Ambrogia

AMBROGIA

CHAPTER FIVE-BACK TO NORMAL?

"She's coming around," a soft voice said.

I slowly opened my eyes. Blurry faces appeared next to my bed. My eyes closed once again before opening, clearing the blurriness.

Professor Snape, Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey, Ron and Harry were all gathered around my bed.

"How do you feel?" Professor Dumbledore asked gently.

"Okay I guess," I said. "What happened?"

"You, Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley were found in the Forbidden Forest unconscious," Professor Snape said.

Oddly, there was nothing harsh, stern or scolding about his tone. Quite the contrary, it sounded concerned.

"We'll leave you three alone," Professor McGonagall said gently as she, Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape left the hospital wing.

Harry sat on the bed beside me. Ron plopped down in a seat beside the bed.

"So, it's over," I said quietly.

"Yes. Danielle is dead," Ron said quietly also.

"Did they find the other students?" I asked even though I didn't want to hear the answer.

"Yeah. All of them were on the third floor in the Room of Requirement. It was if Danielle needed a room to stash..." Harry's voice trailed off.

"Ugh. Don't finish that," I said closing my eyes. "How many?"

"About nine," Ron said. "Pansy was one of them."

I sighed and leaned back against the pillow, then remembered what I did.

"I'm so embarrassed," I said.

"About what?" Ron asked, tilting his head.

Harry and I caught each other's eyes. He knew. I could see him thinking quickly.

"That she trusted Danielle," Harry said quickly.

Ron seemed satisfied. "Herm, she fooled everyone. It wasn't your fault,"

I smiled.

"I'm going to go for some dinner. Madam Pomfrey said that we can all eat here this once," Ron said. "What would you like?"

"Whatever," Harry and I said in unison.

Ron grinned and shook his head before he left the hospital wing.

Once I was sure Ron was out of earshot, I looked at Harry.

"Thanks for not telling," I said gratefully.

Harry shrugged. "That wasn't voluntary...I hope,"

I grinned. "No it wasn't,"

Harry grinned back then leaned forward. Our faces were inches apart.

His emerald green eyes caught the sunlight that was filtering in through the windows making them seem almost like jewels.

"Your secret is safe with me...trust me,"

I did. With my life.

"I do trust you," I smiled.

He moved his face even closer. My heart was pounding loudly in my chest. I knew he could probably hear it.

Without saying anything, Harry moved his face even closer until our lips met. He kissed me softly and gently. I was shocked for the moment before returning the kiss.

When he was done, he threw his arms around me and hugged me. I hugged him back; our chins were resting on one another's shoulders.

"I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you," Harry whispered in my ear.

"Same here," I whispered back. "I love you."

"I love you too, Hermione," he whispered back.

We pulled apart and he briefly put a hand on the side of my face before sitting in Ron's seat.

At that moment, Ron came in balancing three dishes filled with food.

"Could someone help me?" he asked.

Harry laughed and rushed to help Ron.

So we ate in the hospital wing and talked.

The next morning at breakfast, it seemed weird that we all knew nine people were not going to be sitting at their usual seats. Four from Slytherin, one from Gryffindor, two from Ravenclaw and two from Hufflepuff. Each house was solemn and subdued.

"I hope this doesn't damage Hogwarts hosting foreign students. We had no idea that Danielle was what she was," I replied helping myself to some eggs and sausage.

"I know," Harry said taking a sip of water from his goblet. "It just might take people longer to trust the new student."

"It will certainly take me longer," Ron muttered grabbing pieces of toast.

At that moment, Professor Dumbledore arose from his seat. Silence filtered across the hall like a wave.

"I have some wonderful and also grave news," he said. "Classes are suspended for today because of the horrible tragedy that struck us this week. The parents of those that were lost will be contacted immediately and there will be a small memorial service."

Murmurs of agreement floated around.

"I know this is a bad time and none of you are up to hosting a new student, but Professor Snape's niece is coming here to stay for a bit," Professor Dumbledore said kindly. "I do hope you can put aside your feelings, if any, about new students as we had no idea what Miss Peterson really was until it was too late. Harboring feelings against new students and guests isn't healthy. Not everyone was like Miss Peterson. She wasn't even human. So please, give Professor Snape's niece some time to show you she is human."

Mutters went around.

"When will she be here?" Dean called.

"One week," Professor Dumbledore replied.

"That will give us time to run a check on her," I heard Seamus mutter to Dean.

"I know that some of you will want to run a Magical Background Check on her, but I want to be honest with you. That's invading her privacy. I know how all of you feel, believe me I do. But going to the extreme will show her that Hogwarts holds grudges and that is something I do not stand for," Professor Dumbledore said, his blue eyes twinkling behind his half moon spectacles. His voice had a firmness to it that seemed to have settled the issue.

"Just give her a chance to show you that she is none other than a human being like all of you," he finished.

"What's her name?" someone from Ravenclaw called.

"Megan Thomas," Professor Dumbledore replied.

"Great. I can't wait to show her around Hogwarts," I replied.

"Hermione...are you bonkers? Remember what happened here the last time? Or have you gone mental and forgotten?" Ron hissed.

"Ron. You heard Professor Dumbledore. She's human if she's a relative to Snape. We all know he doesn't tolerate...in-humans," I scolded angrily. "Secondly, I have no wish to harbor feelings against new students. Danielle was totally an accident and it wasn't our fault. We had no idea."

Ron just sighed and continued to eat his breakfast.

"And I hope I don't catch you being mean to this new girl," I growled narrowing my eyes at Ron.

Ron didn't answer.

"RON," I said firmly.

"Ron, mate. Hermione's right," Harry replied buttering a piece of toast. "If she's related to Snape we all know that she's...normal, but abnormal."

At that, Ron snorted.

I glared at Harry.

He immediately fell silent.

I couldn't wait for the new girl to come to show everyone that she was in fact normal.

I went the rest of the day without talking to Ron or Harry, even though Harry told me he was sorry and felt bad for saying that when he didn't even meet her yet. I eventually forgave him and Ron and we went to the Gryffindor common room, as there was no classes today. Most of the students just say in the room and read or played games, but I could see none of them seemed to have their heart in it. Neville wasn't here joining in. He was so sweet. We all missed him greatly.

But at least Danielle was stopped. I shivered when I thought what would have happened had we not stopped her. Harry and I and probably Ron and the rest of the school would be dead by now.

We really had no idea what her whole plan was. All we knew is that she wanted to kill Harry for some reason. I had hoped that we never would find out.

ONE WEEK LATER.

Professor Snape's niece was due to arrive this afternoon. All of the students were quiet and wary. We were all in the Great Hall with our witches and wizard hats on. I adjusted my tie and vest. I left my robe opened, exposing the light gray vest, the maroon and gold tie and the white V collar of the shirt under the vest. My light gray skirt, which matched the vest, was cleaned. I pulled my witches' hat down on my head.

Harry and Ron were dressed the same way, except they had gray slacks on.

Professor Dumbledore stood up. Everyone once again, quieted down. Professor Snape was not at the head table.

"Students, I would like you to welcome Megan Thomas," he said smiling.

All heads turned toward the entrance to the Great Hall where the doors opened and Professor Snape and a girl about my age entered the Hall.

Some of the Slytherins began snickering.

She was cute in my opinion, but I could see the Slytherins thought differently. She was a little chubby and had shoulder length curly dark brown hair and honey brown eyes. She was dressed in muggle clothing. A pair of jeans and a red campshirt. Her hair was fluffed around her shoulders. Behind Snape and the girl, I could see Filch majicking a large trunk to float up the stairs.

Her wand was sticking out of her back pocket.

"That's a no-no," Ron muttered. "Bloody wand could go off and blow her arse off."

I glared at him.

Snape and the girl walked the length of the aisle and Snape took his usual seat at the head table. The girl looked lost.

"Find a seat, you silly girl. Any one of the houses," Professor Snape barked.

I thought that was a little cruel. The girl is new here. She has no idea about the houses.

"For heavens sake...Slytherins! Raise your hands!" Professor Snape snapped.

Immediately, the Slytherins raised their hands.

"Go! Sit there,"

The girl slinked over to the Slytherin table. She took a seat and they scooted away from her, glaring at her as if she was a ticking bomb waiting to go off any minute.

"That is just mean," I said irritated. "Snape should be more understanding of how the girl must feel being in a strange place."

Harry snorted. "We all know Snape's emotional capacity is that of a Hippogriff with hemorrhoids,"

"And look how the Slytherins are treating her! Like she's a leper!"

Harry sighed. "Maybe they're jealous because she's related to Snape,"

Ron snorted and went to laugh, but ended up choking on his slice of toast.

"He's my hunky! I idolize him! I must be like him!" Ron laughed.

At that, Harry burst out laughing as well.

"My man!" Harry added.

Both he and Ron got into a giggling fit. I saw the girl look over at us.

"Great. Now she thinks you two are laughing at her," I scolded.

"But we're not," Ron said following my gaze. "Oh. I see what you mean."

The bell rang signaling it was time to go to class. We had Potions first.

"Aww geeze. First class is with Snapie-poo," Ron moaned.

Harry snorted as we headed down in the dungeons. The girl was sitting in my seat. Harry took his seat and Ron took his behind us. I stood beside the girl.

"Hi. I'm Hermione Granger. This is Harry Potter and Ron Weasley," I said brightly extending my hand out to her.

She shyly looked up, but then lowered her eyes to her parchment.

"This is my seat, but..." I began to say, but then the girl quickly gathered up her things keeping her head down.

"I'm so sorry," she apologized and scurried to find another seat toward the back.

"Geeze Hermione," Harry said, teasingly. "You are cruel."

I glared at him. "I was going to tell her that it was okay that I would find another seat,"

Harry grinned. "I know. I was just giving you a hard time,"

I sighed and slid into my seat. I had really wanted to talk to Megan but she seemed very quiet and kept to herself.

Maybe I can try and corner her after class.

Professor Snape entered the dungeon and whirled around to face us.

"Today we will be making the Ezret Potion. This potion was used back in the medieval times as the Muggles use Tear Gas today in their military. The Ezret Potion is a liquid, but once dropped in front of a victim, it lets off a powerful gas that will cause the victim to cough and tear for a few minutes. It should be a light brown color. These are the ingredients," Professor Snape said waving his wand at the blackboard. The ingredients were magically written.

Immediately, we all pulled out our parchments and quills and began copying them down.

I glanced back at Megan. She was hunched over her parchment as if she just wanted to disappear.

"Miss Thomas," Professor Snape barked and Megan jumped from being startled. "I do hope you are copying down these ingredients exactly in their order,"

"Yes Uncle," Megan said quietly.

Professor Snape's eyes widened. "What did you call me?"

"S-sorry. Yes Professor," Megan muttered quickly.

Professor Snape then turned to the rest of us. "I will come by in exactly one hour to check on your potions,"

He left the dungeon.

"Can you believe what just happened?" Harry asked, shocked as he looked from me to Ron.

"I know. That was just cold," Ron agreed.

I was angry. That was downright cold and cruel. I couldn't believe he was treating his niece this way. Then again, maybe I could.

Checking to make sure that Snape was out of sight, I slipped out of my seat and slinked to the back where Megan was sitting.

I slid onto the seat next to her.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked.

"S-sure," Megan said as she added 2 Bat Wings into her cauldron.

"Why does he treat you like that?" I asked.

"Oh," Megan said embarrassed. "He always treated me like that. See my parents are Muggles. Me mum is a secretary and me dad is the president of a bank. Whenever we are in public he acts like that. I don't know why though."

She added the last part sadly.

"The truth is I like Uncle Severus," Megan said in a whisper. "I heard in your second year he saved Harry Potter from a rogue Bludger."

I nodded. "At first, we...." But my voice trailed off. I really didn't want to give out too much information to her just yet. Danielle's image and what happened kept popping up in my mind.

Suddenly, Megan gripped the edge of the table and her body went rigid. Her head slumped forward.

"Megan?" I asked worriedly.

She didn't answer. I looked at Harry and Ron, hoping that they could offer some kind of explanation. They just shook their heads and looked just as concerned for Megan.

After a few moments, Megan just slumped off her seat and landed on her side on the floor. At that moment, Professor Snape came into the dungeon.

"What happened?" he demanded rushing over and he crouched down beside her.

"I don't know sir. She just sort of went rigid and then slid off the seat," I said concerned.

"Weasley, Potter and you, Miss Granger, help me get her to Madam Pomfrey," Professor Snape said.

Harry and Ron hurried over and helped Megan up, swinging each of her arms over each of their shoulders. She was in the middle as Ron and Harry helped her out. Professor Snape turned to the class.

"For now, class is dismissed. I will tell the headmaster why I dismissed all of you early," Professor Snape barked.

Then, he and I followed Ron and Harry out of the classroom.

When we reached the hospital wing, Ron and Harry laid Megan down on an empty cot. Madam Pomfrey rushed over.

"What on earth happened?" she asked as she began checking Megan over.

"She just went rigid and collapsed off her seat," I explained.

Professor Snape pulled Ron, Harry and I aside.

"I am going to tell you three something and I want it kept quiet," Professor Snape snapped.

"Sure, sir," Ron said looking serious.

"Megan is a werewolf," Professor Snape said.