Heal Me Chapter 11: One Step Back
Author's Note: Hope all my readers are having a good weekend because I just came back from a party so I'm quite sleepy. Thanks for the follows, favourites, and the reviews, makes my life better :). My friend finally moved out so it's extremely quiet right now; love the silence and calmness but it's weird to come home because it's not messy. I always keep my house organized or I'll go insane but my friend while he was staying at my house, each time I come home, the house is disastrous.
I disclaim HP stuff as it belongs to a brilliant author, J.K. Rowling who created the amazing wizarding world for my childhood.
Snape walked out of his private room and wiped the sleep out of his eyes. He slowly descended down the stairs and joined the other staff around the staff table for breakfast. He tucked his hair behind his ear as he painted butter over a piece of toast. He drank the Irish breakfast tea with his toast quietly. He blocked out all the sounds; teachers and student chatting about while they ate. Sounds of owls hooting grabbed everyone's attention as the birds dropped packages and news papers. He stared up watching the birds fly about across the ceilings, he didn't find his owl among the flock. He dropped his gaze and noticed Granger staring at him. She gave him a warm smile and he was reminded of last night. Severus could feel his ears redden and he shifted his gaze away from the young witch. He cleared his throat before talking to Rolanda Hooch.
He didn't know how to address Rolanda about the subject of Granger's flight test, Merlin's round ass, he didn't even know how to begin the damn conversation with the woman. He tapped his index finger against the table in frustration and stared darkly at Rolanda. How the hell am I supposed to start the conversation?
Fortunately enough, Pomona Sprout who was chatting with Rolanda noticed Snape glaring at Rolanda's back. The plump woman stopped whatever she was saying which caused Rolanda to tilt her head. Sprout said, "Rolanda, it looks like Severus wishes to talk to you." Hooch whirled from her chair by 180 degrees and gave her attention to Snape. "Um, is there something you would like to say to me, Severus," she asked cautiously. He straightened his back and wondered how to introduce the topic, there was no way he could say, 'Yes, hi Rolanda I know I have never spoken to you but I just happened to be interested in when Ms. Granger's exam is.' He would bring up the subject slowly, "I've heard from my first year students that they have an exam with you today." The spiked haired woman's eyes widened to discover that the sour man was interested in her lessons. "Oh yes, all the first year students got their first flight test today. I believe that the Slytherin students are doing the exam with the Gryffindors this morning," Hooch excited spilled the students' schedules. That's all he needed to know and no longer had a reason to talk with the witch but she clearly had a different idea in mind. He ignored whatever she was saying while finishing his cup of tea and placed the cup back down once he finished his tea. Most of the staff believed that Severus was listening to what Rolanda was spewing out of her mouth; their eyes had widened to watch Severus actually talking to a colleague. They hadn't exactly stopped their discussions but they were keeping their eyes on him and Rolanda. Finally one of the staff approached them, Minerva of all people, and honestly gave a comment, "Severus, it's so nice to see you finally warm up to one of us." His eyebrow formed an arch at her ludicrous statement.
Since when did I ever warming up to any one of you?! The rest of the staff murmured in agreement to what the mid-aged witch said and he immediately rose from his seat. It was far too early to deal with unnecessary attention or this ridiculous charade. Before the door slammed shut, he heard Minerva say, "He's such a shy man." Stupid Gryffindor. The sounds of the staff's guffaw echoed in his ears.
Strangely enough, today he had spare time to go watch Granger's exam. Before he went outside, he engulfed his body in his thick, black cloak. He wanted to get there before the others; he didn't want to be part of the annoying pack of students. They would come outside soon enough and he could wait. He was more than glad to grab his cloak as the chilly winds bit his pale cheeks that weren't protected by a piece of clothing. He pulled the cloak closer to his body as he marched across the field to the large area the students would be tested at. He leaned against a tree and after couple of minute he could see a big, black blob which had to be the herd of students. The noise grew louder and louder as they got closer. True to Rolanda's words, there were his Slytherins walking far apart from the Gryffindors as if the Gryffindors were a deadly virus of some sort.
Young Draco ran towards Snape and the boy beamed a big smile to him. "Godfather, I mean Professor Snape, have you come to see me fly," Draco excitedly asked. Okay, I can go with that story. "Yes Draco so don't lose to Potter," he told his godson. Truthfully he could care less how either of the boys did, they weren't the reason why he was standing out in the cold temperature. Malfoy returned back to his group of friends and he was replaced by Rolanda who stood next to him. She allowed the students to chat for a while as she said, "I didn't expect you to show up."
"Do your job, woman," he growled. He was regretting that he approached her this morning; he wouldn't have bothered if he knew that she would continue to act friendly with him. The witch gave a huff before she ordered the students to line up in a single line next to their brooms. The students obediently followed her orders. She passed the students as they each commanded the broom, 'Up.' Hooch now stood next to Granger.
She should be perfect on that. He kept his eyes on Granger. She gave a confident smile and stretched her arm by her side and the broom immediately gravitated towards her open palm. "Astounding Ms. Granger! 10 points to Gryffindor," shouted Hooch. Even, he was surprised, no first years could accomplish that; they didn't have enough control over their magical abiliities and throughout their secret lessons, she always verbally commanded the broomstick. Granger had an ecstatic expression on her face and Severus repressed his urge to smile with her. The easy section was over and they were now to show off their abiltiy to fly in front of the class.
He cursed that he had to wait for Granger to fly while he was shivering under his cloak. Finally it was was her turn to go up in the air, and it looked like she lost her fear of heights; she didn't hesitate to give a strong kick off the ground. She reached a height that the boys even avoided. It was the same height from when he kicked her into the air. The other young teens, boys and girls alike, were continued to be amazed by the brave Hermione Granger. The girls were loudly cheering for her while the boys who had to go before her, were kicking the grass. Today he was surprised her growth in her ability to fly as she did flips, sharp stops and turns. He couldn't restrain his smirk and the twitch at the corner of his lips. He was quite proud of her as she exceeded the other brats. His tiny smile quickly faded away as Hooch began whispering at his ears, "She has the same flying style of you, Severus." He tilted his head away, he didn't want her to be close to him in any standards. He crossed his arms to his chest and asked Rolanda in a quiet voice. "What mark will that girl be getting?" Madam Hooch fixed her eyes at Granger and answered, "She's definately a full mark, she's surpassed my expectation; her level is wihtout a doubt higher than of a grade 3." Severus stared at his feet while Rolanda was talking and looked up at their student. Congratulations you insufferable know-it-all, you've earned the grade you wanted.
Hermione was overjoyed that she managed to non-verbally make her broom snap into her hands just like professor Snape. She enjoyed the 'wows', 'we didn't know you could do that', and watching Ron's mouth drop. but watching professor Snape's eyes widened made her happiest of all. Hermione didn't expect any praises from his thin mouth but his reaction was just as rewarding. She had worked so hard to accomplish this feat and even when her professor was missing from their rendez-vous spot, she practiced her butt off.
She was hovering above the others and she watched Madam Hooch whispering in Professor Snape's ear. Her mood dropped a bit. What were they discussing about? Professor Snape kept his distance from Madam Hooch but he kept his eyes on her. She smiled down at Professor Snape. She observed the two adults; Madam Hooch looked happy while Professor Snape was most probably ignoring the woman. He shook his long mane out of his face before she noticed his small, crooked smile but she recognized that it wasn't his usual smile, it had a twinge of sadness etched onto his smile. She wondered why. She felt a tiny pinch as Professor Snape stood inside her mind. What in God's name was going on. 'Miss Granger, congratulations on your exam. It looks like you really are an insufferable know it all, you've got the full marks you desperately wanted. Now I've kept my bargain so I won't be seeing you anymore besides in my Potion class. Goodbye Miss. Granger.'
Then the man cloaked in black began to walk away towards the historic castle and he walked further away, his voice disappeared from her mind. She watched his form get smaller and smaller in the distance. She shouted down to Madam Hooch, "Madam Hooch, may I come down now?" The witch permitted to return back down to the ground. Lean downwards, putting a bit of my weight to the front. Hermione remembered what Professor Snape had taught her. When she firmly planted her feet onto the ground, she got swarmed by her friends but she couldn't focus to hear what they were saying. Between the space of her friends' heads, she attempted to find Professor Snape but the man was long gone. She needed to know what her Professor said earlier and get rid of the sickening feeling in her guts.
Did you like it or hate it or what? Write me a review so I know and thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it overall, the next chapter might be about our favourite heroine's birthday since it was her birthday 3 days ago; I tried to write that chapter on her actual birthday but as we can see I failed. Bad me. Look foward to it! Cheers.