Harry Potter

"...I'm telling you, she has clearly gone mental, more than usual. If you had seen the way she looked at that damned thing..." Ron shuddered, clearly still haunted by the memory. The rest of the group leaned toward him, listening intently. The Cacophony of noise on the platform made it quite difficult for them to hear each other, so they had to squeeze together to hold a conversation.

"Isn't it possible that you're exaggerating the situation a little? She always seemed like a smart, level-headed girl. I'm sure she's not..." Percy began, apparently still not entirely convinced by Ron's story, but then he was interrupted by Ginny, who shook her head.

"You're not the one who slept in the same room with her, Percy." Ginny replied, looking away with a blank stare. " Did you know that she woke up four times during the night to add new stuff to that abomination? How do I know? Because after I woke up and saw her staring blankly at the wall, whispering Merlin knows what, I was unable to sleep for the rest of the night! It was terrifying!"

They were, of course, talking about Hermione, or rather her recent disturbing behavior.

After Hermione showed them the so-called "Board," Harry and Ron decided it was time to have a serious talk with Hermione about her obsession with Michael Brown. While they had been quite indulgent of Hermione's mania so far, not quite trusting that vengeful madman themselves, turning the entire room into some demented hate altar had clearly crossed the line.

Still, even if they knew that, getting Hermione to realize that was another matter. Harry and Ron had tried to stop her numerous times, but so far they had never succeeded. In fact, it only made Hermione more stubborn in her 'quest'. That's why they decided to try something new: numerical advantage. Members of the Weasley family were quite good friends of both Harry and Hermione, so Harry felt relatively comfortable with getting their help in convincing Hermione.

That's why Harry and Ron spent the last few minutes explaining the existing problem and potential solutions to the rest of the Weasley kids. While the location of their conversation was not ideal, a crowded platform full of students and parents, this was actually the first opportunity to discuss the matter.

For the first time since the incident, Hermione was absent, as thanks to some subtle manipulations, she was currently being forced to explain the idea of electricity to the self-proclaimed Muggle expert, Mr. Weasley. Given the man's enthusiasm and Hermione's love of teaching, they had enough time to plan their next steps.

It took some time, but they were eventually able to explain the situation to the group and Harry was finally able to ask the most important question.

"So, what should we do about this whole situation?" Harry asked, not quite sure how to proceed himself. While a direct 'intervention' was certainly an option, in Harry's opinion such an action would be a bit too extreme. After all, Hermione was one of his best friends, so he would rather try another option before going so far as to resort to intervention. He hoped the Weasleys would help him with that.

Unfortunately, Ginny and Percy, with whom Harry had the highest hopes, had no real ideas. Instead, the first ones to speak were the twins, which made Harry quite hesitant. While Harry personally liked Fred and George just fine, their recent interactions with Hermione were... less than helpful for her state of mind.

Still, Harry guessed it wouldn't hurt to hear them out.

"It's obvious what needs to be done, isn't it, brother?" said one of the twins (presumably Fred).

"That's right, brother. I mean, it's the only rational move." finished the other one (presumably George).

Seeing that everyone was listening, even if reluctantly, the twins continued, wide smiles on their faces. Harry had a bad feeling.

"We just need to help Hermione confess her feelings to Brown, simple!" Fred? exclaimed.

"After all, her strange behavior is nothing more than a strange, bookwormish crush! We just need to help her communicate her love to him!" George? stated, after which both twins looked at the group with shit-eating grins on their faces, clearly pleased with their 'prank'.

There was silence for a moment as everyone stared blankly at the twins, most of the group in various stages of shock. Harry and Ron, who were painfully aware of Hermione's opinion on such a statement, watched the twins in horror, already imagining her possible reaction. Ginny hid her face in her hands, whispering something quietly, most likely coming to a similar conclusion. The only one who did not outwardly react was Percy, who was the least involved in the situation and was only in the group because of his Weasley status and close proximity during the beginning of the conversation.

It took a few seconds for everyone to collect themselves, but when they did, Ron spoke up, his face pale and his voice trembling.

"...You... you can never say that to Hermione, do you understand? You just can't." Ron said plainly. Contrary to Harry's expectations, there was no anger in his voice. Instead, his words had a distinct tone of desperation, as if he was begging the twins to heed his advice. "Hermione will gut you if you even suggest it! Bloody hell, she'll gut us for letting you say it at all! Please swear you won't do it! Please!"

"You're overreacting, Ronnekins..." Fred? replied with a smile, although there was a clear glint of uncertainty in his eyes.

"It's true, she wouldn't go that far..." George? continued, though then he winced, apparently not quite confident in his words. "...Although it is true that Herms has become quite vicious since all the drama associated with our glorious leader."

"That's why you can't say anything, for the sake of all of us! We must..." Ron began, but he was interrupted by an unexpected voice coming from the side.

"There you are. I was looking for you." A voice rang out, making everyone's blood run cold. Slowly turning around in horror, they saw Hermione standing behind the group with an inquiring expression on her face. To Harry's relief, she seemed oblivious to the topic of their conversation, judging by the lack of burning rage on her face and their continued survival. That didn't mean they were safe, however, as the situation could turn around at any moment.

What was she even doing here? She was supposed to be with Mr. Weasley for at least thirty more minutes!

A-ah... Hermione, you're back. Have you finished talking to Mr. Weasley?" Harry asked, trying to sound casual. The last thing he wanted was for Hermione to prematurely discover their plans or hear the twins' jokes. His acting seemed to be somewhat lacking though, as Hermione gave him an odd look upon hearing his question.

"...I have, though I'm pretty sure he still thinks there's a little lightning trapped in each machine," Hermione replied slowly. She narrowed her eyes slightly, apparently somewhat suspicious of his behavior. Damn it! "...Anyway, what were you guys talking about before I came?"

Harry quickly turned to Ron, hoping the latter would say something. Noticing this, Ron nodded slightly and turned to Hermione, ready to lie. The boy was always quick, so Harry was sure he would succeed. He believed in him!

"Well, you know...eh... Quidditch?" Ron mumbled, apparently saying the first thing that came to mind. In truth, it wasn't such a bad excuse, since everyone in the group (except Percy) could be considered a quidditch fan. His stuttering and long pauses, however, made Hermione even more suspicious as she furrowed her brow, clearly not believing him. "We were talking about... bludgers? Yes, bludgers and... stuff"

"Don't forget about quaffles, Ron. We also talked about quaffles." Fred? added unhelpfully, causing Ron to glare at him angrily.

"Okay, you're obviously hiding something! What's going on...!" Hermione began indignantly, now clearly suspicious, but it seemed that something had caught her attention, because she suddenly stopped talking. Relieved, Harry followed her gaze only to see Michael Brown, the source of their recent misery, talking to Colin Creevey some distance away.

Harry's shoulders sagged in resignation as he sighed. Of course it was Brown who was distracting her. Who else could that be?

Exchanging tired glances with the Weasley family, each of whom was probably thinking the same thing, he didn't notice Hermione follow Brown's gaze and widen her eyes in horror upon noticing something alarming.

It was happening again. Why couldn't they have at least one day without Brown-related drama? Why did she...

He was suddenly tackled to the side, as Hermione, who had been previously watching Brown, abruptly turned in his direction and threw herself at him, pushing him to the floor. He didn't even have time to be surprised, as just a second later something heavy fell from the ceiling and hit the very same spot he occupied just a second ago with a loud crash, destroying the floor beneath it and causing everyone in the group to jump back in surprise at the sudden impact.

As Harry landed on the floor, startled and confused, his eyes instinctively went to the ceiling of the platform, where he noticed something very unusual. There, he saw a very familiar house elf hanging from the roof's metal railing, looking at him with a strange mixture of relief and sadness, loudly mumbling some sort of apology. Harry vaguely heard Hermione saying something and getting up, but he ignored it, preoccupied with Dobby's unexpected appearance. Unfortunately, he didn't have much time to watch the elf, as just a few seconds later Dobby disappeared, leaving behind only empty air and terrible confusion.

It took him some time to compose himself, but eventually Harry decided that it would be prudent to get up and assess the situation. With the help of Ron, who moved to help him, he stood up and looked at the mysterious object that almost fell on his head.

The object in question, as it turned out, was a gargoyle, or at least it used to be one. Though it had been significantly damaged by the fall, breaking into several large pieces and losing its previous purpose, it was still fairly easy to identify the various parts as belonging to a gargoyle, not so different from one that could be found at Hogwarts. It however only increased Harry's confusion, as a quick glance at the ceiling of the platform revealed that there were no other gargoyles there. So why had one of them almost fallen on him? Did... Dobby brought it somewhere else? Why would he even do that? Was this a continuation of last year's harassment? The longer he thought about it, the more questions he had.

Not really able to learn anything more from the bizarre display, Harry shifted his gaze upward as a very unusual scene unfolded before him.

While a sizable crowd had already begun to gather around him, whispering among themselves and pointing at both him and the remains of the gargoyle, several people caught Harry's attention because of their puzzling behavior.

The first one was Hermione, who apparently decided that Brown was unambiguously responsible for the whole situation, as she was hurling various insults at him and vowing to expose his crimes, whatever they were.

To be fair, Brown didn't exactly hold back either, calling her a feral dog and claiming that she was deliberately trying to frame him, using the obvious blood feud between the two noble families as an excuse to get rid of him.

The two were being watched by Colin, who for some reason was feverishly taking notes of their words and loudly declaring that the house elf rebellion had begun, announcing he would reveal their plot in the first issue of his newspaper, which he apparently now had?

Surprisingly, Harry was also able to spot Lucius Malfoy in the distance. Contrary to Harry's expectations, the man wasn't observing the entire scene in disdainful silence. Instead, for some incomprehensible reason, he was loudly shouting to everyone about 'some unknown, individual assailant who independently tried to murder the Boy Who Lived for their own selfish reasons'? Harry didn't know why Mr. Malfoy was doing such a thing, but it was certainly a bizarre sight. Apparently he wasn't the only person who thought so, because the woman standing next to Mr. Malfoy, who Harry assumed could only be his wife, tried to stop him from yelling, claiming that he was embarrassing their entire family with these ridiculous statements. There was certainly some truth in that, as Harry spotted Draco burying his face in his hands, clearly embarrassed by his father.

To say that Harry was quite confused by the scene unfolding before his eyes would be a major understatement. Nevertheless, the clues he was able to gather from witnessing these bizarre interactions proved to be quite valuable. After all, he was sure he had everything he needed to come to a final conclusion.

He... had absolutely no idea what was going on.