McGonagall's Mission

Harry, Hermione and Ron were all confused. "Uh, why are we in the forbidden forest Professor?" Ron spluttered, he obviously thought they did something wrong and had another detention in the forbidden forest. "Not to worry Ron, everything's fine, well sort of. The point is, you three aren't in any kind of trouble." McGonagall replied. They stood there waiting for her to say more, but she didn't say anything for what seemed like 10 minutes. Harry started to get worried, what was going on? Why were they in the forbidden forest? Why isn't Mcgonagall speaking? All of a sudden, out of the blue, Mcgonagall burst out, "Ok I cannot keep it from you any longer. The reason you three are here is because I need your help." And with those words Harry, Ron and Hermione burst out laughing. Professor McGonagall never asked anyone for help, why was she starting now? She continued, "There is something in this forest that I need you three to get rid of. Harry you will need Shadow." Harry put his fingers to his lips and gave a high pitched whistle that pierced everyone's ears. Within minutes Shadow had arrived. Hermione shrank back into Ron for protection. "It's ok Hermione" said Harry, "He may not like Muggles but he knows my friends and he wont do anything." Hermione relaxed at that statement but still hesitated, " But Harry.... it's a Crub.... Crubs don't like muggles and I'm Muggle born." Harry felt aggrivated that she didn't trust him but he payed no attention to it, " Hermione, trust me, Shadow was a gift from someone for my birthday and whoever gave it to me must have thought I would need him. He will not hurt any of my friends. He knows not to so stop worrying." Hermione didn't say anything, she just nodded. " Ok well... since that's out of our way, we will need to get started, you will need your instructions." The three of them jumped at the sound of Professor McGonagall speaking, they forgot she was there, they even forgot for a moment that they were in the forbidden forest. They listened to their instructions with half opened mouths of suprise. They all set off to do their tasks with lit wands to see where they were going. The only sounds that they heard were that of small branches breaking under their weight as they walked and Shadow's breath as he trotted along beside them, tail wagging curiously. They jumped suddenly at a new sound close by. Hermione pointed her wand at the sound and saw a bush moving. She walked causioulsy towards it with her wand out and ready. Nothing jumped out so she continued searching the bush. "It's nothing. This is just one of those Flutterby bushes we had to take care of in Herbology." So they continued forward towards their goal. Shadow licking Harry's hand occasionally, and Ron breathing heavily. " That doesn't sound too bad... just get rid of it, that's all we need to do." Ron blurted out. " So if it wasn't too bad Ron, then why are you shaking?" asked Hermione. " Because we've never dealt with something like this, I've never even heard of it. Did Professor McGonagall tell us how to get rid of it Harry?" Ron quivered. " Uh well, no. But I learned some more spells on holiday, I got bored and read about a bunch of good ones, very powerful too." Harry replied. So he went through all of the new spells as they walked on. Hermione was very impressed at how much he learned, she was always trying to get them to learn new things. By the time they got to the place the monster was located they were way beyond ready for it, they were excited to see it. They finally got to where the monster was located. Harry grabbed Shadow and they hid behind a tree. "Ok. So what did Professor Mcgonagall say we needed to do?" asked Harry anxiously. "She said we need to either kill it or send it away before it gets to the greenhouses." informed Hermione. "Alright, well we know our spells and we will take turns in casting them," implied Ron, "And then when each of us are done casting our spell we will jump behind a bush or tree and out of the way for the next." He looked around at Harry and Hermione, which looked very impressed that he came up with that all on his own. "What? It was just a suggestion" said Ron. "And a very good suggestion Ron! Thats just what we will do too." replied Harry. At that moment Harry jumped out, wand ready, starred the monster in it's eyes and shouted at it, " Ok Streeler, you have one chance to pack up and leave this place! Go back to wherever it is you came from!" But the Streeler didnt move, it just sat there starring right back at Harry and turning a blinding yellow colour to try and distract him. But it didn't work, Harry raised his wand a shouted "AVIS!" and darted behind a bush before the humungous snail could realise what happened. Out jumped Ron, "CONFUNDO!" and he too hid behind a bush. Hermione stuck her head out from behind the tree and pointed her wand, "CONJUNCTIVA!" and put her head back behind the tree. After that, the snail had a flock of birds flying around its head, couldn't see a thing, and was so confused that it just stood there in shock. Harry, Ron and Hermione waited for the spells to wear off to have a chat with him. In the meantime, while they were waiting, they decided to congradulate themselves on performing the spells with ease. "Harry, did you see how good I did that confusion charm!?" asked Ron. "Yea I did Ron, it was perfect!" He replied. Hermione however wasnt happy with it all, she didn't want to hurt the snail, after all it wasn't doing anything, yet. "Maybe we should leave it alone now." she said with difficulty. "We will only leave it alone if it agrees to leave." Harry reminded her. "Look, the spells are wearing off now." informed Ron. And sure enough, a few minutes later the spells wore off and the streeler got to his senses. Harry spoke to it once more in the comforts of the bush in case the snail was angry at what just happened. "Now will you leave this place and go back to wherever you came from?" asked Harry. "HOW DARE YOU USE MAGIC ON STU!!!" the snail bellowed. "I was minding my own business until you came along!" it said, sounding alittle hurt now and close to tears. "We were instructed to get rid of you, streeler, and we really don't want to hurt you but you need to leave now with no more adue!" shouted Hermione, not knowing if it would hear her if she talked normally. "Ok I will leave." and as the streeler said it he started to descend. Hermione was pleased at this and grabbed Ron, and for the first time she kissed him! Not on the cheek but on the lips. After she pulled away, Ron stood there as stiff as a board, most likely in shock. When he came round he turned to Harry with a grin so big it crossed his whole face. Harry never seen Ron Smile like that before. "Hermione, it's about time you kissed me. I have been wishing that would happen for ages. Yes even though I'm always on your case about being smart, I still adore you. Hermione, can I have the pleasure of taking you to hogsmead on the next visit?" Hermione jumped at Ron and hugged him, "YES RON!!! I would love to." Ron was happy, Hermione was happy, Harry was especially happy, for his two best friends in the world liked eachother and to him there was nothing better. They walked back to the castle all grinning happily. Meeting up with Professor McGonagall and telling her everything. She, too, was very pleased and awarded them fifty points to each. Shadow jumped at McGonagall and licked her face. They headed up to school together.