Hermione knew it wasn't entirely prudent, but she didn't care; she rushed past the wards to help Severus up, hushing him as she got his arm braced across her shoulder. She Disillusioned them so that they wouldn't be easily seen and helped him stumble back towards the dungeon entrance. It was an occasion where she was very thankful for her wandless abilities.
"What are you doing out here?" he somehow managed to ask. She could feel the violent shudders that were wracking his body in what she guessed was a combination of the Cruciatus and the cold.
"I wanted to make sure you didn't take a nap outside the gates," she said, pretty sure that a confession that she had been worried out of her mind wouldn't go over well. "It didn't look terribly comfortable."
"Would have been fine," he gritted out.
"Uh huh," she agreed, not believing a word of it. "I'm sure lying face down in the snow like that was much more pleasant than it looked."
He gave a grunt that might have been acknowledgement of the stupidity of what he had said. She couldn't help but note that while he might be annoyed with her, he hadn't yet actually attempted to take away points, assign detention, or even get her to go away. He needed assistance even if he wasn't willing to admit it in so many words.
They managed to hobble all the way back to his quarters, and he was apparently resigned by then, as he simply spoke his password and allowed her to help him inside where she released her spell so that they were visible once more. She at least had previous experience navigating the sitting room, and she got them to the bedroom quite quickly compared to the last time she had done this.
Once they arrived, she was relieved to note that there was no repeat of the covered-in-blood scenario, but he'd definitely suffered through a protracted dose of the Cruciatus. He looked terribly pale, his face locked into a pained grimace.
"I still know this neat spell that undoes lots of buttons," she said softly.
He managed the briefest of nods, and she got him out of his cloak and outer robes so that he was once again in trousers and a white-collared shirt. She was having very strong feelings of déjà vu.
"Time to lie down, I think. Before you fall down."
He didn't protest nearly as much compared to last year, and in short order, he was stretched out on the bed. She retrieved the blue vial without being asked and held it up to his mouth so that he could swallow rather than spill it. It took her all of two seconds after that to decide that the little bottle wasn't going to be enough to deal with this bout of that hideous curse, so she crawled into bed with him, sternly reminding herself that she needed to not think of other contexts where this might be happening.
"Shouldn't," he muttered.
She snuggled up against him. "If it helps, I'm doing it," she said firmly. "You're in a bad way. What happened? I thought he was pleased with you."
He seemed to press himself closer to her warmth whether he thought it was a good idea or not, and he managed to clumsily wrap his arms around her, still shuddering and twitching violently.
"He's not happy," Severus admitted.
"I gathered not." Not that she'd ever seen much positive behaviour when Voldemort was happy, but this would have been a bit extreme even for him.
"C'we talk about it in the morning?"
It didn't seem sporting to tell the man who was in horrible pain that she insisted on their talking about it now, so she agreed, and he relaxed against her with a relieved huff of breath.
It took longer this time for the nerve spasms to end, she was sure that it did, and she had to wonder how long he'd been tortured. It was not a pleasant thought. She pressed herself closer to him, hoping that this would somehow speed up the healing process.
Ever so slowly, the pain seemed to leach out of him until his breathing settled into the even rhythm of sleep.
It was more awkward this time around when she realized that she still wanted to stay this way with him forever. Unfortunately for her, it was only when he was in agony and drugged out of his mind that he allowed this intimacy, and that was a rather depressing thought.
It occurred to her that there were probably others who were worried about the man's return.
Severus is back, she announced. He won't be able to report to the headmaster until tomorrow.
Fawkes sounded immediately concerned. He's all right?
He's been better, she said, trying to keep her tone even. Snapping at Fawkes wouldn't improve the situation. He'll be in a fit enough state tomorrow morning. I don't want him bothered for the rest of the night. He's asleep now.
As you say, Berit, Fawkes agreed, his tone turning faintly teasing. It is good that you are taking care of him.
She rolled her eyes. Go away, bird.
He smiled at her before fading out of her mind, and she imagined that he was now reporting to Albus. She closed her eyes and decided that she didn't care that it would no doubt be more sensible to leave right away. She was going to get a bit of sleep, that was all, and she didn't want to risk waking him now.
Even in her mind, she made a face at that excuse, but she didn't move away from him, and the soothing sound of his breathing lulled her to sleep.
It was nearly three hours later before she awoke. Reluctantly, she began to slither her way out of Severus's grasp. It wasn't easy since he had wrapped both arms around her. She knew she'd failed to be careful enough when she felt his entire body tense. She looked up to find glittering black eyes locked on hers.
She offered a very nervous smile and said completely inanely, "Hi."
"Hello." His voice was still gravely and not up to its usual level of velvetiness.
"I was trying not to disturb you," she said, still stupidly. "I didn't mean to wake you up."
"I'll survive," he said dryly.
"You feel better?" she asked hopefully.
He nodded. "Yes." He was silent for a moment. "Thank you."
She shook her head. "It was the least I could do after the state you came back in. I'm sorry he does that to you."
"There is no use dwelling on it."
He seemed to realize suddenly that he was still holding onto her and let her go. She sat up, moving away from him so that they were no longer touching anywhere; too much of her wanted to latch onto him again and go back to sleep, and she knew how well that would go over. Severus sat up as well so that they were facing one another properly.
"I suppose not," she admitted. "I informed the headmaster that you would be well enough to report to him in the morning."
He looked faintly puzzled before he remembered: "Fawkes."
She nodded. "He doesn't mind being a messenger bird from time to time. Will you tell me what happened?" His expression became very grim, and she immediately rescinded. "I'm sorry. You probably want to sleep. I'll just go—"
She'd made it halfway off the bed when he spoke.
"He wasn't pleased that I could tell him nothing of use about the Weresbane. He wasn't pleased that whoever set the greenhouse on fire failed to retrieve or destroy the plant. He knows that he will now have difficulties with the werewolves, and this has made him more determined than ever to get his hands on the Pure Adults. I have been charged with finding the two of them."
Bugger. She sank back down onto the mattress. They'd all been worried that Voldemort wouldn't take it well, but she hadn't considered just how much of the responsibility for the solution was likely to fall onto Severus's shoulders.
She opened her mouth to apologize, but he shook his head a trifle impatiently, she thought.
"You can't wish that you hadn't cured lycanthropy, Hermione, and you can't help being a Pure Adult. You were the one who said you weren't going to let the Dark Lord rule your life, and so you shouldn't. He's unpredictable and violent no matter what while you and your cure are going to help us win this war."
It still didn't make her feel better. She knew with absolute certainty that she couldn't lose Severus to this war. There was at least half of her that was declaring very loudly that the cure wasn't worth his life, and she didn't want to even think about the decision she would have had to make if she had known this would happen before she'd given that final dose to Remus and Draco. It was one thing to say that the needs of the many were greater than the needs of the few, but it was heart-stoppingly difficult all of a sudden when the few was someone whom she cared about rather desperately.
"I…." Nothing adequate seemed to have suddenly materialized in her brain, so all that came out was, "I'm still sorry."
He made a face. "I would expect nothing less of you, Hermione. What time is it?"
"Just after six."
He let out something that was nearly a sigh. "I'll report to Albus."
"I'm sure he doesn't expect you for several hours; you could get more sleep."
She still felt bad for having woken him.
He shook his head. "I'm awake now."
With an effort, she bit back her protest that while three hours of sleep was fine for her, she doubted that it was fine for him. It was a Saturday; he didn't have to be completely functional if he didn't want to be.
She finally had the good sense to get out of his bed, and he did the same. They were both fully clothed, but the awkwardness was almost visible.
Casting about for anything to say, she settled on, "I'd better get back to my rooms and make sure Harry isn't about to send out a rescue party."
"You didn't inform him where you were going?"
She shook her head. "He and Draco took my rounds, and I told them I was going to have an early night."
"And instead you sneaked out to watch for me?"
She nodded. "I didn't want them to worry."
He nodded, stiffly she thought, and she wondered what she'd said wrong. Since he would likely curse her if she said she was sorry again, she gave up on the idea of an apology.
"I … I guess I'd better be off." She had the sudden urge to hug him goodbye and began to reassess whether or not three hours of sleep was actually adequate for her to be rational. "I'll see you later, Severus."
He nodded again, and she hurried out of the room.
She should definitely have left before he'd woken. She now knew that he tolerated her presence in an emergency but was not pleased. He'd been alarmed, even, when he had first woken. Severus Snape did not like to wake up next to Hermione Granger. It was clear. Depressing, but clear.
Masking herself before she left the sitting room, she made her way back to her common room and found that Harry was already awake. She contemplated trying to sneak past him, but he'd already noticed the gargoyle disappear, so she let it re-form behind her and unMasked.
He frowned. "I thought you were in your room. I was waiting for you to wake up."
She shook her head, admitting after a brief inner battle, "I went out to make sure that Severus was all right."
He didn't seem terribly shocked or appalled by this news. "Is he?"
She nodded. "More or less. I had to help him get to his rooms, and I fell asleep while I was monitoring him."
Harry nodded, apparently accepting this explanation which sounded a little dodgy to her, but perhaps he was just being nice about it.
"How were your rounds?" she asked, trying to get them off the topic of her and Severus and his quarters as quickly as possible.
Harry shrugged. "Fine. Despite how long we've been doing it now, it still seems to disconcert everyone when Draco and I go about together." Harry smiled affectionately. "Draco's really good at delivering the scathing lines that send people scurrying back to their rooms. I think we should trade up with Pansy more often."
Smirking to herself, she imagined that Harry had multiple reasons to think that.
She wanted the two of them to be happy, but she felt compelled to point out, "As it stands at the moment, rounds are a legitimate way for Pansy and Draco to be 'forced' to spend time together without undue censure from the other Slytherins."
Harry clearly hadn't considered this, for his head tilted to one side before he said, "Never mind, then. You're right. I don't want him to lose the opportunity to talk to one of his friends—he doesn't get nearly enough chances."
She nodded, pleased that he didn't seem to have any reservations about the two Slytherins spending time together. She was sure that she wasn't the only one to wonder how close the two of them were or had been. But it really wasn't any of her business—unless Harry were hurt, of course, and then she could stomp all over everyone who'd caused him harm.
"Do you want to duel?" Harry asked. "I feel a little rusty after last night being cut so short."
She agreed, and they spent almost an hour and a half fighting. This was more amusing for the two of them when they were alone because they could both cast wandlessly and as powerfully as they liked; they'd started not calling the duel until they'd actually stopped the other person for real, whether that was by knocking each other out or casting some sort of spell that prevented them from using any of their abilities. Harry had once managed a laughing spell that kept Hermione from casting even wandlessly because she'd been too consumed by mirth. Usually, though, they had to Stun one another to finish the duel for sure.
This morning, Harry won, and he Ennervated her a moment later and helped her to her feet.
"Thanks," he said, grinning happily. "That was fun. I think we're doing pretty good."
She nodded her agreement.
He was silent for another moment before he ventured, "Have you noticed that Severus doesn't seem to insult us as often when Draco is duelling with us?"
Hermione nodded.
She wasn't sure if this was due to the fact that they really were better than Draco and Severus was forced to acknowledge that by not slinging insults their way when they kept beating his godson or if it was because they were often split up, making them less of a big, shiny Gryffindor target.
"Perhaps he's happier because it's less two-on-one Gryffindor time," she said mildly, not having any really useful answers.
Harry considered this and then shrugged as though to say that was as good an explanation as any.
She and Harry showered, dressed properly, and headed up to breakfast. It was only as they reached the Great Hall that they realized what day it was. They exchanged glances. Ri-ight.
It was fully as bad as it had been in second year when Lockhart had been in charge. Albus had evidently felt he had a point to make after what had happened at Christmas, and Hermione had been far too preoccupied the night before to even remember that it was the fourteenth of February, let alone take any corrective action.
There was a profusion of pink, red, and white. It looked a bit as though the walls had grown a multicoloured skin; they were positively covered in bows, streamers, and cut-out hearts. There were a great many hearts, more than Hermione thought should ever be in one place at once, varying in shape, colour, and size—and truly appallingly garish.
"What shop did he have to rob to get all this?" Harry asked, sounding stunned.
She snorted. "Shop? Harry, he had to go straight to a manufacturer warehouse in order to get this quantity. Do you realize how large the Great Hall is?"
"Sweet Merlin." Draco had come up behind them. "What big pink monster crawled in here and died with a giant explosion?"
Harry conceded that possibility with a grin. They were three of the first to arrive.
"There's nothing you can do?" Harry asked, turning to her.
"It's a little late for that," she said defensively. "It took hours last time."
Even Albus wasn't here yet.
"You couldn't try?"
She sighed. Draco looked quizzical.
Fawkes, do you know what he's done to keep it all here?
The phoenix did not. He waited until early this morning to put everything up, but I think he realized you were otherwise occupied. He'll be down in about ten minutes, so now would be the time to make the attempt.
She surveyed the room. What sort of improvements could she actually make in such a short period of time? The tablecloths were red. The ceiling had been charmed a lurid pink, so the clouds blowing by looked sort of like candyfloss. She was pretty sure that all their food was going to come out in colours, and she couldn't do anything to prevent that. The dishes were pink, and she was guessing that the serving trays would be white to round out the colour scheme.
The worst of it, she thought, was the ceiling and walls. And those were the parts where Albus had tried to get away with modifying the castle itself. If he'd done it hurriedly this morning, he might not have been very careful.
She went over to the nearest wall, tried to ignore the hearts, and dug her hand in until she found the cool stones of the castle. She closed her eyes and drew several deep breaths, finding her core and spinning out enough magic with little control over her emotions so that she connected with the castle.
She thought about how beautiful Hogwarts was unadorned and how garish all the decorations were which obscured this beauty. The founders who had made the castle hadn't asked for a ceiling like that, and Hermione was sure that they were right.
If nothing else, she was pretty sure the castle would get a kick out of her thoughts which was why she might get away with this.
It was the same principal she had used when charming the gargoyle for her door back in September. Old, magically-permeated areas like Hogwarts had to be coaxed as much as spelled, and if Albus had been in a hurry, then it was possible Hermione's coaxing now would prove more effective.
She opened her eyes and returned to Harry and Draco. They were looking expectant and confused.
"Well?" Harry asked. "I don't see any difference."
She just smiled and said sweetly, "Patience is a virtue. We may be having a long breakfast this morning."
Confused or not, they followed her lead and sat down at the Gryffindor table. The Hall filled up. The headmaster—dressed very luridly in pink robes covered in red and white hearts—was looking very smug up at the High Table.
Most of the students seemed to be up despite its being a Saturday morning. But the post was bringing valentines, plus it was the first Hogsmeade visit this term. It was a perfect date day, meaning that everyone was apparently out of bed and raring to go.
It was perhaps ten minutes into breakfast when Draco noticed.
"Is that wall shedding?"
Harry turned around to look and saw that this was indeed the case; the wall behind him had started to lose its decorations. One by one, they were detaching from the wall and fluttering to the floor.
The two of them turned to look at Hermione, who offered them a look of innocence which they didn't appear to buy.
As breakfast progressed with many of the children stretching the meal out so that they could open their cards and gush over them, a steady rain of decorations continued around the perimeter of the room.
"Look up," Draco whispered.
They turned their gazes to the ceiling where a ferocious gale seemed to be ruffling up those pink clouds, whipping them right out of the sky to be replaced with calm blue and fluffy white clouds.
"Is it just me," Harry asked, "or did someone just get a little creative about the weather that's up there? I don't think that just happened outside."
She smiled. "The ceiling is just an enchantment, you know."
"But I've never seen anyone able to affect it," Harry protested. Then he made a face and conceded for the occasion, "Except the headmaster, obviously."
"He might not have asked very nicely," she pointed out with amusement.
They looked at her in puzzlement.
"If you were the castle and you had a lovely enchanted ceiling, would you want it to be turned candy floss pink without someone asking politely?"
They shook their heads slowly.
"Precisely," she said with satisfaction.
As more and more of the decorations fell, the room began to look quite normal. There were still the decorative place settings, but without the Valentine's Day entrails all over the walls, it was nearly pleasantly festive instead of horribly oppressive.
Severus was smirking openly by this point, clearly amused that Albus seemed to be losing another decorating challenge to her—and no doubt feeling vindicated after the headmaster's Christmas revenge. Hermione knew there was no way Severus was going to let the headmaster perpetrate a similar ambush this time around.
Albus decided that he wasn't done, however; more decorations began to appear on the denuded walls. Hermione waited to see how the castle would react.
The show was a good one. Thunder crashed violently overhead, lightning sparking through the sky. A torrential downpour began, and despite the fact that it was only the ceiling that was spelled, the enchanted water ran across the ceiling and down the walls and washed all the old and new decorations off so that they were quite abruptly all piled around the perimeter of the room.
I think a Vanishing spell wouldn't go amiss at the moment, Hermione suggested.
You got it, Harry said cheerfully.
The decorations disappeared. In the blink of an eye, the storm was over, the dark clouds rolling away so that there were clear skies above once more. The students looked puzzled, although more than one seemed to be trying to covertly point out the amused Severus.
She thought it was rather funny that they were all blaming him. Albus spared her a glance, nodding in apparent defeat, although his eyes were still twinkling. She merely raised an eyebrow, not about to admit to anything in such a public setting.
Whether he was really giving up or not, she didn't believe the castle would let him get away with anything else during the day, not unless he managed to convince it that he was accenting the structure rather than burying it.
She, Harry, and Draco finished their breakfast and then rose to prepare for the trip into town. The visit began at ten, and they'd been scheduled for the first shift. Hermione needed to get the overly hormonal children out of her system as early as possible in order to prevent her being annoyed enough to curse them by the end of the day. She didn't actually dislike the idea of Valentine's Day, but she was driven absolutely bonkers by the reality of it at Hogwarts; the children ate far too much sugar, had far too many lurid teenaged romances, and got far too emotional over things that they likely wouldn't even remember by this point next year.
She knew there was no use in telling any of them this and that it was all a part of growing up. But it was awfully annoying to have to monitor it all when she'd already got through it once on her own. She didn't want to step foot in Madam Puddifoot's. She really didn't want to counsel any of the many students who would no doubt be in tears by the end of the day because they hadn't got a card from the person they fancied, or they did get a card but it didn't say what they wanted, or they did get together, but it wasn't what they thought, or they didn't get together and their friendship was now ended forever.
Hermione couldn't handle that many adolescent hormones, she really couldn't. Yet here she was at Hogsmeade at ten o'clock in the morning, suffering through it anyway. She refused to even consider the possibility that she might feel better about the holiday if she had someone that she was spending it with.
But it was amusing to contemplate for a few minutes just how everyone would react if she'd invited Severus to accompany her. It would probably have shocked them right into good behaviour, actually. Hmm … that was almost tempting. Purely for its disciplinary benefits, of course.
She, Harry, Draco, and Pansy were walking around together, having agreed that a group of four would be safer given the sugar high that the kids were on. Additionally, of course, Hermione was covering for Harry and Draco, and now that Pansy was with them, it seemed even more legitimate. Draco and Harry weren't exactly going to have the opportunity to wander around holding hands and snogging, but at least they'd be in Hogsmeade together over Valentine's Day. Maybe they would be able to remember it as their first Valentine's Day together. Sappy, of course, but sort of sweet.
The day passed without anything horrible happening. She was amused to note that Remus had somehow been "roped" into Hogsmeade duty and happened to be doing his rounds with Tonks. The two of them had a tendency to thank her whenever they saw her though she insisted every time that no thanks were necessary.
Remus had begun informing the werewolves about the cure and a safe place to take it, further explaining that they would need to be cured in small groups. They were going to start with those who'd been Animagi or who had Animagi or Transfiguration training, giving everyone else more time to train.
Thanks to Harry and Draco, Remus had been able to promise that they would be helped each month with the Wolfsbane until they were all cured. Now that the secret was out that she had created the Weresbane, there was nothing to stop her from making the Wolfsbane for everyone, and the two boys were going to fund it all. To protect his position, Severus had been unable to do so for either side, claiming that it took too long and was too difficult to brew at volume. Since Voldemort would already be after her head for the Weresbane, she could finally openly brew the Wolfsbane as she had wished to do last year when she had learnt how to brew it—but when Albus and Harry had refused to let her risk herself.
The next new moon was on the twenty-sixth, and Remus was going to bring her blood samples that she could test for everyone who'd signed up. At that point, they would all be put in the safe house that Draco had devised so that they would be free of Voldemort and Greyback's influence.
She wasn't going to start the first trial until the new moon in March so that the first batch of werewolves would have almost a month and half to study for becoming Animagi and practice all the necessary techniques and spells; she, Remus, and Draco had agreed that it was absolutely essential that they do this carefully.
Hermione was greatly relieved when their shift ended and she was able to return to Hogwarts. Two hours of babysitting emotional Hogwarts students was one hour and fifty-nine minutes too long as far as she was concerned. Harry and Draco invented a book that they needed which required them to stay in town a little longer, and Pansy agreed to walk back to the school with Hermione.
Once they were out of sight of the town, the Slytherin spoke.
"It's not exactly prudent for you to be walking alone with me. If Draco were thinking with his brain, he'd have noticed that himself."
Hermione shrugged, throwing up privacy charms so that their subject would not be overheard, just in case. "I have my wand, and in a fair fight, I imagine I could take you."
"I heard about the duel in class before Christmas," Pansy said, rolling her eyes. "If you can take Draco down, you can take me down. Walking with me is still unwise."
Hermione considered this. "I guess it depends on whether or not I trust you."
"Your walking with me is supposed to indicate that you do trust me?" the Slytherin asked sceptically.
Hermione shrugged, admitting, "Well enough. I'm not saying we're about to become best friends, but I trust you not to injure me on the walk back to Hogwarts."
"But you trust Draco more."
It wasn't a question, so Hermione didn't answer it. Instead, she said, "I'm going to ask you a question."
Pansy's nod was wary.
"Have you been asked to gauge our sincerity and how much we actually trust Draco?"
Pansy didn't even bother to look offended.
"I may have been one of several to be asked, but that doesn't mean I'm obliged to give an accurate answer."
This was a fair point, but it didn't mean she wouldn't give an accurate answer, either.
"After all," Pansy continued, looking at Hermione out of the corner of her eyes, "if I were going to do that, I would be able to make a very interesting observation about how well Potter and Draco are getting along."
Hermione merely nodded, which was evidently not the response Pansy had anticipated.
"You can't be that blind," Pansy protested. "Not even a Gryffindor could miss what's up between the two of them."
Hermione laughed. "Oh, I'm well aware, but you've misjudged if you think that I'm upset about it."
There was stark disbelief in Pansy's voice now. "You don't care that Draco Malfoy is stealing your boyfriend?"
Hermione shook her head. "Harry and I are great friends, and we were convenient for a while. But I always knew I wasn't the love of his life."
Really, really knew.
A strange look passed over Pansy's face, and Hermione was now certain that Pansy and Draco had been intimate.
"It's hard to be female and the love of his life when it turns out he's a gay boy," Hermione pointed out helpfully.
Pansy let out a sharp bark of laughter. "Merlin, you know exactly what's going on, don't you? I guess I expected more protest from one of the Golden Gryffindors."
Hermione shrugged. "Why would I protest? If Draco makes Harry happy, then that's all I need to know."
"You always talk like that; I just didn't think you really meant it." Pansy shrugged. "A Slytherin would fight harder for what's hers."
"Would you fight harder?" Hermione pursued.
For a moment, she looked mutinous, but then the Slytherin girl shook her head, sighing. "Not if he's happy. I always had my suspicions about how well that pure-blood marriage was going to work for him. And he doesn't … serve people well."
"There are always similar options for the rest of you," Hermione pointed out.
Pansy stopped short, causing Hermione to do so all well. The Slytherin met Hermione's eyes carefully. "You really mean that?"
"I really mean that," Hermione confirmed. "I would never ostracize an entire House just because some of them have gone bad. Draco's made it, and there's no reason why more of you can't."
"It's not safe," Pansy said stiffly. "Even talking to you, somebody's going to ask why."
"Then you inform them that the Head Girl pulled rank because she wanted an escort back to Hogwarts. Tell them she wanted to discuss the new duty roster for the Prefects," Hermione answered. "I mightn't think that Slytherin is pulling its weight, you know."
Pansy snorted, and they started walking again. "Of course." She was silent for a moment and then asked, "You really think the headmaster would trust us?"
"I think he could," Hermione answered. "He might require testing by Veritaserum or something of that nature. If any of you intend to fight, proof of your loyalties is likely to be necessary. Regardless of his feelings on the matter, however, if you want protection, then Harry and I will grant it to you."
"With or without the headmaster's approval?" Pansy asked curiously.
Hermione nodded, knowing that the casual tone had been carefully manufactured. "With or without it. But the headmaster has always been open about his policy of giving second chances, and you lot haven't really ruined your first yet."
There was a smirk on the girl's face now. "That's a nice way to put it. I'd say some of our first chances are pretty tarnished, though. If I mention it to anyone else, you'll back me up?"
"I will," Hermione agreed with another nod. "I can't promise that we won't be suspicious."
Pansy shrugged. "I'd be disappointed if you weren't. You need to show some good judgement at some point."
"As you say."
Hermione released her charms as they reached the grounds and made her tone bossier. "I want to see a report of all the work that the Slytherins are doing. I've heard rumours about the lot of you that I have to investigate thoroughly."
"Rumours from whom?" Pansy inquired with a whine in her voice that Hermione was very glad she didn't employ when they were having a real conversation. "If it's a bunch of your precious Gryffindors, you know it's a lie."
"I know nothing of the sort," Hermione countered. "I have to investigate every report of wrong-doing brought to me, and I don't have to reveal my sources to you. Make sure you get it to me by the end of next week."
"I don't see why I have to do all the work just because you're getting along so well with Draco now," Pansy said petulantly.
"You're going to do it because I told you to do it, Parkinson," Hermione said stiffly. "You don't want me to take this to the headmaster, do you?"
"Professor Snape is your liaison with the staff."
"I think in this particular case, the headmaster would understand why I went directly to him. Professor Snape is not exactly known for his impartiality, is he?"
Pansy sneered. "You'll see how you feel after I tell him that you were insulting him to my face."
"Go ahead," Hermione said flatly. "You'll see how much effect that has after I've spoken to the headmaster. I think we both know who has more power in the school."
Continuing to bicker about whatever sprang to mind as related to their duties, they finally made it all the way into the castle and went their separate ways. Hermione imagined Pansy was as relieved as the Gryffindor was to abandon the conversation.
Popping her head into the Great Hall, Hermione was pleased to see that the castle was still winning. No new decorations adorned the walls. She sent a mental thank you to the castle before adding a suggestion of what they might do to please Albus and settle the whole matter.
Since the Hogsmeade visit went until two in the afternoon, there were few students at Hogwarts for lunch. It was therefore at dinner that most people saw the last of Hermione's handiwork.
On the wall that wasn't broken up with windows or the large doors, the stones had changed colour to make a large heart that was red, white, and pink. The stone was only tinted, so it didn't look completely horrible, and Albus looked positively delighted when he saw it. Since it didn't look like it would sing, explode, or fall off the walls, the rest of the school ignored it. Harry and Draco came in looking very happy, and Hermione wondered how well they had passed off their late return as waiting to ensure that there weren't any stragglers from the town.
When Draco saw her, however, his face changed to an expression of great seriousness. He sat down next to her, leaving Harry to take the seat opposite, which he did agreeably as it gave him the opportunity to stare at Draco through the whole meal.
"We shouldn't have just left you like that," the Slytherin said quietly.
She shook her head. "Don't worry about it. It's the first observation that Pansy made, and we skipped right over any attempts to kidnap me and give me to Voldemort. We can talk about it later."
"You're sure?" Draco asked.
She nodded, and they passed the rest of dinner quietly. Most of the students who'd gone to Hogsmeade didn't eat much, but the first- and second-years were utterly delighted by the large array of puddings that they got on this particular day.
Once they were able to do so, she, Harry, and Draco headed back to their common room, and Draco demanded an explanation of the talk that she had had with Pansy. She repeated it to him.
He looked troubled. "You realize this is the perfect opportunity for Voldemort to infiltrate us with a spy."
She nodded, pleased that he'd classified himself as part of the "us". "It's also the perfect opportunity to save some of your housemates."
"I'm not sure it's worth the risk," Draco said frankly, although he didn't look pleased to be making that assessment.
Harry took her side immediately. "Of course it's worth the risk."
He had never been known to champion the Slytherins despite his current happy experience with Draco, and the Slytherin was looking at him with scepticism.
"If we can help any of them turn away from Voldemort, Draco, it's worth the risk. We probably won't become best mates, but it's like Hermione's been saying all year: we need them to know that they have other options. If they think they have no choice but to join Voldemort or continue being shunned by the wizarding world, what choice are they left with? And if they do join him, they would have to do things that I don't want any of them to have to go through, you know what I mean?"
Draco did, obviously.
"So I'm with Hermione," Harry said firmly. "We help where we can. It's the only way we're going to get through this war with a whole wizarding world to rebuild."
Draco shrugged. "Well, if you really think it makes the most sense, I'm hardly going to disagree with you. I'd be happier if Pansy were safe."
Hermione was pretty sure that if Severus or Draco were in charge, they wouldn't be accepting the word of any of the other Slytherins. For better or worse, the Gryffindors—or her and Harry, anyway, as she knew that they weren't always following the party line—tended to be more accepting of the possibility of changes of heart.
"There we are, then," Hermione said with a smile. "We've all agreed, and for the moment there's nothing we can do about it, anyway; it's their move. Until then, we'll be civil."
Which was basically what they had been doing all year anyway.
They had settled into their homework when Severus's arrival interrupted them.
"Tonks and Lupin," he sneered, not even trying to hide his eye roll, "are both here and have managed to make time out of their busy snogging schedule to do some training. Room One now."
The three students were smirking by the end of his speech. Hermione thought Remus and Tonks were adorable; ever since the man had been cured and their relationship revealed, the two really couldn't seem to keep their hands off of one another in public; it was evidently too much for Severus to take.
Draco was the one who asked, "What are the chances that we'll get there and they'll be half naked again?"
That had happened on the eleventh, as Remus had still been at the castle in order to go over the details of the cure and the initial plans with Albus before he went out to approach the werewolves. He and Tonks had taken the excuse of the training session for him to stay longer, and it had taken an embarrassingly long time before Hermione, Draco, Harry, and Severus had been able to get their attention when they showed up in Room One. Severus had been very close to cursing them.
Fortunately for Severus's temper, the happy couple had this time decided that discretion was the better part of valour; when the rest of them arrived, Tonks and Remus were on opposite sides of the room and didn't look particularly mussed.
The new occupants of the room were still smirking, and Remus coloured slightly. Unsurprisingly, Tonks didn't seem particularly embarrassed; it took a lot to seriously faze her. To be fair, though, Remus was doing really well. He was so preoccupied with his happiness and the cure that he didn't appear to be second-guessing how he was acting in front of everyone, and the notion that he shouldn't be revealing his relationship with Tonks didn't seem to have occurred to him. Everyone else was teasing them about finding them in various states of undress, and there wasn't a word about their being an inappropriate match.
Since there were six of them here this evening for the training, it made for even teams again. Severus took evident pleasure in breaking up Remus and Tonks, but he miscalculated when he separated her and Harry. It was now Harry, Draco, and Remus against Hermione, Severus, and Tonks. Draco and Hermione just shook their heads at one another. Sooner or later, Severus would clue in. She thought he was being remarkably stupid about it, actually, but perhaps the notion of his godson with Harry Potter was simply too much to take and his mind was subconsciously protecting him.
They fought. Having Tonks as a partner was always interesting; she was usually wicked on the defence and offence, but if you tripped her up, she could be a huge liability to whomever she was defending. Both Remus and Harry knew this about her, so Hermione finally resorted to putting up a shield against Trip Jinxes just for Tonks. It was low-level enough that it wasn't too distracting for Hermione to maintain, and it made the whole situation that much safer. As soon as Remus and Harry realized what she'd done, they abandoned that tack.
They continued on for almost three quarters of an hour, blasting back and forth with all kinds of spells. Both Draco and Severus were edging into dark ones, and Harry and Hermione were casting shields left, right, and centre. Since they were on opposite sides, they couldn't use their sympathetic magic to benefit one another, and they were raising and lowering shields constantly.
Working with two other people made it a matter of that much more concentration, and there were spells that got through no matter how hard she and Harry worked to block them. There were therefore plenty of rebounds and barely deflected spells that made the duel that much more intense.
It looked, finally, as though it were coming to a draw. If nothing else, Hermione didn't really want to see how much more brutal Severus and Draco could get. She was pretty sure more of those Burn Curses were coming soon, and she and Harry didn't like those; they'd already seen a Bone-Crushing Hex, several forms of blinding curses, and a Blood-Boiling Curse that she sincerely hoped hadn't had much power behind it because it would have been absolute agony if it had hit anyone.
Think we've had a good work out? Hermione asked.
Harry hadn't yet learnt how to concentrate quite as well as she could on MindSpeech and intense physical activity, but she didn't take advantage of the distraction that she had known it would cause. He parried a spell sent by Tonks.
Hmm? he asked.
I think we'll be at this all evening until someone is seriously injured. You and I can end it.
Harry sent a mental shrug as he fought off another spell from Severus. But as the man sent the Skin-Burning Curse at Draco, Harry growled, Yes, please.
Your shield charm on three. Straight at one another, as close to full power as you want to get in a room of this size.
Agreed, Harry said curtly.
One. Two. Three.
They threw their shield spells at one another, and there was a terrific explosion as the two spells collided and tried to dissipate one another.
She and Harry were the only two left standing when the air cleared.
"I think we win," Harry said cheerfully.
"What the hell was that?" Remus asked, sitting up and looking a little woozy.
Draco sat up as well. "That's the same spell you used on me in class, isn't it?"
Hermione nodded. "Harry modified a shield charm. It dissipates spells that are thrown at it rather than reflecting them, making it safer if you're in a situation where you're worried about the rebounds. As you just saw, however, it can be overloaded if it tries to dissipate a spell that's too powerful."
"And the two of you just happened to throw these powerful spells at one another at the same time?" Severus asked sceptically.
"Great minds think alike," Hermione said cheerfully.
Severus glowered.
Harry shrugged. "You can separate us, but Hermione and I will always be a team. It's good to know we can get the correct results whether we're side by side or on opposite ends of the room."
"That shield sure packs one hell of a punch," Tonks agreed, rising to her feet with Remus's assistance. "I can see why you didn't stand a chance, Draco."
Draco was looking at Hermione. "You didn't put nearly as much power in it during class."
Hermione smiled. "No, I didn't."
Draco tried to look offended, but he gave it up, admitting quietly after a moment, "It wouldn't have been helpful if I'd thought you could shield even more strongly than you can."
Hermione understood exactly what he was saying, and she nodded. The dose of the Cruciatus that she had received had been quite strong enough as far as she was concerned.
Remus, Tonks, and Severus all wanted to understand the shield better, and since Harry and Draco looked so much as though they wished to be elsewhere, she suggested that she could show the adults more while Harry and Draco patrolled. She trusted that the two boys would know she didn't actually expect them to do any such thing.
Severus looked as though he wanted to protest, but before he could do so, Draco was dragging Harry out the door. She hoped there was a romantic evening planned.
Tonks was staring after them with a very puzzled look on her face. "Doesn't it often seem to you as though—"
Hermione knew how that sentence was going to end and didn't want to get into it right now, so she quickly overrode the woman.
"Harry's shield is a magical barrier that can absorb magic that's thrown at it. Instead of the spell bouncing back at the caster or being deflected elsewhere, it's broken down and absorbed across the shield. The more powerful the spell thrown at the shield, the more difficult it is for that breakdown and absorption to occur and diffuse evenly. When there's a huge power imbalance, the spell overcomes the shield as it spreads across it. The results, as you saw, are explosive. The strength of your shield will determine the strength of the spells that are successfully absorbed."
They were all attentive; Remus had a half-smile on his face indicating that he appeared to have noticed that she was in full professor mode.
"For it to be fully useful," she continued, "you need to learn how to form the shield, then how to use it correctly, and then how to overload it. I'll warn you now that the overload isn't always as fun as it looks; until you're used to it, you're just as likely to end up knocked out as your opponent is."
They went to work. All three were very talented when it came to shields and defence, so it didn't take them long to master the shield and use it properly. When it came time to overload it, however, they ran into the first bit of trouble. Remus and then Severus both managed to knock themselves unconscious when she lobbed spells that were too powerful at them. Severus had smirked all through Remus being woken up, but he had then made the same mistake and didn't look happy about it.
"Was that still less power than what you and Harry threw at one another today?" Remus demanded.
She shrugged. "I told you it takes some getting used to."
"Did you put all of your power behind the spell before?" Severus demanded, eyeing her closely.
"That would be telling, wouldn't it?"
"Okay," Remus said, "I'm not going to ask how powerful you are, but I am going to take better heed of your warnings next time. How come you're still on your feet?" he asked Tonks.
The pink-haired Auror grinned. "I saw her land Draco on his arse in class, and I noticed that the rest of us were knocked out earlier."
"How much do you practice?" Remus asked.
Hermione smiled. "We duel most mornings and sometimes in the evening."
"Do you get any sleep?" Tonks questioned, although Hermione imagined the woman must have been used to tough schedules in the Auror Department.
"We don't sleep as much as some people, I guess," Hermione admitted with a shrug. "We're very serious about the training; you never know when that sort of protection is going to come in really handy."
Everyone agreed about this, although Severus had a note of caution.
"It's hardly a well-kept secret if the entire Defence class witnessed it."
Tonks shook her head. "We saw it, but it just looked as though Draco's spell had interacted poorly with the shield. It's only tonight that I realized it was deliberate. We're lucky they don't use it on us all the time."
Hermione shook her head. "If we used it all the time, you'd be used to it. Besides, we like to keep all our other skills up as well; we want to have lots of different ways to end duels."
"A wise approach," Remus agreed. "I think that's done it for me for the night, though. I need to head back to London early in the morning."
This seemed to signal the end of the evening for Tonks, too, surprise, surprise, and Hermione saw the two of them out with only a slight shake of her head. She and Severus were the only two remaining.
"Those two are enough to turn the stomach," he declared with a sneer of disgust.
"Oh, come on," Hermione cajoled. "It's good that they're so happy. I'm glad that they've managed to find one another and that they've chosen to stick with one another."
Severus didn't look convinced. "I think it was better when they were hiding it from everyone."
She made a face. "It's wonderful that they feel comfortable being open about it. It's a vindication for Remus who's had to hide far too many secrets over the years."
"How is the petition at the Ministry going?" he asked, eager to change the subject, apparently.
"Albus has been speaking to Minister Bones. Currently, no werewolves will be removed from the registry. I'm not sure if she's waiting to ensure that it's permanent or if she wants to outwait the war. Not keeping the public safe would be a serious error at this point, I suppose, and at least she hasn't forbidden the attempt. She seemed relieved that the funding and everything was being taken care of by us."
Severus's lip curled up in a faint sneer. "I imagine that once it's all over and the cure is proven, she'll be happy enough to come on board, push through the expunging of the records, and look as though she's helped a great deal."
Hermione shrugged. "So long as it gets done."
"So long as they don't forget who brought them their freedom," Severus added sourly.
Hermione shrugged once more. "I want the werewolves to be cured; it's less important that they know it was me."
Severus looked gratifyingly as though that were a rather important aspect, but they let the argument fall, and obedient to his desire, she went through the proper way to shield and brace so that he could make another attempt. Tonks and Remus might have given it up for the evening, but Severus wanted to know that he could do it successfully before he left for the night.
He succeeded in staying on his feet after a couple more tries, and they shielded and protected for almost two dozen more attempts until he felt that he was performing adequately, at least for a first day's attempt, and he finally called a halt.
"I think you've had enough teaching time for the day, Hermione."
She was pleased that he had still called her by her given name and took that to mean that he wasn't as upset as his words might otherwise have suggested.
"I thought you might appreciate it if you got a break, Severus," she returned with a smile. "What with all the teaching you have to do during the day."
His lips tipped up slightly. "How very thoughtful of you. Now go away."
She moved to obey but stopped at the door.
"Before it's too late: Happy Valentine's Day, Severus."
He grimaced at her, although his expression cleared as he said, "I assume I have you to thank for the show in the Great Hall?"
She smiled. "Well, I'm the one who gave the castle the idea, yes."
He looked immediately pained again. "Now you're talking to the castle?"
She tilted her head back and forth, indicating that that wasn't exactly the case. "From what I've gathered recently, it understands impressions and the needs of its inhabitants. Albus was a little speedy in his decorating furor, and he wasn't as thoughtful as he could have been before he covered the castle in decorations that obscured its walls. I merely suggested that the castle was lovely as it was."
"Causing the castle to shed the decorations itself?" Severus said, eyebrows raised and a shade of dark amusement evident in his voice.
She nodded.
He let out a long-suffering sigh. "And causing the castle to counteract anything Albus came up with subsequently, whether you were there or not. That really was rather clever."
She beamed at him. "Thank you, Severus."
"But that also makes you responsible for the heart at dinner?" he clarified.
"The castle doesn't really like to be at odds with the headmaster, so I compromised."
Severus shook his head. "Peacekeeping even between the headmaster and the castle. I think you're a bit of a busybody, Hermione."
"I'm not sure whether to be indignant at the slur or shocked that you haven't noticed sooner," she said with amusement.
He shook his head. "You're impossible."
"So Harry often tells me," she said with a smile. "It's a gift."
He rolled his eyes. "Do you have plans for the rest of the day?"
She shook her head. "Nothing special. I'll probably do some extra rounds and roust the students who think the day gives them permission to disregard the usual rules of conduct. You?"
He made a similar negation. "Grading papers. In my quarters rather than my office so that I'm more difficult to find. I refuse to counsel any lovelorn students."
She laughed. "I made the same resolution." There was a brief moment where she toyed with the idea of asking him to tea and then she realized that she had gone insane if she was actually contemplating it on Valentine's Day of all days. "I'll wish you a very quiet evening, then."
They left the room and went their separate ways. Since she hoped that Harry and Draco were otherwise occupied, she stopped by the Slytherin common room and "demanded" that Pansy accompany her on her rounds. Pansy made the appropriate protests, and they remained aloof from one another the length of the dungeons and up towards the Ravenclaw common room, by which point Hermione had cast her Muffling Charm.
"Dare I ask why Harry and Draco aren't accompanying us?"
Hermione shrugged, smiling faintly. "Because it's Valentine's Day and I'm hopeful. It seemed best to make myself scarce and not interrupt."
"Fair enough," Pansy agreed.
"I hope I didn't interrupt anything on your end?" Hermione asked politely.
The blonde shook her head. "Not at all. I'm between men at the moment. You?"
"Apparently the same," she agreed, alluding to the relationship with Harry that had, to all appearances, just recently ended.
Pansy nodded in understanding, and they didn't have a lot of time to speak after that as there were indeed couples out in force, and some were in quite embarrassing states of undress when Pansy and Hermione came across them. It really was handy for the two of them to be together, though, because neither the Slytherins nor the Gryffindors they came across could sensibly claim that either House was being unfairly persecuted. That wasn't to say that most of the couples didn't protest, but there weren't any sweeping slurs or horrid point losses accrued through any giant scenes.
The Slytherin girl took pleasure in pointing out that it was the Gryffindors who tended to be the most obstinate that they had done nothing wrong. Hermione had no rebuttal as this was perfectly true and just the way Ron and Harry would have acted in the not-so-distant past.
To her immense displeasure, she discovered that such was still the case when the two patrolling women came across Ron and Lavender in a very compromising position in one of the hallways off the Charms corridor. Hermione had now officially seen more of Ron's arse and Lavender's breasts than she ever wanted to.
And then Ron really seriously tried to tell them that he'd done nothing wrong. Lavender, at least, simply slipped back into the dress that she'd partially shed.
Pansy let Hermione take the lead on this one.
"This is a school, Ronald Weasley," Hermione said sternly, "full of children as young as eleven years old. Public nudity is completely unacceptable. That will be twenty points from Gryffindor for a poor display of judgement and for being in the corridors after curfew. Return to the dormitory immediately."
Ron was red-faced and angry. "That's nonsense, Hermione, and you know it. You're just jealous!"
Hermione raised an eyebrow, her expression one of cool disdain. "I don't know what you think I have to be jealous about, but I assure you that you're sadly mistaken."
The redhead's voice was full of spite. "Things have gone sour between you and Harry, and now you're regretting being so horrid to me."
She laughed, although it was a bit brittle. "Ron, I've taken points because I've found you in the corridor having sex, not because I'm jealous. Don't make me take away any more."
"You wouldn't dare," Ron spat at her.
Pansy snorted.
"Congratulations," Hermione said dryly. "That's now twenty points apiece. Would you like to try for thirty?"
Ron opened his mouth, no doubt to achieve that thirty, but Lavender finally stepped in, grabbed his arm, and dragged him off towards the dorm. In recognition of Lavender's good show of sense, Hermione pretended not to hear any of the things that Ron was muttering quite loudly before they rounded a corridor and were lost to sight and hearing.
Pansy was looking at her with a mixture of amusement and pity. "Have I pointed out that I don't understand why you're friends with him?"
Hermione sighed. "His heart is usually in the right place. Sometimes, though, he lets his jealousy get the better of him, and he's too stubborn to admit it, and then we end up with situations like the current one. You may have noticed that we're on the outs."
Pansy smiled as she said dryly, "I did notice that trend, yes. Have you spoken since November?"
"I'm still waiting for an apology," Hermione admitted on another small sigh.
"I can see how splendidly that's going."
"He'll come to his senses eventually." Probably.
They finished their rounds without any more outrageous loss of points, and they returned to the dungeons just after midnight. Hermione saw Pansy back to the Slytherin dorm and then made her way back to her and Harry's rooms.
The gargoyle, as always, was silent as it removed itself, and Hermione checked on the threshold, momentarily stunned by what she was seeing. She'd hoped this was what they were doing, but she hadn't anticipated their doing it in the common room where she could actually see them.
Draco was straddling Harry on the couch and kissing him with a great deal of enthusiasm. Harry was responding with equal fervour, and there seemed to be hands everywhere and a great deal of skin; they'd lost their shirts by this point in the proceedings. It was somehow a lot hotter than seeing Ron and Lavender, Harry's tanned skin contrasting with Draco's pale colouring. Mesmerizing as it was, Hermione could see that it was going to get a good deal more graphic in short order, and she didn't actually want to see them having sex.
She quickly backed out the door and allowed it to re-form behind her. She could have Masked herself and sneaked past them, probably, but there was something about sitting in her room knowing that the two of them were in the common room having sex that just didn't work for her.
Although she told herself she was thinking about where she was going to go instead, she found herself at her destination without any real consideration. She raised her hand and knocked on the door.