Hermione closed the book she was reading in the school’s library and replaced it on the shelf. It was getting late and Madam Pince would be closing soon. Hermione grabbed her bag and walked into the halls. She headed towards Gryffindor tower, but stopped off in the girl’s bathroom on her way. Just in case Ron is waiting for me, she thought. I might as well be sure my hair looks all right.
She stood in front of a mirror and gently ran her hand through her brown locks. A few stray hairs were put back into their proper place. As she started to leave, a muffled sob stopped her in her tracks. At first, she thought it might have been Moaning Myrtle, crying in one of the stalls as she usually did. Hermione listened for another moment. It didn’t sound like Myrtle at all. It sounded…human.
Hermione walked along the stalls until she found the one that the crying was coming from. She gently knocked. “Hello?” she said. “Are you all right in there?”
The sobs quieted a bit. “Hermione?” a voice said.
“Ginny?” Hermione pushed open the stall door. Ginny was sitting inside, her eyes red from crying. Hermione knelt down in front of her. “What are you crying about?”
Ginny wiped her eyes on her robes. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Hermione reached up and wiped a tear from her cheek. “Now, don’t start that. I’m not letting you out of this stall until you tell me what happened.”
Ginny raised her wand, which had been in her hand the whole time, and pointed it at Hermione. “I’ve already stunned one person today, Hermione. I’ll do it again.”
“Ginny,” Hermione said. She stood up and started backing away. Ginny stood as well and followed her friend out of the stall. Hermione’s arms rested by her side and then shot up, her wand in her right hand. “Expelliarmus!” Ginny’s want flew from her hand. Hermione reached up and grabbed it.
“Hermione!” Ginny exclaimed. “Give me back my wand!”
Ginny advanced on Hermione, but the older girl sidestepped and ran back over to the sinks. She pointed her wand at the door to the bathroom. “Colloportus!” The door locked. “Now you can’t leave.”
Ginny looked horrorstruck that her friend would steal her wand and lock her in a bathroom. However, Ginny had cast a spell at Harry earlier so… The thought of that brought a flood of tears back to Ginny’s eyes. She sunk back to her knees and buried her face in her hands.
Hermione rushed to her friend. “Ginny, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry. I just want to help you.” She threw her arms around Ginny’s shoulders.
“It’s not you, Hermione,” Ginny said, through sobs. “It’s…Harry.”
Hermione straightened up a bit. “Harry? What happened with Harry?”
Ginny cried a little more. “He got a…little rough with me…today.”
“What do you mean?”
Ginny’s sobs became harder and louder. Hermione tightened her hold on her friend. She held onto Ginny for another few minutes before Ginny could talk again. “We were alone together…and he got a little rough with me. When I asked him to stop, he wouldn’t, so I stunned him a bit.” She started to cry again, but it was under control this time. “He wouldn’t let me go.”
Hermione could not believe what she was hearing. Harry was a sweet boy and would never try to force Ginny into anything. “Ginny,” she said. “Did he…touch you anywhere?”
Ginny shook her head. “No, and I don’t think he wanted to. He just didn’t want me to leave him.”
“Leave him?”
“Be apart from him,” she explained. “I tried to just move away and then he got really physical.”
Hermione slipped Ginny’s wand back into her hand. “I’m sorry, Ginny. Do you want me to do anything?”
Ginny looked up at Hermione. “Just don’t tell Ron.”
*********************************************************
Ron, as it turned out, had detention that night that he had managed to keep secret from Hermione. Fred and George had sent him an experimental Skiving Snack box that would cause massive hic-ups, and they wanted Ron to try them out. Unfortunately, Professor McGonagall had found them when his bag had spilled and given him detention.
Ginny was able to get up to her room without incident. Harry was no-where to be found in the common room. Hermione, though, knew where to look for him.
“How could you, Harry Potter?” Hermione snarled at him.
Harry was hanging from the ceiling by a rope that was tied around his feet. Hermione had taken his wand and was glaring up at him. “How could you do such a thing to Ginny?”
Harry’s hands dangled, trying to grab something that he could use to pull himself down. “Hermione please let me down. I’m getting dizzy.”
The other bunkmates had been run out of the room when Hermione had stormed in and hung Harry from the ceiling. Seamus, Dean and Neville knew not to ask questions from the look she had given them all. Harry was friendless at the moment. “Not until I get an answer from you.”
Harry stopped flailing. “I don’t know why I did it,” he said. “Something just came over me.”
Hermione waved her wand. Two birds flew out and started pecking at his arms and chest. “Not good enough, Harry,” she said. “Was it not enough that she is going out with you? Did you need to force her into something else? How far would you have gone?”
Harry covered his head and face. “I wouldn’t have done anything. I just didn’t want her to walk away from me.”
Hermione dispelled the birds. “She was scared, Harry. She thought you were going to hurt her.” She waved her wand and the roped disappeared. Harry fell to the ground with a thud. Hermione dropped his wand. “How could you, Harry?”
She started to walk out of the room. Harry felt a surge of anger as he watched her leave. He grabbed his wand and raised it at her. Hermione heard him get to her feet. She saw the wand in his hand. “Imperio!”
Hermione ducked and the spell shot over her head. “Petrificus Totalus!”
Harry’s arms and legs locked themselves to his side and he fell over. Hermione’s breathing became labored as she realized what had just happened. Harry Potter had just used an Unforgivable Curse against her.
*********************************************************
Kevin and Arthur sat opposite a haggard-looking Kingsley Shacklebolt. Kingsley’s hands were bound and his head was lowered. Arthur leaned in. “Kingsley, the warden said you had something to tell us. We’re here now, so you can talk.”
Kevin gently fingered his wand, ready for anything that might happen. It had been late last night when a message came from Azkaban prison that Shacklebolt wanted to talk to someone about what has been happening over the past months. He had been brought to the Ministry of Magic to speak with Arthur and Kevin.
Kingsley raised his head to look at the two other men. “I had to tell someone,” he said, quietly. “I didn’t mean to hurt those people. I was forced to do it.”
“By who?” Kevin asked.
“Voldemort,” Kingsley whispered. “I heard his voice in my head. I couldn’t stop myself.” Tears started to roll down his cheek. “I didn’t want to hurt anybody.” He laid his forehead down on the table.
Arthur got to his feet and rushed to his friend’s side. He wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “It’s all right, Kingsley. We believe you.”
Kevin got to his feet as well, though he stayed on his side of the table. “Kingsley, how did Voldemort talk to you?”
Kingsley composed himself. “It was like a voice in the wind. It told me to do things that I didn’t want to do. I knew what my body was doing, but I couldn’t stop it.”
“But you told us that you were loyal to Voldemort.”
“I…” Kingsley’s eyes clouded over. “I did?” he asked. It seemed that he was trying to remember.
“Yes, you did,” Arthur said.
Kingsley shook his head. “I don’t remember saying that.”
Kevin beckoned Arthur to follow him out of the room. Once they were safely outside, Kevin turned to him. “I believe him,” he said. “I think he’s telling the truth.”
“Well, of course he is,” Arthur said. “He’s a Order member.”
Kevin shook his head. “Not just that. He remembered the attacks, but not the loyalty to Voldemort that he told us about. Why leave that part out?”
Arthur thought for a moment. “During the first war, people claimed that they remembered what they did, but denied being loyal to You-Know-Who to escape Azkaban. Could this be the same thing?”
“No, because those people were under the Imperius Curse,” Kevin said. “And we’ve already ruled out that Curse. This is something that has to affect a lot of people at the same time. You saw the people in Diagon Alley and in London. They didn’t have the looks of people under a curse. They were hateful, angry and wanted to kill. The Imperius Curse doesn’t transfer emotion.” A glazed look came across Kevin’s face. “Arthur,” he said, his voice a bit quieter. “How much do you know about power transfer?”
Arthur shrugged his shoulders. “A little, but not much.”
Kevin started walking. “We need to find out more.”