Chapter 30: A Hiss and a Roar - January 1994

After spending much of winter break thinking about it, Hermione finally wrote off Trelawney's prediction. It's so short and disjointed, she lamented.

She had contemplated asking Lavender and Parvati to attempt to interpret it for her, but she ultimately dismissed the idea. Her other friends could never be in on the trio's most significant secrets: time travel and the trio's attempt to quietly defeat Voldemort before he re-started the war. She had no way of knowing if the prophecy related to either of those things.

Hermione put it from her mind and followed Lavender, Parvati, Ron, and Neville as they walked around Hogsmeade their first weekend back to school after Winter break. This time Harry stayed back at the castle with Luna, who was too young to visit the village with the others.

After some window-shopping, Lavender pulled Hermione by the hand. "Let's go see the Shrieking Shack! We haven't been by yet."

Hermione braced herself against the onslaught of memories and feeling the location evoked for her. In the other timeline, it was where she'd first met Sirius. It had also been where Lily-as-Snape was killed by Voldemort's snake during the Battle of Hogwarts.

Parvati pointed out bunny tracks in the pure white snow surrounding the decrepit building.

Neville was facing the opposite direction as everyone else, commenting on the clear skies.

Ron did an impression of a ghost that had Lavender alternately laughing and squealing in terrified delight.

Hermione let the group have their fun, and sheparded them to the Three Broomsticks to warm up.

While they were sitting with steaming mugs and pink faces, Minister Fudge, Hagrid, Professor McGonagall, and a few other teachers sat down at a table across the pub. Hmm, they met up in the last timeline as well. She and Ron exchanged the barest of looks.

Neville grabbed Hermione's attention. "Did you like the Christmas gift?"

"Oh yes, the journal was lovely. I'm just about out of pages in mine, so the timing is perfect." She'd already gotten the enchantments on it so she could hide more secrets under her innocuous notes. Hermione was sure that she'd need the all of the space to plan given that they probably were over a year from Voldemort's defeat.

"S-Snape seems to think highly of you, now," Neville observed. "You might finally be the top of our class."

"As you should be," Ron chimed in.

Hermione reflected that getting Snape to respect her as a student was easier now that she had lowered her expectations, which had peaked when she learned that he was actually a disguised Lily Potter.

Where previously disdain had crept into her voice, this year she spoke more neutrally to Snape. She had actually taken a page out of Harry's book and tried to sound bored, like he did when talking to Malfoy.

Maybe it was easier for him to interact with her when it didn't seem so pointed and personal? Hermione wasn't quite sure how to interpret the change, but she noted it all the same.

Ron tried to be sanguine when Harry was no longer in their Care of Magical Creature classes after the Winter break. But Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson made it so, so hard.

The redhead had occasionally partnered with Malfoy before. Now, he was stuck with both Malfoy and Parkinson every. single. class.

On this particular Tuesday in January, they would be changing out hippogriff bedding in the stables. Hagrid never had us do this sort of thing. While Hagrid had faults as a professor, at least his classes were always interesting.

Parkinson sniped at Ron, "You're not doing your share of the work. Here is also yours. Get scooping!"

Ron couldn't take a deep breath for the stench, so he mentally counted backwards as a relaxation technique.

"Don't fling that straw around, Malfoy! You're making a mess."

Malfoy stuck out his tongue at her.

Ron appreciated that her ire was focused on both of them, not just Ron.

After class, Ron stuck around to talk to Hagrid. It was now lunchtime, and the class's activities had made that unpalatable.

Ron asked, "Hey, Hagrid. Were you in the Three Broomsticks last weekend? I thought I saw you."

"Ah, I had a chat with some of the teachers."

"I thought I saw the Minister, too."

Hagrid looked around then leaned in. "He wanted to talk about castle security. They haven't seen hide nor hair of Peter Pettigrew anywhere since his escape. There's worry that the public's forgotten about him, since there's been nothin' to report in the Daily Prophet."

Ron said, "And they think he's here?" Ron feigned a little fear, but he was honestly up for action at this point. This year had been relatively easy for him so far.

"'S more like like they can't think o' nowhere else, bein' honest. I were gonna tell you, Harry, and Hermione since you're usually in the thick o' everything."

Ron thanked Hagrid for the information.

Even though Harry wasn't involved at all in Ron and Hermione's Boxing Day activites, he should have predicted that Snape would ask him about it after class one day.

After putting up secrecy wards, Snape asked, "Did you, by chance, kill a very large snake recently?"

"No, sir."

Snape's eyes narrowed. "Do you know who did?"

"Which snake is this?"

"The Dark Lord's familiar, Nagini. She should have been, by all measures, incredibly difficult to kill. One wouldn't expect a thirteen-year-old to be involved in such a dangerous task, and yet something tells me that you were."

"I wasn't," Harry said calmly. "Why does the snake matter?"

"She was of great personal significance. The Dark Lord currently believes that she is merely missing. But I fear for us all when he finds proof that she no longer slithers the Earth."

On the outside, Harry kept a cool visage. Inside, he was celebrating. I can't wait to tell Ron and Hermione about this.

"The Dark Mark that connects to his magic shows that he has weakened as a result. However," Snape stood up abruptly, "I will make this very plain. If I find out that you and your godfather did this together, I will end him."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Neither of us had anything to do with this, on my word. We had a happy, quiet Christmas with his grandfather and my aunt. Nothing dangerous or dramatic."

Snape practically threw Harry out of his classroom.

Hermione was extremely pleased to hear via Harry and Snape that Voldemort was reacting as they'd hoped to Nagini's disappearance.

"We're actually doing quite well on the horcruxes." She read Harry her updated, coded list.

Harry translated: We're done with the diary, diadem, locket, and snake. We have the cup, ring, me, and the main piece of his soul left.

"Of those, the Cup will give us the most problems," Ron said.

Hermione heartily agreed. She speculated, "We might have to do the remaining four in quick succession." They couldn't risk showing their cards too early.

Harry groaned. "From the Gringotts break in to the end of the Battle here was the longest, hardest day of my life."

Ron said, "We may have to, but we'd need a very, very well-researched plan. I'll look back at my Gringotts notes and get back to you."

Ron then asked Harry for an update about his mother.

"Well, Snape kicked me out of his classroom when I told him that I spent the holiday with Sirius and Petunia."

"You didn't!" Hermione was shocked. Talk about poking a sleeping dragon.

"Er. I did. But I think I'm close. I bet he'll tell me his real identity by the end of the school year."

Hermione bit her lip. "I hope you know what you're doing." The witch was still deeply concerned that escalating tensions could push Lily away from Harry forever, but her friend also didn't like to be nagged or second-guessed.

Ron defended Harry. "You're doing great in my book, mate. You've come a long way in maneouvering conversations the way you want them."

Because the current conversation was stressing her out, Hermione said, "On an unrelated note, I have a source for mandrake leaves. I think we should begin the process of becoming animagi next month. We probably can't wait for Summer, since Harry couldn't do it then."

"I thought I didn't have to actually become an animagus?"

Hermione pouted. "You don't have to. I just thought that you'd want to. Aren't you at least a little bit curious what your form is?"

"I guess," Harry conceded.

As soon as they were back from break, Hermione, Ron, and Harry all received a barrage of requests to plan the annual Gryffindor House Sleepover.

"I guess we did say that we might do one again eventually," Hermione admitted.

Ron was in. "The last one was brilliant. I say we do it!"

Dean and Seamus agreed, but Harry declined. While Harry was no longer attending Care of Magical Creatures classes, he said that he was still uncomfortably busy.

While she didn't think they needed more committee members, Hermione asked around Gryffindor for more help anyway.

"Yes! Yes, of course." Lavender agreed immediately and with great enthusiasm.

Lavender's first contribution was to add a fashion show to the night's activities. "We can help each other do makeup and create outfits. There can be themes! And prizes!"

At their head of house's request, last year's sleepover was split into three age groups. This year, she gave permission for one single group, to simplify supervision and minimize disruption.

Hermione wrote it down. "A fashion show is great for a big group. Let's brainstorm other activities that we can do with most of the House."

Ron advocated for a sport of some kind. Hermione brought up the concept of muggle ice skating. She'd done some lessons as a kid and knew a few twirls and games. Ron knew of a charm that could create a similar, gliding movement.

Surprisingly, McGonagall gave them permision to do their variation on muggle ice skating in the Great Hall.

Dean and Seamus were put in charge of asking the school's elves for muggle and wizarding snacks. Dean would also tell another spooky story or two from a book he had. Hermione thought that he committed admirably to the performance of the previous year's stories, clearly having practiced for his dramatic reading.

Hermione looked at the rough schedule they'd been developing. They still needed one more activity.

Lavender suggested breaking into smaller groups to play games. "We could have a bunch of small-group games going at once. No one plays things like Exploding Snap with students from other years."

Dean said, "I'll ask Lee to run a music corner during the casual games portion of the night."

"I think we have our plan, committee," Hermione proclaimed.

Ron shook his head, "No, we need a name! It's now a recurring event."

Planning for the "Lions Don't Sleep Tonight" Sleepover was thus completed.

"Listen up!" Hermione barked to get the mass of Gryffindors to settle. "The first sleepover activity is similar to muggle ice skating. Ron and I are going to demonstrate for you now."

Ron cast a charm at Hermione's feet, then Hermione cleared a space around each of them. She and Ron glided from one foot to the next with practiced ease. She explained and showed how to stop and turn, then Ron skated around charming feet upon request. He also offered cushioning charm lessons.

Hermione had them "skating" as a group in a big circle around the edges of the table-less Great Hall. Ron tapped people who were struggling to move to the side to practice so they didn't all collapse into a pile on top of each other.

"Most of you are doing really great! We're now going to try a simple muggle game called Red Light, Green Light." Hermione explained the rules and had Seamus serve as the first leader. After that, the winner traded off.

The Weasley twins won the first game. She had the group play several more times. Then she announced, "We'll be playing the next game by skating backwards! I'll give you ten minutes now to practice."

Professor McGonagall only watched her lions from the sidelines, but Madam Hooch joined in at this point. Ron charmed her shoes to glide over the stone floors. Hermione was impressed at how fast she picked the new skill up.

After an hour and a half of skating, Hermione led the pride back to their tower.

Lavender provided the instructions for the fashion show. "I have a bunch of cards here with prompts. Those who want to participate will select one, then put on the clothes, makeup, and hair to match. The fashion show will be in a half hour. You can borrow items for the show, or make items if you want. I'll call out the prompt, and the first person who says they want it gets it. There are some duplicates in here, but you won't have enough time to do trades!"

She began calling out prompts: "Any magical animal", "Any Hogwarts Professor", "Any Hogwarts Ghost", "All one color", "Any character from a story", "your favorite outfit", "your friend's favorite outfit - do this in pairs", "your favorite sports team". The list was long.

Hermione noted down who took what prompt for the judging sheet. She was delighted when almost every student there decided to participate. Hermione counted nearly seventy entries.

Lavender marked out a runway, then gave everyone a demonstration of walking to the end, posing, then turning around. "And we're going to clap loudly for everyone. We'll do a vote for House's Choice at the end."

Lavender, Harry, and Katie would judge the other awards, since the committee thought they would have something kind and thoughtful to say about every entrant. They took turns complimenting each look as it came down the runway.

"Oooh it's Professor McGonagall! The hat is iconic."

"Seamus is wearing a muggle football outfit, and Dean is wearing an Irish national quidditch team jersey. I love the sports theme!"

"Purple is really your color, Hermione! And the eyeshadow is a nice touch."

Prizes were given out for Most Creative, Best Pair Costume, and Most Glamourous. Gryffindor House's Choice went to Fred, who had transfigured very accurate Professor Snape clothing. His face reflected a suitable expression, but he still had a jarring shock of orange hair and freckles.

Hermione fell asleep snuggled into the couch during the spooky stories. She counted the sleepover another success.