"Anyone who does not wish to complete their essay is welcome to neglect to do so," Snape said silkily, his eyes glittering as the class gathered their things. "Of course, this might mean you may make sad errors – potentially fatal or mutilating mistakes – during the next class when you attempt to brew the Creeping Concoction… but, of course, that choice is up to you…"
Hermione watched as her classmates hurried from the classroom, several paling in the face of Snape's unspoken threat, and she bit back a smile. Once the classroom had emptied, she approached her professor, who had one eyebrow raised.
"If it isn't Miss Granger," he drawled. "Have you come to complicate my life once again?"
"Potentially," Hermione said cheerily. "You might remember that last year, you promised to tutor me in Occlumency once the business with the Heir of Slytherin was over."
Snape looked like he was barely withholding a groan. He pinched the bridge of his nose tightly.
"And now that it's resolved, I suppose you would like private lessons?" he said, looking at her. "And have come to remind me I'd given my word?"
"Actually… I was going to ask if my entire coven could sit in on lessons," Hermione confessed. "The mind protection ritual with Draco had really expensive components, and I think my coven would like to learn to defend their minds too."
Snape's eyes narrowed.
"Who all is in your little cabal at this point, Miss Granger?" he asked.
"Me, Blaise Zabini, Luna Lovegood, Susan Bones, and Harry Potter," she said promptly.
Snape looked at her carefully, evaluating.
"Once you are coven-bonded, I will agree to teach you one lesson," he said. "If it goes poorly, or if any of your friends do not take it seriously and treat me with disrespect, I will teach neither them nor you Occlumency ever again."
Hermione considered. She could probably get Harry to be respectful to Snape and keep quiet for one lesson at least, she thought.
"Agreed," she said.
Snape's lip curled.
"Your funeral, Miss Granger," he said.
"I'll risk it," Hermione said, shrugging. "I trust my coven."
"Yes… I suppose you would need to." Snape's eyes glittered at her. He went around his desk to take a seat, refixing his gaze on her. "When do you intend to coven-bond, Miss Granger?"
"Soon," she assured him. "Before the end of the year, for sure."
Snape raised an eyebrow.
"And why are you neglecting to tell your official coven sponsor the precise date?" he inquired, and Hermione grinned.
"Plausible deniability?" she offered, and Snape groaned.
"You will drive me to an early grave, Miss Granger," he declared. "Will anyone or anything die as a result of whatever ritual you've decided to unleash?"
Hermione paused, considering, and Snape's nostrils flared as his eyes widened.
"Why are you pausing to consider—"
"It depends on your definition of death!" Hermione defended. "I just want to make sure I'm being completely correct!"
Snape's eyes narrowed.
"When something stops being alive, Miss Granger," he said. "If it is alive, and then it is not, it has died."
Hermione considered for a moment. "Then no."
Snape kept his gaze pinned to her for a long moment.
"Is this going to cause me a headache?" he demanded. "Will this send the school into uproar once more?"
"Probably," Hermione admitted. "But no one's going to get hurt. No one will even be in danger. It won't even make a mess. And it'll have a very good, positive effect in the long run, sir."
"For some reason, I find myself doubting your judgement." His tone was scathing. "You do not have the best track record for making sound decisions, Miss Granger."
"Do you want plausible deniability or not, sir?" Hermione asked sweetly, and Snape rolled his eyes and groaned.
"Go, Miss Granger. If no one is in danger or getting hurt, I do not want to know."
"Thank you, sir." Hermione bowed her head quickly and swept up her bag, hurrying from the room.
Outside in the hallway, Blaise was waiting for her.
"What was that all about?" he wanted to know.
"Snape promised to teach me Occlumency after the Heir of Slytherin was caught," Hermione said. "I was trying to get him to agree to teach everyone in the coven too."
"Occlumency?" Blaise's eyes widened. "Wicked. Did he agree?"
"He agreed to one lesson, and if it goes poorly, he won't even teach me another ever again," Hermione admitted, and Blaise shrugged.
"The only one in danger of ruining this for us then is Potter," Blaise said. "And once he sees how much this means to you, he'll behave himself."
"You think so?" Hermione wondered aloud, walking down the hallway with him, and Blaise shot her a look.
"Hermione. Harry would run through fire to save you if he needed to," he said flatly. "You're one of the best friends that he has – one of his only friends."
"Really?" Hermione was surprised. "I mean, there's me, but then there's Neville and Ron…"
"And that's it," Blaise said, raising an eyebrow. "Other than you and our other coven members, Potter doesn't really have more friends." He paused. "I wonder if he's just bad at making them, or if he doesn't want to open up to anyone else. Maybe he just likes keeping to himself."
"I didn't realize," Hermione mused. "Well, hopefully there will be no leaping through fire needed—"
"With you, you never know," Blaise deadpanned, and Hermione laughed, shoving him playfully, and he grinned.
"What about you?" she challenged. "Would you run after me into the fire to save me, too?"
Blaise's eyes gleamed as they met her own. "No."
"No?" Hermione said, laughing. "Sounds like Harry's going to one-up you for loyalty, there, then. If you're not running into the fire after me, where would you be?"
Blaise took Hermione's hand and tugged on it, pulling her into a small alcove not far outside the Great Hall. His tug spun her so she was facing him, now standing still in the hallway and looking right at him. She stumbled slightly, regaining her balance a moment later to find his eyes on her.
His molten eyes held hers steadily, and she felt her breath catch.
"Hermione, I would be right at your side—" Blaise lifted her hand, pressing his lips to the back of it as his eyes held hers. "—running headfirst into the flames too."
Her throat was dry as she swallowed.
"Well, hopefully that'll never be an issue," she said lightly. "I tend to try to avoid potential incineration."
Blaise laughed, his laughter dark and low, making her shiver. "Hermione, with you involved, it's only a matter of time."
Hermione kept seeing her name in the paper with disconcerting regularity, even as the monotony of daily life had resumed. The Daily Prophet had seemed to decide to use her as a figurehead for some hidden agenda, or it at least certainly liked focusing on her massively more than necessary.
SLYTHERIN'S MONSTER SLAIN!
Ancient basilisk lying under the school finally defeated!
had been the first article, detailing the dramatic fight in the Chamber of Secrets, first proclaiming her as the Heroine of Hogwarts.
The next article had been:
RHAMNACEAE ROOKWOOD INDICTED FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER
Rookwood denies all charges; pleads not guilty by reason of mental possession
published in tandem with:
HERMIONE GRANGER SPEAKS OUT AGAINST ROOKWOOD
The Heroine of Hogwarts' detailed account of her dramatic capturing of the Heir
She'd thought that had been the end of it, but no, there had been more:
THE MYTHOS OF NEW BLOOD: MAGIC WALKING AMONG US
Was the Heroine of Hogwarts chosen directly by Magic to help save the world?
And then, in the society section, finally off of the front page:
PROFILE: HERMIONE GRANGER
The human side of the Heroine of Hogwarts, shared
Tracey cut each article out, putting them into a scrapbook as they were published.
"Your parents are going to want to see," she told Hermione. "My father keeps a scrapbook of old articles about his brother and dad. He said it's a good way that muggles save memories."
Tracey was just so earnest about it that Hermione couldn't find it in her heart to object.
It wasn't just the Daily Prophet, though; Witch Weekly had published its own pieces on Hermione as well, though of a rather different sort.
Hermione had first been featured in a regular running column called Up and Coming: Witches to Watch, which had focused on her determination, intelligence, and selflessness in saving others. Hermione had been rather pleased by being chosen as 'a witch to watch', one who would go on to do great things, but the other articles the magazine published about her drained any goodwill she had.
Hermione Granger, Heroine of Hogwarts had been a massive, multi-page feature story, full of glossy, full-color photographs of her after the fight in the chamber. It had at least prompted Hermione to send an owl to Ernie, demanding half of whatever he'd been paid for his photos – though this wasn't anywhere the original context of their photo agreement, a deal was a deal.
The story itself told the tale of how she saved Draco and killed the basilisk, and it spent an inordinate amount of time focusing on the fact that she had saved Draco, and how grateful Draco was, taking multiple quotes from him about it and sprinkling them throughout. Hermione hadn't even realized Draco had been interviewed by Witch Weekly, and she felt silly for not considering it before.
Attire for the Adventurer with Attitude followed, which was a close-up piece on Hermione's fashion choices, run in the Fashion section of the magazine. It featured a blown-up photo of Hermione that they'd published still, in the muggle fashion, with the background cut away, leaving just her figure like a paper doll. Comments about the neckline, the color, and the cut of her robes were scattered around the image's body, with some critical comments on her boot choice near the bottom of the image. Hermione was at least pleased to see they'd complimented her color choices and her hair, but part of her was mildly mortified to see the malachite butterfly clipped in her hair so vibrantly and vividly published for all to see.
Tracey and Millie were insistent that it was brilliant, that it was an incredible way to have her societal debut and celebrate her chrysalization, but Hermione was still having a difficult time coming to terms with the fact the magazine was essentially loudly announcing that she'd gotten her period.
Finding a Husband for a Heroine had been the one that most enraged her. Witch Weekly had taken it upon itself to make a list of traits that she should be looking for in a potential husband, relating each trait chosen to her specifically as well as the larger readership base. Loyalty and Determination had ranked highly, as had Incredibly Attractive and Intelligent and Thoughtful. Other traits they'd rated low: Jealous, Insecure, and Tortured ranked the lowest, while Sense of Humor and Charismatic fell somewhere in the middle in terms of importance.
Tracey had teased her incessantly over that one, making a matrix on a parchment at lunch one day to rank all the boys in their class on each trait ostensibly to 'help her'. Hermione had been furious and embarrassed, but the other girls steamrolled over her, even Pansy joining in on the fun, taking particular pleasure in pointing out in which traits Ron Weasley took the bottom spot.
Blaise's eyes had sparkled but he wisely hadn't said a word, and Hermione had been grateful for the respite, instead talking with him about their upcoming exams while determinedly ignoring the giggling girls gossiping and ranking others behind her.
The Quibbler had run two pieces on her, and Luna had helpfully provided Hermione with a copy of each. One piece had been entitled:
Hidden Chambers of Hogwarts Proven True
The piece had focused on how Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets had been discovered, thereby confirming that each founder of Hogwarts had made a secret chamber hidden within the school. The mention of Hermione fighting the basilisk was only barely mentioned in passing, as a reference to the secrets Slytherin had contained inside, and the majority of the article was speculation about what other hidden rooms there might be and what secrets each founder might have contained inside their own.
The second had been very simple:
New Blood Prophecy Confirmed to Refer to Hermione Granger
The article was very matter of fact and straightforward, almost like genuine journalistic reporting. It stated how in 1990, a prophecy had been made by a Seer. The Quibbler had reported on the prophecy at the time, as they did with all submitted alleged prophecies, but a source within the Department of Mysteries had confirmed that a Prophecy Orb had appeared under Hermione Granger's name at that same time. Though the source could not listen to the prophecy themselves (it seemed only the person whose name was on it could use it?), they asserted that it was the only prophecy orb to appear in a span of two months around that time.
The article then published the prophecy in full, and the rest of the article was spent dissecting it; how "the viper borne to Muggles" was her because her parents were muggles and she had been sorted into Slytherin, and how she was the "she-serpent borne of teeth" because her parents were dentists. To Hermione's mortification, the article took particular care to emphasize that "borne of teeth" referred to her parents being muggle tooth healers, not because her mother was cursed with vagina dentata.
Hermione was torn between sending a copy to her parents immediately because it was perversely funny, or never thinking of or mentioning the piece ever again.
In addition to watching for her name in the paper every morning now, something which had become an odd sudden regularity, Hermione also kept her eye out for another name in The Daily Prophet:
RHAMNACEAE ROOKWOOD'S CURSED PENDANT
Dark mark pendant confirmed to have contained strong Dark magic
Hermione had been relieved that the blood had been enough to taint the pendant. She had no idea if Dumbledore or Moody had examined it and believed it to be a horcrux and that it was being kept confidential, but at least it seemed like it had appeared like a dark enough object to possibly possess a person, hopefully.
Indeed, the next article she caught was:
POSSIBLE POSSESSION BY PENDANT?
Veritaserum testimony reveals memory gaps in alleged Heir
Tracey had shot Hermione a smug look when that one was published, and Hermione had nodded to her with respect. Tracey had done a masterful job of hitting all the memories she'd needed to in a limited amount of time. Her skill with picking up the Memory Charm was impressive, and Hermione knew she owed Tracey immensely for carrying out the most difficult and finicky part of the plan.
Then, finally, the article she'd been anticipated came out:
RHAMNACEAE ROOKWOOD TRIAL DATE SET
Trial set to begin June 21st to accommodate for testimony from Hogwarts students
Ever since she'd heard Rhamnaceae had been indicted, Hermione had suspected she and Harry would be called on to testify against her. Hermione was simultaneously excited and terrified by the prospect. On one hand, she was insatiably curious to get an inner look at the wizarding judicial system to see how it worked, but on the other, she'd be facing her enemy on the stand, testifying against her on something she knew not to be true.
If Veritaserum was given to witnesses in the courtroom, Hermione would have to be very, very careful of what information she gave out. Hermione wasn't even sure what she wanted the ultimate outcome to be. It wasn't like she wanted Rookwood locked up in Azkaban – especially since she hadn't actually done anything.
Her enemy had been expelled from Hogwarts, which had been her goal, really. Rookwood's old bullying buddies had avoided Hermione since then, casting suspicious looks at her from far away. Hermione wasn't surprised; Rhamnaceae's closest friends were undoubtedly certain that if Rookwood had been the Heir, she'd have either told them, or at least made sure that Hermione had been attacked first.
Which was true, Hermione mused. Maybe the possession angle would help mitigate that; if the Dark Lord hadn't wanted her killed, maybe they'd think Rhamnaceae had been unable to set the snake on her because she'd been possessed, and she hadn't had a choice in targets at all.
And they'd just be left to wonder why the Dark Lord would have wanted her alive.