Hermione fumed all the way back to her private rooms. It was rare these days that she lost control of her anger, rare that all the pent up emotion came out in a burst of displeasure like that. Again that feeling of walking on eggshells came to the forefront and just when she had begun to feel that the ground was steady under her feet here it was cracking again under the pressure of the past. She moved into the room looking at a bookshelf in the corner half filled with books she was unpacking and swept her hand over it sending an entire shelf of them clattering to the floor with a bang. She continued around the room picking up a lamp and hurling it into the wall, a vase that had sat on the coffee table the next on her list of destruction. Chairs flipped tables overturned until she was breathing heavily and fighting the urge not to cry in place of the anger that had come so violently from her body.
Sitting in the middle of the disarray of her living space she folded her arms around herself breathing heavily until she felt like she was safe to get up, safe to move from the wreckage of her own emotional turmoil into the wreckage of her sitting room when she realized that there was someone else in the room with her. Just watching and waiting for her to come back into herself. "How long have you been there?" the anger was gone from her voice now, instead replaced with a bone-tired sort of weariness that seemed to creep into her pores. She didn't want anyone to see her like this, but it wasn't the first time Minerva had.
"Long enough" came the soft reply although there was no judgment in her tone. There never was. Sometimes Hermione wished she would yell at least that might give her a reason to yell back. "We need to speak Hermione.." and the young woman's shoulders sagged.
"I know, I'm sorry I told you I was better...I just…" she stumbled over the words her hands clutching her arms as she tried to explain what had happened here tonight she couldn't find the words for it and now that the storm had raged from under her skin and over her entire living space she felt the shame that came with it. "Please, I just.."
Minerva knelt down before her and said softly "It has been a long night for all of us Hermione." her voice was still gentle in a way that made her want to cry but she straightened her back and waited. Breath half caught in her throat for Minerva to tell her what she was dreading to hear. That she had changed her mind and would have to look for another professor after all but the words that came next shocked her. "It was a death threat," she said her voice as gentle as it could be. "To you, that was what the Howler said. That if I didn't fire you they would find a way to be rid of you more permanently." the older woman sighed and rubbed her eyes. "We are taking it very seriously, I have already contacted the Aurors."
The scoff from Hermione did nothing to change the demeanor in her voice "Well thank you, perhaps this time they will decide to protect me." which was unlikely given they were now overseen by Percy Weasley. He was no Auror, but he had wormed his way into a ministry position where he made the decisions about protection. Strangely he hadn't ever seemed that concerned if his little brother's murder made it into her next morning. Sighing Hermione pushed herself up off the floor and rubbed her hands over her arms that felt cold "I'll just add it to the list of other threats against the safety of my person."
"You will be safe in the castle Hermione." the voice of the Headmistress reassured her and Hermione shrugged her shoulders indifferently as if the subject they were discussing was not the weight of her own life. She should have been scared, she knew that and yet somehow tonight she couldn't begin to care.
"I shouldn't chaperone the Hogsmeade trips." she said softly instead "If someone were to try something with the children about I cannot promise their safety." Minerva nodded her head at that and then added.
"I am more concerned for your safety but, yes, it would be better if you did not leave the castle grounds until this whole thing blows over." She waved her hand watching as the sitting room began to piece itself back together. Broken objects flying back to their original spaces and mending themselves. "You should get some sleep, classes start in the morning," she said to the woman before her and then turned as if to leave the sitting room but Hermoine's voice stopped her again.
"Minerva.." it was rare she called the woman by her first name, but tonight she needed the connection. "You didn't.." she paused and then cleared her throat she had to know the answer to this question once and for all. "You didn't offer me this job out of pity right?" she paused again her large eyes holding a sense of insecurity she rarely showed these days stumbling before she continued…"B..because you knew I had no place else to go? I know you said earlier you didn't but….." she trailed off unable to finish the sentence and the words just hung suspended in the air.
That stopped the older woman in her tracks and she turned looking at the woman standing in the circle of what had been a destruction zone a moment before. For what felt like too long to Hermione she was silent, and then finally she spoke "No Hermione, I offered you this job for the very reason I said this afternoon and at dinner because you are a damned good witch and each and every one of those children will be lucky to have you teach them." there was a longer pause before she added again "Get some sleep.." and then she pulled open the door and stepped out into the night.
Hermione watched her go her eyes fixed on the door as she left and sighed. She wanted to believe what the Headmistress said yet somehow she had a feeling that if just the right potion was slipped into the woman's tea the truth would not ring the same. Turning to the medicine cabinet in the small bathroom Hermione pulled out a small vial of potion one that she brewed herself fairly frequently. In scrolling lovely handwriting on the side of the vial it read "Dreamless Sleep" and before she could think about how many similar vials she had swallowed in the past she tossed back the contents and headed for her bed.
In his study, Severus was nursing his second glass of firewhiskey. While initially, he had been furious with the chit for daring to yell at him in such a manner when he had gone out of his way to be kind to her now that he was two glasses in he found instead that he was more curious than he had started out. What had he missed when he was in Saint Mungo's all those months? Something important clearly or he wouldn't be sitting here trying to piece together events from a handful of furious clues she had thrown at him. In fact, he would have been able to draw his own conclusions instead of relying on the ravings of insane parents and a girl who bore no resemblance at all the Hermione Granger he had once known.
Perhaps it was true. This cold arrogant woman that appeared with the similarities to a girl he had once known might have been capable of murder but of her own boyfriend? No. It just didn't sit right with him there had to be more to the story of Hermione Granger than that.
Toying with the glass in his hand again he asked himself why it was he cared at all. He was done with the war, done with he who must not be named, done with Dumbledore and his promise to protect the Golden boy who these days only needed protection from the Paparazzi. Hermione had her own life to live and she had made it brilliantly clear that she didn't want him meddling in it. He could respect that, in fact, he even sort of admired it but that damned curiosity just kept getting to him.
Finally looking at the clock he made a decision. He would find out what he missed, so he wasn't in the dark and then leave well enough alone. Settled on a decision he made his way to the bathroom and pulled out a small vial he brewed himself, turning it until he read the scrawled words "Dreamless sleep" on the outside of the vial and tossed it back. Tonight was not a night to revisit the past.