After a long (easter) break, in which I have completed three chapters and have a fourth almost finished, I gathered it is time to get back to publishing, I have a promise to live up to after all.
Thank you for your patience with me and please remember, I'm taking LARGE liberties with the plot.
ENJOY!
For a whole week Hermione wasn't allowed to use her wand. It was just as fine with her, she was proficient enough in wandless and silent magic to work her way through her day, but it still peeved her to not be able to wield her wand at all the nosy students that now whispered about Hermes Granger in the halls.
One would have thought that her display of power would intimidate the dunderheads enough as to calm them down and not make them titter and tatter about her; however the effect was the complete opposite.
There were rumours about her being a follower of Him Who Must Not Be Named, for during the First War it appeared that he had managed to gain a few dragons for his cause – she doubted though that those creatures had truly wanted to fight a war that concerned the human race only and if occluding them had been as much as an un-hardship* as to occlude that particular Firecrow, then she could also not blame the creatures for having fallen for the dark wizard.
The worst thing about all of this, though, was probably Ronald. Whenever he was around, Hermes Granger was under no circumstances allowed even close to two feet of Harry the Saint Potter – she loathed it. Boy Wonder had only survived because the dragon had reacted as she had predicted it, he would probably stew in a Firecrow's stomach right now wouldn't it have been for her. As it was though, he could relish in the luxury of having gotten away without a scratch, while she found herself to be the pariah of the school just once again.
Only during Potions Classes would she have her calm.
Neville, being the good Gryffindor that he was and running along with the opinions of the rest of his house, had abandoned his seat right next to her, instead opting for a seat next to Morgan Cudlaw, another Gryffindor.
If it affected Hermes Granger that save for his strange companions – Lovegood, Chang and Parkinson – no one talked to him and everyone avoided him as if he was the pest, he did not show it. In his personal opinion defeating a dragon and getting out with both parties alive was a feat that had to be written down in Hogwarts: A History, but he'd always been the 'odd-ball' – no one shared his opinion; this time not even Albus.
Snape had to admit a certain curiosity concerning the young Granger, as well as growing concern.
Granger was powerful, more powerful than he let on, and if his inklings were anything to go by, then the Gryffindor was not only farther ahead in his studies, but also farther ahead than most wizards his age. Dragons could be fought… but a wizard only held that much power, even an elementary, as Granger appeared to be.
However, as the history went, a dragon once gave the gift of Occlumency to a wizard, and that wizard continued to spread the knowledge. A young dragon was easily overcome with the right method, especially when bred in captivity and never faced with its true potential. Snape figured that it could be the reason for the Longbottom-incident not too long ago as well. Granger could have occluded Longbottom and would hence have known, what the chaotic boy had been about to add and therefore been able to avoid the catastrophe.
As of now, it was only a suspicion though, and the situation being as it was, he'd be careful to voice that particular thought – after all, Granger was a good boy, he knew it, and him being expelled would cause him even more to get on the wrong track. It was a miracle he hadn't already. Snape, in his younger years, hadn't been able to take a lot of harassing, before he'd turned to the Dark Arts, learned them and refined them for his causes. And it certainly hadn't taken a lot of persuading from the Dark Lord to get him on his side: empty promises of power and payback had been all Severus had needed. In his years of working with the Darkness and the Light equally, he'd learned very quickly that a thing such as a truly dark heart existed, while he had yet had to come over something like a truly pure heart – but seeing Granger, he believed that he might have found it.
Who, with just a speck of darkness in his soul, would have continued to endure assaults to their intelligence, pride, to their reputation, to their person even throughout the years without ever complaining and then even turning around and helping the same people who'd tortured him?
There was only one person for it, and it was Hermes Granger. And as much as it aggravated him to admit it, the boy was a bloody Saint for this.
She watched the boy with guarded eyes. He'd asked for a clandestine meeting – it wouldn't do after all to anger sweet Ronniekins by openly going against him and choosing to talk to the pariah of the school.
"So?" she grit through her teeth after the boy had related his problem to her – he'd come to her for her brains, not even an apology about how he behaved, how his boyfriend behaved, they'd never even thanked her for having left the dormitory so they could have their… liaison.
No, Harry had come here, had loaded off his problems and hoped that Hermes Granger would simply solve it all.
She regretted the words the instant they had left her mouth – sighing, she hid her face in her hand and sat down on the ground in front of the Forest, patting the ground next to her. "Sit, Harry, I will take some thinking…" she stopped shortly as another thought struck her, "…though if you need to be somewhere and don't want to be seen here, I'll think of it alone and just send you an answer as soon as I've come up with an idea."
At least, she figured, he had the modesty to blush as he quickly excused himself from her and hurried back to the castle. Hermes Granger felt like crying – it was useless, she knew that, but it still hurt her to see that after all these years, after everything she'd done for this school and the people in it, after everything she'd done for Harry and Ron, they still didn't believe in her.
"Peetey." She called weakly, and on cue the small elf appeared, its ears drooped at the sight of her desperate Mistress. "Could you please, just this once, pop me into my room?"
The elf did not ask questions – Hermione had never asked an impossible service and Peetey had, more often than not, proposed that if they wished to escape from the library unseen, she'd be more than willing to wink them out of there without a sound. Hermione had always declined, convinced that they'd get caught sooner or later and that the elf would find herself unemployed, but this time around, she really didn't have the strength to run the gauntlet again.
They winked out without a sound and Hermione was carefully undressed by the elf, who knew best about the wounds she had carried from her fight against the dragon – having done a large healing part – and then ushered into bed, where finally she cried herself into a fitful sleep.
"Hermes."
An acknowledging nod was all the Clover received from her upon Luna's greeting, but they all returned the gesture – it was obvious that the Gryffindor witch had to keep up appearances, and the best thing was to let people believe that they really didn't grate on her at all.
The four friends made their way to the stands. Pansy looked at her friend with concerned eyes; Snape had pulled her aside yesterday and had asked her about Hermes – he'd noticed the small signs: her loss of appetite, her notorious head-first dive into studies and of course the callousness to most of the staff. Now though, it appeared, that they could add insomnia to the list as well.
Hermione played her part too well, she was an extraordinary witch, Pansy had to give her that. It did not even take her an hour to figure out a new spell and all the workings behind it – her mind was brilliant; as was her wand-work. The organizational skills she brought with her had saved their hides more times than either of them really dared to count; add to that the fact that she had been able to befriend Boy Wonder and still stay undetected and one had to congratulate her.
"Potter." She snarled angrily as she was about to go up the stairs to watch the spectacle. The boy insecurely separated from his teacher's side and trotted to her side. "Where's your side-kick?"
Harry did not answer, and she shrugged it off – who cared where Weasley was. Making sure that no one exactly saw what she was doing, she pushed a slimy ball of gillyweed into Harry's hand, who almost dropped it. Hermione snarled.
"Don't you dare drop it you prat." She had caught it just in time to push it into his hands again, this time fixating him with a cold stare. "It will allow you to move freely under water for an hour, swallow it just before you jump in." And with a last push she shoved him away from her and went up the towers.
Harry succeeded of course. The Clover watched until the last minute when finally Harry and Ronald both resurfaced, along with Delacour's younger brother – of course Boy Wonder got all the applause. Hermione nodded once, satisfied her plan had worked, and then left her place on the tower. Silently the Clover followed, Pansy carefully brushed her Head of House as they passed him, sending him a glance – he noticed immediately that one of the supposedly best friends of Potter left in a flurry of billowing cloak and whipping hair, just after the idiot had resurfaced.
"Tell me, Potter, how come you miraculously managed to stay under water for such a long time. We know of every champion's trick, save yours…" he drawled as he came to stand in front of his favourite voodoo-doll, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Could this possibly be linked to the theft of… gillyweed from my personal stores?"
Silence had settled over the students in the very moment he had entered the class and not even a Slytherin dared to breathe as he nailed down Potter. Snape knew that it hadn't been Potter – after all, he had wards on his personal stores, and even though they'd been carefully piled off, the intruder had still missed the last, and most subtle, ward Snape had set. A simple bell-ward that would alarm him of any intruder.
Granger's figure on his ladder had made him stop momentarily – he would never have thought that the boy would steal from him. He'd wanted to immediately dock points, put the prat into the detention of his lifetime and then expel him, when he'd realized that the boy was crying.
He'd carefully put the gillyweed from one jar into another and then replaced the half-empty jar into his stores.
"Merlin, professor, I am so sorry." He whispered and for a moment Snape feared that he'd been detected by a green-horn, but Granger continued his soliloquy as he stepped down the ladder again, and reset the wards on his stores meticulously. "Geez, he'd be so angry. Probably dock points endlessly and then still be enraged…" the boy sighed, "and he'd be right." Lifting the glass his secret-star-student observed the floating gillyweed. "Potter will never know how to appreciate this. Hopefully I only get detention for that."
Snape had noticed how haggard looking Granger had been the next day, as if he'd slept nothing – Parkinson affirmed his suspicions later. That boy was his personal Granger-spy and he was doing an exceptionally good job at it, forwarding him any information he wanted and never once ratting out about it. He'd be a good asset to whoever he'd work for one day.
Out of the corners of his eyes he watched as Granger slowly rose from his chair – he turned with a practiced threat in the movement, pinning the Gryffindor down. Inside his soul soared at the bravery this young man showed: no one in their right mind would have even moved a finger when he was in one of his moods.
"Professor you are wrong." The boy said, staring straight ahead, eyes fixed on the blank black-board ahead of him. The class dared not breathe, and Potter slowly turned his head, eyes wide – Snape bit back a smirk, now Potter would see just what of an asset Granger was… the whole school would.
"Am I now, Mister Granger?" he sneered, stalking towards the boy. He did not shiver, not a flinch betrayed him – he applauded the young man silently. "And pray tell, why would I be wrong?"
This time around, the Gryffindor swallowed, before moving his eyes just ever so slightly, meeting his own and then opening his mouth. "Because, sir, Harry doesn't even know where your private stores are." He responded.
Snape smirked maliciously. "And you do?"
"From the staircase, sixth door to the right." The Gryffindor replied without missing a heartbeat – he was intent on getting this detention, though Snape was not so sure why exactly.
Surely as Head Snake he'd devised the plan in order to help Granger get back in the good books of the school – and especially the headmaster, who'd taken to watch the young man more than just carefully – but maybe Granger was a tad bit masochistic and thought that he deserved the punishment… which he actually did, if he was quite frank with himself, so maybe it was just his effing Gryffindor righteousness and the inability to back down when he should.
A sneer protruded on his face. "I should expel you, you insolent waste of air." The boy did not once blink. "I think that a hundred points from Gryffindor and a month worth of detention, as of now, shall suffice. Sit back down and do not utter a word in my class, or I swear by everything that is supposed to be sacred, such as my stores, that I will have you expelled."
It was relatively needless to say that Granger sat back down and was silent for the next few hours. He delivered perfect potions and homework, spoke only when asked and even then only very shortly. Unfortunately it did not really get the boy back into the good books of Gryffindor… or anyone for that matter.
* Yes, I'm aware that isn't a word ;)
Thank you renaid (for the compliment especially =D), orlando switch (I'm glad you like it), arabellagrace (we can't have that, now can we?), TequilaNervous (it was meant to be), Mia Lenor (thank you for the enthusiastic comment! you push me), douglas. bailey. 7946 (It was a special cookie for the likes of you ;P), APeaceOfPie4Everybody011 (thank you very much), Allyll (I'm always glad to share with those who are partial to it), bushyhaired-american-nerd (I take that as a compliment, if you don't mind XP), EmilyWoods (thank you!), wingsrookie (everything would end far too soon if that'd happened, I fear...), Et Cadet Satan Stabit (=D thank you), semicharmed (thank you for the semi-charming reviews XD, no honestly, thank you also for correcting ;P), and ShineLovely for ALL THE REVIEWS!
My gratitude also to APeaceOfPie4Everybody, Namir Pyralis, MandyJ, lizziebug, Helleana, Ai-Tsukiyo, cptmds and semicharmed for the Story Alerts.
And thanks as well to gothamsreckoning, MandyJ, Helleana and CrazyKurenai for the Story Favourings.
PLEASE REVIEW!
I'll see to it so I can update the other finished chapters as soon as possible, so prepare yourself for several chapters coming at once soon :)
