SORRIE!! i didn't realized that it was all underlined...no idea why either but yay! i fixed it! sorrie again :p
THE PAWNS, THE KNIGHTS, AND THE QUEEN AND KING
Summary: "We are all but pieces in his game, no one knows their true role. But whether I'm a pawn, a rook, a knight, or even a queen, I will always be sacrificed for the King. Now tell me why I should return to a game in which I will have to sacrifice myself for another, with no gain of my own?" "Simple." He smirked. "Just because he set up the game, doesn't mean the players always follow."
CHAPTER FIVE:
"Can you believe her?"
"Ugh, like there's any way for me to sign up for that class any earlier than I have to!"
"I know! Fucking Mudblood!"
That was where Harry stopped. Slightly growling, he turned around and stared down at the girl, "Twenty points from Slytherin for disrespecting a teacher."
The girls immediately clammed up and glared at him
Turning around, he continued his way down the hall. Wow, he thought, you'd think the Slytherins would hate him the most. It's not even lunch yet, and already, Lenne Grayhart is the most hated professor – in general. Harry noticed, as he made his way towards his class after a meeting with Dumbledore that it isn't just the Slytherins who have been calling Grayhart names. Amazingly enough, Mudblood is pretty weak compared to what he had to punish others for.
"Professor Potter is allowing us to make up our work!" one of the Gryffindor girls protested.
"Yeah!" another Ravanclaw girl added, "Not only is he allowing us to make up our work, but he also gave us a review of what we missed."
Hermione wanted to strangle Lenne at this point. Her first class wasn't exactly smooth sailing with first year Slytherins and Ravenclaws, but it was still better than her second and now third class. More than ten people were missing for one thing, but for another, they all came in late periodically – disrupting the class. The earliest one came with only a quarter of the class left. With no note, she couldn't tell whether the student came straight after running or not, but she was going to be nice and excuse the student – saying that it was the first day and he was begging – however, as soon as he mentioned that there were several like him – there was no way she can excuse them all and allow them to make up the work. Thank goodness she didn't allow him to make up the work before he said there were others. Now, her third class was better she suppose considering that less than a handful were missing, but students arriving late were continually disrupting her lecture and averted the students attention towards the door more than at her.
"I can really care less what Professor Potter," Hermione folded her arms, How dare these two girls accost her in the middle of the lecture, much less compare her with Harry, she thought, "do about you guys being late without a note. School rules. You two come in here late without a note –"
"Only because Hartless – Professor Grayhart," the Gryffindor corrected herself, "wouldn't give us one."
Hermione narrowed her eyes at the girl, and stared sternly at the girl. "Do. Not. Interrupt me."
The coldness in Hermione's eyes froze the girl, and it took her almost half a minute before nodding.
"Good," Hermione then smiled, "Now, it's not any of my business why Professor Grayhart didn't give you a pass, but you don't have a pass for a reason – whether you decided to ditch half my class or because you didn't finish your work in Professor Grayhart's class. Already, there have been several students like you – some of them beg to the point they were kneeling on the ground with tears in their eyes – and I didn't allow them to make up their work either. So, you can get notes from your friends and see what you missed, but I am not going to excuse your tardiness nor am I going to allow you to make up the class work. Deal with it." Upon saying that, she waited for her words to sink in and before they can say anything else added softly so only the two hear, "Don't come up to me and ask me something personally like that in front of the class in the middle of the class. One, you're disrupting the class, and two," she stopped there, to emphasis her point, "you're disrespecting me."
The two guiltily looked down, abashed.
"Return to your seats now. If you want clarity on the first part of the lecture you missed, you can still ask me for help."
The two nodded, and returned to their seats. At the end of the class, they came up to her to apologize and even flashed her a smile.
"Gosh," Lenne sighed upon meeting up with Hermione in the Dining Hall for lunch, "teaching is hard work."
Hermione slightly glared at Lenne. "Agreed," Hermione drawled out biting into her turkey sandwich, "especially when some teacher kept holding my students back, and refuse to give them a tardy note."
Lenne shrugged as she bit into a crouton in her salad. "Yum, Ceasar."
"Lenne," Hermione stopped, looking at Lenne expectedly.
"Meia." Lenne replied, looking at Hermione innocently.
"Grayhart."
Hermione and Lenne turned from where they sat to see Harry walking towards them and Malfoy smirking as he came from behind Harry and sat down next to Hermione. Hermione raised an eyebrow at him, as Harry walked over to sit next to Lenne.
"What's with you holding back students and not giving them a pass?" Harry started, eyeing her coldly.
"What," Lenne looked up at him innocently and turned to change her gaze from Hermione, Malfoy, to Harry, "are the three of you ganging up on me about this?"
"Leave me out of this, Grayhart," Malfoy shrugged, "I only had one seventh year class this morning, and the rest has been the younger students."
"So, you saying that if they weren't then you would be ganging up on me?"
"No, they're late, they're late," he shrugs, "I have my own late policy that doesn't allow them to make up any class work or lectures, but I'm here for the free entertainment with a meal," he grinned, as he bit into his turkey sandwich.
"Didn't know Malfoy's were such busybodies," Hermione teased.
But before Malfoy can reply, Harry started, "I don't want you holding back the students after class, and not giving them a pass afterwards."
Lenne turned and looked long and hard at him. "I have my own reasons for holding them back," Lenne started, standing up as she held her bowl of salad in one hand, "and you have no right whatsoever to tell me what to do." She stared back at him calmly, and despite her small frame and the fact that Harry is a head taller than her, she stood firm
"I agree with, Harry," Hermione said sofly from her seat, "but I don't think you two should be making a scene in front of the students."
All the students present stared at the two teachers standoff and some who doesn't usually eat lunch hovered at the doorways to watch.
"All right," Lenne nodded, "I'll yield."
"Thank you," Harry sat down.
"You didn't let me finish," Lenne smiled sweetly, "I'll yield to not have a confrontation in front of the students." She looked at him as if that was obviously what she meant. "I shall continue to hold my students after class until they're done with the assignments I have given them."
Harry then rose again since Lenne towered him over while he was seated. "Then don't give them too much to do."
Lenne raised a delicate eyebrow. "Whoever told you that, misinformed you. In other words," she sneered, "you were lied to, tricked, worked over, whichever one you prefer. I personally prefer worked over," she winked, "because it's probably some Gryffindor that crushes on you and kisses up to you told you that."
Hermione kept her mouth shut, but she was also told the same by a rather cute Gryffindor boy. She knew it was a lie though, knowing Lenne, and immediately scold him
"Get it straight before you start throwing accusations," Lenne smirked, "Don't you wonder why that it's not the majority of your class late?"
"Some people's health aren't up to par, and –"
"Please," Lenne rolled her eyes, "What I gave them can easily be done within an hour and a half. Actually, what I gave them can easily be done within a forty minutes time frame."
Harry looked at her suspiciously when Hermione cut in, "Lenne isn't lying, Harry," he gave her a look, "No, I'm not blindly defending her. I can tell whether she's lying or not."
"How?" Harry asked curiously.
"None of your business," Lenne replied stiffly.
Harry turned on Lenne, "Maybe you can easily do it in forty minutes, but –"
"Correction, four to five minutes, actually seven or eight if you add stretches," Lenne folded her arms. "You know what – I don't have to explain nothing to you. I'll yield to the confrontation like promised though," she shook her head, taking her salad and leaving the Dining Hall, she headed towards the grounds.
Harry slightly glared at her back as she left after seating himself in Lenne's seat.
"She's not lying, Harry," Hermione smiled, "trust me."
"I trust you," he looked at her, suddenly enveloping her in a friendly hug as he did so. Upon doing so, he went back to his Caesar salad, "but I don't trust her."
Hermione sighed, and shook her head. "Harry, if you haven't noticed, the ones late are the pretty spoiled ones."
Harry went back to the conversation he had with Lily Read. She is pretty spoiled, and always liked having things her way. She was the one who really complained to him about how horrible Lenne was. She even told him how difficult it was for her – or many others for that matter, to make run that distance in the time given. From his impression of Lenne, he took their word, and excused his students.
He shrugged, whether or not Lenne is being unreasonable or not, he had already excused some students, so he'll have to excuse the rest now. Besides, he may doubt Read's words, but he's also doubting Lenne's.
"Harry?" Hermione cut into his thoughts, "Do you have a class after lunch?"
"Nope," Harry grinned, "Conference class. I usually grade stuff, but it's the first day of school, so I got nothing planned."
"I was hoping that you didn't," Hermione smiled. "I was thinking of going to the grounds to see Lenne."
Harry groaned, causing Hermione to laugh. He looked up and saw Malfoy shaking his head in amusement as well. "You're coming too, Malfoy."
Malfoy looked at him and Hermione coldly, well, not as coldly as he did Hermione, "Why do I need to accompany you and Granger?"
"Because you have nothing better to do anyway," Harry shrugged, "Besides, you never know what might happen with me outside of the actual walls of Hogwarts."
Malfoy slightly growled, and exited the Dining Hall – the opposite direction from the school grounds door, however.
Hermione stared after him, and then turned back to Harry with a questioning look.
"He'll meet up with us." He shrugged, "He got no choice."
Hermione looked at Harry with a confused expression. "Since when did Draco Malfoy became your…other half?"
Harry almost choked on his crouton then. "What?"
"Well," Hermione looked away slyly, "there's no other way to describe your relationship. You guys don't seem as simple as friends, but you're not distant like acquaintances either – more like you're close but not best friends close. So, I'm just going to have to assume that it's this special relationship."
Harry really did choked on his crouton then, and started coughing. "Hermione! No! Stop!" he put a hand on her shoulder, and pulled her in, while saying, "Don't even think that! I – Merlin, that thought is worse than facing Voldemort any day!"
Hermione started to uncontrollably laugh at this point. "So, you going to give me the down low on what's the deal between the two of you? When I see you, I see him. When you took care of the students, I see him not ten feet away. While you were walking outside my class, I saw him – not ten feet away on the other side. What's the deal?"
"Okay, okay," Harry shook his head, "I'll tell you what's really going on. Other than his job as a teacher, he also has to watch my back."
Hermione's eyes widened, "He's your bodyguard?"
"No!" Harry slightly pouted, "He just has to watch my back."
Hermione grinned, "He's your bodyguard then."
Harry groaned, "Merlin, I just told you – no, he is not my bodyguard!"
By the time class started, Hermione and Harry lazily walked towards the school grounds. Soon enough, they saw Draco leaning on a wall nearby on their way.
"Took you two long enough," he said sourly.
"No one asked you to wait for us," Hermione replied, "and it's not like I invited you anyway."
"Too bad Potter did," Draco folded his arms as he walked beside Harry, making him in the middle. "Like I want to go watch Grayhart teach when I can be sleeping."
"We're visiting her," Hermione corrected, "not watching her teach, and Harry and I can use this time to catch up."
"Oh, then am I getting in the way of your sentimental –"
"Okay," Harry cut in, "Why are you two getting so heated up over nothing? We're taking a stroll on the school grounds, and dropping by where Grayhart's teaching – that's it. Nothing more – maybe skip having a conversation with Grayhart –" he turned towards Hermione then, who shook her head, "then," he sighed, "that's all we're doing. You two need to grow up and not get into an argument each time you talk to one another." Harry shook his head, and walked ahead of the two.
Hermione and Draco stared after him for a bit before following him.
"He really doesn't want to go see Grayhart, huh?" Draco commented.
"Definitely," Hermione grinned, "makes me want him to interact with her even more though."
"Agreed."
By the time they got out to see Lenne and her class from a distance, they saw that she was explaining about the class and decided to stay where they were, otherwise, they'd, "undermine the teacher's authority over the class," as Hermione stated.
"What did you do while in New York?" Harry asked.
Hermione shrugged, "Got a job, school –"
"Of course," Draco added softly, but not so softly that they didn't hear.
"What job?" Harry cut in before Hermione can retaliate.
"Waitress at first," Hermione said, as she stared off into the landscape, "but then I started working as an intern for a small company, and moved on to bigger things from there. Before you ask though," Hermione grinned, "I met Lenne in college."
Harry nodded, "Close, close friends then, huh?"
"Definitely. If it weren't for the fact that we both like our space, and Lenne, especially, we'd be sharing a flat as well as working together," Hermione smiled, "We had a pretty rough start, but after going through a couple of things together, we're definitely, extremely close friends now."
Harry was silent for a moment, but Draco asked it for him.
"Closer than Potter here?"
Hermione turned to look Harry fully in the eye. "Yes." There was a long stretch of silence then, but then Hermione finally turned and saw that the kids were almost done with stretches. "Let's go visit Lenne now."
By the time they got to Lenne, she had already sent the kids off to run, and was sipping tea peacefully at her table. She conjured three more chairs, coffee, and some baked goods as well.
"I don't know what kind of drinks you two want," Lenne shrugged, "So, you're going to have to conjure up your own drink."
"Thank you," Hermione sipped at her coffee appreciatively.
"Here to see if I'm working the poor students to death?" Lenne sniggered. "Interesting, earl gray tea?" she turned towards Draco, who nodded, impressed.
"Depends," Harry replied, "are you?"
"He's here to visit you with me," Hermione explained, "and, so we can catch up on the way."
Lenne shrugged, "I honestly can care less why he's here, and it looks like you're a coffee lover too huh?"
"I can tolerate tea."
"Coffee doesn't usually get along with me," Lenne smiled almost sadly, "but as long as it doesn't get into my tea," Lenne shrugged, "I can live with it."
"So, you agree that coffee and tea shouldn't go together?" Harry suddenly added, coldly, after a pause. He looked at Hermione's cup of coffee as he said this, and turned towards Lenne.
"They shouldn't be mixed." Lenne corrected.
"But you wouldn't have tea and then have a sip of coffee, would you?"
"No, but I'd have a frappe chino."
"Coffee drinks and tea drinks both go great with boba," Hermione jumped in, and seeing the quizzical look on Harry's and Draco's face, "or baked goods. They're similar enough. Why can't they all just get along?"
"Why don't you guys stop referring to coffee and tea and call your points straight out," Draco rolled his eyes. "The students think we're crazy as it is. It's after lunch, and we're having tea and coffee with baked goods. You don't have this kind of soirée right after lunch."
"Soiree?" Harry laughed.
"He's right though," Lenne joined in, "You don't have drinks and baked goods like this right after lunch."
Hermione shook her head, and met Draco's eyes. The two silently agreed and got up. "Harry," she turned to him, as she started walking away besides Draco. "You know it's my choice to hang out, be close to, or anything for that matter, right?"
Harry sighed, and nodded.
"You know what would really make me happy?" she smiled. "If you two are like this while I'm here. That's all I ask. Just be cordial to each other at least. You don't have to like each other, nor question each other's place in my life."
Lenne at this point, shrugged, and shook her head, "Yeah, yeah, we get it. You're just making excuses to go off with Malfoy."
"Merlin, Hermione," Harry caught Lenne's winked before she went to deal with the kids that were done and were listening in on them, "if you wanted to snog him, just tell me and I'll make like a banana," he got up.
"Yo, Potter," Lenne called, "You wanna grill one of my students to see just exactly how much I make them run, or would you rather just look from here and you'll see the distance."
"I'll do both!" he called back, as he jogged over to Lenne.
Hermione just glared at the two as she made her way, not too far off with Draco.
Draco took a sidelong glance at her, "You know," he smirked, "if you wanted to snog me, you can just ask."
"No, Malfoy," she said, annoyed, "Go snog a broom."
A/N: WOOHOO I UPDATED! YAYYY
R/R PLEASE! SORRIE IT TOOK SO LONG
DISCLAIMER: NOT MY CHARS JUST LENNE
N oh yes, IT'S OFFICALLY LENNE GRAYHART! Thx for noticing and informing me. :D
THANK YOU FOR ALL THE REVIEWS TOO!! :D HUGS EVERYONE AND GIVES U ALL CANDY! … so what if they're old?...don't complain they're candy! Lmao jkjk :p