Fallen & Risen 9. These Monday Mornings
Monday morning.
Since Hermione had a meeting as Head Girl, Heley went into the Great Hall alone for her breakfast. She sat at the Gryffindor table, grabbed a toast and jar of marmalade. Once she was done spreading her toast with the marmalade, she bit into it and pulled out her schedule to read it.
"COUGH!" Heley chocked in her toast, grimacing when she saw what was written for her Monday morning.
'These Monday mornings…' she sheepishly thought. 'It seems that there are some things that never change.'
"Morning, Heley," Neville greeted as he came, yawning loudly. He plopped down on the seat next to her. "What's with that face you just made?"
'But other things do,' Heley mused, regarding Neville speculatively. 'Neville is no longer the timid boy he used to be. He certainly looks more mature than before.'
"Morning, Neville," Heley said, handing him her time table. Neville took it and read it. He grimaced as well.
"Double Potion on a Monday morning…" he muttered in a disgusted voice.
"Poor you, Heley!" Seamus cried out as he appeared and settled himself on the seats in front of her.
"Your first class at Hogwarts and you start with the most horrible one!" Dean added, sitting next to Seamus.
"Hey! That's not nice, discouraging her for her first class with us!" Hermione scowled as she appeared behind them.
"But Herminy, look!" Seamus snatched Heley's time table from Neville's hands and shoved into Hermione's face. Ron, who was accompanying Hermione for his Prefect duty, looked at Heley's schedule too. His face immediately drained of its color.
"Heley, my condolences to you," Ron told her mournfully, patting her shoulder.
"Ron!" Hermione punched his arms. "Not you too! Stop scaring her!"
"Sorry…" Ron nursed his arm and sat on Heley's other side. Hermione sat next to him.
"Ron, you DO realize that we have Double Potions with her too, right?" Neville said, an eyebrow rose. Ron, Seamus and Dean dropped their jaw, their face became white.
"My condolences to us," Seamus muttered. Ron and Dean nodded fervently. Hermione sighed.
"And if great Merlin still didn't pity us and change our course of luck, we will be stuck with Slytherins," Dean whimpered. "Again!"
". . ." Neville, Ron and Seamus froze. Then, "Haaaaaaaaaa…!" The four boys heavily sighed and simultaneously dropped their head on the table.
"After seven years of Potions every Monday morning, I fear that we will be stuck - again! - with Slytherins…" Neville said.
"And the worse worst thing about it, is that I have the feeling that you're right, Neville," Ron added.
"Can't Merlin spare us at least for our last year?" Seamus asked the air.
"You're asking too much from him, Seam," Dean replied.
". . ." Deep silence. Then,
"HAAAAAAAAAAAA…!" A heavier sigh escaped from the four boys. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"You guys never change," Hermione mumbled between her teeth. Heley sheepishly smiled.
'Well, it is true that I'm not very fond of the idea of starting Monday morning with Double Potions,' Heley thought.
"Don't worry, Heley," Hermione reassured her. "Those guys here are only being immature, overgrown babies!"
"Hey!" said guys protested, offended.
"It's not that bad," Hermione continued, ignoring them. "The teacher is very nice." Heley smiled, but she couldn't pretend that she was happy with Hermione's encouragement.
"Well, I do hope that you don't hate my class too much," a voice said behind them. The Gryffindors turned around to see Horace Slughorn. "Because I will be your Potions teacher this year again," Professor Slughorn finished, smiling at them.
"Professor," they greeted him.
"Hello, hello young Gryffindors," Slughorn happily reciprocated.
"Is there something we can do for you, Professor?" Hermione asked.
"As a matter of fact, I'm here to meet Miss Potter," Slughorn said. He took a small paper from his left pocket and gave it to Heley. "I have a message for you, Miss Potter. The Headmistress wants to see you before you start your morning class. Here's the password to her office."
Heley took the paper.
"Thank you, Professor," Heley acknowledged. "I will go after breakfast."
Slughorn nodded.
"Don't worry about points deduction. I know the reason why you will be late for my class," Slughorn said as he walked away, saluting her with a gesture of his hand. They watched him left the Hall.
"Well, that was nice from him," Ron said. "If it was Snape, he wouldn't hesitate to deduce twenty points from you, even knowing the reason of your lateness."
"Snape…" Heley slowly repeated.
"Professor Severus Snape, our previous Potion master. He was also our previous Headmaster before Professor McGonagall became our actual Headmistress," Hermione explained.
"Yeah, previous Headmaster or not, he was still a git," Ron grunted as he slide a piece of bacon in his mouth.
Heley watched him. She was a bit little sad to hear Ron say Professor Snape's name the way he had. Before, she would have agreed with Ron's disgusted tone, but now, it was different.
'I didn't tell Ron and Hermione what Professor Snape did in the last battle to help me. They don't know the truth about him,' Heley thought.
Heley wiped her mouth with her napkin and stood up.
"I will go to see Professor McGonagall now," Heley said as she walked toward the exit door of the Great Hall.
"Wait Heley, I'll go with you!" Ron offered as he hastily ran after her. "You don't know where the headmistress's office is! I'll show you the way!"
Heley immediately spun around, a panicked expression on her face. She had just made a wrong move.
'Oh Merlin! I forgot about that! I'm not supposed to know the location of Professor McGonagall's office,' Heley thought.
"Ronald Weasley, don't use that as an excuse to be late for potions!" Hermione yelled, standing up from her seat. Ron immediately froze, mid-run, cringing. Hermione cocked an eyebrow. "So, you were thinking about avoiding Potions," Hermione said. Heley discreetly giggled, secretly relieved by Ron's offer.
'Thanks for saving me, Ron!' Heley thought.
"But Hermione, I will need help to show me the way to Professor McGonagall's office," Heley said, trying to restrain her desire to laugh. "I'm new here, so I don't know where her office is located."
"Aha! See!" Ron triumphantly exclaimed. "Besides, isn't that the duty of a Prefect to help the new students around the school?"
Hermione pursed her lips, resigned.
"Fine, I will explain to Professor Slughorn about your lateness," Hermione reluctantly said. "But don't think you can use that excuse again!"
"Yes, yes," Ron responded, waving his hand flippantly at Hermione as he turned to Heley. "Come on, Heley, let me show you the way. Say, you must not know how to go around the castle yet, right? How about that I show you, now (he emphasized), all the places! The castle is pretty big. You can get lost and end in some dangerous room you don't want to find yourself in. It's best for you to know where you can go and where you cannot go now."
"RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY, IF YOU DON'T COME BACK IN THE FIRST TEN MINUTES OF POTIONS, I WILL OWL MRS. WEASLEY!" Hermione roared. Ron's face bleached itself of any color as he spun around to see an angry Medusa-Hermione with her hair flying all over her head.
"NO! You wouldn't do that!" Ron said in a horrified tone.
"Oh yes I will!" Hermione retorted. Ron's soul escaped from his hanging open mouth.
"Okay! Okay! I'll be back in Potions in the first ten minutes! Don't owl my mom! Don't do it! I swear I will be back in time!" Ron said. He turned to Heley and grabbed her hand. "Come on Heley, let's go now!"
"Eh? Ahhhhhhhh!" Heley screamed as Ron pulled her out of the Hall in a dashing sprint toward the Headmistress' office.
"There is not one second to lose or it will be my head that is lost!" Ron screamed out, still pulling Heley with him.
"AND I'LL BE WATCHING THE CLOCK!" Hermione yelled again from behind them.
"I'll be in Potions in the first ten minutes so don't owl my mum!" Ron bellowed back, putting more fuel into his legs. Heley bit her lips.
'Hahaha! You've got a firm grip on him, 'Mione. Hahaha!' Heley thought, fighting her urge to laugh at the situation as she ran with Ron.
Ron didn't saw Ginny, who was entering the Great Hall, when he and Heley ran past her. Ginny frowned, watching the two of them running as if they had demons chasing after them.
"What's wrong with him? He's running as if he saw mum angry," Ginny said. Ginny turned her head to see Medusa-Hermione, who was still fuming. Ginny sweat dropped. "…or something worse than mum angry…" she sheepishly finished.
"Pffffffft! Bwuahahahahahaha!" Neville, Seamus and Dean bursted out in laughter, unable to hold it in anymore.
"Hahahaha! Good one, Herminy! Hahahaha!" Seamus said.
"Okay, it's here! Ha… ha… ha…" Ron managed to heave out, panting heavily. "Say the password and the Gargoyle will open a passage for you. Climb up the stairs and you will be in Professor McGonagall's office."
"Thank you," Heley said.
"Now, if you excuse me, I must go because Potions is at the other end of the castle," Ron yelled back, already dashing away. "See you later!"
'Less than ten minutes from here to Potions class. Hermione, since when did you become such a sadist?' Heley wondered. Even running, it normally took them a minimum of fifteen minutes. But since Molly Weasley's name was brought up, Ron would find a way to be in Potions within his ten minute time limit. 'It's either that or he really will lose his head,' Heley thought. She giggled and took out the paper Professor Slughorn gave her.
"Lemon drops," Heley read aloud. She blinked, surprised. This password characterized more Dumbledore's choice, not Professor McGonagall's. Heley believed Professor McGonagall would choose a less childish password. And certainly nothing related to sweets or candies. The Gargoyle nodded its head and opened the passage as Ron had said it would. Heley climbed the stair and ended up in her late Headmaster's office. Professor McGonagall was not around. Heley supposed that the Headmistress was busy somewhere else. Heley decided to wait for her. While waiting, Heley looked around the room, recalling many memories - Harry Potter's memories.
'It's still the same like before…' Heley thought. 'Professor McGonagall didn't change anything here too. I would have thought that she would get rid of these strange things Professor Dumbledore liked to collect, but no… Maybe she must be missing him too…'
Heley took her time to examine every single object of the room, each of them reminding her of a piece of her past. On a wall, she saw Godric Gryffindor's sword standing in a frame on a velvet blue cushion. She walked over the frame and touched the ruby stone of the sword.
'It still hurts me to see these objects, but I wouldn't throw them away even if I was given the permission to do it,' Heley thought. 'Could it be that Professor McGonagall feels the same way as me? Could it the reason why she didn't remove any of Professor Dumbledore's possessions or change his choice of password?'
"Didn't you parents ever teach you to never touch other people's possessions without their permission?" a stern voice said behind her. Heley turned around to see a portrait talking to her. It was Severus Snape's portrait, previous Headmaster of Hogwarts, who was looking down at her with his grumpy face.
'Professor Snape!' Heley thought, eyes wide.
But when Snape met Heley's green eyes in her small face, he slightly jumped in his frame.
'She looks like Lily!' Snape thought.
Post on Saturday December 26, 2009.