Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything affiliated with it.
*Chapter Six*
The holiday had breezed by, much to the chagrin of Hermione—who had spent most of her time revising in the library—but had only gotten through roughly half of the textbooks that she had planned to.
One of her new pastimes had become looking at the marauders map—studying the layout of the castle, or memorizing the routines of its inhabitants; teachers and students alike. For example, she learned that every day before dinner—Professor Flitwick would spend 30 minutes in one of the first floor lavatories before making his way to the great hall. She liked to imagine he spent that time re-oiling his mustache.
Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson spent the better part of their mornings in one of the unused classrooms down in the dungeons—most likely snogging, or worse—Hermione tended not to stare too long at their footprints out of courtesy.
Occasionally she would check on her friends; Ron, Harry, and Ginny were frequently found at the quidditch pitch—occasionally joined by Luna, Dean, or Seamus—and she enjoyed watching their names flit about the page in large swooping patterns; knowing their real-life counterparts were flying around in the same manner.
It was usually around this time she would join them; she would watch them practice from the stands and cheer them on until everyone was hungry enough to go and get lunch. Today, however, she was content to stay indoors and enjoy the peace and quiet that the library offered her.
There was another set of footprints that she had taken to watching as well—Professor Snape, who would alternate typically from his office, his store rooms, the potions classroom, and the seventh-floor corridor.
For the past few days she noticed that Snape would leave the dungeons and head directly to the 7th floor, spend several minutes there, and then leave. It was soon apparent to her that he was in the exact spot where the room of requirement could be found.
She, along with her friends and the remainder of the DA, had not returned to the room since the day Umbridge discovered it. With students still being interrogated often, it was just too risky. Hermione had managed to fly under the new headmistresses radar, having not been present the day the rest of them were caught.
She scanned the map and was able to find his name fairly quickly. As she suspected, Professor Snape was heading in the direction of the seventh floor corridor.
What are you up to? She wondered.
Once again he stopped in front of the wall where the room was, and she stared in curiosity as he approached the inky edges that indicated the walls. After a moment he stepped back, and began pacing back and forth. Then, in an instant, his footprints disappeared.
Hermione bit her lower lip, looking at the place on the page where Snape had just been. He had found it—he had been able to enter the room—and the curiosity Hermione felt bordered on painful.
After swiftly picking up her belongings and placing a few books back on their shelves, Hermione dashed out of the library and made her way to the seventh floor.
She wanted to run, but didn't want to attract any attention—so she opted for a brisk speed-walk. It was going well until she ran into peeves just beyond the transfiguration courtyard; he was holding a large tin watering can and pouring its contents on anyone unlucky enough to be passing by.
"It's raining! It's pouring! The Blood Baron is snoring!" He shouted, laughing as Hermione covered her head with her bag and continued walking with a scowl.
Finally, she found her way to the seventh floor and located the spot just across from the large troll-tapestry. She was wringing the water out of her skirt when a door appeared in front of her, and Severus Snape walked out of it—immediately making direct eye contact with her.
He was frozen for a moment as he gaped at her, but quickly composed himself—setting his expression to a look of authority.
"Hermione Granger. You wouldn't happen to be…following me—would you?"
Hermione's face turned pale as she responded "No! I mean—no, sir. I wasn't. I was just…heading back to my dormitory, Professor."
"I see. Come from a dip in the lake, I take it?" He asked, remarking her clothes that were still dripping onto the stone floor.
"Something like that." She replied, letting out a nervous chuckle.
To her surprise, his lips curled upwards into a smirk.
"I shan't delay you then." He said, and then offered her a curt nod of his head before proceeding back down the corridor until he was out of sight.
When Hermione turned her attention back towards the wall, the door to the room of requirement had already disappeared. Though she was not sure what she had to gain from coming here, she was still disappointed that she was unable to get a glimpse of whatever was in the room—whatever it was that Snape needed so badly.
Suddenly she felt rather foolish, standing in the middle of the corridor, dripping wet, and staring at a blank wall. Fortunately there were not too many students roaming around the castle that day, but she still thought she had better head back to her common room before anyone noticed her.
--
"Nothing can ruin my day quiet like double potions." Ron said glumly as he, Hermione, Harry took the staircase down into the dungeons.
"Tell me about it." Harry agreed in an equally morose tone.
Hermione didn't respond, but couldn't help but to roll her eyes at her friends. It was the first day back to class, and she, at least, was eager to get back to her lessons.
"I don't know why we are even bothering—Fred and George said fifth-year potions is mainly just revisions on old stuff that we've already done." Said Ron.
"Exactly why you need to go." Hermione teased. "You hardly paid attention the first time around."
They entered the class and found their seats. "Hello Neville, did you have a nice Easter?" Hermione asked as she sat down beside him and began unpacking bag onto the table.
"It was great—though, Gran did try a new charm on our eggs to make them harder to break—turned them into rubber balls that started bouncing like mad. Luckily no one was hurt, 'cept Uncle Algie's wand…"
"That's unfortunate." Hermione replied, trying not to giggle.
Professor Snape entered the room then, striding between the tables towards the head of the room, flicking his wand to light the torches on either side of the room; many of them typically stayed unlit leaving the room just bright enough to see.
The atmosphere changed instantly as light spread across the entire room. Hermione glanced at Ron and Harry who had their eyebrows raised in mild surprise at the change of scenery.
"Today's class will be difficult enough without any of you blaming the lighting, I assure you." Snape addressed the room. "You will be earning to brew the antidote to veritaserum—a highly powerful truth-telling potion."
Hermione scrunched her face in confusion, wondering why Snape would be teaching them a seventh-year potion—and without even having gone over how to brew veritaserum at that.
She started to raise her hand when she saw Harry out of the corner of her eye. It only lasted a moment, but she saw him grin quickly and pull out his quill in earnest to begin taking notes.
Then it dawned on her—Snape, in his own way, was helping them protect themselves from the affects of veritaserum so that Umbridge couldn't use it on them. It was subtle, using a potion they would eventually learn anyway, but a useful tool to have when the ministry was so hell-bent on digging their claws as deeply into Hogwarts as they could now that Dumbledore had disappeared.
She risked a glance at the Slytherin table and saw Draco Malfoy whispering to his friends Crabbe and Goyle; all of them were members of Umbridge's 'Inquisitorial Squad' and were likely expressing disappointment amongst themselves—judging by the annoyed look on Malfoy's face.
She followed Harry's lead and grabbed her quill as well and began taking notes once Snape started giving them instructions. He had not been exaggerating, it was a difficult potion to brew—but after an hour she felt confident that she had followed the instructions properly.
She stared down into her cauldron and saw the bubbling liquid had finally achieved the right tinge of lavender that told her it was ready for the next phase—burying it underground for a night and a day.
Once she had finished hers she had a little bit of free time and used it to help Harry, Ron, and Neville complete theirs correctly as well. Surprisingly, Snape did not interfere with this as he tended to when she lent the others a hand.
He was even being lenient on his usual 'no chit-chat rule,' so the classroom buzzed with individual conversation as they worked.
"Say, Hermione—I'll need my cloak back tonight. I'd like to find a way to speak to Sirius…and they don't exactly have landlines at Hogwarts."
Hermione immediately turned pale and bit her lower lip. She knew he would ask for it back eventually, and she had to remain casual.
"Of course, I'll fetch it before lunch." She continued stirring her cauldron and pretended to become very busy keeping count of each rotation.
"What's a landline?" Ron asked, and to Hermione's relief Harry started to go into an explanation. He hadn't had the opportunity to ask for the map as well, and with any luck she would be able to only return the cloak.
She looked over at the professor who was slowly making rounds, peering into their cauldrons and occasionally giving critiques. He appeared to be in a pleasant mood, and she didn't doubt that it was due to him successfully entering the room of requirement.
He had even complimented Neville's slicing technique, though in doing so had almost caused her friend to slip and lose a finger in response.
Finally, when the class ended, Snape addressed them all once again.
"I trust that you will each report directly back to me, and me alone, once your potion is finished. I wouldn't want you all getting any funny ideas and taking some for yourself—such action would result in severe disciplinary measures. You're dismissed."
With that, they all filed out of the room.
"D'you think he'll let us keep some?" Ron asked once they were out.
Hermione smiled and answered,
"I have a feeling he's counting on it."
Severus awoke that night with a jolt. He was drenched in sweat, and swung the linens off to the side as he leaped out of the bed, clutching his arm tightly.
The Dark Lord's call was unmistakable, the flesh on his arm burned as though scalding hot coals were being pressed into it.
It probably wouldn't have been so bad, had it not interrupted a very pleasant dream that he was having—something akin to reading in the garden, birds chirping overhead as he sipped tea and relaxed on a cloudy day, worry-free day.
The memory of it all was already slipping away as he grabbed his cloak and his wand and made his way out of his room. It didn't matter to the Dark Lord that apparition was not possible within the confines of Hogwarts—he was not known for his patience.
A few minute later he had made it outside of the anti-apparition border and in a blink found himself outside of the entrance to Malfoy Manor.
Although it was dark, the light from the moon allowed Severus to see a figure standing just on the opposite side of the gates. The voice of Voldemort greeted him, "Good evening Severus." He hissed.
"My Lord." Severus responded and gave a bow of his head.
"An hour has passed since I called for you…why have you kept me waiting?" Voldemort questioned, and began slowly pacing back and forth across the length of the gate.
"I came as quickly as I was able. How may I serve you, my Lord?" Severus answered. In dealing with Voldemort, he found that he had to take caution in his replies; keep them short when excess detail was not required, but never when providing him information. Excuses would only irritate him further.
"It has been long since I've heard any word from you, Severus."
"Yes, my Lord. I've been attempting to locate Dumbledore as you've requested."
"Yes…A simple task that you continue to fail, I see. It's no matter, now. The coward has run away with his tail between his legs. As far as I am concerned…he is out of my way—leaving the boy…unprotected."
"As you say, my Lord."
"Has he progressed in his occlumency lessons?"
"No…he has not. It is a skill I do not presume he will unlock."
Voldemort laughed; a bone-chilling, hacking sort of sound that caused the hair in Severus's arm to stand on end.
"No?" Voldemort said with a grin, baring his vile brown teeth. "Of course he won't. He is a fool! I…almost feel a sense of guilt…entering the boys mind will be far too easy…and he is as predictable as he is foolish…"
Severus did not believe for a moment that Voldemort was capable of any emotion akin to guilt, but still he replied, "A task you are more than equipped to take on, my Lord. He will be getting nothing less than what he deserves."
"I alone, shall pass judgment, Severus...but since you have breached the subject…CRUCIO!"
Severus dropped to his knees as a wave of intolerable pain surged through him. He tried to fight it, but it was too overpowering and he fell to his side against the cobbled pathway, cracking his head against it as he landed.
His mouth opened to scream but there was no air in his lungs—it felt as though he were simultaneously drowning and being burned alive at the same time, and his body wouldn't even grant him the satisfaction of screaming.
Although the ringing in his ears made it difficult to hear, he was just able to make out Voldemort's words. "Do not make me wait again."
The pain continued to ripple through him for what felt like hours, but by the time he was finally able to open his eyes and taking a gasping breath, he could see Voldemort skulking back toward the door of Malfoy Manor.
He pushed himself up and got back on his feet. He was punished for not coming soon enough; but Severus felt that it was more than that. He took it more as a warning—what would happen should Voldemort's plan go wrong.
Time was running out…but Severus was ready.