* Disclaimer: I did not create the characters; I'm just borrowing them for
a while to see what will happen. All credit for characters to JKR. *
This is also my first fan-fic, so I apologize for being a newbie, and will appreciate all insights and criticisms.
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Hogwarts was wreathed in a whirling cloud of white. Snowflakes fell, and drifted forming their own hypnotic patterns on the wind. Severus Snape stared at them, letting his mind drift along with the pure white flakes. But his thoughts were neither pure nor white. In his minds eye he saw the scene over again, the thick pale form of Voldemorts snake Nagini twinning around the body of the dead muggle. Her blood pooled around her blonde hair, the serpents' tongue flicking out, smelling it, tasting it. The cruel smile on Voldemorts own reptilian features in response to his pets' interest.
"A worthy end, to an unworthy creature. To be sacrificed on Samhain night, much more than a mere muggle bitch deserves, do not you agree, Severus?" Voldemort glanced at the young man next to him, eyes half-lidded in satisfaction for his minion's accomplishments that night. Severus Snape was quite an addition to the Death-Eaters, tall, with prominent features, long black hair, a slightly hooked nose that added to the haughtiness and presence that were so much a part of him. Aside from Lucius Malfoy, Severus Snape was the only other Death-Eater that Lord Voldemort believed could be shaped into his ideal of a proper underling to himself, the Dark Lord.
Severus himself had only cocked his head thoughtfully to one side, his expression showing no sign of emotion, as he knelt beside the body of the dead girl, and pulled a small glass bottle out from beneath his robes, to catch some of the blood in. Once filled, he replaced the cork stopper on the bottle, and put it back into its pocket in his black robes.
Voldemort nodded knowingly; "I'm sure you will find a potion or two that will come in handy for, in the next year." Severus had only nodded.
Prying himself back to the present, the much older Severus shook his head to clear it of those unwanted memories, and backed away from the window, rubbing his left arm absentmindedly.
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"Hermione Granger!"
Hermione jumped, slamming the heavy book she was reading shut as she did so. "Ronald Weasly!" She yelled back, turning to her friend with a deadly expression on her face "There is no reason to yell at me like that in a library!", but then she was smiling and jumping out of her chair to throw her arms around the redhead.
"Ron I haven't seen you for months! How have you been?"
"As well as I could be, helping Hagrid assemble the giant front. Blimey, but the real things make 'ole 'agrid look like a circus midget!"
Ron's freckled face was smiling as always and he handed a lumpily wrapped box to Hermione. "He wanted me to give you this, along with his regrets that he won't be seeing us for awhile." Ron's voice dropped and turned serious as he bent to whisper directly into her ear, smoothing back some flyaway strands of her hair as he did so. "He's gone into hiding with his mother, and the rest, to where they were before, you know, seeing as no one could find them there last time. The present is a magic key that will let you in if you ever need a place to hide." He ended with a quick peck on her cheek, and was all smiles once again.
"Well, go ahead, and open it!"
Hermione realized the value of Hagrid' s gift. No one but her, Ron, Ginny, Harry and Hagrid knew the giants secret hideaway, they had discovered it in their sixth year at Hogwarts, when they had brought the giants out of hiding to join in the fight against Voldemort. That the giants felt the need to go back into hiding meant that the most recent news of the Dark Lord was true, and he had started his attacks once again. She quickly ripped open the brown paper, and held up a glittering crystal that spun on a silver necklace chain.
"It's beautiful Ron, too bad I can't send an owl to thank him." She placed it around her neck, where it twinkled brightly on her plain dark robes.
"So what have you been up to while I've been planting bean-stalks?"
Hermione smiled at his joke. While the giants may not grind bones to make bread, they sure did have a love of gardening humungous plants, among them bean stalks of a size to make the stories about Jack seem not so far- fetched.
"Research. I've been assigned to reading the muggle tales of evil witches and wizards to see how much truth can be found among them. Seeing how I'm muggle born, the others in Harry's research staff thought it would be the best use of my abilities." She rolled her eyes "But while I'm reading some horrific stuff, I just don't think that there is much truth to be found in any of it."
"But," she added, turning to the table behind her and the book she has slammed shut when Ron had come in, "I took a break from the muggle stuff, and picked up this old tome for some light reading, and I came across a potion that I think could help us to spy on Voldemort."
Ron eyed the dust covered, plain brown leather bound book. "Your idea of light reading." he shook his head "where did you even find that thing?"
"Oh, under some other books in the cellar of the library," she brushed some of the dirt off the cover, but it was hopeless to try and read the words that had once been there. "I think it is a very early edition of Most Potente Potions. The potion I found is for tracking down snakes, and I'm thinking it could be applied to Voldemort, or at least that pet snake he has with him all the time. Here it is, the Coluber pervestigo potion. The only problem is I can't read the last bit of the potion, because of this stain over these two words, and see how the edge is torn?"
Ron leaned over her shoulder to look more closely at the page. "That looks like blood, 'Mione."
"It's probably just dragon blood, the potion calls for 6 drops of it." She pointed to the handwritten list of ingredients at the top.
"Well, what do you think the missing part is?"
"Do I look like a potions master?"
"No, you'd need a longer nose, and greasier hair," laughed Ron.
"You're right!" Hermione answered, but not in response to Ron's joke about the attractiveness of their former potion teacher "I have to go to Hogwarts and talk to Snape about it, he would know if it is a real potion, or not."
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This is also my first fan-fic, so I apologize for being a newbie, and will appreciate all insights and criticisms.
******************************************
Hogwarts was wreathed in a whirling cloud of white. Snowflakes fell, and drifted forming their own hypnotic patterns on the wind. Severus Snape stared at them, letting his mind drift along with the pure white flakes. But his thoughts were neither pure nor white. In his minds eye he saw the scene over again, the thick pale form of Voldemorts snake Nagini twinning around the body of the dead muggle. Her blood pooled around her blonde hair, the serpents' tongue flicking out, smelling it, tasting it. The cruel smile on Voldemorts own reptilian features in response to his pets' interest.
"A worthy end, to an unworthy creature. To be sacrificed on Samhain night, much more than a mere muggle bitch deserves, do not you agree, Severus?" Voldemort glanced at the young man next to him, eyes half-lidded in satisfaction for his minion's accomplishments that night. Severus Snape was quite an addition to the Death-Eaters, tall, with prominent features, long black hair, a slightly hooked nose that added to the haughtiness and presence that were so much a part of him. Aside from Lucius Malfoy, Severus Snape was the only other Death-Eater that Lord Voldemort believed could be shaped into his ideal of a proper underling to himself, the Dark Lord.
Severus himself had only cocked his head thoughtfully to one side, his expression showing no sign of emotion, as he knelt beside the body of the dead girl, and pulled a small glass bottle out from beneath his robes, to catch some of the blood in. Once filled, he replaced the cork stopper on the bottle, and put it back into its pocket in his black robes.
Voldemort nodded knowingly; "I'm sure you will find a potion or two that will come in handy for, in the next year." Severus had only nodded.
Prying himself back to the present, the much older Severus shook his head to clear it of those unwanted memories, and backed away from the window, rubbing his left arm absentmindedly.
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"Hermione Granger!"
Hermione jumped, slamming the heavy book she was reading shut as she did so. "Ronald Weasly!" She yelled back, turning to her friend with a deadly expression on her face "There is no reason to yell at me like that in a library!", but then she was smiling and jumping out of her chair to throw her arms around the redhead.
"Ron I haven't seen you for months! How have you been?"
"As well as I could be, helping Hagrid assemble the giant front. Blimey, but the real things make 'ole 'agrid look like a circus midget!"
Ron's freckled face was smiling as always and he handed a lumpily wrapped box to Hermione. "He wanted me to give you this, along with his regrets that he won't be seeing us for awhile." Ron's voice dropped and turned serious as he bent to whisper directly into her ear, smoothing back some flyaway strands of her hair as he did so. "He's gone into hiding with his mother, and the rest, to where they were before, you know, seeing as no one could find them there last time. The present is a magic key that will let you in if you ever need a place to hide." He ended with a quick peck on her cheek, and was all smiles once again.
"Well, go ahead, and open it!"
Hermione realized the value of Hagrid' s gift. No one but her, Ron, Ginny, Harry and Hagrid knew the giants secret hideaway, they had discovered it in their sixth year at Hogwarts, when they had brought the giants out of hiding to join in the fight against Voldemort. That the giants felt the need to go back into hiding meant that the most recent news of the Dark Lord was true, and he had started his attacks once again. She quickly ripped open the brown paper, and held up a glittering crystal that spun on a silver necklace chain.
"It's beautiful Ron, too bad I can't send an owl to thank him." She placed it around her neck, where it twinkled brightly on her plain dark robes.
"So what have you been up to while I've been planting bean-stalks?"
Hermione smiled at his joke. While the giants may not grind bones to make bread, they sure did have a love of gardening humungous plants, among them bean stalks of a size to make the stories about Jack seem not so far- fetched.
"Research. I've been assigned to reading the muggle tales of evil witches and wizards to see how much truth can be found among them. Seeing how I'm muggle born, the others in Harry's research staff thought it would be the best use of my abilities." She rolled her eyes "But while I'm reading some horrific stuff, I just don't think that there is much truth to be found in any of it."
"But," she added, turning to the table behind her and the book she has slammed shut when Ron had come in, "I took a break from the muggle stuff, and picked up this old tome for some light reading, and I came across a potion that I think could help us to spy on Voldemort."
Ron eyed the dust covered, plain brown leather bound book. "Your idea of light reading." he shook his head "where did you even find that thing?"
"Oh, under some other books in the cellar of the library," she brushed some of the dirt off the cover, but it was hopeless to try and read the words that had once been there. "I think it is a very early edition of Most Potente Potions. The potion I found is for tracking down snakes, and I'm thinking it could be applied to Voldemort, or at least that pet snake he has with him all the time. Here it is, the Coluber pervestigo potion. The only problem is I can't read the last bit of the potion, because of this stain over these two words, and see how the edge is torn?"
Ron leaned over her shoulder to look more closely at the page. "That looks like blood, 'Mione."
"It's probably just dragon blood, the potion calls for 6 drops of it." She pointed to the handwritten list of ingredients at the top.
"Well, what do you think the missing part is?"
"Do I look like a potions master?"
"No, you'd need a longer nose, and greasier hair," laughed Ron.
"You're right!" Hermione answered, but not in response to Ron's joke about the attractiveness of their former potion teacher "I have to go to Hogwarts and talk to Snape about it, he would know if it is a real potion, or not."
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