A/N: Thank you to all of those who have commented, reviewed, and read this story. You are amazing and I thank you for your continued support. I have had such a crazy weekend. It was my 21st birthday on Sunday, so a weekend full of celebrations has exhausted me. I also dabble in 'Extra' work on film sets and so I've been working on an international film set over the last couple of evenings. Also, I started back at University today for my third and final year! So a busy, busy bee is me. Anyways, I am still on time with this chapter and I hope you all enjoy. Many Thanks! :)
Chapter Warnings – Bad Language, mentions of sexual assault and sex
Chapter 12: Conversations with Dumbledore, Harry and Draco
Hermione looked from the headmaster and then back to Remus. She frowned; she had no idea what they wanted with her.
"Miss Granger, Remus has brought to my attention a certain conversation that you had with him at Kings Cross" Dumbledore informed her.
She cringed.
'What would he say, or do, to her?' she thought as she waited patiently.
"As I have informed you before, it is a serious accusation that you are making. It's the sort of accusation that can condemn an innocent man. Remus is under the impression that you told me what had happened, and that I was reluctant to intervene because there was no evidence. But the truth is just that Miss Granger, there is no evidence, it is just your word against his and I'm afraid I cannot do anything if I have nothing to go on" Dumbledore informed her sternly.
Dumbledore had made it clear that she was not to tell anyone about what had happened, as it could ruin plans that had already been set in place. But she had told Remus, and now Dumbledore was playing it off again, pretending that it hadn't happened in order to protect the chosen one.
Hermione nodded miserably.
"Now Miss Granger will you tell the truth, or will I be forced to use more unethical and forceful means?" Dumbledore narrowed his eyes at her, trying to tell her to deny everything and that she was making it up so that social order could be kept amongst the Order members.
"Hermione?" Remus asked as he looked at her, awaiting her reply.
"I-I'm not lying" she whispered, looking down at her lap and fiddling with her fingers.
"Where is your proof, Miss Granger?" Dumbledore asked, agitation showing on his features, he was surely going to strangle the girl himself.
"Well I don't have any to physically show you, you can see my memories or use Veritaserum on me" she pleaded, trying to claim her innocence in this whole thing.
"You know that Veritaserum is illegal to use on a student, whether they give permission or not, and memories can be fabricated Miss Granger, but again, you know this" Dumbledore said.
"That concludes me to believe that the only two ways for you to give the evidence you claim to have, are the two ways in which are illegal and can be altered. You are intelligent and know this. The fact that you knew you would not be able to be interrogated on this matter therefore suggests that you could fabricate the narrative, knowing it wouldn't make a difference" Dumbledore told her.
He wasn't going to help her this time round either. He was going to make it look like she was the one in the wrong, lying about what had happened and trying to fabricate the events, and she knew that everyone would believe him.
She was so angry; she wanted to practice some rather nasty curses on the man in that moment. She looked at him and he knew he had got her.
"There we go Remus, see nothing to worry about. The poor girl must be feeling a bit isolated with everything going on. It's only natural to seek attention in other ways" Dumbledore told Remus.
Remus, of course, believed every word that was coming out of Dumbledore's mouth.
"Hermione, I don't know what's wrong with you at the moment, but you really must get some help. Also Dumbledore, you don't plan on letting her get away with making an accusation such as this, do you?" Remus asked, looking sternly at the witch.
Hermione just stared at him with such sad eyes; Remus almost backtracked on his words.
"Don't worry dear man, leave it with me, I will see to it that she is punished appropriately" Dumbledore promised the werewolf.
Lupin then nodded and made his way back to the floo, and was gone, leaving Hermione and the headmaster alone.
"Miss Granger, I warned you about the consequences of what might happen should your summer become public knowledge" Dumbledore stated.
Hermione lost it and a few of Dumbledore's ornaments exploded into pieces, and the room began to shake a little.
"Consequences? Fucking consequences? How dare you! You have absolutely no idea the hell I have gone through, twice now, and you have basically given permission for it" Hermione seethed, slamming her hands on his desk.
"Do you know the damage that this has caused me? Internally? My insides have been practically ripped apart. My whole world has been dragged from under my feet and to top it off, you make me look like a lying bitch in front of one of the only people who gives a damn about trying to understand me. You best be careful Dumbledore, I can assure you that if this is not dealt with then you will lose me, I will have nothing to do with Harry or this war. Carry on and Harry will lose the one thing that has kept him alive this whole time - my mind" she said darkly at him.
Dumbledore's eyes were now narrowed at the girl.
"I refuse to be your little puppet any longer, just issue my punishment and I will be on my way" she told him.
For the first time ever, Hermione saw Dumbledore look defeated.
"Miss Granger, Harry needs you, without you we would be setback" Dumbledore told her.
"And I needed you, twice, and both times you have failed me. We can't always get what we want" she snubbed him.
"Very well Miss Granger, you have made it very clear where you stand and that leaves me no choice. Your punishment: hand over your prefect badge and you shall receive three detentions. One will be with your head of house, one with professor Snape and one with professor Umbridge. I hear she has a different approach on punishment" Dumbledore snapped at her with no mercy.
A distraught Hermione handed over her prefect badge; she had worked so hard for her prefect position. However, she knew it was a small sacrifice for taking a stand, and with that she turned and left his office. She may have got in trouble but she felt lighter, and felt she had put Dumbledore somewhat in his place.
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Meanwhile, Dumbledore sat in his office looking sadly out of his window across the school grounds.
'What have you become old man' he thought sadly to himself.
Dumbledore knew it was wrong to refuse help to the girl. He knew her, knew she wouldn't lie about something like that, but he also knew that to win this war, Harry needed everyone he could get beside him.
His plans had backfired of course because in protecting Sirius Black from the crimes he had committed against his brightest student, he had lost one of the smartest minds this generation had seen and he really could have used her way of thinking to help Harry bring down Voldemort.
Dumbledore sat and placed his head in his hands. He needed to get her back but without getting Sirius in trouble, the question was, how was he going to achieve that?
He knew he would have to speak to a certain young wizard with glasses.
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Hermione was running through the castle, and didn't stop until she had reached the astronomy tower. It was night now and the moon could be seen across the lake. She loved the moon; it was always a beautiful sight.
She sat there for goodness knows how long before noticing it was after curfew and having lost her prefect status, she could get into serious trouble.
She diligently made her way back towards Gryffindor tower and eventually made it to the portrait; she said the password and was granted access. There was nobody around except one dark haired wizard with glasses sat by the fireplace, seemingly fast asleep.
She deliberated on just leaving him before deciding that if anything happened to him, she would blame herself for not taking action.
She hesitantly walked over to Harry and shook his shoulder gently. Harry stirred and looked at her, his face going from gentle to awake in an instant.
"I thought I should wake you, it's not safe to be down here on your own Harry, especially with how reckless Neville can be with the passwords" she tried to joke.
Harry almost let a smile crack through but didn't, Hermione saw this and knew he had his defences down.
"Well good night" she said as she headed for the stairs.
"Wait! Hermione!" He called after her. She paused and turned to face him.
"I don't mean to be so angry all the time, something has changed now that he's back and it's like I have no control over anything. Sirius is my safety net and I'm a little defensive about it all" he said almost apologetically.
"Harry, I get it, I really do. Look, I never asked to be placed there; it was all Dumbledore's arrangement. He forbade me from writing to you; he didn't want you to learn of anything that was going on because he didn't want to worry you where it wasn't necessary. I didn't want to go Harry, I didn't want to have my parents taken from me, and me be placed in a house I don't know, with people I barely know. Then do you know what they did to me? They placed me in a room, next to Snape, and we had to share a bathroom. Do you honestly think I would choose that over a happy summer holiday in France with my parents?" She told him honestly, only lying about the Snape part.
He looked guilty, and felt sad at the way he had treated one of his best friends.
"I'm sorry Hermione. I know none of it was your fault and that you had no control over it but Ron and Ginny kept making hints and taking digs and they got into my head, you know" he said.
"Well Ron is a little hot headed and often makes comments that he doesn't realise he's making and no offence but, Ginny and I have never really got on. She would rather spend time with Lavender and Pavarti, and laugh at me rather than laugh with me" she admitted with a small smile.
He invited her to sit next to him in front of the fire and she did, she had missed Harry really and she liked him when he was like this. She was stupid but she realised that if he asked her to, she would cut off her arm for him. She sighed, Harry was practically a brother to her.
"Hermione, you don't have to answer if you don't want to, and please don't get mad, but this thing with Sirius-" Harry trailed off, not sure how to voice his question.
But Hermione understood and she took a deep breath.
"Harry, I want you to understand that I don't have a crush on your godfather, I swear. The twins were making a joke, and were being suggestive about some things, but you know comments like that make me flush. When I flushed at their comments, they assumed I had a crush on Sirius but I swear I don't Harry. Also, even if I did have a crush on him, I would never Harry because he is yours and I don't expect you to share someone so important in your life with me. But I don't like him Harry, trust me after some of the habits I witnessed, he could rival Ron with his manners" she told him.
Harry chuckled and then all the tension that had been weighing him down the last couple of weeks lifted.
"I'm sorry for all the rumours that are going around about you at the moment. One, tiny, mocking comment, that was definitely not meant to be taken seriously, was overheard whilst we were on the train to the castle, and the rumour then spread like wildfire. I don't think anyone truly believes you have been shacking up with Sirius, after all how could you? Nobody knows where that Azkaban escapee lunatic is, right?" Harry said.
Hermione just shrugged.
"Hermione, can you ever forgive me?" he asked her.
Hermione hesitated.
"It may take a while Harry, but I think eventually things will be alright" she told him.
He smiled at her.
"That's more than I expected to be honest" he admitted.
"Right, now get to bed, you only have tomorrow and then school starts, and you need to be in your best mood and on your best behaviour for our class with the pink toad" Hermione told him in her usual bossy tone.
Harry cracked a grin and Hermione winked at him in humour, and she turned and headed for her dormitory. The girls were asleep already when she got upstairs, and it meant that Hermione could finally have a peaceful night's sleep.
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Sunday morning saw Hermione sat in the great hall; it was early so there was hardly anyone around. She noticed the lovely weather outside and headed out to sit by her favourite tree.
"Alright Granger?" Malfoy said.
She looked at him and promptly hit him in the arm with one of her books.
"Ouch! What was that for?" He asked, rubbing his sore spot.
"For discussing my private life with Professor Snape!" She hissed at him.
Draco looked at his new friend a little confused. He had spoken to his godfather and had been told that Snape had helped her the first time around. But, he clearly didn't know about the second time and Snape had clearly approached her about it. Draco grimaced.
"He came after you then?" Draco asked hesitantly, preparing himself for another book assault.
"Yes, he did" she said.
"Will you tell me what he said? I know my godfather, and he rarely helps someone if it is not a serious situation. Yours obviously is a serious situation but he also told me about how you two stayed in rooms next to each other, and some of the things he did for you. He said he thought of you as a friend, and that's an impressive feat let me tell you. He doesn't let people in easily and see that side of him, only the people that he trusts completely" Draco informed her.
Hermione gasped. Severus Snape thought of her as a friend, he trusted her and enjoyed her company he had let her in to his closed heart. She was touched and she smiled like a loon.
"Hey Granger? You ok? You have a little bit of crazy on your face?" He said, mocking her Cheshire cat smile.
"Maybe the students got it wrong about having Black as a crush, but maybe they were right when they said you had a thing for older men" he teased waggling his eyebrows at her.
She then hit him with her book, thrice, and hard, and glared at him. She actually made him back off ever so slightly.
'You did once stare at Severus' arse when he wore those snug jeans' she thought to herself.
'And you always feel overly comfortable when he's hugging and comforting you' she carried on in her head.
'And you love the smell of sandalwood, which is his scent' she admitted.
She snapped out of her thoughts but her face was a brilliant shade of red.
It was Draco's turn to smirk at her. He knew it! He knew his godfather was besotted with her, maybe not on a love scale but it was more than friends. Now, the know-it-all teacher's pet felt a similar way, crushing on her teachers.
"How scandalous" Draco told her. He dodged another book attack and got to his feet.
"Don't worry, I won't tell a soul" he promised her. She stared at him.
"Honestly, that area is none of my business" he vowed.
"However, I am slightly miffed that you overlooked this hunk right here and went straight for tall, dark and handsome" Draco teased at her.
"No offence Draco but we've only just become friends and I do like you but as a brother, I don't think I could ever look at you in that way" she told him gently, worried that she would wound his pride.
However, Draco wiped his eyebrow as if pretending to wipe off fake sweat.
"Phew! Thank Merlin for that!" He laughed at her.
She just stared at him like he had grown another head.
"If you were the last woman on this earth, I still wouldn't be with you" he informed her.
"Thanks! Just what every girl wishes to hear" she said somewhat jokingly, with a hint of annoyance that he would say that.
Draco realised how it must have sounded to her and quickly explained himself.
"Sorry Hermione, I didn't mean it quite like that. I meant that, I'm not really into girls-" he trailed off, knowing she would realise.
The moment she did, he knew it. Her eyes widened in surprise and she couldn't help but think she had misheard him.
"You're gay?" She asked still trying to wrap her head around the concept.
He nodded worriedly that she would now turn against him.
"Well, you're gonna break a lot of girls hearts" she informed him, smiling, letting him know it was ok and she wouldn't turn away from him.
He grinned at her and the pair laughed.
"When did you find out, or realise?" She asked him.
He shrugged.
"I've never really been interested in girls, but I thought that was just because of how I was and that I've always been wound up. Then, I had these naughty rendezvous with this guy I meet whilst skiing in Switzerland this summer, and I found out that I really liked a guy's company in bed more so than a females" he confided in her.
He couldn't believe how easy she was to open up to, he hadn't even told his godfather yet and actually he didn't think he was going to talk about it to his godfather at all. He didn't want Severus to shun him and turn his back on him; Severus was the father he had never had and loved him no matter what he believed in or did.
"I will never say a word about your preferences, if you never say a word about mine" she told him seriously.
"Damn, you would make a good Slytherin" he told her but agreed to her terms.
"I spoke to Harry late last night, a proper conversation. No arguing, no accusations just talking, like we used to. He apologised and we spoke about what we were thinking and what we were feeling. I think he's just anxious about what's to come if I'm being honest" she told Draco.
Draco just nodded, he could understand just how much power the Dark Lord could have over someone and how he could control and manipulate people into doing what he wanted. His mood was turning sour at the thought, he needed to change the subject and fast.
"Ah Gryffindor's and their feelings" he teased her house. He received another whack by from the book.
They sat like that for the rest of the day, undisturbed and just being themselves, typical teenagers, laughing and joking about nothing and everything.
But now there were other things to think about, tomorrow was the beginning of a new school year after all.
