If He Stays | ғʀᴇᴍɪᴏɴᴇ ✓

𝙸𝙸

-- HOGWARTS

"Harry we have to ask someone!" Hermione cried, running after him on the switching staircases. 

"Hermione, I saw it!" He insisted in panic. "He has Sirius, and he's torturing him right now." 

Fred and George ran after them. They'd seen Hermione rush towards Harry when he'd collapsed, and they'd been right after her. They followed the pair of friends, glad that they'd stayed behind now. If they'd continued with their original plans, they'd have just left Hogwarts and the young ones would be dealing with all this by themselves. 

"She's right, mate," George spoke up. "Sirius is under some heavy protection, it wouldn't have been easy to capture him. We've gotta be sure if we're risking lives here." 

"We have to confirm it, Harry. We can not risk this being a fake memory planted to draw you out!" Hermione said.  

"How?!" Harry asked, finally turning to her.  

 ̶«̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶̶ ̶«̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ・☽ ༓ ☾・  ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶̶ ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶  ̶̶̶̶

It was stupid of them, thinking about it in retrospect, to try and use Umbridge's office. They should've gone to Snape; as unhelpful as he often is, he was still an Order member. 

Even still, by some miracle Hermione had drawn Umbridge straight to the centaurs, though that wasn't really her intention. Either way they circled back for their friends only to find that Fred and George had ingeniously slipped their Slytherin captors some of their sweets, which only resulted in rushed trip to the infirmary for them. 

"Brilliant," Hermione said in awe. 

"I think you've already admitted that, Granger," Fred winked at her. 

In the tense rush of the group no one noticed the small flush that rose to Hermione's face, except perhaps George who glanced between the two curiously. 

Luna led them all to the Forbidden Forest, guiding them to the Thestrals. 

"No way," Hermione said instinctively. Her friends couldn't even get her on a broom, and they expected her to climb on top of an invisible skeletal bird that was going to fly them all the way to London? 

"Hermione," Harry growled in frustration. "We don't have time." 

Hermione frowned at Harry. He knew her fear of heights ran deeper than a mere dislike. And she'd never wavered in her loyalty to her friends, yet Harry's biting tone had her hackles rising in defense. 

"She can ride with me," Fred said, sensing the tension between the friends. 

Hermione frowned at Fred. How was that supposed to make anything better? But he merely shot her an urgent look as Harry quickly agreed, already climbing onto one of the creatures. 

Fred settled himself atop one of the birds after awkwardly feeling around for the joint behind its wing. He extended his hand towards Hermione, who simply stared at it anxiously. 

"Come on, Hermione. I won't let you fall. Besides, I've fallen off brooms plenty of times, and I'm fine." 

"Is that supposed to reassure me?" she snapped at him.

"It means I know how to save myself from a fall, should we by some catastrophe end up falling." 

He patiently waited for her to finally put her hand in his before he pulled her up easily onto the Thestral, settling her in front of him, his arms going around her. She tensed slightly at his embrace but he was answering her before she even asked the question.