Revelations
By Snapesgirl1981
Rating: PG-13 but one bad word
Email: snapesgirl1981@yahoo.com.au
Disclaimer: JKR and Warner own all the rights
Summary: A Plot Bunny I found at WIKTT to write a song inspired or using the lyrics of Behind Blue Eyes. Snape rescues Hermione in distress and revelations are made.
Timeline/Spoiler: Everything including halfway through Goblet of Fire. Takes place at the Yule Ball but Hermione wasn't asked out by anybody and goes there alone. Story of the book doesn't really matter for this one so.
A/N: Written as a short vacation from a novel-length fic I am writing right now called A True Slytherin as a way of getting the creative juices flowing. This is merely a ficlet with not really much action. Just something to make you all a tad happy.
As Hermione entered the Great Hall she couldn't decide whether she liked it or not. It was usually not Hogwart's or Dumbledore's style to show off but the huge decoration both in the hall and the whole castle simply had to stun their visitors into silence. There was no way to describe the way it all looked- glittering, shimmering and surely enchanting but still some part of her felt as if this was not what suited Hogwarts best. There was simply no need to try to make points with being decorated like they were celebrating Voldemort's defeat (if only) because Hogwarts was so much more than nice looks.
Sighing she pushed her way through the crowds looking around and trying to find Harry and Ron. There were so many people in the room that even so it was huge for the first time ever it appeared crowded. Grinning she saw Professor Snape entering the hall with Professor Dumbledore. Snape looked like he was disgusted with the whole event and made no attempt to cover it up.
He would probably agree it is horrible. Finding a strange kind of consolation in the fact that Snape was probably feeling the same way as her, she steered through the crowd trying to avoid Draco Malfoy and his Slytherin peers as not to get into an ugly fight. Even so nobody had asked her out to the ball and she had to admit it had hurt on levels she'd rather not explore, she didn't want to completely ruin this night. As a sign of solidarity Harry and Ron were not paired up either and so all she had to do was find the boys in this huge mass of people.
Greeting some fellow Gryffindors on her way she slowly reached a place from where she could have a good look around to finally locate the boys. She would never find them if she stayed in the crowd of people. She almost made it when two huge heavy boys blocked her way with stupid grins on their faces.
Oh fine, Crabbe and Goyle. Just what I need right now. Mentally sighing she tried to move past them but they blocked her way again and this time Malfoy himself appeared behind them grinning maliciously, Pansy in tow. Having one arm thrown over the girl's shoulder he looked to the entire world like a rich, spoiled but still handsome kid.
"Mudblood, all alone tonight?" His voice sounded full of venom as usual and Pansy's face transformed into something obviously resembling a grin even so it looked more like a grimace.
"Let me go, Malfoy." Hermione tried to let her voice sound confidant but it quivered around the edges.
"Tell me Granger, didn't anybody want to spend the night with you as you are a filthy mudblood who only brings shame over decent pureblood families like mine." He leaned nearer to her ear and his breath tickled her skin there. "Maybe Potter and Weasly will have a heart and fuck you tonight as there is nobody else willing."
Tears welled up in her eyes as she tried to not let the words get to her but tonight Malfoy and his friends had caught her already weakened by the fact that not even Harry and Ron had considered to go out with her. Looking to the wooden floor she tried to blink the tears away in a futile effort to show true Gryffindor courage.
"Are we enjoying ourselves, Mr. Malfoy?" Snape's silken voice cut through the silence following the venomous words. His thoughtful gaze shortly rested on the brown curly head of his most annoying student as she cast her eyes to the ground in apparent shame.
"Certainly Professor Snape. I was just-" He hesitated and then after a moment continued "-putting some things in their places."
"I see." The voice hadn't changed the playful tone at all and still it held a warning that even Hermione could hear. "Well then I am sure you have other things to do that are maybe not as public as this, Draco." By simply using the boy's first name he stripped most of the courage in the Slytherins away and left- fear.
"Of course, Professor." Malfoy had no intention to anger his head of house who had a nasty temper at times. His goal was reached since Granger was still fighting with her tears. Smirking he nodded at Crabbe and Goyle. "Let's go and have some fun."
Steps were moving away and to her eternal shame the tears were not stopping but freely flowing now. Trying to stifle the sobs was partly successful even so she had to bail her hands to fists.
"Awful Bastard. Like his father." Snape's voice sounded thoughtful. Looking down at the young girl on the verge of breaking into sobs he slowly considered his options. Why he wanted to help her was beyond him but he had to make her stop crying.
Casting a short glance around to make sure that nobody was paying them any attention he gripped the girl's quivering chin with his white spidery fingers turning her tear stained face upwards to meet his unreadable eyes.
"Ms Granger, it might appear otherwise but many people in Slytherin don't believe in the bloodline stupidity that Malfoy is so keen on quoting." He waited until his words reached her brain and she saw through them instantly, heard what he could not tell out loud, that he didn't share Malfoy's opinion of her. "I figure one of the reasons why he is enjoying this story so much is because it relieves him of the burden to compete with muggleborns. With you. Because he knows that he would never win that battle in an honest comparison of skills."
For a moment the girl's eyes bored into his but then her face brightened. Having achieved his goal he let her chin go and looked above her head to give her time to wipe the tears away.
"You know Ms Granger, I always felt that while you are Gryffindor in many ways, gods knows I have to endure them in my classes, you have a quality that is strangely Slytherin." Boring his eyes into hers again and almost scorching her with the intensity of the look he lowered his voice bringing his mouth to her ear in the way Draco had a moment ago but this time it felt different. "You may have Gryffindor courage but let me assure you that while that may be a typical trait of your house, your fearlessness is completely Slytherin. Don't let people like Malfoy scare you."
With that he turned away and left the hall into the dark castle to no doubt catch students breaking school rules. For a moment her face looked completely stunned but then the happiest glow transformed her features. Obviously behind the black eyes there was a person and not a monster.
"Thank you Professor." She whispered and straightened her clothes. She had to find Ron and Harry and then she had to show some pureblood idiot that she was not broken by his words. Raising her head she moved into the opposite direction Snape had left and so she missed his amused smile at the door.
"Good girl."
[ The End ]