Protection- Part seven

Protection- Part seven

Written by- Cat Samwise

Cho was on her feet.

Ron was kneeling next to Hermione trying to shake her awake.

He stopped abruptly when he realized what he was doing. He looked at Cho, then at Dumbledore, who looked amazed.

'How did I…?' Ron started.

Hermione woke up. She took Ron's hand and propped herself up, as if the last three people who touched her weren't unconscious. She smiled at Ron.

Ron got up from the floor. He was looking at Dumbledore.

Prof. McGonagall looked like she was going to faint and Prof. Snape was angrier than ever.

'I want an explanation for this,' said Snape quietly to Dumbledore. He got no reply.

Cho ran to Ron and Hermione. She extended her hands to take theirs.

'Don't!' called Dumbledore.

Cho stopped and looked at him.

'You still can't touch her,' Dumbledore said. 'Severus, take Mr. Malfoy and his friends to the Hospital Wing, then join us in the Comfortable Room. Mr. Weasley, help Miss Granger to follow us. Everyone else- to your classes. Now.

'Yes, Miss Chang, come with us too,' he added when he saw her expression.

Hermione, led by Ron, Cho and Prof. McGonagall followed Prof. Dumbledore to the Comfortable Room again.

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Once everyone was there and seated (yes, Snape too), Dumbledore turned to Hermione.

'Did you know we were eavesdropping on you?'

'Yes,' she said. 'But we didn't know there were so many of you. We thought it was only Ron and you.'

Dumbledore smiled. 'It was Mr. Weasley, Miss Chang, Minerva and myself.'

Hermione looked relieved. 'Did you see who I was with?'

'No,' said Dumbledore. 'I have my guesses, but I think you won't tell me, will you?'

'You're right, I won't,' Hermione answered directly.

Snape blew up. 'Albus, I may not know exactly what you saw or where you saw it,' he sent a disgusted look at Hermione. 'But, I don't see how can you let her talk to you like that. Moreover she attacked three students! She should be punished, not brought here to rest!'

Dumbledore looked at Snape. 'You are right,' he said. 'You didn't see what we did. That changes everything.

'And about her attacking three students, I thought they attacked her.'

Snape looked very angry, Dumbledore was smiling.

'Listen to what we say,' said Dumbledore. 'You might understand.'

He turned to Hermione again. 'So, you figured out how to overcome the Red Rose spell. Can you tell us how it is done?'

'The person the spell is used on,' said Hermione. 'Has to hold or touch something of the additional person he, or she, should be able to touch.'

'And what of Ron's you were holding?' asked Dumbledore.

'His blood,' she answered.

'His blood?' whispered Cho going white.

'You used a Summoning Charm on my blood,' said Ron coldly. 'Did it ever occur to you it might hurt?'

Hermione looked at her rose; she had tears in her eyes. 'No,' she said quietly.

'You shouldn't be angry with her, Ron,' said Dumbledore. 'I don't think you see it from her point of view.

'Think of it. If you had only one thing in the world, only one thing, you trusted and cared about and then one day you understood that that thing had to go, leave you alone. Still protecting and loving you as ever but, nevertheless, had to leave you. Wouldn't you want to have something, someone, to trust? Maybe not as much as you trusted the person who left, but trust anyway?'

When Dumbledore had finished, there was a long silence.

Hermione was crying. Ron was looking at his hands. Snape and McGonagall were looking at Dumbledore with amazement. Cho looked like she was going to cry too, and Dumbledore was looking sadly at Ron.

Ron understood his stare. He turned to Hermione who was sitting next to him. He hugged her, she cried harder into his shoulder.

After half an hour of silence, when Hermione calmed down a bit, Dumbledore talked to her again. 'I know this is very hard on you but can you please tell me why you made this plan?'

'He - he went to help Harry,' she said.

'Does he know were Harry is?' asked Dumbledore.

'Yes,' Hermione answered. She had a sad smile on her face.

'Do you know were Harry is?' asked Ron concernedly.

'No,' she said.

'And your boyfriend, do you know where he is?' asked Cho sympathetically. She couldn't hate her anymore. Not after she saw what she was going through. And anyway, she wasn't interested in Harry anymore.

'No!' said Hermione. She had a very bitter smile on her face and tears were still sliding down her cheeks.

'But why won't you tell us who this boyfriend of yours is?' asked Snape, more kindly than the first time.

Hermione looked at him angrily. 'My family was murdered because I told someone, who I thought was my best friend, about the reunion. She turned out to be an imposter. How do I know you all aren't imposters? And if you're not imposters, how do I know you won't sell me to the Dark Lord?' she almost shouted the last part.

She began to cry again.

'That's why you needed his blood then,' said Snape quietly. 'If someone would use Polyjuce Potion he would be able to copy everything, except his blood. You wanted to be sure. But how did you know that?'

Hermione lifted her head to smile at Ron, he smiled back.

'You mentioned Polyjuce in our second year, professor,' said Ron. 'Hermione must have found out everything there is to know about it.' He turned to Cho: 'I have to tell you that story sometime.'

Everyone except Hermione and Dumbledore looked puzzled.

Eventually Dumbledore said: 'you three must be tired. I give you the day off to discuss everything and relax. I believe what happened today won't happen again.

'Miss Granger, I give you my word, no one except those who sit in this room will know what was said during this conversation.'

With that they left the room.

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A/N- Omygod! I'm so damn sorry! It's just with tests & e-mails & family & sleep & some more tests; I had absolutely NO time to post this part. It was ready for like a month now. I really hope you're not mad at me, are you?

*Sigh* review anyway, please. Thank you.

Disclaimer: I own the plot and the Comfortable Room. JK Rowling owns Hermione, Cho, Ron, Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall and Hogwarts.

Oh, and I promise to try to post the next part faster. See ya.