Chapter 2

Hermione arrived not only a few minutes late, but a few hours late. Her arms were full of books ranging from every size imaginable, her hair was well kept but her eyes looked as though she had not been sleeping well.

"Where have you been? I needed help from one of my straight A students more than two hours ago, but now it's too late."

"Fine then, I shall leave if you don't want me here." She turned around and began to walk off but the books in her arms were too heavy and began to slip.

Snape looked her up and down and smiled at how ridiculous she appeared. "Miss Granger, I was only kidding and I see you have gone through a lot of trouble gathering up as many books as you possibly could. Don't strain yourself much longer. Set them down over there.' He motioned to a sandstone rock cut roughly into the shape of a square. She rushed over to it and eagerly threw the books down.

"Shall we begin?" She said in a professional manner

"Yes, I believe we shall." He replied in a high pitched voice trying to mimic Hermione's.

They sat uncomfortably beside each other and began to research the question lingering inside their minds, trying to find an answer. After a short period of time, Hermione broke the unpleasant silence. "Professor Snape, according to this large book of The Mysteriously Unknown it says there is no such creature as the one before us. Fortunately, I brought some books from home that are of much better quality and have far more information than this book will ever have."

"Well then I insist you get to it and look inside them."

She scrolled through page after page hoping for a sign of some sort. Finally she saw something that caught her eye.

"Oh, oh! I found something!" she screamed excitedly

"Do you know what it is?"

"Not quite but we are getting closer. It seems as though we are dealing with an ancestor of the Grindylow. It says here that Grindylows are one of the most deadly underwater creatures. They originated in the county of Yorkshire, England. They dwell in stagnant pools, marshes, rives, ponds and lakes. They have human-like features but contain sharp fangs and horns. These creatures usually hide out in underwater weeds and beneath thin layers of sand. If they detect any type of movement they will grab it and gobble it up until there is no more…"

"This ancestor of theirs looks like a fierce dragon more than anything, Granger. Also this berk is out of the water."

"Yes, but I presume that this is a mix between the two enabling it to go out of the water for a short period of time. After that time is up it is able to move around, but only in one place." Hermione looked at the page again and found a hidden section on Grindylows. She glanced over at Snape and saw that he had a sad and lonely look upon his face. She began to ask him what the matter was but changed her mind.

"Look Professor come quickly!"

"What? What is it?" he responded startled, distant.

"I found new information! It is so obvious too! I can't believe I didn't think of this before!"

Snape rolled his eyes. He was annoyed with her presence and wanted to get this horrible moment over with. "Go on please." He said in a dull tone.

"Ok, well of course being an ancestor of the Grindylow means that it adores water right? And being a dragon means it hates water and loves fire. Thus creating a problem; if we splash water on it, it is able to move more freely and will be a threat to us. If we give it fire it can use it against us and torch us until we are only human remains."

"That gets us nowhere! We are at the same spot as before! All we have done is learn pointless information Granger. It is pitch dark and evil is near; we must hurry. Actually, we shouldn't be out this late. I can tell you need rest by the bags underneath your eyes. We shall continue this tomorrow."

"But, but it is a threa…"

"Shut up Granger, it is not a threat! You said it can't move if it's not wet right?"

"Yes but..."

"Then it will be fine! If anything does happen he will go after you!" he snarled. "Besides, the weather looks great and there is no one here except for you, your two stupid friends and the staff! Now go to bed!"

Tears filled her eyes "You are horrible!" She screamed "I hate you!"

"You should because I hate you as well. No one likes you Granger. What do you think you are accomplishing by being the way you are? Your parents are muggles and you should be one as well."

By that unreasonably scathing comment, Hermione broke down into tears. She started to sob uncontrollably. Embarrassed and hurt, she ran towards the corridor and her bed not even bothering to pick up the books that meant so much to her.