As Hermione shut the door to the classroom behind her, Snape got up from
his chair and took all the bottles to his rooms. With the burning look of
terror in his eyes he examined all the calma's leaves on the benches as he
passed them, but there was no question about it: they were completely dead,
which must mean that every calma in Hogwarts was dead too.
"Merlin, help me", Snape whispered to himself and got into his rooms. He put down the bottles on a desk, then he went out and climbed the many stairs that led to the Headmaster's office.
He knocked on the big door and was relieved when he heard the kind voice of Albus Dumbledore asking him to come in. He opened the door and looked at the old wizard dressed in midnight blue, seated behind his massive desk in the office full of strange instruments. In a chair in front of Dumbledore sat professor Sprout, looking nervously at Snape as he entered.
"Headmaster... Professor Sprout....", Snape began, his voice trembling. He was sweating a little. "Something has gone.... terribly wrong."
"Sit down, Severus", Dumbledore said and pointed his wand to the floor. A comfortable armchair grew out from it, like a very strange flower. Snape sat down and stared into the beard of the headmaster, too stressed to look him in the eyes. He could hear professor Sprout squirming next to him.
"The calmas.... They are all dead", he said.
From the sound of Dumbledore's sigh, Snape understood that he already knew.
"Professor Sprout just told me so. And it means..."
"Yes. It will be uncontrollable."
"Severus, is there anything we, or I, can do?"
"I am afraid there isn't, headmaster", Snape said, and now he raised his gaze to look at the blue, usually sparkling eyes behind the headmaster's glasses, now clouded with worry. "Without the calma's leaves I can't brew the Dormatica potion, and without it... the monster will awake."
"We have to tell the other teachers right away", professor Sprout said.
"Yes. And headmaster, we need more calmas, now!"
"I fear that will be impossible, Severus", Dumbledore said. "Growing new calmas takes three months."
"Can't we buy them from somewhere then?" Snape was slowly beginning to panic.
"The calma is a very fragile plant, it can't survive journeys", professor Sprout said.
"We must do something", Snape cried and stood up. "The students... Everyone will be in great danger!"
Dumbledore lowered his gaze a little and looked at his own hands with their long fingers.
"We will of course have to do something to protect the students", he said eventually. "I will give out new rules about bedtime, and we will have to lock the doors to their dormitories after they have gone to bed."
"I'm not so sure that will be enough", Snape said and fell back into the soft armchair.
"It has to. You, Severus, are the only one who can control it, using the potion. But without that... we will have to do whatever we can to survive."
A few minutes of silence passed, until Dumbledore looked up at his teachers again.
"Go back to your classes. I will announce the new rules at dinner. I will, of course, not tell the students the reason. It's best for all of us if they don't know, so they can't tell the rest of the world."
With a shaky nod the two teachers rose and left the headmaster's office. When they came out in the corridor, professor Sprout threw one last worried look on professor Snape, then quickly ran down the stairs and back to her green house.
Professor Snape made his way down the stairs through crowds of students without even throwing them his common cold looks of hatred. Not that anyone noticed, he knew the students were disgusted with everything about him, and they were only too happy if he disappeared as quickly as possible.
"If only they knew how many times I've saved their lives", he thought and shut the door to his classroom behind him. He took out his wand.
"Limpio."
Immediately the desks were swept clean and Snape watched the dry calma's leaves disappear into thin air.
_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
At dinner in the Great Hall, Hermione was playing around with her food, which was completely untouched. To her left and right sat Harry and Ron, stuffing their faces as if nothing unusual had happened.
"What do you think happened in Potions today", Hermione asked and looked up from her plate.
"Who knows", Harry said. "Maybe Snape is just so used to everything working out in his classes that he got a little shocked when something went wrong."
"I'm not particularly fussed", Ron said with his mouth full of potatoes.
But Hermione was. The look on Snape's face when he turned to her was as clear as a photograph in her mind. What had been in those eyes? What frightened him so?
Suddenly the strong voice of Dumbledore interrupted her thoughts.
"Silence, please!"
The four long house tables went very quiet and all faces turned to the High Table. Dumbledore stood up and threw a swooping look at the students.
"I have some new rules of security to tell you about. Starting tonight, every student will be in bed at ten o'clock instead of eleven. You have to be in your dormitories by then, because the doors will automatically lock themselves at that time, and no charms or spells will open them. These rules must be obeyed by everyone who does not wish to die a most horrible death. That is all, thank you."
He sat down again. A thousand pair of eyes were still looking at him and the other teachers to get some clues about the reason for the new rules, but the faces of the High Table looked like they had been turned to stone.
As the students began concentrating on their meal again and chatting about the new rules, Hermione didn't take her eyes off Snape. There was no doubt about it, he was looking directly at her, and for a moment she could swear that his stressed look of fear went away and was replaced with.... something different. She couldn't find a name for it, she did not even dare admit to herself what she saw in his deep, black raven eyes.
It was sadness. Sincere, bottomless sadness.
_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
Snape tore his eyes away from Hermione and tried to look as if he was eating.
"Why?" he thought to himself. "Why her, why little miss Know-It-All?"
He had admitted it to himself a few months ago. It had taken a lot of his strength to do it, but eventually he had faced the facts. He was in love. For the first time in his dark life he had fallen in love, and with the most inappropriate of all.
Hermione Granger.
Realising how much he admired her had hurt his pride a lot. She was his equal in so many ways, she seemed to know as much about potion making as he did, not to mention every other subject, and she was the only one of his students that didn't fear him, or hate him, but showed him respect. And lately, every time he laid eyes on her, he was stunned by her radiant, shimmering beauty. It was not the usual, feminine beauty of pretty hair or smooth skin, although she possessed those too, but it was something in her eyes that made him dream of her body, heart, mind and soul at night. Never had he ever encountered such a personality before, seen a woman smile that way or move like she did, as if she was a dancer. Her beauty glowed from within, like a shining star, and left him completely breathless. He had been very careful not to look at her too much or treat her differently from before, but in the most secret corners of his dark, lonely soul he dreamt that she would love him back one day.
But of course she never could.
No one loved him, the dreaded, hated, ugly Potion master. She was flawless, a light of intelligence and unequalled beauty to him. And the white, innocent dove could never love the dark raven.
And now, he couldn't protect his beloved from the monster anymore....
_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
Slowly, but surely, the night threw its shimmering veil of stars and moonlight over the castle. The darkness grew stronger by the minute and somewhere a clock struck midnight. All the students were in their dormitories. Some had of course talked about staying up just to see what was going on, but in the end no one had the guts to do it.
And they were very much better off in their beds...
A tall shadow moved down the corridors again, without making the slightest sound. It didn't even seem to breathe, it ran across the stone floor very quickly and took away all light and warmth as it moved on. It's two eyes were burning with hunger, it craved food.
The shadow took off from the floor, and suddenly turned into mist. It flew out through a small crack in a tall window and out into the night.
After a few minutes search the mist found an open window. Someone inside the room must have left it open for the night.
The mist flew into the room.
Four girls slept in there. The mist took form again and became the tall shadow once more. It walked up to one of the girls, a very pretty blonde, and it stretched out a deadly pale hand to her. The shadow with the flaming eyes bent down over her...
After a few minutes that seemed to last forever it stood up. As silently as a cloud it walked back to the open window.
Suddenly it stopped.
Its eyes still burned. The shadow bent down over another girl. Her hair was brown and looked softer than silk, her skin was smooth and pure. One would have thought she was a sleeping angel.
The shadow stretched out its pale hand once more, but not to the girl. It reached out through the window and caught some of the night air. Then, when it opened its long fingers, a black rose grew out of the palm.
The rose fell apart, and the petals landed on the girls chest and stomach, like black snowflakes.
The shadow once again turned into mist and flew out through the window, leaving behind it only cold and a smell of fresh blood....
"Merlin, help me", Snape whispered to himself and got into his rooms. He put down the bottles on a desk, then he went out and climbed the many stairs that led to the Headmaster's office.
He knocked on the big door and was relieved when he heard the kind voice of Albus Dumbledore asking him to come in. He opened the door and looked at the old wizard dressed in midnight blue, seated behind his massive desk in the office full of strange instruments. In a chair in front of Dumbledore sat professor Sprout, looking nervously at Snape as he entered.
"Headmaster... Professor Sprout....", Snape began, his voice trembling. He was sweating a little. "Something has gone.... terribly wrong."
"Sit down, Severus", Dumbledore said and pointed his wand to the floor. A comfortable armchair grew out from it, like a very strange flower. Snape sat down and stared into the beard of the headmaster, too stressed to look him in the eyes. He could hear professor Sprout squirming next to him.
"The calmas.... They are all dead", he said.
From the sound of Dumbledore's sigh, Snape understood that he already knew.
"Professor Sprout just told me so. And it means..."
"Yes. It will be uncontrollable."
"Severus, is there anything we, or I, can do?"
"I am afraid there isn't, headmaster", Snape said, and now he raised his gaze to look at the blue, usually sparkling eyes behind the headmaster's glasses, now clouded with worry. "Without the calma's leaves I can't brew the Dormatica potion, and without it... the monster will awake."
"We have to tell the other teachers right away", professor Sprout said.
"Yes. And headmaster, we need more calmas, now!"
"I fear that will be impossible, Severus", Dumbledore said. "Growing new calmas takes three months."
"Can't we buy them from somewhere then?" Snape was slowly beginning to panic.
"The calma is a very fragile plant, it can't survive journeys", professor Sprout said.
"We must do something", Snape cried and stood up. "The students... Everyone will be in great danger!"
Dumbledore lowered his gaze a little and looked at his own hands with their long fingers.
"We will of course have to do something to protect the students", he said eventually. "I will give out new rules about bedtime, and we will have to lock the doors to their dormitories after they have gone to bed."
"I'm not so sure that will be enough", Snape said and fell back into the soft armchair.
"It has to. You, Severus, are the only one who can control it, using the potion. But without that... we will have to do whatever we can to survive."
A few minutes of silence passed, until Dumbledore looked up at his teachers again.
"Go back to your classes. I will announce the new rules at dinner. I will, of course, not tell the students the reason. It's best for all of us if they don't know, so they can't tell the rest of the world."
With a shaky nod the two teachers rose and left the headmaster's office. When they came out in the corridor, professor Sprout threw one last worried look on professor Snape, then quickly ran down the stairs and back to her green house.
Professor Snape made his way down the stairs through crowds of students without even throwing them his common cold looks of hatred. Not that anyone noticed, he knew the students were disgusted with everything about him, and they were only too happy if he disappeared as quickly as possible.
"If only they knew how many times I've saved their lives", he thought and shut the door to his classroom behind him. He took out his wand.
"Limpio."
Immediately the desks were swept clean and Snape watched the dry calma's leaves disappear into thin air.
_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
At dinner in the Great Hall, Hermione was playing around with her food, which was completely untouched. To her left and right sat Harry and Ron, stuffing their faces as if nothing unusual had happened.
"What do you think happened in Potions today", Hermione asked and looked up from her plate.
"Who knows", Harry said. "Maybe Snape is just so used to everything working out in his classes that he got a little shocked when something went wrong."
"I'm not particularly fussed", Ron said with his mouth full of potatoes.
But Hermione was. The look on Snape's face when he turned to her was as clear as a photograph in her mind. What had been in those eyes? What frightened him so?
Suddenly the strong voice of Dumbledore interrupted her thoughts.
"Silence, please!"
The four long house tables went very quiet and all faces turned to the High Table. Dumbledore stood up and threw a swooping look at the students.
"I have some new rules of security to tell you about. Starting tonight, every student will be in bed at ten o'clock instead of eleven. You have to be in your dormitories by then, because the doors will automatically lock themselves at that time, and no charms or spells will open them. These rules must be obeyed by everyone who does not wish to die a most horrible death. That is all, thank you."
He sat down again. A thousand pair of eyes were still looking at him and the other teachers to get some clues about the reason for the new rules, but the faces of the High Table looked like they had been turned to stone.
As the students began concentrating on their meal again and chatting about the new rules, Hermione didn't take her eyes off Snape. There was no doubt about it, he was looking directly at her, and for a moment she could swear that his stressed look of fear went away and was replaced with.... something different. She couldn't find a name for it, she did not even dare admit to herself what she saw in his deep, black raven eyes.
It was sadness. Sincere, bottomless sadness.
_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
Snape tore his eyes away from Hermione and tried to look as if he was eating.
"Why?" he thought to himself. "Why her, why little miss Know-It-All?"
He had admitted it to himself a few months ago. It had taken a lot of his strength to do it, but eventually he had faced the facts. He was in love. For the first time in his dark life he had fallen in love, and with the most inappropriate of all.
Hermione Granger.
Realising how much he admired her had hurt his pride a lot. She was his equal in so many ways, she seemed to know as much about potion making as he did, not to mention every other subject, and she was the only one of his students that didn't fear him, or hate him, but showed him respect. And lately, every time he laid eyes on her, he was stunned by her radiant, shimmering beauty. It was not the usual, feminine beauty of pretty hair or smooth skin, although she possessed those too, but it was something in her eyes that made him dream of her body, heart, mind and soul at night. Never had he ever encountered such a personality before, seen a woman smile that way or move like she did, as if she was a dancer. Her beauty glowed from within, like a shining star, and left him completely breathless. He had been very careful not to look at her too much or treat her differently from before, but in the most secret corners of his dark, lonely soul he dreamt that she would love him back one day.
But of course she never could.
No one loved him, the dreaded, hated, ugly Potion master. She was flawless, a light of intelligence and unequalled beauty to him. And the white, innocent dove could never love the dark raven.
And now, he couldn't protect his beloved from the monster anymore....
_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
Slowly, but surely, the night threw its shimmering veil of stars and moonlight over the castle. The darkness grew stronger by the minute and somewhere a clock struck midnight. All the students were in their dormitories. Some had of course talked about staying up just to see what was going on, but in the end no one had the guts to do it.
And they were very much better off in their beds...
A tall shadow moved down the corridors again, without making the slightest sound. It didn't even seem to breathe, it ran across the stone floor very quickly and took away all light and warmth as it moved on. It's two eyes were burning with hunger, it craved food.
The shadow took off from the floor, and suddenly turned into mist. It flew out through a small crack in a tall window and out into the night.
After a few minutes search the mist found an open window. Someone inside the room must have left it open for the night.
The mist flew into the room.
Four girls slept in there. The mist took form again and became the tall shadow once more. It walked up to one of the girls, a very pretty blonde, and it stretched out a deadly pale hand to her. The shadow with the flaming eyes bent down over her...
After a few minutes that seemed to last forever it stood up. As silently as a cloud it walked back to the open window.
Suddenly it stopped.
Its eyes still burned. The shadow bent down over another girl. Her hair was brown and looked softer than silk, her skin was smooth and pure. One would have thought she was a sleeping angel.
The shadow stretched out its pale hand once more, but not to the girl. It reached out through the window and caught some of the night air. Then, when it opened its long fingers, a black rose grew out of the palm.
The rose fell apart, and the petals landed on the girls chest and stomach, like black snowflakes.
The shadow once again turned into mist and flew out through the window, leaving behind it only cold and a smell of fresh blood....
