Alrighty then, majority of the comments on the last chapter say Harmione, so Harmione it is! Also, I know it was wrong for Y/n to say that (about Cho) in front of Hermione in Ch 5 but it was part of the script, someone had to say it :/ Enjoy!
Y/n
"Well, how was it?" Ron asks with a cheeky grin on his face. I slightly glance at Hermione as she's sitting in an armchair near Harry with a flustered, jealous blush on her face. "Wet. I mean, she was sort of crying." Harry responds while sitting in front of the fireplace on the floor. "That bad at it, are you?" Ron snickers and I roll my eyes, looking down at Harry. "I'm sure Harry's kissing was more than satisfactory." Hermione says defensively, an obvious blush rising to her cheeks.
"Cho spends half her time crying these days," I say, looking down at Harry. "You'd think a bit of snogging would cheer her up." Ron smiles and shrugs and I ignore him, "Well, don't you understand how she must be feeling? Oh, obviously she was feeling sad about Cedric, therefore confused about liking Harry, then feeling guilty about kissing him, conflicted because they're threatening to sack her mom from her job at the Ministry, and frightened about failing her OWLs because she's already busy worrying about everything else." I explain, stopping to take a breath at the end, then looking between the three of them.
Ron scoffs and says, "One person couldn't feel all that. They'd explode."
"That's because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon." Hermione retorts, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. I put my hand over my mouth, smiling. Ron starts to laugh and I burst out laughing as well, Harry and Hermione just smiling at the two of us.
***
Christmas break, we all took off school and stayed at 12 Grimmauld Place. The entire Weasley family was there after the incident with Harry dreaming about Ron's dad being badly injured at the Ministry. Every time I look at him I feel so sorry for him, he just look awful.
Ginny sits between Ron and I and I sit across from Hermione and the twins on her left. Mr Weasley sits at the head of the table with a purple paper crown and Mrs Weasley has the biggest grin on her face, being incredibly grateful about her husband being okay. "Presents!" Mrs Weasley exclaims, passing out gifts to everyone. I get a little bag with something soft inside.
I take the bow off and open it to see a pair of hand-knitted gloves with my first initial on it. I smile and put them on. They fit perfectly and I smile, seeing the quirky design and feeling happy that I have a real family. I take them off and put them on the table, thanking Mrs Weasley with a smile. She waves it off and we all start passing out drinks. Harry walks in and Mrs Weasley gives him his present and walks back to her husband. "Toast! A Christmas toast to Mr Harry Potter, without whom, I would not be here. Harry." Mr Weasley announces and we all raise out glasses to him, all saying his name unison after Mr Weasley finishes.
"I can't understand why you don't want to wear it, Ronald." Hermione says, shaking her head while walking down the stairs. Ron, Harry, and I follow her down and Ron responds, "Because I look like a bloody idiot, that's why."
"No more than usual, Ronald." Hermione retorts, making me giggle in return.
The day we got to spend time with each other, getting presents and welcoming Mr Weasley back home, just happened to be the same day we're going back to Hogwarts. It was a very quick trip, it felt faster than normal actually, and once we arrived, Harry went walking off with Cho.
I look at Hermione and give her a smile, and she nods in return. Ron's looking off somewhere else, then he turns to us excitedly, "Did you hear what that person just said?!" I look at him with a confused glance and he says that he heard Hagrid's back.
Hermione smiles and runs up to Harry in the crowd, just before him and Cho walk into the castle. Ron and I stand behind her as she tells Harry that Hagrid's back and he apologizes to Cho, running after us while we run down the hill. I dash down, the wind picking up my robes and making them float behind me as I run, then Harry picks up speed and runs in front of me. I laugh and follow closely behind, looking back at Hermione and Ron running behind us.
Once we get to the front of his house, Harry slows down and stays silent, listening to the faint sound of Umbrige's annoying voice. We all decide to peek in through the window and we start to hear the conversation clearly now, "I'm ordering you to tell me where you've been." I hear Umbrige say.
"I told ya. I've been away fer me health." Hagrid responds, his back turned to the window we're at. "Your health?" Umbrige asks, peeking her head around Hagrid to try and take a peek outside to see us. We duck down and Hagrid speaks again in a more cheerful tone, "Yeah, a bit o' fresh air, y'know?"
"Oh, yes. As Gamekeeper, fresh air must be difficult to come by. If I were you, I shouldn't get too used to being back, in fact, I might not bother unpacking at all." Umbrige says with her annoyingly happy smirk. We all run to the opposite side of Hagrid's house and Ron stays out. I grab his arm and pull him close to me, hearing the door open with an obnoxious pink woman stepping out of the doorway. She stands there for a moment, then pulls out perfume, spraying it on herself, then on Hagrid's doorstep.
Once she's gone, we knock on Hagrid's door and he lets us in. He sits us down and we ask about his face, then he starts to explain, "This is top secret, right? Dumbledore sent me to parley with the giants."
"Giants?!" Hermione asks, her voice getting a bit pitchy. Hagrid shushes her and she continues quietly, "You found them?"
"Well, they're not that hard ter find ter be perfe'tly honest. They're so big, see. Tried to convince em ter join the cause, but I wasn't the only one that was tryin' a win em over." Hagrid explains, placing a piece of raw meat over his left eye.
"Death Eaters." Ron says, looking at us cautiously. "Yes. Tryin' a persuade em ter join You-Know-Who." Hagrid tells us.
"Well, did they?" Harry waves his hand nervously, telling Hagrid to go on. "I gave em Dumbledore's message, s'pose some of em remember that he was friendly to em, I s'pose..." He sighs. "And they did this to you?" I asks, gesturing to Hagrid's injuries. "Not exactly, no."
Fang starts barking at the raw meat and Hagrid tosses it on the floor, "Go on, you have it then, ya dosey dog." Fang starts gobbling it up and the wind suddenly picks up outside, making the hay on the ground start moving. We hear the sky rumble and Hagrid stands, staring at the back of his hut, behind the curtain. "It's changing' out there. Just like last time. There's a storm comin', Harry. We'd all best be ready when she does." Hagrid says grimly.
We head back to the castle and leave our robes in the dorms, going down to the great hall. "Dumbledore warned Fudge this could happen. He's going to get us all killed because he can't face the truth." Hermione says, trudging ahead of us by just a bit.
"Harry." We stop and turn around, hearing Seamus' voice behind us. He gets out of his chair and stands in front in front of us, "I, uh, I wanted to apologize. Now, even me mum says the Prophet's version of things don't add up. So, what I'm really tryin a say is that I believe you." He leaves it at that and I smile, looking at Harry standing next to me.
***
"Make it a powerful memory. The happiest you can remember, allow it to fill you up. Keep trying, Seamus. George, your turn now." Harry walks around the Room of Requirement, starting to teach us how to perform the Patronus Charm. "A full body patronus is the most difficult to produce, but shield forms can also be equally useful against a variety of opponents. Fantastic, Ginny! Just remember, your patronus can only protect you for as long as you stay focused, so focus!" Harry walks around the room, watching everyone's patronus's fly around the room.
I stand behind Ron as he and I continue trying the charm. I stick out my wand and think of the fondest memory I have, meeting Harry and Ron.
"The large man smiled. It wasn't like a normal smile, although warmer and caring rather than anything sinister. ''Agrid. Me name's Rubeus 'Agrid, Nice to meet yer.' He held out his hand and I slowly nodded and shook it. The raven-haired boy introduced himself as well, 'Harry. Harry Potter. What's your name?' He smiled and I shook his hand too."
"I sit next to Harry and look out the window as I hear a knock on the door. Harry and I look to see the boy from earlier. 'Do you mind? Every where else is full...' I smile and say, 'Not at all.' Harry gestures to the seat in front of him and Ron sits. 'I'm Ron, by the way, Ron Weasley.' He smiles and looks at the two of us."
I wave my wand and a giant smile appears on my face as this wispy smoke sort of thing forms at the end of my wand, an animal taking form from it. A dove.
The lovely little bird flutters around and starts flying above a little wispy dog that's jumping up at it. I look to see who's patronus it is and I see Ron smiling at it while holding his wand with both hands.
I look back at the Jack Russell while it's still jumping after my dove. Harry walks by us and congratulates us and I smile, my concentration breaking and my dove disappearing into the air. The Jack Russell then runs around and knocks Neville right off his feet, his back hitting the ground.
The lights fade ever so slightly and then the chandeliers start to shake. The lights flicker and I look around trying to see where it's all coming from. A pit forms in my stomach and I look at Ron as the lights flicker once more. Harry and Colin are at the front of the room, watching as the glass at the entrance is breaking and falling off the wall. I jump and gently grab the back of Ron's sleeve, looking at the wall in front of Harry.
He and Colin look through a hole in the wall, seeing something on the other side. I hear a voice, then Harry grabs Colin's shoulder and they both run away from the wall, it exploding right in front of us. I grab Ron's waist, pulling him back away from the explosion.
"Get them." Umbrige, Filch and the entire Inquisitorial Squad appear on the other end of the explosion, Draco pulling Cho into view while pointing a wand at her head.
After Harry's quick visit to Dumbledore's office, apparently, Umbrige is replacing him as Headmaster. Filch put up one of those stupid rules on the outside of the Great Hall on a giant ladder. I wanted nothing more than to push it before he climbed down and Umbrige began speaking over a loud speaker on the wall, "Boys and girls are not permitted to be within 8 inches of each other. Those wishing to join the Inquisitorial Squad for extra credit....Students will be submitted to questioning about suspected illicit activities...."
After we take some test, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and I decide to take a walk. "Harry, you did everything you could. No one could win against that old hag." Ron tells Harry as he walks in front of us. I tug on my shirtsleeve and Hermione says that Dumbledore didn't even see it coming.
"Harry, if it's anyone's fault, it's ours." I say, Harry stopping to look out the window on the bridge. "Yeah, we're the ones who talked you into it." Ron explains, agreeing with me.
"Yeah, but I agreed. I tried so hard to help and all it's done is mike things worse. Anyway, that doesn't matter anymore. Because I don't want to play anymore. All that does is make you care too much. The more you care, the more you have to lose. So, maybe it's just better to..." Harry trails off and Hermione picks up, "To what?"
"To go it alone." Harry says, turning around and leaning against the wall. "Psst." We hear something ahead of us trying to get our attention. "Hagrid." Harry says, seeing him hide behind the stone end of the bridge. "C'mere. I've got something to show you." Hagrid gestures to us, telling us to follow him.
We do, making our way into the Forbidden Forest, where it gradually gets darker in the middle of the day. "D'you have any idea where he's takin' us?" Ron asks, walking behind me. I shake my head and step around a stump, hopping down next to Hermione. Ron lands next to me and Harry asks Hagrid why he can't just tell us what's going on.
We all hear the clopping of hooves and a herd of centaurs starts clamoring across from us, then Hagrid says something about never seeing the centaurs all riled up like this. "The Ministry restricts their territory much more, they're gonna have a full on uprisin' on their hands." Hagrid says, trying to sway from the topic. Hermione steps up and firmly asks him what's going on.
"I'm sorry I'm bein' so mysterious, you four, I wouldn't be bothering' you at all with it, but with Dumbledore gone, I'll likely be gettin' the sack any day now and I just couldn't leave without tellin' someone 'bout him." Hagrid's voice wavers and he starts to mess with his hands, looking really nervous.
We see a giant boulder start to move, standing and becoming a huge giant. Ron grabs my arm and pushes me behind him, sticking his arm out in front of me. "Grawpy! Down here, ya great buffoon." The giant turns around and claps right over Ron's head, all four of us ducking before he hits us.
Once the thing realizes we're there, it starts running at us and we all back away immediately, Ron grabbing my waist from behind him and pushing me back with him. I touch his arm once it stops moving and we see that the giant is connected to the root of a tree by some rope.
"I couldn't just leave him because he's ma brother. Well, half brother, really. He's completely harmless, just high-spirited, is all." The giant reaches for me and Ron grabs me before I fall, making the giant grab Hermione instead. "Grawpy, that is not polite. That is your new friend, Hermione." Hagrid tells him, but obviously the thing doesn't listen. Hermione points a finger at it and tells him to put her down.
Ron keeps his arm in front of me, holding onto my waist from behind. Grawp puts her down and turns around sadly. Harry immediately turns to her and puts his hands on her shoulders, checking her arms to make sure she's alright.
Grawp starts rummaging through trash behind a tree and returns with a bicycle handle with a bell as an apology. She grabs it and Grawp looks at her with a smile and she rings the bell, handing it back to a smiley Grawp and he sits, starting to play with it.
Hagrid asks us if we'll keep him company when he's gone and we oblige, telling him that we'll do it.
YES NEW CHAPTER IS OUT! And it's currently 3 AM on a Sunday with school tomorrow :) I said in one of my discussion posts that I'd have this thing out by Sunday and here it is! Again, as I said in the beginning, from now on Harmione is gonna be the ship that was chosen by you guys in the comments of the last chapter. Thanks for voting and I hope I can get another one of these out soon.
Word Count: 2778
P.S: I know that this chapter wasn't as lovey-dovey as I'd hoped. I guess you can call it just a filler chapter.