It's been a long time in coming, but here is Chapter 4 of "Light in the Darkness". I'm not too sure if anyone is actually reading this fanfiction anymore, but it's one I kinda enjoyed writing and wanted to come back to. Expect more updates soon! Characters copyrighted to J.K. Rowling.
.:Chapter 4:.
Hermione Granger sat in the dark dungeon that was her Potions classroom. She had given up waiting in the Common Room for Harry and Ron – there would be no way she was going to get a detention because of their inability to get anywhere on time. For some reason Professor Snape was absent from the lesson and the class was substituted by the Bloody Baron who had a surprising knowledge of Potions considering he was dead. However, just like Snape he had the same annoying habit of favouring Slytherin house over all the others. Sighing, Hermione looked at the heavy doors to the classroom – even they wouldn't be stupid enough to miss Potions.
"Miss Granger, you would do well to pay attention to your cauldron instead of the doors," sneered the Bloody Baron as the contents of her cauldron bubbled onto the desk.
"Oh no!" exclaimed Hermione in horror.
"Ten points from Gryffindor for Miss Granger's inability to concentrate on her work," declared the Baron as he watched her struggle to stop her cauldron from overflowing anymore.
Sniggers rose from the Slytherins in the front row as they turned around to see her desk covered in a putrid green liquid. Neville Longbottom, who was sitting next to her, felt extremely sorry for Hermione – he was usually the one in that position.
"Here, I'll help you clean up," offered Neville quietly.
"Thanks Neville," Hermione replied, giving him a warm smile.
The Bloody Baron 'tutted' at them both and floated off muttering something about how all Gryffindors were the same...
Harry and Ron could not believe their eyes. The room looked exactly like Dumbledore's office, but had an extremely menacing feel to it. Everything was emblazoned with silver and green and too many snakes to even start counting.
"This must have been Slytherin's old office," whispered Harry to Ron, afraid he might wake something up if he spoke too loud.
"It's so... creepy," added Ron, pointing his wand to different corners of the room.
The furniture was covered in a thin layer of dust that had not been disturbed for what looked like centuries. Similarly to Dumbledore's office, there was an array of intricate, intriguing looking instruments. Although Harry had a feeling that these were not the kind of instruments one should be messing around with.
"Hermione'd know what these are," murmured Harry. "We should bring her up here."
"Umm, weren't we supposed to meet Hermione for Potions?" queried Ron, already knowing the answer.
"Well, Ron," replied Harry with a weak smile, "say hello to a lifetime's worth of detentions."
Harry could hear Ron gulp and make towards the door, his wand hanging limply at his side.
"Hang on, Ron!" exclaimed Harry as his eyes lay fixed on the ornate ebony desk that lay in the middle of the room. "Someone's been here... and recently by the looks of it."
Ron turned back round and noticed that there was a neat square of polished ebony; perhaps where a book had once lay. Fingerprints lay on either side of the faded square, disturbing the long settled dust. Both of them wondered silently who would have wanted to venture into this office, steal a book or some such artefact, and why it had been removed so recently.
"Come on, let's go. This place is giving me the creeps," whispered Ron, his eyes darting about him.
"Yeah, I know what you mean," replied Harry, his grip tightening on his wand.
They looked around the room one final time, making sure that they had not missed anything. Something tugged at the back of Harry's mind, making his hairs stand on end... he felt like they weren't alone, that something was watching them from the shadows. Harry felt a shudder run through him.
"You alright, Harry?" asked Ron, noticing Harry shiver.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," lied Harry. "Just someone walking over my grave, that's all."
"I wish you wouldn't say things like that," whimpered Ron, turning towards the exit.
Harry smiled at him and punched him gently on the arm. Something told him that this would not be the last time they would set foot in this place. Hermione definitely needed to see this, no doubt she had read about it in Hogwarts: A History. Her expertise would, without a doubt, come in handy.
Hermione was close to tears when she walked into the Gryffindor common room, her cheeks flushed red in something akin to shame. Neville walked in a little way behind her, a look of concern on his face.
"D-don't worry about it, Hermione," offered Neville, placing a hand gently on her shoulder.
"I'm fine," replied Hermione unconvincingly, sniffing loudly.
Neville rifled around in his robe pockets and withdrew a silken handkerchief in Gryffindor colours. Walking to her side, he handed Hermione the handkerchief with a sympathetic smile. Hermione looked up at him, tears forming in her eyes and accepted the handkerchief with a weak smile.
"T-hanks Neville," said Hermione, dabbing the corners of her eyes, thankful that it was only her, Neville and Dennis Creavey in the common room. "You won't-,"
"Of course, I won't," smiled Neville, shaking his head. "Well, I said I'd meet Ginny… Herbology help."
A rather deep shade of red rose to Neville's cheeks when he spoke about Ginny and Hermione smiled at him.
"You don't want to keep her waiting," she replied.
"No, she'd kill me if I was late," said Neville, a touch of trepidation clinging to his words. "Take care, Hermione."
"Oh, what about your handkerchief?" called Hermione as Neville was about to leave the common room.
"Keep it," smiled Neville before continuing on his way.
Hermione slumped down in her favourite armchair by the fire, opening her satchel and withdrawing the Potions homework the Bloody Baron had set them. After today's lesson, she just did not feel motivate to even attempt it; it would seem Crookshanks had cottoned on to this lack of motivation and leapt onto her lap. Running a hand absentmindedly over the cat's marmalade fur, Hermione felt her eyes lulling shut with the comforting sound of Crookshanks' purr and the warmth of the fire.
"Hermione!"
"Hermione, wake up!"
Hermione's chocolate eyes fluttered open to see Ron and Harry standing over her, a look of excitement plastered across their faces. She did not know how long she had been asleep, but quite awhile by the looks of things. The moon was high in the sky… she could have sworn she had fallen asleep at dusk.
"Where were you today?" asked Hermione, alert within seconds, sitting up straight. "The Bloody Baron has gone to McGonagall about your absence!"
Ron looked to Harry, the look of excitement soon leaving their faces.
"The Bloody Baron?" said Harry, his eyebrow arched. "What was the Bloody Baron doing teaching Potions?"
"Professor Snape was unable to attend," replied Hermione, "which strikes me as very odd. Professor Snape has never missed a lesson."
"Well, that's not quite true," came a small voice from the corner of the common room.
The trio looked over to see the slight form of a Gryffindor first year called Nathan Byrne. He was a rather unassuming student that rarely spoke to anyone aside from his close friend, Russell Lacroix. Seeing that he had the trio's attention, Byrne continued, his voice a little stronger now.
"We were having Potions yesterday," continued Byrne, venturing over to them a little. "Snape was in a foul mood-,"
"Not so different from usual then," smirked Ron, looking at Harry.
"Ssh!" hissed Hermione before gesturing for Nathan Byrne to continue.
"None of us had noticed it, but there was a scroll of paper on his desk," said Nathan. "He thought it was one of us who had put it there. He began reading it, but I couldn't make out what was written on it. All of sudden he disappeared!"
"A portkey," deducted Hermione as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Hogwarts is supposed to have protection against them… I'm sure of it."
"In Hogwarts: A History no doubt," murmured Ron.
"Yes, and you would do well to read it, Ronald," reprimanded Hermione, removing the aforementioned tome from her bag.
"Bloody hell! Do you carry that with you wherever you go?" gasped Ron.
Hermione smiled at him sardonically and gestured for Harry to come closer. Watching Hermione flick through the book, Harry was reminded of what he wanted to ask her about Slytherin's office. However, before he got a chance to, Hermione had found her page and was reading what she had found out loud.
"The use and construction of unauthorised portkeys is forbidden within the grounds of Hogwarts," recited Hermione, her finger trailing along the page. "Any student or staff member found to have flouted these strictest of rules is liable to be dismissed or face disciplinary action from the Headmaster or Headmistress."
"Dumbledore must know about it," mused Harry, pushing the thoughts of portkeys aside. "Hermione, does that book contain anything Slytherin?"
"It's a history of Hogwarts, Harry," smiled Hermione, a condescension marking her words. "Of course it's going to have something about Slytherin in it."
Hermione shook her head and flicked to the index of the book. Ron's jaw dropped when he saw the sheer amount of pages detailing entries on Salazar Slytherin. Harry too was speechless, but regained his composure quicker than Ron.
"Anything about an office, or perhaps a room that Slytherin was fond of? Aside from the Chamber of Secrets," asked Harry, the mention of the Chamber of Secrets invoking painful memories… most of them pertaining to Ginny. Shaking his head, Harry looked imploringly at Hermione.
"Slytherin's office?" asked Hermione. "I can't say I can recall reading anything about it. Let me see."
Tracing her finger down the index pages, a frown began to crease Hermione's brow… it would seem she was unable to turn anything up.
"Wait," said Hermione. "I guess I was wrong."
"You mean there's mention of it?" asked Ron, moving a little closer to Hermione.
"I wonder why I hadn't noticed it before," mused Hermione.
"Can't fit everything into that head of yours," smiled Ron, shaking his head.
Hermione merely shot him another sarcastic smile; she began turning the pages, but stopped abruptly.
"You know you still haven't told me where you were this afternoon," said Hermione, looking at the two boys. "And why are you so curious about Slytherin all of a sudden?"
Harry and Ron looked at each other before divulging their tale about the adventure they had that afternoon. Ron elaborated on every detail Harry told Hermione, exaggerating certain aspects to the point of disbelief.
"So you think you found Salazar Slytherin's office?" replied Hermione when they had finished their tale. "And that portrait said that Slytherin was Hogwarts' first headmaster? Well, that's news to me."
"I can't think of anyone except him or Voldemort who could have an office so full of snakes," said Harry, shooting Ron a sideways glance when he heard the elder boy gasp at the mention of Voldemort's name.
"I can," mused Ron, composing himself. "What about Sirius' grandfather? That Phineas guy."
"He was a Headmaster, Ronald," sighed Hermione shaking her head. "He would have had Dumbledore's office."
"It was just a suggestion," muttered Ron, crossing his arms defensively across his chest.
"We've got to keep all our options open," offered Harry, trying to placate his two best friends. "I might be wrong, it might not be Slytherin's, but I think it's our best lead. So, what does it say Hermione?"
Hermione flicked furious to the page and adjusted the positioning of the book so both Ron and Harry could read it too.
"This can't be right," mumbled Harry, peering down at the book. "It says that Slytherin's office was razed to the ground and sealed up – that no one knows of its location."
"You think it's still Slytherin's office?" asked Ron. "The office we saw was intact, a little dusty, but still standing."
"Maybe someone rebuilt it," mused Hermione, resting her chin on her hand. "A restoration spell is not that advanced – the effect would need to be accumulated, but it is possible."
Harry pushed himself up from the armchair and looked into the fire, his green eyes illuminated by the warm light it emitted. None of it made any sense… he did not want to think about who could have rebuilt Slytherin's office because there was only one person he could imagine who would. Snape's disappearance was also out of the ordinary… transported by a portkey? Harry was not concerned about his Potion master's safety, but he was intrigued as to who could have smuggled in or, indeed, created a rogue portkey underneath Dumbledore's nose.
"We should talk to Dumbledore," replied Harry finally, turning back to his two friends. "If anyone'll know, he will."
"Let's just hope we don't run into the Bloody Baron or McGonagall on the way," said Ron, his face growing a little pale at the mere mention of the deputy headmistress' name.
"Knowing our luck, we probably will," sighed Harry, helping Hermione to her feet. "Come on."
"Sssh, don't try to get up," came a soft, lilting voice.
Severus Snape's beetle black eyes soon focused on the young woman who stood over him. Her red hair fell about her shoulders, stray bangs framing her heart-shaped face; she was holding a cold compress gently to his forehead. The Potions master had no idea where he was and he did not like the feeling of helplessness that had settled over him. Who was this woman… she was so familiar. No, the woman you think of is dead…
"What is your name?" asked the young woman, offering him a glass of water.
Snape merely looked at her, not deigning to take the water or answer her question. It was obvious to him that from the house she kept and the way she was tending to him she was a muggle. The red-haired woman shrugged her shoulders and placed the glass on the bedside table.
"You were running from someone, although if you won't tell me your name then I doubt you will tell me who you were running from," sighed the woman, crossing her arms across her chest.
The more he looked her, the more Snape was distinctly reminded of her; Lily Evans, Harry Potter's mother. The same vibrant green eyes and auburn hair, a similar effervescence and personality… from what he could tell after mere moments of consciousness.
"I'll let you rest," she resigned, walking towards the bedroom door.
"Severus," mumbled Snape, his eyes settling on her.
"Pardon?"
"My name is Severus," replied Snape.
"Leria," smiled the young woman. "I'm Leria."
Keep your eyes pealed for the next instalment of "Light in the Darkness". I'm currently in the middle of exams, so the update might not be around for a few weeks. I promise I'll try and keep this fic going. Please feel free to drop me a review!