I originally started this story long before Order of the Phoenix came out whilst I was still at school. I'm now in my lastyear of University so I'm hoping my writing style has improved and matured.I completely lost momentum with the whole thing when I first started it but now it's back with a definite plot. I've already prepared a number of chapters and will upload the first few and see if I get any positive/constructive comments on it before I post more.
This fiction is not HBP compliant I'm afraid but Iamcurrently developing a piece of fan fiction that is.
Disclaimer: I am not making a profit from writing this. I am not J.K. Rowling and I do not own any of therecognisablecharacters in the following story. Please R&R and enjoy!
Chapter One- Knockturn Alley
Daylight streamed through the windows of Hermione's room at the Leaky Cauldron. She had been staying there for two nights now and she was getting bored of it. Albus Dumbledore, she decided, had a lot to answer for. He had sent her to the Leaky Cauldron on a mission for the Order. Dumbledore said he would send word about what the task was but she hadn't heard anything from him yet. It had been almost a year to the day since she had left Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and as soon as she had officially graduated Albus Dumbledore had approached her to join the Order.
"I'm fed up of waiting around here", she shouted angrily at her owl Icarus. Banging her foot against the edge of the bed she decided what to do. "I'm going out".
As Hermione wandered around Diagon Alley her mood lifted slightly. Her work at the ministry paid highly which meant that she could afford to buy luxuries for herself as well as necessities. Even though she had only been working there for a year she had already had one promotion and was the youngest person, and only female, in her office. Subject to many taunts and jealous remarks, Hermione had learnt to be pretty tough in the year since her departure from Hogwarts. Her close friends Harry and Ron had noticed this too and were careful not to offend her. Harry himself was also working for the ministry, training as an Auror. Ron however was not so lucky. His father's reputation had made it impossible for him to get a job in the ministry. Luckily Ron's brother Bill had managed to get him a job in Gringotts and Ron found that after a while he quite enjoyed it.
All three of them did work for the Order on top of their day jobs. Hermione found working at the ministry made it easy for her to gain information and Harry had used his training to practical effect on many occasions. Ron often got jealous as he was a less valuable member of the Order, and knew it. The three of them lived together at Grimmauld Place, which Sirius had left Harry in his will, with Remus Lupin. The other members of the Order, including Snape, much to the displeasure of Harry and Ron, often visited them.
Hermione turned down into Knockturn Alley and walked towards her favourite bookshop 'Mortis Aquilla '. She was used to being stared at by the shady characters that haunted the dark passageways and shop fronts but today she felt as though someone were watching her every move. She turned around quickly but no-one was behind her. She carried on walking until she saw the faded black and white sign for the shop. She entered quickly, still feeling a little uneasy.
Hermione was greeted with a slight smile from the bookshop owner Mr Wright. She was a regular in his shop and he maintained a friendly relationship with her. She paid good money for the dusty volumes in his store and he didn't want to jeopardise this. With his greasy, long hair and hooked nose, Mr Wright had always reminded Hermione of her ex Potions Professor, Severus Snape. Each time she saw him she wondered if they were in some way related, but she never thought about it for more than a few seconds.
Hermione walked through the shop to her favourite section. The shop was dark and musty smelling and was always very filthy. Hermione liked it because here she could find unusual books and it always seemed empty. The shop had no windows but candles in sconces on the walls and it was thusly very hot. Hermione undid her robes as she always did when she came in the shop and began to look through the books. Usually she was looking for something in particular but today she had the freedom to browse for as long as she needed.
Running her fingers along each dirty row of books Hermione felt excited. Books had always made her feel so but today she knew she would find something special. Reaching the bottom shelf she had to brush the dust off each book gently. She pulled out a few books from the shelf to look at more closely and saw that behind them was hidden a smaller black book. She put the other books down on the dirty floor and picked the small one up from the back of the bookshelf. She wiped a few cobwebs and bits of fluff off the book and looked at the title. 'Con Noire Para-obitus' she read. Thinking for a moment about it's meaning Hermione shuddered. ' The Strange Black Death'. Hermione looked though a few of the aging, yellow pages. It didn't take an intellectual to realise that this was a book on the dark arts, possibly the darkest book she had ever seen. Her heartbeat quickened slightly as she closed it pages and looked at the front of the book. Nothing but the faded silver Latin scrawl graced its leather cover. Hermione knew instinctively that she had to buy this book. Recently she had been dabbling secretly in the darker arts. She did not try anything extremely harmful to others or dangerous to herself but she knew that the others wouldn't understand if she told them.
Putting the other books back where she had originally found them, Hermione stood up and walked to the counter of the shop. Mr Wright was sitting at his desk, as usual, surrounded by a pile of yellow parchment and books. Hermione coughed but Mr Wright did not look up.
"Excuse me" Hermione said firmly "Could you please tell me how much this book is?" Mr Wright looked up at Hermione and then down at the book. His eyes widened as he read the title and he looked back up at Hermione with a surprised look on his face.
"10 Galleons" he said shortly.
"I'll take it, thank you." said Hermione placing the book down on the counter and reaching inside her bag for her purse. She pulled it out but immediately dropped it. Cursing herself she bent down to pick it up and as she pulled herself up, bumped into someone behind her.
"Oh I'm sorry", said Hermione, not looking at the person behind her.
"Please watch where you're stepping Miss Granger". Hermione turned around, surprised and saw Severus Snape standing behind her with an annoyed expression on his face.
"Well maybe I wouldn't have bumped into you if you hadn't crept up behind me Severus." Severus angered slightly at the sound of her using his first name.
"The money then?" asked Mr Wright looking highly amused at the scene in front of him. Clearly, thought Hermione, this is the most interesting thing that has happened in here for a while. She pulled out some coins from her drawstring purse and handed them over. Severus looked at Hermione's purchase with a raised eyebrow before she had had a chance to hide it from him.
"I must say am surprised to see you in this," he coughed "part of London."
"Obviously Albus doesn't keep you too well informed" she said quietly so Mr Wright couldn't hear. "Perhaps he doesn't trust you"
"Keep reading books like that Miss Granger" Severus retorted "And he'll have cause not to trust you". He sneered derisively at her.
Mr Wright put Hermione's new book in a brown paper bag and thanked her. Severus gave Hermione a fleeting look and turned his attention to Mr Wright. "Do you have my order James?"
"Certainly Sir, let me just collect it from the store room." Mr Wright shuffled off towards the back of the shop leaving Hermione and Severus alone. Hermione looked defiantly up at Severus.
"What I read is none of your business Severus. Just because I have to work with you, doesn't mean trust you."
"The feeling is mutual believe me Granger"
"Excuse me but as much as I'd love you bicker with you all day I have some things to buy." Hermione began to walk out of the shop but Severus grabbed her wrist.
"Careful where you leave that book Granger" he said seriously.
Stepping out into the cold October air Hermione shivered and looked up at the sky. Every meeting with Severus Snape angered her intensely. She had started to think that Harry and Ron had been right about Snape's commitment to the Order although she had never told either of them that. She looked towards the entrance to Diagon Alley and then further down Knockturn Alley. She had never explored the depths of Knockturn Alley for fear of being seen there but today she was feeling slightly reckless. She started off down the street, every step making the sky seem darker and the air colder. She shivered again.
Hermione passed store after store each looking shadier than the last as she travelled further into the dark maze of passageways that was Knockturn Alley. With every echoing step Hermione felt increasingly isolated from the real world. Every wall seemed to close in on her and there seemed to be a palpable evil in the air. She pulled her cloak more tightly around her and stuffed her hands in the pockets of her jeans. Just as she paused to look into the window of an antique shop it began to rain. Hermione was about to walk right past the shop and into a tavern across the street for shelter, until she saw something in the window that caught her eye. She rubbed away some of the dirt from the window to get a closer look and put her hands and face up to the glass to see the object more clearly. Her heartbeat quickened. Something strange and unknown was rising up inside her, a mixture of desperate longing and inexplicable fear. She gazed at the object for a whole minute before deciding that no matter what the cost, she absolutely had to have it.
With a sudden deafening bang the sky seemed to crack open and rain pelted down on Hermione so hard that she actually screamed as she felt her hair getting rapidly drenched. She wrenched her eyes away from the shop window and ran quickly to the entrance of the antique shop. She shook her hair from her face and undid her cloak as the heat of the shop hit her.
The shop was unlike any Hermione had ever been in before. A distinctly dusty smell seemed to hang in the air so strong that it almost looked as though it was foggy in the room. It was quite a large shop but the presence of hundreds of magical artefacts and various tables, chairs, wardrobes and other items of furniture made it looked tiny. There was old-fashioned wallpaper peeling off the walls and the carpet was threadbare and in some places the floorboards were visible beneath it. The shop was completely silent, so much so that it almost hurt Hermione's ears to be in there. She coughed and moved further into the store. She could see a counter at the back of the shop behind which was a young man that Hermione recognised too clearly. Smiling slightly she moved towards the counter and touched the arm of the man behind it to alert him to her presence.
Draco Malfoy had altered a lot since their sixth year at Hogwarts and Harry, Ron and Hermione had learnt in their last year to get on reasonably well with him (although for Harry some of the scars still ran too deep for complete forgiveness). At the end of their sixth year Draco had openly rejected his father, the Deatheaters and the other Slytherins much to the surprise of the school. Most people in the other houses had respected him for it and made friends with Draco. However the Slytherins were unrelenting in their attempts to publicly humiliate and harm him for turning his back on their way of life. For Draco's own safety Dumbledore had let him swap houses and dormitories and for his remaining year at Hogwarts Draco had resided in Hufflepuff, much to the amusement of his former friends. Devoid of any status in the wizarding world Draco had started working in the antique shop and he had been quite happy there so far. Although it was a shady kind of shop Draco did not mind. He needed money and this seemed he only way he could get it at the moment. His exams had gone badly and his options were limited.
"Hello Draco," Hermione said brightly, smiling warmly at him "I had no idea you worked here"
"Hermione" Draco said shortly, caught unawares "It's nice to see you". He smiled back at her. He had always wondered just what he had done to deserve her forgiveness for all the hurtful things he had done and said to her. She had been one of the first people to befriend him after his announcement that he was 'turning good'.
"Draco there is something in the window that I simply must have." Hermione said motioning towards the front of the shop eagerly. Draco raised an eyebrow. Most of the customers in this shop were of a questionable nature and for good reason. The items Draco bought and sold here were more often than not dark objects.
"Of course, what exactly was it you wanted?" He asked in a friendly voice. He decided not to appear overly concerned, after all this was Hermione Granger and she obviously knew what she was doing.
They moved together to the window of the shop. Draco opened a door and entered the shop front. Behind him Hermione could see that the rain was still pelting down hard and inwardly groaned at the idea of making her way back to the Leaky Cauldron
"So what was it that you wanted Hermione?" asked Draco moving about in the shop window. She could hear not only curiosity in his voice but something verging on suspicion.
"I would like to take a look at the silver chest please Draco" she replied politely, trying to keep the anticipation out of her voice. Even with his back turned to her she could imagine quite clearly that his eyebrows were raised again. She heard him moving a few things around and then saw him backing out of the shop-front door, his arms cradling the chest.
"Here," he said placing it into her arms and walking back towards the counter "If you change your mind just come and get me so I can put it back" Hermione nodded silently not looking up from the chest in her arms.
The silver chest in Hermione's hands was roughly the size of a shoe box only squarer. It was heavier than she had expected. Almost every inch of the chest was engraved with what looked to Hermione like Celtic symbols. Hundreds of lines inter-crossed forming exquisite patterns and plaits that hypnotised Hermione just to trace with her fingers. On the front panel of the box just above the keyhole was a beautifully carved serpent with inset emerald eyes. It stared unblinkingly at Hermione, who stared back entranced.
"Well well well" hissed a voice teasingly in her ear. It was Severus Snape again. He surprised Hermione so much that she jumped physically at the sound of his voice and bumped clumsily into him for the second time that day. She made to turn around but strong arms pinned her by the shoulders so that her back was still pressed against his body.
"What do you want Severus?" she whispered, not wanting to attract the attention of Draco.
"You're straying off your usual path Granger" he said in a tone that expressed pleasure at her discomfort "The further you go the harder it is to get back" His words sent a tingle down her spine that she was shocked to realise was not altogether unpleasant
"Well you'd know all about straying off the path wouldn't you Snape?" she spat disgustedly, wrenching her arms away from him and turning to look directly into his face. He sneered at her, looked down at the chest in her hands and poorly disguised a look of shock. This unnerved her slightly and she looked at the chest too, then back up at him.
"What?" she asked
"What are you doing with that Granger?" he said menacingly, his voice turning back to his usual 'teacher' one.
"I'm going to buy it Snape," she said looking fiercely back into his cold, black eyes. "Excuse me." she said pushing past him and heading towards the counter at the back of the shop. She had only walked half way across the room when Severus Snape called out to her.
"Granger," he called. She turned around " be careful, that is no toy." His tone was one of concern and his eyes betrayed an emotion that looked to Hermione like one of warning. She nodded mutely and turned away again. The tinkle of the shop door told her that he had left. She paid Draco 50 galleons swiftly, smiled and said goodbye and then left the shop to head back to the Leaky Cauldron in the driving rain.