Disclaimer: same as before. Not mine, I'm poor, don't sue, or you'll get
the dog.
A.N. Sorry the summary was so weird. It's just that I'm posting this from the informatics lab and what do you know? At that time we are supposed to write what the teacher says--Not to stay on the net and post fanfictions. Just when I was posting it he came around and gave 4's to all those that hadn't written anything in their notebook. Naturally, I didn't have anything on my notebook. Lucky me-he, I don't know out of which impulse, passed me.
So I didn't get a 4. It wouldn't have looked good next to the 10 and 9 I already have. So I hope somebody reads this and I'm not posting it for no one. Well here goes nothing.
Ta da CHAPTER III
Nightmares and dreams
It was a lovely day.
There she was, in the middle of the field. She had to get ready for something truly special; she could feel it. Every thing was coming together, everything was perfect. Even the weather agreed with her. No clouds on the horizon. She looked to her side; there he was, the man of her life, her love. Ron was smiling back at her. It was their wedding day, the happiest day of her life, or was it?
It wasn't the usual wedding; it was more like a bonding, a union of flesh and blood, heart and soul.
He took out a small dagger made of glass. It was beautiful and the blade was sharp. He was now standing in front of her. He whispered an old incantation.
'You join me in life and you join me in death. Join me in blood written thou to be one.'
A whimsical smile appeared on Ron's face. The knife came down, right across the underside of his wrist.
Ron handed the knife to Hermione, squinting through the pain. He knew the more accepted way of doing things was a simple, barely skin-deep cut across the palm . . . but what sort of dinky bond would that form? No, although he had no real logic to his train of thought, he knew that only the deepest of bonds-- the exchange of lifeblood--would suffice for Hermione and himself.
If, that is, Hermione managed to pull herself together before Ron died of blood loss. Currently, the girl was staring at Ron's wrist in some sort of horrified shock. Finally, and so slowly it seemed, she shook herself and, with a husky voice uttered the rest of the incantation:
'You join me in flesh and you join me in mind. Join me in blood written thou to be one.'
With a steady hand that seemed paler than usual, she slit her own wrist. They clasped hands, wrist touching bloody wrist, and the moment the blood from the two cuts merged, Hermione felt an almost unbearable pain in her arm, as she had never felt in her life. She looked over his head, bright green was filling the air around her, and she was suddenly on the ground.
There was a bright green skull in the sky. It had a serpent coming from its mouth - the Dark Mark. She couldn't stand the pain, the agony she wanted to scream but couldn't, she wanted to scream!
Hermione awoke, trying to regulate her breathing, bringing a hand through her matted hair. She had been dreaming that same dream for months, ever since.ever since.it had happened.
Ever since Ron had been imprisoned in Azkaban. It was all her fault. Her stupid obsession of finding a cure that couldn't be found. Her research had included some not so harmless experiments; she had acquired some questionable material, she had read dark text, she actually possessed some, and they were all stored in his house. So when the 'nice' men from the ministry had checked the house he was found guilty of owning illegal works. All because of the new laws of that lousy biased scum-bag Fudge.
Her voice still hoarse from screaming herself awake, she mouthed 'Lumos'.
Would this memory never stop hunting her? No, how could it? It was true she was bonded with him for life. It didn't matter how far apart they were, it didn't matter through what each one was going through, the bond still remained. The same blood was going now through both their bodies. In the strange light of her spell, she looked like a ghost. She was crying, sobbing, wanting to tear everything apart, wanting to disappear from the face of the earth, wanting to be happy again.
Here she was at Hogwarts, a teacher, the head of Gryffindor house. That thought reminded her she had to make some announcements the next day in the common room. But the distraction didn't last long; soon her thoughts went back to Ron.
And where was he? He was locked up in the worst place; because of her. Why was it like this? Why couldn't they live happily ever after? She knew how he felt there, she actually knew it, not just that talk 'I know how you must feel'.
She had been there. It had been just a night, but it felt like days, weeks, months. She couldn't rest there, every time she closed her eyes images of doom would haunt her. It had been like hell, she would have just wanted to die; the Dementor's Kiss seemed preferable to their presence. That's when Dumbledore came and gave her a second chance, he had tried to free them both. But the Dementors wouldn't loose two perfectly tormentable souls. He offered her the place left vacant by Minerva's departure. The elder witch had left to work at the ministry, more like to keep an eye on Fudge and on what stupid laws he was giving, Hermione thought wryly.
It was nice here, Hermione reflected.she always was hoping to become a professor someday, and now she was. They were nice here to her, she didn't have to worry about the next day too much. After all, being a professor was kind of a risky business--there would always be students to sabotage her classes, and there was the chance that someone would try to attack Hogwarts, although low.
Well, not everybody had been nice to her; there was Malfoy, as an example, and she couldn't really figure out on which list to put Snape; he hadn't really said anything to her in particular. He had acted the same towards Draco at lunch which showed that he hadn't intended on hurting her and it was natural that he would be a little apprehensive about her research, she was after all trying to find a cure against the killing curse, something said to be impossible to counteract. Where was Crookshanks when she needed a fuzzy thing to cry on?
Finally, she rolled over; she still had the spell-light on but it was getting dimmer as she was falling back to sleep. Her dark, curled hair sprawled out on the moonlit pillowcase. The rhythm in which her shoulders were rising and falling was getting steadier, her breathing slowly reverting to normal. Her eyes were wide opened and she could still feel the panic in them but the fatigue finally made her close them, reluctantly, for she was afraid of another dream.
She was up before the first rays of sun touched her widow; she had been plagued all night by that sort of nightmares. Looking in the mirror, she couldn't recognize herself, she looked like Snapes' lover ; good knows how that vampire's girlfriend would look like, but Hermione reflected it must be pretty awful. She put on a plain black robe, and just let her hair hang loose, oto tired to bother about it.
Taking her notes and materials, she petted Crookshanks just before exiting the room. She wasn't thinking of anything, she just let her feet carry her to the table. It was full of people, but she didn't give them too much attention.
She never gave a second thought to all the whispering around her until someone tapped her on the shoulder.
"Professor Granger? Don't you think you should be seated at the teachers' table?" That's when realization dawned on her that she had routinely taken her place at the Gryffindor table. Well, this was where she belonged, she thought firmly.
She gave a small wink to the girl, and said in a conspiratorily manner, "Couldn't I just stay here? You don't realize how scary it is to sit with the teachers." So she stayed with the students at breakfast. She didn't realize she had missed it so much. Sitting there talking with her students that weren't so much younger than her had made a difference to her mood. Some of them had older brothers and sisters and had been told stories about her, and of course Harry. Others had heard about her first classes the other day and wanted to know if she was going to show them those tricks.
"Would you be terribly upset if I didn't?" she asked while buttering a piece of toast.
"Yes," the whole table chorused, startling the other tables.
"Ok, just to make a good impression I'll try, but I can't promise it will be as good as yesterday," the conversation continued, although she noticed many of the boys had found something better than to talk with the teacher, Quidditch.
"Boys, by the way, how is the Gryffindor team this year?"
Instead of an answer they all groaned. "That bad?" she asked them.
"Even worse" a sixth year replied. We lost for three consecutive years to the Slytherins and last year it was just above utter humiliation; the Hufflepuffs won. Can you believe it?"
"Oh, but come on, you have to give an effort this year, can you imagine how the 'greasy git' Snape would gloat in front of me about it?" Hermioned chided them.
" "Ten points from Gryffindor," announced a voice that everyone, including Hermione, recognized as belonging to Snape.
He turned around, and headed for the dungeons. He could have held his tongue, Hermione flushed. Dumbledore had told him to be nice.
Well, she was the perfect target for his comments; she had been one as his student and since she had been there with all of them, he just couldn't help himself treating her like one. In her black robe, which on her looked just like the uniform, without any makeup and her hair loose, it looked like all those seven years hadn't passed. All that was missing was Potter, and giving him a detention for standing up to him, to defend his friend. Although he had to admit that this time she had taken his remarks without going into a fit of sobs or even blushing as she usually did. What was it with him? When had he noticed all these things about her and why was he thinking of her? She had been his best student, there was no doubt of this; still that wasn't good enough reason for him to take the time to notice so many details about her.
Students began to fill into her classroom, taking random seats wherever they were available. Hermione walked over to her desk and sat down, piling her papers up. Soon, the room was full of abundant chatter. Standing up when the bell rang, she walked to the front of the room, to which was replied with silence. She cleared her throat.
"Good Morning," she said brightly, "and welcome to your first Transfiguration Class, with me." She took her sit again and started reading their names to check their presence.
"Daniel Adams" she called in a clear voice.
"Present'." She knew him, she positively knew him; he was the boy in the train that was talking to the Slytherin girls.
"Carmen Bossy"
"Here." A girl from the first row answered.
"Amelia Longbottom" she was Neville's niece.
She went on until another name caught her eyes
"Naja Malfoy"
Next ones on the list
"Fad Mordant" and 'Furry Mordant' as they were twins it was the same, figure. So, they were all third year Slytherins. After a couple of other names she almost choked
"Jennies Riddle"
It must have been a coincidence. She looked up at the girl and met her defiant look.
"Yes Professor, is there a problem?" she was one of the girls on the train as well, the one sitting in the corner reading a large tome.
"No, why should there be one?" she hadn't expected that girl to act like this.
"I thought you might think of me as a mass murderer or something?" the girl erupted. Something was wrong there, seriously wrong.
"What's wrong, was it something I said?" Hermione quickly tried to recover.she only just barely heard a murmur that sounded distinctly like 'Divination'.
"So," said Hermione, taking a chance, "this is just a wild guess, or my incredible talent at seeing what professor Trelawney saw, but are you by any chance dying this year, according to her?" Another murmur was heard through the entire room. This continued until the girl rose and said in a defiant tone, "No, but I'm killing everybody."
"Well, I have to admit this was better, coming from the old.divination teacher," she caught herself just in time, to not talk to bad of her colleagues in front of the students.
"Don't worry, every year she foresees the death of a student, and it doesn't happen. Why should it be that now everybody would die?" Hermione just shook her head and continued the list, down to 'Daryl Zamba'. The class was very quiet for a Gryffindor/Slytherin class, though this was nothing to bother her.
"We will start with chapter one now. Predictable as this may be. Animagi. Can anybody tell me what an Animagus is?' just one hand rose.
"Yes, Miss Riddle."
"Animagi are wizards and witches, which can transfigure themselves into an animal form, at will.'
"Correct. Now there is a debate over the following--whether you can transform into the animal of your choice, or whether there is an Animagus form ideal for you. I can assure you that this is entirely your choice, just don't pick something like an elephant, or a tiger, as it might frighten everybody." There were some giggles in the background.
"I should also tell you to not chose something as a black cat, or a snake, as there are many Slytherins among us. It's just too predictable. Oh, and the snake form has its disadvantages. As they are cold blooded it's dangerous to be in that form in cold places as you get weak and after a short period of time you don't have anymore enough strength to turn yourself back." she stopped; their attention wasn't anymore on her so she choose to give them a little demonstration of how being an animagus worked.
Her transformation was received with applause; Hermione was starting to understand why McGonagall transformed so often, it was cool to have them 'ooh' and 'aah' at you. The rest of the class was more theoretical in nature, with notes being taken.
"For your homework, please summarize the content of the chapter and find the list of registered animagi with the ones that are capable of this. You will be surprised to know that those aren't the only ones capable of doing this, but they are unregistered Animagi and it's none of my business. That's all. Miss Longbottom, Miss Riddle I'd like to have a word with you." They all gathered their books and quills and left the room in quite a hurry
"Your uncle told me you're a bad case at potions as well." Hermione turned to Longbottom. The girl was pink to the tip of her ears. "What would you say about some extra classes at potions?"
At this, the girl looked positively scared. "Don't worry, not with HIM. With me" Hermione had moved now from her desk and took a seat near the girl. "I used to be pretty good at it, so I might give you some tips. You may leave now. Oh, by the way what class do you have next?"
"Charms." She answered prompty.
"Well, then I think I will write you a note." She took a piece of paper and wrote an excuse for the girl. '"You may leave." The girl clumsily gathered her things and left.
Hermione stood up and headed for the back of the class were the other girl was looking through a potions book. When she approached the girl she could see she wasn't really reading, as the book was upside down. Jennies lifted her head and looked at her teacher with an impenetrable gaze.
"Professor, I'm sorry for snapping like that, it's just that.." she did not know how to finish.
"Sybil Trelawney can get on your nerves, I know. Don't think I'm talking bad about my colleagues. I myself was a student of hers, and have very little patience with her. I only took about two trimesters of Divination and I couldn't take it anymore. You know, you should have taken something more interesting, like Arithmancy or Ancient Runes. I think you may still be able to change your option, why don't you talk with your head of house?" As a teacher, it didn't matter that the girl was a Slytherin and plus, she was a really smart one.
"I think I'll follow your advice on this. Then what was it that you wanted to speak with me about?" the girl was becoming a bit nervous.
"I remembered you were reading a book about transfiguration on the train and wanted to tell you that if there's anything you would like to know, besides what's in the book, if you wanted some advice, or anything else, I'm more than glad to offer you my help, Miss Riddle." Hermione said warmly.
"Oh, thank you, and sorry for what I said it's just that..I'll keep in mind your offer." She tossed her schoolbag on her shoulder and stormed out of the room. When she opened the door she turned around.
"Professor Granger?"
"Yes?" Hermiones' head snapped up.
"Could you call me Jinx? Everybody does so." And then closed the door, leaving Hermione with a large grim in her face.
The class following was formed out of first year Hufflepuff, so it was maybe the most challenging, as they had no notion whatsoever of transfiguration. She had to explain some basics to them show them some easy transfigurations and give them materials to read. At lunch, she just took some mouthfuls of food and then moved on to the library, where she returned after her last class. There weren't too many students; it was after all, only the second day of school, and many of them hadn't had their potions and history of magic lessons yet. This time the librarian didn't say anything to her when she went in the forbidden section. She went to the books, however not many held her attention. She had copies of some of them in her own private library.
In the evening, she accepted the invitation of Mrs. Weasley to a cup of tea, in the company of Lupin and Ann. Nothing had happened yet, although nothing was certain. All their talk only aggravated her state so before going to her chambers she passed through the medical ward to pick up a dreamless sleeping potion. The potion actually worked for that night.
The rest of the week went on pretty smoothly. A little of Malfoy's remarks, some sneers from Snape, and the constant mess made by the children, made her feel just right. Tea with Mrs. Weasley was becoming a habit that she couldn't give up, especially now. Her meeting with the Gryffindors was over. They hadn't done anything yet, and compared to the Gryffindors in her time they were not even half as brave, nor the troublemakers. She had given them a speech, she kept it short--about the qualities of the Gryffindors and how she wanted all of them to show that they have what it takes. Then she had gone on about how she wanted the Gryffindors to win the House and Quidditch Cups; that neither had been won by Gryffindor since her last year. Before leaving, she had told them about the Quidditch trials for new players as there was a desperate need for a good seeker and an equally good keeper. They weren't used to this to say the lest. The only occasions on witch McGonagall entered the common room was if there was a real emergency. However Hermione considered it would be good to show up and remind them that she was the new head of house.
A tea with Mrs. Weasley was all she wanted at this moment, and this is what she got. The evening turned out as pleasant as she could have wished for. The new teacher from Romania was also there and it was loads of fun sitting there and gossiping with other women about all sorts of things.
Mrs. Weasley even told them about her days of school and about the mess you can cause with a spoiled love potion. Ann had also related them some things about her schooldays, which was far different than Hogwarts. They had just three Houses and there were no real rivalries between the houses. They even helped each other at tests, giving the subjects to the other houses. The evening continued on merrily, but, Hermione noted, when you're having so much fun, the time always passes too quickly.
It was already ten o'clock and she decided to head for bed. On her way to her rooms, Hermione decided to wander a little, to enjoy the glint of moonlight on the landscape through the windows. She hadn't planned to do a brief patrol of the corridors. Turning a corner she saw just what she didn't want to see, the first student to receive a detention from her. It was a Slytherin, she did recognize her. Great, thought Hermione, that would make her look biased. Well, she was a teacher after all, the risks of the job.
"Alright miss, what are you doing out at this hour?" At this the girl turned around, startled. Oh great, Hermione, not only that she's a Slytherin but she's one of the girls in the train, Hermione groaned internally. Not only will you look biased, you'll also be vindictive. (Un)fortunately her thoughts were interrupted by Snape's arrival.
"What are you doing out of bed, Miss Parker?" He asked, a sneer evident in his words. Before Hermione could realize what she was doing, she acted upon her stupid instinct to help.
"She was with me, Professor Snape." He hadn't seen her and was startled by her appearance, but managed to dissimulate it, never letting his sneer drop.
"Was she?" he asked in a dangerous low tone that made her almost want to look down at the floor, like a student. Instead she met his eyes with a suicidal courage. It might have been that he wasn't paying close attention to her, or was simply too interested in what was one of his students was doing out with the head of Gryffindor house at that hour, to think about Hermione's reaction. "And what were you doing?" he continued.
Improvise, Hermione, improvise. You used to be so good at it.
"I was helping her with some homework." She blurted.
"Really, Professor Granger? How nice of you. And may I inquire as to what were you helping her with? I certainly hope it wasn't potions." This remark made Hermione's checks flush.
Next came the words that changed the whole evening, now night, into a fiasco; the girl had to speak.
"No, Professor Granger was helping me with my Divination homework." At this Hermione's mouth almost dropped, and there was a distinct smirk on Snape's lips.
"Ah, Divination. I must admit I myself was never good at that subject. Would you mind Miss.Mistress Granger, if I stay as well? Perhaps you could teach me a thing or two about this as well."
"Of course not, Professor, but I wouldn't want to hold you from any important businesses you may have to attend to." She replied evenly.was it just her, or was he making fun of her?
"Nonsense, what businesses would I have to attend to at this hour? It would be a pleasure, really, to attend this fascinating lesson about.what kind of divination is it anyway?" he looked very sincere in his interest.
"We have to make a detailed analysis of the way the planets are going to affect our lives during the next month, using our personal map and guides." The girl had snatched some papers from her bag.
"Let us go in this class room. It's your classroom, Professor Granger, so I don't think there's any way we could disturb anyone." He smirked, holding the door wide for them to pass through. He was truly a wicked man, Hermione thought.
She couldn't back down now, so she followed them both in. Snape took a seat in the first row, just in front of Hermione's desk. Even though she was the one sitting at the teacher's desk, and he was the one that had the pupils' role, she felt worse than if he would have given her a detention. Why did this man have to be so awful? He knew perfectly well she hated divination.
He knew perfectly well she was just covering for that girl, out of some charity that not even she knew existed in her.
Well, she couldn't just stand there and gaze at the map the girl had placed in front of her. She had to say something. But nothing was coming to her. She had never gotten to these lessons of Divination. She had only been to the ones about the tea leaves and some about the crystal globe. After about fifteen minutes of gazing at the stupid map and looking through the book she was becoming worried, and the Snape and the girl were becoming anxious.
"Well, Professor Granger, what do you have to say? I see you've studied it in thoroughly. So why are you so quiet? Is it that bad?" Snape inquired softly.
Suddenly inspiration struck her; of course, why hadn't she thought of it earlier? She could use Harry's and Ron's way of guessing, improvise, it was the best and the Bug had actually bought it all those years ago, if she remembered correctly.
"Yes, Professor, I'm afraid it is bad. Woeful things await the poor girl this month. Just look, because of the conjunction of Mars and Jupiter, she might get a cold next Tuesday." With the corner of her eye she could see Snape's expression, and if she wasn't mistaken, he had problems restraining a chuckle. "On Saturday she might be injured, because of the position of.Saturn." She continued, emboldened.
At this the girl reacted "Of course I might be injured, I have to give my kitty a bath. And he is a tiger when it comes to baths."
Hermione continued for about a half an hour with the guessing; it was becoming more and more tragic by the minute. Scratches, bad marks, cuts, burns, near decapitations, drowning and the worse, in Hermione's opinion, almost getting expelled; all were going to happen to the poor, unsuspecting girl. The weirdest part of it all was that Snape seemed to enjoy all this and even chuckled at some of the more farfetched ones, though carefully masking it every time with a cough.
"Miss Parker, you should also be careful on Tuesday as you will." Hermione began again, but she was cut of by Snape.
He rose from his seat, and stepped a few steps until he was standing right besides her.
"She might be poisoned, as I'm thinking of testing the antidotes they've prepared, and if she continues to wander around through the castle at night I doubt she will have it right. Now, Miss Parker, you may go back to you dormitories. No points taken, thank Professor Granger for that, and for your Divination homework."
As the girl got out of the room she was saying some muffled words. Hermione was surprised once again at how sharp Snape's hearing was, as she had not herd the girls' exact words, as he replied, "I can assure you that Professor Trelawney will be more than satisfied with your homework, Miss Parker, now leave."
Once the girl closed the door, Snape took a seat on the desk in front of the teachers' desk. "Miss Granger, I don't now your reasons to cover up for this girl, and I don't want to know them. What I wanted to tell you was that I have studied your notes, and they might be worth further examination. We can work in my private laboratory. As for the ingredients, don't worry, I have all of them.even the more exotic ones."
He threw her notebook onto the wood surface of the desk. "Friday at eight p.m. my office, and be punctual." With a swish of his robes, he turned round and was gone, without uttering another word. Hermione swallowed.
Maybe he hadn't changed after all. His tone had certainly been the same she remembered from countless Potions lessons. Becoming aware that she had slumped into her usual subdued Potions-class position, she sat up straight and searched a focusing point for her eyes, so she could concentrate on restoring her facial expression back to dignified.
Well, Hermione, look on the bright side she told herself. The man accepted to work with you, he is offering you to work with him in his private lab, and he's got supplies of all of the ingredients you need. This is what you were wishing for. Now, go to sleep before you encounter Filch as well and have to teach him Charms or Transfiguration. With that she turned around and left the room with robes billowing, matching Snape's departure a few moments earlier.
The next day was going to be a long one, as she had classes though all of the day with no breaks and she was also supposed to meet with Snape after dinner. She graded some essays before going to sleep so that she could take her mind of the last events of the evening.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Breakfast was fine Friday morning; no Malfoy, no Snape and no troubles with Gryffindors. Classes went fine as well; it seems everybody did their homework. Lunch again, perfect, with the perfect menu. The classes left till dinner were a dream, no student failed the tasks and with the perfect dinner, it seemed that it was one of the best days she had spent at Hogwarts.
However that was just an illusion, she quickly realized, as what awaited her was worse than detention. Well, maybe not compared to the detention in her first year, her only detention. Maybe detentions were truly terrible, thinking back to Harry and the blood-drawing quill from Umbridge, or Ron having to scrub all the trophies without magic..she wouldn't know.
What she did know was that her sense of foreboding was steadily increasing as the appointed time for her meeting with Snape grew every closer.
She was now descending the stairs to the dungeons. It was somehow different from the last time she had done, that a couple of days ago. She no longer feared his reaction, now she just feared she might turn into some kind of Neville while working one-on-one with him.
The dungeons were just as cold as they had been when she was a student, just as dark, and just as filled with Slytherin trouble-makers. She passed, circumspectly, some seventh years, which were checking her out in the rudest way possible, though she didn't take points, just because she was in a hurry.
"Wanna teach us something, Professor?" leered one of the boldest of them.
"Ten points from Slytherin, for harassing a teacher, Mordant, and there shall be more if you don't get to your common room NOW." Came Snape's voice.
His last word hadn't been anything than a barely audible whisper, but anybody that knew him as well as his Slytherins, knew that it meant trouble. They just scattered along the corridor as fast as they could and as far as they could.
"Professor Granger, if you know what is good for both you and them, next time do something about their attitude. I'm not here to watch every moment after you.' There was an emphasis on the word professor. "Now please, follow me."
In her hurry to past the students, she hadn't noticed where he had come from; it was as if he had appeared out of nowhere. But it was still impossible to Apparate at Hogwarts, wasn't it? Perhaps if you were a headmaster, or in this case a deputy headmaster, this rule didn't count.
He had reached a heavy oak door, and was waiting for her in the doorway. She entered the office and tried not to look at the many jars that might have caused an unpleasant reaction, especially now, so close after dinner. He closed the door and moved to the hearth. He said something that she didn't hear, but it must have been the 'Incendio' spell, as a purple blue fire formed in the fireplace. He then took some powder in his hand and motioned for her to get in the fire place.
"Get in, and be careful, so as not trip over something." He instructed tersely.
Hermione stepped in the fire; it wasn't even warm; just like every thing about Snape, the fire was actually ice-cold. The last thing she heard was Snape's voice but just as before, she couldn't catch his words.
Every thing was dark in front of her, she couldn't see a thing.
A.N Ok people I have to clarify some things.
One the thing with Naja Malfoy Draco's niece and Amelia Longbottom Neville's niece. No they're not the daughters of some long lost brother of one of the two, but are some kind of daughter of some far cousin or something. I don't know. It was just the easiest thing to get names for some students. And to have reasons to introduce them in the story.
And if you have any questions. Please ask. It might take some time until I answere but I will do my best. Right now I have some problems with chapter 6 and 7. But they'll be up soon. Just have to check with my muse.
Hope the chapter looks better now that it's beta read. Hope I'll get more reviews.
A.N. Sorry the summary was so weird. It's just that I'm posting this from the informatics lab and what do you know? At that time we are supposed to write what the teacher says--Not to stay on the net and post fanfictions. Just when I was posting it he came around and gave 4's to all those that hadn't written anything in their notebook. Naturally, I didn't have anything on my notebook. Lucky me-he, I don't know out of which impulse, passed me.
So I didn't get a 4. It wouldn't have looked good next to the 10 and 9 I already have. So I hope somebody reads this and I'm not posting it for no one. Well here goes nothing.
Ta da CHAPTER III
Nightmares and dreams
It was a lovely day.
There she was, in the middle of the field. She had to get ready for something truly special; she could feel it. Every thing was coming together, everything was perfect. Even the weather agreed with her. No clouds on the horizon. She looked to her side; there he was, the man of her life, her love. Ron was smiling back at her. It was their wedding day, the happiest day of her life, or was it?
It wasn't the usual wedding; it was more like a bonding, a union of flesh and blood, heart and soul.
He took out a small dagger made of glass. It was beautiful and the blade was sharp. He was now standing in front of her. He whispered an old incantation.
'You join me in life and you join me in death. Join me in blood written thou to be one.'
A whimsical smile appeared on Ron's face. The knife came down, right across the underside of his wrist.
Ron handed the knife to Hermione, squinting through the pain. He knew the more accepted way of doing things was a simple, barely skin-deep cut across the palm . . . but what sort of dinky bond would that form? No, although he had no real logic to his train of thought, he knew that only the deepest of bonds-- the exchange of lifeblood--would suffice for Hermione and himself.
If, that is, Hermione managed to pull herself together before Ron died of blood loss. Currently, the girl was staring at Ron's wrist in some sort of horrified shock. Finally, and so slowly it seemed, she shook herself and, with a husky voice uttered the rest of the incantation:
'You join me in flesh and you join me in mind. Join me in blood written thou to be one.'
With a steady hand that seemed paler than usual, she slit her own wrist. They clasped hands, wrist touching bloody wrist, and the moment the blood from the two cuts merged, Hermione felt an almost unbearable pain in her arm, as she had never felt in her life. She looked over his head, bright green was filling the air around her, and she was suddenly on the ground.
There was a bright green skull in the sky. It had a serpent coming from its mouth - the Dark Mark. She couldn't stand the pain, the agony she wanted to scream but couldn't, she wanted to scream!
Hermione awoke, trying to regulate her breathing, bringing a hand through her matted hair. She had been dreaming that same dream for months, ever since.ever since.it had happened.
Ever since Ron had been imprisoned in Azkaban. It was all her fault. Her stupid obsession of finding a cure that couldn't be found. Her research had included some not so harmless experiments; she had acquired some questionable material, she had read dark text, she actually possessed some, and they were all stored in his house. So when the 'nice' men from the ministry had checked the house he was found guilty of owning illegal works. All because of the new laws of that lousy biased scum-bag Fudge.
Her voice still hoarse from screaming herself awake, she mouthed 'Lumos'.
Would this memory never stop hunting her? No, how could it? It was true she was bonded with him for life. It didn't matter how far apart they were, it didn't matter through what each one was going through, the bond still remained. The same blood was going now through both their bodies. In the strange light of her spell, she looked like a ghost. She was crying, sobbing, wanting to tear everything apart, wanting to disappear from the face of the earth, wanting to be happy again.
Here she was at Hogwarts, a teacher, the head of Gryffindor house. That thought reminded her she had to make some announcements the next day in the common room. But the distraction didn't last long; soon her thoughts went back to Ron.
And where was he? He was locked up in the worst place; because of her. Why was it like this? Why couldn't they live happily ever after? She knew how he felt there, she actually knew it, not just that talk 'I know how you must feel'.
She had been there. It had been just a night, but it felt like days, weeks, months. She couldn't rest there, every time she closed her eyes images of doom would haunt her. It had been like hell, she would have just wanted to die; the Dementor's Kiss seemed preferable to their presence. That's when Dumbledore came and gave her a second chance, he had tried to free them both. But the Dementors wouldn't loose two perfectly tormentable souls. He offered her the place left vacant by Minerva's departure. The elder witch had left to work at the ministry, more like to keep an eye on Fudge and on what stupid laws he was giving, Hermione thought wryly.
It was nice here, Hermione reflected.she always was hoping to become a professor someday, and now she was. They were nice here to her, she didn't have to worry about the next day too much. After all, being a professor was kind of a risky business--there would always be students to sabotage her classes, and there was the chance that someone would try to attack Hogwarts, although low.
Well, not everybody had been nice to her; there was Malfoy, as an example, and she couldn't really figure out on which list to put Snape; he hadn't really said anything to her in particular. He had acted the same towards Draco at lunch which showed that he hadn't intended on hurting her and it was natural that he would be a little apprehensive about her research, she was after all trying to find a cure against the killing curse, something said to be impossible to counteract. Where was Crookshanks when she needed a fuzzy thing to cry on?
Finally, she rolled over; she still had the spell-light on but it was getting dimmer as she was falling back to sleep. Her dark, curled hair sprawled out on the moonlit pillowcase. The rhythm in which her shoulders were rising and falling was getting steadier, her breathing slowly reverting to normal. Her eyes were wide opened and she could still feel the panic in them but the fatigue finally made her close them, reluctantly, for she was afraid of another dream.
She was up before the first rays of sun touched her widow; she had been plagued all night by that sort of nightmares. Looking in the mirror, she couldn't recognize herself, she looked like Snapes' lover ; good knows how that vampire's girlfriend would look like, but Hermione reflected it must be pretty awful. She put on a plain black robe, and just let her hair hang loose, oto tired to bother about it.
Taking her notes and materials, she petted Crookshanks just before exiting the room. She wasn't thinking of anything, she just let her feet carry her to the table. It was full of people, but she didn't give them too much attention.
She never gave a second thought to all the whispering around her until someone tapped her on the shoulder.
"Professor Granger? Don't you think you should be seated at the teachers' table?" That's when realization dawned on her that she had routinely taken her place at the Gryffindor table. Well, this was where she belonged, she thought firmly.
She gave a small wink to the girl, and said in a conspiratorily manner, "Couldn't I just stay here? You don't realize how scary it is to sit with the teachers." So she stayed with the students at breakfast. She didn't realize she had missed it so much. Sitting there talking with her students that weren't so much younger than her had made a difference to her mood. Some of them had older brothers and sisters and had been told stories about her, and of course Harry. Others had heard about her first classes the other day and wanted to know if she was going to show them those tricks.
"Would you be terribly upset if I didn't?" she asked while buttering a piece of toast.
"Yes," the whole table chorused, startling the other tables.
"Ok, just to make a good impression I'll try, but I can't promise it will be as good as yesterday," the conversation continued, although she noticed many of the boys had found something better than to talk with the teacher, Quidditch.
"Boys, by the way, how is the Gryffindor team this year?"
Instead of an answer they all groaned. "That bad?" she asked them.
"Even worse" a sixth year replied. We lost for three consecutive years to the Slytherins and last year it was just above utter humiliation; the Hufflepuffs won. Can you believe it?"
"Oh, but come on, you have to give an effort this year, can you imagine how the 'greasy git' Snape would gloat in front of me about it?" Hermioned chided them.
" "Ten points from Gryffindor," announced a voice that everyone, including Hermione, recognized as belonging to Snape.
He turned around, and headed for the dungeons. He could have held his tongue, Hermione flushed. Dumbledore had told him to be nice.
Well, she was the perfect target for his comments; she had been one as his student and since she had been there with all of them, he just couldn't help himself treating her like one. In her black robe, which on her looked just like the uniform, without any makeup and her hair loose, it looked like all those seven years hadn't passed. All that was missing was Potter, and giving him a detention for standing up to him, to defend his friend. Although he had to admit that this time she had taken his remarks without going into a fit of sobs or even blushing as she usually did. What was it with him? When had he noticed all these things about her and why was he thinking of her? She had been his best student, there was no doubt of this; still that wasn't good enough reason for him to take the time to notice so many details about her.
Students began to fill into her classroom, taking random seats wherever they were available. Hermione walked over to her desk and sat down, piling her papers up. Soon, the room was full of abundant chatter. Standing up when the bell rang, she walked to the front of the room, to which was replied with silence. She cleared her throat.
"Good Morning," she said brightly, "and welcome to your first Transfiguration Class, with me." She took her sit again and started reading their names to check their presence.
"Daniel Adams" she called in a clear voice.
"Present'." She knew him, she positively knew him; he was the boy in the train that was talking to the Slytherin girls.
"Carmen Bossy"
"Here." A girl from the first row answered.
"Amelia Longbottom" she was Neville's niece.
She went on until another name caught her eyes
"Naja Malfoy"
Next ones on the list
"Fad Mordant" and 'Furry Mordant' as they were twins it was the same, figure. So, they were all third year Slytherins. After a couple of other names she almost choked
"Jennies Riddle"
It must have been a coincidence. She looked up at the girl and met her defiant look.
"Yes Professor, is there a problem?" she was one of the girls on the train as well, the one sitting in the corner reading a large tome.
"No, why should there be one?" she hadn't expected that girl to act like this.
"I thought you might think of me as a mass murderer or something?" the girl erupted. Something was wrong there, seriously wrong.
"What's wrong, was it something I said?" Hermione quickly tried to recover.she only just barely heard a murmur that sounded distinctly like 'Divination'.
"So," said Hermione, taking a chance, "this is just a wild guess, or my incredible talent at seeing what professor Trelawney saw, but are you by any chance dying this year, according to her?" Another murmur was heard through the entire room. This continued until the girl rose and said in a defiant tone, "No, but I'm killing everybody."
"Well, I have to admit this was better, coming from the old.divination teacher," she caught herself just in time, to not talk to bad of her colleagues in front of the students.
"Don't worry, every year she foresees the death of a student, and it doesn't happen. Why should it be that now everybody would die?" Hermione just shook her head and continued the list, down to 'Daryl Zamba'. The class was very quiet for a Gryffindor/Slytherin class, though this was nothing to bother her.
"We will start with chapter one now. Predictable as this may be. Animagi. Can anybody tell me what an Animagus is?' just one hand rose.
"Yes, Miss Riddle."
"Animagi are wizards and witches, which can transfigure themselves into an animal form, at will.'
"Correct. Now there is a debate over the following--whether you can transform into the animal of your choice, or whether there is an Animagus form ideal for you. I can assure you that this is entirely your choice, just don't pick something like an elephant, or a tiger, as it might frighten everybody." There were some giggles in the background.
"I should also tell you to not chose something as a black cat, or a snake, as there are many Slytherins among us. It's just too predictable. Oh, and the snake form has its disadvantages. As they are cold blooded it's dangerous to be in that form in cold places as you get weak and after a short period of time you don't have anymore enough strength to turn yourself back." she stopped; their attention wasn't anymore on her so she choose to give them a little demonstration of how being an animagus worked.
Her transformation was received with applause; Hermione was starting to understand why McGonagall transformed so often, it was cool to have them 'ooh' and 'aah' at you. The rest of the class was more theoretical in nature, with notes being taken.
"For your homework, please summarize the content of the chapter and find the list of registered animagi with the ones that are capable of this. You will be surprised to know that those aren't the only ones capable of doing this, but they are unregistered Animagi and it's none of my business. That's all. Miss Longbottom, Miss Riddle I'd like to have a word with you." They all gathered their books and quills and left the room in quite a hurry
"Your uncle told me you're a bad case at potions as well." Hermione turned to Longbottom. The girl was pink to the tip of her ears. "What would you say about some extra classes at potions?"
At this, the girl looked positively scared. "Don't worry, not with HIM. With me" Hermione had moved now from her desk and took a seat near the girl. "I used to be pretty good at it, so I might give you some tips. You may leave now. Oh, by the way what class do you have next?"
"Charms." She answered prompty.
"Well, then I think I will write you a note." She took a piece of paper and wrote an excuse for the girl. '"You may leave." The girl clumsily gathered her things and left.
Hermione stood up and headed for the back of the class were the other girl was looking through a potions book. When she approached the girl she could see she wasn't really reading, as the book was upside down. Jennies lifted her head and looked at her teacher with an impenetrable gaze.
"Professor, I'm sorry for snapping like that, it's just that.." she did not know how to finish.
"Sybil Trelawney can get on your nerves, I know. Don't think I'm talking bad about my colleagues. I myself was a student of hers, and have very little patience with her. I only took about two trimesters of Divination and I couldn't take it anymore. You know, you should have taken something more interesting, like Arithmancy or Ancient Runes. I think you may still be able to change your option, why don't you talk with your head of house?" As a teacher, it didn't matter that the girl was a Slytherin and plus, she was a really smart one.
"I think I'll follow your advice on this. Then what was it that you wanted to speak with me about?" the girl was becoming a bit nervous.
"I remembered you were reading a book about transfiguration on the train and wanted to tell you that if there's anything you would like to know, besides what's in the book, if you wanted some advice, or anything else, I'm more than glad to offer you my help, Miss Riddle." Hermione said warmly.
"Oh, thank you, and sorry for what I said it's just that..I'll keep in mind your offer." She tossed her schoolbag on her shoulder and stormed out of the room. When she opened the door she turned around.
"Professor Granger?"
"Yes?" Hermiones' head snapped up.
"Could you call me Jinx? Everybody does so." And then closed the door, leaving Hermione with a large grim in her face.
The class following was formed out of first year Hufflepuff, so it was maybe the most challenging, as they had no notion whatsoever of transfiguration. She had to explain some basics to them show them some easy transfigurations and give them materials to read. At lunch, she just took some mouthfuls of food and then moved on to the library, where she returned after her last class. There weren't too many students; it was after all, only the second day of school, and many of them hadn't had their potions and history of magic lessons yet. This time the librarian didn't say anything to her when she went in the forbidden section. She went to the books, however not many held her attention. She had copies of some of them in her own private library.
In the evening, she accepted the invitation of Mrs. Weasley to a cup of tea, in the company of Lupin and Ann. Nothing had happened yet, although nothing was certain. All their talk only aggravated her state so before going to her chambers she passed through the medical ward to pick up a dreamless sleeping potion. The potion actually worked for that night.
The rest of the week went on pretty smoothly. A little of Malfoy's remarks, some sneers from Snape, and the constant mess made by the children, made her feel just right. Tea with Mrs. Weasley was becoming a habit that she couldn't give up, especially now. Her meeting with the Gryffindors was over. They hadn't done anything yet, and compared to the Gryffindors in her time they were not even half as brave, nor the troublemakers. She had given them a speech, she kept it short--about the qualities of the Gryffindors and how she wanted all of them to show that they have what it takes. Then she had gone on about how she wanted the Gryffindors to win the House and Quidditch Cups; that neither had been won by Gryffindor since her last year. Before leaving, she had told them about the Quidditch trials for new players as there was a desperate need for a good seeker and an equally good keeper. They weren't used to this to say the lest. The only occasions on witch McGonagall entered the common room was if there was a real emergency. However Hermione considered it would be good to show up and remind them that she was the new head of house.
A tea with Mrs. Weasley was all she wanted at this moment, and this is what she got. The evening turned out as pleasant as she could have wished for. The new teacher from Romania was also there and it was loads of fun sitting there and gossiping with other women about all sorts of things.
Mrs. Weasley even told them about her days of school and about the mess you can cause with a spoiled love potion. Ann had also related them some things about her schooldays, which was far different than Hogwarts. They had just three Houses and there were no real rivalries between the houses. They even helped each other at tests, giving the subjects to the other houses. The evening continued on merrily, but, Hermione noted, when you're having so much fun, the time always passes too quickly.
It was already ten o'clock and she decided to head for bed. On her way to her rooms, Hermione decided to wander a little, to enjoy the glint of moonlight on the landscape through the windows. She hadn't planned to do a brief patrol of the corridors. Turning a corner she saw just what she didn't want to see, the first student to receive a detention from her. It was a Slytherin, she did recognize her. Great, thought Hermione, that would make her look biased. Well, she was a teacher after all, the risks of the job.
"Alright miss, what are you doing out at this hour?" At this the girl turned around, startled. Oh great, Hermione, not only that she's a Slytherin but she's one of the girls in the train, Hermione groaned internally. Not only will you look biased, you'll also be vindictive. (Un)fortunately her thoughts were interrupted by Snape's arrival.
"What are you doing out of bed, Miss Parker?" He asked, a sneer evident in his words. Before Hermione could realize what she was doing, she acted upon her stupid instinct to help.
"She was with me, Professor Snape." He hadn't seen her and was startled by her appearance, but managed to dissimulate it, never letting his sneer drop.
"Was she?" he asked in a dangerous low tone that made her almost want to look down at the floor, like a student. Instead she met his eyes with a suicidal courage. It might have been that he wasn't paying close attention to her, or was simply too interested in what was one of his students was doing out with the head of Gryffindor house at that hour, to think about Hermione's reaction. "And what were you doing?" he continued.
Improvise, Hermione, improvise. You used to be so good at it.
"I was helping her with some homework." She blurted.
"Really, Professor Granger? How nice of you. And may I inquire as to what were you helping her with? I certainly hope it wasn't potions." This remark made Hermione's checks flush.
Next came the words that changed the whole evening, now night, into a fiasco; the girl had to speak.
"No, Professor Granger was helping me with my Divination homework." At this Hermione's mouth almost dropped, and there was a distinct smirk on Snape's lips.
"Ah, Divination. I must admit I myself was never good at that subject. Would you mind Miss.Mistress Granger, if I stay as well? Perhaps you could teach me a thing or two about this as well."
"Of course not, Professor, but I wouldn't want to hold you from any important businesses you may have to attend to." She replied evenly.was it just her, or was he making fun of her?
"Nonsense, what businesses would I have to attend to at this hour? It would be a pleasure, really, to attend this fascinating lesson about.what kind of divination is it anyway?" he looked very sincere in his interest.
"We have to make a detailed analysis of the way the planets are going to affect our lives during the next month, using our personal map and guides." The girl had snatched some papers from her bag.
"Let us go in this class room. It's your classroom, Professor Granger, so I don't think there's any way we could disturb anyone." He smirked, holding the door wide for them to pass through. He was truly a wicked man, Hermione thought.
She couldn't back down now, so she followed them both in. Snape took a seat in the first row, just in front of Hermione's desk. Even though she was the one sitting at the teacher's desk, and he was the one that had the pupils' role, she felt worse than if he would have given her a detention. Why did this man have to be so awful? He knew perfectly well she hated divination.
He knew perfectly well she was just covering for that girl, out of some charity that not even she knew existed in her.
Well, she couldn't just stand there and gaze at the map the girl had placed in front of her. She had to say something. But nothing was coming to her. She had never gotten to these lessons of Divination. She had only been to the ones about the tea leaves and some about the crystal globe. After about fifteen minutes of gazing at the stupid map and looking through the book she was becoming worried, and the Snape and the girl were becoming anxious.
"Well, Professor Granger, what do you have to say? I see you've studied it in thoroughly. So why are you so quiet? Is it that bad?" Snape inquired softly.
Suddenly inspiration struck her; of course, why hadn't she thought of it earlier? She could use Harry's and Ron's way of guessing, improvise, it was the best and the Bug had actually bought it all those years ago, if she remembered correctly.
"Yes, Professor, I'm afraid it is bad. Woeful things await the poor girl this month. Just look, because of the conjunction of Mars and Jupiter, she might get a cold next Tuesday." With the corner of her eye she could see Snape's expression, and if she wasn't mistaken, he had problems restraining a chuckle. "On Saturday she might be injured, because of the position of.Saturn." She continued, emboldened.
At this the girl reacted "Of course I might be injured, I have to give my kitty a bath. And he is a tiger when it comes to baths."
Hermione continued for about a half an hour with the guessing; it was becoming more and more tragic by the minute. Scratches, bad marks, cuts, burns, near decapitations, drowning and the worse, in Hermione's opinion, almost getting expelled; all were going to happen to the poor, unsuspecting girl. The weirdest part of it all was that Snape seemed to enjoy all this and even chuckled at some of the more farfetched ones, though carefully masking it every time with a cough.
"Miss Parker, you should also be careful on Tuesday as you will." Hermione began again, but she was cut of by Snape.
He rose from his seat, and stepped a few steps until he was standing right besides her.
"She might be poisoned, as I'm thinking of testing the antidotes they've prepared, and if she continues to wander around through the castle at night I doubt she will have it right. Now, Miss Parker, you may go back to you dormitories. No points taken, thank Professor Granger for that, and for your Divination homework."
As the girl got out of the room she was saying some muffled words. Hermione was surprised once again at how sharp Snape's hearing was, as she had not herd the girls' exact words, as he replied, "I can assure you that Professor Trelawney will be more than satisfied with your homework, Miss Parker, now leave."
Once the girl closed the door, Snape took a seat on the desk in front of the teachers' desk. "Miss Granger, I don't now your reasons to cover up for this girl, and I don't want to know them. What I wanted to tell you was that I have studied your notes, and they might be worth further examination. We can work in my private laboratory. As for the ingredients, don't worry, I have all of them.even the more exotic ones."
He threw her notebook onto the wood surface of the desk. "Friday at eight p.m. my office, and be punctual." With a swish of his robes, he turned round and was gone, without uttering another word. Hermione swallowed.
Maybe he hadn't changed after all. His tone had certainly been the same she remembered from countless Potions lessons. Becoming aware that she had slumped into her usual subdued Potions-class position, she sat up straight and searched a focusing point for her eyes, so she could concentrate on restoring her facial expression back to dignified.
Well, Hermione, look on the bright side she told herself. The man accepted to work with you, he is offering you to work with him in his private lab, and he's got supplies of all of the ingredients you need. This is what you were wishing for. Now, go to sleep before you encounter Filch as well and have to teach him Charms or Transfiguration. With that she turned around and left the room with robes billowing, matching Snape's departure a few moments earlier.
The next day was going to be a long one, as she had classes though all of the day with no breaks and she was also supposed to meet with Snape after dinner. She graded some essays before going to sleep so that she could take her mind of the last events of the evening.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Breakfast was fine Friday morning; no Malfoy, no Snape and no troubles with Gryffindors. Classes went fine as well; it seems everybody did their homework. Lunch again, perfect, with the perfect menu. The classes left till dinner were a dream, no student failed the tasks and with the perfect dinner, it seemed that it was one of the best days she had spent at Hogwarts.
However that was just an illusion, she quickly realized, as what awaited her was worse than detention. Well, maybe not compared to the detention in her first year, her only detention. Maybe detentions were truly terrible, thinking back to Harry and the blood-drawing quill from Umbridge, or Ron having to scrub all the trophies without magic..she wouldn't know.
What she did know was that her sense of foreboding was steadily increasing as the appointed time for her meeting with Snape grew every closer.
She was now descending the stairs to the dungeons. It was somehow different from the last time she had done, that a couple of days ago. She no longer feared his reaction, now she just feared she might turn into some kind of Neville while working one-on-one with him.
The dungeons were just as cold as they had been when she was a student, just as dark, and just as filled with Slytherin trouble-makers. She passed, circumspectly, some seventh years, which were checking her out in the rudest way possible, though she didn't take points, just because she was in a hurry.
"Wanna teach us something, Professor?" leered one of the boldest of them.
"Ten points from Slytherin, for harassing a teacher, Mordant, and there shall be more if you don't get to your common room NOW." Came Snape's voice.
His last word hadn't been anything than a barely audible whisper, but anybody that knew him as well as his Slytherins, knew that it meant trouble. They just scattered along the corridor as fast as they could and as far as they could.
"Professor Granger, if you know what is good for both you and them, next time do something about their attitude. I'm not here to watch every moment after you.' There was an emphasis on the word professor. "Now please, follow me."
In her hurry to past the students, she hadn't noticed where he had come from; it was as if he had appeared out of nowhere. But it was still impossible to Apparate at Hogwarts, wasn't it? Perhaps if you were a headmaster, or in this case a deputy headmaster, this rule didn't count.
He had reached a heavy oak door, and was waiting for her in the doorway. She entered the office and tried not to look at the many jars that might have caused an unpleasant reaction, especially now, so close after dinner. He closed the door and moved to the hearth. He said something that she didn't hear, but it must have been the 'Incendio' spell, as a purple blue fire formed in the fireplace. He then took some powder in his hand and motioned for her to get in the fire place.
"Get in, and be careful, so as not trip over something." He instructed tersely.
Hermione stepped in the fire; it wasn't even warm; just like every thing about Snape, the fire was actually ice-cold. The last thing she heard was Snape's voice but just as before, she couldn't catch his words.
Every thing was dark in front of her, she couldn't see a thing.
A.N Ok people I have to clarify some things.
One the thing with Naja Malfoy Draco's niece and Amelia Longbottom Neville's niece. No they're not the daughters of some long lost brother of one of the two, but are some kind of daughter of some far cousin or something. I don't know. It was just the easiest thing to get names for some students. And to have reasons to introduce them in the story.
And if you have any questions. Please ask. It might take some time until I answere but I will do my best. Right now I have some problems with chapter 6 and 7. But they'll be up soon. Just have to check with my muse.
Hope the chapter looks better now that it's beta read. Hope I'll get more reviews.