Death by Granger [rewritten version]

12

Ginny was quietly pondering how she was going to get Hermione to figure out her feelings before she stuffed them down and hid them away again when her window shattered with the force of three swirling clouds of black dust.

Furious, Ginny got up on her knees on her bed and glared at the boys before her. "Guys! What the hell?!"

"Where's Granger?" Theo asked immediately.

"One, I'm not Hermione's keeper. Two, one of you better repair my window. Three, have you checked the library?"

Blaise turned to the window and muttered a spell. Once the glass was all back in the windowpane, Ginny hopped off her bed and stood on the floor.

"That thing with the Marks is happening again," Theo said.

"The . . . the thing where Malfoy was kind of literally glowing? The day I found out about Hermione's Mark?"

"That's the thing," Draco said. He frowned when Ginny squinted at him. "Stop staring at me, I'm not glowing now."

"Damn. I wanted to see what you looked like properly. Anyway, do you think Hermione's in trouble?"

Sudden shouting grabbed their attention and they all turned to the window. Blaise pushed open the window he'd just repaired and the others joined him. As the shortest of the lot, Ginny stood right in front of the window, with the boys around her.

"What's going on?" Ginny asked. "It's a little late for Halloween scares."

"What's that one shouting?" Draco asked, pointing to a screaming student.

"Oh, I've got something," Ginny said, ducking under Theo's arm to get to her nightstand. She quickly yanked out the extendable ears and handed one to Blaise and Draco, keeping the other for herself and Theo.

They stood quietly, heads against each other as they waiting for the ears at the end to pick up what the lone student was saying.

"Fiendfyre! Fiendfyre by the Black Lake!"

"Fiendfyre?" Blaise asked.

"By the Black Lake," Theo added.

"Let's go," Draco said.

"Wait!" Ginny grabbed Theo's school robes. "Wait for me."

Theo glanced at Blaise and Draco. "No time for that."

"No, wait. I hate the flying—"

Once they'd landed on the green grass, Ginny swore and shoved Theo violently. "Better warning next time, please!"

Someone screamed, and all four of them sprinted to the Black Lake. There, beneath the lone tree, stood Hermione in an apparent daze, surrounded by flames that seemed to dance around her. Whenever anyone got to close, the flames lashed out. A student tried to Stupefy Hermione in what Ginny hoped was a last resort kind of situation, which only resulted in the jinx ricocheting back.

"Where are the professors?" Ginny shouted, turning around, then to herself, she murmured, "Where are the boys?"

"Hey!" Blaise shouted from one side of Hermione. "Your perfume stinks!"

From the other, Theo jumped and shouted. "And your Polyjuice looks like actual shit!"

"What. . ." Ginny murmured as she ventured closer. It took her a moment to figure out what was going on, but once she'd noticed Draco dodging Fiendfyre attacks as he approached Hermione from behind, she realised what the plan was. She didn't particularly like it, but the teachers were nowhere to be found, the students around her were worried and afraid, and she didn't have any better ideas. So she cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted Hermione's name.