Why We Fight

Part 24:
In Which Dumbledore Makes a Decision
(Monday, September 9, 1996)

October 10, 1977

Dear Harry and Ron,
I'm sorry I haven't written lately but things have been really busy. I've been doing loads of extra credit for Professor Flaherty; he despises me (and I thought Professor Snape was bad). Actually, Severus is really nice. We sit together at meals and talk. We have some amazing conversations about Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts. He knows so much! I wonder why Professor Dumbledore hasn't chosen him for Defense Against the Dark Arts, not that Remus is bad at it.

Remus and I are in an uneasy truce after a conversation we had in the library that I’d rather not talk about here. He doesn’t really trust me, not that I blame him; I am a Slytherin. Even after all these weeks, it’s still just sinking in. It’s not so bad though; I live with Lily. She’s really great, Harry. Although, you’d probably have a conniption fit if you knew that she’s dating Draco. Yes, Harry, your mum is dating Draco Malfoy and is going to the Halloween Masque with her. I’m trying to fix things. I’m worried about the future. What if Draco prevents you from being born?

If you’re not born, then Voldemort will still be around and very much in power in the future. This means I’m just writing this for the sake of writing this. I probably won’t be around in the future past because Voldemort will destroy the Muggles. I can’t even think about it. The whole ordeal gives me a headache. I’ll do everything possible to make everything right.

Oh, bother, I’ve got to go…James is dragging me to the Quidditch game: Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor. Go, Gryffindor!

Hermione

Albus Dumbledore peered at the yellowing pages of the nineteen-year-old notebook as the tidy obviously-feminine writing appeared fresh. He watched the ink dry and age nearly two decades in a matter of seconds. Hermione and Draco had been in the past for over a month but had only been gone a matter of days. The headmaster took off his half-moon spectacles and rubbed the bridge of his nose. There seemed to be no consistency between the time that passed in the past and the time that passed in the present.

The disappearance of Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy had been weighing heavily on the student body. The students were wary to attend Potions since the students had disappeared in the class as well as Severus's increasingly erratic behavior. Dumbledore had been in possession of Hermione's notebook for some time but had yet to give it to Hermione's friends. For the first time in many years, Albus Dumbledore was at a loss. He had called a staff meeting to occur during the first Hogsmeade weekend of the 1996-1997 schoolyear.

As soon as the students had taken the carriages to Hogsmeade, the professors who had been at the school in 1977 filed into Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore looked at them gravely and Snape, Lupin, McGonagall, Sprout, and Binns met his pale-blue gaze. "I suppose you're wondering why I've called you here." He set the notebook on the table.

Lupin's blue eyes darkened as he slid the book toward him. "Hermione had a notebook like this," the lycanthrope said. Snape snapped to attention.

"What?" the Potions professor demanded, staring at the aged notebook warily.

"She wrote in it all the time, like a diary or a journal," Lupin went on causing Snape to pale noticeably. "Is this the one?"

Dumbledore slid the notebook back as Snape reached to grab it. "Indeed it is," the headmaster stated.

Snape swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing, and fought the urge to demand to see the notebook's contents. His ebon eyes left the notebook and his gaze turned to Dumbledore's. "What does this have to do with us?" he asked.

"Everything," Dumbledore said. "Fizzing Whizbee, anyone?" His comment was met by looks of disbelief painting his staff's faces. Dumbledore smiled faintly and stroked his long beard lovingly like a sleeping pet. "Miss Granger's diary was written to Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley." Lupin and Snape exchanged a wide-eyed glance and then quickly turned their gaze to the headmaster. "I have called you here to discuss whether we should release it or not."

"Of course not!" Snape cried.

"No!" Lupin's voice joined Snape's. Dumbledore's smile widened.

"Why shouldn't we?" Professor Binns inquired.

"You might recall a certain Slytherin Hermione de Lioncourt or, perhaps, one Gryffindor Draco Aquilus," McGonagall said.

Binns's spectral form straightened. "Ah, yes, magnificent students." His translucent brow wrinkled. "Things...changed...after they came. They volunteered to do a report over the Seventy-Second Ogre Revolt! Oh, a fantastic revolt with Blodnot the Flatulent! I don't seem to remember them after October 1977. Ah, well, my old ectoplasm isn't what it used to be. They remind me of Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger. Hmmm…has anyone seen the two lately?"

McGonagall sighed. "Ignatius," she said. "Hermione Granger is Hermione de Lioncourt. Draco Malfoy is Draco Aquilus."

"I knew those two seemed familiar," the ghostly professor said. "How is that possible?"

Sprout shook her head. For an exceedingly intelligent man, the ghost was completely absent-minded. How he remembered all the names, dates, and details of everything he taught was beyond her. Dumbledore cleared his throat, returning the professors' attention to him. "Mr. Potter has a great deal to worry about with Voldemort." Sprout stiffened and sucked in a breath at the Dark Lord's name and Dumbledore took no notice. "Should we pass onto him the worries of yesterday as well?"

Snape and Lupin vehemently shook their heads in the negative. "We should simply inform Harry that Hermione is safe and that is all he needs to know," McGonagall said.

---

"Where could she be?" Ron asked as he, Ginny, and Harry walked the halls. "And no one will tell us anything."

"Maybe they don't know," Ginny suggested.

"I don't like this," Harry said. "I mean, no one can disappear, right?" At the lack of response from the Weasleys, he continued, "Right?" He sighed at their silence. "I hate magic." Ron and Ginny stared at him. "I mean, not all of the time. Just times like this. In the Muggle world, people don't disappear."

Ginny frowned slightly. "And she's with Malfoy, no less," Ron stated. "Malfoy of all people." He clenched his fists. "If he hurts her, I swear, I'll…"

"You'll do what, Mr. Weasley?" Snape asked from behind the three. They turned around to face the professor. "What will you do?"

"Nothing, Professor Snape," Ron mumbled.

"I wouldn't worry about Mr. Malfoy harming Miss Granger," Snape said, a faraway look on his face. He walked past the trio and headed down toward the Potions classroom. "Miss Granger is perfectly safe." He walked off before the trio could ask questions.

"Is it me or has Snape gotten stranger in the past few days?" Ginny asked.

Ron eyed his younger sister. "And he was always the picture of normalcy?" the redhead stated. Ginny frowned, staring after the professor.

---

Snape's head was killing him. The memories were making things hard. Sometimes, he'd go days without a single memory, other times, he'd get a sudden flood of memories. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. All it did was leave him with headaches and affection for Hermione Granger. He never knew when the memories would assail him. He'd been fine for a few days and then there was another memory: his assignment from Voldemort.

The part that made things even worse is he had no idea if he'd followed through with the task. He wracked his brain but since it hadn't actually happened yet, he had no idea. Up to a point, everything was the same as it had always been -- no new memories. Snape didn't even know how long Hermione and Draco had been in the past. He sat down at his desk, jerking his hand through his hair.

Hermione had nothing to fear from Draco. All she had to fear was the seventeen-year-old Severus Snape.