Chapter 9: The black rose
"Here they are!" Dumbledore said cheerfully, beckoning them into the room. Luna and Malfoy were already there and sitting on the edges of the desks. "Now all we have to do is wait for Remus and Alice to arrive!" the headmaster said. Hermione nervously went to stand by the window, looking to her left she saw Professor Snape doing exactly the same. Feeling uneasy she strode over to the front of the classroom to look at the giant glass cases full of artefacts. She had always wanted to look at them closely but had never had the time. Reaching it she stood in amazement at the sheer variety of things in the cabinets. Skulls with strangely shaped horns protruding out of them, beautifully carved bone horns, shrunken heads and hands, bottles of shining liquids and lots of carved wooden pictures of weird creatures.
"Here, take a closer look," a voice said behind her shoulder, she jumped slightly in surprise as the glass face sprung open. Hermione looked behind her to find Professor Lupin smiling at her. Without a word she picked up a bottle of glowing gold liquid turning it over slowly in her hand. "That's quite rare actually, if I remember rightly I found it in Japan," he said.
"What is it?" Hermione asked transfixed as the liquid flowed smoothly around the bottle.
"That's Miss Granger is unicorns blood, not just any unicorn's though but a rare breed of Japanese unicorns that has gold blood," he said chuckling at the sight of disgust on Hermione's face. "Yes I have to agree not so beautiful when you find out it's blood!" he laughed. "Right then, time to start I think!" he said loudly so that everyone could hear him. Placing the bottle carefully back into the case Hermione stepped away as she looked back the glass had closed silently. Hermione took her place beside Harry and Ron.
"Right then I will be needing each of your wands one by one, just a simple check," Ollivander croaked as he made his way with his scales to the middle of the room. "Miss Granger, may I?" he asked, reaching out his wrinkled hand. Hermione handed over her wand reluctantly; she never liked to be without it. "Mmmmm, very good yes dragon's heartstring if I remember correctly and vine, very good," he muttered to himself as he took the wand off the scales. Giving it a slight swish it produced a miniature rainbow. Hermione smiled to herself. He then handed it back with great respect.
"Your wand is well looked after and well used," he said. "Now Mr Potter your wand please!" he said taking Harry's wand. Repeating the process again but this time Harry's wand made a fountain of gold liquid. Ollivander took each wand in turn, examined it then tested it and then handed it back to its owner. The only person who hadn't handed over his wand was Snape. Everyone turned with expectancy when Ollivander spoke his name. Striding to the front he produced his wand from his sleeve and handed it over silently. "Ah yes I remember, very unusual if I remember correctly, ebony and dragon's heartstring," Ollivander muttered, a deep frown lined his face. Picking it up carefully he gave it a swish, a perfectly formed black rose grew out of the tip of the wand. Ollivander pulled the rose out of the wand, he gave the wand and the rose back to Snape. Snape nodded at him and swiftly put his wand back into his sleeve. Hermione watched him as he twirled the rose between his slender fingers, looking thoughtful.
"Right, now that's over and done with it's time for the rules," Lupin said. "You of course will only be allowed your wand, all other items will be taken off you," he paused as Fred and George sighed loudly and looked disappointed. "Next when you are fighting, you will be doing so in an arena, this arena will have a strong magical shield protecting the audience from harm. No unforgivable curses will be allowed and a medical team will be present at all times. I think that's everything," he finished as silence followed. "No questions? Back to lessons then," he said as the door creaked open. Everyone headed out of the door, Ron and Harry broke straight into hurried whispers but Hermione was still in shock, Snape had the same core as her, what if they fought each other? What would happen?
"Come on Mione!" Harry shouted as Hermione realised she had stopped in the middle of the corridor. Hermione followed the two silently to the transfiguration corridor, she woke up out of her day dream when Professor McGonagall came round the corner and opened the door to her room. Walking in she took her seat between Harry and Ron.
The bell rang suddenly disturbing the sound of many quills scratching on parchment. The lesson had been interesting but Hermione just couldn't concentrate, she was worrying too much about the upcoming duel. Looking at her timetable she realised it was lunch time, she hadn't realised how hungry she was until now. She grabbed her bag, stuffed her parchment, textbook, ink and quill into her bag and then ran to catch up with Harry and Ron who were leaning against the doorframe waiting for her.
"About time too, I'm starving!" Ron exclaimed.
"Ron you are permanently hungry!" Hermione said laughing at the look of astonishment on his face.
The Great Hall was crowded with people as they arrived; luckily Fred had saved a seat for them. As they made their way over to the table, Snape entered the hall and came down the space between the house tables to get to the head table. As he passed Hermione noticed a black rose in his button hole, she stared in surprise. Unluckily for her Snape had noticed her.
"Miss Granger what do you find so incredibly important about my chest?" he asked sneering at the look of embarrassment on her face. Hermione, building up the confidence looked Snape straight in the eye and said," I was just admiring your black rose sir, it suits you." Snape turned and continued walking to the head table; he took his seat next to Alice and turned to her as she started talking to him. Hermione astonished at her own bravery stumbled to her seat. The whole hall by now had been watching the exchange between her and the most feared professor in Hogwarts; she blushed a deep shade of red as Harry gave her a questioning look.
"It was nothing," she mumbled, picking up her knife and fork to slice the beef on her plate. She stole a glance to the head table and found Snape watching her silently.
"What's up with you?" Alice asked Snape.
"Nothing, just one annoying Gryffindor know it all," he said turning back to his food.
"It suits you," she said pointing to the black rose in his button hole. He looked down at it and raised his eyebrow.
"Miss Granger thinks so too," he replied picking up his goblet. Taking a sip he placed it back down on the table and turned his attention to Lupin." I've got you potion Lupin if you want it, it's in my classroom," he said to him.
"Thanks Severus couldn't be soon enough, the next full moon is in two days time," he said unhappily. Alice placed her hand over his, he smiled grimly.
Hermione was just finishing her food when a thought entered her head. She excused herself and practically ran to the library.
Taking a book of the shelf she opened it, running her finger down the index page she flicked quickly to the page she wanted. The top of the page said Priori Incantatem, settling herself in a comfy armchair she started reading.
