********
When Harry and Hermione walked through the entrance Hermione was again delighted at the amazing decorations. They never ceased to surprise her. This years decorations seemed even more spectacular than the last. The sealing portrayed a full moon cloaked with eerie clouds and there was mist floating above the ground on the dance floor. Every once in a while Peeves would jump out suddenly from the mist and horrify a pair of dancers. Hermione didn't recognize the band but was sure that others did by the way they were cheering.
As she was scanning the room she was suddenly interrupted by Ron, "Wow Hermione! You look smashing. Aren't you glad that you came?" Seeing no response from her he continued, "The only bad part about this is the spiders." He said, his face darkening in disgust and horror.
Hermione hadn't even noticed. There were spiders all over the place. Mostly, they were crawling on the walls but some were surrounding their feet. Hermione wasn't sure where they would've come from and could not see well enough to decipher if they'd been conjured or transfigured, or maybe even real.
Suddenly the music stopped and the musicians announced a special Halloween dance that they encourage for all the dances that they perform for. First, all the girls participating must be blindfolded and let a partner escort them to the dance floor. At the end of the dance the girl is escorted back to where she was originally and then it would be the boys' turn to be blindfolded. It is intended to let any shy 'askers' have the dance they are too nervous to ask for.
A huge mass of girls went to get blindfolds and Hermione decided she might as well go and see if there was anyone who would consider dancing with her. "Maybe Neville will ask me." She thought. She fished a blindfold out of a large cauldron near the stage on which the band was situated. It was black and had silver and gold stars on it. She draped it over her eyes and covered them completely. She was not one to cheat. She didn't realize that they were magically charmed to cover the wearers' eyes completely as soon as it was placed over them. The music started and she stood there for a few minutes feeling utterly low. She was suddenly pulled gently into a warm embrace. She was completely shocked. It actually scared her being pulled so suddenly, she had had no warning. Soon, however, she grew completely comfortable in the arms wrapped around her and sunk more into the stranger's grasp. She lowered her head onto his shoulders. She could not for the life of her decipher who this mystery man could be. He danced well, and, she noted, smelled entirely delicious. She began to wonder if this was too good to be true and decided that it must be pity dance from someone that saw her standing alone. It could even be Harry. "Harry? Is that you?" She said, secretly hoping that it was not.
"Yes, Hermione." He said. His voice was deep and vibrated against her neck.
Hermione sighed and wondered if there was any use in even coming to these dances anymore. Nobody seemed to care for her company; they all assumed that she would be too boring or concentrated on school.
When the song ended she was guided back towards the spot where she had been originally and took off her blindfold. She looked up; expecting to see Harry's green eyes looking back at her and was bewildered. There was nobody there. She looked around; the Great Hall was entirely empty. Not only were there no people there, there were no decorations, no band, no food and no furniture or anything at all for that matter. She never realized how cold and unfriendly the Great Hall could be without any décor or the warm faces of the student body and staff. Hermione was terrified. She stood frozen, what else could she do?
"Where is everyone?" She said out loud. She began walking around the room. She opened the great entrance doors and peered outside to see if this was some sort of trick. It sounded silly to think of it as a trick, but what other explanations could there be?
Seeing nobody, Hermione re-entered the Hall. She decided to try to fix this. "There must be a way," She thought aloud. She reached to pull out her wand and realized that in her haste to get ready and her fixation with looking absolutely perfect for this evening she had forgotten it. "I guess it doesn't really matter know how I look, there's nobody here but me." She said heartily to herself, though she was terribly annoyed with herself for forgetting something so important.
She decided to check the only place left and walked out onto the balcony. A strong gust of air blew past her and she shivered. She walked to the edge of balcony and looked out over the grounds of the school. She could see Hagrid's hut. There was fire coming from the chimney and there was light emerging from the windows. She immediately whipped around to go back into the Hall. She pushed open the doors. Everybody and everything was just how it had been before.
Hermione was completely stunned. This was impossible. "Maybe my time-turner malfunctioned in some way..." She thought, looking for any plausible explanation for what had happened.
"Excuse us." A pair of Ravenclaw students said politely. Hermione was blocking the door. She muttered a quick apology and re-entered the Hall. She looked frantically around the room for Harry or Ron, to try and see if either had seen what had happened to her after her dance with Harry but could not spot either. It was too crowded and Hermione felt as if she couldn't breathe. She ran across the room and exited hastily. She gasped for air and rested with her hands on her thighs as soon as she was free from the Hall. She decided the best thing to do, since it was so late, was to just go to sleep and talk to Harry and Ron the following day since their was no one else she could talk to that would believe her.
She finally reached her dormitory and peeled her tight-fitting costume off. She dressed in her pajamas and collapsed on her bed, not bothering to brush her teeth. Her parents' scoldings were ringing in her ears, but she didn't care. All she wanted to do was get some sleep and hopefully some answers.
The next morning came rolling around not to long after. She immediately jumped out of bed and ran down to the common room. Harry and Ron were there as well, discussing the night previous.
"Hermione! There you are. You just disappeared last night. I thought maybe you'd met someone and...." Ron said inquiringly with a devilish grin.
"What? No, no. Something happened to me. Harry, do remember what happened after our dance?"
"What dance?" He said, confused.
"The blindfolded one." Hermione replied exasperatedly.
"Hermione, I didn't dance with you at all last night. I looked for you, but you weren't there. Ron and I both thought that you'd found someone to spend the evening with."
"Don't be silly Harry, you told me it was you. I know it was. It was your voice, your...well...body."
"Hermione, I'm telling you, it wasn't me. I was dancing with Parvati Patil for the blindfold dance, ask Ron." He said looking at Ron for help.
"He's right Hermione. I saw you walk over to the stage and get a blind-fold, but after that I don't remember seeing you at all."
"Strange." Hermione thought aloud. "I wonder who it was I was dancing with...and whether or not everything was there while I was dancing with him."
********
Snape had decided not to attend the dance. Normally he would supervise, but tonight he felt that with all his stress weighing down on him, he might snap trying to keep a bunch of twerps in line.
Instead of the dance, he had been making lesson plans, making orders for items for his classes and doing a bit of general research and reading. He still had a passion for potions; he would never lose his love for it. He was scanning through his 'Potion's Published' magazine when an owl landed on top of it and dropped a parcel in front of him. Severus rose from his large chair across from the crackling fire roasting in his fireplace. He grabbed a few sickles and knuts and paid the owl accordingly. He sat down again as the owl hooted and left. He picked up the small parcel wrapped in brown paper and tied neatly with a blood red string. Severus was not certain that it would be entirely safe to open so he mused over it for several moments and finally decided to just open it. He cast several counter-curses just to be absolutely sure that it was safe and then tore the paper from it.
It was from Dumbledore. "It must be important," he thought. "Or he would've sent Fawkes." He looked down at the letter and scanned through it quickly. It seemed that Professor Alton Vaughn would be leaving Hogwarts.
********
Snape was so restless that he could hardly focus on teaching. His classes noticed this and took full advantage of it. They were completely disobedient and Snape could not find the effort to scold them. Today his thoughts were elsewhere, the Ministry would be here for a 'surprise inspection'.
It was mid-Novemeber. The Ministry had taken their sweet time in getting here. But today was the day and finally, just as lunch was ending, they arrived. They stated that a member would be coming around to each class at the same time and that all students had the rest of the afternoon off. They found no mark on Vaughn's arm but his answers to their questions were not satisfactory. He was allowed exactly one hour to pack all of his things and was escorted from the premises. Strangely enough, he looked quite upset. He might have even been crying at one point. Not unusual since Snape knew the kind of fear he must going through. Voldemort would not be happy with his failure.
Dumbledore had held a small celebration, in the Room of Requirement of course with all members of the Order present that were involved. It was a pleasant and joyous occasion if only for a brief amount of time.
As the party was coming to an end, Dumbledore pulled Snape aside and told him that this was quite important.
"Severus," He said pausing. "This is not easy for me to tell you, but I have not been able to find a replacement teacher for Vaughn."
Snape stared at him incredulously. He knew what Albus was insinuating but did not want to accept it. So, Dumbledore continued, "I'm afraid, Severus, that that means that you must return to your previous position as Potion's Master." He said with a grim look on his face. He knew how happy Severus had been and he hated to destroy that.
"What about Defense Against the Darks Albus? Who will teach that if -"
"I was able to find someone to fill that position. Believe me Severus I tried the best that could do, but I believe we should try to make the best of the situation."
Severus just nodded. He left the party early and began packing his things for the dungeons.
********
Hermione had not been able to figure out what had happened on Halloween in any more detail than she had before. All she knew was that something wasn't right. She no longer spoke to Harry and Ron about it because they seemed to think that she had dreamt the whole thing. She took books out from the library and asked a few of her teachers about it in a general sense. Still, she was unable to come any closer to finding any answers.
She was on the point of giving up when she heard Draco joking around with his 'friends'.
"I already told you what happened. I wasn't feeling well so I left."
"But Draco sweetums, I didn't see you leave. You just disappeared." Pansy said in false sweetness that made her voice sound like nails on a chalkboard.
"How many times do I have to tell you? That is what happened!" He shouted and stormed off with several others following him.
Hermione pondered over it and decided that maybe she should look into the matter a little more. It was Friday, so she had the whole weekend to use for research.
She asked Harry and Ron to find out from anybody and everybody who they had danced with so she could find out who had danced with her. Her weekend research plan had to be put on hold because of the mounding pile of work she had to finish.
Monday proved entirely surprising. There was another new teacher, Vaughn had been fired. She was apparently the new DADA professor and Snape would be returning to his old post.
"She's gorgeous! I can't believe she's teacher." Ginny said as they were eating breakfast.
"Yeah." Ron replied dreamily as he stared at her.
"Ron!" She said hitting him.
He paid her no mind but returned to reality and began finishing his food.
"Snape doesn't look so happy." Harry said.
Snape looked nowhere near happy. He was completely crushed and therefore furious. He HATED her. She didn't deserve such an important job. It was his job! How dare she take it from him. Of course he new that he was being completely irrational but that didn't stop him. When she had asked to sit beside him he had risen from his chair and sat at the opposite end of the table, not saying one thing to her. And when she asked what he had covered with his classes so far he replied simply, "If you can't figure it out on your own, maybe you shouldn't have taken the job." He said putting extra emphasis on the word taken'.
Dumbledore noticed his brooding and felt especially guilty for what he had caused. "There may be a way to fix it." Dumbledore thought and smiled mischievously to himself.
********
When Harry and Hermione walked through the entrance Hermione was again delighted at the amazing decorations. They never ceased to surprise her. This years decorations seemed even more spectacular than the last. The sealing portrayed a full moon cloaked with eerie clouds and there was mist floating above the ground on the dance floor. Every once in a while Peeves would jump out suddenly from the mist and horrify a pair of dancers. Hermione didn't recognize the band but was sure that others did by the way they were cheering.
As she was scanning the room she was suddenly interrupted by Ron, "Wow Hermione! You look smashing. Aren't you glad that you came?" Seeing no response from her he continued, "The only bad part about this is the spiders." He said, his face darkening in disgust and horror.
Hermione hadn't even noticed. There were spiders all over the place. Mostly, they were crawling on the walls but some were surrounding their feet. Hermione wasn't sure where they would've come from and could not see well enough to decipher if they'd been conjured or transfigured, or maybe even real.
Suddenly the music stopped and the musicians announced a special Halloween dance that they encourage for all the dances that they perform for. First, all the girls participating must be blindfolded and let a partner escort them to the dance floor. At the end of the dance the girl is escorted back to where she was originally and then it would be the boys' turn to be blindfolded. It is intended to let any shy 'askers' have the dance they are too nervous to ask for.
A huge mass of girls went to get blindfolds and Hermione decided she might as well go and see if there was anyone who would consider dancing with her. "Maybe Neville will ask me." She thought. She fished a blindfold out of a large cauldron near the stage on which the band was situated. It was black and had silver and gold stars on it. She draped it over her eyes and covered them completely. She was not one to cheat. She didn't realize that they were magically charmed to cover the wearers' eyes completely as soon as it was placed over them. The music started and she stood there for a few minutes feeling utterly low. She was suddenly pulled gently into a warm embrace. She was completely shocked. It actually scared her being pulled so suddenly, she had had no warning. Soon, however, she grew completely comfortable in the arms wrapped around her and sunk more into the stranger's grasp. She lowered her head onto his shoulders. She could not for the life of her decipher who this mystery man could be. He danced well, and, she noted, smelled entirely delicious. She began to wonder if this was too good to be true and decided that it must be pity dance from someone that saw her standing alone. It could even be Harry. "Harry? Is that you?" She said, secretly hoping that it was not.
"Yes, Hermione." He said. His voice was deep and vibrated against her neck.
Hermione sighed and wondered if there was any use in even coming to these dances anymore. Nobody seemed to care for her company; they all assumed that she would be too boring or concentrated on school.
When the song ended she was guided back towards the spot where she had been originally and took off her blindfold. She looked up; expecting to see Harry's green eyes looking back at her and was bewildered. There was nobody there. She looked around; the Great Hall was entirely empty. Not only were there no people there, there were no decorations, no band, no food and no furniture or anything at all for that matter. She never realized how cold and unfriendly the Great Hall could be without any décor or the warm faces of the student body and staff. Hermione was terrified. She stood frozen, what else could she do?
"Where is everyone?" She said out loud. She began walking around the room. She opened the great entrance doors and peered outside to see if this was some sort of trick. It sounded silly to think of it as a trick, but what other explanations could there be?
Seeing nobody, Hermione re-entered the Hall. She decided to try to fix this. "There must be a way," She thought aloud. She reached to pull out her wand and realized that in her haste to get ready and her fixation with looking absolutely perfect for this evening she had forgotten it. "I guess it doesn't really matter know how I look, there's nobody here but me." She said heartily to herself, though she was terribly annoyed with herself for forgetting something so important.
She decided to check the only place left and walked out onto the balcony. A strong gust of air blew past her and she shivered. She walked to the edge of balcony and looked out over the grounds of the school. She could see Hagrid's hut. There was fire coming from the chimney and there was light emerging from the windows. She immediately whipped around to go back into the Hall. She pushed open the doors. Everybody and everything was just how it had been before.
Hermione was completely stunned. This was impossible. "Maybe my time-turner malfunctioned in some way..." She thought, looking for any plausible explanation for what had happened.
"Excuse us." A pair of Ravenclaw students said politely. Hermione was blocking the door. She muttered a quick apology and re-entered the Hall. She looked frantically around the room for Harry or Ron, to try and see if either had seen what had happened to her after her dance with Harry but could not spot either. It was too crowded and Hermione felt as if she couldn't breathe. She ran across the room and exited hastily. She gasped for air and rested with her hands on her thighs as soon as she was free from the Hall. She decided the best thing to do, since it was so late, was to just go to sleep and talk to Harry and Ron the following day since their was no one else she could talk to that would believe her.
She finally reached her dormitory and peeled her tight-fitting costume off. She dressed in her pajamas and collapsed on her bed, not bothering to brush her teeth. Her parents' scoldings were ringing in her ears, but she didn't care. All she wanted to do was get some sleep and hopefully some answers.
The next morning came rolling around not to long after. She immediately jumped out of bed and ran down to the common room. Harry and Ron were there as well, discussing the night previous.
"Hermione! There you are. You just disappeared last night. I thought maybe you'd met someone and...." Ron said inquiringly with a devilish grin.
"What? No, no. Something happened to me. Harry, do remember what happened after our dance?"
"What dance?" He said, confused.
"The blindfolded one." Hermione replied exasperatedly.
"Hermione, I didn't dance with you at all last night. I looked for you, but you weren't there. Ron and I both thought that you'd found someone to spend the evening with."
"Don't be silly Harry, you told me it was you. I know it was. It was your voice, your...well...body."
"Hermione, I'm telling you, it wasn't me. I was dancing with Parvati Patil for the blindfold dance, ask Ron." He said looking at Ron for help.
"He's right Hermione. I saw you walk over to the stage and get a blind-fold, but after that I don't remember seeing you at all."
"Strange." Hermione thought aloud. "I wonder who it was I was dancing with...and whether or not everything was there while I was dancing with him."
********
Snape had decided not to attend the dance. Normally he would supervise, but tonight he felt that with all his stress weighing down on him, he might snap trying to keep a bunch of twerps in line.
Instead of the dance, he had been making lesson plans, making orders for items for his classes and doing a bit of general research and reading. He still had a passion for potions; he would never lose his love for it. He was scanning through his 'Potion's Published' magazine when an owl landed on top of it and dropped a parcel in front of him. Severus rose from his large chair across from the crackling fire roasting in his fireplace. He grabbed a few sickles and knuts and paid the owl accordingly. He sat down again as the owl hooted and left. He picked up the small parcel wrapped in brown paper and tied neatly with a blood red string. Severus was not certain that it would be entirely safe to open so he mused over it for several moments and finally decided to just open it. He cast several counter-curses just to be absolutely sure that it was safe and then tore the paper from it.
It was from Dumbledore. "It must be important," he thought. "Or he would've sent Fawkes." He looked down at the letter and scanned through it quickly. It seemed that Professor Alton Vaughn would be leaving Hogwarts.
********
Snape was so restless that he could hardly focus on teaching. His classes noticed this and took full advantage of it. They were completely disobedient and Snape could not find the effort to scold them. Today his thoughts were elsewhere, the Ministry would be here for a 'surprise inspection'.
It was mid-Novemeber. The Ministry had taken their sweet time in getting here. But today was the day and finally, just as lunch was ending, they arrived. They stated that a member would be coming around to each class at the same time and that all students had the rest of the afternoon off. They found no mark on Vaughn's arm but his answers to their questions were not satisfactory. He was allowed exactly one hour to pack all of his things and was escorted from the premises. Strangely enough, he looked quite upset. He might have even been crying at one point. Not unusual since Snape knew the kind of fear he must going through. Voldemort would not be happy with his failure.
Dumbledore had held a small celebration, in the Room of Requirement of course with all members of the Order present that were involved. It was a pleasant and joyous occasion if only for a brief amount of time.
As the party was coming to an end, Dumbledore pulled Snape aside and told him that this was quite important.
"Severus," He said pausing. "This is not easy for me to tell you, but I have not been able to find a replacement teacher for Vaughn."
Snape stared at him incredulously. He knew what Albus was insinuating but did not want to accept it. So, Dumbledore continued, "I'm afraid, Severus, that that means that you must return to your previous position as Potion's Master." He said with a grim look on his face. He knew how happy Severus had been and he hated to destroy that.
"What about Defense Against the Darks Albus? Who will teach that if -"
"I was able to find someone to fill that position. Believe me Severus I tried the best that could do, but I believe we should try to make the best of the situation."
Severus just nodded. He left the party early and began packing his things for the dungeons.
********
Hermione had not been able to figure out what had happened on Halloween in any more detail than she had before. All she knew was that something wasn't right. She no longer spoke to Harry and Ron about it because they seemed to think that she had dreamt the whole thing. She took books out from the library and asked a few of her teachers about it in a general sense. Still, she was unable to come any closer to finding any answers.
She was on the point of giving up when she heard Draco joking around with his 'friends'.
"I already told you what happened. I wasn't feeling well so I left."
"But Draco sweetums, I didn't see you leave. You just disappeared." Pansy said in false sweetness that made her voice sound like nails on a chalkboard.
"How many times do I have to tell you? That is what happened!" He shouted and stormed off with several others following him.
Hermione pondered over it and decided that maybe she should look into the matter a little more. It was Friday, so she had the whole weekend to use for research.
She asked Harry and Ron to find out from anybody and everybody who they had danced with so she could find out who had danced with her. Her weekend research plan had to be put on hold because of the mounding pile of work she had to finish.
Monday proved entirely surprising. There was another new teacher, Vaughn had been fired. She was apparently the new DADA professor and Snape would be returning to his old post.
"She's gorgeous! I can't believe she's teacher." Ginny said as they were eating breakfast.
"Yeah." Ron replied dreamily as he stared at her.
"Ron!" She said hitting him.
He paid her no mind but returned to reality and began finishing his food.
"Snape doesn't look so happy." Harry said.
Snape looked nowhere near happy. He was completely crushed and therefore furious. He HATED her. She didn't deserve such an important job. It was his job! How dare she take it from him. Of course he new that he was being completely irrational but that didn't stop him. When she had asked to sit beside him he had risen from his chair and sat at the opposite end of the table, not saying one thing to her. And when she asked what he had covered with his classes so far he replied simply, "If you can't figure it out on your own, maybe you shouldn't have taken the job." He said putting extra emphasis on the word taken'.
Dumbledore noticed his brooding and felt especially guilty for what he had caused. "There may be a way to fix it." Dumbledore thought and smiled mischievously to himself.
********