Disclaimer: please note that…

1. I´m new to this (to put it mildly)

2. English isn´t my native language

3. I don´t own anything (sadly)

Otherwise: enjoy! (and review, if you would be so kind :)

o-o

To say that Minerva McGonagall was enraged would be a wild understatement. Not only had her star pupil attracted the attention of the full body of students and staff by scaring her fourth year Gryffindor protégée to death and had conclusively valeted her responsibilities as Head Girl, no, she had also done so by using one of the Transfiguration spells the former professor had taught the young woman herself. Even now, waiting for the student in question to arrive at the Headmistress office, she couldn´t think of any reason that could have possessed the girl to such an untypical move. The Hermione Granger she knew, although admittedly hot tempered at times, had only been friendly and mature throughout the seven years Minerva had known her, even though the war had indeed left it´s marks, as it had on anyone. With the N.E.W.T.s exams just around the corner, it had been most kind of Hermione to take on private tutoring for struggling Gryffindor´s, Head Girl or not. So the sudden outburst following just one of those lessons had shaken her belief that, after having gone through war and the following process of rebuilding the castle together, she knew the brown haired witch quite well. A slammed door brought Minerva back to the present. Looking up through her square spectacles, her fury almost completely vanished at seeing the furrowed brows and the angry glare that Hermione was shooting her over the room. Minerva couldn't help it, she thought Hermione looked very cute. She tried keeping the amusement out of her voice but failed miserably.

"And what, if I may ask, has led to you thinking you weren't going to get detention after pulling a stunt like this? Especially when the culprit is Head Girl, you must surely understand that you have to set an example to younger students, even in punishment. That´s what you willingly signed up for by taking the post."

"I did not sign up for sexual harassment, however", came the response in a hiss. While having made her way over to the desk behind which McGonagall was sitting, she had taken the chair available to guests and had pulled it demonstratively a few centimetres away from the table before angrily sitting down. Minerva would, however much Hermione tried to get herself out of detention by childish behaviour, not accept a wild statement like this.

"That you have to explain, my dear", she said, her voice now serious but not without a hint of disbelief. Hermione just looked at her, still very angry from being sent to the person she wanted to see the least at the moment.

After a while she spoke again: "I am not sure I would like to repeat the nasty words he used, Professor."

"But surely you can tell me what lead to you transfiguring his desk into a snake, of all things." Minerva asked cautiously. When Hermione did not answer she sighed and lent back in her chair. "You know, over my long career, I have heard the most outrageous things being said to me, written about me, whispered behind my back, most of which were not in the slightest way true. You must not get angry over a silly kid, playing some prank at you. It's not worth it, trust me."

"I know that!" came back the irate retort. "But it wasn´t just a prank. It wasn´t just a stupid comment. He set out to hurt me." When Minerva just watched her, now a little concerned, Hermione continued her explanation.

"In the past lessons I gave him, was already quite annoying, not listening carefully and refusing to do the extra tasks I had prepared for him to understand the material better and practice on his own, as I could tell he did not like being observed while making a mistake. Every time something would go wrong, he´d get really angry, saying that I was not at all so bright and rather the most incompetent witch of our age. I tried to console with him, and in the last sessions, I had the feeling that his temper had gotten better and with it his marks. Then, that was today's session, he came storming in screaming something about me being responsible for his failure in the last test. When he showed me the paper, I noticed that it had been on a topic we had indeed never discussed. I told him that if he would've made clear that they had advanced in class a little ahead of the schedule, then he would've gotten extra material concerning the topic. He got even angrier as I told him that and started pushing me, telling me that I was a selfish bitch and that he'd tell his father, Christopher Landa, who works for the daily prophet that the third of the Golden Trio was actually so disgusting that nobody wanted to be with her and that even Harry Potter was so appalled, he had chosen to not complete his education alongside a filthy Mudblood like me." At this point, Hermione's eyes had begun to water with tears and Minerva immediately wished she could take her student into her protective arms.

"I am sorry Miss Granger, but I still have to give you detention." Minerva tried to sound as stern as she could. Even if Hermione was her favourite, she could never let sentimental feelings come into the way of justice. Trying to avoid to look into the beautiful mocha eyes of her opponent she continued, determent not to let the young witch know about her inner conflict.

"The boy received a rather serous bite and I simply cannot ignore the physical attack on a student, even if said student was responsible for the action by behaving very-" She stopped abruptly when she heard a quiet sob coming from the student. Unsure of what to do, she clasped her hands together, only to untangle them right afterwards. A nervous tick that surfaced every now and then, whenever she was stressed or self-conscious. The occurrence of the tick had increased in the last couple of months, a lot of those times she had been in Miss Granger's presence.

"Now, now Miss Granger, it´ll only be two times and under my careful watch, I promise not to give too hard punishment as I can clearly see how remorseful you are." At that Hermione wailed like an injured dog, hunched together in the chair, her hands covering her face.

"Again, I am so-"Minerva had started but Hermione cut her off.

"Sorry, yes, I bloody well know. You´ve been fucking sorry a few times now but it didn´t make anything better, did it?"

"That is very unfair! How dare you raise your voice against your Headmistress!"

"You´re right, a mudblood like myself could never talk to Professor McGonagall on an equal level, how very foolish of me to believe you care a little more about me than you let on." And she stormed out of the office, tears streaming down her face, leaving a very confused McGonagall behind.

"But I do care about you" she whispered almost inaudible into the emptiness.