A/N: You won't believe it: I've started playing Quidditch! Which is to say I am taking part in this seasons Quidditch league fanfiction competition for the Ballycastle Bats!
This means that about every two weeks, you can expect a new oneshot that has to be written adhering to certain prompts. They are as following:
Assigned prompt: Write a setting you've never written before
Optional prompts:
1. (dialogue) "Your silence scares me."
2. (setting) thunderstorm
10. (animal) pigfish
The Tempest
Dark clouds gathered on the horizon, casting a gloomy light on the vast, glittering surface of the lake. A cool wind had picked up and rippled the water, pushing the oppressing clouds closer. A thunderstorm was brewing, thickening the humid air. A solitary figure stood overlooking the lake, waiting for the pounding bouts of rain to begin.
Severus Snape narrowed his eyes as he scanned his surroundings, his raven hair whipping around his face. His eyes kept flicking towards the castle now and then, waiting to spot a lone student making their way to the lake.
He needed to procure some pigfish bladders for his Potion ingredients, but this was a job for two people - one to drive the fish out of the water and one to accio them. One to hold open the incision, one to carefully remove the delicate organ. He needed the help, and it was a perfect task for detention.
The bladder had to be removed while the pigfish was still alive, so it was a gruesome task. But, if you wanted to be a successful Potions master or mistress, there was no room for queasiness or hesitation. This was precisely the reason why he had picked this particular student to help him. She desperately needed to toughen up and get her priorities straight.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Miss Granger making her way over to where he was standing. It was unusual for her to receive detention because all the other professors cherished their teacher's pet so much that they overlooked when she stepped out of line.
But not him.
He had forbidden her from helping Longbottom in class - if that dunderhead was always expecting help when encountering a problem, then he would never learn to do it himself - but she was just incapable of following his orders, no matter how simple.
Today, he had caught her kicking Longbottom's leg under the table when he chopped his frog liver instead of mincing it. No matter how often he told her off, Granger just kept undermining his teaching efforts. Longbottom would never learn this way. He was forced to up the ante and make Granger understand once and for all. Thus, detention disemboweling pigfish.
The first, fat drop of rain splashed on his shoulders, seeping into the fabric of his robes. They were just in time for the thunderstorm to start. Pigfish were usually dwelling in the deepest parts of the lake, keeping clear of the photic zone which was why they were so hard to catch.
But, in rare instances, when a volatile, dark storm was brewing, they would start swimming to the surface. No one knew what attracted them, but Snape figured it must be the change in air pressure that also affected the water, drawing the pigfish upwards. When the rain set in, the vibrations caused by the drops hitting the water gave the illusion that insects had dropped into the lake, as such enticing the pigfish to break the surface.
As soon as he had seen the storm brewing, he had prepared everything and sent word to Granger that it was time to meet him at the lake. He had already spread out all the necessary vials, jars and buckets as well as his sharpest silver knife.
He watched her approach, the wind ripping at her robes, making them flare out behind her like a giant set of wings. Her expression was unreadable, brows drawn together in a frown, but if it was to ward off the increasing rain or if it was in apprehension of her task, he did not know.
Dark clouds had gathered above, randomly emitting electrical pulses of light, and he could feel the pressure change in the uncomfortable pinch of his eardrums.
When she stood in front of him, he had to raise his voice to make himself understood as the rain started pounding the earth around them.
"Miss Granger, time is scarce and our task at hand is vital, as this ingredient is crucial, being used in potions that can save lives. It is of the utmost importance that you do not waver and do exactly as I tell you, when I tell you – is that understood?"
She eyed the equipment with a worried expression but was quick to reply. "Yes, Professor Snape, I will."
Wasting no further time, he drew his wand and motioned for her to do the same.
"I am going to cast a stinging hex on the pigfish, making them jump out of the water. They'll only break the surface for a second, and at that moment you will have to cast accio, do you understand? We can only take two at a time because the bladder will become useless if they die before we have removed it."
What a waste of a life that would be. His eyes swung to Miss Granger, checking if she had understood. She nodded and regarded him expectantly, holding her wand out in front of her.
Severus cast the first spell and she accioed the fish perfectly, as he had expected. When both fish were flopping on the wet grass, he quickly grabbed his silver knife and with a fluid incision, opened the belly of the fish.
"Miss Granger, you need to hold the sides of the incision open so that I can access the bladder," he shouted, rain pounding on his thin frame and almost drowning out his words.
He could see the revulsion and sorrow in her eyes as she grabbed the sides of the small creature that was struggling on the ground.
"Hold it still," he commanded her and set to work with his knife, quickly transferring the fresh bladder into one of the jars at his side. He cast the remaining fish into a bucket and opened the second, this time completing his task even more quickly.
He looked up and studied Grangers' face. As the rain was running down her cheek in rivulets, it was impossible to tell if she was crying. Her red-rimmed eyes and her quivering lower lip, though, gave her away.
He frowned as he pushed away a twinge of sympathy. He could not allow himself to go soft on her. She needed to learn this lesson.
Hermione tried to stop her hands from trembling, but now and then they would betray her. The blood on her fingers was quickly washed away by the violent rain, but to her, it made no difference – it was there all the same.
Harvesting the bladders was just cruel and seemed unnecessary; although she believed Professor Snape when he told her it had to be done this way. He would not cause innocent creatures that much pain just to prove a point.
After pigfish number twelve, she thought she might throw up and could not help averting her eyes although she had promised herself to watch every bit of what he had to teach her.
As he cast the fish away, she saw a flash of green out of the corner of her eye. It was so mute and quick that for a moment she thought she had imagined it, but when he cast the next fish away, she paid closer attention and caught it again, watching from under her lashes.
A sudden understanding dawned. Professor Snape was nonverbally and wandlessly casting the Avada Kedavra on the fish as soon as they left his hand to sail into the bucket. She also understood that he had not told her that for a reason and was glad that she had not shown her surprise at her realization.
They worked in silence for the next twenty minutes. She almost broke down when half way through the process, he offered her his knife, arching his eyebrows in a silent question as he caught her gaze. She wanted to scream, to run, to beg for him to do it himself, but in the end, she knew he asked her to do this because he saw a potential for her to further her education in the field of Potions. This was a way of showing her that he acknowledged her talent and skill.
With all of the horrible feelings that were swirling through her body, it was that thought that made her hold on and push forward. She had always wanted his approval, had craved for him to speak some words of praise to her, but they had never come. But this – this was his way of telling her. He would never have risked losing such a rare and important ingredient by wasting it on an incapable student.
As thunder boomed around her, making her jump, she forced herself to placate her mind and focus on her task. She held the knife in a firm grip and plunged the fingers of her left hand into the belly of the pigfish, locating the bladder with her fingertips and carefully sliding them around the organ before separating the bladder with two quick and precise cuts from the rest of the fish. She carefully placed the bladder in the jar while he disposed of the fish.
Afterwards, she caught his eye, and he gave her a curt nod of approval and motioned for her to start on the next fish. A warm feeling spread in her stomach. He had not uttered a word, but she felt as if she had received the highest praise possible. Drawing in a deep breath, she set to her task with a new determination.
Soon, they had established a fluid routine, and almost all of their jars had been filled when suddenly, the bouts of rain gentled to a drizzle, and the pressure in the air suddenly lifted and disappeared
Severus Snape straightened and looked out over the lake. The school of fish had disappeared, but it did not matter. They had harvested more than he ever had before. Miss Granger was truly talented; he had to admit.
When he turned to look at her, he saw that her steely resolve had fallen away, showing her crumbled facade with tears leaking out of the corner of her eyes as she tried to steady her trembling hands.
"Miss Granger," he said, his silky voice strangely gentle with sympathy, "I know how hard this was for you and yet you completed your task admirably. You can be proud of yourself. Also, it might relieve you to know-"
"I saw that you cast Avada Kedavra on them, sir, and I thank you for that. Still, all that time spent in pain…" her voice hitched.
"Miss Granger," he growled, "might I continue uninterrupted?"
She bit her lip and waited for him to go on.
"You have known about the Avada Kedavra because you have seen the green flash. Yet, not every spell leaves a visual impression, does it? So, say I was to cast a nonverbal, wandless spell upon those creatures that left them unable to feel pain before we started the procedure, you would have had no way of knowing that, correct?"
Her eyes rounded in understanding. She opened her mouth to speak but seemed at a loss for words. Suddenly, tears of relief and joy sprang to her eyes, and he saw a glimmer of something there before she completely surprised him by lunging at him and throwing her arms around him in a fierce embrace.
He stood there, frozen, as she happily wept into his chest. "Professor Snape, I cannot tell you how much that means to me. Thank you so much!"
"Granger," he said in a voice that held a chiding tone as he extracted himself. "You need to get your soft side under control. If you want to succeed in the field of Potions, you have to steel yourself. I had hoped that over the years you would toughen up a bit, but every now and then you do things, may I mention S.P.E.W. at this moment, where your soft side overrides your common sense." Arching an eyebrow in the effort to lighten the mood, he continued. "If you don't get in control of this, who knows where this might lead – one day you might come to care about me!"
The moment the words left his mouth, she froze on the spot and started blushing furiously, her eyes focused intensely on his dragonhide boots. Her reaction left him baffled before understanding set it. This could not be true.
"Miss Granger, you do not care about me, do you?"
She kept staring at his boots, her blush reaching new shades of crimson.
"Miss Granger," he said, his words suspended in the heavy air between them. "Your silence scares me."
She took a deep breath. "What do you want me to say?"
"The truth."
She closed her eyes and clenched her fists before meeting his eyes with her typical steely Gryffindor resolve. "I do care about you."
His heart stopped in his chest before racing off in a mad rhythm. How had he ended up in this delicate and terrifying situation? He regarded her, unsure what to say.
Her hair and clothes were soaked from the rain, the steady drizzle keeping small drops of water trailing delicate paths along the soft skin of her cheeks. With the bushy mop of hair reduced to wet strands, she looked utterly transformed and for the first time, he saw her in a completely different light. Sometime during the last months, she had shed those last remainders of childhood and had changed into a beautiful young woman. He had seen it, but he had refused to acknowledge it. But now, it seemed, those impressions had returned with a new fervor. Words tumbled from his mouth before he could stop them.
"In which way do you care about me?"
She worried her lower lip, but did not look away. At length, she spoke. "In every way."
He had hoped she would have said anything else but this. Anything else would not have made his heart leap, and his chest constrict. He could not allow himself to feel this way about a student.
Yet, their eyes were still locked onto each other, neither being able to look away as the atmosphere thickened around them, a different kind of thunderstorm brewing. Suddenly, he was short of breath, and his mouth ran dry. He found himself thinking about her soft lips, how it would feel to have them move on his own. But he caught himself before his mind could take him any further. He tried as best as he could to push away the sensations that were swirling through his body.
"Miss Granger, I think we are both aware that this cannot be. I suggest we both agree to try to ignore what has transpired today as well as we can and continue as before." He was relieved his voice sounded so steady when his insides were still in turmoil.
Miss Granger, her eyes averted now, gave a thoughtful nod of agreement, yet obviously struggling with words that did not want to come. He was about to turn away to gather their equipment when she finally spoke.
"I know we can't," she said, raising her gaze to his again, her voice turning wistful. "But once, just once, just to know what it would be like."
Before he knew how it had happened, she had stepped up to him, sliding an arm around his neck to pull him down to meet her soft lips.
His mind short-circuited at the sensation. He had never felt anything like this before. When her lips touched his, fire raced under his skin, making his body tingle. He was frozen in shock, unable to do anything but feel. Feel her soft, pliant mouth nibbling on his lower lip, and breathing in her scent which left him wanting more.
When she gave a soft sigh, something inside of him broke, and his subconscious took over. His arms moved around her waist, one pulling her closer, the other moving upwards so that he could tunnel his fingers through her matted hair as he deepened the kiss between them.
A storm was raging inside him, pummeling his insides with the most wonderful of sensations, making him feel powerful and wild and free… and desired. Nothing that he had ever felt compared to this experience. It was completely unexpected and precisely what he had wanted and needed. And it was everything that he could not have.
He pulled away slowly, reluctant to draw his arms away as he did not want to lose the feeling of her warm body pressed against his. He looked into her luminous eyes shining with warmth, and affection, and felt such a stab of yearning that it almost bordered on pain. Still, there was a line and it should not be crossed. He should never have allowed this.
"Miss Granger," he said, "this can never happen again."
She bit her lip, giving a reluctant nod of acquiescence. Before she turned away, though, something glimmered in her eyes. "For now," she said, meeting his gaze one last time before she turned around and made her way back to the castle.
As she walked away, sunshine broke through the clouds, illuminating the world around him. The storm had passed, but the tempest inside him was still raging on. 'For now,' she had said.
"For now," he muttered as he packed up his equipment.
The End – For now.
A/N: ;)
So I really intend for this to stay a oneshot, but you know how my muse is prone to blackmail, so I wanted to leave a back door open just in case… Reviews are very much appreciated!