Hermione's Letter

Chapter 16

Hermione's unexpectedly fast recovery, fully completed in a couple of weeks after her meeting with Harry had enticed her body into functioning again, and had surprised even the experienced Madam Pomfrey. Although no-one wanted to look a gift-horse in the mouth, they had tried to understand the reasoning for the turnaround, their efforts amounting to nothing.

Hermione's meeting with Susan, although useful, had raised more questions than it had answered. There was no immediate reason for Susan to have had the dreams that Hermione was also experiencing, at least not as far as either of them could see. In the wake of her injuries, too, the Gryffindor's mind was not at full capacity, her thoughts still filled with memories of her own momentary insanity, of Ron's injuries, and of the letter that had caused her so much trouble.

The Ball, therefore, really did not hold much importance for her at present. Hermione had never really been a socialite, instead choosing to focus her efforts on the studies that she had loved since before her Hogwarts time. At present, therefore, she was dedicating her time to recovery and catching up on the studies she had missed. She didn't want to have to resit the year, which would cause no end of problems.

And besides all of that, the mission to obtain the necessary compound to heal Ron was still looming. Hermione sensed somehow, quite logically, that it wasn't going to be easy. She wasn't sure that she'd even be allowed to go now; however, given her apparent tie-in to just about everything that had happened of late, she found herself wondering if it would involve her.

***

Classes had re-started, in a limited fashion, for Hermione a few days after her recovery, mainly at her own insistence that she not miss any further educative time. She was also to be accompanied by at least one of her friends at all times, in order to assure her safety.

So, diligently, Harry, Ginny, Sam or one of the other Gryffindor members had been trailing Hermione like a hawk to every class, and, furthermore, everywhere that she went. Admittedly the company had been welcome but there were some things Hermione would have rather done on her own, and having someone observe every activity of which she had partaken was becoming more than a little tiresome for her.

Harry was the most frequent of these that spent free time making sure that Hermione was okay. Although Ginny had dedicated whatever time she could, she had also been visiting Ron, hoping that perhaps he might wake up if she chatted to him. Her father had told her that in the Muggle world this seemed to work, so perhaps it might be of some use to Ron, too. That had left Harry to comfort and accompany Hermione a lot of the time. He'd only seen Hannah a couple of times of late, the most recent of which was for a walk around the grounds of the school.

They met in the Entrance Hall one evening when, in a rare break in the winter clouds, the sun was out and providing a gentle radiant warmth. She smiled as they met, and proceeded out of the old wooden doors.

"Nice evening," he remarked offhandedly, and Hannah smiled again.

"It is." She led him around the outside of the building, and gently took his hand as they proceeded. He didn't notice her slip her hand into his, and almost let it fall away, before gripping it tightly when he found it there again.

They didn't say much for a while as they proceeded around, passing the Biodome which glinted in the sun's light, and heading toward a lake that was situated toward the left side of the grounds.

"So how are you?" she asked him eventually, and he turned to meet her eyes. Her smile was rapidly weakening, and her eyes had lost some of their sparkle of late.

"I'm alright," he told her honestly.

She looked at him again, as if wanting to know more. He did, after a moment, elaborate. "I'm just worried about Ron and Hermione, that's all."

"Hermione's okay now, isn't she?" Hannah asked, turning her head away from him and gazing toward the lake absently.

"She's better than she was," he told her, "but I think she's suffered a lot emotionally. And Ron... well, we all know that he's not healing any time soon."

"Well, we've all suffered emotionally," Hannah murmured. "Not just Hermione."

Harry looked at her, but Hannah still refused to face him. "She's taken a lot more than most of us, Hannah. Except maybe Parvati."

Hannah didn't answer him directly. "Can we change the subject please?"

Harry, confused, simply nodded as they walked along.

***

The next time Hermione found herself at the dinner table was when she finally broke.

"Pass me the salt, Harry," she said without matching his gaze. He handed the cellar to her, and she took it without any visible sign of acknowledgement, pouring some of the crystals over the food that sat in front of her, then placed the container to her right, and resumed eating whilst she poured over some work that sat next to the plate. She had rarely ceased studying when she had a free moment, trying to make up the months that she had lost.

Her elbow, previously resting gently on the table, slipped off of the edge, causing the mashed potato atop the fork in her hand to fall and create a fairly large blotch in the work. Hermione found her eyes rolling in her head.

"I'll get you something to clean it up with," Harry unhooked himself from the chair and made for a small table at the side which contained all the utensils, condiments and other useful items, but Hermione's hand reached out and caught his arm as he passed.

"No," she stated firmly, and pulled herself up. "I'll go, okay? It's my problem, I'll fix it."

Harry persisted. "It's okay, Hermione, I'll go. It's no problem." He tried to laugh it off, only to find that her grip on his arm had grown stronger. He turned back to her, and saw her shake her head.

"I'm sure I can fetch a paper towel by myself, you know." At his disdained look, she shook her head again, and proceeded toward the table, leaving Harry staring at her back, bewildered.

He span around as someone knocked him out of the way, and saw long, shining blonde hair in front of him. Smiling, he called out to the girl

Hannah's voice travelled back to him, although with a tone he hadn't expected. "Finally dumped you, has she?"

"I..." he opened, but she was moving away too quickly, and his voice trailed off.

Once again, Harry stood there, bewildered.

***

The following morning, Hermione stepped out of her dorm room early, wanting to avoid the usual flow of people offering to help her pack her bag or escort her around the school. She went down to breakfast early, and found only a few there, including Hannah, who cast her a scornful look as she passed her by. Hermione, unfazed, collected breakfast and proceeded to a free table.

She was halfway through the second sausage when a shadow overcast her plate.

"You can't just pretend, Hermione. I know how you feel about him."

Hermione sighed heavily, then turned to see Hannah standing with a tray behind her. "It's inconsequential if I am attracted to Harry or not," she said thoughtfully, "if you are going to convict me without hearing my side of the evidence, Hannah." She cut off a piece of an egg, then placed it into her mouth, chewing softly.

"There isn't any need to hear evidence," Hannah replied scornfully, unable to come back against Hermione's wise words. "I see the way he looks at you."

"That does not mean that I'm interested in him, too," Hermione replied after swallowing the egg. "If you want to sit down and discuss this, Hannah, then please do so. Otherwise, I'd like to study this in peace, if you don't mind." She refused to meet the girl's eye, until Hannah relented and settled down in the seat next to Hermione.

"I cannot deny that I consider Harry a friend, and a close one at that," she opened, "but there isn't any chance of anything more. Our friendship is the very reason we could never be a couple. I know that it's been said a million times before, and sometimes, friendships can blossom into romance, but more often than not it doesn't work and I don't want to take that risk."

Hannah seemed a little blindsided by all of this. "The way you and he act together would suggest otherwise, though."

Hermione couldn't see what Hannah was referring to, although she decided to humour the Hufflepuff. "I know we may have seemed as if we are closer than we are of late. We've spent a lot of time together, and really, he and my other friends are just concerned about me. But I can assure you, that is as far as it goes. He even told me outright that you were his girlfriend, Hannah."

After a beat, she added, "I wouldn't stand a chance, Hannah. You have no need to worry."

Hannah looked uncertain, but it seemed for the moment at least that she had calmed a little.

"I'd suggest you go and see him at some point, Hannah. I happen to know he's concerned about you."

Hannah didn't reply as she took in another mouthful of breakfast.

***

As she exited the breakfast hall and proceeded toward the library in order to get in some study before class, Hermione was joined by a familiar figure.

"Good morning, Hermione," the voice of Professor Dumbledore now met her ears.

"Professor," Hermione responded with a curt nod.

"Your studies are back on line, I trust?" he asked her, nodding to one of the French professors as they passed on the opposite side of the corridor.

"As far as possible, yes," she replied. "I've tried to put in extra time on recovering some of the areas I missed, especially in Defence Against the Dark Arts, which it would seem I'm seriously behind on."

"I would advise, Hermione, that you focus your work in the area of Herbology, and more specifically in rare mineral use in medicinal magic. Very soon, you will need the knowledge."

Hermione thought better than to ask why, but simply nodded her agreement as the professor said goodbye and walked off toward the entrance hall.

***

"Locarnum Inflamare!" Hermione held the wand with two hands to stabilise the spell as she directed it toward a small cauldron in front of her.

The mixture within, a powder, several dull crystals, and a small amount of a black liquid, briefly sparked and began to move slightly, but then resettled, every particle returning to its original position.

A sigh from Hermione was lost as the door to the chamber in which she worked opened with a creaking sound, and footsteps sounded increasingly loudly as their owner approached.

Hermione turned slightly, to face Professor McGonagall.

"Miss Granger. I was told I'd find you here."

"Who told you that?" Hermione replied indignantly, drawing a sharp glance from McGonagall.

"That isn't important. What is important, however, is that you learn how to create the mixture correctly. Have you had any success?"

"I'm afraid not, Professor," Hermione sighed once again. "The mixture fails to ignite and therefore fails to mix. And I've tried different variations on the quantities for the past two weeks and had no different results."

"What have you got in there?"

"A substance in the same class as the Dust of Benevolence, the Combining Crystals and the Regenerating Fluid. And I followed the instructions in this text," she showed an old, musty-looking book, "precisely."

McGonagall gazed down her glasses at the mixture, and then poured in a small vial of yellow liquid around the crystals.

"Try it now," she indicated to the mixture, and Hermione cast the spell again. Both of them closed in on the cauldron to observe the result.

The mixture ignited, causing a plume of purple smoke to begin to form. As the four components began to merge, Hermione began to smile concurrently.

And then, as quickly as it had begun, the flames died down and the mixture separated once more. The purple smoke dispersed quickly, and this time, both Hermione and McGonagall sighed.

"Congratulations," an older, male voice drew their gazes.

"Professor?" Hermione queried.

"Congratulations," he repeated. "We could not have hoped for a better result."

"I'm afraid I don't understand, Albus. The potion did not mix," McGonagall pointed out.

"The potion will mix, once the test substance is replaced with the real Dust," Dumbledore gazed into the cauldron, regarding it carefully. "And with your recent success, Miss Granger, we are now ready to proceed.

"Proceed?" Hermione thought about it for a moment, and a look of anticipation washed over her face. "You mean, with the mission?"

"Yes," Dumbledore looked her straight in the eye. "The mission shall begin tonight."