I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER!

Chapter Ten

Madam Pomfrey gave Hermione a sleeping draught and a dreamless sleep draught to calm Hermione down. "She needs to do a lot of sleeping to recuperate, when she is fully rested then and only then, she can begin to deal with everything that has happened." Madam Pomfrey explained.

"Can we stay by her bedside?" Fred asked to which she nodded. Fred smiled at Hermione and then to Snape.

"We?" Snape questioned.

"Yes, I want to ask you something."

"Go on."

"Where is the real Snape?"

"The real Snape? And that's professor to you. Are you saying that the real Snape has no emotions? Maybe the lack of emotions is a mask that I put on to hide the grief and suffering I am living through." Fred opened his mouth. "I am only explaining this to you for the sake of Hermione, because if you don't trust me, she won't and that could be harmful." Fred nodded in understanding. "Tomorrow there will be a meeting with Hermione's parents and Mr and Mrs Weasley. Easter is soon, and I want Hermione to be looked after well. I have told the dream duo that Hermione has been hurt and she is in the hospital wing and that you are staying with her. When I was your age I had to deal with something like this. The only difference is that I was forced to watch it and the rapist was someone I knew well. When I was seventeen, I came home for Christmas, which was the time I could see one of my friends without her boyfriend. Anyway, my mother came in to tell me tea was ready when my drunken father if I can call him that, came in. Then after an argument, I was stuck to the wall, wand taken off me and was forced to watch him rape my mother. I know I didn't have my wand but I got upset and afraid, I don't know how it happened and I still didn't understand years later how it works, but my wand acted on its own accord, it stunned my so called father so strongly it made him tumble out of the room and down the stairs. He died as a result of his injuries. I thought it was something really bad, something that shouldn't happen. But when I saw Hermione's wand do the same thing, I knew it was that it was the wand looking after, protecting its owner. Hermione is a stubborn carefully controlled witch; she would never act rashly like that so it had to be not in control of her wand for that split second and the wand over ruled her brain." Snape sighed. "Why does she trust you?"

"I found her in the room of requirement. I hugged her and promised that nobody would ever hurt her again."

"There's got to be something else, there has to be."

"Well, she's practically been my sister since she was eleven or twelve. She's my younger brother's best friend, why? What do you think it is?" Fred asked Snape.

"Have you seen how she looks at you? She isn't some naïve school girl any more. She became a woman when she walked down the staircase at the beginning of the Yule Ball. I believe that McLaggen was Hermione's first. Your first is meant to be special. She's probably feeling vulnerable and insecure right now. I know you have had it off with girls and boys alike, but if you are going to try something with her, take your time, wait for her and be patient. I know the way you feel about it. I can see it in your eyes. I'm going to grade some homework and make scathing remarks to balance this out on a universal scale. Get some rest!"

Sorry for not posting yesterday, might have another one up in a few hours.