Chapter 14: 14 Talk
"Good afternoon Mr Foster, do you mind joining me up here for a chat." Dumbeldore said from the top of the stairs, his signature grandfatherly smile adorning his face.
"Of course, headmaster." Lucas replied politely and walked up.
"Now then, I believe you must be asking yourself why I wanted to meet with you." Dumbledore opened the talk with a question, which Lucas answered with a nod.
"But first, Lemon Drop?" he held the bowl of sweets towards Lucas, who politely declined his offer.
"I as well once didn't like sweets but with age I have come to enjoy these small treats. Anyway that is not why I have asked of you. I wanted to thank you for lifting Ms Granger's spirit a few times last year. It would have been a shame if such a bright young witch were to be hindered by the peer pressure of others."
Keeping his cool Lucas analysed his words and replied "She is my friend, it's only natural that I help her."
"Mmhm" Dumbledore hummed inviting him to speak more.
"If you don't mind me asking, sir" Lucas waited for another hum before continuing "what happened to the Mirror of Erised?"
Dumbledore's outwardly didn't react much to his question and instead studied his expression for a moment "The mirror is in a safe place, far away from prying eyes, but if you truly want to see it I could bring it back for a short while."
"I wouldn't want to bother you, I believe you are an exceptionally busy man." Lucas waited a little bit if Dumbledore wanted to ask anything else "Do you have any other questions you would like me to answer?"
"No Mr Foster, our chat was enlightening and I believe you will keep doing your best in the future. It is always a pleasure to meet such bright young minds." The Headmaster said as he lead the student outside and back down the gargoyle.
Now alone back in his study Dumbledore murmured "Friends he said, and yet there was no weight behind that word."
"On top of being a natural Legilimens, huh" He muttered while looking at the sorting hat.
——
'Shit' thought Lucas as he walked back. He had to adjust all of his plans now that Dumbledore started to pay attention to him. Additionally he had a few assumptions what this "talk" was really about.
'Ugh that annoying old man, couldn't he just let me be.'
He grumbled to himself as he was walking towards the Room of Requirement, only to be interrupted by someone rushing towards him.
——
Earlier in the great hall.
Holly was doing her homework, while Ron and Harry were goofing around.
Hermione hurriedly walked up to them and slammed the thick textbook she had carried in her hands onto the table, focusing the three's attention on her.
"Have you heard, Lucas was called to the principal's office." Hermione started to retell what she had heard. "What I would give to have a look inside that office. Just imagining all the books in there gives me goosebumps."
With Ron and Holly attentively listening to her and Hermione lost in her own fantasy of books, it took a while until someone noticed the ashen faced Harry.
"Harry are you alright, you look sick." Holly remarked.
Now the other two also looked at Harry, which only lead to him getting even paler.
He didn't react at all to Holly's words.
Only after Ron snapped his fingers in front of his face did he wake up.
"You alright?" Ron asked with concern in his voice.
"Yeah" he said weakly not even convincing himself. After a short pause he opened his mouth again. "You remember at the end of last year that Dumbledore visited me in the hospital wing, right?"
All three nodded, Harry had told Holly when she had woken up that Dumbledore had been looking after them back when they were doing the trials and that he was the one that had brought them out of the chambers, so he continued "Well before you two came in he did ask me what happened to the troll we fought on Halloween. And I told him."
"You did WHAT?" completely out of character, Hermione was the one reacting the strongest. "No, no, no that can't be true."
Harry and Ron looked bewildered, but nothing compared to Holly, who had never seen Hermione act in this way. "Hermione calm down. It's not that bad."
"You don't understand, promises are very important to him and I promised that we would keep it a secret." she was devastated by Harry's revelation. Ever since they met they rarely had promised something to each other and always had upheld their end no matter what. This was also something she liked about him. The reliability of it.
As she was thinking about the consequences she spiralled downwards into a pit of despair "What if he doesn't want to be friends any longer? What would I do then?"
"Stop it!" Holly said aggressively, ripping her out of her depressing thoughts. "Pull yourself together and stop doubting yourself. Talk to him first and explain the situation, if he is still mad at you after that, then it's his fault, because you had nothing to do with what my idiot of a brother did."
"Hey .." Harry wanted to interject, but one glare from Holly made him shut up.
"You are right, I should look for him." Hermione said suppressing her insecurity. Before the others could say anything else she stood up and walked away. "If I hurry, I might be able to catch him coming out of the headmaster's office."
——
*Pant* *Pant* *Pant*
Hermione was out of breath when she reached him. Physical activities weren't the strong points of a wizard.
Lucas watched amusedly, as she was trying to recover her breath.
"I … was … looking … for you." she got out between her laboured breaths.
"I can tell, but why were you in such a hurry?" Lucas asked. His mind was still partly occupied with the events prior that's why he neither connected his meeting with the promise they made, nor had he the necessary mental leisure to use legilimency.
"You are not mad at me?" Hermione was looking at him with hopeful eyes.
"Why would I be mad at… Oh you are asking, because of the promise, aren't you?" Lucas had remembered half way through his sentence and she was now even tenser, dreading what he might say next. "It was not your fault so you don't have to worry about it."
A wave of relief washed over her and a smile formed on her lips. It had alleviated all her worries.
"Hermione, you are special to me, because we have so much in common. We both visited the same school before and took on this new magical world together. I know how you feel and you how I do. You and I understand each other the best and I wouldn't abandon you just because of a mistake you didn't even do." She felt like she was on cloud nine after hearing that. No one had ever appreciated her so much.
"Regardless of how I feel about you, my stand on promises is still the same, don't make one if you don't intend to keep it. It will only lead to disappointment otherwise." Lucas said as he looked at the overjoyed Hermione, who out of pure happiness suddenly hugged him.
"Thank you." she said as she let go and looked into his eyes.
"If that's all you wanted to ask then I am glad I could help, but I still have something to do."
"Does it have something to do with what the headmaster said to you?"
"No." he said with a calculative look, which Hermione didn't notice, too preoccupied with her own happiness.
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