I know, I know. You love to hate me and you hate to love me. No chapters for ages and the two in one day. And news – chapter 12 already started!!
Oh, and can someone please tell me if I am spelling any names/places/houses wrong. I suck at spelling and I cant find a good canon site to check it against (fell free to let me know if you know a good one). Enjoy.
P.S.A.N. as many of you may or may not know or not know I am also currently writing another hg/ss ff. due to my complete and utter inability to write un-spasmodically and rather sporadically I plan to have a good deal, if not all, of this ff finished before I begin to post it. Just thought I would let you know!!
Chapter 11
She was not with her friends, but then again neither was Potter. The Heads compartment then. Students ran terrified in every direction as Professor Snape billowed through the train broom still in hand. His anger only had time to multiply as he had searched for her but somewhere deep down inside, to deep for him to acknowledge its existence, he felt a little sorry for her, not just for being kept out of the loop about her parents, but also because of the trouble she was about to be in with him.
He opened the door surprisingly quietly for someone in such a rage only to find the room empty. He was just about to storm from the room when he noticed that the bathroom door was glowing slightly in one spot. It was occupied.
Not wanting to walk in on anyone on the toilet, the potions master placed his broom on a chair and quickly disabled the silencing charm. Immediately the sound of soft sobbing reached his ears. Just before he entered, though, a voice spoke. He paused.
"Don't worry 'Mione." He recognised the voice straight away as Draco's. "They would only do that if your parents were actually dead, not just on the edge." Stupid boy, he thought as the sobbing became harder. Once again he went to enter, but once again he paused as another voice emitted from the bathroom.
"Good one Malfoy." What the hell was Potter doing in the bathroom? "It's ok 'Mione, they are gonna be fine."
All three occupants were silent for a moment, like the calm before the storm; even Hermione had stopped her irrational sobbing in an attempt to calm herself, although tears still streamed down her face. None of them knew the danger that they were in.
"I can assure you that your parents are fine Miss Granger." All three of them turned to see the foreboding presence of their potions master standing in their only escape route. "It would be your own safety that I would be more concerned about at the moment." No one dared speak for a moment. It was Hermione who broke the silence.
"I will not go back to Hogwarts with you Professor, not until I go home and see my parents." All semblance of fear and anguish had left her face and now it held nothing but defiance.
"Out, both of you." No one moved despite the professors' order. "Mister Potter and Mister Malfoy, if you do not leave this room now you will very shortly find yourself unable to complete such a simple task as that ever again. Now OUT!" both boys jumped slightly at the last word that was spoken with such volume that the room shook. "As Draco passed him he stopped the white faced boy with his hand. "I will speak to you later about this. You knew she was not to leave Hogwarts." Draco said nothing. He knew his godfather would not listen to him at the moment. It turned out that he didn't need to say anything.
"Professor Snape, sir." The almost timid voice of Harry drifted to his ears. The professor descended on him, causing Harry to take a step backwards, but this did not stop him speaking. "Malfoy had nothing to do with it. It was only a couple of minutes ago that he was telling us off for having smuggled Hermione out of Hogwarts." Draco suddenly knew what it was like to have true friends, and he couldn't help the smile that spread across his face.
"What are you smirking at?" His godfathers question brought him out of his thoughts
"What is more unbelievable to you Severus," he turned to look at the potions master and was glad to detect that the use of his first name in public had irritated him. "Is it the face that Harry Potter is standing up to you, or that Harry Potter is standing up for me?" Draco did not receive an answer. Instead he was pushed forcefully through the door and it was slammed shut in the two boys faces.
Hermione paled more, but the defiance was still in her eyes.
"What the hell were you thinking Miss Granger?" He snapped at her. "Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you are in? You could be expelled!"
"Good," she spat back angrily at his shocked face. "Maybe then I will get to see my parents."
"And is seeing them really worth throwing away the rest of your life?"
"No professor, but at the moment it is most certainly worth throwing away my education."
"What has gotten into your head Miss Granger? You have always been such a rational and logical student. Why in Merlins name would you do this?"
Outside the bathroom the two boys looked at each other. It had only taken them a moment to realize that the silencing charm had been disarmed. Now they both faced the moral dilemma of whether or not to eavesdrop. It had not been much longer after this that they both had their ears pressed firmly against the door in an attempt to catch every word that was spoken.
"Because I will probably be dead within a year, what good does education do you in a graveyard, and for all I know my parents might already be dead. They have not replied to one of my owls all term, and you lot won't tell me anything. I only had my imagination to help me out and you can see where that lead me."
"Miss Granger, your parents were-" he stopped mid sentence before muttering a 'damn it' under his breath. "Your parents are safe."
"What were you about to say?"
"That is all I can tell you Miss Granger."
"No, what were you about to say?" She latched onto her husbands cloak and looked imploringly up at him. Her eyes were still bloodshot from crying but her cheeks were flushed red in anger.
"I can not tell you Miss Granger, now please release me, we must go to the back of the train to return to Hogwarts and I will not have you dragging off me."
"I am not going back to Hogwarts, I am going home, to be with my parents."
"Yours parents aren't home Miss Granger." He knew he would regret saying that.
"Then I will go to their dentistry."
"They are not there either. Miss Granger please, this is not the time or the place for this discussion."
"No, but it never is, is it. Where are they then?"
"Safe." Her grip tightened on him.
"Where are they?" She emphasized every word.
"Safe." He said again as he tried to untangle himself from the girl.
"Why aren't they at work?"
"Because they- arh. Damn you Albus I know, why don't you just come here and tell her." Hermoines' grip loosened at the odd outburst from the professor. Realization suddenly dawned on her.
"You mean you can't tell me, not you don't want to tell me."
"That is what I have been saying."
"Is it only me you cant tell?"
"What do you mean?" She released him totally from her grip and opened the bathroom door. The breath that she had taken so that she could call out to her two friends fell from her lips with little sound as they tumbled in. Quickly standing up, both boys spent far more time than necessary brushing off their cloths. When they finally lifted their heads they both had a guilty look on their faces.
"You rang." Harry spoke nervously.
"Tell them." Hermione spoke to the professor but her eyes never stopped darting between Harry and Draco with a look of comprehension.
"What?" All three males replied.
"Tell them what happened to my parents, then they can tell me." Draco beamed at her, his look full of pride.
"My little Griffindor is all grown up," he spoke in a fake choked up voice as he wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. "And she has blossomed into a beautiful Slytherin." Hermione whacked his arm playfully before turning back to the professor. A look of determination crossed the mans face and with a small nod he motioned for the door.
"Out." He ordered, though his voice was nowhere near as bitting as it had been before.
It was almost fifteen minutes later and Hermione was still pacing around the Heads compartment. She had tried to listen through the door as Harry and Draco had done but one of them, she presumed the eldest occupant of the room, had remembered to re-cast the silencing spell. The sight of the broomstick on the chair had caused her a distraction for several minutes but now her irrational fears were mounting again. He had said over and over that they were safe, but safe did not mean healthy. The bathroom door opened behind her and she spun around quickly. At the sight of Harry and Draco's ashen faces her knees went weak and if had not been for the chair to catch her she would have fallen to the floor. Seeing this reaction, both boys hurried to waylay her fears.
"They're ok 'Mione." Harry assured her as they rushed forward.
"No one died, and the injures were really minor." Draco continued as they each took a seat on either side of her and took one of her hands.
"The house is fine, but their business got burnt down." Harry hurried on, knowing that she needed to know everything and she needed to know now.
"They got out fine. They are in a safe house somewhere and have told everyone that business will be back to normal once the building is rebuilt. It will take a while though, 'coz really they cant go back until after the war." Draco added.
"So they are ok and you don't need to worry about them."
"Where?" Hermiones voice was surprisingly weak. Both boys looked at each other, confused.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked as he squeezed her hand lightly.
"Where are they?" she looked straight up at her husband. He still stood in the doorway of the bathroom, his arms crosses across his chest and his ankles crossed as he leaned against the doorframe. He meet her gaze and saw the fire re-ignite inside of them. He let out a sigh. Uncrossing his arms and ankles he walked over to her. He squatted down so that he could not only look at her in the eyes but so that he could look up at her.
"Only three people know the answer to that Miss Granger, and none of them are in this room."
"Dumbledore." She muttered before letting out a frustrated growl and stomping her foot.