Albus replied in that infuriatingly calm way of his. "You are of course correct in both your assumptions Minerva, that is something that should never have been mentioned in such a public place."
She had expected no other answer. "What about 'handling the school's finances would be good experience for you Minerva - give you practice for when you're headmistress.' In light of the fact we now know you were barred from doing business with Gringotts at the time, would you agree you are a manipulative, lying bastard?"
Minerva never gave Albus time to conjure more lies, she just kept right on after him. "Every time you told me Harry Potter was fine was nothing but a bloody lie - you had no idea of the child's condition or welfare. He could have been locked in a cupboard for all you knew. What will you do when this story breaks, as you know it must?"
"My great age has at least taught me at least one thing. Problems are like bridges - best crossed when you come to them."
"...And the scar you wanted to leave young Harry with? It looks as if that was another of your decisions the goblins didn't agree with." "It would appear so Minerva."
"Since you've spent the last ten years lying to me, you no longer have the right to use that name headmaster. Oh, and get that thing out the third floor corridor otherwise I'll go over your head and see it's taken care of myself. It would be a shame to have a decade of experience running this place and not get the chance to be headmistress. It goes or you do!" Minerva marched out of Dumbledore's office, her threat hung there though - as real as any of the paintings in the room.
"Pomona, could you please tell Minerva that there is really no point in heading for Little Whining. The Dursleys had moved by the time I went back to have more discussions with them that summer."
Pomona left to check on her friend but Filius had a parting comment for the two who were going to remain. "Mr Crow is a Ravenclaw, and bound by law not to associate with both of you. If I should discover either of you attempting to break that law, I'm willing to see how much of Master Silvershard's teachings I remember."
Filius strode out of there, leaving two thoughtful figures behind.
It was Snape who finally broke the painful silence. "Do you think the brat knows about the prophecy?"
"The boy knows far too much for my liking!"
-oOoOo- Hermione was up early and hurrying down to the common room, she didn't want there to be the slightest chance she would miss Harry for breakfast. Not only did she not miss Harry, Hermione ran right into him as he raced through the Ravenclaw entrance.
This collision had an unexpected effect on the young witch, it solidified Hermione's views on the three faces of her friend. His first was clearly Harry, the boy who had sat and chatted for hours with her on the train yesterday. His second face was the one he showed the public, Hermione considered this his Harry Crow personality - with a touch of Pride and Prejudice thrown in for good measure. The young witch now had his third persona clearly etched in her mind, and what a picture it was. Gone was any pretence of the suave Mr Darcy, Hermione thought this Harry was more likely to be the son of Zeus and Hera. Here was a young Ares who was obviously in training, and he looked very good for it.
His hair was tied back in a short ponytail and Harry now wore his new sword strapped on his back. It was the roman like tunic, made of some animal hide, that really held her attention though. That it fitted him like a second skin really emphasised his physique, Hermione couldn't help but think Harry was amazingly developed for someone his age. His tunic was as black as his hair and glistened nearly as much as a clearly sweating Harry. She also just happened to notice that the tunic stopped well above his knees. He offered his apology for running into her before mumbling something about needing a shower. Saying he would be back down shortly, Harry then headed up the stairs at speed. Unable to take her eyes off him, Hermione watched Harry every step of the way.
Hermione giggled to herself, laughing at the thought of her mum and dad's reactions to the first letter she would be writing home. Her parents were in for quite a few shocks from their bookish daughter. Not only did she have a best friend at Hogwarts, Hermione needed her mum to send some exercise clothes as soon as possible! If morning exercises made Harry look that good, then Hermione Granger just had to give it a try.
Hermione was sitting at breakfast, contemplating over her sausage, egg and bacon how anyone's life could change as much as hers had in the space of just a few days. Of course, to say the boy sitting next to her played a part in that would be a massive understatement. The more she got to know Harry, the more of an enigma he became.
Even his owl had to be different. Not only was it a beautiful snowy owl, Harry claimed Eargit was a free spirit that would never allow herself to be placed in a cage. She'd flown ahead to Hogwarts and just arrived on his shoulder whenever he wanted to send a letter to his father. The graceful bird of prey had also taken Hermione's first letter home to Crawley.
That this beautiful bird was named after a goblin Harry had read about in a history book was something she approved of. That was until she discovered the goblin's full name was Eargit the Ugly, and the goblin was male. Harry shrugged it off as goblin humour but Hermione felt an involuntary shudder travel down her spine, she suddenly had this image of Harry naming one of his children Albus Severus. That just wasn't funny no matter what culture you ran it through, both men gave Hermione the creeps. For some reason, the headmaster seemed to embody everything her parents had continually warned their little girl about as she grew up. 'Don't talk to strangers' and 'Never accept sweets from strangers' had been recurring themes from her mum and dad. Perhaps it was because Hermione couldn't think of anyone she'd ever met being stranger than the headmaster. He tried hard to portray himself as a jovial grandfather figure but, every time he looked at Harry, his eyes betrayed him. This put Albus Dumbledore near the top of Hermione's shit list.
Top spot was already taken though, the school's resident potions professor was way out in front. When Dumbledore looked at Harry, it was more covetous. Like Harry had something the headmaster really wanted. With Snape, it was pure, unadulterated and undisguised hatred. She was very grateful that they wouldn't have to take any strolls down to his dungeon lair. Snape just screamed 'black and white horror movie creep' to the young witch. Give him a moustache he could twirl the ends of and he would be the perfect archetypal villain. Suddenly she had this image of him as Dick Dastardly, with Malfoy starring as Muttley!