned in return.
"But I am NOT fighting him right now! I'm at school, dammit."
"Yes you are at school, Zacharias.", Harry confirmed, "And at school we get prepared for the real world. That means practising with real world standards."
"Oh, no, no, don't say it! You can thank me when this training has saved your arse sometime in the future." My best friend really enjoyed dropping sassy comments and I did my best not to smirk at the badger.
"By the way, well done you two.", Harry then praised us and clapped both our backs, "I don't think these two fancy a rematch right now so you can watch the others and give some tips as well. Doing this all on my own is a bit hard, I gotta admit that."
Without another look we parted ways with Zacharias and Michael, leaving them to their disappointment and frustration, and quickly decided to watch the match between Fred plus George versus Lee Jordan and Katie, which was highly entertaining since the twins had the tendency to cheat in a humorous way. But soon I found myself watching Harry, despite my efforts to not do so.
The way he always smiled so kindly when he corrected somebody or demonstrated a certain wand movement, how his eyes lit up with passion when he shared a piece of advice that had saved him in the past or when he just praised somebody.. He had such a good soul. After fourteen years of almost permanent pain.
My probably dreamy expression then soon changed into one of concentration when Harry stopped by Cho's group, the Ravenclaw of course immediately noticing his presence. And the second she was distracted was the second Luna had disarmed her, making the black-haired girl blush.
"Ha ha, serves you right.." I thought with an evil voice and raised a hand to cover my mouth as I silently giggled, a devilish smirk plastered on my face.
"You made me nervous!" Cho exclaimed when Harry shot her a tell-me-why-it-happened look and I shot her a death glare in return.
"Oh my god, it's Harry Potter! I'm a stupid girl and have to crush on him because he is famous and looks good." I imitated her in my head and watched the further exchange with interest. If Harry just had given me an unequivocal answer about his feelings for Cho when we were returning from Hogsmeade last week, then I wouldn't have to observe everything with the utmost concentration. Sucks being me, I guess.
"Don't mind her, she's a bit torn about being here. Her parents have forbidden her to do anything that can be classified as anti-Umbridge." Cho explained when her friend had turned away from the two, probably feeling conflicted when being this close to the person her parents tried to make her see as an evil man.
"I assume you egged her on a bit to come here?" Harry asked with a small grin and Cho nodded.
"It was the right thing. Especially after what happened to Cedric.." I watched as her eyes became a bit watery and she took a calming breath to not lose it surrounded by so many people.
"I.. can understand that completely." Harry gulped as he probably realized that Cho had an entirely different to fight than many other in the room. He patted her on the back in a compassionate manner before walking towards the next group.
"Well, nothing to feel alarmed here, ey?" I told myself and sighed lightly, the relief immense.
When my gaze wandered across the room again and passed the clock over the entrance door, I literally felt my eyes doubling in size. It was a quarter past ten.
"Harry!", I loudly exclaimed to catch my best friend's attention, "Look, the time!"
"Oh shit." I saw him muttering under his breath before blowing his whistle again.
"I really hate to interrupt you guys, but I kinda messed up and overrun our time. Now, before everybody leaves we'll still have to come up with a time for our next meeting, so.. any suggestions?" Harry asked and there was a lot of humming in the room.
"Tomorrow?" Luna suggested with a bright smile but the Hufflepuff students disagreed loudly.
"No, that would interfere with our quidditch training." Zacharias disagreed, defending his house's training times ferociously.
"Next Monday?" Daphne asked, "Since I'm the only Slytherin nobody would have to skip training in order to be here."
"That's excellent, Daphne! So we all see each other on Monday at eight p.m. this time, so we can comfortably practice for one and half an hour here. We don't want to overrun the time limit again, hm?" Harry declared and the twins started a round of applause that soon had everybody clapping wildly. Some even chanted "Harry, Harry!" like they did when he played quidditch, which actually sounded quite epic.
People then started leaving the Room of Requirement in small groups, but one person stayed behind: Daphne Greengrass.
"I think we need to talk, Hermione." She stated with a small smirk of amusement and I turned my head into the direction of my best friend, knowing what Daphne's words meant for him.
"Could you please wait for us outside? You have your cloak with you, so you should be fine." I said and Harry chuckled.
"See? It paid off bringing it with me.", He reminded me of a recent conversation and I rolled my eyes, "I'll leave you to your girl-talk then. See ya."
We waited until we heard the loud clicking sound of the door, Harry's body soon disappearing from our view.
"Stop killing Cho with your looks, you have nothing to worry about." Daphne told me the second we were in private, her smirk only widening when my jaw dropped.
"Dammit girl, sometimes you're really creepy!", I exclaimed with a gasp, "How is it you notice EVERYTHING?"
"Well.. I don't notice everything. Just the more obvious things.", She defended herself, giving me a compassionate look, "I can imagine it's hard to keep your emotions at bay when you're in love, especially the jealousy, but don't stress yourself unnecessarily. You've got nothing to fear, that's what I actually wanted to tell you."
"Nothing to fear? Harry seems to be quite charmed by her." I remarked and Daphne giggled.
"Yes, he LIKES her. He doesn't fancy her. Big differences.", She said, "But yes, Cho seems to fancy your best friend on the other side."
"Mph. If you say so.", I responded, "I'll still keep a close eye on Cho Chang."
"Hermione, you have to use your resources more efficiently", Daphne advised me, "You'll die young if you worry that much that unnecessarily."
"What makes you so confident that Harry likes me romantically?" I asked the girl with the highest curiosity in my voice.
"Just look at the way he looks at you. When I see him looking at you, I see a young man that desires to take the next step with the woman he's gazing at." My friend kindly supplied but I couldn't find any hope in her words.
"Harry has looked at me like that since I can remember!" I couldn't suppress a little grin of amusement and Daphne rolled her eyes.
"Maybe that is because he and you have loved each other for longer than you yourselves even know? Maybe he didn't instantaneously understand his feelings, just as you didn't." The Slytherin continued and I hummed, seeing a valid point in her argument.
"Mh.. as much as it would make sense, your thesis still depends on the fact that he really IS in love with me. And I'd rather not feel confident just because of the way he looks at me. Have you.. another point?" My voice was almost hopeful and Daphne grinned.
"Of course.", She said and her eyes shimmered mysteriously, "Didn't you notice how long he avoided going near you during the practice sessions? THAT was really suspicious."
"He just avoided me because he knew that I didn't need any help with disarming and shielding, that's all." I countered and Daphne shrugged her shoulders.
"Might be. Might also be because he likes to look at your behind from afar." She wore a cheeky grin and I groaned.
"Physical attraction doesn't help me with my love-problems." I stated.
"Yeah, you're probably right about that..", The white-blonde then hesitated for a moment until she spoke again, "Though if you don't mind the question: How does it feel to be desired by him?"
"How does it feel, to treat me like you do?" An all-too-familiar song echoed through my head at her words and it took me a second to get rid off the tune repeating itself in my mind.
"Um.. Exciting?" I answered in a truthful and innocent manner but the Slytherin girl burst into laughter.
"You're dirty, Daphne! I wouldn't have expected that from the silent girl I met at the "Three Broomsticks" last week! Yeah, where's your reserved side anyway? You've been quite blunt and cheeky the entire evening." I exclaimed and the girl in front of me shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, first of all: I'm a teenager. You can't scold me for that. And secondly: Well, let's just say you've helped me embrace a more confident version of myself. Seems like a bit of your ferocity rubbed off on me." Daphne explained with a smile of admiration and I made a sheepish "oh".
"So, to come back to our initial topic.. I think you have nothing to worry about. If Harry Potter is in love with a girl, then it's you. My judgement tells me he does love you, yours says that he doesn't. But no matter what, if you want to find out, you have to ask." The white-blond girl concluded and I sighed.
"Yeah, I know. And frankly I'm still figuring out how to do it.." I admitted and Daphne patted my shoulder gently.
"You'll find a way. If there is anything like karma, then he'll return your feelings."
"That is IF such a thing exists.." I muttered under my breath.
"Alright, so I think we shouldn't keep Harry waiting any longer than necessary.", My friend announced and together we walked to the exit of the room, "Though let us at least agree on the fact that you don't have to view Cho as dangerous competition, yes?"
She stopped and turned towards me, extending her hand for me to take.
"Alright.. Cho is no threat to my goal." I sighed and shook the girl's hand firmly. Daphne smiled at me brightly.
"And thanks for the girl-talk. It was highly entertaining." She said and I grinned.
"Yeah, it was. I really enjoy chatting with you.", I admitted, "And you're a good listener as well.."
"Oh come on now, you're making me blush." Daphne mumbled shyly, her more reversed side showing itself. She quickly opened the door and left the Room of Requirement with me.
"Ah!", The white-blonde girl squeaked when she saw Harry's body appearing seemingly out of thin air next to the door, "Don't scare me like that, Harry!"
"Sorry, it's just the cloak..", He mumbled and gestured towards the silvery fabric in his hands, "Though you didn't know, did you?"
"Knew that you have an Invisibility Cloak? No, I didn't." Daphne said.
"Alright, I think we have to move now. Unless you want to get yourself into detention." I urged my friends on and was met with two nods.
"'Kay, I just checked the map and the way towards the Slytherin common room is clear right now. We two however have to be a bit more careful. Mrs. Norris and Filch are currently patrolling the corridors towards and near Gryffindor tower." Harry explained and gestured us to follow him.
"How do you know all that?" Daphne asked but Harry just shook his head.
"Sorry, but now is not the time for this. I hope you trust me enough for that." He gave the Slytherin girl a hopeful look and Daphne nodded briefly.
"Yes, I do. You're our leader after all, Harry." She stated and my best friend's cheek reddened slightly at the reminder.
"Yeah, I suppose I am.."
A little while later we bade farewell to our friend, the snake turning left whilst Harry and I continued walking straight towards the staircase at the end of the corridor.
"Alright, we got a problem: Mrs. Norris is heading in our direction. We either take the risk and hope she doesn't pass us, or.." Harry began explaining after taking a look at the map but I didn't think twice about my decision.
"C'mon, get under the cloak already! I'm not taking any risks with you, Harry James." I commanded and literally ripped his cloak out of his hands before covering the two of us with it.
"Now let's just stand at the wall and we should be fine." I said and so we did. A few seconds later I felt the wall gently touching my back.
"I just hope Mrs. Norris can't look through Invisibility Cloaks.." Harry mumbled and I raised a brow.
"Why should she?"
"Well, I think she once looked right at me when I was hidden under the cloak." Harry explained in a lowered voice and I rolled my eyes.
"Pure coincidence." I expressed my doubt but Harry shook his head.
"Well, Dumbledore can look right through them, why shouldn't Mrs. Norris?"
"Dumbledore is Dumbledore. Mrs. Norris is just a fucking cat!" I hissed but Harry grinned slightly, probably finding it amusing that I used the f-word. But his grin immediately faded away when he checked the Marauder's Map again.
"I swear she knows we're here! Look, now she's even moving faster! Are we smelling so much that she can sense us from afar or what?" Harry whispered and made an attempt to check if we indeed had a thick scent.
"Well, if I'm sweating a lot after the training then I don't smell it. And you never smell bad, so.." I didn't know if he stopped talking because he realized what he was saying or because of the cat that just appeared at the right end of the corridor, fur shining subtly in the orange light of the torches on the walls.
Mrs. Norris sniffed a few times before moving into our direction, eyes staring directly at the spot where our legs would have been visible without the invisibility cloak. Our feet still weren't covered though.
I felt my pupils dilating and saw Harry reacting the same way before our gazes connected as the threat inched closer towards us.
"What do we do?!" I tried to tell him with just my look and my best friend glimpsed a few times before glancing at the Marauder's Map in his hand. He then locked eyes with me again.
"Run." Harry mouthed before pushing the cloak down our shoulders, taking my hand and running off into the direction from where we had come from in the first place.
Cloak and map in one hand and mine in his other, Harry and I were dashing through the castle's corridors, the demon that was Mrs. Norris meowing loudly the second she spotted us. I cursed myself for not having practised silencing charms before we would learn them in classes.
"Aren't we going the wrong way if we want to get to the common room?!" I asked my best friend a short while later when I realized that we weren't taking the usual route to our haven of safety.
"We gotta take a detour!", Harry explained in between heavy breaths, "Filch. He's.. he would have caught us."
I understood he didn't want to jump into a detailed explanation of his actions in such a dangerous situation and just trusted him, blindly going wherever he went. Not a single ounce of my persona questioned his decisions.
"Slow down, we have to take a look at the map!" Harry told me when we had descended at least three floors and had ran through countless corridors, a small niche to our right giving us the refuge we desperately needed. Even if it was temporary.
"Oh c'mon, give me the map!" I groaned when I noticed his shaky fingers not being able to open the piece of parchment and snatched it out of his grip.
"Peeves is close to the grand staircase leading up to Gryffindor tower, Filch is gaining on us and it seems like Snape is patrolling the corridors above us.. we're kind of trapped here. Except.." I hastily explained and my eyes wandered towards the end of the corridor, an all-too-familiar door even more inviting than it had been four years ago.
"Follow me!" I commanded and gestured him to do as I told him to do before bursting into a sprint for the door directly ahead of us.
"Alohomora!" I immediately called and pushed the creaking door open without another thought. Harry and I entered as quickly as we could before I made it my task to magically lock and conceal this door like my life depended on it.
Neither of us dared to speak, knowing that it was crucial to be as silent as humanly possible, and I huddled against the wall, map still in hand.
My heart was thrumming madly inside my chest as I watched the dot that was Argus Filch come closer and closer until I could hear his slouching footsteps outside the door. I looked at my best friend and gripped his hand tightly, the tension too much for me to handle.
"Hm, doesn't look like they're here. But they can't be far away.." I heard the caretaker mumbling and I almost moaned in relief when Filch's footsteps indeed faded away. His dot also walked away from ours on the map.
"Hermione, what charms did you use that he didn't just try to walk in here? The door wasn't even locked when we entered." Harry asked me silently and I raised a brow.
"What do you mean "not locked"? I used the Alohomora to get in."
"Yeah, but there was no clicking sound like in our first year. I tell you, it wasn't locked." Harry explained and my eyes widened briefly before I blushed.
"Well.. I don't know which spells I used. I can't believe that I'm saying that but.. I can't remember.", I confessed and Harry grinned at me in amusement, "Though a disillusionment charm must be amongst them or otherwise Filch would have seen the door."
"Honestly, I don't care. All I care about is that we're save for the moment." Harry sighed and I couldn't agree more.
"Yeah. Chilling in the room that once lead to the gigantic, three-headed dog that tried to kill us." I half-joked and Harry nodded.
"I'd even take a look at the room again, if you want to join me, of course. Reliving some old memories, you know?" He said and I shook my head.
"Not now, Harry. I just wanna stay here and calm down. This was too much stress after such an intense day." I lightly yawned before giving him his map back.
"Thanks.", He muttered and returned the marauder's heirloom to it's inconspicuous form, "I think you know we've got a problem right now."
"Multiple." I added with a snort and Harry rolled his eyes.
"I mean the Invisibility Cloak. We're too tall to cover our entire bodies with it." He explained and I clicked my tongue.
"You're too tall. I'm not the problem here.", I told him before a certain thought struck me, "How tall are you exactly?"
"I think around one hundred and seventy-eight centimetres, give it or take it a centimetre." Harry told me and I mentally squealed like the girlish teenage girl I was.
"In a year he is so gonna be over six feet.." I thought to myself and couldn't wait for that day to come.
"And what about you?", The raven-haired wizard asked, "How tall are you? The last time I asked that question you just gave me a funny look."
"I bet you deserved it.", I teased before taking a deep breath, "Well.. I'm just scraping the one hundred and sixty line."
"There's nothing you have to be ashamed of, 'Mione.", Harry gave me a reassuring look, "You're wonderful the way you are. Always remember that."
"Thank you, Harry." I genuinely smiled at him, his words a burst of confidence that warmed my very heart.
"You know, I think I want to see Fluffy's old room now.", I declared, feeling emboldened, and got up from the ground, "We can't do anything right now anyway."
"Well, we could wait until we get a good shot to flee to the common room." Harry half-joked and I just rolled my eyes.
"Ha ha Harry, how funny." I dryly remarked as I pushed open the door that once separated a person from life or death. More or less, at least.
"Is that.. what I think it is?" I gasped when I noticed the huge mirror now standing where the three-headed-beast once slumbered.
"Yeah, I think so. That's the Mirror of Erised." Harry confirmed as he slowly walked towards the rectangular pane of glass.
"Oh my god, what am I going to see once I take a look at it?" I asked myself, the excitement increasing the rate of my heartbeat.
I came to a stop in front of the mirror, my best friend standing next to me, and for a moment nothing happened. But then two people appeared in the reflection of the glass and my heart stopped beating for a moment.
"Wait a second.. That's me and Harry!", I realized and my eyes widened, "But we look.. older. And OH MY GOD, am I attractive!"
It was true, I didn't hallucinate and neither was I narcissistic: The Hermione in the mirror was simply a gorgeous beauty.
Her smile was radiant, her hair was slightly curled and almost reached her waist, her eyes were sparkling warmly and her curves were making me jealous.
"If this is me in a few years then I'll be the perfect mixture of curvaceous and slender..", I thought with an amazed voice, "But this isn't the future you're seeing, this is what you crave to see."
I quickly stopped my rush of false euphoria before it got out of hand and rather continued observing the image reflected on the mirror's surface.
"Bad decision, bad decision.." I thought when I took in the appearance of Harry's mature body.
Expressive eyes of emerald, tall frame, a chin covered by beard stubbles and raven-black hair that was as messy as contemporary Harry's: He looked exactly as good as I imagined he would in a few years. But then again, I saw what I wanted to see.
Mirror-Harry then cupped Mirror-Hermione's cheeks and stared into her eyes lovingly before leaning in to capture the witch's lips with his own.
It was hypnotizing to watch them, seeing how perfectly their lips danced together, seeing how perfectly their perfect bodies slightly moved during the kiss, seeing how Mirror-Hermione wrapped her arms around Mirror-Harry's neck to pull him closer and how Mirror-Harry entangled his hands in Mirror-Hermione's satin-soft hair. I felt hot just watching them snog.
The intensity of their kisses increased, each movement more urgent than the previous one, and before too long Mirror-Harry was unbuttoning Mirror-Hermione's blouse. I quickly turned away before I saw god-knows-what.
"This mirror is dangerous.." I muttered as I massaged my temples and Harry tore his gaze away from the mirror as well.
"What did you see?" He asked me with a concerned look and every cell of my brain gave it's best to provide a believable answer.
"I saw myself as Head Girl.. and then the image changed and I was the Minister of Magic. A tempting prospect, but an unreal one as well." I lied and luckily Harry didn't question why such an image had my cheeks a deep shade of rose-red.
"Well, you being Head Girl isn't far-fetched." Harry commented with a broad grin, "And if you ever want to go into politics, why shouldn't you become the second muggleborn Minister of Magic?"
"Because in order to become the minister you need a lot of influence and allies. And the majority of influential people are pure-blood-bigotry-supporting idiots." I responded whilst my head was still repeating the scene of Mirror-Harry and Mirror-Hermione making out.
"That's what I want to happen in the future.. Not me being minister. Oh, I would gladly give up my chances of a successful career for a guaranteed and fulfilled love life." I thought and looked Harry in the eyes.
"Focus. You can discuss these matters later." I told myself and like on cue my best friend spoke up again.
"I still think that if you wanted to become minister, then you'd manage to achieve your goal.", He told me with an honest tone, "The question is: Do you actually want to become minister?"
"No. Right now I don't want to have a job that means to be surrounded by people who are just trying to gain your favour and try to make you work for them, their party, whatever." I explained and the raven-haired wizard nodded.
"I kind of expected that."
"Hm.." I hummed and thought about something that would continue distracting him from the fact that I most definitely had NOT been seeing my career in the mirror.
"What did you see in the mirror?" I then asked, knowing that it would take a bit to answer that question. If there was one word that didn't describe my best friend then it was "simple".
"I saw myself triumphing over Voldemort.", He declared and I gave him a compassionate look, "Which tells you a lot about what happened to me in the last years when you recall that I saw my parents in first year.."
"You've matured. Grown up quite a bit. It's just sad that it has to be you who carries the burden. I mean, a fifteen-year-old boy with the task of killing the most dangerous wizard alive: It can't get more unfair, hm?" I told him before another thought crossed my mind.
"But on the other hand all this pressure made you the incredible person you are today. It might sound harsh, but there are advantages of living in hard times." I explained but Harry shook his head.
"No, Hermione. It's not harsh to me. Not any more, at least.." He sighed and I slowly draped my arms around him, enveloping him in my embrace of comfort.
"Don't think about what you've seen in the mirror.." I instructed myself in an attempt to not lose control over my emotions.
"You WILL defeat Voldemort, don't you worry about that. When the time comes you will be ready.", I confidently stated and patted his back before reluctantly releasing him from my hug, "And today was a big step into the right direction. The wizarding community started fighting back today, even if it were so few and only students to boot. What counts is the message you're spreading: We won't give up until we're dead."
"You're right. As always." He added with a grin and lead me outside the room with the mirror, making me cast one final glance at the magical object: It truly had been good for a surprise.
"I think we should focus on getting back to our beds now." Harry stated as he pulled out the Marauder's Map from his pocket and activated it.
"I think so too. We've got Transfiguration in the morning, so I'd rather have a good night of sleep before that." I said and Harry chuckled.
"Yeah, you're right. Transfiguration is quite tough these days." He said and I nodded.
"So, if I'm correct, we have a pretty good shot at making it to the common room right now. No detour, no obstacles. What do you say?" Harry asked me a few minutes later and showed me the map.
"What are you waiting for?! There's probably a shift change for the teachers patrolling the corridors right now!" I exclaimed and quickly lifted all the locking and disillusionment charms I had cast previously.
The second the door creaked open was the moment Harry and I burst into a sprint for our lives and I was so glad in that moment to exercise regularly.
After what felt like an eternity, we finally arrived in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, soaked in sweat and panting like we had run a marathon.
"Mimbulus Mimbletonia!" I rasped, not giving the portrait a chance to ask questions about our late return.
The entrance to our haven of safety came into view and I couldn't suppress an expressive sigh of relief: We had made it…
Author's note:
Yay, I finally managed to write a shorter chapter again - although I'm still not in the 5k words zone I like to have for regular chapters.
Anyway, this chapter contains scenes that belong to the very first ideas I had for this story, so I've been waiting quite a bit to finally write them. Yeah, I'm referring to the Mirror of Erised scene.
I don't blame anybody who thinks it is inconvenient that the mirror is where it is in this chapter, but I hope you can forgive me this sin...
Speaking of the mirror scene, I think it is pretty clear that Harry also saw a similar scenario in the mirror like Hermione did. They just mutually lied to each other about it. Yeah, we're in the pretending-not-to-be-in-love-with-you phase right now.
And no, it's not the future they saw. You probably knew it, but I still want to clarify that unequivocally.
Another thing I want to mention is the training scene, which more or less is the main plot of this chapter.
I looked up the canon scene in "Order of the Phoenix" and was pretty disappointed - it's very undetailed and felt rushed in my opinion. But well, that's just a stupid teenager's opinion on that matter, ey? But this opinion of mine was the reason why I made the training scene so long - so I could have a DA/ Phoenix Pinions practice session that really gives some insight to the happenings during the meetings. I hope I achieved that.
Songs I alluded to in this chapter are New Order's "Blue Monday" (again) and kind of "Take a Hint" by Victorious Cast. The latter one not being word-for-word.
And for everybody wondering if I have forgotten my plotline about Voldemort and his ambitions by this point I say this: Don't worry, I haven't. You'll see soon enough...
'Til the next time!
NewOrderFan05
