The following morning Severus was back in his personal quarters sitting at his desk. He'd not managed any sleep and had spent the majority of the night and early morning over-thinking everything that he had witnessed with Miss Granger. He should have felt angry and he should have not let her continue with these healing lessons. What worried him the most though was how much Hermione actually knew about him now, obviously she knew he was a spy for Dumbledore. But how much else does she know? Would Poppy keep it from me if she'd told her more? He shivered as another thing entered his mind; he was worried about what Hermione thought the reason he was spying for Dumbledore was. Obviously she knew that he didn't do it out of the kindness in his heart, if he knew Hermione Granger at all, he'd know fully well that she would've asked ten thousand questions on why he was on their side, why he spies and risks his life every day for them all. I hope she doesn't learn the real reason. He sat back for a moment and stared at a rather old-looking, shabby clock on his wall. It was five in the morning now and he had three hours until he'd have to show his face at breakfast. He put his feet up at his desk and leaned back in his chair, trying to get as comfortable as possible in his seat as he closed his eyes, occluding all of those negative thoughts, he fell asleep.
Severus was getting dressed when there was a sudden knock at the door of his personal quarters. He mumbled something unpleasant under his breath as he fastened the last of his buttons and moved over to the old wooden door to open it. "Morning Severus," Minerva stood before him giving him a slight smile. "Will you be joining us for breakfast? I've heard Dolores is going to announce her new 'important role' in front of the students." Oh I'm not missing this for the world. Severus smirked, "of course. I wouldn't want to let her down by not showing my full support would I?" he said sarcastically then stepped outside closing the door behind him and walked with McGonagall to breakfast. Along the way he started to recall what had happened the night before; and he wasn't angry. It's not so bad I suppose. Miss Granger is a bright student. She better not tell Potter or Weasley though. It's awkward enough to teach the son of James let alone have him know I'm actually trying to protect him. He started to worry slightly; she wouldn't would she? No... I doubt it. He was grateful that McGonagall was not one for small talk in the morning, she was just as much of a morning person as he was in fact. However, this was even too awkward for Severus and he could tell that there was some something wrong with his work colleague. "Heard off Dumbledore?" he asked raising an eyebrow, he really didn't care how the man was but McGonagall and Dumbledore were close friends and she would be concerned for him. "No... I've heard nothing" she replied, sounding rather annoyed and stressed. Severus barked a slight laugh, "typical from the old man, although that is low from him. Don't look at me like that Minerva, he's being a coward and a fool. He didn't have to go with the ministry and he didn't have to leave her in charge." There was a silence for a few moments before Minerva calmly replied: "I just hope he comes back soon." Severus knew well enough to leave it at that; I don't.
They entered the great hall and Severus sat at his usual seat, Minerva sat beside him and Umbridge was standing where Dumbledore usually did. Severus scowled at her in disgust and heard Minerva chuckle to herself, sometimes he pulled that face without even realising. He stared blankly at the food in front of him, the other teachers had already started eating rather than wait for the students to come in. Severus wasn't waiting for them though, he really wasn't feeling hungry at all, the look and smell of the food just made his stomach turn. It also wasn't safe for him to eat some foods, as he was on a lot of medication because of the injuries he had. He stared at a piece of bacon and shuffled it around the plate with his fork. The students started to come in at this point, they all looked at Umbridge rather confused at where she was standing and the reasons behind it. One familiar Gryffindor face caught Severus' eye, her eyes looked slightly tired from the distance and Severus guessed she'd slept just as well as he had last night. She had probably been as nervous as hell, he was the bastard of a potions teacher Professor Snape after all. Besides the tiredness, her pretty face still glowed enough to light up a room. Wait... pretty?. Severus frowned to himself, then continued to watch her and for a split second her eyes flickered around the room and met his eyes. The gaze lasted for a few seconds before she gave him a rather nervous looking smile. "Go on then Severus, what's this cunning plan of yours?" Minerva had apparently finished eating and stared at him curiously. Severus - lost for a few moments, turned his head to face McGonagall, breaking off the eye contact with Hermione and realising that he had smiled slightly back at the girl. He drew his face back to his usual scowl and arched an eyebrow, "I couldn't possibly know what you're talking about" he teased. Before Minerva had a chance to reply, Umbridge had eagerly started to speak.
"Good morning Hogwarts, I'm sure you're all wondering why I've summoned you all for an assembly." She chuckled to herself, making Severus cringe. summoned? She sounds worse than that snake-faced bastard. He shivered then continued to listen, "So I'll make this short and sweet, I've made a few home rules of my own and you will find these rules on the wall where the old ones were," that earned her a reaction. The students were moaning and groaning and the staff just looked around at each other. "Quiet!" she screamed rather squeamish, making everyone silence immediately and stare at her - as displeasing to the eye it was. After they had quieted down she smiled looking rather pleased with herself as she continued, "I think it is only fair that I tell you one of the rules now, and that rule is that NO ONE is allowed to leave the premises of the school and to make sure that this doesn't happen the ministry have allowed me to place dementors outside the school gates." Everyone seemed shocked, they all talked among themselves, first years looked terrified. You foolish woman. Severus' attention turned to Potter as he saw the boy stand up, his face was red and full of rage. Just like his father. He looked quickly at Hermione who was trying her best to stop Harry but really stood no chance. "Dumbldore is going to have you for this!" Harry shouted across the room at the toad-faced old woman in pink. Everyone stared nervously at Harry and then at Umbridge as the tension between the two built for a moment and then Umbridge spoke, clearing her throat; "Professor Dumbledore is away on... let's call it a behalf of the ministry." Harry slowly sat down shaking his head as everyone whispered to each other, and on that note Umbridge left the hall.
Later that evening Hermione was back in Gryffindor tower with the boys, her and Ron had been trying to cheer up Harry all day but were both failing rather miserably. "You know, on the noticeboard underneath the rule about not being able to leave the castle, it says that it's because it would distract our learning. Yet she isn't letting us learn anything to defend ourselves. Don't you think it's a bit daft? She says we haven't got anything to defend ourselves from but then she sets dementors outside the school gates!" Ron spoke, breaking the silence between them all. Hermione nodded, agreeing with him. "You're right Ronald, that woman has no idea in what she's doing." Hermione looked at Harry, "Harry! Please try to cheer up. I'm doing my best here to think of something we can do to get back at her. But if my attention is distracted by trying to cheer you up or stop you from punching a wall every five minutes, non of us are going to get anywhere" she said. "She's right mate." Ron agreed. Harry lifted his head to look at them, "Hermione, I think you should speak to Professor McGonagall. You need to tell her about what Umbridge did to our hands and ask her if there's a way of bringing Dumbledore back." Harry sounded a little more relaxed in his tone. Hermione nodded "I had that in mind, I'll go see her tomorrow evening. I'm going to get an early night if the two of you don't mind, I've got some reading to do." she stood up and made her way to the stairs to the girls dormitory, turning to face the both of them before saying 'goodnight' and climbing the stairs.
She was glad to find that there was no one else up there, she was probably going to be doing a lot of crying. Taking no chances, she casted a few silencing spells and drew the curtains around her bed. She got into the covers and shuffled aside to allow Crookshanks to curl up by her side, "I'm going to need you tonight Crooks", she said as the cat purred. Glaring at the book on her lap, she opened the book and began to read the medical records of Severus Tobias Snape:
'Severus seems to have suffered a few broken ribs, the bruising is old - he suffered them before arriving at Hogwarts'.
That was the first one to upset Hermione, her parents were always busy with work, but she never even recalled a moment where they raised their voices to her, let alone hurt her. She didn't even want to think about what had happened to him. She continued to read a few more pages and she found what looked like the start of the bullying, it was after Christmas in Severus' first year:
'Severus was brought in to the hospital wing today by Miss Evans, blows to the groin, head and chest'. Hermione took a deep breath to fight back tears. She remembered primary school, she'd been bullied but not like this. The other children teased her and called her names, mocking her intelligence and eagerness to learn new things. It was still not a nice thing to go through, but it was nothing like this, the worst memory she had was when she accidentally used magic in front of a muggle and ended up hurting him. The boy was calling her names and laughing at her, and he'd been standing under a tree when Hermione had made one of the branches fall down and clout him on the head and knock him out completely. She felt terrible, but still he had it coming she thought. She continued to read more of the incidents, similar ones just repeated themselves and Hermione noticed that there were just so many horrible spells used against him. She was just over half-way through when she read something horrifying:
'Minerva found Severus in the boys toilets, he had deep wounds around his wrists and neck - Severus tried to resist any help - possibly suicide.' Hermione placed her bookmark in the book as tears filled her eyes. She couldn't hold them back any more. They drove him that far. I don't think I'll ever look at Sirius the same after this. She dabbed at the tears in her eyes and placed the book underneath her bed, out of sight from anyone. That's quite enough for tonight - I feel bad enough as it is. He'd kill me if he knew... She rested her head down onto her pillow and snuggled up to Crookshanks, unable to get her potions master out of her mind as more tears started to form in her eyes.