In The Darkness

Nothing to say this time, enjoy!

Chapter 2

The shrill sound of the enchanted alarm clock woke Severus from his deep sleep. He opened his eyes and looked around, stunned. It was the first time in 15 years that his alarm clock had actually woke him up, he normally woke up a lot earlier, and he always put it on just in case he didn't wake up.

It had finally served it purpose.

He mumbled a spell to silence the infernal racket as he rubbed his eyes, bidding them to wake up. He felt like he could have slept for a thousand years. It was the best night sleep he had had for a long time. He got of bed and checked the time, making sure he had time for a shower. He did, and within a few minutes he was stripped of his heavy daywear in which he had fallen asleep in and allowing the cold beads of water roll down his naked body, feeling each one as it made his skin shiver, waking his senses. He let the water fall gently on his head, soaking his hair and trickling to the ends of it. He was thinking of that voice still. He brought himself back to reality and remembered that he was supposed to be teaching in an hour and he was not ready at all, including no breakfast. He sped his shower processes up, briefly washing his hair and body before getting out and beginning to get his mind focused on the day ahead, the whole time that voice softly sang to him…

Hermione hated Thursdays. It was normally the worst day, purely because she had double Potions last lesson with Potions first thing on Friday morning, and Professor Snape would give them loads of homework that had to be handed in on the Friday. So all of Thursday night would be spent doing potions homework for the morning. She expected that today would be no different, and with Snape's discovery of her singing last night, it meant that these lessons were bound to be the worst lessons she had ever had.

Hermione braced herself as she met Harry and Ron outside the door. She took a deep breath as they walked in together, Ron talking about the lesson he had had previously and how his hand was nearly savaged off by one of the plants they were potting in Herbology. The whole story was totally blown out of proportion, but Hermione was too nervous to correct him and remind him that the plant had barely scratched him. So she kept quiet as they all took their seats before Snape came in. Harry leaned over to talk to her.

"Hey Herm, you seem really off…. Something up?"

"No, no, not at all Harry…" She replied. She was a terrible liar and she knew it. So did Harry.

"Come off it, there's something up. I know it!" He pushed.

"Honestly Harry, I'm ok. I'm just concerned about how much homework Snape is going to give us. I've got a load from my other subjects already, I don't think I will have time to do another load from Snape for tomorrow!" She must have been convincing.

"Listen, if he gives us a load, I'll do some of your homework with you. I didn't get hardly any today, and I've only got essays that I have to do for next week."

"Thanks Harry, you're an angel!" She said. He winked at her and sat back down just as Snape entered the classroom. Hermione knew that Harry had a soft spot for her, he didn't fancy her but at the same time saw her as more than just a friend. Hermione looked at Snape as he walked in but as soon as she could see his face she looked away, at the floor, the wall, the books, anything but him.

"You will carry on from page 367. The ingredients are in their usual places. You have 30 minutes to get the pyroice potion to the third step which is a sky blue bubbling liquid in your cauldron. Begin." And so the class set about working. If Snape liked anything about teaching older students it was their capacity to do things unattended. It left him with the time to do other things, such as mark work and so on. All he had to do was look around every so often, have a quick walk around and check on things every now and again. This was a specialist class, these students had chosen Potions for their higher education, except Ron. He had to do it if he was to become a Dragon Trainer. He looked over his class as they began to get their ingredients and such, then looked at the pile of second year papers to mark. How he hated marking young students work. It was all so easy and simple and still most managed to get it wrong. He got his quill and began marking, not noticing the potential argument brewing in the far corner of the room.

"Look where you're going Potter. Or perhaps you need some new glasses? Those magnifying glasses not strong enough anymore?"

"Your hair isn't looking its best Malfoy, ran out of bleach have we?"

"I'm surprised you can see my hair when you can barely see where you're going!"

"Well it's not exactly hard to miss Malfoy, bright yellow is a fairly obvious colour."

"You must get your eyesight from your dad, what a shame he didn't see the Dark Lord coming…" Harry expression changed as he felt the anger bubble inside him. He lunged forward for Malfoy but he dodged him and Harry went flying into the side wall. "You must get your reaction speed from you, I bet you couldn't have dodged the spell either…" Harry ran at him again, only this time Hermione stopped him.

"Harry, don't be stupid, you'll get yourself in trouble! He's not worth it…" She said in a hushed voice, trying not to get Snape's attention although he was already looking over in their direction. Harry didn't care though.

"Did you hear what he said? No-one speaks about my family like that, NO-ONE!" He tried to push past Hermione but she didn't move. Malfoy stood in the back smirking at Harry.

"Harry, he's not worth it, just leave him, ignore him…"

"HOW DO YOU IGNORE SOMETHING LIKE THAT? WOULD YOU IGNORE ME IF I WENT ON ABOUT YOUR DADS DEATH, SAYING HE COULD HAVE STOPPED IT IF HE WAS STRONGER! OH HOW WEAK HE WAS BECAUSE HE WAS KILLED BY VOLDEMORT'S SLAVES! COULD YOU IGNORE THAT? COULD YOU?" Hermione let go of Harry. Harry's breath was heavy and deep, but seeing the look on Hermione's face calmed him. It was common knowledge that over the holidays Hermione's father was killed by death eaters. He was coming home from work when they ambushed him. It was rumoured that they were looking for Hermione and her mother too, but no-one ever spoke of that out loud. In fact no-one had said anything of her father's death but Harry and Ron and that was to console her. She looked at him, her eyes already beginning to well with tears although she tried to fight it. She looked away from him and stared at the floor hard, struggling to fight her emotions. Harry just stood there regretting what he had said. He knew that if she had said that to him that he would probably not forgive her. He looked up as he saw Snape striding over, his steps echoing over the stone of the dungeon. The room was silent and watching everything. Snape came and stood behind Harry. He looked at the faces of the three youths. Just as he was about to speak, Hermione spoke.

"Because you are angry I will forgive you for that. You say that again and we are not friends." She said through a strained voice, trying desperately now to hold back the tears that stung her eyes. She was deadly serious, her face showing this morbid solemnity. Harry simply nodded. There was no use for words now.

"Isn't this cosy? What's going on here?" Snape said, pretending not to have heard the whole thing as the rest of the class did.

"Potter was getting violent sir. He should learn to control him temper." Malfoy said whilst looking at Harry.

"You should learn to control your tongue Draco. It will get you into big trouble one of these days." Hermione spat with all the venom she could muster, much to everyone's surprise. Snape looked at her. She looked at him. Those onyx eyes looked into hers. She remembered him looking up at him in the night… Oh god, she thought "He is sure to say something now…" She braced herself.

"Ten points from Gryfindor. You will hold your tongue next time Miss Granger. I did not ask for your opinion therefore I don't want it. Now everyone back to work. Now." And with that he turned and walked back to the desk. Harry and Hermione took their places next to Ron as Draco pushed past Harry. Hermione was amazed that he hadn't said anything. Perhaps he hadn't noticed it was her…. She would have to be a lot more careful next time.

"We'll get him Harry, just you wait, when he's not with his bumchums we'll get him…"

"You'll do nothing of the sort. He isn't worth it."

"Hermione, did you hear what he said? About Harry's…"

"Did you hear what I said? Now forget it. It never happened." And suddenly it became very clear to both Ron and Harry exactly how she was coping with her father's death. By forgetting that it ever happened and pushing it out of her mind. Harry guessed that she had not yet come to terms with what had happened. She would eventually have to talk about it. And when she wanted to, he would be there. His expression said all that words could not as he looked at her. She smiled slightly back, a pained smile, then carried on stirring her potion.

Ok, will have chapter 3 to you later tonight. I have to go to school now. Bugger. ;-) Leave a review please!