hpdreamz
February 1st, 2006, 5:49 pm
Summary - Every year when Harry returns to Hogwarts there is always an adventure waiting for him. It is known worldwide that almost anything can be overcome if you stick together. This story shows just what can happen if that isn't the case; if friends don't stick together, but listen to the tempting voices of the mind. This is a story about betrayal.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author's Notes - Hello, I've posted this fic on here once before and I am back again to post a revised edition after minor plot changings a beta-reading. I hope you will enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Many thanks to my beta-reader, Oldoverdolt, you helped me loads! If you would like to be
notified by Owl when the story is updated please say so in the feedback thread here (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=3501657#post3501657). And now to begin the story....:D
Green with Envy
Hermione woke up to the sudden burst of gasping coming from the corner of the dorm. She sat up to see Harry and Ron bent double congratulating each other about something.
"Harry! Ron!" she said struggling to cover herself up.
"Good Morning to you, too. I'm glad we got up that slide," Ron said to her sitting down on her bed.
Hermione however didn't hear him, she was still trying to remember her dream, and it had been a good one. Harry had asked her out to the Halloween Ball. She looked at him now, he was sitting on the other side of her bed, looking at her in concern.
" Hermione are you all right? You seem to be taking this very well considering we spat out pumpkin juice."
"What's happened, Harry?" she asked meekly, very conscious of how she looked.
"Snape finally got the job as Defence against the Dark Arts professor and I am sooo doomed," he groaned.
"And if that isn't enough it's double trouble, we've still got him for potions," Ron moaned.
"It's not that bad, he's a good teacher, we just don't get on that's all," Hermione said flippantly.
"Yeah that and he's got it in for me," Harry said hotly, thinking of his recent problems with Snape.
"Harry we should be going, we've only five minutes to finish breakfast, time flies when you're trying to run up a long slide," Ron said, tapping Harry on the back, thinking longingly of his bacon awaiting him in the Great Hall.
"Yeah, Hermione we'll see you down there," Harry told her smiling, putting his worries out of his mind for the moment as he and Ron stood up and left. Hermione watched them leave and wished they had stayed longer; she sighed dreamily.
She got dressed quickly and pulled on her socks and shoes. Hurriedly, she fed Crookshanks, her bandy legged cat and swept out of the dorm in a hurry to get down to the Great Hall before breakfast finished.
~*~
Ron and Harry collapsed down on either side of the house table in front of their golden plates and goblets, which had already filled themselves with a brand new breakfast of eggs bacon and toast. Ron frowned at his breakfast; he'd only just perfected his ultimate eggs and bacon sandwich, when they had received the terrible news and had had to go and find Hermione. Now he'd have to start again! The hall was deserted now with only a measly three minutes to finish breakfast, Ron and Harry were the only few left.
"What you doing today Harry?" Ron asked curiously.
"I've arranged to go and study in the library with Cho and then maybe I'll go and see Hagrid to help him out organising the Wedding, it depends," he replied, after much thought.
"When is it?" Ron asked.
"Twelfth, December, it's supposed to be a lucky day." He speared his bacon on his fork.
"Yeah, I suppose when Hagrid and Maxime get married luck is the first thing they will need. I mean it's not exactly a normal wedding is it?" Ron thought aloud.
"No, it's amazing how they just hit off isn't it, it's the last thing we expected," Harry voiced.
"Any idea who'll be the best man?" Ron continued.
"It'll probably be Dumbledore."
"I suppose Cho's going to be your partner?" Ron pointed his sausage laden fork at him.
"What about you Ron?" Harry asked.
"Dunno, you know don't you, we'll be expected to dance at the party afterwards."
"Uh huh, but unsurprisingly the thought doesn't really cheer me up."
~*~
"Hi," Hermione panted behind Harry who spun around to see her.
"Hermione finally! Hurry up and sit down we've only got a minute left," he said patting the empty space on the bench next to him, she sat down hurriedly, turning to them both.
"Sorry, I woke up late, my alarm clock's broken and Lavender didn't wake me," she apologised.
"It's all right, It took us about fifteen minutes to get up that slide to get to your dormitory, otherwise we'd have had had our dinner by now. Stupid idea really; girls can get into our dormitory, but if a boy tries to get up to the girls dormitory the stairs turns into a slide! You hear about that fifth year girl who had two boyfriends? And they say girls are more trustworthy!" he snorted. Hermione looked offended, but Ron didn't seem to notice; stabbing his sausage with a fork, he looked up at her.
"Anyway how come Lavender didn't wake you up?" Ron asked her with a puckered brow.
"We had a row last night, I'm surprised you didn't hear, we were shouting that loud," she said sipping some pumpkin juice. "I heard her talking about Hagrid saying that his wedding was going to be a joke, and so I told her what I thought of her. Anyway, I was laying into her when McGonagall came up to tell us to calm down, can you believe it? She took away 20 house points just for that!"
"Whoa!" Harry exclaimed, shocked as Ron snorted with amazement. He had never imagined Hermione laying into someone, it just wasn't her. He looked up from his plate to see Hermione looking at him dreamily, she quickly looked away.
Hermione took a deep breath; Harry had just seen her looking at him. She hoped it hadn't looked suspicious. As long as Harry was dating Cho she had to keep her feelings secret, even from Victor. But even Victor had mentioned that she seemed different; he had mentioned it during the summer holidays when they met up.
"What time is Quidditch practise Harry?" asked Ron. Harry was however preoccupied; post had arrived and Harry had received a note from someone, so he turned to Hermione for an answer instead.
"He said everyone has to be down at the pitch at six pm, we'll walk down at ten to." She scrambled down the rest of her breakfast before a second later all the plates and goblets disappeared.
"Oh, right," he muttered staring dolefully down at his plate where his bacon had been a second before. Harry tore his note open, he read it out:
To Harry,
Could the three of you possibly come over this afternoon? I'm up to my eyeballs with ideas I have for the wedding and could do with your help to fine-tune them, I know you're good at this kind of stuff,
Yours hopefully, Hagrid
"I was planning to go anyway after I'd met up with Cho, I'll meet you two in the common room, then we'll go," he told them. Ron and Hermione acknowledged this with a nod.
"Hello everyone," someone chimed in. They twisted around to see Dean and Seamus standing straight backed, looking remarkably like Ron's Brother, Percy.
"Hi," they said back, overlooking this somewhat disturbing detail.
"You are looking at the bouncers for Hagrid's wedding." They puffed out their chests and looked at them with an air of superiority, a look reminiscent of Percy Weasley yet again. Percy had spent the last of his years at Hogwarts, puffing his chest out, so that no one could miss his shiny badge, (whether a Prefect's badge or Head Boy badge), and giving that very look to troublemakers.
"You can't be serious," Hermione said frowning as they stood up.
"Trust me Hermione we are being serious, Dumbledore's given us the job of making sure there's no trouble."
"Who are you expecting trouble from?"
"The ministry and company are not exactly over the moon about this wedding," he said quietly."
"They wouldn't!" Harry, Ron and Hermione all yelped at the same time.
"They would," Dean and Seamus replied in unison. "We have to drop by Hagrid's to sort out things."
Hermione heard someone call her name and she turned around to see Crabbe and Goyle looking meaningfully at her. She spun round to face Harry, Ron, Seamus and Dean, who were about to leave
"Got to nip to the loo, see you later!"
"Bye," they called, but she was already half way down the corridor.
"Do you know she's just been telling us how she was laying into Lavender when McGonagall walked in," Harry said to them all. "Honestly, I don't know what has gotten into her lately, she's been acting very odd."
"I've noticed that as well, she seems..." He cast around to find a word to explain Hermione's behaviour "preoccupied," Ron confessed truthfully.
"Maybe she broke up with Victor," Seamus suggested, s******ing slightly.
"No, it's something else," Harry said frowning. What had got into Hermione? She didn't have her usual bickering rows with Ron anymore like she used to. She let things go and didn't hold a grudge. Hermione had changed a lot over the last few weeks, ever since they had returned to Hogwarts.
Hermione arrived at the library a few minutes later, and soon after, a disgruntled Crabbe and Goyle turned up.
"Hello, did you do what I told you?" Hermione blurted out.
"Yeah, but now he says if we do there will be trouble," Crabbe confessed sitting down next to her.
"Better than having to be used and abused."
"Hmmmmm, we will tell him we don't mind the trouble," Goyle said, slowly cottoning on.
"Think about it, you've fought all of Draco's battles for him for the past four years which just shows he can't fight for himself," she stated genuinely.
"You're right," Goyle said thickly, tightening his fist.
"Thanks, Hermione, you're a star," he said in his deep, gruff voice.
"Just don't make it too obvious that we're meeting up like this," she said urgently. Crabbe and Goyle nodded in unison and waddled, penguin- like to the door. Hermione made her way to the Gryffindor Common Room; Ron would be there.
~*~
Cho had finally turned up... late. Harry must have been sitting there fifteen minutes when she stumbled in. Harry was annoyed, the emotion dissolved however when Cho kissed him. Cho was the best thing that ever happened to him. He was really glad he had asked to get back together at breakfast on the first day back; the funny thing was that she never mentioned Cedric anymore and that was fine with him. Harry remembered the last time they had met, it'd been up in the air, like Harry's feelings during his last Quidditch match. It had been Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw; they had arranged to meet up today after the match.
It had been a good match he thought smiling. Gryffindor had won, all thanks to a great save by Hermione. She had been eager to join the Quidditch team ever since it was made apparent that Gryffindor would need a position as Keeper filled, now that Ron had decided to be a Chaser. Ron and Hermione had both arrived back at school earlier than usual after the summer holidays. He had asked her to help him practise, by trying to block his shots. Needless to say, Harry was shocked when Hermione had announced she wanted to try out as Keeper. With all the practise she'd gotten she was an excellent player, really good at blocking those goals, a stark contrast against her previous Quidditch skills. Harry, the new Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, had wasted no time letting her join when he saw her block all the shots during her try out.
When Harry received the results for his O.W.Ls in the post, he hadn't been too surprised. He had obviously failed History of Magic and Divination and he didn't really care. History of Magic was unbelievably boring, taught by a ghost professor who had a way of countering interesting facts by teaching lessons in such a way that students dozed off after ten minutes. As for Divination, he would hardly miss Professor Trelawney predicting his death ...every lesson. Harry had now decided he would like to be an Auror and you hardly needed these subjects for that career path. He did have one little surprise in store for him; he'd scraped an 'Exceeds Expectations' in Potions. When he'd read this mark out, he rubbed his eyes several times thinking he was dreaming. When he read it again he realised he wasn't dreaming and gave a huge triumphant yelp. Potions was a key subject you needed to know like the back of your hand to become an Auror. Professor Snape, the Potions Master, looked deeply disappointed as if he'd been denied a big treat when he'd heard this news. Just as he had expected, Harry received an Outstanding in Defence Against The Dark Arts, all thanks to the illegal Defence Against The Dark Arts Group he'd started up last year. Harry felt a stab of half pride, half modesty whenever he thought about the Advanced Patronus Charm he performed in the Practical Exam, conjuring up a silver wispy stag, the only one in the year to be able to do this. The order had thrown a party for Harry, Ron and Hermione and they all had a brilliant time, it was indeed, the highlight of Harry's summer.
~*~
It was his class schedule that Harry had nightmares about this year. Every Monday they had Double Potions followed by Care of Magical Creatures, Transfiguration and Double Defence Against The Dark Arts. It hadn't been so bad for the first few weeks as Defence Against The Dark Arts were free lessons due to a lack of a teacher being found to teach it. However this morning they had received the news that Snape was going to fill the position, and Snape was bad news, he never resisted taking points off Gryffindor. Four lessons with Snape on a Monday was not what Harry had bargained for in his sixth year at Hogwarts, it was bound to be detrimental to Gryffindor's chance of winning the House Cup. Care of Magical Creatures lessons had taken the turn for the worse, with Draco scheming to ruin every lesson for Hagrid, who seemed to have lost his former confidence at teaching. Harry's mood was lifted however as Cho came over to speak to him at breakfast. Hermione was preoccupied as ever, she just sat and stared at the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall, she didn't eat a thing. There was a commotion at the Slytherin Table where Crabbe and Goyle appeared to have refused to sit next to Malfoy; Harry and Ron couldn't help grinning broadly as they watched a rejected Malfoy eat his Breakfast unhappily with only Pansy Parkinson at his side. Hermione hadn't noticed...
~*~
Ron was feeling worthless, Percy had just been promoted to the position of assistant to the Minister of Magic and he had the sinking feeling he'd have to live up to Percy's standards. He was always being told that he should set a better example for his sister, Ginny. But even Ginny didn't seem to want to follow in Ron's footsteps; she was more likely to turn out like her other twin brothers, Fred and George. Those two had taken an outright pride in being renowned class clowns at Hogwarts. Harry was one of Ron's best friends, but sometimes he found himself comparing himself to Harry. It was so hard being friends with a boy who was famous worldwide. He was always being shunted to one side and he felt useless! It was hard enough having to be shunted to the side before Harry started dating Cho, the girl he'd secretly dated in the last year of Primary School. Harry had everything Ron wanted.
"Weasley, are you even listening to me?" Snape snarled maliciously.
"Huh?" he mumbled perplexed.
"I said are you even listening to me?" he repeated murderously.
"Yeah, sure I am," he said gathering himself, it was half way through Potions and Snape had been giving them a lecture. Ron, however, had been thinking of other things and therefore did not realise that Snape had asked him a question.
"Could you kindly repeat what I just said then, Weasley?"
"You were just ... erm ... saying that ... erm ..." he could see Hermione mouthing out something but couldn't make out what it was so he gave up.
"Detention for an hour tonight, Weasley be at my office at six pm," he smirked.
Harry looked over to Ron to see how he reacted to this and was astonished to see him shrug his shoulders; he didn't really look bothered. This was new, normally Ron would grumble. Harry was distracted by the sight of Malfoy sitting next to Ron. Malfoy looked terrible, his robes were heavily creased, there were bags under his eyes and he looked very pale, as if he was about to vomit. He looked utterly miserable and defeated. Harry suddenly felt a strange feeling; it was a few minutes till he realised, to much disbelief, he felt a tad bit sorry for Draco. It suddenly struck him that Draco hadn't been himself lately, in fact Harry was certain that teasing anyone didn't bring the pleasure it use to. It was like he only bullied people for the mere sake of it.
Maybe it was just him but everyone seemed a bit preoccupied lately, something weird was going on... Harry could feel it...
~*~
Ron was annoyed, it was weeks into term and he still hadn't managed to tell Harry, it just wasn't the kind of thing you could bring up in a normal conversation, the time had to be just right...yet again the time had to come soon...very soon...
~*~
"What have you got in store for us today?" Hermione asked enquiringly.
"I think we'll practise diversionary tactics, dives, things like that probably, but I doubt in this weather we'll be able to see anything. We'll get some practise though as it won't be long till we're trying to dodge each other because we can't see a bloody thing," he said running his hands through his sopping wet black hair.
Hermione chuckled and he looked at her.
"I haven't heard you laugh in a long time, what's the problem?"
"Really, it's n-no-nothing...I-it's all right," she stammered quickly.
"Come on you can tell me, I know something's wrong," he said quietly.
"Now is not the right time, maybe some other time Harry," she told him, switching her brand new Nimbus 2003 to her other hand.
"In your own time, it's just that I'm worried about you that's all," explained Harry, running his hand through his hair once more.
It was Thursday evening and Harry and Hermione were making their way to the Quidditch stadium for Quidditch practise, Ron wasn't coming, Snape's detention had been conveniently scheduled for tonight. It had been raining all throughout the day and Harry had got the team together at lunch to announce that as the conditions were likely to be the same for their following match against Hufflepuff; a practise session would be held that evening at six pm, for the simple reason that Gryffindor needed practise flying in these appalling weather conditions.
~*~
Ron made his way to Snape's office with a furrowed brow and a buzzing mind. He was wondering where he was now? How far away was he? What was he planning? Did he have inside help? This all seemed a bit scary for him, I mean Voldemort planning something bad to happen at Hogwarts and Harry not knowing...if only his dad hadn't been called away to that emergency at The Ministry Of Magic, then he wouldn't have the huge responsibility on his shoulders to tell Harry...this was bad...real bad...
~*~
Draco sat on his bed twiddling his thumbs, he was completely alone, and he had no one, no one to tell. No one he could turn to and say, "I know something bad is going to happen, but if I tell you my father will kill me, and I'm scared...really scared..." Surely there had to be someone... a friend?... got none... family... no one who wouldn't kill him for doubting them... a teacher... maybe, but which one?... Dumbledore?... out of the question... McGonagall?... hell no... Snape?...yes!...
~*~
Practise was pointless, they couldn't see where they were going let alone muster up the energy to go there, and Neville and Ginny kept mucking about. The atmosphere up in the air was deeply depressing and Harry called it a day after only twenty minutes of 'practise'. The Gryffindor Quidditch team retired to the changing rooms having gained nothing from the evening's experience.
~*~
Hermione gazed at Harry dreamily from across the Gryffindor common room. She was remembering the time when she had first seen him after school had ended. He had walked through the door of Grimmauld place and greeted her with a hug and a smile, having been collected from the Dursleys only a week into the summer holidays. Hermione knew that Grimmauld place held memories of Sirius for Harry; she watched his sombre face as he daydreamed through dinner that evening. She wondered how he felt about it all, about having inherited all of Sirius's money and belongings, including Grimmauld Place, but she never asked. She knew the topic was not open for discussion. It was around this time that her infatuation with Harry had begun. At first she would keep an eye on him, worried for her friend, but later it became much, much more; she would stare at him for minutes on end as she missed whole conversations. At night she would dream of him, and in the day time she fantasised about him. She could not help but think that Harry must have thought her besotted. She snapped out of her thoughts and frowned at the raven-haired boy her eyes were fixed on. He was talking to Cho, and Hermione couldn't help feeling green with envy. Scowling at the thought of being jealous of Cho, she tore her eyes away from the heart aching scene and turned her head around toward the rest of the common room, where her eyes met another disturbing scene. Everywhere she looked people were having fun, Ginny and Dean were laughing at a joke he'd just told her. Ginny kissed him on the cheek out of gratitude, to which Dean stopped laughing to actually snog her keenly. Colin and Dennis had set off some Dr. Filibuster's Wet Start Fireworks, some first years were playing exploding snap and Ron and Seamus were playing Wizards Chess. She wondered whether Ron knew that Dean and Ginny were an item.
Hermione watched as the deck of cards the first years were playing with exploded with a huge BOOM that shook the room. The girl, who had leant forward to put her card down at the time, got her face covered with soot... there was a moments pause as they all realised what had happened, then a tidal wave of laughter broke out, the sooty faced girl included. She stopped laughing only long enough to magically clean herself with her wand. Hermione sighed heavily. What she wouldn't give to be one of those people, not a care in the world, no best friend who kept popping up in their mind making it difficult to concentrate on anything but them... She couldn't stand it any longer, she had to tell him, but the problem was, when? How?
Harry looked intently into Cho's eyes...they were so beautiful...so unfathomable...Harry was lost in them... but she was waiting for an answer.
"Yeah, of course I'll help," he replied coming out of his reverie.
"Thanks Harry," she said, taking his hand, which had been resting on the table, gratefully in hers. "I really haven't had time to write it up myself, I've had a lot to think about lately..." she trailed off.
"About what?" he questioned.
"Never you mind," she said playfully.
"Come on you can tell me," Harry wheedled "I mean we are going out!" he shouted suddenly flaring up.
"I said no, Harry," she said firmly.
"WHY NOT?" he exploded getting to his feet suddenly.
"YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW HARRY?" screamed Cho who was on her feet too now.
"YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW? " she yelled poking Harry roughly with her forefinger several times.
"ALLRIGHT, I'LL TELL YOU!"
"It's okay Cho, calm down," he told her quietly, his anger having dissolved as quickly as he'd felt it.
"MY COUSIN'S DEAD HARRY! GOT RUN OVER BY A MUGGLE CAR," she cried.
"I'm so sorry Cho I didn't mean to..."
"DIDN'T MEAN TO WHAT? HARASS ME? UPSET ME? WELL I HOPE YOUR HAPPY HARRY, NOW YOU'VE BEEN 'UPDATED'!" she roared, quoting with two fingers from each hand. Harry was startled to see there were tears streaming down her hurt face. He looked on as she chucked all her things fiercely in to her bag, swung it over her shoulder and dashed out of the common room, leaving Harry to feel extremely guilty. Why had he harassed her like that? He thought through his feelings as he had 'attacked' Cho. He vaguely remembered that he felt exceptionally angry and then... he understood. Lately he had the feeling that people were keeping things from him and he wasn't going to let Cho sit there and lie through her teeth. I mean he was friends with all the people who hid things from him, so why did they lie to him? He snapped out of his thoughts to see people looking at him curiously. The whole common room was silent. Even Colin and Dennis had frozen the fireworks in mid air to watch the argument and Dean and Ginny had stopped snogging to watch attentively.
"What are you all looking at?" he said hotly, why did people feel the need to butt in when it was none of their business, he thought angrily, only too well knowing that was what he had done to Cho... it really had been none of his business... He gathered his things, shoved them in his bag roughly, picked it up and hurried out of the common room towards the library amid many suspicious looks. Out of the blue Harry remembered about Hagrid's Wedding, and so stopped in his tracks and dashed in the opposite direction towards the school grounds instead, he'd have to forget meeting with Ron and Hermione. He took the time to reach Hagrid's hut to think. What had come over him? He'd never been nosy... it just... wasn't him. Something funny was going on. He reached Hagrid's Hut and knocked on the door loudly...
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Author notes: I hope you enjoyed that. The next chapter is called "One Dreadful Joke" which shows us just how short a temper Harry has, and explores what can happen if you take a Charms Class, three best friends and a love spell.
I'd be really very grateful if you'd leave a review here (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=3501657#post3501657) and also leave a note if you'd like to be notified when the story is updated!Keep reading and enjoy! :clap:
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author's Notes - Hello, I've posted this fic on here once before and I am back again to post a revised edition after minor plot changings a beta-reading. I hope you will enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Many thanks to my beta-reader, Oldoverdolt, you helped me loads! If you would like to be
notified by Owl when the story is updated please say so in the feedback thread here (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=3501657#post3501657). And now to begin the story....:D
Green with Envy
Hermione woke up to the sudden burst of gasping coming from the corner of the dorm. She sat up to see Harry and Ron bent double congratulating each other about something.
"Harry! Ron!" she said struggling to cover herself up.
"Good Morning to you, too. I'm glad we got up that slide," Ron said to her sitting down on her bed.
Hermione however didn't hear him, she was still trying to remember her dream, and it had been a good one. Harry had asked her out to the Halloween Ball. She looked at him now, he was sitting on the other side of her bed, looking at her in concern.
" Hermione are you all right? You seem to be taking this very well considering we spat out pumpkin juice."
"What's happened, Harry?" she asked meekly, very conscious of how she looked.
"Snape finally got the job as Defence against the Dark Arts professor and I am sooo doomed," he groaned.
"And if that isn't enough it's double trouble, we've still got him for potions," Ron moaned.
"It's not that bad, he's a good teacher, we just don't get on that's all," Hermione said flippantly.
"Yeah that and he's got it in for me," Harry said hotly, thinking of his recent problems with Snape.
"Harry we should be going, we've only five minutes to finish breakfast, time flies when you're trying to run up a long slide," Ron said, tapping Harry on the back, thinking longingly of his bacon awaiting him in the Great Hall.
"Yeah, Hermione we'll see you down there," Harry told her smiling, putting his worries out of his mind for the moment as he and Ron stood up and left. Hermione watched them leave and wished they had stayed longer; she sighed dreamily.
She got dressed quickly and pulled on her socks and shoes. Hurriedly, she fed Crookshanks, her bandy legged cat and swept out of the dorm in a hurry to get down to the Great Hall before breakfast finished.
~*~
Ron and Harry collapsed down on either side of the house table in front of their golden plates and goblets, which had already filled themselves with a brand new breakfast of eggs bacon and toast. Ron frowned at his breakfast; he'd only just perfected his ultimate eggs and bacon sandwich, when they had received the terrible news and had had to go and find Hermione. Now he'd have to start again! The hall was deserted now with only a measly three minutes to finish breakfast, Ron and Harry were the only few left.
"What you doing today Harry?" Ron asked curiously.
"I've arranged to go and study in the library with Cho and then maybe I'll go and see Hagrid to help him out organising the Wedding, it depends," he replied, after much thought.
"When is it?" Ron asked.
"Twelfth, December, it's supposed to be a lucky day." He speared his bacon on his fork.
"Yeah, I suppose when Hagrid and Maxime get married luck is the first thing they will need. I mean it's not exactly a normal wedding is it?" Ron thought aloud.
"No, it's amazing how they just hit off isn't it, it's the last thing we expected," Harry voiced.
"Any idea who'll be the best man?" Ron continued.
"It'll probably be Dumbledore."
"I suppose Cho's going to be your partner?" Ron pointed his sausage laden fork at him.
"What about you Ron?" Harry asked.
"Dunno, you know don't you, we'll be expected to dance at the party afterwards."
"Uh huh, but unsurprisingly the thought doesn't really cheer me up."
~*~
"Hi," Hermione panted behind Harry who spun around to see her.
"Hermione finally! Hurry up and sit down we've only got a minute left," he said patting the empty space on the bench next to him, she sat down hurriedly, turning to them both.
"Sorry, I woke up late, my alarm clock's broken and Lavender didn't wake me," she apologised.
"It's all right, It took us about fifteen minutes to get up that slide to get to your dormitory, otherwise we'd have had had our dinner by now. Stupid idea really; girls can get into our dormitory, but if a boy tries to get up to the girls dormitory the stairs turns into a slide! You hear about that fifth year girl who had two boyfriends? And they say girls are more trustworthy!" he snorted. Hermione looked offended, but Ron didn't seem to notice; stabbing his sausage with a fork, he looked up at her.
"Anyway how come Lavender didn't wake you up?" Ron asked her with a puckered brow.
"We had a row last night, I'm surprised you didn't hear, we were shouting that loud," she said sipping some pumpkin juice. "I heard her talking about Hagrid saying that his wedding was going to be a joke, and so I told her what I thought of her. Anyway, I was laying into her when McGonagall came up to tell us to calm down, can you believe it? She took away 20 house points just for that!"
"Whoa!" Harry exclaimed, shocked as Ron snorted with amazement. He had never imagined Hermione laying into someone, it just wasn't her. He looked up from his plate to see Hermione looking at him dreamily, she quickly looked away.
Hermione took a deep breath; Harry had just seen her looking at him. She hoped it hadn't looked suspicious. As long as Harry was dating Cho she had to keep her feelings secret, even from Victor. But even Victor had mentioned that she seemed different; he had mentioned it during the summer holidays when they met up.
"What time is Quidditch practise Harry?" asked Ron. Harry was however preoccupied; post had arrived and Harry had received a note from someone, so he turned to Hermione for an answer instead.
"He said everyone has to be down at the pitch at six pm, we'll walk down at ten to." She scrambled down the rest of her breakfast before a second later all the plates and goblets disappeared.
"Oh, right," he muttered staring dolefully down at his plate where his bacon had been a second before. Harry tore his note open, he read it out:
To Harry,
Could the three of you possibly come over this afternoon? I'm up to my eyeballs with ideas I have for the wedding and could do with your help to fine-tune them, I know you're good at this kind of stuff,
Yours hopefully, Hagrid
"I was planning to go anyway after I'd met up with Cho, I'll meet you two in the common room, then we'll go," he told them. Ron and Hermione acknowledged this with a nod.
"Hello everyone," someone chimed in. They twisted around to see Dean and Seamus standing straight backed, looking remarkably like Ron's Brother, Percy.
"Hi," they said back, overlooking this somewhat disturbing detail.
"You are looking at the bouncers for Hagrid's wedding." They puffed out their chests and looked at them with an air of superiority, a look reminiscent of Percy Weasley yet again. Percy had spent the last of his years at Hogwarts, puffing his chest out, so that no one could miss his shiny badge, (whether a Prefect's badge or Head Boy badge), and giving that very look to troublemakers.
"You can't be serious," Hermione said frowning as they stood up.
"Trust me Hermione we are being serious, Dumbledore's given us the job of making sure there's no trouble."
"Who are you expecting trouble from?"
"The ministry and company are not exactly over the moon about this wedding," he said quietly."
"They wouldn't!" Harry, Ron and Hermione all yelped at the same time.
"They would," Dean and Seamus replied in unison. "We have to drop by Hagrid's to sort out things."
Hermione heard someone call her name and she turned around to see Crabbe and Goyle looking meaningfully at her. She spun round to face Harry, Ron, Seamus and Dean, who were about to leave
"Got to nip to the loo, see you later!"
"Bye," they called, but she was already half way down the corridor.
"Do you know she's just been telling us how she was laying into Lavender when McGonagall walked in," Harry said to them all. "Honestly, I don't know what has gotten into her lately, she's been acting very odd."
"I've noticed that as well, she seems..." He cast around to find a word to explain Hermione's behaviour "preoccupied," Ron confessed truthfully.
"Maybe she broke up with Victor," Seamus suggested, s******ing slightly.
"No, it's something else," Harry said frowning. What had got into Hermione? She didn't have her usual bickering rows with Ron anymore like she used to. She let things go and didn't hold a grudge. Hermione had changed a lot over the last few weeks, ever since they had returned to Hogwarts.
Hermione arrived at the library a few minutes later, and soon after, a disgruntled Crabbe and Goyle turned up.
"Hello, did you do what I told you?" Hermione blurted out.
"Yeah, but now he says if we do there will be trouble," Crabbe confessed sitting down next to her.
"Better than having to be used and abused."
"Hmmmmm, we will tell him we don't mind the trouble," Goyle said, slowly cottoning on.
"Think about it, you've fought all of Draco's battles for him for the past four years which just shows he can't fight for himself," she stated genuinely.
"You're right," Goyle said thickly, tightening his fist.
"Thanks, Hermione, you're a star," he said in his deep, gruff voice.
"Just don't make it too obvious that we're meeting up like this," she said urgently. Crabbe and Goyle nodded in unison and waddled, penguin- like to the door. Hermione made her way to the Gryffindor Common Room; Ron would be there.
~*~
Cho had finally turned up... late. Harry must have been sitting there fifteen minutes when she stumbled in. Harry was annoyed, the emotion dissolved however when Cho kissed him. Cho was the best thing that ever happened to him. He was really glad he had asked to get back together at breakfast on the first day back; the funny thing was that she never mentioned Cedric anymore and that was fine with him. Harry remembered the last time they had met, it'd been up in the air, like Harry's feelings during his last Quidditch match. It had been Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw; they had arranged to meet up today after the match.
It had been a good match he thought smiling. Gryffindor had won, all thanks to a great save by Hermione. She had been eager to join the Quidditch team ever since it was made apparent that Gryffindor would need a position as Keeper filled, now that Ron had decided to be a Chaser. Ron and Hermione had both arrived back at school earlier than usual after the summer holidays. He had asked her to help him practise, by trying to block his shots. Needless to say, Harry was shocked when Hermione had announced she wanted to try out as Keeper. With all the practise she'd gotten she was an excellent player, really good at blocking those goals, a stark contrast against her previous Quidditch skills. Harry, the new Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, had wasted no time letting her join when he saw her block all the shots during her try out.
When Harry received the results for his O.W.Ls in the post, he hadn't been too surprised. He had obviously failed History of Magic and Divination and he didn't really care. History of Magic was unbelievably boring, taught by a ghost professor who had a way of countering interesting facts by teaching lessons in such a way that students dozed off after ten minutes. As for Divination, he would hardly miss Professor Trelawney predicting his death ...every lesson. Harry had now decided he would like to be an Auror and you hardly needed these subjects for that career path. He did have one little surprise in store for him; he'd scraped an 'Exceeds Expectations' in Potions. When he'd read this mark out, he rubbed his eyes several times thinking he was dreaming. When he read it again he realised he wasn't dreaming and gave a huge triumphant yelp. Potions was a key subject you needed to know like the back of your hand to become an Auror. Professor Snape, the Potions Master, looked deeply disappointed as if he'd been denied a big treat when he'd heard this news. Just as he had expected, Harry received an Outstanding in Defence Against The Dark Arts, all thanks to the illegal Defence Against The Dark Arts Group he'd started up last year. Harry felt a stab of half pride, half modesty whenever he thought about the Advanced Patronus Charm he performed in the Practical Exam, conjuring up a silver wispy stag, the only one in the year to be able to do this. The order had thrown a party for Harry, Ron and Hermione and they all had a brilliant time, it was indeed, the highlight of Harry's summer.
~*~
It was his class schedule that Harry had nightmares about this year. Every Monday they had Double Potions followed by Care of Magical Creatures, Transfiguration and Double Defence Against The Dark Arts. It hadn't been so bad for the first few weeks as Defence Against The Dark Arts were free lessons due to a lack of a teacher being found to teach it. However this morning they had received the news that Snape was going to fill the position, and Snape was bad news, he never resisted taking points off Gryffindor. Four lessons with Snape on a Monday was not what Harry had bargained for in his sixth year at Hogwarts, it was bound to be detrimental to Gryffindor's chance of winning the House Cup. Care of Magical Creatures lessons had taken the turn for the worse, with Draco scheming to ruin every lesson for Hagrid, who seemed to have lost his former confidence at teaching. Harry's mood was lifted however as Cho came over to speak to him at breakfast. Hermione was preoccupied as ever, she just sat and stared at the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall, she didn't eat a thing. There was a commotion at the Slytherin Table where Crabbe and Goyle appeared to have refused to sit next to Malfoy; Harry and Ron couldn't help grinning broadly as they watched a rejected Malfoy eat his Breakfast unhappily with only Pansy Parkinson at his side. Hermione hadn't noticed...
~*~
Ron was feeling worthless, Percy had just been promoted to the position of assistant to the Minister of Magic and he had the sinking feeling he'd have to live up to Percy's standards. He was always being told that he should set a better example for his sister, Ginny. But even Ginny didn't seem to want to follow in Ron's footsteps; she was more likely to turn out like her other twin brothers, Fred and George. Those two had taken an outright pride in being renowned class clowns at Hogwarts. Harry was one of Ron's best friends, but sometimes he found himself comparing himself to Harry. It was so hard being friends with a boy who was famous worldwide. He was always being shunted to one side and he felt useless! It was hard enough having to be shunted to the side before Harry started dating Cho, the girl he'd secretly dated in the last year of Primary School. Harry had everything Ron wanted.
"Weasley, are you even listening to me?" Snape snarled maliciously.
"Huh?" he mumbled perplexed.
"I said are you even listening to me?" he repeated murderously.
"Yeah, sure I am," he said gathering himself, it was half way through Potions and Snape had been giving them a lecture. Ron, however, had been thinking of other things and therefore did not realise that Snape had asked him a question.
"Could you kindly repeat what I just said then, Weasley?"
"You were just ... erm ... saying that ... erm ..." he could see Hermione mouthing out something but couldn't make out what it was so he gave up.
"Detention for an hour tonight, Weasley be at my office at six pm," he smirked.
Harry looked over to Ron to see how he reacted to this and was astonished to see him shrug his shoulders; he didn't really look bothered. This was new, normally Ron would grumble. Harry was distracted by the sight of Malfoy sitting next to Ron. Malfoy looked terrible, his robes were heavily creased, there were bags under his eyes and he looked very pale, as if he was about to vomit. He looked utterly miserable and defeated. Harry suddenly felt a strange feeling; it was a few minutes till he realised, to much disbelief, he felt a tad bit sorry for Draco. It suddenly struck him that Draco hadn't been himself lately, in fact Harry was certain that teasing anyone didn't bring the pleasure it use to. It was like he only bullied people for the mere sake of it.
Maybe it was just him but everyone seemed a bit preoccupied lately, something weird was going on... Harry could feel it...
~*~
Ron was annoyed, it was weeks into term and he still hadn't managed to tell Harry, it just wasn't the kind of thing you could bring up in a normal conversation, the time had to be just right...yet again the time had to come soon...very soon...
~*~
"What have you got in store for us today?" Hermione asked enquiringly.
"I think we'll practise diversionary tactics, dives, things like that probably, but I doubt in this weather we'll be able to see anything. We'll get some practise though as it won't be long till we're trying to dodge each other because we can't see a bloody thing," he said running his hands through his sopping wet black hair.
Hermione chuckled and he looked at her.
"I haven't heard you laugh in a long time, what's the problem?"
"Really, it's n-no-nothing...I-it's all right," she stammered quickly.
"Come on you can tell me, I know something's wrong," he said quietly.
"Now is not the right time, maybe some other time Harry," she told him, switching her brand new Nimbus 2003 to her other hand.
"In your own time, it's just that I'm worried about you that's all," explained Harry, running his hand through his hair once more.
It was Thursday evening and Harry and Hermione were making their way to the Quidditch stadium for Quidditch practise, Ron wasn't coming, Snape's detention had been conveniently scheduled for tonight. It had been raining all throughout the day and Harry had got the team together at lunch to announce that as the conditions were likely to be the same for their following match against Hufflepuff; a practise session would be held that evening at six pm, for the simple reason that Gryffindor needed practise flying in these appalling weather conditions.
~*~
Ron made his way to Snape's office with a furrowed brow and a buzzing mind. He was wondering where he was now? How far away was he? What was he planning? Did he have inside help? This all seemed a bit scary for him, I mean Voldemort planning something bad to happen at Hogwarts and Harry not knowing...if only his dad hadn't been called away to that emergency at The Ministry Of Magic, then he wouldn't have the huge responsibility on his shoulders to tell Harry...this was bad...real bad...
~*~
Draco sat on his bed twiddling his thumbs, he was completely alone, and he had no one, no one to tell. No one he could turn to and say, "I know something bad is going to happen, but if I tell you my father will kill me, and I'm scared...really scared..." Surely there had to be someone... a friend?... got none... family... no one who wouldn't kill him for doubting them... a teacher... maybe, but which one?... Dumbledore?... out of the question... McGonagall?... hell no... Snape?...yes!...
~*~
Practise was pointless, they couldn't see where they were going let alone muster up the energy to go there, and Neville and Ginny kept mucking about. The atmosphere up in the air was deeply depressing and Harry called it a day after only twenty minutes of 'practise'. The Gryffindor Quidditch team retired to the changing rooms having gained nothing from the evening's experience.
~*~
Hermione gazed at Harry dreamily from across the Gryffindor common room. She was remembering the time when she had first seen him after school had ended. He had walked through the door of Grimmauld place and greeted her with a hug and a smile, having been collected from the Dursleys only a week into the summer holidays. Hermione knew that Grimmauld place held memories of Sirius for Harry; she watched his sombre face as he daydreamed through dinner that evening. She wondered how he felt about it all, about having inherited all of Sirius's money and belongings, including Grimmauld Place, but she never asked. She knew the topic was not open for discussion. It was around this time that her infatuation with Harry had begun. At first she would keep an eye on him, worried for her friend, but later it became much, much more; she would stare at him for minutes on end as she missed whole conversations. At night she would dream of him, and in the day time she fantasised about him. She could not help but think that Harry must have thought her besotted. She snapped out of her thoughts and frowned at the raven-haired boy her eyes were fixed on. He was talking to Cho, and Hermione couldn't help feeling green with envy. Scowling at the thought of being jealous of Cho, she tore her eyes away from the heart aching scene and turned her head around toward the rest of the common room, where her eyes met another disturbing scene. Everywhere she looked people were having fun, Ginny and Dean were laughing at a joke he'd just told her. Ginny kissed him on the cheek out of gratitude, to which Dean stopped laughing to actually snog her keenly. Colin and Dennis had set off some Dr. Filibuster's Wet Start Fireworks, some first years were playing exploding snap and Ron and Seamus were playing Wizards Chess. She wondered whether Ron knew that Dean and Ginny were an item.
Hermione watched as the deck of cards the first years were playing with exploded with a huge BOOM that shook the room. The girl, who had leant forward to put her card down at the time, got her face covered with soot... there was a moments pause as they all realised what had happened, then a tidal wave of laughter broke out, the sooty faced girl included. She stopped laughing only long enough to magically clean herself with her wand. Hermione sighed heavily. What she wouldn't give to be one of those people, not a care in the world, no best friend who kept popping up in their mind making it difficult to concentrate on anything but them... She couldn't stand it any longer, she had to tell him, but the problem was, when? How?
Harry looked intently into Cho's eyes...they were so beautiful...so unfathomable...Harry was lost in them... but she was waiting for an answer.
"Yeah, of course I'll help," he replied coming out of his reverie.
"Thanks Harry," she said, taking his hand, which had been resting on the table, gratefully in hers. "I really haven't had time to write it up myself, I've had a lot to think about lately..." she trailed off.
"About what?" he questioned.
"Never you mind," she said playfully.
"Come on you can tell me," Harry wheedled "I mean we are going out!" he shouted suddenly flaring up.
"I said no, Harry," she said firmly.
"WHY NOT?" he exploded getting to his feet suddenly.
"YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW HARRY?" screamed Cho who was on her feet too now.
"YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW? " she yelled poking Harry roughly with her forefinger several times.
"ALLRIGHT, I'LL TELL YOU!"
"It's okay Cho, calm down," he told her quietly, his anger having dissolved as quickly as he'd felt it.
"MY COUSIN'S DEAD HARRY! GOT RUN OVER BY A MUGGLE CAR," she cried.
"I'm so sorry Cho I didn't mean to..."
"DIDN'T MEAN TO WHAT? HARASS ME? UPSET ME? WELL I HOPE YOUR HAPPY HARRY, NOW YOU'VE BEEN 'UPDATED'!" she roared, quoting with two fingers from each hand. Harry was startled to see there were tears streaming down her hurt face. He looked on as she chucked all her things fiercely in to her bag, swung it over her shoulder and dashed out of the common room, leaving Harry to feel extremely guilty. Why had he harassed her like that? He thought through his feelings as he had 'attacked' Cho. He vaguely remembered that he felt exceptionally angry and then... he understood. Lately he had the feeling that people were keeping things from him and he wasn't going to let Cho sit there and lie through her teeth. I mean he was friends with all the people who hid things from him, so why did they lie to him? He snapped out of his thoughts to see people looking at him curiously. The whole common room was silent. Even Colin and Dennis had frozen the fireworks in mid air to watch the argument and Dean and Ginny had stopped snogging to watch attentively.
"What are you all looking at?" he said hotly, why did people feel the need to butt in when it was none of their business, he thought angrily, only too well knowing that was what he had done to Cho... it really had been none of his business... He gathered his things, shoved them in his bag roughly, picked it up and hurried out of the common room towards the library amid many suspicious looks. Out of the blue Harry remembered about Hagrid's Wedding, and so stopped in his tracks and dashed in the opposite direction towards the school grounds instead, he'd have to forget meeting with Ron and Hermione. He took the time to reach Hagrid's hut to think. What had come over him? He'd never been nosy... it just... wasn't him. Something funny was going on. He reached Hagrid's Hut and knocked on the door loudly...
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Author notes: I hope you enjoyed that. The next chapter is called "One Dreadful Joke" which shows us just how short a temper Harry has, and explores what can happen if you take a Charms Class, three best friends and a love spell.
I'd be really very grateful if you'd leave a review here (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=3501657#post3501657) and also leave a note if you'd like to be notified when the story is updated!Keep reading and enjoy! :clap: