Chapter Two
It was close to a week after my encounter with Ginny Weasley… no Ginny Potter, when I truly decided to take up Professor McGonagall's intriguing offer. The idea of actually being a teacher at my old school had always fascinated me... I just never thought that it would ever be possible for me to do. And even if I had, it would have, and now would, return me to the domain of my tragic heartache. Not that it really mattered to me. At least that is what I frequently told my aching heart, time over time again.
No, I was going to put all of that behind me… to the best of my ability that is… and I would try my hardest to become one of the best Transfiguration Professor that Hogwarts has ever seen, though Professor McGonagall would always be the best in my eyes.
"Professor McGonagall?" I called out softly from just outside of her office door. Though she was not totally recognized as the new Headmistress, she had already started to move her belongings about. Packing them for when she was to move into her new rooms of accommodation. "Professor? It is Hermione Granger here to see you about your most recent offer to me. I know that I am probably too late to get the job, but I was coming over to find out, if just in case I was wrong about me being too late."
"Ms. Granger. I have been wondering when you might come to your senses." I inwardly jumped. For some reason, I had not really been expecting getting to see the future Headmistress so soon, and in such a startling manner. For I had been looking into her office, and then, much to my surprise, she had come up behind me as suddenly and as quietly as the cat animagus form that was shared by the two of us. "Oh! Professor!" I exclaimed. "I thought that you were inside of your office!"
"Oh, that's alright Ms. Granger… Hermione… that is all perfectly understandable. Now as you were telling my office… you came here as a rather late response to my request to fill in my old position as the Transfiguration Professor." I simply nodded for Professor McGonagall to continue. "Well, though while I was rather displeased by your tardiness in responding to my request, I must say though, that the job is yours." I looked at her in sheer amazement. She must have seen something in my facial expression that amused her, because she gave me a glimpse of her small, yet rewarding smile.
"Ms. Granger, Hermione, I am rather pleased that you have decided to join the teaching staff of Hogwarts. Now in a couple of weeks, the remainder of the teachers will be arriving back here from their summertime vacations. I would, well all the teachers, actually, would be pleased to have you show up here at about the same time. And another thing, the staff will be having a small dinner right before the start of term, if you would be willing enough to come to that as well, and maybe bring your special someone along with you in the process." Professor McGonagall gave a small snort before continuing. "I had told Albus that I did not need a dinner in recognition for me becoming the new Head of Hogwarts, but, unfortunately, he insisted, so that appreciation dinner will be on the fifteenth of August." And then, in a softer tone, Professor McGonagall continued. "And Hermione, dear? You do not need to call me Professor any more. Starting now, we are colleagues, so you can call me Minerva."
"Yes, thank you professor, I mean Minerva." I replied. I was relieved that I had gotten the position, yet I was still nervous that I would not be good enough to fill in after Professor McGonagall, who I felt was still superior to me in many ways, when it came to experience and knowledge. It was going to be rather tricky for me to remember to call her by her first name, as I had spent ten years calling her Professor.
Timidly, I spoke up again. "Prof—Minerva? Is there anything else that I should do this summer, to prepare myself for your old position? Should I go back over all my notes from when I had been a student, so I know what to teach? I mean, there is not much more that I can do, now is there? I have to continue my other job until the end of July, but after that, my days are relatively free. I can work on my schedules then. Will that work?"
"Yes Hermione, that should work," she paused, and then continued. "So that means that you have already taken your vacation? Because if you have not done so…" she trailed off when she noticed the somewhat guilty expression on my face. She then took a long and hard look at me before continuing, in a somewhat softer voice. "Tell me, dear, when was the last time you took a break from your present job?" When she did not get an answer from me, she sighed. "You know, if you continue like that, you are going to have a nervous breakdown sometime. People need breaks from what they do every day. I suppose that that might be a reason behind Albus's sudden departure."
She paused, and then for several long minutes, there was a stiff and rather uncomfortable silence between the two of us. Suddenly she spoke up again. "Tell me. Has anything rough been happening in your life lately? Was there something that would cause you to work such long hours without as much as a single break? Could it be an embarrassing moment that just will not leave the mind's eye? Was it a rejection by someone special to you? Could it be another death of a loved one? Tell me dear, so I can see if I can help you in any way, shape or form. Is there anything that I can do for you?"
There was now a glint in her eye, something that I had almost never before seen there. I could not put down my finger on when I had last seen it glistening there. Suddenly I realized it. I realized with a sudden jolt in my heart, that the last time I had ever before seen her looking that way upon me was during my seventh year at Hogwarts, when I had just received notice of the death of my parents in a Death Eater attack.
"Yes, Professor. Minerva. Yes there is… was an incident that caused all of that." I paused as a sudden wave of forlornness and sadness suddenly swept through my very being. Looking up into her clear brown eyes, I noticed that they were brimming with a kind of sympathy. Maybe she could understand my problems, I thought to myself slowly. But, no, I sighed silently to myself that would do me no good. No good at all. Even if Minerva would understand the reasoning behind my everlasting grief, it would never do me any good at all.
She looked at me, expectedly. I sighed. "Yes, I had my heart broken. Three years ago to be exact. Though I never spoke a word about it ever since then." I paused. "To tell you the truth, it was because of that that I had almost decided to reject your offer. It was because of that that I took so long in deciding to accept in the first place. It was because of… because of him, that I chose the job that I have had for the last three years. I just wanted to forget the trauma that filled the end of my seventh year."
I stopped again. And then, much more quietly, I continued with my explanations. "I just wanted to forget him, and close up the place that he had gained within my ever aching heart. I just do not want to love again." Minerva gazed sadly down upon me, my head bent down in sorrow. "Victor wanted me to come to Bulgaria, to come and marry him, but I just could not do so. Though he told me that he loved me… I just could never return that gesture. I tell you… I cannot love and then forget that I ever loved to begin with. It is quite impossible, as I found out. Maybe I just need a chance to get over what I had lost all those years ago."
I was very near tears at the end of my heartfelt declaration. Minerva put her arms around my shaking form, shaking because of the dry sobs that shook me through to my very soul. "I understand, dear." She whispered gently to me. "I hope… we all hope that you will come to enjoy true happiness. For it all comes in it's own timing dear… love will always come when it decides to, not a moment too soon. You can trust me on that."
Neither of us noticed the dark figure slipping from the shadows, of the doorway, and disappearing around the bend in the hall.