In the Melancholy Moonlight

Chapter CXXXII: Pocket Watches

HARRY:

The door closed, and just like that, she was gone. Worse than that, she was alone.

I lingered there for a moment, just in case, but when she didn't reappear, I made my way back up to the common room, anxiety making itself rather comfortable in the pit of my stomach. I mumbled the password and headed in the direction of Hermione and Ron, who were sitting in the corner in the middle of an intense game of wizard's chess and murmuring in low tones that stopped abruptly when I arrived.

"Is she alright?" Hermione asked in a soft voice as I sat beside her.

"I'd suggest moving your queen the one spot farther," I said, pointing to Ron's knight that was poised to strike if she committed to that particular play.

"Oh, right, thanks." She heeded my suggestion and glanced up sheepishly at Ron. "Maybe the two of us combined can beat you."

He grinned. "You can try."

"Anyway, yeah, she's alright," I said as Ron's knight took Hermione's knight instead of her queen. "Well, no, that's not the right word at all. But I guess, well..." I sighed, frustrated. "What do you mean by 'alright,' Hermione? What do you want me to say? It's a rather difficult question to answer."

"I just- look, there's no need to get cross with me, I was just wondering if something was wrong." She wilted a bit under my glare. "More wrong than usual, anyway."

I shrugged noncommittally. Obviously I couldn't tell anyone else about her family. That was her decision to make, whenever — if ever — she wanted to make that decision.

"Something at Mungo's shook her up," Ron commented as he swiped Hermione's other knight. "Have you noticed? Reckon that could be it?"

"I've noticed. Trust me, I've noticed." I shrugged again. "Might be that. I don't know."

Hermione sighed, clearly disappointed that I didn't seem to have any further insight. "I just wish she weren't so stubborn about keeping everything inside all the time."

"It's not like she's the only one," Ron muttered with an amused glance my direction.

"I do not!" I protested.

"Oh, right, sorry, my bad," he said in a tone that suggested he wasn't sorry in the slightest. "You keep everything inside until you physically can't, then you just..." He gestured toward the chess board with his chin as his queen decapitated Hermione's.

"I do not," I protested again, in a mumble this time. When Hermione turned to look at me, too, I crossed my arms over my chest. "Okay, maybe I do sometimes. Umbridge deserved it, though."

"Oh, certainly," Hermione said, turning back to the game with a much lighter tone. "We're not saying she didn't. We're just saying you have a habit of exploding after trying to keep everything inside for too long."

"Wish Lucy would explode again. Reckon it would do her some good," Ron remarked. "Checkmate."

Hermione grinned begrudgingly. "Just as well, really. We should start rounds soon." She turned to me and said in a low voice, "We talked to McGonagall about adjusting the schedule, now that we know Ron knows. We'll always patrol on the full moons, so we can get Lucy first thing in the morning."

"I can do that," I said, some sort of protectiveness or defensiveness or both surging in me.

"I was hoping you would say that, because..." She pushed the board out of the way and inched closer to Ron and me. After fishing around in her bag for a moment, she pulled out three pocket watches dangling from silver chains and held them out to us. Upon closer examination, the watch was frozen at midnight. "I charmed them to follow the lunar cycles," she whispered. "So 12 o'clock is the full moon, and 6 o'clock is the new moon — it only goes around once, twice would be confusing. I made six of these, one for each of us who knows, but I wanted the three of us to try it first just to make sure it works. So, if I charmed it correctly, the hand that would indicate seconds on a normal clock should start moving at sunrise tomorrow, once it's over for this month."