Harry was just looking through the notes that Neville had written when he heard a familiar voice behind him, "Well, isn't this a lovely sight! Little baby Potter and little baby Longbottom. Looks like I will get to finish up two loose ends before I deal with that fucking cat bitch."
Harry and Neville spun to see who it was, though they already knew from the voice, and the blood drained from their faces as they set their sights upon her.
Stood about twenty feet from them, her near skeletally thin form clothed in what looked were random pieces of clothing, which appeared as though they had been stolen from a washing line, was Bellatrix LeStrange.
The clothes she was wearing hung off her disgustingly thin frame. Her hair was patchy and the left side of her face was heavily scared a result of the fire Harry had used against her, and it seemed that her injuries had not received proper medical attention. Going right through the burn scar on her face was a second scar, one from a deep cut; the result of Hermione's severing charm.
"Now I'm going to pay you back for what you and that stray cat of yours did to my face, Potter, then, I'm going to finish what I started with the Longbottoms all those years ago," A manic grin spread over her face, distorted by her burn scars into something truly horrific.
She leveled her wand at Harry, " Incendio! " and flames sprang forth from her wand, engulfing the space Harry had occupied only a moment before. As he rolled from his dive, Harry tried to draw his wand, finding it difficult as the ground knocked his arms as he rolled.
"Stupid brat, stay still . Aculeus...Aculeus!" She fired two stinging hexes at Harry, the first missing, but the second catching him in his side just below his ribs. The hex hurt, but didn't do any real damage, nor did it slow Harry's roll.
"Ex-exspellbyaris," Neville tried to cast the disarming spell, but miscast due to the panicked state he was in. However, it was enough to get LeStrange to turn her attention to Neville for about a second.
In that second, Harry was back on his feet and had his wand in hand, " Expelliarmus, " Harry's disarming charm was cast perfectly and the red light shot from his wand towards the woman who was about to point her wand at Neville.
" Protego, " Bellatrix was nonchalant as she flicked her wand, and Harry's spell hit an invisible barrier in front of the witch he was hoping to hit, "Oh, is baby Potter ready to play? No armour for you to hide behind this time."
" Incendio, " Harry sent a jet of flame at the crazed convict. Just like in their last fight, she countered Harry with a simple but effective flame freezing charm, "You dirty son of a mudblood , you dare to try this again on me!?"
The anger in her voice was evident and Harry caught sight of Neville in the corner of his eye flinching back from her. Harry, however, was focusing on the look on LeStrange's face. Her eyes were darting around looking at the flames that surrounded her. Her breathing had become more rapid and she appeared to be cowering from the flames.
It took a few seconds but then realization struck him. LeStrange was afraid . The way her eyes kept darting around at the flames. It was the same look he had seen in Hermione for a while after Halloween, constantly aware of any fire around them: candles, the burners in the potions classroom, the large fires that heated the common room. Hermione had also probably seen the same look in him.
Harry understood why LeStrange was afraid. He also had an inclination to stay away from fire.
Fire hurt. Harry had had a distinct taste of that pain thanks to the woman in front of him. And after remembering the sheer pain he went through after being burnt by fire, he would like to avoid it again if possible.
He wondered if it had been worse for LeStrange. While his burns had been more severe, he'd been given pain potions, burn paste and good medical care. He seriously doubted that the woman in front of him, dressed in stolen clothes and known everywhere as a criminal, had had anywhere near adequate care for her injuries.
Not that he had any sympathy for her. This was the psychopathic bitch who had hurt Hermione. She had burned her for no reason. Hermione had been bound and helpless, and the bitch who had violated the first place he ever felt at home, hurt Hermione for no reason.
As Harry thought about what Bellatrix had done to Hermione his emotions shifted.
No longer was he cautious and afraid. Now, he was just angry.
Without any conscious reason on Harry's part, the inferno that he was producing increased in intensity. Not that it did much, as the flame freezing charm was more than a match for the fire.
Neville, who had been looking around panicked, started trying to disarm Bellatrix. However, his attempts were less than effective. He did manage to cast the spell once, but it was too weak to break the iron grip LeStrange had on her wand.
Without Hermione here to help, it looked like he and Bellatrix would be stuck in a stalemate until one of them got too tired to continue. And as Harry's spell took more magic to sustain, and Harry was fighting an adult witch with more experience, Harry didn't hold much hope that she would tire first.
Then, something happened that Harry hadn't expected. Apparently tired of not being able to cast a spell, Neville took a different approach.
He picked up a loose rock from the floor and threw it as hard as he could at LeStrange. His aim wasn't the best, only hitting her leg, but her scream of pain could be heard over the flames. It was soon followed by a murderous tirade from the witch, "Son of a bitch! I'll kill you for that! Throwing rocks like a filthy muggle! I'll kill you, I'll make you beg , and then I'll kill you!"
Neville's response to the threats was to throw another rock. This one missed, but as a result of Bellatrix dodging rather than Neville's aim. Seeing Neville pick up yet another rock, Bellatrix ran, sustaining her flame freezing spell, until she dropped behind the same rock Harry had sat on earlier while he'd waited for Neville to arrive.
Now that Bellatrix had a rock to hide behind, and didn't have to hold a flame freezing charm, it was a completely different fight. Before, Bellatrix had been happy to let him wear himself out, now she was shooting spell after spell at the two of them. Harry stopped the fire spell; with a rock in the way, it was just a waste of his magic.
Harry was able to avoid the plethora of spells coming his way, as firing from behind a rock had hurt LeStrange's aim so much that the reflexes Harry had practiced to dodge bludgers were enough to keep him standing. Neville, however, was not as practiced at evading anything as Harry, and collapsed after being hit with a red spell that Harry didn't recognize.
"Neville!!!" Harry wanted to run over and check that he was going to be OK, but he had to focus on evading the spells coming at him.
"You're all alone now, Potter," LeStrange called from behind the rock, her voice full of crazy laughter, "First, I will deal with you, then I'll put the last Longbottom in a bed next to his parents, before I go and find that mangy kitten who scratched me. It will be interesting to see how much she can take before she breaks."
That was too much for Harry. The threat against him was nothing, the threat against Neville made him angry. But it was the threat against Hermione that made Harry lose it.
" Wingardium leviosa, " he lifted up the rock that LeStrange was hiding behind a few inches and then sent it tumbling towards her.
"What?" Bellatrix felt the rock move and then let out a string of profanity as she dove out of the way. Before Bellatrix could get her wand pointed at Harry again, he started unleashing a string of spells at the exposed duelist, " Diffindo ! Diffindo !"
Harry walked towards LaStrange as he kept hitting her with spells. She screamed in pain, but Harry had learned his lesson last time as to what would happen if he showed Bellatrix mercy.
He wouldn't let this piece of Death Eater scum anywhere near Hermione again.
He was standing over Bellatrix now, and she was bleeding from about half a dozen cuts he had caused.
" Incendio, " Bellatrix screamed as Harry's spell hit her again, Harry himself unconsciously dodging out of the way. A small part of him wanted to let up, to stop hurting her, but another part of him, the part that wanted to protect the people he cared about, was telling him to keep going.
Harry's world suddenly filled with pain. He dropped his wand as his legs refused to support his weight anymore.
LeStrange, the pureblood witch who taunted Neville for fighting muggle, had kicked him right in the balls.
Before Harry could even consider getting back to his feet and defending himself, Bellatrix sent his wand flying across the school grounds, so far away that Harry had no hope of retrieving it. Then, just as Harry started to focus through the pain, Bellatrix flicked her wand, and suddenly he was hanging upside down by his right ankle.
Bellatrix stood over Harry, just out of reach, even if he flailed wildly, with a glowing look on her face. Harry mentally cursed himself that his summoning project wasn't ready yet. Right now he just wanted to summon his wand and wipe the smug expression off her face.
"Now...how should I do this?" Bellatrix mused to herself as she eyed the upside-down Harry, "Oh, I know! Serpensortia! " Just like Malfoy had done in the dueling club last year, LeStrange conjured a snake to attack him, only the snake she was able to produce was a lot bigger than the one Draco called. This one was more like the one he had seen at the zoo that one time on Dudley's birthday.
"Get him. Bite him. Eat him. Let the boy who defied the Dark Lord, the heir of Slytherin himself, die by the crest of House Slytherin," Her voice was full of malice as she held one of her cuts closed. She then pointed her wand at it and said, " Episkey ", and even though she winced in pain as the cut mended, her eyes never left Harry and the snake that was making its way to him.
" No, you want to bite her, she will only kill you after you attack me," Harry reasoned with the snake, who he hoped was not unreasonable.
"Oh, that won't work baby Potter; Parseltongue is an inherent talent. You either have it or you don't," Bellatrix mocked Harry, thinking he was just making hissing sounds at the snake.
Her facial expression changed to one of surprise though when the snake stopped and turned from Harry, "What!? But how ...how can you have Salazar's gift? The hereditary power of my lord's family? AHHHHH!!!" Her tirade was cut off by her scream of pain. She had been so focused on Harry, she hadn't paid attention to the snake until its fangs were embedded in the muscles of her thigh.
"Vipera Evanesca," LaStrange vanished the snake that still had her thigh in its mouth. She turned back to Harry, fiercely staring at him with a mixture of disgust and venom in her eyes, "You'll pay for that. Diffindo, " Harry closed his eyes, expecting pain as soon as the cutting spell tore open his flesh, yet he just felt surprisingly cold as bits of cloth began to rain around his head.
Bellatrix had targeted his clothes rather than him, leaving only Harry's socks, shoes and boxers. More muttered words from LeStrange, and a flick of her wand, and ropes sprung forth from the ground and wrapped themselves around Harry's arms, pulling them towards the ground.
Fear flooded through Harry; he was trapped at the mercy of this crazy bitch who wanted to hurt and kill him, and once she was done with him, she was going to do the same to Neville and Hermione.
"How should I deal with the brat who lived too long? Tell me Potter; did you know that my Dark Lord has a symbol? We loyal Death Eaters cast his mark on the sky whenever we kill for him. How do you think the prophet will react when your body is found with the dark mark carved into your skin?" Bellatrix taunted him. "What, no words? That's OK; I wonder if you will scream this time."
Harry was too afraid to respond to LeStrange's little speech. Instead, he watched as she ignited the tip of her wand with light, only, it wasn't the Lumos spell.
The light was a lot dimmer for a start, and different to the white light that was produced by the first-year charm, the light cast from the spell Bellatrix used was orange with wisps of black smoke curling up from it.
"Since you are a Parselmouth; let's start with the snake," LeStrange was grinning like, well, a madwoman as she brought the tip of her wand onto Harry's chest, and she began to burn the image of a snake into his skin.
The pain was almost as bad as the spell she'd used last time.
Harry didn't know how long he was there while she sketched out the snake with her ignited wand. He knew it wasn't a short time; she was taking her time, treating it as a work of art. That combined with the blood rushing to his head was enough that he eventually started to whimper in pain.
"Oh! Has baby Potter had enough? Do you want me to end it? I'm almost done with the snake, Potter; it won't be long until I start on the rest of the symbol. Then I'll end it for you. All the pain will be gone, won't that be nice?"
Then Harry heard something he wasn't expecting at all.
"You will harm the Great Harry Potter no more!" Harry snapped his head up to look where the shout came from, just in time to see LeStrange dodge out of the way of a swiping set of talons.
When Harry thought of Dobby, he thought of the elf's weird speech patterns, of his weird ideas, and his love of work. One thing he never thought was that the little, adoring elf was a warrior .
Yet, as Dobby charged at LeStrange using Buckbeak as a powerful steed, throwing spell after spell at the demented psychopath, it was impossible to see the little elf as anything other than a warrior well practiced in the art of combat.
Buckbeak would swipe at Bellatrix with his claws and Dobby would throw handfuls of an unusual green, almost fluid-like, magic at her. Bellatrix was forced to duck, dodge and cast shield charms repeatedly as she avoided their attacks.
She wasn't completely successful, taking cuts from close calls with Buckbeak and a few burns on her arms from Dobby's strange magic splashing around her shields.
Harry was still held in LeStrange's spells, unable to do anything. He cursed that he hadn't found time to finish the Rune summoning. He was only able to watch as his two unlikely rescuers chased a retreating Bellatrix into the Forbidden Forest.
Then, he was alone with Neville, who had still not moved since he was hit with the unknown spell earlier, and Harry couldn't do anything to see if he was OK. The minutes began to drag on.
Then there was a voice calling for him, "Harry?"
It was Hermione; she was looking for him.
Harry debated internally for a few seconds whether to call back, as he didn't want her to see him in this humiliating position. But the fact that she would be able to check on Neville won out, "Over here Hermione! Come quickly, Neville needs help!"
Harry heard the sound of her feet as she moved across the ground towards him, then a gasp, and the sound of her moving stopped. It wasn't hard to work out that she had just seen him hanging in the air above a pile of torn fabric that was all that was left of his outer clothes.
Harry, though, wasted no time in relaying what had happened, "She hit Neville with some spell, he's not moving. You need to check him."
"Who? Who hit him with a spell? And who did this to you?" Hermione was asking questions and not moving.
"It was Bellatrix LeStrange again. Now go help Neville!" Harry half-shouted at her.
"Oh right, sorry," He heard her start moving again, and a few seconds later, he could see her as she rushed over to their fellow Gryffindor. She began checking him, but as she was between Harry and Neville Harry couldn't see what was happening.
After a few minutes Hermione said, "He is just unconscious; I think he's been stunned. But I've never done the counter-curse before. I think it's better if I go get a teacher," She turned to look at Harry and froze.
This was her first time seeing what Bellatrix had done to him. She looked horrified by the sight of his chest.
"Oh, Harry ," There were tears in her eyes.
"I'm fine, Mione, but could you try to get me down?"
Yes, his chest hurt like hell, but right now he just wanted to be let down from his suspended position in the air.
"Finite incantatem," Hermione tried the basic end spell charm. It worked on the ropes, but he was still hosted by his ankle, "I'm sorry Harry, the spell holding you up must need a specific counter spell. I'll need to get a teacher," With that, she turned and ran off back to the castle, once again leaving Harry alone, almost naked and suspended in the air by his ankle.
He wondered just how bad his chest looked for Hermione to not even comment on his lack of clothes.
--- ϟϟϟ ---
Harry was in the hospital wing again after LeStrange's attack yesterday.
Madam Pomfrey had kept both him and Neville overnight; only, they weren't alone. Hermione, as had become almost a habit when one of them was in the hospital wing, was there with them and had adamantly refused to return to their common room.
Madam Longbottom, Neville's gran, was also there. She had come marching into the room about forty-five minutes after they had arrived yesterday and had remained there, also refusing to leave Neville's bedside for longer than to visit the bathroom.
Neville had been worried that his gran would be angry at him. But it was soon clear that despite her being as angry as Neville had ever seen her, she directed none of that anger towards Neville himself.
She even appeared to be proud of him.
Harry was mentally praising whatever deity had intervened on his behalf, so that none of her rage was directed his way either.
Rather, it was Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Minister Fudge, and LeStrange who were all in the firing line.
From listening to her epic rant the day before, she blamed Dumbledore and McGonagall for not doing more to protect the students, Fudge and the Ministry for not having caught LeStrange, and LeStrange for being a morally bankrupt, evil, sadistic, bitch.
The two witches had stayed with them the whole night, Madam Longbottom taking a spare bed while Hermione had remained in one of the chairs between Harry and Neville's beds, rather than taking a bed further from him.
The next day was a circus, with seven people crowding into the hospital wing with them. Madam Bones and Trainee Auror Tonks were there to talk to Harry and Neville and to take their official statements. Director Bones also wanted to look over the Aurors that were searching the area for LeStrange, but she was getting frustrated with their lack of results.
Professor McGonagall and Albus Dumbledore, as Headmaster and deputy Headmistress, wanted to know how Bellatrix had gotten into the castle twice now.
They also stood in as Harry's magical guardians as he spoke to the DMLE. Normally, for an interview in the school like this, they would represent Neville as well, but as his gran was here it was her responsibility.
The Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge was also there, along with his lime green bowler hat. He was accompanied by what Harry presumed was his secretary, a woman called Dolores Umbridge, who was wearing far too much pink to be normal.
Harry thought she looked like a toad, and he thought he heard Hermione mutter a word that sounded like 'insmoth', but he didn't know what it meant.
Fudge was worried about the fallout from people learning that he had failed to protect the Boy-Who-Lived from an escaped criminal.
Again.
With Madam Longbottom making it very clear what much she thought about his efforts, it didn't look like he was going to get his way.
The final person was Madam Pomfrey, who was just trying to keep everything calm so as to not too greatly disturb her patients.
"Ok Mr. Potter; can you tell me what happened yesterday in your own words?" Madam Bones asked, her blue Dictaquill scratching a record of her question onto parchment.
"Well, Neville Longbottom, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Demelza Robins, and I were all down by the school's whomping willow," Madam Bones took a subtle but sharp intake of breath when her niece was mentioned, "We were testing a theory of Neville's to see about using it as the base for a herbology project. The tests looked positive, so me and Neville were talking about taking the idea to Professor Sprout, while the girls wanted to clean up before dinner, so they left. I hung back to help Neville with his notes, then suddenly she was right behind us. I don't know where she came from. She wa-"
"Hem-hem," Fudge's secretary interrupted, "You didn't see her approaching at all? You didn't see anything to help us figure out how she got past the Dementors?" Her voice was sickly sweet and more than a tad condescending.
Harry thought for a few seconds before answering, "All I can say is that she didn't come from the castle, as Neville and I were looking that way," he replied, trying to remain polite.
There was something about the women he didn't like, and she kept staring at Hermione's ears and tail when she thought no one was looking.
"Can you please continue Mr. Potter?" Madam Bones maneuvered the interview back on track.
Harry went on to explain about the duel, how Neville had tried to help by hurling rocks at Bellatrix until she stunned him. Madam Longbottom sat up straighter in evident pride at Harry's description. Harry told them how he almost won, but how he then made a stupid mistake.
Fudge's assistant had a disbelieving look on her face but was silenced by Director Bones when she tried to interrupt. Harry then went on to explain how Bellatrix treated him after she had him restrained. Everyone gasped as he described her burning an image of a snake into his chest.
Director Bones asked to see it and take photos as evidence, but Madam Pomfrey stepped in and told her no. The snake was still there, under a layer of burn paste. As Harry's healer, she didn't want the paste removed for the next twenty-four hours at least. She did, however, provide a medical report for the DMLE's records.
LeStrange had apparently used a spell tainted with dark magic and it was hindering the healing process. According to Madam Pomfrey, it would take a couple of months of weekly treatments to remove as much of the scarring as possible, but it would never fully heal.
"So, Mr. Potter, you told us what happened to you, now what happened to LeStrange? Why did she leave without killing you?" Director Bones asked.
"A friend of mine, a house elf, turned up with one of the school's Hippogriffs. They chased her off into the forest," Harry explained. He was careful not to name Dobby, as the house elf fell under the same creature laws that governed Buckbeak, and Harry wasn't going to risk the ministry going after the little guy when Dobby had actually managed to save his life.
"What is it with the Hippogriffs at this school? First one savaged the Malfoy heir for no reason, and now one saves the Boy-Who-Lived from a convicted mass murderer," Minister Fudge commented, "Absolutely crazy."
"It's the same Hippogriff," Harry muttered quietly.
"Th-the same Hippogriff!? But it was ordered to be destroyed!" The minister bellowed.
"There is an appeal scheduled for the end of June , Minister; the beast has a reprieve until then," Fudge's security informed him, though she evidently seemed just as infuriated about the creature's very existence as he was.
"Oh. An appeal. Uh...quite right. Sorry," The minister looked embarrassed at his outburst, "However, that the beast has attacked someone else, even someone like LeStrange, doesn't look good for the appeal."
Harry paled at that. Buckbeak's case wasn't good to begin with.
If the Minister of Magic was taking the view that Buckbeak protecting Harry was more evidence of a dangerous creature, then it was practically the final nail in the poor Hippogriff's coffin.
Hermione looked like she wanted to say something, but she held her tongue in the presence of the Minister.
"So LeStrange escaped into the forest?" Madam bones asked, to which Harry nodded, "Damn it! Tracking anything in that forest is almost impossible, and it's too dangerous for a grid search..."
After a few minutes of thinking to herself, she addressed the Headmaster and the Minister, "Headmaster, Minister, considering that LeStrange has targeted Mr. Potter and Mr. Longbottom twice now, I would like permission to station an auror at the school. We need someone here if she tries again."
Dumbledore replied genially, although his tone didn't quite reach his eyes, "I have no issue with having an Auror or two stationed at the school on a temporary basis . However, I want it made clear to them that they have no role in regards to the students. Unless there is a student in immediate danger, then they are to only report things to the staff. The last thing we need is for the students to assume they're in imminent danger because of an auror who wouldn't keep quiet," His eyes flicked over to Tonks, who had turned slightly red.
The way Dumbledore said "temporary basis" made it clear that he wouldn't allow it for too long. Madam Bones nodded agreeably, and Dumbledore continued, "I also want to have a veto over who is stationed here."
Fudge didn't appear to like that specific condition. "I say Dumbledore, you don't have any say in the Ministry. It's not for the Chief Warlock to decide who is sent where. The allocation of staff is purely under the authority of the Ministry, not the Wizengamot," Fudge was on his feet now, the green bowler hat previously in his hands now quite forgotten on the floor.
"Quite right, Cornelius, quite right. It is, however, my place in my role as Headmaster of Hogwarts, not as the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, that I am acting. It is my responsibility to consider how adults invited into this school will affect the developing minds of the students within the grounds," He turned to Madam Bones, "No offence, Madam Bones, but some of the Aurors at the DMLE are just not suitable for working around children."
Madam Longbottom snorted something that sounded like 'Mad-Eye', as Dumbledore paused before continuing, "And speaking of things that are unsuitable to be around children, considering you have taken to ignoring my letters on the subject, I will take this opportunity to say it again; I want you to remove the Dementors from my school."
"We already had a hearing about this on the first of September, Dumbledore. You delayed the students returning to school for a day because of it, something no head of the school has done for over two centuries. Things were settled then. The Dementors are looking for LeStrange. They will leave when she is apprehended," Fudge insisted.
"I implore you to reconsider, Cornelius. Their presence is detrimental to the well-being of the students. And as for them trying to catch LeStrange, she has slipped past them at least five times now, so this tactic is obviously not working," Dumbledore pressed the politician.
"What do you mean five! ? She only got into the school twice from what you said!" Fudge spluttered, outraged.
"Once to break out of Azkaban. Twice entering the school, and twice leaving. Five times past the Dementors," The headmaster patiently explained, yet Harry thought he was talking a little slower than normal like you would when explaining something to a child, "And every time those Dementors get more agitated. Did you even read the report I sent you of them attacking the quidditch game? It would not look good if a student gets hurt."
"Preposterous! It was a complete exaggeration. The Dementors are under ministry control; they wouldn't attack schoolchildren without full authorization." The Minister's secretary interrupted.
"Then I think you should do an investigation into who in the Ministry gave them authorization to attack a school full of teenagers. I was one of the students who ended up waking up in the hospital wing," Harry glared at the toad-like woman before he looked at Madam Bones, "One of the others was Susan," The head of the DMLE paled, then her face became stony as she glared at the Minister. It seemed as though she had not been told about the attack, let alone that the attack resulted in one of her kin being hurt.
Harry then turned back to Fudge, "I was on a broom about one hundred feet in the air at the time. I was lucky not to die when I fell off. The only reason I'm here now is that Cedric Diggory was able to catch me."
Harry watched the colour drain from the Minister's face. It was obvious his career as a politician would be over if something happened to the Boy-Who-Lived as a direct result of his actions.
Silence fell for a few minutes as everyone digested Harry's words. Harry was starting to hope that Fudge would remove the horrible things, until he finally spoke, "For all we know, the Dementors have kept the students safe a number of times. They stay," He flicked his wand and his bowler hat flew to his hand.
He put the hat back on his head then turned back to the people in the room, "Mr Longbottom, Mr Potter, I'm happy to see that you both are well, but I have a mountain of paperwork waiting on my desk. Good day to you all. Delores, let us go," The toad-like woman stood and followed Fudge as he walked out of the hospital wing.
"If that pompous idiot has ever done his own paperwork I'll eat my hat," Madam Longbottom said after Fudge was out of earshot, causing the teens to all stifle a laugh at the image of the older woman eating the stuffed vulture currently sat on the small cupboard next to Neville's bed.
--- ϟϟϟ ---
The rest of the term passed in a boring haze of books, studying and practising spells.
The excitement of Harry facing off against LeStrange for a second time eventually died down for most of the school, though Hermione was sticking to Harry like a limpet, barely leaving his side during the day, and often sneaking into his dorm at night.
It wasn't just his safety she was concerned about, but her own as well.
With LeStrange having attacked Harry twice now and her once, Hermione was positive that the Death Eater would try again to kill them, but the two of them had much better odds if they were together.
The Aurors seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Hermione. There was now constantly at least one Auror at Hogwarts. They would arrive for a five hour shift and walk the castle and grounds until the next one came to take over.
A number of the Aurors seemed to think that if LeStrange did get back into the castle, then she would go directly for Harry, Neville, or Hermione. As such, the Gryffindors soon got used to seeing a figure in red Auror robes patrolling the grounds and halls around where their classes were being held.
The approach of Easter led to a small argument between Harry and Hermione;
"It's OK if you go home for Easter Break, Hermione. You have that offer to spend it with your gran," Harry said once the two of them were alone. Like most students, she had signed up on the list of students remaining at school that Professor McGonagall had passed around at the end of her class.
"I told you Harry, I am staying here. Exams are just around the corner. I need to set up a revision schedule and we need to start revising," Hermione put the emphasis on "we", as there was no way she was going to let Harry slack off.
He had done so well this year compared to his first two, and while he wasn't at her level in class, his grades had gone way up over the last year.
"Third year exams aren't that important, Hermione, it's the O.W.Ls in fifth year and the N.E.W.Ts in seventh that affect our future. An-" she cut him off before he could continue, "No, Harry, our exams are important to get into next year. If we don't do well enough we could be held back or even expelled!" She knew that the chances of that were practically nothing, but it could happen!
"Hermione, have you ever heard of anyone being held back? Even people like Crabbe, Goyle, and Ron get good enough grades to keep going. You wouldn't have any trouble getting into fourth year, even if you didn't study at all. You should go and see your gran; nothing should get in the way of seeing family."
Hermione froze, suddenly getting why Harry was so insistent. He had said it a few times over the years; I'd give anything to have a real family . The idea of Hermione not visiting her gran was just wrong to him. To have people who loved you, and you not doing all you can to spend as much time as you can with them, was something Harry couldn't understand.
"Harry, it's OK, my gran knows how seriously I take my studies. I will catch up with her in the summer, but I won't leave the castle this close to exams. I just can't."
Harry sighed and gave in, "Fine, you win. It's just I got the impression at Christmas that she missed you."
"Harry, she would miss me if I saw her every weekend. And I miss her, and I miss my parents. I will catch up with them all in the summer. Now, how often is Wood going to be holding Quidditch practice after Easter? I need to factor it into your revision timetable," Hermione pulled a sheet of parchment out and started drawing lines and times on it.
It looked like she was planning on booking his days down to the second as much as she could, though Harry smiled when the first thing she added to the timetable was their date night.