Disclaimer: JKR owns.
Lost Daughter
Chapter 7: Private Lessons
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[AN] Sorry for the long wait.
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There was a loud chorus of laughter in the corner of the class. Hermione figured that maybe one of the sixth year students had transformed the porcupine into a pointy haired cat instead of the required blue bird. She didn't care enough to look up. Her eyes were locked on the object of her affection, as they were every time Hermione was anywhere near Amia. This time though, there was a different manner to her stare. It wasn't just adoration and curiosity; there was confusion in Hermione's face too.
There were a few things she'd been having trouble understanding about Amia. A few strange things that Hermione was having trouble putting her finger on.
Part of her confusion stemmed from the fact how Amia barely ever showed up for meals. How was she eating? She was already quite skinny, so she shouldn't be skipping the opportunity to eat. Hermione wasn't sure if she even went to lunch; no matter how soon she tried to let out her midday class, she'd never been able to catch Amia in the Great Hall for her second meal.
She couldn't pin it on maybe some sort of social awkwardness. Plenty of students- the whole school really- was fascinated with Amia. The boys gave her more than their fair share of attention, and each day Amia seemed to tolerate them with a flattered smile. However, there were a few people Hermione had spotted her hanging around. To her continued shock, Rose was one of those people. When Amia wasn't missing from the social life of the school, Hermione found her walking around and talking with Rose.
Another point of ponder was how she was excelling in Transfiguration without ever participating in class discussions or group projects. Over the week, Hermione had tried to shake herself out of simply staring at the girl all period while she assigned the rest of the students reading out of the book. After all, she was here to teach these kids. She figured she could stare at her while she was working with the other students. But oddly enough, all Amia ever seemed to do in these groups was poke around in the corner. She didn't add much to the learning atmosphere, and actually looked quite bored throughout the lessons. But then why was her homework flawless?
Hermione had done a lot of debating with herself. She knew under normal circumstances, she would've severely questioned a student who didn't exude their academic ability in class, but did so as a part of the written homework. Naturally though, she couldn't stoop herself into believing that Amia was cheating. She was convinced that it went beyond that. And that, was what Hermione had been debating for the past couple days. If it went beyond that… then shouldn't she- as a good professor- find out what the problem is? Wasn't that a part of her job?
Hermione was startled in her seat as the bell signaling the end of class rang. She'd already assigned the students their homework for the night, so when they all turned in their study groups to give her questioning looks, she tried her best to muster a smile.
"Have a good day," she called out, a bit quietly. The students were too excited to get their things and go to
notice her obvious nerves. Her eyes traveled addictively back to the California girl as she sauntered over to her table
towards the back of her room.
Taking a deep breath, Hermione pushed herself up from her desk. Anxiously wringing her hands in front of her, she slowly made her way towards Amia while the rest of the students piled out of the class.
Her heart jolted as Amia hoisted the strap of her book bag over her shoulder, and straightened from the table. She
noticeably froze when she saw Hermione standing a few feet away.
A suspicious looked flashed across her face before she relaxed it into a general composure. She gripped the strap of her bag tightly and began to turn away from Hermione- clearly attempting to make a hasty escape. Hermione, however, was quick to stop her.
"M-Miss Cooper, I-I was wondering if I could have a word?"
Amia frowned, now even more suspicious, "Actually, I have to be getting to Herbology, so-"
"Oh, I'm sure Neville won't mind. I can send a note with you if I have to," Hermione proposed, sounding a lot more sure of herself.
Mia's eyes narrowed slightly, but she figured there was no use arguing with the lady. She might as well get whatever she wanted to talk about over with as soon as possible.
"Okay…"
Hermione wanted to beam at the news that she was willing to stay and talk with her, but the rational side of her had to remind herself that she was only doing it because Amia was a student and she was her teacher.
Hermione's thoughts lead her off into more onslaughts of self-depreciation. She was just about to drown in another downpour of desperation, when the confused look on Mia's face prompted her to speak.
"Um, so h-how do you like your classes so far?"
Amia's expression remained stationary, "They're fine."
Hermione was quiet for a few seconds hoping that Amia would elaborate. When the girl stayed quiet, Hermione fumbled for something to say. She should've thought about this more...
"Oh. Good…"
Hermione wanted to kick herself at her daftness. She knew that if she didn't just spit out what she had wanted to talk to her about, Amia would most likely think she was a weirdo and run off. Then her chances at talking to her would be dashed. Even now, Amia was making not-so-subtle glances towards the door. She really needed to pull her head together, and quick.
"Er, right. So the reason I kept you behind today was to-"
"Is there a problem with my homework or something?" Hermione's eyes darted up to Amia's at her unexpected question, and found the girl to be staring unabashedly at her. Hermione was almost too shocked to answer.
"N-No. No! Your homework is perfect. By far the best this year… But that's sort of what I wanted to talk to you about…"
"I don't understand. If my homework's perfect, then what's the problem?" Amia kept her question
free of disrespect or arrogance, but genuinely wanted to know why the hell she was being kept after for doing well. So
far, Amia had just thought that her Transfiguration teacher was a bit batty for all the staring she did at her; she
didn't
think she was actually crazy.
"Well," Hermione started, suddenly nervous again. The last thing she wanted was to sound accusatory, "It's just that you're starting to look bored during class. And with your impeccable homework, it just made me wonder if… if you've already done this?"
Amia bit her lip, "What do you mean?"
"Have you already been taught this material before?"
A few moments passed where Amia weighed in what she could and couldn't get away with. Weird and awkward, or not, Professor Granger did seem rather observant. Maybe she couldn't get away with as much as she'd originally thought she could…
After another few seconds, Amia sighed, "I might've already been through inter-animal transformation at Avalon…"
Hermione couldn't help the smile that appeared at the corner of her mouth, "Wow…" she mused to herself, "But when did you learn it? Usually you have to go through a semester of 6th year charms to be able to change one animal into another. I thought I was only giving you guys a taste…"
She shrugged, "We were taught that all at once last year."
Hermione nodded in understanding, but couldn't take her eyes off her, "So my lessons have been boring you?"
"They're not boring," Amia quickly denied, "It's just that I kind of already know it all. It's a nice review…"
Hermione's heart swelled with her humbleness. As she started to lead off into her adoring stare of the girl, once more getting lost in awe, a thought struck her that made her heart start to pound immediately.
It wasn't exactly beneficial to keep Amia in a class that she already understood through and through. But then again, placing her in a 7th year class might be too difficult... Oh, who was she kidding? Amia probably knew 7th year transfiguration too.
As a professor, Hermione had a duty to teach her students- not tell them stuff they already knew. And Hermione was Amia's teacher... Now that she knew the truth, she couldn't just very well ignore it, could she?
Hermione glanced up at Amia, and found her looking back towards the exit. The idea that she was looking for an escape encouraged Hermione to speak.
"So... So where did you get to in Transfiguration before you came here?"
"Prime-mate cloning," Amia replied with a light shrug.
"Normally Hogwarts students wouldn't get to that until the end of their 7th year," Hermione told her, trying to stay calm and collected.
"Oh," Amia muttered listlessly.
"I-I don't think it's wise to leave you in a class when you already know the content...."
"You mean I don't have to take Transfiguration?" Amia asked, her voice tinged with her own form of excitement.
Hermione shook her head, "No. More like… Well, I could give you private lessons."
Amia had to catch her mouth from falling open. "P-Private lessons?" she stammered.
Hermione nodded, "Yes. Lessons that are crafted to your advanced level of knowledge."
"I'm not that advanced… I was just taught it already."
"Trust me Amia. You know more than the 7th years in this subject."
Amia wanted to raise her eyebrow at Professor Granger's notion to trust her. However, letting herself get weirded out by the woman, even more than she already was, probably wouldn't do any good.
"Can't you just turn the other cheek?" she mumbled pathetically, knowing what the answer would be before she even tried.
Hermione bit her lip, "You're here to learn, aren't you?"
She sighed in defeat, "Yeah, I guess I am."
"I promise I'll make it worth your while," Hermione managed, her excitement teetering.
Amia's eyebrows raised, but she didn't comment on how her professor seemed so excited for this. "So I guess I don't really have a choice?" she asked just to clarify.
Hermione shook her head, shooting her a small smile, "You can use the first period class to do your other homework."
"Oh, I still have to go to first period?"
Hermione's smile slowly fell from her face. Her eyes refocused and bore down into the eyes that troubled her dreams on a nightly basis. It was selfish. She knew Amia would think so too, but she could not sanely allow her baby to be away from her any more than necessary.
"For now," Hermione whispered, with no intentions to ever think about changing her mind.
Amia sighed through her nose, "Fine. When do you want to start?"
"Tomorrow."
"Here?"
"Yes. Just come after dinner."
Amia nodded curtly, "Can I go now?"
"Yes," Hermione replied, finally breaking her pained daze, "Um, do you want a note?"
"I'll be fine."
Amia didn't say goodbye. She simply turned and walked away from Hermione, who continued to stare after her before she turned and disappeared out into the hall.
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The Next Day…
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Amia sat at the Gryffindor dinner, amidst a group of chattering teens. This was the first time she'd actually sat down to eat dinner, but she hadn't touched much of her food. Her thoughts were elsewhere that evening, as she passed away the time before she'd have to head down to Professor Granger's classroom.
Private lessons. The idea still sucked to her. Why did she care so much that Amia was good at Transfiguration? Why did she have to care?
"I can't picture her being that tough on you," Rose said from next to her.
Amia nodded. Rose had been the only person she'd told about these new lessons. It had crossed her mind that she might be able to ask Rose to get her mom to back off, but she didn't want to put her in the middle of her issues. Even though this sucked, she had conceded to the fact that she would have to go.
"I mean, if she's taking the time to give you private classes then she's probably putting together some really interesting lessons."
"Yeah," Amia mumbled, twisting her fork stuck in the center of the noodles piled on her plate. Feeling eyes on her, she glanced up and once again found a few random kids staring at her. She sighed, setting down her fork. This was why she didn't come to dinner. These British kids obsessed too easily over nobody's.
"I'm going to get going," Mia said to Rose, reaching underneath the table to pick up her book bag.
Rose gave her an encouraging smile, "Good luck. Don't let my mum scare you. That woman does love her transfiguration."
In response, Amia let out a weak laugh. She waved once more at Rose and muttered something about seeing her later, before she headed off down the aisle between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw table. A waving hand caught her eye, and she spared Tony a little grin. Besides that, she managed to make it out of the Great Hall unscathed.
Amia was starting to remember her way around the castle, therefore she had no trouble finding the staircase and getting on. To her happiness, with a little extra grip placed on the railing of the ancient moving staircase, it ceased from wildly changing direction too much.
Before she knew it, dread had descended upon her as she found herself standing outside of the transfiguration classroom.
Hermione turned at the sound of a knock on the open doors to her classroom. She had just been coordinating the desks in order to give her and Amia enough space to practice that night. A smile overtook her concentrating expression as soon as she laid eyes on Amia.
"Hello Amia."
She nodded at her acknowledgement, "You can call me Mia."
"Oh, okay… It's a nice name."
Amia raised an eyebrow as Hermione immediately closed her eyes, reprimanding herself for being so stupid. Earlier, Hermione had made a conscience promise that she would do her best not to make Amia uncomfortable. That included staring and blurting out random compliments.
"Thanks?" Amia asked, unsure of what else to say to that.
Hermione bit her cheek, "You're welcome."
"Right, so…"
"You can set your stuff over in the corner," Hermione told her, nodding off to the side as her confidence and authority came crawling back to her, "You're only going to need your wand tonight."
Amia did as she was told and walked over to the corner to drop off her bag. Since she didn't normally carry her wand with her, she had to dig around inside for a few seconds to find it. When she found it hidden underneath her Potions text, she stood up with it and turned back to Professor Granger to wait for more instructions.
Hermione took a deep breath as Amia came to stand in front of her, "Since there's no text book beyond 7th year transfiguration, I figured we'd work mostly with the physical side of transfiguration. Initial theory is very important, but tonight I want to focus on what you already know."
"Okay."
"Right now, I want you to show me what you can do."
Amia frowned, "Excuse me?"'
"Show me what you can do," Hermione repeated, a wry grin playing at her lips.
Amia waited a few minutes, waiting for Granger to further explain. When no explanation came, and the professor continued to look at her expectantly, Amia shook her head, "I don't know what to do."
Hermione bit her lip and started looking around for something to use. She looked to the left and smiled. "The desk," she announced walking towards it, "What can you do to it?"
"What do you want me to do to it?" Amia shrugged, starting to get bored.
"I want you to use your imagination," Hermione said, for the first time looking straight at her and not getting shaky. She was surprised, but it was overpowered by her desire to actually watch Amia perform.
Mia sighed, now looking somewhat nervous, "I'm not good at showing off."
"Try," Hermione encouraged.
Amia let out another breath before turning to the desk. She had to remind herself to raise her wand as an idea formed in her mind.
With her wand trained unwavering on the wood object, she whispered four words, "Incohare aurum piscis piscis."
The desk trembled for a moment before it suddenly disappeared in a whirlwind of brown. If Hermione had blinked, she would've missed it. But since she was paying such close attention, she saw the final effects of Mia's spell.
A smile spread over her face as Hermione walked forward and bent to pick up the clear glass full of water. Inside the glass, a small, bright orange fish was innocently swimming around.
"This is amazing," Hermione muttered, still marveling at the display.
Amia shrugged as she scratched the back of her head. "It's not that hard if you just know the spell…" Again with the humbleness. Of course she wouldn't know where that trait came from- but to Hermione, it was so perfectly clear just how much of Harry Potter's daughter she was.
Hermione turned to set the goldfish on another desk before turning back to Mia. She gave her an encouraging nod.
"Keep going."
…
Harry's thoughts were thousands of miles away as he made the routine walk down to the law office in the Ministry.
Work had been extremely dull, and it was even harder to go home and see Ginny at night with thoughts of Hermione and Lilly on his mind. Being so mentally preoccupied, he was actually fine with the fact that it was his turn to take care of non-field work. Being a team leader, he could easily get one of the interns to do this, but he liked to be fair.
As Harry rounded the corner, he saw the door to the lawyer's office who he was supposed to drop off his current workload to. The case in question was a dispute between a husband and a wife, which was incidentally enough something this lawyer specialized in.
The door was open. With a smidge of relief, Harry figured that the lawyer, Henry Pettlebone, was in working at the moment. This was good; he didn't feel like going through the trouble of finding Pettlebone's secretary and actually having to open his mouth to speak to him or her when he could barely form a coherent sentence.
However, once he reached the door his spirits fell. Pettlebone was nowhere in the small, square office. Harry sighed. Just his luck…
A moment passed where he briefly entertained the thought of going to find the lawyer's secretary. In the end, apathy got the better of him and he walked forward, readying himself to just drop the paperwork on the man's desk.
The light file landed innocently enough amidst other folders and parchment rubbish. Though, the force of it did move a couple papers off a small haphazard stack, making Harry catch the beginning of a name. That name made him stop dead in his tracks.
Moving without knowingly doing so, Harry pulled the file out so that he could read the title of the folder clearly. His jaw locked as soon as he saw that he hadn't been imagining anything.
In legible black ink, the words Granger vs. Weasley were scrawled across the tab of a manila folder.
Harry's blood began to pulse. He knew he had absolutely no right to be doing so, but the rational thought never made it through to his brain, already clouding with possibilities of what this could be. Granger vs. Weasley- did Granger mean that Hermione was divorcing Ron? But then again, Pettlebone specialized in spousal disputes, primarily abuse.
The mere thought made Harry clench his fists. He reached forward for the file-
"Oh, Mr. Potter!"
Harry spun on his heel so hard, he probably could've apparated if it weren't for the lack of destination. Damn Pettlebone. Why did he have to show up right when Harry wanted to see the reason for Hermione's case?
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize you'd be here so soon. That's the Marcus testimony, I take it?" the tall, thin wizard asked pointing to the file Harry had just dropped on his desk.
"Er, yeah," Harry muttered, forcing himself to breath.
"Jolly good. I appreciate you walking it over." The man smiled kindly at Harry, maybe expecting for him to make small talk. Though, Harry was in no condition to talk to the bloke. His knees were nearly knocking together for Merlin's sake. If he didn't get out of that office soon, he was sure something would blow up.
"Yeah. See you," was all he could manage before he fled. He was positive that he attracted some odd stares as he hurried through the halls of the law office, back towards the main corridor.
Part of him was telling him to calm down, and that Hermione's business was her own. However, the second, greater part of him was exploding with the possibilities of Ron physically harming her. He had never thought his old friend capable of abuse; but then again, he never thought Ron would cheat on Hermione either.
And now what was he going to do? It's not like he could go back to Pettlebone and ask to know why Hermione had a case with him. Nor could he demand to see those documents. Breaking in was a possibility, but the ramifications if he were caught were too great. If only James hadn't taken his bloody invisibility cloak, he could go sneak a peak at the file now. Going and checking one out from the Auror supplies department would take too long, and he really couldn't wait.
Suddenly, the answer was clear. If he couldn't rely on her case file to tell him what was going on, he'd just have to go to Hermione directly.
He needed to go to Hogwarts. Tonight.
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Harry and Hermione next chapter.
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