A/N: This chapter is a bit weird. Not sure if I like it. Next chapter should be better with more Me Tis action.
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Minerva started as the door behind her opened unexpectedly. Seeing who it was, she relaxed.
"Albus, I thought it might have been someone else. How are things at the ministry?"
Albus' pacific visage was tinged with weariness but he smiled even so. War was never a pretty or a glorious business but still you grinned and bore it. Life went on.
"Not bad, not bad, Minerva – considering what a shambles it was under Fudge. Helena's done marvellous things with it." He looked at her and Minerva felt his gaze pass straight through as if he could read exactly what she was thinking. It was a sensation she would never wholly get used to despite her long friendship with Albus Dumbledore. "I'm sorry, Minerva."
She believed him. At heart he was a pacifist, a pacifist who knew the world had no place for pacifists. If Voldemort approached Albus Dumbledore with the intent to kill him and leave it at that, Albus Dumbledore would peaceably take the killing curse full in the heart. However, if Voldemort approached Albus Dumbledore with the purpose of killing him and following one death with the deaths of countless innocents, Albus Dumbledore would fight for every last innocent life Voldemort threatened.
"She scares me, Albus. She frightens me more than He does, even though she's our key to victory."
"You're not alone on that." Albus massaged his temples with long fingers, "The very thought of a being for whom there are no rules, no consequences; a creature for whom morality has no meaning and lives its life without any fear of reprisal for its actions…it's appalling – terrifying. It's teaching at Hogwarts…"
"Albus –"
He shook his head, staring into space, "The situation is worse than I could ever have envisaged. Doubtless we will defeat Riddle, but at what cost?"
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Hermione stared silently after Harry. There had been dark bags under his eyes and the gaze that she had forced herself to meet had seemed almost lifeless. She felt chilled to the core. She needed to confront someone, confront the world even, for being so cruel. She hadn't wanted to tell him. She'd rather have lied and kept lying; run and kept running from reality. The only problem was that she couldn't lie. Not any more than she was lying to him already. It felt horrible. On one hand she had to lie to him to protect him from himself, on the other she wanted to lie to protect him from the harsh reality of his situation in this mess.
He was missing lunch again. One more thing to report, she thought bitterly to herself. Feeling guilt and self-recrimination weighing heavily on her heart, she turned back to the Great Hall and lunch, despite having lost all appetite for food.
It didn't take long to find Ron, arguing loudly as he was with Ginny surrounded by a crowd of confused and vocal fellow Gryffindors. From a distance, although she couldn't quite make out what verbal blows were being exchanged, it appeared Ginny was furiously steamrollering her brother over some matter. Words were flying like fire from a flamethrower out of her mouth as she laid into her unfortunate sibling. Having exhausted her considerable lung capacity and suitably flattened Ron, Ginny pivoted on her heel, red with rage to the roots of her fiery hair, and stalked high shouldered towards Hermione.
About to enquire as to the cause of the altercation, Hermione found herself being grabbed with an iron grip and dragged by the wrist back the way she had come without a word from Ginny. Having been unceremoniously hauled half way back towards the common room, Hermione was released as Ginny spontaneously started laying in to the unfortunate corridor wall with fists and feet.
"That's going to hurt if you keep it up, Gin'"
If looks could kill, Ginny could have hired herself out as a weapon of mass destruction, "I hope you love that idiot a whole lot because you're not going to find a more pathetic, stupid excuse for a bloke anywhere else on this Earth. You were wrong about him; he's got the emotional capacity of a flobberworm – hah! Less maybe! God is he thick…" She leaned against the wall sighing heavily as she came down from her peak of anger, hands flat to the stone above her head. "'Mione please just get yourself together and get together with Ron, I know he's an idiot but he'll soon realise what he's got, you two are meant to be together. Besides," she swung back to face the taller girl; "it'll get him off this 'protective older brother' routine…"
Hermione slipped her arms around Ginny's waist in a sisterly hug, leaning her chin on top of her head.
"Yeah yeah, take advantage of the shortarse, why don't you…"
Standing on tiptoes, Hermione grinned down at the humorously indignant Ginny, "We've got a house party coming up, you know, MacGonagall's orders!"
"And how is that meant to cheer me up? It'll just be the same old guys all trying to butter me up in the vain hope that I might take pity on them and they might get some nookie," she folded her arms, shrugging out of Hermione's embrace, "and what they're going to get is a smack in the mouth if they think I'm going to give them anything."
"Aw Ginny…"
"No, it's ok really but – well, you know what it's like…"
If she was honest with herself Hermione had absolutely no idea what it was like, but that was beside the point. Suddenly a thought struck her.
"Damn! I completely forgot – what happened in that detention you had the other day?"
Ginny glanced at her feet for a second before giving Hermione a sidelong cat-smile, "Oh, it went to plan."
"Gin', do you realise how scary that grin is on you?"
"Absolutely. I use it to full effect, in fact I think I should get it patented and copyrighted. Anyway, although he's keeping pretty quiet about things, and you can't blame him really, I'm almost certain he's been hiding behind that Slytherin stereotype all his life. There is definitely a different Draco behind that Malfoy mask."
"I hope you're right, that's all I'm saying…" Hermione held her hands up defensively as Ginny shot her a warning with a flash of hazel eyes.
"Don't doubt me, I'm a big girl now and I know a fake when I see one." She paused, glancing up as people coming back from lunch began to fill the corridors, "Now why is MacGonagall giving us a party all of a sudden? I know Ron's been made Quidditch captain and all that malarkey, but what's it for?"
"Apparently to improve morale, but…"
"I think it's seeing Harry so down that's getting to everyone more than anything. It's like having a constant reminder that this is all about him and there's nothing we can do about it." For a moment there was an awkward silence between them, "Sorry – I shouldn't have been that blunt."
Hermione unclenched her fists. Once again the distasteful truth had smacked her in the gut leaving the hollow sensation of helpless guilt in its wake. She really was starting to hate the truth…
"No, you're right. I just wish there was something we could do to lighten the load on him but there isn't anything."
"You could talk to the demon-prof…" Ginny hoped the suggestion wasn't too ridiculous, "You can't fail until you've tried."
Far-fetched as it was, wheels started to turn in Hermione's head. What if the demon did listen to her? It was going to be taking over Snape's Occlumency lessons after all…
A plan was forming in her mind. "Ginny you're a genius!"
Ginny bowed, "I thank you. All shall worship me in my magnificence." Suddenly she stood up straight and stared alarmed, "Whoa! I just realised what the hell I just said! You're not really going to consult 'she of the weird glowy eyes' are you?"
"It's too late, I've made my mind up now. I've got her after this next free period so I'll try to catch her after class. She can hardly fry me to a crisp for simply wanting to talk to her."
Ginny continued to gaze at her with cringing eyebrows just as Hermione had once looked at her when first informed of Ginny's intention to pursue Draco. Then as now, there was no dissuading the determined Gryffindor in either case.
In recognition of this fact, Ginny sighed, "So what are you doing in your free then?"
"Writing my will." Hermione grinned at Ginny's expression, "No, as usual I'll be in the library if you need me, but don't expect to get a hundred percent of my attention – I've got four feet of potions on top of this DADA coursework to research."
"As if you could ever ignore me…"
"Believe me, sometimes I'm tempted to put a silencing charm on you…"
Draco watched them as they headed away from him towards the main staircase and out of earshot. If Ginny was going to watch him then he was damned if he wasn't going to watch her just as carefully. From what he had made of their conversation it seemed that on the surface they were two girls trying to get on with the everyday concerns of overbearing elder siblings, relationships and school work. However underlying the more mundane aspects of their conversation lay a deeper core of tension. There was frustration in the way the mood leapt from one emotion to its opposite with an almost manic quality. They didn't know what to do; there were no clearly defined roles for them to play anymore. So they talked and made silent pleas for understanding that went half comprehended between them. He could sympathise with that desire to be understood, but then again the only person he needed to justify himself to was his conscience – what little of it still existed anyway. Still, he knew no man was an island; people needed eachother. He knew what Ginny wanted, and maybe he was prepared to give her a chance. But not now and not until he knew how Kittson was going to play her cards. Until she made her move there was no knowing just what kind of turns events might take.
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Righty then! You know what to do…review, review, review…