Disclaimer: This dramatization is an extension of some of what happens during Harry, Ron, and Hermione's 6th year at Hogwarts. It also covers flashbacks to Snape's first year of teaching. Since J.K. Rowling is yet to publish the 6th book, I'm very vague about what is happening in the wizarding world since only J.K. Rowling can truly write anything about Harry Potter. This is highly likely to disagree with a few facts, but since it's me writing, and not the author, please forgive me any goofs that I might make in relevance to the actual series. Thank you for choosing to read my story.
I would like to thank Tall Oaks for their wonderful review on my story. It inspired me to continue, and I was really excited. I would like to mention, (just in case you found offense with this) that 'Edward Oaks' has absolutely no reference to your screen name. I had already written and posted chapter four when I saw your review. Thank you so much for being my first reviewer!
Chapter 5
Hermione was walking down the hallway to lunch after her ancient runes class, when she heard an awful yowling sound coming from a corridor to her left. Rushing down, she found a horrible sight. Argus Filch, the caretaker, was kicking and shouting curses at a limp form that was cornered against a wall. This creature was making the yowling sound, though it had begun to fade. With horror, Hermione realized that this was Azure, (as she had named her), the Siamese cat.
She ran down the hall, clinging to Filch's arm. "STOP! THAT'S MY CAT! LEAVE HER ALONE!" She pushed past him, kneeling to scoop up the limp form of Azure into her arms. "How could you?! She's just a defenseless cat!"
"THAT FOUL CAT TRIPPED ME! IT NEARLY BROKE MY BACK!" Filch was red in the face.
Hermione ran her hand over Azure, who was wheezing in pain. She gasped. "I think you broke one of her ribs!" Hermione clutched Azure close to her, running as quickly as she could down the hallway and outside to Hagrid's hut. She saw smoke rising from his chimney, meaning that he was at home. She ran to his hut, bursting through the door.
"HAGRID!" she cried. "Filch was kicking my cat! I think he broke her ribs or something! Please-"she stopped short of her tears, surprised to see that Professor Snape was sitting at the table with Hagrid. "Oh, professor." She gasped.
Snape sneered. He was holding in his hands a small black rabbit, and she noticed that the hutch contained not only Fang, but three other dogs that she didn't recognize. "I see that Miss Granger considers what she has to say more important." Hermione gasped in shock, but Hagrid swiftly stepped over, taking Azure from her arms.
"Now, what happened, Hermione?" Hagrid set Azure down on his sagging couch across from his table. Azure's eyes opened somewhat, showing their dark blue coloration. She mewed softly, as though too much more of an effort would kill her. Looking at her, it might have.
"Filch. He was kicking her. He said that she had tripped her or something. I think he broke at least one rib!" Hermione wiped tears from her face. She had grown very fond of the Siamese cat. Hagrid gently ran his large hands over the cat's sides.
"I think that you're right Hermione." Behind them Snape rose to get a better look, setting the rabbit inside of a hutch near the window.
"Can you do anything, Hagrid?" Hagrid shook his head sorrowfully. Behind them, Snape edged closer. Hermione looked at Hagrid in horror.
"You can't do anything for my cat?"
"That is no cat." Hermione spun around. Snape was standing just behind her, one hand clutching his wand, the other a knife. Hermione gasped as Snape stepped forward, making a cut on the cat's paw, and allowing the blood to drip onto his wand's tip. "What are you doing?!" Hermione cried, stepping forward to pull Snape away.
"Get back you stupid girl!" He pushed her towards Hagrid, who caught her in shock. Snape tapped the cat with his wand.
"Reveloso." He whispered. The air around the Siamese shimmered, and then a young girl with blonde hair lay on the couch, with no Siamese cat in sight.
She opened her eyes, which were a shocking blue that was slowly beginning to dull. "Severus." She whispered hoarsely, a note of desperation in her voice.
"Gabriella!" Hagrid pushed forwards. "Is it really you? I saw that your dogs were back, but can it really be you?!" Hermione glanced at Snape, who had a strange look of triumph in his eyes.
"Harry and Ron were right! You do want to kill her!"
Snape sneered. "You silly girl, get out of my way!" Abandoning the knife on the floor, Snape clasped Gabriella into his arms, pushing past the dogs, all four of whom were trying to get close to her, and finally shoving past the door, running straight for the school. Hermione ran after him.
Hermione caught up, clutching at his robes. Snape hissed at her.
"Get your hands off of me!"
"If you're not taking her straight to the hospital wing, I'll go to fetch Dumbledore!" Hermione let go of his robes, still following closely.
"Where else would I take an injured person when on these premises?" He continued, bursting through the doors and straight to the hospital wing. "Go fetch Dumbledore anyway, he will want to know. Hermione nodded, departing only after she saw him enter the hospital and heard Madame Pomfrey's gasps of surprise.
A few minutes later, she was in the hospital wing, were an unconscious Gabriella lay on a hospital bed. The wing had been closed off due to the number of students trying to come in and see who was in the hospital wing. She was the only student admitted. Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, and Madame Pomfrey were the only others in the hospital.
"I've administered a potion. It should take a while though. She was exhausted, and her lung had been punctured, I'm sure that there was a great deal of internal bleeding." Madame Pomfrey watched her patient in shock; she too had known Gabriella and was surprised to see her unchanged from how she was 15 years ago.
"Now the only thing is to discover how she came to be at this school when she was given up for lost in the Forbidden Forest." Dumbledore glanced to Hermione. "I believe you can fill us in for at least a portion of it. The rest, only Gabriella can tell."
Hermione nodded, still in shock that her cat was human. "I found her in the Gryffindor common room. She had followed Crookshanks, my cat, in. She was so thin, so I took her to my room. I couldn't find an owner, so I adopted her. I had no idea that she was really human!"
Dumbledore smiled. Just at that moment there came a knock at the door, repeated several times. Madame Pomfrey bustled to the door. She opened it wide, and a student dropped to her feet. Outside the door, there was a throng of other students, a mixture of vomiting, bleeding from the nose, and fainting occurring. Madame Pomfrey shook her head disapprovingly.
"I know that all of you have been taking some of those 'Weasly Wizarding Wheezes' candies. Now if you know what's good for you, you'll take the counter to those candies or stay on the floor where you are for Filch to find you! I recommend that you help your friends that have elected to take the fainting fancies." She returned to the hospital, which was once again quiet.
"I'm afraid that it is not good for her to stay here. I doubt that she will get much rest." Even Madame Pomfrey nodded when Dumbledore said this.
"I am afraid that I know nothing of medicine. Should there be an emergency in the night, I'm afraid that I would be useless." McGonagall replied. Dumbledore shook his head.
"I know something of medicine. I can take her in for the night." Snape announced.
McGonagall and Pomfrey both looked nervous at this (though for different reasons). Dumbledore, however, nodded approvingly. Hermione glanced about, confused as to what was occurring. Why would Dumbledore allow Gabriella to be left in the charges of Snape? "I'll speak with you in my office, Hermione. I think I can trust you with Gabriella's secret, she seems to have chosen you on her own as a confidant."
Meanwhile, Snape conjured a stretcher, moving Gabriella onto it. He then caused it to float out in front of him on his way to the dungeons. Hermione watched him go with concern.
"Professor? Are you sure that it was a good idea to allow her to be alone with him? What if he tries to kill her?" Dumbledore shook his head.
"What makes you say that?" Hermione asked, still perplexed.
"You see, Hermione, the reason that Severus will not hurt Gabriella is that he is in love with her."
Gabriella groaned. The last thing she remembered was intense pain, and Severus's face. She wondered vaguely if she had died, there was no reason for Severus to be at Hagrid's hut. It might have been a sweet dream before the quiet of death. Then she realized that if she was dead, she should have seen her family by now. Unless.....
Her eyes opened wide. She was lying in a bed, her chest felt a lot better. She recognized this room; she had slept in it before. Glancing about, she saw that Snape was sitting slouched in a chair next to the bed; his hair had fallen limp into his eyes in a greasy tangle. He held his wand tightly in his lap. His head had drooped down to his chest, and there was a faint sound of snoring. Gabriella shifted higher up with the pillow at her back. She glanced about. Snape's quarters were basically the same as she remembered them being. He had accumulated a few more books and a few more dead things in jars; otherwise it was essentially the same. It was still dark, dreary, and he had done absolutely nothing about a draft that he had had the last time that she was in his quarters. She distinctly smelled mold.
Snape stirred. His eyes opened somewhat, then sprang open the rest of the way when he saw her. He shifted into a better sitting position, staring at her with his dark eyes. He pulled his stringy hair back and away from his face.
"You haven't aged a day. No changes to you at all."
"I think it had to do with the sleep I went into. I wouldn't wake up for a long time, until those who had caused me to leave wished me back." She reached out a hand to him. He recoiled. "I'm sorry. I couldn't stay in the wizarding world, and there is nothing for me in the muggle world." Tears started to fill in her eyes.
"You should never have left. With or without a wand, you would have been an important part in the war against the Dark Lord. You could have stopped many of his death eaters. If we had you to help us, it might already be over!"
"Maybe that's why I came back."