Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter universe nor do I own any of the music I mention. My musical definitions are a combination of what my band teacher tells me, my knowledge, and these snazzy web-sites I found. http://www.pianoinstructors.com. and http://www.acronet.net/~robokopp/musik/glossary.htm
Author Notes: As you can see, I decided to continue with the story. A HUGE thanks to all whom reviewed. I never understood the ravings of joyful writers until now. A special thanks to Anastasia for the idea incorporating a piece into each chapter. There isn't one here but I promise one for the next chapter. I will use more than Chopin. Don't worry. As rad as he is, there are so many others who are just as amazing. If you know of any pieces you think I should use, please tell me! Enjoy.
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Agitati: Agitated
The next morning, Hermione woke to the giggles and shouts of the rest of her house. Being head girl was wonderful for many reasons, one being that she had her own room, but it also meant she was right in the middle of the Gryffindor wing. One never knew when her help would be needed.
"No need for an alarm clock in this school." She muttered bitterly as she pushed her cat off of her stomach. "Come on Crooks. I need to get dressed."
The cat sniffed indignantly and in his attempt to stalk off the bed with grace and poise, tripped over his front paws and tumbled off the bed. Hearing Hermione's snort of laughter, he sprinted into her closet and promptly started chewing her only pair of Muggle jeans that hadn't had a potion spilled on them or hadn't been snatched away by some classmate with no connection to the non-wizarding world.
Hermione's grin faded away as she faced the mirror. Her hair had done anything but calm down over the years. If anything, it had developed a clear hatred for Hermione and expanded a bit more every year. She heard a slight coughing coming from in front of her and quickly grabbed her wand and pointed it at her mirror.
"ONE word from you, just one, and I promise you I will have no other choice but to harm you in ways you can't even dream of."
"But dear!" The mirror tried to protest. "If you only used a spell, or asked Lavender (the dear, she never has trouble with her hair. She is a natural beauty. She always looks like she stepped out of a Witches Weekly cover shoot! And the darling girl never shouts. Bless her soul) for help, I'm sure she'd fix it."
A deep Snape-like growl issued from the back of Hermione's throat and it took all of her might not to curse the mirror with an unforgivable. She thought it should be legal to use Avada Kedavra on a particularly troublesome mirror. On some days she thought that going to Azkaban might be worth it. At least nobody there would comment on her appearance or ask for her help on their homework.
Not hearing any noise coming from outside her door, Hermione realized she was late. She quickly got dressed, grabbed all of her class work, and as she ran out the door, pulled her hair back into a messy bun. Of course messy was the only choice she had, as the mirror had not so kindly pointed out a few days ago.
Once in the Great Hall, she quickly sat down across from Harry and Ron. Of course they were talking about Quidditch. Ron was gesturing excitedly with a piece of sausage that had been skewered onto his fork.
"Hi Hermione." Harry said quickly. Before She could answer, he had turned back to Ron and they began discussing the benefits of different styles of brooms.
Before Hermione could say anything, a cloud of owls filled the room. A large black owl flew to Hermione and dropped a thick package in front of her plate. Glancing over at the boys she saw that they hadn't even noticed. She coughed loudly and they turned their heads.
"Where were you last night Hermione?" Ron asked while nosily chewing his breakfast. "We were gonna wait for you to see where you went off to, but Oliver told us that there was practice first thing this morning and so we went to sleep. We knew you'd understand."
It took all of her strength not to scream. Ever since Ron had made the House Team, all they spoke of was quidditch. She thought they were obsessed before hand. She had never been so wrong. On night a few months ago, out of pure desperation for the boys she used to know, she asked if they wanted to explore the grounds. They of course said no with the excuse that they had practice in the morning.
"I was in my room and then went to Professor Snape to ask about my project. Have you forgotten about that already?" She said trying to not sound too annoyed.
"No offense Mione, but you are crazy to want to work with that bastard. He hates you and you hate him. You can only impress the Professors to a point you know." Ron replied calmly while reaching for more food. "What was in the package?"
Glaring, she ripped the paper off of the parcel and threw the paper, not so subtly, at Ron. She let out a squeal and jumped up. It was the books Snape had told her he would let her borrow. Five books she had never read before all for her. If Ron weren't being such a bastard, she would have been ecstatic.
"More books?" The sneer in Ron's voice was obvious.
At this point even Harry could tell Ron had taken it too far. The anger and pain coming from Hermione was pliable. She quickly backed away from the table and looked like she was about to say something, but instead grabbed her belongings, and began to exit the room. When she reached the door, she turned around and looked at the table. Harry looked like he was dealing with Ron. She sighed and quickly left the room. She didn't notice Snape and Dubledore's eyes following her out. The former curious and the latter worried.
***
The next few hours passed uneventfully. This was mostly due to the fact that she refused to sit next to Ron and thus Harry in any class. She also skipped lunch to get some reading in. Now she had potions though and she was running late. She burst into the classroom and was surprised to see she wasn't late at all. Only a few people were in the room and some were coming in behind her. Feeling a little better about what was definitely going to be the worst part of the day, she sat where she knew the Wonder Boys, as she had taken to calling them in her mind, would never sit. Next to the Slytherins. She still had a fellow Gryffindor on her right, but to her left was a full-fledged Slytherin. She caught the look of surprise she received first from Harry, then from Malfoy, and most surprisingly from Snape. Though his only lasted for a second, she was fairly sure it was there. He quickly recovered and glided to the front of the room.
"Today I have something I need to work on and I can't be bothered with making sure you don't melt down the school." With a sneer he added "no you dunderheads do NOT get to leave. You will study from page 170 to 240 in your textbook. There will be a test next class. What you don't read now is homework."
There was a collective groan. Opening to the first page, Hermione saw that it was a simple duplicating potion and its history. She had studied this on her own months ago and felt no need to re-read it. She closed her textbook and pulled out one of the books Snape had let her borrow. She felt Snape glaring at her and lifted the book up slightly so he could see what she was working on. He sneered from his seat and promptly started attacking a large looking scroll with a quill and ink. The class passed quickly for Hermione and soon she heard Snapes voice cut into her thoughts.
"Put your belongings away and leave my sight. I would advise you to study so that you may pass the test. I do not wish to have any of you fail this class." He paused. "I have no wish to see any of you for another year. Miss Granger, you will stay behind. Wait here." He turned around and walked into his private rooms shutting the door loudly behind him.
She jerked her head up. Surly he couldn't be mad that she had been studying. She heard Ron and Harry not so quietly debating over something and then hurriedly walk over to her.
"Hermione...working with him isn't good." Ron quickly said. "You might get hurt. Harry thinks so too even if he won't say so."
That did it for Hermione. "Ron, you can't just pick and chose when to help me. NOT that I need your help or protection. I can take care of myself perfectly well. I've done it my whole life and you and Harry are not the saviors that you think you are. I am going to go to university whether you like it or not. I am going to do what I want with my life and if it's without your support, so be it. You have been ignoring me for the past two years unless you have the chance to "save" me and I'm sick of it. It's your choice if you want my friendship, but if you decide you want it you had better change you behavior." She took a deep breath and turned to Harry. She lowered her voice a little bit. "This goes for you too Harry. You don't need to prove yourself to me. Maybe to the rest of the world, but I know you. You don't have to save the world to have me on your side."
Ron's eyes were brewing anger and Harry looked like she had smacked him across the face. They both turned around and left the room without a word. By now her brain caught up with her mouth and she realized what she had just said to her best friends.
"Oh gods." She whispered. She staggered to a chair in the front row and sat down with her head in her palms. Her hair had fallen mostly out of the makeshift bun she had made earlier and fell as a shield around her face. Two tears fell and it took all of her might not to allow any others to follow. It was like this that Snape found her.
***
"Miss Granger," He said with a bemused voice. "Surly me asking you to stay behind isn't as horrible as you seem to think it. I didn't give you a detention you know."
He heard a snort come from the girl. "As much as I wish I could say this was your fault sir, it has nothing to do with you. Not everything does you know."
"Ah." He replied. "Thank you for informing me. Now if this display of emotions has nothing to do with me, kindly abandon it until you leave my room. You are of no use to me acting like a first year."
This got him the reaction he had hoped for. She sat up and re-tied her hair back. She was still clearly upset but she was doing her best to pretend this wasn't so.
"What did you ask me to stay after for Professor? I've read the chapter before and I know the-"
"Yes yes. I know. We need to talk about your project. I saw you reading the books a few times today. It's good to see you already so devoted. I need you to tell me one thing before we go any further though Miss Granger."
She sent him a questioning look. "Yes?" She replied clearly annoyed that he would go no further without a reply.
"Why are you so interested in working with me on this project?"
She glaced at him and seeing that he was totally serious, took a deep breath. "I've always been amazed by potions. You have to dedicate your heart to making it if you want it to come out perfectly. And there is no feeling like the one you get when it turns the exact color you wanted. It's so empowering. I guess most wizards and witches are used to that, if you grow up around this stuff I mean, but it is so...for lack of a better word, magical."
She received a snort from Snape that sounded almost amused. Ignoring it, she spoke again.
"Being friends with Harry meant one of us was always getting hurt, physically or mentally, and after a while we got sick of going to Madam Pomfrey. The potions she gave us to make us feel better always left us feeling better but that something was wrong.
"At the end of fith year Harry got really hurt. I had no choice but to bring him to her. She gave him a potion and he was better in a few days but afterwards he told me that his memory of what happened seemed to be different from the one Ron and I had.
"I asked the Headmaster and Madam Pomfrey about it and they skittered around the subject. So I went into the restricted section and learned that all healing potions, especially strong ones though, have memory altering potions mixed in so that the user doesn't get as traumatized as they naturally would. I just think that's wrong. It means that my memory has been changed. So has Ron's. But imagine Harry's. Even yours Professor. You must have been hurt countless times that needed healing potions." She paused. "I want to create a potion that is just as powerful in the healing aspect but that will not alter the memory."
She couldn't tell by Snape's reaction what he was thinking.
"First off, do not assume anything about me Miss Granger. I am not what anyone imagines. Second, the agents that alter the memory are needed in the potion. They-"
"I know that Professor. But from what I've read in some articles, there are substitutes. And maybe I can find another. It can't hurt to try."
"How do you propose to go about testing this Miss Granger?"
"I don't know yet Sir. If I knew everything already, there wouldn't be a point to this project."
He gave her an appraising look. "Good answer Granger. Figure out when you have free time and tomorrow after class we will figure out a schedule."
"Very well. Now may I ask you a question, Professor?" She asked innocently.
"You may ask. Do not expect an answer."
She grinned. "Do you know of any particularly effective curses for shutting up a mirror?"