Part 2 – THE UNFINISHED HOMEWORK
like a bloated lackey on a greasy couch.
At the same moment, in the Gryffindor Common Room, Hermione groaned.
Harry and Ron, who were playing chess in front of the fire, didn't notice.
Hermione glared at them and groaned more loudly.
« Something you'd like to share ? », asked Harry, without raising his eyes from the game.
« Yes, Harry, dear. », she answered, smiling sweetly at him.
« Not the ruddy book again. », said Ron, raising his eyes and looking at her in disbelief. « We're not doing that, Her-my-ninny. »
« Please. Please. », she said, getting up and walking towards them. « I have to finish this essay for Monday, and I still need to know how many rooms the castle has.»
« Who cares ? »
« I care. »
« I don't understand what you don't go and check in your favourite book. », Ron said, mockingly.
« Because -», she started to say.
« -the only copy of Hogwarts : a History holding this information is the fifteen-thingy edition. », finished Harry, in a high pitched voice.
« So, please, Harry and Ron, », continued Ron, in the same girlish voice, « why don't you risk your neck and check the only copy of the book, lying in the Greasy Git Collection ? »
« This is not what I asked ! », said Hermione, indignantly.
« Of course it is. He already said no to you, it's clear he doesn't want you close to his books. I fail to see how he would like me close to them. »
Hermione looked down at him, deeply annoyed.
« You know where the Invisibility Cloak is. », Harry said, moving one of his pawn on the wrong case.
« Yeah. », Ron said. « You go ahead, and we'll be right here, thinking up some nice bit of poetry to put on your tombstone. »
He moved his knight.
« Checkmate. »
Hermione turned and went to her room without looking at them.
God, I want that book, she thought, dropping into her bed.
And I know the password for his personal chambers.
Now, where had that come from ? She wasn't like Harry and Ron. She wasn't reckless. She wasn't nosy.
That was true though : she had seen Professor Mc Gonagall using the password the day before. Of course, it didn't mean that she had to use them to sneak into his room in the middle of the night. Of course not.
If she was going to do something, however, she had to act quickly. Snape was paranoid enough to change his wards every ten minutes or something.
Quite suddenly, as though following instructions, she got up and went back to the common room.
Harry and Ron were putting all the pieces away, happily talking about Quidditch. They looked up when they saw her reappear.
« Unlike you two, I am a true Gryffindor. », she said, putting her hands on her hips. « Harry, give me the stupid cloak. »
Ron goggled at her, open-mouthed, while Harry smiled and went to his dormitory.
« Have you thought about that, Hermione ? », he said, when he was back. « Snape's not going to like it. »
« He's not even going to find out. », she replied, putting the Cloak on her shoulders.
The corridors were black and silent. Hermione shivered in her dressing gown, and wondered again why exactly she was doing that. But she had to. Snape was so unnerving. He was not happy enough about being the only teacher to despise her – now he wanted to disrupt her other lessons, too, by refusing her the single book she needed. She felt a rush of anger inside her.
Bloody bat.
She arrived in front of his chambers, and tried to calm down a little by thinking about the marvellous grade she was going to have in History of Magic…she was bound to be the only one to answer to all the questions.
Right. Thinks about your grades. Breathe.
« Timaeus. », she whispered, and the black door opened to admit her.
Snape was awake in one moment.
Someone was using the staff password to his chambers.
Someone who wasn't a member of the staff.
Ergo, they were forcing his wards.
He got up silently, and heard the door closing.
A/N Thank you to olka polka, pathatlon (yes, I've already published part of it, but then I changed some things, and now I'm reposting it all) and rainbow fuzzlez for the wonderful reviews! I'm very glad you like it! Sorry if I was a little longer than I said – I have a very good excuse: I was in Venice! Therefore, I'm not repented ;)) – but it won't happen again. Three days, I swear! And, I've a little gift just for you who waited…lying around I found an hint of what the red book is…these are the first words, the only ones that are actually written in it. Here they are:
Grigori Rasputin, healer and magician, welcomes you to his personal diary. You are allowed to step freely into the secrets it holds – but be warned : the way out passes through death or madness.
So…do you still want to continue?
