Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Metamorphosis Through Anguish
Chapter 1
She stared dejectedly at the letter in her hands. She could read the words scrawled across it, but couldn't comprehend their meaning. Every time she tried to read it, some part of her balked, and wouldn't allow the message to sink it. Her world was slowly disintegrating and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She felt herself sinking onto her bed, and the pressure of a hand guiding her there. She looked up into the eyes of her favorite professor, and felt the true meaning of her loss settle around her like a lead cloak, weighing her down in the sea of her life. The tears that had been mysteriously absent in the wake of her shock came full force, running in torrents from her eyes, and stinging her cheeks. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but nothing would emerge from her throat. The only thought that was left in her head was "Why?" and it did little to assuage her grief.
She felt warm arms come around her and press her face into an equally warm shoulder and chest. She sobbed, until her throat burned, and her eyes burned and her cheeks burned, to match the horrible aching burn in her heart.
Professor McGonagall stared down at her young charge, running her hands over her hair and down her back. It was bad enough to lose ones parents, and only family to the ravages of time. But to lose them in a senseless act was so much worse because of the abrupt nature of their departure from the land of the living. The Professor did her best to comfort the young girl in her arms, but she knew in her heart that there was little she could do for her favorite student, but to offer the solace of her embrace, and ride out the tears. She sighed in resignation over the girl. The loss of her parents would echo in her life for many years to come, and she hoped that the girl in her arms would still have her spark when all was said and done.
"Why?" She heard a small voice ask, barely reaching her ears.
"I don't know, Hermione." She answered. It was an unsatisfactory answer to give the girl. She should know why her parents died. She should know the reason that had been stolen from her in such an abrupt fashion. She should have the answers to all her questions.
"Why?" She heard the girl ask again, but knew better than to answer. It was the grief talking, as she tried to reason out the newest change in her life. The Professor sighed again. There was nothing she could do, and she hated helplessness more than some many other things.
It was some hours later, her arms, aching from holding the girl, that she realized Hermione had fallen asleep. She felt the girls even breathing and looked down at her. The edges of her eyes, beneath her eyelashes were raw, like her cheeks, from the salty tears that had coursed their way down her face. Just as she started to ease her embrace, so as to lay her charge back into her bed, the Headmaster appeared in the doorway.
"Minerva." He said softly, so as not to wake the girl.
"Yes, Albus?" He looked so old in that moment, and while he was quite aged, he'd never appeared so until that moment.
"I do not think it was to leave Miss Granger in her dormitory tonight. She will not handle the questions well." She nodded. It had been her thinking to stay with the girl until she either woke, or could be maneuvered to another location.
"I agree. I'm afraid that Miss Granger is a little bit heavy for me to carry these days. I'm getting old, Albus." She smiled sadly up at her dearest friend and husband. "However if you cast a Feather Weight Charm on her, I should be able to manage quite easily." He nodded and waved his wand over the girl, who continued to sleep the exhausted sleep of the grief stricken. Her two young companions appeared in the doorway next to the Headmaster.
"Is Hermione alright?" Harry Potter asked. His ginger shadow, Ron Weasley stayed silent, but nodded along with the question.
"No, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley. Miss Granger has just been informed that her parents were killed." Ron's face held shock. He had yet to experience true grief in his life. Harry on the other hand looked grim. He, while just as young as his two friends, knew all to well the ravages of grief and the marks that it left on a persons heart and soul. He sighed in understanding.
"Will you be moving her somewhere else? As much as we would like to be with her, she shouldn't be here in the dorm." Harry asked. He was extremely understanding of what she was going through. Albus rested a hand on the boy's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. It had always amazed her how the boy managed to act like a child one moment and seemingly so adult the next.
"Yes. I will be moving her to some rooms near the Headmaster's office and my own quarters. I agree, she does not need to be in the Tower tonight." Professor McGonagall answered him. He nodded in acceptance and headed back down to the Common Room. He knew there was little he could do for his friend when the Professor was already taking care of her. "Albus." She prompted. The Headmaster nodded and led the way. She scooped up the sleeping girl, still under the charm and carried her down the stairs and out of the Tower.
Professor McGonagall followed the Headmaster into a set of quarters that joined their own living space. Albus pulled back the covers on a bed and she layed the girl in it. Hermione whimpered in her sleep and suddenly wrapped her arms around Minerva's neck, refusing to release her. She felt the girl's hot tears against her neck and felt her own pricking at her eyes in sympathy. Albus pulled off the girl's shoes and Minerva sat on the bed with her. She knew it was going to be a long night. Albus pulled the covers over both of them and kissed Minerva's cheek, before going up to his office.
Minerva cuddled the girl to her side, brushing her unruly curls from her face, before rubbing her back. She felt more than her the soft hiccupping coming from Hermione as her tears started to subside.
"What will I do now, Professor? I have no one." The girl's voice was so soft.
"You have me." She answered. She hadn't meant for it to come out of her mouth, but it did. She and Albus had tried so many times over their years together, but they had never been graced with children. Over the years that she had been a professor, she'd managed to stay aloof from her students. However there had been a few that wormed their way into her heart. The last had been Severus Snape, and the newest was the girl in her arms, Hermione Granger. "You'll always have me."