DOUBLE UPDATE YEAH! Longer author's note in next chapter.
Dedicated for all who rewieved.
Angelic layer: Chapter 47
Just as Hermione ran down the stairs towards the owlery, Severus ran up the tower towards Hermione's room.
He was upset. Very so; he had found out some things he wanted to discuss with Hermione. Some very important things.
He had mentioned the strangling Violet to Pomona Sprout, who had been very surprised; that plant was very illegal. There hadn't been a single plant like that in Hogwarts for decades. Severus had received the first shock then.
Hermione was breeding an illegal plant in her part of the castle. Se was breeding it and learning to ATTACK people! If that was only a protection, God only knew what else illegal she had in her room.
There was some serious explanation to do. And to be true to himself, he missed her a bit. He wanted to pass time with her; Christmas vacation was coming soon, and he didn't know if she was to stay.
He felt that she knew something about the strange things that had been going on lately. She surely could help him with the whole Parkinson case.
Pansy was still gibbering in the hospital wing, hair thin now, eyelids raw and nerves broken. The girl was incontrollable. After seeing how she tried to strangle herself with sheets after a Quidditch match, her parents were considering sending her to Saint Mungos permanently.
The Quidditch match had been between Gryffindor and Slytherin. The match, incredibly aggressive, had maimed several persons. Whole Quidditch stands were in the hospital wing, hands, noses or collarbones broken by furious bludgers.
Pansy had screamed to them all that they were on fire that she could see through them, that they were all hideous. Hermione had promptly asked for a narcotic for her as she screamed so loudly you couldn't think anymore.
One thing made him stop in his tracks however. A trail of golden hair was running towards him, along with a well known brunette and a third girl, who after a minute of consideration was detected to be Blaise's girlfriend.
Hermione nodded to him, and all three girls rushed into the library.
For the first time, it stung Severus as odd that Hermione had been outside of school that one day they had sex. She had been outside the school in the dead hours of night.
And then…. Then he saw the last picture he remembered before passing out: Hermione's shoes. Hermione's stained shoes.
Severus turned around sharply, and walked into the library. All this, Hermione's Violet, her wings, her appearance in the middle of the night, her new acquaintances; all this was too odd.
But as he walked in to the library, his erratic heartbeat calmed down. Three girls were sitting on a table: Hermione on one side, the two other girls on the other. Books were around them, and Hermione showed them diagrams and drew new ones on parchment. Both other girls nodded and made an eventual note: Hermione was tutoring!
He smiled and sighed. Very good.
He walked out of the library towards his chambers as he felt the repugnant burn of the Dark Mark against his skin. He had barely time to reach his room as he had to aparte away; the pain was urgent and very, very painful.
At the same moment, Lucius Malfoy was hidden in Snape's room. He took a couple of his robes and his shoes before sneaking up to his own quarters. Lucius also drugged Snape's gin and whisky with one of the finest sleeping potions avaible; Severus would have very scattered memories of this evening.
Lucius walked quickly, checking quickly the library; Hermione was still there. He was the one assigning to two random people tuition with Hermione Granger. This would give him enough time to be prepared.
Meanwhile, Maryann and Emmilya were shaking hands with Hermione over a map. The two Ravenclaws pocketed several vials and smiled Hermione good bye.