-THE CURSED POSITION
CHAPTER SEVEN - Moderatrix
Hermione reached inside her robe and showed Snape the book she took the liberty to retrieve from the restricted section. Snape opened his mouth to reprehend her for that but just gave up, things were already way out of line anyway, this seemed like a grain of sand.
"I don't remember ever seeing this book there before and I read practically everything in the restricted section!" Snape said scowling and taking the book out of her hand.
"Well, that's the funny thing. I was almost giving up, having found nothing on the subject," Hermione said taking a seat in front of Snape's desk, "I was very frustrated, really, but then this book fell out of nowhere, probably it was stacked over the top shelf, and it hit me on the head!"
Snape smirked amused as he imagined the scene, "Oh, finally knowledge hit you!"
Hermione felt compelled to kick him, "Anyway, I decided to bring you the book so you could see it for yourself. It mentions the existence of wizards and witches who possess an extremely high power of mind control. So basically, they can control a great number of people for as long as they desire.They have found only 3 cases over the last 300 years," She flipped the pages for him and stopped at one who contained the picture of a wizard with grey hair and a mustache,"and this is one of them!"
"A Moderatrix?" Snape said, "Never heard this term... I knew of this ability, but it was always considered a myth."
"It means, 'one who controls'," Hermione added.
"I can read Latin, Miss Granger!" Snape spat, "I meant that I never heard the term applied to this ability!"
Hermione just sank back in her seat and crossed her arms. The greasy git! She thought to herself and as if reading her thoughts Snape glared at her.
"You have to learn to think before speaking, Miss Granger!" he said as he flipped the pages of the book, "It is obvious you're not a fool and you know I have learned Latin. But your effort to prove yourself, just end up blinding your common sense!"
Hermione was a little taken aback by this, did he just try to apologize by admitting she was intelligent? If he did, it was a very strange way to do it. In order to administer a compliment or an apology, he had to criticize her. God forbid if Snape would let anyone see him make compliment! Why he needed to make sure he was so unpleasant, was beyond her!
"Did you read it, up until the end?", he asked without lifting his eyes from the book.
"No there was no time, that's also why I took the book..." she trailed off.
"These people are related, Miss Grander!" Snape had a triumphant look in his eyes.
"What? All of them?"
"Yes, not closely, but still in the same family. The names have changed by means of marriage, but they're all connected by blood, which means..."
"Which means, Professor Nox is related to them!" Hermione started to think fast... they could easily track the rest of the family and find out where she came from, "Professor, when is the last case dated?"
Snape looked back at the book and after a few minutes he said, "About a hundred years ago."
"Can we track the family, is there a way we could trace them up to Professor Nox?"
"Yes, I suppose I could pay a little visit to the Ministry, they have records of every wizard family in England," he said putting the book down.
"But that brings a little problem," Hermione said biting her lip.
Realizing what she was getting at, Snape started to pace, "They will want to know why I'm looking for that."
"They will immediately tell Dumbledore about it and as much as I hate to say this, we can't trust him at this time!" she said.
Snape nodded, "I will think of something, but in the meantime, avoid Nox as much as possible and stick to your classmates. I don't think she will attack you in public."
Realizing how late it was Hermione stood up abruptly, "I should be going back to Gryffindor tower."
"I'll accompany you," he said and immediately trying to hide his concern for her safety, he added, "It would ruin my investigation to have you found dead in some corridor!"
She was starting to get the hang of how Snape's mind worked and she suppressed a smile.
...............................................................
Hermione said the password and got inside the common room to find Ron and Harry waiting for her.
"Where were you?" Ron asked, acting like the big brother.
"I was studying in the library and lost track of time," she lied.
"We've been to the library, Hermione," said Harry.
"What is this? The French Inquisition? Are you going to burn me at the stake for being late?"
"The what? Burn..." Ron had a puzzled expression.
"Just tell us where you were, or are you hiding something?" asked Harry.
Hermione was trying to gain time to think but what would she say? Then the corners of her mouth turned slightly up. She sighed dramatically, "Ok, if you want to know... it's that time of the month and I went to see if Madam Pomfrey could make these awful menstr..."
"Blimey! look at the time... I have to... see you tomorrow Hermione!" Ron said heading to their dormitory.
Harry was as red as Ron's years and said goodnight, following Ron quickly.
She waited until they were completely gone and burst into laughter, "That one never gets old!"
............................................................
Back in his office, Snape was going over everything he had learned that day and in his mind, there was absolutely no other way to get into the Ministry, unless he broke in during the night. That would be rather difficult now that they had increased security. The incident with Potter and the death eaters the previous year made them rethink the spells used to protect the place.
And still there was so much to be explained! What was so important for Nox to find in his office? Suddenly it dawned on him. His eyes grew wide, 'Could it be?' he thought.
He stood up and went inside his private lab. He waived his wand at the door muttering some words and the door disappeared, turning into a wall. Then he headed to a corner, where he tapped the wand three times. A soft click was heard and there a small crack on the wall. It looked like a little safe, placed inside the wall. He pulled it open and got a long parchment with lots of small scribbling and calculations. It was so small and complicated that he was probably the only one who could understand it.
He slid his back down the wall, sitting on the floor next to the opening. It was a great sense of relief. She hadn't found it, but he was sure she would, pretty soon. What he couldn't understand was how she could have known!
He had been secretly working on that for quite sometime, but he hadn't told a soul, not even Dumbledore knew about it. He didn't want to reveal anything before he was completely sure that it would work.
The last thing he needed was that kind of pressure. To have people's hopes up with something so unsure...
But how had Nox found out about this? It was impossible and yet he was sure that this was what she wanted. He had been so careful! The only way to find out why or how probably lie on her family and he was going to find them.
He rolled the parchment and stuck it back into the wall, replacing the locking charm. He would have to think of another place to hide it and maybe he would need Granger's help. "Oh, how are the mighty fallen!"
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Thanks for the nice reviews !
CHAPTER SEVEN - Moderatrix
Hermione reached inside her robe and showed Snape the book she took the liberty to retrieve from the restricted section. Snape opened his mouth to reprehend her for that but just gave up, things were already way out of line anyway, this seemed like a grain of sand.
"I don't remember ever seeing this book there before and I read practically everything in the restricted section!" Snape said scowling and taking the book out of her hand.
"Well, that's the funny thing. I was almost giving up, having found nothing on the subject," Hermione said taking a seat in front of Snape's desk, "I was very frustrated, really, but then this book fell out of nowhere, probably it was stacked over the top shelf, and it hit me on the head!"
Snape smirked amused as he imagined the scene, "Oh, finally knowledge hit you!"
Hermione felt compelled to kick him, "Anyway, I decided to bring you the book so you could see it for yourself. It mentions the existence of wizards and witches who possess an extremely high power of mind control. So basically, they can control a great number of people for as long as they desire.They have found only 3 cases over the last 300 years," She flipped the pages for him and stopped at one who contained the picture of a wizard with grey hair and a mustache,"and this is one of them!"
"A Moderatrix?" Snape said, "Never heard this term... I knew of this ability, but it was always considered a myth."
"It means, 'one who controls'," Hermione added.
"I can read Latin, Miss Granger!" Snape spat, "I meant that I never heard the term applied to this ability!"
Hermione just sank back in her seat and crossed her arms. The greasy git! She thought to herself and as if reading her thoughts Snape glared at her.
"You have to learn to think before speaking, Miss Granger!" he said as he flipped the pages of the book, "It is obvious you're not a fool and you know I have learned Latin. But your effort to prove yourself, just end up blinding your common sense!"
Hermione was a little taken aback by this, did he just try to apologize by admitting she was intelligent? If he did, it was a very strange way to do it. In order to administer a compliment or an apology, he had to criticize her. God forbid if Snape would let anyone see him make compliment! Why he needed to make sure he was so unpleasant, was beyond her!
"Did you read it, up until the end?", he asked without lifting his eyes from the book.
"No there was no time, that's also why I took the book..." she trailed off.
"These people are related, Miss Grander!" Snape had a triumphant look in his eyes.
"What? All of them?"
"Yes, not closely, but still in the same family. The names have changed by means of marriage, but they're all connected by blood, which means..."
"Which means, Professor Nox is related to them!" Hermione started to think fast... they could easily track the rest of the family and find out where she came from, "Professor, when is the last case dated?"
Snape looked back at the book and after a few minutes he said, "About a hundred years ago."
"Can we track the family, is there a way we could trace them up to Professor Nox?"
"Yes, I suppose I could pay a little visit to the Ministry, they have records of every wizard family in England," he said putting the book down.
"But that brings a little problem," Hermione said biting her lip.
Realizing what she was getting at, Snape started to pace, "They will want to know why I'm looking for that."
"They will immediately tell Dumbledore about it and as much as I hate to say this, we can't trust him at this time!" she said.
Snape nodded, "I will think of something, but in the meantime, avoid Nox as much as possible and stick to your classmates. I don't think she will attack you in public."
Realizing how late it was Hermione stood up abruptly, "I should be going back to Gryffindor tower."
"I'll accompany you," he said and immediately trying to hide his concern for her safety, he added, "It would ruin my investigation to have you found dead in some corridor!"
She was starting to get the hang of how Snape's mind worked and she suppressed a smile.
...............................................................
Hermione said the password and got inside the common room to find Ron and Harry waiting for her.
"Where were you?" Ron asked, acting like the big brother.
"I was studying in the library and lost track of time," she lied.
"We've been to the library, Hermione," said Harry.
"What is this? The French Inquisition? Are you going to burn me at the stake for being late?"
"The what? Burn..." Ron had a puzzled expression.
"Just tell us where you were, or are you hiding something?" asked Harry.
Hermione was trying to gain time to think but what would she say? Then the corners of her mouth turned slightly up. She sighed dramatically, "Ok, if you want to know... it's that time of the month and I went to see if Madam Pomfrey could make these awful menstr..."
"Blimey! look at the time... I have to... see you tomorrow Hermione!" Ron said heading to their dormitory.
Harry was as red as Ron's years and said goodnight, following Ron quickly.
She waited until they were completely gone and burst into laughter, "That one never gets old!"
............................................................
Back in his office, Snape was going over everything he had learned that day and in his mind, there was absolutely no other way to get into the Ministry, unless he broke in during the night. That would be rather difficult now that they had increased security. The incident with Potter and the death eaters the previous year made them rethink the spells used to protect the place.
And still there was so much to be explained! What was so important for Nox to find in his office? Suddenly it dawned on him. His eyes grew wide, 'Could it be?' he thought.
He stood up and went inside his private lab. He waived his wand at the door muttering some words and the door disappeared, turning into a wall. Then he headed to a corner, where he tapped the wand three times. A soft click was heard and there a small crack on the wall. It looked like a little safe, placed inside the wall. He pulled it open and got a long parchment with lots of small scribbling and calculations. It was so small and complicated that he was probably the only one who could understand it.
He slid his back down the wall, sitting on the floor next to the opening. It was a great sense of relief. She hadn't found it, but he was sure she would, pretty soon. What he couldn't understand was how she could have known!
He had been secretly working on that for quite sometime, but he hadn't told a soul, not even Dumbledore knew about it. He didn't want to reveal anything before he was completely sure that it would work.
The last thing he needed was that kind of pressure. To have people's hopes up with something so unsure...
But how had Nox found out about this? It was impossible and yet he was sure that this was what she wanted. He had been so careful! The only way to find out why or how probably lie on her family and he was going to find them.
He rolled the parchment and stuck it back into the wall, replacing the locking charm. He would have to think of another place to hide it and maybe he would need Granger's help. "Oh, how are the mighty fallen!"
**************************************************************************** **********
Thanks for the nice reviews !