A/N: It is frustrating, isn't it? Always remember that being stubborn is fine until you're hurting yourself with it. I wish, as most of you do, that someone would really talk some sense into our lovely Min, but after however many years of being so stubborn, it is unlikely that anyone is going to be able to get her to do something she does not. Especially when that something is so very, very VERY emotional. If you wander back over the chapters we've already read... you can see that emotion isn't really Min's strong suit. Stick with me though, okay? It will get worse before it gets better. Only warning lol
-0-
Ginny found her first. She was wandering up and down the tunnels aimlessly taking in the lay of the land when someone called her name. She followed her footsteps back the way she came and came out of the tunnel with a wry smile.
"What the hell?" she looked around, agape. "Hermione!"
She chuckled and shrugged as Ginny pulled her up into the bathroom.
"How did you do that?"
"You won't believe me if I told you," Hermione chuckled. "And to explain means I'd have to explain something else as well."
"Well," Ginny shrugged. "I don't see any other pressing issue, do you? Get talking."
"Are the boys coming?"
"Doubtful," Ginny winced. "They had Transfiguration."
"Ah," Hermione nodded.
"So, I guess you should tell me what is going on and how you're feeling and when the boys finally get free I will fill them in."
"Fine," Hermione muttered.
They'd brought down some of the cushions from the Room of Requirement and so far, they seemed to be staying where they left them - in the expanded box that Hermione had placed at the bottom of the steps to the tunnel.
"Come on," she muttered. "I don't want to be up here."
They climbed back down into the tunnel where Hermione withdrew the cushions and the candles they'd stashed and made a small seating area at the top where it was cleanest. She cast another fresh-air charm now that the tunnel was open and lay back on the small day bed she'd made.
"What's going on?"
"I dunno," Hermione muttered. "I'm angry. I'm angry that they're not telling me and it's so unfair."
"I understand."
"And I miss her," Hermione sniffed, trying not to cry. "I love you guys, I do," she looked over. "You know that."
"We do," Ginny smiled.
"But I miss her so much. And I hate that she won't see me."
Ginny didn't comment but she reached over and squeezed Hermione's hand. Hermione wasn't really paying attention but she could just about feel the tendrils of something and she sat up and faced her friend properly.
"And I'm weird, we know this. But like, I can tell you like Harry. Not because I already know or because I'm your friend but I can tell."
"What," Ginny blinked. "I mean -"
"Like -" Hermione huffed, frustrated that she didn't have the words. "Here -"
She held out her hand again and Ginny hesitated for just a moment until she slid their hands together and Hermione closed her eyes.
"I can feel how much you care for him. And I know he's not very expressive, Gin," she chuckled. "But I think if you're patient with him, it'll work out in the end. And I know you're worried about your brothers," she met Ginny's sad eyes. "All of them. But I believe that will work out as well."
"All that with just one hand, huh?"
Hermione laughed and let go.
"I can feel things. I didn't tell you and I probably shouldn't but when I woke up in the Hospital Wing and we were discussing the marks on our wrists?" Hermione reached for Ginny's hand again and pressed her thumb over the mark that only she could see. "Dumbledore asked me whether Madam Pomfrey had a mark. She offered her wrist and she didn't have one -"
"Interesting," Ginny muttered.
"But something else made me pause as I looked at it. I couldn't see it, not visibly, but I knew there was something on her wrist. Some pain that she'd had or taken from someone or something and I paused on it."
"What was it?"
"Well," Hermione winced. "There was an old scar there from something I'm not going to talk about but I just knew what it was and where it had come from. I couldn't even see her hand properly at that time, it was above me, but my hand instinctively went to it and held on." Ginny made a face. "They had a moment or whatever, discussing it, but I didn't tell you guys that I went back a few days later and apologised to her properly. Gin, I could feel things I had no names for."
"What does that mean?"
"She -" Hermione paused and considered what she was trying to say. "She has a family. In hiding because of the work that she does and the work her husband does and their family affiliations. But she has children, Gin."
"Madam Pomfrey? Is married with kids?"
"Yeah!" Hermione chuckled. "And I just knew. I took her hand to apologise and I just knew."
"That is weird."
"It really is," Hermione groaned as she lay back again. "And I don't understand it. It's like the answer is right there and I just can't quite reach it."
"I'm sorry."
"It's fine," she sighed.
"And the tunnel?"
"Oh," she chuckled. "Yeah."
She explained in as much detail as she could what had happened after Katie had been cursed. She explained what Michael had said and let the incredulous silence sit as Ginny took it all in.
"What the hell does that mean?"
"I have no idea," Hermione groaned. "And I'm sick of saying that I have no idea. It's infuriating."
"But they're talking to you, like you're a teacher?" She paused and they looked at each other. "Like you're more than a teacher."
"Something like that, yeah."
"That's weird."
"Mhmm," Hermione muttered. "Dumbledore's guardian said something similar to me as well, though it sounded like it was being forced to do so. It also said that if I ever needed help, the Castle would answer."
"And what does that mean?" She winced. "How many times do I have to say that?"
Hermione laughed.
"I have no idea, but I maybe asked the Castle to fix the tunnel and honestly, the first time nothing happened, but the second time I kinda got a bit angry and then there was this rumble and I thought the whole thing was going to come down on me. I scrambled into the stairway and made myself small until it was over and then," she motioned down the tunnel. "It was clear and the cave-in had been fixed."
"Hermione," Ginny groaned. "You're so weird. Even in this magical world of weirdness."
Hermione laughed and immediately felt better for the comfort it gave her.
"Thanks for sticking with me Gin," she whispered.
"Are you kidding," Ginny grinned. "You think I'd leave now we're part of some secret club that makes no sense but has tripled your appetite and made you super strong? I'm staying," she laughed. "I've no idea what it all means but Ily sticking around."
Hermione laughed and they fell quiet beside one another until the boys found them later.
-0-
She'd explained as much as she could to the boys and asked how Transfiguration was. Harry had explained what had happened when the rumble had happened and McGonagall's reaction to it but beyond that, there wasn't much to discuss. They went up to dinner and sat as far away from the Professor's table as was possible but Hermione slipped away as soon as Dumbledore released them.
She wandered slowly up to the Headmaster's office and smiled at the Gargoyle as she walked up to it.
"I'm fine waiting for him," she said quietly before it had even said anything. It seemed to nod but didn't reply either.
Hermione leaned against the wall of the corridor and sighed as the time went ticking by. Everything just felt so lonely. She heard footsteps along the hall and stood, despairing when the Headmaster was accompanied by another man she vaguely recognised.
"Ah," Professor Dumbledore said quietly. "Miss Granger."
"Professor," she nodded politely. "Minister."
Now she could see him, it was indeed the new Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimigor. He'd arrived in quick succession after Fudge was routed and for some reason, Hermione wanted very much to move far away from him now.
"I," she glanced at the Minister and could not help but view him as an enemy. "Hoped to arrange a time to see you, Headmaster. To discuss my further studies."
"Of course," he said like it was a thing that happened regularly. "Rufus, if you could wait for me in my office, I will arrange with Miss Granger and then join you to finish our meeting."
"Miss Granger? The one and only?"
"That's me," Hermione said awkwardly.
"I have heard your name mentioned," he said. "A bright young girl."
Hermione managed a fake smile and ground her teeth together until Dumbledore stepped into her vision.
"The brightest of her age," Dumbledore said happily. "But that intelligence requires hours of study Rufus and Miss Granger has essays to write, etc. If you don't mind, I'll be along shortly."
The Minister seemed to realise he was no longer wanted and shuffled off up the spiral staircase to Dumbledore's office.
"Calm," he muttered gently. "Be calm."
"Something about him -"
"I know," he muttered. "I am aware."
"But -"
"Let me handle it, please," he said gently. "I realise we have put you in an abominable position, my dear, but please trust me a little longer. I am searching for the answers, I have only a rudimentary understanding of what has happened but not enough to declare anything to you yet."
"She knows."
"She knows such a small part of it, Hermione," he whispered. "Please allow me to get you the answers I need to satisfy the questions I know you will have."
"I want to know."
"And I will betray her trust to tell you," he said finally. "But allow me the time to do so."
Hermione stared at him, feeling the truth of the words and nodded.
"You said I'd get my knives back."
"And you will as well," he said gently. "I will have Dobby return them to you later."
"Fine," she muttered. "Thank you."
"Stay calm. I'm so sorry I have not had the time to tell you yet, but for all the reasons I don't have the answers, the world has shifted. I am struggling to keep ahead of the things I must."
Hermione nodded and he disappeared up to his office, leaving her there in silence with thoughts rolling around and around in her head.
-0-
Dobby popped into view just after midnight, while Hermione was pacing slowly at the far end of her bed where she wouldn't disturb the others in her dormitory.
"Hey," she muttered.
"Mistress," he said, bowing low. "I has these from Dumbleydore."
"I know," she said quietly. "I need you to do something for me Dobby."
"I will does anything for Mistress Hermione."
She smiled and took the velvet cloth from his grip. Dumbledore had folded her mother's scarf inside it but had given her a more regal place to put them all while she was moving them en masse. Each slid in place and rolled up inside of it and she stared at them now, caressing the hilts of them, passing with her hand over Minerva's. Despite whatever was going on between them, Minerva's gift was still hers and it was important that it was returned to its rightful owner. She withdrew it from the felt and held it gently in both hands. While she stared, she ran her fingertips over the gold inlaid in the blade and didn't even blink when the keen blade sliced her finger. She sighed again and wiped the blade on her sleeve and pulled her bedside drawer open. She withdrew Minerva's holster and slid the blade inside then wrapped the ties around it completely, smiling when they stuck where they were put.
"I need you to take this to Professor McGonagall," she said quietly. "Don't let her see you, don't speak to her, just leave it on her desk."
He reached for it, but she held it back as she had an idea.
"Wait, I need to write a note."
He shrugged, as only Dobby could do and she pulled a piece of parchment towards her and summoned her Muggle pen. She chewed on the end for a while before she scribbled her note on it and folded it up and tucked it under the ties.
She passed the whole thing to Dobby before she could have second thoughts and watched as he disappeared away.
-0-
Minerva felt like she'd been run over as she got up the next day. Her mind had kept her awake for most of the night, feeling over and over again that feeling in her soul where Hermione was in trouble. The great shift in the Castle that she knew both of the boys had felt and the unending guilt she'd fought with all the way up to dinner where Hermione had shuffled into the Hall as right as rain.
She'd breathed such a sigh of relief that she'd almost forgotten the turmoil they found themselves in.
But in the dark of the night, or the morning before she got busy - while she was alone - the desolate thoughts returned.
She sat at her desk now, reading the mail until it was time to go to class. A plate of tea and toast arrived, no doubt from Albus and was followed shortly by a bowl of porridge that could only have come from Poppy. She smiled sadly as she ignored the toast and cupped the bowl in her hands. It warmed her nicely as she summoned the additions to it and savoured it slowly. She was nearly finished when she noticed something under the letters she was making headway into. She pushed the few aside and stared at it.
"Michael!"
He did not appear in his portrait and she groaned at his stubborn streak. It would only be her entry guardian that had somehow developed a conscience and decided to take a leave of absence. But no, regardless, it would have been impossible. Had someone been in her office, surely she would have been notified, even if he was not guarding her portrait. Besides which, they surely would have had to knock now that he wasn't there, and would have required her to answer them and allow them entry.
Unless Albus had snuck in?
She immediately discounted that option and it hurt her to do so. Though his tea and toast could be seen as a peace offering, she knew she had hurt him and she was keeping out of his way and he hers. He would not have snuck in - even wounded he would not break her trust like that.
Which therefore begged the question; who had been inside her rooms?
The porridge bowl teetered on the edge of her desk and she just managed to rescue it when she realised that this gift had been delivered by an elf. She frowned, placed the bowl on the side table, and pulled the little wrapped package closer. There was a bow around some generic Muggle paper and she pulled on it gently. She could not help but gasp as the paper fell open.
Hermione's knife.
Her knife.
Sitting there, tucked in a beautiful leather holster and wrapped with ties that would wind around anything and secure itself firmly. She knew that because she had ordered them that way. She reached out and ran her hand over it, feeling the magic attached to it and then picked it up. A note fell out of it and she stared at it for a long time before she was brave enough to read it.
She expected a ten-page complaint at her unfairness. An essay on all the ways she could be better, and kinder. Instead, she got barely eight words and her heart broke to read them.
Minerva.
Your heart taught mine all it knows.
H
She immediately recalled what she'd had engraved on the leather she'd gifted to each of them and she dropped her head into her hands and sobbed. Hermione had no idea what that even meant to her after all this and it was simply too much. She cried all she had to cry and then sent a scribbled note to Albus. She barred the doors and went back to bed. At the last minute, she locked and warded the bedroom door behind her so nobody could interrupt her sorrow.