A/N: Thanks for your support till here guys! ONE POINT FOUR K READS! Thanks a lot!
He went to the Hospital Wing and sat there, trying to get a hold of himself. If he couldn't kill that Basilisk, then what should he do? He touched Hermione's hand, so soft to touch yet as cold as stone. There was a paper clutched inside. He removed it carefully, somehow feeling he would damage her delicate frame if he applied force, and saw that torn page.
Goodness! She had indeed beaten him this once! And it was so unlike her to 'sabotage a book' yet still so Hermione to show the proof if it meant breaking rules for that. He let out a weird sound in between a laughter and a cry (oh wait, I don't cry!, he thought) and even saw her solution to the basilisk's movements too — Pipes.
If only she knew that this time he just couldn't go and slay that monster. Why were people so complicated anyways?
Weird. Batty old wizards were very weird.
He sneaked off to Dumbledore's office and patiently told Dumbledore everything he knew of the incident so far, waiting for his reaction.
"And you say you couldn't conjure a rooster yourself?", he asked him.
"Uh, no sir. That trick in the GSAs was just animation charms instead of actual transfigured or conjured live animals", he said bashfully.
"And suffice to say, that won't work with a real basilisk in tow, which, frankly, two of the most powerful beings on Earth are refusing to kill", Dumbledore said, his eyebrows crunched in concentration.
"Maybe we need the help of some other person skilled in such an art. The author, I might add, of the very book you found the puzzle out from", he said with a small smile.
Harry was awed. "You know Mr. Newton Scamander?! Well, of course you do, but, like personally?"
Dumbledore chuckled. "Yes indeed. We've gone on quite a few adventures ourselves in the past. Wonderful yet challenging ones"
"Harry, you shouldn't bother yourself with such a giant task. Don't think that I don't have faith in you to even slay the basilisk's head", Dumbledore paled a little at the vision Death had shown him, "but this matter is much more complicated than that now, I'm afraid. So please, let Newt handle this on his own. I'd know if you try to interfere"
Suffice to say, Newt did manage to do the job, although at first awfully reluctant of feeding a book of Dark Magic to the 'poor girl', but it worked. Tom Riddle's ever strengthening soul inside the chamber was whipped off, and strangely, one Ginny Weasley was found controlling the basilisk in lieu of Riddle.
Ron was scandalised when he heard the tale, while Neville was more scared than anything at the mention of the basilisk.
That evening found him on top of the Astronomy tower on a clear night along with Neville, both lost in their own thoughts, while Neville suddenly remembered something and recounted it to Harry,
"You know, that day you sat in the Hospital Wing for hours on end? Well, Malfoy was talking to a bunch of Slytherin blokes near the Potions class, so I snuck off a bit and heard him talk about how his father was 'convincing' the Board of Governors to remove Dumbledore from being Headmaster due to 'incompetency in handling the situation' or something"
"That would've just led to more attacks and even less protection. I mean, if Dumbledore wasn't here, he wouldn't've contacted Mr. Scamander —"
"Who wouldn't have tamed that basilisk", Neville continued.
"Who would still be possessed by Riddle", Harry added.
"Who would then return to life after sucking it all from Ron's sister"
"Who would've died in the chamber with none knowing better"
"And become the dinner of that poor controlled basilisk"
"Who would've been slain for doing so"
"So two innocent deaths and a resurrected Dark wizard. Very scary", Neville finished off, to which Harry just nodded.
"But I wanted to ask something even more scary, you know", Neville continued with mirth in his eyes.
"What's scarier than that?", Harry asked, still looking up and missing the glint of mischief on Neville's face.
"Since when have you crushed on one Hermione Jean Granger?", and he ran for dear life as a red faced Harry chased him down the halls at full speed. He eventually caught him, being an athlete and all, and locked his head to hit his knuckles repeatedly while Neville just cried for release.
They were caught by a prefect.
None other than Penelope Clearwater, a.k.a. petrified ravenclaw girl, a.k.a. Percy's girlfriend.
"That'd be five points from Gryff—", but she didn't get to speak the end of it as they both ran down the corridors again while trying to read the map as well, and found Hermione walking to the common room happily.
"Hermione!", they both cried and strangled her in that childish group hug of theirs.
"Harry! Neville! You solved it!", she changed.
Harry went a bit backwards and whispered loudly in Neville's ear, "She just wants to rub it in my face that she beat me to it"
This earned him a hard smack on the shoulder and a "Prat" from the mentioned girl.
But I'm your prat. What?! Where did that come from? Neville and his weird connotations.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
The next few days found him spending more and more time with his friends — especially Hermione, as Neville and Ron pointed out on multiple occasions behind his back, even though exams were right around the corner. Mum seemed to love this fact — and somehow Neville had told her about some stupid 'crush' of his.
"It's time for him to get the. . .", Lily told James.
"No way! He's just twelve!", James told her.
"And has gotten his first crush!", she retorted happily.
"Those are just 'speculations' and nothing more. Veracity is based on solid fact, not childish connotations", he quoted Harry verbatim.
"You and your stupid mimicry"
"But yeah, it's a good topic to tease him about when he comes back. Oh, if Sirius got the hint of it. . .", he sighed with mirth.
"James! You're gonna scare the poor boy away from her", Lily retorted, scandalised.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Needless to say, exams went quite well for everyone. Harry sighed. He had finally managed to pull off a year without any talking or scheming with Death atleast after his first two months and had somehow enjoyed this year more than the previous study and try to be a smartmouth all the time. Only if the regular lessons with Dumbledore and Salazar didn't count.
And he'd managed to make Ron pass all his subjects with good marks on his own! That was an achievement worth noting in Hogwarts history.
Today they would be boarding the Express and somehow, he couldn't find his things which he'd clearly packed last night. And so after a lot of effort, he managed to show up late enough that most of the crowd had left the grounds.
"The carriages all seem to be gone", Dumbledore commented outside the entrance of the common room.
"So it was you indeed", Harry told him suavely.
Dumbledore chuckled as they walked towards the Great Hall. "You do seem to be quite smart yourself"
"So I've been reminded a hundred times a day"
"Well, I had to deliver this great news personally, away from the crowd", he beamed.
"What is it?", Harry eagerly asked.
"That decree by the Board of Governors was cancelled out yesterday. Which means. . .", Dumbledore trailed off as a gigantic black beast landed in front of Harry.
"Blaze!!", Harry went and hugged the mouth of his familiar.
"Apparently, a wyvern's shriek could've easily cancelled out any effect of intrusive magic on other serpentine creatures. It's their special healing power. And when Newt pointed out the connections between the attacks increasing and Blaze exiting, the Board even removed the witch who proposed the decree herself"
"Serves her right", Harry mumbled.
"So, apart from that, would you like a visit to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic this summer? They have a 'summer camp' — a brilliant idea adopted from Muggles — for third and fourth years, but the British quota is two figured short, so. . ."
"Can I invite Hermione with me too?", he blabbered without thinking twice. Merlin's shite!
Dumbledore, however, merely smiled. "Why not? Ask Miss Granger of her opinion, first"
"Of course, sir. What is the camp about?"
"Fine Arts. A rather brilliant topic of study, which sadly was dropped by the ICW from the OWL syllabus due to lack of aspirants. It's their attempt to see whether the student populus is still interested to reinstate the subject"
"Great!"
He seemed to blatantly shut down the fact that he, in fact, was rubbish at Art. He had barely passed in the Art exam at ten years old! Add to the fact that he did not understand abstract art at all. And by that he meant they were just gibberish to him. Just random throws of paint or patterns upon patterns of lines and curves, he just didn't get it.
So there was that problem that he just couldn't throw paint over canvas and speak on and on about it.
And so there was that problem that he was screwed.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
"Harry! Are all my teachings about language gone down the drain?!", Lily frantically commented as they sat in the car to visit the Grangers to ask them about this offer.
And it was the first time that they were visiting the Grangers.
"Lily! Focus on the road for Merlin's sake!", who knew James Potter, former chaser of the Gryffindor quidditch team, was scared to death of travelling in cars.
"And you love bikes and brooms", she muttered under her breath.
"Dad! We're just going at 60! That's nothing compared to what Mansell drives at!", Harry retorted.
"Anyways, we're entering London now", she stated as the car slowed down barely to a brisk pace as they slogged through the traffic.
Well, they did finally reach the quiet suburb of Hampstead and knocked politely on Hermione's door.
Harry was reconsidering his decision on wearing casual clothing by the time Mr. Granger opened the door.
"Why, hello! James! Lily! So nice of you to join us today"
The house was quite bigger than Potter Cottage, but was lived in and cosy all the same. There were pictures of the Grangers all around the world — Germany, Japan, New York.
They were seated in the living room while watching a Football match on TV while Hermione entered the room presumably from grocery shopping, if the bags were any indication. Upon meeting Harry's gaze, however, she quickly darted inside the kitchen.
Harry scratched his head at the thought.
Meanwhile, it was clear that Manchester United was clearly dominating the match, and Mr. Granger was apparently a huge fan of those.
"Do you know they paid Nottingham Forest three point seven five million pounds to get Roy Keane on their side"
"They're in clear shape to snatch the trophy again this year"
"They had to wait 26 years to lift the cup again after all"
And on he went. It seemed that his obsession over football was very close to top over his obsession over security measures, as was totally evident by the digital lock system — equipped with a speaker and camera — on the door.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
"Mum! You could've informed me earlier!", Hermione growled.
"No need to go all crazy dear. You only ranted on about how", she added in Hermione's voice, "It was so unfortunate that I'd not see him until next year! And I'd miss his birthday too! Oh how could I enjoy seeing France when I don't have the lo—"
"Mum! Stop it already! I'm close to fourteen, not a ten-year-old to believe in such things!", although her face could be to differ.
"But he saw me in my denim shorts and this horrible, wretched top", she muttered to herself tragically as she darted up the stairs.
Again Harry was confused why was she avoiding him as she rushed upstairs.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Finally, after nearly half an hour of waiting, Harry thought it prudent to ask about Hermione. Helen somehow managed to withhold her eyes from rolling over the top of her head, and quite encouragingly told Harry, "Why don't you meet her yourselves? First door to the right it is"
And so Harry reached her room —
And forgot to knock.
You see, when you are too adept at Alohomora wandlessly — and have a family that encourages magically locked doors, you might assume a normal push to the door knob ain't a lock anymore.
Hermione jumped out of her position and squealed at such a high pitch that Harry's ears bursted. Although he quickly closed the door in milliseconds, and managed to not reveal that it was him. . .
He just couldn't get the image out of his head. She wasn't — you know — without clothes or anything but. . . There was fairly more than he wanted or needed to see.
Oh no, no NO!
It shouldn't be like that!
What was his problem!?!
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Faces flushed and eyes unfocused, both the kids sat down and avoided conversation to each other at all costs. It shouldn't be that a big deal for both parties, but somehow, it was.
And the oblivious adults didn't have a clue what was wrong with them. So, deciding to break the ice, James cleared his throat and asked,
"Harry, didn't you have something to ask of Hermione?"
Harry fumbled for a bit, but didn't know whether it helped his flustered face or not, but managed to ask,
"So... Hermione, y'know the notice put for third and fourth years for that summer camp at Beauxbatons. . ."
"For Fine Arts? Yes", she agreed.
"So... There was a shortage of two people — and Dumbledore, he said. I could come if I wanted. And you too. I mean if you wanted, of course"
Hermione seemed to contemplate a lot, and Harry was afraid she'd just reject the proposition. The more he thought about it, it seemed more and more stupid now that he'd said it. What? He thought. She's just jump at the offer and fly across the channel with you, eh?
"Well, this does seem like a nice change of plans, right Eddie?", Mrs. Granger smiled.
"Oh! Of course. What d'you say pumpkin? Wanna join Harry in this camp?", Mr. Granger caught up.
"Why sure, Harry! It would be so fun!", and she launched into a tirade about how they themselves were going to visit France this year, and after negotiating with the Potters a bit more, it was confirmed that Hermione's stay would just be prolonged for a week longer.
A/N: So apparently, some weirdness entered the scene. Let's see how it goes then!