Boo!
Alina and Barret stopped in front of the giant hour-glasses. Ravenclaw was way ahead of both Slytherin and Gryffindor. Barret scowled and aimed a fake kick at the hour-glass of his house.
‘Every time I see those things, I just want to kick them.’ He glowered at a First Year Hufflepuff who stared at them, looking thoroughly scandalized. Alina wasn’t sure if that was because the girl had never seen a Slytherin and a Gryffindor talking before, or if their evident lack of respect shocked her. Whatever the reason, her expression annoyed Alina.
She put her hands into the air and waggled her fingers at the child. ‘BOO!’ she went, delighted to see how the girl jumped and then high-tailed it towards the entrance of Hufflepuff House.
‘It’s just an hour until curfew,’ Alina muttered. ‘She should have been in her House already anyways.’
Alina turned back to Crudass. ‘But why?’ she asked.
‘Well, because they’re still THERE,’ he grumbled. ‘Nothing’s changed.’ He didn’t have to add how unfair that was compared to how everything had changed for him.
‘Oh, but it has,’ Alina retorted. ‘Haven’t you noticed? The Heads of Houses don’t take and award points anymore. So there’s less risk of bias in how the points get awarded.’
Barret frowned. ‘But they all got apprentices now. They’ll just make them take the points off the students they don’t like.’
Alina raised her eyebrows. ‘Are you honestly implying that Hermione would favour Slytherins?’
‘She certainly doesn’t favour Gryffindors.’
He’d lost five points in Potions yesterday for making his cauldron boil over. Alina rolled her eyes at him. ‘What did you expect? Her instructions were easy enough to follow for anyone who bothered to listen. If it makes you feel better, I just got chewed out by my Head of House.’
Barret looked interested at once. ‘Why? What did you do this time?’
Alina grimaced. Then she made a decision. ‘He also gave me an extracurricular task.’
‘A detention?’
Alina wrinkled her nose. ‘Not quite. Sort of. Anyway, I could use some help.’
‘Promoting inter-House cooperation again, Petrel?’
‘Do you want to know more about those Necromantic bells that I found, Crudass, or shall I just go back to my House?’
oooOooo
‘Hermione. Talk to me. Kindly at least look at me. Are you all right?’
She’d been standing at the window, trying to ignore the bite of the fresh tattoo on her left arm.
Branded, she thought. Like a cow. Marked. Just like…She tried to get a grip on her tumbling thoughts. She refused to go down history lane. This is not the Muggle world of the 1930s and 40s. This is not the era of Grindelwald.
‘FUCK!’ she shouted at last and whirled around to face him. ‘I don’t give a newt’s spleen for their good intentions. Did you see how pleased Umbridge looked? She and her revolting pink wand. And since when do wands come in such disgusting colours anyway?’
Hermione crossed her arms under her breasts and glared at Severus. ‘I’ve spent all my years in the wizarding world trying to fit in. Trying to belong. And now you just have to take a good look at my arm, and you’ll know all about me. You’ll know that—’
She stopped when she noticed rising anger a-glitter in his eyes.
‘If you are quite finished with your hysterics?’ His voice was icy. ‘This is quite ridiculous, Hermione. Even more ridiculous than those damn tattoos.’ His right hand strayed to his own left arm. ‘When do you ever wear one of those silly t-shirts? Are you or are you not what that werewolf called ‘the brightest witch of your generation’? Are you or are you not my apprentice?’
Hermione just stared at Snape, her lower lip trembling. This is all just too much. Everything. The weeks of worrying. Getting him back. Now those damn tattoos. Can’t it ever stop? Can there never be any normalcy in my life?
Severus sighed and took a step towards her. He reached for her arms, and pulled them away from under her breasts, until they hung loosely at her sides. Then he stroked over her shoulders and smoothed down her robes along her sides, until his hands rested at her waist. He pulled her close to his body. ‘You most certainly do belong here. Nowhere else. You’re a witch, and always will be. You do belong here. Never doubt that.’
He brought his hands up to her face, gently cupping her cheeks and forcing her to look into his eyes. Her heart skipped a beat (or two), and the nature of the quivering inside her body changed to the unmistakable fluttering of desire.
‘And most of all,’ he murmured, ‘you belong to me.’
They stood in each other’s arms for a long time, silently seeking the support their closeness provided.
oooOooo
His screams woke her.
One moment Hermione was fast asleep, drifting through a maze of uneasy dreams, the next she was standing beside the bed, wands in her hands, feet rooted to the ground in proper duelling stance, her heart racing.
Severus lay on his stomach, his body jerking, his cries muffled by the pillow.
‘Severus?’ He didn’t react. ‘Severus!’
She cast her wands aside and climbed onto the bed, kneeling down next to him. The agonised sounds tore right through her. Hermione bit down on her lower lip. Waking him now was not without risk. If she shot from sleep into duelling stance without a thought, he might throw a hex at her before he was even awake.
Firmly she placed her hand on his right arm. ‘Severus! Wake up! It’s only a dream.’
His skin was burning. Did he have a fever?
‘It’s only a dream,’ she repeated.
Instantly his body tensed and Hermione snatched back her hand. With a stifled sound of pain, Severus rolled onto his back. His black eyes gleamed in the darkness. His face was ghostly pale.
‘No.’ Severus’ voice cracked painfully. ‘It’s not.’
Whoa! you really know how to write a cliffie!
Hello.
I don’t know why I waited until this chapter to do this but here-
This fic is wonderful! The characters are developed great and the story comes along fantastically.
Thank you for providing me with hours of entertainment and years of inspiration.
Awww, thank you for your kind words! *hearts*
I’m very happy that you’re enjoying this story so much.
Brilliant!! Scary Colin, simply genius, but you know what made me happiest? You’ve given Harry decent glasses – about bloody time!
Dumbledore snogging Salazar, great :D:D
And this Colin-inferus was really frightening. I don’t really understand why do the always get in trouble… ztkztk.
And the part with Hermione’s parents was sooo sad. 🙁 I think Hermione would want to find a solution for them and find a way to give back their memories. It is not her type to simply give up.
Well, Dumbledore has a thing for “bad boys”. 😉
Re: Hermione’s parents: I’m sure she did search for a solution. But in this case, there is none, unfortunately. Sometimes you just have to live with the consequences of your actions, and there’s no way back.
I’m not sure if the thought of Dumbldore and Salazar Slytherin is more funny or disturbing, I guess Slytherin would play to Dumbledore’s ‘type’ if Grindlewald is anything to go by lol.
I can’t believe I’ve read this so quickly, I just can’t seem to stop myself! Your story is lots of fun and quite entertaining.
If I were reading this as a WIP, I’d probably be screaming the rafters down about your little cliffie, but luckily for me I only stumbled upon this wonderful fanfic yesterday and yay it was already finished!
Whoa! That was quite a turn in the story. And what was Colin murmuring in between the abuse? Kill kittens? And watch the robes, not the wizards? I hope you don’t have to kill the kittens. Are these the clues desperately needed to end the muggle killings?
These tattoos are disgusting. No matter how you look at them. It sounds like the Arian pureness all over again. It can be exploited in so many ways… and it is pretty irreversible. I know you can remove tattoos nowadays, but I haven’t seen any removal that got you back to pristine skin.
I love the school atmosphere you describe. Even with all the changes…(there were never any apprentices in 6 years of the HP books), it feels right.
Indeed, those are clues. *grins* I hope they will make sense later on.
Agreed on the tattoos. Sometimes you just KNOW that something is really bad news. And yet, in politics so many dumb things are implemented. It’s as if it’s impossible to stop idiocies once there’s a certain momentum.
*beams* I’ve always loved the school stuff best about HP. So I really wanted to dive back into that in some manner.
I’m enjoying your story. I found it on ffn and was apprehensive at your initial note disparaging it as not great literature, but I’m glad I gave it a go regardless, I’m hooked 🙂
Concerning the muggle-born tatoos, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. Specifically that some corrupt ministry official will use them to locate muggle-borns for extermination.
Thank you for taking the trouble to come over here to read my story, and I’m thrilled you enjoy it so far. 🙂 Even though I still think it’s mostly a virtual penny dreadful, I had tons of fun writing it a few years ago, and I’m happy that it’s still keeping readers entertained.
Re: those tatoos … sometimes everyone knows that a political manoevre won’t end well, and still we keep walking into that dead-end on a regular basis. It’s bizarre, but you just have to watch the news to know that’s how life works.
Salazar and Dumbledore! Hah!!
I’m glad you’re having so much fun with the story! I’ve been giggling and grinning over your comments so much. Thank you! 🙂