Spoilers: Goblet of Fire
"Sirius Black, what you did is beyond words!"
The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher squirmed under the flint gaze of Poppy Pomfrey.
"Poppy, I know I made a mistake," he pleaded, "but can't you do anything to help her? Relieve her of her pain?"
"There is no bone in a tongue, Sirius Black. Skele-Gro is useless. The only thing I can do for the poor girl is to give her a potion for stopping the bleeding. Except there is no bleeding; the piece left in her mouth dried black also."
The horror on Sirius's face only grew.
"You mean… No, there must be a solution! Hermione can't be mute for the rest of her life!"
"There would probably be a solution if her tongue was not in this state! How could this happen?"
"The Veritaserum… It's your fault, Snape! You–"
"Get a grip, Black," Severus replied coolly. "The Veritaserum never had any side effect similar to this. I would rather say it's due to the use of the Silentium Charm she cast on herself, or didn't you notice the spell? It's usually quite harmless but obviously, mixing it with blood gives a nasty result."
He picked up the piece of flesh in the basin and put it in a jar filled with ice. Sirius went to Hermione who had just cleaned the blood on her face. Severus, who was now standing by her side, saw the glance she gave Sirius and shook his head.
"Black, go away. Just right now, she's thinking of killing you."
"Or killing you!" huffed Sirius. "What do you know about Hermione?"
"I know about Veritaserum!" hissed Severus. "I have been among the 'unscrupulous people' using it and I have seen interrogated people do exactly the same thing as she just did! I can read in her eyes what she feels and if she could talk and I asked the same tasteless question about how she feels about you, you would be up for a tongue-lashing of first level!"
"Hermione," said Sirius, his eyes sorrowful, "you were not supposed to fight the potion. I know that my question was stupid and that answering it in front of everyone would have embarrassed you, but was it really worth such an extremity?"
She stared at him and slowly nodded. He blanched and, with the traces of Hermione's blood still on his forehead, he really looked like a convict on the run. Three heavy gazes were on him and, silently, he left the infirmary, going straight to Albus to confess what had happened.
"Poppy, give her a potion for killing the pain," instructed Severus. "The Silentium Charm will wear off soon."
The mediwitch looked at him in anguish.
"Is there really no other solution, Severus?"
"No, Poppy," he replied grimly. "Miss Granger will remain mute until we find a way to undo… this."
Poppy left for her reserve, sniffing. Severus glanced at Hermione. Strangely he knew somehow that the tears in her eyes were because of the pain, not because of her decision and its consequences.
"You foolish girl," he muttered, unable to repress a surge of pride at the idea she would have stood up to the Dark Lord himself.
She pursed her lips to avoid spilling blood and cast her eyes down.
Minerva McGonagall was beside herself with fury. Her prize student was now dumb because of an experiment having gone awry.
"What have you done, Sirius? How… how could you–"
"Just tell me how I could have known she could react so strongly to such a stupid question!" he flared angrily. "I wouldn't have hurt Hermione for anything in the world and you know that!"
"The brightest young witch of Hogwarts reduced to a dumb figure!" shouted Minerva.
"Technically, she's not dumb. Her vocal cords are not damaged, but she won't be able to utter a single articulated sound," remarked wryly a voice from the threshold.
Severus stood there, with Hermione by his side.
"How can you be so cold after what happened? Hermione, child, I–"
Minerva stopped dead in her tracks when Hermione recoiled, almost hiding behind Severus. Stunned, she looked at the Potions Master.
"What happened?"
"Miss Granger refuses pity," Severus stated calmly. "Which is why I can be so cold, as you put it, Minerva. Were I anything else, she would despise me. Though I usually don't care for what students think of me, spite is not something I care for coming from someone I admire."
Hermione looked at him in shock. Had he just confessed he admired her? He had a small smile.
"Yes, Miss Granger, I did say I admire you. Everyone is falling apart around you because of what happened, but you carry yourself with pride. Though the reason of your auto mutilation was perfectly stupid, it would have been qualified as heroic had the Dark Lord been in place of Black. Few people actually have the nerve to sever their own tongue to avoid answering under the Veritaserum and among those having the idea, few have the will to carry it on. You have both the will and the courage."
She nodded slightly in acceptance of his compliment. Minerva and Sirius were dumbstruck in front of the calm she displayed. They would have understood hysterics or tears or anything but not this quiet dignity.
"She brought it upon herself," said Severus.
"Trust the man to say something so insensible," muttered Minerva.
"She did," he insisted coldly. "She could have answered the question instead."
Hermione's eyes blazed in denial.
"Ah! I wonder what the answer was, then…"
Harry and Ron, hidden in a dark corner, watched Hermione walk in the corridors behind Severus. They felt lost. Naturally, the rumour had already spread – a student had heard Severus's comment about Hermione biting her tongue off – and the whole school now knew that Hermione was mute. Harry and Ron had no idea how to react to such news. Hermione had always been the voice of reason, her sharp tongue keeping them in row, her wits quick enough to see the defects in their plans. Her knowledge of the spells was amazing but now, she was as powerless as a Muggle.
"What are we going to do?" whispered Ron, looking at the forbidding back of the Potions Master.
"I don't know. Sirius had buried himself in his rooms, almost ready to return to Azkaban of his own volition. Though I wonder if he will manage to arrive there before Hermione sends him herself."
"She seems to take the things quite calmly."
"That's what worries me. She usually doesn't take things so calmly. She cut her own tongue, Ron!"
"That certainly sent Snape in a fit!" said Ron with a smug satisfaction.
"For the moment, I really don't care about Snape!" shouted Harry.
"Sorry. I'm worried about Hermione too. She hasn't complained about anything yet… oh Gods, she can't complain!"
"She can't complain, she can't answer any question, she can't cast any spell! She will have to drop Charms!"
"Flitwick will be devastated. He loved having Hermione in his class," remarked Ron, strangely detached.
Harry glanced at him.
"Let's go back to the common room before you collapse on me," he decided brusquely.
"Harry… she won't be able to enter the common room. She can't say the password."
"Alright, let's summarise it. Our best friend is at daggers drawn with my godfather, she can't cast a spell anymore and she can't even enter the common room because she can't speak. Can this day get any worse?"
"Don't say that, I'm sure Snape could make it go worse."
Albus Dumbledore was at loss. The wizard world was not very good at replacing missing members. Blind wizards could sometimes be helped with false eyes, like Alastor Moody's, though not in every case. Deafness wasn't hindering for casting spells, but it was when it came to avoid them, though the Headmaster knew people able to duck after the spell had left the wand. As for a tongue… Albus had heard – from Severus himself – the tale of the courageous wizards who had bitten off their own tongue so they would not speak under torture. But generally they hadn't lived afterwards for the wizard community to think of a solution to their problem. Maybe they could have done something if the tongue was not damaged, but until then...
But now they were faced with it. Hermione Granger had severed her own tongue so she would not answer under Veritaserum. He had heard the question and had not seen why it had pushed her to such drastic action. Nobody understood it either and Sirius, feeling guilty, couldn't even bring himself to look at her. He had even handed his resignation to Albus, saying simply that he wasn't worthy of teaching at Hogwarts if he couldn't even go through a class as simple as Veritaserum without making a mess of it.
Albus sighed. He would have to change the whole schedule for Hermione. Classes such as Charms and Transfiguration would be out of question, since she wouldn't be able to speak the words of the spell. Potions, Herbology and Arithmancy should be fine. Minerva was going to be devastated when she realised that her star student wouldn't be in her classes anymore.
Severus and Hermione entered his office.
"Miss Granger and Severus! Exactly the persons I wanted to see!" he exclaimed, forcing himself to sound cheerful.
Obviously, by the look in Severus's eyes, he didn't succeed.
"Miss Granger, though I realise the wrong Sirius caused you, I would appreciate if you could forgive him. The poor boy handed me his resignation only half an hour after the end of this… disastrous class."
Severus scowled and Albus could almost hear his thoughts. Once again, Black is forgiven…
"Severus, do you have any idea why Miss Granger was so intent on refusing to answer Sirius's question?"
"No, Albus. She's known for speaking with respect of her teachers, but… it would seem rather stupid to bite off one's tongue for avoiding speaking ill of me. But then, Miss Granger is in Gryffindor."
He said the name as if it could explain it all. Albus looked as if he hadn't heard. Hermione didn't react altogether, her eyes on Fawkes, who seemed equally fascinated with her.
"Then I suggest you try to find the answer."
"You should ask Minerva for this. I'm not someone you can ask to talk to young girls, especially Gryffindors."
"Severus, if you say once again 'Gryffindor' as if it was the ultimate insult, I shall hex you into a state worse than Miss Granger's. Minerva already told me of Miss Granger's reaction earlier. She seems to trust you, so, obviously, she should be placed under your care. At the same time, I want you to teach her wandless magic. You are the only one here able to practice it and she could need it, since she will be unable to perform any spell requiring a wand."
"She severs her own tongue and I am the one being punished? Your conception of fairness is twisted, Albus."
"See it on the bright side, Severus. She will continue to attend Potions but, fortunately for you, she won't be able to ask questions or answer yours," said Albus grimly.
Severus cringed and glanced at the still girl standing beside him. She seemed totally unaware of the conversation but he noticed the tension in her jaw. She turned her head to look at him and he would have recoiled at the hatred in her eyes were he not used to school his features to utter calmness.
She passed in front of him and exited the Headmaster's office. Severus's eyes followed her until the door closed behind her.
"Severus… do you think she was protecting you, protecting herself or simply trying to resist the potion and she got carried away?"
"Why not all of them?" muttered Severus darkly. "I have to go, Albus, since you so kindly gave me more work."
"Ah, I noticed you had some free time in the evenings and didn't know what to do."
Severus scowled.
"You know," added Albus mildly, "if I didn't know for sure that there is no way to heal her yet, I would almost think she did it on purpose so you could teach her wandless magic."
"Except that she didn't know I can do wandless magic."
"Of course she does. After all, she saw you perform that spell during her first year. You remember, during the Quidditch game?"
Severus looked at him for a moment.
"That wasn't…" he began.
Comprehension dawned on him.
"She… oh, the…"
He muttered several curses under his breath and left the room in a hurry.
"My, my," murmured Albus, smiling knowingly. "Fawkes, I'm afraid I revealed something he didn't know. I hope he won't cause her too much trouble. Ah, well, maybe anger will help her find a way to express herself…"
