Catching Her Heart Pt. 1

Chapter 51

"So what's going on?" Fred said as they entered the tent near the pitch.

"Yeah, tell us," George added.

"What are you doing?" Lee asked when he saw Hermione pull out her wand.

"This can't get out," Hermione said, going around the tent and casting an imperturbable charm on all sides of the tent to keep any eavesdropping Slytherins from listening in.

"You do know that we already have the tent charmed, right?" Oliver asked, raising a brow.

"Well, one can't be too careful," Hermione replied.

"Okay," George said when she'd finished the charms.

"Yeah," Fred agreed. "Tell us what's going on!"

"Okay!" Hermione said in exaggerated frustration, looking at the ceiling and rolling her eyes before she looked back at the twins, and then to Lee and Oliver with a smile and wink. "But first," she said, sitting down with them on the benches. "I need to know what you saw, so I know where to start."

"Well, we..." Lee began slowly, and looked at Fred and George who looked as nervous, their colour draining once more.

Oliver chuckled, drawing Hermione's attention as he laughed at the reaction of Lee and the twins.

"They saw you and Harry following you, Ron and Harry down to Hagrid's," he supplied with another chuckle. "They may seem excited to know what's going on, but whenever they have to explain what they saw, they think someone's going to lock them up in St. Mungo's. Did that with Professor McGonagall, too."

"Ah," Hermione replied with a slight smile. "I see. I had the same trouble explaining it to Harry when we left. He looked like he was going to pass out when we arrived back in the infirmary at 7:30 and had to catch up with ourselves. He was in a total panic and when he saw me hit Malfoy, kept going on about how it wasn't normal."

"Well, it's not," Lee said defensively, but without much conviction.

Hermione reached into her robes and made sure she had a firm grip on the pendant before pulling it out of her robes, her fingers spanning the three bands on one side, making sure they didn't move.

"This is a Time-Turner," she said, holding up the pendant for them to see two gold bands and half of an hourglass. "Professor McGonagall gave it to me before the first term. It's how I've been getting to my classes all year."

"Really?" Lee asked.

"Yeah," Hermione said and nodded.

"Ron said something about wondering how you just magically appeared for class just in time," Fred said.

"And that he and Harry never saw you come in," George added.

"No wonder you were so tired," Lee said.

"Yeah," Oliver interjected, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, rocking her back and forth gently, to give her a hard time. "But thankfully, she's come to her senses and is turning it back in, giving it back to Professor McGonagall soon."

"That's a shame," Fred said, scooting closer to her.

"Totally," George said, following Fred's lead with a knowing smirk and moved closer to her as well.

"Why's that?" Lee asked, a look of confusion on his face.

"Because," Fred said.

"It might be fun," George added.

"To go back and visit things we've already done," Fred finished, and made a swipe at the Time-Turner, but Hermione had been watching them inch closer, and knew they were up to something. She yanked the Time-Turner away from their gasp just in time, making sure that it was still firmly held in place and none of the bands moved.

"Oh, no you don't," she snapped at them, looking at them sternly.

"Come on guys," Oliver said in a tired, but warning tone. "Knock it off."

"Oh, come off it, Ollie," George said.

"Yeah, we were just joshing her," Fred said.

"Well, stop," Hermione said, tucking the Time-Turner back in her robes. "Awful things can happen to wizards who meddle with time. It's extremely dangerous, and isn't a joking matter."

"Okay, okay," Fred said, sounding like a scolded child.

"Sorry," George added.

"So will you tell us?" Lee asked.

"Tell you what?" Hermione asked in confusion. "I - I did."

"No-o," George said with a laugh.

"Yeah," Fred agreed. "You told us about the Time-Turner."

"Yep," George said.

"You didn't tell us why you were using it..." Fred said.

"Ah-ha," Lee interjected.

"They have a point," Oliver said, chuckling once more as Hermione sighed in frustration.

"Point or not," Hermione said glumly after a moment, slouching forward with her chin in her hand. "I'm not sure it's my story to tell."

"Ah, come on," George said.

"Yeah, I'm sure Harry won't mind," Fred agreed.

"It's not Harry I'm worried about being upset," Hermione said. "I wasn't referring to him."

"It's not?" Lee asked.

"No," Hermione replied.

"Well, then," Oliver said. "Who is it?"

"You're not helping," Hermione said, turning a mock glare at him.

"Come on, tell us," Fred said.

"Please!" the twins and Lee said together.

Hermione sighed as Oliver laughed.

"You'll have to tell them now," Oliver said motioning to the three other boys. "They won't stop bugging you - or me - about it now. Their curiosity is piqued."

"Alright, fine!" Hermione said in a huff, glaring at Lee and the twins who cheered. "But you have to swear what I'm about to tell you won't go beyond us. They have a rough time of it as things are already."

Fred, George and Lee crossed their fingers over their hearts.

Hermione sighed once again and shook her head.

"Well," she began her tale, "I suppose you all know about Buckbeak."

"Wasn't it Hagrid's Hippogriff that attacked Malfoy?" Lee asked.

"That's the one," Hermione said. "This all starts with him... him and..."

"And?" Oliver asked curiously.

Hermione exhaled heavily. Oliver was right... there was no way that she was going to get out of telling them what had happened, he wasn't going to let her out of it, that was for sure.