Chapter 16

POV Hermione

Hermione was really happy with the outcome of the article. Sure the quibbler still wasn’t her favourite magazine but it had the wanted effect.

“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?” Harry screamed. “RUN”.

Hermione was frozen for a split second. Till she started to run towards the door. Before she could even look out for him, George already was by her side and grabbed her hand.

That gave her time to look around for Harry and Ron.

She saw Ron was already close by the door but Harry was still there where he was when he screamed.

“Harry, come on!” She shouted before George pulled her out of the room. She didn’t really pay attention as to where they were going. She trusted George to know the castle better than her. She wasn’t wrong he stopped pretty soon murmed something she didn’t understand and then he pulled her into the opening of a secret passage.

“Where are we?” Hermione panted as soon as George closed the painting behind him.

“Lumos, this way leads to the Grand Staircase. It’s a painting of George von Rheticus.” George replied a bit out of breath as well. The small passage was now lit by George’s wand.
Hermione saw the concerned look on his face. A look she hasn’t seen often on him.

“Oh okay, I am surprised Harry never showed me this one. I hope the others are getting away quick enough. Maybe we should have showed them this passage too.”

“I hope so too, but I don’t think that would have been a good idea. We were barely quick enough. I wonder who told on us.” George replied.

“We will find out tomorrow for sure.”

“Why are you so sure about that Hermione?”

 “Well, I have hexed the list so that a sneak is marked as such.” Hermione said with a grin on her face.

Her remark also let George smile for a moment before his expression changed back to concerned.

“I think it should be safe to go back. I can’t hear anyone out in the hall. Hopefully everyone made it back safely into their common rooms.” George said before he opened the painting a little bit to peer out.

Luckily, they didn’t run into anyone on their short way to the common room.

When they entered, Fred and Ron were sitting together with other DA members by the fire.

“Where is Harry?” Hermione asked as soon as they reached the others.

“Bloody hell, we thought they caught you two.” Ron answered with a look of relief on his face. “We haven’t seen him, we hoped the three of you were somewhere hiding together.”

“We haven’t seen him since we left the room of requirement.” George said as he sat down next to Fred.

Since there wasn’t much room left Hermione sat on the armrest right next to George. The other’s looked as concerned as Hermione felt.

“Well, I guess that was it with the DA” Hermione said dejectedly.

“We can’t just let it end like that. Shouldn’t we keep going?” Ginny asked with a fierce look on her face. “We can’t let Umbridge win.”

“I’m not sure if-“
Hermione was interrupted since the portrait of the fat lady opened and Harry entered the common room.

“Harry! Where have you been?” Ron asked.

“I’ve been caught by Umbridge. But that’s not important right now. Dumbledore is gone. He confessed that he had something to do with the DA and that today was supposed to be the first meeting. It was Marietta. Nice idea by the way Hermione. It worked really well. She didn’t dare to talk more as she already has.”
“Thank you” Hermione replied. It was a small victory but at least her hex worked as intended.

“What are we going to do now, Harry?” Ginny asked.

“I don’t know. I guess we will see what happens next. But I don’t think we will be able to continue with the DA. I’m sorry guys.” Harry replied. “I’m going to bed now, good night, everyone” he added and left the common room. Ron followed him shortly after. The other members of the DA scattered too till there were only Hermione, Fred and George sitting in front of the nearly burnt down fire.

“I’m going to bed too. Good night you two.” Hermione said, got up gave George a quick kiss and left the common room.

The news that Umbridge was replacing Dumbledore as Headmaster wasn’t really surprising but that didn’t make it any better. The mood was quite bad at breakfast.

“Can we maybe talk quickly Hermione?” George asked her as she finished eating her breakfast.

“Sure, but we need to go to soon, but I got a minute.”

“Great”

George took her hand and pulled her with him out of the great hall.  

“What is it?” Hermione asked as soon as they reached a hall that was nearly empty.  

“Things may change in the future, you know-.”

“Yeah, with Dumbledore gone there is no one stopping Umbridge from doing her thing.” Hermione said gloomily.

“Yes, but that is not really what I meant. What I wa-“

“What do you mean, you don’t know how long you and Fred are going to stay in school. You have your NEWT’s soon.” Hermione said, confused. 

“I have told you about the money we have received form Harry, right?”

“Yeah, you told me you and Fred want to buy a shop with the money. To sell your Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes products. But I thought that was a plan for after Hogwart’s, isn’t it?”

“That was the original plan, yeah, but you know we looked at some shop floors on valentine’s day and we found one. And we bought it. So we already have that going for us. And since there is nothing holding Fred at school and you are the only reason why I would want to stay, we decided that we won’t care anymore if we were to be expelled. But before we leave we want to do some mischief.”

“Okay” Hermione said, overwhelmed by what George just told her.

“Okay?” George asked unsure.

“I am still trying to process what you’ve just told me.” Hermione replied. “See you at lunch” Hermione added and turned around. She nearly ran over some first year’s while walking away. She needed to think an d wasn’t able to do so around George. What did he mean they don’t care if they will be expelled or not. She cared, wasn’t that enough?

POV George

“So have you told her?” Fred asked him as soon as he joined his twin brother in their first lesson.

“Yeah, I haven’t told her about what we have planned for today, but I’ve told her that we don’t care about being expelled.”

“Great, so I have prepared everything for today. We just have to wait till lunch time and then it’s go time.” Fred said with a big smile on his face.

George was also really excited to finally test their fireworks in its actual size and outside of their room. They have been working on it for months.

POV Hermione

Hermione and George were the last one’s in the common room. The last of Fred and George’s Fireworks are still roaming around the school grounds.

“I really enjoyed the Fireworks” Hermione said as she finished the last sentence on her potion’s homework.
“Even though I don’t like why you are doing it.” Hermione added and after she put her homework away, she sat next to George on the sofa.  

“I am glad to hear you could enjoy it anyway. I am really sorry Hermione. You know I don’t like being apart from you. But it will be reality sooner or later. And maybe Umbridge won’t expel us at all, and then we would stay in Hogwarts till the end of the year. It really is a if situation, I just wanted to tell you before it happened and not after” George explained.

“I know. And in a way I am also very happy that someone is fighting Umbridge even if it is with Mischief and it may mean you will have to leave Hogwarts early.” Hermione replied and gently cuddled closer to George.
“I just hope she has more patience than usual. So you and Fred have to stay till the end of the year”.

When the fire eventually gone out completely the both of them decided to go to bed.  

POV George

“All you need is a little diversion.” He said to Harry.

“We were quietly for awfully long during the holiday’s” Fred added “It’s time for us to cause some mayhem again.”

“We should be able to buy you about 20 minutes to talk to Sirius.” George says.

“What are you going to do?” Ron asked

“We don’t want to spoil the surprise for you little brother.” Fred answered with a grin on his face.

“But how did you two know Harry needs a diversion?” Hermione asked with a concerned look on her face.

“Ginny told us” Fred answered her before turning back to Harry. “So, we are planning on doing it after classes when most students are in the hallways.”
“If you two want to see the diversion, come to the Gregory the Smarmy’s corridor around five o’clock.” George said towards Hermione and Ron he and Fred got up and left the common room to prepare for the next day.

George hated the way Hermione looked at him. He didn’t like that he was the reason she looked so worried but he has also committed to his brother and his plans. He liked them too. There really wasn’t any reason for him to stay in school. Besides Hermione obviously. Also Hermione got two more school years before she would be finished so they would have had to be apart eventually. Like this the eventual moment just came a lot closer.

Pov Hermione

Hermione wanted to throw her alarm clock out of the window. She got to bed way to late last night, and then she thought about the whole situation for a bit to long. She was used to not getting enough sleep but that didn’t make it any better. Besides the fact that there was no reason arguing with the twins whether or not they should go through with their plan there was also the part about Harry wanting to break into Umbridge’s office to talk to Sirius.

She tried to at least talk him out of his stupid idea. But there was no point reasoning with him. He didn’t care and he wasn’t about to change his mind.

Eventually five o’clock rolled around.
“Are you coming Hermione, to see what Fred and George are doing?” Ron asked as they left the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

“Sure, I won’t be able focus on homework at the moment anyways”. Hermione replied with a little sigh looking after Harry who is walking towards Umbridge’s office.

After the Fireworks Fred and George used for their last mischief Hermione really wasn’t sure what she was supposed to expect. But even before they’ve reached the hallway, they were able to hear that something big was going on.

“Oh my god, they didn’t” Hermione said her mouth kept wide opened as she looked at what they did.

“Oh they did not lie when they said they were planning something big.” Ron replied with a wide grin.

“Yeah, but how did they even come up with the idea to turn a corridor into a swamp.” Hermione said still in disbelief.

“What do we have here?” Umbridge asked a bit out of breath as if she had run here from her classroom. The look on her face wasn’t promising to Hermione. The way she looked she definitely wasn’t planning on letting them go easy.