To yellow 14: Thanks for the review.
To notwritten: Thanks for the review.
To Jackie Pappillion: Thanks for the review and I'm glad that your happy that Draco's alive.
To everyone: I will return on Wednesday.
111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
Chapter 37: Snape's Thoughts
Snape sat in his quarters, a glass of his fine brandy in a glass, looking into the fire. Things had changed since Malfoy had been found. Things had gotten even more dangerous for Hogwarts. Normally he wouldn't care but this had to stop and like it, or not, Granger was the key to stopping all this madness. He took a sip of his brandy, thinking about how horrible Malfoy had looked.
He knew that the only person that could hold a person that long was Dumbledore. But he was back to normal, why hadn't his spells stopped? He figured that deep down Dumbledore liked the idea that someone was suffering. He shuttered. It reminded him of Voldemort, a man that he wished that he could find a gun and shoot his brains out.
He finished his drink and went to bed.
The next morning he had a staff meeting, where Dumbledore told everyone that no one was suppose to visit the young Malfoy. Professor McGonagall agreed, but not Snape. He hoped that Malfoy didn't remember how he had managed to get out of the room and the only way that he could be sure was by finding out what Malfoy remembered. When the meeting ended Dumbledore pulled him to the side.
"Could you tell me, again, how you found him, Severus?" Dumbledore asked.
This had been the second time he had asked and Snape wondered if he was trying to catch him off his guard.
"Like I told you I was lucky," Snape answered, repeating what he had told Dumbledore in the first place.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Yes, Headmaster," Snape answered.
He felt Dumbledore probing his mind, but he managed to keep him from finding out what really happened. He then let him go.
Snape wrote a letter to Lucius, telling him that Malfoy was safe and sound. He had been told not to tell the family until Madam Pomfrey was sure that he would live. Of course he decided to send them the letter, telling them not to come around until he Flooed them. He also decided to run a little idea that had been forming in his mind.
He had been thinking about the future. Sirius Black escaping from Azkaban was the start of what he feared would be a return of the Dark Lord. He knew that Voldemort was powerful but he sensed that Granger was even more powerful then Voldemort was. She had managed to defeat Dumbledore and that was something no witch or wizard, let alone a thirteen-year-old, could do. That meant that he would have to choose between going back to Voldemort, if he returned, on Dumbledore's orders or showing loyalty to a witch that, according to people like Lucius, was below all Purebloods.
Snape felt like snorting. Voldemort was a liar! At least Granger didn't lie to serve her purposes. He decided, when the time came, he would join Granger's side and then see if Lucius wanted to join the bandwagon. He hoped that his old friend made the right choice.
"So any idea when the next card will appear?" Snape asked Hermione when he cornered her.
"I have no idea," Hermione answered. "And that's what I'm worried about. The last one was nasty and I thought for sure that it was a Clow Card that had attacked Malfoy."
Snape considered this.
"But it didn't feel right," Hermione went on. "I could sense that it wasn't a Clow Card, but Dumbledore's powers."
"Any thoughts on how Dumbledore didn't know that he had trapped Malfoy."
"No," Hermione answered. She then turned to him. "Why are you being nice to me?"
Snape was startled by the question, but he got over it and answered her.
"Miss Granger, do you know that a time will come that the Dark Lord will return and when he does he'll think that the only wizard that he has to fear is Dumbledore. Your power is growing at an alarming rate and I feel that you're going to be more powerful then the both of them. I've got a feeling that I'll have to return to the Dark Lord's side and I like to have a chance to make the right choice."
"So this is saving your skin," Hermione said.
"No, I just like to know there are options; that's all," he told her. "Does that count for something?"
"I guess," Hermione muttered. "So you'll basically serve me."
"If that's what you want?" Snape told her.
"Well, I don't," Hermione told him. "I like friends, not servants."
Snape had to grin at this.
"Then I'll be your friend," he told her.
"Thanks," Hermione said.
Of course that gave Snape a lot to think about for the next several days. Hermione, despite being powerful, wasn't at all like the Dark Lord. She wanted friends, not servants. The Dark Lord didn't want that, just people that were sick enough to kill for him. Deep down he liked the idea that being in Hermione's presence didn't require screams and rivers of blood. He knew that none of his former Death Eaters would like that.
(A/N: Sorry about the short chapter, but Snape doesn't really have a lot of thoughts in this story.)