Inconvenient

987 39 2
                                    

The thought that Hermione Granger might be a legilimens made him lose his sleep. It had been three days since their last meeting. Three days in which he hadn't slept a wink, nervously wandering between the Manor's library and his bedroom, racking his brain as to how this could have happened and how long it had been going on. Assuming he was right and wasn't actually slipping into a delusional, hallucinogenic state.

But... it made sense that Hermione was a legilimens. All her strange attitudes, all the mysteries that seemed to surround her: that explained everything, from the secrecy with the occlumency lessons to her strange interest in learning the technique. There were still some of his previous questions that remained unanswered, but they had been buried by the mountain of new doubts that hard risen. One in particular gave him goosebumps, causing him the most disparate reactions. On the one hand, he couldn't wait to see her again to understand how this gift of hers worked. On the other, the only hypothesis he had come up with to explain how the gift worked made him want to bury his head in the sand like an ostrich for the rest of his life, or emigrate to another continent and never return.

If Hermione Granger was a legilimens, what had she read in his mind?

***

"What's this?" thundered Cameron's voice haughtily, as she catapulted into Hermione's office, avoiding even the false friendliness of knocking on the door. 

David sat at her desk, and Hermione knew that soon someone would be running into her office to complain. For the sake of her ears she had hoped they would have sent someone else, but she had thankfully reached the level of coolness and mental occlusion necessary to respond in kind without letting her emotions get the better of her. She looked at the woman with a relaxed and indifferent air, pretending not to know what she was holding in her hands.

"This," protested Cameron, unrolling the parchment on which was imprinted the request to redo Lucius Malfoy's trial.

"I don't see what this has to do with my department" Hermione retorted coldly.

"Please," the woman continued. "Everyone in the Winzegamot knows that where this guy's name appears," she said, gesturing to the boy as if he couldn't hear her, "you're involved. And I've been sent to warn you that if you decide to go ahead with this, things won't turn out well, there will be consequences."

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "I don't see how Mr. Bellini's private work can interfere with the work of the sub-department of Magical Creatures"

"Don't play dumb, Miss Granger," insisted Cameron, in a seemingly calmer tone of voice. "Everyone knows that Mr. Malfoy has been looking for you personally recently, and it's all too suspicious that a short time later you come up with this."

Hermione maintained eye contact with the woman, shaking her head as if what she was talking about didn't concern her at all.

"Forgive me, but I can't understand what the Wizengamot is actually asking me," she said, straightening her back in her chair and keeping her shoulders relaxed. "How could I interfere in the private affairs of Mr. Malfoy and his lawyer?"

Cameron inhaled, probably searching for the right words to reply, which, however, she did not find.

"If you don't have anything else to say, Mr. Bellini and I should resume investigating the case of my proposal for the regulation of house elf's work."

The woman spun on her heels with a defeated air, and just as she stood in the doorway, Hermione did not fail to flash her best smile. She hadn't felt this good in a long time. She had regained the energy, the will to retaliate, the desire to rebel and change things that she thought she had lost the day Dumbledore was killed. Her blood boiled with joy and excitement. Her mind was quiet and going great. She no longer invaded the thoughts of those around her, but she could choose of her own free will what and whom to eavesdrop on if she wanted to. It wasn't something she was very proud of, but she definitely possessed an exceptional gift; it would have been a shame not to use it for the change that magical society needed and deserved, wouldn't it?

Legilimens [Dramione]Where stories live. Discover now