Hermione Granger and the Theft of Magic

Chapter 14: Prove Me Wrong

[A/N: Thank you to Calamity Owl for beta-reading this chapter!]

Hermione's session with McGonagall the next day went well, and the Headmistress even offered to assign her a weekly paper on some aspect of Transfiguration theory that she'd submit by owl. Something about the light that offer kindled in Hermione's eyes must have warned the older woman what she was getting into, because she quickly specified that the paper should be no longer than one foot of parchment.

Hermione nodded politely. She'd been meaning to practise writing smaller and neater letters with the quill anyway, and this would be an excellent excuse to do so. She spent the remainder of the afternoon practising basic Transfiguration, then after a light supper continued reading Transfiguration theory and practising a bit more. By the time Harry staggered out of the floo at about half past midnight, she had a meal of toad-in-the-hole (she cheated and used a frozen one she found at the nearby convenience store), some brown gravy, and vegetables.

"There you are!" Hermione said. "You didn't respond to my owl, so I had this done about forty minutes ago and I've just had the oven on the half-mark to keep everything warm."

He stared at her for a moment.

"Harry," she said carefully, as if confronting an injured pet, "what's wrong?"

"Another one," he replied.

Five swift steps brought her from the top of the staircase and into the floo room where she pulled him into her arms. "I'm so sorry," she said. "Do you want to talk about it?"

He shook his head. "I had to help the muggle coroner do her write-up. I haven't eaten anything since lunch and I've been on my feet since 5:00. I'm so tired I'm angry about it, like, I'm mad at the whole world, even you for no reason at all, but I'm so hungry that my stomach feels like it's trying to eat itself, and every time I close my eyes I see that twisted corpse with that awful look on its face."

Hermione hugged him more tightly. "Eat first, then," she said. "Will you come downstairs?"

"I...can't," he said.

"Yes, you can." Hermione rubbed circles on his back. "We'll eat together and it'll be OK, I promise."

Harry nodded and let her lead him downstairs. She'd already set the table, so it was the work of a moment to put the food out and serve them both. He was still staring at his plate when she sat down to join him.

"Please eat," she asked gently.

He nodded and fished mindlessly at his food for a moment with his fork.

Hermione switched her fork to her left hand and reached out with her right to take his free hand. He closed his eyes and gripped her hand tightly, and she sat there silently with him till he opened his eyes again and released her hand.

"Thank you," he whispered. "I try to avoid Cruciatus cases, but they needed someone who could work with muggles on this one."

"I understand," Hermione said. "Even if I didn't, you never need to justify yourself to me, Harry. You're always going to be the bravest person I've ever met."

He shook his head. "You don't owe me anything for what happened with the ritual."

"Ritual?" Hermione fought down how awful she felt for him just then and did her best to force a smirk. "I was talking about how you swept my room and the loo for spiders at Grimmauld Place. Facing down giant magical spiders for a girl is pretty much the dictionary definition of heroism."