9. Group Efforts
The two lovers also spent a lot of time talking about the Tournament. They were both very disappointed in Cedric. Harry had told the boy exactly what was coming in the first task. Cedric had responded with a convoluted "suggestion" to take a bath. Harry concluded he didn't need that sort of rubbishy help.
"Well, at least he did tell you something, that's better than nothing," Hermione declared.
A dip in the pool, after a proper amount of shagging, and they had the clue they needed.
They knew from The Daily Prophet that the Tournament organizers planned to hide something in Black Loch that the Champions needed to retrieve. That it was something Harry would sorely miss was not. From there, it was a short jump to realize that they would take Hermione. As far as Harry was concerned, compared to her, everything else paled into insignificance.
The discussion on how to handle that took most of the afternoon, with a call to Professor Hogwarts for books on breathing underwater.
They concluded that there was no hurry. After all, they had slightly more than two years and three months in the Room to find a good solution — and they knew what to focus on, too!
Later that evening, Harry started thinking about how he would support a family. His Gringotts vault had seemed to hold an impossible number of galleons when he had first seen it, and even now, it looked like a huge amount. But was that sufficient for a home, food, and being married with children?
He let out an exasperated sigh as he remembered what his Death Agent had said about the basilisk being valuable. The problem was, how would he get it to the Goblins? Would a portkey work from there? Was it outside of the spells protecting the castle? Did he have to bring in a team of Goblins to harvest it?
He would send a letter to the Goblins. He pulled out a parchment and explained in it his quandary. After Hermione looked it over and made a few suggestions, he rewrote it and prepared it for owling.
He walked out of the bedroom and called out, "Professor Hogwarts?"
The Professor quickly appeared. Harry explained his problem, and that he wanted The Professor to give Dobby the parchment as soon as possible. Dobby could give it to Hedwig, and she could deliver it to Griphook at Gringotts. Griphook would then deliver it to the right party at the bank.
The letter explained that Hedwig would hang out at the Alley until the Goblins had an answer for him, if they told her they would answer later that day or the next. He asked that they use Hedwig for the answer because people would ask questions about a Gringotts owl delivering a message to Harry Potter — people who might interfere with harvesting the basilisk.
Much later that "night", after reprising much of the previous "night's" exercises, with an exhausted and sleeping Hermione beside him — he loved that thought — he pondered what the basilisk might be worth.
Thinking about the basilisk reminded him that he had saved Ginny's life. That, in turn, prompted him to remember that he had "saved" Pettigrew's life, too. Although in the latter's case it was a rather nebulous connection.
That led to the conversation he had had with the Headmaster about what had happened the night Sirius had escaped last year, and he had told the wizard about Trelawney's prophecy. Her second, it seemed.
Thanks to his constant occlumency practice, well-over a year's worth now, he could remember it almost verbatim, Pettigrew owes you his life. Voldemort's deputy is in your debt. One wizard saving another's life creates a bond between them.
What did that mean? If Pettigrew owed him a debt, for merely stopping Sirius from killing him, then did Ginny owe one, too? He would have died trying to save her if Fawkes hadn't shown up!
And she was listed as a possible soulmate! Maybe the karmic one?
Wait! Did that mean the whole school owed him a life debt?
No, that couldn't be right. The basilisk hadn't actually killed any of its victims, except Myrtle, which sounded more like an accident than anything else. All he had saved them from was being petrified.
Unless you considered him killing Tom Riddle as saving them from Riddle killing them much later in their lives. In which case, his "vanquishing" Riddle while still a toddler would mean the entire country owed him a debt!
He shook his head. That made even less sense. Besides, if something like that could create a life debt, then all of England and Europe owed Dumbledore a life-debt for stopping Grindelwald, and that was clearly nonsense.
Although it might explain why the Ministry had given him so many positions and deferred to him so much . . ..
He would bring up the subject with Hermione and The Professor in the morning.
.o\O/o.
After a vigorous workout that "morning," several times, Hermione suggested that they wear clothes during the lessons to prevent distractions.
So, for the first time in several "months" in the Room, they returned to her wearing her dress and him his shorts for their study "days".
Despite the clothes, though, Harry knew what he had spent the "night" and part of the "morning" doing with Hermione — and that made his stomach feel funny. Even knowing they both had cast the contraceptive charm, just the thought that she might be pregnant was enough to give him a bar-on — and it made him want to do it again.
Because that led to . . . family.
At lunch time he discovered she wasn't wearing pants . . . they ate a late lunch.
As their lessons for the "day" were winding down, he brought up the subject of life debts, telling both Hermione and The Professor what Dumbledore had said to him.
The Professor promised that several books on the subject would be made available to them on their next Beach Day.
As the "days" went on there was nothing, they found, more relaxing and stress-relieving than a good shag in the middle of the day — or three! It seemed to make it easier to concentrate on the lessons. Or, at least, they found that they were picking things up faster than they normally did, which offset the time they lost shagging so frequently.
Or maybe it was that the anticipation of such activities increased their concentration during the lesson?
On Beach "Day", there were fifteen books piled on their breakfast table.
Hermione dug right in, barely noticing she ate her breakfast as she read what they had to reveal. The charms to locate the relevant passages in the books made it easier.
About an hour after Harry had finished his unhurried breakfast, she put aside the last book. Sighing she looked over her notes and rewrote them onto fresh parchment in a more proper order.
"Well," she said as she leaned back, "Life Debts are fairly simple in concept, unlike Soulmates." She paused.
"Literally, it means you owe someone a life. That person saved your life at great risk to their own, when they didn't have to, when it wasn't their responsibility to do so. You owe them a life.
"There are conditions, of course.
"In the clearest examples, to incur a Life Debt you have to have nothing to do with the other person being in danger. That person must be in a situation where they will die if they aren't rescued. Next, you aren't obligated to rescue them. That is," She started listing a bunch of options, "you aren't their hired guard; you're not a magical policeman, an Auror, or a Hit Wizard; you're not a member of their family; you aren't someone with responsibility over them, such as a staff member or Prefect here in Hogwarts; their employee or employer; and so forth."
She took a breath. "And, finally, you have to save their life at risk to your own . . . small or no risks incur small debts, large risks incur large debts.
"By saving someone's life, at great risk to your own when you have no reason to do so, the other person will feel obligated to help you, in turn, until magic deems they have done enough to pay you back. For small or no risks, they might feel friendlier towards you."
She shook her head and looked at the stack of books. "Several of the books claim that if the person cannot fulfil a large debt, it would fall to their family or children, if any. If they were to die without fulfilling it in some manner, and without children, their brothers or sisters would be obligated to fulfil it." She pursed her lips. "For most, the man or woman would more or less behave like an aide or servant." She sighed deeply. "Unfortunately, those books also say that in wizarding society, if it is a woman that was saved, the saviour can demand she become a part of his family, his wife, or concubine even, if he desires. Any children would be the cancellation of the Life Debt." She paused. "The person or family can buy their way out of those obligation by paying either galleons or property, if they can afford it."
There was a long pause as they both considered what she had said.
Finally, she shook her head. "So, for Ginny," she started counting off her fingers. "First, Riddle was forcing her against her will into the Chamber where he intended for her to die. Second, you were not related to her in any way, not in a position of authority over her, nor obligated in any way to go to her rescue. Third, there is no doubt that your life was in danger, it was only by Fawkes' intervention that you didn't die but did succeed in saving her life."
She paused. "Peter, on the other hand, you risked virtually nothing to prevent Sirius from killing him . . . you had nothing to lose. He will probably be more friendly to you, but that's it. If you were in danger, he would probably feel a slight nudge, a guilty conscious, if he didn't help you, but that's all. He could easily ignore that if he wanted without any repercussions."
She sighed. "That pretty much is it for a Life Debt, as far as I can tell. She owes you."
Harry gulped, appalled. "Wife? Concubine? Ginny?" His voice went up an octave at each word.
Hermione nodded. "That's what conservative wizards would demand. Doing otherwise, in their opinion, would be a great insult to the Weasleys. And if the Weasleys were the ones to refuse, it would be considered a great insult to the Potter family." She made a face of disgust. "Politics!"
She shook her head, again, and took another deep breath. "As for me, in the Troll incident, that's far less clear. It depends on the exact circumstance, if you really were the one responsible for saving my life, and how much of a part Ron played in it."
She sighed.
"It comes down to who was more responsible for saving me. If it was your idea and you dragged Ron along, then that sorta makes you more responsible. You also took a more proactive action by jumping on the Troll. You risked your life. Ron stayed by the door and threw things, then used wingardium leviosa to knock out the Troll. He could have escaped at any time. You couldn't." She frowned, thinking.
"So, was that enough to trigger a Life Debt? It all depends on who really was responsible for saving me." She chewed her lower lip lightly. "One thing is for sure, though. Ron is right out for the Life Debt. If he hadn't been such a prat, I wouldn't have been in that toilet in the first place."
She sighed again, staring out at the waves. "So, I might owe you a Life Debt."
She looked back at him. "Only magic knows for sure."
She looked back out at the water.
"The bludger is, if a debt exists, magic tries to get the one owing the debt to pay it back. Nothing too overt, but if a situation arises where one who owes the debt can pay it back, magic . . . nudges them. They do something they might not ordinarily do. Depending on the magnitude of the debt, it could be quite forceful an urge."
She glanced at him, blushing slightly.
"Like in your first Quidditch match. I snuck over to Snape and set his robes on fire!" Her blush deepened. "Me, the strict obeyer of rules, who looks up to those in authority, actually set fire to a Professor!"
She looked down at the sand at her feet, sighed, and wrung her hands together. "I still can't believe I did that."
She looked back up at him, her eyes searching his expression.
"It was impulsive. I could have just stayed still, watching . . . but that didn't seem right! I felt I should be doing something, so, just like every other time I feel like I should be doing something, I did."
She gave a bitter laugh. "Too bad I picked the wrong Professor to set on fire."
She stared at the waves.
"It would explain, though, why I always seem to be with you when things . . . fall apart, and why I insist you study when it's really none of my business."
Harry stared at her, eyes wide, as he thought back over the previous three years where Hermione had followed his lead, risking her life just by following him.
He could feel his expression going blank as he tried not break down into tears.
"Does that mean," he said hesitantly, his voice cracking, "that us . . .," he waved a hand at Hermione, ". . . is magic making you . . .." his voice trailed off.
She sat with a stunned expression for a moment, then lunged out of her chair, around the table, and fell to her knees to hug him in his chair. "Oh, no, no, no," she cried. "Life Debts don't change your feelings like that" she said frantically. "The one you save could hate you and still feel those urges to help you. They could ignore those urges, or act on them."
She held him tightly for several minutes. She snorted lightly. "It's far more likely that the Troll incident merely brought our attention to each other, more than mere acquaintances."
She leaned back to look him in the face. "I liked you before the Troll came into that toilets. Unlike everyone else, you weren't mean. And you were kinda cute." She kissed him as if afraid he was going to run away.
Then leaned back again. "Besides, based on what I read, Ginny definitely owes you a Life Debt and you don't see her bugging you all the time, or in here snogging or shagging you to within an inch of your life!"
The books ended up on the beach as the table was pressed into a different use. Then they headed back into their room to avoid getting any sand in places that were rather sensitive.
Harry decided that day that he was not going to call in the Life Debt by making Miss Weasley his wife or concubine, or by asking her to provide an Heir. Neither was he going to ask for land, properties, gold, or other items from the Weasleys.
He'd just hope that the Weasleys never realized that he was owed anything. Maybe, with a bit of luck, she might be able to reverse the Life Debt by saving his life in the future.
Hermione was enough for him.
To Harry's and Hermione's surprise, Hogwarts added a day to the schedule to make three sets of five-day "weeks" so that starting with a Beach "Day" did not deprive them of any study time. Hogwarts also let them wake in the Room for a couple of "good-morning" shags, before announcing they needed to shower before Dobby could take them to their Dorm beds.
There was a bit of a delay there, too, but soon enough they were squeaky clean and in their normal bedclothes.
It was Boxing Day, Monday, in the castle. The late-night ending to the Triwizard Ball made sure that everyone slept late — except Harry and Hermione, of course. Their lazy morning had been two "weeks" ago. Their late arrival to the Room the night before, the "extra" day — half-hour —in the Room, and their morning exercises, however, made up for that difference.
Fortunately, their tardiness to their beds went unnoticed. Everyone assumed that they had slept-in, too, not that they had only just arrived in their beds!
The rest of the day was slow and lazy for the students and faculty at Hogwarts. The snow outside provided many the opportunity for snowball fights in the late morning. Which the twins improved by bringing in several tons to the Great Hall so no one had to go outside into the freezing wind that afternoon.
The house-elves kept the Small Hall and the Common Rooms well-stocked with hot cocoa and biscuits.
A few couples used the distraction of the indoor snowball wars to seek seclusion in various broom-closets, Harry noted on his map. Oddly, he saw that Crouch and Moody were having a conference in his office-room. Percy had said Crouch was too sick to go to the Ball, so what was he doing here, today?
Harry and Hermione tried to be discrete, but from the way they acted with each other in public, it was clear to everyone that they were a committed couple.
Ginny was very unhappy and disappeared into her dorm-room for the day.
At dinner, Hermione grabbed his right hand in her left, she was sitting on his right, and guided it inside her robe-pocket on that side. It took only a moment for him to realize she had cut the bottom of the pocket open, and she wasn't wearing anything under her robe.
He didn't think anyone noticed what he was doing with his hand.
He spent the rest of the evening with a bar-on, and giving her the evil eye while she smirked.
He got his revenge that night. Although, for revenge, she sure seemed to enjoy it.
The rest of the days in the castle until the new Term started would have been just as chaotic as the previous days if the Hogwarts Express wasn't planning on a run to London the next day. It would take almost all the students home for a late Christmas with their families.
At breakfast that morning, Hedwig arrived with a response from the Goblins. She carried a small package, which, when he opened it, held a letter and a camera. The instructions were simple. Take pictures of the basilisk, and then activate the camera's portkey to see if it would work. If the camera portkey worked, then they would send him a second portkey with their quote on the basilisk. The second portkey would transport the snake.
If the first portkey failed, then owl the camera back to them and they would have to make other arrangements to get to the creature.
It was simple for Dobby to pop them down to the Chamber of Secrets amid the confusion of the students getting ready for the Express at ten.
Dobby had been busy since they had last been down to the Chamber, Harry realized. The Chamber was no longer dank and dirty, and water wasn't dripping from the ceiling anymore. It was no worse than any other large hall in the castle — except for the giant snake in the middle. They shot a dozen different pictures of the basilisk with Hermione taking the pictures. He stood beside it in every shot, to give them an idea of its size.
Then they went out to the shed skin. Harry had no idea if it was worth anything, but it wouldn't hurt to add those photographs to the camera.
Now that they had finished Fifth-year and started Sixth-year studies, they had a better understanding of themselves and their wands, and knew many more spells. It took an hour, but they cleared the rocks partially burying the skin. They prevented more rocks from raining down with a lot of sticking charms. Then they transfigured the remaining rocks into proper building blocks and rebuilt that section of the passage into a roomy arched tunnel to prevent another cave-in.
Once they were sure that they had a picture from almost every angle of both the shed-skin and the snake, Harry prepared a parchment to stick to the camera.
While his Death Agent had suggested he counter-offer the Goblins with one-third of what they suggested, he was starting the offers, not them. Not having any other ideas on what to do, he said he wanted ninety-percent of the proceeds, and enough best-quality skin for two adult suits of protective shirts and trousers. That completed, he stuck it to the camera, activated the portkey, and watched as both vanished.
As long as they were down there, Harry decided to see if Hermione had again forgone any underclothes. As soon as Hermione realized his intent, the chase was on. It wasn't a long chase; she didn't really want to escape.
And yes, she was only wearing her outer robe. A moment later, she didn't have that. A few softening and cleaning charms and the rock floor was as soft as any bed in one of the dorms. They didn't leave the Chamber for some time.
Wednesday morning a nondescript brown owl winged its way towards Harry with another small box. Inside were two parchments and two round disks.
One parchment said to slap the round disks on the snake and its shed-skin as hard as they could. The disks were portkeys, and would activate ten seconds after they did that. The portkeys would send the snake and its shed to a prepared room. The second parchment was a communications parchment. He was supposed to sign his name at the top to start their negotiations.
He was already mostly finished with breakfast, so he gobbled down the last few bites. He explained to Ron that he had to write a response to the letter, pretending it was something from Sirius, and then he hurried off with Hermione following him. Ron decided that he'd rather reload his plate before the house-elves decided breakfast was over.
They headed back to the Common Room, which was empty. On the boys' side of the Gryffindor dorms only Harry and the Weasleys remained at Hogwarts. On the girls' side were Hermione, Ginny, and a Sixth-year girl.
The others were still at their leisurely breakfast, leaving only Hermione and Harry in the Common Room.
Negotiating — haggling, actually — via the parchment was strange, but they managed. They ended with Harry getting eighty-percent of the proceeds, and two sections of skin for their armoured-clothes. Once they settled on that, Harry asked that ten-percent of his portion of the proceeds be subdivided among the basilisk's victims. Five victims, Penelope, Colin, Justin, Hermione, and Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris, would share five-percent, apportioned to how long they had been petrified. Ginny would get the other five-percent for being possessed by Tom.
This required that all seven of them have vaults, which Gringotts would set up as "gifts" to get around the Ministry requirement that only adults could open a vault account. Any questions the five victims and Filch might have would be referred to Harry.
Harry was given a new vault because he didn't have his vault key. Apparently, Dumbledore did — and Harry was not about to ask him for the key. That conversation would entail subjects he wanted to avoid at all costs.
The Goblins demanded an extra nine-percent for the "service" on the new vaults, that is, creating the vaults, filing the Ministry parchmentwork, and making the periodic deposits — that last was not a one-time arrangement considering the basilisk ingredients would be sold over a long period of time, and so required more work on the bank's part.
They settled on four-percent.
Once that was concluded, the parchment suddenly blanked, then filled in with everything they had decided. A note at the bottom said he needed to sign where indicated — an arrow pointed to it — and add three drops of blood to the parchment. The parchment would flash as the original portkeyed to the bank while a duplicate would appear in its place.
When he did as instructed, a postscript appeared at the bottom of the duplicate asking if he knew of any other shed skins.
He looked at Hermione, who sighed. "Guess we need to take a look, too, right?" she said with a raised eyebrow.
He nodded. They knew there weren't any in the Chamber itself, or the tunnel out to the Forbidden Forest.
They were getting ready to call Dobby when the Weasleys came in, but it was only Ron, Percy, and Ginny. The twins were off in their "secret" lab working on who-knew-what — although Harry suspected it was their gender-changing sweets. Hedwig had returned with Hermione's books on biology and genes before Christmas — the twins had them, now.
Ginny made a beeline for her dorm-room, as Percy did for his. The reasons for the two of them were different, but the results were the same — they left Harry and Hermione alone.
Ron headed over to Harry.
"I'm going to explore the Chamber of Secrets some more," Harry said, "Want to come along?"
Remembering the dank, dismal, and dark tunnel he had seen, Ron shuddered and quickly turned it down. "Can I borrow your broom?" he said.
"Sure! You know where it is."
Ron gave him a happy grin and ran up the stairs to their dorm.
While he was gone, Harry and Hermione headed for Myrtle's Toilets.
"Harry," Hermione said as they slipped into a secret passage, "You really didn't have to give me anything from the basilisk sale, I wasn't petrified for very long, only three weeks."
"And, as I said earlier, if I give a portion to one of the victims, it's only right that I do it for all of them."
"But when we get married . . .," she said.
The thought of that still made his stomach feel funny and his heart soar.
". . . I'll be getting my share, then."
"In the meantime, though, everyone else will wonder why you were ignored. Doing it this way prevents that."
"I know," she said, "but still . . .," and then fell silent.
They were halfway through the second secret-passage when he called for Dobby, as they had done each other time. No one spying on Myrtle's Toilets had or would see or hear them going to the Chamber of Secrets.
They headed back towards where the pipe from Myrtle's toilets ended. Harry knew there was nothing between the shed skin they had found and the pipe and none in the passage to the forest, so if there were any more, they had to be further on.
They lucked out. There were three more shed skins, each smaller than the previous. Using the hover charm, they moved them both back to the Chamber, but stopped right outside it.
There was no reason to mess up the Chamber, after all. Harry prepared a parchment explaining the presence and size of the three additional, smaller, snake-sheds, then sent off the two portkeys with their cargos of the snake and its shed.
Dobby was more than willing to take the two of them to Hermione's bed in her dorm-room. They didn't have to worry about a roommate appearing, nor any of the Weasleys.
Still, Hermione made sure the door had several locking spells on it, with an alert on the stairs outside to warn them someone was coming. That was followed with silencing spells on the floor, walls, and ceiling in addition to the ones on her bed, just in case.
With those taken care of, they spent most of the rest of the day breaking in her bed celebrating the contract with the Goblins. They also broke in the beds of her roommates.
It was delightfully naughty, Hermione said.
The house-elves would make sure the returning students had fresh bedding, but Hermione would know what she and Harry had done in their beds. She knew that the others would be upset if they ever found out, but only because of their disappointment at not being the ones that Harry was ploughing at the time.
Although the thought of watching them as he did so, she said, was a bit naughtily . . . thrilling — and intriguing. She explained that "swingers" like her parents were people who willingly shared their partners with others. Hermione would be giving them a taste of what they would not be able to have in the future.
Harry was unsure of that. He really didn't want to share Hermione with anyone.
Morning brought another nondescript owl with a small package for Harry. Naturally, it had three more portkeys, and an additional contract for the skins. This time the contract was only for the monetary value of the skins, but Hermione suggested, "Having extra cloth for armour to give out to others might be a good idea. Either as bribes or to protect some of our friends."
As a result, they had changed the contract to include the same request for skin as the original contract had had, with the words, if suitable, added — and a slightly better percentage for the Goblins.
The Goblins readily agreed to the changes, and soon Harry had a second contract to add to the "important parchments" file in his trunk.
They limited their trip to the Chamber to only sending off the skins.
Things settled down after that to studying in the Room for "two weeks" each night, and then playing in the castle during the days before Term started.
Saturday was the last day of the month, and the year. The New Year's Party that night in the Great Hall meant they didn't get to the Room of Requirement until one in the morning on the First.
This time, Professor Hogwarts let them sleep late, but then they still had classes. Which ran later in the afternoon to make up for the lost time in their "morning".
After three months in the Room, they once again decided to discard their clothes, except for potions lessons. They had gradually weaned themselves off the frenzy of shagging since the Ball. They no longer shagged at the drop of a quill or book. On the other hand, an evening shag broke the monotony of the other games they played, or the shows they watched, for relaxation in the Room — especially with some of the variations that Hermione wanted to try from a book she had asked The Professor to provide, the Kama Sutra.
Harry couldn't decide which was better: a good shag at night to help him relax and sleep, or a good shag in the morning to start the day with a wonderful experience? Each had its own advantages and disadvantages. At night, there was always that big wet spot that developed . . . that could be dried with a hot-air charm. However, it did leave them all hot and sweaty. On the other hand, falling asleep was real easy, and usually dreamless.
Which were unlike his nights in the castle before the First Task. Those nights had been plagued by disturbing dreams, which left him unsettled the rest of the following day. Which probably had contributed to his ill-humour before the First Task.
The morning shag left them tired and not as ready to get out of bed, but the shower afterwards felt great.
He sighed, just before he dropped off to sleep. They would just have to keep doing it both times until they could decide which they liked better.
The Hogwarts Express arrived the next evening with the returning students.
At the Arrival Feast, Luna sat down beside them. She stared over their heads for several seconds, sighed, and commented, "I haven't seen so many fluttering cheripods since my parents tried to make me a sibling." She stared intently at Hermione. "Harry must be exceptionally well-hung to make so many. Would you mind if I tried to make a few?"
Hermione, and Harry, stared at her, gobsmacked.
"You can watch, if you want, I won't mind," she added. She gave her a shy smile, "You can even join in."
Harry had never seen Hermione so taken aback; her eyes were almost popping out of her head. She was also blushing furiously.
Luna looked at Harry. "I like you; you've done so much to help me." She nodded. "It would be almost like having a real boyfriend," she said smiling wistfully.
She turned her attention to her dinner and started eating.
Harry and Hermione just exchanged shocked looks, and decided not to say anything at the moment.
In answer to Hermione's questions, an attempt to keep the conversation on acceptable topics, Luna was more than happy to tell them of her Christmas hols.
There were a few surprises on Monday when classes started again. First, at breakfast came Rita's article about Hagrid being a half-giant. Both Harry and Hermione were not too surprised — Merlin, look at the man, he was huge! — but all the Half-blood and Pure-blood students were shocked! Ron's reaction was especially dismaying to the other two. They hadn't realized he was so racist! Ron had known the wizard for three years, and now he had a problem with the man because he was a half-giant?
That was just wrong on so many levels.
Professor Grubbly-Plank taking over Care of Magical Creatures added to their disgust with the magical born. The half-giant had been at Hogwarts for fifty years without anything violent from him, and now, suddenly, everyone was afraid of him?
At least the unicorns were interesting, if more than a bit standoffish to Hermione and a couple of other girls. The way Hermione blushed when the girls looked at her in surprise would have been funny if it didn't confirm what everyone suspected the two had been doing.
For everyone else it had been only a few days short of six weeks since the First Task. For them, it had been over a year and almost six months, seventy-eight weeks, five hundred and forty-six days, just over two entire school years (excluding holidays but not weekends), that they had been together.
After the hols, January was an emotional let-down for most of the students — back to the dull classes every day. The O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. students buckled down to even more hard work trying to keep up with what The Professors were teaching them.
Harry and Hermione had it much easier. They had plenty of time to finish their Sixth-year. If they needed more "days", they could take them without a problem. Based on how long it took them to do Fifth-year, they should finish their NEWTs by the morning of January Eleventh. That would leave them forty-three days, forty-four nights, to continue to use the Room before the Second Task. That gave them six-hundred-sixteen "days" in Room — which gave them the equivalent of three full school-years at one-hundred-ninety-five weekdays plus thirty-one additional days left over.
So, they could cover the material at a reasonable rate. No stressing themselves terribly. No panic attacks at not keeping up. No trips to the Hospital Wing for an overnight stay after taking calming draughts or Dreamless Sleep draughts.
Still, if not for his journal — he knew Hermione had one, too — he would have been hopelessly lost every time he returned to the castle from the Room, despite his occlumency-improved memory.
He still slipped up sometimes, giving in assignments that were a little too advanced for what The Professors had required, performing spells too quickly, and sometimes looking obviously bored in the regular classes. Not to mention forgetting events and conversations that had happened only yesterday to everyone else, but were two weeks ago for him!
Hermione's performance in the classes just matched what she had always done, even if the results were more polished than they had been.
Still, everyone noticed his sudden improvement. A "best" student improving wasn't nearly as noticeable as a "below-average" student shooting to "best" student status. He put it all down to "imminent death" sharpening his focus!
The difficult part was not appearing obviously too bored with the material.
Penelope, Colin, Justin, and Ginny were amazed at each receiving a Gringotts Vault-key, with a one-sentence instruction to seek out their benefactor, Harry Potter if they had any questions. Which they did. He asked them to not talk about what had happened as he didn't want any more attention.
There was also the subject of Luna. "She wasn't joking," Hermione said.
Harry just looked at her.
"About shagging."
He nodded. That had been almost two months ago, for them, four days for everyone else.
"I think, based on things we've talked about in the Common Room, that she just wants her first time to be with someone who isn't trying to fool her into thinking they're a friend when they aren't."
Harry just stared at her.
"If she decides on who and when, then no one is taking advantage of her."
He nodded. After a few moments, he said, "I know what my Death Agent said about shagging as many girls as I could, but what do you think? I'm happy with you."
She smiled and kissed him deeply.
Apparently, she did take after her parents in the desire to make others jealous of what she had . . . with intimate experience to drive the point home!
When he recovered, he said, "And, I'm not sure I can just . . . shag . . . a girl I don't know that well."
That evening, in the castle, they helped Luna with her assignments. The next evening, they taught her the spells they used to find the books they needed in the library and the information in the book itself. They also taught her a few other helpful spells The Professor had shown them. From then on, they spent an hour or so every afternoon or evening coaching her. Somehow, Ginny got pulled in, then the rest of the Third-year Gryffindor cohort became involved, and it grew to one big study session in the library.
Then a few other students, friends of the Gryffindors from other Houses, started joining in. Pooling resources meant needed books were simply passed around without having to search for them and then waiting for the person who had gotten to them first to return the book to Madam Pince to reshelve.
That made it much easier, and quicker, to complete assignments. It also meant they could share questions and get answers to things any one individual might not understand.
They ended up commandeering one of the rooms just outside the library for their use to avoid causing too much noise in the library. After a couple of weeks of daily use, a glass door directly to the library appeared, and the wooden door to the corridor disappeared.
Apparently, the castle had noticed what they were doing, and adapted.
If the weather was nice outside — rarely in the winter — the study sessions were in the evening, otherwise, they did them in the afternoon.
.o\O/o.