After the Quidditch match, Gryffindor were riding high for a few weeks. Even the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had enjoyed the game, although they were disappointed that they had gotten so close to winning it themselves.
The Slytherins, however, were more angry and hateful as they had ever been. Some of the Slytherins had even taken to throwing low-powered nuisance jinxes at the Gryffindor Quidditch team between classes. It was mostly harmless; Harry had been hit with a few himself. Mostly they just led to Harry dropping any books he was carrying. He knew Katie Bell had to suffer a few bad hair days thanks to a few of the Slytherin girls in her year.
Even Daphne and Tracy had moaned about the outcome, but the two of them were always careful to direct their comments about Harry at the Gryffindor seeker. It was their subtle way of saying that the rivalry was confined to the subject of Quidditch, which was something Harry didn't mind. The rivalry was part of the game. He had more than enough conversions with Tracy to know that she took her support of Quidditch seriously. She was a big supporter of her home team, the Caerphilly* Catapults. According to her, from the age of four until she came to Hogwarts she had never missed a home game.
On the other end of the Slytherin spectrum of animosity was Draco Malfoy, who was livid at Harry for breaking his broom. He was taking every opportunity to try and hex Harry. Harry had been forced to dodge everything from Jelly-Legs Jinxes to a Slug Vomiting Hex. It had only stopped when Professor Lupin had caught Malfoy as he sent a Tripping Jinx at Harry while Harry was at the top of a flight of stairs. The week of detention had stopped Draco's use of spells but it hadn't stopped his mouth one bit.
Draco wasn't even the only Malfoy angry at him; Warlock Malfoy had sent Harry a letter and a bill. The bill was for G3,500, the cost of a new Firebolt. Harry had panicked a little when he did a conversation in his head and found that the bill was for almost £17,500. That was a ridiculous extreme amount to spend on a broom for school Quidditch. The letter had told him that if he didn't pay for the broom, that Warlock Malfoy would bring the dispute before the Wizengamot and sue for restitution.
After Harry had finished panicking over the idea that he would have to try and find that kind of money, he had sat down with Hermione to go over it. they had been doing so much research into Buckbeak's case that they had picked up quite a bit about wizarding law. They weren't anywhere near the level of a solicitor, or even a legal secretary. But they knew enough to suspect what Warlock Malfoy was trying.
They had taken the letter to Professor McGonagall, who had called in Madam Hooch. The flying instructor and referee floo'ed back to the school immediately. She had been out of the school, as all her responsibilities had already finished for the year; with the first years already having been taught how to fly and the Quidditch season over, there was little left for her to do at Hogwarts. After she had dusted the ash from her robes she had demanded to see the letter, in her no-nonsense way that Harry had come to respect over the years of her overseeing his games.
She quickly confirmed that while Malfoy could take this for arbitration before the Wizengamot, as was his right as the Warlock of House Malfoy, the chance that he would win such a case was laughable. In fact, as Harry had not only done nothing directly to Draco's broom but had done nothing outside of the rules at all, taking such a case before the Wizengamot was likely to do a lot of damage to House Malfoy's reputation. The warlocks of the Wizengamot were busy people and wouldn't take kindly to being pulled away from what they were doing because the Malfoy heir couldn't fly his broom properly.
Armed with that info Harry had sent a letter back to Warlock Malfoy inviting him to call for arbitration in front of the influential and busy warlocks of the Wizengamot so he could whine about how Draco didn't understand that flying into the ground at high speed was a bad idea.
No summons to arbitration ever arrived.
---ϟϟϟ---
With the Quidditch season over and the school year in its final stretch, focus turned to the end of year exams. There were only a few weeks until the school started with the exams and they would be expected to prove that their last year at Hogwarts wasn't a complete waste of time. The exams were broken up into groups: the first and second years together would go first taking up a week, then the third and fourth followed doing the same. The fifth, sixth, and seventh years each had their own week.
The sixth year would be the first of the three, then the fifth sitting their O.W.L. exams and lastly the seventh years with their N.E.W.T. exams. The standardized exams were put together at the end for two reasons. First, it meant that the external examiners could just come to the castle for two weeks instead of coming twice. The other reason was to give the students sitting the important external exams as much time to study and revise as possible.
Professor McGonagall had handed out the exam timetables the first day after half term. It was pretty much what he expected and nearly identical to Hermione's except for the obvious difference for his runes project evaluation and her arthmancy exam. Harry was a little surprised that his evaluation for his runes project was to be held on the last Saturday before the first and second years sat their exams. On one hand, he was happy to get it out of the way so soon. On the other hand, though, he was anxious about how well he would do.
Harry wasn't normally one to worry about exams his first few years at Hogwarts he never considered how important the results could be for his future. It didn't help that in his first year he had been more concerned with the Philosopher's Stone, and in the second year he was completely focused on Hermione, not studying at all before Dumbledore cancelled the exams.
Harry and Hermione were not the only people studying flat out, most of the other students were as well. Things had gotten rather tense in the Gryffindor common room. The fifth and seventh years were completely on edge. It wasn't uncommon for one of them to throw a silencing charm at anyone who made what they considered to be too much noise.
One memorial occasion saw Ron silenced, placed in a full body bind, taken up to the third year boys' dorm, and dumped on his bed for the rest of the night. This was done by Ron's brothers after Ron had been whining at the twins for them to take advantage of the good weather and go play some Quidditch with him. It had been Fred and George who had silenced and bound him, and after a quick investigation Percy had concluded that Ron was too much of a disturbance to everyone's studying and had floated him up to his bed.
Harry was a little surprised that the twins were putting so much effort into studying for their exams but got his answer when he mentioned it to Hermione. "Well they are unable to do anything else. Remember the Notice-me Potion we brewed? Well, I forgot about it after the incidents first with Warlock Malfoy getting Draco's Quidditch ban overturned and then the cage threat that Warlock Malfroy made. after that it was LeStrange's second attack I was too worried about you, Neville and myself to think about pranks. Then when Draco got the firewood-" Harry couldn't help but laugh at that again, after the match the Gryffindors had taken to calling Malfroy's Firebolt "firewood", as that was all it was good for after the match. "I figured that you would prefer to have the twins focus on practice as much as possible. I finally slipped them a dose each after the quidditch match. And since then Professors McGonagall, Snape, and Flitwick, as well as Percy, Katie, and Angelina have given them a hard time whenever they slack off."
Harry had sympathized with the twins. He didn't know if it was just because he spent so much time with his academically inclined girlfriend who liked to push him to do better, or if it was because this year he had put in a lot of effort in his school work and wanted that to be recognised. Or maybe it was that without hanging around Ron and being distracted all the time he was just focusing more. Maybe it was even that he now had adults in his life who would care about his results. Whatever the case, he was definitely more worried about doing well this year, and that had led to him studying a lot harder than previous years.
But it wasn't as though he was sitting his exams without distraction this year eather. This year he had an escaped convict actively trying to kill Neville, Hermione and himself. He and Hermione were also still preparing for Buckbeak's appeal. They had finally gotten the date for the hearing, it was going to be held in the afternoon on the day of his and Hermione's last exam. They had their Transfiguration practical in the morning and the trial would be held at Hogwarts about an hour after lunch, in of the disused classrooms on the third floor.
The notice from the Ministry that Hagrid had shown them also said who was coming to the school to represent the Ministry. There was a Director Diggory who was in charge of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Harry wondered if he was a relation of Cedric. Minister Fudge and his undersecretary Dolores Umbridge would also be in attendance. Harry remembered the toad-like woman from the last time he met her, mostly for the looks she shot at Hermione. And lastly, there was a Walden Macnair, for the Department for Disposal of Dangerous Magical Creatures. They were sending an executioner to the trial.
"But why would they send an executioner to the trial, that makes it sound as though they already decided what the outcome will be! What is the point of a trial if the outcome is already decided before we get a chance to present our case? It's nothing but a veneer so that it looks like a fair process..." Hermione had gone on a long rant when she read the notice, during which Harry had just stood there listening, then gave her a hug when she finally ran out of steam. Part of being the boyfriend of the brightest witch of their age was being there for her when she got worked up like that.
Time seemed to be conspiring against Harry and Hermione. Just when they wanted time to slow down and give them time to study it seemed to speed up just to spite them. It seemed to take no time at all for Harry's assessment for his runes project to come around. The night before Harry was going over his notes again even though he knew them by Hart at this point.
The assessment had three parts to it. First was a written description of what he had created and what it was for, with details on how he did it. He had already submitted that to professor Babbling so that she could read it through before the final two parts tomorrow. At that time, he would have to do a presentation and demonstration of what he had created. The presentation would be followed by a question-and-answer session where the three examiners could ask him any questions about the project that they wanted answered.
Harry was allowed to recruit other students to help with the demonstrations if he needed, so after a quick discussion with Hermione about what help he needed she had agreed to help by being, as she phrased it, "the magician's lovely assistant". The two of them had a good laugh at the idea of a real wizard pretending to be a Muggle magician before Hermione had pushed them back into the books.
With it being the night before his assessment and a Friday, Harry was of two minds. It was his assessment tomorrow, and he wanted to go over his notes again just to be 100% sure that he was ready. However, Friday nights were reserved for him and Hermione to relax. He didn't want to disappoint Hermione, and with how on edge he was about tomorrow he could use a relaxing evening. He would wait and see what Hermione said. She might expect him to spend the evening with his nose glued to his notes, his girlfriend was absolutely brilliant but she did obsess over exams, to the point that she got more stressed in their first year over their exams than she did while stopping Voldemort from getting the Philosopher's Stone.
-- NSFW start
Hermione had decided that Harry would honor their date night. It turns out that when Hermione made a schedule she wanted to stick to it as closely as possible. Even when it was planned relaxing. According to her you still needed to relax a little or you could burn out, and if you plan that time beforehand you don't get stressed out thinking of what you should be doing when you take an unscheduled break. It made some sense to harry. At least it did this year. Hermione had said something similar in their first year but as Harry hadn't been as worried about his grade that year he hadn't gotten stressed when he didn't revise.
Once she had dragged him to the room of requirement, Hermione had pushed him onto the sofa and then pinned him to it by climbing on top of him and straddling his waist. As Harry gazed up at his girlfriend he couldn't help but think how amazing she was, and that if she slid down just a little she would be in a much more fun position.
Harry's thoughts about where Hermione should sit were soon driven right from his head as she leaned forward, pressing her body into his. When their heads met, her lips connected with his, and then nothing else matters. All thoughts about his runes project, his exams, even Buckbeak's case were driven from his head like a bottle of shampoo would drive Snape out of a room. All that mattered to him was the bright and beautiful witch that was currently gently biting down on his lower lip while she directed his hand to her chest.
Despite the clothes Hermione was still wearing, Harry could feel her boob yield to his probing touch. The more he pressed and rubbed, the more passionate and energetic Hermione's kissing got, wordlessly encouraging Harry to go further. Hermione's hands were not idle either. Harry shivered as he felt her slightly cool hands on his almost fever-warm skin as she slid her hands under his t-shirt, pushing it up and exposing more of his skin to the air as well as her exploring touch.
Harry used his other hand and started to undo the buttons on Hermione's blouse, starting with the button that was level with her collarbone. He wanted to kiss the newly exposed skin but he would have to move to reach it with his lips and Hermione still had him pinned to the soft sofa. He undid the next button and the pendant he had given her for Christmas swung free of where it had been hidden under her clothing. He knew Hermione almost never took it off, she even spelled it to repel water so that she didn't need to take it off in the shower. Harry loved that she kept it so close.
His hand continued to undo the rest of the buttons on Hermione's blouse, exposing more of her to his gaze. It was strange he had seen her in just a bikini on Valentine's Day, yet for some reason seeing her with her shirt open with her pale blue lacy bra on display felt more intimate, even though she had exposed more than she was showing now.
Hermione took her hands off his chest for a few moments as she shrugged off her blouse and pulled his t-shirt off him. Then her hands returned to their exploration of his chest. She kissed his neck and chest, her ears tickling his chin a little.
Harry tended to think of himself as scrawny, but Hermione obviously didn't think of him that way, judging by how she pressed herself against him and doing all she could to touch as much of him as possible without resorting to the removal of more clothes.
Hermione shifted a little, pressing her chest into his. Harry thought about trying to unhook the bra that was the only thing above the waist between the two of them, but the shift had caused their position on the sofa to become unstable. Harry shifted his right leg, the one on the outside of the sofa, so that his knee was pointed at the ceiling and his foot was against his ass.
Harry hadn't noticed as he did it, but his leg came up between Hermione's, his thigh now pressed against her suggestively. Harry was just about to apologize for going too far when Hermione wrapped her tail around his leg gently holding it in place then started to rub herself against him, causing Harry's mind to completely stall. Hermione moaned into his mouth, and in response Harry pressed his leg into her a little more, increasing the friction between them. Soon Hermione started to breath heavy and had to stop kissing him. Harry took the opportunity of his mouth being free to talk. "Mione-", he kissed her neck. "l-", he kissed her neck again lower this time. "Love you." His lips claimed the spot over her collarbone that he had noticed earlier.
He and Hermione continued their dance for a while longer until Hermione gasped and collapsed against him, her whole body taut. Harry would have been concerned if not for the look of bliss on his girlfriend's face. Instead he was just fighting off a blush as he pulled her in close and waited for her to be ready to talk. It took a few minutes but eventually the untidy mop of curly brown hair that was occupying his vision shifted and his girlfriends face was revealed. She looked nervous and embarrassed as she spoke. "Harry I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done…"
Harry cut her off by kissing her. Once he broke the kiss, he replied, "Mione you have nothing to be sorry for."
"But I shouldn't have..." her face went red and she couldn't say it. "Not without talking to you first."
"I'm completely OK with it Mione. I would have said something if I wasn't. You were so… I didn't want you to stop." Harry couldn't bring himself to tell Hermione how sexy he thought she looked.
Hermione shifted on top of him and Harry felt her press into him. Having Hermione let go on top of him had been the most erotic thing he had ever seen, and his response was predictable. One Hermione couldn't fail to notice.
Hermione thought for a few seconds before she put her hand on Harry's belt buckle. She looked at him while biting her bottom lip before asking "Can I?"
These two short words held far more meaning than two such simple words should. And the sight of her nibbling her bottom lip like that always drove him crazy. Did he want that? "YES" was reverberating inside his head but he didn't want Hermione to think she had to push herself. "Uh..." He paused looking for the right words. "You don't have to, you know, if you don't want to."
Hermione got one of her rare mischievous looks and asked. "And if I want to?" Her hand was now fiddling with the belt buckle. Harry didn't know how to answer. He knew what he wanted to say but the ability to speak seemed to have fallen from his head. "I need an answer Harry." She kissed his neck. "Can I?"
"Yes! God yes!" Harry was finally able to get the words out. Hermione undid his belt one-handed but needed to use both to undo the button on his trousers. As she once again claimed his lips, her hand slipped into his shorts.
End -NSFW
--- ϟϟϟ ---
Harry woke up the next day feeling amazing . He had just had the best night's sheep he could remember for a long time. It took a few minutes for the memory of what he and the amazing witch in his arms had done before getting to bed the night before.
He pulled his girlfriend's sleeping form tighter against him. He felt closer to her than ever now that they had taken another step in their relationship. He idly wondered, if he felt this good after last night's inexperienced fumbling , how amazing would it be when the two of them went all the way? Harry stretched, enjoying the feeling of Hermione's silky top against his bare chest and her fluffy tail that had wrapped itself around his pyjama clad legs. He quickly stilled though when he felt her starting to stir.
Hermione's instance that they stick to their date night was a good one. If she had let him keep going over his notes he would have continued until early this morning and wouldn't have gotten anywhere near as good a night's sleep. Now that he was facing his assessment after the night he did have, he didn't even want to consider what he would have been like alternatively.
"Harry?" a sleepy sounding Hermione asked from next to him.
"Morning beautiful." He kissed her neck. Hermione didn't particularly like kissing on the mouth before they had brushed their teeth in the morning.
"Morning Harry." She hesitated for a few seconds. "Did you sleep well last night?"
The way she asked the question made Harry think there was more to the question than regular morning conversation. "Love, please tell me you didn't do that last night just to get my mind off the assessment."
Hermione blushed a little. "Not just for that. I love you, you nob, and I have wanted to do that for a while." She let out a small huff of annoyance.
Harry kissed her neck again. "I. Love. You. Too." Harry punctuated each word with another kiss as he made his way along the area where her neck met her shoulder. "I just don't like the thought that you were making yourself uncomfortable, that you were forcing yourself for my benefit."
Hermione burst out laughing. Not the cute giggle he mostly heard from her since they started dating, this was closer to the side-splitting unladylike belly laugh that his and Ron's antics had gotten out of her in their first year. "Harry," she fought her laughter under control. "Harry, of the two of us, you are not the one who needs to worry about things like that." She wrapped herself around him as though now that she said it she was afraid he would run off. "I'm the one who is holding back so as to not be pushy."
Harry looked at her, trying to work out if she was lying. "Oh, don't give me that look. Remember that I am almost a year older than you. That may not sound like a lot, especially as Wix normally live to be over 100 years old. But when you consider that most people in the magical world go from not having even started puberty when they first enter Hogwarts to married by the age of twenty, a year is a big chunk of that."
Harry had to concede she had a point, but he still didn't like the idea of pushing her. He didn't want to ever make her uncomfortable or hurt her. When he told her that she brushed it off.
"Harry, as long as you stop when I ask you to do so, then everything is fine. I wouldn't be uncomfortable. Exploring each other's boundaries like that is a normal part of a healthy relationship. It's just a bit more complicated for us because this is both your first relationship and mine, we don't know ourselves yet and our boundaries are still developing. Something that is a hard no from one of us now might be something that we really like a year from now. We just need to trust each other that if we say we are not OK with something that the other will stop." Hermione had slipped into her lecture mode.
Unlike a lot of Hermione's diatribes, Harry found this one easy to follow, but it was just as thought provoking as normal . Did he trust Hermione to stop if he wanted her to? That was easy, his mind was shouting yes before he even finished the thought. This was Hermione; she hated that house elves don't have a choice in their own lives.
The next question to come to his head was did he trust himself to hold off, if the brilliant witch currently laying next to him asked him to stop. He thought about what it would be like to push her like that and got a sick twisted feeling in his gut. Even the thought of doing that to her was just wrong. He wanted their relationship to be something that they both enjoyed.
"And before you ask, Harry, Yes I trust you." She climbed out of the large king sized bed that the room had supplied, she picked up her robes from the bedside table where she had put them the night before, and made her way towards the door. "I'm gonna use the bathroom and get changed first." With that she slipped out of the cozy bedroom.
--- ϟϟϟ ---
Harry passed back and forth in front of Hermione, engrossed in his notes. She had given up trying to keep Harry calm and just sat next to the door to the runes classroom going over her transfiguration notes. The exams were only a few weeks away and she needed to study too. The classroom was where Harry's assessment was about to be held. Inside the room the three professors that were acting as examiners were already waiting for the right time to begin the evaluation.
The first professor was of course Professor Babbling, as the runes professor she was to be one of the three judges. The other two would be a surprise as no-one had told them who the other two would be. Hermione suspected that one of them would be Professor McGonagall as Harry's head of house, but the third could be any of the teachers. Maybe there was a professor who was good with runes even if they taught something else.
After a few more minutes the door opened and Professor Babbling spoke from behind it. "We are ready for you now, Mr Potter. Do you have everything you need?"
Hermione rolled her eyes as Harry quickly rummaged through his bag and went over all his stuff again. "Yes professor, I have everything." Of course he did. He had already checked five times so far today that she had seen. She suddenly felt Harry's complaints about her study habits. Watching Harry as he kept going over again and again stressing over what she knew he had already memorised and checked was not exciting. She had almost told him to relax and that everything would be fine until she remembered Harry telling her that exact thing a number of times. The irony was not lost on her that despite how often she had wanted Harry to take his grades seriously and study harder, that now that she had gotten her wish she was worried about the stress Harry was putting on himself.
"OK, come on in then, both of you." The professor invited them into the room with a smile on her face. Hermione put her notes in a hand bag and followed Harry in. The layout of the room had been changed. All the student desks and chairs were gone and Professor Babbling's desk had been expanded so that the three teachers could comfortably sit at it. Professor Babbling sat back in her chair in the middle, on her left was Professor McGonagall waiting for Harry to set everything up. Unfortunately, on her right was Professor Snape with his regular scowl on his face as he looked at Harry. Hermione wasn't happy to see him but with Professor McGonagall in the room he was at least unable to treat Harry like he normally would.
Hermione looked around the empty classroom to see what was there. The only things in the space were a privacy screen that she had requested for the part she was to play, a lectern for Harry to keep his notes on, and a chair for her to use while she wasn't helping Harry. She watched as Harry, unhappy with the presence of Professor Snape, set up his notes on the lectern and set out his finished prototypes.
"We are ready when you are, Mr. Potter. You may begin when ready." Professor Babbling said when it looked like Harry was about ready.
Harry took a steadying breath and walked to the desk that the professors were sitting at, placing two drawstring bags in front of them before returning to the lectern.
"Right so.. uh…" Harry hesitated at first but quickly found his feet. "So at the beginning of the year, my original plan was to expand on the hairband and tail hiding sock that Professor Babbling talked me through creating at the end of last year. These were for Hermione to hide her additional features that threaten the Statute of Secrecy. And while I have done that, I also had a second idea that I will also be presenting today. If you could please open the red bag, professor, and take out the items inside."
Professor Babbling did so and removed a thick black hairband and a matching drawstring bag that was ridiculously proportioned, the opening was about four inches in diameter yet the back itself was only about half an inch deep. If Hermione didn't already know exactly why it was that way, she would have found the bag extremely odd.
"The items you have there are what I came up with. Hermione, if you would come here please." She got up and went over to him. He handed her another of the hair bands, although this one was green. "The first feature I would like to demonstrate is the chameleon feature. As you can see, this hairband-" he indicated the one in her hand, "is not really suitable for the outfit she is wearing. When activated-'' he motioned to Hermione. She pressed her thumbs into the inside ends of the hairband and then pressed the outside of the item to the red liner of her Gryffindor school robes. The hairband immediately changed to take on the colour and texture of the liner.
"-it will enable the user to mimic the look of any fabric touched to it while the activation runes are being held." He continued, "Hermione could you please show it with a few other bits of fabric please?" She did first the black outside of her robes, then she walked over and mimicked Professor McGonagall's tartan shawl and lastly she pulled a pale blue lacy handkerchief from her pocket and had the hairband mimic that.
"The next improvement that I can show you is the ear illusion. Hermione?" Harry asked. She knew what he wanted her to do, Harry had talked her through it six times. Hermione put on the hairband and pulled back her hair so that the professors had a good view of the side of her head. "As you can see this rune aray will add a pair of illusionary normal ears to the side of the wearer's head." Harry explained. Hermione looked at the professors, who so far didn't look impressed. They were interested and taking notes but it didn't look like Harry had done enough yet.
"The tricky part about this feature was to anchor the illusion to the correct spot on Hermione's head rather than directly to the hairband. This was more complicated, requiring a mixture of three consecutive arrays. One to hold the image of ears that are modeled after photos of her original ears, one to project the image, and a last one to direct the image to the right place on her head," Harry explained. Professor Babbling seemed to have understood where Harry's explanation was going, even if the other two hadn't yet. "The result of this is that if the hairband was to shift slightly," Hermione demonstrated, "the illusion won't move from the spot on her head." When the professors saw the ears remain still even when the object that held the rune arrays moved, both Professor Babbling and Professor McGonagall sat up straight, far more interested.
"Then there are the hidden features. If you could fit an ear into the concealed pockets that were a part of Professor Babbing's original design, you would notice that they muffle sounds making it harder to hear. In Hermione's case this was not much of a problem, her larger feline ears are more sensitive and compensate for the loss. This set of runes, however, will boost the volume for the wearer and allow them to hear as much as they normally would. This feature can be activated and deactivated, as at parties, Quidditch matches, or in other large groups, people can be uncomfortably loud.
"The next set of enchantments are on both the hairband and the tail sock. If you slide a finger inside one of the pockets you will find that they are at a comfortable temperature. The expanded space is always kept at twenty degrees Celsius, a temperature chosen by Hermione as comfortable for her. It would be easy enough to set them at different temperatures if I was to make something like this for someone else. The pockets are also self-cleaning, vanishing all dirt, sweat, and loose cat hair. They are also water-repelling so that the hidden extremities remain dry even if the wearer was to go swimming." Professors Babbling and McGonagall were looking impressed.
Hermione could understand that the individual enchantments were mostly middle of the road. There was some academic interest in how he designed each runic array to get the effect, as runes was one of those things that had a lot of different ways to do something. What Harry had managed to do that was impressive was layer a large number of magical effects in such small items.
"The last modification is for the tail sock. I changed the design of the drawstring bag so that it there is no longer a detectable stump, so that the tail sock is more compatible with Muggle fashion for women, which is more form-fitting and would make such a lump stand out. Hermione, if you would please."
Hermione was just about to take her bag and step behind the privacy screen when professor McGonagall spoke up. "That quite alright, Miss Granger. I think we will take Mr. Potter's word on this, rather than have you change in the classroom."
"Are you sure that's wise Minerva? I wouldn't put it past Mr. Potter to be lying and make up an extra feature that he knows would be awkward to demonstrate, just to get a few easy points." Snape was looking directly at Harry as he accused Harry of cheating without any evidence or formally making an accusation.
Hermione knew that accusing someone of cheating in a test at Hogwarts would result in an investigation by the heads of house. If the person was found to be cheating they would get a zero for the test and whatever punishment the teachers deemed necessary. If, however, the student was found to have not cheated, the instigator would have to say what they saw to make the accusations. If Snape accused Harry of cheating, he would have to justify that accusation. As the only justification he had was his own opinion on Harry, then he would not finish looking good.
"I can just go put it on. I don't mind." Hermione picked up her bag and made her way to the privacy screen.
Snape's voice stopped her in her tracks as she turned back to look at him. "And how do we know you aren't applying additional spells to yourself behind the screen?" Hermione was starting to get annoyed. Snape was just trying to make things harder for Harry, looking for any excuse to lower Harry's mark. She was just glad she knew how to deal with this one.
She turned to Professor McGonagall who was shooting dark looks at the male professor. "Professor McGonagall, would you please join me behind the privacy screen? You can confirm that I don't use any additional magic. That is, of course, unless Professor Snape thinks you would be less than completely honest?" She knew she was pushing it a little with that last line, but the dark looks that now both the women behind the desk where giving the potions professor gave her confidence that she could get away with it.
Professor McGonagall stood up. "If you are comfortable with that, Miss Granger, then I have no objection. Mr Potter, you will remain by that lectern unless you want to find yourself in detention." Professor McGonagall stood and joined Hermione as he walked behind the privacy screen. Quickly Hermione pulled a pair of cycling shorts from her bag and began removing her robes. She had chosen the cycling shorts because they were form fitting. This way, once she had the sock on her tail she could preserve her modesty while showing how well the sock worked. Well, she could preserve most of her modesty, the professors (mostly Snape) would still be staring at her ass.
One problem Harry had not solved was putting on the sock. There were a number of reasons; where her tail was located that made it difficult to Manoeuvre the little drawstring bag over it. Sliding the sock over her tail also meant going against the growth direction of her fur, which was a little uncomfortable. The main reason, though, was that Hermione had just not mentioned that it was a problem to Harry.
A few minutes later she was ready. She had also put on the hairband concealing her ears and changed her top to a periwinkle blue t-shirt so that apart from her dragon hide boots and her wand holster on her arm she looked completely muggle. She and Professor McGonagall walked back out where everyone else could see them, and once the professor had re-taken her seat they started again. "I confirm that Miss Granger did no additional magic. The concealment is completely from the tail sock we are assessing." Her tone was completely professional, despite the scathing looks she kept shooting Professor Snape.
"As we need to assess the concealment, can you please turn around, Miss Granger?" Professor Babbling asked. Hermione blushed a little as she complied. If it wasn't for Harry's assessment she would never do this. It was one thing to let Harry stare at her ass on occasion. She knew full well why Harry sometimes walked behind her as she climbed a set of stairs. Him doing that made her feel desirable, wanted. All she felt now was judged. It was silly even then, they weren't judging her , they were judging Harry's work.
"Miss Granger, may I ask why you chose such form-fitting clothes for this assessment?" Professor Babbling asked, curiosity clear in her voice. "Surely something more loose would offer more concealment?"
Hermione turned back around to face the professors. "I thought that these shorts would allow you to see just how well the sock works. As the point of the sock is to conceal the changes I underwent from the non-magical world, then Muggle fashion would need to be accounted for and current trends in Muggle women's fashion are to the form-fitting clothes," Hermione explained. Professor Babbling nodded, making some notes on the parchment in front of her.
Harry flicked through his notes, checking something before speaking. "OK, those are all the features in the concealment project. We can do the Q&A for that now if you like, or I can move on to the second project and we can do both Q&A's after that." After a quick round of conversation between the professors, it was decided that they would do the first Q&A now so that no-one would lose track of which project brought about their question.
Hermione excused herself to get changed back into her robes while Harry answered a question on how he had fit such complicated rune arrays on such small items. While Harry explained his tactic of enlarging an item before he applied the runes so that he had the space he needed, Hermione slipped back into her school uniform. She decided to keep on the tail sock and the cycling shorts. The temperature was warming up, and while it was too warm for tights now it was still a little chilly to go without and the cycling shorts under her skirt were a comfortable compromise.
It took them over fifteen minutes to question Harry, most of them were technical questions from Professor Babbling. Harry had answered them well from what Hermione could tell. Then Harry moved on to the summoning rings.
"OK, so if you could remove the sample rings from the golden pouch please." Professor Babbling did so. "These are my wand summoning rings. They allow a wearer to wandlessly and silently summon their wand to their hand. Allow me to demonstrate, if you would. Hermione?" This was going to be a much more fun demonstration than the hairband and tail sock. Hermione didn't hesitate as she drew her wand, pointed it at Harry, and cast expelliarmus .
Harry's wand went flying out of his hand and landed across the room. Harry though, instead of going to pick it up, just caught it from mid-air when it suddenly reversed direction and flew back at him. Then, as fast as she had ever seen, Harry cast his own disarming charm and had her wand flying across the classroom. Harry caught it again, his seeker reflexes helping him, but then he threw her wand out the window.
Professor McGonagall looked angrily at Harry throwing another student's wand out a window. But her anger only lasted a few seconds as Hermione caught the wand as it came flying back through the window. She pointed it at Harry for a second time, only this time she didn't cast. She held her pose for a few seconds, clearly showing the professors that the wand was in a casting position, before she slipped her wand back into her holster.
"The rings work on a paired ring system. the user ring will summon its partner ring that is worn on the wand. Any questions?" Harry spent the next half hour answering all sorts of questions, from "Why a ring on the wand?" to more technical questions asking about range of summoning and velocity of the travelling wand. Hermione, who was no longer needed, decided to pull out her charms notes and begin reviewing them for her upcoming exams. Normally she would be more interested in Harry's projects but she had gone over it all with him herself, enough that she could probably do his presentation for him. No, her time was better spent preparing.
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Harry collapsed into one of the sofas in the common room. He thought that the assessment had gone well but it was exhausting. He had stood there for almost two hours. Two hours of trying to remember every little thing about his projects and to present them well. It hadn't been fun. Hermione had wanted him to go to the library with her so that they could revise for the upcoming exams, but Harry had turned her down. After the assessment, he needed to relax and decompress for a few hours.
Hermione was disappointed but understood. He had asked her if she wanted to just sit with him in the common room, but Hermione, being Hermione, had opted to study. This close to exams he hadn't expected anything different. He was lucky she had agreed to help him so much with his assessment. Maybe he would join her in an hour or so once he had a chance to rest a bit.
Hermione found him later that evening fast asleep on a common room sofa.