Potions Class
As much as Pansy dreaded talking to Professor Snape, she knew she would have to. She wanted Hermione blamed for the polyjuice mess and he seemed the best choice to tattle to. After potions class was over, Pansy edged up to Professor Snape's desk.
Snape sat at his desk with his nose down looking over a stack of papers. Pansy watched him for a few moments. Her hand shook, and her heart began to race. "Professor," she finally spoke.
Alastor Moody staggered in carrying some paperwork. "I hate to interrupt, but…"
"What is it, Miss Parkinson," Professor Snape questioned without glancing a look in her direction.
"I don't know if you have heard…" Pansy's nerves got the best of her. Her voice trailed off and she began to fidget.
"Shouldn't you be getting to your next class?" Professor Moody taunted her. Professor Snape still focused on the stack of papers in front of him.
"Well, yes, but I have something to tell him," Pansy protested.
"Then out with it already," Professor Snape demanded. He wished she would go away, and he doubted anything she said would be important.
"I have reason to believe that one of my fellow students stole polyjuice potions," Pansy began.
"I am aware of that!" Snape said.
"Any idea who is doing it?" Pansy gulped.
"Not yet. You?" Snape answered. Snape rose from his chair and placed his hands down on the desk and his gaze fell upon Pansy.
Pansy's heart pounded. A bead of sweat ran down her back. She wondered if she was busted, but did her best to lie anyway. "No, sir of course it wasn't me. I wouldn't be telling you about it, if it were." Pansy pursed her lips and began to shuffle her book around.
Alastor noticed her nervousness. He wasn't fully convinced of her innocence, but for now, he decided to keep quiet about that.
"I meant do you think you know who did it?" Snape clarified.
"Yes, I believe it was Granger," Pansy said.
"Hermione Granger? Are you sure?" Professor Snape gave her a scrutinizing look.
"Yes, I am pretty sure. Daphne became friends with Potter and Granger would do anything to ruin it." Pansy repeated what Daphne told her in confidence. Even though Daphne never named anyone specifically, Pansy reasoned that she meant Hermione.
"Anything? Would anything include," Professor Moody began to speak.
"Yes, anything! She posed as Daphne Greengrass and slept with Draco Malfoy just so Potter would hate Daphne," Pansy said. "Pretty sick if you ask me."
"Thank you for bringing this to our attention," Professor Snape said.
Professor Snape would have preferred it be left at that, but of course professor Moody had to open his big mouth. "That is not all she did. She also posed as Professor Snape, stole a powerful book from the restricted section of the library and framed Miss Greengrass for entering Mr. Potter in the goblet of fire." Professor Moody added to Pansy's accusations.
"Really?" Pansy looked on shocked. Then she remembered Astoria's comment back in the hospital wing, something about the medicine tasting worse than Snape's polyjuice… She thought about tattling on Astoria on the spot, but she realized this was perfect blackmail material. Next time Draco tried to force her to do something she didn't want to do, she would just blackmail Astoria into doing it instead.
Professor Snape glared and wished he would simply shut up. "We don't know that for sure," Professor Snape insisted.
"Don't we? It is like she said." Moody pointed to Pansy. "Miss Granger wanted to make Mr. Potter hate Miss Greengrass and thanks to the article Ms. Skeeter wrote, everyone knew they were dating. What faster way to make that happen then to make him think Miss Greengrass put his name in the goblet of fire?"
"Yeah, exactly. She was probably the one who put Harry's name in the goblet of fire, so she could frame Daphne for it later," Pansy chimed in even though she didn't really believe what she was saying was actually true.
"I will question her myself." Professor Snape declared.
After that, Professor Moody returned to his quarters and made much stronger efforts to secure his polyjuice potions. He was surprised when he realized just how many vials were taken. Somebody, besides him was obviously hoarding this stuff, but whoever was doing it, wasn't going to be getting anymore of it. He would make sure of that.
Later that Evening
Ron and Harry told Hermione about the party Astoria and Daphne invited them to. Hermione tried to talk them out of going. Even though she no longer believed Daphne was a complete snake in the grass, that still didn't do much to alleviate her concerns about most of Slytherin. This discussion was cut short by McGonagall. "Hermione, I need you to come with me to Dumbledore's office."
"Sure." Hermione smiled at her as she left with her. "What is this about?"
"Ah, I am sure it is nothing," Ms. McGonagall assured her with an awkward hesitation in her voice. As they walked down the hall, Ms. McGonagall handed Hermione a newspaper. "What did you think when you first saw this article?"
Hermione looked at it. Of course, she remembered reading it. That was the article she questioned Harry about on the first day of school. 'Was he really dating Queenie?' Looking back on it now she realized she should have minded her own business. "Well, I will admit, I wasn't thrilled," Hermione admitted. "I hoped it was a lie, actually…"
"Of course, it was a lie," Miss McGonagall interrupted.
"How do you know?" Hermione asked.
Miss McGonagall's mouth turned slightly upward, but a smile failed to form. "That right there!" Miss McGonagall pointed to the big bold lettering that indicated the author of the article. "Once I saw that, I knew it was a lie!"
"By Rita Skeeter," Hermione read aloud. Then she laughed with an immediate understanding of exactly what she meant by that. "What does this have to do with?"
"Why we are seeing Dumbledore?" Miss McGonagall interrupted. "This is just the usual, Slytherin kids stirring up trouble." Miss McGonagall waved her hand. "But Dumbledore insists we take it seriously."
"Take what seriously?" Hermione asked. She watched the animated image of Harry hugging Daphne at Robert's funeral. "Did Daphne Greengrass accuse me of something?"
"I don't know exactly which one of those…" Ms. McGonagall bit her tongue before vocalizing her true distaste for Slytherin. After a brief pause, she continued with a nod of the head. "Some girl in Slytherin made some very serious allegations against you… That I am sure are completely false."
Hermione was going to ask more questions, but they already arrived at Dumbledore's office. Hermione expected to see only Dumbledore here, but Professor Snape and Professor Moody also eyed them as they came in. Professor Snape gave his usual harsh and seemingly uncaring glare. Moody had a smirk on his face and a hint of holding back a laugh. He almost seemed to be enjoying this.
"Have you seen this book before?" Professor Moody asked. Before she even had a chance to answer he answered for her. "Of course, you have. Don't lie."
"Yes, I saw that last year briefly," Hermione admitted. She decided it was best not to admit she stole that same book from Daphne Greengrass's room and read some of it to help Daphne deal with a curse. She suspected Daphne was the one who told on her, but so far, all her previous suspicions concerning her proved false. She wasn't about to rush to conclusions again.
"And, I already proved you are one of very few students who can actually read Latin. Do you remember?" Professor Snape added.
"You are in trouble now," Hermione quietly repeated the bit Professor Snape had her translate. She could still hear the 'ha, ha, ha' laughter of her fellow students when she translated that.
"You certainly are," Professor Snape repeated what he had said after the first time she translated that for him.
"This is an informal hearing," Professor McGonagall reminded Professor Snape with a raised voice.
"Yes, but there is more than enough evidence for a formal hearing and you know it!" Professor Snape declared.
Now the laughter in Hermione's head took on a sardonic, scheming quality. "So, what if I can read Latin! Honestly!" Hermione began.
"This book was stolen from the restricted section of the library, then found along with some very damming evidence, in the possession of one of my students," Professor Snape said.
"Daphne Greengrass…" Hermione blurted out. She was going to say more but she was interrupted again. Hermione remembered Daphne and her sister talking about stealing that book. She was surprised they pulled it off.
"You posed as Professor Snape, stole this book and planted it on Miss Greengrass. Didn't you? Nobody mentioned Daphne Greengrass and yet you knew. It proves it!" Professor Moody insisted.
"No, I didn't," Hermione insisted.
"It proves nothing," Professor McGonagall rose to Hermione's defense. "I showed her the article concerning Mr. Potter and Miss Greengrass. So, she knew this pertained to her. Mr. Potter and Miss Granger have been best friends since their first year here. Even if she disapproved of the most likely nonexistent relationship between Mr. Potter and Miss Greengrass, she would not have entered him into the Triwizard Tournament like your mystery accuser says."
"What! No, I didn't," Hermione gave a sudden outburst.
"It was Miss Greengrass, was it not?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"No, it was not Miss Greengrass," Snape declared.
"So, it wasn't Daphne," Hermione mumbled quietly to herself, being glad she ignored that initial impulse to throw Daphne under the bus.
"Who was it then? Doesn't she have the right to face her accuser?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"Oh, I would very much like to face my accuser," Hermione declared with every word dripping with venom in her voice. Professor Snape and Professor Moody both chuckled at that.
Alastor gave a snide laugh. "What about the other charges?"
"What other charges," Hermione asked as calmly as she could despite her anger.
"Are you familiar with polyjuice potions?" Professor Snape asked.
Hermione gave a blank stare. She was nodding without even realizing it. "According to our source, you used the potion to impersonate Miss Greengrass and had relations with another student…" Professor Moody declared.
"Wait! You think I slept with Draco Malfoy! Oh, bloody hell no! If it were a choice between kissing Malfoy or a dementor. I would kiss the dementor. If I kissed a dementor, I would die. If I kissed Draco, I would wish I were dead!" Hermione declared with full on disgust evident in her voice.
"She knows entirely too much about this for someone who claims to be innocent," Professor Moody taunted. "Nobody mentioned Draco Malfoy either… Unless of course he was also mentioned in the article."
Professor McGonagall felt a strong sense of annoyance as her eyes grazed over Professor Moody. "You know how well secrets are kept around here. By now, the entire school already knows about that."
"After searching her room, we found this." Professor Moody pulled out a few vials of Polyjuice potions.
"What? Those aren't mine!" Hermione's heart began to race faster. She knew someone stashed Polyjuice potions in her room, but she already flushed those down the toilet. Someone did that AGAIN or she didn't find all of them? "Someone planted them on me!"
"This is an outrage. You had no right to search her room without going through me first," Miss McGonagall raised her voice.
"I didn't authorize a search," Dumbledore declared.
"I went over your head. I went straight to the ministry," Professor Moody pulled out official looking documentation from the Ministry of Magic.
Professor McGonagall took a close look at his papers. Sure enough, this was a search warrant signed by Delores Umbridge, that authorized his search.
"Agreed," Dumbledore nodded. "We will call for a formal hearing."
Hermione contemplated everything. She wondered why they didn't do the same thing with her they did with Daphne and Malfoy, simply give her a truth serum. She even thought about volunteering for that but realized the fact that she did sneak into Slytherin house and steal a book from Daphne. At the time, she was convinced of her own self-righteousness. She thought she was doing a good thing in returning a stolen book to the rightful owner, but now, even she herself knew she was wrong. She was pretty sure the teachers wouldn't take kindly to that.
The next afternoon
Thanks to an unseasonably warm day, most students went outside after class. Hermione felt like a fifth wheel to Harry, Daphne, Ron and Astoria. The two couples gathered around the water fountain. Hermione felt an uneasy feeling in her stomach as she watched Ron and Astoria snogging. This feeling was different from what she felt when Harry was with Daphne. By now, she should have been used to seeing a friend of hers dating a Greengrass but seeing Ron with Astoria for some reason she couldn't quite understand she felt even more uneasy now. She did her best to rationalize this do to the fact that Astoria openly admitted she would be willing to sleep with Draco Malfoy. Still her gut told her it was more than that, but she refused to think about it further. "Come on you, you two, knock it off…. Or I am getting a hose!" Hermione said to them.
Astoria stopped kissing Ron just long enough to say, "So we will be wet!" She shrugged. Ron nodded in agreement. Astoria and Ron continued to snog.
"Just let them have their fun!" Harry watched them feeling a bit of envy because he wished he could kiss his girlfriend too.
"I wouldn't recommend trying to break them up. That won't go over very well," Daphne agreed with Harry.
"That is ok. It is you I want to talk to anyway," Hermione said.
"About what?" Daphne asked.
"Last night, I was called into Dumbledore's office. Apparently, someone made some serious accusations against me. Any idea who?"
Daphne fixated her gaze upon Harry. After what they talked about the previous night, she couldn't help it but to wonder if Harry told on Hermione.
"No, I didn't," Harry mumbled to Daphne. He was pretty sure he knew what she was thinking. Then he turned toward Hermione.
Astoria broke off her snogging session with Ron. "What exactly were you being accused of?"
"Where to start? Putting Harry's name in the goblet of fire!" Hermione named the most serious charge first.
"I will guess it was the same jerk that accused me of that!" Of course, everyone knew Daphne meant Draco.
"No, it wasn't that jerk. It was a completely different jerk," Hermione said.
"He isn't a jerk. He just made a mistake," Astoria said.
"You are damn right he did," Daphne admitted. She wanted to change the subject and fast. "What else did they accuse you of?"
"Being the one to impersonate you and sleep with Malfoy," Hermione said.
"Harry?" Daphne gazed at Harry with pleading eyes as though to ask a question she couldn't quite articulate.
"I know after the little incident in my room, even you think I might actually have been behind that, but," Hermione declared.
"Harry told me about that. I don't think it was you. I think someone planted that on you!" Daphne crossed her arms and then mumbled "And I think I have a pretty good idea who!"
"You believe me?" Hermione couldn't hide her shock that Daphne was taking her side.
"Maybe she does, but I don't," Astoria declared. "Ever since my sister became friends with Harry, you set out to ruin it."
"You thought it was Pansy and that didn't pan out either," Daphne reminded her sister. She implied accusing Hermione wouldn't pan out any better.
"I wanted it to be Pansy, but if it were, Draco would have proven it already," Astoria said.
"So, we are taking Draco's word for it that it wasn't Pansy?" Ron asked with a bit of hesitation in his voice.
"Yeah!" Astoria nodded. "I trust Draco."
"I don't," Hermione and Daphne both said at the same time.
"Besides your plan was flawed from the start. Floating a rumor that he wants to date the girl he slept with… Pansy isn't the only girl who would be willing to lie about that for the chance to be his girlfriend," Daphne continued.
"That is sick," Hermione said.
"True, but how would he tell who is lying and who isn't," Daphne asked.
"Simple! Draco and the girl involved are the only ones that know what actually happened that night. All he has to do is lie about the details. The one who corrects him is the guilty party. That brings me back to why I think it is Hermione." Astoria returned her gaze to Hermione.
"How so?" Hermione asked.
"Draco told me the only reason he told on Daphne is because he was angry, about the 'Oh Harry' thing. I completely made it up when I said the imposter told him that she had put Harry's name in the goblet of fire. You came this close to actually correcting me," Astoria said. "But you are too smart for that. You caught your mistake. That is when I realized I was wrong about Pansy."
"Yeah and Ginny mistook a Polyjuice potion for a butterbeer? Please, I have had a Polyjuice before. It looks like boogers and it tastes like overcooked cabbage. It was one of the most disgusting things I ever drank!" Harry voiced his disagreement.
"What kind of low life scum were you impersonating?" Astoria blurted out with a laugh.
Ron couldn't help himself but to chuckle at Astoria unknowingly calling Crabbe and Goyle 'low life scum.' "Cra…" Ron began to answer Astoria's question. Hermione elbowed him on the side of his arm which nudged him over slightly. "It was years ago. I don't remember. I didn't know polyjuice potion came out different depending…."
"With a polyjuice you get the essence of that person you are impersonating. If you impersonate someone sweet, like my sister, then the drink is going to be sweet."
"Wish I had known that years ago," Hermione admitted. If she had, she would have recognized Daphne for the sweet person she is much sooner and would have attempted a friendship with her years ago.
"So, you are saying that could actually be true? Daphne's polyjuice could be mistaken for a butterbeer," Harry looked at Astoria with a quizzical expression.
"Yes, hers tastes like a salted caramel. Could easily be mistaken for a butterbeer," Astoria nodded. "If, on the other hand, you impersonate a bitter old man, that is exactly what the drink is going to taste like. Bitter!" Astoria said.
"Funny you should mention that." Hermione immediately thought of Professor Snape and the accusation of the stolen library book. "One of the other things I was accused of was posing as Professor Snape."
'Crap' Astoria thought to herself. Her eyes opened a bit wider, then she looked down at her shoes. "Ah, oh, I meant a completely different bitter old man. My, ah, father! Couldn't imagine why you thought of Professor Snape," She forced a smile, then looked at Hermione again.
"Whoever the imposter is, she told both Harry and Draco that she was being blackmailed. She is just a pawn forced into doing someone else's bidding. I am more concerned with who is doing the blackmailing. So, she too is an innocent victim in all of this," Daphne said. She still thought it was Astoria and she wanted to let her sister know that even if that were true, she wasn't mad at her.
'Innocent, yeah right! After she slept with Draco and Called out Harry's name, she had quite the smirk on her face.' Hermione couldn't forget the imposter's reaction after she slept with Draco. Hermione wanted to tell Daphne just how wrong she was, but to do that she would have to admit she spied on her, or worse, it would look like she was the one who did it.
"Oh, I didn't realize. Is someone blackmailing you?" Astoria asked Hermione. She gave her a sympathetic look.
"It wasn't me," Hermione declared. Of course, Daphne wasn't the only one to believe it might have been Astoria behind all the trouble until now. Despite being wrong, Astoria's reasons for blaming Hermione seemed logic based, and her compassion seemed genuine once it was suggested that the girl involved was also an innocent victim.
As the group dispersed, each returning to their respective houses, the couples looked back repeatably, and waved. Daphne even made the blowing a kiss gesture to Harry which brought a mix of emotion. Harry returned this action in kind.
Once Daphne felt the golden trio was sufficiently out of ear shot, she turned to her sister. "This isn't an easy thing to ask, but I must ask… Is Draco blackmailing you?"
"Ha, ha, ha! No, of course, not," Astoria chuckled.
"The reason I ask is because the other day when I went to Draco's room, he mistook me for the imposter and tried to blackmail me into 'going after Harry sexually!' He realized his mistake when you walked in."
"Ha, ha, ha, you think Draco would blackmail someone into posing as you and sleeping with Harry. With an imagination like that, you should be working for the Daily Profit!" Astoria laughed. Then she took on a more serious tone. "Actually, I could see him doing that If he still believed Harry used an imperious curse on you. If that were true, it would be an act of revenge. He is very protective of you. Did you at least discuss it with him?"
"Briefly. He claimed he wasn't trying to blackmail me at all. He expected me to believe it was a misunderstanding, but I don't believe him. Oh, and of course, the imposter who tried to trick Harry knew about the marriage contract. Draco says you are the only person he told that to." Daphne listed her reasons for questioning her.
"It probably was a misunderstanding." Astoria shrugged. Astoria trusted Draco, so if he claimed it was a misunderstanding, she would take his word for it. Besides she knew Draco was just as angry with the imposter as Daphne was. "Where that imposter was trying to trick Harry into sleeping with her, perhaps she made that up, so Harry would help her get out of a marriage contract to someone Harry can't stand. She might not have known that it was actually true!" Astoria reasoned.
Daphne scrutinized her sister's facial expression in search of any tell-tale signs of a liar. She breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't find any.
As the golden trio returned to Gryffindor, Hermione too kept looking back waiting till the Greengrass sisters were out of earshot. "I wanted to tell Daphne just how wrong she was… But then I would have to admit to how I knew that too, or they would think it was me."
"I must admit, when Malfoy said the imposter was 'bossy' I did consider it might have been you," Ron said with a bit a of a chuckle.
"You take that back right now!" Hermione commanded. "I am not boss…" Ron and Harry both snickered at the irony of the statement. Hermione rolled her eyes and gave a huff of annoyance. "My point is the girl who impersonated Daphne wasn't innocent."
"No, she might be. If the only reason she went after me was because…" Harry began to voice his disagreement.
"You didn't see her with Malfoy. I did! After he stormed out, she had the biggest smirk on her face and said 'that will do it!' Whoever it was, she was a conniving little slut!"
A/N
I would like to thank everyone who favorites, followed and/or reviewed this story. I would also like to thank CSGT for helping with this story.
I do make it a point to respond to most of my reviews. For guest reviews, I reply in the review itself. For signed reviews I send private messages.
This time I got a review from someone who has private messages turned off, so that is why I am doing it here. I didn't intentionally make Dumbledore a push over. I would love to know why you feel that way. You are probably seeing something I am not. To me, he would have been a pushover if he gave in to what Harry and Draco wanted, and they did break up their argument when Dumbledore told them too. Thanks for the review. As always, very appreciated.