章 419: 3
Amusing, But Utterly Useless
Hermione had a very troubled sleep, and for the first time that she could remember, wanted nothing more then to pull the blankets over her head and stay in bed for the rest of the day. But it was the first day of classes and she was not lazy. So, feeling angry at having to abandon her warm bed, she got up, and headed for the bathroom. After a nice hot shower, and spending the adequate amount of time in fixing her hair so it wasn't a frightful mess before dressing in her uniform, Hermione headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast, being respectfully quiet, as he roommates were still asleep.
She was still trying to puzzle out just what Lavender and Parvati had meant when they had said they wanted to earn her forgiveness the previous night. History told her to be cautious, as many a prank had been played on her this way. Yet, she was now better at reading people's intentions, and as she recalled their faces, she saw nothing but sincerity. This begged the question, what in the hell happened to them?
Hermione began to think that perhaps it was a fluke. Just some random thing that happens to everyone at some point, and there was no real meaning to it. After all, wasn't she entitled to a bit of oddness in her life as well as anyone. But their apologies had been so out of character, especially for Lavender who until last night had always snubbed Hermione, and laughed at Ron Weasley's insults. She had always been this high and mighty… bitch. She wasn't as bad as Pansy Parkinson, but Lavender thrived on Hermione's pain, just like everyone else in the school. Or at least, that's how Hermione perceived it.
The common room was as empty as ever, and the fire was all but dead in the grate, though it was still pleasantly warm. This was Hermione's favorite time of day. When no one was in the common room and she was alone, without fear of becoming the center of unwanted attention. She was staring into the dying coals, pondering everything that had happened the previous day when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Hermione."
Hermione shrieked in terror and whirled around, losing her balance. Her world spun as she began to fall but something reached out and grabbed both her wrists, pulling her back until she was steady on her feet once again. Gasping frantically for breath, she whipped her hair out of her face to find Harry Potter standing before her, looking mildly concerned.
"Don't ever do that again!" She roared. She realized suddenly that people were still sleeping, and dropped the volume of her voice immediately. "Seriously Harry you nearly gave me a heart attack. Did you put a silencing charm on your shoes or something?"
Harry shook his head as he released her, sure she wouldn't fall over now.
"I've always had a soft step." he claimed, his voice as flat as ever. "It makes it easy to get the drop on your enemy. So, breakfast?" He asked, nodding towards the portrait hole. Hermione, still breathing rapidly, and clutching her chest began to lead them down to the Great Hall.
"How was your night?" She asked after they had walked down two flights in silence. She used to really like the quiet, but now when she was around Harry, she felt very uncomfortable by it.
"Curious." He replied after a long moment. Hermione had watched his face as he thought of his reply. It was clear that he was having trouble coming up with an answer and it made her wonder just what had happened in the sixth year boys dormitories.
"How do you mean?" She turned to regard him. His face was as impassive as ever, but she could see in his eyes a spark of bemusement.
"I've never had roommates before." He started. "And of them all, only Neville puzzles me."
"Neville. Neville Longbottom puzzles you." Hermione said, not believing what she was hearing.
"Mm-hmm." Harry replied. "Ron is simple. Basic, in just about every sense of the word. He has a major inferiority complex. I don't know why, but there you are. If he had more discipline, he might make something of himself. But he has this deep seeded need to be the center of attention. Seamus is pretty laid back, though a bit obsessed with the fairer sex."
"Aren't all of you boys?' Hermione chuckled. Harry merely shrugged.
"I'm not sure what you mean." Harry said, looking rather puzzled at Hermione, who fought against a smile she felt trying to appear on her face.
"Nothing, never mind. Go on." She replied.
"The way Seamus talks about girls, you'd think he was some sort of playboy, or gigolo or something. Only, not as smooth. Dean is easy to figure out as well. He's a go with the follow sort. Doesn't like to make waves. It's also easy to figure out that of the three, Dean is liable to have friends who are more loyal and honest than either Ron or Seamus. He's sure of himself without being cocky or smug. Of those three, I like him the best." Harry continued.
"But Neville?" Hermione asked, watching his face.
"Neville. Quiet, reserved, unsure of himself though he radiates power. It comes off him in waves. It's almost as if his lack of confidence has given him some sort of block. With some good training, he could be a great wizard. He lingers, like he wants to be a part of the group but he's afraid of being rejected by them, like he doesn't believe he's good enough. And there's something else. You can see it in his eyes."
"Neville's always been a bit shy, and he is a very clumsy and forgetful." Hermione observed.
"Interesting." Harry nodded. "But that's not what I was talking about."
They had arrived at the Great Hall and took seats at the end of the Gryffindor table. Hermione took some toast and began spreading marmalade, before serving herself some porridge. She watched Harry take toast and some fruit as well as a bit of oatmeal.
"I take it they gave you a full interrogation." Hermione remarked.
"No." Harry replied. "In fact, they kind of seemed afraid to talk to me. Especially Ron and Seamus. Mostly they just talked to each other about their summer. Seamus apparently had relations with three different girls, while Ron told some rather detailed facts about Lavender's body. Did you know she's got a mole on her…"
"That's quite alright. I don't need to hear it." Hermione said quickly before trying to steer the conversation back on track. "You did kind of freak them out a little so I'm not surprised they were afraid of you. Seamus looked like you were going to hit him or something. What did you say to him last night on the way to the common room?"
"Nothing. I simply looked at him after he shoved you out of the way." Harry said simply. Hermione felt a blush creeping up her face. "I may not have had a lot of interaction with people during my life, but I do know what he did was wrong."
"Did you get your run in this morning?" Hermione asked, changing subjects. She didn't want to linger on what he said too much at the moment as it was so very confusing in so many ways. For now, Hermione felt it might be better to keep things simple.
"Yes." Harry said simply.
They fell silent, and Hermione began to feel a bit uncomfortable again. Up until this moment, she had felt that things had been nice, but now she felt suddenly anxious. She couldn't say why, but she felt almost as if Harry was now examining her as he had his roommates. She wasn't really sure if she wanted to know what he thought of her. She got enough of what people thought of her already.
Hermione began looking around the Great Hall hoping to find something that would start a new conversation. There weren't many people in the Great Hall, save for a mess of Ravenclaws who were always early risers. Harry was ripping into an orange clearly not bothered by the silence between them. In fact, he looked exactly the same as ever.
"Are you always so…blank?" She blurted out.
Harry looked up and she shrank a bit under his stare.
"I'm not sure what you mean…" He replied. Hermione shook her head and told him to forget about it. Harry shrugged and bent back to his oatmeal, and Hermione was left feeling really stupid just then.
"Ah, good morning."
The teens turned and found Headmaster Dumbledore there with his trademark twinkle in his eye.
"How are you finding Hogwarts so far, Harry?" The old professor asked cordially. Harry wiped his mouth on a napkin and gave the faintest of smiles.
"It's very different from what I'm used to." Harry began.
"As to be expected." Dumbledore nodded.
"But I'm nothing if not adaptable." Harry smirked. Hermione felt herself brightening at Harry's look.
"And I see you've made a friend already. Perhaps Miss Granger would be willing to be your guide for the next couple of days until you get your bearings."
Both Harry and Dumbledore turned to Hermione, who shrank a bit under their scrutiny.
"Of course, I'd love to." She said, again feeling herself blush. It was unnerving. She could not remember the last time she had blushed so much.
"Excellent. I do have one other matter to discuss with you, Mister Potter, and that is the unfortunate business on the train. As I understand it, you attacked Mister Malfoy, is this true?"
"Yes sir." Harry said without any sort of remorse or even guilt. He simply answered the question and Dumbledore frowned a bit.
"Actually, that's not entirely true, sir." Hermione piped up not knowing why she was even speaking.
"Really?" Dumbledore asked, his silvery eyebrows raising in question as he turned to look at her. "Would you care to offer an explanation then?"
"I…Well, see. Draco was being rather…" Hermione tried, but she just couldn't seem to get it out. She hated feeling weak, or even admitting to being bullied. Nothing ever happened anyway. The most punishment Draco had ever gotten was detention, and if the rumors were to be believed, Draco had spent it with Professor Snape getting advanced lessons.
"Mister Malfoy was being quite oppressive to Miss Granger, sir.' Harry stepped in. "I asked him to retreat and leave us in peace but he refused. He pulled his wand on me, and I defended myself and Miss Granger sir. I simply banished him out of our compartment and locked the door. He suffered no serious injuries, save possibly to his pride sir."
"I see." Dumbledore said after Harry had finished. Hermione noted that Harry was sitting bolt upright, and staring to some point over her shoulder.
"Very well, I shall have a word with Mister Malfoy's head of house. However, I can not excuse your behavior, Mister Potter. I am afraid you will have to serve a detention." Dumbledore said, looking just a bit sad, though also quite proudly.
"I understand sir." Harry replied evenly.
"I will inform Professor McGonagall that you will be attending a detention with her tonight at seven o'clock." Dumbledore said as he stood up straighter. "And ten points to Gryffindor for a show of loyalty and friendship."
"Thank you sir." Harry said, still staring distantly.
"Just one final thing. I would like to extend an invitation to take tea with me this Friday afternoon after your classes are finished." Dumbledore smiled, and Harry nodded.
"I'm looking forward to it, sir." Harry said and Dumbledore gave them both a bow before striding to the head table.
"That's a bit odd." Hermione said watching the Headmaster go.
"What is?" Harry asked.
"The way he talked to you. It wasn't like a student and teacher, but more like an old friend." Hermione noted. "I mean, yeah he gave you detention and all, but it was like he was really proud of you. Like you were his hero or something."
Harry simply shrugged.
Hermione realized that Harry was not going to elaborate, and decided that maybe it was best to leave the topic alone for now.
"Are you anxious for classes?" She asked. Again, Harry shrugged.
"I'm hopeful that I won't be bored. My Godfather told me that he found a lot of his classes were boring. He reckons it's why he and my father were such troublemakers." Harry said non-commitally.
"Trouble makers?" Hermione asked, sounding a bit troubled by this.
"They were supposed to be real pranksters. I don't know how much of what I was told is true, but if it's all to be believed, than Professor Snape is entitled to his grudge." Harry remarked.
"Grudge?" Hermione perked up a bit.
"He was their primary target while they were in school. He was friends with my mum, but he and my father and godfather weren't fond of each other. They were rather cruel to Professor Snape, and Sirius sometimes wonders if they had been nicer…" Harry looked at her and then bent back to his breakfast.
"What?" She asked now intrigued.
"I shouldn't say. I doubt he knows that I'm aware, and I don't think he'd fancy his secrets coming out." Harry said, closing the topics.
Hermione could only stare at Harry as he finished his breakfast and pushed away his now empty plate. He wiped his hands on his napkin and took one last swallow from his goblet. He turned to look at the head table and then towards Hermione.
"When do we get our schedules?" He asked.
"Not for a bit. If you'd like we could go to the library for a bit, or just take a quick walk around the castle so you could get a basic idea of where places are." Hermione suggested. Harry gave a slight nod and the two rose from their seats. As they left the Great Hall, Harry saw a group of Slytherin girls coming up from the dungeons giving Hermione a very sour look, and then stopping short when they saw her companion. Hermione couldn't stop the smug little smile that played at the corners of her mouth.
Of course her own mind ruined her little moment when she realized that there was now going to be a thousand new rumors about her by lunch, and none of them were going to be good.
"So, I suppose I should show you where the hospital wing is." She said, turning towards the stairs.
"Why?" Harry asked, looking puzzled.
Hermione stopped short and turned to look at Harry with confusion. "In case you have an accident or something…"
"Oh." Harry said simply. Hermione turned again and led Harry up a flight of stairs and down a hall. They visited a few other key points in the castle, including the Library, which Hermione wanted to linger in, but at Harry's blank look decided it would be best to move on. Like nearly everyone else, she didn't think Harry was as fond of books as she was.
Then again, she couldn't really get a read on Harry as his face barely changed at all as they walked. She had noticed the way he examined everything. It was like he was looking for places to hide, or something.
"Harry, could I ask you a question?" She finally asked as they were heading back to the Great Hall for their timetables.
"I believe you just did." He replied at once
"Yes, but I meant…"
"I know what you meant." Harry said, a mischievous glint in his eye that startled Hermione.
"The way you look around at everything. It's almost like you're looking for something specific."
"Escape routes." Harry said simply.
"Escape routes?"
"Or cover. First rule, always know where your escape routes are. If you find yourself overwhelmed by superior forces, have more then one way out." Harry said automatically, making Hermione's jaw drop.
"You sound like some kind of soldier." She said as the crossed into the Great Hall which was now teeming with students.
"I thought I made that clear on the train yesterday." Harry looked at her slightly confused.
"You really expect me to believe that you fought against You-Know-Who's followers and not only did you actually beat them, but removed Lucius Malfoy's hand?" Hermione stopped and crossed her arms over her chest defiantly.
"Hermione, I don't care if you believe it or not. As I told you yesterday, I don't lie. It serves no purpose. I won't tell you something that isn't true about me or anything else." Harry said, looking weary.
"Then why exactly are you here and not out there fighting them some more.?" She countered.
"Honestly, I wish I knew." Harry sighed. "Look, it's a long story, and right now, I think I need to focus on getting through today. Will you help me?"
Hermione was a bit taken aback. For as tough and collected as Harry appeared to be outwardly, she could see in his entrancing green eyes that he was actually worried.
"Wait, Entrancing, where did that come from." Hermione thought suddenly. "Forget it Hermione. One look at Susan Bones, or gods forbid, Cho Chang and he's going to go all gooey and never speak to you again. Just get through today and everything will get back to its natural order."
She looked at him and gave a soft smile as she nodded.
"Thank you." He said calmly. "You are a true friend.
Hermione stiffened. No one had ever called her their friend in her entire life. Even the friends she had had in primary school. That word sent a shiver down her spine that was not at all unpleasant.
"Ah, Miss Granger, Mister Potter. I have your class schedules."
Professor McGonagall had begun to approach her favorite student and the new arrival when she noticed them having a rather heated discussion. The Transfiguration professor's hope that Hermione Granger might at last find a friendly companion prevented her from invading their conversation until she was sure they were finished. She watched Hermione quite closely as she approached. Powerful though Dumbledore claimed the boy to be, if he hurt the girl in any way, she would render him to little more than ashes, savior to the wizarding world or not.
"I was most pleased with your OWL results Miss Granger, and am looking forward to seeing you continue performing admirably in my class this year." McGonagall said as she handed over Hermione's schedule. "Mister Potter, I'm afraid that as I do not know what your intended career path is, I am unsure as to what to put on your schedule. Your OWL results were nearly as exemplary as Miss Granger's."
"I wasn't told my results." Harry confessed. Hermione looked up from examining which classes she was to be taking this year, very interested in this little tidbit.
"Well, I have them here." McGonagall said. "No student has performed as well as you did in Defense in over twenty years. Your Transfiguration, Charms and Potions work was quite good as well. You did well in Arithmancy and Runes, and I also noted you performed admirably in Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures. Quite frankly, I would hazard a guess that you were preparing for the Auror academy."
"I am." Harry nodded. "At least, for now"
"You have another ambition?" McGonagall asked her eyebrows raised with interest."
"I would like to keep my options open at this point." Harry replied.
"Very well then, what classes would you like to take?"
"I wish to continue in all that I did E or better in." Harry said confidently. McGonagall gave a soft smile and glanced at Hermione who was looking just as impressed as the Head of Gryffindor House was feeling.
"Well then, it looks as if you and Miss Granger will be seeing a lot of each other then. With the exception of Care of Magical Creatures, you will share many of her classes." McGonagall said, tapping her wand to Harry's class schedule and handing it to him.
Harry accepted it and turned to Hermione. "We should get our books and things for class then."
Hermione nodded and they headed up stairs. Hermione looked over her schedule as they walked.
"Runes first this morning. That's good. Then I have a break. Lunch and then potions and charms. Good Monday, I think."
"I don't have a break." Harry remarked, and Hermione glanced at his timetable, seeing that he would be in Care of Magical Creatures while she was in her break.
"But you have breaks the rest of the week, see." She pointed them out to him.
"Do I need them?" He asked. Once again Hermione's jaw dropped.
"You don't want breaks?"
"Does it serve a purpose?" He asked.
"Well, it's a bit of extra time to catch up on your homework. You know so you don't fall behind and you get everything done." Hermione explained.
"Oh, I see." Harry nodded in understanding. "Then I guess this is acceptable."
"You really are very strange." Hermione shook her head.
"As you keep pointing out." Harry replied, making Hermione chuckle.
Runes was just as invigorating as it had ever been, in Hermione's opinion. She had sat in her favorite desk right up in front with Harry at her side. He took to the class with the same vigor she felt within herself, and had even beaten her to answering a few of the professor's questions. When class was over, she walked with him to the Entrance Hall and pointed him in the right direction for Care of Magical Creatures and promised to wait for him at lunch.
Hermione was then left with the choice to return to the Common room or go to the library until lunch. She decided on the Library, as she was less likely to be bothered by any of her housemates.
However, she realized as she entered her sanctuary that she had no homework to work on. With nothing to research she began to wander idly through the aisles. As she meandered she kept thinking about Harry and his, well quite frankly his oddness. It was more than clear that he had very little in the way of social understanding. At least the part of his story about being hidden away seemed to be true. Not even the best of actors could be that convincing. The more she observed him, the more she noticed how curious he was about the way people interacted. During Runes class, he kept peering over his shoulder to watch as Su Li, Mandy Brocklehurst, and Lisa Turpin giggled and gossiped. He looked terribly confused by their topic of discussion which happened to be boys. Hermione was just glad that he had not asked her to explain it all to him. That would have been embarrassing, not to mention difficult.
Harry wasn't completely uninformed, but in many ways he was almost socially ignorant. Hermione remembered when Harry had told Professor Dumbledore that he was nothing if not adaptable. Hermione was really curious as to what that meant exactly.
Hermione found herself in the history section and before she realized it was pulling down the copy of Wizards Most Dark. She flipped to the table of contents and slid her finger down the page until she found the chapter titled "He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named."
She leaned against the bookshelf as she read the chapter of arguably the most feared wizard in over a hundred years.
Only one dark wizard in all of history has ever been so feared that even now his name can not be spoken without conjuring images of true horror. No one is truly sure of where the Dark Wizard who called himself Lord Voldemort came from. What is agreed upon is that his reign of terror was far worse than any who came before him.
Hermione skimmed over most of the chapter as she had read it several times before. She knew of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named's goal of creating a perfect Pureblood society, not unlike of a certain muggle dictator from Germany. She passed over some of his more brutal noteable moments within his rise to power until she reached the end of the chapter and the bit she was searching for
Lord Voldemort fell from power on October 31st 1981, when he sought to destroy James and Lily Potter and their only son Harry, in Godric's Hollow. The Potters had gone into hiding after discovering the Dark Lord wanted to kill them personally, though the exact reason for that is unknown.
The Potter's cast the Fidelius on their home, and it was widely believed that Sirius Black was the secret keeper. However the Potters, knowing how Black would be hunted changed their secret Keeper to Peter Pettigrew, a long time friend of James Potter. This proved to be a mistake as Pettigrew was a spy for the dark wizard. Pettigrew testified at his trial later that he had chosen to follow the Dark Lord because he felt it was only a matter of time before Lord Voldemort won the war, and Pettigrew did not wish to die. He was sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss.
What actually happened on the night of October 31st, is unclear and still a subject for much conjecture, but the most popular and widely agreed upon theory is that after killing both James and Lily Potter, Lord Voldemort turned his wand on one year old Harry. The killing curse was then cast, but instead of killing the child alone, the curse somehow destroyed the caster as well. The Potter house was found in complete ruin and the bodies of all three Potters and the Dark Lord were found in the rubble. Baby Harry was found with a strange cut upon his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt, which puzzled many, as the killing curse never leaves a mark. The Potters were buried in Godric's Hollow side by side with baby Harry laid to rest with his mother.
Hermione shut the book and immediately conjured a picture of Harry and the strange red line above his right eye which was in the shape of a lightning bolt. In a very strange way, the story made sense. If certain people wished to keep Harry safe, it would be best to allow the world to believe him dead. The fact that he was supposedly laid with his mother also would explain away the lack of a third grave.
But why allow Harry to surface now, especially when Lord Voldemort had risen again?
The answer came to her almost at once. Harry had told her. He had been trained to fight. He had fought Death Eaters already. Harry had not only been hidden but trained to fight against Voldemort. He was going to lead the light side against the Dark, not only as a soldier, but a symbol.
This realization led to other questions. Hermione wondered if perhaps maybe the papers were right for once and Harry was in fact destined to vanquish Voldemort. It made a lot of sense in a sort of fable or fairy tale sort of way. The evil wizard rises from the dead and his arch nemesis is also resurrected to fight the good fight, or something like that.
Hermione sighed and replaced the book, deciding that she was not going to solve the mystery of Harry Potter with the help of her precious books. And besides, it wasn't Harry's correlation with Lord Voldemort that troubled her. It was his interest in her.
Why did he choose to hang around her? He should have already started at least to talk to other people or start to ignore her. He had talked to the other sixth year boys the previous night, and Hermione was sure that they had told him all the reasons why she wasn't worth bothering with.
Taking a look at her watch, Hermione figured that by the time she got down to the Great Hall, Harry would likely be coming back from Care of Magical Creatures and be ready for lunch.
Hefting her book bag, Hermione walked down stairs, keeping her eyes on the ground as she walked to avoid the eyes of anyone, thereby keeping the potential for ridicule to a minimum. She found herself taking her regular seat at the end of the Gryffindor table, thankful that it was still fairly empty. A few other sixth years who had a break this period had already taken seats and looked to be reading or talking lightly.
The bell rang, releasing classes and Hermione smirked lightly as she imagined the thunderous sound of hundreds of students storming towards the Great Hall. The golden plates before her filled with sandwiches and there was a large bowl nearby that filled with a scrumptious smelling soup.
"Granger!"
Hermione looked up and winced as she caught sight of Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode, two sixth year Slytherin girls who'd been quite cruel to her through the years. Parkinson was the leader of a group of rather pretty and cruel girls who also belonged to Slytherin House. She was also the on again off again girlfriend of Draco Malfoy. Hermione wasn't sure if they were back together or not at the moment. She figured she might know for sure depending on how disgusting Pansy chose to be today.
Millicent Bulstrode, the only other sixth year girl in Pansy's group was like a distant cousin to Crabbe or Goyle, as she was built quite similarly. She looked like a short troll. The other three girls were fifth years who worshiped the ground in which Pansy walked on.
Hermione often wondered why the other two sixth year Slytherin girls, Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis did not hang out with Pansy. They had been as mean to Hermione as Pansy, though they hadn't really spoken to her since third year. Actually, they were more indifferent to her than most of the others in the school.
Hermione looked up at Pansy as she and her little girl scout troop approached and all but surrounded her. She tried to act as if she wasn't bothered by their close proximity and took a sandwich and looked towards the soup, trying to decide if she felt like a bowlful or not.
"Sitting alone again." Pansy sing songed. "How truly pathetic. Why do you even bother, Granger. You're a disgusting mess of a person. Far too ugly to become someone's girlfriend, far too filthy for even a concubine. You'll never get any sort of job higher than shop sweeper, if you're lucky, so why do you keep coming back to Hogwarts?"
The other girls were giggling like hyenas now and Hermione wanted to slap Pansy and show her that she was as good as anyone else, and even better than her, but she hated confrontation, and as she sighed heavily, she knew that she couldn't do it. She was just to afraid of being embarrassed and she didn't want to end up crying in the bathroom again. Not this early in the year.
"Excuse me."
Hermione looked up just as the Slytherin girls turned to find Harry standing behind them looking a little irritable.
"I'd like to eat my lunch, and you're in the way." Harry said eyeing Pansy. Hermione's eyes went wide as she saw Pansy wiggle her hips and flick her hair as she eyed up Harry. Clearly she and Draco were not together at the moment.
"Well hello, Potter." She said silkily. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Pansy."
"I don't care." Harry said flatly, staring at her outstretched hand. "I think you should apologize to Hermione and then walk away."
"Apologize? To her?" Pansy said aghast as she looked over her shoulder at Hermione.
"Yes. You were rude." Harry said evenly. "I abhor rude people. So, turn around, apologize, and then leave Hermione alone."
"I would rather run starkers through the entire school than apologize to that filth… AHH!"
Before everyone's eyes, Pansy's clothing had vanished, leaving the girl as naked as the day she had been born. Laughter erupted throughout the Great Hall and Pansy, doing her very best to cover herself sprinted out of the Great Hall her friends following after her.
"What did you do that for?" Hermione asked in shock as Harry took his seat across from her.
"Do what" Harry asked, looking over the offered lunch fare.
"POTTER!"
Hermione groaned as she turned to see the head of Slytherin House approaching, his cloak billowing out behind him like demonic wings. Hermione turned back to Harry to find him rising out of his seat, staring back at Professor Snape with stone cold eyes. The eyes of every student turned to watch as Professor Snape stormed down from the Head Table and fell silent, waiting to hear what was going to happen.
"Of all the arrogant, appalling acts I have witness in all my years of teaching, that was by far the most abhorrent act ever. Assaulting a female student like that will not be tolerated, and I will see you expelled from this school." Snape shouted.
"I'm sorry sir, by I do not know what you are talking about." Harry said flatly. Just as he had done with Dumbledore, Harry was standing straight and tall, looking off to the distance.
Snape looked as if Harry had just slapped him in the face.
"You vanished Miss Parkinson's clothes just now. I saw you do it. Everyone saw you do it." Snape snarled, his eyes boring into Harry's.
"I'm afraid that you are confused sir." Harry said evenly as he took out his wand. "Feel free to check my wand if you disagree."
Snape glared hard as he snatched Harry's wand and took out his own, tapping it to Harry's. He tapped it three times, and none of the recent spells Harry had cast were vanishing spells. He look murderous at Harry as he handed his wand back, then turned his attention to Hermione.
"Your wand, Miss Granger." He snapped.
"What?" Hermione looked god smacked.
"Your wand, now!" Snape shouted again. "There were only two of you…"
"Actually Professor, there are at least forty people that I can see who were close enough and likely able to cast that spell on that girl." Harry pointed out. "And Hermione's wand is not out. It's likely still in her robes."
"Silence yourself Potter." Snape said quickly before turning back to Hermione with his hand held out. Hermione slowly took out her wand and placed it in Snape's hand and watched as he checked its last spells, none of which were vanishing spells. She couldn't believe Snape would think she would do anything so… juvenile. Besides, Snape knew full well that she was always the one who was targeted for things like that, though thankfully, no one had thought to vanish her clothing.
"Until now, that is." She thought nervously to herself.
"Very well." Snape said looking so angry, his face was actually taking on color. "I will be watching you, Potter. Closely."
"Thank you sir." Harry said. It wasn't until Snape began to walk away that Harry retook his seat. Hermione was staring at him in awe as he took three sandwiches and began to eat quickly.
"How did you do it?" She asked after a long moment of silence. She had noticed that the Great Hall had finally become noisy again, with people likely discussing Pansy's incredibly pasty bottom.
"Do what?" Harry asked, but Hermione saw the faint smirk and knew that he had been responsible for Pansy's clothes suddenly disappearing.
"Please don't patronize me, Harry." Hermione pleaded. "I'm not an idiot."
Harry looked up at her as if startled by her accusation.
"Hermione, I never thought you were an idiot." He said gently. "Let's just say that thanks to years of study and practice, certain things that most people believe to be impossible, I can do. Let's also say that what I can do would be worthless in a fight, but as you just saw, can still be useful."
Hermione could only stare in amazement as Harry, chuckling lightly returned to his meal.
"I was also ordered by my Godfather to play pranks on people. I don't understand why he thinks it's important, but a promise is a promise. It seemed like a good opportunity." Harry shrugged.
Hermione could only stare at Harry in wonder. Just about everyone she knew would have been laughing their head off at what had just happened, especially if they had caused it. But Harry acted as if it was homework, or his job or something. It hadn't really affected him. He'd barely even smiled. Could it really be that he didn't understand anything as normal people did? Had he truly been so sheltered and disciplined that something as monumental as vanishing a girl's clothing in front of the entire school could mean so little to him?
On top of that, it had been a naked teenage girl and he hadn't even tried to get a good long look at her bits.
"You get stranger and stranger by the minute, you know that, right?" Hermione asked, looking at Harry who simply cocked his head in bemusement. Hermione waved it off and told him to finish so they could get to class on time. The Harry Potter Mystery was getting much to complicated.
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