Author Note: Harry Potter and company are not mine. I didn't create them and do not own them. They belong to Ms. Rawlings who did a great job rewriting King Arthur and Merlin for the modern age. Let me say here and now, I like canon Hermione and Ron. I even liked Dumbledore though for the life of me I don't know why. However this is not canon and you won't find those characters in this story. This story has taken me years to write though I doubt I worked on it as long as Ms. Rowlings did. oops Thank you my reviewer who pointed out my error here. Just a simple mis-struck key. I do that a lot when I'm tired. As always I remind you this story is already finished. All I need to do is upload each chapter for you to enjoy. And I hope you do.
Chapter Thirteen: Library Confrontation - Hermione
At a nearby table, Draco and his cronies were pretending to work on an assignment for their upcoming Potions class but in reality, with silencing charms on their quills, they were carefully copying every word of the confrontation so they could dissect it later or pass it along to those who could use the information to best advantage. Each of them was praying their Head of House who was hiding in the stacks as usual wouldn't send them out of the Library until the Confrontation of the Ages was completed. They were all listening closely as Harry Potter told off the know-it-all mudblood and her two cronies. Like Harry and her two sidekicks, they knew the two purebloods followed the mudblood's direction. They'd never had any doubts about that. Which in their opinion was just wrong. Purebloods, blood traitors or not, should never be taking directions from a mudblood.
The group wasn't even daring to growl softly as was their usual habit in a situation like this. Harry's voice was too soft and quiet for that. If they did, they might miss something. They had to listen closely as his voice really had changed over the summer. It was now so soft and quiet that if they didn't listen with their full attention, they wouldn't have heard what he said at all. And they were used to listening to Professor Snape who whispered louder than Potter was talking now. All three began snickering as soon as they understood exactly what the trio was being accused of and what they had inadvertently agreed had been the reason they felt entitled to access Harry's inheritance. That was until they were silenced by their tablemates angry glares.
Hermione finally regained her voice and loudly screeched, "Harold James Potter! You take that back right now. I am no whore and you know it. I'm a respectable girl. I earned that money fair and square. I got it for helping you on your homework and making sure you were always where you needed to be when you needed to be there. I earned it by seeing to it that information you needed got to you when you needed it. I earned it by being what a best friend is supposed to be when all you wanted to do was whine and complain about how you didn't like being in a private room or people being mean to you. It's not my fault all you ever want to do is complain about getting into trouble when you don't listen to the teachers as I tell you to. If you'd listened to me, you never would have been placed into that room. But you didn't, did you?"
Harry lost any semblance of friendliness as her screeching rant drew to a close and she admitted she was nothing more than a bought and paid for servant. In silence, he rose to his full height somehow gaining an impressive demeanor though by no means did he have an impressive build. He was short and thin to the point of being scrawny. Yet in this instant he looked as impressive as any Prince of the Realm and twice as regal in his nearly threadbare robes. "First off, Bint, I suggest you actually take the time and trouble to learn my name. It is not, and never has been, Harold. And no I will not tell you what it is. You have no need to know."
He glared at her as she absorbed what he said. "Second off, you aren't nearly as smart as I've always, -mistakenly, it seems-, given you credit for being. You just stood here in front of witnesses and admitted I bought and paid for your friendship from the very beginning. That is not respectable. Nor is it what a best friend is. That's not even what a fair weather friend is. I suggest you invest in a simple muggle Webster's Dictionary so you can look that word up again. Obviously you don't actually know the definition of the word if you honestly think being a best friend means you get paid for it. You're no friend of mine and you never have been."
"You're no whore you say. Yet you basically just told everyone in this room you sold your soul and your honor for gold." He waved at hand towards the occupied tables around them. Hermione didn't even glance at the occupied tables. "And you want everyone in here to believe this doesn't make you a whore of the lowest order? Just how can you even claim that? At least, those girls are openly selling their wares. They don't lie about what they are, pretending to be something else. Nor do they sneak behind their clients back to gain access to the funds they feel are owed them but that the client never offered. They set a flat fee and name it up front. You're a disgrace to the honest working girl who knows what she is and admits it."
"If you wanted my money that badly you should've just asked me straight up. But you aren't honest enough to do something so honorable. Are you? Much more your style to sneak around and lie, cheat and steal what you need to do what you want to do. Just like you did when you decided you needed some expensive potion ingredients, right? Oh, right. You didn't steal those at all did you? They were given to you to help pull the wool over my eyes while you were laughing your way to the bank to grab more of my gold, huh."
"And let's not forget the most important trick in your arsenal. Make sure there is always some poor gullible fool to take the blame when people find out what you've done. Just like you did then." He altered his voice to a fake girly voice and said, "Make a distraction for me Harry. Do something to focus the attention of the class on you so I can slip into the Master's Storeroom without getting caught." He let his voice slip back into his normal tones hiding a wince as he did so. "You disgust me. And for the record, that doesn't make you respectable either. That makes you a sneak thief and a liar." From behind him the Throat Soothing Charm hit him again. He almost sighed in relief.
"Nor did you even actually do the job you just claimed I was paying you to do. Maybe in first year you did but in second year, I got booted out of the tower and into Protective Custody by the suspicions and rumors of the gullible fools here. You weren't coming by my chambers to help me study during that time. Hell, I even asked you multiple times to come get me books for my assignments so I could do them decently. Because the Professors, who were my escorts everywhere, claimed they didn't have the time to chaperone me in the Library. But you never did, did you? What was it you claimed when I'd ask you about them? Oh yes I remember. You said you were using them but I could borrow them when you finished with them, didn't you? Or they weren't available. But who was paying who, Hermione? I could swear the whole reason you're here in my face right now is because you want my money. Not the other way around. Hells bells girl, you were a petrified statue in the infirmary for a good portion of the year. So just how the hell are you claiming to have gotten me the information I needed then?"
"Third year I again had private chambers which I don't recall you ever visiting for the purposes of homework collaboration. Lectures on obeying the teachers and being mindful of the need to remain safe. That I remember. But homework help? Giving me information I was in need of? No, that I don't remember you ever doing that year. Though you were in possession of information I should've been given weren't you, Girl. Information that turned out to be hazardous to not only my health but yours and Ron's as well as Professor Snape's. Moon controlled Creature on the grounds ringing any bells with you?"
"No, everyone in this school can attest to the fact that you spent the entire year working on a legal case to save Buckbeak for Hagrid. Because Draco whined to his Daddy for not listening to Hagrid in class and Daddy was going to appease his little boy by killing the nasty beastie that scratched him." At the Slytherin table, Draco winced and looked slightly ashamed of himself. Hearing it put like that it really wasn't his proudest moment. Nor could he claim Potter had it wrong. That's exactly what happened.
"And when you weren't working on your law case, you were too busy arguing with Ronald over your chosen pets rights to bother with little ole me, weren't you? Not once during that year did it occur to you I was supposed to be your friend. That you just Admitted you were getting paid to be. Those two things took precedence with you over doing the job you were being paid gold out of my vaults for. But tell me, Hermione when did I offer to pay you to get into arguments and fights with Ronald here? When did I offer to pay you to try and free Buckbeak? Never. That's when. So again you were stealing my gold for your own benefit."
"Fourth year, again the entire school turned it's back on me including you. Not one piece of information did you provide me with for either my classes or the Tournament. You were so distanced from me you weren't even my hostage in the second task when they couldn't find anyone else to play the role. So once again you failed to do your job. Just why do you think you deserve to be paid for a job you aren't even doing?"
He let his words sink in before he finished speaking with her. She was trying not to squirm now as she realized they should have listened to Professor Dumbledore. He'd told them not to confront Harry. To let him handle it. But she'd thought they had him so cowed he'd never make a scene like this.
Harry gave her a flat look as he said, "But since you admit I own you and you claim I owe you something for the time you have so graciously spared for me and my endeavors; endeavors you went out of your way to make sure I got involved in even when I did not wish to; let me settle the score now."
He held up a hand and his magic shot from his palm to impact on her left facial cheek. No one heard the softly muttered words he intoned as his magic leapt out from the palm of his hand towards her. To her credit, Hermione did try to dodge initially when she saw his hand rising but relaxed as soon as she didn't see his wand knowing he wasn't close enough to strike her physically. Unfortunately for her, she forgot Harry didn't need his wand to perform some magic. Some magic no witch or wizard needed a wand to perform. On her cheek the faint outline of a rune began to appear. It grew steadily darker as it formed.
As the rune was forming Harry continued to speak. "You claim you earned your fee by performing duties to me that enabled me to be where I needed to be when I needed to be there and by assisting me in the completion of my homework. Unfortunately for you, I don't recall ever once agreeing to pay you for that kind of aide. Nor do I recall ever once asking for your aide with my homework assignments."
"I recall being locked in a room that might as well have been a prison cell here in the Castle every time I didn't have a classroom to be in and it wasn't a scheduled mealtime. Never once do I remember you coming by to study with me. I recall even going so far as to ask you to get books for me so I could do my assignments. Do you recall what you told me Hermione Granger? Because I do. You told me you couldn't get them. That they were all in use or not available. That you didn't have the time to come to the library for me. But that was your job. Wasn't it? To help me with my homework when I needed the help."
"I do recall you badgering me to study with you. I do recall you grabbing my homework parchments away from me in the classroom and then proceeding to mark them up with corrections you believed I needed to make so as to make them more suitable in your opinion. I do recall having to rewrite them as fast as I could so I could turn them in on time. I couldn't turn them in with your scribbles all over them, now could I? Extra work I never asked for and didn't appreciate."
"Nor did I ever follow those inane scribbles as they weren't my work which is what I believe the teachers assign the homework to see. They want to see what we each are learning from their classes. Not what Hermione Granger knows and tells us she thinks we should know. Or thinks she knows. That's what your homework assignments are for."
All the Slytherin students and several of the Ravens adopted a thoughtful look as they glanced to the stacks where they knew the Slytherin Head of House was browsing the racks. He was always in the Library when Slytherin students were allowed to go there. Slytherins were so unpopular in the school they couldn't come to the Library unprotected lest they be accused of something they didn't do or fall prey to one of the school bullies. He smirked at them and gave a slight nod of his head to indicate Harry was correct in his assumption as to the purpose of the homework assignments.
"As for me being where I needed to be when I needed to be there, as you are alive to be standing here today, I would say it is you who owes me for that service. I would also say it proves beyond any doubt I'm quite capable of getting myself where I need to be when I need to be there without your less than helpful assistance. If I want to be there. Because even we population created so-called heroes get to choose who we believe is worthy of saving. I do believe I once chose you, didn't I? I do, after all, recall quite clearly who it was sobbing in the bathroom when a troll decided to come calling looking for dinner and it wasn't me, Girl."
"Nor did I ever wish to be placed in danger so you could prove you solved a mystery. I do recall telling you that the object of the mystery was as safe as it could be with so many professors already protecting it. I also recall it was you who insisted we had to go check on it to make sure since the Headmaster was away from campus at the time."
"But you couldn't admit I was right, could you? Even when we were standing in front of Professor Snape's challenge and I told you he wasn't the bad guy in the Castle after the trinket the Headmaster had stolen from it's rightful owner. I even pointed out that if he had his trap placed there, then he already knew how to get around all the other traps. He had to just so he could set his up. But you didn't want to admit I was right because that meant admitting you were wrong to set his clothes on fire during the quiditch game." The Professor in the stacks now glared at the bushy haired girl. A low rolling growl emanated from the stacks as Professor Snape finally learned who had tried to kill him that year.
"Nor was it me who wanted to brew a difficult potion I claimed to need to steal expensive ingredients for just so I could interrogate an unsuspecting person for my own amusement. That was also you, wasn't it? A potion you couldn't even brew. How do I know you didn't brew it? Simple. You can't tell the difference between her hair," He pointed to Millicent Bulstrode sitting with her fellow Slytherins "and her cat's. Anyone who can brew that potion is certainly smart enough to make that simple little distinction. But again you wanted to play Nancy Drew and solve the mystery, didn't you?"
"Nor have I ever gone around defaming someone else's character behind their back. I didn't want to break rules to offer unsolicited comfort over the loss of an animal. I reminded you there was a murderer after me. I even reminded you about the announcement saying the dementors would now be prowling the grounds outside the Castle after dark. Dementors who absolutely love to catch me off-guard and unprotected. That I wasn't supposed to be outside after dark because it was too dangerous."
"Nor was I keeping potentially dangerous secrets from you that could have done you great harm. Seems to me, all of that was you. As I see it, you owed me your life and you repaid me with betrayal. But we'll let this judgment rune be the judge of who is telling the truth between us now."
The seconds passed. The rune was dark enough for everyone who could see her face to see it now. It steadily grew darker and darker as the magic in it read her guilt from her own mind, heart and soul. Every word he said had brought the specific incident or incidents to the forefront of her mind and the rune was reading her guilt or innocence accordingly. That was all his words had been for. Finally, when it was finished forming, the rune on her cheek was clearly visible for everyone to see. And that told everyone watching Magic had found her guilty as charged.
"There. Consider yourself paid in full. Now step aside so I can deal with your friends here. And while I deal with them, remember this. It was I who saved you when you found yourself stuck in that bathroom with a troll looking for a meal. It was I who battled the basilisk that rendered you into a petrified statue in our second year. Some would say you owe me your very life, Granger. Be grateful I don't claim it from you for the insult you've given me these last four years."
What the rune now adorning her face stood for would only be known to those who could read runes but Harry had just given everyone in the library a very big clue to at least part of what it stood for. Smug smiles were adorning many faces as the listeners realized Hermione Granger, muggleborn upstart, had just received a comeuppance they could never have dreamed of giving her but many had wished to deliver more than once over the years they had known her. No more would they have to bite their tongues or cheeks to keep from putting her in her place simply because she claimed to be the best friend of their Savior. Or she was the staff's favorite.
He had just openly declared in front of them all, she was no such thing and never had been. What was more, he had marked her and claimed ownership after a fashion which, in their society, made her less than human. And although the Slytherin amongst them knew there were at least two adults present, neither one had said a single word in protest to stop him from doing so. And that meant they believed he had the right to do so. The students didn't have to be able to read runes to know what that mark on her face signified.
The truth was, that one rune incorporated every crime Hermione Granger was guilty of according to her own mind, heart and soul. It would remain there, nice and clear, until first, she admitted to herself she deserved the mark. That she was guilty of exactly what he had said she was. And her mind would remember every single accusation he had made against her until she admitted the truth. She wouldn't be able to forget why she was marked.
And second, she began to rectify the situation that had created it. She'd have to ask for forgiveness and make amends for her bad behavior towards him. No more would she play the innocent and benevolently grant her forgiveness to another for her own wrongdoing. Like she had just tried to do here earlier in the conversation. Until she atoned for the wrongs she did, the rune would remain where it was. It would slowly vanish as she worked to make right the situation that had created it but not until then. In other words, she had to atone for her sins.
But given most of them had run afoul of her ego more than a time or two over the years, the gathering rather thought the mark would be there for a good long while to come. Because the first step to the disappearance of that mark was her admittance that she had done wrong to someone she had loudly proclaimed was her friend. And the Hermione Granger they knew, could never do that. She was much too proud to ever admit she was in the wrong.
Then she had to work at getting rid of it. So long as she professed to be innocent of any wrong-doing the rune would remain just as it was now. And Hermione Granger always claimed to be innocent easily pinning the blame on anyone who happened to be standing close enough to get blamed. She always played the perfect student who would never break the rules and the teachers always bought her act.
Although the magic to enact the spell had come from Harry, the mark had been created using her own magic. It had come from within herself and was being sustained by her own magical core. All Harry's magic had done was identify her as the person he was calling for judgement against. Nothing anyone else, including Harry, did now could remove it. And it was her own inherent magic that would keep it nice and fresh until the day she began to atone. All of the witnesses knew that even if they didn't conscious realize it. This magic they'd just witnessed was engrained in their very beings though none could say they knew exactly what Harry had just done to Granger.
Hermione only felt a slight tingle in her face where the rune was and she turned to Ron with a question in her eyes. "What did he do to me, Ron? Why does my face itch now?" She tentatively reached a hand towards her stinging and itching cheek.
Ronald, still silenced by Harry's wandless, wordless charm couldn't say a word to answer her. He was gaping at her wide-eyed and in terror as he looked from Hermione to Harry and back again. He backed away from Harry coming up flush against the librarian who was also studying Harry in just as much surprise as the Potions Professor hidden in the stacks. The Slytherin students were giving Harry appraising looks alternating with looks of smug satisfaction at the stunned and confused trio and wonderment towards their teacher in the stacks.
"Ron," Hermione said in a slightly louder voice. She spun towards Ginerva inadvertently giving the other half of the packed library a chance for a good look at the mark. Now it was the Ravenclaws turn to get a good look at her marked face. The Ravenclaw Tower had a good number of students there just as the Slytherins did. They wouldn't be Ravens if they weren't haunting the library whenever it was open and they had a free period. Like the Slytherins, they too had taken note of the conversation and made notes as to what was said when and by whom. Unlike the Slytherins though most of them knew something of what Harry had done to the proud Gryffindor.
"Ginny! What did he do to me? What is wrong with my face?"
Ginerva spoke in a quivering voice since it was clear Ron couldn't seem to find his. "He marked you. There's some kind of a rune tattooed on your cheek now. It's dark and an angry red. Before you ask, no. I don't know what it is. Nor do I know the spell he used to make it appear there. So no, I can't remove it for you. Remember, I don't take runes. I take Creature Care and Divination. So even if I did know how he did it, I doubt I could remove it or read it for you. Neither would Ron."
Hermione whirled around to face Harry again and angrily demanded, "Remove it. Now! How dare you do this to me! I don't deserve this. All I've ever done is try to help you and you do this to me? What kind of an ungrateful brat are you? Well, you just showed everyone Professor Snape is right about you. You're just a bully with delusions of grandeur trading on his fame because that's all you have. You had no right to go marking me with anything, Harry Potter. If you don't remove it right this instant, I'll make you regret it until your dying day which won't come soon enough for you. I'll ask the Headmaster to throw you out of this school, Harry Potter. Let's see how far your fame will get you then," she finished with an angry sneer.
Harry pulled a thin, off-white booklet from his stack of reading material and threw it onto the tabletop with a smack. Madam Pince immediately recognized the booklet as one the Weasely Twins had read last term and seemed to spend a lot of time studying. Now she knew why. Those twins! They got into the strangest things.
"Well, now, you see that's where you're wrong. I checked it very carefully just to make certain I do indeed have the right to do what I just did to you."
"This is the magical world, Hermione Jean Granger of no family and no bloodline. In the Muggle World, while your actions might get you kicked out of school or sent to a Juvenile Facility for a few years after a day or two in court, here it's a different story. Everyone has been telling you since you first set foot in this world, life is lived by a different code here. We told you that over and over again. Like when you were trying to save Buckbeak from Draco's Dad. Or when you wanted to free all the house-elves who don't want to be free. Or when the girls begin talking about their betrothal contracts. You won't listen. That isn't our fault. It's yours."
"But for today, your ignorance of this world doesn't matter. Today, that stubborn obstinacy has caught up with you."
"And, just for the record, you can't get me thrown out of Hogwarts. You're just a muggleborn with delusions of how you're something special and going to make something of yourself one day. I am not. I am already someone special. This society declared it when I was fifteen months old. Which is totally stupid. But what's more I am the Heir to House Potter. When I turn seventeen I will be somebody in this world."
"And if Professor Snape can't seem to get me thrown out of Hogwarts, which we all knows he's trying to do, what in Merlin's name do you honestly believe you can do to achieve it? Do you honestly believe you have more influence here with the Headmaster than he does?"
"You call me a bully. What in the Sam Hill do you think you're engaging in right now? Threatening me with expulsion just because you don't like how this conversation played out for you. But then you came in here expecting to bully me didn't you? Bully me into giving you a key to my trust vault so you could keep stealing from me. And now you're trying to bully me into undoing what I just went to so much trouble to do."
He shook his head. "Try as you might I assure you, nothing you can do will make me regret the mark you now bear for your sins against me. Because you don't learn from just words. I gave you chance after chance to change the way you were treating me. Time after time, I hinted that I knew what you were doing and didn't like or appreciate it. You wouldn't stop. You wouldn't change your behavior. Now you will or you'll bear that mark for the rest of your days. Your choice."
"As for how far my fame can get me outside of Hogwarts, why would I care? I've been trying to downplay that stupidity from the first moment I heard of it. My position as heir to the House of Potter is much more useful to me. But then you wouldn't understand that as you don't believe in the nobility. Do you? Even though nobility exists even in your beloved muggle world. Because you aren't noble, right. You have no claim to a noble house in either world. Do you?"
"As for your new adornment, the truth is, you stood right here and admitted, of your own free will, in front of everyone, you're a bought and paid for person. You take my gold without my permission to force me to do things against my best judgement at the behest of another. Things that endanger my well-being for the express purpose of gaining this other person acclaim he hasn't earned. That makes you at best a servant to one and a thief to me. Not to mention an accomplice to murder should any of those traps you forced me into have been successful. At worst, you're a slave and a betrayer."
"Because you were betraying me, Granger. Don't bother trying to excuse it. I was the person who's gold you were taking. You admitted it when you came in here with these two demanding that I give you back your key."
"By going behind my back and leading me into dangerous situations you knew in advance would be dangerous situations wherein I could very easily have died or been permanently handicapped, making it highly unlikely I'd be able to lead the life I was born to lead or have the career I'd choose for myself after graduation, you made yourself a betrayer of the worst kind. As far as you knew, those situations you were leading me into would result in either my death or permanent disfigurement and a handicapped state. And since you admitted I didn't authorize you to receive so much as a single knut from my vault, that means you also didn't care if I was left without a way to pay my living expenses after your boss finished playing games with my life and health."
"You not only named yourself a thief, you labeled yourself as heartless. You even admitted as much when you said one of your responsibilities was 'to make sure I was where I was supposed to be when I was supposed to be there even when all I wanted to do was sit around and whine and complain.' So it'll do you no good to try and deny it now. I have all these lovely witnesses who heard you admit how you believe you earned access to my school vault." He waved a hands towards the Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables where everyone was openly staring with very predatory smiles. Even the Ravens were grinning in a predatory manner. Every one of them happy to play their assigned role in this drama as none of them liked the uppity girl.
He narrowed his eyes. "Face it, Granger. You were trying to kill your benefactor and the person you owe your life twice over to. By wizarding law, as your freely admitted benefactor, I can, since all the events that matter took place here, do with you what I wish. And wizarding law is the only law that matters here. You're a witch and in this case, a member of this world whether you like it or not. If I wished to have you stripped naked, tied to a flagpole in the courtyard to be flogged with a cat-o-nine and washed with a bottle of vinegar every day at noon and again at midnight, by wizarding law, I could. Because I own you, you pathetically stupid little girl. I've even given you warnings to cease and desist with your immoral behavior towards me. You don't listen because you just can't believe I, or any mere boy, can know things you don't. Or things you've gone to great lengths to conceal."
She stood there whipping her head back and forth in wide-eyed, tearful denial while the other students all smirked. She now truly regretted coming to confront him when there were witnesses to tell the tale. And there was absolutely nothing she could see that she could do to turn things around for herself. She had admitted she was using him to her own advantage by being paid from his vault. Oh, how she wished she'd listened to Professor Dumbledore! It was going to take forever to recover from this fiasco.
Author Note: Please review. As always I hope you enjoy my story. I've certainly spent long enough working on it. There are two more Library Confrontation Chapters coming. I originally was going to do it all in one chapter but it didn't read explosive enough so I broke it up and extended each persons section. It ended up being one chapter for each person involved. Hope you enjoy it and please do review. I'm tired for tonight so this is the last chapter I'm uploading until tomorrow.