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Hope you enjoy the newest chapter - it's finally a bit longer!


Chapter 10 - McGonagall, Moody, and a New Room

It looked like McGonagall wasn't letting Harry and Hermione off without a fight. Harry made a movement to shield Hermione, as if he could protect her from the Professor's angry wrath. But before McGonagall could explode in outrage, she seemed to think better of it, realizing that the school's busiest hallway was no place to have a serious discussion. She instead whipped around, her violet dress rising in fury, then began stomping away down the hall at such a pace that Harry and Hermione had to run to keep up. The crowd of students down the hallways parted at the sight of the Professor in such a rage, and the halted students goggled at the two fourth-years trailing behind her at a near-sprint. They knew that whatever they had done, the consequence was about to be very severe.

After four exhausting flights of stairs and a turn through a mostly-deserted bridge lined with blue stained-glass windows, McGonagall led the pair into hallway that jutted out diagonally from the castle to end in a round tower. At the end of the hall they came into a circular stone alcove that contained one glass-paned window and a large set of double-doors. An elaborate sconce decorated each side of the doors. When the Professor turned to face them again, it was like her eyeballs were about to pop out.

"What were you thinking, the pair of you? Never in a million years did it cross my mind that something so scandalous could occur between Hogwarts' two most gifted fourth-year students!" She gestured at them like they were once priceless treasures, but now corrupted and terrible. "I'm appalled at you, absolutely appalled! Your act of blatant irresponsibility has disgraced this entire school – brought shame to us, at a most critical time! The Headmaster might naturally be one to let you off easily, but I demand to have an explanation. By all means, shed some light unto how this happened!"

Hermione and Harry, cringing and leaning away from the Professor as though she had been spitting fire, couldn't formulate a coherent response. Harry began to mutter some kind of apology. Hermione, glad there weren't other students around, and intent on defending herself and Harry, opened her mouth but was cut off.

"Stop apologizing, Potter; that will not do this time. There is no getting around a matter this serious!" As she continued to spew out her indignation at the students, her shrill voice echoed through the chamber and the long windowed hallway. Her hair was beginning to come loose from her usually-immaculate bun.

Hermione opened and closed her mouth as every attempt she made to explain herself was cut off by McGonagall. As she listened helplessly, it seemed like the Professor was driving daggers into her heart - Distrust, shame and complete embarrassment sank in once again, and she felt more and more overwhelmed. No Professor had ever scolded her, apart from Snape of course, who couldn't be pleased by the most diligent non-Slytherin student. Though Hermione resisted with all her might, her eyes began to tear up, like a glass overflowing. But Harry somehow came up with a handkerchief, and as he stood by her side, holding her hand to support her she wiped the tears away and swallowed to get rid of the stinging in her throat. When the Professor stopped to catch her breath and glare at her, Hermione interjected with the only thing that still made sense to say.

"We're in love, Professor."

McGonagall's eyes widened, and when she miraculously didn't say anything back, Hermione continued.

"Um... what I mean to say is, I don't think there's any point in scolding us now. We know what we've done, and now we just have to make the best of it."

McGonagall's expression faltered, and it seemed that remorse began to hit her for shouting at this girl in such an emotionally sensitive state. She felt the truth of Hermione's words, and after a minute, in a change of heart, placed an old hand on her shaking shoulder. The tall woman spoke again, but much more softly.

"You're completely right, as always."Hermione smiled slightly through the tears that had leaked through. "But I still don't understand how this happened to my best student."

"It's… really hard to explain." Hermione wiped away more tears and took a shuddering breath as Harry steadied her. "I think that Harry and I both wanted this to happen, since we first met each other. We've known each other really well for four years now."

"Don't tell me you two have been planning to have a baby together since – "

"That's not what I'm talking about. I mean…" Hermione trailed off breathily, her eyes connecting with Harry's, as a smile began creeping back onto her lips. She was lost for words for a moment as she couldn't look away from Harry.

"I mean, we've always sort of known we'd end up together. I've never felt this way like anyone, and deep down in my heart I know I won't ever find anyone else who can make me so happy." She had gotten very quiet, and yet she seemed on the verge of a complete breakdown. Looking at Harry, she slowly began to speak, giving every word more meaning. "On that night, with all the moonlight… and the way you looked at me… I could feel a magic like no other I'd experienced before, just surrounding me, filling my head and heart with the most wonderful feeling." She was only talking to Harry now, and it looked like she'd forgotten McGonagall was even standing there.

McGonagall cleared her throat, not a little awkwardly, and Hermione quickly came out of her spell.

"Oh, I'm sorry Professor… all I mean is –"

"I know what you mean, Hermione. And I'm sorry I was so harsh. I really do wish you two well, whatever happens." She studied them both, her eyes twinkling in a way that seemed even wiser than Dumbledore.

"I can see now the bond between you, of the most powerful magic. Love."

Unexpectedly, she leaned down and hugged them both. Hermione sniffled, saying "thank you." While Harry felt more than a bit uncomfortable hugging his teacher, he was glad to see Hermione smiling.

McGonagall released them, and, smoothing back her grayish-brown hair, tried to collect her thoughts after being told off so well by a student.

"Well, I need to show you your new room. Take a look. There are plenty of other ones you can use, but I thought you would like this one…" she took a ring of keys from inside her robes and unlocked the heavy oak double doors. As she pushed the doors open, Hermione and Harry glimpsed a dark room with heavy shades and canvas-covered furniture. Hermione sniffled as she tried to see inside more clearly.

McGonagall stepped inside, and when Harry and Hermione didn't move, said, "Come in, don't just stand there!" With a wave of her emerald-embedded wand, a chandelier lit up in a gentle flame and the tarps rose off the furniture and folded, scattering dust that vanished before it could touch the rug-covered floor. The students watched as McGonagall strode around the room, waving several drapes open to let in the light of the rising sun, and creating several bright flower arrangements to decorate the tables.

A rather cozy room emerged from the darkness, complete with a queen-sized four-poster bed, a fireplace with an armchair and side table, and a restroom off to the side. Hermione instantly loved the room. She walked around, her hand hovering over the huge quilts draped over the back of the couch facing the fireplace, tracing the elaborately swirled wallpaper, and finally pulling back the velvet drapes of the queen-sized four-poster in the corner. One glance at the luxurious bed covered in fat pillows, and she felt like it was too good to be true.

"Can we really share this bed?" she asked, her heart squeezing at the thought of not having to spend any more nights away from Harry.

"Of course, I don't really see why not at this point. Unless you would like separate beds, that is?" McGonagall seemed to be finishing up the cleaning; she had just magicked the bathroom a sparkling white, and was now banishing cobwebs from the ceiling.

"No, this is perfect," Hermione said, with a glance at Harry that confirmed he was as happy as she was. Harry put down the book he had taken from the small row of shelves near the fireplace - he was as fond of reading as she was. She could already imagine him curling up on the sofa to read with her late in a winter night.

Professor McGonagall turned around, the cleaning finished, and broke her solemn expression for a moment to smile briefly, seeing Hermione and Harry content in each other's company.

"I knew you would both like this room," she said, slipping her wand back into her robes.

"We love it," Harry said, with a look that surprised the professor. "You really do always have our best interests in mind. Thank you for this." All Hermione could do was smile at Harry finally warming up to his head of house. She had shown him kindness in past years, but never really earned his trust until now.

"Well, that's that. You two should get to class now; school has started already. I'll send a note to your teacher – what is your first class today?"

"Herbology," Harry answered, as Hermione continued gazing around the wonderful cozy room glowing with the pink sunrise. McGonagall bent over a desk to write out her letter in ink, and Hermione watched, trying to see what she was writing, until she realized her bag was still in the girls' dormitory. She quickly told Harry, trying not fall into her habit of stressing out over nothing.

"Professor McGonagall, we left all our supplies in Gryffindor tower," she said as the dark-haired lady closed the inkwell and folded the note.

"That's no problem. Just stop by on your way down," she said calmly, then levitated the paper and sent it cruising out the door and down the hall, headed for the greenhouses.

"Professor… I really can't thank you enough – I mean, this room – "

"Dear, you don't have to thank me anymore. All I need to know is that you and Harry are doing all right." McGonagall's face was still grave, tense with worry – it was in her eyes – but at least she didn't look like a cat getting her tail stepped on any more. She detached a long silver key from her key ring, magically created a duplicate without even getting out her wand, then gave Hermione and Harry one each.

"I trust you can find your way back here from the main staircase?"

"Yes."

"Good. Better be off, then." She gripped Harry firmly by the shoulders, then hugged Hermione, who felt like she'd been crying and getting hugs constantly for the past few days. This one really did make her feel better, though.

"I'll check in on you every once in a while, but don't ever hesitate to talk to me. You know where I am." Just like that, McGonagall was gone in a flutter of violet robes.

The Professor wasn't gone long before Harry seized Hermione around the waist and lifted her up, cradling her like a giant child.

"Harry!"

He just smiled and walked her over to the bed, where he fell backwards onto the bouncy covers with Hermione laughing on top of him.

"Harry, you've gone nuts," she said, not able to keep from grinning ridiculously.

"No, I'm just glad. This is all I wanted – to be with you." He shifted her off his lap, then wrapped her in a sweet kiss.


Humungous book bag bouncing at her waist, and Harry striding by her side, Hermione descended the stairs on her way downstairs, toward her first class. With her new room to look forward to, she was able to smile back at the portraits lining the staircases, and she greeted Nearly Headless Nick as he passed and gave her a gruesome head-tilting salute. Her knees were still shaky as she made each step.

Despite her protests, when they passed through the entrance hall Harry made a stop into the kitchens to get Hermione a healthy breakfast. Though she didn't like the idea of eating slave-produced food, she scarfed down the ham, eggs, squash and cold milk Harry insisted the house-elves had no trouble getting her.

Feeling full, Hermione finally trotted with Harry across the leaf-covered grounds to greenhouse 2, where Professor Sprout had already gotten the letter. She didn't hesitate a moment to introduce them to the new snapdragon plants they would be nursing.

Hermione insisted that she partner up with Lavender, and Harry with Ron, to keep suspicions of their relationship down. Harry agreed, and watched her across the plant table as she put up with Lavender making not-so-subtle attempts to learn more about Hermione's crush on the-boy-who-lived. Hermione just smiled and talked, neither confirming nor denying Lavender's suspicions as she trimmed dead leaves off snapdragons. Harry winked at her when Ron looked away and Lavender was distracted.

In Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall stayed in cat form sitting atop her desk for most of the class, often watching Hermione as she helped Harry practice. Hermione couldn't help feeling nervous about telling Ron about her new living arrangements, even while he was deep in an argument at another table with Seamus over whose half-transformed hamster looked more like a teapot. She supposed they would tell him after dinner, when she and Harry planned to move the rest of their belongings into the new room.

When Hagrid led the young gargoyle around the back of his cottage, it seemed a bit sturdier from the first couple times the students had seen it. The Gryffindors brought out parchment and ink pens to take notes as Hagrid fed the creature a few birds, and went on to describe its stages of growth. While most of Hagrid's favorite creatures were gruesome or horrifying at the least, Hermione couldn't help thinking the baby gargoyle was a bit adorable with its shining black eyes, wet doglike nose and fluff-covered gray wings. As she took notes she found herself thinking about what her own baby must look like right now – probably like a tiny fish, at the most. While it wasn't a very pretty image, it was a strange feeling to have such a little yet incredible secret hidden inside her.

When she finally looked over at Harry's notes, she discovered he had only been drawing a picture of the gargoyle the entire time. She began to scold him for goofing off, but in the end she really couldn't criticize his incredible detail and observational skills.

Before they left with the other students to go to lunch, Hagrid called Harry, Hermione and Ron over to invite them down to the cottage for tea. Hermione politely declined, thinking of all the organizing she had to take care of, but proposed they meet tomorrow night instead. Hagrid agreed and waved goodbye to them as he un-tethered the gargoyle from the fence.

At lunch, everyone was chattering in anticipation of the Gryffindors' first Defense Against the Dark Arts class, which would now be taught by the legendary Mad-eye Moody. Harry was excited to meet a real auror up close, while Fred and George enthusiastically claimed that the reason a Slytherin was missing was that on that house's first day with Moody, he murdered a student for offending him. Hermione knew that the absent student was only sick with a particularly bad fever and staying in the hospital wing, but in the middle of her explanation to the twins, Ron interrupted her .

"Where were you and Harry this morning?"

Hermione couldn't pretend she hadn't heard the question. Everybody at the table was looking at her now.

Suddenly Luna spoke up from where she stood beside her. "They were with me. We had gone to talk with Professor McGonagall." Hermione was able to breathe again – she and Harry had filled Luna in on the meeting and the new room in between classes.

"What did you talk about?" Ron's mouth was full of sandwich.

"I wanted to paint a mural in one of the castle corridors this year; Harry and Hermione want to help."

Ron turned to Hermione. "I didn't know you had an artistic side, Hermione."

"I'm just supervising – you know, getting materials and helping with the plans," she said without missing a beat.

Raising his eyebrows, Ron said, "Well, sounds interesting. Let me know when you guys start." Harry and Hermione couldn't tell if he was fooled by Luna's quick thinking or not. They avoided getting into deep conversation with the redhead for the rest of lunch, while Fred and George continued to sprout rumors about Mad-eye.

It seemed like hours until Hermione and Harry made it to Defense class. Once the students had sat down, Moody stomped in noisily, his wooden leg clunking on the stone classroom floor. He proceeded to take out three spiders in a jar, as he introduced the class to the three unforgivable curses.

Hermione watched nervously as the teacher seized control of one spider and forced it to fly about the classroom. It made her hair stand on end to see something - even a small being like a spider - controlled so completely. She considered speaking up and asking to change the topic, but Moody quickly moved on, slamming the first spider back into the jar. His magic eye swiveled around insanely fast in its socket, making students feel disoriented just watching it.

Next, when Moody forced Neville Longbottom to recall in front of the class the way his parents were tortured, Hermione's fists curled and her nails dug into her palms. She almost jumped out of her seat when Moody suddenly cast the Cruciatus curse on the second poor creature. As the quiet yet terrible sounds of the spider writhing in pain filled the classroom, Hermione couldn't stand it. She rose from her seat almost unwillingly.

"Girl, what are you doing? Sit down!" Moody said, his head turned but his wand still arched over the shuddering spider.

"What are you doing? Stop hurting that spider! Torturing a creature is no way to teach these students! Just look at Neville!" Her hand was in her pocket, clasped around her wand in case some of the wild rumors about this madman were true. Nobody saw, but Harry had his wand out and pointed at Moody under his desk - he was ready to spring forth should Hermione come near to harm.

Moody, his head still turned, clenched his jaw in a sadistic grin, then flicked his wand, causing the spider to shriek even more.

Hermione burst forward and cast a small shield spell around the spider, then scooped it up from the desk and ran to the window. She quickly dropped it onto a ledge outside, then turned to find that Moody had cornered her there.

"Don't you know not to go against an auror?" he growled, his magic eye darting all over Hermione.

"Back off, Alastor!"

The entire class' heads turned from the window to the door, where Professor Snape had stepped in. His wand wasn't even raised, but his threatening demeanor made Moody step automatically away from Hermione.

"What do you need, Snape? Don't you see I'm in the middle of a lesson?" Moody almost barked towards the door.

"I'm certain whatever it is can wait. I need to talk. Now." Hermione noticed he was holding a large black carrying case, partially concealed under his equally dark robes.

Moody grunted and noisily left the classroom in a series of clunks and heavy footsteps, muttering to himself all the while.

When Snape and Moody were out of sight and couldn't be heard, Hermione quickly took the other two spiders from the main desk and placed them on the windowsill, while the class whispered tensely.

Hermione grabbed her bag from her desk and, looking both ways out into the hallway, left class in a hurry with Harry trailing behind her.

"What just happened?" Harry could hardly catch up.

"I don't know. But it looks like Moody and I are not going to get along," she said, trying to figure out where she was actually headed to.

"That's for sure. But what will we do about Ron now? He saw us leave together again."

"There's no easy way to tell him, huh?" she said shortly, gasping for breath as she half-ran up the nearest staircase.

"Well, yeah. He's going to need an explanation now, though. I know Ron; he's not going to leave us alone."

"Ugh."

"I know. It's going to be really, really ugly, no matter what."

Hermione paused on a landing on the stairs, then sat heavily on a stone bench built into a window. Harry sat next to her.

"Well, I suppose we only have to tell him we're going out at this point. Everything else..." he trailed off, looking at Hermione's abdomen. She frowned.

"I know, I know, the whole 'I'm pregnant' thing. Let's just say I'm not even thinking about that yet."

"Uh, you sort of have to."

"No. Just no." She sighed an enormous sigh, blowing hair out of her face. "One step at a time."

Harry looked at her as she stared at the floor, her elbows on her knees. "Are you saying you'd rather he find out along with the rest of the school?"

"Maybe. I don't know!" She clutched her head and went into a fetal position.

"Hey, shh." Harry lifted her up and leaned her against his shoulder. "It's no big deal - Ron's just one person. Stop worrying about it, because we're just overthinking this."

"Yeah?" Tears were streaking down her cheeks once again.

"Yeah. How about this... here's the plan. Today we move everything into our new room, right? Then tomorrow, we should go see Madame Pomfrey. I'd bet you anything McGonagall's already told her we're coming down there soon."

Hermione clasped Harry's hands to her chest. "You're right. Let's just do that."

"Come on. I'll find you some tea, then we'll start packing up early. You've had enough school today."

"I love you."

Harry kissed her forehead. "I love you more."


Hope you enjoyed! Please review, and Ch. 11 is coming asap!