Gabrielle (The Return of Voldemort)

Two

 

To Harry's annoyance, he found he had dozed off soon after reading Ron's letter, and outside it was now fully bright. He had been worried about Hermione, he remembered. Ron had said he hadn't got a letter from her either. Well, if Hedwig returned with the letter Harry had given her for Hermione, he'd...

 

He didn't get a chance to finish that thought as he heard a faint swish of wings, and hoping against hope it was who he thought it was, turned back to the window. Hedwig stood there, hooting happily, a letter in her beak. Harry took it gently, crossing his fingers as he did so, hoping that it wasn’t just his letter returned once again. But one look at the handwriting and the writing paper convinced him it was not. He couldn’t help grinning, despite the fact that he had been so concerned. It was indeed Hermione.

Harry,

 

I'm all right; don't have a heart attack about me! I suppose Ron is ready to send the Ministry of Magic out after me, well you can tell him there is no need. I am in Bulgaria with Viktor. It's a bit different to England all right, though Viktor's family is perfectly nice to me, and I like them a lot. All the same, Viktor is very busy with Quidditch so we don't get to talk as much as I'd like, but he is showing me around the place whenever he has the time.

 

I've bought some very interesting books here, Bulgaria is such a fascinating country of course, I want to learn all I can, especially since Viktor lives so near to where the Bulgarian Goblin Rebellions took place in 1353. It is very relevant to our History of Magic course. I hope you're studying for your OWLs. I needn't ask if Ron is. Hope the Dursleys aren't treating you too badly. I'm going to send an owl to Ginny now to tell her I'm all right, but I have to wait for Viktor's to come back (it really is irritating, not having your own owl sometimes, but then Crookshanks is such a dear, I wouldn't be without him), so you can tell Ron to calm down, I've just been so busy I didn't get a chance to write, and it does take longer to come from Bulgaria, you know.

 

We'll meet up in Diagon Alley, I hope, but I'll be back home before that.

 

Love from,

 

Hermione

Harry felt relieved. At least that was one thing off his mind, with an evil wizard after him; he didn't want to be worried about his best friend's whereabouts as well! Speaking of best friends... Harry thought he owed Ron a letter, a reply to the one he had already received that night, and to tell him that Hermione was okay. He rustled around under the loose floorboard, took up a quill and paper, and began to write.

 

 

*

 

Ron was far more anxious about Hermione than Harry had been. He had sat through breakfast with a look of anguish on his face. Fred and George had thought this hilarious - "Having woman trouble, Ronniekins?" - but they had luckily disappeared soon afterwards to practice Apparating - provided they passed the test, they would get their licence in one week, and that was enough to spur them on. Percy and Mr Weasley hadn't noticed at all, things were so busy at the Ministry lately that they basically ate, slept and worked most of the day. Ron noticed that for once, Mrs Weasley didn't complain about it. He had a feeling it was something to do with Voldemort. Even Percy wasn't boasting about what important jobs he had ahead of him, a sure sign if Ron had ever seen one. Another one was his mother's careful replies whenever he asked her about it.

 

"Why are Dad and Percy working such long hours?" he'd asked her. "Fudge never needed them that long. Is it something to do with You-Know-Who? Are they helping Dumbledore?"

 

"Why, of course not, dear," Mrs Weasley would reply, pretending to be busy with cleaning, or making a stew, but never with her mind fully to the subject, and she would always finish with "Run along now, dear." Eventually Ron got fed up with this. So on that particular morning, he lost the rag altogether, and shouted, "This is my best friend we're talking about, Mum! Harry! You-Know-Who is after my best friend, so if you don't mind, I would like to know if my brother and my dad are going to help him or not!"

"Dumbledore has given them strict orders not to discuss it outside their families," said Mrs Weasley with pursed lips. "Harry and Hermione aren't to know this. I don't even know much about it, when I do, I will tell you, Ron, but not now."

Ron turned on his foot and stormed upstairs. He met Ginny coming out of her bedroom, looking very flushed. "What's wrong with you?" she asked him, looking like she was trying to stop her lips curling into a smile.

"Mum won't tell me anything about what Dad and Percy are doing at the Ministry," Ron moaned. "It's not as if I don't have a right to know either! If... I mean, now that You-Know-Who is back, the first person he will want to get is Harry. Harry only just escaped before! He's my best friend... why won't they tell me?" He stamped his foot impatiently and hit a nail on one of the floorboards. "Owww!" He howled with pain and hopped around. Ginny was looking pale, though not, thought Ron seething, because of the nail at all. "R-Ron," she stammered, "y-you don't think he'll get Harry? Do-do you think he'll come after me as well?"

Ron felt as if a Filibuster’s firework had hit him and destroyed all his insides. How could he have been so insensitive, of course, Ginny was worried. Ever since her first year when Tom Riddle's diary had enchanted her to open the Chamber of Secrets, Ginny had been even touchier about the subject of Voldemort. The family had always been careful about the mention of him around her, even if no one in the Weasley household dared say his name – the only people Ron knew who did were Dumbledore, Professor Lupin, and Harry. That thought brought him to his senses. "Ginny, I will never let You-Know-Who get you, never ever, that is, of course, if he goes near you, but I doubt he will, that diary was written when he was sixteen, he’s not going to be too worried about it, is he? And Harry, well you saw Cedric at the end of the Triwizard Tournament," (Ginny gave a little sob), "he died, but Harry survived through all that. He’s strong, you know. He’s the only student in Hogwarts who says You-Know-Who’s name, not even stinking Malfoy does."

 

"I just… I’m worried," Ginny said, wiping her tears. "Things are different now, really different. I don’t know if I feel safe anymore. And if Harry dies, who’s there left?"

"Harry won’t die," said Ron, teeth clenched. "He can’t, he won’t. Dumbledore wouldn’t let it. And You-Know-Who can’t do anything with Dumbledore around. Harry will be all right, Ginny, honestly." However, Ginny still looked uneasy. Awkwardly, Ron put his arm around her. Sometimes you had to do these things with girls. It was the same when Hermione was upset… Hermione. He suddenly recalled her. "Ginny… you didn’t get an owl from Hermione lately, by any chance?" He tried to sound casual. Unfortunately, Ron’s take on ‘casual’ wouldn’t have fooled anyone. Ginny couldn’t help grinning. "You haven’t heard from her, have you? Getting worried?"

 

"She usually writes, that’s all," said Ron, fiddling with some thread at the edge of his sleeve. Ginny raised an eyebrow. "She’s probably studying for her OWLs! You know what Hermione is like!"

 

"Yeah," muttered Ron. He knew what she was like, all right… or did he? After the Yule Ball, he hadn’t been sure of anything about Hermione anymore. Like it or not, Hermione was a girl. Ron had been trying to avoid that fact for the entire time that he had known her, but when he’d seen her that night with Krum, he’d felt butterflies in his stomach as he looked at her, and had badly wanted to punch Krum’s lights out. This was not normal Ron behaviour. True, if it had been Malfoy, it would have been most definitely Ron behaviour, or if Krum had insulted him or his family. But he hadn’t. He was still a damned good Quidditch player (as Ron had stated so many times before the ball), and according to Harry as well as Hermione, a very nice bloke. Harry wouldn’t have lied about him to Ron. Hermione was different – she didn’t know what she was saying. Krum obviously had her bewitched or something. There was no way she really liked him…

"Didn’t Hermione say that Viktor Krum invited her to Bulgaria for this month?" asked Ginny keenly, awakening him from his reverie. He mumbled in assent, not trusting himself to speak. "Well, perhaps that’s it, then," Ginny continued, eyes sparkling. "She may be just having too good a time with Viktor to write…"

"I’m going to find Fred and George," Ron snapped at her, and went as if to head up to his room, when Ginny reminded him, "Ehmm, Ron, they were outside."

"So what?"

"And you are going upstairs."

"So what, I just thought of something I wanted to get first!" Ron barked.

"Yes, but why are you going to find them? You were annoyed with them at breakfast, and they went off to practice Apparating. What’s the use of following them? You can’t practice – you’re not seventeen."

"Don’t remind me!" Ron yelled angrily. "I’m not Viktor Krum." And he marched downstairs, presumably to get as far away from Ginny as possible. Ginny just smiled. Maybe Ron was a teeny bit jealous? He might just have a touch of the "Cho Chang" complex, as she sometimes thought of it. Extreme jealousy of the beloved of the object of your affection. Or something like that. She looked up just in time to see Hedwig shoot through the window. "That’ll cheer Ron up, anyway," she told the owl. "A letter from Harry. Well, go on, find him, he’s downstairs somewhere. I just hope he doesn’t mention Hermione in the letter."

As it turned out, only a few minutes had elapsed when Ginny heard Ron roar from below, "F-Fleur? Coming here? But – but why? To see Harry? Since when did she have any interest in Harry? Since when-"

 

Or maybe, thought Ginny, she was wrong about the whole Hermione thing. But in any case, Ron was acting extremely odd – odder than he normally acted, that was.

 

*

 

"I haff to sort out a few things with the team manager," Krum explained to Hermione. "I vos going to show you the gardens today, but this came up at the last moment. Can you wait till later, Herm-own-ninny?"

 

"I’ll have a look myself, Viktor," Hermione said calmly, but inside she was rather angry. She had so wanted to see the gardens from Krum’s perspective, hear the stories behind them, anything to get the two of them closer together. She couldn’t help thinking that Harry, with all his love for Quidditch, wouldn’t be running off all the time on her, even if he played for the Bulgarian national team – or England, which really was more plausible. She was convinced that Harry would play for England someday though. Hadn’t Wood said he thought he would turn out better than Charlie, Ron’s brother? And everyone in Gryffindor House went on about how good Charlie Weasley had been at Quidditch… but then again, they didn’t so much anymore, because they had Harry Potter now.

She missed the two of them, though she wouldn’t have admitted it to them… well, not to Ron anyway. She could just imagine what he would say. He had already slighted Viktor at the Ball, she remembered it as if it had been yesterday. "Why don’t you call him Vicky?" Harry had been as shocked as she was. Since when had Ron been so resentful towards Krum? For goodness sake, Krum had been the only word on his lips during the Quidditch World Cup, and yet now here he was, turned against him. Her heart did whisper that he had been jealous. But really, what proof did she have? It wasn’t logical, she had told herself so many times before. Get a grip of yourself, Hermione! She had never lost control of her mind so much as she had when trying to figure out Ron Weasley. It was impossible.

"I shall see you later, okay? I von’t be too long," Viktor promised her, looking at her worriedly. Hermione realized she had been quiet for quite some time, and forced a smile. "That’s all right, Viktor, take as long as you want." He gave her a reassuring look and turned away, before Disapparating. Hermione stared at the space where he had been for a long time. Then she re-entered the country castle, and found her parents talking away with Viktor’s father about the strains of having a talented child. Hermione made as if to leave, but not before Viktor’s mother offered her some of her homemade cake. Feeling the gardens could wait, Hermione took it gratefully, and wondered desperately if Harry and Ginny had got her letters yet, and whether Ron was angry with her or not.