Chapter Ten
A/N: Thanks to my star reviewers, charmedjedi, MoonRain89 and Marisa McGonagall Black, for being amazing.
Another summer holiday passed. The three made an unspoken pact to always meet at the Burrow. After all, Hermione lived with the Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, who were unlikely to let the kids do anything that would compromise the rules of Hogwarts, and the Dursleys...well, the Dursleys were the Dursleys. So they all agreed that the Burrow was best to meet.
Over the holidays, the majority of the time had been spent playing Quidditch. Well, it was just skill practice, really. Harry tried to improve his time catching the Snitch, Ron tried his hand at Keeper, Ginny tried to improve her goal count as Chaser and Fred and George were counting how many Bludgers they could successfully aim at the garden Gnomes in a minute. Hermione just sat by as referee, as she had memorised the Quidditch rule book that Ginny had given her cover to cover.
The rest of the time had been spent doing homework. Well, Harry's time, anyway. Ron had refused point blank to do homework while there was sun outside and Hermione, naturally, had completed all of her homework for the holidays before they set foot on the Hogwarts platform.
Finally, Platform 9 3/4 beckoned. The trio parted from Ginny, Fred and George and found the only carriage remaining, one that contained only one sleeping man, who Hermione had identified as their new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor R.J. Lupin. Their journey was made complete when they realised that the journey to the castle was a Gryffindor rotation and therefore, Professor McGonagall would be the patrolling staff member. That beat last year, a Slytherin rotation, when Professor Snape put his head around their door every ten minutes or so, looking for an excuse to put Gryffindor in negatives before they even reached the Great Hall! The trio were reflecting on that when their Head of House entered the compartment.
"Hello, Harry, Ron. Hello, darling, how are you?"
"I'm fine thanks, Mum. I'm just waiting for us to get there now, really."
"Alright, kitten. I'll see you at the feast then."
"Alright. Bye, Mum."
The trio were still silent for a while after Hermione's mother left, but Harry broke the silence by broaching a subject with them.
Suddenly, everything went cold. Hermione, Ron and Harry all shivered, almost in synchronisation. Ron pressed his palm to the window, then retracted it almost at once as the window frosted over, shaking it vigorously.
"Guys, there's something moving out there!" cried Ron, looking through the glass as much as he could. Then a terrible feeling came from behind them and as they turned, they gasped in shock. A black cloaked figure had come to the door. Only it was like no figure that they had ever seen, half spectoral and half skeletal, with an air of ice that was like nothing else in the world. It turned it's ghostly face towards Harry for a moment, then turned it to Hermione. She was terrified as she stared into it's face, but stood her ground for a moment. Then a memory surfaced in her head, a memory of a burning building, a terrible green light, a screaming man and a sobbing woman. And of pain, then darkness. Then darkness fell again.
When Hermione awoke, she was still in the cabin, with Ron and Harry looking over her worriedly. The new professor had awoken apparantly, and was leaning over her as well, holding a small package.
"Here, eat this. It helps. Don't worry, it's chocolate." Hermione took a large bite to realise that it was actually chocolate and so took another. Her enjoyment of the treat disappeared rather quickly when the sounds of two pairs of running footsteps appeared and Professor McGonagall appeared at the doorway with Professor Dumbledore himself.
"Hermione!" she cried, staring at the girl, who hadn't yet moved from her position on the floor. She quickly ran over and swept the girl into her arms. Ron and Harry looked quite understanding, but Lupin looked rather confused.
"Ah. Remus, this is mine and Minerva's young daughter, Hermione. She's a Gryffindor third year. These are her best friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley."
"Ah, pleased to meet you." greeted Professor Lupin. "I'm sure we'll all get along splendidly."
A few weeks later, the fugitive Sirius Black, first ever escapee from Azkaban prison, was sighted in Hogsmeade village, which caused a minimal amount of panic by staff, but he was then sighted in the Gryffindor third dormitory, Harry and Ron's room. Due to this, all students had been forced to sleep in the Great Hall, with the staff taking turns on the patrol. However, Professor McGonagall was so worried about the incident that she sent Hermione to sleep in her and Albus' spare room, just about the safest place in the castle. 'Paranoid' was the one word that came to mind.
"It's for your safety, Hermione." Minerva had sighed, exasperated by the repetitive conversation. However, as a gift to make it up to her daughter, the professor had written to the Ministry, requesting something very special.
She had presented it to Hermione that very evening, smiling at the expression on her young daughter's face as she took in the golden chain and ornament.
"What is it, Mum?" Hermione asked, her curiosity getting the better of her intelligence.
"It's a Time-Turner, kitten. You turn this here and you'll go back in time. You can use it to extend your timetable."
"Oh, thanks, Mum. That's amazing. Thank you."
"You're welcome, kitten. Besides, you deserve it." smiled McGonagall, pulling her young daughter into an embrace.
Minerva had not predicted, however, that her daughter would use her little gift to get herself into trouble. She burst through the doors of the Hospital Wing to find Ron Weasley reclining on a bed, his leg bound in plaster, while both Harry Potter and Hermione were sat in chairs by his side.
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, can you please excuse Miss Granger for a moment? I need to have a word."
Harry and Hermione had jumped to their feet by that point, while Ron was still attempting to lever himself off of the bed. McGonagall waved her hand toward him, at which he sat down, while Hermione filed after her mother out of the room.
As they reached the Transfiguration classroom and walked through it to McGonagall's office, McGonagall slamming the door behind her, the silence was broken as the Head of Gryffindor House exploded.
"What on earth were you thinking of, Hermione?!" she yelled, staring at her daughter, who in turn was suddenly very interested at the stone tiles of the floor.
"Mum, let me explain-"
"No! No, this was unacceptable, Hermione. More than that, it was so stupid! What if you had been seen?! You do know that Sirius Black has escaped and that he is at large again! What if he'd seen you?!" Minerva suddenly stopped, leaning against the wall as the realisation hit her.
"Oh my goodness. How could you have been so stupid?!" she yelled.
"Mum, it wasn't my idea!" protested Hermione, trying desperately and somewhat unsuccessfully to fight her corner.
"Well, Hermione, maybe you should use your common sense and think twice about following people jumping of the edge of a cliff! Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley are nice enough boys, but their concept of acceptable behaviour is worsening by the day!"
"It wasn't them."
McGonagall stopped mid-rant, finally calming a little.
"What?" she asked.
"It wasn't them that gave me the idea, Mum, and it wasn't Harry that told me to rescue Sirius."
"Well then, who was it? Who would be so irresponsible and stupid as to give that dangerous a task to two thirteen year old students?!" exclaimed Professor McGonagall, attempting to disguise her fear at the incoming answer.
"It was Dad." stated Hermione reluctantly, watching her mother's face fall as her suspicions were confirmed.
"I see. Well, your father is on his way here now, so we can discuss it further when he arrives."
"Alright, Mum."
The pair sat in quite a strained silence until a knock sounded on the door and Albus Dumbledore entered his wife's office, a smile plastered to his face despite it all.
"Hello, Minnie. Hermione, kitten, what are you doing here?"
"I was hoping that you could answer that question for me, Albus. Hermione has confessed to me that both she and Mr. Potter released Sirius Black from the Tower using the Time-Turner that I gave her and allowed the man to leave the grounds, along with a previously rescued Hippogriff that had been sentenced to death because it had attacked a student!" Minerva stopped her explanation as a chuckle came from her husband's direction.
"Albus!" cried Minerva, her expression becoming ever sterner at her husband's outburst.
"I'm sorry, Minerva, I was merely considering the absurdity of it all!" replied Albus, his smile still firmly in place.
"Albus! Is it true that you put them up to this?"
"Well, Hermione worked the situation out alone, but I certainly put them up to it, yes."
Minerva's mouth was gaping at her husband's confession, while Hermione wore a shocked expression on her face, her mouth still clenched tight shut from the gasp she had managed to conceal at her father's boldness.
"Albus, why would you do such a thing? Put not only two students in danger, but both Harry Potter and our own daughter! Why would you-"
"Minerva!" interrupted Albus, shocking his wife into silence. He took advantage of the situation to continue his point. "Minerva, do you honestly believe that I would send my own daughter on a mission this dangerous if I did not believe that she was capable of achieving success? Do you?"
"No. No, of course not." whispered Minerva, her gaze directed at her office floor. Albus crossed the room quickly and wrapped his arms around his shaking wife. Hermione looked on awkwardly for a moment until the pair pulled away and opened their arms once more, beckoning to Hermione, who ran and sat in between them, all three of them engaged in a peaceful embrace.
"Mum? Dad?"
"Yes, kitten?" replied Albus, smiling fondly at his daughter.
"Do you think next year will be simpler?"
The whole Dumbledore-McGonagall family burst into peals of laughter.
"Oh, I hope so!" smiled Professor McGonagall. "I really do."
A/N: Just randomly ended there, just so I could get an update up. Please review!