The first potions class of the day had just finished, and Hermione was happy with herself that she hadn't had any problems controlling herself, even amongst all of the stimuli produced by the bubbling cauldrons. To be honest, the brewing had just served to reminder her of the night she watched Severus brew her vitamins, which had caused a warm feeling of relaxation to wash over her, and she spent the class lying on the floor and observing through half closed eyes.
Two dragon hide boots filled her vision, and Hermione raised her head to look up at Severus.
"This next class has Potter and Weasley," his voice was low and serious with an undertone of warning and Hermione nodded her head slowly.
"I don't want to see any special looks or friendliness towards them..." He narrowed his eyes at her, brow furrowed. Hermione nodded quickly this time. She absolutely understood, it would not do for Harry and Ron to blow her cover and she certainly wouldn't give them any opportunities to.
His concern quelled, he gave her a short nod and turned around to lean his hips against the table, crossing one leg over the other casually. A moment later, the first group of students filed into the room and he stood and moved towards the edge of the raised floor that his desk sat on, arms crossed as he watched them make their way to their seats.
The next group of students to walk in approached the door loudly, then bustled in with lowered voices, although they were still noisy. One glimpse at Professor Snape and they fell silent, though not without returning dirty looks of their own, and Hermione caught sight of Ron and Harry followed by Neville, Seamus, and Dean.
Hermione brightened at the sight of her two best friends, who hadn't noticed her. She watched them eagerly from her place under Severus's desk, then as they sat and focused their attention to the front of the room she forced herself to look away and return her head to the floor. She'd gotten her look at them, that was all she was going to afford herself. She would not mess this up.
She listened to Severus lecture the class on the day's potion, and then the room was filled with the bustling of bodies as they sought out ingredients and began brewing. The room was soon filled with an array of scents, which served to keep Hermione occupied as she separated them out to determine their origins.
She was in the middle of deciding if the sour but somewhat earthy scent belonged to Mandrake root or something else when there was a loud boom and a puff of dark grey and yellow smoke and the sound of a body hitting the floor. Hermione jumped up, slamming her head into the table, but no one had noticed, luckily, as all their attention was on the exploded potion and it's victim lying still on the stone floor.
Hermione watched anxiously as Severus strode over quickly, vanishing the contents of the cauldron and kneeling over who she now saw was Seamus.
Of course it was Seamus.
He must have been ok because Severus stood slowly and addressed the class in a bored drawl,
"Put all your potions under a stasis charm, do not touch a single ingredient or address your potions in any way until I return. In the meantime you can open your books and read the chapter on how to follow directions," he said the last bit of his instruction with a menacing snarl, looking pointedly at Neville, Ron, Harry and Dean and then the boy at his feet. Everyone stood frozen until he barked,
"Now!" And wands were raised and the students cast their stasis charms, then reluctantly sat and pulled out their books to thumb to the very first chapter about instructions and safety while brewing.
Severus waved his wand and Seamus was in the air, hovering in front of the Potions Professor as he strode out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
After a pause, everyone was wary that he might be standing outside the door listening, everyone started talking at once, abandoning their books for the moment while they discussed the incident.
"Bloody idiot," she heard a Slytherin sneer,
"Did you see his face?"
"Is he ok?"
"What did he put in there, that was brilliant!" Dean exclaimed, exchanging amused looks with Harry and Ron. Neville sat beside them, his face pale, the only student in the room actually doing the reading.
The rising noise level was making Hermione extremely nervous, not to mention agitated at their blatant disregard for their assignment as soon as their Professor had left the room, so she found herself standing squarely in front of the class, her head high and ears pinned back and she opened her fanged mouth to roar loudly.
She had never roared before, but it leapt out of her throat as naturally as breathing, rumbling through her like a volcano erupting. The sound was very loud and startlingly low and menacing, and as she closed her mouth and focused a stern look at the students in front of her, she realized she'd scared the living day lights out of them. Their faces were pale, some were trembling, and they all instantly sat down at their seats and buried their noses into their books.
Satisfied, Hermione sat down to watch the class, her eyes flicking over Harry and Ron before returning, shocked. They looked completely startled as well, which she didn't think they would have been, since they knew it was her - and Harry and Ron were not that convincing as actors. Her eyes narrowing in confusion, she watched as they leaned close, whispering, then they both shot a glance up in her direction. She quickly averted her eyes, her mind scurrying...did they not realize it was her? Dumbledore hadn't told them? They truly thought she was at home caring for her "ill" parents without ever writing them a letter while she was gone? Granted, it had only been a few days and it was a convincing lie, but really? Dumbledore hadn't told them? Her suspicions were confirmed when she swiveled her ear in their direction while she looked towards the Slytherins and heard,
"She's worst than Mrs Norris," Harry whispered maliciously.
"What do you bloody well except, it's Snape's familiar," Ron spat back in return, and she could feel their eyes boring into her again before they turned back to each other to continue whispering.
"We ought to teach her a lesson," Harry said furiously. Hermione could just picture the anger flashing in his eyes. She was filled with a feeling of dread. They actually thought she was Snape's familiar, and they hated Snape, and he wasn't here but she was, oh dear Merlin what were they going to do?
Ron must have nodded because Harry continued,
"He'd never know it was us, and it'd teach his nasty little pet a lesson...and it would serve him right, the bastard," Harry told him, pondering his idea.
"Mate, you better make it good and do it before he comes back," Ron told him in an eager whisper.
"Yeah I will, she may be a lion but she's not invincible. She won't mess with me again after this...And I know the perfect spell," Harry said devilishly, and then Hermione realized something. Dumbledore's protection spell on her! Oh thank goodness, his spell would bounce right off her.
It hit her just as she thought that, and she collapsed to the floor in a fit of pain. Something had sliced her open in multiple places; her face, shoulder, chest, back, all she could see was red and a dazzling white as pain shot through her body. She felt herself lose control as her lioness instincts surged forward in response. She collapsed and she distantly heard the shrill whines and yelps that were escaping her now panting mouth, saliva dripping down her chin as she convulsed. All she could smell was her own blood, she could feel it pouring from her body, she wanted to move, to run away, and she wanted to fight at the same time. The fury now momentarily overriding the pain, she struggled to pull herself up, pushing her front paws firmly to the floor, a snarl of determination and absolute rage escaping her mouth between bared teeth. Her eyes locked on Harry, she was going to get him for this, she was going to -
The last thing she saw was a flurry of black robes and then a different blackness overtook her.
Just as Severus opened the door to his classroom after dropping the ignorant boy Finnegan off at the infirmary a flash of light shot from the right side of the room and struck Hermione.
Deep gashes split through her perfect golden pelt and blood began pouring profusely from the gaping wounds, splattering to the floor, staining them deep red. Her eyes were wide in surprise, and then a high pitched yelp escaped her as she fell to the floor, followed by a pain filled screech of a desperate whine that made Severus's stomach clench and heart tighten. Her body shook, then convulsed violently, blood continuing to spill, and then he was running towards her, rage filling him at the thought of who might have done this, but the strongest feeling was fear. He was so afraid for her.
He was halfway there when he saw the flash of anger and determination in her eyes and he knew the lioness was out for revenge. Her claws scraped into the bloodied stone at her feet, and her upper body was pushed off the floor as she snarled through the pain, looking directly at whoever had done this to her. Following her gaze as he approached he saw the pale, but triumphant face of Harry - I'm going to fucking kill him - Potter, and then he was finally there, cupping her face as her eyes glazed over and she slumped down to the floor, unconscious.
He had his wand in his hand already and waved it over her frantically, but nothing happened.
DAMMIT, that fucking meddling prick of an old man had blocked HIM and ONLY HIM from using magic on the fucking girl? WELL LOOK HOW GOOD THAT FUCKING SERVED, WHEN HER FUCKING BEST FRIEND HAD BEEN THE ONE TO ATTACK HER!
Frantic and left with no means to help the girl suffering at his feet, he pressed his hands onto the first two wounds he saw. She was losing a lot of blood, and fast. He would have called out to Potter to get help, seeing as he was Hermione's friend, but the bloody bastard had done this to her so he yelled frantically,
"Draco! Get the Headmaster! Now! Run!" If the boy thought the request was strange, he didn't acknowledge it, bolting from the room obediently. Then he ground out,
"Class dismissed," ignoring the flurry of motion as panicked students pushed and shoved one another to leave, eager to get as far away as possible from the wrath of the furious Potions Master. One last thought flitted through his panicked mind,
"Potter, Weasley, sit down and don't move," before he lost himself to his emotions, returning his eyes to the still convulsing form of the lioness under his hands, his one and only confidante and friend, and now here she was, bleeding, dying...
"Shh," he whispered, pressing firmly into the gaping wounds under his fingers. Blood spurted out around his digits, his hands were stained by the dark red blood now, there were trails of it running down his arms, his knees were plastered in it from where they were kneeling in an ever growing puddle of the warm crimson liquid that streamed down her body and onto the floor.
"Shh, Hermione," he whispered, it seemed to be the only thing his mind could think of and that his trembling lips could form.
He'd never been so afraid in his life.
How had this girl come to mean so much to him so quickly?
Albus was suddenly behind him, his hand gripping Severus's tense shoulder.
"What happened?!" Albus asked, peering down at the lioness.
"Bloody fucking fix her!" Severus roared, furious that he was merely standing there looking at her.
"Of course!" That seemed to get Albus out of his day dreaming, and he brought his wand out without his usual flourish. Severus glanced up and saw his face was pale, eyes full of concern.
He worked quickly, but it was difficult to heal her given the circumstances; that she was a human stuck in the form of an animal. While he worked, Severus stood partially to step over Hermione's body, sitting himself at her head. He grasped the loose skin of her cheeks gently and pulled her head up into his lap, cradling it in his arms and his thumb stroked soothingly under her eye.
"I'm so sorry," he murmured, oblivious to the brief look of curiosity and surprise that Albus shot in his direction.
The work was slow and tedious, and Severus did not move until Albus stood back and evanasco'd the blood from the floor and looked at Severus gently.
"She's healed Severus, she'll be fine,"
At this, Severus snapped from his panicked state of compassion and glared up at the Headmaster, snarling, absolutely enraged.
"FINE?! YOU CALL THIS FINE?!" He swept a hand over her battered body that still lie unconscious and he roared, "YOU FUCKING BASTARD, YOU MADE IT SO I OF ALL PEOPLE CAN'T CAST MAGIC ON HER AND IT'S HER SUPPOSED BEST BLOODY FRIEND WHO'S THE ONE WHO DID THIS TO HER, AND THEN I COULDN'T DO A SINGLE THING TO HELP, I HAD TO STAND HERE AND WATCH HER BLEED," Seeing the shocked look on Albus's face, he directed his flaming eyes to Potter, "YES, IT WAS HARRY FUCKING POTTER AND HIS LITTLE FRIEND WEASLEY WHO NO DOUBT SUPPORTED IT, YOU IGNORANT, NASTY LITTLE SHITS, DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU'VE DONE?!" If it was possible, their pale faces whitened even more, and they looked frantically up at Albus, whose blue eyes were no longer warm and concerned but cold and firm.
"Is this true Harry?"
Severus was breathing heavily, his eyes fixed on Potter to await his response. The boy had sense enough to nod, and Albus's white brows furrowed together and his voice was angry as he said slowly,
"You have just attacked Hermione, Harry,"
At this the boy shook his head, shocked and confused. He lifted a shaky finger and pointed towards the lioness still partially held in Severus's lap.
"No, no, that's not Hermione, sir, that's a familiar," he said, his voice desperate, and he blinked and looked from Ron to Albus to Hermione and then back at Albus.
"Right?" He asked, turning slightly green.
"No, Harry. This is indeed Hermione,"
Both Ron and Harry were green now, and they both rose from their chairs and made to rush towards their friend. Severus halted them in their steps with a growl,
"You don't come near her," he threatened with a hiss, and they stopped, looking to Albus who shook his head no.
"I think it's best if we go to my office," he looked down at Hermione one last time and his eyes were full of sorrow as they met Severus's before growing hard again as he beckoned at the two boys. "Come,"
And with that they were gone, leaving Severus with an arm full of a broken Hermione. Before he knew it he found himself bent over her, his face pressed into hers as his body shook with barely suppressed sobs, tears streaming down his face as all of his emotion flooded out of him, breaking through his mental blockades like a burst dam, and he cried until he had no more tears left in him.