How Do You Choose Between What is Right and What is Easy?

Chapter 30

Hermione Granger. Positive. Two fathers.

Hermione stared at the paper in disbelief for a moment, before picking it up and reading it again... and again... and again. She put a hand to her forehead and sat down heavily in the chair in front of the desk - narrowly missing it.

She leaned back, slumping low in the chair, as she tried to focus on what she had read and what was happening to her. She didn't know how long she was sitting there, but it was long enough that Madam Pomfrey opened the door quietly, stepped into her office, and shut the door silently behind her. She made as if to go sit down at the chair behind her desk, but then she saw that Hermione was holding a piece of parchment in her hand, and what piece of parchment it was.

Madam Pomfrey heaved a long sigh, paused, and then went to sit down at her chair. She looked down at the floor, then at her desk, then up at Hermione. "So... I see you found the results."

"They weren't that hard to find," Hermione said in a monotone voice. "You didn't exactly hide them."

"I admit I placed them there on purpose so that you would have some time to digest it and compose yourself."

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked, still not looking at Madam Pomfrey.

"Well... aren't you feeling... even just a little... upset... about this?"

"I don't know," Hermione said, shrugging her shoulders. "I mean, with... everything... I guess I sort of expected it."

They were silent for a moment, before Madam Pomfrey spoke again. "With this revelation," she said, "we need to go through the preliminaries."

"What preliminaries?"

"I need you to tell me who the two fathers could be. It is vital -"

"Could be?" Hermione said incredulously. "You make me sound like a slut or something." She was still holding the piece of parchment, but at this point she set it back on the desk.

"I didn't mean to imply anything," Madam Pomfrey said apologetically. "Are you telling me you know for certain who the two fathers are?"

"Yes, but what difference does it make? One of them can't help me with anything, and the other one is... never going to speak to me again as long as I live. So it doesn't make any difference, and I would rather not say who they are."

Madam Pomfrey was silent for a moment, as though pondering the best way to form her next words. "All I have to say to you, Ms. Granger - and I'm going to say this in the nicest way possible - but you have to tell me. If you don't, I'm going to have to get Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore, and you're going to have to tell them. If you tell me, you can bypass that whole step, and I can tell them for you. I would think that would make it at least a little bit easier on you."

"Actually... it might... But I still don't see why I should have to say anything to anyone when it's not going to make any difference at all." She had raised her voice a little and she threw her hands up at the end of her sentence, as if she was just completely fed up with the entire conversation (which she was).

Madam Pomfrey sighed again, and rubbed her forehead for a moment with the tips of her fingers before speaking again. "It is one of the rules the headmaster has put in place at this school to ensure that the mother is not solely responsible for the child."

"Humph," Hermione said.

"Professor Dumbledore set it up years ago - the rules of what to do if a situation like this were to occur. The information is completely confidential, but it is one-hundred-percent necessary. Now, you must understand this."

"I don't want to understand, and I don't want to tell you anything," Hermione said, sitting back in her chair and crossing her arms across her chest.

Madam Pomfrey crossed her arms and sat back in her chair as well, before saying, "Fine. If you want to be stubborn and not tell me, then I'm going to have to get someone that you will tell. It is a simple matter for me to call either Professor Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall. Or both. I'm sure they could come up with a solution that would get you to relay the information." She sat there staring at Hermione, Hermione staring back, both in silence.

Hermione heaved a great sigh, though her arms stayed crossed. "Fine. I'll tell you. But you have to promise that it'll stay confidential."

"The only people I can, and will, tell are Professor Dumbledore, the fathers of the children, and your Heads of Houses."

"Well, we're all in the same house, so we only have on Head."

"Well, that cuts the number of people down a little it." They were quiet for a minute. "So, are you ready to tell me?"

"No," Hermione said. Madam Pomfrey sighed, but Hermione cut her off with, "But I will."

"Okay, Ms. Granger. Go ahead."

"I guess I'll just blurt it out." Madam Pomfrey nodded her head, a tiny bit in impatience, and Hermione continued. "Ron Weasley..."

"And...?"

"Ron Weasley, and... Harry Potter."

Madam Pomfrey's eyes raised very high on her face. She was shocked, and she had nothing to say.