Author's Note: Wow... it has been quite some time since I have updated this story. I guess the real world has finally gotten to me this month! (I am just glad I was able to tear out of its clutches long enough to write this out!) This also had to be a very hard chapter for me to write. There were a lot of factors to put into consideration when writing the meeting between Minerva and Hermione. But I hope that the chapter lives up to everyone's expectations!
Hermione arrives at The Leaky Cauldron, dusting off her clothing. 'I hate using the bloody floo network! Why can't they make it a bit cleaner, so I won't have to dust myself off every bloody time.' Looking around the pub's sitting area for any familiar faces, she sighs happily when she sees no one she knows besides Tom the barman. Even if she recognised anyone, they would not recognise her because the polyjuice potion was still in effect. Walking past the bar, Hermione mutters a brief hello as Tom smiles and greets her to his fine establishment.
"You're not staying for a bit of a drink, luv?" He asks as he sees her walk pass towards the back of the building to the entrance to Diagon Alley.
"No, maybe later. I am on a bit of a tight schedule and mustn't stray too far from it." She replies. 'Yeah, I just need to get to Hogwarts before Minerva leaves and finds out I escaped from that bloody doctor!' She thinks to herself as she enters the small courtyard and stands by the brick-wall furtherest from the pub's door. Glancing over her shoulder, Hermione makes sure no one had followed out behind her and turned on the spot, reappearing in Hogsmeade, closest to the station that she had arrived at so many times before. She walks towards the road that would lead her directly to Hogwarts, where hopefully some of the questions that have been burning deep inside her soul would be answered.
The long journey down the lane, towards the castle, was uneventful to say the least. No signs of life anywhere, just monotonous silence pervaded her ears as she slinked closer to the foreboding gates of Hogwarts. Taking a deep breath, the disguised Hermione walks towards the gate and is taken aback as it swings open solemnly, allowing her an unobstructed entrance. As she crossed the threshold of the main gate, the brunette felt the glamour of the polyjuice potion disappear. 'I know I still have time... the potion should not have worn off that quickly.' She mused to herself, when suddenly a memory from the recent past crept into her mind.
"Then it's settled... Hermione will take the polyjuice potion to gain access to Bellatrix's vault. And I will be hidden underneath the invisibility cloak with Griphook on my back." Harry says with a toothy grin as he divulges his plan to Ron and Hermione, a plan he would have never had if the young witch had not spoon fed him the entire scenario.
"But what about me, mate?" Ron asks as he stares at the Boy-Who-Lived with unwavering admiration.
'Merlin... I think I might be sick.' Hermione thinks to herself as she feels the bile rise in her throat at the mere sight of the red-haired wizard's hero-worship. "I will place charms on you before we enter Diagon Alley, this way no one will notice who you are."
"Yes, I was just about to say that." Harry states as he stares at the witch, slightly disgusted that she had really thought of everything.
Hermione rolls her eyes as Harry turns his head to face his red-headed sidekick, 'Why am I doing this again?' She thinks to herself as she shoves her blanket into her bag. 'Oh yeah... to keep the old git from murdering my parents.' She sighs as her frame slouches, causing the two wizards to give her an annoyed look as they continue with their prattling. Ignoring their brazen stares as if they were nothing more than an extension of the forest behind them, the brunette continued with her packing; for she knew that if she contended their exasperation with an emotion of her own, they would all start back up on the rant that had broke several days before about dinner, of all things.
She waited, pacing back and forth, for the two boys at the edge of the of their encampment, sighing loudly as the minutes crept by. 'They really need to hurry... we won't have time if they keep lagging like they are.' After close to twenty minutes of waiting for them to finish packing, Hermione hears the two wizards' voice a few metres behind her.
"So, are we all ready?" Harry asks as he looks towards the witch as if she were the one who held them up.
"Sure, let's go." She replies quickly, "See you two at the Leaky Cauldron." Hermione turns on the spot and Dissapparates with a pop.
Seconds later, Hermione reappears in a blind alley in London slightly adjacent to the pub she had mentioned to the boys. "Best get this over with." She mutters to herself as she walks towards the darkened doors of the Leaky Cauldron.
Pacing the floor of the room she had let for the night, Hermione's thoughts run rampant as she waits for the two wizards she has had the displeasure of knowing. 'I swear if 'You-Know-Who' doesn't kill him, I sure as bloody hell will!' She thinks to herself, unaware that the door to the room has opened slightly.
A few hours later...
"Whose bloody brilliant idea was this again to raid the bloody goblin bank?" Ron moans as he stands up from the ground, drenched thoroughly and scared shitless from the near-death fall Hermione had saved them all from.
The witch ignores the venomous stares she was receiving from Ron and Harry and rushes towards Griphook, "What in bloody hell was that?"
"The Thief's Downfall." Hermione murmurs to herself as the memory swims back to the further recesses of her mind. Glancing back and forth to ensure no one has seen her pass through the gates, she hurries towards the main door of the castle, intent on getting the answers she desperately needs.
Even though underneath the cover of the shadows that loomed out of every corner with the castle, Hermione was very careful in her search for the Gryffindor Head of House. Every floor she had passed through had turned up nothing on the elusive older witch, until Hermione reached the seventh floor.
Frustrated to the point of almost giving up, the brunette sighs and turns to make her way down one last corridor when she spots a tabby prowling the hall she was about to turn down. Smirking to herself, Hermione closes the distance between her and her quarry before speaking.
"I should have known you would have been on this floor, Professor." Hermione states as she crosses her arms in front of her waiting for her ex-professor to reply.
The cat turns around and faces the younger witch and cocks its head to the side. Moving towards the brunette, the cat turns into the human form of Minerva McGonagall. "I had heard that a patient had escaped from St. Mungo's... I should have known it was you, Hermione." A forced smile etches its way across the older woman's face. "So... now that you have found me, what is it that you need to say to me?"
"You know why I am here Minerva..." The brunette walks towards the wall, leans against it, and casually slips her wand out of its hiding spot.
"Oh... I do, Miss Granger?" The professor folds her arms in front of her waiting for clarification on a subject that she knew would pop up all to well. When the younger witch makes no sign of answering her Minerva goads Hermione further. "There are a plethora of reasons that had brought you here to speak to me... why didn't I show up this morning? What had happened after the fact that you were concussed? Or..."
"Or I could be here to ask you... where is she?" Hermione says finally, frustration evident in her voice.
"I don't know." Minerva says quickly, all the while mentally cursing herself for answering so quickly that it almost sounded desperate.
"Don't give me that load of rubbish, Minerva. I remember how you looked the other day when I had mentioned Bellatrix's name. Also, do not try and back track on your words and say she is dead, you already gave yourself away."
"Why do you want to see her so badly anyway, Hermione?" The older woman asks. "What went on through your head while you were sleeping does not pertain to the real world. Do you not realise that even if I told you where she was, Bellatrix would kill you on sight?"
"Ah... but there is where you are wrong, Professor. The dream-realm is closely tied to the real world. Through the intricate webs that are woven every night when we fall asleep, it brings us one step closer to the person who is in our dreams." Hermione states.
"Where did you learn such utter madness from, Hermione? You were the brightest witch of your age, and now you just are not making any sense."
"Wrong again, Minerva... or do you not know of the magic that our dreams possess? Yes, I may not believe in Divination, seeing someone's future in tea leaves is not something that I deem as a worthy area of magic; but I do know that Dream Magic has been around since the beginning of time. A person's dreams; that are so clear and concise to the point you can almost feel everything that is surrounding you... one that still lingers within the forefront of you mind, for days on end; is not what could be considered a fleeting fancy. It means it is connected to the person or object that is within that dream. Not only do you feel it, but the other person does as well and each one will strive to find out the real reason as to why the other is within their dream."
"I do know what type of magic dreams possess, Miss Granger. But, I do not think you know the repercussions of your actions. Also, I do not think you have taken into consideration what others can do to your dreams to cause the outcome of the dream itself. It is a very old and very dark magic you are speaking of, and the Hermione Granger I know would not dabble in such dark arts."
The brunette throws her head back and laughs, "Then you must not know me as well as you thought Minerva. No one did for that matter. Well... save for maybe Albus, but he was the one who forced me to be the compliant young witch you all saw leading up to the final battle. But, since he and those two gits are no longer around I can be who I really and truly was. You see, now that there is nothing keeping me from acting a certain way to save my parents, I can be who I want to be and do what I want. Now tell me, where is she?" Hermione says as she trains her wand on the form of her ex-professor.
Sighing in defeat, Minerva looks up at the younger witch. "All I know is what I heard in passing from some of the Ministry officials that came here the other day... they said they had heard rumours, that they are going to check out, that she is possibly somewhere in Wales. Other than that... I honestly don't know." The older witch had looked back towards the marble flooring during her last revelation, ashamed that she had given in so easily and knowing that before the brunette had even neared the grounds, she had came up with a plan so cunning that the girl would have been vowing to never again search for the raven-haired Death-Eater; but, her resolve gave way almost immediately when she saw the determination in the young woman's eyes. The only thing that snaps McGonagall out of her reverie is the constant sound of footsteps retreating from her location. Staring blankly at the receding form that is Hermione, Minerva opens her mouth to speak but even she can barely hear the words that flow from her own lips. "What happened to you Hermione? Where is the girl I had once known?"