Hermione Granger and the Paradigm Shift

Chapter 9 - Part 2

Hermione gazed at her watch. She'd spent sixty minutes dutifully dicing bat entrails while listening to Slughorn give fascinating tips on ingredient preparation and waxing rhapsodically about his favorite students over the years. It seemed that Harry and...to her surprise...she were rapidly rising in the ranks. She hated to spoil Slughorn's nostalgic fun but she only had an hour left to get what she came for.

"If I'd known setting up clandestine meetings would actually lead to students helping me with ingredient preparation I'd have started scheming and plotting decades ago!" Slughorn enthused as he happily scooped up her tray and gave her a fresh batch to work on.

"It's well worth getting up so early on a Saturday." he continued in mirth as he set to work on his own batch.

Hermione took a deep breath and thought about Dagworth's advice. Just be honest. Time to start failing miserably.

"It's the least I could do, sir," she began, "especially considering your problems with Harry lately."

"Well...yes," he stammered, "I know Mr. Potter's heart is in the right place but he can be a bit forward."

"He can't help it," she continued on, focusing on her work. "He's faced Voldemort four times since he's been at Hogwarts. Did you know that?"

"You can't be serious," Slughorn scoffed, the disbelief and horror evident in his voice.

"It's true," she continued on. "He saved me from a troll in my first year too. I was in the loo when they announced to everyone that it was loose in the school so I didn't know. Everyone was supposed to go back to their dormitories but Harry didn't. He came to find me and risked his life because he was worried about me...he didn't even flinch...jumped right on its back. We weren't even friends then."

She let the silence linger a bit...letting the weight of Harry's bravery at eleven sink in to Slughorn. It had been over five years and she still didn't quite believe the memory that she knew to be real...seeing that Harry had not only come to find her but had leaped without hesitating on the beast.

"Do you remember a few years back...the Chamber of Secrets being opened...that was real. There was a basilisk being let loose by a diary enchanted with the spirit of Voldemort I was one of the students who was petrified."

She'd expected Slughorn to interrupt her by now but he remained silent...she plowed on.

"Harry found the Chamber and faced the basilisk and Voldemort alone. My parents took me on holiday to France that summer so I could visit Beauxbautons...after the troll and the petrification they wanted me to transfer...actually they demanded that I transfer."

Slughorn was staring straight ahead now...his own work now forgotten. Still silent.

"I refused and until recently kept all of the horrible things that have happened since from them. I told them the only way I wouldn't be at Hogwarts was if Harry wasn't there."

"I suppose you've heard a bit about Voldemort's resurrection at the Tri-Wizard Tournament?" she asked.

"Just the basics from that Quibbler article and what the headmaster has shared...horrible business," he muttered.

"Did you know the cup was-"

"A portkey, yes," Slughorn interrupted uncomfortably. "Mr. Potter summoned it to escape as I understand it. Remarkable presence of mind..."

Her stomach clenched at the memory she was dredging up. She hated imagining what he had gone through...Harry had shared bits and pieces but she knew it was infinitely worse than he had let on.

"He'd survived that horrid maze...watched Cedric murdered in front of his eyes...been tortured with Cruciatus ...he was all alone...against Voldemort and his most loyal followers. Not only did he escape but he brought Cedric Diggory's body back."