Vox Corpis [Harmione]

Chapter 32

"Unbelievable," Ron muttered unhappily as he dropped to the floor next to Harry after they had both descended the ladder from Trelawney's classroom. Fellow Gryffindors were shuffling by with similarly displeased scowls on their faces.

On Fridays Harry and Ron had Divination first period while Hermione was off taking Arithmancy with Professor Vector. Harry tended to side with Ron in thinking Arithmancy was some vile manner of self-imposed torture, but on certain days Trelawney's rambling made him wonder if maybe Hermione wasn't the smarter of the three of them for dropping the course.

Harry smiled to himself when his own thoughts caught up to him. If it was a question of smarts, then Hermione was definitely running circles around the boys. Some things never changed.

Ron yawned crookedly and saw Harry's smile from his one opened eye. He snapped his jaw shut to frown at his friend. "Why the hell are you smiling?" He didn't wait for an answer, instead hiked the shoulder strap of his bag higher toward his neck and huffed, "Though we shouldn't be surprised in the least that daft old woman would pull something like this, you know?" The two of them side-stepped some bustling Ravenclaws as Harry subtly led Ron off to one side. Ron, meanwhile, continued to rant. "I mean, we're all nervous enough about Hogsmeade tomorrow as it is, what with You Know Who on the loose and all, but for her to spend the entire hour predicting our gruesome deaths at the hands of Death Eaters then to fall apart and cry like that!"

Harry gave a one-shouldered shrug, "That's pretty much every Divination class for me."

Ron snorted. "She's the bat in the belfry, that one. How she ever became a teacher being a complete nut job I'll never get. Did you see Parvati's face when that hag started sobbing like a baby? I thought she was going to start crying, too! I'm telling you, mate, if this class turns into a reason for girls to cry and simper I'm dropping it next term. I'll take my chances in Arithmancy or Merlin forbid, Ancient Runes. Hey, Harry, where are we going? This isn't the way to History of Magic. Though if you're thinking of skiving, I'm all for it. Binns just might be enough to put the lot of us over the edge and hope Trelawney's right about us all kicking it tomorrow."

"Ron," Harry turned to his trailing comrade and the redhead stuttered to a stop in front of Harry. "Be quiet for a minute, I need to talk to you about something." He'd maneuvered them over against the wall, out of the way of most of the foot traffic.

Ron yawned again and scratched at the nape of his neck with a bandaged hand. He'd not opted to get up even a second earlier than necessary to go to the hospital wing to have the cat scratches tended. "A'right, what's up?"

Harry glanced around once to scan for any obvious eavesdroppers then said in a low voice, "Hermione and I were talking this morning, and we're thinking we'd all three of us go to Dumbledore and see if he'd see his way clear to teaching us how to do wandless magic."

Ron's eyes widened and his mouth popped open. "Wandless magic? Are you serious?"

Harry nodded. "Hermione figures it might prove useful if it ever comes down to another confrontation with Voldemort." Ron made a strangled sound which Harry ignored. Honestly, it was a stupid name. "And since Dumbledore's the only person we know who really has a handle on the whole wandless magic thing, it made sense to ask him if he'd be willing to teach us. You want to try learning it?"

"Are you kidding? Wandless magic? That's got to be just about the coolest use of magic there is. You're bloody right I'd want to learn it. Not even Charlie or Bill can do wandless magic, and they're seen as the better wizards of the Weasley clan." Ron glowered a moment as though he'd bitten into a foul lemon.

"Great, then. I'd planned on going to Dumbledore's office during lunch to ask him about it. You can come along if you like."

Ron nodded in agreement then lingered on the idea. "Wow, can you imagine—" Ron paused fractionally and his gaze shifted from Harry's eyes to a point an inch to Harry's right. Harry shifted his hearing and caught the sound of footfalls approaching from behind him. He half-turned his head to bring the approaching person into his field of vision from the corner of his eye, and just that was enough for him to recognize Hermione.