Chapter 3

Saturday morning found Severus Snape awake in his office, grading third-year compositions on Shrinking potions. He sat at an ancient mahogany desk that was partially covered with neat stacks of parchment--undoubtley more ungraded classwork, as the top sheets of parchment were not yet bleeding with red ink. The desk was very large, obviously an antique from the slightly weathered state of the wood, and had intricate carvings of various magical runes. As for the rest of Snape's office, it was full of bookshelves, all of them brimming with thick volumes on practically every subject. Arithmancy, Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, History of Magic, even some Muggle poetry and novels, there was nothing left uncovered by Snape's seemingly eclectic taste.

There was no fire in the wide hearth, making the room itself appear as though it was nothing more than an elaborately decorated icebox. But Snape, who never paid even the slightest attention to something so frivolous as comfortable room temperature, did not mind in the least. He was grading essays, after all, and such a task could always be relied upon to take his mind off any physical unpleasantness. The grammar mistakes alone were enough to make him so angry at his students' incompetence that anything else could easily be ignored.

Whilst in the middle of a writing a particularly nasty comment to a Hufflepuff girl about her complete lack of essay organization, Snape heard a knock at the door. Actually, it was more of a drum solo than a knock, and Snape knew of only one person brave enough to treat his office door like a set of tom-toms.

"Come in, Headmaster," he said without even looking up.

The door creaked open, and Albus Dumbledore stepped inside. "Ah, Severus," greeted the Headmaster with a warm smile. "How are you this fine morning?"

"Sullen and disagreeable as always. And yourself?"

"Perfectly blooming, I assure you. May I ?" asked Dumbledore, indicating a green armchair in front of Severus's desk.

"Of course," replied Snape. He finished his marking, set his quill to rest in the red inkpot, and fixed his attention on Dumbledore. The headmaster, however, had decided upon sitting down that the nail on his left pinky was terribly fascinating, and made no move to speak. If he didn't know better, Snape would swear that Albus was nervous about something.

"Headmaster?" he drawled, after sitting in more than five minutes of silence. "Was there something you wished to speak with me about?"

"My apologies, Severus," said the Headmaster, shaking himself and finally looking directly at Snape. "Yes, there is something I need to discuss with you. It has to do with Miss Granger's "accident" two nights ago."

"What about it? Poppy informed me yesterday that the girl has made a complete recovery."

"She has, indeed. What I need to explain to you is how Miss Granger came to be in the condition you found her in outside the music room."

"So she told you what happened, did she? Tell me Albus, what fantastic story did our deplorable Miss Granger come up with?"

Ignoring his Potions Master's obvious sarcasm, Dumbledore steamed ahead. He told the story slowly, including his conversation with Miss Granger about Libertá Totale, and watched Severus's face like a hawk the entire time. However, such attention was unnecessary, as the man's face remained a cold mask the entire way through.

When the headmaster finished, Snape sat silently for a moment before speaking. "Albus, why am I under the impression that you actually believe Miss Granger's foolish lie?"

"Because I don't believe that she is lying, Severus. Why would she come up with such an elaborate story if it was not true?"

"How would I know? Don't ask me to try to understand the innerworkings of a Gryffindor's mind--that is your area of expertise," Severus snapped.

"You are right, of course," conceded Dumbledore. " But would you care to enlighten me as to why you think that Miss Granger is lying in the first place?"

"Why do I think she is lying....Albus, please be reasonable!" fumed Snape. " To actually think that Miss Granger passed out because she "overdosed" on my magic is ludicrous! Even if I somehow achieved Libertá Totale, which in itself is simply laughable, there is no possible way that I would have emitted enough power to affect her so strongly."

Dumbledore smiled shrewdly. "I knew you would reach that conclusion, Severus, which is why I did considerable research before even thinking of telling you about all this. I anticipated your less-than-thrilled reaction, and wanted something with which to back up my theory."

"And what did your research tell you? That all young women going by the name of Hermione Granger should be tested for mental insanity?"

The headmaster gave another slight smile at this, and his eyes twinkled. "No, my research nearly confirmed something which I have been suspecting for quite awhile. But first, let us look back on your ability to reach Libertá Totale..."

Snape interjected with a frustrated sigh. "I told you before Albus, I did not achieve Libertá Totale."

"And I told you before, Severus, that I believe you did. Why are you having such a hard time accepting something which the evidence so clearly supports? It's very out of character of you."

"Then you do not know my character as well as you may think," said Snape with a sneer, "because I accept things based on solid fact, not ridiculous notions! Have you somehow forgotten that the state of Libertá Totale requires a great purity of mind, or did you just miraculously lose all memory of my seedy past?"

"Neither; in fact, that detail is one of the greatest supports for my case. For what could be more pure than a state of mind induced by complete concentration on music, which is perhaps the most beautiful form of human expression?"

That stilled Snape's rejections for a moment, as his mind considered the Headmaster's words. He was not the sort of man who would argue for the sake of arguing, especially with Albus Dumbledore, but that simply showed his firm conviction that the old man was way out of the quidditch pitch with this one. Within seconds, he had carefully crafted a rebuttal. "You may be right, Albus, but such perfect attention to music can only be achieved by a brilliant musician, not a novice like myself."

"Modesty doesn't suit you well, Severus, so please refrain from feigning it. You know perfectly well that your musical talents are leagues above those of an amateur. I have known you since you eight years old, and even then you played piano better than I have ever been able to in nearly fifty years of study. But I am growing tired of this pointless arguing; I do not care whether you believe me or not, I just want you to listen."

Snape looked like he wanted to argue, but a warning look from Dumbledore cause him to restrain himself. "As you wish," he fairly ground out, but still managed to keep his tone from being too sarcastic. As much as Dumbledore often infuriated him with his unwavering optimism, the man was still like a father to him, and thus Snape kept his conduct reasonably respectful. Dumbledore had spoken on his behalf and worried about him too many times to have become wholly undeserving of his vicious tongue.

"Thank you," said the Headmaster, voice betraying his relief at Severus's submission. He then leaned forward in his chair, and his eyes became earnest. "Now, to get to the point-- on Thursday night, you somehow managed to radiate a magical force so powerful that it took complete and utter control over one of the most promising young minds at Hogwarts. You did so without your apparent knowledge, and felt no more than normal fatigue at the end. In fact, you managed to physically carry the victim of your magical prowess to the Infirmary with very little effort at all, and then you stayed awake the entire night to aid her. Therefore, that flood of power from your body had seemingly affected you very little.

Dumbledore paused here, to take a careful look at Professor Snape's face. The potions master sat completely still, and his face was set in stone. He stared back into the Headmaster's blue eyes, his own gaze constant and unwavering--Snape had kept his word, and was still listening intently.

"Miss Granger," continued Dumbledore, "was not so lucky. She lost consciousness, and took nearly an entire day to recover. Also, during the time she was overpowered by your magic, she had a series of strange emotions and visions, culminating in one of you as divine power--to quote her own words, you "had the silhouette of man but were not one." But she did not particularly recognize you, so much as she had a sense of familiarity with this celestial being. She saw you as crafted of brilliant light, all-powerful and glorious, and then awoke only to find that you were you, Professor Severus Snape, her potions master and the Head of Slytherin House And it was only after this sudden awareness of your identity that Miss Granger lost consciousness.

So the questions beg to be asked: what was it that Miss Granger actually saw, and why do you have this sudden powerful ability? I believe I have answers to both--for they interlace with each other--but I do not think that will be to your liking. Severus, I must ask you again, are you prepared to listen to what I have to say with an open mind and to keep your doubts to yourself until I have fully explained myself?"

Snape looked uncertain--DID he really want to hear this?--but before he could answer, there came another knock at his door.

"Who is it?!" Severus barked, angry at being interrupted while trying to make his decision. Whoever was on the other side of that door had better have a damn good reason to be there.

"Hermione Granger, sir," came the muffled reply. Snape started from his chair, and prepared to tell the stupid girl to leave him alone, but Dumbledore stopped him with a wave of his hand.

"Come in, Miss Granger," called the Headmaster, as he pulled out his pocketwatch. "I see that you're right on time."

Ohh, suspenseful!!! Sorry if it was a bit confusing, but hopefully I'll explain all of it better in the next chapter, including how Hermione came to be involved with Dumbledore's plan to talk with Severus. It might be a while, maybe a week, before I update (school and cross-country call) but I promise I'll get it together as soon as possible. O, and see that little button at the bottom that says review? Push it, and you'll make my day! Seriously, I LIVE FOR FEEDBACK, BOTH GOOD AND BAD (AS LONG AS ITS CONSTRUCTIVE!), SO PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW!!! AND A BIG THANK-YOU TO THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY REVIEWED, YOUR COMMENTS AND IDEAS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!! --And I'm done with the CAPS now! : P

bubbletoes ~***~***~***~