Ghost—Chapter 2
Snape floated quickly down the corridors with Hermione running behind him, trying to keep up. His walking pace in life had been fast, and his floating pace was even quicker. By the time they had made it to the gargoyle concealing the entrance to Dumbledore's office, Hermione was breathing hard, her face flushed as sweat trickled down her forehead.
"Already out of shape, Miss Granger?" asked Snape with a smirk.
"I've never been in shape to begin with, sir," Hermione huffed.
"With friends like Potter and Weasley? I'm surprised," said Snape. "Fizzing Whizbees."
"The password is 'Ice Mice'," Hermione gasped out. The gargoyle jumped out of the way, and Hermione stepped onto the moving staircase. Snape floated slightly behind her. When they reached the top, Hermione was slightly nauseous, but she shook it off as she knocked on the door.
"Enter," said Dumbledore from within the office. Hermione pushed the door open and Snape floated in front of her and entered the office. Hermione followed, closing the door behind her.
"Headmaster, Miss Granger seems to think I am dead and that she is here to replace me," Snape said, glaring at Hermione.
"Really now?" asked Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. Why do I have a bad feeling about this? Hermione thought. "I wonder where she got an idea like that."
"She has even gone as far as to procure false documents proclaiming my death, even claiming that the obituary she had was written by you," replied Snape. "I, for one, will not stand for this rather childish prank. Are you going to do anything about it?"
"No, I will not, Severus," replied Dumbledore, his eyes still twinkling. "I think that you and Hermione must discuss it on your own, and come to a conclusion without my assistance. Now, I hate to be rude, but I must ask you to leave, as I have an appointment to keep."
With that, Dumbledore gestured to the door. Dejectedly, Hermione followed a smugly smirking Snape out of the office and back down to the dungeons. The ghost said the password to his quarters, and Hermione followed him in before the door snapped shut on her robes.
"What are you still doing here? You've been proven wrong, and you have no more business here," said Snape, turning around to glare at Hermione. "Why don't you go back to whatever bookstore you crawled out of?"
"I'm not licked yet," Hermione said. She had been thinking about ways to prove Snape was a ghost while they had been in the office. "Dumbledore just said that he wasn't going to do anything to help me convince you, so I have to do it on my own."
"And what are you going to do?" asked Snape, raising a ghostly eyebrow. Hermione just smiled slightly as she advanced on him. "What are you doing, woman?"
"Nothing that's going to harm you, Professor," Hermione replied as she stopped right in front of him. She steeled her expression as she walked right through him. She came out from his back, shaking and grimacing. "That is definitely something I do not want to do again."
"What did you do, Granger?!" exclaimed Snape, his cool façade falling.
"I walked through you," Hermione replied. "Are you convinced now?"
"You did that with some potion or other," Snape accused, glaring at the girl. "What one was it?"
"It wasn't a potion, Snape," Hermione replied, returning the glare. "Face it, you're dead."
"This has gone too far, Miss Granger," said Snape, his teeth clenched. "I have made allowances because of all the hardship you have faced and you have undoubtedly gone mad, but this is the last straw. Leave my rooms before I contact the authorities to arrest you for breaking and entering."
"Just one more chance," Hermione said. She began walking through the rooms, obviously searching for something.
"What do you think you're doing?" asked Snape, following her.
"I'm looking for something," Hermione replied, coming out of the bathroom. "Don't you have any mirrors in here?"
"I've never felt the need for them," Snape replied.
"That explains why you look like road kill most of the time," Hermione muttered as she stalked out of her former Potion professor's quarters. Snape floated behind her, nonplussed as he floated through the door.
Hermione strode purposefully down the corridor and up the stairs, until she found what she was looking for. Snape floated up behind her.
"A bathroom?" he asked; Hermione could hear the sneer in his voice. "You brought me to a bathroom? And not only that, but a girl's bathroom!"
"Shh," said Hermione, pushing open the door. When she entered, she looked around. "Myrtle? Are you here?"
The form of a small girl, completely transparent, floated out of one of the stalls. It was obvious she had been crying; she was wiping the tear tracks off her cheeks.
"Hermione?" she asked, sniffling. "What are you doing in my bathroom? And why did you bring him in here? He's not a girl!"
"I'm sorry for disturbing you Myrtle, but could we use one of your mirrors for a few minutes?" asked Hermione politely, not wanting to anger the easily-upset ghost.
"Alright," replied Myrtle. "I'll just be in my cubicle, thinking about death if you need me."
Myrtle floated back to her toilet stall, wailing. Snape arched an eyebrow before floating further into the bathroom.
"What do you want me to do, Miss Granger?" asked Snape.
"Look into the mirror," Hermione replied. Snape floated over and hovered next to Hermione, who was standing in front of a mirror. Reflected in the mirror was Hermione, and there was no one next to her. "Do you believe me now Professor?"
"I knew when you walked right through me, you silly girl," Snape snarled. "I was just in denial."
"Snape, admitting he was wrong?" Hermione asked, incredulously. "I have to owl the Daily Prophet. Or, at the very least, Harry and Ron. This is huge!"
"You tell anyone of this, Granger, and you'll have a nasty shock one day," Snape growled. His face softened slightly. "So…how did everyone react to my passing?"
"I think we'd better go back to our rooms to discuss this," Hermione replied. Without a fuss, Snape followed Hermione back to the dungeons.
"Wait a minute…our rooms?"
AAAA
Back in the Potions professor's quarters, Hermione settled onto one of the sofas with a cup of tea. Snape hovered a short distance away.
"Now can you tell me?" he asked. Hermione almost laughed at his uncertainty. However, it was not the time to do it.
"Well, you have to remember that there were a lot of deaths both on and off the battlefield," Hermione replied, fighting back the tears. What started with Sirius at the end of fifth year continued with Remus, Mr. Weasley, Dean Thomas, Mundungus Fletcher, Cornelius Fudge, Colin and Dennis Creevey. Many others were tortured into insanity by the Death Eaters, including Ginny Weasley and Tonks. They had had some moments of sanity, and for a while there was some hope for them, but the Healers at St. Mungo's weren't holding out much hope any more. As well, there were many more deaths on the Dark side.
"Get on with it, woman," growled Snape.
"Well, because of all the deaths, no one really cared about you. You had no family, no friends, so not many people went to your memorial service," Hermione said. "Dumbledore went, and so did the Order-or, rather, what was left-out of respect."
"Oh," said Snape. "Well, it's more than what I would have been expecting, in any case. I would have thought they would have tossed me in a hole, be glad that I'm gone and get on with their lives."
"You must not have a very high opinion of yourself," said Hermione sadly. She tried, and failed to stifle a yawn. She looked at the clock. It was almost eleven o'clock. "Great Merlin's underpants! Well, I'm off to bed, Severus."
Hermione got up and made her way to the bedroom. Snape followed her.
"What do you think you're doing?" he demanded.
"I'm going to bed; what does it look like I'm doing?" she asked. She had been sleeping in the guest suites up until then, but she had asked the house elves to take her trunk down to the dungeons earlier that day.
"But this is my room!" Snape exclaimed.
"I thought we went through this," Hermione said with a sigh. "You're dead; therefore you cannot teach Potions anymore, thus forfeiting your quarters. According to school rules, they're mine now."
"But…but…" spluttered Snape. "Where am I to go?" Hermione shrugged.
"Go spend time with the other ghosts?" suggested Hermione. "I think the Bloody Baron would appreciate the company."
Snape looked at her incredulously as she went into the bedroom and slammed the door behind her. With a dejected sigh, Snape floated out of the quarters, going off to explore the school.
AAAAA
Well, here's the next chapter. Thanks to the reviews, and I really hoped you enjoy this installment.