Disclaimer: I don't own HP or any of these characters. That belongs to JKR, Scholastic Books, Warner Brothers, etc.
Chapter Twenty Five : Both Hands Full
For all her words of yesterday, Hermione did feel guilty about owling in sick. She supposed that it was good that she and Malfoy didn't have as much work as before, but she still felt guilty. But the look on Harry's face told her that he would have a hard time stomaching her refusing to see Professor Flitwick simply because she had work. And he had already been so understanding that Hermione didn't think it would be fair for her not to go today. So she was being unfair to Malfoy instead.
Somehow, it seemed like Malfoy was always getting the short end of the stick from her lately. Hermione didn't mean to treat him poorly. Indeed, she had come to regard him as a friend – albeit one more prone to sarcasm than even Ron. But she didn't trust him like she trusted both Harry and Ron. Hermione thought that she could never trust him like that, not after everything that he had said to her and done to her friends. But it was heartening to know that they could make a peace of sorts. Yet it was that newfound closeness that made her feel guilty, that made her feel like she didn't deserve to be his friend because she usually treated him so poorly. Hermione couldn't even assuage her guilt by promising to make it up to Malfoy, as Harry would probably take it the wrong way. And she couldn't blame Harry for that, especially as it appeared that Malfoy needed her almost as much as Harry did.
Thank goodness that it appeared that Harry had yet to figure that one out. That would be cause for an explosion from him if ever there was any. Hermione had seen enough of his temper while in school to know that it wasn't something to be provoked. She hoped that at the very least she was able to find some sort of counter to the charm before he realized what it meant for the charm to have sent her to Malfoy. That was probably reason enough to justify her leaving Malfoy to his own devices at work today, in a rather twisted manner. Of course, she could have come in and only taken a half day off, for Professor Flitwick had asked her to come at one since he had morning classes and a couple things to arrange, but that would have necessitated her explaining why she needed the rest of the day off to Malfoy. All things considered, it was just easier for her to take off the whole day.
That meant she had nothing to do until the afternoon. Hermione had already cleaned the flat she shared with Harry. It was now sparkling. That hadn't taken long, given that the both of them were relatively neat and that Hermione was not against the use of magic to help in household chores. Why get on your knees to scrub the floors when you could magic the cloth to do so by itself? There wasn't anything she needed to do for Crookshanks and Hedwig either, aside from feed them. All in all, they were both low maintenance pets, unlike Ron's Pig who was very much the attention hog. Finally, Hermione settled for taking one of the tomes that she had borrowed yesterday and reading it, hoping to find something that would be of use to her.
Time passed quickly after that, and before she knew it, it was time for her to leave. Hermione quickly checked to make sure Crookshanks and Hedwig were fine, before taking off. Once at the school, she ignored the stares she received from some of the younger students. It was one thing to see an old student at Hogwarts during the weekend, when they might be visiting old friends but quite different to see one during the week. Add that to the fact that she was one of the famous (or infamous, depending on who you asked) Gryffindor Trio and Harry Potter's current girlfriend, and there were plenty of reasons for the younger students to stare. Hermione began to sympathize with what Harry had to go through. It wasn't very pleasant, to be looked at as if you were some strange specimen to study. Hermione waved a quick hello to Ginny and the other students she knew, before pelting up the stairs that would take her to Professor Flitwick's office. When she reached it, she knocked on the door and opened it, after receiving permission to do so.
To her surprise, the Charms professor was not alone. Sitting across from him and sipping a cup of tea was Professor McGonagall.
"Welcome back, Hermione," said Flitwick. "I hope you don't mind but I took the liberty of telling Minerva about your little problem here—"
"I hardly think it counts as a little problem," said the Transfiguration professor sternly, tsking at Hermione. "I would have thought that you had more sense than that Miss Granger. To use a dangerous charm such as that, which you had modified on yourself. That was not smart at all."
"I know," said Hermione, hanging her head. She shuffled further into the room, allowing the door to close, not wanting anyone else to witness this. "I know it was stupid, but I can't regret it. There has been some good to come out of it," she said.
"If you are referring to your current relationship with Mr. Potter—"
"Minerva!" said Professor Flitwick reproachfully.
"No, Filius, I will have my say," responded McGonagall. "Miss Granger, for all her intelligence, has taken many actions that I would deem unwise and I cannot allow her to continue believing in the lie that it was this charm that brought them together."
"But it did!" Hermione protested. "If I hadn't used it, I would've never—"
"That is exactly right. You would have never done anything," said McGonagall. "And you should know better than most that things will not change unless you are brave enough to take action. If you ask me, I think that you and Mr. Potter may have been together long before this, if you simply had had the courage to tell him how you felt for him." Hermione simply continued to look at the floor. "It was obvious to me, and to others as well, that the two of you were too close to be only friends. How things would have turned out, I do not know. But I do know that you cannot credit the charm for bringing you together, when you could have done that so easily yourself."
"It's nice to think that," said Hermione. "That we would have been together even if I didn't—"
"No, Hermione. I did not say that. You should listen more carefully. I said you would be together before this if you had taken the time to talk to Harry about the way you felt." Professor McGonagall sighed. "But I do not mean to lecture you the entire day. I simply wanted to point out that this could have happened long before this." Hermione didn't respond to her old professor, and the room was uncomfortably silent for several minutes. Finally, Professor Flitwick spoke up.
"Do sit down, Hermione, and have a spot of tea. I made enough for all of us." He gestured her towards a seat. "You might as well settle down as it will take us some time to cover all that needs to be discussed." Hermione walked forward and took the seat that Flitwick had pointed at. She carefully took the cup of tea he offered for it was very full, and add a bit of milk and sugar to it. While doing that, she decided it was best just to cut to the heart of the matter. Maybe Professor McGonagall was right about her and what could have been. But it did not good to linger on what might have happened and it was better to focus on the problem currently before her.
"Yesterday, you mentioned," Hermione began, her eyes focused on the table in front of her as she wasn't daring enough to look at either professor, "that you might know of a counter."
"Not a counter, per se." Flitwick sighed sadly. "If I thought I might know of one, I would have researched it by now. A counterspell like that would be enough to warrant a rather significant raise." He grinned cheekily at McGonagall, who merely sniffed and drank her tea. "But no, not a counter to the charm. Rather a temporary solution. I do not know how to reverse all the effects of the charm, but I can think of one way to stop its most obvious action – that of transporting you to people you need."
"You do?" asked Hermione. "But even the wards on our flat wasn't enough to stop that. And I did the calculations several times and Harry checked them over himself to make sure they had no flaws he could see."
"I have no doubt," said Professor Flitwick, "that the wards on your flat are as strong as can be for wards that were made by only a pair of wizards. The wards on Hogwarts, however . . . well, perhaps this is a subject best covered by Minerva."
McGonagall set down her cup and faced Hermione. "The wards on Hogwarts are literally over a thousand years old. They are the product of all its Headmasters and many of its professors. Though the protections had been damaged during You-Know-Who's time, the vast majority of them remain." She smiled bitterly. "And you know that even he had to resort to a very powerful portkey to pull Harry away from here. Professor Flitwick here believes that the transportation side of the Enchantus charm is close enough to Apparation, that our wards to prevent that will be effective on the charm as well."
"Yes, yes," said Flitwick excitedly. "You see, most anti-Apparation wards tend to be very specific because they take a lot of energy to create. But here, we have the luxury of having groups of wizards working on the wards and so in the past, the wards have set to be broader than just simple Apparation. Not so broad as to include the method of transport that House Elfs use, but broad enough that I think that they will stop the Enchantus charm." He paused. "In most cases," he added slowly.
"In most cases?" Hermione asked. "What do you mean by that?"
"I . . . it is a very powerful charm, Hermione, and you are a very powerful witch. I would not underestimate the strength of the spell that you have created," said Flitwick.
"For goodness sakes' stop going about it so slowly, Filius," said McGonagall testily. "You should know, Miss Granger, that the stronger the need—"
"The stronger the response of the charm," Hermione finished.
"Yes. So if the need is strong enough, it might be able to get past the wards that Filius was speaking of. This is entirely hypothetical, of course, but Filius thinks—and I am inclined to agree with this conclusion—that in a life and death situation, your charm might be able to break through the wards to transport you to the person who needs you most."
"I see," said Hermione. "That makes sense." She frowned. "But what doesn't make sense is how you expect that to help me. I'm not a student anymore, so I can't very well live here."
Flitwick looked at McGonagall expectantly, only to be disappointed. Clearing his throat, he said, "Yes, you're not a student. But I personally think that you have the qualifications to be a professor here." Hermione gaped at him. "Not a full-fledged one, of course," he qualified. "But you could start as an assistant and we could see were it went from there."
"While I do not need an assistant of any sort," said McGonagall, "I am sympathetic to your situation and I could use one. Again, I stress that I do not need one. But I am willing to let you help me with my classes. I was thinking you could teach the older students, while I handled the younger." She smiled suddenly. "Oddly enough, it is the first year of Transfiguration that tends to be the most difficult and dangerous for students. While teaching the later years is not an easy assignment, it is not as strenuous."
Hermione sat back, her mind boggling. She had never expected an offer like this to be given to her. Certainly not after the lecture McGonagall had given her. Not that Hermione was set against teaching—in fact, she had always considered it as an option, if she could get an offer to teach anywhere. But to teach at Hogwarts? Which was one of the finest magical institutions in the entire world? It was simply astounding.
Professor Flitwick coughed. "Before you think that you are being a burden on us, I would like to note you taking on some of the Transfiguration classes would given Minerva more time to deal with her new duties as Headmistress. Not that she needs the time, of course, but she could always use it."
"Of course," said Hermione, though she understood what he was saying. It would help them as well, for McGonagall had been looking weary the last time they visited Hogwarts on Hermione's birthday. Still, while the solution sounded wonderful, it had its problems. "I suppose that means you'd expect me to live here, but I have a flat in London that I'm sharing with Harry and I couldn't just leave him hanging there all alone," she said.
The two professors exchanged a glance. "On that count," said McGonagall, "it is not unheard of for a professor to share her room with someone else. Though it would have to be done as discreetly as possible and there should be no displays in front of students."
"Oh. I didn't know that," said Hermione.
"Exactly," said McGonagall. "Though in your case, people would know that simply because of the status you two share in the Wizarding World . . . but there should be no cause for students seeing anything that is better suited to the gossip column here between a professor and someone else."
Hermione drained her cup before speaking. She needed the time to gather her thoughts, but once she had finished drinking the tea, she found that she needed more time. Fortunately, she knew of a way that she thought she could get that time. "It is a lovely offer," she said, "and I am very much tempted to say yes here and now . . . but I think I ought to speak to Harry about this before I do that."
"Very good," said McGonagall approvingly. "That is the smartest thing
I have heard you say all day. It gives me hope that I was not wrong
about you." She leaned forward and patted the younger witch's arm
gently. "Do speak with Mr. Potter about it. There is no rush.
You can take your time. Just make sure that whatever decision you
make, you make it together."
Author's note: I would very much like it if you'd take the time to leave a review for me soI can know what you think of this chapter. And I'd like to thank danielerin, Shawn Pickett, lynnjoe, ExcalibursZone, Ramy, HrryPttrFreak87, lee74, animagus-steph, Star19, Wytil, LeslieGlady, mikeus, sally, myman-harry526, juliet's rose, PottersFan33, xxbabysparklesxx, hpfanmelissa, Leah6, EuphoniumGurl0, bishtawiman, PoTtErSPaYnE, Zekintha, falling, Jabba1, malu, Bladefanatic, TheWraith1, casey windsor, Orlando's Gurl, AnnieT, Laurie Johnson, ravenclaw's heir, Bulma Queen of Saiya-jin, paochicute, Erik MacRorie, and Wohsi for their reviews of the last chapter. Thanks so much!