Yeah! I'm trying to update all my stories every Sunday, a different story every week. Next week Cats in the Cradle, week after Camp Jane Austen. Because there is only a chapter or two left in this story I'll be holding off of updating rewriting the future until then. That way I should be able to type up more chapters. Also Ravens lost, I'm sad but there's always next year.
Disclaimer: Do you really think I own anything?
Minerva McGonagall was having a rather good sleep. One of those sleeps where when you wake up you just feel completely refreshed. However she wouldn't be able to wake up that way. She awoke, roughly, around one in the morning to see a large red bird perched on her stomach.
"Go away Fawkes." The bird did not move from its perch but instead began squawking loudly. "Fine, fine I'm getting up what does Albus want?" She asked the bird. Albus had woken her up this way more then once before, normally for very trivial things. Fawkes squawked again and flew out of the room. Sighing she grabbed her dressing gown and followed the bird out. "If Albus has misplaced his pensieve again it can wait til morning!" she told the bird angrily. When Fawkes stopped in front of the children's bedroom and sang softly her heart began to race. What had happened? She opened the door and rushed in, only to discover empty beds. Her heart sank and she hurried to pull back the curtains around Hermione's bed, only to discover that it to was empty. How could this have happened, she thought, how could they have left, the spell on the door would have alerted her if they left the room. Oh my goodness they went after the stone!
"Fawkes tell me they didn't go after the stone. Please!" She begged. The bird sung softly and extended his tail feathers for Minerva to hold onto. She wasted no time, and grabbed on, disappearing in a flash of red fire.
Hermione's mind was in complete disarray. Was Harry all right? What had happened? How did Professor Dumbledore know they went after the stone? What was going to happen to them? Were they going to be expelled? All this ran rapid though her head as she took a seat in Madam Pomfrey's office, she was itching to ask questions. Professor Dumbledore sat down behind her desk and stared at Hermione for a long time.
"Miss Granger I know you're scared and nervous, but you need to calm down. You aren't in any danger and you aren't in any trouble, at least with me." He said seeing her shocked face. "However, I need you to tell me what happened. Could you start with how you found out about the stone"? She nodded, slightly dejected, and began talking. She told him everything, from when Harry had noticed how Hagrid acted about the break in at Gringotts, to how they had gotten through all the obstacles.
"Yes," Professor Dumbledore said after being silent for what seemed like a very, very long time. "And how did you manage to sneak out of Professor McGonagall's quarters?" She blushed deeply at that knowing it was she who had tricked Minerva.
"When I came out of the loo, Minerva started walking back into her room, and instead of I going back in our room, the boys came out and we hid. Minerva felt the spell go off because she assumed I had gone back in."
"Yes, and I assume you had some help from a certain cloak of Harry's" Professor Dumbledore said pulling the cloak out and passing it to Hermione. "That fell out in all the action and I'd think Mr. Potter would rather not lose it."
"Sir?" Hermione questioned.
"I was the one who gave it back to Mr. Potter Ms. Granger, and as long as you only use it for noble reasons, I see no reason to give it back to it's rightful owner. Or in this case having his friend hold it for him, while he is ill"
"Sir? Is Harry going to be alright?"
"Mr. Potter is going to make a fine recovery I'm sure. He experienced some slight burns, and his magic has been depleted. So he'll most likely be unconscious for the next couple of days but I'm sure he'll be fine. Quirrel only gave him some trouble right before I was able to reach him."
"Qurriel? Not Snape?" Hermione asked.
"Professor Snape Miss Granger, and while I must admit from your point of view it would seem likely that it was Professor Snape who was after the stone, however since the beginning of the year Qurriel has been after the Stone. Professor Snape is someone to be trusted my dear, always remember that, even if he isn't the kindest fellow." Hermione nodded, still processing this information. "And if the talking I hear outside is any indication it would seem as if Minerva has finally joined us. Let us go greet her shall we." Hermione didn't move even as Dumbledore stood and left the desk.
"Miss Granger?"
"Do I have to go out? She's going to hate me for what I did." Hermione said softly. Dumbledore smiled kindly.
"Now I know for a fact that she could never hate you….but" he added seeing that Hermione was about to butt in. "She will be angry yes." Hermione slumped in her seat.
"We never wanted to make her mad. That's why we tried to tell her, but she didn't believe us, and the boys were going to go regardless. I couldn't abandon them, and we couldn't let He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named come back!"
"Call him Voldemort Ms. Granger, fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself. And yes, you did go to Minerva first and she is partially to blame for this. She should have let you explain everything you knew. And she should have sent me a message straight away. And although you three are the heroes of the day, you did break rules, and trusts. There were other ways you could have gone about the Stone. You could have sent me a letter directly, telling me everything. You could have continued to press Professor McGonagall about the Stone. Yes… I know how she gets when she's angry, and I know you were trying to spare her that but that doesn't atone for what you three did." Hermione hung her head again. It all seemed so obvious now. "However I do not wish to keep this blame game continuing all night. We could even say this was entirely my fault, because I thought the Stone would be safe here. I will have a talk with Minerva tonight, or rather this morning, about what you all went through tonight. You were exceptional brave tonight Ms. Granger, as well as Misters Weasley and Potter. That should be commended, not many your age could do what you three did tonight." He added on causing Hermione to blush slightly. "I feel your long night is not quite over yet but I ask you to just keep in mind how Professor McGonagall might be feeling when you talk all right?"
"Yes sir." She said thoroughly chastised but slightly happier due to the complement. She followed him out of the hospital wing in silence.
When Minerva opened her eyes after grabbing onto Fawkes she gasped when she noticed she was in the hospital wing.
"Minerva!" Pomfrey said hurrying over. Minerva stormed past her as soon as she saw the boys lying on the hospital beds.
"Poppy please tell me they're okay." Minerva asked her voice quivering. She pushed Ron's hair back to check for any bruises or injuries and repeated this on Harry. Not that she could see very well because she had left her glasses on her nightstand.
"They will be fine and make a full recovery." Poppy said to her relief. "Mr. Weasley was knocked out by one of your chessmen." Minerva let out a breath at that. The blows delivered by the chessmen were designed to knock out an enemy for 24 hours, enough time to be captured, because whenever someone entered the trapdoor an alert went off to the Headmaster. The reason, Minerva later learned, that Dumbledore was able to arrive in time. "Mr. Potter," Poppy continued. "Has suffered some 1st degree borderline second degree burns on his hands," she nodded to the hands that where nicely wrapped. "The main thing wrong with him is that he is magically drained. I don't' know what occurred, but he's lost some magic and he'll be asleep for a couple of days just waiting for it to fix itself."
"Thank heavens it wasn't anything to serious." Minerva said softly. "If they had met the wrong end of that dog, or troll, or even the devils snare they could of…" Minerva couldn't even finish the sentence. "Where's Hermione?" She finally asked, noticing that the brown haired girl was not lying on a bed.
"In my office with Albus." Poppy said looking over her shoulder. "They've been in there almost 10 minutes, and don't worry there's not a mark on her." Minerva sighed again and grabbed hold of both boys' hands while she waited. Her cubs were fine, well almost perfectly fine. Her kids were okay. However even as she thought that she started to get a little angry, they had snuck out when she had warned them not to and look what happened! This was exactly why she hadn't wanted them near the stone, now her boys were hurt. She didn't care what the reasons were, they shouldn't have disobeyed her! When the door to Poppy's office opened up, she was back on her feet quick as a whip. She immediately went to Hermione bent down and front of her.
"Are you all right?" She asked perhaps a bit to sharply because Hermione nodded and ran to hide behind Harry's bed. "Hermione come back—" Albus cut her off with a hand on her shoulder and led her into the office. He proceeded to relay to her what had transpired down through the trapdoor. When she emerged she was slightly calmer then when she entered, but not by much. At least now she knew what exactly had happened. Though Albus had warned her to watch her temper, something she scoffed at. Hermione was sitting cross-legged on the end of Ron's bed, while Poppy hovered over Harry to try and help speed his recovery process along. When Minerva came back out Hermione immediately looked away proceeded to look anywhere else. At least she feels guilty, Minerva thought, ignoring the slight pain at the fact that Hermione wouldn't even look at her.
"Time to go Hermione, you can come see them tomorrow morning." Minerva said after talking briefly again with Poppy. That caused Hermione to stare at her.
"But… but... I thought?" She babbled.
"You are perfectly fine, there is no reason for you to spend the night in the hospital wing." And I need one of my cubs close by me tonight, she thought.
"But…" Hermione started again.
"You've had a long night Ms. Granger you need to go get a good nights sleep." Dumbledore said warmly. His eyes had finally regained their twinkle. Hermione stood up slowly and walked towards the door. Minerva waved goodbye to her colleagues, grabbed Hermione's hand and walked down to her quarters. They didn't say a word to each other as they walked down the 3 flights of stairs. When Minerva finally reached her quarters, she sat Hermione down on the sofa and told her to stay there. Minerva felt that anger begin to come back up so she needed to get away. Hermione sat perfectly still, legs draw to her chest waiting not knowing what she was waiting for. Was Minerva going to take away more house points? Was she going to kick her out? Make her stay with another teacher? That hurt Hermione even more then the others. She picked at her torn pajamas; and poked the little scratch's the devils snare had left, and the bruise that was forming on her face from a stupid key flying in her face. She hadn't noticed these marks before, she had been so focused on everything else that was happening. She didn't even notice Minerva enter the room again until she spoke.
"Well?" Minerva asked, making the girl jump. "Do you have any thing to say for yourself?"
"I'm sorry?" She said softly.
"You're sorry for what?" Minerva asked. "For sneaking out? For breaking the rules? For scaring me half to death!" She started pacing around the room. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? That bloody bird comes and wakes me up only for me to discover that all three of my kids are missing! Not to mention you tricked me so you could sneak out! What was all that speech about trouble finding you about, because it certainly seems to me that you found that trouble…"
"We tried to tell you." Hermione injected.
"Yes, and that is why I put a charm on the door! It was to dangerous to sneak into the trapdoor, just look at Harry and Ron, they're in the hospital wing right now!" Minerva continued. "I expected better from you Hermione! There were other things you could have done! There was no reason for you to go after the Stone yourself!"
"Yes there was!" Hermione shouted crying. "We had to stop Voldemort because you didn't believe us!" She stood up and face Minerva. "If we hadn't done anything he would have gotten the Stone and come back to life, and a lot more people would have been in danger!" She shouted and ran past Minerva into the bedroom slamming the door shut.
Minerva stood there for a couple of minutes to allow herself to cool down. Hermione's words swirled around in her head. 'we had to stop Voldemort… a lot more people would have been in danger' 'you didn't believe us!'. Hermione was right, she knew the girl was right but she couldn't have them think it was okay to sneak off like that. She had sworn she wouldn't show them any favoritism, but she thought sadly, maybe it was time she did. At least in private situations.
Minerva walked into the kids bedroom and slowly opened the curtains around Hermione's bed. The girl was face down crying onto the bed, and it hurt Minerva more then anything to know she had caused this.
"I'm sorry." Minerva said placing a hand on Hermione's head running her fingers through her hair. Hermione ignored her but Minerva noticed her cries had died down a bit, so she sat down on the bed. "I'm the adult here, I shouldn't have shown my anger around you, and scolded you the way I had, it could have waited until the morning. When we would have both been more calm." Hermione was still sniffing.
"Then why didn't you?" Hermione mumbled into her pillow.
"Because I was scared and worried. I had been so afraid that something had happened to you three. I wanted to make sure you were safe but my anger took over my fear. And I hadn't expected you to do something like that, I expected more from you." Minerva said quietly, but Hermione heard every word.
"Well why?" Hermione said finally sitting up. "You said that before. Why do you expect more from me? You wouldn't be yelling like this at Harry or Ron!" She was crying again. "Why, why, why! I'm no different from Harry or Ron!" Hermione shouted and something in Minerva snapped.
"Yes you are! You're my good girl, my smart one! You're like me! You weren't supposed to get your self into these situations! You're not like the boys, they come from families of pranksters and adventurers but you're…" Minerva trailed off and put her head in her hand. "…like me… And I probably would have done the same thing when I was your age." She finished rather lamely. And as much as she hated to admit it, but it was true. She would have, and still would do almost anything for the people she loved. She barely even registered Hermione stop crying.
"So why did you get so upset?" Hermione whispered. Minerva gave a sarcastic laugh.
"I… I honesty don't know. Part of me says it was because I would have done the same thing…but" she paused here and made Hermione look at her. "I was so worried, the roles reversed on me, I was never worried about myself when I did those things for my friends, and I knew that you probably wouldn't be worried about yourself, and that scared me because I worry about you getting hurt, and about the boys…and…I've just gotten used to you three being here, I'm not ready to give it up that fast." She finished. She cursed herself when she felt tears fall down her eyes, if it wasn't bad enough she'd basically just told Hermione that she loved the girl. The poor girl is never going to look at her the same; she's just going to think of her as her crazy professor.
But she felt a tiny hand wipe away the tear.
"Don't cry Minerva, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, but don't cry. Professor McGonagall doesn't cry." Hermione said. Minerva gave a little chuckle again and looked into Hermione's brown eyes.
"Yes she does dear, she just doesn't normally do it where others can see her." Minerva placed her hand on Hermione's face and wiped some of the girls tears away as well. Only when she saw Hermione wince did she stop, and notice the bruise that was forming. "Oh my goodness you are hurt. Poppy told me you weren't hurt." Minerva said rubbing her hand over the mark.
"I'm fine, just a couple scratches and this bruise." Hermione mumbled.
"You need to put something on them, that trapdoor isn't the cleanest place in the world." Only then did she actually look and notice that Hermione was still wearing her torn pajamas, which were covered in some dirt, mud and some slight dried blood. "In fact you need a bath."
"But it's almost two in the morning! " Hermione said.
"And you're dirty, I'll go get the bath going, you grab some other pajamas and come in when you're ready." Minerva sped up the process of getting the water into the tub by adding some water via her wand. When Hermione stumbled in, Minerva left her to her own device, asking her to come into Minerva bedroom afterwards so she could put some medicine on the cuts.
When Hermione padded into Minerva's bedroom roughly five minutes later, the professor had changed her clothes and had a couple potions and vials lying on the table beside the bed.
"Up here dear." Minerva said patting the bed. Hermione climbed up with a yawn, it was past two in the morning at that point. "I'm sorry I didn't notice you were hurt earlier dear. I didn't have my glasses on and…"
"You can't see anything up close without your glasses, I know." Hermione said holding her arms out for Minerva to put some salve on. "But I'm fine really."
"Better safe then sorry, that devils snare has been growing steadily all year down in that dungeon, it could be festering with disease." Hermione nodded sleepily. "So did everything actually happen the way Professor Dumbledore told me it did?" Minerva asked.
"Yes, I told him everything, of course I don't know what happened after I left Harry."
"Mmm, it seems I need to get Ron a new chess set then." Minerva said smiling at Hermione.
"Oh you did say that! Ron'll love that." Hermione said closing her eyes so Minerva could put the potion on her face. "Professor?"
"Yes dear?"
"Did you mean what you said?"
"About what dear?"
"That you expected more from me… because… because I'm like you?" Hermione asked curiously, opening her eyes to stare at Minerva.
"Yes…" Minerva said after a couple moments pause. "You act a lot like I did at your age, and you are very much like me in general. I suppose I was being selfish by expecting you to act differently because of that." Minerva paused to sigh. "Now I do expect the boys to behave as well, I'd like to make that clear to you Hermione, that even if I expect different outcomes you will be treated the same as the boys." Hermione was quiet she continued staring at Minerva. Finally Minerva decided to throw caution to the wind and continue. "I do care about you Hermione, you and the boys, very much." She finished looking at Hermione with sincerity.
Hermione didn't say a word and lunged at Minerva hugging her tightly. Minerva wrapped her arms around the girl and hugged her tightly, deeply relieved.
"We like you a lot to." Hermione whispered. "Though the boys would probably deny it." Minerva smiled as she felt the girl snuggle deeper; she reached over and covered Hermione in the spare blanket.
"So since I'm your favorite you'll tell me how I did on my exam?" Hermione asked grinning at Minerva.
"First of all I never said you were my favorite." Minerva said smiling.
"it was implied." Hermione said happily.
"And…" Minerva said ignoring the smiling girl. "You are just going to have to wait like everyone else."
"Pleasssse I'm your favorite." Hermione wined. Minerva laughed.
"I am not Professor Snape young lady, you can wait just like everyone else."
"But Professor Flitwick told me I got a 112% on his exam!"
"My lips are sealed, and you need to get some sleep, your punishment begins tomorrow."
"What punishment?" Hermione cried. "That's not far how do you expect me to sleep now?"
"I expect you to sleep like a baby, go to bed." Minerva said.
"Alright." Hermione said wrapping herself back in the blanket and crawling into Minerva's bed.
"That's not what I meant." Minerva said halfheartedly but she crawled in next to the girl. "You're lucky I like you girlie."
"Of course you do I'm your favorite! Good night Minerva." Hermione mumbled snuggling deeper into the blankets.
"Sleep tight baby." Minerva said before she fell back into a deep sleep.
First of all, please review!
Second just thought I'd let you know this chapter was completely done except for the last 2 pages by Tuesday. And then the only time I could type was when the 90's on Nick were on and All That and Kenan and Kel is very distracting!
*Third, I've been writing a new story. Now it's not coming anytime soon, it won't be until I completely finish it. However it requires a lot of work on my part, and knowledge. So I'm looking for two different people to read the first chapter of this and tell me if you think it's worth pursuing. Now I'd like if someone from Great Britain be one of the one's to read this, as odd as that sounds. But that's all you're getting out of me. If anyone is interested please send me a private message. Please and Thank you!*