Chapter Five
Behind Closed Doors
When Hermione arrived at the castle, she wasn't surprised to see Dumbledore, half the staff, Harry, and Ron waiting for them.
'Great this is
just what I need,' Hermione thought when she saw the anxious crowd.
Dumbledore approached them and was reaching out for Hermione's hand when
McGonagall beat him to her.
"Come here
child! Are you alright? What happened to you? Severus what on earth happened to her?"
"She'll live, Minerva--"
"Well, her swollen face could have fooled me."
"Oh, for Merlin's sake, her face is not--"
"Give her to me!" Madame Pomfrey cut in. "She needs to go up to the infirmary."
"Hermione are you okay?" Ron cupped her
shoulders as he pulled her to the side.
He whispered softly so no one could hear them: "Harry and I were really
worried about you. We didn't know what
else to do."
"Do you need to see Madame Pomfrey, Miss Granger?"
Dumbledore inquired softly to the quiet Hermione before she shook her head in
reply.
"Headmaster, the girl is in no condition to know if she needs medical
attention," Pomfrey argued.
"Poppy, I promise to send her to you as soon as I am through talking with
her. We'll go to my office now."
The hallway was crowded with everyone arguing amongst themselves about what was
best for Hermione and what she was supposed to do. The only two people, who remained quiet,
stood as far away as possible from each other.
The crowd moved
as they talked. Hermione, who still
remained silent, heard the party around her inquiring about where she was and
if she was all right, but all she could do was nod silently. She was not paying attention to anything
going around her.
"Headmaster, surely this can wait until tomorrow morning the girl has had some
rest", McGonagall asked.
"No, my dear; this can not wait."
"Harry and Ron, you two can wait for Hermione if you'd like, but she will be in
my office for a while so I suggest that the two of you returned to your rooms
and rest until morning."
"No thanks, Headmaster! Harry and I are
not tired. We'll wait for her," Ron said
instantly.
The Headmaster looked thoughtfully at them before nodding and motioned for them
to follow him.
"Very well-- Severus, Hermione, follow me please!"
When the crowd arrived at the entrance to the Headmaster's office, Albus
stopped to give the password: "apple beans", and then turned to Harry and Ron
to tell them to wait outside.
Meanwhile one of
the two stone gargoyles guarding the entrance to Dumbledore's office looked up
from his stone rest to wink at an edgy McGonagall.
"Honestly Freverique, have you no shame at all?"
McGonagall flushed.
The stone
gargoyle came to life again and said in a sweet French accent: "But oui oui my sweet pea, you 'ave been ignorrring me?"
Dumbledore turned from Harry and Ron and looked considerately to the live
gargoyle.
"Aah Freverique, I was wondering
when you would be speaking again. It's
been a very long time since--"
"Oui, but I want to spend ze
time with ze layde!" Freverique did not
look too happy to see the Headmaster.
"Well, my friend, I am afraid that I have kept our Minerva occupied for the
past couple weeks," he explained to the anxious gargoyle who was obviously
ignoring him whilst he batted his eyes profusely at Minerva.
"But of courze, you alw steal
her away from Freverique," he frowned at the
Headmaster.
"My dear Frev, you know that I cannot run this
institution without Minerva, and she has…"
"Nonsense, you want her for yourself, oui?"
"I will try and have her back as soon as possible, and then you can have her
all to yourself."
Professor
McGonagall flushed at this before she snapped: "Well, as much as I'd like to
hang around and listen to the two of you pass me around like a hot roll, we
have important matters to attend to."
"Yes, yes," Dumbledore said as he walked up to the spiraling staircase behind
the gargoyles.
When McGonagall
walked by Freverique, he blew her a kiss and aimed to
grab for her behind when she smacked his hand off with the tip of her
wand. She could faintly hear him when
she reached the top of the stairs before closing the door: "I likeh strong weemen."
When they arrived in the Headmaster's office he motioned for Hermione to sit
down before taking a seat behind his own desk. The atmosphere was dim and calm
except for the loud snores of the paintings on the wall. Hermione noticed one
of the paintings, the one snoring the loudest, had one eye slightly open.
McGonagall and Snape remained standing on either side of Hermione--quietly
waiting for the Headmaster to speak.
Hermione noticed that Fawkes, Dumbledore's Phoenix was not in the office.
She hung her head
and did not look up. She was too afraid
to see the disappointment in anyone's face.
"Miss Granger," Dumbledore said softly.
"I apologize for my recklessness.
If I had been more vigilant tonight, you would not have left these
grounds."
"Please Headmaster, I take full responsibility for my actions. And I should be the one apologizing for not
coming to you or any of the other professors when I was told about Malfoy's
plan."
Dumbledore looked benignly at the distressed girl before him, who was still
unable to look up.
"My dear, what happened to you tonight was not your fault. But I do need you to tell me everything that happened from the time Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley informed you of this note to the time you arrived at the party. Can you do that?"
She nodded slightly.
Despite the Headmaster's kind words, there was nothing he could say that would
make her feel that this was anyone's fault but hers.
There was a long pause and Hermione, withholding all tears while her hands
remained tucked between her thighs, began her account of the night's
events. She spoke softly enough for the
three adults to hear her.
"Harry and Ron informed me of the note, and Malfoy's plan. At half past eleven, I left my quarters to go up to the
Gryffindor tower to meet Malfoy there, but I waited for nearly 40 minutes and
no one had showed up. I was inside the prefect's bathroom waiting and was about
to give up and come back to my room when I heard footsteps outside.
"I walked out to
meet Malfoy but he had already walked up towards the tower, so I followed
him." The was a
large lump forming in Hermione's throat as she talked. She could not stand the thought of everyone's
scrutinizing eyes burning into her sides.
She paused and waited to see if the Headmaster was going to interrupt
her, but he didn't, so she went on.
She reluctantly explained everything from there to the broom, the secret door,
and up to the point she saw Snape at the party.
"…And the next
thing I know, Professor Snape showed up, and…well," she looked up at the
Headmaster who she figured had noticed her reluctance in continuing with her
story and hoped that he would not disregard it.
She did not want to get into the details of what occurred after Snape
arrived.
The Headmaster reached across the desk and handed Hermione a lemon drop like
the doctor would to a child after a checkup.
And that was exactly how she felt in the close ambiance of that office,
a child. She refused the sweet before
glancing quickly to the side.
Albus realized
that Snape was ignoring Hermione more than usual.
"Did they hurt you at all?" Minerva asked.
"No!"
Albus and
McGonagall both exchanged quick glances.
"All right, thank you, Miss Granger! If
you want to leave now you may," he said standing up. "It is nearly morning and you really should
get some sleep."
Hermione nodded and was about to stand up when Snape she was stopped abruptly
by Snape.
"Sit down Miss
Granger! This meeting is not yet over."
Professor McGonagall and the Headmaster looked at Snape in surprise.
Hermione was also
incredulous and wondered what more did her dour Potions master want with
her. She had been embarrassed enough for
the night and was very close at just dashing out the door and up to her private
quarters.
"Well, Headmaster, I'm afraid Miss Granger has failed to tell you why she
walked away unscathed," he said icily.
"Yes, Severus that has not slipped my mind.
I was expecting you to explain along with the usual, and without the
presence of Miss Granger. She has
already told us her account of tonight's events. She needs not to be here for our discussion,
does she?"
"Oh, but I'm afraid she does, Albus. Because, she has now foolishly involved herself with our plans
against the attack."
Professor McGonagall shot Snape an incredulous look.
"Severus, what
are you doing? She does not need to know
this information. And what in Merlin's
name do you mean by 'involved'?"
"If you would allow me, Minerva, I will gladly explain," he said sarcastically
to his opposing Head of House. "You see, other than the fact that Miss Granger,
here, is a muggle-born, she crashed a private party
of pure-blooded wizards, uninvited, and then attempted to assault one of the
Death-Eaters."
Snape couldn't
help but notice a slight grin itching to appear on McGonagall's face as he
spoke. "She has also brought it upon
herself to convince the Death-Eaters that she is retrieving information about
Potter for me," he added softly.
"What? No, I did not!" Hermione's head shot up so quickly that the
Headmaster started. "Excuse me,
Professor, but I did not convince your
friends anything of the sort. It was
you."
Snape turned to the girl seated next to him and looked down at her with
impassiveness.
"Trust me Miss Granger," he said wryly, "you convinced them very well."
Recollections of
the night flashed quickly into her mind: his fingers, her heartbeat, his scent,
her moan, his hands, and her shame. She
winced inwardly as she turned from the coldness of his eyes.
Dumbledore examined them closely. He
felt McGonagall's eyes burning into his.
He dared not to look at her; if there was one thing Dumbledore knew to fear,
it was the wrath of a woman.
"Good Heaven's Severus," she exclaimed, "what on earth are you talking about?"
"I am talking about the girl," he snapped suddenly. He paused for a moment to calm himself before continuing softly. "What I meant, Minerva, was that the girl now
requires my…attention," he said with utter disgust and humiliation.
Dumbledore sighed
resignedly. "I see; well, then, tell me
what happened tonight Severus, and from the beginning!"
"Wait, Albus, the girl; there has to be something we could do?" There was a hint of pity and grief in her
tone.
"I'm afraid that it is too late Minerva.
They are expecting her to provide them with any valuable information on
Harry," he said softly—looking every bit of his hundred and something years.
"Yes, I know that, Albus, but what of the other matter," she said through
tightly pursed lips.
"By all means, Minerva, why don't you come out and say it!" Snape snapped
again.
"We can never pull it off," she continued.
"Albus, they are going to find out that she… she—oh,
for heavens' sake! This is
ludicrous. A student, Severus?"
"Yes, please feel free to make me out as the pervert I already deem myself to
be," he barked.
"That is not what I meant; I mean could there not have been any other way?"
"No," came a soft voice from the center of the room.
Hermione had heard enough of her professors' quarrelling. She couldn't stand them suffering because of her stupidity.
"Professor, I'm sorry to have caused all this trouble. I know that you are worried about me, but the Headmaster is right. There is nothing else that I can do.
"You see, until Professor Snape showed up, I had honestly thought that I was going to die. I never thought that I would make it out of that room alive. I have found myself in many situations before, Professor, but I was never as certain about dying as I was tonight. And I am sure of this because I thought about all the people I cared about in an instant and how I truly believed that I was not going to see them again".
Hermione's whispering was barely audible, and she could see that McGonagall's eyes were welling up whilst she spoke.
"I wasn't going
to leave without a fight," she continued, "but nevertheless, I would've died in
that room if Professor Snape had not convinced them….that I was in.… love with
him and working against Harry for him," she said hastily. "I know they fell for it because I--well, he nearly convinced me," she said
ashamedly. "If I don't do this,
Professor, his cover will be blown and all our lives will be at risk."
"But child, do you understand what you'll be asked to do? You'll have to convince the school and those
closest to you that you're still the same Hermione; that nothing has changed,
while at the same time convincing the Death-Eaters and their spies that you're…
in love with the Professor. How are you going to do that without either blowing
your cover or Professor Snape's? And
what valuable information on Mr. Potter are you planning on giving them to
carry on this charade."
Hermione shook her head as she pondered those words. Her hands shook between her thighs. She stared holes in her lap when no answers
or viable plan came to her.
"I'm not sure,
Professor. I'll just have to figure
something out, but it's done, and I have no other choice."
The room went quiet, and all the snores that filled the room noisily just
minutes ago were now gone. All the
figures in the paintings were as still as Muggle
photos as the discussion caught their attention.
"Hermione, are you sure you can do this," asked the Headmaster. Hermione simply nodded, though her expression
was tensed and apprehensive.
"Well then," the Headmaster articulated.
"I don't see why you should not be here for the rest of this discussion.
"Severus, please continue!"
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