Chapter 4: The Protectors
Hermione woke up at around nine o'clock to discover that Severus was gone. She got up slowly and stretched, silently thanking him for the night of peaceful sleep, and she washed her face to help her awaken. Finally she got dressed and went out into the hallway; no one was there.
She knocked on Adrian's door a minute later, "Time to get up Adrian!" she said, opening the door quickly. It slammed into something and a minute later a loud groan followed. She almost jumped out of her skin, and flipped the door back to see that Severus Snape was sitting in the corner of the room, and now his nose was bleeding freely.
Adrian laughed, then stifled it, realizing that his newest relation now had a bloody nose. "What on earth are you doing back there?!" cried Hermione, helping Severus up. He leaned his head back to stem the tide of the blood, and his words were nasal and barely understandable, "I ca' im heeah las' nigh' oo heck on Adria'. Ee 'ad a nigh'mayah." "Oh, I wish I'd known! I would have come in here!" Adrian grinned, "It's alright Hermione, I was okay. I just dreamed something really bad is all."
"I heed ice," interjected Severus, voice still muffled. "Yes of course! Ice!" muttered Hermione, running out of the room.
She returned a few minutes later to discover that Adrian had retrieved some tissues for Severus, and they were covered with blood. "Here," she said, clutching several cubes of ice in a washcloth. He put it on his nose, "Hank you." "Oh I'm so sorry," she said emphatically, "I didn't know you were back there." "I ho," he grumbled, walking down the hall and seating himself in the library, head still all the way back.
"Is there anything I can do sir?" she asked, feeling terrible. "Ho, hank you," he replied, "unhess you ca' hake huh 'leeding shop." "Make the bleeding stop?" she clarified. "Yesh," he replied, "hake huh 'leeding shop." She thought for a moment, then pulled his hands away from his bleeding nose, "Helio!"
Golden light showered from Hermione's wandtip, and after a few minutes Severus was capable of speaking clearly, and he pulled away the ice pack, "Thanks," he muttered. "I really am sorry sir," she said guiltily, "I wish you'd woken me up. I would have taken care of Adrian." "It's all right," he replied, "you were asleep and I didn't want you to wake up. Besides, I found out something interesting about his nightmare." She sat down beside him as he magicked the ice pack away, "What's that?" "Last night he was complaining about a nightmare that he said he found quite scary. He described a circular room with lots of torches, and when he went through one of the doors he came upon a room with a dais of some sort. It had a doorway with a veil on it."
Hermione swallowed, "That sounds like-" "I know," said Severus, "and it gets more interesting. He described to me in almost exact detail how the Dark Lord looks. Everything down to the red eyes and white skin. It was as if he'd actually seen him." "But he couldn't have seen him!" said Hermione fearfully, "I mean, I've never let him look in the books about him! And I've most certainly never told him!" "I know this Hermione," he said stoically, "which is why I already have a theory regarding...regarding your brother."
Hermione said nothing, fearing the worst, as he continued, "It's quite possible that...that the Dark Lord is still alive, and if he is, then he could be communicating to other people via Legilimency." "Legilimency..." muttered Hermione, "...didn't Harry..." "Yes, Potter learned how to block Legilimency by learning Occlumency. The Dark Lord was invading his thoughts at night, when he was most susceptible to his presence. But I don't understand why it would be that the Dark Lord would take an interest in your brother unless..." he trailed off.
Hermione waited with bated breath, "Unless...what?" "Unless...I'm not sure," he finished, "I suppose it could be any number of things. It could be that you're his sister. It could be that I'm here. It could be how close he is with Potter and Weasley. It could be anything."
Hermione swallowed, "I see. Then...then you think he's still alive?" "I do," replied Severus softly, dreading it himself, "but I'm not entirely certain. Not just yet. I have to investigate this a little further. I might even make a stop at Lucius Malfoy's mansion..." "No! Not Malfoy! Don't see him about it!" she cried, "Don't go to him!" Severus was silent for a minute, "You really hate him don't you?" "With every fiber of my being," she muttered, "he's an insolent bastard. I'd rather die than have his help." "Would you also rather Adrian die as well?" Her head snapped up to look at him, "No." "Then we have little choice," replied Severus, "I'll go on my own. There's no need for you to go. You stay here and keep close watch over your brother."
He got up slowly, still aching slightly from sitting in that corner all night, "I'll pay him a visit this afternoon. Until then I think I might lie down for a while on something softer than a carpet." She smiled sardonically, "Do you want me to wake you?" "No, I'll be fine," he said, "just leave me undisturbed for the next few hours. I'll be up in time for lunch." Hermione shrugged and watched as he left, silently thanking him a thousand times for everything he had done for her and Adrian so far.
The day passed slowly, and some part of Hermione was dreading Severus's visit to Malfoy's estate, but nothing she said could stop him from going. Adrian was completely unaware of the danger, and he went to study in the library while Hermione tried to beg Severus not to go. "I don't trust him," she said firmly, "and even though...I mean I've given it some thought and...you shouldn't go. Not because of us. You've done enough for us already. If anyone should go then it should be me." "Hermione, I have no doubt that if you were to go you would probably never come back. Lucius Malfoy has no remorse for those whom he resents," replied Severus as he put on his cloak.
He strode to the door and opened it, intent on leaving when she grabbed his arm, "Sir, please, don't go." He jerked his arm away stiffly, "You can hardly stop me, Miss Granger. So don't bother trying." He left, and Hermione gritted her teeth in anger; if the stupid old man wanted to be stubborn then fine, let him be stubborn.
She slammed the door shut and turned to go to the library, intent on thinking about him no more, but periodically, as she helped Adrian study, her mind drifted back to him, wondering if Malfoy had done something horrendous to him. "Hermione? Hermione? What's wrong?" asked Adrian, shaking her shoulder. "Hmm? Oh, nothing, just thinking," she replied, looking down at the open book before her. "Now, Levitation Spells," she said, setting her jaw firmly, "let's get back to it."
It was almost one o'clock in the morning. Hermione had waited up the entire time, pacing back and forth in the library, and occasionally ducking her head out into the foyer to check if perhaps he had shown up without her knowing it. Still no sign of him.
She was just about to go to bed when she heard a hacking noise from the bedroom, and she ran in to discover Severus coughing and slumped over a chair; he had come via Floo Network, and he looked badly beaten. "What happened?!" she cried, helping him to the bed and sitting him down. "Oh, nothing," he muttered sarcastically, baring his teeth with pain, "just Malfoy having a little fun. The usual." Hermione swallowed as she pulled back his cloak to expose two terrible slashes in his shirt, where two wounds, red and gaping, were bleeding freely. "Today's just not your day is it?" she said quizzically as she magicked some bandages out of thin air. "I don't think so, no," he grimaced as she gingerly removed his shirt and began to bandage up the wounds.
"I told you not to go," she muttered, "this is what I was afraid of." "Yes, well, the fact of the matter is that OUCH! WATCH IT!" "Well don't move so much!" she snapped, tightening the bandages, "As you were saying?" "Yes, the fact of the matter is that I learned quite a bit from Malfoy. More so than what we would have learned had we just stayed in the house and twiddled our thumbs." "That being what?" she asked, draping his torn shirt carelessly over a nearby chair.
He shifted uncomfortably and lay down on the bed, breathing slightly shallower than usual, "Malfoy had a reason for putting Adrian in an orphanage." Hermione froze, "My brother is involved?" "Unfortunately yes," he replied, wincing, "Malfoy knows where the Dark Lord is. I think he's helping him back to life. Should have guessed as much; I was always rather certain that the Dark Lord couldn't die..." "What about my brother?" interrupted Hermione. He glanced at her and winced, and Hermione now noticed that he had a cut above his eye that was just beginning to bleed.
She magicked a bowl of murtlap from the air and tore off a piece of spare bandage and dabbed at his eye; he let out a sigh of relief. "Your brother," he began, "is deeper in this than I realized. Malfoy told the Dark Lord about him; told him that you were a relation to him, and the Dark Lord knows that you are a powerful witch. He wants your brother." Hermione's stomach dropped, "What?" Severus sat up slowly, but held her gaze steadily, "He knows your brother is going to become a powerful wizard. He's trying to communicate to him. Trying to get him on their side."
Hermione felt her hands shake slightly, "Really." He nodded painfully, "So it sounds to me like he'll need Occlumency lessons the same as Potter needed them. He can't keep going to sleep unprotected like that. And he'll have to pass the Placement Exam; he can't be here by himself. If he doesn't pass that exam then he'll be alone more than either of us would like. He has to be at Hogwarts or he won't have a chance of safety."
Hermione felt the urge to leap out of her chair and run down the hall, to knock on Adrian's door and demand that he study for the exam, but found that she could only sit there, staring at Severus blankly, as if he weren't even there. "Look," said Severus, sitting up and leaning against the headboard of the bed, "he can't get to Adrian if he's well protected. I'll start him on Occlumency lessons first thing tomorrow. And then you can help him study. I'll speak to Minerva about early enrollment and-" "Yes, that'll be fine," said Hermione, feeling bland and blank.
Severus could see there would be no getting through to her tonight, "I'm going to bed. I'm hurt and exhausted. I suggest you do the same." He slumped down and his breath hitched with slight pain, then returned to normal. Hermione slowly moved to her own side of the bed and laid down, feeling shocked and terrified for Adrian. The boy could never know what peril he was in...ever. It would be too risky. Instead they would have to watch his every move.
The lights went out, and Hermione heard Severus shift in the bed uncomfortably. Hermione lay in silence for a while, waiting to hear his characteristic snores, but when they did not come she knew he was just as deep in thought as she was. "I think," she said after a while, "that I know what that mirror was that Adrian saw in his dreams." "What was it?" murmured Severus. "The Mirror of Erised," she replied quietly, "Harry told me about it in our first year. And I've seen it once before."
"I have also seen it," replied Severus, "and it makes perfect sense that Adrian would have seen it. It would be in the Department of Mysteries by now. He would have seen it there. And considering the reflection..." "It was my parents," she muttered, "he saw my parents. That has to be it. He barely remembers either of them as it is, and for him to see them in the mirror..." "How old was Adrian when he...when your..." "When our parents died? He was about seven. He doesn't remember much of them, unfortunately. There are days when I wonder how sorry he is that they're gone. He couldn't be that worried about them considering he couldn't have remembered much of them to begin with. He didn't know them like I did."
She was silent for a moment, "I don't know. I hope he never forgets them. But there are days when...when he just seems so happy. Like he can't remember life with anyone else besides me. Like it's always been just me. But it hasn't. There were two other people there with us. But he doesn't remember them." A tear streaked out of her eye and dropped silently onto her pillow, and she was glad he couldn't see her.
She thought silently for a moment about what she herself had seen in the mirror; her own desires. Her own secret wish for her parents; the reflection of the thing she had dreaded losing the most. Her family. No wonder Adrian had seen them too. "It's strange," she whispered, "because I saw them too. And I felt as if I could never look away from the Mirror. Like I could stay there forever and just stare and stare away. Rot away in front of the Mirror. Just die." "Men have gone mad in front of that Mirror," said Severus, "the Headmaster told me once. About men that couldn't figure out if it was the future, the past, or somewhere in between. And they just waste away before the Mirror, trying to find a way into it."
"When did you see it?" she asked quietly. "Many years ago," he replied, "when it was stored in the school. I happened upon it one evening. I couldn't stop staring at it. It was a terrifying feeling; like I'd never stop yet didn't want to stop." "What did you see?" she whispered. He was silent for a minute, "Goodnight, Miss Granger."
He rolled over and spoke no more, and Hermione felt slightly guilty for asking; after all, it was a rather personal question.
Hermione woke up at around nine o'clock to discover that Severus was gone. She got up slowly and stretched, silently thanking him for the night of peaceful sleep, and she washed her face to help her awaken. Finally she got dressed and went out into the hallway; no one was there.
She knocked on Adrian's door a minute later, "Time to get up Adrian!" she said, opening the door quickly. It slammed into something and a minute later a loud groan followed. She almost jumped out of her skin, and flipped the door back to see that Severus Snape was sitting in the corner of the room, and now his nose was bleeding freely.
Adrian laughed, then stifled it, realizing that his newest relation now had a bloody nose. "What on earth are you doing back there?!" cried Hermione, helping Severus up. He leaned his head back to stem the tide of the blood, and his words were nasal and barely understandable, "I ca' im heeah las' nigh' oo heck on Adria'. Ee 'ad a nigh'mayah." "Oh, I wish I'd known! I would have come in here!" Adrian grinned, "It's alright Hermione, I was okay. I just dreamed something really bad is all."
"I heed ice," interjected Severus, voice still muffled. "Yes of course! Ice!" muttered Hermione, running out of the room.
She returned a few minutes later to discover that Adrian had retrieved some tissues for Severus, and they were covered with blood. "Here," she said, clutching several cubes of ice in a washcloth. He put it on his nose, "Hank you." "Oh I'm so sorry," she said emphatically, "I didn't know you were back there." "I ho," he grumbled, walking down the hall and seating himself in the library, head still all the way back.
"Is there anything I can do sir?" she asked, feeling terrible. "Ho, hank you," he replied, "unhess you ca' hake huh 'leeding shop." "Make the bleeding stop?" she clarified. "Yesh," he replied, "hake huh 'leeding shop." She thought for a moment, then pulled his hands away from his bleeding nose, "Helio!"
Golden light showered from Hermione's wandtip, and after a few minutes Severus was capable of speaking clearly, and he pulled away the ice pack, "Thanks," he muttered. "I really am sorry sir," she said guiltily, "I wish you'd woken me up. I would have taken care of Adrian." "It's all right," he replied, "you were asleep and I didn't want you to wake up. Besides, I found out something interesting about his nightmare." She sat down beside him as he magicked the ice pack away, "What's that?" "Last night he was complaining about a nightmare that he said he found quite scary. He described a circular room with lots of torches, and when he went through one of the doors he came upon a room with a dais of some sort. It had a doorway with a veil on it."
Hermione swallowed, "That sounds like-" "I know," said Severus, "and it gets more interesting. He described to me in almost exact detail how the Dark Lord looks. Everything down to the red eyes and white skin. It was as if he'd actually seen him." "But he couldn't have seen him!" said Hermione fearfully, "I mean, I've never let him look in the books about him! And I've most certainly never told him!" "I know this Hermione," he said stoically, "which is why I already have a theory regarding...regarding your brother."
Hermione said nothing, fearing the worst, as he continued, "It's quite possible that...that the Dark Lord is still alive, and if he is, then he could be communicating to other people via Legilimency." "Legilimency..." muttered Hermione, "...didn't Harry..." "Yes, Potter learned how to block Legilimency by learning Occlumency. The Dark Lord was invading his thoughts at night, when he was most susceptible to his presence. But I don't understand why it would be that the Dark Lord would take an interest in your brother unless..." he trailed off.
Hermione waited with bated breath, "Unless...what?" "Unless...I'm not sure," he finished, "I suppose it could be any number of things. It could be that you're his sister. It could be that I'm here. It could be how close he is with Potter and Weasley. It could be anything."
Hermione swallowed, "I see. Then...then you think he's still alive?" "I do," replied Severus softly, dreading it himself, "but I'm not entirely certain. Not just yet. I have to investigate this a little further. I might even make a stop at Lucius Malfoy's mansion..." "No! Not Malfoy! Don't see him about it!" she cried, "Don't go to him!" Severus was silent for a minute, "You really hate him don't you?" "With every fiber of my being," she muttered, "he's an insolent bastard. I'd rather die than have his help." "Would you also rather Adrian die as well?" Her head snapped up to look at him, "No." "Then we have little choice," replied Severus, "I'll go on my own. There's no need for you to go. You stay here and keep close watch over your brother."
He got up slowly, still aching slightly from sitting in that corner all night, "I'll pay him a visit this afternoon. Until then I think I might lie down for a while on something softer than a carpet." She smiled sardonically, "Do you want me to wake you?" "No, I'll be fine," he said, "just leave me undisturbed for the next few hours. I'll be up in time for lunch." Hermione shrugged and watched as he left, silently thanking him a thousand times for everything he had done for her and Adrian so far.
The day passed slowly, and some part of Hermione was dreading Severus's visit to Malfoy's estate, but nothing she said could stop him from going. Adrian was completely unaware of the danger, and he went to study in the library while Hermione tried to beg Severus not to go. "I don't trust him," she said firmly, "and even though...I mean I've given it some thought and...you shouldn't go. Not because of us. You've done enough for us already. If anyone should go then it should be me." "Hermione, I have no doubt that if you were to go you would probably never come back. Lucius Malfoy has no remorse for those whom he resents," replied Severus as he put on his cloak.
He strode to the door and opened it, intent on leaving when she grabbed his arm, "Sir, please, don't go." He jerked his arm away stiffly, "You can hardly stop me, Miss Granger. So don't bother trying." He left, and Hermione gritted her teeth in anger; if the stupid old man wanted to be stubborn then fine, let him be stubborn.
She slammed the door shut and turned to go to the library, intent on thinking about him no more, but periodically, as she helped Adrian study, her mind drifted back to him, wondering if Malfoy had done something horrendous to him. "Hermione? Hermione? What's wrong?" asked Adrian, shaking her shoulder. "Hmm? Oh, nothing, just thinking," she replied, looking down at the open book before her. "Now, Levitation Spells," she said, setting her jaw firmly, "let's get back to it."
It was almost one o'clock in the morning. Hermione had waited up the entire time, pacing back and forth in the library, and occasionally ducking her head out into the foyer to check if perhaps he had shown up without her knowing it. Still no sign of him.
She was just about to go to bed when she heard a hacking noise from the bedroom, and she ran in to discover Severus coughing and slumped over a chair; he had come via Floo Network, and he looked badly beaten. "What happened?!" she cried, helping him to the bed and sitting him down. "Oh, nothing," he muttered sarcastically, baring his teeth with pain, "just Malfoy having a little fun. The usual." Hermione swallowed as she pulled back his cloak to expose two terrible slashes in his shirt, where two wounds, red and gaping, were bleeding freely. "Today's just not your day is it?" she said quizzically as she magicked some bandages out of thin air. "I don't think so, no," he grimaced as she gingerly removed his shirt and began to bandage up the wounds.
"I told you not to go," she muttered, "this is what I was afraid of." "Yes, well, the fact of the matter is that OUCH! WATCH IT!" "Well don't move so much!" she snapped, tightening the bandages, "As you were saying?" "Yes, the fact of the matter is that I learned quite a bit from Malfoy. More so than what we would have learned had we just stayed in the house and twiddled our thumbs." "That being what?" she asked, draping his torn shirt carelessly over a nearby chair.
He shifted uncomfortably and lay down on the bed, breathing slightly shallower than usual, "Malfoy had a reason for putting Adrian in an orphanage." Hermione froze, "My brother is involved?" "Unfortunately yes," he replied, wincing, "Malfoy knows where the Dark Lord is. I think he's helping him back to life. Should have guessed as much; I was always rather certain that the Dark Lord couldn't die..." "What about my brother?" interrupted Hermione. He glanced at her and winced, and Hermione now noticed that he had a cut above his eye that was just beginning to bleed.
She magicked a bowl of murtlap from the air and tore off a piece of spare bandage and dabbed at his eye; he let out a sigh of relief. "Your brother," he began, "is deeper in this than I realized. Malfoy told the Dark Lord about him; told him that you were a relation to him, and the Dark Lord knows that you are a powerful witch. He wants your brother." Hermione's stomach dropped, "What?" Severus sat up slowly, but held her gaze steadily, "He knows your brother is going to become a powerful wizard. He's trying to communicate to him. Trying to get him on their side."
Hermione felt her hands shake slightly, "Really." He nodded painfully, "So it sounds to me like he'll need Occlumency lessons the same as Potter needed them. He can't keep going to sleep unprotected like that. And he'll have to pass the Placement Exam; he can't be here by himself. If he doesn't pass that exam then he'll be alone more than either of us would like. He has to be at Hogwarts or he won't have a chance of safety."
Hermione felt the urge to leap out of her chair and run down the hall, to knock on Adrian's door and demand that he study for the exam, but found that she could only sit there, staring at Severus blankly, as if he weren't even there. "Look," said Severus, sitting up and leaning against the headboard of the bed, "he can't get to Adrian if he's well protected. I'll start him on Occlumency lessons first thing tomorrow. And then you can help him study. I'll speak to Minerva about early enrollment and-" "Yes, that'll be fine," said Hermione, feeling bland and blank.
Severus could see there would be no getting through to her tonight, "I'm going to bed. I'm hurt and exhausted. I suggest you do the same." He slumped down and his breath hitched with slight pain, then returned to normal. Hermione slowly moved to her own side of the bed and laid down, feeling shocked and terrified for Adrian. The boy could never know what peril he was in...ever. It would be too risky. Instead they would have to watch his every move.
The lights went out, and Hermione heard Severus shift in the bed uncomfortably. Hermione lay in silence for a while, waiting to hear his characteristic snores, but when they did not come she knew he was just as deep in thought as she was. "I think," she said after a while, "that I know what that mirror was that Adrian saw in his dreams." "What was it?" murmured Severus. "The Mirror of Erised," she replied quietly, "Harry told me about it in our first year. And I've seen it once before."
"I have also seen it," replied Severus, "and it makes perfect sense that Adrian would have seen it. It would be in the Department of Mysteries by now. He would have seen it there. And considering the reflection..." "It was my parents," she muttered, "he saw my parents. That has to be it. He barely remembers either of them as it is, and for him to see them in the mirror..." "How old was Adrian when he...when your..." "When our parents died? He was about seven. He doesn't remember much of them, unfortunately. There are days when I wonder how sorry he is that they're gone. He couldn't be that worried about them considering he couldn't have remembered much of them to begin with. He didn't know them like I did."
She was silent for a moment, "I don't know. I hope he never forgets them. But there are days when...when he just seems so happy. Like he can't remember life with anyone else besides me. Like it's always been just me. But it hasn't. There were two other people there with us. But he doesn't remember them." A tear streaked out of her eye and dropped silently onto her pillow, and she was glad he couldn't see her.
She thought silently for a moment about what she herself had seen in the mirror; her own desires. Her own secret wish for her parents; the reflection of the thing she had dreaded losing the most. Her family. No wonder Adrian had seen them too. "It's strange," she whispered, "because I saw them too. And I felt as if I could never look away from the Mirror. Like I could stay there forever and just stare and stare away. Rot away in front of the Mirror. Just die." "Men have gone mad in front of that Mirror," said Severus, "the Headmaster told me once. About men that couldn't figure out if it was the future, the past, or somewhere in between. And they just waste away before the Mirror, trying to find a way into it."
"When did you see it?" she asked quietly. "Many years ago," he replied, "when it was stored in the school. I happened upon it one evening. I couldn't stop staring at it. It was a terrifying feeling; like I'd never stop yet didn't want to stop." "What did you see?" she whispered. He was silent for a minute, "Goodnight, Miss Granger."
He rolled over and spoke no more, and Hermione felt slightly guilty for asking; after all, it was a rather personal question.