the marriage stone (Discontinued)

Chapter 46 - Seeing Red

Hermione read through the newspaper at Gryffindor table the next morning while she and Ron waited for Harry to arrive. There were more photos of Harry on the front page - still from the night he'd returned to the castle, clad in silver armor and looking like something out of a fairy tale. Ron hadn't said anything that night, but Hermione knew there was some bit of envy burning inside him. Oh, he didn't want the danger, or the responsibility, and he certainly didn't envy the sheer terror that must haunt Harry constantly. But every boy in the school wanted a chance to step into the spotlight that perpetually shone on Harry. Ironically the one person, who didn't seem to want it, was Harry himself.

But she'd been very proud of Ron that night. He hadn't missed a beat when he'd been questioned by the Minister; he'd backed Harry up without question. And earlier that night when the two of them, along with Ginny, had been questioned by practically everyone, Ron had stuck to the script Dumbledore had given them, happily leading them all around by the nose.

It had been Ron who had reasoned out that Dumbledore did not want the Ministry knowing where Harry had been taken simply because he believed that the Minister would bungle things and get Harry killed. Faced with Ron's absolute certainty of Dumbledore's plan, Hermione and Ginny had just followed his lead and answered everyone's questions with the most vague and baffling ideas they could think of. Had it not been for the constant worry for Harry eating away at the pit of her stomach, Hermione might have actually enjoyed the experience.

"Think he'd let me try on the armor?" Ron asked quietly as he looked over Hermione's shoulder at the photo of Harry on the paper.

"I'm sure he would," Hermione replied. "It would probably fit you better too. You're much taller and broader in the shoulder than Harry is."

Ron sat up straighter at that, seeming puffed up by the compliment. He grinned at her and Hermione could see that for a moment at least, all was right with his world. She had to admit - there were times when Ron Weasley simply melted her heart with his honest emotional responses.

She could tell by the buzz of whispers that moved through the Hall that Harry had entered. A moment later he sat down across from the two of them, smiling at both, and Hermione thought he looked better rested today. She knew he was likely still worried about Sirius and Remus - and with good cause too. And she knew that last night they had hidden Remus away to protect him from the Ministry. But still he seemed in better spirits than he had yesterday.

"Everything go okay last night?" Ron asked him quietly.

Harry nodded. "I'll tell you guys about it later. Have you come up with any ideas?"

Hermione knew he was asking if either of them had thought of a way to get Sirius out of the marriage to Malfoy. They had kicked around several ideas yesterday - including using the Marriage Stone on one of them, either Draco or Sirius. But unfortunately they didn't know what sorts of legal ramifications that would have - Hermione had insisted that they needed to get a copy of the Black family Conscriptus before making any decisions.

"Not yet," she confessed. "We need to see the Conscriptus first."

He frowned but began filling his plate, nodding toward the paper Hermione still held in her hands. "What about the paper today? Anything I should be worried about?"

"Just more of the same," Hermione replied. "The Wizengamot has demanded a full inquiry into the Winter Lands issue - they want to find out why the requests for aid were ignored, or lost, or rewritten. And there's a lot of controversy over the Wizarding Registration Act. Things are pretty chaotic right now at the Ministry. I suspect a lot of people are going to lose their jobs over this - Fudge isn't the only one in trouble."