Severus Snape sat behind his oversized desk, rubbing his temples as students began to take their seats. There were just so many questions yet unanswered in the strange riddle that was becoming Hermione Granger. The lily; the postcard; the loss of her usual "Gryffindor" demeanor…what did it all mean? He glanced up in time to see a very nervous Ron Weasley followed by a defeated looking Harry Potter. This sight raised his spirits a little; though not as much as he would have thought. And then... the girl who had enveloped the very core of his mind for days, appeared at the door and slowly walked over to her normal seat at the front of the class. A shiver ran through his body as they locked eyes.
"Open your books to page five hundred and forty-five" he turned on his heels and approached a floating blackboard at the front of the classroom.
"Do you think she was serious about not working with us anymore?" Ron whispered.
"Trust me Ron, she's livid right now" Harry whispered out of the side of his mouth. The last thing he needed was detention with Snape for talking in class.
"But we're sure to fail without her!"
"Ron- I think there are greater things to be worried about at the moment"
"Mr. Potter...Weasley…" he lunged at their desk, "perhaps one of you could tell us all what would happen if you mixed armadillo bile with ground scarab beetles and ginger root?"
"Uh…well sir…I suppose…um…"
"What Ron means sir, is…well, armadillo bile is most commonly used to…um…"
"Five points from Gryffindor for talking during class and another five for sheer incompetence…and incidentally Potter, if I were you, which I'm delighted I'm not, I would ingest those ingredients as soon as possible…then perhaps you won't be so slow to answer such a grotesquely simple question in the future".
Harry fixed his eyes on the text in front of him as Professor Snape returned to lecturing. He thought about what Hermione had said to him and it tugged at his heart to think that their friendship of so many years might truly be over. Yet, the thought that there was something disrupting his friend's life, remained ever present in his mind and he continually thought of the letter that had seemed to start all of this confusion, but repeatedly came up with no answers.
"Now then, you will use the rest of the class period to complete your projects from last week. Except you…Miss Granger."
This sparked everyone's interest, including Hermione's. Her eyes shined with hope. Perhaps he had reconsidered her request and would allow her an independent study.
"Since you have made it perfectly clear that you will no longer be working on your group assignment, you will receive a failing grade for this project and may spend the rest of the period scrubbing cauldrons" he smirked and sauntered back to his desk.
Hermione's blood bubbled in her tiny veins. "Professor, I hardly see the educational value in scrubbing cauldrons"
"Look at it this way" he smiled " it gives you less work to do during tonight's detention"
"Fine" she choked on the lump of hurt that was forming in her throat and headed over to the sink.
Both Harry and Ron were beside themselves with shock that bookish little Hermione Granger, who normally would rather eat slugs than receive poor marks, was not only scrubbing pots by hand, but had accepted a failing grade just to keep from working with them!
"Wow- you weren't kidding- she's pissed."
"It's not just us Ron…there's something going on. We have to get our hands on that damned letter!"
"Are you joking? After that whole disaster with the postcard! I'm not going anywhere near her mail EVER again!"
Severus carefully examined the angry little witch out of the corner of his eye. She had rolled the sleeves of her school robe and sweater up to her elbows and her arms flexed furiously as she scrubbed. Stray soap suds lingered in the air around her and occasionally settled in moist patches on her skin. Though her body moved rigorously, there was something so serene about her facial expression- a look of exhaustion mixed with relief. How could one so young look so tired? How could one so brilliant be so stubborn?
Hermione reached up to a shelf above the sink to grab the next pot when the shelf suddenly gave out and came down with a crash, splashing the dirty sink water everywhere and knocking her to the floor.
"Hermione!" Ron and Harry shouted in unison as they leapt from their seats.
"I'm fine" she huffed.
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley- those ingredients are not going to prepare themselves"
"Yes- but sir- Hermione's…"
"I'm fine!"/ "She's fine!"
By now, the whole class was riveted by the little scene unfolding before them.
"Anyone who fails to finish their project by the end of this class period will have the opportunity to finish it in detention with me tonight."
And with that said, everyone returned to their tasks. Everyone, with the exception of Thomas Crowe, whose eyes remained fixed on Hermione as she peeled off her dripping school robe and threw it over a nearby chair. Severus also found himself unable to tear his eyes away from the clumsy girl. Her green sweater was what caught his attention. It was quite a flattering colour against her pale complexion and gold flecked hair; and he could think of no other time that she had worn it, for he surely would have remembered it. There was also something inherently endearing in the way that Hermione often reverted to her muggle ways; choosing to remove the wet garment rather than cast a drying spell. He turned his head and was alarmed to catch eyes with Thomas. He felt a sudden pang of guilt at having been caught admiring a student's appearance.
"Mr. Crowe, can I assume that you are finished with your project as you are staring off absent mindedly into the ether?"
"No sir" he sternly said, lowering his stare back down to his cauldron.
Hermione resumed her brisk scrubbing until the bell sounded some time later.
"Very well- since the bulk of you dunderheads were unable to complete your projects, we will continue work on them at the next class. There will also be a test given at next class on today's lecture. You are dismissed."
Hermione threw her rag into the sink and turned to collect her robe off of the chair, but it was gone. She searched around for it on the floor but to no avail.
"Sir? Did you happen to see anyone take my robe?"
"You ought to be more careful with your belongings Miss Granger. Certain objects in the wrong hands often lead to malicious tomfoolery."
"Yes sir" she mumbled and bent over to pick up her book bag.
As she did this, her mother's necklace fell out over the neck of her sweater and dangled casually against her chest. Severus felt suddenly that he could no longer breathe. His head became dizzy with shock and his eyes widened with revelation. Hermione did not seem to notice her professor's odd reaction and shuffled out into the hallway to her next class. Alone in his draughty dungeon classroom, Severus found himself unable to reconcile what he had just seen. Furthermore, he wondered if Hermione had the first idea of the weight such a trinket would carry. He had to find out how much she knew.