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// 11949
//== Self Actualization, Pt 3

// 11950
//Hermione wasn’t feeling very nice right now, or Good either, there was a hot
//ball of anger burning inside her and she wondered if this was something like
//Harry’s darkness (though it probably wasn’t even close) and she shouldn’t have
//felt that way over some silly little game but -

// 11951
//Her whole army. Two soldiers had beaten her whole army. That was what she’d
//been told after she woke up.

// 11952
//It was a little too much.

// 11953
//“Well,” Professor Quirrell said. From up close the Defense Professor didn’t
//look quite as healthy as he had the last time she’d been in his office; his
//skin looked paler, and he moved a little slower. His expression was as stern as
//ever, and his gaze as penetrating; his fingers tapped sharply on his desk,
//rap-rap. “I would guess that of the three of you, only Mr. Malfoy has guessed
//why I’ve asked you here.”

// 11954
//“Something to do with Noble and Most Ancient Houses?” said Harry from beside
//her, sounding puzzled. “I didn’t violate some kind of crazy law by firing on
//Daphne, did I?”

// 11955
//“Not quite,” the man said with heavy irony. “Since Miss Greengrass did not
//invoke the correct dueling forms, she is not entitled to demand that you be
//stripped of your House name. Although of course I would not have permitted a
//formal duel. Wars do not respect such rules.” The Defense Professor leaned
//forward and rested his chin on steepled hands, as though sitting upright had
//already tired him. His eyes gazed at them, sharp and dangerous. “General
//Malfoy. Why did I call you here?”

// 11956
//“General Potter against the two of us isn’t a fair fight anymore,” Draco Malfoy
//said in a quiet voice.

// 11957
//“__What?__” blurted Hermione. “We almost __had__ them, if Daphne
//hadn’t fainted -”

// 11958
//“Miss Greengrass did not faint from magical exhaustion,” Professor Quirrell
//said dryly. “Mr. Potter shot her in the back with a Sleep Hex while your
//soldiers were distracted by the sight of their general flying into a wall. But
//congratulations nonetheless, Miss Granger, on __almost__ defeating two
//Chaotic Legionnaires with a mere twenty-four Sunshine Soldiers.”

// 11959
//The blood flaming in her cheeks grew a little hotter. “That - that was just -
//if I’d only figured out he was wearing armor -”

// 11960
//Professor Quirrell gazed at her from over touched fingers. “Of course there are
//ways you __could__ have won, Miss Granger. There always are, in every lost
//battle. The world around us redunds with opportunities, explodes with
//opportunities, which nearly all folk ignore because it would require them to
//violate a habit of thought; in every battle a thousand Hufflepuff bones waiting
//to be sharpened into spears. If you had thought to try a massed __Finite
//Incantatem__ on general principles, you would have dispelled Mr. Potter’s suit
//of chainmail and everything else he was wearing except his underwear, which
//leads me to suspect that Mr. Potter did not quite realize his own
//vulnerability. Or you could have had your soldiers swarm Mr. Potter and Mr.
//Longbottom and physically wrest the wands from their hands. Mr. Malfoy’s own
//response was not what I would term __well-reasoned,__ but at least he did
//not wholly ignore his thousand alternatives.” A sardonic smile. “But you, Miss
//Granger, had the misfortune to remember how to cast the Stunning Hex, and so
//you did not search your excellent memory for a dozen easier spells that might
//have proved efficacious. And you pinned all your army’s hopes on your own
//person, so they lost spirit when you fell. Afterward they continued to cast
//their futile Sleep Hexes, governed by the habits of fighting that had been
//trained into them, unable to break the pattern as Mr. Malfoy did. I cannot
//quite comprehend what goes through people’s minds when they repeat the same
//failed strategy over and over, but apparently it is an astonishingly rare
//realization that you can try something else. And so the Sunshine Regiment was
//wiped out by two soldiers.” The Defense Professor grinned mirthlessly. “One
//perceives certain similarities to how fifty Death Eaters dominated all of
//magical Britain, and how our much-loved Ministry continues in its rule.”

// 11961
//The Defense Professor sighed. “__Nonetheless,__ Miss Granger, the fact
//remains that this is not the first such defeat for you. In the previous battle,
//you and Mr. Malfoy united your forces, and yet you were fought to a standstill,
//so that you and Mr. Malfoy had to pursue Mr. Potter onto the roof. The Chaos
//Legion has now demonstrated, twice in succession, military strength equal to
//both other armies combined. This leaves me no choice. General Potter, you will
//select eight soldiers from your army, including at least one Chaotic
//Lieutenant, to be divided among Dragon Army and the Sunshine Regiment -”

// 11962
//“__What?__” Hermione burst out again, she glanced over at the other
//generals and saw that Harry looked as shocked as her, while Draco Malfoy only
//looked resigned.

// 11963
//“General Potter is stronger than both of you together,” Professor Quirrell said
//with calm precision. “Your contest is over, he has won, and it is time to
//rebalance the three armies to present him with a renewed challenge.”

// 11964
//“__Professor Quirrell!__” said Harry. “I didn’t -”

// 11965
//“This is my decision as the Professor of Battle Magic at the Hogwarts School of
//Witchcraft and Wizardry and it is not subject to negotiation.” The words were
//still precise, but the look in Professor Quirrell’s eyes chilled Hermione’s
//blood, even though he was glaring at Harry and not at her. “And I find it
//__suspicious__, Mr. Potter, that the moment you wished to isolate Miss
//Granger and Mr. Malfoy and force them to chase you onto the roof, you were able
//to annihilate just exactly as much of their united force as you pleased.
//Indeed, that is the level of performance I __expected__ of you since the
//start of this year, and I am __annoyed__ to discover that you have been
//holding back in my classes this entire time! I have seen what you can truly do,
//Mr. Potter. You are far beyond the point where Mr. Malfoy or Miss Granger can
//fight you on an equal level, and you will not be permitted to pretend
//otherwise. This, Mr. Potter, I tell you in my capacity as your professor: For
//you to learn to your full potential, you must exercise your full abilities and
//not hold back for __any__ reason - particularly not childish frets over
//what your friends might think!”

// 11966
//She left the Defense Professor’s office with a larger army, and less dignity,
//and feeling a lot like a sad little bug that had just been squished, and trying
//very very hard not to cry.

// 11967
//“I __wasn’t__ holding back!” Harry said as soon as they turned the first
//corner away from Professor Quirrell’s office, the moment the wooden door faded
//out of sight behind the stone walls. “I wasn’t pretending, I never __let__
//either of you win!”

// 11968
//She didn’t answer, couldn’t answer, it would all break loose if she tried to
//say a word.

// 11969
//“Really?” said Draco Malfoy. The Dragon General still had that air of
//resignation. “Because Quirrell’s right, you know, it’s__ suspicious__ that
//you could beat nearly everyone in both our armies as soon as you wanted to make
//us chase you onto the roof. And didn’t you say something then, Potter, about us
//needing to beat you when you were fighting for real?”

// 11970
//The burning sensation was creeping up her throat, and when it reached her eyes
//she would burst into tears, and from then on she would be just a crying little
//girl to both of them.

// 11971
//“That -” Harry’s voice said urgently, she wasn’t looking at him but his voice
//sounded like he had his head turned toward her. “That was - I tried a lot
//harder that time, there was an important reason, I __had__ to, so I used a
//whole bunch of tricks I’d been saving up - and -”

// 11972
//She’d always been trying her hardest, every time.

// 11973
//“- and I, I let out a side of myself I wouldn’t usually use for something like
//Defense class -”

// 11974
//So if she ever got close to winning against Harry when it __really__
//mattered, he could just go into his dark side and crush her, was that it?

// 11975
//…of course it was. She couldn’t even __look__ Harry in the eyes when he
//was being scary, how had she ever thought she could beat him for real?

// 11976
//The corridor forked, and Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy went left toward a
//staircase that climbed to the second floor, and she went right instead, she
//didn’t even know where that passage went but right now she’d rather be lost in
//the castle.

// 11977
//“Excuse me, Draco,” said Harry’s voice, and then there was a pattering of
//footsteps behind her.

// 11978
//“Leave me alone,” she said, it came out sounding stern but then she had to shut
//her mouth and press her lips together tightly and hold her breath to stop it
//all from coming out.

// 11979
//That boy just kept on coming, and ran around her and put himself in front of
//her, because he was stupid that was why, and Harry said, his voice now a high
//and desperate whisper, “I didn’t run away when __you__ were beating
//__me__ in all my classes except broomstick riding!”

// 11980
//He didn’t understand, and he would never understand, Harry Potter would never
//understand, because no matter what contest he lost he would still be the
//Boy-Who-Lived, if you were Harry Potter and Hermione Granger was beating you
//then it meant everyone was expecting you to rise to the challenge, if you were
//Hermione Granger and Harry Potter was beating you that meant you were just no
//one.

// 11981
//“It’s not fair,” she said, her voice was shaking but she wasn’t crying yet, not
//yet, “__I__ shouldn’t have to fight your dark side, I’m just - I’m only -”
//__I’m only twelve,__ that was what she thought then.

// 11982
//“I only used my dark side __once__ and that was - when I __had__ to!”

// 11983
//“So today you beat my __whole army__ being just Harry?” She still wasn’t
//crying yet, and she wondered what her face looked like right now, if she looked
//like an angry Hermione or a sad one.

// 11984
//“I -” Harry said. His voice got a little lower, “I wasn’t… really
//__expecting__ to win, that time, I know I said I was invincible but that
//was just to try to scare you, I really just thought we’d slow you down for a
//bit -”

// 11985
//She started walking again, walked right past him, and as she passed Harry’s
//face tightened up like __he __was going to cry.

// 11986
//“Is Professor Quirrell right?” came a high desperate whisper from behind her.
//“If I have you for a friend, will I always be afraid to do better because I
//know it will hurt your feelings? That’s not fair, Hermione!”

// 11987
//She took a breath and held it and ran, her feet pattering across the stone as
//fast as they could, running as fast as she dared with her vision all blurry,
//ran so that no one would hear her, and this time Harry didn’t follow.

// 11988
//Minerva was going over the Transfiguration parchment due Monday, and had just
//marked down to negative two hundred points a fifth-year parchment with an error
//that could have potentially killed someone. During her first year as a
//professor she’d been indignant at the folly of older students, now she was just
//resigned. Some people not only never learned, they never noticed that they were
//hopeless, they stayed bright and eager and kept on trying. Sometimes they
//believed you when you told them, before they left Hogwarts, that they must
//__never__ try anything unusual, give up free Transfiguration and use the
//art only through established Charms; and sometimes… they didn’t.

// 11989
//She was in the middle of trying to unravel a particularly convoluted answer
//when a knock at the door disrupted her thoughts; and it wasn’t her office
//hours, but it had only taken a very short time as Head of Gryffindor House for
//her to learn to suspend judgment. You could always deduct House points
//__afterward.__

// 11990
//“Come in,” she said in a crisp voice.

// 11991
//The young girl who entered her office had clearly been crying, and then
//afterward had washed her face in hopes it wouldn’t show -

// 11992
//“Miss Granger!” said Professor McGonagall. It had taken her a moment to
//recognize that face with its eyes reddened and cheeks puffed. “What happened?”

// 11993
//“Professor,” said the young girl in a wavering voice, “you said that if I was
//ever worried or uncomfortable about anything, I should come to you at once -”

// 11994
//“Yes,” said Professor McGonagall, “now what __happened?__”

// 11995
//The girl started to explain -

// 11996
//Hermione stood still and the stairs turned around her, a revolving helix that
//shouldn’t have taken her anywhere at all, and instead bore her continuously
//__upward.__ Hermione thought it seemed like the Enchantment of the Endless
//Stair, which had been invented in 1733 by the wizard Arram Sabeti who’d lived
//on top of Mount Everest in the days when no Muggles could climb it. Only that
//couldn’t be right because Hogwarts was much older - maybe the enchantment had
//been __re__invented?

// 11997
//She should’ve been frightened, should’ve been nervous about her second meeting
//with the Headmaster.

// 11998
//She __was__, in fact, frightened and nervous about her second meeting with
//the Headmaster.

// 11999
//Only Hermione Granger had been thinking; she’d been thinking a lot, after she
//hadn’t been able to run any further and had slid down against the wall with her
//lungs on fire, thinking while she curled up in a ball with her back against the
//chilly stone wall and her legs drawn up and crying.

// 12000
//Even if she lost to Harry Potter she was never, ever going to lose to Draco
//Malfoy, that was just totally __absolutely__ unacceptable, and Professor
//Quirrell had praised General Malfoy for not ignoring his thousand alternatives;
//and so after Hermione had cried herself out she’d thought of fourteen other
//spells she __should’ve__ tried against Harry and Neville, and then she’d
//started wondering if she might be making the same sort of mistake about other
//things; and that was how she’d ended up knocking on Professor McGonagall’s
//door. Not asking for help, right now Hermione didn’t have any plans she could
//ask for help __with,__ just telling Professor McGonagall everything,
//because when she’d thought of it that had seemed like one of the thousand
//alternatives that Professor Quirrell had been talking about.

// 12001
//And she’d told Professor McGonagall about how Harry Potter had changed since
//the day the phoenix had been on his shoulder, and about how people more and
//more seemed to see her as just something of Harry’s, and how it seemed like
//Harry was pulling farther and farther away from everyone else in their school
//year and went around with a sad air sometimes like he was losing something, and
//__she didn’t know what to do anymore.__

// 12002
//And Professor McGonagall had told her that they needed to talk to the
//Headmaster.

// 12003
//And Hermione had felt worried, but then the thought had come to her that
//__Harry Potter__ wouldn’t have been scared of the Headmaster. Harry Potter
//would have just barged ahead doing whatever he was trying to do. Maybe (the
//thought had come to her) it was worth __trying__ to be like that,
//__not__ being scared, just doing whatever, and seeing what happened to
//her, it couldn’t really be worse.

// 12004
//The Endless Stair stopped turning.

// 12005
//The great oaken door in front of them with the brass griffin knocker opened
//without being touched.

// 12006
//Behind a black oaken desk with dozens of drawers facing in every direction,
//looking like it had drawers set __inside__ other drawers, was the
//silver-bearded Headmaster of Hogwarts upon his throne, Albus Percival Wulfric
//Brian Dumbledore, into whose gently twinkling eyes Hermione looked for around
//three seconds before she was distracted by all the other things in the room.

// 12007
//Some time later - she wasn’t sure how long but it was while she was trying to
//count the number of things in the room for the third time and __still__
//not getting the same answer, even though her memory insisted that nothing had
//been added or removed - the Headmaster cleared his throat and said, “Miss
//Granger?”

// 12008
//Hermione’s head snapped around, and she felt a little heat in her cheeks; but
//Dumbledore didn’t appear annoyed with her at all, only serene, and with an
//inquiring look in those mild, half-glassed eyes.

// 12009
//“Hermione,” said Professor McGonagall, the older witch’s voice was gentle and
//her hand rested reassuringly on Hermione’s shoulder, “please tell the
//Headmaster what you said to me about Harry.”

// 12010
//Hermione began speaking, despite her newfound resolution her voice still
//stumbled a little with nervousness, as she described how Harry had changed in
//the last few weeks since Fawkes had been on his shoulder.

// 12011
//When she was done there was a pause, and then the Headmaster sighed. “I am
//sorry, Hermione Granger,” said Dumbledore. Those blue eyes had grown sadder as
//she spoke. “That is… unfortunate, but I cannot say it is unexpected. That is a
//hero’s burden, which you see.”

// 12012
//“A __hero?__” said Hermione. She looked up nervously at Professor
//McGonagall and saw that the Transfiguration Professor’s face had grown tight,
//though her hand still squeezed Hermione’s shoulder reassuringly.

// 12013
//“Yes,” said Dumbledore. “I was a hero myself once, before I was a mysterious
//old wizard, in the days when I opposed Grindelwald. You have read history
//books, Miss Granger?”

// 12014
//Hermione nodded.

// 12015
//“Well,” said Dumbledore, “that is what heroes have to do, Miss Granger, they
//have their tasks and they must grow strong to accomplish them, and that is what
//you see happening to Harry. If there is anything that can be done to gentle his
//pathway, then __you__ will be the one to do it, and not I. For I am not
//Harry’s friend, alas, but only his mysterious old wizard.”

// 12016
//“I -” said Hermione. “I’m not sure - I still want to be -” Her voice stopped,
//it seemed too awful to say aloud.

// 12017
//Dumbledore closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he looked a little older
//than before. “No one can stop you, Miss Granger, if you choose to stop being
//Harry’s friend. As for what it would do to him, you may know that better than
//I.”

// 12018
//“That - doesn’t seem __fair,__” Hermione said, her voice trembling. “That
//I’ve __got__ to be Harry’s friend because he’s got no one else? That
//doesn’t seem fair.”

// 12019
//“__Being__ a friend is not something you can be forced to, Miss Granger.”
//The blue eyes seemed to look right through her. “The feelings are there, or
//they are not. If they are there, you can accept them or deny them. You
//__are__ Harry’s friend - and choosing to deny it would wound him terribly,
//perhaps beyond healing. But Miss Granger, what would drive you to such
//extremes?”

// 12020
//She couldn’t find words. She’d never been able to find words. “If you get too
//near Harry - you get __swallowed up,__ and no one sees __you__ any
//more, you’re just something of __his,__ everyone thinks the whole world
//revolves around him and…” She didn’t have the words.

// 12021
//The old wizard nodded slowly. “It is indeed an unjust world we live in, Miss
//Granger. All the world now knows that it is I who defeated Grindelwald, and
//fewer remember Elizabeth Beckett who died opening the way so I could pass
//through. And yet she is remembered. Harry Potter __is__ the hero of this
//play, Miss Granger; the world __does__ revolve around him. He is destined
//for great things; and I ween that in time the name of Albus Dumbledore will be
//remembered as Harry Potter’s mysterious old wizard, more than for anything else
//I have done. And perhaps the name of Hermione Granger will be remembered as his
//companion, if you prove worthy of it in your day. For this I tell you true:
//never will you find more glory on your own, than in Harry Potter’s company.”

// 12022
//Hermione shook her head rapidly. “But that’s __not__ -” She’d known she
//wouldn’t be able to explain. “It’s not about __glory, __it’s about being -
//something that belongs to someone else!”

// 12023
//“So you think you would rather be the hero?” The old wizard sighed. “Miss
//Granger, I have __been__ a hero, and a leader; and I would have been a
//thousand times happier if I could have belonged to someone like Harry Potter.
//Someone made of sterner stuff than I, to make the hard decisions, and yet
//worthy to lead me. I thought, once, that I knew such a man, but I was mistaken…
//Miss Granger, you have no idea at __all__ how fortunate are those like
//you, compared to heroes.”

// 12024
//The hot burning feeling was creeping up her throat again, along with
//helplessness, she didn’t understand why Professor McGonagall had brought her
//here if the Headmaster wasn’t going to help, and from a glance at Professor
//McGonagall’s face, it looked like Professor McGonagall also wasn’t sure now
//that it had been a good idea.

// 12025
//“I don’t want to be a hero,” said Hermione Granger, “I don’t want to be a
//hero’s companion, I just want to be __me.__”

// 12026
//(The thought came to her a few seconds later that maybe she __did__ in
//fact want to be a hero, but she decided not to change what she’d said.)

// 12027
//“Ah,” said the old wizard. “That is a tall order, Miss Granger.” Dumbledore
//rose from his throne, stepped out behind his desk, and pointed to a symbol on
//the wall, so ubiquitous that Hermione’s eyes had glossed right over it; a faded
//shield on which was inscribed the heraldry of Hogwarts, the lion and snake, and
//badger and raven, and in Latin engraved words whose point she’d never
//understood. Then, as she realized where that shield was, and how old it looked,
//it suddenly occurred to Hermione that this might be the __original__ -

// 12028
//“A Hufflepuff would say,” said Dumbledore, tapping his finger on the faded
//badger and making Hermione wince for the sacrilege (if it __was__ the
//original), “that people fail to become who they are meant to be, because they
//are too lazy to put in all the work involved. A Ravenclaw,” tapping the raven,
//“would repeat those words that the wise know to be far older than Socrates,
//__know thyself,__ and say that people fail to become who they are meant to
//be, through ignorance and lack of thought. And Salazar Slytherin,” Dumbledore
//frowned as his finger tapped the faded snake, “why, he said that we become who
//we are meant to be by following our desires wherever they lead. Perhaps he
//would say that people fail to become themselves because they refuse to do what
//is necessary to achieve their ambitions. But then one notes that nearly all of
//the Dark Wizards to come out of Hogwarts have been Slytherins. Did they become
//what they were meant to be? I think not.” Dumbledore’s finger tapped the lion,
//and then he turned toward her. “Tell me, Miss Granger, what would a Gryffindor
//say? I do not need to ask whether the Sorting Hat offered you that House.”

// 12029
//It didn’t seem like a hard question. “A Gryffindor would say that people don’t
//become who they should be, because they’re afraid.”

// 12030
//“Most people __are__ afraid, Miss Granger,” said the old wizard. “They
//live their whole lives circumscribed by crippling fear that cuts off everything
//they might accomplish, everything they might become. Fear of saying or doing
//the wrong thing, fear of losing their mere possessions, fear of death, and
//above all the fear of what other people will think of them. Such fear is a most
//terrible thing, Miss Granger, and it is terribly important to know that. But it
//is not what Godric Gryffindor would have said. People become who they are meant
//to be, Miss Granger, by doing what is right.” The old wizard’s voice was
//gentle. “So tell me, Miss Granger, what seems to you like the __right__
//choice? For __that__ is who you truly are, and wherever that path leads,
//that is who you are meant to become.”

// 12031
//There was a long space filled with the sounds of things that could not be
//counted.

// 12032
//She thought about it, because she was a Ravenclaw.

// 12033
//“I don’t __think__ it’s right,” Hermione said slowly, “for someone to have
//to live inside someone else’s shadow like that…”

// 12034
//“Many things in the world are not right,” said the old wizard, “the question is
//what is right for __you__ to do about them. Hermione Granger, I shall be
//less subtle than is usual for a mysterious old wizard, and tell you outright
//that you cannot __imagine__ how badly things could go if the events
//surrounding Harry Potter turn to ill. His quest is a matter you would not even
//__dream__ of walking away from, if you knew.”

// 12035
//“__What__ quest?” said Hermione. Her voice was trembling, because it was
//very clear what answer the Headmaster was looking for and she didn’t want to
//give it. “What __happened__ to Harry back then, __why__ was Fawkes on
//his shoulder?”

// 12036
//“He grew up,” said the old wizard. His eyes blinked several times, beneath the
//half-moon glasses, and his face suddenly looked very lined. “You see, Miss
//Granger, people do not grow up because of time, people grow up when they are
//placed in grownup situations. That is what happened to Harry Potter that
//Saturday. He was told - you are not to share this information with anyone, you
//understand - he was told that he would have to fight someone. I cannot tell you
//who. I cannot tell you why. But that is what happened to him, and why he needs
//his friends.”

// 12037
//There was a pause.

// 12038
//“__Bellatrix Black?__” Hermione said. She couldn’t have been more shocked
//if someone had plugged an electrical cord into her ear. “You’re going to make
//Harry fight __Bellatrix Black?__”

// 12039
//“No,” said the old wizard. “Not her. I cannot tell you who, or why.”

// 12040
//She thought about it some more.

// 12041
//“Is there any way I can __keep up__ with Harry?” said Hermione. “I mean,
//I’m not saying it’s what I’ll __do__, but - if he needs friends then can
//we be __equal__ friends? Can I be a hero too?”

// 12042
//“Ah,” said the old wizard, and smiled. “Only you can decide that, Miss
//Granger.”

// 12043
//“But you’re not going to help me like you’re helping Harry.”

// 12044
//The old wizard shook his head. “I have helped him little enough, Miss Granger.
//And if you are asking me for a quest -” The old wizard smiled again, rather
//wryly. “Miss Granger, you are in your first year of Hogwarts. Do not be too
//eager to grow up; there will be time enough for that later.”

// 12045
//“I’m twelve. Harry’s __eleven.__”

// 12046
//“Harry Potter is special,” said the old wizard. “As you know, Miss Granger.”
//The blue eyes were suddenly piercing beneath the half-moon glasses, and she was
//reminded of the day of the Dementor when Dumbledore’s voice had said, inside
//her mind, that he knew about Harry’s dark side.

// 12047
//Hermione put up her hand and touched Professor McGonagall’s hand, which had
//stayed strong on her shoulder this whole time, and Hermione said, she was
//surprised that her voice didn’t break, “I’d like to go, now, please.”

// 12048
//“Of course,” said Professor McGonagall, and Hermione felt the hand on her
//shoulder gently turning her around to face the oaken door.

// 12049
//“Have you chosen your path yet, Hermione Granger?” said Albus Dumbledore’s
//voice from behind her, even as the door slowly creaked open to reveal the
//Enchantment of the Endless Stair.

// 12050
//She nodded.

// 12051
//“And?”

// 12052
//“I’ll,” she said, her voice stuck, “I’ll, I’ll -”

// 12053
//She swallowed.

// 12054
//“I’ll do - what’s right -”

// 12055
//She didn’t say anything else, she couldn’t, and then the Endless Stair began
//revolving around her once again.

// 12056
//Neither she nor Professor McGonagall spoke on the way down.

// 12057
//When the Flowing Stone gargoyles stepped out of their way, and the two of them
//stepped out into the corridors of Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall finally spoke,
//and she said in a whisper, “I’m so terribly sorry, Miss Granger. I did not
//think the Headmaster would say such things to you. I think he truly has
//forgotten what it is like to be a child.”

// 12058
//Hermione glanced back up to her and saw that Professor McGonagall looked like
//__she__ was about to burst into tears… only not really, but there was a
//tightness in her face that was like that.

// 12059
//“If I want to be a hero too,” said Hermione, “if I’ve decided to be a hero too,
//is there anything __you__ can do to help?”

// 12060
//Professor McGonagall rapidly shook her head, and said, “Miss Granger, I’m not
//sure the Headmaster is wrong about __that.__ You __are__ twelve.”

// 12061
//“Okay,” said Hermione.

// 12062
//They walked forward a bit.

// 12063
//“Excuse me,” said Hermione, “is it okay if I walk back to the Ravenclaw tower
//by myself? I’m sorry, it’s not your fault or anything, I just want to be by
//myself right now.”

// 12064
//“Of course, Miss Granger,” said Professor McGonagall, her voice sounding a
//little hoarse, and Hermione heard her footsteps stop, and then turn around
//behind her.

// 12065
//Hermione Granger walked away.

// 12066
//She climbed a flight of stairs, and then another, wondering if there was anyone
//else in Hogwarts who would give her a chance to be a hero. Professor Flitwick
//would say the same thing as Professor McGonagall, and even if he didn’t, he
//probably couldn’t help, Hermione didn’t know who __could__ help. Well,
//Professor Quirrell would come up with something clever if she used up enough
//Quirrell points, but she had a feeling that asking him would be a bad idea -
//that the Defense Professor couldn’t help anyone become the sort of hero that
//was worth becoming, and that he wouldn’t even understand the difference.

// 12067
//She had almost gotten to the Ravenclaw tower when she saw the flash of gold.