First of all, I am very sorry for the delay, I hadn't abandoned it but I hope you can forgive me. Thank you for reading, enjoy….
Christmas
Hermione was walking down the corridor when she saw Snape hobbling and limping the opposite way, he didn't even look at her as he walked by. But as she turned she saw a rip in his trousers and blood pouring from a wound there. Instinctively she closed her eyes and directed her magic towards the professor.
He turned around faster than she thought possible, with his wand drawn pointing at her. He relaxed when he saw it was her. Her magic washed over his leg and went about knitting all of the mauled flesh.
He looked down in his leg in shock, and then looked back up to her.
"What did you do Miss Granger?"
Hermione looked at the professor with guilt ridden eyes.
"I just... well you were hurt and I thought if I could help you see," Hermione muttered.
"Come with me, Miss Granger."
"Oh, I'm fine I can just go and..." she trailed off as exhaustion filled her every bone.
"Of course you're not you look as if you may faint any moment"
Hermione instead of arguing simply complied and they returned to the dungeons. They reached a portrait of a man in a potions lab. Snape simply looked at the man and the door.
She entered a lounge of sorts and Hermione looked around eagerly, it was very similar to her room in the sense of the library anyway.
"So Miss Granger do you know why you are here," his voice like velvet.
"It's because I healed you?"
"No, that's not why, it's because every time you use magic you nearly kill yourself," Snape said pinching the bridge of his nose.
"You must learn how to control your usage better."
Hermione looked quite shocked at him, how did he know every time she used it she felt like this, and then it dawned on her.
"Sir, Can you do wandless magic too?"
As soon as she said that a vial flew from the open door and into his hand, he held it out to her.
She looked at it suspiciously, before looking into the vial and the finally smelling it.
"Pepper up potion" she stated.
"Indeed, you'll need if you are to make it back to the common room"
"Thank you" she replied as she drank lifting her hair out of the way to allow the steam to come spouting of her ears.
"You need to learn how to only take a small bit of the magic out of your reserve at a time; you always seem to take more than is needed."
He left the room, and Hermione took the opportunity to have a look around, her eyes drawn to the bookcases. He had organised them by topic instead of alphabetically like hers. But she could still see many of his books matched hers. There was a set of potions books they bother shared although she contained nine tomes in her collection and he only had eight, how peculiar. She said as she lifted one off of the shelf. It was, unfortunately, this moment that snape walked back in the room
"Miss Granger put that down immediately" he whispered.
"Do you have any idea what book that is?"
"Um, it's a potion text, an old potions text" seeing Snape's reaction she did not want to give away she had already read over these before.
"Miss Granger that text is part of The rarest portion collection in the world, and indeed one of only 8 known copies in existence it is so rare that the final book was never published and was kept by the unknown writer. if you had damaged it I would personally insure to your expulsion."
Hermione mused this new information well, she'd already read them all. And if there was no ninth book in his collection but there was in hers who was the author.
"Miss Granger I was going to ask you that if you are going back to the common room you take the signup sheet for staying for the holidays with you oh, and tomorrow is the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin quidditch game. Seeing your house is playing I expect you to be there."
Hermione looked at the sheet and quickly decided this was a blessing in disguise, the quidditch game though that was an inconvenience.
"Of course, sir," she replied.
"Off with you then," Snape said
Hermione deciding that this was the best option, walked briskly out of the door and towards the Slytherin common room. On her way she neatly wrote her name in unchangeable ink. On the way she bumped into Malfoy and his groupies
"Malfoy If you put the Christmas signup sheet that professor Snape has given me in the common room, I won't tell anyone why I couldn't do it myself."
Malfoy looked at her deeply as if weighing up his options.
"Deal," he finally said snatching the sheet away from her and walking off, his groupies following him like lost ducklings.
She smiled; at least she could get out of that one.
o0o0o0o0o
Hermione was sat at the breakfast table listening to the excited hubbub concerning the quidditch cup. It turned out that when Hermione had left the flying lesson, madam hooch had left with Neville to get him a calming draft, and then chaos broke loose which left Harry perfect Potter getting on the quidditch team. To be honest she was not surprised.
She left breakfast early and walked down to the pitch, to be honest, she just wanted to be inside reading but she had agreed to it, so here she was, sat in the stands right at the front. If she had to sit through this she wanted to see it happening. As it turned out she needn't have worried as when her housemates entered they promptly left again, and soon enough they stopped coming in entirely. She was rather glad to not have to deal with the other Slytherin students, and so got a book out before the games started.
She suddenly heard cheering, and using this as a signal of the game starting put her book away and concentrated on the game. She saw a painted banner flying from the Gryffindor stands that said Potter for president with a gold lion on it. Pathetic she thought they had not used any magic in its creation. It could have been quite spectacular Hermione mused.
The players then flew onto the pitch flashed of green and gold, hardly visible. Well, this may be interesting I can hardly see them. Gryffindor, as it turned out, had the important ball and had already scored a goal by the time Hermione had caught up with the game; it was hard to keep up when the commentator was more worried on which girls on the team were hot. But somehow she was managing. It seemed that the Gryffindor team was much better than Slytherin was as goal after goal continued to go in.
Then the excitement escalated as the snitch was spotted, it seemed to be in the vicinity of the golden boy, rather fitting Hermione chucked absentmindedly. The two seekers were speeding along after the small ball when a Slytherin player sent Harry flying, which then gave a free goal to the Gryffindor team. After this, the bias on the commentary only got worse. So Hermione switched off from the game and looked at the players in the sky.
To her shock, it seemed like one of the brooms was trying to buck its rider off. It got more and more violent and even though it was a Gryffindor she didn't want to see them die. So she closed her eyes and tried to connect to her magic, it was however unfortunate and early in the day before breakfast she had been trying to practice and had considerably depleted her core. Still, she continued to close her eyes and imagine the broom acting normal. But as Hermione did this she felt it being blocked as if there was resistance. She was getting tired now and started to relent when she felt an excruciating pain around her legs. She opened her eyes to find herself literally on fire. Her robes were burning and being too caught up in countering the broom had ignored it. The fire spread and feeling her magic failing her, she did the only thing she thought possible she screamed. The noise filled the stadium to see what was happening. She started trying to stamp out the fire but to no avail, what was she going to do? It was then when madam hooch flew up to her and cast an ice cold jet of water on her. This took a few minutes to extinguish and the crowd had gone on to ignore her in favour of Harry Potter catching the snitch. It turned out the boy she was trying to save was Potter; I couldn't have left him to die Hermione thought to herself. As soon as all the flames were extinguished madam hooch rushed off on her broom to deal with Harry.
What she wanted to know however was who set her on fire? People didn't just catch fire on their own so what had happened. The crowd was stared to disperse and Hermione found herself shaking violently, the cold seeping into her bones. Dragging herself down the rickety stairs she came across a group of Gryffindors including one Ronald Weasley.
"We know what you did." The boy towering over her menacingly.
Hermione looked back confused.
"Did?" backing away slightly disgusted
"It was you that jinxed Harry's broom and the only reason you stopped was because you..."
"What? Got set on fire, owning up to anything are we." Hermione said gaining the upper hand.
"Because I'm sure the teacher would love hearing about how a student thought the best was to distract me from saving a fellow student was setting me on fire." At this point, she swayed on her feet and headed for the infirmary.
She looked down, that was a delay she could have done without seeing as now her fingers had turned blue. Her clothes were dripping wet, leaving a trail in her wake. She had finally reached the entrance hall without passing out but it was so inviting, the darkness clawing at her consciousness.
"You've got to keep going if you stop here no one will even find you," Hermione muttered just trying to distract herself from the numbness of her limbs. She had finally made it when she saw the familiar oak doors, just a few more steps. She put all her weight against the door pushing with the little strength she had left and tumbled onto the infirmary floor.
The matron came rushing over to find her shaking violently and curled up into a foetal position. The matron quickly cast a drying and warming charm on her and levitated her into bed. Hermione felt the warmth start to drive the cold away and found her consciousness easier to cling onto. After about 10 minutes she sat upright and looked to the matron who had a disapproving look on her face.
"I can explain" Hermione offered.
"Yes, I think you should."
"You see, I was simply trying to save Harry Potter, from falling to his death when his broom had been jinxed..."
"I had heard about that, but what I didn't understand is how you came to be an icicle. "
"Well, I had been practising my magic so wasn't able to stop the curse but when I looked up I found myself on fire, turned out a fellow student thought I was the one jinxing the broom and thought the best way to solve the problem was setting me on fire, I then screamed and due to having used up all of my core had no way to put it out, then Madam Hooch came along drenched me in ice water for a while subsequently putting out the fire but thus rendering me in this condition."
The matron looked shocked, "And what, nobody thought to help you?"
"They were all too busy with Potter," she said
The matron looked down understanding
"I hear you're staying for Christmas then, please do try and at least give me that two weeks off."
Hermione smiled "I'll try but I can't promise anything."
o0o0o0o0o
She woke up to feel tiny flakes of snow raining down on her; as soon as they touched her skin they melted but didn't feel cold. She just lay watching it letting the sensation wash over her. She then dragged herself from her bed and looked at the end of her bed. Why was she being so stupid, as if anyone was going to send you a present? Pathetic Hermione she thought to herself. She shouldn't have even though of the idea.
She had only sent one gift, and when Hermione thought about it, it was not a Christmas present; it was simply letting someone have something they wanted. She had wrapped the book in black paper with a silver ribbon thinking it might suit it'd recipient.
She up early as usual and made herself some breakfast to be sent to the great hall, and then got dressed in her casual clothes; a pair of old trousers and a stolen t-shirt. Well, they can't have it all.
She navigated the dungeons with ease now, twisting and turning with the corridors like it was the back of her hand. None of the other Slytherin was staying this year, so she didn't have to worry about bumping into them. All of the other houses she knew had people staying who all had permission to have breakfast in their rooms. Hermione politely declined not wanting to let the staff know she hadn't even been in the Slytherin common room let alone have breakfast there. She pulled the 'it would be terribly lonely' card and they had all accepted the decision.
With her carefully wrapped package under her, Hermione entered the great hall she wondered if she'd even be allowed, so she mentally asked Hogwarts if that would be ok. The familiar warmth spread through her giving her permission, so she crept up to the head table and placed the black parcel in professor Snapes seat. She then went back to her own little table out of familiarity. She was used to it now, and even if they had meant it as an insult she could at least read without distraction.
This time she got a book on healing dark curses trying to find out more about Quirrell's' possible affliction. Soon enough the staff entered and she put her book away as the food appeared. Professor Snape had not entered yet, but all of the other teaches had looked strangely at the black package on his seat.
He arrived last and Hermione noticed was more shocked than most of the staff when he sat down to find the small present in his place. He took the label and read as if making sure it was really for him. Then he went with surgical person scanning it with a myriad of the anti curse and anti position spells. Hermione sighed was he ever going to open it. Then he started carefully and slowly opening it to the delight of the staff and Hermione.
He nearly fainted, Hermione noticed when he read the title, he was literally staring at the book within his hand with astonishment and shock. The rest of the staff stopped their breakfast to stare too at the potions master. Hermione was watching out of the corner of her eye as she buttered her toast. She couldn't give the game away, could she?
It was then that Dumbledore spoke up
"What have you got there my boy?" He asked casually.
"It can't be real it simply can't" professor snape said mostly to himself.
"You could do a forgery spell on it if you're unsure," Flitwick piped
Snape then spent the next few minutes scanning the book again this time to test its authenticity.
"My God, it's real!" he said at last. Hermione smiled to herself she was glad he liked it. She had taken a copy for herself but given him the original he was still staring at the book in wonder.
"Severus, what is it?"
"It's Salazar Slytherin's potions journal" he whispered.
I thought you already had a copy Dumbledore said dismissively
"I have a copy of 1 through to 8, this is the ninth."
At this the entire table looked t him in shock; this must be fabled then among the staff.
"How is that even possible, I thought only one copy was ever made and it was lost?" asked Professor McGonagall.
"Well, it's been found now, if you'll all excuse me I have some very important book to read." Snape said as he swept dramatically out of the hall.
Hermione thought that went rather well and he certainly seemed to like his present. She wondered if he'd ever figure out it was from her probably not.
Hermione went for a walk around the black lake with her cloak pulled close around her as she waited for lunch. She didn't really want to go; she couldn't remember when she had ever had a Christmas celebration. Breakfast she thought was passable due to the distinct lack of students. But now she knew the Gryffindors Harry and Ron were staying, which meant she would have to tolerate their presence over a meal. God, she couldn't wait.
She walked back to the great hall and stopped just before she got to the door, she didn't want to do this. They were going to be so happy and full of Christmas spirit. Before Hogwarts, she had never celebrated the stupid holiday. She was too busy trying to not freeze or starve to death. All she can remember is the bitter cold and the wishing it would be all over, but being too weak without food to even try and warm herself. Now she was warm and had food but she couldn't help remember the previous years.
She was about to turn round and head to her room when she felt a presence behind her, Professor Snape was stood there watching her.
"Merry Christmas Miss Granger"
"Same to you professor," she replied trying her hardest to slip away.
"You know it's required for every student to attend to all meals in the great hall."
"Yes professor," she replied crestfallen.
"Then come along, you may even enjoy it."
Hermione looked at her professor with disbelief written in her eyes but did not protest it.
The doors swung over, all of the house tables had been pushed to the corner of the room to make room for one big table. Around the room, Hermione also noticed a myriad of garish Christmas decorations. Red and gold covered the room with a touch of green here and there. Typical Hermione snorted, seeing that the professor had the same look on his face almost made her laugh.
There were only two seats left, next to each other in between Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick, she let snape take the seat next to McGonagall and she took the one next to Flitwick as least she wasn't seated next to the Gryffindor menaces.
As she sat down, she heard the two complaining that she had turned up, well Hermione at least I ruined their lunch she thought. Suddenly a loud cannon-like bang echoed around the room. She jumped out of her seat and looked around searching for the threat, which turned out to be a stupid Christmas cracker.
Plumes of blue smoke surrounded harry and one of the Weasly spawn and to her surprise, a group of mice ran off the table and out of the hall. Harry was no sporting an admiral hat, so these were, of course, wizard crackers. Snape looked at her as he held out one to her, she reached for it and when pulled the sound of an elephant filled the hall, Snape was now sporting a deerstalker which strangely suited him. Hermione couldn't help but smile as she said in a deadpan voice. "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth"
Snape looked at her amusement filling his face as he started to laugh, Hermione joined in as she held up her cracker to him. The whole table was staring at the Slytherin pair. They had never seen snape laugh at Christmas; they couldn't remember when they'd last seen snape smile genuinely let alone laugh.
A trumpeting sound erupted this time as Hermione ended up with a top hat perched on top of her head. To this new development, Snape simply said
"Elementary my dear Watson."
She couldn't help herself giggles burst forth from her, this was just brilliant when they looked up all of the staff not getting the reference just stared at them with confusion written all over their faces.
It was, unfortunately, Ron who decided to try and whisper to Harry but ended up speaking louder than he thought. As both Hermione and Snape heard him.
"See she's even friends with snape, she's a freak."
Hermione stiffened and her face turned to ice, no emotions were visible. She would not show weakness in front of all these people. Snape sneered in the general direction of Weasley, and mentally noted to take many house points of the boy when term resumed.
When the food came to the table she noticed that there was a slight delay before the food she had put on stasis last night came up. For a few seconds, there were no plates in a circular radius of her seat. Snape looked confused but everyone else simply ignored it helping themselves to the impressive display. Hermione looked down at hers, it was all she could whip up quickly, she had done carrots, green beans, boiled potatoes and she had made a small goats cheese and spinach tart she had wanted to try out in the cookbook she had found. Everyone looked at her food strangely but, as she loaded her plate she ignored it all and started to eat.
Hermione ate modestly unlike most of the other students, she was currently conversing with Flitwick about all of the charm work he had done on the hall. It was boring her to death. It was then Professor Snape who asked her about her development with controlling her wandless magic. She sighed, it was hard to explain.
"I think I'm getting there but I still find it difficult to limit it, it's like I only have to take a thimble's worth but all I have is a bathtub."
Snape looked at her pondering her statement.
"When you close your eyes do you picture taking the magic out of your core?"
"Yes?" Hermione replied unsure where this conversation was going.
"Next time imagine, using your analogy, you are using a thimble to take just a small piece. That may help."
Hermione pondered what her professor had said, in theory, it made sense but she was looking forward to trying it out.
It was at this point, that all of the main dishes, disappeared and the table reset its self. Three enormous Christmas puddings flaming with fire appeared and then a few seconds later a small chocolate tart appeared in front of Hermione. Hermione face filled with cunning as she grinned at Snape.
"Would you like a piece professor?" Hermione asked politely. "I always find those sorts of puddings too stodgy to me" Hermione joked trying to sound like she'd done all of this often.
o0o0o0o
Snape looked down at the chocolate pudding then back to the Christmas one, he was not going to decline this.
"A piece would be acceptable."
Hermione took a slice and placed it onto his plate.
He took a small bite, it was bitter; the chocolate must have been so dark to create this. Hermione raised an eyebrow as he looked at her. "And how may I ask did you manage to get this?"
Hermione smirked, "If you think I am going to tell you that you have another thing coming, a Slytherin as you know must have some secrets"
Snape wasn't expecting that sort of a reply and smirked back as he continued to eat the rest of his torte. It was divine, bitter combined with a sweet pastry crust. He had never tasted anything like this.
How on earth did the girl manage it he thought it himself as she walked out of the hall, slipping away without being noticed by the majority of the table?
o0o0o0o0o
Thank you so much for reading, I hope you ejoyed the chapter and I can't appologise enough for the wait.
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