As the students began to make their way to their classes, Hermione speared Frank with a look that, quite clearly said, "Stay here."
"Harry," she said, turning to her friend. "You have a free period now as well, correct?"
"Yeah, why?" He was still quite upset. She hoped that a free period would help him calm down.
"I need to speak with Mr. Stewart. I'm certain you'll be safe making your way back to the common room."
The Harry and the boys nodded, and threw Frank commiserating glances. Harry and Ron had been on the receiving end of one of Hermione's interrogations. They'd hardly wish that on Malfoy.
"Mr. Stewart, if you'd follow me." She rose, without bothering to check if he was following her, and led him out of the Great Hall.
-**HPDEB**-
I am about to get my ass handed to me on a plate. That's what I thought the moment she addressed me by my last name. I followed her and kept my mouth firmly shut.
-**HPDEB**-
After a brief walk, they reached an unused classroom that she knew from her Prefect rounds was fairly undisturbed.
"In here." She let Frank in first, then closed the door and cast some privacy charms. It wouldn't do to have anyone hear their conversation.
"Now, would you be so kind as to tell me just what that was at breakfast? First you take on Snape, and I can assure you that the third year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs will be cursing your name, then you announce that you are Harry's bodyguard and vow to defend him from all, without even consulting him first! I know it takes some time for blood flow to return to all the right places, but I can't imagine you are still affected in such a way by our activities last night!"
-**HPDEB**-
Dear Frank, do not be alarmed by Hermione's upset. You turned her world upside down this morning...probably quite a few worlds. Be measured. Please. Thank you, Your Better Sense.
"Snape needs to know that I'm not to be trifled with in any way." I told her while I found a desk to lean against. "Of all your professors, he's the biggest threat to Harry's safety, as well as to you and Ron."
I allowed myself a few cleansing breaths.
"To address your second question. Dumbledore. He told me the story of the Boy Who Lived. I know who Harry is, and who his enemy is."
She absorbed the information without moving a hair. Truly, a terrifying person to anger. I continued.
"I learned a lesson long ago: the target should never be as interesting as the people around him. Right now, and for a little while to come, I am a larger target than he is. Your Death Eaters are not a match for me, and quite a few of them will be dead because they want to test out my promises."
She didn't look entirely convinced.
"I am able to protect him while he does things that could endanger his future, destiny, whatever you want to call it. That's what Dumbledore ASKED me to do."
I let it lay right there.
"So Dumbledore told you...everything? You know what Harry has to do?"
"Kill your world's version of Darth Vader. Yes. He Who Shall Not Be Named."
"And you're truly immune to the Unforgivables? All three?"
"Cruciatus. Imperius. Avada Kedavra. All three." She didn't need to know what the killing curse did to me.
"Do you even sense them? A feeling of bliss with the Imperius? Or some kind of physical sensation with the Cruciatus?"
"No. Not a thing. Try me."
"I can't..."
"Then you have to trust me. I'm not going to lie about these things when I've just set myself up as a target for them."
"Why are you doing this? Just out of the goodness of your heart?"
"I see how adrift and afraid he is. Do you?" I had a lot I could say, but the words weren't lining up.
"Of course I do. I'm not blind. He has the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was told his destiny at 15 after watching his godfather get killed in front of him. He's powerful, more powerful than he'll give himself credit for, but we're all still teenagers, Frank. And we have to fight a war.
"If anyone has a right to be adrift and afraid, it's Harry, but he doesn't show it. He'll lead everyone, he'll save everyone, because he has to, because it's who he is. And you, if you say you're going to protect him, to see him through this, you damn well better do your best at it. Don't you dare hurt him, Frank Stewart!"
My frustration got the better of me, and I ended up saying things I'd never planned on.
"I've been fighting a war for almost four years. I know what it has done to me and the people I care for. I know what Harry stands to lose, and I don't want him to…Fine. Here you go. My father was my world's Voldemort. My brother was his second in command. I had to kill them both. My sister was murdered by the man who nearly killed Charlotte...I've lost a lot of people, and I couldn't..."
I got up and paced. It isn't a story I like telling, much less remembering.
I walked up to her and put my hands on her shoulders. "Goddamn it, I want to help him live long enough to save the people he loves...I couldn't, but he still has a chance. He needs me, and I'm going to stay here to make sure the 'Boy Who Lived' keeps living. "
-**HPDEB**-
Hermione stared up into his eyes. She didn't think it would do any good to apologize. She couldn't have possibly known what he'd faced. There was also no point in making him swear to do right by Harry. She knew he would. It was in every line of his face.
Instead, she offered the only measure of comfort she could think of. Her hand reached up, almost on its own and cupped his face.
"I'm sorry you had to face all of that. That you are still alive, and still trying to help people speaks volumes to your character. You're an outstanding man, Frank Stewart. I understand why Professor Dumbledore entrusted Harry's life to you. I trust you with his life as well."
She slid her arms around his neck and pulled him close for a hug, hoping he was more familiar with them than Harry had been the first time she hugged him.
-**HPDEB**-
I didn't LIE, precisely. I omitted information. Dumbledore asked me to protect his "Golden Trio," Harry, Ron and Hermione, as well.
Losing Ron, or losing Hermione, would cripple Harry. I couldn't allow that to happen, besides I felt very strongly about protecting Hermione, in particular.
I could stay long enough to see it through. What's the worst that can happen? I spend twenty years in the UK and sneak back into the USA as if I'd never left. Annoying, but doable. And that's assuming this is even the same universe.
With her arms around me, and my regard in her eyes secure, I could strangle Voldemort myself. I don't know why I felt that way, but I did.
Hearing that she thought well of me was enough to make my chest stop clenching.
-**HPDEB**-
Hermione felt a happy little glow being pressed up against him, and figured she'd better discuss the other issue between them.
Stepping back from him, she fixed him with a serious look. "Enough morose discussion, I'd like to discuss last night...and this morning...with you, if you are amenable?"
He looked a little shaken, but his voice was steady. "If you'd like. Just give me a moment to shake off that ninety-degree turn. Quite a change of topics, Miss Granger."
"And here I thought you'd be quick enough to keep up with me, Mr. Stewart," she teased with a playful grin.
"Sigh. The smart ones." He messed up her hair. "I can exhaust you girl. That's more than keeping up."
"Point to you, Mr. Stewart. I will happily admit that last night was everything I could have hoped for and more. However, I do not wish you to feel yourself coerced, nor do I wish you to think I may have felt pressured, or, in any way regret my decisions. I am quite pleased with my choices."
"Thank you for saying so. I know those are questions I would have asked if this morning had been less eventful. I'm pleased with my choices, too."
"Well, then. If you will indulge me a moment of pure logic...As two consenting adults, and having both enjoyed our activities last night, would you be interested in further exploration? I will admit to having read much, and having many theoretical interests I would like to experiment with in a practical way. Bluntly stated, I trust you, Sir, and I would very much like to experiment more, if you are willing."
-**HPDEB**-
Pure logic? My pink butthole!
She made me feel something I'd never explored before. I wanted to bring her to heel. More than that, I wanted to strip her intellectual bullshit and make her FEEL.
I closed the distance between us and put my hand on the back of her neck, under all that gorgeous hair. I didn't even apply pressure.
"I remember last night, Hermione, vividly. I can still hear the things you begged for. There were some statements that you made consistently. Do you remember them?"
-**HPDEB**-
This was not going at all as she had expected. Her plan involved him turning her down, and her trying a couple of things to convince him, depending on the reason for his rejection. Above all, it involved her retaining her calm, logical grasp on the subject. She couldn't lose it now.
"I believe there quite a few statements we both repeated last night. You'll have to be more specific if you desire my remembrance of one in particular."
-**HPDEB**-
I reminded her of five or six things she'd said in moments of...excitement.
"You've made your point! What do you want, Mr. Stewart?"
I could see the whites of her eyes. This isn't at all what she expected, and she was scared. Well, it wasn't what I'd expected either.
"I want," deep breath, "to know what this is between us. I want to make you feel...without hiding it in experimentation and logic. I want more of you."
-**HPDEB**-
Hermione's brain was mush. Her logic had no answer. She wasn't even sure she was capable of speech at the moment. Even if she was, what do you say to such a statement?
She looked up into his eyes. He was offering her what she'd often dreamed of. A chance to feel without analyzation. A chance to exist in sensation. A dream come true in some ways. A nightmare in others.
Utter bliss wrapped up in a cocoon of chaos. But it was something she was fairly sure she wanted, possibly even needed.
-**HPDEB**-
"You can answer me. Do you want this? Would you like it to continue?
"Yes," she said. "Yes, please. If it pleases you."
"I'll keep you safe. Every single bit of you."
I knew I meant it, but it was more than safety from physical harm. I meant to hold her heart and mind away from danger. This had never happened before—none of these feelings—ever!
Hermione seemed to be in the same position. Her facial expressions cycled through joy, dismay, and curiosity in succession. From her vital signs, I knew her body was on board, but her brain was in turmoil.
Can't say I've never been there. What day is it?
-**HPDEB**-
Hermione processed his words. He said he'd keep her safe. She wanted to analyze it, pick it apart, and find a reason he couldn't mean that. But with him holding her, she couldn't think. She loved it and quaked in fear for loving it.
She didn't know who she was anymore. The only thing that made sense was being with him and indulging the lust they shared.
Her clothes were in the way. She wanted them gone. A twist of her wand, and a thought, and they vanished.
-**HPDEB**-
Not long after her clothes disappeared, I bent her over a desk. She encouraged me with little wiggles and whimpers, and I gave us what we both wanted.
I was beginning to see the good in privacy spells. The way she pounded her fists on the desk—to say nothing of (ahem) her exhortations to bigger and better things—the local police would have come running.
At the end, she wasn't the only one who was outspoken. Ahem.
There's really nothing in the world better than a super-smart woman who has a secretly high libido and a potty-mouth.
Later...
"We should," she said as her clothes rematerialized, "leave separately. Agreed?"
"Probably. This is going to become common knowledge soon, but it doesn't need to be today."
I saw that the big windows in the room could be opened, so I went over to have a look. Castle walls were nice and rugged, so I could climb down to somewhere...It looked like a courtyard some feet below...Not a bad place to land.
Before I opened the window, I crossed the room to where Hermione was gently swaying.
-**HPDEB**-
She could barely keep her footing after he took her that way. It had been much more intense than their lovemaking the night before, and she had responded...intensely...to it. She wondered, vaguely, if she would be sore later on. Nothing a quick numbing charm couldn't cure, she supposed.
He approached from the other side of the classroom, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her thoroughly.
"Be safe. I'll see you at lunch." He kissed her again. "I like you."
She swooned a little.
Frank walked away, opened a window, and left the room. Presumably he climbed down, but he wasn't on the wall when she closed the window.
She took a moment to adjust her appearance, conjuring a mirror to do so, then took down the privacy spells and quietly left the room. The hall was blessedly empty, and she took a little time to herself in an alcove before going to her next class.
So much to think about!
-**HPDEB**-
Severus Snape stood dead center in Dumbledore's office. He was disheveled, beside himself, and immensely angry.
"What is the meaning of this man promising protection to Potter? Why challenge my authority? For that matter why is he still here?"
Albus looked over the rim of his glasses at his old friend, shook his hands free of his robes, and breathed evenly for just a moment.
"Severus, do you see my right hand?"
The irate professor looked down and his heart almost exploded in his chest.
"The curse is gone?" Snape said, with an intense effort to keep a hundred emotions at bay.
Dumbledore held up his hand and waggled his fingers. He smiled. Young Mister Stewart knew how to throw a stone into a pond, sure of the largest ripples.
"Stewart healed me. That is the condensed version, to be sure."
Snape planted his hands on the desk, leaned forward, and protested, "He's a Muggle! He can't do something that is beyond the wisest of us!"
"Old friend, his description of himself in the Great Hall is nothing but a fact. He is not a Muggle as we understand it. If anything, he is as beyond them as we are. Indeed, in some ways he is beyond us."
The headmaster shook his head and wished he could make things easier for Snape to grasp.
"Young Miss Granger understands Stewart's story far better than I. Yet, he allowed me—I stress allowed me—a glimpse into his mind. I felt his soul, his burden, and saw the world he comes from." Dumbledore steepled his fingers and took another deep breath. "It is a horror world, full of insanity."
"But how were you cured?"
"This man from elsewhere can heal any wound he receives, save those by weapons that we have never heard of. He loaned me that healing. You see, he saw that I was dying. Saw it as we might with charms or tools."
The Potions Professor went pale in the evening light. "Why? He owes us nothing."
"I told you. I felt his soul. There is great love in him, balanced by an equal measure of anguish. He saw how the students love me, and my kindness as I tested him, questioned him. And so he offered me my health, because I am needed still. I accepted."
Snape considered the ramifications. If the Muggle could cure Dumbledore's hand, perhaps he could remove the Dark Mark. Not that he would ever do so for a man who had made himself as unpleasant as possible. But damn it all, how was he to know the Muggle had special powers. The bastard didn't tell anyone. And then to purposefully challenge him. It was too much!
"Why confront me before my students?" Snape shouted. He had worked himself back into a fit of anger.
"Theater, dear friend," he said with a smile, "to sew seeds of apparent rivalry. I told him about Voldemort, Potter, and the parts we play in this unfolding drama."
Snape's stomach fell. Dumbledore had given all their closest held secrets to a stranger. "Are. You. Mad?"
"I don't think so. You see, he saw through you and Malfoy shortly after meeting you. He simply had no context for his intuitions. Once I told him your past allegiances, he meant to kill you, and Draco. I stayed his hand by telling him nearly everything."
"This is a library of wild assumptions and poor decisions Albus!"
"Let me make my thoughts clear. Through Draco, and you, and the new thing we have set loose into the world, we will draw Voldemort into the open before this war is as bad as the last."
Snape fell backwards into the nearest chair.
"So you see, when he confronted you in front of the students, it was to be absolutely sure that our enemy knew of him...an insanely powerful Muggle who shows no fear of you."
"And the vow to protect the boy," Snape cleared his throat, "is theater as well?"
"No." Dumbledore's answer fell like lead onto the floor. "His declaration was over-blown, but the intention behind it is sure. Harry Potter has a guardian who will be a legend by tomorrow afternoon."
"We are all going to die."
"Severus, for the first time in recent memory, I am pleased to believe that we will live."