Chapter 24: Week of Halloween
Hermione had generally recovered from her night at the meeting three weeks ago, she was back in the teaching mode and didn't notice but she was a bit shorter with her temper when she returned, but while she didn't notice, her students, friends and fellow staff members noticed and one day after her last class of the day, third year class with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, the other two thirds of the Golden Trio came into the room.
"Professor?"
"Yes Mr. Potter?"
"May we talk to you?"
"Of course come in and shut the door."
"Yes Ma'am." When the door was shut Hermione plopped down into a nearby chair.
"Harry, Ron, What's up?"
"Well firstly we were wondering if you would walk with us to the meeting tonight." Ron asked.
"Sure. Second Question?"
"Are you ok?" Harry asked.
"Fine why?"
"You just seem a bit short for the past few weeks, and it has increased a good amount since the first of the month."
"I am not short!" Hermione snapped.
"See right there!" Ron pointed out, "You are extremely short tempered even for you."
"They are right Hermione." Professor McGonagall said from the door to her office, "You have been a bit short, and pale."
"What does my being pale have anything to do with my shortness?"
"Hermione….Have you talked to Poppy?"
"Why do I need to talk to Poppy I…" Hermione stopped "Ok so I am a bit short and a bit pale, I am just stressed about how to talk about the last meeting on Tuesday and with all the papers you assign Minerva, I am just tired. Can we go to dinner?"
"Sure," Ron and Harry practically ran to the door
"And I will meet the two of you outside of the tower thirty minutes before the meeting."
"Yes ma'am."
When the room was once again empty Minerva spoke, "Hermione is it possible that you could be pregnant?"
"No."
"Are you even going to consider the possibility?"
"No, I am not pregnant."
"Are you sure?"
"Minerva, I know I am not pregnant, I took a test this morning, and it was negative." Hermione felt the tears pain her eyes.
"Oh dear I am so sorry."
Hermione pushed the tears out of her eyes, "its fine, I don't want a child with this war anyway, maybe after but not now, it would be too much."
"I understand. Shall we head to dinner?"
"Yes I am actually a bit hungry."
"I imagine, you didn't eat too much at lunch." And the two women walked into the hall together and entered through the teacher doors and took their respectable seats before digging in to their meal. As soon as they were done, Hermione returned to Minerva's classroom to finish grading some papers while waiting for the 8:30 chime as her cue to go get the boys, suddenly there was a knock at the door.
"Yes?"
"Hello Professor?" Blaise Zambini came in a bit curious about who he was going to meet.
"Hello Mr. Zambini, please come in and shut the door." Blaise did as instructed before turning back to her and walking up to the desk. "What can I do for you this evening Blaise?"
"I just had a question on Friday's homework."
"What about it?"
"Well I was wondering, when morphing something big like a… oh I don't know… like a couch, what would be the best size object for that transfiguration?"
"Blaise, really? You are a smart boy and you should know that it doesn't matter what size the object is that you start with, what really matters is how much practice and concentration you put into your work. Have you been talking to Goyle again?"
"No, Pansy actually."
"Oh that girl, if she would pay as much attention in class as she does to my cousin, she might be able to pass with flying colors." Hermione smiled at her peer and then asked, "Does that answer your question, or do you have others?"
"Well I do have a question but it's not school related."
"Ok ask away, there aren't any students around."
"Well I was wondering if you and Professor Snape would be joining the Malfoy's for Christmas?"
"Blaise Christmas is just under two months away."
"I know I was just curious."
"Well I would assume so but I make no promises."
"Ok great, I'll talk to you later Professor."
"Have a good evening Mr. Zambini." And Blaise left the room. Just as the clock struck 8:30, Minerva come out of her office ready to escort Hermione to Gryffindor Tower to retrieve Harry and Ron. They waited outside the portrait while they came busting through.
"Professors, we are so sorry I hope you weren't waiting long."
"Not at all Ronald, let's go." Hermione stressed his four walked to the headmaster's office where they were greeted by almost everyone; Molly, Arthur, Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, Tonks, Remus, Moody, Kinglsey, Poppy, Pomona, Flitwick, Brian and Anna Bones, Bryan, Adriane and Terry Boot, Lucius, Narcissa and Draco. Hermione went and joined her Husband who was sitting two seats away from Albus so that Hermione and Minerva could sit next to one another, Harry and Ron would sit catty corner to the two of them on the other side of Arthur and Molly.
"Now that we are all here, let us begin. We have news that the attacks on some of our muggleborn parents are indeed the works of Tom. Lucius would you and Kinglsey care to elaborate upon the subject?"
"Yes Headmaster," Lucius and Kinglsey stood and took out their notes and elaborated more upon the subject and threw in their personal details of personal interaction with the minister and the Dark Lord. When they were done, the group took their notes and the meeting continued.
"Severus, would you care to elaborate upon the meeting a few weeks ago?"
"The meeting was uneventful for the most part; he told us that the battle was indeed going to be before Potter and his friends graduate, he needed more information upon which to base his attack where he would have the element of surprise. He told us to continue our attacks upon the muggle families but to not get caught. It seems pretty straight forward."
"What about recruitment, has anything been said besides what happened with Lydia and her brother?" Molly asked.
"He hasn't said anything that would be Draco's, along with other outer circle member's task."
"Draco?"
"Headmaster, he hasn't said anything about recruitment yet, but I have no doubt that after Halloween it will pick up."
"Of course, so we know what to expect."
"Albus, I think that it would be best to attempt to keep the students away from this as long as possible, if they are not already inducted into the order or bear the dark mark, I don't want them involved until the last possible second." Minerva said, the other professors nodded in agreement.
"We will try Minerva but those that…"
"No Albus, I agree with Minerva, this school is already divided enough without accusations of whom and who doesn't have the Dark Mark." Hermione interrupted.
"Hermione…"
"No Uncle, this needs to be said. Draco and Harry have been at each other's throats for the past six years and last year when the accusation came up the fights got more bitter. I will not have my students in the same position."
"You put too little faith in the rest of the school, the ravenclaws and hufflepuffs are more respectable."
"True but who's to say that when one of them shows a mark that the accusations aren't going to start flying."
"They wouldn't….They are from very respectable houses."
"ALL the houses are respectable!"
"But the slytherine students are more likely…"
"What house they come from doesn't matter!" Severus said.
"Look at the Statistics Snape, your house has quite a record." Moody said.
"Alastor!" Albus interjected.
"STOP IT!" Hermione yelled, the entire room fell silent. "Look I didn't want to start a battle amongst ourselves but what house they come from doesn't' matter, Peter was a Gryffindor for lord's sake! The house doesn't matter, what I am saying is that I don't want the student's encouraged to join, they must come of their own will and NONE of them will be spying!"
"Here here!" Minerva raised her hand before slapping it on the table.
"Well ok now that that is out of the way, is there anything else?"
Hermione stood, "Is there anything else Hermione?"
"Yes."
"Please share."
"At the last meeting, there was an incident."
"Then why didn't Snape report it?"
"BECAUSE HE WASN'T THERE!" Hermione looked down at the table, and took a few deep breaths to calm herself, "Anyway as I was saying, there was something from the meeting that must be shared. After the meeting I was called aside to have a talk with the Dark Lord, it started civil…"
"There is nothing civil about a man that kills for entertainment," Alastor Interrupted.
"Alastor," Albus warned.
"As I was saying, it started out civil, but he started hinting at things. He questions Severus' loyalty and I think he wants me to report to him if anything comes up questionable. He also mentioned my parents," Everyone looked at the Malfoys, "The Grangers," She elaborated. " He asked if I wanted revenge, when I didn't answer it was like he read my mind, he said that he did not order the attack, but it brought him pleasure to throw Albus off of his rocker…" She had to stop to regain herself; she would not lose face in front of this group, especially Alastor. "He said that revenge was necessary but I should wait, the time would come. I think that it would be necessary to keep a close eye on ANY disappearances because if he didn't order it, I assume that the attack wouldn't have come from a death eater because he would have had a gloating party that the entire Death eater clan would have been part of." Again everyone looked at the known death eaters in the room, "And since my parents wouldn't lie to me in fear of me killing them, we need to assume that it was someone who wanted to start off on his good side, someone who is going to join soon."
"Where are you getting such an assumption?"
"HE TOLD ME THAT THE TIME WOULD COME! WHY WOULD HE SAY THAT UNLESS HE KNEW THAT I WAS GOING TO BE COMING FACE TO FACE WITH THIS PERSON?" That did it, Moody was silent. "Look I know it is a long shot but I will not be killing anyone in front of that man unless they throw the first curse, I will not succumb to the darkness." She fell into the chair behind her and took a few deep breaths; Severus quietly snuck his hand under the table, and braced hers.
"Ok well then, Hermione actually has a point. If Tom told her to wait, he is anticipating that she will kill that person giving him full leverage over her and she will be more venerable to his doing. Muggle families are no longer our only concern, Severus and Hermione are in more danger then they have been in the past, we have to protect our own as well as the innocent." Albus said.
"Ok, so what do we do?" Molly asked.
"I think when recruitment starts, we need to start a defense club for the older students, As for Hermione and Severus, Lucius, and I trust that you can handle their protection if necessary?"
"Yes Albus," Lucius said.
"Meeting Dismissed," Albus said. Everyone got up and started mingling amongst themselves, Hermione however stayed where she was seated and stared blankly at the table. After fifteen minutes, everyone left the room except for the Headmaster, Minerva and Severus. The three gathered around the young witch and waited for her to speak, when she didn't Albus spoke, "Hermione?"
"I don't want to become like him Albus."
"I know child," Albus said putting a comforting hand upon her shoulders.
"Albus, what if he finds out where Severus' loyalties really lie?"
"We will cross that bridge when we get there Hermione," Severus spoke reassuringly.
"Then what we go in blind? What if he discovers your true loyalties, am I suppose to stay with my parents in his ranks? What if after he discovers you and does with you what he will and then he has me carry on the deed that he has in mind for me? What then Severus, how do we handle that then?" Hermione looked at her husband with tears glistening in her eyes.
"Hermione, you are a strong woman and you will know what to do when the time comes, we will not send you in blind," Severus said.
"Hermione?"
"Yes Minerva?"
"We will get through this, Tom needs information before the final battle before he does anything of the sort. For now I think that it would be best if we focused on keeping the student's safe and putting on an awesome Halloween Dance." Minerva smirked.
"Oh Dear." Hermione giggled a bit.
"I couldn't agree more love." Severus said, "No I believe that it is only Tuesday so we must be going."
Hermione and Severus left that room hand in hand all the way to their quarters. After that the rest of the week sailed fairly smoothly, hardly any detentions due to the fact that students wanted to attend the dance. Like the year so far, the rest of the week flew by quite quickly and Friday was upon the staff. Students were eager for the evening and so it was almost impossible to actually finish a lesson but Severus still had the upper hand and kept his class in line.
During their free period before lunch, Hermione and Minerva went to Diagon ally to find their costumes for the night. They walked into Madam Malkin's dress shop eager to find the perfect outfit. They tried on numerous outfits but it seemed to be harder than they anticipated. Minerva finally found a Royal Blue Renaissance ball gown with a matching mask Hermione started to get a bit frustrated. "Minerva nothing is going to work! This is ridicules, I have to maintain a professional appearance but I want to look cute!"
"Hermione calm down, there is something here I promise."
"Where Minerva, we have to be back in an hour we are getting past the point of no…. That's it!"
"What's it dear?"
"I know what I'll be for the dance." Hermione hurriedly found the items that she needed for her costume and they headed back to the school.
They finished their final classes of the day before retiring to Minerva's quarters; Hermione left a note in her room that said that she would meet him at the dance. She and Minerva spent the rest of the day getting ready. Minerva was ready first simply because her costume was the simplest, she put on the dress and shoes along with her jewelry, She had her hair half down and the half pulled back was a simpler version of Hermione's hair on her wedding day but Because Minerva had hair like Hermione's, her curls naturally gave her the volume that was needed to pull off the look.
Hermione took her time getting into hers seeing as there were numerous pieces to it but when she was done, she put her hair down and brushed through the curls and pulled up one side and put it back with a simple red flower and applied her makeup. Fifteen minutes before the dance was to start the two women applied their masks to their faces and walked to the great hall. They stood outside the doors watching the students go in and taking note of anything suspicious to tell the chaperones. Hermione and Minerva eventually headed in just as the dance was about to start and approached where the head table usually stood, They had arranged for all of the tables be transfigured and moved over to the side of the room so that girls didn't have to attempt to straddle a bench in their costumes. Hermione was impressed with how it looked, besides the tables the room was charmed so that bats and other Halloween creatures came to life, while the usual candles and pumpkins floated throughout the room. There was a large dance floor in front of the room. Hermione liked it; she was so glad that the headmaster went along with this.
Five minutes before the start time, Albus stood and told everyone that it was time to start and music and food filled the room. Students took their separate directions, some ate, some danced and some sat staring off, sort of like Ron did at the Yule Ball. Albus and Minerva stood With Hermione watching the students have fun and be carefree. Hermione smiled against her mask as she watched the students, and eventually Albus and Minerva dance on the floor.
Severus entered the room with his usual smirk plastered on his face not that it mattered, his mask hid his face well, Hermione had told him that she would meet him in the dance so his eyes instantly scanned the room he didn't see her with any of the students or with any of the staff, he was a bit concerned, Minerva wouldn't allow Hermione to come down to the dance alone, it was just that motherly side of her, she had to be here because he spotted his 'mother's' raven hair on the dance floor. He scanned the room once more and he spotted her, he could see why he missed her the first few sweeps of the room, for the second time in under a year, Hermione had made him gawk at her beauty. Her hair was mostly down except for one section pulled back with a flower, her dress was a peasant top that ended just below her chest and picked up with a black corset, the corset went down to sit right upon her hips and come down in a 'V' fashion in the front, she wore a green-brown skirt that flowed to the ground, she completed her look with nude one inch high heels and a mask that copied her bodice and a black mask with random spots of red and grey. She was beautiful. She must have felt someone watching her because she turned toward him and smiled, she recognized him.
Hermione looked at him, he was amazing, it was almost as if they were connected mentally, he wore a black mask that covered a good portion of his face, his shirt was white and looked like a pirate top, over that he wore a deep red coat that had black trimmings with black pants and black shoes. He was dressed just like the Phantom of the Opera in the scene 'Past the Point of No Return' just as she had done with her Christine Costume, it was perfect. He approached her and held out his hand.
"May I have this dance Madam Snape?"
"Indeed Master Snape." The two took the floor as a tango started to play. He took her in his arms and the two danced as if they were one with each other. The students cleared the floor for the most part except those that knew how to tango, most of them slytherines, but as soon as the two professors started to dance the room seemed to freeze and watch them flow across the floor. Albus and Minerva watched the two they viewed as their children dance with each other completely oblivious to the attention that they were drawing to themselves. The song eventually ended but the stares stayed intact, no one knew that their teachers could dance like that.
Other songs came on and Severus and Hermione danced to most of them and only took minor breaks to get drinks here and there. Severus loved holding her close to him, it made him feel content. A few times Harry, Ron, and Albus came up to her to dance and Minerva, Professor Senstra and Madam Pince did the same to Severus. Soon however the dance started drawing to a close and Hermione knew what she had to do. She had already discussed the matter with Harry himself but they had to make it convincing. Hermione pulled Harry out of the hall and out toward the lake, when they got there they sat down on a dry patch and removed their masks.
"Harry, I need to know, how are you?"
"I'm alright."
"Just alright?"
"I am a bit worried but I suppose that is normal with knowledge that he is going to come after me this year."
"I suppose."
"Hermione?"
"Yes?"
"Are you ok?"
"I'm fine, really, I am happy for the first time in a long time. But I have to be honest; I miss the way it was when we were always going in blind and doing stupid things to keep those that we loved safe. Now that I am a member of a death eater family, we aren't blind anymore and that kind of took the fun out of it for me." Hermione smirked at her best friend.
"That's not what I meant." Harry tried to keep a serious face but failed, "Maybe you should spend less time with that husband of yours, his sarcasm and smirks are wearing off on you."
Hermione put her hand upon her chest in a mock hurt, "I am not!" the two looked at each other for a moment before breaking out in hysterical laughs and falling back onto the cool grass.
"When did this all get so complicated Hermione? When did it stop being for house points and life or death?" Harry asked after his laughs died.
"I don't know Harry, but as soon as this is over I am sure that it will go back to being normal again."
"What is normal?"
"Not a clue." Again the two laughed.
"I'm scared for you Hermione."
"Why?"
"You have to be in his presence and it can't be easy fooling him and Dumbledore into that you are on their sides."
"I am loyal to those I trust so you put together the pieces of who I am loyal to Harry."
"Us." That us didn't mean the side of light, it meant the Weasleys and Harry, not a particular group.
"Yes, you are the ones that I turn to for everything."
"I miss you Hermione."
"I miss you guys too." They hugged as awkwardly as they could on the ground. "I suppose that we should return to the castle before they send out the group for us."
"I suppose." Harry helped Hermione to her feet and draped his arm around her shoulders as they walked up to the castle. Over all it was a success story and Hermione knew that Harry trusted her and that is how it should always be. Little did they know that they were being watched by a pair of dark eyes.