Chapter 7: Trial Time

"Did … did you see that too ?" Ron asked breathlessly when they stormed inside the Gryffindor common room, which appeared to be abandoned.

"Umpfh." Harry had the feeling he left his wit on the fourth floor, shock still numbing his ability to think or speak.

"Do you think she seduced him to make him reveal the whereabouts of the thing he took from Voldemort ?" Ron tried to dissolve the mystery.

"Er…" Was all Harry could say.

"Of course not. How many times do I have to tell you she's not on Voldemort's side !" Hermione seemed to be the first to be fully recovered.

"Then he must have put her under Imperius to prevent her from doing any harm." Ron concluded.

"Huh ?"

"Oh Ron will you cut it out! Dumbledore would surely know if someone cast an Unforgivable inside Hogwarts and besides, what makes you think Professor Snape needs to put her under a spell  to kiss her ?"

Both boys looked at her, eyes wide open.

"I think that's obvious. Why would an attractive young woman want to kiss a greasy git like Snape ?" Ron retorted.

Hermione rolled her eyes, but before she could say anything, the trio was startled by a soft giggle coming from one of the large armchairs by the fire. A red head peeked from behind the chair and Ginny Weasley joined them.

"Ginny! What are you doing here, eavesdropping on us!" Ron shouted almost angry.

"I was here first, besides I already knew about Professor Snape and Professor Palmer."

"This wasn't the first time ?" Harry's first full sentence since the incident.

"Of course, that would explain …" Hermione's eyes narrowed, clearly engrossed in her own thoughts.

"Explain what ?" Harry wanted to know.

"Well, we've been thinking Professor Snape was afraid of her." A snort from Ginny. "But I think we were mistaken. I think he's not afraid of  her, but afraid for her."

"No way!" Ron exclaimed.

"It makes sense though. Suppose Voldemort knows Snape has feelings for Professor Palmer, don't you think he would try to harm her to make Snape give back what he took from him ?"

Harry thought about it and decided Hermione might be right.

"You could be on to something here. It would explain a lot, especially her covering for him as Head of Slytherin. They must have known each other while they were at school, maybe they've been dating ever since."

"Ah yuk!" Ron made a foul face. "That's unbearable! To think she'd have to … her and him … I mean, it's disgusting! She's a Gryffindor!"

Hermione and Ginny exchanged a knowing look, which didn't go unnoticed.

"What ?" Harry dared to ask.

"Well, Snape might not be our favourite teacher, but it doesn't mean he's not attractive to women."

"WHAAAT ?" Ron and Harry looked like they were going to faint.

"It's true. Some women like the tall, dark and brooding type." Hermione's cheeks were flushing rapidly.

Harry tried to shut down his ears. He didn't want to know any of this, very soon he'd start to wonder whether Hermione herself liked that kind of man and he really didn't want to go there.

"And he's got a big nose." Both Ginny and Hermione giggled, Harry felt all the blood in his body rush to his cheeks, while Ron looked confused.

"What's the size of a nose got to … oh!" Ron followed Harry's example and turned scarlet.

"Besides, he can be really nice." Ginny added in a tiny voice.

All attention was directed towards her. Even Hermione gave her a questionable look.

"He … he came to see me after, you know." She gave a nod with her head, hinting at her time in the Chamber of Secrets. "He talked to me about stuff. Not that he told me he had been a Death Eater, I only found out at the end of last year like you guys did, but somehow it didn't surprise me. He was kind and caring."

"This is too much, I think I'm going to throw up." Ron stated.

"Ginny,  some things that were said tonight …" Harry started.

"I know Harry, trust me, I can keep a secret."

With that being said, Hermione pointed at the parcel in Harry's arms and he quickly unwrapped it, anxious to read what Sirius had to say about the puzzling Professor Palmer. The package revealed a large book, which turned out to be his parents' Yearbook. The accompanying note read:

"Dear Harry,  I should have thought about this before. It's not right you should have to look up information on your parents in the library, so I hereby include my copy. As for your question about Professor Palmer: I don't know anyone by that name. Then again, I have been experiencing some memory-troubles, so that might not mean anything. But I do trust Albus to see to it that you're not put in any unnecessary danger, not after what happened last year. Take care and I'll see you soon. Love, Snuffles."

"How can he not know her !" Ron gave a disappointed sigh.

"He doesn't remember." Harry said.

"Poor Snuffles." Hermione added.

When the girls returned to their dormitories, Harry and Ron hung around the common room for a little while longer, both feeling too uneasy to go straight to bed.

"This has been one hell of a weird evening." Ron sighed, not knowing how else to deal with it.

"At least you have a big nose." Harry grinned and the boys finally went upstairs, Ron chasing Harry to give him a playful smack on the head.

*

From that day on, Ginny Weasley spent a lot of time with them, most of that time being dedicated to wild speculations about their DADA-teacher. Ron insisted there was something amiss, Harry being torn between the instinctive feeling of trust and his underlying fear of yet another deception, the girls getting all giddy at the thought of a romance blossoming between two of their teachers.

Then the Quidditch Trials took their minds off their teachers' private lives.

There were sixteen candidates for the Gryffindor team, including a trembling Hermione and an even worse looking Neville.

Madam Hooch decided to divide the would-be players into 4 teams, each team consisting of a Keeper, a Beater and two Chasers. There would only be one bludger and no snitch, since they already had a Seeker and a reserve-Seeker.

The teams would be playing matches of 20 minutes against each other, the winner being the team that scored the most goals.

The first match was between a mixed team of second and third years and a team with Neville as Keeper, Hermione as Beater and Ginny and Colin Creevey as Chasers.

Harry whispered a quick prayer, hoping his friends would still be alive after the game.

To his surprise they did extremely well.

Ginny turned out to be quite a revelation, scoring with ease.

Hermione, uncomfortable on her broomstick, but determined to let no harm come to her team members, smashed the bludger to all sides of the pitch, swaying it at the other team's Chasers whenever they were attempting a raid on Ginny or Colin.

As for Neville, he was so scared of either balls, bludger or quaffle, he made all kinds of complicated, and sometimes even ridiculous manoeuvres to dodge the first and kick the latter away from his goal. 

The result was spectacular: Neville's team won their first two games with 90-0 and 120-0 respectively.

Ron's team was much worse. By the time they had to play Neville's team, they hadn't won a single game and Ron had only scored twice.

Harry's insides twisted into a tight knot, he could feel a doom scenario coming up.

His worst fears were confirmed when Neville's team squashed Ron's with a record-breaking 200-0, which meant either Ginny or Colin had scored once a minute on average.

Even before the last game, Professor McGonagall and Madam Hooch gave him a piece of paper with their suggestions. He knew he had to agree with them if he were objective, but in his heart … damn this was so difficult!

By the end of that day, temperature had dropped below zero in the Gryffindor common room. Right after dinner, the names of the selected players were pinned on the message board. Harry didn't need to look at it, he knew the names all too well. An over-enthusiastic Fred Weasley pulled the note from the board and started to read out loud.

"Keeper: Neville Longbottom. Reserve Chasers: Ginny Weasley, Colin Creevey and Nicolas Burke. Reserve Beaters: Hermione Granger and Dennis Creevey."

An outburst of joy and congratulations erupted in the common room. The current Chasers and Beaters that were leaving at the end of the year soon caught up with their replacements, talking excitedly, already trying to give them a taste of what was waiting for them the following year.

Harry went up to Ron, feeling utterly miserable, but Ron didn't want his sympathy.

"Leave it Harry. I expected as much, but it still hurts. Knowing a quivering fuck-up and a witch who's afraid of flying bested me isn't my idea of a party. Hell, even my kid sister did better."

He pushed Harry aside and made his way through the crowd to go up to his dormitory. Halfway through the room Hermione caught up with him and that was the last straw for Ron.

"Get out of my sight, you treacherous adder, they should have sorted you in Slytherin!" He yelled before he stormed out.

Harry put his arm around Hermione, who looked like she was close to tears.

"I honestly never imagined they would choose me." She said sadly. "I don't even want to play!"

"Here here, Ron will come around, you'll see. He'll realise eventually there were other players better than him. And you had nothing to do with it, you were no direct competition for him." Harry tried to comfort her.

"Do-do you think that if I say I don't want to play, they'll give him a chance ?" Hermione asked hopeful.

"Er, since you tried out as a Beater and he as a Chaser, I think that's very unlikely. But you know, there's still a year to go and there will be another trial next year, so it's not hopeless yet."

That seemed to cheer her up, that and the knowledge she could always decline the offer.

Ron stayed in his foul mood for the rest of the week, which only was a burden to himself, because Hermione was busy with her Prefect duties and studying and Harry needed to focus on the first Quidditch match against Slytherin.

The news of the outcome of the Gryffindor trials had been met with amusement and, in case of the Slytherins, mockery. Draco Malfoy didn't waste any time and the very next day he cornered Harry in the entrance hall and said he almost felt like withdrawing from the match, seeing it wouldn't be a challenge now they were bringing cowering fools into the game.

Before Harry had time to react, Professor Palmer called Malfoy to discuss something about his latest DADA essay. Harry got his revenge when a love-struck Malfoy followed his favourite teacher adoringly, with the rest of the students making whistling noises behind his back. Fred and George even went as far as to flutter their eyelashes ferociously, staging a much appreciated parody.

It was late in the afternoon of the day before the match, when Harry walked in on Malfoy and Hermione. Malfoy was standing very close to her with the usual arrogant look on his face, holding her by the wrist. Hermione was trying to free herself from his iron grip, but it only made the evil glint in his eye more apparent. Harry didn't hesitate and increased his pace to rescue his friend. Right before he tore them apart, he heard Malfoy's last comment.

"I hear you make quite some Beater. Are you as fervent in everything you do ?" The tone of his voice suggested more than Harry could comprehend, but Hermione apparently did and at the same time Harry pulled her away from Malfoy, her fist shot out and hit Malfoy on his chin, the surprise making him stumble and fall down. Alarmed, Harry scanned the area for Crabbe or Goyle, but luckily they weren't around. Now they only needed to stay out of reach so Malfoy couldn't hex them.

However, hexing seemed to be the last thing on Malfoy's mind, for he was laughing out loud. Stunned, Harry looked at the pale Slytherin who was still down on the floor.

"You're a temperamental one aren't you, Granger." He crawled back on his feet, ignored Harry and brushed closely past Hermione, his whisper loud enough to be heard.

"I'm going to have so much fun with you, Mudblood." He growled and ran off, too quickly for Harry to catch up with him and beat the crap out of him, his fists itching to wipe that smirk of the Slytherin's cold face.

"And now you're going to tell me what this is all about and how long it has been going on." Harry said, turning towards a shaking Hermione.

TBC