Hermione Granger and the Point Of No Return
Mudblood
Word count – 2,520
"You were the one who made things different. You were the one who took me in. You were the one thing I could count on. Above all, you were my friend." –Tom Petty
hermioneseverushermioneseverushermioneseverushermioneseverus
Friday night saw Hermione sitting on the cold stone steps outside Professor Slughorn's office. She jumped up as the door opened and hurried inside, shivering as she realized it was just as cold in here as it was outside; but then again, Hermione thought with a grim smile, it is the dungeons after all.
"Well Miss Babineaux it seems the other miscreant isn't here yet, so we will just have to wait won't we?" Slughorn said, emerging from behind a door. Hermione stared at him; it was the first time she had ever seen the professor up close. His balding head shone, reflecting the light from the candles like a perfect mirror. He was incredibly small, about half a head shorter than her, but his enormous stomach made up for in width what he lacked in height. His blonde moustache was no longer really blonde, but a yellowed grey/white. His emerald green pajamas were a goof bit too small for him, coming up to his mid-calf on the bottom and buttons straining on top, revealing slivers of stomach.
Just as Hermione finished making these observations the door burst open and Sirius came stumbling through it, propelling forward with incredible force, having to grab Hermione round the neck to steady himself. He let go instantly, though, as if he'd been burned, and Hermione rubbed her neck, glaring at him. He ignored her expression and addressed Slughorn: "Sorry I'm late, I got a bit lost." He grinned at Slughorn, revealing a set of even, white teeth.
"Jolly good. Follow me," replied Slughorn as he exited the room. They followed him through the winding dungeon corridors, coming to stop outside the Potions classroom; he showed them inside and shut the door behind him with an audible click. "You are to reorganize the potions ingredients on the shelves by alphabetical order, and then you are to clean the cauldrons and reorganize the potions in the cupboard by height order." He turned around and started to leave, before suddenly stopping and saying with a mildly malicious smile, "I almost forgot to tell you: you are not to use magic." He then left the room, the resounding sound of the door shutting the finalizing of their sentence.
"Height order?" Hermione questioned Sirius incredulously.
He just shrugged and grinned at her.
"Well, you clean the cauldrons," she said, pointing to the slime-coated, crusting pile of cauldrons, "and I'll do the potions and ingredients."
She turned and walked away, weaving her way through the various desks making her way to the shelves in the back of the room. When she arrived she took one look at them and sighed; there were enough potions and ingredients to start up a full-fledged apothecary. With another resigned sigh she cracked her knuckles and got to work.
About two hours later saw Sirius only about a fifth of the way through the cauldrons and Hermione only half way through the ingredients. Hermione looked at Sirius; he had his wand out and was levitating bits of paper, making them do back flips in the air before burning them with a jet of light he shot out of his wand. She slumped down next to him, leaning against the wall.
"Shouldn't you be working?"
He grinned at her and shot back, "Shouldn't you?"
She smiled tiredly at him. Suddenly, the door burst open and Sirius and Hermione leapt to their feet.
"We were working, I swear!" yelled Sirius. He relaxed visibly as James entered the room.
"I was just wondering what was taking so long." He took a look around the room and let out a long, low whistle. "Shit, all of them?" he asked, jabbing a thumbs toward the cauldrons.
"That's not all," Hermione muttered, disgruntled. She answered his questioning look by saying, "I had to reorganize the ingredients by alphabetical order and the potions by height order."
She stared in happy shock at James as he took out his wand. "Well, as it's obvious you guys can't use magic . . ." He muttered a spell and there was a chinking of glass, a bit of grey light then nothing. Hermione blinked: the cauldrons were clean and she suspected the potions and ingredients were all in order as well.
"Thanks," she said with a grin before walking from the room.
hermioneseverushermioneseverushermioneseverushermioneseverus
December 15th: the day before the Slytherin/Ravenclaw Quidditch match.
"Well Miss Babineaux, I suppose you're wondering why you're here?" Professor Dumbledore asked, a serene smile on his face.
She nodded. "Yes, sir."
"Well, since there are only five other students staying because of the war, so far (none of them Ravenclaw), I have decided to start your training in Occlumency and Legilimency. Every night you will come up here at 7 pm and I will instruct you." He smiled kindly at her.
Hermione gave an affirmative nod and left the Headmaster's study to make her way through the corridors up to the Ravenclaw common room. She entered the room and was shocked to see no one up. She glanced at the clock over the fire: it was only 10 pm; where was everyone? She stared around the room again, looking for the smallest sign of movement – nothing.
She let out a long-suffering sigh and plopped herself onto the sofa shutting her eyes and eventually drifting out of consciousness.
hermioneseverushermioneseverushermioneseverushermioneseverus
"GET UP!" Daniel's voice magnified ten fold made Hermione shoot off the sofa and stumble back into the coffee table. "About bloody time," Daniel grumbled. "I've been trying for 10 minuets to wake you up. Now get changed. The match started in 2 hours. I'll meet you in the Great Hall in an hour with the rest of the team! "
Hermione groaned and walked, disorientated, towards the girls' staircase.
Hermione emerged an hour later wide awake and far less than cheerful. She made a violent snarling sound towards some first years who were talking loudly by the entrance to the girls' staircase in the common room. They jumped back and skittered out of the way. Hermione climbed out of the portrait hole and walked towards the great hall, remembering half way there that her broom was still in her room. With a sigh she continued, entering the hall and sitting down next to Daniel who wrapped an arm around her and kissed her head. She raised her wand – a gesture which everyone at the Ravenclaw table responded to by ducking – and muttered "Accio broom." Seconds later her broom whipped past the Great Hall doors and came to a stop, hovering above her head. Hermione gave a small smile, slightly happier, and tucked into her kippers.
Hermione was eating in content silence when a snide voice came from behind her: "You should watch your back today, Babineaux. I'd hate to see you get injured." She whirled around: Malfoy.
"Bugger off, Ferret Face," she snarled, glaring at him.
"How rude; it was only a friendly bit of advice." He smirked at her and strode away.
Hermione turned back to her breakfast and stabbed moodily at her eggs, her small bit of good cheer vanishing. She waited for the rest of the team to finish off before grabbing her broom and following them out of the Great Hall, across the grounds, and into the changing room at the Quidditch pitch.
She changed quickly and waited for Daniel's pre-match pep talk with some of her other teammates gathered outside the changi8ng rooms.
"Team, this is it: the last match of the season. Today we play Slytherin; we've never beaten them, but today we will. It's Kathleen's last year, and we want it to be a good one!" The responding yell could be heard echoing across the pitch. "Play well and make Ravenclaw proud."
Together, the team readied their brooms on the pitch. Hermione clasped hands with Daniel and he kissed her on the head before going to shake hands with the Slytherin Team Captain. The Ravenclaws mounted their brooms, kicking off hard and soaring into the sky in unison as Madam Hooch blew the whistle. Hermione watched as Daniel grabbed the Quaffle and raced towards the Slytherin goal posts. Hermione took off after him. Hovering under him, she waited until he dropped the Quaffle, and, catching it, she looked towards the goal and threw it as hard she could toward it. It went straight through, slipping past the Keeper's fingers by millimeters.
The keeper came back with it and threw it towards Regulas (1) who caught it and took off. Hermione watched as Kathleen hit a Bludger with all her might towards him. It made a beeline for his right arm, and he dropped it, swerving and flipping backwards, to avoid being hit. Hermione saw Josh dart out and catch it, lobbing it towards Daniel as he flew forward, gaining possession again. He looped in the air to avoid a Bludger then raced for the goal. He zipped past Chasers waiting to intercept the Quaffle and threw it with swift precision to Hermione, who was hovering by the Slytherin goal posts. She caught it deftly and passed it to Daniel who threw it past the Keeper by a hair – 20-0 to Ravenclaw.
She followed the Slytherin Chaser in possession of the Quaffle and watched as he passed (rather clumsily) to Regulas; Hermione easily intercepted it, flying off before either Chaser had a chance to react. Out of the corner of her eyes Hermione saw Lucas being smashed out of the air by a Bludger sent his way by one of the Slytherin Beaters.
"DANIEL!" Hermione yelled, grabbing Daniel's attention. She threw the Quaffle to him and dived deeply, chasing after Lucas. She flew under him, catching him around the waist before he could fall any farther. "Nice of you to drop in," she said with a grin. He smiled toothily back.
". . . and that's Babineaux of Ravenclaw signaling time-out after a daring dive for Lucas Robins, Ravenclaw Seeker, who was hit off his broom by a Bludger. Wait, where did the Quaffle go? Well, I don't believe it! She threw it to Spooner before diving for Robins, and Spooner scores! The score is currently 30-0 to Ravenclaw." Mathew Jordan's commentary echoed throughout the stadium. "We'll have a time-out now for five minutes."
Hermione flew to the ground still holding the third year around the waist. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?" Daniels voice brought Hermione back to reality with a crash.
She smiled meekly at him. "Saving your seeker?" she offered helpfully.
He glared at her, his features softening as she hopped off her broom and ran over to him, trying to snuggle into his crossed arms. "What are we going to do with you?" he sighed, trying – but failing – to shoot her another glare. He gave her a peck on the lips before walking over to Lucas to check how he was.
Hermione watched him go, a deep contentment in her heart.
"I wished I had him wrapped around my little finger," she heard Kathleen mutter grumpily next to her.
"Time-out is now over; the players are getting ready to go back into the air. And off they go! Black takes possession of the Quaffle after almost knocking Babineaux out of the air – foul! Spooner flies over to Babineaux making sure she's okay before flying off to yell at Hooch. I'm not sure that's one of his more brilliant ideas, but it earns them a penalty, at any rate. Babineaux puts it away, no problem; 40-0 to Ravenclaw. Malfoy, Slytherin Captain, takes the Quaffle. He dodges Spooner, dodges Scott, and attempts to pass Babineaux. She blocks him. Oh, now he's stopping – he's saying something. Wow, Babineaux punches Malfoy in the face – that has got to hurt. I only wish I knew what he did to make her so angry. Babineaux grabs the Quaffle and lobs it to Spooner who misses it, obviously distracted by her violent display a moment ago; it's caught by Black, who scores! 40-10 to Ravenclaw.
"Dawlish has the Quaffle and makes a pass to Spooner who catches; he flies off – ooh! He's hit in the shoulder by a Bludger! Malfoy takes possession, and . . . Malfoy scores!"
Two hours later the score stood at 150-100, Slytherin in the lead. Hermione was getting desperate. The Snitch hadn't been sighted yet and the cold air was eating away at her fingers, making them go numb. She kept loosing her grip of the Quaffle and her broom. Suddenly she saw a glint of gold over by the teacher's area in the stands. She flew off towards Lucas, weaving agilely through the players and Bludgers. Slowing down as she flew past him she whispered, "It's by the teacher area!" before flying off again. She managed to grab the Quaffle from Regulas and shoot it towards the goal, gaining everyone's attention as she lobbed it through.
She turned just in time to see Lucas rolling over on his broom, snatching the Snitch out of the air. She flew over to him and knocked him into the teacher's box with a congratulatory hug. Hermione was joined moments later by the rest of the team. The next few minutes passed in a blur as the team converged on one another, hugging and screaming in joy.
hermioneseverushermioneseverushermioneseverushermioneseverus
That evening saw Hermione and her teammates sitting on the sofas in their common room near the fireplace. She was relaxed, her head laying in Daniel's lap as he combed through her hair with his fingers.
"Why did you punch Malfoy?" Daniel suddenly asked, momentarily stopping his soothing strokes.
Hermione looked up at him and frowned before saying, "He said that if he didn't know any better he'd think I was a common Mudblood."
hermioneseverushermioneseverushermioneseverushermioneseverus
Hermione sat down in potions on Monday carefully, not wanting to startle Severus who was reading.
Professor Slughorn entered and they set about making a mild aphrodisiac. Hermione carefully measured out a teaspoon of unicorn dung before adding it to the potion and watching, satisfied, as it turned a bright pink. She grinned at Severus who gave her a small smile back.
"So, you punched Malfoy in the face yesterday. Why did you do that?" Hs voice brought her out of her concentration and made her jump. It was low, not too low, but pleasantly so. It was actually quite nice, she realized, when it wasn't sharpened with its usual sarcastic edge that would come about in twenty years time. What changed? she wondered sadly.
"He called me a Mudblood," she responded. She watched in satisfaction as his eyes hardened, a low growl emanating from his chest. "Don't you like that word?" she asked, feigning surprise.
She watched him flush a bit. "No, it's unjust. If we were to cut a Muggle-born's throat we would see their blood is exactly the same as ours. If there were no Muggle-borns wizarding kind would die out; we would all be inbred, causing our children to become squibs. And besides, they are just as good as Purebloods and Half-bloods at magic – look at Lily," he said, smiling slightly in the direction of the redhead who's vibrant pink potion now had the desirable lavender tendrils wafting from it.
hermioneseverushermioneseverushermioneseverushermioneseverus
A/N: I Am SOOO sorry it took so long. This was such a good chapter for me to write. I spent all week not knowing what to write so in the end I just wrote this. The next chapters I already have planned.
I've suffered from the same thing as J.K I already know the ending, and all the important parts – the problem is linking them together.
All those 56 people on story alert, you'd make my day if you reviewed. :-)
(1) Regulas Arcturus Black – Sirius Black's younger brother by one year; he's the favorite son of Orion and Walburga Black, following the family ways by being sorted into Slytherin and later becoming a Death Eater at the age of sixteen. He does, however, change over from the Dark Side by destroying one of Voldemort's locket Horcrux in the cave with the Inferi. He usually played seeker but for this match he's playing chaser
Reviews:
Angelic Bladez – Mwahahaha, you're right; it has only just begun. Hope you liked it.
Farles – Yeah, I know, it takes time. I'm not sure about in love – maybe love; but, you know – I don't want to say anything. You've made me so paranoid. :P I keep looking over my shoulder thinking someone is reading the notes I've written for the story. . . .
Lisa-McG-200413, notwritten, ReineMauvaise, debjunk, Hotkat144, Cookiekirstie, creative-writing-girl13,shrocks, and GrlwithouaName – Thanks for reviewing! Please do so again. :-)
