"St. David's!!" shouted Hermione into the bright green flames. They
were warm and welcoming, and as she stepped into the fiery blanket, she
felt herself getting calmer. She wasn't quite used to Floo powder yet, and
she was also excited and apprehensive to learn.
She wasn't going to do any schoolwork- she was doing outside research. On a
certain kind of magic, in particular. She wanted to find out more about the
kind of magic that had brought back Lord Voldemort. She guessed that it was
Blood Magic---a very Dark Art. But no matter what it was, St. David's would
probably have it. She planned on being in the newly opened Lucius Octavius
Malfoy Donation selection. Knowing Mr. Malfoy, it would probably be full of
Dark texts. But in order to get in there, you needed Ministry permission.
Seeing as Minister Fudge had just gotten over the fact that Voldemort was,
in fact, back, Hermione thought it best to ask some one with power in the
Ministry who would be willing to help. Dumbledore.
She'd owled Dumbledore a few weeks ago for permission to do the research.
Dumbledore questioned her thoroughly about exactly what she planned to do,
making sure that she knew exactly how serious the subject was. He
eventually consented and personally delivered the form that would allow her
into the Malfoy section so that it didn't fall into the wrong hands.
Right when she'd gotten into the flames, she felt herself spinning. Her
stomach got a little uneasy, but she kept her composure, and, soon enough,
she felt the ground beneath her.
****************************** When he'd finally gotten to sleep, it was not easy. Snape tossed and turned as he tried not to have his nightmare again.
"What the hell are you doing here?" demanded a voice behind him, making him jump. Severus heard the jumbled murmurs behind the source of this voice, none of which sounded like they were very positive. "I said, what are you doing here, Slytherin?" The voice was that of a Ravenclaw sixth year, whose name Severus was unsure of. Ryan, maybe, Ryan Soule. Snape's mouth made attempts at words, but nothing was coming out. He turned to face Ryan and the crowd. "GET OUT OF OUR COMMON ROOM!!" shouted Ryan. "I- er- uhh- um- y- I..," was all Severus could manage. "Why are you here? If you don't tell us, leave or we'll hex you." Ryan did seem quite confident in his hexing power, but Snape hadn't noticed. "Wh-wh-where's Molly? What's wrong with her?!" Snape was breaking into a sweat, he knew, but he was also getting a lump in his throat, a very unwelcome lump. "Molly? What do you want with her?" asked one of Molly's guy friends, protectively- a big, burly seventh year named Michael. "She's my friend. I have to know where she is. She's in trouble. You've got to help me!" Severus was about ready to cry, but Slytherins didn't cry. He had to keep some pride. Michael replied. "She's in her dormitory, which isn't very dangerous, as far as I know.," but Severus had already headed toward the dormitory stairs. "Hey! You can't go." His words were shut out by a girl's scream above them, followed by hurried footsteps. A girl of Severus' age (15) was sprinting down the stairs, with tears streaking her face and her hand over her mouth. "Oh, my god. I-I-I opened the door and Molly was-was-was."
Severus' subconscious was jerked awake by a strong, throbbing pain on his forearm.
*************
Hermione opened up her eyes and found herself open-mouthed in awe. She was in an enormous, archaic, beautiful building full of preoccupied people who all looked like they were right in the middle of something. The library had been built in the year 78 B.C., right in the middle of the Purity Revolution, during which Pureblood superiority was heavily debated. It held a copy of nearly every partially important and extremely important paper written on since the beginning of wizardry. Some papers, such as the Diary of Romulus, was kept in the Department of Sewage Disposal at the Ministry (named as such so that no one would suspect that anything important was in there, and, therefore, not break in), but only the Minister knew that and he was bound to that information and magically prevented from telling it. Other papers, were, unfortunately, lost, but these only numbered three. These were the papers that had been intended to ban giant hunting, which were burned when the signer was killed. The ceiling was arced and full of intricate designs, some of which set protective wards on the library, some of the strongest wards known to wizardkind. There were shelves upon shelves full of books, old and new; bright and faded. There were portraits of great witches and wizards, and, above each plaque that named each section, were portraits of the donators that had contributed to that particular section. The windows were composed of brightly colored mosaics and stained glass windows, each of which portrayed an important event in magical history. Hermione was reminded slightly of a church. After she'd gaped at the library for about five minutes, Harry, Ron, and Ginny had turned up. They looked around the building for a bit, and looked as though they couldn't believe that a library could be so beautiful. "Y'all ready?" said Hermione after awhile, being driven yet again by her thirst for knowledge. She would be learning a lot that day.
***************
"OWW!!," Snape yelled in pain. The Dark Lord must be summoning the Death Eaters for an important meeting, he thought. This normally meant murdering some person/group because they had caused Voldemort to feel hostile, or because He was introducing a new cunningly evil plan, all of which had been thwarted in one way or another in the past. In Severus' opinion, Voldemort was obviously slow and retarded in the "Cunning and Evil Plans" department.
Severus got up and got dressed quickly, so that he could get to the Dark Lord before light.
****************************** When he'd finally gotten to sleep, it was not easy. Snape tossed and turned as he tried not to have his nightmare again.
"What the hell are you doing here?" demanded a voice behind him, making him jump. Severus heard the jumbled murmurs behind the source of this voice, none of which sounded like they were very positive. "I said, what are you doing here, Slytherin?" The voice was that of a Ravenclaw sixth year, whose name Severus was unsure of. Ryan, maybe, Ryan Soule. Snape's mouth made attempts at words, but nothing was coming out. He turned to face Ryan and the crowd. "GET OUT OF OUR COMMON ROOM!!" shouted Ryan. "I- er- uhh- um- y- I..," was all Severus could manage. "Why are you here? If you don't tell us, leave or we'll hex you." Ryan did seem quite confident in his hexing power, but Snape hadn't noticed. "Wh-wh-where's Molly? What's wrong with her?!" Snape was breaking into a sweat, he knew, but he was also getting a lump in his throat, a very unwelcome lump. "Molly? What do you want with her?" asked one of Molly's guy friends, protectively- a big, burly seventh year named Michael. "She's my friend. I have to know where she is. She's in trouble. You've got to help me!" Severus was about ready to cry, but Slytherins didn't cry. He had to keep some pride. Michael replied. "She's in her dormitory, which isn't very dangerous, as far as I know.," but Severus had already headed toward the dormitory stairs. "Hey! You can't go." His words were shut out by a girl's scream above them, followed by hurried footsteps. A girl of Severus' age (15) was sprinting down the stairs, with tears streaking her face and her hand over her mouth. "Oh, my god. I-I-I opened the door and Molly was-was-was."
Severus' subconscious was jerked awake by a strong, throbbing pain on his forearm.
*************
Hermione opened up her eyes and found herself open-mouthed in awe. She was in an enormous, archaic, beautiful building full of preoccupied people who all looked like they were right in the middle of something. The library had been built in the year 78 B.C., right in the middle of the Purity Revolution, during which Pureblood superiority was heavily debated. It held a copy of nearly every partially important and extremely important paper written on since the beginning of wizardry. Some papers, such as the Diary of Romulus, was kept in the Department of Sewage Disposal at the Ministry (named as such so that no one would suspect that anything important was in there, and, therefore, not break in), but only the Minister knew that and he was bound to that information and magically prevented from telling it. Other papers, were, unfortunately, lost, but these only numbered three. These were the papers that had been intended to ban giant hunting, which were burned when the signer was killed. The ceiling was arced and full of intricate designs, some of which set protective wards on the library, some of the strongest wards known to wizardkind. There were shelves upon shelves full of books, old and new; bright and faded. There were portraits of great witches and wizards, and, above each plaque that named each section, were portraits of the donators that had contributed to that particular section. The windows were composed of brightly colored mosaics and stained glass windows, each of which portrayed an important event in magical history. Hermione was reminded slightly of a church. After she'd gaped at the library for about five minutes, Harry, Ron, and Ginny had turned up. They looked around the building for a bit, and looked as though they couldn't believe that a library could be so beautiful. "Y'all ready?" said Hermione after awhile, being driven yet again by her thirst for knowledge. She would be learning a lot that day.
***************
"OWW!!," Snape yelled in pain. The Dark Lord must be summoning the Death Eaters for an important meeting, he thought. This normally meant murdering some person/group because they had caused Voldemort to feel hostile, or because He was introducing a new cunningly evil plan, all of which had been thwarted in one way or another in the past. In Severus' opinion, Voldemort was obviously slow and retarded in the "Cunning and Evil Plans" department.
Severus got up and got dressed quickly, so that he could get to the Dark Lord before light.