Stolen Child
Chapter 8
Hello Teacher Tell me What's my Lesson?
(Look Right Through Me, Look Right Through Me)
Once again they sat facing each other. This time, though, they were both seated in similar wooden chairs, each waiting for the other to speak, each of their stares equally intense. Professor Snape had arrived several minutes earlier, armed with a three leather bound books tucked beneath his arm.
The light from the setting sun was streaming in through the windows to their left, illuminating their faces, and casting their shadows on the wall to their right. Hermione was the first one to finally give in.
"What are those, sir?" She didn't let it show, but she had been dying of curiosity since she first saw him under his arm.
"Books that you might find to be.interesting." He smirked. "AFTER, you answer a question for me." He cocked an eyebrow, and his smirk widened.
She narrowed her eyes "Alright."
Snape cleared his throat, drumming his fingers on the hard leather of the book beneath them and his smirk faded. "Where were you?"
Hermione immediately looked away, and pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs, hugging herself tightly. She seemed quite intent on studying something on the floor.
He watched her closely, not wanting to shout at her out of fear that she would simply turn away from him, and lock him out of the secrets floating around in that head of hers.
"It's hard.It's hard to explain."
"Just keep it simple, Granger." His voice was as icy as ever, but he was careful to keep its tone even and edge dull.
Hermione continued to stare at the floor, her brow furrowed. "I don't know the name for it, they never told me. I only knew of it as the fairy realm. I want to call it the summer lands, or Tir Na Nog; but they weren't spirits, and they weren't simply forever young. Her voice trailed off, and she seemed to be remembering something.
Snape continued to watch her, remaining quite, though she was certainly testing his patience with her uncertainties.
"It was an island, a large island. Surrounded by a lake, I think." She stopped for a moment to think. "Yes, it had to of been a lake, the water was fresh, but it was large, at least I think it was; past a certain point in the water there was nothing, just fog. No escape." She looked to the floor ones more, gritting her teeth. It was several minutes before she finally spoke again. "May I see the books now?"
Snape jerked slightly at the sudden breaking of the lengthy silence. He nodded and handed them to her.
She gracefully adjusted herself so that she was sitting Indian style and laid the books in her lap, looking down at them warily before finally flipping open the cover of the first one which was apparently a yearbook of sorts.
"I marked the pages that you might find to be of some use."
"Thank you." She began to flip the pages of the book until she found the first of the marked pages. There was a picture of four young people sitting in a comfortable looking room, all smiling and waving. One of them was a boy with dark, unruly hair, circular glasses, and bright green eyes. There was another boy in the picture as well with bright red hair and a large helping of freckles. Across from them there was a young girl who was obviously related to the boy with the red hair and freckles, she was grinning broadly, but looking over at the boy with the tousled black hair. And last there was a young girl with bushy brown hair, large front teeth, and a huge book sitting in her lap. Hermione looked down at the caption underneath the picture and worried her bottom lip'Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Virginia Weasley, and Hermione Granger enjoy a Saturday in the Gryffindor common room.' Hermione looked questioningly at Snape "That's me?"
He nodded silently, curious as to how she would react.
"I was so young. Were they my friends?" She pointed to the others in the picture.
"You mean you don't recognize them?" He was completely floored. How could she not remember them? They were her best friends, or they had been.
"No, Professor." She looked down at the book again, studying the picture intently. She didn't know what to say, or what to do. Should she be sad? Frustrated she flipped to the next book mark. Smiling up at her were several faces of middle aged to elderly looking people. She silently read off the names. Professor Binns, History of Magic...Argus Filch, Caretaker. Professor Flitwick, Charms-Head of Ravenclaw.Rubeus Hagrid, Care of Magical Creatures/ Keeper of Keys and Grounds. Professor Hooch, Flying. Professor Lupin, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor McGonagall, Transfiguration-Head of Gryffindor.Professor Sinistra, Atronomy.Professor Pince, Librarian, Madame Pomfrey, Nurse.Professor Snape, Potions.Professor Sprout, Herbology. Professor Trelawney, Divination.Professor Vector, Arithmancy. As she finished she looked up and Snape and shook her head.
He sighed in frustration. What, or who could trigger this girls memory?
Hermione sighed as well her eyes moving down the page until they were caught by a large photograph at the bottom. In the picture sat a very old wizard with a long gray beard, a knowing grin, and a twinkle in his eye. He was sitting at a desk, and in the corner there was a bowl of some sort of candy. He was alternately smiling warmly, and nodding, the caption below read 'Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster. There was twinge of something in the back of her mind. A warm, grandfatherly hand on her shoulder, a feeling of being home, of safety and comfort. She looked up at Snape, her eyes wide. She tapped her finger on the picture "I think I remember him."
Snape's eyes darted to the picture and almost smiled. How could anyone NOT remember Albus, but instead his frown deepened, Albus was no longer able to help himself, let alone other people.
"It says here that he's the headmaster, Professory McGonagall told me that she was the Headmistress when she visited." Hermione looked at Snape, perplexed.
"Ah. So you weren't comatose, then, Ms. Granger." His eyes narrowed, he didn't exactly feel like explaining to her why Dumbledore wasn't present to fix everything, as he always had been in the past.
"No. I was didn't think it was real. The fairies like to deceive people; I thought they were playing a trick on me." Hermione looked back down at the picture of Dumbledore. "Did he die? Is that why he's not here?" It would make perfect sense; he looked extremely elderly in the picture. She glanced back up at Snape and found him looking surprisingly apprehensive.
"No. Professor Dumbledore is not dead, not yet at least." He narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth; the subject of the former Headmaster was not his favorite to discuss.
Hermione looked back down at the picture, watching the man smile. She worried at her lip for a moment before speaking again. "Where is he then?"
Snape took in a deep breath, and then let it back out slowly, trying to stay calm. "St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries."
She blinked a few times and then, with her brow furrowed, she looked up at Snape. "Why? What happened to him?"
It was too much for Snape. "THAT is NONE of your BUSINESS. Do you understand that?!" He shot up from his seat, glaring down at Hermione who looked positively terrified. "NONE of your BUSINESS!" He was roaring at her, a wild fire burning in his usually cold eyes, his hands clenched into fists. He whirled around and began to march out of the doors.
"Professor Snape! No, please! I'm sorry! Come back!" Hermione had stood up and was beginning to follow after him. "I'll answer any question you want, just please come back!" Her voice was still so small, and it cracked with the force with which she was using it.
Snape halted at the double doors, his hand on the handle, torn between his curiosity and fury. If he stormed out now, he might never get to know what happened, unless he heard it second hand, that is, if she was willing to tell anyone else. He took a long, deep, cleansing breath, and then exhaled, and turned around, walking back towards Hermione.
She sighed and sat back down, sitting Indian style, the books on her lap, deciding it might be best to move on to the next book. She closed the yearbook and put it at the bottom of the stack and then read the cover of the next one "Numerology and Gramatica?" Hermione looked up at Snape, her eyebrow cocked.
"It's an Arithmancy text book. The Headmistress informed me that it was your favorite subject."
"Oh." Hermione blinked and then opened the book and began to scan through it. She had to admit, it was quite fascinating, but she didn't feel a single tug at her memory. She looked up at Snape and, frowning, shook her head. She looked back down and began to move the last book to the top, but Snape stopped her.
"Now Ms. Granger, let's not be hasty, don't forget, give and take." Snape smirked at her as she sighed and folded her hands on top of the books. He took a few moments to decide on which question he'd like to hear answered next, it had to be a good one. "How did you escape? And if you had no memory of Hogwarts, then why would you even try?"
She looked away from him for a moment, at the floor, then at her hands, and then finally met his gaze again. "Fairies, though beautiful..are.well... they can be cruel." Her voice cracked and she stopped for a moment to clear her throat. "But not all of them. I had a friend..they told me that I did not belong there, told me that I could return to where I belonged, and then helped me escape." She was unconsciously gritting her teeth, trying her best to hide her emotions.
Watching her, Snape could literally feel the anger, the frustration, and the pain coming off of her in waves. It was then that he realized that they were no longer bathed in the warm glow of the setting sun. He looked out the window and saw that the last bit of the day had nearly died away. Abruptly he stood, drawing himself up into his usual ominous stance. "It's late, Ms. Granger. You may keep the books. I will be returning tomorrow evening."
Hermione stood as well, looking alarmed, she didn't want him to go; it felt as though they had only just begun to talk. She opened her mouth to call out to him, but he had already rushed out of the infirmary in a flurry of bellowing black robes. Her shoulders dropped. She gracefully moved back to her hospital bed, setting the books down upon her end table, it was then that she remembered the final book. Carefully she pulled it from the bottom of the stack, and held it in the light. It was thinner than the other two, but almost as wide and tall, and across the front cover was the world "Journal".
Hurriedly she opened the book and took a seat on her bed. And on the inside cover printed in painfully neat handwriting 'Property of Hermione Granger'. But the pages were blank. She furrowed her brow for a moment, and then realized that there was probably a spell on it to keep other people from reading it. Perhaps it needed a password. "Hermione?" Nothing happened. "Granger?" Nothing. "Arithmancy." Still nothing. "Dumbledore?" Nothing at all. Hermione sighed. How would she be able to read it, if she couldn't remember enough about herself to even guess the damn pass word? "Ron?.....Harry?....Virginia?....Gryffindor?...." She gritted her teeth, glaring at the blank pages, and then inspiration hit her. She looked around to make sure that no one was looking. "Professor Snape?" Still nothing. "Snape?" Again, nothing. She took a deep, calming breath. "Severus?" For a moment she thought that nothing was going to happen, but then words began to appear as though they were surfacing from the pages.She grinned and sitting cross legged on the edge of her bed, began to read.
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Ok, not to sure about this chapter, I might just redo it and delete the current version *LOL* I was up at 8 in the morning after a loooooong night at work, and wrote it back to back with chapter 7, so I'm not really sure if it's coherent *LMAO* It's definitely more mellow, and Snape is more mellow, probably because I was listening to freakishly mellow music while I wrote it.anyways.
SweetyGirl420: Well, I dropped some hints on Dumbledor in this chapter, and what happened to her in the fairy realm with begin to surface with the add of a little legilamency, I hope at least *L* thanks for still reading! ^_^
HunnySnowBunny: *LOL* I try! :D..I'm really, really, really glad that you're still reading! *LOL* please, please, please tell me if the new chapter sucks *L* It's bothering me severly :P. Oh, and I really, really felt bad for Snape during the whole legilimency thing with Harry, who wouldn't want to smack the boy around a little for being so ignorant! Though, of course I still love Harry to death..*mumbles* just not as much as I do Snape. As for him seeing things he shouldn't be seeing.well, we'll just have to see.(wow, I think that was the most redundant think I've ever written *LOL*).Again, THANKYOU for still reading! That absolutely tickles me to death! ^_^ ^_^ ^_^
Blue Jeans Baby: thankyou very much for the review, and for reading! I like! ^_^
Defender of the Spiffy: *LOL* thanks so much! I wanted to make her different in the beginning.who wouldn't be.but perhaps the old Hermione, just grown up, will surface in future chapters? Thanks for the review! :D
Chapter 8
Hello Teacher Tell me What's my Lesson?
(Look Right Through Me, Look Right Through Me)
Once again they sat facing each other. This time, though, they were both seated in similar wooden chairs, each waiting for the other to speak, each of their stares equally intense. Professor Snape had arrived several minutes earlier, armed with a three leather bound books tucked beneath his arm.
The light from the setting sun was streaming in through the windows to their left, illuminating their faces, and casting their shadows on the wall to their right. Hermione was the first one to finally give in.
"What are those, sir?" She didn't let it show, but she had been dying of curiosity since she first saw him under his arm.
"Books that you might find to be.interesting." He smirked. "AFTER, you answer a question for me." He cocked an eyebrow, and his smirk widened.
She narrowed her eyes "Alright."
Snape cleared his throat, drumming his fingers on the hard leather of the book beneath them and his smirk faded. "Where were you?"
Hermione immediately looked away, and pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs, hugging herself tightly. She seemed quite intent on studying something on the floor.
He watched her closely, not wanting to shout at her out of fear that she would simply turn away from him, and lock him out of the secrets floating around in that head of hers.
"It's hard.It's hard to explain."
"Just keep it simple, Granger." His voice was as icy as ever, but he was careful to keep its tone even and edge dull.
Hermione continued to stare at the floor, her brow furrowed. "I don't know the name for it, they never told me. I only knew of it as the fairy realm. I want to call it the summer lands, or Tir Na Nog; but they weren't spirits, and they weren't simply forever young. Her voice trailed off, and she seemed to be remembering something.
Snape continued to watch her, remaining quite, though she was certainly testing his patience with her uncertainties.
"It was an island, a large island. Surrounded by a lake, I think." She stopped for a moment to think. "Yes, it had to of been a lake, the water was fresh, but it was large, at least I think it was; past a certain point in the water there was nothing, just fog. No escape." She looked to the floor ones more, gritting her teeth. It was several minutes before she finally spoke again. "May I see the books now?"
Snape jerked slightly at the sudden breaking of the lengthy silence. He nodded and handed them to her.
She gracefully adjusted herself so that she was sitting Indian style and laid the books in her lap, looking down at them warily before finally flipping open the cover of the first one which was apparently a yearbook of sorts.
"I marked the pages that you might find to be of some use."
"Thank you." She began to flip the pages of the book until she found the first of the marked pages. There was a picture of four young people sitting in a comfortable looking room, all smiling and waving. One of them was a boy with dark, unruly hair, circular glasses, and bright green eyes. There was another boy in the picture as well with bright red hair and a large helping of freckles. Across from them there was a young girl who was obviously related to the boy with the red hair and freckles, she was grinning broadly, but looking over at the boy with the tousled black hair. And last there was a young girl with bushy brown hair, large front teeth, and a huge book sitting in her lap. Hermione looked down at the caption underneath the picture and worried her bottom lip'Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Virginia Weasley, and Hermione Granger enjoy a Saturday in the Gryffindor common room.' Hermione looked questioningly at Snape "That's me?"
He nodded silently, curious as to how she would react.
"I was so young. Were they my friends?" She pointed to the others in the picture.
"You mean you don't recognize them?" He was completely floored. How could she not remember them? They were her best friends, or they had been.
"No, Professor." She looked down at the book again, studying the picture intently. She didn't know what to say, or what to do. Should she be sad? Frustrated she flipped to the next book mark. Smiling up at her were several faces of middle aged to elderly looking people. She silently read off the names. Professor Binns, History of Magic...Argus Filch, Caretaker. Professor Flitwick, Charms-Head of Ravenclaw.Rubeus Hagrid, Care of Magical Creatures/ Keeper of Keys and Grounds. Professor Hooch, Flying. Professor Lupin, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor McGonagall, Transfiguration-Head of Gryffindor.Professor Sinistra, Atronomy.Professor Pince, Librarian, Madame Pomfrey, Nurse.Professor Snape, Potions.Professor Sprout, Herbology. Professor Trelawney, Divination.Professor Vector, Arithmancy. As she finished she looked up and Snape and shook her head.
He sighed in frustration. What, or who could trigger this girls memory?
Hermione sighed as well her eyes moving down the page until they were caught by a large photograph at the bottom. In the picture sat a very old wizard with a long gray beard, a knowing grin, and a twinkle in his eye. He was sitting at a desk, and in the corner there was a bowl of some sort of candy. He was alternately smiling warmly, and nodding, the caption below read 'Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster. There was twinge of something in the back of her mind. A warm, grandfatherly hand on her shoulder, a feeling of being home, of safety and comfort. She looked up at Snape, her eyes wide. She tapped her finger on the picture "I think I remember him."
Snape's eyes darted to the picture and almost smiled. How could anyone NOT remember Albus, but instead his frown deepened, Albus was no longer able to help himself, let alone other people.
"It says here that he's the headmaster, Professory McGonagall told me that she was the Headmistress when she visited." Hermione looked at Snape, perplexed.
"Ah. So you weren't comatose, then, Ms. Granger." His eyes narrowed, he didn't exactly feel like explaining to her why Dumbledore wasn't present to fix everything, as he always had been in the past.
"No. I was didn't think it was real. The fairies like to deceive people; I thought they were playing a trick on me." Hermione looked back down at the picture of Dumbledore. "Did he die? Is that why he's not here?" It would make perfect sense; he looked extremely elderly in the picture. She glanced back up at Snape and found him looking surprisingly apprehensive.
"No. Professor Dumbledore is not dead, not yet at least." He narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth; the subject of the former Headmaster was not his favorite to discuss.
Hermione looked back down at the picture, watching the man smile. She worried at her lip for a moment before speaking again. "Where is he then?"
Snape took in a deep breath, and then let it back out slowly, trying to stay calm. "St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries."
She blinked a few times and then, with her brow furrowed, she looked up at Snape. "Why? What happened to him?"
It was too much for Snape. "THAT is NONE of your BUSINESS. Do you understand that?!" He shot up from his seat, glaring down at Hermione who looked positively terrified. "NONE of your BUSINESS!" He was roaring at her, a wild fire burning in his usually cold eyes, his hands clenched into fists. He whirled around and began to march out of the doors.
"Professor Snape! No, please! I'm sorry! Come back!" Hermione had stood up and was beginning to follow after him. "I'll answer any question you want, just please come back!" Her voice was still so small, and it cracked with the force with which she was using it.
Snape halted at the double doors, his hand on the handle, torn between his curiosity and fury. If he stormed out now, he might never get to know what happened, unless he heard it second hand, that is, if she was willing to tell anyone else. He took a long, deep, cleansing breath, and then exhaled, and turned around, walking back towards Hermione.
She sighed and sat back down, sitting Indian style, the books on her lap, deciding it might be best to move on to the next book. She closed the yearbook and put it at the bottom of the stack and then read the cover of the next one "Numerology and Gramatica?" Hermione looked up at Snape, her eyebrow cocked.
"It's an Arithmancy text book. The Headmistress informed me that it was your favorite subject."
"Oh." Hermione blinked and then opened the book and began to scan through it. She had to admit, it was quite fascinating, but she didn't feel a single tug at her memory. She looked up at Snape and, frowning, shook her head. She looked back down and began to move the last book to the top, but Snape stopped her.
"Now Ms. Granger, let's not be hasty, don't forget, give and take." Snape smirked at her as she sighed and folded her hands on top of the books. He took a few moments to decide on which question he'd like to hear answered next, it had to be a good one. "How did you escape? And if you had no memory of Hogwarts, then why would you even try?"
She looked away from him for a moment, at the floor, then at her hands, and then finally met his gaze again. "Fairies, though beautiful..are.well... they can be cruel." Her voice cracked and she stopped for a moment to clear her throat. "But not all of them. I had a friend..they told me that I did not belong there, told me that I could return to where I belonged, and then helped me escape." She was unconsciously gritting her teeth, trying her best to hide her emotions.
Watching her, Snape could literally feel the anger, the frustration, and the pain coming off of her in waves. It was then that he realized that they were no longer bathed in the warm glow of the setting sun. He looked out the window and saw that the last bit of the day had nearly died away. Abruptly he stood, drawing himself up into his usual ominous stance. "It's late, Ms. Granger. You may keep the books. I will be returning tomorrow evening."
Hermione stood as well, looking alarmed, she didn't want him to go; it felt as though they had only just begun to talk. She opened her mouth to call out to him, but he had already rushed out of the infirmary in a flurry of bellowing black robes. Her shoulders dropped. She gracefully moved back to her hospital bed, setting the books down upon her end table, it was then that she remembered the final book. Carefully she pulled it from the bottom of the stack, and held it in the light. It was thinner than the other two, but almost as wide and tall, and across the front cover was the world "Journal".
Hurriedly she opened the book and took a seat on her bed. And on the inside cover printed in painfully neat handwriting 'Property of Hermione Granger'. But the pages were blank. She furrowed her brow for a moment, and then realized that there was probably a spell on it to keep other people from reading it. Perhaps it needed a password. "Hermione?" Nothing happened. "Granger?" Nothing. "Arithmancy." Still nothing. "Dumbledore?" Nothing at all. Hermione sighed. How would she be able to read it, if she couldn't remember enough about herself to even guess the damn pass word? "Ron?.....Harry?....Virginia?....Gryffindor?...." She gritted her teeth, glaring at the blank pages, and then inspiration hit her. She looked around to make sure that no one was looking. "Professor Snape?" Still nothing. "Snape?" Again, nothing. She took a deep, calming breath. "Severus?" For a moment she thought that nothing was going to happen, but then words began to appear as though they were surfacing from the pages.She grinned and sitting cross legged on the edge of her bed, began to read.
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Ok, not to sure about this chapter, I might just redo it and delete the current version *LOL* I was up at 8 in the morning after a loooooong night at work, and wrote it back to back with chapter 7, so I'm not really sure if it's coherent *LMAO* It's definitely more mellow, and Snape is more mellow, probably because I was listening to freakishly mellow music while I wrote it.anyways.
SweetyGirl420: Well, I dropped some hints on Dumbledor in this chapter, and what happened to her in the fairy realm with begin to surface with the add of a little legilamency, I hope at least *L* thanks for still reading! ^_^
HunnySnowBunny: *LOL* I try! :D..I'm really, really, really glad that you're still reading! *LOL* please, please, please tell me if the new chapter sucks *L* It's bothering me severly :P. Oh, and I really, really felt bad for Snape during the whole legilimency thing with Harry, who wouldn't want to smack the boy around a little for being so ignorant! Though, of course I still love Harry to death..*mumbles* just not as much as I do Snape. As for him seeing things he shouldn't be seeing.well, we'll just have to see.(wow, I think that was the most redundant think I've ever written *LOL*).Again, THANKYOU for still reading! That absolutely tickles me to death! ^_^ ^_^ ^_^
Blue Jeans Baby: thankyou very much for the review, and for reading! I like! ^_^
Defender of the Spiffy: *LOL* thanks so much! I wanted to make her different in the beginning.who wouldn't be.but perhaps the old Hermione, just grown up, will surface in future chapters? Thanks for the review! :D