One Young Heart
Chapter 9: A Muggle Future
Hermione had cleaned Snape up, coaxed his infernal cat to leave the bed, and gotten him into it, still in what remained of his robes. He had insisted that he had slept in far worse. She would have liked to argue the point, but her energy was completely drained by the process of healing him. A half-trained medi-witch was hardly a match for a man who wasn't entirely sure he wanted to be healed. Pausing, she looked around the room, at the paintings and tapestries that adorned the room. A full-length portrait of a tall, pale woman caught her eye. Like many wealthy, blooded witches, she wore open-fronted robes over a floor length dress. This dress was exquisite, maroon velvet with midnight blue trim on the bottom and sleeves of the dress. She was proud and haughty, seeming aloof from her surroundings.
Hermione privately envied the woman for her distance. She wished for that confidence, that sincere belief that she was superior to everything and everyone. "That was the power of the Dark Lord. He isn't such a great wizard, after all. He just saw a generation of young pure-bloods who were terrified that their time was past, that they were losing their right to reign over everything. And they were right. There are too many muggle- borns, too many half-bloods. Those who rule the world from now on will have earned it with intelligence, money, popularity, and determination. We'll be dividing into political parties any day now. A thoroughly muggle future." Snape laughed bitterly. At any other moment, Hermione would have been chilled by his apparent ability to read minds, but just then, her mind was on his words.
"Professor Snape?" She quietly asked the question no one had ever answered. "Why did Voldemort decide to attack Muggles?" In the silence that stretched between them, she feared that she had offended him, that he would order her out. But when she turned to look at him, his face was thoughtful.
"Why did the Dark Lord attack Muggles? Well, Some say he just saw the opportunity to gain an instant fan base, but I think he's just trying to prove that he's as good as the other Slytherins. Tom Riddle was just a touch too obedient for Slytherin House, and he was a half-blood, of course. They say the Sorting Hat sang a warning song for the Slytherins the year he joined the school. That muggle father of his was nothing but a disgrace to him. If the man had stayed with him, raised him, well it might be Lucius Malfoy that led the Death Eaters. But the Dark Lord, if you give him a cause, he can hold men together. Fear, coarse entertainment, promise of rewards, confidences, knowledge- he knows how to hold men's hearts. Besides, there was never a man who believed so sincerely that breeding was everything. I think that Tom Riddle left Hogwarts and started trying to run from his bloodline. Killing Muggles- that's his way of trying to prove that he isn't one, that he has left that part of him behind. And he's convinced the world, but he can't convince himself. He's just a flawed man, Miss Granger." A sudden note of irony entered his voice "rather like me, but he never fell for all that stuff about justice and redemption. Now return to your dormitory, Miss Granger. We will clean the laboratory tomorrow." Hermione left the room, and so she didn't see him swallow one of the bottles of potion that sat on the polished oak of the bedside table.
Chapter 9: A Muggle Future
Hermione had cleaned Snape up, coaxed his infernal cat to leave the bed, and gotten him into it, still in what remained of his robes. He had insisted that he had slept in far worse. She would have liked to argue the point, but her energy was completely drained by the process of healing him. A half-trained medi-witch was hardly a match for a man who wasn't entirely sure he wanted to be healed. Pausing, she looked around the room, at the paintings and tapestries that adorned the room. A full-length portrait of a tall, pale woman caught her eye. Like many wealthy, blooded witches, she wore open-fronted robes over a floor length dress. This dress was exquisite, maroon velvet with midnight blue trim on the bottom and sleeves of the dress. She was proud and haughty, seeming aloof from her surroundings.
Hermione privately envied the woman for her distance. She wished for that confidence, that sincere belief that she was superior to everything and everyone. "That was the power of the Dark Lord. He isn't such a great wizard, after all. He just saw a generation of young pure-bloods who were terrified that their time was past, that they were losing their right to reign over everything. And they were right. There are too many muggle- borns, too many half-bloods. Those who rule the world from now on will have earned it with intelligence, money, popularity, and determination. We'll be dividing into political parties any day now. A thoroughly muggle future." Snape laughed bitterly. At any other moment, Hermione would have been chilled by his apparent ability to read minds, but just then, her mind was on his words.
"Professor Snape?" She quietly asked the question no one had ever answered. "Why did Voldemort decide to attack Muggles?" In the silence that stretched between them, she feared that she had offended him, that he would order her out. But when she turned to look at him, his face was thoughtful.
"Why did the Dark Lord attack Muggles? Well, Some say he just saw the opportunity to gain an instant fan base, but I think he's just trying to prove that he's as good as the other Slytherins. Tom Riddle was just a touch too obedient for Slytherin House, and he was a half-blood, of course. They say the Sorting Hat sang a warning song for the Slytherins the year he joined the school. That muggle father of his was nothing but a disgrace to him. If the man had stayed with him, raised him, well it might be Lucius Malfoy that led the Death Eaters. But the Dark Lord, if you give him a cause, he can hold men together. Fear, coarse entertainment, promise of rewards, confidences, knowledge- he knows how to hold men's hearts. Besides, there was never a man who believed so sincerely that breeding was everything. I think that Tom Riddle left Hogwarts and started trying to run from his bloodline. Killing Muggles- that's his way of trying to prove that he isn't one, that he has left that part of him behind. And he's convinced the world, but he can't convince himself. He's just a flawed man, Miss Granger." A sudden note of irony entered his voice "rather like me, but he never fell for all that stuff about justice and redemption. Now return to your dormitory, Miss Granger. We will clean the laboratory tomorrow." Hermione left the room, and so she didn't see him swallow one of the bottles of potion that sat on the polished oak of the bedside table.