Ours to Catch chapter 18

Summer with the Weasley’s was an adventure. It always was. Hermione was normally left alone to her own devices, meaning she usually studied and did the occasional chore Molly assigned the kids everyday and once the chores were done, they all went their separate ways. Hermione and the boys would usually only really hangout after dinner before they had to go to bed. Not this time though.

Molly seemed to be on a mission with getting the burrow cleaned and in top shape. As far as anyone knew, there wasn’t any reason to get everything so clean but no one was about to tell Molly no. Hermione, her boys and the twins usually had chores outside. Ginny’s chores were usually all inside with occasionally Molly pulling Hermione inside as well. But the once consistent thing Hermione noticed right away: she was never far from either Weasley parent.

Arthur was always outside supervising; which was odd because as far as Hermione was aware he was still employed and should be at work. Molly was always inside, whether watching from the kitchen as they worked or in the room ‘supervising’ Hermione and Ginny’s work. Hermione couldn’t even study by herself when they were done with the daily chores because her boys would take up her time and while Hermione didn’t mind studying next them while they plotted away, she couldn’t very well study what she was really after.

Harry was absolutely obsessed with Malfoy; and not in the same way Hermione was. It would be her luck that Hermione was so close to being able to do what she wanted without the boys being non-the-wiser but still so far away.

Harry was so sure Draco was a death dater. And while normally Hermione wouldn’t necessarily flat out disagree, she was finding it harder than usual to agree with him. Ignoring how her summer had started and who she had spent some small time with. Hermione truly didn’t see Draco being brave enough to be a death eater. She definitely didn’t see Narcissa allowing him to make the pledge either. Hermione was sure if Narcissa didn’t see a need for herself to take the dark mark when her own sister did, then was likely very little chance she would want her own son to do the same.

Hermione wished she could just owl the youngest Black sister and ask her; if only for her own curiosity not for Harry’s benefit or anything. It wasn’t like Hermione wanted to know more about Narcissa or anything, she was just curious on if Narcissa would even allow Draco to get the mark, given who is father is and all. That was all. Nothing else.

Since she couldn’t owl anyone, she was stuck listening to Harry pile on loads of exaggerations to prove his point and Ron agreeing with everything he said. Hermione had tried to disprove Harry’s theories but the second she did, she ended up with two hurt best friends that ignored her. Hermione didn’t exactly have a lot of friends to spare so losing two of the few she had since she started at Hogwarts wasn’t something she was keen on doing.

So, she kept her mouth shut.

From the looks Ginny would give her when the redhead was unlucky enough to hear some of what Ronald and Harry thought about Draco, Hermione wasn’t fooling everyone. But at least she was fooling the people she needed to. Did purposefully lying to her friends about whether she believed them or not make her or them the bad friend?

At least Hermione was able to keep up with her work during the day. After Molly realized how far behind the boys were, she set aside an hour a day, something Ron moaned about constantly, for them to do homework. Hermione was sure it would only last a week or so before Molly got tired of hearing Ron complain and ended the study sessions.

It was during one of those sessions Harry received a letter from Dumbledore. Hermione’s attention was grabbed entirely.

“So, he’s just taking you on a trip?” Ron asked after Harry read the letter out loud to them. It was just the three of them in Ron’s room. They had all left the dinner table early, as soon as Molly would let them after an owl dropped off the letter at the start of dinner, and raced to Ron’s room for some privacy.

Hermione snatched the letter from Harry to study it herself. She wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything he had left out or any subtle hidden messages Harry wouldn’t catch. Since Harry was used to Hermione doing this, he let her without a care.

“Yeah, I wonder if it has anything to do with Draco?” Harry pondered and Hermione rolled her eyes. Why would the headmaster take one of his students to go spy on another student? Hermione wasn’t sure Harry was using his brain anymore.

“Doubt it mate, Malfoy’s probably under lock and key with his mum and dad.” Ron reasoned and Hermione was momentarily thrown off that it was Ron using logic. It would probably never happen again.

“Yeah, but maybe he’s going to take me someplace to show what he’s been up to.” Harry argued, grasping at imaginary straws to prove his point.

“Don’t be ridiculous Harry.” Hermione said, handing the letter back to Harry. As far as Hermione could tell, without being able to use her wand without suspicion since everyone thought she was still under age because they all forgot how much of the time turner she had used, there wasn’t anything hiding in the letter. “Why would Dumbledore use his time, time he needs to prepare for the upcoming school year, to try and figure out if school kid rumors are true or not? He already has his hands full with what’s going on in the ministry with the new minister taking over. The new minister is probably working for Voldemort. Dumbledore’s probably going to have a lot of trouble soon because of it.”

Didn’t the boys understand they were on the brink of a full out war? Yes, they were still in school but they would be graduating soon and if things kept going like they were, they would be graduating to go fight. There were plenty of better things to do, like studying spells that could someday soon save their lives instead of wondering who may or may not be a death eater. It wouldn’t change anything if Draco was a death eater, they couldn’t do anything about and no one would believe them anyways. Why waste time wondering about it?

The looks the boys were giving her made Hermione think perhaps the boys hadn’t thought about anything outside of their own problems. In fact, it looked like they weren’t really concerned about them at all.

“We know ‘Mione, why do you think Harry wants to know what’s going on with Malfoy?” Ron angrily spat at her. “Whatever Malfoy is doing has something to do with whatever the death eaters are doing. If we know what he’s up to, then we know what they’re up to.” Ron argued.

“I can’t believe Ron understands it better than you do.” Harry said, completely confused on how Ron, whom he loved but knew could be a little sometimes, understood the situation better than Hermione did. “All we need to do is confirm he’s a death eater, figure out what his plans are and then we can stop whatever it is they are planning.”

Hermione wanted to argue; she really did. There were so many things wrong with what he was saying. First off, how were they going to spy on someone they wouldn’t see until the school year started again? Second, what exactly would Draco, a child, know about Voldemort’s plans? Did Harry think all the death eaters and their kids sat around a table with Voldemort for afternoon tea and listened to Voldemort tell them every single point of his taking over Britain plan? All they would prove is Draco had a dark mark and if he did, Hermione wouldn’t be surprised if it was because his father forced him to and Narcissa and Bellatrix couldn’t stop it without someone getting hurt.

Hermione was starting to think there was a lot more about this war than they had thought when they first dealt with Voldemort in first year. Before being taken by the Black sister’s, she had never thought about what the noble families had to do to keep not only their lifestyle but also their family alive from a megalomaniac killing them. They were just kids but the adults had been fighting for longer than they had been alive. There was a lot of information and sides they had never thought to think about before. Hermione’s eyes were starting to open and she wanted to see what exactly this war was about and who was on which side.

She couldn’t do that by fighting her best friends though. She knew they meant well, they didn’t want to do anything to hurt anyone else. Just because Harry was obsessed with Draco didn’t mean anything. Hell, it could just mean he had a crush on the youngest Malfoy and after everything Harry had been through in his short life. With everything Harry had been through in his life, Harry might not realize it was a crush and that was why he was obsessed with the Slytherin and the only way he could explain it was because he thought it had something to do with Voldemort. It was a convoluted explanation but she wouldn’t put it past her friend.

“I’m sorry Harry, there’s just so much to go over and get ready for the new year and with our O.W.L results due to arrive any day now, I guess I’m just not thinking clearly.” Hermione explained with a smile; they would never know it was a lie.

Both boys looked at each other with wide eyes and then with they each laughed.

“I forgot all about those.” Ron said with a laugh, completely believing Hermione. Of course their brainiac friend would be more concerned with her test results than she was with death eaters. She always had been and probably always would be.

“I’m sorry ‘Mione,” Harry said with a smile, all was forgiven. “You’re probably worried about the results and planning what you’ll need to study for the N.E.W.T.s, aren’t you?” He teased.

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. She may not be able to tell her friends about what had happened to her and all the information she had received, but at least she didn’t have to worry about losing two of the few friends she did have. It would have been nice to do a little digging while she didn’t have to worry as much about writing papers and doing homework but there was time. Hermione didn’t think Voldemort was going to do anything within the next few months at least; at least nothing she could be affected by and be able to do anything.

She would do her best to enjoy the time she had with her friends before school started. She wouldn’t be surprised if she had another school year she had to fight off death for both her and her friends. She just hoped the rest of the summer went smoothly.