Hermione was uncomfortable.
Why was her bed so hard?
And cold?
Where was that breeze coming from?
She slowly opened her eyes blinking. Her throat was dry and her face felt rather dirty. She rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes and notice that she was on the cold, hard floor of the Astronomy tower. Confusion was quickly replaced as the events of the last night came crashing back down on her. Ron… And Lavender…
She choked back a sob and sat up, her back protesting in the process. Light was streaming through the bay windows, announcing a beautiful day. Hermione felt like the weather of the day was an insult to how she was feeling. She only wanted to go back to sleep, to forget the permanent pain where her heart should be.
But Hermione wasn't one to abandon anything and would have nightmares about missing class. She would never, EVER skip a lesson, unless she was vomiting up her insides. Even then, she would probably find a way to go.
She stood up and stretched, trying to keep Ron off her mind. She checked her watch. 9:10 am. That meant class started 10 minutes ago. Wait what? She did a double take and started running. Hermione had Defense Against the Dark Arts this morning (she had memorized her timetable by her second lesson of the year) and Snape would absolutely kill her if she was late!
Mind you, she had never came late to a lesson in her 6 years of schooling.
Well, she thought grimly, there's a first time for everything.
She continued her hurried race, coming to the door of the DADA classroom in under five minutes. There, she quickly tied her hair up in a makeshift bun and with a flick of her wand, had some glamour on her face. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
Severus was ecstatic when he noticed that the main link in the Tarnished Trio was missing in his Defense classroom that morning. He glared around at his students, stopping a bit longer on Longbottom, the boy who couldn't make a potion if his life depended on it, who flinched and flicked his wand. Suddenly, the windows that were letting in the morning light slammed shut.
'Today we shall be working on non-verbal curses. Pair up and attempt to disarm your opponent without making any sound, while the other attempts to block the spell,' he drawled in his rich and deep baritone. 'And, good luck to however pairs up with Longbottom, I certainly wouldn't want to be in your shoes,' he finished with obvious sarcasm.
The students paired up, The Boy Who Lived to Torment him went with the dumbest of the Weasleys and prepared their stance.
'On my mark', he commanded, 'ready, set, CURSE.'
The students waved their wands, but none fulfilled the spell, thought there was some feeble wand movements from their opponents.
'Disgraceful', he snarled, disgusted, 'none of you were able to cast the spell. Well, I wouldn't expect much better from a group of Gryffindors.' He said the name as if it burnt his tongue to speak it. 'AGAIN', he roared, 'and this time, try to not make a fool of yourselfs, could you?'. He smirked, and started to pace around the students. All of them wore insulted and angry expressions on their concentrated faces. Yes, he thought, let them use their anger against me to perform the spell and prove me wrong.
A few more minutes passed, all in almost complete silence, save for the flourishing of wands, and Severus's scathing comments.
'Why Mister Finnigan, are you ever able to disarm another with that poor wandwork? Tsk, tsk, such waste.'
Then, as quick and authoritatively as it started, there was a rap on the door. Yes, he thought with a twisted smile on his face. 'Do come in, Miss Granger.'
She entered looking small and self-conscious, and Severus caught the Potter boy and his sidekick give each other meaningful looks. Interesting, he remarqued. For Severus knew, it wasn't any day that the prized Granger girl came late to class.
Hermione was dying of embarrassment inside. Thought she always tried hard not to show it, the opinion of others mattered a great deal to her. She brought her gazed into the unreadable eyes of her professor and hope that the rest of the class would go back to their lesson. They, sadly, did not.
'Well… Miss Granger…'. Snape seemed to make her name last for longer than it should. 'To what do you owe this blatant display of rudeness?'. He stared coldly into her eyes, willing her to shrink back. To his surprise, and disappointment, she did not, and chose instead to appear unabashed and replied daringly: 'I overslept, sir.' She too exaggerated the title, while thinking, with attitude, that two can play that game.
Insolent Gryffindor, thought Severus sourly, she'll regret having challenged me.
'So…', he drawled menacingly, slowly starting to pace around her, 'so…'.
The tension in the classroom air was palpable. Students rarely addressed him in that manner and got away with it. They were all waiting with baited breath for Professor Snape's verdict.
Hermione shifted rather uncomfortably under the Professor's hard glare. She already wished she could take back her words. They had came out just like that, full of an attitude Hermione never spoke teachers with. She caught Harry's eye, who mouthed 'Are you okay?' and she nodded almost imperceptibly. Ron tried to get her attention also, but she ignored him. She realized glumly that he and Harry probably didn't know what she'd gone through the night before. They were so blind sometimes!
That thought brought her out of her thinking, for the man staring her down was definitely not blind to her musings. He had stopped his pacing and now stood directly in front of her. His eyes, that never betrayed any emotions, seemed to be staring right into her very soul.
Hermione then remember how skilled at Occlumency Snape was, and quickly blinked. She would absolutely have died if he knew what was tormenting her. Even so, she stared straight into his eyes. She wouldn't lose her composure in front of her pairs, much less her Professor and much much less Ron and his new girlfriend.
Severus was enjoying this moment far too much. He had been waiting for ages to put the famous Granger on the spot for disobedience. That being said, he knew it was likely to happen again, so he was going to make the most of it.
'So, the Gryffindor Princess found it in her power to oversleep and come late to my class?', he asked, though not waiting for an answer, he continued, stressing the words and stepping closer to her in the process. 'She found it in her power to disrupt this class ever so impolitely and speak to me as if she owns the whole of England! Miss Granger finds all of that perfectly normal, doesn't she? Because she gets a few mediocre grades here and there, she expects all of us to bow down to her wishes !' He stopped after that last statement that ended almost in a shout, and turned his head slightly so he was longer looking only at her, but to the rest of the class as well. 'If anyone dares to speak up, Miss Granger will get the double of detentions', he whispered menacingly, for he had spotted Potter in the corner of his eye, ready to defend his friend. Severus knew he had exhausted his ideas of her flaws, and also knew he had grossly exaggerated them too. He was rather impressed by her academic results, though he would never voice that opinion aloud.
Hermione, on the other hand, had gone through a roller coaster of emotions since the starting of her professor's monologue. At first, she was truly embarrassed and tried to not let it show. She had obviously failed, for Snape had smirked when he saw the color rising to her cheeks. Then, when he had falsely! insulted her academic results, she had to hold back from correcting him, because she knew it would do her no good. But, she was grateful that he had told the others off, because Harry had other things to worry about, and an extra detention wouldn't help.
So now she stood, slightly embarrassed, and slightly proud that she had the audacity to hold her head up to a man such as Severus Snape, and waited.
Severus had let that pause occur, simply for dramatic effect. He now lowered his face to hers and whispered for he knew that everyone would hear even his faintest whisper: 'I think a detention per minute shall do. So ten detentions it is, Miss Granger, starting tonight at 8 o'clock. And, don't be late', he smirked. Then, with his trademark swirl of robes turned and headed to the front of the class, leaving a very put out and still red Hermione in its center.
Author's note: Thanks for reading this story! Sorry chapter one was so short, they should be around this length or longer in the future! I'll try to update as soon as I can! Reviews help to make the story better, so thanks to those who take the time to do so! :)