Disclaimer: Not mine, don't own it — I wish! Unfortunately, Harry Potter belongs to JKR and not to me; I'm just playing in her sandbox.
Author's Notes:
» Hermione changes her name during the story. However, to make it easier to understand, I'll continue to refer to Hermione by the name we all know. The only times her new name will be used is when she introduces herself to new people, or when someone is speaking to her and addresses her by name.
» This story is has been written in full and new chapters will be posted approximately twice a week.
» Thank you to atokkota for her support and feedback.
.o.O.o.
CHAPTER 12
While Aimée showered and dressed, Severus flooed Minerva to find out what was happening regarding the investigation into Aimée's accident. Pulling his head back out of the fireplace, he informed Hermione, "The Heads of House are to question their Houses after breakfast. I doubt it will be anyone from Slytherin — we take care of our own — but I will question them nonetheless."
Hermione's eyes opened wide. "Slytherin would not have been so accepting of Aimée in my day."
"Probably not," agreed Severus. "But the Sorting Hat would not have put Aimée in Slytherin in your day, for precisely that reason. The purpose of the Hat is to place students in the House best suited to them and even if a student's personality were best suited to Slytherin, placing them in danger would mean that the House was not best suited to them. Otherwise, I rather think you might have ended up in Slytherin yourself."
Hermione blushed. "Actually, the Hat said I would do well in any of the Houses. It wanted to put me in Ravenclaw but I preferred Gryffindor." Hermione ignored the snort from Severus. "It was the best place for me at the time," she continued. "It may have painted a target on my back as Harry Potter's Muggleborn best friend, but I wouldn't have survived the Muggleborn Registration if I had been in Ravenclaw. I wouldn't have become a fighter if I were in Ravenclaw. Unless I had seen the signs and had managed to escape Britain before the Ministry fell — which is unlikely, as without being Harry and Ron's best friend, I wouldn't have had connections to the Order and I therefore wouldn't have known what was really happening — I would have just meekly complied because I would have had no other option."
Severus nodded his head thoughtfully. "That's probably true," he admitted. "Minerva tried to warn all the Muggleborns but after Dumbledore's death, she wasn't able to access the school records to get the list of Muggleborns, nor was she able to use the school owls to send out letters, and the Order simply didn't have the resources. Many did take Dumbledore's death as a warning sign and chose to leave, but not enough."
At that point Aimée returned and Severus gave her a small smile of approval. "We'll floo to my chambers and you can eat breakfast there. I must attend breakfast in the Great Hall and then talk to my House. Miss Gale, you are to remain in my chambers until I give you leave to return to the common room."
Aimée nodded, wide-eyed, and followed her Head of House to the floo. Once in his chambers, Severus called for a house elf and requested breakfast for two. As the two women ate, Hermione began to lose the air of worry she had carried since her arrival at Hogwarts the previous evening. When he returned to his chambers shortly after breakfast, Severus was glad to see the fire back her eyes. This distraught woman she had been earlier was not the Hermione Granger he knew.
"It is as we expected," he announced. "Mr Reuben Weasley is indeed the culprit. Mr Lupin has reported that Mr Weasley was out after curfew a couple of nights ago and, when challenged, Mr Weasley admitted his misdeeds. He seems quite proud of what he has wrought. His parents have been summoned for a meeting, which you will also need to attend."
Hermione frowned. "Who are his parents?" she asked in dread.
Severus pinched the bridge of his nose. "Ronald and the former Romilda Vane," he replied.
"Crap," she muttered but not quietly enough.
"Indeed," Severus agreed.
"Do you know his parents, Mum?" Aimée asked in surprise.
Hermione sighed. "I'm afraid so. I know all the Weasleys. Ronald and I were in the same year. He always had something of a temper and, when I knew him, he hadn't yet learned to control it. He tended to react first and think later — much later! As for his wife, when I knew her, she was an empty-headed twit whose main goal in life was to marry someone rich and famous. Her sights were on Harry Potter in those days. Professor Snape, does Aimée have to be at the meeting? Madam Pomfrey was adamant that she relax today and this is likely to be anything but relaxing."
"I'm afraid so," he agreed. "On both counts. Not only is the meeting liable to become heated but Miss Gale will need to be present. However, if you think it necessary during the course of the meeting, you may send your daughter back to the infirmary.
Hermione nodded unhappily. She really did not want Aimée to be present during any confrontation with Ronald Weasley but bowed to the inevitable. Deciding that she would prefer not to make a grand entrance after the Weasleys had arrived, they made their way to the Headmistress' office to wait there for the arrival of Ronald and Romilda. On walking into the room, Hermione's heart sank at the sight of Harry Potter sitting there. He sprang up as she walked in.
"Harry, I can't deal with you right now. You'll have to wait," she said.
"I should have explained," said Severus apologetically. "You remember that Mr Potter is the Defence Professor? Well, he's also Head of Gryffindor. He needs to be here in his official capacity as Mr Weasley's Head of House, I'm afraid."
Hermione closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths to centre herself. Opening her eyes again, she looked at Harry. "All right, but please keep it professional, Professor Potter. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the harassment and assault my daughter has experienced at the hands of Reuben Weasley and the actions that will be taken against him. Nothing else."
"Now, now, Miss Granger. Young Mr Weasley is the son of your best friend. You must forgive him so that he can show remorse," Albus Dumbledore's portrait interrupted.
Hermione rolled her eyes and turned to face the portrait. "First of all, Professor Dumbledore, my name is not Granger; it's Gale. Secondly, Ronald Weasley is not my best friend. He's not any sort of friend. I'm not sure he ever was. Thirdly, we don't forgive to enable others to repent. They repent to enable us to forgive them. Without being held responsible for our actions, we will never show remorse, as we will never understand the need for it. Without remorse, how can we forgive? My daughter could have died last night. Would you tell me to forgive and forget if Reuben Weasley had actually killed her? Is she somehow less important than he is? Doesn't her life matter? Is she of as little consequence as Professor Snape was when Sirius Black tried to murder him, deliberately and with malice aforethought? Sirius never acknowledged that what he had done was wrong because by not punishing him, you sanctioned it," the irate witch angrily harangued the aggravating and meddlesome portrait.
"She's right, you know, sir," agreed Harry. "Sirius always felt that the fact that his victim was Professor Snape was sufficient justification for attempted murder. I know you were limited in what you could do because Remus would have been blamed, even though it wasn't his fault, but you could still have held Sirius responsible. You could have used some other reason to punish him officially but made it clear to him, unofficially, the real reason for the punishment."
Dismissing Albus Dumbledore from her attention, Hermione turned to Minerva. "Headmistress, is it possible to banish Professor Dumbledore from his portrait for the duration of this meeting? He won't be able to refrain from meddling in what is no longer his concern and he will only prevent anything from being achieved."
"Now, Miss Granger," Dumbledore's portrait began to object in high dudgeon, only to be interrupted by the portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black, who was always happy to see Albus Dumbledore put in his place.
"I believe the chit has already informed you that her name is no longer Granger, Albus. Do try to keep up or Madam Gale might regard you as being even more offensive than I am!" he sneered.
Hermione smothered a grin and greeted the painting. "It's good to see you again, Headmaster Black. And you were never offensive, just snarky," she informed him, pointedly ignoring the portrait of Dumbledore, which was trying to get her attention. She had formed quite a friendship with the portrait of Phineas Nigellus in the past, albeit one of traded insults, but they both enjoyed the banter and each gave as good as they got.
Severus stood in a corner, smirking. He was rather enjoying the pint-sized witch's contemptuous dismissal of one of his greatest bugbears, Albus Dumbledore. He traded a look of amusement with Harry and spoke up. "I agree, Minerva. This meeting will be fraught enough as it is without Albus making things worse."
The elderly witch agreed. "They're quite right, Albus. Mr Ronald Weasley is volatile enough, without your influence. I suggest you visit your other portrait at the Ministry. Go and annoy the Minister for a while, otherwise I will silence you for the duration of this meeting."
The portrait of the elderly wizard was quite affronted. He had never been treated like this before. Rather than suffer the indignity of being silenced, he disappeared from his portrait. "I'll ask Kingsley to lock him into his Ministry portrait until further notice," Minerva sighed.
"Kingsley won't thank you for that," Harry said with a grin. "He has very little patience for Albus' interference."
"Which is why Albus' portrait is now in the Ministry atrium instead of the Minister's office," said Severus smugly. "He can pontificate as much as he likes to anyone who cares to stop and chat with him, but he can't annoy the Minister anymore."
Minerva withdrew her head from the floo. "Kingsley is going to lock him in place for the next four hours. It's far longer than we'll need, I'm sure, but there's no harm in having a little safety margin."
"Nor in having a break from the old coot," drawled Severus, to Harry and Hermione's amusement. Aimée was sitting quietly in a chair, quite bemused by this sight of her professors off-duty, as it were. She was avidly watching her mother interact with them, seeing how she seamlessly fitted in, despite the years in Canada and Hermione's apparent reluctance to be around Harry. She knew that Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley had once been best friends and she was curious to know why her mother seemed to be estranged from them. However, she could also see the tension in her mother and realised that this was not the time to ask this question. Instead, she listened to the conversation.
"I don't suppose there's the slightest chance that Ronald won't recognise me, is there?" Hermione asked ruefully.
Harry snorted. "Sorry, Hermione. Err…"
"I changed my name magically, Harry. It really isn't Hermione Granger anymore," she said gently.
"I'll try to remember," he replied abashedly, as the fireplace flared green and Ronald and Romilda Weasley appeared.
"What happened to my baby?" screeched Romilda in a manner reminiscent of her mother-in-law. "Is he in the hospital wing? Come, Ronnie. Let's go and see him. I want whoever is responsible to be punished!"
"Funny you should mention that…" drawled Severus.
"Severus!" snapped Minerva. "Not now. Harry, where is Mr Reuben Weasley?"
"He's being watched over by Ginny until his parents arrive," Harry sighed, firing off a Patronus. "She'll bring him up now."
A few minutes later, Ginny Potter ushered her nephew into the Headmistress' office and departed again with a quick smile at Hermione, who smiled tentatively back.
"So what has this girl done to our Reuben and how is she going to be punished?" demanded Romilda, pointing at Aimée.
Hermione harrumphed indignantly and Harry just looked embarrassed by his sister-in-law. It was left to Severus to correct Romilda Weasley. "Do you always make assumptions and accusations without verifying the facts, Mrs Weasley? You should be careful, that could you see you heavily fined or even in Azkaban. We have libel and slander laws in the wizarding world now," he said in a silky voice that his former pupils all recognised as his most dangerous.
"My Reuben wouldn't have done anything wrong!" she retorted and Severus snorted incredulously at her attitude.
"Mrs Weasley!" Minerva snapped. "Not only has your son confessed but we have witnesses. He has been attacking Miss Gale ever since school started, and for no reason. All the other Gryffindors — including Mr Lupin and Miss Weasley — agree that your son is in the wrong. This is the second time he has caused physical harm to Miss Gale and if it were not for the quick reactions of Professor Snape, Madam Pomfrey and Mr George Weasley, then Miss Gale would be permanently disfigured at the least, and more likely dead. Your son would be in Azkaban on murder charges. The only reason I have not yet called the Aurors is that while he undoubtedly intended to cause trouble for, and possibly even harm to, Miss Gale, he never actually intended to kill her. However, if we do not come to an acceptable agreement about his punishment, I will involve the DMLE without hesitation."
"You can't do that. I'm a war hero. You should be thanking me, not threatening my son," said Ronald, finally waking up to what was going on around him. Privately, Severus wondered if Ronald was on drugs, so out of it did he seem. Either that or he really was the imbecile Severus had always suspected.
"Most of our generation are war heroes, Ronald," said Hermione icily. "That doesn't make you special or unique. Professors Snape and McGonagall are also war heroes, as are all of your family. The main thing you did to fight the war was run away, or have you forgotten that you deserted Harry and myself just because you were hungry?"
Ronald went red. "Granger!" he spat. "What are you doing here? How dare you show your face in Hogwarts and bad-mouth my son! You're just a Mudblood whore and you have no place here."
There was silence as the adults in the room processed what Ronald Weasley had just said. Harry looked ready to beat the living daylights out of his former friend but Severus had hold of him, preventing him from doing so. Ronald continued on, oblivious to the fact that he was infuriating the two most dangerous men in wizarding Britain.
"That your daughter? Looks like you. Just another ugly, know-it-all, bushy-haired bookworm, I'll bet. And I see you're here on your own. Where's her father? Is that why you've been hiding all these years? Too ashamed of your bastard daughter to mix with good people?" he said spitefully.
Aimée had tears running silently down her cheeks. Hermione was torn between comforting her daughter and making Ronald regret he was ever born. Ron's attack on Aimée was the final straw, however.
"Don't you dare talk about my daughter like that, Ronald Weasley," she snarled. "I will not allow it!"
"Oh, yeah? What are you going to do about it, you ugly cow?"
Severus was taken aback at the sheer fury on her face but Ronald did not seem to realise just how dangerous Hermione was at that moment. As always, whenever someone stood up to him or said something he did not like, he immediately pulled out his wand, aiming it not at Hermione but at Aimée.
"You take back what you said about my son. He's not getting into trouble because of some Mudblood whore's bastard!" he ordered the girl, who was cowering behind her mother.
Even as Severus moved to protect the young girl and Minerva ordered Ron to put his wand away, Hermione acted decisively, without any of Ronald's grandstanding or bluster.
"Stupefy!" she cried, aiming at Ronald. Her anger and upset transferred into her wand, which was so well designed for defence and duelling, and the creation of which had undoubtedly been influenced by her feelings of anger and disgust towards Ronald Weasley. Her emotions clearly fuelled the spell, since he went flying across the room and crashed into the far wall. Romilda began to shriek and Hermione quickly silenced her. "Incarcerous!" she cried. She magically bound Romilda and then stuck her to a chair, as an additional precaution. She collected Ron's and Romilda's wands before they had a chance even to react and handed them to Severus for safekeeping. That done, she Rennervated Ronald and gave him the same treatment she had given Romilda. All this took mere seconds, so powered was she by her desire to protect Aimée.
"That's enough, Hermione! Put your wand away, it's not helping!" snapped Harry and Hermione rounded on him, her ire flashing in her eyes.
"Oh, of course it's enough, Harry. After all, it's Ronald." The sarcasm in her voice could have cut glass. "He can do whatever he likes and Merlin forbid you would remonstrate with him. He turned against you when Crouch Junior entered you into the Tri-wizard Tournament but you forgave him without so much as an apology on his part. He abandoned us during the Horcrux hunt and, again, you forgave him as though nothing had happened. He treated me like dirt and you blamed me, merely on his say-so, without even asking for my side of the story. He beat me up and you told me to apologise to him! And now, he points his wand at my daughter and you do nothing until I defend her. And what do you do then? Do you tell Ronald not to point his wand at a child? No, you tell me not to defend my daughter. Why am I not surprised? Why in Merlin's name would I expect otherwise from you, Harry?"
Harry blushed but there was nothing he could say in his own defence and he knew it. Ron Weasley had been Harry's first friend and his family had welcomed him as one of their own. Harry had always had a stronger bond with Ron than with Hermione and he constantly favoured Ron, despite the fact that Hermione had always been a far more loyal friend to him than Ron had been. However, Harry had been too scared of losing his best male friend and his honorary family and had never taken Hermione's side, even when he knew Ronald was in the wrong. It had become so much of a habit for Harry to defend Ronald to Hermione, even after all these years, that he had spoken automatically, without even considering what he was saying.
Hermione's hair was crackling with sheer power and her fury was such that she was completely unaware that her wand, reacting to her emotions, was issuing angry and volatile sparks, all aimed in the direction of Ronald Weasley. The castle wards were shuddering with the effort of controlling the rage emanating from Hermione and her wand. Severus eyed the irate witch warily. If she did not calm down soon, she was likely to bring the walls and ceiling down on them all. At the very least, she may end up unintentionally killing the Weasley fool. Despite his many years of experience with immensely powerful witches and wizards, Severus had never seen anything like the raw power emanating from Hermione Granger at this moment; nor had he ever seen a wand react to its master's emotions to the extent that Hermione's wand was currently doing.
"Madam Gale!" he snapped. "While I heartily agree with you lambasting Potter and Weasley, a bout of accidental magic in such close quarters could be very dangerous."
Fortunately, Severus' words penetrated the red haze of Hermione's rage. Taking several deep breaths, she forced herself to calm down.
Hermione turned to the Headmistress. "I will not sit here and listen to that foul-mouthed lout abuse my daughter. Nor will I permit him to pull his wand on her," she informed Minerva in steely tones. "I can see now why Reuben has no concept of proper behaviour, as his parents have no self-discipline or understanding of right and wrong themselves. I expect Reuben Weasley to be given an appropriate punishment, Headmistress, or I will be calling the Aurors myself. I also expect it to be clearly understood, Ronald and Romilda, that should any slander about myself or my daughter make its way into the public arena, that I will take legal action against you for that as well. I will sue you for all you possess. I believe you are a Quidditch player, Ronald? And do you have to abide by a code of conduct?" Harry nodded in the background. He had never played professional Quidditch himself but his wife had, and he knew just how strict the contracts were in that respect.
Hermione gave him a single nod in acknowledgement and continued her tirade. "I may not be successful with any charges I press, being only a despised Mudblood, however, that will not save you from the scandal. Should I press charges against you and your family, you will no doubt be fired from your team. Not only that, but I would imagine it would be very difficult for you to find another team willing to take you on. Stop behaving like an entitled, obnoxious git and grow up! I cannot begin to imagine how mortified Molly and Arthur must be at your attitude. I know they certainly didn't bring you up to be another Draco Malfoy!"
As Hermione took Aimée into her arms and tried to comfort her, Minerva spoke. "Mr Reuben Weasley will be on probation for the rest of the year. He will not be allowed his wand outside class, and even then, only in practical lessons in Transfiguration, Charms, Defence and Herbology. He will also have a monitoring charm on him until the end of the term; whether or not it will be extended will depend on him. Should he be other than in his classes, the Great Hall, the Gryffindor common room, the library or the infirmary, an alarm will sound, alerting the staff who will then investigate. He will also have detention three nights a week and every Saturday until the end of the term. Sundays and the other free nights will be used to complete his homework — under supervision, since his work to date has been completely unacceptable. The staff and prefects will be watching you, Mr Weasley. Should Miss Gale or anyone else be harmed further at your hands, the Aurors will indeed be summoned. You will not get off so lightly again."
Minerva removed the silencing charms from Ronald and Romilda and Ronald promptly exploded "No! This is rubbish! My son is better than the daughter of that Mudblood bitch whore! I refuse to accept this! I demand that you leave my son alone and kick out Granger's spawn. My family has been attending Hogwarts for centuries and this upstart cow needs to learn her place."
"MR WEASLEY!" Minerva roared. "Attendance at Hogwarts is by invitation. It is not a right. You can either accept my judgement on your son or you can take him away. If you do that, however, don't expect me to accept him back again."
Hermione silenced Ronald again and Severus pulled his wand out and invited the Weasley parents to leave. Neither of them was brave enough to challenge Severus Snape, especially as they could see that Harry, Hermione and Minerva all had their wands out as well and would support Severus if need be. After the pair of them had been unbound and whisked away in the floo, a silence descended upon the office. Aimée, who had burrowed into her mother's loving embrace, was sobbing quietly. Both she and her mother were shaking from the confrontation with the Weasleys. Luckily, Severus had come prepared and he extracted two Calming Draughts from his pocket, handing one each to Hermione and Aimée, while Harry took charge of Reuben's wand and sent his nephew off under the escort of Argus Filch to begin his months of detention. Harry tentatively stepped towards Hermione but Hermione stepped away from him, still too angry and hurt to hear his apologies.
"I'm so sorry, Hermione," he said, looking into her eyes.
"You always are, Harry," she answered wearily. "I don't want to hear it anymore, though. It's very easy to say the words I'm sorry but those words are nothing but meaningless platitudes without a change in behaviour. Tell me, what would you have done if Ronald had pulled a wand on one of your children? Would you have just let him hex your child? No, of course not! So why should I let him hex Aimée? Why would you think that's acceptable? Besides, this isn't about what you did or didn't do twelve years ago — or even today. It's about where we go from here with regard to my daughter's schooling."
"You don't mean you'd take her out of Hogwarts, do you?" he gasped in dismay.
"I most certainly do!" Hermione snapped. "If Aimée stays at Hogwarts, can you guarantee her safety? You can't, can you? Ronald pulled his wand on Aimée while you sat back and did nothing. Reuben nearly killed my daughter. He has shown no remorse whatsoever, and yet if I were to approach the DMLE for redress, he'd get away with nothing more than a token slap on the wrist just because of his blood status. Nothing's changed, has it? When Professor Snape was a student, he was targeted by a bunch of vicious bullies and the staff did absolutely nothing about it, not even when Sirius Black tried to murder him. Anyone seeing a pattern here? When I was in school, I was verbally attacked almost every day for being a Mudblood and nothing happened to stop it. The staff didn't step in, not once. Luna Lovegood was bullied quite horribly by her fellow Ravenclaws and, again, no one did anything. Who knows how many students have been bullied over the years while the members of staff, who are supposed to be responsible for the welfare of all students and not just a favoured few, ignored it. Did you think if you pretended it wasn't happening, that it would just go away?" she asked, scorn dripping from every pore.
"Now my daughter is being targeted and while I can see that the Headmistress and Professor Snape are actually trying to do something about it — finally! — their options are severely limited. I appreciate the punishment that has been imposed but we all know it won't be an effective deterrent. It won't teach Reuben Weasley that what he did was wrong, since his parents clearly don't accept that. We can't even take legal action because as a Mudblood…" everyone winced but said nothing "…any charges I press against a Pureblood will be dismissed, regardless of their validity, simply because of Reuben Weasley's blood status. Aimée, chérie, go to your common room and say goodbye to your friends. I'll come along shortly to help you pack, since Madam Pomfrey wants you to take it easy today."
Aimée looked quite relieved to hear she would be leaving Hogwarts. She had made some good friends and she loved learning about potions from her Head of House but Hogwarts had not been a good experience for her. The continuing and increasing aggression from Reuben Weasley, the attack on her the day before and now the encounter with Ronald Weasley had all frightened her badly and she was terrified of what Reuben might do to her next. Phoebe was blissfully happy at Sauveterre and Aimée was regretting ever wanting to attend Hogwarts. "What about my friends outside Slytherin? I'd like to say goodbye to them, too," she asked shakily.
Hermione raised her eyebrows, as she knew just how rare inter-House friendships were. "Who are they? I'm sure Professor Snape won't mind sending for them so you can say goodbye. Don't forget, you can always write to them when you leave. Perhaps we could invite your friends to come and visit during the summer, so that you can see them again."
Aimée looked at her Head of House pleadingly. "Victoire Weasley and Teddy Lupin," she said.
There were gasps at that. Fortunately, Ron was no longer present or he would have been yelling about Aimée befriending a Weasley. Hermione's eyes softened at the mention of Teddy, who she had not seen since just before his second birthday. "Victoire? I assume from her French name that she's Bill and Fleur's child? I hope they won't object to her being friends with Aimée?" she asked Ginny, who had returned to the office, hoping to see Hermione.
"Of course not," she replied, shaking her head.
Hermione snorted to herself. 'There's no of course about it, otherwise Ron wouldn't be such an arse,' she thought.
"What about your job, Mum? Will you still be here in Britain?" Aimée asked.
"Don't worry about that. I have a get-out clause in my contract. I made sure of it, in case for any reason we wanted or needed to go back to Canada. Admittedly, I didn't expect something like this to happen! I only need to give a month's notice and I can leave without penalty. Family issues back home in Canada will be accepted as sufficient reason. As for the house I'm renting, it was understood that it was a short-term rental, so it has a similar get-out clause," Hermione reassured her daughter. "And if it'll be boring for you to hang around the house all day while I'm at work, then you can go back to Canada early, if you like? You can either stay at home with Aunt Penny or you can stay with either Nanny and Pappy or Granny and Gramps if you want?" Nanny and Pappy were Xavier and Constance Bellamy, Hermione's employers in Canada, who had treated Hermione like a daughter since they first met her back when she was pregnant with Aimée. Granny and Gramps were Penelope Clearwater's parents, the whole clan having accepted Hermione and Aimée as family because Aimée and Penny's daughter, Phoebe, were cousins.
Aimée shook her head. "I'd rather go home, if that's all right?"
"Of course it is, chérie. Aunt Penny and Phoebe will be delighted to have you back home again. I'll be back in time for Christmas and you can start Sauveterre after the holidays. Over the next few weeks until the school holidays start, you could help Aunt Penny at the Day-care Centre, if you want."
"Hermione… I mean, Nonie. Forgive me asking, but how is Penelope Clearwater Aimée's aunt?" queried Ginny tentatively.
Hermione smiled sadly. "I'm sorry, Ginny. It's not only my story to tell."
Ginny looked dissatisfied but accepted that Hermione was not going to explain.
Harry looked at Hermione pleadingly. "Promise me that you won't just disappear without word again? I know I deserved it — I should have given you the support you've always given me — but Ron had me snowed. I'm a idiot and a fool and I'm so sorry for being so obtuse."
Hermione sighed. "Ron still does have you snowed, Harry. You need to learn to look at both sides of a story. The fact that you can even blame me for protecting my daughter against him astounds me and I can't just forgive and forget. Not this time. You're going to have to earn that forgiveness, Harry. There will be certain conditions to me staying in touch," she warned.
"Anything!" he said eagerly.
"First of all, I don't want anyone to know I'm back. Not even the rest of the Weasleys. I don't want to see anyone — I'm not willing to take the risk of bumping into either Ronald and Romilda, or the very many others who made my life in the wizarding world here in Britain so miserable."
Harry reluctantly agreed. "All right. What else?"
Hermione sighed. "I know you're sorry for everything that happened but you hurt me very badly and I won't let you do that to me again. We can never regain the depth of friendship that we had in our childhood, but we can try and rebuild some semblance of friendship through correspondence. Just know that it'll take time before I feel I can trust you again, if ever."
Harry nodded morosely. "Where should I send the letters?"
"Owl me. You shouldn't need an address that way. Just make sure to tell the owl to take the letter to Nonie Gale and not Hermione Granger."
"You promise you will write back? You'll stay in touch?" he begged.
"Yes. I'll stay in touch," Hermione conceded.
"That's all I ask," Harry whispered in her ear, as he took her in his arms and gave her a hug. Hermione, however, stood stiffly and did not return it. After a moment, she pushed him gently away. Harry was disappointed in her reaction but could not blame her. He had messed up very badly and he knew it.
In the background, Severus growled quietly to himself as he saw Harry hugging Hermione. Ginny Potter, the only one close enough to hear him raised an eyebrow. 'So that's the way the wind lies,' she thought. 'Well, perhaps it'll encourage Hermione to come back. They'd be good together, she decided with a smirk. Being far more intelligent than her husband or her brother, however, she resolved not to say anything, not even to Harry. 'Perhaps Minerva,' she thought.
"It was good to see you again, Hermione. I've missed you so much," Harry said sadly. "And you," he continued, turning to Aimée. "It's been a pleasure getting to know you, Miss Gale. Take care of your mother; she's one special lady."
Aimée simply nodded, too overwhelmed with all that had occurred to respond verbally. Seeing that, Hermione took her leave. "We need to go," she said softly. Harry, Ginny and Minerva all hugged Hermione again and Severus led them out of the Headmistress' office.