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The Fifth Marauder
Chapter … Newer
Alarun
Severus Snape felt as if his body was being shocked all over by small sparks of electricity. It didn't exactly hurt, but he would have preferred to have gotten away from this monster.
Hermione felt herself take a sharp intake of breath when she saw the Potions Master's face. It aged nearly ten years as she watched, in quick succession, and a frown line inserted itself between his eyebrows. After he looked as he did the day before Fred and George's prank, the greasy, pale, hook-nosed Potions Master, his features continued to rearrange themselves.
It was exactly as she saw in the pensieve, only backwards. His hooked nose formed into an unbroken one; his face turned from sallow to a healthy pale. Though he didn't look exactly as Sirius Black did, the resemblance was unmistakable. Snape was being un-Obliviated!
The gears began to click and grind inside Hermione Granger's head. The Quantum Daemon was a spirit who feeds upon past spells; Hermione remembered reading about her in an extra credit Defense Against the Dark Arts assignment. Of course, that meant the effects of a potion, as well…the reason Severus Snape aged back into his old self before the Daemon moved on to his Obliviated past.
You should taste everyone else, too. They've had a rather large spell placed on them. Hermione thought toward the creature. She didn't think it could really hear her.
The Quantum Daemon released Snape and gave a small, Mona Lisa smile as he sank to the ground, semi-conscious. Blood ran from his eyes like tears.
Dumbledore rushed forward, checking Severus's pulse with two fingers to his neck. He didn't notice the Quantum Daemon fly over him toward Minerva McGonagall.
Hermione's throat contracted when she saw the blood on Snape's face. She didn't remember reading about the blood in her books.
Harry and Ron each went for an elbow as Hermione jumped forward toward the Daemon, her teeth bared like a cat. Professor McGonagall never knew what hit her; she was staring at Snape when the monster knocked her over.
* * *
Hogwarts began shaking again, as if it was a living being adjusting to the new parasitic force inside of it. The walls bent and twisted until they should have cracked, but the rock and mortar of the dungeon remained solid. The ground below them tilted as if it was the back of a stretching cat, and nearly everyone standing in the lab lost their balance and fell to their knees.
Dumbledore remained protectively over Snape, his feet placed a shoulder-span apart for balance. His wand was held tightly in his right hand like a sword.
The Quantum Daemon stood from her kneeling position next to Minerva, and they watched as a trail of blood escaped from the corner of one of the older Transfiguration Professor's eyes.
Albus twirled his wand like a rock drummer readying himself for a grand solo. He caught it deftly in loose fingers and waved it in a complicated rune before opening his mouth to cast a banishing charm ---
---Just as a giant werewolf broke down the thick wooden door.
* * *
Hermione Granger had never felt as guilty in her entire life as she felt in this moment. She didn't think it through before acting. She had never done that before.
She averted her eyes from the trembling form of her Transfiguration teacher, now older and back to normal.
Snape was becoming alert, and was wiping the blood from his eyes with a black sleeve as Rem ---the werewolf ---broke down the door, followed by a large black dog. It jumped onto the Quantum Daemon, and released a deafening howl as the Daemon fought to feed on the werewolf.
The Potions Master pulled himself weakly to his feet and caught the table before his legs gave out. Harry rushed forward without thinking and put his father's arm around his shoulders, supporting him to the potions cabinet that stood on the closest wall. Snape pulled it open with a muttered password and began pulling out randomly colored bottles of potions, handing a few to Harry.
Snape took a deep breath and threw one at the Daemon and werewolf, a flask the shape of a teardrop and the white-blue color of a glacier. It shattered squarely on the back of the whip-limbed monster.
She didn't flinch. The potion rolled off like water on a diamond.
The Potions Master's jaw dropped, but he recovered quickly and pulled out his wand. Pointing it at the unlit burner on the table, he muttered, "incendio." Not even a spark of magic emitted from his wand.
"Bugger."