The refugee and the old horse7

Warnings: HBP and DH spoilers




Chapter 6

”Harry… I must ask you something…”
He was chewing on a piece of bread, a few letters spread out in front of him where Hedwig had dropped them.
”I wonder… Do you know of any other woman called Lily? Other than your mom? Any… Death Eater or something…?”
He looked up, a puzzled look on his face. ”No. Why?”
”Ok, then, do you know if she and Professor Snape went to school together?”
He coughed, hiding his mouth behind his hand. ”Well, yes, they were in the same year… Hermione, why are you asking me this?”
She stared at the food and the candles and the pumpkin juice, her hands gripping the table. ”Oh…” she whispered.
”What, Hermione? What is it?”
”He… he mentioned her… sort of”, she said, feeling dizzy.

She had developed a head-ache during breakfast, and the feeling of uneasines still lingered in her stomach. She took out an apple from her pocket, but put it back again, feeling like she was going to puke at the mere sight of it. She tried to concentrate on the stairs, her head spinning with thoughts. Even the ghosts seemed less prominent than usual, with the exeption of Peeves, who floated around, mischievous as ever.

She rapped on McGonagall’s door, not entirely sure what to say. It took some minutes before the door opened, the professor looking weary, her eyes puffy and red as if she had cried recently.
”Oh, Miss Granger” she said. ”Do come in.”
The room was dark, a tartan coat hanging at the door, among with a sample of hats. There were two green leather armchairs and a dark old table standing in front of the fireplace. A bouquet of dying roses spread a slight scent that made Hermione want to sneeze.
”Do sit down” the woman said, pointing at one armchair. ”Some tea? What can I do for you, my dear?” she asked, her voice brittle, as if she could start crying at any moment.

Hermione took a cookie and watched the golden brown tea fill her cup.
”Yes…? Something wrong, Miss Granger…?
”Well… I have some questions…”
”Let’s hear them then.”
She took a sip of the tea. It tasted good, like ripe fruits and vanilla.
”It’s about Professor Snape”, she said.
Professor McGonagall’s appearance shifted from tired but friendly to a face of utter disgust.
”What about him?”
She swallowed, trying to find the words. ”Well… he’s very ill – I know you haven’t visited him, but I’m sure you know that, Professor… He sort of got injured by Buckbeak when… when, you know…”
”Yes, I certainly do know, and I would prefer not to speak about that, Miss Granger.”
”Yes, I understand, Professor… It’s just that… he said things –well, while he was having a fever – and I wonder…”
The Professor straightened in her seat. ”What things?”

Hermione looked out through the window. The sky was clear and blue, a cold sun shining over the Forbidden Forest and the Quidditch Pitch. It was a lovely day, but not a student was out there, no one training Quidditch, nobody taking a walk down at the lake.
”He thought I was Harry’s mom.”
Minerva McGonagall coughed, choking on her tea.
”He said… he said he loved her.”
”Are you quite sure that it was about Mr Potter’s mother, Miss Granger?” the lady asked, her fingers holding on to the armchair, making her knuckles whiten.
”Well… I guessed… I don’t know of anyone else called Lily… And they went to school together, didn’t they? Professor?”

It seemed like the professor had forgotten about her and the room, the tea, the cookies. Her eyes blank, perhaps she remembered something…
”Yes” she said. ”They were friends for a while… I always had the feeling that they had known eachother for sometime even before coming to Hogwarts. He didn’t have any other friends it seemed, he was a very lonely boy, always sitting in the library reading those books –bad books! I didn’t like that at all… No wonder he became…” Her eyes suddenly filled with tears, she fetched a tartan handkerchief from her pocket.

”And then…? What happend?”
”Well… They always sat together in class… I thought it was somehow strange, the lovely little Lily wanting to associate with HIM – but! As I said, I think they were old childhood friends of some sort…
But then, in their forth or fifth year, something happened and I never saw them together anymore after that. Lily was always with her Gryffindor girlfriends, and he… he started to associate with those… those TERRIBLE young men in Slytherin –Lucius Malfoy, Rodolphus Lestrange, Evan Rosier. All those are Death Eaters now, as you sure know.”
Hermione cleared her throat, looking at the old woman. ”So they ceased to be friends?”
”Yes. I always assumed it had something to do with Lily, that he all of a sudden started to hang out with those boys – it didn’t make sense otherwise, you see, him being a halfblood and everything… Something must have happened between them, I learned that he had called her… a… a MUDBLOOD…” She frowned, looking disgusted. ”When I saw him together with those Slytherins, I then guessed that he was driven by some sudden hatred for her…”

Hermione leaned forward, nervously plucking at her skirt. ”But he said… he said ’I’m so sorry, Lily, I love you’ – as if it was still true…”
Professor McGonagall seemed to wake up from her world of memories, setting the tea aside and removing the cookies from the table, her voice suddenly upset:
”Miss Granger! I think you should leave now. I don’t know why I have been telling you these things…”




All characters © JKRowling