Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter:(
Author's Notes: First part of a two parter :D Reviewers are loved!
The Rain
The halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry were filled with the constant echo of rain.
"It's really coming down out there." Hermione looked out the window with slight interest, heaving up her heavy spell books for the next class.
"Yeah," Ron agreed, following Hermione's eyes as he gathered up his own belongings. "Shame it hasn't stopped Quidditch practice. Been raining like this for three weeks."
"What are you complaining about?" Hermione questioned, eyebrow raised. "I thought you loved Quidditch."
"I do!" Ron quickly interjected. "Just not in the rain. I don't love anything in the rain." Harry laughed slightly, though it was clear he wasn't very focused on the conversation. Out of the three, he had been the most distant this year, still trying to move past Sirius's death and his less then perfect O.W.L.S. scores.
Hermione, on the other hand, had received top mark on all her O.W.L.S, and had been more positive this year then they could ever remember her. "Well, don't worry Ron, I'm sure the rain will let up soon. After all, it can't rain forever," she said with a large, optimistic smile.
"Easy for you to say," Ron snorted grumpily. "You don't have to fly a broom in it."
Hermione gave a warm hearted smile. "At least we have Transfiguration next. Professor McGongall hinted that we might start learning about Manaimi Transfiguration today!" Her eyes lit up at the thought.
"Manaimi Transfiguration? What's that? I don't remember her saying anything about it." Harry questioned confusedly. He wondered just how little attention he had actually been paying.
He was relieved to find that Ron looked equally confused.
Hermione blushed slightly. "Yes, well, I said hinted at it, didn't I?"
Though both boys laughed at their friend's ultra-observance, they wouldn't have been a bit surprised if today's lesson was on Mannymea (or whatever it was) Transfiguration after all.
They walked in to find a very distressed looking professor at the front of their class. The trio exchanging questioning looks, but got no answers. "Please be seated," Professor McGongall announced, her steady voice shaking only slightly. The whispers flooding the room broke off abruptly.
The curious class obeyed, all eyes glued on their teacher. Professor McGongall gazed back on them, but try as she might to stop them, her eyes hit one student in particular. "Open your textbooks to page 787 and read chapter 19, 'Manaimi Transfiguration' in its entirety. If by some chance you should finish this before class ends, move on to the next chapter. Your quiz on this next lesson will be worth half off your grade, so I suggest you use your time wisely. If any of you so much as thinks of talking, you will fail this class and lose your house the House Cup. I kid you not."
The class was dead silent. None of them needed to be told McGongall wasn't kidding. Her voice was ice cold and her eyes alone looked like they would burn a hole straight through you. Hermione looked absolutely beside herself, fumbling madly for her book with intentions of rereading the 200 page chapter at least 4 more times.
"Ms. Granger, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, if you would please follow me," McGongall said.
Hermione became completely frantic. "Professor, I was just getting my book out! I'm sorry! Please! I can't fail this class! I didn't mean to-"
If Harry didn't know any better, he could have sworn he saw some kind of deep pity in McGongall's eyes. "Please, you three," McGongall said, forcing her voice to become uncharacteristically soft in order to calm Hermione down.
"Don't worry, Hermione," Ron whispered confidently, a smile playing across his face. "I'm sure she just wants to congratulate us on another job well done."
With this, Hermione felt a little relieved. After all, Ron and Harry hadn't made any noise, so it wouldn't make sense to punish all three of them. McGongall must be giving them some good news.
They followed McGongall down the hall, past a few studying Slytherians, up a flight of stairs, and into the Headmaster's office.
"Hello," Professor Dumbledore said, the usual playfulness absent in his voice. "Please, you three, sit down."
Automatically, three chairs popped out of the wall and the trio sat down, never moving their eyes off Dumbledore's. Without saying anything to suggest it, they knew from the tone of his voice that something serious had happened.
"Last night, there were a series of attacks made on the members of the Order of the Phoenix and their contacts." Dumbledore gave them a moment to take this information in. None of them seemed too surprised; they knew the war was dangerous, especially for members of the Order.
"There were deaths," Dumbledore stated gently. Hermione emitted an involuntary gasp. Harry's thoughts flashed automatically to Lupin, his only living connection to his father. Ron, whose entire family worked for the Order, went ghostly pale.
Hermione, looking at her two terrified friends and feeling infinitely horrible for them, wished that Dumbledore would just get on with it.
Dumbledore, wishing with all his might that this was news he didn't have to give, continued. "Among them were Nymphadora Tonks, Arabella Figs…and, the Grangers."
The room froze.
"We're so sorry, Hermione," Professor McGongall whispered with complete sincerity, tears on the edges of her wrinkled eyes. If anyone noticed that this was the first time the old woman had called Hermione by her first name, they did nothing to acknowledge it.
Hermione stared blankly at them. Ten seconds ago she had been thinking how glad she was that her Mom and Dad were Muggles because they were safe from the war, now, she was being told they were dead. It was a truth she could not begin to comprehend.
"No," she whispered, pale enough to be dead herself. "No. My parents are Muggles…there'd be no reason…my parents are Muggles…there must be a mistake…they aren't in the Order…why would Voldemort go after them? It doesn't ma-make any sense. I…if…and… Why would he go after my parents? No sense..it…" she rambled, eyes glazed over and darting desperately around the room for support.
"He…had reasons to believe your parents were in contact with the Order…he thought he could scare them into revealing secrets…" Professor McGongall explained gently. "They didn't tell him anything."
"THEY DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING!" Hermione yelled, knocking over her chair, tears falling from her eyes. "They wer- are Muggles! You-you're wrong! Why would he even think that they-" But her voice trailed off as she answered her own question. Her wild eyes flashed onto Harry as if only now, lighted with disbelief and rage, could they see him for what he really was.
"NO!" she screeched again, not wanting to believe the truth that was beginning to piece together. She squeezed her eyes shut with all the force she had, not wanting a single ray of light or truth to seep in. She grabbed her ears with both hands, shaking her head wildly. "NO! NO! NOOOO! IT'S NOT TRUE! IT'S NOT TRUE! I DON'T BELIEVE YOU! YOU'RE LIARS! MY PARENTS AREN'T DEAD!" She shouted hysterically, crying, and shaking as her friends looked on in horror.
"Hermione," Professor McGongall started, now fully in tears from seeing the anguish of her student. She reached a hand to smooth Hermione's frazzled hair.
"GET AWAY FROM ME! ALL OF YOU! GET AWAY!" Hermione screamed, still crying, as her friends attempted to approach her too. She broke through the doors of the office and tore away quicker then they had ever seen her run.
The office was silent but for the soft sound of falling rain. Ron and Harry stared at their teachers with wide eyes.
"Go after her," Dumbledore solemnly instructed the two dazed boys. "You're the only family she has now."
Ron and Harry nodded and headed wordlessly down the stairs.
"These are just the first," Dumbledore said sadly as he watched them exit. "The worst is yet to come."
McGongall, who could think of nothing worse then what she had just watched, could only nod. "Perhaps so," she said, Hermione's distorted face still in her mind. "Perhaps so."
To be continued…