I would have got this up sooner, but I happened to have a very bad eye infection, I still do actually but it's a bit better. The response was absolutely wonderful, and I adore you guys.
Chapter 2
She was sleeping, blissfully unaware when this loud metal clanging began, and she woke up with a jolt, and sat upright. At first she had no idea what was going on, and she began to quickly search for the source, and then she realized it was her alarm clock, something she had not used in years. She quickly reached over to her bed stand and shut the damn thing off, before it roused all the other occupants at Hogwarts. It was five in the morning, and she quickly got out of her bed, she had no time to waste.
She quickly changed into a pair of track pants, shrugged on a T shirt and bent over to tie the laces on the sneakers she had just slipped on. She was on her way to achieve a good cardio workout, in the form of a brisk morning jog, something she had never done in her entire life.
When it came to exercise, she was as lazy as a sloth. Ofcourse, her breaking tradition now had nothing at all to do with Severus Snape calling her fat. None whatsoever. She had just decided that she needed a change of lifestyle, yes that was it.
Leaving her quarters silently and noiselessly, she began her brisk jog a little further away from the castle, just in case there were other people out and about at this early hour and she did not want to be seen. She wanted to keep her supposed change in lifestyle a secret. As she began jogging she was aware of how non-fit and non-trim she was. Within fifteen minutes she had begun to pant in a very un-lady like way, infact it would have given a dog a complex, and within the next half hour she had begun to positively gasp for breath, as though the entire reserve of the twenty one percent oxygen in the atmosphere had been used up. Glancing at her wrist watch, she noted that it was close to six, and she hurried back up the steps into the castle. The students were now up and about and she did not want to pave the path for any awkward questions.
Reaching her quarters quickly, she proceeded to change and run a bath. She had to be in the Great Hall for breakfast in an hour, and she was as sweaty as a pig. After a quick shower, she changed into her work robes, and after a moment's indecisiveness, she decided to wear forest green. As she stood in front of the mirror, she was aware of her wet hair dripping water down her back. Quickly grabbing a towel she proceeded to wring all the water out of it, and she then cast a charm for a draft of air to dry it. She surveyed herself and what she saw she did not like.
Her hair though dry, was sticking out at all odd angles. She sighed in frustration. Why couldn't her hair either curl inwards, or outwards? Why did half of it have to curl inwards, and the other half outwards, so that she resembled a pine tree? Grabbing a brush, she wrestled with her wild hair in an attempt to tame it, but she was unsuccessful, and she finally threw it down, and grabbed a rubber band and tied it up in a pony-tail. She was most certainely not going to win the "Most beautiful hair" of the year award any time soon, but she would absolutely not straighten her hair, either by charming it or with a hot iron. She was not going to give Severus the satisfaction. She had survived with her hair for twenty-one years hadn't she? No reason why she should'nt do so for the forthcoming.
As she sat down in her seat at the teacher's table, she ignored Severus. She was still miffed at his atrocious comments the previous day, and she did not want to give him an opening for any more. But she avoided the plum cake and instead drank quite a lot of the orange juice and she found herself feeding on quite a lot of cucumber, it was supposed to cool the body, and she could do with some of that in the sweltering heat. Just as she dipped her fork into the papaya, the dratted man decided to make himself heard.
'Miss Granger, you seemed to have forgotten the plum cake this morning, it's quite tasty and I'm sure it misses your attentions' saying so the horrendous man actually proferred the plate.
She stared at him, and then at the plum cake. She could not believe that he could stoop so low.
'May I cut you a slice Miss Granger?'
'No you may not' she snarled and then dug at her papaya with fervour.
'Suit yourself, but it really is tasty' and then the obnoxious man proceeded to cut himself the largest, most un-healthiest slice possible, and not content with that, began munching it right next to her!
That malevolant bat was exploiting her weakness for the plum-cake and he knew it! She found herself staring longingly at him while he munched happily beside her. Just then he turned, and grinned at her, and then continued munching. She scowled and forced herself to tear her eyes away from him. Finishing off the slice of papaya on her plate, she pushed her chair back and left in great strides, she was attempting to put as much distance between herself and Severus as possible within the confines of the castle. She had disliked him as a student, but her dislike for him as a Professor had reached new proportions.
She stomped back to her office, where she spent a good deal of time correcting the parchments of the students, and when it was time for lunch, she delayed it as much as possible, and finally went in the Hall only when ten minutes were left for the lunch hour to end. Noting the absence of Severus thankfully, she sank into her seat and had a quick meal, avoiding all the food which had a high fat content and instead concentrated on increasing her dietary protein and carbohydrate. She barely had time to finish before she rushed off, for she had a class with the sixth years and she could not afford to be late. Infact her entire afternoon was packed with classes and when she did finish the day, all she wanted to do was sink into a comfortable chair, and not move………..ever.
She slowly walked back towards her quarters, although limped would be a better word. She had clearly overdone her morning jog. Accepting the fact that she could not expect to be Maurice Green in a day, and taking it slow would have been the sensible thing, but no. In her haste to rid herself of all the flab, she had not paid one iota of attention to her muscles, which had obviously decided to retaliate by screaming for attention.
Entering her room, she slowly inched her way towards the sofa, and she was wincing with every step. As she lowered herself into the sofa, she let out a curse, for pain coursed through her thighs like tiny needles. As she leaned back she was aware of lancinating pain in her lower back and shoulders, courtesy all the stretching she had done in the morning.
Dreading what she might find, she lifted the hem of her robes slowly, and just as she suspected she was greeted by the sight of massive blood clots on her thighs in the form of deep black bruises. She sighed.
She was most certainely not going to visit Poppy, she had been extremely stupid, the rest of Hogwarts did not need to know about it. And she most certainly did not want Poppy to ask Severus to brew her a muscle- relaxant. She would stubbornly cling on to her pride, and her pain.
Grimacing, she lifted herself out of the sofa, just once. Moving to her dresser she picked up the bottle of "Relispray" and sprayed it over herself liberally, thankgod she had thought to visit the pharmacist in London and stock up on some essential medicines and ointments before she came to Hogwarts, just in case. Moving back slowly to the sofa, she sank in and curled up on it, with a cushion beneath her head, and she slept, right through dinner, and was consequently missing at the Great Hall that night. Noting her absence, Severus frowned.
I'm glad everyone liked the previous chapter- I want your feed back for this one too.
