DISCLAIMER: The only thing I have to my name at the moment is five dollars and a new vaccum...oh, and a sack of flour with a picture of George Bush's face on it...Translation: I don't own it.
Dark Heart
Beta: the wonderful moonyNZ
Chapter 4
The scribbling of quills as they zoomed across the parchment was the only sound in the room as the students took notes from the board. Hermione sat in the front, her eyes occasionally glancing over the room, with a book in her hand.
Her class of seventh years were currently learning some the practicalities of some of the more advanced Transfiguration properties. They would study their notes and go over them for a total of four days before even daring to try a single one of them.
The door to the room opened slowly, the hinges creaking loudly. She glanced up, as did everyone else in the room, and smiled at her visitor.
"Hello Draco," she greeted, sitting the book down on the desk and rising from her chair. The students went back to their note taking, though Hermione knew from experience that they were still listening very attentively.
"Hey Hermione," he said with a sincere smile, edging into the room. He glanced at the students quickly before turning back to her. "Making enemies already?" he inquired.
She sighed though her face still broke out into a large smile. "Heard about that, have you?"
"Honestly Hermione, did you really think McGonagall was going to let an opportunity like that slip from her fingers. She practically ran to Hogsmeade to tell the story."
A few of the students stifled their laughter, their hands immediately flying to their mouths to stop the giggles from escaping. Hermione, however, laughed outright.
"I thought she'd give me the biggest tongue-lashing ever," Hermione admitted, "but she merely smiled at me and gave me a pat on the back when she saw me."
"I figure she's been wanting to do something of that nature to him for a while," Draco commented, scratching his chin. "Come to think of it, I figure a lot of professors have been wanting to."
She raised a brow. "Are you limiting that statement to only professors?"
He laughed. "No, I guess a lot of people have been wanting to do something to him."
She turned to the students. "When you are done copying the notes you may leave, just remember to read over them and study them before the next class. Remember the consequence that could happen if you don't know every little detail."
Some of the students who wrote fast rose from their chairs, gathering up their stuff and walking out of the door. The others quickened the pace of their quills.
She looked at Draco. "Want to have a seat? I have a free period next and we can go over to Hogsmeade or the kitchens to get a drink really quick."
He leaned back against the wall. "I'm still waiting on you to accept that dinner, you know. Imagine being able to escape the dreaded Potions Master company for just one meal."
She smiled at his persuading. "Alright, Draco, you win. Dinner tonight."
He swooped down and pressed a chaste kiss on her cheek, leaning back and smiling at her. "I'll pick you up at seven. See you then."
She leaned back with a contemplative look on her face as he left, not noticing the knowing smirks that the students were sending in her direction as she stood there.
o-o-o-o-o
Hair up? No.
Hair straight? No.
Curly? Er…sure.
Down? Why not.
Hermione observed the finished product in the mirror, turning this way and that with a slight frown. Why was it that you always have an image in your mind and then you can never achieve it?
She tucked a rogue tendril behind her ear and put her arms in the sleeves of the outer-robe. She hated the look of purely dress robes and so she chose a clean cut dress and put a pull on robe over top of it, leaving the front unbuttoned.
There was a small knock on the door and she turned her head. That couldn't be Draco… it was only six twenty-eight after all and her experience with men taught her to never expect them to be early.
With a small frown on her face, she walked over to the door and pulled it open, taking a step back in shock when she faced her intruder.
"Going somewhere?" came the slow draw of the Potions Master as his onyx eyes ran slowly over her figure, finally coming to a rest on her face.
She stiffened, unwilling to bend to this man. "As a matter of fact, yes." She brushed her hands over her robes, dusting off the invisible lent. "Draco is taking me out to dinner."
"Hmm," was all he said as he suddenly swept past her into her private sanctum.
She stood at the door for a moment, her mouth open in shock, as she stared at the place where he had just been standing. Had he just entered her private domain without an invitation?
She turned, shutting the door softly as she did so, and faced him. "What are you doing here?" she finally was able to ask after getting over her initial shock.
He shrugged as he allowed his eyes to roam around the room, taking in every little detail. "You weren't at dinner," he finally stated as he turned back to her.
"I know," she said after a brief pause. "I'm going out to dinner. Why eat twice?"
He smirked. "Why indeed."
She huffed angrily, placing her fists on her hips as she glowered at him. "If you're back on the fat kick than you can just go jump off the Astronomy tower. I don't care what you say and you best remember the situation you found yourself in the last time you made a remark like that."
His smirk slowly transformed into a smile as he crossed his arms over his chest. "That was a very interesting spell actually, took me a while to figure out how to remove it. Very advanced, I applaud you."
She looked at him suspiciously. Something was up; he was being too amiable about the whole ordeal. He was planning something…something which she was sure wasn't good.
"Actually, I was wondering how advanced you were in magic," he commented in a thoughtful manner. His smile was becoming disconcerting.
She took a small step backwards, her hand instantly inching down towards her wand, but she wasn't quick enough. He had his wand out in an instant and waved it while speaking rapidly in Latin.
She felt her face growing warm and her hips starting to enlarge as her stomach started to protrude. The arrogant bastard was causing her to swell like a balloon!
"I swear to Merlin, Severus Snape, that I will kill you if you do not reverse this right this instant!" she threatened with mounting rage.
He smirked. "If you kill me, you'll never get it reversed."
"Reverse it," she growled as she grabbed a hold of his shirt, jerking his face down to hers. "I have a date tonight and you are going to reverse this."
He smirked. "I learnt a muggle phrase once that applies greatly to this situation: payback is a bitch."
She growled low in her throat and pushed at him, shoving him across her room. He stumbled slightly and she took that opportunity to whip out her own wand, casting curse after curse at him.
He dodged a few of them, casting a few of his own. Still, by the time she finally stopped and lowered his wand, his nose was sprouting broccoli and his hair was a vast array of colours…not to mention the fact that he was now wearing a clown suit that squirted water into his face every few seconds.
He was breathing heavily, as was she, as he slowly lumbered to his feet, having fallen to the floor sometime during her attack. "Wasn't expecting that," he said honestly.
"Yeah well, you should know better than to ever expect anything from me," she said with a slight edge to her voice as she walked over to the mirror and surveyed her current look.
"What the bloody hell happened in here?"
Both professors turned at the sound of the voice only to be met with the inquiring face of Draco Malfoy as he hesitantly stepped further into the room.
"Hello Draco," Hermione said, still glaring at Severus.
"It looks as if a bomb was set off in here," he commented with a low whistle and then he looked at their current state…and laughed….hysterically.
"If you don't stop laughing and help me reverse this," she said testily, "then you can forget the dinner and you won't be able to sit for a month, that I can promise you."
He threw up his hands, immediately trying to stop the laughter but was quite unsuccessful at that task. "Hey, I didn't do anything here." He pointed at Severus. "Blame him."
"Believe me," the Potions Master said in a low draw, "she already has." He turned to Hermione, an appraising look on his face. "You reverse this and I'll reverse that."
She studied him before saying, "You first."
He complied, reverse the swelling of her body and then he looked at her. She sighed and gave a slight wave of her wand, his body going back to normal.
She gave him a small glare as she turned and flounced out of the room, grabbing Draco as she went. Only when she had disappeared from sight did he realize that he still had colourful hair.
Damn witch.
o-o-o-o-o
Harry ate at a slow pace from the tray set before him. He had declined going to the Great Hall earlier for dinner and was now starving. However, the house elves eagerly served him up a tray of delicious foods.
But now that he had the food in front of him, he realized he wasn't that hungry.
Merlin, he was becoming difficult.
There came a light knock at the door and, before he could respond, it opened. In stepped a redheaded Weasley with his mouth stuffed full of food.
"Hiya Harry," he greeted after swallowing the large lump in his mouth.
"Hey Ron," he returned as he set his fork down on the tray, folding his hands behind his head as he leaned back in his chair. (Author tries to do just this and ended up tipping chair over…)
Ron surveyed the tray. "You going to eat that?"
Harry contained his laughter as he lightly pushed the tray in his friend's direction. "No, you can have it if you want it. I'm done with it."
Ron eagerly dug into the food, not taking time to actually enjoy the taste of the items on the tray. When over half the contents had disappeared, he finally looked back up at Harry.
"So, mate, what are your intentions towards my sister?"
This time Harry did laugh. "Come on Ron, that is so medieval."
He received a blank look in response. "What?"
"Medieval," Harry repeated. "You know, the age…oh never mind." He ran a hand through his messy locks. "Look, I'm in love with Ginny, really. I would never hurt her."
Ron shrugged as if content with just that. "Alright," he said and Harry looked at him in shock. Honestly, he expected a lecture or something…
"Alright," he slowly agreed, leaning back in his chair once again.
He watched while Ron ate… As you can tell, he really had nothing better to be doing with his time.
"So," he finally said after a while, uncomfortable with the silence descending upon the room, "what are you doing here anyways?"
"You weren't at dinner," Ron said, his mouth stuffed with mashed potatoes, "neither was Hermione. You guys left me in there with only Pomfrey to keep me company. Do you realize how much of a grudge she has against us? Apparently it's our entire fault that we got into so much trouble in school and ended up in the Infirmary…"
Ron's words were just now catching up to him and he finally sputtered, "Wait, Hermione wasn't at dinner either?" He frowned. "Do you think Snape got her back for this morning?"
"Naw," Ron dismissed, "he was there."
Harry glowered at his friend. "Just because he was there didn't meant that he couldn't have done something to Hermione beforehand, preventing her from going to dinner."
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh." Harry scratched her head while he thought about it. "Actually, it would be the perfect opportunity to get her. Showing up at dinner could be his alibi."
"Oh Merlin," Ron breathed, dropping the roll in his hand, "we left our best friend in the hands of a madman."
They both stood at the same time, jarring the table between them and upsetting some of the stuff on the tray as they rushed towards the door. They ran full speed down the hallway.
"If something happens to her," Ron gasped as he ran, "I'll never forgive you."
Harry pulled to a stop. "ME?!" he shouted at the back of his redhead friend.
Ron stopped as well. "Yeah. Honestly, you should of thought about this a long time ago instead of just now. You should have realized that Snape would want to get her back."
"Well, what about you?" Harry demanded, slightly put out. "Why couldn't you have thought about it?"
Ron snorted in an indignant way. "Me? Honestly Harry, you call yourself my friend. I can't even remember to go to class without…"
He stopped, a horrified look on his face. Harry shook his head with a small sigh. "You're supposed to be in class right now, aren't you?"
Ron nodded and took off in the opposite direction towards the front doors. Harry laughed lightly and then continued on his way up to Hermione's rooms.
However, he never got that far as he crashed into the very person that he was looking for… on the arm of Draco Malfoy.
"Hey…er…Hermione," he paused, "Malfoy."
"Potter," the blond man said with a small sneer, though it instantly disappeared when Hermione looked in his direction.
"Hey Harry," she greeted with a large smile, "where are you headed?"
"To see you actually," he responded. "Ron said you weren't at dinner and I thought I'd just come up to see whether Snape tried to get you back for this morning."
She grimaced while Draco stifled a snort. "Actually," she replied, "he did, but I wager he regretted it almost instantly after I was done with him."
"Are you alright?" Harry asked, worried.
She smiled, quite wickedly in his opinion, and said, "Oh yes, I am now. He thinks he is too, but he's not. Like I'd ever reverse everything after what he did to me."
Just then, the man in question walked into view with a head of hair in every colour imaginable. He looked like a rainbow…only more vibrant.
"Granger," he hissed.
Hermione smiled at Harry while tugging Draco towards the door. "Got to go!"
A/N: ANNNNDDDDD...another chapter. :D... You guys are awesome! Just had to say that.
MiZZ AmAyA