Author's Notes:
I don't like having miles of author's notes, so this is it. Thanks for all the reviews and kind words! It is so neat to be on someone's favorite list. I had no idea so many people would read and like my story. For those who don't like it…'raspberries'!
Disclaimer: Everything Harry Potter belongs to the great JK.
Chapter 15
Finding your Roots
Hermione snuffled a little and kept looking back over her shoulder to see if he was going to follow her. She wasn't quite sure if she wanted him to or not. Well, actually she knew she really wanted him to, who was she kidding? It was their first fight as a couple and neither of them knew how to do it anymore. If they were just friends, she'd would've yelled at him and made him suffer for a week doing his own homework without any help while making snarky comments. After a while she'd relent and Harry would be particularly nice for a while until Ron did something stupid and they gang up and laugh at her together.
Now, all she wanted to do was go cuddle up into his shoulder even though she was still mad at him! What craziness was that? He was in the wrong acting like a stupid idiot and making her feel bad, and all she wanted was him to say silly "I'm sorry's," and hug her close and make her feel wanted. That definitely wasn't the old pattern at all.
After seeing Harry in the library she knew his silly antics didn't really mean anything, and that he was just playing around; but it still hurt her feelings. She hated to admit to herself that she was really very insecure about Harry. She had so much to lose if he really didn't like her like she liked him. Or loved him. That was a scary idea. It felt right, but still very grown-up and serious. Love him.
She's always loved him. Friends love each other and care about each other. Throughout all their adventures he had always looked to her as an equal and at the same time tried to make sure she was always alright. She smiled softly to herself and right then decided she wasn't going to play all those mind games the other girls always did to the poor sods that dated them. She wasn't going to run anymore and when she found Harry, she'd tell him she understood the situation and that she knew he meant no harm by it. Lav and Parvati would've made their boyfriends jump through hoops and buy them presents to make them happy. She just wanted Harry.
The relief she felt cleared most of the heartache away and she felt better than she had felt in ages. She had been walking aimlessly while she had been thinking and found herself back in front of the Gryffindor portrait hole and the Fat Lady.
"Weasley's Weezes now open in Hogsmede!" She mumbled to the painted lady while rolling her eyes.
"You'll have to speak up, dear. I don't think that was right. You've got the right robes, but not the right words. Maybe you need to wait for the prefect." The Lady barely took notice of the girl as she was trying to catch the attention of a certain knight in a painting across the hall.
"I AM the prefect and I know this is right…" Hermione stamped her foot impatiently and perched her hands on her hips in frustration.
Several Gryffindor-robed fourth years bounded up behind the girl and shouted, "Cockroach clusters!" as the painting hastily opened in fear of being torn from her frame in their rush.
Rather than wait around, Hermione shrugged and climbed through the passageway into a now much nicer common room. She was startled to see how rich and lustrous the tapestries and couches looked. The stained glass was missing from the dormer windows and the bookshelves that covered most of the west wall were also gone. Everything was the same and yet…slightly different. She stood there in the middle of the room not recognizing anyone at all.
Three girls about her age were staring at her curiously and whispering to themselves. They were similarly fair haired and each of them had woven their hair in simple plaits in a much younger style than Lavender or Pavarti would have permitted. She could hear them whispering about how odd her trainers were and questioning if anyone had ever seen her before.
Hermione was starting to get a little worried.
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Harry sat in the chair in the library as if he weighed a thousand pounds. He couldn't seem to move. He wanted to follow her, and he wanted to tell her again how sorry he was and somehow make her tears go away. He also wanted to just go hide in the cupboard and not deal with it all. At least in the cupboard he knew where he stood. There he was wrong, he was punished and life went on.
He finally pushed off the chair and wandered out of the library. She was nowhere to be seen. He scanned ahead down the corridor but he saw no one. He snapped his fingers when he remembered the marauder's map sitting in his trunk three stories above him in his dorm room. She would be easily found there and he could make a game plan on the way figuring out precisely how to grovel and make up. Groveling was looking pretty good now. Anything to make her eyes not fill with tears again. He couldn't stand to disappoint her like that. And that was exactly what he had done. She trusted him and he'd cracked jokes about her in front of the whole house.
He passed the familiar tapestry that was near the Room of Requirement, and he realized it didn't hurt to see what Hogwarts thought he needed to make up with Hermione. Of all the "people" who had seen it all, the castle always knew what they needed when they needed it.
With three passes he turned and the door never appeared. He looked around and checked to make sure this was the right place. Yes, the dirty old tapestry was the right one. He remembered it well from all the D.A. meetings. He shook his head and did the three laps again. Nothing.
I guess the Castle is against me on this one.
He grimaced in frustration and gave up. He shrugged and trudged up the next stairway that was turning his direction until a group of Slytherins, on their way down, stopped him.
"I didn't think the servants were allowed up here after hours. Get your grubby self back down to the dungeons and get out of the wizards' way, squib!" The speaker was a tall, fair, snubby-nosed boy around sixteen who stood glowering over Harry in a way very reminiscent of Draco Malfoy.
"Give'm a scare, Rigel!" The two hulking minions that flanked the fair-haired wizard egged him on. `Rigel' smiled maliciously and slowly pulled out his wand.
Harry cocked his eyebrow and leaned against the wall nonchalantly.
"So, you're a big, scary wizard and I should be afraid, you say?" Harry had put his hands in his pockets and the oversized sleeves of Dudley's old ratty sweatshirt hid his pulling out his wand.
"None of your cheek! Students are commanded to wear their robes at all times outside of their House, therefore you must be a servant! Servants should be seen and not heard! In my house, if a servant disobeys, we whip them till they have enough scars to remember it by." Rigel was seething as his eyes narrowed and he pointed his wand right at Harry's head.
Harry grinned mirthlessly. "I've had it up to here with scars." He saluted his forehead lightning bolt, then pointed his own wand right between Rigel's eyes. The Slytherin's eyes widened for a split second, then narrowed spitefully.
"Stealing a wizard's wand, Squib, is grounds for removal, you know. I think I'll remove you right now. No one will miss another dirty Squib…" He started to mutter a curse.
Harry flicked his wand tip like a rapier, and shouted, "Coalesco Certus!" The Slytherin's mouth dropped open mid-word and he looked down to see his feet and the bottom of his robes merge and take root into the stairs. Knobby root strings shot out from his feet and wrapped themselves around the banister rails. The boy's robes shuddered in place then stilled as they solidified into a hard, rough shell. His arms snapped to his sides and started to melt together like a dripping candle. The only thing not affected was his head which was currently yelling expletives at Harry.
"Just because I left my robes off for the evening doesn't mean I'm not a wizard. How stupid are you feeling right now?" Harry grinned widely still holding his wand at the ready in case the two gaping Slytherins behind the currently rooted student decided to attack. Apparently not. They mumbled something about leftover homework and disappeared so fast Harry would have sworn they had apparated.
The roots had swirled around the angry boy's body and were now trying to attach themselves to the sconces on the wall and were crawling up the staircase.
"Don't worry. In about an hour you'll leaf out and in two, you'll have fall and everything will gradually scale off." Harry paused and tightened his expression. "Don't mess with me again."
The blond boy merely seethed in place as tiny buds started to pop out from the delicate branches that had erupted from his shoulders.
Harry knocked lightly on the outer shell of Rigel's `tree' with a snort, then passed quickly by him and bounded up the stairs and to the right into Gryffindor tower.
Funny about the rule on robe wearing…He couldn't see that working with the girls in his House for even an hour past classes…maybe this was a new rule in Slytherin House. You never know what bug will run up Snape's nose… Harry was grinning to himself. He couldn't wait to tell Hermione what he had done to the stupid Slytherin…
Hermione.
His gait hitched, and he slowed a little. We've just got to talk. There's nothing else to it. I will grovel and she'll hex me and somehow I'll get her to like me again. Yeah. That's a great plan.
He sighed and wondered how someone so thick-headed ever got into Gryffindor. A gaggle of black-robed firsties were climbing through the Portrait hole so he helped the smallest one in and pulled the frame back into place.
He stopped in his tracks when he saw Hermione Granger standing on the couch with her hands on her head and a circle of Gryffindor students all pointing their wands at her.
"What the bloody hell…?!" Harry yelled as he pulled his wand out when he saw how frightened his girlfriend appeared.
Several students dropped their wands from Hermione and turned to defend against Harry.
"Who are you people? WHERE'S RON? WHAT'S GOING ON?!" Harry roared as he reached around the couch and pulled Hermione down beside him while keeping his wand at the ready.
Hermione was a little irritated since her wand had been confiscated by the three girls who looked so young and innocent. They saw her prefect badge and since one of them had a badge of her own, they decided she was a spy. They didn't know how she had gotten into the tower or what her objective was, but they knew they were going to find out.
Hermione of course tried to reason with them first. Bad move on her part. The only McGonagall they knew was a shy little first year named Minnie and no one had ever heard of any Hermione Granger. Since she wasn't expecting it, they disarmed her easily to Hermione's dismay. She was still seething about it when Harry burst into the scene.
In moments it appeared to be a standoff. Four boys were stiffly lying on the floor from a large `stupefy' from Harry leaving a small crowd of students against him watching him warily with their wands at ready. Harry wouldn't drop his guard and the crowd of sixth and seventh years seemed pretty determined to find a way to blow his head off. Harry's mind was reeling. What had happened? Where was Ron and Neville? Something was DEFINITELY wrong here and sadly the smartest witch in Hogwarts was just as befuddled as he was.
Voices were heard yelling behind the Portrait hole and it opened flooding in with at least fifteen Gryffindors that Harry had never seen before. A tall gangly seventh year wearing the Head Boy badge was shushing the younger students while trying to get a grasp of the situation as was being relayed loudly by at least four different people.
The young man calmly walked in the room and signaled for all the students to get out of the way. Harry stared at the boy and worriedly thought hard and quickly over all the defensive spells he had recently been studying for the D.A. He couldn't remember if the one that creates the ice wall was conglacio or congracio. Like an ice wall was going to really help here anyway. That head boy just crackled with magical power.
The dark haired young man calmly positioned himself between Harry's pointed wand and the other students.
"I understand there is some confusion here. This young lady says she is a member of Gryffindor House and has been for numerous years, yet none of us recognize her or her newly arrived protector." He tilted his head in a simple acknowledgement of Harry before continuing.
"It seems we need to clarify this situation before we bring this before the Headmaster." The young man twisted his lower lip and his face was a study in polite concentration.
"I think that is a brilliant idea. Let's get Headmaster Dumbledore in here and we can settle this instantly." Hermione voiced with her arms crossed, a little at all ends without her wand in her hands.
The young man looked startled and the crowd behind him started to whisper amongst themselves. He pinched his brow together then shrugged in confusion.
"Well, we can start there, I suppose. You must have misunderstood what I said when I said Headmaster, I am merely Head Boy. Let me introduce myself. My name is Albus. Albus Dumbledore."
Harry and Hermione stared at the boy and the niggling question that had been bothering them about him finally came clear. It WAS him. It was Headmaster Dumbledore. But he couldn't be more than eighteen!
They looked back at each other then slowly with their mouths dropped in amazement, they turned back to stare at the gangly young man.
"That's alright. It's a bit of an odd name. You can call me Buzzy. Everyone does." He smiled widely and held out his hand.
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