Chapter 2.
Hermione had no appetite when she got to lunch. She simply stared back and forth between the cloak he had thrust upon her, the little food she had served herself, and her Potions teacher, who sneered at her every chance he got.
"Aren't you hungry, Hermione?" Harry asked.
"Not particularly…" She said picking at her food.
"Is sho'mting 'ong?" Ron inquired, his mouth stuffed once again.
"He wouldn't take it!" She blurted out loudly.
"The cloak?" Ron asked after swallowing.
"Yes, he wouldn't take it!" Hermione said.
"Why not?" Harry asked
"How should I know!" Hermione asked. " He told me that I had problems with following directions and-"
She paused as Ron burst out laughing, "You? You follow directions like they're going out of style!"
"...and... he told me he didn't want it! What should I do?" Hermione finished angrily.
"I dunno Hermione, sounds like a dilemma." Harry said, pondering a solution.
"Just bring it with anyway, but keep it hidden, so if he asks you can give it to him, and if he doesn't, you can leave it there when his back is turned." Ron suggested.
"Yeah, like that will work!" Hermione snapped taking a bite of food.
"It was just a suggestion! You asked for my help!" Ron pouted
"Yeah, sorry..." Hermione replied.
That night for detention, Hermione did as Ron had suggested and hid the cloak in her bag beneath all of her books, hoping that it would not get soiled in any way. She knocked on the door to Professor Snape's office after taking a deep breath.
"Enter." Severus Snape's muffled voice said from within. Hermione acted on the command and entered the dank room.
"I'm here for my detention, sir." She said
"I can see that, Ms. Granger, I'm not blind." He got up from his desk and strolled around it so he was standing in front of her, "Why were you up in the tower so late that night?" He inquired
"I was finishing off my astronomy homework, I was just double checking a few things." Hermione replied.
"I see. Why then, were you asleep up there?" Snape asked having no mercy.
"I fell asleep by accident."
"You didn't think. You were lucky that you did not catch hypothermia." Snape said. He went to his desk and pulled a long piece of parchment out of his desk, "You will do lines." He said waving his wand so that a phrase appeared on the blackboard.
Thank you for saving my life, Prof. Snape.
Hermione stared incredulously at him.
"Don't just stand there, gawking, get to work, for you will be here every night until you finish it. I would have expected more from a fifth year." Snape said sitting down at his desk and returning to work. Hermione sat down on the desk provided and began to write her lines. She wrote quickly and neatly, a feat tried by all of Prof. Snape's line victims. At the end of the detention she pulled out the cloak quietly.
"Sir. I know you told me to keep this, but it is a nice cloak, and I'm sure you would like it back." Hermione said placing it on his desk after taking it out of her bag. She expected a reprimand, or at least an insult. But instead, Severus Snape looked up at the girl with a glare.
"Fine." He said, "Now get out." Hermione left the room as commanded and was glad to get the cloak out of her possesion.
Only one more installment left. TBC.