The Book of Morgan Le Fey

Chapter Six: Dark Arts Lessons and Confrontations in the Corridor

The weather on the morning of the start of classes did nothing to improve Ron's mood. The sky was so dark it was nearly black, and rain pelted the grounds and the castle so hard that the glass windowpanes shook.

Harry and Ron's schedules were quite changed this year. They had both decided on careers as Aurors and as such had been able to reduce the number of classes they had to take in order to focus on those classes required for their chosen careers. Ron and Harry both were delighted that they no longer had to take Divination and had been given the option of cutting out either Astronomy or Care of Magical Creatures. They both immediately dropped Astronomy; Hagrid taught Care of Magical Creatures.

Unfortunately, their Auror careers depended on taking very difficult lessons in Transfiguration, Herbology, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions. And to Ron's utter annoyance, History of Magic was still a required course for all students. He wasn't sure how he could take two more years of Professor Binns, and worse, now that Hermione wasn't speaking to him he was quite sure he'd have to start taking his own notes in class. Furthermore, because they had two fewer classes, that meant more lessons in the classes they were taking.

'Double Potions three days a week,' Ron grumbled to Harry. 'There ought to be a law against that.'

Hermione still wasn't speaking to him at breakfast and in fact chose to sit next to Neville. Ron felt a rush of annoyance. Yes, they'd fought, but was he really so repulsive that Hermione couldn't even SIT next to him?

His mood darkened further when Eddie Carmichael glided over to their table and bent down to say hello to Hermione. Ron couldn't hear what they were saying but he felt the blood pounding in his ears when he saw the way Eddie smiled at Hermione and the way she blushed at his attention. He was livid when she tossed her silky hair--which she had worn down today--and laughed in a tinkling, simpering sort of way.

'Ron, are you going to eat that banana or just crush it?' Harry asked.

Ron looked up and saw that the banana he had been holding was now a messy piece of mush inside a peel. He dropped it on his plate, disgusted.

'You're in a good mood,' Harry said dryly.

'Didn't sleep well,' Ron muttered, which was true.

'Me, neither,' Harry said dully. Ron felt a rush of guilt, dwelling on his own problems.

'What have we got this morning?'

'Double Transfiguration,' Harry said, looking over the schedule, looking glad for the change of subject.

'Great,' said Ron, pouring himself a very large cup of coffee. 'Just the way I like to start out my mornings. With McGonagall breathing down our necks.'

'At least it's not Potions,' Harry pointed out, his eyes very cold.

'No, that fun comes this afternoon,' Ron said sullenly.

'Speak for yourself,' Ginny said, sitting down next to him. 'I have Defense Against the Dark Arts this afternoon with Bill. I can't BELIEVE he didn't tell us about this.'

'Yeah, well, I'm going to talk to him after class, that's for sure,' said Ron. 'Having a close relative for a teacher, I ask you!'

'Just be glad it's not Umbridge,' Harry pointed out, looking at the thin trace of a scar on his right hand, a relic of Umbridge's brutal detentions.

'Speaking of evil fat toads,' Ginny said, 'Umbridge has turned up. In St. Mungo's.'

'St. Mungo's?' Harry repeated. 'How'd she end up there?'

'She was found wandering around Hogsmeade, actually,' said Ginny. 'Talking to herself and waving her arms around and muttering about centaurs, I think. It was in The Daily Prophet, didn't you see?'

'I don't read that rag anymore, you know that,' Harry said darkly.

'Right,' said Ginny, holding up her hands to placate him. 'Don't bite my head off. I just read Hermione's copy. She's still getting it.'

'Where is Hermione?' Ron asked, noticing that her seat was now empty.

'She went back upstairs to get her books, said she'd meet you down here,' said Ginny.

'She did?' Ron said hopefully. Maybe she'd start talking to him again after all.

'She just said Harry, not both of you,' said Ginny, sounding apologetic.

'Oh,' said Ron dully, staring down into his porridge. He had completely lost his appetite.

The day did not improve much from there. Double Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall had always been one of the most difficult classes, but now, she warned them in what sounded to Ron like dire tones, they were in for the most difficult two years of their transfiguration training. They would transfiguring larger animals like dogs and sheep into furniture and other useful items before moving on to perhaps the most difficult form of transfiguration possible, the Conjuring Spells.

Hermione took a seat next to Susan Bones, a Hufflepuff girl, and Ron felt strangely bereft as he took his seat next to Harry.

Today's assignment was to transform cats into footrests. Hermione got hers in three tries, as usual, and Professor McGonagall not only awarded her 150% on the day's assignment, she also awarded ten points to Gryffindor. Susan Bones managed to get her cat turned into a footrest by the end of the lesson. Harry and Ron both turned their cats into something resembling a cylindrical pillow with cat legs and a tail. They got extra homework that night.

At the lunch break Hermione again avoided sitting next to Harry and Ron.

'I don't have a disease, you know,' Ron muttered under his breath.

'Maybe you should apologize to her,' Harry suggested.

'I DID!' Ron bit out angrily, nearly spluttering Harry with a bit of his ham sandwich. 'I told her I was sorry on the train, and she just pushed me away.'

'Maybe you should try again,' Harry said, unable to hide the grin on his face. 'Get down on bended knee or something.'

'Shut up,' Ron said irritably, throwing his sandwich down on his plate unfinished. Once again, he had lost his appetite, and this was nearly as irritating as Hermione refusing to speak to him.

Their next class was, to Ron's further annoyance, Double Potions, but his reluctance to go to their next class seemed to pale in comparison to Harry's reaction. Dark hatred was glittering in Harry's eyes now, and Ron swallowed. He hoped Harry wouldn't do anything stupid or lose his temper in class the way he did last year, with Umbridge. Who was to say Snape hadn't heard of the way Umbridge punished students in her detentions and decided that this sadistic method was the perfect way for students to serve detentions in his classes?

They arrived early and took up their usual spots in the back of the room. Hermione sat next to Neville Longbottom, who for the first time since Ron had known him did not look terrified as they waited for Snape to arrive. Snape had terrorized Neville even worse than Harry from Day One, but something had changed very palpably in Neville over the past year. Maybe it was their old D.A. meetings, where Neville had finally become very good at using defensive spells. Or maybe it was the battle at the Ministry, in which Neville had run into and been briefly tortured by the very witch who had tortured his own parents into insanity. Whatever it was, Neville no longer looked remotely like the shy, forgetful boy he had always been. There was a determination in his eyes and a set to his jaw. It was a bit unnerving to Ron, he had to admit.

Just then Snape swept into the room, his black robes billowing behind him. The class, which had been filled with the drone of chattering, fell silent at once.

'Welcome to Sixth Year Potions,' Snape said in his hissing sort of voice. 'I see that several familiar faces have returned.' He gave a dry smile to Draco Malfoy, who was sitting next to one of his big, dumb cronies, Vincent Crabbe. 'Apparently you all did well enough on your O.W.L.s to qualify for this year's class. I must admit I'm surprised to see a few of you...' And his eyes traveled over to where Neville was sitting, then to Harry and Ron. Harry glowered at Snape openly but said nothing.

'Obviously some of you were not as dismal at potion-making as I had thought,' Snape said, smiling viciously. 'That said, rest assured that the next two years will be the most rigorous of your Hogwarts careers. Anyone receiving less than A in this level will be dismissed permanently from this class. You have been warned.'

Ron saw a muscle twitch in Harry's jaw. Don't lose it, Ron thought desperately. You need this class if you want to be an Auror. But Harry merely clenched and unclenched his fists.

'Today we will be starting with Veritaserum,' Snape continued. 'The Potion of Truth. Highly useful in interrogations.' He glared at Harry. 'Ingredients and instructions are on the blackboard.' Snape waved his wand and the words appeared.

Ron and Harry set to work at once. Even with a double period one could not always count on finishing his or her potion in time. Ron thought nervously of Snape's pronouncement that any grade below an A would result in getting kicked out of the class. He read and re-read the ingredients and instructions several times before even picking up the small clump of mother-of-pearl dust that was the first ingredient.

In the end Ron's and Harry's potions looked to be good; Snape told them that the potion should be pearlescent and clear, with a tinge of blue. Ron's was a bit more green than blue, he thought anxiously, but maybe it would do. He scooped up a small amount in a flask and took it to Snape's desk; Harry came next, followed by Hermione, whose potion looked perfect, as usual.

'Results of your potions grade will be given in the next class,' Snape announced as Malfoy's other crony, Gregory Goyle, plunked his potion--a putrid, cloudy brown color (why on EARTH were those two stupid lumps in Potions, Ron thought angrily)--onto Snape's desk. 'Homework is a full parchment essay on the properties of mother-of-pearl.'

Ron groaned inwardly. He hated doing essays for Snape. Harry looked no happier about it.

'Well, that wasn't horrible,' Ron said, trying to sound cheerful, for Harry looked positively ready to explode. 'Only mildly awful, really.'

'Yeah,' said Harry through clenched teeth. 'I can't believe we have to take two more years of that class just to be Aurors. I can't BELIEVE Crabbe and Goyle are back.'

'No kidding,' said Ron darkly, as the two of them, flanking Malfoy, passed without so much as a glance back at he and Harry. 'Stupid prats. Maybe Crabbe's Dad used an Imperius Curse on the wizard who gave them the O.W.L. test.'

'What's next?' asked Harry, sounding thoroughly put out.

'Herbology,' Ron announced.

They headed off to the greenhouses, grateful that Herbology was not a double period, although Professor Sprout was a far more pleasant teacher to be around than Snape.

The only problem with going to the greenhouses was that one had to go outdoors to get there. The rain had stopped late that morning but it had turned the grounds to mud. By the time they reached the greenhouse their shoes and ankles were thick with it, and every step they took mud oozed and squelched between their toes.

Herbology was, however, one of the more fun classes. Today they were working with funny little plants called mimbulus mimbletonia. Neville was so beside himself with delight about this that Ron wondered whether Neville might just wet himself. He produced his own plant and Ron remembered that Neville had gotten it last year, but Ron never did learn just what one did with it.

He found out quickly enough that poking the mimbulus mimbletonia was a mistake. When he accidentally prodded it with his wand stinksap flew everywhere, spattering on him, Harry, Neville, and Hermione. It smelled so horrible that Ron felt sick.

'Stupid, silly boy,' Professor Sprout said, shaking her head but smiling. 'Scourgify!' She waved her wand and the stinksap disappeared, but not before Draco Malfoy and his Slytherin cronies screamed with laughter.

'As you can see,' Professor Sprout went on, 'mimbulus mimbletonia has a powerful defense mechanism. Stinksap is a very useful bug repellent.'

'And a people repellent,' Seamus muttered.

'Yes, that too, Mr. Finnigan,' Professor Sprout said lightly. 'But the plant itself also has many uses. When stinksap is fermented and boiled with mature, crushed mimbulus mimbletonia leaves and begonia extract it creates a powerful tonic that is an excellent antidote for many different kinds of poisonous bites.'

The lesson ended with another homework assignment, involving reading a chapter on plants with defensive abilities in 1,001 Magical Herbs and Fungi.

Ron returned to the common room before dinner, already feeling tired and irritable. Hermione's continued refusal to speak to him was grating on him far worse than he had ever expected. A part of him knew he ought to apologize to her for making her cry, but the other side of him resisted. He couldn't understand why Hermione couldn't see what a boy like Eddie Carmichael was really all about. The smarmy way he smiled at her, the way he talked. He really was like Gilderoy Lockhart, Ron thought. And, Ron thought furiously, he was selling black-market brain addling drugs last year! Talk about breaking the rules.

'Fainting Fancies,' Ron muttered to the portrait of the fat lady, which swung open and allowed him to enter the Gryffindor common room.

The common room was occupied by a number of younger students. Ron nodded at them and hurried upstairs, not keen to be engaged in conversation with anyone just yet. He found Harry in the dormroom sitting on his bed, looking a bit bewildered.

'What's up?' Ron asked, throwing his bag on his bed.

'Well, looks like I'm Quidditch captain,' Harry said, blinking.

'That's...that's brilliant!' Ron said. Finally, he thought, some good news for a change. 'You totally deserve it, you've been on the team for ages, you're the best flyer in the school.'

'I guess,' Harry said, shrugging.

'Harry,' Ron said, puzzled. 'You DO want to be captain, right?'

'Yeah,' Harry said weakly. 'It's just...I haven't played in almost two years. I mean, fourth year we had the Triwizard and last year...' His voice trailed off. He clearly didn't want to talk about getting banned from Quidditch last year.

'So, you're back,' said Ron bracingly. 'And you're captain. All we need are a few good Chasers and the cup's in the bag.'

'Maybe,' Harry said doubtfully. 'I dunno. I'll be really rusty.'

'Rubbish,' said Ron. 'Look, Harry, you're a natural, okay. You fly better than anyone, and you've got the best broom in the school. And anyway, you flew a bunch this summer. What are you getting worked up about?'

'Yeah,' said Harry, sounding like he was trying to convince himself. 'You're right. I guess I'm just a little surprised, after what happened, you know, with...with Sirius, and everything.'

Ron swallowed. Harry looked down at his shoes, and there was a moment of uncomfortable silence.

'I'm sure...' Ron began, 'I'm sure Sirius'd be real proud, you know. You being captain.'

Harry smiled, but it was the saddest smile Ron had ever seen. 'You think?'

'Yeah,' said Ron firmly. 'Definitely.'

'Thanks,' said Harry, looking very quickly at Ron and then down at his shoes. Ron nodded, not knowing what else to say.

'So,' Harry said suddenly, in a slightly forced voice, 'I guess we have to hold try-outs. And arrange practices.'

'Yeah,' said Ron, grateful to be back on a happier subject. 'Ginny mentioned she wanted to try out. She's really good.'

'Yeah, she is,' Harry agreed. 'What about the beaters. Who are they, Kirke and Sloper?'

'Sloper's not coming back to the team,' Ron said, not looking at all concerned about this. 'Think he never did get over smashing Angelina in the face with his bat last year. Kirke's around, though, so I guess...'

'He's still in,' Harry said firmly. 'He's not so bad anymore. So we need two Chasers and a Beater. Try-outs are on Friday, I'll arrange with McGonagall on the time, but five o'clock work?'

'Sounds fine,' said Ron, finally feeling glad to be back at school. Classes might be drudgery and he had no idea if Hermione would ever speak to him again but at least there was Quidditch to look forward to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following day Harry, Ron and Hermione had Double Charms followed by Defense Against the Dark Arts in the afternoon. Hermione was still maintaining her frosty silence, but Ron was so appalled about being a student in Bill's class that he forgot about Hermione, at least during breakfast.

In their Charms lesson, however, Ron felt the same hollow ache he'd been feeling, he realized, ever since seeing Hermione on that first day over the summer. It was even more acute in this lesson, as they were practicing Serenity Charms.

Ron's attempts at the charm were weak at best. Harry reported a slight and very brief feeling of peace a second or two after Ron tried to perform the charm on him, but it passed so fast as to be almost unnoticeable. Harry did not have much better luck trying the charm on Ron. Ron's brain was so addled he did not think he would ever achieve serenity. But their shoddy charm work was nothing compared to Neville, who accidentally hit Hermione with a Melancholy Charm and caused her to burst into tears. Professor Flitwick, who was perched on top of his usual pile of books, sighed, waved his wand at Hermione and said 'Pace!' She immediately stopped crying and produced a perfect Serenity Charm on Neville.

She then caught Ron's gaze--Ron realized he had been staring at her--and gave him a rather cold smile, but proceeded to ignore him for the rest of the lesson.

'Well, that's progress,' Harry said, noting Hermione's smile. 'At least she's looking at you.'

'Yeah,' said Ron, trying to feel a bit more hopeful.

They broke for lunch. Ron felt suddenly famished and he and Harry headed straight for the Great Hall when Ron groaned out loud.

'What?' Harry asked.

'Carmichael,' Ron said darkly, as the handsome Head Boy glided (how on earth did he DO that, anyway?) smoothly down the hall, making a beeline for Hermione.

'Hello, Hermione,' he said in that despicable, smarmy voice that made Ron want to break something.

'Oh, hello, Eddie,' she said, her voice sounding very girlish and very ridiculous.

'Let's get out of here,' Ron said quickly. 'Or I might throw up.'

Harry suppressed a smile and they hurried off toward the Great Hall.

But once there, Ron found his appetite had again deserted him.

'Eat up, Ron,' Harry said, 'You're going to pass out if you don't put something in your stomach.'

'You sound like my Mum,' Ron said glumly, picking up a sandwich from one of the platters on the table.

Harry said nothing but took another bite of his sandwich. Ron stared at his.

'Actually,' Ron said sadly, 'you sound like Hermione.'

'Ron, just TALK to her, will you?' Harry said, sounding exasperated. 'You're miserable, she's miserable...'

'Yeah, she looked really miserable back there, talking to Eddie,' Ron said dully.

'Eddie's an empty pretty boy who flatters her, that's all,' Harry said firmly. 'You two are mates. Start acting like mates, for God's sake.'

Ron rolled his eyes and bit into his sandwich.

However much he lacked an appetite, Ron had never wanted a lunch hour to end less than this one, because the end of the hour meant his first Defense Against the Dark Arts class with Bill. The bell rang and Ron threw down his sandwich, which was only half eaten.

'Great,' Ron said. 'Harry, you think you can do a Deafening Charm on me, because I'm about to get the mickey taken out of me something fierce.'

'Malfoy's not going to say a word about it as long as you and Bill are in the same room, you know,' Harry pointed out.

'Oh yeah,' said Ron, brightening considerably. 'I forgot. Hey, maybe if Malfoy screws up in class Bill will hex him or give him lots of detentions.' On this happier thought they headed to their lesson.

When they entered the room they were surprised to find that it was already half full, but that nearly all the seats filled were filled with girls. Parvati and Lavender sat at a table in the very front of the room, both alternately giggling and gazing up at Bill with dazed, dreamy looks on their faces. Hannah Abbott sat in the next row with another Hufflepuff girl Ron did not know; Ron noticed that Hannah had written 'William Weasley' on her notebook and drawn little hearts around it.

Hermione was sitting next to Susan Bones again; Susan, too, had a kind of rapt look on her face. Ron rolled his eyes. His brother, the pretty boy. Great. At least, he thought gratefully, Hermione isn't going all googly-eyed over Bill, too.

The classroom slowly filled up, the boys now entering. Malfoy came in with Crabbe and Goyle and they all sneered at Harry and Ron; Malfoy threw a disgusted, derisive look at Bill, who had turned his back to the class to fetch something out of his bag.

Bill turned around, and Ron sat down quickly next to Harry. As usual, Bill looked stylish, polished, and entirely cool. His hair, thick and blond-streaked from the sun, was pulled back into its perfectly smooth ponytail. He had exchanged his dangling fang earring with a tiny stud that sparkled. His robes, which were entirely plain, were nonetheless spotlessly clean and fit him perfectly. Ron stifled a snort when he heard Lavender sigh out loud.

'Good afternoon, class,' Bill said, in a commanding, ringing voice that made the whole class, even Ron, jump. 'Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts, Level Six. I'm Professor Weasley, and the headmaster hired me to fill this spot which was vacated by Professor Umbridge.'

Several audible hisses went up in the classroom.

'Yes, yes,' Bill said, putting out his hands. 'Let's get this out of the way. Umbridge was a foul toad and you all hated her. But she's gone and it's time to focus on the present, not the past. Things have changed. The Ministry of Magic is not going to be interfering at Hogwarts this year or any other year. Your lessons in defensive magic are going to be very different this year, because of the very real threats facing us. I'll warn you right now that even if you have absolutely no plans to enter careers where defensive magic is a requirement, at no time is defensive magic more important than right now.'

Ron stared at Bill and felt a grudging sense of admiration for his oldest brother.

'I understand that many of you did manage to work on some spells last year,' Bill went on, giving Harry a barely detectable wink. 'I'm aware of what you covered in your O.W.Ls. We'll review those spells a bit, but I want to get you all started on more advanced stuff, so be prepared.'

Ron gave Harry a look, and they both wondered what Bill could mean by this.

'Today we're going to practice the basics, just to give everyone a little memory boost,' Bill said. 'Pair up, step back from your desks, please.'

He waved his wand and the desks slid neatly out of the way.

'Let's do a round of Disarming Spells,' Bill said. 'After that we'll do Stunning and Silencing Charms.'

The class turned out to be far better than Ron had expected. Bill was, to Ron's amazement, a very good teacher, patient, firm, but very much in control of the class. This did not stop Malfoy and his cronies from shooting dirty looks at Bill every chance they got, or sneering looks at Ron, but Ron didn't care. He was embarrassed, however, when Bill came over to him and Harry during their practice of silencing charms and gave Ron a tip on how to truly silence Harry, instead of making Harry's voice simply sound soft.

'Just give the wand a sharper stab at the throat,' Bill said, demonstrating with his wand but not uttering the incantation.

'Yeah,' Ron said, nodding, wishing Bill would hurry up and go over to Malfoy--who was smiling with glee and pointing at Ron--and tell the little sod that his charm work was junk.

The lesson ended with the Total Body Bind Spell, which Harry nailed on the first try and Ron got on the third.

'Good work, everyone,' said Bill, as they gathered up their bags and stowed their wands away. 'No homework, but we'll be doing Impediment Jinxes and Confounding Charms next, so you might want to think about practicing those. Come to my office if you want permission to use the classroom, I'll make sure it's available during off hours.' He gave Ron a smile and Ron, feeling his ears go pink, nodded.

Ron and Harry were just heading out the door, when Bill called, 'Mr. Potter!'

Ron rolled his eyes, mouthing 'Mr. Potter,' but Harry simply turned around.

'Yes?'

'Hang on a minute,' Bill said, walking up to them both. 'I just wanted a word with you. Do you mind?'

'No,' said Harry, glancing at Ron. 'I'll catch up with you.'

Ron nodded, wondering what Bill could want with Harry, and left the classroom, closing the door behind him in time to see Hermione walking away quickly, followed by Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, who were all jeering at her.

'You're in it now, Granger,' Malfoy sneered. 'Think you're safe because those Death Eaters are in Azkaban? Think again. You'll get worse than you got last year--'

'Back off, Malfoy!' Ron had run ahead and darted in front of Hermione to head Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle off. 'Leave her alone.' His wand was out.

'No magic in the corridors, Weasley,' Malfoy jeered. 'Or should I call your big brother and have him give you detention?'

'Ron, don't--' Hermione said nervously, putting a hand on his arm.

'Professor Weasley,' Ron spat, rather liking how the title sounded, 'would be happy to give you a year's worth of detentions when he finds out you're going around threatening people.'

'Who said anything about a threat?' Malfoy asked smoothly, in mockingly indignant voice. 'I wasn't threatening the Mudblood, I was just telling her the facts.'

Ron felt another burst of hot anger and he strode right up to Malfoy, his wand directly in Malfoy's pointed face.

'You call her that again, and I swear you'll regret it,' he growled.

'Ron!'

'I'm just terrified,' Malfoy hissed, his eyes narrowing.

'Ron, please, don't.'

'Listen to your girlfriend, Weasel-king,' Malfoy said. 'It's not wise to get into it with me.'

'What are you going to do, set your dad on me again?' Ron challenged. 'Oh, wait, I forgot, he's in Azkaban with Voldemort's other slaves.'

Hermione gasped out loud, and Malfoy's face tightened in fury. When he spoke, his voice was shaking with rage.

'You've just sealed your fate, Weasley,' Malfoy spat, and Crabbe and Goyle each took a step forward. 'You're right up there with Potter now. And the Mudblood. Dead.'

'Tell it to someone who gives a--'

'Chaps, what's the trouble here?' Bill had just come out with Harry. Ron saw that his older brother had his hand inside his robes.

'Nothing,' Malfoy said, still staring daggers at Ron. 'I was just leaving. Come on, Crabbe, Goyle.' He stalked away with both of them, but not before deliberately swinging his bag and smacking Hermione in the ribs with it. She cried out in pain.

'Hey!' Ron yelled as he started to stride after Malfoy. He started to raise his wand when Hermione grabbed his arm and yanked it down.

'Don't!' she cried out.

'Ron,' Bill said warningly.

'You saw what he just did!' Ron said, outraged.

'It's FINE,' Hermione said anxiously, still rubbing her ribs, and Ron turned to look at her. He was horrified to see that her eyes were shining with tears.

'Bill, you can't just--'

'It's Professor Weasley,' corrected Bill, 'and now is not the time to go picking a fight with Draco Malfoy. You all have bigger fish to fry, remember?'

With that, Bill strode away, his robes billowing out behind him.

'It's 'Professor Weasley,'' Ron mocked in a sing-song voice. 'Git.' He glanced at Hermione, who was very pale.

'Are you all right, Hermione?' he asked, his anger with Bill immediately forgotten. He put a hand over hers, which was still on her ribs.

'I'm...okay,' she said, but she was looking at Ron in a very odd way.

'What?' he asked.

'You...you said the name,' she whispered, looking awestruck.

'What?'

'You said Voldemort's name,' Hermione said. 'Just now. When you were in Malfoy's face.'

'I did?' Ron asked, alarmed, and he immediately ran over his confrontation with Malfoy in his head. 'Blimey. I did.'

'Congratulations,' Harry said dryly.

'I can't believe you said the name,' said Hermione, looking completely amazed.

'Well,' said Ron, feeling a bit defensive now, 'it's not THAT big a deal, is it? I mean, Malfoy was going after you and all and you know, I HATE it when he does that. I guess the name just sort of came out. Weird. I dunno why I was so scared of it before.'

'Oh, Ron!' Hermione burst into tears and flung her arms around him. Ron dropped his bookbag, where it landed rather painfully on his foot, but he seemed to only dimly feel the pain as Hermione buried her face into his shoulder.

'What's this about?' he asked, bewildered. 'You weren't even talking to me five minutes ago!' And without thinking he put his arms around her waist.

Harry caught Ron's eye and smirked.

'I'm sorry!' Hermione sniffed, pulling away from him. 'I'm sorry we fought. Can we please be friends again?'

Ron, feeling a bit disappointed that she had let go of him, felt a huge smile spread across his face.

'Yeah,' he said, relieved and pleased. 'I'm sorry, too, okay. I was way out of line before--'

'Oh, just forget about it!' Hermione cried, hugging him again. Ron nearly fell backward off his feet. The day was definitely looking up.

Ron looked at Harry, whose smirk had turned into a very amused grin.