HERMIONE'S NEW PET

: Autumn Felicity Summers

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Review Responses:-

KarenDetroit: I am glad you do! And thanks for reviewing my other fic, too.

Slytherin Queen: Well, it certainly has made me a bit more sure about my ability for writing humour. Though I am still in doubt about that. I can get very tragic in writing at times.

Vaughn: I was thinking along the same lines. All those cats, crows and ravens were getting a bit boring. However, there is more to the squirrel than meets the eye. After all, I couldn't let dear Severus be just any squirrel! Read on to find out! Though it might come in a bit later chapters.

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CHAPTER 2

HERMIONE, THE DEATH-EATER

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At least I have the freedom to sleep... thought Severus lazily as he yawned (or whatever).

Though he was a squirrel, his sixth sense was as powerful as ever.

Presently, it was telling him that he was not alone here.

The intruder had come near the bed. A lovely blonde woman?

And she dared to call him cute!

His decision was made. This woman was dying before Hermione Granger.

"Professor Snape?"

How does that odious woman know that I am supposed to be here?

If looks could kill... if only... than you would have died so many deaths, you silly chit, that all the Gods in the Universe wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. And yes, it would involve a lot of pain. A lot and a lot of pain. So much pain that you would beg for the Cruciatus.

Hermione Granger had removed the glamour charms she had put up earlier for secrecy.

-

There was absolutely no sign of him and yet, it certainly looked as if he was living here. Where was he?

After an hour of thorough search – manually and magically – Hermione sat down on his bed. The squirrel, she noticed, was stationary as ever. She looked at it. The squirrel stared back.

There is certainly something very wrong here.

Suddenly, Hermione had an image of a tabby cat sitting on the desk in the Transfiguration class.

So, little squirrel, who are you?

Her suspicions were confirmed when the squirrel sunk its teeth in her hand as she made to pet it.

Yelping ungraciously, Hermione jumped to her feet, pulling out her wand with the other hand.

"Animagus Rectify!"

-

The annoying chit! He thought angrily as he leaped out of the way of the orange flash of light.

He crept under the bureau and kept still.

He could see that she was surprised.

"Oh Merlin, it wasn't an Animagus! I have killed that little squirrel!" he heard her say in anguish.

Smirking to himself, he moved out slightly to see her pacing the room. Was she really so freaking distressed at killing a squirrel?

"And I cannot find Professor Snape, even! Oh Merlin!"

No, she is distressed because she can't find me.

What was he to make of it? The little chit had clearly shown that she didn't care about him two years ago when she had left his apprenticeship. Then what bothered her now? Maybe it was just the feeling of defeat. The girl didn't like being anything less than perfect. Perhaps that was why she was so unhappily ranting all the time. Okay, so she didn't 'rant' all the time, but he found her talkativeness annoying, anyway.

The next surprise was when the girl finally gave up and decided to go out. He was following her closely, determined to follow the girl to her place. Then he could find some way of changing back to himself without utter humiliation.

It seemed that Giuseppe's spell was functioning quite well. The girl couldn't open the door and no matter what she tried, she failed. It was only for so long that one could bear Hermione Granger's company. And he felt as if he was dying some time soon with her talking to herself. Thinking aloud, in other words. It irritated him to no end.

And then, the footsteps. His animalistic senses could decipher the familiar clicking of Lucius Malfoy's boots. Suddenly, he found that he did not wish Miss Granger a horrible death, after all.

Miss Granger had not heard it, it seemed. She was pacing the room herself, too lost in her thoughts.

She jumped in surprise and almost stepped back on him as the door was flung open.

"Professor..." she trailed off. Obviously, she had thought that it was him who would fling open the door in that loud manner. Stupid chit! Didn't she know that he had more manners than that?

"Miss Granger," the blonde man stared coldly at her.

Severus hurried to get out of sight.

"Mr. Malfoy."

"What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"That will be none of your business," the girl spat out at him.

"Impertinent Mudblood!" he thundered, pulling out his wand.

From his vantage point, Severus could see that Giuseppe was just out of Hermione's sight. He would attack her for sure.

We have no magical powers so we can easily get killed.

But so can the little chit.

We do not bother about little chits.

No, not about any little chit, but about Hermione Granger.

No, we do not.

Maybe not, but there is no other person who can rectify our critical situation. We have got to save the chit.

Satisfied that he wasn't doing it for her, Severus crept behind Giuseppe and as he was pulling out his wand, sunk his sharp incisors deep into the man's calf.

That's as dirty as dirty could be.

Yelping in pain, Giuseppe dropped his wand. Lucius Malfoy turned around.

Severus was grateful that the girl took this opportunity to attack them both.

But the glory wasn't going to last. A few people had seen the girl attack two men. They recognized the girl as they were Colin Creevey, his brother Dennis and a few other people who knew Hermione Granger by sight.

Not caring, she ran out of the room, down the steps and just before she put a Concealment Charm on herself, Severus attached himself to her bag. It was going to be an uncomfortable journey. But he hoped for compensation.

-

Once she had securely warded her room, Hermione removed the Concealment Charm, threw her bag on a chair and lay down on the bed.

It had been one hell of an adventure – very fruitless, too.

She had found out the last whereabouts of Snape. It seemed as if he was still there. Heck, she had even found out about his pet – and killed it. And she had attacked Lucius Malfoy and whoever that was with him in front of enough witnesses.

Oh! She was in so much trouble, especially if Snape found out about his familiar.

"I am sorry, Professor," she said softly, massaging her head which had started to throb with an oncoming headache.

She kicked off her shoes and settled comfortably on the sofa. She did not have the heart to walk to the bed. There were anti-apparating wards all over the house, of course. She couldn't have Death-Eaters apparating in at their convenience or hers, for all that mattered.

Sighing, she closed her eyes and was soon deep into the arms of Morpheus.

Hermione was rudely woken up from her sleep by someone banging on the door. Bleary-eyed, she stumbled out of the sofa, hitting her leg against the table.

Muttering that she would curse whoever was at the door, she got up and went to it.

"Harry?"

"Hermione! Are you all right?"

"I was until you came," she said sulkily.

"Merlin, Hermione, I was so worried about you! Evelyn said that Lucius Malfoy attacked you and the Death-Eaters..."

"Harry, stop! What are you talking about?" asked Hermione, rubbing her eyes. "It was I who attacked Malfoy. Not the other way round."

"But why?"

"Well, he would have attacked me if I hadn't. Come on, Harry! You sure know that!"

Harry shook his head and sat down. "This is bad. We didn't find Lucius Malfoy there. Just some person called Giuseppe who says you are a Death-Eater who attacked him. He also said that Lucius Malfoy and other Death-Eaters were there. I know, of course, that you cannot be a Death-Eater. That's simply bizarre! But I thought that Lucius Malfoy and others might have attacked you or something..."

Hermione frowned. "That's just ridiculous! Harry, who is Evelyn?"

"She was there, along with Colin and Dennis, who are presently disoriented. Seems like a Memory Charm or something."

"This is plain ridiculous. I ought to go to the Ministry to clear this up," said Hermione, getting up.

"Didn't you send in a letter yesterday, saying you had dragon-pox?"

Hermione sat down, her head in her hands. "I am in so much trouble!!!"

Harry didn't say anything; he was staring at her, to be more precise, at her left forearm. Her sleeve had pushed up revealing the said forearm when she had brought up her hands to her head. Hermione followed Harry's gaze and gasped.

"This... this is impossible!"

Harry looked at her warily and got up, his hand moving towards his wand pocket.

"Harry, believe me, I don't... Harry, are you mad?"

"I didn't expect this of you, Hermione," said Harry, pointing his wand at her.

-

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And here I am thinking I could get pleasurable sleep at least in my Animagus form. Whoever is trying to break the bloody door is dying a more painful death than Miss Granger.

Severus stopped mid-tirade as he had to jump out of the way when Miss Granger stumbled out of the temporary bed.

He wasn't surprised to see that the-Boy-Who-Lived-Much-To-My-Displeasure barge in. These Gryffindors were also as slapdash as possible.

As the conversation proceeded, though, his grumpiness left him. He went near enough Miss Granger's feet (better her than Potter!) as he could without getting trampled on. They were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't notice him.

He jumped on the sofa to observe the Dark Mark more closely. Yes, he had heard about this in the last meeting. Poor girl, she was half crazed at the idea of having the Dark Mark on her arm and Potter certainly wasn't helping. He pitied her, without being contemptuous, for once.

He almost went sick at the idea of touching Potter. But he would have to. He knew what had happened, what the Death-Eaters wanted, and it just won't do to have Miss Granger out of their way and in Azkaban.

For the second time, he sunk his teeth in an armed wizard's hand to save Hermione Granger. He didn't like it a bit.

However, this time, Miss Granger wasn't so quick. She looked startled when Potter dropped his wand, and noticed him before Potter did.

"You're alive..." she gasped.

I ought to have let Potter kill you, you insufferable know-it-all, grumbled Severus as she picked him up.

"What the hell is that?" demanded Potter.

"He is..." he would kill her if she mentioned "Severus Snape", "my pet... my familiar..."

Her pet!!!

Better than saying "Professor Snape's pet"...

Her pet!!!

You were going to kill her if she mentioned "Severus Snape".

Her pet!!!

She doesn't 'know' who you are.

That was a consolation of sorts.

"Hermione, you have got to come with me to the Ministry."

"But, Harry, I am NOT a Death-Eater."

"Yeah," said Potter sarcastically, "you just decided to have that creepy tattoo carved out on your arm for fun."

"Harry! I don't know how this has happened."

I am going to die if you tighten your hold on me anymore, girl!

"I am not that thick, Hermione. Either you are coming peacefully, or I am dragging you there."

The girl eased her hold on him and he jumped onto the sofa. He wondered if his white fur had turned blue. That girl had rendered him unable to breathe.

Finally, the girl has got back her senses, thought Severus, for Hermione had pulled out her wand, and before Potter could move, had stunned him.

Taking in the scene before him, Severus started having second thoughts. Hadn't Miss Granger just confirmed Potter's and all other goody-two-shoes' suspicions?

Oh, well, bloody hell! They weren't going to believe her if she hadn't done that. Casting a last glance around him, Severus followed Miss Granger to her bedroom.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry, it has taken too long to update. However, I have rewritten this chapter as the initial plot twisted into a new one.

So how do you like this one?

For anybody who is also reading Never Say Goodbye, please note that the first chapter has been reloaded! Thank-you!