The Perfectionist
By Mykerinos
Chapter Eight: Dreams are deceptive...
Right?
Potion lessons had gone like always.
Until now.
Hermione felt a tad nervous, and
while Snape was explaining the use of the Invisibility Draught she had
difficulties focusing on what he was saying.
Instead, her thoughts drifted off
to last night's dream. Well, of course it had been just a dream, but suddenly
the idea of him pushing her off of her broom didn't seem ridiculous anymore.
She knew he hadn't really
pushed her off of her broom, but he had caused her to fall, hadn't he?
He had actually stared her off of her broom, wasn't that just as bad? The
result had been the same, obviously.
"Miss Granger, do you mind paying
attention? Or has your clumsy fall also affected your ability to write
notes down?" Snape's voice snapped her back to the lesson. Some Slytherins
snickered dumbly.
Snape raised his eyebrow, and for
a moment Hermione felt quite at loss, being stared at so accusingly.
Searching for her quill, she waited
for him to continue.
Finally he took his gaze off of her.
"Like I was saying, the Invisibility Draught can not be used on human beings.
It is strictly and alone for small things like pencils, books..."
Hermione gave a relieved sigh, and
glanced up at Harry. He shrugged, and got back to his work.
Next day, Hermione got another note
per owl, saying they would practice again next Monday morning, at 4 am.
He had underlined that.
Hermione swallowed. She just hoped
it would go better than last time...
- -- - -- - -- -
"All right," Snape drawled. "Since
your balance leaves too much to be desired, we'll first try something different.
Something aesthetic," He spit the word out like it was dirt in his
mouth.
Hermione couldn't hold back a smile
at the thought of Snape doing anything aesthetic. It faded again
when she realised she had to try something aesthetic as well.
"Back flip, we'll do that first,"
he grumbled, and Hermione felt her heart leap.
"A back flip?" she asked with a quavering
voice. "Hasn't that got much more to do with balance than with--"
"No, it hasn't." he cut her off.
Hermione's mouth closed shut. "And I'm not going to let you get away so
easily this time," he added with a glare. Hemione yelped.
"Sir, I don't think I can do such
a thing," she said quietly, hoping he wouldn't get angry.
"I know that, Miss Granger,"
Snape snapped, and Hermione decided that she'd better keep silent unless
she was being asked something.
They took off into the sky a second
later, and already Hermione felt panic welling up inside her. She wasn't
comfortable flying with Professor Snape anymore.
Okay, she had never been, but the
feeling was worse this time. Damn that dream...
"Now, all you have to do is pull
your broom to you as far as you can. It will automatically make a flip
backwards," he explained, and Hermione gave a nod, noticing her hands had
gone all sweaty again.
"Once you're overturning, don't release
the stick, or you will fall down," he warned.
Hermione thought she saw an unpleasant
glitter in his eyes, but when she blinked it was gone again. Was she hallucinating
now?
"Well, what are you waiting for?"
Snape then grumbled, and Hermione prepared for the trick.
Taking a deep breath, she pulled
the top of the broomstick up, and felt with a shock how the broom responded
to that. Before she knew she was flying in the air vertically, and felt
gravity pulling her down on her robes. Almost automatically she forced
the broom to turn quicker, and closed her eyes, trying to get rid of the
terrible feeling in her stomach. And then it was all over.
She opened her eyes again, and saw
she was already flying back in the air, facing the same direction as she
had faced a few seconds ago.
"I did it!" she realised suddenly,
too overwhelmed to see Snape's irritated glance.
"Yes, well," he said in an annoyed
tone. "Try again, and remember to control your broom this time,
Miss Granger. I don't feel like doing all the work for you a second time,"
He glared, and Hermione's smile got
washed off of her face at the sight of the wand in his hand. So she hadn't
done anything after all. Great.
Even more nervous than before, and
with hands sweatier than ever, Hermione hold on to the broomstick as good
as she could, and tried not to think of how hard she would fall if she'd
fall....
Quickly, but not very efficiently,
she pulled the broomstick towards her, and again she felt it rise higher
and higher, and the feeling in her stomach returned... She was going to
vomit, she was going to vomit for sure... She hadn't closed her eyes this
time, and while she felt herself turn, slower than the first time, she
saw Snape, who was giving her a stern look as always, hovering in the sky
like a large bat. And suddenly her dream flashed through her head again,
and for a moment she knew for sure he was going to make her fall...
And in this moment of distraction,
which hadn't lasted longer than half a second, she felt the broom slip
away from her, or actually, felt how she slipped away from the broom.
She screamed, but before she knew
what was really happening, she hung in the sky. Opening her eyes slowly,
she felt the cool wind blew her hair out of her face. She was hanging in
the air.
Carefully moving turning her head,
she saw Snape directing his wand at her. He looked exasperated, but Hermione
gave a relieved sigh anyway.
"Unless you want me to let you drop,
I strongly advise you to climb to your broom now you still can," Snape
said in a strained voice. Obviously it was taking him a lot of power to
levitate her, and that wasn't weird at all. Not many can levitate a fully-grown
teenager.
Scared he would soon no longer be
able to hold it, Hermione climbed up the air, back on her broom. When she
was sitting save there, Snape undid the charm.
Hermione wiped of some sweat off
of her forehead with her sleeve, then glanced up at Snape, thankfully.
Perhaps the Professor wasn't that
bad, she thought.
Really.
TBC