Disclaimer: Everything belongs to JKR, except for the storyline and original characters.

I am really sorry if I have offended anyone in the last chapter about the Bible... I am just trying to express the frustration that Hermione had on Allison's behaviour. I am really sorry if I have upset someone by this.

Zara, Tkae, thanks for your reviews.

Enjoy, and please read and review. Thanks.

Big Big World

Chapter 5 Hogwarts, here we come!

Before Snape could even make sense of what Hermione meant, she had disappeared into the fire. When he finally understood what was happening, he could only sigh. He was left to deal with a young woman and a baby dog.

He went over to the couch. "Mobilicorpus." He levitated the young woman in mid-air, and Snowball jumped onto her shoulder and snarled at Snape, as if she were asking , "Where the hell are you taking my lady to?"

Strangely, Severus had this urge to calm the baby dog down, and he did. "I am just getting her outside." Before he moved both of them outside the house, he went back inside the living room, and grabbed the blanket on the sofa, to wrap it carefully around Allison, while Snowball, surprisingly, had jumped and rested him between Alison and Snape. Snape was a bit surprised, but only shot her a look and continued moving . He made sure that there was no one outside before heopened the door and left the house. He closed the door behind him, then turned back again to control whether it was secure. Then he mounted his broom, positioning Allison in front of him. He made sure that she was securely in his embrace, before he kicked off, and headed for Hogwarts.

***************************

It had been hours since they started the journey, but they were not that far from Hogwarts anymore. They would be there in approximately half an hour. He didn't fly too fast ; not that she was heavy, but because of her constant stirring. He was afraid that he would wake her up if he flew too fast. If she woke up, he would have a difficult time explaining the situation. On the other hand, he was wondering how much sleeping potion Hermione had given her. It was possible that Allison was not under the effect of the sleeping potion anymore. He just hoped they would be there before she awoke.

"Wow... wow..."

Snape looked down at the dog, where Snowball had been resting since they left Hermione's home. "What is it?"

Snowball didn't answer but kept snarling softly, which alerted Snape to the surroundings. Suddenly, someone on broom was heading this way. Before he could cast an invisible charm, he was stopped by the voice. "What took you so long?"

"Remus?" He was the last person in the world he expected to meet here.

"Headmaster was worried why it took you so long, so I volunteered to come look for you." Remus looked at the woman wrapped in a blanket. "So, is this the reason why Hermione needs to go back to Hogwarts early?"

"Yes, and keep down your voice," Snape snarled at Remus, who had straightened up at the sudden stirring of Allison and was eyeing her warily. "Do you want to wake her up and give us a hell of problems?"

"I am sorry Severus. I didn't know that." Remus apologized, while looking at Snowball, obviously puzzled, "Severus, where did you get that? I am sure that you don't have a familiar."

"It's not mine. It's hers." Snape looked at Snowball, who was still clinging onto his shoulder, and said, "If your curiosity is satisfied, can we continue the journey?"

***************************

"So, Poppy, when is she going to wake up?" Snape asked, while finding it quite amusing that Snowball was still glaring at Remus for reasons he couldn't quite make out .

"Severus, I have no idea. The young lady obviously is not under the effect of any sleeping potion. She would wake up if she wanted to, but I would rather have her resting a little longer ," Poppy said, while leading them into her office, and closed the door behind her. To their astonishment, Dumbledore and Hermione were both there, sitting at the desk. As there were no more chairs left, Remus and Snape remained standing.

"Well, Poppy, how is Miss Lowe?" Dumbledore asked.

Poppy sighed, "She is fine, Albus. Aside from her exhaustion which I still couldn't find the source of , she is fine for now."

"For now?" Remus asked, puzzled.

"Miss Granger, do you know that she has asthma?" Poppy asked.

Hermione nodded. "I have her nebulizer with me."

"She will need a lot of it." Poppy replied. "From the test I have run on her, it shows that her asthma is normally caused by the change of weather, and I am afraid the environment here would be a problem for her. It is cooler and more humid than Central England. She will need a lot of strength and precautions if she is going to stay for the rest of this school year." Poppy replied.

"Any other things we need to keep an eye on?" Dumbledore asked.

Poppy shock her head. "That's all."

Poppy turned around to get a small vial of sleeping potion from the shelf, which reminded Snape ofsomething. "By the way, Miss Granger, how much sleeping potion had you given her?"

Hermione was afraid to tell him as she had actually given her more than enough. Dumbledore patted her on her shoulder, "Remus told me that Poppy said she was not under the effect of the sleeping potion half-way through the journey."

Hernione was more that shocked now. "There is no way... Did she wake up halfway through?"

"Fortunately, no. Now, Miss Granger, could you tell me now how much you had given her?"

Hermione was sure that Snape was thinking about deducting marks from her, but he obviously couldn't when she told him. "Two vials."

"How much did you say, Hermione?" Remus choked, "Two vials?"

Hermione could only nod. "I just wanted to make sure that she slept. She hasn't slept since she realized she could read the empty book. But how come she... "

"Miss Granger, it's fine. You have done this for the health of your friend." Dumbledore interrupted. "We all had a really hectic night, and I suggested that we leave the rest till tomorrow."

TBC

------------------