A/N: Well, I'm back in my humble (and I do mean humble… mereschino, you know what I'm talkin' 'bout!) abode… my poor roomie's depressed 'cause the boyfriend left, but she'll be okay. I, for one, am trying not to be overjoyed at the prospect of sleeping in my own bed, surrounded by my glorious strings of lights and my pretty French black cat posters. Definitely a better writing environment.
Don't expect anything from me for a couple days… I have a friggin' HUGE composition project due on Thursday, and I'm working solid until then, at which point I shall most likely collapse in a pathetic, whimpering heap until Katie decides to take pity on me and heft me into bed. After that, I intend to sleep until my mind returns to the state in which it forms phrases with words instead of with notes. I'm serious, it's going to kill me, this one. You never realize the ease of writing with words until you are forced to write without them. But ooh, it's gonna be so NICE… to me darling singers, we must get together and try this… it's a three-part piece in strict diatonic harmony (dorian, in case you wondered) set to Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening". Which brings me to my point, and I do have one… I've come up with a TITLE!!! YAY! This story shall hence forth be known as "Lovely, Dark and Deep". If you know the poem, you'll get the reference. So…
IMPORTANT!!!
THE TITLE OF THIS SOTRY IS CHANGING ON THE NEXT POST!!! So, if you can't find it, you'll know why. It will hence forth be "LOVELY, DARK AND DEEP". So there. Thanks to all who submitted title suggestions… s.s.harry, you'll notice I used yours (Satin in a Coffin, by Modest Mouse) as a chapter title… I think it fits perfectly with this chapter, you'll see why…
Unrelated topic of the day: today I heard a man sing tuvan chants, and he sang a drone and the overtones… SIMULTANIOUSLY! More than one note at a time. Jesus. I am nothing. I'm so small.
Anyway, here's the chap. I hope you enjoy it. It's getting' hairy, folks. Tee hee!
-Nymph
Chapter 5: Satin in a Coffin"…You were laying on the carpet,
Like you're satin in a coffin.
You said "Do you believe what you're seeing?"
Yeah right now but no that often.
Are you dead or are you sleepin'?
Are you dead or are you sleepin'?
Are you dead or are you sleepin'?"
Hermione walked down the halls, all too aware of the eerie silence that surrounded her. Ever since the previous night in the graveyard, she'd been surrounded in silence. It followed her, it preceded her, it enfolded her wherever she went. The students whispered, the portraits eyed her suspiciously. On the single occasion she'd ventured into the teachers' lounge, her peers had ceased all conversation when she'd entered the room, and hadn't said two words among them until she left. Everyone avoided her glance, with the exception of Snape, who had fixed her with a strange frown. She fled to her and Remus' rooms, holding back her tears until the door was firmly locked and then falling into Remus' embrace. They had agreed that until she was feeling better, it would be best for her to go back to Remus' house rather than stay at Hogwarts.
And so here she was, on her way to see the Headmaster and tell him of her plans. And still, she was enveloped by that awful silence. At least for the moment, Hermione could take comfort in the fact that this silence was simply due to the fact that she was completely alone, nothing more.
Or at least, she had thought she was alone until a pair of strong hands grabbed her and pulled her into an abandoned classroom. Hermione gasped and attempted to scream, but there was already a hand over her mouth. Terror raced through Hermione's veins as her captor kicked the door shut and held her tightly against him to keep her still. She struggled against his grasp, but it was all in vain; the grip he held her in was like a vice, and she could feel steady muscles moving beneath the arms of the black robe her captor was wearing. Defeated, Hermione held still.
"I believe you," said an all-too-familiar voice in her ear. Hermione immediately relaxed in her captor's grasp. She knew that voice… how could she not? Everyone knew that voice… it was the voice that had elicited feelings of terror in her as a first year, feelings of defiance as a second, third and fourth year, and later on had caused undefined stirrings which Hermione still preferred not to analyze but nonetheless could hardly deny (she was only a woman, after all). As she relaxed, her captor let her go, and she turned around to stare into the face of Severus Snape.
"What on earth do you think you're doing, besides giving me a heart attack? You know, if someday you were to attack someone who was a little less distracted and a little more pre— wait a minute, what did you say?"
Severus regarded her with an entirely humorless expression. "If you're quite finished with the lecture, Miss Granger… I said, 'I believe you'."
Try as she might, Hermione could come up with no better response than, "I beg your pardon?" Snape frowned darkly.
"Once again, your cognitive powers astonish me. Fifty points to Gryffindor, and a pat on the back for Hogwarts' most brilliant former student." Hermione scowled back at her colleague.
"What do you mean you believe me? Are you going to explain, or are you just going to insult me all night?"
"As much as I'd like that, and believe me, I would, there simply isn't enough time." Severus raised an eyebrow as Hermione sat down on a desk. "Don't make yourself too comfortable… we're leaving very shortly."
"What is this about?" Hermione said, now quite frustrated.
"It's about your friends, Granger… Potter and Weasley, to be exact, and their whereabouts." Hermione froze.
Snape could have laughed at the expression on the girl's face; in any other situation, he would have been sorely tempted to. The child was so used to everyone thinking she'd gone mad, including Lupin, who was probably half-insane himself, and Dumbledore, whose level of insanity was definitely one for the books, that she'd almost convinced herself.
"Don't look so shocked, Granger. I thought you were smarter than to let other people's opinions of you influence your own opinions of yourself." Later, Hermione would spend many hours contemplating this remark and whether it was meant as a compliment or an insult. At the time, however, she was far too shocked to even let it cross her mind.
"What do you mean their whereabouts?" She whispered. "Are they…"
Snape fixed her with a hard look. "Surely you can't have changed your mind overnight, Granger. Last night you were positive they were alive, or so I've heard. It's not like you to be so easily swayed."
"How do you know?" Hermione asked, hardly believing what she was hearing. "How on earth…?"
"I've been watching both you and the Dark Lord over the past month or so… Your clues, combined with things that have been said on the other side, have led me to the same conclusions as you. And last night, both our suspicions were confirmed. Harry Potter is alive."
Hermione was silent for a moment. "I don't believe it," She said finally. "How…"
"He's been a prisoner all this time. I can only assume Weasley is in the same position, although what use he is to Voldemort, I can't begin to guess."
"And of what use is Harry to Voldemort?"
Snape almost had to look away from her at this, but he held her hopeful gaze with his own cold, level one and muttered, "Don't ask." Hermione shut up rather quickly.
"What do we do now?" She said after a few moments. There was a look of determination on her face and a gleam in her eyes that told him her mind was back on track again and just as sharp as ever. Snape almost smiled again. The old Hermione Granger whom he'd taught for seven years was now back in front of him again. As much pain and torture as the little know-it-all had cause him over the time he'd known her, he greatly preferred her to the moping, half-crazy ghost of a woman who'd been floating around the school for several months in her place. Although, he preferred basically anybody to that pathetic excuse for a human.
"We prove to everyone that you're not completely insane. And then we wait."
"Wait for what?"
Severus rolled his eyes. "Idiot girl. We wait for a plan."
Once again, all Hermione could think of was, "What?"
"Honestly, I thought you'd know by now, having saved the whole bloody planet's ass along side Potter all those millions of times… You can never come up with a good plan, not a truly brilliant one that will work. You have to wait for it to come to you." Severus shook his head. "Follow me… we don't have any time to waste." Hermione followed her colleague from the room. When they'd been walking through the castle for a good five minutes, Hermione spoke up.
"Professor, where are we going?"
Snape didn't turn to face her, so she couldn't see his expression, but Hermione would have guess that he was scowling when he said, "To prove that you're not stark raving mad."
"I've been trying to do that for months now… I'd like to see you try."
Snape turned to face her and pulled out his wand. "Stay still," He ordered, and Hermione did as she was told. Snape muttered a spell at her, and then at himself, And Hermione gasped as they both disappeared. "Let this be a lesson to you, Miss Granger… sneaking around in graveyards only works when you can't be seen." She heard him mutter another spell, and suddenly she could see him again, although when she looked down at her
own hands, all she saw was the floor. We must only be visible to each other.
Hermione mentally kicked herself as they headed out the door towards the graveyard where she'd been almost twenty-four hours earlier. Why didn't I think of that?
"That won't work." Hermione stood behind Snape, who had his wand raised above Harry's grave, and shot a frustrated look at his back. Snape just rolled his eyes and muttered some sort of spell that Hermione had never heard before. She stepped around him to stand above the headstone so that she could see what he was doing. Snape had his eyes shut tightly and appeared to be concentrating very hard. After a long while, he opened his eyes again.
"A simple ward… one of Dumbledore's own invention. Fortunately I know how to break it." Snape set to work while Hermione wandered around idly, examining the inscriptions on random gravestones. After about five minutes, she heard Snape call to her.
"Are you going to help? I don't have all night!"
Hermione grumbled to herself and hurried back to the graves. "What do we do now?"
Snape examined the grave closely. "Make a hole as quickly as we possibly can." Hermione raised an eyebrow.
"Okay…" She raised her wand. "Gapus Gradualus." The dirt on the grave started to disappear gradually. Snape glared at her.
"I said quickly, Granger. As in, rapidly, fast, in a speedy manner."
Hermione glared back. "I'm only doing it this way because I don't want to blow a hole in the coffin!" She looked into the hole, which was actually starting to get quite deep. "It looks like it's about four feet down now… it shouldn't be too much longer before we hit the coffin…" As she said the words, a shiny black lid appeared. Hermione raised her wand quickly and ended the spell before the coffin lid was destroyed. "Okay… what now?"
Snape looked into the hole and raised his wand. "Wingardium Leviosa," He said, managing to make it sound like an insult (How DOES he do that? Hermione wondered irritably). "And you are responsible for the education of young children. I weep for our future." Hermione just scowled at him, and then jumped as he let the coffin go, dropping it to the ground a little too close to her toes.
"Be careful!" She admonished. For a moment, neither of them said anything as they stared down at the coffin. Hermione was certain now that Harry and Ron were alive, and yet…
"Oh, honestly," Snape muttered, raising his wand. "Alohomora!" The coffin lid flew open. Hermione hesitated for a moment, and then leaned over to peer inside…
Next Chapter:
Remus felt his heart jump to his throat. What was going on? Surely Severus wouldn't have convinced Hermione to do anything risky or stupid… Remus had begun to trust the man after so many years of hating him. But now here he was, and here Hermione was, and both were acting quite strangely. Remus hoped against all hope that this didn't have to do with what he though it did, but there was very little chance of that.
"Severus convinced me not to give up," Hermione said almost laughingly. "Isn't that rich? He convinced me to keep looking… you never know what you might find. Want to know what I found, Albus? No? Remus?" she turned to him, and he couldn't speak, couldn't make himself answer. "Fine… I'm going to show you anyway."
Oh, god, am I evil! Sorry, loves. Soon…