white liar

before i forget- if you\'ve read about them in the books, i don\'t own them. oh, and forget the movies. my characters are way prettier.



Hermione looked around to make sure all of her belongings had been securely packed. She picked up a grouchy Crookshanks and tucked him away in his basket. Satisfied that everything was in her trunk, she dragged it over to the fireplace.
With a quiet \"incendio,\" the carefully laid fire roared to life. Hermione reached into her pocket and withdrew a pinch of floo powder,shouting \"Hogwarts\" before stepping into the flames, dragging trunk and cat.

***

Snape was pouring coffee when the fire in the teacher\'s lounge turned green. It was probably Minerva returning from a meeting at the Ministry, he thought, as he turned to the table to sit down. He almost spilled his drink when he heard the most hellish noise immaginable coming from the floo. He turned just in time to see a soot-covered woman trying to pull and equally soot-covered cat off her robes.
\"Crookshanks! Stop that right now! It\'s not as if you haven\'t travelled by floo before! Oh... hello Professor.\"

Granger. He should have known. Snape ignored her and sat down, not offering to help her with her heavy-looking trunk. He just hoped the brat would stay out of his way while she was teaching here. He had been informed of Dumbledore\'s decision to hire her at a staff meating a few weeks before and had only said, in his silkiest voice, that he hoped she lasted as long as the other DADA professors. McGonagall had frowned at him and made some inane comment on Granger\'s brilliance, to which he had responded with his most pronounced sneer.
\"Sorry about all that noise. i think the floo must have incinerated Crookshank\'s basket. Seems to have singed his tail as well...\" She paused to examine her cat, not noticing that Snape was ignoring her completely.

Thankfully, Dumbledore walked into the room, cleaned off the soot, performed a healing charm on the monster, gave Granger a hug, levitated the trunk, and accompanied her to the staff quarters. in less than ten minutes, it was as if Granger had never been there at all, and Snape allowed himself to belive that his overactive immagination was to blame. He had almost managed to convince himself when he heard someone stepping out of the floo. This time he did spill his coffee, but it was only Minerva, back from her meeting.

***

\"My dear Hermione, it is wonderful to have you back at Hogwarts! I trust your family is well?\" Dumbledore paused to wait for a moving staircase to put itself to rights.
\"As well as can be expected\" answerd Hermione with a smile. \"School certainly feels like home, even after four years. I\'m happy to be here, despite the circumstances.\" The headmaster looked at her carefully.
\"I\'ll need to see you in my office as soon as you have settled in and had lunch. We must speak of those... circumstances in a place where the wall\'s ears can be trusted. Here are your rooms. I hope you will find them to your liking, and please feel free to make any adjustments you deem necessary.\"
\"Thank you, Professor. I\'m sure everything will be all right.\" Their eyes locked in a moment of understanding. They both knew Hermione didn\'t just mean her rooms. The Headmaster smiled and nodded.
\"Of course. Remember to come to my office.\"

***

Once Hermione had eaten, she walked through the castle to the stone gargoyle that guarded the Headmaster\'s office. Dumbledore was nowhere in sight, and Hermione realized that she had not bothered to ask for the password. It was highly unlikely that he would keep it the same for five years, but Hermione tried anyway. \"Fanged frisbee.\" The gargoyle stayed where it was.
\"It\'s \'candy quill\' now, dear.\" said McGonagall, stepping out from behind a tapestry. \"I apologize for making you wait.\"
Hermione jumped, startled. \"Hello Professor! Erm... will you be joining us?\" she asked.
\"Yes.\" She pointed to the opening staircase \"The Headmaster is waiting.\"
Dumbledore looked as ageless as ever despite the white beard. His eyes were clear behind his half moon spectacles, giving Hermione a glimpse of the power that lay within.
\"I want to thank you for agreeing to do come, Miss. Granger. This is a particularly delicate situation, and I want it to be kept under control without bloodshed. As you know, shortly after Voldemort\'s return to power, Professor Snape went to him and managed to convince him of his unwavering loyalty. He has been providing the order with crucial information since. At the beginning of the summer, he came to me with a particularly disturbing piece of knews: Mister Malfoy has applied to the Arithmancy teaching post under orders from Voldemort as a cover for spy activity.\" Dumbledore paused to let this information sink in. \"If i were to inform the Ministry of his true intentions within Hogwarts, they would insist on removing him, revealing to Voldemort the existance of our own mole. No, even if the the Malfoy bank vault convinced the Ministry otherwise, Voldemort would know we knew and who told us. He would kill Professor Snape, and we would loose one of our most useful spies.\" He looked at Hermione. \"Very few people know of your Auror training, Miss.Granger. You are the best person that can be found to supervise Mister Malfoy without arousing suspicion. It is better to keep a spy we know and can deal with than alert Voldemort to our own sources.\"
\"One thing I don\'t understand, Professor, is why Voldemort would send in Malfoy here in the first place. I mean, he has Professor Snape, right?\" asked Hermione.
\"Voldemort returned to power believing that Severus had betrayed him forever. Young Draco is here to supervise him as much as to spy on me. He will be given appropriate information to take back to his master: nothing too simple, which would reveal our knowledge of him, but nothing that would actually help him. It is best that you speak to Professor Snape as if you knew nothing of his affiliations, true or otherwise. All I want is for Mister Malfoy to be watched and controlled. Make sure he does not harm the students, and try to make it as difficult as possible for him to obtain information.\" The Headmaster rose from behind his deskand walked to the door. \"Professor McGonagall will show you where his quarters are and answer any questions you have about your teaching duties.\" He paused. \"Oh, and Miss.Granger? Profesor Snape is not aware of you being anything other than his collegue. I\'m sure he\'ll eventually discover your true purpose, but for now please don\'t tell him. We don\'t want to endanger him further.\"

***

Professor McGonagall led Hermione to a suit of rooms near her own. \"This is where he will be staying. There are several concealed spyholes that can be accessed from this passage here...\" She showed Hermione a large crevice concealed behind an ornately carved pillar. \"Of course, he will probably add his own wards to the standard staff-room ones, so the spyholes may be completely useless. However, we have made sure that there is nothing that can be linked to you. No connecting passages, or anything like that.\"
Hermione nodded. \"Thank you, and thank you for showing me around. There\'s little I can do when Malfoy isn\'t here, though. I can\'t plant anything in his quarters before he wards them, or the spells will wipe whatever I do out. I\'ll have to work on it once he\'s settled in.\"
\"Of course. Oh, here, your teaching syllabus. I do hope you can handle the students as well as your...other duties. Perhaps you would like a Time Turner?\" Hermione and McGonagall smiled at their private joke. That Time Turner had saved lives in third year... Hermione just wished it had not been in vain.
\"I\'ll leave you now. I\'m sure you must want to rest a bit before dinner. Please remember, if you need help with anything at all, I am still your Head of House.\" McGonagall\'s smile was wobbley, and Hermione could tell she was worried for her.
\"Oh Professor, I\'ll be fine! It\'s mostly a babysitting job, after all! Don\'t worry, I\'ll see you at dinner.\"

***

After unpacking her clothes, Hermione took a quick shower. While her old bathroom had been drab but serviceable, this one sported a huge sunken bath as well as a shower, fountainlike sink, and an enchanted mirror. Hermione reminded herself to be careful of the tub-- she didn\'t want to accidentally fall in. As for the mirror... \"Good lord! Whatever did you do to your hair?!\" it screeched.
\"Oh shut up!\" She went through this every damn time... \"I\'ll tie it back, alright?\"
\"You\'d better!\" Hermione went to hunt down a hair tie. When the mirror finally shut up about her hair, she studied her reflection. OK, her hair really was uncontrollably curly, but other than that, she looked pretty normal. The extra layer of muscle was invisible under her robes, and the few curse scars she had were hard to see anyway. Anyone looking at her would see a plesant-faced young woman with a thin, compact frame and wild hair. Only those who knew her well would notice the new glint in her eyes.
She finished unpacking her books and the few tools she had brought for DADA. She had also packed a smaller trunk very much like the one Moody/Crouch had had in his office, with seven separate locks. It contained, amongst other things, an invisibility cloak, several extra wands, some pre-prepared potions, a Nimbus 2000 broomstick, and a Time Turner. She slid it under her bed and walked down to dinner.


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please review-- keep in mind that this is my first HG/SS fanfic, so feel free to e-mail me with suggestions.