Classes the next week were constantly interrupted by the news of the day, most of it pertaining to Sirius Black. Gossip about his story and his trial flew around the halls, most of it absurd and completely fictional, based on absolutely nothing of fact. A few of the professors had genuine insights, though, and Hermione made a point to try and get them.
"I saw him, once," Hagrid said. "'Night I picked up Harry from the rubble. 'e was there with his flyin' motorbike. Said I could have it; he wouldn't be needin' it anymore." He stroked his beard. "If the story's true, I guess he figured he'd be goin' ter Azkaban for murderin' his friend anyway."
Professor Lupin was surprisingly tight-lipped about the entire matter.
"It has been over a decade since I've seen or spoken to Sirius Black," he said, his smile strained. "We were friends once, yes. And we might be friends again. But Azkaban changes people. We'll have to see how he is once he's freed."
Lupin didn't seem to realize he'd assumed Sirius would get off, which told Hermione which side of the Sirius/Pettigrew issue he fell on. A plus, really – she couldn't bring herself to ask about Lupin's previous friendship with Pettigrew.
Though most of the professors seemed neutral or curious about the Sirius Black news, there was one who was decidedly not pleased to be reading about Sirius' upcoming trial.
"No reading in class," Snape snapped, seizing someone's copy of the Daily Prophet. "Ten points from Gryffindor."
"Class hasn't even started yet!" Seamus Finnegan objected.
"And a further five for backtalk," Snape said curtly, throwing the newspaper on his desk. "Don't pretend like you wouldn't have tried to sneak it under your desk to read."
Hermione gnawed on her lip, avoiding eye contact with Snape throughout the class. She didn't answer questions and took the lead on ingredient preparation, letting Theo take the lead in the actual brewing.
"What's with you?" Theo wanted to know. "You're never this docile."
Hermione winced. "I think Snape's mad at me."
"Please," Theo scoffed. "Snape favors us. We don't have anything to worry about. Pass me the xander root."
Hermione handed it over as she started chopping arteza pods, still keeping her head down. Theo didn't know she was largely responsible for Sirius Black's petition to the Wizengamot, nor for his substantial chances of going free.
As it was, her keeping quiet didn't matter.
"Perfect," Snape pronounced, observing the glittering surface of their potion with keen eyes. "Ten points to Slytherin. Mister Nott, bottle this up. Miss Granger, stay after class."
Theo shot her a look while Hermione winced, and Snape swept across the room to the Gryffindors.
"And here we see an absolute atrocity of a potion. Did I not clearly state one scoop of diced arteza? And did I not mention the need to stir counterclockwise after each new addition? Well? I'm waiting, Mister Weasley."
As the class shuffled out, Hermione waited at the front of the classroom, looking at her feet. Harry shot her a sympathetic look, and Hermione felt a sudden urge to ask him and Blaise to say, to face Snape's wrath as a coven together. She dismissed it a moment later – she was the one who knew the truth of Snape's history with Black, no one else – but it would have been nice to have support for this conversation, which she suspected would not go well.
After the last student had filed out, Snape gestured at the classroom door, which flew shut with a loud slam. Hermione jerked, startled, and her eyes met Snape's, which were glittering.
"Miss Granger," he said. "We have much to discuss."
He walked around behind his desk, slowly drawing out his chair. He sat down, eyes fixed on hers, Hermione biting her lip all the while.
"Now, Miss Granger—"
"I'm sorry!" Hermione burst out, unable to keep it inside any longer. "I'm sorry, I know you hate him, but I checked, and he'd been in Azkaban for the standard sentence for attempted murder, so it was kind of like time served? Even though he'd never been tried? But I couldn't just let him stay condemned to the Dementor's Kiss – I couldn't – and I couldn't keep him imprisoned forever, so I was only trying to do the right thing—"
She cut herself off, biting her lip, and Snape's eyebrows rose.
"Well," he said. He looked down at her, examining. "I thought this conversation was going to be admonishing you for the danger of conducting a Blood-Debt Ritual at the school when fully expecting to get a mass murderer as a result—"
"We had containment wards up for that! And we had an owl to send for a teacher if he really came through!"
"—but now I see that there are other issues at play here." His eyes glittered. "Am I to believe, then, Miss Granger, that despite the failure of your ritual, you captured Sirius Black anyway?"
"Um," Hermione said. She winced. "Yes?"
Snape paused, closing his eyes and drawing a deep breath. He pinched the bridge of his nose tightly.
"How?" he asked. "How did you, a girl of fourteen, manage to do in her free time what the full-time Aurors of the Ministry have not?"
"Opportunity and luck?" Hermione guessed. "When he broke in the last time, I was crashing in the Gryffindor tower. I used the Time-Turner to go back in time and hide in the hallways to see how he came in, and then I trapped him as he tried to escape through the secret passage he came in through."
Snape sighed.
"And it never occurred to you to get a teacher?" he said. "To take the wanted criminal to Dumbledore?"
"I mean, it did," Hermione said. She bit her lip. "But first I wanted to know why I'd gotten the rat in the Blood-Debt ritual, and after Sirius explained that, I wanted to verify his story to know if he was telling the truth or not. Once I determined that he was, my mind just sort of clicked over to 'help him clear his name', not 'tell Dumbledore'. It just seemed like the next thing to do."
Something dawned in Snape's eyes. He looked at her for a long moment, a tense silence growing in the classroom, one that made Hermione squirm.
"You asked me that day, didn't you?" he asked quietly. "That was the day you asked what sentence a teenager would get for attempted murder."
"Um. Yes," Hermione said.
"Why?" Snape's voice was a whisper, his eyes glittering. "Why did you ask, Hermione? If you were going to help him walk free anyway?"
Hermione swallowed hard.
"He never got punished for what he did to you," she said. "It didn't—I didn't want to help him, if it meant he'd never be forced to account for his actions. He had, though, being locked in Azkaban, so I decided to help him without making him plead guilty to attempted murder as part of the deal."
Snape's eyes met hers steadily.
"You would do that?" he said softly. "Hold a man's life and soul hostage for something he did twenty years ago?"
"I wouldn't put it quite like that," Hermione protested.
"But you did, did you not?" Snape said. "You alone held the key to his freedom."
"He hurt you," Hermione said vehemently. "And—justice isn't always fair. If the courts or other people fail us, and we have to do it ourselves – and, well, I had the opportunity, didn't I? But he'd served his term in Azkaban, to balance out the scales. But I wouldn't have helped him the same way if he hadn't."
Snape looked at Hermione for a long moment, his face utterly unreadable. Hermione bit her lip hard. She felt like crying.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I know you hate him. I know. Maybe you can duel him after he's free, to get revenge for everything he did in school? I know you hate him. But I couldn't risk his soul. I had a moral obligation, no matter how much I dislike the man. I'm sorry. I know you're mad."
"On the contrary, Hermione," Snape said quietly, "I find I'm unexpectedly touched."
Hermione's eyes widened. "Wait, what? Really?"
"You put retribution for a crime done against me above a man's innocence," Snape said. "Do you know how long it's been since somebody's put me first?"
He raised an eyebrow, sardonically, and Hermione felt her heart pang for him. How lonely and sad that must be, she thought, to have no one care about him or make him feel valued or cared for as their #1.
Snape gave her the ghost of a smile, and he leaned back in his chair.
"So," he said conversationally. "Tell me, then. What is your master plan to free Sirius Black?"
"Well," she said hesitantly. "It started with me going to Draco…"
As she explained how everything had unfolded so far, Hermione slowly relaxed as Snape listened, making cutting and sarcastic comments at times but seemingly amused. Despite his hatred for Black, he seemed to be interested in her plot to free Black, and there was a ghost of a smile on his face and pride in his eyes as she explained how she and the Malfoys were manipulating the Wizengamot.
It meant a rather lot to her that Snape wasn't mad at her, she realized. More than expected.
That was okay, though, Hermione decided firmly. Snape was her mentor, right? It was okay and only natural to want his approval, to hope he'd never be mad at her at all. It made sense to be relieved and pleased to learn he wasn't angry with her.
She only hoped her luck would hold.