CHAPTER SEVEN: HERMIONE
"Where's Harry?" Hermione shrieked, as she turned to the raven-haired Gryffindor, "What have you done with him, Snape," There was a pause, as Harry reeled in shock, "Well?" Hermione was glaring at him fiercely, and tapping her foot impatiently. It was only then that Harry realised she'd been speaking to him and not his father. He paled at the thought of trying to calm the angry witch.
"Um, Hermione," Harry stammered nervously in response to his friend's questions, he knew from past experience that Hermione could be quite vicious when angry, "I'm here. It's me Harry."
"Then if you're Harry, explain this." the bushy haired girl demanded forcibly, slamming the Marauder's Map down on the table and jabbing to the three dots currently in the potion's masters quarters.
Harry sighed in annoyance. He was pretty sure that Hermione wouldn't believe his story without some out some sort of proof, preferably in the form of an alive James Potter. After all it wasn't as if she would believe someone she regarded as a total stranger without it. He decided to launch into his explanation anyway hoping that the former Gryffindor in question would decide to return to his quarters at some stage during the night.
"Fangs here is my father," Harry began. Hermione gave him a look as if to say that was obvious, "As you know my mother was Lilly Potter, my parents were not married because my father was a death eater, a spy for the light side, so they had to keep their relationship a secret, so instead she married my parent's best friend, James Potter." Hermione looked pensively at the picture of Lilly, Severus, James and a baby Harry above the fireplace.
"And what did James Potter think about all this?"
"It was his idea," Severus responded on Harry's behalf, "Being a noble Gryffindor, he volunteered to help us, his best friends, by pretending to be in love in Lilly."
"Dad!" Harry groaned annoyed at his father's disparaging tone when talking about his house, "You know perfectly well that James married mum because it was in his interest. He did have to his own relationship as well." Hermione seemed somewhat surprised at this piece of information, it was clear she was desperate to know the rest of the story, even to the extent of laying aside her anger at Harry and Severus.
"He married her because he wanted to help us, his own cover-up was a secondary intention." Fangs corrected with a false sneer, "He was a Gryffindor." Severus found himself on the receiving end of another warning glare; the professor merely smirked in response as if to assert his superiority.
"What about Sirius and the Marauders in all this?" The ever-logical Hermione questioned ignoring the wordless argument between father ands son, "I thought James and Sirius were supposed to be inseparable at school?"
"Oh believe me they were," Snape growled bitterly, "I don't know what James sees in that rabid mongrel, but, he insisted on hanging around with him and forever getting in trouble. If it weren't for the fact Prongs actually likes him I'd have killed him a long time ago, during my death eater days. It's the least he deserves," He found himself on the receiving end of his son's glare, "I promised to get along with that creature, for your sake Seb, not to be friends with him." He spoke as if being friends with Sirius were a fate worse than death.
"And for James' sake as well," Harry protested, "You two made peace because of him not me."
Hermione looked somewhat confused at this statement, "You and Sirius made a truce because of the war, not because of a dead man." She said, recalling the events in the hospital wing after the third task, "I was there, remember."
Severus remained silent, it seemed he wasn't prepared to reveal the truth about James just yet. It was Harry who spoke instead, "That was the impostor I told you about. Dad only came to a truce with Sirius a few weeks ago, at someone else's insistence." He gave his father a pointed look.
"I told you I don't like the man," Severus sneered exasperatedly "If it weren't for you I'd turn him over to the Dementors." His son's pointed look turned into a glare.
"And James. Don't forget about James." Harry sighed, annoyed at Severus' attempt to deceive one of his best friends. Severus shot Harry a worried look asking what Harry was up to. Harry looked his father straight in the eye, "I am not lying to Hermione. She has a right to know the truth." he said firmly.
"Don't be so damn stupid, Seb. I'm not about to jeopardise our plans and James safety because of your Gryffindor nobility. She has no right to the truth and you know that." Severus hissed quietly trying; unsuccessful to make sure the bushy haired prefect didn't hear him.
"Everything that is said in this room stays between us," Harry warned, turning to Hermione, "You can't even tell Ron or Dumbledore." There was a moment's pause, before Hermione consented.
"Happy now?" the Boy-Who-Lived queried as he turned back to his father wearing a patronising grin. He was met by a vicious sneer and more than a few grumbles of annoyance, "And while we're talking about James, Why don't we introduce him to Hermione?" he continued with a mock cheeriness designed to annoy his father. It worked perfectly.
"If you weren't pretending to be such an insufferable moron I might consider it." Severus sneered, disgusted at the falsity of Harry's tone. He found himself the subject of yet another glare, fiercer than all the others he had received so far that evening, "Fine." Severus snapped recognising his own do-it-or-else glare on the face of his son. He swept from the room angrily.
Just a few moments after the door closed, Harry found himself back on the receiving end of the anger of the irate Hermione, "Sebastian Snape," She shouted looming over Harry, "I am waiting for an answer to my question."
"How do you want me to prove my identity?" Harry countered, trying, not entirely successfully, to avoid being disconcerted by Hermione's looming presence, "I don't have anything on me that I can prove I'm me."
"No, but if you're Harry you'll have his memories. More specifically the memory of the third task." The raven haired boy gulped at the thought of having to relive the nightmare of the last task of the Triwizard Tournament and the events that followed, but faced with the determined look on his best friend's face it was clear he had no choice. As a consequence Harry found himself describing the horrific events of Voldemort's rebirth and Cedric's death, in the potions masters quarters of Hogwarts on a cold September day, and to Harry narrating the events in September was if anything harder than straight after the task a few months previously. His voice cracked as he recalled the fateful words that had ordered the death of an innocent. Tears welled in his eyes as he recollected the dead body of Cedric Diggory. Horror filled his voice as he remembered the snake-like body of Lord Voldemort rising out of the cauldron. At the end of it all, Harry was just as emotionally drained as he had been after he had retold the tale previously. It was also after he finished that Harry dared look up at Hermione and tear his gaze away from the red carpet that covered the floor of his father's quarters.
"Oh, Harry," Hermione squealed concern, pity and regret visible in both her eyes and her voice, "I'm sorry. I should have trusted you." She lunged forward to draw Harry into a comforting hug. Harry felt somewhat uncomfortable and slightly nervous in the hug.
"You believe me then?" Harry queried in a dead tone devoid of all emotion, as he broke the embrace. He already knew the answer.
"Of course." the bushy haired girl protested indignantly, "Only you could describe the story like that."
"Its OK Hermione," the green eyed boy said soothingly, trying to alleviate the guilt that his friend was experiencing, "It was right to be cautious, especially with Voldemort back." Hermione sighed and nodded in agreement as Harry tore his gaze from her and looked around the room.
He noticed three men and a dog sitting in chairs by the door, all of them visibly concerned about Harry, especially James and Remus who had never heard the whole story directly from Harry before. It was another emotion that was clearly discernable, however, that caused Harry to break out into a broad grin, because intermingled with this worry was an emotion Harry had never seen except for fleeting glimpses from Severus and Sirius, especially in the former. It was the emotion visible when a parent looked upon his or her children, something that he had been denied by the Dursleys, and had been ripped away from at the age of 15 months by Voldemort, yet here it was visible in the eyes of not just one but four men, most clearly in the eyes of his father.
Harry's reverie was interrupted, however, when Hermione followed his gaze and spotted James sitting amongst the four. She gasped in astonishment, putting her hand to her mouth, not surprisingly she looked like she had seen a ghost. All four of the adults seemed to be amused by the muggle-born's reaction.
"Hermione," Harry said deciding to take the initiative, "Meet my other godfather, James Potter. James, meet one of my best friends, Hermione Granger."
James got out of his seat and walked over to Hermione, holding out his hand in greeting, a somewhat dazed Hermione took it, "I suppose you want to know how I'm alive. Huh?" he asked genially. The tone surprised Harry, as he was still feeling extremely guilty about the actions that had led up to Lilly's death, as well as the attempt to give Sirius the Dementor's Kiss, although on the other hand he had been somewhat happier since Sirius had turned up. Hermione responded to his question in the affirmative. After they had sat down James, with interjections from Severus, retold the now familiar tale of his jealousy and subsequent betrayal, being careful to avoid mentioning any hint of the nature of his relationship with Sirius.
Hermione wasn't entirely satisfied though, "Harry mentioned that you were seeing someone but you wanted to cover up the relationship. Why?"
James squirmed in his seat at the mention of his relationship, it was clear that he didn't want to reveal the truth. Homosexuals, after all, were the subject of severe discrimination and abuse in the wizarding world, "People wouldn't have been very accepting of our relationship," James explained nervously, hoping Hermione wouldn't buy the explanation. She didn't, causing James to squirm even more. Again, it was Harry who diffused the situation by providing the truth, much to the horror of both James and Sirius.
"What?" a nervous James demanded, noticing the strange looks that Hermione was giving both him and his lover. She covered up her mistake immediately.
"I'm just surprised, that's all." Hermione clarified a hint of shock in her tone, "You just don't seem the type, that's all. Not that I've got anything against gays. One of my cousins is gay and he's the nicest guy you could ever hope to meet."
"You don't mind then?" Sirius queried hopefully, as he reached to put his arm around his boyfriend.
"No. It's rather cute actually." she commented, causing Severus to sneer in disagreement. Sirius glared at his enemy in response, causing James to gave a long-suffering sigh and Remus to roll his eyes.
Yet again it was left to an infuriated Harry to be the peacemaker, "Dad, Sirius," he barked, "Can we get to business. We have with us the most intelligent witch at Hogwarts, who knows the library like the back of her hand. Shouldn't we let her work with us on the plan for Halloween?" Hermione blushed at the compliments, but looked at Harry curious as to what 'the plan' was. Harry's proposal was met with general agreement, despite James' mutterings about 'the insufferable know-it-all' which was met by glares both students and Remus. This left the group to explain to an eager Hermione their plan to defeat Voldemort and the research that still needed to be done.
Only a few chapters left now, including Halloween and another appearance from Ron. After this I will write a sequel. I have a basic plot worked out for it, I just need to decide pairings with a choice between Harry/Hermione and Harry/Cho (Note: Harry/Ginny is not an option. I do not even read H/G fics, let alone write them, besides I have other plans for our favourite red-headed vixen.) I won't write it straight away, I have another idea I want to get started before OotP os released. Thank You for your feedback and your reviews, keep them coming. I'm not a review junkie, but I cannot write without feedback.
Pink-Crane: I'm glad to be of help, and I hope you liked the chapter.
Magicdancer: Interesting? I take it that you like the fic then.
Lirael: Sorry, no Hermione bashing here, I'm making up for the way I'm going to bash her heavily in my other WIP. If you want H/C and Hermione bashing then my other fic, will eventually satisfy your cravings, not for a few chapters though. Ginny won't even feature in this fic, she will feature heavily in the sequel though.