Lesson Plans

Hermione could hear raised voices long before the Fat Lady swung forward and admitted her into the Gryffindor common room. She climbed over the threshold to find Neville seated pale-faced before the fire, his hands gripping the chair's arms so tightly his knuckles were almost pure white. Harry stood by the window with his fists and jaw clenched, looking as angry as Neville did distressed. Ron was pacing furiously, his face so red Hermione feared he might have a stroke if he didn't calm down. Ginny, who'd been seated on the window-box near Harry, hurried over as soon as she saw Hermione.

"Thank Merlin you're unhurt," she said. "Ron's about to have kittens."

"What happened?" She set her bag on a nearby table. "I could hear him yelling halfway down the corridor."

"It's Luna." Ginny took Hermione by the elbow and led her to a sofa in the corner far from the boys. "She's been attacked."

"Attacked? How? By whom?" She glanced over at Neville, then whispered, "Was Neville hurt as well?" She knew he harbored a soft spot for Luna, though he went to great pains to conceal his affection.

Ginny shook her head. "No, he's the one who found her, just outside the entrance to the greenhouses. Madame Pomfrey's tending to her right now."

"Is it serious?"

"Dunno." Ginny leaned closer. "Neville said her injuries made him think the same people who attacked Colin and Dennis last week, and Justin the week before, also attacked Luna."

Hermione sucked in her breath. "So they've moved beyond targeting Muggle-borns."

"Where the bloody hell have you been?" Hermione looked up to see that Ron had paused in his pacing and fuming and spotted her. He, Harry and Neville rushed over. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

Ron's obvious concern for her safety alternately touched and annoyed Hermione. She drew herself erect and stared him down. "I told you at supper that I had a project to work on tonight. What sort of witch do you take me for? I can take care of myself."

"So could Luna," Neville said quietly.

Hermione saw dark splotches on his robes and realized they were made of blood. "All right, Neville?"

His chin trembled as he nodded. "Madame Pomfrey says she should be back on her feet in a couple of days," he said, heedless of the subject of Hermione's question. "I'm just lucky I found her when I did."

"Luna's lucky she has a friend like you," Ginny said.

"I'll have you know that I've spoken to Professor McGonagall about this," Ron said, looking smug. "She agrees with me that no student should be allowed to roam unescorted through the corridors after supper."

"I think that's a wise course of action," Hermione said.

Ron folded his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow. "Not even prefects."

His smugness annoyed her to no end. "I'll have *you* know that I had an escort."

His face fell. "You did? Who?"

"That's none of your business, Ron."

His face reddened. "What d'you mean it's none of my business? You'd better bloody well believe it is my business!" Beside him Harry shifted his weight from foot to foot.

"What's the matter? Afraid I might be sneaking off for a snog?"

She knew she'd gone too far. Ron's face was deathly pale. Ginny's mouth hung agape. Neville was trying to look anywhere but at her.

"Look," Harry said, pushing his glasses further up on to his nose, "this isn't the time for you two to be having a go at each other. Whoever's been attacking students needs to be found--and stopped."

"You're right, Harry," Hermione said, her anger deflating. "If the same people who attacked the Creeveys and Justin also attacked Luna, I wonder what the connection is?"

"Maybe there's no connection at all," Ginny said. "Maybe they're just attacking whoever's available."

"I don't think so," Neville said quietly, looking down at his hands. "Luna's attackers had a lot of...rage in them. I think she was targeted specifically."

Ginny reached over to squeeze his hand. "I'm sure Madame Pomfrey's taking good care of her." He gave her a shy smile.

"That still doesn't explain why someone would go after all four of them," Ron said. "If it was the same people."

Harry spoke up, his hands shoved into his pockets. "They're all members of the D.A."

Ginny gasped, twisting around in her seat to stare up at him wide-eyed. "You don't think--" He shrugged.

"It makes sense, now that I think about it," Hermione said.

"It also gives us a list of suspects," Ron growled. "Namely, everyone in Slytherin."

"That's rather presumptuous, don't you think?" Hermione said, thinking of the past couple hours she'd just spent--rather enjoyably, in fact--in the company of one of Slytherin's most notorious bullies. "They're not all bad."

Harry snorted. "Right. Name one."

"You're not being fair."

"And you're mad!" Ron said. "Since when did you start sticking up for that dodgy lot?"

"I'm not sticking up for them, Ron. I just don't think it's fair to judge an entire house based on a few bad apples."

He rolled his eyes. "Right."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hermione, Ron," Neville said, the anguish clear in his voice, "please...not now?"

Shame flushed through her. "You're right, Neville, I'm terribly sorry. Please forgive me."

"Sorry, mate." Hermione thought he didn't look too ashamed of himself.

"Presuming it *is* Slytherins doing this," Harry said, picking up where they'd left off, "and I'm inclined to agree with Ron that it is, Malfoy and his goons are the obvious candidates."

"Maybe so," Hermione said. "But you've got no proof. You can't go to Professor McGonagall with just a hunch."

"I know," Harry said. "But we can all keep a close eye on them from now on. Malfoy's not as clever as he thinks he is; he's bound to bollix things up sooner or later."

"And I want to be there when he does," Ron said.

"How d'you intend to do that?" Ginny asked. "You can't follow them everywhere, not unless you want to miss lessons, Quidditch practice, sleep...."

"We could take it in turns," Ron said, giving her a meaningful look.

"Don't be foolish," Ginny said, glaring back at him. "There aren't enough of you to go around."

"You don't mean to help?" Harry asked, his brow furrowed.

"I have better ways to spend my time than following Malfoy around. Besides, the last thing I want is for him to catch me at it and think I fancy him." She grimaced.

"Is there another way we could keep track of his movements?" Neville asked. He looked at Hermione. "Any suggestions?"

"Yeah," Ron said. "You've been rather quiet. What d'you reckon we ought to do?"

Hermione wasn't about to admit that she hadn't said anything because she was frantically trying to think of a way to get to Gregory without being caught to ask him if there was any truth to the accusations Ron and Harry were so eager to make. A week ago she'd never had gone behind her friends' backs this way, but now she believed that, if she asked, he just might tell her what she needed to know. And, she thought with a pang of guilt, a part of her hoped he wasn't involved, even if intellectually she suspected he was.

"Hermione?" Ginny prompted.

"Oh! Right. Well, I think...er...."

"Yes?" Harry asked.

"I think we should warn the rest of the D.A. and leave it at that."

"Warn the D.A.?" Ron scoffed. "What good d'you think that'll do?"

She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. Ron could be so thick sometimes. "Look, there's no way we can track Malfoy's movements twenty-four hours a day without getting caught. I can't use a spell to follow him for us because Filch monitors the use of magic in the corridors so closely. And we don't even know if Malfoy's involved." She paused as Ron snorted in derision. "If we warn the other members of the D.A. about what we think is going on someone might be able to catch the perpetrator in the act."

"She's right, you know," Neville said. "After all, if we're wrong about Malfoy--"

"We're not," Ron growled.

"--if we're wrong about Malfoy, whoever *is* doing this could set on someone else whilst we're busy watching him."

Harry nodded in agreement. "Right, then. We'll alert the rest of the D.A. and tell them to watch their backs. I still want to keep a closer eye on Malfoy though," he added, giving a nod to Ron, "just in case. We won't follow him around, but maybe put those Extendable Ears to good use?" He raised his eyebrow at Ginny. So did Hermione, since she'd overheard Ginny telling her mum at King's Cross that she'd left all of Fred and George's inventions at home.

"Yeah," she said with a wry smile. "I reckon I can let you borrow them for a bit. Just don't let any of the professors catch you with them, because I've only got the one pair."

Harry smiled grimly back. "I promise to be careful."

"So that's the plan then?" Ron asked. "Alert the D.A. and keep an ear out for anything suspicious from Malfoy?"

"Until we have further proof he's involved," Hermione said, "it's the best we can do." She made a mental note to keep a closer eye on Gregory as well; if Malfoy was involved in the attacks, odds were high that Crabbe and Goyle were too, and she suspected Gregory would be more likely to unwittingly reveal clues if she could catch him off guard.

~~~~~ <<<<< >>>>> ~~~~~

Weeks passed without incident, to Hermione's relief. Harry called together a meeting of the D.A. the day after the attack on Luna and warned everyone to be careful, but the attacks had already stopped. Luna recovered from her injuries in time to join them for the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year, although Hermione observed with amusement that she and Neville disappeared not long after they arrived in town and didn't resurface until well after nightfall. Hermione had been in such a good mood she didn't have the heart to chastise Ron and Harry for the gentle ribbing they gave Neville as everyone relaxed by the fire after supper. Gryffindor played very well in its Quidditch match against Ravenclaw, no thanks to the nine goals Ginny scored (Harry, not about to be outshined by a mere Chaser, pulled a marvelous feint on Cho Chang and grabbed the Snitch before she'd had a chance to recover).

Most importantly from Hermione's perspective, however, was the remarkable progress Gregory had made in their private tutorials. After their first meeting he'd not been late once, nor had he ever come unprepared to work. He applied himself with a vigor that both surprised and delighted her, and his effort was beginning to show up in the marks he earned. He'd come to her just the other night waving a scroll with a large A at the top in Professor Flitwick's carefree hand, the joy just radiating from him. Hermione had been so happy for Gregory she almost hugged him.

Her weekly meetings with Professor Snape were going better than expected as well. His initial suspicion had given way to a grudging acceptance, and the questions he set before her had recently taken on a note of consideration Hermione doubted he'd ever openly admit to. Nor would she have expected him to be quite so committed to education.

A couple of weeks ago he'd asked her to devise a means of determining literacy levels in first years prior to the start of lessons. He'd then added another challenge by insisting it be a test that could only be administered magically. It was just the sort of challenge Hermione relished, and she'd spent many happy hours in the library researching spells. When Harry made an offhand remark about the Occlumency training he was now doing under Professor Dumbledore's supervision, she knew she'd found the key to solving the puzzle. Professor Snape had scarcely managed to conceal his surprise when she presented him with her preliminary findings the following week. After suggesting a few alterations to the spells she'd devised he questioned her about Gregory's progress--she told him about the A in Charms--then dismissed her until the next week with a reminder about the essay he'd set in Advanced Potions.

The next morning dawned crisp and gray, a perfect day for the Hufflepuff-Slytherin Quidditch match. Hermione indulged in a bit of a lie-in with her rebound copy of *Hogwarts, A History* until she could no longer ignore Lavender and Parvati's hushed giggles. After dressing she met Ginny downstairs in the common room and the two of them went to breakfast, where Ron and Harry were each making short work of their eggs, toast and sausages. Hermione slid in next to Ron and poured herself a cup of coffee.

Ron looked up from his plate. "What are you looking so pleased about?" he asked gruffly.

Hermione exchanged a glance with Ginny and Harry, who both shrugged. "What do you mean?"

He washed down a last bite of toast with some pumpkin juice. "You look like Crookshanks when he's just about to pounce on Pig."

"What a load of rubbish," she said with a sigh, returning to her coffee. "Is it so wrong if I happen to wake up in a good mood every now and then?"

"No," he said. "But why today? What's so good about today?"

"Oh for Merlin's sake, Ron, it's not as though I plan these things!"

He gave her an odd look. "Blimey, who's taking the mickey out of you?"

She wanted to throw her mug at him. Fortunately the post owls chose to arrive at that moment, swooping in through the windows high above the Great Hall. Hermione took a Knut out of her pocket and held it ready for the owl delivering her copy of the *Daily Prophet*. When it fluttered down beside her plate, however, she noticed that it wasn't carrying the newspaper, but rather a small parcel.

"Hello," she murmured, untying the parcel from the owl's leg, "what's this?"

"Present from home?" Ginny asked, her eyebrow raised. The owl bearing Hermione's newspaper landed near her, so she took the coin from Hermione, retrieved the paper and paid the owl.

"I don't know. I wasn't expecting anything." She took the paper from Ginny's outstretched hand.

"Well, go on now, open it and let's see."

Hermione smiled at Ginny's impish grin, but chose instead to pocket the parcel. "Later." She ignored the rather intensely silent way Ron had observed the entire exchange and slid the platter of toast toward her. "So," she said, smearing marmalade on her toast, "what time does the match start?"

~~~~~ <<<<< >>>>> ~~~~~

The first opportunity she got Hermione fled for the sanctuary of her room. It hadn't been easy; Ron had been watching her like a hawk all morning. She'd managed to brush him off with a vague reference to their Potions essay and slipped away when he started harrumphing about the assignment not being due until Tuesday. Lavender and Parvati, she knew, had already gone down to the Quidditch pitch, so she was able to open the parcel in private. She felt unusually giddy as her fingers fumbled to untie the string wrapped around it; she hadn't recognized the handwriting on the outer paper and wondered who could possibly have sent her a gift.

The paper, once removed, revealed a small wooden box. Hermione opened it to find a tiny porcelain model of an otter gamboling on a bed of velvet. "Oh my!" she cried, raising her hand to her mouth in astonishment and delight. She'd seen this very model in a shop window in Hogsmeade and had remarked how pretty she thought it was. But only Ginny had been with her at the time, and she knew Ginny wouldn't purchase such an extravagant gift for her.

Which raised the question: who would?