Chapter 10: Their Turn to Cry

The scene Harry returns to is, to put it mildly, disorienting.

Hermione is lying on her stomach in the commons, with the other 7th year girls milling about nervously. Her bottom is fully bared and a deep, seared red from what must have been a very recent spanking. Her panties are still held aloft by some invisible hand, which at this point has dragged them to the point where the waistband could easily fit over her head. Luna Lovegood is on her knees next to Hermione, mashing a yellowish paste in a wooden mortar and chattering away about melons.

He blinks and shakes his head just as Ron appears at his side.

"Mental, isn't it?" He says. "The whole school has gone absolutley mental."

"What happened?"

"Oh, god. You've missed quite a lot." Ron explains what he learned from Hermione: that the wedgie was actually not an intentional spell, but a curse placed on her by...someone, who she still hasn't named yet. He then explains that she'd been trying to secretly undo the curse on her panties, but she accidentally triggered it to punish her with a hairbrush — "Flighty bastard, that one," Ron muses, although Harry has no idea what he means — and finally, he gestures to Luna Lovegood and explains that Luna is applying a balm she used to use on herself as a girl, which can make the sting fade faster. Apparently, having Luna into the commons wasn't an issue, even though her presence as a Ravenclaw is illicit. The painted woman in the picture seemed to know her.

Even though Harry has heard the entire explanation, he's still at a loss for words. He surveys the scene along with Ron and the tittering girls, tilting his head as Luna begins to massage Hermione's cherry-red bottom with both hands.

Hermione glowers at them. "Enjoying the view, are you?" she says.

"Why won't you just tell us who did this to you?" Ron counters. "That way we could do something besides stand here and look at your bum."

Hermione vigorously shakes her head, and then gasps as Luna's finger slips.

"Sorry," Luna mutters.

Hermione lowers her head, miserable and ceded to her humiliation.

Something occurs to Harry in that moment — something that hadn't before. He turns to Ron and says in a low voice, "Hang on a tic...you said she won't tell us who did this to her?"

"That's right."

Harry puts his hand on Ron's shoulder. "Well, I think I know." He guides Ron to the bunk rooms and closes the door behind them both.

"Oi, wait a minute," Ron says as he backs towards his bed. "First, tell me what happened in Umbridge's room. I thought you were a goner — you're not even limping!"

Harry quickly explains Umbridge's punishment, leaving out, of course, the secret thrill he got from painting Cho's perfect bum a bright red. Ron listens all the while, nodding in amazement.

At the end of the story, Ron repeats his new mantra: "School's gone mental. Bloody mental."

They hear a noise from outside, which sounds a bit like Hermione giving Luna hell because her fingers keep slipping. They consider reopening the door, but choose to ignore it.

"Anyway," Ron says, taking a wrapped chocolate frog from the suitcase under his bed, "You were saying you think you know who cursed Hermione?"

"Oh, yeah," Harry says.

He tells Ron about the Slytherins he saw outside of Umbridge's office — specifically Daphne Greengrass.

"Why would she mention Hermione, specifically?" he says. "She hasn't even been to Umbridge yet. How did she know she'd been having 'trouble sitting down?'"

Ron takes a bite of chocolate and strokes his chin thoughtfully. "True," he says. "But if it was just the Slytherin 7th years, why won't Hermione just tell us?"

"I'm sure she's just embarrassed. She lost a fight with them, I guess, and she doesn't want us to know."

"Good enough for me," Ron says, finishing his chocolate and licking his fingertips. "So what do you think we should do about it?"

Just outside of the door, a cluster of Gryffendor girls are wondering the exact same thing. Pavarti turns to Lavender, who turns to Padma, who turns to Luna.

"What are they saying?" Hermione asks from the floor. There's a bright sheen all across her bottom from the smeared in melon balm. Although she never likes to fess to it when Luna knows something she doesn't, Hermione has to admit that the balm is helping. "Are they talking about us?"

The girls look back at Hermione, her panties still standing in the air, suspended. Pavarti is the first to go to her. She stoops down and takes Hermione by the hand. "Don't worry, Hermione," she says. "We're going to help you fix this, just you wait. Soon, those girls will know not to mess with our Hermione — or with any Gryffindor!" She squeezes Hermione's hand and looks into her confused face, still slick with tears. "It's their turn to cry."