A Fate Worse Than Death
Disclaimer: the Harry Potter Universe belongs solely to J K Rowling and her chosen associates.
Chapter Three: A Potion Revealed.
Double Potions was drawing to a thankful close. Professor Snape, who was looking as though he had not slept the previous night (and was certainly acting that way), had managed to find fault with the NEWT students of all Houses including rather surprised Slytherins.
Hermione had not escaped his sneering remarks. For once his comments had not been without foundation – she had chopped the roots of the Dog's Mercury three sizes too thick. But she was unusually distracted.
Draco Malfoy was working directly in front of her and she had been trying to catch a glimpse of his expression now that he was in direct proximity to Snape.
Would he be nervous? Show signs of guilt or be acting smug at having pulled one over his fearsome Head of House?
At last she caught a direct look at his face as she returned from the ingredients cupboard at the front of the class. Draco had looked up at Snape as she returned to her seat and Hermione was surprised to see a look of fear in his eyes. Why had he stolen from the office if he was unable to hide his guilt? It suggested that he had not done this before.
Hermione could not share her puzzlement with either Ron or Harry as she had not shared this part of her adventure with them at their breakfast reunion that morning. They had congratulated her heartily as she joined them in the Great Hall and Neville had presented her with a small punnet of ripe strawberries from some mysterious corner of the Herbology greenhouses.
Hermione had kept quiet about seeing Draco because she had reasoned that, under provocation from Malfoy, Harry or Ron would not be able to resist mentioning that the Slytherin had been seen in compromising circumstances and this might create a trail back to Neville.
Neville was currently working on the same row of benches as Hermione. Following her suggestion he had magically copied the instructions from the board onto a piece of parchment on his desk, which had overcome his tendency to forget ingredients and, following the disaster of the vervescentio potion, was now carefully ticking off each completed stage and therefore avoiding adding everything twice.
He flashed Hermione a small smile as Snape announced the end of the practical session and requested labelled phials be brought up to his desk.
Hermione steeled herself for what she was now about to do. She deliberately took her time over clearing up her cauldron area and picked up her neatly labelled phial only when she had determined that she was the last to do so.
Ron and Harry were waiting for her when she shook her head and signed a question mark. Harry sighed and Ron mimed "Mad!" as they accepted that Hermione was yet again going to remain behind to ask Snape an advanced potions question.
Neither minded – this was only to be expected of the brightest witch in the school.
"Save you a seat at lunch," whispered Harry, as they left Hermione in the rapidly emptying classroom.
Hermione looked at the front of the room. The lanky potions master was sitting at his high desk entering the details of each phial on a parchment. This was the moment when Hermione could leave and her midnight discovery remain a mystery only to herself but she had made a decision that morning on waking to warn a fellow member of the Order and her strong sense of right now sent her up to Snape's desk to place her phial among the others.
"Um - Professor Snape?"
" Miss Granger. What is it now?" Snape was pinching the centre of his nose between his thumb and forefinger and grimacing. "Please be brief, I am suffering from a headache already and do not wish to add to it."
"Yes Sir, I understand, I saw you leave the Great Hall yesterday evening."
Keen black eyes now surveyed Hermione to gauge her meaning.
"And girl what of it?" he snapped.
"While you were out last night I believe that someone from your House broke into your office." There she had said it.
" And exactly how would you have come to know that?" Snape sneered at her.
"Well – I am a Gryffindor Prefect and last night was patrol duty." Which was all Hermione intended to say.
"Indeed. A Gryffindor Prefect – how wonderful, obviously gifted with far-sight as well if you could see into my office." Snape was not bothering to act civil.
"Because of the timing of the incident I thought I should warn you as a member of the Order." Hermione was struggling to stay polite and formal in the face of Snape's dislike.
"Member of the Order," Snape muttered in a tone of disgust. "Very well Miss Granger, let us satisfy your impulse to interfere in an attempt to give me some peace before an afternoon of incompetent First years."
He led the way to the dungeon door where, with an exaggerated bow of mock courtesy, he indicated that Hermione should precede him into the corridor.
They walked side by side through the passage in silence. At Snape's office door he turned to Hermione. "It has become obvious to me that there has been an increase in attempted thefts from my private stores. Slytherin students have always regarded the removal of a token or two as a sort of rite of passage for older students but the last few years has seen a marked increase in serious thefts. Ingredients for Polyjuice Potion for example."
Snape was looking very pointedly at Hermione as he said this but she maintained an innocent expression.
"Oh yes, you are talking about Barty Crouch in my fourth year aren't you Sir?"
Snape's lips thinned even more than usual and then he turned in a swish of robes to point to the portrait across the hallway. "I have therefore taken certain steps to increase security. One of which was to install a portrait of a distant ancestor, known for her understanding of the importance of maintaining a serious outlook on life, as a reliable guardian of my office door."
Snape stepped up to the portrait and called, "Lady Serena, a moment of your time if you please." The canvas remained empty and Snape raised one eyebrow in slight puzzlement.
"Madame, I have an urgent need to speak to you," he requested again.
There seemed to be movement in one corner of the painting and eventually an incredibly dishevelled sorceress, a robe clutched hastily about her person appeared at the front of the portrait. Snape's other eyebrow had shot up to join the first. Hermione had had to turn away feigning a cough as she was sure that she had heard a faint clank of armour and a muttered oath of "Gadzooks!" from the corner of the painting from which the lady had emerged.
Snape was choosing to ignore the appearance of his "reliable" ancestor.
"Lady Serena, did you witness anyone attempting to enter my office last night after curfew?"
"No Professor Snape," the sorceress murmured in a silky voice as she tried to bring her tangled locks of hair under control.
"You are absolutely sure?" Snape spoke with a triumphant smile as he turned to look at Hermione.
"Absolutely, no one entered your office while I was here. Of course, I was away for a little while around Midnight as I was forced to investigate reports that some younger portraits were misbehaving themselves at the top of the Grand Staircase."
"Of course," echoed Snape, his smile fading. "Thank you, Lady Serena."
"My pleasure as always Severus." The sorceress turned and exited from view.
Snape opened his office door with a bang and Hermione meekly followed.
He strode across his office to the large cupboard next to his desk and then whirled around to face her. "I sincerely hope that you are not having a joke at my expense Miss Granger. Life would become very unpleasant for anyone who tried to do that!"
Hermione had recovered from her laughing fit and again assumed her most innocent expression. Snape seemed satisfied and turned to the Potion store again.
"This cupboard contains material that is not released to students except under the most limited of circumstances. It is now warded with spells only known to members of the Snape family." He drew serpentine patterns against the wooden doors with his wand and then opened them.
Rows of bottles greeted the gaze of the Potion Master and his student.
Hermione had not had the time previously to look closely at the contents of the cupboard and now looked in wonder at the many different shapes and sizes of bottles displayed there. The liquids sparkled with a myriad rainbow colours in the light of the office oil lamps. Other containers held tantalising pieces of magical creatures, objects and plants, making the jars that lined the rest of Snape's office seem humdrum in comparison.
"Everything appears in order. But I will perform an audit spell to confirm this. Lady Serena mentioned Midnight I believe."
Snape pointed his wand to the centre of the cupboard and gave a circular flick, "Tempus Nox Aperio." A small blue glowing orb of the moon appeared with swirls of light revolving within it.
Suddenly streaks of blue flashed from the orb outlining certain jars and bottles on the shelves. Snape snarled with annoyance and leant forward to check the labels.
"It would seem that you were correct. Certain items were removed last night. Let us see what mischief was being brewed."
Snape began to examine the outlined containers with great care.
"The wards have certainly been bypassed," he murmured, almost to himself. "That is not impossible for someone with a knowledge of old wizarding families."
Snape raised his wand once more "Finite." The blue glow vanished.
"Let me see now," the Potion Master stood deep in thought. "Missing – one quarter draught of Ixora Root Potion, several measures of Moon Hibiscus Pollen, a container of Broceliand Gloworm tails and half a jar of Ashwinder Eggs stewed in Neroli oil. With the addition of several common Potion ingredients, a competent magic user could create a very potent Love Potion.
"Not the usual variation, this one has a nasty combination of a strong element of sexual attraction coupled with emotional attachment, if brewed correctly. And it would of course be brewed correctly," he concluded bitterly. "It never ceases to amaze me that a student who can never raise themselves to acceptable level in my classes proves perfectly capable of brewing a complicated illegal Potion. The Weasley twins for example. Of course there are always those students, mercifully rare, who are outstanding at both."
Snape was closing the cupboard as he spoke so Hermione was not sure if his barbed comment was directed at her.
He straightened up to look at her. "Do you know what day it is Miss Granger? "
"What? Um - no Sir." Hermione was thrown by the change of subject.
"It is just over one week since the celebration of that detestable festival of Valentine's Day." How could she forget? Although things had calmed down since the days of Gilderoy Lockhart, singing dwarves now being on Filch's list of banned "objects" for example; Valentine's Day had remained popular.
This year's favoured method of declaring undying love had been, courtesy of Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes, a firework that rained small flaming hearts upon the object of affection. At times it had been like walking through a blizzard of sparkling red hearts as she tried to go from one lesson to another through a throng of distracted students.
Hermione, not to her surprise, had not received any token (or wanted to send one). She had decided to put her NEWTS before her heart this year, especially after the last desperate fumble in a darkened corner with a certain Ravenclaw who she had thought might have had a bit of wisdom on the subject of love.
"The castle is currently full of idiots who believe themselves either to have been spurned by the object of their affections or condemned to a loveless existence because they did not receive any pieces of heart-shaped tat." Snape was in full sneer.
"There have always been enterprising students ready to take advantage of this by making available a magical solution at an appropriate price, despite the fact that this is strictly forbidden. Due to the nature of the ingredients this Potion is ready to use as soon as it is brewed so I can expect shortly to be encountering Potion affected students all over the castle."
Hermione blinked. She had always assumed that the overcrowding of favoured trysting places in Hogwarts following Valentine's Day was due to the successful declaration of true love between the young couples concerned (even if this only lasted a week) and had not considered that magic might obviously be involved.
She found herself being ushered to the door of Snape's office.
"I will inform Madame Pomfrey directly and assist her in making the appropriate quantities of antidote. I believe you mentioned that members of my own House carried out the theft. I do not want any names!" Snape raised a finger at Hermione's attempt to speak. "I shall carry out my own enquiries to ensure that you are not exploiting this matter to settle any grudges."
He ignored her indignant glare. "The culprits will be dealt with appropriately.
"Although –," he stopped and a small smile curled his lips, "I may delay the confiscation of the Potion. After all it will be the only chance for an interfering know-it-all such as yourself to experience – love."
Hermione found herself standing in the corridor outside Snape's office looking at a closed door. Her mouth was gaping open like one of the fish in the icy lake outside the castle. Mortification then anger flooded her from head to foot.
She finally turned and marched down the corridor, her chin held high and red spots burning in each cheek.
The Snarky, Slimy, Underhand Git! That Condescending Bastard of a Potion's Master!
How could she have thought he would appreciate her attempt to warn him?
I wish that someone would use that Potion on you, she muttered to herself as she broke into a near run, feeling moisture prickling the corner of her eyes.
I would love to see YOU mooning around under the influence of binding magic, unable to control your emotions for once!
She was nearly blind with tears by the time she reached the entrance to the Great Hall and decided to seek refuge in the nearest Girl's Bathroom rather than face the cheerful bustle of Hogwarts students enthusiastically setting about their lunch.
A flurry of robes and quiet sobs and she was gone.
TBC.