Mark of Slytherin

Chapter 5

Hermione had been, as expected, devastated. Despite the fine mess Harry found himself in – and she had stood by his side during many – this time it seemed to have been too much.

Harry didn't blame her. He knew, knew just how much she had gone through to gain entrance. Copious studies hadn't been enough, top of her class in every subject hadn't been enough. It hadn't been until she had dragged Harry away to Greece for her dissertation – and the subsequent finding and snatching of a secret Athenan temple from under Riddle's nose – that those pompous bastards finally caved in and deemed her worth of a readers pass.

"Shit!" He swore, gaining even more attention from onlookers on the street. Some had stood there even since he was thrown out, showing no shame over their interest in the spectacle. Snape, of course, was watching from the building. Gloating. "Hermione!"

He had lost sight of her when she rushed out, the crowded street easily swallowing her up. Harry was short and Hermione even more so, making disappearance a simple task. She was upset, and when she got that upset she never wanted to talk to anyone.

Harry pushed his way through the crowd, following her the best he could. A part of him wanted to give up and go back, to focus on dealing with the bastard. But another, stronger, part refused this. At this moment Hermione was more important than Harry's anger, especially as that had been what got them into this mess in the first place.

"Hermione!"

Had there always been this much people out on a... Harry frowned, unsure of what day it actually was. He had a tendency to lose track of those things when away and there just hadn't been any time to settle in and reconnect. But... it was, Thursday, right? There shouldn't be so much people out during the middle of the day on a Thursday. Why weren't they all at work?!

Harry stopped, looking around. People in the crowd swore at him for blocking their way. There was no sight of Hermione, but there was a tube entrance just there. Had she gone inside? Harry pushed his way across the stream, earning more curses aimed in his direction.

The subway station was thankfully less busy, but there was no sign of Hermione still. Which made sense, who would just stay in the lobby? Wait, did the tube have a lobby? Whatever, now was not the time.

Harry paused for a moment, trying to get his bearings. Now, if he was Hermione and he was upset, where would he go? Had they not just been banned from it the library would have seemed the obvious choice. But no, it needed to be somewhere she could shut herself in. Her apartment then, except that was far away and she had been upset now.

So, then where? Harry's eyes flashed across the room, scanning for anything useful. His eyes caught on the toilet sign. Of course!

While the state of them were rather filthy, and Hermione had once upon a time said that she wouldn't go in there if it was a matter of life or death, well, this felt almost like it could be even more important. So Harry set off and brazenly knocked on the door.

"Hermione?" There was a gasp from inside the toilet and then silence. "Hermione?"

"Go away!"

Even though the tearful exclamation pulled at Harry's heart, he was grateful that it was her inside. It would be a terrible faux pas to knock while some stranger was in there doing their business.

"Hermione, come on, please open up. I'm really sorry!"

"I said leave!" She banged on the door back. "I don't want to see you!"

Harry's heart dropped to the bottom of his stomach. She sounded serious. He leaned against the door, placing his forehead against it. "I'm truly sorry, alright? But I'll let you be for now..."