Harry Potter and the Triangle Prophecy by Barb (Part 2 of 2)

Chapter Sixteen

Hearth

"During the seventeenth century, when rooms had been huge, they had been impossible to heat,
even if fireplaces had been effective, which they were not. Louis XIV's Versailles contained many
magnificent fireplaces, but these were more ornamental than practical. In bourgeois houses fireplaces
had been primarily places to cook in, and only secondarily, and not very effectively, sources of warmth."

--Witold Rybczynski, Home: A Short History of an Idea

"She is the Goddess of the Hearth, and in every private house and city hall protects suppliants who
flee to her for protection. Universal reverence is paid Hestia, not only as the mildest, most upright
and most charitable of the Olympians, but as having invented the art of building houses..."

--Robert Graves, The Greek Myths, Volume One



Harry pushed Hermione behind him the moment he saw the two intertwined bodies on the pile of robes. Snape immediately waved his wand and conjured a blanket, covering both bodies--Ron's freckled pallor and Parvati's pale-brown curves, which were covered in some rather severe-looking scratches....

The fish has come to the wolf.

Harry remembered Sandy's words; he had hoped she hadn't meant what he thought she did, but that wasn't going to change anything. He felt Hermione trembling behind him as he tried to keep her from seeing, but he also knew it was too late. She knew. She knew....

Ron started to wake sleepily and opened his eyes just a bit, looking down at Parvati, not at the open door; then Hermione moved out from behind Harry and her footstep made a floorboard creak. Ron's eyes flew open all the way and he looked horrified, sitting up and making the blanket that Snape had conjured fall off their upper bodies.

"Hermione!" was all that Ron said. Harry turned to look at her; her face had crumpled and she turned and fled with a strangled cry. He turned back to Ron and Parvati, and this time, he noticed that Parvati didn't seem to be moving. Oh, god, no...

Snape seemed to notice at the same moment. He strode forward and turned Parvati over, moving the blanket so that she was properly covered again. Ron blinked, still not fully awake. Snape laid Parvati flat on the floor, opening her eyes with his fingers, one at a time, and gazing into them. Then he moved his hands over her head, finally dwelling on the back of her skull, where it was in contact with the floor. He seemed to have decided what was wrong with her, and he looked up at Harry, reminding him extraordinarily of his step-father.

"Spot of concussion, I'd say. Hopefully nothing worse. Rather large lump on the back of her head. Her breathing is shallow and she's lost a bit of blood from her wounds. I'll get her and Weasley back to the hospital wing; you should probably go after Miss Granger and make certain she's all right," he said grimly. Harry marveled at how he could be so clinical; he knew that his experience of almost being killed by Remus Lupin had stayed with him for many years.

Harry knew he was right; Snape was perfectly able to help Parvati and Ron, but it was up to him to help Hermione. He nodded and turned, running down the corridor and stairs, leaping down the last few treads, lighting his wand and dashing through the tunnel in a crouch so that he wouldn't hit his head on the outcroppings and roots.

At last, he saw movement ahead, but he quickly realized that it was shadows from the flailing branches of the willow. He reached through the roots, stilling the tree's wild dance, and ran out of the tunnel and far enough away from the tree that he wouldn't be hit when it started to move again. He turned in frantic circles, trying to see which way Hermione had run, and finally saw that her legs were pumping furiously as she ran flat-out for Hagrid's hut. He looked around furtively for a moment, decided that it just plain didn't matter if anyone saw him, and changed into his griffin form. He took a couple of running steps and leapt into the air, moving his wings back and forth vigorously, soon overtaking her and spiraling down behind Hagrid's hut.

Hagrid happened at just that moment to be opening his back door, to do his morning gardening, and he yelled out in surprise when he saw a golden griffin landing in his pumpkin patch, folding his gossamer wings against tawny flanks. Harry looked up at his friend, panicking, as he hadn't told Hagrid about being an Animagus. Hagrid looked more shocked than Harry had ever seen him.