Chapter 6


She's Hermione Granger, of course, there had been a debate. If anyone were to believe that she came to her choice lightly, then they'd be correctly mistaken, because there had been a debate within herself, against herself. As any organised debate would be, there had been two sides inside her mind, although not necessarily opposing each other. From the beginning, she had known that should the one side win, the other would obviously never see the winning side, and thus, she'd been prepared for either side to win.

It was that each side had carried its own solid and well thought out arguments, even going as far as to anticipate which questions could arise from the very presentation of the arguments. She's Hermione Granger, of course, she would thoroughly prepare herself to make the more impactful of decisions, even if the chosen decision went against something that she would rather not go against. But yes, the debate had been there, and in the end, spending Easter Break at Hogwarts won over going home.

Compared to home, Hogwarts had too many disadvantages to leave behind.

It's funny really, her conclusion, seeing as most people would take the advantage of having a relaxing holiday with their parents, probably travelling to some wonderful place together as a family, instead of taking the other side of advantage, which is the disadvantaged side. Then again, when she thinks about it now, should she really consider it funny, when she's one and the same person who started a campaign to help the house elves? It was partly obvious, she thinks, that she chose to remain at Hogwarts.

The Hogwarts side won the debate, because it'd had the right disadvantages - Harry being unfairly involved in the Tournament, not spending time with her boyfriend if she went home, and lastly, Ronald – prone to being unreasonable and unpredictable as he is. All that should be enough to convince her that her choice is not at all strange for her, Hermione Granger. And anyway, even if it had been funny and strange to choose the murkier side, what's been happening since she stayed, would make it perfectly all right.

Not so much Harry and the Tournament, but spending time with Viktor, actually talking to him and finding out that he's a very sensitive and nice boy. Mostly, discovering that Viktor has more interest than simply Dark Arts (as is they stereotypical of students from his school) and Quidditch, also him constantly trying to understand how the boys at her school never thought to ask her out as their girl, has made her stay quite worth it. It's quite a shame that she won't get to spend the holidays with her parents, seeing as they value the idea of Christianity in their home (just now open to another world of magic as well), but honestly, she wouldn't have been able to kiss her parents like she's been doing with Viktor.

Oh, giggles just thinking about it. There's been so much kissing. They kiss a lot. They have been kissing a lot.

Viktor's taught her much about kissing. Not by telling her how to kiss, or which other ways to do it, but by actually stopping during a kiss to test another way, or by gently rubbing his hands on her arms as they kissed. She likes the kissing the most about the Easter Break. Even that she can call it kissing inside her head, instead of referring to it as snogging, makes her feel like an adult somehow. If she's being honest, the word snogging feels to her rather like a child's way of referring to kissing, without them feeling the embarrassment that comes with a young adolescent saying actual word itself. If it's so embarrassing to say the actual word, then they shouldn't be doing it now, should they?

In her spare time, she's been doing this for the elves. She's been doing it at night as well, when her roommates are asleep, but she finds that it's better during the spare moments of time that she gets away from Viktor, Harry and Ron. To be honest, it's more a thing of pride for her, that she uses her spare time to engage in something that helps her fight to free the less advantaged magical creatures. Anyone could easily use their spare to concentrate on themselves, which is why the sacrifice of her spare time is important to her.

People still aren't taking her seriously, only accepting her flyers to keep her from pestering them, but she doesn't care. As long as she maintains her passion for the campaign to help the elves, she's fine, and she won't just abandon it. So far, she's been doing fine. She's discovered various places within the castle, where she's likely to find a congregation of elves, but the kitchen is her favourite place to find them. There's anyway a particular elf in there, who's always so kind to her; always willing to serve her even when she comes bearing the perceived abomination of clothing, where the other elves would run away from her.


26Chapters


'Harry, are you doing anything to prepare for your next task?'

As she asks him, her eyes travel around the hall, not really looking for anything in particular. The hall is full of students, which is most unusual for this time of the holiday. Most students would go home to their parents, but with the Tournament going on, most students have not left. It's not a bad thing, she supposes, that most students have chosen to stay, even if it does mean that she'll have more people to get around whenever she needs a private moment.

'I don't want to think about it yet,' he says. 'It's a break, Hermione. Can't I just, I don't know, have fun?'

She wants to respond that he can do whatever he wants, but then she sees Professor Snape rising from the table, and suddenly losses the will to respond to him. As if by magic, her interest is in Snape now and her eyes especially need to follow him for as long as they can. These days, there's something about him that she cannot put her finger on.

'Do whatever you want, Harry,' she decides to say suddenly.

It's that she has to follow Snape. The urge is there, and she will not let it go.

'So wait, I can have fun during the break?' he wants to know, his disbelief very audible to her.

Again, whatever he wants, he can do, because while she does like to take of him and tell him how to use his time, she has something more important to do at the moment. So important in fact, that she gathers herself up to leave.

'I just said that, didn't I? Anyway, I'll see you two later.'

'Where are you going?' Ron asks.

Actually, she pauses to give Ron a disturbed look, she doesn't know. All that she knows is that she has to see Snape, whatever that could lead her to doing.

'I was only asking,' Ron says to her, 'there's no need to look at me like that.'

'Honestly, Ron,' is the best of a response that she can come up with before she begins to move away from the table.

Very fast she will have to move if she has any intention of catching up with him. Of course, she won't literally catch up with him, seeing as the teachers' exit doesn't lead to the students' exit from the hall, but all the same, she has to move fast. Wherever she thinks to look for him first, she'll go there, and if he happens to ask for a reason for her presence, she'll think of something along the way to finding him.


26Chapters


Whatever had she been thinking when she decided to follow a man who she couldn't see? What in her mind, made it perfectly full of sense to leave her food and go towards nothing? She'd known that she wouldn't meet him anywhere in her path, but she'd hoped that they'd cross paths somehow.

At times, she can really be daft!

She feels at the moment, that she is daft, if not completely an idiot. And that's not even to mention the humiliation that she feels to be standing all alone outside of the castle, nearing Hagrid's. It's embarrassing. Even though there's no one else but her who knows what she'd been up to, and then what she failed at, she still feels rather embarrassed about the whole thing.

Oh, how embarrassingly stupid she's been!

She has no sense at all, does she!

What had she been thinking to follow him like that, simply because she felt a little compelled to have her eyes on him? It's not as though he's been acting as suspiciously as he has been acting during her first year. And to be fair, compelled isn't exactly the word that she would use for how she felt in the Hall. Curiosity, yes, maybe, but not really compulsion. There'd simply been no reason to feel compelled to look at him, since this year's Snape is quite different. Well, as different as Snape can manage, which really only means that he's allowed her to brew potions. While he made it perfectly clear that he did not need the help, he also didn't send her away, and as much as she's thought about it, she's come to the conclusion that something must have caused him to do that.

That's not all, though. There's also the difference of how during those lessons, he never really insults or says anything mean to her. Snape being himself would have meant him finding whatever opportunity it was that he could find to make her feel inadequate or at the very least, irritating. Oh, and then so far, he's not denied her anything. It's all so strange, and it's been accumulating in her head to the point where she arrived today.

But what an idiot she's been, thinking that she would find him.

What would she have done, had she found him?

Would she have confessed to him that everything about his difference is very suspicious to her? Or would she have asked if he's perhaps been distracted by something, that he's forgotten to be himself to the fullest? Just say that he had admitted to being distracted, would she then have wanted to know what has him distracted so? Would she even be ethically allowed as a student to care about his distractions as a teacher?

Oh, she's daft, all right.

She didn't think about all this before deciding that she simply had to follow him.

His distractions are not of her concern, but… It cannot be the Tournament. She's always gotten the impression that he's never cared all that much for school events and was always there by obligation., so it can't be that. There must be something else. Like something to do with the Durmstrang headmaster! Once, she saw them walking together once – there could be a connection there. That's not enough, however, not even when paired with the last time that they met and he asked her if Snape was in his office.

Really, what is she doing?

She's getting nowhere with all of this. She should be brave and take her humiliation with pride. This sad attempt at covering it up by digging herself deeper into the life and concerns of her teacher will do her no good. She should do better, learn from her idiocy and take care to never repeat it again. Also, from now onwards, she should keep as away from Snape as brewing potions keeps her.