Whiskey Lullaby
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Chapter 3: Solutions
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The next morning, Hermione headed down to breakfast with out saying a word. She went through the motions of eating, but never noticed the people around her.
"Hey look Pavarti, Little Miss Nothing is eating by herself," The self proclaimed queen of Gryffindor, Lavender Brown taunted and Hermione snapped for the second time in 12 hours.
"What the hell is wrong with you? What did I ever do to make you hate me so much?" Hermione yelled, getting the attention of everyone in the great hall.
"Well let's see: you stole Ron away from me, and then proceeded to convince him and Harry to quit school!" Lavender yelled back.
"I convinced no one to quit school, if you haven't realized I've been Hogwarts' resident book worm since first year, and would never entertain the thought of quitting school; but if I had I would have convinced myself to stay away as much as possible, with most of the Slytherins calling me a mudblood, to you being a bitch to me since day one, to Ron not realizing I was a girl until I was 14 and he needed a date to the Yule Ball, and then to top it off I had the worst summer of my life, and find out my two supposed best friends decided to leave me here by myself, and have to deal with all of this alone. The only person who could possibly understand how I feel is Harry and he doesn't even know what happened; and I didn't steal Ron away from you, Parkinson did!" Hermione finished and stormed out of the great hall, looking back just in time to see Lavender glare at Parkinson, and Parkinson to glare at Hermione. As she was walking away she heard something very interesting.
"Pansy, you're with the Weasel?" Millicent Bulstrode asked.
"Absolutely not; I wouldn't be caught dead with a blood traitor like him; I'm going to kill Granger!" Pansy said angrily.
"Relax Parkinson, Granger was only trying to get Brown off her back, and you deserved it after 5 years of insults," Theo said with a smirk. About 5 minutes later, Draco, Blaise and Theo joined Hermione in the entrance hall and all four of them headed to Dumbledore's office.
Dumbledore's Office
"I understand you wanted to talk to us Ms. Granger," the deputy headmistress, and Gryffindor Head of house, Minerva McGonagall said; indicating herself, the deputy headmaster, and Slytherin Head of house, Severus Snape, and Dumbledore.
"Yes I did, it is in regard to what happened this summer," Hermione stated.
"What exactly are you talking about Ms. Granger?" Snape asked.
"I've noticed that the three of you have been watching the four of us more closely since the beginning of school since you heard of my parents' and god-father's deaths," Hermione answered.
"We have, we just thought you would tell us when you were ready; which I assume you are now," Dumbledore said.
"That I am," Hermione stated.
"What are these three here for exactly?" McGonagall asked.
"Moral support" Draco, Blaise and
Theo said simultaneously.
"Well then please continue Ms.
Granger" Snape said.
"About a month into the summer, I picked my dad up from the airport; he had been at a dental convention in France, and was arriving home. When we got home, we heard my mother giggle upstairs. It been happening all summer, so I just headed to my room and my dad went upstairs to tell her that he was home. About two minutes later, I heard the front door open and then slam shut; after that my dad was gone for about 3 weeks before I called him. My mother had told me that he had another convention to go to and didn't have time to say good bye, but when I called him; he told me that the women I called my mother cheated on him with his best friend, who just happened to be my god-father. I stopped talking to Denise and Mike (my mother and god-father), and never heard from my father again. Then the first night back I received a letter from the minister saying my father had committed suicide. I was devastated, not even a week later, the first of classes; I received another letter saying that my mother and god-father also committed suicide. They blamed themselves for what happened to my dad, and they thought of apologizing to me, but never had the courage to actually right the letter. I've been having nightmares of the last time I talked to my father, and tonight was no different, but when I woke up screaming for my dad, Lavender, Pavarti and Ginerva started yelling at me and trying to make me feel guilty for waking them up three nights in a row; I, of course yelled at them, and then Weasley mentioned my father not being here and I choked back a sob, and Brown told me to get over it; so grabbed my stuff and ran." Hermione explained.
"That explains a lot, but it doesn't explain what that has to do with the Slytherins," Dumbledore stated.
"On the train, I found Hermione staring out the window with out Potter or Weasley around, when I taunted her; she didn't even look at me. She responded in a monotone voice, and continued staring out the window. I asked her what was wrong, and she told me that her parents got into a fight and she hadn't seen or heard from her dad in 3 weeks, after she was done explaining that I told her that I knew she wasn't telling me everything, and she responded saying she would tell me when she excepted it. About two minutes later Blaise and Theo walked in and noticed her upset, and that I was comforting her, they just listened to her short explanation, and decided to listen when she was ready to talk. We set up a system for her to send a note to one of us when she was ready to talk, the recipient would burn the note once it was read, and get the other two and the four of us would meet in the back corner of the restricted section, knowing we were the only four allowed back there." Draco explained.
"Well now that we know the whole story, Minerva, Severus; what do you think we should do?" Dumbledore asked.
"I suggest we give them a tower of there own, with the story of them working on an advanced Potions and Transfiguration projects," McGonagall said.
"I agree, with their combined intelligence, they could very easily create a new potion, or find a way to transfigure something into food," Snape agreed.
"Excellent, if you three could follow me, I'll show you to your new tower," Dumbledore said, getting up and walking out of his office, closely followed by the other 6 occupants of the room.
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End Chapter 3
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