Disclaimer: I don't own this but my good friend JK Rowling does.
Chapter 11: Over-thinking
Hermione looked sideways at Sirius who was leaning heavily on her shoulder, looking whiter by the second, she took his hand, leading him gently to one of the plush red armchairs furnishing the cluttered room.
"That was quite unnecessary, headmaster. I think I've given poor Sirius enough frights to last him a lifetime." she chided the old man. "It's not even true for Merlin's sake."
Sirius seemed to perk up a little at hearing this.
"Well, actually..." and he opened a desk drawer, taking out a rolled up parchment and handed it to Hermione. Surely enough, there was the magical contract with both their names and Albus Dumbledore's squiggly signatures. The godchild was not asked to sign, as it was usually done at birth, so surely enough, the headmaster was effectively her godfather.
She fell back in the other armchair, across from Sirius, looking dumbstruck. This wasn't bad, by any standard, just surprising. Muggle-borns did not have godparents in the wizarding world and she had always been envious of the others, of the special relationship and magical guidance they were granted. Sure, she was smart enough to take care of herself, but she felt like she finally had a relative in the wizarding world. Her parents were great and supportive, but they didn't understand magic.
"You see, I may be the headmaster here, but the school registers would not allow me to enlist a student with no guardians or institution as reference. So, I did what was necessary. We don't know, after all, how long you will be staying here with us." Dumbledore almost looked apologetic as he explained the situation.
"I'm sorry for bothering you so much, headmaster." And she really did feel sorry that the busy headmaster had to go to such lengths just for her. Surely, he had better things to do, what with a war brewing on top of all his responsibilities.
"Mirage," the bearded man continued, emphasizing her alias playfully "I take it that you trust this young man?"
She nodded without a moment's hesitation, to Sirius' apparent shock.
"Then Mr Black, I suggest you find your Head of House and apologize effusively. Maybe a little grovelling will be in order. Then, until you are summoned, make yourself as scarce as possible. Don't reveal anything of what has transpired here, or you will come to regret it."
Dumbledore then pointed his wand at a very white-faced Sirius and made the boy take a wizard's oath not to tell a soul (present company excepted of course). Sirius complied immediately because you just didn't say no to Dumbledore when he went all serious, frowning and looming darkly before you.
Just like Professor Snape. Hermione mused, which reassured her that the headmaster was actually putting on a show to scare Sirius into behaving himself.
Sirius, on the other hand, found it terrifying to see the dotty twinkling old man who liked to hand-out sour candy all year-long in this new light -well, more like darkness. The Gryffindor even promised himself to never pull any prank that was bad enough to land him in the headmaster's office ever again.
Sirius also hoped that agreeing to take the oath would earn him some explanation about all the strange events that surrounded the mysterious new student. The curiosity was starting to eat at him. But, to his utter disappointment -and shame-, he was sent to bed like a grounded little boy, but he was still too scared to complain about it. That in itself was so unlike him already, he would never have thought anyone could change that much in the space of an hour, but, hell, his boggart would probably take the form of the sombre scowling headmaster from now on. Fear was a powerful weapon indeed.
Remus is just gonna love the new rule-abiding Sirius. The young boy lamented, shuffling towards the door reluctantly. This is gonna be sooo boring.
0°0°0
Hermione thought that on the whole, everything went better than expected. She sat with the headmaster, recounting the events, finding excuses for Sirius when she saw the old man's eyes narrow at the mention of the physical assault.
They debated her use of wandless magic for some time. Dumbledore explained it was a skill developed over time and practice only, and since the young witch had no experience in the matter, they should look for another cause.
Hermione dismissed immediately his idea of a burst of uncontrolled magic, much like under-age children sometimes had before attending school. She literally sneered at the notion. For one, she had never had any problem with her emotions playing havoc on her magic in the past, even as a child, and secondly, what she did to Sirius had been way too deliberate to be an accident.
Dumbledore nodded at her statement but didn't look that convinced so she waited with a pout and her arms crossed for him to give a more plausible reason.
"I would like to say our dear Helga Hufflepuff granted you with another gift of hers, besides an army of powerful house-elves, my child, but alas, it is rumoured that she was terrible at magic demanding incredible concentration, like wandless magic, occlumency or even transfiguration, much like Godric Gryffindor in fact." he chuckled.
Hermione felt let down at hearing this, she had always pictured the Founders as perfect and almighty beings whereas Dumbledore made them sound so normal. She had to admit she wasn't that surprised by Gryffindor's lack of subtlety in magic however, the man carried a glittery jewel-encrusted golden sword for Merlin's sake.
"For now, let us see if any more occurrences of your wandless abilities arise soon. I am, and have been for some time, searching for a manuscript which may hold some answers and until then, I would rather not speculate wrongly."
"But you have an idea then?" Hermione asked hopefully.
The headmaster only handed her a lemon drop, patted her hand, and sent her back to the dungeons before her absence was noticed.
0°0°0
Hermione was still sulking when she entered the Slytherin common room so she did not see Severus Snape advancing angrily towards her, pushing the young girl against the wall.
"Where have you been? I looked all over the place for you!" he exclaimed, his face very close to her own.
"What...Why?" A question was still better than a lie in her opinion.
Anger seemed to leave the dark boy a little, his shoulders sagged slightly and he stepped back. Not meeting her eyes, he answered:
"I thought maybe...just...I'm your body-guard, don't disappear like that again." he muttered, his cheeks taking on a rosy tint that made him look much healthier than his usual sallow complexion. "You know Lily will skin me alive if anything happens to you." he added quickly.
"Then I'll have Lily relieve you of your duties, I can perfectly defend myself on my own."
Severus took in her frail body and gave her a look that conveyed very clearly he doubted it.
"Don't." he answered "I don't really mind, I was just worried"
That's so cute. Hermione thought. Cute? Professor Snape? Cute?
"I think I need to lie down, good night Severus." the girl said, leaving for her dorm, shaking her head slightly.
0°0°0
Severus couldn't believe it. In all his years at Hogwarts, nobody had ever wished him anything good and Mirage just threw it so casually at him. He hadn't even known how to respond and so, he had said nothing, she probably though he was bloody rude now.
Even Lily, his best -and only- friend in the school, just threw him a casual "Hey!" in the morning or jut a wave of her hand, and a "See you!" or "Bye!" when they parted at the end of the day. Severus kicked himself mentally for over-thinking about something that was just as casual as a breathing to this girl. But still, it felt good. It reminded him of his mother, when times had been happier, when she wished him sweet dreams after putting him to bed. Snorting bitterly, the young Slytherin tore his gaze away from the door through which the witch had disappeared.
He was about to leave when he noticed a piece of parchment on the floor. He picked it up and turned it over to determine its proprietor, thinking Mira may have dropped it. The paper was actually blank but Severus wondered why it was folded in such a manner, it was too geometrical and practical not to have a purpose. His interest was piqued so he pocketed it, solving puzzles was a hobby of his and he decided to have a go at it when the common room cleared. He doubted he would sleep any time soon since he was still high on adrenaline after worrying about the missing girl and running all over the castle searching for her, imagining the worst.
When the last Slytherin departed, Severus was still very much awake so he took the strange parchment out, turning it over to confirm there was no indication of a purpose or owner.
Taking out his wand, he pointed it at the blank material and murmured:
"Show your secret."
Nothing happened of course, he didn't think it would be that easy. He tried again, prodding the paper harder:
"Revelio."
After several more unsuccessful attempts, Severus almost thrust his wand through the parchment in frustration and growled:
"I, Severus Snape, command you to yield the information you conceal."
He smirked in victory at seeing black squiggly lines appearing which upon closer inspection, started forming words.
"Mr. Moony presents his compliments to Severus Snape and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business.
Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr. Mooney and would like to add that Snivellus is an ugly git.
Mr. Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like him ever managed to get his hands on their property.
Mr. Wormtail bids Snape good day, and advises him to wash his hair, the slime-ball."
Severus was hardly concealing his rage, not only because of the petty insults, he was almost used to it by now, but mostly due to the persons involved. Moony, Prongs and Padfoot. He had heard the ridiculous Marauders throwing these ludicrous nicknames at one another countless times. Wormtail would be Pettigrew, no doubt.
How dare they invade his common room with their pranks? Wasn't it enough he had to endure their taunting and slander all day long in the rest of the castle? Severus paced before the chimney. It was too much of a coincidence to have found the parchment there and then. So, either Mira was plotting with the Marauders to make his life miserable, or those Gryffindor dunderheads had used her in their petty scheme. It was probably the latter, he thought, since she avoids the Marauders as much as he did.
Or maybe...there is one Marauder that has been abnormally nice to her lately.
Severus began suspecting Remus Lupin, recalling the way he looked at the new Slytherin, how he held her hand whenever he could. Lupin was probably trying to seduce her in order to play with her feelings, and he took the opportunity to get at him, he thought in disgust. It was well-know that that group of Gryffindors picked on Slytherins like crows on a carcass.
Well, he wouldn't give them the satisfaction for once. And in the morning, he would tell Mira not to trust Lupin.
A/N: Thank you for all the wonderful reviews, sorry this is slow developing in the romance area but let's face it, love at first sight is bullshit ;)
Posting late, I had my first writer's block...hope it doesn't affect the quality of story!
Please R&R °3°