Chapter Four

Harry finds out the truth

"Hermione!"

Harry sounded so shocked to see her that she almost laughed, but instead she started crying. It had been so long since she had seen him and she was so relieved that he hadn't changed his routine of having lunch in his dorm room, away form prying eyes. Her tears caught him off guard, but he immediately sprang to his feet.

"Stand aside. I'm coming through."

Hermione pulled back and a second later her best friend entered her quarters at Hogwarts. He rushed towards her, pulling her into his arms. She was sobbing freely now and it was breaking his heart to see her like this – what made it even worse was that he had no idea what was wrong. But he held her without saying a word, knowing that once she had calmed down, he would get the full story. After a while, as he stroke his hands over her head, he started looking around the room. What the hell?

"Hermione... Where are we?" he asked before he could stop himself.

She pulled back from him, wiping her tears away from her cheeks.

"We are at Hogwarts. This is a guest room in the dungeons."

He was staring at her in disbelief.

"Hogwarts? Okay... And why are here now?"

Hermione took a deep breath as she calmed her nerves. This was it – the moment she had dreaded for so long. Telling Harry the truth.

"Because I live here," was all she managed to say before he flew up on his feet.

"What?!" he hollered. "Why? Does Ron know?"

Hermione winced at the mentioning of Ron. She took his hand and pulled him over to the couch.

"I'm going to tell you everything, Harry, but please promise me not do anything... rash," she said as they sat down. "Neither while I'm still talking or afterwards, okay?"

Harry frowned, starting to get genuinely worried now. But he nodded his head, showing her that he went along with her terms. And then she told him everything. How Ron had slowly, but steadily changed, how his drinking habits had increased, that he had gotten violent and inconsiderate. She told him that he had abused her in every sense of the word's meaning. She had stopped going to potions class because of how she was treated at home, and soon after that she stopped going outside. Not once during her tale did she look at him, too afraid of what she would see in his reaction. She didn't see that Harry had tears in his eyes nor did she notice that he was so angry that he was shaking.

Harry felt sick. He could barely believe what he was hearing, but he never doubted her words to be untrue. When he thought back on it, he realized that he had seen some changes in Ron himself, he just hadn't been too bothered by it to investigate. He had no trouble believing that Ron drank more, because he had seen that himself. It didn't surprise him that Ron became violent, because he had never been a "good" drunk – drinking either until he passed out or just until he became ill-tempered and verbally abusive. It was during these latter, which Harry had only encountered two or three times, that made him wonder if Ron really was a true friend to him, considering all the nasty comments he had managed to throw at Harry. And why, why had he never bothered to check up on Hermione? Not that he was out partying with Ron every weekend, but it happened two or three times per month and he had just taken Ron's word for it that Hermione was up studying, or not feeling well or was visiting her parents. And her letters had been uncharacteristically short and mundane. How could he have been so bloody stupid?

Hermione had taken a pause in her tale when he suddenly couldn't take it anymore. He probably startled her quite a lot when he pulled her into his embrace, but he didn't care. He needed to hold her and he was positive that she needed to be held as well.

"I'm so sorry, Hermione," he whispered, the tears now blurring his vision. "I'm so sorry. Please forgive me."

"Oh, Harry, why do I need to forgive you? You're the one who should forgive me, for keeping this from you," she sobbed into his chest, her hands coming up to grasp his shirt.

"I should have looked after you better. I shouldn't have believed him time after time as to why you never came out to hang with us. I should have..."

Hermione straightened out quickly, giving him a very stern look.

"Harry James Potter, don't you dare take the blame for this!"

His lips tightened and he averted his gaze, making it obvious that he did indeed feel responsible.

"No, Harry! This is not your fault! I was the one who kept you in the dark, to spare you my troubles. You are not allowed to feel that there was something you could have done without me telling you that something was wrong in the first place!"

"Why didn't you tell me?" he suddenly wondered, his voice raw with emotion.

This time it was Hermione's turn to look away.

"I... didn't want to bother you when you were so busy with your training," she said quietly.

She felt Harry's hand on her arm.

"Really, Hermione? That was the reason?"

Lifting her gaze to meet his green eyes, she saw how miserable he was. Maybe he was already suspecting that she had been worried that he wouldn't take her side.

"That was... part of the reason," she replied, "but I was also scared that..."

She closed her mouth, too ashamed to continue.

"... I would side with Ron," Harry finished for her.

He looked sad and miserable and angry at the same time. Shaking his head, he slid down from the couch to the floor, now sitting on his knees in between her legs. He took her hands in his own.

"Hermione... How could you think that? You're the closest thing I have to family."

His voice trembled when he spoke, new tears forming in his eyes. Hermione leaned forward to rest her head against his forehead.

"I don't know," she whispered. "Ron had me convinced that you would. He put me through so much, Harry, and yet he made me believe that if I ever told anyone about this, I would be left alone. I'm so sorry."

They sat like that for a long time, neither of them speaking. After a while, Harry summoned a pillow to sit on and allowed his head slid down to her lap, his arms around her tiny waist. Hermione stroke his hair and just looked at him, so grateful that he was there with her. There was nothing romantic or sexual about it – they were just two best friends, seeking comfort from each other after the huge betrayal from the last person that made their circle of friendship complete. So much would change from now on. Hermione had yet to tell him about her magic, but she didn't want him to get riled up quite yet. She was enjoying this moment with her best friend far too much to have something ruin the moment.

However, sometimes other people manages to mess up special moments for you. There was a knock on the door, and Hermione instinctively knew that it was Snape.

"Come in," she said and the door opened.

And true enough, Snape entered to find the friends cuddled together in a heap on the floor and the couch. He raised an eyebrow, his eyes narrowing slightly at the scene before his eyes. He had never seen anything so... innocently intimate before. He just stared at them for a moment, too startled and too unwilling to break them apart to say anything. But after a while he couldn't stand it anymore and all he had to do to ruin the moment completely was clearing his throat slightly. Harry's head snapped up from Hermione's lap.

"Mr Potter," Snape drawled in greeting, his head slightly bowed.

"Professor Snape," Harry said while getting to his feet.

Snape's eyes turned to Hermione.

"Miss Granger, do you have any idea how long you have been away from the potion you spent three hours making?" he said slowly, giving her a pointed look.

She glanced at the clock on the wall and gasped. It was almost one thirty!

"Oh no!" she gasped, realizing that it should have been bottled thirty minutes ago. "Sir, I'm so sorry! Was it completely ruined?"

Snape folded his arms across his chest.

"No. I decided to stay until you returned. I bottled it and then decided to... investigate what had happened to you."

He gave her a piercing look.

"I suppose I can conclude from the way you were holding each other, that Mr Potter will not be siding with Mr Weasley?"

Her cheeks reddened a bit, but she nodded.

"And have you told him everything, Miss Granger?"

Harry was looking back and forth between them. His heart sank. There was more?

"Everything but the... big thing, Professor."

"The big thing?" Harry repeated, his eyes locked on Hermione.

He didn't like the sound of that. Not one bit. And the fact that Hermione was refusing to look at him made him feel slightly nauseous. It had to bad. Really, really bad.

"What is worse than what you've already told me, Hermione?" he felt compelled to ask when she didn't say anything.

Hermione took a deep breath and glanced at Snape. He tilted his head, wondering what meaning there could be in the look she was giving him.

"Would you like me leave, Miss Granger?" he asked quietly.

"No, sir, on the contrary," she answered slowly. "It's very possible that I will need your help to calm him down afterwards."

She saw realization dawn on him and then how his hand discreetly went into his pocket, his fingers most likely closing around his wand. Since the end of the war, Harry had become more powerful than ever. It was as if the fragment of Voldemorts soul in Harry's own had been holding him back, or more precise, holding his magic, back. Wandless magic and non-verbal spells had starting coming naturally to Harry a few months after the end, and he had been forced to learn a better way of controlling the newfound power now residing within him. This meant, on the rare occasions when something happened to upset Harry, he would lose control almost instantly.

"What is going on, Hermione? What could possibly be so bad that you can't tell me without him here?" he demanded, sliding his glasses up on his head so that he could wipe them free from tears.

Hermione stood up herself to be more at eye level with him.

"I need him here because I can't do any magic myself. And remember your promise not to do anything rash, Harry."

"Hermione, if you don't tell me right now, I might not be able to hold you to that," he said through gritted teeth. "So help me..."

"Fine, fine, I will tell you," Hermione hurried to say and then she took a deep breath. "Because of what has happened with Ron, I can't... I can't control my magic."

And without further ado, everything made out of glass in the room shattered – the window, the picture frames, the decanter full of brandy and the matching glasses over by the fireplace all shattered into a million pieces at the same time. Even Harry's glasses, still on top of his head, shattered. Hermione shrieked and Snape flinched, both of them covering their faces as the glass came flying from everywhere. Harry seemed oblivious to what just had happened. The next moment, the room started shaking. Snape, knowing full well that there was no earthquake nor anything remotely natural going on, didn't hesitate to draw out his wand.

"MISTER POTTER! CALM YOURSELF!" Snape bellowed to be heard over the noise, his wand pointed directly at Harry.

Harry didn't react, so Snape did the only thing he could do – he stunned the boy. At the same moment that Harry crumbled to the floor, the room was still again. Hermione's eyes were wide in horror. Snape took no satisfaction in seeing Harry Potter in a pile on the floor, but he hadn't had any other choice.

"I hope you understand now that Mr Potter is fully on your side, Miss Granger."

Hermione nodded slowly, feeling quite overwhelmed. Snape bent down over Harry and muttered "enervate" under his breath. Harry blinked, looking quite confused. Then he sat up, his eyes finding Hermione's.

"Give me a reason for why I shouldn't go straight to him and kill him on the spot," he pleaded, his eyes blazing with emotion. "Please. I need a very good reason not to do it."

Hermione held out her hands and Harry took them without hesitation.

"Because I need you, Harry, and I don't think that even you would be allowed to kill someone without ending up in Azkaban," she said as gave him a tiny smile. "I need you to be with me and not rotting away in that awful place."

She pulled him up to the couch, wishing that she could fix his glasses for him.

"Now, the whole reason I am telling you all this, at this time, is because McGonagall announced to the students this morning that I am here as an apprentice. Knowing how the wizarding world works, it will probably be in the Daily Prophet by tomorrow. I couldn't have you find out that way."

"In what subject?" Harry asked, taking his glasses down from his head and muttered "reparo".

"Well, in potions, but I'm not really here for that. Professor Snape is going to help me gain control of my magic again. The apprenticeship is just a cover."

Harry turned to Snape, who was currently mending everything in the room that Harry had managed to break in a mere second.

"And what do you get out of it?" he demanded, perhaps sounding harsher than he had meant to.

Snape straightened out and gave the younger man a cold look.

"Absolutely nothing, Mr Potter," he sneered in return. "Seeing as Legilimency is needed for Miss Granger's predicament to be resolved, I am the only capable teacher within this school to help her."

Hermione felt a chill go through her at the mentioning of Legilimency, remembering how Harry had described the invasion in his own mind, but she wasn't too surprised that it was a required element for her rehabilitation. She patted Harry's hand to get his attention.

"I will be brewing potions for the Madame Pomfrey during the days," she told him when his gaze was once more on her.

Harry's eyes snapped back to Snape.

"Isn't that your job?" he asked, his eyebrows raised.

Snape folded his arms across his chest and opened his mouth to retort.

"Oh, Harry," Hermione sighed in frustration before Snape got a chance to say anything. "It is his job, but seeing as his evenings will be spent helping me, it's only fair that I brew some of these potions. Stop badgering him, Harry. Professor Snape is being very kind to help me through this."

Harry's mouth formed into a silent "oh" and then he looked at Snape sheepishly.

"Sorry," he muttered, but he meant it, and then added "Sir" when he saw that Snape's mouth was thinning into a line.

"Do try to be careful, Potter. The next time you lose your temper, I may not be there to, ah... help you," Snape said mockingly.

Harry's cheeks flushed in anger, but he didn't take the bait. Snape turned to Hermione.

"Miss Granger, seeing as you have had a... rough day, perhaps it is best that we cancel all further activities until tomorrow. I will see you in the lab no later than eight tomorrow morning."

With that, Snape spun around and marched out the door.

"But..," Hermione started to say, but the Potion Master did not appear to have heard her.

She stared after him, wondering if he had been sarcastic about his comment of her "rough day", and in that case was patronizing her by canceling tonight's session, or if he had actually registered the emotional roller coaster she was on and canceled the session purely because he was being nice. Hermione hoped it was the latter. A nice Severus Snape was something new to get used to, but all the same, not unwelcome. She had always admired the Potion Master, not only for his very important role in the war, but for his obvious intellect. Sure, he had been cold and mean to everyone during the years she had known him, but she was quite certain that this was because of the act he had put on for so many years while he had been a spy. She shook her head to try to clear her mind's turmoil. Turning her attention back to Harry, she could hear him muttering something about someone being an asshole.

"Oh, for heaven's sake!" she snapped and he shut his mouth immediately, looking a bit startled. "It's not like you were being any nicer to him, Harry."

Harry just shrugged his shoulder, looking slightly ashamed, but not too much.

"You've been here a long time now, Harry," Hermione mused, looking again at the clock. "Won't they miss you at school?"

"Well, I'm sure they're all out searching for me," he answered as he sat down on the couch again. "I've never missed a single class, so I'm sure they're worried."

Hermione let out a little gasp.

"But then you must go back!" she insisted.

Harry just rolled his eyes and patted the couch to show her that she should sit down.

"Relax, Hermione. I'm joking. Now come over here."

She shot him an annoyed glare. He was smiling as if he hadn't just sent her heart plummeting to... Merlin only knows where.

"Prat," she muttered and then marched over to the couch, sitting down with a scowl and pout on her face, her arms folded across her chest.

Harry laughed and then laced his fingers with hers.

"You're adorable when you pout like that," he said and then smiled.

The way he was talking to her should make her feel a bit weirded out. If she didn't know for a fact that he was madly in love with Ginny Weasley, she would have thought that Harry was flirting with her. The thing was though, that this was exactly how he had been towards her since the end of the war. When the pressure was off him, when he had killed Voldemort, that was when Harry was released of the heavy burden of being the Wizarding world's hero and with it the boy-who-lived was free to feel nothing but happy, content and that life was finally worth living. This was when the true Harry had surfaced. No more dark clouds hanging over his head. No more reasons to not simply love life and live it to the fullest.

But as Harry had gotten happier and happier for each day, Ron had gotten more sour and more cold and distant. The Wizarding world was finally free from the madman who had terrorized it for thirty years – why was it that he seemed happier during the days of Voldemorts reign? Well, it probably didn't have much to do with Voldemort at all. It was just that after the war, two thirds of the Golden Trio had flourished, while the other third had just... not. Harry had been branded as the hero he was, receiving an Order of Merlin, First Class, and then had gone on to be an Auror. Hermione, as well as Ron, had both received an Order of Merlin, Second Class, as Harry had hurried to inform the society that he had never vanquished the Dark Lord had he not had the help of his two best friends. Hermione got even more famous when she became the highest scoring graduate Hogwarts had seen since Tom Riddle, while Ron... Ron had not returned to Hogwarts, but taken the necessary tests and exams to apply to the Auror Academy with Harry. He had not passed enough of them for the Academy to accept him, so instead he had taken a job at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

"Hermione!"

The sound of Harry's holler pulled her out of her thoughts. She gave him a blank look.

"There's not need to shout," she scolded him and then waited for him for continue.

Harry rolled his eyes and squeezed her hands.

"Obviously there was since I had repeat your name twenty times before you reacted," he said softly. "What on earth where you thinking about?"

Hermione thought his question over for a second, seeing as she wasn't quite sure what she had been thinking about. Everything that had flashed through her mind had been a messy blur.

"Just thinking back on the first period after Voldemort was destroyed," she answered slowly, staring off out in to space. "Trying to pinpoint when everything went so horribly wrong."

Harry's grip on her hands tightened.

"I don't know what I'm going to do when I see him, Hermione," he said, his expression serious and tense. "I can't promise you that I won't hurt him."

"Then you mustn't see him, Harry," Hermione said matter-of-factly. "This is bigger than just the Golden Trio. Think about how it will affect Ginny and the entire Weasley clan when they find out what has happened. If I choose to, I can make sure he goes to Azkaban, but will they ever forgive me for sending their brother and son off to prison? And will it affect your relationship with them when they find out that you're on my side?"

Harry just looked at her for a long time.

"I don't care, Hermione," he said finally. "I don't care what the Weasley's will think. If they take Ron's side, then perhaps they're not the people we thought they were. We might feel as if we're apart of that family, but when it really comes down to it, we're not. Not really. And that's why I've always thought that you and I have our own family. You're the sister I never had, Hermione."

Hermione's eyes blurred with tears. Oh, what a fool she had been to ever doubt him!

"You're the brother I never had, Harry," she whispered, too choked up to speak any louder.

They looked at each other for a moment and then Hermione threw herself in his arms.

"Oh, Harry, I love you!"

Harry chuckled and stroke her hair.

"I love you too, Hermione," he said affectionately and then pulled back from her, glancing at the clock. "I really must be going."

He saw her tense and he felt his heart squeeze in sympathy.

"You're afraid he's going to show up?" he wondered.

Hermione nodded jerkily.

"Terrified."

Harry tilted his head.

"He can't touch you here, Hermione. The professors would never allow it. And you seem to be living very close to Snape, in the dungeons – Ron would never think to look for you here."

Hermione didn't say anything. Harry sighed and pulled her into his chest.

"I'll take a day off tomorrow," he said suddenly and he tightened his grip when he felt her start. "I'll serve as your personal bodyguard."

"Harry, no!" Hermione gasped and then she was finally let lose.

"Hermione, if it helps you relax, there's nothing you can do to stop me. Family, remember?" he said as he pointed his finger back and forth between them.

Then he kissed the top of her head, gave her smile and took off through the floo before she could forbid him to not come. Hermione stared after him for a long time, feeling happy and terrified at the same time. Harry wasn't abandoning her. He was going to do everything in his power to help her. She felt loved for the first time in a very long, long time. It really was a wonderful feeling.