Harry performed the same ritual, and Ron didn't feel anything different when he put the spelled amulet on. There were no signs that it was the product of a highly illegal blood magic spell. In fact, he felt better. More alert, less tired.
"Hermione?" Harry asked. Hermione had her hands tucked into her sides. She looked ready to cry. Ron wasn't sure how to reassure her for once.
"Will you please explain yourself first?!" She said in her bossy tone, edged high with hysterics. "Blood magic is illegal, Harry! Very, very illegal. You could be expelled! You could go to prison!"
Ron reached out to try to comfort her but Hermione shifted out of the way.
"They're protective amulets," Harry said. "That's all. If the Heir of Slytherin tries to hurt you, you'll heal. It will heal you from pretty much any injury or illness. I'm not exactly sure if it will work if you get petrified or suffer something fatal, but mama is confident it should hold up. It would only work once on a deadly injury though, then I'd have to make you another one."
Hermione thought it over a moment, the group waited in suffocating anticipation. Finally, she asked. "Who's blood is in those vials?" Ron held in a groan. That was the last question he wanted answered.
Harry looked sheepish. "I won't say."
"Harry James Potter! Who's blood is that?"
Harry shook his head. "It's fine, Hermione. I just needed a drop, I didn't kill anyone for it."
That was the wrong thing to say. Hermione stood up from the table sending the vials tumbling around. No, no, no! She refused to let him get out of explaining himself this time. They'd had nothing but concerns before - but this! Nothing so concrete, so twisted and purely Dark had crossed Hermione's mind. This sort of magic was not something found by accident in a book. This was proof, evidence of something terrible. There was Dark magic, and then there was whatever Harry was doing. It was wrong, every bone in her body insisted on it. The usual subconscious terror that followed Harry billowed to the surface and she was suddenly very, very frightened of her dear friend.
"Are you practicing Dark magic, yes or no?" She shouted.
Harry spluttered, his eyes flashing to Ron and Luna for help. But they both sat there, stunned at Hermione's outburst and not offering any help. Harry sighed and contemplated his answer for a moment.
"Yes, yes I am," he admitted.
"God, Harry! Why? Don't you know how dangerous that is? It's against the rules!" With a huff, Hermione stormed out of the library. Harry called after her, but she did not look back.
"I'm sorry," said Harry. He collapsed back into his chair. Ron stared at the last unfinished amulet Hermione had left behind. Dread filled in his gut.
"Hey," he reached over and put his hand on Harry's shoulder. "Look, Hermione was pretty chill about it before this. I think seeing it in action scared her a bit. You know she's a teacher's pet, a stickler for the rules. She's just worried you'll get in trouble."
"We trust you, Harry," Luna came over and pulled the two boys into a hug. "But Hermione is a muggleborn. They're a very moral group of people. She needs some time to think it over, but she'll come around."
"You don't want to know about the spell?" Harry asked, voice quiet and flat.
"I'll be honest, mate. Not sure I'd be thrilled about the details. I don't want to think about where you got that blood. It did kinda freak me out too. But like Luna said, we trust you. You're my first friend. I don't care how evil you are. Look, let's give Hermione space and we'll talk to her tomorrow. You know how girls are, she just needs a good cry. We should probably head up to the common room anyway."
Luna rolled her eyes at the girl comment but let it slide for once.
"I don't care if you're evil either, Harry. I've had years to get used to your magic, and Hermione hasn't had very long. Please give her time."
Harry let them reassure him, but inside, he was crushed. His mind spiraled through all sorts of scenarios of potential betrayal. What if she alerted the authorities?
But no, they were certain it would all work out. He had to trust that. Maybe he had sprung the blood magic on them too fast? Or maybe it was the human sacrifice she had an issue with? Tomorrow, Hary promised himself as he lay awake in his bed. They would talk about it tomorrow and everything would work out fine. He could lie to Hermione and not tell her the amulet was tied to a human? Or he could say it was someone who was already dead, that way she couldn't feel bad. Or maybe he should blame mama, tell them she got the blood and he wasn't sure how the spell worked or where it came from. He didn't need to explain how the ritual worked in too much detail. Or any detail at all. Yes, that would work. He could fix this.
But when Ron and Harry tumbled out of bed the next day, exhausted at the thought of returning to their classes and nervous over how Hermione would react, they were met instead with McGonagall's stern face greeting them at the bottom of the staircase.
"Boys," she said, voice curt. "Follow me to my office please."
"But we didn't do anything for once?" grumbled Ron, still half asleep.
"You're not in trouble," she insisted. But Harry's mind was filled with panic. Was he going to be arrested? Then why would they bring Ron too? Was Hermione going to get them both arrested because Ron hadn't tried to stop him? His panic increased when Luna met them at the door, also looking concerned and confused.
Once in her office, the woman collapsed in her chair. Harry noticed she looked exhausted, a frown etched deep into her wrinkles and purple bags under her eyes. "Ms. Granger was found petrified this morning."
"No," Harry said. "Absolutely not!" He felt no comfort in knowing he had not been discovered. He would have rather been arrested than be told something like this.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Potter. She was found near a girl's lavatory by the Great Hall and -"
"No!" Harry shouted, bolting out of his chair. Before McGonagall could say more, Harry threw himself out of the office, Ron trailing a second behind him.
At the Hospital Wing, they stood beside her frozen body in silence.
"Do you -" Ron lowered his tone to a faint whisper. "Do you need her permission to take her blood? Could you try using the amulet now, would that work?"
"I don't need her permission," Harry frowned. "But I'm not sure how the professors would react if she suddenly woke up. They'd ask a lot of questions I can't answer."
"You should write to your mum. Maybe she has some other Dark magic thingy she can do to help Hermione?"
"I don't think Hermione would like that," Harry chuckled darkly, wiping away some tears.
"I don't give a damn," Ron said, voice shaking in suppressed anger. "I want her back! Colin Creevy's still lying there, he's been petrified for months! Aren't the professors going to do something?"
.....
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