Harry and Ron walked back to the castle through the fog. Ron stared at the
damp grass, looking worried and angry. Harry didn't know what to say.
"Why won't he just tell us? He knows, I know he does!", Ron yelled.
"So do I, Ron", Harry said in a calmer voice. "This isn't over yet."
They entered the school without much more conversation and headed for their class in Charms. One hour later, the fog had drifted away from the grounds and a heavy rain started to play its gun fire music on the windows.
_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
However, there was one place where mist still ruled.
Snape was in his dungeons, leaning over a cauldron which bubbled loudly and spread a thick fog. His tall, black figure was almost impossible to make out, and only a few candles lit up the room.
He added dragon blood to the potion and stirred it ten times. He was stressed, he was breathing heavily and he ran back and forth to fetch more ingredients. Yet he was being more careful than ever before in his life. The slightest mistake... He didn't dare to think about it.
"She has been taken" he thought. "I couldn't save her, I failed the one I love more than anything."
He filled a cup with the milk white potion and sniffed it. Even when tortured with fear and sorrow he still managed to make a flawless potion.
_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
Hermione was dreaming.
Her weak, tired mind painted horrible nightmares for her. She was running through the dark, empty corridors again, like that night so long ago, but now her sight was clouded by a spooky fog every half hour.
She never saw the storm through the windows as she ran, but she heard roar it all too well. And something else too. Someone was chasing her, breathing down her neck. And it was so cold... Her eyes were filled with tears, but she was too afraid to even let them fall. She heard no foot steps but her own, yet she knew that the monster behind her was coming closer.... and closer...
A gentle voice echoed somewhere in front of her.
"I will always protect you..."
She held on to it with all her might, followed it like a sailor follows a star in the night. But she couldn't find it. The voice died away and Hermione kept running, but all hope was lost.
"Help me!" she screamed.
She ran into a heavy door. She knew where she was, down in the dungeons, and Snape's classroom was right there. She knocked hard on the door, banged her fists to it until her knuckles bled.
"Severus!" she cried, all formality forgotten. "Severus!"
Suddenly the wooden door disappeared.
She was in the Great Hall. Everywhere she saw couples dancing, the candles flickered slightly and the paper bats flew back and forth above her head. Everyone smiled and the music was soft and gentle.
Before she knew how it happened she was dancing with someone. She looked up and saw Snape's eyes look back at her.
She embraced him tightly and pressed her face to his shoulder, crying with relief.
"You're here" she said. "At last I've found you."
He put his arms around her, and kissed her hair.
"Severus, I love you.", she sobbed.
She looked up at him again. But Snape's face was gone. Instead, a white skull with empty holes for eyes was grinning at her.
Its cold, bony fingers held her little, smooth hand.
" I love you", the skull whispered, and Hermione screamed.
She tore herself away from the skeleton and pushed the other couples out of her way as she started to run again. The paper bats followed her, she felt their red eyes burn into her back as she stormed out through the doors, and after a few minutes she felt their little fangs pierce her skin, like needles. They drank blood from her arms, her neck, her cheeks and no matter how much she waved her arms they wouldn't go away.
"I love you.... I will always protect you..."
"Severus!", she cried. But no one answered....
_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
The darkness came quickly outside the castle, and in his hut Hagrid sat in his arm chair by a roaring fire. In his enormous hands he held the beautiful unicorn horn and sighed.
"My poor lass" he whispered to himself.
He laid the unicorn horn down on his table, left his seat and went across the room. From a dark corner he picked out his umbrella, turned around and pointed it at the table.
"Mandare 'ermione" he said. White sparks flew out of the umbrella and hit the unicorn horn which disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"Good luck" he said and put away the mysterious umbrella. Then he laid down on his bed to get some sleep, but he didn't even close his eyes during the night.
_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
Snape stood by his window and looked at the rain drops that ran down it on the outside. That sight, the tears of the storm and its music, always used to calm him down, but this time it didn't work. He held an old, leather bound book in his right hand.
He opened the book and started to read aloud.
"When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state, and trouble deaf Heaven with my bootless cries, and look upon myself, and curse my fate..."
He glanced over his shoulder, as if he had heard a noise. But he saw nothing, and so he kept reading aloud.
_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
Hermione was sitting on the cold stone floor. She had shaken the bats off a little while ago, and she was exhausted. She caressed the wall and leaned onto it, as if it could help her, while the thunder raged outside.
She sobbed silently. She was so scared, so alone...
Then she saw it.
The dark corridor was lit up, as if a star had flown in through a window and now hung in the air in front of her. Hermione stood up and looked at the mysterious light.
It made her torn dress shimmer like a dream, and its rays felt warmer and more comforting than the sun. They wiped her tears away.
She had nothing to fear anymore. Everything was fine.
She stretched out her hand to touch the light. Her fingers closed around something that felt like an icicle, but it wasn't cold.
And, as she left the darkness and the nightmare behind her, she heard his voice.
"For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings, that then, I scorn to change my state with kings."
She slowly opened her eyes.
Where was she? What had happened?
She was in a four poster bed. Her bed. She sat up, but immediately fell back on the pillows again, too weak to move, let alone to walk. She moaned.
There was the sound of foot steps coming towards her.
"Melissa?" she said.
The curtains opened... and there stood professor Snape.
Hermione wanted to flung herself around his neck. It was his voice she had heard, he was the light in her dream.
"Professor..." she said. "What happened?"
Snape looked at her. She was so pale, so exhausted. "She must've had horrible dreams", he thought. He sat down next to her, and to his surprise she took his hand in hers.
He found his voice and took a deep breath.
"Hermione... Something happened to you tonight. The monster..."
He released her hand. There was no going back, he had to tell her.
"Hermione, I am so sorry" he said and looked away from her.
She looked at him, wanted him to hold her in his arms and she wanted to finally tell him she loved him. But he spoke again, and his words turned her blood into ice.
"Hermione.... I will tell you everything. I am the monster."
"Why won't he just tell us? He knows, I know he does!", Ron yelled.
"So do I, Ron", Harry said in a calmer voice. "This isn't over yet."
They entered the school without much more conversation and headed for their class in Charms. One hour later, the fog had drifted away from the grounds and a heavy rain started to play its gun fire music on the windows.
_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
However, there was one place where mist still ruled.
Snape was in his dungeons, leaning over a cauldron which bubbled loudly and spread a thick fog. His tall, black figure was almost impossible to make out, and only a few candles lit up the room.
He added dragon blood to the potion and stirred it ten times. He was stressed, he was breathing heavily and he ran back and forth to fetch more ingredients. Yet he was being more careful than ever before in his life. The slightest mistake... He didn't dare to think about it.
"She has been taken" he thought. "I couldn't save her, I failed the one I love more than anything."
He filled a cup with the milk white potion and sniffed it. Even when tortured with fear and sorrow he still managed to make a flawless potion.
_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
Hermione was dreaming.
Her weak, tired mind painted horrible nightmares for her. She was running through the dark, empty corridors again, like that night so long ago, but now her sight was clouded by a spooky fog every half hour.
She never saw the storm through the windows as she ran, but she heard roar it all too well. And something else too. Someone was chasing her, breathing down her neck. And it was so cold... Her eyes were filled with tears, but she was too afraid to even let them fall. She heard no foot steps but her own, yet she knew that the monster behind her was coming closer.... and closer...
A gentle voice echoed somewhere in front of her.
"I will always protect you..."
She held on to it with all her might, followed it like a sailor follows a star in the night. But she couldn't find it. The voice died away and Hermione kept running, but all hope was lost.
"Help me!" she screamed.
She ran into a heavy door. She knew where she was, down in the dungeons, and Snape's classroom was right there. She knocked hard on the door, banged her fists to it until her knuckles bled.
"Severus!" she cried, all formality forgotten. "Severus!"
Suddenly the wooden door disappeared.
She was in the Great Hall. Everywhere she saw couples dancing, the candles flickered slightly and the paper bats flew back and forth above her head. Everyone smiled and the music was soft and gentle.
Before she knew how it happened she was dancing with someone. She looked up and saw Snape's eyes look back at her.
She embraced him tightly and pressed her face to his shoulder, crying with relief.
"You're here" she said. "At last I've found you."
He put his arms around her, and kissed her hair.
"Severus, I love you.", she sobbed.
She looked up at him again. But Snape's face was gone. Instead, a white skull with empty holes for eyes was grinning at her.
Its cold, bony fingers held her little, smooth hand.
" I love you", the skull whispered, and Hermione screamed.
She tore herself away from the skeleton and pushed the other couples out of her way as she started to run again. The paper bats followed her, she felt their red eyes burn into her back as she stormed out through the doors, and after a few minutes she felt their little fangs pierce her skin, like needles. They drank blood from her arms, her neck, her cheeks and no matter how much she waved her arms they wouldn't go away.
"I love you.... I will always protect you..."
"Severus!", she cried. But no one answered....
_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
The darkness came quickly outside the castle, and in his hut Hagrid sat in his arm chair by a roaring fire. In his enormous hands he held the beautiful unicorn horn and sighed.
"My poor lass" he whispered to himself.
He laid the unicorn horn down on his table, left his seat and went across the room. From a dark corner he picked out his umbrella, turned around and pointed it at the table.
"Mandare 'ermione" he said. White sparks flew out of the umbrella and hit the unicorn horn which disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"Good luck" he said and put away the mysterious umbrella. Then he laid down on his bed to get some sleep, but he didn't even close his eyes during the night.
_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
Snape stood by his window and looked at the rain drops that ran down it on the outside. That sight, the tears of the storm and its music, always used to calm him down, but this time it didn't work. He held an old, leather bound book in his right hand.
He opened the book and started to read aloud.
"When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state, and trouble deaf Heaven with my bootless cries, and look upon myself, and curse my fate..."
He glanced over his shoulder, as if he had heard a noise. But he saw nothing, and so he kept reading aloud.
_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
Hermione was sitting on the cold stone floor. She had shaken the bats off a little while ago, and she was exhausted. She caressed the wall and leaned onto it, as if it could help her, while the thunder raged outside.
She sobbed silently. She was so scared, so alone...
Then she saw it.
The dark corridor was lit up, as if a star had flown in through a window and now hung in the air in front of her. Hermione stood up and looked at the mysterious light.
It made her torn dress shimmer like a dream, and its rays felt warmer and more comforting than the sun. They wiped her tears away.
She had nothing to fear anymore. Everything was fine.
She stretched out her hand to touch the light. Her fingers closed around something that felt like an icicle, but it wasn't cold.
And, as she left the darkness and the nightmare behind her, she heard his voice.
"For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings, that then, I scorn to change my state with kings."
She slowly opened her eyes.
Where was she? What had happened?
She was in a four poster bed. Her bed. She sat up, but immediately fell back on the pillows again, too weak to move, let alone to walk. She moaned.
There was the sound of foot steps coming towards her.
"Melissa?" she said.
The curtains opened... and there stood professor Snape.
Hermione wanted to flung herself around his neck. It was his voice she had heard, he was the light in her dream.
"Professor..." she said. "What happened?"
Snape looked at her. She was so pale, so exhausted. "She must've had horrible dreams", he thought. He sat down next to her, and to his surprise she took his hand in hers.
He found his voice and took a deep breath.
"Hermione... Something happened to you tonight. The monster..."
He released her hand. There was no going back, he had to tell her.
"Hermione, I am so sorry" he said and looked away from her.
She looked at him, wanted him to hold her in his arms and she wanted to finally tell him she loved him. But he spoke again, and his words turned her blood into ice.
"Hermione.... I will tell you everything. I am the monster."
