The Perfectionist
By Mykerinos
Chapter Fourteen: Visits
"Hey there!" a soft voice whispered.
Hermione opened her eyes and saw Ginny sitting beside the hospital bed
Hermione was laying in.
"What--" Hermione started, but stopped
as her throat ached horribly and her voice sounded awfully strange. "Merlin,
that hurts..."
"I can imagine! I heard from Ron
you've been choking for about 10 minutes..." Ginny said.
"Oh, yes..." Hermione replied, remembering
what had happened. There was a short silence that the younger one broke.
"What happened? They say you were
so scared of Snape you almost stifled..."
Hermione looked away. Well, they
were right in some way... "I just didn't want to smell him again," she
explained. "I tried to hold my breath, but he just stood there and stood
there..."
Ginny exploded into laughter, and
Hermione realised how silly that must've sounded. "I swear, at that moment
it was all I could do!" she tried to defend herself.
"Couldn't you just breathe through
your mouth?" Ginny asked between giggles.
"I didn't think of that!" Hermione
shrugged.
"Oh Merlin, Hermione," Ginny laughed.
"In the hospital twice in just a few weeks because of that git... Who would've
thought?"
"Not funny!" Hermione exclaimed,
her raw voice quavering, but she smiled despite herself.
- -- - -- - -- -
Severus let himself fall into his
chair with a sigh as soon as he had got to his chambers. Merlin, what a
day. Or what a week, what a month, for that matter.
What had he got himself into when
he had made that bet? Who would've thought he'd ever make a bet? Who would've
thought a girl would ever cling to him, Severus Snape, like that Granger
girl had done?
Of course it had been nothing, she
had just prevented herself from falling, but still he didn't feel comfortable.
And then today...
A knock on the door startled him
from his thoughts. "Who's there?" he grumbled.
"A friend!" the cheerful voice of
Remus Lupin came. Sighing, Severus let his head fall forward.
The door was pushed open, and Remus
walked in. He had a smile on his face that Severus did not like at all.
"So, I heard you tried to stifle
a student?" he said casually, sitting down on a chair opposite Severus,
who just glared.
"And whom did you hear that from?"
he asked, frowning.
"Just rumours, just rumours... They
say you scared her so much she almost choked!" He laughed. "I've always
admired how you are able to control your students, but your have really
overdone yourself this time, old pal!"
Gritting his teeth to refrain himself
from strangling this guy who was calling him 'old pal', his response was
cold. "I did not do anything out of ordinary, Remus. I can't help it Miss
Granger is incapable of controlling her respiration,"
Remus eyes lighted up at that, and
Severus knew he had said something wrong. "Hermione? It was her?" he smiled.
"Interesting!"
"Please, werewolf, save me your ramblings,"
Severus rolled his eyes.
Remus stood from his chair and looked
around the room. "Did you decorate this yourself?" he changed the subject
suddenly.
"I did... Don't touch that!"
Remus immediately dropped the small
sculpture he had been looking at. It fell on the ground and rolled under
a chair. "Oops..." He lowered himself to the ground and looked under the
chair. As he did so, a painting on the wall caught his eye. Leaving the
sculpture for what it was, he stood up again. "Why isn't the painting moving?"
he asked curiously.
"I like to have some peace in my
rooms.... so moving paintings or annoying werewolves don't actually fit
in," Severus glared.
Glancing to the chair one more time,
Remus coughed. "Well, I think I'll just go now, I still have some work
to do. It's always nice chatting with you, Severus!" he smiled, and left
the room.
Severus sighed. "Accio," he whispered,
flinging his wand a little, and the little sculpture flew into his hands.
He stared at it. "Sure, werewolf. Whatever."
TBC