Hermione lay in bed looking at the four poster bed posts and the closed curtains. This had been her bed for the past seven years. She hadn't been the only one to sleep in it. The posts along with the underside of the wooden canopy above her had scratches and doodles, names of past students. She had studied every inch of this bed once she got there in her first year. Hermione had remembered doing that her very first weekend.
There was best friend stuff, boyfriend and girlfriend stuff, little different symbols. Her first impression of it all was vandalizing of property. However, over the years as her time was getting closer to leaving the school; she understood the need to leave a lasting impression of one's self. She still hadn't decided on a design yet.
Standing up on the bed her fingers traced the very familiar patterns in the wood. It had become a mosaic of time. Her favorites had been done by Harry's own mother. She never told him about it, she had kept that little bit of information to herself. They were the colorful masterpieces all on their own.
Slowly, her fingers traced over the STS. The two Ss were snakes turned towards each other, and one flipped upside down in the yin and yang fashion. The T in the middle was designed in the shape of a cross. While embossed behind it was a delicate lily whose petals were marbled in with black and white. Underneath it was written: Snake of Worth.
Hermione looked at the others that Lily had done. All the marauders were there. Harry's father, was an imposing and reverent stag with a lily behind it. Lily had written Determined to the End. Sirius had a dog with a lily behind it, Mutt for Life. Professor Lupin was a moon with a wolf howling in the center with that same lily behind it like the others, Understanding without Fail. Even Wormtail, that Lily had written, Shifty Whiskers.
Hermione smiled. Harry's mother had gotten them all right. She felt a closeness to Harry's mother that Harry hadn't even known. Hermione knew that Harry needed to see this, but it wasn't like he could come into their dorm room. Getting down off the bed she pulled out a piece of parchment. She got back on her bed and painstakingly added each design his mother had done to the bed upon it.
Once finished she grabbed more parchment and put them one by one on separate sheets and enlarged them further. She wouldn't want to keep the Wormtail one, but it would be up to Harry on that one. She made a copy for herself on Professor Snape. She had stared at it often enough to know exactly who it was. At first she didn't know. It had taken some time to figure it out. She put Harry's copies back in her bag and lay back down tracing her fingers over the snakes.
Everything in her told her that Lily got this one right as well. She couldn't help how she felt about him. It was like trying to tell the ocean to not to move or the sun to stop shining. Hermione sighed. It had been a slow and gradual process. It hadn't happened overnight. She hadn't discovered it herself until shortly after Christmas when Harry had broached the subject of sexual fantasies.
Now those were with Slytherin. Hermione couldn't help but feel depressed about the situation. Anytime the Slytherins got a hold of something it always went bad. The tears started falling down the sides her face. She knew it was coming. Harry was too optimistic about things. She couldn't blame him really, after everything he had gone through. He almost had to look at life that way. Nevertheless, she wasn't Harry. She didn't live the charmed life he had. She was just one of his best friends who went along for the ride. Not always coming out of it for the better at times. It took a lot of bravery to stand beside Harry. You never knew what was going to happen.
She never counted on this happening. This was far worse than the Daily Prophet. She hadn't told Harry how deeply she had fallen. He only knew that she thought Professor Snape was well worth shagging. She had poured her heart into those fantasies, and now it was in the middle of the snake pit.
You need to stop this right now. Whatever happens will happen. It hurts so bad. Hermione chastised herself for how she was feeling. She got back up and got out a quill and ink, then she sat back down and pulled over the design that Lily had done for Professor Snape. She worked for several hours. Once she had finished, she looked back at the parchment and stared at it.
The lily was clearly still there, the design she had. Hermione did not want to mess with it. Around the lily, itself Hermione had drawn the vines and thorns interlocking around the whole thing. There were black and white roses placed around it as well. Under what Lily had written, Hermione put these words: Behind the Thorns.
Hermione got up and taking the parchment she took out her wand and slowly embossed around the design. Once finished she stood there and looked at it. It fit perfectly and she couldn't help but smile at it. Now if she could get her manuscript back, she knew exactly what she wanted to add to the front cover of it. Harry already had a design for his own. He had been teasing her for weeks for not coming up with one yet. Well, she'll show him tomorrow.
