Chapter Eight

The next few training sessions, Minerva noticed quite an improvement in Hermione's mood; she seemed much more cheerful. Minerva didn't realise how much the problem with her parents had been upsetting Hermione, since the girl bottled her emotions away. Minerva then promised herself to be more observant around her.

The training was going well, and Hermione now not only had the ears, teeth, nose, eyes, tail and claws of a cat, she had also managed to grow fur on most of her body. She was determined to become an Animagus by the end of the school year, and was now training with double the effort.

However, the school was not running so smoothly. As if there hadn't been enough dramas in the past few weeks, Umbridge managed to catch Harry out in running a secret defence group. Although having to appear disapproving, Minerva was so proud of her students for putting their safety and schooling first, and taking the initiative to learn what Umbridge wouldn't teach. She had to make a mental note to congratulate Hermione for getting away with it for so long.

The biggest downside was that Albus took the rap for it. Minerva respected him highly for it, for taking the responsibility to protect the future of the students, but it came at a heavy price. He was subsequently fired, and Umbridge and several Ministry officials tried to take him to Azkaban. It resulted in Albus disappearing, and Umbridge taking over as Headmistress.

After ensuring Harry got back to the Gryffindor Common room safely, Minerva headed to her office to collect some essays, so she could take them to her quarters and mark them there which was more comfortable. On the way however, she paused at the start of a corridor, which happened to lead past the gargoyle that led the way to the Headmaster's office.

Dolores Umbridge was standing in front of it, her face red with exasperation. She was cursing at the gargoyle, waving her wand in anger at it. It refused to move, and Minerva smirked to herself. She quietly doubled back and took another route to her office, simply to avoid talking to Umbridge.


That night, Hermione sat in a chair near the secret doorway, pretending to read out of a book. There were still quite a few students in the common room, and she was starting to get slightly impatient. It was already 10pm, and she was keen to get to Minerva's room.

After ten more minutes waiting, Hermione slipped her hand into her pocket and drew out a small object. It was a Decoy Detonator, which she had gotten at Fred and George's shop in the summer. She had used one several weeks ago in the corridors so she could avoid Malfoy and his cronies, and she now tried to keep one on her just in case.

She subtly dropped it on the floor next to her chair, and it scuttled away in the shadows. She sat in her chair, waiting, and was soon rewarded. A bang was heard, and a puff of smoke suddenly appeared at the complete opposite end of the common room. All the students in the room jumped up and hurried over to see what was going on, and Hermione quickly used the opportunity to get away.

After a moment, she reached Minerva's rooms. Minerva had told her several weeks ago to just let herself in instead of knocking, so Hermione did so.

The door shut with a click, and Hermione heard a gasp behind her. She spun around, to see Minerva sitting on the sofa with a panicked expression. She was holding a hand mirror in one hand, the other clutching the chest of her robes.

"Oh, Hermione, it's you," Minerva breathed, relaxing back. "I forgot you were coming, you gave me a fright."

Hermione smiled apologetically. "Sorry Minerva."

"It's alright. Come take a seat, I won't be long," Minerva replied, which Hermione found a bit strange. As she made her way to the sofa, she got even more puzzled as Minerva began to talk into the mirror.

"What do you want me to say?" Minerva asked.

To Hermione's shock, the mirror answered back – in Professor Dumbledore's voice! "Just brush it off, or evade the question. Try to avoid her as much as possible."

"Yeah, that'll be easy," Minerva replied darkly. "She's bloody everywhere." Minerva glanced next to her, and noticed the extremely confused expression on Hermione's face. She smiled, and scooted closer to the girl. She held the mirror out, so Hermione could look into it.

Hermione peered at the mirror, and to her surprise it was Albus Dumbledore, smiling back at her.

"Good evening Miss Granger, how are you this fine evening?" he asked her, eyes twinkling.

"Uh, I'm good thanks," she responded nervously.

Minerva chuckled lightly. "Hermione, it's a two way mirror. Albus has one too, so this way we can communicate to each other whilst he is away from the school."

"Oh, okay," Hermione said, finally understanding. She sat quietly as Minerva and Albus finished their conversation, and Minerva cast finite incantatem on the mirror. It flashed slightly, and then turned back into an ordinary mirror.

Minerva arose and took the mirror into her bedroom, slipping it into the drawer on her bedside table.

"Albus gave me that mirror several weeks ago, he had a feeling that something may happen," Minerva informed Hermione as she came back out into the living room. "It's a good thing he did. At least this way I have a means of communicating with him, and keeping him updated on the school."

Hermione nodded, intrigued. "How does it work? What kind of spell is on the mirror?"

"To work it, I just say Albus's name into the mirror and it alerts him that I'm trying to contact him. It's a variation of a special charm, Albus cast it. Have you heard of the Protean charm?"

Hermione flushed, suddenly looking a little guilty. "Yes. I, um, I cast it on fake Galleon coins so the DA knew when our meetings were on," she confessed.

Minerva raised her eyebrows, surprised. "You cast a Protean? That's a seventh year spell. Excellent work, Hermione. As for the DA…" She paused, watching Hermione. The girl bowed her head.

"I'm so sorry, it was my idea to begin with, and now Professor Dumbledore is gone. I accept total responsibility, it wasn't Harry's fault. We aren't learning anything practical in DADA, and Harry's such a great teacher. Do you know Neville couldn't cast a proper stunner until he joined the DA? I'm so sorry I didn't tell you about it though, I hope you don't think I don't trust you, because I do, I promise. But there was a list that everyone signed, and if someone spoke to anyone about the DA that wasn't on the list, they get punished."

"I know, I saw Miss Edgecombe's face," Minerva said, trying to hide a smile. "Hermione, I'm not mad. I think it's fantastic what you and Mr Potter have accomplished with this group. Albus is so proud as well, he's just disappointed you got caught."

Hermione glanced up, surprised. "You're not angry? But I kept it a secret from you!"

"Because you had to. The less people that knew, the safer you were. It's okay. I know you trust me, so don't worry about that either," Minerva replied. "But I need you to promise me something. Promise me you won't continue with the DA anymore. With Dolores as Headmistress, it's just too dangerous, more than ever now with Albus out of the school."

Hermione promised, understanding how risky it would be to continue. Things were already bad enough at the school; she wasn't going to do anything that could potentially cause more problems.

"Alright, let's get back to your training," Minerva said, moving to the middle of the room. "We only have a few weeks left of training, and then I want you to take a break from it. Your OWL's are coming up, and not only could you use the rest from our training, I dare say you will make use of the free time to study."

Hermione was disappointed; she had wanted to be a fully accomplished Animagus by the end of the school year. Minerva noticed this disappointment straight away.

"Don't worry, if you're staying with me for the summer we'll have more than enough time to complete your training," Minerva said with a smile.

"Okay, great. I could use the extra study time," Hermione agreed. Minerva snorted to herself – if there was any student who needed extra time to study for the OWL's, it definitely wasn't Hermione. The girl could probably sit the exams now and still pass with flying colours.

TBC…

Sorry for such a long wait between updates, I've been extremely flat out lately juggling three jobs and full time study. But I'm on holidays from uni for two weeks now so should hopefully get more written.

Just to follow up on a review, this will just be a Minerva/Hermione friendship, not a romance.

As always, any suggestions, ideas and feedback is appreciated