The Things We Hide
By Akasha Ravensong

"I know why the caged bird beats his wing
Till blood is red on the cruel bars
For he must fly back to his perch and cling
When he would fain be on the bough a-swing
And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars
And they pulse again with a keener sting-
I know why he beats his wing!"

Except from Sympathy, By Paul Lawrence Dunbar

Chapter Six

Albus Dumbledore somberly looked out of a charmed window from his office, a window that would show him anything he wanted as long as it was on Hogwarts grounds. Right now he carefully watched a troubled young woman crying by the lakeside. He was very worried for her, but kept his misgivings to himself behind his carefully veiled mask of happiness.

Many thought he was a fool, for he barely reacted at all to things that would ignite others tempers and emotions. He reacted calmly and with thought. There was nothing he did that hadn't been completely planned out, with almost every possible outcome turned over in his mind. Years of watching others gave him a great deal of insight into the minds of others. And years of practice made it possible to completely mask his features with whatever expression he cared to show the rest of the world. They saw only what he decided they needed to see, and nothing more. He choose his words with the same precision and care, and kept his meaning veiled so that the listener could figure things out for himself.

Dumbledore had eyes and ears everywhere in the castle and there wasn't much that went on that he did not know about. The walls had ears, or rather, the paintings did. Not many people bothered to notice what paintings were around, and to see if they were occupied or not. Many things were whispered in their presence, and he often heard about it one way or another. He was by no means a legimens or even omniscient but he did have his ways.

His mind was completely occupied with thoughts about what to do for the young witch sitting beside that lake. Miss Granger obviously could not return to her house for the rest of the summer, and his sources had informed him that her mother was unreachable and would not return for any reason, no matter how dire, until she felt like it.

Albus stroked his beard in thought, running his hands through the thick gray mass. She had barely reacted to the news of her father's death, and it was as if she had desensitized herself to the situation. She seemed to be viewing it all from an outsider's point of view. Her mind was working as if the situation was happening to somebody else, a stranger that she could not care for. This would cause problems in the future, for while she remained desensitized and unwilling to resolve the problems and emotional scars, she could not heal. And when the pain caught up with her, there were going to be storms of violent emotional turmoil.

She needed a friend, somebody she could talk to. Perhaps somebody her own age, or perhaps somebody with similar experiences. Or would she react better to a motherly figure, one who she could feel comfortable going to when she had a problem. Yes, a motherly figure would probably work out for the best, and he had no doubt that Minerva or Poppy would be thrilled at the chance to be a mentor and a guardian for the troubled girl. And it made perfect sense, After all, Minerva was her Head of House. Yes, indeed, he must seek out the Headmistress and have a chat with her over tea, and perhaps some of those nice little biscuits she always seemed to have around...

I rubbed the last of the tears from my eyes, finding that she had none left for anyone or anything. It was over now. I was never going to let anybody do that to me again. I would not be the caged bird, singing for freedom. I would be the warrior, wand at the ready, fighting for freedom. I was a strong and powerful witch and I planned on improving my skills as much as possible.

But I needed to change myself too. I needed everybody able to see that things had changed over the summer, and I would not be pushed around any more. No longer would I be the bookworm, second class muggleborn witch. It was time for a few changes.

Strangely enough, I didn't feel any remorse at killing my father. It just didn't matter to me. I wondered where I was going to go for the rest of the summer, obviously I couldn't alone at my father's house, not that I would have even wanted to. I never wanted to go back there. Ever. That part of my life was over.

I decided to seek out the headmaster and find out exactly what was going on. I needed answers.

I found him in Professor McGonagall's office, sent in that direction by the gargoyle guarding his office. I nodded to both of them and sat down in the chair that Professor McGonagall directed me to.

"Tea, Miss Granger?"

"Yes, please, Professor."

"Is there something that you wished to discuss, Miss Granger?" Dumbledore asked as he sipped his tea.

"Well, sir, I was wondering if you had any idea of what I could do for the rest of the summer. I have no place to go, you see, and my mother is on vacation in America last time I knew. And I was wondering if perhaps, I could stay here. I would be no bother at all, and I would be happy in my dormitory..." I rushed it all out in one giant sentence barely pausing for breath.

I watched him nervously as he regarded me silently for a few moments thoughtfully. "Very well, but I will grant you one better then that. I will give you your own separate bedroom that can be charmed so that it connects to the Gryffindor common room through a painting. I suspect you will be wanting somebody to take you back to your house to collect your belongings?" I nodded. "very Well them, I will get Severus to apparate you over a bit later. After a nice lunch perhaps. Now, I will lead you to your chamber. I'll speak with you again on this matter, Minerva. Come along Hermione."

We walked out of Professor McGonagall's office and headed towards the Gryffindor Dormitory. There was a statue of a dragon in nearby hallway that nobody had any real cause to go down, and the Headmaster stopped in front of it and looked at it, stroking his beard.

"This will do, its out of the way but close enough for our purposes. You can change the password afterwards. But for now it will be: Chocolate Frogs."

The statue slid sideways, revealing a door in the side of the wall. When we entered the rooms, they were very dusty and completely empty. With a wave of his wand, Dumbledore cleared the dust away. He muttered another charm that I did not recognize, and I turned to him waiting for an explanation. The room was completely empty, and it appeared that all the adjourning rooms were as well.

"There is a charm on the rooms that will allow you to imagine whatever style furniture that you like, and it will appear as close to your specifications as possible. You can add your own belongings to it afterwards. All the furniture will be coming from unused rooms in the rest of the castle, and some can be transfigured once they appear here so that they suit your tastes perfectly. I will leave you alone now, there are matters that I must attend to."

"Thank-you Headmaster."

"Your Welcome, Miss Granger." He walked towards the door. "oh, and as soon as you are settled in a house elf will bring your dinner. If you choose to put a fireplace in here, I will have it connected to the floo network. A basin of floo powder will appear on the mantelpiece. Good-day."

I stared at the room in wonder. There was so much that I could do here, and I could not wait to get started.

I laid down on the newly acquired sofa in what served as my common room and living room. There were three rooms in this suite, plus an exquisite bathroom. In the living room was a huge brick fireplace with an ornate mantelpiece. The floor around the fireplace was of stone, and the floor in the rest of the room was made of rich colored wood. There was a rich navy blue Oriental rug in the middle of the room.

The couch was plush and sensual emerald green colored velvet, and was oversized and very comfy. There was also a rocking chair that reminded me of my Grandmother and a few tables with romantic/gothic styling. All sorts of silver colored candleholders. There were silver toned sconces all over the walls too. I would add the rest of the personal touches when I took my personal belongings from my room.

Then, of course, there was the study and the library. I had a large cherry colored wooden desk and a larch armchair that reminded her of a psychologist's office chair. Bookshelves lined the three walls, and were filled with all the books nobody had used in the rooms of the castle, and books that were not in the library. I could not wait to look over those books, and see what mysteries they held.

I did the bedroom last. I got a king sized canopy bed with rich purple curtains, and silky sheets and comforters. I had a quilt at home that was made of different shades of purple velvet, velour, corduroy, silk, satin, and chenille. All of the different materials felt wonderful to the touch. The furniture was all stained a dark brown color. I charmed the ceiling to look like the sky outside, just like the great hall, with an added feature: if there was a thunder or rainstorm I would be able to hear the rain and thunder. That was a sound that had always lulled me to sleep, all throughout my childhood.

A house elf appeared next to me with a tray on it. I thanked him politely as he handed me the tray and vanished. The food was delicious and I was starving. Pointing a wand everywhere and using the appropriate charms and spells was surprisingly tiring. I ate like Ron always did. I felt like I had been starved for days on end. Which, I reflected spitefully, I had been. My father hadn't exactly been shoving food at me for the past moth that I had been home. At least now I could have a figure without any baby fat... As long as I watched how much I actually ate.

Right after I finished eating, I heard a bell ring, and realized that meant somebody was waiting for me outside my door. It was Professor Snape.

"Come along you foolish girl, I haven't got all day. This isn't my idea of a good way to spend the afternoon."

"I am so sure of that Professor," I replied sarcastically. After all, he couldn't take away house points right now and if he choose to be snide, well, I supposed the new Hermione Granger could throw all his bitterness back into the greasy-git's face.

We walked into Hogsmede, and then apparated to my house. It didn't take me all that long, as my room was well organized. I found several boxes of stuff of mine in the cellar too. Everything I wanted I shrunk down to an appropriate size and shoved into my trunk, and then I shrunk my trunk down to a size that would fit into my pocket. Professor Snape was silent throughout all of it, watching me carefully. He looked everything over that caught his attention with precision, and great care. In turn I ignored him. Until we were ready to leave at least.

"Well, are you going to just stand there all day? I can't apparate back you know!"

"Insufferable know-it-all," he shot back unconvincingly. His mind was obviously elsewhere.

When I finished unpacking my things, I realized that I as going to need a new wardrobe. Hermione Granger had changed, and this new girl would need a new look to go along with her new attitude. A mix of a punk/gothic style would be a nice change. It fit my mood, dark and depressing.

Tomorrow... Tomorrow I would take floo network into Diagon alley and go shopping in muggle London. The ministry hadn't given me all of my father's saved money for nothing now, had they? Mom could sell the house when she got back. That was her problem if it foreclosed in the mean time...
Author's Notes:

The next chapter will either go into Hermione's shopping spree and new attitude, and/or give you an insight into Severus Snape... As I said before, my beta is on vacation, I don't know when she will be back, but please let me know about any obvious spelling errors and grammatical errors and I will fix them as soon as I get back from vacation.

Thank-you to my reviewers for the last chapter. Is this long enough for you yet sticks tongue out at you!!! Don't get used to them being this long either, this one is special because I am going away soon and may not be able to write for a while.

redlady27, Snapegirl51606, poetrychik, Potterschick, Innogen, queen of imladris, Irina Derevko , veritas, yo , Wanna Huggle Edward Norton (Who is Edward Norton? Should I know that name lol????), Phynali, Dragonmaster Kurai, AuroraAbbie Snape, S.J. More , BewitchingWitch, Angel5blue5, Amanda, and

Celest-Wikit: yea I know the whole thing about the way her father died was a little far fetched but I had this beautiful picture of energy just exploding forth from her and her dad being forced backwards against the wall...with a nice SPALT noise. grins You know, the noise you imagine when you squish a bug. laughs evilly I had too, besides, Hermione is a very powerful witch, who can say exactly what would happen with that much raw unchanneled power just exploding forth from somebody. Be happy I didn't elaborate on the gory details that are still floating through my head lol.