A Visit
‘It’s good to see you, Miss Granger,’ Minerva McGonagall said, and to Hermione’s discomfort proceeded to hug her.
‘Thank you for your invitation.’ Hermione smiled and tried not to stare at the changes in the room. There were new curtains, rich colours in tartan patterns. The many spindle-legged tables had been reduced to one that was placed between two battered over-stuffed armchairs (red leather and dark wood, possibly oak) in front of the fireplace. In a corner, next to a cosy cat basket, stood a handsome scratching post.
One of the shelves now sported a glass-cabinet with an astounding selection of whisky bottles.
‘Why don’t we sit down and have some tea?’
‘Thank you,’ Hermione said. ‘That would be nice.’
Outside the pale sunshine that had accompanied her to the castle had given way to an April shower. Rain pounded against the windows.
They sat down on the armchairs, and when Headmistress McGonagall tapped the table between them with her wand, a complete five o’clock tea with savouries, scones and sweets appeared on the table, along with two pots of tea. Judging from the smell one contained Earl Grey, the other Darjeeling, first flush.
Hermione had no appetite whatsoever, but she was grateful for a cup of tea to keep her hands from scratching down new hangnails. Her nerves were just a tad frazzled these days.
They needed outside help. And Headmistress McGonagall was really their best bet. But they also needed to keep the number of people aware of The Plan as low as possible. Luna had told them in disconcertingly clear words that it was inevitable that their plan would be discovered at some point.
‘Such things will out,’ she’d told them. ‘The Quibbler once had a series of articles covering magical plots and conspiracies. They were all exposed. Though sometimes rather too late.’
Hermione had rolled her eyes, but Harry had agreed with Luna. ‘Look at Voldemort—Snape himself is the best proof for what Luna says. We’ll just have to try and make sure that we’re only discovered when it’s already too late.’
‘You mean, after we’re married.’
‘Yeah,’ Harry had agreed and looked at her with strangely sad eyes. ‘That would be best.’
Hermione took a deep breath and dragged her attention back into the room. ‘Pardon? I’m afraid my thoughts drifted a bit,’ she said, heat suffusing her face.
But McGonagall smiled kindly. ‘All of us have a lot on our minds at the moment. Why are you here today? I was hoping I would see you again at Hogwarts when we start summer school.’
Hermione took another deep breath, then released it. Hyperventilating was not a good idea just now. She swallowed dryly. Now or never. Out with it. ‘I – I have come to ask you for a favour, Headmistress. And … if … at all possible, I would ask you to … to keep this – the reason for my visit – confidential.’
The Headmistress frowned. A look of alarm crossed her face. But after a moment she nodded. ‘Very well. I shall do what I can. So what is it you have come for?’
Hermione lowered her cup down with shaking hands. The spoon rattled a little when she placed it on the table. She bent down for her bag and extricated a roll of parchment. Just looking at the official seal of the Wizarding Genealogy Offices made her feel slightly sick.
‘If you would take a look at this, please?’
oooOooo
‘I – I must say that – it is very – very commendable of you, Miss Granger, to – to want to – ah – attempt – this,’ stuttered Headmistress McGonagall. Her nose had taken on a distinct pink hue. Then: ‘Would you care for a bit of whisky? Because I need one now.’
Hermione blinked, slightly bewildered. Headmistress McGonagall was offering her whisky?
‘Uh… just a little bit.’ It wouldn’t be polite to refuse, and if Minerva McGonagall thought that a whisky would help, she’d gladly follow her teacher’s lead.
‘Ardbeg for me, and I think a wee bit Glenmorangie for you.’ McGonagall handed her a glass with pale golden liquid, barely a finger high. Her own glass was considerably fuller, and the colour was darker, amber rather than gold.
The alcohol burned on Hermione’s tongue and settled into a small, but surprisingly pleasant fire in the pit of her stomach. The next swallow actually tasted not too bad. Rather sweet and flowery, if liquid flames could taste that way.
‘Your plan is good,’ Headmistress McGonagall said suddenly. ‘But I hope you don’t expect it to work. Severus is not a man who –’
‘Headmistress – I’m sorry for interrupting you – I – I don’t expect – all I want is – to get him – to consider and I rather hope to take me up on it – a – a marriage of umm… convenience. I’d never expect him to – I just – I couldn’t bear – there’s really been enough death and suffering caused by V— Voldemort.’ She sounded like broken recording of Jane Austen’s complete works. Hermione winced.
To heighten her embarrassment, McGonagall’s eyes misted over. ‘Indeed,’ the Headmistress said. ‘More than enough.
‘But I merely wanted to say that Severus Snape is neither easily manipulated nor do I think he ever intended to marry, not for love or any other reason. Not after …’ McGonagall cleared her throat and continued briskly, ‘I suggest that you use the weekend to pack your things. On Monday we will start private lessons for your NEWTs. And tomorrow I will pay Horace a visit and remind him of the debt he owes the wizarding world.’
‘Horace?’ Then Hermione realised just whom McGonagall was talking about.
‘Horace Slughorn,’ the Headmistress confirmed. ‘You, Miss Granger, will have to become a genius at Potions. Being your usual brilliant self will not suffice. For once you have a real academic challenge ahead of you.
‘I have no doubt that you will master this challenge. And I can only wish you and Severus the best of luck for the other.’
What a great setup! I love the way you’ve modified the Marriage Law enough to make it plausible, as opposed to the ridiculous version of the original challenge. That choice shifts the dynamic, removing the distraction of needing to deal with why the Ministry has become so obviously corrupt. Making Severus the one who needs saving, instead of Hermione, is a great role reversal, and having Severus unaware of the plan is a very nice little plot twist – I anticipate a great deal of suspicion on his part, making things difficult for Hermione.
W00t! Great to see you here. 😀
The original MLC the lawyer in me stimply couldn’t stomach. But at the same time the *idea* absolutely intrigued me. And didn’t let go until I figured I’d try to twist it and bend it a little and see what happens …
Having Severus unaware of the plan was a lot of fun. And yes, he’ll be definitely a pain in the behind. But that’s his job!
What a great start. Lots to like. Luna being smarter than everyone thinks. Hermione marching off to a fate worse than death, feeling honor bound to do so. The sneaking suspicion that Luna is really getting Hermione out of the way so she can become a Weasley. She’d fit right in.
Mwahahahahahah!
mk
PS: It needs classic soap opera cliffhanger organ music.
Hi,
I really love your story so far, and I can’t wait to read on!
Just wanted to let you know that the link to part 2 does not work, either you get a warning that it “Cannot modify header information”, or the page closes down… *sobs*
Budgie
It should work now. I’ve been trying to get a caching plugin working to speed up the performance of the site, but the dratted thing won’t work and even worse, as you’ve seen, BREAKS stuff. *ARGH!*
Happy you like the story so far! 🙂
I love your whole plot. I am so excited to keep reading. You take things at an absolutely perfect speed– the characters developing bit by bit is perfect. The whole idea is brilliant.
I don’t think I’d be able to rave enough about your work. *claps*
Thank you very much for spending time with my story and even more for taking the time to leave a comment. 🙂
I’m very happy you like the story so much so far!
I think I’m going to love this! I’ve been an avid reader of SS/HG since 2003, and I especially love when an author does a post-DH fic. 🙂 I followed the link from some artwork on DeviantArt and am so glad I did! I’m also happy to see that this is a completed fic, so yay! I can read to my heart’s content and not worry about it being abandoned! 🙂
Thank you for spending time with my story and even more for taking the time to leave such a kind comment. I hope you will enjoy the rest of the story!
Followed your link from ff.net, and am so glad I did! I read this when you were first putting it up, and loved it then. I love it even more now that I have actually gone back and re-read the gloriousness that is Abhorsen. 🙂
Also, may I say that I absolutely love the site. There’s something about reading a wonderful story in a functional, beautiful setting.
You have always been one of my favorite fan fic authors for your skill, unexpectedness, the way you deftly take a story I think I know and turn it upside down and inside out while remaining true to the spirit of it, and this story is no exception.
Thank you for your kind words. That means so much to me! 🙂
Iv’e just read this entire fanfic in a few days, it was AWESOME. Of course, I didn’t take the time to write reviews then, I was too enraptured with the story. And when I saw you had a sequel, of course I had to read that first too. I did resolve to come back latter and leave a review on every tenth chapter, so here I am.
So, starting with chapters 1-10:
Really well done. I like the tension in Ron, Hermione, and Harry’s relationship. Especially that Harry and Ginny foresee the coming doom of Ron and Hermione’s romantic relationship.
I like the cute nicknames you give Harry, like ” the Boy-Who-Could-Use-Cusswords-Without-Being-Scolded.”
The healer at Mungos is a treat, extremely likable. 🙂
And best part: Arthur Weasley mentions that Snape’s sentence has some similarities to muggle theories of rehabilitation and Hermione just has to express her frustration. Her hitting her head on the desk is like a facepalm X 10.
And last but not least, I am definitely looking forward to seeing how the sequel develops. My only hope is that further maiming of our beloved main characters is limited. If the pace of terrible injuries maintains itself from this fic, by chapter 200 of the next one they’ll all be sitting around in Mungos each of them in a “johnny got his gun” kind of situation.
Intriguing setup. I’m not quite sure how I feel about Ron’s characterization, but after the summary, he has to get out of the picture. Even after finally reading all the books, my feelings for Snape are not overly friendly ;-).
You just totally and absolutely MADE my day. *dances*
Now, your comment: Yes, obviously writing SS/HG Ron must disappear. Mostly. 😉 But also, I never liked him (much) in canon, so … Otoh, I always adored Snape. In HBP I *knew* without any doubt that he hadn’t killed Dumbles … Also, one thing about “Apprentice” is definitely that I’m not always sharing the characters’ opinions. I have them being stupid and making mistakes, and being beastly, and doing things that made me go “DON’T DO THAT!” even as I was writing the relevant chapter. It’s pretty wild and sometimes even *gasp* controversial. But I had tons of fun, and I hope you’ll enjoy it, too — even if you don’t really like Snape. 😉
But you make him likeable. Through Hermione’s eyes, no longer a child, some of his choices make more sense.
I tried hard not to whitewash or bash any character. I’m happy the characterisation works for you so far! 🙂
I was referred to your story as a “must-read” and I’m happy that I followed this recommendation. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful idea. I especially enjoyed the way you made them behave “real” and how smothly you added Alina and her mother to the known characters.
I hope you will some day continue with the sequel.
Thank you for spending time with my story, and I’m thrilled you enjoyed it — especially my OCs. I know many people are dubious about OCs, so I’m always very happy when readers like the additional characters I created. I really, really want to finish the sequel (it’s all plotted out!). But offline life has been utterly awful since 2010, each year in its own way, and 2013 is less than fun so far, so I doubt much will happen this year. 🙁
I’m excited to start your story–I stumbled across it through a “favorite story” link on FF.net. I’m not sure how I feel about Ron and Harry’s characterizations so far, but then again I don’t particularly like either one of them in canon, either, so you’re probably spot-on.