Lying to Myself

Chapter Three – The Detention

Hermione stood there, looking around at her room, obviously stunned. Her desk where she kept all her papers, books and notes had been turned into a romantic table lit dinner for two. Complete with a red table cloth and the two padded chairs that originally came from the common room. Her red and gold coloured room had become red, pink and white. Balloons flooded the ceiling, their strings trickling down to tickle the tops of their head. The new dress Seamus had bought her was out of its box and lying on her bedspread, the skirts overflowing to where the hem touched her wooden floor. Her pillows were transfigured to the shape of hearts and a beautiful taffeta surrounded her bed posts.

Suddenly it clicked. Why Seamus was gone all day, why Harry had to lie to her, why no one would just tell her the truth. She swung around and pounced on Seamus, hugging him tightly.

"I thought we could skip the dinner portion of tonight and have it here. I took the liberty of bribing the house elves to let me share the use of their kitchen today, I made everything myself," Seamus beamed at Hermione, holding her at arms length to judge her reaction. Hermione's goofy grin was the reply he needed. Swinging her around, Seamus brought her to the table and pulled out a chair. Hermione almost sat down until she realized just what time it was.

"Seamus, I can't," Hermione sighed regrettably, taking a step back from the chair she wanted to sit in so badly.

"Well, I guess you could get changed into the dress now, if you like, I'll wait. I would wait forever for you Hermione."

Now, what may seem like a corny line to a bystander translates to a very deep heartfelt line to its recipient. Hermione wanted to tell him that she would be right back with the dress on, ready to eat such a wonderful meal that he had prepared, but she couldn't.

"No, I'm sorry Seamus but I can't. I have to go. I'll tell you about it later."

It had been a long day, and Hermione was tired of everything. She was already late for her detention and she really didn't have the time to explain everything to him. She loved the room, but still it didn't satisfy all the frustration of a long day, and the frustration of having to leave it to go to detention. If she started explaining about it now, she would definitely end up in tears. All she wanted was to stay here and forget about the professor and his egotistical power trip. She just wanted to get it over with. If she was late, who knows what her next punishment might be. Hermione moved to walk by Seamus giving him a look of sadness but the look he returned was not what she expected.

"Excuse me? I spent the whole day – skipping classes – to do this for you all you can say is 'I have to go'? You don't even have the decency to tell me what's going on?!" Seamus looked miles beyond angry, which only served to make Hermione even more irritated. She wasn't even given the full fifteen minutes to be totally rid of her previous bout of anger.

"Even if I did want to tell you, I don't anymore!"

She realized that if she were to explain everything to him, about the detention and how she would still be at the dance everything would clear up. Something inside her kept her from doing that though. Seamus' anger frustrated her to a point where she didn't care what he thought. She just wanted to get away.

"I've been slaving away in here and the kitchen all day trying to make sure tonight would be the best night of your life!" Seamus shot back, his fists in balls and his nose flaring.

"Even if I didn't have to go right now, you shouldn't flatter yourself in thinking that a dinner for two and a dance is going to qualify as being the best night of my life!" Hermione was getting really angry now; just looking at Seamus made her mad.

"Well why don't you just go with someone else?!" Seamus yelled.

"I'm not going with anyone! And especially not you!" Hermione shot back.

"Well if you change your mind, there's always Filch!"

Hermione was silent.

Hermione closed the space between Seamus and herself and lifted herself up until she was standing on her toes, until her face was right up in his.

"Well, he would be better company than you." Hermione spat. The only other person Seamus had seen Hermione get so angry at was Malfoy, and it scared him that she used it on him now. She was glaring at him, her nostrils flared and her mouth in an eerie set line. He was so focused on her face that he didn't even notice her hand fly up until it made harsh contact with the side of his face.

Hermione didn't stay to hear what Seamus had to say, she didn't care. Turning on her heel she walked towards the door, without looking back. As soon as she slammed the door emotion flooded her and she ran through the common room in tears, flying open the door and racing past the fat lady, leaving her portrait swinging against the wall.

Seamus slowly opened the door and peered out to see people in the common room still whispering about Hermione. Before they could see him, he thought better of walking out retreated back into the room, not wanting to be mixed up in the rumors.

0o0o0o0

Hermione stormed through the hallway, passing student after student yet not caring about a single one. Professor McGonagall tried to say something but it came out a blur as Hermione passed her, not even considering stopping. Her bag strap kept creeping down her shoulder and clumsily she kept pulling it up, yanking away at it, as if it was Seamus' neck. The only thing that stopped her was the sight of the potions room. The door stood open not 10 feet from her. Hermione cringed as she took another step forward. Then another one. And another one. The last thing in the world she wanted right now was to go into that class room. She hoped she did not look like she had been crying. Hermione trudged to the door to see the potions master standing just around the door's frame.

"I'm not that bad, am I, Miss Granger?" Snape laughed. Not a throaty good natured laugh, but the laugh that Hermione expected to come out of the wicked witch in that Wizard of Oz movie her parents made her watch as a child. Grudgingly Hermione followed her professor into the room and to his desk where she expected him to sit down, but he didn't. Instead he grabbed his coat and started making his way to the door again. When Hermione didn't follow, he turned around and looked at her expectantly.

"Coming, Miss Granger?" he asked, obviously annoyed at her slow pace.

"Where are we going, sir?" Hermione asked, terrified that he was going to off her on Filch again.

"To the Forbidden Forest. I need more potions ingredients and you need something to do, so hurry up."

Hermione followed the professor through the halls, to the outside of the castle. People turned to stare as they watched her walk behind him; some of the students gave her a pitiful glance whereas the Slytherins (including Malfoy) gave a knowing smirk.

Once they got to the forest, Severus Snape turned around, as if to make sure Hermione was still there. Once he saw her, he started again, plunging into the forest, not bothering to look anywhere but ahead. Hermione struggled to keep up with the professor's strides, and had to squint to really see him; the black of his attire blending in too well with the forest's surroundings. When he finally did stop, abruptly at that, Hermione walked right into him.

Snape turned around and looked down at the forest floor to see a very shocked Hermione.

"In the future I would advise you to be less clumsy, Miss Granger. It will do you wonders."

Hermione glared at him through the dark, wishing some voodoo curse on him.

"Ten points from Gryffindor," Snape added. Hermione wasn't sure if it was for bumping into him, or if he had actually saw her glare.

Standing, Hermione brushed off the forest floor from her robes and picked up her pants bag. She had forgotten to leave it in the class room, and the weight of it was beginning to remind her of what a mistake that was.

Finally they reached their destination and Snape turned around to give Hermione orders.

"You will find nightshade root in this area. I should hope you know what that looks like. And if while you're busying yourself with that you should find a unicorn's hair lying on the ground, be sure to pick it up and collect that as well."

Snape then turned and started on his own hunt, away from her leaving Hermione to follow orders and search the area. Hermione didn't enjoy detention but was thankful for the chance to be alone. The only thing was that it gave her the opportunity to start thinking about Seamus and all that had happened that day. Anger swelled in her and she tore at the nightshade leaves too roughly, pulling them off the plant and leaving the root in the ground, inaccessible. This only served to frustrate her more and she begun to tear, using the sleeve of her robe to wipe at her eyes.

Her distraction left her totally oblivious to the hippogriff coming her way.

Snape however, heard and saw its course. The last thing he wanted was the hippogriff to go up to the girl and her to get distracted. He didn't want to be in the forest forever, he wanted to get back to the school in time for the dance. Students would be all over the halls just beckoning for points to be extracted from their house. What better opportunity was there? Moving closer Snape pointed his wand at the creature and uttered a spell which would cause the creature to fly off and mind its own business. His spell did not have the desired effect however and caused the hippogriff to begin charging, towards Hermione. It suddenly occurred to Severus Snape that with the cover of trees the creature could not take off until it reached a clearing, and Hermione was the only thing standing between the hippogriff and his clearing.

Snape tried to call out to Hermione but it seemed as though she had become deaf. Snape jumped up and down hoping that she would at least see him and realize what was happening but she was too focused on the ground.

In the distance Hermione thought she could hear Snape yelling something, but the sound of her own sobs blurred him out. Besides that she had had enough of him and his belittling comments. Instead she pretended to not hear him.

Snape ran as fast as he could, tripping over his cloak and stubbing his toe on an uplifted tree root. Openly he cursed the tree, and the girl he was running toward. He was in a race to see who would get to the girl first, and he was hoping it would be him. Finally he saw Hermione look up, but only to show a confused expression followed by horror.

Hermione looked up to see Snape charging her. His body slanted forward and his arms pumping at his sides as if punching something in front of him. It was the most peculiar sight she had ever seen. It was until she realized he was going to run right into her that she thought to run away from him. The thought came to late though and Snape barreled right into her, causing them to tumble across the forest floor.

The hippogriff whirled by, taking flight in the nearby opening. Hermione did not have a chance to realize this though. Before either of them knew it, their tumbling turned into falling. Hermione squeezed her eyes shut. She hated heights, and even more so she hated falling to her death. It crossed her mind that there were no cliffs in the Forbidden Forest, but who was she to argue her logic when she was definitely falling. She could hear Snape's words echoing around her before she lost consciousness.

0o0o0o

Snape tumbled on the forest floor, his eyes were open but all he could see was ground, blackness, Hermione's face, ground again, a hand, blur of feathers, Hermione's face again. The images made him dizzy, so he closed his eyes just in time to feel the ground break beneath him, accompanied by the feeling of falling. All Snape could think to do was to yell at the girl he was still clinging to.

"You stupid girl!" Snape yelled, hearing his own voice echo around him. "One hundred points from Gryffindoooor!!!!" And with that, he lost consciousness.