Chapter 36
"The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher." Thomas Henry Huxley, Life and Letters of Thomas Huxley
"The headmaster realised that in death, one individual could provide protection for another by their 'blood sacrifice', as he put it. It was actually Mr. Potter who demonstrated that Dumbledore's theory actually worked in first year - Quirrel was unable to touch him because of the protection given to Mr. Potter by his mother. The headmaster supposed that to offer this protection, the protector did not have to die, they merely had to be willing to die for another. The headmaster used this to his advantage, he knew that every order member was willing to die if it prevented the rising of the Dark Lord. He reasoned that any child could be instrumental in the downfall of the Dark Lord, and therefore, in Dumbledore's mind at least, any order member would be willing to die for any student, and could therefore become a "living guardian" of any student. He knew that the protection offered by a living guardian wouldn't be as strong as that offered by an actual blood sacrifice, but it was better then nothing. The name of every student was put into the sorting hat, as was the name of every order member. The hat produced a list of students for each order member, for whom they would become "living guardians". These "living guardians" would know if there charge was in danger, and if they were close enough would offer a degree of protection to them. I was chosen as your guardian, Miss Granger, that is why it is imperative that you are near me in the holidays, otherwise I will offer no protection whatsoever, and we want to ensure you are as safe as possible."
For the next few moments there was tense silence, Harry and Ron just looked dumbstruck, Sirius looked murderous, McGonagall worried and Hermione - well, she just looked like Hermione. Analysing the situation, calmly and rationally, using her logic.
"Err… professor?" she broke the silence, "Does this mean that I stay with you, or you with me?"
"That is up to you, Miss Granger" Snape replied.
"Well, I mean to say… I don't think that…. It would be more…. Comfortable if you were to stay with me; that is if your offer still stands Sirius?" She turned from Snape to Sirius. He gazed into her beautiful eyes and was shocked by the vulnerability that he saw resided there.
"Always" he said. Inwardly, he rejoiced. As much as he had hoped Hermione would have refused to have Snape as her guardian, he had known that she was far too logical to do that- but this was the next best outcome. She would spend two weeks with him, in his home, he could protect her and he would have the opportunity to talk to her as a friend rather then a chaperone. But was that really a good thing? Would he be able to stand the temptation that she was? Could he trust himself to be alone with her and well, to put it bluntly, not try anything? He never wanted to hurt her, but could her really trust himself not to? On the quidditch pitch he had managed to delude himself into thinking she loved him, what more could he convince himself of?
He was pulled from his musings by the perplexed voice of Ron.
"Snape - Hermione's guardian? No way, uh uh, not happening. There must have been a mistake - they don't even know each other!" Ron's questions were cut short by the bored voice of Severus Snape.
"I assure you, Mr. Weasley, there is no mistake and I am, as much as it disturbs me, held by a binding magical contract to be Miss Granger's guardian."
"Right, has any one else anything to add? No? Good. I think it is time for bed; gentlemen good night" McGonagall said before ushering Harry, Ron and Hermione back up towards Gryffindor tower. Hermione made her way to her room, she heard McGonagall's voice; "Hermione? Are you alright with all this?" She asked, her voice full of concern.
"Yes professor, I'm fine, goodnight" It struck Hermione as soon as the words left her mouth that for the first time in weeks she actually meant them. She was… fine, Hermione made her way to bed, where she had a good nights sleep, which was filled with dreams not nightmares.
It's strange how, sometimes, we need to experience the worst case scenario to make us see just what we are capable of, and just how secure we really are. It's like when you've never been stung by a wasp, you always imagine it to be excruciating pain, but after the first you're stung, it suddenly becomes a lot less frightening. The death eaters had truly stung Hermione, and after seeing them beaten and bound by the order, Hermione fell a lot less afraid, she almost felt like her old self… almost.
A/N: Thank you to all of you who took the time to read/review this story, it really does mean a lot to me ;-) Also HUGE thanks to Sean who bettered this chapter at such short notice, and to Kyra4 who betters my chapters so well, if only I typed them more then 10minutes before I posted them, lol. Thank you.
X x x Fiona x x X