Chapter Ten- In Which Shouts are Heard

It didn't surprise Hermione in the least when she blacked out. She knew they wouldn't have wanted to risk a confrontation at Privet Drive, though she knew they would be angry. When she awoke, she was lying in her bed at Grimmauld Place. She felt surprisingly refreshed and wondered what exactly they had hit her with. When she was hit with a Stupefy, she usually woke up aching.

What did surprise her was when she tried to get out of her room. She was willing to take whatever punishment they gave her, but she'd never expected to be locked in.

"Oh, this will not end well," she muttered, shaking her head. "Not well at all," she added, heading back to her bed. She sat down, looking sadly at her door.

Contrary to popular belief, her biggest fear was not that of failure. Though she hated to sound like she was bragging, she knew she was smart enough not to fail anything. She stressed perhaps a bit more than necessary on tests merely because she wanted to do well and…to be honest…just to tease Harry and Ron a bit. They were so lackadaisical about their work, but when she began panicking, it finally got them to buckle down.

She was in no way stupid. She knew that the other students would use any excuse they found to torment her. Knowing some of the more vicious Slytherins as she did, she knew some of them might try to use the truth against her if they knew.

Hermione Granger being afraid of failing was funny for them, but not surprising. Everyone knew that, as well as the fact that it could never, ever happen and so nothing came of it.

The truth was not so simple. Hermione had claustrophobia. She couldn't stand being in small spaces. She liked to roam- living in a castle in Scotland was perfect for her. She was never crowded, because she could always find some place to hide away. When the Common room got too crowded, she always retreated to the library.

To go right along with claustrophobia, Hermione had a far more paralyzing fear of Cleisiophobia, or fear of being locked in enclosed places. Her parents hadn't punished her often, especially once she reached the age of seven and discovered the public library, but they had learned long ago not to send Hermione to her room and forbid her from coming out.

The first time they'd done that and she thought she'd been locked in, they discovered their daughter was a witch, as she wildly starting levitating everything in her room as well as the rooms on either side of her.

It was her dark secret. Not even Harry and Ron knew. Obviously no one else did either if they were stupid enough to do something like that. She didn't know why she was surprised exactly, as the Order of the Stupid Idiots seemed to favour locking people up. They'd locked Sirius up and then wondered why he had left at the first opportunity. Gits.

Sirius…

The thought of the man was possibly the only thing that kept her from panicking. Instead, she smirked, peering thoughtfully around the room. She would never tell anyone, but she hadn't thought Sirius was going to last much longer in this house anyways. She had never grieved for what happened; she could feel him working up to some stupid act. At least he went out doing something he could be proud of; saving his godson.

She grinned triumphantly when her eyes fell on the part of the wall that was slightly off-colour. Knowing Sirius's absolute hatred of the house and especially of the situation he had been forced into, she had begrudged him nothing. Yes, she had criticized him, heavily at times, because she feared the stupidity that Harry would be driven to if Sirius wasn't checked, but she had never held his actions against him.

Which was why, a few days before Harry showed up last summer, she'd spent a whole day helping Sirius hide several dozen bottles of Firewhiskey that Mundungus had showed up with. The Noble House of Black had hundreds of hiding places and cubbies, several specially charmed to hide their contents from Summoning Charms.

Though Molly had quickly discovered that Sirius was getting drunk from a number of sources, her charms had thus failed and Hermione had never felt the slightest bit guilty for said secret. Throughout the last year, Molly had, of course, found a few of the lesser-secretly hidden bottles, but Hermione was fairly confident that most of them remained hidden.

As she found herself in Sirius's position, she was more confidant now than ever that he'd made the right decision- being pissed most of the day was surely the only way to handle such confinement.

After darting a quick glance at the door, hoping beyond hope that someone would unlock the damn door, she eased herself off the bed and slid over the few feet to the hidden panel. She pried it out with her fingernails- an easy task once you knew where the hinge was- and peered inside.

When peering through the contents of the small cubby, she chuckled helplessly. Sure, Sirius had spent all those years in Azkaban and so his mental growth had been stunted more than a little, but somehow she couldn't imagine him growing up even if he had remained free.

"Oh, Sirius." She scolded, smiling sadly as she pulled out his stash of PlayWizard magazines, bending the covers slightly to spare her eyes. He had the magazines hidden everywhere and was willing to offer anyone a peek- even if they didn't ask.

Her attention was quickly drawn from the magazines as they fell on the two plain brown bottles set along the back of the hidden cubby. She held her breath, reaching in, and let out a small cheer as she picked them up. They were full!

Moving quickly, she tossed the magazines back in and reclosed the hiding space before retreating to her bed. If she was going to get drunk, she was going to do it right and doing it right, according to Fred and George- who had first introduced her to Firewhiskey last summer, involved falling into a nice warm bed and passing out. She'd always thought that to be a counterproductive outcome, but hey, who was she to argue with Gred and Forge?

She pulled the top off of one of the bottles and took a swig. It burned the whole way down her throat, where she imagined she could hear it sizzling in her stomach, but almost immediately she felt her anxiety ebb a little. Curious, she took another long swig and a small smile appeared on her face. Oh yes, this was working quite well.

************************************

Meanwhile, downstairs and completely unaware of the mischief the girl was getting up to, several members of the Inner Circle within the Order of the Phoenix were gathered, all of whom were glaring at Mad Eye Moody.

"Alastor, dear friend, you could have handled the situation differently." Albus summed up the arguments being lodged by his friend's angry mentee and their normally calm werewolf friend. "Hermione Granger is a sensible child. She wouldn't have caused trouble."

"Hmph." Moody, his magical eye spinning towards where the girl was confined and just as quickly back to the others, snorted. "That's your first mistake. You all keep assuming this girl has been pulled in on most of Potter's adventures and that just because she prefers to read over eat she's a good kid. I've known a few others like that. You'll learn soon. I regret nothing."

The war-hardened old man was not interested in such conversations; though it was always fun to watch Tonks on the very few occasions she chose to stand up to her mentor. That was why he liked her so much, more than an of his previous subordinates. She always kept things interesting… though to be honest he could do without the pink hair.

What he was interested in was having his fun. Some found Alastor's friendship with the brightly colored, almost-completely-openly-gay Albus Dumbledore, but those who really knew the two had no problem understanding the friendship.

Both of them had an irrepressible urge to cause mischief in other's lives. Alastor refrained from such meddlings far more often than Albus did, but then again he didn't have a whole school to play with.

But his favourite target was here and he couldn't resist. Despite what most of the Order thought, Alastor had no problems with Severus Snape. In fact, he respected the young Slytherin quite a bit. Respected his sacrifices for their cause, respected his potion making abilities and respected the drive that the young man had to keep going even though he was the epitome of fate's whipping boy.

It just wouldn't do for the young man to know such a thing. Some people, Alastor had learned over the years, needed someone to hate. Someone they could openly hate, with no explanation, that drove them to being even better, just to spite that person. They needed motivation.

Alastor was Severus's inspiration. Not that the Slytherin knew it, of course, at least not consciously. But Alastor had quickly seen that Severus needed someone he could hate before he killed one of his Gryffindor students. He couldn't hate the Dark Lord, he couldn't hate Albus (manipulative bastard he was though), and so he needed Alastor.

If Alastor's actions had been approved by Albus, especially when it managed to get the Order to ease up on the Slytherin and even come to his defense at times, all the better.

Alastor had watched the young man every bit as intensely as Albus. Actually, at times he had watched the man more than Albus had, as he had none of Albus's reservations about casting Observation Spells on the man's quarters at Hogwarts and even in his Manor.

Alastor knew Severus even better than Severus knew himself. He'd watch the man slap down every hand offered to him, again and again, refusing to open himself up to anyone. From what Alastor had gotten from Albus, this trend had been a habit of Severus's even before turning spy.

Though he would never admit it, Alastor was every bit as anxious for the young man to connect with someone else- anyone else- as Albus was. And so he was going to push. Every chance he got.

And here was a perfect chance. "Well, Snape, what about you?" He demanded gruffly, crossing his arms over his chest. "I've listened to them blather on, do you have anything to add?"

"No." Severus, leaning against the wall of the den, answered simply. "I didn't come here to berate you. I don't care if you injure the Golden Girl or not. In fact, I hope you did."

"What?" Nymphadora Tonks demanded, stopping her angry pacing around the room to glare at him.

"I do." He said, shifting slightly to face her directly. "If he injures her, she'll simply add him to her shit-list. I can only hope that I'll be around when she goes after him. It'll be a sight to see. And it couldn't happen to a better person." He added, adding his own glare as he turned back to Alastor.

"Well, I'm not there yet." Alastor said, ignoring the pathetic glare that had never worked on him and instead noting with regret that even in what should be a casual gesture of leaning, Severus still looked tense. "So I fail to understand why you're here."

Remus looked curiously between the two men, but offered an answer. "I was rather wondering that myself."

"I have been wasting my precious time training that girl." Severus said flatly. He always thought Moody was testing him and, for the life of him, he could never figure out why. Obviously the man hated him- what more evidence could he need to justify such hatred? "I would like to know just how far this crazy old Auror has set her back in her training."

"That's most admirable of you, Severus." Albus said before his friend could open his big mouth again. Why Alastor always thought he needed to rile Severus, Albus had never understood. Alastor was never one for the subtle and sly approach Albus used.

"Admirable," Severus repeated scornfully. "It's merely morbid curiosity. You won't let me test unproven potions on Gryffindors, but the retired Auror is. I am just curious as to what the effects will be on the chit."

"Look here, boy, you're not the only one who can brew a potion." Moody protested, struggling to hide his smirk. What was an entirely plausible reason for anyone else was still more emotion from the younger man than Alastor had heard in a long time. Curious, he decided to see what would happen next. "And," he added, allowing them to see his eye flying upwards towards the girl's room. She had worked her way steadily through the first bottle of Firewhiskey and he didn't think it would be healthy for a tiny girl like her to go after the second bottle. She was obviously well soused enough to be calm about whatever had driven her to seek out Potter, so now was the perfect time to send Severus up. "She doesn't seem to be having any issues."

"She's awake!" Tonks exclaimed, relieved. "Well, the two of us obviously need to have a talk about boundaries."

"No." Severus, Alastor couldn't be more happy to see, stepped forward to stop the woman. "I will talk with her first. She has proven time and again since her first year on that rules mean nothing to her. I want to make sure that potion hasn't damaged her any and then you may shout to your heart's content."

He didn't wait for her to answer, but quickly moved out of the room.

"Headmaster!" Tonks protested, turning to the elder man, not happy to see that both he and Alastor were grinning.

"Ah, Nymphadora." Albus said, blanching at the glare he got. He took a deep breath, however, and weathered on. "I do know that you and Hermione are going to need to talk about boundaries, but for now it is important that Severus check Ms. Granger's medical condition."

And, Albus added to himself, it is important for Severus to take this time to…er…talk to the girl.

"Fine." Tonks said, crossing her arms with a huff. "But I don't understand why it matters to him so much. He sees her, what, once a week? You can't tell me he's gotten attached to her. Bloody bat…"

"Tonks," Remus said, laughing at the woman's words. "You obviously haven't been coming home for lunch often enough." He said, needing her to understand. He wasn't the mastermind that either of the older men were, but even he could see that little Hermione Granger had done the impossible and wormed her way through Severus's fortress-thick walls around his heart. "Severus has been coming over four or five days a week. He spends a few hours every day with the twins and then he drags her out of the library to work with her wandless magic."

"Really?" Tonks said, surprised at the information. And confused. "Maybe we should have made him her guardian then, sir." She offered to Albus. "I seem to be getting more and more busy at work and it's not fair for Remus to-"

Before she even finished speaking, they heard Severus shouting angrily, causing the walls to shake.

Albus smiled gently as he felt the anger pulsing off of Severus, through his magic. The young man was angry and, from Alastor's childish sniggering, he obviously knew why. He would definitely have to get the story from his friend later.

"I don't think the two of them would…survive each other." The Headmaster said delicately.

"Shouldn't we go up there?" Remus asked, as Hermione's voice shouted back. Even with his keen werewolf-enhanced hearing, he couldn't quite make out the words, but both of them were radiating anger.

"I think we should give a moment." Albus said, jumping slightly as something shattered against a wall, breaking. "Lemon drops anyone?" He asked brightly, pulling out the bag he carried everywhere.

*******************************

Severus didn't know what to think as he hurried towards Hermione's room. He wanted at least a few minutes alone to properly chastise her. He hadn't started coming over and increasing her lessons just for her to go off and do some stupid stunt like this. She would be chastised and he'd be damned if she did anything as stupid as this ever again. Perhaps if he could check her wild impulses, she would then be inclined to check Potter's idiotic impulses.

Though he wasn't going to hold his breath for either of those to happen.

Severus had taken the liberty of locking the door to the Gryffindor girl's room as he was not taking the chance of her running off again. He was also slightly afraid, as the potion Moody had slipped the girl was bright blue, which could have only happened with a rather large infusion of fluxweed, which was known for causing sleepwalking in large amounts.

The last thing they needed was for some hidden magical creature or spell to get a hold of the girl while she wasn't awake.

So yes, he was expecting her to more than a little angry, as he knew the girl had never liked being confined, whether by a regular syllabus for classes or pesky rules that kept her from the most interesting books. Being locked up so that she couldn't get into the Black library would probably be the best punishment they would find for the girl.

She wouldn't be happy, but he could take a few of her barbed comments. He'd heard much worse.

He was expecting some truly awful words to come out of the girl's mouth. He had not been expecting the girl to be lying halfway on and halfway off her bed, hauling a liter-bottle of Firewhiskey to her lips while cuddling an empty bottle of Firewhiskey to her side.

"P'rfessor Snape!" The girl's slightly slurred words stopped him in his tracks. "How're you today?"

"Ms. Granger." He honest to Merlin didn't know what to say.

"That's me!" She assured the man frozen in her doorway, giggling. "How could you forget me?" She asked, pouting suddenly. "I should be your best student," she added, Draco Malfoy's gloating face appearing in her inebriated mind. "Stupid Slytherin."

Though her comment was directed at the blonde-haired boy that continually menaced her and her friends, her words galvanized Snape into action. He was well aware of what many of his students thought of him, but he'd be damned if he let them say it to his face.

He strode over to her in a few long, confident steps and grabbed the whiskey-filled bottle out of the girl's hands. "What is the meaning of this, Granger?" He demanded. "As if it weren't bad enough you sneak out of the house to go gallivanting off to Potter's, you decide to cement the stupidity of your actions with this!" His voice had steadily gotten louder and he was shouting as he waved the bottle in her face.

Unfortunately, such inspirational words were lost on Hermione as the bottle swung around and became five separate bottles, leading her to wonder why on earth Snape would be using magic at a time like this.

When the words did sink in, however, her ire was immediately raised. "I went to visit for a very important reason!" She stated, glaring up at the man. "It wasn't foolish- it needed to be done. It's not my fault, so don't YELL AT ME!" She had no problem shouting back at the man.

"Oh?" He sneered at her disdainfully. "Then please, enlighten me. To whom should I place the blame? Surely you aren't going to blame Potter? You've been taking the blame for him since your first year. I know you haven't wised up since."

"Don't talk about Harry like that." She said, automatically defending her friend. "Wait," another thought hit her, causing her eyes to widen. "You knew about first year?"

He rolled his eyes. "Legimens." He said, pointing to himself. "You all know that now, though admittedly you didn't first year."

"Well, it was still a good lie." Hermione said stubbornly. "Professor McGonagall believed us, so hah!"

"I wouldn't count on that." Severus said, rolling his eyes. He wouldn't, mainly because he'd been the one to take great pleasure in pointing the truth out to McGonagall. The three had been projecting their guilt so heavily, he hadn't even needed to look. "Now," he said, shaking himself from his thoughts. "That is not the point. You are not old enough for Firewhiskey." He said, brandishing the bottle. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I would very much like my bottle back." She said, smiling up hopefully at him. "I found it. Finders keepers, Professor." Her whiskey-fogged mind was beginning to clear, as she was lacking the necessary alcohol to continue on in her bliss, but she was now sober enough to be horrified by the words coming out of her mouth. Not quite sober enough to stop the words though; oh no, she was far from that point.

"I don't think so." He said, pulling the bottle slightly further back so she couldn't take it.

"But it's mine!" She protested. "You're just jealous because you don't have any-"

He stopped her blathering by eliminating the problem. With a quick flick of his wrist, the bottle smashed into the wall behind him. "There, now no one has a bottle!"

"You horrid man!" She gasped, staring mournfully at the bottle. "You're so mean."

He looked disdainfully at her, not deigning to reply to such a stupid comment and she sighed, pulling herself up to a sitting position. "Fine." She said, sighing heavily. "I am almost seventeen. Fred and George introduced me to Firewhiskey long ago- that's how more than a few of us made it through fifth year with Umbitch. Oops- that's a secret!" She exclaimed, clapping a hand over her mouth. "I meant Umbitch- erm, Umbridge." She amended, snickering. "And hell, considering the lot of you left us be legally tortured, I have no regrets," she added, raising her chin stubbornly.

If he lived to be two hundred years old, Severus decided, he would never understand children. Though it amused him that the children had developed the same name for Umbridge as McGonagall had- that lady wasn't nearly as prim and proper as she tried to portray-he had actually made it through last year without being accused of torturing students, so he had no idea why Umbridge was being accused of torture.

"Ms. Granger, giving detentions is not torture for students." He said lazily. "It's torture for the professors forced to give up their time. Potter deserved those detentions, I'm sure. He was warned to keep his mouth shut."

"Yes." She said, suddenly bitter. "That's what you all say. Head down, mouth shut. It doesn't matter that your hand is bleeding so bad it won't stop, it doesn't matter that your relatives beat you for fun. Just be quiet Potter. Out of sight until we haul you out for the sacrificial slaughter before the Dark Lord kills us all." She mocked. "Hermione can fix it for you. She'll find essence of murlap, she'll encourage you to follow the rules. Blah, blah, blah."

She waved a hand through the air. "I've heard it all before. You're obviously not going to come up with anything else that is even more than slightly original, so if you would just yell and leave, I would appreciate it." She said, feigning politeness. "I was wrong, blah, blah. Go. And hurry up, please, as I'm going to have to find more whiskey."

She looked at him expectantly, but he couldn't bring himself to yell now. Instead, his mind was working through everything she said. Yes, she was drunk, but none of her words had sounded like lies. They had sounded like the frustrated rantings of a girl who was far too close to the edge for his liking. She'd almost sounded like Black…in the last few months before he went running off to the Ministry.

"Granger," he said, as calmly as possible. "I have no doubt you can get your hands on more Firewhiskey." He wasn't the only one who had stumbled on some of the Firewhiskey Black had stashed around the house if the girl had found some. "But I would be careful if I were you. You know how Black was- do you really want to risk alcoholism passing through bloodlines?"

"Eh." She shrugged, lying back down. "I'm actually thinking that he had the…the right of it." She said. "You have to do something to drive away the demons. I'm being locked up like he is. My best friend is in imminent danger of dying on an almost daily basis. My friend doesn't even have a place to hide, like the Potter's did. Harry has to live with his torturers!" She added, laughing. "Isn't that stupid? But no one cares. He's not a real person, after all, he's just the Boy-Who…"

She trailed off, snoring slightly as she passed out, leaving a very befuddled man behind.

**********

Hey guys, here's chapter ten! I hope you liked it. I had to add in Mad eye's POV, which I found that I liked very much. I hope you enjoyed it. After all, who doesn't love Severus? As for the argument, I know you were probably hoping for more of a fight, but I needed it to move like this. It wasn't so much about him yelling, fun though that is, but for him to become more of a mentor to her. And if anyone is offended by Hermione getting drunk, I'm sorry, but we all know there is no way she'd tell Sev all those truths if she was sober. And I needed him to know those things to move the story along. So, plz review and tell me if you thought I accomplished my goals!