Chapter 3
When, a few weeks later, McGonagall asked her to stay behind after class, Hermione's heart started to beat at an incredible speed, nearly jumping out of her chest. What with all the blushing and the heat that started to rise inside her, she felt suddenly quite sick. She just stammered a simple 'yes', that was all she was able to utter.
The two hours of Transfiguration class seemed to last eternally. Hermione didn't pay as much attention as usual because all sorts of thoughts kept going through her head. What did McGonagall want to see her for? Would they have meetings again? Would it go further than last year? Would they get to know each other better? Would they… No, that could never be.
Perhaps it wasn't that at all. What if McGonagall had noticed? Had noticed how Hermione had an unusual lack of concentration, how she struggled to answer questions in class? An awful thought came into her head. What if she had noticed the other thing, the way Hermione felt? She would find out, she would be disgusted.
At the end of the lesson, Hermione watched the rest of the class leave. Harry and Ron said they would meet her in the Common Room later. They didn't seem surprised, they were already used to Hermione having meetings with McGonagall.
Hermione tried to look as casual as possible as she walked up to McGonagall's desk, but she couldn't remember how to walk normally. All of a sudden, she became very self-conscious as she felt her professors eyes on her. In the end, she decided to just stand still and wait for McGonagall to speak. "Miss Granger, I wanted to make an appointment for a short meeting, just like we had last year. Since it's the beginning of a new term, I would like to have a talk with you about your new subjects, about how everything is going."
Hermione felt so relieved. This was what she had hoped for, their meetings to be continued. She felt the tension leave her body and she actually managed to smile at McGonagall after they had set the meeting for next Friday, after school. The professor returned her smile with a flicker in the light blue eyes. Hermione felt her heart melt and had to suppress the urge to bring her hand up to the woman's face and stroke the soft, light skin, to let her fingertips run over the coral colored lips curved into a thin smile. She was a bit shocked by her own feelings.
She felt a pleasant kind of warmth flowing through her body as she ran through the corridors and practically dashed up the stairs to the Gryffindor Common Room. McGonagall wanted to meet her, they would start their meetings again and she hadn't found out!
That Friday, she would meet McGonagall in her office at 8 PM. Hermione, Ron and Harry had just got back from dinner in the Great Hall. Ron asked her if she would help him with his Potions essay, but she said she had no time because she would meet McGonagall. "But your meeting is at 8 PM, you still have an hour", Ron said annoyed. She replied that she needed to go through some stuff which she would be discussing with her professor. This was not entirely true, or in fact not at all true. She didn't need to prepare anything for their meeting, it was just that Hermione suddenly felt so ugly in her jeans and sweater, with her uncombed hair. How would She ever notice her dressed like this? She wanted to impress her.
Hermione entered the dormitory and went through all her clothes. After a long search, she picked out a night blue dress with matching cardigan and ballerina's. Then she started to comb her hair and she put it up with some glittering hairpins. She turned round and round in front of the mirror, admiring her tiny waist, set off beautifully by the silky dress. She decided to put on some eye shadow as well and then left for the Common Room. But halfway down the stairs, she saw her reflection in the stained-glass window and suddenly ran back upstairs, wiped the eye shadow of her eyes (it looked as if she had made too much of an effort) and pulled the pins out of her hair. She glanced at the old clock in the corner and saw that she only had 5 minutes to get to McGonagall's office. Oh how she hoped the staircases wouldn't change too much, she would hate to be late.