Something to Talk About by Sara Lady Dalian
A/N: This is an immediate continuation of "Man to... Man?" and I suggest you read that story before you read "Something To Talk About." MtM was written from Severus' POV, but this story is from Hermione's POV.
Some notes for those that follow the series – while I was typing this chapter, I also got the outline for "Every Which Way But Loose" written. EWWBL is scheduled to take four chapters, but I may elongate it to take in five. I will have to see how the flow goes. It is set in Paris, about six years after the Trio graduates from Hogwarts.
There are just three or four more chapters. I had scheduled four, but one is rather small and might be easily combined with another, I'll have to see. Here you all go – I'm sorry for the wait. shrugs sheepishly. I hadn't planned on chapter 6 taking this long.
Chapter 6
When he had turned the corner, humming slightly to himself and chewing happily on a lemon drop, she remembered what Harry had asked Percy Weasley the night they were all sorted, about Dumbledore being mad. Sometimes Hermione thought he was more than a bit mad. But she agreed he was brilliant.
"I don't want to talk about it." Hermione must have repeated that sentence ten times to one or the other of her friends. Ron had seemed rather upset at her – as if his doing something stupid was her fault. Harry on the other hand seemed mildly confused.
"But Hermione," Ron whispered again.
"No, you listen, Ronald Weasley. What I do with my life is my business and my business alone. You have no say in that, and quite frankly, you never did. Any liberties I may have granted you dissipated quite some time ago. As for your actions last night," she narrowed her eyes at him while continuing, "you can only be glad that you didn't get expelled for trying to attack a Professor."
Harry swung his head at her. She could see the thoughts running through his head. Neither of them had said a word about that part of the evening, so how had she known? The only possible answers were Snape or Dumbledore and one was just as bad as the other – just for different reasons.
Ron merely glared at her and turned away in a huff. She could see him muttering something under his breath and thought she heard the word priorities but couldn't be sure. Sometimes she thought his were way off the map. But there was very little she could do for him. He was a grown boy by now – or at least he should be.
Furiously she turned her attention back to Professor McGonagall If they interrupted class again, she didn't know if she would just scream or whether she'd actually start throwing hexes. When she looked down at the notes she had made from this chapter she realized Ron had caused her to miss discussion of three pages. Hex – definitely a hex was in order she thought as she flipped to the proper section.
It wasn't until lunch that one of the other Gryffindors asked her what was going on between her and Ron. As it happened that someone was Ginny Weasley. She was often appointed by the rest of Gryffindor as the unofficial pulse keeper for the Trio. When something was wrong between the three of them, it seemed to infect the rest of the House.
It was just after a very tense lunch that Ginny cornered Hermione outside of the Great Hall. "Ok. Give." Hermione felt Ginny take her by the elbow and lead her to a little nook behind a suit of armor. She didn't want to talk to Ginny – after all Ron was her brother and he was the one acting the prat – but she knew that if she didn't tell the redheaded girl something she would never get to Herbology.
"Your brother is being a typical, prattish male, Ginny. That's all there is to the story." She shrugged out of Ginny's hold and walked away. Though she understood the reasons, she meant what she had said to Ron and Harry earlier. She didn't want to talk about this just now. She still couldn't believe Ron's insufferable attitude – even after six and a half years – and she couldn't believe his attempted attack on Professor Snape. It wasn't like it had been in third year when Snape was trying to hurt Sirius and Professor Lupin – that was a matter of defense, off Hogwarts grounds. This was just blind stupidity.
Even the beginnings of a glorious spring day didn't filter through Hermione's mood. Usually she could at least lighten her tensions outside when the sky was as clear as it was today – but this time the weather barely registered. Something about that vaguely bothered her, but she wasn't sure exactly what it was.
Her winter cloak flapped behind her as she strode over the lawn towards the greenhouses. She was a little early, but she never had let that bother her before. As she was about to open the door to greenhouse number five she heard voices inside. Her eyes narrowed. Murmuring a soft silencing charm on the door, she opened it just enough to squeeze inside. She found two third year Ravenclaws standing there, poking the Venomous Tentacula pot with a long stick.
"What shall it be? Five points a piece for being in a restricted area. Another two points a piece for missing your lunch – growing boys need their vitamins. And ten points a piece for trying harm a valuable specimen plant." Hermione's voice was hard as she pronounced judgment on the younglings. But they were in grave danger, probably without even knowing it. The Tentacula was getting ready to flower and it's buds contained a powerful contact poison – a poison that was clear and could spread easily –say from bud to stick to skin. "I will also expect you to inform Professor Sprout of your presence here, and what you were doing. Run along, now. You've got enough time to find her in greenhouse two." The children picked up their satchels and ran out of the greenhouse very quickly. Hermione did not often invoke her privilege of point deduction, but when she did it was often rather spectacular. This time it only gave her a headache.
That headache didn't say goodbye quickly, either. It wasn't long before other members of her class came trampling into the greenhouse. When those early comers noticed that Hermione was there but Harry and Ron hadn't shown up, they quickly started murmuring amongst themselves. Those that didn't yet know of the latest disagreement between Ron and Hermione were enlightened – and speculation was rampant about the cause.
"So, Granger," Malfoy said, walking over to the table she was standing by. He swept her school books aside and hopped up on the counter next to her – earning a glare that should have warned him away. "I heard that you and the Weasel are on the outs again. Can't say that I blame you. I don't know why you stood the presence of that blood-traitor for so long." He raised his eyebrows as if to suggest some kind of... something that Hermione just didn't want to think about.
"Oh, right. That would be because you couldn't do any better. Top marks in the school won't change your blood lines so you had to go fo..." He didn't get any further. Somehow Hermione's wand in his throat was sufficient deterrent.
"One more word and I'll be using Malfoy tissue samples as poison test strips." There was even a convenient spell to flay the skin and separate the bones. Hagrid had mentioned it once in passing.
"Miss Granger. It would help if you'd let Mr. Malfoy off the counter. The Tentacula seedlings are behind him. I don't want him to ruin next weeks' lesson." Professor Sprout's voice was clear, a bit bored and rather down-to-earth about the possibility of Malfoy being taken in by Tentacula seedlings. Hermione only smirked when he almost ran towards his spot at the back of the class. They were only seedlings, after all.
Harry had slipped into the spot Draco had vacated. His eyes held a worried expression as he studied Hermione's face. She could see that he was concerned for her – and trying to buffer her and Ron. When he squeezed her hand, she squeezed back. But she wouldn't look at Ron.
There were very few accidents in the greenhouse that day. Most everything in greenhouse five was fairly dangerous in some way or other. The students had come to respect or, at the very least, were willing to give Professor Sprout the benefit of the doubt when she said that the plants needed to be handled carefully. As it happened, they were preparing Wiggamagard root for Professor Snape to use in the Advanced Potions class. Nearly half of the students present also took that class. The thought of having to work with roots that had been improperly harvested was not something that they looked forward to.
The lesson seemed to drag on forever. Hermione knew that reality didn't stretch itself just because she wanted the day to be over with – but today felt like time had done just that. And the feat was accomplished with the sole purpose of annoying her. Class wasn't something that Hermione usually dreaded, but today – well, today was different.
As the class started to break up, Hermione purposely took her time in cleaning up her work area. Ron quickly left the greenhouse with only the barest of cleaning. Harry just looked at Hermione with a small shrug. She shooed him out, knowing that he wanted to make sure Ron didn't get into trouble while he was in such a foul mood.
As she was leaving the greenhouse, Professor Sprout called out to her. "Oh, Miss Granger. I wanted to thank you for taking care of those young Ravenclaws earlier. They came to me and apologized. I dare say that they were rather afraid that you would deduct more points if they didn't confess promptly." The professor had a rather mischievous smile on her face. "It did them no harm. And those Tentaculas could have. Thank you again!" With that the dumpy professor made her way past Hermione and back towards the school.
She was just about to follow when she saw Harry and Ron heading towards the Pitch. She knew that neither of them had class just then – and they didn't have practice. She could see that they were having some kind of heated discussion; Ron's hands were moving and both of them were trying to talk at the same time. Not really wanting to, but knowing they had to talk this through, Hermione Granger did the Gryffindor thing and followed them.
Since they had such a good lead she didn't catch up with them until they had reached the pitch. The discussion they were having was still intense. The Quidditch stands were rising in front of her before she could make out what the boys were saying. Neither of them realized that she was there.
"... like that." Harry, as ever, tried to calm his friend down.
But it hardly ever worked.
"I still think he seduced her!" Ron's voice had the same inflection and volume as if it had come from a howler.
All they heard was an outraged and furious gasp. All they see is the wand tip of the scariest witch in Hogwarts - pointed strait towards them.