Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter—JK Rowling is the brilliant one deserving all credit.
A/N: Thanks so much to all the people who added me to their favorites and alerts list. Makes me so happy to see that people are reading. So I have 6 hours til I move into my dorm (it's very late right now), but I wanted to get another chapter up. So hopefully you all will review and make my exhaustion tomorrow worth it. :)
Chapter 14 Part I: The Anger
Hermione, Harry, and Ron made it back to Hogwarts and into Professor McGonagall's office in record time. It took them about 10 minutes to describe what had happened and during that time, McGonagall's lips grew thinner and thinner.
"Excuse me for one moment," McGonagall said and swept over to her fireplace. She grabbed a handful of Floo Power, knelt down on her knees, and muttered something Hermione couldn't quite understand. Her head disappeared into the fire for a few moments and then she stood up, the fire distinguishing itself.
"Professor Snape will be here momentarily," she said stiffly. Ron and Harry glanced at each other, obviously thinking that Snape would somehow get his Slytherins out of trouble, but Hermione knew for a fact that he was going to be angrier than McGonagall. Two minutes later, Severus swept into the room, his robes billowing behind him.
He looks so sexy right now, Hermione thought to herself and had to hold back her smile.
"Explain," he said, his velvety voice dangerously soft.
Apparently Harry and Ron thought it would be best if she talked—the two nudges she received to both sides of her ribs signaled her to take the floor. She began to explain to Severus what had happened and when she finished, he stood motionless.
"Now, Hermione," McGonagall began, "Are you quite sure Mr. Malfoy was not involved in the attack. I am well aware of the amount of times him and Mr. Potter have confrontations.
Harry decided to answer this question. "Surprisingly enough, Professor, he appeared rather angry that his friends where attacking us. It was actually rather strange. I think he realized that this was quite different than a couple of jinxes we usually throw at each other."
McGonagall accepted this answer and turned to Severus saying, "Professor Snape, I would like to be the one to punish the Slytherins. After all, it was my students who were attacked."
Snape looked at her thoughtfully and replied, "And what do you think their punishment should be?"
She looked startled that Snape was actually considering it and quickly said, "One hundred points from Slytherin and a month of detention."
Snape shook his and slightly and McGonagall started to protest. He cut her off and said, "I think 50 points from each student would be more prudent. And two months of detention scrubbing cauldrons without magic." As an afterthought, he added, "But 20 points to Mr. Malfoy for ending the altercation." McGonagall, Harry, and Ron looked at him in shock. Ron's mouth even fell open. Hermione had to try extremely hard to hide her smirk. She ended up pretending to cough so that she could cover her mouth with her hand.
At her cough, Severus glanced at her and gave her a quick but meaningful look. Just like Draco, she would be meeting Severus tonight. It'll be hard to get away from her new "protectors" but Hermione knew she'd find a way. Without another word, Severus turned and stalked off.
McGonagall, shaking her head slightly, said to her students, "I'm not quite sure what just happened, but I approve. If there are any Slytherins out tonight, they will feel my wrath as well. You three may go now and be careful when walking in the dungeons.
When they entered the Great Hall, everyone began to stare at them and then look at the Slytherin table, where all the 7th year boys were missing. The students had also noticed that the Slytherin's point hourglass was significantly lower.
"Word really does travel fast in this school," Hermione muttered and Harry and Ron nodded. From what Severus told her about Harry's years here, he had been a large topic of conversation every year. Poor guy can't catch a break, Hermione thought, That'll be changing soon, I hope.
After a delicious dinner, Ron invited Harry and Hermione back to the Common Room so that they could relax and tell the curious Gryffindors what happened today. Just as Harry was about to say yes, his very furious girlfriend stormed into the Great Hall and made a beeline for Harry.
"Were you even going to mention to me," Ginny spat angrily, "That you were attacked today? Don't you think that is important enough to tell your girlfriend about even if you decided to abandon her on the FIRST Hogsmeade trip of the year."
Hermione thought that Harry would drop his head in shame, apologize, and go off to the Common Room with the both of them. Instead—
"You know what Ginny," Harry leapt to his feet, towering over her, "I'm quite sick of listening to what you think I should do. I'll do whatever the hell I please now because I am not your boyfriend anymore."
Ginny stood there, completely dumbfounded.
"Actually, Ron," Harry said, "I think Hermione and I should get started on our homework (I'm done with my homework for the next two weeks, thought Hermione) so you'll just have to fill them in yourself. Are you ready to leave?"
Harry had turned to Hermione, and seeing his begging eyes, she abandoned her half-finished meal, got up, and began to walk with him back to their rooms.
"Are you OK?" Hermione asked gently.
"Yeah," Harry responded gruffly, "I just never realized how clingy you girls are"—Hermione gave him an annoyed look—"Well, at least some girls," he quickly clarified, "She was always hanging on me and wanted to kiss me and it was rather annoying."
Hermione laughed. She could kiss Severus all day and it still wouldn't be enough.
"You just haven't found the right person, Harry," Hermione said smartly, "One day, I'll walk into our Common Room, and you'll be snogging some girl senseless."
Harry just grunted and they continued to walk to their rooms. When they arrived, Harry threw himself down on the couch and began to pull his books out of his backpack.
"Do you really plan on doing homework?" Hermione asked curiously.
"Might as well," Harry muttered, "I don't want to fall behind. Who knows what will be going on later in the year?"
He was right. The end of the war was growing closer and he still didn't know her true identity. Hermione had really grown to like Harry and Ron and felt their relationship would grow a lot stronger as the year progressed. She wished she could train them to help them prepare for the approaching final battle. She started thinking about what she knew about them and what their weaknesses would be. Ron was hot headed and needed to work on his control. Harry unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on the way you look at it) wasn't cruel enough. At this moment, Hermione just couldn't see Harry murdering anyone—even a bastard like Voldemort.
"Hermione?" Harry said, interrupting her musings.
"Sorry, what were you saying?" Hermione replied.
"I, well, um, I was wondering if maybe we could, um, talk about Voldemort?" Harry said very quickly.
Hermione looked at him, surprised. Maybe he was going to talk to her about the Order. He had mentioned it at the last meeting.
"Sure, Harry," She said, trying to sound encouraging, "What would you like to talk about?"
"Umm," said Harry his cheeks turning red as he looked up at her, "I was wondering what your feelings about Voldemort were. I am pretty positive you're against him because you're friends with me and were sorted into Gryffindor, but I want to now have active you'd actually want to be in destroying him."
Hermione looked at Harry and made a quick decision to tell him the truth—at least a little of it.
"Voldemort had his Death Eaters murder my parents as a child. I'd prefer people didn't know—even Ron. I think you can understand seeing as how much publicity you have to deal with." Harry shook his head quickly. Hermione continued, "It was really my aunt and uncle who moved, not my parents. Obviously, if word got out to the Slytherins that Hermione was telling people Voldemort killed her parents, word of it would get back to Voldemort. She knew that he be suspicious of her story seeing as it was actually true.
"To fully answer your question," Hermione said, "I want Voldemort in the ground and I would very much like to help make that happen."
Harry was very quiet for a few minutes. When he looked at her again, his eyes were determined and his expression was serious.
"I assume you have heard rumors of my relationship with him and I am going to trust you with the truth. I am the one who will have to kill him, Hermione, and I would love to have you by my side when I do it."
Hermione smiled slightly and replied, "I'll stand with you as long as it takes. We will win this war."
A/N: As you may have noticed, this is part I of this chapter, so sorry if it ended a little awkwardly. There was no way I could finish tonight but I really wanted to post something because moving in is going to be very hectic and I won't be able to write more for a couple days. Part II should be up by next weekend.