Portkey was never Hermione's favorite mode of transport. Given her way, she would prefer to travel by the Hogwarts express any day. Any other mode of magical transport would leave her feeling queasy. However, time and secrecy were the two most important factors in the current situation and there was no turning back from the path she had pledged to embark upon.
Hermione's addled brain took a few seconds to make sense of her surroundings.
She was sprawled on the mattressed floor of some huge hall and a tall and muscular young man was extending his chiseled hand towards her. She took the hand and he pulled her up. Then he walked towards the other end of the hall. She noticed that he had an upright posture and he walked briskly. His dark brown hair was neatly parted and he wore well-fitted creased robes. She suddenly felt conscious of her appearance. She pushed those thoughts aside and took a tentative step forward.
"I am sorry, could you please repeat yourself", she requested the man.
"Sure", he drawled. He turned to face her. His dark brown eyes gleamed at her and his lips curved in a one-sided smile. Before Hermione could realize what was happening a jet of red light flew past her. Without wasting much time she retrieved her wand from her pocket.
Another jet of blue light missed her by a whisker as she jumped out of its path.
"What is the meaning of this ?", she yelled furiously all the while sidestepping yet another curse.
The young man grinned in an infuriating manner. He threw jelly leg jinx towards her. She quickly muttered the counter curse.
"I am not prepared for this. Nobody told me that I would be subjected to an impromptu duel on the first day of my training", Hermione exclaimed while doing a sort of tap dance to avoid various types of known and unknown jinxes and hexes which were being constantly hurled at her.
"You are a spy. Impedimenta! You ought to be prepared, perfactus totalus! for anything, Stupefy! at any time. Nobody is going to warn you, Bombarda! or give you time to prepare for anything. Leviosa!"
Hermione who had been taken in for a surprise barely managed to erect few weak shields. She was in a defensive mode, to say the least.
"You will soon exhaust yourself if you continue using shield charms, come on girl, use your brains ", he taunted.
Hermione felt stung. How dare this man insinuated that she was dumb.
She threw a stinging hex in his direction. But he erected an advanced reverse shield and her hex rebounded back on her and struck her on her arm. She hissed in pain. The man smirked. His hazel eyes were twinkling madly at her.
"Now you are supposed to teach me these things. This is extremely unfair", she screamed at him while clutching her arm.
The man paused for a moment and came near her. He was not smiling anymore.
"This is how I was taught and this is how I will teach ."He enunciated each word clearly ."This is not Hogwarts and no one is going to give you theoretical expositions of anything here. You are being trained to be a spy and no one shows mercy on spies. Always remember that."His eyes suddenly turned very cold.
He walked back to his position and began throwing another round of curses and jinxes at her. She herself was not somebody to give up without a fight. She began throwing shields, curses, jinxes, and counter curses of her own to the best of her abilities but she soon realized that with every passing moment her stamina was waning. On the other hand, she noticed that the curses which were being thrown at her were getting progressively darker. What began as a friendly duel with minor curses and jinxes was turning into something serious before her very eyes.
"Pease I am tired ", she beseeched.
"All the better for me", he smirked.
Hermione was panting and sweating profusely while he, on the other hand, was looking as radiant as he was looking an hour back.
"You need to work on your stamina girl", he said with a jerk of his head.
Hermione couldn't help but fume. He continued, "And you must always remain alert. AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Hermione gaped in shock. A jet of green light was fast approaching her. Was this her end? No, she would not die today. No, she won't.
She barely ducked in the nick of the time and the curse hit the wall behind her.
"Are you crazy! You just used an unforgivable ", she screamed. Her heart was hammering rapidly in her chest.
"This is the Auror training hall of the ministry, Orca, and this is the only place in the entire wizarding Britain where you could get away with using an unforgivable", he spoke in an eerie tone. He smiled at her incredulous look." You may go and check in the ministry's library for all prevailing laws and legislature."Hermione continued to gape at him." Otherwise, how is one supposed to train?", he questioned her with an unusual glint in his eyes.
"I...I could have died", Hermione gulped.
"Yes, you could have. Complacency on a spy's part means death. Another lesson to be learned", he spoke with mirth." And my name is Alex in case you hadn't heard me the first time around," he said while extending his hand for probably a handshake.
Hermione could best describe him as a chocolate dagger.
Technically this was her first lesson of the day but she already felt like going to bed. She had used her time turner to return back to her first class in the morning. The moron at the ministry had an effect akin to dementor on her and it felt as though all energy and enthusiasm had been sucked out of her. She yawned. Neville who was sitting next to her looked at her curiously.
"Er Hermione are you alright?", he asked her with hesitation.
"Never felt better. Why do you ask?", she beamed at him.
"Oh it's just the first time I have seen you not taking notes in any class", he said sheepishly.
"Actually this is my favorite topic. I have researched quite a lot about it. What Professor McGonagall is teaching right now is very basic. I already know it all", Hermione claimed in a superior tone.
"Oh alright. I mean that's great", he said in admiration.
Hermione mustered a weak smile and began taking notes anyway. She inadvertently felt for her time turner under her robes. The other Hermione must be having a near-death experience almost sometime right now. She sighed.
Professor McGonagall had finished the theory of transfiguring barley beans into rabbits. Now all students were given five barley beans each to practice upon.
Hermione soon got busy completing this inane task. After a while, she successfully transfigured all her barley beans into fluffy rabbits much before anyone else could go through with their first one.
Professor McGonagall looked visibly impressed.
"I see, Miss Granger, you have completed the task. Impressive as always.20 points to Gryffindor."She quickly came to her desk and patted her back. Hermione smiled proudly.
"Though I must say that I am disappointed with you on one accord", she pursed her lips. Hermione furrowed her brow.
" I have heard that you have decided to apprentice along with Professor Snape."She peered at her through her cat-shaped spectacles.
"Yes professor", Hermione replied solemnly.
"I always thought that you were wonderful at Transfiguration. At times I secretly hoped that you would study under my supervision", she added tartly.
Hermione felt a strange uneasiness growing in her bosom, she had always been fond of her head of the house, and seeing the disappointment in her eyes somewhat hurt her.
"Professor, I have been aiming to be a healer for a considerable amount of time now."Hermione could barely maintain eye contact with her favorite Professor. So she fixed her gaze on the rim of her spectacles as she spoke."Though I do love Transfiguration as a subject, Professor Dumbledore suggested that I pursue an apprenticeship in potions keeping in mind my future career opportunities", she finished guiltily.
"Oh but naturally. You will have to study advanced potions if you want to be a healer. It's just that...Oh never mind."She paused for a moment but continued nevertheless."Professor Snape is bragging about his superior teaching skills since the morning. I know he is just trying to get under my skin. It happens. We get an intelligent student like you once in a decade and we all want to keep them for ourselves. Oh, it's perfectly alright. All the best to you for your future, Miss Granger." she finished in an emotional tone and quickly went back to the teacher's table. Hermione felt miserable.
"Really Hermione you will be taking extra classes with Snape!"She heard Neville's scandalized voice.
"Yes, Neville."She could imagine how horrible this idea would seem to Neville.
"But why Snape and not Professor Slughorn. I think he is the one teaching potions this year", countered Neville. A valid point thought Hermione.
"It is because, Neville, that I am habitual to Professor Snape's teaching methods. I can barely follow what Professor Slughorn teaches. You see even Harry is doing better than me in potions this year."
Neville seemed to be satisfied with the answer.
Hermione was buried under a huge pile of books. It had been three hours since she had been desperately looking for the counter curses to all the hexes and jinxes to which she had been subjected in the morning at the ministry. So far she had come up with a list of fifty new jinxes and their counter curses.
"Hi Hermione, what are you studying."
She looked up to see Harry pull out a chair next to her and then casually sitting down.
"Hi Harry, nothing much just completing my Defence against the Dark Arts assignment."
"Oh right pass it on to me when you finish it ", he grinned.
"Really Harry." She grinned in return.
She began skimming through her notes while Harry took out a book from his bag and began reading it.
After a while of companionable silence, Harry cleared his throat.
"Er Hermione, what was Professor McGonagall saying to you in the morning. I was sitting at a distance. I couldn't hear it", he asked apprehensively.
Hermione finished her paragraph, closed her book, and looked at Harry intently.
"She was discussing my potions apprenticeship with Professor Snape, Harry. Before you say anything, let me tell you that it was Professor Dumbledore's suggestion. He thinks it would be beneficial for my career", she completed.
"But Hermione why Snape, why not Slughorn?"Harry asked in indignation.
"I'd rather study under Professor Snape than study under a professor who can't distinguish between a real talent and someone who copies it", she said calmly while pointing to the Prince's copy of Advanced Potion Making lying open on the table before her.
Harry looked crestfallen. He watched her open-mouthed.
"Besides who knows if I can keep an eye on Professor Snape and find out what he and Malfoy are up to," she said with bright eyes.
Harry was speechless. He was visibly taking time to comprehend this new piece of information. He subconsciously pulled out the marauder's map from the inner pocket of his robes and began checking it out. Hermione peeped in through the corner of her eyes. Snape was in his office. Now she could somewhat relate to Harry's obsession with checking on Malfoy.
"Can I borrow your book for a minute," Hermione asked while indicating to his potions book.
Harry was skeptical at first but then he reluctantly complied and handed his book over to her.
Hermione flipped through the pages. This book belonged to someone who called himself the Half-blood prince. It was the first time she was seeing this book without the usual feeling of disapproval or distaste. She noticed that all the margins were full of notes in small spiky handwriting. Strangely it looked somewhat familiar. She closed her eyes and focussed for a minute. Still no answer.
Just as she was busy flipping through the pages, a third-year student came over to her and handed her a note.
"What's that?"Harry inquired.
"Schedule of my apprenticeship classes with Professor Snape", she spoke emotionlessly.
She stared at the small paper with spikey handwriting which neatly lay on the top of the book full of the same spiky handwriting.
Hermione blinked at the realization.
Hermione was standing in the owlery. It had become a sort of refuge in the past two days. Just two days and yet it felt as though a long time had elapsed since she had first come here to post her secret letters. The owls somehow seemed to sympathize with her. There was solace nowhere. It felt as if her life had become a double-edged sword. She smiled at her own thought process. The wind was blowing her hair all over her face. She pulled her unruly hair behind her ears. She then reread her letter twice before posting it. It read:
Dear Martha
The ocean is its usual shade of blue. Just realized that the seahorse is a half-breed. Will spend more time around it to study it better.
Went to the lake in the morning. Please keep a check on your crocodile. It bit me hard.
Yours truly Orca.
PS. I miss my goldfish. Look after it well.
The minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour was sitting leisurely in his office, flipping through his files and smiling contentedly to himself. The globe on his table was rotating gradually. Things were under control.
The door was knocked lightly.
" Please do come in." he courtesied. A man in luxurious champagne robes entered inside.
The minister beamed at him.
"Do have a seat, Lucius. We have a lot to discuss."