The Midnight Hour
CHAPTER EIGHT: Snake and Skull
Ginny sat at her desk, listening to the droning voice of Professor Binns, saying something about the Goblin revolutions. Ginny was watching the clock on the wall with anticipation. As the weekend was over she was now able to go to potions and see Severus again. She also had detention with him that evening and looked forward to spending some time with him. The previous night she had gone to quidditch training shortly after her talk with Harry. He hadn't taken it too well, and he had ignored her for most of the session, Ron kept shooting suspicious glances between them and Ginny had the sneaking suspicion that he had no idea about what was going on.
As soon as the bell chimed to symbol the end of the lesson Ginny stuffed her belongings into her bag quickly and stood up.
"Why are you in such a rush?" Hazel scoffed, looking at Ginny with a raised eyebrow.
"I just want to get out of here." Ginny said.
"Well, don't rush, we only have potions next." Hazel told her, Ginny did not tell her friend that she was, in fact, looking forward to the lesson with the potions master. Ginny slung her bag on her back and tapped her foot impatiently waiting for Hazel. As Hazel put her last book in her bag Ginny heard the droning voice of the ghostly history of magic professor.
"And why, miss Weasley, have I not found your essay in my pile?" He asked slowly, Ginny turned around.
"You see professor," she begun, but didn't continue because of the tutting sounds the ghost was making.
"Don't even try to give me any of your creative excuses miss Weasley, this is your last warning. If you do not start completing your homework I think I will have to put you on detention." Binns said, Ginny nodded and walked out with Hazel on her heel.
Ginny took her seat at her usual desk in potions and waited for Severus' arrival. Hazel was sitting beside her complaining about the amount of transfiguration work they had been given.
"It does suck." Ginny replied when Hazel said that she didn't have any free time. "Hey Hazel, how are things going with you and Colin?" Ginny whispered, carefully so that Colin could not hear.
"They aren't going. I've told you that. What about you and Harry?" Hazel asked in return.
"They aren't going either. He asked me out but I said no." Ginny explained, Hazel was dumbstruck.
"So, you are playing hard to get?" She asked, Ginny shook her head. "Are you telling me that I have listened to you blabber on about him for years and you don't want to go out with him?"
"Pretty much, yeah." Ginny said carelessly.
"Why?"
"I got sick of waiting. Plus, I don't like him anymore and I don't think it would be worth ruining a perfectly good friendship." When she finished talking the dungeon doors flung open and Snape walked in looking very angry.
"Everyone be quiet." He snapped, the class was silent immediately. He looked over them, his eyes lingering for slightly longer on Ginny, taking her in. "I was informed by Professor Dumbledore this morning that a number of students in this class had been using colour change and other such potions outside of class, and outside of supervision. As potions master, it is my responsibility to make sure this does not happen. You are all provided with the right resources to empty out your cauldrons and dispose of the potion, and not take them with you with out permission from myself. I have to warn you that any students caught sneaking a potion out will be given a weeks worth of detentions, and be made to perform all sorts of miserable tasks." He said, Ginny grinned, and Hazel nudged her. Snape gave them all a stern look before speaking again. "Now, I have wasted enough time, take out the ingredients for a invisibility potion and begin brewing immediately."
The lesson went by quickly, Severus pacing the room and eyeing the students suspiciously before criticising them for the lack of potion brewing skills, when he peered into Ginny's cauldron he tutted quietly and walked away. Ginny resisted the urge to blow him a sarcastic kiss. When the bell rung he made sure that all students were disposing of their potions properly.
"Ginny, what are you doing?" Hissed Hazel as Ginny ladled some invisibility potion into a small phial.
"He wont catch me, don't be silly." Ginny said, corking the small amount of potion and slipping it into her bag.
"Hold on right there Miss Weasley!" Severus hissed, walking over to her desk, pushing students aside, she dropped the phial into her bag quickly and looked up at him. "Empty your bag." He demanded, the students turned to look around at Ginny.
"No." she replied, trying her best to sound innocent.
"That wasn't a request." He growled, Ginny looked at him.
"Oh, that's nice to know." She replied picking her bag up, he put out a hand to stop her retreat.
"Empty it." Ginny rolled her eyes before emptying the contents of her bag onto the desk, the offending phial rolling onto the table for all to see. Severus picked it up and held it high.
"What were you going to use this for?" He asked glaring at her.
"Oh, you know the usual. Sneaking off, unauthorised fornication." She explained as though it was no big deal.
"No doubt sneaking off with your little boyfriend Potter." He mocked, Ginny caught his eyes, he had a mischievous glint in them.
"You never know." Ginny told him.
"Ten points off Gryffindor and detention for a week. Now get out." He told her before walking to the front of the room. Ginny took extra long to pack her books away, Hazel waited with her. As she walked past Severus she winked at him and a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, Hazel dragged Ginny out, eager to get to lunch.
That evening Ginny showed up for her detention on time, striding into the dungeon. Severus was sitting at his desk again, marking some essays. She walked up to him and put her head on his desk.
"So, what disgusting task do you have lined up for me?" She asked, he looked up at her.
"Oh I don't know." He sighed, "How about you kiss me? Is that disgusting enough?" He asked slyly, she laughed.
"That is just gross." She said before planting her lips on his, after a relatively short kiss he pulled away from her.
"Sit." He told her, motioning to a seat beside his desk. She sat down, and he pushed a quill and some parchment in front of her, she furrowed her eyebrows. "Your not going to do anything, just look like you are." He explained quietly, she nodded and smiled.
I have to tell her, he thought He sighed and brought his hand up to his face to rub his nose, the sleeve of his robe fell down and Ginny bit her lip. He hurried to pull his sleeve back over the skull and snake emblazoned on his arm. Ginny pushed his hand away and slid the sleeve of his robe back up.
"Ginny-" He begun, she put a finger to his lips and looked at the marking. He did not want her to find out like this. "Ginny. Don't." He hissed, trying to pull his arm away.
"Stay still." She hissed back, forcing his arm to the desk, he could have resisted if he really tried.
"I…" He begun, but was cut of again by a silencing finger.
"I haven't seen one of these before." She told him softly, he was thankful for that. "Except for the ones in the sky, of course." She continued, looking closer at the macabre image. "Does it hurt?" she asked, he shook his head.
"No." He told her, and tried to withdraw his arm, she wouldn't let go. "Ginny. You shouldn't be looking at it." He told her.
"It's a horrible image." She said decidedly, tracing her fingers around the outline of the skull, he shivered at her soft touch. "Why?" She asked softly, looking up at him. She let go of his arm, he quickly covered up the dark mark.
"It isn't important." He told her.
"I want to know." She said, holding the hand on his unmarked arm. He hesitated for a long wile. Should I tell her? What do I tell her. She looked into his eyes and he looked away, ashamed of what he had done many years ago.
"It's a long story." He told her.
"We've got all night." She whispered. She looked at him, kindness burning in her eyes. He loved her eyes, they held so much of her character. He considered what he would and wouldn't say, wanting to tell her. He could tell her what he couldn't explain to Dumbledore, what he was to embarrassed to explain. He knew that he needed to tell her. She sat there patiently, rubbing her thumb against his hand.
"When I was at school…:" he began, Ginny met his eyes. "I… wasn't really accepted. When I went home during the holidays, I would have to bear witness to my father and my mother fighting." He looked away from her, eyes stinging; it was hard for him to recount his childhood. "My dad would hit us, both of us. Then, when I went to school I ... begun to like a girl." He had to tell her the truth; he didn't want to hide it from her. "She was the only one who ever stood up for me, the only one who really cared. But she ended up going out with someone else, telling me that she felt sorry for me." Ginny tightened her grip on his hand reassuringly. He smiled painfully at her. "They were the ones who accepted me, I felt like I was one of them. After never fitting in, never being loved, I finally found a group of people willing to watch out for me, genuinely interested in me." He explained, trying to keep back decades of pain. "The dark lord offered me protection in the dark times to come, he offered me a way to feel as though I was important… but I was wrong. I was young and stupid. I thought that they would care, but they are to sly and selfish to care." Ginny nodded. "It was about acceptance." He concluded, he looked at her, she looked thoughtful, concentrating on him hard. He closed his eyes are the silence grew thicker, he didn't know what else to say. She sat there brooding. Finally she opened her mouth, Severus took a sharp breath in.
"I've heard rumours about you being one." She told him gently, taking his left arm in hers, rolling up his sleeve. She looked at the dark mark again. "I didn't think much of it… but seeing it…" she looked him in the eyes "I never thought… I never understood why anyone would ever do it." He looked away from her. "But, it is over isn't it?" She asked, he nodded soberly. She sighed and he wiped his eyes hastily, before any moisture could escape. She lowered her lips to his forearm and kissed the loathsome mark softly, he shuddered, "It is in the past." She whispered, and kissed him softly. While kissing Severus stood up, Ginny following his lead, he pulled her into a tight embrace.
"I love you." He hissed in her ear, squeezing her.
"And I love you. No matter what you have done." She told him. They say back down, holding hands.
"I have to tell you though," he said, mood increased reasonably, "I do still do undercover work for Dumbledore, but I am on his side." Ginny scrunched her face up and nodded.
"Do they use a branding potion?" She asked running her hand over his forearm, he nodded.
"At least I know you are learning something from me." He drawled, she rolled her eyes.
They spent just under an hour discussing meaningless things such as the weather, favourite foods and colours, before it was time for Ginny to return to her common room. With one last kiss she trudged back up to Gryffindor tower, and Severus returned to his room.
Ginny was roused out of her sleep the next morning by a pillow hitting her square in the face, she groaned and looked at the pillow thrower. She was expecting to see Hazel, but instead there was a knobbly house elf wearing a tailored dishcloth and a purple, green and orange tie. His eyes bulged.
"Dobby is not happy with the young Weasley girl!" He squeaked, Ginny sat up in her bed and looked around, Hazel stood at the other side of the dormitory, horrified.
"What?" Ginny asked, shocked by her violent awakening.
"Dobby is mot happy with you miss!" He squeaked, Ginny raised her eyebrows.
"What did I do?" Ginny asked defensively.
"You, miss, did not go out with Harry Potter." He explained, breathing deeply.
"I didn't want to ruin our friendship." She told the house elf, but then wondered why, she did have to justify herself.
"But Harry Potter likes the Weasley girl!" Dobby howled, before throwing himself at the bed, smashing his head on the four poster.
"Dobby! Stop that this instant." Ginny commanded, Dobby grudgingly pulled his head away from the bed post. "Why are you so angry?" Ginny asked.
"Dobby and Harry Potter went to a lot of trouble to try and fix up the boat shed for you Miss Weasley, a lot of trouble." Dobby explained angrily.
"I understand Dobby, and thank you for all of that trouble, but, I don't like Harry Potter- Harry, anymore." She tried to explain, he shook his head.
"But Harry Potter likes you, young Weasley!" Dobby squawked, Ginny groaned.
"I understand that now Dobby, but, you should know that for a relationship to work the people need to like each other. Harry is a nice guy, but I don't like him like that, and if I did go out with him it would hurt him more than if I didn't." Dobby blinked "Do you understand?" Ginny asked, with a pop Dobby vanished and Ginny dropped onto her bed. Hazel walked over to her slowly, and sat on her bed beside her.
"Woah. That was one peculiar house elf." Hazel said, Ginny nodded. "Are you alright?" Hazel asked.
"Yeah," Ginny said while walking over to her trunk to get her uniform.
"Ginny, are you going out with someone?" Hazel asked, being a normal best friend. Ginny hesitated.
"No. I just don't like Harry anymore. I am over him." She said simply, and Hazel just nodded.
"What did the git make you do for detention last night?" Hazel asked, Ginny's insides tickled with anger at the word git, but she held it back.
"I just had to rewrite my essay on branding potions." She said, pulling on her robes. Not too long ago she would have been happy to call Severus a git, but not now. Now she could understand, to some extent, why he did act like a git at times. She felt sorry for him.
After she was dressed Ginny walked down to the common room as she descended the staircase she saw Harry, Ron and Hermione whispering to each other by the fire. She walked over to them and cleared her throat loudly. They stopped whispering immediately and turned to face her.
"Harry, can I speak to you please?" She asked, Harry looked at her and nodded, walking her over to the opposite corner of the room.
"What is it?" He asked, looking over her shoulder at Ron and Hermione.
"Harry, I got a visit from your little friend Dobby earlier this morning." She told him, he looked shocked. "I just want to say thankyou for all of the trouble that you went to, to fix up the boat shed for me. I really did appreciate it, it was sweet. I also want to tell you that you are a very nice guy," He looked away from her "you really are, but I don't think it is such a good idea for us to go out. I have had plenty of time to think about it. I don't think it would be good, because Ron is my brother, and your friend. He shouldn't have to be in that position." Ginny explained.
"Alright." Harry said, looking at her in the eyes again, she smiled at him and he smiled back weakly. "I'm sorry about Dobby as well." He said, Ginny laughed.
"It's okay, but you really should tell him not to beat himself up so much, it is pretty disturbing." Harry laughed.
That night Ginny walked down to the dungeons, and walked into her classroom, she walked straight up to Severus and smiled at him.
"What will it be tonight?" she asked happily, he gave her a meaningful look and pushed a piece of parchment into her hand.
"You can write me an essay on the uses of a colour change potion, from the seventeenth century onwards." He told her, "take a seat." He motioned to the almost empty classroom, when she turned around she saw Ron sitting in the back of the room savagely cleaning out some potion phials. She looked back at Snape. "That's right Miss Weasley, your brother has detention as well, trouble seems to run in the family." She nodded and retreated to a seat in the midsection of the classroom. Ginny turned around and looked at Ron sympathetically, he took a deep breath in and resumed cleaning. She begun to write the essay she was told to write half heartedly. All the while she could hear Ron's ferocious scrubbing and Severus' quill scribbling ticks over some work he had to mark.
After an hour of silence Severus finally spoke.
"Okay Weasley, detention is over." He said, both Ginny and Ron begun to pack up. "Miss Weasley, you still have another half hour. It is your brother who can go." Ron threw the sponge at the holder by the sink before walking down the centre of the classroom, waving at Ginny on the way. He slammed the door on his way out. "Your brother has quiet a temper." Snape commented, Ginny nodded.
"You would too if you had lived with Fred and George for as long as he had." She told him with a smile.
"So, how's the essay going?" He asked, putting his quill down.
"Eh." She replied, putting her own quill down.
"Have you read the chapter on colour change potions yet?" He asked, he had not set it for homework, so naturally, she had didn't do it.
"No. Not yet." She told him, he nodded and walked over to her. He stood behind her and looked at her essay. She hadn't written much besides an introduction and one paragraph, which contained the information he had taught the class.
"Your introduction and conclusion are always strong." He told her as he read over her work. "You just need to work on getting all of the facts into the main body smoothly." He explained, she nodded and looked up at him.
"Thanks." She said with a smile.
"I don't just hand out random marks, so you know, there are guidelines I use." He said seeing her face. She laughed.
"Well, it's good to hear that you know, I thought you always gave me a b or c because you had a crush on me. Now I know better." She laughed.
"How do you now I didn't?" He asked before kissing her on the cheek, and then on the neck.
"Well, you're a dirty old sod aren't you?" She asked slyly. She turned to face him and kissed pecked him on the lips. "How old are you?" She asked him.
"You don't need to know that." He told her, she shrugged.
"It doesn't really matter anyway." She said and kissed him. He was thankful that she didn't pursue the topic further. She leant her head back onto his chest. "You know, my family isn't really that bad." She told him, he stroked her hair. "You've met my parents, they are good people." She wanted him to understand that.
"They are." He agreed slowly, she smiled.
"And, just because my family associates with muggles, it doesn't mean that they are dirty." She said, he nodded "Look at Hermione, she is such a wonderful witch, and she is muggle-born." Ginny said, Severus was silent. "You don't have to be pureblood to be a good witch or wizard." She said.
"I know, I am half-blood." He told her, he understood what she was saying. She looked up at him, surprised.
"I always just assumed," She begun, he shook his head.
"Well, I am halfblooded. My father was a muggle, my mother was the magical one." He explained. "I don't know how they met, but I know my father resented that he wasn't magical and that my mother and myself were. He told her that he didn't want her to use magic at home, and when it came time, he told me the same thing too. He hid my mother's wand most of the time so she couldn't use it." He explained, voice brimming with hatred. Ginny kissed him on the cheek and hugged him.
After half an hour Ginny left and Severus went back to his desk to continue marking homework. He felt comfortable around Ginny, as though he could tell her things. He had told people before, but nobody had listened the way she had. Nobody just accepted it. She allowed him to talk at his own pace, tell what he wanted to tell. He appreciated her immensely and was glad that she was his. He looked at an essay and picked up his quill, ready to mark it. I should have told her about going away, he thought, but then he pushed it to the back of his mind. He would tell her sooner or later, when the right moment came about. For now though, he thought it could wait, he wasn't ready to tell her just yet.
A/N: There you have it, chapter eight. Well, it was definitely interesting to write. Also, ifI tried to reformatthis chapter to make it easier to read, but unfortunately,I think isslighlty alergic to anny attempts i make to fix it up. So, sorry about that. If anyone has any advice,I am more than willing to hear! Anyway, thanks a lot for all of your reviews, they are deeply appreciated.
Love,
Sinister Spiders
P.S. Just so you know, this doesn't really follow the lines of HBP, because we begun writing it before the book was released. So, just read and enjoy, and what happens will happen.