Chapter 20

"Miss Granger, thank you so much for agreeing to meet with me," Professor Dumbledore said kindly as he ushered her to the comfortable looking arm chair by his fireplace.

"Of course, Professor. Though I must admit, I'm not quite sure why you've asked me here," Hermione responded as she sat.

"Well, my dear," Dumbledore chuckled good naturedly. "I understand Mr. Potter has confided in you about our private lessons this year. I simply wish to impress upon you the importance of keeping the information he shares with you and Mr. Weasley secret."

"Of course, sir," Hermione said, stopping herself from making a flippant comment about whether he was going to invite Ron round to make sure he kept the secret as well. This wasn't the time for her to go shooting off at the mouth. Hermione knew Dumbledore wasn't evil, but she also knew he was manipulative and quite conniving. She just wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible, to get out from underneath his very watchful eye. "I understand that what Harry is learning will help him to defeat Vol- You-Know-Who."

"Dear girl, don't be frightened to say his name," Dumbledore smiled gently.

"Of course, sir," she tried to smile.

"I have a few minutes until my next meeting, I'd very much like to know how you are doing. Any questions or concerns, pertaining to school or the Order?"

"Not particularly, no," Hermione could feel the familiar brushing against her brain, though it was very subtle. She would certainly have missed it had she not been waiting for it.

She immediately began thinking of Fred, when he visited her at school, time they'd spent at headquarters. This had been a plan Snape had offered her, thinking of her boyfriend in relation to certain questions would be seen as a normal response of a teenage girl, especially one in so new of a relationship. Just as quickly as she had saw flashes of Fred she internally scolded herself, making her focus on very specific aspects of what had been happening. This was another ploy, and honestly she was impressed with her performance, even if it were all in her head at the moment.

"Please don't hesitate to come to me if that changes, this is quite a confusing time for everyone," Dumbledore said. "Now, how is your personal life? I understand your parents are out of the country?"

"They are, they are attending a dentist's convention in New York though I've convinced them to make a proper holiday out of it. Honestly, I feel the farther away they are from me the better. I'm afraid the Death Eaters may try to get to Harry through Ron or myself, and they've shown no qualms with attacking muggles thus far." Again she felt the subtle brushing of her mind, she thought of her fabricated memory of seeing them off at the airport with Sirius. She had gotten quite good at fabricating a specific memory then fine tuning it to look real. She wasn't great at doing this in the moment, it only really worked when she's had time to perfect it first. Luckily she'd had time to prepare for this moment.

"Unfortunately that is quite true," Dumbledore allowed. "I must say that I was quite impressed with the way you managed everything with Mr. Black, I understand he is acting as your magical guardian."

"He is, once I found he'd never even had a trial, I felt it was a huge miscarriage of justice. I understand that things had been so chaotic during that time, it must have been rather easy for things to fall through the cracks at the Ministry. Innocent people imprisoned, guilty people left free. I'm just happy I was able to right one wrong, even after all this time. Fred often jokes that I'm a bit of a social crusader, what with my passion for house elf equality and all that," Hermione managed to laugh off the last part, hoping to come across as humble.

"Yes, young Mr. Weasley, I know that some of your other professors assumed that Ronald would be the young man to catch your eye, though I must admit, Fred seems a much better fit. More balance," Dumbledore chuckled easily.

"I'm sorry sir, but are you saying that the professors discuss students love lives?" Hermione asked, truly surprised at this.

"Please take no offence, it's all done in good fun. Imagine if you will, spending the majority of your time in a school with children. It's only natural for us older ones to emotionally attached to certain students, to think of some as more like family, I suppose. To hope for their successes, mourn any failures. Honestly some tend to live vicariously through our young charges. I assure you it is innocent enough," Dumbledore told her, adopting his grandfatherly persona, which made Hermione want to roll her eyes, which she didn't.

"I guess that makes sense," Hermione smiled.

"Well, my dear, I've very much enjoyed our little chat here. Again please don't hesitate to come to me with any questions or concerns you might have, my door is always open," Dumbledore said as he stood.

Dumbledore sat at his desk once the girl had left, pondering the conversation they'd just had. There was still something off about the girl, something that hadn't been there the year before. He couldn't quite put his finger on it however. He was mostly certain however whatever it was wouldn't be anything he couldn't handle.

She seemed to be a perfectly normal teenage girl, smitten with the Weasley boy, missing her parents, smart enough to understand that they were all on the brink of a war. Perhaps this was what gave him the feeling of unease, that she was so conflicted, unsure. So very much a normal teenage girl. He would need her to be calm and clear headed to help Harry with what must be done.

Dumbledore decided to put Hermione Granger on the back burner, he had much more important things to think about at the moment. A knock at the door brought one of those things to the forefront of his mind. Severus came in the office, carrying a familiar potion, the one that was slowing the effects of Dumbledore's cursed hand. Dumbledore smiled at his old friend and took the potion without question, then he prepared to ask yet another thing of Severus.

"I just had a pleasant conversation with Miss Granger," Dumbledore said vanishing the empty potion vial.

"Ah, was that tonight? Did you learn anything enlightening from the little know-it-all?" Snape sneered, rolling his eyes.

"You really should be more open-minded Severus, her blood status is only a very small part of what she is. In fact, like dear Lily, I believe it is her blood status that drives her tenacity in learning so much of our world," Dumbledore said.

"Honestly Albus, I couldn't care less about the little chit's blood, so much as her incessant need to outshine everyone. It's exhausting, I'm trying to get these dunderheads to actually learn something and there she is bouncing out of her seat to answer first," Snape all but huffed, ignoring the comment about Lily.

This was one of Dumbledore's most obvious tactics, any time he felt Severus was out of his control, he would throw Lily in his face, to remind him of why he was here I the first place. Severus didn't need the reminder, not a single day went by that he didn't think of Lily, didn't wish and hope that there was a way he could go back and make things right. That wasn't possible for him, though his lessons with Miss Granger had him thinking about time travel more and more.

That was one of his most plausible theories about Hermione, but he wouldn't press her to tell him the truth, not until it was necessary, not unless the knowledge could benefit him directly. Until that time he would help her, he was beginning to see she could be a very valuable asset, from the future or not.

"Yes, yes. It would do you well to be a bit more diplomatic, remember the tooth growing incident? I had to smooth that one over with both McGonagall and Pomphrey after they heard about what you'd said to the girl," Dumbledore chided gently.

"Was there a point to all of this, Albus? I'd rather not spend the entire evening talking about a 16 year old girl," Severus stated, sighing for emphasis.

"All I was going to do is ask you discreetly keep an eye on her, there's something different about her, but I can't put my finger on what it is just yet. I don't expect her to be a problem, and honestly I have much too much to worry with to make it a priority at the present time," Dumbledore said, finally getting to the point.

"Very well," Snape agreed, leaving the office soon after.

Saturday dawned bright and cold, and Hermione lay in her bed much longer than she should have. It took Lavender throwing open the bed hangings that got her up and moving.

"Hermione Granger! You get out of that bed this instant! You have a lunch date with one of the hottest wizards to grace these halls in many many years. How am I to live vicariously through you if you stay in bed all day and I can't spy on you properly?" Lavender shrieked causing Hermione to laugh out loud. "Honestly, what is it with the Weasley gene pool? All of them are bloody gorgeous."

"Gross, I'm sitting right here!" Ginny's voice came from the vanity on the far side of the room.

"Oh please, you got hit with the same pretty stick as your brothers," Pavarti pointed out.

"She's not wrong, Gin. You're that annoying natural pretty, it's nearly painful," Hermione said as she stretched and sat next to Parvati on the bed closest to the vanity.

"Please, I'm not exotic like Parvati, or a traditional beauty like Lavender. And you, Mi, you have that classic elegance that all girls dream of," Ginny stated matter of factly.

"Alright, alright, we're all bloody beautiful," Hermione giggled. "Wait, Lavender, how many of Ginny's brothers have you seen? You said all the Weasleys were good looking."

"Oh, I've seen them all. The two oldest ones were here for the tournament. The oldest, who's dating the French champion, Merlin, I think he's the most handsome. Then the next one, who works with dragons, could he possibly have any more muscles on those arms. They are both dreamy enough to make you forget your own name," Lavender gushed.

"Again, gross. Though, they are the least annoying of my brothers. I've always been closest to Charlie, the dragon tamer," Ginny said.

"Then Percy, he was here when we started, of course. He's that nerdy type of sexy, the kind I can guarantee could teach you a thing or two."

"Then Fred and George, though seeing as I'm dating one of them, keep the adjectives

to a minimum, yeah?" Hermione said quickly to move away from the topic of Percy. Ginny gave her a thankful wink as Lavender continued.

"Oh, the twins, first off, how do you tell them apart, I heard their own mum has trouble sometimes. I heard a rumor that they've been known to share girls… I don't think that's true though," Lavender prattled on, she didn't mean to be insulting, and Hermione took this into consideration before biting her head off.

"Anyone who spends any amount of time with the two of them can tell the difference, Molly has been known to call one the wrong name, but I've also seen her call Ron, Percy and Charlie, Bill. I think it has more to do with being a mum of seven than a mum of twins," Hermione answered honestly. "And that's just ridiculous, they have never, nor would they ever share a girl."

"I didn't think so," Lavender said.

Times like this Hermione had to remind herself of how nice Lavender really was, though certainly a bit oblivious at times. Hermione saw that Ginny was clenching her jaw and flexing her fist so she tried to steer the conversation to fairer waters.

"What about Ron then?" Hermione asked.

"Well Ron is quite handsome as well, yeah? Tall and wiry, quite funny too. Though he can be a bit thoughtless," Lavender continued, causing Hermione to snort at the irony of her statement.

"Well that's a bit like the pot calling the cauldron black, isn't it Lav?" Parvati laughed. "You've just managed to insult both Ginny and Hermione in just a few sentences. Hurry up and say something inappropriate about Seamus and you'll have the whole room."

"Oh nonsense, everyone knows I'm just talking boys," Lavender waved her off, though she did look a bit ashamed of herself.

"Alright girls, I have about 30 minutes before I have to meet Fred, want to make me classically elegant?" Hermione said deciding a change of topic a good idea. She quickly realized that maybe it wasn't the best idea after all as al three of her friends pounced on her at once.