Hello readers! I couldn't leave you with that cliffhanger for too long, so I've decided to update early, and I hope the wait was worth it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting." -Sun Tzu
Hermione tried to ignore the chaos going on around her as she limped towards Ginny and the strange boy who stood beside her body, the boy was dressed in robes with a Slytherin patch and he sneered at her as she approached. She clutched her side in pain for a moment, on her way down into the chamber she fell awkwardly on a pile of bones, and that paired with the sharp knives of pain jolting around her body and the blood leaking from her sore eyes made it hard for her to focus.
"Harry Potter recruited a wounded little mudblood bird to help him? How utterly pathetic." He spat, though as Hermione got closer the boy didn't move to attack her, instead he watched her carefully as she dropped her knees and shook the very cold first year, when she didn't wake Hermione looked at the boy carefully in the eyes.
"What did you do to her?" Hermione demanded.
"You have no right to demand answers from me girl, you shouldn't even exist and are a stain upon this once great society." He hissed, then he cocked an eyebrow at her, "What were you intending to do about it anyways? It looks as if the plague has rendered your eyes to become bloody and you're limping around like an abused rodent."
Hermione chose to ignore him and switched her attention over to Harry, he was standing on a statue of a man's face, the basilisk reared and struck at him knocking a brilliant silver sword out of his hand. Harry stumbled backwards and watched helplessly as the sword fell into the water below, and the boy next to Hermione started to cackle.
"Watch with me little mudblood as the chosen one dies, and be sure to know that you're next." He exclaimed, his eyes sparkled with excitement as the basilisk reared, Hermione clutched at her wand and was unsure to do. Her mind was scrambled but as the basilisk flung itself forward she cried out.
"Stop!" The basilisk halted and turned its bloody face towards Hermione, Harry followed it's gaze and gasped at the sight of his friend, the boy next to her glared and stepped towards the beast.
"What do you think you're doing? Kill him!" He hollered, but the basilisk wouldn't move and Harry started to frantically crawl off of the stone face.
"Hermione run!" He screamed, and Hermione was tempted, but the basilisk started hissing softly, and it echoed around the room like a song. When it pulled itself towards Hermione she didn't move, and she all but ignored Harry's warnings and the Slytherin boy's rants. It rested it's face so it was level to Hermione, and despite the ferocious looking teeth and the grotesque bloody face, she reached out and stroked the side of it's scaled face. She felt it then, the overwhelming sharing over power that made her heart flutter, she could feel it's recognition- she could also feel its pain.
"Don't let him fool you little one, the blood in your veins is much more powerful and magical than his." Hermione gasped as the deep baritone voice seeped into her mind, the basilisk seemed to chuckle in response. How can I here you?
"You and I share a bond and with that bond we share a gift- you and I may see into the minds of others while keeping our thoughts guarded. I know you have further questions, but I see that your friend is quite worried that you're so close to me. I reckon that he still believes that I killed your colleague willingly, and I assure you that that was not the case." The basilisk reared away from Hermione as Harry stumbled blindly towards her, his face a mask of horror and shock.
"Our time here is limited, the Dark One spawns from the journal in the girl's hands. It's best that you alone know that I am alive after this, so throw the journal in my mouth and I will put on a show." Hermione nodded and stepped away from the beast, she hurriedly ran over to Ginny, but Harry got to her first and held the journal in his hands.
"Hermione are you okay?" Harry stepped cautiously towards her and kept his eyes on the steady basilisk. "Your eyes are bleeding."
"I know, and I'll try to explain it to you later, but the basilisk-"
"Was being controlled by Tom Riddle aka Voldemort, he forced the basilisk to kill Colin. I know." Harry weighed the journal in his hands, and flinched as a dry cough echoed through the room, Hermione and Harry spun around and glared at Tom.
"That basilisk is mine, it's supposed to answer to me, not some filthy little rodent mudblood!" He screeched, "That doesn't matter anyways, this little blood traitor is nearly dead, and I will return to my place in the world." He declared. Both of them rolled their eyes and huddled together.
"Harry, Tom isn't exactly real, he needs a conduit as a source of power." Hermione explained.
"The journal? I could burn it." Harry offered, but Hermione shook her head and gently took the journal from his hands.
"I have an idea." She turned towards the basilisk and presented the journal to its lowered head. "We could let the basilisk destroy it." She looked at Harry for some type of approval, usually the boy took charge with final decisions, and she only felt good about the choice when he nodded his head.
"It'd be like poetic justice I guess." He said with a shrug, though he looked urgent and constantly glanced at Ginny's corpse like body.
"You don't know what you're doing!" Tom hollered, Hermione clenched the journal in her hands and looked at the basilisk.
"Don't worry, after this I'll simply go to sleep, and you may visit me when you are able." Hermione nodded and wiped a bloody tear that tracked down her dirtied face, and then she threw the journal into the air.
"No! You stupid girl!" Tom fell to his knees as the basilisk captured the journal in its jaws, both she and Harry gasped as the boy's body disintegrated into bright wisps of light, his screams dying off as his remains scattered along the floor. As promised, the basilisk put on a show and let out a strangled cry.
"What's happening?" Harry yelled, he looked on in horror as the basilisks body started to jerk uncontrollably and fell to the floor with a thud. Both students fell silent- one was convinced that the basilisk had dropped dead, the other withheld a laugh as she admired the basilisk's theater skills. Hermione's eyes finally stopped bleeding, and she felt a sense of peace flood her mind.
"What happened?" Both Harry and Hermione turned and ran over to Ginny, who was trying to pick herself up off of the floor. When she saw Harry she let out a sob and shook as tears rolled down her face. "I didn't mean to help him I-" Harry bent down and scooped the girl into a hug
"It's okay Ginny, it's not your fault." Harry cooed, the girl shook her head and let Harry help her to her wobbly feet. When Ginny caught sight of Hermione her mouth hung open in shock and her face turned a ghostly white.
"Hermione, are you okay?" She gasped, Hermione looked down at her bloody hands and winced as she thought about how here face appeared. She waved the girl off and gave her a crooked smile.
"I'm fine, but Harry needs attention as soon as possible." Hermione took hold of Harry's injured hand and narrowed her eyes at the gash that ran from his knuckle to his wrist.
"It's not that bad Hermione." Harry pulled his hand away and hid it from Hermione's view. "I'll be fine." but he wouldn't be, as his face already started to become pale.
Hermione looked around frantically for an exit, and was relieved when she caught sight of Fawkes, who was flying towards them with the sorting hat in his hands. He landed on Harry's shoulder and let out a happy chirp. Harry looked at the phoenix and went to stroke his feathers, when he went to pull his hand away the bird bit his hand slightly as if to tell him to hold still. Harry obliged and allowed the phoenix to cry on his hand, both Ginny and Hermione looked on in amazement as the wound reduced to a small pink scar.
"Look at that, problem solved!" Harry exclaimed, he turned towards Ginny and noticed that she looked quite feint. "We need to get out of here before Ginny passes out again, Fawkes can carry heavy loads." he suggested.
"Can he carry seven people?" Hermione asked hopefully.
"Seven? I thought there was only six of us." Harry saw Ginny's confused face and explained. "Your brother, Neville, and professor Lockhart are waiting for us behind that door."
"And professor Snape." Hermione clarified. "Perhaps we should go in two trips."
"Snape is here?"
"Yes, and I may have slammed the door in his face while trying to get to you." It was Ginny who asked if she had a death wish, and they all chuckled lightly at that.
"Well I'll open the door, you and Ginny can go first, and then Fawkes can come get the rest of us after." Harry nudged the phoenix off his shoulder and smiled at it. "Are you okay with that Fawkes?"
The phoenix chirped in approval and launched himself in the air. Harry gave the girls a parting look and before he jogged away he laughed and said "Have fun!"
They did have quite a bit of fun, the phoenix was rather strong for his size, and was able to find an easy way out of the chamber with ease. The fun didn't last though, and when the two girls stumbled into the infirmary, Madam Pomfrey looked ready to murder Hermione.
"You could have damaged your nerves walking around like that after being petrified for four months- why is blood on your face? Where are the boys? Are you okay Ginny?" The mediwitch rambled off questions while guiding the girls to hospital beds, she did a quick diagnostic spell on Ginny, then turned to Hermione and did the same. She sighed and let her wand fall by her side, she was shaking her head in agitation as she gave Hermione a stern look.
"Ginny is fine and will make full recovery, you on the other hand, have a bruised rib Miss Granger." She growled. "Why and how did you leave this bed, I know that you're not that much of a reckless fool, so you must have had a reason."
"The boys needed my help so I got up to find them!" Hermione exclaimed, she winced slightly as she felt the adrenaline wearing off, and the pain started to set in. "They wanted my help, you can read it in the notebook that they gave me."
"I don't care about a notebook Miss Granger, I'm concerned that you were so willing to risk your life. Have you no value in yourself child?" Madam Pomfrey demanded, "Don't you realize how important you are?"
"Nothing else matters when my friends need me, if I had died it would have been worth it, and if I have permanent nerve damage then so be it. At least I did something rather than waiting around for a boy to save the day by himself!" Hermione balled her fists up and felt the tears starting to run down her face, and her magic started to stir.
"She really did help Madam Pomfrey." Ginny offered, but the witch still looked furious, and dismissed her attempt to help.
"Poppy I'll take it from here." Hermione felt her blood run cold as her professor's voice filled the room, Madam Pomfrey looked at him and nodded, then she turned her attention to the group next to professor Snape: Ron looked relatively okay, Neville had a line of blood running from a small cut on his head, professor Lockhart appeared as though it was the first time he'd ever seen the infirmary, and Harry was gazing at Hermione with silent appreciation. Professor Snape was the exact opposite of Harry, and looked as though he was prepared to scream at her, Hermione shuffled awkwardly as the professor approached her and drew the curtains so that they were out of view. He waved his wand and muttered a silencing charm before turning his attention to her, He let out a sigh and broke the uncomfortable silence.
"You slammed a door in my face and refused a direct order Miss Granger." The fact that his voice was so calm made Hermione panic a little bit more, she picked nervously at the sheets on the bed and nodded.
"I did."
"You deliberately put yourself in the way of danger, even when you weren't in the condition to defend yourself." He raised his eyebrow then and Hermione started to wonder if he was just stating facts.
"I did," She repeated, only this time she said it slowly and frowned.
"You didn't just do it to save Potter." Severus approached closer now and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, he then pulled out his wand and summoned water that soaked the piece of cloth. He wrung it out and carefully handed it to her, she sighed with realization that she would once again destroy one of his handkerchiefs with her blood, then she rubbed the cool cloth along her face. When she pulled it away it was crimson and smelled like copper.
"No, I didn't." Hermione admitted, she looked up at her professor, who was looking down at her with a disturbed look on his face. "I felt what the basilisk was feeling… I felt all of it."
"Yet you are still alive while the beast is not." He said it with a bit of wonder, and his face resembled the look he made while brewing a potion in class- focused and calculating.
"I touched it before I was petrified, and I thought that a side effect of touching a basilisk might create a connection of some sort, though not powerful enough to kill me." Hermione offered, she obviously didn't feel that such a thing was a reasonable explanation to the phenomenon, but she hoped it would ease his mind.
"Perhaps." He murmured, and then their little space fell silent, and Hermione fought for something to say. Some way to apologize for her action, even if she wasn't entirely sorry. To her disappointment nothing came to mind, and her professor turned to leave. Please don't go.
He halted, and turned towards her once again, tired dark eyes stared down into her own, and Hermione felt her magic pulse warmly through her veins. He opened his mouth to say something, then shut it, frustration clear on his face. Hermione waited patiently and looked on as her professor had an internal debate.
"Miss Granger..." He started, Hermione looked up at him in anticipation, and once again started to fiddle with the bed sheets. "Last year I offered you an apprenticeship, if I were to offer such a position would you-"
"Yes." Hermione blurted, her professor raised a brow and actually smirked.
"Very well, but I fear that you will be restricted to the infirmary for at least two months." Hermione felt a frown form on her face."We will have to start next year."
"Okay." Hermione offered her professor a smile, and once again she apologetically presented the handkerchief. "I apologize for ruining another one of your handkerchiefs."
"No need to apologize, just make sure that I don't have to offer you another one in the future. I have to go speak with Albus now, you should make sure to get some rest." Her professor advised, Hermione nodded and settled down into the bed, placing the handkerchief of the nightstand next to her. Before he left, he looked back at her once more. "I bet if you used that magic of yours, you could get that stain out." He gestured at the handkerchief, then, with a wave of his wand, the silencing charm lowered and he silently left Hermione to her thoughts. Hermione winced as tiny jolts of pain ran up her body as she reached for the handkerchief, and although the basilisk was in a hibernation like state, she was still able to fuse a bit of its magic with her own. With a happy sigh, she grasped the handkerchief and promptly went to work.
I bet you all have a LOT of questions and I'm not going to lie- it's going to be a while before all of your questions are answered. However, maybe the next chapter will help you out with a couple of those questions, and it will be held in Severus' point of view. Thank you to everyone who has viewed, reviewed, followed, and favored this story!