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CHAPTER FOUR: Building and Burning Bridges

Harry and Hermione had reached the junction of the Ministry corridors where they were usually required to go their separate ways, Harry towards the Auror offices and Hermione towards the Law department. "I'll meet you for lunch then?"Harry asked. He waited for her response but Hermione didn't seem to be listening. Instead her gaze was focused on something behind him.

Harry looked round and saw Parvati on her way towards her own office in the Department of Mysteries. "I think I should talk to her,"Hermione observed.

Harry looked at her bemused. "Okay. Have you any idea what you're going to say?"

"I'll think of something. See you at lunch." Hermione gave him a quick kiss and ran down the corridor. "Parvati, wait!"

Harry rolled his eyes and smiled before heading off towards his own department.

Parvati paused, looking slightly uncomfortable, as her boyfriend's estranged wife hurried towards her. "Hermione,"she said awkwardly.

"Hi,"Hermione responded with a bit too much cheeriness. "It feels like ages since we've spoken."

Parvati nodded slowly. "It's been a while,"she agreed.

"So… you and Ron, hey?"

"Yes, he told me you knew. Look, Hermione…"

"I want him to be happy." Hermione dropped the false jollity and was suddenly all seriousness. "I know I hurt him and I know he didn't deserve that but I know I'd have hurt him more if I stayed with him and pretended I felt the same way he did. It was me and him and the children for a long time and now… now that's over. And that was my choice and so any issues I might have… Well, as long as he's happy and the children are happy, that should be enough."

"He's a good man,"Parvati said quietly. "And the children are lovely. I wouldn't do anything to hurt any of them."

"I know you wouldn't." Hermione tried to think of something else to say but nothing sprang to mind. "I guess I'll see you around then,"she managed at last before heading off in the direction of her office.

The fourth years Gryffindors and Slytherins had Potions first lesson of the day, their first lesson with Professor Havelock. "I think for this first lesson you should show me exactly what you've learned from Professor Slughorn,"she told them. "So I want each of you, individually, to choose a potion and brew it to perfection. It doesn't matter what you choose, I'd rather you did a good job of something you learnt in first year than try something more advanced and make a mess of it."

There was a rush for the ingredients cupboards as the students tried to retrieve enough items for their chosen potions before their classmates grabbed them. Rose had decided to attempt a Calming Draught; she still had bad memories of the mess she'd made of it the previous year, when she was upset about Aunt Ginny's death, and was determined to exorcise a few of them.

Albus and Owen had both decided to attempt a Swelling Solution. They were sharing ingredients and seemed to be enjoying choosing items from their bags to test it on a bit too much.

Scorpius was at the table with them. "Yours is looking good,"he remarked to Rose. "Maybe being near you some of your talent will rub off on me."

Rose glanced at his cauldron. "You don't look like you need my help,"she told him. "You're doing well."

Scorpius gave a slightly shy smile and looked as though he was about to say something but then one of the girls from his house, Zara Mills, called out to him. "Scorpius! Can you give me a hand with this?"

Scorpius looked over at her. "I think we're meant to do it on our own,"he told her. He glanced at Melinda, who nodded in confirmation.

Zara wasn't to be deterred. "Well, can you let me know what you think of it?"

Scorpius couldn't think of any reason to object to that so he went over to Zara's table.

Rose felt a pang of jealousy. She and Scorpius had begun defying tradition recently by having meals at each other's tables in the Great Hall, which wasn't against school rules by any means but was unusual enough to raise a few eyebrows. But she still found she missed him in the evening when they had to go back to their separate common rooms. Seeing the brown-haired Slytherin girl hanging on his every word reminded her that his housemates had no such problems.

"All right, time's up,"Melinda announced. "Stand by your cauldrons and I'll let you know what I think." She walked round the classroom, assessing each potion in turn, offering helpful hints and the occasional compliment. She stopped by Scorpius. "An Undetectable Poison? I hope that doesn't say anything about your intentions."

Scorpius looked slightly bashful. "My dad gave me some tips on it once."

She patted him on the shoulder and gave him an affectionate smile. "I'm only teasing you. You've done a good job. Ten points to Slytherin."

"Oh great,"Owen muttered to Albus. "Another teacher who favours their own house."

Melinda moved on to Rose. "Miss Weasley." She sniffed the cauldron, examining the golden liquid within. "Well, I can't see anything wrong with that, so ten points to Gryffindor. It seems you're following in your mother's footsteps when it comes to being annoyingly successful."

"You know my mum?"Rose asked in surprise.

"Vaguely. I was two years below her and in Slytherin, so I didn't see much of her. She didn't tend to socialise with our house." She glanced from Rose to Scorpius and raised an eyebrow. "So that's one area where you don't take after her."

Hermione stole a glance up at the clock in her office. She'd been doing a lot of prep work on a case that was coming up and, with her brain fully occupied, the morning had flown by. It was nearly time to meet Harry for lunch.

As she got up from her desk, she was startled by a sudden movement from the doorway. She looked up to see Parvati standing there. She forced a smile on her face. "Parvati! I was about to go to lunch, do you want to walk with me?"

Suddenly, Parvati's wand was pointing right at her. "Excrucio!"she snapped and a white light burst from the end of the wand.

Hermione was struck in the chest by a Stinging Hex and thrown back into the wall, gasping for breath. She looked around and saw her wand lying on her desk. She made a dive for it.

"Oh no, you don't,"Parvati snapped. "Levicorpus!" The spell lifted Hermione off her feet and slammed her against the wall to her left, far away from her wand. She slid down the wall and lay in a heap on the floor.

Parvati kept her wand trained on Hermione and Hermione felt the pain and pressure from a silent curse stopping her from getting to her feet. The other woman's face was twisted in a look of pure hatred, so much so that Hermione could barely recognise her. She'd never known Parvati demonstrate anything approaching this level of malice before.

"It's all your fault!"Parvati snarled, sounding almost incoherent. "You did this to him! You ruined his life! You've got no right, he's better than you, he'll always be better than you! You're nothing!"

Hermione was barely listening. Instead, she stared at the wand on her desk. She had only one chance now. She'd attempted wandless magic a few times and had some success but she was aware of the potentially chaotic effects. But whatever she did, she couldn't be worse off. She stretched out a hand and focused on the most powerful Summoning Charm she could think of.

The wand flew into her hand. Hermione swung it round and pointed it at Parvati. "Impedimenta!"

The force of the spell sent Parvati flying back out through the door. She scrambled to her feet and scampered away.

Hermione took long deep breaths to try and calm herself, her body shaking with shock, unable to believe what had just happened.