Broken Fate

Chapter Ten ~ The Hogwarts Coalition

"Hermione? Why are you still up? It's two in the morning." Ron yawned and sank down one of the armchairs in front of the fire. Hermione was sitting on the rug in front of the hearth, bent over something that Ron couldn't see through Hermione's dangling hair.

"What are you doing up?" Hermione returned.

"I got up to use the bathroom and heard a noise down here. What are you doing?"

"A Protean Charm," Hermione replied. She leaned back, and Ron saw that there was a basket full of Galleons in front of her. Fake Galleons, he told himself.

"What for? Did Harry decide to start up the D.A. again? He should have told me--"

"No, no," Hermione said hurriedly. "Though I do think if he starts it up again, he's going to have some unexpected supporters." She proceeded to tell him about Blaise Zabini's request.

"You're trusting the Slytherins?" Ron asked skeptically.

Hermione managed a tired smile. "On the contrary--they're trusting me. I was saying last year how the Houses all need to work together, and this is my chance to make it happen. Do you know what it would be like if the Slytherins--some of them, anyway--could work with the Gryffindors?"

"Yeah. It would be like Hagrid suddenly deciding that dragons really aren't cuddly and lovable," Ron snorted. He yawned again. "You should finish it later in the morning, Hermione. You look exhausted."

"Do I sense a bit of concern?" Hermione asked wryly.

"I just don't want you putting yourself out for the Slytherins."

Hermione sighed. "I told you, Ron, I want to do this. Besides, I told Blaise I'd have all of this ready by ten in the morning."

Ron shook his head as Hermione turned back to the basket. He doubted Hermione had any idea how crazy she was sometimes--admirable, but a bit loopy. She had so many strange ideas...that spew thing that she still went on about, for one. Even after seeing Dobby wearing bunches of her hats, she refused to accept that he took all of the clothes she made for the house-elves. Sometimes he wasn't sure if he wanted to shake some sense into her or just grin at her audacity.

As he watched her sit there and whisper a spell at pieces of fake gold, he was struck with the sudden thought. Her lunacy is just one of the things that makes me love her so much. The force of the thought caught him off guard, and his eyes widened. What in the...where did that come from? I don't love Hermione...I mean, as a friend I do, but...

As if sensing something amiss, Hermione glanced over at him again. "You all right, Ron? You look a bit pale."

Ron shook his head to clear it. "Um...yeah...I'm just tired. I think I'm going to go back to bed." He stood up quickly. Yeah, that's it. You're just tired, Ron. Your mind does strange things when you're tired.

You just tell yourself that, mate, another part of his mind muttered as he hurried toward the staircase.

"Well, goodnight, Ron," Hermione said.

"'Night," Ron mumbled. He disappeared up the staircase and headed for his dormitory. Stop thinking about it, he ordered himself. It was just a nonsense thought. He felt distinctly uncomfortable, and wondered why he would feel so unnerved it was just a nonsense thought.

~*~

At breakfast on Sunday morning, Hermione couldn't help but notice that Ron was avoiding her gaze. At first she thought that he was just tired, but when she spoke directly to him, he only mumbled and looked down at his plate of toast and sausage. This continued throughout breakfast, and finally, exasperated, she said, "Ron, what is the matter with you? Do I have something hanging out of my nose?"

Ron finally looked up. His eyes met hers, and then his ears turned red and he was back to staring at his food. Hermione noticed several other Gryffindors giving them odd looks, which was normal--Gryffindors were always giving them strange looks, what with all the squabbles they had. She sighed, stood up, and grabbed Ron's arm. "Come on," she said.

"Hermione...my breakfast..."

"You're on your third plate. I think you can manage," Hermione said smartly. "I want to talk to you."

She dragged him out into the entrance hall, and then turned to face him, still gripping his arm. "What did I do this time?" she demanded.

"Hermione, what are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on. I'm not dense, Ron. You're refusing to look at me, and you keep acting embarrassed about something," Hermione replied.

"I'm not embarrassed about anything!" Ron protested, his blue eyes locking on hers.

"Then what's wrong?"

"Nothing!" He averted his eyes again.

Hermione snorted. "I haven't known you for five years for nothing, Ron. You can't lie to me."

"Hermione! Will you just leave off! I'm fine, and I don't need you prying!" Ron twisted his arm away from her.

"If everything's fine, there wouldn't be anything to pry into, would there?" Hermione replied shrewdly.

They were saved from further debate when a loud cry abruptly sounded through the entrance hall, followed by a chorus of raucous laughter. Ron and Hermione both froze and spun around, looking for the source of the noise, their argument temporarily forgotten. "It's coming from the door to the dungeons," Ron said, running toward the door, Hermione on his heels. Wands out, they pulled the door open and found Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Millicent Bulstrode, and several other Slytherins in a half-circle, facing three other Slytherins. One was standing, and a second was crouched on the floor beside the third, a girl with short brown hair. The girl appeared to be unconscious. Everyone except her had their wands out.

Hermione wasn't sure what was going on, but she knew if it had to do with Draco Malfoy, it couldn't be good. She pointed her wand at his group at the same time Ron did. "Stop right there. What's going on?" Hermione demanded.

"Oh, look. The Mudblood and the Weasel have come to the rescue," Malfoy drawled.

Hermione suspected she might know what was going on. Still pointing her wand at Malfoy's bunch, she knelt beside the girl on the floor. "What did you do to her?" she demanded of Malfoy.

The boy crouched on the ground said angrily, "They attacked from behind--we didn't see them coming. I have to get her to the hospital wing."

"What is going on here?" a familiar voice asked. Hermione glanced over to see Professor Snape walking around the corner from the dungeons.

"Malfoy attacked us, sir," the Slytherin facing Malfoy said, not taking his wand or his eyes off of Draco.

"And why," Snape asked softly, "would Malfoy attack a fellow Slytherin?" His eyes landed on Draco. "He is a prefect."

"Then who cursed her?" Hermione butted in, pointing at the girl on the floor.

Snape sneered at Hermione. "This is Slytherin business, Granger. You and Weasley--out."

"But--"

"If I have to ask you again, I will begin taking points from Gryffindor."

Ron tugged on Hermione's arm. "Hermione, come on," he muttered.

Hermione stood mulishly for a moment, and then turned and slowly followed Ron back into the entrance hall. "He had better not take Malfoy's side on this," she snapped. "I bet you anything that those three Slytherins were part of the group I'm helping--the ones I told you are fighting against Voldemort. What other reason would Malfoy have for attacking them?"

Ron's voice was low when he said, "Well, Snape's one of those Slytherins fighting Voldemort, so maybe he'll take their side."

Hermione sighed. "Maybe." Her mind fell back on her argument with Ron, but he wasn't avoiding her gaze anymore. "Are you all right now? You're actually looking at me again?"

Ron rolled his eyes. "Yes, all right? I'm fine, and I'm looking at you. Now can I go finish my breakfast?" Without waiting for an answer, he turned and walked back into the Great Hall.

Hermione couldn't help noticing that the tips of his ears had turned red again.

~*~

At ten o'clock, as promised, Blaise Zabini arrived outside of the Fat Lady's portrait. Hermione was waiting for him, a tied cloth bag in one hand, and a folded piece of paper in the other. "Here you go," she said, handing them to him. "Whenever you want your group to meet, you change your coin, and all of the others will change, too. You can keep them in your pockets and they'll grow hot when they change."

"Thank you." Blaise took the bag and the paper from her. "I know it must have taken a while."

Hermione nodded. "It did, but I'm glad I could help." Blaise turned to walk away, but she stopped him. "Um...Ron Weasley and I saw something happen with the Slytherins this morning..." She proceeded to explain the scene that they had come upon.

Blaise's face darkened. "Yes, you're right. Malfoy and his gang attacked some of our group."

"Is the girl going to be all right?"

"She's in the hospital wing right now. Madam Pomfrey says she'll be out tomorrow." His jaw tightened. "And Malfoy will regret it."

"You're not going to attack him, are you?" Hermione asked worriedly.

"We're going to defend ourselves," Blaise said shortly. "You don't live in Slytherin. You have no idea the kind of stuff that goes on there." He shook his head. "Thanks again for your help." He turned and walked quickly away.

Hermione bit her lip. It was hard to imagine that much animosity going on in a House. Sure, the Gryffindors had arguments sometimes, but they certainly didn't go attacking each other in the hallways. And from the list Blaise had given her, it seemed that there were far many more Slytherins who were against them.

A sudden idea struck Hermione. Well...maybe there's something we can do to help them out...

~*~

Hermione's first goal was to track down Harry. She found him outside, sitting in the stands around the Quidditch pitch, writing up more plans for the Quidditch team. She sat down and talked with him for a while. He agreed to her idea, so together, they recruited Seamus, Dean, Ginny, Neville, and Will Warren, because he and Neville had been playing a game of Exploding Snap, and he was curious about what was going on. Then the seven of them spread out around the school, tracking down all of the members of the D.A.--at least the ones that hadn't graduated.

Meanwhile, Hermione swung by the hospital wing, where she spent a good hour talking to the Slytherin Second Year, Alessandra Harmon. Lorelai Byars, the short-haired girl who had been brought in earlier, was still unconscious.

It took the better part of the morning and early afternoon, but by three o'clock, all save one of the remaining D.A members (and Will) were gathered at one of the tables in the Great Hall. The one that was missing was Cho Chang, and Hermione wasn't that surprised that she wasn't there, though her boyfriend, Michael Corner, was present. Probably avoiding Harry, she mused. Also in attendance was the Society of Slytherins, courtesy of Alessandra.

Needless to say, there was quite a bit of suspicion and hostility at first, but Harry and Hermione managed to get everyone calm. A discussion began that lasted until people began filing in for dinner, and then they separated to their respective tables to eat. When dinner was over, they got back together.

By the time everyone had to head to their dormitories because of curfew, the Hogwarts Coalition had been formed. It was an allegiance between all four Houses. They agreed to work together, to watch out for each other, and to do everything they could to help in the fight against Voldemort. It was also decided that they would continue to meet on Sunday afternoons, as Sunday was generally the day when the least amount was going on.

As Harry, Hermione, and Ron headed back to Gryffindor Tower, Hermione said, "It should be something that's open to anyone in the school. I'm sure the whole school will know about it by tomorrow anyway. I hope Dumbledore says it's all right," she worried as an afterthought. "I mean, I know those horrible decrees Umbridge set up were done away with, but what if we get in trouble for setting up something so big?"

"I'm sure it will be fine, Hermione," Harry said. "And it's not like we're going to be discussing a bunch of secrets. There are too many people, and too many possibilities that secrets might be betrayed. I don't think this should be a secret. I think the people--like Malfoy--who are going to attack others for standing against Voldemort should definitely know about us. He's going to be watched very closely from now on, by a lot of people in different Houses."

"Who would have thought? We're working with the Slytherins," Ron said. He glanced at Hermione. "I wonder if Hagrid's rethought his outlook on dragons?"

Hermione chuckled, and Harry looked at the two of them, baffled. "What?"

"Never mind," Ron and Hermione said together.

~*~

The next week was one of the most interesting in Harry's life, and that was saying a lot. Word had spread like fire through the school that students from all four Houses had joined together. On Monday evening at dinner, Dumbledore told the school outright, "I'm proud of you for taking the initiative to work together."

"See? He as much as gave us his blessing," Harry told Hermione.

Others weren't as happy about it. Malfoy and his gang of Slytherins redoubled their efforts to make other students miserable. They didn't have as much success in cursing their fellow Slytherins--or anyone else, for that matter. They tried it several times. The first time they tried cursing a Fourth-Year Slytherin in a hallway between classes, a Fifth-Year Ravenclaw spotted them. Malfoy and Goyle both wound up in the hospital wing, and the Slytherin and Ravenclaw went away unscathed. As things grew more heated with some of the Slytherins, the teachers were hard put to keep a closer eye on the students than ever.

Meanwhile, Harry was continuing to keep busy with Quidditch practice, homework, and extra meetings with Sari to learn sign language. He was satisfied to see that Malfoy had yet to retaliate on her. It might have had something to do with the fact that Malfoy's attention was being caught up by other Slytherins. Harry knew Sari would probably have to deal with him sooner or later--Malfoy wouldn't forget what she had done. He was happy to note that he never saw Sari by herself--Aiden, or one of her other friends, was always with her.

On top of that, Dumbledore called him to his office and told him that he needed to continue his Occlumency lessons. Dumbledore himself had given Harry numerous Occlumency lessons during the summer, but he hadn't had any since the start of term. He felt he had made a lot of progress during the summer--his scar rarely hurt, and he wasn't having dreams or getting into Voldemort's head anymore, and most importantly, Voldemort wasn't getting into his head.

He was very relieved to hear that Dumbledore would continue the Occlumency lessons, rather than turning him over to Snape.

Harry was so busy, in fact, that he didn't have much time to think about anything except what was happening at the very moment, and that was just fine with him. Too much time to think meant dwelling on thoughts he'd rather not deal with.

His friends were equally busy. Ron had prefect duties, homework, and Quidditch practice. Hermione also had prefect duties, she was always doing homework, she tutored Will and Shay in Transfiguration on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and she was still relentlessly working on the liberation of house-elves. This included knitting hats and socks, which she had taken to hiding not only in Gryffindor Tower, but in different random places in the castle. Harry wondered how much of the castle Dobby was going to end up cleaning by himself. The other house-elves would soon be paranoid about cleaning anything, in fear that they would come across a piece of clothing and be freed.

Other people were even busier. On Wednesday evening, Harry had been asleep for several hours after an especially long Quidditch practice. At about three in the morning, he got up to use the bathroom, and was about to head back to bed when he realized there was a bright, unflickering light on downstairs in the common room. Usually the fire was the only thing kept tended during the night. He frowned and padded downstairs. There was a lamp set up on one of the tables in the common room, and books and parchment were strewn across the table. Ginny Weasley sat in front of the mess, her head on the table. She was still dressed in her Quidditch robes, and she was fast asleep.

Harry debated between just leaving her there or waking her, but decided she'd probably get a more restful night's sleep if she was in her bed. "Ginny?" he whispered. She didn't move. He walked forward and shook her shoulder. "Ginny?"

Ginny jerked awake with a start, her brown eyes bleary and bloodshot. She had been sleeping on her quill, and now had an imprint of it on one cheek. There was an ink spot on her jaw. "Wh...Harry?" She blinked, confused, and looked around. "Oh, no," she groaned. "I must have fallen asleep. I still don't have my History of Magic paper finished, and my Transfiguration paper isn't written..."

"You can work on it in the morning," Harry told her firmly. "Right now, I think you need sleep more than anything. Fifth Year is rough, and I probably didn't help with the extra-long Quidditch practice."

Ginny dragged herself to her feet. "Oh, no, Harry, that's fine. Quidditch is my favorite part of the week...it helps take my mind off of the less fun stuff." She sighed heavily and began to gather up her books and papers. "I'm probably just doing too much, but I'm trying to get ahead this year so I can focus the next two years on what I really want to do."

Harry hadn't even considered asking her what she wanted to do--Ron and Hermione weren't even sure what they wanted to do yet, though Hermione was looking into different occupations at the Ministry. "Here, let me help," he said, picking up an armload of books. "What is it you want to do?"

"Become an Auror." She looked at him quickly, as if expecting him to make fun of her.

He was surprised. "Really? When did you decide you wanted to be an Auror? That's what I'm aiming for."

"Yeah, that's what Ron said. I decided it's what I wanted to do after...after my First Year." Ginny paused awkwardly, and then said, "Here, let me take those--you can't carry them to my dorm; you're not allowed up to the girls' dormitories."

Harry carefully set the books on top of the ones already in Ginny's arms. She tucked her chin on top of them to hold them in place. "Thanks, Harry." She trudged over to the stairs that led to the girls' dormitories.

"'Night, Ginny." Harry watched to make sure her load of books didn't cause her to topple down the stairs. When she was out of sight, he put out the light in the common room and headed back to his own dormitory. So Ginny had decided it was what she wanted after her First Year...after Voldemort had possessed her. It was an interesting choice--had she done it because of her experience with Tom Riddle?

Even though he had known Ginny for five years now, he began to realize how little he really knew her. Of course, the first four years, she had had a crush on him, and always acted terrified around him, and last year...well, he had been dealing with a lot last year.

Then again, he had been dealing with a lot every year. And I don't exactly go out of my way to make new friends, he thought to himself. He sighed. It was just so much trouble, and so many people had been suspicious of him numerous times during his years at Hogwarts. Things are different now...people know the truth. They believe you.

Harry slipped under his covers and closed his eyes. As he began fell asleep, one last thought crossed his mind. I don't want more people to be close to...then I might lose them too...just like Sirius.

~*~

On the Friday following the establishment of the Hogwarts Coalition, the Gryffindors and the Slytherins again had Care of Magical Creatures together. Harry couldn't help feeling the hostility among the Slytherins. Three of the Sixth Years were part of the Coalition--Blaise Zabini, Samantha Greer, and Shay Long.

"How are things going in the Slytherin dorms?" Harry whispered to Blaise when he got the chance.

Blaise made a face. "Not so great. Shay here--" he jerked his head in Shay's direction "--was finally moved into the Fifth Year dormitory with me. He'd been sleeping in the common room, but Snape made him sleep in his dorm. He shared a room with Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle," he explained.

Harry winced.

"Yeah. Anyway, after Malfoy's bed curtains caught on fire, and after Goyle's bed exploded, and after Shay and Crabbe ended up in the hospital wing, Dumbledore had Shay moved," Blaise explained. "There have been other students moved to other dormitories, too--the Slytherin House is not a very friendly place to be right now."

Harry thought about the peace he usually had in his dormitory and was again grateful that the Sorting Hat hadn't placed him in Slytherin. Sure, he and the boys in his dorm had rows sometimes, but not to the point of setting anyone's bed hangings on fire.

Hagrid was still gone, so Charlie Weasley was still teaching. He came out of Hagrid's cabin, Hagrid's huge boar hound Fang at his heels. He was carrying a large basket, and he set it on the ground in front of the students. "This," Charlie began, "is the first part of the practical application of this class."

Practical application? But we've been learning about dragons... Harry thought with trepidation.

"In this basket," Charlie continued, "I have a dragon egg."

Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil gasped. "But Professor Weasley, dragons are dangerous!" Lavender squealed.

"Not to mention illegal," Malfoy drawled.

"I'm a licensed dragon trainer, and this is authorized by the Ministry of Magic," Charlie replied firmly. "This year, as a class, we are going to take care of this dragon, starting right now. This egg is due to hatch in about a week. Today, however, we're going to learn how to care for the egg."

Oh, no, Harry groaned. He had no doubt Charlie knew what he was doing, but he couldn't shake the sense of déjà vu that struck him at the mention of a dragon egg. His experiences with real, live dragons hadn't been the best.

Hagrid would be thrilled. I wonder if he knows what he's missing...