'Part Ten
It seemed darker inside Dumbledore's office than the previous occasions on which Harry had been in there. Probably only beacuse it was rather late at night, but still, it seemed almost eery. He was glad he had Hermione and Ron for company, he didn't think he'd be able to do what he had set out to without them.
Earlier that evening, Lavender Brown had almost died from the disease 'calamara sutriano' (a/n: Is that right? I can't remember whatI called the disease!)and would almost certainly have done if he hadn't gone back up with Hermione to Professor McGonagall's room, where Hermione had already been twice to fetch help.
The reason Professor McGonagall hadn't gone straight down to Lavender the first time Hermione came for her was because she had been too busy attempting to relax, and not by herself.
She had been with Professor Snape, and no one besides the three of them knew they were together. So, roughly quater of an hour earlier, after finding out that Lavender's disease could have been fatal, they had told McGonagall that they were going to Dumbledore to tell him what they knew.
She had tried to stop them, but knew it was no use, and they had caught up with Dumbledore. They hadn't yet told him what they wanted to speak to him about, but he could tell that what ever it was was serious, and had led them to his office. He had then sat them down and was, at that very moment, humming to himself as he shuffled through his drawers. Suddenly, he pushed the drawer in with a snap, and sat up to face them.
"Now then," he began. "What is it you want to talk to me about?"
Harry started tentativly. "Well, uh, the thing is you see-"
"Yes?" Dumbledore smiled, encouragingly. Harry felt awkward. He wasn't quite sure how to word what he wanted to say. (A/n: I'm picturing myself trying to tell my headmaster that my English teacher is sleeping with my Science teacher as I write this. Believe me, it's more than a little bit awkward!)
"It's about Lavender. Sort of." Hermione cut in. Dumbledore looked a little puzzled.
"But she's fine now, is she not?"
"Well, yes," said Ron. "But we know that she might not have been. Professor McGonagall told us she could have died."
"Ah yes. It's a good job you had the sense to fetch her when you did-"
"But that's just it!" Hermione cried. "She didn't come when I first went to fetch her! Or the second time I went! And if I hadn't gone back up a third time with Harry, she wouldn't have come at all!"
"She wasn't going to come?"
"No! And I'd told her how sick Lavender was! But she was, she was uh, busy......"
"Busy? Busy in what way exactly?"
"Well," Harry said, going a little red. "That's what we needed to talk to you about." Dumbledore just looked at them quizzicly.
"The reason she wasn't going to come is, well, like I said, she was busy. But she wasn't....alone." Hermione faltered. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows.
"She wasn't alone? Then who, might I ask, was with her?" They went quiet, none of then wanting to be the one to tell him just what she had been up to, until, eventually, Ron muttered under his breath "Snape."
"She was with Severus?" Dumbledore asked. "Were they arguing again? I thought we'd gotten past all that childish behaviour," he sighed.
"No," Harry started. "They weren't arguing. They were, well, together." There, he had said it.
"Together? You mean they're-?" Hermione nodded. Dumbledore's face was expressionless for a few moments, before he burst out laughing.
"We're serious!" Hermione cried.
"I know!" he chuckled. (A/n: Sorry if this seems a little OOC, but I can imagine Dumbledore in my minds eye finding the whole situation incredibly funny!)
"But, I mean, Lavender could have died!" Ron reminded him. The look on Dumbledore's face suggested that he had temporarily forgotten that. He looked a little grave.
"I shall have to speak with them.....Hermione, do you think you could go and fetch Professor McGonagall please? And-" he glanced at Harry and Ron as if about to ask them to go and fetch Snape, but thought better of it. "If you two would like to wait outside, I shall seek out Severus."
Standing outside McGonagall's door, Hermione felt a little nervous. She'd never had serious reason to fear her professor before, but now she was worried. She tapped on the door lightly.
"Come in," came a soft voice from inside. She pushed the door open gently. Sat at her dressing table, Minerva looked even more nervous than Hermione felt.
"Dumbledore wants to speak to you." She informed her. As McGonagall stood, she added: "I'm sorry, but-"
"It's alright," she cut in morosley. "You did what you had to do."
"Everything will be alright wont it?" Hermione asked. Minerva looked as if she was on the verge of tears.
"I really don't know."
"Well, uh, if it helps, Dumbledore seemed to find the whole thing incredibly funny," Hermione tried to reassure her, forgetting her previous anger.
"And was this before or after you reminded him that Lavender could have died?" she asked, as if reading her mind.
"Before." was all she could say. They spent the rest of the walk to Dumbledore's office in silence.
Harry and Ron were sat in the corridor outside Dumbledore's office. As Hermione and Minerva aproached, Harry looked up and said: "Herm, we're supposed to wait out here. You can go straight in." He refused to look his professor in the face. She merely nodded and pushed the door open as Hermione silently sat down with her back to the wall.
As she stepped into the room quietly, Minerva saw Dumbledore sat behind his desk, and Severus stood staring out of the window. Dumbledore motioned for her to sit, and she did so.
"Now," he began. "I have just been speaking with Miss Granger and Misters Weasley and Potter. They have told me something rather alarming, which is what want to speak to you about. I trust you know what I'm talking about?"
"No, enlighten me," Severus muttered, taking a seat next to Minerva, who stared down at her hands.
"So you have no idea what so ever what I have just been told?" Dumbledore asked.
"Not a clue."
"Well, the fact of the matter is, all three seemed completely convinced that the two of you," he gestured between them, "are, ah, 'together'." Severus snorted with laughter.
"And you believe that?"
"Are you claiming it isn't true?"
"Am I! Why would I want to-"
"Well if indeed you aren't together, then why have Miss Granger and Misters Weasley and Potter got it in to their heads that you are?"
"It's a story! I would have thought that a wizard as great as yourself would have realised that!" Dumbledore looked a little taken aback.
"Minerva, what do you have to say about these accusations?"
"Absolutly nothing." she muttered, still staring at the backs of her hands. Dumbledore seemed to realise he stood more chance of getting an honest answer out of her than Snape, and leaned forward a little.
"Are you too denying the accusations?" She said nothing.
"Of course she is!" Severus snapped.
"Well if that's the case, and I have been lied to, then of course, I will see to it that the children are punished. It's a pity really, Miss Granger had a previously unblemished record, but when noted down that she played a part in a lie as elaborate as this then, well......let's just say it's not going to help her." Severus could tell he was bluffing, he knew he had believed that they were together, and he was just trying to get it out of them. Well he certainly wasn't getting it from him. If only Minerva would keep quiet, they might be able to buy themsleves some time. But she had noticably stiffened at the mention of Hermione.
"Really Dumbledore, it was just a childish prank, and one that you seemed to have fallen for quite noticeably I must say. But that's all it was. I see no reason for the children to be punished."
"Oh, so you are denying it then?" She fell quiet again. He sighed. "Look, I need an honest answer one way or the other-"
"And you've had one!" Severus cut in. "Why must we continue with this nonesense, when that's all it is?"
"Because three honest and hard working children don't suddenly turn up in my office and tell me that two of my members of staff, who have previously not been able to stand the site of each other, put the life of a pupil at risk to spend an evening together! Lavender Brown could have died tonight. Now are you going to tell me what really went on, or am I perhaps going to have to send for some Veritaseum?" This time neither spoke. "I thought so." He sighed and took a deep breath. "Minerva, I would have thought better of you. Would it really have been worth an innocent life for a half hour of pleasure?" Her face visibly reddened and Severus could tell that she was on the verge of tears. "The school board aren't going to like this you know, not at all." She bit her bottom lip. "And neither are the girl's parents." This time a tear slipped down her cheek. "Now we can either do this the easy way or the hard way, which would you prefer?" The tear was quickly followed by several more, and suddenly she moved her hands to her faces and broke down into them.
"Oh for Gods sake!" Severus cried, getting to his feet. "Did you have to make her cry?" He pulled her into his arms and held her gently as she cried into his sholder. One glance at Dumbledore's face told him that he might as well have just told him what he wanted to know, but he found with slight shock, that he didn't care.
He hugged her a little tighter, and kissed the side of her face. "It's alright," he whispered as the rocked her gently. "He was just bluffing. He wanted to make you cry so that he'd get it out of you, he didn't mean any of what he said." He turned to Dumbledore with a look of disgust on his face. "You're sick, you know that?"
"No Severus," she whispered hoarsely. "He had to do it. It was the only way he was going to get the truth. I don't think he wanted to, but he needed to know." Dumbleodre nodded. He wished he hadn't had to resort to making her cry, but at least now he knew the truth.
"Please, sit back down." Severus wiped the tears from her face gently, and they both sat. "I think it might be best for all concerned if we pretend none of the previous conversation happened and we start again. Clear the air a bit?" Severus nodded, Minerva managed a weak smile. "So, how long has this been going on for?" The amusment in his voice and the twinkle in his eye told Minerva that the conversation really had started again, there wasn't so much as a trace of the previous anger he had been conveying. She sighed, and murmered softly:
"Just over a month." His eyebrows rose instantly.
"And yet you let me believe that your professional relationship as beyond repair and spent a weekend in my cottage?" She had to stop herself from laughing, he really hadn't suspected a thing.
"Well what did you expect, when you sent us off to spend the weekend in a cottage with one bed?" Severus also seemed rather amused, which was definatly a rareity.
"Yes, well, sometimes I forget trivial details like that......" he laughed. Then a serious expression once more came over his face. "If the circumstances weren't as they are, I would have been tempted to *forget* this conversation and let things carry on as normal. However, no matter how much you didn't mean for it to happen, you put a life at risk. I'm afraid I'm going to have to make a formal announcement to the school, and let the school board know just what's going on between the two of you."
She gasped and grabbed his hand. He squeezed back tightly.
A/n: Well, that's all for today because now I'm very tired. *yawns* Be nice and I might put a bit of the effort I was going to put into my Maths project into putting up the next part fairly quickly. (But don't tell my Maths teacher I said that!)