Chapter 4 Drill Instructors

Harry dreamed that a dragon was chasing Ron. He swooped down to rescue him but Ron couldn't fit on his Firebolt because Hermione was taking up too much space. Then Harry fell off and the dragon came after him. The dragon changed into Dolores Umbridge and Harry couldn't run away. He struggled to move his legs.

He woke up. He was in Hermione's bed. Crookshanks was sleeping on his legs.

Harry vowed to write Ron a letter later in the day. He decided he wouldn't mention the part about sleeping in Hermione's bed. Maybe he wouldn't mention the beach trip at all.

He looked around Hermione's bedroom. He hadn't really gotten a good look at things last night. Prominent among the stuffed animals were two dogs, one yellow and the other green. There were awards from the school she had attended before Hogwarts. There was an old picture of a couple with two boys. One boy was about Harry's age and looked like Hermione's dad. The other boy looked to be about five. That would be Jason he thought. There was a picture of a very young Hermione cuddling a purple poodle. It looked like a real dog, except for being purple. There was a picture of Hermione's family at what appeared to be a birthday party in the garden, during summer. Her dad held skis and goggles and poles that looked very out of place in the summer scene. Hermione looked to be about three or four. Next to that one was another picture of the three year old Hermione. This one was a close up. She was wearing the same summer dress. Her face was beaming and there was snow in her hair.

"Good Morning," said Jack Granger coming into the room. "Diane has fixed breakfast. Come down as soon as you are ready. We'll be taking you home by a round about way. We'll change cars midway. You should hide under that nifty cloak of yours."

Before Mr. Granger could leave the room, Harry stopped him with a question. "Why is this dog purple?" he asked indicating the picture of Hermione with the poodle.

Mr. Granger laughed. "His name was Fritz. Nasty yapping little mutt, but Diane and Hermione doted on him. They spoiled him completely, he was their dog." Then he pointed to the yellow and green stuffed dogs. "Those were the precious puppies, cartoon characters, way too sweet. There were three of them. Hermione got the yellow one and the green one for her fourth birthday. We promised her that she would get the purple one for Christmas, but three months is a long time for a little girl to wait. I came home from class one day in early October and she told me that I could buy her a different present for Christmas. Fritz had turned into the purple precious puppy. That started the pastel animal phase. You never knew when you might see a lavender sparrow or a pink rabbit or a pale blue squirrel somewhere around the neighborhood."

It was almost mid-morning when Harry returned to 4 Privet Drive. He walked the last two blocks under the cover of his invisibility cloak and went around the house to enter through the back door. Aunt Petunia had a list of chores for him to do but after lunch he was free to go over to Mrs. Figg's house. Mrs. Figg had told his aunt that she needed Harry's help moving furniture.

"Good news, Harry," said a smiling Mrs. Figg, when Harry arrived in her living room. "I received permission from the Ministry of Magic for you to use you wand in my house. Now you won't have to break your back to move my furniture."

She showed Harry the letter from the Ministry. It said that he had permission to use specific charms and spells in Mrs. Figg's house, provided there were no Muggles present. It went on to list the spells that he could use: levitation, summoning, repulsion, packing, breaking, repairing and cleaning.

"Thank you, Mrs. Figg," said Harry. "It'll be good to have some practice with these spells. What pieces of furniture do want moved?"

"Oh I don't want you to move any of my furniture, everything is exactly where I want it," she said mischievously. “Dumbledore suggested that you needed some practice using objects to block spells. You need some self defense exercise."

Harry couldn't help but smile at Mrs. Figg's enthusiasm but he didn't see how he could learn much about casting defensive spells from a squibb.

"Are you going to teach me some defensive spells?" Harry asked playfully.

"Oh goodness no," said Mrs. Figg. "You know the spells for moving objects around. We're just going to practice what you learned at school. You can try to manipulate several objects at the same time. You can work on precision of movement and speed."

She pulled out a black object that looked a bit like a flashlight or a marker pen.

"This is my magic wand," she said gleefully. "It's a laser pointer that I bought at an office supply store. I'll say some incantation and point it at you, like this. And if you have a red spot on you, you're dead!"

There was an intense red light shining from Mrs. Figg's pointer. Harry looked at his chest and saw a red dot of light near his heart.

"Now dear, just levitate that hassock straight up about three or four feet so it blocks the laser beam," she ordered.

Harry levitated the hassock until the red spot on his chest disappeared.

"That's the way dear!" she exclaimed. "Now we'll play hide and seek laser tag. I'll count to ten while you go into the parlor. When I'm done counting, I'll come into the parlor and blast you with a killing spell from my laser pointer magic wand. You have to put some object between you and me that blocks the little red spot."

Mrs. Figg started counting to ten. Harry was a bit taken back. He had rarely played hide and seek with Dudley for fun. He had mostly hidden from Dudley to avoid getting beat up.

"I'm up to 5, Harry dear, you had better run," teased Mrs. Figg
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Harry dashed into the parlor and started to look for some object he could levitate. That table lamp, it had a fat round base.

"10," said Mrs. Figg loudly. "Ready or not here I come!"

"I'm Mr. Rookwood, and I'm going to blast you good," she said happily.

Harry levitated the lamp and moved it towards the middle of the room to block Mrs. Figg's line of fire.

She raised the laser pointer and said "owhoopeedoo iseeyou".

Harry tried to make a quick move with the fat lamp as she was saying her goofy incantation. He almost got the lamp into position when the lamp's electric cord knocked a cat picture off an end table. The picture frame shattered when it hit the floor. The lamp came to a sudden stop a foot short of where Harry wanted it to be. There was a red dot on his belly.

"Oh no!" cried out Mrs. Figg, "The bad guys got Harry!"

"Electric cords…" said Harry, "there are a lot of things around here that are not as mobile as they look."

Harry repaired the picture frame and glass and put the lamp back on the end table.

"Let's try that again Harry dear," said Mrs. Figg sweetly as she returned to the kitchen.

"Since you're already in the parlor, I'll just count to five. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5!" She counted so fast Harry didn't have time to think at all. "Here comes Mr. McNair to suck out your air."

She suddenly appeared in the door with her laser pointer aimed right at him.

"Vacuumous yourlungsout," she shouted playfully.

Harry dove behind her tattered old recliner chair knocking over a floor lamp and breaking the globe.

"Oh I missed," she exclaimed. "Harry you're not supposed to dive behind things, this is levitation practice."

"It worked didn't it," he said defensively.

"I suppose it did," she admitted, "but my spell hit the chair. It would be gone now. Harry, would you please hit that beat up old chair with a reducto curse."

He cast the spell on the chair and it crumbled to dust. He was down on his knees with a batty old woman aiming a laser pointer right at him.

"Thank you dear, now I have a clear shot," she said triumphantly
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"Wingardium leviosa," yelled Harry.

"Vacuumous yourlungsout," yelled Mrs. Figg.

The picture frame that Harry had just repaired flew through the air and partially blocked the red laser dot that briefly appeared on his chest.

"That's better!" said Mrs. Figg. "I probably just winded you with that attack. But maybe you should use a bigger object for your shield next time."

Harry repaired the lamp he had knocked over and then he repaired the picture frame again. There was nothing to be done with the dust of Mrs. Figg's old chair but to sweep it up and chuck it into the bin. Mrs. Figg was happy because she wanted to buy a new chair anyway. Harry took advantage of the break to study the room. He picked out several objects that he could use for shields like a footstool and a sofa cushion.

Mrs. Figg played laser tag with Harry for over an hour. It was great fun. It was abundantly clear that Mrs. Figg knew nothing about offensive magical spells or incantations, but she knew the names of a lot of Death Eaters and she was very creative at inventing silly spell names and incantations.

"I'm Mr. Nott, I'll make you rot - Festerous fungusmold".

"I'm Mrs. Lestrange, I'll give you some pains �“ Wagoney Ofagony".

"I'm Mr. Malfoy, I'm going to kill you boy - Homocido Manio".

By the end of an hour Harry had improved enough to block some of her shots. He had also gotten a lot of practice repairing broken furniture. Then Mrs. Figg brought out tea and biscuits.

"We'll work on levitating objects to block spells for about an hour a day for the rest of the week," she said cheerfully. "I haven't had so much fun in ages."

"It's difficult to float objects to just exactly the right place at just exactly the right time," observed Harry. "This practice might actually be useful, and it's fun!"

Harry helped himself to another biscuit.

"It's so ironic," said Mrs. Figg. "Here I am helping to train the most powerful young wizard in Britain, and I'm a Squibb! Have you been reading your spells this summer?" she asked.

"In the evenings," answered Harry. "I've been practicing summoning too."

"Is that wise, Harry?" asked Mrs. Figg. "You're still underage."

"I think I can get away with it if I don't do any big spells and especially if I don't use my wand," rationalized Harry. "I think the Ministry of Magic ignores the stuff that happens around kids because they don't use wands."

"Magic without your wand?" said an amazed Mrs. Figg. "Does it work? What are you doing?"

Harry placed his wand on the table and held his hand about a foot away from it.

"Accio," he said.

The wand rolled to his fingertips.

"That could be useful if you can increase your range," observed Mrs. Figg. "You should practice that one here too. You have permission from the Ministry to use summoning charms in my house to help move furniture."

When Harry got back to the Dursleys' house he noticed Uncle Vernon's car was parked out in the driveway. Then to his great surprise he saw that Dudley was working, yes working, in the garage.

"What's up Dudder's?" asked Harry as he entered the garage.

"I don't want to get out of shape this summer," Dudley declared. "I have a boxing title to defend."

He had turned the garage into a gym with weights, punching bags and sparring gear.

"Wonderful," observed Harry grimly.

"You want to learn how to box?" asked Dudley.

"What? So I can be your punching bag? Those days are over Dudley." said Harry bitterly.

"Oh I've got punching bags," Dudley said brightly. "I need a sparring partner."

"I don't think so," said Harry.

"Don't be a chicken," taunted Dudley. "Boxing is a sport. No one ever gets hurt. You wear a sparring helmet and a mouthpiece and of course gloves. And I'd have to teach you some basic moves or you'd be worthless to me as a sparring partner."

"You want to teach me to box?" said Harry incredulously.

"In two or three weeks you'll be up to speed. Then you can spar with me," answered Dudley.

"Alright," said Harry. He thought that working out and learning some boxing moves would be worthwhile. He had no intention of ever really sparring with Dudley Dursley.

Harry's routine for the third week of summer vacation was: chores in the morning, practice levitating objects in the afternoon, lifting weights, and learning to box in the evening. Then he would write a letter and read some spells before bed. There was nothing like keeping busy to take one's mind off of Lord Voldemort. Harry's sleep was untroubled by strange dreams or visions. He didn't think about why that should be so. Occlumency practice was soon forgotten.

The best part of the third week of summer was the mail. On Tuesday, Harry got an owl from Ron that told him about the Dragon census work. He also got a package in the Muggle post. It came from a photography studio in Hastings. His Aunt and Uncle both stared at him suspiciously as he opened the package.

"Who would send you something in the normal mail?" demanded Uncle Vernon. "Are you sure it's safe to open that thing?"

It turned out to be a framed photo of Hermione on the beach.

"Humpf," grunted Uncle Vernon. "Misguided girl. Too skinny too."

Dudley was more favorably impressed. "Cute girlfriend you've got," he said.

"She's a good friend," said Harry, "but she's not my girlfriend."

"Humpf," grunted Dudley, "she sends a bikini picture and she's just a good friend? I've always known you were strange but I never thought you were stupid. If she's not your girlfriend, will you introduce me to her?"

"Oh Dudley," said Harry, "I don't think so. She's a witch. She's talented. She's smart. She studies hard. She's thoughtful and kind. She's brave and loyal. She's attractive. You have absolutely nothing in common with her."

On Wednesday Harry got an owl from Professor McGonagall. He was invited to return to Hogwarts for two and a half weeks to be a student instructor at the YWWMC, Youmg Wizards' and Witches' Magic Camp. It was a program for young kids from wizard families. The children would spend a week at Hogwarts having fun and learning a bit about magic. There were two sessions that lasted one week each. Each year two of the older students from each house were chosen as instructors. The student instructors would get a few days of training before the first batch of kids arrived.

The student instructors also had to form an all-Hogwarts Quidditch team. They had to do this in a week and a half! They would play an exhibition game at the end each week to entertain the kids. Their opponents this year would be the Chudley Cannons and the Tutshill Tornados. Harry thought the Hogwarts team would be smashed by the professionals, even if they had a year to practice. But it would entertain the kids and give the professionals an easy pre-season workout.

Harry was overjoyed! He was going back to Hogwarts in mid-summer.

On Thursday a letter from the Grangers arrived for Harry by Muggle post.

Dearest Harry,

I have permission to exchange letters with my parents once a week. I am secretly slipping this letter for you in with the letter to mom and dad. Address your reply to our house and send it by Muggle post. Mom will forward your letters to me along with theirs.

I am safe here, so you don't have to worry about me. My protectors are absolutely trustworthy. They just don't like me. We don't understand each other. They never talk to me. The first two days have been very hard. The work is exhausting and I'm lonely.

Please write to me. Tell me everything that's going on. I constantly worry about you. If nothing interesting is happening around you, then tell me all of the boring details. Did you get the photo I ordered? Have you heard from Ron or Ginny? Is there any war news in the Daily Prophet? Have you been able to practice magic?

Being cut off like this makes me realize how important friends are. Harry you have such an awful burden to bear. You will need all of the friends you can get. If you offended anybody last semester, student or teacher, you should write to them and try to patch things up.

Dumbledore is the only human who knows where I am and I haven't seen him since Sunday night. You are the only wizard I am in contact with. Please write. I have nothing here to read.


Yours,

Hermione


Harry found the letter from Hermione to be as disturbing as it was reassuring. It was good to hear from her. It was important that she be safe. But it sounded like she was unhappy. Surrounded by non-humans? Where was she? She had to have permission to exchange one letter a week with her parents? Was she in prison? He found himself staring at her photo a lot. He wrote a long letter to her about laser tag, boxing and chores.

Hermione was concerned about him. She said that he needed all of the friends he could get and that he should write apology letters to people he had offended. What did she mean by that? Who had he offended? Snape? Harry did not like the idea of apologizing to him. He would start with someone else. Who else had he offended? Zacharias Smith? That can't be what she was talking about.

Should he apologize to Ron and Ginny and Luna and Neville for almost getting them all killed? They would forgive him, but he should say "I'm sorry, I'll be more careful next time."

Was there anybody else? Cho Chang did some crying last semester. Harry decided to write her first.

Dear Cho,

I'm sorry I was such a jerk last semester. I hurt your feelings and I regret it.

I would like to be your friend.

I know we are attracted to each other, but it is probably best for you if I am not your boyfriend. I could never replace Cedric. His death still haunts me. I share your grief over his loss. I went from being jealous of Cedric, to respecting him, to genuine friendship. We agreed to share the glory of winning the Triwizard Cup. Then we were suddenly in that graveyard and he was the only friend I had. Then he was murdered.

I heard that you were seeing Michael Corner. I think he's OK. You need a guy who was in the DA and who can protect you during this war.

I admire the way you stuck up for Marietta Edgecomb. It shows that you are loyal to your friends. I'm not angry at her anymore. I know how difficult it is to stand up in the face of political pressure. Tell her that if she apologizes to me, I'll forgive her.

Harry


On Wednesday morning of the fourth week of summer, Harry boarded the Knight Bus to travel to Hogwarts. Dedalas Diggle and Elphias Doge, were on the bus when he got on board. He took all of his stuff in his big trunk because he wasn't sure what he would need.

Harry met the rest of the YWWMC student instructors at lunch in the Great Hall. Katie Bell was the other student from Gryffindor. The students from Hufflepuff were Ernie MacMillan and Cindy Chambers. From Ravenclaw the instructors were Michael Corner and to Harry's surprise Cho Chang. From Slytherin it was Harry’s nemesis Draco Malfoy and his girlfriend Pansy Parkinson. Working with them was going to be difficult. Pansy wasn't a Quidditch player, because the Slytherin team was all male. But they had seven players without her.

Since there were only eight sixth and seventh year student instructors they ate at the same table along with the Hogwarts teachers that would train them and provide adult leadership. To Harry's great relief Professor Snape was not among them.

Harry wasn't sure what to expect from Cho, they were not on speaking terms when he had last seen her. But Cho gave Harry a smile and pointed him to an empty seat between her and Katie Bell.

"Hi Harry," Cho said with a warm smile. "Your apology is accepted. That was a nice letter you wrote. Friends?"

"Thanks Cho," said Harry said Harry smiling back. "Yes, friends."

"Have you seen the schedule yet?" she asked.

"No, where can I get one?" asked Harry.

"Professor McGonagall has them. We'll be working together for flying classes," Cho informed him enthusiastically. The Magic class this year is called Self Defense, we'll be doing that one together too."

"Self defense?" said Harry incredulously. "I thought these were young children. They won't even have wands."

"We provide them with some cheap bamboo wands that we have to enchant before class. The kids can't really cast spells, but they can set off those that are preloaded into the wands. It makes them think they can do magic," she explained.

"You sound like an expert," said Harry. "Have you done this before?"

"I was an instructor last year," she said. "It's a lot of work so pay close attention during training classes."

The children could get themselves in a lot of trouble and even danger if they ran around Hogwarts unsupervised, so the idea was to keep them busy with activities all day long. There were eight activities for the kids: Flying supervised by Madam Hooch, Magical Creatures supervised by Mrs. Grumbly-Plank, Famous Witches and Wizards supervised by Madam Pince, Sports and Games supervised by Professor McGonagall, Self-Defense supervised by Professor Flintwick, First Aid supervised by Madam Pomfrey, Potions and Cooking supervised by Professor Sprout and Swimming, which was supervised by Professor Vector who normally taught arithmancy
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Harry was assigned to Sports and Games and First Aid in the mornings and Flying and Self Defense in the afternoons. Professor Vector seemed to be a bit disappointed that Harry would not be working with her. She seemed to believe that he was good at rescuing people from the lake. The student instructors spent the rest of Wednesday and all of Thursday and Friday in training sessions with the course supervisors, and with Quidditch practice.

It was a lot of work, especially preparing for the Magic Class in Self Defense. Like Cho had said, they had a box of cheap bamboo wands with a flobber worm heart for the core. A talented wizard could use one to do simple spells, but they weren’t very good. For the kids to get anything out of them they had to be enchanted with specific spells beforehand. Since a flobber worm heart has six chambers, each wand could store up to six spells. Harry finally learned what magical thing flobber worms do. Their hearts have no muscles, they pump blood magically. The wands were loaded with spells for Levitation, the Imperturbable Charm and a Shield Charm, two shots of each. To preload a single spell into one of the wands required two charms, one to enchant the wand to accept a spell and then the spell itself. Harry and Cho had to cast twelve charms to load each wand, and they had a whole box of bamboo wands to load. He soon understood why Professor Flintwick supervised this class. It was a lot of charms work.

The sports and games class involved a lot of relay races and various ball games, usually involving some sort of enchanted ball or bat or another object. The purpose of this class was to give the kids a good physical workout so they would be easier to manage in the other classes. Professor McGonagall would tell them what to do and blow a whistle. Harry could see that he and his partner, Cindy Chambers would be getting a workout too.

Harry's partner for First Aid class was Pansy Parkinson. Harry was glad he didn't have to work with Draco Malfoy. It was at least possible to work with Pansy.

Flying class would be the best. Harry could use his Firebolt and he got to work with Cho. They would concentrate on teaching the kids basic maneuvers, landing, flying through hoops and the like. Madam Hooch made Cho and Harry practice the spell for stopping a falling object over and over and over again. She wanted them to be prepared to catch any children that fell off of their brooms.

Madam Hooch also helped the student instructors to organize their Quidditch team.

To choose their team captain, each student wrote the name of his choice for captain on a piece of paper and they tallied up the votes. Harry voted for Katie Bell a Gryffindor chaser. Katie only got one vote. Ernie MacMillan got two votes. That surprised Ernie, because he and Cindy Chambers had conspired to both vote for Harry. Harry got four votes and was declared to be the captain.

They had two players from each house except Slytherin, but the team didn't have a perfect mix of skills. There were two chasers, Katie Bell from Gryffindor and Cindy Chambers from Hufflepuff. They needed to have three chasers. They had two beaters, Michael Corner from Ravenclaw and Ernie MacMillan from Hufflepuff. They didn't have a keeper, but they had three seekers, Harry, Cho and Draco. They only needed one seeker. Harry had to choose one of the seekers to be the keeper and one to be a chaser. Harry selected Malfoy to be the keeper. He thought Cho was a better seeker than Malfoy and Katie and Cindy did not want Malfoy to be a chaser. Harry chose Cho as the seeker and he became the third chaser.

They practiced every day. Harry knew they would be beaten by the professionals, but he didn't want to be humiliated.

Harry decided to use his time in the evenings at Hogwarts to do a bit of research in the library. He had to figure out what sort of power he had that Lord Voldemort knew nothing about. He visited with Madam Pince in the library and checked out a pile of spell books. He planned to study the spell books in his room, which he had all to himself.

On Saturday morning after Quidditch practice, most of the student instructors went into Hogsmead, but Professor McGonagall thought it would be better if Harry stayed in the castle. She had learned of his furniture moving job at Mrs. Figg's and she had a job for him to do. In the east wing of the castle there were two rooms that were used to store enchanted items. To a Muggle these rooms would appear to be full of worthless old junk, but it was magical junk. Harry's job was to put all of the enchanted stuff into one of the rooms so the other room could be cleaned up and used as a classroom for the YWWMC.

He started by rearranging the junk that was in the room he was to pack. His plan was to clear enough space to bring in the junk from the other room that he had to empty. While he was working on this chore, he found an old friend. It was the Mirror of Erised.

Harry had all day Saturday to finish moving the junk from one room to the other. The Mirror of Erised proved to be a powerful temptation. After he had rearranged all of the things in that room so he could bring in the stuff from the other room, he gave in and pulled the sheet off of the enchanted mirror. He knew that the mirror merely showed him his heart's deepest desire, not the truth. There was no reality or predictive value to what he would see. When Harry was eleven, he saw his parents in the mirror. He thought it wouldn't hurt to dream about being with them for a few minutes. But Harry wasn't eleven anymore, what he saw was a surprise.

The Harry in the mirror was grown up. Imagine that, Harry thought, my deepest desire is to live long enough to grow up. There were children. He saw his wife. Why hadn't he seen this coming? His eyes were drawn especially to the boy, his first child, his son. Harry guessed he was about ten. The boy had wild black hair and glasses, like Harry. He smiled and waved at Harry. He had golden brown eyes, Hermione's eyes.

He covered up the mirror and sat down on the floor. He had to think about this.

Could this fantasy possibly come true?

He had to kill Lord Voldemort. How could he do this? He had no clue.

Everyone he had ever been close to had been murdered. Hermione's near death haunted him. He couldn't put her in such danger. If he loved her, he should forget his heart's deepest desire. She would be better off with someone else. Ron cared for her. Ron was from a large family of wizards, he could protect her.

He sat there through lunch. He didn't get up until mid afternoon.

As Harry walked slowly down the darkened corridor he heard a sound coming from a classroom. There was no one else in this part of the castle. But there was a swishing sound. Like a snake crawling across a floor.

Chapter 5 The House Elf

Harry stopped and listened. He pulled out his wand and planned his attack.

He would use a flagration spell. He would burn the snake.

The door was cracked ever so slightly. He couldn't see into the room, but he could kick the door open. His first spell would be the killing blow.

He took a deep breath and listened for the swishing sound. He sprang.

He kicked the door open violently and jumped into the room. There was sudden movement, he aimed his wand. He heard a girl shriek. He stopped.

The girl was sprawled on her back next to a bucket, trembling in terror. She was nearly naked.

"Harry!" she exclaimed, "Oh, you almost scared the pee out of me!"

"Hermione? What are you doing here?" he asked as he lowered his wand.

"I'm cleaning the floor," she said.

"But why are you here, at Hogwarts? Why didn't you tell me you'd be here? Why are you wearing a bikini… made of rags?" he asked.

He looked at her skimpy garments. The only thing that looked substantial was the wand scabbard on her thigh. The rest of it looked like it would blow off in a stiff breeze.

"You're wearing tea towels!" he exclaimed.

"Harry, you're not supposed to see me!" she said as she got to her feet.

"Does this have something to do with House Elves, Hermione?" he deduced. "Why are you dressed in tea towels and scrubbing floors?"

He noticed that her knees had scabs and that a trickle of blood ran down her shin.

She hung her head as if in shame, her face hidden by her bushy brown hair.

"I'm being punished," she said reluctantly.

"What…?"

"It's for the elf hat thing," she explained. "I was so stupid."

Harry just let her continue.

"You see, students can't free House Elves. Only the headmaster has the authority to give clothes to an elf. As a Prefect I should have known better. When a student gives an elf a hat or socks or whatever, the poor elf can't go free. It's just a message to the elf. The elf thinks the student is saying, 'You're doing a lousy job and you should be sacked.' It's a terrible insult."

"You insulted the House Elves?" said Harry.

"I put more effort into insulting the House Elves than any other student ever has in all of Hogwarts' history," she said sadly.

"But you were trying to free them. You were trying to be kind to them," Harry argued.

"I'm not being punished for what I tried to do. I'm being punished for what I did. I hurt their feelings. I hurt their feelings repeatedly. I caused unrest," she sighed. "I'm serving detention for the rest of the summer, because I abused school property. Prefects shouldn't do that."

"Detention for the whole summer! Scrubbing floors! Wearing rags! That's harsh!" Harry raged.

"It was an excuse to force me to agree to being locked up for the whole summer," she said bitterly. "I'm safe here, no burden to anyone. Dumbledore didn't want me at 12 Grimmauld Place. Children get in the way. I had a choice, detention or expulsion."

"So this is the safe place Dumbledore arranged for you?" asked Harry.

"I'm sentenced to work with the House Elves all summer. I thought there could be a positive side to it. I thought it would give me a chance to see what their lives are really like. I thought it would help me to refine S.P.E.W. I want to learn what they really need to make their lives better, that hat thing was so immature," Hermione explained.

"Dumbledore just said I had to work with them, but I choose a total emersion program. I'm living with them. I'm living like them. For the rest of the summer, I'm a House Elf."

Harry couldn't help but smile, Hermione never did anything half way.

"So how's it going?" he asked cheerfully.

"Horribly," she said sadly. "I thought that I would learn all about them, their desires and their dreams. Now I just want to survive until classes start."

She looked absolutely miserable.

"I just hope that by the end of the summer a few of them will forgive me, even if they can't understand me. I just want a few of them to talk to me," she said sadly.

"Hermione, you poor thing, you've been scrubbing floors for two weeks on your hands and knees?" said Harry sympathetically.

"Oh no," she said, "I've been on floors for only one week. The first week was much worse. Newbees always get the nasty jobs."

"Worse than this? What did you have to do?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Hagrid's away. That Grumbly-Plank woman didn't arrive until yesterday. Someone had to take care of his collection of beasts."

"You had to feed Fang and Fluffy?" he surmised?

"Them and a dozen Hippogrifs and the Thestrals. I hate Thestrals." she said shaking.

"You can't see them, can you?" Harry asked.

"No, I kept my eyes shut during the executions. I should have watched. I was so stupid. I don't like capitol punishment," she said mournfully. "Now I can't see them.”

But I can smell them,” she continued. “They're carnivores. Harry, you can't imagine the smell.”

“And I can feel them,” she said emphatically. “I can feel them when they slap me with their tails or lick me. I had to carry big slabs of fresh meat. They were so heavy. It was exhausting. I was covered with blood. They licked me, everywhere. Little bites too.

“And I can hear them. Oh yes, I can hear them when they laugh." She shuddered. It as though she was reliving a nightmare.

"Thestrals laugh?" asked Harry.

"It's so creepy, it makes my skin crawl. It took two days to figure out what they were doing. They have a really crude sense of humor. They all think they're comedians. And the biggest joke around was me," she said shaking.

"Tease the little witch. Make her shriek. Make her jump. Make her angry. Make her cry. It's all a load of laughs to them," she said bitterly.

"The key to getting their stable clean, and remaining sane, is to get them all out. But I can't see them. They hide in the corners, and play tricks on me. Poop in the middle of a stall I just cleaned out. Ha Ha. Fart in her face. Ho Ho. Bite her in the buns, see if she'll jump into that pile of shit. Har Har."

Harry didn't interrupt. She was wound up now for a good monologue and Harry just had to try to not laugh at her.

"On Tuesday we hitch the team to the ice wagon so Filch can take it into town to get meat and milk. There's a hay pile in the harness room. There was a rope in the hay pile, but I didn't know that. They pulled on the rope! I screamed, I thought it was a snake!"

"On Wednesday we hitch the team to an ordinary wagon so Filch can go get groceries and dry goods. One of the harnesses was missing. It was lying on the hay pile, so I picked it up. Then something moved in the hay pile. I thought it was the rope trick so I grabbed it. It was a real snake! They blocked the door! I was trapped with the snake!"

"By Thursday I was so mad I used my wand. I sprayed a mist in the stable so I could see them and I shooed them all out and shut the door. I cleaned the stable unmolested. That was my little victory for the week."

"On Friday they took their revenge. I came out of the stable and bumped into one. I tried to go around it, but they surrounded me and they pressed against me. I couldn't move. I couldn't breath. I screamed! And do you know what they did next?"

"What did they do?" asked Harry trying to keep a straight face, but smiling in spite of himself.

"They nicked my tea towels."

Harry had to cover his mouth.

"Now what was I to do? Chase my bottom into the forbidden forest, towards the Centaurs? Chase my top towards Grawp's clearing? Return to the castle stark naked? Just stand there and listen to them laughing at me like a hundred psychotic hyenas?"

Harry snickered. Hermione gave him a dirty look.

"I gathered a pile of grass and transfigured it into yarn. I enchanted some twigs and knitted a tunic. Then I got dressed and went back to the castle."

"That's very creative," said Harry. He was impressed.

"On Saturday, I was in agony! Old George, he's the Head House Elf, made me strip off my tunic in front of the whole kitchen staff. My skin was all red.

He made me transfigure the yarn back into grass, and he fished through the pile of grass with a fork. Then he pulled out a vine of poison ivy, and he says, ’Thestrals has a wicked sense of humor, Miss Hermione."

"I suppose it was a breakthrough." she concluded. "It was the first time any of them spoke to me, except for work orders."

"So," said Harry. He was trying to not smile at her distress, but it was hard to keep a straight face as he imagined her naked in the forest. "Besides being tormented by invisible creatures and overworked, how's life as a House Elf?"

"Hogwarts' House Elves are treated better than average, but their lives are still hard. We each have our own cupboard in a pantry to sleep in. We get a mattress and a pillow. In the winter they get a blanket, but in July those cupboards are very hot and stuffy. And they are too short, or maybe I'm too tall, but I have to sleep all curled up. I wake up stiff every morning," she complained. "We have pegs to hang our tea towels on at night…"

"Oh Dear Harry," she said smiling, "I got your letter. I read it over and over. I'm so glad you have been able to practice magic. And with all of that hard work and weight lifting you're getting so strong."

"And you're getting thin," he said looking at her appraisingly.

"House Elves work hard and we don't eat much," she said proudly. "I think scrubbing floors has been good for my abs and pecs. What do you think?" She said as she posed for him and turned around.

Harry thought that was very strange behavior for Hermione. Was she flirting?

"Scrubbing floors has been rough on your knees," Harry observed.

"Harry, this is important," she said suddenly turning serious. She put her hands on his shoulders. "You must not tell anyone you saw me here, especially Ron."

"I don't know," said Harry teasingly, "Hermione the House Elf, that's a good story."

"No, please, Harry!" she said with a quiver in her voice. "I'm serving seven weeks of detention for abusing school property. I'm a prefect. It's too embarrassing."

She pressed her body tightly against him. He felt his temperature rising.

"I'm your slave, Harry," she pleaded. "I'll do anything. Please promise me you won't tell." She laid her head on his shoulder.

Harry could smell her sweat and grime, he could feel her heart beating. He pushed her away and stared at her face.

"Anything?" he asked coldly.

She stared back at him. Her eyes were wide open. Her nervousness was replaced with fear.

He saw his reflection in her brown eyes. He was frowning and stern.

It seemed like she couldn't talk. She slowly nodded her head.

"I want you to promise me this," he said firmly, "when I go into combat against Lord Voldemort, you will not follow me. Promise me that you will stay where it's safe."

"When…" she choked.

She backed up a step. Tears filled her eyes. She backed up another step. She wiped her face with her hand and took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"You called my bluff," she said. "You caught me in a lie."

She struggled to maintain her composure.

"I still have some principles after all," she stated. "There are some things I won't do for anything."

"You can talk. Go ahead, embarrass me. Tell them I'm a detention queen. Tell them I'm trying to impress House Elves with hard work. Tell them I'm a dirty smelly slut that tried to seduce you," she cried. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

Harry was too shocked to say anything.

"But… if… you…. think," she said haltingly, "for one minute… that I will hide in a corner… and do nothing…. while Voldemort…. and his ARMY!....MURDER YOU! You are mistaken!"

"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed, his own voice shaking, "I don't want you to get hurt!"

"Harry Potter!" she cried, "Don't you understand? Nothing could possibly ever hurt me as much as loosing you." She took a step towards him and said softly, "I love you."

"Hermione… No…I'm not good for you."

"So!" she retorted, "I know that. I'm not rational. I'm in love."

"But… with me?" he argued, "what about Ron?"

"Ron is a dear friend. And I think he wants more than that, but I have to disappoint him," she said. "I just hope that our friendship can survive."

"What about Victor Krum?" said Harry. He felt like a drowning man clutching at a straw.

"Victor is a nice guy," she said sadly, "and I hurt him. I agreed to go to the Yule Ball with him because I wanted to go with you instead of Ron. I didn't realize that he would really fall for me. He kept asking me to come to Bulgaria, to meet his parents. I made excuses. I finally had to be blunt with him. I told him I loved someone else, just before Christmas."

Harry had run out of arguments. He didn't know what else to say. He walked over to a window and looked out, just to clear his head. He could see the Gryffindor tower across the wide courtyard. All of the windows were open in the July heat.

"I won't talk about this to anyone, Hermione," he finally said, "especially Ron. Your secret is safe. I promise."

"Thank you, Harry," she said softly.

They were both silent for several minutes. Harry stared out the window. Hermione got down on her knees, retrieved her brush, and went back to scrubbing the floor.

Harry watched her work for a minute.

"You're getting blood on the floor," he observed.

"I clean it up as I go," she said.

He looked across the courtyard towards Gryffindor tower and he took out his wand
.
"Accio kneepads," he said.

The kneepads that Harry had used for landscaping wormed their way out of his trunk and flew across the castle courtyard to his hand.

"Nice summoning charm," said Hermione.

"I had a good tutor," said Harry.

"Put these on," he said as he handed them to Hermione.

"Are you trying to give me clothes?" she asked as she gave them back.

"Kneepads aren't clothing," he said as he handed them to her again. "They're a tool. They'll make your work more efficient."

"The Head House Elf didn't issue me kneepads," she stated. "He'll wonder where I got them."

She handed the kneepads back to Harry again.

"Tell him that Harry Potter ordered you to wear them whenever you scrub floors." he said decisively as he handed them to her for the third time. "If he doesn't like it, send him to me."

She quietly put on the kneepads, and went back to work.

Harry moved towards the door. He had to move a room full of things before dinner. Just as he reached the door, she called to him.

"Harry, if Lord Voldemort kidnapped me… and they tortured me… and they touched me… would you come rescue me?" she asked.

"Yes," he said firmly.

"But Harry, it's a trap. They don't care about me. I'm just a worm on a hook. If you come for me, they'll try to kill you." she explained. "You should leave me to my fate until you are strong enough to win."

"I'd come for you, ready or not," he said.

"I know you would," she said gently, "and I promise to be careful."

Harry left the room. He began levitating things down the hall to the room he was packing. He could hear the swishing of her brush on the classroom floor. He didn't see her leave. When he was done moving all of the enchanted items, he peeked into the classroom.

She was gone.

Saturday evening there was another Quidditch practice. Mid-way through practice Katie and Cindy asked Harry if he was too tired from working all day to continue. He admitted that he hadn't worked all that hard. Then they got mad at him and told him he had to pay attention. He had to learn how to be a chaser. He had to learn new techniques, to work with the team and make the right moves for their offensive plays.

He tried to stop thinking about magic mirrors and that new House Elf.

Chapter 6 Young Wizards and Witches Magic Camp

The kids arrived Sunday evening on the Hogwarts Express, and they were a rowdy bunch. There weren’t as many of them as there were Hogwarts students, but what they lacked in numbers they made up for in sheer energy. Getting them up to the castle required quite a few carriages. Harry wondered what jokes the thestrals had played on their favorite house elf. In the great hall the kids were sorted into houses. These kids, aged seven through ten, were sorted by lottery because that was faster than the hat.

After dinner Harry and Katie took the children that were assigned to them up to Gryffindor tower and tried to get them settled in their rooms. The kids were terrible. It was an hour after their bedtime before Harry and Katie got them quiet in their rooms.

Harry wanted to go to bed, but he hadn't read any of the spell books he had from the library. He had vowed to do some research each night until he found the nature of the mysterious power he was supposed to have that would allow him to defeat Lord Voldemort, but the common room looked like a storm had hit it. He was worried about a particular house elf being overworked so he spent a half an hour picking up trash and straightening up.

Harry was very tired when he finally got to the spell books. He chose one randomly, and began looking through it, but he didn't know what he was looking for. He soon gave up on research and went up to his room.

As he was straightening his trunk Harry found an unmatched sock. He was about to throw it away when he remembered how one sock had changed Dobby's life. Hermione had said that she was his slave. If she loved him, it would get her killed. He knew that he loved her. He had to let her go.

He addressed an envelope: To the house elf named Hermione and he put the sock in it. Then he sat down in a comfortable chair to wait.

He dozed fitfully. Around 2 AM he heard movement and he woke up. Dobby was cleaning the room.

"Harry Potter!" Dobby greeted him cheerfully. "Dobby is happy to see you back at Hogwarts. But Dobby is surprised to see Harry Potter sleeping in a chair when he has his own room and five beds to choose from."

"Hello Dobby," said Harry a bit groggily. "How have you been? Is Old George treating you alright?"

"Dobby is very happy working at Hogwarts," he said smiling from ear to pointy ear. "And Dobby is surprised that the Great Harry Potter knows the names of house elves."

"I know the names of only four," Harry admitted, "you, Old George, Winky, and one more. She's new here and she has a lot of brown hair."

"Harry Potter is amazing!" exclaimed Dobby. "No one is to know of this new house elf. Dumbledore makes us all swear to keep her secret."

"I want you to give this to her," he said, quickly handing Dobby the envelope, before he could change his mind. "Tomorrow night, when you clean the tower, wake me up. I want you to talk to me again," Harry instructed as he turned to go up to his room.

"Good night, Harry Potter," said Dobby. "Dobby will do as Dobby is told."

A very few short hours later the sun began to peak over the horizon. Harry was in a deep sleep when he was jolted awake by the loud crowing of a rooster that was perched on a windowsill close to his bed.

"Go away," he said to the rooster.

"Get up lazy bones!" said the rooster, "it's time for quidditch practice."

Harry reluctantly crawled out of bed. He pulled on shorts, a T-shirt and his trainers and he stuck his wand in his sock. Then he got on his Firebolt and shot through the window towards the quidditch pitch.

Madam Hooch was waiting for them. They spent about half an hour doing stretches, jumping jacks, sit ups, push ups, and chin ups on their suspended brooms. Then they broke up into groups to practice their quidditch skills. Michael and Ernie practiced knocking bludgers through moving hoops. Cho went chasing after the snitch. Every time she caught it Madam Hooch would let it go again. Harry, Katie and Cindy practiced passing the quaffle and attempting to score goals while Draco defended the three rings.

After breakfast the activities began.

In first aid class, Harry and Pansy set up practice dummies and did what Madam Pomfrey told them to do. Children can't do magical healing, so this course was about techniques that even Muggles can use to keep an accident victim alive until help arrives.

In sports and games class, Harry and Cindy got more exercise than the kids.

After lunch, Harry worked with Cho for both flying class and self-defense. The kids in flying class kept falling off their brooms. Harry and Cho both got practice catching them. Self-defense class was really just setting off some charms that had been pre-loaded into the bamboo wands and talking about the situations where they might be helpful to their families. Harry enjoyed working with Cho, and she said he was great with children.

At four o'clock the kids got some free time to play games and visit in their house common rooms. The student instructors’ job was to keep them from burning down the castle with the fires started by their exploding snap cards.

After dinner there was some planned activity. On Monday evening it was a hike around the lake looking at plants with Professor Sprout. Harry and Cho had to spend more than an hour in Professor Flintwick's classroom reloading the bamboo wands with spells.

"It's been a charming evening," Harry quipped.

"You should be punished for that remark," replied Cho.

The kids then had free time in the common room until it was bedtime. Harry made them tidy up the common room before going to their beds.

Harry practiced wandless summoning and read a few spells before going to bed. He didn't learn a thing that would help him in a fight against Lord Voldemort and he felt like his research was very haphazard.

He stretched out on his bed. It was a warm evening and he was grateful for the breeze that came through the window. He wondered if Hermione had trouble sleeping all curled up in a stuffy cupboard.

Sometime in the middle of the night he was prodded awake by Dobby.

"Hi Dobby," Harry said as he reached for his glasses.

"Harry Potter said that he wanted to talk to Dobby," Dobby reminded him.

"Yes, did you give the envelope to Hermione?" Harry asked him.

"Yes, Harry Potter, Dobby gave it to Miss Hermione," the elf said grimly. "That envelope had a sock in it."

"What did she do when she got it?" Harry asked.

"Harry Potter made the new house elf cry," accused Dobby. "Why does Harry Potter want to sack Miss Hermione."

"Dobby, you of all of the house elves must understand that there is a difference between being sacked and being set free," rationalized Harry.

"Dobby understands. If you wants to be free, you is being set free. But if you wants to stay, you is being sacked,” Dobby said. “Miss Hermione does not want Harry Potter to sack her."

"She'll get over me," Harry said without conviction.

"Miss Hermione cried when she saw the sock," Dobby said sadly. “But then she saw the words that was written on the sock,” he reported. “She says that the words on the sock say that Harry Potter is not sacking her after all,” Dobby said brightly. “And she cries again. Harry Potter should not make Miss Hermione cry," Dobby stated firmly. "She is a good house elf, she works hard, she does not complain, she is learning."

"Wait…what did you say?” Harry asked. “You said that there were words on the sock that said I wasn't setting her free? What were the words?"

"Oh Harry Potter," Dobby laughed, "Dobby doesn't know what the words are. Dobby is a house elf and house elves don't read words. But Miss Hermione reads words," said Dobby positively. "She says the words on the sock make her happy. She uses the sock to tie up her hair so all of the house elves can see the words. Miss Hermione wants everybody to see that Harry Potter is not sacking her, even if house elves can't read the words. She has a lot of hair. It gets in the way, but she doesn't want Old George to cut it off. The sock is useful to tie up her hair."

"Words on the sock?" Harry wondered aloud.

He pulled out a pair of his socks and looked at them. He found the words.

Property of Harry Potter

“She wears this in her hair, so everyone can see the words,” Harry said to himself.

He had sent a mixed message. She could interpret it any way she wanted to, and she wanted to be Harry's.

Tuesday went a lot like Monday, except after dinner the kids had a scavenger hunt.

That evening Harry was reading a book of spells when he realized that it looked familiar. He had looked through this book on Thursday or Friday night. It contained no spells or powers that Lord Voldemort could not master. He hadn't made any notes or marked it. His research skills were terrible. He was reading in circles. If he kept this up, the whole summer would go by without finding a clue about how to defeat Voldemort. He wasn't organized enough to avoid repeated searches of the same books. Harry decided that he needed a research assistant.

Wednesday morning during jumping jacks with the quidditch team, Harry noticed that Cindy Chambers wasn't wearing a bra under her T-shirt. Cindy was… well… she was stacked. Katie and Cho weren’t wearing bras either. Harry began to feel a bit of pressure in his shorts. Then he noticed that the naughty girls were watching him and grinning. Madam Hooch made them do extra jumping jacks too. Harry thought they were all being silly because he was famous.

Harry had a few minutes between breakfast and First Aid class to hurry up to Dumbledore's office. He had no clue what the password was, but he rattled off every type of candy he could think of. The door opened and Harry still wasn't sure about the password. Was it Pumpkin Pasties or Mars Bars?

"Good Morning Harry," said Dumbledore cheerfully. "What can I do for you?"

“I need to study spell books to learn more about the power the Dark Lord knows nothing about,” Harry explained. “There are so many books. I’m getting nowhere. I need a research assistant.”

"And what do you want me to do?" asked Dumbledore, "Madam Pince is busy with YWWMC classes."

"Assign a house elf to the project," Harry suggested.

"House elves do not read or write," Dumbledore countered warily.

"One of them does," Harry stated bluntly, "and I need her help."

"Harry, it seems that the surest way of telling you something is to try to keep it a secret," Dumbledore said as he shook his head. "Miss Granger's mission is important, and I don't want you to interfere."

"What do you mean, her mission?" asked Harry bitterly. "She's dressed in rags and she's cleaning stables and scrubbing floors! How is that important?"

"Harry," Dumbledore began, "as you know, I sent Hagrid to contact the giants."

"What's Hagrid got to do with making Hermione work like a slave?" Harry spat.

"Hermione’s mission is very much like Hagrid’s,” Dumbledore explained patiently.
“There are only a few giants left and they live far away, but we can't afford to ignore what they think. I sent Hagrid to contact the giants because he was interested in the job. The house elf problem is similar but more important," he continued. "There are more than ten thousand house elves living right here in Britain. They share our homes, fix our meals and tend our children. We take their loyalty for granted at our own peril. You, of all people, know they can be treacherous. We don't know what they really think. We have ignored their opinions for generations. We don't even take note of elf family structure. To us they are like pets,” Dumbledore said shaking his head sadly. “Miss Granger cares more about the well being of house elves than any other witch in a century. She wants to learn what they are thinking, what they really want, and I want her to succeed. It may be much more important than a few giants. It may be more important than a hundred dementors."

"She's frustrated," Harry countered. "The elves don't talk to her, they're angry at her. They don't trust her. She's surrounded by them and yet she's alone."

"Diplomacy can be a difficult undertaking," Dumbledore said. "First, she must win their confidence. They may not understand her actions, particularly the hats. But they will understand her heart. I have faith in her."

He continued, "We have more than one hundred house elves here. They have family and friends all over Britain. Some elves work for good wizard families, some work for dark wizards. Some clean houses, others tend orchards and farms. Some work in mines and factories. Some select and polish the twigs used to make high performance brooms." Dumbledore said meaningfully. "When Miss Granger gains the trust of the house elves of Hogwarts, she will become a powerful ambassador and a source of information to us."

"But I need her help," Harry persisted. "Just let her work for me for two hours a day. We can keep it secret. She can work in my room while I'm teaching classes. I'll give her my invisibility cloak. Her research skills are so much better than mine and my mission is important too."

"But Harry," Dumbledore said softly, "she is working so hard now."

"Give her a break! Let her read," Harry pleaded. "You can't ask Hermione Granger to go seven weeks without books. She'll crack under the strain."

"Very well," Dumbledore sighed. "You may have her read for you for two hours each afternoon, while you are in classes. Take this card to the head house elf and explain to him that she is to be assigned to work for you for two hours each day."

Dumbledore handed Harry a chocolate frog card with Dumbledore's picture on it.

"One more thing, Harry," Dumbledore said before Harry could leave his office. "Happy Birthday"

Harry smiled and said, “thanks.”

The last few days had been so full of activity that he hadn't paid any attention to the date.

He left Dumbledore's office and hurried to the hospital wing. He had missed part of first aid class and Madam Pomfrey was angry at him, but he really didn’t care.

At sports and games class Harry noticed that Cindy's bra was back. Was that because there were children around, or because she wasn't with Cho and Katie, or because the instructor was Professor McGonagall instead of Madam Hooch?

When sports and games ended the kids headed up to the castle for lunch. Harry went left at the base of the big marble staircase and took a flight of stone steps down to a brightly lit corridor that was lined with paintings of food. He tickled a green pear in one of the paintings and opened a hidden door that led to the kitchen.

Dozens of house elves were bustling about getting food loaded onto the four enchanted tables so it could be transported up to the great hall. It was noisy and mid-summer hot in the kitchen. Most of the elves were naked from the waist up. He saw Hermione over by the sinks washing pots, her back was turned to him but he saw that she wore nothing above her waist but the sock that tied back her hair. Dobby and a half dozen house elves quickly surrounded him and pushed him behind a stone pillar.

"Harry Potter!" Dobby said in an excited whisper, "we are happy to see you in our kitchen! But young wizards are not supposed to be looking at young witches that're naked like house elves. What does Harry Potter want here?"

"I've come to talk to Old George," Harry said.

"Dobby will take you to his pantry, follow me," Dobby said quietly.

As they walked through the kitchen, Harry glanced over in Hermione's direction. He was rewarded with a firm push from the elves that surrounded him. She had not noticed him.

He arrived at a large pantry that was full of dry goods and had a small desk in the middle of the room. An old looking elf was drawing a picture of a sack of potatoes and putting tick marks next to his picture. He appeared to be preparing a wordless grocery list. Harry supposed that this was Old George. The old elf was engrossed in his work and didn't look up until Harry slid the chocolate frog card picture of Dumbledore in front of him. He startled, and quickly looked up at Harry. Then he rapidly recovered his composure and stood up looking Harry in the eye.

"Tis Harry Potter, come to see Old George," he cackled. "What does Harry Potter want of Old George? Does Harry Potter think that all house elves should wear kneepads when scrubbing floors now? Or should all house elves just wear words saying they is Property of Harry Potter?"

"I'm not here about kneepads," Harry said sternly, "but yes all house elves should wear them when scrubbing floors. You have a house elf called Hermione who can read and write. She understands libraries and research and I have need of her skills. Dumbledore has assigned her to assist me for two hours each afternoon. Send her to my room at one o'clock."

"Alright Harry Potter, you doesn't has to hex me. Old George does as Dumbledore says," the old elf said defensively. "Does you wants her with or without her tea towels?"

Harry didn't bother to answer that smart mouthed question. As he walked back through the kitchen he heard George call out over the noise.

"Miss Hermione! Old George has a new job for you."

Hermione put down the pot she was scrubbing and turned around to walk towards George's pantry. She didn't seem to notice Harry.

Harry went up to the great hall to get some lunch. The rest of the student instructors were nearly done eating. Harry took an empty seat next to Ernie MacMillan, and grabbed a plate of meat, potatoes and carrots.

"So Harry," Ernie asked him quietly, "what were the girls up to this morning?"

"They sure were in a teasing mood,” Harry said. “They must have conspired."

"It worked for me," Ernie said. "If they do that on Saturday, we might have a chance against the Cannons."

Harry wolfed down lunch and dashed up to his room. He got out the spell books and some parchment and a quill. At one o'clock the door of his room opened and Hermione came in. She had her tea towels on.

"Did you summon me, oh great one?" she asked sarcastically.

"Hi Hermione," he started awkwardly. "I'm sorry that I made you cry with the sock thing. I didn't know if it was the right thing to do. Everyone who has ever really loved me has been killed by Voldemort,” he said. “I don't want you to get hurt. I love you. I don’t want you to feel trapped."

"It's alright Harry," she said. "I don’t expect this to be easy and I don't want you to feel trapped either. Now why am I here?"

"I need your help Hermione," he explained. "I need to find out the nature of the mysterious power that I have that I can use to defeat Lord Voldemort. I need help organizing this search. Your research skills are so much better than mine. I want you to spend two hours a day going through spell books. You can read whatever you think would be helpful. You can read the Daily Prophet if you think the war news would tell us something about Voldemort or his army. If you get tired you can stretch out on my bed. I've got to get to flying class. Write me a report about what you learn."

He reached for his Firebolt and stepped towards the window. Then he stopped and smiled at her.

"I thought you might like a break from physical labor and a chance to read," he said.

"Thanks Harry, I'll be happy to help you," she said smiling back at him.

Harry turned and mounted his broom
.
"Harry, one more thing," she called. "May I use your bathtub?"

"I think that would be a very good idea," he said as he flew out the window.

When Harry arrived at the Quidditch pitch, Cho announced that he was late. He excused himself by saying he had to wipe some fingerprints off his Firebolt. Cho just rolled her eyes and gave him the day's instructions.

"The kids are supposed to mount their brooms, kick off, fly through that hoop and land on that big X over there," explained Cho. "They will take turns, one at a time. One of us will have to stay with the class to make sure they stay on the ground. The other one of us will have to follow the flying kid and catch him if he falls off his broom."

And fall off their brooms they did. But Harry and Cho made sure that none of them got hurt. Harry got the idea that some of the boys were falling off on purpose so they could get Cho's attention.

Between flying class and self-defense class Harry zoomed up to his room to drop off his Firebolt. Hermione was sprawled out on his bed. She was much cleaner than she had been earlier. She pointed to several books at the foot of the bed.

"I didn't find anything useful in those books so you can take them back to the library tonight,” she reported. “There might be a few spells in them that we will need later, but not now."

In just over an hour she had accomplished more than Harry had in five evenings.

"I'm making a list of various types of spells and domains of magical power," she explained. "I'll try to learn about Lord Voldemort's powers and we can begin to eliminate those fields of magic where he is proficient. I've got a list of books I want you to check out tonight."

Harry thought she was amazing, and she looked really nice spread out on his bed in a tea towel bikini.

"You're doing a great job, thanks," he said. "I've got to get to self-defense class. I don't want Cho to get suspicious."

"Oh Harry, wait!" she said suddenly. "Before you go, there's one more thing."

She hopped up from his bed and came across the room to him.

"Happy Birthday Harry," she said sweetly.

She wrapped her slender arms around him and held him tight and kissed him passionately. Harry held her close and ran a hand up and down her naked back. It was the best birthday he could remember.

That evening after supper, while the kids were rowing boats in the lake, Harry worked on loading charms into the bamboo wands as fast as he could.

“My, you’re efficient,” Cho complimented him. “But what’s the hurry?

"I've got to get to the library before the kids finish boating and come in for their free time," Harry said truthfully.

"You’re going to the library!" Cho exclaimed. "Are you studying during the summer?"

"Yes I am," Harry admitted. "Voldemort's in the open now. I've got to be prepared."

"Oh Harry," Cho sighed, looking into his eyes. "You're so intense. It's romantic."

"I ah… ," stammered Harry, "I thought that you and Michael Corner were going out."

"Michael and I are good friends," she said, "just like you and me."

Harry dashed up to his room and grabbed the books he needed to take back to the library. Then he dashed down to the library to check out the books that Hermione wanted. Madam Pince asked what he was up to, so he told her he was working on a plan to destroy Lord Voldemort once and for all. He didn't think that she believed him.

That evening the common room was a madhouse. By the time Katie and Harry had gotten the kids to bed their nerves were severely frayed. Harry slumped down into a chair exhausted. Katie came over to him and began to give him a shoulder massage without being asked to do so. It felt so good and he was so tired, he just let her rub his aching muscles for a few minutes.

Harry thanked Katie and went up to his room. He spent a few minutes reading through Hermione's notes. Then he spent a few minutes practicing the Luke Skywalker trick. He could get his wand to jump through the air and into his hand up to a distance of two feet now. He started to read the table of contents of one of the spell books that Hermione had recommended, but he fell asleep before he got very far.

Thursday was as busy as Wednesday, but at least Harry had had an uninterrupted night of sleep. Katie took it upon herself to personally coach Harry on some of the finer points of being a chaser. She got real close to him when she demonstrated the proper way to wrap his legs around the broom for a corkscrew pass. Cindy Chambers confided in him that sports and games was her favorite class. Cho seemed to be sitting next to him at every meal, and she smiled a lot during their classes together.

Harry knew he wouldn't have much time with Hermione, so he finished lunch quickly and went up to his room to write her a note about the business of spell research. He wanted to save their limited face to face time for more important things. When he did see her during the break between flying class and self-defense class she was hard at work. He ran his fingers through her long hair and massaged her shoulders and neck for a minute as she finished up a chart she was working on.

"Hermione, I have another problem and I really need your brain," he said desperately. "How do I get a room full of rowdy kids to settle down in the evenings? They're driving me nuts."

"It's too bad they're not Muggles," she said. "If they were Muggles you could pop them in front of a TV set, put on a Disney movie, and relax."

She thought for a few seconds and then said, "Maybe you could read to them. Ask Madam Pince to help you find some age appropriate story books. Oh and Harry dear, when you're in the library tonight could you get me a couple of recipe books. I get to help with the cooking next week." She smiled at him and gave him a quick kiss.

Harry made his usual run to the library as soon as the bamboo wands were loaded. Cho looked very disappointed when he left so fast.

Madam Pince found a series of children's books about the heroic deeds of Young Godric Gryffindor for Harry.

Harry was about to leave the library so he could get back to Gryffindor tower before the kids came in, when Cho entered. She approached him, smiling, and asked if he had found anything good to read. She was impressed by the two high level spell books he had checked out and surprised by the cookbooks.

"Oh Harry, are you going to be one of those sensitive guys that rescues girls from dragons during the day and cooks gourmet meals in the evenings?" she asked breathily.

But it was the children's books that really caught her attention.

"Read to the kids? Oh Harry, that's brilliant! They’re such rowdy little brats."

Madam Pince found a book about the clever deeds of the beautiful young Rowena Ravenclaw for her.

That night Harry read to the kids and they did settle down easier. Harry was able to spend more time reviewing Hermione's progress and doing a bit of research himself.

Hermione had ruled out the dark arts. There would be no necromancy or demonology for Harry. Voldemort knew a lot about that sort of magic. She was also opposed to rites involving Blood and Human Sacrifice, but she admitted they might have to do some reading in those areas in order to understand Voldemort. Neutral domains of magic like transfigurations, charms and numerology probably wouldn’t work either. Voldemort or some Death Eater could be an expert in those areas. Her idea was that Harry needed to learn more about Love-based magic, but she didn't have any specific suggestions for spells to learn.

Harry thought that her search for a Love-based, offensive weapon, killing type of spell didn't seem too promising.

On Friday when Harry flew into his room after flying class to put away his Firebolt, he didn't see Hermonie, so he called out to her. She called back from the bathroom.

"I'm in here Harry," she called sweetly. "I died and went to heaven."

He peeked into the bathroom. Her tea towels were hanging on a hook. She was in his bath tub. A book was suspended in the air above her.

"I'm reading about Love-based spells while lounging in a warm bath," she sighed.

"And how is this going to help me in combat?" Harry asked.

"For one, I'm sure Lord Voldemort knows nothing about this branch of magic. And there is this collection of spells known as Sympathetic Magic. It can be very powerful," she explained, "but I need a different book."

She abruptly closed the book she was reading and levitated it over to the washstand.

Then she stood up.

"Toss me a towel please, Harry," she asked sweetly.

Harry froze and stared at her body. She was thin, her tummy was so flat, her breasts were firm, her thighs so long and slender, her long hair cascading over her shoulders.

"Harry," she said in exasperation, pointing her wand at a towel. "Accio towel"
"Honestly, you look like you did when those Veelas were dancing at the Quidditch cup."

Harry tried to snap out of it as she wrapped the towel around herself.

"I'm sorry to do that to you Harry," she said. "I've been a House Elf for three weeks, and I've become a bit casual about nudity."

"Casual!" Harry exclaimed, "You're flirting with me."

"Guilty as charged," she sighed. "And I only get a few minutes a day to do it. How'd I do today?"

"You never do anything halfway, do you Hermione?" he observed.

"Not like those girls at quidditch practice, huh?" she said.

"I've got to get to class," Harry said, leaving quickly.

That evening the Chudley Cannons arrived at Hogwarts. Harry got a poster autographed by the whole team to give to Ron.

Saturday morning they had the final activities. Parents arrived on the Hogwarts express about noon and there was a big feast in the great hall as the children were reunited with their families. Harry was probably the only person in the whole room who was concerned about the extra work it meant for house elves.

That afternoon the Chudley Cannons soundly defeated the Hogwarts all stars. It wasn't all bad, the final score was only 270 �“ 80. The star of the Hogwarts team was Draco Malfoy, who made a lot of spectacular saves. Unfortunately there were an awful lot of shots on goal by the Cannons. Harry managed to score two goals and made a great pass to Katie. Katie and Cindy each scored three goals. Cho almost got the snitch, she was certainly no coward. Fortunately Madam Pomfrey could fix broken bones in a snap.

For Harry, the worst part of the defeat was that it took all of Saturday afternoon and he had no chance to see Hermione.

That evening, things calmed down at Hogwarts. The kids, their families and the Chudley Cannons left on the Hogwarts express. The student instructors had a party in the Hufflepuff common room. It didn't last long. They were all tired.

Sunday afternoon the second batch of kids arrived. They were worse than the first batch. Harry was so glad that Godric Gryffindor had done brave deeds when he was young. It didn't matter to Harry if the stories weren't historically accurate, as long as the brats quieted down.

Harry got to the library at his usual time after loading the bamboo wands. He didn't have much time before the kids came in from their walk around the lake, so he went directly to Madam Pince and requested the book Hermione wanted. It was called The Complete Guide to Sympathetic Magic by Amours and Lovelynn. Madam Pince told Harry that this book was in the most restricted section of the library. No one looked at books from that room without permission from the headmaster. Harry started to leave. He would have to ask Dumbledore about the book in the morning. But Madam Pince called him back.

"Harry," she whispered to him, "Professor Dumbledore has selected some books from the most restricted section for you to look at. He didn't mention that one, but maybe it slipped his mind."

She led Harry through a locked door and into a small room with a few shelves of old books. She took down a large purple book and sat it on the table.

"The names of people with permission to read this book are listed on the back," she explained.

Harry saw no list on the back of the book until she tapped it with her wand and said, "relevatio nomens."

"This copy has been in the Hogwarts library for four centuries," she said reverently. In that time it has been used less than fifty times. No one has used this book in seventeen years. I remember the last couple who checked it out.” she said wistfully. “They were Hogwarts alumni. No students have been permission to use this book since the goblin wars of the 1600s."

She moved her finger to the bottom of the list.

"I don't see your name." she stated. "You may not use this book. You are too young for this magic anyway."

The last names on the list were: Lily and James Potter.

Madam Pince put away the large purple book. Then she handed a heavy bag to Harry
.
"This bag is magically sealed," she explained. "Only Dumbledore, you and I can open it. Dumbledore has marked specific pages for you to read. These books may tell you something about the nature of You-Know-Who."

"This is dark magic, Harry," she warned. "Keep these books locked in your trunk when you are not reading them. Let no one see them. Tell no one about them.”

"And Harry, don't try to read it all at once," she cautioned. "Take it in small doses. Take frequent breaks to walk in the sunshine and visit with your friends."

Harry took the ominous books up to his room. He would have to examine them later to see what they were about. But he was sure that Hermione was onto something. Perhaps the purple book held the secret to the spell that saved Harry's life from Voldemort the night his parents were murdered.

The second week of YWWMC went a bit smoother than the first. The kids seemed to enjoy being read to in the evenings and it certainly helped to settle them down. Cho and Harry worked together very well, which was a good thing because they spent so much time together. Both he and Cho were getting very good at doing charms and catching falling children. Michael Corner was openly jealous of the growing relationship between Harry and Cho. Were it not for all of the attention Harry was getting from Katie and Cindy, people might have thought that Harry and Cho were an item.

Harry was always the first instructor to finish lunch. He had to dash up to his room to write a note to Hermione. Cho was under the illusion that he spent way too much quality time with his Firebolt. The best part of Harry's day was the few minutes he had between flying class and self-defense class. Under the pretext of putting away his precious Firebolt, he got to see Hermione.

She was making much more progress on spell research than Harry could have possibly done. Harry mainly just read her reports, made a few comments, and did the hauling of books to and from the library. She seemed to be obsessed with Sympathetic Magic, and was frustrated that she couldn't get her hands on the purple book.

"These spells are powerful Harry," Hermione explained. "They allow two spell casters to cooperate and combine their strengths. One can cast a shield spell for the both of them, while the other casts an offensive spell. Or one could cast an offensive spell, like a disarming charm, while the other just channels strength and power. It would be suicide to face Lord Voldemort alone."

"Two wizards could gang up against one. That does sound useful," Harry concluded.

"Well," Hermione said doubtfully, "I suppose it could work that way. But that would be very unusual."

"But you said two spell casters could cooperate with each other and combine their powers," Harry said, clearly confused.

"Yes, but," she said delicately, "it's usually a wizard and a witch."

"I see," Harry said, suddenly connecting the dots. "But I don't want you to go into combat with me," he concluded firmly.

Hermione sighed in frustration. "Harry you had better run off to class now, I'll see what I can find in the other books."

On Thursday afternoon Harry caught Hermione crying. She had been reading a large book with a plain brown cover, one of the restricted books that Dumbledore had provided. When he flew into the room on his broom, she slammed the book shut and locked it. She backed away from the book clutching the key.

"Oh Harry," she sobbed, "please, don't read that book. Don't even look at it. It's not for you. This is not the way."

Harry looked at the book. There was no title on the cover, no indication what it was about. He took a step towards Hermione and held out his hand. She clutched the key to her breasts and tried to back away but she bumped into Harry's bed.

"No Harry, no," she whimpered.

Harry's hand was about four feet from the key.

"Accio key!" he chanted.

The key jumped into his hand.

Hermione gasped.

Harry opened the brown book to the title page.

"Please no Harry," she sobbed, "you're a good person. Don't…"

The title of the book was: "Human Sacrificial Rites and Spells".

Harry was stunned. Dumbledore wanted him to see this book? Specific pages were marked. Harry closed the book and tossed the key back to Hermione.

"Have you been reading about these dark rites and spells for an hour?" he asked her.

"Yes," she said trembling. She seemed to calm down, now that she had the key back.

"This book may be just background information about Lord Voldemort," Harry reasoned. "It’s so we’ll know what we're up against. Dumbledore wouldn't want me to do anything like human sacrifice," he concluded. "I should have warned you. Madam Pince said to read this book in small doses."

"Small doses of murdering babies?” Hermione began crying again. “Voldemort did something horrible to Bertha Jorgenson."

Harry stepped over to Hermione and gave her a hug. She buried her head on his shoulder.

"That's enough spell reading for today," said Harry, stroking her hair. "Look out the window. Watch the kids play. Do a crossword puzzle in the Daily Prophet. Take a short nap. You've earned it."

That evening Harry read Hermione's summary report. She had pulled herself together and had done a professional job. Her detached descriptions of the rites and spells in the brown book were scary enough without looking at the book itself. There seemed to be a way to destroy the thing that was Lord Voldemort. But the cost was awful. Hermione was right. There had to be another way.

On Friday morning Harry went to Dumbledore's office to see if he could get permission to use the purple book about Sympathetic Magic that Hermione wanted so badly. The password that opened the door to Dumbledore's office was pumpkin pasties. As Harry went up the stairs to the headmaster's office he overheard the voice of his least favorite professor.

"But headmaster, I had hoped that the position would be mine," Snape said.

"Yes I know how disappointed you are, Severus," said Dumbledore, "but finding another potions teacher at this late date would be impossible. I would rather see you using your time working for the order rather than preparing a defense against the dark arts curriculum. And surely, you must see that a man with his stature and respect in the wizard community would be a great asset to our school."

"That is true, headmaster," Snape admitted, "but can he teach?"

"There are many similarities between running a classroom and running a government. He certainly won't be nervous in front of a group of students," reasoned Dumbledore. "I think he'll adapt to the academic environment quickly."

Harry waited for professor Snape to leave before he entered the office.

"Good morning, Harry, and what can I do for you today?" Dumbledore asked with a smile. "Is that house elf doing her job properly?"

"Oh yes, Hermione has been a big help to me," answered Harry. "She has been looking at the books from the restricted section, but she has an idea of her own. We want to look at a book called The Complete Guide to Sympathetic Magic, by Amours and Lovelynn."

"Oh my!" laughed Dumbledore. "Sympathetic Magic? You two are just sixteen! I would say that you are too young to read such a book, but that would be most ironic considering I have pushed you to look into rituals involving human sacrifice and blood. However, I will have to look into certain legal issues before I can authorize the use of that book."

That afternoon the Tutshill Tornados arrived. Victor Krum had a long talk with Harry about Hermione. Victor was clearly not over her yet and was still a bit depressed by her last letter. He also told Harry that if Hermione was ever hurt, Harry would have to answer to an angry Victor Krum.

On Saturday the Hogwarts all stars were defeated by the Tornados, but Harry was proud of the way they had played together.

After the quidditch match the YWWMC children, their parents, the Tornados and most of the student instructors left on the Hogwarts Express. Harry Potter stayed at the school because there may have been some Death Eaters in the crowd. Dumbledore told Harry that there was no one in the Order of the Phoenix that he could spare to escort him home.

Chapter 7 The Trap and the Bait

"Lucius Malfoy, you have failed me," he said coldly. "Your humiliating defeat was very costly and you did not bring me the girl."

"My Lord," Malfoy pleaded, "we fought bravely. They were better prepared than we could have imagined. It was a trap."

"So what was the fate of this girl, Hermione Granger? I wanted to use her as bait to trap Harry Potter. Did she escape?"

"My Lord, I did not leave her alive," Malfoy asserted. "I killed Hermione Granger myself."

"For this small achievement, I will spare your life. But I have lost six dementors and four Death Eaters. You must be punished for your failure."

"Crucio!"

Harry was jolted awake by intense pain, his scar burning like fire. He had not had a dream like this in almost two blessed months. He fell out of bed. He struggled to his hands and knees and was sick. What had Malfoy done? Hermione was dead!

No, it couldn't be. It just couldn't be.

He struggled to his feet and lurched through the bedroom door. He stumbled and almost fell down the stairs leading to the common room. He clutched his stomach and sped up. He ran through the opening that was guarded by the portrait of the fat lady. It was before dawn. The corridors were dark, and the castle was silent. Harry was the only student there. He ran down halls, he stumbled down stairs. He charged down the grand marble staircase into the entry hall and then down the stone steps that led to the kitchen. He almost tore the picture of the bowl of fruit as he roughed up the pear. The door to the kitchen opened and he dashed in.

"Where is she?" he shouted in the empty kitchen. "Hermione! Hermione!"

He ran towards the pantries shouting. Terrified house elves began to appear. They stared at him with their mouths wide open in shock.

"Where is she?" he shouted at them. "Where's Hermione? Hermione!"

Cupboards were opening all around him. He saw dozens of bald heads with long pointed ears and terrified faces. Then he saw her long brown hair. Her face held a look of surprise and concern.

"Harry! What is it!" she cried out.

"Hermione!" he cried in relief, "You're alive!"

He dashed over to her cupboard and pulled open the door.

"Harry!" she squealed.

He pulled her into a tight embrace. There were tears of joy on his cheeks.

"Easy Harry, Easy," she said soothingly. "Everything is alright. What happened?"

"I had a dream. My scar hurt. It was bad," Harry stammered. "Lucius Malfoy told me… he told Lord Voldemort… that he had killed you. Voldemort was very angry at Malfoy, he tortured him with the cruciatus curse."

"Harry, it's OK," she said calmly patting his back, "I'm here and I'm fine. The dream wasn't real. Or Lucius Malfoy was lying. Or he was mistaken. If your scar has started hurting again, you must tell Dumbledore. I'll go with you to his office."

Harry kissed her.

"Relax Harry," she said giving him a squeeze. "Let me put something on."

She gently pushed Harry away and retreated into her cupboard. Harry suddenly realized that Hermione was naked. She closed the door of her cupboard.

Harry slumped down on the floor. A hundred house elves were gathered around him, they looked at him in fear and concern.

"Sorry," he tried to smile, "I had a bad dream."

Hermione emerged wearing the T-shirt and jogging shorts that she had on when she left her home.

"It's easier to throw on clothes than to tie tea towels into a bikini," she explained. "Let's go to Dumbledore's office now."

She led Harry through secret passageways that he had never imagined. They had to duck most of the time because of the low ceilings.

"These are the house elf passageways," she explained, "they run all over the castle. House elves are not supposed to be seen. Filch knows about them, I've had to be careful about him. Fortunately he’s too tall to use them."

They emerged from a hidden door behind a tapestry near Dumbledore's office. Before Harry could say the password, the door opened and Dumbledore appeared.

"Hermione and Harry, how convenient, I was just going to wake you," Dumbledore said. "Come into my office. I have serious news for you."

They followed Dumbledore back into his office. He directed them to sit down.

"First, I must ask you why you have come to me before I got to you," he said.

"I had a vision," said Harry, "Lucius Malfoy told Lord Voldemort that he had killed Hermione. I woke her up. I woke up all of the house elves," he said sheepishly.

"Have you been practicing occlumency?" Dumbledore asked Harry.

Harry had to admit that he had not. Dumbledore sighed and shook his head.

"Obviously Lucius Malfoy did not kill Miss Granger, but he believes that he did," Dumbledore stated.

"Miss Granger, I now understand why the sorting hat placed you in Gryffindor rather than Ravenclaw," Dumbledore continued. "You come from an extremely brave family. While you have been here, safe but uncomfortable, your parents have been in danger in their own home. And they have cooperated with us in a magnificent fashion. You see we feared that Lord Voldemort would try to kidnap you to use you as bait to trap Harry. But we used you as bait to set a trap for them."

"How did you use me as bait for a trap if I was here?" asked Hermione.

"Nymphadora Tonks has stayed with your parents since the night you left home. She did a very good impersonation of you. Your parents and Uncle went along with our little charade. Your family appeared to be unprotected. The Death Eaters were watching your house. We set a trap for them," explained Dumbledore. "They attacked your home last night."

Hermione gasped.

Dumbledore continued, "six dementors were destroyed and four Death Eaters were either killed or captured. It was a victory for our side. Unfortunately there is a price for victories."

"My… parents?" Hermione asked shakily.

"Your father is badly injured, but he will recover. Your mother is fine," he assured her. "But Lucius Malfoy thinks he killed you, because he did kill Miss Tonks. Your Uncle Jason was also killed, he fought beside Miss Tonks."

Gunny and Tonks were dead. The horror sank in. Hermione began to cry. Harry put his arm around her.

Dumbledore began again, "Your uncle, father and mother will all be receiving the Order of Galahad from the Ministry of Magic. It is the highest award given to Muggles. Your uncle wounded Glen Goyle and your father killed Theodore Nott. Apparently the Death Eaters were not expecting suburban Muggles to stand and fight. They were certainly not expecting machine guns. Your mother used a pair of tongs to carry the portkey over to your wounded father in the midst of the battle. Her extremely brave act saved your father. Your house and all of its contents were consumed by fire."

Hermione took a deep breath and sat up straight. Although there were still tears running down her cheeks, she made the effort to appear composed.

Dumbledore went on, "The battle will be reported in the Daily Prophet this morning. As usual the reports will be full of errors, but this time we are writing the lies. The paper will say that your parents were killed. In fact, they are going into hiding. That is for their safety, they deserve a rest. You will have to pretend that they have died, and mourn for them in public. The paper will say that you were wounded and were taken to St. Mungo's hospital. We will smuggle you into the hospital so you can be released in a few days. You will be interviewed by the Daily Prophet."

Harry wondered what Lord Voldemort would do to Lucius Malfoy when he learned that Malfoy had failed to kill Hermione. What happens to his followers that lie to him?

"The Daily Prophet will report the death of Nymphadora Tonks in a few days. The description of how she died will be a complete fabrication," added Dumbledore.

Harry and Hermione made their way back down to the kitchen through the tiny secret passageways. Their arrival produced a lot of nervous stares and whispering. Harry apologized again for disturbing their sleep that morning. That caused more nervous whispering.

"That surprised them, Harry," Hermione said to him. "Elves never hear apologies from wizards."

They sat at one of the little tables where the house elves took their meals. Dobby brought over some tea. Harry took Hermione's hand and she began to cry a little.

"I'm sorry about your uncle and your house," he said sympathetically.

"He was so brave," she said. "He's fought battles in places where the government won't even admit to having troops. Nepal. Africa. Malaysia. I never imagined him dying in a battle at my house."

"He wouldn't leave Tonks," observed Harry.

"She was becoming like a big sister to me…" she trailed away. "I'm just glad my parents are alive."

They sat for a few more minutes and had a small breakfast together with the elves. Then Hermione went back to her cupboard to change into her tea towels.

“What has happened to Miss Hermione?” Old George asked Harry.

“Her family was attacked by dark wizards and dementors,“ Harry explained. “Her uncle and a friend were killed and her home was destroyed.”

"This news saddens Old George," said the head house elf. "Elves feel sorrow when family dies too. Miss Hermione is a good house elf. She will be given light work today. Some of the elves have begun to talk to her. I will put them with her today."

Harry waited until Hermione reappeared. She always appeared so vulnerable when dressed so scantily in rags. Her sad face added to that impression. He kissed her good bye and left her with the elves.

The Daily Prophet arrived at around half past seven o'clock. The reports of the battle at the Granger home were rather sketchy.

Ministry of Magic Claims Victory

Early this morning officials from the Ministry of Magic released reports of a major battle between followers of You-Know-Who and Aurors from the Ministry, supported by volunteers from the Order of the Phoenix. The battle began when followers of You-Know-Who attacked the home of a muggle family named Granger. The dark wizards were apparently attempting to capture or kill the young witch, Hermione Granger, who is well known as the constant companion of Harry Potter. Ministry officials claim to have been expecting the attack and to have prepared for it. The officials claim that six dementors, that had recently left their posts at Azkaban to join You-Know-Who, were destroyed. Ministry officials also claim that one dark wizard was killed in the battle and three dark wizards were arrested. The names of the dead and captured Death Eaters are being withheld at this time but should be released within a few hours.

There were no significant injuries to members of the Ministry forces or to the auxiliaries. Miss Granger was seriously injured and has been admitted to St. Mungo's hospital. Miss Granger's parents and an uncle, all muggles, are reported to have been killed. The Granger home was destroyed by fire. Three other muggle houses also received damage from the battle and the fires that followed. Officials from the Ministry of Magic reported no difficulty in modifying the memories of the affected muggles.

There are persistent rumors that a Death Eater was killed in the battle by muggle gun fire. If confirmed, this would be the third wizard killed by muggles in the 20th century. The most famous being the muggle-studies scholar, Freddy "Forgetful" Furgenson. Furgenson is famous for going "over the top" with British forces during the muggle war of 1914 - 1918, without an Imperturbable charm.

Harry had very little to do the rest of the day, he took a walk around the lake, flew around the castle on his Firebolt and read up on spells. He also practiced summoning his wand with his bare hand. By the end of the day he could make his wand jump into his hand from the floor at a distance of ten feet.

Monday's Daily Prophet had some more details of the battle at the Granger home. The Ministry claimed it was a text book example of using control of magical transportation to set a trap. The Death Eaters were able to apparate into the Grangers’ neighborhood, but they were not able to dissapparate out. Portkeys played a key role in the rapid movement of ministry wizards and the ancient talisman necessary for destroying dementors. The paper confirmed that Theodore Nott was indeed killed by a burst of machine gun fire from Hermione's father. Another death eater, Glen Goyle, was wounded by a muggle, Jason Granger. The other captured Death eaters were MacNair and Crabbe. The paper also reported that the execution of MacNair, Crabbe and Goyle was scheduled for early Monday morning and would probably be over by the time papers were delivered.

The humor section of the Daily Prophet had a little comment about the battle too.

Theodore Nott
was killed by a shot
fired by a muggle's gun.
The Imperturbable Charm
will protect you from harm
but Mr. Nott had none.

Harry wondered what to expect from the Slytherin students this year. The fathers of Theodore Nott Jr., Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle had all died as a result of the Battle of the Granger House, as it was being called now. Draco Malfoy's dad would be in big trouble with Lord Voldemort when Hermione walked out of the hospital. Would the boys see reason and renounce the path taken by their fathers, or would they be eager to join Lord Voldemort so they could seek revenge? For the first time ever, Harry began to dread the start of the fall term. Would there be open combat in the halls of Hogwarts?

That afternoon Hermione showed up in Harry's room so they could conduct spell research. She started by laying out the charts and tables and summaries that she had been working on. The central question remained. What was the mysterious power that Harry could use to defeat Lord Voldemort?

During YWWMC Harry saw Hermione for five minutes a day. Now they had two hours together. They were the only students in the castle. He was alone with Hermione in his bedroom. Her tea towels didn't cover much of her body, and they looked like they would fall off easily.

"What should we do today?" Harry asked her.

"I'm not ready for an in depth study of "Human Sacrificial Rites and Spells" she said with a shudder. "I just can't face it today. It scares me."

"It can wait then," agreed Harry.

"The other book that Dumbledore recommended is almost as dark," she said sadly. "It's about blood magic."

"Dumbledore's not out to cheer us up is he?" Harry said flatly. "Dumbledore is an expert on the uses of dragon's blood. Maybe he knows something about spells based on dragon's blood that Voldemort doesn't know,” Harry said in a distracted sort of way as he looked at Hermione.

"Your mother's blood, in her sister's veins, protects you at home," Hermione mentioned, breathing deeply.

"Aunt Petunia might object if we tried to take some of her blood," Harry said absently as he stared into Hermione’s golden-brown eyes. "Voldemort used some of my blood..."

"I think that the mysterious power is Love," said Hermione as she stared into his eyes.

"Are there Love-based spells that can be used defensively?" asked Harry hopefully.

"With the proper enchantment, the tears of a lover can become a protective talisman," Hermione said, moving closer.

"Shall we study Love today?" asked Harry quietly, taking her hand.

"There are really interesting spells… in the books," she said tenderly, moving close.

"Excuse me please, Harry Potter," said Dobby, "Dobby is here to clean your room and turn the mattresses."

"Hi Dobby," said Harry absently without looking away from Hermione.

"DOBBY!" Harry exclaimed shaking his head, "what are you doing here?"

"Dobby is here to clean your room and turn the mattresses," said Dobby. "All of the mattresses in the castle must be turned before the students return for the fall term."

"Hi Dobby," Harry said again. "Do you have to do this room right now?"

"Oh yes, Harry Potter!" said Dobby cheerfully. "Dobby wants Harry Potter to have a clean and comfortable room."

"Right now?" Harry asked.

"Old George sends Dobby to clean Harry Potter's room, this very afternoon," explained Dobby.

"That's very thoughtful of Old George," Harry said sarcastically.

"I suppose we should stick to business," Hermione said with a disappointed sigh.

They spent about forty minutes looking up and cross referencing various love based spells that might be useful for defense, strengthening or healing. Hermione pointed out the oblique references to sympathetic magic. They didn't have the book of spells for sympathetic magic. It was clear that Hermione didn't know a lot of the details about sympathetic magic. But she had pieced together quite a lot from the comments in the other books. Harry was beginning to believe that there might be some spells in that domain of magic that could be powerful enough to make a difference.

They spent about fifteen minutes reading a few blood based spells, focusing on those that involved blood from dragons or other creatures.

Dobby put on some kneepads and began to scrub the floor.

"Harry," Hermione started timidly, "can I ask you something about the other day?"

"Sure," said Harry as he looked over at Dobby, wondering when he would leave. He had no idea what Hermione wanted.

"When I was upset, and I wouldn't give you the key to that awful book, you took the key from me. Were you… Were you angry at me?" she asked sadly.

"You were scared. I had to know why." Harry explained gently. "I wasn't angry, just worried. Dumbledore gave me that book. I had to know why it scared you. I thought if I surprised you, I could get the key without an argument."

"How did you summon the key, without using your wand?" Hermione asked.

Harry smiled. He took out his wand and laid it on the table. Then he walked across the room and turned around to face her. He held out his hand.

"Accio wand" he chanted.

His wand leapt from the table into Harry's hand.

"Wow!" said Hermione, "that's a good trick!"

"I thought it might be useful in a battle, if I loose my wand I can summon it back," Harry explained. "I've been working on it all summer. I call it Luke Skywalker's trick."

"I saw that movie!" said Hermione. "Can you teach me to do that?"

They worked on summoning for more than half an hour. Hermione made remarkable progress. In just thirty minutes she could make her wand roll across the desk a distance of two feet. They didn't even notice when Dobby left.

Suddenly Hermione looked at the clock.

"Oh no!" she cried, "I have to leave in ten minutes. You might have to go home tomorrow. I won't see you for two and a half weeks."

Their eyes met and they moved towards each other. They held each others hands and drew close to kiss.

"Harry will be going home on Wednesday, Miss Granger," said Dumbledore.

The Headmaster was standing in the door of Harry's room with an amused look on his face.

"Hermione, you will be going into London on Wednesday to do a little acting," said Dumbledore gesturing for Hermione to follow him. "First we'll go to St. Mungo's. You can see your parents. There will be an interview with reporters about the battle at your house. You need to get your story straight. The funerals will follow."

"Oh, just one thing before I go," Hermione interrupted.

She ran over to Harry.

"Harry," she asked sweetly, "may I borrow this book? I want to read it to the house elves."

She scooped up The Adventures of Brave Young Godric Gryffindor, and then ran to follow Dumbledore down the stairs.

Harry spent Tuesday helping Dumbledore sort through muggle newspapers and police reports looking for information about people who had gone missing in the last month. They placed numbered pins on a map of Britain for each case. Those that were likely to have run away from an abusive family were marked with yellow pins, those that were likely victims of sexual abduction or gang activity were white pins, and those that seemed odd were red pins.

"What exactly are we looking for?" asked Harry.

"Lord Voldemort will have a difficult time controlling the dementors, they will want people to feed on. It's so much easier to kidnap a poor muggle than a wizard," Dumbledore answered.

Harry took a break and looked out the window. Filch was taking the ice wagon into town, it was drawn by four thestrals.

"Hermione doesn't like thestrals," said Harry absently.

"I believe that she's dusting the paintings and armor this week," Dumbledore said as he studied a newspaper clipping. "This is an odd one, a missing carpenter. Accountants disappear all of the time. It happens when their sums don't add up."

Tuesday's Daily Prophet reported the death of Nymphadora Tonks in an accident involving experimental magic. At least she was credited with dying in the line of duty while doing something dangerous.

On Wednesday Dumbledore took Harry and Hermione to Number 12 Grimmauld place using the flue network. Harry was wearing his best school clothes and carried a suitcase and Hedwig’s cage. Hermione was wearing her T-shirt and jogging shorts. Since her house had been destroyed, it was the only clothing she owned. Fortunately she was able to borrow a black dress from Hestia Jones to wear to the funerals. Then they traveled to St. Mungo's using a portkey that took them to a back room unobserved. Hermione and Harry spent a few minutes with her parents who were reported to be dead, and then she was "released" from the hospital.

Hermione told the reporters that she had been knocked out of the fight early by Theodore Nott. Harry wondered if Lucius Malfoy would be killed or tortured by Lord Voldemort when the papers came out. He hoped it would be both. Tonight would be a good time to start practicing occlumency again, he thought.

The first funeral of the day was at a military cemetery for Jason Granger. The muggles believed that he had died while trying to save Hermione's parents from the fire. It was ironic, this soldier had died in combat and his unit didn't know it.

The next funeral was a closed casket affair for Hermione's parents. It was a very sad gathering, even though the coffins were empty. It reminded Harry of Mrs. Weasley's boggart. Arthur and Molly Weasley were there. Molly cried a lot and gave hugs to Hermione. Arthur quietly invited Harry to spend the last week of vacation at the Burrow.

Then it was off to yet another cemetery for Tonks' funeral. Hermione cried at all three funerals and leaned on Harry's shoulder. Harry was sad, but there was something about graveyards that made him too nervous to cry.

"I'm glad you were with me today, Harry," Hermione said quietly as they were leaving the last cemetery. "I needed your strong shoulder."

"I don't like graveyards," said Harry, "they're creepy, even during the day."

"It's such a beautiful day isn't it," Hermione observed. "The sun is warm, the grass is green, flowers are in bloom and birds are singing. It's hopeful."

Harry was silent.

"House Elves always have their funerals in the middle of the night, so it doesn't disrupt their work." she said distantly. "Isn't that so unfair?"

Dumbledore gave Harry a bag of galleons. The teachers at Hogwarts and the members of the Order of the Phoenix had taken up a collection for Hermione. Since her parents were pretending to be dead, the insurance settlements were taking a bit longer than usual. For the time being the Grangers had nothing. Harry was given the job of buying school supplies and clothes for Hermione. She had to return to Hogwarts to polish chandeliers.

Harry returned to 4 Privet drive that evening after dark. The Dursley's weren't happy to see him although they had been told he was coming. But they were civil to him, since he was coming in from three funerals in one day.

Harry spent just over a week at Privet Drive. He worked like a slave doing his chores every day. Some afternoons he got to work on spells at Mrs. Figg's house. Mrs. Figg did some shopping for him at Muggle stores. He pretended to have forgotten his boxing lessons and eventually Dudley gave up on the idea of sparring with him. They just lifted weights. His scar hurt only once, when Lucius Malfoy was tortured. Unfortunately, Lord Voldemort did not kill him.

Chapter 8 Summer’s End

Harry spent the last week of summer with the Weasleys at the Burrow.

Ron had grown taller over the summer and was strong and tanned from his work outdoors with Charlie. He had lots of great stories about working with dragons in Wales and Scotland. He and Charlie had rescued muggles who had wandered through gaps in the magical barriers and had entered the dragon sanctuaries. They had camped out a lot. They spent a night in a muggle hotel after a pack of wyverns raided their tent. They had almost been hit by a car crossing a road.

“We couldn't just kill the wyverns because they are an endangered species," Ron explained. "Wizards have a responsibility to protect magical creatures like dragons and wyverns from muggles and vice versa."

Ginny's letter from Hogwarts contained a prefect's badge.

They compared O.W.L. results. Harry and Ron were relieved they could both go on to advanced potions. Not because they liked the idea of class with Professor Snape, but because they had to do it in order to become aurors.

Harry told Ron about his experiences instructing kids at the YWWMC, but he left out the part about Hermione being at Hogwarts. He left out the part about Cho, Katie and Cindy flirting with him too. Poor Ron hadn't seen a girl all summer.

They made a trip to Diagon Alley using the flue network to buy school supplies. Harry bought things for Hermione too. This earned him some strange looks in Madam Malkin's. When Harry took money from his vault at Gringott's Goblin Bank, he noticed a small cloth bag next to the dwindling pile of galleons. On impulse he took it with him. There were rings in the bag.

Harry and Ron also looked at new brooms. Neither boy needed a new broom, but they couldn't resist window shopping. Harry simply could not buy a broom that was better than his Firebolt, but the Comet 260LE looked like a nice broom. Harry bought one and told Ron he just wanted an everyday broom so he could save his Firebolt for serious quidditch.

The best part of that last glorious week of summer was that Harry and the Weasleys played three on three quidditch. Each team had two chasers and a keeper. There was no snitch, the game ended when Mrs. Weasley called for dinner. Harry played with Ginny and Charlie. Charlie was a super keeper. Harry could see that Ginny would be a great chaser. Ron played keeper for Fred and George. Harry used his new Comet, it was good broom but it was certainly not a Firebolt.

Then suddenly, summer was over and Harry was on the Hogwarts express headed back to school.

It seemed to Harry that a lot of his friends were up in the first coach with the prefects. Harry ended up sharing a compartment with Neville Longbottom, Katie Bell and Cindy Chambers. They were less than a half an hour out of King's Cross station when the door of their compartment opened. It was Cho and a group of sixth and seventh year girls.

"Hi Harry," Cho said sweetly, "can we come in?"

Of course Cho and her friends did come in, and the compartment was quite crowded.

Cho was accompanied by Padma and Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown and Marietta Edgecombe. Cho pushed Marietta to the front of the group next to Harry. The pustules on her face were gone and she was blushing so it wasn't possible to see the word Sneak anymore.

"Uh, Harry," Marietta said quietly, "I'm sorry I told Miss Umbridge about the D.A."

"What's past is past," said Harry. "We have to unite against Lord Voldemort and his followers now."

"Right," Marietta said, taking a deep breath, "thanks Harry."

Cho and her friends stayed to talk for a while but with nine people in the compartment it was quite crowded. The train lurched and Parvati Patil lost her balance and ended up sitting on Harry's lap.

"Sorry Harry," Parvati giggled.

Then she put her arms around Harry's neck and leaned close to him.

"Maybe we should have done this at the Yule Ball instead of trying to dance," she whispered with a smile.

The gang of girls eventually moved on down the train to find a less crowded compartment.

Katie and Cindy got Neville to talk about the trial of Jurgson and Dolohov. They wanted the real story of how Harry had saved Hermione from the death curse. Harry had thrown his body into a flying tackle to save the girl, how romantic.

The arrival of Draco Malfoy and his gang saved Harry from further flirting.

"Well if it isn't the heroic Harry Potter," Malfoy sneered, "and there isn't a Weasley in sight. Did you ditch those losers for these losers?"

Katie, Cindy and Neville reached for their wands but Harry gestured for them to refrain.

"Theodore, Vincent, Gregory, you poor fellows!" Harry said a bit too loudly and sympathetically to be believable. "It's so sad that your fathers are dead, even if they did get what they deserved."

"And you Draco, have you seen your fugitive father lately?" Harry taunted. "He's not at home much now is he? Maybe he's too busy failing to do Lord Voldemort's dirty work."

Malfoy growled at Harry, but they didn't pull out their wands. Four on four was not the way they liked to fight.

"Your dad couldn't even murder a school girl," sneered Harry. "Next time you see him, you should ask him how the Cruciatus curse really feels. Lord Voldemort isn't exactly kind to his incompetent servants."

Then Neville chimed in.

"Did you see that poem in the Daily Prophet about Theodore's dad?" asked Neville gleefully. "Theodore Nott, was killed by a shot, fired by a muggle's gun…"

The Slytherin boys slammed the door shut as they left the compartment.

A little while later Ron and Ginny showed up. Colin Creevy was with them, he was the other fifth year prefect.

"Those Slytherin boys looked angry," Ginny reported. "Did anybody say something that would offend them?"

"Would we do a thing like that?" Harry asked innocently.

"We wouldn't offend Theodore," Neville said "his dad became famous for the way he died! He could get a Fergenson award!" he laughed.

"It's not all that funny," said Ron, being unusually serious. "There are two times when your enemies are dangerous, when they're winning and when they're losing."

"Ernie MacMillan predicts gang warfare in Hogwarts this year," Ginny said glumly.

"We're going to have to take security precautions," Ron stated. "Move in groups and pair up older students with younger ones for defense. By the way, where's Hermione?"

"I think Dumbledore took her to Grimmauld place after her parents' funeral," Harry lied. "He probably took her back to Hogwarts using the flue network or a portkey."

The Hogwarts Express pulled into the station at Hogsmead fifteen minutes late. It was unseasonably cold and drizzling. Through the window of the train, Harry saw that there were very few people waiting at the station. Most were huddled under umbrellas or had their cloaks pulled around them, but he saw a thin girl with wet matted brown hair shivering in a wet T-shirt and jogging shorts. As Harry got off the train, he heard her calling:

"Second year students, come this way! Second years ride the carriages to the castle!"

She didn't look like a prefect though she wore a prefect's badge, but she had a very bossy voice that none of the younger students would argue with.

"Harry! Ron!" she cried in delight as she ran over to greet them.

Hermione gave each of them a quick kiss.

"Hermione," Ron said loudly, over the noise of the locomotive, "you're so thin!"

"Ron," Hermione answered gamely, "you're so tall! And you've gotten so strong!"

"Harry, please tell me you have some school clothes for me," she begged.

"Right here," Harry said proudly, holding a package in his left hand and Hedwig's cage in his right.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" she said shivering. "Ron we've got to direct the second year students, and we must warn them to not walk in front of the carriages!"

Ron handed Pig's cage to Harry and left with Hermione.

Harry and Neville walked towards the line of carriages looking for an empty one so they could save seats for Hermione and Ron.

As Harry was getting the owl cages into a carriage he heard Hermione shriek and then he heard a blood curdling racket like the howling of a hundred psychotic hyenas.

"Tenebrus! Scaliwag! Give that back!" Hermione demanded angrily.

"Accio T-shirt," she shouted.

"Damn!" she swore.

"Accio the-rest-of-the-T-shirt," she said in frustration.

Hermione came over to the carriage where Harry was waiting. She was wearing a bikini top and carrying a shredded rag that was the color of a T-shirt she had once owned.

"I hate thestrals!" she shouted. "Harry will you please walk with me while I direct the second year students. Just warn me if those any of those awful beasts approach. I'll fix their ass," she said waving her wand threateningly.

Harry took off his cloak and draped it over Hermione's bare shoulders. He walked with her towards the crowd of students that were still milling around the train.

"Second year students ride the carriages! Second year students ride the carriages!" Hermione shouted.

Then Harry heard a familiar deep voice booming out and he saw a huge figure looming in the fog.

"First years, to the boats! First years to the boats!" called Hagrid.

"Hagrid!" Harry and Hermione shouted in unison.

"Harry!" returned Hagrid, "how have ya been? Didja getta play any quidditch this summer?"

Harry greeted his big friend with a handshake. Hermione gave Hagrid a quick hug.

Then she took a swing at him!

Harry supposed she was trying to punch him in the stomach, but her fist slammed into Hagrid's enormous belt buckle.

"Oww," moaned Hermione, clutching her right hand with her left.

"Didja wan somethin 'Ermione?" asked Hagrid.

"I want you to teach those thestrals some manners!" she shouted in pain.

"Speaking of manners, Miss Granger," came the slimy smooth voice of Harry's least favorite teacher, "did I see you strike an instructor?"

"I diddnut feel nuthin," Hagrid said defensively.

"And, Miss Granger…" Snape continued, "there seem to be… items… of your school uniform… missing."

As he spoke, he used the tip of his wand to knock Harry's cloak off Hermione's shoulders. Then he lightly touched her with his wand and he slowly moved it down her shivering bikini clad body.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for disorderly conduct, and ten more points for being out of uniform, Miss Granger," Snape said with a smirk.

"But Professor Snape," said Hermione trembling, "you can't take points from Gryffindor. Term has just started. We don't have any house points."

"Thanks to Mr. Potter's actions in June, the rules have been changed," Snape explained with an evil grin. "And you Miss Granger are the first student in Hogwarts' history to earn your house negative points. Isn't that ironic Mr. Potter, you will have to share your fame as a trouble maker," Snape said looking at Harry. "And for that smart comment, Miss Granger," Snape added, "I'm giving you a detention, this evening."

When all of the students were in the thestral drawn carriages, Harry, Hermione and Ron climbed into the seats that Neville had saved for them. As the carriage moved towards the castle Hermione tore open the package Harry had brought for her and pulled on her school clothes right over her bikini and jogging shorts.

"I was sorry to hear about your parents," said Ron sympathetically.

"And your uncle, and your home," added Neville. "We're glad they didn't get you."

"Thank you Ron, Neville, good friends like you are such a comfort to me," Hermione said sincerely.

Hermione looked at Harry and their eyes met. Harry thought that Hermione looked a bit uncomfortable. He knew that Ron and Neville were unaware that Hermione's parents were still alive. In order to conceal the truth that Hermione had been at Hogwarts all summer, they would have to maintain the fiction that she had been at home. Harry didn't want to lie to his best friends. He looked down to avoid making eye contact with Ron but that just made things worse. On the back of his own hand he could still read the words, "I must not tell lies."

"Did either of you get the whole story on what happened to Tonks?" asked Ron.

Hermione and Harry looked at each other again.

"Tonks was working for the Ministry against Lord Voldemort. She died heroically, while on duty," Harry said. "That's enough for me."

They arrived at the castle. Hedwig and Pig were left in their cages in a room near the entrance to the great hall. They would be moved up to the students’ rooms along with the luggage. Harry had never worried about how their things were transported to their rooms. He had always assumed it was magic. Now he guessed that the job was done by house elves while the students ate. He looked around the room and wondered if there was an opening to a secret passage that was just big enough for the elves.

They walked past the glass columns that kept track of house points. There were no jewels in any of them of course, since the term had just begun, but there were 20 black balls that looked to be made of coal in the Gryffindor column. Students were talking.

"Negative house points? I've never heard of such a thing!"

"Who lost us 20 points so fast?"

"Hermione Granger?? You're kidding! I don't believe you."

"She punched Hagrid?? That's ridiculous!"

"Hermione in detention??? What kind of twit do you think I am?"

As they entered the great hall Mr. Filch passed by. He was smiling and muttering to himself about thumbscrews and the boot.

"Mr. Filch gives me the creeps," Hermione whispered to Harry.

Harry looked at her in surprise.

"Hermione Granger, friend to werewolves and half-giants, champion of house elf rights, a daughter of muggles, is prejudiced against squibs?" Harry whispered back. "I don't believe it!"

"I'm not prejudiced against squibs!" Hermione hissed. "I just don't like the way Mr. Filch looked at me. What if he saw me this summer?"

Harry was not comfortable with that thought either.

They found seats at the Gryffindor table just in time for the sorting of the first year students to begin.

"Harry, look at the teachers table," Hermione whispered. "It's Mr. Fudge!"

The sorting hat began to sing about the need for school unity. It was a long song.

Harry looked at the Slytherin table. He thought that the sorting hat was bonkers.

The hat's song did have a catchy rhythm, in four-four time. Harry heard Dennis Creevy begin to chant a counter theme to the hat's call for school unity.

Not with those snakes
Not with those snakes

Several Gryffindor students picked up on his theme and began chanting with Dennis.

Not with those snakes
Not with those snakes

They were loud enough for the Slytherins to hear what they were saying. In a few seconds the Slytherins began their own chant about school unity.

Not with Mudbloods!
Not with Mudbloods!

There was talking at the Hufflepuff table. Heated argument broke out at the Ravenclaw table. The hall became so noisy it was impossible to hear the sorting hat.

Finally Professor McGonagall shouted for everyone to be quiet. Then she rather gruffly told the sorting hat to stop singing and get on with the sorting.

"Humpf," grunted the sorting hat.

Ronald Angle �“ Hufflepuff! The students at the Hufflepuff table applauded.

Glenda Bowman - Hufflepuff! Again the Hufflepuffs applauded.

Kevin Carlson - Hufflepuff! More applause from the Hufflepuff table.

By the time the sorting had reached Belinda Goodwitch and all of the students had been assigned to Hufflepuff, it was obvious that something was wrong.

By the time Sylvia Johnson was sorted into Hufflepuff, even the Hufflepuffs had stopped applauding.

The last first year student to be sorted was a short, pale, very blond boy with thick glasses named Winston Whitehead. The hat put him into Hufflepuff too.

The teachers looked at each other in shock. Professor Sprout had buried her head in her hands. The sorting hat ended with an improvised chant.

School unity, who needs that?
Why listen to a battered old hat?

Then the hat sat sulking on his stool.

Dennis Creevy leaned over to Harry and whispered gleefully, "I think I broke the sorting hat!"

Dumbledore held a quick conference with Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout and Snape. They called all of the first year students back and asked them what houses they wanted to be in. The students that had no preference were assigned to a house by Professor Dumbledore. Sometimes he would ask them a question. Sometimes he would flip a coin. It seemed a very random process, but finally the first year students were sorted and they could start eating.

After the sorting, Professor Snape came over to the Gryffindor table and took Hermione. Harry's appetite went away, he felt like there was lead in his stomach. Ron he was strangely quiet too and didn’t make a move to eat. They exchanged worried glances and looked down the corridor where Snape had taken Hermione. Little Winston Whitehead sat down in the seat she had vacated. They didn't touch any of the food until Winston asked them to pass the potatoes, and it took him a while to work up the courage to do that.

When dinner was over, Dumbledore stood up to give his welcoming speech. He gave the usual announcements about the forbidden forest and Mr. Filch's rules and quidditch tryouts, but the new stuff was a surprise.

"As you know, our community is in a state of political unrest due to the return of Lord Voldemort. The unrest will not spread to this school. Fighting among students will not be tolerated. Before you are dismissed to go to your dormitories, your wands will be scanned and registered. The use of any magic outside the classroom will be detected, alarms will sound, and you will be in big trouble. The archaic system of punishments instituted by Headmistress Dolores Umbridge, remains in effect. There will be peace in the halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Dumbledore then introduced the new defense against the dark arts instructor, Mr. Cornelius Fudge.

The students began whispering with each other about Dolores Umbridge and how she had worked for Mr. Fudge.

Fudge got up to give a speech, just as one would expect from a politician.

"I would like to begin by thanking the headmaster for entrusting me with the mission of teaching you children the latest techniques to defend yourselves against those who would use dark magic against you," Fudge recited.

"As you all know, last year when I was Minister of Magic, I appointed Miss Dolores Umbridge to be the defense against the dark arts instructor." Then Fudge lowered his voice, "I sincerely apologize to all of you for that mistake." He continued, "Miss Umbridge failed to follow her instructions and greatly exceeded her authority. We do not want children learning how to cast dark magic spells. But it was never my intention that the classroom practice of defensive spells be eliminated.”

“This year, with the threat to our community clearly defined, I pledge to you that I will do everything in my power to ensure that you are well prepared to defend yourselves."

After the speeches, the students had to submit their wands to an inspection by an enchanted rod before they could go up to their rooms.

While most of the students paraded up the stairs to settle into their bedrooms, Harry, Ron, Ginny and Colin Creevy waited in the common room for Hermione to return.

It was nearly eleven when Hermione limped into the Gryffindor common room. Her face was pale and her eyes were very red. Both of her hands were curled into loose fists, she held her arms tightly across her body as if she were cold.

"Hermione!" Harry and the prefects all exclaimed in shock.

"What did Snape do to you?" Ron asked in concern and anger.

"I don't want to talk about it," Hermione mumbled as she limped towards the stairs to the girl's dormitory.

"Hermione, talk to us, please," said Harry. "We're your friends."

Hermione stopped and took a deep breath.

"I didn't like the way Snape looked at you at the station," Harry said angrily. "I didn't like the way he touched you with his wand. Did he… Did he…" Harry couldn't finish the sentence.

"Did he rape you?" Ginny asked.

"No!" Hermione exclaimed, startled. "No, it wasn't like that. It wasn't like that at all."
"I was tortured," she admitted, "my hand and foot."

"Tortured!" Harry yelled angrily, "I'm going to McGonagall."

"She knows," Hermione said quietly. "It was very painful, but it was no worse than what Umbridge did to you night after night last year."

"It wasn't fair!" Harry stated emphatically.

"I deserved to be punished," Hermione said sadly. "I lost my temper. I hit an instructor and I smarted off. My punishment was harsh, but it wasn't unjust. It wasn't pointless."

Harry and Ron looked at each other in disbelief. She had defended the teachers that tortured her. Ginny went to Hermione's side and held her as they walked up the steps to their dormitory.

On Monday morning as the term started, Harry and Ron walked to the great hall for breakfast. On the bulletin board, next to the glass columns that kept track of the house points, there was a festive announcement that congratulated Hermione Granger for getting the highest marks in O.W.L. exams for the decade. There was a picture of her smiling and waving. This was in stark contrast to her somber face as she walked by slowly with Ginny. The hall was unusually quiet. Rumors of Hermione's torture had spread like fire. All of the students understood that the rules would be enforced without mercy this year. Everyone was staring at her in curiosity.

"There aren't many owls today," Hermione observed.

Indeed there weren’t many owls, the Daily Prophet was not delivered that day.

Harry, Ron and Hermione had advanced potions right after breakfast. Like most of the N.E.W.T. courses, students from all four of the houses were combined. Ron sat down next to Hermione, while Harry ended up paired with Ernie MacMillan.

"Today we are going to brew a powerful wound healing potion," Professor Snape said. "I want you to be extra careful to follow the instructions precisely. If your product is of adequate quality, it may actually be useful. At each work station you will find a small vial that contains a clear liquid, this is the ingredient mentioned in line sixteen of the instructions. Collecting this ingredient is a rather tedious task, do not spill it."

The ingredient listed on line sixteen was "tears of a young maiden".

Harry looked back at Hermione. She was looking down at her feet. Ron was patting her back. Nearly everyone in class was looking at her. Draco Malfoy was carelessly tossing his small vial up and catching it after it made a few flips.

Harry and Ernie read all of the instructions on the board and the material in the potions book before they began. Harry looked at the vial of tears and realized there would be some extra left over.

"Ernie," Harry whispered, "I want a vial of this healing potion, just in case. We're going to make a double batch. When we get to step sixteen we'll need to nick the left over tears from Ron and Parvati."

"You distract Snape," whispered Ernie, "he watches you like a hawk. I'll get the vials."

At the end of class, Harry and Ernie filled two vials with the healing potion. They turned in one vial with their names on it while Harry stuck the other vial in his pocket.

He wasn't sure why he was taking this risk. Removing potions from the classroom without permission was grounds for expulsion. But he knew that he had to do it. He got away with it too, because Professor Snape spent a lot of time looking at Hermione.

Chapter 9 Autumn Leaves

That afternoon Harry, Ron and Hermione had Double Charms class. They worked on the Disillusionment Charm and as usual Hermione was the first student to master the incantation. She earned five points for Gryffindor and for the first time that day she smiled a little. As some of the students mastered the spell they began to play a version of hide and seek. While everybody in the class closed their eyes, a student would cast the Disillusionment Charm on their partner. The disillusioned student would hide somewhere in the classroom. Then everyone would open their eyes and try to find the hiding student.
Hermione cast an excellent Disillusionment Spell on Hannah Abbott. No one could see a sign of her until she planted a kiss on Harry's face. Everyone was amused, except Hermione.

Towards the end of the hour Parvati spotted a bamboo wand on Professor Flitwick's desk and she asked him what it was. Professor Flitwick explained how this cheap generic wand could be used to do simple spells. He had Harry demonstrate how to cast a spell accepting charm on the bamboo wand and how to load a charm into the wand. The preloaded charm could be set off with a proper incantation. It took three incantations to set off one spell, but that wasn't too bad considering it was just a bamboo tube with a Flobber Worm heart in it. Harry and Hermione loaded the bamboo wand with Disillusionment Spells and used it to make Ron disappear, sort of. The bamboo wands would never be useful for a complex charm like summoning a Patronus.

By the end of the first day of classes Gryffindor had earned enough house points to eliminate the coal balls. Besides Hermione's five points, Ginny had earned five points in Care of Magical Creatures, Colin had earned five points for providing the picture of Hermione that was on the bulletin board and Winston Whitehead had earned ten points. Dennis Creevy had lost five points and was disappointed that he didn't earn coal balls. Gryffindor was still in last place for house points but there was hope for tomorrow.

At dinner that evening Luna Lovegood wandered over to the Gryffindor table.

"Hi Ronald! Hi Harry!" said Luna, "Have you heard the awful news?"

"News about what?" Ron asked.

"Why there was no Daily Prophet this morning," said Luna. "I got an owl from my dad this afternoon. The office of the Daily Prophet was attacked by Death Eaters. Some of the editors were killed. Dad is helping the survivors to pull together a short paper for tomorrow."

Harry spent the evening studying Charms and Potions in the common room. At a few minutes before nine, Colin and Dennis Creevy came in through the fat lady's door.

"Weren't you patrolling with Hermione?" Harry asked Colin.

"Ron and Ginny are on Prefect duty tonight," Colin answered, "Hermione and I patrol tomorrow."

For the next half hour Harry continued to try to study, but he couldn't concentrate.

At half past nine Ron and Ginny returned
.
"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked in a worried tone.

"We saw her in the library an hour ago," Ginny answered.

"She should be back by now," Ron said. "Has anyone seen Hermione?" he shouted.

"She's not in our room," Lavender responded to Ron's shouting.

"I'm going to look for her." Harry said as he moved towards the door.

"Not without a Prefect," said Ron joining him.

Ron, Ginny and Colin all followed Harry out the door.

"To the library first!" suggested Ron as they ran down the corridor.

The library was closed and dark.

"She must have gone to Gryffindor Tower," Colin said.

"But what route would she have taken?" Ron asked.

"Wait," Harry said, "I hear something."

There was the sound of running water coming from the girl's bathroom.

Ginny opened the door of the bathroom. Hermione was lying on the floor. Her head was covered with a sack.

"Ginny, Harry stay with her!" Ron ordered, "Colin come with me!"

Colin and Ron ran to get Madam Pomfrey as Harry and Ginny dashed over to Hermione's motionless body.

Harry took the sack off Hermione's head as quickly as he could without risking a neck injury while Jenny checked Hermione's wrist for a pulse. Harry couldn't tell if Hermione was breathing or not.

"Does she have a pulse?" Harry asked Ginny desperately.

"I don't know," Ginny said with a hint of panic in her voice.

"Elevate her feet," Harry told Ginny.

Ginny used her wand to summon Hermione's book bag. An alarm bell sounded.

Harry tipped Hermione's head back and tried some artificial respiration. He was glad he had been in the First Aid class during summer camp. He inflated Hermione's lungs twice.

"Does she have a pulse?" Harry asked Ginny again.

"I don't know!" Ginny said with panic in her voice.

Harry pulled out the vial of healing potion that he had stolen from class earlier that day. He placed a few drops on the back of Hermione's tongue and rubbed her throat. Then he used artificial respiration again to inflate Hermione's lungs twice. Then he tried to give her some more potion. Then he repeated the artificial respiration. Then he did it all again.

"I think she's got a pulse," said Ginny hopefully.

Madam Pomfrey arrived with Ron and Colin.

"What happened to her?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"We don't know," said Ginny.

Madam Pomfrey passed her wand over Hermione's body and tapped a chart. A picture of Hermione's body appeared on the chart. There were several red zones on the picture of her body with notations in the margins. Madam Pomfrey studied the chart.

"Oh my," Madam Pomfrey gasped. "What have you done?" she asked Harry.

"Artificial respiration and healing potion," he said as he showed her the vial.

"Professor Snape told me what your class prepared today," she said. "Give her the rest of that vial, in small amounts, like you were doing."

Madam Pomfrey began to chant healing spells over Hermione.

Harry heard Professor Fudge outside the bathroom door.

"Ginny Weasley cast a summoning spell," Fudge said.

Professor McGonagall entered the bathroom. "Oh good heavens!" she exclaimed. "What happened?"

"Someone beat up Hermione," Ron replied.

Madam Pomfrey worked on Hermione for ten minutes.

"I think we can risk moving her to the hospital now," she said.

Madam Pomfrey conjured up a stretcher beneath Hermione and began to levitate her towards the hospital. As they left the bathroom she told Ron to seal the door, it was a crime scene. They stopped half way to the hospital wing and Madam Pomfrey repeated her scan of Hermione. Then she worked on her in the corridor for ten minutes before they started moving again. When they reached the hospital, Madam Pomfrey went right to work on Hermione, ignoring Harry and his friends.

Ron and Harry sat down in some chairs and waited. Ginny and Colin went back to Gryffindor Tower.

Hours of doubt later, Harry drifted off into sleep in his chair. He awoke thinking that hours had passed, but he had slept less than thirty minutes.

"Madam Pomfrey says that she will live," Ron reported with relief. "There's nothing we can do for her here."

Harry and Ron left the hospital. They walked through the corridors with their wands in their hands, wary.

"I want to look in the bathroom, where we found her," Ron said. "I can't figure how they were able to sneak up on her."

Since Ron had sealed the bathroom door, he was able to open it. Harry and Ron went in and looked around. There was some blood on the floor where they had found Hermione. Harry's eye was drawn to a splinter near a toilet stall. He examined it closely. It was bamboo.

"They used a Disillusionment Charm to sneak up on her," Harry said.

"Students can't cast spells outside of a class without being detected," said Ron.

"The Disillusionment Spell was cast in Charms class this afternoon," Harry explained. "Hermione and I loaded it into a bamboo wand. Anyone in the class could have stolen it."

"Who beat up Hermione?" Ron asked.

"Who do you think?" Harry asked bitterly.

"Malfoy and his friends," Ron said with certainty. "I'll bet Nott held her while Crabbe and Goyle pounded her. Malfoy wouldn't get his own hands dirty, he was the lookout."

The next morning Harry and Ron went to the hospital before breakfast. Hermione was alive but she was still unconscious. Madam Pomfrey looked tired.

"It was a busy night," Madam Pomfrey said in an exhausted tone. "I had to heal numerous bruises, a fractured skull, a concussion, several broken ribs, a lung that was punctured and collapsed, bruised kidneys and a ruptured spleen with dangerous amounts of internal bleeding. And I had only one patient,” she said looking at Hermione. “No, I had two. Pansy Parkinson burned her nose trying to remove a pimple. Professor Snape brought her in. She was in and out before the real action started."

Harry and Ron sat down to wait, but Madam Pomfrey told them to go get some breakfast and come back tomorrow. Hermione needed rest, but she would probably recover completely thanks to modern magical healing spells.

After breakfast Harry and Ron went to talk to Dumbledore about their discovery of the bamboo splinter. Kingsley Shacklebolt was in Dumbledore's office. The attack on Hermione was being treated as an attempted murder. Officials from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement were investigating.

Hermione was able to talk by Thursday, but her testimony wasn't all that helpful. She didn't see her assailants. She didn't know if she was attacked by two or ten, but she guessed four. She guessed that they were boys because they were so strong. Hearing how they had held her and hit her and hit her and hit her, just made Harry mad. In the end there was no solid evidence to prove that it was Malfoy and his gang.

Ron instituted a strict regime of self defense. No one was allowed out of Gryffindor Tower alone, groups of four or more being preferred. Ernie MacMillan ordered a similar policy for Hufflepuff. Since magic outside the classroom was strictly controlled, every book on Muggle methods of fighting was checked out of the library.

The Daily Prophet did not report the attack on Hermione. They devoted most of their space to the story of the attack on the Daily Prophet offices. Four staff members had been killed and a lot of damage done. They were using the facilities of the Quibbler to put out a one page paper each day. There was a term for this style of warfare that the wizard community had not experienced in many years, terrorism.

On Saturday morning Harry and Ron went to the hospital to escort Hermione back to Gryffindor Tower.

“Come back for me at lunch time,” she told them. “I have to talk to Madam Pomfrey and take a written test.”

That afternoon Hermione told Harry that she had joined the Nurse Training Program. This was an important first step towards a career as a Healer.

"When did you decide that you wanted to be a Healer instead of an Auror?" Harry asked her.

"I'm not sure that I do want to be a Healer," Hermione answered. "But I want to keep that option open. The important thing is the book."

"What book?" asked Harry.

Hermione whispered into his ears, "Madam Pomfrey has a personal copy of The Complete Guide to Sympathetic Magic by Amours and Lovelynn."

She gave Harry a big smile.

"She keeps it in a cabinet with a bunch of trashy novels and it's not locked!"

Hermione had a great pile of homework to catch up on but by Saturday evening Harry and Ron were bored with studying.

"Let's go visit Hagrid," Harry suggested.

"I would love to Harry," Hermione said, "but I'm so far behind in my class work."

Ron walked across the common room and spoke to Colin and Dennis Creevy and some third year boys in low tones.

"It's alright Harry," Ron said. "You and I can visit Hagrid."

Then he turned to Hermione. "Colin and Dennis will look out for you this evening. Don't leave Gryffindor Tower," he ordered.

Ron's sudden bossy attitude took both Harry and Hermione by surprise. Hermione's flashed with anger and she opened her mouth to argue, but she looked at Harry.

Harry silently mouthed "Yes Ron."

Hermione took a slow deep breath. She quietly said, "Yes Ron."

"Right," Ron said in surprise.

He seemed stunned.

"You're not going to argue with me?" asked Ron disbelieving.

Harry shook his head.

"No Ronald, I'll stay here tonight." Hermione answered. "I won't leave Gryffindor Tower. Say hello to Hagrid for me. Please tell him I'm sorry that I lost my temper."

"Right," Ron said, clearly stunned by Hermione's unexpected acquiescence.

Harry and Ron left the castle and crossed the darkening grounds to Hagrid's hut.

"I'm worried about Hermione," Ron told Harry.

"Aren't we all," Harry replied.

"I mean, it's not like her to give up like that," Ron said.

"She just got out of hospital. She's tired. Your precautions are sensible," Harry stated.

"That's never stopped her from arguing before," Ron said. "Maybe the pressure is getting to her."

Harry and Ron had a nice visit with Hagrid. He told the boys that he had indeed spent the summer in an attempt to communicate with the giants. He was optimistic that most of the giants wouldn't get involved in the fight between the Ministry of Magic and Lord Voldemort, but discouraged by the way they seemed to spend all of their time fighting each other.

"What do you make of Dumbledore hiring Cornelius Fudge to be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor?" Ron asked.

"You know Dumbledore, he gives second chances," Hagrid reminded them. "Ol' Fudge isn't a bad chap, he jes liked power. When them Death Eaters all escaped agin, he was out of a job. Reckon it made 'im a bit more ‘umble. Is he a good teacher?"

"He's not bad," Harry said, "but it's a bit early to tell."

On Sunday Ron talked Ginny and Katie into a little extra Quidditch practice. He wanted to be well prepared to keep against the Slytherins. Harry stayed in Gryffindor Tower with Hermione. By mid afternoon Hermione was ready to take a break from studying.

"Harry," she whispered, "take me to the kitchen. I need to visit the house-elves."

"I thought you would be sick of the house-elves," Harry said.

"Oh no!" Hermione said, "I've barely gotten started with them. The work was hard. But in the last two weeks of summer I had something of a breakthrough."

So Harry reluctantly left Gryffindor Tower with Hermione and they walked down to the kitchen. Hermione talked all of the time they were walking so neither one of them noticed that they were being followed by four boys.

"We spent the last two weeks cleaning up the castle for fall term," Hermione babbled.
"It was a lot of hard work, but the house-elves talk to me now."

"A whole summer of hard labor to get house-elves to talk to you," Harry said skeptically.

"I did more than that!" Hermione exclaimed. "I think they trust me now. I started reading to them."

"Reading to the house-elves?" Harry said incredulously, "Do they like books?"

"They've never been exposed to books!" Hermione said. "I started with recipes, during the week I was cooking. They thought it was useful! I could use books to expand the menu! Then I started reading children's books, mostly The Heroic Deeds of Young Godric Gryffindor."

They arrived at the painting of the fruit bowl and tickled the pear to open the kitchen door. When they entered the kitchen the house-elves were busy at work but they stopped very quickly.

The word spread through the kitchen like fire. "Miss Hermione is back!"

Dozens of smiling house-elves gathered around Harry and Hermione.

"Miss Hermione and Harry Potter!" Dobby greeted them. "We are so glad to see that you are alive and have come back to see us again!"

Hermione greeted the house-elves warmly, there were more than a few hugs.

"I'm sorry I haven't been back to see you in a whole week," she apologized. "It's been a very rough week. I brought the book I was reading. Where were we?"

"Godric had rescued the princess," said a little elf boy, "but he had to get out of the cave. There was a dragon waiting at the entrance!"

"Oh yes! Now I remember," Hermione said. "We're on Chapter 20."

The door of the kitchen opened again and Dennis Creevy and three other third year Gryffindor boys entered.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked Dennis.

"We're following you," Dennis said simply.

"Why?" Harry demanded to know.

"Uh-" Dennis began, "because Ron told us to."

"What? Why?" Harry exclaimed.

"He's bigger than us," Dennis explained, "and he wanted to play Quidditch. What are you doing in the kitchen?"

"Hermione is going to read to the house-elves," Harry said in an irritated voice.

"OK," Dennis said as he and his friends found some chairs. "Can we get some tea and cakes while we wait?"

A half dozen house-elves scrambled to get snacks for Harry and Hermione's body guards while Hermione began to read.

After Hermione had read for about five minutes, Harry felt a tug on his arm. He turned around to see one of the biggest and strongest looking house-elves that he had ever seen. The elf gestured for Harry to follow him to Old George's pantry.

"Hello Harry Potter," Old George said in a flat tone of voice. "The house-elves want to know who beat up Miss Hermione."

"There's not enough proof for an official arrest to be made, but we believe it was four sixth year Slytherin boys," Harry answered. "Their names are Malfoy, Nott, Crabbe and Goyle. Their motive is that their fathers were all either killed or humiliated in a battle that occurred at Hermione's house."

"But no proof?" George asked.

"Right," Harry said, "they are still free to roam around the school."

"They'll be watched," Old George said.

As Harry moved to the door to leave the pantry, he turned back towards Old George.

"Who else are you watching?" Harry asked George.

"Harry Potter doesn't need to know the whole lot," George replied. "But we doesn't follow little witches into the bathroom!" he added defensively.

Shortly after Harry and Hermione and their bodyguards returned to Gryffindor tower,
Ron came in from the Quidditch pitch. Harry followed Ron up to their room.

"You had us followed," Harry said angrily. "Don't you trust me with her?"

"What? Trust you with her?" Ron said in surprise. "Dennis and the boys were to protect you from Malfoy's gang, that's all. They're not spies! I'm just being cautious."

"I can take care of myself and I can watch out for Hermione too," Harry said.

"We're at war," said Ron. "You two are both major targets, especially you. It's like chess. Our best pieces have to be covered."

"And who's watching you?" Harry asked.

"I forgot about that!" Ron said in surprise. "I am assigning that job to you."

On Monday evening as Harry was eating dinner with Ron, he saw Hermione enter the great hall with Susan Bones. Both girls were wearing white capes and caps that matched Madam Pomfrey's. Hermione waved to them but sat down at the Hufflepuff table with Susan. As they were leaving the great hall after dinner they heard Hermione call to them.

"Harry! Ron! You can't leave yet! Come over here!" ordered Hermione.

"Since when did you join Hufflepuff?" Ron asked Hermione.

"We'll be at the Gryffindor table on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays," Hermione replied. "Susan and I are going to eat together so we can talk about Healing Class. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays we'll eat at the Hufflepuff table but you two will need to escort Susan to the hospital after dinner."

"Why are we escorting Susan to the hospital?" Ron asked.

"Because Ernie MacMillan and some Hufflepuff boys are going to escort me to the hospital on Tuesdays Thursdays and Saturdays," Hermione explained.

"This sounds rather complicated," Harry said.

"You don't want me walking around the castle alone do you? And isn't Quidditch practice on Tuesday and Thursday evenings?" she asked.

"Right and right, but…" Ron said.

"Hufflepuff Quidditch practice is on Monday and Wednesday," Hermione went on. "Oh and you two will need to come to the hospital early on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday mornings to escort me back to Gryffindor Tower.

"You say you're working in the hospital on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday nights?" Ron said in a confused tone.

"Now you've got it!" Hermione said smiling.

"But you've got Prefect duties on those nights," Ron said.

"Oh no!" Hermione said closing her eyes and slouching. "This is complicated."

Parvati Patil had picked up Hermione's Prefect duties while she was in the hospital. Fortunately she agreed to help out until Hermione could get her schedule straight.

The following evening they practiced Quidditch until the twilight was fading. As they entered the castle they heard Dennis Creevy.

"Mr. Fudge, someone has messed with the picture of the naked lady," Dennis said.

"What naked lady?" Fudge asked.

"The one on the horse, she's got long blond hair that covers her tits, except when the wind's blowing," explained Dennis.

"Oh yes! Lady Godiva,” Fudge said with a smile. "That painting's always popular with the boys. But the spell alarm didn't go off," he added thoughtfully.

Harry glanced up as Professor Fudge climbed the stairs to examine the painting of Lady Godiva. He wondered what Dennis was up to, and he hoped it didn't cost them too many house points.

"Oh good heavens!" he heard Fudge exclaim. "It's outrageous! Who…?"

Then Harry heard a swish, and a thud, and a clunk clunk clunk as something rolled down the steps.

"Oh Shit!" Dennis shouted.

Harry and Ron ran back to see what had happened. Dennis and his friends ran part way up the stairs.

"Professor Fudge!" one of the boys shouted.

"Oh wow!" Dennis exclaimed, "he moved his eyes!"

Harry looked up. Dennis was holding Mr. Fudge's severed head.

At the top of the stairs near the painting, a mannequin of a medieval executioner moved back to its normal position. His axe was covered with blood. Harry pulled out his wand and cautiously moved up the stairs. The mannequin was immobile, the spell that had animated it having run its course. He stepped over Fudge's headless body and looked down the corridor. He saw no one. Teachers were climbing the stairs. Professor Snape was the first to the top.

"Potter!" Snape snarled. "Did you see anything?"

"No," Harry answered.

Then he saw the painting. The naked figure on the horse was Cornelius Fudge.

"It couldn't have been a student," Professor McGonagall said.

"I'll notify the Ministry of Magic," Dumbledore said.


Hermione was wearing her nurse's cap and cape over her tea towel bikini.
"Oh Harry," she said, "you're bleeding. You need a bandage."
She began to untie her tea towels.

AR AR AR AR!

Harry was jolted from the dream by the loud cawing of the rooster that was sitting on the windowsill next to his bed.

"What?" he said stunned.

"Wake up sleepy head," said the rooster, "it's time to get the girl."

"I thought Crookshanks was going to wake me," Harry mumbled.

"Oh, you wouldn't like that," the rooster said.

"Come on Ron," said Harry as he pulled on his clothes," We've got to fetch Hermione from the hospital."

"What?" Ron mumbled.

"Never mind," Harry said, "I'll get her myself."

"No wait," said Ron yawning, "I'm coming."

Harry and Ron walked through the sleeping castle in silence. By the time they got to the hospital they were almost awake.

"So who do you reckon bumped off Fudge?" Ron asked.

"It couldn't be a student, all of our wands are monitored," Harry said. "You can't animate a mannequin and have it recognize a specific target using one of those bamboo wands. It has to be an adult wizard."

"Good morning Harry! Good morning Ron." Hermione said smiling. "I'm exhausted, take me to bed."

"It's got to be a teacher," Ron reasoned.

"Harry, could Ginny or Ron switch nights for Prefect duty with me?" Hermione asked.

Harry was the captain of the Quidditch team and was expecting this question.

"We need both Ron and Ginny at Quidditch practice," Harry said flatly. "What teacher would want to murder Fudge?"

"I think it was Snape," Ron said.

"But the weather forecast is for rain this evening," Hermione argued.

"How do you figure that?" Harry asked.

"Snape has always wanted the Defense Against the Dark Arts job," Ron explained.

"It was in the Daily Prophet," Hermione said.

"Snape wouldn't kill Fudge just for the job, he'd have to prepare for new classes," Harry replied, "and the Daily Prophet is never right about their forecasts."

"Snape was the first one up the stairs," Ron said. "Who does the forecasting for the Daily Prophet anyway?"

"Couldn't you reschedule Quiddith practice to Monday and Wednesday and share the pitch with Hufflepuff," Hermione pleaded.

"The mannequin could have been enchanted hours before the murder. I think Madam Trelawny does the forecasting, it's so bad. And no, we can't reschedule practice," Harry said. "Did you have any patients for your first night on the job?" he asked Hermione.

"Maybe it was Trelawney!" Ron suggested.

"We had a couple of first year boys that collided on their brooms yesterday afternoon, they just slept all night," Hermione said. "It was so creepy seeing Fudge's head lying next to his body. We put him in the back corner, behind a screen. The Ministry of Magic officials will come to take him away today."

"Trelawney?" Harry said in disbelief. "What gives you that idea," he said to Ron. And to Hermione, "what did you do all night while your patients were sleeping?"

"She'd be the perfect assassin. No one could possibly suspect her," Ron argued. "She's such a bubble head."

"I got all of my class work done and I managed to spend a little time reading some spells in a certain purple book," she said smiling at Harry as she touched his chest with her finger.

"I don't think it was Trelawney," Harry said. "I'd believe Filch did it before her."

"Filch is an evil creep," Hermione said. "He came to look at Fudge's body last night."

"Filch is a squib, he couldn't animate a mannequin," Ron stated. "Are you making fun of me?"

"Maybe you could have Quidditch practice before breakfast!" suggested Hermione. "There's this rooster…"

"No!" Harry said.

Later that day Remus Lupin arrived at the castle. Most of the students from the fourth year on up were glad to see him. He had been the best Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor that any of them could remember. Unfortunately Professor Lupin was a werewolf and there were several days each month when he could not teach. He was there as temporary help until Dumbledore found a permanent replacement for Mr. Fudge or the moon became full.

On Thursday Hermione and Susan came over to the Gryffindor table to eat dinner.

"Here comes Florence Nightengale," Harry said to Ron who had his back turned to Hermione.

"Florence Nightengale?" Ron exclaimed. "You always have girls flirting with you! I don't know Florence, is she in Ravenclaw?"

Hermione told Harry that she had switched nights with Susan Bones so she could go on Prefect patrol that evening. It meant that she would be on duty in the hospital on both Friday and Saturday nights and that Harry and Ron would have to pick her up on both Saturday and Sunday mornings. ("Sorry about the weekend.") She didn't know what she would do about Saturday night's Prefect patrol. Professor McGonagall had hinted that she might make Parvati the full time sixth year female Prefect if Hermione couldn't do her duties. Would Harry please reschedule Quidditch practice?

"I would if I could, but I can't. The field is reserved every night," Harry explained. "Do you really want to be in the Nursing Program?" Harry asked Hermione.

"Yes definitely," Hermione stated emphatically. "The most important thing I can do is to help you find this power that you have that Lord Voldemort knows nothing about," she whispered to Harry. "I think that power is Love. And I hope that Sympathetic Magic spells can give you an advantage."

She took Harry's hand under the table.

"This is about the book," she whispered. "I'm doing this for you Harry."

"You do look cute in you nurse's cap and cape," Harry said with a smile.

On Sunday morning, the Daily Prophet reported that Death Eaters had attacked the home of Amos Diggory, the Minister of Magic. Mr. Diggory was injured and his wife was killed. Some neighboring wizards had rushed to the Diggorys’ to help. Percy and Arthur Weasley had suffered minor injuries.

On the following morning, the Daily Prophet announced that Amos Diggory had signed a decree that allowed law enforcement officials to use Veritas serum when questioning suspected terrorists or terrorist sympathizers. Another decree banned the publication of divisive material such as calls by the followers of You-Know-Who and his allies to revolt against the Ministry of Magic.

Hermione and Ron got into an argument about civil rights.

“I can’t figure her out,” Ron said to Harry later. “You-Know-Who kills her family. Diggory takes strong steps against him. But she thinks it’s a bad idea.”

“She looks at things in a complicated way,” Harry said.

“I asked her to the Halloween Ball,” Ron said.

“That’s weeks away,” Harry said in surprise.

“She turned me down, kissed me on the cheek and ran away. What’s with her?” Ron asked.

“I think she’s in love with some guy who’s not good for her,” Harry said sadly.

Chapter 10 Find My Heart

The rooster was right, Harry did not like being awakened by Crookshanks. The process started with Crookshanks jumping on him, which was rather like a punch to the stomach. Harry lay in bed trying to catch his breath, but only for a short time because Crookshanks sank his claws into Harry's leg.

"Ow, you stupid cat!" Harry shouted, waking up Ron, Neville, Dean and Seamus.

"Come on Ron," Harry said with a yawn, "time to escort our nurse home."

Ron mumbled something as he got up, but Harry didn't understand him.

They arrived at the hospital a few minutes late. Hermione was waiting at the door.
She waved from the other end of the corridor and started towards them. But she had walked only a few steps from the hospital door when a suit of armor shot her with a crossbow. She spun around a quarter of a turn and fell to her knees.

Harry pulled out his wand and ran towards her, Ron was right beside him.

Three suits of armor were converging on Hermione. One had a pike, one a mace and the closest one a sword.

“Expelliarmus!” Hermione shouted, sending the sword flying across the corridor.

The swordsman went to retrieve his weapon. The pike and the mace were very close to her now and the bowman was cocking his crossbow.

"Ron, get the bowman!" Harry shouted. “Wingardium leviosa”, he chanted.

An alarm bell sounded as the suit of armor with the pike was levitated and sent smashing into the armor with the mace. Ron destroyed the bowman with the Reducto spell. Dobby and five large house elves charged out from behind a tapestry and began pounding the unarmed swordsman with sticks.

Harry dashed over to Hermione. The crossbow bolt was in her left shoulder, just above her breast. There was a lot of blood.

"Oh not again," she moaned. "Thanks for saving me Harry," she said as she passed out.

Madam Pomfrey came out of the hospital immediately and cast a spell to stop Hermione's bleeding. Professors Lupin and Flitwick came running up.

"Harry Potter cast a Levitating Spell and Ron Weasley cast a Demolition Spell," Lupin told Flitwick.

They carefully moved Hermione back into the hospital and Madam Pomfrey started working on her wound.

The house-elves attached broom heads to their sticks and began cleaning up the mess.

Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall arrived and the teachers began discussing what to do. There was a killer in the castle. One who was very good at enchantments and whose wand did not set off the alarm.

Morning classes were cancelled and students were confined to their dormitories. Harry and Ron waited in the hospital with Hermione. She had a serious wound, close to her heart. Madam Pomfrey estimated that Hermione would be in the hospital for thirty hours. Because of the battle with the murderous armor, Harry and Ron did not get in trouble for setting off spells outside of class. This greatly disappointed Mr. Filch.

The order was given for all of the armor and weapons in the castle to be checked for enchantments and moved to storage. Harry and Ron spent half of the day helping to levitate potentially dangerous objects to locked rooms. It was late morning when Ron finally got to pull Harry aside.

"Did you notice that nothing was ever said about Hermione using a Disarming Spell," Ron whispered.

"The alarm sounded when I set off the Levitating Spell," Harry observed.

"At the Start of Term Banquet, when our wands were being registered…" Ron began.

"Hermione was in detention," Harry finished.

Harry and Ron stopped by the hospital just before lunch to check in on Hermione. They were enormously relieved to see that she was conscious and half sitting up, but she began to cry as they approached.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed, "I'm sorry. It was my fault."

"What?" Harry said, in confusion. "No, it wasn't…"

"I should have waited for you," she stammered. "I was so tired. I wasn't thinking."

"No, Hermione," Ron said, "it wasn't your fault. Someone tried to murder you."

Harry stroked her hair while Ron held her hand and they tried to calm her down.

Madam Pomfrey appeared carrying a tray and a bowl of soup.

"Boys, you saved her life this morning," Madam Pomfrey said. "Now go to lunch. She needs her rest."

As Harry and Ron left the hospital they heard Madam Pomfrey chiding Hermione to drink her soup and to stop crying, she had lost enough fluid for one day.

"She's cracking up," Ron observed sadly.

"Four attempts to murder her since June, her Family’s gone, her home’s destroyed, she was tortured, is it any wonder she's upset," Harry said.

"It didn't seem to be a good time to ask to borrow her wand," Ron stated.

"Borrow her wand?" Harry asked.

"It's time we went on the offensive, put it back on Malfoy and his gang," Ron said bitterly.

Afternoon classes were cancelled for a special faculty meeting. All of the students were ordered to remain in the Great Hall after lunch. Professor McGonagall asked Harry, Ron, Ginny and Colin to fetch Hagrid. As the four left the Great Hall Professor Lupin scanned them with one of the silver instruments from Dumbledore's office.

"Why did Professor Lupin search us?" Ginny asked as they walked across the lawn to Hagrid's hut. "What are they looking for?"

"Hagrid," Harry called, when they got to his cottage. "You need to come up to the castle."

"I'm not surprised," Hagrid answered him. "I 'erd about 'Ermione bein' attacked again."

He had his crossbow and Fang with him, like he was going hunting.

It was a warm sunny day. There was a cloud of dust in the air from the wagon going to fetch groceries. Birds were singing. It would have a great day to be out of classes if they could go down to the Quidditch pitch. But they would be spending the afternoon crowded into the Great Hall with all of the other students.

They were met at the castle door by Professor Lupin.

"Ah Hagrid, you've brought Fang and your bow. Good," Lupin said. "They could come in handy if we find an intruder."

"Professor Lupin," Harry interrupted, "What exactly are you doing?"

"Well Harry, you don't need to worry about it," Lupin said. "But we're searching the whole castle for a wand or enchanted item that could have been used to animate the armor. The attack on Hermione this morning was very similar to the attack last week on Professor Fudge. You four need to go to the Great Hall with the rest of the students."

The students spent the afternoon sitting at their house tables. A few tried to read or catch up on their class work. Some of the students at the Ravenclaw table may have actually studied some, but mostly there was too much talking and teasing for anyone to get much done.

Harry looked up at the clock, only one boring hour had gone by. How long would it take to search the whole castle for a wand?

"So Ron, shall we play Naughts and Crosses?" Harry asked.

"No," Ron said. "I'm in the mood to attack. Let's try some psychological warfare."

He looked over at the Slytherin table.

"Let's take a walk," he said to Harry.

So Harry," Ron said loudly so the Slytherins would be sure to hear him over the noise.

"What sort of wizard would try to kill Hermione twice in two weeks?" Ron asked.

"A bastard," Harry replied.

"I was thinking it was an incompetent bastard," Ron said looking at Draco.

"I agree with your assessment, Ronald," Harry said loudly. "Only a group of twits could fail to murder a school girl four times in a row. It's too bad Lord Voldemort isn't here. I'd love to watch him punish his idiot followers."

Harry loved to watch the way the Slytherins cringed when he said Voldemort.

"Those guys that beat her up in the bathroom and then didn't finish the job," Ron said angrily, "they were sloppy."

The hall began to go quiet as students stopped talking and started watching the drama near the Slytherin table.

"They were stupid," Harry said, "like that fellow that got killed by Muggle gunfire. Now he's famous for being careless. But I can't think of his name right now. I guess it's not important."

"You're on thin ice, Potter!" Theodore Nott said rising to his feet."

"What are you going to do Theodore?" Harry asked. "Hex me? I dare you! Give the authorities an excuse to question you. Go ahead. Do it! They use Veritas serum now."

"I'm not afraid of Veritas serum!" Nott said shaking.

"A smart fellow like you or Draco probably could fool them," Ron said to Theodore. "But Goyle would spill it."

"Vincent, are you going to follow Draco to the grave the way your father followed Lucius Malfoy?" Harry asked Crabbe. "The Arch and the Veil are waiting for you."

Crabbe stared at them. Harry wasn't sure Vincent understood what he had said.

"You could save yourself, Crabbe," Ron said loudly. "Rat out these losers, before they rat out you."

Malfoy, Nott, Crabbe and Goyle rose to their feet with their fists clenched.

The entire Gryffindor house, most of the Hufflepuffs and about half of the Ravenclaws stood up too. Lots of fists were clenched. Lots of eyes glared at the Slytherin boys.

"You're making noise Potter!" Malfoy hissed. "You're disturbing our studies."

"Ronald!" Harry said triumphantly, "we must let Draco return to his books."

Harry and Ron returned to their seats, the hall was a lot quieter than it had been.

The teachers returned to the Great Hall. Dumbledore took a second year Slytherin boy away for questioning. The students were searched as they left the Great Hall. When the hall was emptied of students, the teachers searched the room. They didn't find the wand they were looking for.

On Thursday evening Harry, Ron, Colin and Dennis escorted Hermione and Susan from the hospital to the Great Hall for dinner. The Gryffindor table was decorated with signs and balloons that said Happy Birthday Hermione there was a cake and presents too. Ginny gave Hermione some red and gold ribbons to tie back her hair. Harry noticed with a shock that Hermione's hair was tied back with a sock. He breathed a sigh of relief that no words were visible. Neville gave Hermione a little necklace pendant of a Gryffindor lion.

"I saw you wearing one at the trial, I thought you looked cute," Neville said shyly.

Ron was embarrassed because he also had bought a Gryffindor lion pendant for Hermione.

Harry gave Hermione a white dress, just like the one she had worn at the trial in July. Then he gave her a big box that contained three stuffed animals, the Precious Puppies: one yellow, one green and one purple. Their popularity had peaked years ago but Mrs. Figg had outdone herself shopping. The kids from wizard families had no idea what those stuffed animals were about and Hermione had long since outgrown playing with stuffed animals, but it earned Harry a hug and a kiss. Then Harry gave her the Comet 260 LE.

"But Harry, I'm not much of a flyer," Hermione admitted.

"I'll teach you to love it," Harry promised. Then he whispered, "Mexico is looking better every day."

"Mexico?" she said, "I sort of prefer Hawaii."

"We can cross the Atlantic via the Faeroes, Iceland and Greenland, but there are no islands between San Francisco and Hawaii," Harry explained.

"OK, Mexico's fine," she agreed.

"A donde esta la hermosa bruja?" Harry whispered.

"I didn't know you spoke Spanish!" Hermione exclaimed.

"I don't,” Harry admitted. "I just figured out one sentence and it's probably not grammatically correct."

A group of boys from Hufflepuff made sure that Hermione arrived back at the hospital safely for her Thursday night shift while Harry and the Gryffindor Quidditch team headed for the pitch before they lost all of their daylight.

It rained on Saturday but on Sunday the weather cleared up and Harry decided that Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper needed some Bludger whacking practice, so he took them to the Quidditch pitch. Hermione was disappointed, but Ron agreed to stay in with her. Later that day Dennis Creevy and his gang reported to Harry that Hermione had indeed talked Ron into taking her to the kitchen so she could read to the house-elves. Dennis also told Harry that Ron seemed to be a bit put out that he and Hermione had been followed all afternoon.

The following week they were surprised by the appearance of Arthur Weasley as a guest lecturer in their Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Professor Lupin had to take a few days off. Mr. Weasley talked about evil enchanted items and how to deal with them. Most of the examples he discussed were Muggle artifacts, but Harry recognized a few of the items he described as relics of the Black house.

Quidditch practice on Thursday lasted until well past sunset, thanks to a full moon.

Harry and Ron were awakened before dawn on Friday so they could go to the hospital to escort Hermione to Gryffindor tower. Fortunately, the rooster did it.

The Daily Prophet reported that an "owl bomb" had killed an employee of the Ministry of Magic. The official killed by the evil spell was Mr. Perkins, who had shared an office with Mr. Weasley. The paper advised anyone who received a howler that was attached to an enchanted item to dive for cover immediately.

On the last Saturday of September there was magic in the air. Of course there was always magic at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but this day felt special. The weather was perfect, sunny and crisp. The trees were turning colors, and Harry's friends were all excited about the upcoming wedding between Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour. Fleur's status as the Triwizard Tournament Champion from Beauxbaton Academy made it something of a celebrity event.

Harry walked to Hogsmede with Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Dean Thomas, who was Ginny's current boyfriend. Luna Lovegood also joined their group for the walk to the wedding chapel. She was covering the wedding for Witch Weekly.

Harry and his friends were all dressed in their very best clothes. Ron was in a rented set of formal robes that matched the wedding party's, he would be acting as an usher. Ginny was one of the bridesmaids and she looked very pretty in her formal dress. Harry was wearing the formal robes he had worn to the Yule Ball during his forth year, though they were beginning to look a bit short on him. Hermione was still short of clothing and wore the white dress that Harry had given her for her birthday. She looked a bit out of place at a witch's wedding, but Harry thought she looked cute.

The wedding ceremony was beautiful. Afterwards the crowd gathered in the garden behind the chapel for the reception.

"We want to take a few more pictures of the wedding party," boomed Mr.Weasley's amplified voice. "Then we'll do the Cognoscere charm, the bouquet and dinner. The band will start playing at about eight o'clock, and the dancing will go on for as long as it goes on."

A look of dread came across Ginny's face, she looked at Harry and then at Dean. "Oh no, they're not going to do that silly Cognoscere trick," she moaned.

"I've never heard of the Cognoscere charm," Hermione said in surprise. "What is it?"

" The incantation is Cognoscere Mea Vita. They'll make all of the girls do it," Ginny said fearfully. "It's a stupid parlor game for silly little girls. It has no meaning. It causes nothing but trouble," Ginny sputtered.

"Whatever it is, I won't be able to do it," Hermione stated nervously. "I don't know how it's done. Am I going to look like an idiot in front of all of these people?"

"What's the matter girls? You look distraught," Molly Weasley interrupted as she walked by.

Mrs. Weasley was beaming with happiness and excitement about the wedding. She had no understanding of Ginny's fear. Ginny took a deep breath and pursed her lips. She said nothing to her mother, so Hermione spoke first.

"Ginny was explaining Cognoscere Mea Vita to me Mrs. Weasley. I've never heard of that spell," Hermione said.

"Oh it's just a cute little divination spell that young witches play at," Ginny's mother explained. "I'm sure you can do it. I'll show you how."

"Do you think that's wise mother?" asked George.

"After all, you and dad have been married for quite a while now," added Fred.

"Quit teasing me you two. It always works for your father and me," Mrs. Weasley said indignantly. "I'll get Arthur away from that crowd of men so you'll see how it works," she gushed at Hermione.

She poured her punch into Harry's empty glass and waved her cup in the air.

"Oh Arthur Dear," she sang across the lawn. "Would you fetch me another glass of punch, I've spilled mine."

"Certainly dear," answered Mr. Weasley as he walked over and took his wife's cup.

As her husband walked across the lawn towards the punch bowl, Mrs. Weasley leaned towards Hermione and explained, "You just hold out the palm of your hand nice and flat like this. Then you spin your wand on your hand as you say the incantation. There are two parts to a happy result. First, the wand points to your true love. Then the feedback signal causes it to glow."

She spun her wand in her outstretched hand and said "Cognoscere Mea Vita".

Her wand came to a stop pointing directly at her husband and then it began to glow a lovely shade of rosy-pink.

"Oh Arthur," she called in a singsong voice.

Mr. Weasley finished filling her cup from the punch bowl and turned around. When he saw Molly's wand pointing at him and glowing pink he grinned and walked over.

"Oh you sentimental old girl," he said, as he took her arm and they walked together towards Bill and Fleur.

"They normally don't make married witches do it," said Fred.

"It could be embarrassing if her wand doesn't point at her husband," snickered George.

"And it's sad if the wand points at her husband, but the glow is gone," finished Fred.

"It's stupid," Ginny said forcefully. "Wizards just like to see little witches act like fools."

Harry felt himself being pulled aside.

"Fred and I have a little bet going, and you are the subject, Harry," George said mischievously.

"George thinks there will be seven or more wands pointed in your direction, while I say it will be six or less," Fred stated.

"You're kidding," Harry groaned.

He took a gulp of punch and began coughing.

"Watch out for that punch mom gave you, Harry," Fred warned, "I put a shot of Firewhiskey in it."

"You don't say!" exclaimed George. "Harry, be careful with that punch, it's got two shots of Firewhiskey in it.”

"What makes you two think that any of the girls' wands will point at me?" Harry croaked.

"We're both certain that there will be at least three," Fred said.

"Ginny's still stuck on you Harry. She's afraid it'll make Dean mad when her wand points at you instead of him," George said holding up one finger.

"Everybody but Ron knows that Hermione's wand will point at you mate," Fred added, holding up two fingers.

They heard Mr. Weasley's amplified voice calling for all of the fair young maidens to gather around the bride for the Cognoscere charm. Hermione and Ginny moved nervously towards the group of girls.

"And Harry, guess who is working with the catering service. Maybe you didn't see her, but she's been watching you," George laughed, holding up three fingers.

Harry looked over to the buffet table. Cho waved back at him. Harry took another gulp of punch and only gagged a little this time.

"The only question is how many other lovely ladies have a crush on you, Mr. Hero. I'm betting on at least four or more," George stated definitely.

"And I think he's being cynical," Fred replied. "Five or six girls sure, but seven or more? I don't think so."

"I can't believe that seven or more girls here are in love with me, that's ridiculous," Harry stated emphatically.

"Are you confident enough to wager ten Galleons against me?" taunted George.

"Alright, ten Galleons says Fred is right," Harry said downing the rest of his punch.

The bride spun her wand first. When it stopped it was aiming directly at Bill Weasley, and then it started to glow a beautiful and bright shade of rosy-pink. Everyone in the crowd clapped as the bride and groom moved towards each other for a bit of hugging and kissing.

Then wands were spinning everywhere.

Harry looked for Hermione and to his horror saw that she was standing near Ron.

Some wands had stopped spinning, a few were turning pink.

Hermione was crying a bit.

Ron was staring at her.

Hermione's wand spun in her outstretched hand. Then it came to an abrupt stop. It was pointing directly at Harry.

Then Harry's view of Hermione was blocked by Ginny. She had tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. She flung her arms around Harry and kissed him passionately on the lips.

"Oh Harry, you've made me the happiest girl alive," she blubbered. "I didn't know I meant so much to you."

Then she kissed him again and again as a burst of pink fireworks erupted behind her.

She broke away, tears on her face. "I'm sorry. I'll be back. I've got to talk to Dean now."

She moved away, leaving Harry too stunned to speak.

Harry heard a girl cry out his name. Was it Hermione? It sounded like she was in pain! He heard several girls call his name.

He tried to move through the crowd, but suddenly someone grabbed him in a tight hug and kissed him repeatedly. She smelled of something delicious and spicy, sort of like the buffet table.

He managed to focus his eyes and mumbled, "Cho?"

Cho was crying. All she could manage to say was "Oh Harry, Oh Harry that was beautiful." Then she kissed him some more.

He heard Ron shout, "Hermione!"

Cho let go and sniffed, "I'm sorry Harry. I've got to get back to work. Later."

"It hurts! It hurts!" Hermione screamed.

Harry spun towards the sound of Hermione's panicked voice. She was over by the fireworks. The crowd blocked his view. Then little Gabrielle Delacour threw her arms around his waist and hugged him tight.

"Oh Harry, Harry my hero, my savior, I sought zat I meant no theeng to you. I am so happy zat you love me too," she gushed.

"Harry, this is very strange," George said loudly over the noise of the pandemonium that was breaking out all around them.

"Harry! Ron! Please! Help!" Hermione cried out.

"I weel go to Ogwartz insteed of Beauxbaton!" Gabrielle promised. "I weel grow up as fast as I can for you, Harry, my beeg strong hero."

"There are a lot of wands pointing at you. I predicted that. But they are ALL glowing! That's impossible!" George exclaimed.

"Ow it's hot!" Ron yelled.

"How can you love so many girls at once?" Fred asked.

Gabrielle had no more than let go of Harry when a girl with curly red hair practically smothered Harry with a kiss.

"Oh Harry! This is like a dream!" she said. "I thought you didn't even know my name."

Harry looked at her. Was she a cousin of the Weasleys?

"I don't know your name," he told her.

She kissed him again anyway.

"Oohh!" Hermione cried in pain.

"Bill's friend, that fellow Pye from St. Mungo's, get him over here!" a man shouted.

Harry broke away from the red headed girl and tried to move towards the spot where he had last seen Hermione. He got about two steps through the crowd when a tall athletic girl wrapped him up in a hug.

"Oh Harry! It was just a girlish fantasy! I didn't dream that you cared about me!" she said.

"Damn you Harry! You owe me ten Galleons!," George shouted angrily. "Alicia Spinnet! We have issues to discuss!"

"Wow!" Fred exclaimed. "We lost the bet in a big way! There were at least seven wands pointing at you. And every one of them glowed like the Bride's! I didn't see what happened with Hermione. Was she number eight? Oh crap… It's nine! Get out of here Harry," Fred said as he shoved Harry and then moved to head off Angelina.

Harry broke through to where he thought Hermione should be, but she wasn't there. Through the crowd he saw Ron moving away. Was Hermione with him?

"Harry, that was amazing," Luna Lovegood said in her typical dreamy way.

"Did your wand glow too?" Harry demanded to know.

"No, he doesn't even know I exist," she admitted sadly.

"What happened to Hermione? Did you see?" he asked her, trying to remain calm.

"Her wand pointed right at you," Luna calmly reported. "Then she got the feedback. On a scale of one to ten, it was about two hundred. I've never seen anything like it. It was quite beautiful but I think her hand was burned."

A pretty girl grabbed Harry, kissed him, and began babbling in French. Harry forced a polite smile and gently pushed her away.

He tried to move in the direction he saw Ron. After a few steps through the crowd, and some more kisses from yet another girl, he saw Ron coming towards him. Ron looked very angry.

"Ron!" Harry shouted. "Where's Hermione? What happened?"

"You Asshole!" spat Ron. "What did you do to her? You hurt her!"

"I didn't do anything!" Harry pleaded.

He stepped to his right through a gap in the crowd that gave him a view of Hermione. A tall wizard was holding a wand over her hand. There was a person between him and Ron so he dodged safely towards Hermione.

"Hermione!" he cried. "What happened?"

She looked up at him. There were tears on her face.

"Harry, I called for you. Why didn't you come?" she asked sadly.

"I was attacked," he said.

He thought that sounded better than saying he had been hugging and kissing other girls.

"What did you do young man?" demanded the healer. "How did you amplify your feedback signal? More that half a dozen girls got feedback from you! This girl had third degree burns on her hand! How could you do such a thing?"

"I didn't do anything!" pleaded Harry again.

Ron tried to grab Harry by the arm, but Harry jumped forwards to Hermione's side. He went down on one knee beside her and gently grasped her forearms.

"I'm so sorry, Hermione," he said, "I'm so sorry. What happened? What does it mean?"

Ron glared down at him.

Harry gave Hermione a hug and she put her head on his shoulder.

"If you ever hurt her again, I'll hex you so bad you won't be able to sit down for a month," Ron warned Harry.

"Oh Ron," Harry said, "I don't want to hurt Hermione. I don't want her to ever be hurt. I love her."

"You have a strange way of showing it," Ron snarled.

Harry held Hermione's hand in his and examined her palm. The healer had done a good job but her palm was pink and there was a scar where her wand had burned her.

Hermione gently touched Harry's face and quietly asked him, "Who attacked you? What happened to your face?"

Harry gazed into her eyes for a moment and then looked down in shame.

"A bunch of girls kissed me," he confessed.

"All of this is lipstick!" Hermione gasped. "I thought it was just blood."

They sat quietly for a few minutes, holding hands, trying to figure out what had just happened. Hermione spoke first.

"I'm pretty sure now that the mysterious power you've got is Love," she said calmly. "That was an awfully strong feedback signal you were sending out. I don't fully understand it. Maybe it has something to do with your mother's sacrifice, or maybe it's just you. I don't know where all of this power comes from, but this is what you need to learn to control. There must be some spells that you can use. I need to find the right books."

In the uproar that was created by the Cognoscere charm, there had been only one island of peace in the garden. While everybody else moved about and shouted, Bill and Fleur just held each other and kissed, oblivious to the turmoil around them.

When things had calmed down a bit, it was time for Fleur to toss her bouquet. As at a Muggle wedding, the girl that catches the bouquet is supposed to be the next one to get married. But there are some differences between a witch's wedding and a Muggle’s wedding. For one, the bride casts an enchantment on the bouquet to guide it to the right maiden. Also a levitating charm is used to send the flowers high into the sky. Finally all of the young witches hold up their wands and cast summoning charms as the flowers sail through the air.

Hermione would have nothing to do with that spectacle. She stood to one side with Harry and spoke quietly about sympathetic magic. She didn't care who caught the bouquet, so she didn't watch the flowers ascending into the sky. She didn't see it curving through the sky and accelerating like a mad Bludger. She was still quietly talking to Harry when the bouquet smacked her hard in the face.

Harry and Hermione left the party after dinner when the dancing began and walked back to Hogwarts. Since it was Saturday night, Hermione had to work in the hospital wing. Harry could not dance and did not want to face all of the girls who now thought he loved them.

Harry knew for sure now that he loved Hermione and that she loved him. That worried him. He had hurt her today and their love would probably get her killed before the war was over. Ron was jealous and angry and wouldn't talk to him. For that matter Ginny, Fred and George were all mad at him too, and he hadn't done anything.

Harry said good night to Hermione at the entrance to the hospital wing. He should have given her a long and romantic kiss but it was done quickly and nervously. They were both a bit scared by it all.

Chapter 11 The Fall

Harry had always drawn more than his share of furtive looks and giggles from his fellow students, but on Sunday it was worse. The girls were especially bad. Rumors of what had happened at the wedding had spread through the castle almost as fast as a secret. Noisy groups of them went quiet when he approached. He heard sighs behind his back. He caught glimpses of longing stares from first and second year girls he had never met. Ginny looked like she had been crying. Cho blew him a kiss in the middle of the Great Hall, in front of everyone. In general the boys were not as bad, but only because they were a bit slower to absorb the gossip. Those in the know were either threatening him or teasing him. Dean Thomas frowned at him whenever he passed, he was angry about Ginny. Michael Corner glared at him and made sure that Harry saw his wand. Did he plan on dueling for Cho?

Dennis Creevy invented the phrase. He was joking, but very few boys laughed. When the girls heard Dennis, they tended to giggle and turn red.

Harry Potter was The Love King.

Hermione seemed irritable and nervous. She stayed very close to Harry.

"You've got to talk to Ron," Hermione whispered urgently, "today."

Ron was sitting at the other end of the Gryffindor table. He looked angry and formidable. Harry knew that Hermione was right.

Harry followed Ron up to the Gryffindor common room. There were several third year students there so Harry felt he could approach Ron without being attacked.

"Ron," Harry began.

Ron turned and glared at him without speaking.

"You are my best friend," Harry stated. "We've got to talk about Hermione."

"What's there to talk about?" he asked angrily. "You and Hermione are a couple. And I'm out of it."

"Ron you're not out of it. You're our friend," Harry said earnestly. "We need friends. I need your help."

"Seems like you two are doing fine without my help," he said grimly.

"Ron you care about her. We're in love. Be happy for us. Be afraid for us," Harry asked.

"What!" he shouted. "What do you mean be afraid for you?"

"She's Harry Potter's girlfriend," Harry said. "That's not good. I'm always in trouble. What if I don't get away with it some day? I might as well have painted a target on her back."

"You want me to help you protect her, is that it?" Ron asked bitterly.

"That's it exactly," Harry said. "Will you help me do it?"

Ron sighed. "Am I your best man?" he asked.

"Absolutely," Harry answered.

"Do I get to kiss the bride?" Ron asked.

"Once or twice, I'm not greedy," Harry stated.

"Alright Harry, we're friends." Ro said.

They shook hands and looked around. They hadn't noticed the crowd gathering around them in the common room. Hermione was crying, but smiling. Luna Lovegood was standing beside her.

"When did you join Gryffindor?" Ron asked Luna.

"Oh… Ronald… I…" she stammered. Then she regained her composure and tried to talk in her usual dreamy sort of way. "I just wondered if Ginny wanted to study charms and transfigurations with me. We have our O.W.L.s this year."

On Monday Professor Sprout substituted for Professor Lupin in Defense Against the Dark Arts class. She talked about evil uses of plants and enchantments that could be placed on plants. She knew a lot about the Whomping Willow and how a similar but temporary enchantment could turn an ordinary tree into a dangerous trap.

Hermione hovered around Harry, but Ginny Weasley managed to give Harry a big hug and a kiss in a corridor when Hermione wasn't looking. About a dozen girls were openly flirting with Harry at every opportunity. Hermione retaliated by using Harry's sock to tie back her hair with the words "Property of Harry Potter" clearly visible. Harry felt like crawling under a rock.

At lunch Ron quietly promised Harry that he would have a talk with Ginny. He had seen what had happened to Hermione's wand at the wedding, and he knew that many girls had gotten a signal from Harry as strong as the one Ginny had. George had told Ron all about it. Ron had bet a Galleon and five Sickles against George.

As the three left the Great Hall, Ron said to Harry, "You know mate, you're going to hurt Hermione's feelings if you don't do something about all of these girls that are flirting with you. But I'll help you out. Just send them to me and I'll help them get over you."

A salt cellar from the Ravenclaw table bounced off the side of Ron's head.

That evening Harry took Hermione to the Quidditch pitch to try out her new broom. It was a good broom with excellent handling characteristics and an extra large zone that was enchanted with a cushioning spell. This feature turned out to be useful as Hermione got off to a shaky start until Harry climbed onto the broom with her.

On Tuesday morning the second year Slytherin boy who had been questioned after the search of the castle was found hanging in the owlery.

On Wednesday morning Harry and Ron met Hermione at the door of the hospital. She had her wand out and would not leave the hospital until Harry and Ron took theirs out too. She walked very close to Harry, holding his left hand with her left hand behind her back. As they passed through the entry hall she stopped and spun around to check behind them without letting go of Harry's hand.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

She paused, "is my hair sticking out of my nurse's cap at odd angles?" she asked.

Yes, it is," Harry admitted, "but it's early in the morning so I won't tease you."

"Harry has no business teasing anybody about bad hair," Ron quipped.

"I'm scared of my own shadow," she admitted.

"Why are you so jumpy?" Ron asked. "Has there been another murder?"

"Professor McGonagall was knocked off a balcony last night by a potted plant," she said.

"Was she killed?" Harry asked in horror.

"No, she changed into a cat on the way down and landed on her feet," Hermione said as she looked at all of the nooks and crannies in the great room above them. "She broke both arms and both legs, plus the head injury. She's in the hospital today."

"That's two attacks this week," Ron observed. "If there wasn't a war on, they'd close the school. They might do that anyway."

They cautiously continued on to Gryffindor tower so Hermione could get a nap before morning classes.

An hour later Harry and Ron sat down in the great hall for breakfast. They had scarcely eaten a bite when the Daily Prophet arrived. Madam Maxime, the headmistress of Beauxbaton Academy, had been murdered. Harry and Ron abandoned their breakfast and quietly walked to Hagrid's cottage.

Harry and Ron met Hermione in Potions class and told her the news about Madam Maxime. It was almost enough to drive the thoughts about Professor McGonagall out of their minds, until Professor Sprout showed up. Professor Snape would be substituting in Transfiguration classes today. The subject of the day in Potions class had been changed to herbal concoctions.

Professor Lupin returned on Thursday and no one seemed happier than Professor Sprout. Andrew and Jack collided badly in Quidditch practice when they both went for one Bludger at the same time. Harry and Ron took them to the hospital where Hermione patched them up while Madam Pomfrey watched over her shoulder.

For the next week and a half, things settled down a bit. Ron heard from his mother that Bill and Fleur were having a lovely honeymoon in Rome. She also told them that the Order of the Phoenix was very busy. Dementors were randomly attacking both wizards and muggles. Hermione wanted to spend more time reading to the house elves but Harry wanted her to spend more time flying her broom. Hermione mostly gave in to Harry. There were a lot of girls that would flirt with Harry if he started to look bored with Hermione. The girls finally stopped asking Harry to go to the Halloween Ball and started asking Hermione if they could have one dance with Harry at the Ball. It was difficult for her to say no without looking jealous and greedy, but Harry didn't dance.

By Tuesday of the following week Gryffindor had taken the lead in house points. They now had one hundred red rubies in their column, due mainly to the efforts of little Winston Whitehead with some assistance from Hermione.

Harry and team were climbing the stairs to Gryffindor tower after Quidditch practice when a group of girls called up to Harry. In the few seconds that he turned around to wave at them the stairs changed positions. This happened all the time at Hogwarts and Harry thought nothing of it. He just climbed to the top of the flight of stairs and waited for it to change back to the position that he wanted. He waved at the girls again and noticed that Cho was in the crowd.

Then his legs suddenly gave way and he pitched off the stairs. There was nothing he could do but scream as the stone floor came rushing towards him.

He stopped a few inches from death and floated gently to the floor. Cho was standing over him with her wand, the alarm bell was sounding.

"Harry!" Cho gasped. "Are you alright? What happened?"

"My legs gave way and I fell off the stairs," Harry said nervously.

"Oh my God!" Lavender squealed. "Look at his legs!"

"His bones are gone!" Parvati exclaimed.

"Someone tried to murder him!" Padma shouted.

The girls all pulled out their wands and surrounded him protectively.

Harry heard Ron shouting at the top of the staircase.

Another voice shouted, "I saw movement behind that tapestry!"

Professors Sinistra and Sprout arrived and ordered the girls to take Harry to the hospital.

At the hospital Hermione passed her wand over Harry and tapped a chart, an image of Harry's skeleton appeared on the parchment.

"What does your osteograph show?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"The leg bones, left and right, from femur to phalanges, they're all gone. The pelvic arch is gone. Two anterior coccygeal vertebrae are gone." Hermione reported nervously.

"Lumbar and sacral vertebrae?"

"They're present, mam."

"Harry's lucky. That was close. What is the total number of missing bones?"

"Sixty eight," she said trembling.

"Maintain your professional demeanor Miss Granger. Treatment?"

"Skelegrow."

"How much?"

"A lot."

"Can we be more precise, Miss Granger."

"For Harry's height, weight and build I think we use chart 15 MS."

"Very good. Add it up for all of the bones of one leg, multiply that by two, then add in the amounts needed to regrow the pelvis and coccyx."

Hermione performed some calculations.

"Thirty five ounces."

"Very good, perform the enchantments."

"Yes Mam."

Skelegrow was a complicated potion to prepare. Before Hermione got to work she spoke to the girls who had brought Harry in.

"Thank you Cho," she said trembling slightly, "Thank you for saving Harry's life."

"Harry and I had a lot of practice catching falling bodies at summer camp," Cho said. "Now go save his legs."

Cho and her friends left the hospital.

Hermione poured three bottles of Skelegrow into a large cauldron and began gently warming it. She arranged many small pieces of parchment on a table. She wrote the name of each bone Harry had to regrow on the special parchment with a special ink. One piece of parchment was used for each bone. The parchments were then dissolved in the potion while an incantation was performed. Hermione repeated this process sixty-eight times.

Madam Pomfrey watched her closely, but said nothing until Hermione was done.

"I think you've done a fine job, Miss Granger," Madam Pomfrey assured her. "Now Harry, you get to drink all of this. I'm sure you remember how it tastes, but swallow it all."

Harry began drinking the enormous cup of potion. He found it helped if he held his breath. But it tasted horrible all the same.

"I have to go to the Headmaster and report on Harry's condition," Madam Pomfrey said. "Watch after our patient."

When Madam Pomfrey left, Hermione held Harry's hands and looked at his face, a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Oh Harry, dear," she said tenderly, "it's Skelegrow. You know what to expect."

She paused as another tear escaped her eyes.

"I survived it once before," Harry confirmed.

"But… But this time, it's… it's sixty eight bones," she said fearfully.

"I'm alive. I'll make it through," Harry said bravely. "You and Madam Pomfrey have done a smashing job."

"There's a spell I've read about," she said. "If it works, it could relieve your pain."

She paused.

"Do you trust me?" she asked nervously. "Shall I try it?"

Harry remembered how his arm felt when he had to regrow two bones one night during his second year.

"It could be worth having a go at it," he said.

Hermione went into Madam Pomfrey's office. Through the window Harry could see her consulting a large book and writing some words on a small piece of parchment.

"The alarm won't go off, the hospital is a classroom," she said when she returned. "It's complicated," she said nervously, "Sympathetic Magic. There are two parts to the spell. We have to work together."

She stopped and stared into his eyes, tears began forming in hers.

“Oh Harry, I love you. I've loved you since our first year when you jumped on the back of that troll. I'll follow you anywhere you must go," she said crying softly. "Do you love me?"

"Yes Hermione," Harry said, "I love you."

"Then hold that thought," she instructed Harry, recovering her composure. "The first incantation will form a bond between us that allows us to work magic together. The pain relief spell is one of many powerful spells in sympathetic magic," she lectured." Hold your wand to your heart, then say this incantation and touch your wand to my heart. I'll be doing the same thing. If it works you should feel a tingle."

"It sounds serious," Harry said hesitating.

"It's very serious," Hermione said nervously, "but I can't bear to watch you suffer."

She looked like she might start crying again.

Harry did as instructed while Hermione performed the ritual simultaneously. When Hermione's wand touched his heart Harry felt a warm and pleasant tingling. When Harry's wand touched Hermione, her legs gave way and she went down on her knees, grabbing the rail of Harry's bed for support.

"Hermione," Harry said in a worried tone, "are you alright?"

She slowly pulled herself to her feet and leaned on his bed.

"Wow," she said softly. "Did you feel anything?"

"Yes, I felt a tingle like you said," Harry confirmed.

Hermione smiled at him, trembling. She said another incantation and touched him with her wand. Then she touched herself with her wand.

She was still standing near Harry with her wand out when Madam Pomfrey walked in.

"Miss Granger! Did you cast a spell on Mr. Potter?", Madam Pomfrey demanded to know.

Hermione hung her head and sighed, "Yes Madam."

"You know that casting an unsupervised healing spell is against the rules!" Madam Pomfrey shouted at Hermione. "It's dangerous! I could throw you out of the Nursing Program! What did you do?"

"I cast a pain relieving spell," Hermione said softly, staring at her feet.

"A pain relieving spell? I will take 50 points from Gryffindor and give you a week of detention." Madam Pomfrey said. "A pain relieving spell?" she mumbled as she walked to her office. "The poor boy… We haven't covered… What sort of…"

Madam Pomfrey entered her office. Through the window Harry saw her startle. She picked up a large purple book and clutched it to her chest. She looked out the window at Harry and Hermione. Her face went white.

"Oh damn, I left the book out," Hermione said panicky.

"Miss Granger! Come in here at once!" Madam Pomfrey ordered.

"What spell did you use?"

Harry couldn't hear Hermione's soft replies, only Madam Pomfrey's shouts.

"What possessed you to try that?"

"What degree?"

"Oh Dear Girl! No!"

Did you perform the Bonding Charm?"

"Did Potter?"

Madam Pomfrey stormed out of her office dragging Hermione to Harry's bedside.

"Have you two…? The two of you…? Have you been…? Do you…?" Madam Pomfrey stammered and then whispered. "Do you two, do it?"

"Do what?" Harry asked.

"No Madam," Hermione answered quickly.

"Your spell can't possibly have worked," Madam Pomfrey stated flatly.

"I doubt it very much." she continued.

After a long pause she added, "But… what if it did?"

"Did it work?" Madam Pomfrey asked Hermione.

"I think… maybe… yes…" Hermione said meekly.

"I must assume…" Madam Pomfrey began shakily. Then she paused.

"Miss Granger you have always been a model student," Madam Pomfrey said in a professional tone of voice, "and I believe you could become a great healer if you stay the course. You will not be expelled."

Hermione and Harry both breathed a sigh of relief.

"For performing that other unauthorized spell, I'm taking 50 points from Gryffindor and giving you a week of detention," Madam Pomfrey said sternly.

"For unprofessional conduct, I'm taking 50 points from Gryffindor and giving you a week of detention," she continued. "A nurse should not get so involved with her patient."

Hermione went pale.

"And for dereliction of duty, I'm taking 50 points from Gryffindor and giving you a week of detention."

"Dereliction of duty!" Hermione protested.

"Go to Miss Bones immediately, and tell her she will have to be on duty tonight. Then you go to your room and go to bed." Madam Pomfrey ordered.

Hermione ran from the hospital crying. Madam Pomfrey watched her retreat. When she turned around, Harry saw her wipe a tear from her eye.

"Oh that dear sweet girl, that was so…" she said to herself.

"Well Harry, this is interesting," she said gently. "I'm sure you remember how painful growing new bones can be. I'm going to immobilize you from the waist down, to reduce the pain. Petrificus Periplegia"

In a short while Susan Bones arrived at the hospital. Madam Pomfrey showed her the charts of Harry's missing bones and the Skelegrow order. Susan preformed her own bone scan under Madam Pomfrey's supervision.

"There's no change yet," Susan reported.

"It should start in about an hour," said Madam Pomfrey, as she left.

There wasn't much to do. Susan questioned Harry about what had happened. It was really a stroke of luck that Cho had caught him before he hit the floor. Cho had more practice than anyone else in the castle at catching falling people.

What was bothering Hermione?

A pain relieving spell?

We haven't covered that yet.

Sympathetic magic?

I thought that was fiction.

A little past ten, Ginny and Colin came in. They were Prefects and could leave the dormitory at night on official business.

"Are you in pain?" Susan asked Harry. "Do you feel like visitors?"

"I'm fine," Harry answered.

"Ron caught a house-elf," Ginny told him. "It's Winky, she's being questioned about the attack on you."

"Winky?" Harry exclaimed. “That's ridiculous."

"I think so too," Ginny agreed, "but she may have seen someone, maybe another elf."

"There's another matter," Colin said seriously. "This evening we had one hundred House Points. Now there are one hundred coal balls in our column. Dennis claims it wasn't him, but we've got him tied up. Do you know anything about it?"

“Hermione cast an unauthorized Healing Spell,” Harry said. “Madam Pomfrey was furious. She docked Hermione two hundred House Points.” He couldn't bring himself to add "and four weeks of detention."

"That's unbelievable," Ginny said shaking her head.

"We might have to torture Dennis, to make him confess," Colin said grimly.

Susan spent the night sitting next to Harry's bed. She scanned him with her wand about every hour, each time tapping a special piece of parchment and producing a picture that showed Harry's bones. Susan asked Harry repeatedly if he was feeling pain. Harry found being immobilized to be uncomfortable, but he told Susan it wasn't so bad. Susan told him that the Skelegrow was working, and she showed him the new bits of bone that were appearing on her charts. Susan also told Harry that she thought he was very strong and very brave. Harry managed to sleep in short naps.

At five-thirty in the morning, Susan told Harry that his bones seemed to have grown back. At six Madam Pomfrey returned. She checked the charts. At six-thirty Madam Pomfrey said Harry's tendons were probably strong enough, and she removed the paralysis charm. At seven fifteen Harry walked carefully to the Great Hall for breakfast, Madam Pomfrey held one of his hands while Susan held the other.

The Gryffindor students cheered when he arrived. There was applause at the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables too. Luna Lovegood came over and sat between Harry and Ron, she asked Harry lots of questions.

After breakfast Harry started back to Gryffindor Tower to get his books and papers. He was stopped at the door of the Great Hall by Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil. They looked exhausted and grumpy.

"What did you do to Hermione?" they demanded to know.

"I didn't do anything to her," Harry stammered. "Is she alright?"

"She's resting now," said Parvati.

"We didn't get any sleep all night," Lavender complained.

"She was delirious, moaning and groaning, like she was in pain," Parvati reported.

"It was awful. Sometimes she screamed and cried. She kept calling your name," Lavender said.

"We held her hand," said Parvati.

"I don't think she even knew we were there," Lavender concluded.

"I don't understand," Harry told them. "I'm going to the tower."

As Harry began to walk, a bit slowly and still shaky, he saw Luna approach Lavender and Parvati.

He heard Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper say, "Yes Ron, we're on it."

They escorted him up to his room. He didn’t see Hermione so he gathered his things and slowly walked to Potions class.

Hermione was the last student to arrive at Potions class. She was pale and disheveled and looked exhausted, even worse than Parvati. She gave Harry a weak smile when she saw him. They had no chance to talk during Potions class as Professor Snape seemed to hover near Hermione as though he were looking for a chance to add to the punishments that had been heaped onto her by Madam Pomfrey.

They had to brew a Fortifying Potion today. It was a complicated recipe. At one step they had to stir it with an ornate gold rod. Professor Snape was very careful to make sure that none of the gold rods went missing. Harry and Ernie were being very careful, as Ernie always was in Potions class. They were the last ones to finish the step with the gold rod and Professor Snape was impatient that it be returned quickly. Harry finished the last few counter clockwise strokes with the gold stirring rod and pulled it out of the cauldron to drop it in the tray with the rest of them. He heard Hermione gasp and moan slightly.

"Drop the rod," she whispered, "it's hot!"

Harry quickly dropped the rod into the tray.

Hermione was pointing to her right hand with her left index finger.

"Look at your hand," she mouthed.

Harry saw that his thumb and forefingers were bright red and blistered in the pattern of the filigree on the gold rod.

Harry raised his hand.

"What is it Potter?" Professor Snape asked.

"I burned my hand sir," Harry said, "may I go to the hospital."

"It doesn't appear to be serious," Snape said in a bored tone, "you can wait until class is finished."

Hermione raised her hand.

What is it Granger?" Snape asked, rolling his eyes.

"Excuse me sir," she said sweetly, "I have some burn cream in my first aid kit. I can take care of Harry's hand and it needn't disturb the class."

"It has already disturbed the class Miss Granger," Snape said irritably, "but yes you may treat the fool's hand."

Snape watched her dig through her book bag and pull out a smaller black bag that contained a variety of first aid potions and creams.

"Miss Granger, don't drop your book bag when climbing the stairs, it could be a lethal weapon," Snape joked.

Hermione applied the burn cream to Harry's red fingers and breathed a sigh of relief.

Harry stared at her in horror and understanding. She smiled at him and blushed.

As soon as class was over Harry walked over to Hermione and Ron as fast as his shaky legs would carry him.

"Let's swap book bags," Harry suggested, "mine is lighter than yours."

"Oh thank you Harry, that's so thoughtful. I'm awfully tired," she said quietly. "But I don't think it's wise for you to carry so much weight this morning. Your leg bones and tendons are still tender."

She struggled as she picked up her own book bag.

"That's it. Swap book bags with me, Hermione," Ron ordered.

"Yes sir!" she answered.

"Ugg!, Your bag weighs a ton!" Ron complained.

"Hermione, what sort of spell did you use on me last night?" Harry asked her sternly.

"It worked! Didn't it? Did you feel any pain from the Skelegrow?" she asked eagerly.

"That wasn't a pain relieving spell, was it?" Harry asked sharply. "That was a pain transfer spell wasn't it? Lavender and Parvati are suspicious. They heard you moaning."

"It's alright Harry, I made it through," Hermione said defensively.

"What's this about?" Ron asked.

"The spell that knocked me off the stairs caused my leg bones to vanish. Growing new bones overnight causes a lot of pain," Harry explained. "Hermione put a spell on me that took away my pain, but she felt it instead. I burned my hand in potions class. I didn't feel it, but she did."

"Wow!" Ron exclaimed. "That sounds like very high level magic. Are you sure you know what you're messing with?"

"Please don't be angry Harry," Hermione pleaded. "I just couldn't watch you suffer."

"You were tortured all night, so I wouldn't hurt!" Harry said. "I'm not angry at you. I should thank you. I do thank you. What you did was really sweet. But I wouldn't have let you do it if I had known it would hurt you. It must have been horrible."

"The important thing is that it worked!" Hermione exclaimed. "Now we can start to learn all sorts of Sympathetic Magic, spells that can be useful if we're attacked, spells to increase your strength and stamina, spells that increase the power of ordinary spells. We can start practicing now!"

"Sympathetic Magic?" Ron exclaimed in disbelief. "You can't be serious. That's just a plot device in trashy romance novels. It's like amnesia. It's not real. I mean it's not like the novels. It's rare. Only married people can do it. And most married people don't like each other enough to even try it."

"It's real Ron," Hermione said defensively. "Harry and I made it work. That's why I got in such big trouble. Madam Pomfrey was mad at me. I couldn't work my shift. I was getting personally involved with a patient. And the spells were unauthorized."

"Did she really loose two hundred House Points?" Ron asked Harry.

"Yes," Harry replied, "two hundred points and four weeks of detention."

"It was worth it," Hermione stated.

"But…" Ron stuttered. "Detention? What about Filch?"

"Oh no…Oh no…" Hermione stammered, turning pale. "Madam Pomfrey and Dumbledore wouldn't give me to him for four weeks. They just couldn't do that..."

"If Filch touches you again, I'll kill him," Harry said coldly.

"No Harry, No" Hermione pleaded, "I'm a big girl. I'm in Gryffindor. Don't cause needless trouble. Let them do what they'll do. When it's over, we'll be stronger."

"How long will this pain transfer spell last?" Harry asked Hermione.

"Just twenty-four hours and then it will wear off," she assured him
.
"What about that first spell? The one we did together, how long does it last?" he asked.

"Well…" she started. "I haven't read the whole book. I focused on spells that might be useful in combat. I’ve been really busy!"

"Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall called as she came out into the courtyard.
"The headmaster wants to see you about your detention. I must say I'm shocked by your behavior. It seems that I will have to make Miss Patil Prefect on a permanent basis. Between your nursing duties and your detention, you won't have a free evening until mid-November. It's amazing Madam Pomfrey is not throwing you out of the Nursing Program."

Hermione took her book bag from Ron and grimly followed Professor McGonagall.

Harry," Ron said thoughtfully, "I was jealous when I learned that Hermione loved you. It was better you than Krum, but still..." he paused. "But now, I'm getting over it. She's gone round the bend."

Harry had a few minutes alone with Hermione after lunch because Luna Lovegood was talking to Ron. They went to the charms classroom early.

"Dumbledore has settled on my punishment," Hermione told Harry, "and it doesn't involve being tortured by Mr. Filch."

"That's a relief," said Harry. "I can think of several ways to murder Filch without magic, but hiding the body could be a problem. What are they going to do to you?"

"I'll be back in tea towels," she said smiling. "I'll have to work when I'm in detention. If I want to read to the elves, I'll have to do that on my own time. But involuntary servitude will help me to build trust with them."

Harry didn't tell her that Ron had captured Winky under suspicious circumstances near the stairs where his bones had vanished. He wasn't sure he could trust Hermione to be objective about the idea of including house-elves in the list of suspects.

Hermione wasn't at dinner that evening, but Harry and Ron still escorted Susan Bones to the hospital for her shift. Luna Lovegood tagged along with them to the hospital so she could talk to Susan and Madam Pomfrey.

On their way up to Gryffindor tower they met Kingsley Shacklebolt on the stairs. Harry was glad that the ministry had sent him to investigate the crimes. He was in the Order of the Phoenix and seemed to be a very competent Auror. He made Harry describe exactly where he was standing and how the stairs were moving when the bone vanishing spell hit him.

"Where was Ron and the team when the spell hit you Harry?" Shacklebolt asked.

Harry described the positions of everyone he could recall seeing the previous night.

Shacklebolt walked with Harry and Ron to the portrait of the fat lady and let Harry go on into the Gryffindor common, but he kept Ron back for further questioning.

Harry planned on spending the next two hours working on class work, reading a bit about blood magic and practicing wandless summoning. But Shacklebolt had a lot of questions for Ron, so Harry ended up acting Prefect and patrolling the halls with Ginny Weasley. This was a bit awkward. But Harry and Ginny really did need to talk to each other.

Dean Thomas had been so jealous of Harry that Ginny had to break it off with him. Ginny wanted to know about Harry's feelings for Hermione, she was having a hard time accepting it. So Harry had to put into words how he did feel about Hermione, and Ginny and Cho and Katie and Cindy and all of the other girls who were flirting with him now.

"Hermione's been one of my best friends since our first year," Harry said. "But she's different from Ron and you. For instance, this summer I mastered wandless summoning, like Luke Skywalker."

"That's impressive," Ginny admitted, "but who's Luke Skywalker?"

"He's a fictional character, but Hermione knew what I was talking about. That's because she grew up in a Muggle family, like me," explained Harry. "Hermione is attractive and loyal and brave, but I think I'm really drawn to her because she's brilliant and sensible. She's always nagging me, like she could be my mother. It's irritating, but she cares about me."

"Hermione has been under a lot of stress lately," Ginny said. "She hasn't always acted in a brilliant and sensible way."

"I'm worried about her," Harry admitted.

"Do you like me Harry," Ginny asked abruptly. "Do you think I'm pretty?"

Harry was a bit stunned by this sudden change in the conversation.

"Well yes," Harry stammered, "You are pretty, and I do like you and you're a great flyer."

"May I kiss you?" she asked suddenly. "I mean… I accept you and Hermione… but… just once?"

Harry didn't know what to do, but he didn't want to hurt Ginny's feelings.

"Uh… OK," he said.

Ginny moved closer and kissed Harry on the lips. But at the moment they touched they both got a nasty shock like kissing an electric eel.

"Ow!" Harry exclaimed. "What was that?" he said rubbing his lips.

"Oh my God, it's true!" Ginny exclaimed.

"What did you do?" Harry asked.

"I didn't do anything!" Ginny said. "Hermione did it."

"She's in the kitchen," Harry said, forgetting for a moment that this was a secret.

"I heard rumors," Ginny said in panic. "I didn't believe them. Tell me it's not true."

"What rumors?" asked Harry.

"Sympathetic Magic," Ginny said. "Don't tell me it's true!"

"Well, yes," Harry admitted. "We did do a Sympathetic Magic spell. What's the big deal?"

"It is a big deal, Harry!" Ginny exclaimed. "Those are powerful spells! Very few married couples will attempt it. There's a price to pay for that kind of power."

"What kind of price?" Harry asked.

"Oh," Ginny said, "I've heard a lot of stuff. It's in a lot of fiction. I'm not sure what to believe. I don't want to give you wrong information. You'll find out soon enough."

Chapter 12 Luna's Scoop

As usual Hermione was wearing her nursing cap and cape at dinner on Thursday evening and Harry sat next to her. Colin Creevy took a photograph of them. Harry didn't think anything of it because Colin took pictures all of the time.

After dinner, it was usually time to head out to the Quidditch pitch. Harry thought they needed all of the practice they could get, but he decided to cancel practice. He wasn't bothered by a little rain or wind. But tonight there was a lot of rain and wind with lightening and a chance of hail too. That was enough to keep even Oliver Wood inside. It gave Harry a chance to corner Ron and find out what he had learned from Kingsley Shacklebolt about the investigation.

"The spell that dissolved your bones was set off by a wizard who was in the hall," Ron explained. "He needed a good line of sight, but it's impossible to tell where he stood."

"So who does he suspect," Harry asked. "Malfoy and company?"

"Malfoy's been watched since the attack on Hermione in the bathroom," Ron said.

"Another Slytherin student that follows Voldemort?" Harry asked.

"Maybe," Ron answered. "That second year Slytherin boy was probably killed by his house mates to keep him quiet. It could have been a student with an unregistered wand."

"Were there Slytherins in the entry hall when I was attacked?" Harry asked.

"There were a lot of people around," Ron answered, "he may have been on a balcony."

"Why did you go after Winky?" Harry asked.

"Mr. Filch shouted. He saw movement by a tapestry. I ran over there and she ran away. Since she was running, I chased her," Ron said. "She's been questioned. She didn't attack you, but she was following you."

"I thought the elves were following me," Harry said. "Could it have been another elf?"

"Possibly," Ron said. "Shacklebolt has a lot of suspects. Some you wouldn't think of."

"Like who?" Harry asked.

"Maybe Cho hexed you and then saved you," Ron said.

"That's crazy," Harry said. "Why would she do that?"

"To make you fall in love with her," Ron explained. "Shacklebolt even mentioned me."
"You? Why?" Harry asked.

"He said I could be jealous about Hermione," Ron answered. "Why didn't you have your Firebolt when you fell?"

"You asked me to hand it to you, so you could so show it to Jack." Harry recalled.

"I gave your Firebolt to Jack," Ron said, "and I had a perfect angle to hex you."

"You didn't hex me," Harry said.

Shacklebolt has to consider all of the possibilities," Ron explained.

"Two murders and four attempted murders," said Harry, "but how many murderers?"

"Shacklebolt thinks there are several," Ron said, "a group that doesn't use magic and one wizard that does." Ron lowered his voice, "Shacklebolt has rescheduled his Gobstones group to Fridays."

"Kingsley Shacklebolt plays Gobstones!" Harry said in disbelief.

"Those guys are serious, they play for money," Ron said. "The point is the murders were messing up his game night. The ones involving magic always happen on Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning."

On Friday evening they had pizza for dinner. The house-elves at Hogwarts had never fixed pizza before. Some students were joking that they must have hired an Italian house elf. Harry was glad that Hermione was cooking and not scrubbing floors or tending thestrals.

Harry didn't see Hermione until dinner on Saturday evening. She had spent Friday night in the cupboard and worked all day Saturday scrubbing floors. After dinner he escorted her to the hospital so she could work her regular shift. Hermione was exhausted on Sunday morning when Harry and Ron escorted her back to Gryffindor tower. All she wanted to do was to get a few hours of sleep and then catch up on her class work.

"This detention consumes so much time," Hermione complained. "How did you ever keep up with your class work when Umbridge was tormenting you?"

"I had some help from a friend on weekends," Harry replied.

"It's going to be a month before we can start practicing Sympathetic Magic," she moaned.

"Are you still on about that?" Harry asked. "How are we going to do it without the book?"

"Madam Pomfrey loaned it to me," Hermione said cheerily. "She says that since we dove right in we had better learn how to swim. She's been real nice to me. I think she's a hopeless romantic."

Hermione's book bag had indeed gotten even heavier. She was stumbling tired and needed to get to her room but Harry knew he couldn't help carry her books up the stairs to the girl's dormitory. There were only the three of them in the common room and Harry didn't want to wake everybody in the tower by setting off the alarm.

"Hand me your wand, Hermione," Ron said.

"Why do want my wand?" she asked warily.

"It's for an important experiment, and it could save you some pain," Ron explained.

"As long as it's quick," she said, "I'm really very tired."

Ron handed Hermione's wand to Harry and said, "You're the levitating champion, lift her book bag to the top of the stairs."

"What if I set off the alarm!" Harry whispered.

"I'm a Prefect," Ron said. "I'll subdue you and turn you over to the teachers so they can punish you."

Harry levitated Hermione's heavy book bag to the top of the staircase. The alarm didn't go off.

"I could have done that," Hermione said, taking her wand back. "What are you two on about?"

"It's a long story," Ron said.

"I'm too tired for a long story," she said as she trudged up the stairs.

Harry and Ron exchanged a look of triumph.

Sunday afternoon Lavender Brown gave Harry a copy of the latest Witch Weekly. Harry normally didn't read that paper, but the front page was a real grabber:

Her Night of Torture for the Boy She Loves
by Luna Lovegood

Colin's photo of Harry and Hermione was beneath the headline.

The article described the attempt to murder Harry, and favorably mentioned Cho Chang for saving Harry from the fall. But it really focused on Hermione and Harry and the Sympathetic Magic. It described the pain that regrowing bones with Skelegrow causes and it described Hermione’s brave act and her night of suffering in great detail. It was worse than anything Rita Skeeter had ever written, because Luna Lovegood had the facts correct. She portrayed both Harry and Hermione positively and the story was so romantic. It was just so public!

There hadn't been a case of Virgin Sympathetic Bonding in over five hundred years.

Harry felt ill. He dreaded the fan mail that would soon begin arriving. Hermione turned pale when she saw the article. She had slept through breakfast and lunch but she still refused to go down to the great hall for dinner.

The next morning, Professor Lupin intercepted Harry and Hermione on their way to breakfast.

"Good Morning!" Lupin said cheerfully, "how are our two lovebirds this fine day?"

"Lovebirds?" Harry exclaimed.

"Famous lovebirds, I'm afraid," Lupin added. "We're expecting a lot of owls for you two in the next few days. That was quite an extraordinary article in Witch Weekly. I never would have thought that Luna Lovegood would make up lies like that about you two."

"Luna's story was factual," Hermione said flatly.

Lupin came to a sudden stop. He stared at them, and shook his head.

"Like I say, we're expecting a lot of owls,” Lupin said, "and some of them may carry more than irate letters. We've set up an office near the owlery to screen all incoming mail. You'll be able to pick up your letters there, this afternoon."

As soon as their classes were finished Harry and Hermione went up to the mailroom to get their letters. Ron went along because Hermione had to go right to the kitchen and Harry couldn't roam around the castle alone. Madam Trelawney was in the mailroom.

"Professor Lupin has screened your letters and he says that these are all safe," Madam Trelawney said.

She handed a bag of letters to Harry and a larger much heavier bag to Hermione.

"Oh this is great," Hermione said sarcastically. "I don't have time to read all of this."

"Maybe you should just read this one," Trelawney said in the mystical tone of voice she always used in Divination class. "I predict it contains important news."

She handed Hermione an envelope that looked like it came from the Ministry of Magic. It was addressed to Mr. and Mrs. H. Potter, Hogwarts School.

The letter was several pages long but Hermione fainted while reading the first page.
Harry caught her and gently lowered her to the floor. Ron picked up the letter.

"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed. He was relieved to see that she was still breathing.

"Blimey!" Ron said, as he looked at the letter. "You and Hermione are now legally married!"

Ron finished the first page and handed it to Harry.

Dear Harry and Hermione Potter,

It has been reported to the Office of Records, Division of Marriages, Births and Deaths, that you two successfully performed the Sympathetic Bonding Spell last Tuesday evening. The Ministry of Magic recognizes this magical bonding as a form of legally binding marriage, similar to but distinctly different from common law marriage. As such you have certain legal obligations regarding common property and joint tax status.

Since Harry is under the legal age of consent, your relationship is temporarily classified as a binding betrothal. As in an ordinary engagement you are expected to remain faithful to one another until and after your wedding. However because of your magical bond, there are severe consequences if you should attempt to terminate your engagement.

You are admonished to follow the customs and mores of our community and to refrain from consummating your marriage until after a proper wedding.

You will find enclosed the code governing the terms of your betrothal and marriage. Please accept our apologies if some of the rules appear to be a bit old fashioned.


Congratulations and Best Wishes,
Malfalda Hopkirk
Chief Clerk, Office of Records

P.S. All of us in the office think your union is very romantic and we do hope it all works out happily for you.

Hermione began to stir, as she returned to consciousness she began to cry.

"Oh Harry, please forgive me," she begged, "I didn't know. I didn't know." She whimpered, "I didn't study enough. I didn't read the law. I just read the spells. I didn't want to trap you. I didn't know it was permanent. I just didn't want you to suffer. I love you. Please forgive me. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," she sobbed.

"Legal obligations…, common property…, joint tax status…," Ron muttered. "And you're expected to remain faithful to one another, but refrain from consummating," Ron said. "Harry, this says you have to share all of your stuff with her! You can't date other girls! And you don't get any sex! It's like a real marriage!"

The world began to close in on Harry. He was trapped. But he had been trapped before. How could he survive this? He analyzed his options.

"Hermione," Harry said gently as he embraced her. "I love you with all of my heart. I forgive you. We'll make this work out somehow."

After a while the crying stopped. There were hugs and kisses. Harry and Ron left Hermione at the entrance to a secret passage that would take her to an evening of labor with the house-elves. They took her books back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Harry, I'm amazed at the way you handled her," Ron said in awe. "You were so sweet and kind. You helped her to pull herself together. I would have been angry."

"Ron, I'm just sixteen! I'm not ready for marriage! But what were my choices? I can try to live with her in harmony or I'll be stuck with her in misery," Harry said. "I had to pretend that I wasn't angry. And I do love her! What am I going to do with her?"

"The rest of the letter from the Ministry explains the rules for your betrothal," Ron told him. "You'll have to get her a chastity belt."

"What?" Harry choked. "I'm not going to do that!"

"It's the law, Harry!" Ron said. "You have to let her out of her chastity belt at least four times a day so she may seek the comfort of a chamber pot. If you don't get her a chastity belt, you won't be able to let her out of it four times a day!"

"What else do the rules say?" Harry asked in resignation.

"You can always beat her with a stick," Ron said gleefully.

"I'm not going to beat Hermione with a stick!" Harry said emphatically.

"But Harry! The rules say it would be cruel to beat a fair maiden with a whip. If the maiden must be beaten, use instead a wooden rod that is no thicker than the maiden's right thumb, or her left thumb if her right thumb is missing," Ron explained.

"When were these rules written?" Harry asked.

"They were completely revised and updated in 1403," Ron said smiling.

Then Ron turned serious, "You can get a magical divorce. It's an easy process."

"How does it work?" Harry asked.

"You and Hermione exchange wands, and then you break them," Ron said. "There's no paper work," he added solemnly, "the Ministry of Magic doesn't care about Muggles."

Dinner that evening tried Harry's patience. Hermione was in detention.

"Hey Harry, where's your wife?"

"We're just legally betrothed."

"Hi Harry, are you lonely tonight?"

"No."

One would think that the story of what happened to Ginny when she kissed Harry would discourage other girls from trying to kiss him. In fact a rumor began that if a girl really excited Harry, she would get a stronger shock. An amazing number of girls had to find out if this was true. Harry wished that Hermione could be there to keep them away.

But the worst part of dinner that evening was the talk with Cho. Harry hated to see her crying like that.

As mid-October approached and the days grew noticeably shorter, Quidditch practice had to be moved to before dinner. This meant that Harry and the team arrived in the great hall just a few minutes before they cleared away the uneaten food. Harry waved at Hermione as the Hufflepuff boys escorted her and Susan to the hospital. At least tonight when he was asked "Where's your wife, Harry?" he could say Hermione was working in the hospital rather than having to say that she was in detention.

A short time later Harry found himself standing at attention in a row of students in the Gryffindor common room.

"Our mission is to find Tuesday Night," Ron said seriously, "that's the code name we've given to the wizard that murdered Mr. Fudge and attempted to murder Hermione, Professor McGonagall and Harry. If you think you've found him or feel you are in danger, set off a spell, any spell. The alarm will sound and teachers will come."

"Dennis and Joe, what is your mission?" Ron asked.

"To go to the hospital and stay with Hermione, SIR!," said Dennis saluting.

"Good," Ron said, "you'll need to come up with some excuse."

"Harry's patrolling with me," Ron continued. "Colin, you're with Andrew and Jack, watch yourselves, Tuesday Night is deadly. Parvati, you're with Lavender, be careful don't take unnecessary risks. Ginny, you're with…"

"Neville," she said.

"Longbottom, my sister gets a ring before you start snogging her, get it."

"Huh?" said Neville.

"Where do we go first, fearless leader?" Harry asked Ron.

"We're going to follow Dennis and Joe to make sure they get to the hospital," Ron answered.

A short while later Harry and Ron watched the two third year boys in the hall near the hospital.

"OW! You lousy son of a bitch!" Joe exclaimed. "You broke my nose!"

"Tell Hermione that you ran into a door frame," Dennis said. "Complain about the pain until she agrees to let you stay in the hospital overnight."

"You broke my nose, you bastard!" Joe whined.

"You knew this patrol was dangerous," Dennis said.

"I thought Tuesday Night was the dangerous person," Joe complained.

"Keep on story. You ran into a door frame," Dennis instructed.

Dennis knocked on the hospital door.

Joe gave Dennis a vicious knee to the groin.

"What happened to you two!" Hermione exclaimed as she opened the hospital door.

"Dennis slid down a banister and racked himself on the knobby thing at the bottom," Joe explained.

"OOHH!" Dennis moaned.

"I was watching him and I ran into a door frame," Joe finished.

"Oh, you poor boys!" Hermione said sweetly. "Are you in pain Dennis?"

"OOHH!" he moaned.

"Looks like they're doing alright," Ron whispered to Harry.

Ron had reluctantly agreed to end the "Tuesday Night" patrols at midnight because they did all have classes in the morning. Harry and Ron saw nothing suspicious all evening and made their way back towards Gryffindor tower as midnight approached. As they walked towards the portrait of the fat lady, they heard voices from a side corridor.

"Mr. Filch!" Neville exclaimed.

"What!" Filch shouted as he jumped out of the dark corner where he was lurking.

Harry and Ron hurried to the spot where Ginny and Neville had surprised Mr. Filch.

"What are you kids doing out of your dormitory at midnight?" Filch barked.

"We're Prefects and we're on security patrol," Ron answered.

"We're looking for the murderer," Neville said.

"You're looking for trouble," Filch growled.

"All of the murders that involve magic have taken place on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning," Ron said. "It's not safe for you to be out of your office alone."

Filch gave them a dirty look and shuffled down the corridor.

Shortly before dawn Harry and Ron were awakened by the rooster so they could escort Hermione back from the hospital.

"I'm exhausted," Hermione complained. "Usually I can take a couple of short naps during the night, but not with Dennis and Joe fighting. I wanted to petrify both of them," she said angrily. "I'm going to sleep every minute possible before Potions class. Were there any murders last night?"

"No," said Ron yawning, "we didn't catch the murderer last night, but we'll try again."

The following Sunday was a beautiful day but Harry spent the morning studying while Hermione slept. They had to write a paper about the theory of animal transfigurations for Professor McGonagall and it required a lot of research. At noon Harry asked Lavender to wake up Hermione for lunch.

"It's a beautiful afternoon, but this good weather won't last," Harry observed. "Hermione, we're going flying this afternoon, you need the practice."

"Oh Harry, I just can't," she said. "I've got a ton of class work to do, and I was hoping we could spend a few minutes together practicing Sympathetic Magic spells."

"You can study after flying," Harry said. "I'll let you use my notes."

"Come on Hermione," Ron joined in, "we've got permission from Madam Hooch to try some speed runs on the two mile course. Harry's got a Firebolt! We want to break the school record."

"No, I can't do it," Hermione protested.

"Luna Lovegood's going out with us," Ron announced. "Who will Harry fly with?"

"Maybe Cho's not busy," Harry suggested.

"Alright, Alright, I'll do it," Hermione said reluctantly, "as long as it's not too fast."

The two mile course was defined by a flag pole in the practice field near the Quidditch pitch and a second flag pole exactly one mile away on the boat dock in Hogsmead Park on the other side of the lake. The course was almost entirely over open water.

"She's not going as fast as Luna," Ron observed. "That's odd because she's got a better broom."

"She doesn't like to fly," Harry said dryly. "I think she's picking up speed on the way back. What was my speed?"

"One hundred and fifty three miles per hour," Ron answered, "The school record is one hundred and seventy six."

Hermione passed the flag pole.

"What was her speed?" Harry asked.

"Seventy."

Harry walked over to Hermione, who was on her hands and knees.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I am kissing the ground you walk on Harry Potter," she answered shakily, "the nice firm ground."

"Your speed on the way back was pretty good but you were slow on the way out," Harry said. "You need to really mean it when you put the Velocito charm on your broom. And you've got to decelerate hard before your turn. I'll show you again."

"Velocito,” Harry chanted as he tapped his Firebolt with his wand. “Are you ready Ron?"

At Ron's signal, Harry shot across the lake. He waited until the last possible second before braking hard. He turned sharply around the pole at the boat dock, and zoomed back across the lake. About two hundred yards from shore he passed Hermione who was hovering on her broom over the water. He shot past the marker pole at maximum speed.

"What was my speed?" he asked Ron.

"One hundred and fifty seven."

"What was Hermione doing out over the lake?" Harry asked.

"She was worried that you might fall off your broom," Luna said. "She said you don't swim."

Harry and Ron looked at each other and shook their heads. Then Harry tapped his Firebolt with his wand and chanted "Velocito" as Hermione returned to the practice field.

"Hermione, I want you to go all out this time, as fast as you can," Harry said smiling.

"Alright Harry, I'll do my best," Hermione said nervously as she mounted her broom.

"Use the Firebolt," Harry said.

Hermione's face turned a bit pale. Harry gave her a quick kiss and exchanged brooms.

Reluctantly she mounted the Firebolt and shot out across the lake, much faster than her first run.

“She’s going faster,” Ron observed.

“She ought to, she’s on a Firebolt,” Harry said. “What’s her time at the half?”

Harry looked down at the stopwatch. He heard a gasp from Luna. Hermione was a speck at the other end of the lake. Her turn looked a little sloppy, that would cost her time.

"She's not going as fast as you did," Ron observed.

"I figured she'd loose time in the turn," Harry said analytically. "But she should go faster than me in the straight, she weighs less."

"You're thinking like a Muggle," Ron said. "It's not the weight or the wind resistance or even if you're climbing or diving, it's all about magic."

"What was her speed?" Harry asked, as Hermione passed the finishing pole.

"One hundred and twenty four," Ron answered, "she lost several seconds in the turn."

Harry helped Hermione to her feet. Her face was white and she was shaking.

"Did I do alright, Harry?" she pleaded. "Was I fast enough?"

"You did pretty good. But I think you can do better," Harry said. "Your turn needs to be tighter and you have to concentrate on speed in the straight. I want you to try again."

“I almost fell off my broom in that turn!” she said loudly.

“That means you’re pushing the edge and that’s good. We only have to work on your technique,” Harry said.

“I’m pushing the edge, and that’s good! Did you think I wasn’t really trying?” she shouted. "I don't want to break any records! I just want to fly with you. Have you no sympathy!"

She was trembling and looked like she might cry, or punch him.

"I have sympathy," Harry said, giving her a hug, "I have sympathy…"

"We'll fly together this time!" Harry said holding an arm around her shoulders. "We'll both charm the broom!"

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked in dread.

"You said Sympathetic Magic could increase the power of ordinary spells! You said we should practice Sympathetic Magic today!" Harry explained enthusiastically.

"You want to use Sympathetic Magic to make a broom go faster?" she said doubtfully.

"Yes!" he said happily, "How do we do it?"

"We have to hold hands or at least be touching each other. We cross our wands and simultaneously chant Conamorae. Next we do the Velocito charm on the broom together," she explained. "But Harry, if it works, the broom will go faster," she said fearfully.

"We'll ride together. Let's do it!" he said.

Harry followed Hermione's directions and they simultaneously cast the Speed Charm on the Firebolt. They mounted the broom, Hermione in front. They leaned down together as low as they could, until Hermione was lying on the broom.

"We're like spoons in a drawer," Harry commented. "When we're on the straight, keep thinking about speed, faster, faster, faster," Harry directed. "I'll shout when it's time to start breaking for the turn."

They shot across the lake, skidded around the turn and zoomed back to the finishing pole.

"One hundred and sixty eight!" Ron shouted, "That's your best time yet!"

"Was that good Harry?" Hermione asked hopefully.

"It was excellent," said Harry.

"Just nine miles per hour faster and you'll break the school record!" Ron said. "Your turn looked a little sloppy, I think you can do better."

"We need to do a good sliding turn," Harry said.

"Didn't we slide that time," Hermione asked nervously.

"Yes, but this time we want to do it right," Harry said. "We'll be flying backwards for a few seconds. I'll need eyes looking back."

Harry thought for a few seconds.

"You're doing a good job of laying low on the broom." Harry told Hermione. "Can you stick your head down and look behind us?"

Hermione did as Harry instructed.

"Can you see the pole directly behind us?" Harry asked.

"Yes but it's all upside down," Hermione said.

"Let's back around the pole, slowly this time. You steer," Harry ordered.

"I'm supposed to steer while looking backwards and upside down!" she exclaimed.

"Yes," Harry confirmed. "It's dangerous for me to turn around at high speed."

"You want me to steer while looking backwards and upside down at high speed!"

"Yes, we want to rotate one hundred and eighty degrees before we reach the mile pole and slow to a stop just barely past it. We have to go around it, so you have to steer us close to it but don't hit it," Harry explained.

"But Harry!" Hermione protested, "I'd have to open my eyes to do that!"

Harry gave his Firebolt to Ron while he and Hermione practiced the sliding turn on her Cleansweep. They spent the next twenty minutes practicing the sliding turn around the finishing pole until Harry thought they should try another speed run. Harry saw that Ron was holding Luna’s broom. Luna was coming in fast.

“One hundred and forty two!” Ron exclaimed. “She beat my time,” he added quietly.

In a few minutes Harry and Hermione made their second attempt together on the Firebolt.

"One hundred and seventy five!" Ron shouted after their second run together.

On their third run together Harry and Hermione broke the Hogwarts record for the two mile run with an average speed of one hundred and eighty miles per hour. They were going well over two hundred miles per hour when they passed the finishing pole.

On their fourth run they averaged one hundred and eighty five miles per hour.

On their fifth run they broke the British record with a speed of one hundred and ninety two.

Harry wanted to break the world record and go for the elusive two hundred miles an hour mark but Hermione begged him to stop. Her arms and legs were fatigued from clutching the broom so tightly. She had a headache from the inverted reverse steering in the sliding turns. And she wanted to study a few hours before another week of detentions and hospital duties began. Harry relented and gave her a big hug and a kiss.

"I'm proud of you Hermione," Harry said as they walked back to the castle. "You don't much like flying, but together we flew the two mile run faster than anyone in Britain. I'm beginning to see your point about Sympathetic Magic."

"It was an amazing achievement," Hermione said quietly, "but we can't tell anyone."

"What!" Ron exclaimed in disbelief. "We can't tell anyone that you broke the British record?"

"What are you thinking Hermione," Luna asked in her usual dreamy tone.

"Luna, we're at war with Lord Voldemort and his followers," Hermione explained. "That prophecy in the Department of Mysteries said that Harry has to fight Lord Voldemort. Harry has to develop some power that Lord Voldemort knows nothing about or he'll be killed. Please, for Harry's sake, for the war effort, today's achievement must remain a military secret."

"I'll keep quiet about it, if Harry and Ron can, on one condition," Luna said.

"What's your condition?" Hermione asked.

"When Harry wins, I get an exclusive interview with all three of you, and you won't tell your full story to anyone else until I can get my book out," Luna said.

"Alright Luna," Hermione said. "You're in the group. There may be other secrets you'll have to keep until the end of the war. But you'll get your book material."

"It's a good deal for me," Luna said. "Neither Witch Weekly nor the Quibbler publishes sports stories. And I don't write for the Daily Prophet.

Chapter 13 The Halloween Ball at Old George's Place

"Hermione," Harry began as they sat down for breakfast on Tuesday. "I have a question about the Sympathetic Bonding spell. Have you learned more about it?"

"I've been able to read part of the book by Amours and Lovelynn, but not all of it," she said. "Madam Pomfrey encouraged me to learn more since we've already taken the plunge, but I'm spending so much time in detention," she complained. It's hard to keep up with regular class work and Nursing class and Professor McGonagall wants to start animal transfigurations and I need to spend time working on house-elf rights issues instead of just cleaning pots…"

"Some girls tried to kiss me," Harry interrupted.

"You're supposed to be betrothed to me," Hermione stated bluntly.

"Yeah, well �“" Harry waffled. "I didn't ask them to kiss me."

"I know," she sighed. "You're the Boy Who Lived and the Triwizard Tournament Champion. You survived the duel in the graveyard with Lord Voldemort himself. And you're so brave and so cute and the Quidditch captain too. I know why they flirt with you," she sighed again.

“You left out that I’m The Love King,” Harry added.

“I also left out that nice girls have a way of falling for jerks,” she said.

“It’s a good thing that didn’t happen to you,” Harry shot back.

"What happens when they kiss you?" she snapped.

"There's an electric shock," Harry said.

"I think that's to be expected," Hermione explained. "We're magically bonded, legally married. It's a defense mechanism."

"Are you doing it?" Harry asked.

"Is it a real nasty shock that knocks the girl on her ass?" Hermione asked testily.

"No, just a little poke," Harry replied.

"It's caused by your own guilty conscious," Hermione said sharply. "If I was responsible it would be a real bolt of lightening. Apparently you don't feel too
bad about them kissing you."

"Ginny said you were responsible for the shocks," Harry said.

There's a lot of nonsense about Sympathetic Magic in trashy romance novels that witches like to read," Hermione explained. "I'll bet Mrs. Weasley has a few. I didn't know anything about Sympathetic Magic until we started doing spell research together. But what I do know comes from a reference book and not from some fiction."

"So what happens when some other boy kisses you?" Harry asked.

"I don't know!" she said indignantly. "I don't want other boys to kiss me. I just want you, Harry."

"I guess I'm stuck with you," Harry concluded.

"I'm sorry," she said mournfully.

"I didn't say it was bad," Harry added. “If I'm going to be stuck with one girl, it might as well be you."

"Oh, you are so romantic," Hermione said sarcastically.

"Let's go flying together on Sunday," Harry suggested. "I want to try some high powered aerobatics with you on the broom with me."

"You mean loops and rolls and stuff that will make me sick?" Hermione exclaimed. "I'm still in detention! I need Sunday to catch up on class work!"

"Mrs. Harry Potter has to be a good flyer," Harry stated bluntly. "Anyway I like holding you tight," he said with a grin.

“I think you like squeezing me,” she said.

At lunch, Dumbledore made a special announcement.

"Students, as you know, Mr. Cornelius Fudge our defense against the dark arts instructor was brutally murdered last month. The assassination of Mr. Fudge, who was our former Minister of Magic, has drawn international attention. For the next few days we will have special guests visiting us. The Americans have arrived. It is their intention to assist us in our endeavors to increase the safety and security of our school and to help us find a new permanent instructor for the defense against the dark arts. I will now turn the floor over to Mr. Charles Shrub, who is the Chairman of the Department of Illusion which is formal name for the American government."

"Howdy kids," began Chairman Shrub in an exaggerated Texas accent. "You foreign students don't need to worry no more, cause the Americans are here to solve the problem. For a few days we'll be studyin' your school. We'll develop a road map to security. We'll identify yore needs and appoint an American to be yore Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. We'll begin the process of cleanin' the terrorists out of this castle. And we will present convincing evidence that the true organizers of terrorism are the Ministers of the French government, and that regime change in that country is essential."

"Now I'll introduce my staff," he drawled. "Mr. Pritchard Rainy is the Vice Chairman of the Department of Illusion. If you have any questions, suggestions or information about the identity of terrorists in yore school, submit them to Mr. Rainy in writing. Do not ask me to answer yore questions. Miss Convolusia Corn is our Dark Arts Security Advisor. She'll say whatever we tell her to say. And the short witch in the military uniform is Private Scott, she'll be helpin' us interrogate terrorists."

"I'm sure you awl are wonderin' whut us Americans can do to solve this problem," Chairman Shrub continued. "Well we've brought a deck of cards and Dubyaloons."

"What's a Doubleyoon?" Ron whispered.

"I think he means Doubloon," Hermione answered quietly. "It's American money."

"Now these cards have got pictures of bad wizards on 'em," Mr. Shrub droned on. "Here's the Jack of Spades, it's Lucius Malfoy. You can get two hundred Dubyaloons for turnin' him in. Here's the Queen of Diamonds, Dolores Umbridge, she's worth one hundred Dubyaloons. The Queen of Spades, Bellatrix Lestrange, is worth three hundred Dubyaloons. This deck ain't complete yet. We've only got two queens. You awl just tell Mr. Rainy the names of other terrorists and we'll add 'em to the deck."

For the rest of the afternoon the American delegation wandered around Hogwarts disrupting classes and asking pointless questions like: "Don't Voldemort sound like a French name to you?" No one approached them except Pansy Parkinson, who slipped a note to Mr. Rainy.

Harry and the Quidditch team arrived in the Great Hall just before they stopped serving dinner that evening. He had barely reached the table when there was a loud crack of lightening and Hermione flew halfway to the Ravenclaw table and landed hard on her backside.

"Hermione!" Harry shouted as he ran over to her. "Are you alright?"

"Oohh," she moaned. "Ow… That hurt."

"What happened?" Harry asked, holding her.

"Dennis…" she said, "is he alright? The little twerp kissed me."

"Dennis!" Colin shouted. "He's not breathing!"

Fortunately Madam Pomfrey and Susan Bones were right there.

"Was that a result of your guilty conscious?" Harry asked Hermione.

"No! That was just a defensive response," she protested."

"I'm not that jealous, maybe you should try to relax a little bit," Harry said as he helped Hermione to the hospital.

"Maybe Hermione does have a guilty conscious," Ron suggested as they walked to the hospital. "Would you like me to fetch a stick for you Harry?" Ron asked as he examined Hermione's thumb.

Hermione glared at Ron in silence.

The start of the Tuesday Night patrols was delayed until nine o'clock, so the students could study a couple of hours and Ron ended the patrols at eleven. They didn't see a sign of Tuesday Night, but they kept running into the Americans who were roaming around the castle making noise.

The following morning the bleary eyed Harry and Ron trudged to the hospital to escort Hermione back to Gryffindor tower. Once again they ran into the Americans.

"That's a nice badge you've got there!" Mr. Shrub said to Ron. Then he turned to Harry, "Miss Corn tells me you're Harry Potter, and that you're one of the good guys. Do you boys want a chance to earn some Dubyaloons?" he asked them. "I'll deputize you and you can help us round up a terrorist suspect."

"We'd love to help you, Mr. Shrub," Harry said, "but we have to go to the hospital to pick up Hermione."

"Why you boys really are on the ball!" said Mr. Shrub. "That's who we're goin' to arrest, Hermione Granger."

"Hermione's no terrorist!" Harry said. "They've tried to murder her four times."

"Course she is," said Shrub, "look, we've put her picture on a card."

He showed Harry the Queen of Hearts.

"Where did you get the idea that Hermione is a terrorist?" Ron asked.

"A student informed on her," Shrub said proudly. "There's nothin' like Dubyaloons to loosin' up tongues. But there's lots of evidence. She's a trouble maker, lost a pile of house points. She's been in detention a whole lot. She hit a teacher. And she pert near killed that boy last night. She must be a terrorist. Has she ever been to France?"

"I think she was there about four years ago," Ron said, "but…"

"I knew the French were behind it all the time," concluded Mr. Shrub.

They met Hermione at the hospital door and Mr. Shrub conjured ropes to tie her up.

"Harry!" she cried, "what's this about?"

"Yore under arrest little lady," said Mr. Shrub. "Yore daze as a terrorist are over!"

"Mr. Shrub I'm sure this is all a misunderstanding," Harry said. "We should go to Professor Dumbledore."

"Why that's egg sackly what we're doin', Harry," said Mr. Shrub. "We're here to help you foreigners. We can tell Professor Dumbledore the right way to deal with terrorists."

"Don't worry Hermione," Harry said to her quietly, "this is all a mistake. We'll work things out when we get to Dumbledore's office."

"I hope this doesn't take too long," Hermione said, "I'm very tired and I want to get a little sleep before potions class. Dennis talked all night about what a knockout kisser I am, once we got his heart started again. And I didn't kiss him, he kissed me!"

"Well missy," Shrub said, "the sooner you confess, the sooner you can settle down in yore prison cell. Now just follow Pritchard, he's the real leader here."

"I'm not going to confess," Hermione said indignantly. "I've done nothing wrong."

"Yore a terrorist. You've been helpin' that French fellow Voldemort," Shrub said.
"And you'll confess. I've got a legal opinion from my attorney general that says it's OK to torture terrorists 'cause foreigners haven't got human rights."

"This is ridiculous," Hermione said. "Harry, Ron are you going to let them arrest me? This idiot is talking about torturing me!"

"Mr. Shrub, you can't torture Hermione," Harry said. "We're the good guys."

"Don't you worry about that Harry," Shrub said cheerfully. "Private Scott will actually do the torturing and if there's a congressional investigation, we'll blame it all on her."

"Hermione, you shouldn't call the American Minister of Magic an idiot," Ron said. "He's deputized us. We're going to get some Doubleyoons for arresting you." He grinned like it was a great joke.

"You're selling me out for money!" Hermione said furiously. "And just how much are you getting?"

"That's a good question," said Ron. "What's the reward for bringing in this terrorist?"

"This little lady's worth one hundred and fifty Dubyaloons," said Shrub. "Hey Pritchard are we cuttin' these boys in for a full share each?"

"Yes Mr. Chairman," answered Mr. Rainy. "It'll make you look generous."

"Private Scott is military, so the rest of us divide the reward five ways," Shrub said.

"Thirty Doubloons each?" Hermione complained, "That's about four Galleons and three Sickles! I'm worth more than that! Don't you think so Harry?"

"I think this is all getting silly," Harry said. "You're no terrorist. There'll be no reward. Dumbledore won't let them hurt you. I won’t let…"

He stopped abruptly.

"What's wrong with Mr. Rainy and Miss Corn?" Harry asked.

They were in the corridor near the entrance to Dumbledore's office. There was a mist hanging in the air. Ghostly hands had condensed around the throats of Mr. Rainy and Miss Corn. They were being strangled.

"Pritchard!" Shrub shouted, as he ran into the mist. Private Scott followed him.

Soon all four Americans were being strangled by ghostly hands. Harry moved forward.

"No Harry! Don't! It's Garroting Gas!" Hermione cried.

"They're dying! I'll hold my breath," Harry said.

"No! That won't work!" she shouted. "Garroting gas is magical. It's not poisonous. It'll kill you even if you don't inhale it!"

"What do we do?" Harry asked frantically.

"It’s too late for the Americans! You've got to warn Dumbledore to stay in his office!" Hermione said.

"Right," Harry said. "I'll need my broom. I can fly to his office window."

He ran to a window and pulled out his wand.

"No Harry!" Ron shouted. "If you set off a spell the alarm will sound and Dumbledore will come out! Use Hermione's wand!"

"Right," said Harry as he dashed over to Hermione.

"Oh! Harry, what are you doing?" Hermione shrieked.

"I'm looking for your wand," Harry said.

"Oh!… My… It's not there either," she said.

"It's not on your back. It's not on your thigh. Where is it?" Harry asked frantically.

"Left forearm," Hermione said in an exasperated tone.

"That's not much fun." Harry said as he took her wand from her sleeve.

Harry summoned his Firebolt from Gryffindor Tower. Then he gave Hermione's wand to Ron, mounted his broom and flew out the window. He circled the tower and tapped frantically on Dumbledore's office window.

"Good morning Harry," said Dumbledore as he opened the glass. "Did you forget the password to my office?"

"Professor Dumbledore, someone put Garroting Gas in the corridor by your door!" Harry shouted. "The Americans walked into the mist. It's strangling all of them!"

"This is terrible!" said Dumbledore. "I'll have Professor Snape prepare some antigarroting gas. You must block the corridor and let no one approach my office."

Dumbledore grabbed Fawkes and flew out the window towards Professor Snape's quarters. Harry flew back to Ron and Hermione.

Ron stayed near Dumbledore's office to stop anyone from entering the mist, while Harry took Hermione back to Gryffindor Tower.

"That was awful," Harry said. "Tuesday Night tried to kill Dumbledore with the Garroting Gas, but murdered the Americans by mistake! This could cause serious international problems."

"It was horrible," Hermione agreed. "I actually felt sorry for the Americans. It'll take Professor Snape hours to prepare antigarroting gas, so there'll be no potions class this morning," Hermione reasoned. "That means I can sleep more!" she said brightly. "And I'll be able to see the thestrals now!"

After the unfortunate deaths of the American politicians, all classes were canceled for the entire day. Students were confined to their dormitories while the castle was searched once again.

Harry spent the morning studying. For a while he was alone in his room and able to practice wandless summoning. He even read a few pages that Dumbledore had marked in the book about Human Sacrificial Rites. Harry couldn't understand why anyone would want to do the things that the book described. Had Tom Riddle done this? Why summon a cold, heartless viper-like creature from another realm? Why was this important? It was depressing.

The students were allowed to go to the Great Hall for lunch, but only one house at a time. Gryffindor was the last house to get lunch and everyone was hungry and grouchy by the time their turn came. Harry saw that Hagrid was getting his lunch so he went over to his giant friend.

"Hi Hagrid," Harry said. "Did you find anything?"

"Nothin' important," Hagrid replied, "but ol' Filchy found a trap."

"What sort of trap?" Harry asked.

"Twas an enchanted door," Hagrid answered. "It flew open in 'is face."

"Was Filch injured?"

"'e would've been knocked down the stairs if I 'adn't been right behind 'im," Hagrid said. "Ol' Filchy almost knocked me down the stairs. I 'ad to take 'im to Madam Pomfrey."

"Is he alright now?"

"Oh yeah, 'e's fine," Hagrid said. "e's off to town to fetch groceries now."

Later that afternoon Professor McGonagall took Harry, Hermione and Ron to a classroom where they were given Veritas serum and questioned by Dumbledore, Kingsley Shacklebolt and two Americans.

"Have you ever seen this bottle?" Shacklebolt asked, as he held up an ominous looking blue bottle that was clad with metal and had an unusual stopper.

"No," they all answered.

“How did you know the mist was Garroting Gas?” they asked Hermione.

“I had read about it in a book,” she replied.

It took more than an hour of questions but finally the Americans were convinced that Harry and his friends were not working with the murderer. As they left, the Americans and Shacklebolt got into an argument about the penetration of the British Ministry of Magic by Death Eaters. Someone had stolen that bottle of Garroting Gas from the Ministry.

Amos Diggory was very embarrassed by the deaths of the American leaders. He had been the one who had suggested that they could be helpful at Hogwarts. He did this in order to get them to leave London.

Fortunately the Americans had no real desire to start a war with the British. They just turned over the management of their government to a private consulting firm that was owned by Halibut and Endrunn Inc. a corporation that made enchanted items for their military. The cry for war with France faded away when it became possible for the corporation to take money from the American treasury without the need to hide it in inflated contracts for brooms, wands, potions and talismans. In subsequent elections voting was limited to Halibut and Endrunn shareholders. This eliminated the need to falsify vote counts in Rustyville and South Salem. A famous Quidditch player had been arrested for molesting young witches and the season was about to start so no one cared about politics anyway.

As the full moon of late October approached, Professor Lupin had to leave again. Kingsley Shacklebolt agreed to take over as substitute teacher for Defense Against the Dark Arts. He thought he might as well stay at Hogwarts because he was tired of traveling back and forth between London and Hogwarts every time there was a murder.

Soon it was time for the annual Halloween Ball. Ron's date was Luna Lovegood. He thought it was a good idea to keep an eye on the articles she was submitting to Witch Weekly and The Quibbler. Ginny went with Neville Longbottom. Harry didn't have a date, since it was Friday night and Hermione was still in detention. Cho was alone too.

"Who's this fellow that's late for a date with you Cho?" Harry asked.

"He's like you and Cedric," Cho said. "He's brave, a school champion and a seeker."

"Victor Krum is coming?" Harry guessed.

"Right!" Cho said. "We met at the Quidditch game during YWWMC. I think he could have caught the snitch faster than he did, but he let the game go on a bit so we could spend more time flying together."

Harry wandered around the Ball, visiting with his friends and listening to the music. Most of the girls were tired of getting electric shocks and had stopped trying to kiss him. He chatted with Victor Krum for a few minutes. He watched Ron and Luna try to dance. He soon became bored. Before the Ball was half over, he quietly slipped out and made his way down to the kitchen.

The moment he entered the kitchen he dashed about half of the way to Hermione with his right hand held out.

"Accio Hermione's wand," he said, summoning the wand from the scabbard she was wearing on her thigh. "Colloportus," he said aiming her wand at the kitchen door.

"What was that about?" Hermione asked, while dozens of house-elves stared at him.

"Dennis and his gang were following me," Harry said as he took off his dress robes and laid them over a chair. "I thought you might want some help with the dishes," he said staring at her and rolling up his sleeves.

"I won't say no to that!" she said smiling.

Harry joined her at the sink.

"How does a wizard like Harry Potter know how to wash dishes?" an elf asked.

"My Aunt Petunia taught me how to wash dishes, she's a Muggle," Harry said.

"You are as strange as Miss Hermione," said the elf, "nice, helpful, very strange."

They worked quietly, occasionally smiling at each other.

The music filtered down from the hall above.

Together they finished the stack quickly.

"We've got a few minutes before the next stack arrives," Hermione observed. "Shall we dance?"

Harry smiled at Hermione. She looked so cute in her tea towels.

"You know I can't dance," he said.

"This one's easy. They're doing the slow dance," she said. "Just hold me tight, look into my eyes and sway with the music," she instructed him.

They began dancing slowly in the kitchen.

The elves quietly looked on.

Harry felt very happy.

Then his stupid scar began to hurt.

He ignored it.

It got worse.

He leaned his head against Hermione's.

That seemed to help.

"Your scar is hurting," Hermione said.

"How did you know?" he asked.

"I can feel it," she said.

"I love you," he said.

"And I love you too," she said.

They kept dancing.

His scar began to burn terribly.

He held her more tightly.

The pain was so bad he had to close his eyes.

"Conamorae," he said.

"Conamorae," she repeated.

"I wish he'd leave us alone," he said.

Suddenly the pain went away.

He looked into her eyes. There were tears on her cheeks, but she smiled in relief.

They danced until the music stopped.

Then they finished the dishes.

Harry kissed her goodnight and she walked to the pantry where her cupboard was.

Harry put his fancy robes back on and left the kitchen. Dennis and his gang were waiting near the painting of the fruit bowl. They escorted him to Gryffindor Tower.

A hundred of miles away, Peter Pettigrew nervously cleaned up a pile of vomit.

"Is my Lord feeling better?" he asked fearfully.

"Who fixed my dinner tonight, Wormtail?" Lord Voldemort asked coldly.

"Lucius served you tonight, my Lord," Pettigrew said trembling.

"Summon him," the Dark Lord commanded.

Lucius Malfoy was severely tortured that night.

Malfoy never understood why.

Harry didn't feel a thing.