Chapter One Hundred Sixteen
King of Prats
Remember when
We were further than you'd ever been
And I think about it now and then;
It takes me to that place.
When I pretend that I'm better than I've ever been
Well at least that's what I tell my friends
'Cause I can't show my face
(Just Say the Word - Josh Kelley)August 6th, 1995Days and nights spent at Grimmauld Place were complicated for Hermione.
They were officially at war, Voldemort was back, a secret organisation was
established to fight him—the headquarters in that very house—and yet, every morning
Molly Weasley woke everyone up, fixed breakfast, and assigned chores as though they were
back at the Burrow and life was normal. It made Hermione feel anxious to see how easily
Fred and George still goofed around, playing pranks on Ron and Ginny—they knew better
by now than to try anything with her. Even Ron barely acknowledged the tense feeling in
the air that had descended upon them the moment Harry returned from Little Hangleton
with Cedric Diggory's body.
But Hermione felt it, and she knew she was not the only one.
Despite the way he would smile politely at her and ask her about her classes at
Hogwarts, Hermione knew that Professor Lupin was on edge. She had spent the better
part of her third year obsessively watching the man, nursing a crush that, thankfully, had
waned a little over the years. She had learnt, though, to read the signs of stress upon his
face.
Likewise, the young, bubbly Auror named Tonks, who had befriended Hermione
and showed off her skills as a Metamorphmagus while telling interesting stories about
Remus and Sirius, had a way of losing composure when something was wrong. For
instance, when word reached Grimmauld Place that Mundungus Fletcher had somehow
allowed Harry to be attacked by dementors, Tonks's hair had turned black as night, and
her eyes shifted to a bright, frighteningly pale shade of grey in a fury.