Castaways on a Sullen Sea
By weasleywheezes
Chapter 5 – Fearful Symmetry
Severus prepared a class of beginning potions by banishing three students to Dumbledore's office in the first three minutes of class. "I will not tolerate idleness in my classroom!" he roared. Students were running in fear from him, even Slytherins. He deducted fifty points from a Hufflepuff because she sneezed in his classroom. Grumblings in the school were that Snape had finally lost his mind.
The empty chairs near the back of the room called to Severus. While the rest of the classroom was filled with students, all putting salamander scales in their cauldrons, his mind was filled with the aching, trembling cry of Hermione Granger. It was maddening.
A Ravenclaw's potion exploded, causing her hair, and the students around her, to alight. Snape distractedly put the fire out and sent the entire class to Madam Pomprey.
Students had been whispering for weeks now…Professor Snape is the one who found her! What was he doing there? It was the common topic of conversation in the Great Hall. In fact, he had caught students trying to break into his office, looking for his pensieve to learn the truth. He took great care to empty the vessel during classes, but found it useful when he went to sleep at night. His dreams were becoming increasingly disturbing.
After lessons, Severus retreated to his lodgings, located at the far end of the Slytherin common. A large, comfortable chair sat in the corner of the room nearest the fireplace. A few threadbare tapestries graced the walls, but mostly the room was filled with rows of dusty books. He picked up one of them from a shelf. He cracked the spine of the thin volume and read the first poem he came to:
Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright
In the forests of the night.
It was one of his hidden pleasures, Muggle literature. Even while he was a Death Eater, swearing the destruction of Muggles and Mudbloods, he still thought about certain stories and poetry he had read. The experience reminded him of a story called Fahrenheit 451, in which the main character was supposed to demolish books but ended up saving them. He felt like that sometimes, having previously sworn to kill Muggles and now trying to preserve them…perhaps even love one.
Love was something Severus knew nothing about. His parents certainly weren't in love with each other. Raphael Snape and Etienne Aeschlimann married for power and money, and ended up with neither. Raphael, gambler and womaniser, abandoned the family when Severus was fourteen years old, having first drained any inheritance the Snapes once had. Etienne, who didn't want to mother anything, let alone a child, flitted from man to man until she died, when Severus was seventeen.
Life at Hogwarts wasn't much better. Cursed with the Snape hooked nose and the Aeschlimann complexion, Severus was rejected by girls and mocked by boys. Coupled with his intense shyness, profound intelligence, deficiency of social graces and lack of Quidditch skills, he became an outcast. After being essentially orphaned, he began spending more time with Lucius Malfoy, the lone person at Hogwarts who seemed to be sociable toward him. Severus knew that Malfoy was only after the prestige of being friends with the heir of the Snapes, but he didn't care. It was human interaction. Finally, he felt as if he was part of a family, not that the Malfoy lineage was a nice family to be a part of. Severus was drawn more and more into the realm of Lucius' domain, and finally, into the malevolent arms of Voldemort.
…And what art? Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
Family, Severus, we are your family…we can show you love.
What dread hands? And what dread feet?
Family…You will be as my son…"No!" Severus cried, waking from his slumber. Cold sweat dripped from his neck; the Dark Mark throbbing. Finding the tome gripped in his hands, he shook his head and rummaged around for a stiff drink; anything to get Voldemort, his personal Tyger, out of his mind.
~~
Hermione,
When are you coming back to Hogwarts? We all miss you. Harry and I know that you will graduate with us, you already have more credits than we do combined. Do you want to meet us at the Burrow for Christmas? Owl me as soon as you can.
Love,
Ron
Hermione re-read the letter from Ron. They missed her. They wanted to spend the holidays with her. She nibbled on her Brie and spinach sandwich and finished the last of her malted Ovaltine. Mrs. Granger sat across the patio, working on an Impressionist painting of the neighbour's rose garden.
"Mother? I want to go back."
"So soon? I was starting to get used to having you here. It's so quiet now."
Hermione bowed her head. Since her father died in a freak accident last fall, she felt guilty returning to Hogwarts, surrounded by people and things she loved, when her mother had no one. Her mother had been a gregarious woman. It was Hermione's father who enjoyed solitude. After her father's death, Hermione noticed a drastic change in her mother. No longer the outgoing social butterfly she had been, her mother became more and more withdrawn, and rarely paid attention to Hermione, who was so much like her father.
Pigwidegon fluttered to a low branch in the rowan tree outside of Hermione's window. She knew that Pig wouldn't leave until she gave the owl a response to Ron's note. She gave her mother a kiss and ran upstairs to her room, where she promptly threw open the curtains to allow the light into her room. She cheerfully gathered up parchment, quill and ink and scribbled a letter to her friend.
While she was strapping the note to Pig, she spotted a peregrine falcon soaring through the air. The large bird landed near her window, and held out its leg to her. Hermione could have sworn that the falcon curtseyed to her, and then it turned and flew away. She opened the parchment and saw exquisite, meticulous handwriting.
Miss Granger,
When you return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, I would like to ensure your graduation. I will give you an extended course in Potions. This, of course, means we will no longer pursue Occlumency. I earnestly hope you are well.
Sincerely,
Professor Severus Snape
Hermione whistled low. "Professor Snape." She leisurely began to pack her trunk, silently thanking her stars that Occlumency was over.