The Quibbler, Special Addition to May Edition, Monday, May 19, 1997
Current Count of Suitors: 54
Excerpt from An Introduction to Veela, Chapter 13 - The Arts – Revered Craftsmen
"Oooh, only fifty-four left," Hermione said as she glanced at the headline of The Quibbler. "That's excellent, Harry."
Harry smiled brightly. "Yes, it is. It's even better than you think. I contacted my remaining suitors that I hadn't been on a date with yet and asked if they wanted to move their date up to an earlier time-slot. Everyone agreed and now I'll be done with the dates on June sixth."
"That's wonderful!" Hermione said with a grin. "Now you'll be able to take your end-of-year tests."
Harry's jaw dropped open in surprise at his friend's statement then he started laughing.
"Now, Harry, they're important," Hermione said sternly over Harry's laughter and the snickers of some of their closer housemates. "At the very least, you can use the results to tell where you need to do extra studying next year to catch up so you can do well on your N.E.W.T.s."
Harry just continued to laugh. Despite everything, Hermione was still concerned with N.E.W.T.s. The Sunday that she'd ripped Colin to pieces he had relayed to her everything Rookwood had told him. He'd just known that her display had been the sign he'd been waiting for. She'd been skeptical, of course, but had promised to hear out the representative to the Unspeakables before making a final decision about her so-called destiny. But it was just like his friend to ignore portents of doom and destruction in favor of doing well on tests that would be meaningless once the Ministry fell.
"Harry!" Hermione protested irritably.
Harry held up a hand to ask for patience and spent several moments controlling his laughter. When he'd managed he grinned at Hermione and said, "I tell you what. If the teachers allow it, because I bet some won't, I'll take the tests. But you have to promise not to nag me about school otherwise. All right?"
"All right," Hermione said with a small smile. She knew Harry was right, unfortunately. She wouldn't be surprised if half the teachers refused to allow Harry to take the tests due to his almost total absence from the year's classes.
Harry shook his head in amusement and forked a bite of eggs into his mouth. He got a thoughtful look on his face and when he'd swallowed his bite he said, "You know, sometimes I think I ought to actually thank Colin. It's because of him that I had so many suitors withdraw."
Neville nearly choked on his tea and Hermione got a pinched look on her face. Lavender was too busy gossiping with Parvati to listen in and offer even a non-verbal opinion.
"Don't you dare, Harry," Hermione said angrily. "You already interceded with the Veela Council. He deserved everything else he got."
"I know, I know," Harry said quickly. "And I wouldn't really. I just think it sometimes."
"If you did, you would hurt my and Liam Cadbury's suit against The Prophet," Neville added.
"I wouldn't really," Harry said again. "I wouldn't do that to you and Lavender. And not Liam, either, for that matter. I mean, how many men would be completely accepting of me snuggling up to their naked wife? It might have been perfectly innocent, and my life was on the line, but still."
"I'm surprised they talked about the possibility over Christmas," Neville said with lingering amazement. "I can't tell you how shocked I was when Lavender told me they'd decided to go ahead and risk a scandal if I ever needed her help like that because you were having problems with your magic. He's definitely a good man. I'm glad she married him. She's liked him forever."
"And speaking of which," Hermione said quietly as she leaned forward. "I really don't know what to get her for a present. I can't even believe she's married! She's only sixteen! And I definitely can't believe she invited me to her party."
"It's a delayed wedding reception," Neville corrected. "And neither do I."
"Not as many people dislike you as you think," Harry said wryly. "You're a good person, Hermione, and Lavender knows that."
Hermione blushed slightly and waved her hands about in agitation. "But why would she invite me?" she asked quietly. "I'm always going on about her not spending enough time on her studies and how foolish it is to spend all that effort on makeup and such."
"And then you spent two hours repairing all my makeup when all the powders got cracked and mixed when my trunk was dropped last Christmas," Lavender said, proving she had been paying attention all along.
Hermione blushed brighter and said in protest, "The house-elves fixed it."
Parvati giggled and Lavender smiled and patted Hermione's arm. "The house-elves are excellent at cooking and cleaning, but the fine control needed to separate out over two dozen different colors of powder is beyond their abilities. I've always known it was you who fixed my makeup for me."
Hermione's face went beet-red and she quickly picked up her bag and stood. "I have to get to class," she said hurriedly and fled the scene.
There were quite a number of surrounding Gryffindors who joined in the general mirth of Hermione's escape.
"Who knew?" Ginny said with a grin. "Hermione can handle being thought of as a bossy know-it-all but Merlin forbid anyone accuse her of being nice."
Harry laughed along with the others. He would track down his friend later and give her gift ideas. He'd seen a small section on books when he'd looked through the deLuska jewelry catalog for his own delayed wedding gift for Lavender. Undoubtedly one of those would be suitable as a present.
--May 24--
"The Dark Lord is pleased with the way Potter's courtships are progressing and has no plans to provide any type of disruption this year," Severus reported. "He is hoping one of the Death Eaters, or at least someone he can influence, wins the brat's favor and that he'll be able to bring the boy to the dark."
"Are there many Death Eaters left in the courtships?" Arthur asked worriedly.
"There are four," Severus answered. "Martin Goyle, Halifax Nott, Matthew Gibbon, and Ares Selwynn."
"Do you think Potter will choose one of them?" Kingsley asked with a frown.
"Of course he won't!" Molly protested loudly. "He's a good boy! How dare you suggest it!"
"At least Malfoy isn't one of them," said Charlie. He wondered why four Death Eaters passed when he didn't. Harry didn't want a mate who would be involved in the coming war and wouldn't those Death Eaters fight for their master? There must be something going on there – he would have to mention it later. Maybe those men were unhappy and would make good spies.
"Malfoy was eliminated in April," Alastor grunted. "He was none too pleased going by his expression as he stormed out of The Rose Inn."
"Indeed. The Dark Lord was none too pleased, either," Severus said with a vindictive smirk. "But to answer Shacklebolt, I believe the remaining four have as much chance as any of the remaining suitors. The Dark Lord is pleased that so many have passed through the dates."
"Even after what happened three weeks ago?" Marcus asked in disbelief.
"And just what do you think happened three weeks ago?" Alastor asked then shook his head. "You think the lad had sex with his classmates?"
"That's certainly what it looked like," Marcus said defensively.
"That is not what happened," Albus interjected. "We can discuss the truth of that incident later. Severus, please continue your report."
"The Dark Lord claims to have acquired a new follower, someone he calls the General," Severus said. "No one has seen this General as yet, but it appears that it is this General who has stayed the Dark Lord's hand this year."
"This could be bad," Alastor said with a frown. "If this General is good, or even half good, we could have quite the fight on our hands."
"Especially if You-Know-Who actually listens to him," Shacklebolt said thoughtfully. "I studied the last war and if the Death Eaters had been just a little bit more organized... Well, there would have been a lot more death and destruction."
"What have you been able to discover about this General?" Albus asked. He was quite worried about what this might mean; he knew that both Alastor and Kingsley were correct in their comments.
"Nothing other than what I have already reported," Severus said. "Nobody has seen or heard from the General in any way. The only reason we know about him/her/it is because the Dark Lord boasted constantly during the last meeting."
"Please see if you can discover more," Albus said.
"Of course," Severus said with a short nod. "The Death Eaters released from Azkaban last year continue their recovery. Five new..."
"It's been over a year!" Hestia exclaimed.
"It takes quite some time to recover from fourteen years of starvation and dementor exposure," Snape said tonelessly. "Physical recovery is only part of it. The Dark Lord wants his followers to be mentally and magically recovered as well and that takes longer."
"He'll probably wait until they're fully recovered to make another strike," Alastor said thoughtfully. "If I was a semi-intelligent General, that's what I'd do."
"When do you estimate that might be, Severus?" Albus asked worriedly.
"Given what I know of these things and what I can presume of their original state, I would estimate a total recovery period of two years," Severus said. "In other words, we have until the new year."
--May 31--
Harry returned from his Saturday dates and stalked up the stairs to his dorm in a rather foul mood. Both dates that day had gone poorly and he was in no mood to stop and socialize. He wasn't surprised to see Neville in the dorm when he arrived, but he was surprised to see that his friend appeared to be in an even worse mood than he was.
"Neville?" Harry queried unsurely.
"How do you deal with it?" Neville asked as he continued to gaze at his canopy. He was lying on his bed with his hands behind his head and had been moodily contemplating life for the past couple hours.
"Deal with what exactly?" Harry asked. He was pretty sure Neville wasn't referencing poor dates.
"With everybody staring at you and whispering nasty things about you behind your back," Neville said glumly.
"Ah," Harry said. He took off the light cloak he'd worn that day and put it away in his trunk. He sat on the edge of his bed and tried to think of something wise and comforting to say to his friend. "Well..."
"I mean, I've only had to deal with this for less than a month," Neville interrupted. "You've had nearly six years of this abuse. How have you managed? I'm near ready to go spare already."
"I just...I didn't have any choice," Harry said softly. "I dealt with it because I couldn't do anything else. It's not as if I wasn't angry about it."
Neville snorted. "No wonder you were always in such a bad mood last year," he said.
Harry huffed a short laugh. "Yeah. It was bad last year, that's for sure."
Neville sat up then and crossed his legs though he still didn't look over at Harry. "Did you ever feel like finding some dark corner and never coming out?"
Harry paused. "Sometimes."
"Nobody wants to know the truth," Neville said as he picked absently at his quilt.
"I know," Harry said softly.
"They'd rather believe some story from a paper that's constantly proven wrong," Neville said with a hint of anger.
"I know."
"It's like they're excited to have some reason, even if it's made up, to attack me," Neville said. "Like it's some imperative to rip me to pieces and drag me down."
"I know."
"They're rabid," Neville stated vehemently.
Harry snorted. "They are," he agreed.
"Do you know that nobody has even asked me for my side of the story?" Neville asked in angry disbelief. "They call me names and tell me what an awful person I am but no one, not one person, has asked why."
"And they won't," Harry said with a sigh. "When the truth comes out, though, you'll start getting a bunch of apologies and some will even tell you that they never believed it to begin with."
"Merlin," Neville said in disgust. He finally turned to Harry. "How have you managed all these years?"
Harry shrugged. "Like I said, I didn't have a choice."
Neville frowned. "You have a choice now, though."
"I told you why I'm not making a fuss," Harry said, shaking his head. "I don't want to risk revealing my heritage quite yet by suing The Prophet and making them print the truth."
"I remember," Neville said then sighed. "I suppose it's not all bad. I had a Hufflepuff thank me today."
"You did?" Harry asked in surprise.
Neville grinned suddenly. "Seems that little snot was expelled and the whole House is grateful."
Harry blinked at his friend, speechless.
"Over the course of the school year he had offended every single Hufflepuff," Neville continued. "They celebrated the night he was sent away. He was a real piece of work, evidently, and they all hated him."
"That's..." Harry trailed off, unable to verbalize his amazement.
"Isn't it?" Neville laughed. "I hadn't even noticed that he was gone."
"Me neither," Harry murmured. He was glad – in a sort of suppress-my-Veela-instincts kind of way – that he hadn't killed the brat. It was good the brat was gone, though. He wondered what threat had been held over the headmaster's head to finally get rid of the kid. Considering the things that happened at the school he couldn't see the man expelling a student simply for offensive words.
"And I did get all those nice presents," Neville said. "Can you believe that Gran wanted me to send them back?"
Harry raised his eyebrows. "You hadn't told me that. I hope you didn't."
"Of course I didn't," Neville said with a snort. "And I won't, either, no matter what she says. She hasn't bothered me, though, since I sent that letter telling her to buy some books."
"I still can't believe you did that," Harry said, remembering the rather scathing letter Neville had written to his grandmother that Neville had let him read before sending off.
Neville shrugged. "It wasn't any more rude than the letter she sent me," he said.
"True," Harry agreed with a wince. Dame Longbottom's letter had truly been offensive with its accusations. "Why does she hate Veela so much? I mean, I never took her for someone who believed in the pure-blood bigotry. And your cousin's married to one."
"Bigotry's an odd thing," Neville said with another shrug. "You can believe one group of people is perfectly deserving of equal rights and still believe that another group isn't. Gran's like that. It's not as if prejudice is completely logical, you know."
"I guess not," Harry said with a sigh. "Did you get another present this morning? It's a bit late but I saw you got a box."
Neville shook his head. "That was my order from Flourish and Blotts. I think I've gotten all the presents I'm going to get. Still, I'm twenty nice presents ahead of anywhere I thought I'd be. Lavender, too."
"I'm glad you two got something out of the deal besides snide comments," Harry said and leaned back on his elbows.
"Oh, I'll get the satisfaction of seeing them eat their words, too," Neville said with a vindictive smile. "I don't suppose I can convince you to do another interview while school is still in session, can I?"
Harry laughed. "Maybe. I was planning on doing one the first week of August after I was done with the dates and since I'll be done earlier..."
"That'd be great, if you could," Neville said eagerly. "Just think of how much I'll be able to lord the truth over everybody. It'd be brilliant."
Harry grinned at his friend. "I'll contact Mr. Lovegood, then."
--June 8--
"Are you sure this is such a good idea, dear?" Pansy asked nervously.
"No," Draco answered wryly. "But I'm going to do it anyway."
"Now you sound like a Gryffindor," Pansy complained.
"And just what House does your hopefully future fiancé come from?" Draco asked with small snort. "I thought you admired courage."
"Courage, maybe, but not recklessness," Pansy hissed angrily. "This...this could backfire. Badly."
Draco sighed and fiddled with his robes. "I know it could," he finally said. "But nobody from Slytherin has been bothering Harry at all this year. I think we've got a good chance for a peaceful approach, especially with Weasley out of the picture. And you know I want to get Harry started thinking about me differently."
Pansy groaned in exasperation and grabbed the three books from off Draco's small table. "The things I do for you," she muttered angrily.
Draco smiled slightly and said, "Thank you."
Pansy scowled. "Let's go. If I'm going to be hexed by Gryffindors then I'd rather get it over with as soon as possible."
The two of them walked unhurriedly towards the Great Hall and their uncertain fate at the hands of Harry and his closest friends. Just before entering the hall Draco took the books from Pansy.
Pansy peeked around the door briefly. "Well, we'll certainly have an audience," she said. "It looks like practically everyone is here, just like you wanted."
"Of course they are," Draco said as he led them into the hall. "It's Sunday breakfast and there're extra pastries."
They walked casually towards the Gryffindor table, well aware of the eyes and gossip that was following them. By the time they had reached their destination of a polite distance from Harry everyone was watching with varying degrees of curiosity or, in the case of the Gryffindors, animosity.
Draco was most interested in Harry's reaction, of course, and was pleased to see that while the other boy appeared wary, he did not seem hostile. The same was true of Longbottom and Granger. "Good morning," he said in greeting.
"Go away, you slimy snake!" Ron Weasley called from six places away from Harry. "Nobody wants you here!"
Draco ignored him and continued looking at Harry and his friends.
"Good morning," Longbottom said eventually. "What can we do for you?"
Draco smiled slightly and said, "Last Thursday was my birthday. I am now seventeen." He continued to ignore the negative comments around him, especially Weasley's. He was amused to see Harry and Longbottom exchange a glance then was surprised when Granger and Brown-Cadbury were included in the silent communication.
"Congratulations, Malfoy," Longbottom said blandly.
"Thank you," Draco said with a small nod. "While I am still a student, I am also now an adult." He paused a moment, then added, "This mean I no longer must answer to my father and his whims."
There were still some angry murmurs amongst the Gryffindors but there were a great number more people who were avidly listening to the encounter and waiting for Longbottom's response. Draco waited patiently.
"Congratulations," Longbottom said again after nearly a minute of silence.
"Thank you," Draco said and smiled a bit wider. He nearly laughed as he saw some of the students lean away in uncertainty. He looked directly at Hermione Granger and said, "I would like to extend a formal apology for my behavior towards you for the past six years. While I have my reasons, I'm sure they would be cold comfort to you after all the harassment. Please accept this gift as a token of my remorse and my admiration of your intelligence and persistence in the face of the prejudice you face every day." He held out one of the books he carried toward Longbottom and waited.
Pansy watched tensely as Granger looked between her friends, Draco, and the book that Draco held. She let out an inaudible sigh of relief when Granger nodded slightly and Neville reached out to take the book then pass it across the table. She barely held in a smirk of triumph when Granger couldn't hold back a squeal of excitement.
"I think the whole school is aware of how much you like Hogwarts: A History," Draco said. "I thought you might like the expanded collector's edition."
"I...yes...I...thank you, Malfoy," Granger stuttered out as she clasped the book tightly.
"You're welcome," Draco replied. He turned to Longbottom next. "I would like to extend a formal apology for my behavior towards you. Please accept this gift as a token of my remorse and my admiration of your skills in herbology and the courage you've allowed to show recently. You are a true Gryffindor." He held out a second book.
Pansy stifled a pleased smile when Neville blushed slightly but reached for the book without hesitation. Two down, one to go.
Draco didn't bother to suppress his smile when Longbottom's eyes widened in surprise. "I had heard you had received one of Helga's primary works and thought you might like her other major work The Comparative Compendium. I've not read it, but I've heard that it's the best comparison of the use of European and Asian herbs even today."
"It is," Longbottom said reverently then added in a more formal tone, "Thank you for your gift. I accept your apology and hope for better relations between us in the future."
Draco nodded and turned to Harry. He was a bit disconcerted by the calculating gleam he saw in the other's eyes but continued with his planned apology. "I would like to extend a formal apology for my behavior towards you. Please accept this gift as a token of my remorse and my admiration of your flying ability and your amazing and infuriating luck." He held out the last book he carried for Harry to take. He was very careful to keep his hand well away from where Harry might accidentally touch it. He didn't want to risk Harry recognizing his magic just yet. He grinned when Harry took the book with a chuckle.
"My infuriating luck?" Harry said with a grin. "Has it been giving you fits, Malfoy?"
"Oh, yes," Draco answered wryly. "I assure you that it's been quite the well of frustration in the past."
"Circus Flying?" Harry asked curiously. "Is this a career suggestion?"
Draco snorted in amusement. "No, not really. I know you love flying for flying's sake and I figured if anyone could master those trick moves, it would be you."
Draco watched Harry flip through the book curiously and raise his eyebrows in surprise at some of the complicated moves depicted. Draco nearly jumped for joy when Harry turned to him with a sincere smile.
"Thank you, Malfoy," Harry said. "I accept your gift and, uh, hope for better relations between us."
Draco smiled back. "You're welcome." He took a step back then bowed to Harry and the others. "Have a pleasant day," he said then turned and left, Pansy following along behind him. He ignored the increasing volume of the murmurings in the hall and strode purposefully towards his own House table.
It was a good minute after he and Pansy had been seated that Millicent Bulstrode hissed out, "What do you think you were doing? Your father isn't going to be pleased when he hears about this!"
Draco turned toward the only true Dark Lord supporter in his year of Slytherins and blinked lazily. "And why should I care what pleases my father?"
"You'd better care!" Millicent ranted. "Making nice with Potter and that squib and mudblood! You better quit whatever you're thinking! You'll be lucky if you don't get disowned for what you've already done!"
Draco smiled nastily and several of his housemates swallowed nervously; he could be quite vicious when vexed. Millicent ignored his expression and continued to glare angrily. "I assure you, Bulstrode, that there is nothing that my father has that I want. And since you seem so woefully ignorant I will also tell you that my father holds no authority whatsoever in the Malfoy family and could not disown me from the family even if it was his dying wish."
"Your family..." Millicent started angrily but was overridden by Draco.
"Stands by itself, Bulstrode," Draco said dangerously. "And I stand with my family. If my father had any sense, he would do so as well."
"The Dark Lord will make you regret your betrayal," Millicent said furiously.
Draco snorted in disgust and shook his head. "You can't betray that which you were never loyal to in the first place, Bulstrode. Do remember that." He turned from the girl and ignored her further threats.
His last words had actually been more for the benefit of some of his housemates. He knew the upper years were being pressed to join the Dark Lord's forces as soon as they graduated and he also knew that only two of them were actually interested. Most of them just wanted to live their lives and pursue their dreams. Hopefully those affected would hear his words and realize that they didn't need to bow to any claims of prior "loyalty." Maybe they would realize they would be better off to flee the country if necessary rather than bow down to a maniac.
Time would tell.
--June 11--
"How do you think you did on the test?" Hermione asked as she, Harry, and Neville took a seat at the small corner table in the kitchens.
"I'm pretty sure I'll get an exceeds," Neville said proudly.
Hermione smiled at Neville. "Congratulations. I know you've been studying really hard. What about you, Harry?"
"I'll get an acceptable at least," Harry said with a shrug. "I might even scrape by with an exceeds but I doubt it. McGonagall's still angry with me so I'll probably get graded really harshly."
"That's not fair," Hermione said crossly then thanked the house-elves that came and loaded their table with food.
Neville immediately started loading his plate. "She doesn't seem too interested in fair lately," he said. "She's been berating you every other day it seems and for nothing that's really important."
"What's up with her?" Harry asked Hermione, eagerly following Neville's example. "I thought I was the only one that McGonagall was angry with."
"Did you forget the 250 points our dear prefect took from her own house?" Neville asked then took a bite of his mashed potatoes. They always did eat better when they visited the kitchen.
Harry looked a bit nonplussed for a moment then said, "Actually, I did."
"Well, she hasn't," Hermione said wryly.
"I'm sorry," Harry said sincerely. "I didn't mean for you to suffer McGonagall's wrath."
"I'm not sorry," Hermione said then pointed her fork at Harry. "And you shouldn't be either. Besides, I don't think it's just the points she's mad about."
"It's not?" Neville asked in surprise.
Hermione shook her head and swallowed the food in her mouth. "No. You remember I had that meeting with her that day you went with Harry?"
"You can say it, Hermione," Harry said with an amused snort. "The day Harry lost it and destroyed the Hufflepuff table. You know, I'm still shocked they were able to replace it by dinner. I mean, where exactly do you find a spare table that size?"
Hermione huffed but didn't bother answering the obviously rhetorical question. "Yes, well, that afternoon she called me to her office and asked me to explain my actions. I'm afraid I wasn't very..."
"Polite?" Harry asked in amusement.
"Politic," Hermione said wryly. "I told her a few truths that she really didn't want to hear and she wasn't very appreciative."
"You did?" Neville asked wide-eyed.
"Why are you so surprised?" Hermione asked with a roll of her eyes. "You've been standing up to people all year, even the headmaster."
"Well, that's true," Neville admitted, slightly surprised at the realization. He hadn't really thought about it quite like that.
"So what did you say?" Harry asked curiously as he dumped another large spoonful of mashed potatoes on his plate.
"Well, the first thing I told her was that I hadn't done anything that she shouldn't have already," Hermione said blithely.
Both Harry and Neville winced.
"Ouch," Harry said. "I can imagine the pinched look on her face when you said that."
"Then I told her that if she'd been a decent Housemistress that the problem would likely never have arisen in the first place," Hermione said then protected her plate from the sputtering of her friends.
"Merlin. You didn't," Neville breathed in shock.
Harry just stared in wide-eyed disbelief.
"And that wasn't the worst of it," Hermione said with a superior smirk.
"It wasn't?" Neville squeaked. No wonder McGonagall had been such a bear lately.
Harry just continued to stare in speechless amazement.
"I enumerated the duties of a Head of House as listed in Hogwarts: A History and told her which ones I'd never seen her performing in all of my years here. Which was nearly all of them, by the way," Hermione said with narrowed eyes and a firm nod. "I told her that holding three positions at the school was obviously beyond her capabilities and if she was going to ignore one of them nearly completely that she should have the decency to resign the position and let someone else have it. She wasn't happy."
Neville and Harry both stared silently for over minute.
Finally, Harry pulled himself together and said, "Well, if today is anything to go by, she still isn't happy."
"That's her problem, isn't it?" Hermione said firmly.
Harry glanced at Neville, who still seemed somewhat in shock, and said, "Yes, I suppose it is. The truth hurts and all that, right?"
"Absolutely," Hermione said and took a bite of her own dinner.
"You know, I knew I was right that you had "assumed authority" when you took all those points from Colin, but this really proves it," Harry said.
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "How so?"
"It's just...you assumed your own authority at breakfast," Harry said thoughtfully. "It was totally obvious in your stance, your bearing, the way you looked at everybody like they were less than a flobberworm. Then this. You held your own against McGonagall when just a month prior you would have been trying to apologize and upset that you'd made her angry."
"And I don't think you see it," Neville added, finally pulling himself together, "but the whole school obeys you now like they do the teachers. Even the Head Girl doesn't have as much practical authority as you've been wielding without a second thought. Most of the students really respect you now instead of seeing you as some unimportant bookworm."
Hermione looked startled at the revelations. "Huh. I didn't realize."
The three were silent for several minutes as Hermione worked over this new piece of information.
"So," Harry said abruptly. "Did she reverse the points you took from Colin?"
Hermione smirked and shook her head. "She couldn't, really, because they'd all been fairly taken. If she'd reversed the points then she would have been opening the door for every student to protest every point they'd lost this year no matter if they'd lost them justly or not. She knew it, too, so she left them alone. Maybe if there hadn't been three hundred witnesses she'd have done it."
"Did the rest of the House give you a bad time?" Harry asked. "I'm sorry I didn't ask before."
Hermione waved off his apology. "Ron yelled at me about it until I took 25 points for disrespecting a prefect and another 25 for using foul language. Nobody said anything after that, although I'm sure they wanted to."
Harry shook his head and laughed. "I'll have to remember not to break any rules while you're around."
"You only have a couple more weeks to worry about it," Hermione said with a bitter smile. "Somehow I just don't see McGonagall letting me keep my position next year."
"I'm sorry," Harry said with a grimace. "I know you really wanted to be Head Girl."
Hermione snorted indelicately. "That hardly matters anymore given that prophecy, now does it? I'm going to be head of something much bigger in just a little while."
"So you've decided to do it?" Neville asked in surprise. "I thought you were still thinking about it."
"I am," Hermione said dismissively then changed the subject. "Anyway, did either of you hear what happened to Colin?"
Both Harry and Neville shook their heads in the negative.
"Oh, then you're going to absolutely love this," Hermione said with obvious relish.
"What?" Harry asked eagerly. "It must be good for you to have that expression on your face."
Hermione leaned back in her chair and waved her fork dramatically. "Trent, that's one of Colin's dorm-mates, came to me and asked for the truth..."
"He did?" Neville interrupted indignantly. "Why hasn't anybody asked me?"
Hermione shrugged. "I don't know. Anyway, Trent asked me what really happened and I told him. Don't worry, I asked him not to spill it around because you wanted to control when that information came out and he agreed. So, he asked, I told, and then he went back to the other boys in the dorm, swore them to secrecy, and told them. Now comes the really good part."
Neville and Harry leaned forward in anticipation. If Hermione was so vindictively pleased about this next part, then they couldn't wait to hear it.
"The boys, the fifth year boys, got together and wrote this really long letter to Mr. and Mrs. Creevey about just what it was Colin had been doing while at school. It was a very thorough letter, too. I proofed it for them and offered suggestions and what else to include or attach. I have a copy of the final version if you ever want to see it. Anyway..."
"I want to see it," Neville said immediately.
"Me, too," Harry said. "I wish I could have contributed."
"It was fine," Hermione said reassuringly. "Really, it was beautiful. They covered a lot of specific incidents of when he'd been really pushy and invasive. They went on to say it had gotten so bad that three-quarters of Gryffindor had signed a petition asking for Colin's camera to be taken away and that said petition had resulted in an official written injunction against him in regards to the signers. Did you know that the other Houses copied our idea?"
"They got an injunction against Colin?" Harry asked in surprise.
Hermione nodded. "Everyone in Slytherin and everyone in Ravenclaw and about half the Hufflepuffs."
"Wow," Harry said and turned to Neville. "Did you know?"
Neville shook his head in surprise. "No, but I'm not surprised."
"So they attached copies of the petitions and the official injunctions," Hermione continued.
"That's got to be a lot of parchment," Neville said.
"Then they went on to describe what he'd done that night and the fallout," Hermione continued. "They attached a copy of the article and explained what had really happened, in detail so that there would be no mistake that Colin was totally out of line and the article was really damaging. And I had them ask the Creevey parents not to tell anybody about the truth until after you had your next interview. Then they detailed how many points Gryffindor had lost and that it was more points than we'd earned in a whole month. Then..."
"What?" Harry asked when Hermione paused. "Come on, no dramatics."
Hermione took a bite of her dinner and ignored the pained groans of the boys. She swallowed her mouthful and primly wiped her mouth before deigning to restart her story. "Then the boys raided Colin's trunk for every single photo – for evidence of his excess, you see – and all his cameras and put them in a box. A big box."
"You let them take things out of Colin's trunk?" Neville asked with raised eyebrows. "Isn't that against school rules? Illegal, even?"
"I didn't know anything about it," Hermione said with a completely fake innocent smile. "I was in the library."
Harry snorted in amusement. "Of course you were," he said with equally fake agreement.
Neville just grinned.
"Then they owled the box and letter to his parents," Hermione said. "I heard from Trent – who just happened to be sitting next to Colin when the letter from his parents came two days later – that Colin won't be getting his cameras back until the start of the school year and then he'll be limited to only one roll of muggle film and one packet of wizard film – a total of about fifty pictures – every month until he finishes school. Trent says that the memory of the look on Colin's face is one he'll treasure forever."
Neville grinned just thinking about it. "No more pictures. Or not very many, anyway. Bliss," he said with an exaggerated sigh of contentment.
Harry snorted. "As long as he doesn't use them all on me," he said cynically.
Hermione and Neville just laughed.
--June 18--
Harry didn't look up as the door to the astronomy tower opened. He'd hoped for a night alone, but had known it was unlikely given the popularity of the tower. Hopefully his new companion wouldn't be averse to keeping to themselves.
"Harry?"
"Hermione?" Harry said as he turned in surprise.
"You mind if I sit with you?" Hermione asked, gesturing to where Harry was sitting on one of the deep window sills.
Harry paused for a moment before answering, "Sure." He moved over so Hermione had room to join him on the wide sill.
Hermione took a seat and was quiet for several minutes. "I miss him, too," she said. "Not as much as you, I'm sure, but I do miss him."
"That's just the thing, though. I'm not sure I do miss him," Harry said softly, guiltily.
Hermione was quiet. She knew Harry would talk when he was ready.
Several more minutes of silence passed before Harry spoke again. "I think I miss the idea of him, you know? He was my godfather, a father-figure that would always love me and help me and put me first. I saw him as an ideal. But the reality was different. We never really got to know each other. It's hard to miss someone you didn't know."
"You knew him well enough," Hermione said softly.
Harry nodded absently. "I was really upset at first, but now not so much. I'm sorry he's gone. I'm sorry we didn't have a lot of time together. I'm sorry I only really got to know him once he was dead."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked curiously.
"I got his journals when he died," Harry said with a small shrug. "I didn't start reading them until after Christmas, though. They're a bit hard to follow because his mind was really messed up after Azkaban, but he wrote about all sorts of topics and it's through them that I actually got to know him as a person."
"They sound interesting," Hermione said. "What kinds of things did he write about?"
"Anything. Everything. Literally," Harry said with a small laugh. "A lot of it was about his Hogwarts years. Half of what he wrote is about every minute piece of information he could recall, from the graffiti on the wall of the boy's bathroom near the Great Hall to descriptions of students and teachers to details about pranks he pulled and whether or not he was sorry about pulling them."
"I hope you don't plan on replicating them," Hermione said warily.
"No," Harry said, shaking his head a little. "The spells are interesting but pranking seems such a bother."
"Well, good," Hermione said with relief.
"He wrote about my parents," Harry said with a small smile as he turned to face his friend. "Some of it's really funny, especially in comparison to what my parents wrote about the same incidents."
Hermione smiled back. "That does sound like it could be funny."
"He knew about my mother," Harry said abruptly.
"Oh? How? And why didn't he say anything?" Hermione asked curiously.
"Because my dad told him," Harry said. "He didn't say anything because, well, a bunch of reasons. He wasn't sure I had gotten the inheritance and didn't want to give me false hope. Even if I hadn't, he was afraid that just the fact that my mother was would put me in danger if it got out. If I had, he was afraid of Dumbledore finding out and convincing me that I had to use my abilities in the war."
"I wonder what he would think now," Hermione mused. "I bet he would find some way to prank your suitors."
Harry laughed in surprise. "Maybe he would, at that."
Hermione smiled at her success in cheering Harry. "I have something for you," she said and pulled a shrunken book from her pocket. She canceled the shrinking spell and passed the book to Harry.
"What is this?" Harry asked as he accepted the book. He opened the cover and gasped. "Hermione?" he asked
"I remember how much you like the album of your parents so I asked Hagrid to help me make one on Sirius," Hermione said. "It's been done for a couple months but I thought today, the anniversary of his death, would be the best time to give it to you. Do you like it?"
Harry turned several pages and smiled at the images he saw in the moving picture. He turned back to his friend with a grateful smile. "Yes, Hermione, I like it very much."
"I'm glad," Hermione said sincerely. "I'll leave you to look through it, then."
"No!" Harry said quickly. "No. Stay with me and look at the pictures?" he offered.
Hermione smiled and the two of them spent the next hour looking at the pictures and making up outlandish stories about what was happening in them. When they finally returned to the tower, Harry felt much better about the loss of his godfather. He packed his new photo album next to the one of his parents and looked forward to sharing it with his grandfather in a few days when Hogwarts let out for the summer.