A/N: I didn't quite make the deadline I had set for myself, so I made it extra long.
Thanks to LK-HoGwArTs-hEaDgIrL, Phoenixica24, earley1991, callalily32, SapphireDreamer26, BlooDsucKkerR69, Lyra Lupin, cinnamin, , hnwhitlock2000, woodshark, Lover of Fantasy, MCannon5887, Angelwells, HPFanGirl01, xSiriusxstalkerx, Portus, JordanGoombette, melonka, Startled Boris, Sezao1, vampirela69, Odile1001, Mel, hello, FlitterKat, Sev01, Kim, alicehs, KittyPimms, Stacy Vorosco, Tilly, and KyraElise for reviewing!
Also, apologies to xSiriusxstalkerx for posting it at the same time...it just happened to be when I got it done. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. And the rest of you for how I end the chapter. I find I really do enjoy cliffhangers.
Bound to Him
Chapter 29
Leave it to the Ministry not to include an index … or even a sodding Table of Contents.
Hermione ignored the growling of her stomach as she madly flipped through the pages of a large tome entitled Magicks of the Ministry: The Abridged Version. Once Charms had let out for lunch, she had offered the boys a quick excuse about an upcoming Runes essay and had then made a bee-line for the library. She had been there ever since, slumped in her chair, searching aimlessly through the book that was thicker than her hand was long.
Her logic was telling her that she was over-reacting, per usual, but there was still a nasty 'What if?' looming over her head. The Confundus Charm was not exactly an unforgivable, but she had still endangered the well-being of a student by using it. Cormac could have easily fallen from his broom instead of just being unable to focus on the Quaffle. She had attacked an unarmed student in order to fix the outcome of the try-outs, and until now, no one seemed to have noticed. However, if the Trace had still been in place, someone in the Ministry could bring it to light. Not only could she theoretically be expelled, but the integrity of the Gryffindor Quidditch team would be jeopardized. While Dumbledore would likely smooth it over and allow her to remain enrolled at Hogwarts, a large part of her doubted whether Harry or Professor McGonagall would ever speak to her again.
At the very least, I'd have to turn in my Prefect badge. She sighed nervously, and glanced at the large clock hanging over Madam Pince's desk. Thankfully, the librarian had departed for the Great Hall, though not before fixing Hermione with a rather suspicious glare.
Hermione stopped suddenly in her page turning when the title Department of Magical Tracings caught her eye. Sitting upright, she began methodically scanning through the chapter. Her eyes widened exponentially as she read through all of the descriptions of the magical monitoring utilized by the Ministry. Apparently, underage wizardry was not the only thing on which they were keeping tabs. There were traces on registered port keys, Animagi transformations, and even magical bets.
She let out a deep breath, thinking again of how lucky Sirius had been to never have registered as an Animagus – not that it had mattered much, in the end. By the time she finally came across the underage trace, she was rubbing her head vigorously and had begun skipping over the paragraphs that held little importance in her current quest. Hermione bit her lip in anxiety and felt her stomach sink as she read over the information. The Trace was centered on their magical core and would only expire when their core was fully developed at the physical age of seventeen.
"Bollocks," she whispered harshly, dropping her head onto the table. Her mother had always told her that she had been born a night owl, not entering the world until exactly 11:47 pm. Her father had been watching the clock the entire time, lest he pass out while watching anything else.
It had not even been dark outside when she had confunded Cormac, so if the book was correct, she would still have been under the monitoring of the Ministry.
But wouldn't they have contacted me already? It's been a day and a half. Unless they would have sent a query to Professor Dumbledore first? She wrinkled her nose remembering the quizzical glances the Headmaster had sent her way during breakfast. He had set her so on edge that she barely touched her toast.
Ugh! If only there was a Time-Turner to be had…
Hermione launched backwards in her chair, a slow smile forming on her face. She had definitely used the Time-Turner for more than six hours, so technically she would have physically reached seventeen before she legally had. She gave a relieved sigh and closed the book.
As she hauled the volume off of the table and walked it back to its shelf, she suddenly wondered how old she actually was.
X x x x x x x x X x x x x x x x X
Hermione waited until the last of her friends had disappeared through the portrait hole before she closed her Defense textbook and quickly ran up to her room. She carefully stowed her books onto her desk and then made her way down the stairs and out of Gryffindor Tower. Treading confidently, she attracted little attention as she made her way towards her destination. Within the matter of a few minutes, she found herself standing in front of the familiar lion cub painting.
As the cub tilted his head in curiosity, she folded her arms against her chest and glanced anxiously in either direction. She had been curious all day as to why he would have her meet him here. It was a good three floors away from his office – well out of either of their ways.
Maybe that's the point, she thought, her gaze fixed intently on the lion cub, who had grown tired of watching her and was now playing with a long blade of grass. Maybe he's worried somebody will see us and start raising questions.
"I would start paying more attention to my surroundings, Miss Granger."
Hermione nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of his voice. She whirled around in surprise, unconsciously bringing out her wand.
Snape emotionlessly glanced down at the slender length of vine pointed at the center of his chest. Using two fingers, he casually pushed it aside as though he were simply brushing away a fly.
"Oh!" Her face flushed in embarrassment as she dropped her wand arm. "I didn't mean to, I swear … it's just….well, you scared me, and –"
"It was a decent enough response," he interrupted, stepping fully out of the shadows. It was then that she realized he had just emerged from a descending staircase that she had never noticed before. "Though it was exceptionally slow. I could have killed you before you were even aware of my presence."
She pulled her brows together in confusion as she pocketed her wand.
Noticing her expression, he cleared his throat. "You need to be as cognizant of your surroundings in the physical world as you are in your head, Miss Granger. We will work on it. Now, come along."
Hermione nodded hesitantly and spun to follow him as he strode quickly down the corridor. Taking double steps, she caught up to the man and glanced up at him curiously. "Are we working on it right now?"
He grunted a negative response and turned to walk down a side hallway. They continued on walking next to each other in strange silence, until they reached what seemed to be a dead end. As they neared the wall, however, a narrow archway suddenly appeared. As it was only wide enough to allow passage of a single person, Snape stepped in front of her and passed through the opening.
Falling in behind him, the girl frowned as she glanced about their current location. The stone walls and floors were dingier now, and it was dark. There were no windows in the immediate vicinity, and the self-lighting torches were few and far between.
"Where are we going, sir?" she asked, shivering slightly as they descended a steep staircase. Though this part of the castle was not much colder than any place else, the poorly lit walkways gave rise to strange shadows that made her nervous. She had never been afraid of the dark as a young child, but dealing with werewolves and Death Eaters since then had been enough to change her opinion. Tightening her school robes around her, she resolved to keep her breathing under control. "Professor?"
"We are in the process of exiting the castle," he responded blandly, pushing through an old door and holding it open for her.
"But the Entrance Hall is back that…." Her voice trailed off as a lump caught in her throat. "Why are we leaving the castle?"
Severus stopped cold at the shakiness of her voice. Catching sight of the fear swimming in her eyes, he swallowed a sudden feeling of guilt and shook his head. "I am not taking you to the Dark Lord, Miss Granger. You have my word."
She blew out a long breath and closed her eyes in relief. "Then where are you taking me? Where are we even?"
"At present, we're somewhere beneath the Black Lake," he answered with a look towards the damp roof.
"Really?"
He nodded once and continued walking. After a long minute of silence, he spoke again. "This is an old emergency route, implemented by the staff a number of centuries ago. It ends around fifty meters short of the shore-line."
"What's the point of an emergency route ending in the middle of the lake?" Her eyebrows were raised in disbelief. "That doesn't sound like a very intelligent design to me – or didn't they finish it?"
Snape snorted as they made their way down another flight of stairs. "It just so happens that the tunnel ends on the opposite side of the Anti-Apparition wards."
"Oh," she muttered softly, fighting the urge to blush after having just revealed her Muggle way-of-thinking. It had not even occurred to her that a wizarding escape route would not need a physical exit. Taking the time to wrap her mind around the new information, she predictably found herself at another question. "Theoretically then, couldn't someone apparate into the tunnel and then sneak into the castle?"
He slowly shook his head. "Highly unlikely. Apparition is limited to those with knowledge of the passage-way, which is shared only amongst the current and former Headmasters and Heads of House. The tunnel itself does not allow access to anyone without the current Headmaster's approval."
"Well, that wasn't in Hogwarts, A History," Hermione responded, mainly to herself.
"Precisely the reason it remains a secret passageway, Miss Granger."
She gave half a laugh before asking her next question. Personally, she thought she was beginning to sound like a broken record. "So where exactly are we going that requires us to apparate?"
"The destination matters little in this foray," Severus stated quietly. "It is the method of transportation that is important to your training."
The girl's jaw dropped suddenly. "You mean you're going to teach me how to apparate?"
"A crucial step in defense is knowing when to fight back and when to take flight. It would be more than remiss to not provide you with the means to accomplish the latter."
Hermione had opened her mouth to speak, but stopped when she felt a feather-light tingling pass across her body. "Was that –"
"The wards." Snape walked a few more steps and then turned where he stood.
"I've never felt them before," she whispered, staring at the invisible barrier in bewilderment.
"When you spend a great deal of time focusing on your inner magic, you also increase your awareness of anything that affects it." He gave a brief sigh and then extended his hand towards her. "Shall we not dawdle?"
She swallowed hesitantly as she pulled her gaze from the air and let it rest on his outstretched limb. "But I've never apparated before."
The wizard sighed again and shook his head. "And you will not be doing so this evening – or at all, until you've conquered your stomach. As for now, I will be apparating the both of us. To do that, however, you are required to take my arm."
With a large intake of breath, Hermione gingerly wrapped her arm around his, closed her eyes, and nodded. She felt him pull her tighter to his body, and a split second later, it seemed as though her stomach was being pulled out through her nose while the rest of her spun at a high rate of speed. The next thing she knew, she had been slammed to a dead stop, and her stomach suddenly snapped back to its normal position.
Severus roughly grabbed hold of her shoulders and turned her body just enough to avoid her getting sick on his dragon-hide boots. When she had finished expelling the only meal she had eaten that day, he silently vanished the mess and gently guided her to the ground.
"Bloody hell," she mumbled, resting her head against the cool grass. "What went wrong?"
He shook his head and took a seat on an upturned stump near where she lay. "Nothing went wrong. It was a perfectly standard side-along apparition."
"Holy Merlin," she gasped. A few seconds later, she felt brave enough to roll on her side. "How are you fine? That was positively terrible!"
"Twenty years experience," he stated blandly, crossing his arms.
She nodded as she slowly pulled herself into a seated position. "Glad to hear it gets better."
"Not better," he corrected stiffly. "Your body simply learns to tolerate it."
"Oh, good." Hermione sighed and forced herself to stand. She glanced about the wooded area before looking back at her teacher, who was watching her intently. "Where are we?"
"On the outer edge of the Forbidden Forest," he answered, rising from his seat. "Have you recovered yet?"
She brushed dried grass off of the front of her robes and shrugged. "I suppose so."
He quickly crossed the distance between them and extended his arm once more. After saying a silent prayer, she took his arm and mentally prepared herself for the physical onslaught. A second later, her stomach was doing the same elaborate jump as the wooded area suddenly became an empty park.
Snape noticed the sickly green hue once again overtake her face and immediately pushed her down onto a picnic bench. He forced her head in between her knees and then waited silently for her nausea to pass.
When Hermione finally dared to lift her head, she quickly wished she had not done so. Minus the rusting slide at the very edge of the trees and disregarding the color of the swing set, their current location was nearly all too identical to the park near her home. Instinctually, she fingered her wand and quickly scanned the trees for any signs of disturbance.
"Miss Granger?" Severus asked, noticing her sudden defensive posture. He followed her gaze to the tree line, but saw nothing.
As a small wind began to pick up the loose leaves from the ground, she let out a small whimper and jumped off of the bench. Colliding with his chest, she grabbed hold of the wizard's robes and pleadingly glanced up at him. "Get me out of here, please!"
Though he did not completely understand her request, he quickly wrapped an arm across her shoulder and disappeared with a sharp pop. As they reappeared in the area of the Forbidden Forest, he let go of her and watched in concern as she stumbled away from him and sat down hard on the old stump.
"Are you alright –"
"I'm fine!" she shouted in a high-pitched voice that did not match her declaration. Her current level of queasiness could not entirely be attributed to the split-second jump across the countryside. She ran her hands through her hair and shivered as she fought back tears. "Just don't ever take me there again….or anywhere else like that."
Snape opened his mouth and then shut it again, unsure of what to say. He thought of the small park that he and Lily had frequented in their youth, but could not see what would have caused her such distress. If anyone should have had negative feelings towards the place, it should have been him. Instead, he was the one who found it calming, and the girl had been the one to erupt into a full-blown panic attack.
And then he realized why.
He closed his eyes and covered his face with his hand. "Miss Granger – I did not mean to upset you. I did not consider the location carefully enough."
Hermione squeezed her eyes shut and let out a deep sigh. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and shook her head. "It's…it's alright."
"If you wish to return to the castle, I will – "
"No!" she interrupted, standing to her full height. "I want to keep going!"
He pinched his lips together as he scrutinized the desperate expression on her face. A few seconds later, he nodded once and held out his arm.
X x x x x x x x X x x x x x x x X
Hours later, a loud crack signaled their reappearance in the passageway beneath the Black Lake. After apparating all evening, Severus was too tired to magically dampen the sound, but figured no one would be in earshot anyway.
The corners of Hermione's mouth twitched into a hesitant smile as she realized there was no bout of nausea accompanying this landing. After the first few travels, the horrible feeling in her stomach began to lessen in intensity, until with the last two attempts, it had nearly faded entirely. She wrinkled her nose at the sensation of passing through the Anti-Apparition wards and then looked up towards her companion.
"When do I get to start apparating?"
Snape exhaled loudly and ran his hand across his chin. "If you can handle the first few travels next time as well as you have this one, we may attempt to begin. If there is any hint of sickness, however, you will not attempt anything more than side-along."
She opened her mouth to ask why, but halted when he gave her the explanation without request.
"If you are distracted, however briefly, by your stomach, there is a greater likelihood that you will severely splinch yourself."
"Makes sense, I suppose," she muttered, crossing her arms against her chest as she followed him through the dark tunnel. "You aren't going to get in trouble with the Ministry for teaching me this, are you?"
He stopped so suddenly that she ran into him. As she stepped back from his person, he stared down at her in suspicion. "And just how are they going to discover it, Miss Granger?"
"Well, since you're teaching me, I don't exactly have to take the Ministry lessons," she stumbled heavily over her words while shifting under his glare. "I mean, wouldn't they ask when I take my test?"
Severus blinked in surprise and then shook his head. "You will not be getting your license. As far as the Ministry is concerned, you are not interested in learning apparition at this point in time."
"What?" She stared after him as he started moving away from her again. "What do you mean? You expect me to apparate without a license?"
His loud sigh echoed off of the stone walls. "Did you learn nothing from your reading this afternoon?"
"My reading?" Hermione repeated as she scurried after him. "How do you know what I read? Are you spying on me again?"
"You weren't at lunch, Granger," he answered, showing nothing but indifference to her accusation. "After the conversation in my classroom this morning, it does not require a Seer to determine where you had gone. That being said, you still owe me an explanation regarding that conversation."
A deep scowl set onto her face as she dropped several paces behind him. Silence pervaded the passageway for a number of minutes.
"I could compel you to answer me," he said coolly.
"Fine!" she hissed, stopping in her tracks. "Since you want to know so badly, Professor – I attacked a student and was worried there would be a Ministry record of it! Go ahead and strip me of all the points in Gryffindor's hourglass!"
Snape spun around, his eyebrows dangerously narrowed. After a few seconds' scrutiny, he tilted his head. "You aren't lying, are you?"
The girl shook her head angrily. "No! I'm not."
He straightened to his full height and folded his arms against his chest. "Explain."
Hermione sighed bitterly and threw her hands down to her side. With no other option left to her, she launched into a somewhat-winded, detailed report of what she had done to Cormac and the reasons behind it. To her surprise, the Potions Master remained completely silent throughout her confession. When she had finished, she could have sworn there was the hint of a smirk on his face.
"You thought you would get expelled over a Confundus Charm?" he asked in disbelief. "I can assure you, Miss Granger, underage students have attacked each other with much more damaging magic and have received nothing more than a detention."
"Harry was very nearly expelled, wasn't he?" she countered. "He used a Patronus to save himself and his cousin, and they tried to expel him. I attacked a student! Why would they treat me any differently?"
The dark-haired man gave a dip of his head, conceding her point. "I take it you've discovered how the Trace works, then?"
She nodded and wrapped one arm across her stomach. "It's based on your physical age. I wasn't born until nearly eleven at night, but it doesn't matter."
Severus frowned. "Why doesn't it matter?"
"Time-Turner," she responded before thinking. After realizing what she had said, she immediately flicked her gaze to his face.
"When did you ever have the chance to use a Time-Turner?"
Hermione winced. "Third year. Professor McGonagall gave it to me so I could take more classes."
"That's how Black made his miraculous escape, wasn't it?" he asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. It was the only thing that made sense as to why she would have hidden the Time-Turner usage from him during their Occlumency sessions.
"Yes," she answered with caution. "Professor Dumbledore sent us back to save him and Buckbeak….ended up saving Harry, too, I guess. I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" he asked in wonder. "What exactly do you have to apologize for?"
"You lost your Order of Merlin because of us," she answered, staring at the floor. "And then, there was the whole attacking you thing."
The tall wizard closed his eyes and blew out a deep breath. "It certainly was not the first concussion I've had – nor the worst."
Likely, it won't be the last, he thought with a twitch of his eyes.
Without a further word, he turned on his heel and began walking away from her. Hermione took in a panicked breath and ran to catch up with him. Snape may not have been in the best of moods right now, but she did not want to walk alone in the dark. After the anxiety she had suffered in the park earlier that night, she had an overwhelming urge to keep him within arm's reach in case something were to happen. It was not exactly logical, as they had already safely returned to the castle – and even if they were to be threatened, Snape could no longer apparate them away – but it still made her feel safer to have him nearby.
She slipped the amethyst pendant out from beneath her robes and ran her thumb across its smooth surface. The silence was beginning to gnaw at her. "I was curious about how much using the Time-Turner had affected me. When I did the calculations, I estimated that I had aged an extra one hundred and twenty-six hours because of it. In days, that's –"
"Five and one-quarter days," Severus muttered. "I can do the math."
The young witch nodded and let a minute pass quietly before she spoke again. "So, I guess technically I came of age late Monday afternoon."
"Is there a point to this?" he snapped as they ascended one of the narrow staircases.
"No," she sighed. "I just don't like the quiet right now."
The man grunted as he peered at her from the corner of his eye. A long moment later, he shrugged. "I suppose I should thank you on the behalf of Slytherin House."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow. She had a sudden feeling that she was not going to like the reason why.
"For cementing Mr. Weasley's position in front of the Gryffindor rings," he responded with a sneer. "After all, he is our king."
An exasperated groan escaped her lips. "That isn't funny! It wasn't funny last year, and it isn't funny now!"
"Funny or not, it achieved its desired effect."
"Oh, like you could have done any better," she snapped before remembering who she was speaking to. "Sir."
A smirk graced his lips as he pulled open a door for her. "Perhaps I have."
Her eyes widened as she passed through the doorway. "You played Quidditch?"
"You believe Dumbledore would allow my refereeing a match if he did not already know I could handle myself on the pitch?" He fixed her with a pointed look. "He would not have risked his precious Potter on my ability to command a broom."
The girl fell silent as she considered the new information. There were several questions forming in her mind, but she was not sure which ones she could ask without annoying or angering him.
Snape sighed at the look on her face. "You look as though your head is about to explode. Ask your questions."
"How long were you on the Slytherin team?"
"Four years," he answered honestly. It had taken him until his fourth year to scrape together enough galleons from doing other Slytherins' homework to purchase a decent broom. Lily had always been fascinated by the sport, and he had wanted to impress her by making his team. The first two years he had played for her; the last two he had played to crush James Potter. "I was a Chaser in my fourth year, and Keeper the next three."
"I think I would have pictured you as a Beater," Hermione stated. "No offense."
The wizard snorted as he overtook the lead from her again.
"Were you any good?" she asked innocently.
Severus raised an eyebrow and then rolled his eyes. "My fifth year was the only year we lost the Cup."
It had not been the only thing he had lost that year.
"Who beat you?"
At the nasty look on his face, she knew immediately it had been Gryffindor that took the Cup that year. She took in a deep breath and stared at the floor as she walked. After a while, she found she would rather risk an angry outburst from him than have to continue on in dead silence.
"Do you really think Cormac would have made a better Keeper than Ron?"
"Use your head, Granger," he chided. "Even though confunded, McLaggen only missed two of the Quaffles."
That's what I was afraid of. She let out a long, disappointed breath and hung her head. "Please don't tell Professor McGonagall."
Severus gave a short bark of laughter and shook his head. "The whole purpose of this exercise is to keep the both of us alive. It would not be in my best interest to give her a reason to murder you."
Hermione tried to laugh, but could not quite manage it. Instead, she gave half a smile and then started chewing on her lip. Within a few minutes they passed through the archway and into the main part of the castle. The girl let out a deep breath that she had not realized she had been holding.
Snape escorted her back to the lion cub's picture and then paused. "We will continue working on apparition next week."
"What about Thursday?" she asked.
"There are other matters to be addressed," he responded, "such as improving your reaction time."
The witch slowly nodded, but then nervously shifted and dropped her gaze to the floor. "It's been over a month, Professor. What if…what if he … calls for us?"
The wizard sighed and pressed his lips together. "It is likely he may not wish to see you for some time. The Dark Lord thrives on making others uneasy. He will summon you on his own schedule, and it will be best for you not to concern yourself over it until it happens."
When he noticed she looked no further reassured, he dropped his shoulders and crossed his arms. "If it would make you more comfortable, Miss Granger, we can spend Thursday evening cataloging which memories you will let the Dark Lord see."
Hermione finally raised her eyes from the floor to his face. She nodded emphatically at his suggestion.
He gave one nod of his head and bid her a good night. He watched her slowly make her way down the hallway and around the corner before he descended the staircase that led to his quarters.
X x x x x x x x X x x x x x x x X
As Thursday evening drew to a close, Hermione found she could barely keep her eyes open. When she yawned again, Snape gave an annoyed sigh and cancelled the incantation.
"Granger, if you cannot keep yourself from falling asleep in my chair, there is no point to my continuing to waste my own time and energy."
"Sorry," she murmured, straightening in her seat and trying to force her eyes open as wide as they could go.
The wizard across from her shook his head. "No. That is enough for this evening."
"But –"
"I said enough," he reiterated, collapsing into his own seat. "We've covered the most important memories you need to hide. On the off chance the Dark Lord calls for you in the next week, you will manage as best you can and we will deal with the consequences."
Hermione frowned and crossed her arms against her chest. "What if I can't do it?"
"Then you can't do it." He put his hands up and shrugged darkly. "And then we both die."
Her frown turned into an angry scowl. "This isn't fair!"
"Life isn't fair!" he spat, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his desk. "If you haven't figured that out yet, Miss Granger, you're a fool!"
"I have figured that out!" She pushed out of her chair and slammed her fist down on his desk. "I figured that out when I was seven years old, and my only friends were my parents! Or when I was twelve, trying desperately to fit into a world that didn't seem to want me! While everyone else was enjoying their Halloween feast, I was crying in the bathroom when fate decided to be even more of a bitch and send a bloody troll after me!
"Would you like me to keep going, Professor? I only have five more years of examples! And last, but not least, I have to live with the fact that any mistake I make could kill you!"
The corners of his eyes wrinkled as she pushed away from the desk and began to pace. He let out a long breath and rubbed at his forehead.
"Miss Granger, you're tired. Perhaps you should retire to your dormitory."
Hermione opened her mouth to argue, but thought better of it. She snatched her robes from the back of the chair and quickly pulled them on over her clothes.
"Fine. Good night, Professor," she hissed, slamming the door shut behind her.
Severus sighed and let his head drop into his hands. When his office door sailed open again a minute later, he jerked upright in surprise.
"Why aren't there any books on apparition in the school library?" Hermione asked, frustration still evident on her face.
"What?" He blinked at her in bewilderment, shocked not only by her reappearance, but by the sudden change of subject as well.
"I've been searching for a blasted book on apparition all week, and haven't found a single one! Even if I could ask Madam Pince – which I've gathered that you would prefer I didn't – she probably wouldn't tell me why there aren't any anyway!"
Snape blew out a quick breath and leaned back in his chair. "There used to be books on apparition in the school library, yes. They were removed, however, to prevent students from trying to teach themselves how to apparate. In the interest of protecting children from possible injury, Dumbledore thought it best to remove temptation."
"Dumbledore?" she repeated with a frown. "When was this?"
He inhaled deeply and dropped his hands to his lap. "About twenty years ago."
Her eyes narrowed sharply as she glanced at him in suspicion. He feigned a look of innocence and waved her away.
"I will have a book sent up to your room. Now, go away."
X x x x x x x x X x x x x x x x X
Hermione spent a good portion of the weekend curled up in a corner of the Gryffindor common room, reading and re-reading the book that had been delivered to her by Dobby. By the time Monday had arrived, she was quite confident she could recite the entire volume word for word. Unfortunately, she had forgotten about the Potions essay due that morning until Harry had asked her a question about it. As a result, she had quickly scratched out four inches of parchment during breakfast, while unbecomingly shoving toast in her mouth and hoping beyond hope that Snape would not cancel that evening's lesson as punishment for her inability to keep track of her homework. It seemed that luck was on her side, however, as he had let her leave the classroom without any extra instructions.
As such, she now stood in the lion cub's corridor, waiting somewhat patiently for the Potions Master to appear from the darkened staircase. As the castle chimes rang seven times, her wait was brought to an end.
"Your essay was only four inches," he stated as he started walking in the direction of the secret archway.
"That was the requirement, was it not?" she responded, stepping quickly to catch up to him.
"The minimum requirement," he corrected.
Hermione rolled her eyes and remembered the comments he had left on her last essay of her fifth-year Potions class. "Once again, Miss Granger, I find it my harrowed duty to inform you to limit your responses to what is actually required. This is not an opportunity for you to shove every book found in the Hogwarts library down my throat. If I wanted to read them, it would not be in your insufferable script."
"Memorizing books is not your only talent, I see," Snape muttered coldly.
"And that was probably the nicest comment you ever made on my essays," she countered, ignoring his barb. "So I really don't understand why you would mind that I didn't squeeze everything I possibly could onto six inches of parchment."
"While I stand by my previous assessment, it seems my colleagues are noticing the lack of know-it-all from their know-it-all."
"Well bugger them!" she spat. "Is that all you do in staff meetings – talk about me?"
"Regrettably."
The young witch let out an exasperated cry. "I go to class, I answer everyone's questions, and I get my homework done – if you expect me to write insufferably long essays, Professor, you can bloody well write them yourself!"
Snape huffed irritably as he passed through the archway.
Well this has gotten off to a fantastic start, she sighed. And he's probably given me a T on my essay.
After several minutes of silence, they reached the old wooden door. When the dark-haired wizard held it open for her, she was surprised to see there was no angry expression on his face. Maybe there's some hope left.
"Did you at least memorize the book I sent you?" he asked as he stepped past her a moment later.
"Perhaps," she responded with narrowed eyes.
Severus tilted his head and briefly looked down at her. "Good. Then I won't have to explain everything."
X x x x x x x x X x x x x x x x X
An hour later, they stood facing one another in the small clearing of the Forbidden Forest. Snape had taken her on several jumps across the countryside, and when she had shown no signs of being distracted by the twisting of her stomach, he had decided it was time enough for her to begin attempting it on her own.
"Face me, Miss Granger, and try to visualize the tree line behind you," he instructed. "That is where I would like you to attempt to apparate."
Hermione glanced nervously behind her and then back at his face. "Isn't that kind of far for a first attempt? The book said only a few paces was –"
"I know what the book says!" he interrupted. "What did I tell you about people who write books?"
The girl sighed and opted to treat the question as though it were rhetorical.
"Trying to apparate in close quarters requires more concentration than does a slightly larger distance," Severus explained. "Which also means it has a higher likelihood for injury."
"Do you know this from experience?" she asked, tilting her head in curiosity. When he gave her nothing but a pointed glare in response, she rolled her eyes. "Why don't they mention that in the books? Surely someone besides you could have figured that out by now."
"You'd be surprised how little the wizarding world has actually figured out for themselves," he muttered. "It's simply expected – and entirely accepted – that the majority of students will incur some degree of malformation upon their first apparition attempt."
"That's completely pathetic."
"As are your efforts of procrastination, Miss Granger," he chided as he took a seat on the stump.
Hermione grimaced and closed her eyes. She pictured the tree line in her mind for nearly a minute before she peeked out of one eye to see she had not moved at all. After several more minutes – and several more failed attempts – she gave a defeated sigh. "It isn't working."
"So I have noticed," Snape grumbled. "You aren't doing it correctly."
"I am so!" she spat. "I'm visualizing the tree line like you said!"
He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Are you visualizing yourself appearing there?"
"Oh," she mumbled.
The Slytherin Head waited until she closed her eyes again to smirk in amusement. "You have to be determined to get to your desired destination, Granger, and to do it quickly. With enough concentration, your magic will oblige – just as it did when you physically threw me out of your mind."
She winced briefly at the memory and then returned her concentration to the task at hand. I need to be at the tree line…I need to be at the tree line…I need to be there now….tree line now…tree line now….
Suddenly, she felt as though she were being sucked through a narrow tube. Hermione threw open her eyes in surprise and suddenly found herself falling from the sky. When she landed with hard thunk on her back, she opened her mouth to gasp for air. Fear ripped through her at the realization she could not breathe, and she tried to cry out for help.
"Stop panicking, Granger," Snape called out. "You've only had the wind knocked out of you. If you would lie still for a few minutes, you'll be fine."
Hermione glared at him, but followed his instructions. When she could breathe again, she pulled herself up from the ground and gingerly touched her back. There was sure to be a bruise there tomorrow.
"You let yourself get distracted."
"I know, I know," she groaned. "It was just so different from side-along."
He crossed his arms, but nodded. "You'll find it's also easier on your stomach. During side-along apparition, you are not the one in control of the travel, and so you bear the brunt of the discomfort. Try it again, and don't focus on the sensation this time – keep focusing on the destination."
"Okay," she whispered, straightening her stance and closing her eyes. As she pictured herself at the tree-line, she kept repeating her 'tree line now' mantra. Within a matter of a few seconds, the sucking sensation began again. It was almost as though she were being pulled up into a vacuum cleaner. While the magic yanked her across the clearing, she forced herself to continue visualizing her destination.
As sudden as it had started, the sensation ceased, and Hermione felt normal again. Slowly opening one eye and then the next, she gave an excited shout as she realized the distance between herself and Snape had expanded nearly ten-fold. As she glanced around at the trees on either side of her, she squealed and twirled about on one foot.
"Do you have all of your parts?" the wizard yelled.
The girl glanced at him in confusion, but then began furiously patting herself down. Two arms, two legs, ten fingers, ten toes, two eyes, one nose, one mouth, same unfortunate hair.
"I think so!" she called back.
"Then stop dancing and get back here!"
The witch schooled her glee to a small smile and began walking towards him.
"No!" he shouted. "Any simpleton can walk! I want you to apparate here!"
"Yes, sir!" Hermione grinned as she closed her eyes and fervently pictured the grass in front of his stump.
X x x x x x x x X x x x x x x x X
As her potion faded from a bright blue to the color of a robin's egg, Hermione banked the heat beneath her cauldron and reached for an empty flask. As she filled it with her brew, she glanced over at Harry and noticed he was still several minutes behind her.
"Would you like me to wait for you?" she asked as she neatly labeled the vial with the date and her initials.
"No," the boy shook his head as he stirred in his last ingredient. "I'll be fine."
"Okay then." She quickly cleaned up her half of the bench, and then grabbed the flask of her potion. "I'll see you in Charms."
"Yeah," Harry mumbled as he stared fixedly at his potion.
Hermione shrugged and made the journey up to Snape's desk. As she held out her flask, the professor briefly glanced up at her and gestured to the small crate on the corner of his desk. She carefully set the glass container into it and turned to leave. When he cleared his throat, she spun back around only to have her essay thrust at her chest.
"Tomorrow night, my office," he whispered just loud enough for her to hear.
She gave a small nod, snatched her essay out of his hand, and walked away from his desk. She paused just long enough to grab her materials off of her table and then continued out of the classroom. When she was a short distance away from the door, she tossed her books and bag to the floor. She took a deep breath before beginning to unroll the parchment.
Hermione had never received a 'T' on her homework before, and she was not quite ready to see it scratched at the top of her essay. She closed her eyes and willed that there be an 'A' written there instead. She could deal with Average a great deal more than she could a Troll – or even a Dreadful. When she finished unrolling it, she threw open her eyes.
"No!" she gasped, slumping against the wall. She exhaled loudly as she stared at the large red 'O' scrawled in the upper right hand corner of the parchment. As she slid down to the floor, she crumpled the essay into a ball and shoved it carelessly into the pocket of her robes.
Before this year, Snape had never given her anything higher than an Exceeds Expectations on her essays. When she had seen the Outstanding on her first assignment – the description of the potion he had given her – she had been excited by it. Even the second 'O' had been special to her, but upon the third identical marking, she had begun to feel uneasy about it. Now, with the fourth essay of the year – one that she had scribbled in the matter of an hour – being marked as Outstanding, she knew without a doubt that he was fixing her grades.
"Damn it," she hissed, slamming her fist against her thigh.
"What's the matter, mudblood? Didn't you get a perfect?"
Hermione glared up at the blonde boy. "Shove off, Malfoy."
"Bit testy, are we?" Draco cooed, smirking as he brandished his own Outstanding essay. "Have you finally learned who your betters are?"
"Piss off!" she shouted, pulling out her wand.
"Your time of the month, is it?" The Slytherin laughed and strode away in the direction of the staircase.
With an irate groan, she narrowly resisted sending a Stinging Hex at his backside. She had already attacked one student that month, and did not need to make a habit of it.
Tears of frustration formed in her eyes as she pulled the crumpled parchment from her pocket. She angrily launched it at the opposing wall, and then frowned when it bounced back to her.
"Incendio!"
Flames shot forth from the tip of her wand and quickly engulfed the balled-up essay. Within the matter of a few seconds, the fire extinguished itself, leaving nothing but a small collection of ash in its wake.
The door to the Potions classroom creaked open once more, and Harry appeared in the hallway. He scratched his head as he looked over the numerous comments scratched in red ink, and then shrugged as he unceremoniously stowed it away in his book. He glanced up in surprise to see his friend sitting in the hallway.
Hermione faked a smile. "Decided to wait for you after all."
Harry nodded, but took in her watery eyes and the pile of ash on the floor. "You alright?"
"Yeah," she shrugged. "It was a stupid assignment anyway."
The boy's eyes widened and then he smiled in agreement. "Don't worry about it, Hermione. It's Snape – you're not going to get O's on them all."
And that's exactly my problem. She sighed, but nodded at him and accepted his proffered hand. After he pulled her to her feet, she grabbed her things and vanished the ashes.
"Shall we?" she asked.
Harry snorted, but gestured towards the staircase. "I suppose we should go wake up Ron so he doesn't miss Charms again."
X x x x x x x x X x x x x x x x X
As Professor Flitwick lectured on the proper wand motions for the Avis spell, Hermione felt her attention drifting towards the smug blonde who sat a few desks away. He still treated her like the dirt beneath his feet, but there was something different about him. From what she had seen and heard from the others, he was more prone to fits of anger than usual, and was especially volatile when anyone – particularly Harry – mentioned anything concerning his father. It was almost strange that he chose not to lord it over anyone that his father had avoided a stay in Azkaban after what had happened at the Ministry.
As if sensing he was being watched, Draco's head snapped up and he met her curious gaze. His face twisted into a disgusted sneer as he mouthed the word 'mudblood' at her.
"Prat." Hermione blew out an annoyed breath and turned her head back towards the front of the classroom.
"Who's a prat?" Ron whispered as he looked up from his doodling.
"Malfoy."
"Oh yeah," he agreed, sending a glare towards the Slytherin. "Knew that one already."
The girl raised her eyebrows in agreement and forced herself to pay attention to the lesson. As time passed, however, she found herself peeking at Draco through her hair. He was staring blankly at the edge of his desk, and Hermione was reminded of the almost-fearful expression he had worn during the Potions lesson a few weeks prior. Her blood ran hot, however, when she thought of their earlier interaction.
'Your time of the month, is it?'
Stupid prat, she scowled and crossed her arms. It was not enough to be made fun of for her heritage, but he had to ridicule her for her gender as well. As though the only time we could possibly be short-tempered is when we're on the rag. Arse.
Her next thought, though, made the color drain from her face. She had been staying at Hogwarts for six weeks already and she had yet to have her period.
Oh, God. Hermione held her head in her hands as she stared at the desktop. Panic was tearing through her as she considered the possibilities. She had accompanied her mother to a doctor's appointment earlier that summer, and remembered staring at a stack of pregnancy pamphlets in the waiting room. Mentally, she began going through the checklist of early signs. Her period was nearly a month late, her lower back hurt, she had been suffering headaches, and she was unusually tired lately. Not to mention her emotions had been all over the map.
And how many times have I been sick in the past month? Until now, she had been attributing the bouts of nausea to the situations in which they occurred – while dwelling on past memories, after renewing the bond, and during apparition. She was certainly feeling queasy now.
As the class was dismissed, Hermione numbly followed the boys as they walked towards the Great Hall for lunch. They were chatting merrily amongst themselves, but none of it made any sense to her. She was lost to the storm of questions swirling in her mind.
I can't be pregnant, can I? Every time Snape had touched her, she had taken the Vacuus Ortis beforehand. She assumed either he or Madam Pomfrey had thought to administer some sort of contraceptive after the bonding ceremony while she was unconscious. But what if they hadn't? Or what if the Vacuus Ortis was defective? Snape had trusted her to brew it, but what if she had done it incorrectly? Or what if it was counteracted by one of the other potions she had taken in the meantime?
As she sat down at the Gryffindor table, her head was pounding with all of the 'What if's. While everyone else began piling food onto their plates, she could only stare at hers in disgust. After several minutes, she felt the weight of someone's gaze upon her. Lifting her head, she met Snape's critical stare and she swallowed nervously. As another wave of nausea rippled through her, she dropped her eyes to the table in shame.
Well at least now he'll fail me on a potion. She snorted in disgust at the thought of that being the silver lining.
X x x x x x x x X x x x x x x x X
Hermione stood frozen outside of the doors to the Hospital Wing. She had been debating with herself all day about whether or not to come here. Harry and Ron had been with her throughout lunch and their Herbology lesson, but afterwards she had been on her own for her Arithmancy lecture. As there was still almost an hour before her absence would be noticed at supper, she thought it was time to bite the bullet and see Madam Pomfrey.
It was not as though she could pop down to a Muggle chemist's shop and pick up a pregnancy test. She had seriously considered it for a while, but had dismissed the notion when she realized she would have to ask someone to take her. She had not mastered apparating over more than a few meters, and she definitely did not trust herself to travel all the way to London without injury. Going by floo required access to the Floo Network, which she did not have. Even if she could walk to Hogsmeade and summon the Knight Bus, she did not have any spare money on her person.
The only three people who knew explicitly of her situation were Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape. If she were to ask any of them, Dumbledore would send her to Pomfrey anyway, McGonagall would likely kill Snape, and Snape would likely kill her.
Except he can't kill me, can he? Not without killing himself, and now his unborn child.
Hermione whimpered at the last thought. She took a number of calming breaths to keep herself from hyperventilating.
You don't know that yet, she reminded herself. Maybe you're just over-reacting again.
She sucked in one final breath and extended a shaky hand towards the infirmary door.
