Chapter 32

A Change in Perspective

Severus POV:

I swiftly returned to my chambers in the dungeon, to work on the linking journals for Miss Granger and myself. For a less skilled wizard, it would be a difficult task however, while it is fairly straightforward for a wizard such as myself, it is quite draining on ones magical energy with just the very basic spell added, let alone the additional spells that the circumstances necessitate. While I worked I couldn't help myself from musing over the situation at hand. On top of the charm to connect the journals, it is prudent for me to add a complex wards that will prevent prying eyes from noticing either of the journals, let alone reading them. If the wrong person were to obtain one the journals the consequences would be quite dire, although I am fairly certain that if my cover as a spy hasn't already been blown by my rescue of Miss Granger, it most certainly would be if either of the journals fell into the wrong hands. Perhaps that could be a blessing in disguise, as it would free me from serving two masters after all this time. It would most certainly be detrimental to Albus's "Greater Good", however it would be a crisis that he created by ignoring Miss Granger when she approached him for assistance, and instead leaving her vulnerable to capture by Death Eaters. One would think that with how well she knows Potter, that there would have been a concerted effort made to protect her from falling into enemy hands regardless of her perceived moral shortcomings, but the wizarding world including the supposed light side is still unable to overcome their obvious prejudice. It's quite fascinating however that this prejudice is also prevalent in pureblood society considering these beliefs originated out of the religious scriptures of the muggles that the pureblood society so fervently despises.

By the time that I had almost finished enchanting the journals, it was already past midnight and I was exhausted, however for the final enchantment I would need Miss Granger to assist me, as I am unwilling to rely solely on the weaker privacy enchantments that I have already added, and instead would prefer to add personalized protections keyed into her magical signature, which will require the use of blood magic. While blood magic is generally considered dark magic, it is my belief that almost all magic has the potential to be dark or light, and it is the intent that is what determines which type of magic it will be. In this case, using blood magic to prevent potentially sensitive information from falling into the hands of someone who would use it to harm not only Miss Granger and myself but also the Order and the war effort, which is why it is not only imperative that I rely only on the strongest of protections, but also why I would hardly consider it to be dark magic. I set the journals aside and decided to try to get some sleep, although in recent days sleep had been eluding me far more than it ever had.

Hermione POV:

After my friends and Professor Snape left my room, I finally was able to fall asleep. When I woke up it was around eight in the morning. I decided to go downstairs to see if any of my friends were awake yet, but before I reached my door I found myself racing to the toilet with a bout of morning sickness. After that was over and I had brushed my teeth, I descended into the common room where I found my sister, Luna and Harry still asleep on various furniture. I smelled something wonderful coming from the little kitchenette and proceeded into the kitchenette area only to find a pot of tea steeping, toast in the toaster and Neville with a bowl of what looked like a dough and something in the toaster oven.

"Good morning Neville." He jumped in surprise and almost dropped the bowl he was holding at the sound of my voice.

"Merlin Hermione, don't sneak up of me like that."

"Sorry Neville, I just wanted to see what you were up to at this hour. It smells wonderful in here."

"Oh I was just" but before he could finish his sentence a ding went off and Neville opened the toaster oven to pull out what I could now see was a batch of cookies.

Before he had the opportunity to continue his thought I asked "What kind of cookies are those?"

"They are ginger cookies, they need to cool a little bit first but the tea should be ready now. You can pour yourself a cup if you would like." Neville said while putting another tray of cookies into the toaster oven.

"Thanks Neville" I said while pouring myself a cup of the tea. It looked like a particularly weak green tea, however I decided to try it before I said something. Taking a sip I discovered it was a ginger and mint tea. I was puzzled as to how I didn't notice it sooner, however the smell of ginger coming from the kitchenette was fairly strong which could explain why I didn't notice the mint originally.

"This tea is delicious Neville, where did you get it?"

"From the greenhouses, at the end of fifth year Professor Sprout allowed me to create a garden in one of the unused greenhouses. I planted herbs and vegetables as well as some fruit trees. Over the summer the house elves have been taking care of it."

I opened the tea pot to see the torn mint leaves and the sliced ginger and then the toast popped up from the toaster.

"Would you like a slice of toast Hermione?" Neville asked as he removed the toast from the toaster.

"I couldn't, you made it for yourself and there's only two slices."

"We have more bread and anyways, I was making all of this to surprise you." Neville responded, mumbling the latter part of the sentence. I somehow understood what he was saying despite his mumbling.

"You were making all this for me?" I asked in surprise.

"I figured that it might be nice to have a pleasant surprise after everything that happened yesterday, so I started making the cookies at around seven, and when I heard you upstairs I put the bread in the toaster and started steeping the tea. There is a homemade marmalade on the counter. It's a lemon ginger marmalade. I figured the ginger would probably be a good focal point of the breakfast since its known to be good at settling the stomach." Neville responded. I couldn't help but think that he is too sweet for thinking of and doing all these things for me, but before I could thank him properly, I heard the sound of people in the common room area. When I looked over I saw that the others had started to wake up as well. It was not too much time before the kitchenette area was buzzing with the others making their own breakfasts. It was about an hour later when we were disturbed by an owl tapping on the window. Harry opened the window and it flew straight over to Luna.

Luna POV:

I quickly untied the letter. It was addressed to me in the familiar script of Professor McGonagall. I could feel everyones' eyes on me as I opened the letter.

Dear Miss Lovegood,

As I am a persona non grata in the heads common room and I highly doubt that my granddaughter would open any letter that I send directly to her, I am writing to you in the hopes that you will remind her of her session with Andromeda today. You should inform her that it will be at eleven this morning in her choice of either my quarters or the hospital wing. Per your suggestion the session will only last for one hour as opposed to the three hours that had initially been the plan.

Sincerely,

Professor Minerva McGonagall

"Well?" queried Hermione, apparently recognizing her grandmother's elegant script.

"Your grandmother wants me to remind you that you have therapy at eleven, although it will only be an hour long as opposed to the three hours they had initially been planning. She is also insisting it be held in either her quarters or the hospital wing but she is letting you choose which."

"Why would she write you about my therapy session without even attempting to owl me?" Hermione enquired, obviously agitated.

I hesitantly responded, "She was concerned you would burn the letter before even reading it. I don't think I would blame her for reaching that conclusion. I know she has been extremely controlling and that is frustrating, but she's worried about you, we all are." I looked around to see the others nod in agreement while Hermione stared at me dumbstruck.

"So now you are siding with her?" Hermione asked in a frustrated tone.

"I never said that I agreed with her methods. I merely stated that we are all worried about you."

"No one was worried about me before Professor Snape found me at the Death Eater revel. Surely if someone had actually been concerned about my wellbeing they would have spoken up for me before I got kidnapped and almost killed." Hermione snapped.

I was about to try and placate Hermione but before I could come up with the right words Harry calmly spoke, "Hermione, we didn't know before that. Dumbledore didn't tell Ron and I your side of the story and I don't think anyone else in our year was told until after Professor McGonagall took custody of you. Anyways we are your friends and after everything that has happened to you, any decent friend would be worried about how you were holding up, and even before it was clear you were her granddaughter, everyone knew you were McGonagall's favorite student. Don't you understand how Professor McGonagall must be feeling at the moment?"

"No" spat back Hermione.

"Well, obviously she is feeling very sad, because of the traumatic memories this probably brings up for her. Then I expect she's feeling frustrated, because no matter what she does she cannot seem to help you. Then she'll probably be feeling guilty because she probably feels that she could have at least prevented some of the things that happened to you from happening. And she's probably confused because she can't work out why she's unable to help you given the similarity to her own circumstances to yours, which is obviously quite painful for her given how much she wants to help you and again her own trauma. Oh and she's afraid that if she doesn't keep a close eye on you, that you'll end up offing yourself, either by accident or intentionally." Explained Harry. Hermione just stood there for a minute, slightly stunned, trying to processes what Harry had just said.

"Since when did you get so good at understanding emotions Harry?" queried Hermione.

"After Sirius's death, I was talking to Remus and Tonks, about how I blamed myself for his death because if I had my emotions under control I would have learned occlumency and Sirius wouldn't have died. Remus suggested I speak to a mind healer, since I obviously couldn't talk to a muggle therapist about the things going on, but when he brought it up to Dumbledore, he was told that was not an option because there weren't any mind healers in the order. Tonks privately suggested to me that I should talk to her mum. She figured that even though what I was dealing with wasn't her mum's area of expertise, her mum was better than nothing and it really helped me to talk over my thoughts and feelings with a qualified professional. Which is precisely why I think you should go to therapy Hermione. I know that its going to be difficult but it really can help and I wasn't even seeing a psychologist who specialized in the issues I was looking for help with, and she actually helped me work through some of the issues I didn't even realize I was dealing with. She really helped me to work through the childhood traumas that I didn't even realize were still affecting me. It helped me a lot with my nightmares and I am going to ask Dumbledore if its possible to give occlumency another chance. You also have to admit that its pretty cool that Tonk's mum is licensed as a psychologist in the muggle world despite being a pureblood. I know you don't trust her yet and its going to be hard, but I really think that this will help you." Said Harry.

"I am not so sure about entering either of the locations that I have to choose from because I would prefer to avoid getting stuck in the hospital wing again." Hermione responded.

"If you would like, I know I would be willing to accompany under the Harry's invisibility cloak, and I highly doubt that Harry or Neville would be averse to the idea if you would prefer one of them accompany you." I suggested, and looked to the boys who nodded to confirm that they would be willing to assist.

The distinct sound of a person clearing their throught, was heard and I turned to see none other than Professor Snape. "I came to finish the project that you asked me to complete, and I overheard your predicament. Miss Granger, if it is simply the locations offered to you that make you averse to receiving therapy, at least until the beginning of term in a weeks time, you may utilize either my office or sitting room for your sessions. I of course would be in my private labs at the time, however that is sufficiently close that should you require my assistance I would be easily accessible. I suspect that after the start of term your sessions will take place here for the sake of protecting your privacy from the prying eyes and eavesdropping ears of the dunderheads they call students."

"That would be certainly be preferable to meeting in the Hospital Wing or Professor McGonagall's chambers, and if that were the situation I would give it a chance, provided that I still have my friends to make sure I am safe on my way too and from your sitting room, however that is not an option according the letter my grandmother sent to Luna." Hermione responded thoughtfully.

"If it is what it takes for you to feel safe while speaking to someone who is more qualified than your friends I would even consider permitting your escorts to wait in whichever of my room's you aren't meeting with Andromeda in and considering that you will be supervised by myself and your friends when you are not in your session, your grandmother and Madam Pomfrey could hardly argue that you pose any danger to yourself. Miss Lovegood, it would be most appreciated if you could write a response to Professor McGonagall informing her of where Miss Granger will be meeting Andromeda. Mister Potter, I would like for you to send a letter to Andromeda, informing her of the location and that these are my instructions. Now that we have that settled, Miss Granger, would it be possible to speak to you privately for just a moment."

Hermione POV:

I led Proffessor Snape up to my room and cast the Imperturbable charm on it along with a muffliato. When I had finished with the privacy wards Professor Snape pulled out two journals.

"You finished them already?" I inquired.

"Not quite yet. I still need to add the strongest privacy wards I can add to them, however to key them into your magical signature, I will need you to prick your finger and place a drop of blood here when I cast the enchantment." He pointed out the location and then he asked. "Are you ready?" I pricked my finger and nodded my head in confirmation and he cast the incantation and I quickly put my finger on the spot he had indicated.

"Good, now these are safe to use without the risk of someone else being able to read them should either of them fall into the wrong hands."

"Thank you Professor, for everything you are doing for me."

"You are welcome Miss Granger"

AN: I think I am going to leave this here. There is a little easter egg in this chapter, If you notice it, send me a pm and anyone who gets it correct will be mentioned in my next authors note. I am going to start to speed up the story because I can't keep having a day take several chapters otherwise this story will never get finished. This chapter was a total of 2728 words without the Title, POV and Authors Note. I really really would appreciate reviews to feed my muse. This chapter was just a lot of fluff. I still haven't decided if I am going to add a romantic subplot or who I would pair Hermione up in the long run if I do (it will be at least after Christmas holidays in the story before that would start to happen) Right now I am trying to figure out how to write the therapy session in the next chapter.