Hi! Quick one came up and I figured why not publish it immediately instead of making you all wait so long.
Just a word before the story: there have been questions about the wand and the female-teaching staff and I have one thing to say: patience, it will all be solved (I'm just reminding you that JKR left the mystery about Severus Snape unsolved until the last book ;p)
Disclaimer: I took large liberties with this fanfiction whose original characters belong to JK Rowling only and I only twisted the story around them a bit.
Enjoy!
Halloween came around and found Mister Hermes Granger still as an outsider. He was still The Book-Shrimp and he was still ages ahead of his peers. Minerva still kept a wary eye on the student and found that his history took on disturbing resemblances with that of one Tom Marvolo Riddle.
Hermes was locked away in cupboards or classes, was hauled up in the air and when he countered that particular spell sooner than anyone had anticipated, was physically bullied whenever the other students found the opportunity.
"Reminds me a lot of Severus." Albus had sighed one evening. "Especially when I think that Mister Potter is the worst of them all."
Indeed, it came with much grief that Minerva discovered her celebrated pupil to be as much of a bully as his father had been. Hermes hardly retaliated at all, but he turned out to be a crafty one. Within a day he had learned the Drying Spell, effectively countering any Aguamenti-Ambushes, and when students had started pushing him against walls in a manner that left black and blue spots, he had it all countered with a first-aid healing-spell.
The one time she had seen Mister Granger strike back had been when Draco Malfoy had hauled him up in the air and had been just about to strip him naked. It had been nothing but chance that she had just descended the stairs, when Malfoy had pointed his wand at Granger and had loudly cast the Divesto.
Granger had reacted with a speed she had only witnessed in Severus when he was in dueling-mode. In the blink of an eye he had blocked the onslaught and before anything else had been said, Malfoy had been hunted down by a flock of birds, so angry that it had taken Severus to get them away.
Avis Oppugno certainly was Granger's master-piece, now in his first year. Sometimes Minerva wondered, just what exactly he would become – he had potential, true potential, and if put on the right track, he could become Minister even, if he so wished. Smiling softly to herself, she shook her head as the boy exited the Hall again, not keen on staying for the Halloween Feast. It did not surprise her: to the introverted boy Medlam's Theorem was probably a lot more entertaining, she could not blame him.
Hermione never heard the hasty steps of her DADA-teacher as he scrambled into the Great Hall, neither did she hear the uproar caused by the one single word the utterly distraught man mumbled before he lost consciousness.
She missed the dramatic billow of her potion professor's cloak as he, quick footed as always and with his impossible long legs, exited the Hall in search of the uninvited beast that had found its way into the safe walls of the school.
Medlam's Theorem was much too interesting.
Rufus Medlam had tried to find out why magic was even possible – many wizards had tried to find this out, but Medlam's Theorem was the first theory that did not involve pureblood blabbering about breeding, superiority, gifts of Merlin or what not. No, Medlam was the first decent wizard to theorize that perhaps magical particles float all around the world and that, technically, every person had magic. But some had more magic accumulated within them, just as somebody might get a crooked nose, and the magical particles could either act up, get out of control, or be actively controlled and used in the ways magicians use them. His theory was about to go farther than that even, but Hermione's enthusiasm was interrupted by a muffled sob.
The girl stopped dead in her tracks. Something inside her told her to go to the person and console them, something that she was sure was her female side. On the other hand, rational experience had taught her that wizards were not nice, particularly not to her, and this might just be another trap.
So what, smooth seas don't make skilled sailors. If they try to attack you, what's the worse they can do? What haven't they hit you with already?
Indeed, at this thought she shut her book and neared the toilets at the end of the hallway, where she supposed the crying lad to hide. Of course it could easily be an ambush, but if it really were then she'd learn from it, would harden from it – there were hardly spells that first-years could still throw at her that were new to her.
"Hello?"
The sobbing instantly ceased, when she cautiously stepped through but Hermione knew from her experience with Hermes that boys didn't like to be seen crying.
"Go away."
Yes, definitely a first year – she raised her eyes just so and saw, at the end of the small room, Seamus Finnigan, knees pulled up under his chest, crying his heart out. There was a letter at his feet that she guessed to be the cause of his ire.
"I won't." she said, feeling rather brave to be defying the one boy that had sent so many ink-pots her way already, but he was crying, and when people were vulnerable they needed someone. He sniffed in defeat and was about to stand up, threaten her, transform his sadness into anger and take that out on her, but she only shook her head. "Stay where you are, but if you want I can sit outside and keep watch, but one can hear you from outside…"
Her silent offer of an olive-branch seemed to surprise the boy, who instead nodded and wiped his eyes on his sleeves. Hermione nodded as well, about to leave the toilets again, when she bumped against something… disgusting.
It was dirty, thick-skinned and looked like an elephant – safe for the club in his gigantic hand and the stupidly, aggressive look on its face.
"Troll." She whispered as she scrambled back in fear.
Severus hurried. He knew that the beast was somewhere around here, it had to be, the stairs wouldn't be able to carry it and the half-sentient castle would not let it anywhere it could do grave harm, but where could it be?
"Aaaaah!"
The squeal was girlish, his dour mind supplied for just an instant, before the rational part kicked in and defended that even Rubeus Hagrid would have sounded like a little girl if he would have been attacked by a troll… probably defenseless as well.
"Get away from the sinks!"
Severus was running by now – that was Granger's voice, he was sure of it. How the hell would he explain it to the orphanage if the Shrimp wouldn't come back!
Just as he was about to round the corner, there was a loud crash, the sinks, he supposed and they probably splintered in all directions. The troll grunted hollowly, apparently pleased with its work.
"Oh you disgusting little…"
Severus' eyebrow shot up. Little? Granger still dared to insult a troll even in such a situation? About to draw his wand and set an end to it, he caught sight of the ongoing matters within the toilet. The Book-Shrimp was serving as shelter for one Seamus Finnigan, Granger's wand was raised and before Severus could even think of a fitting spell, Granger took the initiative.
"Expelliarmus! Confundo! Stupefy!"
Trolls weren't weak creatures that was for sure, however a few well placed spells and they were outdone. But for a first-year to do a troll in with spells he shouldn't even have heard of surprised even Severus. For a few moments all three of them stood stock-still, not daring to move, waiting for the Troll to do something – nothing happened.
"'s he dead?" the potions master heard the frightful whisper of Finnigan.
"He is not, Mister Finnigan." He said instead, lowering his wand as he entered the toilets, having his thoughts confirmed as he looked at the destroyed sinks, he glowered at the two Gryffindors. "30 points from Gryffindor, each, for destroying public property."
Taking each by the shoulder, he was about to steer them out of the loo, when Granger made a mad dive for something on the floor – it was a book, a library book to be exact. Severus watched as the boy fretted over its appearance. The cover was ripped and most pages were soaked from the wayward water that had leaked from the ruined sinks. Snape watched somehow sympathetically as tears – real tears – gathered in the eyes of the boy as he turned the book in his hands on their swift way to the headmaster's office. Granger hardly seemed as affected as Finnigan was by what had just happened, and Severus knew that he would have to – subtly – award Gryffindor points, after all he had saved a peer from certain death, even if that peer had dunked ink-pots on him on every given occasion.
But what would be a few points if knowledge was lost, and if Severus was not mistaken that was a booklet on Medlam's Theorem, a frustratingly interesting topic that he himself was all in for. So, as he ushered the two perplexed students on the moving stairs ascending to the headmaster's office, he carefully pried the ruined book out of Granger's hands and fixed it with a silent spell.
He didn't think he'd ever been on the receiving end of such a beaming smile during his whole teacher career.
Hermione felt strangely exhausted when she was excused from the headmaster's office for that evening. Even after Seamus had left, she had had to answer all the tricky questions the headmaster had had for her, and then her own head of house! If she wasn't so fond of the woman for being one of the few to teach effectively, she'd have said her Transfiguration Teacher suspected her to have ulterior moves… dark ones at that.
Right now, though, she felt drained, utterly defenseless and crippled – she felt so tired that she contemplated just sitting down on one of the stairs and leaning against the wall to sleep for some time. But that was not an option. Glamours failed if you didn't actively sustain them the required magic.
"Hey! You!"
The girl turned so quickly that she felt dizzy at once – tiredness didn't go well with her apparently. Just before she was about to hit the floor, she was lucky enough to get supported by a pair of arms – small arms, so it was probably just a second- or even first-year like her.
"Steady, there. I can't carry you around, you know."
By the time she had regained her wits, she finally dared to look at her savior. She knew the face – it was Lysander Lovegood, a gentle soul, a bit out of line sometimes and most of the times rattling off facts about strange creatures that no one was all too sure about. The boy smiled at her.
"Your Glamours, Hermes, readjust your Glamours."
First of all: THANK YOU Smurfgirlz, toriashley, arabellagrace, TequilaNervous, Pellaeonthewingedlion, JollyLoser and the guests for your reviews and THANK YOU neverend08, anthraquinblue, arabellagrace, Jellybean342, quattrecskids, krista04 and Jolly Loser for the Story Alerts/ Author Alerts/ Favs/ Followings/ and-whatever-I-have-forgotten. This adds up to so much love directed at me =)
Reviews any day let me work, rest and play ;)
