The next morning, Hermione and Allie were the first to wake up: Ginny was curled up to a ball underneath her blanket, Crookshanks lying to her feet, and the curtains of Lavender's and Parvati's bed were still tightly closer - they had whispered and giggled until almost two in the morning even after Hermione had asked them to tone it down. To Allison's disapproval, Lavender had about the same opinion regarding Harry and the Daily Prophet as the group in the common room, which had made the evening even more tense.
Dressed in their school uniforms - Hermione with her prefect badge pinned to her chest -, they walked downstairs to the common room, where they caught up with Ron and Harry, who were heading to breakfast, both looking rather sulky.
"What's the matter?" Allie asked the two. "You look absolutely -"
"Oh for heaven's sake," Hermione interrupted her. She was staring at the common room notice board, where a large new sign had been put up.
GALLONS OF GALLEONS!
Pocket money failing to keep pace with your outgoings? Like to earn a little extra gold? Contact Fred and George Weasley, Gryffindor common room, for simple, part-time, virtually painless jobs!
(WE REGRET THAT ALL WORK IS UNDERTAKEN AT APPLICANT'S OWN RISK)
"They are the limit," said Hermione grimly, taking down the sign, which Fred and George had pinned up over a poster giving the date of the first Hogsmeade weekend in October. "We'll have to talk to them, Ron."
Ron looked positively alarmed. "Why?"
"Because we're prefects!" said Hermione, as they climbed out through the portrait hole. "It's up to us to stop this kind of thing!"
Ron said nothing; Allison could tell from his glum expression that the prospect of stopping Fred and George doing exactly what they liked was not one that he found inviting.
"Anyway, what's up, Harry?" Hermione continued, as they walked down a flight of stairs lined with portraits of old witches and wizards, all of whom ignored them, being engrossed in their own conversation. "You look really angry about something."
"Seamus reckons Harry's lying about You-Know-Who," said Ron succinctly when Harry did not respond. Hermione, instead of being angry, sighed.
"Yes, Lavender thinks so too," She said gloomily.
"Been having a nice little chat with her about whether or not I'm a lying, attention-seeking prat, have you?" Harry said loudly.
"No," said Allison, "We told her to keep her big fat mouth shut about you, actually."
"And it would be quite nice if you stopped jumping down our throats, Harry, because if you haven't noticed, we're on your side," Hermione added.
There was a short pause.
"Sorry," Harry said in a low voice.
"That's quite all right," Hermione said with dignity. Then she shook her head. "Don't you remember what Dumbledore said at the end-of-term feast last year?"
They looked at her blankly, and Hermione sighed again.
"About You-Know-Who. He said, 'His gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust -'"
"How do you remember stuff like that?" Ron asked, looking at her in admiration.
"I listen, Ron," Hermione said with a touch of asperity.
"So do I, but I still couldn't tell you exactly what -"
"The point," Hermione pressed on loudly, "is that this sort of thing is exactly what Dumbledore was talking about. You-Know-Who's only been back two months, and we've started fighting among ourselves. And the Sorting Hat's warning was the same - stand together, be united -"
YOU ARE READING
WE'LL TAKE ON THE WORLD ; h.j.p.
Fanfiction─ "i won't let go with you by my side, the calm, the storm we'll face it all." She had read about love all her life. Never had she imagined she would ever experience it herself, especially with dark forces rising to power and a war approaching fast...
