"Your… very…very… ki...kind, Miss Hermin... nne." Professor Quirrell finally sputtered out. I smiled with patience, understanding he had no control of his speech. He had been looking for the most current Astrophysics book we had, and after a quick search I was able to produce one only four years old.
"It's no problem. Did you need anything else?" I knew the man was not a child, but the way he carried himself left me with the impression he was intensely shy. He seemed to flinch away from crowds and keep his head down so he wouldn't have to voice any greetings.
"Nnnoo..Ma'am." He smiled, apparently happy to have the simple sentence out quickly. He turned to leave and I moved across the library to put a couple of the returns back to shelf.
"He's a stumbling idiot." His voice was easy to place, but his words seemed to boil my blood like no others ever had. I turned to Professor Snape sitting there pouring over his book.
"Excuse me?" I asked harshly.
It didn't faze him as he lifted his head to meet my eyes, "Stumbling idiot, I'm positive you caught the rest."
"How dare you?" I accused stepping toward him.
He raised a brow meeting my challenge and I found myself sitting with the pile of books in my arm so that no one else could hear our conversation.
"You have no right judging the poor man so harshly!" I hissed at him.
He leaned forward, "Really? What gives one the right to have an opinion of another person, I wonder?"
I leaned forward as well, "You know what I mean! He can't control his problem and you shouldn't judge him by it!"
He smirked, "Who said I was judging him by his stammering sentences? I prefer to think I was making an overall judgment of his character."
I rose with indignation, realizing I wouldn't get anywhere with the heartless man. I stepped forward as he watched me, but stopped willing myself to hold up for Quirrell with his lack of social skills. He could be hateful to me as he liked, I was a big girl and could hold my own, but poor Quirrell wasn't even here. "How would you feel if someone judged you so coldly?"
He resumed the same stoic mask he always had when he answered, "Who hasn't?"
I huffed and walked away to put my books up. I felt his eyes upon me more than once, but refused to give the man another second's thought. People left slowly through the doors and the sky darkened, but Professor Snape sat at his usual spot; this time unmoving.
I walked over, hesitantly approaching him. I wasn't looking to make him angry, but I didn't want to hear his foul opinions of the other locals.
"I need you to leave where I can close up." I wanted to swallow my tongue as soon as the sentence came out; I'd never meant it to be so cold.
He rose with his cape fluttering out around him. As he stepped beside me toward the door, he stopped to look down at me.
"I am not one to make snap judgments; you would do well to listen." His words rekindled the fire in my veins and I turned fully toward him, having to tilt my chin up to meet his dark eyes.
"You are a harsh man." I accused. He neither confirmed or denied the statement, choosing to walk away leaving me with an empty feeling inside.
"Good night." He muttered as was his routine before stepping out into the world. I was left in the library ready to fight with absolutely nothing to distract my mind.
As I locked up I kept going back over the conversation in my mind, upset that I'd let it get as far as I did, but proud that I hadn't kept my mouth shut letting the poor fool take whatever insults were handed his way. I stopped in my tracks; I shouldn't call him a fool. It wasn't like I was one to make snap judgments either; I liked to get to know a person before I made any charges against their character. Snape… Well, Snape… I couldn't really say how Snape was, because I wasn't sure.
He'd never made mention of anyone else passing through the doors that I could recall, and he barely talked to anyone that I'd seen, so he wasn't much of a gossip. Had I made the right decision holding up for Quirrell or had Snape been trying to tell me something? Snape had never been downright mean to anyone, sometimes snobbish, but never cruel. He had sat with me during the hurricane, even managed to calm my nerves before I caught him afire.
I had made my way out, already to my porch when I decided to stop and sit. I was mulling Snape's behavior around in my mind when I saw Luna come around the corner. I grinned, waving her and Neville over. At least these two would take my mind of everything.
Luna pulled away from Neville skipping into my yard with the same obliviously happy attitude as always when she stopped dead in her tracks. A look of horror lit her face before she let loose a bloodcurdling scream. I stood quickly, but Neville reached her first. His face seemed to lose its coloring as he looked up to meet my eyes.
I took a small step forward, afraid to get closer. "What is it?"
He pointed at the ground directly in front of the two, and I saw it. A furry brown cat head with large orange eyes stared up at me, blood still dripping from its ripped neck where its body should've been.