A/N: Thank you for all your positive feedback and comments, you guys are amazing! Hope you enjoy this next chapter, enjoy! :)
A/N: Chapter Warning – Bad language, potential mentions of rape and violence
Chapter 25: Conclusions, Hogsmeade, and Legilimency Lessons
As they were leaving, Draco and Hermione came across a furious looking Professor McGonagall, who was clearly making her way down towards the dungeons and towards Severus' quarters.
"Miss Granger, where is he?" Minerva said angrily through gritted teeth.
"Please Professor, don't go down there and disturb him. He's not very well, he caught the illness I had at the weekend, and he's taken a really strong sleeping draught, and is currently in a deep sleep. You won't get any response from him for a while" Hermione told her head of house, half lying and telling some truth.
"He's always more unstable when he's sick" Minerva replied, relaxing just slightly.
"However, you should see what he has done to Mr Longbottom, he has needed three calming draught's in the last couple of hours, and he's been supplied with dreamless sleep. Also, some other students from your class have been shaken up by his actions and also needed calming. But Mr Longbottom is the worst, he's still unresponsive, just stares ahead and doesn't say a thing, he's in severe shock and cannot snap out of it" Minerva told the students sadly.
"Oh, poor Neville! I hope he will be alright. However, like I said, Severus is asleep, so I doubt it would be satisfying to shout at him now" Hermione said.
She looked at her head of house, who was just staring at her with a raised eyebrow and the ghost of a smile flickered on the older witch's mouth. Confused, Hermione shrugged her shoulders and turned to Draco who was also staring at her, with his eyes wide.
"What?" She asked Draco.
Draco leaned in closer to her so that he could whisper in her ear.
"You called him Severus" Draco whispered.
Hermione blinked. Gods! She hadn't even realised, she hadn't even thought about it.
There was a tense silence.
"Well, I shall annoy him in the morning then" Minerva stated.
Minerva turned to walk back up the stairs, in the direction that would take her to the upper levels of the castles. She paused when she got to the top.
"Oh, Miss Granger? Ensure in future, that when in public, you are more wary of your familiarity with Professor Snape" Minerva grinned.
Hermione flushed and Minerva continued her journey.
"Smooth Granger, nicely done. Could you have been any more obvious?" Draco told her jokingly, with a hint of seriousness.
"To be honest, I think she is aware that there is something more" Hermione told him.
"Really?" Draco asked, shocked that a professor may potentially know what was going on behind closed doors and refused to intervene.
Hermione nodded. The pair headed up towards the main hall for the Halloween feast that had already begun.
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Ron was busy, as usual, eating as much as he possibly could. Ron's love for Halloween treats was like a child at Christmas. Hermione watched amused, and a little repulsed, as Ron opened another chocolate frog.
Whilst Ron was occupied, Harry turned to Hermione.
"What was the deal with Snape then?" Harry asked.
Hermione thought back on the story that Severus had told her and Draco. Harry had always been convinced that Severus had some personal vendetta against him. To an extent, Harry was probably right.
Hermione had thought logically about what Severus had told her earlier, and she had put everything together. She concluded that there were two factors to think about. The first was that Severus hated Harry, it could be explained that Severus' childhood friend had married and bore the child of Severus' childhood bully. Therefore it was natural for Severus to take a disliking to Harry, which would make sense when looking back on how Severus had treated Harry over the years.
But, there was a second factor involved; well that was Hermione's theory anyway. Severus spoke and treated everyone in a similar way to how he treated Harry, people only noticed because Harry was 'the boy who lived'. However, what if Severus was trying to protect Harry?
It made sense, his childhood friend ends up hating him and he spends the rest of her life trying to make up for his mistake. So, Severus makes it his mission to try and do right by her, even from afar, and that includes the protection of her only child, after her death.
It all made sense. Hermione would never voice her thoughts of course. Severus was a double agent, if anyone found out that he was potentially protecting Harry Potter, Severus would die.
"Apparently he's not well, which would explain his mood today" Hermione said, trying to shrug it off as nothing and change the topic of discussion.
"How's Neville?" Hermione asked, noting the boys' absence.
"He will be alright. I think he just needs some sleep" Ron told her through his mouthful.
Harry then remembered something and tripped over his words as he tried to excitedly tell his friends.
"According to Dumbledore, there is another Hogsmeade visit this weekend" Harry said.
"What? Two in a row? How does that work, I thought we only had a visit once every month" Ron exclaimed but enthusiastically joined in with Harry's excitement.
Harry shrugged his shoulders at Ron's question.
"Well technically" Hermione began; the boys looked at each other and, in good humour, rolled their eyes. They had both been expecting a logical answer from their brightest friend. Hermione ignored them both and continued.
"Technically, it is still once a month. The last Hogsmeade visit was last weekend, which was the end of October, and this weekend coming up will be the beginning of November. It's been done on purpose so that it's still abiding by the rules but gives an extra weekend where the older students are likely to leave the castle, meaning the teachers have a quiet afternoon. The question is why do they want another, nearly, empty castle this weekend?" She commented.
Oh well, Hermione wasn't complaining, she had plans of her own that she needed to implement and she needed to do it soon. Hermione was actually thankful for the second Hogsmeade trip; it would be useful and away from the school. She needed a quiet place, one that no one would think about going to, she knew that what she was trying to organise would be dangerous for all who were involved, and trying to get it sorted out at school would be practically inviting trouble in. No, she knew the perfect place to achieve what she was trying to do and knew that she would need a Hogsmeade weekend where vanishing students would not be noticed or suspicious. In other words, they would not be followed and reported back to all things pink.
Hermione spent the rest of the day trying to put her plans into action. She sent out messages, and was reading up on certain types of spells that would be useful for secret communication. If this was going to work, it had to be done properly otherwise everything would fall apart, there would be no room for mistakes on this.
Hermione went to bed that night exhausted and with Severus' story in her mind. She had thought about going back to check on him, but she didn't want to intrude on his privacy any more than she already had today. She thought it would be best to give Severus his space and let him seek her out when he was ready.
She hadn't expected to be sought out quite so quickly though.
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The following day at breakfast, Hermione received a letter from Severus, asking her to come to his office before her first class. Knowing that Severus was watching her from the head table, she gave a nod and moved to walk towards the dungeons, telling the boys that she had to return some library books.
Once in Severus' office, she noticed that Draco was also there and both students were invited to sit down at Severus' desk.
They looked towards Severus and waited for him to tell them why they were all there.
"No doubt, you have both realised that I was a little 'out of sorts' yesterday and I revealed some information to you that could be severe if it fell into the wrong hands. I was wrong to tell you this information, my judgement was off yesterday as I had been drinking, I wasn't feeling my best and as you now know, yesterday was a significant day to me. I must stress the importance that this information is not to be uttered to anyone, ever. I trust the both of you that you can keep this information to yourselves, I do not wish to obliviate either of you. However, I feel it prudent to teach the both of you the art of occlumency. The headmaster feels this unnecessary but I think different. Draco, you will come to me on Saturday for your lesson and Hermione, you will come Sunday. I will send you both owls with a time and location. Is that agreeable with you both?" Severus asked them.
Both the teens nodded and they were dismissed for classes.
Hermione paused on her way out.
"Are you sure you're alright Severus?" She asked, still worried about him.
Severus nodded but she could tell that he was lying. She walked back over to him and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek.
"You will be alright Severus. Please talk to me if you need to. You've been here for me, all this time, now let me be here for you" she whispered gently to him.
He looked at her and gave her a small smile.
"I will want to see you again soon, perhaps we can arrange for tea and a good catch-up. At the risk of sounding like a sappy, clingy teenager...I miss you and your intelligent conversation. We shall meet soon" he told her whilst giving her hand a squeeze and kissed her cheek gently.
Hermione headed towards the door where Draco was, making kissing faces at them to mock them, whilst he had been waiting for Hermione so that they could leave. Then Hermione remembered something and turned back towards Severus.
"Also, professor McGonagall is after your blood. So I suggest you watch out if you like your balls being attached to your body, or else she will probably be wearing them for earrings soon" Hermione giggled as she warned him.
Severus grimaced and Hermione chuckled even more, she knew he was secretly terrified of the older witch. McGonagall was even more terrifying when her ire was directed at you in particular.
"Great, I look forward to her visit" Severus said sarcastically, already feeling another headache approaching.
The teens left the office and exchanged a few words before separating to hurry off to their morning classes before they were both late.
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The Hogsmeade weekend approached faster than Hermione thought imaginable. She had only just about managed to put her plans into action in time and before she knew it, she found herself walking towards the village with her two friends.
"Will you tell us what's going on Hermione?" Ron asked for the millionth time, he was beginning to get impatient with his friends secretiveness.
"Shhhhhh" she gestured to them.
"Quiet, the both of you, just follow me" she said to them, begging them to be patient.
The boys huffed but followed her anyway out of curiosity, typical Gryffindor's.
The boys were even more confused when they realised that Hermione was leading them to the Hogs Head pub. As they headed towards the stairs that would take them up to the first floor, the boys could hear murmurs from beyond one of the doors.
Hermione walked into the room and the boys soon found many of their friends from their house, and other houses, sat waiting for them. The boys sat and waited for Hermione to explain what was going on.
"We are not learning how to defend ourselves; we need to be able to defend ourselves. I have joined us all together to discuss this with you. We need a proper teacher, someone who will adequately be able to teach us defence. I can think of no one better, who has had their own dealings with dark wizards, than our very own Harry" she said.
Harry froze.
"Harry, will you teach us?" She asked him directly.
Harry looked out towards the hopeful looking faces that were staring pleadingly at him. He was in a world of his own; he could see mouths moving but couldn't hear what was being said.
They wanted him to teach them? What use was he? But he couldn't complain, they needed all the help they could possibly get. Maybe with all of them working together, that will help and they can all assist each other. So, Harry nodded his agreement and Hermione took a register of everyone who wanted to join up.
Afterwards, Hermione told everyone to keep an eye out for a place where they could practice. It would have to be hidden, out of sight, somewhere private. The meeting was then dismissed, if they were all gone too long, it would be noticed and it would be suspicious.
The three friends remained and looked at the list of names that they had got. All of them sat there thinking that this group could work out.
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Sunday morning, Hermione found herself stood outside Severus' office as she waited for him to answer her knock, she couldn't help but think of the lesson ahead.
"Enter" he told her, she came in and stood in the middle of the room, waiting for further instructions.
"I'm going to teach you how to defend your thoughts, stop people from entering your mind. But I warn you, this can be painful and it will take time to get it right, so you must be patient. I will be as gentle as I can, for these first few lessons, but I can assure you that these lessons will give you headaches. Are you ready?" He asked her.
She nodded, slightly scared but also anxious to learn something different.
"If you need me to stop, just tell me" he said seriously to her.
He held up his wand towards her.
"Legilimens" he said.
Hermione could feel a slight pressure in her mind, it was like having two brains competing for space and she could already feel the dull ache. She grimaced; this was going to be brutal.
Hermione could see her mind was like an open book, every memory she was seeing she knew that Severus was also seeing. She tried to hide all the embarrassing ones but he still picked up on them. He saw her being bullied as a child, by her peers, and how her parents had initially blown up at her when they found out she was a witch.
Hermione realised that he was seeing all of her lonely memories; all the things that had ever made her feel unworthy of life.
She could see the image of Sirius Black in her mind as another memory formed; she knew what that memory was going to be.
"NO!" She yelled, forcing Severus out of her mind.
Her rejection was so brutal that it was extremely painful for her head. She heard a dull thud and looked over to see her Severus sprawled on the floor.
"What happened?" She gasped.
"You rejected me from your mind, this is a good thing and is the ultimate goal however, if you were to ever do that to a Death Eater, or the Dark Lord himself, you will probably find yourself with a fight on your hands, because it is obvious you are hiding something and trying to stop them from seeing something. If they think that it might be important, they will not relent. Merlin forbid that you ever find yourself in that situation" he explained to her.
She nodded, fully feeling the throbbing in her head. Severus noticed this.
"We have been at this for about an hour, perhaps a break and a pain potion is in order?" He asked her.
Hermione gasped.
"That was an hour?" She asked shocked. It had only felt like mere minutes.
She looked at the clock and realised it had been an hour and a half since she had entered the room, Severus was right. Hermione was still struggling to comprehend.
"This sort of training can often make you feel timeless but, you have nothing to worry about, you are doing extremely well. Draco was biting at the opportunity to leave at this point, and he was not far from dropping to his knees to beg to leave" Severus told her.
"Really?" She asked.
Severus nodded remembering that Draco's cries and begs to leave were more out of sheer embarrassment, than they were of pain. Severus invited her to sit down and take a pain potion and have some sandwiches and something to drink.
For the rest of the lesson, Severus proceeded with caution, he didn't want her damaged. But he soon realised that Hermione had a natural talent for this art, she just had to practice.
After the lesson was over, it was early afternoon, and Hermione was dismissed. She gave Severus a quick kiss, to which he responded to, and headed towards the door.
As she was about to open the office door, there was a hesitant knock from the other side.
She opened the door and came face to face with Neville, she stared at him wondering what on earth he was doing here, and then she looked at Severus as if he would indicate what was going on. He just stared at her.
"As you were Miss Granger" Severus told her.
Hermione nodded, recognising the tone of his voice as she left the room. The door shut gently behind her as Neville entered and she could feel a silencing charm being cast. She huffed at the obvious 'bugger off' message that Severus was sending to her and she headed back towards the common room.
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Inside Severus' office, a terrified Neville looked at his potions Professor, wondering why he had been summoned on a Sunday to Snape's office.
"Mr Longbottom, take a seat" Severus said with his monotone voice.
