Chapter 8
On the way back to school they found out that two more of their friends had mastered the corporeal Patronus during the holidays: Theo’s was a fox and Vincent’s was a Niffler. Hermione was so happy for Vincent that he had still been among the first few to master the Charm and she was convinced that the rest of their group would eventually, too.
When they came to the first Defence lesson, they were told by Snape, that Lupin was sick and he, therefore, he would teach the class again. That was the second time this school year and when Hermione checked the lunar calendar she used in Astronomy, a suspicion she’d had for a while hardened. It really seemed that their Defence against the Dark Arts teacher was, in fact, a werewolf. That explained the faint scars, werewolves turned against themselves when they were locked in somewhere during full moon with nowhere to go and no pack to keep them company. Also, they had to register themselves with the Ministry of Magic and were obligated to inform potential employers of their Lycanthropy, which meant that they were unlikely to find a job, hence the shabby robes he had worn at the beginning of the year. Now, after a few months of regular employment, he had at least some new robes, even if they were cheap ones. Since Lupin was at school, Snape spent slightly less time in the Slytherin common room when full moon approached and once, when she had been in his office, she had seen a cauldron containing what looked suspiciously like Wolfsbane Potion. His boggart was a silvery orb, the moon, and last but not least, both times he had been sick had been directly after the full moon. The transformation weakened the body.
She thought about all that during Defence class, while trying to pay attention to her house teacher, who was telling them about what kind of defensive magic would be the right course of action against certain attacks.
Draco was writing something on a piece of parchment – not the notes he was taking in classes - and shoved it towards her.
Hermione gave him a reproachful look. Did he think she wanted to be caught exchanging notes by Snape of all people?
However, curiosity won over and she read. “You know it, too, don’t you? Why Lupin isn’t here.”
Sighing, she took her quill. “Yes, but stay quiet. That could cost him his job.”
He took the parchment, read and looked at her as if he wanted to say “Do you think I’m an idiot?”.
“Is my lesson too boring for you, Miss Granger, Mr Malfoy?”
They both flinched and looked up, where Professor Snape stood now directly in front of their desk.
“No, Sir. Sorry,” they both said at once and Hermione felt herself blushing. She had never been called out in class for not paying attention. Some people, among them their friends, the traitors, snickered.
Without commenting, Snape took the parchment, read their two notes and eyed them for a moment. “Five points from Slytherin. Stay behind after class.”
When he walked back to the desk, where he placed the parchment, Hermione shot Draco a look. “Well done!” She whispered angrily. Couldn’t that have waited?
The rest of the lesson had been good. What they had missed out on in terms of practical use of offensive and defensive magic, they made up for this year. Both Lupin and Snape always made them practise the spells they had learned about in the theoretical part of the lessons.
After class, however, Snape eyed the two of them while their classmates left the room. He obviously hadn’t forgotten about their little faux-pas.
They came to the front where Snape waited until everyone else was gone and the door was closed.
Then he addressed them in his usual drawl. “So what am I going to do about two insufferable know-it-alls?”
Hermione felt slightly offended, but she wisely kept her mouth shut.
Draco, not so wisely, spoke up. “Nothing? We’re not going to tell anyone.”
Unbidden, a thought crossed Hermione’s mind that included Salazar and his balls and she silently apologised to her long-dead ancestor.
“Really, Mr Malfoy? How good of you.” Snape looked intently at them both. “I don’t think much of Lupin, but I have no interest in teaching two classes for the rest of the year. It’s bad enough that I have to put up with all of you during Potions. I doubt that Dumbledore will bother finding a new teacher, if Lupin has to leave before the year ends. Therefore, please refrain from discussing your epiphanies in words or in writing, unless you’re absolutely sure no one is around. Understood?”
“Yes, Sir.”
When he came back from the first post-Christmas Quidditch training that evening, Draco was in a suspiciously good mood.
“I heard some news.”
“What news?” Greg, who had been working on his Astronomy essay and was apparently grateful for the interruption, asked.
“Potter’s new broom was confiscated.” Draco grinned widely. “McGonagall saw that he had a Firebolt, asked where it came from and he told her that it was an anonymous Christmas gift. Of course she took it and will have it tested for jinxes, cursed and whatnot. This will take a while.”
“I hope you didn’t rub it in. We’re supposed to make him trust us, remember?”
He lifted his eyebrows at her. “I’m not stupid. I looked very sympathetic.”
Theo, who was sitting next to Hermione, shook his head, laughing. “I’m sure you did.”
Whatever Draco’s version of sympathetic had looked like, at least it didn’t seem to have ruined anything.
Hermione and Draco were just out of their Ancient Runes class and since they were the only two from their friends group who had taken that subject, it was only the two of them when Harry Potter and Ron Weasley approached them.
“Hi,” Harry greeted them with a small smile “Can we talk to you … somewhere private?”
That was pretty much the last thing Hermione had expected, but she nodded immediately, thinking quickly.
They could share the knowledge of the Room of Requirement, not the specific version of the room they were using to meet her father and hide the mirror, but that wouldn’t be necessary.
“Sure, I have an idea.”
They went to the seventh floor, she paced in front of the wall three times, playing around a little to impress them, imagining the grand, elegant drawing room of Malfoy Manor – and that was what the room provided.
“Woah!” Weasley exclaimed as they entered. Potter, too, gawked. Hermione and Draco exchanged a grin.
“What is that?”
Hermione closed the door as all four of them were in the room and explained how it worked.
“That’s amazing!” Potter was still looking around. “And it can look like anything at all?”
“Everything we tried so far worked.” Draco shrugged. “Even when we wanted it to look like the Forbidden Forest,” he added with a grin.
“Awesome! And we could use it, too?” Weasley had a wide grin on his face.
“Of course you can,” Hermione said with a smile. “It’s not our property. Besides, it will look differently for you than for us anyway and we also tried whether it was possible for several people to use it at once. It is. Draco and I were in what looked like a sitting room and when our other friends entered, they came out in a totally different environment, the one they imagined. We wouldn’t have known of the others also being there, if this hadn’t been a deliberate experiment.”
“And can you meet? I mean, if both sides want to?” Harry asked. That was a good question and Hermione nodded eagerly.
“Yes! If I get here first, for example, and imagine a room where I can spend time with my friends and they come later and imagine the same thing, we end up in the same version of the room.”
“Awesome,” Weasley repeated.
“Yes, and the good thing is, nobody can budge in. If we don’t want to be found, the room is safe to discuss anything you’d like to discuss.”
At that both boys became serious once more. “Do you have some time?”
It was ten minutes before dinner, but sacrifices had to be made.
“Sure!” Draco said and, unwilling to make sacrifices, called for Tipsy who happily provided them with food and drinks.
And then the two Gryffindors told them how Harry was called to Dumbledore’s office regularly since the beginning of second year. He was told stories or shown memories, like the one Hermione and Draco had overheard them talking about. The other information, however, mainly consisted of known ‘facts’ one could read in most of the books about the Wizarding War. And there was a great deal of Voldemort slander, of course.
“Sometimes the memories were perfectly clear,” Potter explained, clearly trying to find the right words. “But sometimes they seemed … I don’t know … vague? More blurred? Especially when it came to memories including Voldemort himself.”
Ron shuddered and was ignored.
“Yes, that’s a sign that the memories have been tampered with before they were extracted and added to the Pensieve,” Draco explained matter-of-factly. “You don’t have to take my word for that. I’m sure there are books on that in the library and if not, I can get you one. If the one with them memories is skilful, he can tempt with them before extracting them. That’s why Pensieves are usually not accepted as proof in criminal cases.”
Potter nodded slowly. “I believe you. I found it weird. All memories involving Voldemort directly were like that, except for the one in which Dumbledore told him he was a wizard and could come to Hogwarts. And honestly? I found Dumbledore scarier than Voldemort in that one.”
“Can we stop throwing that name around?”
Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron. “A name is not going to harm you. Except if there’s a Trace on it, and there’s no reason for a Trace to be on his name anymore.”
“Yeah, still …”
She decided to drop it before she would lose her patience. “Why did you come to us now, though?”
Harry sighed. “I don’t know. You don’t seem too fond of Dumbledore.”
“Did calling him a liar give me away?”
They exchanged a grin. “Kinda. But I often had the impression that you’re not as … impressed by him as everyone else.” He sighed. “Maybe it’s nothing. But last time I was with him, after we met in Hogsmeade, he locked eyes with me and I felt like … he was looking through my memories. It sounds stupid, but …”
“It doesn’t sound stupid,” Draco interrupted. “It’s called Legilimency. And the fact that you even noticed means that you have a natural talent for Occlumency. But you couldn’t prevent him from seeing your memories because you weren’t actually trained in Occlumency.”
He was right, Hermione knew. She had read all about that in the book Lucius had given her before their first Occlumency lesson.
While Draco explained Legilimency and Occlumency to Harry and Ron in detail, Hermione’s mind was racing. They could not protect their thoughts. There was no way they could tell them anything useful at all and even if they could convince Snape to teach them Occlumency, the risk of Dumbledore summoning Harry before they had learned enough was far too high. And then he would know that they knew everything and that Snape was involved behind his back. She hadn’t expected such regular meetings between Harry and Dumbledore. That was a huge problem.
This had gone far too fast. She had assumed they would take months to even get them to talk about Dumbledore. And now they had come by themselves, because the old fart had managed to make them distrust him.
She didn’t know what to say and she wished she could just go out and talk to her father, ask for his opinion, but that would make them suspicious, especially since no matter what, she couldn’t tell them who she was leaving to talk to. Anything she could say would give something away to Dumbledore and if she didn’t say anything at all, dismissed them, she was not only letting them down, but would push them right back into Dumbledore’s influence.
Why wasn’t there a bloody spell to freeze time so she could think it through in peace?
In the meantime, Draco had finished his explanation and Harry spoke up. “But why would Dumbledore do that? Why does he manipulate his memories before showing them to me? And why is he looking through my mind?”
Hermione and Draco looked at each other and she could see that he was just as clueless of what to do as her.
They had to make a decision. So she did. And maybe it was wrong, but even if nothing else was said, this conversation was already enough to clue Dumbledore off.
“We can’t tell you much, because you can’t do Occlumency. But please, please believe me that Dumbledore isn’t what you think he is, what almost everyone thinks he is. Be careful around him. Try to hide this particular memory next time, will you?” She gave him some tips as to how to practise Occlumency by himself, but she knew it wouldn’t help much. Even if he was naturally inclined, she had gone through weeks of intense training with Lucius, Narcissa and Snape who were all talented Legilimens. This could only go wrong.
“What do you mean, he’s not what everyone thinks he is?” Weasley looked confused and she couldn’t even blame him for that.
“I really can’t tell you more.”
“She’s right. It’s better for everyone. But if you can, prevent meeting him for now, that would be great. Play sick or whatever,” Draco said in a serious tone. “We’ll meet you here again in two days. Same time.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. I mean he doesn’t call me to his office every few days. Just once a month or so.” Harry looked worried, understandably so.
She had to worry him further, she just had to. “And don’t talk about any of this in your dorm, even if you think you’re alone. Just trust me in this, don’t.”
“Do you think he’s spying on us in our dorm?” Ron sounded like he found that idea absurd.
“I know he is.” And that was true. Pettigrew had been on Dumbledore’s side. She didn’t know, if he was in contact with him now, but the rat was in the dorm and if it was really him, something Sirius seemed to be absolutely sure about, there was the not so faint possibility that Dumbledore would hear about everything being said there sooner or later.
When Harry and Ron had left, Draco looked at her. “Well, shit.”
She nodded. “We need to talk to Snape. And my father.”
“Yes.”
“Preferably immediately.”
He got up. “Wait where we talk to Tom. I’ll get Severus. And the others. They should also know what’s going on.”
She watched him leave, before leaving the room herself, watched the door vanish and paced again, only for it to return and bring her to the familiar cozy sitting room. She let Noodles out of the bag.
“Did you hear everything?”
“Yes. I still think I should just eat the rat.”
“No!” She hadn’t given up on the hope of Pettigrew being the key to get Dumbledore exposed and maybe by extent prove her father’s innocence. Maybe that was naïve, but she refused to give up on that. Also, getting rid of Pettigrew would give Sirius some satisfaction, but it wouldn’t solve the main problem and even if it would, she didn’t know how to get Noodles into the Gryffindor common rooms and dorms. She was definitely not willing to risk his safety and it wasn’t like he was tiny. He was small compared to Nagini, but he was still over a metre long, she couldn’t just smuggle him into Harry’s pocket.
She let Noodles slither from her arm onto his little potted tree, went to the mantlepiece and took the mirror. She opened it and sat down on the sofa. “Father? Are you there?”
It took a moment, but then his face appeared. “Hello Hermione.”
“Hello.” She sighed. “I think we have a problem.”
“What kind of problem? Dumbledore?”
“Yes. Let’s wait a moment, Draco is fetching Professor Snape and the others.”
“So the problem is serious enough to have an official meeting?”
“I fear it is.”
“Wonderful.” He leaned back in his armchair. “You know, I didn’t realise how chronically bored I must have been until a few months ago.”
Hermione couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Glad we could help with that at least.”
The door opened and Draco entered with Snape and their friends in tow.
“When the door was safely closed again, Snape came to stand behind Hermione, looking at the mirror. “Tom, please control that daughter of yours. If I hear the word ‘emergency’ one more time, someone is going to be in trouble.”
“I didn’t do anything!” Hermione protested.
Snape didn’t look impressed.
“We really didn’t do anything. It’s like … trouble finds us,” Draco argued and Blaise burst out laughing.
“No shit, mate.”
Hermione rolled her eyes. “I agree with Draco. That situation was completely out of our control.” Then she explained said situation to everyone.
There was a heavy silence after she finished and when she looked at her father, who had been joined by Nagini on his armchair, he looked thoughtful as he stroked her head.
Then he spoke up. “You know, I do generally agree with Lucius’ decision to make Dumbledore believe that you children were not informed about what really happened during the war. The less you know, the safer you are. However, you have reached a certain age now and I doubt Dumbledore truly believes at that point that you are completely oblivious. Most people would want their children to know that they are not war criminals.” He was right. “The problem, in my opinion, is not so much Dumbledore finding out that you know, but you spreading this information and influencing Potter. He will have a problem with that and whatever he’s doing, it will cause him to take action sooner so his reputation will remain unharmed. Severus cannot try to teach Harry Potter Occlumency now, it is essential that he keeps Dumbledore’s trust. If Potter doesn’t learn fast enough before Dumbledore uses Legilimency on him again, he’ll see that Severus gave him those lessons and that would make him doubt everything Severus ever told him.”
Hermione frowned. “I can’t believe I never ask, but does it have something to do with why Dumbledore believes you dead? Is it because of some kind of information he received from Professor Snape?” It made sense that the rest of the Wizarding World believed that ‘Voldemort’ died when he tried to kill Harry, but if Dumbledore had actually been behind the attack or carried it out himself, he knew that her father hadn’t been there.
“Exactly. He believes that one of my followers turned against me. One of the smaller properties the Malfoys owned went up in Fiendfyre the night the Potters died and Severus assured Dumbledore that I was in it. He may deep down doubt that, whether because he doubts Severus, which I don’t believe, or because he thinks he may be wrong. In any case, if he knows Severus is working against him behind his back, he will come to the reasonable conclusion that I am likely alive, too.”
“And what if Draco and Hermione try to teach them Occlumency? Or at least Potter? He seems to be naturally inclined, because he noticed that Dumbledore was in his head.”
“Yes, Daphne, that is one of the only two options I see right now.”
“What is the other option?” Hermione asked.
“That you completely cut contact with them and stay out of this whole mess.”
She didn’t like that at all. “Firstly, that would leave them completely at Dumbledore’s mercy. Whatever he’s planning, I doubt it will be in their best interest. Or in ours for that matter. And secondly, we still need to find out what Dumbledore is planning and we need to get to Pettigrew.”
Before her father could reply, Snape cut in. “You know, I sometimes wonder, if you and Lucius really thought they would stay out of this for good. I never took you for fools.”
“They’re thirteen and fourteen, Severus.” Tom Riddle’s voice had an angry edge to it now.
“We weren’t much older when we got in contact with you.”
“I did not set you up against Dumbledore at that age.”
“No, but as you said, Dumbledore can’t catch me teaching Potter Occlumency. Except for me and them, there’s no one in the castle who can.”
“And they can’t do Legilimency, which is essential for someone to teach Occlumency properly.”
“You said yourself that it is one of the only options you see. Dumbledore won’t dare to try to harm them, not within Hogwarts.”
“Hopefully.” Tom Riddle thought for a moment. “I agree with Severus that it is unlikely for him to try and harm you. But I don’t put it beyond him.” He clearly didn’t like any of that.
“Tom, they’re already in the middle of it. They always were, with them being the children of those who fought against Dumbledore. You can’t protect them from this, but they can learn to protect themselves,” Nagini said as she rubbed her large head against her master’s hand.
No one in the room but Hermione understood what she said, but it seemed to push him towards a decision.
“Alright. I will not force you, but if you want to try it that way, I will not try to stop you either. Severus, you will teach Hermione and Draco Legilimency. If they understand the basics before they start teaching Potter and Weasley, that will be enough. As Potter and Weasley get better in Occlumency, you will also gain the necessary knowledge in Legilimency. Neither Potter nor Weasley must know that Severus is in any way involved in this or that I am alive. When they have advanced enough for you to tell them, you will tell them the story as Lucius first told it to you, Hermione, before you found out anything further about me. Understood?”
“Yes, understood.”
~tbc~