Miss Quinn

173 ~ The Wedding

The weeks leading up to Beatrice and James's wedding passed in a blur. The sixth years who were or would be 17 by April 21st were allowed to do extra Apparition practices in Hogsmeade under heavy supervision. Emma, Venus, Hermione, and Ron all went, though Harry, who wouldn't turn 17 until July, stayed behind at the castle. Venus in particular was thankful for the date they'd chosen as the cutoff -- April 21st was her 17th birthday. Any earlier, and she wouldn't have been able to take her test with the others.

Out of the four of them, Hermione had managed to apparate twice in the Saturday Sessions, Venus had done it once, but had gotten splinched a few times, Emma had done it three times, and Ron hadn't managed it at all. But the extra sessions, it turned out, were extremely beneficial. Each of them were able to apparate successfully at least once. Ron was particularly pleased that he'd finally done it, though Emma and Venus shared a knowing look at Hermione's smile.

The four Gryffindors retired to the castle for an early lunch, and were halfway through their meal when Harry arrived, looking downcast. He'd told them he was going to spend the morning trying to get into the version of the Room of Requirement that Malfoy always used -- he'd finally discovered where the boy always went via the two house-elf tails he'd put on him. Hermione was, of course, against the idea of following Malfoy to see what he was up to, but Harry didn't seem to want to listen to her warnings. So, while the other four had been practicing apparition, Harry had been working on his own task. And, apparently, it hadn't gone well.

"I did it--well, kind of!" Ron told Harry enthusiastically when he caught sight of him. "I was supposed to be Apparating to outside Madam Puddifoots' Tea Shop and I overshot it a bit, ended up near Scrivenshafts, but at least I moved!"

"Good one," said Harry. "How'd you do, Hermione?"

"Oh, she was perfect, obviously," said Ron, before Hermione could answer. "Perfect deliberation, divination, and desperation or whatever the hell it is -- we all went for a quick drink in the Three Broomsticks after and you should've heard Twycross going on about her -- I'll be surprised if he doesn't pop the question soon --"

"And what about you?" asked Hermione, ignoring Ron. "Have you been up at the Room of Requirement all this time?"

"Yep," said Harry. "And guess who I ran into up there? Tonks!"

"Tonks?" repeated Ron and Hermione together, looking surprised.

Emma and Venus exchanged quizzical looks as well, and leaned forwards to hear what Harry was about to say.

"Yeah, she said she'd come to visit Dumbledore."

He described how on-edge she'd looked, and how she'd spoken to him without actually listening to what he said in response.

"If you ask me," said Ron once Harry had finished describing his conversation with Tonks, "she's cracking up a bit. Losing her nerve after what happened at the Ministry."

"I mean, what happened there wasn't good for anyone's mental state," Emma defended. Hell, she'd been through several battles in her life. She had certainly felt the effects at that one, and there was no way anyone present that day came out of it completely unscathed.

"It's a bit odd," said Hermione, who for some reason looked very concerned. "She's supposed to be guarding the school, why is she suddenly abandoning her post to come and see Dumbledore when he's not even here?"

"I had a thought," said Harry tentatively. "You don't think she can have been. . . you know. . . in love with Sirius?"

Hermione stared at him.