Take Away My Pain
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 2: Defying Gravity
Severus Snape watched as children filed in to his classroom. Gryffindors. His least favorite class. Why? Mainly because it was so damn depressing. The students of this house took the death of their classmate far too harshly in his opinion.
He began his lecture on the Polyjuice Potion and soon grew tired of the silence. It appeared as though no one was paying attention so he decided to begin asking questions in order to make sure they were still with him.
"What is the main ingredient needed in order to make the Polyjuice potion..." He looked around the room, trying to find an unsuspecting victim who he could catch off guard and smiled when he caught her. "Miss Granger?"
"Hmm?" she replied, shaking her head as if to snap out of a daydream.
"Please, enlighten us with an in depth description of the Polyjuice as you always do," he said dully as if he expected her to be the same as always. Classes had been going on for almost a month and he suspected that she would snap out of her daze soon enough.
"Polyjuice?" she said as if she was unsure what he was talking about. "Yes it um... the polyjuice it... it's a difficult potion." That's all she had to say about it. She picked up her quill and began doodling on her parchment, ignoring the professors evil glares.
"Ten points from Gryffindor for not paying attention!" he practically screamed. "Now, since Miss Granger is for once unable to answer a question, perhaps you, Mr. Weasley, can bail her out and win back the ten points."
He was taunting the child. He knew Ron had gone mute but that's why he did it. He wanted to get to him, one of his least favorite students.
As he expected, Ron said nothing. He didn't even pick his head up. "I see that without Mr. Potter here, the two of you have no one to whisper the answers to you." He knew it was a lie but the look on their faces was priceless.
Hermione couldn't take it. She stood up and flung her quill at the man with an overly large sized nose. "How dare you insult the greatest wizard to ever live!" she raged. "You're the most vile creature that ever walked this earth and I hate you!" She ran out of the class and Snape just chuckled.
"What?" he said looking at Ron. "No outbursts from you too?" Ron looked calm, impassive. He said nothing. His temper used to flail whenever someone would insult his friends but not now. Now it didn't matter. It was no use.
"Fifty points from Gryffindor for disrespecting the professor. You can inform her of the consequences of her actions when you see her, Mr. Weasley."
He went to his chalk board and continued with his lesson, ignoring the glares that all of the Gryffindor students were sending him.
After Hermione's outburst, she had run to the only place she felt safe... the Astronomy Tower. There were no classes there that period so she had it all to herself. It had been her and Harry's special spot. She loved it so much.
She sat there for hours contemplating how much she hated Snape. Why did he have to bring Harry up? Why? No one was that cruel. Only Snape. The five letter word that made her skin crawl... Snape.
'The bastard probably took fifty points off for that!' she thought wryly to herself. But it didn't really matter to her. She didn't care about the House Cup. She didn't care about anything.
When Snape had asked her about Polyjuice, her mind had gone blank. She remembered in the back of her mind that she had done the potion back in second year but she couldn't remember for the life of her what the Potion did and what the ingredients were.
As she sat on the tower which was rumored to be the highest spot in all of the castle, she sat on the edge and looked down. 'It would be a far way to fall,' she thought with a smile, wondering if it would hurt when she hit the ground.
Would anyone miss her? Would anyone notice if she was gone? Snape would. Without her there, who would he pick on?
But besides the professors, did she have any real friends? Would the students notice? Would they care? She stood up and moved so that she was at the very edged of the ledge.
'Here I go,' she thought. She picked up her right foot and then began tumbling through the air. She was going at speeds even she couldn't imagine. She was about fifty feet away from the ground when an image popped into her mind.
Ron. What would Ron do without her? Granted he didn't talk to her but she still wanted to be there for him and suddenly she regretted jumping. So she stopped herself. It was a power she had picked up. No one knew about this power except for Ron. She was flying in the air. It was a power that Harry, Ron, and she had given themselves. She had created the potion right after fifth year. She wanted to be prepared for any and all circumstances that the Dark Lord would throw at them. You never knew. What if he threw you off a cliff?
So as she was hovering in the air, she decided to go for a fly. Harry had gone up a number of times with her. They had gone up when it was night out and stars were shining bright.
FLASHBACK
They pushed off the ground with as much force as possible and soon found themselves defying gravity. Hand in hand, they flew to the top of the highest tree and sat down on one of its outstretched branches.
"I think this should be our tree," Hermione said as she leaned against Harry, allowing him to wrap his arms around her.
"What shall we call it?" he asked as he brushed a few of her stray hairs back behind her ear.
"Hmm...let me think." She put on a pensive face and then decided. "I think we should call it Mona Lisa."
"Isn't that a painting?" he asked with confusion.
"Yes. Mona Lisa is a painting of a woman and no one can tell if she's happy or sad. That reminds me of this tree. It's so beautiful but it stands out so much, being so much taller than all the other trees. There's no other trees around it. Look. It's all shrubs and bushes. It must be so lonely but how can it be so lonely when it's so beautiful. That's why we should call it Mona Lisa."
She tilted her head and looked up at him with a smile. "Whatever you say, love," he whispered as he placed a kiss on her forehead.
END FLASHBACK
That had been their first visit to Mona Lisa. They had gone many times afterwards and it easily became one of their most romantic spots, next to the Astronomy Tower of course.
"Do you think I could fly to wherever you are, Harry?" she asked, looking up into the sky. It was then and there that she knew he was gone and so was she. He had taken her heart with him and there was no way of getting it back.
Ron, after the Snape incident, went back to his room and fell onto his bed. He laid on his side and ignored Seamus and Nevilled whispering quietly from the other side of the room.
"You go," Neville said.
"No you!" Seamus whispered loudly, almost so loudly that it wasn't really a whisper anymore.
"YOU!" Neville said aloud and with that, the young Irish boy approached the red head.
"R...R...Ron... Errol just came with...with a letter from your mother." He placed it on the night stand next to Ron's bed and walked away. Neville and Seamus left the room together, afraid to be in the same room and him when he opened it up.
As soon as he was sure they were gone, Ron opened up the letter.
Dearest Ronald,
We are very disappointed to hear that you are doing so poorly in school. Honestly, we expect more from you. I wanted to send a howler but your father insisted that you need not the embarrassment. Apparently he believes that with the traumatic experience you've been through, you needed a break. I agreed partially so I'm sending you this polite letter, begging you to start trying. Maybe you could ask Hermione to tutor you? It's just a thought.
Have you begun to talk again? We're praying for you every day. Your father and I just want the best for you. Try to cheer up. Everything will cool off soon enough. You'll pull through.
All our love,
Mother and Father
As soon as he was done reading it, he threw it in the trash can and put the garbage on fire. He wondered what the fire would feel like but couldn't bring himself to find out so instead, he went back to his spot on the bed and went to sleep, having nightmares all night long.
A/N... Thanks to everyone that reviewed. I just want to point out that this is my first attempt at a Ron/Hermione romance. It hasn't started so far but I'm getting there, don't worry. Hope you liked the chapter and I can't wait to read all your great reviews. Thanks a bunch.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 2: Defying Gravity
Severus Snape watched as children filed in to his classroom. Gryffindors. His least favorite class. Why? Mainly because it was so damn depressing. The students of this house took the death of their classmate far too harshly in his opinion.
He began his lecture on the Polyjuice Potion and soon grew tired of the silence. It appeared as though no one was paying attention so he decided to begin asking questions in order to make sure they were still with him.
"What is the main ingredient needed in order to make the Polyjuice potion..." He looked around the room, trying to find an unsuspecting victim who he could catch off guard and smiled when he caught her. "Miss Granger?"
"Hmm?" she replied, shaking her head as if to snap out of a daydream.
"Please, enlighten us with an in depth description of the Polyjuice as you always do," he said dully as if he expected her to be the same as always. Classes had been going on for almost a month and he suspected that she would snap out of her daze soon enough.
"Polyjuice?" she said as if she was unsure what he was talking about. "Yes it um... the polyjuice it... it's a difficult potion." That's all she had to say about it. She picked up her quill and began doodling on her parchment, ignoring the professors evil glares.
"Ten points from Gryffindor for not paying attention!" he practically screamed. "Now, since Miss Granger is for once unable to answer a question, perhaps you, Mr. Weasley, can bail her out and win back the ten points."
He was taunting the child. He knew Ron had gone mute but that's why he did it. He wanted to get to him, one of his least favorite students.
As he expected, Ron said nothing. He didn't even pick his head up. "I see that without Mr. Potter here, the two of you have no one to whisper the answers to you." He knew it was a lie but the look on their faces was priceless.
Hermione couldn't take it. She stood up and flung her quill at the man with an overly large sized nose. "How dare you insult the greatest wizard to ever live!" she raged. "You're the most vile creature that ever walked this earth and I hate you!" She ran out of the class and Snape just chuckled.
"What?" he said looking at Ron. "No outbursts from you too?" Ron looked calm, impassive. He said nothing. His temper used to flail whenever someone would insult his friends but not now. Now it didn't matter. It was no use.
"Fifty points from Gryffindor for disrespecting the professor. You can inform her of the consequences of her actions when you see her, Mr. Weasley."
He went to his chalk board and continued with his lesson, ignoring the glares that all of the Gryffindor students were sending him.
After Hermione's outburst, she had run to the only place she felt safe... the Astronomy Tower. There were no classes there that period so she had it all to herself. It had been her and Harry's special spot. She loved it so much.
She sat there for hours contemplating how much she hated Snape. Why did he have to bring Harry up? Why? No one was that cruel. Only Snape. The five letter word that made her skin crawl... Snape.
'The bastard probably took fifty points off for that!' she thought wryly to herself. But it didn't really matter to her. She didn't care about the House Cup. She didn't care about anything.
When Snape had asked her about Polyjuice, her mind had gone blank. She remembered in the back of her mind that she had done the potion back in second year but she couldn't remember for the life of her what the Potion did and what the ingredients were.
As she sat on the tower which was rumored to be the highest spot in all of the castle, she sat on the edge and looked down. 'It would be a far way to fall,' she thought with a smile, wondering if it would hurt when she hit the ground.
Would anyone miss her? Would anyone notice if she was gone? Snape would. Without her there, who would he pick on?
But besides the professors, did she have any real friends? Would the students notice? Would they care? She stood up and moved so that she was at the very edged of the ledge.
'Here I go,' she thought. She picked up her right foot and then began tumbling through the air. She was going at speeds even she couldn't imagine. She was about fifty feet away from the ground when an image popped into her mind.
Ron. What would Ron do without her? Granted he didn't talk to her but she still wanted to be there for him and suddenly she regretted jumping. So she stopped herself. It was a power she had picked up. No one knew about this power except for Ron. She was flying in the air. It was a power that Harry, Ron, and she had given themselves. She had created the potion right after fifth year. She wanted to be prepared for any and all circumstances that the Dark Lord would throw at them. You never knew. What if he threw you off a cliff?
So as she was hovering in the air, she decided to go for a fly. Harry had gone up a number of times with her. They had gone up when it was night out and stars were shining bright.
FLASHBACK
They pushed off the ground with as much force as possible and soon found themselves defying gravity. Hand in hand, they flew to the top of the highest tree and sat down on one of its outstretched branches.
"I think this should be our tree," Hermione said as she leaned against Harry, allowing him to wrap his arms around her.
"What shall we call it?" he asked as he brushed a few of her stray hairs back behind her ear.
"Hmm...let me think." She put on a pensive face and then decided. "I think we should call it Mona Lisa."
"Isn't that a painting?" he asked with confusion.
"Yes. Mona Lisa is a painting of a woman and no one can tell if she's happy or sad. That reminds me of this tree. It's so beautiful but it stands out so much, being so much taller than all the other trees. There's no other trees around it. Look. It's all shrubs and bushes. It must be so lonely but how can it be so lonely when it's so beautiful. That's why we should call it Mona Lisa."
She tilted her head and looked up at him with a smile. "Whatever you say, love," he whispered as he placed a kiss on her forehead.
END FLASHBACK
That had been their first visit to Mona Lisa. They had gone many times afterwards and it easily became one of their most romantic spots, next to the Astronomy Tower of course.
"Do you think I could fly to wherever you are, Harry?" she asked, looking up into the sky. It was then and there that she knew he was gone and so was she. He had taken her heart with him and there was no way of getting it back.
Ron, after the Snape incident, went back to his room and fell onto his bed. He laid on his side and ignored Seamus and Nevilled whispering quietly from the other side of the room.
"You go," Neville said.
"No you!" Seamus whispered loudly, almost so loudly that it wasn't really a whisper anymore.
"YOU!" Neville said aloud and with that, the young Irish boy approached the red head.
"R...R...Ron... Errol just came with...with a letter from your mother." He placed it on the night stand next to Ron's bed and walked away. Neville and Seamus left the room together, afraid to be in the same room and him when he opened it up.
As soon as he was sure they were gone, Ron opened up the letter.
Dearest Ronald,
We are very disappointed to hear that you are doing so poorly in school. Honestly, we expect more from you. I wanted to send a howler but your father insisted that you need not the embarrassment. Apparently he believes that with the traumatic experience you've been through, you needed a break. I agreed partially so I'm sending you this polite letter, begging you to start trying. Maybe you could ask Hermione to tutor you? It's just a thought.
Have you begun to talk again? We're praying for you every day. Your father and I just want the best for you. Try to cheer up. Everything will cool off soon enough. You'll pull through.
All our love,
Mother and Father
As soon as he was done reading it, he threw it in the trash can and put the garbage on fire. He wondered what the fire would feel like but couldn't bring himself to find out so instead, he went back to his spot on the bed and went to sleep, having nightmares all night long.
A/N... Thanks to everyone that reviewed. I just want to point out that this is my first attempt at a Ron/Hermione romance. It hasn't started so far but I'm getting there, don't worry. Hope you liked the chapter and I can't wait to read all your great reviews. Thanks a bunch.