Treason - 3

Mrs. Weasley's eyes widened. "Sorry, Ron…Hermione, dear. I'll get you something to eat, as well," she said, blushing furiously. She handed plates to both of them, but her eyes remained fixed on Shannon, who cast sly glances back and forth with George every few moments.

"What happened?" Harry asked. "What took you so long?"

"What didn't?" Ron asked, scowling as he shoveled a huge mound of mashed potatoes into his mouth. "First, I went back to Fred and George's shop to find Hermione, but she wasn't there when I got there."

Harry looked over at Hermione as she took a long draught of her pumpkin juice, nodding all the while. "Where was she?" he asked, noticing her torn clothing and a scratch on the side of her face that he hadn't seen when she'd first sat down.

"Shannon and I had an unexpected caller at the shop after I'd Flooed the Order," Hermione said, glancing at Shannon.

"It was really scary," Shannon said, shuddering, "but Hermione was brilliant."

"What did you do?" Ginny asked, leaning toward Hermione.

"Well, we were too far from the door to escape without being seen, and the Death Eater knew there was someone there. He started knocking things over and making a right mess of the shop, taunting us the whole time," Hermione said with a disapproving frown.

"So Hermione created a window," Shannon said, beaming at George. "It's right above your desk and it's fantastic. You'll probably want to keep it there."

"A window?" Harry said, looking askance at Hermione.

"Well, I thought I could do it, but I wasn't really certain. I read about the spell in this redecorating book that I found in one of the rooms upstairs. I'm certain the Order used it when they were fixing up this place-"

"Hermione," Ron said, smiling fondly, "the Death Eater…"

She waved her hands in the air. "Oh! Right! Well, we opened the window, and Shannon climbed outside-"

"But before Hermione could get out, the Death Eater entered the back room," Shannon said.

Hermione frowned, derailed. "Right. Well…at first I couldn't think what to do, and I rather panicked."

"You?" Ron asked, nudging her shoulder playfully. "I can't imagine that."

Hermione glared at him. "No, it's true. I had my wand aimed right at him, but for the life of me, I couldn't think of the spell I wanted."

Harry shook his head, able to appreciate the humor since she was obviously all right. Leave it to Hermione to be in a life threatening situation and being delayed because she wanted a particular spell.

"So, what did you do?" Ginny asked.

"Shannon did, actually," Hermione said.

"I leaned in the window and stuffed a Puking Pastille in his mouth," Shannon said, nodding. "It was the first thing I could reach on the desk."

"Ha!" George said. "That's a girl! Way to use those Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes products, too, eh, Fred?"

Fred rolled his eyes, although a grin had spread across his face.

Shannon nodded, obviously pleased. "And while he was retching, Hermione kicked him where it counted and scrambled out the window."

All the males in the room cringed, twisting in their chairs.

"Hermione!" Fred said, shocked. "I'm impressed."

Hermione's cheeks pinkened, but she defiantly stuck out her chin. "I had to get away, didn't I?"

"She got him good, too," Shannon said, smiling approvingly at Hermione. "He doubled over and went down like a rock, clutching his bits."

Harry winced again, but noticed Ron beaming with pride at Hermione. He'd obviously heard this story already.

Mrs. Weasley coughed delicately. "More potatoes, dear?" she asked Shannon.