It took a couple days for everyone to recover from the rescue. Hermione had used the quiet to read through the diary. When she finished, she called for a meeting in the library with all residents and the few Weather members who could make it.
"How's everyone settling?" she asked.
"Granger, what's in the diary?" asked Mad-Eye.
"Oh, nothing, it's useless," she said, wiggling it in the air. "It wasn't even Dumbledore's. It belonged to Headmistress Fortescue. I intend to copy it and archive it. I read through the whole thing hoping maybe it was a ruse, but it wasn't. He just liked to take it out and read it sometimes."
"That's a shame," said Cedric. "But hey, we got everyone out."
"Yes, we did, I am still awaiting a response from some schools to take students in, but if they can't, don't worry, we'll find a place to keep you safe for the duration of the war. Before I start with numbers, is there anyone who is of-age who wants to help with the effort? Please note that it will be battle-centric. We need healers, fighters, people willing to go undercover as a busty barmaid…"
"I'll join you," said Neville. "Not too sure about the barmaid thing, but if it'll help."
"You'd be amazed how loose lips get around a pretty girl," said Cedric. "We've been able to pick and choose carefully what information we act on and keep everything in the stalemate."
"And a stalemate is all we can hope for at the moment," said Hermione. "Anyone else?"
"I will," said Daphne.
"And me," Padma agreed.
"I want to fight!" said Astoria.
"Absolutely not!" Daphne and Draco chorused.
"I'll let you argue amongst yourselves later," said Hermione. "As for the rest of you, you have until mid-August to make your decision to stay and help or leave. The decision is completely up to you, no judgement, no guilt, but the help would be much appreciated. Current Weather people, please give a warm welcome to the new members who have volunteered. Neville Longbottom, Daphne Greengrass, Padma Patil, and of course Rikki, Tikki, and Dobby."
She led the applause.
"Once we get this crowd moved out, you'll have a more permanent room, I think something we can work on is furnishing the rooms in the basement for live-in. Right now it's mostly storage. Teachers, I spoke to Sirius, he said you can live in our other base since most of you have permanent residence at Hogwarts and then that way you can be close by when we take the school back. Not all of you know it, but I can just call him up and have him tell you the location."
"What about us?" asked Dot, the house-elf.
"I've asked if schools would be willing to hire you letting them know your current contract with Hogwarts," she said. "You're also welcome to tag on to our bases where we'll pay you for work or you can try to make your own way in countries where house-elves are free. You have time to think about it." She took a deep breath. "Let's see, what else? Does anyone have anything they'd like to add? Any questions?"
"Since there are house-elves here, where do we stand on chores?" asked Lee.
"They will adhere to the chore chart like the rest of us," said Hermione. "If I find you treating them like servants, you'll be ejected forcefully from the house. Rikki, Tikki, and Dobby are equals. They eat meals with us, they watch tv with us, they are free to do as they wish. End of discussion."
"We don't mind, Miss," said Dobby.
"I mind," she said. "And as I own fifty percent of the house and I'm the leader, my vote counts more on this manner."
"Who died and made you the leader?" asked Zacharias.
"Dumbledore," said Cedric.
"We collectively agreed she was the best option for leader," said Kingsley. "We had a meeting about it."
"Yeah and she walked in covered in blood and toting Our Good Friend's arm," said Fred. "There's no debate."
"Cedric is my second-in-command," said Hermione. "If you can't find me for questions, ask him. When we're out, Kingsley is in charge. Kingsley, sorry to demote you, but you are pretty busy these days with your own work preventing the Muggle government from collapsing."
"I understand, Miss Granger," said Kingsley.
"And if Kingsley isn't around then Chiara is in charge."
Chiara looked up in surprise. "Me? Really?"
"Yes. You're our main Healer so you're good in a crisis. You can select who you believe would be your best second-in-command."
She flushed slightly and ducked her head. Hermione ran over her list. Cedric raised his hand.
"Yes?"
"Can I put you in a bubble until we have to tour?" he asked. "You've almost died three times in the last week."
"Four," Draco corrected.
Hermione pursed her lips. "What kind of—"
"One who's alive."
"But—"
He raised his eyebrows and his eyes seemed to get bigger and pleading.
Hermione sighed through her nose. "Alright, fine. I need to make more jewels and jewelry to sell anyway." She addressed the rest of the room. "Anything else may be submitted in writing. You're dismissed, we're having Korean curry tonight. Mom's recipe. I need two volunteers to help me with the roots."
"We will help!" Rikki and Tikki chorused.
"Great, meet me in the kitchen at 5:30," she said. "In the interim, I'll be running some movies."
She flicked her wand to unfurl the projector and set up some movies.
"Weather Members, can we have a separate meeting in the dining room?" Hermione asked, tapping on her bracelet. "There are some other topics I would like to go over."
Before long, the dining room was crammed with about three dozen people, but it wouldn't be for very long.
"Okay, so, good news," she said. "We found the location of one of the horcruxes. The bad news, it's impossible to get to. A near fortress of impenetrability."
"Can't be that bad, can it?" asked Fred.
Hermione inhaled deeply and went over to the chalkboard. She made a rectangle and a square.
"Okay, the rectangle is Rosehill," she said. "The square is Little Hangleton. Our wards are like this."
She picked up three of the colored pieces of chalk and made a neat little bubble.
"Little Hangleton's wards are like this." She got all the colorful pieces of chalk in her hands scribbled them in a big, discolored mess around the square. She set the chalk down. "Get the picture?"
"It's a mess," said Cecilia. "It would take the best Curse-breakers in the world at least a year to take all of it down."
"That many shouldn't even be possible," said Bill. "Though, if he's been building it up bit by bit for a couple years…"
Hermione nodded. "The horcrux is here in the center."
She swept away some of the chalk, shuddering when her nail scraped against the board.
"I have absolutely no idea how to get to it," she said, wiping her hand on her leg. "We probably could dismantle it, but we'd have to worry about fighting off a bunch of death eaters plus the Inferi pit that lies beneath the whole damn thing. Which reminds me, there's an inferi pit off the coast that I think we should burn with fire."
"Inferi pit?" said Kingsley. "Why did you not mention it earlier?"
"Trauma? Fighting for my life? Procrastination? The list goes on. I'll be thinking about the best course of action to destroy it without unleashing the thousands of corpses within the pit onto the public." She shivered and hugged herself. "Only thing that kept them from killing me was my fire breath. They were activated by some chanting that Our Good Friend did around the time I cut his arm off."
"Yes, that's common with Inferi," said Bill. "They're made, so they serve a 'master' meaning they follow the orders of whoever made them. How many pits does he have?"
"Two as far as I know. One on the coast and one in Little Hangleton." She looked down at her hands. "I think he was planning on making the imprisoned kids into an inferi pit beneath Hogwarts. As a way to try and get us to stop our rebellion."
"You think so?" Daphne asked, looking pale.
"I can't be certain, but I worry that he's making them at his horcrux sites," said Hermione. "I… I might have some idea of where we can look for another, but that all would depend on if the place actually still exists."
"Where?" asked Kingsley.
"Wool's Orphanage," said Hermione.
"Can't be," said Cedric. "You were there for an entire year, wouldn't you have picked up some bad vibes?"
"Not necessarily," she said. "I wasn't allowed everywhere and the place had been renovated multiple times. It could just be buried. I mean, I had no idea one was in the floor board of Sirius' house until I got that black eye and had no choice but to use my magic one to see."
He hummed. "Still, you shouldn't have to go back there."
"What's the significance of the orphanage?" asked Merula.
"Well, Tommy Tims and I have one thing in common," said Hermione. "We both lived at the same Orphanage in London. Of course, I was only there a year before I was adopted."
"Ay, it was run by that awful woman who outright lied to Manola and Manuia!" Cecilia huffed. "Manola missed Nia by an hour because that bitch didn't want to let Nia go. Why was that, Nia?"
"I don't know," she sighed. "Magicked to keep me by the guy who obliviated me, or maybe she just really wanted to keep someone around to make the other kids feel better about themselves! Sure you're little orphans and the nuns are trying to instill you with an anxiety disorder, but at least you aren't a stuttering spastic like Hermione Esposito!" She grabbed onto the back of Cedric's chair. "Not that I'm bitter."
"Well, your powers have really gotten strong," said Cedric, patting her hand. "We can just do a drive by. Take a look and then act after we get back from our tour."
"Esposito?" asked Draco.
"It's usually a name given to kids without a surname," she said. "Little nobodies who just show up without a family to speak for them. Most kids in orphanages and group homes actually have living family, but for whatever reason they can't take care of them or the government won't let them. Most of us were up for adoption, though I never got any interviews, I just happened to crash in on Roger's and Beatrice's. Honestly though, you couldn't blame us for being afraid of dentists. The bloke who saw us… pretty sure he wasn't even certified. He smelled like smoke and he would practically stick his entire hand in your mouth—"
"Granger, not the time," said Mad-Eye. "I'll do some recon while you are gone. My eye may not be as powerful as yours, but I'm sure I could see if there's at least some magic going on there."
"Alright. Thanks." Hermione breathed deeply and moved her hands to Cedric's shoulders. "Right, so, we're going to have to think about what to do about Little Hangleton. I'd love to hear ideas, none is too stupid."
Barnaby raised his hand.
"Yes."
"What if we dig beneath it?" he suggested and it got a few eye rolls.
Not a bad idea. Hermione worked her jaw and tipped her head from side to side.
"If we can figure out how to do it," she said. "I do worry about the inferi pit, plus we don't know where the water table is, but it's better than any of my ideas, so we'll put that on the table."
He looked pleased.
"That's all for now," said Hermione. "When we return from tour, we'll switch gears and focus more on the hunt. If we can't figure out where the horcruxes are then let's at least figure out where they aren't. I mean, how much area could there possibly be?"
"242,500 square kilometers," said Penny. "That's the four main countries in the U.K., which includes Ireland."
"Well, let's assume it's a little less than that," said Hermione. "Can't be on Ireland. Horcruxes can't cross salt water without being severely weakened. Saltwater is often used in purification. You could theoretically destroy a horcrux by throwing it in the ocean, but it's better to be certain of it. Plus, it's gotta be somewhere where someone can eventually stumble onto it, get attached, and then become soul food, essentially. Dobby, you knew about the diary, didn't you?"
Dobby flinched at being spoken to, but recovered and peeked up over the edge of the table.
"Yes, Miss!" he said. "Dobby heard strange whisperings from it. Dobby's former Master beat him most terribly when he found Dobby looking at it."
Draco looked down at his shoes with guilt.
"And then he gave it to an eleven year old," Cedric scoffed.
"That aside, I know this might be a bit difficult for you but would you happen to know of anything else?" Hermione asked. "Anything in that similar vein, maybe overheard some conversations in the last war that might give us a clue?"
Dobby's eyes grew wide.
"Dobby… Dobby knows of many mutterings… you want mutterings like the Dark Lord's diary?"
"Please, if any. If not, don't worry about it."
"There is…" Dobby hesitated.
Cedric braced his hands on the arms of his chair.
"Dobby didn't mean to hear, but he was brought in to help Lady Lestrange's elf Miney. Dobby was serving drinks and the Dark Lord—" Dobby gagged. "The—"
With a shriek, Dobby hauled himself onto the table, but Cedric was faster, moving the candlestick out of the way. Merula did the same down the table, grabbing the candlestick. It didn't stop the elf from taking his scarf and tightening it around his neck while Rikki and Tikki begged for him to stop.
"Dobby! Please!"
Dobby froze and looked at Draco.
"Please," Draco said again. "My father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were wrong to make you hurt yourself like this. Please… treat yourself kindly."
The elf was stiff and Hermione was worried he was going to die of shock. Instead, he collapsed and curled up, rocking back and forth.
"A cup," he said. "The Dark Lord gave Lady Lestrange a cup. Dobby does not know where she put the cup."
"Thank you, Dobby," said Hermione, scooping Dobby up and holding him like she might a child until he calmed down. "The cup must be Hufflepuff's Cup. It tracks with the memories I saw. Maybe we don't know where it is now, but knowing that it connects to Bellatrix Lestrange helps a lot. Now that was, what twenty years ago?"
"Twenty-five, Miss," said Dobby weakly.
"There is a chance it could have been moved since then," she said. "But we can at least cross some places off the map."
"Problem with that," said Draco. "One thing Mother said Aunt Bellatrix was always bitter about—"
"Oh yeah!" Tonks gasped. "All the properties went to cousin Sirius! And Uncle Rodolphus— you are so lucky you never met him Duckie, he was a creep in the five minutes I met him when Mum and I were out and ran into him and Aunt Bellatrix. Anyway, Rodolphus only had the one manor, his other properties were forfeited to his cousins during some dispute or other."
"Right," said Draco. "So, the only place it could potentially be is the Lestrange Manor or… or Malfoy Manor. I don't imagine Our Good Friend would let my father have it back much less place a horcrux under his protection again."
"Well, at least we're not back at square one," said Hermione. "Even if we can't get to them right away, perhaps we can chip away at enough of his forces that we can attack the hiding places and destroy the horcruxes without having to take heavy hits ourselves."
"That will take time," said Kingsley. "However, our resources are good and we are patient. Perhaps it will not happen until we receive aid from the I.C.W., but I think in the interim we should be doing our best to keep people alive and as Nia said, chip away at his forces."
"Exactly," said Hermione. She swept her hand and cleared the chalkboard. "And, please, if you have any ideas on how to bring down the wards around Little Hangleton, I am all ears. Until then, let's prepare for our next run. Meeting adjourned."
Cedric knocked on the table for her and she carried Dobby to the kitchen and sat him down on the counter.
"You alright, Dobby?" she asked, washing her hands of chalk.
"Y-Yes."
Even so, she brought out some of the bruise cream the twins invented—she had tubes stashed everywhere in the house—and tended to the marks on his head. Then she poured him a small cup of milk. He shakily sipped it and calmed down.
How else could she expect him to act when he'd been abused all his life and had only been freed five years ago?
"Why don't you go lie down?" she suggested. "We've got plenty of time before we need to get dinner going. Thank you very much for your help."
"Dobby hardly helped at all, Miss!" said Dobby.
"Au contraire. Just the smallest tidbit can really go a long way."
Dobby looked down into his cup. "Even so, if Dobby really wanted to help, he could fetch the bad thing."
"Well, I think the wards surrounding Little Hangleton are enough to stop anyone," she said. "Even a being as powerful as a house-elf. And like I said, we'll focus on moving out our current guests and, starting in October, we'll look more into the horcruxes."
"Hey, Nia?"
She looked over at Neville. "What's up?"
"Erm, I don't think I'll be that good at washing dishes," he said. "Can I just be in charge of the garden?"
"Yeah, sure," she said and went over to the chore chart to mark down his name next to the garden. "If you want to check it out now, perhaps you can find the best place to plant our new trees before we add the hyper-fertilizer to them."
He lit up and nodded.
"I'll bring him there," said Cedric. "And then I'll be working in the barn."
"Okay," she said and kissed him lightly.
She sat down on her stool and brought out the budget and charts for the next month to make sure they got through it alright.
Daphne and Padma leaned in on either side of her.
"Mind if we help?" asked Padma.
"Not at all," she said.
~o0o~
The day before they would meet Green Day, Hermione was preparing everyone to leave by making food. Cedric was going through and making sure everything was packed, Tonks was getting the laundry going so the permanent residents could move into bedrooms. Things hadn't been that bad. The Hogwarts kids weren't making much trouble and all of them didn't want to risk going home.
Hermione had tried bringing their parents to Rosehill, but was turned down and asked to take care of the children.
So that's what she was going to do. Somehow.
Until then, she was working in the kitchen with a dozen elves to prepare food for the journey.
A tap came at the window, making her turn around. Stephen was at the window, toting several letters. Hermione eased around Hattie and Hickory to open the window.
"Thank you, Stephen," she said, taking the letters from him and grabbing a handful of nuts for him to eat.
She stepped out of the way and went through the letters. The top one was from her family in Hawaii, she tucked that into her pocket to read later. The others were all school stationary. She had six letters. She opened them all up and read them carefully.
The Salem Institute of Massachusetts respectfully declined taking on students, but was interested in hiring on ten house-elves for five sickles an hour. The Salem Institute of Oregon offered to take on first years and hire on twenty house-elves for five sickles an hour.
Five sickles an hour must have been the American minimum wage for elves. It was still a pittance, but it was more than they were being paid at Hogwarts.
Castelobruxo, Uluru, and the Alexandria Collegiate of Egypt all volunteered to take as many students that needed sanctuary, but would take on no more than forty house-elves. Alexandria Collegiate just requested that all students be seventh year or older.
"Okay," said Hermione, turning to the elves. "Can you handle it from here? I need to figure out how to divvy everyone up."
"Of course," said Rikki.
Hermione nodded and hurried up to her room. She crunched the numbers and went over her list of refugees. Now that the kids would be legally accepted as refugees, she wouldn't have to give them fake IDs like the adults. Now she would just have to make sure she kept friends together and didn't accidentally separate siblings. Same with the elves. She'd call a meeting just for them after dinner and ask what they'd like to do.
She just had enough time to make cards to hang around the necks of the school-aged kids designating them on where to go before she had to return downstairs and start on dinner. She made sure to let the handful of elves helping her know of the meeting and to spread the word to the others.
One thing she was a bit happy about was that Padma and Daphne were joining the band and coming along. She felt better having two extra people in the event of a fight. Daphne played the double bass and it turned out that Padma knew how to play the sarod, which led to a fuller sound to their set and Cedric and Hermione wouldn't have to compensate as much with their instruments.
Hermione suspected that Daphne was coming along to ensure her sister didn't try to sneak back into the country. Though Astoria was really coming into her own now that she was cured, Hermione knew that if it were her sister she would want her as far away from the danger as possible. As she went to school in Australia, that was indeed the case.
Both girls had to get makeovers to fit the band's image and Cedric took them shopping at thrift stores in the area to find a few punk outfits. Both were slightly more keen to the idea than Draco had been. Padma's cover was Zunaira Singh and Daphne's was Rebecca Pasternak.
After dinner, Hermione went to the library to speak to the elves. They were all gathered.
"Right," she said. "So, all the schools have agreed to hire you. The problem is, they didn't agree to hire all of you together, which means you would be separated at least through the duration of the war. You all would maintain your freedom status and would be paid. So, the topic of discussion today really is who would want to go where?"
She wrote down on the whiteboard the locations and how many house-elves each would be able to go there. There were about two hundred elves including children. Divvying them up between the schools might work if she had been certain they would take the children. Then again, they did say they would accept however many students needed sanctuary. House-elf children were technically also students as their clan taught them everything they needed to know. Which took care of the thirty-nine elf children. They had about ten safe houses between the Weather and the Order, so she could send some of the older elves who might not want to leave the country there to keep the numbers lower.
When she turned around, there was bedlam. She expected this and waited patiently until they more or less settled down.
"I understand your concerns," she said. "I'm sorry that this is so sudden. I wish I could keep you all together but it's just not feasible. When the war ends, you'll be free to return to Hogwarts if you wish, but until then I want you to be safe. Now, how do we want to decide this?"
They muttered amongst themselves.
"Miss should tell us where she wants us to go," said an older elf, and the others nodded in agreement.
That is what she did for the wixen.
"Alright," she said. "Please get in groups with family or close friends. I don't want to divide partners or children from parents."
It took her a few hours of getting all their names down and shuffling groups around when she realized she was separating partners or close friends. She ended up grabbing her mirror to call Sirius and ask if Bastien would hire any on at the hotel. Unfortunately, he had enough staff, but then Mrs. Weasley spoke up.
"If any of the elves would like to make use of the Burrow, they may," she said.
The Burrow. That worked. Hermione set up some of the older and more creaky elves to go there. She'd make sure they had plenty supplies. Some volunteered to help following Rikki, Tikki, and Dobby, so she would send them to the other bases.
Once that was decided, she made tags for them like she did for the students.
"We're leaving tomorrow," she said. "It might be a rough time, but don't worry, we'll get you where you're going."
Rather than fill up the bottom of the van, they had crates that basically did that. It would keep groups together and they could just… casually pass it off rather than file people from one van to another. Viktor was on a press tour with the Sofia Lions and competing in friendlies. They had made it to the World Cup finals yet again, but the actual match was taking place in August of 1999 rather than 1998. Hermione knew that they wouldn't cancel it on account of the shitshow happening in the U.K., but it did at least push off a repeat of last time. The World Cup was going to be in Venezuela, she couldn't be there if there was an attack, but her troll allies would be close by (literally, it was being set up a stone's throw from the Hearthstone) and could help if necessary.
At least he was going to be in Europe for the time being. Esperanza was on a break from her tour and would be available to help accept the refugees and get the students and elves to the schools safely and quickly.
When she was done, she went upstairs to prep her bag and try to get some sleep. Those who were leaving were still making their way into the house and would sleep on cots and sleeping bags for the night. Which also meant she had about ten people crashing in her bedroom alone. Those who were not afraid of Cedric. A few were already asleep, like Winnifred and Gracie. Winnifred had been following Cedric around the past month and helping him with the cows, it was so cute. Hermione suspected she had a crush.
After readying for bed in the bathroom, she set out her clothes for the morning and went over her checklist. Potions, emergency supplies, disguises, IDs, and passports. Once she triple-checked that she had everything, she decided to turn in.
"Quiet time starts in fifteen minutes," she said. "I have to get up early to make breakfast."
"Sure. Night, Nia," said Daphne.
Padma and the others who were still awake echoed the sentiment.
Hermione went to her nook and shed her bathrobe before lying down next to Cedric. One eye flicked open as the blankets were disturbed. He wrapped his arm around her and kissed her softly.
Soon enough, she drifted off to a dreamless sleep.
~o0o~
After a long, heated argument, Astoria was allowed to "go on tour" as a groupie. She just had to pretend to worship the ground the Piranha Plants walked on and man the merchandise table during the gigs. Astoria and Harry's Arithmancy project (updated via letter during Harry's time at Beauxbatons) resulted in Hagstone Glasses, which would allow her to see magic. Not to Hermione's level, but enough that if there was a wixen around she could warn them to be alert. She would also be staying in France with Sirius. Mr. and Mrs. Greengrass refused to leave the country and offered up their home as a refuge for the Weather, but urged Daphne to stick with Hermione for her safety. When push would come to shove, their neutrality status would shift.
About half of the technically graduated seventh years were staying to fight while the rest had their fill of horrors. Hermione understood and assured them there was absolutely no pressure to stay. Parvati and Lavender had a huge row about it before deciding to meet halfway and help make information pamphlets and material for Weather Watch, they would be staying with Andromeda and Ted Tonks rather than at Rosehill. Only Padma and Daphne were moving into Rosehill, the rest would be divided throughout the safe houses.
Cedric kept the crates in his backpack so in the event of an emergency they could just run. Adding in extra seats for Padma, Daphne, and Astoria meant they could no longer fit a futon in the back as well as their instruments, but it was alright. They were riding on the tour bus with Green Day. Thankfully, they now had those big, shiny fancy ones rather than the cramped little bookmobile. And if there was an attack, well, Billie, Mike, and Tré could hold their own in a duel.
So they said.
Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.
They passed off half the crates to Esperanza, the rest to Viktor, and now were on their way to France where they would pick up Harry and Ron. The pair were adamant to actually help now that they graduated and neither Sirius nor Mrs. Weasley could stop them.
Hermione was finally finishing her current crochet project while everyone else got roped into a card game called Rich Man, Poor Man.
"We'll be at our destination in a few hours," called the driver.
"In case we don't get a chance to tell you," said Cedric. "Thank you so much for helping us. And it's been amazing getting to open for you."
"Yeah, glad we could help," said Billie Joe. "It's been cool getting to know you. What are you guys gonna do if you need to smuggle out more people?"
"Hopefully we won't," said Hermione. "We've removed so many and anyone left is either keeping their heads down or they're managing alright on their own."
She finished adding on the last button to the cardigan and put her supplies away. She got up and sat down by where they were playing cards, hugging what she made to her chest.
"Who's the Rich Man?" she asked.
"Cedric is," said Draco. "He's gotta be using his legilimency!"
Cedric grinned and held out his hands. "Sounds to me like someone is a sore loser. Want us to deal you in next round, love?"
"I'm alright. I just wanted to give you this. So much has been going on, I forgot about our birthday. My gift to you would have been late anyway."
"Oh! Let me get you your gift." He opened his backpack and summoned a wrapped present. "Had it for a few months. Didn't want to stress you out about our birthday."
"Happy Birthday!" said Mike. "When is it?"
"September 19th," they answered together.
"That was over a month ago."
"Sorry, Nia," said Padma. "When you didn't bring it up, I assumed you didn't want to celebrate."
"I didn't, really," she said. "We had more important things to worry about and besides, I'm only turning…" She paused and did the math.
"Nineteen," said Cedric, softly.
"Yeah, and you're twenty-one," she said and held out the cardigan, feeling a little foolish and shy. "Sorry, I didn't wrap it."
"That's alright," he said and swapped presents with her. "Ooh, it's soft."
He stood up and put on the cardigan. It was a soft yarn, pastel purple in color. Hermione considered yellow, but thought the cool color would bring out his eyes better. It reached his knees and the big sleeves brushed his knuckles. He admired it and sat back down so he could kiss her.
"I love it," he said. "So this is what you've been working on."
"And it fits alright?" she asked.
"It fits perfectly. How'd you get my measurements?"
"While you were sleeping," she said. That was a joke, she just took her own measurements and added on a few inches.
Cedric chuckled and kissed her again. "Go on, open yours."
She ripped away the paper. A VHS tape. She turned it over to the front and her eyes widened.
"Cinderella," she said, touching the cover in awe. A beautiful black woman in a blue dress beamed on the cover. "I've never seen a black princess before! Ooh! Whitney Houston is in it! I love her!" She turned it around and looked at the cast. "This has such a good cast! Whoopi Goldberg, Bernadette Peters!"
"I hope it's good," said Cedric. "I just know that when we were kids you hated that none of the princesses looked even remotely like you."
She smiled and kissed him lightly. "Thank you. We have got to watch this tonight."
She placed it into her purse for safe keeping. The others had quietly finished their game, Astoria ended up the Poor Man and was pretending to pout so Draco would cheer her up while Daphne pretended to vomit.
"Right, so how do we play?" Hermione asked.
~o0o~
Three days later, they bid goodbye to Green Day and took the van to Sirius' house. Hermione was glad they hadn't been tailed or attacked. She would hate to put the guys and their crew in danger, but this was so much easier than cramming them all in France or trying to take them to the individual safe houses.
"I'm so tired," Hermione whined and shrank down to her otter form. "Cedric, carry me."
"As you wish," he said, scooping her up.
Remus answered.
"What's my boggart?" Cedric asked, rather than make Hermione confirm he was who he said he was.
"Well, I am uncertain of your true boggart," said Remus. "But when I taught you, it was Pennywise. How do we spend full moons?"
"Cone full of peanut butter."
They headed inside, Hermione couldn't even keep her eyes open. It wasn't terribly late, so everyone was still up.
"Cedric!"
"Hannah! Susan!"
Hermione opened her eyes and saw her two friends. It had been a while. Nearly two years wasn't it? They had changed some. Hannah had dyed pink streaks into her hair and Susan's was in a short bob.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"We've come to fight," said Susan. "Is that alright?"
Her heart warmed. She nodded and held out her paw. Hannah giggled slightly and took it.
"You're so cute in this form," she said. "We missed you a lot. You too, Ced! I'm so glad you're back."
Ron and Harry approached, grinning. Ron had cut his hair short and Harry's was as long and unruly as it always was.
"When do we go back in?" asked Ron.
"Tomorrow," said Hermione. "For now… let me sleep."
She burrowed her face into Cedric's chest, curling her little otter hands in.