You might be drifting, can't find the shore,
So hopeless, and all alone.
The waves are crashing, all around you.
Just when you've lost the will to live, you see the sun.
-Drifting, Plumb.
Chapter 19: The Waves Are Crashing, All Around You.
January 1995-Hogwarts.
Severus Snape was ready to murder a certain reporter in the most painful way he could think of. He hadn't even been aware of his involvement in Rita Skeeter's latest article until Minerva McGonagall had ferociously pounced on him like the terrifying she-lion she was. For a moment he thought he was back in his school days when he had gotten caught hexing one of her precious cubs.
"Severus Snape!" she scolded storming up to him as he entered the teachers' lounge in that voice she saved for her most disobedient students that made them want to cower and beg forgiveness before her full wrath could be released.
"Minerva," he greeted cautiously looking at the other teachers present; Lupin and Black were in one corner and looked to be going over class schedules for the Wolf's next sick leave, but had cast it aside in favor of whispering over a copy of the Daily Prophet. Flitwick and Sprout were sending him looks of disapproval over their own copies of the paper.
He quickly took in and analyzed the reactions of his coworkers and came to the conclusion he had missed something big, something big that involved him. Quickly he tried to think of something he had done to warrant such a reaction from his coworkers. They were still on winter break so classes were not in session, meaning his interactions with the students were limited and he couldn't recall doing anything to any of the staff; well, other than trading some less than pleasant words with Black at breakfast earlier in the week, but that surely didn't warrant such a reaction from the Transfiguration teacher.
"You should be ashamed of yourself, such conduct and with an underage student, no less!" Her voice raised in fury causing her Scottish accent to become more pronounced as she continued to rage at him. Outside he was the picture of calm as he stood there and took the verbal attack from the woman, inside however his confusion over the situation had just racked up another three notches.
'Conduct? Student? What in the blazes is she on about?' he thought furiously trying to think of something he had done to a student recently. Surely she couldn't mean him threatening to melt Lee Jordan from the inside out if he didn't stop keeping a running commentary of his progress in whatever work he had in class. The boy had become quite intolerable, under the poor excuse that he needed to keep his announcer skills in top form if he wanted to keep the position for next year's Quidditch season. He had taken up running commentary of his progress and those around him in class much to his friends, the Weasley Twins, amusement.
He mentally shook his head, that couldn't have been it. It was weeks ago and he hadn't actually done anything to the boy, though he had been sorely tempted. No, something else must be behind the woman's rage.
"Well, what do you have to say for yourself?" McGonagall asked, her rant having simmered down to a low boil, though her wand hand was twitching like she wanted to turn him into a toad and use him to restock his own potion ingredients.
"I have no idea what you're talking about?" he said finally, as the longer he was quiet the more she seemed to want to hex him.
"You don't—!" She sputtered as her anger ignited again, before she was cut off by a voice behind him in the doorway to the lounge.
"I believe, my dear Minerva, that Severus here isn't quite up to date on current news." Dumbledore said coming into the lounge and seating himself in one of the overly stuffed chairs, pulling out two newspapers; the first a copy of the Daily Prophet that he handed to Snape, the second a copy of the Quibbler that he proceeded to open and read.
Taking the paper cautiously, eyes not leaving the Transfiguration professor who seemed to have checked her rage but he was still the focus of a glare that sent a shiver up his spine. Sometimes he wondered who was more terrifying; the Dark Lord or the woman before him.
Dropping his gaze to the paper in his hands he was met with a picture of himself and one of Ms. Hermione Granger dressed for the Yule Ball and on the arm of Draco Malfoy. As he proceeded to read down the article, his own anger began to rise at the writer's nerve to slander him in such a light. There had been enough truth for her to not be called out as an outright liar, but she had omitted a few key-facts and let the readers draw their own conclusions. Namely, what he and Granger were up to in the morning
"You can't tell me, you all actually believe this trash," he sneered, crumbling the paper in his fist as he shook it at the lot of them.
"I don't believe it for a second," Black stated, tipping his chair back on its back legs, feet on the edge of the paper covered coffee table he and Lupin had been using. "Had it been any other girl I might have—" he said leaving out the jab that the only way Snape could get any action was coursing young school girls because no decent woman would have him, "but I've met Hermione out of school over the summer. She doesn't seem one to be persuaded to do anything she doesn't want to, and I'm sure we can all agree she wouldn't risk being expelled by doing anything uncouth with a teacher." Lupin sent a sharp look at Black, most likely to stop him before he started up another argument with Snape, Black only waved him off with a conspiratory smirk.
"I'm glad you have such faith in my morals and professionalism, Black," Snape said scornfully before turning back to the rest of the room, "If it puts you at ease I will say Ms. Granger and I are not secretly sneaking off to some forbidden rendezvous. She expressed some interest at the beginning of last year of wanting to keep in shape, seeing as I ran every morning I insisted she accompany me if she wished to run about the grounds for her own protection. With Dementors and," he glanced over at Black, "convicts about it seemed the safest situation for her to accompany me. It became routine and the schedule simply carried on to this year."
"Running," McGonagall squawked a little off balance after she had just ranted at him about appropriate conduct with a student. Clearing her throat, quite embarrassed at her outburst, she continued on in her normal clipped tone, "Oh, I see. Yes, well, my apologies for making assumptions without speaking with you first."
Snape sighed, this was not going to be a pleasant day, if the students and their parents were under the same impression as the staff that had known him for 13 years, then his life was about to take an interesting turn.
He had been right, but not only for himself. The scene Granger and Weasley had made at breakfast was enough to get those who didn't believe everything they read in the Prophet talking.
The real reason for their morning meetings had been revealed as she had practically shouted it at her friends and half the Hall, causing a lot of the more scandalous rumors to die off; though there were still some of the more outrageous ones circulating about the school. No, what had most of the school talking now was the girl's denouncement of the separate houses. She seemed to have completely thrown off the traditional House feuds and made her feelings on the stereotypes placed on each house quite clear.
For the rest of the break Hermione had avoided Gryffindor Tower in favor of the library, where she could immerse herself in texts on water creatures to try to riddle out the screeching clue of the Egg. Harry had tried to get her to come join him for meals but she would brush him off under excuses that she was busy, but really she had wanted to avoid running into Ron. He had yet to even attempt trying to talk to her since their fight in the Great Hall and she wasn't sure how to heal the fracture in their friendship. It wasn't something she could grit her teeth, stitch closed and hope it healed right. She couldn't humor him and pretend the way things were between the Houses were okay, things needed to change and Ron was going to have to realize the ways of the world for himself. So she threw herself into her research on the next task and hoped he would learn from her example in dealing with the other Houses. She doubted he would, Ron was as stubborn as they come and once he set his mind to something it was hard to change his views.
"If you've come to apologize on your brother's behalf, don't waste your breath. Ronald dug his own hole, he can man up and climb out of it on his own as well," she stated, when she caught sight of Ginny loitering between two bookcases.
"He's just being an idiot," Ginny said, approaching the book-laden table, "I'm sure he will come around when he's had time to cool off."
Hermione scoffed, "And realizes, he just lost his note-copying privileges."
"That too." Ginny giggled coming to sit at one of the chairs at the table that wasn't stacked high in books. "What are you working on?"
"Next task," she said, closing her book on Kelpies and grabbing another on Dobhar-chú, a shy sort of otter hound that lived in lakes. The outer part of the Egg had held no clue to her dilemma which left her to figure out what the ear-splitting sound had to do with the lake. Which led her to researching any creatures that inhabited lakes in hopes of figuring out what she was supposed to do.
"Any luck?" Ginny asked, flipping through the nearest book on Kappas that had been put in the growing stack of unuseful books. Hermione shook her head adding the Dobhar-chú to the small list of things that could be in the lake but didn't produce a sound like the Egg had, as either a normal sound or defense mechanism as it was a good way to keep threats away.
"No," she said, setting the book on a small stack she was keeping for further research and grabbing the next book on Kraken that was immediately discarded, as it was a sea creature, in favor of one on Grindylows. "All I've managed is it is a lake creature with a voice that could make your ears bleed."
"That's it?" the red-head asked, pulling out an essay she was finishing up as classes would be starting back up in a couple of days.
"Pretty much," Hermione commented, adding Grindylows to her list. The two worked in silence for a time till Ginny had finished with her homework.
"What's he like?" Ginny finally asked, flipping through one of the books trying to help Hermione sort through them all.
"Who?" Hermione asked, turning a page and skimming the contents.
"Malfoy," she paused before continuing, "and Snape."
"Malfoy's entertaining," she admitted, with a small smile. "He acts all better-than-thou and when you throw a hitch in his little act you can get a look at what's under that Malfoy pure-blood prejudice."
"Which is what?" Ginny asked, intrigued edging her chair closer as they gossiped.
"A biting sense of humor and an awkwardness that's kinda cute," she revealed, in a mock whisper, "and he has a secret curiosity about Muggles that he will never admit." Ginny's eyes widened in surprise.
"You don't actually like him?" she questioned, not having realized till now that the blonde prat could be labeled cute, Hermione snorted and shook her head.
"No, he's just a—" she paused to think of what he was, they weren't really friends and neither of them would admit it if they were. She finally gave up and shrugged, "semi-hospitable enemy?"
"Are you asking or telling me?" Ginny asked skeptically.
"I don't know, he's fun to banter with and we actually talked quite a bit at the dance," she said with a shrug, not having a better answer for her odd relationship with the Slytherin boy.
"What about Snape?" Ginny said changing topics, deciding to take pity on her floundering friend, "I mean, he's not nasty all the time, right?"
"No," she said softly remembering the last time they had run together and the snowball incident that had occurred afterwards, "He's not so uptight outside class. Especially in the mornings, he's not much of a morning person and usually isn't even fully awake when we part ways. You should see him, he looks like a different person without the billowing black robes and half asleep."
"Without his robes?" Ginny squeaked and Hermione smacked a hand to her face at her poor choice in words given current rumors.
"With clothes on, just not the usual teaching ones," she corrected quickly before shaking her head and scoffing, "Honestly!"
"So he hasn't been picking on you or anything," Ginny paused, "else."
Hermione groaned and buried her head in her folded arms on the pile of books in front of her, "For the last time, Snape has never made any advances on my person nor taken advantage of me in any sense of the term."
"Sorry," Ginny said, patting the older girl on the shoulder, "but I just wanted to make sure you were okay, I won't bring it up again. I'm sure you are ready for all of this to blow over."
"Yeah, you can say that again," she muttered, settling back to continue her research.
Classes started up a few days later and the rumors seemed to have died down some since the students found themselves with other things to occupy their time apart from the current teacher-student scandal.
"What's the favorite rumor in Slytherin House?" Hermione asked curiously, as she unpacked her potion supplies at her shared table with Neville and Draco.
"Why do you care?" Draco asked bitingly. Hermione shrugged as she moved her bottle of ink out of reach of Neville before he bumped it.
"Well, the Hufflepuffs seem to think you and I are secretly betrothed." Draco's face scrunched up in a look of utter disgust at the thought.
"Not if you were the last girl left on earth," Malfoy vowed. Hermione stuck her tongue at him.
"The Ravenclaws on the other hand think I've been getting good grades in Potions because I've been sleeping with Snape." Neville knocked his bag off the table at this statement.
"You what?" He squeaked out in disbelief.
"Neville," Hermione scolded, "It's not true."
"Why would you say that?" Draco whined, "Obliviate me now, so I can forget I ever heard that," he groaned, unable to imagine his godfather with anyone in any intimate way.
"So what do the Slytherins think? I'm sure you guys have some pretty degrading rumors concerning me," she said curious as the House of Snakes as a whole had been quiet on the current topic of gossip when usually they would be at the head to torment a Gryffindor who was slandered in the paper. Draco had done so to Ron earlier in the year after all.
"We don't talk about it much," Draco admitted glancing at Snape who had come over to their table, ignoring the whispering pair in favor of glaring down at Neville. Criticizing the boy's clumsiness and docking points when he hurried to stuff his things back in his bag ended up with him bumping into one of the other students' chairs.
"Why not?" she asked, from past experiences the Snakes seemed to be the most prominent in rumor spreading. Draco glanced up at Snape again as if in question or maybe to ask permission, the Potion Master simply glanced over the pair before heading up to the front of the class; a swish of his wand and the instructions of their next Potion had begun writing itself on the board.
Hermione watched the two with interest, as they seemed to communicate without words. Whatever Draco had wanted to say, Snape seemed to have given permission to share.
"The first rule of Slytherin House," Draco said quietly, so not even Neville could hear, should he try to listen in, "Protect the House, because no one else will."
"Oh," she breathed, realizing it made a lot of sense. Unlike the other Houses, Slytherin never seemed to have the in-fighting rivalries that the others did. She had just met a perfect example of some of the discrimination in the other Houses over break. Ginny had introduced her to a lonely Ravenclaw girl named Luna Lovegood, who had been shunned by a good portion of her House and teased by the rest to the point they had started stealing her things and leaving them about the castle for the odd girl to find.
The Slytherins could not afford those types of discrimination among House members as they were already shunned by the other Houses as a whole. They couldn't afford to be divided among themselves.
"Any attempt at criticizing you will lead to attacking either myself or Snape," Draco explained, focusing on the simmering base of his Potion as he prepared ingredients, "Most have just decided to ignore the whole incident all together."
"Wish my House was like that," she admitted with a tired sigh, Draco looked at her in shock at the statement, "I can hardly go into the Common Room without hearing some rumor more elaborate than the last, despite how many times I've told them the truth."
"You're a strange one, Granger," Draco said scoffing, shaking his head.
"You have no idea, Malfoy," she said with a wink, before turning her full focus on her cauldron.
"Not skipping another meal, are we?" George asked, coming into Hermione's self-proclaimed nitch in the library.
"Hmm," she mumbled, chewing on the end of her pen, she had given up on the quill and ink after the third time of knocking over the bottle as she moved books about.
"Stop with the studying," Fred finally ordered, snatching the book from her hands and putting her focus on him instead.
"Hey!" She hissed, snatching for the book but Fred simply tossed it over his shoulder and into George's waiting hands. Hermione scowled at them. "You two are not being very helpful."
"That's what we were going for," George declared, placing the book at the far end of the table and out of reach.
"What is that?" Fred asked pointing at a large bucket in one corner, there were bits of charred paper and scorch marks along the inside.
"Oh, that," she said eyeing the bucket with distaste, "Apparently a lot of people had strong opinions of what that vile woman wrote. So strong, in fact, they decided to share."
The twins grimaced at this, knowing instantly what she was talking about. They had seen first-hand what kind of opinions Rita's readers had.
"Hope they're not as bad as what Snape's been getting."
"Nothing's worse than a Howler from Mum."
Hermione choked on her own spit at this. "Your Mum sent him a Howler?" She had seen the one the woman had sent Ron when he had stolen his dad's flying car. She couldn't imagine what the woman would have said given the light Rita had painted their relationship in.
"Oh, dear," she groaned looking at her own charred letters, she had gotten a couple of Howlers but most of those had been about Malfoy; a lot of people seemed under the impression she was trying to get in good books with the Malfoy's and climb the social ladder in an attempt to rise from her Muggleborn status.
'She must think, he's some sort of pedophile or something,' she thought with growing horror at what the Weasley Matron was sure to have unleashed on the man, who had done nothing but make sure she had a safe place to run in the mornings.
"What did it say?" she asked, not sure she wanted to know.
The two shared a look before Fred answered, "We didn't hear much, Dumbledore cast a Silencing Charm on the teachers table before it could really get going."
"It did say something along the line of 'you foul evil little worm of a man,' and 'how dare you take advantage of such a sweet and innocent little girl'," George continued.
"Did someone send her a letter explaining things?" she asked realizing she probably should have done just that when the article came out.
"Yeah, I think Lupin did," Fred said, tapping the charred pail with the toe of his shoe. "Black was too busy laughing at first, then she said something that made even him pale. Wish we could have heard that part."
Suddenly George tossed the book he had been flipping through on to the table, "Enough about Snape."
Fred concurred, "Yeah, even if half the school thinks you're sleeping with him—"
"—and the other half thinks you're trying to slither into Malfoy's."
"Hey!" Hermione said offended, she wasn't about to shack up with just anyone; well, not since she had come back to the past.
"We're kidding, now come on," George placated before grabbing her by the arm, his brother taking the other and the two hauled her from the library.
"Where are we going?" she finally asked, when they turned down a hall and came to a portrait of a bowl of fruits.
"You mean you've had that map for a year and never payed a visit to the kitchen?" Fred asked mockingly tickling the pear in the bowl and the portrait swung open revealing the school's house-elves bustling about the kitchen cleaning up from dinner.
"Shame, what have you been up to," George asked suspiciously, but got no reply as they were set upon by the Elves who were all eager to serve them.
Hermione, Snape and Malfoy were not the only ones targeted by Skeeter. Hagrid too found himself being slandered across the newspaper to the point he stopped attending classes and Dumbledore was forced to call in a substitute.
She was on her way back from a Hogsmeade trip with Ginny, when she had parted ways with the girl to head to the Giant's hut. Maybe she could talk him out of his isolation given her own time as Rita's topic of interest.
Wrapped in her warm winter cloak she knocked on the large wooden door of the hut, Dracarys wrapped snugly around her neck like a little heated scarf. After some barking from Fang and muffled voices the door opened to reveal Dumbledore.
"Ms. Granger, good to see you," he said kindly opening the door for her to enter.
"Sorry, if I'm interrupting, Sir. I came to talk to Hagrid—Professor Hagrid, that is," she corrected, stepping inside to the sight of a teary-faced Hagrid sitting with Harry and Ron.
"Not at all, my dear, we were just trying to talk our mutual friend here into returning to work. Without success, I might add," the Headmaster admitted, shutting the door and retaking his seat in front of a large Half-Giant-sized cup of tea.
"Hey, Hermione," Harry greeted her awkwardly with a smile.
"Hi, Harry," she said, returning his smile before looking at Ron. "Hey, Ron," she greeted a little more softly, dropping her smile as the boy continued to scowl down at his own cup of tea.
"Hey," came his forced reply.
"Hello, Hagrid," she said her smile back, coming to stand by the Half-Giant after taking off her winter cloak and hanging it over the back of one of the large chairs.
"'Lo," he replied, his voice rough and hoarse.
"More tea, I think," Dumbledore suggested topping off all their cups before passing a fresh one to Hermione along with the plate of cakes he had provided.
"Hey, what are you letting some stupid cow's article get you so down," Hermione said resting her hand on one of his large massive arms. "I can't speak for others," she said glancing at Ron, "but I don't care if your mum was a Giantess, a Centaur or the crazy cat lady who lives down my street. You are not your mother or her kin, you are Hagrid and our friend."
"That is what I have been saying," Dumbledore said sipping out of his large mug of tea like it was a delicate tea cup. "I've shown you the letters of people who remember you from their school days, who say the same."
"Not everyone feels that way," Hagrid croaked, tears leaking into his beard, "You're not a Half-Giant."
"No I am not a Half-Giant. I am a Muggleborn Gryffindor who happens to be on civil speaking terms with some Slytherins and that seems to be just as bad as far as the general public believe," she snapped hands on her hips, "you think just because the public thinks I'm a social climber trying to make up for my dirty blood I should hole up in my room and forget about my classes or the Tournament." Her words seemed to spark something in the half-human.
"Don't you dare think it, 'Mione. You're too bright a witch to be cooped up, and yer gonna show them all when you win that Tournament," he declared fiercely, grabbing her hands in his far larger ones.
"Only on one condition," she said after a measured moment, as if she needed to think over his words.
"What do ya need?" he asked, wiping at his tear-streaked face trying to dry it.
"Come back to class," she patted his hand that was still holding hers, "Please, we miss you."
"Aw right, for you lot," he said reluctantly, casting his gaze over the three students in the room.
"Splendid," Dumbledore said as he set his mug on the table and rose from his seat, "I will be taking my leave now and, Hagrid, I expect you at breakfast 8:30 Monday." Giving Fanga pat, the Headmaster exited the hut followed by the sound of a clatter.
"Dracarys!" Hermione scolded, as the little Horntail had scampered across the table and perched itself on the brim of the Headmaster's cup. The dragon teetered on the edge a moment before falling into the cup with a startled squeak. His head popped out a moment later licking greedily at his lips, swimming about the half filled cup as if it were a pool.
"Sorry, Hagrid," she apologized, plucking the dragon out and wiping him off with a napkin.
"Don't worry, you know how I love dragons. Even if he ain't a real one," he said with a still teary smile, "Sit down, have a cake," he offered, trying to take up the mantle of host now that the Headmaster had gone.
"No, it's alright, I just came to check on you and I need to be going. There isn't much longer until the next task and I have a lot to do," sticking the little dragon safely in her sweater pocket, she pulled her winter cloak back on. "I'm sure Harry and Ron have loads to talk to you about, anyway."
"A'right, if yer sure," Hagrid said a little dejectedly.
"See you in class," heading to the door, she paused, "Bye, Harry. Ron." She slipped out into the cold January afternoon.
The Second Task was fast approaching as they entered into February, by the end of the month she would have to face the coming Task, whether she was ready or not. Hermione sat in the library ready to start pulling her own hair out staring at the sheets of parchments that held all the information she had gathered, still stumped on the Egg.
"What about a Siren?" Ginny suggested. She and her new friend, Luna, had come by to help.
"No, they are only found in seas and oceans," Hermione said, shaking her head. Luna sat cross-legged on a chair with the Egg on her lap, humming a tune as she flipped through a random book. "Plus their voices are pretty enough to lure sailors to their doom, that thing is more likely to drive them away."
"I wonder, if it sounds so painful because it hurts to be out of the water for so long." Luna said quietly, still flipping through the pages.
"What?" Hermione asked confused; it was a large false egg not a living thing, it shouldn't have much preference in what environment it was in. Then again, it was magic and magic always did have a strange sense of logic.
"Like the Grifflow that used to live in the pond by my house," Ginny looked at Hermione in question as if to ask what a Grifflow was, Hermione could only shrug in reply. "It used to carry on and be quite mean when it wandered too far from the pond, but once it found its way back it was quite pleasant and would make the flowers grow quite nicely."
"You think putting it in water would make a difference?" Hermione asked curiously.
"You said you thought it was a lake creature, why wouldn't it like getting wet?" Luna asked, setting the book aside so she could run her fingers over the surface of the Egg, humming her tune as she drew random shapes on its surface.
"That's actually not a bad idea," Hermione acknowledged, before picking up another book, "I might just try that out later, but for now I want to look through a few more of these first."
The next morning found Hermione exiting the Room of Requirement after her morning workout and reentering the room to see the training room she had used minutes before had been replaced with a spacious bathroom.
Stripping out of her workout clothes she tucked them in her bag and pulled out a set of her school robes that she draped over a conveniently placed marble bench before pulling the Egg out of her bag. She walked over the warm tiled floor to the shower head, set in one wall, setting the Egg on the floor. She turned on the shower and stepped into the warm water as it soothed her aching muscles.
Steam from the small swimming pool-sized tub curled in wisps about the room. Scrubbing away the sweat from her body under the steady stream of water Hermione enjoyed the private time to let her glamour fade and be herself for a time. Rinsing her hair she pulled it back in a bun out of her way as she kneeled, moving the Egg under the spray and opening it. The Egg shrieked.
Snapping it closed with a sigh, she picked it up and turned the shower off. Heading toward the convenient rack of towels, the tub caught her attention. Approaching the large stone basin in the floor she sat down on the edge, her feet in the steaming water.
"I wonder—" she muttered, dunking the Egg into the water and with a deep breath opened it. The room was silent save the sloshing of water, slowly slipping off the edge she moved deeper until she could stand with water at her shoulders. The Egg still open in her hands, she took a deep breath and dunked her head under.
The Egg was singing.
Hermione broke the surface and jumped out of the tub. The voice still in her ears she grabbed a towel and quickly dried her hands off before digging in her bag and pulling out a paper and one of her pens. Writing down the clue she cast Impervious on it to make it waterproof, before heading back to the tub to mull over the clue.
Setting the paper on the edge she stepped into the tub to close and retrieve the Egg. Once the Egg was securely on the rim of the tub, where it wouldn't roll away, she relaxed against the side and picked up the paper, reading over the clue.
'Come seek us where our voices sound.' The lake, that she already knew.
'We can not sing above the ground.' A lake creature that could form human words only underwater. Hermione reclined her head back against the stone lip of the tub going through the list of lake creatures she had compiled. Merpeople were said to have beautiful voices but only under water, that had to be it.
'And while you're searching, ponder this: We've that what you'll sorely miss,' So the Merpeople would be holding something she would miss if lost.
'An hour long you'll have to look and to recover what we took; bit past an hour - the prospect's black, too late, it's gone, it won't come back.' Simple enough, this Task would have a time limit and exceeding the limit would result in loss of the taken possession.
Surviving an hour underwater, not so simple.
A chime began going off in her bag and Hermione reluctantly climbed out of the tub. Drying off she wrapped her towel around her and gathered up the Egg and clue. Fishing around her bag she pulled out a pocket watch, flipping it open the hand labeled her name read 'Hurry up or you'll be late!'. Closing the watch she stuck it back in her bag and got dressed.
The watch had been a rather extravagant gift from Sirius for Christmas. It had a large hand with her name on it that kept track of time for her along the outer edge. There were two other hands as well; one green and one red that were currently pointed at 'Hogwarts' on a smaller dial along with the labels 'Unknown', 'Mortal Danger', 'Burrow', 'Grimmauld Place' and two pictures on the colored slightly smaller hands. Both the paw print and howling wolf were lit up on each, meaning Harry and Ron were in the presence of the two professors.
She had thanked Sirius enthusiastically for the most likely expensive item. It would make her life a lot easier keeping an eye on her two friends when she wasn't around. Especially with how tense things were sure to get with the final task of the Tournament.
Quickly running a brush through her hair she replaced her glamour and stuffed the Egg in her bag along with the clue. Tying her hair back into a low tail she picked up her bag and headed down to breakfast to tell Ginny and Luna what she had found out.
"Siriu-uh Professor Black," she corrected as some stragglers from their last class were still in the room. Lowering her voice she continued, "I need you to get something from my house once you leave, as soon as possible."
"Sure, what do you need?" he asked, pulling her aside with a wave at Lupin to continue what he was doing as he flipped through essays at his desk. Leading the way to Lupin's office, he shut the door.
"I need a book from my office, left of the desk probably on one of the upper shelves." She said digging through her pockets and pulling out the paper she had written down the title of the book.
"I can't read this," he stated, holding up the paper toward her. 'Зелья для выживания в экстремальных ситуациях' She pushed it back toward him.
"It's not for you to read, just find the book title that matches that," she said rolling her eyes, "I need it as soon as you can. It's for the next Task and I'm running out of time."
"Alright, alright, I'll pick it up tonight," he said, tucking the paper in his robe pocket.
"Thanks," she waved, heading out the door.
That evening found Sirius entering Hermione's house in Hook Norton. The wards still recognized him from his time living there as he entered without trouble. Entering her office he had to stop for a moment and turn on the lights before he was met with a strange sight, something that had not been there last time he had been in her office.
Papers were stuck up all over one wall, bits of colored string connecting everything together. Going to the far left side to get a closer look he saw a Muggle newspaper clipping of a woman and baby. Following the black string he began to notice, all the papers the black string connected to were all about Voldemort. Continuing on he saw a blue string branching off with an article of his arrest after James and Lily had been murdered, followed by one of his escape. The paper at the end of the short blue string was an article stating he had been apprehended after breaking into Hogwarts and given the Kiss.
'First off don't get killed by Dementors.' Hermione had said that to him when she had first told him her story. Sirius let out a deep breath and closed his eyes before looking further along the black line and the article he had seen about the Quidditch Cup.
A green line broke off with a number of articles written by Rita Skeeter about Harry, who had apparently been entered into the Tournament. The green line ended abruptly with a photo of a number of wizards milling about a graveyard, as the photographer seemed to focus on the sheet-draped form at the feet of a tombstone in the form of a Grim Reaper.
Sirius felt his heart freeze in his chest at the barely visible mop of unruly hair peeking out from under the sheet. He brushed a hand over the picture. Hermione's words coming back to him. 'I fought in a few skirmishes but it was a losing fight, there were too few left to stand for the light and with our leader and Harry dead; there was nothing to hold it together.'
Remus had been right, hearing about what had happened in Hermione's time—what could very likely see come to pass was entirely different than being faced with the proof he could see and touch for himself. Dropping his hand from the photo of Harry he turned away from the wall, he didn't want to see anymore.
Finding the book only took a few minutes and he soon found himself turning the lights off and leaving the room and its wall behind.
Hermione flipped through the book Sirius had brought her, 'Potions Guide to Surviving the Extreme'. She had come a long way from her lessons, learning to read Russian from Halt and the scraps of newspapers on the Island.
"Ah-ha," she said, finding the potion she was looking for, "The potion of water breathing." Skimming over the uses she found that it would do what she needed, allow her lungs to draw out oxygen from the water and then exhale the water without drowning. The only problem was, that the potion would only last 20 minutes, she was going to have at least three doses total to get her through the hour.
To top it off, this was an extremely complex potion, far above anything she had tried before and the brewing would take a fortnight; she would have one chance to get it done right, because there would not be enough time for a second attempt. The Second Task was in eighteen days. She was going to need a proper place to brew and Myrtle's bathroom just wasn't going to cut it this time.
"This is not going to work," she muttered before raising her hand to knock on the door, she had spent the last five minutes standing in front of, debating if it was even worth even coming all the way down to the dungeons. There was no way he was going to let her use the lab space after what he had to deal with for the last month for simply allowing her to run with him.
"Enter!" Hermione entered the office to find Snape seated at his desk working through a stack of papers. He glanced up at her entrance before turning his focus back on his papers. "What do you want, Granger?"
"I have a special project, a rather time-sensitive potion; I have all the ingredients and I was wondering if I might be able to come in and use the classroom lab to work on it after class," she said shifting her bag on her shoulder.
Snape was silent as he finished off writing corrections on his current paper before setting his quill aside. Elbows propped on the desk he laced his fingers together, chin resting on his folded hands as he eyed her critically.
"What sort of 'special project' would this be?" he questioned, curious to what the little Gryffindor was up to.
"Potion of Waterbreathing," she replied, the flap of her satchel moved and she clamped a hand over it to keep it closed.
"Ah," he said, a smirk pulling at the corner of his lips as he leaned back in his chair. "A time-sensitive project, indeed."
"I am not asking for help with my Task, so not breaking any rules," she stated folding her arms over her chest in a huff at the look, he was giving her, "I just need a proper place to brew or I'll be forced to do it in one of the deserted bathrooms; which isn't ideal for brewing, it's haunted by a moping ghost."
"Of course you aren't," he said smugly before picking his quill back up and continuing his work, "You may use the lab from 7 to 9 o'clock in the evening, if your potion needs other arrangements then something can be sorted at a later time. Any supplies you must provide yourself, I am not your personal ingredients shop." He stated pointedly.
"Yes, sir," she said a released smile pulling at her lips even as she clamped her hands back on the lid of her bag, holding it closed as something wiggled inside. "Thank you, Sir."
"Was there something else?" he asked after a moment, when she made no move to leave.
"Ah, yes, I'd also like to apologize for all the trouble I caused you in the last month, I didn't mean for that to happen and I understand if you would rather prefer if I choose a different time to run when the weather clears," She said, eyes drifting down to her shoes.
"You did nothing wrong," he said after a pause, setting his current paper in the graded stack and drew another ungraded one in front of him. His quill scratched loudly against the parchment as he worked, "If you wish to continue your exercises at a different time, that is your decision."
Hermione looked up at this, "You mean, you wouldn't mind if I kept running with you?" she asked, a little shocked that he didn't take the opportunity he had been given to get rid of her intrusion into his mornings. Snape glanced up with a scowl, as if to say he wasn't about to repeat himself. "I'd like to keep to the same time if you really don't mind."
"Very well, now if you are quite done, then leave, I have better things to occupy my time with," he ordered waving her off.
"Yes, that was all, thank you again, Sir," she said grinning before turning to the door.
"Granger," his voice stopped her in the doorway, she turned to face him, curiosity written across her face.
"Leave the dragon in your dorm, when you come to work on your potion," he said pointing one long finger at her bag where the little Horntail was half hanging out, having managed to get his head and one wing free.
"Yes, Sir." she said trying to pry the dragon loose and stuff him back in the bag. Dracarys managed a glare toward the Potions Master, his tongue flicking out in a serpent fashion before he had been shoved back in the bag. "What has gotten into you?" she muttered holding her bag in her arms to keep it closed, as she exited the room.
Hermione looked around the Potions Master's private lab. It was dark and not just because it was a windowless dungeon room, but even the cabinets and work tops were made from a selection of dark wood and stone. The only light in the room came from a lit burner under a bubbling cauldron and a number of glass fixtures set into the walls at regular intervals filled with a heatless white flame. The walls were lined with shelves of the same dark wood as the cabinets and packed with row upon row of labeled bottles all laid out in an orderly fashion.
Despite being in the dungeons with the smell of brewing potions and warm white light from the flames on the wall, the room had an almost cozy feel to it. It was just as she remembered from her time spent brewing potions during her detention last year.
"You may use the work area over there." Snape said lighting more of the heatless white lights to brighten the room more. Hermione moved to unload her cauldron and ingredients on the indicated table. Her things laid out, she opened her Potions book to reread the instruction before she started. She could not afford to miss anything because she rushed to get started.
She was peeling and slicing a soggy looking root plant, when Snape walked over to check on her work, much like he did in class. Catching sight of the book she was using he moved closer and lifted one side so he could glimpse the cover before returning it to its usual position.
"Where did you get this book?" He hadn't been able to read the title but he recognized the cover, it wasn't a common book but most copies were magically translated ones and therefore full of mistranslations that could prove hazardous when brewing. This was an original untranslated copy.
"I have a guardian, who deals in old and rare books, she sent it," she explained, adding the precisely sliced root into the cauldron before checking the book for the next step.
"You read Russian?" he questioned, watching her skim the words with her finger as she read.
"And French, some Latin too."
"You are living with a guardian, I wasn't aware your parents had died."
"They didn't, they just moved out of the country, but I still wanted to finish my schooling here," moving to grab a jar of fluorescent fish eggs, "So when a friend they met while we were in France the summer before last said they were moving here, they came up with the plan to transfer my guardianship to her so I could stay here."
Snape seemed to ponder something for a while before he asked, "Who is your guardian?"
"Emma De Vincent, why, do you know her?" Hermione asked in false curiosity, she was beginning to get the feeling Snape was digging for information on 'Nemo'.
"No," he said before strolling back to his own work table. The news of Granger's guardian was something he had not known, not that that was odd, he did not delve into students not in his House's home lives. He still found the news interesting, Granger's attitude toward her school work and physical exercise had changed over the summer before her third year. Now he could place the possible cause of the change on her change in guardianship.
That was not what had caught his attention, though, there was a slim possibility that Granger's guardian was somehow connected to 'Nemo'. The girl had said she did not know the man but he obviously knew her, her guardian could be the variable that linked them together. He would have to look into the matter at a later time.
"What are those?" Hermione asked, as she scaled the thin and delicate Histcarp fish. Scraping the scales into a pile she slid them onto the flat side of her blade, tipping them into her simmering blue potion. Stirring them until they were evenly incorporated. Dusting her hands off she walked over to the long bench Snape was brewing at.
It had been a little over a week since she had started work on her potion and it was coming together nicely. There on the long work table were three small cauldrons simmering, two seemed to be complete with a lid resting on top of each while Snape was finishing off the third.
"You tell me," he said curtly stepping back from the potion he had just finished. Hermione approached and peered into the first cauldron.
"Polyjuice Potion," she said immediately, catching a whiff of the familiar mud like potion. Snape made a sound of affirmation and she moved on to the next. Lifting the lid revealed a clear odorless liquid.
"Is this Veritaserum?" she asked, glancing up at him, Snape nodded.
"I had requested the Headmaster to use it to find out more about the person who entered you in the Tournament. Unfortunately, usage of it on a student is prohibited." Hermione opened her mouth to retort at that insinuation, "Don't try to deny it, I already know Black and Lupin are hiding things about him, even if Dumbledore is taking their word at face value. I also know that you have had contact with him, even if you do not recall it or want to admit to it." Hermione closed her mouth with a click and stared down at the potion. She got the sudden urge to take a sip and spill everything, just to see how he would react to the replies he got.
"You give that to me, you might not like what you find out," she said softly squashing the urge. She couldn't do that to him, if she failed and Voldemort was resurrected at the end of the school year he was going to have to take up the mantle of spy again.
He had told her himself that when working with Dumbledore the best way to avoid Voldemort from finding Order secrets was not to tell him more than necessary. That way even under truth serum he could not divulge anything of importance. If the time came and he needed to know something important, she would use Nemo to do so, it was safest for both of them that way.
"What is this one, I don't recognize it?" she asked, lifting the lid of the last cauldron.
"Amortentia, a powerful love potion," Snape said, stepping closer and replacing the lid on the Veritaserum.
"It doesn't actually make you fall in love with someone, right?" she asked, staring into the potion.
"A strong infatuation, magic can do many things but manufacturing real love is not one of them."
"It smells lovely," she mused, inhaling the scent.
"It smells different to each person depending on what they find most attractive."
"Mmm, bittersweet chocolate and old leather," she paused and tried to decipher the last mix of smells, "sandalwood with something else," she said unable to place the last that seemed to fit well with the sandalwood, she swore it was something she had come across recently but couldn't place where.
Snape ignored the girl's musings and instead moved to replace the lid on the cauldron, but not before catching a whiff of the potion himself, it was always the same. It smelled of Lily, of sunshine and the flowers from the field behind her house they had played in as children and it smelled of cedar. Pausing in replacing the lid he caught something new; like charged rain, as if just before a violent storm. The lid clattered loudly on the cauldron as he chose to ignore the new smell.
"If you are done with your potion work today then get your area cleaned up," he instructed, moving to one of his storage shelves and pulling out a few ingredients the sixth years would need in brewing their antidote for Amortentia.
"Ron's not coming is he?" Hermione said looking over at Harry, Neville, Ginny, Fred and George as they had piled into the seats closest to the lakeshore.
"I'm sure he's just running late." Harry said encouragingly.
"Yeah." She said tugging her sweater off and shivering as the cold February air hit her skin. The tank top and shorts wasn't near enough to keep her body heat in and she was soon shivering as she tugged off her shoes and socks, piling them all on the lake shore.
She knew Ron was still mad at her; she could feel his glare anytime she spoke to Malfoy in Potions but she hadn't thought he would blow off coming to the Task all together. Checking her watch it read 'On Time', before placing it in her bag.
She had finished her potion right on time and had even enough to do a test run before the Task, a good thing too because she realized a flaw in her plan. The potion hat to be taken in three separate doses to last an hour, the first dose was easy enough but then she had been met with the problem of drinking a potion while under water without letting it mix, which would render it useless.
She had to have Sirius make another run to her house but had managed to find a solution. Digging in a small bag she pulled out her folding knife that she stuck in her pocket. Then pulled out her wand holster and strapped it on her arm. Finally came her potions; the first was in a glass phial that would be drunk right before entering the water, the second and third were in plastic syringes that went into her pocket as well.
"Champions," Bagman called out with his magically enhanced voice, "you have one hour to recover what was stolen from you. The Second Task will begin on my whistle."
The whistle blew and Hermione popped the top on the phial and downed the potion. Tossing the container on her bag she entered the Lake. The water was freezing as she went in up to her knees, then waist before diving under. Taking a deep breath the potion seemed to be working fine and she began swimming deeper into the lake.
She caught a glimpse of Fleur among the long green weeds that grew along the steadily sloping lake bottom. Something suddenly gripped her leg with a sharp bite and Hermione struck out with her other foot and smashed her heel into the creature's head.
The stunned Grindylow let go, bared its teeth and disappeared into the weeds. To one side she could see the water plants thrashing violently. Curiosity getting the better of her she went to look, Fleur covered in the Grindylow as they bit at her arms and legs.
She might have kept swimming without interfering had she not given into her curiosity to look, but she had and despite not liking the girl, as well as them competing against each other; Hermione found herself pulling out her wand and casting a stunning spell on the creatures. She had used the same one during Lockhart's pixie incident in second year. The Grindylow froze and the blond girl tugged out of their grip, when she turned to see who had cast the spell she was met with green weeds drifting in the current.
Hermione paused further in the weeds and pulled out one of the syringes from her pocket, exhaling all the water, she pulled the cap off the instrument and stuck the end in her mouth, pushing down the plunger. Swallowing the magical liquid, she stuck the empty item back in her pocket and continued on further into the lake.
Soon the singing of the Merfolk could be heard drifting up from further down. She entered the village to the sight of Krum struggling to free his Yule Ball date from the thick weed connecting her to a large statue. Hermione was brought up short at the sight of Ron's red haired form bobbing next to a blond girl that could only be a relative of Fleur. Pulling her knife she sliced through the weed, freeing her friend. Grabbing Ron by the arm she started to haul him upwards and caught sight of Fleur entering the village as Krum was still working on freeing his hostage.
Pausing to take another dose of the potion as they passed through the green field of weeds again. Up ahead she could see Cedric with Cho Chang swimming for the surface. Her body had long gone numb from the frigid water, all the same she still felt a cold shiver run up her spine as shadows began to move in the grass.
Swimming faster, she saw Cedric break the surface and was closing the gap when something grabbed both of her legs. Looking down she saw two Grindylows clinging to her, but that isn't what made her heart freeze. A large creature emerged from the weeds below; it's body was scaled and long with a mouth of sharp teeth and a flat beaver-like tail.
'Afanc,' her mind supplied as the Grindylows gave a painful bite to her calf. Using all her strength, she shoved Ron toward the surface before pulling out her wand and knife. She blasted the two off her legs but another attached itself to her wand arm. Her struggle with the small creatures caught the Afanc's attention and it began swimming closer. Sticking her knife in the creature on her arm she pried it off and pushed it in the direction of the Afanc, it snapped up the Grindylow greedily and moved toward Hermione. Swatting away more of the small creatures as they swarmed her and slowed her down she cast the immobilizing spell again and hoped the Afanc would be more interested in the easy meal than chasing her as she swam up to the surface.
The crowd cheered as she broke the surface and rushed to get on land, Ron was already bundled in blankets when she pulled herself onto shore. The pair stared at each other shivering as Pomfrey piled blankets on Hermione.
"Hi Ron." She gasped, curly hair plaster to her head.
"Hi Hermione." Ron said teeth chattering before he gave a small smile, "lovely day for a swim." they stared at each other for a tense moment before bursting into relieved laughter that was abruptly silenced by a round of sneezes. A lovely day indeed.
Author's Note-Sorry for the late update, I wanted this out by Friday but that didn't happen. Well one more chapter to go before the end of Fourth Year. I've got a lot of things to work out for Fifth Year; one of many things being the long awaited reveal of Nemo to Snape! So if it takes a bit of time after next chapter for me to post just be patient this is one year I don't want to rush things and still have some plot hitches I need to work out. I might even post a little adorable song fic I have of Snape/Hermione post-epilogue of this story to hold you over if it looks like it's going to take a while.
Also when this story ends it may not be the 'end'. I have been toying with a plot for an AU of this story were Hermione is dumped out into the past not in 1993 but two year before Lilly, Snape and the Marauders are supposed to start Hogwarts(1969-70). With yet another hitch in her plan as all the things she brought with her are lost leaving her in the wrong time, unprepared and to top it off de-aged by the sand from the broken time turner while in the Veil to the age of 10(maybe 11 still working on time frame). It will have an all new plot and romance(maybe I'm still working through four possible guys and the repercussions of certain people not being born namely Harry and Draco). The working title is 'Butterfly Effect: One Grain to Many'
Is there any interest in reading that?
Later Chapter 20: Living In The Lion's Mouth- The Third Task and conclusion to Fourth Year!
Edited-08/08/18
German Translation by the wonderful and patient Alea Thoron.