hermione granger thinks harry is an idiot. (steadfastlove) wrote in uprisingrpg, @ 2011-01-12 19:04:00 |
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Entry tags: | harry potter, hermione granger, ron weasley |
Who: Harry, Ron, Hermione
What: Ron has plans and everyone else wants to stop being left in the dark
When: Thursday, 13 January, 2001; Late Night
Where: Trio and Luna's current hideout aka a TENT in the WOODS
Warnings: Probably some angst, language, yelling, mentions of bombs
Status: Logged, Complete
What was so special about Sunday, Harry still didn’t really understand. Why Crouch and Malfoy had chosen it as their day to pick on him and Luna, respectively, didn’t make much sense, but that wasn’t the part that mattered. What mattered was that he'd had enough.
How Ron and Hermione - well, almost entirely Ron - had convinced him to stay behind in the first place, he honestly couldn't remember. Probably it had just begun from a moment of weakness, and then set a precedent, but he was done. I'm not important if I'm not doing anything, he'd said to Luna, and he'd believed it. His life only mattered if he was fighting Voldemort, and they weren't going to be able to convince him otherwise. Not anymore.
"I'm in," he said firmly to Ron when he finally appeared, face set. "I don't care what you think about it, you can't leave me out anymore. You'll tell me what you're doing, and I'll decide what my part in it is."
Ron had spent the week in feverish preparation, putting the others off with excuses as he planned his assault and then gathered the necessary materials. This last had taken the most time, since it wasn’t as though they stocked C4 and time fuses at the sodding Tesco; he’d had to lean on some of his less savory contacts just to get an introduction to other, even less pleasant characters: an ex-IRA soldier laying low in Bristol, a Serbian slumlord with ‘friends’ back in the mother country, the sort of people who would as soon shoot you just for knowing they existed as they would do business . . . but he’d done business, and everything was set for him to hit the Ministry with “Emil and Blondie” tonight. Whether or not to tell the others what he was planning was something he still hadn’t decided on, but after several days of absence he’d figured it was time for him to check in with the others, and then he could decide how much it was safe for them to know. Only now it seemed Harry was going to force the issue. He’d hoped taking the Felix Felicis would be enough.
“No. I’m sorry, Harry, I really am mate. But you can’t be a part of this. Not tonight.”
“You’re right, I probably can’t,” Harry said, with a little bit of satisfaction. Well, a very tiny amount, and not because he couldn't help Ron, but because the reason wasn't that he was too important to be involved. "I'm going to help get Mr. Lovegood to safety. But I still want to know what you're doing."
Luna had been giving him the same speech as Ron did lately, but the fact was, Harry was the one who had been in contact with Tonks, who knew where her father was, who had a plan to get him out. A completely unsafe plan, but a plan nonetheless. If he was overeager to be involved, and if that made him a bit reckless, he could thank his friends for that.
For a moment Ron could only stare in slack-jawed disbelief. Then the anger set in, “Have you gone FUCKING MENTAL? Are you bloody TRYING to get yourself killed? Goddamn it, if I’d known you were planning something like this . . . you’d better FUCKING well tell me that Hermione knows about this, at least, and that you’ve got something resembling a sodding plan. Do you even know where he is? Merlin’s FUCKING beard, tell me they’re not keeping him at the Ministry at least.”
“Hermione knows,” Harry said, his frown deepening at the way Ron was yelling. Tonks knew, too, and she was even more aware of the risks than any of them - not that that made Harry feel much better about having her take them on his behalf. “And we have a plan.”
He was fighting down the urge to yell at Ron in return, when the last sentence caught his attention. Why would it be worse to be at the Ministry than in Azkaban? “Why would it matter if he was being kept at the Ministry?”
Hermione had been going back through the notes she’d been taking as she, Harry and Luna discussed a decent plan of action for getting Xenophilius Lovegood to safety. Sure, it was all very risky, but what were they supposed to do? They’d never really been ones to sit back and let everything happen around them, so why were they doing that a lot lately? Well, except for Ron who was always off doing something or other, leaving her and Harry constantly in the dark.
It was Ron’s yelling that drew her attention. She made her way out of the tent to where her two best mates were facing off. Hands on hips, she looked determinedly between the two men. “What is going on with the Ministry? Harry, I thought we were planning for Azkaban! This is going to take a whole new series of notes to be ready to break into the Ministry!” She turned her expression on Ron. “Don’t be mad, Ron. You weren’t here and we needed a plan. We only have two days before Malfoy’s threat happens. We weren’t going to leave you out, I promise!” Merlin’s pants, she hated when they argued. And it wasn’t like Ron wasn’t always making plans without involving them. Sure, it had been four years since setting out on this journey, but they’d set out on it together, and she didn’t like it much when any of them forgot that.
Ron growled, running his hands through his hair in frustration at the possibility that his own plan being completely buggered, and especially at the risk to Harry . . . even as the hardened chess strategist side of his brain considered the potential advantages of hitting the Ministry’s forces at two places at once.
With Hermione’s interjection, he forced himself to calm down. If they were really going through with their plan to breakout Luna’s father tonight, they’d need to coordinate. “Already have a plan for the Ministry. It’s what I’ve been getting supplies for this past week. You remember those two Death Eaters, the one’s who’ve been passing me inside information the past month or so? Well, we’re hitting the Ministry tonight, and we’re hitting it hard.”
“And you didn’t think that was important enough to tell us?” Harry asked, infuriated. Ron had gotten away with a lot in his book, but Harry had assumed, perhaps wrongly, that if it actually came to things like attacking the Ministry, they would all be involved. It hurt to find out that he was wrong, and it felt wrong. He was lost for words for a long moment, so angry he couldn’t even speak. “What is WRONG with you? It’s like-- it’s like I don’t even know whose side you’re on anymore!”
As soon as he said it, he realized; maybe something was actually wrong. Maybe Ron was under the Imperius Curse, maybe someone was holding his family over his head, maybe it wasn’t really Ron he should be angry at. “Why?” he said, some of his anger draining away, but not fading completely. “Why are you hitting the Ministry tonight, why are you working with them and not us?”
And, oh, that stung Harry all but accusing him of being a traitor, and it took a real physical effort on Ron’s part to prevent himself from hauling off and punching him in the face right then and there. “If you have to ask that,” Ron said coldly, “then maybe I shouldn’t bother coming back. Goddamn it Harry, this could be our only shot at getting inside the Ministry, finding out what they have on this Potion or drug or whatever. My contacts can get me inside Crouch’s office, the Department of Mysteries . . . but they don’t trust us yet, not really, anymore than we trust them. They have to know we’re all in. And I don’t think you are yet.”
“What? No, Ron!” Hermione looked back at Harry, trying to figure out exactly where they’d all gone wrong between devising a plan of attack and this. “Harry, you don’t mean that. Of course he’s on our side. We’re all on our side!” She knew Ron wasn’t trying to turn his back on them even if he was doing business with rather unsavory characters. She didn’t trust these people Ron was working with, not at all, but she trusted Ron with her life. She trust Harry with her life. Why else would she have spent the last four years constantly running with them? They had to stick together!
She pursed her lips, trying her hardest not to let the tension continuing to build between the two men distract her from the bigger picture: they had two missions tonight and they needed to figure out how to pull them both off. She looked back at Ron, jaw set, unyielding. “Well, then, you better fill me in quick because I am coming with you. Harry and Luna can carry out our plan without us. And then we’ll all meet back here afterward, yeah?” She had to admit that, yes, she was intrigued by finding out more about what was being used to keep everyone under tabs. It wasn’t just that, though. Maybe if they split up, just for the night, they really could accomplish twice as much. If they could all just work together for that long, that was.
Hermione glance back between Harry and Ron, daring them to let any further argument occur in her presence. They didn’t have much time if they wanted to accomplish everything they had planned.
“Of course I’m all in,” Harry said, glowering. What more did he need to do to be all in? And how was he even supposed to do that when they wouldn’t let him do anything? Ron was treating him just like Dumbledore had, and he should know how Harry felt about that kind of treatment by now. Besides, where had that gotten Dumbledore, where had it gotten them? If they’d let him in on their plans earlier, if they’d listened to him about Malfoy, Dumbledore might be alive now, they might have much more information to work with. “I’ve always been all in.”
He wanted to say more, but Hermione had a point, that they needed to get going. He swallowed all of it, the frustration, anger, and betrayal, and turned away. “Yeah,” he threw back over his shoulder, just so they knew he was in agreement on that point, at least, “We’ll meet back here.”
But this wasn’t over. They would carry out their plans, and then they’d make more plans, together. Or he’d make his own plans, if they insisted on keeping him out of theirs. Just now, he needed to get Luna, and get back into contact with Tonks.
And could you kill someone, if you had to Harry? Not just Voldemort or Crouch, but some poor sod who’s just following orders because he’s under some spell or trance or whatever? He didn’t say this, though, because it wouldn’t help. It felt like they were both ganging up on him now, and even if Ron knew they had a legitimate point about just how much he’d been keeping from them lately, they’d choose the worst fucking time possible to actually confront him about it. But there was clearly no talking Harry out of trying to rescue Mr. Lovegood, and trying to talk Hermione out of coming along with him would just waste more precious time.
“Fine,” he said. “Hermione . . .?” Half asking her if she was going to insist on coming along, half asking if she was ready to leave.
Hermione hate, hated this. Even if they were all successful tonight, would it even feel like a success? And if they weren’t--Merlin, she didn’t even want to think about the possibility that they might not all meet back here. She furrowed her brow but did not say anything further. For once, Hermione Granger didn’t have the last word. When they all got back, though, she’d make sure things got better, whatever it took. They surely couldn’t win anything if they were fighting each other rather than those they were meant to be fighting.
She nodded to Ron, confirming the answer to his lingering, unasked question and cast one more glance over to Harry. She hoped he caught her wordless expression that she was still with him, was with all of them. Finally, she looked back at Ron, determined. “Alright, so what’s the plan?” She’d do her best to actually help him, to not become a wrench in the plan. And if there were two Death Eaters involved, it was all the better to have two of them involved, too, right?
Ron gave a curt nod of acknowledgement, all business now. “First we pick up some supplies, wait for my contacts to meet us. Soon as they show up we hit the Ministry. Break in, grab whatever seems useful, then . . . make a mess of things. Set ups some bombs Crouch’s office, anyplace else that seems important. We should go soon, though.”
Hermione’s eyes widened ever so slightly. Bombs? She swallowed loudly and composed herself. “I’m in,” she said, almost too quietly for her usual tone. Stepping forward, she slipped her hand into his. “Let’s go.”