"Did you just get here?" Ron asked after finally composing his features.
"Basically, yeah," Hermione said. She forced a rigid, fake smile and turned her attention back to her school bag. She suddenly froze, remembering exactly what was sitting right on top of her things. Her lingerie was staring up at her, meaning she couldn't unpack, not in front of Ron, at least.
"Mental, isn't it?" Ron asked, shaking his head.
"What is?" She asked, leaning over to adjust the lower portion of the bedding on her mattress. It wasn't overly comfortable, but she could tell it was solid enough that she wouldn't have restless nights, at least.
"Not being able to send a single owl to Harry or Lucifer," Ron grumbled, sitting down on the edge of the mattress next to hers, though he left about one meter of empty space between them. "What could possibly be so incredibly important that they aren't allowed to know anything at all?"
"I don't know..." Hermione murmured, her mind racing as she wondered what exactly Dumbledore was keeping hidden.
"Oh, Hermione, I can only imagine how bad it must be for you," Ginny chimed in sympathetically from her own bed. "Lucifer is your best friend, and you aren't even able to keep him in the loop with what's happening."
Hermione's fingers twitched against her bag. 'What did Ginny mean by 'best friend'? Did she and the rest of the family seriously not know that we are dating?' She kept her expression completely blank, hiding her irritation behind her mental shields.
"And don't even bother trying to owl anything to him on the sly," Ron informed her, leaning forward with a dark scowl. "Mum's been strictly reading every single outgoing letter anyone staying in this house tries to send."
"That's good to know..." Hermione said, her voice tight. "I guess I'll only tell him that I'll see him soon... When exactly will we get to see them?" she asked, though she already heavily suspected the answer.
"After Harry's birthday, Mum said," Ron explained, his frustration building. "But she only mentioned him. She said absolutely nothing about Lucifer. When we asked her why, she just yelled at us and told us we weren't old enough to know the details. Honestly, if 'You-Know-Who' really is back, I don't see why we shouldn't be told the truth as well."
"What exactly do you mean, 'if' You-Know-Who really is back?" Hermione asked him instantly, her eyes narrowing into thin slits to indicate she was glaring directly at him.
"He is! He definitely is!" Ron said quickly, raising his hands defensively as he backed down under her gaze. "But still, why shouldn't we be told anything about what the adults are doing?"
"I agree, we should be told something," She said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Being kept completely in the dark doesn't help us prepare for anything."
"Fred and George—" Ginny started, but she stopped mid-sentence. She stood up from her mattress and crept over to the heavy wooden door, opening it just a crack to check the dark corridor outside. She looked left and right, and when she seemed entirely satisfied that her mother wasn't lurking, she shut it and hurried back over to Hermione and Ron. "The twins have been inventing some sort of 'Extendable Ears' to allow us to secretly listen in on the conversations they have during the meetings."
"Meetings?" Hermione asked, her academic curiosity piqued. "Meetings for what?"
"Some sort of secret society called the 'Order of the Phoenix'," Ron shrugged, looking thoroughly clueless. "Dumbledore heads the entire thing, but that's literally all we were told before Mum chased us out."
"Right... well, leave, you," Hermione said suddenly, standing up and waving her hands to usher Ron toward the exit.
"Why?" he asked shortly, blinking in confusion.
"I actually have to unpack my things," She said firmly, placing one protective hand over the top of her school bag as she shifted her entire weight onto one foot, waiting for him to move.
Ron stared at her for a moment.
Hermione watched as the implication of her needing privacy in her bedroom finally clicked in his brain, his face and ears rapidly turning a brilliant, violent crimson. Without uttering another syllable, he scrambled out of the room and shut the door behind him.
She let out a breath and was just about to pull the clothes out when a sharp knock sounded. The door swung open to reveal Tonks standing in the frame. "Hermione, can I talk to you in private for a minute?"
"Sure," She stepped out into the hallway, following Auror down the creaking corridor and into an empty, dust-covered room. "What's up?"
Tonks waited until the heavy door clicked shut. She drew her wand and immediately cast a flawless 'Silencing Charm' over the wood. "I know you and Lucifer were with Harry yesterday," she said directly.
"You... you do?" Hermione's heart began pounding violently against her ribs, the sound echoing so loudly she could practically hear it in her ears. She forced her breathing to remain steady, refusing to break under the pressure.
"Yes," Tonks said, her standard cheerful demeanor shifting into something remarkably serious. "Dumbledore has been having Harry followed daily since he got back to his uncle's home. The day you both took him out of that house, I was obviously his designated watcher to make sure he didn't accidentally perform any underage magic... I was hiding in the alley, but I didn't step in when Lucifer threatened his uncle. To be completely honest, I was terrified of those eyes."
She swallowed hard, looking down for a brief second. "I felt those red eyes locked directly onto me at the back of Privet Drive... He knew exactly where I was hiding, and he used Harry's uncle to give me a direct warning. So... I didn't include a single mention of you two being there in my official report for the Order. I didn't tell Dumbledore that Lucifer already knows about 'Grimmauld Place.' Was that a massive mistake on my part, Hermione?"
"No, it wasn't a mistake at all," Hermione said, her voice carrying a calm, conviction. She saw absolutely no reason to be nervous in front of Tonks, especially since she could see that the powerful Auror herself looked a bit fearstruck by the memory. "You saw how Harry's aunt and uncle treat him on a daily basis. He was so thin, and his clothes were so baggy he'd have to be as heavy as his cousin just to fit into them properly... I was with Lucifer when Dumbledore's letter arrived for me, and I showed it to him. He's my boyfriend, and he's my best friend. Of course I am going to show him."
She took a step closer to Tonks. "That was when we decided to go straight to Harry together. I wasn't originally planning to come to this house at all, but Lucifer told me I should."
Tonks looked at Hermione analytically for a long moment, weighing the girl's words against the terrifying power she had witnessed in the mortal world. "Okay," She said softly, exhaling a long breath. "Okay, I am placing a monumental amount of trust in you, Hermione. Please don't make me regret keeping this from the Headmaster."
"We won't. Lucifer and I," Hermione said with fierce determination.
"That's exactly what I wanted to hear," Tonks said, a relieved smile finally breaking through her tension as she cancelled the 'privacy charms' on the door. She opened it to let them out, leaning in to whisper, "But bloody hell, Hermione, your boyfriend is absolutely scary. When those eyes locked onto me, I honestly thought I was a goner."
Hermione couldn't help but smile brightly as she turned to walk back to her shared room with Ginny, finally ready to safely unpack her hidden journalist. "Well... I personally think he is cute."
Tonks just stared at her in complete disbelief, shaking her head. "Yeah, right....."
xxxxxx
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