Saturday 1st January 1994
Everyone within the Granger household had gotten up late. Not going to bed till three in the morning tends to leave one with a need of extra sleep, meaning no-one had gotten out of bed for longer than a trip to the bathroom until around midday.
Hermione was currently making sure that all the stuff she wanted to take to Hogwarts was packed into Harry's trunk. She was leaving a lot of the clothes she had brought back from Hogwarts at home in favour of taking some of her newer ones to wear at school.
Harry, who had no wardrobe space, was already packed by virtue of keeping everything he owned in his trunk, and was laying on the fold-out bed that was in her room, reading his new copy of Quidditch through the Ages .
"'Mione, have you ever heard of a snigit hunt ?"
"It's an old wizarding 'sport', where the participants would fly on brooms and try and catch a small fast agile bird with their bare hands. The snigit was so small that the person who caught it would almost always crush the poor little thing. The snigit hunt is the origin of the Seeker position in Quidditch."
"I was just thinking it sounds like fun. I wonder if we could arrange a hunt at Hogwarts?"
Hermione looked at him, horrified at the idea of killing something just for sport,
"Harry James Potter, snigit hunting is illegal, the snigit was almost hunted into extinction and is considered an endangered species!
Even if it wasn't killing a poor defenceless animal just for sport, it's barbaric ; if you even think of doing it I won't talk to you for a month! You understand me!?" By the end of her rant Hermione was shouting.
"Woe Hermione," Harry dropped the book and raised his hands in a surrendering gesture, "I wasn't thinking about hunting real snigits. I was thinking we could use snitches. We could set ten snitches loose in the grounds and each house could have a team of, say, three hunters and the team that catches the most wins. I would never think to use live animals, that's just cruel ."
Hermione felt her anger slowly drain away as she realised that Harry didn't want to use live birds. It didn't sound all that fun to her, but then again, she wasn't really a fan of flying. While it didn't sound like much of a spectator sport, she could see how someone like Harry, who absolutely loves flying, could easily find a hunt like he described fun. And at least he wouldn't have blugers flying at him in a snitch hunt.
"I'm sorry Harry, it's just I thought-"
"-that I meant terrifying a tiny cute fluff ball as we chased it around, then crushed it to death. Hermione, if I had meant that, trust me, I would want you to stop me," Harry cut her off, finishing her sentence for her.
Hermione suddenly felt bad about accusing Harry like that. She should have known that he wouldn't have hunted real snigits. It would be to easy for Harry to empathise with the poor creatures; being pursued by a group of Wizards who want nothing more than to kill him wasn't particularly new to either of them.
Now that she thought about it, Harry wouldn't be able to hunt snigits, it wasn't the kind of person he was.
Something in her expression must have betrayed her thoughts taking a darker turn, as Harry got off his bed and wrapped his arms around her. She relaxed into him, letting his hug wash away the thoughts.
"I love you Hermione," Hermione felt her heart race at those words, words which would never stop getting that reaction from her.
"I love you too," Ever since she had told Harry that last night, it was like a dam had burst, and they couldn't stop saying it, not that they wanted to.
She and Harry had told the other they loved them eighteen times now, which was impressive, given that they had only been awake for about seven hours since then.
--- ϟϟϟ ---
There was a knock on the open door to Hermione's room and emma walked in, "Hey, you two, can you put each other down for a minute?"
The two teens broke apart reluctantly and Hermione steeled herself for whatever telling off they were about to receive. She and Harry had been all over each other for the entire day so far.
Had they finally gone so far that her mum was going to tell them to cool it off?
Emma, seeing her daughter and her boyfriend's slight change in demeanour, started by reassuring them, "calm down you two, this is only a school talk, not a bollocking."
Hermione relaxed, happy that she wasn't going to be berated for her intimacy with Harry. She had no intention of slowing things with Harry, now that they had finally made some progress, and even so, just because she wouldn't change what she was doing didn't mean she wanted to get into a fight with her mum over it.
Not that she and Harry were doing anything new, it was just more of what they were already doing. More hugs, more kissing; all that had really changed was the words. Hermione considered for a moment if she was being paranoid in regards to her parents.
Ever since she had come home for the summer they had been so…well, cool about everything.
She had returned with a deformity and a tale of being in a coma for a couple of weeks.
And her parents just accepted it.
Sure, they had talked about sending her to a different magical school, such as Beauxbatons in France, but even then they had easily accepted that Hermione wanted to stay at Hogwarts.
Then, a few weeks later, Harry had appeared in the dining room and her parents had decided to do exactly what Hermione wanted them to and let him stay. Now that they were back for Christmas, they had even trusted Harry and her to share a room, even though Hermione had explained to her mum about the more adult hormones and going into heat every month.
Hermione didn't doubt for even a moment that she had the beast parents.
"So, how are your grades so far this year Hermione?" her mom's question brought her out of her musings.
"Not bad. I'm doing Ok..." Harry snorted in the seat next to her and she shot him a look, to which he replied, "If by Ok, you mean the top student in our year over all and the top student in about half of the individual subjects."
"Only half?" Emma teased, "what about you Harry? Are you doing any better this year?"
Harry gulped next Hermione, who was sure he was remembering how guilty her mum had made him feel about his grades over the summer, "I think I'm doing Ok." Harry tentatively said. Hermione didn't know why he was so worried; he was doing way better than last year. "l mean...my grades are up a bit."
"Same question I asked over the summer Harry; Do you think you can better?"
Harry consider his answer for a few moments before he replied, uncertain, "Maybe? I don't know."
"Harry, you are doing great! You are in the top twenty in our year. And you even get the best in year sometimes in DADA and Runes assignments. You have gone from regularly placing fiftieth to sixtieth place to being in the top few in our year. You have done amazingly well, and in only four months!" Hermione considered telling Harry that the only thing keeping him from being in the top ten was his Potions grade. She was sure it was the grade and not the work.
She had read every one of his essays before he handed it in, and she was certain that Harry was averaging an 'Exceeds Expectations', with the odd 'Outstanding'. Professor Snape, however, never marked him higher than an acceptable.
The problem was, she worried that if she told Harry he good he really was doing, then he might stop trying. Why put in the effort if it did him no good? But if he did that, it could affect his OWL's, which were graded by others from outside Hogwarts.
Hermione watched as her mum digested the change in Harry's academic ability, which of course, Hermione was carefully keeping track of. When she thought about it, it really was quite a feat. If she hadn't seen the flashes of just how brilliant he could be when he was focused on something over the years, then she wouldn't have thought it possible.
It was a pity that until this year, all Harry had been able to focus on was whatever was trying to kill him. Well... her and whatever was trying to kill him. But she wasn't going to say anything negative about him focusing on her.
"Harry, that jump is absolutely brilliant. Rising that much academically is way more than doing Ok or your grades being up a bit. You should be really proud of yourself. It may seem a little weird coming from me, but I'm extremely proud of you for this."
Hermione turned to look at Harry as concern filled her at how he was feeling. Just like " I love you" , "I'm proud of you" was another phrase Harry wouldn't have heard of growing up.
But Harry was fine, and his face beamed with a grin.
--- ϟϟϟ ---
Sunday 2nd January 1994
Hermione hugged her mum as tight as she could before doing the same with her dad. Parting after Christmas was, in some ways, harder than it was in September; in September she at least knew that she would see her parents again in just four months. Even when she had decided to stay at school last Christmas, she hadn't considered that she would in September, when they'd parted.
Hermione was trying not to make a scene in front of the witches and wizards that had all stopped eating their lunch as soon as the boy who lived entered the pub.
Harry and Hermione were not going back to Hogwarts on the express like everyone else. They were instead flooing from the Leaky Cauldron. A few days ago Harry had gotten a letter from the headmaster explaining why;
Harry,
Firstly, let me apologize for disturbing you at Christmas. I was pleasantly surprised when Professor McGonagall informed me that you had left the castle to spend Christmas with your guardians; a good Christmas with family is a balm for the soul.
As to why I am disturbing you now: a number of parents were a little alarmed to see you getting off the express a few days ago. They were so concerned that a number of them decided to write to me expressing these concerns.
As I have gathered, the two main worries are that the express is too 'exposed' for you while Bellatrix LeStrange is still loose, and many fear that you could be attacked while traveling to or from the school. The other worry is that parents feel their own children could be hurt if a fight was to break out between you and Bellatrix.
Personally, I do not feel that Bellatrix is likely to attack you on the train; there would be far too many people there for her to guarantee reaching you or her escape. There is, however, an appearance of safety that must be maintained, or parents could decide to seek their children's education else were.
To this end, I have arranged for you to return to the castle by floo. If you go to the Leaky Cauldron between midday and one on the second of January, you will find that the fees have been paid for your use of a public floo access.
Merry Christmas,
Albus Dumbledore,
Hogwarts headmaster
With the letter had come a sealed note from Professor McGonagall informing them of the password for the fire in her office, and that she had arranged for Hermione to use the floo as well because it didn't make any sense for them to travel separately.
"Now you two have fun at school, and don't forget, I want a letter every week."
Hermione nodded at her mum. "Every week, mum. I promise," With that she turned and opened the little paper package she had received from Tom, the Bartender, throwing the green glitter-like powder into the large fire that dominated one side of the pub. Instantly the fire turned green.
Hermione hesitated a second before she stepped into the emerald inferno. She relaxed; the light tingle was nothing like the conflagration that that woman had hit her and Harry with at Halloween, "The Cat's Cradle."
Hermione found herself surrounded by flames as she was propelled along what seemed to be a literal tunnel of fire. She was bombarded with flash after flash of living rooms and offices, some with people, some without, but they all disappeared as quickly as they came.
None of them lingered long enough for her to get even the barest of impressions about the rooms she was glimpsing.
She tried to pay attention to the flashes though, if only to distract herself from the images her mind was calling up of the last time she had been surrounded by fire.
What was probably a few seconds after her journey started, she landed in an office; an office she recognised as being the office of one of her favourite Professors. Professor McGonagall looked up from her paperwork as her fire had flared green, and she came and greeted Hermione, who was brushing the ash and soot from her robes.
"Welcome back Miss Granger. You may want to clear the way for Mr Pot-"
Hermione realised what her head of house meant as soon as she had said 'clear the way'. However, her reactions weren't quite quick enough, resulting in Harry barrelling into her as he came out of the floo at some speed. He probably could have caught himself, if he wasn't also carrying his trunk, with the extra weight almost causing him to fall flat on his face. Hermione found her arms full as she stopped Harry from toppling over.
"Why Harry, it looks like you've fallen for me."
Hermione's face was suddenly red hot as she realised who their company was.
How could she have said that in front of a Professor ?
Worse, it was Professor McGonagall ; only Professor Snape could have been worse. She watched Harry for his reaction. If he got embarrassed, then that could make this so much worse.
Harry's face was first filed with confusion as he tried to catch up with what she was saying, and then his face went red and his eyes darted to look back and forth between her and Professor McGonagall.
He took a steadying breath, and although his face was still red, he replaced his expression with that little confident smirk of his that drove Hermione nuts
"A little bit more every day," he replied.
Hermione relaxed, and while she wanted to kiss him for that, she was now even more aware that they were in Professor McGonagall's office, with said Professor watching everything they did.
"Welcome back Mr Potter. I trust you both had a good Yuletide," She flicked her wand at the pair of them, and the thin coating of ash and soot that the floo trip had left on their clothes vanished. It seemed that their Professor had decided to be merciful and pretend that nothing had happened. Though, judging by the twitch in the corner of her mouth that was threatening to turn her expression into a smile, the Head of Gryffindor didn't exactly disapprove .
" Best Christmas I ever had, topped off with a perfect New Years," replied Harry. The grin that was on his face showed just how true that was for him. Hermione felt bittersweet about that; she loved that she had given Harry his best ever Christmas, but felt sad that it had been so easy to do so.
Harry deserved much better memories to compare with this Christmas.
"Yes, New Years was perfect," Hermione echoed, without adding any details.
Professor McGonagall looked at the two of them with a slight smile, debating whether she should ask for details. She must have decided that it was better not to ask, "I suspect the two of you will want to go settle back into your dorms. The new password is mistletoe ."
They thanked the Professor for the use of her fire, and after a few pleasantries, the two of them made their way back to the Gryffindor tower. Unfortunately, that meant climbing up three floors with Harry's trunk. While the trunk wasn't heavy, Harry was finding it was awkward to get up the stairs. After the first flight, Hermione took pity on her struggling boyfriend and spelled his trunk to float behind them.
"Really Harry, you could have done that yourself."
Harry looked embarrassed and muttered something under his breath.
"I didn't catch that Harry. One sec, I forgot to take off my hair band," She reached up and pulled off her hair band.
It felt great for Hermione to take off her hairband. Before her nan had left, she had worn it twenty four hours a day, and her ears were feeling a little claustrophobic. It had gotten better since she had gone back to only wearing it during the day.
Now that she was back at Hogwarts though, she was looking forward to not needing to hide them, even if some of the other students gave her a hard time.
"I didn't think to use magic. I guess my head is still in the Muggle world," Harry mumbled again. It wasn't as quiet as before, but Hermione would still have had trouble understanding him if her ears were covered.
Hermione considered Harry's words; she understood what he meant, Harry was still thinking like he did back home, to do everything without magic. It would probably take a few days for some people, especially those of them who grew up without magic, to get back into thinking of doing things with it.
"You should just cast a bunch of spells now to get your thinking straight."
"No magic in the corridors!" The voice of the school's caretaker warned them. The two had arrived at the entrance to the Gryffindor common room only to find not just the painting of the knight as Hermione had expected, but alsoMr filch, who renaming the portrait of the fat lady, "If you two are wanting back into your common room, it will be ten minutes or so," he told them with his usual disdain for students evident.
With nothing else to do but wait, Hermione sat on the lid of Harry's trunk. Mrs Norris, Mr filch's cat, came over to her for a scratch behind the ears. Hermione presumed she was the only student in the school that the cat could even remotely stand. Mrs Norris was surprising nice, now that she wasn't trying to get Hermione into trouble for every little thing.
While Hermione entertained the cat's attention, she listened as Harry talked to the fat lady and Mr filch. Harry had complimented the fat lady on her restoration, claiming whoever had done it had done a world class job. What Harry or Hermione hadn't known was that the one who did the restoration work was standing right there, listening to said complement.
When Mr filch had revealed that he was the one who restored the painting, Harry had flushed bright-red with embarrassment, obviously not expecting the hated caretaker to be the one he was complimenting.
"That's the job of the Hogwarts caretaker, taking care of all the paintings, antiques and treasures that this old castle holds."
Harry looked at the walls and the hundreds of painting that could be seen just from that one spot, "Must be a big job," He concluded.
"Not particularly. The protection charms on most of the frames protect the paintings. Most of the antiques are behind glass cabinets. That's why I pitch in with cleaning I get bored."
Hermione thought about what she was overhearing. It made sense in a way; the school had house elves for cleaning, so there was no need for a caretaker in the traditional sense. However, the paintings would need care often enough that it was worth keeping someone on staff. It would also explain why filch was so against magic in the corridors, and especially magical toys like fanged frisbees. She wondered how many paintings he'd had to fix over the years because of a stray spell or mis-thrown frisbee.
Soon, the fat lady was back in her rightful place and Mr filch was taking away the painting of the crazy knight that had made life difficult for the Gryffindor students for too long.
"Mistletoe."
The fat lady smiled, clearly overjoyed to be back at her job, and swung forward to let them in.
--- ϟϟϟ ---
Hermione fumbled with the door to her dorm room, her hands full of her clothes which had been in Harry's trunk. Hermione grinned at the memory of Harry trying to take his trunk up the girls' staircase, so that Hermione could unpack her stuff easily.
But, as soon as he had put one foot on the bottom step, the stairs had transfigured themselves into a smooth slide, stopping not only Harry, but anyone, from getting up them temporarily.
Door open, Hermione dumped her new clothes on her bed while she opened her trunk. She was suddenly hit by a weird feeling that something was missing. She hoped that she hadn't left anything at home. She was halfway through hanging her new stuff in the wardrobe compartment of her trunk when she realised what was missing;
"Where's crookshanks!?"
She had expected her ginger fluff ball to be on her bed, but he evidently wasn't there, and neither was Fay, the girl who Hermione had asked to watch him over Christmas. Hermione finished putting away the bundle of clothes she had just brought up before she went to get more of her stuff from Harry hoping that she would find her pesky familiar somewhere.
Hermione found Harry and Ron in their dorm. Harry was collecting the last of her things from his trunk. She barely had a chance to notice what Harry was doing before Ron was in Hermione's face. In an instant he was waving around a sheet like a lunatic, "Scabbers! My poor Scabbers..." Ron ranted as he waved the sheet wildly in Hermione's face.
Surprised by Ron's sudden anger and the aggressive flailing of his arms, Hermione retreated into a corner. She worried that Ron might just lose it over whatever he was so distraught about and attack her.
Luckily, Harry was there. He had gotten himself between Ron and her and was almost physically forcing Ron back, putting a small bit of space between her and Ron.
Ron stopped trying to advance towards Hermione and backed up, shaking his head at Harry in disbelief, "I should have known you would take her side. Her damn cat has eaten scabbers and you still take her side. Well, we are done," with that, he threw down the sheet and stormed out of the room.
Hermione found herself wrapped up in Harry's arms as he held her. Now that she was getting over her surprise at Ron suddenly targeting her like that, she was getting angry. How dare he corner her like that? If she were to walk down to the common room and hex him it would serve him right.
She was considering doing just that when she remembered that it was Harry who was hugging her.
Well...maybe she could do it later. Hugs from Harry took priority over hexing Ronald bloody Weasley.
By the time Harry broke the hug, Hermione had calmed down and had decided to give Ron a chance. If his pet had just been killed, that was the kind of thing that could lead to such distressed behaviour. It wasn't right, and in no way did she deserve his hatred, but she could understand it.
"Are you alright?" Harry asked as his arms loosened a little.
"Yes...but no," She paused for a moment before continuing, "He makes me so angry; I hate that he cornered me like that. I didn't even know what he was going on about until just before he stormed out. I wanted to chase after him and hex him into next week."
Harry just held on to her for a few moments before he let her go and asked, "And what do you want to do now?"
She hesitated for almost a minute, trying to be angry at Ron, but she kept coming back to how she would feel if crooks was killed.
Would she act anymore rational than Ron had?
"I think I should apologize. If crooks has killed scabbers then Ron has a real reason to be upset."
"He still shouldn't have treated you that way. Like McGonagall said, he was the one who brought a rat to a building filled with cats."
"I know, but I still see why he's upset. Doesn't matter why, losing a pet hurts."
--- ϟϟϟ ---
A few minutes later, Hermione followed Harry down the boys' stairs. Each of them were carrying more of Hermione's things that had been in Harry's trunk. This time it was her Christmas presents and photos, stuff that she hadn't been able to carry the first time.
Hermione hastened up to the girls' dorms and set her bundle, that included her new gramophone, onto her bed, before running back down to Harry to relieve him of his load of her stuff.
Even if she could understand it, the magical protection which kept the boys out of the girls' dorms was sometimes a total pain.
She got to the bottom of the girls' stairs and found Harry waiting patiently for her, his arms still full of her things. Ron was sat on the other side of the common room glaring at them. She considered going over to talk to him, but decided that it was probably better if they both had a chance to calm down first.
She was just about to release Harry of her things when the portrait hole opened up and Fay walked in. Hermione asked Harry to wait a moment as she wanted to talk with the girl, and started off across the common room.
Crookshanks jumped through the portrait hole following Fay. Hermione, happy to see her familiar, started rushing over to him. The problem was, she wasn't the only one who had seen the ginger half-kneazle as he bounded into the common room.
Ron angry at Crookshanks, had longer legs than Hermione and was sitting closer to the portrait hole, meaning that he got there first. Hermione's heart dropped into her stomach as she watched Ron aim the strongest kick he could at her crooks.
Hermione's head was filled with images of broken bones and damaged organs, but luckily for her, crooks was fast when he wanted to be. Ron's kick missed and Crookshanks was off running beneath chairs and tables and up the girls' staircase.
Hermione was angry.
Scratch that; Hermione was absolutely livid .
In a single moment, all sympathy she may have felt for Ron was replaced with a white-hot anger. Ron, who was still focused on her cat, didn't even see the spell coming. Hermione's spell hit him square in the chest, blasting him through a table and into a wall with a satisfying crash. As Ron fell unconscious, Hermione bolted up the stairs to the girls' dorms, looking for her familiar.
Hermione found him curled up on her bed next to her new gramophone. She walked over and started scratching his ears in the way she knew he liked, "How's my baby? Are you Ok? Did the mean Ronald try to hurt you?" Hermione cooed at her cat in a comforting tone. Crookshanks climbed into her lap and she was soon hugging and fussing over him as though she hadn't seen him in a year, rather than two weeks.
Not long after, Fay walked into the dorm, carrying the last of Hermione's belongings that Harry had been holding. She came over to Hermione's bed and then set down the load with Hermione's other things.
She dug in her robes and pulled out a handkerchief that she handed Hermione as she sat down next to her, "So...what was all that about? Harry just asked me to bring up your stuff and said he was taking Ron to the hospital wing."
Hermione hadn't realised she was crying until she was handed the handkerchief. She used it to wipe her eyes, glad that she wasn't wearing any eye makeup, or she would have looked a right state, "Apparently, Crooks ate Ron's rat Scabbers. Ron tried to get revenge, I guess, but I couldn't let him hurt crooks."
"No...he didn't."
Hermione looked up at Fay, confused as to what she was saying, "I saw Ron with his rat this morning as I left the common room, and Crookshanks came with me," She contemplated a second before she continued, "When I got up this morning I was feeding Crookshanks like you asked me to. He has been so good while you were away. A bit grumpier than normal, but I think he just missed you." Hermione hugged her cat closer to her; she had missed him just as much as he had missed her.
"But, this morning, I noticed that he had a cut and a clump of his fur was missing," She showed Hermione the cut on Crookshanks' leg. Hermione examined it. It wasn't much, it looked like he had caught himself on something sharp possibly.
"It didn't look like much to me, but I'm not an expert, so I took him down to see Professor Hagrid. You know, just to be safe," She sounded nervous but Hermione assured her that she had done the right thing.
"Anyway, as I left, I remember seeing Ron in the common room with that rat of his. I noticed because Ron was making a fuss over having been looking for him for days. So anyway, I took crookshanks down to Professor Hargrid's house, and the Professor was happy to look at him. He said it was nothing to worry about and that it would heal in a few weeks on its own. He did put a bit of some type of ointment on the cut to prevent infection but that was it. After that, we got talking about magical creatures.
Professor Hagrid was complaining that he couldn't bring a dragon to the school to show in class. He really knows his stuff about dragons, we were talking for a few hours. Oh, I did suggest he look into getting a few fairy dragons, or some pseudo-dragon to show the class. They are only about the size of cats, so they are nowhere near as dangerous as an actual full-sized dragon. So, that could mean a fun, interesting lesson soon.
But the point is, crooks and I have been at Professor Hagrid's place all morning. So there is no chance he attacked Ron's rat. Crookshanks was sleeping on that big dog the Professor had. We came back up to the castle just now, because Hagrid was starting to offer me lunch and, as nice as he is, the stew he was cooking didn't look too great, and after trying his rock cakes, I wasn't particularly assured of his ability In the kitchen. And also, I wanted to get him-" she scratched Crooks' ears, "-back up here in time to meet you when you got back. How are you back so early anyway? The express won't be here for a few hours."
Hermione digested everything that Fay had just told her, and all her regret for hexing Ron instantly disappeared. She didn't know what had happened to Ron's rat, but her familiar was completely innocent, "Oh, Harry and I floo'ed back instead of taking the train. Some people were worried that if Harry, and I assume Neville, were on the train, then LeStrange might attack it to get to them. And as Harry spent Christmas at my place, I took the floo with him."
Fay was a little surprised upon hearing that Harry had spent Christmas at Hermione's home, "Wow...your parents must be super chill. If I asked my mum if I could have a boyfriend spend a few weeks at home with me, my mum would flip."
"Yeah, but my parents like Harry and he has nowhere else to go. Honesty, it was my Nan who didn't trust Harry the most. She kept walking in on us, trying to catch us doing something against the rules."
The two of them soon fell into talking about their Christmas. Apparently, Fay had stayed at Hogwarts because her mother was a healer at St Mungo's and was too busy at this time of the year for a family Christmas, while her father was too concerned with his new family with'whore of a secretary' to give two shits about Fay.
Fay listened as Hermione described her relatively normal Christmas with Harry, and she fawned a little over Hermione's description of midnight on New Years. Hermione had left out that it was their first time saying that they loved each other, leaving Fay thinking that it was just a sweet moment between her and Harry rather than the milestone it truly was.
After about ten minutes, they were interrupted by Professor McGonagall walking into the dorm, "Miss Granger, may I speak to you in my office please? Now."
The Professor didn't sound at all happy.
Hermione guessed that with Harry taking Ron to the hospital wing, Professor McGonagall of course had been notified. Hermione felt her heart clench at the thought that Harry may have gone to the Head of their House himself.
Hermione followed the Lioness of Gryffindor through the common room and out to the sixth floor, but was surprised when, instead of going down the grand stairway as Hermione expected, she was led along the sixth floor corridor to an office she had never seen before.
Seeing the look of confusion on Hermione's face, Professor McGonagall explained, "This is the head of Gryffindor office, I normally use the office for the deputy head, but this is closer and I have another thing to deal with up here after speaking to you, so I don't fancy running up and down the stairs."
The Head of Gryffindor office was slightly smaller than her regular office and was decorated in the same reds, golds and dark woods as the common room. But here and there were the odd touch of tartan that Hermione presumed were the Professor's own personal touch.
"Have a seat Miss Granger," The stern Professor persona was back as she took her seat and directed Hermione to do the same, "I want you to tell me what happened in the incident with Mr Weasley. I asked Mr Potter, but he refused to give me an answer, instead insisting that I talk to you," She was eventually annoyed that Harry had refused to talk, but Hermione's heart lightened; she wouldn't have blamed Harry for talking, but it still would have hurt.
Hermione told the story exactly as she remembered it, with her going up to Harry's dorm to get the last of her things from Harry's trunk. Professor McGonagall got a stern look on her face at the mention of Hermione entering the boys' dorm but said nothing. Then about how Ron had suddenly been right in her face, shouting gibberish while waving a sheet, and how Harry had had to get in between the two of them before Ron completely lost it, and how only then did he reveal that he thought her cat had eaten his rat.
She went on to explain that she had tried to give Ron some space to cool off while she went back to putting her things away, but that Ron, still angry, had attacked her cat as soon as he saw him. Then, with her head hanging low, she admitted to hexing Ron for trying to hurt her familiar, and then about finding out that her familiar was with Fay all day at Hagrid's and hadn't done anything at all to Ron's rat.
Once Hermione finished, the two of them sat there in silence for a while. Hermione's mind was conjuring all sorts of things from detention for the rest of the year to being kicked out of the school and having her wand snapped.
"I am inclined to believe you Miss Granger. You didn't try to gloss over your rule breaking, which I find to be honourable. Firstly, you know you shouldn't be in the boys' dorms without a genuine reason. I know Madam Pomfrey has given you special dispensation to help you deal with your nightmares, but getting your stuff from Harry's trunk is hardly that. In future, get Harry to bring it down to the common room for you.
As for your hexing of Mr Weasley; that he was attacking your familiar does mitigate your actions somewhat, but your choice of hex was more than a little excessive. I can understand protecting your familiar, but Mr Weasley is in the hospital wing with a fairly bad concussion, and one of the tables in the common room will need replacing."
"Considering everything, I think that thirty points from Gryffindor and four Friday night detentions with me is an appropriate punishment, and I shall be having words with Mr Weasley as well regarding attacking students' familiars."
Hermione hung her head, ashamed of herself and quite upset. She hadn't gotten a detention since her first year, what with the Norbert affair, and that Professor McGonagall had specified Friday nights was a shot to her heart; she and Harry spent a lot of time together doing homework.
Since Harry had Quidditch and she had her study groups, Friday nights were the only time they really had to just relax together, and what she and Harry did together when they were alone was private and between the two of them, not that she minded if anyone found out as they weren't doing anything scandalous, it just wasn't anyone's business.
However, the fact that the two of them disappeared every Friday was hard to miss for anyone, and Professor McGonagall had purposely chosen her and Harry's kind of date night, rather than doing all the detentions in one week as was more common.