Disclaimer : All Harry Potter things are copyright of the one and only JK Rowling. I don't own a thing, I'm not making money off of this, and I don't even have any money that anyone could get if they sued me. So, erm, yeah.
The Darkest of Wishes
Chapter 7
Career Advancement
"Hey, Hermione!" Graham waved at Hermione as she crossed across the Slytherin common room. "Did you see the notice board?"
"No," Hermione rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "What's going on?"
"We all have to see Professor Snape about our career choices." Graham sighed and shrugged. "He's probably going to tell me what a horrid Healer I'll make."
Hermione looked at Graham. A Healer? There was no way that she would let Graham heal her. Ever. Hermione smiled to give Graham a false sense of hope. "Oh, posh."
"Looks like you're at eleven this morning." Graham pointed to the posted piece of parchment. "I'm at a half past three. Yes! I get to skip Care of Magical Creatures - positively the stupidest class on earth. What with that oaf teaching."
"Actually, I think Hagrid is becoming a much better professor," Hermione sighed slightly as she heaved a pile of books into her arms. "Well, I'll see you at lunch."
x x x x x
"I see that all of your grades have improved immensely. Except for Divination; which has drastically fallen."
Hermione kept her eyes on everything except Snape's face. If Lupin had turned into a Death Eater there was no telling whether or not Snape was a real Death Eater or if he was spying for the Order. She couldn't tell... that was for sure.
"Yes," Hermione nodded as she looked at a very interesting piece of pottery in the corner of the room. "Is that new?"
"No," Snape eyed Hermione oddly.
"Oh, the house elves must have cleaned it, then." Hermione muttered. "So, what is this meeting all about anyway?"
"Is this a new tactic, Granger?"
"What?" Hermione was taken aback. She knew it had been too easy for Snape to be a double-spy for the Order. "Tactic? Oh, yes..." Hermione recovered herself. "I just feel that I'll be better prepared on all sides if I focused more on all of the subjects here."
"Except Divination?"
"Very wooly subject, if you ask me," Hermione rolled her eyes at the thought of Professor Trelawney.
"But you were doing so well," Snape sneered slightly, but Hermione ignored it. At least she sounded like the Hermione that everyone knew. The evil one who dissed teachers and school.
"Your tactic?" Snape lowered his gaze on her.
Hermione gave a mock gasp. "Of course not! How dare you imply that I would even consider doing something against-"
Hermione heard a knock at the door that interrupted her train of thought. Snape held his hand up to her to silence her. "Come in."
The door creaked open and a very handsomely dressed Remus Lupin entered. He smiled at Hermione, then nodded his head at Snape.
"Late again, Remus," Snape huffed. "Do take a seat."
"So, how far along have we gotten?" Lupin pulled up a chair and began to stare intently at Hermione.
"Hermione was talking about this new tactic that the Dark Lord has asked her to follow." Snape looked at Hermione, with an expression that she couldn't quite follow. She looked away quickly.
"Yes," Hermione stated plainly. "I'm not at liberties to discuss anything, of course."
"Right," Lupin nodded his head. Both Snape and Hermione looked at him.
"Why exactly is he here anyway?" Hermione asked Snape. She hoped it didn't sound entirely too mean.
"To assist you in your career. This is your last career advancement session, is it not?" Lupin asked incredulously. "Just here to make sure that my favorite pupil is on the right track."
Looks like I'm being spied on, is what it looks like, Hermione thought bitterly.
"Does the plan still say that you're going to be my assistant after your final year?" Snape asked Hermione; his eyes skimming the parchment.
"Of course," Hermione tried to keep her voice steady.
An assistant Potions professor? Of all things... and here I thought it was going to say in big, bright green letters... Future Death Eater.
"The Dark Lord knows that that part of the plan is perfect," Lupin muttered. "Not that it ever wasn't perfect. It's just that you infiltrating Hogwarts is the epitome of stealth and sneakiness on his part."
Oh, I hate my life. Hermione placed her head in her hands after Lupin spoke those words. She was going to be a spy for the Death Eaters. This was not good. Not good at all.
"I feel sick suddenly," Hermione placed her hand to her stomach. She had to get out of there. "I... are we done?" She looked up and made the mistake of looking directly into Snape's eyes.
"Yes," Snape nodded.
"Good." Hermione hurriedly left the room. She went to shut the door, but a figure stepped in the way to stop it from slamming too quickly. "Prof... I mean... Remus."
"Are you all right? Would you like me to take you to the Hospital Wing?" Remus placed a hand at the small of her back.
Fighting the urge to shrink away from his touch, Hermione just shook her head. "No - I'll see you later."
Lupin kissed her forehead and quickly looked around to see if anyone had seen. When he was certain that nobody was around, he hurried away with a wink.
When Lupin had moved out of sight, she hurried to the Headmaster's office. That was the only place that she knew that she could go. Dumbledore would know what to do. She was slightly surprised that she hadn't tried to talk to him yet.
Because you thought that you would finally wake up, Hermione scorned her thoughts. You thought it was all a dreadful dream.
When she came to the stone gargoyle, she realized that she didn't know the password. And without Harry and the Marauder's Map, it was going to be quite hard to get in without a teacher.
"Um... lemon drop? Fizzing whizbee?" Hermione had remembered Harry saying that Dumbledore liked to have candy names for his passwords. So, if she thought hard enough, maybe it would open. "Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans? Snackle Backs Horn-filled Candy... er..."
Hermione then noticed a painting on the other side of the hall. She hurried up to it and cleared her throat. "Excuse me?"
"Art thou speaking?" The wizard asked with a haughty tone. He had armor on and looked as if he had fought many a battle. "Speak louder, lass! Mine ears are old and feeble!"
"Do you know the password to the Headmaster's office?" Hermione raised her voice, hoping that she didn't attract outsider attention. "I really need to speak with him."
"Aye?" The wizard cocked his head to one side and placed his hand to his ear. "Louder, lass! Thou words are muddled and befuddled!"
"THE PASSWORD!" Hermione huffed. This was ridiculous. "DO YOU KNOW THE PASSWORD TO DUMBLEDORE'S OFFICE?
"Nay, I do not have any Blastcurd. Asketh one of thou professors of magic." The wizard then sat down on the ground and began to twirl his wand.
Hermione rolled her eyes. Not only did he have bad grammar, but he was also completely moronic, and she did not have time for moronic paintings.
"Who's making' all that fuss?"
Hermione looked up quickly to see Argus Filch. She faltered slightly and heard a mewing at her feet. Mrs. Norris. She shook her head in disbelief. It was just her luck.
"I need to see Professor Dumbledore, sir." Hermione nodded respectfully, even though she was planning on hexing him if he said no. Then he would definitely take her to the Headmaster. Hexing a staff member was considered very bad indeed.
"What makes you think he wants to see a grubby student like yerself?" Filch crossed his arms and smirked.
Hermione had had enough. "Rictusempra!" She had yanked out her wand and could hear Filch's cackling laughter echoing down the hall. She placed her wand away and waited for the spell to wear off.
Filch stood up quickly after his laughing fit wore off and glared at Hermione. "You'll pay fer that you will!"
"I sure will," Hermione agreed with a smile.
x x x x x
Hermione had never known how strong Filch's grip was. He had yanked her by her arm and began to pull her away from Dumbledore's office. With a now bruised arm, and a bruised air of confidence, Hermione knew that she was not being taken to Dumbledore. In fact, she feared she was heading for Filch's office. Where she'd probably get stashed into one of the many drawers and then left there for the rest of her miserable life.
"Hexin'... bloody stupid... I never..."
Hermione could only make one some of Filch's words in between all of the swearing. Finally, Hermione realized that she was being taken to the dungeons. Filch yanked Snape's classroom door open and shoved Hermione inside.
"This student of yers went and cursed me!" Filch roared into the Potions classroom. Snape looked up from the mound of parchment and shook his head.
"Feeling better already are we, Granger?" Snape placed his quill down and moved towards her.
Hermione shrugged, not wanting to speak. Her arm was hurting too badly from the new bruises.
"DETENTION SNAPE! I GET TO HAVE HER FOR DETENTION!" Filch bellowed. "So, that I can beat her with-"
"Since I am the Head of Slytherin House, I have the duty of punishing her." Snape nodded curtly to Filch. "Believe me, she will be punished. Severely. I can take this from here, thank you Argus."
"But... but... I have to hang her by her pinky toes!" Filch was pushed out of Snape's classroom. The door slammed behind him and Snape locked the door with his wand.
"Hermione, care to explain?"
"Not really." Hermione whispered softly.
"Speak up, girl!" Snape fumed. "Do you know how serious the situation is? Filch could have you expelled!"
"I know," Hermione agreed.
"If you knew... why did you do it?" Snape glared at her; his voice was calm, but extremely menacing.
"I don't know sir." Hermione sighed slowly. "Got carried away, I guess."
"You guess?" Snape shook his head and made his way back to his desk. "Fifty points from Slytherin," Hermione noticed how pained he was to take points away from his own house, but she figured that there was some odd sort of reasoning behind everything he was doing. "And you will have detention with me the rest of this week."
"Professor!" Hermione immediately shot up at this. Detention? She was not one to be put in detention. Not her. Not Hermione Granger.
"It's only three days, Granger, you will live to see next week, I assure you." Snape dipped his quill into the inkbottle. "Tomorrow night at eight."
Hermione stormed out of the room. She looked up at the clock and realized that she was late for Care of Magical Creatures. With a quick huff, to give her lungs more air, she began to run as fast as she could to Hagrid's hut.
x x x x x
"Tha's what a lethifold is," Hagrid concluded. "Any questions? Any? No? Well - I wan' six inches on three dark creatures o' yer choice for th' nex' class. Off ye go, now!"
Hermione smiled at Hagrid. This lesson had gone extremely well, considering that Hagrid had shown them a few pictures of some of the most dangerous animals in the entire wizarding world. He had also brought a few Doxies to show the class, which Hermione had thought very interesting. They were venomous of course, but Hagrid had kept them in their cages, which had made the class all very happy.
"Got a question, there 'ermione?" Hagrid looked slightly taken aback by her smile. "I know ye miss'd the firs' part o' the lesson."
Hermione nodded her head. "Yes, Professor, I'm sorry. Feel free to take points away from Slytherin."
"Wha'?" Hagrid narrowed his eyes in confusion. "It's alrigh'. I saw ye runnin' ter get here on time. Quite a surprise ter see ya worried about missin' som'thin'."
"Yes," Hermione nodded. She looked up to see Millicent and Graham motioning for her to hurry. "I thought the lesson was really great, Hagrid, really."
A huge tear leaked out of Hagrid's large dark eyes. "Well... if tha' just didn' make me day." And he turned away and headed into his house. Hermione wished she could follow him.
"You made the great oaf cry!" Millicent pointed at Hagrid, when Hermione reached them. "What did you say?"
Hermione shrugged. "The usual."
"Horrid!" Graham nudged Hermione. "Absolutely horrid piece of work you are."
"I know," Hermione nodded in agreement. "What the-"
An owl had just fell right in front of them with a small letter. Graham picked up the letter, petted the owl, and read the envelope. "It's for you Hermione."
"Me?" Hermione grabbed the letter.
Miss Hermione Granger
Hogwarts Courtyard
"Hey Hermione, want to watch the Quidditch team practice tonight?" Millicent stomped her way up a few stairs to reach the next landing. "Got a few good Chasers, but it's the Keeper and our Seeker that's going to take us all the way!"
"Actually," Hermione eyed the letter and decided not to open it in front of the two Slytherins in front of her. "I have detention tonight and for the rest of this week."
"For what?" Graham looked some what jealous. Hermione was starting to think that she had a thing for Professor Snape. Which was really... really... really gross when she thought about it.
"Hexing Filch."
x x x x x
When Hermione finally got a moment to herself she ripped open the letter.
Miss Granger,
You are requested to meet in front of the stone gargoyle tonight after your detention.
Sincerely,
A. Dumbledore
Hermione stared at the paper in front of her. She looked up at the clock and realized that she only had a few more hours until detention, and then finally she'd be able to talk to Dumbledore.
x x x x x
"Goodnight, Hermione," Snape called to her as she gathered her things. It was nearly eleven o'clock, and Hermione wanted to get some sleep. She had been cleaning cauldrons for three hours, which was not as fun as it sounded, considering she wasn't allowed to use her wand.
"Goodnight, Professor." Hermione yawned.
"See you tomorrow," he called as she heard more scratching of the quill against parchment. He had been writing a lot this evening, and it had driven Hermione insane to hear the constant scratching.
Hermione quickly hurried to the opening of Professor Dumbledore's office. It took her about ten minutes to get there, but at least she was hurrying. As soon as she had stopped to catch her breath, the stone gargoyle moved out of the way and revealed an entrance.
When she stepped inside, she heard the one voice that she had been longing to hear.
"Miss Granger," Dumbledore smiled at her, his blue eyes twinkling. He scratched his chin through his white beard and then smoothed his hand over it. "I see you got my invitation."
"I did," Hermione nodded. She was having a hard time to keep herself from looking extremely happy. She gave up trying to be Slytherin Hermione and sighed in relief. She thought she felt tears brimming on her eyes... but she shook them away. "I wanted to talk to you, Professor."
"And I you." Dumbledore nodded his head. He paused slightly, but then continued. "You are not the same person that you were a week ago."
Hermione opened her mouth, then shut it quickly. Her eyes lit up in surprise. "How did you... why? I don't understand... I thought..."
Dumbledore held up his hand to silence her. "I have a few friends here and there."
"Oh, Professor!" Hermione let out a sigh of relief. "I'm from a different reality. It's a lot like this one, except I'm Head Girl and in Gryffindor. And Professor Lupin is a werewolf... and... I have much better grades. Professor Snape is a member of the Order. Oh, I don't know if there even is an Order in this reality-"
"Miss Granger," Dumbledore smiled at her. "Professor Snape is still a member of the Order (Yes, we have one). That's how I knew that you were not yourself. He saw into your mind, when you told him that Voldemort had changed his plans. He had wondered about you since the Death Eater meeting, when he overheard you talking to Voldemort."
There was a pause and Dumbledore continued. His eyes twinkled again, and Hermione thought that he was enjoying this.
"I don't know about this other reality, but while you are still here, but you must try to behave as badly as possible. Professor Snape, Professor McGonagall, and myself will protect you at any cost. You need not worry about your safety, as long as you do your best to behave as if you were a true Death Eater. I know that I am asking a lot of a seventeen-year-old, but I sense a great strength in you."
Hermione took the opportunity to speak, during one of Dumbledore's pauses. "My strength is my friends. I'm not that strong without them..." Hermione thought to her last six years at Hogwarts. She had only helped Harry; she had never really been the main focus. She doubted that she could find the strength and courage without her friends.
"You said you were in Gryffindor?" Dumbledore pointed to the sorting hat that was to his right, sitting on top of a bookcase. "If the Hermione Granger sitting in front of me, is in fact a Gryffindor, then she will find courage to believe that she does have an immense power."
"Yes sir," Hermione nodded quietly. This was going to be tough.
"As I was saying, I would not ask this of you, if I did not think you were capable. However, I must warn you that if Voldemort or any Death Eaters found out that you or Professor Snape are against them... it will mean disaster. So, you must not seek out your old friends. I know that that will pain you, but it is for your good as well as theirs." Dumbledore's eyes looked sad, but he gave her a strong smile. "About your friends, who were they?"
"Mostly all the seventh year Gryffindors." Hermione explained. "But I was very close to Ron Weasley and Harry Potter."
"Ah, the Weasleys. Good family." Dumbledore nodded. "But - did you say Harry Potter?"
"Yes," Hermione was perplexed at how Dumbledore has asked the question. "Is he all right?"
"I have never heard of a student by that name in Hogwarts."
x x x chapter end x x x
Author's Note : Wooh - chapter seven! Dun, dun, DUNN! Next chapter - Hermione does get a friend. I promise. I can't be that cruel. Thanks to all the reviews and to Fritz who makes me want to write my stories faster (POSTCARDS)! And to Kayti who is ever so kind enough to be my Beta! 3's them!
In answer to some really good and insightful questions... some of which I probably should have already told you:
Why was it Hermione who had to deliver the book to Lucius if the other two were there?
Narcissa and Draco are really horrible people. If a Dementor had found out about the potion inside the spine of the book; they would have probably imprisoned (or worse - killed) Hermione on the spot. The Malfoys were only trying to protect themselves, in case a Dementor realized something was fishy. The Malfoys are evil. Purely evil.
If she was adopted by the blacks dont you think her last name would be black as well?
Probably, but one of my best friends is adopted and she decided on keeping her original name. I didn't think it was that big of a deal that she kept Granger instead of changing her name to Black. And about the "Granger" name - let's just say that the Blacks were not all on their own when they "adopted" Hermione. We'll find out about that during Christmas holiday!
Remember what Voldemort told her, "But, when the Black family adopted you, they thought you were of pureblood like themselvesss. I would hate to tell them the newsss that their beloved daughter is actually a filthy and dirty muggle born witch."
I'm incriminating myself! Argh! Let's just say that I'm INCREDIBLY surprised that you were the first one to wonder about these small inconsistencies. Let's just say that Twilight... oh - I'm saying too much. Thank you for the questions. Some will be answered in the story later on ... so I can't answer them now. :) Oh, and as for Graham Pritchard being a girl - I just needed another girl and 'Graham' is a unisex name. Voila!
Chapter 8 Entitled:
Oh, Mandy