Have Strength
Chapter 21 of 40
AuretteSeverus sends Hermione hope.
ReviewedThanks go to Astopperindeath for double-beta duty when this chapter locked itself up and refused to play.
The first dorm was crammed with twenty-four women sitting on eight small beds in almost total darkness. Only the moonlight filtering in through the small, dirty attic window by the ceiling kept us from stumbling over each other.
Dusty had been the last to arrive, and, though she moved slowly, she wasn't as hurt as we all feared.
"The house-elf popped in and popped me out of there before he really got going," she said. "I heard him arguing with Ma outside the infirmary. She had smothered me in so many bandages, I looked like a mummy. Didn't need hardly any of them. Then, I heard her say that he had done damage internally and that the elves wouldn't respond to the Brown Room if a life wasn't in danger. I tell you, she lied, right to his face! Then, she berated him for his lack of restraint and how he was misusing a valuable commodity. "When he was gone, she came back in and vanished the bandages but told me not to leave the infirmary until she said so. She just came in a little while ago and told me to go to bed. She looked dog tired. Depressed.
"What do you think will happen to her if they find out she was protecting me?"
"I think she was just protecting an investment; we're just money to Ma," replied Nadia from across the room.
"I don't know," I said, "She did something similar to me when I was in the infirmary. She looked really upset that I was hurt. I think she does have a conscience, but I'm not sure where she keeps it most times."
"Someone should cultivate her," said Peaches. "Give her a bit of understanding and see how she responds."
"I'll do it," I replied. "I'll work on my gratitude," I added drolly. The others laughed.
"Now let's talk about this little revolution we accidentally started and what we should do about it," I continued. "Our little game has been played for higher stakes than we considered at first. We've not only split the Death Eaters into factions, but now it seems that some of them would like to see an end to the tyranny."
My statement was received with a few gasps but mostly nods of agreement.
"I see some of you have already encountered some comments. Let's share what we know."
I made no mention of my inside source, and Peaches didn't remark on its absence. We spoke for another hour, and when we all shuffled off to our beds, we had a sketchy plan to work with. We had mapped out who we thought was a good candidate for Nott to recruit and who we thought was a liability. The ladies who had been in the Emerald Lounge and had witnessed the spontaneous act of protection of all of us by the younger Death Eaters from Macnair were most vocal in supporting the burgeoning revolt. The others were more cautious and skeptical, and I told them I thought that was a good thing: we needed rational minds and ours were likely to get clouded as the prospect of freedom loomed. It was Maisy who decided we needed to split the team, with some of the girls acting as if they were loyal to the Elders. If we looked like we were forming separate allegiances, perhaps they might be lulled into a false sense of security. Amber, Maisy, Ruby and Nadia volunteered. The meeting broke up, and the ladies drifted off to bed.
Peaches leaned over and spoke in a low voice, "I hope you understand what's happening."
I tilted my head in question.
"You are trying to make it a committee. It's not. They already look to you as a leader, Hermione. You cannot run a revolution by committee. Take command. We need it."
"Why not you?" I snapped back quietly. I wanted freedom, not responsibility.
"I'm not the Princess of Gryffindor, my friend. You are a symbol. Being the last one standing has brought you nothing but pain, I get that. But you are the last living friend of Harry Potter. Own it. There will be time to crawl away and just be a broken doll after we win. For all of us. Right now, they need you to be what you once were."
"A bossy know-it-all?" I groused.
"A threat," she replied.
I gave her a sour look, and she lightly punched me in the arm and crawled into the bed next to mine.
Before we both settled, I turned back to Peaches.
"Tell Nott to cultivate Ma. If the younger ones can suck up to her, maybe she could prove useful to their cause."
"Will do, Boss," she replied.
I huffed out a breath and closed my eyes.
I would have thought that my sleep would be disturbed, that anxiety at all the things that could go wrong would keep me tossing and turning, but that night I slept like the dead.
~*^*~
The rest of the week went smoothly. The girls gave me regular updates on anything they thought was important, and I gave them praise or advice as if I had some right. My fingers itched for parchment; I needed to chart out our information and graph the developing effects, but of course that idea was foolish.
Gossip had it that Macnair's department had suffered a sudden loss of employees and the Dark Lord was unhappy. Rumor had Rookwood in line to take over from him if his revenue didn't improve. Maisy made sure he heard the rumor. She had taken over from Peaches as his favorite, and so far his anger was kept in check. The air in the lounge seethed with tension around Rookwood and Macnair.
I did my best to be more polite to Ma, thanking her for seeing to my care the week before, and obliquely acknowledging her rescue of Dusty. She was surprisingly touched by my gratitude and looked like she wanted to say more, but then shut down and told me sternly to go on about my business. However, after that I noticed a more pleasant manner as she introduced me to whichever new man had bought my time, and during the day she would often smile and cluck as she pulled imaginary lint from my shoulder in a strangely mothering way. I soon had all the girls treating her with more respect, and she responded in kind. Odd that after five years in her service, we only found out now that Ma was actually a decent sort, either that or Stockholm syndrome worked in reverse as well.
On Friday night, Nott again claimed my services.
We made our way up the stairs to a little-used room in the east wing. The bed had bad springs, but it had comfortable chairs. I was guessing he wasn't interested in the bed.
Once we were in and seated, I poured the tea, letting Nott gather his thoughts. He looked excited but also surer of himself, more confident than when we had last spoken.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bit of black cloth. He enlarged it with a wave of his wand, and I saw it was a formal Death Eater robe. He handed it to me and gestured at my garments.
"Thank you," I said as I stood and shrugged on the robes. As I surrounded myself in the voluminous cloak, I recognized the smell that was wafting up from the fabric. Severus. I buried my nose in the folds before I had a chance to think about what I was doing and then froze. Too late. I looked up to see Nott's look of smug satisfaction.
"He told me not to shrink them down to size. That you liked them that way."
I'm afraid I just stood there staring at him like a frightened rabbit with bunched up cloth in my fists.
"Thank you, Granger. For urging me to see him. Very clever bit of work that, 'look in his eyes'. Well played."
I sighed and sat back down.
"You needed a leader. You had the right attitude, but no plan. I figured he would be able to judge best how much you should know."
"Well, he's let me in on a good bit of it. Enough anyway. We're to protect you from Macnair without drawing attention to you unnecessarily. And we are to listen to any news or advice you have."
He reached into his pocket again and pulled out a quill and some ink, and a flick of his wand enlarged some parchment.
"He also wanted you to write some letters."
"Why? To whom?"
"He said that there were two people that he tried to contact with new developments in the last few months, but they suspect him and won't bite. He wanted you to write something that would convince them you are really Hermione Granger, something only they would know. He will see that they are delivered so that we could try to gain their trust. Ask them to cooperate without writing something that will get us all disemboweled if the letter falls into the wrong hands."
My mouth went dry, and I had to drink some tea before I could ask my burning question. Two, there were two people alive that would want to help if they knew Snape was really trying to save me. I didn't know who I wanted them to be the most. Another sip of tea and I let my curiosity have its way.
"Who?"
"I don't know." He held a hand up to forestall my onslaught of questions. "He said you would know, that it was better if I didn't yet. One, he called the Romanian Dragon Boy," Charlie! "and the other, he called your Broom Artist."
"My broom artist?"
"Yeah, he said it just like that. Kind of bitter."
The penny dropped. Viktor Krum. I couldn't remember anything Viktor ever did to incur the dislike of Severus. Perhaps something else happened during that long ago tournament that I was not privy to.
"Do you know who he means?" I nodded. "I'll leave you to it, then. I'm going to rest. It's been a long day."
With that he walked over and stretched out on the bed, which gave with a metallic groan. I should have picked a better room after all.
I leaned over and rolled the parchment out on the table. Charlie Weasley was alive and Severus knew how to contact both him and Viktor! I sat and remembered the last time I had seen both of them. It was Bill and Fleur's wedding feast. I had to mentally shove the memories away, because the faces of all the guests started to pile up in my mind and my psyche started to rebel at the pain. I was sure both of them would help if I asked; I just had to find the correct words.
I was unsure what to write, or rather, how to write it. I picked up the quill several times and dropped it just as often. Finally, I sat back from the table and pulled myself into the folds of Severus' cloak until not even my toes peeked out. If I closed my eyes, I could imagine he was right here with me. On a whim, I started to rifle through his pockets, searching for something else of his I could hold. I found a scrap of parchment and pulled it out. I unfolded it and looked at the words.
"H.- "Until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is summed up in these two words,--'Wait and hope'." -Alexandre Dumas. Have Strength,-S."
I pressed a hand to my lips, silenced the half laugh, half sob that tried to escape. He knew I would search his pockets. Of course he did. I turned his missive over and, after a moment's thought, scribbled my own reply.
S.-"It is necessary to have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live." -A. Dumas, I do not doubt. -H.
Stuffing the note back into his pocket, I leaned forward and wrote my letters. It wasn't that difficult after all; I just needed a reminder that it was not foolish to hope anymore. Fate had dealt us all a harsh blow, to be sure, but I strongly believed that now, with this man at my back, fate could be forced to her knees.
I woke Nott when I was done, and he soon left with my notes. All three of them.
It was the next night that I saw Severus, but not in the way I would have expected.
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Latest 25 Reviews for The Princess of Gryffindor
597 Reviews | 6.94/10 Average
I agree with Mick42 in the sense that I don't like the Voldemort won/everyone's dead/Hermione's a whore stories. I avoid them like the plague. I decided to give this one a go based on the reviews. I was very, very skeptical. There were aspects to the writing that I didn't like, such as it being written in first person, but the memorial scene alone made it well worth the read. I may have shed a tear (or 10).
Wow...just wow. Now I know why all of these other reviewers have shed a tear. I am a mess. Still smiling tho'! Captivating read. Kudos!
Yay, all finished. It's been a while since I've read this, so I had forgotten a lot of the details in the ending chapters, but I still love it as much as I did the first time I read it. You have my in tears reading the end couple of chapters now, but that's terribly easy to do to a pregnant woman, so don't worry too much lol.
I just love Snape, have I ever mentioned that? I do. And it's stuff like this in stories- him vowing to protect Hermione- that make me love him even more..
This is one I've read before, on ffnet I think, but I have to read it here too, it just seems impossible not to reread your favorite stories when you come across them somewhere. The bonus is that you already know you love the story, even if you can't remember all the details between point A and A.D.
My dear Aurette,I have spent half of yesterday and all of today re-reading this unbelievable story. Half of the time, I've been a sobbing, sopping mess - when S&H were gathering forces and found people who were still alive, the whole Harry and Ron speaking to Hermione from the great beyond, the memorial scene (holy crap, talk about sobbing!), reuniting with Minerva's ghost, and the list goes on. I love the plot of the story. I love your numerous OCs. I love how the young DEs revolt. I love how forces from all sides join together to fight the Dark Lord. I love the romance between S&H. I love how utterly vulnerable he is to her, and she to him. I love how wizarding society hero-worships Snape in the end. I love So Many Things about this story. If my heart could take it, I'd start it all over again, but I really wasn't exaggerating when I said I was sobbing half the time I was reading. This might sound odd, but reading this today, US Memorial Day, just makes it seem even more poignant. But I do think it's honoring to RL sacrifices by reading about fictional ones. Thank you so much for this absolutely wonderful story, and for giving me such an enjoyable (if teary and snotty) way to spend my day off.Love,Christev
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
{{{hugs}}}What a beautiful thing to say. I am deeply touched and honored. Thank you, Christev.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
{{{hugs}}}What a beautiful thing to say. I am deeply touched and honored. Thank you, Christev.
Heartbreaking and wonderful and worth rereading. Thank you for sharing this.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
I'm so glad you enjoyed. ;-)
Just re-read this and had to mention: Best Epilogue Ever. Why couldn't you have given JK a few pointers? ;-p
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
LOL! She never asked... Thank you!
I've just flown through the last several chapters, held in thrall to this story! This is just genius, you know, starting at a place of total desolation - this terrible post-war dystopia - and taking all the elements from DH (the prophecy from Severus, the Hallows, even walking beside the dead and moving with them before returning to earth - thanks particularly for including Draco with the others), using them as they were meant to be used, finding another way of stopping Voldemort and reenvisioning a new world in the aftermath.
And I love seeing Snape marked as the Man Who Lived! And a father! And the Minister! (And that proposal? Mmm-hmm... clearly, he has caught on to everything Hermione's been teaching him!)
You strike such a great balance between comedy and high drama. It's such a pleasure to read.
Oh, Goyle. Goyles will be Goyles, I suppose!"I think you have just been metaphorically peed on." Oh, I love this line... particularly since Severus' possessiveness towards Hermione is such a strong part of his character (which is why his reluctant willingness to 'share' Hermione rather than lose her was SO terribly shocking).
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
Thank you! And I think, by his behavior in this chapter, you can see he tacitly took those words... back.
Response from ofankoma (Reviewer)
Oh, absolutely! That's what's so marvelous to see in this Snape. He acts impulsively so often, and then immediately knows that it's not what he really wanted, and is slowly learning to keep it all in check as he accepts the fact that she really loves him and that he's truly safe with her.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
Hannah and Neville! Woo-hoo! (You can just feel the little triumphs along the way - things are getting brighter all the time!) And the lack of trust between all parties involved... yes, that feels completely, completely believable.(Also,I don't know that I've ever met an original character that I've liked, but Peaches is fantastic. Just fantastic. You make me change my mind on a lot of things, I think...)
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
I intentionally started this tale as dark as I could make it, and then slowly let the light in. Neville and Hannah were such a beacon of hope...
Ah, the trust between the two as they examine the girls! And her red robes... yes, I imagine Severus doesn't want Hermione in anything less than a high-necked robe in front of her old beau.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
Trust is something they thought they had, but as you can see, they are both too emotionally unsophisticated to not end up with issues.
Whoa, whoa, whoa... Elder Goyle and Ma are two revelations here, aren't they? As for the former, it really makes me wonder (again and again) what Voldemort's plan was 'when' he won. Why cheat Death if you have nothing to live for? For someone as hypothetically long-sighted as he was (looking to an eternity of power and control over the wizarding world), he's remarkably short-sighted here (what do you do now that you've won?). You raise all sorts of fascinating questions here. And Ma, with the Veritaserum? Grand.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
Ma was intended to just be a stock vilain, but she elbowed her way toward three dimentional. I was very happy with the way she worked out.
The robes! Wonderful, wonderful, all around, from Hermione's comfort in them and the note exchange.Charlie and Viktor? You're really getting things moving here, aren't you? Momentum. You're really a master with creating a momentum that just pulls a reader through the story. I don't mean just here, but everything I've read up til now - it's so well paced and unfolds so naturally. In case I haven't said this in a chapter or two, thanks so much for sharing this.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
I was very attuned to the pacing of this tale. It was my very first mult-chaptered fic and getting the pacing down right was one of my primary concerns. Thank you so much for reviewing it!
Hooray! I love what you've done with Theo Nott. The second guessing and the regret shows how easy it was for misguided, then-ambivalent people to latch on to Voldemort's coat tails. (Cloak tails?) Very like Severus at that age, no?You're also hilarious, but I suspect you know that. "Conjure myself some decent clothes?" FABULOUS.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
Exactly! I saw Theo as not being wildly different from young Snape, just perhaps a bit more entitled. I am so glad you liked this.
Wow. There are so many things I love, love, love in this chapter. First off, the relationship between Severus and the Malfoys. (Ach, and the horror of their deaths!) Next, Dumbledore's attitude. I, for one, have a tendency to vilify the man. Reading the repentance he shows here makes me rethink a lot of things about him. (So thank you for challenging me!) But you're right - we have a lot of evidence in DH that there are many unspoken things in his past that explain his present actions. And, of course, it's just a relief to see that he finally has someone to tell all this to, someone who will care for him and stand by him through it all. This is just wonderful, and I'm completely loving your writing and this story!
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
I also have a tendancy to vilify Dumbledore, but I know that was never JKR's intention, so every so often I try and reset my thinking. Then I backslide. lol.
There are so many reasons I love this story... wonderful narrative flow, seamless incorporation of canon devices (Hallows! Can't wait to see them in action!), a fresh perspective on the nature of evil in the Voldemort regime, a place to see regrets worked out and atoned for.But the single greatest reason why this is so fabulous is your clear vision of your characters. What we know of them from JKR is fleshed out so beautifully here, and it's not a happy-go-lucky, cleaned up and sanitized version of the very broken people we know (and love), but a hard look at the mistakes they make and how they learn together to move on and forgive one another in a much deeper understanding of who the other really is.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
This chapter was my impetus for writing the whole fic. I wanted to get to this scene. Of course, once I did, I then had a Ministry to over throw... lol.
Oh, now that's interesting... incorporating the Hallows? I think this means we'll get to see some action from the Elder Wand (killing Voldemort?), the Resurrection Stone (Harry and Ron?), and the Invisibility Cloak (I have no idea on this one... it's useful in so many ways). I can't wait to see where they lead!
Severus' thoughts on the ambition of Voldemort five years out are interesting... it certainly does make you wonder - what would Tom have done had he won? Did he have a plan in place? I mean, the fear of ignominious death aside, what was really motivating his actions? What did he envision for the Wizarding world?
There's much that I enjoy in this chapter... the way they recognize each other as being, really, the only people left on earth (that we know of so far) who can really see one another is fantastic. Antarctica banter with penguins! 'Whoever had broken this man deserved to burn in hell.'What I found myself wishing I had here was Hermione's musings on her own sexual history. Was she a virgin before she was enslaved here? I found I wanted this when she first talked about her position as a whore with Snape as well... I just want it sometime. (Maybe it's coming up later? We'll see!) There seems to be space for her to say that she's still a virgin (so to speak) with a great deal of this as well. And defend her innocence. Since she never kissed Ron in the final battle (AU breaks off earlier here, right?), has she even been kissed?
Response from ofankoma (Reviewer)
(Because Severus very well may be right in trying to stop her... for her own peace of mind, certainly, and for the fact that she's been traumatised for years there. Another sexual experience now may not be helpful on the road to recovery, and he'd certainly be remiss if he didn't know the situation before letting her have her way with him...)
The harpsichord? That's hilarious. Does she tune it herself, as well? All the descriptions of this place add up to a bizarre, depressing, garish nightmare. It's like everyone tossed in their leftovers and out popped a brother, or several people's lives just vomited out all their extras on the (Voldemort-run) street.
Ah, Draco. I'm sad to hear he's lost. I have a soft spot for him as one of the people who gave Severus a will to go on in HBP and DH. I would have liked seeing your Snape deal with him.
That last long paragraph on the enigma of Snape? Spot on. It sums up why he's such a fascinating character in canon: powerful and powerless, beautiful and ugly, lauded and humiliated. The ambiguity of him is so rich, and not in the Dumbledore 'we sort too soon' sort of way, claiming that he's truly a Gryffindor at heart merely because he's on the side of good.
As to protection, well, that's another one of the strongest themes attached to him in canon, isn't it? He's constantly fighting to protect people - even people he despises -and he prepares them all to do the same. Your Hermione's a lucky girl...
Well done, you.
Hmm... "I, too, practice self-denial?" I think he might practice a few kinds of denial here, since he did just move to kiss her. (Of course, perhaps poor Severus doesn't know any better. He missed out on the 'What not to do whilst visiting a whorehouse' lesson in finishing school.) I greatly appreciate a post-DH Snape who doesn't know what to do with a woman... after all, when you poke around in canon, it seems fairly obvious that his social calendar was empty.
I also enjoy the dynamic you're setting up between Hermione and Peaches, the latter of whom is clearly in control of her own destiny in a way that Hermione just isn't... yet.
And...Harry and Ron? What?!?
Oh, gravy! Lime-green peignoirs and silver mules? This is a high class establishment poor Hermione's stuck in. (Although the lime-green clothing is oddly reminiscent of St. Mungo's...)
I love a phrase like "She floated in like a frigate in full sail." Really, the oppressing shabbiness of the place is overwhelming. I'm so very wary of new characters, so I'm really hoping I will like yours... Peaches, maybe yes? Ma, maybe no. Unless we do know Ma or Angel already and they're just under aliases like the Princess?
Drinking Cocoa enticed me back here to revisit this wonderful, deep, rich tale once again, when I should be doing my own writing and in other ways getting the heap of papers on my desk cleared and sorted (not to mention getting to bed at a decent hour). But, no, I had to swallow this beautiful work whole once again, rediscovering all its complexities and marvels, emotions and heatbreak, fascinations and intricacies. And it is now nearly 2am, and I can at last climb into my solitary little bed, wrapped in the warmth of some quite satisfying and delicious writing. Thank you.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
I thank you, truly, for your revisiting this story. Nothing is more satisfying than knowing it is apreciated on a second reading as well. :-)
I give it five years before Brilliant figures out how to spell that journal open and gets the shock of her young life hahahaha.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
LOL! Oh, that would be Brilliant! You need to write that fic!
Response from StarryEyedNoOne (Reviewer)
I haven't wrote HP fanfic since I was the age of a first year lol. I pray to any diety that's listening that NONE of it is still floating aroung out there. :-\
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
LOL! I understand. I once read that if you aren't embarrased by something you wrote a year ago, you are no longer growing as a writer. Hell, I get embarrassed over things I wrote last week...