The Owl Cometh

Disclaimer: I solemnly swear that I am up to no good. JK Rowling owns it all, but I promise to return her characters in 'like-new' condition when I am done with them.

When Hermione went to bed Friday night, she'd expected to toss and turn for hours in an attempt to try to sort through the events of the evening. It was surprising, therefore, when she woke up late Saturday morning with only a vague recollection of her head hitting the pillow. She strongly suspected that she'd been slipped something again, and upon finding Ginny reading in the drawing room, the younger witch confirmed her suspicions.

"I'm sorry, Hermione, it was only a bit of Calming Draught," replied the redhead, ducking her head in fear of Hermione's wrath.

"Ginny, why would you drug me?" Hermione implored, while trying to keep her simmering anger under control. "Don't you think enough people did that yesterday?"

"I know, Hermione. Honestly, it wasn't you I was trying to drug. I wanted to slip some Calming Draught to Harry. Well, at first I was going to put it just in his teacup, but then I worried that I'd give someone the wrong cup, so I went ahead and added the Calming Draught to the entire pot of tea. So, really... if you think about it... I didn't give you anything that I didn't give the rest of us. I mean, honestly, did you want to deal with Harry last night without it?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "He wouldn't have been that bad."

Ginny snorted. "You didn't see him after you left the Burrow last night. He loves you, Hermione, but trust me... the Calming Draught I put in the tea was the only thing that kept us all from getting upset. I mean, think about it, you not only announced that there was no way you'd ever marry my brother, but that your affections lay with Dumbledore's murderer!"

The small bit of anger that had been simmering within Hermione was now at full boil. "He's NOT a murderer! He was..." Her words were cut off when a smiling Ginny stood up and grabbed Hermione's arms gently.

"I know, Hermione. I know. Thank you, by the way, for illustrating my point. See how riled up you got in just a couple of minutes? Besides, I doubt that you would've been able to sleep last night if I hadn't spiked the tea."

Relaxing when she realized that she (and Professor Snape) weren't under attack, Hermione sighed, exhaling some of the tension in her body. "I guess you're right. You just can't blame me for being upset about that, Ginny."

Squeezing Hermione's arms affectionately before dropping her hands to her sides, Ginny nodded. "No, I don't blame you, but it wasn't that you were singled out. I just didn't want any fights. It really helped Harry, and probably me, too."

"Speaking of... where is Harry?"

"He went back to the Burrow to see how Ron is this morning. Don't worry. Ron will be staying there for a few days," Ginny reassured her, upon seeing Hermione's worried look.

"I appreciate that, Ginny."

"You're welcome. Harry and I both think it's best that Ron spend some time away, and Mum seems to think that, too." Ginny noticed Hermione's grimace at the mention of Mrs. Weasley and wisely decided to steer clear of the topic. "So, what are you going to do today?"

Hermione sighed. "I'm going to try to sort through everything that happened last night and see if I can figure some things out."

"What kind of things? Anything you want to talk about?" Ginny asked. Her voice was laden with concern, although Hermione could also detect a slight bit of eagerness at the chance to hear details about Hermione's love life... or lack thereof.

"No, thanks. I just need to see if I can figure out what I'm doing. I... there's just a lot to think about," Hermione answered with a shake of her head.

"Whatever it is that you're thinking about, Hermione, everything will be all right," the younger woman replied. "Take your time thinking, analyzing, and planning... it is, after all, what you do best."

Chuckling softly in spite of herself, Hermione had to agree. "I think that's what I'm going to go do now, actually. I really need to get some of this figured out."

"Okay, Hermione. If you need anything, though, I'll be here."

Clearly recognizing the genuineness of Ginny's offer, Hermione felt somewhat comforted. "Thank you."

~ * ~

Ron was sitting on the old rock wall that bordered the garden at his parents' home. He'd not lived there in at least two years, although he felt as if he'd moved out long before. He'd been out here since dawn this morning, watching the sun rise and trying to figure out where he'd gone wrong. In a way, he was glad that his mum had insisted he stay there for the night, but he strongly suspected that she'd tell him he had to stay for longer.

Part of him was dying to go home and confront Hermione... another part of him never wanted to see the witch again.

Well, that's not true, he conceded nearly the moment after he thought it. He was angry with her, but she was one of his oldest and dearest friends. No matter what, he'd always want to be friends with her. That didn't stop him, though, from trying to figure out where he'd gone wrong.

"It must be because I dated Lavender!" he said aloud.

"This has nothing to do with you dating Lavender Brown during sixth year," came a voice from behind him.

Ron turned his head and nodded to his approaching friend. "How do you know it has nothing to do with that, Harry? Did she tell you something?"

The dark-haired, bespectacled young man ran his hands through his hair and sighed. Sitting down on the wall next to his friend, he answered, "No, Ron. Hermione really didn't tell me much of anything. I think she was too tired to have an in-depth conversation last night. But what I do know is that she was appalled at what you did to her."

Ron's face reddened at the reminder of his blunder.

"Ron, I don't know what possessed you to do that to her, but really... If I were her, I'd be furious with you. Bloody hell! I am angry with you. How could you do that to her?" Harry jumped off of the wall and began pacing in his frustration.

"I know, Harry. I really shouldn't have done that. It was wrong. I was just hoping... I don't know what I was hoping." Ron sighed. "Well, that's not true. I had envisioned giving Hermione the Veritaserum and forcing her to admit her love for me and then... er... then I was going to propose to her," he said, looking down at his shoes.

"I thought as much," Harry admitted. "Not that I think it was a stellar plan, mind. For one thing, you can't jump from Point A to Point C without going through Point B. Even if you had gotten the profession of love you were looking for, you'd have to slip her something a lot stronger than Veritaserum to get her to agree to marry you before you'd ever even dated."

"Well, I wasn't planning on marrying her tomorrow, Harry. I just expected that if we were committed to each other that it would help. I thought she just needed a push. Admitting how she felt about me was supposed to liberate her so that we could be free to have our relationship."

Harry snorted. "Well, I think that you liberated her, all right."

"It wasn't supposed to work that way!" Ron cried, jumping to his feet. "She was supposed to profess her love to ME! Fuck, Harry! Did you hear what she said? She said that she 'didn't feel that way' about me! She said she 'fancied' a fucking murderer! A murderer, Harry!" Ron walked up to his friend and looked him in the eye. "I don't care if he was acquitted! The bloody Wizengamot was high on Billywigs! He killed Dumbledore!"

"I know, Ron," Harry answered, grabbing Ron's arms gently in a half-hearted attempt to placate his friend. Truthfully, Harry understood Ron's anger. The other man was voicing his own fears, but now was not the time to go jumping off his broom while it was still soaring upwards. Harry knew that in this situation it was best to leave Hermione alone for a bit; he was confident that she'd come to her senses if given enough time.

Not much calmer, Ron shook Harry's hands off of him. "Do you know what the term 'fancy' means? Well, I do. I looked it up," he stated with venom as he pulled a small bit of parchment out of the pocket of his robes. He scanned the list of definitions, mumbling under his breath until he found what he was looking for. "Here! Amorous or romantic attachment; love."

Harry grabbed the list from him and read it quickly. Rolling his eyes, he pointed to another item on the list. "Or it can mean this: To like. Nothing wrong with that, Ron," he said, handing the paper back to his friend.

Grumbling, Ron shoved the parchment back in his pocket. Before he could say anything else, however, an owl swooped down from overhead, dropping a scroll on his head before it flew off again. Ron grabbed the scroll; noting the Ministry seal, he quickly opened it. "It's Saturday. What the hell are they doing sending me something on a Saturday?"

"Maybe they sent it yesterday," Harry supplied.

"Not bloody likely," Ron scoffed, unrolling the scroll and beginning to read.

Harry noted that Ron's normally pink face began to pale by the second to the point where even his freckles seemed to fade. "What is it?" Assuming the worst, he asked, "Hermione didn't press charges, did she?"

Ron only answered by shaking his head to Harry's question. He was still trying to process everything he was reading; the only word he could manage to utter was, "Fuck."

"What is it?" Harry repeated.

In response, Ron shoved the letter at Harry, still unable to speak.

Harry's eyes ran over the document and only one word could sum up what he was thinking. Passing the parchment back to Ron, he simply said, "Fuck."

"Yeah, fuck."

~ * ~

Hermione spent the rest of Saturday sifting through all of the details of the previous evening and writing them down. In the course of one day, she broke her finest quill, and used over half of a bottle of ink and several feet of parchment. She wrote down everything that she remembered had happened. This was no small feat, as her mind had been slightly fuzzy during the incident. The act of writing actually helped her to remember the small details that had evaded her the night before.

It took all of Saturday for Hermione to sort through all of the details and record them. After detailing the events, she began to make lists. Hermione liked lists; they were an organized way for her to go through her thoughts.

By Sunday, she'd felt the need to try to distance herself from everything, hoping that by doing so she'd be able to relax. Typically, when she felt the need to clear her mind, she'd go for a walk in the Hogwarts cemetery. Though some found such a thing morbid, Hermione found it very peaceful. It always gave her the opportunity to remember those who had come before her and the contributions they'd made to the world... it was a chance to focus on other people instead of her own problems.

This Sunday, however, Hermione didn't feel comfortable going to Hogwarts. She still had much to sort out regarding one of the school's residents. Instead, she settled for an afternoon walking through one of the local parks near her parents' house. She spent the afternoon watching the children play and remembering what the world had looked like to her when she'd been that age.

No matter how hard she tried, however, thoughts of Ron, Mrs. Weasley, and Severus Snape continued to seep into her mind.

Sitting on a park bench, Hermione stared out at the small pond in front of her, finding peace in the tranquil water. If she was going to be honest with herself, she had to admit that she felt bad about what had happened with the Weasleys. Deep down inside, she could acknowledge that there'd been a reason why she hadn't pursued a relationship with Ron. Hermione knew this, but she had just been trying to avoid the issue rather than deal with it head-on, like she should have done. The only thing that she could blame it on was her desire not to hurt her friends in the aftermath of war. And crushing Ron's illusions would have hurt him. It was for this reason alone that Hermione quickly realized that, no matter what, she'd forgive him.

She would not, however, be forgiving Molly Weasley any time soon. Hermione felt more betrayed by that woman than she did by Ron. In one fell swoop, Mrs. Weasley had completely and totally humiliated her. Of course, Hermione doubted Molly saw it that way. The matriarch assumably felt like she was completely in the right in seeking out information for her son. However, Hermione felt that the woman had betrayed a trust and a bond. Not that they were overly close, but Hermione had always looked up to the older witch. She'd respected her and felt that she was a kind, motherly woman.

Now, Hermione knew the truth. Hermione allowed a smile to form as she remembered what she'd said to the older woman to get her to leave the room.

Recalling that event, however, led Hermione to thinking about exactly whom Molly's exit had left her with – and Hermione wasn't thinking about the redhead.

After pouring out all of her memories on paper, Hermione did her best not to think about Severus Snape. This worked about as well as telling herself not to think of a purple polka-dotted Hippogriff.

To say that she was confused about her feelings for the man would be a gross understatement. Hell, she wasn't even certain what her feelings for the man had been before the Veritaserum incident. Now she had to sort through the way he treated her. When she'd made her list, she'd become wholly aware of all of the sexual innuendos the man had made. At the time, the few remarks had merely shocked her. Now, however, she wondered what exactly would have possessed him to say such things. Surely there'd been more effective ways for him to keep her off-balance?

From what she recalled, Snape hadn't seemed overly thrilled with her little announcement. The man simply sneered and snarled at her, until...

Not unless you want me to.

Hermione let out an involuntary shiver at the memory of his breath tickling the back of her neck when he'd made that little remark after Minerva had tried to reassure her that Snape couldn't give her detention. For a brief moment, Hermione entertained the idea of going back to the school, pounding on his door, and begging him for detention. She quickly reminded herself, though, that she had no idea what he truly thought of her. The man had done a very good job of confusing her.

It had been an evening of having to stay on her toes and keep her wits about her... at a time when it was extremely difficult to do either. She could not figure out his motives. And then his words in the Potions lab had confused her further.

Trust me.

What the hell was that supposed to mean? Hermione had been almost certain that he'd been about to kiss her. Why would he do that? The only answers Hermione could come up with were either that he was toying with her again, or that the man was truly attracted to her in some way. Yeah, or he was just curious how you'd react.

There was no use in trying to figure out what Severus Snape was thinking. Quite frankly, Hermione was certain that Snape would let her know if he was interested in her. But even if he was, she wasn't certain how she felt about him. It was a long way from being somewhat physically attracted to someone and admiring them for things they'd done to getting to know them. And Hermione had a sinking suspicion that Severus was not the easiest person to get to know, not to mention that she was certain there were things about him she might not want to know.

There I go, putting the finished potion before the brewing. It's a moot point, she reminded herself. None of that mattered unless the man was interested in her, and so far she hadn't heard anything at all from him.

She growled softly and stood up. Slowly she made her way out of the park towards a nearby alleyway so she could Apparate home.

Monday morning found Hermione back in the confines of her office, sitting at her desk and attempting to focus on the pile of paperwork that was demanding her attention. With a soft Pop! a scroll appeared on top of the Portkey requests. Grabbing it and breaking the Ministry seal, Hermione unrolled it and read.

Dropping the scroll to rub her temples in an attempt to eliminate the suddenly forming headache, she muttered the only word that seemed appropriate, "Fuck."

A/N: Sorry this took a bit longer to post. I got a bit side-tracked when another plot bunny attacked. (Quite viciously.) I'll try to get the next chapter up on time, though. :)

Thanks to SnarkyRoxy and JuneW, betas extraordinaire!