CHAPTER 10: DESTROYING AN UNBREAKABLE BOND
"Err, Hello Hermione, I didn't expect to see you here." Harry stammered nervously, feeling extremely disconcerted by the bushy-haired girl's stern glare. It was the type of glare that stripped away your façades and defences, leaving you a blubbering wreck unable to tell anything but the truth. It was also a look of disappointment and betrayal, as though Harry had been an extremely naughty little boy got stealing from a sweet shop. But what scared him most of all was that she only gave the look once she had made up her mind and found the subject of the glare guilty of some heinous crime and once Hermione made up her mind on something changing her opinion on it was nigh on impossible. In Harry's opinion it would be easier to persuade Voldemort to join the light side than it would be to persuade Hermione Granger to change her mind.
"Obviously not," Hermione replied, her tone of voice colder than the Ice Cream Harry was in the middle of eating, "Otherwise I'm sure you wouldn't be here, having fun with your new friend Malfoy when you're supposed to be on the run. But you're here and you've seen and now you have to explain why exactly you betrayed us." The implication of her comment was clear; she believed that Harry had run away from the Dursley's to join Voldemort. Nothing else would have made Harry angrier than the accusation of betrayal. He was not a filthy snivelling little death eater and never would be. His face hardened into an ugly snarl and waves of power fell away from him, as anger utterly consumed him. It was a terrifying sight even for the normally brave Hermione, at whom the power was directed.
The bushy haired girl was momentarily stunned, before realising she had made an error in her judgement. If Harry truly was a death eater then he would not have overreacted in such an emotional manner, and even if his reaction were faked the flows of powers falling off him would have been malicious not angry.
"Betrayal?" He hissed furiously leaning over the table so their noses met, a fierce glare directed straight into her eyes stronger than the one directed back at him. It took all of Harry's self-control to resist the urge to leap over the table and punch her for her comments, "You think I would stoop so low as to join that evil murderous bastard, the thing who has made my life a complete misery. Do you honestly think so little of me as to even consider the possibility of me becoming a cowardly, murderous, pathetic, spineless death eater, who lives to be the plaything of a bitter self-important psychopath with a grudge. That I would willing bow down to the man who murdered my parents, who has pursued me at every turn…" He was ranting, his tone bitter and twisted full of hatred for Voldemort and for the girl who even considered the possibility of him joining Voldemort. It was a tone that shocked Hermione because it is a dark tone, full of hatred and malice, completely unlike the sweet, innocent Harry that she knew. It was a tone, which the Harry she knew, the one that had left school just over a month ago wouldn't have used. In that one tone of voice she knew that wherever Harry had been over the summer had changed him in a manner that she didn't like and that she refused to put up with.
"What was I supposed to think?" She screeched righteously. She may have realised her mistake but that did not mean she felt any less angry, "You disappear from the Dursleys without telling Professor Dumbledore, only to turn up here three weeks later all chummy with Draco Malfoy? How do you think I felt about hearing that you had disappeared? Do you know how worried I was? You could have died, and no one would have known. You should have told the headmaster, rather than just run away. If the Dursleys were causing problems he would have sorted them out for you."
Harry stood up straight, laughing bitterly at his supposed friend's naivety. Normally he would have extremely concerned about how Hermione would have reacted to his opinion of Dumbledore, after all she idolised the headmaster because he was leader of the light side and defeater of Grindelwald. But as it was he was far too angry with her to care what she thought, and that what he was about to say would most likely end their friendship, "Dumbledore!" he snapped, "Albus Dumbledore is nothing more than a manipulative conniving bastard, who doesn't care about me at all beyond my ability to defeat Voldemort. As far he's concerned it doesn't matter what happens to me as long as I stay alive, sane and on the light side. He even told the Dursley's to carry on beating me as long as they didn't cause any permanent damage."
"Harry James Potter!" Hermione screamed looking shocked and horrified by what she was hearing, "I demand you take that back. Professor Dumbledore is a good man not some sort of conniving freak. He wouldn't do anything of the sort; especially to someone he cares about as much as you. He's a great man, ten times the wizard you'll ever be and how dare you speak ill of him. And if he says stay at the Dursleys you stay at the Dursleys, not put your life in danger by running away so Voldemort can get to you."
"Put my life in danger by running away!" Harry sneered bitterly, "If I'd stayed at the Dursley's I would have died. Vernon took upon himself to punish me for Cedric's death, by beating every night, believing me a murderer. After just eight days I was desperate to get out so I wrote to Dumbledore believing he would help me. Oh how wrong I was. He didn't even tell Vernon to stop beating me, so naturally I thought he believed me a murderer just like Vernon had been trying to tell me. The next evening after Vernon's daily beating I tried to commit suicide but Aunt Petunia walked in on me so I panicked and ran away. Three weeks later Petunia found me, no longer feeling suicidal and took me to her parents, who, much to my surprise turned out to be magical. But not Dumbledore found out and tried to send me back to the Dursleys even though he knew it would have killed me, but thankfully my grandfather talked him out of it." Even though his tone of voice had remained the same throughout his story, his mood had improved slightly, but not enough to change his attitude to Hermione, who seemed to be in a state of shock.
"You tried to commit suicide!" she gasped, just as horrified as she had been a few moments previously, but for a completely different reason, "Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell Professor Dumbledore? If he'd known he would have taken you away from them."
"I did tell him," Harry replied, exasperation at Hermione's stubbornness showing through his animosity. He knew that she would be hopelessly stubborn, but this was just taking the biscuit, he had said a few minutes previously that he had written to the headmaster and she had obviously chosen to ignore it, as it didn't fit in with her view of events. Events she knew nothing of, but had already decided that Harry was the one to blame without hearing the whole story, "He sent the Dursleys a letter asking them not to cause any permanent damage, which Uncle Vernon ignored. He didn't even tell them to stop beating me."
"There you go then," Hermione retorted, believing Harry's comments had vindicated her viewpoint, but deep down her anger was beginning to build up because of Harry's constant and unjustified criticism of the headmaster, "Professor Dumbledore tried his best to help you, but your Uncle just ignored him. The headmaster probably didn't have another safe house for you, so he had to send your Uncle a warning letter, but he didn't know that it was going to be ignored. It was your Uncle's fault, not Professor Dumbledore's."
"It doesn't matter whether he had a safe house ready or not." Harry argued passionately. Although he still felt angry at Hermione, the bushy-haired girl's sheer stupid stubbornness was not the cause of it after all he had expected it and made allowances for it. He wasn't even bothered about losing her friendship, if she was going to act as if insulting Dumbledore was a personal affront, not even Malfoy acted that way about Voldemort. Instead his anger following her earlier supposition of betrayal had not dissipated, "He knew I was in danger at the Dursleys and he knew that, far more danger than I would have been in if he had brought me back to Hogwarts. To leave me at the Dursleys and then threaten to send me back, even after being told that I had tried to commit suicide, is not only unforgivable but shows either exceptional poor judgement or a complete lack of disregard for my safety. Take your pick, but the evidence points to the later."
"Don't the last four years mean anything to you," Hermione protested resentfully, "The way Professor Dumbledore has helped us, answered all the questions you had about your parents…"
She was interrupted by another bitter laugh; Harry was in hysterics at the thought of Dumbledore actually answering a question about his past "Dumb-dork answer questions about my parents!" Harry exclaimed once he had sufficiently sobered up, "That's a good one, Hermione, funniest thing I've heard in ages. He never answers anything, especially something about my parents. Now I know you idolise Dumbledore, Hermione, but even you should know that he never answers a question directly unless he can't possible help it."
Whereas Harry's rage had faded at what he perceived to be such a ridiculous comment, Hermione was angrier than ever. She could not tolerate anyone criticising such a great man so openly and to make such stupid and unfounded accusations, especially when it was someone who should know better. It was almost as if he was making the headmaster out to be evil, which was a ridiculous proposition. He was a good man, everyone knew that, even the Slytherins said so, but then being evil they should know better than most. But for one of her supposed best friends to twist the great man's name in such a manner was simply outrageous and completely unacceptable. She wouldn't let a Slytherin get away with it, and just because Harry was a Gryffindor it didn't change anything, in fact it made things ten times worse. Without stopping to think about it she slapped Harry on the side of his face and stormed off, but not before yelling, "Take that back you obnoxious evil git. You're no friend of mine." Harry's gaze followed her, it was not an angry gaze, angry at Hermione's actions, nor was it a hurt gaze, hurt by the end of their friendship. It was a pitying gaze, pitying the fact she would not accept the truth, sad that she would not accept the obvious and perhaps a little sad at the loss of a friend. When he could see her no more he returned to the table and continued to his ice cream, thankful for the freezing charm that had prevented it from melting.
"You don't look all that sad about the fact you just lost a friend." Zabini commented after a minute of uneasy silence.
"It's her loss not mine," Harry replied calmly, "If she refuses to see the truth then I pity her for it. As for our friendship, well if she refuses to accept me for who I am then she can't have been a particularly good friend could she."
"True," Blaise replied, it was perfectly obvious to both boys that Malfoy was going to make a comment about her heritage, something that Harry wasn't in the mood to stand for, despite his calm exterior. He was glad therefore that Zabini spoke first, "But aren't you just a little bit sad?"
"Of course," Harry replied hastily to prevent Malfoy from speaking, "But I'm more disappointed in her, disappointed that she's let something come in the way of our friendship, especially after what happened two years ago after I received my Firebolt for Christmas. I held out a little hope that she had learned from that, but she obviously hasn't. I just hope Ron won't repeat what happened last year."
Malfoy sniggered, "I wouldn't set your hopes too high then, Potter. Weasley is likely to be even more irrational than Granger is." he drawled.
"I don't know," Harry responded thoughtfully, "It depends on what the Daily Prophet says tomorrow, unless I manage to get there first of course. Which knowing Ron's sleeping habits is highly likely."
From the longest chapter to the shortest chapter, and still no more information about the Potter Family History. I will get some in before Harry gets back to Hogwarts, that is a promise, but that doesn't neccesarily mean next chapter. As for Hermione, all of the Gryffindors will fall out with Harry at some stage or other, some will make up quickly, someslowly and some not at all. Hermione is just the first. Thank You to all those who reviewed Chapter Nine. The reviews were much appreciated.