A/N: Casts Anti-litigation charm: I own nothing in the Harry Potter universe. I'm just playing in JK's sandbox. I wasn't completely pleased with how this chapter kept coming out, but since it kept heading the same direction I kept it. Anyways, on with the story. I hope you like it.
Suddenly, he found himself and Hermione surrounded by a hunting party of centaurs with their bows drawn on them. "Nereida, are you well? Has any harm come to you?" asked one of the centaurs. Hermione laughed and Severus tensed 'Now is not the time for laughing woman, we're surrounded by a bloody hunting party with their bows trained at us.' Severus froze a moment and processed the words the centaur had spoken. He'd been caught off guard by the hunting party, as he hadn't expected to be surrounded by them. Centaurs didn't usually step in and involve themselves with human affairs, as they were more interested in watching history play out in the stars than be involved with what was taking place in the present. Therefore, he'd been slower than usual in registering the peculiar words that had been uttered. However, before he could do anything, Hermione moved swiftly from behind him and ran and leaped towards the dark centaur who Severus knew to be Magorian.
As Hermione moved through the air, she knocked the bow from his hands, and her arms were outstretched. 'Shite, Hermione bloody fuckering, fuck, fuck!' Severus made to move forward and protect her, but the rest of the party closed in further on him, and Severus froze not wanting to start an altercation with the centaurs unless necessary. Usually the centaurs did not harm students as they considered the students foals. He stiffened and began to exude a large amount of magic, he would be ready, just in case Hermione truly was threatened by the hunting party surrounding them. He didn't want to start a war with the centaurs in the forest but felt he would if they harmed his apprentice. Magorian caught her in his arms and held her out examining her with a stern look upon his face as a father would a child. "Nereida you'd deny me the right to shoot your attacker between the eyes?" 'Attacker, oh fuck! Of course, they'd think I was attacking her. I had my wand at her bloody throat!' Magorian made a sound that indicated he was not amused by her antics and stomped his hoof. "You over protective arse, you've lost the plot, you have. That's my master he was teaching me, we were training," Hermione chuckled. Magorian looked at her with a combination of disbelief, slight annoyance and irritation. However, she continued "Now don't you throw a paddy! You should have bloody well sensed I wasn't afraid!" Magorian continued to give her a stern look as if he didn't believe a word she was saying. Hermione met his stare and raised her chin in defiance. They were like that for about a minute before he gave in to a deep chuckle and pulled her close to him in an embrace and replied softly "Nereida, little one, you worry me as you fear nothing."
Magorian then turned his eyes onto Severus as he embraced Hermione. Severus swallowed a little nervous, he'd never upset the centaurs before. He'd always had a pretty decent relationship with them. He could collect potion ingredients close to centaur lands and he'd built some relationships within the herd. He'd become good friends with Firenze last year when he came in to replace Trelawney, anyone was better than that old crane. He found he'd gotten along rather well with the centaur, now he was sure he'd cocked things up. "You are training Nereida," Magorian asked Severus lowly. He placed Hermione gently back down in front of him but remained close behind her. "Yes," Severus replied simply hoping that Hermione's explanation would be enough not to ruin his relationship with the centaurs and knowing the simple truth was the best course of action. Magorian didn't seem satisfied with his answer, but Hermione began tapping her foot impatiently. Magorian ignored her and continued to study Severus making her wait, which Severus could see was not being taken very well by his apprentice. He was curious about her relationship with Magorian and he recognized the name Nereida, he knew it from somewhere…
How she continued to build relationships as she had remained unclear. Based on Hermione's physical characteristics in combination with her magic they knew a little bit about her magical background. However, with the magic being so far up in Hermione's ancestral line to where things became blurry it was still a little unclear as to how it all connected. Severus knew that Albus and Septima had to be working on it, and he'd know sometime after they did. Then Severus began to wonder if Hermione's transformation had anything to do with why she'd clearly been accepted into the herd. It would take something extraordinary for the centaurs to concern themselves with a human. Or was she even still human?
Suddenly, Hermione twitched her hand and turned the bows in the centaurs' hands into lotus flowers in annoyance at being kept waiting. Severus' eyes widened and then he had to hide a snort with a cough. However, Magorian threw his head back and gave a deep bellied laugh at the mare's audacity. Hermione shook her head at Magorian's reaction and proceeded over to Severus. She took him by the arm and led him over to the still laughing centaur. "Severus I'd like you to meet Magorian, the lead stallion in the centaur herd within the forest," she murmured amusedly. Hermione coughed loudly to get Magorian's attention, when she knew she held his attention, she continued. "Magorian, this is my Master, Severus Snape. He has been the potions master at the school. However, this year he'll be teaching Defense against the Dark Arts." Magorian surveyed Severus for a moment before speaking. "Well met Brother Severus, my sincere apologies for interrupting your training with Nereida. It was a misunderstanding and a rather rash reaction on my part, but Nereida fears very little. It's my duty to protect her and sometimes she makes that difficult."
Severus smirked at the centaur and replied coolly, "Well met, Magorian lead stallion of the centaur herd. Your apologies are accepted, and I understand enough just how difficult she can be to protect. She does seem to find herself in peril frequently" he enunciated the word slowly. Magorian laughed again, grasped Severus' arm with one hand, and slapped it with the other. "Oh, I think we'll get along well," Magorian said still laughing. Hermione rolled her eyes but regardless of being their topic of conversation, she was beaming at the newfound alliance forming in front of her. Suddenly, she laughed musically, and Severus snapped his head in her direction at the sound of her tinkling laughter. "Magorian, Phaedra asks when you're done being a numpty, that you return to her," she said between laughs. She was laughing so hard that she was having trouble breathing. Magorian snorted something about conspiring mares under his breath before turning back to Hermione. "Come see us sometime after you become settled. I know Phaedra misses you dearly," Magorian said a little more seriously his brown eyes seeking her gold ones.
Hermione nodded grabbed ahold of Severus' arm turned around, and they walked slowly back towards the castle. Just as Magorian was about to say something about his hunting party's bows Hermione, flicked her wrist and transfigured them back into bows. She could hear Magorian chuckling behind them. 'Well that was interesting…' Severus wasn't quite sure what to make of Hermione's relationship with the centaurs. They had clearly accepted her as a member of their herd, even though she wasn't a centaur. Hermione cautiously leaned her head against his shoulder, testing out whether he'd allow the closeness. Severus stiffened slightly at the sudden contact, but he didn't pull away, so she kept her head against him and spoke in a quiet tone, "Sorry about them, they're a bit over protective ever since Umbridge. They prefer to be extra cautious." Severus looked over at her head on his shoulder and raised a brow in question but waited to see if she'd elaborate.
Hermione smiled while they continued their journey back towards the castle. "I spent a lot of time out on the grounds at night after coming of age, for reasons I'm sure you've guessed at." Severus smirked at her and she continued. "Well one night I was walking through the grounds, and I had heard distressed noises nearby. It was a group of fillies, and they had gotten away from the herd. They were surrounded by a group of Acromantulas." Severus tensed up at this, he didn't like to think about what could have happened to her wandering into forest coming across a group of Acromantulas. The fact that Hermione's ability and confidence (in said abilities) level were still unknown didn't matter to him now. He knew that unlike most spiders Acromantulas tended to hunt in rather large groups and often when you found one, then there were more hidden away for an ambush or they were nearby. He didn't like to think of his apprentice coming upon a group of them.
"Well, I rushed towards the noise and came upon the fillies. I cast a shield charm around the fillies, stepped in between them and the Acromantulas, and sort of sent fire towards the spiders. It came out of my hands as wandless magic… that was my first time performing it and I'm still not sure what spell I used, it was more of a reaction. It had to have been one of the spells I've read about, but I don't remember reading about any of them behaving the way that one did. It moved sort of like my patronus does, but it was still very wispy like when a patronus that's been cast isn't very strong… Anyways, once the spiders were gone the fire sort of dissipated. Magorian and Phaedra had been watching from the brush. They'd seen that I'd protected the fillies and scared away the Acromantulas. That night Phaedra declared me as her own kin, and ever since that night I've been a part of the herd."
Severus could sense her confusion at telling him about how she'd saved the group of fillies. He had a feeling he knew how she'd saved them, but it just didn't seem very likely. He knew of other people capable of controlling it like that, but it just didn't seem likely. He shuddered when thinking of the other people he knew that could wield it like Hermione had described. That sort of magic was rare enough as it is, he knew Hermione had a connection with the element of water as it was... He thought it unlikely she'd also be able to have sway over the element of fire as well. If it were true, she could wield the magic of more than one element, and word got out… He felt a wave of protectiveness surge through him and he pulled her tighter against him. 'I will keep you safe, little lioness.' He felt happiness through their bond, so he continued to hold her close. He would have to be even more cautious around the Dark Lord, because this could never slip out. He'd never rest until he had control over Hermione if he were to find out. He'd either want to control her or kill her, but it'd be more likely he'd want her alive. The Dark Lord coveted magical power and the kind Hermione has is rare, and he'd want control over it.
Just when he thought he might have had Hermione figured out, then he'd learn something new and he was back at square one. He wondered if Albus knew she had sway over more than one element, as that was the likely case. 'This information cannot go on being ignored. It must be noted that she has sway over multiple elements.' He wondered again how everything added up and pondered her lineage once more. Nothing seemed to make sense anymore and he wasn't sure what to make of the new information. 'How does this make sense with what we already know of her?' He looked over at his apprentice with her head on him. 'Bronzed skin, onyx curls, golden eyes, metamorphic abilities, as well as those comparable to that of a siren… heals and gains energy from moonlight, sway over water and now fire…' He continued to ponder these things as they made their way back to the castle. He knew his apprentice had always been gifted with a love of knowledge and it seemed the arts as well. There really didn't seem to be an area that Hermione wasn't interested in learning, aside from Divination that is. Not that he could blame her when learning something like that from someone like Trelawney. 'I wonder if the centaurs have been able to coax her into studying the stars and pathway in the sky'