AN: Nothing really to say, except: thanks for the reviews… Oh, and one other thing: Harry can't see Lily as a spoiled child, because she never acts it in his presence. As you may or may not know, it's a classic case of attention seeking. Lily really isn't that bad: she just wants her father's undivided attention and she chases away everybody… She's just scared of losing the love of the only parent she has left…
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Chapter 17
It was in a strange mood that Harry had rejoined his guest, Neville Longbottom. Though he had been famished when they'd decided to stop 'gallivanting' outside to warm up in front of the fire with any delicious bits of food the House Elves would whip up for them, now he found himself forced to keep up the pretence he was enjoying the late lunch.
Neville didn't seem to mind the silence, in fact Harry's guest seemed to be in deep thought himself. After sharing a bit of brandy, a Muggle custom Harry as well as Neville was quite fond of, they decided to entertain themselves with a bit of wizard's chess.
Having played Ron numerous times, Harry should've been able to win the game against Neville, but the unsettling happenings from before kept repeating themselves inside his mind. After his third loss to Neville, Harry's guest seemed to gain more and more confidence, and smiled broadly at his host.
"You shouldn't look so glum, you know? You're quite lucky to have someone like her as a governess!"
Harry looked at him quizzically: "Whatever do you mean?"
Neville was undeterred in his happy mood: "Well, she's very proud, and she knows what she's doing, not backing down. And don't tell me you haven't noticed she's quite lovely to look at too?"
"Are we still talking about good characteristics for a governess here?" Harry teased, while trying to keep his mind from remembering said governess' real beauty…
Neville blushed slightly, but nothing else betrayed the wavering of his confidence:
"Well, she is beautiful, and quite a talented witch, from what I gathered. And you know I'm not bothered about her being Muggleborn… Well, I could end up much worse…"
Harry tried to ignore the strange feeling of panic growing inside him and asked him:
"You're thinking marriage?"
Neville looked a bit uncertain all of the sudden and asked carefully:
"You think she'll have me?"
As if someone else spoke for him, he answered automatically: "He who doesn't dare will never know…"
All the while, he was left with a deep feeling of unease…
***
Hermione hadn't had much time to ponder the encounter with him outside the classroom… Putting her own patience as well as Lily's to test, they had stayed locked into the room for what seemed forever, Hermione drawing up new cards, and Lily staring stubbornly into the fire.
At intervals, Lily would sigh, and walk towards the room's window, overlooking the grounds longingly.
It was starting to get darker outside, when Lily stood before her governess' desk and said deliberately: "I hate you" as if making sure the older witch would believe she meant the hurtful words.
Hermione, however didn't even look up from her work, and replied calmly: "You may hate me all you want, but you will learn how to respect and obey me…"
Putting down her quill, she looked up to see Lily glare at her. The girl directed her glares toward the cards and asked as if it actually was the last thing she really wanted to know:
"What is this you're working on anyway?"
Hermione took one of the cards and laid them in front of Lily. On it was a picture of a dark haired gentleman, with the word father written under it. Laying two more similar cards before the first, one with a heart, the other with a little girl, she showed Lily:
"'Lily loves father'. That's what's written," taking the 'father' card away, she put one with in its place showing the drawing of a brownies, "'Lily loves brownies'," then replacing the heart with a drawing of a man opening his mouth widely to shove food on it, "'Lily eats brownies'…"
Hermione stood from her chair, discreetly stretching her limbs. Trying not to show too much interest, she saw Lily take the cards and lay them in a certain order. Coming up behind Lily, she looked over the girl's shoulder to see what she had done.
Reading out loud the sentence Lily had made Hermione smiled to herself:
"'Father loves Lily'. That's right. That's how words are used to form a sentence…"
Leaning forward she put out the few candles lighting the room, resulting in only firelight dancing around the room. Enjoying the feeling this gave her, she let her gaze linger on Lily who was still staring at the cards. Hermione moved to the door, opening it and letting Lily go to the kitchens…
Tired from the constant tension in the room all afternoon, Hermione pinched her nose, only to be surprised by Dobby the House Elf asking her to come down for dinner. She really was uncomfortable with their sudden pops, while she couldn't Apparate inside the house due to the wards surrounding it.
Dinner was quite the affair. First Miss Ginevra had congratulated her on her victory over Lily.
Hermione had only answered softly, after a quick glance at Mr. Potter's sour expression: "Please, Miss Weasley, do not speak of victory, yet. Miss Potter is much too young to be conquered already…"
The witch had continued merrily while sipping her butterbeer:
"Be that as it may, Miss Granger, but you did manage to teach her a valuable lesson today, and not only her, either…" Miss Weasley looked pointedly at Mr. Potter, "Who would've ever guessed that the way to discipline Lily would be to reprimand her father first!"
To Hermione's unease, Mr. Longbottom joined in at that moment: "Ah, so that is the reason of your ingratitude, dear friend!"
Hermione had silently continued eating, while Mr. Potter was trying his best to pretend he wasn't irritated by the chatter and merriness of Miss Weasley and Mr. Longbottom. Needless to say she was quite uncomfortable throughout dinner.
Fleeing the company, she wanted to see if Lily was already asleep. But her plans were foiled by Mr. Longbottom, who requested an audience with her.
Not sure where this would be leading, she followed the man to Mr. Potter's study.
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