Disclaimer: Jo Rowling owns the Harry Potter series.

Chapter Six: Hogsmeade

The week had come by so fast and it was already Saturday. It was day of the first Hogsmeade weekend and Hermione was a bit excited. Back in Beauxbatons, they didn't have these type of weekends. They mostly hung around the school's compound. It would be a relief to be able to just roam around and buy some things from the shops. She also wanted to check out the infamous Shrieking Shack after reading about it in one of the books she borrowed from the library (She did some research about Hogsmeade the day after being invited by Ginny and Luna). She was finishing off a blueberry muffin on the Gryffindor table when Ginny and Luna had approached.

"I wanted to wait for you at the Common room but Parvati told me you've already left." Ginny sat across her while Luna sat on her right, not minding that she was the only Ravenclaw on the table.

"Sorry. I'm an early riser." Hermione took a sip of her coffee before replying.

"Even on a weekend? I don't do that unless Harry calls for early Quidditch practise." Ginny was helping herself with some cereal and milk.

"I'm used to it to be honest. In Beauxbatons, it lets me read a book at one of the gardens without anyone disturbing me." Hermione replied.

"I've heard about the gardens in Beauxbatons. Is it true that the Flamel's fountain is actually the Fountain of Youth? The Quibbler featured that once. We have a writer who lives in France. Did you try getting a drink from it? I heard it's connected to your water supply and a lot of readers think that's why most of Beauxbatons students are beautiful. I personally think you have a nice complexion and you must've gotten it from the water's magical properties." Luna said while trying to form something on her plate with the various food stuff she got from the table.

"Thanks...I guess? But no I haven't drank anything from any fountain and I believe our water is just regular water with no magical properties." She answered.

"That's a shame…" Luna said then drifted off to her own world. Hermione looked back at Ginny who just shrugged at her.

"Are you excited?" Ginny twirled her spoon in her cereal bowl.

"I am!" She beamed. "I've even read a couple of books about Hogsmeade. Madam Pince had recommended them to me."

"You did research?" Ginny said, amused.

"I always do to be honest. I'm quite good at it. Isn't Hogsmeade one of the most interesting places ever? One of the inns was headquarters during the 1612 Goblin Rebellion. We've discussed that a bit in school but not as extensively as you would here. More of just a run through because we'd have to take a special class on British Wizarding History if we wanted to focus more on it, which I wanted to take but there wasn't enough students to open the subject. I've also read about the Shrieking Shack. Is it really one of the most haunted buildings in Britain?" She rambled on. "I'm sorry...I'm saying too much, aren't I? I just get super excited over these things."

"It's fine." Ginny shook her head then leaned at her. "The Shrieking Shack is just a cover up for something else."

"What do you mean by a cover up?" Hermione asked.

"It's not actually haunted. You'll have to ask Harry–"

"Ask me what?" A voice had interjected behind her. Hermione felt someone sit on the empty seat to her left. He was so close to him that she could smell something warm and woody from him. Somehow she'd felt warmer than a while ago.

"Hey Harry. I was just telling Hermione that Shrieking Shack isn't haunted." Ginny said as Harry glanced at Hermione, looking a bit surprised that she was there. He didn't say anything else and proceeded to take some toast and jam.

"Where's Ronald?" Luna dreamily spoke.

"With Lavender…" Harry rolled his eyes.

"Ugh...it's like there's a permanent sticking charm on the both of them." Ginny rolled her eyes too. "He promised he'd hang out with us for this first Hogsmeade weekend. Oh, Hi Nev!" A blond, short, round-faced boy, who Hermione had seen in some classes, joined their small group.

"Hey guys. Please pass the pumpkin juice, Gin." He sat.

"You're coming with us to Hogsmeade, right?" Ginny asked handing him the jug of pumpkin juice.

"Yup but I have to leave early. I'm helping Professor Sprout at Greenhouse nine today." He thankfully accepted it and nodded then looked at Hermione.

"Hey. I'm Hermione." She offered her hand.

"I'm Neville." He shook her hand. "So you're hanging out with us?"

"Ginny and Luna invited me. Hope you don't mind." She replied.

"Oh shush, Hermione, it's all good. We want you to come with us, right boys?" Ginny reassured her.

"Of course." Neville answered.

Ginny turned to Harry. "And Harry, yeah?"

He glanced at Hermione and then looked at Ginny nonchalantly replying with a shrug,"Yeah"

"Hey Harry!" Someone had ran up to them handing a parchment to Harry. Hermione could see the scroll with Harry's name in thin, slant writing.

"Thanks Dennis!" Harry nodded at him.

"No problem, Harry! See you around!" Dennis had excitedly replied then rushed off to another boy who had looked a bit like him in the other part of the table. They were having an excited chatter and were pointing at Harry.

"The Creevey brothers are your bloody number one fans, yeah?" Ron Weasley had finally joined them, stuffing his mouth with one of Neville's toast that he had just spread with blueberry jam.

"Oi, Ron! That's my toast!" Neville complained as Ron took another. "Get your own, mate!"

"I'm bloody hungry!" Ron exclaimed after he had finished the rest of the toast.

"You could've gotten your own!" Neville got more toast and moved to another seat, away from him.

"Or he could've let Lav-Lav prepare you breakfast, Won-won." Ginny spoke in a sickly sweet tone. Hermione tried so hard not to laugh.

"Shut up, Ginny!" Ron glanced at her then turned red as he stuffed himself with more food.

"You could always take my food, Ronald." Luna spoke in her dreamy voice again. Ron, whose mouth was full, shook his head. The rest of them continued to make fun of him while Hermione took the opportunity to try to read whatever was on the parchment that Harry was holding.

"So you're that broad from Beauxbatons? What are you doing here sitting with us?" Ron suddenly spoke. Ginny had hit his arm.

"Don't be rude, you git. She's going with us to Hogsmeade." She scolded him. Ron shrugged then brought his attention to Harry.

"Oi, what's it say? Dumbledore giving you another lesson?"

Hermione tried not to react as Harry rolled the parchment back. She was interested about this.

"Yeah," He said, hiding the parchment inside his hoodie.

"When's that? The last week was ages ago!" Ron was now piling waffles on his plate.

"Monday evening. I hope-" He's suddenly realised that Hermione was with them. He shook his head. Hermione looked away and stated at her empty cup of coffee, she'd figured they wouldn't divulge too much as she isn't part of their 'group'.

"I'll tell you more later." He said anxiously to Ron.

When everyone had finished, they'd all walked to the grounds for the ride to Hogsmeade.

"You'll love Honeydukes, the best sweet store ever! Not even those fancy sweet stores in Diagon Alley could top it. We'll go there first but I think you'd also want to stop by Scrivenshaft? They've got beautiful Eagle quills, you must get one!" Ginny had linked her arms with Hermione and Luna, talking about their plans for today.

"I think we should end the day with a visit to Madam Rosmerta. I could check if there are still wrackspurts, I had gotten rid of them last year…" Luna said.

"Who's Madam Rosmerta?" Hermione asked.

"Landlady of Three Broomsticks. She has the best b

Butterbeer ever! You've tried Butterbeer right?" Ginny answered.

"I haven't."

"Well you're lucky you have us, Hermione! Your first Hogsmeade trip is going to be amazing!" Ginny announced.

The three of them stopped in front of a horseless carriage. Luna unclasp herself from them and moved closer to the carriage. She was suddenly talking and brought her hand up midair, looking like she was patting thin air. That made Hermione raise her eyebrows.

"Um...is she getting rid of those wreck-things?" She looked at Ginny.

"Wrackspurts? Oh no, she's patting a Thestral." Ginny led Hermione closer to Luna.

"Nobody else could see them unless they've seen death." Luna explained. "They're fascinating creatures. I would want to own one."

Hermione had mildly remembered a short discussion about Thestrals back in Beauxbatons.

"We rode them to the Ministry last year. It was so much fun, the only fun part then…" Luna continued.

"The Ministry?" She curiously asked.

"I wish I could tell you but it's something we don't really talk about…" Ginny gave a pointed look at Harry who was coming towards them.

"I'm sorry...so you can see them, Luna?"

Luna moved to the other side to pat another Thestral.

"Yes. I've seen my mum die." She said nonchalantly.

"Oh… I'm sorry." Hermione apologised. She couldn't have imagined having to witness someone you know die. She'd felt her mood shift a bit, thinking about her own mother.

"Cheer up, Hermione. It happened a long time ago. Today's a good day to enjoy at Hogsmeade." Luna had noticed the change of her mood.

"Hurry up! I have to meet Lav later!" Ron has shouted from one of the carriages.

"I don't want to share a ride with my brother. Let's find another carriage." Ginny rolled her eyes and pulled the both of them to another carriage.

The girls waited inside as the carriage wouldn't move unless it's fully occupied.

"You girls don't mind?" Harry had suddenly joined them. "Romilda Vane is at Ron's carriage."

The girls just shook their head as Harry sat the empty seat beside Hermione. She had gotten a full sniff of his scent again. She was super close to him and it bothered her for a bit. She hopes the entire ride wouldn't be awkward as Luna was already looking at the both of then strangely.

Three hours worth of shopping later and Hermione could feel her legs nearly giving up. She could never remember enjoying shopping this much. She'd never really spent a day doing these kind of things back in France. They were mostly just haughty tea parties.

"Oh look there they are!" Ginny pointed at the boys who were waiting outside the Three Broomsticks.

"Wow guys, is Honeydukes closing out? You look like you have a year's supply of sweets." Neville teased.

"Shush, Nev, or we won't share." Ginny replied and led them. They went in the pub, which didn't have its usual busy crowd yet. Hermione could smell something savory and didn't realise that she'd been hungry.

"Isn't that 'dung?" Ron pointed out. Hermione cringed.

"Sorry. He meant Mundungus, someone we know." Ginny caught the look on Hermione's face.

The man, Mundungus, was short and shabby-looking. He had a dirty grey sack beside him and was talking to a few patrons.

"Just give 'em a bit of wax and it'll look perfect..." He was holding an old candelabra.

"Oi, what are you doing, 'dung?" Ron approached the man. When he'd see them, his eyes had widened especially when he'd seen Harry.

"Why does this look familiar?" Ron continued, peering into the sack and taking out an ancient tea cup. "Doesn't this look familiar to you, mate?"

Hermione looked as Harry's face went from curiosity to fury. He'd suddenly took Mundungus by his jacket lapel causing him to let go of the candelabra and hitting his foot in the process.

"Ow! Whacha do that for-" Harry had pushed him towards the wall.

"HE HASN'T BEEN DEAD LONG AND YOU'RE NICKING HIS THINGS! HOW DARE YOU! DUMBLEDORE TRUSTS YOU. HE TRUSTED YOU. AND YOU DECIDED TO STEAL AND SELL THINGS?" Harry shouted. The patrons that surrounded him moved away.

"Get off me!" Mundungus struggled from his grip. Ron and Ginny pried Harry off of him, he'd immediately ran away.

"YOU THIEVING SCUM! GET BACK HERE!" Harry shouted back as Ron and Ginny let him sit in one of the booths. Neville volunteered to get their orders.

"Relax, Harry." Ginny said.

"He was stealing from Grimmauld place." Harry replied in a low voice.

"Sirius didn't even the like that place, mate." Ron said but had immediately winced when he'd mention the name. Everyone had gone somber.

Hermione looked at Harry, who had this far away look in his eyes. Her Aunt Bella had been right. He was still sensitive about his godfather's death and it seemed like he was hiding a bit of himself from the rest. She went back to her thoughts about her task. Trying to get into his circle friends didn't take much difficulty, she was quite lucky with that incident with Luna but trying to get his trust would be an entirely different thing. She continued to ponder more over it until their drinks had arrived. The mood evidently changed and everyone went back to their usual fun chatter.

"Erm...I guess we should head back to the castle?" Harry suggested at her and Luna. It had been nearly two hours since they had all sat inside the Three Broomsticks. Ginny had already left with her boyfriend Dean and Ron was dragged out into another booth by Lavender doing Merlin-knows-what.

"We should." Hermione agreed, setting down her third bottle of Butterbeer. She'd realised how much she enjoyed the drink and she couldn't help but have a lot of it, hoping it won't upset her stomach later. The three of them stood up and left the booth.

"I have to talk to Madam Rosmerta again, she was acting weird a while ago. I sure do hope Huglabeens didn't bother her today. I'll meet you two outside." Luna told them.

Harry and Hermione nodded at her, not even bothering to ask whatever Huglabeens are. The both of them walked towards the door and had reached the handle at the same time. She'd stepped back, apologising.

"You first." Harry opened the door.

"Thanks." She replied, stepping out.

The two of them waited in silence for Luna who seemed to be taking too long.

"Wh–" Harry started but had immediately been interrupted by a scream. The both of them turned towards the direction of it. A few feet away from them were two girls.

"I know them…" Harry said as they both hurriedly walked towards them.

Hermione saw a package fell from one of the girls' hand to the ground followed by the scream of 'Katie!' by the other girl. Her eyes grew wide when she saw Katie rising into the air. Her arms were outstretched, her hair was whipped around, and her face was empty of expression. Harry had immediately pulled on one of her ankles, preventing Katie from rising higher. Katie's friend froze in shock and Hermione had decided to follow Harry and pull on Katie's other ankle. It took a few minutes before they both had successfully brought her to the ground. Things didn't calm down yet though as Katie began to thrash and convulse and scream.

"What the bloody hell happened?" Ron who had just got out of the pub ran towards them.

"Ron! Call for help! I think Hagrid's at the Hog's Head!" Harry ordered. Ron nodded and ran to another direction.

Hermione decided to move closer to the package to investigate it. She levitated the object that was enclose from it. It was an old and ugly opal necklace. She let it hover in front of her, making sure she wouldn't have any skin contact with it. She'd muttered a few spells and charms to detect and diagnose the necklace.

"What is that?" Harry was now beside her.

"It's cursed." She answered.

"Wha–?" Hagrid had arrived. "Ye alright, 'arry?"

"Hagrid! Katie's been cursed! She needs to be sent to the castle immediately!" Harry then explained to Hagrid what had transpired a moment ago, by then Hermione had already transformed an abandoned piece of log into a stretcher. Hagrid along with Leanne went to the castle straight away. A crowd had already gathered around them and Hermione thought she saw a familiar blond figure hurriedly walk by.

"What the bloody hell is that?" Ron approached them again but with Professor McGonagall this time.

"Language, Mister Weasley! Mister Potter and Miss Lestrange, can you explain what had happened?" Professor McGonagall interrogated.

"The necklace has been cursed and Kate must've touched it." Harry replied.

"She's lucky didn't touch the entire thing or she'd have died." Hermione added.

"Let's go to the castle where we're away from these prying eyes and tell me everything." Professor McGonagall said.

Professor McGonagall had led them to an empty classroom where Harry, Ron, and Hermione had individually recounted everything.

"I don't understand , Professor. The necklace has dark magic properties. Why would someone give her that?" Hermione spoke.

"We can only assume, Miss Lestrange." She replied. "Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape will arrive shortly to look up on the necklace. I'm giving 5 points each to Gryffindor for your quick thinking on the situation. The three of you may leave. We will call upon you if there need be an official statement. I'll have to inform the poor girl's family and they would want a proper investigation by the Ministry."

Ron and Hermione had turned around to walk out of the room when Harry had unexpectedly muttered, "I've seen that necklace!"

"What do you mean, mate?" Ron said.

"Four years ago in Borgin and Burkes at Knockturn Alley. Malfoy and his father was there that time. I bet you it was him. I should tell Professor McGonagall...Professor?" Harry turned around and walked back to McGonagall. Ron and Hermione followed suit.

"Professor, I think Draco Malfoy gave Katie the necklace." Harry said confidently. The three of them looked at McGonagall had an unreadable expression on her face. Hermione knew she didn't believe him but she also couldn't help but feel a little bit of dread. Whatever Draco was doing, he wasn't entirely being careful.

"Mister Potter, Mister Malfoy was not in Hogsmeade today." She finally spoke.

"How do you know, Professor?" There was an edge in Harry's voice.

"Because he spent the entire day in detention with me." She strictly replied causing Harry's jaw muscles to tick. Hermione saw Ron wince.

"But it's really him. He's done something. He's a death eater!" Harry bursted out.

"That is a very serious allegation, Mister Potter! And do calm yourself. " Professor McGonagall scolded him. "I suggest you three return to the common room immediately or I will take back the points you've earned."

Harry went silent and Ron had to drag him along. "Come on, mate."

The three of them had walked to the Gryffindor tower together.

"It couldn't have been him, Harry. McGonagall said it herself. He was in detention." Ron said quietly, casting a nervous glance at Hermione. She was pretending not to listen and at the same time was in her own thoughts. She had yet to talk to Draco privately especially now that she has a lot of questions for him.

"I know it's really him. He's got cronies. They could've used Polyjuice Potion." Harry replied.

"I don't think that git's that brilliant, mate." Ron replied. "Since when does Malfoy do anything fool proof anyway?"

"I don't know Ron. I know what I saw during the summer and I'm convinced. He's up to something. " Harry sighed then turned towards Hermione. "You okay, Hermione?"

"Yeah I'm fine." She gave him a small smile.

"Some first day in Hogsmeade huh?" Harry said.

"It was entirely eventful." Hermione replied, surprised that he was trying to make a conversation.

"There'll still be another soon." He continued, forgetting that Ron was beside them. He started putting his hands in his pockets and looked at her. She stared at his green eyes and felt a bit awkward. "Maybe...maybe we–"

"Harry! Ron! Hermione!" Someone had called out. Harry turned a bit red and closed his mouth. That reaction didn't go amiss by Hermione. She didn't realise she had held her breath while Harry was talking to her. She'd let out a breath as Ginny ran towards them. Ginny had started interrogating them about what had happened and it was Ron who had willingly answered. Harry kept glancing towards her while he listened to the two siblings. She seemed to be stuck at the moment as she started to wonder what Harry Potter was about to say and do before getting interrupted.

A/N: Please don't forget to read and review!