Left Behind
Chapter Three
"I better read between the lines in case I need it when I'm older."
Foreigner
Great Hall, about a week later
To say the first few days of school had been hectic would be a downright understatement. The course load Hermione had undertaken was not easy to say the least. Add to that her continuous worrying about when Harry and Ron would contact her, illegally reading up on spells and charms bordering on dark late at night in the Restricted Section, mounting duties as a prefect due to students being always on the edge and the collective, unbridled tension of the whole castle and you had the equivalent of a stress potion, if there was such a thing, in her and she a human cauldron.
'Not to mention Ginny and Neville's newly developed skills in getting into trouble.'
Hermione dropped her head in her hands, her face hit by steam as the empty tea cup in front of her refilled itself. The two were often getting into spats with the new professors or the Slytherins and try as she might to fade into the background, she still had to deal with the scratches and saving essays for the detention-laden just as when Harry and Ron were here. The memory of the boys felt like a dull ache yet again.
This was why she chose to eat breakfast early – she used the tranquillity of the breaking dawn to centre herself and thankfully, the hall around her wassilent. Empty too, although the adjectives were corollaries of each other in Hermione's books, given she was in Hogwarts.
The still moment was broken by an audible creak of a door other than the main entrance reverberating through the crisp, autumnal morning air. Hermione turned to peek at the Head Table. It was empty as well if not for the floating cup before the centre chair.
Her head jerked back to look at the heaping plates of toast, eggs and bacon rashers now set before her. It never ceased to amaze Hermione that the house elves would have food prepared no matter how early she arrived, but that thought was not foremost in her mind at that point.
'The headmaster is here.' And she was concerned.
Disillusionment spell, perhaps an invisibility cloak or whatnot, but he was here nonetheless. Her mind whirred through the possibilities. He could kill her, kidnap her or –
'Right. The Hogwarts Student Protection Charm.' Hermione scolded herself. It was one of the first things she could remember Binns mentioning. It was not covered by the text or Hogwarts – A History regardless of edition, which was why the memory of Binns teaching something not in the book stuck to her, although in a somewhat faded form.
'The war is making me paranoid.'
Her paranoia was not unfounded. Constant Vigilance was downright valid in these times and the Carrows in the past week had sent threat after threat at misbehaving students. Luckily for the children, the sinister pair had yet to act on them. On the other hand, other teachers, even Order members, were unbearably cold, although Hermione thought that it was most likely they were simply wary of the reinstatement of Umbridge's Educational Decrees, now coupled with the Carrows' and Headmaster's threats that they had ward alarms in place to check on those who dared not follow. She would have thought it Slytherin tactic not to mention the alarms at all, except perhaps they didn't have the time and wanted to nip plans in the bud.
There was another loud creak and Hermione turned to the door to see several Ravenclaws, including Luna, followed by Ginny and Neville, entering the Great Hall. It was also at this moment that the owl post chose to arrive and out of the flurry of feathers, three haughty, tawny owls landed smoothly beside her, the crest on their chests proudly declaring they were the Ministry's. She exchanged a bit of bacon for three packages - one each for Harry, Ron and herself – and pocketed them inconspicuously in turn.
"Lots of gifts you have." Ginny grinned at Hermione as she sat down in front of her and obviously had still noticed.
"From Headmaster Dumbledore's will. Ministry finally released them." She grimaced internally at her curt response, but the minimal caffeine of the tea had yet to enter her system. A morning person she was clearly not and the subject was a rather touchy one for her.
"Oh." Ginny paled.
Luna, who had begun the odd habit – then again, it wasn't that odd since it was Luna – of sitting at the Gryffindor table with them glanced at the Head Table and observed, "Headmaster Snape looks rather peaky. I think teaching potions and handling duties as Headmaster is tiring him."
She turned her attention to her breakfast. "Why's he still teaching us?"
Neville shivered. "So he can keep torturing us?"
"Neville! So he can keep an eye on us, of course." Hermione rolled her eyes at the boy's dread. She hoped it was a convincing display of a lack of fear, considering how quickly the Headmaster inspired it in her as well. Taking another peek at the Head Table, she noticed he had removed the Disillusionment Spell or whatever charm had rendered him invisible as he was visibly perusing his copy of the Daily Prophet intently.
She glanced at Ginny's copy and saw a picture of Harry and Ron and a declaration of a bounty for their capture. Several articles spoke of sightings and reasons why the duo had not returned to Hogwarts and Hermione was glad to note that they were incorrect.
"Oh well, he's a brilliant teacher anyway," Luna concluded.
"You're in NEWT Potions, Luna?"
"She's in NEWT – level everything. Well, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Herbology, Divination and Potions," Ginny replied with exasperation-coated admiration. "You beat her by having one more subject."
Hermione grinned. Why should she be surprised that the quirky Ravenclaw had such a heavy course load? What was it the Sorting had said? 'Wise oldRavenclaw, if you've a ready mind - where those of wit and learning will always find their kind.' It was not the first time Hermione recalled that her first impressions of the Wizarding World were coloured by a rather tattered, loquacious hat.
"Well, good luck with that. I'll see you during dinner." she drank up the last of her tea, and slung her heavy bag over her shoulder. As she left the Great Hall, Ginny turned to the others.
"How does she take all those subjects in one day and eat less than I do?"
Hermione smirked at that. No one had to know about the chocolate stash at the bottom of her seemingly bottomless bag laced with her special version of Pepper-Up Potion. Extremely conscientious with dosage, Hermione was assured regular pick-me-ups with little side effects if what the library book she'd based her ideas on was correct and if it wasn't, she... really didn't want to go there.
As most of the school was still eating breakfast, the corridors were relatively empty and it was a sedate stroll towards the dungeons. Each step down the staircase was colder than the last. Imperceptibly so, but it had its effects, and Hermione always wondered if Headmaster Snape had intentionally made it that way. She smirked at the memory of the time she first figured out why the hairs on the back of her neck stood before she had even reached the Potions classroom.
When she did reach the classroom, its oaken door hummed under her touch. She had noticed that too the first time she came to class before the rest of the level did at the start of this school year. In the silence of the early morning, wards were fairly detectable to her and she attributed this to her innate magical strength.
'Signs of a paranoid headmaster.' Hermione tried to find some humour in the rather bleak situation as she walked to the front of the classroom. Since Harry and Ron had left, she had taken to sitting at the corner of the class where she was near enough to the front not to have others wondering why, but far enough from the centre of the class to avoid catching attention. She took out her homework to recheck the content since she did not want to waste the last ten minutes of silence left before the rest of her classmates arrived.
"- a bit of torture would spice things up."
Hermione looked around to see who had spoken to her.
The next voice was swift and icy in its brevity. "No. You cannot hurt the students."
Hermione noticed the door to Snape's office was slightly ajar. The voices of those inside frightened her, but she knew better than to waste this chance to listen in. That and she wondered how she could have just seen Headmaster Snape at the Head Table if he was here. A double, it seemed.
"You almost sound like you care, Severus." A chortle that sounded more like raspy wheeze came from inside the inner room. "But I know you better than that."
"An ancient geas protects these children, might I remind you. It was covered in your first year History of Magic." He left the words 'you idiot' unsaid.
"So what? I'm sure you could break it. That's why the Dark Lord made you Headmaster."
"Those enchantments are older than all of us combined. I doubt the will of an aging Potions Master could do much to counter them."
The Carrow siblings chuckled at that. Alecto ventured to ask, "What about Potter?"
"What about him?"
"You have to track him."
"How so?" Severus emphasised each word as if they were separate threats.
"I thought you knew this already," Amycus sounded truly confused, "Through that mudblood girlfriend of his."
"Everything is already in place. Miss Granger's incoming mail, the connections of her common room floo, as well as her general location at all times are all being monitored." Hermione could hear someone pacing from inside – Headmaster Snape she assumed. "If she is in touch with Potter, we'll know."
Hermione's heart skipped a beat with the next question.
"Why not just use Veritaserum on the girl?"
"I doubt she'd know where they are either if they keep moving, which is what we can reasonably expect." This time, Snape did not withhold the slur. "And the geas, you idiot."
Hermione's eyebrows furrowed at that. Really? Well, if there was anyone who could have memorised arcane details more than her, it must have been Professor Snape. It had been some time since she last opened her First Year History of Magic notes and even annoying swots like herself did not keep every detail of First Year in perfect condition in her memory. She made a mental note to check on that.
The movement of chairs and shuffling of feet caught her attention, causing Hermione to look steadfastly at her notes. "Oh, right. Well, students will be coming in soon. We should be going."
When they passed by her desk, Hermione could feel the chilling gaze of the female Carrow and another look, quite to the opposite, of the male, but she stared resolutely at the page on experimental gillyweed bases until she heard the click of the door closing. Hearing that, her shoulders dropped and she tried to relax by breathing deeply. A tense Hermione was not a good brewer and she needed to make it sanely past this potions class if she wanted Snape to not realise that anything was amiss or that perchance she had eavesdropped. Hopefully he wouldn't notice that the charms had weakened while she was visibly within hearing distance.
As the other students arrived, Hermione sent a quick prayer to whoever was listening up above. A little guidance or peace of mind wouldn't hurt. After all, it was only eight in the morning.