Hermione Granger and the Paradigm Shift

Chapter 18 - Part 1

Hermione stared in the mirror and pondered how remarkably normal everything seemed that morning...the morning after. Her roommates were all peacefully sleeping as she prepared for her daily pre dawn vigil...Voldemort was still out there lurking...and she was still terrified for Harry's safety. Everything was sadly and distressingly normal.

She'd expected to feel fundamentally different but had been wrong on that count as well. She was still Hermione and he was still Harry...they'd been through so much together that nothing could throw them off their moors at this point. Last night had merely made them fuller...more complete. And she couldn't wait to feel complete again. Last night had given her yet another glimpse into what normalcy could and should be.

Like many things involving Harry she had been utterly terrified at the beginning...and as usual all her careful planning and study seemed to go out the window immediately when Harry started improvising. This indelible relationship dynamic had been established long ago...she was very good at planning and Harry was very good at improvising. That dynamic had served them well last night...most especially the second time. She felt a profound sense of exhilaration as she mused on what round three would entail.

"Everything all right, dear?" her mirror chimed in. Apparently seeing Hermione off her typical efficient and structured morning routine had thrown her enchanted companion a bit.

"Fine, fine...just had a bit of a late night," she replied pleasantly.

"Looks like it was a good one," her mirror replied knowingly.

Hermione idly realized she'd been smiling as she mused on her 'late night.'

"It really was," she answered as she pulled her hair into a ponytail, ignoring the mirror's mild 'tsk' of disapproval. She'd wasted too much time daydreaming about the prior evening and wanted to see Harry again. Besides, she liked it and Harry liked it. That was all that mattered.

To her surprise, Harry wasn't alone in the common room when she arrived. Neville and Ginny were there as well.

"We realized you two have a predictable routine like Crabbe and Goyle," Neville supplied before she could ask. "It's not safe for you two to go to the Room by yourselves every morning. We wanted to talk to you about it last night but you disappeared on us."

"I told them we have the map-"

"And we told you," Ginny interrupted as she glared at Harry, "that it's still safer if there are five of us rather than two."

"Five?"

"We're fetching Luna along the way," Neville informed happily. "She insisted. Quite excited about it actually."

"While you're at it why don't you grab Ron and Lavender as well? Round up the whole gang," Harry muttered in annoyance.

"They'll be taking our place tomorrow," Ginny informed with a smirk. "You didn't think that Neville and I were going to get up this early every day did you?"

Neville laughed. Harry scowled.

"They're right," Hermione agreed sadly. Her quiet mornings alone with Harry had quickly become her favorite part of the day, but the peace within Hogwarts' walls had come to an end, and allowances needed to be made regardless of how annoying and intrusive they were. Based on how defeated Harry looked it was clear that he felt the same.

"Fine," Harry mumbled as he scanned the map and reached for her hand, "everything looks clear. Let's go...and thanks."

The good news was that today was a Friday. The bad news was their last class of the day was Defence. She'd already been dreading this class since Malfoy had fled the castle and she knew that yesterday's retaliation against Crabbe and Goyle was only going to make things worse.

The various sixth year students from all four houses seemed to be marching en masse from the Great Hall to the Defence classroom, most wearing full on scowls with their eyes firmly affixed to the counterparts that they viewed as the enemy. Thankfully the staff had anticipated that there could be problems and several chose to trail along to monitor the situation. It was the first time Hermione could recall the staff publicly making an effort to squelch the political tensions in Hogwarts. Too little, too late, she mused.

"Stow your wands," Snape instructed brusquely as he walked to the front of the room. He leveled Harry with his best stare before continuing.

"Due to recent events some of you can't be trusted to act responsibly and respectfully towards your fellow classmates. Anyone casting so much as Lumos during this lesson risks immediate expulsion. Have I made myself clear?"

After receiving mumbled agreement from the class he flourished his wand at the board and words appeared.

Chapter 25: Magical Concealment

"We will be reviewing the means and methods to detect disillusionment charms and the various magical objects used to conceal oneself such as invisibility cloaks," he droned, emphasizing the last two words for effect.

Her blood boiled as she realized he had skipped chapters ahead in the curriculum in order to cover this specific topic on this specific day. She was reminded of his purposeful wedging in of the Defence lesson on Werewolves in third year. The man's pettiness was relentless and seemingly without end.

Hermione instinctively reached for Harry's hand under the desk to make sure he held his tongue. She realized that while the headmaster's repeated insistence that Professor Snape opposed Voldemort might be true he'd never been on Harry's side. Never.

In truth, it was taking all of her willpower to restrain herself as Snape gave a point by point dissertation on how to detect and combat one of Harry's greatest advantages. She glanced at Daphne Greengrass and noticed the girl was looking at her in consideration. Daphne gave her a subtle nod before turning her gaze back toward their professor. It was clear that Daphne had deduced why the topic was being covered and how Ron and Lavender had been present during their initial meeting. If Daphne was able to suss out Snape's motivations who else would realize what their professor was doing? Her blood boiled.

"Do you have an issue with my instruction, Miss Granger?" Professor Snape asked. Apparently, she had been wearing her emotions on her sleeve and he couldn't wait to poke the bear just a bit.

She remained steadfastly quiet.

"Truly remarkable," Snape continued on, "for the first time since you began attending my class you aren't jumping at the opportunity to show off. I wonder...has dating Potter made you dumber or lazier? Perhaps both?

Please answer the question Miss Granger," Snape prodded once again. "Is there any particular reason you have an issue with today's instruction?"

She heard the tittering laughter amongst some of her fellow students and was reminded of Snape's sneering insult of her teeth in fourth year. She couldn't hold her tongue any longer.

"Nothing beyond the issues I've had with your instruction for the last six years, sir," she replied unthinkingly. She heard Lavender's gasp of surprise in her periphery and cursed her impulsiveness. It had felt good though.

She purposely cast her eyes downward and pretended to consider her book. Regardless of how much she wanted to glare at him, she knew her refusal to meet his gaze was the most prudent action and would more than likely infuriate him more than any comeback could manage.

"Apparently some of Potter's arrogance has rubbed off on you as well. Twenty points from Gryffindor and detention with me tomorrow night for your cheek," he declared.

I see no difference echoed in her brain once again.

"No," she replied before she lost her nerve.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

"No, sir," she repeated as calmly as she could manage. Harry and Ron would never let her live it down if she started yelling at a teacher. Besides, that would be letting him win. As frustrated as she was for letting their confrontation get to this point she refused to let him win.